South Africa: Public warned against job scam

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has warned job seekers about scammers posing as government officials and selling jobs to unsuspecting members of the public.

In a statement, the department warned there is a group of people calling desperate and unsuspecting job seekers and promising them jobs in the department in exchange for R9 000.

The scammers are said to be targeting residents in the areas of Southern Cluster, including Ugu, Harry Gwala and Umgungudlovu Districts.

Their modus operandi include contacting individuals and parents of job seekers and enticing them to pay in order to secure jobs for their children, the department said.

Khoza has urged people to be very careful of the criminals promising them jobs, emphasising that government jobs are not for sale.

We would not ask people seeking employment to pay for any job in the department. In the department, we follow a fair and transparent recruitment process where jobs are advertised in newspapers and other public platforms. People are then urged to apply for jobs and go through the process of interviews, Khoza said.

She reiterated that no fee needs to be paid in order to secure any permanent employment within government.

We are very concerned that these [scammers] mislead desperate people to pay money via instant money transfer at stores to a cellphone number, cash-send and eWallet for them to get jobs, Khoza said.

The MEC called on all victims of the scam to immediately open criminal cases with the police, while the department also looks at ways to deal with this matter.

"We are going to work closely with the SAPS in order to ensure that we furnish investigators with all information they need to trace these criminals because they are fleecing desperate people, denting the image of the department.

We urge all those who have been scammed to give all information to the law enforcement agencies so that the criminals can be arrested," Khoza said.

She further urged communities to be wary of individuals who ask them to pay for jobs.

"The department advertises in newspapers, including its website, when there are jobs available. At no stage will government officials ask individuals seeking employment to pay.

We encourage people to follow all proper channels when we advertise jobs to apply through these reliable media, she said.

Khoza said the department has been furnished with detailed phone recordings where one of the scammers pursued a job seeker to deposit money immediately, in order to secure a job with the department.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Cancer beating woman to participate in Miss World Vietnam 2022

A 22-year-old Vietnamese student who has inspired lots of people with her fight against cancer has just decided to participate in the Miss World Vietnam 2022 Pageant.

Dang Tran Thuy TIen







The website of Miss World Vietnam 2022 has just posted a brief introduction about contestant Dang Tran Thuy Tien with measurements of 89-68-100 and 1.7 metres tall. Showing a hairless portrait photo, Thuy Tien said that she wanted to inspire others.



Dang Tran Thuy Tien, a student at the Hanoi-based Foreign Trade University first captured the public's attention after appearing in the university's beauty pageant while receiving treatment for breast cancer in 2019. As her story was shared by local media, she has received lots of support from the public. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also sent a letter to encourage her.



Thuy Tien said that she was very shocked at first when being informed by doctors that she was at the second stage of breast cancer in June 2019. However, with love and support from her family and friends, she was determined to fight against the disease.



"Doctors at National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi said that I was the youngest patient they had ever diagnosed with breast cancer," Tien said. "I decided to undergo surgery and then strictly followed the treatment at the hospital."



And while suffering from many side effects caused by the chemotherapy including weight loss and hair loss, Thuy Tien heard about a beauty contest being held at her university and decided to participate. Tiens confidence and optimism left a strong impression on the panel of judges.



Vu Manh Cuong, the head judge of the Foreign Trade University's Beauty Contest then said that Tien showed no signs of a patient suffering from a disease and when she appeared onstage and looked across the auditorium, she touched the judges with her eyes full of love and energy. And she won the title of Miss Inspiration at the contest.



After winning a title at the competition, Tien also won the fight against cancer at the end of 2020. She has returned to class and participated in various charity activities to support other cancer patients.



The fight against cancer has brought me more strength and after that, I treasure life more," she said. "I will try to keep my optimism and hope to spread it to more people, especially those who are suffering from the disease."



Miss World Vietnam 2022 Pageant will be held on May 27 in Vung Tau City. The winning contestant will represent Vietnam at the Miss World 2022 Competition.
Global energy company Engie, as part of a consortium, has won the Utility Project of the Year award at the Mesia Solar Awards for its Jubail 3B Independent Water Project (IWP).

The consortium compromises Nesma Company and Abdulaziz Al Ajlan Sons for Commercial and Real Estate Investment Ajlan And Bros Company.

The largest solar-powered water desalination project in Saudi Arabia developed under a public-private-partnership (PPP) structure in collaboration with Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), the project received the award at a ceremony which took place in Abu Dhabi.

Turki Alshehri, CEO of Engie KSA, said: The recognition is a testament to our commitment to the kingdom as a long-term energy partner in support of the governments decarbonisation objectives in line with its net-zero 2060 goals. Recognised for its competitiveness, positive impact on the local community and use of solar energy, our award-winning project demonstrates that transitioning to the circular economy can bring a myriad of benefits in support of job creation for the youth besides helping to achieve ambitious environmental goals.

Located in the kingdoms Eastern Province in Dammam, the Jubail 3B IWP plant, developed on a Build, Own and Operate (BOO) contract, will produce 570,000 cu m per day of potable water through reverse osmosis technology to supply the cities of Jubail and Dammam.

The project will include a 60MWp capacity solar facility  the largest in-house solar capability for a desalination plant in the kingdom  to optimise electricity consumption and reduce grid reliance. In addition, it will include one-day water storage capacity and 380kV Electrical Special Facilities with ~59 km Overhead Transmission Lines (OHL).

The BOO projects are issued by SWPC to meet demand for desalinated water in KSA and the objective to expand and improve water in KSA through private sector participation. Once the construction phase is over, Engie will take on the responsibility of operating and maintaining the project with the commercial operation date expected in 2024.-- TradeArabia News Service
A young man and woman from Bellevue who were found guilty of first-degree assault in an attack on the woman's father each was sentenced Tuesday to 40 to 50 years in prison.

Sarpy County prosecutors said Joshua Fithian and his girlfriend, Gabriella Laws, both 19, attacked Robert Laws in January 2021 with a metal meat tenderizer and a wooden rod. The Sarpy County Attorneys Office dismissed charges of attempted murder, second-degree assault, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and conspiracy to commit a felony against the two.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Fithian and Gabriella Laws must serve 20 years before they are eligible for parole and 25 years before they must be released.

Police responded to a home northeast of 48th Street and Nebraska 370 shortly after 2 a.m. Jan. 17, according to an affidavit filed by Bellevue Police Detective Michael Legband. An officer found Robert Laws, who is 60, in his bedroom with severe injuries to the left side of his face.

Laws wife, Maria, who was sleeping in a separate bedroom, said she was awakened by a noise and found a wooden rod in the hallway. She then found her husband unresponsive in bed and a meat tenderizer on the floor. His CPAP mask still was secured to his face.

The detective said Robert Laws was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with injuries so severe that he had to be placed in a medical coma to treat brain bleeding and cranial fractures. Police suspected that Robert Laws was attacked while he was sleeping.

Laws later went to the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital. He told police who interviewed him there on Feb. 10 that he didnt remember the attack, but he thought Josh may have been responsible based on a previous argument.

Officers questioned Fithian, who indicated that he, Maria, Robert and Gabriella had an argument regarding Fithians history of sneaking in and out of the Laws home. Gabriellas parents had told him to not be in the house between midnight and 7 a.m.

According to Fithian, after dinner on Jan. 16, he and Gabriella Laws went to the basement until 12:45 a.m. Fithian said he left through a basement window because he was there later than the prescribed time. Gabriella Laws told police that Fithian had left through the front door of the home.

While being questioned by police about the attack, Gabriella Laws said, I mean, I dont think it was my mom, and I dont know, I didnt do it, but if I did in my sleep I dont know. Asked by police if she would be capable of assaulting her father, even accidentally, she said, I hope not.

Asked to clarify her response, she said, Well, if I did, well not, I mean, I hope I would have never done that.

Maria and Robert Laws filed a protection order against Fithian on Jan. 20. The protection order said Fithian had told the Lawses on Jan. 16 that he wasnt going anywhere and planned to come into the house whenever he wanted.

Gabriella Laws gave birth to a child while in jail in October. A judge ordered a DNA test to determine whether Fithian is the father. Court records filed later say Fithian is the father. The child is under the care of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

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The Nebraska Attorney General's Office has accused a New York couple of carrying out a $59.6 million Medicaid fraud involving the ownership of a chain of nursing homes in Nebraska.

In the complaint filed in Lancaster County District Court, Joseph Schwartz, Rosie Schwartz and Skyline Healthcare LLC are accused of surreptitiously directing and controlling the major operations and management of 22 Nebraska facilities under the Cottonwood Healthcare LLC umbrella and making decisions that were detrimental to the facilities and financially beneficial to the Schwartzes and Skyline.

The facilities ultimately were put in receivership in 2018 after failing to make payroll.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Vicki Adams said Skyline, through the Schwartzes, acquired operational ownership of well more than 100 nursing homes in Nebraska and a half-dozen other states starting in 2016.

The 22 in Nebraska previously had operated as Golden Living.

Adams said business office managers, many of whom had worked for Golden Living before the transfer of ownership, were told the facilities would function much the same as they had before.

She said the managers went to Skyline, which had no more than 15 employees at any given time, when they needed assistance or direction managing the facilities.

According to the lawsuit, some expressed concern about Skyline's ability to successfully manage the Nebraska Cottonwood facilities.

While local facilities hired staff for day-to-day operations, the financial operations weren't within their control. They had no operating budget or monthly financial reports tracking expenses.

Adams said Skyline determined which bills got paid. Often vendors that were owned by Joseph Schwartz or his business associates were paid while others weren't.

In some cases, employees at the Nebraska nursing homes would use their own money to pay vendors for the residents' sake.

In December 2017, Cottonwood's regional director had a meeting in Omaha to discuss cuts to reduce expenses at the Nebraska facilities.

By March 23, 2018, Skyline informed state officials that it couldn't make payroll for its Nebraska employees, and the state sought to place the Cottonwood facilities into receivership.

Adams said a number of employees at the local level learned they didn't have health insurance through their jobs despite paying premiums through Skyline.

Shortly after the Nebraska Cottonwood facilities went into receivership, the same thing happened in South Dakota, Kansas and some of the Arkansas facilities.

Adams said the business's cost reports, which are required to be provided by long-term care facilities for payment by Nebraska Medicaid, used false numbers that led to the payment of $3 million above the approximately $30 million it should have received for the operation of the Nebraska Cottonwood nursing homes.

The company now is accused of making false records, failing to maintain documentation and fraudulent misrepresentation, which resulted in payments to which it wasn't entitled.

"As a result of the defendants' breach of their agreements with Medicaid, the plaintiff suffered damages in the amount of $59,652,388.90," the attorney said in the lawsuit.

Violations of the False Medicaid Claims Act are subject to up to three times damages and up to a $10,000 penalty per claim submitted.

Adams said in addition to the $59.6 million amount, Nebraska is seeking treble damages of $178,957,167, plus attorney fees.

In December, 61-year-old Joseph Schwartz, of Brooklyn, was charged in Arkansas with eight counts of Medicaid fraud for the alleged overbilling there that resulted in an overpayment of $3.6 million for the eight nursing home facilities.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger

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A bill that would have Nebraska law enforcement agencies collect DNA from people accused of some felonies barely cleared a filibuster to earn second-round approval in the Nebraska Legislature on Wednesday.

Proponents see LB496 as a tool for solving cold cases and exonerating innocent people, while opponents see it as government overreach that would exacerbate the already disproportionate impacts of the criminal justice system on people of color.

The state already collects DNA samples from people convicted of felonies.

Under LB496, law enforcement agencies would also swab the cheeks of people who are arrested and booked on suspicion of burglary and felonies such as arson, assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, murder and robbery.

In the latest version of the bill, their sample wouldnt be tested or entered in the state database until a judge determines theres probable cause to charge that person, or if they waive the hearing where probable cause is determined.

If probable cause isnt found, that persons sample would be destroyed. A person could request that their records be cleared from the state database if their conviction is reversed or if the charge is dismissed. The State Patrol, which maintains the state's database, would have to purge DNA records and destroy samples when it gets that sort of request.

Similar laws have passed in over 30 other states. Amendments to Nebraska's bill brought it into alignment with a law that the U.S. Supreme Court deemed constitutional in its 2013 Maryland v. King decision, according to sponsor Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha.

This is a bill I believe will help Nebraska be smart on crime by using DNA to exonerate the innocent and identify individuals responsible for unsolved crimes, said Hilkemann.

During debate, which stretched over three legislative days, Hilkemann presented examples of how the law has helped solve cold cases in other states. He also referenced a personal experience with unsolved crime: His second cousin, David Stevens, was killed in California in 1998, and it took years before the killer was brought to justice.

Opponents argued anecdotes arent enough to justify collecting DNA from people who will ultimately be found innocent.

We have due process for a reason in this country, and it is to protect every citizen and their rights, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said. And it is to protect the constitution. We shouldnt be taking shortcuts.

Cavanaugh argued that any resources available for DNA testing should go toward chipping away at a backlog of sexual assault kits. The State Patrol's crime lab is still testing kits from 2020, she said.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha raised concerns that a person may not be able to remove their records from a federal database if they plead down to a lower-level crime. The State Patrol provides records to the FBI for its Combined DNA Index System, where DNA profiles can be searched against each other.

Wayne, whos a public defender, also said the burden for a judge finding probable cause is extremely low  and afterward, people may still be found not guilty or they can plead down to a lower charge. Sen. John Cavanaugh, also a public defender, estimated he had won just 1% of probable cause hearings, and Wayne estimated hed won one out of a few hundred.

He and others also objected to the bills potential impact on people of color.

If communities are overpoliced and study after study show that theyre overcharged, then the result of this bill is going to be an overcollection of certain peoples DNA, Wayne said.

Senators voted 33-12 to end the filibuster, just hitting the 33-vote minimum, and voted 26-16 to give it second-round approval.

Whether LB496 has enough support to make it into law, though, seemed uncertain.

In Wednesday's debate, Wayne pleaded with colleagues who committed to getting the bill through this round but wont vote for its final passage. He asked them to instead give the bill "a fast death." And he warned fellow Democrats that if they voted to end the filibuster, this would turn into "a long session.

"I'm just saying you can't be an ally when it's convenient," he said. He called voting to end the filibuster "playing with people's lives."

Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln was among senators who voted to end the filibuster, but not for the bill to advance. Wishart said that she was giving Hilkemann a lifeline, allowing him to work with the opposition to see if theres a way forward.

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A resolution calling for a convention of states to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution cleared a second-round vote in the Legislature on Thursday.

Although opponents to the resolution (LR14) from Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings had signaled their intent to push debate to a cloture vote in an effort to sink it, a filibuster never materialized.

The bill advanced on a 32-8 vote. Nine senators did not vote or were absent.

Similar to resolutions adopted in 15 other states, LR14 proposes a convention of states outlined in Article V of the U.S. Constitution to draft amendments to impose fiscal restraints and limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.

The resolution also calls for amendments enacting term limits for federal officeholders and members of Congress.

Lincoln Sens. Adam Morfeld and Matt Hansen again led the opposition during debate, saying the subjects included in the resolution were overly broad, criticizing supporters' insistence that the resolution could not be changed in any way, and adding there was nothing to prevent a "runaway convention" from rewriting the constitution wholesale.

Omaha Sen. John McCollister, who gave LR14 the fifth vote necessary to advance it from the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee last year, also raised several concerns about the lack of constraints on a potential convention.

McCollister introduced an amendment that would have made Nebraska's call for a convention conditional upon two-thirds of the states passing similar resolutions within the next four years.

"Too often we adopt these resolutions and they languish on the bill books forever," McCollister said.

That amendment was later withdrawn, as were amendments from Morfeld and Hansen designed to push debate to the four-hour time limit.

Backers of the proposal said they did not have the same fears about an out-of-control convention as opponents, pointing to language in the constitution that indicates any amendments would need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states in order to be adopted.

Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne said a convention could provide an opportunity for voices not present at the Constitutional Convention in 1787  Blacks, Natives, Latinos and women  to give input into the direction on the future of the country.

"I just believe with a diverse group of people, we might have a better conversation," Wayne said, "even if it is a runaway convention, which I don't believe will happen."

Sen. Wendy DeBoer said she understood the position of those concerned a convention of states could go beyond the intentions of the resolution.

"Every time in the Bible when an angel comes down and says 'Fear not,' the next line is 'and they were so afraid,'" DeBoer said.

The Bennington senator also said she understood the frustrations outlined by Halloran and others who supported LR14, who said the federal government was no longer listening to the people.

To move the resolution forward, but not bind future lawmakers to it, DeBoer sponsored a floor amendment that will rescind the resolution on Feb. 1, 2027.

The floor amendment was adopted with 32 votes, and paved the way for LR14 to advance to final-round debate.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS

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Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse described Democratic efforts to change the filibuster rule in the Senate in an attempt to achieve enactment of their voting rights bill as "institutional arson" and an attempt to "create a one-party rule in the United States."

Both of Nebraska's Republican senators voted against the proposed change that failed to win the 60 votes required to succeed, essentially dooming the Democratic voting rights proposal.

"Burning down 200 years of history for a few temporary victories is shortsighted at best, and institutional arson at worst," Fischer said.

"Nebraskans understand the importance of consensus-building," she said.

"In the state Unicameral, a two-thirds vote is required to end a filibuster  not the simple majority that (Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer) has proposed," Fischer said. "The Nebraska way works."

When the American people elected a 50-50 Senate, Fischer said, "they voted for bipartisanship."

Sasse said President Joe Biden and Schumer attempted to "nuke the filibuster and create a one-party rule in the United States."

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona "acted like adults" in voting against the effort to change the filibuster rule, Sasse said.

"The Senate likes to fancy itself the world's greatest deliberative body, but there are dozens of boards in places like Fremont, Norfolk and Scottsbluff that are more serious," he said.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon

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The Legislature's Revenue Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill to speed up full exemption of Social Security income from the state income tax by 2025 on a 5-0 vote.

And not far behind will be a bill designed to secure an estimated $200 million in additional property tax relief for Nebraskans in 2024 by eliminating an earlier $375 million annual floor in the refundable income tax credit created in 2020.

That proposal, LB723, introduced by Sen. Tom Briese of Albion initially failed to advance to the floor of the Legislature despite a 4-0 vote, but the bill was later advanced when Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk called in the fifth vote.

The Social Security income tax exemption contained in LB825, introduced by Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, would be phased in over the next four years, beginning with a 40% exemption in 2022 that would grow in 20% increments until full exemption is achieved in 2025.

The loss in potential state revenue was estimated at $40 million in fiscal 2022-2023, rising eventually to $73 million.

Both tax reduction proposals were opposed by Tiffany Friesen Milone, speaking for Open Sky Policy Institute, who warned that the bills would obligate the state to revenue reductions without knowing if state government can afford it.

The state's revenue flow is "now propped up by federal funding," she told the committee during a public hearing.

And an increasing ratio of older Nebraskans may shift more of the tax load to future working Nebraskans with subsequent pressure on the state budget, she said.

Lindstrom, who is a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has been working on reduction, and eventual elimination, of Social Security income tax liability throughout his two terms in the Legislature.

"This thing needs to go away," he said.

Delores Tonack, president of NSEA-Retired, said "it's an unfair tax on retirement benefits" and its removal will "enable Nebraska to be more retirement-friendly."

Briese said his bill would correct an oversight that would restore the intent of earlier legislation to provide additional direct tax relief through a rebate on school property taxes.

Mark McHargue, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, urged the committee to support the measure.

While acknowledging that the Legislature has provided "substantial property tax relief," he said work still needs to be done to create balance among property, sales and income taxes.

Property taxes now represent about 42% of the total, he said.

Also on Wednesday, a total of 102 bills and resolutions were introduced, including:

MEDICAL ABORTION: Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist introduced a bill (LB1086) prohibiting doctors from providing abortion-inducing drugs to pregnant women after seven weeks of gestation. Doctors who do provide medication abortions would be required to file a report with the state.

DUAL ENROLLMENT: Sen. John Stinner of Gering wants to appropriate (LB1087) $15 million to Nebraskas community colleges to expand opportunities for high school students to get college credit.

NUCLEAR STUDY: Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard sponsored a bill (LB1100) appropriating $1 million in federal stimulus funds for a feasibility study for new nuclear reactors throughout Nebraska.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP: The Environmental Response Act (LB1102) proposed by Bostelman would provide the director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy more power to take action to clean up pollutants and assess penalties. It would also create a cash fund to pay for expenses incurred by the state.

AUTISM PLATES: Nebraskans would be able to purchase an Autism Awareness license plate under a bill (LB1105) from Sen. Jen Day of Gretna.

ELECTIONS: A bill (LB1121) from Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston would require employees of the Secretary of State to inspect vote-counting devices before each election to ensure they arent connected to the internet. Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard brought a bill (LB1123) that would prohibit election commissioners from counting any ballots before all polling places in the state have closed.

CONTRACEPTIVES: Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld introduced legislation (LB1129) requiring the state to provide free contraceptives to any woman who requests one.

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS: More inmates eligible to be placed in community corrections or transitional houses would be allowed to do so, under a bill (LB1154) from Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney.

SCHOOL MATERIALS: Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue introduced a bill (LB1158) that would allow parents and guardians to request textbooks, websites or other curriculum materials, including teacher training materials, and request their children be excused from certain instruction.

NITRATES: Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart brought a bill (LB1160) that would tag $10 million in federal stimulus funds for the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy to provide grants for reverse osmosis systems to small and rural communities with high nitrate levels in drinking water.

INTERNSHIPS: Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk is seeking $30 million in federal funds to create an internship program under the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and $20 million in federal funds to create a Department of Labor grant program to retain workers.

TEACHER PAY: Morfeld also sponsored a bill (LB1131) to give teachers, child care workers and health care workers in Nebraska a $1,000 bonus from federal stimulus funds. A bill (LB1169) by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn would use federal stimulus money to provide $5,000 grants to teachers in their first four years of their careers earning less than $75,000 annually.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon

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A measure slated for a Friday hearing in the Nebraska Legislature would make sure patients seeking unproven stem cell treatments for aching joints and other more serious ailments are informed that the therapies are not approved by federal regulators.

LB753 would require health care providers to inform patients and get written consent acknowledging that the therapies they're seeking have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Sen. John Arch of Omaha said people see potential when they look at stem cell therapy. And when patients walk into a clinic and see a licensed health care provider dispensing therapies, they assume those therapies are federally approved.

The therapies can cost thousands of dollars and are not covered by insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. Clinics offering the therapies have proliferated across the United States in recent years. A recent study published in Cell Stem Cell by Leigh Turner, a researcher with the University of California-Irvine, identified nearly 1,500 businesses promoting the products. That was four times as many as Turner and another researcher had documented in a 2016 study.

Currently, however, the only stem cell-based products approved for use in the U.S. involve using cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and blood to treat certain cancers and blood-related diseases.

"We just want to make sure that the patient understands," Arch said. "That's really the main point of this."

Arch introduced the bill at the request of Research Nebraska, the lobbying arm of the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures. More information about the therapies is available on Research Nebraska's website, researchnebraska.org/stem-cell-therapies.

David Crouse, president of Research Nebraska, said clinical trials are underway for some potential uses of stem cells. Some show positive results. But they haven't yet delivered the kind of data on safety and effectiveness needed to obtain approval for use outside those trials.

"These clinics are just taking their shot at what might work," he said, "and most of them have no evidence of what's actually effective."

The bill comes after the attorneys general of Nebraska and Iowa filed separate but similar lawsuits in July 2020 against Omaha-based stem cell therapy clinics and their owners. The suits alleged that the clinics made deceptive and misleading claims in marketing unapproved treatments to older residents of the two states.

A hearing on a motion for summary judgment in the suit filed by Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson is slated for Feb. 1 in Douglas County District Court.

Named in the Nebraska lawsuit are related entities Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institute of Omaha, Omaha Stem Cells LLC and Stem Cell Centers LLC, also known as Stem Cell Centers of Alaska LLC, and their owners.

David Fautsch, a Des Moines, Iowa, attorney representing the firms, said he intends to fully defend his clients.

Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha and Stem Cell Centers also are named in at least one lawsuit filed by patients who sought the therapies.

In that lawsuit, filed by Omaha attorney David Cripe in Sarpy County District Court, a south-central Iowa couple said that they received stem cell injections at a Stem Cell Centers site in Gretna on Oct. 30, 2019, and immediately began to experience nausea, dizziness and weakness.

The couple, according to the complaint, attempted to drive home, but stopped after an hour at a hotel in western Iowa. Hotel staff called emergency responders and an ambulance took them to a local hospital. From there, they were taken by helicopter to two separate hospitals in Omaha. Each of them spent about a week in intensive care, and both were diagnosed with septic shock "due to E. coli poisoning from the stem cell injections at issue."

Crouse said the legislation will raise some red flags for people who might consider the treatments so they know what they're getting into.

"We think that it will help," he said. "I don't like to see people be misinformed, or not informed."

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The sisters and widow of a Wyoming Marine killed in Afghanistan are suing Alec Baldwin in federal court, alleging the actor defamed them on his social media after he learned one of the sisters attended a demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

Rylee McCollum, a 20-year-old Marine from outside of Jackson, was one of 13 American troops and more than 100 Afghans killed in August by a suicide bomb at the Kabul airport.

After hearing the news of McCollums death, Baldwin found one of the Marines sisters, Roice, on Instagram and sent her a $5,000 donation to go toward his widow, Jiennah Crayton, and their child born less than a month after his death, court documents state.

Then, this month, Baldwin accused Roice of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots as an insurrectionist, reposting her pictures of demonstrations that day to his account that allegedly caused the McCollum sisters and Crayton to receive harmful messages including death threats. Now, the women are suing Baldwin for $25 million, nearly half of his apparent net worth, on allegations of defamation and violating their privacy.

On Jan.1, Roice McCollum posted images on Instagram showing demonstrators in D.C. with the caption Throwback, showing that she had attended a protest of the presidential election results on Jan 6, 2021, according to the complaint. The suit states she did not take part in the riots that followed the demonstration, and has been cleared after an interview with the FBI.

Neither Crayton nor McCollums other sister, Cheyenne, were reportedly at the capitol on Jan. 6.

The complaint, filed Monday in federal court, states that Baldwin commented on the Instagram post from his account, saying, Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sisters husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit. That comment appears to have been deleted.

Screenshots included in the lawsuit show Baldwin later messaging Roice McCollum privately, accusing her of being a January 6th rioter and saying that her actions resulted in property destruction and the death of an officer. According to the same exhibits, McCollum responded that she was protesting legally and had already met with the FBI.

I reposted your photo, Baldwin messaged her, according to the complaint. Good luck.

In Baldwins repost of McCollums photos, he said that claims of a non-violent protest at the Capitol that day were bulls*** and commented that truth is stranger than fiction in reference to seeing the photos. He also stated he would take the post down the next day. It was not available on Tuesday.

The suit states that McCollum was quickly subjected to hostile, aggressive, hateful messages and comments from Baldwins 2.4 million followers. One message, which she posted to her account, said: Get raped and die, worthless c*** (kiss emoji). Your brother got what he deserved.

McCollums sister and Crayton also received harmful messages and comments, the suit states, some equating them to ISIS or Nazis or hoping Baldwin would get his donation returned. Their attorney, Dennis Postiglione, said that there are 600, 700 more pages worth of posts not included in the initial filing that make the comments cited in the complaint seem tame.

Postiglione and California lawyer Joseph Casas are set to represent Crayton and the McCollums, with the backing of local attorney Frank Chapman.

The suit calls Baldwins comments false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive, and alleges that the backlash caused the McCollum sisters and Crayton severe emotional distress and to fear for their lives.

Messages not referenced in the complaint included death threats to all three plaintiffs, their lawyer said.

In comments on the platform, the suit states, Baldwin said at least twice that Roice McCollum was an insurrectionist.

Postiglione said that in talking to Crayton and the McCollums, its clear that the comments really shook them up beyond what they already were. While he says the messages have slowed down, the three women are still receiving some.

Baldwin, known for acting in dozens of films and, more recently, his parodic portrayal of Trump on Saturday Night Live, has long used his social media to voice his political views and to encourage followers to support causes he promotes, the suit cites. The complaint argues that since his politics are so prominent online, its safe to assume that most of Baldwins followers agree with him. The suit also states that Baldwin did nothing to discourage the comments or messages after making the post.

I think its worth noting, too, that his social media following  is five times the population of your state, Postiglione said. Either he knew what would happen, and he wanted it to happen, or he just didnt think about it.

The plaintiffs are calling for a jury trial in the case, which would determine the amount of any damages if awarded. Most cases of this kind never see a trial, and are often settled out of court.

If I were to try any case in my portfolio, Postiglione said Tuesday, I would love to put this in front of a Wyoming jury.

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In his Jan. 6 press release Gov. Pete Ricketts shook his finger at President Biden and Vice President Harris for comparing the Stop the Steal protests to the day of infamy at Pearl Harbor and likened the protestors to the terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11.

First, lets be clear that those who stormed the Capitol smashed windows, caused death and injury to Capitol police and ransacked desks and offices. They were not merely protesters. Why does Ricketts keep calling them protestors when theyre not?

Second, I agree with the governor that the death and destruction associated with Pearl Harbor and 9/11 were far greater than Jan. 6. What Vice President Harris found so egregious, I believe, was the attempt on Jan. 6 to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from one president to another.

Neither the Japanese army nor Osama bin Laden was ever able to breach the halls of Congress to pull that off, but President Trump and his cohorts were successful in doing so for a short while. This is what Vice President Harris finds so treacherous, and what Governor Ricketts never mentions in his press release.

Frank Edler, Lincoln

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Major international airlines including Gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways, Air India, British Airways, Japan Airlines and Korean Air have canceled flights to the US amid concerns over 5G deployments planned by AT&T and Verizon.

The action is in response to fears that the activation of the C-band strand of the mobile phone service near American airports on Wednesday could disrupt planes' navigation systems, said media reports.

Boeing 777s are thought to be particularly at risk of being affected.

The rollout has gone ahead with 4,500 towers across the country but 500 towers that are near 88 unspecified airports are not being turned on due to fears the frequencies they emit could interfere with aircraft radar technology.

With this new development, flights to some of the popular US cities, including San Francisco, Dallas Fort Worth, Orlando, Seattle, Miami, Newark, Houston, Chicago, and Boston have been affected.

The airline companies have said that the flights are being suspended until further notice, stated the reports.

Due to deployment of 5G communications in the USA, our operations to the USA from India stand curtailed/revised with change in aircraft type from 19th January 2022, Air India informed via Tweet.

British Airways is among the European airlines which cancelled US flights over fears the 5G rollout could impact navigation systems onboard some incoming planes, reported The Daily Mail.

Airlines across Asia and several in the Middle East and Europe said they were cancelling some flights or switching models, with much of the initial disruption hitting the Boeing 777, for decades a workhorse of long-distance air travel.

Dubai carrier Emirates too informed the flyers about the change in schedule via a similar tweet.

Infact it was among top international carriers which rushed to rejig or cancel US flights ahead of a 5G wireless rollout today (January 19) that has triggered safety concerns, despite two wireless carriers saying they will delay parts of the deployment, reported Arab News.

Meanwhile, UAEs Etihad Airways is currently operating flights to New York, Washington DC and Chicago via the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Also Qatar Airways, another carrier from the GCC which operates both 777s and A350s to the US, is still operating as normal while evaluating the situation.

The Kingdom's national carrier Saudia Airlines, didn't announce any reaction to the situation yet.
MOUNT PLEASANT  A Milwaukee man has been accused of organizing a scheme to defraud Educators Credit Union, allegedly defrauding ECU out of thousands of dollars.

Omar L. Ward, 25, was charged with 11 felony counts of uttering a forgery, four felony counts of fraud against financial institution between $500-$10,000 and a felony count of organizer of financial crimes.

According to a criminal complaint:

On Aug. 24, a detective was assigned to investigate several ECU accounts which had fraudulent transactions. The transactions would use the mobile banking app and then were followed by immediate ATM withdrawals. The criminal scheme used is called "card cracking" where a scammer will post an ad to social media asking people with active bank accounts to contact them to earn money. The account holders give the scammer their login information and the debit card and PIN for the account.

The scammer then creates a fraudulent check for the account holder to deposit through the mobile banking app and withdraw money through an ATM as soon as the money becomes available in the account. The scammer then instructs the account holder to report the card as lost or stolen once they are done with the fraudulent activity on the account. They often tell the account holder that they will not be responsible for the financial loss.

Surveillance video from one of the incidents showed a man making withdrawals from an account and a car driven by an unknown woman that transported him after he finished.

A detective began searching Facebook and Instagram to identify additional suspects and was able to identify Ward as the primary person involved. In some of his social media photos, he is seen standing over a line of bank cards including at least one ECU card. He posts pictures of cash and asks that people who are trying to make money using a bank account contact him. He was observed consistently recruiting people with bank accounts to participate in the fraudulent scheme and offers to split the "profit" evenly with the account holder.

Between January and February 2021, ECU was allegedly defrauded out of $7,242.99 by Ward through this scheme.

Ward was given a $750 cash bond in Racine County Circuit Court on Tuesday. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 26 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave., online court records show.

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RACINE  Racine will be one of 16 places across Wisconsin hosting simultaneous rallies to call for fair maps, and an end to partisan redistricting and gerrymandering, at noon on Friday at Monument Square, 502 Main St.

The event, led by the SE Region Fair Maps Coalition, will begin with a welcome from coalition representative Nikki Fisher, according to a release from the organization.

Community leaders Dwight Mosby, president of the Racine Branch of the NAACP; Tom Rutkowski, environmental activist and member of the Southeast Gateway Group of Sierra Club who also is running for Racine County Board; Tamara Patton, local parent and education advocate; and Racine County District 1 Supervisor Nick Demske also are scheduled to speak at the rally.

The rally is taking place as the Wisconsin Supreme Court considers which maps will be used for state and federal elections for the next 10 years.

In late October, state Republicans  led by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and state Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu of Oostburg  proposed a new set of maps that were nearly identical to maps from 2011.

Republicans have called it a least changes map; meaning, the majority of the plan for the map is to readjust the map for population changes since 2011, and not much else.

The 2011 map, the coalition noted, was shut down by a panel of three federal judges in 2016 before that panel was overruled. Those judges in 2016 ruled there is no question  (the map) was designed to make it more difficult for Democrats, compared to Republicans, to translate their votes into seats.

The 2011 map also included significant changes from the map created 10 years prior, marking a change in priorities for the Republicans who drew the maps over the last decade.

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments on Democrats opposition to the Republicans new proposed maps.

Our goal is to let the Supreme Court know that we, the people of Wisconsin, are watching and we expect them to act in a nonpartisan manner, in the best interest of the people  not politicians  in deciding fair district maps for the next decade, Carlene Bechen, Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition organizer, said in a statement.

The rallies across the state are being organized by the WFMC, which is comprised of 26 organizations, including the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club of Wisconsin, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, the American Civil Liberties Union, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and the Wisconsin Farmers Union.

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A Dane County jury found Chandler Halderson guilty Thursday of the murder and dismemberment of his parents last summer.

After deliberating just over two hours, the jury found 23-year-old Halderson guilty of killing, cutting up and hiding the remains of Bart and Krista Halderson, as well as lying to law enforcement when he initially claimed his parents were missing after they left the Windsor house the family shared for a Fourth of July weekend trip in northern Wisconsin and never returned.

Chandler showed no apparent reaction when the verdicts were read, convicting him of two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and falsifying information about a missing person.

A first-degree intentional homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. Attorneys will be able to argue whether Chandler can ever be eligible for parole at a sentencing hearing scheduled in March.

I hope that it brings some satisfaction, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who did not prosecute the case, told reporters after the verdicts. We know that we cannot bring Bart and Krista back, but this is the first step to hopefully some finality.

After prosecutors spent a week and a half arguing the case, which has drawn national media attention, the defense rested Thursday morning without calling any witnesses or Chandler testifying.

In a closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Andrea Raymond walked jurors through events from July 1, when Chandler is said to have killed Bart, 50, and Krista, 53, through his arrest on July 8.

She reminded jurors of evidence and testimony seen throughout the trial, such as human bone fragments found in the familys fireplace, cutting tools with DNA matching Bart and Kristas, phone location data showing Chandler near where his parents remains were later found, and neighbors security cameras capturing what vehicles came and went from the house during that time.

We know that Bart and Krista went into that home and never came out, at least as whole people, Raymond said.

She compared solving a criminal case to putting together a puzzle, contending Chandler had eight days to spread pieces of that puzzle all over Wisconsin, at least southern Wisconsin.

They were normal folks just trying to live a normal life. They dont even get to be buried next to each other, Raymond said. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Im asking that you give justice to Krista and Bart Halderson and that you treat them with the dignity and respect that their own son hasnt given them.

Defense attorney Crystal Vera urged the jurors to consider what they dont know with regard to the two first-degree intentional homicide charges, but she seemingly conceded Chandler was guilty of other charges.

Do you know if it was an awful accident, do you know if it was intentional, do you know if there was someone else involved? Vera asked the jurors. You dont, and thats a problem.

She admitted Chandler is a liar and even goes to extreme lengths, if you will, to keep those lies going or to perhaps cover up those lies.

But Vera argued the prosecutions focus on Chandlers lies about attending Madison Area Technical College, working for American Family Insurance or being part of a scuba dive team for Madison police  regardless of how much of the truth was known to his parents  was more about tainting his credibility if he testified rather than a reasonable motive.

You were never told that they were going to kick him out of the house. You were never told that they were going to disown him. You were never told anything about why it matters, Vera said. If this is going to be motive, if this is the reason youre intentionally killing someone, it better matter.

In a rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney William Brown said: He had two options: Own up to his lies, stand up and finally tell the truth for once. Or like a coward, shoot your father in the back, and thats exactly what happened.

Questions remain

The Dane County Medical Examiners Office was unable to determine the precise cause of death for Krista, whose only remains found were her legs. Ozanne said Chandlers motive may never become clear.

The one thing that our traditional criminal justice system never really may get to is the why, he said. It may not. We cannot reach into somebody and figure out the why unless theyre willing to somehow give that information to us. We may never know.

Chandler reported his parents missing to the Dane County Sheriffs Office on July 7, claiming they left for a trip to the family cabin in Langlade County with an unknown couple and hadnt returned. Law enforcement quickly saw that story fall apart and arrested Chandler the following day.

In reality, prosecutors say, Chandler killed them after his father began catching on to his claims of attending MATC, and he spent the following days first trying to burn Bart and Krista in the fireplace before disposing of body parts at various locations.

Hours before Chandlers arrest, investigators discovered Barts gunshot torso in a rural Cottage Grove property. It wasnt until July 14  nearly two weeks after the murders were believed to have happened  that Kristas remains were found on state land in northwestern Dane County.

Given the scope of the investigation, which required searching multiple locations and involved several agencies, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said it came down to time and resources to put together the case, which he called historical.

He credited the professionalism and outstanding work of the Sheriffs Office detectives, deputies and staff in the first high-profile murder of Barretts tenure.

Despite a weeklong pause in the trial because Chandler tested positive for COVID-19 in the Dane County Jail, it concluded more than a week earlier than originally scheduled.

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on how the states next legislative and congressional district maps should be drawn  a decision before the court that could have major implications for state elections over the next decade.

The court took arguments for more than six hours from attorneys representing the GOP-led Legislature, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, members of the Republican congressional delegation, Senate Democrats and several other groups that submitted map proposals. Republicans have said maintaining the core of existing boundaries disenfranchises the fewest number of voters, but Democrats and proponents of nonpartisan legislative boundaries have criticized the proposal as an attempt by Republicans to lock in GOP-friendly districts in the states next 10-year maps.

The states high court, which has already ruled it will follow a least change approach when drawing the states next maps, is expected to issue a final decision in the coming weeks. One of the key factors brought up by several justices focused on whether submitted maps adhere to federal requirements in the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting.

Part of that question focuses on whether Milwaukee should have seven legislative districts with a majority of Black and Hispanic voters, as proposed by the group Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, or the six districts proposed by others including the GOP-led Legislature. Another question raised by conservative and crucial swing Justice Brian Hagedorn, who has sometime sided with liberal justices in the past, is what percentage of voters meets the legal definition of a majority.

How are we supposed to figure out at what stage weve crossed a line? I feel like were trying to hug a water balloon here, Hagedorn said.

A pending federal lawsuit filed by Democrats also could be taken up following the state Supreme Courts decision, specifically if the chosen maps meet those federal requirements.

Mel Barnes, staff counsel with the liberal firm Law Forward, which is representing Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, described the Voting Rights Act as being the heart and soul of this case. Barnes also pointed to comments made during Wednesdays hearing by judges including conservative Justice Patience Roggensack, who questioned the significance of the federal requirement in light of Black officials winning elections in the past over white candidates.

You cant throw out this law just because its been working, Barnes said at a press event after Wednesdays hearing. These protections continue to be important and the VRA continues to be the law of the land.

The court received proposed boundaries from Evers, the GOP-controlled Legislature, members of the Republican congressional delegation, state Senate Democrats, a group of Democratic voters and groups including Citizen Mathematicians and Scientists, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and immigrant rights organization Voces de la Frontera.

Least change approach

In a 4-3 decision last year, the court sided with Republicans request that the next maps deviate as little as possible from the current GOP-drawn maps and any changes should be related to population shifts as a result of the census. The decision likely means any of the maps ultimately accepted by the court will provide an advantage to Republicans, who hold strong majorities in both chambers due in part to maps they drew 10 years ago.

The state Supreme Courts conservative majority also said last year it will not consider partisan balance when drawing legislative maps, and instead ruled that, like the U.S. Supreme Court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has no standard to judge whether maps present an unfair partisan advantage.

The courts least change ruling dealt a major blow to Evers plan to submit boundaries drawn by the Peoples Maps Commission, which he created in 2020 to provide a citizen-led alternative to the Republican maps. Those maps deviated considerably from the existing maps, which Republicans drew in secret in 2011. Evers ultimately submitted new maps to the court.

Anthony Russomanno, an attorney with the Wisconsin Department of Justice who is representing Evers, said the governors maps are the best example of boundaries that follow the courts guidelines and the federal Voting Rights Act.

Taylor Meehan, the Legislatures attorney, said Evers legislative map should be deemed unconstitutional for moving around voters to create more districts with Black and Hispanic majorities.

Just because you can draw seven districts doesnt mean that its required, said Meehan.

However, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley questioned whether the Legislatures maps, which were vetoed by Evers last year, pass constitutional muster. Evers veto put the matter before the court.

Youre bringing to us maps it seems that didnt survive the constitutional process for passing legislation, Bradley said to Meehan.

Party in power

The Legislature must redraw political lines every decade based on the latest population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The mapmaking process can allow a party in power, even without statewide majority support, to create or increase a legislative majority based on how district lines are drawn.

In 2011, Republicans controlled the Legislature and governors office during a decennial redistricting process for the first time in decades and drew the maps in secret conditions that excluded Democrats. By packing Democratic voters in cities into lopsided districts and spreading out rural and suburban Republicans into districts with solid, but narrower, majorities, the maps allowed the GOP to hold more than 60% of legislative seats, even when Democrats won all statewide elections in 2018.

Republicans hold a 61-38 majority in the Assembly and 21-12 majority in the Senate as well as five of the states eight congressional seats.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also issued a stay in the Democratic-backed case pending further action by the state Supreme Court. Whether the federal court takes up the case hinges on whether the maps drawn by the state Supreme Court comply with requirements in federal law, such as the Voting Rights Act.

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Would you like fries with that order?

Sure.

How about my personal thoughts on (pick one): Black Lives Matter, Back the Badge, the War on Christmas, Jesus as your personal savior; LGBTQ discrimination, MAGA hats or Lets go Brandon?

Um, no, just the food order, please.

Far-fetched? No, not really, not if the National Labor Relations Board gets its way. The NLRB last fall accused Whole Foods of violating U.S. labor law by allegedly punishing workers who wore BLM masks  sending them home and, in some cases, firing them. The federal agency is pursuing labor charges on the basis that workers have the right under federal labor laws to engage in collective action related to workplace issues.

The complaint was leveled by NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a Biden appointee, and has been consolidated in San Francisco, alleging Whole Foods has violated worker rights in 10 states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Washington, Indiana and California.

Whole Foods, an upscale grocery chain, maintains that its the companys rights that are being violated and that the NLRB is trying to compel speech by Whole Foods in violation of the companys first amendment rights.

Whole Foods contends that Section 7 of the NLRA, which protects employees right to take collective action related to working conditions, doesnt extend to workers BLM messages, which it calls, political and/or social justice speech.

At issue is the companys dress code, which like those of many companies across the country doesnt allow attire with any logos, slogans or other advertising images that are not company-related while on the job.

Our dress code policy does not single out any one message or slogan, a Whole Foods spokesperson said, It is designed to create a workplace and shopping experience focused entirely on excellent service and high quality food.

The grocery chain has gotten support from the National Retail Federation which called the NLRBs accusations dangerous, according to news reports.

In effect, this policy places front-line managers in the role of monitoring and adjudicating conflicts involving social or political speech based on variable standards. The NRF said, adding that it supports the notion that employers should be able to maintain content-neutral dress codes that prohibit social or political advocacy speech in the workplace and allow employees to focus on serving their customers.

We agree. Spare us the social and political logos and any proselytizing for one cause or another when were grocery shopping or picking up fast food. Do that on your own time. Just tell us if the wild caught salmon is fresh and make sure you ring up the total correctly.

And the NLRB? Focus on more important issues and stop fomenting workplace trouble. If your legal attack succeeds when it goes to trial before an agency judge in March, youll be opening up a Pandoras box of trouble for a lot of businesses.

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1. Yes. Raising the bar for future developments will boost the citys housing market.

2. Yes. It will help in newer areas, but more needs to be done to change Killeens image.

3. No. The new standards will just slow down homebuilding and drive away developers.

4.No. The ordinance will do little more than drive up the price of new homes in the city.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say what the effect will be until they have been in place for a while.

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DaShawn McGrier, a Safe Streets violence interrupter at McElderry Park, was one of the three men shot and killed Wednesday night on E. Monument Street, a spokeswoman for the organization confirmed.

McGrier had been working with Safe Streets for a little over a month, going to welding school by day and joining the anti-violence program at night, said Living Classrooms Foundation spokeswoman Meg Ward, who called him hardworking and a devoted, present father.

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DaShawn McGrier, a Safe Streets worker, was killed Wednesday night in a quadruple shooting. (DaShawn McGrier)

Living Classrooms is a nonprofit that operates Safe Streets sites in the McElderry Park and Belair-Edison neighborhoods. He was working at the time he was shot, Ward said.

He was passionate about reducing violence in the community and wanted to be a positive part of that, Ward said. He was from the community. He wanted the best for his community.

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A police officer talks to people gathered near the scene of a shooting in the 2400 block of E. Monument St. on January 19, 2022. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

He knew that violence and trauma were present in the community, and he wanted to change that.

The quadruple shooting in East Baltimores Milton Montford neighborhood, several blocks east of Johns Hopkins Hospital, left three men dead and another person injured. Police on Friday identified the other victims who died as Tyrone Allen, 28, of Montford Avenue and Hassan Smith, 24, of Rockingham Court.

Police officers responded at about 7:25 p.m. to a ShotSpotter alert in the 2400 block of E. Monument Street, where they found four men suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

Another man was killed in another shooting Thursday afternoon in West Baltimore, near the 1600 block of W. North Avenue, bringing the death toll in less than 24 hours to four.

McGrier is the third Safe Streets worker to be killed in a little over a year. Kenyell Wilson was killed in Cherry Hill in July and Dante Barksdale was shot to death outside Douglass Homes last January.

McGrier also was the victim in 2018 of a savage beating by then-Baltimore Police Officer Arthur Williams that was caught on cellphone footage and went viral. The video and testimony at Williams criminal trial showed the attack came as McGrier was walking away from Williams and asking why are you harassing me.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Tanner found Williams guilty and sentenced him to nine months in prison, and McGrier received a settlement of $500,000 from the city. He was hospitalized for three days and suffered a broken jaw and broken ribs among other injuries.

Warren Brown, an attorney who represented McGrier in his lawsuit against Baltimore Police, said McGrier had received about $300,000 from the settlement, and had some sensible plans to start breeding high-end dogs and open a kennel.

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Brown didnt know McGrier had joined Safe Streets but said he wasnt surprised. The 2018 excessive force case was precipitated by McGriers intervention in a separate incident, when he came to the aid of a woman who officers were confronting, Brown said.

It sounds like that would have been him, Brown said. He was that kind of way.

Safe Streets is a city-backed organization with workers who have had their own scrapes with the law but are respected on the streets and step in to interrupt or mediate conflicts before violence occurs.

Mayor Brandon Scotts five-year crime-fighting plan calls for expanding the number of violence prevention programs and potentially revamping the current Safe Streets model. In October, Scott announced $50 million of the citys federal coronavirus recovery allocation would be put toward violence prevention work.

Our Safe Streets workers put their lives on the line day in and day out because they believe in a better future for our city  a future we all should believe in, Scott said in a statement released Wednesday night.

Ward said Thursday that the Safe Streets East team was heartbroken.

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It underscores the incredible need for violence interventions that work, added Ward, calling Safe Streets a research-based, evidence-based model. Our Safe Streets team believes in what they do.

In a statement provided by Ward, Cheryl Riviere, the managing director of community safety at Living Classrooms, said: DaShawn would always say that if we could change peoples mentality and give them some options, resources, a GED, a trade, a job ... Theyll listen.

Shantay Jackson, director of the Mayors Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that Safe Streets staff are feeling more determined to work aggressively to engage communities suffering from gun violence in the wake of this loss.

The mayors plan also calls for an evaluation of the current Safe Streets program seeking ways to prioritize the safety, support and training of outreach workers and site staff, according to Stefanie Mavronis, chief of staff for the Mayors Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, who has studied Safe Streets impact, said Wednesdays incident underscores the inherent danger of the violence interruption work, as well as the importance of offering workers protections, training and support.

Webster added he thought it appropriate to honor Safe Streets workers similarly to police officers killed in the line of duty, with the city recognizing that someone was risking their life on behalf of the communitys safety and lost their life.

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Such recognition would send a message to potential shooters that you just dont do this, Webster said, and a sign to violence interrupters that they are honored, revered and that the city is there for you (and) your communities are there for you.

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It is really critical in the response to this kind of tragedy that the city and the community really embraces the family, holds up this individual in the most respectful way possible, Webster said, and make a clear statement that these workers are very highly valued, doing a very important job.

A citywide Safe Streets response is expected to take place Saturday, Ward said, but details still were being finalized.

An early evaluation of Safe Streets by Johns Hopkins researchers found strong reductions in homicides and shootings in certain neighborhoods, but a more recent report in 2018 found that effects had waned over time. Researchers are analyzing additional data now, but Webster said it was too soon to share any information.

McElderry Park is the citys longest-running Safe Streets site, The Baltimore Sun previously reported, and has in the past seen stretches without homicides of up to 500 days. Safe Streets opened its first site roughly 15 years ago and has become a flagship anti-violence program in Baltimore, at a time when communities have called for public safety strategies outside of law enforcement.

Baltimores current model is largely the bare necessities, Webster added. A retooling of the system could include more intense interventions, with more connections to services, resources and supports, or a response across neighborhood boundaries.

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As we think about what can we expect from community violence intervention, we cant expect them to do miracles, Webster said. Thats what weve done: Weve put a relatively small number of workers, with a relatively modest amount of resources, spread out throughout our large city.

We have to build a system that matches the nature of the problem.
BERTRAND  Year-end donations from people in the Bertrand community have boosted a challenge grant fundraising effort well past its goal.

The Bertrand Area Community Fund plans a Jan. 30 celebration to mark the successful completion of the Holthus Challenge, which adds nearly half a million dollars to the funds unrestricted endowment.

The three-year, $300,000 community fundraising campaign ended at $322,000 and will be met by $150,000 given by York residents Kelly and Virginia Holthus, formerly of Bertrand.

The Holthuses issued the challenge in late 2017 with the stipulation that the community raise its share by Dec. 31, 2021.

Thank you to all our community members, all our BACF committee members, and especially Kelly and Virginia for making this possible. Its a cumulative deal. It took all of us  our time and efforts and willingness to come together to reach this goal, said Chris Davison, the BACF chair.

Kelly and Virginia were good friends of my grandparents. Their generosity will benefit our kids, and our kids kids, for generations, Davison said.

The community celebration is an open house at the Bertrand Community Building from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 30. People are invited to greet the Holthuses and share their dreams for the future of Bertrand. The BACF advisory committee members will serve cupcakes, coffee, tea and lemonade.

Current and past members of the funds advisory committee and others in the community served as make the ask volunteers for the hometown challenge, seeking pledges and cash donations from all residents and friends of the community, including their own friends and families.

The completion of the Holthus Challenge shows the commitment of this community to keeping our town strong for many generations to follow, said Joel High, past chair of the BACF advisory Committee. This includes some who have moved away that hold Bertrand very dear to their hearts.

What a positive impact this will make on the future of Bertrand. Im so proud to call Bertrand my hometown! said Beverly Hansen, a founder of BACF and its treasurer.

The funds will be placed in the BACF unrestricted endowment. Interest proceeds from the endowment investments are awarded, by application, as grants to nonprofits and government entities in an area roughly the same as the Bertrand school district.

BACF has historically awarded about $4,000 through two annual grant cycles. Projections show the new, higher endowment interest proceeds at about $20,000 per year.

Bertrand is a progressive community that seeks to continue to thrive. Were always trying to move forward, Davison said. He and his wife, Christina, chose Bertrand to raise their children after college and their first few years of marriage. I moved my family to this town for a lot of reasons. People do care about one another for the right reasons. Theres a lot of positives from a community standpoint.

Recent grants have funded technology for use at Bertrand Community School and Bertrand Nursing Home, a disc golf course planned and built by the 2020-21 fourth-grade class and their teachers, and a challenge grant made to Hi-Line Golf Course for clubhouse improvements and establishing a maintenance fund.

Grants have helped fund the Young at Heart Senior Center building project, an ambulance and equipment for the Bertrand Volunteer Fire Department and an initial study for the new village swimming pool complex.

Bertrand Area Community Fund is in its 10th year of existence. The goal of reaching assets of $1 million in its first decade is within $20,000 of reality.

During the years, more than 50 Bertrand residents have served as fund advisory committee members and campaign team members. Your time and dedication to our hometown puts philanthropy to work for all of us now and far into the future, Hansen said.

Bertrand Area Community Fund is an affiliated fund of the Nebraska Community Foundation, a network of funds across the state that work together for the mutual good of the communities and other entities they serve. Learn more at www.nebcommfound.org/give/bertrand-area-community-fund/.
Cody Mlsna has been promoted to credit officer by Bank First.

Mlsna joined Bank First through its merger with Timberwood Bank of Tomah in 2020 and has over five years of experience as a credit analyst. During his tenure, he has supported the Tomah business banking team by underwriting and helping structure commercial lending relationships, with a focus on agricultural banking.

Mlsna has become the Small Business Administration lead for the bank and assists with nearly every SBA loan originated at Bank First. In his expanded role, he will be a lead for the entire credit team by assisting with work flow administration, underwriting the banks most complex relationships, and training credit analysts.

Born and raised in Tomah, Mlsna received his associate degree in accounting from Western Technical College in La Crosse. He resides in Tomah his wife, Nicole.

Mlsnas promotion was one of five announced by Bank First in December, including Joan Woldt as executive vice president and co-chief operating officer

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St. Johns Lutheran Church in Ridgeville in hosting a pizza sale as a fundraiser for St. Johns pastor Robert Gerke, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Pizzas available are sausage, pepperoni or combination and must be ordered in advance. Deadline for orders is Sunday, Jan. 30. To order, call chairperson Jean Waege 608-435-6787 or contact church members.

Pizzas for pick up will be available Saturday, Feb. 5 in the church Fellowship Hall beginning at noon. The cost is $10 each with payment at time of pick up. Delivery can be arranged.

Sponsors of the fundraiser are joint congregations at St. Johns, St. Jacobs and St. Peters and Denny Kuehl and UpTown Pizza with assistance from Thrivent Community Action.

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I may be old school but at least on my good days, I try to follow the commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. And perhaps, unfortunately, there is no loophole for members of a different political party, advocacy group or individuals who are otherwise thought to be jerks.

In early 2021, a Wisconsin politician rejected the idea of advocating COVID-19 vaccinations by saying in a radio interview, What do you care if your neighbor has one or not?

He now has his answer: vaccinated and unvaccinated alike are living through an experience unprecedented in my almost 50 years in health care  an American health care system on the edge  hospitals pushed by COVID-19 beyond their capacity and not infrequently without enough staff to assure their communities of the care they need.

The bottom line is that there is a reason for the tradition of emphasizing the importance of community  when we each give something of ourselves, we all tend to be better served.

So, yes, I think it is the responsibility of us all to think about the health care available in rural and in urban communities. Ironically, while our hospitals have been fighting for the lives and well-being of their communities and staff, we have never been under greater threat from some health insurers who, not satisfied with record-breaking profits, have become even more aggressive.

Here are just a few of the health insurer behaviors ramped up during the height of the pandemic:

A just say no culture re: appeals for medically necessary patient care.

Requiring patients to leave town for services available locally.

Requiring patients to use insurers owned pharmacy and not from their local in-network hospital.

Retroactive denial of claims for needed emergency room care.

Refusing to sign-up new rural physicians recruited to replace those retiring.

The recent response to the above behaviors from a power broker for health insurers in our state capital raised many eyebrows when he supported the aggressive trend against rural hospitals by dismissively shouting not my business to worry about rural health care.

To be fair, these behaviors are not just found in rural markets.

The just say no attitude came very close to home when our granddaughter, a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic, was denied reimbursement for an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor because the insurer didnt see her as meeting their criteria of having poor control. After a couple of tries she won her appeal (with her physicians full support), suggesting that the insurer take the time to actually read the documents she had filed. With pages of graphs and narrative, she demonstrated that her numbers had significantly improved only after her parents had acquired the CGM without waiting for the insurers permission.

Being tenacious should not be a requirement for fair access to needed health care. Without getting into the pros and cons of the role of health insurers in American health care, it is still true, as Abraham Lincoln said over a hundred and 50 years ago, a house divided against itself cannot stand.

RWHC has long advocated for the development of better relations between rural hospitals and health insurers. To aid that process, we have developed Priorities for Rural-Friendly Health Insurers available at https://bit.ly/3K939sD.

Over 500 rural hospitals in the U.S. were at immediate risk of closure before the COVID-19 pandemic and now more than 800 hospitals  40% of all rural hospitals in the countryare either at immediate or high risk of closure according to a report from the Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform. It would be foolish for any of us to assume we are immune from these trends and their impact on access to local quality care. It is all of our business to worry about rural health.

Tim Size is executive director of Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, Sauk City. RWHC is owned and operated by 43 rural hospitals, including Tomah Health.

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A personal injury suit against the School District of La Crosse will be allowed to proceed, but the judge hearing the case warned the plaintiffs attorney about his contacts with the media.

La Crosse County Circuit Court Judge Todd Bjerke Wednesday rejected a motion from the district and its insurance carrier to dismiss the case of an 11-year-old boy injured during a 2018 field trip to the former Mathy rock quarry. The sixth-grade student at Coulee Montessori School fell nearly 20 feet from a steep hill with loose rocks and fractured the femur in his left leg. The family filed a lawsuit in April 2020 and is asking for unspecified damages.

The school district sought a gag order after the plaintiffs attorney, Timothy Jacobson, approached the media with details of the case. According to a motion filed by district attorney Thomas Donnelly, Jacobson forwarded eight documents to a local television station, including three motions supporting the plaintiffs position, two discovery exhibits and an x-ray.

In his motion, Donnelly accused the plaintiffs of attempting to try the case in the media and risking a tainted jury pool.

By forwarding their entire case to the media (thereby making the media the gatekeeper for dissemination of information), plaintiffs actions have greatly complicated the jury process, Donnelly wrote.

Bjerke declined to issue the gag order but shared Donnellys concerns.

It concerns me when someone tries to utilize the media to somehow bolster their case, Bjerke said. Your attempts to incite the people in the area will have an issue on the selection of a jury.

Bjerke raised the possibility of needing to impanel a jury from outside the area and addressed Jacobson directly on the topic.

At that point, the court may very well impose sanctions, Bjerke said. I wont do a gag order, but youre on notice that you better be careful.

Jacobsen acknowledged that he initiated the media contact and accused the district of trying to evade accountability. He called the gag order another attempt by the school district to avoid any accountability for their actions in this case  lets just sweep everything under the rug; we dont want the public the public to know what our public officials are doing.

Jacobson argued the plaintiffs have a First Amendment right to discuss the case in public. He said thats especially true in a civil case because theres no criminal defendant with a Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. He called a gag order an unconstitutional restraint on speech and rejected the notion that releasing information would prejudice a jury thats not expected to be picked for another five months.

Bjerke addressed the gag order after ruling that the case should proceed. He rejected Donnellys arguments that case law holds the school district to a lower standard of liability. He said the teachers involved should have known not to allow their students to climb what he described as an attractive nuisance.

Its amazing ... that the teacher would feel that it was safe for students to scramble up without any equipment, Bjerke said.

In a third ruling, Bjerke rejected a motion by Jacobson to sanction the defense for making a frivolous motion to dismiss.

A hearing is set for Jan. 20 to consider a plaintiffs motion to disqualify a defense witness described by the plaintiffs as a Hollywood stunt coordinator.

If there is no settlement, the case is expected to go before a jury in June.

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The largest gift in UW-La Crosse history.

That was the highlight of Chancellor Joe Gow's opening remarks for the spring semester on Wednesday, with classes set to resume at the start of next week.

Sometimes, we know a gift is coming, and we have people working on it and shaping it, Gow said. Other times, there may be people who give you a gift, but you dont really know its coming.

The $2.2 million estate gift from Bill and Yvonne Hyde falls squarely in the second category.

Bill taught in the English Department from 1956 to 1992, while Yvonne worked in Murphy Library, mostly in cataloging, from 1957 to 1995.

After Bills death in January 2015 and Yvonnes death in April 2021, the couple left much of their estate to the UW-L Foundation, setting aside $1.1 million for the English Department and $1.1 million for Murphy Library.

This is UW-Ls second large gift announced this week: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust, led by trustees Jay and Carolyn Scott, is giving the La Crosse Community Foundation nearly $500,000 for the construction of a research vessel for UW-Ls River Studies Center.

People like the Hydes and Jay and Carolyn Scott are powerful reminders that we are a UW-L family, Gow said. They appreciate what were trying to do and how good we are, and they want to support it and keep it going for a long, long time.

Its still being determined how the Hyde estate gift will be used. Staff, faculty and administrators say the infusion of funding will have profound effects in the classroom and beyond.

Karl Kunkel, dean of UW-L's College of Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, called it a "truly transformational gift that will take the very good work happening in our English Department to the next level of excellence."

Said English Chair Kate Parker: We were absolutely amazed to receive this extraordinary gift  a testament to the Hydes generosity and their long-standing commitment to the value of a liberal arts education. Their gift will immeasurably impact the department and inspire faculty and students and the communities we serve for years to come.

John Jax, Murphy Library director, said the donation will create learning opportunities far beyond what the library's strained budget could usually provide.

"Ultimately, this gift puts the library in a great position to better support student success at UW-L," Jax said. "We can work to improve about every facet of our unit, such as our services, event programming, space/facility, resource collections, technology, equipment, professional development and other things that will have tremendous benefit for UW-Ls students, faculty, staff and the local community."

The Hydes were longtime supporters of UW-L, and of the English Department and Murphy Library in particular. Over the years, they gave many thousands of dollars toward student scholarships, educational programming, the cost of guest speakers and learning materials, and more.

This latest example of their generosity comes as no surprise.

In the history of UW-L, few people have been as generous, supportive and impactful as Bill and Yvonne Hyde," said Greg Reichert, vice chancellor for Advancement and president of the UW-L Foundation.

"This endowment is a transformational gift for our English Department and Murphy Library, as well as a reminder of Bill and Yvonnes unwavering commitment to our university and our students.

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Howard County Council members were bombarded with pleas on Tuesday night to pass emergency legislation allowing for the disbursement of funds from the Citizens Election Fund to candidates in contested county races.

About 15 people, including former County Executive Allan Kittleman, who is again running for that position, and former county council members, election fund committee members and residents spoke in favor of releasing the funds during the first night of a multi-day legislative public hearing.

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To be eligible for up to $85,000 in matching county funds from the CEF, council candidates must collect at least $10,000 from at least 125 donations. Funds are only available to candidates in contested races, meaning at least two candidates names must appear on the ballot. The rules also state that the determination date for when a race is contested is six months prior to the Feb. 22 state filing deadline. In other words, the deadline was Aug. 3, 2021.

Councilwoman Deb Jung, who is running for re-election to her District 4 seat, was denied a request for matching funds from the CEF earlier this month by Rafiu Ighile, Howard Countys director of finance. The funds disbursement had been approved earlier by the Howard County finance department and the State Board of Elections, but Ighile said Jungs race was not contested by the Aug. 3 deadline, and so funds could not be disbursed to her.

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In December, Hank Boyd filed to run for the District 4 council seat, along with Jung.

Sue Geckle, chair of the Citizens Election Fund committee, told the council Tuesday that she first became aware of the Aug. 3, 2021 deadline in September and submitted a letter to County Executive Calvin Ball on Oct. 19 asking for emergency legislation to fix it.

This is honestly the third time Ive testified for this program, Geckle said. Im shocked and disappointed I have to do it again.

Howard County Times: Top stories Weekdays Daily highlights from Howard County's number one source for local news. >

As a participant in the fund, Councilwoman Christiana Rigby questioned if she could vote on the issue as it would directly benefit her political campaign. She informed the council that she asked the countys ethics commission about her concerns and hoped for an answer by Jan. 25.

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Many speakers said there was no conflict of interest.

I think we are contorting ourselves on all kinds of agitated manners to avoid acting, Councilwoman Liz Walsh said.

The Citizens Election Fund was created after Howard County voters approved a measure in 2016 to allow for a publicly funded election campaign system, which allows candidates who raise enough small donations and shun large contributions to receive matching funds from a county fund.
This just seems like a real unforced error, said Nick Fleisher, a UW-Milwaukee professor who leads the Wisconsin conference of the American Association of University Professors. Talking to the public is a major part of the presidents job. The fact that (the UW Board of Regents) arent giving finalists that opportunity is strange and, I think, a mistake.

AFT-Wisconsin, which represents unionized faculty and staff at UW campuses, and PROFS, a UW-Madison faculty advocacy group, also called this week for public interviews.

The Regents expect to vote on a new president by the end of the month.

PROFS president Michael Bernard-Donals said he could not recall another time in his 24 years at the university when a significant leadership search did not include a public session with finalists.

Its hugely disappointing, especially after the Regents have gone a good distance to involve more input from campuses, he said. If (the finalists) are not up to the task, it would be important to know.

The Systems second search had, up to this point, ticked many of the boxes that were absent from its first hiring attempt, which ended with the sole finalist withdrawing because of process issues.

At least one representative from each of the 13 universities was included on the search committee. The group held 32 listening sessions across the state to gather input on what people want in the next president. And the System on Friday announced two finalists, Foley & Lardner CEO Jay Rothman and UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt.

Rothman and Schmidt privately interviewed Tuesday with a committee of six Regents. They also took questions behind closed doors from some other groups, such as chancellors, System executive leaders, and campus representatives. Shared governance leaders picked the representatives, which included two faculty, four staff and two students.

Karen Walsh, who is chairing the search committee, said no public interviews would be held because the committee already received an extraordinary amount of public input during listening sessions in September and October.

That reason, frankly, doesnt make any sense, Fleisher said. Were at a different point in the search where we have finalists.

Expanded access?

Walsh in a statement Wednesday highlighted the listening sessions, large search committee and shared governance interview involvement as ways in which access was expanded. She also noted that four media outlets, including the Wisconsin State Journal, interviewed the finalists to ensure that the public would have a full understanding of each of the candidates.

The media interviews entailed two questions from each news outlet for a total of eight questions, all of which were submitted before reporters knew who the finalists were. Each finalist was asked the same set of questions.

Our intent was to build a process that was constructive for candidates, leadership, shared governance, the university community, and the public, Walsh said. The fact of the matter is that we added three new, meaningful ways to expand access and introduce candidates, which also afforded the university community more seats at the table to help shape the decision.

System spokesperson Mark Pitsch declined to say how many candidates the larger search and screen committee forwarded to the smaller Regent committee for consideration and if there were any finalists who withdrew from the process before being named, as was the case in the last search.

Finalists were not presented the option of a public forum, Pitsch said.

Rothman did not respond to an email Wednesday asking if he would agree to a public interview. Schmidt said Regents are responsible for designing the search process and he has participated in each phase as requested.

Previous search

The public forum held in the previous presidential search generated substantial opinions about the candidate.

UW faculty were largely unimpressed by sole finalist Jim Johnsens performance during a Zoom interview in June 2020. In response to one question about diversity, the University of Alaska System president characterized himself as a minority when he worked at a Native Alaskan-owned company where the majority of employees were Native Alaskan. His remark on the states economy  where Alaskans pay no income tax and receive an annual handout from the oil savings account in comparison to Wisconsinites who chip in  angered faculty back in his home state.

Hours after Johnsens interview, Tom Fitch, a Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates consultant assisting the System in its search, pushed board leaders to consider keeping the video on a more private server instead of making it widely accessible to the public.

We have been operating under the assumption that it would not be and have told Jim (Johnsen) that, Fitch said, according to emails first reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. Have you let him know? We fear it may cause real issues for him back in Alaska if/when the media jumps on it.

Drew Petersen, who was board president at the time, declined the idea, saying its important to maintain transparency.

Johnsen withdrew from the Wisconsin search two days after his interview. Ten days after that, he resigned from his Alaska job.

Looking back on the failed search, Fleisher said the sole public session offered important insight into the candidate. A Tuesday statement from his group concludes: Whatever else may be said about that search, it is inarguable that the public gained valuable information, and that the end result was better for it.

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The state Elections Commission and a group of voting rights advocacy organizations on Thursday filed appeals to a Waukesha County judges ruling last week barring the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state.

Jeffrey Mandell, an attorney with the liberal law firm Law Forward, said one appeal  filed by Disability Rights Wisconsin, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice  also seeks a stay on Judge Michael Bohrens ruling to allow absentee ballot drop boxes to be used until after the April 5 spring election. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul also filed an appeal Thursday on behalf of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

An emergency meeting has been scheduled for Friday on the groups motion for a stay. Mandell filed the appeal shortly after Bohrens order was signed Thursday.

State statutes do not address the use of ballot drop boxes, though the Elections Commission issued guidance in early 2020 to allow election clerks to make use of them. The boxes were widely used in the state that year as an alternative for voters worried that, with the crush of absentee ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic and potential delays in mail delivery, their ballots might not make it back before Election Day.

Bohren last week ruled in a case brought by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that there is no statutory authority to have drop boxes used for the collection of absentee ballots outside of allowed use at an alternate absentee ballot location or at a clerks office.

We are pleased the court made this clear, providing Wisconsin voters with certainty for forthcoming elections, WILL deputy counsel Luke Berg said in a statement last week.

WILL filed the lawsuit last year just days after the state Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling turned back a separate attempt by a major Republican donor to ban the boxes.

(Bohren) says that drop boxes are illegal under Wisconsin law because theyre not mentioned in the statute, but telephones arent mentioned in the Bible and nobody thinks that means they are evil and sinful, Mandell said Thursday. Absentee drop boxes that are secure and properly monitored are an entirely reasonable way for municipal clerks to accept absentee ballot returns. Theres nothing in the state that says to the contrary.

Bohren also said state law only allows absentee ballots to be mailed in or delivered to the clerk in person, a ruling Mandell called an absurd and preposterous interpretation of the law.

If you complete your absentee ballot, sign and seal it and by mistake you leave it on the kitchen table and you ask your spouse to put it in the mail, it cannot be that in that circumstance that you and your spouse have both committed voter fraud, Mandell said.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court also could take up the topic of drop boxes in a lawsuit filed last year by Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch challenging the commissions guidance on drop boxes. The states high court has not said if it will take up the case before it goes through lower courts.

Another lawsuit was filed earlier this month by a Waukesha County resident represented by WILL. The voter is suing the Elections Commission for rejecting a complaint he filed last year regarding ballot drop boxes.

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The Milwaukee County District Attorneys Office has suggested that state or federal officials take up a complaint filed almost a year ago alleging 10 Wisconsin Republicans committed fraud by signing official-looking documents seeking to hand the states Electoral College votes to former President Donald Trump.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal sent a letter Wednesday to Jeffrey Mandell, a lawyer with the liberal law firm Law Forward who filed the complaint, suggesting that the state or federal justice department would be best suited to determine what steps, if any, should be taken on the matter.

This office has already consulted with the Wisconsin DOJ to discuss these matters, Westphal wrote in the letter. The Milwaukee County District Attorneys Office will be available to provide any necessary assistance to the extent available.

The complaint was filed early last year after 10 Republicans convened in the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign official-looking documents purporting that Trump had won the state. On the same day, the Democratic slate of Wisconsin electors also met at the building to deliver the states 10 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden.

The meeting of Republicans occurred an hour after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Biden had won the election and a month after Wisconsin county clerks canvassed the presidential election results. A recount and court decisions have affirmed that Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

I understand the letter to say that the district attorneys office has conducted a legal analysis and believes that there are significant issues here and possible legal violations, Mandell said Thursday.

An envelope used by Republicans to mail the paperwork to the archivist of the United States provided by Mandell shows that it was mailed on Dec. 16, 2020, two days after the Republicans met, as well as two days after the Supreme Court ruled that Biden had won the November election. The return address on the envelope lists the Chairperson of the Electoral College of Wisconsin.

A matter of jurisdiction

Westphal noted in the letter that a statewide agency would be better suited to take up the matter because the 10 Republicans listed reside across Wisconsin. Westphal also noted that Mandells allegations are comparable to those made in six other states where Republicans signed similar paperwork alleging that Trump won the 2020 election.

The behaviors you describe are matters effecting statewide and nationwide interests, Westphal wrote.

Mandell also noted that he believes the Dane County District Attorneys office may have a level of jurisdiction over the matter, as the meeting of Republicans occurred at the Capitol building in Madison.

The letter, first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, could put the matter before Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who has not ruled out the possibility that he may look into the complaint.

Michigans attorney general last week asked federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into 16 Republicans who submitted false certificates stating they were the states presidential electors despite Bidens victory in 2020.

I believe its critical that the federal government fully investigates and prosecutes any unlawful actions in furtherance of any seditious conspiracy, Kaul said last week. Kauls office reiterated his statement when asked Thursday if he plans to take up Mandells complaint.

Multiple agencies, including the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and the Office of Lawyer Regulation, the agency that handles complaints against lawyers, have yet to rule on the complaints, which were filed almost a year ago.

Republican Party of Wisconsin chair Paul Farrow on Monday described the allegations as a frivolous complaint that doesnt deserve the time of day.

Signed documents

Liberal watchdog group American Oversight last March obtained official-looking certificates submitted by Republicans claiming to be electors in Wisconsin and six other states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. New Mexico and Pennsylvania Republicans added a caveat saying it was done in case they were later recognized as duly elected, qualified electors.

Whats more, Politico reported earlier this month the U.S. House committee investigating the insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, also is investigating documents submitted by Republican electors in several states. The implication is that Republicans were trying to present Vice President Mike Pence with conflicting slates of electors so that he could throw the election to a House vote that would hand the election to Trump, something Pence refused to do.

In Wisconsin, Republicans who signed the paperwork include former chair of the state Republican Party Andrew Hitt; Robert Spindell, a Republican who sits on the state elections commission; 8th Congressional District GOP chair Kelly Ruh; 1st Congressional District GOP vice chair Carol Brunner; Dane County Republican Party chair Scott Grabins; La Crosse County Republican Party chair Bill Feehan; 5th Congressional District GOP chair Kathy Kiernan; 6th Congressional District GOP chair Darryl Carlson; 1st Congressional District GOP vice chair Pam Travis; and Mary Buestrin, vice chair of the Midwest region for the Republican National Convention.

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Chandler Haldersons cellphone traveled to the remote, rural areas of Sauk County and the town of Cottage Grove where parts of his parents dismembered bodies would eventually be found, a criminal analyst with the state Department of Justice testified Wednesday, a dramatic revelation in the trial as the prosecutions case nears its end.

In compelling testimony, jurors watched an animated map of Bart, Chandler and Krista Haldersons cellphones moving throughout the region in the days following the elder Haldersons deaths last July.

After the July 4 weekend, Chandler Haldersons cellphone traveled out to the state-owned land in Sauk County where his mothers dismembered legs would later be found, said Courtney Ripp, the criminal analyst, as the presentation was shown in court. Over the ensuing days, his cellphone traveled multiple times to the town of Cottage Grove property where his fathers torso was eventually recovered. Halderson is charged with killing and dismembering his parents all while lying to investigators about their disappearance.

The hours of testimony and extensive evidence presented in the case has seldom provoked objections or intense cross-examinations from Haldersons attorneys, led by public defender Catherine Dorl. That changed Wednesday.

Dorl argued against the admission of text messages between Chandler and his parents in the hours before their deaths. Circuit Judge John Hyland, who is presiding over the case, allowed the texts to be admitted.

The centerpiece of those texts was one Bart Halderson sent to his son the day prosecutors say Bart died, after he learned that Chandler had been lying for months about attending Madison Area Technical College. Im ready whenever you are, it read.

Lies about his education and having a job, and his parents eventual unraveling of those lies, is what prosecutors say drove Chandler to kill his parents, dismember them and burn their bodies in the family fireplace before spreading what was left throughout southern Wisconsin.

Jurors got a deeper look Wednesday into exactly how prosecutors say those lies were spun, reviewing fake email accounts they said Chandler created to pose as MATC and American Family Insurance staff to string along his parents with the lie he was in school and had a job.

The email chains presented in court show Chandler trading emails with purported student advisers about receiving a copy of his transcript and a certificate for training in solar panel design and engineering.

In email exchanges spanning from September 2020 to June 2021, Chandler interacts with an Alyssa Brandt, Aaron Hoover and Daniel Spieth, none of whom have ever been employed at the college, the director of MATCs employee relations testified Wednesday.

One of the exchanges, dated June 10, shows Chandler emailing Brandt demanding to speak with someone about obtaining his transcript.

I need to have a call with whomever is in charge in the next 30 minutes. I have been a student for over 3 years and I will be treated fairly, Chandler wrote.

In response, Brandt replies that she had forwarded Chandlers message to a superior.

Records obtained through Google show that email and others were sent from the Halderson homes IP address and that the accounts didnt interact with anyone other than Chandler.

Chandlers MATC transcripts introduced as evidence on Wednesday also show that he attended the college from the spring of 2018 to the fall of 2020, though he mostly withdrew or failed classes like Basic Statistics and the Psychology of Human Relations.

As Bart Halderson grew frustrated over not obtaining Chandlers transcripts, he called MATC only to be told that his son had not been enrolled in classes as he claimed, the schools enrollment coordinator, Omar Jobe, testified on Wednesday.

I spoke to Omar Jobe, Bart later texted Chandler.

Bart would eventually die by multiple gunshot wounds to the back, officials with the Dane County Medical Examiners Office have testified. A precise cause of Krista Haldersons death has not been determined though it has been ruled a homicide.

The last text she sent to her son read, hope things are going well. Thinking about you :).

Over the coming weeks, investigators would eventually recover Barts torso at the town of Cottage Grove property, which is tied to Chandlers former girlfriend. A rifle, saws and bloodied tarps were also found on the property. Kristas legs were found later on the state-owned land in Sauk County.

The day he was arrested for lying to investigators, Chandler was searching Google for news items about bodies being found in Wisconsin, testified Ripp, the state criminal analyst. Chandler also searched for a state appeals court ruling in the case of Peter Kupaza, a Wisconsin man who killed and dismembered his cousin in 1999.

On Tuesday, jurors saw evidence from the Wisconsin State Crime Lab showing Chandlers fingerprints were on duct tape attached to a tarp covered in his fathers blood that was found at the town of Cottage Grove property. Other evidence shown to jurors on Tuesday included a bullet fragment found in the Halderson basement was fired from the SKS rifle prosecutors say Chandler used to shoot his father, analysts testified.

The rifle in question was given to Chandler as a gift from Andrew Smith, a Kansas man who took the witness stand on Tuesday. Smith met Chandler playing online video games, he testified, and when he visited Chandler weeks before the death of his parents, Chandler had hid the rifle in the family basement.

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A Dane County jury found Chandler Halderson guilty Thursday of the murder and dismemberment of his parents last summer.

After deliberating just over two hours, the jury found 23-year-old Halderson guilty of killing, cutting up and hiding the remains of Bart and Krista Halderson, as well as lying to law enforcement when he initially claimed his parents were missing after they left the Windsor house the family shared for a Fourth of July weekend trip in northern Wisconsin and never returned.

Chandler showed no apparent reaction when the verdicts were read, convicting him of two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and falsifying information about a missing person.

A first-degree intentional homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. Attorneys will be able to argue whether Chandler can ever be eligible for parole at a sentencing hearing scheduled in March.

I hope that it brings some satisfaction, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who did not prosecute the case, told reporters after the verdicts. We know that we cannot bring Bart and Krista back, but this is the first step to hopefully some finality.

After prosecutors spent a week and a half arguing the case, which has drawn national media attention, the defense rested Thursday morning without calling any witnesses or Chandler testifying.

In a closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Andrea Raymond walked jurors through events from July 1, when Chandler is said to have killed Bart, 50, and Krista, 53, through his arrest on July 8.

She reminded jurors of evidence and testimony seen throughout the trial, such as human bone fragments found in the familys fireplace, cutting tools with DNA matching Bart and Kristas, phone location data showing Chandler near where his parents remains were later found, and neighbors security cameras capturing what vehicles came and went from the house during that time.

We know that Bart and Krista went into that home and never came out, at least as whole people, Raymond said.

She compared solving a criminal case to putting together a puzzle, contending Chandler had eight days to spread pieces of that puzzle all over Wisconsin, at least southern Wisconsin.

They were normal folks just trying to live a normal life. They dont even get to be buried next to each other, Raymond said. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Im asking that you give justice to Krista and Bart Halderson and that you treat them with the dignity and respect that their own son hasnt given them.

Defense attorney Crystal Vera urged the jurors to consider what they dont know with regard to the two first-degree intentional homicide charges, but she seemingly conceded Chandler was guilty of other charges.

Do you know if it was an awful accident, do you know if it was intentional, do you know if there was someone else involved? Vera asked the jurors. You dont, and thats a problem.

She admitted Chandler is a liar and even goes to extreme lengths, if you will, to keep those lies going or to perhaps cover up those lies.

But Vera argued the prosecutions focus on Chandlers lies about attending Madison Area Technical College, working for American Family Insurance or being part of a scuba dive team for Madison police  regardless of how much of the truth was known to his parents  was more about tainting his credibility if he testified rather than a reasonable motive.

You were never told that they were going to kick him out of the house. You were never told that they were going to disown him. You were never told anything about why it matters, Vera said. If this is going to be motive, if this is the reason youre intentionally killing someone, it better matter.

In a rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney William Brown said: He had two options: Own up to his lies, stand up and finally tell the truth for once. Or like a coward, shoot your father in the back, and thats exactly what happened.

Questions remain

The Dane County Medical Examiners Office was unable to determine the precise cause of death for Krista, whose only remains found were her legs. Ozanne said Chandlers motive may never become clear.

The one thing that our traditional criminal justice system never really may get to is the why, he said. It may not. We cannot reach into somebody and figure out the why unless theyre willing to somehow give that information to us. We may never know.

Chandler reported his parents missing to the Dane County Sheriffs Office on July 7, claiming they left for a trip to the family cabin in Langlade County with an unknown couple and hadnt returned. Law enforcement quickly saw that story fall apart and arrested Chandler the following day.

In reality, prosecutors say, Chandler killed them after his father began catching on to his claims of attending MATC, and he spent the following days first trying to burn Bart and Krista in the fireplace before disposing of body parts at various locations.

Hours before Chandlers arrest, investigators discovered Barts gunshot torso in a rural Cottage Grove property. It wasnt until July 14  nearly two weeks after the murders were believed to have happened  that Kristas remains were found on state land in northwestern Dane County.

Given the scope of the investigation, which required searching multiple locations and involved several agencies, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said it came down to time and resources to put together the case, which he called historical.

He credited the professionalism and outstanding work of the Sheriffs Office detectives, deputies and staff in the first high-profile murder of Barretts tenure.

Despite a weeklong pause in the trial because Chandler tested positive for COVID-19 in the Dane County Jail, it concluded more than a week earlier than originally scheduled.

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WATERLOO, Iowa  A man suspected in the shooting death of his girlfriend and shooting and injuring his teenage daughter in Wisconsin was taken into custody after a standoff at a home in Waterloo, Iowa, on Wednesday.

Simone S. Hughes, 47, of Milwaukee, was ushered out of a garage at 136 East Parker St., a brown and white one-story home near the intersection with East Fourth Street.

Hughes was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for observation initially as he had made threats to harm himself, according to Waterloo Police.

Police say the standoff started at a home in the 100 block of E. Parker at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday in sub-zero temperatures, trying to get Hughes  apparently the lone occupant of the house  to surrender. Police said Hughes said he was armed.

According to Waterloo Police, during the standoff, Hughes ran from officers and hid in a vehicle in a nearby garage. Hughes was finally walked into a waiting ambulance just after 9:20 a.m.

Hughes was charged by Milwaukee Police last week of first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting death of Quinette N. Walters, 41, who was Hughes' girlfriend, on Jan. 6. He was also charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting his 14-year-old daughter, who survived.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Hughes' daughter told detectives she heard her parents arguing and her mother telling Hughes she no longer wanted to be with him. Hughes allegedly hit Walters, and when she ran out of their Milwaukee house to flee, he shot her. A neighbor reported seeing Hughes standing over Walters and shooting her twice at point-blank range.

Hughes' daughter ran back into the house and locked Hughes out, and he fired a shot through the door. She ran upstairs when he unlocked the door, and she jumped out of a window. Hughes then began shooting at her from the window before leaving the residence.

Waterloo Police and tactical teams got a tip he was at the East Parker Street home. It was unclear what connection Hughes had to the area.

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Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Thursday disciplined a lawmaker who falsely claimed that former President Donald Trump won the battleground state and that he wanted to award the states electoral votes to him, even though that is not possible.

Vos, R-Rochester, removed the lone staff member assigned to Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport, but it appears the reason was not his comments about who won the election. The move was first reported by WisPolitics.com and confirmed Thursday by Vos office.

The move to discipline Ramthun, who has vocally advocated election conspiracy theories, came after he falsely accused Vos of signing a deal with attorneys for former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to authorize absentee ballot drop boxes, Vos office said.

After extensive caucus discussions and dozens of members expressing their displeasure with Representative Ramthun and his staff for using state resources to spread bold-faced lies to people outside of his district, the decision was made to move his staff, Vos spokesperson Angela Joyce said.

Every lawmaker gets at least one staff member to answer the phones, respond to emails, handle scheduling and deal with other tasks associated with holding office. Now Ramthun faces doing all of that work himself.

Ramthun did not return a message seeking comment.

Ramthun also proposed a resolution this week to reclaim Wisconsins 10 electoral college votes and recorded a message that demanded lawmakers take action on it. Attorneys for the Legislature have said it is impossible to do what Ramthun wants.

Vos briefly addressed the issue at a news conference Thursday, while defending an ongoing investigation that he ordered into the 2020 election.

We have said over and over that our election review is only to add and figure out the way that there were issues in 2020 going forward, Vos said. But every member has a right to their own beliefs.  Even though every lawyer that we have worked with in Wisconsin says we cannot undo the 2020 elections, Representative Ramthun has that belief. Thats his right.

The entire Republican Assembly leadership team issued a statement backing the decision to discipline Ramthun, saying he and his staffer were spreading lies. Their statement said Ramthun falsely alleged that Vos was working with Clintons attorney and that Republicans could award the states electoral college votes to Trump.

No matter how much Rep. Ramthun and his staffer believe what they are saying is true, it does not make it so, the GOP leaders said. Sending out communications full of lies is doing disservice to all voters. With so much information to parse through on the internet and in traditional media, we all must do a better job of listening and communicating.

The pushback against one of the most conservative Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly comes as Vos tries to balance calls from some who believe President Joe Biden stole the election against those who say its an effort to continue the lie that Trump won. Biden beat Trump by nearly 21,000 votes, an outcome that has withstood recounts, lawsuits and multiple reviews.

Vos ordered an investigation into the election, paid for with $676,000 in taxpayer funds, under pressure from Trump to do more. That review led by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is ongoing and subject to multiple lawsuits, even though Vos has said he wants it to be done next month so the Legislature can vote on recommendations in March.

Ramthun and Gableman both attended a symposium last year in South Dakota by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell where election conspiracy theories were discussed.

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Ana Vallez of CASA describes her housing insecurity issues during a rally last August at the War Memorial Plaza calling for Gov. Larry Hogan to extend and expand eviction prevention measures. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun). (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)

Contrary to what Detrese Dowridge, a member of Baltimore Renters United, may want readers to believe (Baltimore must get rental assistance directly to tenants in need, Jan. 17), Baltimore has experienced an historic decline in evictions since the beginning of the pandemic. The most recent data from district court confirms that the citys court filings and evictions declined by more than 64% and 63%, respectively, compared to the same pre-pandemic time frame.

The district courts data absolutely contradicts the authors narrative and is not included in the commentary. Instead, in an attempt to scare readers, the author references an artificially inflated number of scheduled evictions due to a holiday backlog, ignoring the fact that only a minute fraction of those scheduled evictions resulted in actual evictions.

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Moreover, the author ignored the fact that Marylands district courts reverted to Phase III in December, meaning that cases stemming from unpaid rent are paused until at least March 6, 2022. This pause is expected to increase the time between a rent court filing and a hearing in Baltimore to more than eight months. That time frame is more than sufficient to connect residents with rental assistance, as evidenced by the unprecedented decline in evictions since the beginning of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the author declined to mention that important point.

Evictions are a serious matter, and information that informs policy discussions should be sound, accurate and in context. Providing out-of-context and misleading information designed to fit a preconceived narrative is unconscionable. The fact is that no matter how many times tenant lobbyists attempt to conjure an eviction tsunami into existence, it simply is not reality.

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Adam Skolnik, Owings Mills

The writer is executive director of the Maryland Multi-Housing Association.

Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter.
For those looking for something interesting this weekend, Lancaster and York counties have a good mix of things to do.

Some events include a bluegrass concert, a dinosaur-themed event and a watercolor bird painting class.

Because the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic is ever-changing, check with individual venue websites for the latest information before heading out the door.

Here are five things to do in and around Lancaster County this weekend.

'Alkebulan: Ode to Orishas'

Bryan "King Prolifik" Hickman will debut an art collection at the Ware Center this weekend. The collection is based on African history and cultures, with a focus on the Yoruba culture, which includes people from Nigeria, Benin and Togo, as well as legends of the Orishas, or spiritual deities.

More information: Friday, Jan. 21 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | The Ware Center, 42 N. Prince St., Lancaster | Cost: Free | More info

Sicard Hollow

Sicard Hollow, a progressive bluegrass band inspired by the likes of the Grateful Dead and New Grass Revival, will play at Tellus360 this weekend. Harrisburg-based bluegrass band Seldom Said No will open the show.

More information: Friday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. | Tellus360, 24 E. King St., Lancaster | Cost: $10 | 21+ | More info

Fanciful Fraktur birds workshop

Emily Smucker-Beidler will teach a workshop about Fraktur birds at the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. Fraktur is a style of art that became popular in medieval Europe, but became a notable feature of Pennsylvania German culture. The workshop will teach people how to create Fraktur birds with watercolors, and students will create a 5-by-7-inch bird painting. Students can bring their own watercolors, or purchase a set the day-of for an additional $10.

More information: Saturday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. | Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, 335 N. Queen St., Lancaster | Cost: $85 for non-members, $76 for members | More info

Dreamworks movie trivia

For fans of Dreamworks movies like "Madagascar," "Bee Movie" and "How to Train Your Dragon," test your trivia chops with four rounds of questions. Attendees can play alone or with a team.

More information: Saturday, Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. | Old Republic Distillery Tavern, 3 Dutchland Avenue, Ephrata | Cost: Free | More info

Dinosaur World Live

An event for kids and adults alike, Dinosaur World Live brings dinosaurs from the pre-historic ages to life. Animatronics include the T-Rex, a triceratops, stegosaurus and more. Afterwards, kids can get an up-close look at some of the dinosaurs during a meet-and-greet.

More information: Sunday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. | The Pullo Center, 1031 Edgecomb Avenue, York | Cost: $25 | More info
After several canceled performances of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella" because of cast members contracting COVID-19, Fulton Theatre artistic director Marc Robin decided to do things a little different for its production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which debuts tonight.

"Spelling Bee" is a musical comedy that focuses on a fictional spelling bee. But, there's a twist  four audience members will take part in the musical, which means part of the show is improvised.

It's a production with a lot of levity and interactivity, which makes it perfect for a time like this, Robin says.

"Just have the opportunity to go someplace and let it all go, and just let your hair down, so to speak, and laugh ... People who know the show are so grateful there's something light and happy that they can go to," Robin says.

But, there's a lot of hard work behind the scenes that fuel this happy, laughter-filled musical.

A production that relies on audience participation may appear as an interesting choice in the age of COVID-19, but Robin has a plan for how to keep actors and audience members safe.

Understudies, swing actors

The Fulton will take a route that Broadway embraced throughout the course of the pandemic, which is to hire more understudies and swing actors.

Understudies prepare for one or more main characters' roles in a production, so there is little pause if the main actor is sick or needs to take a day off. They are at the theater every night, just in case someone calls off.

Swing actors are performers who can fill in for multiple roles when there's an absence.

Actor Hugh Jackman recently praised a swing actor and understudy, Kathy Voytko, who in less than eight hours took on the lead role in "The Music Man" on Broadway, taking over for Sutton Foster in the role of Marian. (Fun fact: Voytko performed at the Fulton in 2017 as Dolly Tate in "Annie Get Your Gun.")

As a swing actor, Voytko knew eight separate characters' roles and was ready to perform them at a moment's notice.

Typically, swing actors will fill in for ensemble roles, or characters that aren't in main roles. They are on call, and don't come to the theater every night, just when they're needed.

At the Fulton, weve always had understudies, but weve rarely had swings, Robin says. In a normal production, the Fulton would have hired just a male and female understudy.

The last time they hired swing actors was for the 2017 production of "Newsies," which was physically demanding, Robin says.

For "Spelling Bee," Robin says the theatre hired five understudies and five swing actors. The theater wanted to be prepared if people had to take a night off from performing.

Thats really the insurance policy we didnt have in place for Cinderella that we do have in place now, and will have in place moving forward," Robin says.

Brian Padgett, of south Florida, is an understudy covering the roles of Vice Principal Douglas Panch and student William Morris Barfee (pronounced Bar-FAY). He was in the production of "Cinderella," performing both in the ensemble and as an understudy for Lionel, the royal steward.

Padgett will be on standby in case the casted actors for Panch or Barfee can't perform.

"It's nerve-wracking, but necessary," Padgett says of the role. "I feel like, one, it's an honor for the Fulton to have faith in me to do it, and two, I know my purpose is a little higher in the sense that I have to be there to make sure the show keeps going."

A lot goes into being an understudy, including extensive note taking and observation of multiple characters.

"Thank God for technology, because ... before, you just wrote notes and prayed your brain recorded it," Padgett says. Now, it's easy to record audio and video, so if someone misses a rehearsal, they're still on track.

"It kind of takes faith in yourself," Padgett says. "In truth, it's just a lot of watching and observing the rehearsal, and at some point you get to do it, but you never get the same amount of time. They can't re-rehearse a whole cast."

The cast, composed of 19 actors, works together to keep everyone on track, however.

Padgett says that actors have a phrase: "Keep the curtain up!"

In other words, the show must go on.

Handling COVID-19

Seven actors, in total, contracted COVID-19 during the run of "Cinderella," which caused several show cancellations, Robin says.

"By the time we started getting into really creative situations, we were out of people, Robin says.

Each theater has its own rules for handling COVID-19 cases in a given production. The Fulton Theatre is part of the Actors' Equity Association, a labor union for theater-based actors.

The union makes many of the rules, as far as COVID-19 regulations go. They require actors in a union-affiliated theatre to test three times per week for COVID-19, and a COVID-19 manager has to be employed for every production, according to the union's policy.

If someone tests positive for COVID-19, the Fulton does discreet, in-house contact tracing, and they will let each actor know their risk level, depending on how often they were around the actor who tested positive. Next actions range from taking an at-home rapid test to being pulled from the show for a night, depending on risk, Robin says.

"Were taking it very seriously, because the last thing we want to do is have to disappoint our audiences again by not being able to do a performance because of something we couldve prevented or avoided," Robin says.

All audience members are required to wear a mask, even the guest spellers, who won't come within six feet of the actors, Robin says. (They'll be off-stage, but still involved.)

And, at times, the audience will see masked actors walk on stage.

"I dont want to say weve brought the elephant onto the stage, but, you know, we have," Robin says. "Were doing this show without trying to pretend this is a show that exists outside the current climate. It exists very much inside the current climate."

In current times, everyone faces pressure of some kind, Robin says. In the play, kids feel pressure from their parents to perform in the spelling bee.

"So, here we are living in a world thats all about pressure and safety and health, and now you get to go watch a completely different version," Robin says. "But pressure is pressure. How these kids handle it is, they sing and dance about it. Its done in such a fun, interactive, buoyant way. Hopefully everyone will enjoy it.
A Cumberland County man repeatedly fondled an underage girl while at a Conestoga Township paintball park last year, according to state police.

Jonathan Patrick Bates, 31, of Middlesex Township, fondled the 15-year-old five different times over her clothes while at Ambush Adventure Park at 91 Hilltop Drive sometime between around 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Investigators spoke with the girl at the Lancaster County Childrens Alliance Center in September, where she told them Bates had grabbed her inappropriately several times while hugging her that day. The girl later asked for help in a back room, only to have Bates come in and close the door behind him before fondling the girl underneath her clothes, police said.

The girl told police Bates told her he was unable to control himself around her, according to the affidavit. He also later instructed the girl not to tell anyone he had touched her because it would ruin him, she told investigators.

Police later spoke with Bates, who denied intentionally touching the girl inappropriately. He claimed any contact was incidental and may have come while hugging the girl as they greeted each other or as he would remove her from jumping on his back.

Bates, who told investigators he was aware the girl was underage, later provided a written statement to police saying if I grazed her I didnt mean to do it, police said.

Bates attorney, Todd Williams, declined comment Thursday.

Bates was charged Wednesday with unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors, both felony offenses, as well as five counts of indecent assault.

Judge Joshua Keller set Bates bail at $10,000. He is currently free on unsecured bail.

A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.
The 20-year-old West Cocalico Township woman found dead inside a North Carolina hotel Monday had been visiting a nearby Bible camp, a church elder said Thursday

A York County man has been charged with Suzanna Kauffmans death, according to the Davie County Sheriffs Office. He is still at large.

She was a very friendly, kind person. We knew her well. She's a first cousin to my wife, actually, said Mark Troyer, of Harmony Believer's Fellowship near Statesville. It seems she had a heart of loving the Lord and seeking the Lord and following after his ways.

She'll be greatly missed. It's a great shock to us down here. We are trusting in the Lord and leaning on the Lord, Troyer said.

Troyer said he lent his Acura SUV to Kauffman Monday afternoon so she could meet a friend for coffee. She had her own car, but didnt want to drive it because it had snowed, he said.

Asked if Kauffman knew Quincy Cheeks Hannah, the man charged in her death, Troyer said, Id rather not say.

Hannah, 26, of Windsor Township, has a lengthy criminal record.

There's just a lot of unanswered questions as to what was going on, Troyer said.

The gymnasium the Troyers church was renting is in Harmony, about a 20 minute drive to the Days Inn at 1500 Yadkinville Road in Mocksville.

Kauffman was only planning to visit the Bible camp for a few days on her way to Georgia, where her parents live, Troyer said. Kauffman had moved in with her sister and her sisters husband in West Cocalico several months ago, he said.

Kauffman had attended the camp before and her father had preached there before, Troyer said. The church is nondenominational, but is similar to Mennonite teaching and has about 150 members, he said.
A West Cocalico Township woman was found dead inside a North Carolina hotel Monday, and police are looking for a York County man who has been charged with her murder, according to authorities.

Suzanna Kauffman, 20, was found dead inside Days Inn at 1500 Yadkinville Road in Mocksville, North Carolina, north of Charlotte, the Davie County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. It was not immediately clear how Kauffman died or how long she had been dead inside the hotel.

Kauffman was found inside a room that had been rented by Quincy Cheeks Hannah, 26, of Windsor Township, York County, the sheriffs office said.

Hannah has since been charged with murder in connection with Kauffmans death, the sheriffs office said.

Investigators believe Hannah may currently be heading back to Pennsylvania. He was last seen driving a light blue 2009 Toyota sedan with Pennsylvania license plates.

Hannah had not been found as of Wednesday night, Lt. Shawn Ruff said.

The sheriffs office did not have any additional information to release about the investigation Wednesday evening, Ruff said.

Kauffman and Hannah are believed to have previously met in Mocksville, according to the news release.

Law enforcement was first called to the hotel around 9:50 p.m. Monday after being asked to help two people find several missing telephones. The phones were last known to be in Kauffmans possession, and Kauffman was missing from a camp she had been attending in neighboring Iredell County.

During a phone call with someone in possession of one of the phones, the people were told to come to the hotel.

The phones were found along the side of the road near a KFC restaurant about half a mile from the hotel along with a key to a vehicle that was later determined to belong to Kauffman.

Kauffmans vehicle was found in a parking lot behind the KFC.

Hannah previously pleaded guilty to charges of felony burglary and simple assault in York County in 2019 after ambushing his wife and holding a chlorine bleach-soaked rag over her face, according to a report by the York Daily Record. He was later arrested by U.S. Marshals in California, according to the report, and court records show he was sentenced to one to two years of confinement and a year of probation for those offenses.

Anyone with information about the slaying is urged to contact the Davie County Sheriffs Office by phone at 336-751-6238 or by email at sheriff@dcsonc.com. Tips can be submitted on their website at dcsonc.com.
A winter weather advisory has been issued in Lancaster County and much of southeastern Pennsylvania in anticipation of several inches of snow Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service in State College.

Only about one to three inches of snow are expected fall beginning around 3 or 5 a.m., said meteorologist John Banghoff, but it could prove to be a sneaky hazardous winter event as the timing could affect morning rush hour commutes.

The precipitation will begin as rain sometime around midnight tonight, transitioning to snow during the early morning hours before tapering off around noon.

Though accumulation isnt expected to be significant, temperatures will drop from the mid-30s into the mid- to upper-20s throughout the morning, which could cause untreated wet roads to freeze.

Motorists should plan for longer morning commutes along potentially slippery roads, Banghoff said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are urging motorists to adjust their speeds based on driving conditions.

The winter weather advisory expires at 11 a.m.
A representative from each of the countys four major health systems will sit on Lancaster Countys newly created Health Advisory Council, along with a school superintendent, two municipal officials, a hospice physician and a counselor for people without health insurance, county Commissioners Ray DAgostino and Josh Parsons announced Wednesday.

The board is intended to formalize consultations between county officials, medical professionals and other stakeholders that started soon after the COVID-19 pandemic reached Pennsylvania in March 2020, Parsons said.

But it also is a rebuke to calls by some elected officials and health professionals who want to see the county create an independent public health department like the ones that operate now in six counties, such as in Philadelphia and Chester.

Unlike a public health department, the new council will have no power to take action in the face of a public health emergency. Instead, its members primarily will advise the county commissioners and help the countys health and medical preparedness coordinator prepare for future emergencies, according to Violet De Stefano, who currently holds the coordinator position.

This was not created to serve as a public health department, De Stefano said Wednesday. Its an advisory council that is going to focus on providing information to the county commissioners regarding county health concerns.

The nine members appointed on Wednesday were chosen by the commissioners and De Stefano, she said. The county received 30 applications for the volunteer council.

The first set of members includes:

Dr. Michael Ripchinski, chief clinical officer for PennMedicine Lancaster General Health

Dr. David Gasperack, vice president and regional medical director for Wellspan Healths Lancaster and Lebanon regions

Dr. Scott Snyder, medical director for Penn State Healths Lancaster region

Deborah Willwerth, president of UPMC Lititz and registered nurse

Dr. Susanne Scott, hospice physician at Hospice and Community Care in East Hempfield Township

Diane Garber, emergency services coordinator for East Hempfield Township and municipal emergency management coordinator for East Petersburg Borough

Michael Bromirski, superintendent of Hempfield School District

Dolores Reidenbach, a registered nurse and founder of an Elizabethtown-based nonprofit offering counseling services to uninsured and underinsured county residents

Loren Miller, Elizabeth Township administrator

Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis, De Stefano said, and there are still four more remaining spots on the council to which applicants could be appointed, though she offered no timetable for when that would happen.

Each of the members from the health systems  Ripchinski, Gasperack, Snyder and Willwerth  were appointed to a two-year term. The other five members were appointed to a one-year term.

One applicant who was not appointed Wednesday is Alisa Jones, the CEO of Union Community Care, a federally qualified health organization with several clinics in the county.

Throughout the pandemic, Union Community Care has led efforts to provide COVID-19 vaccines and tests to hard-to-reach groups and marginalized communities, said Kevin Ressler, the president and CEO of the United Way of Lancaster County.

Jones voice on the council would be useful, Ressler said, when deciding where testing sites should be located. He noted that the testing center opened Friday at the Public Safety Training Center in East Hempfield Township is inaccessible to people without a personal vehicle. Jones could help navigate such issues if she had a seat on the panel, he added.

Thats the missing voice, Ressler said. When we talk about the health systems, that is a health system here.

Opposed to independent agency

The council has been in the works since April 2020, according to emails obtained by LNP | LancasterOnline through an open records request. It will meet for the first time next month, where a chair will be chosen and the frequency of meetings will be determined, De Stefano said.

A survey of more than 2,000 Lancaster County residents released in March 2021, conducted by Franklin & Marshall Colleges Opinion Research Center and sponsored by the United Way of Lancaster County, found overwhelming support for such an agency.

Several municipalities, including Manheim Township and Lancaster city, passed resolutions calling on the county to create a health department, while others, like Columbia Borough and Strasburg Township, voted against creating one.

Lancasters GOP-controlled board of commissioners has long opposed creating a health department; the advisory nature of the new council allows the commissioners to maintain control over public health responses.

Under (a 1951) law, once a Board of Health is established there is no local oversight as the Board of Health would have almost complete autonomy, DAgostino said in October.

At the start of the pandemic, the county commissioners played a large role in leading local mitigation efforts. They worked to ensure long-term care facilities and health systems had the proper personal protective equipment, and consulted on a daily and weekly basis with local health systems. The commissioners worked to set up testing sites and, last year, a mass vaccination center at Park City Center. The county government also distributed more than $30 million in federal aid to local businesses.

But almost from the start of COVID-19 mitigation efforts, Lancaster Countys commissioners were critical of Gov. Tom Wolfs orders on everything from business shutdowns to mandatory masking in public. This came to a head in May 2020, when DAgostino and Parsons  backed by the countys GOP delegation in Harrisburg  told residents the county would move to reopen its economy unilaterally.

Miller, one of the members appointed Wednesday, said he wanted to get involved to represent the voices of small townships and boroughs in the countys more rural areas.

He said he opposed creating a county health department, but saw the council as a good alternative. If were against something, we should be for something else, he said.

This county is a mix of the rural and the urban, small townships and suburban, Miller added. Its a huge mix, so I think any council that purports to represent the county should have a comparable kind of mix involved.
When: East Lampeter Township supervisors meeting, Jan. 17.

What happened: Two new police officers were sworn in by supervisor John Blowers. Brooke Strubel and Genna Koser have joined the ranks of the East Lampeter Township Police Department.

Background: Strubel graduated from Lampeter-Strasburg High School and Pennsylvania College of Technology with a degree in emergency management and homeland security. She is also a certified EMT and graduated from the Reading Police Academy last year. Koser graduated from Palmyra Area High School and earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice from Alvernia College. She is an active member of the National Guard and previously worked for the Reading City Police Department for two years.

Police commendation: Officer Ryan Weigand was recognized for his work on an arrest in March.

Other news: Susan Yoder was reappointed as township representative to the emergency services committee with a term ending Dec. 31, 2023.

Whats next: The next supervisors meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14.
When: Ephrata Township supervisors meeting, Jan. 18.

What happened: Ephrata Township supervisors continued informal discussions about a possible zoning ordinance amendment regulating electronic roadside signs, known as electronic variable message signs. No official action was taken by the board.

Why it matters: Goods Inc. is requesting the zoning ordinance be amended to shorten the length of time between messages from 15 minutes to 20 seconds for such signs, proposed as part of the redevelopment of the former Kmart, 1127 S. State St., Ephrata. Goods intends to open a Goods Store and Dutch-Way Farm Market grocery store on the premises. Attorney Claudia Shank of McNees, Wallace & Nurick said the business has not formally submitted a petition, but was first seeking guidance from the township.

Nearby examples: Shank provided officials with the message interval rates for electronic signs of other municipalities to review prior to the meeting. Adjacent Akron Borough and Warwick Township allow a message to change once every 10 seconds. Ephrata Borough requires 20 seconds. East Cocalico Township allows sign changes from 8 to 56 seconds based on the streets speed limit. The longest example was Manheim Township, which allows five minutes between messages. Fifteen minutes does seem a little long compared to what other municipalities are doing, Shank said.

Township response: Officials had safety concerns regarding the interval rate between messages. In a Jan. 11 email, Township Manager Steve Sawyer said frequent message changes on electronic variable messaging signs may cause a distraction for motorists, citing both Route 272 (South State Street) and Rothsville Road as high- traffic volume roadways.

Quotable: In my book, thats out completely, board Chair Clark Stauffer said on amending the ordinance from 15 minutes to 20 seconds.

Possible solution: Shank did suggest whether the board would consider allowing a minute for an interval time. Supervisors were receptive to the idea of allowing a zoning amendment petition to include switching from 15 minutes to one minute. Vice Chair Ty Zerbe said he didnt see a problem with one minute.

Whats next: Officials directed Shank to draft the zoning amendment petition, which supervisors may review at their next meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 1, at the municipal building, 265 Akron Road, Ephrata.
Ivan Bates, one of two Democrats challenging Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby has out-fundraised her in the year leading up to the election by more than $43,000, campaign finance reports show.

Bates, a defense attorney who ran for states attorney in 2018, reported raising $361,707 over the last year in a campaign finance report filed Wednesday. Of that, $128,000 was self-financed by a loan Bates made to the campaign.

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Mosby, Baltimores states attorney since 2015, reported raising $189,794 during the same period, all of it via donations.

Roya Hanna, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, who also has declared her candidacy, raised $39,051. All three are Democrats and will face each other in the June 28 primary.

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Public attention has turned to the race for Baltimore states attorney after federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Mosby last week. The sitting states attorney is accused of lying to avoid penalties for prematurely withdrawing thousands of dollars from her city retirement account, then using the funds to purchase two vacation homes in Florida while failing to disclose a federal tax lien against her in mortgage documents.

Prosecutors argue Mosby said she had faced financial hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic to complete the withdrawal, when in fact she had received a raise during that time period.

Mosby, who has pledged to fight the charges and decried the indictment as a political attack, has not formally announced a bid for reelection, however she has been holding fundraisers for her candidacy.

Mosbys finance report shows she spent nearly $48,000 on legal fees in 2021  $37,500 to Reed Smith LLP in Washington, D.C. where her criminal defense attorney A. Scott Bolden practices, and $10,200 to Templeton Law Firm, owned by Granville Templeton, in downtown Baltimore.

Mosbys office and her campaign treasurer did not respond to requests to clarify what the legal expenses were for. And neither Mosby nor her campaign were available Thursday to discuss fundraising.

Her campaign, Friends of Marilyn Mosby, issued a statement Thursday afternoon.

Following advisement from the State Board of Elections, it was determined that campaign funds could be used for legal services related to campaign finance activity, the statement said. But the campaign did not explain how the services were related to the campaign.

Jared DeMarinis, director of the candidacy and campaign finance division of the Maryland State Board of Elections, said it is prohibited for any candidate or political committee to use campaign funds for legal expenses related to investigations or court proceedings that do not have a direct connection with the candidacy.

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Federal investigators subpoenaed Mosbys campaign treasurer Sharif Small in March seeking campaign accounting records and tax documents dating back to 2014, but the charges lodged against Mosby thus far are unrelated to her campaign or her work in office

Mosby has $193,953 on hand heading into election season. She received maximum donations of $6,000 from only a handful of donors including Julie Greenwald, chief operating officer of Atlantic Records, a Service Employees International Union political action committee and the campaign account of her husband Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby.

Mosby received several contributions from out of state; five of those who contributed the maximum amounts allowed listed addresses in New York or New Jersey.

Bates has nearly $226,000 on hand heading into the election year, $40,000 more than he had ahead of his previous bid for the office.

In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, Bates touted raising nearly as much money in the seven weeks following his most recent campaign announcement as he did in a years time ahead of his last run. He chalked up that support to what he described a desire for a new direction in the states attorneys office and his attention during his campaign to stemming violence.

One thing that I get from people, they want change. They really want change, Bates said. They want someone to focus on crime. My whole focus is going to be on crime.

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More than a dozen donors made the maximum $6,000 contribution to Batess campaign, including Alex Smith, founder and president of Atlas Restaurant Group, and Smiths wife, Christina Ghani. Donations also were made by four members of the Paterakis family, each of whom gave $4,000. Frederick Smith, vice president of Sinclair Broadcast Group, contributed $1,000.

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Two of Bates maximum contributions came from people who listed addresses in Massachussetts.

Bates touted endorsements from former Mayor Sheila Dixon, a Democrat whose convictions on perjury and embezzlement charges led to her resignation from office in 2010, and Mosbys predecessor, Democratic States Attorney Gregg Bernstein. Dixon ran for mayor again in 2020, narrowly losing the primary in deep blue Baltimore to Brandon Scott.

Bernstein contributed $1,000 to Bates campaign. There wasnt a donation with Dixons name in Bates latest campaign finance report.

Law firms in Baltimore and beyond were well represented among Bates donors. Attorneys from the Venable firm, Greenberg Law Office, the Heyman Law Firm, Kadish & Kadish, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, Cozen OConnor and Brown, and Goldstein & Levy all made contributions.

Despite announcing his candidacy in November, Bates has spent little on the race thus far, his report shows. In October, he paid $7,500 for polling for the race. He also repaid $125,000 in loans left over from his 2018 bid for office to Jack Luetkemeyer of Continental Realty Corp.

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Hanna has $38,395 on hand heading into election year. She received maximum donations from two donors: Dora and Nabil Hanna, both of Stevensville.

I think its very early, Hanna said in an interview with The Sun. Im not really a politician. Ive been getting my name out there. But its slow and still very early in the race.
When: Terre Hill Borough Council meeting, Jan. 11.

What happened: Jason Firestone was sworn in by Mayor Bob Rissler. Firestone was unable to attend the reorganization meeting Jan. 3 where elected councilmen were sworn in by Magisterial District Judge Jonathan Heisse.

Appointment: Council recommended Jamie Weir, East Earl, to the position of emergency management coordinator, subject to approval by Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and Gov. Tom Wolf. Weir will also serve in a similar position for Caernarvon, Earl and East Earl townships.

Quotable: Brecknock Township and New Holland Borough are expected to appoint Jamie which would mean he would be the EMC for all of the Eastern Lancaster County School District municipalities, Rissler said.
THE ISSUE

As LNP | LancasterOnlines Tom Lisi reported last week, Some of Lancaster Countys 1,026 bridges may be repaired or replaced sooner than expected as Pennsylvania learned Friday it will receive an additional $327 million this year for a federal bridge improvement plan. The program comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in November. The commonwealth will receive $1.6 billion in federal funding for the bridge program over five years. It will receive a total of about $2.2 billion for other infrastructure programs, from highway resurfacing to railway improvement, to carbon reduction, Lisi reported.

We mostly enjoy driving over bridges. They are marvels of engineering, essential structures that link one place to another  and theyre often picturesque, too.

We know that not everyone loves bridges, that theres an actual word for the fear of crossing them: gephyrophobia.

We only experience it when we drive over Pennsylvania bridges that have been identified as needing repair.

As Lisi reported, the $1.6 billion that Pennsylvania will receive to repair its bridges is the third-most of any state, with Pennsylvania leapfrogging Texas and Florida for more bridge money despite having a smaller population.

That, he explained, is because the funding formula considers the conditions of bridges of each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Pennsylvania holds the dubious distinction of having the second-most bridges rated in poor condition with 3,353.

This was confirmed at a Friday news conference at Columbia River Park by Mike Keiser, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportations acting deputy secretary for highway administration.

We are an older state, Keiser said, we do have older infrastructure, and every year about 250 bridges across the state move into the category of what we refer to as poor. 

Bridges in that category have some more advanced signs of deterioration but are still safe to use, Lisi explained.

Nevertheless, poor is not a description of a bridges condition that anyone should feel comfortable with.

Republicans U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Lancaster County and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey both voted against the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package approved by Congress. (Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, voted in favor.)

Props to Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Bucks County for voting for the infrastructure bill.

Fitzpatrick told the Bucks County Courier Times that he worked with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf at an Annapolis, Maryland, meeting to hatch out what we wanted to put together collectively for Pennsylvanias infrastructure projects.

Imagine that. Elected officials from opposing parties meeting to hammer out solutions.

The bottom line is, there is no Republican way or Democratic way to build a highway, Fitzpatrick said. I was elected to solve problems.

If only other lawmakers  of all political stripes  shared this clear-eyed pragmatism.

The truth is that a bridge or a roadway project can significantly improve an areas economic prospects. Thats one reason the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

After decades of neglect, the state of American infrastructure is poor, the Chamber pointed out on its website. America currently ranks 13th in the world when it comes to the overall quality of our infrastructure and the American Society of Civil Engineers 2021 Report Card rated it a C-.

The Chamber supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill because it believed it will benefit all Americans by creating millions of jobs, improving global competitiveness, and adding trillions of dollars in economic growth at a time when we need it most.

And this particular legislation was the most fiscally responsible infrastructure package in at least a decade, the Chamber said, noting that it is paid for through a combination of new revenues and savings. Long-term investment in capital assets will save taxpayers money and generate additional economic activity.

As Lisi reported, state officials highlighted on Friday the $80 million rehabilitation of the Veterans Memorial Bridge that runs over the Susquehanna River. (That bridge was built in 1930.)

Both Lancaster and York counties have prioritized the project as a linchpin for the further revitalization of the Columbia-Wrightsville area as a tourism and outdoors destination, Lisi noted. The four-year project, which includes the first major rehabilitation of the bridge since the 1980s, is scheduled to begin construction next year. It will also better connect popular bike trails on both sides of the river via a bike lane on the bridge.

Lori Yeich, a central region manager at the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said Friday that the area is going to be transformed because people are going to be traveling nationally to go to this.

While that particular project wont be affected by the additional bridge improvement money, Keiser said that new money will allow state and local officials to tackle more projects for the next five years  the duration of the infrastructure bill.

Lisi reported that its still too early to say how many bridge projects transportation officials may tackle in Lancaster County in the next year or two, thanks to the additional funding.

He noted that according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 135 bridges in Lancaster County are rated poor  about 13% of all bridges. (Thats actually an improvement from 2018, when more than 16% of the countys bridges were categorized as poor in the National Bridge Inventory, LNP | LancasterOnline reported previously.)

The most trafficked bridges with a rating of poor include the bridge over Amtrak tracks on Route 741 in Manheim Township, and two Route 30 bridges: one in East Lampeter Township that runs over a Pequea Creek tributary and another in Salisbury Township going over Houston Run, Lisi reported.

Again, these bridges have been judged safe to use. But they need to be repaired. Thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the horizon looks brighter.

And safer.
College Track Opens Third L.A. Center, Expands Advisory Board and University Partnerships

College Track, a national nonprofit organization that equips students confronting systemic barriers to earn a bachelors degree in pursuit of a life of opportunity, choice, and power, announced the opening of its third center in Los Angeles on January 12.

Located in the citys historic Crenshaw District, College Track Crenshaw welcomed its first cohort of 60 students from Dorsey, L.A. Promise Charter and Crenshaw High Schools this Fall, setting the stage for students to thrive in careers where people of color have been historically underrepresented.

Currently in the Crenshaw District, less than half of residents older than 25 have a high school diploma and only 24% of those residents go on to earn bachelors degrees, which is far below both the national and Los Angeles county averages. Yet, 40% of jobs in California will require at least a bachelors degree by 2030, based on recent studies.

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College Tracks expansion from Boyle Heights and Watts to Crenshaw was made possible by a generous seed investment from the Len Hill Charitable Trust. This new partnership inspired additional support from the College Track Los Angeles Local Advisory Board, including the newest member, Allyson Felix.

A Crenshaw native and an alumna of the University of Southern California, Felix is the most decorated American track and field Olympian in history and a passionate advocate for educational justice.

At College Track, we know a Bachelors degree remains the best predictor of professional mobility, civic engagement, lifelong wellness, and self-agency, said John Lee, College Tracks executive director for the Los Angeles region.

And yet, today, it is out of reach for far too many young people. By bringing our program to the Crenshaw District, we will see more students from this historic community realize their dreams of college degrees and social mobility.

There is no greater accelerator of opportunity than education, said Allyson Felix. Particularly for students who will be the first in their families to graduate from college, a degree opens up a life of choice, power, and self-agency. I am thrilled to be part of expanding College Tracks work to democratize potential in my home community of Crenshaw.

College Track first expanded to Los Angeles in 2012, partnering with will.i.am to open its doors in the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights. Three years later, they opened a second center on the campus of Jordan High School in Watts.

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Of the 800 students College Track has served in Los Angeles, 98% matriculated to a two or four-year college, 100% identify as students of color, and 96% will be the first in their families to graduate from college. College Track students nationwide graduate from college at a rate that is double the national average for first-generation students from low-income communities.

The success of College Track Los Angeles students is also made possible by partnerships with leading universities in the region, including the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

A valued College Track partner since 2014, UCLA provides college application guidance to College Tracks high school students, as well as on-campus academic advising, peer mentorship, and research opportunities to College Tracks UCLA students through its Academic Advancement Program.

UCLA, through its Academic Advancement Program (AAP), has a long and rich history of working with College Track students, said Dr. Charles Alexander, associate vice provost for Student Diversity and director of UCLAs Academic Advancement Program.

As the nations largest student academic enrichment program, AAP provides College Track students academic support services to succeed academically, and guidance to prepare them for graduate or professional school and the world of work.

Advancing educational opportunity and equity is at the core of USCs mission, said Samuel Garrison, senior vice president of USC University Relations. The University continues to deepen partnerships that expand higher education access for families in South Los Angeles and the Eastside.

USC offers over 100 community-serving educational access programs, including the landmark Neighborhood Academic Initiative, which supports thousands of local students annually. College Track is an important partner in expanding efforts to ensure that every child can achieve a college education.

The College Track Crenshaw center, located at 3626 11th Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90018, will grow to serve 250 students by Spring 2024. Founding community partners include B.A.R.E. Truth Inc., EmpowHer Institute, Glow Girls, L.A. Audubon Society and The Cooking Project.
Dolores Helen Hickambottom, Noted Pasadena Community Activist, Passes Away

Dolores Helen Hickambottom was born March 27, 1931, the second of four children born to Edward and Lillian (Polite) Dupre in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her parents and sister, Mary Rose Arceneaux, and brother, Oscar Dupre, Sr., preceded her in death.

She was baptized at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, in New Orleans. Dolores attended Xavier Preparatory High School and upon graduation, enlisted in the Womens Auxiliary Army Corps to serve her country.

She met then Lieutenant Elbie J. Hickambottom at former U.S. Army Post, Fort Ord, California, where they were married on base and daughters, Ann Marie and Leslie, were born; followed by Elbie Skip Jr. in Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, Hawaii and John, in Pasadena, California. Major Elbie J. Hickambottom, U.S. Army retired, predeceased Dolores in 2004 after 52 years of marriage.

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The family settled in Altadena, California and as the children began attending local public schools, she began her efforts to advocate for equal opportunity together with Elbie in the drive to integrate the Pasadena Unified School District; later working tirelessly on his successful school board campaign where he served 16 years.

After 52 years of marriage, she was a committed member of the Altadena and Pasadena community. Her advocacy and civic engagement spanned more than 50 years and encompassed active service in many organizations.

She was a founding member of the Pasadena Educational Foundation, the National Womens Political Caucus, Pasadena Chapter and, Women In Action. These included ACT, Pasadena NAACP, Arroyo Democratic Club, and League of Women Voters.

She was a proud member of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., Los Angeles Chapter where she was instrumental in connecting the Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen (DOTAs) to ride on the 2010 Rose Parade Float that honored them, A Cut Above. A proud veteran, she was a member of the Executive Board of the American Legion Post 13, Pasadena, California.

Dolores was honored to serve as field representatives on the staffs of Loretta Thompson Glickman, the first Black woman elected as a Pasadena City Director and to serve as vice mayor and mayor; and State Senators Walter Stiern, Richard Polanco and Jack Scott.

For her commitment and hard work, Dolores received many accolades  Pasadena NAACP Ruby McKnight Williams Award, Assemblymember Chris Holdens Unsung Hero for Civil Rights, Altadena Woman of the Year, Congresswoman Judy Chus Woman of the Year, and with her husband Elbie, the City of Pasadenas Arthur Noble Civic Award. In her recent community service, she was co-chair of the PCC Presidents African American Advisory Committee and a member of the Huntington Hospital Community Benefits Committee.

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She enjoyed reading. Her most treasured experiences were attending the Democratic Presidential conventions, and most especially, attending both inaugurations of President Barack Obama.

She was a long-time member of St. Andrew Catholic Church and active in the area chapter of Black Catholics. She enjoyed reading, discussing political and civic affairs. She attended Pasadena City College and graduated from California State University, Los Angeles, with a B.A. in Sociology.

She leaves to cherish her memory, her four children, Ann Marie, Leslie, Elbie Jr., Esq. and John, Esq.; her beloved granddaughter, Helena Jessie; her sister, Agnes Brumfield; nieces, Natasha Arceneaux and Tammy Hayden (Charles), Robin Foster (Greg); nephews, Victor Arceneaux (Sheila); Joseph Rocky Arceneaux (Lydia); Edward, Oscar (Trechelle) and Michael Dupre (Roslyn); and Timmy and David Brumfield (Kathy); and a host of cousins, other relatives, and many dear friends and neighbors.
Faith Community Mourns Loss of Mary L. Winston

A longtime member of Macedonia Baptist Church, she was heralded for her faith, community involvement and business expertise

Mary Louise Winston made a distinctive mark on South Los Angeles as a child of God, community activist and savvy businesswoman.

An involved member of Macedonia Baptist Church since 1954, Mrs. Winston touched many lives in a positive way while employed at Golden State Insurance Company, Los Angeles Unified School District and as an accounting consultant to local businesses.

Her assistance to others reached a higher level as the founder of the House of Winston Mortuary, which she opened with her late husband, James, in 1975. In addition to comforting grief-stricken people, she mentored scores of young embalmers and served at the highest echelon of the mortician industry.

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In 2014, Mrs. Winston sold the mortuary to the Rev. Shane Scott, pastor of Macedonia Baptist. The L.A. Sentinel printed a story about the transaction, which followed a 2013 feature article on Mrs. Winston .

All of Mary Winstons good works came to a close with her passing on November 27. Her family held a memorial service at Macedonia Baptist in Watts on December 18, to celebrate her lifes achievement and several people attended to express their gratitude for having known Mrs. Winston.

Macedonia Pastor Shane B. Scott directed the service as well as delivered words of comfort. Other clergy offering remarks about Winston were the Rev. Preston Davis of Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, Pastor James K. McKnight of Congregational Church of Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles, and Bishop Jawane Hilton, a Compton pastor and councilmember for the city of Carson. Also, Pastor Ivan Pitts of Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana read the New Testament scripture.

Several representatives in the funeral directors field also recalled Mrs. Winstons contributions to the profession. The speakers included Inez Adkins, president of 100 Black Women of Funeral Service; Shun Newbern, president of the Nu Chapter of the Epsilon Nu Delta Mortuary Fraternity; and A. Leon Tillman, California Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association (CFDEA). Dr. Hari Close II and Dr. Carol Williams spoke on behalf of the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association (NFDMA).

A native of Alexandria, Louisiana, Mary was raised in L.A. from the age of 12. After graduating from Jefferson High School, she earned a degree in accounting from L.A. City College and completed courses at Metropolitan Business College, UCLA Extension of Higher Education and USC School of Music.

Her activities at Macedonia Baptist ranged from serving on the Deaconess Board to being a member of the Sanctuary Senior Choir, 100th Anniversary Committee, Bereavement Committee, Mothers Board, and the Scholarship Committee. In fact, she met her husband at Macedonia and in 1963, they united in holy matrimony. Their union produced two children, Harold and Felicia.

The community beyond the church came to known about Marys generosity and expertise once she and James started the House of Winston. Her reputation soared as she financially aided others in becoming independent funeral homeowners and created the James W. Winston Memorial Service for families of loved ones who they had serviced throughout the prior year.

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She was also active in the local, state and national funeral director trade associations. Locally, Mary held memberships in the NAACP, Los Angeles Urban League, National Council of Negro Women and YWCA.

Her civic and industry achievements led to recognition from a number of organizations. She received awards from the National Association of University Women, NFDMA, Hollypark United Methodist Church and 100 Black Women of Funeral Service. Commendations were presented by Congresswoman Maxine Waters and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Also, she managed the Mary Louise Winston Embalmers Scholarship Fund. The fund is affiliated with the Nu Chapter of the Epsilon Nu Delta Mortuary Fraternity.

According to her family, Mrs. Winston truly enjoyed cooking and was known for preparing delicious meals for visitors and on holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Years Day.

During her long life, Mrs. Winston witnessed the passing of her husband, James and daughter, Felicia. Cherishing her memory are her son, Harold; grandchildren, great grandchildren, other relatives, godchildren, friends and the Macedonia Baptist Church family.
In Memory of Josephine Jo Ramsey: October 8, 1929  November 19, 2021

Josephine Jo Winston Ramsey made her mark on the world on October 8, 1929. She was born to R.L. Winston and Anita Harris in her beloved hometown of Eudora, Arkansas. Arkansas was a special place to Josephine; she would often recall fond memories of her family and friends in Eudora.

As she entered adulthood, Josephine would travel to California to continue her education. In California, Josephine attended Los Angeles Mission College (formerly Los Angeles Metropolitan College) where she earned an Associate of Arts. Later, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Josephine loved to learn and continued to pursue her passion for education and history by teaching at Bethune Middle School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. While at Bethune, she started and advised the Junior Honor Society.

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It was at Bethune that Josephine met her husband, Wade Ramsey. In 1971, the two were married, and in 1974, the couple welcomed their vivacious daughter, Joy Celeste Ramsey, into their lives.

In 1978, Josephine would turn a new leaf and take on real estate with Coldwell Banker. She quickly became a top earning realtor. Josephine took pride in expanding homeownership in her beautiful neighborhood of View Park and absolutely adored her community of neighbors, friends, and clients. She continued to serve her community, expanding homeownership until 2018.

A love for traveling took Josephine to numerous countries  her favorite being India  where she gained perspective, culture and lifelong friends. Josephines love for people gifted her with countless friends and colleagues.

Wise and witty, charming and dynamic, Josephine was one-of-a-kind. Small in stature, yet big at heart, Jo fought to the very end!

She is survived by her husband, Wade; sister, Rosemary; brother-in-law, Harold; very dear cousins/caregivers, David Harris and Nafisah Taymullah; and a host of beloved family and friends. Her daughter, Joy Ramsey, preceded her in death.

The family wishes to acknowledge the roles played by Stacey Howard in Josephines life. What started as a business/real estate mentoring relationship quickly blossomed into devoted friendship, more like grandmother and dutiful granddaughter.

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Stacey lovingly and respectfully devoted her time and energy on Josephines behalf, in particular supporting Josephine during her grief after the loss of her daughter Joy.

Theirs was a very special bond.

Josephine Ramsey is loved and will be truly missed. We invite family, friends and colleagues to join us in celebrating the life of Josephine Winston Ramsey at Four Points by Sheraton  Westside/Culver City on Jan. 22, 2022 at 11 a.m.

Zoom | Meeting ID: 857 3797 1831 | Passcode: 702653
New Year Resolution  Save Energy and Conserve Water

As we begin a new year and start making resolutions, consider making a pledge to promote better energy efficiency and water conservation in your homes and workplaces.

Some of these new and easy-to-do resolutions could be the following:

Shut off faucet while brushing teeth, shaving or washing dishes

Use LED bulbs and turn them off when not in use

Turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120F). Youll not only save energy, youll avoid burning your hands

Check air conditioner and heater filters monthly

Run only full loads in the dishwasher or washing machine

Contact LADWP for financial assistance and rebate programs (ladwp.com/financialassistance & ladwp.com/rebatesandprograms)

Brotherhood Crusade has been working closely with LADWP and the South Los Angeles community over the past several years helping to educate and promote ways and ideas for youth, young people, families and the residents to reduce their energy and water use to benefit the environment and help manage their utility bills.

To support this endeavor, Brotherhood Crusade has established Youth and Environment Ambassadors and Interns that are working to inform their peers and residents, virtually and safely in-person, about public health issues and topics relating to both water and energy. The students will also share conservation tips that could result in lower utility bills.

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Charisse Bremond Weaver, Brotherhood Crusade president and CEO recently commented, We are excited about our on-going partnership with LADWP because it enables us to continue the journey we started to instill water and energy conservation awareness in the students in our program and nurture them to go into our communities to advocate this important environmental platform.

Jeff Logan, Brotherhood Crusade LADWP program coordinator added, As more people are working and attending school remotely and are home, they are using more utilities, especially electricity and other energy resources.

These simple awareness tips will help our community residents save money. These small changes will have big results.

To find out more about ways to reduce energy and conserve water and qualify for low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators as well as other conservation tips, contact Jeff Logan at [email protected]
For the first time in years, Maryland has open races for state comptroller and attorney general in 2022. The positions have attracted candidates who are raising significant amounts of money for their campaigns, according to newly filed finance reports.

Attorney general

Maryland has had a race for attorney general for only a few months, but the leading Democratic candidates are already raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for their campaigns, according to the campaign finance filings that cover the past 12 months of activity. The reports were due by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

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Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, announced in October that he wouldnt seek reelection after two four-year terms in office, setting the stage for a competitive race to replace him.

The two Democratic contenders reported nearly identical amounts of cash on hand heading into Junes primary.

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Catherine Katie Curran OMalley, a retired Baltimore judge and first-time candidate, has raised $626,000 since starting her campaign in November. She has $616,000 in the bank.

OMalleys campaign says her fundraising is an impressive haul in a short period of time, showing theres excitement about her candidacy.

The strong support I have received for my campaign from across Maryland shows that people want an attorney general who will both protect Maryland families from crime and predatory behavior and will fight to reform our criminal justice system so every Marylander can get equal justice, OMalley said in a statement.

Anthony Brown, a congressman who has been in various elected offices for most of the past 20 years, reported that he raised $647,000 over the past 12 months. He has $615,000 in the bank. Brown also owes himself $220,000 from loans he gave to his campaign committee during prior elections.

If Brown wins the primary and moves on to the general election, he can also tap $1.48 million that he has in a federal campaign committee, according to his campaign.

Browns team also pointed to the fundraising numbers as evidence of momentum in his favor.

Im honored to have the support of Marylanders across our state and excited to report that the momentum behind our campaign is growing, Brown said in a statement.

Brown and OMalley previously were politically connected: Brown was lieutenant governor alongside OMalleys husband, Gov. Martin OMalley, from 2007 through 2015. Brown lost a bid to become governor to the current governor, Republican Larry Hogan.

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Jim Shalleck, a Montgomery County lawyer, is the sole Republican running for attorney general. He reported having just $1,200 cash on hand after raising only $1,900. He also reported that hes still owed $8,500 of a $9,000 loan he made to his campaign committee back in 2014 and owes $3,300 in unpaid bills for fundraising and website development.

Comptroller

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The two Democrats contending for the nomination, Del. Brooke Lierman of Baltimore and Bowie Mayor Tim Adams, took very different approaches to building their campaign chests, according to their filings. Both are vying to replace four-term Democrat Peter Franchot, whos leaving the office to run for governor.

Lierman led the way in donations, collecting $1.7 million in contributions over the past year, the vast majority of it from individual donors. Adams collected only a fraction of that, pulling in $71,000. Lierman, a second-term state delegate, also came into 2021 with more campaign cash in the bank from prior years, $588,000 to his $253,000.

But Adams, a wealthy business owner who founded the professional services firm Systems Applications & Technologies Inc., has repeatedly tapped his fortune to plump up his campaign accounts, lending his political operation a total of $2.07 million over the past year. Adams also owes himself an additional $675,000 in unpaid campaign loans from past years.

Liermans campaign reported nearly $1.8 million in the bank after spending $553,000 over the past year. Adams campaign, buoyed by his personal loans, reported slightly more cash in the bank  a bit shy of $1.9 million  after spending $541,000.

Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, so far the lone Republican in the race for state comptroller, collected $193,000 over the past year, the vast majority from donations and tickets sold to fundraisers. Glassmans campaign spent $168,000 but reported $446,000 in cash on hand after carrying over a substantial balance from prior years.

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Lierman, a state lawmaker, is banned from further fundraising until the Maryland General Assembly wraps up its session April 12. Adams and Glassman, who hold local political offices, arent subject to the same restrictions.

Candidates have until Feb. 22 to file to run in the June 28 primary. The general election is Nov. 8.
Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee Dies at age 102

Decorated Tuskegee Airman Brigadier Gen. Charles McGee has died at age 102. He passed away peacefully in his sleep Sunday morning, January 16, according to family spokesperson.

He had his right hand over his heart and was smiling serenely, his youngest daughter Yvonne McGee said in a family statement. He was a wonderful human being  I feel proud and privileged to be called his son, McGees son, Ron McGee, said. McGee was a resident of Bethesda, Maryland.

McGee was drafted into the armed forces in 1942 and became one of the first members of the Black military aviators in a squadron known as the Tuskegee Airmen. During a visit here at the Los Angeles Sentinel offices in 2020, McGee said I just fell in love with flying, and was proud to have been given the opportunity to serve.

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The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of men who, when given the opportunity, were able to dispel the biases, generalizations and racist ideals that said Blacks could not service this country in a technical capacity or in a war, McGee explained during the interview at the Sentinel in 2020.

The Army said we couldnt maintain or fly aircraft. We should cook food, drive trucks, build roads, etc. We could serve our country that way because we were physically qualified but we were mentally and morally inferior to the White man.

McGee was born in 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother died during the birth of his sister, while he was very young, and eventually, he and his siblings relocated with their father to Illinois. McGee had been attending the University of Illinois when World War II broke out. My answer to people when they ask how I joined the Airforce is that I was trying to avoid the draft, McGee laughingly recalled.

Had my number come up, I would have been on the ground with a rifle. Instead of his future relying on that number, there was an opportunity to join the Airforce instead. Because I was in school, I learned about the aviation opportunity and applied. I passed the exams, and all I can say is after my first flight, I was hooked, McGee said. During his more than 30-year career, McGee flew 409 combat missions in WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam, one of the highest number of missions in history.

Among his many honors were the Congressional Gold Medal and his induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Being a part of the Tuskegee team, he said, has been a lifetime achievement. We were fighting for two victories: the victory over Hitler in Europe and the victory over racism at home, McGee said. Those two were overshadowed by dogmatic segregation in America.

We cant say good things about segregation but we can because it brought us together in a way that lasted a lifetime, he said. McGee said he could not articulate enough to todays youth what it has meant to him to serve the country while doing something he loves. For the youth, he says there are great opportunities in the field of aviation and aerospace. I would tell them, if you have the desire, go for it. I give it to them in 4 ps: perceive, prepare, perform and persevere.

In honor of his 101st birthday, a parade of people came out to his Bethesda home to pay tribute to the Tuskegee Airman, which included a military fly-over  a nod to his fighter pilot days. Im almost speechless, he said. Its an honor and another of lifes blessings. McGee battled racism and segregation during his military career that spanned three decades. His family and friends say he persevered and stayed focused on his mission.

In recent years, McGee played a vital role in educating students and adults on the historical significance of the Tuskegee airman and was a strong advocate in explaining the importance of education to young people through scholarships, educational assistance, and good first-hand advice. Get an education, because you cant take advantage of opportunity if youre not at least initially prepared, he said.

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McGee is survived by his three children, several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.
Ulmer Named Sr. Advisor to Biola University President

In a letter to the University, Biolas Chief of Staff Brian J. Shook announced that the Rev. Dr. Kenneth C. Ulmer will serve as senior advisor to the president, Dr. Barry H. Corey, on community reconciliation.

The appointment was made in consultation with the Board of Trustees leadership, the Presidents Cabinet and the Universitys Chief Diversity Officer, Tamra Malone. In his new role, Ulmer will help the University expand its imagination on ways they will walk and live into their biblical calling for being a reconciling community, working with other leaders on campus toward a grace-filled culture of Christian unity amidst their diversity.

The term community reconciliation comes out of the vision for a unified body of Christ that the Apostle Paul describes in Ephesians 2:14-16. The body of Christ remains as one despite racial and cultural distinctions. The term is also based upon the doctrine of Gods mercy of reconciling staff and leaders of Biola to Himself through the blood of the cross of Christ.

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In addition, it stems from their history of longing to be a welcoming community for all, accepting the prophetic words of its founder, Lyman Stewart, who said of Biola over 100 years ago that all people regardless of race, color, class, creed, or previous condition, will ever be welcome to its privileges.

A respected national and global Christian leader, Ulmer has served Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles as its senior pastor for nearly 40 years. He is the past president and founding board member of The Kings University, and serves as dean of The Kings annual summer session at Oxford University.

As a former Biola trustee and adjunct professor, Dr. Ulmer knows and loves the Biola community, and he will be able to come alongside our efforts to approach diversity from a biblical perspective. I am honored we will have his help, shared Shook.

Ulmers focus will be consulting with Talbot School of Theology to consider how to assist their faculty and students prepare future congregational leaders for the increasing diversity of the church  including those from different backgrounds, family systems, denominations, ethnicities and cultures.

Additionally, he will work with Talbot leadership on recruiting and retaining African American students and building collaborative partnerships with Black churches throughout the greater Los Angeles area and beyond.
Webers AB 1655 Would Make Juneteenth a Paid Holiday in California

Last week, Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-La Mesa) announced the introduction of Assembly Bill (AB) 1655, legislation that would make Juneteenth a paid holiday in California.

AB 1655 is co-authored by Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles) and Mia Bonta (D-Oakland). Weber, Bonta and Jones-Sawyer are all members of the California Legislative Black Caucus.

It is time that June 19th has the status it deserves in California to honor the significant contributions of Black Americans to our nation and reflect on the long struggle for freedom, Weber said, speaking during an Assembly session Jan. 15. By making Juneteenth an official state holiday, California would demonstrate its commitment to celebrating the emancipation of all slaves.

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If the Legislature approves AB 1655 and Gov. Newsom signs it into law, it would amend current statutes to include June 19th as an official state holiday for public schools, community colleges, and California State University systems. It would also grant paid time-off to all state employees.

Juneteenth commemorates the day American forces declared that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were freed  more than two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.

On June 19th, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger led troops into Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of the Civil War and the institution of slavery. As a result, thousands of enslaved people in Texas were among some of the last to be informed of their liberation.

Historians say that incident captures a broader reality: many enslaved Black people across the South working on plantations did not know about the Emancipation Proclamation  or that they had been freed  until much later.

Today, the celebration of that joyous occasion in Texas has spread around the nation, with cities and communities in California joining to mark that all-important milestone in the American journey to freedom.

In June last year, President Biden proclaimed Juneteenth an official federal holiday. It is the first commemoration to become a national holiday since President Ronald Reagan declared Martin Luther King Jr. Day a holiday 39 years ago.

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Juneteenth is now a paid state holiday in nine states, including Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Oregon, and Illinois.

Juneteenth is an important and special annual celebration for Black culture, resilience, and achievement, said Weber. Designating this date as a paid state holiday mirrors the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

Jones-Sawyer said people of all races and backgrounds in the state should commemorate the holiday.

This is a significant milestone for African Americans, to have a date recognized by our state that is celebrated by all Californians, said Jones-Sawyer. AB 1655 is an inclusive act marking a key point in our nations history  one we should never forget or ignore, and one that correctly balances the American scale of freedom from 3/5ths to a whole.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today regarding the ownership of the painting, Rue Saint Honore in the Afternoon: Effect of Rain by Camille Pissarro (left, courtesy of the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum). The Cassirer family purchased the painting from Pissarro's art dealer and displayed it at their homes in Germany. However, the Jewish family was forced to turn it over to the Nazi government in exchange for exit visas from Germany during World War II. After the war, the Cassirers were unable to locate the painting and accepted $13,000 in reparations from the German government in 1958, but did not relinquish their right to seek the return of the painting. The painting's current value is estimated at $30 million.

Forty years later, family members living in California discovered the painting was hanging in Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza museum, which is state-owned. They requested the return of the painting, but the Spanish museum refused, so the family sued in California court. The main issue is whether California law or Spanish law should be used to determine the painting's ownership. In bringing suit, the Cassirer family is relying on an exception to the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), which permits suits against foreign state entities for property that was taken in violation of international law. The California court determined that Spanish law applies, awarding the ownership of the painting to Spain and the Cassirers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision is expected later this spring.

More details can be found here and here.

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https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/international_law/2022/01/who-owns-this-pissarro.html
Indonesias parliament on Tuesday passed a law to move the countrys capital from Jakarta to an area deep within the jungle of Kalimantan on Borneo island.

The countrys leaders have been considering the move for several years.

The new law provides a legal system for President Joko Widodo's $32-billion project. It explains the requirements for the development of the new capital, including financing and governance.

The new capital will be a symbol of the identity of the nation, as well as a new center of economic gravity," Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa told parliament.

The move will start from between 2022 and 2024, with roads and ports built first. Some projects will operate as public-private partnerships, the finance ministry said.



Jakarta, a city of 10 million people, suffers from overcrowding, flooding and air pollution. Several former presidents have considered moving the capital, but none have advanced the idea until now.

Widodo first announced his plan in 2019. The plan got delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new city has a name that he chose: Nusantara. The word is a Javanese term for the Indonesian island group.

There is not a set date for the finalization of the project. Jakarta will remain the capital until there is a presidential order to formally change it.

The government said in a statement that the new capital will strengthen trade relationships and give Indonesia a better position in world trade routes, investment flows and technological innovation.

The government also said the new capital will be low-carbon. It added that the city will support health and technology industries.

Critics say the law was pushed through with little consideration for environmental concerns or public opinion.

Nusantara will be led by a chief official who acts as a minister, a member of the laws special committee said on Monday. Jakartas former governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, is among those being considered for the position.

Im Susan Shand.

The Reuters News Agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English.

_________________________________________________

Words in This Story

jungle  n. a tropical forest where plants and trees grow very thickly

symbol  n. an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality

route  n. a way of achieving or doing something

innovation  n. a new idea, device, or method

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Software maker Microsoft is buying the video game company Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion in one of the biggest technology deals in history.

Microsoft announced the agreement Tuesday and said it is expected to be completed in 2023. The deal must be approved by government regulators.

Activision Blizzard produces a series of popular and profitable video games including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. Microsoft is the maker of the Xbox gaming system and is expected to add those games, along with others, to its subscription service.

If approved, the deal will turn the software maker into one of the worlds largest video game companies. It is expected to better position Microsoft to take on other major videogame competitors like Chinas Tencent and Japans Sony.

The deal is also expected to help Microsoft better compete with technology companies developing equipment and systems for a future metaverse. Metaverse is a term used to describe a non-physical world in which individuals can interact through different kinds of virtual technology.

Among the companies that have confirmed the development of metaverse technologies are Microsoft, Facebooks parent Meta, Google and Apple. In announcing the agreement, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said gaming is expected to play an important part "in the development of metaverse systems.

Experts said the deal will turn Microsoft into the third-largest video game company in the world, a position formerly held by Japans Nintendo. Only Sony  maker of the PlayStation gaming system  and Chinese technology leader Tencent are bigger.

Microsofts Xbox already develops and produces its own games. But the deal with Activision Blizzard will give the company control of many additional games. This is likely to raise questions about whether Microsoft could shut out competitors by restricting Activision games to its own Xbox system and Windows-powered computers.

Nadella, however, promised this would not be the case. He said the deal would actually help people play games wherever, whenever and however they want.

Daniel Ives is an industry expert with Wedbush Securities. He told The Associated Press that Microsoft needed to do an aggressive deal because the company has plans to greatly expand in streaming and metaverse development.

Ives added that the size of the deal is likely to bring closer attention from regulatory agencies in the United States and Europe.

One group, Public Citizen, criticized the proposed agreement. The groups Alex Harman called on the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to block the deal. If Microsoft wants to bet on the metaverse, it should invest in new technology, not swallow up a competitor, Harman said.

The deal came after Activision Blizzard faced months of accusations involving sexual misconduct at the company by several top managers. There were also employee accusations of workplace discrimination and unequal pay.

The company has said it is still investigating and dealing with the accusations. On Monday, Activision Blizzard said it had fired or pushed out more than 36 employees for violating company policies and disciplined 40 others since July.

In a conference call with investors, Nadella did not directly speak about the misconduct issues. But he did talk about the importance of company culture. "It's critical for Activision Blizzard to drive forward on its renewed cultural commitments," he said, adding, "the success of this (deal) will depend on it."

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

Quiz - Microsoft Aims to Buy Gaming Company Activision for $69 Billion Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz



__________________________________________________

Words in This Story

regulator  n. a body with the responsibility to control an activity or process, especially by using rules

subscription  n. an agreement that you make with a company to get a publication or service regularly and that you usually pay for in advance

virtual  adj. used to describe something that can be done or seen using computers or the internet instead of happening in a physical place

streaming  n. the continuous transmission of video files from a server to a viewer

bet  v. to risk money on the result of a game, competition, etc.

misconduct  n. behavior by someone in a position of responsibility that is morally wrong or breaks the rules while doing their job

discipline  n. the control of peoples behavior by using rules and punishments

renew  v. to arrange to continue an official agreement or set of rules
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.
CBS hit comedy Ghosts introduces a new spirit when Hettys philandering husband emerges from a secret vault. Freeforms Single Drunk Female follows a 20something on the rocky road to recovery. ABCs Women of the Movement historical docudrama reaches its inspiring conclusion. Sitcom veterans Ed Helms and Randall Park interpret true stories with whimsical recreations.

9/8c

I love it when the mythology gets expanded, gushes nerd supreme Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) when yet another spirit enters the picture in the hilarious new hit comedy (based on an equally delightful British series, currently streaming on HBO Max). This ghost is the obnoxious robber baron and philanderer Elias Woodstone (Veeps mustache-twirling Matt Walsh), emerging from a long-hidden vault to the chagrin of his wife, Hetty (the fabulously haughty Rebecca Wisocky). Her high dudgeon includes the phrase syphilitic reprobate, which Elias takes as a compliment as he shares his lustful appetite with any living he mischievously encounters. The final twist generates some of the biggest laughs yet among this first-rate ensemble.

Series Premiere 10/9c

I miss being a drunk. There was a lot less accountability, moans barely recovering alcoholic Samantha Fink (a droll Sofia Black-DElia) in this raw yet wry character study of a 28-year-old who learns the hard way how to be defined by something other than her booze intake. The inaugural season follows Sam over her first year of a rocky, often humiliating but occasionally affirming probationary period after she moves from New York back to Boston to live with her neurotic, not-always-supportive mom, Carol (a snappish, tart and very funny Ally Sheedy).

Series Finale 8/7c

In the final night of the historical docudrama about civil-rights pioneer Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren), the grieving mother testifies in court during the murder trial of her slain son Emmett in front of a stacked white jury. While the verdict feels pre-ordained (and the dramatization is none too subtle), the impact of injustice will resonate far beyond the steamy Mississippi courtroom as 14-year-old Emmett Tills murder becomes a watchcry for a national movement.

Series Premiere

More streaming premieres on a typically busy Thursday:

La Fortuna (streaming on AMC+): Stanley Tucci headlines a six-part international thriller about modern-day piracy. Hes Captain Frank Wild, an adventurer who plunders a treasure from inside a sunken frigate, triggering a global incident as a young Spanish diplomat ( Alvaro Mel ) and an American lawyer (The Wires Clarke Peters ) fight to reveal to whom this fortune truly belongs.

) and an American lawyer (The Wires ) fight to reveal to whom this fortune truly belongs. Supernatural Academy (streaming on Peacock): A young-adult animated fantasy based on Jaymin Eves best-selling series reunites twin teenage sistersone raised in the supernatural world, the other raised among humans and unaware of her true natureat the title Academy, where theyll join forces despite their differences to save the world.

best-selling series reunites twin teenage sistersone raised in the supernatural world, the other raised among humans and unaware of her true natureat the title Academy, where theyll join forces despite their differences to save the world. Total Control (streaming on Sundance Now): A second season of the Australian political drama finds Indigenous senator Alex Irving ( Deborah Mallman ) fighting for her future as she runs for office as an Independent, battling the former Prime Minister (Rachel Griffiths) who betrayed her.

) fighting for her future as she runs for office as an Independent, battling the former Prime Minister (Rachel Griffiths) who betrayed her. The Royal Treatment (streaming on Netflix): The streaming giant takes a leap into Lifetime/Hallmark territory with a romcom about a New York hairdresser (Laura Marano) who lands a gig styling a royal wedding whose prince charming ( Mena Massoud ) is marrying for duty rather than love. Before you can say a little off the sides, Prince Thomas has made an uncommonly good love connection.

) is marrying for duty rather than love. Before you can say a little off the sides, Prince Thomas has made an uncommonly good love connection. The Marfa Tapes (streaming on Paramount+): Go on location to Marfa, Texas (also the site of the movie classic Giant) with Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram and Jon Randall for the making of their Grammy-nominated 2021 album, much of it recorded outdoors.

(streaming on Paramount+): Go on location to Marfa, Texas (also the site of the movie classic Giant) with Miranda Lambert, and for the making of their Grammy-nominated 2021 album, much of it recorded outdoors. Moses Storm: Trash White (streaming on HBO Max): Conan OBrien executive produces the first solo stand-up special from Moses Storm, reflecting with raw humor and honesty on his impoverished childhood.

Inside Thursday TV:
A reporter for a West Virginia television station was filming a live shot reporting on a water main break when a car unexpectedly hit her from behind on Wednesday night.

Despite the accident, the reporter, Tori Yorgey, got up and finished her live shot anyway.

I just got hit by a car but Im OK, Tim, Yorgey told the anchor at WSAZ.

According to Yorgeys Twitter bio, she was born and raised outside of Philadelphia.

Believe it or not, it was not her first run-in with a car.

I actually got hit by a car in college too just like that, Yorgey said shortly after getting hit by the car on live TV.

Sometimes when things go wrong during a TV news broadcast, the camera fades to black or cuts back to the studio, but here, the camera kept rolling and Yorgey went on with her live shot.

The anchor in the studio asked Yorgey if she was bumped down low or hit up high and she responded, I dont even know, Tim. My whole life just flashed before my eyes.

But this is live TV and everything is OK! Yorgey continued as the camera kept rolling.


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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan laid out details of his final budget on Wednesday as he finishes his second term in office, a plan that proposes generous tax breaks for retirees and some low-income workers.

The $58.2 billion proposal is a first step in budget negotiations in a year in which the state is flush with cash from a combination of federal aid, a resurgent economy and rebounding tax revenues. The Republican governor also attributed the states solid financial footing to hard work and a lot of tightening the belt over the last seven years.

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With no need to pinch pennies, Hogan is proposing to gradually eliminate taxes on retirement income such as pensions and retirement savings accounts. The tax cut would apply to people older than 65 who receive Social Security payments and would phase in over six years, starting with lower-income retirees.

In the first year, the tax cut proposal would eliminate income taxes on 70,000 low-income seniors at a cost of $188 million to the state. But as it expands to more retirees, the price tag is expected to rise, setting the state up to lose significant dollars that it otherwise would collect in income taxes from retirees.

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan holds up purple budget books during a news conference in Annapolis on Wednesday. He said the color is meant to symbolize that Republicans and Democrats should work together on issues such as tax relief. "Purple is red and blue coming together," he said. (Pamela Wood / Baltimore Sun)

Hogan also is proposing to extend a tax credit that helps low-income workers called the Earned Income Tax Credit. The tax credit, popular among Democrats and Republicans alike, allows low-income workers to keep more of their pay, and the governor and the General Assembly agreed last year to make the tax credit temporarily more generous.

Hogan would make that expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit permanent. However, his proposal doesnt extend the more generous credit to people who dont have a Social Security number, often because they lack legal documentation for residency. Leaving out those workers could be a point of disagreement with the Democratic-led legislature.

Hogan said now is the time for additional tax relief.

For far too long, politicians in Annapolis have resorted to the same failed overreach, overspend and overtax policies of the past  We have worked hard over the last seven years to change that mentality, Hogan said.

Hogan also touted the plans in his budget for funding public education, state parks, addiction treatment services and giving raises to state government workers.

He made a pitch again for his Re-Fund the Police proposal, a combination of higher pay for state law enforcement officers, financial support for local departments and grants for community safety programs.

The budget requires approval of the state Senate and House of Delegates and will govern state government spending from July of this year through next June.

The Maryland Constitution requires the budget to be balanced, and in past years that required significant maneuvering. This proposed budget is projected to have a $583 million surplus and leaves nearly $3.6 billion in the states rainy day fund, according to the governors office.

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This, of course, is just the first step in the budget process, said Hogan, adding that he hopes to work with Democrats in the General Assembly to enact a final budget which seizes the historic opportunity we now have.

Democratic leaders have expressed a reluctance to enact long-term tax cuts that would consign the state to permanently lower tax revenues. But they have not dismissed all of Hogans proposals entirely, saying they wanted to see more details.

House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, quickly found fault with the governors proposal after his announcement.

In a statement, Jones said that Hogans budget continues to undermine a long-term effort to improve public schools known as the Blueprint for Marylands Future. And she said shes skeptical that the budget sufficiently addresses an issue of understaffing at state agencies.

Still, she said theres room for compromise.

We look forward to working with the Governor and the Senate and will continue to ask, Is this helping the families whove been left behind in post-pandemic recovery? Jones said in her statement.

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The governors budget doesnt fund a part of the Blueprint for Marylands Future formula that would send millions in extra money to school districts that have high concentrations of poor students, said Del. Maggie McIntosh, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee. Baltimore City is missing out on $99 million in Hogans proposal, and Prince Georges County is missing $26 million, said McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat.

This is something were going to have to get into a discussion with the governor about, she said. Its important for the poorest children in our school systems.

Sen. Guy Guzzone, who chairs the Senates Budget and Taxation Committee, said theres a lot of good in Hogans proposal. But he said lawmakers will consider whether to build on the governors plan in key areas such as education, cybersecurity and local health departments.

When you have additional resources  which we are fortunate to be in this position  are we looking at this opportunity to be able to handle long-term problems that may not have been handled in the past? said Guzzone, a Howard County Democrat.

That will require some give-and-take, and one area of consideration will be giving a close look at the governors tax-cut proposals, Guzzone said.

Maryland Policy & Politics Weekdays Keep up to date with Maryland politics, elections and important decisions made by federal, state and local government officials. >

McIntosh said the governors proposal to expand tax breaks for low-income workers is admirable. But all tax cuts need to be viewed as part of a bigger picture along with other spending, she said.

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Tax cuts are an expenditure. Its money that you never get back, she said. So thats going to be a balance.

Guzzone noted that Democratic leaders worked closely with Hogan last year to pass a pandemic financial aid bill called the RELIEF Act. And they cooperated to assign how to spend an influx of federal pandemic aid that was passed in the midst of the budget process. He hopes the cooperation will continue.

Its all about a discussion and a negotiation, he said.

Hogan, for his part, signaled his hope for fruitful negotiations with Democratic leaders in the color that he chose for the thick budget books: Purple.

For his past seven budget proposals, Hogans budget books were printed with somber black covers.

We wanted to symbolically show its different, Hogan said. It really is a bipartisan effort, and purple is red and blue coming together.
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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
MOSCOW  Sixty-five acres of land containing rare Palouse prairie in northern Latah County will be protected under a new conservation agreement with Palouse Land Trust.
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First-time political candidate Wes Moores campaign raked in a little more than $4.8 million worth of donations and campaign contributions over the past year, topping a large field of Maryland gubernatorial hopefuls, according to newly filed campaign finance reports.

Moore, a Democrat from Baltimore, raised just over $4 million, while his lieutenant governor running mate, Aruna Miller, tallied about $773,000 in contributions. After spending money on campaign staff and salaries, consultants, lawyers, media, travel and other expenses, the Moore-Miller team heads into the thick of the primary campaign season with $3.1 million in the bank.

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Moores campaign promoted the numbers as a sign of enthusiasm for the author, veteran and former nonprofit executive.

This may be a crowded field, but there is only one campaign with the momentum, the energy, the vision, the path, and now very clearly the resources to win both in June and in November, campaign manager Ned Miller said in a statement.

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But the biggest campaign war chest in the Democratic primary field belongs to Comptroller Peter Franchot. Franchot and running mate Monique Anderson-Walker have about $3.28 million on hand across three campaign finance accounts, besting Moores total.

Franchot relied significantly on a cushion hes built over years as a statewide officeholder to achieve that bank balance, having started 2021 with $2.2 million in the bank while most of his Democratic rivals started from scratch.

Two former high-ranking federal officials in the Democratic field, former labor secretary Tom Perez and former education secretary John King, also hit the multimillion mark in fundraising. King brought in $2.5 million, while Perez received $2.44 million.

In the smaller Republican field, Kelly Schulz, a former state commerce secretary, raised nearly quadruple that of the other prominent Republican in the race, state Del. Dan Cox. Schulz reported bringing in $1.49 million since she entered the campaign in April, while Cox brought in $378,000.

Schulzs finance chair, Allison Meyers, noted in a memo to the campaign that Schulzs fundraising outpaced any previous fundraising of a non-incumbent Republican in the governors race. Meyers did not name names, but when current Gov. Larry Hogan ran his first campaign for governor in 2014, his first fundraising report showed about $500,000 in contributions, including $100,000 that Hogan loaned to the campaign.

Primary elections will be held June 28 and the general election will be held Nov. 8.

Heres a breakdown of each candidates campaign fundraising reports, which were due to state election officials by 12:01 a.m Thursday and cover the last 12 months of activity:
WASHINGTON  Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway stressed the negative effect of telework on Madison businesses Wednesday, and urged mayors gathered from around the country to consider its long-term implications on their cities as well as solutions to get people to increase their support for local businesses.

Speaking here at the 90th U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting, Rhodes-Conway said mayors must deal with the seismic shift in where people work and what it means for the future of working and living in our urban cores.

She didnt present any concrete proposals for how to address the problem, but one idea she suggested would also tackle another problem the city faces: Repurpose vacant office buildings into housing.

There are all sorts of things that either impact or are impacted by this trend: land use, housing, child care, transit, mental health, she said. It presents a challenge for us as employers, but also for us as city leaders.

According to the American Institute for Research, 45% of all full-time U.S. employees now work from home either full-time or part-time  a sharp increase from the 6% who did before the pandemic. The difference is of particular concern in Madison, which ranked second in the nation for remote workers in December.

For Madison, remote work has meant fewer workers eating out and a reduction of goods and services coming in from out of town. That has created drops in sales and had serious implications for small and locally owned businesses, Rhodes-Conway said.

It also has made Downtown Madison a much quieter place, she said.

You can see the impact visually and in the hours that stores are open, coffee shops closed, etc., Rhodes-Conway said. We have to think about, as mayors, what are new and innovative strategies to market our small and local businesses to our population to get folks to come out to them, even though theyre not necessarily in the office.

In addressing the telework issue, Rhodes-Conway emphasized the importance of centering racial and gender equity.

The impacts of this are not felt equally, she said. People of color and women have not had equal access to those professional opportunities that allow remote work.

Rhodes-Conway urged local leaders to look at the challenges as opportunities to remake their cities to better serve its workforce.

Its going to take us being thoughtful and intentional about this, Rhodes-Conway said. Its not going to happen on its own. Whats going to happen if we dont do anything is businesses are going to increasingly fail, and our downtowns are going to hollow out  which none of us want.

Governors view

Rhodes-Conways concerns contrast with those of Gov. Tony Evers, a fellow Democrat, who supports increasing remote work opportunities. Last May, the Evers administration released the Vision 2030 strategic plan, which proposes getting more state employees to work from home.

In March, Evers vetoed a bill that would have required him to submit a plan within three weeks for returning state employees to return to work.

This work should not be discounted or demeaned, Evers said in his veto message. These workers deserve our gratitude and respect.

Urgent matter

At the conference, Rhodes-Conway presented her concerns to the Council on Metro Economies and the New American City, the economic research arm of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She is co-vice chair of the Council with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

While Rhodes-Conway spoke about the urgency of the issue at the conference, in a follow-up interview she said it is premature to speculate if it will translate into new policy in Madison.

I dont know that its something that you address through policy necessarily, Rhodes-Conway said. This is something that is happening in the workforce that mayors need to be cognizant of and to be proactively thinking about rather than just letting it happen to them.

I think its going to depend on decisions that are made by employers, and certainly we are considering ways that we can bring more housing to every neighborhood in our city, including Downtown, she said. So thats something that we have been working on, continue to work on, no question.
Not long ago, Scott Faris, one of my email correspondents, suggested I give Benvenutos Italian Grill a try.

I know its not haute cuisine, he wrote, but Benvenutos Fitchburg does a very nice job and is a value in a clean, attractive setting.

I first tried Benvenutos in 1996, a month after Brian Dominick opened the original one in Beaver Dam. It had that chain look from the start. But when youre faced with the looming, competing signs of Dennys, Burger King and McDonalds, it is a godsend, I wrote then.

After 26 years, it was time to check in on a brand that has restaurants in Fitchburg, Middleton, Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and Wausau. Dominick closed his 18-year-old Benvenutos on Madisons North Side in October, telling me then that his six other locations have flourished during the pandemic with carryout and delivery business.

The Fitchburg restaurant opened in 2004 and everything about it is big: its dining room, its bar, its booths, its menu. The food was mostly great, and the service was exceptional.

The meat lasagna ($21) was a sight, served in a large, deep bowl, so you couldnt see the layers. The menu describes it as casserole style and it was served with a big spoon.

It was an interesting take on lasagna. You dont get your usual lasagna shape and form, said my friend.

And it was so massive, had we only ordered the lasagna and nothing else, we would have had more than enough food.

I know from trial and error that lasagna needs lots of sauce, and this one had so much tasty marinara it was almost soupy. It also wasnt lacking for meat, with ground beef and sausage. It was lighter on the cheese, which made an impressive, attractive appearance on top, but wasnt noticeable inside.

The meal came with soup or salad, and the creamy tomato basil soup was a highlight of the night.

The Benvenuto pizza, the house pizza, was wall-to-wall pepperoni, ham and Italian sausage. My friend liked how the pepperoni was dry and curled up, not greasy like pepperoni often is.

It also had onions, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers and plenty of cheese. We went with thin crust over hand-tossed, and the crust was fine but could have been crisper. It was cut into squares instead of triangular slices.

The loaded 10-inch pizza was a good deal at $16. The 16-inch version is $29.

The grilled salmon BLT ($17.50) suffered a bit from some strong-tasting fish the menu described as never frozen. The sandwich also had bacon from Nueskes, a specialty meat supplier in Wittenberg, plus ripe tomato and red onion.

The menu referred to the bread as toasted garlic panini, but it seemed ordinary. The menu mentioned honey lemon dressed arugula, but the dressing wasnt noticeable, and neither was the dill aioli on the bread. Those flavors may have been snuffed out by the slightly fishy salmon.

Danyelle Amachree, the restaurants general manager, said the restaurant gets fresh salmon twice a week.

Occasionally you will get a fish that is a little fishier than it should be, she said. Typically, though, our salmon is always going to have that real nice, mild taste that salmon does.

The best part of the dish was the crispy Brussels sprouts offered as a side that had just enough olive oil.

Skip the tiramisu ($7), served in a cup. It was heavy on the cream, but not on coffee flavor. The cake layer was minimal and buried deep inside.

After we were seated we didnt see a server for about 15 minutes, and the restaurant wasnt too busy, so I went back to the hostess stand to ask about it. A waitress was with us soon and she was excellent.

Once we ordered, she asked if we wanted to start with some house-made focaccia, but until I asked, it was unclear if it was included with the meal. It was, and was a delicious way to start.

She brought a huge basket of tender bread with a plate of spices which she covered in olive oil.

When I spoke later by phone with Amachree, who has been GM of the Fitchburg restaurant for three years, she said knowing all the spices that were on the plate takes her back to her serving days. But she looked into it and read me a list: salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme and oregano.

The roomy restaurant wasnt crowded on a Wednesday night and diners are spread out, making the space feel safe in the face of the omicron variant. Tables have bottles of hand sanitizer, which my friend tried and said she could smell through her mask.

Benvenuto means welcome in Italian and the restaurant does give off a comfortable vibe.

We love seeing familiar faces and getting to know people in the community, Amachree said when asked why she thinks Benvenutos has endured.

When you go to a Benvenutos theyre pretty individual, she said. Even though we have multiple locations, each one has its own unique personality and great food. I think great food is right at the top of that list.

Diner's scorecard Restaurant: Benvenuto's Fitchburg Location: 2949 Triverton Pike Drive, Fitchburg Phone: 608-278-7800 Website: benvenutos.com Hours: Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. Dinner prices: Appetizers $10.50 to $17.50, sandwiches $14.50 to $17.50, soup $4 to $8, salads $9 to $17, pastas $15 to $27, pizzas $16 to $29, entrees $17 to $36. Noise level: Low Credit cards: Accepted Accessibility: Yes Outdoor dining: Yes Delivery: Some in-house delivery, but also through third-party apps. Drinks: Full bar Gluten-free: Entire GF menu Vegetarian offerings: Many Kids menu: Yes Reservations: Call-ahead seating Parking: Big lot Service: Excellent Bottom line: Benvenuto's is comfortable and comforting after all these years.

Read restaurant news at go.madison.com/restaurantnews

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A Dane County jury found Chandler Halderson guilty Thursday of the murder and dismemberment of his parents last summer.

After deliberating just over two hours, the jury found 23-year-old Halderson guilty of killing, cutting up and hiding the remains of Bart and Krista Halderson, as well as lying to law enforcement when he initially claimed his parents were missing after they left the Windsor house the family shared for a Fourth of July weekend trip in northern Wisconsin and never returned.

Chandler showed no apparent reaction when the verdicts were read, convicting him of two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and falsifying information about a missing person.

A first-degree intentional homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. Attorneys will be able to argue whether Chandler can ever be eligible for parole at a sentencing hearing scheduled in March.

I hope that it brings some satisfaction, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who did not prosecute the case, told reporters after the verdicts. We know that we cannot bring Bart and Krista back, but this is the first step to hopefully some finality.

After prosecutors spent a week and a half arguing the case, which has drawn national media attention, the defense rested Thursday morning without calling any witnesses or Chandler testifying.

In a closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Andrea Raymond walked jurors through events from July 1, when Chandler is said to have killed Bart, 50, and Krista, 53, through his arrest on July 8.

She reminded jurors of evidence and testimony seen throughout the trial, such as human bone fragments found in the familys fireplace, cutting tools with DNA matching Bart and Kristas, phone location data showing Chandler near where his parents remains were later found, and neighbors security cameras capturing what vehicles came and went from the house during that time.

We know that Bart and Krista went into that home and never came out, at least as whole people, Raymond said.

She compared solving a criminal case to putting together a puzzle, contending Chandler had eight days to spread pieces of that puzzle all over Wisconsin, at least southern Wisconsin.

They were normal folks just trying to live a normal life. They dont even get to be buried next to each other, Raymond said. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Im asking that you give justice to Krista and Bart Halderson and that you treat them with the dignity and respect that their own son hasnt given them.

Defense attorney Crystal Vera urged the jurors to consider what they dont know with regard to the two first-degree intentional homicide charges, but she seemingly conceded Chandler was guilty of other charges.

Do you know if it was an awful accident, do you know if it was intentional, do you know if there was someone else involved? Vera asked the jurors. You dont, and thats a problem.

She admitted Chandler is a liar and even goes to extreme lengths, if you will, to keep those lies going or to perhaps cover up those lies.

But Vera argued the prosecutions focus on Chandlers lies about attending Madison Area Technical College, working for American Family Insurance or being part of a scuba dive team for Madison police  regardless of how much of the truth was known to his parents  was more about tainting his credibility if he testified rather than a reasonable motive.

You were never told that they were going to kick him out of the house. You were never told that they were going to disown him. You were never told anything about why it matters, Vera said. If this is going to be motive, if this is the reason youre intentionally killing someone, it better matter.

In a rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney William Brown said: He had two options: Own up to his lies, stand up and finally tell the truth for once. Or like a coward, shoot your father in the back, and thats exactly what happened.

Questions remain

The Dane County Medical Examiners Office was unable to determine the precise cause of death for Krista, whose only remains found were her legs. Ozanne said Chandlers motive may never become clear.

The one thing that our traditional criminal justice system never really may get to is the why, he said. It may not. We cannot reach into somebody and figure out the why unless theyre willing to somehow give that information to us. We may never know.

Chandler reported his parents missing to the Dane County Sheriffs Office on July 7, claiming they left for a trip to the family cabin in Langlade County with an unknown couple and hadnt returned. Law enforcement quickly saw that story fall apart and arrested Chandler the following day.

In reality, prosecutors say, Chandler killed them after his father began catching on to his claims of attending MATC, and he spent the following days first trying to burn Bart and Krista in the fireplace before disposing of body parts at various locations.

Hours before Chandlers arrest, investigators discovered Barts gunshot torso in a rural Cottage Grove property. It wasnt until July 14  nearly two weeks after the murders were believed to have happened  that Kristas remains were found on state land in northwestern Dane County.

Given the scope of the investigation, which required searching multiple locations and involved several agencies, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said it came down to time and resources to put together the case, which he called historical.

He credited the professionalism and outstanding work of the Sheriffs Office detectives, deputies and staff in the first high-profile murder of Barretts tenure.

Despite a weeklong pause in the trial because Chandler tested positive for COVID-19 in the Dane County Jail, it concluded more than a week earlier than originally scheduled.

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Chandler Haldersons cellphone traveled to the remote, rural areas of Sauk County and the town of Cottage Grove where parts of his parents dismembered bodies would eventually be found, a criminal analyst with the state Department of Justice testified Wednesday, a dramatic revelation in the trial as the prosecutions case nears its end.

In compelling testimony, jurors watched an animated map of Bart, Chandler and Krista Haldersons cellphones moving throughout the region in the days following the elder Haldersons deaths last July.

After the July 4 weekend, Chandler Haldersons cellphone traveled out to the state-owned land in Sauk County where his mothers dismembered legs would later be found, said Courtney Ripp, the criminal analyst, as the presentation was shown in court. Over the ensuing days, his cellphone traveled multiple times to the town of Cottage Grove property where his fathers torso was eventually recovered. Halderson is charged with killing and dismembering his parents all while lying to investigators about their disappearance.

The hours of testimony and extensive evidence presented in the case has seldom provoked objections or intense cross-examinations from Haldersons attorneys, led by public defender Catherine Dorl. That changed Wednesday.

Dorl argued against the admission of text messages between Chandler and his parents in the hours before their deaths. Circuit Judge John Hyland, who is presiding over the case, allowed the texts to be admitted.

The centerpiece of those texts was one Bart Halderson sent to his son the day prosecutors say Bart died, after he learned that Chandler had been lying for months about attending Madison Area Technical College. Im ready whenever you are, it read.

Lies about his education and having a job, and his parents eventual unraveling of those lies, is what prosecutors say drove Chandler to kill his parents, dismember them and burn their bodies in the family fireplace before spreading what was left throughout southern Wisconsin.

Jurors got a deeper look Wednesday into exactly how prosecutors say those lies were spun, reviewing fake email accounts they said Chandler created to pose as MATC and American Family Insurance staff to string along his parents with the lie he was in school and had a job.

The email chains presented in court show Chandler trading emails with purported student advisers about receiving a copy of his transcript and a certificate for training in solar panel design and engineering.

In email exchanges spanning from September 2020 to June 2021, Chandler interacts with an Alyssa Brandt, Aaron Hoover and Daniel Spieth, none of whom have ever been employed at the college, the director of MATCs employee relations testified Wednesday.

One of the exchanges, dated June 10, shows Chandler emailing Brandt demanding to speak with someone about obtaining his transcript.

I need to have a call with whomever is in charge in the next 30 minutes. I have been a student for over 3 years and I will be treated fairly, Chandler wrote.

In response, Brandt replies that she had forwarded Chandlers message to a superior.

Records obtained through Google show that email and others were sent from the Halderson homes IP address and that the accounts didnt interact with anyone other than Chandler.

Chandlers MATC transcripts introduced as evidence on Wednesday also show that he attended the college from the spring of 2018 to the fall of 2020, though he mostly withdrew or failed classes like Basic Statistics and the Psychology of Human Relations.

As Bart Halderson grew frustrated over not obtaining Chandlers transcripts, he called MATC only to be told that his son had not been enrolled in classes as he claimed, the schools enrollment coordinator, Omar Jobe, testified on Wednesday.

I spoke to Omar Jobe, Bart later texted Chandler.

Bart would eventually die by multiple gunshot wounds to the back, officials with the Dane County Medical Examiners Office have testified. A precise cause of Krista Haldersons death has not been determined though it has been ruled a homicide.

The last text she sent to her son read, hope things are going well. Thinking about you :).

Over the coming weeks, investigators would eventually recover Barts torso at the town of Cottage Grove property, which is tied to Chandlers former girlfriend. A rifle, saws and bloodied tarps were also found on the property. Kristas legs were found later on the state-owned land in Sauk County.

The day he was arrested for lying to investigators, Chandler was searching Google for news items about bodies being found in Wisconsin, testified Ripp, the state criminal analyst. Chandler also searched for a state appeals court ruling in the case of Peter Kupaza, a Wisconsin man who killed and dismembered his cousin in 1999.

On Tuesday, jurors saw evidence from the Wisconsin State Crime Lab showing Chandlers fingerprints were on duct tape attached to a tarp covered in his fathers blood that was found at the town of Cottage Grove property. Other evidence shown to jurors on Tuesday included a bullet fragment found in the Halderson basement was fired from the SKS rifle prosecutors say Chandler used to shoot his father, analysts testified.

The rifle in question was given to Chandler as a gift from Andrew Smith, a Kansas man who took the witness stand on Tuesday. Smith met Chandler playing online video games, he testified, and when he visited Chandler weeks before the death of his parents, Chandler had hid the rifle in the family basement.

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A Mount Horeb man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl who lived near him when he lived in Middleton.

In addition to second-degree sexual assault of a child, Brian R. Henige, 54, also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced in April by Dane County Circuit Judge Ellen Berz.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will seek up to 10 years in prison for Henige. The sexual assault conviction carries up to 40 years of combined prison and extended supervision, while the child pornography conviction carries up to 25 years. By state law, Henige must serve at least three years in prison for the child pornography conviction.

Several other offenses were dismissed under the agreement, including exposing himself to a child, exposing harmful material to a child and five additional counts of child pornography possession.

A criminal complaint filed in March states the girls father contacted police after the girl told a school counselor about the alleged assaults, which began in August 2020. The first assault occurred in her home, she said, after which she said Henige sent her a text message reading, No regrets.

Several other assaults occurred, some at Heniges home, the complaint states, but the girl said she was not sure of the dates. She told police Henige said he would kill her and hide her body if she ever told anyone about the assaults, the complaint states.

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UPDATE: Trial of ag activist is on, then off. What's next?
Heather Colbert's son had been bullied for months, she said, before an altercation at La Follette High School led to him being beaten so badly he will require dental reconstructive surgery.

Her son, whom the Wisconsin State Journal has agreed to identify by his first initial, J, to protect his identity, was in a lot of pain and shaken up by the altercation, which took place on Thursday, she said in an interview on Monday.

Hes trying to process, Why? Why me? Colbert said. I just explained to him that we dont know what was going on through the other kids heads when all of this transpired.

J will not be returning to La Follette, Colbert said, and will instead enroll in an online learning program outside of the Madison School District.

As a single disabled parent with four children, Colbert said she struggled to figure out how to pay for the dental surgery her son will need due to the beating. She has since set up a GoFundMe page seeking help with the cost of her sons oral surgery.

A local dentist, Dr. Rob Warren from Warren Family Dental, contacted Colbert through the fundraising site and has agreed to do most of the work pro bono. The rest of the money raised through the fundraiser will go toward orthodontics  J will likely need braces after the reconstructive surgery  and therapy to help him heal from the trauma.

J is a student with special needs who, Colbert said, is on the autism spectrum and faces a number of mental and emotional health struggles.

(Hes) struggled a lot this year with kids making fun of him and bullying him, she said. And on Thursday, the bullying became too much. According to a police report, video surveillance shows J and a group of students preparing to fight inside of the high school.

In an effort to protect her son, Colbert said she she had discussed enrolling J in an alternative learning program such as Capital High, with both an assistant principal at La Follette and her sons caseworker, during phone conversations in mid-November and the beginning of December. District spokesperson Tim LeMonds said the first request for an alternative learning environment for J that appears in district records was made on the morning of Jan. 14, just hours before the fight.

This situation could have been avoided, Colbert said. The school wasnt doing anything.

Colbert did say staff at the school sat J and other students down in an effort to resolve their conflicts through a more restorative approach, but it didnt work.

Teeth pushed in

Colbert said she was in the middle of a Zoom meeting with Js care provider, mentor, school social worker, and therapist as well as case manager Thursday afternoon when the social worker interrupted the meeting and told her to call the school nurse immediately.

She called the school and was told by the nurse that her son had been assaulted at La Follette as he was exiting a bathroom near the schools commons area near the end of the school day, she said.

She was told three students confronted her son and he was hit in his mouth as about 50 other students looked on. His front teeth were pushed up into his gums and potentially into his nasal area, she said, and she was told to take her son to the emergency room immediately.

The school did not call police or emergency medical services. Colbert called police to file a report after she took her son to the emergency room, where he was given a CT scan.

LeMonds said Colbert told the school she preferred to take her son to the hospital, as she was already on her way to the school and indicated that she would contact police  a characterization that Colbert disagreed with.

As a parent I would have preferred them to call 911 and have my son taken by ambulance because what if something happened? What if my son would have been bleeding profusely? I mean, Im not trained and equipped to handle anything like that. He could have had a head injury.

Arrests likely

Madison police spokeswoman Stephanie Fryer said three teens will likely face charges in the case, including a substantial battery charge against a 17-year-old. Two others will likely be charged with being a party to a crime, she said. None of the three had been arrested as of Wednesday.

Citing privacy laws, LeMonds said the district cannot comment on the whether those involved in the fight have been suspended or expelled. The district is working with the families of the students involved to determine consequences following the districts Behavior Education Plan.

That plan says students who commit any physical aggression that results in serious injury, such as a broken bone or one requiring hospitalization, can be expelled.

Madison school officials have at least twice this school year resisted working with law enforcement, according to police. In September, East High Schools then-assistant principal, and current interim principal, Mikki Smith, told the parents of a boy who had been assaulted in class by two of his classmates that the boys attackers were not going to be criminally charged. LeMonds has said Smiths comment was taken out of context and she only meant the assailants wouldnt be charged as adults.

A little more than a month later, the districts, co-director of the Office of School Safety, Gina Aguglia, abruptly stopped cooperating with police who were seeking her help identifying several young people reported with guns near East High School, including some who were in a stolen car later involved in a police pursuit, police reports showed.

This is the first fully in-person school year following the School Boards decision in June 2020 to remove police officers, known as school resource officers, from the four main high schools. That decision came in the wake of George Floyds murder and after years of protests at School Board meetings and other advocacy by the local far-left group Freedom Inc.

The board subsequently voted in February 2021 to adopt 16 recommendations from a district Safety and Security ad hoc committee, including one requiring debriefing sessions after every instance in which police are called to examine, among other things, what could have been done proactively to avoid involving law enforcement.

State Journal reporter Chris Rickert contributed to this report.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the assertion that Madison school officials have at least twice resisted working with law enforcement is based on Madison police reports.

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The state Assembly approved several Republican-authored bills Thursday that would dramatically expand gun rights in Wisconsin and increase gun access in places of worship and school grounds.

The first session of the midterm election year also saw the Assembly pass measures that would tackle rising drug use, increase working hours for teenagers and criminalize the destruction of vaccines.

The gun legislation passed Thursday on voice votes would allow people with concealed carry licenses to go armed on school grounds and in churches attached to private schools; lower the minimum age for obtaining a concealed carry license from 21 to 18; allow high schools to offer a firearm course; and allow anyone with a concealed carry license from any state to go armed in Wisconsin. Right now only people with licenses from states that conduct background checks on applicants can carry concealed in Wisconsin.

With the Assembly approval, the bills are headed to the Senate. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who has pushed for stricter gun laws rather than more lenient measures, said Thursday he will review the concealed carry bills if they reach his desk, but came short of saying he would veto the measures.

He added the proposal to lower the minimum age to legally carry a concealed weapon from 21 to 18 sounds pretty bizarre to me.

While the Republican proposals passed on the Assembly floor, gun violence continues to increase; more than 1,400 people have been injured in nonfatal shootings in Milwaukee since January 2020, according to the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission.

But Republican legislators face reelection in 10 months and are looking for ways to please their supporters and give themselves talking points on the campaign trail. Voting on gun rights delivers on both counts regardless of if the bills become law. The proposed gun measures are also a sign of what bills can become law next year if a Republican wins the gubernatorial election.

At an Assembly Democratic press conference ahead of the floor session, Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, said, Let me be crystal clear that these bills are not about making our schools safer, they are not about making our churches or synagogues or mosques or other places of worship safer. These are about appealing to the big gun lobby.

The bills supporters have long argued that under current law gun owners who forget their weapons in their cars could be charged with a felony if they drive onto school grounds to drop off or pick up their children. The bill that would allow them to bring guns legally in cars on school grounds passed the Assembly Thursday.

They also contend that 18-year-olds can legally possess handguns so they should be allowed to carry concealed and churchgoers should be allowed to go armed so they can defend themselves if theyre attacked during services. Both bills passed the Assembly Thursday.

Our Second Amendment rights, those are just critically important to everybody across Wisconsin, said Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, the chief Assembly sponsor of the bill to lower the concealed carry minimum age, at a news conference before the session began.

Debating on the Assembly floor, Democratic lawmakers in opposition to the bill said teenagers greater access to firearms would result in more violence and suicides.

Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, in opposition to the bill, also mentioned that people do not fully develop the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which controls rational thinking, until the age of 25.

In response, Sortwell said legal adults who can vote and serve in a military should be able to carry a gun.

Im curious what other rights some people on the other side of the aisle would like to deny to 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds, he said.

As for out-of-state concealed carry licenses, they say current law is confusing and requires people to navigate a maze of red tape. The bill that would clear some of the red tape passed the Assembly Thursday.

And as for teaching a gun safety class to high schoolers, Republican lawmakers say that teaching teenagers to use guns safely would potentially save their lives if they needed a gun as well as prevent them from accidentally discharging a gun. A similar bill came up in 2017 when Republicans controlled the Legislature and governors office but did not pass.

The National Rifle Association has registered in support of every gun bill on the Assembly floor Thursday besides the high school gun class, whose only registered supporter is Wisconsin Gun Owners, Inc.

An array of organizations have registered in opposition to the bills, including the city of Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Council of Churches, the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators and the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin: the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Vaccines to be protected

Intentionally damaging vaccines would be a felony under another bill that passed the Assembly on a voice vote Thursday.

The measure comes in response to a pharmacist in a Milwaukee suburb spoiling more than 500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021. He pleaded guilty to the federal charges and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Bill supporters say state law needs to be clarified because it doesnt adequately address crimes related to tampering with vaccines and other medical products. The pharmacist who destroyed the vaccine doses at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton was convicted of two federal charges of attempting to tamper with a consumer product.

The proposal in front of the Assembly Thursday would make it a Class I felony to intentionally make a vaccine unsafe, tainted, spoiled, ineffective or otherwise unusable. That is punishable by up to 3 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Senate passed the bill in June. If the Assembly passes it Thursday, it would then head to Evers for his consideration.

Bill would up teen work hours

Another bill, which would allow teenagers to work longer hours during the busy summer tourism months, passed the Assembly on a voice vote Thursday.

The measure is backed by Republicans and the states hotel, restaurant and grocery industries, but opposed by Democrats and the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. The state Senate passed it on a voice vote in October.

Current law does not allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work later than 7 p.m. from after Labor Day until May 31 and no later than 9 p.m. over the summer.

The bill would allow employees under age 16 to work until 11 p.m. when they dont have school the next day. The changes would not affect businesses covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes those with annual sales over $500,000.

Supporters say the changes will help smaller businesses struggling with the states worker shortage and be a particular benefit over the summer and weekends when the need is highest for more workers.

The AFL-CIO opposes the measure, saying it rolls back child labor protection laws and supporters have not shown why the change is needed.

Bills tackle drug use, addiction

With no debate, the Assembly passed a bill on a voice vote Thursday that would allow social workers to treat substance use disorder as a specialty without needing certification or continued education, greatly expanding who can treat people with addictions as opioid use rates skyrocket in Wisconsin.

In 2020, 34% more people died from opioids than in the previous year. The 2020 death rate is the highest on record second only to 2017 in opioid hospitalization rate.

Similarly, the Assembly passed a bill on a voice vote that would allow the Department of Health Services to award grants to train substance use disorder treatment providers on treatment models for people with methamphetamine addictions.

Speaking about the bill, Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, who earlier Thursday noted his proximity to people with addictions, said the drug use rate across Wisconsin is crazy, referring in particular to fentanyl.

State Journal reporter Alexander Shur contributed to this report.
The immigration rights group Voces de la Frontera Action headed to court Wednesday to try to block a subpoena issued by the former state Supreme Court justice Republicans hired to review the 2020 presidential election.

The subpoena from Michael Gableman is astoundingly broad and invasive and seeks a veritable mountain of internal documents and communications, the group said in a statement. It also marks a broadening of the Gableman investigation into groups not directly associated with running elections.

The subpoena, issued Dec. 28 and  according to Voces de la Frontera Action, received on Jan. 5  sought a response by Wednesday. It asked for emails and other communications related to the 2020 election, as well as information about the groups finances and contacts with government officials and other nonprofits.

Gablemans subpoena is modern-day McCarthyite political theater designed to perpetuate lies about the 2020 election and silence and intimidate voters of color from exercising their right to free speech and their right to vote, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the groups executive director, said in a statement.

Gableman did not respond to a request for comment.

The group, which is the advocacy arm of Voces de la Frontera, said Gableman has no authority over nongovernmental organizations. In papers filed Wednesday, it asked Dane County Circuit Judge Rhonda Lanford to quash the subpoena. The judge set a hearing for Feb. 2.

The immigrant rights groups motion was filed as part of a lawsuit Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed that seeks to quash another subpoena Gableman issued to Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe compelling her to submit to questioning at his Brookfield office.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, hired Gableman last summer to look into how the 2020 election was conducted after former President Donald Trump complained that Wisconsin Republicans werent doing enough to promote the lie that Democrat Joe Biden stole the state from him. Biden defeated Trump by about 21,000 votes. A recount and multiple court challenges have revealed no evidence of widespread fraud.

Gableman has filed subpoenas seeking election records from the states five largest cities and demanding their mayors submit to questioning, even though mayors dont play a role in conducting elections. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that he also has subpoenaed two companies that manufacture voting machines and software, Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems and Nebraska-based Electronic Systems & Software.

Vos assails left

On Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, suggested at a WisPolitics.com luncheon that he regretted how Gablemans investigation into the election unfolded, saying it could have been neater. But he derided Democrats for their rhetoric regarding the investigation, which has cost taxpayers about $676,000 and is projected to extend into February.

I did not appreciate the level to which the left feels like their only issue is protecting peoples right to vote as if were trying to take it away, Vos said.

Vos later added that Democrats call voting rights what he considers to be Democrats strategies to win the elections, days after a Waukesha County judge ruled absentee ballot drop boxes are not allowed in the state.

Neumann-Ortiz said in a statement Wednesday that Gableman is targeting her group precisely because we have successfully motivated and organized tens of thousands of Latinxs and (multiracial) youth voters statewide to turn out and vote in the 2018 gubernatorial race and in the 2020 presidential election.

Vos also criticized the media Wednesday for being the only group obsessed with Gablemans ongoing investigation, which continues despite a recount and court decisions affirming Bidens win.

Probe approved

Also on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Assembly Elections Committee approved on a party-line vote a motion approving of Gablemans probe, including saying it was OK with him interviewing people privately, assisting the committee and allowing him to compel the production of documents, including through subpoenas.

Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, along with the Assembly Election Committees Democratic members, introduced a resolution that would eliminate Gablemans Special Counsel office and fire his employees.

The resolution is largely symbolic and all but certain to go nowhere, but it was indicative of Democratic legislators frustration with the investigation after numerous reviews have affirmed there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Ensuring elections are free, fair, and secure should not be a partisan issue, Hintz said in a statement. I encourage all of my colleagues to add their names, support Wisconsins nonpartisan election officials, and affirm the integrity of Wisconsin elections.
The state Elections Commission and a group of voting rights advocacy organizations on Thursday filed appeals to a Waukesha County judges ruling last week barring the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state.

Jeffrey Mandell, an attorney with the liberal law firm Law Forward, said one appeal  filed by Disability Rights Wisconsin, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice  also seeks a stay on Judge Michael Bohrens ruling to allow absentee ballot drop boxes to be used until after the April 5 spring election. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul also filed an appeal Thursday on behalf of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

An emergency meeting has been scheduled for Friday on the groups motion for a stay. Mandell filed the appeal shortly after Bohrens order was signed Thursday.

State statutes do not address the use of ballot drop boxes, though the Elections Commission issued guidance in early 2020 to allow election clerks to make use of them. The boxes were widely used in the state that year as an alternative for voters worried that, with the crush of absentee ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic and potential delays in mail delivery, their ballots might not make it back before Election Day.

Bohren last week ruled in a case brought by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that there is no statutory authority to have drop boxes used for the collection of absentee ballots outside of allowed use at an alternate absentee ballot location or at a clerks office.

We are pleased the court made this clear, providing Wisconsin voters with certainty for forthcoming elections, WILL deputy counsel Luke Berg said in a statement last week.

WILL filed the lawsuit last year just days after the state Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling turned back a separate attempt by a major Republican donor to ban the boxes.

(Bohren) says that drop boxes are illegal under Wisconsin law because theyre not mentioned in the statute, but telephones arent mentioned in the Bible and nobody thinks that means they are evil and sinful, Mandell said Thursday. Absentee drop boxes that are secure and properly monitored are an entirely reasonable way for municipal clerks to accept absentee ballot returns. Theres nothing in the state that says to the contrary.

Bohren also said state law only allows absentee ballots to be mailed in or delivered to the clerk in person, a ruling Mandell called an absurd and preposterous interpretation of the law.

If you complete your absentee ballot, sign and seal it and by mistake you leave it on the kitchen table and you ask your spouse to put it in the mail, it cannot be that in that circumstance that you and your spouse have both committed voter fraud, Mandell said.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court also could take up the topic of drop boxes in a lawsuit filed last year by Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch challenging the commissions guidance on drop boxes. The states high court has not said if it will take up the case before it goes through lower courts.

Another lawsuit was filed earlier this month by a Waukesha County resident represented by WILL. The voter is suing the Elections Commission for rejecting a complaint he filed last year regarding ballot drop boxes.

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The Navy will let Wisconsin keep its beloved badger statue for 50 more years, scrapping plans to move the sculpture to an East Coast museum.

The statue, sculpted from melted-down cannons seized from Cuba during the Spanish-American War, was affixed to the first USS Wisconsin before World War I. The U.S. Naval Academy Museum lent it to the state in 1988. It has sat outside the governors office in the state Capitol since 1989, delighting thousands of tourists who rub its nose for good luck.

The academy museum contacted state officials in March 2020 asking for the statues return so it could be lent to the nonprofit Nauticus Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, where the second USS Wisconsin is berthed as an exhibit.

State historians balked, and U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, a former Marine, joined the effort to keep the statue in Madison. The Navy last February agreed to extend the loan for two more years.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers sent Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro a letter in November asking that the Navy transfer ownership of the statue to the state permanently.

The Badger should remain in Wisconsin where it is seen by tens of thousands of visitors each year and is one of the most popular and beloved attractions in our beautiful state Capitol building, Evers wrote. The Badger is not only part of the USS Wisconsin  history, but it is now a part of the history of the Wisconsin State Capitol and a piece of pride for the Badger State and of residents from every corner of Wisconsin.

Del Toro sent Evers a letter Tuesday saying the Navy is happy to extend the loan for the next 50 years.

I prize the strong affinity that the citizens of Wisconsin have developed toward the badger statue; it reflects the states proud maritime heritage and deep ties to the U.S. Navy, Del Toro wrote. The Navy feels those ties, too, and we thank the people of Wisconsin for their ongoing interest in and support of our Navy and our nations maritime history.

Marinette Marine manufactures battleships for the Navy. In 2020, the company won a $5.5 billion contract to build a guided missile frigate and was selected to develop a prototype for a new unmanned ship capable of attacking land and sea targets.

A call to the Nauticus Museum rang unanswered late Wednesday afternoon.
After its congregation merged with a church at another site, a developer is proposing to demolish Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church on the East Side for an estimated $8 million, three-story housing project with underground parking.

The congregation, which had struggled to make ends meet over the past decade and even sold its organ to cover debts, had an intimate and honest conversation in December 2016 about what it meant to be a church that centered on fellowship, being in community and living together in faith, but not the need to stay in the building at 2165 Linden Ave., Pastor Pat Siegler said.

It was at that point that we knew there was something moving us beyond a physical building as definition of church, and it was then that we made ourselves open to considerations of moving from the Linden Avenue location, he said. I think the general landscape of church is changing. I believe we will see buildings being repurposed. They may still hold a congregation, but so much more will be going on, things we may have only limited ideas about.

In 2020, the church contacted Threshold Development of Madison, which owns a four-story apartment building next door, at 266 Dunning St., about acquiring and redeveloping the church property, Siegler said. Threshold then worked with the neighborhood on the contours of a suitable project  with some differences of opinion  and is now proposing to raze the church for the housing redevelopment, which will offer 32 apartments and 42 underground parking spaces.

The proposed building will offer a residential character resembling row houses or townhouses with two stories facing the street with a stepped-back third story. It will have 12 efficiencies, 10 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom units.

Its a great neighborhood to do a project and its going to fit well into the neighborhood, said Joe Krupp, president of Threshold Development. Its a very responsible reuse of a commercial site thats outlived its purpose.

Short of repurposing the church for another commercial use, which would be highly unlikely, housing as a transition use to the immediate neighborhood is the most appropriate and highest best use for the site, he said. It also provides the highest value to Zion whose interest was to realize the best value to further their overall mission in the community.

The property is currently zoned for residential use.

The church, built in 1968, was designed by Krueger, Shutter and Associates. Lloyd Kruegers most noted design is the Holy Name Seminary in Madison, city historic preservation planner Heather Bailey said.

In short, architecturally this is a great midcentury church, she said, adding that the city has done no study for this type of architecture in Madison and no historic information on Zions congregation.

Ald. Grant Foster, 15th District, who has represented the site since Jan. 1, could not be reached.

The living church

The congregation, meanwhile, lives on.

Zion was first established in 1890 and originally located about four blocks from the state Capitol, Siegler said. Sometime in the 1920s or 30s it made a mission move to its current site on the East Side, then the outskirts of town, he said.

Over the decades, the church has been a place to gather to worship, sing, care for and be with one another as an intentional community of love, grace and compassion, he said. Many chose the site as the place to get married, baptize and confirm their children, or hold a funeral.

But in the 2010s, Zion was struggling to make ends meet, Siegler said. We reduced our already small staff to just me, still serving full time, he said. During this time we made a difficult decision to sell our organ to a church in Oregon. With the proceeds from that sale we no longer had any lingering debt.

At the congregational meeting in December 2016, there were tears, memories and stories, but the organ or the building werent mentioned once, he said.

Before COVID-19, the church had several conversations with groups about possibly buying the church building and land, but nothing came of those, he said. The church stopped holding services at the building in mid-March 2020 due to the pandemic. Then, in late 2020, Zion began conversations with Joe and Tyler Krupp of Threshold Development.

The congregation worshiped at the church for the month of June 2021 but hasnt been back because the following month it merged and began worshiping with Lakeview Moravian Community Church, 3565 Tulane Ave.

We knew that it is an important witness that different denominations can work together in ministry, Siegler said. Pastor Staci Marrese-Wheeler had already been colleagues for six-plus years. We know each other well, and know that we can work together to create something for the betterment of the East Side of Madison. We also recognized quickly that the potential of an expanded presence in the community would be better located on the Lakeview Moravian Community Church property.

On Dec. 5, the two became a Federated Congregation, which means they are two legally separate congregations but appear and act as one unified congregation called Common Grace.

This month, Threshold submitted a land use application for the Zion site with the city with an informational presentation to the Urban Design Commission tentatively set for Jan. 26.

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Its been six weeks since President Joe Bidens videoconference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the crisis in Ukraine. Since then, Putins saber-rattling has only gotten louder.

The Kremlin has been moving troops and military equipment into Belarus, a faithful Moscow ally that borders Ukraine on the north. Moscow also has been reportedly emptying out its embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv  a move perhaps meant to intimidate, perhaps meant to ready for a full-scale invasion. Ukrainian authorities fear Russian hackers have planted destructive malware in the countrys computer networks, and are waiting for the go-ahead to activate. ...

And ominously, Russian officials have hinted about shifting nuclear weapons to locations not far from the U.S. coastline  a prospect unnervingly reminiscent of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. I dont want to confirm anything or rule anything out, Sergei Ryabkov, a Russian deputy foreign minister, answered when asked in Geneva whether the Kremlin was thinking about deploying military infrastructure in Cuba or Venezuela.

Putin is a master at signal-sending to accumulate leverage, so at this stage its impossible to discern whether Moscows latest provocations are chess moves or actual foundation stones for an eventual invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, Putins mission hasnt wavered. He wants Biden to acquiesce to the Kremlins demands that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO, and that the alliance end all security cooperation with Kyiv. The Russian leader also wants all American nuclear weapons removed from Europe, and an assurance that Western troops will no longer be deployed in NATO countries that once were Warsaw Pact states.

The Kremlins hand-wringing about NATO is hardly new. For years, Putin has railed against NATOs presence in Eastern Europe. Especially galling to him were the so-called color revolutions in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in 2004 that elevated West-allied leaders who saw eventual NATO membership as key to their countries trajectories.

Since then, those countries have made little headway in bringing their NATO aspirations to fruition. And in the years that followed the popular uprisings in Tbilisi and Kyiv, NATO was far more preoccupied with the all-consuming battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan than it was with Kremlin chicanery.

NATO, however, has come full circle. It came into existence after World War II as a firewall against Soviet aggression. The threat from Americas Cold War superpower rival was real. Its real again, though if Putin is looking for reasons why Russians should view NATO as their principal enemy, he should look in the mirror.

In 2008 he sent Russian troops into West-allied Georgia, effectively commandeering two Georgian provinces that, to this day, are Russian satellite regions. During the civil war in Syria, Putin took advantage of President Barack Obamas waffling over how to deal with Bashar al-Assad and injected Russia into the campaign as the primary enabler of the barbaric Syrian dictator. Then in 2014, Russian troops forcibly annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula and engineered a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has led to more than 13,000 deaths and a war that endures to this day. In 2016 he took direct aim at America with a meticulously crafted campaign to interfere in the presidential election.

Putins actions over the years have forced NATO to once again regard Russia as an existential threat. Its why the U.S. and its Western allies must show far more resolve against Putin than they did when he stole Crimea from Ukraine. ... What form that resolve takes remains to be seen, though harsh sanctions such as cutting off Russia from the global financial system, along with fully arming the Ukrainian insurgency that would follow any invasion, should be part of the arsenal.

Biden should also reconsider his reluctance to impose sanctions on Russias coveted Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring natural gas to Germany. For the Kremlin, the project isnt just an economic boon  it represents another key energy tool that it can use as political leverage against Europe. Germany sees Nord Stream as vital to its economy, but top German leaders now say shutting down Nord Stream should be on the table if Russia invades Ukraine.

Biden and Democrats in Congress were able to help defeat Republican legislation in the Senate that would have slapped sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Germanys warming to the idea of Nord Stream sanctions, and the Biden administration should follow suit.

Anything less than a U.S.-European united front against Putin gives the former KGB agent exactly what he got in 2014 when he invaded Crimea  confidence that the West would huff about his audacious behavior, but ultimately acquiesce. Too much is at stake now, however, for that to happen again. The Soviet Union is long gone, but the rivalry between the West and the Kremlin is alive and more virulent than ever.

Biden, NATO and the rest of the West cannot afford to give Putin any quarter.(tncms-asset)7e80bada-5fb1-11ea-8316-00163ec2aa77[1](/tncms-asset)
Amid the spread of the most contagious coronavirus variant yet, major decisions by conservative politicians and judges at the federal and state levels are making it virtually impossible for public health authorities to contain the virus and keep the public safe. This ideological zealotry will cost lives.

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Biden administrations effort to impose a vaccine mandate in workplaces, which would have dramatically boosted vaccination rates and defused key superspreader situations. In Missouri, the Parson administrations premature back-to-normal policies make no special sick-leave provisions for infected state workers, incentivizing them to bring the contagion into the office. Its as if conservatives are trying to ensure the coronavirus thrives.

President Joe Bidens vaccine mandate for major employers was flexible to the point of drawing criticism from medical experts for not being strong enough. Employees who didnt want to vaccinate had the option of regular testing instead, and there was a religious opt-out.

Yet the courts six conservatives struck it down as being outside the power of the federal government  this despite the fact that the mandate was promulgated under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an agency whose entire congressionally approved mission is to ensure safety in the workplace. Under what twisted reinterpretation of conservatism is an agency with that particular function not allowed to address a virus that has killed more than 800,000 Americans to date and has been spread largely through workplaces?

The real-world effect of the ruling will be to further the spread of the virus while putting large employers even more in the crosshairs of the culture wars than they already are. Employers who, for sound business reasons, want vaccination mandates for their workforces will have a difficult time imposing their own such rules now in the face of employee pushback and, in some red states, actual mandate prohibitions.

In Missouri, meanwhile, Gov. Mike Parsons determination to declare the crisis over and move on puts state employees in a pandemic box. The states current policy requires workers who test positive to quarantine at home, burning their regular sick days or losing pay. That provides a strong incentive for the infected to hide their infections and return to the office, furthering the spread.

No wonder hospitals in Missouri and around the country are overwhelmed. But thanks to a separate Supreme Court ruling last week, at least health care workers in facilities that get federal funding now must abide by vaccine mandates  though even that no-brainer squeaked by on a 5-4 vote.

With astonishing nerve, leading Republicans are actually blaming Biden for the latest viral surge, even as they undermine commonsense pandemic policies in the name of freedom. In reality, theyre protecting the freedom of a deadly virus to spread.
I assume Friday's letter to the editor "What about assault on state Capitol?" is based on some Fox News coverage of the Act 10 demonstration that presented a false narrative. My husband and I were actually at the demonstrations almost daily a decade ago when then-Gov. Scott Walker was pushing anti-union laws. Far from being an insurrection, those demonstrations were the equivalent of a Wisconsin Woodstock (with no drugs and lots of clothes -- it was cold).

Police and other first responders were there in large numbers, mostly shaking hands and receiving thanks from demonstrators. Some demonstrators slept in the Capitol, requiring some cleanup but little damage.

What about assault on state Capitol? -- Pete Papageorge Will Democrats and the media ever discuss the "insurrection" back in 2011 by liberals stormi

There were old people, children and friendly dogs. Restaurants passed out free pizza and sandwiches. Speakers reminded us that previous Americans sacrificed and bled for our freedom to organize unions. Singing happened, and a few sang off-key -- maybe that's what offended the letter writer.

Democracy was definitely served: It was Americans supporting Americans, standing up for constitutional rights to speak our ideas freely, to organize unions and to guarantee bargaining rights for American workers. Our ancestors fought hard to protect those rights. We should, too.

Judy Pincus, Barneveld
Vietnam seeks additional COVID-19 vaccine, drug support from AstraZeneca

Vietnam expects drug maker AstraZeneca will continue to provide new generation COVID-19 vaccines and drugs to Vietnam to increase its protection capacity against new strains.









PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) receives Nitin Kapoor, Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam.



Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the suggestion during a meeting in Hanoi on January 19 with Nitin Kapoor, Chairman and General Director of AstraZeneca Vietnam.



He thanked AstraZeneca for working closely and effectively with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies of Vietnam to fulfil its commitment of delivering 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the country, contributing to its successful implementation of the vaccine strategy and COVID-19 control.



The PM proposed that the drug maker actively undertake its committed investment projects, and share international experiences in implementing immunization for children aged 5 to 12.



Nitin Kapoor briefed his host on the implementation of agreements reached during the meeting between PM Pham Minh Chinh and AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot in the UK last November, noting that AstraZeneca is accelerating a US$90 million project on technology transfer for manufacturing drugs in Vietnam, and at the same time is choosing partners to transfer vaccine technology to the country.



The firm is considering further reducing vaccine prices for Vietnam, he told his host.



PM Pham Minh Chinh welcomed AstraZenecas moves and affirmed that the Vietnamese Government will create the best possible conditions for the firm to deploy investment projects in the country.



He suggested AstraZeneca continue to accompany the development of Vietnams health sector as testimony to strengthening the strategic partnership between Vietnam and the UK.
BOISE  State officials on Wednesday requested $392,000 from the general fund to kill wolves in Idaho, and with other revenue sources will have just over $1 million for that purpose starting this summer.

The Wolf Depredation Control Board made the request to the Legislatures powerful budget setting committee.

The five-member wolf control board is contained within the governors office and allocates money for control actions approved by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission.

The boards general fund request is the same as last year, but a change in Idaho law last year is sending an additional $190,000 to the board from fees paid by hunters and trappers to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Besides general fund money, the Wolf Depredation Control Board will also receive $300,000 from Fish and Game and $110,000 from livestock producers. The money goes into the Wolf Control Fund, which has an existing balance of about $230,000.

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee is setting state agency budgets for fiscal year 2023, which starts in July. It will make a decision on the wolf control boards general fund request later this session.

Idaho expanded wolf killing last year with legislation that lawmakers said could lead to killing 90% of the states wolves, which at that time had an estimated population of 1,500.

Fish and Game spokesman Roger Phillips said Wednesday the agency was finalizing its current population estimate and would release details next week. Phillips said that since July, 266 wolves were killed  hunters in the state have killed 134 and trappers have killed 132.

The Wolf Control Board signs off on paying the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services to kill Idaho wolves. In 2021, the federal agency killed 40 wolves, down from 74 in 2020, Jared Hedelius, the agencys Idaho director, told the budget committee on Wednesday.

Chanel Tewalt, deputy director of the Idaho Department of Agriculture, told lawmakers that 65 confirmed wolf kills of livestock occurred between July 1 and Nov. 30 last year.

Idaho lawmakers last year made significant changes involving killing wolves, including allowing Fish and Game to enter into contracts with private entities to kill wolves. Fish and Game late last year announced it had reached an agreement with a nonprofit hunting group to reimburse the expenses for a proven wolf kill.

Besides setting up the reimbursement program, the new law also expands killing methods to include trapping and snaring wolves on a single hunting tag, no restriction on hunting hours, using night-vision equipment with a permit, using bait and dogs, and allowing hunting from motor vehicles. It also authorizes year-round wolf trapping on private property.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September, at the request of environmental groups concerned about the expanded wolf killing in Idaho and Montana, announced a yearlong review to see if wolves in the U.S. West should be relisted under the Endangered Species Act. Lawsuits have also been filed challenging aspects of the expanded wolf killing.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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BOISE  A new bill would extend businesses immunity from civil claims that seek damages for a coronavirus exposure. Meanwhile, there have been no claims in Idaho to seek damages for a coronavirus injury since the pandemic began.

House Bill 444, sponsored by Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, would extend an act that protects businesses, schools and government agencies from liability for exposing someone, whether an employee or patron, to the coronavirus. The bill would extend the law again for another year, until July 1, 2023.

Young told a House panel Monday that the initial 2020 bill barred frivolous lawsuits related to COVID-19, so that businesses and schools could operate amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Its not a changing policy, Young told the House Judiciary and Rules Committee, which unanimously voted to introduce her new bill Monday. Its just the extension of the liability immunity that has already been extended.

No claims filed

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, Idaho, along with dozens of other states, led mostly by Republicans, rushed to grant businesses immunity from COVID-19 lawsuits.

Those lawsuits did not materialize in Idaho. Business leaders said thats thanks to legislation in 30 states that granted immunity, discouraging COVID-19 exposure claims.

The threat of frivolous lawsuits is one of the reasons Idaho Gov. Brad Little called for a special session of the Idaho Legislature in 2020. The Idaho Legislature passed its immunity law during that special session, and Little later signed the bill. Democratic lawmakers, along with a few Republicans, opposed the bill at the time.

Ken McClure, lobbyist for the Idaho Liability Reform Coalition, a group that seeks to streamline Idahos civil justice system, helped write immunity legislation in 2020. McClure told the Idaho Statesman by phone that travel industries, such as cruise ships and airlines, attracted COVID-19 exposure lawsuits at the beginning of the pandemic. That led to a wave of state legislation to protect businesses.

McClure said the claims seen in other states could have been brought against Idaho businesses if not for the states immunity act.

Its hard to say what wouldve happened had the initial legislation not passed, he said. We probably wouldve seen lawsuits. I dont know that, but I assume that.

But in other states, claims were made against employers  even in states with similar immunity laws. Thats according to a database of COVID-19 lawsuits compiled by Virginia law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth. The data goes back to early 2020, months before Idahos immunity law took effect.

Nationwide, there have been 80 claims from consumers seeking damages for injury or death from an alleged COVID-19 exposure, according to Hunton Andrews Kurth. Two of those claims were filed in Utah and Georgia, states with similar immunity laws to Idahos. And there have been 241 claims from workers related to conditions of employment, including lack of protective equipment, exposure to COVID-19 at work, personal injury and wrongful death. That included claims filed in 16 states that had similar immunity laws.

In Idaho, no legal claims have been filed  either by employees, patrons or consumers  against Idaho individuals, businesses, schools or local governments seeking damages for an exposure to COVID-19, according to the data.

Idaho bill provides greater liability protection

Idahos COVID-19 immunity bill is stronger than many other states, which are modeled after legislation pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

ALECs bill granted civil liability if one complied with or made a good faith effort to comply with pandemic regulations and practices.

McClure proposed that good faith language in 2020. A task force, convened to study liability, and the governor also endorsed the language prior to the special session. But a House committee shot it down, in favor of blanket immunity for transmission of the virus.

McClure supported the 2020 bill without the good faith clause as a second choice. He said the Idaho Liability Reform Coalition supports an extension of the immunity bill this year.

As it stands, the immunity law does not protect willful or reckless misconduct. During the 2020 session, McClure lobbied for the good faith provision as an additional standard. But he told lawmakers that even without it, the immunity act still wouldnt leave the door open for intentional bad conduct.
BOISE  As Idahos health care system battles the omicron variant, health leaders fear that dizzying numbers of people testing positive in Idaho will likely necessitate a return to crisis standards of care.

In recent weeks, Idahos test positivity rate, which measures the number of tests that come back positive, has climbed precipitously, from a rate of 5.5% the week of Dec. 12 to 25.7% the week of Jan. 2, the most recent data available.

Case numbers have also risen quickly, with Tuesdays tally of 3,555 marking the highest number recorded on any one day since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Department of Health and Welfare. Tuesdays tally topped Fridays count, of 3,266  which had also been a pandemic record  by nearly 300 cases. But even these numbers are likely less than the actual daily counts, as local public health districts are behind on recording around 28,200 cases over the last two weeks. That means a person who tests positive, and whose status is reported to the state, may not be added to the tally until days later.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen said that Idaho could reactivate crisis standards in the coming weeks if the current trends continue.

With crisis standards activated, hospitals are able to ration care if necessary, and to administer care in unorthodox settings when the need for medicine exceeds the resources available.

If we continue to see this number of cases and this number of people going into the hospital, we would expect crisis standards of care in a matter of weeks, Jeppesen said.

The possibility of crisis standards comes as hospitalizations are steadily rising. As of Jan. 12, there were 381 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 at Idaho hospitals, up from 210 on Dec. 25, according to the dashboard. In intensive care units, there were 98 patients, up from 73. More recent hospitalization data has been delayed by the backlogs at overburdened local public health districts, said Dr. Kathryn Turner, deputy state epidemiologist, at Tuesdays briefing.

State officials suspect the states seven-day incidence rate  the number of cases per 100,000 Idahoans  could be as high as 197 as of Saturday, Turner said.

Forty-three of Idahos 44 counties currently have high COVID-19 transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At St. Lukes Health System, there were 107 admitted patients with COVID-19 in isolation as of Tuesday, with COVID-19 patients making up 18% of all patients, according to the hospital systems dashboard

Why experts say omicron rivals delta variant

COVID-19 patients made up 48% of all St. Lukes admissions during the delta variants peak in late September.

While omicron appears to cause less severe disease in most people, it could be equally as dangerous because its highly contagious, said Dr. William Dittrich, a critical care physician at St. Lukes Boise Medical Center who treats patients with respiratory issues.

Dittrich has been caring for COVID-19 patients in the ICU since the pandemic began.

The numbers sort of balance each other out, unfortunately, Dittrich told the Idaho Statesman. So many more people are getting it, that even if a smaller percentage of them end up with more severe disease, that number that ends up in the hospital is still potentially a big number.

Omicron still remains dangerous to many who ultimately end up in the hospital, he added.

For those unfortunate few that end up in the ICU, its not any less severe, Dittrich said. Its not any more mild.

Crisis standards could be triggered with worse staffing shortages

At St. Lukes, some critical care physicians have been pulled into the ICU on short notice, even on scheduled days off or at times they expected only to work with non-hospitalized patients  causing problems for patients with appointments, Dittrich said.

He said St. Lukes has plans in place to cover the necessary last-minute changes, but it still has impacts on patient care and patient flow, particularly in the outpatient setting.

And at primary care providers in the Treasure Valley, the fast rise in testing demand and cases has already affected patient care.

Dittrich said that during this surge, large numbers of staff out sick have intensified the burden on hospitals by reducing the pool of resources available to them. Dittrich said it could mean that crisis standards would be triggered before the numbers of hospitalized patients reach the levels they did last fall.

We only have so many ICU and hospital beds, Dittrich said. Those could fill up very quickly.
I am putting my hat in the ring for District 25 Seat B in the Idaho Legislature. District 25 is a newly numbered district that is nearly the same as the old District 24. This seat is currently held by Linda Wright Hartgen, who will be running for the District 25 Senate position as Lee Heider is retiring. The borders of this district are just slightly larger than the borders of the City of Twin Falls.

I grew up in the Hollister area on the family farm/ranch. I learned about the needs of farmers and this upbringing gave me the work ethic needed to be successful in life.

My public service has prepared me for this position. I was elected to four terms on the City Council in Twin Falls. I was Mayor for two of the sixteen years. In preparation for the City Council, I was on the Twin Falls City Planning and Zoning Commission for eight years. These two positions have given me the knowledge and insight into the needs of local governments.

I taught for 16 years and was a principal for 17 years in the Filer School District. My college education was all here in Idaho. I have an AA from the College of Southern Idaho, a BS from the University of Idaho, and a MA from the College of Idaho. I moved to the city of Twin Falls after college in 1976. These experiences gave me operational knowledge about the needs of schools and how we might focus our educational funding to get the biggest bang for our buck.

The two things I hear from citizens (the polls show the same thing) are the need to increase funding for quality public education and lower property taxes. So lets combine the two priorities. Lets properly fund education so that we can lower property taxes. If districts had the money they needed they would not need to rely so heavily on override levies. Also, use the huge state surplus to help districts with building bonds to further lower property taxes.

Another thought...how about eliminating the sales tax on groceries? That would give tax relief to most Idahoans. We would need to be sure we protect the city and countys share of sales tax so they can maintain the services we expect from our local governments. This might be attained by moving internet sales tax into the state sales tax formula for distribution to local governments.

I plan to be very visible during this campaign and, if elected, during my term. Do not hesitate to come up and talk to me. Tell me your ideas and lets discuss them. My campaign email is below. Use it to bring up topics for discussion. I promise I will run a clean campaign. My parents instilled in me how important it is to respect and listen to all people!

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. . .and in Yellowstone, 20 wolves have been killed just outside of the parks boundaries.

State agencies of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are bent on undoing all the ecological benefits that wolves have brought to their ecosystems. All three of these agencies are also seeking to hunt grizzly bears  for sport!

We cannot trust these state agencies to manage native predators. Lethal management for the benefit of hunters and livestock grazers, often on public lands. The killers of Idaho wolves have received rewards of $1000 to 2500 paid by the Foundation for Wildlife Management to their members. They keep the dead animal and sell the fur. F4WM has received grants from IDFG and legislative funding from the Wolf Control Board to pay these bounties, more than $108,000 for 2021.

Wildlife advocates, scientists, and conservationists from all over the country have begged Deb Haaland director of the Interior Department, and Martha Williams, the interim director of US Fish and Wildlife Service, to stop the slaughter. They have refused to act.

If you care about wildlife, please speak out! The Endangered Species Coalition website has a letter to the editor that you can submit to your local media. Our hope appears to be the Biden administration who could stop the slaughter of wolves -- and the destruction of your natural heritage.

Christine Gertschen

Sun Valley

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Former President Joseph Kabila will not appear at the appeal trial of the murder of human rights defender Floribert Chebeya. Using its discretionary power, the military court of Kinshasa-Gombe on Wednesday rejected the request of NGOs and civil parties in this sense.

We are very disappointed by this position, said Rostin Manketa, executive director of the NGO La Voix des sans voix (VSV), to which Floribert Chebeya belonged and which was a civil party in the trial of his assassination.

This organization is among the 50 non-governmental entities that, along with the civil parties, demanded the appearance of several people cited in the case by one of the defendants. Among these people is the former president and senator for life Joseph Kabila.

However, the president of the High Military Court rejected their request, ruling that it was inappropriate to bring these individuals to trial. Oral arguments will begin on January 26.

In addition, there is an important detail: Congolese law provides that former heads of state cannot be prosecuted for acts that took place during their term of office. They enjoy a certain immunity.

A colonel has already been sentenced on appeal to 15 years in prison in connection with this case. A senior officer and former police chief, General John Numbi, is on the run. He was investigated by the military prosecutors office and found to be involved in the case.
The Kourtrajme collective and one of its stars, Ladj Ly, multi-awarded director of Les Miserables, opened in Senegal, a year later, their first free film school in Africa, the third in less than four years after France.

Eleven aspiring screenwriters began classes Tuesday in a former professional building converted into a cultural space, a stones throw from Independence Square, the heart of Dakar.

They should be 14, seven young women and as many men, all Senegalese, to train for five months. A few are still missing, one because he is stuck in Morocco due to the closure of the air borders because of Covid-19, another because she is in charge of a four-month-old baby.

The school was originally scheduled to open in 2021, after the one in Montfermeil in the Paris suburbs and the one in Marseille (southeast of France).

But the period was complicated with the Covid, said Wednesday Ladj Ly, at the opening of the place to the press. Despite its notoriety, raising the funds was not easy and bureaucratic red tape has further complicated the enterprise, he explained.

For us it is a great pride to open this school here in Dakar. Its true that it was a bit of an obstacle course, he said. But the important thing today is that the school exists.

This inauguration is the beginning of a great global project because the idea of these schools is really to have schools all over Africa. We started with Senegal/Dakar, we should open soon in Mali, in Abidjan, in Burkina, we have about ten school projects in French-speaking Africa, said Ladj Ly, whose family is originally from Mali.

After the student screenwriters, chosen from hundreds of applicants, the school will welcome 18 apprentice directors in June.

Ladj Ly created the first Kourtrajme school, free and without diploma requirements, in 2018 in Montfermeil where he grew up and started filming urban violence in 2005.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

An artificial pancreas developed by a team of Cambridge researchers is helping protect very young children with type 1 diabetes at a particularly vulnerable time of their lives. A study published today found that it is both safe to use and more effective at managing their blood sugar levels than current technology.

Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers compared the performance of the artificial pancreas, which uses an algorithm to determine the amount of insulin administered by a device worn by the child, against 'sensor-augmented pump therapy'.

Management of type 1 diabetes is challenging in very young children, because of a number of factors including the high variability in levels of insulin required and in how individual children respond to treatment, and their unpredictable eating and activity patterns. Children are particularly at risk of dangerously low blood sugar levels (hypoglycaemia) and high blood sugar levels (hyperglycaemia). Previous studies have linked prolonged hyperglycaemia in children with type 1 diabetes with lower IQ scores and slower brain growth.

To manage children's glucose levels, doctors increasingly turn to devices that continuously monitor glucose levels and deliver insulin via a pump, which administers insulin through a cannula inserted into the skin. These devices have proved successful to an extent in older children, but not in very young children.

Current technologysensor-augmented pump therapyrequires parents to review their child's glucose levels using a monitor and then manually adjust the amount of insulin administered by the pump.

Professor Roman Hovorka from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge has developed an appCamAPS FXwhich, combined with a glucose monitor and insulin pump, acts as an artificial pancreas, automatically adjusting the amount of insulin it delivers based on predicted or real-time glucose levels. It is a 'hybrid closed loop system', meaning that the child's carer will have to administer insulin at mealtimes, but at all other times the algorithm works by itself. There are no commercially available versions of fully closed loop systems yet.

Professor Hovorka explained: "CamAPS FX makes predictions about what it thinks is likely to happen next based on past experience. It learns how much insulin the child needs per day and how this changes at different times of the day. It then uses this to adjust insulin levels to help achieve ideal blood sugar levels. Other than at mealtimes, it is fully automated, so parents do not need to continually monitor their child's blood sugar levels."

Working across seven centers in the UK and Europe, Professor Hovorka and an international team of researchers recruited 74 children with type 1 diabetes, aged one to seven years, to take part in their trial. The trial compared the safety and efficacy of hybrid closed-loop therapy with sensor-augmented pump therapy. All children used the CamAPS FX hybrid closed-loop system for 16 weeks, and then used the control treatment (sensor-augmented pump therapy) for 16 weeks.

On average, children spent around three-quarters of their day (71.6%) in the target range for their glucose levels when using CamAPS FXalmost nine percentage points higher compared to the control period, accounting for an additional 125 minutes per day in the target range.

The children spent less than a quarter (22.9%) of their time with raised blood sugar levelshyperglycemiawhile using CamAPS FX, almost nine percentage points lower than during the control period. There was no difference between the two groups in the time spent in hypoglycemia.

The app reduced average blood sugar levelsa measurement of a molecule known as glycated haemoglobin, or HbA1c. Glycated haemoglobin develops when haemoglobin, a protein within red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body, joins with glucose in the blood, becoming 'glycated'. By measuring HbA1c, clinicians are able to get an overall picture of what a person's average blood sugar levels have been over a period of weeks or months. For people with diabetes, the higher the HbA1c, the greater the risk of developing diabetes-related complications.

At baseline, average HbA1c levels were 7.3% - the app reduced this by 0.7 percentage points. This is particularly noteworthy as the study participants had good glycaemic controlthat is, relatively low HbA1cto begin with, and it is often hard to improve glucose control without having more low blood glucose events (hypoglycaemia).

Dr. Julia Ware, the study's first author, also from the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, said: "Very young children are extremely vulnerable to changes in their blood sugar levels. High levels in particular can have potentially lasting consequences to their brain development. On top of that, diabetes is very challenging to manage in this age group, creating a huge burden for families.

"CamAPS FX led to improvements in several measures, including hyperglycaemia and average blood sugar levels, without increasing the risk of hypos. This is likely to have important benefits for those children who use it."

One of the biggest challenges reported by families of young children with type 1 diabetes is poor sleep quality, as variability in insulin requirements and parental fear of hypoglycemia are highest overnight. In their study, the researchers found that more than 80% of overnight sensor readings were within the target range, showing that hybrid closed-loop therapy addresses the 'night-time problem' more effectively than sensor-augmented pump therapy.

Dr. Ware added: "Parents have described our artificial pancreas as 'life-changing' as it meant they were able to relax and spend less time worrying about their child's blood sugar levels, particularly at night time. They tell us it gives them more time to do what any 'normal' family can do, to play and do fun things with their children."

CamAPS FX is already having an impact on the lives of children and their families. It is available through a number of NHS trusts across the UK, including Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and the team hope it will soon be available even more widely.

Professor Hovorka added: "From the first clinical trials of our algorithms to today's findings has taken well over a decade, but the dedication of my team and the support of all the children and families who have taken part in our studies, has paid off. We believe our artificial pancreas will transform the lives of families with very young children affected by type 1 diabetes."

CamAPS FX has been shown to work in older children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Today's study is the first time that it has been shown to be effective over several months in very young children.

CamAPS FX has been commercialized by CamDiab, a spin-out company set up by Professor Hovorka.

"I feel like for the first time since the diagnosis I can relax": Sofia and Sam's story

Over the past three years Sam Wright, mother to Sofia (aged 6), has endured the tremendously steep learning curve any parent of a child with type 1 diabetes has to undergo. A whirlwind of finger prick tests, injections and sensors later, she has now discovered the CamAPS FX app and the hybrid closed-loop system and would not be without it.

In a hot summer, excessive thirst wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary for a young child. However, Sam and her mother followed their intuition that Sofia's condition could be something more serious and began to research if there was any cause for concern, which ultimately led to her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.

"The diagnosis changed everything forever," says Sam. "I can remember the first few weeks like it was yesterday. Almost overnight I felt like I needed to be an expert in diabetes to best care for my little girl. She is my absolute priority, so I just did it, and I feel really proud of myself and my mum for doing itshe's been on this journey with us from the beginning."

A steep learning curve

Like most parents with a newly diagnosed child with type 1 diabetes, Sam quickly became an expert at finger prick tests, basal and bolus insulin dosing and what to do when her daughter was hypoglycaemic. Injecting your child would be a challenge for any parent, but Sam also had to overcome her own fear of needles.

"The clinical team at Addenbrooke's Hospital were amazing at helping me overcome some big challenges in those early days, especially Adam Dawes, Clinical Nurse Specialist at the hospital. I don't think we'd be where we are today without the support of Adam and the clinical team."

In the first few months of Sofia's diagnosis, finger prick tests were a regular occurrence to understand blood glucose levels throughout the day. Sam also had to set alarms at night so she could check her daughter's blood glucose levels. If Sofia's levels were high or low, Sam would have to administer a corrective dose and then wait until her levels were moving in the right direction before going back to sleep, an exhausting process for both every single night.

Eventually Sofia received a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to support her care. This is a small device with a sensor worn just under the skin to measure glucose levels continuously. Sam saw the CGM as a step in the right direction, particularly as the device meant she no longer had to set alarms at nightthe device would alert her automatically if Sofia's glucose levels were out of range. It also syncs with Sam's phone so she can check Sofia's blood glucose levels at school and it also helps teachers with care through the day.

Finding freedom

In January 2020 Sam was introduced to the CamAPS FX app. She hasn't looked back since.

Sam had never heard of the hybrid closed-loop system, or the CamAPS FX app before, but when Sofia was invited to take part in the KidsAP research trial, led by the University of Cambridge, she "jumped in with both feet".

"I have full trust in the CamAPS FX app and I feel like for the first time since the diagnosis I can relax," she says. The time Sofia spends within her target blood glucose range has improved and it is much easier now to control her levels. "It's a complete weight off my shoulders."

The app has also reduced the burden for Sofia's teachers. Sam is able to check on her daughter remotely, but has the reassurance that she will receive automated text messages if Sofia's glucose levels are going high or low.

"You wouldn't know that she is any different from any of her classmates and that is thanks to the CamAPS FX app."

Sam says it makes sense for children of Sofia's age to have the closed-loop, because their bodies are constantly changing how they respond to insulin. It is an extremely difficult ask for a parent to manage their child's condition without significant highs and lows, whereas the app learns and adapts instantly. It is beneficial for the child's long-term management of the condition and enables both children and their parents to sleep at night.

"I would never be without the app," says Sam. "It is something looking out for you so you don't have to worry. To anyone considering it, just go for it. It is a game changer and you won't look back or want to be without it once you've had it. I completely believe it is so beneficial for both the parents and the child."

More information: Ware, J et al. Closed-loop in very young children with type 1 diabetes: a randomized trial. New England Journal of Medicine (2022). Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine Ware, J et al. Closed-loop in very young children with type 1 diabetes: a randomized trial.(2022). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2111673
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Data on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments should be fully and immediately available for public scrutiny, argue editors at The BMJ today.

Twelve years ago, The BMJ called for the release of raw trial data for the antiviral drug Tamiflu after it came to light that governments around the world had spent billions stockpiling antivirals that had not been shown to reduce the risk of influenza complications, hospital admission or death.

Now, The BMJ's editor in chief Kamran Abbasi, along with senior editor Peter Doshi and former editor in chief Fiona Godlee, warn that these errors are being repeated.

"Today, despite the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, the participant level data underlying the trials for these new products remain inaccessible to doctors, researchers, and the publicand are likely to remain that way for years to come," they write. "This is morally indefensible for all trials, especially those involving major public health interventions."

They point out that Pfizer's pivotal COVID vaccine trial was funded by the company and designed, run, analysed and authored by Pfizer employees. The company and the contract research organisations that carried out the trial hold all the data, but Pfizer has indicated that it will not begin entertaining requests for trial data until May 2025.

Moderna says data "may be available  with publication of the final study results in 2022" and as of 31 December 2021, AstraZeneca may be ready to entertain requests for data from several of its large phase III trials. But as its website explains, "timelines vary per request and can take up to a year upon full submission of the request."

"We are left with publications but no access to the underlying data upon reasonable request," write the editors. "This is worrying for trial participants, researchers, clinicians, journal editors and the public."

Companies do provide far more granular data to regulatory agencies as part of the regulatory review process, they explain. As such, study reports are now available and missing appendices may be accessible through freedom of information requests.

However, they point out that most regulators do not hold participant level datasets, and industry, which holds the raw data, is not legally required to honour requests for access from independent researchers.

"The BMJ supports vaccination policy based on sound evidence," they write. "As the global vaccine rollout continues, it cannot be justifiable or in the best interests of patients and the public that we are left to just trust "in the system," with the distant hope that the underlying data may become available for independent scrutiny at some point in the future."

The same applies to treatments for COVID-19, they add. "Transparency is the key to building trust and an important route to answering people's legitimate questions about the efficacy and safety of vaccines and treatments."

What's more, the public paid for COVID-19 vaccines through vast public funding of research, and it is the public that takes on the balance of benefits and harms that accompany vaccination. "The public, therefore, has a right and entitlement to those data, as well as to the interrogation of those data by experts."

They conclude: "Pharmaceutical companies are reaping vast profits without adequate independent scrutiny of their scientific claims. The purpose of regulators is not to dance to the tune of rich global corporations and enrich them; it is to protect the health of their populations. We need complete data transparency for all studies, we need it in the public interest, and we need it now."

[Ends]

Explore further Serious adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines reported rarely

More information: Peter Doshi et al, Covid-19 vaccines and treatments: we must have raw data, now, BMJ (2022). Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Peter Doshi et al, Covid-19 vaccines and treatments: we must have raw data, now,(2022). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.o102
CBD reduces viral replication in vitro compared to other cannabis compounds. Credit: Nguyen et al., Science Advances, 2022

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Chicago has found evidence that cannabidiol (CBD), a product of the cannabis plant, can inhibit infection by SARS-CoV-2 in human cells and in mice.

The study, published on January 20, 2022, in Science Advances, found that CBD showed a significant negative association with SARS-CoV-2 positive tests in a national sample of medical records of patients taking the FDA-approved drug for treating epilepsy. The researchers now say that clinical trials should be done to determine whether CBD could eventually be used as a preventative or early treatment for COVID-19. They caution, however, that the COVID-blocking effects of CBD come only from a high purity, specially formulated dose taken in specific situations. The study's findings do not suggest that consuming commercially available products with CBD additives that vary in potency and quality can prevent COVID-19.

Scientists have been looking for new therapies for people infected by the coronavirus and emerging variants, especially those who lack access to vaccines, as the pandemic continues across the country and world and as breakthrough infections become more common.

CBD: An unexpected avenue for fighting COVID-19

The idea to test CBD as a potential COVID-19 therapeutic was serendipitous. "CBD has anti-inflammatory effects, so we thought that maybe it would stop the second phase of COVID infection involving the immune system, the so-called 'cytokine storm.' Surprisingly, it directly inhibited viral replication in lung cells," said Marsha Rosner, Ph.D., Charles B. Huggins Professor in the Ben May Department of Cancer Research and a senior author of the study.

To see this effect, the researchers first treated human lung cells with a non-toxic dose of CBD for two hours before exposing the cells to SARS-CoV-2 and monitoring them for the virus and the viral spike protein. They found that above a certain threshold concentration, CBD inhibited the virus's ability to replicate. Further investigation found that CBD had the same effect in two other types of cells and for three variants of SARS-CoV-2 in addition to the original strain.

CBD did not affect the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to enter the cell. Instead, CBD was effective at blocking replication early in the infection cycle and six hours after the virus had already infected the cell.

Like all viruses, SARS-CoV-2 affects the host cell by hijacking its gene expression machinery to produce more copies of itself and its viral proteins. This effect can be observed by tracking virus-induced changes in cellular RNAs. High concentrations of CBD almost completely eradicated the expression of viral RNAs. It was a completely unexpected result.

"We just wanted to know if CBD would affect the immune system," Rosner said. "No one in their right mind would have ever thought that it blocked viral replication, but that's what it did."

The researchers showed that the mechanism by which CBD blocks SARS-CoV-2 replication involves CBD activation of one of the host cell stress responses and generation of interferons, an antiviral cell protein.

Real world data: Patients taking CBD test positive for COVID-19 at lower rates

The researchers wanted scientific data to show that CBD prevents viral replication in live animals. The team showed pretreatment with CBD for one week prior to infection with SARS-CoV-2 suppressed infection both in the lung and the nasal passages of mice. "These results provide major support for a clinical trial of CBD in humans," said Rosner.

And the success of CBD wasn't limited to the laboratory: An analysis of 1,212 patients from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative revealed that patients taking a medically prescribed oral solution of CBD for the treatment of epilepsy tested positive for COVID-19 at significantly lower rates than a sample of matched patients from similar demographic backgrounds who were not taking CBD.

The potential for CBD to treat patients recently exposed to or infected by SARS-CoV-2 does not precede the first lines of defense against COVID-19, which are to get vaccinated and follow existing public health guidelines for masking in indoor spaces and social distancing. But the published results offer a potential new therapeutic, something still needed as the pandemic rages on.

"A clinical trial is necessary to determine whether CBD is really effective at preventing or suppressing SARS-CoV-2 infection, but we think this may have potential as a prophylactic treatment," said Rosner. "Maybe you're in a hot spot or you think you might have been exposed or you've just tested positivethat's where we think CBD might have an effect."

Not your dispensary's CBD

The research team emphasized that the COVID-blocking effects of CBD were confined strictly to high purity, high concentrations of CBD. Closely related cannabinoids such as CBDA, CBDV and THC, the psychoactive element enriched in marijuana plants, did not have the same power. In fact, combining CBD with equal amounts of THC actually reduced the efficacy of CBD.

"Going to your corner bakery and buying some CBD muffins or gummy bears probably won't do anything," said Rosner. "The commercially available CBD powder we looked at, which was off the shelf and something you could order online, was sometimes surprisingly of high purity but also of inconsistent quality. It is also hard to get into an oral solution that can be absorbed without the special, FDA-approved formulation," Rosner said.

Furthermore, CBD use is not without potential risks. It appears to be extremely safe when consumed in food or drink, but methods of use such as vaping can have negative side effects, including potential damage to the heart and lungs. It's also not well studied in certain populations, such as pregnant people, and so should be used only under the supervision of a physician and with caution.

While the study's results are exciting, additional study is needed to determine the precise dosing of CBD that is effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans as well as its safety profile and any potential side effects.

"We are very eager to see some clinical trials on this subject get off the ground," Rosner said. "Especially as we are seeing that the pandemic is still nowhere near the enddetermining whether this generally safe, well-tolerated, and non-psychoactive cannabinoid might have anti-viral effects against COVID-19 is of critical importance."

Rosner was also pleased that this research project was a case study in the power of scientific collaboration by bringing together a highly interdisciplinary group of researchers. Senior authors listed on the paper came from three different research universities and from departments as diverse as microbiology, molecular engineering, cancer biology and chemistry.

"This was truly a team-science effort, and that's something that really excites me," said Rosner. "From clinicians to David Meltzer's group who did the patient analysis to virologists like Glenn Randall, and it goes on and on. This is the way science should be carried out."

Explore further CBD might help prime cells against COVID

More information: Long Chi Nguyen et al, Cannabidiol inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through induction of the host ER stress and innate immune responses, Science Advances (2021). Journal information: Science Advances Long Chi Nguyen et al, Cannabidiol inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication through induction of the host ER stress and innate immune responses,(2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi6110
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A third 'booster' dose of COVID-19 vaccine successfully raises antibody levels that neutralize the Omicron variant, according to laboratory findings from the Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Center, published today (Wednesday) as a Research letter in The Lancet.

Researchers found that antibodies generated in people who had received only two doses of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine or the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were less able to neutralize the Omicron variant as compared to the Alpha and Delta variants.

They also found that antibody levels dropped off in the first three months following the second dose but that a third 'booster' dose raised levels of antibodies that effectively neutralize the Omicron variant.

In people who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for all three doses, antibody levels against Omicron after a third dose were similar to those previously reached against Delta after only two doses. Overall, antibody levels were nearly 2.5x higher against Omicron after three doses compared to after two.

Higher levels of antibodies against the Omicron variant were also found in people who received two doses of either vaccine and also reported previously having COVID-19 symptoms, compared to those had not previously had COVID-19 symptoms.

Whilst levels of antibodies alone do not predict vaccine effectiveness, they are a very good indicator of protection against severe COVID-19. This study confirms that three doses of COVID-19 vaccine are essential to boost antibodies to quantifiable levels and maximize the amount of protection against severe disease and hospitalization.

Researchers have submitted their findings to the Genotype-to-Phenotype National Virology Consortium (G2P-UK), the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI).

As part of the SARS-CoV-2 Legacy study, led by the Crick and partners at UCL and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), healthcare workers and staff from the institutions have been donating regular blood and swab samples so that researchers can track changing risk of infection and response to vaccination.

The Legacy team analyzed 620 blood samples from 364 people who enrolled in the study. They used robust high throughput viral neutralization assays, developed at the Crick, to test the ability of antibodies to block entry of the virus into cells, so called 'neutralizing antibodies', against different variants of SARS-CoV-2, including Omicron.

Higher antibody titres (the greatest dilution level that still blocks 50% of virus infection in the lab) are a good predictor of vaccine efficacy and greater protection against COVID-19.

Importantly, they also included synthetic neutralizing antibodies that are currently in clinical use for COVID-19 treatment, in their analysis, to test if these synthetic antibodies have neutralizing activity against variants of SARS-CoV-2 including Omicron.

The researchers found that Xevudy (sotrovimab), a recently-approved synthetic monoclonal antibody used to prevent and treat patients at risk of developing severe COVID-19, was able to neutralize the Omicron variant.

Dr. Emma Wall, UCLH Infectious Diseases consultant and Senior Clinical Research Fellow for the Legacy study, said: "People who have queued outside vaccinations centers should be reassured that a vaccine booster is the best way of protecting them from Omicron. And for people who haven't yet had a booster or even a first dose, it's not too late.

"This new variant can overcome the immune blockade put in place by two vaccine doses, but thankfully following the third dose, neutralizing activity is robust in the vast majority of people. A third dose builds our defenses higher, making it harder for the virus to cause severe COVID-19."

David LV Bauer, Group Leader of the Crick's RNA Virus Replication Laboratory and member of the G2P-UK National Virology Consortium, said: "While the Omicron variant has considerably more mutations than other recent variants, such as Alpha and Delta, our data show that the boosters push our immune system to make a broad response capable of tackling it."

Bryan Williams, UCLH Director of Research said "This research shows the power of the partnership between the Crick and the NHS, through our NIHR Biomedical Research Center. As well as this key vaccine efficacy data, we have really important early data to suggest that at least some versions of synthetic antibodies that we currently use to treat certain patients, are likely to be effective against this new variant."

Charles Swanton, Legacy Chief Investigator at the Crick and Consultant Oncologist at UCLH said: "Our results are an estimate of protection in the community and as boosters are rolled out at record speeds, many can be confident in their level of vaccine protection after three doses."

Sonia Gandhi, Legacy Chief Investigator at the Crick and Consultant Neurologist at UCLH, said: "Now that we have established that boosters are effective against the Omicron variant, future research will need to address the duration and persistence of this booster response. New variants of concern will continue to emerge as the pandemic evolves, so effective immune monitoring is needed to stay responsive and remain protected."

More information: Mary Wu et al, Three-dose vaccination elicits neutralising antibodies against omicron, The Lancet (2022). Journal information: The Lancet Mary Wu et al, Three-dose vaccination elicits neutralising antibodies against omicron,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00092-7
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

New findings by Boston University School of Public Health investigators indicate that COVID-19 vaccination does not impair fertilitybut males who become infected by the coronavirus may experience short-term reduced fertility.

COVID-19 vaccination in either partner does not appear to affect fertility, according to new research led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) investigators.

Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the prospective study of couples trying to conceive found no association between COVID-19 vaccination and fecundabilitythe probability of conception per menstrual cyclein female or male partners who received the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

In contrast, the findings indicate that COVID-19 infection among males may temporarily reduce fertilityan outcome that could be avoidable through vaccination.

"Many reproductive-aged individuals have cited concerns about fertility as a reason for remaining unvaccinated," says study lead author Dr. Amelia Wesselink, research assistant professor of epidemiology at BUSPH. "Our study shows for the first time that COVID-19 vaccination in either partner is unrelated to fertility among couples trying to conceive through intercourse. Time-to-pregnancy was very similar regardless of vaccination status."

Wesselink and colleagues analyzed survey data on COVID-19 vaccination and infection, and fecundability, among female and male participants in the BUSPH-based Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO), an ongoing NIH-funded study that enrolls women trying to conceive, and follows them from preconception through six months after delivery. Participants included 2,126 women in the US and Canada who provided information on sociodemographics, lifestyle, medical factors, and characteristics of their partners from December 2020 to September 2021, and the participants were followed in the study through November 2021.

The researchers calculated the per menstrual cycle probability of conception using self-reported dates of participants' last menstrual period, typical menstrual cycle length, and pregnancy status. Fertility rates among female participants who received at least one dose of a vaccine were nearly identical to unvaccinated female participants. Fecundability was also similar for male partners who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine compared with unvaccinated male participants. Additional analyses that considered the number of vaccine doses, brand of vaccine, infertility history, occupation, and geographic region also indicated no effect of vaccination on fertility.

While COVID-19 infection was not strongly associated with fertility, men who tested positive for COVID within 60 days of a given cycle had reduced fertility compared to men who never tested positive, or men who tested positive at least 60 days prior. This data supports previous research that has linked COVID-19 infection in men with poor sperm quality and other reproductive dysfunction.

"These data provide reassuring evidence that COVID vaccination in either partner does not affect fertility among couples trying to conceive," says study senior author Dr. Lauren Wise, professor of epidemiology at BUSPH. "The prospective study design, large sample size, and geographically heterogeneous study population are study strengths, as was our control for many variables such as age, socioeconomic status, preexisting health conditions, occupation, and stress levels."

The new data also help quell concerns about COVID-19 vaccines and fertility that arose from anecdotal reports of females experiencing menstrual cycle changes following vaccination.

More information: Amelia K Wesselink et al, A prospective cohort study of COVID-19 vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and fertility, American Journal of Epidemiology (2022). Journal information: American Journal of Epidemiology Amelia K Wesselink et al, A prospective cohort study of COVID-19 vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and fertility,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwac011
People using face masks attend a music concert in Barcelona, Spain, March 27, 2021. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Credit: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File

When the coronavirus pandemic was first declared, Spaniards were ordered to stay home for more than three months. For weeks, they were not allowed outside even for exercise. Children were banned from playgrounds, and the economy virtually stopped.

But officials credited the draconian measures with preventing a full collapse of the health system. Lives were saved, they argued.

Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different COVID-19 playbook. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay. Similar steps are under consideration in neighboring Portugal and in Britain.

The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.

Spain's center-left prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, wants the European Union to consider similar changes now that the surge of the omicron variant has shown that the disease is becoming less lethal.

"What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters," he said Monday.

A teacher wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of coronavirus checks the temperature of her student at Maestro Padilla school as the new school year begins, in Madrid, Sept. 7, 2021. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File

Sanchez said the changes should not happen before the omicron surge is over, but officials need to start shaping the post-pandemic world now: "We are doing our homework, anticipating scenarios."

The World Health Organization has said that it's too early to consider any immediate shift. The organization does not have clearly defined criteria for declaring COVID-19 an endemic disease, but its experts have previously said that it will happen when the virus is more predictable and there are no sustained outbreaks.

"It's somewhat a subjective judgment because it's not just about the number of cases. It's about severity, and it's about impact," said Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies chief.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum panel on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases doctor in the U.S., said COVID-19 could not be considered endemic until it drops to "a level that it doesn't disrupt society."

A man wearing a a face mask to protect against the spread of coronavirus pauses as people walk along a street in downtown Barcelona, Spain, July 3, 2021. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Credit: AP Photo/Joan Mateu, File

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has advised countries to transition to more routine handling of COVID-19 after the acute phase of the pandemic is over. The agency said in a statement that more EU states in addition to Spain will want to adopt "a more long-term, sustainable surveillance approach."

Just over 80% of Spain's population has received two vaccine doses, and authorities are focused on boosting the immunity of adults with third doses.

Vaccine-acquired immunity, coupled with widespread infection, offers a chance to concentrate prevention efforts, testing and illness-tracking resources on moderate- to high-risk groups, said Dr. Salvador Trenche, head of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, which has led the call for a new endemic response.

COVID-19 "must be treated like the rest of illnesses," Trenche told The Associated Press, adding that "normalized attention" by health professionals would help reduce delays in treatment of problems not related to the coronavirus.

A nurse prepares vaccines in the Wizink Center, currently used for COVID-19 vaccinations in Madrid, Dec. 1, 2021. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Credit: AP Photo/Paul White, File

The public also needs to come to terms with the idea that some deaths from COVID-19 "will be inevitable," Tranche said.

"We can't do on the sixth wave what we were doing on the first one: The model needs to change if we want to achieve different results," he said.

The Spanish Health Ministry said it was too early to share any blueprints being drafted by its experts and advisers, but the agency confirmed that one proposal is to follow an existing model of "sentinel surveillance" currently used in the EU for monitoring flu.

The strategy has been nicknamed "flu-ization" of COVID-19 by Spanish media, although officials say that the systems for influenza will need to be adapted significantly to the coronavirus.

For now, the discussion about moving to an endemic approach is limited to wealthy nations that can afford to speak about the worst of the pandemic in the past tense. Their access to vaccines and robust public health systems are the envy of the developing world.

A man gets a COVID-19 vaccine as other people line up for their vaccination inside the Sage Beach Bar and Restaurant in Berlin, Jan. 3, 2022. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. In Germany, where less than 73% of the population has received two doses and infection rates are hitting new records almost daily, comparisons to Spain or any other country are being rejected. Credit: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File

It's also not clear how an endemic strategy would coexist with the "zero-Covid" approach adopted by China and other Asian countries, and how would that affect international travel.

Many countries overwhelmed by the record number of omicron cases are already giving up on massive testing and cutting quarantine times, especially for workers who show no more than cold-like symptoms. Since the beginning of the year, classes in Spanish schools stop only if major outbreaks occur, not with the first reported case as they used to.

In Portugal, with one of the world's highest vaccination rates, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared in a New Year's speech that the country had "moved into an endemic phase." But the debate over specific measures petered out as the spread soon accelerated to record levelsalmost 44,000 new cases in 24 hours reported Tuesday.

However, hospital admissions and deaths in the vaccinated world are proportionally much lower than in previous surges.

A shopper passes a closed shop on Oxford Street in London, Jan. 10, 2022. In the United Kingdom, mask-wearing in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped on Jan. 26, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday, Jan. 19, saying that the latest wave had "peaked nationally." Credit: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File

In the United Kingdom, mask-wearing in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped on Jan. 26, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday saying that the latest wave had "peaked nationally."

The requirement for infected people to isolate for five full days remains in place, but Johnson said he will seek to scrap it in coming weeks if the virus data continues to improve. Official statistics put at 95% the share of the British population that has developed antibodies against COVID-19 either from infection or vaccination.

"As COVID becomes endemic, we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance, urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others," Johnson said.

For some other European governments, the idea of normalizing COVID-19 is at odds with their efforts to boost vaccination among reluctant groups.

People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of coronavirus walk in downtown Madrid, on March 31, 2021. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File

A young woman wearing a face mask looks at her phone on a subway train in Lisbon, Jan. 6, 2022. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the Spanish government is laying the groundwork to approach the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. Similar steps are under consideration in Portugal and the United Kingdom, whose government says that the omicron wave has peaked. Credit: AP Photo/Armando Franca, File

In Germany, where less than 73% of the population has received two doses and infection rates are hitting new records almost daily, comparisons to Spain or any other country are being rejected.

"We still have too many unvaccinated people, particularly among our older citizens," Health Ministry spokesman Andreas Deffner said Monday.

Italy is extending its vaccination mandate to all citizens age 50 or older and imposing fines of up to 1,500 euros for unvaccinated people who show up at work. Italians are also required to be fully vaccinated to access public transportation, planes, gyms, hotels and trade fairs.

Explore further Endemic COVID would not mean end of danger: WHO

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Nine staff at Argentina's La Esperanza research base had decided to wait to get their jabs in Argentina, fearing having to deal with possible side-effects in the extreme environment that is Antarctica.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic the coronavirus has reached an Argentine research base in Antarctica, causing the evacuation of nine unvaccinated staff who tested positive for COVID-19, an official said Thursday.

Twenty-four of the 43 scientists and military personnel resident at Argentina's La Esperanza base have been infected, Patricia Ortuzar of the government's National Directorate of the Antarctic told AFP.

Nine of the 24, who have no symptoms, were evacuated to Buenos Aires by helicopter as a precaution.

They had been in Antarctica since before the start of Argentina's vaccination campaign in 2021, and were due to travel to the capital to be jabbed.

They had decided to wait to get their shots in Argentina, fearing having to deal with possible side-effects in the extreme environment that is Antarctica.

Previously, the icy continent's first cases were reported at a Chilean base in December 2020.

The situation at La Esperanza base was "under control", said Ortuzar.

The other 15 coronavirus-positive staff, also asymptomatic, remained at the base with the rest of the team. All are vaccinated.

All other Argentina bases remain COVID-free, Ortuzar added.

The La Esperanza base, built in 1952 in the extreme northwest of Antarctica, is one of 13 belonging to Argentinasix of them permanent.

In the winter months, Argentina has some 200 scientists, military personnel and assistants at its permanent bases, a number that roughly doubles in summer.

The outbreak at La Esperanza started on January 12, when a base occupant was likely infected by a new arrival, said Ortuzar.

To prevent infection at its Antarctic outposts, Argentina has isolated and tested some 300 scientists and military personnel since December aboard an icebreaker which is currently bringing them back to Antarctica.

Like many other countries, Argentina is battling a third pandemic wave, with more than 100,000 cases reported daily.

The South American country of 45 million people has registered more than 7.4 million infections since March 2020, and 118,000 deaths.

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

France will begin a gradual lifting of COVID restrictions from February 2 amid "encouraging signs" that the wave of infections due to the Omicron variant is ebbing, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday.

Even though authorities registered a record 464,769 new daily cases on Tuesday, Castex said the implementation of a "vaccine pass" starting Monday to enter restaurants, cinemas and other public venues would allow an easing of tighter rules imposed since December.

In a first step, the audience capacity limits for concert halls, sporting matches and other events2,000 people indoors, and 5,000 outdoorswill be ended from February 2.

Working from home will also no longer be mandatory for eligible employees, and face masks will not be required outside, Castex told a press conference alongside Health Minister Olivier Veran.

"We are a bit more confident in saying we can relax some of these constraints and let people return to life as normal as possible," Veran said.

Previously, the health pass could also be obtained with a recent negative COVID test, a possibility the government ended in its bid to convince more people to get COVID jabsCastex said 93 percent of French adults now had at least one dose.

"Since the announcement of the vaccine pass, one million French people have gotten vaccinated. That's good, but it's not enough," he said, adding that booster shots would be extended to children aged 12 to 17 starting Monday.

In a second stage, nightclubs that have been shut since December will be allowed to reopen on February 16, and standing areas will again be authorised for concerts and sporting events as well as bars.

Eating and drinking will again be allowed in stadiums, movie theatres and public transport on that date.

Cautious hope

Castex also said he hoped to be able to ease face mask rules for children in schools after winter vacation breaks in late February.

Some 17,000 classes are currently shut across France after students or staff caught the virus, and parents must get a series of tests for exposed children before they are allowed to return.

The highly contagious Omicron variant has sparked a surge in infections, but the number of COVID patients in intensive care has been falling since early January, to around 3,850 people currently.

"We have seen that incidence rates are still rising, but we also know that the Omicron variant results in fewer serious cases than the Delta variant," government spokesman Gabriel Attal said earlier Thursday.

"There are hopes the Omicron wave could peak soon," he added.

Castex insisted that studies have shown Omicron to be less dangerous than other virus variants, which have prompted several governments worldwide to pull back on restrictions.

The British government said Wednesday that most restrictions would be lifted starting next week, including the requirement for a COVID pass proving vaccination to enter public venues, citing data that showed infections had peaked.

Spain's government is also pushing to begin treating COVID-19 as any other endemic respiratory virus like seasonal fluthough Castex warned against underestimating the threat from the virus.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also insisted this week that the pandemic was "nowhere near over", warning that new variants were still likely to emerge.

Explore further France seeks to avoid a lockdown with tougher vaccine rules

 2022 AFP
A colorized scanning electron micrograph of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Credit: NIAID

Jan. 21 marks two years since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in the U.S. In that time, the nation has made strides to keep the virus in check as much as possible with testing, masking, social distancing, vaccines and other precautionary measures. Despite that fact, nearly 850,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19.

Will living in a pandemic be the "new normal" for everyone in the future? Or will COVID-19 eventually be eradicated? While infectious diseases experts at Mayo Clinic say they don't have a crystal ball, they do expect things to change in the future.

"At the present, we're still in one of the surges of the pandemichopefully one of the lastif not the lastmajor surge. So we're not quite in this new normal phase yet, but we're getting much closer," says Dr. John O'Horo, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist. "As we move into this new normal, what that really will mean is that this becomes an endemic virus like the flu that just circulates aroundworse in certain times of the year in placesand requires some of the same measures that we require for the flu, like having a regular revaccination."

While many of the precautionary measures, such as masking, might be relaxed by health officials in this new normal, Dr. O'Horo expects they could be reinstated in the future if surges in COVID-19 cases occur.

"During periods of high transmission, we may see some of these restrictions return that we've been used to in the past two yearslike wearing masks in certain settingsdepending on local prevalence, strains that are around and the vulnerability of people who are in there. Health care facilities, for example, are going to have a lower threshold for recommending or even requiring masks during a surge in the future. But hopefully, these surges are going to be shorter and less frequent than we've seen in these past two years where it's really been a pandemic."

He says a driving factor in reaching that new normal is getting as many people as possible vaccinated for COVID-19 and receiving their booster vaccinations.

"When we look into the new normal, one thing that I'm certain will be a big part of it is vaccines. We know that there's going to be some need for regular vaccination, even if the cadence and type hasn't been out there. But it's likely going to look a lot like the flu, where there's going to be different strains and needs for regular boosters to prevent illness from coming back," says Dr. O'Horo. "Vaccines remain one of the best tools we have in this. It's only been two years where we went from not having any treatments or knowledge of this to having vaccines that are highly effective and reduce hospitalizations, death and severe illness to a remarkable degree. And they also seem to contribute to decreasing the spread of the disease. Vaccinations are our fastest route back to the new normal. We can see this start to fade into being a more seasonal virus, which will still be important for several vulnerable populations. But with the right measures in place, we can live with this without it being the dominant feature of our lives."

Explore further Video: How to decide what mask is best for you
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Before the pandemic, America's public health system was the envy of the world.

In late 2019, the Globe Health Security Index ranked the United States best among 195 nations in terms of being prepared to handle a public health crisis, well ahead of the next best country, the United Kingdom.

That changed fast. A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information less than a year later found the United States ranked "worst globally" in terms of numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

To try to restore the nation's chronically underfunded public health system, the Biden administration invested nearly $8 billion last year in shoring up departments.

But two years to the day after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the USA, experts say it will take a lot more than that to repair America's public health system.

Even before COVID-19, health departments were "running on empty," taking money away from former top priorities to fund the current ones, said Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner. "We were always robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Departments are so strapped that many don't even have the resources to think strategically about how to spend the new federal dollars, Wen said.

Living and working about an hour outside Austin, Texas, Robert Kirkpatrick hasn't had a real vacation in two years and 70-hour workweeks aren't uncommon.

"After a while, I made a point to try to take some time off at least one day a week," said Kirkpatrick, executive director of the Milam County Health Department. "For your own mental health, you have to take a small break."

Kirkpatrick's training over 25 years in the Texas Army National Guard helped him keep an even keel during the pandemic. But in some ways, it's been more difficult than his time in Iraq as a company commander.

"Here I get to go home and see everything I was missing in the long hours of work," he said.

As the pandemic enters its third year, public health departments are filled with similar stories: endless hours, thankless work and threats from the people they're trying to help.

When America arguably needs its public health workers more than ever, hundreds have quit local or state government since the pandemic began. Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration put the county health director for the Orlando area on administrative leave for encouraging his staff to get vaccinated.

Although applications are up at some schools of public health as much as 50%, it will take years to replace the expertise lost, said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician and academic dean at Brown University's School of Public Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a survey in July 2021 of 26,000 state, local or tribal public health workers found more than half reported mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, and 8% said they'd contemplated suicide.

In most states, COVID-19 has forced public health departments to neglect their other duties.

"We've lost ground in overdose deaths and HIV transmission," said Dr. Michael Kilkenny, executive director of the Cabell/Huntington Health Department in West Virginia.

"We did a minimal amount of vector surveillance and control for West Nile virus. ... We sent nobody out to drag for ticks," he said. "We even brought someone out of retirement to do food handler classes because our usual sanitarians were on other jobs."

Most people don't notice public health systems except in the rare situations when they don't work, but everyone benefits from clean water and air, safe restaurants, infection control and healthy babiesall routinely supported by public health departments.

"No one ever thanks you for not getting polio," said Thomas LaVeist, dean of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Dr. Umair Shah, secretary of health for the state of Washington, said the pandemic has taught public health officials a lot about how to fight a pandemic, but he worries that typical crisis-thinking will mean those lessons will be lost before the next pandemic hits.

"COVID puts public health at a decision point, where things can either be transactional or transformational," he said. "If we do not learn those lessons and transform our systems, including for health inequities, then shame on us."

Running on empty

Almost two years ago, Dr. Mandy Cohen, who stepped down as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in December, moved staff from essential services such as restaurant inspections and mental health care to cope with the demands of COVID-19. Her department remained in "crisis mode."

The biggest lesson for her from the pandemic, Cohen said, is how different it is from the usual crises the department deals with, such as hurricanes. In those events, she said, she could get help from nearby states, but now, they're all in the same situation.

"There's no phone-a-friend when everyone is suffering," she said.

The pandemic made long-standing health problems more obvious, said Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during the Trump administration.

Adams, an anesthesiologist and first executive director of health equity initiatives at Purdue University in Indiana, said COVID-19 outcomes in the USA were worse than in many other countries, because Americans were unhealthy to begin with. Obesity, diabetes and smoking are all risk factors for severe cases of COVID-19, and 43% of Americans fit the definition for obesity.

Adams said he worries what will happen if the country doesn't realize the benefits of a robust public health system.

"We see communities pulling back on public healthbeing more resistant to vaccination and prevention," Adams said. "That scares me."

Adams would like to see more money dedicated to health communication, which both the Trump and Biden administrations have struggled with, he said.

"We need to market health messages the same way Nabisco markets Oreos," Adams said. "If we can get (people) to drink a Bud or buy a Ford or eat an Oreo, we should be able to help them better understand why and what they should be doing to keep themselves healthy."

Even within government, public health agencies are usually the last to be informed, said Pramod Dwivedi, health director of the Linn County Public Health Department in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"We were always caught off guard," Dwivedi said. "There were news conferences by the state that we weren't told about. All these rapid changes happen without letting us know in advance. Then people start calling us, and we're in no way prepared to defend that action."

A financial imperative

Keeping people healthy is essential to a healthy economy, said Dr. Jody Heymann, professor of health policy and management and founding director of UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health WORLD Policy Analysis Center.

Before the pandemic, America spent more on health per capita than any other country in the world. "We're more than 50% higher per capita than the next one on the list," she said.

At the same time, the World Health Organization ranked the USA 40th on life expectancy. "We've chronically underinvested in all the things that produce more life expectancy less expensively," Heymann said.

That underinvestment adds up to about $10 billion a year, said Dr. Anand Parekh, chief medical adviser of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank. Any spending authorized is simply a "down payment," he said.

It's easier to sell medicines than prevention, said Dr. Walter Orenstein, a global health expert at Emory University in Atlanta, where he directs vaccine policy and development.

"You get a therapeutic, you feel better, you know what happened. If I give you a vaccine, you never get ill and you never know how it changed your life," he said.

A sustained investment in public health is essential for combating health emergencies, he said.

"People don't understand that investing in prevention costs (money)," he said. "It's just not as expensive as not investing in prevention."

Too often, dollars are allocated to public health when there's a crisis, then taken away when the crisis fades, many officials told USA TODAY.

During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, Arizona's public health department received two years' worth of funding. "More than you could possibly ever spend," said Will Humble, who directed the department and is executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.

Then the money went away. Officials are worried that will happen again.

Adequate staffing remains the biggest need in public health, but departments can't hire if their spending comes with an expiration date.

"A lot of the county health officers here, they don't want to create positions and then be forced to lay them off or have to go to their county board of supervisors to ask for permanent money to keep them on," Humble said.

Staffing up isn't a waste of resources, said Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

"Public health infrastructure doesn't mean you have all these people sitting around with nothing to do," he said. "What about well-baby visits, STD contact tracing? There's plenty to do."

Smaller counties can't add staff for the short term, Humble said. "They are freaking out. There's just no way they can spend this much money on the workforce."

To keep a program going long-term requires a constituency that keeps pushing, he said. Otherwise, when there's a glut of funding, public health officials spend it on random things just to get it off the books.

"Constituents are asking about COVID-19 now, but in three years, they probably won't," Humble said. "And then it will be, 'People aren't calling me about that anymore, let's phase it out.'"

A squandered opportunity?

In 2018 and 2019, states and localities cut their public health funding by 15%, said Carolyn Mullen, chief of government affairs and public relations at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

"Our foundation was weak, and we were asked to build skyscrapers on it," she said.

A report in October 2021 from the de Beaumont Foundation found that to provide basic, everyday services, state and local public health departments need to hire a minimum of 80,000 more full-time equivalent positionsan increase of nearly 80%just to get back to where the workforce was a decade ago.

Another problem is that disease reporting systems, and funding, are siloed. Congress allocates money for HIV or tuberculosis or West Nile Virus, not for pathogens in general.

"We created great systems for COVID, but that didn't build any capacity for the future," Fraser said. "It could potentially be built out, but I don't know that the funding would allow that because it's for COVID. That's the issue."

What's needed, Mullen said, "is long-term, sustainable, predictable funding that is not tied to one specific disease, so we can move away from this feast and famine."

The demise of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better infrastructure bill, which included substantial and long-term funding for public health, was a major blow, Fraser said.

"This is the way it's been for public health forever," Fraser said. "It's been two years, and that's when a lot of these COVID dollars go away. We're going to go back to where we were, and that's what constantly happens."

Parekh of the Bipartisan Policy Center said public health should be considered public infrastructure, alongside bridges and roads.

Focusing on why public health is important to people's daily livesfor clean air, clean water and safe foodwill help take it out of the realm of partisan politics, he said. "When public health is most successful, it is partnering with the communities that we're trying to serve to ensure that people be healthy and can achieve their goals."

In Indiana, Parekh said, the Republican governor created a bipartisan commission to strengthen public health. There needs to be more effort on both sides of the aisle, he said, "to ensure that the takeaway here is not that public health is trying to tell you what to do. It's got to be that public health is trying to support the public in achieving its goals and to create healthy environments and communities."

Building trust, Parekh said, will require sustained investment and people realizing that public health officials have their best interest at heart.

"There's a moment right now in our nation's history to think differently about public health," Parekh said. "The question is will we realize this opportunity at this moment. If not now, then when?"

A path forward

In Rhode Island, a group of business and civic leaders helped develop a plan to use the federal public health funding to address social needs. People can't be healthy if they're living in their car or on the streets, said Neil Steinberg, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.

"Now we have some funding to make a dent," he said. "I'm optimistic that these funds can be leveraged to improve it if used smartly, if used diligently and actually programs are implemented."

The focus is on programs that are sustainable, that won't go away in three years when the funding disappears, Steinberg said.

His group has to wait to see whether the state Legislature will sign off on the suggestions, which could happen before June, he said.

Barbara Ferrer, who directs the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, said she knows exactly how to spend the new federal dollars she's getting: invest in equity-focused programs and support systems.

To deliver vaccines, her department set up six sites across the county, and they're not leaving even after the pandemic ends, she said.

Having access to the community through these sites helped the department better communicate with residents, better understand their problems and build trust, Ferrer said.

The sites created programs to subsidize healthy food, provide mental health services, prevent violence and lobby for better worker protections, so they can stay home and isolate when they get sick.

These were all problems that have long needed addressing, Ferrer said, but the creation of the sites and the money to keep them going will make a major difference in the public health of Los Angeles.

The department set aside $10 million to create a grocery voucher program and $2 million to subsidize healthy food. "You can't tell people to eat healthy when they live in food deserts and there's no access to healthy foods," she said. There is $13 million to expand home visiting support for at-risk people and $7.5 million to expand community-based partnerships.

"I'm hoping we have taken advantage of the fact that when a tragedy that wreaks this much devastation occurs, there are opportunities where you move forward to fundamentally fix it," Ferrer said.

Back in Milam County, Texas, Kirkpatrick said he expects to get more abuse via phone calls, emails and even people on the street.

"I take it all with a grain of salt," he said. "I know it's because they're scared. They don't know, they're trying to find answers. I'm going to try my best to provide those answers."

The grueling hours, the public anger, the anguish of losing community membersthey're all aspects of the commitment public health workers make to their community, Kirkpatrick said.

"When you sign up to do public service, be it military, law enforcement, firefighter, hospital worker or public health, it becomes part of you," he said. "And it's what we do."

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

Explore further The bridge between public health education and government workforce needs fixing

2022 USA Today

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Mullers lab recently demonstrated that calcium flux in endothelial cells is tightly coupled temporally and spatially with leukocyte transmigration. The arrows depict local elevation of [Ca2+]i (green) at endothelial junctions (blue) as neutrophils (red) transmigrate across a postcapillary venule in the mouse cremaster muscle in response to the inflammatory cytokine, IL-1. Credit: Northwestern University

Not all inflammation is created equal. While acute inflammation has evolved as the immune system's first response to protect the body, chronic inflammation can cause extensive and potentially irreversible damage, as commonly seen in autoimmune diseases or chronic inflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel disease and atherosclerosis. Regulating inflammationensuring that the body doesn't generate too much of a good thingis a flourishing area of study at Northwestern.

Perhaps one of the biggest hubs of activity in this area is the lab of William Muller, MD, Ph.D., the Janardan K. Reddy, MD Professor of Pathology. Muller has been studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the body's inflammatory response in the hope of discovering a more selective approach to treat disease for more than three decades. His lab's inflammatory models include atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, dermatitis, and more.

"Simply put, inflammation is at the root of all pathology," he argues. "Once I realized that chronic inflammation becomes the disease instead of the way to eliminate the disease, I thought it was essential to learn how to regulate inflammation."

While Muller has studied a broad scope of diseases over the course of his long career, investigators across specialties are chasing the same culprit, studying its effects in diseases ranging from cardiovascular disease and multiple sclerosis (MS) to rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer's disease. Recent high-impact publications demonstrate just how extensively Feinberg scientists have probed this critical factor in diseaseand the translational potential their findings hold.

The 'point of no return'

The inflammatory response is a sequential process. When tissue is damaged, specialized immune cells already deployed throughout the body detect certain chemicals associated with invasive pathogens as well as damaged or dead cells. These immune cells then dispatch white blood cells, or leukocytes, and other molecular mediators to destroy any remaining pathogens, repair damage, and restore the body's homeostasis.

Eventually, leukocytes will interact with endothelial cells and move from the blood into the tissue through a process called transendothelial migration, or diapedesis. The phases leading up to diapedesis are reversible. Diapedesis and the phases that follow are not.

Diapedesis, which Muller refers to as the "point of no return," is therefore an attractive therapeutic target for regulating inflammation and potentially treating chronic inflammatory diseases. Regulating inflammation, however, is a balancing act: The goal is to treat chronic inflammation without eliminating a patient's entire inflammatory response and rendering them immunocompromised, according to Muller.

"This is the balance we're trying to strike now: How do we treat someone's arthritic fingers or their inflammatory bowel disease or their atherosclerosis without rendering them incapable of fighting off infections or healing skin wounds," Muller says.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Muller's laboratory discovered that during transmigration, there is a transient increase in endothelial cell calcium ions that are spatially and temporally restricted to the site of diapedesis. The role of the calcium is to activate two key calcium signaling proteins: endothelial calmodulin (CaM) and endothelial calcium/calmodulin kinase II Delta (CaMKII Delta). CaMKII Delta activity is essential for endothelial membrane movement that promotes the transmigration process.

Current anti-inflammatory therapies work by blocking inflammation entirely throughout the body, commonly causing harmful side effects for patients. The findings from the calcium signaling study provide the impetus for regulating inflammation by selectively targeting endothelial cells to decrease the number of white blood cells passing across the endothelial cell wall without interfering with other immune functions, according to Muller. Additionally, his team is beginning to investigate whether diapedesis is regulated similarly across all organs and tissues, specifically in the lungs and brain.

Links to abnormal heart function

One part of the body where inflammation wreaks the most havoc is in the heart. Heart failure is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. A significant contributor to permanent heart damage after heart attack is due to excessive inflammation caused by reperfusion therapy (a treatment to restore blood flow) that patients receive at the hospital.

A recent study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and led by Edward Thorp, Ph.D., associate professor of Pathology in the Division of Experimental Pathology, and Matthew DeBerge, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Pathology, found that an inflammatory cellular pathway previously thought to protect the heart after a heart attack actually causes damage. The team also found that inhibiting this pathway with small molecule inhibitors reduced myocardial infarction-induced damage in mouse models, demonstrating it as a potentially effective therapeutic strategy for patients after a heart attack.

Another study, led by Sanjiv Shah, '00 MD, the Neil J. Stone, MD, Professor of Cardiology, and published in Circulation, found that the presence of inflammatory proteins in the blood was associated with comorbidity burden and abnormal heart function in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

"Instead of the heart being the main area of injury, it is inflammation in the bloodstream that appears to be poisoning the heart and the blood vessels in HFpEF," Shah says.

The findings suggest these proteins could serve as therapeutic targets for patients with HFpEF and act as biomarkers for preventively identifying inflammation.

Ultrastructure of myelinated axons in the central nervous system. Credit: Popko Laboratory

Factor in neurological diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS), all share a common factor: chronic inflammation.

Inflammation's role in Alzheimer's disease has been a focus of Robert Vassar, Ph.D., the Davee Professor of Alzheimer Research. He was co-author of a study published in Nature that identified a missing link between inflammation and protein deposits that contribute to the development of the disease.

"These findings shed new light on the role of inflammation in Alzheimer's disease, providing a plausible pathway as well as a potential biomarker or therapeutic target for the condition," he says.

In the study, investigators conducted an unbiased screen to identify proteins that interact with the gamma-secretase complex, which generates the Abeta protein that accumulates in the notorious amyloid plaques seen in Alzheimer's disease. That screening identified interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3).

In mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and tissue samples from patients with late-stage Alzheimer's, the investigators found levels of IFITM3 was significantly increased. Deleting IFITM3, however, reduced the production of Abeta. Simulating inflammation also led to increased expression of IFITM3 and subsequently higher levels of Abeta.

"Our study suggests that anti-inflammatory drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier may lower IFITM3 levels and reduce Abeta production, which should delay the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease," Vassar says.

Brian Popko, Ph.D., the William Frederick Windle Professor of Neurology, has investigated the cellular defense response to inflammation in MS, which affects almost three million people worldwide. Published in the journal eLife, his most recent work suggests that prolonging a cellular defense response to inflammation could help regenerate the protective coating of axons called myelin, which is degraded in diseases like MS.

"This small molecule could be a potential therapeutic because not only have we shown that it provides protection to oligodendrocytes against inflammation, but we now are showing that it promotes myelin repair in an inflammatory environment," says Popko, who is also scientific director of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology. Popko's team used genetic and pharmacological methods to prolong the integrated stress response in inflammatory models of MS, and discovered that the remyelinating oligodendrocytes, the cells that generate myelin, were protected from inflammation during the repair process. There are currently no FDA-approved drugs that effectively regenerate myelin. The findings, the authors argue, represent a breakthrough therapeutic strategy for treating MS.

A potential target for rheumatoid arthritis

A team of scientists led by Richard Pope, MD, the Solovy/Arthritis Research Society Professor and professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, and Deborah Winter, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, discovered that a type of immune cell called tissue-resident macrophage is necessary for the suppression of chronic inflammation.

"This study shows tissue-resident macrophages being the guardian of preventing inflammation and provides a novel way of thinking about treating patients with targeted therapy," Pope says.

Previous work from Pope's laboratory found that a specialized protein called FLIP (FLICE-like inhibitory protein) protects macrophages from apoptosis, or cell death, and are also known to be highly expressed in macrophages of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Using this knowledge, the investigators deleted FLIP from tissue-resident macrophages in mouse models of rheumatoid arthritis to ameliorate the disease. However, deleting FLIP actually promoted chronic inflammation in the mice by preventing monocyteswhite blood cells produced in bone marrowfrom differentiating into tissue-resident macrophages and performing anti-inflammatory functions.

The findings, which were published in Science Advances, disprove a long-standing notion that all macrophages are "bad" and only promote inflammation.

"If we want to treat people or prevent disease, we can't just get rid of all macrophages," Winter says. "We want to promote macrophages that are good for the joints and possibly reprogram the ones that aren't good."

As Muller points out, regulating inflammation to treat disease is a balancing act, and scientists across disciplines continue to get closer to answers through shared knowledge.

"It is exciting to perform these studies at a place like Northwestern, where the research culture is truly collaborative. It leads to great opportunities to combine expertise and explore new disease models," Muller says.

Explore further Inflammation protection may be critical to treating multiple sclerosis
Gastrointestinal System. Credit: Blausen.com staff (2014). "Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014". WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436. CC BY 3.0

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with its two main disease entities Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic and relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The highest prevalence of IBD is found in the Western world, and the lowest in developing countries.

IBD is associated with reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL), substantial loss of work productivity and increased morbidity. In Sweden alone, around 70,000 persons are estimated to be affected by IBD. Treatment includes both surgery and medical therapy, including newer therapies such as biological agents. Since a sizeable number of patients do not respond or lose response to a certain biological agent, there is a need to know more about therapeutic options in IBD.

In this thesis from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Ph.D. student Anders Forss has explored real-world clinical outcomes of a recent biological therapy. Using registered-based data, his studies also investigated epidemiological aspects of IBD including the validity of IBD-related surgical procedure codes and the incidence of IBD in Sweden.

What are the main results in your thesis?

We found evidence that the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR) is a reliable and valid data source for researchers wanting to identify patients with previous IBD-related surgery. We also enhanced the knowledge about the real-world effectiveness of the biological agent ustkinumab (anti-interleukin (IL)-12/23)), beneficial for patients suffering from Crohn's disease. We showed that ustekinumab treatment of Crohn's disease patients was associated with long-term clinical effectiveness and improvement of HRQoL measures when used in routine clinical care. We were also able to shed light on previous contradicting estimates of the temporal trends of the incidence of IBD in Sweden. We found increasing incidence of IBD from 1990 up until 2001, but decreasing incidence during the period 20022014.

What should be done moving forward in this research area?

There is a need for further studies comparing ustekinumab treatment with other biological agents (head-to-head studies). It would also be interesting to study the efficacy of ustekinumab in subgroups of Crohn's disease patients with different disease presentation and location. Since we found decreasing incidence of IBD from 2002 up until 2014, it would be interesting to explore if this trend still holds and if there are any regional differences in the incidence in Sweden. The underlying reasons for the decreasing incidence are not fully known to us. Future studies that could identify these reasons would be welcomed.

Explore further Use of TNF alpha inhibitors in Crohn's disease associated with higher risk of MS

More information: Anders Forss, Medical and surgical treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Anders Forss, Medical and surgical treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. openarchive.ki.se/xmlui/handle/10616/47841
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

At least ten out of every 100 girls older than the appropriate age for their school grade could have accompanied their age group if mental health problems were prevented or treated, especially externalizing disorders (problematic behavior relating to poor impulse control, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity, aggression, impulsivity, and rule-breaking). Among children in the Brazilian public education system, data on the incidence of mental health problems are also reflected by grade repetition: five out of every 100 girls would not have been failed. For boys, the age-grade distortion would have been avoided in 5.3% of cases, and grade repetition in 4.8%.

These findings come from an innovative survey led by a group of Brazilian and British scientists and reported in an article published in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences. The authors set out to estimate the weight and impact of various kinds of psychiatric disorders on educational outcomes.

Using data for 2014, they concluded that externalizing disorders had broader and more robust negative effects on educational attainment than disorders associated with anxiety and fear. A breakdown by gender showed that they were particularly harmful to girls, resulting in lower levels of literacy and more frequent bullying.

At least 11 out of every 100 reports of physical or psychological bullying by girls in Brazilian schools could have been avoided if externalizing disorders had been prevented or treated. For boys, phobias and depression entailed higher school dropout rates."In epidemiological terms, boys generally have more externalizing disorders, with case numbers reaching double those of girls. In terms of educational outcomes, however, we found that the risk is greater for girls.

One of the hypotheses that could explain this finding is a social stigma, since aggressive or oppositional behavior is not expected from girls, and they may suffer more and perform less well at school. The same is true of depression in the case of boys. Society assumes they don't cry or express feelings," Mauricio Scopel Hoffmann, first author of the article, told Agencia FAPESP. Hoffmann is a professor in the Department of Neuropsychiatry at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil).

The study was part of Hoffmann's postdoctoral research and was supported by FAPESP (grants 14/50917-0 and 08/57896-8). Hoffmann was supported by a Newton International Fellowship awarded by the Academy of Medical Sciences through the UK Government's Newton Fund Program. The Newton Fund also supported Sara Evans-Lacko, last author of the article. Both were then research fellows at the LSE's Care Policy and Evaluation Center in London (2019-20).

The data was obtained from the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort Study for Childhood Psychiatric Disorders (BHRC[KM1]), a large school-based survey that has followed over 1,000 children since 2010.

In their discussion of the 2014 data, the researchers contextualized their findings from a populational perspective and, while warning that their estimates were probably conservative, concluded that at that time at least 591,000 schoolchildren could have been in the right grade for their age if psychiatric disorders had been prevented or treated. Repetition could have been avoided for some 196,000 on the same basis.

According to Hoffmann, the situation is similar seven years later, evidencing the importance of prevention and treatment of mental problems if educational results are to be improved. In 2014, 49.8 million children were enrolled in the first nine grades at 188,700 public and private schools. In 2020, these numbers had fallen to 47.3 million and 179,500 respectively.

Explore further School is not a key factor in rising levels of poor mental health in teenagers, says study

More information: Mauricio Scopel Hoffmann et al, The impact of child psychiatric conditions on future educational outcomes among a community cohort in Brazil, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences (2021). Mauricio Scopel Hoffmann et al, The impact of child psychiatric conditions on future educational outcomes among a community cohort in Brazil,(2021). DOI: 10.1017/S2045796021000561
Distribution of amino acid residue position at Spike/ACE or Spike/antibody interface. Panel A shows the distribution of amino acid residues mutated in the Omicron variant in the complex formed between S-RBD encoded by BNT162b1 and ACE2. This figure has been generated by PDB entry 7L7F. Panel B shows the position of residues at the interface of S-RBD and antibody IGHV3-53, where the mutations in Omicron variant have been identified. The S protein is rendered in green ribbons, whereas the antibody is rendered in orange and light-blue ribbons. The amino acid residues representing the mutation sites in the Omicron variant are rendered as balls and sticks. Panel C shows the interaction Y145 of S protein with antibody (187) residues A97 and V98. A deletion mutation (as seen in Omicron variant) will abrogate these interactions. This figure also shows some residue positions in S protein where the mutations in Delta and Delta Plus variants are present. Figures for Panel D and E were generated from PDB entries 7JMP and 7L2D, respectively. In both panels, the atoms of S protein residues are colored as green  carbons, bluenitrogens, and red  oxygens. Atoms of antibodies are colored as orange  carbons, blue  nitrogens, and red  oxygens. Credit: DOI: 10.1016/j.jaut.2021.102779

While the omicron variant continues to infect people around the world, researchers at the University of Missouri have identified the highly prevalent, specific mutations that are causing the omicron variant's high rate of infection.

The findings help explain how the new variant can escape pre-existing antibodies present in the human body, either from vaccination or naturally from a recent COVID-19 infection.

"We know that viruses evolve over time and acquire mutations, so when we first heard of the new omicron variant, we wanted to identify the mutations specific to this variant," said Kamlendra Singh, a professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, assistant director of the MU Molecular Interactions Core and Bond Life Sciences Center investigator.

Singh collaborated with Saathvik Kannan, a freshman at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri, and Austin Spratt, an undergraduate student at MU, and Sid Byrareddy of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, to analyze protein sequences of omicron samples from around the world, including South Africa, Botswana and the United States. The team identified 46 highly prevalent mutations specific to omicron, including several located in the region of the virus' spike protein where antibodies bind to the virus in order to prevent infection.

"The purpose of antibodies is to recognize the virus and stop the binding, which prevents infection," Singh said. "However, we found many of the mutations in the omicron variant are located right where the antibodies are supposed to bind, so we are showing how the virus continues to evolve in a way that it can potentially escape or evade the existing antibodies, and therefore continue to infect so many people."

As antiviral treatments for individuals infected with COVID-19 continue to be developed, Singh explained that having a better understanding of how the virus is evolving will help ensure future antiviral treatments will be targeted toward the specific parts of the virus to produce the most effective outcomes.

In a recent trip to his native India, Singh met with Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, to discuss the launch of CoroQuil-Zn, a supplement that can be taken while infected with COVID-19 to help reduce one's viral load. The supplement, which Singh helped to develop, is now being used by patients in Tamil Nadu, a state in India. The manufacturer will soon seek FDA approval for its distribution in the United States.

"The first step toward solving a problem is getting a better understanding of the specific problem in the first place," Singh said. "It feels good to be contributing to research that is helping out with the pandemic situation, which has obviously been affecting people all over the world."

"Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: Unique features and their impact on pre-existing antibodies" was recently published in the Journal of Autoimmunity.

Explore further Omicron variant is more transmissible but vaccines are still effective

More information: Saathvik R. Kannan et al, Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: Unique features and their impact on pre-existing antibodies, Journal of Autoimmunity (2021). Saathvik R. Kannan et al, Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant: Unique features and their impact on pre-existing antibodies,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.jaut.2021.102779
Thisis a high-resolution image of the large number of new neurons being produced (in red) in the hippocampus of middle-aged mice, treated with the drug that ablates senescent neural stem cells in the stem cell niche. Credit: Michael Fatt

Destroying senescent cells in the aging stem cell niche enhances hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive function in mice, researchers report January 20 in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

"Our results provide further support for the notion that excessive senescence is a driving factor behind aging, and even late-life reduction of these cells can rejuvenate and restore the function of the stem cell niche," says senior author David Kaplan of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. "Moreover, they identify stem cells as a key cellular target, potentially explaining the widespread effects of senescent cells on tissue decline."

Senescent cells, which are permanently arrested because of chronic stress, are partly responsible for tissue decline during aging. Several studies indicate that senescent cells also play a negative role in age-related neurodegenerative disorders. But the cellular mechanisms responsible for tissue failure during aging are still not entirely clear.

Some research has pointed to stem cells as targets for aging and senescence-associated functional decline. The adult mammalian brain contains stem cells that continuously generate new neurons that are important for cognition. The generation of new neurons in the hippocampus declines rapidly with age, and this decline is associated with reduced stem cell activity. This raises the possibility that age-dependent senescent cell accumulation may deregulate neural stem cells and thereby negatively impact brain function.

"Stem cells last throughout life and, like us, are subjected to the ravages of aging, environmental stressors, and deterioration of the machinery that enables them to function optimally," Kaplan explains. "To survive, many stem cells revert to a dormant, unresponsive, and inactive state. Our goal was to wake up these dormant cells and, in doing so, enable them to carry out their biological functions that facilitate learning, memory, and brain repair."

In the new study, Kaplan teamed up with Freda Miller and Paul Frankland of SickKids to test the idea that increased senescence within the neural stem cell niche negatively impacts adult neurogenesis, focusing on the middle-aged mouse brain. They observed an aging-dependent accumulation of senescent cells, largely senescent stem cells, within the hippocampal stem cell niche coincident with declining adult neurogenesis. Pharmacological ablation of the senescent cells via a drug called ABT-263 caused a rapid increase in normal stem cell proliferation and neurogenesis, and genetic ablation of senescent cells similarly activated hippocampal stem cells.

This burst of neurogenesis had long-term effects in middle-aged mice. One month after treatment with ABT-263, adult-born hippocampal neurons increased and hippocampus-dependent spatial memory was enhanced. "The surprise for us is that only one injection of the drug was sufficient to mobilize the normal stem cells in the hippocampus, and it did so after only 5 days," Kaplan says. "The newly awakened stem cells continued to function well for the next 30 days."

These results support the idea that the aging-dependent accumulation of senescent cells, including senescent stem cells in the hippocampal niche, negatively affects normal stem cell function and adult neurogenesis, contributing to an aging-related decline in hippocampus-dependent cognition. Moreover, the results provide a potential explanation for the previously observed age-related decreases in hippocampal stem cells and neurogenesis. A large proportion of stem cells becomes senescent, making them unavailable to generate new neurons, and these senescent stem cells likely adversely affect neurogenesis from their non-senescent neighbors.

"When we improve the neighborhood by getting rid of deleterious cells in the stem cell niche, we begin to mobilize and wake up the dormant stem cells, enabling them to generate new neurons for spatial learning and memory," Kaplan says. "We think that it is the senescent stem cells we removed that were responsible for improving the function of the normal non-senescent stem cells in the niche."

While the findings implicate the senescence of stem cells in age-related decline, the stem cells are clearly not the only important cellular substrates for senescence in the nervous system. A potential role for cellular senescence in the brain has been most widely studied within the context of neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, senescent microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells accumulate in the aged degenerating human brain, and clearance of these senescent cells in mouse models can ameliorate some of the adverse consequences of neurodegeneration and obesity. But these studies focused on senescent microglia and glial cells in neuropathological conditions rather than normal aging.

"In addition, most studies on waking up dormant stem cells have focused on mobilizing the cells themselves," Kaplan says. "A key question when we age, however, is whether it is something intrinsic in stem cells that causes them to become dormant or if it is the environment that they reside in that elicits this dormant state. It is well known that the stem cell niche, or neighborhood, deteriorates with age. Waking up dormant stem cells themselves may not be useful if, when they do so, their neighborhood does not allow them to function optimally."

According to the authors, one study limitation was the use of middle-aged mice and not older mice that might have more relevance to potential therapeutic strategies for the loss of cognitive abilities in older adults. Nonetheless, the findings may have implications for the treatment of age-related conditions.

"A remaining question is whether reducing the number of senescent stem cells alone will improve normal stem cell function and cognition or if removing other senescent cell types is also important," Kaplan says. "While our conditions are more specific for removing senescent stem cells, it is likely that treatments that reduce the amounts of all deleterious senescent cells in the brain will produce the best outcomes."

Explore further A new vaccine that alters senescent cells in a way that pushes the immune system into removing them

More information: David R. Kaplan, Restoration of hippocampal neural precursor function by ablation of senescent cells in the aging stem cell niche, Stem Cell Reports (2022). www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports  2213-6711(21)00649-4 Journal information: Stem Cell Reports David R. Kaplan, Restoration of hippocampal neural precursor function by ablation of senescent cells in the aging stem cell niche,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.12.010
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Moscow reported Thursday a record number of new coronavirus infections over 24 hours, according to a government tally, as Russia braces for a fresh wave of cases driven by the Omicron variant.

Russiaone of the worst-hit countries in the world by the virusrecorded 38,850 new cases Thursday, a figure edging towards its previous record set in November last year.

Moscow, which is the epicentre of Russia's outbreak, reported 11,557 new infections, surpassing a previous record set last June at the height of the wave driven by the Delta variant.

The number of cases across Russia has risen sharply in recent days, with authorities predicting an imminent surge in infections due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last Wednesday that the country had two weeks to prepare for a surge in cases, calling for more testing and vaccinations.

The World Health Organization had warned earlier in the month that half of Europe could soon be infected with Omicron.

The developers of Russia's flagship vaccine, Sputnik V, said in a statement Thursday that its jab demonstrated "strong protection" against Omicron, pointing to a study carried out by the Spallanzani Institute in Italy.

Russia's government figures have reported 324,060 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemicthe highest death toll in Europe.

Those figures are contradicted by statistics agency Rosstat, which counts COVID deaths under a broader definition and says the overall death toll is close to double the official figure.

With four vaccines widely-available for months, Russians remain reluctant to get jabbed with just under half of the population fully vaccinated.

Explore further Daily virus cases in Russia double as omicron spreads

 2022 AFP
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

While COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are expected to remain high in Chicago and across the country in the coming weeks, experts at RUSH predict that the worst of the omicron surge may be behind us.

"We're starting to see signs across the sources that we look at, including international, state and local data, that the current surge is losing some steam," says Thomas Webb, associate vice president of quality analytics at Rush University Medical Center.

However, Webb says it's too early to declare that the surge has reached its peak in Chicago. "At RUSH, we are still seeing a very high rate of COVID-19 admissions to the hospital, and we have not seen this start to drop yet. But the good news is that it has stopped growing even higher," he says.

RUSH's robust and efficient operations as well as strong analytics capabilities have helped staff provide excellent care during the omicron surge.

Webb leads a team of 20 analysts, data scientists, data architects and nurses who review local data on COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as well as data from New York and the United Kingdom to forecast trends. "We can use them almost like a crystal ball," he says. Then, they share their predictions with leaders at RUSH to help them prepare for what's to come.

The analytics team also publicly shares their findings via a web-based COVID calculator that any U.S. hospital can use to understand the COVID-19 situation in their county and forecast their staffing and personal protective equipment (PPE) needs.

Why the surge seems to be slowing

Data suggests that despite causing a greater number of infections compared with previous variants, the highly transmissible omicron variant is causing less severe disease on average, says Michael Lin, MD, MPH, an infectious disease specialist and associate professor at Rush University Medical Center.

Expected hospitalizations and death rates also have been relatively lower during the omicron surge than in previous waves, suggesting that this latest variant causes milder disease compared with prior variants.

"That's certainly welcome news, perhaps reflecting the biology of omicron as well as some of the immunity that people have built up through vaccinations and prior infections," Lin says.

Since the pandemic began, researchers have learned that COVID-19 surges tend to follow a pattern. "As we've seen from prior waves, each wave seems to peak at about four to six weeks," he says. "Then, depending on the circumstances, it will fall either quickly or slowly. But it's unclear why surges lose steam. I suspect that, although many people still may be susceptible to a particular variant, at a local geographic level, the virus itself may lose the ability to find people who are susceptible."

With so many people being affected by the omicron surge, does that mean we are closer to achieving herd immunity and reaching the end of the pandemic? "The simple answer is 'yes," we're closer, and we will get there," Lin says. "The hard answer is, we don't know when we'll get there because there are these X factors of unknown variants that may surprise us, as omicron did."

The challenge of achieving herd immunity

Lin explains why the emergence of new variants after omicron could challenge our ability to achieve herd immunity. "The idea of herd immunity assumes that there's good 'cross immunity' with new variants, but that has not been the case with omicron," Lin says. That explains why some people infected by previous variants like delta have been getting reinfected with omicron.

Still, Lin believes that COVID-19 will eventually become a more predictable disease much like the flu. "We expect that, although COVID-19 will not go away completely, it likely will have more of a predictable pattern where we'll see more cases during the traditional cold and flu season and much less in the off season," Lin says. "So, if it does strike that pattern and if illness can be managed from a health care perspective, then we'll be at the point where we can say we've reached herd immunity."

Explore further Is there a risk of long COVID after omicron infection?
Credit: University of Montreal

Last summer, a team of researchers at Universite de Montreal succeeded in modeling the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, and simulating more than 17,000 possible mutations on a computer.

Using their computer-generated model, the researchers have now determined that the Omicron variant is more transmissible but not likely to cause serious health problems in people who have a strong immune response to the variants already present in the population.

Spike proteins are the pointy protusions on the surface of the virus. When they are in the "open" state, the virus is able to bind to human cells and initiate an infection.

"We know that in the original virus the spike proteins are in the closed state 75% of the time and in the open state 75% of the time," explained project lead Rafael Najmanovich, a professor in UdeM's Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and a specialist in molecular design and computational structural pharmacology. "In Omicron, the spike proteins are in the open state a much greater proportion of the time than in any other variant. The protein therefore has more opportunity to bind to human receptors and the virus is more infectious."

However, according to Najmanovich, the increased transmissibility is accompanied by weaker binding to the receptors that allow the virus to enter human cells. "The virus is evolving in an environment in which many people are vaccinated or have already been infected," he said. "So it is forced to find mutations that produce immune escape, which means the human immune system is unable to recognize and eliminate it."

To test this hypothesis, the researchers virtually exposed the Omicron variant's spike protein to a panel of 77 human antibodies. A net increase in unfavorable interactions was observed in 28 percent of the antibodies. "The immune escape therefore does not appear to be total but only partial," said Najmanovich. "We believe that individuals who have a robust immune response, either because they are fully vaccinated or because they have already been infected with the virus, will not present severe symptoms of the disease."

Najmanovich believes we can extrapolate and conclude that the existing COVID-19 vaccines will be effective in preventing severe illness from Omicron. He cautioned, however, that the tested antibodies were not produced by vaccine-induced immunity but rather by infection with the virus. "Still, we are confident that the results are representative of the immune response from a vaccine," he said.

Explore further Using computer modeling to predict the evolution of new COVID variants

More information: Natalia Teruel, Matthew Crown, Matthew Bashton, Rafael Najmanovich, Computational analysis of the effect of SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron Spike protein mutations on dynamics, ACE2 binding and propensity for immune escape. Natalia Teruel, Matthew Crown, Matthew Bashton, Rafael Najmanovich, Computational analysis of the effect of SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron Spike protein mutations on dynamics, ACE2 binding and propensity for immune escape. virological.org/t/computationa  or-immune-escape/776
Statue of the famous folk hero John Henry. Credit: jpmueller99 from Shenandoah Valley of VA, USA/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

According to late-1800s folklore, Black American railroad worker John Henry endured a contest that would tax his strength enough to kill him.

The legend goes that John Henry, whose job was to hammer metal rods into rock, was pitted in a race against a steam-powered drill that threatened the workers' livelihoods because the machine was faster. Against the odds, he wonbut died from the stress.

The tall tale of the "steel-driving man" inspired songs, books and filmsand, now, new research from Case Western Reserve University.

"In short, the John Henryism effect suggests that inequality has a hidden health impact that builds up over a lifetime," said Ann W. Nguyen, assistant professor at the university's Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. She has co-authored a new study examining differences in the John Henryism hypothesis across subgroups of the Black diaspora in the U.S.

The study, involving a team of researchers from several universities across the nation, examined data collected from the National Survey of American Life of 546 African Americans and 141 Caribbean Blacks, all older than 55. Participants were surveyed about their health concerns, such as hypertension and blood pressure; that data was compared and measured against John Henryism and discrimination.

More than 85 percent of the participants reported using John Henryism as a strategy to cope with discrimination, according to the study. However, the resulting health concerns for African Americans was significantly higher than for Caribbean Blacks.

"For African Americans, we saw greater use of this coping strategy at high levels of discrimination resulting in greater risk for hypertension," Nguyen said. "But it's the reverse in Caribbean Blacks. This group actually has decreased risk for hypertension at higher levels of both John Henryism and discrimination."

John Henryism legend meets the myth

Working harder as a coping mechanismespecially when facing discriminationcould essentially backfire for Black Americans, according to the research, recently published in the Journals of Gerontology.

"Caribbeans Blacks' experiences have been much different from those of African Americans," Nguyen said. "Additionally, the concept of Blackness is much more stigmatized here in the U.S. than in Caribbean countries."

Coined in the 1980s by renowned epidemiologist Sherman James, John Henryism is a term describing some Black Americans' response to discrimination. Namely, that they can overcome its effects through working harder and longer. Unfortunately, James and others found that such extraordinary ongoing exertion also leads to accumulated physiological costs, such as hypertension and high blood pressure.

"Think of high-effort coping as the idea of trying and trying," Nguyen said. "And when you're set back, you try harder rather than going to other people for help and support."

Nguyen wondered whether the findings for Caribbean Blacks would hold up over time.

"This survey is a cross-sectional study, essentially a snapshot in time," she said. "I think a longitudinal studywhich would follow participants over a length of timemight provide deeper insights and possibly show that the use of high effort coping in response to discrimination is just as harmful for Caribbeans Blacks over time as it is for African Americans."

Explore further Trauma of racism fuels high blood pressure among Black Americans: Study

More information: Ann W Nguyen et al, Discrimination and Hypertension Among Older African Americans and Caribbean Blacks: The Moderating Effects of John Henryism, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B (2021). Journal information: Journals of Gerontology Ann W Nguyen et al, Discrimination and Hypertension Among Older African Americans and Caribbean Blacks: The Moderating Effects of John Henryism,(2021). DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbab215
Cannabis and social media. Credit: Rutgers Center of Alcohol & Substance Use Studies

Many recreational cannabis companies market their products in a way that appeals to children and teens, despite state-based regulations prohibiting it, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. This marketing is easily viewed by people of all ages on social media platforms.

"I had expected that cannabis companies were unlikely to fully adhere to existing guidelines," says lead author Megan Moreno, M.D., M.S.Ed., M.P.H., division chief of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Some cannabis companies generated dozens of social media posts per day, and there is no current system in place to monitor or enforce these regulations. However, it was surprising to see how the presence of guidelines made a difference between states."

In their study, Moreno and colleagues evaluated one year of publicly displayed posts on Facebook and Instagram by retail companies from four states in which recreational marijuana use is legal (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington). They looked for both restricted content (such as branded promotions or discounts, modeling overconsumption, youth-focused messaging, and health benefits) and required warnings (limited to age 21 and older, avoiding impaired driving, and health risks).

In total, researchers evaluated 2,660 posts from 14 businesses. Despite being prohibited, discounts or promotions were found in approximately 35 percent of all posts. Overconsumption was found in 12 percent of all posts. And content containing warnings, despite being required, was present in less than half of all posts.

For example, Washington State prohibits displaying branded products, such as t-shirts and hats with a company logo. About 1 percent of the posts on social media from Washington state cannabis companies still contained this content. However, in states without this regulation, these types of posts appeared between five and 10 times more frequently. So while regulation did not guarantee compliance, it seemed to have an impact on how often companies shared content that may or may not be restricted.

Moreno and colleagues say that content designed to appeal to youth culture (with young models or recognizable characters) and budget limitations (such as promotions and discounts) is clearly still being used, despite current regulations.

"As a pediatrician, I know that marketing and advertisements have a strong influence on kids and teens," says Moreno. "Previous studies have shown how alcohol and tobacco companies' marketing is associated with youth using these products."

Moreno stresses that parents need to be aware that their children are likely being exposed to this type of content.

"Given that the vast majority of youth and adolescents use social media, it is important for parents to know that cannabis companies are actively sharing youth-friendly and restricted content in these places," says Moreno. "Parents should talk with their kids about how cannabis companies seek to influence them by using youth-friendly approaches, like using cartoon characters and memes."

The findings are equally vital for policymakers, she says.

"It is important for them to know that the restrictions and requirements for how cannabis companies use social media are meaningful," says Moreno. "Steps to make these rules more impactful include having monitoring systems in place and designating consequences for violations of these restrictions and requirements."

The study authors also recommend the strong approach of considering banning cannabis companies from using social media altogether, since it is so readily accessible to adolescents.

"With ample other marketing channels available to cannabis businesses, and with cannabis still illegal under federal law and thus the federal First Amendment protection not applicable (although state constitutions may have similar provisions), states could test the limits of their own regulatory powers much more than they have to date in the interests of protecting young people," the authors write.

Explore further Survey: Most teenagers in legalized states see marijuana marketing on social media

More information: Moreno, M. A., Jenkins, M., Binger, K., Kelly, L., Trangenstein, P. J., Whitehill, J. M., & Jernigan, D. H., A content analysis of cannabis company adherence to marketing requirements in four states, Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (2022). Journal information: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs Moreno, M. A., Jenkins, M., Binger, K., Kelly, L., Trangenstein, P. J., Whitehill, J. M., & Jernigan, D. H., A content analysis of cannabis company adherence to marketing requirements in four states,(2022). DOI: 10.15288/jsad.2022.83.27
A nurse prepares to administer an AstraZeneca vaccination against COVID-19, at a district health center giving first, second, and booster doses to eligible people, in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga

At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason.

Donors of vaccines to the continent should send them with a realistic shelf life of about "three months to six months" before their expiration, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong told an online briefing. More African nations are now refusing to accept donations of vaccines that have only one or two months before their expiration, he said.

Although the number of expired doses is only about 0.5% of the total number donated to Africa, Nkengasong said he is unhappy to see any become invalid.

"Any dose of vaccine that expired pains me because that is a life that can potentially be saved," Nkengasong said.

Just over 10% of Africa's population of 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated, he said. The continent's 54 countries have confirmed 10.4 million COVID-19 cases and 235,000 deaths. The continent's omicron wave appears to be receding, with new confirmed cases down by 20% from the previous week and deaths dropping by 8%, the World Health Organization's Africa office announced Thursday.

More than 60% of the 572 million vaccine doses African countries have received have already been administered, Nkengasong said. The "big fight" for African countries will be "logistics and getting doses to the population even as more supplies arrive," he said.

A man receives an AstraZeneca vaccination against COVID-19, at a district health center giving first, second, and booster doses to eligible people, in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga

"We've seen remarkable uptake of vaccines in settings where we engage the community  and religious leaders," Nkengasong said, urging countries to use innovative ways to "bring vaccines to the population and not only require that the populations should go to where the vaccines are."

In Nigeria, for instance, an increasing number of vaccination centers are being set at public facilities such as markets and motor parks and health authorities are collaborating with opinion leaders to fight hesitancy.

Vaccines are Africa's "best defense" against severe illness, death and overwhelmed health systems, Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Africa director said at another online briefing Thursday.

"Africa must not only broaden vaccinations but also gain increased and equitable access to critical COVID-19 therapeutics to save lives and effectively combat this pandemic," Moeti said. "The deep inequity that left Africa at the back of the queue for vaccines must not be repeated with life-saving treatments."

A nurse administers an AstraZeneca vaccination against COVID-19, at a district health center giving first, second, and booster doses to eligible people, in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga

A nurse administers an AstraZeneca vaccination against COVID-19, at a district health center giving first, second, and booster doses to eligible people, in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga

A woman receives an AstraZeneca vaccination against COVID-19, at a district health center giving first, second, and booster doses to eligible people, in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason. Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga

In 2022, more testing is needed to fight the pandemic, said Harley Feldbaum of the Global Fund.

"We need to bring testing and treatment together in a much more rapid fashion," said Feldbaum. "As long as we allow the pandemic to continue and to have inequitable access to tools, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, new variants are likely to rise, more people are likely to die than are needed to and the health systems overall are more likely to be undermined."

Explore further Africa CDC in talks with Pfizer for COVID treatment pill

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks about the COVID-19 situation while visiting New Plymouth on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variantbut Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected. Credit: Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP

New Zealand is among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the omicron variantbut Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday an outbreak was inevitable and the nation would tighten restrictions as soon as one was detected.

But she also said that New Zealand would not impose the lockdowns that it has used previously, including for the delta variant.

"This stage of the pandemic is different to what we have dealt with before. Omicron is more transmissible," Ardern said. "That is going to make it harder to keep it out, but it will also make it more challenging to control once it arrives. But just like before, when COVID changes, we change."

Ardern said that within 24 to 48 hours of omicron being detected in the community, the nation would move into its "red" setting. That would allow businesses to remain open and domestic travel to continue, but would require schoolchildren to wear masks and limit crowds to 100 people.

Currently most of New Zealand is at the "orange" setting, which requires some mask wearing and proof of vaccination but doesn't limit crowd sizes.

About 93% of New Zealanders aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated and 52% have had a booster shot. The country has just begun vaccinating children aged between 5 and 11.

New Zealand has managed to contain the spread of the delta variant, with an average of about 20 new cases each day. But it has seen an increasing number of people arriving into the country and going into mandatory quarantine who are infected with omicron.

That has put strain on the quarantine system and prompted the government to limit access for returning citizens while it decides what to do about reopening its borders, angering many people who want to return to New Zealand.

Opposition leader Christopher Luxon said Ardern had planned poorly for omicron and had managed to secure into the country less than one rapid COVID-19 test per person.

"That is a stunning indictment on the government's lazy lack of planning," he said.

Ardern said the most important thing that people could do was to get a booster shot, which would reduce the severity of an omicron infection and allow most people to recover at home rather than needing hospital care.

Explore further New variant not stopping New Zealand's reopening plans

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that mosquitoes infected with the dengue virus bite more often, which triples the risk of transmitting the disease to people.

Dengue is one of the most common mosquito-borne diseases. It affects more than 400 million people each year worldwide, killing around 40,000.

Most infected people have no symptoms or mild ones such as nausea, vomiting, rash, fever and aches and pains. However, 1 in 20 infected people develops severe dengue, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding and death.

In this lab study, researchers used high-resolution video to observe the blood-feeding behavior of dengue-infected and non-infected mosquitoes using mice. The videos were then analyzed using computer software.

"We found that the dengue virus increases mosquito attraction to the mammalian host and the number of mosquito bites," said study senior co-author Ashley St. John, an associate professor in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Program at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore.

"The higher attraction to the mammalian host increases the chances of the mosquito to bite, while more bites increase the number of transmission events because each bite results in the transmission of the virus," St. John explained in a Duke news release.

"This sheds new light on the many ways the virus hijacks its vector to be transmitted," said study senior author Julien Pompon, a scientist and group leader at French Research Institute for Sustainable Development.

The results were published Jan. 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Animal research does not always pan out in humans.

Currently, there is no way to control dengue.

The study will help advance our understanding of the epidemiology of dengue and better tailor disease control strategies," Pompon said in the release.

The researchers want to learn more about what causes the changes in feeding behavior in dengue-infected mosquitoes. If they can pinpoint a gene or protein responsible for the changes, they said it might be possible to create chemicals that target them.

More information

For more on dengue, see the World Health Organization.

SOURCE: Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore, news release, Jan. 13, 2022

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THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Brain fog. It has become an inexplicable side effect of COVID-19 infection, but researchers now report they have discovered a possible reason why it happens.

In a small study, investigators found abnormalities in the cerebrospinal fluid of some COVID-19 patients who developed thinking problems.

The symptoms "manifest as problems remembering recent events, coming up with names or words, staying focused, and issues with holding onto and manipulating information, as well as slowed processing speed, explained study senior author Dr. Joanna Hellmuth, from the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

Brain fog is a common aftereffect of COVID infection, striking about 67% of 156 patients at a post-COVID clinic in New York, a recent study found.

In this latest study, the researchers analyzed the cerebrospinal fluid of 13 people who had thinking and memory problems after COVID-19 and of four recovered COVID-19 patients with no cognitive symptoms.

The average age of those with cognitive symptoms was 48, compared with 39 for those with no cognitive symptoms. The cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected an average of 10 months after the patients' first COVID-19 symptoms. None of the patients were hospitalized for COVID-19.

Cerebrospinal fluid anomalies were found in 10 of the 13 patients with cognitive symptoms, but not in any of the four with no cognitive symptoms, according to the study published Jan. 19 in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.

The cerebrospinal fluid of patients with cognitive symptoms had elevated levels of protein, suggesting inflammation, as well as unexpected antibodies found in an activated immune system.

Some of those antibodies were found in both cerebrospinal fluid and blood, indicating a systemic inflammatory response, or were found only in cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting brain inflammation.

While the targets of these antibodies are unknown, they could be turncoat antibodies that attack the body itself, according to the researchers.

"It's possible that the immune system, stimulated by the virus, may be functioning in an unintended pathological way," said Hellmuth, who is principal investigator of the UCSF Coronavirus Neurocognitive Study and is also affiliated with the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.

"This would be the case even though the individuals did not have the virus in their bodies," she said in a university news release.

The study also found that participants with thinking problems had an average of 2.5 risk factors for impaired thinking, compared with an average of less than one risk factor for participants without the symptoms.

Those risk factors included: diabetes and high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of stroke, mild cognitive impairment and vascular dementia; a history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which may make the brain more vulnerable to executive functioning issues; anxiety; depression; a history of heavy alcohol or repeated stimulant use; and learning disabilities.

More information

For more on COVID-19 brain fog, go to Harvard Medical School.

SOURCE: University of California, San Francisco, news release, Jan. 18, 2022

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THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- As air pollution worsens, fruits, flowers and the creatures that pollinate them could pay a price.

That's the takeaway from British researchers who used special equipment to control levels of two common pollutants  diesel exhaust and ozone  in a field of black mustard plants, and then monitored pollinating insects over two summers.

"We knew from our previous lab studies that diesel exhaust can have negative effects on insect pollinators, but the impacts we found in the field were much more dramatic than we had expected," said project leader Robbie Girling, an associate professor in agroecology at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom.

There were up to 70% fewer pollinators to the affected fields; up to 90% fewer flower visits; and an overall reduction in pollination of up to 31%, according to findings published Jan. 19 in the journal Environmental Pollution.

Pollution concentrations were between 40% and 50% of levels considered environmentally safe under U.S. regulations, which is far below the actual pollution levels worldwide.

The findings suggest that dirty air reacts with and changes the scent of flowers, making it harder for insects to locate their food  pollen and nectar.

The researchers said the study is the first to assess how these common pollutants affect pollination in the natural world.

"The findings are worrying because these pollutants are commonly found in the air many of us breathe every day," study author James Ryalls, a research fellow at the University of Reading, said in a university news release. "We know that these pollutants are bad for our health, and the significant reductions we saw in pollinator numbers and activity shows that there are also clear implications for the natural ecosystems we depend on."

The findings could have far-reaching implications, because insect pollination is responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars in economic value worldwide.

About 70% of all crop species, including apples, strawberries and cocoa, rely on pollination.

More information

For more on pollinators, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

SOURCE: University of Reading, news release, Jan. 19, 2022

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THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Skin side effects caused by cancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors may be a telltale sign that the drugs are working, according to a new study.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, boost the body's immune response against tumor cells and have become standard care for many patients with advanced cancer. However, many experience skin side effects from the drugs.

To learn more, researchers assessed data from more than 14,000 patients in the United States and Europe who were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. About half of them developed skin side effects.

"Skin toxicities tend to occur early in the course of immunotherapy and present an opportunity to evaluate efficacy soon after initiating treatment," said senior author Dr. Yevgeniy Semenov, an investigator in the Department of Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"As such, our findings may help identify patients who are more likely to benefit from their current immunotherapy regimen versus those who may need to be considered for a stronger or alternative treatment regimen," Semenov said in a hospital news release.

Over a median follow-up of 3.2 years, 26% of the patients died, the study found. (Half of the patients were followed longer, half for less time.) Those with at least one skin side effect had an overall 22% lower risk of death, the data showed.

But the reduced risk of death varied with different skin side effects. It was strongest (a 30% to 50% lower risk) among patients who developed vitiligo (loss of skin color in blotches), lichen planus (an inflammatory skin condition), itchiness, dryness and non-specific rashes.

The findings were recently published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

Semenov said the study provides cancer and skin specialists with important information when counseling immunotherapy recipients on the clinical implications of the skin effects.

More research is needed, the researchers said, to learn about the connection between immune checkpoint inhibitors, skin side effects and patient outcomes, and whether therapies used to treat or prevent the skin side effects may affect patient survival.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on immune checkpoint inhibitors.

SOURCE: Massachusetts General Hospital, news release, Jan. 12, 2022

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Law enforcement responded to an apparent homicide-suicide at a house near Big Arm in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Sheriffs deputies received a call around 4:24 a.m. that a woman had been shot and killed, and a second person in the house had been shot, but was still showing signs of life, a news release from the Lake County Sheriffs Office said.

The second person was transported to a nearby hospital but died shortly after. A dog was also shot and subsequently lost its life.

Initial investigations determined this was likely a homicide-suicide case, but the investigation is ongoing, the news release said. The Lake County Sheriff and Coroner's office and Montana State Medical Examiner are looking into what happened. The bodies have been transported to the medical examiner in Missoula for autopsies.

The identities of the deceased are being withheld pending the notification of family.

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Although it uses the words paradigm shift 13 times, the U.S. Forest Services new wildfire crisis strategy appears stuck on old tactics, according to area fire experts.

I saw no new strategy but rather a potential increase in the same fire control strategy of fuel treatment to enhance fire control, retired Forest Service fire scientist Jack Cohen said after reviewing the documents released on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans to spend upward of $50 billion to fight catastrophic wildfire. The strategy focuses on firesheds  forest landscapes of about 250,000 acres that are likely to burn and have lots of homes and infrastructure at risk.

Those firesheds would get intensive work to return 35-45% of their acreage to fire-adapted conditions through hazardous fuels removal, logging and prescribed fires.

The plan identifies five firesheds in Montana, including four along the Idaho border in the Lolo, Bitterroot and Nez-Perce/Clearwater national forests, and one in the Flathead National Forest surrounding Kalispell.

The strategy calls for treating up to 20 million acres of national forest lands and up to 30 million acres of other federal, tribal, state and private lands over the next 10 years. Nationwide, the strategy will create 300,000 to 575,000 jobs, protect property values, and stimulate local economies.

That represents a tempo of work four times greater than current activity in the West, the report claims.

It should also bring down the Forest Services annual firefighting costs, which averaged $1.9 billion a year between 2016 and 2020.

The report notes that wildfires in 2020, 2017 and 2015 burned a total of more than 10 million acres. The National Interagency Fire Center has stopped labeling fires larger than 100,000 acres as exceptional events, because they have become so common.

Missoula is home to the Forest Services Fire Sciences Lab as well as an extensive community of academic and professional forestry and fire experts. It started developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan in 2005, and updated it in 2018.

The use of tired, old, ill-defined language such as hazardous fuels does little to describe what the fuels (i.e., wildland vegetation) is hazardous to, said Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, who helped revise the latest version of the plan. We seem to have learned nothing from recent fires that have resulted in community destruction, such as Denton, Montana. This was a grass fire, and there were no forests to thin or otherwise eliminate the risk of crown fire from.

The West Wind fire on Nov. 30 destroyed 25 homes and six commercial buildings in Denton, including the towns granary. The Marshall fire on Dec. 30 burned almost 1,100 houses with an estimated $513 million in total damage. It was primarily a grass fire pushed by 110 mph winds.

And despite 11 of the reports 23 photo illustrations depicting burned houses or fire-threatened neighborhoods, Strohmaier couldnt find the words home ignition zone anywhere in the document.

Community destruction is (a home ignition zone), not a fire control problem, Strohmaier said. Throwing more money at treatments that wont get the expected outcomes does no one any good and sets up false expectations as to what will truly reduce the risk of community destruction and improve ecological and community resilience.

Cohen found no evidence that the writers considered best available science, which shows that wildland-urban disasters are mainly a factor of how houses catch fire, not forest management, he said.

He cited extensive research explaining how community wildfire destruction (incidents where more than 100 homes get destroyed) happens when fires overrun the fuel breaks and forest treatments intended to control them. But its not the big flames of high intensity wildfires (that) cause total home destruction, but rather lofted burning embers (firebrands) on the home and low intensity surface fire spreading to contact the home that did the damage, often hours after the main fire had subsided or moved elsewhere.

At the same time, Cohen noted that the fireshed approach appears headed in two contradictory directions. On one hand, it acknowledges the need for large-scale burning to improve forest health and ecology. But it doesnt acknowledge the Forest Services inherent management aversion to fires burning at landscape scales that cannot be under tight control.

The press release and full document are just more of the same management that enables continuation of the wildfire problem, Cohen concluded.

The Wildfire Today blog reviewed the strategy with an eye for its funding. It noted that the Forest Service called for an additional $2 billion a year to get ahead of its hazardous fuels backlog.

The growth of the climate crisis, which has contributed to the 'wildfire crisis,' appears to be exceeding the estimates of scientists, Wildfire Today moderator Bill Gabbert wrote on Tuesday. Changes are occurring even more quickly than previously expected. So low-balling the funding for protecting our homeland will mean we will fall even further behind in treating fuels and attempting to keep fires from wiping out more communities.

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A Missoula man is accused of physically abusing and attempting to sexually assault a woman at her house.

Nathan B. Harbison, 35, is being held on $250,000 bond.

He is charged with three felonies  attempted sexual intercourse without consent, tampering with witnesses and informants, and a third partner assault offense. He also is charged with a second partner assault offense (stemming from a December incident with the same woman) and criminal destruction of a communication device, both misdemeanors.

Late Tuesday evening, a woman called the police department asking for a man to be removed from her residence. She hung up as she was transferred to 911. She texted 911 just before midnight asking that the man, identified as Harbison, be removed from her house at the 1300 block of Butte Street, a news release from the Missoula Police Department said. Officers responded and located Harbison and immediately detained him.

The woman told police the two had been arguing. He continued to fight when she tried to disengage, and pushed her against a wall several times, causing her to fall to the ground. After pushing her, Harbison bent her over a bed and forcibly tried to take her pants off, according to charging documents.

She clearly told him to get off of her, but he persisted in undressing her, the charging documents said. She said Harbison was trying to sexually assault her and that he did this for about 30 to 40 seconds. She was able to use her full force to kick him off her.

She then attempted to call 911, but Harbison grabbed her phone and threw it at a window, then tossed it down some stairs. When she did connect with dispatch, Harbison pushed her against a wall and covered her mouth with his hand, she reported.

When officers arrived, Harbison attempted to run from law enforcement but was quickly apprehended. He admitted to perpetuating domestic violence toward the woman to explain the pushing. He said he tried to have sex with her to change her mind, but claimed he stopped when the survivor asked him to and denied attempting to force her to have sex.

He further admitted to taking her phone to prevent her from contacting law enforcement.

At Harbison's initial appearance in Justice Court, state prosecution said Harbison has a history of domestic violence cases with intimate partners spanning multiple states. He also has not complied with protective orders.

Justice of the Peace Alex Beal ordered that Harbison is only to be released to pre-trial supervision and have no contact with the survivor in the case, including no phone communication. An arraignment hearing was set for Jan. 31 at 9 a.m. in Missoula County District Court.

There are many resources available in Missoula for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors.

The Missoula YWCA provides 24-hour crisis counseling, emergency shelter, transitional housing, mental health counseling, legal support and support groups for victims of crime. Their phone number is 406-542-1944.

The Missoula City-County Crime Victim Advocate Program provides legal advocacy for victims of crimes. Advocates can help you obtain a restraining order, report a crime to police or navigate options available to you through the justice system. They can be reached at 406-258-3830.

UM's Student Advocacy Resource Center also provides support for survivors of violence and harassment. They offer free and confidential counseling, advocacy and a 24-hour support line at 406-243-6559.

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The state Office of Public Instruction has presented the Board of Public Education with its proposed rule changes to teacher licensing that seek to reduce certain requirements and expand opportunities to obtain a teaching license in Montana.

Specific recommendations include reducing required years of experience necessary to earn certain licenses, leveling the playing field for those who have taken alternative pathways to becoming a teacher, and reciprocity for military spouses and dependents with licenses in other states. Most of the changes are meant to address the ongoing teacher shortage issue across the state, the OPI said.

The Board of Public Education approved the recommendations at its two-day meeting last week.

One of the first changes presented suggests offering more opportunities for prospective teachers to earn their license, rather than relying on a score on the Praxis test, an exam that measures the knowledge and skills needed to be a teacher. More than 40 states, including Montana, require a passing score to meet licensing and certification requirements.

In order to show competency beyond a Praxis score, the task force recommends that prospective teachers have either a passing score on their student teaching portfolio or a minimum 3.0 GPA in coursework related to their education degree.

Another new rule would allow military spouses and dependents to teach in Montana with a current teaching license issued by another state.

Removing these barriers, creating reciprocity and licensing requirements and facilitating placement opportunities can help a military family's financial stability, speed the assimilation of the family into its new location and create a desirable new employee pool for the state, said Crystal Andrews, director of educator licensure at OPI.

Thirty-eight states have similar rules for military spouses, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. At least four people could have benefited from this new rule in 2021, OPI said.

Several board members questioned why Montanas rule would include dependents when most states only extend that flexibility to spouses. Others pointed out that the rule did not include a definition for what it considered to be a dependent, such as age or housing status.

Those questions did come up  and I dont think we came up with a definite (answer), but the reason for including dependents is because it was stated that they do move with the military family, Andrews responded.

Another proposed change includes cutting back on the period of time that is required to earn a teaching license in Montana through an alternative pathway from five years down to none.

Presently, teachers who have completed an educator preparation program outside of the state must provide proof of five years of experience at a state-accredited school while licensed before they would be granted a Montana teaching license in most cases.

Generally, a person who has completed an alternative pathway to obtain a teaching license in Montana has not completed a traditional teacher certification program, like those offered at Montana State University or the University of Montana. Teach for America is one example of an alternative certification opportunity.

The rationale is that there are 32 states that treat out of state educators equally regardless of the type of preparation program they complete, Andrews said. Montana is one of 19 states that make it harder for out of state applicants to earn a license if they followed an alternative teacher preparation pathway.

The rule change is meant to address the persistent educator shortages in Montana, particularly in rural communities, she added.

These shortages raised the question of whether Montanas current licensure requirements serve the states best interests, Andrews said.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen's recommendation to reduce the experience in an alternative pathway to zero years seeks to treat teachers who go through traditional programs and alternative programs the same, said Julie Murgle, OPI's chief operations officer.

During public comment on the recommendations, Sarah Pennington, an assistant professor at MSU in the Department of Education, expressed her concerns, as a teacher, with the proposed changes to alternative certification.

"I went through alternative certification to get my teaching license and I was completely unprepared compared to my peers who went through a traditional program," Pennington said. "I honestly engaged in educational malpractice in my first years as a teacher because I was not prepared, nor knowledgeable, about pedagogy, about best practices, about child development."

In her experience, she had "fantastic knowledge" of English literature and only needed to take two additional tests for her alternative certification experience, while her online mentor did not make much of an impression on her, she said.

"So this idea of making alternative certification equivalent to teacher education concerns me, having experienced both sides now as a teacher, educator and as someone alternatively licensed. I just want to say that I really hope that Montana doesn't feel we have to lower our standards just because other states are lowering barriers ...," Pennington said.

Arntzen thanked those involved in drafting the recommendations and called for public input.

I encourage our Montana parents, teachers and community leaders to review these flexible changes that demand quality education in our Montana public schools, she said.

A public hearing has been set for Feb. 24. Written public comment will be accepted through April 8 and the changes will be finalized at a Board of Public Education meeting on May 12 and 13.

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The sisters and widow of a Wyoming Marine killed in Afghanistan are suing Alec Baldwin in federal court, alleging the actor defamed them on his social media after he learned one of the sisters attended a demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

Rylee McCollum, a 20-year-old Marine from outside of Jackson, was one of 13 American troops and more than 100 Afghans killed in August by a suicide bomb at the Kabul airport.

After hearing the news of McCollums death, Baldwin found one of the Marines sisters, Roice, on Instagram and sent her a $5,000 donation to go towards his widow, Jiennah Crayton, and their child born less than a month after his death, court documents state.

Then, this month, Baldwin accused Roice of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots as an insurrectionist, reposting her pictures of demonstrations that day to his account that allegedly caused the McCollum sisters and Crayton to receive harmful messages including death threats. Now, the women are suing Baldwin for $25 million, nearly half of his apparent net worth, on allegations of defamation and violating their privacy.

On Jan.1, Roice McCollum posted images on Instagram showing demonstrators in D.C. with the caption Throwback, showing that she had attended a protest of the presidential election results on Jan 6, 2021, according to the complaint. The suit states she did not take part in the riots that followed the demonstration, and has been cleared after an interview with the FBI.

Neither Crayton nor McCollums other sister, Cheyenne, were reportedly at the capitol on Jan. 6.

The complaint, filed Monday in federal court, states that Baldwin commented on the Instagram post from his account, saying, Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sisters husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit. That comment appears to have been deleted.

Screenshots included in the lawsuit show Baldwin later messaging Roice McCollum privately, accusing her of being a January 6th rioter and saying that her actions resulted in property destruction and the death of an officer. According to the same exhibits, McCollum responded that she was protesting legally and had already met with the FBI.

I reposted your photo, Baldwin messaged her, according to the complaint. Good luck.

In Baldwins repost of McCollums photos, he said that claims of a non-violent protest at the Capitol that day were bulls*** and commented that truth is stranger than fiction in reference to seeing the photos. He also stated he would take the post down the next day. It was not available on Tuesday.

The suit states that McCollum was quickly subjected to hostile, aggressive, hateful messages and comments from Baldwins 2.4 million followers. One message, which she posted to her account, said: Get raped and die, worthless c*** (kiss emoji). Your brother got what he deserved.

McCollums sister and Crayton also received harmful messages and comments, the suit states, some equating them to ISIS or Nazis or hoping Baldwin would get his donation returned. Their attorney, Dennis Postiglione, said that there are 600, 700 more pages worth of posts not included in the initial filing that make the comments cited in the complaint seem tame.

Postiglione and California lawyer Joseph Casas are set to represent Crayton and the McCollums, with the backing of local attorney Frank Chapman.

The suit calls Baldwins comments false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive, and alleges that the backlash caused the McCollum sisters and Crayton severe emotional distress and to fear for their lives.

Messages not referenced in the complaint included death threats to all three plaintiffs, their lawyer said.

In comments on the platform, the suit states, Baldwin said at least twice that Roice McCollum was an insurrectionist.

Postiglione said that in talking to Crayton and the McCollums, its clear that the comments really shook them up beyond what they already were. While he says the messages have slowed down, the three women are still receiving some.

Baldwin, known for acting in dozens of films and, more recently, his parodic portrayal of Trump on Saturday Night Live, has long used his social media to voice his political views and to encourage followers to support causes he promotes, the suit cites. The complaint argues that since his politics are so prominent online, its safe to assume that most of Baldwins followers agree with him. The suit also states that Baldwin did nothing to discourage the comments or messages after making the post.

I think its worth noting, too, that his social media following ... is five times the population of your state, Postiglione said. Either he knew what would happen, and he wanted it to happen, or he just didnt think about it.

The plaintiffs are calling for a jury trial in the case, which would determine the amount of any damages if awarded. Most cases of this kind never see a trial, and are often settled out of court.

If I were to try any case in my portfolio, Postiglione said Tuesday, I would love to put this in front of a Wyoming jury.

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Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 43F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 43F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

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Rain showers early with overcast skies later in the day. High near 55F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Nine people in the Helena area have overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin in the in the last 48 hours, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said Wednesday.

Dutton said the St. Peter's Health emergency room has successfully revived all nine overdose patients. While none of them died, at least one was in serious condition.

"An alarming situation is occurring in our community," Dutton said. "St. Peter's Hospital and my office are very concerned with an alarming trend occurring now."

According to Lt. Randy Ranalli, the Helena Police Department has supplied Narcan to four individuals who overdosed in the last two days. Ranalli said it is possible that fentanyl was involved in these cases, but there is no toxicology confirmation.

Dutton said the drugs came over the southern United States border with Mexico. He said that through his participation in the Western States Sheriffs' Association, he has been warned by member states on the southern border about drug cartels marketing heroin laced with fentanyl.

The drug can reportedly be sold as a blue pill with a poor binding agent that crumbles easily, Dutton said.

"We have seen an increase in life-threatening drug overdoses the last few days because of drugs believed to be laced with fentanyl," said Dr. Tiffany Kniepkamp, emergency room physician at St. Peter's. "This is our community, and we urge anyone who uses or has a loved one who uses to exercise extreme caution. Have Narcan and know how to use it, and please do not hesitate to seek emergency care if needed."

Dutton said the sheriff's office typically doesn't hear about overdoses, but this situation is unprecedented.

The Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office is involved in the Angel Program, which is sponsored by Gov. Greg Gianforte's foundation. Through the program, a drug user can go to law enforcement and request treatment. That individual will then be transported to a treatment facility, and criminal charges will not be filed. Dutton said this is provided at no cost to the individual.

Dutton said the Missouri River Drug Task Force currently has several investigations underway, but this new product is complicating the public safety aspect of their work. When asked if the HPD was encountering more fentanyl-laced heroin on the streets or just more heroin in general, Ranalli said it is probably a combination of both.

"Please, please, we are asking as community leaders to warn your family members of this dangerous situation," Dutton said. "We offer laud to St. Peter's Emergency Room staff for delivering the life saving care. Please get yourself or a loved on into treatment for addiction."

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Montanas top state office holders have approved a new route for a natural gas pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River over the protests of Laurel landowners.

Gov. Greg Gianforte, Auditor Troy Downing, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, voted this week to approve the new route beneath the river. Land beneath riverbeds in Montana is state property and easements require approval of the State Land Board, comprised of the top five state government officeholders. The fifth member, Attorney General Austin Knudsen didnt attend. All of Montanas statewide elected officials are Republican.

The pipeline is crucial to the supply of a proposed 175-megawatt gas-fired power plant proposed by NorthWestern Energy, which has run into several permitting problems for the power plant and gas line, and resistance from some Laurel neighbors who traveled to Helena to voice concerns about the pipeline, which is to be located about a half-mile downstream from CHS refinery. Each resident was allowed one minute to speak.

We have information from a pipeline engineer that says that current design that they're proposing is not safe, resident Steve Krum said of NorthWestern Energy.

Look at the data. This is the worst place on the river to put this. This is not were it belongs. Please, please hold off on your vote until at least the county has a chance to look at this as well and youve had a chance to look at the information," he said.

There are several pipelines crossing beneath the Yellowstone River south of Laurel. In 2011, an Exxon pipeline assumed to be safely buried beneath the river burst after being exposed by high-water river scouring. NorthWestern indicates its pipeline will be 50 feet beneath the riverbed.

The governor said the details of the project werent relevant to the pipeline and easement, which was all the Land Board was doing. The board had originally approved the easement months ago when NorthWestern planned to bore beneath Laurels Riverside Park crossing the river about 1,000 feet upstream from the new site.

The only comments that are germane to this discussion today though, are related to the easement in addition to the testimony that was heard today, both for and against, Gianforte said Tuesday. I want the record to show we also have a letter of support from the Billings Chamber of Commerce, Local 82, the local legislator who represents the citizens there, Sue Vinton, and the Montana Petroleum Association, Local 459 plumbers and pipefitters, as well as others.

The Laurel City Council voiced concerns after hearing from neighbors opposed to the locating the pipeline beneath the park, which is why the pipeline route changed. After the pipeline was relocated, neighbors along the new route werent notified by county officials as required, which prompted a district judge to order the permit revoked and construction suspended.

NorthWestern attorney Shannon Heim told the Land Board the concerns raised by Laurel neighbors were best suited for Yellowstone County when it takes up the floodplain permit for the pipeline in coming weeks.

Northwestern does have substantive responses to all of the issues raised today, both in the written comments and before you, Heim said. They are better and more appropriately addressed to the county as they deal with a floodplain permit and we will deal with those there.

The written testimony referred to was a report from a pipeline engineer for Accufacts Inc. The report outlined several concerns about the 8-inch natural gas pipeline planned by NorthWestern. Specifically, the report questioned whether enough details had been provided to show the pipeline was suitable for high-pressure natural gas transmission. There was a possibility of corrosion if the 8-inch line contacted the inside of a 12-inch pipe intended as a sleeve, or carrier, for the line traveling beneath the river.

The carrier pipe intent is the most dangerous of safety approaches because it creates the illusion of a safety that significantly increases the likelihood and consequences of a gas pipeline failure, reported engineer Richard Kuprewicz. He also questioned the safety of 90-degree bends in the existing pipeline.

NorthWestern is repurposing an oil pipeline that runs from Wyoming to Laurel. The plan is to convert the pipe for high-pressure natural gas delivery.

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Jakob Allen Washburn died in Whitehall in mid-August. He was 24 years old. Trinity M. Klein, the young woman described as his girlfriend at the time, was charged in Jefferson County District Court in December with vehicular homicide while under the influence.

The crime reportedly occurred during a domestic dispute between the two.

Court records show that around 8 p.m. on Aug. 15 deputies and ambulance personnel were dispatched to reports of a motor vehicle crash. When deputies arrived they observed an injured man, later identified as Washburn, lying on his back under a flatbed gooseneck trailer.

A woman at the scene, later identified as Klein, was crying and screaming, court records show.

Klein told deputies that she and Washburn had argued and she alleged that he had tried to choke her before she attempted to flee in her vehicle. She said Washburn jumped on the hood of the car, screaming and yelling at her as she drove off, records show.

Klein said she collided with the flatbed trailer when swerving to avoid a dog. Several witnesses observed Washburn on the hood as Klein drove at a high rate of speed, according to charging documents.

Kleins statement to deputies acknowledged she should have pulled over but didnt, adding that Washburn didnt deserve that, records show.

Toxicology results revealed months later that Klein was over the legal limit that night for driving while under the influence of marijuana.

Wendy Goyette, Washburns mother, said Tuesday that she wonders why Klein isnt in jail. She said she believes that if the circumstances were switched and it was her son who was charged with Kleins death hed be sitting in a jail cell.

"This has been a traumatic impact on me and my family," she said.

Tom Goyette of Butte was Washburn's grandfather. He said he believes his grandson was intentionally struck by Klein's vehicle and that's how he first ended up on the hood of her vehicle. He said he believes Klein should be charged with deliberate homicide, which could carry a greater penalty.

A person convicted of vehicular homicide while under the influence faces imprisonment of up to 30 years or a fine of up to $50,000, or both.

Washburn was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, and spent most of his childhood there. He later moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, and graduated from high school in Ketchikan before returning to Idaho. Wendy Goyette said her son met Klein in Bonners Ferry and then moved with her to Whitehall.

Steve Haddon, county attorney for Jefferson County, declined to comment about the case.

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Finding the words Was it worth it? etched on a desert rock forces an odd perspective on effort.

Doug Peacock, whos spent a life pursuing wild, odd and frequently dangerous goals, came across that phrase twice while rambling around the mountains of Arizona. In his latest book, the advocate for grizzly bears and threatened landscapes uses it to sum up his experience. Subtitled A Wilderness Warriors Long Trail Home, the volume compiles adventures his questing ambition has opened for him, from memorials to mentors to encounters with desert jaguars and island tortoises.

While best known for books and films advocating for grizzly bear preservation, Peacock has also defended protection of wild places and ways of life. With new efforts by the governors of Montana and Wyoming to delist the grizzly and open trophy hunting seasons, he has reason to wonder about his progress.

"I've questioned whether I've been shouting into the wind," Peacock said in an interview. "I've rolled this boulder up this mountain for so long, hammered at this rock for so long, I might ask, 'Was it worth it?'''

But his answer also comes from the grizzlies he's fought for.

"I've chosen to champion grizzlies and wild habitat because it's the same habitat that humans need," Peacock said. "Grizzly bears' and humans' fate have always been mingled. Once a species loses its habitat, it goes extinct. And that habitat, where grizzlies live and where humans live, is exactly the same habitat."

"Was It Worth It?" explores not just the country currently occupied by grizzlies, but that of arctic whales, tropical fish, Siberian tigers and desert sheep. Along the way, readers meet the wide circle of friends whove influenced Peacocks writings, including authors Ed Abby, Terry Tempest Williams, Rick Bass, Jim Crumley and David Quammen. He joins trips into the Siberian tiger lands with journalists Tom Brokaw and Rick Ridgeway and polar bear country with Yvon Chouinard.

Publishers Weekly gave Was It Worth It a starred review, noting, This passionate work is a welcome and worthy addition to the growing canon of environmental literature. It particularly liked Peacocks madcap yet reverential takes on nature, using an encounter with a huge snake as an example.

In the chapter Headwaters, Peacock recounted floating solo 16 days along Missouri River tributaries while waiting out some unpleasantness involving the FBI. While eddied against a 4-foot-high riverbank, he poked his head over the grass and came face-to-face with a huge hissing snake.

I figured to take the prairie rattlesnake bite right on the nose, Peacock writes. It would leave an ugly scar; my nose might have to be amputated. The big snakes tail vibrated rapidly in the leaves. But the sound was not a rattle because this snake didnt have rattles: it was a bull snake. I started to breathe again. I lay on the bank and looked up through the summer-green hawthorn and cottonwood to the blue sky beyond. The sweet babble of river laughed at me.

The close encounter with the nonpoisonous snake brought me a heightened awareness of the beauty all around me. It was good to have dangerous wild neighbors. Living among grizzly bears had made a similar impression on me. Sharing the habitat with animals that sometimes kill or eat humans was the most direct route I knew toward a non-anthropocentric cosmology. How the hell could anyone believe humans were the center of the world when facing poisonous reptiles, grizzlies, tigers, lions, jaguars, or polar bears on equal terms and neutral turf.

It would also be useful to retain ones humility during more or less normal daily situations, I thought, conditions only slightly less banal than run-ins with rent-a-cops in shopping malls or a domestic spat. Something to keep in mind the next time I ran into a snake.

Peacock started his writing career with stories about confronting the trauma of his military service in Vietnam as an Army Green Beret medic by seeking out grizzly bears in Glacier and Yellowstone national parks. Grizzly Years: In Search of The American Wilderness and Walking It Off: A Veterans Chronicle of War and Wilderness established him as a voice for conservation in the 1990s.

Yet for all his time in the jungles, woods and tundra, Peacock repeatedly downplays his experience and qualifications. On a trip north of the Arctic Circle as the designated polar bear guy, he admits to knowing next to nothing about the species. He also knows little about sea kayaking, despite inviting North Face founder and kayaking enthusiast Doug Tompkins on the trip. After displaying less-than-adequate boating technique on a rainy day, he does manage to get a good campfire going: I am trying to show my new friend that I am worth something after hes discovered that I dont know s---- about kayaking.

In other stories, Peacock recounts his equally limited skill at bonefishing off Belize, bird-watching in the Galapagos and following rules. He lets his anti-authoritarian streak push him into novel solutions. On the Arctic trip, he rejects Canadian law requiring travelers in polar bear country to carry large caliber firearms. Instead, he brings a pike with a forged iron spearhead.

The usual advice, which is law in most quarters, is to carry a big-bore firearm for bear, he writes. I disagree. I was recruited for this trip because of my expertise with wild bears and I had experienced dozens of close calls with grizzlies, too many to buy into this fatuity about guns. None of these bears had touched me. Furthermore, I consider it unethical for us to voluntarily invade the last homeland of wild polar bears and then kill them if events do not unfold to our advantage. At the same time, I hate being defenseless.

The argument about guns and bears lies perilously close to the cherished and near-religious beliefs concerning the roots of dominion and masculinity in America. When is it OK to take another life in defense of your own life, your family, or your property? When do you know that others are true threats? Does this include killing a thief stealing your hubcaps? Or just in defense of life? Or when we feel were being threatened?

Today, humans in the so-called civilized world tend to fear all that is unknown, which increasingly encompasses much of the natural world, including animals like bears. There are two basic camps: Either you believe that human life has more intrinsic value than the bears life or you do not. If you think its OK to kill any bear you think might possibly be a threat or danger, the discussion is over.

Such debates sort of pop into otherwise detailed rambling about the sights, smells and sensations of floating down rivers, wandering through forests or otherwise getting enmeshed in nature. The rough-and-tumble gets leavened with regular literary touchstones. For example, a trip to Siberia to explore ancient forests and tiger habitat starts with recollections of a rare book by Russian geographer V.K. Arseniev called Dersu the Trapper, which explored tiger lore at the turn of the 20th century.

On the coarse upper beach of the bay we find the tracks of the young female tiger that had walked south the morning before. (Tom) Brokaw and I find the much larger tracks of a male tiger that passed that way a week or so ago. I feel a tingling up my spine as I remember that Dersu and Arseniev walked this beach. An ancient connection draws me closer to Dersus world; inspiration from literature can propel actual adventure trips halfway around the world.

That trip was the first time Peacock had been back to Asia since his Vietnam service. In the book, he noted that he felt impelled to visit before he lost the ability to get there. But as he expanded his travels, he also saw the need to alert others to impending change.

"Every place I've been, I've noticed the effects of climate change," Peacock said. "Climate change is such a threat, I don't think anybody's left off the endangered species list anymore. And there's so much beauty in the world. That's reason enough to fight to the end of your life."

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RALEIGH  The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will offer three free turkey hunting webinars in February.

Topics will include biology, species habits, habitats, scouting, essential equipment, setup, effective shot placement, decoy placement and hunting strategies. Each hour-long class will conclude with an interactive question-and-answer session.

The webinars were created with the new hunter in mind. Turkey hunting can be more approachable than other big game hunting, but has its challenges. The instructors will provide a comprehensive overview about how to prepare for the hunt, what to expect and how to execute a successful harvest and enjoy the time in the wild, even if unsuccessful. Its a great opportunity for novice hunters to learn how to get started.

The webinars are especially intended for those that have never hunted and lack access to a hunting mentor, although they are open to all skill levels, said Walter Deet James, an R3 hunting specialist with the Wildlife Commission. The multi-skill set series of turkey hunting webinars will be completed over three consecutive evenings. Anyone interested in attending all skill sets must register for each class separately.

The 2022 turkey hunting webinar schedule is:

Tuesday, Feb. 8: Biology for Hunters, Regulations, Where to Hunt and Scouting

Wednesday, Feb. 9: Firearms, Ammo, Clothing and Miscellaneous Equipment

Thursday, Feb. 10: Hunting Techniques and Strategies

All webinars will take place from 7-8 p.m. Classes will be held via Zoom. Space is limited and pre-registration online is required. Participants will receive the Zoom link after registering via a confirmation email. The class will be recorded and available to registered participants at a later date.

The webinars are being held prior to the wild turkey open seasons for male or bearded turkeys, April 2-8 for youth under 18, and April 9 through May 7 statewide.

Turkey hunting rules and regulations are available at ncwildlife.org/Licensing/Regulations. For information, visit ncwildlife.org/sbs or contact James at walter.james@ncwildlife.org or at 984-202-1387.
AT&T will postpone new wireless service near some airports planned for this week after the nations largest airlines said the service would interfere with aircraft technology and cause massive flight disruptions.

The company said Tuesday it would delay turning on new cell towers around runways at some airports  it did not say how many  and work with federal regulators to settle a dispute over potential interference from new 5G service.

The decision came after the airline industry raised the stakes in a showdown with AT&T and Verizon over plans to launch new 5G wireless service this week, warning that thousands of flights could be grounded or delayed if the rollout takes place near major airports.

Here is a rundown of the issue from The Associated Press.

WHOSE SIDE IS THE GOVERNMENT ON?

Both.

The Federal Communications Commission, which runs the auctions of radio spectrum, determined that C-Band could be used safely in the vicinity of air traffic. The FCC in 2020 set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use to resolve any safety concerns.

But Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson, whose agency is responsible for aviation safety, saw a potential problem. On Friday, they asked AT&T and Verizon to hold off activating C-Band 5G near an undetermined number of "priority airports" while the FAA conducted further study.

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HOW DID AT&T AND VERIZON RESPOND?

They dismissed the concerns. The wireless industry trade group CTIA notes that about 40 countries have deployed the C-Band strand of 5G without reports of harmful interference with aviation equipment.

But AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg did offer to reduce the power of their 5G networks near airports, as France has done.

"The laws of physics are the same in the United States and France," Stankey and Vestberg said in a letter Sunday to Buttigieg and Dickson. "If U.S. airlines are permitted to operate flights every day in France, then the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States."

Although they took steps to soothe the federal officials, the telecoms are still bickering with airlines, which have canceled more than 10,000 U.S. flights since Christmas Eve because of bad weather and labor shortages caused by COVID-19.

"While the airline industry faces many challenges, 5G is not one of them," Vestberg said in a company memo Tuesday.

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HOW MANY PLANES DOES THIS AFFECT?

Under the agreement, the FAA will conduct a survey to find out. The FAA will allow planes with accurate, reliable altimeters to operate around high-power 5G. But planes with older altimeters will not be allowed to make landings under low-visibility conditions.

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WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS?

The two-week postponement will give the FAA and the companies time to implement the agreement.

AT&T and Verizon will be allowed to launch C-Band service this month under already-granted FCC licenses. The airlines have until Friday to give the companies a list of up to 50 airports where they believe the power of C-Band service should be reduced through July 5.

Until July, the telecoms will talk to the FAA and airlines about potential long-term measures regarding 5G service near airports. However, under terms of the agreement with the FAA, AT&T and Verizon will have sole power to decide if any changes in service will be made.

"We felt that it was the right thing to do for the flying public, which includes our customers and all of us, to give the FAA a little time to work out its issues with the aviation community and therefore avoid further inconveniencing passengers with additional flight delays," Vestberg said in his memo.

Nicholas Calio, president of the airline trade group, was more muted in his comments about the agreement, although he thanked federal officials for reaching the deal with AT&T and Verizon.

"Safety is and always will be the top priority of U.S. airlines. We will continue to work with all stakeholders to help ensure that new 5G service can coexist with aviation safely," Calio said.

The FAA issued a brief statement about the two-week delay, saying it looks forward "to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment."
Butte-Silver Bows fireworks season in late June and early July will be cut from 12 days to eight days under an ordinance change commissioners have finally settled on and approved.

After months of vocal input from residents who want new restrictions and those who favor the status quo, commissioners voted 6-4 Wednesday night to reduce the 12-day window for selling and lighting fireworks.

The council gave a preliminary nod to the move in November but postponed a final vote so more changes could be considered. But in the end, the only consensus they could reach was sticking with the initial plan.

There was plenty of council discussion and debate last year, but the only one who spoke directly to the change Wednesday night was Commissioner Jim Fisher.

I just dont know that we accomplished anything by doing this, said Fisher, one of the three commissioners who voted against the measure.

Commissioner Michele Shea was among those who sought some kind of compromise from the beginning.

Some people will think we are going too far and some people will think we arent going far enough, Shea told The Montana Standard on Tuesday. That is probably a sign its a good compromise.

Under current local law, fireworks can be sold and used in Butte-Silver Bow County from June 24 through July 5 and from Dec. 29 to Dec. 31. There are no nightly cut-off times for doing either, though some fireworks stands shut down at 10 p.m. except on July 3 and July 4.

Under the ordinance change, which will take effect in 30 days, fireworks could be sold and used from June 27 through July 4 while keeping the same three days in late December.

The popularity of fireworks in Butte is on clear display for two weeks every summer and is especially intense on July 3 and July 4. When viewed on those nights from higher elevations, the Summit Valley is a light show.

But many residents say the explosions stretch way past midnight and are especially hard on the elderly, people with mental health issues and dogs. Many wanted a shorter season and nightly cut-off times for sales and use.

Lots of people aired their complaints before council after this past Fourth of July, but commissioners also heard from many who opposed any changes. They say Butte celebrates like no other place in Montana and the fireworks season is woven into the citys fabric.

Shea found merit in both arguments.

It (fireworks season) is what we do in Butte. Its who we are, she said. Nobody wants to ruin anyones good time. But my constituents want me to do something.

When asked to weigh in last year, Sheriff Ed Lester said he wasnt advocating one way or the other. But he did say a nightly cut-off time would be hard to enforce.

If somebody lights a bottle rocket at 4 oclock in the morning, you hear it, you drive over there. Theres not a lot of people who are going to say, Yeah, that was me, Lester told commissioners in August, raising his hand.

He said the only way to effectively curb the use of fireworks was to cut days they can be sold.

If you sell them on the 24th, people are going to light them on the 24th, he said.

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Butte earned a reputation back in the day of being one of Americas rowdiest immigration destinations.

The citys history of receiving immigrants isnt free of dark chapters. But Butte has, by and large, tolerated newcomers  especially those from European countries.

Marian Jensen, a member of Butte Heart, anticipates Butte will respond positively when families arrive in the weeks ahead as refugees from war-torn Afghanistan.

Its the nature of Butte folks to want to help, Jensen said.

Butte Heart will be helping to resettle a family from Afghanistan, as will Buttes Catholic Community North in a separate but coordinated effort.

During one-on-one encounters, Jensen said, people typically discover similarities that bond them even though their cultures of origin might be quite different.

One example she cited: Kabuls elevation is roughly the same as Buttes.

Butte Heart announced in December that it had received a grant of $15,000 from the Mobilizing America for Refugees Fund  a fund developed to engage American volunteers to help with resettling Afghan refugees.

The Schultz Family Foundation, the Stand Together Foundation, the Starbucks Foundation and Hello Neighbor are investing a total of $1.3 million to provide grants to 60 community-based organizations in 32 states to increase their capacity to serve individuals and families who have fled Afghanistan.

Two organizations in Montana are recipients: Butte Heart and Soft Landing Missoula.

Jensen said Butte Heart expects an Afghan family will probably arrive in February. She said the family will likely have a couple of school-age kids.

We think we will get at least two families, she said. They dont want to send just one family because theyll feel isolated.

Father Patrick Beretta said Catholic Community North also expects a refugee family in February.

We are ready, he said. We are enthusiastic and anxious to welcome a family.

Beretta said Catholic Community North has a fully-furnished residence ready to receive a family.

He said the organization will coordinate efforts with Butte Heart.

Butte Heart said it will work with the International Rescue Committee office in Missoula to provide a range of volunteer-led services. They could include welcoming events, English instruction, driving lessons, job navigation, school enrollment, clothing, household goods and furniture and transportation to doctors visits.

Weve been told that a lot of the adults have English, Jensen said, noting there are translation apps that can ease communication.

Jay Doyle, president of St. James Healthcare, referenced the anticipated arrival of refugee families.

St. James mission remains to care for the poor and vulnerable and that goes beyond direct patient care, Doyle said.

Those who are coming to our community from Afghanistan are encouraged to apply for any of the open positions at the hospital, he said. They may bring trades that we are unaware of, all they need is an opportunity to showcase their skills.

Noorjahan Parwana and her husband have lived in Butte since the mid-1990s.

Ive definitely been the token Afghan in Butte, she said, laughing.

She was born in Pakistan, because her birth came earlier than expected, but spent her earliest years in Lashkargah, Afghanistan. Her father, Mohammad Hakim Parwana, met her mother, Carolee, an American, when he was a student at a college in Arizona.

The family moved to upstate New York when Parwana was in third grade. She said her father spoke Pashto, Dari, English and some Arabic. She no longer speaks the languages of Afghanistan but believes they would return quickly given the right opportunity.

Parwana began to inquire about resettling Afghans in Butte after watching the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. She has worked with Butte Heart, Buttes Catholic Community North and others to try to realize that outcome. She said the Butte America Foundation has been helpful, as have Diana Kujawa with the Butte School District, Jensen and enthusiastic volunteers, she said.

Theres quite a large group of people who want to support this, Parwana said.

The Schultz Family Foundation said tens of thousands of Afghans have been forced to flee their homeland, many because of threats to their lives and livelihoods due to their association with the United States.

The U.S. attack on Afghanistan, the Taliban and al-Qaida began in October 2001 in retaliation for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The 20-year war ended in August with the withdrawal of U.S. troops, personnel and some percentage of Afghan allies. The administration of President Joe Biden received intense criticism for what most observers considered a memorable debacle.

In October, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., described the exit as a disastrous withdrawal. He and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., also raised concerns that Afghans being resettled in the U.S. had not been adequately vetted.

On Wednesday, Daines reiterated his concerns in a statement to The Montana Standard.

Three months ago, I called on President Biden to stop all Afghan resettlements to Montana until I received clear answers on the vetting process for the individuals coming into our state, and as of today, I still havent received any concrete answers, Daines said.

These resettlements should absolutely not be occurring until the Biden administration provides answers to important questions, like whos coming into our country and why, he said.

Daines said he remains supportive of the desires of veterans and troops to assist our fully-vetted Afghan allies who served alongside our armed forces.

Yet Daines added, Biden has failed to provide answers as to who has come into the country or if they have been fully vetted according to whats required by law. Until he provides those answers, I remain opposed to resettlements to Montana.

A statement from Sarah Feldman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, also used the phrase fully-vetted.

Senator Tester believes we have a duty to keep our promises to fully-vetted allies who worked hand in hand with our troops to fight extremism in Afghanistan and keep America safe, Feldman said. These folks helped save American lives on the battlefield, and Montana will welcome them once they clear the vetting process.

Beretta said he has been assured that vetting of Afghan families finding a home in Butte has been thorough.

There is an element of risk anytime you extend hospitality to someone, he said. I think it is a very limited risk.

In an op-ed published last month in The Montana Standard, Beretta referenced the work and sacrifices of translators during the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. He described as a moral obligation the work to resettle Afghan refugees, allowing their escape from the murderous frenzy of the Taliban.

He said the community feedback he has received about the work underway to help the refugees has been positive.

All Im getting around town is support, Beretta said.

Jensen weighed in.

This will be a challenge for some folks, but diversity makes us stronger, she said.

Parwana said the Afghan families will likely need assistance with language, driving requirements, bus routes, grocery shopping, currency, enrolling children in school and a host of other daily necessities.

Beretta said he hopes that residents of the region who arent directly involved in resettlement activities will be welcoming when they encounter the Afghans out in the community.

Extend a hand. Extend a word of welcome.

Parwana said she is optimistic that the Afghans will be well received in the Mining City.

I really believe Butte is going to be a really warm and welcoming community, she said.

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Faced with the possibility of federal judges redrawing Montana political districts, state legislators on Tuesday again passed on bringing the five regions of the Montana Public Service Commission into constitutional compliance before the 2022 election.

Lawmakers on the Energy Telecommunications Interim Committee were cautioned before voting that federal courts dont seem content to wait for the 2023 Legislature to correct PSC districts that have gone unchanged for 19 years and now violate the one-person, one-vote principle of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Also Tuesday, judges denied Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen's motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by voters. The defense team for the state's top election official had argued the case was premature and voters should have waited until the 2023 Legislature met. The order was one more indication that if the Legislature didn't redraw the districts in time for the 2022 election, the court was likely to.

The gist of one-person, one vote, is that every voter has the right to have their vote counted with the same weight as any other voter. Thats not the case in Montanas PSC districts where voters in the least populated of the five districts receive the same amount of representation on matters like electric and gas bills as voters in the most populated district, despite having 53,000 fewer voters.

In a court order Jan 13, a panel of U.S. District Judges concluded that voters were likely already being harmed by the Legislatures inaction on redistricting. And the court concluded that lawmakers had the power to call a special session and bring the districts into constitutional compliance before the 2022 election. That order came just hours after the Legislative Council briefed lawmakers on the matter Jan. 13. And those lawmakers settled on taking up the issue a year from now and never brought up the possibility of a special session to fix the districts this spring.

The Legislature is not precluded from acting in advance of the 2024 elections  or even the 2022 elections of if a special session is called, the court concluded. The Legislature may be convened in special session by the governor or at the written request of a majority of the members."

Sen. Mary McNall, ETIC chairwoman, said the court has promised a decision by March 4. The Billings Democrat preferred to wait.

The filing deadline for candidates is March 14. The primary election is June 7. Currently, no one can file to run for PSC because of a court order.

Only one lawmaker at the ETIC meeting Tuesday was ready to put the districts to a redraw this year. Rep. Derek Skees put the idea forward as the committee debated whether it has the power to redraw the districts without getting the full body of 150 state lawmakers involved. The committee doesnt.

I'm challenging everybody in the Legislature. We need to have a special session. We need to have a meeting and decide this for the legislature. We need to have a special session, Rep. Derek Skees, of Kalispell, told the committee. I wish that it could have been solved by you folks, and then offered as a suggestion for a piece of legislation for the next cycle. But unfortunately, the judges in Montana don't want to have us in that timeframe.

Skees also intends to run in 2022 for Public Service Commission District 5, which includes Helena and Kalispell. PSC District 2, which runs along the Hi-line from Shelby to Sidney, is also on the ballot. Secretary of State Jacobsen is prevented by court order from registering PSC candidates until the redistricting matter is resolved.

I would like to see the courts not handle this and I dont want to see a special session either, said Sen. Terry Gauthier, of Helena. I'd like to see this whole thing go right straight to the legislative body in January 2023. And let the people earn their paychecks and do the job that needs to be done with open committee debate on the floors and have all the public comment.

Its the secretary of state who will get the chance to continue arguing for the districts to remain out of balance for the 2022 elections and redrawn in 2023. As the states top election official, she was sued in December by three voters seeking to have the districts brought into constitutional compliance for the 2022 elections. Jacobsen recognizes the districts are unconstitutional the way they are currently drawn, but her legal argument is that the Legislature deserves a chance in regular session to correct the districts before the courts get involved.

The voters are Bob Brown, a former Montana Republican secretary of state, Hailey Sinoff and Donald Seifert of Gallatin County. If the Legislature wont redraw the districts for the 2022 election, the voters argue that a three-judge panel should. It wouldnt be the first time the federal courts intervened and redrew Montana political maps because the Legislature wouldnt. The court redrew Montanas U.S. House districts after the Legislature failed to do so following the 1960 U.S. Census.

The justices in this case have already indicated theres no reason to assume the Legislature would redraw the districts in 2023, given that the districts werent redrawn after the 2010 Census and that several attempts to do so over the last decade were rejected by lawmakers.

The justices are U.S. District Judge Don Molloy, of Missoula, District Judge Brian Morris, of Great Falls, and Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford, of Pasadena, California.

The districts have only been redrawn once in nearly 50 years, the voters argue.

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. 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.

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.

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MUSCATINE  With the "fowl" weather in Muscatine recently, the city reports many sightings of Canada geese grazing outside their normal habitat of Weed Park. The public is being urged to be cautious around the geese and to avoid feeding them, especially during the winter months.

The Muscatine Police Department and Animal Control report that geese have been spotted wandering around the Muscatine urban areas recently and this is causing concern for the safety of the birds. The Parks and Recreation Department also reports the number of geese in the area is much more manageable than four years ago after the aerators were removed from the Weed park lagoon in 2018 as part of the Goose Management Program.

We were given several options for maintaining the population of the geese by the Iowa DNR (Department of Natural Resources) Nick Gow, Superintendent of Parks, said. We considered all of the options and determined that removing the aerators was what we wanted to try first. Staff is open to further discussion on how to best manage the geese population at the lagoon with the overall goal of providing safety for all in Weed Park.

In 2018, the city consulted with the Muscatine County Conservation and the DNR to implement a geese management program at the lagoon in Weed Park. In the years leading up to winter 2018, concerns were expressed about the mess the geese population left in the park and surrounding areas.

The aerators were removed from the lagoon in 2018 and have not been used since. The staff believes the geese management program is a success with a reduction of excrement on the trail and surrounding areas of the park. Geese need a source of water during the winter for drinking and feather maintenance and will concentrate on even small ponds that maintain open water areas with aeration systems. These concentrations of geese can pose a threat to human health or safety.

According to the Management Guidelines for Controlling Canada Geese published by the DNR, Giant Canada Geese find urban environments attractive because they have all the habitat elements important to the birds. As urbanization increases, migration decreases.

The city also warns feeding the birds can be a mistake and can harm the health of the birds. The DNR says the birds need to find natural food.

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MUSCATINE  One person received minor injuries as the result of a stove fire that occurred Tuesday morning at 2810 Broadlawn Units. The American Red Cross and 1-800-BoardUp are providing victim assistance.

According to a press release from the city, the Muscatine County Joint Communications Center received a call at about 8:30 a.m. reporting a stove fire. Units from the Muscatine Fire Department responded and found the fire had spread throughout the kitchen. The department was able to have the fire under control within five minutes.

While on scene, the fire department turned off the gas and electric to the residence as they battled the fire. Some of the utilities were restored ahead of the expected frigid temperatures later this week. An inspector from the city worked with Muscatine Power and Water to determine which and to what extent utilities could be restored.

This is the second stove fire in a week. The National Fire Prevention Association recommends residents should remain alert while cooking, and to never cook while sleepy or after consuming alcohol. People are asked to stay in the kitchen while frying, grilling, boiling or broiling food and to keep anything that can catch fire away from the stove top.

With the expected cold temperatures, residents are also reminded that if they use a secondary heating source, such as a fireplace, wood stove or space heater, to keep anything that can burn at least three feet away. The community is also warned to plug space heaters into a wall socket and never use extension cords or power strips.

Residents are also reminded to have working smoke detectors. In the event of a fire, people are asked to call 911 while safely exiting the structure.

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ORLANDO, Fla.  Dr. Raul Pino, who became a trusted voice of the pandemic response in the nations tourist capital, has been placed on administrative leave from his post as the states chief health officer in Orange County as the Florida Department of Health conducts an investigation.

Sources who spoke to the Orlando Sentinel on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Pinos status said he was placed on administrative leave after a Health Department employee complained about an email he sent Jan. 4 to agency staff about employee vaccination rates.

Pino, 58, declined to discuss the Health Departments action, but an agency spokesperson confirmed his status.

Keep scrolling for 10 charts tracking vaccinations and cases across the U.S.

As the decision to get vaccinated is a personal medical choice that should be made free from coercion and mandates from employers, the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Health is conducting an inquiry to determine if any laws were broken in this case, spokesperson Weesam Khoury said in an email Tuesday. The Department is committed to upholding all laws, including the ban on vaccine mandates for government employees and will take appropriate action once additional information is known.

She declined to provide details or Pinos email.

The agencys decision was first reported Tuesday by WFTV-Channel 9.

In the email, Pino said 77 of 568 employees had been fully vaccinated, including receiving a booster shot. Another 219 had received two shots.

I am sorry but in the absence of reasonable and real reasons it is irresponsible not to be vaccinated, Pino wrote in the email, according to the TV report. We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000 and we are not even at 50% pathetic.

Since March 2020, when the pandemic erupted in Central Florida, Pino has been a fixture on more than 150 press briefings, appearing beside Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings to discuss COVID-19, best practices, safety protocols, coronavirus infection, testing and vaccination rates, and deaths.

He last appeared at a press briefing Dec. 28, discussing the rise of the omicron variant.

Pino has urged residents to get vaccinated against the virus to protect themselves, those more vulnerable and the regions tourism economy.

Clearly vaccines are working for us  and are the solution to this crisis, he said last month, as county officials announced the omicron variant was beginning to crest and emerge as the dominant strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the countys wastewater. The vaccine continues to be effective against the variants.

Pinos journey to Central Florida began more than 25 years ago when he left Cuba as a political refugee and resettled in New England.

Eight years earlier he had graduated from medical school in Cuba and trained in plastic surgery at the Naval Hospital in Havana. He worked odd jobs in the U.S. at first, including picking blueberries in Connecticut. But he never gave up on a health career. He eventually earned a masters degree in public health from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and was hired by the Connecticut Department of Public Health as an epidemiologist.

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and Demings, a Democrat, have often sparred over vaccination and face-masking mandates, Pino has tread a thin line between the two elected officials, usually offering raw data and opinions based on his medical experience and research.

During press briefings, Pino patiently answered questions posed to him in English or Spanish, whether at the county podium or out in public, because, he has said, accurate information is a significant weapon in the fight against COVID-19. He always offered condolences to families who experienced loss because of the pandemic.

2022 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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DES MOINES  Attempts in previous years to add requirements for Iowans who receive public benefits such as Medicaid and food assistance failed to pass both chambers in the Iowa Legislature.

A renewed effort is underway this year, with a new approach: Instead of pushing for just one or two big bills addressing public assistance programs, statehouse Republicans have broken the myriad proposals into a slew of bills running separately.

On Tuesday, three such bills were scheduled for subcommittee hearings in the Iowa House, although one was canceled.

Proponents of the myriad bills sometimes point to a $1.8 million fine levied by the federal government when it was revealed that Iowa had a 10 percent error rate in its distribution of food assistance benefits from the federal program known as SNAP.

We just broke it down into eight manageable pieces, said Iowa Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, chairwoman of the House committee through which the bills will move.

We need to make sure that if people are eligible for the safety net that theyre getting it, and that people who are not eligible, were not spending tax dollars on that. So its really just basically fixing this system to make sure everyone is eligible.

Critics of these types of bills generally express concern that adding more requirements or hurdles will prevent Iowans in need from getting the benefits that will help them.

I dont think this bill could be implemented in any way that doesnt take food away from children, Luke Elzinga, communications and advocacy manager for the Des Moines Area Religious Council, an interfaith network that manages a network of food pantries, said during one of Tuesdays subcommittee hearings.

Elzinga was speaking about House Study Bill 505, which would require Iowans receiving food assistance to also cooperate with the agency that oversees child support payments.

That bill was temporarily tabled as legislators on the subcommittee determined it needs to better define the extent to which individuals are required to work with child support recovery before potentially losing food assistance benefits.

I have no problem wanting any parents who owe child support to have to be cooperating to get SNAP benefits, but if we can narrow that language, said Iowa Rep. Kristin Sunde, D-West Des Moines.

Earlier Tuesday, a separate subcommittee discussed House Study Bill 502, which would instruct the state human services department to set up a new computer system that would enable it to track assistance program eligibility in real time.

The purpose of these bills is to enhance systems, Andy Conlin, a lobbyist for the free enterprise and limited government national advocacy organization Opportunity Solutions Project, said during the subcommittee hearing. The key to a good program is integrity.

Advocacy groups like the Iowa Catholic Conference and American Heart Association expressed concerns with adding what they described as more bureaucratic steps or barriers to low-income Iowans getting the services they need.

I think everybody here wants to make sure that our dollars are available for everybody who needs them, said Rep. Liz Bennett, D-Cedar Rapids. I have sufficient concern (with the bill).

Other legislation on the topic includes:

 House Study Bill 508, which requires the state to conduct asset tests on all adults in a household in which an individual is receiving assistance.

 House Study Bill 504, which requires an applicant for benefits to complete a computerized identity authentication process.

 House Study Bill 503, which requires the state human services department to forward any cases of suspected fraud to the states Department of Inspections and Appeals.

 House Study Bill 507, which requires the state human services department to look up the personal information of all applicants for public assistance in all other local, state and federal public records.

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South Africas ailing economy could get a new lease on life if it creates the policy and investment framework to build the infrastructure for large scale production of green hydrogen, a fuel seen as crucial in driving the worlds energy transition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The country has abundant natural resources and available land for the process and is thus ideally positioned to produce enough green hydrogen to both decarbonise many of its own energy intensive industries and to tap into rapidly building global demand for the fuel, according to research commissioned by the European Union Delegation to South Africa.

Work has already begun in South Africa to plan for green hydrogen hubs and projects have been launched by local and international companies, but so far they have just scratched the surface of what is possible, a panel of experts told a webinar hosted jointly by EE Business Intelligence and the EU Delegation to South Africa.

The only way we can successfully get where we need to be is for people to have an optimistic outlook on their future. For that to happen, we need to mobilize funds, but we also need to mobilize ideas, EU Ambassador to South Africa Dr Riina Kionka said in her keynote address.

The EU was fully on board with South Africas legitimate concerns about the decarbonisation of its economy, which was why the EU was committed to the $8.5-billion just energy transition pledge made jointly between South Africa and the EU, France, Germany, UK, USA as announced at COP26, she said.

In all the doom and gloom surrounding the climate crisis and the dire economic situation in South Africa, there are reasons to celebrate, and congratulate South Africa on its decision to take a lead in a green recovery from the devastation brought by the pandemic and in charting a path to a more sustainable and inclusive greener economy, she said.

Europe is at the centre of hydrogen development globally, accounting for more than half of total investment of $500-billion into projects planned along the value chain through to 2030, according to a report in July from the Hydrogen Council, a global CEO-led initiative working to develop the hydrogen economy.

Seventy percent of the investment necessary would be for renewable energy necessary for green hydrogen. The money is expected to boost low-carbon hydrogen capacity to more than 10-million tons per annum by 2030, an increase of more than 60 percent on project levels reported in February, the report said.

Green hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysers, and offers three times more energy per unit than fossil fuels. Green hydrogen and its derivatives can power mining vehicles, trucks, buses, trains, aircraft and maritime transport, and can be used to produce green steel, green fertiliser and other green chemicals.

The surge in green hydrogen investment has been sparked by stricter carbon goals globally, with 90 countries, representing 80 percent of the worlds gross domestic product, now committed to net zero targets  most by 2050, and China and India by 2060.

Globally, the green hydrogen market is projected to grow nearly ten-fold from $444-million in 2021 to $4,373-million by 2026, according to a report released in September by Research and Markets, an online platform providing market and research data.

Because of their limited capacity for generating renewable energy, many countries will need to import hydrogen-based fuels in the future. A report from the World Energy Council predicted in October that EU member states will only produce half of what they need by 2050, with the rest imported from partner countries.

A report commissioned by the EU Delegation to South Africa from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2020 showed that South Africa could generate power fuels based on renewable hydrogen and export them to North-West Europe and the Far East, at costs competitive with other renewable-rich countries.

The ports of Saldanha Bay and Ngqura were well placed for these exports, that study found.

A follow-up study released at the webinar showed that green hydrogen could also be produced competitively at both ports, which were also ideally located to supply domestic off-takers in hard-to-abate sectors.

The term refers to heavy industry for which the energy transition is difficult  such as the manufacturing of cement, steel, chemicals and plastics, as well as heavy-duty transport such as road trucking, container shipping and aviation.

The potential off-takers identified by the study included ArcelorMittal South Africas mothballed Saldanha steel works, which would require 104,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year to produce 1.5-million tonnes of hot briquetted iron per year.

Ammonia derived from green hydrogen could also be used as marine bunker fuel at the ports of Saldanha Bay, Cape Town, Gqeberha and Ngqura, which the study predicted would have a combined annual demand of about 740 000 tonnes.

The CSIR study did not analyse the prospects for a greenfield special economic zone being proposed to explore the potential of Boegoebaai in the Northern Cape as an export hub for green hydrogen and ammonia.

Integrated chemicals and energy company Sasol has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Northern Cape Economic Development, Trade and Promotion Agency to lead the feasibility study for Boegoebaai, which is expected to take two years to complete.

Boston Consulting Groups Kesh Mudlay said at the webinar that South Africa had the solar, wind and land resources to produce more than six million tons of green hydrogen yearly by 2050, split almost evenly between exports and domestic use.

But this would require a 130 gigawatt (GW) fleet of renewables  more than three times the installed capacity of power utility Eskom  along with a 60 GW electrolyser fleet which would consume 57 GL (Giga litres) of mostly desalinated water yearly.

A nationally coordinated approach and enabling regulatory environment is critical to enable speed, capacity and capability to deliver, he said. Competitive localisation of the value chain and access to innovative green finance solutions are key enablers for success.

There have been several reports released in 2021 on the expected boost to South Africas economy if the country establishes itself as a global leader in the production of green hydrogen and derivative carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals.

Anglo American, Bambili Energy and French multinational Engie collaborated with the Department of Science and Innovation and the SA National Energy Development Institute on one such study, which was released in October.

It concluded that creating a hydrogen economy could add between $3.9-billion and $8.8-billion to South Africas gross domestic product by 2050 and create between 14 000 and 30 000 jobs each year.

Jobs growth would be across the whole hydrogen value chain, including water resource management, electrolyser development and transport  including the pipeline and trucking industries, storage and fuel cell manufacturing, the study showed.

Engie Africa Power and Gas senior hydrogen solutions developer Koen Langie said in February that South Africas domestic market for green hydrogen could be worth $10-billion a year, underpinned by demand from the mining and minerals, steel, transport and petrochemicals sectors.

But he indicated that the export potential could be more than $100-billion, due to the role that countries like South Africa could play in delivering low-priced green hydrogen to markets in Europe and Asia.

On 15 December 2021, Hive Hydrogen, Built Africa and Linde plc, through its wholly owned South African subsidiary Afrox, announced plans for a 780,000 tonnes per year, $4.6-billion green ammonia export plant at the Coega special economic zone alongside the Port of Ngqura in Nelson Mandela Bay, with full operation set to start by the end of 2026.

I think we all agree that there are incredible opportunities, and the potential is great, for green hydrogen here in South Africa, said Roberto Cecutti, head of the Trade and Economic Section of the EU Delegation to South Africa.

The conditions are there in terms of technology, and there is opportunity in terms of creating value chains. But of course, these opportunities can be unlocked only if you have the right conditions and enabling environment.

This would have to include an industrial policy with the right incentives, regulations and standards, a stable investment framework and coordination between the public and private sectors, he concluded. The CSIR report here demonstrates how green hydrogen can breathe new life into Saldanha Bay and Ngqura.

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The last couple of years has afforded me a unique perspective on our Napa community: a view from the front entrance of our farmers market. It has been nearly two years since our state went into what we all called lockdown.

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During those months, the Napa Farmers Market was required to limit the number of people gathered within our market. Wanting to lend a hand, I often volunteered to be the bouncer for the Farmers Market.

As I let shoppers enter, singly or in groups of twos, threes, or fours, I often expressed a hearty Thank you for coming to the market!

We were incredibly thankful to see so many Napans willing to spend their Saturday morning standing in line  often one that wrapped around the block  to shop at the Napa Farmers Market. There were just so many unknowns at that time, and we had no idea how many people would show up.

But in addition to the consistently robust market turnout, we were struck by how many people smiled behind their masks and thanked me and the other market volunteers for being there. When two parties willingly choose to interact and feel compelled to thank the other, that is a winning combination!

Being the volunteer bouncer was a rewarding way for me to provide service to our community in challenging times  a pandemic antidote  as service is an act of both giving and healing. The Napa Farmers Market truly could not function without our volunteers, who show up rain or shine, to help set up and run the Market.

We were saddened to learn that one of the Markets most loyal and longest-serving volunteers, Herb Fish, recently passed away. Herb had volunteered with us for over 22 years and was reliably found at the Yajome entrance greeting and counting customers since we moved to West Street in 2020. He performed many acts of service for the market over the years, but one thing never changed: Herb volunteered between 8 a.m. to and 10 a.m. sharp! He led a full and active life and loved sharing about his extended family, including his wife, Val, kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. We are going to miss Herbs gentle smile and steady presence as part of our market family.

Were still not back to normal, of course, but the market has remained open for the past six months or so without a line and without restrictions. During that time, the number of Napans who come out to support our local farmers and to bask in the beauty of fresh, in-season, local produce, has continued to grow, as the market continues to offer winning combinations for our community.

A vibrant farmers market helps ensure our entire community has access to fresh and healthy food, with no supply chain issues. At the same time, it helps ensure that our farmers get a fair price for all the hard work they put into growing, raising, and harvesting our food. Finally, it also provides opportunities for Napans like Herb, me, and many others to be of service to their community while having fun connecting with customers and vendors.

Even without pandemic-related capacity restrictions, we are always in need of folks to help support market operations. If you are available to volunteer, email manager@napafarmersmarket.org or visit www.napafarmersmarket.org/volunteer.

While Im happy we no longer need a bouncer at the market entrance, I do miss the opportunity to thank people individually on behalf of our farmers and vendors, so Ill take this opportunity to do so. Thanks, Napa, and Ill see you again soon at the market.

Curtis Strohl is a member of the board of the Napa Farmers Market
Updated at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday  Two teenage boys were arrested Tuesday afternoon after leading American Canyon Police on a pursuit while driving a sport-utility vehicle that had been carjacked in San Francisco, according to the department.

At about 2:40 p.m., an American Canyon officer saw a 2015 Ford SUV heading south on Highway 29 near Napa Junction Road, and a check of the license plate revealed the vehicle was wanted by San Francisco Police in connection with a Jan. 3 carjacking in the city, American Canyon Police said in a news release.

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The officer saw two people in the front seats who were wearing black ski masks, and tried to stop the Ford, according to police. Instead, the driver continued south on Highway 29 and a pursuit ensued, eventually continuing on several side streets west of the highway.

After the Ford entered northbound Elliott Drive near Crawford Way and Larkspur Street, an officer used a vehicle maneuver to disable the SUV, which crashed into a mailbox on Elliott Drive, according to police.

The Fords two occupants then fled west on foot, one on Larkspur and the other on Crawford, jumping over fences into backyards as they ran, according to police, who said the California Highway Patrol assisted the search from the air.

Police arrested two Vallejo residents, ages 15 and 16, who were booked into the Napa County juvenile detention center. American Canyon Police Chief Rick Greenberg said the department would not release their identities because both are minors.

The teens face felony allegations of evading police officers and vehicle theft, as well as a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest. The investigation has been turned over to San Francisco Police.

The Napa County Sheriffs Office issued a Nixle alert shortly before 3:15 p.m. asking people to avoid the Elliott-Crawford intersection during the incident, then withdrew the alert 40 minutes later.
Adults will soon be able to purchase cannabis products at the city of Napas retail cannabis stores without needing a medical use card.

The Napa City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment allowing adult-use sales to anyone age 21 and older on a 4-1 vote Tuesday night. The ordinance will come into effect 30 days after the second reading of the amendment is approved, which is set to happen at a future council meeting.

Napa currently only permits medical sales of cannabis, through an ordinance passed in 2017. That means people need a physician-approved cannabis use card to buy cannabis products at any of the city's six dispensaries. And though acquiring a medical use card may take only 10 to 15 minutes, it still represents a financial and logistical hurdle to customers, according to local cannabis retailers.

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As such, local cannabis retailers have said opening up adult-use sales will bring them a considerable financial boost. Aimee Henry, an owner of Napa Cannabis Collective, previously estimated that allowing adult-use would at least triple the number of customers the store serves each month.

At the virtual meeting Tuesday, several public commenters representing labor groups urged the council to adopt a requirement that commercial cannabis licensees with 10 or more employees enter into a labor peace agreement essentially a contract allowing those employees to unionize, among much else  with a labor union. California law currently requires cannabis retailers to enter such an agreement when theyve hired 20 or more non-supervisory employees.

I think strengthening this labor peace agreement requirement would send a message that Napa is a culture that supports its employees, and Im just curious why anyone would be against that, said Danny Bernardini, business manager at the Napa-Solano Building and Construction Trades Council.

Out of a desire to not delay approval, the City Council ultimately voted to move forward with the amendment as presented. The passing motion also directed city staff to return with next steps on labor peace agreements and potential limits on the distance between retailers and the number of cannabis retailers allowed in Napa.

Though a 2-year moratorium on new adult-use applications has been suggested by local dispensaries to help them financially stabilize and allow room for the city to enact potential regulations, the councilmembers expressed that they weren't interested in a moratorium.

Councilmember Liz Alessio, who voted in opposition to the amendment, suggested several changes to the ordinance. For one, she suggested the city limit the number of dispensaries to one store per every 10,000 residents. She also suggested a number of Napa County Public Health recommendations made in a 2018 presentation, such as prohibiting the advertising of cannabis products near school zones.

She said opening the floodgates to adult-use applications and then trying to adjust regulations later on could be highly challenging.

Councilmember Beth Painter said, however, that the council should pass the ordinance amendment first and consider the additional regulatory questions in the future. Painter added she theoretically has no concern with implementing stricter labor peace agreement standards.

This is an evolving field, there are going to be questions, and I want us to be open to that in the future, but this satisfies, I think, the very first step of what we were trying to accomplish, Painter said. I really dont want to cause delay with unanswered questions.

Mayor Scott Sedgley said he also wasnt opposed to adding updated labor peace agreement standards, but doing so could delay approval of the ordinance.

Id hate to delay it further, Sedgley said.

You can reach Edward Booth at (707) 256-2213.

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Five local homes made history this past year: the most and least expensive Napa County houses sold in 2021.

Most expensive

The grand estate at 7888-7900 Money Road in Napa Valley is so luxurious, it has two addresses and its own name: Villa Mille Rose.

The estate, owned by philanthropist Maria Manetti Shrem, sold in late 2021 for $18.6 million making it the top sale of the year.

The home had been on the market for some time and for as much as $26.5 million.

Listing agent David Costello of Compass real estate acknowledged it was a challenge to sell a Tuscan villa when everyone wants a modern farmhouse these days.

And while there are other houses on the property, the main house only has two bedrooms. That narrows it down to very specific buyers, he said.

To draw in potential buyers, Costellos team spent more than $100,000 remarketing the property.

After owning it for 40 years, it was a very difficult decision for Manetti Shrem to sell the property, Costello said. However, maintaining a 19-acre property which includes a vineyard and olive oil company, was time consuming.

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She wanted to travel and not have the responsibility of running a major operation like that, Costello said.

The buyer, developer and philanthropist Antonio Castelucci, is well known in the Napa Valley.

Costello also said Casteluccis agreement to buy Villa Mille Rose included one specific caveat. In addition to the purchase, Castelucci also made a significant donation to Festival Napa Valley, a nonprofit the seller and buyer both support.

That was very important, to Manetti Shrem, said Costello.

The most expensive runner up  selling for $18.5 million, just $100,000 less than Villa Mille Rose  is a luxury home at 275 Long Ranch Road in St. Helena.

Its absolutely one of the most gorgeous properties Ive ever been on, said listing agent Ginger Martin of Sotheby's International Realty.

The owners, Mark Nelson and Dana Johnson, founders of OVID Napa Valley, have moved to another home in St. Helena, said Martin. Their children are now older and the need for a large family compound was no longer necessary, Martin said.

According to county records, the buyer is listed as Impact Energy Partners of Mill Valley.

Martin explained that she originally listed the Long Ranch Road home right before the 2021 fires. During that time, it was temporarily taken off the market, before selling for full price.

The big challenge for selling property in 2020 and 2021 was getting proper property insurance which included fire insurance," said Martin. "Once we were able to secure insurance, we sold.

A home on the edge of but within city limits was the most expensive sold in Napa itself in 2021. Located at 33 Oak Rock Lane (in Browns Valley) the house sold for $4.1 million.

Agent Yvonne Rich said the seller is a retired Danville-area dentist who originally had no intention of selling the property. However, after his grandchildren moved from Napa to southern California, he changed his mind.

They wanted to be nearby the grandchildren, said Rich.

It took more than a year, and a price adjustment, to sell the house, said Rich.

What was the holdup? Apparently the swimming pool. It was located at the very end of the property, near the primary bedroom. The kitchen and living room were at the other end. Most potential buyers wanted easier access to such a feature.

That was one of the biggest complaints, Rich said.

The buyer, from San Francisco, will use the home as a second residence, said Rich.

Least expensive

On the other end of the 2021 sales spectrum, the house at 2528 Wagon Wheel Drive in Pope Valley was the least expensive home sold in the county. It sold for $269,000.

Listing agent Jannette Hall of RE/MAX Gold Napa said the buyer of the home is a veteran who used a Veterans Administration (VA) loan.

Hall said to find home prices on the lower end in Napa County, buyers need to consider outlying areas such as Pope Valley, Angwin, Berryessa and Circle Oaks.

Yes, Its a long drive, into jobs in Napa or beyond, but its the only thing they can do, said Hall. Now that more people are working from home, some residents have cut commutes to two or three times a week, instead of the traditional Monday to Friday, she added.

To find a decent home in Napa for less than $650,000 is getting harder and harder, she said. Were just trying to get people in homes in this market. Its just crazy.

Within Napa itself, a home at 2532 Sonoma St. (near Lincoln Avenue) was the least expensive sold in the city limits in 2021.

The home, a major fixer sold for $400,000 in September.

Listing agent John Bruce with Coldwell Banker Brokers of the Valley noted that the house needed an awful lot of work. The buyers are going to do a complete remodel on it.

You can reach reporter Jennifer Huffman at 256-2218 or jhuffman@napanews.com

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EU: Poland fines in rule of law dispute now top $170 million

Putin and Lukashenko discuss ongoing situation

Greece and Bulgaria say new LNG terminal will help reduce dependence on Russia

German vice chancellor calls for rapid construction of LNG terminals

Rally of Resistance Movement takes place in France Square

Robert Kocharyan takes part in opposition march

Mario Draghi calls on EU to abandon requirement of unanimity in making foreign policy decisions

Finland and Sweden not yet decided whether to join NATO

Croatian president uses veto power to block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO

Slovakia will seek exemption from the EU embargo on Russian oil imports

NEWS.am digest: Blinken meets Mirzoyan in US, people detained during protests in Yerevan

Turkish Foreign Ministry on meeting of special envoys in Vienna

Opposition rally in central Yerevan starts with Sirusho's performance

Italy to face serious issues in winter if Russian gas supplies are cut off now

Johnson announces new military aid to Ukraine in amount of 300 million euros

Resistance Movement rally on France Square in Yerevan

EU hopes to adopt sixth round of sanctions against Russia at next EU Council meeting

Peaceful rallies of disobedience held in Spitak

Spain extends OVID-19 entry restrictions

Vayk joins demand for Nikol Pashinyan's resignation

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Citizens demanding Pashinyan's resignation block road from Vayots Dzor to Yerevan

Peaceful rallies of disobedience held in Vanadzor demanding PM's resignation

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Sirusho: Today I will join our compatriots in France Square

Third meeting of Armenia and Turkey special representatives held in Vienna

Dollar rises slightly after long decline, euro also goes up in Armenia

Civil disobedience actions in regions: Yerevan-Goris highway blocked

Azerbaijan settling occupied Armenian Hadrut, Shushi cities of Artsakh

New colors and new services: Team Telecom Armenia completes rebranding

Armenia legislature speaker receives France-Armenia Friendship Group delegation

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Putin signs decree on economic measures against unfriendly countries

Armenia legislature speaker: Authorities have repeatedly proposed dialogue to opposition

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Armenia defense ministry: Azerbaijan MOD statement does not correspond to reality

Armenia defense minister receives Kansas National Guard delegation

Armenia Police: Yerevan-Sevan motorway reopened

Ned Price: Mirzoyan-Blinken meeting will launch US-Armenia strategic dialogue

Mirzoyan, Nuland discuss Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement process

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Pashinyan to Morawiecki: This year we mark 30th anniversary of Armenia-Poland diplomatic relations

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Six more Anne Arundel County Public Schools will switch at least partially to virtual learning this week in response to the number of COVID-19 cases reported in their halls in the past 14 days, Superintendent George Arlotto told the Board of Education on Wednesday evening.

Schools are closed when the number of cases in schools is at or near 5% of the schools population, including students and all employees. The schools will be closed for five calendar days, with most reopening at the start of next week.

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At Windsor Farms Elementary School in Annapolis, there were 29 cases of COVID-19 within 14 days; at Glendale Elementary in Glen Burnie, there were 27 cases; at Crofton Meadows Elementary, 30 cases; at Sunset Elementary in Pasadena, 25 cases; and at Ferndale Early Education Center in Glen Burnie, nine cases.

Monarch Academy Glen Burnies middle school students will learn virtually through next Monday after 23 cases were reported in 14 days. Elementary students at the charter school will continue to learn in person.

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Students at Mayo Elementary School did distance learning at the start of the week, after 18 reported cases caused the closure of that school last week. The school was scheduled to reopen Thursday, but all public schools in the district were closed due to inclement weather.

Arlotto also reviewed the number of coronavirus cases in the district as a whole and discussed an off-ramp for lifting the requirement that students and staff wear face masks indoors. As of Thursday 1,501 students were positive for COVID-19, along with 68 staff members.

The school system may lift the mask requirement when at least 80% of the county has been fully vaccinated as reported by the Maryland Department of Health, or when transmission drops to a low or moderate level as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Individual schools can lift the mask mandate if 80% of their population is fully vaccinated, though Arlotto said there is currently no method with which to track vaccination among students.

Were going to have to create a mechanism to collect that data, Arlotto said.

Staff have reported their vaccination statuses, Arlotto said, so that information is available.

According to the Maryland Department of Health, 67.5% of Anne Arundel County residents are fully vaccinated, while 74% have received at least one dose or received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The CDC currently lists Anne Arundel County with a high community transmission rate. It will be considered moderate once the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests drops to less than 10%. According to state data, Marylands positivity rate was 18% as of Thursday and the countys rate was 19.86%.
The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramovs statement that Yerevans preconditions for starting [border] delimitation are unacceptable for Baku.

Asked to comment on this statement, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan told Armenpress that Armenia does not have any preconditions in the matter of border delimitation with Azerbaijan, and that it is about agreements.

Azerbaijans Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov, responding to Armenias proposals relating to the process of [border] delimitation and demarcation, said that Yerevans preconditions for launching delimitation are unacceptable for Baku. How would you comment?

I believe there is a misunderstanding regarding this issue. The Armenian side doesnt have preconditions in the issue of [border] delimitation. Its about agreements. The November 26 Sochi trilateral statement of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan notes that the sides have agreed to take steps in the direction of increasing the level of security and stability on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and to move towards the formation of a trilateral commission for [border] delimitation and demarcation.

This agreement was reaffirmed and an agreement on starting a process of withdrawing troops was reached during the December 14 trilateral meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Brusselsin mediation of the President of the European Council. Thus, The Armenian sides proposals arent about preconditions, but rather about realizing the agreements that were reached. The Republic of Armenia believes that the [border] delimitation process must be launched swiftlyin accordance to the abovementioned agreements.
Thailand will resume a non-quarantine travel scheme from Feb. 1, officials said after the program was put on hold due to the rapidly expanding omicron variant, AFP reported.

Travel restrictions due to the pandemic have hit the tourism-dominated kingdom's economy, causing visitor numbers to drop to a trickle.

Fully vaccinated travelers will now be able to enter under the "test and travel" scheme. They must take Covid tests on the first and fifth days after arrival, Taweesin Visanuyothin, a spokesman for the country's Covid-19 task force, told reporters.

Visitors will have to self-isolate at the hotel while waiting for test results and download a tracking app to make sure they are following the rules.

Seeking to recover from its worst economic performance since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Thailand launched a "test and travel" scheme in November as an alternative to a two-week hotel lockdown.

The program was suspended at the end of last month due to concerns about omicron, but because the number of deaths and hospitalizations did not increase.

In the event of an increase in the number of infections or a change in the situation, incoming travelers will be re-evaluated and adapted to the sandbox scheme, Visanuyothin said.

Under a sandbox program launched last year, fully vaccinated visitors spend seven nights at designated locations, such as the resort island of Phuket, before being allowed to travel to the rest of Thailand.
UNDERSTAND CHINA: What has the CPC got right?

People's Daily Online) 18:11, December 31, 2021

It's hard to truly and fully understand a country without first appreciating the nature of its own political system and unique path towards development. On this topic, People's Daily Online has got you covered with our series of multi-faceted and in-depth conversations with foreign and domestic thought leaders on the subject of domestic and international politics, discussions that can hopefully help to clear some of the air between China and those who may still have a false impression of the country and its people.

In this episode, Jiang Feng, Chairman of Shanghai International Studies University Council, along with Rudolf Albert Scharping, Germanys former defense minister and former chairman of the German Social Democratic Party, share their insights on the one-party system in the eyes of Western people as well as China-European debates on human rights issues.

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UNDERSTAND CHINA: West is hypocritical when warning Africa about China as a colonizer

UNDERSTAND CHINA: How the CPC differs from Western political parties

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Investigators gather in the 2400 block of E. Monument St. where at least four people were shot Wednesday evening, January 19, 2022. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

A quadruple shooting in East Baltimore on Wednesday night left three people dead, including a Safe Streets worker, and one person injured, police said. Three others were injured in separate shootings in West and South Baltimore.

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At about 7:25 p.m., Eastern District patrol officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the 2400 block of E. Monument St. Once there, officers located four men suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

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A 28-year-old man was pronounced dead on the scene. Medics transported three other victims to area hospitals, where a 24-year-old man and another man were also pronounced dead.

[ Baltimore homicides interactive map ]

The fourth victim, a 27-year-old man, is expected to survive.

One of the victims pronounced dead was a Safe Streets East worker, police said. Safe Streets is a city-backed organization made up of staff members who have had their own scrapes with the law, are respected on the streets and step in to try to mediate and end conflicts between people or groups before they turn violent.

City officials said they were heartbroken and angered by the death of the Safe Streets worker. They asked for residents to keep the victims and their families in their thoughts.

We are heartbroken and angered by the news that another one of our own, a member of the Safe Streets family, was tragically taken from us during tonights quadruple shooting in East Baltimore, Shantay Jackson, director of the Mayors Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, which helps oversee Safe Streets, said in a statement. We lost a brother, a villager, who was doing his job and nothing more. We must do better.

The Mayors Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement will provide grief counseling and familial supports, Jackson said.

Mayor Brandon Scott called the incident a horrific tragedy.

Our Safe Streets workers put their lives on the line day in and day out because they believe in a better future for our city  a future we all should believe in, Scott said in a statement.

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Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison added: We are dedicating every available resource to finding and apprehending the cowardly perpetrators of this act.

Last year, two Safe Streets workers were fatally shot in the communities they served: Kenyell Wilson in Cherry Hill in South Baltimore in July and Dante Barksdale outside Douglass Homes in East Baltimore in January.

On Wednesday night, family members wailed and embraced one another and they stood on a nearby corner outside the crime scene tape. They declined to comment.

The Milton-Montford neighborhood shooting scene was quiet, except for a few onlookers who all declined to speak with a reporter.

All I know is that this community is hurting and families are crying tonight, Baltimore City Councilman Antonio Glover said at the scene.

He urged anybody with information to come forward, saying that Baltimores violence can be solved only with unity.

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If you see something, you need to say something, he said. This is the only way were going to cure the violence.

Afternoon Update Weekdays Updating you on the day's biggest news before the evening commute. >

Homicide detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2100 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.

Earlier in the evening, Southern District patrol officers located two 25-year-old men suffering from gunshot wounds, both non-life-threatening, at an area hospital.

A crime scene was located in Baltimores Brooklyn neighborhood in the 3600 block of Hanover St.

Southern District detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2499 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.

At about 9:46 p.m., Western District patrol officers responded to an area hospital for a report of a walk-in shooting victim. Once there, officers located a 29-year-old man suffering from apparent graze wounds to the body. The victim stated that the incident occurred in the 2100 block of Baker St. in the Easterwood neighborhood.

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Western District detectives are asking anyone with information to contact them at 410-396-2477 or Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup.
Armenia must correctly assess the new geopolitical realities and draw conclusions from them. Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijani presidential aide and head of the foreign policy department at the office of the Azerbaijani president, told this to reporters.

Recalling the recent interview of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to local TV channels, Hajiyev noted that in this interview the head of state answered media members questions, including on the normalization of relations with Armenia.

"The President touched upon issues that can serve as a basis for the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the start of negotiations on the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Naturally, we are waiting for appropriate responses from Armenia. Yerevan must correctly assess the new geopolitical realities that have emerged in the region and draw conclusions from them," Hajiyev said, Haqqin.az reported.

To note, in the aforementioned interview, the Azerbaijani president had once again expressed territorial claims to Armenia, reaching the point of claiming that Zangezur, Sevan, and capital Yerevan are Azerbaijani, and at the same time expressed dissatisfaction with the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and the OSCE Minsk Group.
At the end of December 2021, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the National Depository of Ukraine (NDU) and the Central Depository of Armenia (CDA), in particular, the Memorandum provides for cooperation on the issues of the new application of Armenian Depository - CDA Online, as well as electronic voting.

The main purpose of the Memorandum is to define a further algorithm of cooperation between depositories in the framework of joint efforts to develop new functions of depository software, and also to create an additional platform for sharing experiences between the two countries. We have been cooperating with NDU for many years and supporting their active innovation policy. It is very important for us to strengthen cooperation with our Ukrainian partners, as we mutually support technological modernization, exchange of knowledge and experience," added Vahan Stepanyan, Chief Executive Officer of the Central Depository of Armenia. Oleksii Yudin, Chairman of the NDU Board, noted that this Memorandum between the Depositaries of Ukraine and Armenia is an important step for the development and digitalization of Ukraine's capital markets. "Cooperation with the Central Depository is aimed at implementation of mutual interest of the two depositories in strengthening correspondent relations and creating new opportunities and services for market participants in both Ukraine and Armenia," Oleksii Yudin commented. In November 2020, NDU opened an account with the Central Depository of Armenia, which provides Ukrainian investors with access to the Armenian securities market, and holders of Armenian securitieswith the opportunity to account their securities in their own accounts in the depository system of Ukraine.

Having built a "link" with the CDA opened the possibility of safe and clear accounting of foreign securities for Ukrainian financial institutions and investors.
Russia, as a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group, supports the continuation of the work of this formatfirst of all, in accordance with its mandate and, of course, taking into account the regional realities that have emerged after 2020. The statement came from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharovaand in response to a question about Moscow's position on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statement on "not allowing the OSCE Minsk Group to deal with the Karabakh conflict."

"This position of ours is fully shared by our partners in the OSCE Minsk Groupthe United States and France. This is reflected in the joint statement of the foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries on December 7, 2021," Zakharova added.

She recalled that during the meetings last year between the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the parties were given balanced and quite realistic proposals for further cooperation on the agenda.

"It was aimed at solving urgent humanitarian problemsfirst of all, in the socioeconomic sphere. We are waiting for an official response from the partiesincluding on the resumption of the [Minsk Group] troika's regional visits," said the official representative of the Russian foreign ministry.
The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not comment on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs threats against French presidential candidate Valerie Pecressein connection with her recent visit to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

"Azerbaijani-French relations should be commented on by the representatives of Baku and Paris," Maria Zakharova said.

She recalled, however, that Russia is committed to "the main approaches to visiting those territories."

"The Russian peacekeeping contingent has been deployed along the line of contact in the Lachin corridorbased on the November 9, 2020 statement of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. According to point 6 of this statement, the Lachin corridor is under the control of Russian peacekeepers. Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of movement of citizens, vehicles, and goods through the Lachin corridorin two directions.

The command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent has established a visitation procedure for the area of carrying out peacekeeping operationincluding for foreign citizens, employees of international mission organizations. This procedure is well known to the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides. In particular, the Russian peacekeepers will be notified in advance and properly of such trips," said the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry.
There is only one fight against the omicron strain - vaccination. It is quite contagious, there is a sharp increase in many countries, but vaccinations helped us to prevent a large increase in mortality, said Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan.

Her remarks came during the government session on January 20, despite the fact that there is no scientific evidence of the effectiveness of the available vaccines against the new strain.

For his part, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that another wave of the COVID-19 virus is approaching Armenia.

For 4-5 days in a row there is a significant increase daily, compared to the previous day, the number of cases has almost doubled, which means that the omicron strain is slowly spreading, said Anahit Avanesyan.

Inspection agencies must strictly enforce the restrictions that have come into effect, Pashinyan said.

This is done precisely in the interest of representatives of business entities, because otherwise we will have to go to lockdown, concluded the Prime Minister.
DaShawn McGrier, a Safe Streets violence interrupter at McElderry Park, was one of the three men shot and killed Wednesday night on E. Monument Street, a spokeswoman for the organization confirmed.

McGrier had been working with Safe Streets for a little over a month, going to welding school by day and joining the anti-violence program at night, said Living Classrooms Foundation spokeswoman Meg Ward, who called him hardworking and a devoted, present father.

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DaShawn McGrier, a Safe Streets worker, was killed Wednesday night in a quadruple shooting. (DaShawn McGrier)

Living Classrooms is a nonprofit that operates Safe Streets sites in the McElderry Park and Belair-Edison neighborhoods. He was working at the time he was shot, Ward said.

He was passionate about reducing violence in the community and wanted to be a positive part of that, Ward said. He was from the community. He wanted the best for his community.

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A police officer talks to people gathered near the scene of a shooting in the 2400 block of E. Monument St. on January 19, 2022. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

He knew that violence and trauma were present in the community, and he wanted to change that.

The quadruple shooting in East Baltimores Milton Montford neighborhood, several blocks east of Johns Hopkins Hospital, left three men dead and another person injured. Police on Friday identified the other victims who died as Tyrone Allen, 28, of Montford Avenue and Hassan Smith, 24, of Rockingham Court.

Police officers responded at about 7:25 p.m. to a ShotSpotter alert in the 2400 block of E. Monument Street, where they found four men suffering from apparent gunshot wounds.

Another man was killed in another shooting Thursday afternoon in West Baltimore, near the 1600 block of W. North Avenue, bringing the death toll in less than 24 hours to four.

McGrier is the third Safe Streets worker to be killed in a little over a year. Kenyell Wilson was killed in Cherry Hill in July and Dante Barksdale was shot to death outside Douglass Homes last January.

McGrier also was the victim in 2018 of a savage beating by then-Baltimore Police Officer Arthur Williams that was caught on cellphone footage and went viral. The video and testimony at Williams criminal trial showed the attack came as McGrier was walking away from Williams and asking why are you harassing me.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Tanner found Williams guilty and sentenced him to nine months in prison, and McGrier received a settlement of $500,000 from the city. He was hospitalized for three days and suffered a broken jaw and broken ribs among other injuries.

Warren Brown, an attorney who represented McGrier in his lawsuit against Baltimore Police, said McGrier had received about $300,000 from the settlement, and had some sensible plans to start breeding high-end dogs and open a kennel.

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Brown didnt know McGrier had joined Safe Streets but said he wasnt surprised. The 2018 excessive force case was precipitated by McGriers intervention in a separate incident, when he came to the aid of a woman who officers were confronting, Brown said.

It sounds like that would have been him, Brown said. He was that kind of way.

Safe Streets is a city-backed organization with workers who have had their own scrapes with the law but are respected on the streets and step in to interrupt or mediate conflicts before violence occurs.

Mayor Brandon Scotts five-year crime-fighting plan calls for expanding the number of violence prevention programs and potentially revamping the current Safe Streets model. In October, Scott announced $50 million of the citys federal coronavirus recovery allocation would be put toward violence prevention work.

Our Safe Streets workers put their lives on the line day in and day out because they believe in a better future for our city  a future we all should believe in, Scott said in a statement released Wednesday night.

Ward said Thursday that the Safe Streets East team was heartbroken.

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It underscores the incredible need for violence interventions that work, added Ward, calling Safe Streets a research-based, evidence-based model. Our Safe Streets team believes in what they do.

In a statement provided by Ward, Cheryl Riviere, the managing director of community safety at Living Classrooms, said: DaShawn would always say that if we could change peoples mentality and give them some options, resources, a GED, a trade, a job ... Theyll listen.

Shantay Jackson, director of the Mayors Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that Safe Streets staff are feeling more determined to work aggressively to engage communities suffering from gun violence in the wake of this loss.

The mayors plan also calls for an evaluation of the current Safe Streets program seeking ways to prioritize the safety, support and training of outreach workers and site staff, according to Stefanie Mavronis, chief of staff for the Mayors Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, who has studied Safe Streets impact, said Wednesdays incident underscores the inherent danger of the violence interruption work, as well as the importance of offering workers protections, training and support.

Webster added he thought it appropriate to honor Safe Streets workers similarly to police officers killed in the line of duty, with the city recognizing that someone was risking their life on behalf of the communitys safety and lost their life.

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Such recognition would send a message to potential shooters that you just dont do this, Webster said, and a sign to violence interrupters that they are honored, revered and that the city is there for you (and) your communities are there for you.

Afternoon Update Weekdays Updating you on the day's biggest news before the evening commute. >

It is really critical in the response to this kind of tragedy that the city and the community really embraces the family, holds up this individual in the most respectful way possible, Webster said, and make a clear statement that these workers are very highly valued, doing a very important job.

A citywide Safe Streets response is expected to take place Saturday, Ward said, but details still were being finalized.

An early evaluation of Safe Streets by Johns Hopkins researchers found strong reductions in homicides and shootings in certain neighborhoods, but a more recent report in 2018 found that effects had waned over time. Researchers are analyzing additional data now, but Webster said it was too soon to share any information.

McElderry Park is the citys longest-running Safe Streets site, The Baltimore Sun previously reported, and has in the past seen stretches without homicides of up to 500 days. Safe Streets opened its first site roughly 15 years ago and has become a flagship anti-violence program in Baltimore, at a time when communities have called for public safety strategies outside of law enforcement.

Baltimores current model is largely the bare necessities, Webster added. A retooling of the system could include more intense interventions, with more connections to services, resources and supports, or a response across neighborhood boundaries.

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As we think about what can we expect from community violence intervention, we cant expect them to do miracles, Webster said. Thats what weve done: Weve put a relatively small number of workers, with a relatively modest amount of resources, spread out throughout our large city.

We have to build a system that matches the nature of the problem.
Members of the Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots discussed with Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Stanislav Zas the presence of biological laboratories in some countries near the Russian borders. Leonid Kalashnikov, head of the committee, told reporters, TASS reported.

Kalashnikov said that they talked about health issues and indirect issues of maintaining, for example, biological laboratories in some countries, this does not apply to the CSTO, but it applies to the political component, to them.

Kalashnikov also said that after the peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan, some internal CSTO procedures will be adjusted.

He summarized by saying that there is a Parliamentary Assembly of the CSTO, which is designed to help with legislative issues.

As Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said earlier, the biological laboratories being set up by the U.S. around the world pose a threat to the health of tens of millions of people.
YEREVAN.  The visiting Armenian delegation, led by the National Assembly (NA) President Alen Simonyan, on Wednesday met with the chairman Gregory Meeks of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as House members Brad Sherman and Chris Smith, the NA informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Welcoming the members of the delegation, Meeks has noted that they have paid special attention to the democratic processes in Armenia since 2018. He also expressed readiness to always support those reforms.

Issues related to the 44-day war and its consequences were discussed at the meeting. At the request of American partners, Alen Simonyan touched upon the issues of security of the Armenian border, the settlement of post-war humanitarian problems and the repatriation of hostages held in Azerbaijan. The American side informed that the U.S. House of Representatives, and in particular their Committee, is strictly concerned about the fate of prisoners of war and thinks that they should be immediately repatriated to their homeland. During the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee has emphasized that it is very important to ensure the stability of the South Caucasus and in that context, it is necessary to reach a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and a lasting settlement of the issue. The United States will greatly contribute to that, including in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Alen Simonyan underlined the importance of the recognition of the Genocide by the U.S. House of Representatives of the Congress at the meeting, emphasizing the role of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanking to the Armenian NA President for the high assessment, those present once again stressed that it was really the result of the continuous work.

At the end of the meeting, Alen Simonyan has informed that a number of events and mutual visits are planned within the framework of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Armenia and the U.S. The NA President invited the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and its members to visit Armenia to get acquainted with the existing problems and the democratic achievements on the spot.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 20.01.22:

The Investigative Committee of Armenia continues the preliminary investigation of the criminal case initiated on the fact of unleashing an aggressive war against Artsakh by Azerbaijan, the use of military mercenaries, the use of prohibited methods and means of warfare, targeting the civilian population of peaceful settlements, serious violations of the norms of international humanitarian law.

The press service of the Armenian Investigative Committee told Armenian News-NEWS.am that within the framework of the criminal case, it was established that the total number of servicemen and civilians who died in Artsakh and Armenia as a result of the aggressive war unleashed by Azerbaijan is 3,809 people. As of 01/19/2022, the whereabouts of 199 military personnel and 21 civilians are unknown.

To date, Azerbaijan has handed over 141 servicemen and civilians taken prisoner to Armenia.

The Turkish foreign minister spoke about the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that the steps to increase mutual trust between the two sides will be discussed by the representatives of Armenia and Turkey at the next meeting, the Turkish TRT reports.

"The goals and targets of starting the process were discussed at the first meeting. The main goal is the complete normalization [of relations]. Armenians are also very satisfied with this. However, in the process toward complete normalization, in addition to the start of flights and the appointment of special representatives, the next meeting will work on the issue of complete normalization, and will discuss steps to increase mutual trust," said the Turkish FM.

Aravot newspaper addressed the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with the recent statements made by the Azerbaijani President towards the Russian peacekeepers, to whom the Azerbaijani President has questions, as well as in connection with the statement that the Azerbaijani side allegedly monitors the movement through the Lachin corridor.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent is located along the line of contact and in the Lachin corridor, in accordance with the statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, signed November 9, 2020 on the ceasefire and all types of military action in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. According to this agreement, the Lachin corridor is under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

As of Thursday morning, 621 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 349,329 in the country.

Also, one more death from COVID-19 was registered, making the respective total 8,026 cases.

The US State Department has given green light to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send missiles and other US-made weapons to Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing three sources.

Under export control regulations, countries must obtain permission from the State Department before transferring any weapons they receive from the US to third parties.

The third-party transfer agreements would allow Estonia to transfer Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine and Stinger missiles to Lithuania, one of the sources said.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates warned of pandemics far more serious than Covid-19 and urged governments to set aside billions of dollars to prepare for the next global outbreak, the FT reported.

The philanthropist said that while variants of the Omicron and Delta coronavirus were among the most transmissible viruses ever, and the world may have to face a pathogen that causes much higher rates of death or severe illness.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust UK are giving $300 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness.
Neo-Nazi Anders Breivik, who committed a 2011 mass murder in Norway that killed more than 80 people, has not improved during his time in prison and should remain behind bars, state prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir said, Reuters reported.

On the final day of a three-day parole hearing, prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir said in her closing argument that Anders Behring Breivik has not shown any genuine remorse in court and his behavior there is part of a PR stunt.

Breivik, 42, is serving Norway's maximum prison sentence of 21 years, which can be extended indefinitely if the court decides he continues to pose a threat to society. Breivik is eligible to petition for parole and said he hopes he will eventually be released.

Breivik hopes he will be released somewhere between 2032 and 2070, he will be 91 years old by the end of 2070.

A prison psychiatrist testified Wednesday that Breivik's ability to act violently has not diminished.
Armenian Foreign Ministry commented on Turkey's invitation to participate in the second Antalya diplomatic forum to be held on March 11-13 this year.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahan Hunanyan told Sputnik Armenia that Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has received and is receiving invitations to participate in various forums, including the Antalya Diplomatic Forum.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia is discussing the expediency of the minister's participation in these events in an appropriate manner. Hunanian said that society will be informed of the decisions made in due course.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in particular that he had invited colleagues from neighboring countries, including Armenia and Greece, to participate in the forum.

According to him, the event will be a free platform and everyone's voice will be heard. Representatives from the Greek part of Cyprus, Egypt and Israel have also been invited to the forum.
Theresa B. Felder, Ed.D., has been appointed to the board of directors of University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health. (University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health)

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health has appointed Theresa B. Felder, president of Harford Community College; Ryan D. John, chief financial officer at Independent Can Co. ; and James C. Richardson, retired director of human resources for Harford County, to the board of directors of UMUCH, its hospitals and the Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation.

We are fortunate to have three dynamic Harford County leaders join our board of directors, said Elizabeth Wise, president and chief executive officer of UMUCH. Their expertise will assist us as we continue to provide the best possible health care to the communities we serve.

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A resident of Havre de Grace, Felder has served as president of Harford Community College since January 2021. She came to HCC from Clark State College in Springfield, Ohio, where she served in several roles including senior vice president, and was responsible for leading the Student Affairs Division, strategic planning and institutional research.

Felder serves on the boards of the Harford County Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Advisory Board, Harford Business Round Table for Education, Northeastern Maryland Technology Council, Susquehanna Workforce Network and the Greater Baltimore Committee.

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Felder holds a doctorate in higher education leadership from Northeastern University, a masters degree in administration from Central Michigan University, and a bachelors degree in accounting from Syracuse University.

John, a Fallston resident, leads financial and corporate strategy for Independent Can Co., in Belcamp. Before joining the company in 2019, Ryan spent 19 years at Alban Tractor Co., Inc., where he served in a variety of positions including executive vice president, vice president of accounting and information technology, and controller.

He is a volunteer with Meals on Wheels and Mountain Christian Church, and holds a bachelors degree in economics and business administration from McDaniel College.

Richardson, a resident of Pylesville, retired in 2021 as director of human resources for Harford County government, a position he held from 2014-2021 and from 1998-2006. For eight years, Richardson was director of economic development for Harford County. Among his accomplishments were establishing the Chesapeake Science and Security Corridor, preparing Harford County for the Base Ralignment and Closure 2005 move of more than 22,000 positions as part of a U.S. Department of Defense reorganization program, and implementing the Saba/Halogen Performance Management System.

Richardson is secretary of the Highland Community Association. He has served as vice president and program committee chair for the Maryland Public Employer Labor Relations Association; a member of the board of directors of Mason-Dixon Community Services; and an elder with the Highland Presbyterian Church.

Richardson holds a masters degree in economics from Virginia Tech and a bachelors in political science from Lynchburg College.

The new board members will serve a one-year term.
Today, the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies and Steward Health Care System announced a new partnership to place nursing students in clinical rotations and preceptorships in Stewards five recently acquired South Florida hospitals: North Shore Medical Center, Coral Gables Hospital, Hialeah Hospital, and Palmetto General Hospital in Miami-Dade County, and Florida Medical Center in Broward County. The agreement will also include Continuing Education opportunities for all nurses at Steward South Florida facilities, providing valuable enrichment training to ensure consistent world-class clinical care and patient experience.

Steward Health Care System and our thousands of team members are excited about this partnership with the University of Miami, and we are exploring other areas where we can collaborate clinically, said Michael G. Callum, MD, Steward Executive Vice President for Physician Services.

The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies enthusiastically welcomes Steward Health Care to South Florida, said Dean Cindy L. Munro, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, FAAAS. We are happy for the opportunity to partner with Steward, an innovator in community-based, value-driven, and outcome-focused care, to provide unique and beneficial clinical experiences for our nursing students throughout the community.

As part of the largest physician-owned and led hospital network in the country, this partnership will bring significant resources and a dedicated commitment to meeting Floridas ongoing need for nurses, said Dr. Marisela Marrero, President of Steward South Florida Region. We are honored to partner with the UMs School of Nursing and Health Studies to provide outstanding clinical training and mentorship, while preparing the next generation of nurses to deliver the highest quality, compassionate care to our unique and diverse community.

The University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies students and alumni are consistently recognized by area nursing leaders for being well-prepared with the academic excellence, clinical skills, and hands-on experience (through training at the universitys landmark simulation hospital, S.H.A.R.E. ) needed to excel in real-world clinical settings. This high level of proficiency is instilled by University of Miami faculty, who are exceptional educators, as well as leaders in their fields and the communities in which they practice and call home.

Initially, clinical placements will focus on undergraduate students, with plans to expand to place graduate nursing students, including nurse anesthesiology students, with preceptors.

Clinical rotations at Stewards South Florida hospitals provide a fantastic opportunity to develop our students capacity to care for patients in a wide range of clinical specialties supervised by world-class clinicians while honing their capacity for cultural humility, health equity, and patient safety, said Nichole Crenshaw, DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC, ANP-BC, CHSE, FAANP, the schools Associate Dean for Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Associate Professor of Clinical. This opportunity will enhance their ability to shine as the next generation of nurses caring for diverse populations.

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About University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies:

At the School of Nursing and Health Studies, we transform lives and health care through education, research, innovation, and service across the hemisphere. Our faculty and students seek bold solutions to improve health outcomes, and we value our collaborations with each of our 250+ clinical and community health partners. From our inception as South Floridas first collegiate nursing program in 1948, we have contributed to the professional development of tens of thousands of clinicians, health scientists, and educators across the hemisphere. Our undergraduate nursing program ranks in the top 5% (#31) nationwide in US News & World Report, with first-time NCLEX-RN pass rates that are well above state and national averages. US News & World Report also ranks our MSN and DNP programs in the nations top 6% (#34) and 11% (#38), respectively. For more information visit, www.sonhs.miami.edu.

About Steward Health Care System:

Nearly a decade ago, Steward Health Care System emerged as a different kind of health care company designed to usher in a new era of wellness. One that provides our patients better, more proactive care at a sustainable cost, our providers unrivaled coordination of care, and our communities greater prosperity and stability. As the countrys largest physician-led, tax paying, integrated health care system, our doctors can be certain that we share their interests and those of their patients. Together we are on a mission to revolutionize the way health care is delivered - creating healthier lives, thriving communities and a better world.

Steward is among the nations largest and most successful accountable care organizations (ACO), with more than 5,500 providers and 43,000 health care professionals who care for 12.3 million patients a year through a closely integrated network of hospitals, multispecialty medical groups, urgent care centers, skilled nursing facilities and behavioral health centers.

Based in Dallas, Steward currently operates 39 hospitals across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.

Media Contacts:

Rosa M. Lamazares-Romero

University of Miami

School of Nursing & Health Studies

(305) 284-6255 | rmlromero@miami.edu

Steward Health Care System

Sonia Diaz

Balsera Communications

(305) 457-8404 | sonia@balserapr.com
Professor Sam Purkis was drawn to the Red Sea at a young age.

Before college, the marine geoscientist worked as a SCUBA instructor on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, just north of Sudan.

Theres something really evocative about how stark and arid the desert is, and then you cross into the ocean and you find some of the richest coral reefs on Earth, said Purkis, who is also chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences for the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Years later, when Purkis was invited to join a 2020 research expedition facilitated by OceanX to map the seafloor and study the oceanography, biology, and geology of the Red Sea, he jumped at the opportunity.

Scientists believe the Red Sea only started to form about 30 million years ago when the African and Arabian tectonic plates began to separate. Although that may seem like long ago, according to Purkis, considering that the supercontinent Pangaea broke apart to form the Atlantic Ocean 245 million years ago, geologically speaking, the Red Sea is young. The rate at which the Red Sea basin is presently opening is measured in centimeters per year and is accompanied by a great deal of seismic activity in the region.

The Red Sea is really evolving on human timescales, Purkis pointed out. Thats how incredibly young it is, and by studying the Red Sea, we can look back at the birth of the great oceans. Thats why this is such a unique place on Earth and such an interesting place to work.

The marine geoscientist described his six-week adventure into the depths of the Red Seaalong with his discoveries aboard a small submersibleduring the first Sea Secrets lecture of 2022, Beauty and Peril in the Red Sea, hosted by the Rosenstiel School.

It was the first of six lectures, which was offered virtually, but ideally may soon be offered both virtually and in person, said Dean Roni Avissar. All Sea Secrets events begin at 7 p.m. and typically last one hour.

Upcoming Events

Feb. 8: Edith Widder, an oceanographer, deep sea explorer, marine biologist, and co-founder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association will give the lecture Here Be Monsters: Exploring the Edge of the Map, which will focus on how the discovery of the giant squid helped demonstrate how little of the ocean scientists have explored. Register here.

Feb. 17: Shimon ElKabetz, chief executive officer and co-founder of Tomorrow.io (formerly Climacell), will talk about the need for climate security and preparation in the face of global warming. His lecture, Weather Intelligence: Climate Security is the New Cyber Security, will address the need to put systems in place to adapt to the changing climate. Register here.

March 15: Bradley Moore, distinguished professor and director of the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, will discuss Reading and Writing the Genetic Code of Marine Life to Cure Human Disease. Register here.

April 5: Ved Chirayath, director of the Aircraft Center for Earth Studies and the G. Unger Vetlesen Chair of Earth Studies at the Rosenstiel School will tackle the topic of emerging technologies that can be used to explore the oceans and space in his lecture, Revealing the Ocean Deep: Next Generation Sensing Technologies for Marine and Planetary Science. Register here.

April 19: Cynthia Barnett, award-winning environmental journalist, and journalist in residence at the University of Floridas College of Journalism and Communication will discuss her latest book chronicling the relationship between humans and seashells during her lecture, The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans. Register here.

Read more about Sea Secrets events. Watch a video of Purkis lecture, Beauty and Peril in the Red Sea.
Lea Dorne still vividly remembers visiting a Syrian refugee camp and standing inside a familys United Nations trailer in Jordan.

But she wasnt actually in the Middle East. Dorne observed the familys reality through an Oculus Quest headset while watching a film shot in virtual reality (VR).

Its very different than seeing a video clip on your smartphone, said Dorne, a senior majoring in music business at the University of Miami. When a movie surrounds you [in virtual reality], you cant escape it. Therefore, the impact is multiplied. Its much stronger, bigger, and more emotional, and these films can get a message across in a more impactful way.

Dorne saw the film, Clouds over Sidra, as part of an Interactive Media class in the School of Communication. The experience solidified her decision to apply for and accept a Plus One Scholarship to spend an extra year at the University learning how she can blend immersive technology and music to amplify the power of film.

Virtual reality has had the impact of making me think about other people and going to places I couldnt go, pointed out Dorne, who is also developing a virtual reality application with the programming help of Varun Krishnan, first-year Miller School of Medicine student. In terms of education, thats so powerful.

She is part of a growing community of University students and faculty and staff members exploring the use of immersive technologywhich includes virtual, augmented, and mixed realityto improve the world around them. The Universitys XR Initiative, launched in 2018 with Plantation-based Magic Leap, continues to evolve across three campuses as more students and faculty members develop projects that utilize immersive technology and can be viewed on a growing variety of devices and headsets.

The Internet will become immersive, and this is how we will experience things online, said Kim Grinfeder, director of the XR Initiative and chair of the Department of Interactive Media.

It comes at a time when immersive technology is becoming a critical tool to engage in the metaverseor a virtual version of societywhich could be even more convenient for students, professionals, and educators in times of necessary isolation.

Learn in a virtual location

For example, students can attend classes and learn in a virtual location of their choice using virtual reality headsets. This is something that Grinfeder, along with William Green, professor of religious studies; and Denis Hector, associate professor of architecture, are exploring this semester in the second edition of their course, Religion and Sacred Space in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. They hope that every class can be held in a different sacred space around the globe, with both students and professors avatars sitting around a virtual discussion table (using University-owned Oculus Quest headsets to attend).

Using augmented reality (or AR) applications, digital images or information are layered on top of our physical environment. These apps can be viewed through either a phone or tablets camera or by using headsets like the Magic Leap One or the Microsoft HoloLens 2. Today, AR is used widely to create architectural models that allow users to touch or click on certain areas of a building and learn more about them, said Rodolphe el-Khoury, dean of the School of Architecture.

Last fall, students in the senior design studio class displayed AR models of their proposal for Cutler Bays new Town Hall and a neighborhood redevelopment project near Atlanta at the School of Architectures Homecoming tent. Using tablets or their own phone cameras, visitors could see an augmented version of the students design, with information like the water and elevation conditions for each site and expected population density. They also could visualize greenspaces within the model.

We are investing in emerging technology in a variety of platforms to ensure greater access to immersive learning experiences, said el-Khoury, adding that the school is also utilizing virtual reality and that lecturer Ruth Rons Introduction to VR and AR class has gained a steady following. At Homecoming, we wanted the students designs to be as accessible as possible, so that people could use their phones as a lens through which they could view and interact with the project. When headsets become more pervasive, this will be an even more immersive experience. And we are preparing students for that reality, which we anticipate will be prevalent in the future.

Grinfeder has watched the desire to utilize immersive technology steadily progress since he worked on his first VR project in 2014 at the School of Communication.

The University of Miami is well-prepared and ready when it comes to immersive technologies, he said. And Im thankful that the administration had the foresight to notice how important these technologies are and to invest in them. That was very forward-thinking, and its why were not behind the curve today.

Grants offered to build new XR products

Each year, through the XR Initiative, more students and faculty and staff members who want to explore the field are learning how to incorporate augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality into their research and scholarship. Those with an idea to advance their field of study can apply for funding through the Universitys XR grants and the Provost XR Awards.

So far, 32 faculty members and 11 students have received funding to produce XR applications. Dorne received a grant to build an app inspired by synesthesia: a neurological condition where two of a persons senses are experienced simultaneouslylike if certain sounds elicit images or colors. In her app, users can play different notes on a drum, and each note elicits a different colored firework on the horizon. Soon, the drum notes are powering a ship forward through the ocean, and the player engages in a rhythm duel with an enemy ship.

My intent was to incite a spark in peoples creative minds to establish connections between two forms of art, said Dorne. So, the user can be playing a drum set, and by playing certain patterns or sequences it triggers a visual narrative.

Berk Basarer, a senior studying electrical engineering, is launching AR Translate, an application that offers users real-time language translation using an augmented reality headset, so that people could communicate even if they do not speak the same language. With the app, users would see real-life subtitles of what the other person is saying and could express themselves in their preferred language.

Gaining firsthand knowledge

Currently, at least 26 University courses incorporate virtual and augmented reality into their curriculum. There are also several places on campus where students and faculty members can experience immersive technology.

All University students and faculty and staff members have access to the XR Community Lab on the third floor of Richter Library, although appointments are recommended. In addition, students and faculty members in the School of Communication can use the XR Studio, and students and faculty members at the School of Architecture can visit the Responsive Architecture and Design (RAD) Lab and its VR/AR facility.

On-the-ground training in how to program for virtual reality (typically using software called Unity) can be gained through classes at the School of Architecture, School of Communication, and in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Computer Science.

Students who want an accelerated experience can also serve as an apprentice in the UMIT Innovate program. Director Max Cacchione leads a team of student programmers at UMIT Innovate who work with students and faculty members to bring their extended reality ideas to life. Although some of his first trainees were computer science and software engineering students, he said, interest in learning how to program for virtual and augmented reality expanded to other corners of the University.

Theres more student interest in learning how to navigate immersive technologies, and each year our team grows about 30 percent, Cacchione said. Students benefit from the program by obtaining a job at UM, a Unity Certification, and experience working on an agile software team. The University also benefits from the creation of intellectual property and grant opportunities through projects driven by faculty who employ UM Innovate students.

Computer science professors Ubbo Visser and Viktor Milenkovic agree. Visser teaches an introduction to game programming course that is open to all undergraduates and is always full. Milenkovic teaches classes in computational geometry, or the mathematics behind 3D programming for virtual and augmented reality. But he also serves on the XR Initiatives advisory board.

We teach the principles, so people understand whats going on and whats possible in this medium, said Milenkovic, who is also chair of the Department of Computer Science.

Some of their particularly skilled students often do an independent study, and two graduate students recently worked with Milenkovic and Visser to finish an XR application. Their app, Intuitive Interface for Human-Robot Interaction, uses augmented reality headsets to create a personalized 3D map of a house, which is then used to train human support robots to navigate an elderly persons home.

Someone will come in wearing AR goggles, and they will map out the home and furniture. So, the robot knows where their bed is and where the bathroom is, for example, Milenkovic explained.

A world of opportunity

As XR equipment and technology become more accessible, faculty members are coming up with valuable ideas about how to integrate the technology, according to Cacchione, which is keeping his student team very busy.

The UMIT Innovate team is now starting work on an applicationdevised by engineering lecturer Diana Arboleda and associate professor James Giancasproto teach statics. This is an area of physics critical to young engineers that is difficult to comprehend in a 2D textbook but is much clearer in 3D, which is possible using augmented reality. This collaboration was recently awarded a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Faculty members can also enlist the help of professionals at the Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) to develop applications in extended reality. Manouj Govindaraju, a software engineer at IDSC, is working with several faculty members who received XR grants this semester. Smart Assistant, conceptualized by communications professor Ching-Hua Chuan, will help line workers train and refine their skills using artificial intelligence and augmented reality headsets that will track each step of a process and then redirect the worker if they forget a step, helping them to become more efficient. Another application devised by Delia Cabrera DeBuc, research associate professor of ophthalmology, and Dr. Ranya Habash, assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology, aims to help clinicians diagnose neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimers, at an early stage. The app will simulate a virtual reality grocery store trip and then track a patients brain activity to see if they struggle to remember what they need to buy.

Grinfeder is pleased to see a rise in student and faculty enthusiasm for immersive technology, which grows as more useful ideas are proposed each semester.

That Magic Leap launch really pushed everybody at the University to think about immersive media and what the metaverse could become, and now were starting to see the fruits of it, he said. A lot of the applications were currently getting are well-grounded ideas that demonstrate an understanding of how these technologies can be leveraged. And while this idea of the metaverse might have caught some people at other institutions off guard, here at the University of Miami, thats not the case.
 First orally administered therapy for the treatment of the two main types of ANCA-associated vasculitis approved in Europe

 First launches expected in H1 2022

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Regulatory News:

Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (VFMCRP) today announced that the European Commission has approved Tavneos in combination with a rituximab or cyclophosphamide regimen for the treatment of adult patients with severe, active granulomatosis polyangiitis (GPA) or microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), the two main forms of ANCA-associated vasculitis. The approval is consistent with expectations and overall follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Tavneos in October 2021 for the same indication. Tavneos will receive marketing authorization in all member states of the European Union, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The European Commissions approval of Tavneos is a milestone for the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis in Europe and for patients living with this debilitating disease, said Dr. Klaus Henning Jensen, Chief Medical Officer of Vifor Pharma. We are confident that Tavneos can become part of the new standard of care supporting better outcomes for patients, a better quality of life, and reduce the challenging side-effects of current treatment options. We look forward to working with EU member states to provide access to this important medicine, with first launches expected in the first half of 2022.

This is a significant step forward for patients in Europe living with this systemic condition, said Prof. David Jayne, Professor of Clinical Autoimmunity, University of Cambridge. They will now have available a new class of medication that meets major unmet medical needs in the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis.

EU approval is based on a comprehensive development program, culminating in the results from the pivotal phase-III trial ADVOCATE in 331 patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis in 20 countries, comparing treatment regimens including Tavneos to current standard of care treatment regimens with high dose glucocorticoid use. The study met its primary endpoints of disease remission at week 26 and sustained remission at week 52, as assessed by the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS). Tavneos demonstrated superiority over standard of care at week 52.

About Vifor Pharma Group

Vifor Pharma Group is a global pharmaceuticals company. It aims to become the global leader in iron deficiency, nephrology and cardio-renal therapies. The company is a partner of choice for pharmaceuticals and innovative patient-focused solutions. Vifor Pharma Group strives to help patients around the world with severe and chronic diseases lead better, healthier lives. The company develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products for precision patient care. Vifor Pharma Group holds a leading position in all its core business activities and consists of the following companies: Vifor Pharma and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (a joint company with Fresenius Medical Care). Vifor Pharma Group is headquartered in Switzerland, and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX Swiss Exchange, VIFN, ISIN: CH0364749348).

For more information, please visit viforpharma.com.

About ANCA-associated vasculitis

ANCA-associated vasculitis is a systemic disease in which over-activation of the complement pathway further activates neutrophils, leading to inflammation and destruction of small blood vessels. This results in organ damage and failure, with the kidney as the major target, and is fatal if not treated. Currently, treatment for ANCA-associated vasculitis consists of courses of non-specific immuno-suppressants, in combination with glucocorticoids (steroids) for prolonged periods of time, which can be associated with significant clinical risk including death from infection.

About Tavneos (avacopan)

Tavneos (avacopan) is an orally administered small molecule that is a selective inhibitor of the complement C5a receptor C5aR1. By blocking the receptor (the C5aR) for the pro-inflammatory complement system fragment, C5a on inflammatory cells such as blood neutrophils, Tavneos arrests the ability of those cells to do damage in response to C5a activation, which is known to be the driver of inflammation. Moreover, Tavneosselective inhibition of only the C5aR1 leaves the beneficial C5a l pathway through the C5L2 receptor functioning normally.

Tavneos was developed by ChemoCentryx Ltd. who is also developing Tavneos for the treatment of patients with C3 Glomerulopathy (C3G) and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Tavneos orphan-drug designation for ANCA-associated vasculitis, C3G and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. The European Commission has granted orphan medicinal product designation for Tavneos for the treatment of two forms of ANCA-associated vasculitis: MPA and GPA (formerly known as Wegener's granulomatosis), as well as for C3G.

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220119005536/en/

CONTACT:

Media Relations

Nathalie Ponnier

Global Head Corporate Communications

+41 79 957 96 73

media@viforpharma.com



Investor Relations

Laurent de Weck

Investor Relations & Treasury Senior Manager

+41 58 851 66 90

investors@viforpharma.com
Deborah Lyons, the UN's top envoy in Afghanistan, announced that the world body will ask $8 billion from donors as aid to help the war-torn nation amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the media reported. Addressing an international gathering at the Presidential Palace, Arg, here on Wednesday, Lyons said that transfer of cash to Afghanistan would continue until the banking system is revived in the country, TOLO News repored. "We secured the permission to import cash to address the crippling lack of liquidity, assisted by your administration in doing so. We imported in December, last month of last year, over 120 million dollars and this month another 32 million," she said. The international gathering at the Arg was the first since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August 2021. Representatives of 20 countries attended the event, some via videoconference. The UN special envoy further said that some achievements of the past two decades have been violated and that over half of the country's population is living under the poverty line. She said that the UN is attempting to remove existing sanctions on Afghanistan. Also addressing the summit, Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund said that short term aid is not enough to tackle the crisis, and he called for the removal of obstacles in the way of economic recovery, reports TOLO News. "A mutual path should be formed to meet the problems of people on time, and forever. The short term aid is not sufficiently beneficial for the nation," he said. Taliban cabinet members praised the UN support for Afghanistan. The Second Deputy of the Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, said that they would monitor the distribution of aid to vulnerable people. "The political conditions of the donors are not acceptable. We never want economical reliance, which brings crisis, we never want to be in the circle of political conditions of donors. We will never sacrifice economic independence." Acting Finance Minister Hedayatullah Badri said the Taliban government has made a plan to tackle the economic crisis, adding that the "humanitarian aid is not sufficient and there is a need for development aid". --IANS ksk/ ( 369 Words) 2022-01-20-08:48:01 (IANS)
The purported safety related lapse occurred on January 7 after the two flights took-off from Bengaluru airport.

"Post the alleged safety breach, an investigation was launched by the DGCA," said a senior official with the regulator on Wednesday.

The two IndiGo flights were headed for Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, respectively.

According to industry insiders, the two aircraft had allegedly breached separation limits.Under safety regulations, aircrafts in Indian air space must maintain a distance of 5 nautical miles between them.

In its preliminary report, the DGCA noted that on January 7, two IndiGo flights 6E 455 (Bengaluru to Kolkata) and 6E 246 (Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar) were involved in breach of separation at Bangaluru airport.

In Bangaluru, there are two runways, namely North and South, with the first used for departures and the second for arrivals.

On the morning of incident both runways were in use.

"Later shift Incharge (WSO) decided for single runway operations i.e. North runway for arrival and departure. South runway was closed but it was not communicated to South Tower controller. South Tower controller gave departure to '6E 455' and at the same time North Tower controller gave departure to '6E 246' without coordination," the report said.

"As both aircraft, after departure, were on converging heading or moving towards each other, the approach radar controller gave diverging heading and avoided mid-air collision."

In addition, the report said that incident was "not recorded in any of logbook and also AAI has not reported this incident".

--IANS rv/vd

( 287 Words)

2022-01-19-22:02:03 (IANS)
Mauritius already operates HAL built ALH and Do-228 aircraft. With this contract, HAL and the government of Mauritius have further strengthened the long-standing business relations spanning over three decades.

The ALH Mk III is a multi-role, multi-mission versatile helicopter in 5.5 tonne category. It has proven its mettle in various utility role, including numerous lifesaving missions during natural calamities in India and as well as abroad.

More than 335 ALHs have been produced till date, logging around 3,40,000 cumulative flying hours. HAL also ensures technical assistance and product support to the customers to ensure healthy serviceability of the helicopters.

The contract was recently signed by B.K. Tripathy, General Manager, Helicopter Division-HAL, and O.K. Dabidin, Secretary of Home Affairs, Prime Minister's Office, Mauritius government, at HAL's Transport Aircraft Division in Kanpur.

--IANS mka/arm

( 185 Words)

2022-01-19-22:10:04 (IANS)
A Hanover man who confronted Anne Arundel County sheriffs deputies with a knife in April was sentenced last week to eight years in prison, the Office of the States Attorney for Anne Arundel County announced Wednesday.

A jury found Shane Peart, 33, guilty after a three-day trial in November of second-degree assault, resisting arrest, and wearing or carrying a dangerous weapon with the intent to injure. Judge Cathleen Vitale sentenced Peart on Jan. 14 to 13 years in prison, with all but eight years suspended.

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Anne Arundel County sheriffs deputies arrested Peart on April 28 when they came to his house to serve an arrest warrant for second-degree assault. Peart became agitated during the encounter, picked up a sheathed knife and moved toward two deputies while struggling to remove the knife, the deputies said.

Sgt. Matthew Beall, a seven-year veteran, Tased Peart after he failed to follow commands to walk toward the deputies. Cpl. Saadia Feliciano disarmed Peart after he was Tased and took him into custody after a short struggle, the Anne Arundel Count Sheriffs Office said.

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[Peart] was uninjured, which was wonderful. He got medical treatment and was disarmed without injury to the deputy, Anne Arundel County Sheriff Jim Fredericks said. The real misfortunate of all of it is  youre looking at a misdemeanor warrant that turns into a felony conviction for someone just simply because they refused to comply with deputies. Thats one of the things we try to avoid.

Fredericks said the sheriffs office believes Peart was experiencing mental health challenges during the incident. He called the deputies actions to disarm Peart textbook for a situation that could have turned very tragic.

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Caroline Spies, an assistant public defender who represented Peart, disagreed.

Mr. Pearts conviction and sentence is another example of a broken system to address mental illness, particularly among Black men, and the inadequate training of law enforcement to respond to psychiatric concerns, Spies said in a statement. This entire case would have been avoided with a response that was appropriate and tempered to the circumstances of Mr. Peart and his family, and that utilized appropriate resources, such as crisis response and community support. We will be seeking further review.

When deputies arrived around 7 p.m. April 28 at the Peart family home in Hanover, Pearts mother told deputies he frequently locks himself in his room. His father used a tool to open Pearts bedroom door for deputies, and Peart became upset and started yelling at the deputies and his family, Feliciano wrote in charging documents. The deputies attempted to calm Peart, but he closed and locked the door again, Feliciano wrote.

Peart was holding a leather object in his hand when the deputies opened the door again and began walking toward the deputies while trying to get the knife out of a leather carrier, Feliciano wrote. Beall Tased Peart after telling him to drop the knife repeatedly, and Peart kicked the deputies continuously while being placed under arrest, Feliciano wrote.

Deputies initially charged Peart with first- and second-degree attempted murder, in addition to assault, resisting arrest and failure to follow a lawful order. Peart did not make a substantial step, such as lunging, toward committing murder, the states attorneys office said, and his attempted murder charges were dropped before trial.

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What started as a routine warrant service of the defendant ultimately turned into a great risk to these law enforcement officers, Anne Arundel County States Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in a statement. In this case, the defendant charged toward the officers and he repeatedly ignored their commands to stop. They were able to subdue him by deploying nonlethal means to stop him. I am thankful that Cpl. Feliciano and Sgt. Beall were able to respond in a manner that kept themselves, other residents in the home and the defendant safe from serious injury during this difficult interaction.
The Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) has urged the Centre for level playing field with British players under the proposed India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The CIABC has written to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry requesting it for a staggered reduction in effective Customs duty on spirits and wines under the proposed FTA. The current Customs duty on white and brown spirits and wines is 150 per cent, it said. The confederation wants that if needed, duties should be brought down gradually in a staggered manner so that Indian manufacturers' interests are safeguarded. Gradual reduction in duties will provide a "level playing field" to the Indian alcoholic beverage producers, the confederation said in the letter to the Centre, which was reviewed by IANS. "(We urge the government to ensure) The Indian alcoholic beverage industry is permitted a truly level playing field by way of an effective customs duty that is reflective of the higher cost of production driven by the regulatory restrictions and capital cost in India," the letter read. Besides, it requested the Centre to bring in measures which would prevent dumping or predatory price exports to India. Also, the beverage producers must be given equal opportunities for exports from India -- particularly to the UK. Further, it suggested the Centre should allow selling Indian whiskies in the UK as 'Indian Whisky', irrespective of whether they were made from malt, grain spirits or molasses-based spirits. Same must be the case for all other alcohol categories. "We reiterate that the domestic alcoholic beverages industry only seeks just and fair level playing field for Indian producers and helps them achieve global scale and success. Today India produces internationally acclaimed single malt whisky brands such as Paul John, Amrut, Rampur, Solan Gold, gins such as Jaisalmer, and wines like Sula which are being exported across the globe," it said. "These products confidently and proudly showcase their Indian heritage to the world. Back home, the alcoholic beverages industry contributes Rs 2.5 lakh crore annually in taxes to the states, employs 20 lakh people and supports 50 lakh farmers," it added. It is vital for the greater interests of the domestic industry and will thereby create opportunities for Indian products to mark their presence globally, the confederation said. --IANS rv-ad/arm ( 395 Words) 2022-01-19-22:56:04 (IANS)
Products by grassroots innovators, outstanding traditional knowledge holders, as well as student creativity-based innovative products will be available to millions of customers by virtue of a new partnership between NIFientreC and Amazon India launched on Wednesday. An MoU was signed between NIF Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council (NIFientreC), a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) hosted by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, and Amazon India for online distribution of such ready to market products. NIFientreC was established in 2015 with the financial support from the Department for incubation and commercialisation of technological ideas and innovations of innovators, traditional knowledge holders and students across the country. This MoU between Amazon, and NIFientreC, follows just a couple of days after the declaration of January 16 as the National Start-up Day by the Prime Minister. The MoU, signed by Executive Director, NIFientreC, Rakesh Maheshwari and Director, Amazon Seller Services Private Ltd (ASSPL), Sumit Sahay, will help strengthening the commercial dissemination of the innovative products from local startups and boost India's startup culture in line with these announcements, a release from the Ministry of Science and Technology said. Chairperson, NIFientreC, Dr Gulshan Rai said: "With the fast-paced digital transformation that's happening in the country right now, there could not be a better time for grassroots entrepreneurs to consider taking their innovations directly to the consumers all over India." Vice President, Amazon India, Manish Tiwary said the partnership with the NIFientreC is aimed at bringing the benefits of digitisation and ecommerce to grassroot entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs and taking forward the student innovations from rural areas to sell to millions of Amazon customers in India and across the globe. "It is a milestone in India's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, and grassroots innovators will be brought closer to the consumer than ever before. This is an inclusivity paradigm that the rest of the world may want to replicate," said Director, NIF, Dr Vipin Kumar. The MoU will accelerate the grassroots innovation delivery to the common people of the country, boosting the local economy and creating livelihoods. It will empower innovators from the deepest pockets of the country to leverage the benefits of inclusive e-commerce. --IANS niv/vd ( 381 Words) 2022-01-20-00:24:02 (IANS)
Air India joined at least nine other international airlines that have modified or cancelled flights to the US amid conflicting reports on what new 5G cell phone services can do to critical airplane technologies. Carriers are taking a variety of approaches to the spiraling crisis. Air India, Emirates, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways have announced changes to some of their flights. Air India said it would suspend the service between Delhi and San Francisco, Chicago and JFK as well as a Mumbai to Newark flight. It will continue to fly into Washington Dulles. Both ANA and Japan Airlines said they cancelled some flights scheduled to use Boeing 777 aircraft, but will operate some flights using Boeing 787s instead. Emirates suspended flights into Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas Fort Worth, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle.A Emirates continued flying into New York's John F. Kennedy airport, Los Angeles International and Washington Dulles. Lufthansa cancelled a flight between Frankfurt and Miami and said it would swap Boeing 747-8 aircraft for 747-400s on flights from Frankfurt to Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. CNN Business quoted a British Airways spokesman that the airline "had to make a handful of cancellations" because a decision by telecom operators to delay activating the new 5G service at some locations didn't cover all the airports the airline serves. Virgin Atlantic and Air France-KLM said they had not cancelled any flights but were monitoring the situation. Delta Air Lines said it is planning for the possibility of weather-related cancellations as early as Wednesday due to the new 5G service in the vicinity of dozens of US airports. US air transport regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been concerned that the version of 5G that was scheduled to be switched on could interfere with some airplane instruments. Some aviation industry groups shared those fears. This is despite reassurances from federal telecom regulators and well as wireless carriers. Specifically, the FAA has been worried that 5G cellular antennas near some airports - not air mobile devices - could throw off readings from some aircraft equipment designed to tell pilots how far they are from the ground. The systems, radar altimeters, are used throughout a flight and are considered critical. (Radar altimeters differ from standard altimeters, which rely on air pressure readings and do not use radio signals to gauge altitude.) In December, the FAA had forbidden pilots from using the potentially affected altimeters around airports where low-visibility conditions would otherwise require them. That new rule could keep planes from getting to some airports in certain circumstances, because pilots would be unable to land using instruments alone. "We are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it to do so in a timely manner," an AT&T spokesperson said. Earlier this week, mobile carriers AT&T and Verizon agreed to pause the rollout of the new high-speed 5G wireless service near major airports. The Biden administration welcomed the halt, saying this "will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 per cent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled." "While this is a positive development toward preventing widespread disruptions to flight operations, some flight restrictions may remain," Delta said. In a Tuesday letter, CEOs from some airlines told the Biden administration to push back the already-delayed rollout. Airlines estimate 1,000 flight disruptions per day because of possible interference with radar altimeters that pilots use to land in low visibility conditions. The telecom industry has not commented on the CEOs letter, but has said fears are unfounded since there have not been problems in other countries where 5G is already deployed. According to a service map by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), areas in California, Florida, New England, Texas and the midwest will gain 5G coverage. But aviation groups warn that it could jeopardize some of the largest airports, including in Los Angeles, New York and Houston. The 5G signals will travel over radio frequencies that are collectively known as the C-Band. This band of airwaves is attractive to wireless carriers because it offers a good balance between cellular range and capacity - two key features of any wireless network. (Other sets of airwaves besides the C-Band are also used to carry 5G, but the current debate focuses on just the C-Band frequencies.) On the spectrum of radio frequencies used for wireless communications, the C-Band sits right next to the band of frequencies used by the aircraft altimeters. The two are intentionally separated by a so-called guard band - essentially "blank" airwaves - to safeguard against interference. To further address any aircraft risks, Verizon and AT&T have offered in November to limit the power of their 5G antennas and to take other precautionary measures. But that hasn't been enough to allay the concerns of the FAA, whose 11th-hour order would have "an enormous negative impact on the aviation industry," the CEOs of Boeing and Airbus wrote in a letter Monday to the Department of Transportation. The CEOs added: "We agree that 5G interference could adversely affect the ability of aircraft to safely operate." The letter cites an estimate published by the industry group Airlines for America, which predicts the FAA restrictions will disrupt 345,000 passenger flights, 32 million passengers and 5,400 cargo flights. The FAA's own order estimates that 6,800 US airplanes could be affected by the plan, along with 1,800 helicopters. Technology experts say that while 5G antennas could theoretically lead to interference around airports, the potential for interference is an ever-present feature of all wireless communications - not just 5G - and that so far regulators around the world have done a good job of handling it. (Nikhila Natarajan writes on big tech and tweets @byniknat) --IANS nikhila/shs ( 996 Words) 2022-01-20-02:32:02 (IANS)
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India]/ Scottsdale (Arizona) [US], January 20 (ANI/PRNewswire): Artha Solutions, a leading data technology, and business consulting firm, today announced the extension of its contract with Talend to represent them as the exclusive Master Value Added Reseller in India. This contract is an extension to the initial 1 year agreement in which Artha was tapped to provide sales and marketing support for Talend throughout India. "We are a global system integrator with significant investments of IP and manpower in our relationship with Talend. Our commitment to Talend, 24X7 around the world helped us initiate the opportunity to represent Talend in India," stated Srinivas Poddutoori, Artha Solutions Executive Vice President and Principal. "With nearly half of our staff in India and another 20 percent in Southeast Asia, it is important for us to support our number one partner Talend." "Talend is excited to extend our commitment with Artha Solutions, a Platinum partner, to help businesses accelerate to a modern, healthy data environment," said Jimmy Kwang, Regional Vice President of Sales and General Manager Asia at Talend. "Artha is a trusted advisor and implementer for our organization recognized by the Talend partner accreditation program as a Talend Cloud and a Data Governance Expert Level. The innovation Artha brings to compliment Talend solutions and Data Health's vision is a valuable differentiator and an extreme value to provide healthier data at the center of our customers' businesses." From its six global offices, Artha helps companies build and execute data strategies and deploy solutions for data integration, data warehousing, database design, business intelligence, and cloud migration. In 2020, Artha was named a Systems Integration Partner of the Year by Talend, a global leader in data integration and data integrity. This year Artha introduces the first Talend partner solution of its kind to continue the Talend Data Trust initiative. For all the Talend license requirements and enquiries for India region, please contact Jorawar Singh, Client Solutions Director at Jorawar.singh@thinkartha.com or call +91 998 500 8268. For additional information about Artha, its Data Insights Platform, and its Talend expertise, visit https://www.thinkartha.com. Artha Solutions is a premier data management solutions company focused on generating business value through data-driven business strategy and technology implementation. Artha brings experienced experts combined with best-in-class technology to solve complex business issues across a variety of industries including finance, healthcare, retail, utilities/telecom, hospitality, and more. Founded a decade ago, Artha excels in business and data consulting, data strategy, governance, MDM, and analytics. Artha, with its award-winning expertise in building big data solutions, on-premises and in the cloud, is unparalleled for a firm their age. Artha partners with several leading technology companies including Talend, Pyramid Analytics, Jaspersoft, Cloudera, Snowflake, Kinaxis, Denodo, Amurta, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, and several other leading tool and technology providers to address customers' data-driven initiatives. For additional information, please visit Artha Solutions at https://www.thinkartha.com/. Talend, a leader in data integration and data integrity, is changing the way the world makes decisions. Talend Data Fabric is the only platform that brings together all the data integration and governance capabilities, to simplify every aspect of working with data. Talend delivers complete, clean, and uncompromised data in real-time to all. This unified approach to data has made it possible to create the Talend Trust Score, an industry-first innovation that instantly assesses the reliability of any data set to bring clarity and confidence to every decision. Over 6,500 customers across the globe have chosen Talend to run their businesses on trusted data. Talend is recognized as a leader in its field by leading analyst firms and industry media. For more information, please visit www.talend.com Media contact: Vijay Malladi vijay@thinkartha.com +1-888-840-0098 +91-9885627527 This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/Oswaal Books): As the Karnataka board has already released the timetable for class 10 exams, the students of class 12 are also eagerly waiting for the timetable updates. PUC mid-term exams have already been conducted in December 2021. PUC's 2nd timetable 2022 has been released on the official website. Students can visit the official website and check out the timetable. The 2nd PUC exams are expected to be conducted in March 2022 and the date sheet will be soon released on the official website. It is being expected that the official date sheet will be released in January. After visiting the official website, students find it difficult to find the exact place from where they can download the timetable. Students can follow the below-mentioned steps to download the timetable for PUC 2nd examination 2022. Steps to download the timetable Below is a step-wise procedure that students need to adhere to download the timetable for the Karnataka Class 12 2nd PUC exams 2022. 1. Visit the official website of the Karnataka Board for the timetable 2022: https://pue.kar.nic.in/home.asp 2. After opening the official website, students will be redirected to the home page. On this page, search for the 'Examinations' and click on it to get the 2nd PUC exam timetable 3. Once opened, students should see the link of 'Karnataka 2nd PUC Exam Time Table 2022' 4. Students should click on this link and the timetable for class 12 board exams will appear on the screen. 5. Students can either write it down or take a printout of it for further reference. These steps will make the download of time table a true hassle-free process for the students. German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus developed a study method in 1885, and it's getting huge popularity among international students! Read to learn about it! In addition to the dates of the exam, there will be various other instructions that will be mentioned on the timetable of the Karnataka Class 12 2nd PUC exam 2022. The major things will be subject name, subject code, exam date, exam time, and exam instructions. The exams will be conducted in a descriptive format. So, instead of keeping on waiting for the entire schedule, students should start preparing for the 2nd PUC exam. PUC exam will be conducted in both morning and evening sessions. The morning session will commence from 10.15 am to 1.30 pm. Whereas evening session will start from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm. Final Thoughts Students can easily download the timetable for the 2nd PUC exam by following the above-mentioned easy steps. It is very important to start preparing for the 2nd PUC exam and start practising answer writing. This will help the students to excel in the board exams. Students can also plan their exams with Oswaal Karnataka 2nd PUC Sample Question Paper Class 12 for Exam 2022 where they will get best preparation material for upcoming exams and will also get some benefits like: * Latest Board Examination Paper with Scheme of Valuation * Strictly as per the latest syllabus, blueprint & design of the question paper. * Board-specified typologies of questions for exam success * Perfect answers with Board Scheme of Valuation * Hand written Toppers Answers for exam-oriented preparation * NCERT Textbook Questions fully solved * Solutions of PUE Textbook Questions * Previous Years' Board Examination Questions Here is the recommended link for Karnataka 2nd PUC Sample Question Paper Class 12 for Exam 2022, click here https://bit.ly/3qHZZ7j The syllabus is already available on the official website and students can download it in pdf format. Keep on checking the official website for more updates and 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)
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/India PR Distribution): Premier Corporate Advisory and Outsourcing Partner, SPC Group adopted a new brand identity to reflect the cultural and technological shift and will now operate under a new corporate identity, SPC NXT. The new logo embodies a cutting-edge digital typeface to signify the adoption of emerging technologies within the Group and help the client transform their businesses. Further key values of the Group are signified firstly through the question-mark-themed highlighted "P" in SPC signifying the ever-inquisitive nature and hunger for knowledge, and secondly through a forward-moving emoticon, highlighted in the "X" in NXT to reflect the Group's onward journey into a technology-led and technology-enabled business environment. "Technology is the key enabler for all businesses today - big or small. Automation, Information Security, Blockchain will all lead to data-driven decision-making and will be the key drivers for success in the Web 3.0 Era. At SPC NXT we are your trusted partners to advise and lead your business into the Next Phase of transformation", added Karan Gupta, Non-Executive Chairman at SPC NXT said. Alongside the visual refresh, SPC NXT has changed its tagline from "Knowing Changes Things" to "Transforming Business". The ideology implies the Group's strategic focus on assisting clients to navigate the digital transformation and strategic initiatives for growth in the Web 3.0 era. The Brand redesign was entrusted with a dynamic and cutting-edge Croatia based Design agency - AnninDesign, At the helm, was Nina Budic, Chief Designer Officer who, with her team of 7 professionals, undertook the task of understanding SPC's vision, conceptualizing the new brand, creating, and developing the visual brand identity, guidelines and templates, along with the website revamp. In a recent significant development, SPC NXT has partnered with the world's leading Regulatory Technology Company - Coinfirm. On this ambitious development, Karan cited, "SPC's partnership with Coinfirm will enable us to serve India's Banking sector and Enforcement Agencies, leveraging highly advanced blockchain technologies in the Regulatory space to enable tracking cryptocurrencies over the blockchain network, tracing stolen/ lost Crypto Assets, prevention and red flagging of transactions". "SPC NXT is already uniquely positioned within the blockchain advisory space and has been working with India's enforcement agencies and banks on asset tracking and forensic advisory. We are proud to partner with them to create a safer blockchain ecosystem. Together, I believe we can help companies to adhere to crypto compliances laws as well as make the space more secure and corrupt-free in a very tangible way in India", - - Mircea Mihaescu, CEO of Coinfirm With this rebranding in place, SPC NXT will continue to be a trusted, integrated solutions provider to its clients, and enable technological advancement in the Web 3.0 era. This story is provided by India PR Distribution. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/India PR Distribution)
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/Oswaal Books): All the students are eagerly waiting for the date sheet of the 2022 board exams to head start their preparation according to the time allotted. But the wait for the students appearing for class 10 Karnataka State Secondary Education Examination Board has got over. The date sheet for the upcoming board exam has been released. These are the expected dates on which the exams will be conducted. As of now, the date sheet uploaded is final. As the situation of the country is getting worse with increasing COVID-19 cases, changes might be observed. But, there are no concrete pieces of evidence observed as of now. So, students should adhere to the date sheet uploaded on the official website. To see the latest updates regarding the date sheet for the upcoming class 10 exams, students can check below. Date sheet for 2022 SSLC board exams The SSLC date sheet has been released on the official website of the board on January 5, 2022. https://sslc.karnataka.gov.in/english According to the date sheet, the exams will commence from March 28, 2022, and will continue till April 11, 2022. In addition to the date sheet, there have been various guidelines issued by the board. These guidelines are mentioned on the date sheet and students can easily go through them. The board has even asked the parents to raise their objections regarding the exams between January 6 and January 14. The first language paper will be held on March 28, followed by a second language paper on March 30, and so on. Students can easily download the date sheet by visiting the official website of the board. The exams will be conducted in the time frame of 10.30 am to 1.45 pm. This time will be inclusive of the 15 minutes that will be given to the students to read the question paper. Previously, the board exams were conducted in the multi-choice objective type format. Students should start preparing for the board exams as they have only a couple of months in hand. On the date sheet, there are various instructions written. The exam for the first language will be conducted for 100 marks whereas for the other languages the maximum marks will be 80. German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus developed a study method in 1885, and it's getting huge popularity among international students! Read to learn about it! By the latest release, it is being speculated that the Karnataka board will proceed with the descriptive mode examinations this time. Students should design a meticulous timetable by keeping this present date sheet in mind. In addition to that, students should not keep up the false hopes of these dates being changed in the future until it is being specified by the board. Final Thoughts Karnataka Board has published the timetable for the board exams that will be conducted in March and April 2022. The syllabus for all the subjects is already uploaded on the official website. Students should download the syllabus at the earliest and start preparing according to it. Student can also start their preparation with Oswaal Karnataka SSLC Question Bank Class 10 for Exam 2022 where they will get best preparation material for upcoming exams and will also get some benefits like: * Latest Board Examination Paper with Board Model Answer * Strictly as per the latest syllabus, blueprint & design of the question paper. * Board-specified typologies of questions for exam success * Perfect answers with Board Scheme of Valuation * Hand written Toppers Answers for exam-oriented preparation * NCERT Textbook Questions fully solved (Only for Science, Social and Maths) * KTBS Textbook Questions fully solved Here is the recommended link for Karnataka SSLC Question Bank Class 10 for Exam 2022, click here https://bit.ly/3fImF0Y All latest releases and notices keep on publishing on the official website. Keep on checking the official website and 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)
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/PNN): North India based investment company, First Funding, is all set to organize the startup event 'Pitch First 1.0' this February. The event is not only going to empower new startups but also the women entrepreneurs on the rise. The Shark Tank-like startup event will take place in Delhi on the 18th and 19th February 2022. "Every entrepreneur needs investment at the right time which is why we are keen on presenting Pitch First 1.0. A startup event where you can meet over 100 investors and discuss your idea with them over drink" shares, the Director of First Funding and also one of the event organizers, Mr. Harmanpreet Singh. "The top three event startup selections will also get a chance to pitch in front of the main investors panel. And a chance to win prize money of 20 lakh INR" shares Shashank Pathak, the Filtration and Management expert of First Funding, and also one of the event organizers of 'Pitch First 1.0". The main objective of the 'Pitch First 1.0' is not only to help get more investors to join but also to help startups get the essential funds to grow their business. It will give all the startups, especially the early startups, a platform wherein they can pitch their innovative ideas with the right investors. The event will have investors from various backgrounds and all walks of life. The event will allow all the startups to raise to 10 million in pitch in front of 100+ investors. The startups will also be given a 2-day free workshop with mentorship. The process of participation in the 'Pitch First 1.0' event is very simple. All the startups have to do is register on their website to get started. Once they have filled out the registration form, then the event organizers will do the initial screening. They will then invite the filtered startups to join the event and discuss their business ideas with the right investors. If investors like their startup and business ideas, then investors can fund the startups on the spot. The top 3 successful startups, as per the points given by the investor's panel, will win prize money of 20lakh rupees. What makes the 'Pitch First 1.0' startup event even more unique is its bent towards woman empowerment. The startup will give all the women entrepreneurs a special entry, a direct one, to pitch their ideas without any costs involved. With an aim to empower women so they can raise essential funds from the investors. Learn more about them at https://firstfunding.in/ Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQzfA21wgOZNJmmlkYsr1KaZiZx2mcOHVZPXQ_iyDfah3-1g/viewform This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 20 (ANI/PR Newswire): Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, has been recognized by Top Employers Institute among the Global Top Employers for the second consecutive year. Infosys was ranked #1 Top Employer in India, in recognition of its best-in-class people practices and consistency in delivering employee experience globally. Infosys is one of 11 companies worldwide to receive this recognition. Infosys has been named Top Employer across the following regions and top-ranked in 16 of the 22 countries: Asia Pacific - India, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, and ChinaNorth America - USA, Canada and MexicoMiddle East - UAE, Oman and BahrainEurope - U.K, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Romania, and Poland Krish Shankar, Executive Vice President and Group Head of Human Resource Development, Infosys, said, "We are delighted to be awarded Global Top Employer again this year. This comes at a time when we have strengthened our approach to employee engagement, making it more purposeful and morale-boosting. We continue to significantly invest in digital learning for our workforce creating new avenues for their growth. Infosys' internal talent marketplace also helps them move continuously upward in the value chain, delivering on our promise of 'careers that never stand still'. This recognition by the Top Employers Institute is a testimony to our concerted efforts to make it possible for every Infosys employee to navigate further, sustained by our culture and values." The Top Employers Institute program certifies organizations based on their HR Best Practices across 6 HR domains consisting of 20 areas such as People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being, Diversity & Inclusion, and more. For the evaluation, Top Employers Institute conducted a detailed assessment of Infosys' people practices through the HR Best Practices assessment in 22 countries. The Top Employer Certification highlighted Infosys' focus on supporting their employee's well-being and experience, especially during the pandemic. It also reflects the Company's Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) vision and commitment to its workforce. David Plink, CEO, Top Employers Institute said, "Reflecting on the demanding year that has, like the year before it, impacted organizations across the world, our Global Top Employers have continued to prioritize going above and beyond the norm to maintain their excellent people practices in the workplace. As a global Top Employer, Infosys has proven its unwavering commitment to employees on a global scale, joining a niche group of companies that have achieved a certification through the Top Employers Program. We are excited to celebrate and applaud them for their achievement in 2022." Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognizing excellence in People Practices. We help accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work. Through the Top Employers Institute Certification Program, participating companies can be validated, certified, and recognized as an employer of choice. Established over 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified over 1857 organizations in 123 countries/regions. These certified Top Employers positively impact the lives of over 8 million employees globally. Top Employers Institute. For a better world of work. Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations, and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients, and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg For more information contact PR_Global@Infosys.com This story is provided by PR Newswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PR Newswire)
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Tesla Power USA announces the launch of their wellness division "Tesla Healthy Life" with its product range in Alkaline RO Water Purifiers. Tesla Power USA brings their expertise in water business with their cutting-edge technology to provide healthy water to everyone at an affordable cost. Tesla Healthy Life has launched 2 series of the Alkaline RO Water Purifiers - YogJal Series and Alkalino. Alkaline RO Water Machines from YogJal Series (YogJal Surya and YogJal Prithvi) designed to carry forward the old ancient tradition of drinking water from the copper vessel. The RO Purifiers available in the market remove the essential minerals and nutrients from the water during the RO process. Due to this, the water is no-doubt purified, but it is very unhealthy water due to de-mineralization. The YogJal series apart from the advanced purification process, also add minerals as well as makes the water alkaline, making it most healthy water available in the market. YogJal Prithvi comes with features including RO + UF + UV + Copper Filter + Alkaline and with 12 stages of purification that purifies water from any source, giving the superior drinkable water. It is available at Rs. 19,990 in the market with an exchange discount of Rs. 5,000. YogJal Surya has features including RO + UF + UV + Mineralizer + Copper Filter + Alkaline and with 13 stages of purification that gives an instant and continuous hot drinking water supply. It is available at Rs. 29,990 in the market with an exchange discount of Rs. 5,000. Alkalino is Alkaline RO Water Machine designed with advanced technology to offer amazing benefits of alkaline water with complete control at the user end. Alkalino contains a built-in detoxifier and gives a high-quality and pristine alkaline water which is as good as Kangen water but far cost-effective. Alkalino provides Kangen RO water that raises tap water pH by ionizing and splitting the water molecules. Hence, it becomes India's most affordable Alkaline Water RO. The advanced Alkalino RO Water Purifier is available at Rs. 49,990 with an exchange discount of Rs. 10,000. Alkalino has two essential things on this earth for living i.e.; water and air. The regular RO water may give the purified water but it filters out all the essential minerals and nutrients from the water and hence, make it plain water that has no benefits for the consumers. "Don't choose pure water, choose healthy water" - Says Mr. H S Bhatia (Director, Tesla Healthy Life). COVID-19 Strengthens Consumers Love of choosing Alkaline Water over Regular RO Water Alkaline water which had very less attention till the time is now capturing the attention of the consumers internationally. Alternatively, as people know the body is alkaline by nature and whatever the people eat or drink should be alkaline in nature so as to support proper body functions. Water is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen and it's the pH level that determines how acidic it is and it ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is considered neutral or balanced between acidic and alkaline. With consumers taking a more practical approach towards health, alkaline water is the choice. Alkaline water helps fighting numerous diseases and Covid-19 by boosting immunity and energy levels. The company also introducing the exchange offer for the customers who wish to exchange their existing RO Purifier. The Alkaline RO Water Purifiers will be available for the end-customers at their nearest Tesla Power Shops with all facilities of installation, after-sale service or support. Coming forward the company is planning to launch Air Purifier, De-humidifier in the wellness division. Tesla Power USA is among the fastest growing social enterprise in India. They have 300+ Distributors and 250+ Tesla Power Shops in 20+ States in India. Tesla Power Shop, as a concept, is a hybrid and unique model of sales, service, revival of old batteries & EV Charging Points. This hybrid Retail model is being adopted across the country and appreciated internationally. The Company launched their American Technology-based products such as Inverter Batteries, Automotive Batteries, Two-Wheeler Batteries, Tractor Batteries, Trucks Batteries, Solar Batteries and Solar Panels, Lithium Ion Batteries, Home UPS, Solar UPS, Industrial UPS, HUPS, 2v/ 12v Batteries, Smart Inverters and now Hybrid VRLA, SMF VRLA Batteries whose all cells are replaceable. Their quality products and continuous expansion policy helps Customers, Dealers, Distributors, Franchisees and C&Fs to join Tesla Power USA. This is an amazing business opportunity for anyone who wishes to start his/ her own business in the wellness division with such an innovative brand that has a vision to contribute towards the society. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
ST. PAUL, Minn.  Jury selection began Thursday in the federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers who are charged with violating George Floyds constitutional rights while fellow Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man to the street.

J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority. Separately, theyre charged in state court with aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter.

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This image from video shows Minneapolis police Officers Thomas Lane, left and J. Alexander Kueng, right, escorting George Floyd, center, to a police vehicle outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis, on May 25, 2020. (AP)

Legal experts say the federal trial will be more complicated than the state trial, scheduled for June 13, because prosecutors in this case have the difficult task of proving the officers willfully violated Floyds constitutional rights  unreasonably seizing him and depriving him of liberty without due process.

In the state case, theyre charged with what they did. That they aided and abetted Chauvin in some way. In the federal case, theyre charged with what they didnt do  and thats an important distinction. Its a different kind of accountability, said Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

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Phil Turner, another former federal prosecutor, said prosecutors must show the officers should have done something to stop Chauvin, rather than show they did something directly to Floyd.

Would-be jurors have already answered an extensive questionnaire, and were being brought into a federal courtroom in St. Paul in groups, where U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson was questioning them. The process will continue until a group of 40 is chosen. Then, each side will get to use their challenges to strike jurors. In the end, 18 jurors will be picked, including 12 who will deliberate and six alternates.

The judge told potential jurors they should let him know if any responses to their questionnaires have changed. He also asked each to stand and talk about themselves, including where they live, their job history, education, military service, hobbies and families.

He also acknowledged the media attention on the case, saying, Im sure all of you know something about what happened to George Floyd.

Magnuson has said he believes jury selection could be done in two days, unlike the state trial for Chauvin, where the judge and attorneys questioned each juror individually and spent more than two weeks picking a panel.

He said the trial is expected to last four weeks.

Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyds neck for 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was facedown, handcuffed and gasping for air. Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down his legs. Thao kept bystanders from intervening.

Chauvin was convicted in April on state charges of murder and manslaughter and is serving a 22-year sentence. In December, he pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyds rights.

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Federal prosecutions of officers involved in on-duty killings are rare. Prosecutors face a high legal standard to show that an officer willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights; an accident, bad judgment or negligence isnt enough to support federal charges.

Essentially, prosecutors must prove that the officers knew what they were doing was wrong, but did it anyway.

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Kueng, Lane and Thao are all charged with willfully depriving Floyd of the right to be free from an officers deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The indictment says the three men saw Floyd clearly needed medical care and failed to aid him.

Thao and Kueng are also charged with a second count alleging they willfully violated Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not stopping Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. Its not clear why Lane is not mentioned in that count, but evidence shows he asked twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side.

Both counts allege the officers actions resulted in Floyds death.

Federal civil rights violations that result in death are punishable by up to life in prison or even death, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.

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This trial is going to present an evolutionary step beyond what we saw at the Chauvin trial because were not looking at the killer, but the people who enable the killer. And that gets a step closer to the culture of the department, Osler said.

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Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.
Hogging on the opportunity, Namit Jain, founder of Lalluram.com stepped into the media world. Facing the challenges, Mr. Jain navigated increased repression and censorship brought by the response to the pandemic. Established in 2017, Namit Jain successfully conquered the world of journalism through his Hindi portal.

Expressing the astonishment over the massive response he proudly launched the English version of their channel. Sticking to their tagline' Sach Kahengey Lalluram' which roughly means Lalluram speaks the truth, made them affluent.

Bringing the latest news, views, and analysis, Lalluram as a publication house is an epitome committed to the public's interest abiding by its democratic values. With a thousand people regularly scouring online platforms, Lalluram.com with the mainstay traditional journalism landscape, bulwarked its portal providing authentic, premium content for its consumers.

This story is provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
The program was broadcast live on social media such as YouTube and Facebook.

Addressing the farmers, the officials of Nuziveedu Seeds Limited Company highlighted the features of Hybrid Bajra "Sunmax"!

He told that the new hybrid Bajra "Sunmax" matures in 80 to 85 days and it remains green till ripening this variety is best for planting in the summer season, it does not even fall, the length of the plant of this variety is 7 to 8 feet. And these Bajra seeds are solid and the grains are also more in each earhead.

This new hybrid variety of Bajra Sunmax will give more benefit to the farmers because this Hybrid gives more fodder with good yield and due to the good quality of the grain, it is tastier in food and more marketable.

The officials of Nuziveedu Seeds Limited Company encouraged the farmers to do modern scientific farming and informed them about the management of diseases and pests and fertilizer management in time.

In summary, Nuziveedu Seeds Limited Company's hybrid Bajra "Sunmax" will benefit the farmers in the summer season with more fodder and more yield.

For more information, visit us at: http://www.nuziveeduseeds.com/

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
Jio Estonia OU, a unit of Reliance Industries Limited, and the University of Oulu have decided to collaborate for 6G technology by bringing together a world-class pool of expertise from industry and academia. The collaboration will foster entrepreneurship by bringing together a world-class pool of expertise from both industry and academia in Aerial and Space communication, Holographic Beamforming, 3D Connected Intelligence in Cybersecurity, Microelectronics and Photonics, the University of Oulu said in a news release on Thursday. The collaborative effort will aid in competing with 6G enabled products in the defence, automotive, white goods, industrial machinery, consumer goods, efficient manufacturing, novel personal smart device environments, and experiences such as urban computing and autonomous traffic settings. "We are delighted to deepen our collaboration with Jio Estonia," said Professor Matti Latva-aho, Director of the 6G Flagship, the University of Oulu. "As the leader of the world's first major 6G research programme, the University of Oulu focuses on wireless communications leading to 6G technologies. We are looking forward to collaborating with Jio Estonia and the entire Reliance Group on targeted research initiatives that will enable future wireless end-to-end solutions for a wide range of end-user requirements," Latva-aho said. 6G builds on top of 5G and extends digitisation through unique capabilities such as cell-free MIMO, intelligent surfaces and higher capacities through Terahertz frequencies. Both 5G and 6G will co-exist and cover a broad range of consumer and enterprise use cases. "Jio has more than 400 million subscribers in India, and their experience shows that building capacity to transmit large amounts of data is becoming critical. Especially given the development of digital services and virtual worlds," said Taavi Kotka, CEO of Jio Estonia. "With this collaboration with the University of Oulu, we can make sure that we keep growing and developing as a world region of the future," he added. "6G promises to build upon 5G capabilities to deeply integrate technology as a digital twin in our daily lives. Cutting edge areas such as the internet of nano-things and pervasive AI have tremendous business potential. Early investments in 6G research and capabilities with the University of Oulu can complement Jio Lab's capabilities in 5G and bring 6G to life," said Aayush Bhatnagar, Senior Vice President of Jio Platforms. Jio Platforms already has an active development programme for its 5G RAN and Core Platforms, facilitated through Jio Labs. This collaboration will further extend Jio's 5G capabilities and will help explore use cases in the 6G Era, in addition to cutting-edge research and development of the technology itself. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/PNN): Finnet Media, one of India's promising and young Talent Management, Video Production, and Influencer Marketing agencies has clocked revenues to the tune of INR 10 crores within the first year of its inception. This marks a growth of over 200% for the agency in a period of 10 months. Finnet Media is closely working with upcoming social media influencers like Akshat Srivastava, Jay Kapoor, Sharan Hegde, Anushka Rathod, Anamika Rana, Caslynn, Shashank Udupa, Vedant Rusty, etc. and has assisted them with brand deals and collaborations. Speaking on the stellar growth of the agency, Ayush Shukla, Founder - Finnet Media, said, "Finnet Media was born right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us. With lockdowns being announced across the county, everyone was forced to stay at home hooked on to their devices. We started our journey with a small base of 2 influencers in January 2021. However, with the growing hunger of digital content, we have increased our influencer base and today have a bouquet of over 200 influencers. We have cracked over 100+ brand deals and collaborations over the past year that has helped us to achieve a revenue of INR 8 crores." Understanding the post-pandemic era where all the events are going digital and brands are collaborating with digital influencers for promotions, the agency endeavours to win the influencers marketing and talent management of multiple up and coming social media influencers in the coming year. Ayush further added,"We have already charted a strong growth path for the year 2022 and are expecting to be at a revenue level of close to INR 20 crores by December 2022. Along with influencer marketing and talent management, the Finnet Team focuses on being the 360 Creative Catalysts for brands and influencers coming on board." Through Finnet, Ayush enables individuals in becoming content creators and businesses in becoming brands. Talent Management, Influencer Marketing, Video and Content Production are just a few of the areas in which Ayush leads the young agency to succeed. End to End Digital Influencer Marketing and Content AgencyHeadquartered in Bangalore, Finnet Media is assisting individuals and companies passionate about content creation in becoming a popular brand. Founded by Ayush Shukla in January 2021, be it Talent Management, Influencer Marketing, Video, or Content Production, are just a handful of things that Finnet thrives on. Finnet Media was started by Ayush as an add-on venture along with this full-time job. The stellar growth witnessed in a short span motivated Ayush to establish Finnet Media as a full-grown agency by 2021. The company also focuses on strategy research, content, overall ideation and applications basis the current trends and technology. Account Strategy, Content Planning Strategy, Direction &Positioning and being Creative Catalysts for brands and individuals are some key fortes of the Finnet Media team. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
The government on Thursday released a total of Rs 95,082 crore to states with an advance instalment of tax devolution amounting to Rs 47,541 crore. This is almost double their respective entitlement during the month of January. Poll bound states of Uttar Pradesh will receive Rs 17,056.66 crore, Uttarakhand Rs 1,063.02 crore, Punjab will receive Rs 1,718.16 crore and Goa is going to get Rs 367.02 crore along with all other states. The Government of India had released the first advance instalment of tax devolution amounting to Rs 47,541 crore to states on November 22, 2021. With the release of the second advance instalment, the states would receive an additional amount of Rs 90,082 crore under tax devolution over and above what has been budgeted to be released till January, 2022. The government has already released back-to-back loan amounting to Rs 1.59 lakh crore to state governments in lieu of GST Compensation shortfall in FY 2021-22. --IANS nimish/skp/ ( 172 Words) 2022-01-20-15:22:02 (IANS)
The last recipient of the prestigious award, which has been given to only 35 directors in 74 years, was Ridley Scott in 2017. Past recipients include Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg and Milos Forman, according to 'Variety'.

Lee will be honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the DGA's 74th annual awards ceremony on March 12.

"Icon. Trailblazer. Visionary. Spike Lee has changed the face of cinema and there is no single word that encapsulates his significance to the craft of directing," DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter said.

"From his groundbreaking 'Do the Right Thing', 'BlacKkKlansman' and everything in between -- to his signature 'double dolly' shot, Spike is an innovator on so many levels," Glatter noted, adding: "His bold and passionate storytelling over the past three decades has masterfully entertained, as it held a stark mirror to our society and culture."

--IANS srb/

( 187 Words)

2022-01-19-22:30:07 (IANS)
Marvel is "deeply saddened" by the demise of French actor and 'Moon Knight' star Gaspard Ulliel, who was pronounced dead on January 19 following a ski accident in southeastern France the day before. In a statement obtained by E! News, the studio said, "We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of our friend and colleague Gaspard Ulliel. Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this time." Prior to his unexpected death, Ulliel had acted in Marvel Studios' upcoming series 'Moon Knight', which is expected to hit Disney+ on March 30 and co-stars Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke and May Calamawy. Albertville prosecutor Anne Gaches, whose office conducted the investigation into the incident, revealed that the accident took place on Tuesday, January 18, at 4:00 pm in the ski area of the La Rosiere resort in Montvalezan. Gaches said Ulliel collided with another skier on top of the blue slope Tetras after turning left, presumably to join his friends on another track. La Rosiere ski resort's media spokesperson said, "Ski patrol rescue and an in-house resort doctor were called for help and immediately arrived onto the scene following the accident." The doctor then called a helicopter, the spokesperson added, to transport Ulliel to the University Hospital of Grenoble. Gaches said, "a judicial investigation was immediately entrusted to the CRS Alpes, Albertville detachment, by the Albertville prosecutor's office." Based on the initial testimonies and findings, she said, it seems that both skiers "fell to the ground." When help arrived, she continued, Ulliel was found "motionless" and "unconscious" while the other skier was found "unharmed." Gaches said Ulliel was pronounced dead by the doctor of the resuscitation service at the hospital shortly after 4:00 pm on January 19. He was 37 years old. Ulliel is survived by his girlfriend, French model Gaelle Pietri, and their 6-year-old son, Orso, as per E! News. In addition to acting in 'Moon Knight', Ulliel starred in films like 'Hannibal Rising' and 'A Very Long Engagement'. After news of his death broke, several of his colleagues including filmmakers Xavier Dolan, Peter Webber, among others took to social media and paid tributes. (ANI)
According to Variety, Carruth was arrested by Santa Monica police officers on Thursday morning. Police were called to the woman's home around 4:50 am to investigate the alleged assault, said Lt. Rudy Flores.

By the time officers arrived, Carruth had left the area. The ex-girlfriend, whose name was not disclosed, provided the officers with information about the incident.

She then called back around 6:50 am, saying Carruth had returned. Police came back to the scene, found him nearby, and arrested him on suspicion of domestic violence and vandalism, according to Flores.

Carruth was released on a USD 50,000 bond on Monday afternoon, as per booking records.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has declined to file felony charges and instead referred the case to the Santa Monica City Attorney's Office, which prosecutes misdemeanors.

A spokeswoman for the city of Santa Monica said the criminal division had yet to receive the file from the DA's office.

Another ex-girlfriend, actor and director Amy Seimetz obtained a restraining order against Carruth in August 2020, after informing the judge that he had sent her several disturbing and threatening messages since she broke up with him in 2018.

Carruth burst on the filmmaking scene with 'Primer', a time-travel movie that won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2004. He followed it up with 'Upstream Color' in 2013. In May 2020, he told a news outlet that he was quitting filmmaking, as per Variety.

Carruth remains a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which he was invited to join in 2020. (ANI)
Shaheer had informed that his father was on a ventilator due to the infection.

Actor Aly Goni shared his condolences on Twitter on Wednesday night and asked Shaheer to stay strong.

Aly wrote: "Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un. May Allah rest uncle's soul in peace bhai @Shaheer_S, stay strong bhai."

Just a few days back, Shaheer had shared a throwback picture of his father and urged everyone to pray for him.

"My dad is on a ventilator, suffering from a severe covid infection... pls keep him in your prayers," he wrote.

Shaheer will soon be seen in Season 2 of 'Pavitra Rishta'.

The second season is centred around Manav, played by Shaheer and Archana, and how their marriage, which was based on a sham, falls apart only for them to realise that their 'Pavitra Rishta' was never bound by just vows and responsibilities.

As seen in the trailer, Manav and Archana's story in Season 2 starts from where their marriage ended, and they went their individual ways only to cross paths time and again.

Directed by Nandita Mehra, 'Pavitra Rishta...It's never too late' Season 2 will premiere on ZEE5 on January 28.

--IANS dc/dpb

( 225 Words)

2022-01-20-10:42:07 (IANS)
Filmmaker Adam McKay has addressed the criticism of Netflix's environmental satire 'Don't Look Up', stating that "you're never going to make a movie to appeal to everyone" According to Deadline, he also praised the movie's global popularity, which has seen the Leonardo DiCaprio film move up to second in Netflix's most-watched of all time. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's 'Today', McKay said, "Comedy is always subjective. Certain people are going to think things are too funny or silly or not care for them so that's built-in." He claimed a similar critical reaction would likely have happened if he'd chosen to make a "stark drama" or "dystopic picture" about the climate crisis, adding, "You're never going to make a movie to appeal to everyone." The film, which also stars Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Cate Blanchett, has been met with mixed reviews by critics and caused fiery debate across social media about how best to represent the climate crisis. "The idea behind it was 'How do we get this urgency out there?' The science is telling us that the problem is happening right now and it's far worse than we thought. I felt like laughter was a good way to go because if you're laughing then you inherently have some perspective," McKay went on to say. The film has been a huge ratings success, however, now sitting second on Netflix's all-time most-watched list and first in 87 countries, which McKay said is "very unusual for a comedy." Next up for McKay is AppleTV Plus's Jennifer Lawrence-starring 'Bad Blood', in which she plays disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who was found guilty earlier this month on four counts of defrauding investors. McKay described Holmes as a "fascinating character" and said it is rare for a woman to be the subject of such a film. "She hasn't been sentenced yet so I'm curious to see how that goes," he added. Separately, Amanda Seyfried is playing Holmes in a Hulu limited series. When questioned on his best movie, McKay, who has also made 'Vice' and 'The Big Short' and is involved with 'Succession', said he will "always have a fondness" for 'Anchorman', the movie that kickstarted his career and led to a long and fruitful relationship with Will Ferrell. As per Deadline, McKay had recently revealed how his decision to cast Ferrell's friend John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss in HBO's Untitled LA Lakers Project was the culmination of years of creative differences and led to a split that has yet to be repaired. (ANI)
Democrat Donna Edwards said Thursday that she will seek to reclaim the Maryland congressional seat now held by Rep. Anthony Brown, who is stepping down to run for state attorney general.

After winning the seat in a 2008 special election, Edwards, 63, won four terms in the 4th Congressional District, which includes portions of Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties. She was the first Black woman to represent Maryland in Congress.

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Edwards ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, losing to Democrat Chris Van Hollen. Brown, also a Democrat, succeeded her in the House.

There are currently no women in the states eight-member U.S. House delegation.

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Its time to finish the job we started and make sure our community gets its fair share in Washington  just as I always have, Edwards, an attorney and network political commentator, said in a news release.

Well make the wealthy finally pay their fair share, so we can start bringing down the cost of living for our families, she said.

Edwards joined a Democratic field that includes Del. Jazz M. Lewis; former Prince Georges County States Attorney Glenn Ivey; and former Prince Georges delegate Angela Angel. Another Democrat, James Curtis Jr., is also running.

Republican George McDermott, who has run for the seat a number of times, is also in the race along with Republican Jeff Warner.

The 4th is one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the state.

The primary is June 28.
Hollywood actor Megan Fox's engagement ring, which was designed by her fiance Machine Gun Kelly, has a painful aspect to it. According to Fox News, the diamond and emerald ring's bands are actually thorns, Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, told a magazine. He worked with Stephen Webster to create the ring and opened up about the concept in the recent interview. "It's a thoroughbred Colombian emerald, with no treatment. It was just carved into the teardrop, straight out of the mine. And the diamond was directly from Stephen," Kelly explained. He continued, "The concept is that the ring can come apart to make two rings. When it's together, it's held in place by a magnet. So you see how it snaps together? And then it forms an obscure heart. And you see this right here? The bands are actually thorns. So if she tries to take it off, it hurts..." "Love is pain!" Kelly then quipped. He proposed to Fox on January 11. The two later announced their engagement on social media. The musician videoed the proposal on his phone and explained the couple released it on social media to "control the narrative." "We released it to control the narrative. As opposed to someone just catching a weird cell phone picture of a ring on our hand and being like, 'Whoa!'" he told the magazine, adding, "I just recorded it on my cell phone. And it wasn't like we had photographers or anything. It was just like me setting my phone against a cup." Fox and Kelly first began dating after meeting on the set of "Midnight in the Switchgrass." She previously opened up about her instant connection with the rapper during an interview on a podcast back in July 2020. Before her relationship with Machine Gun Kelly, Fox was married to actor Brian Austin Green. The 'Jennifer's Body' actor filed for divorce in November 2020. The former couple shares three children together, as per Fox News. (ANI)
Hilary Duff recently opened up about whether she still wants a revival of her hit teen show 'Lizzie McGuire'. "I don't think it's dead, and I don't think it's alive. I think it's just kind of sitting there," Duff told on this week's 'Just for Variety' podcast. Duff says the "Lizzie" conversations had been going on for about a decade. "I was like, 'No, thank you,'" she recalls of first being approached. "And then one day, I was like, 'Yup.' There's much love there," she added. But alas, the project was nixed after Disney rejected Duff's idea to make Lizzie's comeback more adult than tween. "There's always struggle with something that's so loved and important to so many people. I just keep my heart and my mind open. I don't think that 'How I Met Your Father' would've come about if 'Lizzie' had happened," Duff said. Duff can now be seen in 'How I Met Your Father', Hulu's sequel to the long-running CBS comedy 'How I Met Your Mother'. Duff stars as Sophie, a young woman looking for love in New York City. Unlike 'HIMYM', with its very straight, white cast of characters, the new series offers much more inclusive storytelling with people of colour and LGBTQ+ representation. "We have the most diverse writers' room. They're having fun, and we get to reap the benefits of that," Duff said. Former 'Sex and the City' star Kim Cattrall serves as the narrator of the series, appearing as Sophie in the year 2050 to tell her son how she met his father. Unlike Sophie, who thinks dating apps are the way to find her perfect match, Duff is happily married to her second husband, musician Matthew Koma, and grateful she doesn't have to swipe left or right. Duff said, "I know friends that are doing it and they're like, 'It's brutal out there. I know someone who just got COVID from a guy that never called her back and then she spent Christmas alone. That kind of shit. Can you imagine?" One thing you won't see in 'HIMYF' is COVID. "We all have COVID fatigue and I'm so happy they're not bringing that into our world. Because our show is lighthearted and fun -- it can tug on the heartstrings a tiny bit -- but really it's a comedy and COVID's not funny anymore. Some of the memes are pretty funny, but we're all over it. I think the country's over it," Duff said. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed Andhra Pradesh for delaying paying compensation of Rs 50,000 to the families of those who succumbed to Covid-19, and asked the Chief Secretary and state's counsel "why they are not sensitive to the cause". The Chief Secretary of Bihar also appeared personally in the matter, after the top court refused to accept the state's figure of Covid deaths. Taking exception to Andhra Pradesh's record, a bench of Justices M.R Shah and Sanjiv Khanna said: "Why you only work when the court directs you to work. Why are you not sensitive to the cause?" During the pre-lunch hearing, the top court had sought the personal presence of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary to explain the delay in compensating families who have lost their loved ones to the viral infection. "Every time we have to tell you... told 10 times already to Andhra Pradesh", said Justice Shah. As the Chief Secretary apologised to the court, the bench told him that the record maintained by the state government in connection with Covid deaths is faulty. Senior advocate R. Basant, representing the state government, urged the court to give seven days to the government to rectify the errors. The court was informed that the state has received over 40,000 applications for Covid compensation and it has been found that over 34,000 applicants are eligible for the compensation. However, the state government has registered 14,471 deaths so far. As the bench queried whether the authorities concerned have cross-checked that the name of the claimant, for deaths recorded so far, appear on the list of total claim applications received, the Chief Secretary submitted that all the errors will be removed from the Covid deaths data. "Our only anxiety is that the money should reach the people. Please reach out to the people whose applications have been rejected," Justice Shah told the official. During the pre-lunch hearing, the governments of Gujarat, and Maharashtra informed the court of the number of claims they had received, and the number approved and payments disbursed. The Bihar Chief Secretary was also present during the hearing after the bench told the state's counsel that it is not ready to accept that only 12,000 people have died due to Covid in the state. The bench noted that the Bihar government had reported 11,000 claims for compensation so far, which, when compared to other states' applications, seem to be on the lower side. It said the state government should make more effort to reach the eligible people for Covid death compensation. Concluding the hearing, the top court said it will pass a detailed order to state and district legal services by Thursday. The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing in the first week of February. --IANS ss/vd ( 483 Words) 2022-01-19-21:44:03 (IANS)
The state shall touch the 100 per cent vaccination target soon, said Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena adding that 100 per cent vaccination target has been achieved in districts including Jaipur I and II, Hanumangarh, Chittorgarh, Sikar, Udaipur, Pratapgarh and Bundi districts of the state.

In 14 districts including Tonk, Jaisalmer, Nagaur, Bhilwara, Bikaner, Jhalawar, Rajsamand, Jodhpur, Baran, Churu, Sriganganagar, Ajmer, Alwar and Sawai Madhopur districts of the state, vaccination has been done ranging from 90 to 99 per cent.

Instructions have already been given to the medical officers across the state for 100 per cent vaccination by January 31, said Meena.

He further said that more than 60 per cent vaccination took place in 17 days for the adolescent group.

Youngsters in the age group of 15 to 18 showed tremendous enthusiasm towards vaccination and in just 17 days, more than 60 per cent of the youth got the first dose of the vaccine, he added.

--IANS arc/pgh

( 191 Words)

2022-01-19-23:24:01 (IANS)
Andhra Pradesh Joint Action Committee (AP-JAC) of government employees on Wednesday ruled out talks with the government on pay revision and decided to serve strike notice on January 21. While Chief Secretary Samir Sharma tried to pacify the employees saying the state lost huge revenues due to Covid-19 pandemic, the employees intensified the protest demanding the state government to roll back the Government Order (GO) relating to implementation of the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) recommendations. The employees on Wednesday attended the offices wearing black badges while some protestors set afire the copies of GO at various places. Leaders of AP-JAC on Wednesday set afire copies of GO at NGO office in Vijayawada. AP-JAC chairman Bandi Srinivasa Rao told reporters that there will be no further talks with the government. The JAC executive council resolved at its meeting that the employees will never accept PRC. He alleged that with the implementation of GO, each employee will lose Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 every month. He said the strike notice would be submitted to the chief secretary on January 21. This will be 15-day notice. The employees' associations will chalk out protest programmes for this 15-day period on Thursday. Stating that the pay revision announced by the government is far below the Interim Relief (IR), AP JAC chairman Srinivasa Rao and AP-JAC Amaravati chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu demanded that the government continue paying IR and also release the arrears of Dearness Allowance (DA). They said there is no instance in the state's history of a pay revision being lower than IR. Following the announcement made by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy early this month, the government on Monday issued a GO for 23 per cent hike in the basic pay. The employees had been receiving 27 per cent IR for last few months. "Let the government continue paying earlier salaries with 27 per cent IR along with DA. We don't want pay revision,a said Srinivasa Rao. Both Srinivasa Rao and Venkateswarlu made it clear that their protest will continue till the government rolls back the GO. The government would be responsible for the inconvenience caused to the public, they said. They said the chief minister had promised 23 per cent fitment and Das but the salaries were far below the IR. A Central government scheme was introduced doing away with the House Rent Allowance (HRA). The government had promised five DAs, but while implementing the same, it had done away with other benefits, they said. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Samir Sharma tried to pacify the employees. He told reporters that this is the best pay revision the government could offer in the present situation. He appealed to employees to understand the circumstances in which the government had to take this decision. He said the state's revenues have slumped to Rs 62,000 crore from Rs 98,000 crore due to Covid-19 pandemic. The chief secretary the employees need not have any apprehensions. He claimed that justice has been done to all and denied that there will be decrease in salary He hoped that all issues will be resolved soon. Stating that the government was spending Rs 17,000 crore on IR, the chief secretary said employees also know that IR can't be treated part of salary. He pointed out that the government has also issued DA arrears and extended many other benefits. Secretary general administration Sashibhushan Kumar said the implementation of PRC will impose an additional burden of Rs 10,247 crore on state exchequer. He said the PRC implementation will lead to substantial increase in the salaries of all employees from January. --IANS ms/pgh ( 612 Words) 2022-01-19-20:36:03 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine a PIL against the validity of a provision of the Representation of People Act, which led to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), replacing ballot papers, for elections in the country. Advocate M.L. Sharma submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that the matter requires urgent listing against the backdrop of polls scheduled in five states - Goa, Punjab, Manipur, and Uttar Pradesh. The elections will be held between February 10 and March 10. Sharma, who filed the petition in his personal capacity, submitted that the Section 61A of the Representation of People Act, which allowed the use of EVMs, was not passed by the Parliament. He added that this cannot be imposed, and his plea sought declaration of the provision as void, illegal, and unconstitutional. After a brief hearing in the matter, the Chief Justice said: "We will see it...". He said that he may list the petition before some other bench. Sharma said: "I have filed the petition which is supported with the evidence on the record." He emphasised that judicial note can be taken note of the case. The petition has made the Law ministry as a party in the matter. "Let the election be held through ballot papers," he said. --IANS ss/vd ( 234 Words) 2022-01-19-20:52:05 (IANS)
The two dignitaries will also launch the Civil Service College and 8 MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support.

An agreement on extending a $190 million Line of Credit from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects; and MoU on the implementation of Small Development Projects will also be exchanged, informed the ministry of external affairs.

In the last five years, India has been among the leading trading partners of Mauritius.

In 2020, India represented 10 per cent share of Mauritian total imports and ranked third in their main countries of import.

The volume of exports from India to Mauritius was $1,027 million in 2018, $776 million in 2019 and $396 million in 2020.

The value of Mauritian exports to India in 2019 was $24 million and $32 million in 2020.

Cumulative FDI equity inflows from Mauritius to India during the period April 2000-March 2021 amounted to $148.35 billion (28 per cent of total FDI inflows over this period). Mauritius was the third largest source of FDI into India during the financial year 2020-21, with FDI equity inflows amounting to $5.63 billion.

Many prominent Indian Public Sector Enterprises are currently functioning in Mauritius. The Bank of Baroda (BoB), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), and New India Assurance Corporation (NIAC) were the first to establish operations, followed by other PSUs including Telecommunications Consultant India Ltd (TCIL), IndianOil (Mauritius) Limited (IOML), Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) Ltd., State Bank of India (Mauritius) Limited, NBCC Ltd and EdCIL (India) Ltd. Besides their core activities, the PSUs have also contributed to various activities in Mauritius under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes.

--IANS nk/pgh

( 322 Words)

2022-01-19-22:26:03 (IANS)
The UGC circular urging the students to practice 'Surya Namaskar' on the occasion of Republic Day is a "deliberate attempt to promote pseudoscience neglecting the scientific temper", said the Vice President of the student organization, Campus Front of India, KH Abdul Hadi on Wednesday. He further said, "UGC order contradicts scientific temper envisaged by the Constitution. Also, imposing a religious practice in the guise of health exercise to the diverse college students across the country brings into light the attempt of the BJP regime to saffronise the values of the secular Indian republic." "In the current situation, Republic day has to be celebrated to protect the constitution from the RSS- BJP Hindutva regime. Hence Campus Front of India condemned the UGC order and urged the council to withdraw it immediately," he added. Hadi's remarks came after the University Grants Commission (UGC) urged the students to practice 'Surya Namaskar' on the occasion of Republic Day celebrated each year on January 26. To celebrate 75 years of India's independence, UGC has asked higher education institutions across the country to participate in this mass programme, which is a part of the Central government's 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. This event was planned by the National Yogasana Sport Federation (NYSF) which will run in nearly 30,000 higher education institutions across the country and will involve more than 300,000 students. The programme will continue till February 7. (ANI)
In a statement, BJP national General Secretary Arun Singh said that the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) has approved the name of Mukta Raja for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

On Tuesday, the BJP had announced two candidates -- Chhatrapal Singh from Baheri and Bahoranlal Maurya from Bhojipura.

With one more candidate in its third list, the BJP has so far announced 110 candidates for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 107 candidates. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur (Urban), while Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will contest from Sirathu in Prayagraj district. The BJP has denied tickets to 20 sitting MLAs in its first list.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the BJP CEC was held on Wednesday to discuss and finalise names for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The BJP CEC also finalised names of party candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually attended the CEC meeting.

Names of BJP candidates finalised in Wednesday's CEC are likely to be announced in a day or two.

--IANS ssb/arm

( 215 Words)

2022-01-19-22:36:04 (IANS)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said no compensation claim filed by family members of Covid-19 victims can be rejected by state governments on technical grounds. A bench comprising Justice M.R. Shah and Sanjiv Khanna said that claimants, who have applied for Covid compensation, should be given a chance to rectify their applications. It further added that such claims should be examined by the grievance redressal committee within a week from Wednesday. It also directed the state government to include children, who have lost their parents to Covid-19, on the compensation list, while noting that it will be very difficult for such children to file an application for compensation. The top court made it clear that whenever an application seeking Covid compensation is rejected, the authorities concerned should communicate the reason for rejection of the claim to the claimant. The bench told counsel of some state governments that the reason for rejection of the claim should not be technical, and state governments should reach out to the families of Covid victims. It directed some states to furnish the particulars of rejection to the claimant concerned as well as the grievance redressal committee, within a period of one week. On the aspect of compensation of children, the bench directed the state governments to reach out to those children who have lost both the parents or the surviving parent and whose particulars are already uploaded on the Bal Swaraj portal, emphasising that it is necessary to pay the compensation to them. According to the Bal Swaraj Portal, nearly 10,000 children have lost both parents across the country. The top court was hearing a matter filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, where it is monitoring the disbursal of ex-gratia for Covid-19 deaths. Concluding the hearing, the top court said it will pass a detailed order to state and district legal services by Thursday. The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing in the first week of February. --IANS ss/vd ( 345 Words) 2022-01-19-22:46:03 (IANS)
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan laid out details of his final budget on Wednesday as he finishes his second term in office, a plan that proposes generous tax breaks for retirees and some low-income workers.

The $58.2 billion proposal is a first step in budget negotiations in a year in which the state is flush with cash from a combination of federal aid, a resurgent economy and rebounding tax revenues. The Republican governor also attributed the states solid financial footing to hard work and a lot of tightening the belt over the last seven years.

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With no need to pinch pennies, Hogan is proposing to gradually eliminate taxes on retirement income such as pensions and retirement savings accounts. The tax cut would apply to people older than 65 who receive Social Security payments and would phase in over six years, starting with lower-income retirees.

In the first year, the tax cut proposal would eliminate income taxes on 70,000 low-income seniors at a cost of $188 million to the state. But as it expands to more retirees, the price tag is expected to rise, setting the state up to lose significant dollars that it otherwise would collect in income taxes from retirees.

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan holds up purple budget books during a news conference in Annapolis on Wednesday. He said the color is meant to symbolize that Republicans and Democrats should work together on issues such as tax relief. "Purple is red and blue coming together," he said. (Pamela Wood / Baltimore Sun)

Hogan also is proposing to extend a tax credit that helps low-income workers called the Earned Income Tax Credit. The tax credit, popular among Democrats and Republicans alike, allows low-income workers to keep more of their pay, and the governor and the General Assembly agreed last year to make the tax credit temporarily more generous.

Hogan would make that expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit permanent. However, his proposal doesnt extend the more generous credit to people who dont have a Social Security number, often because they lack legal documentation for residency. Leaving out those workers could be a point of disagreement with the Democratic-led legislature.

Hogan said now is the time for additional tax relief.

For far too long, politicians in Annapolis have resorted to the same failed overreach, overspend and overtax policies of the past  We have worked hard over the last seven years to change that mentality, Hogan said.

Hogan also touted the plans in his budget for funding public education, state parks, addiction treatment services and giving raises to state government workers.

He made a pitch again for his Re-Fund the Police proposal, a combination of higher pay for state law enforcement officers, financial support for local departments and grants for community safety programs.

The budget requires approval of the state Senate and House of Delegates and will govern state government spending from July of this year through next June.

The Maryland Constitution requires the budget to be balanced, and in past years that required significant maneuvering. This proposed budget is projected to have a $583 million surplus and leaves nearly $3.6 billion in the states rainy day fund, according to the governors office.

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This, of course, is just the first step in the budget process, said Hogan, adding that he hopes to work with Democrats in the General Assembly to enact a final budget which seizes the historic opportunity we now have.

Democratic leaders have expressed a reluctance to enact long-term tax cuts that would consign the state to permanently lower tax revenues. But they have not dismissed all of Hogans proposals entirely, saying they wanted to see more details.

House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, quickly found fault with the governors proposal after his announcement.

In a statement, Jones said that Hogans budget continues to undermine a long-term effort to improve public schools known as the Blueprint for Marylands Future. And she said shes skeptical that the budget sufficiently addresses an issue of understaffing at state agencies.

Still, she said theres room for compromise.

We look forward to working with the Governor and the Senate and will continue to ask, Is this helping the families whove been left behind in post-pandemic recovery? Jones said in her statement.

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The governors budget doesnt fund a part of the Blueprint for Marylands Future formula that would send millions in extra money to school districts that have high concentrations of poor students, said Del. Maggie McIntosh, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee. Baltimore City is missing out on $99 million in Hogans proposal, and Prince Georges County is missing $26 million, said McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat.

This is something were going to have to get into a discussion with the governor about, she said. Its important for the poorest children in our school systems.

Sen. Guy Guzzone, who chairs the Senates Budget and Taxation Committee, said theres a lot of good in Hogans proposal. But he said lawmakers will consider whether to build on the governors plan in key areas such as education, cybersecurity and local health departments.

When you have additional resources  which we are fortunate to be in this position  are we looking at this opportunity to be able to handle long-term problems that may not have been handled in the past? said Guzzone, a Howard County Democrat.

That will require some give-and-take, and one area of consideration will be giving a close look at the governors tax-cut proposals, Guzzone said.

Breaking News Alerts As it happens When big news breaks in our area, be the first to know. >

McIntosh said the governors proposal to expand tax breaks for low-income workers is admirable. But all tax cuts need to be viewed as part of a bigger picture along with other spending, she said.

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Tax cuts are an expenditure. Its money that you never get back, she said. So thats going to be a balance.

Guzzone noted that Democratic leaders worked closely with Hogan last year to pass a pandemic financial aid bill called the RELIEF Act. And they cooperated to assign how to spend an influx of federal pandemic aid that was passed in the midst of the budget process. He hopes the cooperation will continue.

Its all about a discussion and a negotiation, he said.

Hogan, for his part, signaled his hope for fruitful negotiations with Democratic leaders in the color that he chose for the thick budget books: Purple.

For his past seven budget proposals, Hogans budget books were printed with somber black covers.

We wanted to symbolically show its different, Hogan said. It really is a bipartisan effort, and purple is red and blue coming together.
The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi allies trumped the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party by unitedly bagging a majority of the 1,649 seats in the crucial Nagar Panchayat held in 32 of the state's 36 districts, officials said here on Wednesday. The BJP emerged as the single largest party bagging 384 seats against the MVA tally of 944 comprising Nationalist Congress Party's 344, Congress' 316 and Shiv Sena's 284 seats. Besides the four major parties, the CPI-M) bagged 11 seats, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Bahujan Samaj Party got 4 each, other parties secured 85 seats and a chunk of 206 seats were won by independents. With its seat tally of 384, the BJP has captured 24 NPs, while 41 are taken by the MVA comprising NCP (16), Congress (14) and Sena (11), of the total 97 local bodies results announced today. The counting for 163 seats in 9 Nagar Panchayats of Gadchiroli district shall be held on Thursday - out of the total 106 NPs which went to the polls. The election results evoked sharp reactions from both the MVA and the BJP as they could have ramifications in the upcoming local bodies and major civic corporations. The NCP termed the outcome as the BJP's "rejection" by the people of the state, Congress expressed immense "satisfaction" while the Sena also made "inroadsa into newer territories. NCP National Spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said that the "people of the state have rejected the BJP" and the MVA allies who fought separately, jointly or unitedly in different areas have been accepted by the masses. Congress state President Nana Patole said the party was extremely satisfied especially as it has bounced back massively in the Vidarbha region of eastern Maharashtra. Shiv Sena Transport Minister Anil Parab said the results prove that the party has made inroads all over the state and has performed well even in its traditional bastions like coastal Konkan region. Farmers' leader Kishore Tiwari - accorded an MoS status - said the polls results are an obvious indicator that the three parties unitedly can overthrow the BJP at any level. "The framework has been prepared by the Nagar Panchayat election result... It will have serious repercussions for the Opposition parties in the other future local elections and the upcoming dozen-odd major civic corporations. Given the current trends, the BJP is all set to be decimated," Tiwari said. State NCP President and Minister Jayant Patil expressed gratitude to the voters in the semi-urban centres for supporting the party with 344 seats. BJP state President Chandrakant Patil said the party will analyse the Nagar Panchayat results carefully and review its strategy for the upcoming elections. Slamming the Shiv Sena, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said that though the party has its own Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, it was relegated to the fourth position. Patil also expressed happiness that the party could bag power in 24 bodies and with the support of other parties, it was set to take control of another 6 NPs. Invigorated by the results, the MVA leaders indicate that they will make efforts to contest all future elections as a powerful alliance to bag the maximum number of seats compared with the Opposition. --IANS qn/pgh ( 548 Words) 2022-01-19-22:50:03 (IANS)
With recommendations of the ministerial committees, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma are expected to meet Union Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday in a bid to resolve the six of the 12 inter-state border disputes. Sarma and Sangma after the cabinet meetings of the two states told the media separately on Wednesday that they would apprise Shah about the recommendations of the ministerial committees and their perspectives about the inter-state border disputes between the two northeastern states. Sarma on Tuesday held an all-party meeting and discussed the inter-state border disputes with the different political parties and organisations on the reports. Sangma said in Shillong that the meeting with the Union Home minister would be held in Delhi on Thursday evening. "The recommendations of the ministerial committees of Assam and Meghalaya would be placed before Shah for further action. The recommendations of the two states are more or less common," the Meghalaya Chief Minister said. He said: "Apart from historical facts, we have to consider the sentiments of the bordering people. We have to keep in mind the ethnic issue. Both the state governments also sincerely felt that one cannot force anyone to forcibly come to a particular state." The ministerial committees of the two states had visited 36 villages in six of the 12 disputed areas during the past four months. Sangma said that the boundary demarcation would be conducted after the due procedure in Parliament. "The officials of the Survey of India along with the officials of the two states have to undertake joint inspections before a possible Bill can be moved in the Parliament," he said. Meanwhile, the Assam Chief Minister said that a roadmap for amicable settlement has been prepared based on the recommendations of three regional (ministerial) committees with representatives from both the states. On January 12, Assam and Meghalaya have in principle reached an agreement on border disputes on at least six of the 12 places. Recently, the two states exchanged reports submitted by their respective regional (ministerial) committees. The Opposition Congress in Assam has threatened to move court if Assam's land is parted away with. According to the Assam Chief Minister, of the 12 locations along Assam's Cachar, Kamrup and Kamrup (metro) districts and Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi and East Jaintia Hills districts, six disputed locations with lesser complications were taken up first. To settle the border disputes, Assam and Meghalaya in August last year had formed various regional (ministerial) committees led by Ministers and officials of the two states to focus on five aspects -- historical facts, ethnicity, administrative convenience, contiguity of the land, willingness and people's sentiments. Assam has border disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Assam's border dispute cases with Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are before the Supreme Court but there are no cases on the inter-state disputes with Meghalaya and Mizoram. Recently, Assam and Nagaland had signed an agreement to remove state forces from the disputed locations. Sarma recently discussed an out-of-court settlement of the boundary disputes with his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu. The worst-ever violence along the Assam-Mizoram border on July 26 last year left six Assam Police personnel dead and nearly 100 civilians and security personnel of the two neighbouring states injured. The trouble between the states is due to conflicting interpretations of their territorial position. While Mizoram says the boundary line is the one laid down in the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1875, Assam backs the 1933 demarcation. The Chief Ministers of Assam and Mizoram met in New Delhi on November 26 last year in presence of the Union Home Minister and discussed the ways and means to resolve their border issues amicably. --IANS sc/pgh ( 634 Words) 2022-01-19-22:58:04 (IANS)
Mumbai BJP chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha and other party workers were taken into police custody on Wednesday while they were protesting against Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole over his 'I can hit, abuse Modi' remark. Earlier on Tuesday, a Mumbai BJP delegation led by Lodha had called on Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday demanding strict action against Patole for allegedly making an objectionable statement against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The delegation handed over a letter to Governor Koshyari demanding FIR against Patole. Lodha had warned that if action is not taken against Nana Patole by 11 am on Wednesday, January 19, he will go on a fast in front of the Gandhi statue at Churchgate along with BJP workers. Patole landed himself in a controversy after a viral news clip showed him saying that he could beat Modi and abuse him. He, however, later issued a clarification and said that he was referring to a local goon who shares his surname with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a viral news clip, Patole can be heard speaking in Marathi to a group of villagers in Bhandara district. He said, "I have been in politics for the past 30 years. Being a politician, I never favoured anybody. I helped each and everyone who came to me. That's why I can hit Modi and abuse him." However, it is not clear when this video was filmed. After this video went viral on social media, several BJP leaders lashed out at the Congress party and Patole, questioning their respect and honour for the post of Prime Minister. (ANI)
"We have received a tip-off that Chiku Pandey is staying with two call girls in Mahima guest house located at the tourist destination Bodh Gaya. Accordingly, a raid was conducted by a team headed by DSP Ghuran Mandal. During the raid, Chiku was arrested with two call girls who were especially brought for him from Sonagachi red light area of Kolkata," Superintendent of Police, City, Rakesh Kumar said.

"During investigation, it also appeared that the manager of the guest house used to arrange call girls for customers. We have also detained him and his questioning is currently underway," he said.

Chiku Pandey is wanted in over a dozen cases, with five of them registered only in the district's Mufassil police station. He recently killed a youth named Prince Kumar, a resident of Patwatoli locality of Gaya.

--IANS ajk/vd

( 173 Words)

2022-01-19-23:18:01 (IANS)
After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the house of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's relative on Wednesday and seized Rs 10 crore cash, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and BJP leader Som Prakash said that people of Punjab have long been accusing many Congress MLAs and ministers of involvement in sand mining, transport and alcohol mafias. Speaking to ANI, Prakash said, "For the past five years, Congress was in power in Punjab. During this period, people of Punjab have accused MLAs and ministers of running sand mining, transport and alcohol mafias. So the raid of ED at Channi's relative's house is not wrong." He further said, "Political leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have said that several Congress leaders must be caught because they are accused of being involved in sand mining, transport and liquor mafia." Earlier on Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized more than Rs 10 crore cash, gold worth above 21 lakh and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the residential premises of land mafia Bhupinder Singh Honey, a relative of state Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and others in connection with an alleged illegal sand mining case. (ANI)
The winners of Vande Bhartam, Nritya Utsav Grand Finale are gearing up to enthral the audiences at the 2022 Republic Day parade scheduled to be held at Rajpath, New Delhi on 26 January, informed the Ministry of Culture on Wednesday. As per the ministry, the rehearsals for the grand performance have been taking place with full enthusiasm at Rajpath and Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi. According to the ministry, the winners are being trained by the four renowned choreographers. These include Kathak Dancer Rani Khanam, along with Maiyetree Pahari, Tejaswini Sathe, and Santosh Nair who are giving training to 36 teams who have come from different states, said the ministry. The ministry further stated that the 480 performers have been selected by the Ministry of Culture through a four-level Vande Bharatam-Nritya Utsav competition. The Grand Finale of the Vande Bharatam-Nritya Utsav, a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav was held in New Delhi on 19 December 2021. As per the ministry, the Vande Bharatam competition began at the district level on November 17 and saw the participation of more than 3,870 contestants in 323 groups. Those who cleared the screening at the district level took part in the state-level competition from November 30, 2021. More than 20 virtual events were conducted for the state-level competition over a span of 5 days till 4 December 2021, stated the ministry. Over 2,400 participants from 200 plus teams were short-listed for the zonal level competition. The zonal finals took place at Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi from 9 to 12 of December where 104 groups displayed their dance prowess. Participating groups performed specially choreographed acts in various dance categories like classical, folk, tribal, and fusion. They will now give a performance on Republic Day where all the groups will merge into a one whole, yet retaining the identity of individual dance forms, in the true spirit of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. Of these 104 groups,73 groups comprising 949 dancers from all 4 zones made it to the Grand Finale, which was held in Delhi at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Auditorium on 19 December. Top 480 dancers were declared as winners from the Grand Finale and they will perform on the Republic Day Parade to be held at Rajpath, New Delhi on 26 January 2022. This is the first time that teams are selected for Republic Day Performance at Rajpath through an All India dance competition with the aim of enhancing Jan Bhagidari. (ANI)
Taking a serious note in the lapse into the investigation into the case of arrest of two policemen on charges of drug peddling in Bengaluru, the Karnataka police department has suspended a police inspector, and a sub-inspector, while issuing notices to two Deputy Commissioners in the city. Two police constables Shivakumar and Santhosh attached to Koramangala police station were arrested for possession of ganja near the residence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Both the accused were deputed as security officers at the R.T. Nagar residence of CM Bommai in Bengaluru. R.T. Nagar police inspector Ashwath Gowda and sub-inspector Veerabhadraiah have been suspended by the police department for not conducting proper inquiry. Sources said the police personnel who turned into drug peddlers managed to obtain bail due to slack investigation just two days after their arrest, sources explain. South-east DCP Srinath Mahadev Joshi has been served with a notice for clearing the deputation of accused cops without proper background check to the Chief Minister's residence. VVIP DCP Manjunath Babu has also been issued a notice on failing to keep the proper vigilance on Chief Minister's security and also failing to monitor the staff deputed on the security duty of the Chief Minister, police sources confirmed. The police had taken the accused cops into custody on January 13. The police had arrested five persons in connection with the case. The accused obtained drugs from drug peddlers and sold it in Bengaluru. The accused cops have received drugs through a delivery service near the residence of CM Bommai to avoid any suspicions. At the time of receiving drugs, they had an argument with the drug peddlers over the issue of payments. --IANS mka/pgh ( 292 Words) 2022-01-20-00:28:02 (IANS)
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday that the image of the nation has brightened by its success in curbing terrorism and militancy. The Prime Minister was addressing the graduation ceremony of the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) at Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka, joining virtually from her official residence in the capital. Hasina urged all to work unitedly for the progress of Bangladesh and turn its 'developing nation' status into 'developed nation' by 2041. The Prime Minister expressed her firm conviction that no one can stop the indomitable pace of the country's advancement as it has become a 'role model' of development before the world. After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members in 1975, the country had lost the hard-earned honour of being an Independent nation which was achieved through the 1971 Liberation War led by the Bangabandhu. But things have changed now as Bangladesh has regained its lost honour once again, she said. The premier urged the fresh graduate officers to be the envoys of Bangladesh as some people still love to spread defamatory propaganda against the country just like in the past, despite the country reclaiming its reputed position before the world. "No one can ignore Bangladesh from now on. No one can stop the indomitable pace of Bangladesh's advancement," she said. Speaking on the Covid-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister urged everyone to comply with the health protocols, especially after the emergence of new Covid variant Omicron. "Follow all the health protocols. Protect yourselves and your families," she said. The Prime Minister then called upon the graduating officers to work as "soldiers of 2041", saying, "Move ahead, always keeping your heads high. Love the country and its people and devote yourselves to the betterment of the nation." On the occasion, the Prime Minister remotely handed over certificates to 251 graduating officers, including 17 female and 47 overseas officers from 18 friendly countries. Commandant of the DSCSC, Major General Md Jubayer Salehin, delivered the welcome address. --IANS sumi/arm ( 353 Words) 2022-01-20-00:54:03 (IANS)
The Dausa administration cancelled the auctioning of land belonging to a farmer after a cooperative bank decided to put it for sale as his family failed to repay the loan amount following his death. Additional District Magistrate said, "The process of auction of the land of a farmer, who could not replay loan to a bank, has been cancelled. Instead, a settlement process between the farmer and the bank is being facilitated." Pappu Lal, son of the farmer, said, "My father had borrowed a loan from the bank and he is dead now. As we were unable to repay the loan amount, the bank decided to auction the land. If they sell our land, then it will be difficult for us to make our ends meet. We requested the bank officials to give us some more time for the repayment of loan amount but they denied it." Sub Divisional Magistrate Mithlesh Meena said, "The farmer had taken a loan from Rajasthan Marudhara Gramin Bank but failed to repay it. The bank also called them for settlement but they didn't appear, so as per law their land was auctioned." Ram Prasad Bairwa, Junior Assistant of Revenue department had said that the 15 bigha of land was auctioned for Rs 46 lakh. (ANI)
Accused Mohan Singh, resident of Bikaner, allegedly collected the payment from the woman after showing her an advertisement for the dresses on a Youtube channel and later switching off his phone.

Barmer Superintendent of Police (SP) Deepak Bhargava said that one Ganpat Singh filed complaint on January 4, claiming that his daughter selected a few 'Rajputi' dresses on a YouTube channel and paid Rs 41,590 in Paytm account of an unknown person. Later the person switched off his phone, complainant said.

The SP added that a special team was constituted and thorough searches were initiated to find the accused.

The team connected the links and arrested Mohan Singh alias R.B. Banna from Udaipur.

On questioning, he admitted that he duped the girl and collected the said amount from her.

Meanwhile, investigations are on to know if he has committed other such offences, said Bhargava.

--IANS arc/shs

( 188 Words)

2022-01-20-01:06:02 (IANS)
Democrats in the Maryland Senate signed off on a new map of General Assembly districts for future elections Thursday, sending the once-a-decade reworking of the states legislative map to the House of Delegates for final approval.

The reconfigured boundaries, which delegates are expected to pass next week, are slated to go into effect before Junes primary elections. States are required to redraw electoral districts after each national census to reflect population changes and ensure that voters are given roughly equal weight in selecting political representative.

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Senate Democrats passed the map on a party-line vote Thursday morning, again brushing aside objections from Republican lawmakers, who accused the majority of bending the map to their political advantage. The minority party backed an alternate proposal endorsed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

Several Democratic senators called the new electoral map a fair one that will keep a majority of Maryland voters in their current state legislative districts, an aim embraced by the General Assemblys leaders.

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They also contended that the new map complies with the federal Voting Rights Act as well as the states constitution, which requires that General Assembly districts are compact, contiguous and take into account natural boundaries and existing political lines like county or municipal borders.

Marylands population grew by just over 7% since 2010, when the state last redrew its electoral maps. But some areas of the state saw significantly larger population gains or losses, requiring changes to the districts represented by the General Assemblys 47 state senators and 141 delegates. Each district has one senator and three delegates, with some delegates elected at-large and others elected in single-member or two-member subdistricts.

Baltimore City, for example, is set to lose a Senate district under the proposal while another city district would now cross from North Baltimore over the city line into Towson to take in enough voters.

Republicans, however, claimed that the map effectively cements Democratic control of a number of currently contested seats in the General Assembly and will mean more elections are effectively decided in party primaries, which draw more partisan voters, instead of in the general elections.

That ends up disenfranchising an awful lot of people who are independent voters and arent active in primaries, argued Sen. Edward Reilly, an Anne Arundel County Republican whose district is set to be altered substantially under the new map.

Hogan has repeatedly derided the redistricting plan backed by Democratic lawmakers and accused Democrats of operating in secret as they drafted the maps. Hogan submitted alternative maps drawn by a commission he created that was made up of Republicans, Democrats and independent voters. Several Republicans on Thursday repeated Hogans allegation that the process to create the maps lacked transparency.

Democrats bristled at that suggestion, noting that the commission that drafted the maps traveled the state to collect public input and took all of its votes at meetings open to the public.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the Keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore' on Thursday at 10:30 am via video conferencing, informed the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday. According to the PMO, the program will unveil yearlong initiatives dedicated to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav by the Brahma Kumaris, which include more than 30 campaigns and over 15,000 programs and events. During the event, the Prime Minister will flag off seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris. These include My India Healthy India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers, Women: Flag Bearers of India, Power of Peace Bus Campaign, Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally, United India Motor Bike Campaign and green initiatives under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. In the My India Healthy India initiative, multiple events and programs will be held in medical colleges and hospitals with a focus on spirituality, well-being and nutrition. These include the organisation of medical camps, cancer screening, conferences for Doctors and other health care workers, among others. Under Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers, 75 Farmer Empowerment Campaigns, 75 Farmer Conferences, 75 Sustainable Yogic Farming Training Programs and several other such initiatives for the welfare of farmers will be held. Under Women: Flag Bearers of India, the initiatives will focus on social transformation through women empowerment and empowerment of girl child. The Power of Peace Bus Campaign will cover 75 cities and Tehsils and will carry an exhibition on the positive transformation of today's youth. The Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally will be held to different heritage sites, drawing a connection between heritage and the environment. The United India Motor Bike Campaign will be held from Mount Abu to Delhi and will cover multiple cities. The initiatives under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will include monthly cleanliness drives, community cleaning programmes and awareness campaigns. During the event, a song dedicated to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, by Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej, will also be released. Brahma Kumaris is a worldwide spiritual movement dedicated to personal transformation and world renewal. Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumaris has spread to over 130 countries. The event is being held on the occasion of the 53rd Ascension Anniversary of Pitashree Prajapita Brahma, Founding Father of Brahma Kumaris. (ANI)
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officials launched searches at the premises linked to former Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister and AIADMK leader KP Anbalagan on Thursday. Officials from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption are conducting searches at 57 places. Further details are awaited. (ANI)
In the era of internet, 'WWW' may stands for 'World Wide Web', but to empower young women and girls, the High Commission of Canada in partnership with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, coined it in a different way by launching an initiative titled 'World Wide Women - A Campaign on Women's Digital Leadership'. In the lead up to the 'National Day of the Girl and International Day of Education', the campaign is to train young women and girls from rural and marginalised communities in five Indian states, and areas of Nepal and Bhutan, to build their capacity in digital entrepreneurship, internet use and digital marketing, through a series of training workshops. "I am delighted to launch the 'World Wide Women' campaign today. Canada is committed to taking concrete action towards achieving digital equality and ensuring that women and girls have access and the necessary skills to use digital tools to participate in decision-making. This commitment is reflected in Canada's role as the Chair of the Freedom Online Coalition in 2022," said Canada's Deputy High Commissioner, Amanda Strohan. The collaborative programme will reach out to 1,50,000 women through three country cohorts, 150 digital entrepreneurs and 15 super digital women. On the launch of the initiative, a panel discussion on 'Women's digital leadership: Possibilities and challenges' provided insights on the key barriers women face in using digital technologies, and the various approaches to utilise existing skill development programmes to enhance women's digital skills. Trainees from rural India, Nepal and Bhutan also participated and shared their excitement for the programme and their ambition to become future entrepreneurs. --IANS nimish/shs ( 276 Words) 2022-01-20-05:30:03 (IANS)
A vital meeting regarding the resolving of the border dispute between neighbouring states of Assam and Meghalaya will take place with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday evening in the national capital. Assam chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will travel together from Guwahati for this meeting. Both the Chief Ministers are expected to meet Home Minister after 6 pm and then both the leaders will head back to Guwahati right after the meeting. On Tuesday, after his cabinet meeting, Conrad Sangma had said, "Our Cabinet has approved the recommendations of all 3 Regional Committees as process to resolve the Meghalaya-Assam border issue. These recommendations along with the recommendations by the government of Assam would be further discussed and submitted with the Union Home Minister." Assam Chief Minister Sarma also held an all-party meeting on Tuesday and had tweeted, "Our efforts to resolve the Assam-Meghalaya border row have started bearing fruits as 6 of the 12 areas of difference have been identified for resolution in the first phase. During an interaction, briefed representatives of all political parties on the progress made so far." "Sought their cooperation in our mutually agreed principles to solve the long-pending problem. Also apprised them of the harmonious talks that led to taking up 6 areas - Ratacherra, Tarabari, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pillingkata, Hahim and Gizang - for finding amicable solutions," Sarma added. On Tuesday, the Assam government in its cabinet also approved the recommendations made by various committees to resolve the Assam-Meghalaya dispute. In at least two rounds of meeting between the two Chief Ministers since August last year, three committees each of both states were formed to submit the recommendations so that a long-standing solution can be provided to resolve the border dispute between the two states. (ANI)
The Indian Army has sought assistance from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) to locate the missing youth from Arunachal Pradesh on their side and return him as per established protocol, informed Defence sources on Thursday. The sources further said that the Indian Army immediately contacted through an established mechanism informing that an individual, who was collecting herbs and hunting, has lost his way and cannot be found. "Regarding the incident of the missing youth named Miram Taron from Arunachal Pradesh, it is informed that on receipt of the information, the Indian Army immediately contacted the PLA through established mechanism of hotline informing that an individual, who was collecting herbs and hunting, has lost his way and cannot be found. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate the individual on their side and return him as per established protocol," said Defence Sources. Earlier today, Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Pasighat West Ninong Ering claimed that 17-year-old youth from Arunachal Pradesh was abducted by the Chinese army on Tuesday. His Twitter post said that Taron was abducted at around 6:30 PM near Siungla from the jungle called Lungta Jor under Indian territory by the PLA. Taron went hunting with his friend Johnny Yaying in the last border village of Bising under Tuting, he informed. However, 27-year-old Yaying escaped the Chinese army and he disclosed the abduction episode. Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament from East Arunachal Pradesh, had also claimed that the youth was 'abducted' on Tuesday from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district. He claimed that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abducted the youth where the Tsangpo River enters India in Arunachal Pradesh. (ANI)
The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified a stringent law against cow slaughter for the merged Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu that bans the transportation of a cow, calf, heifer, bull, bullock and ox within the UT for the purpose of its slaughter. Such acts will be considered illegal and will attract higher penalties starting from 10 years in jail to imprisonment for life and fine between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. As per the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Adaptation of State Laws) Second Order, 2022, notified by the MHA on Tuesday, the Bombay Animal Preservation Act, 1954, as applicable to the erstwhile UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and as in force in Gujarat, as well as Goa. Daman and Diu Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, as applicable to the erstwhile UT of Daman and Diu, now stand amended and shall apply to the merged UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. (ANI)
In separate viral videos from Uttar Pradesh's Ballia, two men can be seen taking desperate measures to avoid COVID-19 jabs - while one climbed a tree, the other mishandled a healthcare worker. In one of the videos, a boatman can be seen refusing to take the jab as healthcare workers kept trying to convince him. "Let's go, everyone is taking the vaccination," the healthcare worker told the boatman, who kept repeating, "I will not take it," after a few seconds he jumped from the boat and charged at the healthcare worker, pinning him to the ground. The boatman then said, "I will throw you into the water" and tried to drag him to the water body. Some locals then intervened in an attempt to stop the scuffle. Claiming that he was "not well", the boatman reiterated that he would not take the jab and again attacked the healthcare worker. In another video, a man, attempting to avoid COVID-19 vaccination, climbed a tree and said, "I don't wish to take the vaccine. I fear it." The healthcare workers kept pleading with him to climb down, following which he agreed and got vaccinated. Meanwhile, Block Development Officer of Reoti, Atul Dubey informed that both of them took their vaccine doses. "A boatman and another man who climbed a tree (in different viral videos) were reluctant to take vaccines, but took the jabs after they were convinced," Dubey said. Notably, the Centre had recently informed the Supreme Court that COVID-19 vaccination is of larger public interest in view of the ongoing pandemic situation but no person can be forced to be vaccinated against their wishes. The guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry do not envisage forcible vaccination without obtaining the consent of an individual, said the Centre. (ANI)
Marking the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday recalled the role of women in India's freedom struggle and said several women have given their sacrifices for the nation. "When the world was engulfed in the darkness of negativities, caught in the old adage thinking about women, then India used to worship Mother Shakti in the form of Goddess. We have scholars like Gargi, Maitreyi, Anusuya, Arundhati and Madalsa who used to give knowledge to the society," said the Prime Minister while delivering the keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore' today via video conferencing. "Even in the troubled medieval times, there were great women like Pannadhay and Mira Bai in this country. And in the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the country is remembering the history of freedom struggle, in which many women have given their sacrifices for the nation," said PM Modi. "From Kittur's Rani Chennamma, Matangini Hazra, Rani Lakshmibai, Veerangana Jhalkari Bai to Ahalyabai Holkar and Savitribai Phule in the social sphere, these goddesses maintained India's identity," he said. The Prime Minister said, "We have to keep our culture, our civilization, our values alive, to preserve and promote our spirituality, our diversity. And at the same time, the systems of technology, infrastructure, education, health have to be continuously modernized." Lauding the country's progress towards development, the Prime Minister said, "Today we are creating a system in which there is no place for discrimination. We are building a society that stands firmly on the foundation of equality and social justice. We are witnessing the emergence of an India whose thinking and approach are innovative, and whose decisions are progressive." Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore' today via video conferencing. The program unveiled yearlong initiatives dedicated to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav by the Brahma Kumaris, which include more than 30 campaigns and over 15000 programs and events. During the event, Prime Minister flagged off seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris. These include My India Healthy India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers, Women: Flag Bearers of India, Power of Peace Bus Campaign, Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally, United India Motor Bike Campaign and green initiatives under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Brahma Kumaris is a worldwide spiritual movement dedicated to personal transformation and world renewal. Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumaris has spread to over 130 countries. The event is being held on the occasion of the 53rd Ascension Anniversary of Pitashree Prajapita Brahma, Founding Father of Brahma Kumaris. (ANI)
"What was this promise to the farmers? Is this the real face of the farmer-friendly government of Congress in Rajasthan," he asked. Additional District Magistrate said, "The process of auction of the land of a farmer, who could not repay a loan to a bank, has been cancelled. Instead, a settlement process between the farmer and the bank is being facilitated." Earlier, the land belonging to a farmer in Rajashthan's Dausa was auctioned off after a cooperative bank decided to put it for sale as the farmer's family failed to repay the loan amount following his death. Sub Divisional Magistrate Mithlesh Meena said, "The farmer had taken a loan from Rajasthan Marudhara Gramin Bank but failed to repay it. The bank also called them for settlement but they didn't appear, so as per law their land was auctioned." Ram Prasad Bairwa, Junior Assistant of Revenue department had said that the 15 bighas of land was auctioned for Rs 46 lakh. Later, the Dausa administration cancelled the auctioning of land. "The process of auction of the land of a farmer, who could not replay loan to a bank, has been cancelled. Instead, a settlement process between the farmer and the bank is being facilitated," said Additional District Magistrate. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking direction to quash the Rule 2 (2) of the 'Lead Stabilizer in Polyvinyl Chloride Pipes and Fittings Rules, 2021' enacted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change through notification on March 30, 2021. The Bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on Thursday sought response of Union of India, through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Indian Standards, Central Pollution Control Board and Haryana State Pollution Control Board and fixed the matter for February 28, 2022 for further hearing. The Petitioner, PVC Pipe Manufacturers (Haryana) Association challenged legality, validity and proprietary of the "Lead Stabilizer in Polyvinyl Chloride Pipes and Fittings Rules, 2021" to the extent it mandates obtaining licence from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for manufacturing "PVC" pipes and to mark the BIS 'Standard Mark' on all the PVC pipes. Petitoner association through Advocate Rajshekhar Rao submitted that the said Impugned Rules, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) illegally and arbitrarily made it mandatory for the manufacturers of PVC pipes to obtain a licence from BIS and to mark the BIS 'Standard Mark' on all the PVC pipes. Plea filed through Advocates Animesh Kumar, Nishant Kumar, Utkarsh Sharma and Shweta Singh stated that there are several PVC products that are required for plumbing work but are not covered under any of the BIS's standards. Such non-standard items do not have any replacement. Therefore, the complete construction sector will come into stand still if only the products with ISI Standard marking are allowed to be produced. In order to obtain BIS Certification, the PVC pipe manufacturers are not only required to comply with the prescribed lead standards, but also with certain other standards which are mandatory to ensure the quality of the product required to use Indian Standards Institutes ("ISI") mark which are not at all related to the lead content in the product. In doing so, the PVC pipes manufacturers are required to produce ISI grade pipes which can only be done by upgrading their plants and machinery for which the manufacturing units would need a massive capital investment worth crore of rupees. As such, in order to obtain BIS license, the PVC manufacturers are required to have lab, infrastructure as well as additional working personnel, plea further read. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the next 25 years are important for getting back what our society lost in hundreds of years of slavery. While delivering a keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore', the Prime Minister said, "This time of Amrit Kaal is not for dreaming while sleeping, but for fulfilling resolutions by waking up. Coming 25 years are the culmination of hard work, sacrifice and austerity. This is a period of 25 years to get back what our society has lost in hundreds of years of slavery." To build a "golden future", the Prime Minister said, "we have to give our everything." On the occasion of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav' commemorating 75 years of India's independence, the Prime Minister said that "our focus should be on the future." The Prime Minister said that it needs to be admitted that in the 75 years after independence the evil of ignoring duties and not keeping them paramount has entered the national life. He noted that during this period, we only spent time talking and fighting about rights. He stressed that talk of rights, to some extent, maybe correct, in some circumstances but forgetting one's duties completely has played a major role in keeping India weak. The Prime Minister urged everyone to "light a lamp in the heart of every citizen of the country - the lamp of duty. Together, we will take the country forward on the path of duty, then the evils prevailing in the society will also be removed and the country will reach new heights". The Prime Minister regretted the tendency to tarnish the image of India, even at the international level. "We cannot get away from this by saying that this is just politics. This is not politics, this is the question of our country. today, when we are celebrating the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, it is also our responsibility that the world should know India properly", he emphasized. (ANI)
Senior Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot, who hails from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday asserted that voting for Congress is the only alternative left for the people of Uttar Pradesh in view of the upcoming Assembly elections. Speaking to ANI, Pilot said, "I believe that BJP has already lost the elections in Uttar Pradesh. Just think about it. Congress party is the only party that is going to give 40 per cent candidature to women. Congress talks about the interests of farmers in its manifesto. So, voting for Congress is the only option left for the people of Uttar Pradesh." Recently, the Congress party in its first list released a list of 125 candidates, in which 50 were women candidates. The second list of 41 candidates included 16 women candidates. Pilot said that the President of the Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati only make public appearances when assembly elections are around the corner. Attacking SP and BSP, the Congress leader said, "Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati are nowhere seen as opposition in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav has started appearing on the streets as soon as the elections are approaching. But for the last three years, Akhilesh Yadav chose to remain silent on issues like Hathras rape incident, Lakhimpur Kheri farmers' incident.....the issues of farmers or the issues of atrocities on the exploited and deprived people, Akhilesh kept silent on all these issues. Yadav and Mayawati kept silent. That's all!" Sachin Pilot said that the fear of defeat in BJP is such that BJP ministers and MLAs are leaving the party and going to other parties. "Earlier, BJP leaders did not leave the party," he said. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)
A Delhi Court on Thursday allowed the bail applications moved on behalf of employees of the Avantha Group Companies, who have been arraigned as co-accused in an alleged case of wrongful loss to YES Bank, to the tune of rupees Rs 466.51 crore, registered by the Enforcement Directorate(ED). However, in the same case, the court dismissed the bail application moved on behalf of the co-accused Rana Kapoor, Former MD & CEO of YES Bank. The trial court had earlier dismissed the bail petition of Businessman Gautam Thapar, Promoter of Avantha Group. Thapar bail plea is presently examining by the Delhi High Court. Thapar was arrested by the ED in August month last year and is currently undergoing judicial custody. Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal on Thursday disposed of the bail applications after hearing arguments in detail of several aspects including scope of section 45 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and role of all co-accused. The employees of the Avantha Group were represented by Senior Advocates N Hariharan and Pramod Kumar Dubey as well as Advocate Sandeep Kapur of Kanjawala Co. While the ED was represented by Amit Mahajan, Centre Government standing Counsel and NK Matta, Special Public prosecutor. The trial court in October last year took cognizance of the ED charge sheet (Prosecution Complaint) filed against Avantha group promoter Gautam Thapar involving Yes Bank's Rana Kapoor and several employees in connection with a Rs 500-crore money laundering case. Court had said, "hereby take cognizance of offence(s) u/S. 3 read with Section 70, which is punishable u/S 4 of PMLA 2002, as there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused persons arraigned in the present complaint." According to the ED, an ECIR was registered against Gautam Thapar, Avantha Realty Ltd., Oyster Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. and others, alleging criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery for diversion/ misappropriation of public money during the period 2017 to 2019. Earlier, ED told the Delhi Court that "Investigation revealed that approximately Rs 500.11 crores proceeds of crime, were laundered through Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL), Jhabua Power Limited (JPL), Jhabua Power Investment Ltd. (JPIL), Avantha Power and Infrastructure Ltd (APIL), Avantha Realty Ltd. (ARL), etc. which are being controlled and beneficially owned directly or indirectly by Gautam Thapar." (ANI)
The order was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat. The Court last month had convicted Dinesh Yadav under the charges dealing with unlawful assembly, rioting, arsoning, robbery and house trespassing.

Yadav's defence counsel, advocate Shikha Garg told ANI that a detailed order on sentencing is awaited. The defence counsel also said that a fine of Rs 12,000 was imposed against Yadav.

Delhi Police through Special Public Prsoecutor R C S Bhadoria stated that Yadav was an active member of the riotous mob and arsoning house of a 73-year-old woman named Manori on February 25 night. Delhi Police arrested Yadav on June 8, 2020.

Delhi Police in a press statement stated that first conviction order which has been issued in respect of North-East Riot Cases.

The matter pertains to Gokallpuri police station under the offence punishable under sections 143/147/148/457/392/436/IPC read with section 149 IPC.

More than 750 cases were registered over the northeast Delhi violence, in which at least 53 people were killed and several others were injured. (ANI)
Calcutta High Court lawyers on Monday wrote to the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of Calcutta HC and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanding stern visible steps against senior advocate and MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay for speaking ill about constitutional authorities like State Governor. The lawyers, in a letter, wrote, "Sri Bandopadhyay has also been heard publicly speaking ill about constitutional authorities like State Governor. He has been using unparliamentary language against the Highest Constitutional Authority of the State with utter disregard for the laws of the land and juridical decorum expected from a senior member of the Bar." The lawyers also cited another example of his activities and said that he, through his political influence, had made space for a private chamber for his son Sirsanya Bandopadhyay in the High Court building despite his son only holding the position of a Junior Standing Counsel for the State. "Such move is unprecedented and an insult to the illustrious reputation of Calcutta High Court where merit has always been the guiding principle. Even, his son was flooded with briefs in all important matters hence robbing the other junior lawyers of the Government panel from participating and earning their livelihood," the letter read. The lawyers further said, "Under such circumstances, we demand that stern visible steps be taken against Sri Bandopadhyay for his activities so that this does not become a trend and people with power and position do not trample upon the common man under the false intoxification of supremacy." Kalyan Bandopadhyay is not only the senior Advocate of Calcutta High Court but also a member of Parliament from the Serampore Parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal. (ANI)
Pramod Gupta, former MLA and brother-in-law of former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday, accused Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav of hating the Samajwadis and said that he cornered everyone one by one. Ahead of the assembly elections, Pramod Gupta and former Congress leader Priyanka Maurya on Thursday joined the BJP. Speaking to ANI, Gupta said, "Akhilesh Ji hates Samajwadis in SP. One by one, he cornered everyone and has only flatterers around in the party. He does not like the people who work on the ground. No one has ever won with a margin of over 18,000 votes from the Bidhuna seat except me. I was denied ticket first up.' Talking about the reason behind joining the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections, he said that he liked the honest image of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. "I liked the policies of the government. I liked the image of Yogi Adityanath as an honest politician. This is why I joined the BJP," Gupta said. Earlier, the former SP MLA also had accused Akhilesh of inducting criminals and gamblers in the party and of imprisoning Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Akhilesh Yadav has imprisoned Mulayam Singh Yadav and his position is bad in the party... Criminals and gamblers have been inducted to Samajwadi Party," Pramod told media persons before joining the ranks of the BJP. Earlier on Wednesday, Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav had joined BJP in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and BJP State president Swatantra Dev Singh. Elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)
"17-year-old youth Miram Tarom of Zido, Arunachal Pradesh was reportedly captured by Chinese PLA across the Line of Actual Control. Indian Army immediately contacted PLA through hotline, assistance from PLA has been sought to locate and return him as per protocol," PRO tweeted on Thursday.

Earlier today, Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Pasighat West Ninong Ering claimed that 17-year-old was abducted by the Chinese army on Tuesday.

His Twitter post said that Taron was abducted at around 6:30 PM near Siungla from the jungle called Lungta Jor under Indian territory by the PLA.

Taron went hunting with his friend Johnny Yaying in the last border village of Bising under Tuting, he posted.

However, 27-year-old Yaying escaped the Chinese army and disclosed the abduction episode.

Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament from East Arunachal Pradesh, had also claimed that the youth was 'abducted' on Tuesday from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district.

He claimed that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abducted the youth where the Tsangpo River enters India in Arunachal Pradesh. (ANI)
In what can be seen as is an indicator of heightened activity in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is procuring a new batch of 100 dogs to assist their operational units. A senior CRPF officer informed ANI that they will be procuring 100 pups for their K9 unit. After procurement, pups will be trained at the Dog Breeding and Training School of CRPF in Bengaluru. "The operational units of CRPF deployed in the improvised explosive device (IED) prone region of LWE and Jammu and Kashmir are pressing hard for providing of K9 teams. CRPF is in process for procurement of pups of Belgian Shepard Malinois (BSM)," reads the official document. "They are adding more dogs into the force as more and more battalions are deployed in Naxal affected areas and J&K. After the training, the dogs will be deployed in all operational areas," the officer said. "The sniffing power of dogs is the biggest advantage for teams deployed on Naxal-affected areas. Every Battalion in Naxal areas have 14 dogs and every time a team goes out on patrol, Dogs move ahead of the team to detect any ambush, explosives or landmines," he added. The officer also made the clear that CRPF will only be procuring pups of Belgian Shepard Malinois (BSM). "BSM is the best police dog in the world. It is tried and tested breed. Different organizations use different breeds as per their requirement. Some forces use Labrador and cocker spaniel as they are public friendly dogs used for sniffing in metro, airports and other public places," he added. In the CRPF, the training for the dogs will start after they cross 90 days of age, and puppies will be brought to the school when they are 45 days old. During the training, the dogs will be trained for Social attraction, Following, Restraint, Social Dominance, Elevation Dominance, Retrieving, Touch sensitivity, Sound sensitivity, Sight sensitivity and Stability. At present, there are around 1000 dogs in its K9 unit of CRPF. (ANI)
All three accused are in judicial custody currently.

A Bandra court had earlier sent co-accused Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat into 14-day judicial custody till January 28. Prior to this, they were sent to Mumbai Cyber Cell police custody till January 14 after being arrested from Uttarakhand on January 5.

Vishal Kumar Jha has been sent to judicial custody will January 24.

Earlier this month, Mumbai Police had filed a first information report (FIR) against unknown persons based on complaints that doctored photographs of women were uploaded for auction on the 'Bulli Bai' application hosted by the GitHub platform.

West Mumbai Cyber Police station registered a case against the developers and Twitter handles that promoted the app.

The case has been registered against the unknown culprits under sections 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc), 153(B) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295(A) (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act. (ANI)
The meeting was at the Dinesh auditorium in Kannur and a group of Youth Congress workers entered into the meeting hall raising slogans.

Youth Congress State Vice President Rigil Makkutty and Kannur Youth Congress District President Sudeep James were injured in the attack.

Police who was present at the location removed Youth Congress workers from the spot.

The semi high-speed rail project which is known as the Silver Line Project aims to connect Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. It was started by the Pinarayi Vijayan government during its second term. (ANI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced that Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will contest the state Assembly polls from Sanquelim constituency while Deputy CM Manohar Ajgaonkar will be pitted from Margao seat. BJP general secretary Arun Singh and Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis released a list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Goa elections. The elections for the 40-member Goa Assembly will be held in single-phase on February 14. As per the list, Atanasio 'Babush' Monserrate, the current Panaji MLA, has been given the ticket while former CM Manohar Parrikar's son Utapal Parrikar was denied a ticket for the polls. Both Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena have backed Utpal to contest the election. Responding to a query about the decision not to field Utpal from Panjim which happens to be Manohar Parrikar's constituency, Fadnavis said, "For our party, the Parrikar family is always our family. But from the seat that Utpal wanted to contest from we already have a sitting MLA and it would not be fair to drop the sitting MLA. However, we had given him the option of contesting from two other seats and the talks are progressing in that direction."(ANI)
Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V has demonstrated strong protection against the Omicron variant of the virus compared to the Pfizer vaccine, according to a study conducted at the Spallanzani Institute in Italy in collaboration with investors in the Sputnik vaccine. As per the report, a comparative study shows that the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine demonstrates more than two times higher titers of virus-neutralizing antibodies to Omicron variant than two doses of Pfizer vaccine (2.1 times higher in total and 2.6 times higher three months after vaccination). "The study demonstrates that Sputnik V neutralizes the Omicron variant by inducing robust antibody response associated with high levels of protection," reads the report. "The hard scientific data proves Sputnik V has higher virus-neutralizing activity against Omicron as compared to other vaccines and will play a major role in the global fight against this new contagious variant," said Alexander Gintsburg, Director, GamaleyaNational Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russia. The joint study claims that Sputnik V develops a wider pool of antibodies to different epitopes in contrast to Pfizer vaccine, which utilizes the spike protein in a proline-stabilized form directed mainly to the specific epitopes, which were highly affected by the mutations in the Omicron variant. It also claims that Sputnik Light is a universal booster to other vaccines "thanks to the optimal configuration of Sputnik vaccine's adenoviral platform which provides better protection against Omicron and other mutations as demonstrated in multiple studies." "A 'mix & match' trial of a combination of Sputnik Light with vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Moderna and Cansino, conducted in 5 provinces in Argentina has demonstrated that Sputnik Light induces stronger antibody and T-cell response as compared to homologous regimen (two shots of the same vaccine)," researcher claims. "Each 'vaccine cocktail' combination with Sputnik Light provided a higher antibody titer on the 14th day after administering a second dose when compared to original homogenous (same vaccine as first and second dose) regimens of each of the vaccines," they added. The study was conducted by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Gamaleya Center) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund, investor in Sputnik V and Sputnik Light coronavirus vaccines) at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani (Italy) by a joint team of researchers of the Institute and the Gamaleya Center. (ANI)
The Supreme Court will hear on Friday an appeal filed by former Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal challenging the order of the Bombay High Court at Goa which has rejected his application for an in-camera hearing in the 2013 sexual assault case. A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai will hear the case on January 21.Tejpal sought an in-camera hearing of the appeal filed by the State of Goa against his acquittal in the sexual assault case. The trial court in Goa on May 21, 2021, had acquitted Tejpal of all charges levelled against him including wrongful confinement, assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty, sexual harassment, and rape against his female colleague. After the Goa police filed an appeal against Tejpal's acquittal, he moved the High Court with an application seeking an in-camera hearing of the matter. High Court had rejected his plea. Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting a then colleague in an elevator of a hotel in Goa on November 7, 2013, and November 8, 2013. On May 21 last year, the trial court acquitted him of all charges. (ANI)
Former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday told the Chandiwal commission that the former police commissioner Param Bir Singh was 'shivering' when he was summoned for questioning in the Antilia bomb scare. Earlier on Wednesday, dismissed Mumbai Police cop Sachin Waze's counsel cross-examined Anil Deshmukh day before Chandiwal Commission. "The inquiry was made with Shri Param Bir Singh as to how he had kept the Government in dark about the Antilia Bomb Scare case as well as the death of Mansukh Hiran. At that time, Param Bir Singh was virtually shivering when three ACS and myself asked him about the details," Anil Deshmukh told Chandiwal Commission during cross-examination. Anil Deshmukh further told the commission, "the officers present there suggested that the matter be transferred to ATS but objecting to it, the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said that the investigation is left in the hands of Mumbai Police". "I transferred the case to ATS on 6th March 2021 and removed Sachin Waze from CIU," he further submitted before the Chandiwal Commission. Both Deshmukh and Waze are in judicial custody in separate cases of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), respectively. Justice KU Chandiwal Committee was formed by Maharashtra Government to investigate Param Bir Singh's extortion allegation against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. In a letter to CM Thackeray in March this year, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh was involved in several wrongdoings, including asking Sachin Waze to collect Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants in Mumbai. (ANI)
Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar has not been fielded by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Panjim, a seat he has been keen to contest from. BJP on Thursday released its first list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Goa assembly election. Utpal Parrikar's name was on the list and BJP leaders said they were in talks with him but could not deny a ticket to a sitting MLA from the Panaji seat. Manohar Parrikar, a stalwart of BJP in Goa, passed away in 2019. BJP has fielded Atanasio Monserrate 'Babush' from Panaji, a seat held by Parrikar for almost 25 years. Monseratte said Parrikar was the "tallest leader" and the seat is again going to BJP. "I cannot compare myself to late Manohar Parrikar. He was the tallest leader. He held the Panjim seat for the past 25 years. It was only during the by-election when people missed Parrikar, I was elected from the seat. I have high regard for Parrikar and his family. So the seat is now once again going to the BJP. We will work hard to ensure the margin of victory is the highest that BJP got from the seat," he told ANI. Monseratte had joined BJP along with nine other Congress MLAs in July 2019. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the party will support Utapal Parrikar if he contests in Goa Assembly polls as an independent candidate. "It is up to Utapal Parrikar whether to contest the Goa Assembly elections or not. His family has a huge contribution in establishing BJP in Goa. We will support him if he contests elections independently," Raut told ANI. Goa will go to the assembly polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)
Delhi University Teacher's Association (DUTA) on Thursday demanded the release of not partial but complete funds for the payment of salaries to teaching and non-teaching staff of 12 colleges fully funded by the Delhi Government. DUTA has submitted an online petition to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal that has received more than 6400 signatures so far. The petition was started on January 17. DUTA through an online press conference stated that teaching staff, non-teaching employees and contractual workers of 12 Delhi Government-funded colleges of DU are facing a very serious and pressing problem on account of non-payment of their salaries for the past 2 to 6 months. While addressing the press conference, Ajay Bhagi, President, DUTA said, "Since last two years the employees are suffering. We want full and not partial funding. Employees are in real debt. The medical reimbursement has not been done and the teachers are also facing serious monetary adversities. Colleges are in a dilapidated state, especially Aditi college and Bhagini Nivedita College." "It is an employee's right to get paid. Promotion happened but no fixation of salary has taken place. Things cannot remain like this, especially after two years of prolonged suffering," said DUTA president. Additional funds which are long overdue for the construction of new buildings for colleges like Bhagni Nivedita College, Aditi Mahavidayalya, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports, Maharishi Balmiki College of Education, etc. must be sanctioned and released immediately. DUTA came up with an approximate deficit amount for a few colleges such as Deen Dayal Upadhyay college which has a Rs 33.80 cr deficit, Maharaja Agrasen College has Rs 28.25 cr, Acharya Narendra Dev College has Rs 20.26 cr and IGIPES has Rs 7.85 cr deficit among others. On the first week of January DUTA called for a one-day strike and total shutdown of the university. DUTA plans to raise its voice against Delhi Government in a more structured format and says that it is ready for a prolonged struggle to save public-funded institutions. According to DUTA, the teachers also earlier went to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that witnessed the release of some amount for the time being. Notably, there are altogether 28 colleges in which the Delhi government fully funds 12 colleges and partially funds 16 colleges respectively. (ANI)
According to CV Anand, Hyderabad Police Commissioner said the task force, West zone team nabbed a notorious house burglar on Thursday. "Chidirika Arvind is accused of house burglaries across SR Nagar, Sanathnagar, Cyberabad and Madhapur police stations. Gold ornaments and net cash worth Rs 54,62,000 were recovered," he said.

According to Hyderabad Police, the accused Chidirika Aravind is a habitual offender. His arrest records include 27 burglary offenses in the Hyderabad, Rachakonda, Warangal, and Karimnagar city limits. LB Nagar Police Station also arrested him for housebreaking. After his release from jail, he returned to his native place and was selling sanitisers there for a living.

The police further said that after doing several odd jobs in between, the accused again started doing burglary. According to his plan, he joined an online service provider company as a housekeeping boy. On January 12, he stole gold ornaments and cash from a closed house. (ANI)
Two decades ago today, one of India's modern day heroes--albeit one who always shunned the limelight--passed away quietly. Rameshwar Nath, (RN) Kao or 'Ramji' to friends, was the quintessential backroom operator. He is best known as the founder of Research and Analysis Wing or R&AW but he was much more than that. When in 2019, I got the opportunity to write his biography, the question that confronted me was: Where does one begin to chronicle the life and times of a colossus like him?Does one begin with his greatest moment of glory in contributing to the liberation of East Pakistan and formation of Bangladesh in 1971? Or the fact that he was the founder of one of the world's best spy agencies, the R&AW? Does one talk about his fiercely private personality? Or his wide-ranging contacts in the secretive world of espionage? For an author like me, it had to be a combination of the personal and the professional to try and capture the essence of Kao, the man, the legend. Somewhere deep in the archives of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) in the heart of New Delhi, lies a set of papers that researchers and historians interested in recording the history of Indian intelligence, would love to get their hands on. Alas, only part of those papers--transcripts of tape-recorded dictations left behind by Kao--are currently available. Three crucial files on Bangladesh, the merger of Sikkim and Mrs Indira Gandhi's assassination, will not be open until 2027, according to instructions left behind by him, months before he passed away in January 2002. This only further elucidates the secretive nature of this individual and his desire to evade controversies. Since those tapes and papers are not public, this biography had to depend on personal memories of a vast array of individuals who knew him in different capacities and their interpretation of his personality and contribution, apart from his correspondence with varied intelligence professionals. The task was made doubly difficult by the fact that Kao, was by nature, a very private person. He was rarely photographed. Except for a tape-recoded interview to PupulJayakar, one of Mrs Indira Gandhi's closest friends, RNK is not known to have given any public statement or done a formal interview with any journalist. So, when I was requested to undertake this task, it seemed an impossible mission. But thanks to help from the Kao family, the three personal files of R N Kao that are now open for researchers and scholars in the NMML, the PN Haksar papers and R&AW's former officers--some of who have retired as chiefs of the organisation--I was able to put together this first full account of the personal and professional journey of Ramji Kao, the sensitive, compassionate man behind the facade of a distant, stern spymaster. The 1962 Shock and the Formation of ARC Kao came into his own post the 1962 war with China. The Indian debacle in the 1962 war with China prompted many changes in the Indian security establishment, especially in the intelligence set-up. The Intelligence Bureau (IB), which was the sole agency handling both internal and external intelligence, felt the need for specialised organisations that could look after the gathering of technical intelligence, run clandestine operations into Tibet and even operate behind enemy lines across the Himalayan frontier. As a result, two new important organisations--the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) and the Special Frontier Force (SFF)--were created under the IB. The ARC was established on 4 June 1963, and RNK headed the organisation from 1 September 1963 until 1 November 1966. The ARC was the product of an intelligence cooperation agreement between India and the US in the immediate aftermath of the 1962 war. Eight C-46 aircraft and four smaller planes with their pilots were deployed to a secret Indian air base, code named 'Oak Tree'. Now we know that the base was at Charbatia in Odisha. Later, the ARC started operating from Sarsawa in Uttar Pradesh, Doomdooma in Assam and Palam in Delhi. Its task was to get photographic and technical intelligence from inside Tibet and Xinjiang. Significantly, the joint IB-CIA programme had one positive fallout. Even as the ARC and SFF were getting off the ground, the Americans asked for permission to fly U-2 missions over Tibet and Xinjiang and Prime Minister Nehru approved this. While the ARC's primary assets, the C-46 aircraft, gathered intelligence on the PLA that proved useful to the Indian Armed Forces and its intelligence agencies, those over Xinjiang gave the Americans best available information on China's proposed nuclear test site at Lop Nur. In early 1964, a U-2 detachment was based at Charbatia at the ARC base. The U-2 plane flew several missions over western China to obtain imagery reports, confirming China's plan to test a nuclear device. Riedel said, 'On 26 August 1964, a special National Intelligence Estimate told President Lyndon Johnson (who had succeeded JFK), that on the basis of new overhead photography, we are now convinced that the previously suspect facility at Lop Nur in Western China is a nuclear test site which could be ready for use in about two months.' Sure enough, China tested its first nuclear device at Lop Nur on 16 October 1964. During this period, RNK, who was setting up ARC from scratch, established close contacts with American intelligence bureaucracy. For nearly two years, the ARC and American intelligence operatives and technical hands worked in tandem to make ARC one of the most effective and crucial TECHINT resources in Asia. After important overseas assignments in Ghana and Hong Kong and taking care of Prime Minister Nehru's security between 1959 and 1962, RNK would become an institution builder as the next decade would show. WHY R&AW? Following the 1965 war with Pakistan, decision-makers in India felt the need to bifurcate the task of collecting external and internal intelligence and created the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). This is where Ramji Kao got pitch-forked into a prominent role that would allow him to leave a lasting impact on many. Having set up ARC and headed it until 1966, RNK had been made head of external intelligence in the IB. BN Mullik, whose record as the longest serving Chief of an intelligence organisation, will perhaps stay forever, had retired as Director IB in October 1964 but continued to remain Director General (security), established in 1963 as an office to coordinate the national security system and intelligence apparatus. His successor was SP Verma. But the bigger change had happened at the Prime Ministerial level. Shastri had died in January 1966 and Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter became India's third Prime Minister. At that point in time, she was considered a political lightweight and the Congress Party stalwarts who helped her ascend to the top post, had hoped to control her from the shadows. Within a couple of years, however, she outwitted most of her seniors in the party to rule India for over a decade. She had the ability to pick the right team and leave implementation of her policies to them. One key appointment she made in 1967 was that of PN Haksar. A Kashmiri Pandit who had never lived in Kashmir, Haksar, along with RNK, was to play a seminal role in most of Indira Gandhi's momentous decisions between 1967 and 1975. Haksar, in his capacity as Secretary to the Prime Minister, in fact helped RNK to create a separate Foreign Intelligence organisation, which today we know as Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).Mrs. Gandhi commissioned RNK to produce a paper delineating the structure of the new foreign intelligence agency. The Prime Minister had given him a free hand and within a few months, Ramji produced his Magnum Opus, defining the proposed structure of India's CIA. The designation of the personnel was to be in secretariat terms. The Chief was to be a Secretary and the junior ranks were to run down the line to the rank of Under Secretary. The spadework that the new organisation's leadership did in the first couple of years of its existence, was to make a huge difference in its operations in East Pakistan in 1971, prior to the outbreak of hostilities there leading to the subsequent war with Pakistan in December 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh. Ramji Kao to my mind would be and should be remembered as an institution builder, a gentle man who shaped much of the R&AW culture and ethos in its early years. Two decades after his passing, he should be remembered for his seminal contribution to India's intelligence framework. The R&AW makes it a point to celebrate each achievement remembering RN Kao. The organisation holds an annual lecture named the "R N Kao memorial lecture" and has recently named its training institute as the "RN Kao Training Academy".The leadership of the organisation has ensured that the shadow of the legendary figure looms large on those who walk into the prestigious training academy. The writer of this article is Nitin Gokhale. He is the author of the book "RN Kao: Gentleman Spymaster". (ANI)
"A virtual teleconference was held today between #CAS and #AirChiefs of various Air Forces of the Indo Pacific region. The challenges of distributed logistics and agile combat employment while operating from austere locations were discussed," tweeted the IAF.

The meeting was held with the Air Force chiefs of Canada, France, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam, New Zealand, Maldives, Malaysia, and others. (ANI)
The North Zone Task Force of Hyderabad Police on Thursday took a Nigerian national into custody from Mumbai for running a drug syndicate. He is one of the most wanted drug peddlers, informed the Police. "The accused Chukwu Ogbonna David alias Tony Abia Marsha alias Tony used to run the drug racket with agents in metropolitan cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai. On the basis of information given by Tony, police have taken around nine customers from Hyderabad in custody," said CV Anand, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad. "In the year 2013, he migrated to Mumbai from Nigeria on temporary VISA. Since then, he is illegally staying in Mumbai. Initially, he was engaged in the export business of garments and wigs to African countries. After coming in contact with drug peddlers, tony decided to come into this business," Anand said. Accused Tony established a network system in India by engaging local agents Imran Babu Shaik, Noor Mohd Khan, Aftab, Parwaz, Rahamath, Irfan and Firdos by giving them a good amount of money and Drugs. "Tony purchased drugs from an international drug peddler called 'Star Boy' (African national). With the help of his agents, he transported drugs from Mumbai to Hyderabad. Money used to get transferred via online mode to his agents' accounts. He himself never exposed himself to his agents or customers. He communicated with everyone using International phone numbers with WhatsApp calls and VOIP calls. He has around 15 to 20 customers in Hyderabad," Anand said. (ANI)
Chinese vaccines help humankind build Great Wall of Immunity against COVID-19

08:16, January 20, 2022 By Yu Yichun, Zhou Zhou, Wang Xinping ( People's Daily

The first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation is held via video link on Aug. 5, 2021. Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the meeting, which was hosted by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a written form. (Photo courtesy of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has never stopped working together with the rest of the world to fight against the pandemic and weather the trying times.

Convinced that vaccines are a powerful weapon to prevail over the pandemic and revive the economy, the country has so far provided over two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for over 120 countries and international organizations, which account for one-third of the total number of doses administered outside China, becoming the biggest provider of outbound vaccines among all countries in the world.

China was among the first to commit to making COVID-19 vaccines a global public good, to support waiving intellectual property rights on the vaccines, and to start joint production of vaccines with other developing countries.

The country has always adhered to the vision of building a community of common health for mankind and joined hands with various parties to improve the availability and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, helping address the global vaccine distribution deficit and close the immunity gap.

I. China proposes Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative to promote global solidarity against the pandemic

Over 300 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, among whom more than 5 million lost their lives; only 5 percent of the population in low-income countries are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The COVID-19 epidemic that is wreaking havoc across the world has deeply changed the human society.

Amid the major public health crisis, Chinese President Xi Jinping has actively promoted international anti-epidemic cooperation during important diplomatic events he chaired or attended via video link and his meetings and phone conversations with foreign leaders and heads of international organizations, enhancing global solidarity for fighting the pandemic.

COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good. This will be Chinas contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries, Xi solemnly promised at the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly in May 2020.

At the moment, several COVID-19 vaccines developed by China are in Phase III clinical trials. When their development is completed and they are available for use, these vaccines will be made a global public good, and they will be provided to other developing countries on a priority basis, he said at the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held in September 2020.

In May 2021, the Chinese leader announced at the Global Health Summit five measures taken by China to continuously support global solidarity against COVID-19. China supports its vaccine companies in transferring technologies to other developing countries and carrying out joint production with them, and the country, which has already announced support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, also supports the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international institutions in making an early decision on this matter, he pointed out.

At Session I of the 16th G20 Leaders Summit held in October 2021, Xi proposed a Global Vaccine Cooperation Action Initiative, which includes supporting vaccine companies in conducting joint R&D and production with developing countries, providing more vaccines for developing countries to meet the global vaccination target for 2022 as set by the World Health Organization (WHO), supporting the WTO in making an early decision on waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, scaling up cross-border trade cooperation to ensure smooth trade in vaccines and related raw and auxiliary materials, advancing mutual recognition of vaccines in accordance with the WHOs Emergency Use Listing (EUL) as well as providing financial support for global vaccine cooperation, especially for developing countries to access vaccines.

Chinas proposals are never empty promises. These are always turned into concrete actions.

The country ranks top in the world in terms of the speed of vaccine R&D and the number of vaccines developed. Its two inactivated COVID-19 vaccines have been included in the EUL and the COVAX procurement list.

Batches of Chinese vaccines have traveled a long journey to other countries, infusing confidence and strength into global solidarity against COVID-19.

As the epidemic continues to rage across the world, China has provided COVID-19 vaccines and medical resources for many countries and regions in the world, making important contributions to the global response to the epidemic, according to Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the UN.

Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), believes that Chinas vaccine support and assistance effectively boosted ASEAN members response to COVID-19.

Leaders of 37 countries went to the airport to welcome the arrival of Chinese vaccines, and leaders of 32 countries have received Chinese vaccine shots publically. The countrys vaccines have established a good reputation in the world, with their safety and effectiveness widely acknowledged.

After receiving a dose of Chinese vaccine against COVID-19, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera gave a victory gesture in front of the camera.

Today is an important day because (on) this day we are starting to vaccinate with Chinese vaccines, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video message on his Facebook page.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic praised Chinese vaccines as the best ones in the world. He has received injections as well as a booster shot of Chinese vaccine against COVID-19.

For many developing countries, Chinese vaccines are the first batch of vaccines they have received, and the only ones they could get for a long time afterward. Chinese vaccines came just in time and effectively helped many developing countries in urgent need of vaccines with epidemic prevention and control.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi believes the arrival of Chinese vaccines marked a historic moment for Mozambique; Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa described the vaccines donated by China as the light at the end of the tunnel; Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said several times that strategically relying on Chinese vaccines is the most correct decision; and Laureano Ortega Murillo, advisor to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, called a batch of Chinese vaccines donated to his country a great Christmas gift from the Chinese people.

Because of Chinas unremitting efforts, many countries in the world are marching steadily toward the goal of universal vaccination, which is a remarkable achievement, pointed out Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health.

Now is a critical moment for the world to join hands to fight the epidemic, according to Alexandre Ganan de Brites Figueiredo, director of the Global South Institute in Brazil, who called China the backbone of global solidarity against the virus.

Chinese Ambassador to Chad Li Jinjin (3rd L) delivers COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government to Chad to the Chadian Minister of Public Health and National Solidarity Abdoulaye Saber Fadoul (2nd L) in N'Djamena, capital Chad, June 2, 2021. (Photo courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Chad)

II. Chinese vaccines, being accessible to people around the world, are a light of hope for mankind

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again proved that all human beings belong to a community with a shared future. Theres nothing more important than the lives of human beings.

President Xi has reiterated that China will honor its commitment of giving assistance and support to other developing countries, and work to make vaccines a global public good accessible and affordable to people around the world.

Chinese vaccines, being accessible to people around the world, are a light of hope for mankind, which forms a sharp contrast to some countries that are excessively hoarding vaccines and resorting to vaccine nationalism.

The first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation was held online in August, 2021. It was joined by senior officials and representatives from over 20 countries, officials of the UN and other international organizations, as well as representatives from 29 Chinese and foreign vaccine manufacturers. Participating parties reached intended deals of over 1.5 billion doses for the year.

In a joint statement that followed the meeting, to put people and their lives first, a guiding principle for Chinas COVID-19 response, was incorporated, calling for more solidarity and cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

Even while under the tremendous pressure of coronavirus control, China still remains resolute in its commitment of making COVID-19 vaccines a global public product.

It has continued offering vaccines for the rest of the world to the best of its ability, and continued supporting Chinese vaccine enterprises in transferring technologies to and carrying out production cooperation with other developing countries, so as to make the vaccines accessible to more countries, especially developing countries, as early as possible, and join hands with all parties to build a global community of health for all.

China was among the first to join the WHOs Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative, under which it has launched vaccine development cooperation with a number of countries. It has also participated in the COVAX program. Chinese vaccine manufacturers agreed to provide 250 million doses to the program.

The country has set up a national center as a part of the BRICS Vaccine R&D Center to advance collective vaccine research and production, and mutual recognition of standards. It is also a member of the Group of Friends on the Safety and Security of UN Peacekeepers and donates vaccines to UN peacekeeping troops.

China has launched the Initiative for Belt and Road Partnership on COVID-19 Vaccines Cooperation together with over 30 countries that call for fair global distribution of vaccines. It has also constantly improved the China-ASEAN Vaccine Friends cooperation platform, initiated a health shield for ASEAN countries and donated an additional 150 million doses of COVID vaccines to ASEAN.

To continue its offer of vaccines for Pacific Island countries in need, China put into use the China-Pacific Island Countries Reserve of Emergency Supplies. The country also announced to provide another one billion doses of vaccines to Africa, including 600 million doses as donation.

With concrete actions, China is charting the course for the world in the darkest hours and bringing a spark of hope to the people in developing countries suffering from the rampant virus.

Serrana, a small town in Brazils state of Sao Paulo, launched a mass immunization campaign for adults with Chinese-made vaccines from Feb. 17 to April 11 the last year. The campaign soon put the pandemic under control and brought life back to normal, making the small town a leader in recovery performance in the state.

The town now enjoys a sound environment of social health, and local residents are living with dignity thanks to the Chinese-made vaccines, said Serrana Mayor Leonardo Capitelli.

Right by the Manila Bay, which is adjacent to the Philippine capital of Manila, Philippine young man Melvin Chua inserted a letter into a drift bottle and then threw it into the sea. In the letter, he expressed his thanks to China for the assistance it has provided to his country, saying the Chinese vaccines have saved the Philippine people and their families.

We could not feel more saved and protected. I trust that you will continue to supply the world with the vaccine it needs to save lives and bring the world to its normal state again, he wrote in the letter.

Under the assistance of Chinese vaccines, the Zimbabwean resort city of Victoria Falls became one of the earliest few towns in the world that have achieved mass immunization. The mayor councilor of the city Somveli Dhlamini sent to China a postcard depicting the most representative view of the Victoria Falls. On the back of the postcard, he wrote: "The Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Sinovac, have contributed immensely to the recovery of tourism in Victoria Falls. Thanks to the Government of China for the support."

In March, 2021, Iraq was hit by a ferocious second wave of COVID-19, and vaccines were plunged into short supply. On March 2, a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government arrived in Baghdad, capital of the country, and the health ministry of the country announced a national vaccination plan just hours after the receival.

In August 2021, the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines totaling two million doses that China provided to the COVAX facility arrived in Pakistans capital Islamabad and Bangladeshs capital Dhaka. Mushtaq Hussain, an adviser to Bangladesh's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, expressed his thanks to China on behalf of the Bangladeshi people.

Two months later, mobile vaccination vehicles were deployed on the streets of Argentina, giving shots of the Chinese-made single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccines to many local scavengers, a vulnerable group to the disease. These vaccines from China were a great relief for local residents.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard noted that his country will never forget Chinas friendly assistance offered at such a hard time.

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Nigeria-based Center for China Studies said Chinas promises are a genuine response to the concerns of African countries. A netizen from Sri Lanka also said on social media that he feels closer to China with Chinese vaccine in his veins.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (C) lays the foundation stone for a COVID-19 vaccine production factory in Belgrade, Serbia, the first Chinese vaccine plant in Europe, Sept. 9, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua)

III. A global production network of Chinese vaccines that serves all mankind is taking shape

The Chinese often say that give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Today, Chinese bulk vaccines are being filled in vials in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America, and then shipped to countries in and around these regions, injecting Chinese confidence and strength into the building of a global immunological barrier.

In March 2021, the first batch of CanSino COVID-19 vaccines produced in Mexico were bottled and delivered. The production line co-built by China's CanSino Biologics Inc. and Mexican firm Drugmex is the first overseas fill-and-finish facility for the CanSino COVID-19 vaccines.

Chairman of the board of Drugmex noted that China has helped Mexico break its bottleneck in localized production of vaccines, and the CanSino has made vaccines accessible to remote areas. We can constantly improve our techniques and optimize our procedures through the experience shared by China. We appreciate the generous support from the Chinese side, he said.

In March 2021, the United Arab Emirates (UEA) welcomed the first batch of locally-manufactured COVID-19 inactivated vaccines under license from Chinese vaccine producer Sinopharm. The vaccines were nicknamed vaccines of life.

Thanks to the China-UAE vaccine cooperation, the Expo 2020 Dubai was successfully held, said UAE Ambassador to China Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri. China and the UAE have contributed their strength to world peace and development by offering mutual support and making joint efforts to safeguard peoples health and lives.

As of July the last year, one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine licensed by Chinese firm Sinovac had been produced in Egypt. After an inspection tour to a factory that produced the vaccines, one co-built by China and Egypt, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly noted that his country has taken an important step on its path to independent vaccine production. WHO representative in Egypt Naeema Al-Gasseer said the move will further advance Africas anti-pandemic progress.

In September 2021, the first Chinese vaccine factory in Europe was commenced in Serbia, which was called a proof of friendship by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. He noted that the facility is of important significance for the fight against the pandemic in Serbia and even the region at large.

In the same month, a recombinant protein vaccine co-developed by the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China's Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was put into production at Uzbek pharma Jurabek Laboratories. It marked the first time for Uzbekistan to produce a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine at a local facility. At present, around 300,000 doses are being produced by the pharma each day, and the annual production is expected to hit 100 million doses.

A global production network of Chinese vaccines that serves all mankind is taking shape. COVID-19 vaccine projects launched in cooperation with China have entered official or trial operation in 12 countries, and eight countries have signed agreements with Chinese firms on COVID-19 vaccine cooperation, hoping to produce the jabs locally as early as possible. Besides, many other countries are currently negotiating with Chinese firms for cooperation.

China has been providing vaccine aid to other developing countries in need since its vaccines were launched, said He Yaqiong, head of the Department of Industry of Consumer Products, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. On the basis of meeting domestic demand for vaccination, Chinese enterprises have well coordinated the supplies at home and abroad, He added.

From launching international cooperation on clinical trials to vaccine aid and exportation, and to the international cooperation on vaccine production, Chinese vaccine enterprises have resolutely practiced the principle of making Chinese vaccines a global public product. Advancing global vaccine equity and accessibility with concrete actions, they are literally delivering the shots to all mankind, said Liu Jingzhen, chairman of Sinopharm.

Its believed that through joint efforts and cooperation, well finally defeat the pandemic that has impacted the whole world, said Yin Weidong, chairman and CEO of Sinovac.

According to open statistics, Chinese vaccines take a dominant share in some 60 countries, and they are also widely used in half of the top ten countries in terms of total vaccinations or shots per capita.

"China has already made tremendous contributions to the global effort through the rapid development of a number of vaccines and through sharing those vaccines globally. They have made contributions to the COVAX effort and we're very grateful for the contributions that China has made," said CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations Richard Hatchett.

In the eyes of Raquel Leon de la Rosa, professor at the Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico, Chinas efforts to promote technology transfer from its vaccine producers to other developing countries, to advance cooperation on vaccine production, and to help other developing countries achieve vaccine accessibility and affordability, mirror the countrys commitment to its promises.

Only through unity, solidarity and cooperation can countries around the world write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind. China, always among the most active countries to advance international anti-pandemic cooperation, always upholding the public product nature of vaccines, and always contributing to the fair distribution of vaccines, is fully demonstrating a responsible major countrys commitment to justice and its sense of mission.

No winter lasts forever, and every spring is sure to follow. It is believed that the mankind, joining hands to fill the immunity gap, will finally defeat the virus and embrace a brighter future.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
He added that Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament from East Arunachal Pradesh bravely articulated his concern.

"MP from Arunachal East, Tapir Gao is an MP of the ruling party BJP. He bravely articulated his concerns. It's important that when parliament meets on January 31, Govt should discuss the situation on the borders in eastern Ladakh & eastern Arunachal Pradesh," Tewari told ANI.

Earlier on Wednesday, Gao claimed that a 17-year-old youth has been abducted from inside Indian territory.

Gao claimed that the youth was 'abducted' on Tuesday from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district.

He further claimed that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abducted the youth where the Tsangpo River enters India in Arunachal Pradesh.

He tweeted, "Chinese PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido vill. yesterday 18th Jan 2022 from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China-built 3-4 km road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bushing village) of Upper Siang dist., Arunachal Pradesh."

"His friend escaped from PLA and reported to the authorities," said Gao.

"All the agencies of the Government of India are requested to step up for his early release," he tweeted.

In his tweet, Gao has tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the Indian Army.

The MP claimed that he has informed the Home Ministry regarding the incident and requested their intervention. (ANI)
As many as 12,306 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours in Delhi with a test positivity rate of 21.48 per cent. According to the health bulletin of the Delhi government, 57,290 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. The active caseload in the national capital has reached 68,730. Of these active cases, 53,593 COVID-19 infected patients are under home isolation and 2,539 patients are admitted to hospitals. Among the COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals, 844 are admitted in ICU, 903 patients are on oxygen support including 152 on ventilators. More than 17 lakh (17,60,272) people have been infected with coronavirus infection in the national capital so far. A total of 43 persons succumbed to coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours. With this, the cumulative death toll stands at 25,503 in Delhi. The case fatality rate is 1.45 per cent. Meanwhile, 18,815 people have also recovered from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. So far, the national capital has recorded 16,66,039 recoveries. More than 3 crores (3,42,71,893) tests have been conducted in Delhi so far to detect COVID-19 infection. The cumulative positivity rate stands at 5.14 per cent. In Delhi, 12,891 COVID-19 dedicated beds are still vacant out of a total of 15,589 beds. Under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive, 99,759 doses of COVID vaccines were administered during the past 24 hours, out of which 56,272 beneficiaries got the first dose and 30,819 beneficiaries jabbed with the second dose. In addition, as many as 12,668 beneficiaries were vaccinated with the precaution dose in the last 24 hours, taking the total beneficiaries of such dose in the national capital to 1,75,438. A total of 32,096 children between the age group of 15 to 18 years were inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines in the last 24 hours. With this, the cumulative beneficiaries of the 15-18 years age group vaccinated have gone up to 6,84,792. There are 40,756 containment zones in Delhi at present, as per state government data. (ANI)
"The Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate will be extinguished and merged with the flame at the National War Memorial on Friday in a ceremony," said an Indian Army official to ANI.

The ceremony would be presided over by the Integrated Defence Staff chief Air Marshal Balabadhra Radha Krishna who would merge the two flames, officials said.

The India Gate memorial was built by the British government in memory of the British Indian Army soldiers who lost their lives between 1914-1921.

However, the Amar Jawan Jyoti was included in the memorial structure in the 1970s after the massive victory of India over Pakistan in which 93,000 troops of the enemy country surrendered.

After a long wait and multiple considerations, the National War Memorial was built in the India Gate complex by the Narendra Modi government and was inaugurated in 2019.

After the inauguration of the building in War memorial, all military ceremonial events were shifted to it from the India Gate memorial.

The National War Memorial has the names of all the Indian defence personnel who have lost their lives in different operations from the 1947-48 war with Pakistan to the Galwan valley clash with Chinese troops.

The names of troops who lost lives in the counter-terrorist operations are also included on the walls of the memorial. (ANI)
'Bulli Bai' app case accused Niraj Bishnoi and 'Sulli Deals' app creator Omkareshwar Thakur were remanded to police custody till January 27 by a Bandra court on Thursday. They were produced before Bandra Court by the Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police today. Neeraj Bishnoi (20) was arrested last week by the Delhi Police Special Cell's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit (IFSO) team from Assam for alleged involvement in the Bulli Bai case. Neeraj Bishnoi is a resident of the Digambar area of Assam's Jorhat. He is a B.Tech student of the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal. Delhi Police had said that during interrogation, Neeraj Bishnoi disclosed that the app was developed in November 2021 and updated in December 2021. He also created one more Twitter account to talk about the app. Several complaints were received by police stations in the country regarding the listing of Muslim women for "auction" on the 'Bulli Bai' mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year. An engineering student from Bengaluru, a young girl from Uttarakhand, and one of her friends have also been arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case. Earlier on January 9, the IFSO unit of Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested the mastermind of the Sulli Deals app from Indore on Sunday after receiving information about him from Bulli Bai app case mastermind Neeraj Bishnoi during the investigation, said Delhi Police DCP (IFSO), KPS Malhotra In July 2021, the Sulli Deal app was made on the Github platform to auction Muslim women. The matter came to light when Delhi Police took suo moto cognizance of this matter. The matter came to light when Delhi Police took suo moto cognizance of this matter. The Delhi Police were investigating the case for the last six months but the first arrest in the case came after Bulli Bai app case mastermind Niraj Bishnoi was apprehended from Assam's Jorhat. The Delhi police, during the investigation, found out that the Bulli Bai mastermind Niraj Bishnoi and Aumkareshwar Thakur were virtually connected over the internet. "They never met in person. They were connected virtually through chat rooms," KPS Malhotra said. (ANI)
"Politically motivated raids by enforcement directorate on a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi solely with a view to malign and defame the Chief Minister and incumbent Congress Government," reads the memorandum submitted by Congress party to CEC.

Congress has also sought the intervention of the Election Commission as it claims that these raids are a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

"Seeking urgent and necessary directions to the Finance Ministry and Enforcement Directorate officials and other central investigation agencies carrying out politically motivated raids in violation of Election Commission's directions/order under Model Code of Conduct," Memorandum read.

The Congress delegation that met Chandra via online video conference, included Randeep Surjewala, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Harish Chaudhary, Devender Yadav, Ganesh Godiyal, Pranav Jha, Aman Panwar.

The ED on Wednesday seized more than Rs 10 crore cash, gold worth above 21 lakh and a Rolex watch worth Rs 12 lakh from the residential premises of land mafia Bhupinder Singh Honey and others in connection with an alleged illegal sand mining case.

The Enforcement Directorate declared the recoveries after it concluded its two-day raid conducted at the business and residential premises of the accused persons and their associates in over a dozen places in Mohali, Ludhiana, Rupnagar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Pathankot.

The ED raids went on from 7.30 am till late night on Tuesday and it again started on early Wednesday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Meanwhile, Punjab will go to assembly polls on February 20 and the results will be declared on March 10. (ANI)
"It should work as a communication bridge between the people and government," said Bommai during the launch.

Speaking after virtually releasing a book on skills development, self employment and employment registration in Mysuru and launching a website providing details about central and state government programmes, the Chief Minister said that the website would enable the people to get detailed information on government programmes, their purpose and utility.

"Providing public welfare programmes to every strata of the society under one roof is the long term vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The new book contains guidelines to avail the benefit of the programmes. The book would function like an encyclopedia in taking the state government's welfare programmes to the people. It would be a good guide for administrators and people," Bommai added.

Bommai lauded the effort of MLA SA Ramdas who has brought out the book with a noble purpose of creating an awareness among the people about various government schemes. (ANI)
The second list of the Congress party for 41 seats released on Thursday for the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh comprises of 40 per cent of women candidates. Congress released the second list of 41 candidates today out of which 16 seats have been assigned to women candidates. These 16 women candidates include Poonam Pandit, who was an active participant of farmers' agitation and Sangeeta Tyagi, wife of late Rajiv Tyagi, former Congress spokesperson. Sangeeta Tyagi has been fielded from the Sahibabad assembly constituency. A senior functionary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress said that the party has given priority to the grassroot workers to contest for the assembly polls. "Priyanka Gandhi is committed towards her promise to give 40 per cent tickets to the women workers," he added. Congress has fielded Sikandar Valmiki from Agra Cantt. Till now, the Congress party has announced a total of 166 candidates for the first two phases of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Earlier, party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had announced the first list of 125 candidates. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) state in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are emphasizing on women. The party has adopted the "MY" factor comprising of Mahila and Youth. The party has also been trying to reach out to the women voters through the "Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon" campaign. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also scheduled to announce a youth manifesto on Friday afternoon in Delhi at the party headquarters. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to be accompanying Priyanka in the press conference. Meanwhile, elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)
Notably, this is the first visit of the BJP national president after the announcement of dates for the assembly polls by the Election Commission of India.

According to a press release by the party, Nadda will hold various organisational meetings during his visit to both the cities of Uttar Pradesh.

Nadda will reach Agra at 10 am where he will offer prayers at Mahadev temple.

Thereafter, he will hold a meeting with the officials of 20 Legislative Assemblies of Firozabad, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Mathura region at around 10.50 am.

Nadda will thereafter reach Bareilly at around 2.30 pm where he is scheduled to hold a meeting with the officials of the three Legislative Assemblies of Bareilly at around 2.50 pm.

Nadda will also hold a door-to-door campaign in the city following the guidelines of the Election Commission of India at around 4.45 pm, said the release.

He will also hold a meeting with key social figures of the 9 legislative assemblies of Bareilly.

Earlier on Wednesday, the BJP released a list of 30-star campaigners for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Many star campaigners like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are on the list.

Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7. (ANI)
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Raipur unit of Indore zone on Wednesday apprehended one person at Raipur railway station who was travelling from Kolkata to Nagpur with 3.33 kgs of smuggled gold. The arrest and seizure was made with the assistance of Raipur RPF Staff. As per the press note issued by DRI Indore zonal unit, foreign marked gold bars weighing 3.33 kgs worth Rs 1.65 crore were recovered from the accused after his apprehension. "The gold bars were found to have been concealed inside his clothing by strapping on the waist, with help of a cloth belt and the said foreign origin gold bars along with the packing material have been seized under the Customs Act, 1962," the press note read.DRI also said that a total of five members of the syndicate has been identified in the present case. "In past, this syndicate has indulged in smuggling of gold of foreign origin in huge quantities for which the payment has been made through Hawala channels," the press note added. Further investigation is underway. (ANI)
Senior advocate on Thursday while assisting Delhi High Court hearing on a batch of petitions demanding criminalisation of marital rape said that exception must be viewed as an instrument of oppression. Senior Advocate Rebecca John, Amicus Curiae in the matter, argued before the division bench of justices Rajiv Shakdher and C Hari Shankar of Delhi High Court that a married woman can be subjected to sexual intercourse without her consent then that exception too must be viewed as an instrument of oppression. The exception to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, says sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape. Amicus John submitted that a class of individuals who enjoyed legal immunity from prosecution due to exception will now lose it if it is declared as unconstitutional. "That is not creation of a new offence. It is simply lifting of immunity from prosecution," the advocate submitted demanding to strike down the exception to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code. "To my mind, this is nothing but a legal fiction. And if this fiction is removed, it will not be the creation of a new offence," she said. During the hearing, Justice C Hari Shankar asked what is the guarantee of freedom which is being curtailed by exception 2. Amicus John replied that the freedom to say no. Then Justice Shankar remarked that whether amicus John believes the exception said "a woman cannot say no". John replied that the consequence of the exception is that the man where he is otherwise raping his wife will not be punished for rape only because he is married and the second part will not be given effect to. The hearing went for almost two hours, whereby amicus John opined that exception is giving a complete exemption and immunity to the husband. Hence she opined that a refusal, non-consent or no to your marital partner must be respected. Henceforth, she remarked that this is the reason why this requires serious judicial intervention. John submitted that as an amicus in the matter, his view that that the expectation of sex or meaningful conjugal relations can be mutual, which is fair expectation. There can be a unilateral expectation as well and if that expectation is not fulfilled, then the spouse has every right to resort to civil remedies. However when the expectation within marriage becomes a physical act that is non-consensual causing harm and injuries then that sexual act must become an offence, she submitted. She also raised issues whether a husband can get the benefit of exemption when wife denied consent due to health reasons. Amicus John also mentioned a case where a woman is gang-raped by her husband and his friend also had sexual intercourse. "Will it not lead to absurdity if the friends are charged with the offence but husband claims exception," she said. The court was hearing a batch of petitions including by the NGOs RIT Foundation and All India Democratic Women's Association who have challenged an exception to section 375 to the Indian Penal Code. The hearing will be continued on Friday too. Meanwhile, Delhi High Court refused to entertain impleadment application filed by Purush Aayog. Advocate Vivek Narayan Sharma mentioned that he has filed an intervention application on behalf of Purush Aayog. The HC said that it can not entertain any application at this stage, however, he may make suggestions to the counsels, who have already joined the proceedings. "We are not post-box, it is not acceptable, " the Court said and directed his court master to tell the registry to not accept any applications. (ANI)
According to Ramadoss, the Lankan Navy had deliberately hit the fishing boat of Indian fishermen near Katchatheevu recently and broken the boat.

Seven fishermen in the boat fell into the sea and were rescued by other Indian fishermen.

The smashing of the Indian fishermen boat by the Lankan Navy is inhuman and should be condemned.

Ramadoss said the Ministry of External Affairs should summon the Lankan High Commissioner to India to condemn the attack on the fishermen and urge him to release the Indian fishermen in the island nation's jail.

Katchatheevu island is located in the narrow sea dividing the two countries. The sea near the islet is rich in marine life.

The island was handed over to Sri Lanka by India several years ago.

--IANS vj/shb/

( 175 Words)

2022-01-20-16:04:02 (IANS)
Police said acting on specific information regarding the presence of a terrorist in Chadoora area of Central Kashmir's Budgam district, police along with the Army's 53 RR and 181 Battalion and CRPF launched a search operation.

"During search operation, an active terrorist affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT was arrested," police said.

He has been identified as Jehangir Ahmad Naikoo, a resident of Memandar Shopian, and had joined the outfit in the first week of this month

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one pistol, two pistol magazines, and 16 pistol rounds have been recovered from his possession.

Police have registered an FIR and further investigation has been initiated.

--IANS zi/sq/dpb

( 153 Words)

2022-01-20-16:26:02 (IANS)
The Hyderabad City police nabbed an inter-state robbery gang and held three persons on Thursday. According to the statement released by Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, around 12 pm on January 10 two unidentified persons came on a bike and entered the house of Sulecha Jain and attempted to kidnap her. When inmates and neighbours gathered, they fled the area. Later, a phone call over the internet was then initiated by the accused in which they threatened to kill the family and demanded Rs 1 crore in return for their life. The police statement further read, Javarilal (main accused) and his nephew Vikram (second accused) immigrated to Hyderabad from Rajasthan and were engaged in the hardware business at Bachupally. Mahendra Pratap Singh (third accused) is a relative of Javarilal and a debt collector. Javarilal attempted to overcome financial debts by abducting a well-established businessman named Manoj Salecha Jain, who runs a bulk drug business. Javarilal purchased a firearm from Madhya Pradesh for Rs 30,000 and had also stolen a Honda Activa. He had also conducted a recce at the house of the complainant. The case was detected by the North Zone Task Force Team of Hyderabad. (ANI)
Rahil Showkat Dar, a resident of Drabgam Pulwama Rajpora, was apprehended after he was found roaming suspiciously near a security checkpoint.

"A joint naka (checkpoint) laid by the teams of Pulwama Police, 44 Rashtriya Rifles and 183 battalion of CRPF at Pachahar Rajpora Pulwama intercepted one youth found roaming in a suspicious manner. On being challenged, he tried to flee from the Naka and also attempted to fire upon the Naka party," reads the official statement.

"The youth, however, was tactfully apprehended and during the body search one, Pistol and several rounds of ammunition were recovered from his possession," it added.

An FIR has been lodged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act in Rajpora Police Station. (ANI)
Opposing the bail plea of British citizen Christian Michel, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland Helicopter case is a "flight risk". "We fear that because of the way British government is helping him and he is connected right at the top if he is given a passport in another name he might flee and will never return," the CBI said. Advocate DP Singh appeared for the CBI also submits that the translated copy of the Dubai Supreme Court has been placed on record. An affidavit along with the same shall be placed on record by the next date. Advocate Aljo K Joseph appearing for Christian Michel argued that "all the other accused in the case got bail in 60 days and I'm the only one who hasn't been given the bail and suffering incarnation. When all other accused persons are on bail then why am I being singled out?" Advocate Joseph further argued that 218 witnesses, 1059 documents, the first charge sheet in 2018 (45,000 pages), first supplementary (25,000 pages), nine years of probe still investigation aren't complete, the prosecution sanctions have yet not come. During extradition proceedings, I was detained for two months in Dubai prison and three years and two months I have spent in jail in India, Advocate Aljo K Joseph added. Earlier, the Delhi HC had asked CBI to file translated copy of the Dubai Supreme Court order related to Michel's extradition. Michel's legal team earlier, claimed that there was alleged illegality perpetuating in the case, as Michel's Extradition request letter exchanged between India and UAE has not been filed despite the lapse of the last three years. Earlier, the bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri had issued notice to CBI and ED in a fresh bail petition of alleged middlemen Christian Michel James in connection with the VVIP Chopper case. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju and Zoheb Hossain appeared for ED and Advocate DP Singh appeared for CBI in the AgustaWestland matter. Advocate Aljo K Joseph represented the accused, Christian Michel James. According to the bail petition files in the trial court, it stated that the applicant (Michel) will be available to join the investigation of any future investigation and trial, as and when required and has never sought to evade the process of law. The advocates earlier told the court that Michel has made no attempt to suborn witnesses, tamper with documentary evidence, or in any other manner pollute or obstruct the judicial process and further, the applicant undertakes that he shall not, tamper with evidence or influence witnesses, nor is there any reasonable or justifiable apprehension thereof. The trial court, while rejecting James' bail plea, had shown its displeasure with British High Commission for sending a letter addressed to this Court stating that the medical condition of accused Christian Michel James and his pre-trial detention of two and half years may be taken into account when his bail application is considered. "It was on May 13 made clear that such direct communication to Court from 3rd party is not permissible and if anyone has any grievance or wants to participate in the court proceedings, he may move the appropriate application and same shall be considered as per law...." the Court said. Christian Michel James was extradited in 2018 after India won the extradition case in Dubai. Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal, was deported from the UAE and is currently in judicial custody. Dubai-based businessman Rajeev Saxena was extradited to India on January 31, 2019, in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore alleged scam relating to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland. (ANI)
Police apprehended three Children in Conflict With Law (CCLs) for allegedly murdering a person in the Jahangirpuri region of the national capital. As per information provided by the police, the accused were inspired by gangster movies like 'Pushpa' and 'Bhaukaal' and took inspiration from the films in committing the murder. They also recorded the entire incident on a mobile phone in order to upload it on social media and become famous. The police said that on reaching K Block, Jahangirpuri, one of the accused started shooting a video while the other two CCLs obstructed the path of the victim, who was beaten by the trio while the incident was being shot on mobile. The victim was taken to BJRM Hospital, Jahangirpuri, where he died due to stab injuries. On the basis of CCTV footage and local intelligence, police started searching for the CCLs, who were constantly changing their location in order to avoid arrest. However, they were arrested on Thursday. The mobile on which the incident was shot and the dagger used in the murder have been recovered by the police. Swift action by the police prevented those errant children from uploading the videos on social media. (ANI)
"I discussed the COVID epidemic with all the councillors today. We have many responsibilities in view of Omicron and the third wave," the Chief Minister said.

Uttar Pradesh recorded more than 18,554 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, an official said.

However, 19,328 people have been discharged. There are 97,329 active cases out of which 94,529 patients are in home isolation. More than 1,000 patients are admitted to the hospital, said Amit Mohan Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Health of Uttar Pradesh.

He further informed that active cases in only one to two per cent.

The state witnessed 10 deaths in the last 24 hours, stated Amit Mohan Prasad.

According to him, the COVID-19 positivity rate in Uttar Pradesh is 7.5 per cent. "The COVID-19 situation is solemn right now. So I request everyone to follow COVID-19 protocols", added the Additional Chief Secretary of Health Department.

As per Health information, COVID 'Precautionary dose' has been administered to 5,88,149 people in the state.

So far, 24,00,85,540 doses of vaccine have been administered in the state, said Prasad. (ANI)
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the non-inclusion of tableau from his state in the Republic Day celebrations 2022 and sought his urgent intervention into the matter. Earlier, the Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had also expressed their dissatisfaction over non inclusion of tableaux of their respective states. The Kerala Chief Minister tweeted, "Wrote to Hon. PM @narendramodi ji on non-inclusion of Kerala's tableau in the Republic Day parade. It featured the great philosopher and social reformer Sree Narayana Guru, who led Kerala's renaissance movement. Sought his urgent intervention to include our tableau in the parade." He attached a photo of the letter sent to the PM along with his tweet. CM Vijayan in his letter to PM Modi said, "The message the tableau can send to the younger generation of the country is very valuable and I seek urgent intervention of Hon'ble Prime Minister to get it included in the coming Republic Day parade." Describing about the proposed tableau of the state, the Chief Minister said that it has a strong social message and high relevance in the contemporary social scenario. "I am placing the above fact before your goodself, as the proposed tableau of Kerala has a very strong social message in it and it has high relevance in the contemporary social scenario," he wrote. "Our tableau included the image of Sree Narayana Guru. the great philosopher and social reformer, who led the renaissance movement of Kerala in the last century. His thoughts and actions attracted not only national but worldwide attention. He had fought obscurantist practices which had led to division among human beings and he propagated the philosophy of universal brotherhood, freedom and right to education for all," Vijayan added in his letter. Vijayan pointed out that Kerala had "won the honours" more than once. "I also take this occasion to gently remind that Kerala' tableaux have in the past won honours more than once," he wrote. Earlier on Sunday, Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the "rejection of proposed tableau of West Bengal for the ensuing Republic Day Parade" and requested to "include the tableau of freedom fighters from West Bengal in the parade". Responding to her letter, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said, "I would like to assure you that the selection process of the tableaux participating in the Republic Day Parade is very transparent." (ANI)
Indian Forest Service Association posted a video on its official Twitter handle in which a three months pregnant woman was seen brutally beaten by a man for conducting government work in Maharashtra.

"An on-duty woman forest guard Sindhu Sanap, who is 3 months pregnant, was thrashed while she was conducting government work in #Maharashtra. IFSA strongly condemns these types of brutal attacks and demands a strong policy in place for the safety of frontline #GreenSoldiers. @byadavbjp," IFS Association posted the video with this caption.

Reacting to the situation, Bhupender Yadav called Maharashtra law and order "deplorable".

"Deplorable law and order in Maharashtra. Request @OfficeofUT to take note. Our forest guards are doing a huge service to the nation. They need to be ensured a safe environment to do their work. A pregnant woman being beaten for doing her job is unacceptable in modern India," the Minister tweeted. (ANI)
"Government is looking into issues at its level. Whenever there is a need for discussion, it holds discussions as well at its level," said Birla to ANI.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said, "A few days before Republic Day, a fortune-teller of India is kidnapped by China - We are with the family of Miram Taroun and will not give up hope, will not give up. PM's stupid silence is his statement - he doesn't care!"

Earlier on Wednesday, Arunachal East MP Tapir Gao claimed that a 17-year-old youth has been abducted from inside Indian territory.

Gao claimed that the youth was 'abducted' on Tuesday from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district.

He further claimed that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abducted the youth from where the Tsangpo River enters India in Arunachal Pradesh.

He tweeted, "Chinese PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido vill. yesterday 18th Jan 2022 from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China-built 3-4 km road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bushing village) of Upper Siang dist., Arunachal Pradesh."

In his tweet, Gao had tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the Indian Army. (ANI)
Subhavati Shukla, wife of former Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice president Upendra Dutt Shukla, joined the Samajwadi Party on Thursday and is slated to be fielded against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Sadar. Subhavati Shukla joined Samajwadi Party today with her two sons here in the presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. "Impressed by the policies of SP, the family of former BJP state vice-president and former candidate in Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-election, late Upendra Dutt Shukla, joined the Samajwadi Party. Welcome, and greetings," the Samajwadi Party said in a tweet. Apart from Subhavati Shukla, her sons Arvind Dutt Shukla and Amit Dutt Shukla also joined the Samajwadi Party. Arvind Dutt, the elder son of Subhavati Shukla, told ANI that the family felt neglected after their father's demise in 2020. "Our family was neglected after my father's death (by the BJP). It's been 20 months since my father left," he said. He said that the family wanted his father's statue to be installed and a road named after him " but BJP neglected their requests". He said Samajwadi Party has already declared his mother a candidate from Gorakhpur. "This is the reason that we have joined Samajwadi Party today and my mother is going to contest elections from Gorakhpur Sadar constituency against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls. Akhilesh Yadav recognized the political experience of my father and gave us a ticket from his party," Arvind Dutt said. He said his mother is disappointed with the behaviour of the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh. "My mother is unhappy about BJP's behaviour so she made up her mind to contest on a ticket from Samajwadi Party. It does not matter how strong candidate Yogi Adiyanath, we will send our mother to vidhan sabha through which our father's name will also reach there." Upendra Dutt Shukla died in May 2020 after suffering a cardiac arrest. Shukla had contested by-elections from the Gorakhpur constituency in 2018 as a BJP candidate but did not win. The Samajwadi Party apparently wants to field a Brahmin candidate against the Chief Minister. Azad Samaj Party chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who belongs to Dalit community, has also decided to contest against the chief minister. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)
The Chennai Police Commissioner on Thursday said that actor Siddharth has been summoned over his defamation case against badminton ace Saina Nehwal over PM Modi's security breach in Punjab. "Actor Siddharth has been summoned (over his controversial tweet on badminton player Saina Nehwal). We've actually received 2 complaints; another one is on defamation in a legal frame, not a criminal case. We only need his statement," said Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal. "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are thinking about how to get the statement. We have summoned actor Siddharth", confirmed the Chennai Police Commissioner. (ANI)
The Congress on Thursday lodged a strong protest with the Election commission days after the ED raided Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi's kin and termed it politically motivated. The party alleged that family members of Charanjit Singh Channi, a leader of the Congress, are being targeted in order to create a perception and influence electors into believing that Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi through his family members and the Indian National Congress is involved in the allegations of money laundering. "Malice and Malafide news stories planted by the ED against the Chief Minister and fake perception being created - Deliberate and malicious news is being selectively leaked and planted in the news media imputing motives at Chief Minister, Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi," it said. The Congress said, ED Raids are a revenge against failure of PM's rally in Ferozepur on January 5. A sustained attack has been launched by the Central Government and the BJP against Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi, Chief Minister of Punjab. An AICC Delegation comprising Randeep S. Surjewala, Abhishek M. Singhvi, Harish Chaudhary, Devender Yadav, Ganesh Godiyal, Pranav Jha, Aman Panwar and others met the CEC virtually to protest against the raids by ED. The delegation also reminded the CEC about the violations of Model Code of Conduct by the Uttarakhand Government for back- dating and tampering of Government records as also Representation of People Act, 1951. The party alleged, "blatant misuse of Central Investigative Agencies for conducting politically motivated raids with the sole objective to publicly defame and malign the leaders of Indian National Congress, particularly, the Congress Chief Minister in the State of Punjab, continues regardless of the Model Code of Conduct and with a view to illegally influence public opinion in the ongoing elections scheduled to be held on 20.02.2022." The Congress alleged that similar raids were carried prior to 2019 elections when, "the Commission, while taking cognizance of our memorandums and in exercise of all appropriate and residue powers under Article 324 of the Constitution of India had issued an advisory to the Central Government on the illegal, motivated and vendetta driven enforcement actions being undertaken by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, a month before the general elections." The party said that it's unfortunate that despite a specific direction issued by this Commission, the Central Government continues to flout it with impunity as if they are baiting this commission to profess that a premeditated Central Government is neither under the jurisdiction of this Commission nor does it need to adhere to any constitutional authority. --IANS miz/skp/ ( 439 Words) 2022-01-20-19:36:05 (IANS)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has arrested one Anas Ahmed in connection with a prevention of money laundering case of Rs 84 crore. The accused has alleged links with Chinese people and he allegedly committed fraud through Powerbank and other such fraud mobile applications. The ED official said that presently, Anas Ahmed is in judicial custody and lodged in Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, in the predicate offence booked by CB, CID, Chennai. "On Thursday we got six days custody of Anas from the Hon'ble Principal City Civil & Sessions and Special Judge for PMLA Cases, Bengaluru. We have to record his statement, we will also confront him with documentary evidences," said an ED official. The ED official said that they initiated money laundering investigation into the operations of entities of the accused. They allegedly induced people to invest certain amount of money through Powerbank and other such fraudulent apps by assuring to remit interest on daily or weekly basis on the investment made. The accused entities closed their purported business after collecting huge sum of money from innocent people and went incommunicado. "The accused entities neither paid interest nor returned the principal amount to anyone and withheld the investment made by public which has resulted in commission of cheating," said the ED official. Anas Ahmed is a partner in two accused firms namely H&S Ventures Inc and Clifford Ventures. The ED official said these two partnership firms are responsible for cheating people to the tune of Rs 84 crore. "Anas Ahmed has Chinese links and is suspected of being the mastermind of the whole racket. He indulged into corrupt and illegal activities through his partnership firms by deviating from the declared line of business/activity of gaming and has collected money from public under the guise of investment schemes through fraudulent apps," said the official. The ED learnt that the proceeds generated through criminal activities have been layered through a number of shell entities to remit out of India and also invest in crypto currencies. --IANS atk/skp/ ( 354 Words) 2022-01-20-19:58:03 (IANS)
Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar moved a privilege motion before the Privilege Committee of Lok Sabha chaired by Jharkhand BJP MP Sunil Singh, alleging that he was forcefully arrested by Karimnagar Commissioner of Police V Satyanarayana and three other police officials on January 3. The notice of the meeting sent by the Committee read, the subject of discussion as "Notice/Complaint/Email dated 3 January, 2022 given by him against Satyanarayana, Commissioner of Police and three other Police officials of Karimnagar District, Telangana, for forcefully arresting him in an illegal manner and for attempting to produce him before the Court for 'remand' in connection with the filing of alleged false cases against him". According to the information, Sanjay Kumar, who is the Telangana BJP chief, will appear before the panel on Friday to give verbal representation on what happened with him in Telangana, leading him to move a notice of privilege. The Telangana BJP chief was arrested by the Karimnagar Police during a protest on charges of violating COVID-19 protocols. The Telangana BJP chief was planning to hold an overnight Dharna on the intervening night of January 2 and 3 in his Constituency in Karimnagar following which the state police arrested him for violating COVID-19 norms. He was arrested that night and then the Karimnagar District Court sent him to 14-days of judicial custody. On January 4, BJP national president JP Nadda went to Hyderabad and participated in a candlelight march in support of Sanjay in lashing out at the K Chandrasekhar Rao government and calling it as 'murder of democracy'. On January 6, he was released from jail after being granted bail by the High Court. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also said to have called up Sanjay lauding his fighting spirit against the KCR rule and a week or so ago, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also held a meeting in Hyderabad in support of Sanjay Kumar. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on Thursday. The two dignitaries also launched the Civil Service College and 8 MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support. An Agreement on extending a $190 mn Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects; and MoU on the implementation of Small Development Projects was also signed. "I wish to recall the stellar contribution of late Anerood Jugnauth (former Mauritius President) to strengthen the India-Mauritius ties. We look forward to supporting the further extension of the metro, under the $190 million Line of Credit (LoC) extension today," said the prime minister after the launch of these projects. In the coming days, we will work on several important projects, such as the regional transplant unit, the forensic science laboratory, the national library & archives, the Mauritius police academy, & many others. India will always continue to stand by Mauritius, he added further. "It was in Mauritius, during my 2015 visit, that I had outlined India's maritime cooperation vision of SAGAR -- 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'. I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action," said Prime Minister Modi, referring to more than a half century diplomatic India-Mauritius bilateral relationships. "To pay gratitude for India's support to the metro express project, my government has decided to name one of the major metro stations as 'Mahatma Gandhi' station," said Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. --IANS nk/skp/ ( 286 Words) 2022-01-20-20:12:02 (IANS)
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday slammed his Delhi counterpart and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of being a hypocrite and of fishing in troubled waters. Sawant's criticism of Kejriwal came soon after the Delhi CM once again reached out to late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal to join the AAP, after the BJP rejected his claim to contest from the Panaji assembly constituency, a seat represented by his father since 1994. "Hypocrisy! Person whose entire party & politics is based on shallow opportunism should brush up his memory & remind himself of his own filthy comments used against one of the greatest leaders Shri Manohar Bhai Parrikar. Mr. Opportunist..." Sawant said. Earlier on Thursday, Kejriwal had tweeted: "Goans feel v sad that BJP has adopted use and throw policy even with Parrikar family. I have always respected Manohar Parrikar ji. Utpal ji is welcome to join and fight elections on AAP ticket". Kejriwal, during his recent visit to Goa, had also said that Utpal Parrikar was free to contest on an AAP ticket, if he wishes to. Utpal Parrikar had put in a request with the BJP high command to contest from the Panaji seat. The BJP, which released its first list of 34 candidates for the February 14 Goa polls, has instead picked sitting BJP MLA Atanasio Monserrate as its candidate from Panaji. Monserrate, who faces charges of raping a minor and several other criminal cases including one involving leading a mob which attacked a city police station in 2008, had won the 2017 state assembly bypolls -- which were facilitated after the death of Manohar Parrikar -- on a Congress ticket. He had however joined the BJP along with nine other Congress MLAs in a midnight coup in 2019. --IANS maya/vd ( 309 Words) 2022-01-20-20:50:03 (IANS)
The listings for Samsung Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra were spotted by Galaxyclub.nl (in Dutch) on Italian e-retailers.

Samsung Galaxy S22 is listed with the model number SM-S901B, while Samsung Galaxy S22+ and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra bear the model numbers SM-S906B and SM-S908B respectively. These handsets are listed to sport an Exynos SoC under the hood, reports GizmoChina.

Samsung Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+, and Galaxy S22 Ultra are expected to arrive with either Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC or the Exynos 2200 SoC, depending on the region.

Meanwhile, the firm may increase price for the lineup because of the global shortage of chipsets.

Samsung Galaxy S22 could carry a starting price of $899, which is about $100 more compared to its predecessor.

The pricing of several important components for smartphones has increased by 30-40 per cent while pricing for the power management chips and image sensor chips has increased by 10-15 per cent.

Samsung hopes to sell around 14 million Samsung Galaxy S22 units.

--IANS wh/dpb

( 212 Words)

2022-01-20-09:40:03 (IANS)
Last week, Russia-sponsored hackers hit Ukraine with a massive cyber-attack, shutting down several government websites. As a result of the cyber-attack, the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other government agencies went down.

In a press briefing late on Wednesday, Biden told reporters that the US would respond with its own cyber-attacks if Russia continues to hit Ukraine's digital infrastructure, reports ZDNet.

"For example, it's one thing to determine that if they (Russia) continue to use cyber efforts, well, we can respond the same way, with cyber," the US president was quoted as saying.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki later confirmed to The Daily Beast that if Russia continued to launch cyber-attacks, they would be answered with a "decisive, reciprocal, and united response."

Ukrainian officials have confirmed that dozens of systems within at least two government agencies were wiped during the cyber-attack.

Russia has repeatedly been accused of cyber-attacks against Ukraine amid escalated tension between them.

Microsoft has also identified evidence of a destructive malware operation targeting multiple organisations -- government, nonprofits organisations and IT firms -- in Ukraine.

According to Microsoft Threat Intelligence Centre (MSTIC), this malware first appeared on victim systems in Ukraine on January 13.

"Microsoft is aware of the ongoing geopolitical events in Ukraine and surrounding region and encourages organisations to use the information in this post to proactively protect from any malicious activity," the company said in a statement.

--IANS na/svn/dpb

( 279 Words)

2022-01-20-10:24:03 (IANS)
Hackers have hit the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), compromising the personal data of more than 515,000 "highly vulnerable people" globally. According to the Red Cross, a sophisticated cyber security attack against computer servers hosting information was detected this week. "The attack compromised personal data and confidential information on more than 515,000 highly vulnerable people, including those separated from their families due to conflict, migration and disaster, missing persons and their families, and people in detention," Red Cross said in a statement late on Wednesday. The data originated from at least 60 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the world. The organisation said that the most pressing concern following this attack is the potential risks that come with this breach -- including confidential information being shared publicly -- for people that the Red Cross and Red Crescent network seeks to protect and assist, as well as their families. "An attack on the data of people who are missing makes the anguish and suffering for families even more difficult to endure. We are all appalled and perplexed that this humanitarian information would be targeted and compromised," said Robert Mardini, ICRC's director-general. "This cyber-attack puts vulnerable people, those already in need of humanitarian services, at further risk." The ICRC had no immediate indications as to who carried out this cyber attack. There is not yet any indication that the compromised information has been leaked or shared publicly. While we don't know who is responsible for this attack, or why they carried it out, we do have this appeal to make to them," said Mardini. "Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering," he added. Because of the attack, Red Cross has shut down the systems underpinning its Restoring Family Links work, affecting the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's ability to reunite separated family members. Every day, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement helps reunite on average 12 missing people with their families. --IANS na/svn/dpb ( 350 Words) 2022-01-20-11:18:03 (IANS)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the war in Ukraine has worsened problems in the Western Hemisphere caused by the coronavirus pandemic, such as rising poverty. Concerns about the war decreasing the availability of food and increasing prices have sparked fears of increasing hunger and starvation in other nations. Blinken told the annual Conference of the Americas Luncheon on Tuesday that the effects of the war are being felt after the pandemic inflicted economic harm throughout the Americas. Blinken gave the luncheon's keynote address in Washington and said Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the price of essential commodities and cut off key export markets for many industries. more >>
A team of researchers has looked into estrogen interactions with specific brain regions that provide anti-obesity benefits in women. The research has been published in the 'Science Advances Journal'. The team revealed an estrogen-activated neurocircuit that stimulates thermogenesis, or body heat production and physical activity in animal models. The circuit begins in neurons located in a region of the hypothalamus called the ventrolateral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (vlVMH). These neurons interact with estrogen via estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) and respond to the hormone by connecting to and communicating with serotonin-producing neurons located in another brain region called the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). The circuit not only responds to estrogen, but also to changes in ambient temperature and in the nutritional status of the animal. Interestingly, the circuit seems to be functional in males but, at this point, its physiological relevance is not clear. "My lab has long been interested in understanding sex differences in metabolic control," said co-corresponding author Dr. Yong Xu, professor of paediatrics - nutrition and molecular and cellular biology at Baylor. "For instance, before menopause women are typically protected from metabolic problems that may lead to weight gain when compared to age-matched men. However, after menopause, this benefit seems to disappear. Researchers around the world agree that estrogen is one important player in this benefit," Xu added. In previous work, the researchers showed that one of the estrogen receptors, ER-alpha, is expressed in several brain regions, including the v1VMH of the hypothalamus. When v1VMH neurons expressing ER-alpha respond to estrogen, the animals increase thermogenesis and physical activity. Both responses are beneficial as they increase energy expenditure, which can prevent obesity. "What we didn't know at that time were the neurocircuits that mediate these responses. Using modern neuroscience technology, we identified a neurocircuit that connects ER-alpha-expressing neurons in the vlVMH region with neurons in the DRN region. We confirmed that estrogen-mediated activation of this circuit actually stimulates thermogenesis and physical activity," Xu said. The researchers also found that the circuit responds to changes in ambient temperature and in the nutritional status of the animal. "For example, the circuit can be activated when it's cold, stimulating thermogenesis and physical activity, which would help the animal stay warm," Xu said. "The circuit can be inhibited when the animal is hungry, which would shut down thermogenesis and physical activity, saving energy to adapt to the lack of nutrients," Xu added. Xu and his colleagues studied this circuit in females, but also in males. "We found that the circuit is conserved in males - they have the same neurons that express ER-alpha and project into the same downstream brain regions. If the circuit is artificially activated in males, the same responses occur - thermogenesis and physical activity are stimulated. However, we still don't know the role this circuit plays in males. Further studies will help answer this question," Xu said. Other contributors to this research are Hui Ye, Bing Feng, Chunmei Wang, Kenji Saito, Yongjie Yang, Lucas Ibrahimi, Sarah Schaul, Nirali Patel, Leslie Saenz, Pei Luo, Penghua Lai, Valeria Torres, Maya Kota, Devin Dixit, Xing Cai, Na Qu, Ilirjana Hyseni, Kaifan Yu, Yuwei Jiang, Qingchun Tong, Zheng Sun, Benjamin R. Arenkiel, Yanlin He and Pingwen Xu. The authors are affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Louisiana State University System or the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. (ANI)
According to a new study, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) might be the leading cause of Multiple Sclerosis. The study has been published in the 'Science Journal'. "The hypothesis that EBV causes MS has been investigated by our group and others for several years, but this is the first study providing compelling evidence of causality," said Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study. "This is a big step because it suggests that most MS cases could be prevented by stopping EBV infection and that targeting EBV could lead to the discovery of a cure for MS," he added. MS is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that attacks the myelin sheaths protecting neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Its cause is not known, yet one of the top suspects is EBV, a herpes virus that can cause infectious mononucleosis and establishes a latent, lifelong infection of the host. Establishing a causal relationship between the virus and the disease has been difficult because EBV infects approximately 95 per cent of adults, MS is a relatively rare disease, and the onset of MS symptoms begins about ten years after EBV infection. To determine the connection between EBV and MS, the researchers conducted a study among more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the U.S. military and identified 955 who was diagnosed with MS during their period of service. The team analysed serum samples taken biennially by the military and determined the soldiers' EBV status at the time of the first sample and the relationship between EBV infection and MS onset during the period of active duty. In this cohort, the risk of MS increased 32-fold after infection with EBV but was unchanged after infection with other viruses. Serum levels of neurofilament light chain, a biomarker of the nerve degeneration typical in MS, increased only after EBV infection. The findings cannot be explained by any known risk factor for MS and suggested EBV as the leading cause of MS. Ascherio said that the delay between EBV infection and the onset of MS may be partially due to the disease's symptoms being undetected during the earliest stages and partially due to the evolving relationship between EBV and the host's immune system, which is repeatedly stimulated whenever latent virus reactivates. "Currently there is no way to effectively prevent or treat EBV infection, but an EBV vaccine or targeting the virus with EBV-specific antiviral drugs could ultimately prevent or cure MS," said Ascherio. Other Harvard Chan School researchers who contributed to this study included Kjetil Bjornevik, Marianna Cortese, Michael Mina, and Kassandra Munger. Funding for this study came from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health (NS046635, NS042194, and NS103891), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (PP-1912-35234), the German Research Foundation (CO 2129/ 1-1), the National Institutes of Health (DP5- OD028145), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (ANI)
Priced at Rs 3,39,990, Lumix BS1H is available across all Panasonic brand shops in India.

"We have seen a rise in demand for high quality imaging solution to create superior content ad BS1H will cater to this growing need amongst the professional community and empower them with the best in class technology," Fumiyasu Fujimori, Divisional Director, Consumer Sales Division at Panasonic India said in a statement.

The camera features a 24MP full-frame sensor with Dual Native ISO that captures 6K resolution, making it the perfect partner for professional film-makers, videographers and digital content creators.

According to the company, Lumix BS1H is capable of delivering 6K resolution and fine video quality along with the bouquet of recording modes that help users to capture stunning shots in all conditions.

The camera is also well-equipped with heat management that ensures long-hour usability without having to worry about quick pack-ups during shoots.

To offer stable connectivity, the camera comes with double SD card slots, USB 3.1 Type-C, a 3G-SDI (BNC), HDMI Type-A, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, tally lamps (front/rear), XLR microphone compatibility have been embedded to offer hassle-free connectivity to users.

--IANS wh/svn

( 215 Words)

2022-01-20-15:46:06 (IANS)
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) said that Russia will be held accountable if it invades Ukraine amid rising tensions between the two countries. "Russia will be held accountable if it invades Ukraine. It is going to be a disaster for Russia if it invades Ukraine. Our partner and allies are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm to Russia and its economy," said the US President. He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of significant economic consequences when such an incursion occurs. "He (Russian President Vladimir Putin) has never seen sanctions like the ones I have promised will be imposed if Russia further advances into Ukraine," said Biden. But he suggested a "minor incursion" would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country. Biden said that the level of punishment would depend on what Russia's invasion looks like. "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera," said Biden. "But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine. And that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy," he said. "I have already shipped over USD 600 million worth of sophisticated defence equipment to the Ukrainians. The cost of going into Ukraine in terms of physical loss of life for Russians is going to be heavy, real and consequential," Biden added The US expects that Putin will be moving his 100,000 troops after amassing them along the Ukraine border. "I'm not so sure he is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something," Biden said, describing a leader searching for relevance in a post-Soviet world. "He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West." Biden made the remarks at the formal news conference marking his first year in office. (ANI)
The UN top envoy in Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons on Wednesday said that the organization is working on a proposal to urge donors to provide eight billion dollars in aid for Afghanistan. The move comes after achievements of the past two decades have been violated. Lyons said that over half of the country's population is living under the poverty line and the UN is attempting to remove existing sanctions on Afghanistan, reported Tolo News. Lyons at a gathering at the Arg (the presidential palace) in Kabul said that the transfer of cash to Afghanistan would continue until the banking system is revived in the country. "We secured the permission to import cash to address the crippling lack of liquidity, assisted by your administration in doing so. We imported in December, last month of last year, over 120 million dollars and this month another 32 million," said the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan. The Arg was the venue for the first international conference about economic conditions since the fall of the former government where representatives of 20 countries attended the summit, some via videoconference, reported Tolo News. Addressing the summit, the Taliban's acting Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund said that short term aid is not enough to tackle the crisis, and he called for the removal of obstacles in the way of economic recovery. "A mutual path should be formed to meet the problems of people on time, and forever. The short term aid is not sufficiently beneficial for the nation," he said. The Islamic Emirate's cabinet members praised the UN support for Afghanistan. The Second Deputy of the Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, said that the Islamic Emirate would monitor the distribution of aid to vulnerable people, reported Tolo News. (ANI)
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) defended his decision to pull out from Afghanistan and said "I make no apologies for what I did". Speaking on the occasion of completing a year in the office, he said, "There is no way to get out of Afghanistan after 20 years easily. Not possible, no matter when you did it. And I make no apologies for what I did." However, Biden expressed his sympathy for the crisis in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the nation in mid-August. POTUS said that he felt bad about "what's happening in Afghanistan as a result of the incompetence of the Taliban." "I have a great concern for the women and men who were blown up on the line at the airport by a terrorist attack against them," he said. Defending his withdrawal from Afghanistan decision, Biden blamed previous administrations for the fiasco. "Had we not gotten out, the acknowledgement is we'd be putting a lot more forces in ... do I feel bad [about] what's happening as a consequence of the incompetence of the Taliban? Yes, I do," Biden said, adding that there are "a whole range of things around the world, that we can't solve every problem. And so I don't view that as a competence issue." The President also said that there was no way to get out after 20 years easily. "Raise your hand if you think anyone was going to be able to unify Afghanistan under one single government? It's been the graveyard of empires for a solid reason: It is not susceptible to unity," said Biden. He also raised the issue of the economic burden Afghanistan was causing to the US. Citing the weekly spending of nearly one billion dollars to keep American forces in the state, Biden noted what he called no possibility at a peaceful resolution. "The question was, do I continue to spend that much money per week in the state of Afghanistan knowing that the idea that being able to succeed, other than sending more body bags back home, is highly, highly unusual," he said. (ANI)
He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and warned that Russian forces could attack at "very short notice," reported NHK World.

About 100 thousand Russian soldiers have massed along the border. But their commanders have said they have no plans to invade.

The Biden administration has approved an additional 200 million dollars in defensive military aid for Ukraine, reported NHK World.

Zelenskyy stressed the importance of help and reiterated his country's ambitions of joining NATO.

Meanwhile, the Russian leaders do not want the military alliance on their doorstep and have asked for written guarantees, reported NHK World.

Blinken is scheduled to meet in Geneva on Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) said that Russia will be held accountable if it invades Ukraine amid rising tensions between the two countries.

"Russia will be held accountable if it invades Ukraine. It is going to be a disaster for Russia if it invades Ukraine. Our partner and allies are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm to Russia and its economy," said the US President.

He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of significant economic consequences when such an incursion occurs. "He (Russian President Vladimir Putin) has never seen sanctions like the ones I have promised will be imposed if Russia further advances into Ukraine," said Biden. (ANI)
Intelligence officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said that the commander, his son, and four others were shot dead in the Narang district of the province, reported The Khaama Press.

The officials said that the people were killed as a result of personal enmity.

The incident is not new in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. People across Afghanistan have often been killed as a result of enmity.

In the meantime, Taliban affiliates shooting civilians at check posts is another issue of concern among the people of Afghanistan, reported The Khaama Press.

The Taliban affiliates opened fire on a car at their checkpoint in the Kazemi region of the western Herat province on Monday, killing a driver and a local doctor.

In another incident last week, a 25-year-old girl, Zainab, in the western Kabul's Dasht-e-Barchi, was shot dead at a check post manned by Taliban, when she, along with her family members, was on the way back home from a wedding function.

The father is asking for justice over the killing of her daughter and said that the culprits should be arrested, reported the news agency.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15 last year, the affiliates have shot civilians in Kabul and Laghman province.

The Taliban shot two ladies and a boy two days earlier, killing the boy and wounding the two women.

Furthermore, a girl and a kid were shot and killed by the Taliban in Kabul. (ANI)
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman called on India's Foreign Secretary Harsh V. Shringla via teleconference and discussed Russia's military build-up on Ukraine's borders along with regional issues and Covid pandemic. Within a week, it's the second time that the US talked with India about the Russia's presence at Ukraine borders. "The US Deputy Secretary and the India's Foreign Secretary agreed to remain closely coordinated on shared goals and priorities and reiterated the importance of a strong US-India partnership to mitigate the Covid-19 Omicron variant's rapid advance," Ned Price, spokesperson of the US's State Department, said on Wednesday. Earlier, on January 14, the US Charge' d' Affaires Patricia Lacina also called on Shringla and discussed India-US relationship with the regional issues of mutual interest. Interestingly at the time when India and US were holding talks, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to reaffirm the "unwavering" US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of ongoing Russian military buildup. After the meeting, Blinken met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as part of ongoing efforts to encourage Russia to choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue. According to the State Department Blinken met Zelenskyy in Kiev as part of US' "close and continued coordination" with Ukraine following the US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue in Geneva, the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels, and the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna. Blinken during the meeting has emphasised that if Russia chooses the path of "further aggression" against Ukraine, the US, together with its allies and partners, will impose crippling costs on Russia's economy, reinforce NATO's presence in frontline allied states, and increase defensive assistance to Ukraine. --IANS nimish/shs ( 307 Words) 2022-01-20-03:20:02 (IANS)
In a statement, Psaki said, "President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies."

"President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response," the statement further said.

Meanwhile, in order to diffuse tensions between America and Russia over the issue of Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Kyiv.

He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and warned that Russian forces could attack at "very short notice," reported NHK World.

About 100 thousand Russian soldiers have massed along the border. But their commanders have said they have no plans to invade.

The Biden administration has approved an additional 200 million dollars in defensive military aid for Ukraine, reported NHK World. Zelenskyy stressed the importance of help and reiterated his country's ambitions of joining NATO.

Moreover, Blinken is scheduled to meet in Geneva on Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. (ANI)
A Center for COVID Control location is closed in Des Plaines on Jan. 14, 2022. The Minnesota attorney generals office announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the company and its Illinois-based lab, Doctors Clinical Laboratory Inc. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Tricia Poreda recently walked inside a COVID-19 testing center on the citys Northwest Side and was immediately appalled by the facilitys lack of basic health and safety protocols.

Employees collecting specimens werent changing gloves or washing hands in between patients, she recalled. The site didnt seem to be enforcing social distancing and the employees performing tests werent wearing proper personal protection equipment.

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I would say if you didnt have (COVID) when you walked in, theres a good chance you had it when you walked out, with those kinds of practices, said Poreda, an ICU nurse, who left that center and found another location to get tested for the virus. Some of those places are superspreader sites on their own.

With COVID-19 testing in high demand in the Chicago area, medical experts and government officials are warning consumers to be extremely wary of substandard or fraudulent pop-up testing centers. Some of them have been found operating in sketchy settings while others have reportedly given patients fake results  or failed to return any results at all.

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One Illinois-based chain of coronavirus testing sites, the Center for COVID Control, has temporarily shut down amid multiple investigations by federal authorities and various state agencies.

The Minnesota attorney generals office announced Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against the company and its Illinois-based lab, Doctors Clinical Laboratory Inc., alleging they collected patient samples but either failed to deliver test results, or delivered test results that were falsified or inaccurate, according to the agencys news release.

The companies did not immediately return Tribune requests for comment; a written statement on the Center for COVID Control website said the business was going to pause operations, citing high demand and stressed staffing.

Certain Center for Covid Control (CCC) locations are experiencing high demand for testing due to the omicron variant surge, the Jan. 13 statement said. This unusually high patient demand has stressed staffing resources, as has been widely reported, in a subset of our locations, affecting our usual customer service standards and diagnostic goals.

A northwest suburban man was ticketed twice this month for conducting unlawful coronavirus testing out of a car in the parking lot of a former Bakers Square restaurant in Niles, and without a business license, according to village officials.

And social media sites are rife with stories about shady fly-by-night COVID testing centers. One woman posted on the Facebook site Chicago Vaccine Hunters that she had recently received a negative test result from a testing center in the western suburbs.

This would be good news except that I havent been in to test yet! she wrote on the site.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike earlier this month advised residents to be wary of potentially fraudulent testing centers.

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We do want to urge some caution with some of these clinics, she said. There unfortunately are those who are taking advantage of these crazy times to try and scam people. So if you have any doubts about the testing location that you are looking at, go ahead and ask some questions. What lab is the testing site using? When will you receive the results, and from whom?

Here are eight tips to help discern which testing centers are legitimate  and protect yourself against all different types of COVID-19 testing scams.

1. Start with state-sponsored testing sites, when possible. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul recently issued a warning about unregulated testing centers, urging residents to first try government test sites or those recommended by their health care providers. Testing locations can be found at the Illinois Department of Public Health website, the Cook County Department of Health website and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website. Complaints about suspect COVID-19 testing facilities can be made at the attorney generals office website.

To give you an idea of the scope of the problem, we have received 244 complaints overall for testing, said agency spokeswoman Tori Joseph.

2. Ask questions about the medical director, the type of test performed and the lab used for results. Infectious disease expert Dr. Robert Murphy suggested asking for the name of the sites medical director and their credentials.

A quick Google search should be informative, said Murphy, executive director of Northwestern Universitys Institute for Global Health and a professor of infectious diseases at the Feinberg School of Medicine. If they will not provide you with a legitimate name with credentials, dont go there.

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Ask for the name of the exact test thats being done and if the test has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. Consumers can ask for the name of the laboratory that will be processing the test, officials said, and then search if the lab is appropriately certified.

3. Get a phone number. Ask when the results will be available and how theyll be communicated to you, the attorney generals office said. Ask for a phone number and who you can call with any questions or concerns about test results.

4. Being asked to pay for the test out-of-pocket is a red flag. The attorney generals office added that consumers should be cautious if a site requests cash or credit card payments for a test. Most testing locations will instead bill insurance companies, or, if individuals are uninsured, seek reimbursement from a federal fund, according to the attorney generals website.

5. Go somewhere else if the location says it wont accept insurance. If the site does not accept insurance, this is another red flag as insurers are now required to accept requests for COVID tests, Murphy added. If they will not accept your insurance, which includes Medicaid and Medicare, go someplace else.

6. Check health and safety standards. I would make sure the site has good infection control processes, said Dr. Elizabeth Davis, medical director of community health equity at Rush University Medical Center. The site should be clean. People should be hand sanitizing and changing gloves between every patient. They should be wearing medical masks.

When getting a rapid test, Davis advised asking for the brand name as well as the expiration date, to make sure it hasnt expired.

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There should be social distancing on-site and a mechanism to limit flow, she added.

7. Check at-home COVID-19 tests before purchase. The attorney generals office is also cautioning consumers about potential fake at-home test kits offered for sale; the FDA has a list of authorized at-home test kits. The FDA also keeps a list of fraudulent COVID-19 treatments and prevention products, which includes the names of some COVID tests.

Expect to pay between $14 and $25 for packs of at-home rapid test kits. Report fraudulent tests or price gouging to the state attorney generals office.

8. Beware of phony websites when signing up for free government-issued COVID tests. With the Biden administration offering American households free COVID-19 tests requested via the U.S. Postal Service, the Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to be on guard for fraudulent, look-alike websites.

Scammers often take advantage of these kinds of government initiatives, creating phony sites to get access to financial or other sensitive information, according to the BBB.

You follow the link to a website that looks official at first glance, the BBB says on its website. It may have the United States Postal Service (USPS) logo, just like the real website. It also has a form to request your tests. But when you start filling out the form, you notice something unusual. This fake version may ask you for personal information, such as your Social Security number or Medicare ID. It could also request your credit card details, under the guise of needing to pay for shipping.

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The BBB advises consumers to examine the domain name: The federal governments website is special.usps.com/testkits, but phony ones might swap a few letters or include spelling mistakes. The BBB also notes that the real website only asks for a name and address; it doesnt request Social Security numbers, insurance information or any other sensitive data.

Shanzeh Ahmad contributed.

eleventis@chicagotribune.com
Afghan industrialists have urged the international community to unfreeze Afghan funds as if immediate financial help is not provided to the country then it will lead to the closure of factories making 1.5 million people unemployed in the troubled country, local media reported on Thursday. Afghanistan is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and needs immediate financial help who are facing acute hunger combined with a severe drought and the coronavirus pandemic. Head of the Chamber of Mines and Industries of Afghanistan Sherbaz Kaminzada said that factories in the country which are on the brink of collapse will completely close if the assets of Afghanistan do not get unfrozen, Khaama Press reported. Kaminzada said that Afghanistan had an unreal and fragile economy during the past twenty years and asked the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and the International Community to cooperate with Afghan industrialists for the growth of the economy, Khaama Press reported. Millions of Afghans are currently jobless, and their bank accounts are frozen. He warned that lack of cash and the restrictions on the banking system that has made difficult procurement of raw material will leave 1.5 million people out of jobs, over 500,000 of them women. Kaminzada expressed the remarks in his meeting with the UN Secretary-General's special representative to Afghanistan Deborah Lyons on the sideline of the Economic Conference in Kabul on Wednesday. "Hundreds of factories in Afghanistan do not have the raw material that has directly affected the workers, investors, and common people," Kaminzada said. Meanwhile, the special representative assured Afghan industrialists of raising their voice and will return from the UN headquarter with positive outcomes. Following the Taliban takeover in mid-August, the US froze nearly 10 billion dollars in Afghanistan's assets and slapped sanctions on the Islamic Emirate. In the meantime, the stoppage of foreign aid to Afghanistan has crippled the already fragile economic system of Afghanistan and has adversely affected the lives of millions of people. (ANI)
Isreal has to be more cautious over its national security as two new "threats" -- Pakistan and Turkey are at its doorstep, joining the footstep of Iran that is a current threat to Tel Aviv's security, Sergio Restelli has written in a local newspaper. In his blog in The Times of Israel, Restelli said that for Israel, this should be a wake up call to look beyond its immediate borders. "While Iran is today's threat, Turkey and Pakistan are future threats to Israel and its security, especially in the "peripheral" states. While Israel's assistance to Afghan refugees in Tajikistan is a move in the right direction, there is a long road to travel to secure Israel's future," he wrote. Iran and to a large extent Turkey, have become a cause for immediate concern. A large part of Israel's National Security headache comes from Iran and its proxies and especially after the Abraham accords Iran has been the singular most and the only real threat in the neighbourhood for Israel. Whether it is the nuclear program or Hezbollah and Syria, Iran has tried to implant itself on the land borders with Israel which supplying weapons and training to the Hamas, a Sunni ally of a Shia regime. Sergio Restelli further wrote that Turkey is becoming an increasing part of a threat to Israel's security and well being, especially given its tacit involvement in several hotspots of Islamic terror, where Israel is the primary enemy and target. "Pakistan has also started raising the anti-Israel and anti-semitic flag often in the past years, most recently during the Organisation of Islamic Countries extraordinary meeting in Islamabad, which were accompanied by large scale pro-Iran, anti-Israel protests in Lahore," he said in the blog. He further noted that the fall of Kabul to the Taliban while has created some amount of discomfort and a lot of discussions in Israel, the interest has been more due to US withdrawal than due to a country being handed over to a terrorist group, which openly calls for Israel's destruction and supports the Hamas. With the recent protests in Kazakhstan, like it or not, Israel has been now sucked into the "Great Game" of Asia. (ANI)
"We intend to render maximum possible support to affected residents of Tonga by engaging our self-defense forces, which accumulated vast experience in disaster management both at home and abroad," Kishi said in a briefing.

The transport aircraft of Japanese Air Self-Defense Force is expected to depart on Thursday, carrying drinking water and other humanitarian aid, as well as six professionals in natural disaster management.

A landing ship is expected to follow, bringing to Tonga around 300 military personnel for participating in emergency response activities, volcanic ash clearing equipment, and two helicopters.

On Wednesday, the Japanese government pledged to allocate more than $1 million of financial aid to Tonga and provide food assistance.

A powerful underwater volcanic eruption occurred on Saturday beneath the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai islands, 40 miles north of the capital Nuku'alofa. The eruption, considered the world's strongest in the past 30 years, caused a severe tsunami and covered the islands with a thick layer of volcanic ash, and resulted in the death of at least three people.

The largest Tongan island of Tongatapu has declared a state of emergency on its western coast. (ANI/Sputnik)
Washington [US], January 20 (ANI/Sputnik): At least two US marines were killed and 17 others were injured in a rollover accident near the marine corps base camp Lejeune in the city of Jacksonville in North Carolina, local media reported on Thursday. According to ABC News, the accident took place on Wednesday. A 19-year-old driver of a 7-tonne military truck carrying marines reportedly lost control while trying to turn onto the highway. As a result, the car overturned. One serviceman was thrown out of the truck onto the road, and was run over by another military vehicle, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said, as cited by the media. Two of the injured were airlifted to Vidant Medical Center in the city of Greenville in South Carolina, the media said. The others were reportedly transported to hospitals by road. The driver has been charged with exceeding a safe speed, as well as with an administrative offense that resulted in several deaths, the media reported. An investigation into the details of the accident is currently underway. (ANI/Sputnik)
The Western democracies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have expressed concern over the election results in Hong Kong, where only one seat went to an opposition member in the 90 seat Legislative Council. Writing in Washington Times, Jianli Yang, said the Legislative Council (LegCo) election in Hong Kong on December 19, 2021, was just a mockery of democracy. With only about 30 per cent of the voters in Hong Kong bothering to exercise their franchise in a sham called election, pro-Beijing candidates swept the polls, beating the moderates and independents, leaving only one seat to an opposition member in the 90 seat Legislative Council. In Tibet, for instance, China has come up with a call to develop Buddhism with Chinese communist characteristics. And in Hong Kong, coinciding with the election to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in the specially administered island territory, Beijing wants to promote "democracy with Hong Kong characteristics," Yang said. Yang further explained that in reality, this is turning the conventional idea of democracy upside down. This means denying the people of Hong Kong their right to nominate their preferred candidates and packing the LegCo with "patriots" who would only obey the diktats of the Communist Party of China. The Western democracies -- among them Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States -- have expressed concern over the election results in Hong Kong, where, as a former British territory, the people are used to liberal democratic traditions. The joint statement issued, issued on December 20 last year, by these countries, as released by the White House Press Secretary, stated: "We, the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and the United States Secretary of State, noting the outcome of the Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong, express our grave concern over the erosion of democratic elements of the Special Administrative Region's electoral system" and over "actions that undermine Hong Kong's rights, freedoms and a high degree of autonomy." Yang further highlighted the joint statement which stated that since the handover of the administration from the British to the Chinese authorities, candidates with diverse political views have contested elections in Hong Kong. "Yesterday's election has reversed this trend. The overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system introduced earlier this year reduced the number of directly elected seats. It established a new vetting process to severely restrict the choice of candidates on the ballot paper. These changes eliminated any meaningful political opposition. Many of the city's opposition politicians remain in prison pending trial, with others in exile overseas," read the statement. The stage for such a mockery of an election had been set earlier in 2021, with the National People's Congress of China imposing on the people of Hong Kong sweeping political reforms to deny them the right to elect candidates of their choice in the LegCo, Yang further said. (ANI)
The Economic conference was held in Afghanistan on Wednesday to discuss the country's economic, private sector and banking issues.

The Taliban called on the international community to fulfill their obligations to their country, and also declared their commitment to the implementation of important projects, such as the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, Sputnik reported.

Taking to Twitter, Mujahid said that Economic Conference was attended by representatives of 20 foreign countries physically and 40 countries online, all discussing Afghanistan's economic, private sector and banking issues, in order to find appropriate solutions to the crisis.

The Taliban took over control of Kabul on August 15 and following this the country has been battered by deepening economic, humanitarian and security crisis.

A combination of a suspension of foreign aid, the freezing of Afghan government assets, and international sanctions on the Taliban, have plunged a country already suffering from high poverty levels into a full-blown economic crisis.

The international community, from governments to non-governmental organizations, has been providing various assistance to the Afghan people. (ANI)
The talks between the two leaders focused on maritime security cooperation in context of greater engagement by Germany in the Indo Pacific in line with its recent Indo Pacific guidelines.

"Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla welcomed German Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Schonbach @chiefdeunavy to India. Talks focused on maritime security cooperation in context of greater engagement by Germany in the #IndoPacific in line with its recent Indo-Pacific Guidelines," Bagchi tweeted. (ANI)
A 32-year-old Pakistani man was sentenced to seven years in prison for a series of violent attacks on women in Crete, according to local media reports. Despina Platanaki was attacked by the Pakistani man with a knife and he reportedly attempted to rape her, Greek City Times has reported. "The perpetrator is a Pakistani, around 32, who is familiar to me as he had gone to the barber shop two or three times. He does not speak Greek well and communicates with... moans," the victim girl said a year ago, as per the media outlet. "That night, around 8:00, it was raining and I was getting ready to close the barber shop. Suddenly I saw him outside the store and I stopped him from entering the shop because I was closing. But he was shouting so he could go in. I denied him three times, but he came in forcefully," she added. (ANI)
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is taking forward their plan to discharge Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) treated water into the sea from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in the near future. The water contains tritium which cannot be removed from the water. What effect does this water have on human body? Professor Narabayashi explains it. "In the case of a pumpkin, the stiff shell shows less radio activity. On the contrary, its tasty inside part shows more radio activity. This is a picture which shows a cross section view of vegetables taken with a highly sensitive radioactive detection machine. Our daily food includes radioactive materials. So, an adult man keeps about 7,000 Becquerel of radioactivity in his body. It never causes cancer because it is very weak," said Prof Tadashi Narabayashi, Tokyo Institute of Technology. "The influence of radioactivity is defined by its concentration. At the time of discharge, the influence of radioactivity is removed except tritium. Compared to the general amount of tritium in the natural environment, discharged water contains less tritium, 1/ 1,000 (thousandth) or 1/10,000 (ten-thousandth). The tritium in the human body is not changed by discharged tritium. This level never affects to the ecosystem," said Hiroshi Tauchi, Professor, Ibaraki University. "In the case of Japanese man, 30 percent of cancer is caused by smoking, and 10 percent is from alcohol. Smoking 20 cigarettes every day or drinking 540ml of alcohol every day is equal to being exposed to 1,000 ~ 2,000 millisievert of radiation. It is known that exposure of more than 100 millisievert provokes cancer; the risk of radiation is much smaller than smoking and drinking," said Keiichi Nakagawa, Professor, University of Tokyo. The experts argue that discharging ALPS treated water into the sea is safe. The correct path towards decommissioning is establishing mutual understanding among stakeholders to impart correct knowledge regarding waste management. (ANI)
Although needs assessment has expanded for Tonga volcano disaster relief while aid efforts have also scaled up, delivery is however being delayed by distance and ash-laden runways, the UN humanitarians said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Tongan authorities, said that water, food and restoration of communications top the list of needs, but it will be days before naval ships from Australia and New Zealand can arrive and dock on the main island of Tongatapu, reports Xinhua news agency. The January 15 massive eruption affected 84,000 people, or 80 per cent of the population, OCHA said, adding that the casualty count remains at three dead and an unknown number of people injured. While 90 per cent of electricity on Tongatapu is back up, volcanic ash blocks runways at the international airport at Nuku'alofa, the capital city. They are expected to be cleared by Thursday, said OCHA. Domestic phone service operates only within Tongatapu and 'Eua islands. When foreign relief can be delivered it is expected to be on a hands-off basis because of the island kingdom's strict anti-Covid protocols. It is one of the few Covid-free countries in the world. "The UN is concerned about the islands of Mango, Fonoifua, and Nomuka which have been severely impacted, though sparsely populated," the OCHA said. "All houses are destroyed on Mango and only two houses remain on Fonoifua, with extensive damage reported on Nomuka. Evacuation of people from Mango and Fonoifua to Nomuka is under way." Surveillance flight data showed up to 100 houses were severely damaged on the main island and about 50 on 'Eua, OCHA said. Tongan authorities are conducting search-and-rescue operations and have sent two vessels carrying health teams and water, food and tents to the Ha'apai island group, where Mango, Fonoifua and Nomuka are located. The humanitarian office said the Tongan Red Cross Society and other local partners are distributing emergency water, food rations, shelter and kitchen supplies. Unicef is shipping water and other supplies with Australia's HMAS Adelaide, but the ship won't leave for Tonga until Friday. Japan announced an emergency grant of more than $1 million along with a pledge to send relief supplies and equipment, OCHA said. The Red Cross Society of China will provide $100,000 in cash and humanitarian assistance. On one of Tonga's nearest neighbours in the southwestern Pacific, Fiji, 50 engineers from the military forces are on standby to assist in the relief effort should there be a request by the Tongan government, the OCHA added. --IANS ksk/ ( 432 Words) 2022-01-20-09:48:02 (IANS)
CTU workers direct vehicles lined up for COVID-19 testing outside of the Chicago Teachers Union on Dec. 30, 2021, in Chicago. CPS starts back to school on Monday following their holiday break. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Illinois appears to be past the peak of its largest COVID-19 surge so far as cases and hospitalizations driven by the omicron variant are starting to decline, but officials urged continued caution as the states health care system remains under unprecedented strain.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday called the latest trend a welcome change after precipitous increases over the prior seven weeks.

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I want to be clear: I am cautiously optimistic about this decline, Pritzker said during a news conference at the Thompson Center in the Loop. But there are an awful lot of people still battling for their lives in hospitals across Illinois.

Over the past week, the state has averaged 26,646 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 per day, down 18% from the previous week, when average daily cases peaked at a record of 32,501. Prior to the latest onslaught, the record was an average of 12,384 daily cases during the fall 2020 surge, before vaccines were available.

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Crystal Carey, director of the emergency department, checks a completely full board of patients on Jan. 12, 2022, at Loretto Hospital in Chicago. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Researchers and health officials dont rely solely on case counts to gauge the direction of the pandemic because the figures depend in part on people voluntarily testing, while the results of at-home tests that have proliferated during the latest wave arent reported to the state.

With omicron generally causing milder illness than previous strains, particularly among the vaccinated, officials during the latest surge were more focused on the number of patients with COVID-19 filling hospital beds across the state.

[ Chicago Public Schools to shorten quarantine time for students and staff as city passes omicron peak ]

That number also has declined. As of Tuesday night, the state was averaging 6,920 COVID-19 patients in hospitals per day, after setting records for hospitalizations less than a week earlier when the average number of patients per day peaked at 7,245 for the seven days ending Jan. 13. Before the latest surge, the record was 6,119 per day, set during the fall 2020 surge.

You cant hide a hospitalization, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director the Illinois Department of Public Health said Wednesday. And so as we look at those hospitalizations and understand where those numbers are going, that is definitely a clear signal of the direction were moving in.

Another promising sign has been a drop in the average daily rates of people admitted to the hospital with COVID-19-like symptoms.

Statewide, the rate plateaued about two weeks ago, at nearly 6 patients per 100,000 residents. The rate remained there for about a week before dropping below 5. Decreases have been seen, in varying degrees, in nearly all of Illinois 11 designated health regions, with the most pronounced drop in Chicago. Its admittance rate has slid from 6.7 to 4.6, although thats still far above the rate of 0.8 in early November.

Late last week, the state health department said an updated analysis showed 90% of those who were hospitalized with COVID-19 at the time were unvaccinated.

Chicagos top health official on Wednesday said the city also has moved past the peak of the omicron surge, and also urged caution.

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I am very, very pleased to say that we have formally passed the omicron peak here in the city of Chicago, city public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a separate news conference. However, we are a long way from being out of the woods, and its really important over these next few weeks and months that we continue to work hard on getting folks vaccinated, getting folks tested, continuing to wear masks, because theres a long way to come down.

Chicago is averaging nearly 3,000 new cases a day, after reaching almost 6,000 cases a day in early January, and hospitalizations are also down, according to city data.

Crystal Carey, director of the emergency department at Loretto Hospital, second from right, and registered nurse Sandra Weeks, right, set up an additional bed in the hallway next to the nursing station as paramedics arrive with a patient on Jan. 12, 2022. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Our hospital beds, in terms of the number of people in the hospital with COVID, is just under 1,500 across Chicago hospitals, also just gently decreasing, and then our (intensive care unit) capacity has actually stayed in that high-transmission or high-risk category, Arwady said. Were currently averaging just over 300 people in the ICU with COVID.

City officials also announced Wednesday that all U.S. states remain on Chicagos optional travel advisory for unvaccinated people for the third week in a row.

Illinois is not on the list because the city does not want to restrict intrastate travel, but the other 49 states and four territories are all places where officials are strongly advising unvaccinated people take extra COVID-19 precautions when visiting. That guidance includes getting tested one to three days before departure and, when returning to the city, getting a PCR test three to five days after travel and quarantining for five days  even if the test result was negative.

Despite the optimistic data from city and state, hospitals in Chicago and across Illinois remain jammed at levels not seen even in the worst times of earlier surges.

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The Tribune has previously reported how short-staffed hospitals were struggling to keep as many beds available as there were during previous surges, particularly in intensive care units. That has led to emergency rooms backing up with so-called boarders unable to be placed in inpatient rooms, which has exacerbated the regions health inequity.

Even with the more promising COVID-19 numbers, hospitals are still coping with high levels of non-COVID patients, many of whom delayed care earlier in the pandemic and are coming in sicker and staying longer, doctors and nurses have said.

State regulators say hospitals become seriously stressed in regions where bed availability drops below 20%. And ICU availability has yet to climb above that threshold in Chicago or any of the regions surrounding it.

We are still very much in a period of immense strain for our health care systems, Pritzker said. So we must do all that we can to keep our health care workers and institutions operating and available to all who may need medical assistance.

State health officials on Wednesday reported another 160 fatalities, the largest daily death toll in more than a year.

Deaths are a lagging indicator of the viruss reach, but so far a much smaller proportion of those whove gotten sick in the latest surge have died than in earlier phases of the pandemic. The average number of deaths peaked at 155 per day in early December 2020, just before vaccine distribution began and about three weeks after cases crested.

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As of Wednesday, the statewide death toll stood at 29,510 since the start of the pandemic. With 12 days remaining, more deaths already have been recorded this month, 1,593, than in any month since January 2021.

We have lost so many people in recent weeks. ... Despite the recent indications of fewer new infections and fewer new hospital admissions ahead, it breaks my heart to know that in the coming weeks, hundreds more may die among the thousands who are already seriously ill from COVID, Pritzker said. Again, the vast majority of those are among the unvaccinated.

Even though the surge is receding, the level of virus remains more prevalent in Illinois than its been at any other time during the pandemic.

Im extremely confident that if everyone acted like everything were fine, prevalence, cases, hospitalizations, etc., would start climbing again, and wed have another peak, University of Chicago researcher Sarah Cobey wrote in an emailed response to questions about the latest trends. Theres nothing really guaranteeing well have a trough as we did early last summer, partly because it remains perennially unclear how immune the population is.

In mid-to-late June, the state was averaging 222 new cases per day, and the average number of daily deaths was in the single digits for almost the entire month of July. Then came the successive surges driven by the delta and omicron variants, which spread more easily among the large portion of the population that remained unvaccinated and showed greater ability to infect those who were vaccinated.

In mid-October, when a late-summer surge driven by the delta variant appeared to be subsiding, Pritzker briefly raised the possibility of lifting portions of his statewide indoor mask mandate in time for the holidays. The idea was quickly dashed as hospitalizations began to rise once gain as the weather turned colder and people began spending more time indoors, the beginning of a surge that was supercharged after Thanksgiving by the arrival of omicron.

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On Wednesday, Ezike said the Department of Public Health and the governors office were discussing the next steps in the states response to the coronavirus, particularly given widespread access to vaccines for people 5 and older and the anticipated increase in the availability of effective therapeutic treatments for the virus.

Two years into the pandemic, weve learned so much; weve amassed so much knowledge, she said. We have to figure out how we are going to live, how we are going to coexist, with COVID.

Still, the state also must remain prepared for the arrival of another variant that could fuel yet another surge, Ezike said.

Weve created an infrastructure that people can get vaccinated and boosted quite easily, she said. I think the other part is on the actual people, and so people have to get themselves ready just as they would for any natural disaster. And that preparation involves getting boosted and staying up to date.

Chicago Tribunes Alice Yin contributed.

dpetrella@chicagotribune

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jmahr@chicagotribune.com

tswartz@tribpub.com

jgorner@chicagotribune.com
In the wake of the Covid-19 resurgence in Sweden, the country's police and the transportation are witnessing a massive staff shortage as many of them have been infected with the virus. "All employers and organisations, including critical services, are under strain," Xinhua news quoted Svante Werger of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency as saying to the Swedish Television on Wednesday. Ten per cent of the Swedish police force, some 3,000 individuals, were off sick or in self-isolation on Wednesday, Radio Sweden reported. Some smaller police stations even had to close. "The situation is strained in some precincts and we are on the verge of not being able to keep the business running," Patrik Danielsson, Health and Safety representative at the Swedish Police Union, told Radio Sweden. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the National Operations Department told Swedish Television the police force is prepared to transfer personnel and reprioritise tasks to cope with the situation. Swedish Television also reported that about 10 per cent of bus drivers are off sick in the Varmland region which has resulted in the cancellation of between 40 and 50 departures per day. "It is a serious situation," Mikael Bergman, traffic manager of the regional bus service, told Swedish Television. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant was also reflected in the latest statistics released by the Swedish Public Health Agency on Wednesday. The cumulative number of confirmed infections has surpassed 1.7 million -- an increase of around 200,000 in just one week. On Wednesday, the agency also recorded the highest daily number of new infections -- nearly 43,000 in a population of 10.4 million. The number of people getting tested for Covid-19 has also surged dramatically. Several of the country's administrative regions have hit maximum testing capacity and therefore urged the public to only get tested if strictly necessary. On Tuesday, several medical professionals, including the chairman of the Stockholm Medical Association, said that testing had become "meaningless", as virtually everyone with symptoms is infected, and test results now take up to a week. --IANS ksk/ ( 349 Words) 2022-01-20-09:54:01 (IANS)
A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules on Thursday departed Base Auckland Whenuapai carrying aid supplies for the tsunami-hot Tonga. "The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment," Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement. The delivery of supplies will be contact-less and the aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand, said Defence Minister Peeni Henare, adding Tonga is currently free of Covid-19 and operates strict border controls to keep the virus out, reports Xinhua news agency. The aircraft is due to arrive in Tonga at approximately 4 p.m. No aircraft could land before now because the runway had to be cleared of volcanic ash, Henare said. The New Zealand response to the developing situation in Tonga is well underway and the offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington is expected to arrive in Tonga later on Thursday. It is carrying hydrographic and dive personnel, and also has a Seasprite helicopter to assist with supply delivery, he said. Vessel Wellington's first task will be to check shipping channels and wharf approaches to Tonga's port to ensure vessels can go alongside, and check the structural integrity of the wharf, the Defence Minister said. Meanwhile, the maritime sustainment vessel HMNZS Aotearoa has bulk water supplies on board, as well as other supplies, and is expected to arrive in Tonga on Friday. "Water is among the highest priorities for Tonga, and the Aotearoa can carry 250,000 litres, and produce 70,000 litres per day through a desalination plant," Mahuta said. Henare said New Zealand is also preparing to deploy HMNZS Canterbury, with two NH90 helicopters on board, which is planning to leave on Saturday. Communications with Tonga remain limited. Some 2G connectivity has been restored for telecommunications provider Digicel customers. However, demand is exceeding capacity and connection is inconsistent. With just a portion of calls being connected, people are asked to be patient. Work is underway to add more capacity, according to Mahuta. Tsunami waves hit Tonga on January 15. The tsunami followed a series of violent eruptions from underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, 65 km north of the country's main island Tongatapu. Three deaths have been confirmed so far, with over 85,000 others injured. The tsunami had a significant impact on part of the foreshore of Tonga, with boats and large boulders washed ashore and shops along the coast damaged. --IANS ksk/ ( 431 Words) 2022-01-20-10:44:01 (IANS)
North Korea held a policymaking politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party presided over by leader Kim Jong-un and decided to consider restarting "all temporally-suspended" activities, apparently referring to its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, Pyongyang's state media reported on Thursday. The meeting took place after the North conducted four missile tests this month, including two of what it claims to be a hypersonic missile, prompting the US to slap new sanctions on the regime, reports Yonhap News Agency. The US is leading a campaign within the .N Security Council to extend its own sanctions, with a closed-door council meeting on the issue scheduled to be held Thursday. During the session held on Wednesday, the participants vowed preparations for a "long-term confrontation" with Washington, saying the "hostile policy and military threat by the US have reached a danger line that can not be overlooked any more", according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "It gave an instruction to a sector concerned to reconsider in an overall scale the trust-building measures that we took on our own initiative on a preferential ground and to promptly examine the issue of restarting all temporally-suspended activities," the KCNA said. North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing since late 2017. "The meeting of the Political Bureau reassigned the policy tasks for the national defence of immediately bolstering more powerful physical means which can efficiently control the hostile moves of the US against the DPRK getting ever more serious day by day," it said. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Last week, the Joe Biden administration announced fresh sanctions on six North Koreans involved in the regime's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes. --IANS ksk/ ( 310 Words) 2022-01-20-11:06:01 (IANS)
The two leaders also launched the Civil Service College and 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support.

An agreement on extending a USD 190 mn Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects has also been reached. (ANI)
On the fifth day of trial in the case of the British-Pakistani man Muhammad Gohir Khan, charged for conspiring to kill Netherlands-based blogger and activist, Ahmad Waqass Goraya, on Wednesday, Khan took the stand and gave evidence of his relationship with the Pakistan-based middleman. The Crown Prosecution Service closed the arguments as well as the testimony of the targeted blogger, Goraya was also read. Khan said he knew the middleman, Muzamil, also identified as Mudz, Zed or Papa on phone messages, from his school days in Pakistan, reported DAWN. Furthermore, he said he met him when he would visit his family home in Lahore during the school holidays. Khan said Muzamil was nicknamed Papa "because of his height" while describing him as "short, bald and stocky". He said he was nicknamed Papa after Papa Smurf of the popular comic strip the Smurfs. Years later when Khan ran a freight forwarding and cargo business out of London, he hired Muzamil in Lahore as a goods handler to replace previous employees who were laid off for poor performance. Khan initially said that he does not recall Muzamil's last name but later in the interview with the police, he said that it could be Qamar. His parents moved from Pakistan to the UK in the 1970s and he is the third youngest of six siblings. Khan was born and mostly raised in the UK. At the age of 13, he moved to Lahore to live as a boarding student at the Sharif Education Complex. Later in 2007, he returned to London without taking final exams as he faced difficulty with lessons being in Urdu. He was born and raised in London and has lived at his Forest Gate address his entire life. He is married with six children between the ages of 11 and 3. Talking about his work in London, he said he joined his uncle who worked at a market stall in Whitechapel, where they sold women's clothes and accessories. He later joined another uncle to work for a travel agency specialising in Hajj and Umrah packages. Not long after, Khan said he began to work for his father's business, World Wide Cargo Services, which transported goods between the UK and Pakistan. Khan said his addition to the family business saw it thrive and become successful. Advertisements with PTV in the UK and Europe as well as Google ads boosted the operations, he said, adding that later it went into decline, reported DAWN. (ANI)
Prominent Sri Lankan Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Wijeydasa Rajapakshe has accused China of indulging in the economic invasion, corruption and debt-trap diplomacy in the island nation. Dr Rajapakshe was one of the few courageous politicians who spoke out against China's debt trap and had the audacity to write to Chinese President Xi Jinping about 'enhancing mutual cooperation and rebuilding reciprocal trust and confidence between the two countries, according to Hongkong Post. Earlier, Sri Lanka's former Justice Minister and Education Minister warned that the next national election, whether presidential or parliamentary, would be combined with a referendum to seek a mandate from the people to restructure or cancel all agreements/contracts that are harmful or disadvantageous to Sri Lanka. "In the event of any restructuring, under no circumstances the period of any agreement will be permitted to exceed a period of 15 years from the date of the inception of such contracts," he noted. Further, he stated that any agreement China had made with Selendiva (A private company that leases land to China in Colombo) to take over lands in Colombo would be declared null and void ab initio, with no compensation or payment of damages. Earlier, Dr Rajapakshe had to resign from his cabinet portfolio because he couldn't stomach the rate of corruption involving China and had previously openly criticised both the government and the Chinese, according to Hongkong Post. Last year, he launched a scathing attack on both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, strategist Basil Rajapaksa, the current Finance Minister, over the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill. Meanwhile, he stated that China's One Belt One Road (OBR) diverted the two countries' ties under the guise of strengthening China's forward policy and economic strategy. "It is plain that your friendship with us is no longer genuine and candid; instead, you use our relations to achieve your ambition of becoming a world power at the expense of our innocent people's lives," he said. (ANI)
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that next week will see the end of Plan B Covid restrictions, which include mandatory rules for mask-wearing, vaccine certificates and guidance to work from home. Addressing the House of Commons, Johnson said that the legal requirement on people with coronavirus to self-isolate would be allowed to lapse when the self-isolation regulations expire on March 24, and that date could be brought forward, reports Xinhua news agency. In addition, the Prime Minister announced an immediate end to the need for pupils to wear masks at secondary schools, but said the government will still suggest the use of face coverings in cramped or crowded spaces. Restrictions on care home visits will also be further eased, with the changes to be set out in the coming days. However, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said face masks will still be needed for travellers on Transport for London services, despite the Prime Minister's earlier announcement that mandatory mask-wearing will be scrapped from next week. Latest data shows the Omicron wave has "peaked nationally" and hospital admissions in London are falling, Johnson said. Britain registered 108,069 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 15,609,993, according to official figures. The country also reported a further 359 fatalities, raising its national death toll to 153,376. More than 90 per cent of people aged 12 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine, over 83 per cent are fully inoculated and some 63 per cent have received a booster. --IANS ksk/ ( 272 Words) 2022-01-20-11:46:05 (IANS)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the security situation in and around Kiev during their meeting here. According to Zelensky's press service, the two on Wednesday exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement, reports Xinhua news agency. "We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," the President said. He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in the country's conflict-hit region of Donbas is in force and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week. The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs US assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the Washington would support Kiev's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the NATO in Madrid. After his talks with Zelensky, Blinken tweeted that he updated the Ukrainian President "on our engagements with Russia last week and stressed there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine". "I applaud Ukraine's commitment to a peaceful resolution and urge Russia to pursue diplomacy as the only way forward," he added. On January 10, the US and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues. Recently, Ukraine, the USand some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine. The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014. Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. He is scheduled to meet his German and Russian counterparts Annalena Baerbock and Sergei Lavrov, respectively, later this week. --IANS ksk/ ( 332 Words) 2022-01-20-11:54:03 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that Mauritius is a prime example of India's approach to development partnership which is based on the needs and priorities of its partners and noted that this has emerged as a key pillar of close ties between the two countries. PM Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Thursday jointly inaugurated the India-assisted social housing units project in Mauritius virtually. They also launched the Civil Service College and 8 MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support. "I am happy to join Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on the completion of social housing projects. We are particularly glad to be associated with this important effort to provide affordable houses to the common people of Mauritius," PM Modi said. "We are also initiating today two other projects that are critical to nation-building, a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and eight Megawatt Solar PV project," he added. The Prime Minister said the solar project will help mitigate the challenge of climate change that Mauritius faces as an island country. "Our robust development partnership has emerged as a key pillar of our close ties. Mauritius is a prime example of India's approach to development partnership which is based on the needs and priorities of our partners," he said. The Prime Minister recalled the joint inauguration of the metro express project, the ENT hospital and the new Supreme Court building and said he was "delighted to know about the metro's popularity crossing the 5.6 million passenger mark". "We look forward to supporting the further extension of the metro," he said. PM Modi said that it is also a matter of satisfaction and pride that the new ENT hospital has been instrumental in combating the COVID-19. "Our cooperation during the COVID pandemic has been exemplary," he said and noted that New Delhi had sent vaccines to Mauritius under the Vaccine Maitri programme. "I am happy that today Mauritius is among the few countries in the world to have fully vaccinated three-fourths of its population," he said. Emphasising that Mauritius is also integral to New Delhi's approach to the Indian Ocean, PM Modi said that during his 2015 visit to Mauritius, he had outlined India Maritime cooperation vision of SAGAR - 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'. "I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action. To protect our shared maritime heritage, today's event again demonstrates our shared commitments to improving the lives of our people," he said. An agreement on extending a USD 190 mn Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects has also been reached between the two countries. (ANI)
Najib Balala, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary, said the sector registered steady growth from June to December in 2021 despite the heath crisis, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The numbers are still low, but we are optimistic that we will eventually go back to our all-time high international visitor arrivals or even surpass it," Balala said.

"This is because the majority of our masses are vaccinated and international visitors will have faith in our destination again," he added.

Balala said the 2021 performance is an indication of a steadily growing trust for the 'Magical Kenya' destination, which can be credited to renewed marketing efforts as well as confidence in the country's efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19.

He said the growth was also supported by innovative products offered to both domestic and international markets by major players, mainly hotels and domestic airlines.

The report shows the top five international arrivals by country are the US, Uganda, Tanzania, the UK and India.

--IANS ksk/

( 209 Words)

2022-01-20-13:30:03 (IANS)
Ive been reading about Lorraine Hansberry.

After a long time of not reading very much at all about Lorraine Hansberry. There just wasnt that much out there about her to read. Her work is (still) not in the Library of America, and even her papers were not generally available to scholars until a couple of decades ago. So there were few major biographies or revelations. Until about five years ago, the Chicago author of A Raisin in the Sun (and many lesser-known plays and writings) was a literary question mark, a figure of monumental importance  Raisin in the Sun is routinely considered a demarcation line in the representation of Black figures in America art  whose life and output appeared to begin and end with a single play.

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Then PBS American Masters (via Sundance) aired a well-received documentary on Hansberry; the prolific Imani Perry wrote 2018s Looking for Lorraine Hansberry, an entertaining, biographical rumination; last year, Soyica Diggs Colbert took the more scholarly route with Radical Vision, a close reading of Hansberrys writings and stringent politics. Still to come: Margaret B. Wilkerson, the leading Hansberry scholar, and only biographer with complete access to the Hansberry estates trove of writings and papers, has been knocking away for decades on the definitive history of the author.

Until thats done, theres Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun (Holt, $29), by literary biographer (and Park Forest native) Charles B. Shields, who aims for the rounded, traditional, one-stop book that Hansberry has lacked thus far.

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Which might sound like a lot of biography.

Particularly, again, since were talking about a writer known for one ma

Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles B. Shields. (Holt)

jor play, whose steady lack of a public profile gestated into what Perry called a persistent flatness. Indeed, Hansberry shares a kind of one-note image with two other greats who died young and left small, important catalogs, Sylvia Plath and Stephen Crane, both of whom have been the subject of major, smart, counterintuitively hefty biographies in the past year. Shields is not as long-winded as those authors, but just as committed to the biography as not merely the story of a person but a deep dive into their life and times. Alas, Hansberrys persistent flatness continues  she often reads implacable and rigid, difficult to get a handle on  but at least now theres a fuller context for her personality.

She believed Black artists must commit to realism, leaving the curlicues of satire and surrealism to those less serious about advancing Black people in America; yet she also wanted a broad audience. As word of the still-developing Raisin in the Sun begins circulating, Hansberry, young and confident, is asked repeatedly to step into the shoes of W.E.B. Dubois and Paul Robeson and become the proverbial spokesperson for Black America on all matters of race, and again and again, those requests face a multifaceted artist unwilling to placate. On Chicago TVs Irv Kupcinet Show, she cooly dismisses Otto Premingers Porgy and Bess as the filmmaker sits beside her; when TV journalist Mike Wallace asks how she responds to liberals who congratulate her for writing a play thats not just about Black people but incredibly, a play about people, she says that sort of supposed contradiction was lost on her. She was under the impression Black people were people.

Shields writes: Black public intellectuals and artists who expressed complexity and enjoyed challenging talk about racial democracy were new in the media. Hansberry, who feels contemporary here in a way rarely seen, did not apologize for complicating the easy assumptions of white America. When shes asked  along with Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte  to meet with Robert Kennedy in the Kennedy family apartment on Central Park and discuss the growing racial protests and violence in the South, she demands the attorney general acknowledge the moral imperative to combat racism, not merely the legal urgency. She becomes so angry with his evasiveness, she walks out.

Afterwards, she walked down Fifth Avenue, Shields describes vividly, her hands pressed hard against her middle, her face registering the pain in her stomach.

The author told me in a phone conversation that, to get a handle on her brief, furious, meteoric life, he simply read for three years, about anything that dovetailed with her. The history of Harlem, real estate in midcentury Chicago, gender theory, histories of Black theater, Cold War politics, the thinking of American progressives in the 1950s.

She was vast.

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Ultimately, there are so many rich threads feeding into her life, unless you are really dedicated to knowing her, it would be hard to even read everything you need to read to know her, regardless of how young she died. Hansberry died in 1965 of pancreatic cancer at age 34. Yet, beyond Raisin in the Sun, she was very near a Communist, Shields said. She was upper middle class from a well-off family. She had the same kind of blind spots that many of us have with her own families, but hers, they were engaged in something that was antithetical to what she was saying as an artist. And still, she couldnt let them go.

Shields  who worked for years as a textbook author for Houghton Mifflins Evanston division, and later became a biographer of both Kurt Vonnegut and Harper Lee  is particularly good on detailing Hansberry family business and its myriad contradictions.

NEW YORK - April 1959: Writer and playwright Lorraine Hansberry poses for a portrait in her apartment at 337 Bleecker Street (where she had written the first-ever Broadway play by an African-American woman, "A Raisin In The Sun") in April, 1959 in New York City, New York. (Photo by David Attie/Getty Images) User Upload Caption: Lorraine Hansberry - Original Credit: Getty Images (David Attie / HANDOUT)

To put it mildly, the Hansberrys and Chicagos Daley administration did not get along, and the subsequent tension and legal wrangling lends a compelling heart to this biography. If you know anything about Lorraine Hansberry, you know Raisin in the Sun  about a Black family that moves into a South Side neighborhood and struggles against housing discrimination as they aspire to middle-class lives  was based on her family. Her father, Carl, came to Chicago intending to be a big success, and he was, Shields said. His father had been a professor of ancient history in Mississippi, his mother made sure her children went to prep school. The family were Republicans, even as Black families were leaving for the Democrats. In Chicago, Carl ran a Blank-owned bank (that closed during the Red Summer of 1919), then realized a talent for real estate.

Specifically, he would attempt to break the practice of restrictive covenants, which denied housing to middle-class Black families (like the Hansberrys) eager to move into new neighborhoods. Long story short: The family buys real estate in Woodlawn, and then face a lawsuit brought by the Woodlawn Property Owners Association. The case goes to the Supreme Court. Carl, who anticipated all of this, wins. Soon, he is drafting off confidence, becoming an influential, society-minded building owner  whose own questionable tactics become a target for City Hall. Previous Hansberry biographers, Shields notes, couched these troubles as the result of vindictive, racist local officials.

But Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind a Raisin in the Sun wonders, and often documents, how opposing thoughts can be true at the same time. Discriminatory housing practices would not go quietly, but also, the Hansberrys were not sterling landlords. Lorraine  whose name is often attached to their holdings and gets asked by journalists if she herself is now a slumlord  eventually instructs her attorney to put legal distance between herself and her familys business. She was growing famous. She died soon after. She loved Chicago, but called it dismal, dirty, Dreiser-esque. She loved the lake and the wind, but characterized herself as the product of a South Side caldron. She returned one Christmas and found the homecoming nostalgic, but also, troubling.

She went back to New York, but she had a good idea for a new play.

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cborrelli@chicagotribune.com
The migrants all died in a truck trailer while being smuggled into Britain, reports Xinhua news agency.

Seventeen others were also found guilty, local media reported.

The gang members have been handed prison sentences ranging from one to 15 years depending on the gravity of their crimes, according to the Belgian press.

Vo Van Hong, the leader of the gang, was also fined 920,000 euros ($1 million ) and his assets worth nearly 2.3 million euros were seized.

The bodies of the 39 victims were discovered in a refrigerated truck on October 23, 2019, near a ferry terminal in Essex, east of London.

They died of asphyxiation and hyperthermia due to heat and lack of oxygen in the confined space of the container.

An investigation revealed that the truck had entered Britain from Anderlecht, a western suburb of Brussels, a day earlier via the port of Zeebrugge.

Since the truck was intercepted, the Belgian police have discovered two hiding places in Anderlecht where the migrants had been hidden.

The clandestine human smuggling network was dismantled by Belgian police in May 2020.

Britain convicted four people involved in the case in January 2021.

They each received prison sentences ranging from 13 years and four months to 27 years.

--IANS ksk/

( 246 Words)

2022-01-20-14:14:05 (IANS)
China's fortunes in Africa are changing with Beijing preoccupied with its slowing economy owning to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade war with the US and others factors, shifting its strategic priorities writes Sergio Restelli for the Inside Over. China's African strategies are shifting as witnessed during the eighth edition of Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The summit at Dakar, Senegal in November last year unlike the two previous summits held under President Xi, was at the ministerial level and not at the Summit level. The last FOCAC meetings had witnessed a much higher presence of the African Heads of State or Governments, according to Inside Over. Amidst the criticism of China for being a neo-colonial power in Africa and putting several African countries under a huge pile of debt, President Xi Jinping curtailed China's state-backed exposure to Africa. Further, China is moving away from the infrastructure-based and loan-heavy approach to a newer approach which is still not clear and will become evident only in the coming years, writes Sergio Restelli for the Inside Over. Xi Jinping, who has not left China since the pandemic began, delivered his FOCAC address via video link. A drastic change in the attendance levels at the latest summit has raised questions among scholars and analysts. Earlier, the eighth edition of Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was convened at Dakar, Senegal from November 29-30, 2021 under the theme "Deepen China-Africa Partnership and Promote Sustainable Development to Build a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future in the New Era", as reported by Inside Over. FOCAC was established twenty years back as a forum to reinforce the relationship between China and Africa and uplift the relations to a new higher level. China's relations with Africa have, since the formation of FOCAC, expanded massively in diverse sectors with frequent high-level visits between the two sides. The trade figures boomed to USD 187 billion and investments have soared to new levels of about USD 2.96 billion in 2020. However, alongside, the relations have been marred by trade deficits and controversies related to debt-trap diplomacy such as the takeover by China of strategic assets in Africa in case of default of loan payments. Beijing, over the last 20 years of FOCAC, has consistently increased funding for Africa's infrastructure. In 2006, China advanced USD 5 billion during President Hu Jintao era and the amount further doubled under President Xi with massive expansion in activities and projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), writes Sergio Restelli for the Inside Over. (ANI)
Despite Beijing's strident authoritarianism and its claim over Taiwan, Taiwanese continue to push to distinguish themselves from the Chinese mainland, reported The New York Times. The more Beijing intensifies its military and diplomatic campaign to pressure the island into respecting its claim of sovereignty, the more Taiwan embraces its own identity that is distinct from that of its Communist-ruled neighbour. When Li Yuan-hsin, a 36-year-old high school teacher, travels abroad, people often assume she is Chinese. No, she tells them. She is Taiwanese. The distinction is significant to her. Taiwan is where she was born and raised, defined as much by its lush mountains and busy night markets as by its vigorous democracy. China may be the land of her ancestors, but Taiwan is where she was born and nurtured. She had a small blue flag on her desk in high school to signify support for her favoured political candidate, and she has voted in every presidential election since then. "I love this island," Li said in an interview. "I love the freedom here." Though Taiwan's residents do not want to be absorbed in China mainland, at the same time they are not pushing for formal independence to avoid the risk of war. It leaves both sides at a dangerous impasse. Li is among more than 60 per cent of the island's 23 million people who identify as solely Taiwanese, three times the proportion in 1992, according to surveys by the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University in Taipei. Only two per cent identified as Chinese, down from 25 per cent three decades ago, reported New York Times. (ANI)
A Tibetan activist, Tashi Wangchuk who called on Chinese authorities to allow the use of Tibetan in schools, government jobs and other sectors of Tibetan public life is again speaking out against language restrictions after spending five years in prison for discussing the issue with Western media, reported Radio Free Asia. Despite China's assertions that all minorities have the right to bilingual education, Tibetan-language schools have been forced to close, and school-age children in Tibet are commonly taught solely in Mandarin Chinese. Similar measures have been implemented against ethnic Mongolians in Inner Mongolia, as well as Muslim Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of northwest China. Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed "illegal associations" and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say, reported RFA. Wangchuk was released on January 28, 2021, after completing a prison term for "inciting separatism" and is currently under near-constant monitoring by authorities. He is a resident of Yulshul township in western China's Sichuan province. A day after the release, the language rights advocate took to his social media Weibo account and said that he was summoned and questioned on January 17 by local police. "One of the questions I was asked under interrogation was who had given me the responsibility to advocate for use of the Tibetan language," Wangchuk said. "I think that the officials in Yulshul city and the police bureau are just using their power to stop the public from addressing these problems and advocating for the use of their own language. "This is how the Tibetan language has been endangered, and this is how I am raising awareness among government officials of the language rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China," he said, reported RFA. He also spoke against the Chinese authorities earlier on January 3 where he pointed out that the Tibetans have no choice but to study in Chinese in their schools and ignore their own language. Tibet was formerly an independent country that was conquered and absorbed into China by force 70 years ago. (ANI)
The government of India has extended financial assistance to the tune of USD 527 million (USD 267 million as Grant and USD 260 million as Line of Credit) towards the Metro Express project in Mauritius, according to sources. The 26- km long Metro project is being implemented in two phases - Phase I connecting Port Louis and Rose Hill was completed and e-inaugurated jointly by the two Prime Ministers on October 3, 2019, according to sources. Phase II connecting Rose Hill to Curepipe is underway and is expected to be completed by December 2022. An interim part of Phase II i.e. between Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes (approx 2.7 km) was inaugurated by Mauritius Prime Minister on June 20, last year, according to sources. The MoU regarding Indian grant assistance for implementation of Small Development Projects in Mauritius were exchanged on Thursday. In view of the significant impact of the HICDPs (High Impact Community Development Projects) at the local level, MoU was drafted on lines similar to HICDP agreements concluded with some other countries. The projects under this MOU will relate primarily to socio-economic development, particularly the creation of infrastructure in the education, basic health-care and community development sectors. Livelihood activity, skill development, renewable energy, conservation of environmental and cultural heritage, empowerment of women and child welfare, and disaster risk reduction, shall be primary themes of such projects. The implementation of Small Development Projects will help in reaching out to various regions of Mauritius both in the mainland as well as in the Outer Islands (Agalega and Rodrigues) and to take up small-scale projects with a shorter gestation period and high significance. PM Narendra Modi and his Mauritius counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, on Thursday jointly inaugurated the Social Housing Units Project in Mauritius. This project has been implemented as part of the vibrant development partnership between India and Mauritius. On this occasion, the two Prime Ministers also took part in a virtual foundation stone laying ceremony for two other projects construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and an eight MW Solar PV Farm was also undertaken as part of India's development support. The event was held via video conference. The Social Housing project is one of the five high-profile infrastructure projects identified for implementation under the USD 353 million Special Economic Package (SEP) extended to the Government of Mauritius (GOM) in 2016. The total cost of the project is USD 44.995 million - comprising grant assistance of USD 20 million under the SEP and Line of Credit support of USD 25 million (from the LOC of USD 500 million extended in 2017). India and Mauritius have also completed some of the projects under SEP. In October 2019, Prime Ministers of India and Mauritius had jointly e-launched Phase I of the Metro Express Project and the ENT Hospital project. The two had also jointly e-inaugurated Mauritius' new Supreme Court building on July 30, 2020. The government of India has successfully handed over Phase II-A of the Metro Express Project and Educational Tablets to school children. Currently, the ongoing projects are Phase II-B of the Metro Express project between Quatre Bornes and Cure pipe, and Phase III between Rose Hill and Reduit. These are expected to be completed by end of 2022. The Social Housing Units project comprising 956 housing units with associated infrastructure such as Sewerage Treatment Plant, Leeching field, Playground etc. is implemented at two locations - Dagotiere (600 units) and Mare Tabac (356 units). The housing units are of duplex type comprising of 4 housing units with two families occupying the ground floor and two families occupying the first floor. The carpet area of a single housing unit is approximately 60 sq.m., and every unit comprises of two bedrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchen, toilet and bathroom. The housing units are provided with adequate landscaping, recreational amenities (children's playground, petanquecourt (popular Mauritian game), jogging track, etc) as well as a Community Centre and kiosk for commercial shops. The two leaders had also taken part in the virtual foundation stone laying ceremony of the Civil Service College that is being set up under an MoU signed between India and Mauritius during the State visit of Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth to India in May 2017. It is a prestigious project in the context of bilateral cooperation and financed by India through grant assistance amounting to USD 4.74 million. The Civil Service College project is expected to be completed in 18 months i.e. by mid-2023. After construction, the state-of-the-art Civil Service College will comprise an academic block of 3574 sq.m. and an Auditorium of 1120 sq.m, with all appropriate infrastructures like classrooms, meeting room, conference room, wellness centre etc. It will provide a better facility for the Civil Servants of Mauritius to undertake various training and skill development programmes. Along with our ongoing efforts in training and capacity building, collaboration in the Civil Service College project will go a long way in building further linkages between Mauritius and India and in generating long-lasting goodwill for India. The two leaders also participated in the eight MW Solar PV Farm in the virtual foundation stone laying ceremony for 8 MW Solar PV Farm project. The project at Tamarind Falls, Henrietta is financed under a LOC of USD 500 million extended in 2017 through EXIM Bank of India for implementing various infrastructure projects in Mauritius. The project is an extension of the existing 2 MW Solar Power Plant at Henrietta and is aimed to expand the renewable energy mix of Mauritius. The project will comprise the installation of 25,000 Photovoltaic cells to generate approximately 14 GWh of green energy annually, to electrify approximately 10,000 households with an estimated avoidance of 13,000 tons of CO2 emission, according to sources. (ANI)
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah says Beijing now speaks less of the 'nine-dash line' and more often of the 'Four Sha' and expressed doubts on China's changing claims in the strategic South-China Sea. China appears to be shifting from the so-called "nine-dash line" toward a new legal theory to support its expansive claims in the South China Sea, although analysts say its alternative is also problematic under international law as outlined by Malaysian Foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah, according to Radio Free Asia. Abdullah said the shift toward has been witnessed by member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and "is even more serious" than the old claim. "Four Sha," or Four Sands Archipelagos, are the four island groups in the South China Sea that Beijing claims to hold "historical rights" to. Beijing calls them "Dongsha Qundao," "Xisha Qundao," "Zhongsha Qundao," and "Nansha Qundao." Internationally, they are known as Pratas Islands, Paracel Islands, the Macclesfield Bank area and Spratly Islands. The concept they may be eclipsed, the nine-dash line, is a U-shaped line encircling most of the South China Sea that China has been using to demarcate its sovereignty over the sea, according to Radio Free Asia. Earlier, an international tribunal in 2016 invalidated the Beijing claim's in the nine-dash line saying China has no legal basis for it. Although Beijing rejected the ruling, other nations have endorsed it. On the other hand, US State Department report on China's South China Sea claims that was published this month, 'Limits in the Seas', does not mention Four Sha concept as proclaimed by Beijing. Meanwhile, Malaysia is among the ASEAN nations' whose territorial claims overlap with China's in the South China Sea. The others are Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam. While Indonesia does not regard itself as party to the South China Sea dispute, Beijing does claim historic rights to areas overlapping Indonesia's exclusive economic zone. (ANI)
A Sri Lankan Naval boat rammed into Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu damaging the boat that developed cracks and sank. Seven fishermen, who were on-board the sinking boat were rescued by other fishermen. The incident occurred on Wednesday late at night. The All Mechanised Boat Fishermen's association president, P. Sesuraja while speaking to mediapersons said, "450 boats from Rameswaram area ventured into the sea after 4 p.m. on Wednesday. While they were fishing near Katchatheevu, a Sri Lankan Naval boat reached the spot and rammed it into a fishing boat creating a crack in the boat, and ultimately it sank in the waters. "It's a huge loss but fortunately, the fishermen raised a distress alarm, and those fishing nearby rescued them. While no lives were lost, this is a continuing phenomenon and we are driven to the wall. The State and Central governments have to take a call soon and diplomatic pressure should be mounted up on the Lankans against such incidents. We will have no other way but to enter into blockades to bring this issue to the national notice." Sesuraja also said that the livelihood of the fishermen from Tamil Nadu has been badly hit as most of the fishermen are venturing to the sea from Rameswaram and Ramanathapuram areas only twice a week and this has affected the financial situation and the livelihood. It is to be noted that several fishermen from Tamil Nadu were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy and in 2021 alone five Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu lost their lives in the sea. Around 55 Indian fishermen are still languishing in Sri Lankan jails after they were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of crossing the International Marine Boundary Line (IMBL). While 68 were arrested in December 2021 in three separate incidents on alternate days, 13 were released on bail. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has already entered into diplomatic parleys with the Sri Lankan government, but the mounting issues created by the Sri Lankan Navy is making matters worse for the diplomats to solve the problem. MP from Ramanathapuram constituency Nawas Kini has condemned the attack by the Sri Lankan Navy on the fishermen from Rameswaram. The MP in a statement on Thursday said, "The inhumane attack by the Sri Lankan Navy against Tamil fishermen had been continuing. The Centre, which was giving economic assistance on humanitarian grounds to Sri Lanka, should advise the Government of the island nation to reciprocate the gesture in the same manner while dealing with fishermen from Tamil Nadu." Nawas Kini also called upon the Centre to register a strong protest before the Sri Lankan authorities against the recurring incidents of attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen. --IANS aal/dpb ( 468 Words) 2022-01-20-15:42:01 (IANS)
Indonesia is embarking on a program to modernize its navy and build up a more effective deterrent to confront future incursions by Chinese ships into the 200-nautical-mile economic exclusion zone (EEZ) along its northern maritime border. Maritime Coordinating Minister Luhut Panjaitan has often stressed the need for what he calls "ocean-going" surface combatants to protect fishery resources from intruding Chinese and other foreign trawlers in the North Natuna Sea, according to Asia Times. Meanwhile, Indonesia's two home-built Sigma-class and five 1960s-era Van Speijk-class frigates have a limited range of 6,000-9,000 kilometres, only slightly more than most of the navy's core fleet of 24 corvettes, 14 of which were acquired from the former East German navy in 1993 and are nearing retirement thereby constraining Jakarta's maritime reach. On the other hand, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has concluded a deal for two British Arrowhead 140 frigates, which will be built at state-run PT PAL's Surabaya shipyard, and also signed a contract for six new Italian FREMM multi-role frigates and two upgraded Italian Navy Maestrale-class light frigates. Also, Prabowo was a surprise inclusion in President Joko Widodo's Cabinet after losing to the incumbent in the 2019 presidential race. But the former army general has impressed with his grasp of strategic issues and his prioritizing a stronger navy and air force, as reported by Asia Times. Further, Indonesia is also considering the purchase of two or three squadrons of Boeing F-15EX Eagle II and Dassault Rafale fighter jets to augment a front-line fleet made up of three squadrons of Lockheed Martin F16s and 16 Russian Sukhoi Su-27/30s bought during an extended 15-year American arms embargo. Meanwhile, the incursion was seen as an attempt by China to enforce its so-called nine-dash line of national sovereignty, which despite extending across most of the South China Sea has no legal basis under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS). In a sign Beijing may be starting to realize the counter-productive effect of its aggressive actions against Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a forum in Manila this week that China will not use its strength to "bully" its neighbours, as emphasized by Asia Times. (ANI)
Two Uyghur men, detained in Saudi Arabia, face the prospect of being sent back to China while a human rights organization is working to stop that possibility, a media report said. We urge Saudi Arabia to refrain from "imminent" deportation of two Uyghur men held "arbitrarily" in the country, said Human Rights Watch's (HRW) the the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Division deputy director, Adam Coogle, according to Voice of America (VOA). "If Saudi Arabia deports these men, it is likely upon a request from China -- unfortunately, Saudi Arabia has no asylum system nor is there any way for these men to legally challenge their deportations," VOA quoted Coogle as saying in an email. Emphasising that Saudi Arabia has "frequently and flagrantly violated" the human rights principle of nonrefoulement, the officials said nonrefoulement is the idea that countries should not return refugees to a place where they face a well-founded fear of persecution or torture. In Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, the two Uyghur men have been held in al-Dhahban prison since November 2020. Following this case, some of the Uyghurs believe that one of the Uyghur men detained by Saudi police, 53-year-old Hemdullah Abduweli, also known as Aimidoula Waili on his Chinese passport, was taken into custody at the request of the Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia to be deported to China, according to VOA. Abduweli's daughter Nuriman Hemdullah in Istanbul said that Uyghurs believe that it happened after Abduweli condemned China for its persecution of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region to other Uyghurs in his community. The West including the US and other countries condemn Beijing's treatment of Uyghurs and human rights groups have termed their treatment as genocide and crimes against humanity. They accuse Beijing of putting more than 1 million of the Turkic Muslim group in internment camps in China's Xinjiang region. (ANI)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a joint press conference with Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Berlin on Thursday. This comes after the two top diplomats held a meeting with their French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and UK Deputy Foreign Minister James Cleverly to discuss the recent escalation of tensions on Ukraine's eastern border with Russia, reported Sputnik. Blinken said that the United States will decide if there is a diplomatic way forward with Russia after he meets with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later this week. "Tomorrow when I have a chance to see my Russian counterpart, I think it's a good opportunity because since this last week of very intensive discussions with Russia in the strategic stability dialogue between the United States and Russia, the NATO-Russia Council, the OSCE, we've all had an opportunity to think about what we heard from each other. The Russians have had a chance, I assume, to go back and consult with President Putin, we've had a chance to closely consult among ourselves," Blinken said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart. "And now, I think we'll be able to see further, perhaps as a result of tomorrow's meetings whether there is still a clear diplomatic path forward, one that Germany and the United States together are determined to pursue," he added. Talking about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action also known as the Iran Nuclear deal, Blinken said, "If a deal is not reached in the coming weeks, Iran's ongoing nuclear advances which resumed after we withdrew from the agreement will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA.", reported the news agency. "We are indeed at a decisive moment," Blinken said at a joint press conference with his German counterpart in Berlin. Earlier this week, Baerbock visited Moscow, where she met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Kyiv, where she met with President Zelensky. Blinken, for his part, also went to Kyiv and Brussels. He is now scheduled to meet Lavrov in Geneva on January 21. (ANI)
Beautiful if surprisingly gabby, the nature documentary The Velvet Queen (opening Friday at the Music Box) chronicles the renowned wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and his pal, writer Sylvain Tesson, as they track the cagey, evasive snow leopard along the crags and valleys of the high Tibetan plateau. There are other living things along their trek, including birds, humans and bears. Living or dead, wondrous sights dominate their field of vision, and the films. Silence and waiting are the names of this game.

And yet the silence in The Velvet Queen is nearly as rare as a snow leopard sighting. Our voiceover narrator, Tesson, who later wrote a book about the experience, is given to musings philosophique, including the head-tilter: Prehistory wept, and each tear was a yak.

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This is one of those poetical nonfiction eyefuls determined to make its primary subjects seem like they were alone with their thoughts, their camera equipment and their expectant yearning. Co-director and co-writer Marie Amiguet, the woman behind the camera filming the men behind their cameras and binoculars, is rarely, if ever, acknowledged.

Wildlife photographer Vincent Munier (left) and writer Sylvain Tesson track the slippery, evasive snow leopard in "The Velvet Queen." (Marie Amiguet)

Munier lives by the credo of the blind, the art and strategy of finding the right, hidden vantage point to avoid easy discovery by his camera subjects. Photographing snowy owls in the Arctic, the garrulous Tesson says, or reindeer in Siberia, his host on this Tibetan adventure has made the blind both his aesthetic and his philosophy. Muniers drive is weirdly akin to the stalkers lament: How can I get closer to my obsessions in their natural habitat, when they just want to be left alone?

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Theres a gentle odd-couple vibe with Munier, the loner-sage who craves close communion with nature, and Tesson, hasty by temperament, who finds Muniers operating principles  scorn pain, ignore time  outside of his natural habitat. Munier cherishes land that humans havent yet gotten their claws into. The closest The Velvet Queen ever gets to polemics or environmental warnings are the simple words that only a dolt would consider controversial: Be content with the world. Fight for it to remain.

The title "The Velvet Queen" refers to the rare snow leopard, but in the French-Tibetan nature documentary other wonders emerge on the scene, including the feline predator known as Pallas's Cat. (Vincent Munier)

The most arresting image in a film full of them? Id vote for the Blow-Up moment. Munier speaks in hushed tones to Tesson about making a photo of a bird on a Tibetan mountain, only to realize later that the rock in the upper left corner of the image wasnt a rock: It was a snow leopard, master of camouflage, staring directly at the man with the camera. We see the photograph for ourselves, so we make the discovery more or less in real time. Its a wonderful moment. Other plusses include a plaintive score by Warren Ellis, working with Nick Cave, and the fascinating close-ups of a species native to the Asian steppes known as Pallass Cat  the feline equivalent to Flattop in the old Dick Tracy comic strip.

The Velvet Queen  3 stars

No MPAA rating (some animal violence, considerable French philosophizing)

Running time: 1:32. In French and Tibetan with English subtitles.

How to watch: Premieres Fri. Jan. 20 at the Music Box Theater, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; musicboxtheatre.org.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

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"Negotiations in Kabul are ongoing. Our delegation is there. An agreement has been reached on the issue of security," Sputnik quoted a source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry as saying on Thursday.

However, discussions are continuing regarding the calculation of the cost of this process, the sources said

"The negotiation process is taking place in a constructive manner," the source informed further.

It came after the second round of negotiations over the running of Afghanistan's airports had begun with a Qatar-Turkish company earlier this month.

The Deputy Head of Civil Aviation, Ghulam Gilani Wafa, earlier in January had said the Afghan side will attempt to find the best choice when signing the contract, according to TOLOnews.

"Today, we started online negotiations and they will continue until we reach a decision on the contract. We will start face-to-face negotiations if we feel it is needed," Gilani Wafa had said. (ANI)
A Pakistan sessions court in Rawalpindi recently handed the death penalty to a Muslim woman on charges of blasphemy. The sessions court has also awarded the woman named Aneeqa Ateeq 20 years imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 150,000 as the accused failed to prove her innocence. The accused was convicted under section 295-C PPC and sentenced to death and a fine of Rs 50000. She is to be hanged by her neck till she is dead," ruled Additional District & Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Adnan Mushtaq in his verdict, according to the Nation. Further, the judge said the accused is also convicted under section 295-A of PPC and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment along with fine of Rs 50000. In case of default in payment of fine the convict shall undergo imprisonment of six months, as mentioned by the Nation. Meanwhile, the accused has been further convicted under section 298-A of PPC and sentenced to 3 years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 50000 and she will serve more than six months behind the bars in case of nonpayment of fine. Ateeq was also convicted under section 11 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 and sentenced to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 50000. The woman's counsel had argued that the suspect was of unsound mind at the time of occurrence, and the magistrate concerned had ordered a mental examination of the suspect which remained pending without any fault on the part of the suspect. A state prosecutor submitted before the court that the prosecution proved its case on the basis of oral and documentary evidence, as reported by Nation. (ANI)
Free-speech advocate Yang Maodong was detained for undermining the Chinese authority on January 12, reported Wall Street Journal.

Notably, Yang, who writes under the pen name Guo Feixiong, has been blocked from leaving China for the past year.

Authorities rejected his pleas from friends and family, that he be allowed to be with his wife in her final months.

Friends said they had lost contact with the 55-year-old in early December, though it was only on Monday that police officially confirmed his detention to his family.

"It's really too cruel, too heartless," Yang Maoping, his sister said, adding that police had been vague about the reason for his detention, reported WSJ.

In another similar incident, Xie Yang, a 49-year old lawyer who has taken up politically sensitive cases related to religion and land rights, was detained on January 11.

He was also charged with subversion and was held captive, according to his family.

"You can imagine authorities all over the country are tightening control pre-emptively to strike out any potential dissent and criticism," said Renee Xia, a senior researcher with Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a Washington, D.C., based group.

Government officials from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom will not attend the 2022 Olympics to protest Xi's treatment of ethnic minorities and other human rights violations. (ANI)
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi on Wednesday said that stability and durable peace in Afghanistan require the formation of an inclusive government in the country to address the challenges. Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi says that stability and durable peace in Afghanistan require the formation of an inclusive government in the country to address the challenges, according to Tolo News. Raisi made the remarks during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement quoted Raisi as saying the inclusion of all ethnic and political groups in the government is needed for security and stability in Afghanistan. "Formation of a broad-based government with the participation of all groups is the only way for stability and durable security in Afghanistan," the Russian foreign ministry said quoting Raisi. Putin also commented on Afghanistan, saying the situation in Kabul is worrisome. "Now, of course, both you and we are concerned about the current situation in Afghanistan. I would like to discuss all these questions with you and find out your position on these issues," Putin told Raisi as they met, as reported by Tolo News. The formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan has been called for by many regional countries at various meetings, as well as by the international community in general, as mentioned by Tolo News. (ANI)
"@IndembAbuDhabi completed all formalities for repatriation of mortal remains of 2 Indians deceased in Jan 17 incident. Remains reach Amritsar tomorrow morning. Highly appreciate the fullest support extended by Govt of UAE & @AdnocGroup . Tied up with Punjab Govt for local support," tweeted Sunjay Sudhir, Indian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar expressed solidarity with the UAE in face of such "unacceptable" acts in a phone call with Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

UAE on Monday condemned the Houthi attack in the capital Abu Dhabi that killed three civilians, including two Indians. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Thursday virtually inaugurated a social housing units project and participated in the foundation stone laying ceremony of a civil service college and a solar project being developed in Mauritius with India's development support. PM Modi and PM Jugnauth took part in a virtual foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and an 8 MW Solar PV Farm, undertaken as part of India's development support. The projects have been implemented as part of the vibrant development partnership between India and Mauritius, said Prime Minister's Office in a press release on Thursday. The event was held via video conference and in Mauritius, it was held in the Mauritian PMO premises in presence of dignitaries including Cabinet Ministers and senior officials of the Government of Mauritius. Speaking at the occasion, Prime Minister Modi highlighted the vision of powering India's development assistance defined by the needs and priorities of its friends and respectful of sovereignty, and at the same time enhancing the well-being of the people and bolstering the capacities of the country. PM Modi acknowledged the importance of the Civil Service College project in nation-building and offered to share the learnings of Mission Karmayogi. Prime Minister recalled the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative that he put forth at the First Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2018 and said that the 8 MW Solar PV Farm project will help mitigate the climate challenges that Mauritius faces through avoidance of 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions. In his remarks, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth thanked India for wide-ranging assistance including financial assistance to Mauritius. He noted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi the relations between India and Mauritius have attained newer heights. The Government of India in May 2016 had extended a grant of USD 353 mn to the Government of Mauritius as Special Economic Package (SEP) to execute five priority projects identified by the Government of Mauritius, among others. These were: the Metro Express Project, Supreme Court Building, New ENT Hospital, Supply of Digital Tablets to Primary School Children, and the Social Housing Project. With the inauguration of the Social Housing Project today, all the high profile projects under the SEP have been implemented. The Civil Service College project, located in Reduit, is being financed through grant support of USD 4.74 million, under an MoU signed in 2017 during the visit of Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth to India. Once constructed, this will provide a fully equipped and functional facility for the civil servants of Mauritius to undertake various training and skill development programmes. It will further strengthen institutional linkages with India. The 8 MW Solar PV Farm project involves the installation of 25,000 PV cells to generate approximately 14 GWh of green energy annually, to electrify approximately 10,000 Mauritian households with an estimated avoidance of 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year, helping Mauritius mitigate the effects of climate change. The ceremony included the exchange of two key bilateral agreements: Agreement for the extension of USD 190 million Line of Credit from the Government of India to the Government of Mauritius for the Metro Express and other infrastructure projects and MoU on the Implementation of Small Development Projects, according to the release. (ANI)
French Parliament slammed China's "genocide" of its Uyghur Muslim people on Thursday, in a resolution that could sour relations between Paris and Beijing only two weeks before the Winter Olympics. It also urges the French government to protect the ethnic minority in the Xinjiang region and take "the necessary measures within the international community and in its foreign policy towards the People's Republic of China". The non-binding resolution, adopted with 169 votes in favour and just one against, was proposed by the opposition Socialists in the Lower House of Parliament. Nonetheless, the resolution is also backed by President Emmanuel Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) party, reported Barron's. As per the adopted resolution, the National Assembly "officially recognises the violence perpetrated by the People's Republic of China against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide". "China is a great power. We love the Chinese people. But we refuse to submit to propaganda from a regime that is banking on our cowardice and our avarice to perpetrate genocide in plain sight," Socialist party chief Olivier Faure said. He told lawmakers of conditions within internment camps where men and women were unable to lie down in cells, were exposed to rape and torture, and were forced to undergo organ transplants, reported the newspaper. Similar resolutions were passed by parliaments in Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands last year, and the US government has also condemned what it deems genocide in Xinjiang. (ANI)
Amid the rising tension between Russia and Ukraine, the United States has issued two fact sheets alleging that Moscow is spreading disinformation to paint Kyiv as the aggressor in the relations between the two countries. This comes as the US is alleging that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine. While denying these claims, Moscow is pointing instead to the actual threat posed by NATO's military activity in the region. "The Department of State, working with the US interagency, is aware of several Russian military and intelligence entities that are engaged in information confrontation targeting Ukraine. These activities include the spread of disinformation and propaganda attempting to paint Ukraine and Ukrainian government officials as the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine relationship," the US State Department said in a fact sheet. It also alleged that Russia has "fabricated a set of false narratives that its disinformation and propaganda ecosystem persistently injects into the global information environment." The narratives act like a template that enables Moscow to adjust them "with a complete disregard for truth as it shapes the information environment to support its policy goals," it added. On Wednesday, US State Secretary Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv. The officials discussed the US' and the international security assistance to Kyiv. Blinken also underscored Washington's commitment to diplomacy alongside its readiness "to impose severe costs for further Russian aggression against Ukraine." Ahead of the meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, UN chief Antonio Guterres hopes the upcoming meeting will lead to defusing tensions around Ukraine. The two will meet in Geneva on Friday to follow up on last week's diplomatic engagements regarding Russia's security proposals. "He [Guterres] continues to call for dialogue. We do have the upcoming meeting, ... and we hope that would lead to de-escalation," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a press briefing. (ANI)
As the third wave of COVID-19 cases is raging across Nepal, the capital city of Kathmandu is witnessing long queues of front-line workers standing in line to get tested for COVID-19. In less than a week, the Omicron variant has forced more than 500 doctors and health workers at various hospitals in capital Kathmandu alone to isolate, cutting them off from the duties. "I think this third wave is going to bring a cry over the human resources because a lot of health care workers are getting infected with each passing day. The data from hospitals shows how hundreds of doctors and staff are getting infected with the virus. Once they have to go into isolation we won't be having an adequate number of health care workers to take care of the patients," said Dr. Lochan Karki, President of Nepal Medical Association in an interview with ANI. The south Asian nation, with a population of 30 million, faced a shortage of necessary medical equipment in the first wave. While marching onto the second wave, the serious crunch of oxygen supply across the nation led to a spike in the death rate. "In Nepal even before the COVID pandemic, the stock of several human resources was not up to the mark. Now during the pandemic, the gap between doctors and population has increased more as they are being rapidly infected and the resources remain the same," Dr. Karki said. Already bearing the crunch of shortage of health workers at various departments inside the capital, the government has reduced the isolation time period to 5 days. Many of them are being treated at home isolation and the hospital. Given the current state of affairs, the government has extended the tenure of contracted health workers maximum by three months from mid-January as per the requirement of the hospital. Moreover, the government has pledged to provide incentives to front-line workers working on the front taking up the risk which was introduced since the first wave but barely put out into practice. Some regional and district hospitals outside Kathmandu Valley have been hit hard with the surging case of infection amongst health care workers. Many districts outside Kathmandu such as Charikot of Dolakha have been reported to halt some of its services as it doesn't have adequate staff to look after the patients after the majority of the staff tested positive for the contagion. Similarly, the Bharatpur Hospital in Chitwan District, considered as one of the prime locations hosting large numbers of doctors and medical students, also has been quarantining the majority of its staff. Despite reeling through two deadly waves, Nepal still remains unprepared for the third wave. In wake of rising infection, health workers themselves are adopting preventive measures to keep the contagion at bay. "We should understand the major precaution we have to take as being a front line worker is like wearing the mask and at least we can use pile one mask over other as cases are increasing rapidly. Wash the hands more frequently which should be the first precaution of all and stay off from crowded areas," Dr. Binay Yadav, one of the intern doctors at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu told ANI. Shortage of enough doctors and medical workers at the time of the pandemic could cost Nepal more lives as it already has lost a significant number of such professionals in earlier waves. Within the first twenty days of 2022, Nepal's active caseload has skyrocketed from less than five thousand to more than fifty thousand. As per data of the Ministry of Health and Population released on Thursday evening, Nepal currently has 57,328 active cases and a positivity rate standing around 45 per cent. On Thursday alone, the Himalayan Nation sitting in the middle between two giant nations India and China registered a record number of 12,338 new cases, setting a record for the third consecutive day. The government has projected that several fresh daily cases might go up as high as 20 thousand cases in a single day as it marches towards the peak and then falls down. On Thursday, Kathmandu Valley registered more than half of the confirmed cases out of which Kathmandu registered 5,001 cases, Bhaktapur recorded 850 and Lalitpur recorded 1,130 cases. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, there were four coronavirus-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours. With this, the COVID-19 death toll in the country is 11,632 to date. Keeping in mind the current situation, the Nepali government earlier this week has started an inoculation drive for doctors, nurses, paramedics, lab technicians, hospital staff, and ambulance drivers with booster doses owing to the risk that lies ahead of them in their line of duty. The booster doses also would be administered to journalists, bureaucrats, lawmakers, those serving in diplomatic missions, financial institutions, prisoners, and elderly people at old age homes and refugees who were vaccinated in the first phase of the immunization campaign starting January 27. The Ministry of Health and Population also has decided to administer a third dose to all people above 60 years, inoculated six months ago as well as to those with compromised immunity from January 28. (ANI)
Many readers have written in with their thoughts about the radical touring production of the 2018 Broadway revival of Oklahoma!, playing at the CIBC Theater in Chicago through Sunday. As I wrote in my review, this version of the seminal Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical strays from the shows reputation as a hearty work of Americana  anyone heading out to see it should know it mostly does not deliver a feel-good experience, especially in its most radical last few minutes. I recently spoke by phone with the director Daniel Fish about some of his choices. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Your tour is playing proscenium theaters. On Broadway, you were in a small, in-the-round space. How did the difference inform your choices?

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A: Weve done the show four times: At Bard College, St. Anns Warehouse, on Broadway and on tour. Every time we have done it, we have remade it and rethought it. Ive never approached it in the way that were just trying to reproduce something. Its been, how do we make this work in the room were going to be in?

Q: Do you worry about the loss of intimacy, given the audiences arent so physically close?

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A: The kind of intimacy I am going for is not dependent on physical proximity. People use the word immersive, which is a word I dont really like. Ive been in 99-seat theaters and felt very far from the material and Ive been at big rock concerts where Ive felt incredibly close to the material. One of the things thats important is that everybody is in the same room. Live theater happens in the moment. Its the thing we cant change.

Daniel Fish attends the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 09, 2019 in New York City. (Bryan Bedder/Getty)

Q: Not your grandparents Oklahoma! though, this one?

A: Its never been my intention to say this is not your parents or your grandparents Oklahoma!, my intention was to make the richest Oklahoma! I can make. That thing is created by what happens on stage and when the music and the words and the room all start happening at the same time. What we try to do is create the circumstances where that has the best chance of happening and to empower the actors, giving them the agency where that can happen. I am not surprised but I am still kind of amazed that every time I do a show, and this show in particular, it rises or falls on the extent to which the actors are prepared, vulnerable, in the moment and there. There is nothing for them to hide behind. It is exhausting work. Everybody is playing themselves and their character. In the proscenium, the exposure only is increased.

Q: How do you think classic musicals need to be treated these days?

A: I see everything I do as a new work. You are doing the show on a contemporary night. The words may be old but the show is new. Its happening in the moment; thats the one thing nobody ever has been able to change about the theater. I found something in this material that speaks to me and to the world in which I live. And my hope is that by digging into it, other people will see their own experience. Its an ever-changing night in an ever-changing city. I know there are people who will argue against this, and say you can predict what people will think, but I dont buy it.

Q: Is the show saying the original Oklahoma! still has value and should be produced, or is it more a critique of a problematic shows assumptions?

A: Whether or not Oklahoma! has value or whether it should be done now is not the question for me. If I knew everything I wanted to do with the show, there would be no point in doing it. If this production makes people mad, great. If it makes people excited, great. If neither, thats OK, too. All we can do is bring everything weve got to the material. The show has always been made on, and for, the people that are doing it. There are tours where people can just plug in; this is not that kind of show.

Q: You trained under Frank Galati at Northwestern University.

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A: He was a huge influence. I remember in one class he gave everybody the first page of a short story and said, stage it and you cant cut a word. But he didnt say how the words had to be represented, so all of your assumptions were challenged. That was incredibly freeing for me.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com
IPO Edge and the Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association will host a fireside chat with the CEO & President of Syniverse Technologies, LLC on Monday, Jan. 24 at 11am ET to discuss the role Syniverse plays in everyday life, Syniverses role within the mobile ecosystem, balance sheet benefits from the business combination with M-3 Brigade Acquisition II Corp. (NYSE: MBAC), recent investment from Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO), and secular tailwinds for Syniverse as a 5G play. The live event will feature Syniverse CEO & President Andrew Davies joined by IPO Edge Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone and Editor-at-Large Jarrett Banks in a moderated video session lasting approximately 60 minutes and including a Q&A with the audience.

To register, CLICK HERE

About Syniverse

Syniverse is a leading global provider of unified, mission-critical platforms enabling seamless interoperability across the mobile ecosystem. Syniverse makes global mobility work by enabling consumers and enterprises to connect, engage, and transact seamlessly and securely. Syniverse offers a premier communications platform that serves both enterprises and carriers globally and at scale. Syniverses proprietary software, protocols, orchestration capabilities and network assets have allowed Syniverse to address the changing needs of the mobile ecosystem for over 30 years. Syniverse continues to innovate by harnessing the potential of emerging technologies such as 5G, IoT, RCS and CPaaS for its customers.

Mr. Davies will discuss:

The role Syniverse plays in everyday life

How Syniverses role compares to that of other players in the mobile ecosystem

Business combination with M-3 Brigade Acquisition II Corp. (NYSE: MBAC) and balance sheet benefits

Investment from Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO)

Secular tailwinds for Syniverse as a 5G play

About the Speakers:

Andrew M. Davies was elected to be a director and named Chief Executive Officer and President of Syniverse in March 2021, having previously served as its Chief Financial and Administrative Officer from June 2020 to March 2021. Prior to joining Syniverse, Mr. Davies served as Chief Financial Officer of Sprint Corporation, a telecommunications services company, from July 2018 until the closing of its merger with T-Mobile USA in Spring of 2020. Before joining Sprint, Mr. Davies served as Group Chief Financial Officer for VEON, a multi-national telecommunications services company, from November 2013 to November 2017. Prior to joining VEON, Mr. Davies held various financial leadership positions for Vodafone Group, a multi-national telecommunications company, from September 2003 to October 2013, including being named Chief Financial Officer of Verizon Wireless from September 2010 to June 2013, which at the time was a joint venture between Vodafone and Verizon Communications, a telecommunications services company. Mr. Davies started his career with KPMG in Wales and served in senior financial roles with GE, Honeywell, and the Caudwell Group in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Mr. Davies graduated with an honors degree in mathematics from Londons Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, is an Associate of the Royal College of Science, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

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Contact:

Alan Hatfield, Director of Research

ah@capmarketsmedia.com

Twitter: @IPOEdge

Instagram: @IPOEdge
(AFP via Getty Images)

There will be a change in continental champion this year, after the holders Algeria suffered an embarrassing early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Algeria went into their final group stage game needing a win but were unable to rouse themselves after poor performances earlier in the tournament, finding themselves three down before the hour mark.

Goals from Franck Kessie, Ibrahima Sangare and Nicolas Pepe put Ivory Coast well in control to render Sofiane Bendebkas consolation irrelevant.

It leaves the Desert Warriors bottom of Group E with just a single point, having failed to score against Sierra Leone in a goalless draw before being beaten by Equatorial Guinea.

Ivory Coast, meanwhile, established their place as one of the favourites heading into the knock-outs, finishing top with seven points.

Equatorial Guinea wrapped up second place with a 2-0 win over Sierra Leone, Pablo Ganet netting shortly before half-time. Sierra Leone were gifted an incredible chance to seal a draw which would prolong their stay in the tournament with a late penalty, but former Norwich and Middlesbrough forward Kei Kamara saw his spot-kick brilliantly saved in the 85th minute.

In the evening matches, Group F will come to a close as Gambia play Tunisia and Mali face Mauritania. The first three of those nations will all progress to the knock-outs, unless Mauritania can win by at least three along with a heavy Tunisia defeat, or else with Mauritania winning by four goals to instead knock out Comoros, who are currently the last-ranked of the third-placed sides going through.
The Daily Beast

Claudio Peri/Pool/ReutersROMESince the beginning of Russias invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has floated the idea that he wants to take a trip to Kyiv to try to broker a ceasefire. But now he says he would prefer to go to Moscow to try to talk some sense into Vladimir Putin, who he has not outwardly condemned in the now nearly three-month-old war and only did so lightly in a lengthy interview with an Italian newspaper.I feel that before going to Kyiv, I must go to Moscow, he told Corriere D
Ariana DeBose knows not everyone gets to host "Saturday Night Live," so she treated fans to behind-the-scenes images from her recent debut appearance on the show.

The "West Side Story" star, 30, posted several videos and photos Thursday on Instagram that showed her backstage during her Jan. 15 hosting gig. One pic found the Golden Globe winner getting her makeup touched up in between sketches, while another showed her lying in a bathrobe on the floor of her dressing room.

In the first video in DeBose's gallery, she's seen lying on a couch wearing a protective face mask as she sings "Do-Re-Mi" from "The Sound of Music."

A final video shows DeBose, dressed in a sleek short silvery-white skirt and jacket, pumping herself up backstage moments before she delivers her opening monologue. "35 seconds," the original "Hamilton" star tells the camera as she dances to music being played by the show's live band.

"#tbt Quality @snl BTS content. I said I wanted to challenge myself & the universe delivered. 1st vid is a 1am moment. Last vid entrance realness. Swipe and lmk your favs ," DeBose captioned the gallery.

The Tony- and SAG Award-nominee earned raves for her performance on the show, which included two fun Broadway singalongs with cast member Kate McKinnon. Together, the pair sang songs from "West Side Story," including "Tonight," "America" and "I Feel Pretty." (The duo shared a cute fist bump after singing the line, I feel pretty and witty and gay.)

The pair re-teamed later in the show for a funny sketch inspired by The Sound of Music."

Earlier this week, DeBose shared several pics of herself performing on the show on her Instagram page. In her caption, she gushed about what the appearance meant to her.

"The smile on my face says it all That was, no lie, one of the craziest weeks of life so far, but such a thrilling ride. Theres nothing  I repeat- nothing like @nbcsnl," she wrote.

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She went on to detail her "respect" for the show's cast, crew and creative producers. "The amount of work & creativity that goes in to making this show happen is astounding. And they do this all the time. For 47 SEASONS!" she wrote.

DeBose concluded her post by thanking those at "SNL" for allowing her to "play in the magical sandbox that is studio 8H with all of you," she wrote, adding, "Im in awe of your talent."
Jan. 19NEW BOSTON  Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Scioto County Sheriff David Thoroughman, New Boston Police Chief Carl Compton, Pike County Sheriff Tracy Evans, Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless, and Portsmouth Police Chief Debby Brewer announce the early morning drug raid in New Boston, Ohio.

The drug investigation and raid was conducted by the newly formed Southern Ohio Organized & Major Crime Task Force, part of the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission. The task force was assisted in the early morning raid, located at 4222 Oak Street, New Boston, Ohio by the Portsmouth P.D. S.W.A.T. and Portsmouth Fire Department tactical medics.

Arrested was Bernard Jaron Truett, age 41, of 4222 Oak Street, New Boston. Truett was charged with Weapons Under Disability, a felony of the 3rd degree, Possession of Drugs  Crack Cocaine, a felony of the 3rd degree, Trafficking in Drugs  Crack Cocaine, a felony of the 3rd degree, Possession of Fentanyl, a felony of the 4th degree, Trafficking in Fentanyl, a felony of the 4th degree, and Possession of Criminal Tools, a felony of the 5th degree.

Truett will be arraigned in Portsmouth Municipal Court on Thursday, January 20, 2022. The case will eventually be forwarded to the Scioto County Prosecutor's Office to be presented to a Scioto County Grand Jury on these charges as well as additional felony charges.

Sheriff Thoroughman requests anyone wishing to leave drug information for the Southern Ohio Organized & Major Crime Task Force, to phone the Task Force tip line at (740) 354-5656 or email drugs@sciotocountysheriff.com. All information will be kept confidential and anonymous.
The Conference Board C-Suite Outlook 2022 global survey of 917 CEOs concludes that labor shortages are the third biggest external factor that will have the greatest impact on their business this year.

Some CEOs are working on retention of current employees by watching employee-sentiment survey results. Others are attempting to create more stability for employees, like investing in providing more affordable housing. Others are investing in automation, which with the sales growth automation allows still results in more job growth overall, including the higher-paying jobs in technology.

Edd Pritchards article in the Sunday Canton Repository about the labor shortage here in Stark County is no surprise to our manufacturing CEOs. Most Stark County manufacturers are experiencing the same severe labor shortage referenced in the Conference Board survey and Edds article.

The labor shortage is limiting their sales growth. In manufacturing companies across Stark County, it doesnt matter what the sales team can sell  it matters more what the manufacturing team can make and ship.

The Stark County Manufacturing Workforce Development Partnership has brought together more than 40 local manufacturers, schools, nonprofits and intermediaries to focus on growing the labor pool in Stark County and on training incumbent workers to make room for entry-level workers.

Manufacturers stealing employees from each other isnt going to solve our labor shortage. We need to get more people interested in manufacturing careers, whether they be students or job switchers. We also need to keep more of our high school and college graduates in Stark County.

The underlying causes of the labor shortage are many. Some causes include the COVID pandemic led some baby boomers and workers with underlying health conditions to retire early out of a concern for their health. Some parents of young children dropped out because schools were closed, and they didnt have backup childcare. The very contagious delta and omicron variants also resulted in children being exposed which caused additional missed school days which made parents miss work  all unpredictable.

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Federal grant money is available to pursue programs that help solve the labor shortage. The Partnership is looking for Stark County manufacturers to join forces and commit to participate in the Good Jobs Challenge.

The U.S. Economic Development Administrations American Rescue Plan Good Jobs Challenge aims to get Americans back to work by building and strengthening systems and partnerships that bring together employers who have hiring needs with other key entities to train workers with in-demand skills that lead to good-paying jobs.

Through the Good Jobs Challenge, EDA is allocating $500 million to collaborative skills training systems and programs. Why not bring some of this federal money back to Stark County?

The Partnership needs interested Stark County manufacturers to provide a commitment letter to support our grant application. The commitment letter asks:

In the next five years, what total hiring demand do you anticipate resulting from a mix of growth, normal turnover and retirements?

What are the most important occupations in this mix?

And finally, if economic conditions remain unchanged, will you commit to collaborating with the Partnership to source these hires in the years to come?

Any grant money received by the Partnership will be used for many purposes, including to:

Recruit workers to manufacturing positions.

Address barriers to people working, like childcare, transportation or housing.

Provide training whether it be soft skills like the importance of getting to work on time or specific job skills like operation of CNC machines.

I encourage all interested manufacturers to contact Barbara Bennett at the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce for more information. Letters of support must be to her by Jan. 26: Barbara H Bennett, PE, PS, LEED-AP, Vice President of Education/Workforce, Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, 222 Market Ave. N, Canton, OH 44702; 330.458.2059; or barbb@cantonchamber.org.

James T. Batchelder is president of the Stark County Manufacturing Workforce Development Partnership and former president of M.K. Morse Company in Canton.

Editor's note: This essay has been updated to correct James Batchelder's title with M.K. Morse Company.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County manufacturers seeking grants to help with labor shortage
From Living Single to Friends, the 90s ushered in a distinct genre of sitcom centering on the misadventures of youngish, mostly single pals in the big city. A pair of new shows, Hulus How I Met Your Father and NBCs Grand Crew, are looking to revive the format for the 2020s with middling success, but theres real potential here for each. Sometimes a comedy just needs time to find its footing; I hope both get the opportunity.

Lets start with How I Met Your Father, which has a higher profile if only because its a spinoff of How I Met Your Mother, which ran for nine seasons on CBS. Instead of each episode beginning with a disembodied future voice (Bob Saget in the original) regaling his preteens about his younger days in New York City, now we actually see the main character in the future (Kim Cattrall) talking with her son via video call. Im not sure flipping the perspective is entirely successful  this time its the kid whos the disembodied voice  but Im happy to see Cattrall show up in anything that isnt the dreadful Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That 

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The cast of "How I Met Your Father," from left: Chris Lowell, Hilary Duff, Francia Raisa, Tom Ainsley, Suraj Sharma and Tien Tran. (Patrick Wymore/Hulu)

Hilary Duff plays the character in her younger incarnation  aka in the present  and I think she has a terrific presence here. Shes fun screen company, which is key, and when called on to dig for a deeper emotion, Duff lets all those feelings wash across her face in a way that never feels at odds with the bouncy demands of the sitcom format.

The pilot episode is clumsy with exposition as it introduces the group. Duffs character has a roommate (Francia Raisa) who has just asked her new guy (Tom Ainsley as a cartoonish British aristo) to move in with them: I know this is fast, she explains and half-apologizes, but when he told his crazy-fancy high society family that he was heading to New York to be with a Mexican assistant stylist, they made some very outdated Ugly Betty jabs and then they cut off his trust fund. Thats  a mouthful. And its emblematic of the shows self-conscious efforts (in the first episode, at least) to make it clear this is a multicultural group here! rather than letting those details emerge more organically.

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From left: Chris Lowell and Hilary Duff are the will they/won't they couple of "How I Met Your Father." (Patrick Wymore/Hulu)

The cast is rounded out by Chris Lowell (as schoolteacher who moonlights for Uber; he and Duff are the will-they-or-wont-they couple), Tien Tran (as Lowells estranged sister who has just divorced her wife and is trying to date again) and Suraj Sharma (who is in an long-distance relationship and owns the bar where everyone gathers). Theres a blandness to the show and its self-conscious attempts at now-ness (Tinder! Uber! Viral videos!) but the talent in front of the camera is strong enough to generate some chemistry if show creators Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger (who cowrote the movie Love, Simon) get a better handle on the writing itself and what makes these characters click.

The same holds true for Grand Crew, which premiered earlier this month, but the show has a much stronger sense of its actors strengths. Created by Phil Augusta Jackson (whose credits include HBOs Insecure), the friends are as follows: The terrific Nicole Byer as the supremely self-confident glue that holds the group together, Chicago native Echo Kellum as her brother (a hopeless romantic), Justin Cunningham as the married househusband who spends an inordinate amount of time with his friends in the evenings while his wife apparently does other things, Aaron Jennings as the yuppie go-getter, Carl Tart as Anthonys roommate (a charmer who has yet to find his professional way in the world) and Grasie Mercedes as their pal who works at the wine bar where they all converge. This might be NBCs first comedy in recent memory to actually center the social lives of a group of Black friends.

The cast of "Grand Crew" at their regular wine bar spot, from left: Justin Cunningham, Carl Tart, Echo Kellum, Aaron Jennings and Nicole Byer. ( Justin Lubin/NBC)

The standouts are Byer, who is very funny (which will come as no surprise for anyone familiar with Netflixs Nailed It!), and Tart as a guy whose identity isnt tied to his job (Im not even sure he has a job). Refreshingly, hes a character without many neuroses who proudly announces he gets all the therapy he needs from YouTube compilations of Will Smith interviews. The show often explores the notions and tensions around modern Black masculinity that demands a strong exterior while also having a genuine desire to grapple with vulnerabilities (theres a running joke about them crumbling into emotional puddles when watching Paddington 2). I like all of this. A lot.

If were comparing, I would say the comedy feels less labored than it does on How I Met Your Father, but its a show that relies heavily on the charisma and comedic instincts of its performers. Thats what good shows do. But the cast is carrying a disproportionate amount of the load. For now, this isnt a show I see being quoted or gifed and Id love to see the writers elevate what is already a pretty good sitcom, because it has the potential to be great. Also, Kellum has one of the best speaking voices on television.

Carl Tart in "Grand Crew." (Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

The young friends gathering at their regular watering hole genre is one Ill always get behind. Theres something aspirational about the way they always make time, as a group, to just hang out together. Their lives are mostly unencumbered and full of potential, romantic or otherwise. And overall everyones mostly unbothered about making rent or paying that bar bill. Theres a lot of appeal in sinking into that fantasy for 30 minutes at a time.

Ive never thought of Cheers as fitting into this particular category, but I dont know why not  George Wendt, Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman and John Ratzenberger were all in their early 30s when the show premiered in 1982. Before that, Threes Company had the Regal Beagle, my favorite bar name in TV history.

But if we go back even further, theres David Mamets rarely produced 1974 play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, with its short, punchy, acerbic snapshots of dating in early adulthood. Hollywood would eventually option the rights, turning it into the much more optimistic 1986 film About Last Night 

In her 1974 review of the play, Tribune theater critic Linda Winer wasnt impressed, calling it a traditional, uneven, extraordinarily normal and abnormally ordinary play about four Chicago singles. The title, of course, is deeply ironic  the perversity is in their inability to connect.

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How I Met Your Father and Grand Crew are far more hopeful. With stronger, funnier writing, they very well might justify that optimism.

Nicole Byer in "Grand Crew." (Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic

nmetz@chicagotribune.com

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A three-judge panel in Australia said it was not unreasonable for immigration officials to deport unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic in a ruling explaining their decision to reject the Serbian player's appeal to stay in the country.

Djokovic left Australia last week after losing his last appeal, just one day before the Australian Open began.

The tennis player had initially been permitted to stay despite issues surrounding his visa and vaccination status, but Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke canceled his visa for a second time for the sake of "health and good order."

In their ruling, the judges who heard Djokovic's case said Hawke's concerns were not irrational, noting the potential for Djokovic's stance to influence public opinion on getting vaccinated.

"The possible influence on the second group comes from common sense and human experience: An iconic world tennis star may influence people of all ages, young or old, but perhaps especially the young and the impressionable, to emulate him. This is not fanciful; it does not need evidence," the ruling read, according to CNN.

Djokovic said he was "disappointed" by the ruling and "uncomfortable" with being the center of so much attention due to visa issues.

"I respect the Court's ruling and I will cooperate with the relevant authorities in relation to my departure from the country," he said.

Djokovic's deportation sparked outcry in his home country of Serbia, with Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic calling the court's decision "scandalous."
My grandfather loved the white Bally loafer, which is why I even made a white loafer to begin with, which is insane, said Ballys newly appointed creative director Rhuigi Villasenor, a Filipino immigrant who grew up in Southern Californias San Fernando Valley and without any formal training became a fashion go-to for celebrities and athletes such as Kyle Kuzma, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z.

Villasenor (who has also been known to rock a white loafer) is set to meet the full Bally team for the first time this weekend, when hell travel to the brand headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland, and spend two weeks of every month there and two weeks in Los Angeles working on his own business, Rhude.

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He started Rhude in 2015, building a mens wear brand based on a casual formality epitomized by such pieces as the traxedo (a track pant with side taping), and expanding to a full range of clothing, footwear, accessories and eyewear, as well as newly into womens wear.

What does this mean as a Filipino? Oh my god, my dad called me in tears. He and his friends have zero to do with fashion, but they were like, what? That for me was an indication this is much bigger than myself and I have to use the responsibility for good, he said, reflecting on the moment.

He succeeds Pablo Coppola, who exited Bally in 2017 after three years, and was the last to hold the role.

Villasenors first collection for the Swiss luxury brand owned by JAB Holding Company will bow for spring 2023.

For me, when I design its always deeply rooted in my personal life so that was the defining factor with me choosing to go with Bally, Villasenor said. Also that they are giving me mens and womens because Im still proving to myself I can do both, he added, noting that in his own business, womens only represents 10 percent of sales.

The chance to work with Bally chief executive officer Nicolas Girotto, whom Villasenor calls a friend, was also a selling point. He told me a street-style photo of me was on the design teams mood board, and finally they said, Why is he on the mood board? Why dont we just get him?'

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Bally was founded as a shoe business in 1851 by Carl Franz Bally, expanding into ready-to-wear in the 1970s. The brand has roots in sport (the boots worn during the first ascent of Mt. Everest were Bally) and the arts, having tapped Charlie Chaplin for an advertising film, painter Otto Baumberger, architect Karl Moser and others as collaborators over the years.

The brands partnerships with artists, that they made the first shoe that landed on the moonwhere is that storytelling now that space exploration is such a thing in our culture? Villasenor said. (Perhaps todays billionaire space explorers might want a Bally moon boot?)

In terms of design vision, hes looking to explore the idea of Switzerland as a land of luxury, but through an L.A. guys eyes. And judging from how business titans, cigars and flashy cars have been part of the Rhude brand DNA, he will likely reflect on Switzerland as a financial center, too.

Im not classically trained, but I have a lot of curiosity which is going to push my ideas forward, Villasenor said.

But more than anything, hes going to rely on heritage and craft, starting with what he hopes will be a new It bag.

Bally is closest to Hermes in quality and heritage.They were formed a few years apart for each other, he said. Its about making sure that existing customer receives an update and creating my own realm within the company.

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President Biden's multibillion-dollar commitment to wildfire prevention - announced on Tuesday - marks a dramatic shift in the federal approach toward forests, but experts argue that this investment may only scratch the surface of what's needed.

The administration's 10-year proposal aims to cut the incidence of destructive wildfires by doubling the level of "fuel treatments" to overgrown, wildfire-prone forests. It targets a constellation of forests the approximate size of Kansas, with a particular focus on those communities on the ragged edge of the returning forests and brushlands.

"They're doubling down on areas where there is the greatest risk to life and property," Todd Gartner, a forestry expert at the World Resources Institute (WRI), told The Hill.

While The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the Biden administration was committing $50 billion to the wildfire prevention plan, a White House press release indicated that the proposal would start with an initial $3 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Less than 10 percent of fire-prone Western forests account for 80 percent of fire risk to communities, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA) - much of them concentrated in areas fire ecologists call "the wildland-urban interface."

That interface is where wildfires can become housefires, like when flames or embers from an adjacent forest spread into Paradise, Calif., and all but leveled the community during the 2018 Camp Fire. The suburban neighborhoods between Boulder and Denver, Colo., destroyed in early January in a one-day fire that was Colorado's costliest on record are another example.

Rising fire damages have led some insurance companies to limit their liability by withdrawing or reducing their coverage of fire-prone areas, with AIG and Chubb withdrawing from thousands of high-end California properties early this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Some experts warn that this could create an existential threat to some fire-prone communities.

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"The negative impacts of today's largest wildfires far outpace the scale of efforts to protect homes, communities and natural resources," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

With that gap only expected to widen, "working together toward common goals across boundaries and jurisdictions is essential to the future of these landscapes and the people who live there," Vilsack added.

The USDA plan targets 20 million acres of federal forest and wildlands for logging and prescribed burns - and aims to support further treatments on 30 million acres of state, tribal and private land. The joint approach is "essential to mitigating catastrophic wildfires and their disastrous effects," Christopher Martin, president of the National Association of State Foresters, said in a statement.

"The plan released by the Forest Service today represents a huge step forward toward safer, more fire-resilient forests and communities in every region of the United States. ... All of the nation's state foresters stand ready to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the Forest Service on implementing this national strategy," Martin added.

Gartner hailed the proposal for including even more money for nonfederal lands than federal lands. He also noted the sheer size of the proposal, assuming the total cost of the 10-year plan is the full $50 billion, including the $3 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law.

If the plan is fully funded, he said it would represent an enormous investment in preventing wildfires. Yet Gartner suggested it still might not be enough

"But we need at least three times that amount to deal with the scale of the challenge," he said. "And a big question is: where does that other $100 billion come from? What is the role of the private sector - of companies who are operating downstream of where these fires are likely to occur under a business-as-usual strategy?"

Business groups were involved in a joint proposal in October 2021, when WRI joined with the Forest Service and other groups to establish a $25 million forest bond - funded by climate-vulnerable corporations like CSAA Insurance Group and almond-processor Silk. The project helped fund projects to thin and restore forests around Yuba City, Calif.

A local water supply and hydroelectric utility, the Yuba Water Agency - which is at risk of everything from fires melting their piping to runaway post-fire erosion silting up their turbines and reducing the amount of electricity they can sell - was a partner in the project, Gartner said.

Duplicating those sorts of relationships is a part of the USDA plan, which at times seeks to provide economic development.

The Forest Service information sheet "Confronting the Wildfire Crisis" touts the 300,000 to 575,000 jobs it will produce, and there are other visions for mutual benefits that might lower costs.

For example, companies hired to thin forests might sell brush to local biomass power plants for heat and electricity, as Gartner proposed, and as is common in Finland.

Scientist Bodie Cabiyo has estimated that California could largely pay for the thinning and burning of brush and forests with state-sponsored markets in processed wood made from "small trees,"

This expansion of economic activity into the forests doesn't make everyone happy.

The Forest Service isn't good at "recreating natural ecosystems," said Adam Riessen of Wild Earth Guardians, who suggested the language of "forest health" represents an "Orwellian" misunderstanding of both the natural role of fire in forests - and the institutional mandate of the Forest Service to provide the nation with timber.

"Our forests aren't sick," Riessen said, "and they don't need any chainsaw medicine."

Deep-wood thinnings and prescribed burns are largely unnecessary, since most fire risk is concentrated in the 100 to 200 feet around houses themselves, Riessen argued.

"If you take enough homes and buildings and create defensible space around the structure, you'll reduce significantly the risk of those structures going down and those communities going up in smoke," he said.

While climate is driving disturbances in America's forests, "focusing myopically on one disturbance - wildfire - to the exclusion of everything else is a failed approach," Riessen added.

Gartner conceded that logging and prescribed burns would cause immediate damage to water quality and wildlife. But he argued that refusing to do so threatened to put entire landscapes at risk.

Groups like Wild Earth Guardians, he said, "say we should not be cutting down old growth trees. But we may need to do thinnings in old growth forests to protect the trees in there."

Forest thinning and controlled burning are "not a silver bullet," Gartner added. "We will have to go into these forests and do forest health treatments at a massive scale. And if you do surgery on a broken part of the body, there are some short-term trade-offs. But if you don't, the entire body is going to die."
President Biden gives his first press conference of 2022





President Biden on Wednesday bemoaned the partisan divide currently playing out on cable news channels across the country and predicted a drop in ratings in the coming years.

"One of the things I find fascinating is happening, and you all deal with it every day and it will impact on how things move, is that a lot of the speculation and the polling data shows that the cables are heading south," Biden said during a press conference from the White House. "They're losing viewership."

Biden called out Fox News specifically, saying the conservative news network was "okay for awhile but it's not granted and a lot of the rest are predicted to be not in the mix in the next four or five years."

Biden added that many cable news viewers have "put themselves in certain alleys" and observed that the vast majority of the media-consuming public seeks out news sources that reaffirm their political worldviews.

"Again, I'm no expert in any of this but I think you have to acknowledge is what gets covered now is necessarily a little bit different than what gets covered in the past," Biden told reporters during the briefing. "And it's changed because of from everything from a thing called the internet. It's changed because the way in which we have self-identified perspectives what channel you turn on, what network, what cable you look at. It's never quite been like that."

Fox News, which features primetime opinion hosts who routinely attack Biden and his policies, typically dominate the cable news ratings landscape. Recent data from Per Nielsen MRI Fusion also shows more Democrats are watching Fox News during prime time than CNN.

Each of the three major cable news companies, Fox, CNN and MSNBC have poured millions of dollars in recent years into bolstering their streaming services as more Americans cut cable television out of their budgets.

Earlier during his lengthy press conference on Wednesday, Biden took a question from Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy, who he has sparred with before, who asked the president why he was pulling the country "so far to the left. Biden dismissed the question, saying he's not a socialist.

Later in the press conference, a reporter from Newsmax, a small right-leaning network, asked the president about a poll indicating some voters believing he is mentally unfit for office.
By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he has made clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that any Russian movement into Ukraine would be considered an invasion, after he earlier suggested https://www.reuters.com/world/blinken-arrives-berlin-ukraine-talks-with-european-allies-2022-01-20 allies were split over how to react to any "minor incursion."

"I have been absolutely clear with President Putin, he has no misunderstanding. If any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border that is an invasion," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Biden said such an invasion would be met by a "severe and coordinated response, economic response as discussed in details with our allies as laid out very clearly with president Putin."

He added: "But there is no doubt, let there be no doubt at all, that if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price."

Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops on its borders with Ukraine, and Western states fear Moscow is planning a new assault on a country it invaded in 2014. Russia denies this.

Biden said Washington was on the lookout for other scenarios.

"Russia has a long history of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression. Paramilitary tactics, so-called gray zone attacks and action by Russian soldiers not wearing Russian uniforms."

Biden said other potential covert action by Moscow included cyber attacks as well as what he called the deployment of "little green men in uniform."

"We have to be ready to respond to these as well in a decisive and united way with the range of tools at our disposal," Biden added.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Chizui Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
Xi extends sympathies to King of Tonga over volcanic eruption

Xinhua) 08:21, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to King of Tonga Tupou VI over the grave disaster caused by the recent volcanic eruption in the South Pacific island country.

In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn about the volcanic eruption and the resulting tsunami and other grave disasters, which have caused heavy losses.

Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in his own name, extended sincere sympathies to the Tongan government and people.

China and Tonga are comprehensive strategic partners who support and help each other, Xi said, adding that China stands ready to provide as much support as its capacity allows for Tonga to help the Tongan people prevail over the disasters and rebuild their homes.

Also on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message of sympathy to Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Marijuana edibles are becoming increasingly popular, but doctors warn the substances are prone to accidental consumption or may pack too much of a wallop for new users.

Newly released numbers show marijuana overdose-related calls in Illinois jumped significantly after legalization, mainly due to edibles  but remained far below the number of calls for other legal drugs, including alcohol.

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The number of calls to the Illinois Poison Center for cannabis rose from 487 in 2019, to 743 in 2020, the year recreational weed was legalized in the state, and increased again to 855 in 2021.

Many of the calls were for consumption of edibles, officials said. Edible cases more than tripled from 80 cases in 2019 to 450 in 2021.

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Edible cannabis candies (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Looking at the reason for exposure, almost all were unintentional, said Dr. Michael Wahl, medical director of the poison center. People didnt mean to eat them, or didnt know what they were eating.

Most regular consumers of cannabis have a better idea of what to expect and dont call the center, he said.

Many of the calls are for children. Calls to the poison center increased for children 5 and under from 81 in 2019, to 278 in 2021.

Some calls involve visitors, such as grandparents or babysitters, to a home where they came across edibles, Wahl said. About two-thirds of the calls came from health care facilities looking for advice on how to treat marijuana intoxication. Most cases were not severe and were resolved over the phone, but some required hospitalization until the effects wore off.

Symptoms of severe THC poisoning can include respiratory distress, loss of coordination, lethargy and loss of consciousness, or in milder cases, anxiety, paranoia and heart palpitations. The effects depend largely on the amount consumed compared to body weight, which is why children can have more severe reactions.

Edibles avoid the harmful effects on the lungs from smoking pot, but may have more variable amounts of THC, the main psychoactive component in cannabis, and may take an hour or two to fully kick in, prompting some impatient users to take too much. As a result, cannabis companies advocate starting with low doses and taking time to see their effects.

Despite the increases, the number of cannabis-related cases pales in comparison to the thousands of calls for other legal drugs such as pain killers, cleaning products, sedatives and antipsychotics, cosmetics, antidepressants and alcohol.

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Out of more than 80,000 calls to the poison center last year, 33,000 were for children under 5, so cannabis accounted for fewer than 1% of those calls.

Treatment often involves keeping the person calm and under observation, the centers medical director said. All the cannabis patients fully recovered. Much bigger concerns, Wahl said, are drug interactions with alcohol, and the increase in fentanyl poisonings, including in counterfeit pills and in illegal cannabis.

No calls to the poison center involving cannabis have been fatal, but authorities warn that the drug may worsen the effects of other, potentially fatal substances.

Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization, called the increase in cases an emergency.

We need lawmakers to act now to restrict the potency of marijuana products, he wrote in an email, enact education campaigns on the dangerousness of todays marijuana, and limit the influence of the marijuana industry in the state in general.

The poison center doesnt keep track of whether calls were for legal or illegal cannabis. But Pam Althoff, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, said unregulated cannabis products such as hemp-derived Delta-8-THC weed light and the highly potent THC-0 are more concerning than licensed, regulated cannabis, because consumers dont know what theyre getting with such gray-market products sold in gas stations.

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I dont see the need for more regulations (on legal edibles), she said, I see the need for more education.

Despite the increase in cannabis use calls, another fear about legalization causing increased use among teens so far appears to have not panned out.

Adolescent cannabis use nationwide decreased significantly in 2021, according to the 2021 Monitoring the Future survey produced by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The declines in teen drug use overall, thought to be related to restrictions prompted by the COVID pandemic, were the greatest since the survey began in 1975.

In addition, a prominent local treatment center for drug abuse, Rosecrance Health Network, has not seen a marked increase in long-term cannabis use disorder by itself, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tom Wright.

With adults, were noticing the trend that cannabis use tends to be combined with other substances, such as alcohol, he said. We do anticipate a growing need for cannabis treatment as use continues to become more common.

Those who suspect exposure to any harmful substance may call the Illinois Poison Center help line at 1-800-222-1222.

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rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com




President Biden on Wednesday warned that Russia would face "disaster" if it launches a large-scale military invasion of Ukraine but appeared to offer some consolations to offset tensions and avoid all-out war.

"I think what you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does," the president said, signaling the concern over repercussions on the U.S. and its allies if it is forced to impose significant economic sanctions on Russia that are likely to cut it off from the international finance market.

"I want to be clear with you, the serious imposition of sanctions relative to dollar transactions and other things, are things that are going to have a negative impact on the United States, as well as negative impacts on the economies of Europe as well, a devastating impact on Russia," Biden said.

"I've got to make sure everyone's on the same page as we move along."

The president's remarks come as his top aides are carrying out a flurry of diplomacy to ensure the U.S. is united with allies and partners in Europe and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to impose costs on Russia if it takes aggressive action against Ukraine.

"It's very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page and that's what I'm spending a lot of time doing. And there are differences, there are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do depending on what happens, the degree to which they're able to go," Biden said, suggesting that other types of aggression, such as cyberattacks or disinformation campaigns, could be met with a response other than a massive economic sanctions package.

"If they actually do what they're capable of doing, with the forces it's massed on the border, it's going to be a disaster for Russia," the president said. "If they further invade Ukraine ... our allies and partners are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy."

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Biden's top aides have heightened their rhetoric that the risk of a Russian offensive against Ukraine could happen at any time, with Putin having massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's eastern border and moving military hardware to Belarus, which sits on Ukraine's northern border.

The president and his officials have not fully detailed what a package of sanctions on Russia would amount to, but it is said to include sanctioning Russian financial institutions and industries, blocking certain exports from strategic industries, increasing defensive military assistance to Ukraine and sending U.S. troops to bolster NATO forces along its eastern flank with Russia.

Russian officials who have said they do not intend to invade Ukraine, have moved their troops to the border as part of regular military exercises, but also as a means to push back against what they say are security concerns emanating from Ukraine.

Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014 and supports proxy forces in Ukraine's Donbass region in the east over the course of an eight-year war.

The U.S. dismisses Russian allegations that Ukraine is provoking conflict, calling it a disinformation and propaganda campaign, but has emphasized that diplomatic talks can address concerns held in both Washington and Moscow, such as limiting arms deployments on the continent and increased transparency around the size and scope of military exercises.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday in Geneva, following meetings in Ukraine and Germany this week, and that follows three diplomatic engagements between the U.S., European nations and the Russians in Europe last week.

Russia has also issued demands that NATO cease expansion, saying Ukraine's application to the alliance is a direct threat to its security.

Administration officials have roundly rejected closing NATO's so-called open door, but Biden on Wednesday said that Ukraine is not likely to join the alliance in the "near term," given more work the country needs to carry out on fortifying its democracy and whether major allies are willing to vote for its ascent to the alliance.

"So there's room to work if he wants to do that," Biden said, referring to Putin.

"I believe he's calculating what the immediate, short-term and the near-term and the long-term consequences [for] Russia will be and I don't think he's made up his mind yet," the president added.
The Boston Bruins paid tribute to Willie O'Ree -- the first Black player in the NHL -- by retiring his number. O'Ree was also honored by the U.S. House, which voted to award him the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor. Major Garrett has more.
Lawmakers at the State Capitol on Wednesday addressed long wait times when ambulances arrive at issues, a chronic issue worsened by COVID-19 impacts. The Assembly Committee on Emergency Management heard from first responders and hospital representatives from across the state. Panelists discussed the ongoing problem and potential solutions. First responders say they are facing unreasonable delays in turning patients over into the care of hospitals. "We can have upwards of 8 to 10 ambulances sitting at the emergency rooms for upwards of 5 to 8 to 10 hours at a time, waiting for a bed," said Capt. Parker Wilbourn with the Sacramento Metro Fire Department.
A view of the older AES Huntington Beach Generating Station at left and new one at right. It is the site of Poseidon Water's proposed desalination plant, which would draw ocean water through an existing intake pipe. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A California agency voted Wednesday to reserve some of the states limited private-activity bonds for non-housing uses, providing an opportunity for projects such as a private-equity backed train to Las Vegas and a controversial desalination plant to apply for the coveted financing.

At its meeting, the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee in a split vote approved divvying up $4.3 billion of its bond capacity, an amount determined under population-based federal guidelines, mostly to projects that boost affordable housing.

Of that, $510.4 million will go toward qualifying non-housing projects such as the electric railway proposed by a company backed by Fortress Investment Group and Poseidon Waters seawater facility in Huntington Beach that has drawn the ire of environmental groups.

Tony Sertich, representing state Controller Betty Yee on the three-member board, supported giving all of the states allocation to housing because such projects draw additional federal subsidies. Many people, particularly foes of the desalination plant, also pressed the committee for the same, citing the states deepening homelessness and housing affordability crises.

Housing developers are expected to need about $9 billion of bonds this year, far more than whats available.

Still, Gayle Miller, representing Gov. Gavin Newsom, said California has other needs and that no other governor has invested more in housing. She also noted that rail projects that are awarded bonds draw significant federal leverage as well.

Without infrastructure, we cant build more housing, said state Treasurer Fiona Ma, chair of the board. She had initially proposed giving $600 million of the states allotment to non-housing projects but agreed to the Newsom administrations wish to carve out $89.6 million from that amount to go to a housing program for veterans.

Sertich cast the only vote against the measure reserving bonds for non-housing uses.

The committee had previously awarded 15% of its annual bond allotment to the Las Vegas train project from developer Brightline Holdings. But the company failed to entice investors for its September 2020 debt offering. It then pulled an application last year with the intention of reapplying in 2022 while it worked to establish a station closer to Los Angeles, which would make the project more palatable to potential investors.

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Meanwhile, Poseidon Water, which already operates a desalination plant in Carlsbad, is working on another facility to produce 50 million gallons of water daily. It had previously said it would apply for $1.1 billion of the states private-activity bonds.

We are encouraged that California continues to allocate a portion of this limited resource to its Exempt Facilities Program that benefits projects like the Huntington Beach Desalination Facility to help deliver a safe, reliable, climate-resilient water supply to all Californians, Poseidon Water spokesperson Jessica Jones said in an emailed statement.

Ben Porritt, a spokesperson for Brightline, didnt respond to requests for comment.

Since late 2019, demand for the bonds has outstripped what the state can give out. This year, the committee expects requests totaling $13.2 billion, the bulk from housing developers.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Central Bucks School District officials seem unlikely to amend their coronavirus response plan despite a recent letter from Doylestown Health urging action.

Copies of text messages provided by board Director Karen Smith show board President Dana Hunter denying a request for a special meeting, and indicating the majority of the board has no interest in amending the health and safety plan.

"The majority of the board do not want to change the (health and safety plan). The repeated requests to call a special meeting aren't going to change that," Hunter wrote.

This image shows the text from Central Bucks board President Dana Hunter to members Karen Smith, Tabitha Dell'Angelo and Mariam Mahmud saying there is no interest in a special meeting about the health and safety plan.

Board members Tabitha Dell'Angelo and Dr. Mariam Mahmud were included in the joint text message.

Doylestown Health on Friday sent a letter to the board members pushing for an immediate update of the district's health and safety plan, which determines mitigation efforts like mask wearing and quarantine periods.

The board held multiple votes on Jan. 11 to amend its plan after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommended quarantine periods for individuals with confirmed coronavirus cases.

Doylestown Health plea: Doylestown Health urges changes to Central Bucks School District COVID plan as hospital is 'overwhelmed' with cases

Damsker on contact tracing: Is Bucks County Health Department contact tracing for schools? As health board worries about 'misleading' public, Damsker responds

More on CBSD's plan: Central Bucks board rejects new CDC COVID rules, keeps health and safety plan unchanged

The CDC reduced its minimum time out of school or work from 10 days to five, with a requirement that the person must wear a mask for another five days if they return.

Mahmud pointed out the initial draft change proposed last week omitted the CDC's recommendation where it required a mask despite saying the plan was following the national health agency's guidelines.

School board president Dana Hunter and board member Debra Cannon listen to public comment during a Central Bucks school board meeting, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2021.

After Mahmud motioned to update the plan correcting the error and a few other changes, the board voted 6-3 against the draft plan.

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School districts aren't required to follow any health guidelines in their plans, but there have been past requirements that plans have to follow national or state guidelines to receive federal or commonwealth coronavirus aid.

Smith and Dell'Angelo were the only members to vote in favor of the plan, which now currently sets a three-day minimum out of school and allows a return if fever-free for 24 hours with a mask requirement for another four days.

Central Bucks has also allowed masks optional in the district since the state Supreme Court struck down a statewide mandate requiring masks in K-12 schools in December.

Dell'Angelo also motioned to pass the draft as it was originally presented, but removing any references that the district was following the advice of any health agency or department.

That motion was also shot down in an identical 6-3 vote.

In its Friday letter, Doylestown Health officials said that, while COVID-19 in children tends to be mild, the district should follow CDC guidelines to prevent children from catching the virus and bringing it home to more vulnerable family members.

Central Bucks reported on its COVID-19 dashboard 215 cases for the week of Jan. 10 and Jan. 16, a drop from the previous week's count of 259 cases the week prior.

Cases from the first week of 2022 might also include cases confirmed over the winter break, according to information on www.cbsd.org/cases.

Bucks County is currently seeing a sharp decline in COVID-19 cases after a record-breaking streak of infections were reported through early December driven by the omicron variant.

State Department of Health data show Bucks reported 607 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections reported since March 2020 to 113,169 Bucks Countians.

Bucks was reporting four-digit seven-day averages as high as 1,483 cases per day for the week ending Jan. 11, a daily count that is now down to 840 cases per day for the week ending Tuesday.

The 10,381 weekly total seen last Tuesday is currently a pandemic record, possibly showing a tipping point for the latest surge that started over a month ago.

The pandemic has had bursts of peaks and valleys in the past. Cases ebbed and flowed throughout most of early 2021 until the early summer saw case counts drop to just single and double digit totals.

County hospitals are still seeing an increase in patients testing positive for the coronavirus, with the regular hospital bed availability in Bucks at about 18% as of Wednesday morning, according to state data.

There were 239 people hospitalized with the coronavirus, about 30 of them in intensive care units. ICU availability in Bucks is currently around 22%, and about 71% of ventilators in the county are currently unused.

There have been about 253 people hospitalized each day on average over the past two weeks. That daily average 14 days ago was about 160 patients.

Approximately 90 people have died due to the coronavirus over the last 30 days, brining the pandemic death toll to an estimated 1,628 people since March 2020.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks president Dana Hunter shoots down COVID-19 changes
U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that any Russian troop movements across Ukraines border would constitute an invasion, saying that Moscow would pay a heavy price for such an action.

His stark warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin came in remarks from the White House and was another effort to clear up any confusion about the position of the U.S. and its NATO allies after Biden was heavily criticized Wednesday for saying a minor incursion by Russia would elicit a lesser response.

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Ive been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding: Any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion, Biden said. Let there be no doubt at all if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price.

His comments came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to meet Friday in Geneva with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a high-stakes bid to ease tensions that appears likely to fail.

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On Wednesday, Biden said he thinks Moscow will invade and warned Putin that his country would pay a dear price in lives lost and a possible cutoff from the global banking system if it does.

But Biden also prompted consternation among allies after saying the response to a Russian invasion depends on what it does. Its one thing if its a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, he said.

Biden said Thursday that Russia has a long history of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression -- paramilitary tactics, so-called gray zone attacks and actions by Russian soldiers not wearing Russian uniforms.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among those expressing concern about Bidens minor incursion remark.

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones, he tweeted.

Earlier, Blinken warned in Berlin that there would be a swift, severe response from the United States and its allies if Russia sent any military forces into Ukraine.

If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe, united response from the United States and our allies and partners, Blinken told a news conference with his German counterpart.

Later, Blinken accused Russia of threatening the foundations of world order with its buildup of an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine. He said Russia must face a concerted and severe global response if it invades.

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His speech came in Berlin, the city that symbolized the Cold War split between East and West, as Blinken prepares to meet Friday in Geneva with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a high-stakes bid to ease tensions that appears likely to fail.

These are difficult issues we are facing, and resolving them wont happen quickly, Blinken said. I certainly dont expect well solve them in Geneva tomorrow.

He said Russias actions toward Ukraine are an attempt to subvert international norms and just the latest in a string of Moscows violations of numerous treaties, agreements and other commitments it has made to respect the sovereignty and territory of other countries.

To allow Russia to violate those principles with impunity would drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent - and this city - were split in two, separated by no-mans-lands patrolled by soldiers, with the threat of all-out war hanging heavily over everyones lives, Blinken told an audience at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. It would also send a message to others around the world that these principles are expendable.

We will not treat the principles of sovereignty or territorial integrity as negotiable, he said, adding that the situation is bigger than a conflict between two countries, and its bigger than a clash between Russia and NATO. Its a crisis with global consequences. And it requires global attention and action.

The speech came after Blinken and top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met in Berlin to project a united front over concerns that Russia may be planning to invade Ukraine. A day earlier, he met Ukraines president in Kyiv.

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Blinken took pains Thursday to stress the U.S. and its partners were united, noting that American diplomats have held more than 100 meetings with allies in recent weeks to ensure that we are speaking and acting together with one voice when it comes to Russia.

That unity gives us strength, a strength I might add that Russia does not and cannot match, he said. Its why we build voluntary alliances and partnerships in the first place. Its also why Russia recklessly seeks to divide us.

Russia denies it is planning an invasion and, in turn, accused the West of plotting provocations in Ukraine, citing the delivery of weapons to the country by British military transports in recent days.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged Ukrainian and Western talk of an imminent Russian attack was a cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character.

Russia wants binding security guarantees, including a permanent prohibition on Ukrainian membership in NATO, to which Kyiv aspires, and the removal of most of the U.S. and allied military presence in eastern Europe.

The U.S. and its European partners say they are willing to consider certain less-dramatic gestures but that the Russian demands are out of the question and that Putin knows they are nonstarters. That, Blinken said, is proof of Putins ulterior motive.

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So far, our good-faith gestures have been rebuffed - because, in truth, this crisis is not primarily about weapons or military bases, he said. Its about the sovereignty and self-determination of Ukraine and other post-Soviet states. And at its core, its about Russias rejection of a post-Cold War Europe that is whole and free.

Russia on Thursday announced sweeping naval maneuvers through February, some apparently in the Black Sea, involving over 140 warships and more than 60 aircraft. Separately, Spains defense minister said the country was sending two warships to the Black Sea with NATO approval.

Amid concerns that Putin may not be moved by threats of sanctions and that an invasion will not draw as strong an international response as the U.S. believes is warranted, Blinken made a direct appeal to the Russian people to oppose any intervention.

You deserve to live with security and dignity, like all people everywhere, and no one - not Ukraine, not the United States, not the countries of NATO - is seeking to jeopardize that. But what really risks your security is a pointless war with your neighbors in Ukraine, with all the costs that come with it - most of all, for the young people who will risk or even give their lives to it, he said.

The U.S. and its NATO allies face a difficult task on Ukraine. Biden has said he is not planning to send combat troops in the case of a further Russian invasion. But he could pursue less-dramatic yet still risky military options, including supporting a post-invasion Ukrainian resistance.

The rationale for not directly joining a Russia-Ukraine war is simple. The U.S. has no treaty obligation to Ukraine, and war with Russia would be an enormous gamble. But doing too little has risks, too.

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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed.
Ed Lydic cooks eggs Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, during the monthly breakfast at Damascus United Methodist Church. The church accepts donations for the breakfast to sponsor a Summer 2022 mission trip. The trip will assist Jackson Area Ministries in Jackson, Ohio.

Monthly breakfasts that Damascus United Methodist Church and Middle Sandy Presbyterian Church conduct at the Damascus church welcome in Alliance-area residents for a meal and a means to raise money to help fund a summer mission trip. The churches work together to cook eggs to order, pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast and coffee. The meal is open to all, and the cost is donation only. The 2022 mission trip will be to work with Jackson Area Ministries in Jackson, Ohio. The churches conduct the breakfast the third Saturday of each month at 300 Valley Road in Damascus.

Joseph Sprague cooks pancakes during the monthly breakfast Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, at Damascus United Methodist Church. The church accepts donations for the breakfast to sponsor a summer mission trip. The trip will assist Jackson Area Ministries in Jackson, Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Churches serve up fundraiser for summer mission
Officers responded to Montgomery Road at Colonial Ridge Court around 3:15 p.m. and found a man shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
A website that allows businesses, entrepreneurs and community groups to apply for a portion of the city's $76 million share of American Rescue Plan funds is now up and running.

The site, which also allows potential applicants to assess their eligibility for funding, can be accessed directly at https://bit.ly/3KsPwVl or via the "American Rescue Plan" link on the homepage of the city of Erie's website.

Nearly $10 million in grants, loans and other financial assistance is being made available via the city's Department of Economic and Community Development to assist those who were adversely impacted by COVID-19.

Framework: Erie to launch application process for nearly $10 million in ARP funds

The ARP allocations were previously approved by Erie City Council.

The funding includes:

$2.15 million for grants for various community development projects.

$2 million to help fund large-scale affordable housing developments. The projects must involve five or more housing units.

$2 million for refinancing/restructuring debt related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

$1 million in grants for technical assistance.

$1 million for a small business diversity loan program.

$1 million to provide additional capital for the Flagship Fund, a city grant program that assists small businesses.

$500,000 for financial relief grants for restaurants and entertainment-related businesses.

City relief: Schember eyes $17 million in COVID funds to aid Erie restaurants, businesses, spur development

The website also includes information about how the city plans to spend its overall $76 million allocation from the $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan stimulus bill, signed into law last year by President Joe Biden to aid in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayor Joe Schember has asked Erie City Council to sign off on using roughly $53 million of that money for various projects focused on blight; housing rehabilitation, assisting businesses and entrepreneurs; funding environmental cleanups; public safety/police hiring; improving parks/creating new green space, and a host of other initiatives.

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Most of those requests have been approved by City Council.

Erie Refocused after 5 years: Comprehensive plan forges belief in 'better days ahead'

The city will begin accepting applications for other ARP-related grants/assistance, including money for various housing programs, in the next few weeks. Those applications will be processed via the city's Redevelopment Authority.

Anyone seeking more information can call Jennifer Hoffman, the city's business development officer, at 814-870-1275.

Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: City of Erie ARP application website goes live; $10 million available
Jan. 20Businesses in Clark County with 100 or more employees are assessing their COVID-19 policies as a federal vaccine-or-test mandate that would have impacted them has been recently stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The federal mandate, that would have been enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, would have required private companies with 100 or more people to either require their employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or participate in weekly testing.

However, a vaccination requirement for health care workers at facilities receiving federal money was upheld and that mandate is to be implemented.

The court's ruling regarding non health care workers will allow those employers to dictate for themselves on whether or not a vaccine requirement is necessary, said Ross McGregor, president of Springfield manufacturer Pentaflex.

"The government needs to let each of those businesses develop and implement a response that is catered to their particular situation as it relates to COVID," McGregor said.

"It should be up to the individual businesses and not mandated by a governmental entity," he said, noting that not every business is dealing with the same situation under COVID.

Some workplaces have enforced social distancing measures or the nature of their work allows for those policies to be more effective, while others, that are able to, have resorted to remote work.

The Ohio Manufacturing Association (OMA) applauded the court's ruling.

"Our association has continuously supported employers' rights to determine their own workplace policies with respect to COVID-19 vaccination," the OMA said. "The court's ruling reaffirms that private businesses are in the best position to decide what measures make the most sense to protect their workforces and company operations."

For Pentaflex, the spacing of employees and the layout of the workplace allows for social distancing and measures have been taken to minimize the grouping of employees, especially in the break room, said McGregor.

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He said employees are encouraged to get the vaccine as well as wear a mask in the workplace. However those measure are not required.

Roughly 57% of employees are vaccinated and McGregor said that the company has been working to accommodate as well as help facilitate those appointments for those who wish to receive a vaccine.

Pentaflex has 103 employees. Roughly 10 of those employees are classified as temporary labor, putting the company's official personnel under 100.

But, McGregor said that those numbers often fluctuate and that puts the company at the cusp of potentially being required to follow the federal mandate if it is enforced.

He said that there have been some disruptions due to some employees testing positive for COVID and not being at work as result. However, it has not interfered with the company's ability to support customers.

McGregor said if it that does become a problem, he would have to consider requiring the vaccine.

Currently, those who were out with COVID have to wear a mask for a marked period of time when returning to work, per guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.

Other manufacturer's such as Topre America have also decided to continue on with the policy of strongly encouraging employees to get vaccinated, while not making it a requirement.

Topre has a facility in Springfield that employs roughly 600 people and makes auto parts. The company has nine facilities in the country and it operates in four states.

"We are trying to be respectful of everyone's decision and thought process. There is a sector of the workforce that does not want to get vaccinated. We do not want to infringe on their rights and their personal choices," said Brad Pepper, executive vice president of Topre America.

The company has kept track of the percentage of employees at its facilities that are vaccinated. However, Pepper declined to share that information. He previous stated that they would be in good shape if the mandate was enacted.

Pepper said that employees are encouraged to be safe and how the Springfield facility operates allows for social distancing. Plexiglass partitions have also been set up at workstations.

He said that mask wearing is optional, but is encouraged by the company. Topre is also working to prevent large gatherings inside the work place.

Talks surrounding vaccine mandates come at a time when COVID cases and hospitalizations have surged, with omicron becoming the dominant variant. That has lead to some companies to mitigate between COVID safety measures, while also pondering whether or not to enforce a vaccine mandate.

"For the most part our businesses have done a good job in handling the latest surge the omicron variant has brought to our area and (they) continue to operate as normal as possible," said Mike McDorman, president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Partnership.

For those able to resort to remote work, he said it has given businesses a better chance of navigating any further spikes in cases or mandates that might be enacted.

"Many of our larger businesses are still offering remote work opportunities to their employees, especially those who are considered at risk," McDorman said.

Assurant, which is a global provider of risk management products and services, still has the majority of its Springfield employees working from home.

Assurant has a Springfield location that employs roughly 1,600 people. Those working in the office are to follow safety protocols such as mask-wearing and social distancing, Linda Recupero, a spokesperson for the company previously stated.
CHICAGO  The Minnesota Attorney General's Office filed a consumer-protection lawsuit Wednesday against a nationwide chain of coronavirus testing sites for "deceptive and fraudulent practices."

The suit alleges the Illinois-based Center for COVID Control and its primary lab, Doctors Clinical Lab, collected samples from Minnesotans for coronavirus testing but either failed to deliver test results or delivered test results that were false or inaccurate, according to the complaint reviewed by USA TODAY.

The company and its lab "provide inaccurate and deceptive test result information to Minnesota consumers and have fraudulently reported negative test results to consumers that never completed COVID-19 tests," according to the complaint. Some test results listed "the wrong test type and false dates and times for when samples were collected from consumers," the complaint said.

In the Peoria area, there were three locations previously listed on the company's website: 4410 N. Knoxville Ave. and 8847 N. Knoxville Ave. in Peoria, and 252 E. Washington St. in East Peoria.

THEY GOT RICH OFF 'COVID MONEY': Now they're under investigation

The Center for COVID Control, which says it has more than 300 locations nationwide and collects more than 80,000 tests a day, is also under investigation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This suite at 4410 N. Knoxville Ave. in Peoria is one of three testing sites in the area run by the Center for COVID Control, a national company under investigation.

The Oregon Department of Justice is investigating the company on suspicion of Unfair Trade Practices Act violations. Multiple state health departments, as well as a coalition of regional Better Business Bureau offices, are looking into the company.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has documented numerous "deficiencies" at the company's main lab, Doctors Clinical Lab, which has been reimbursed more than $124 million from the federal government's COVID-19 uninsured program, according to public data. Private health insurers also paid the lab.

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The Center for COVID Control "is owned and/or managed" by Illinois residents Akbar Syed and Aleya Siyaj, the complaint says. In recent months, the couple has purchased a number of luxury vehicles and a $1.36 million mansion.

A Center for COVID Control spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

The Minnesota complaint jointly charges the company and lab on four counts, including false advertising, failure to obtain a certificate of authority from the Minnesota secretary of state and multiple violations of the Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Center for COVID Control Complaint by Grace Hauck on Scribd

According to the complaint, Center for COVID Control and Doctors Clinical Lab staff "represented to the federal government that Minnesota consumers with private or public insurance were actually uninsured."

The company and lab instructed employees to examine consumers' reported insurance information and to select the appropriate insurance from a drop-down menu with a limited list of companies, including a "default" option of "uninsured," according to the complaint.

The drop-down menu did not contain "most, if not all" Minnesota insurance companies, so the company and lab instructed employees to simply select "uninsured," which the company and lab used to support submitting a claim to the federal government for reimbursement, according to the complaint.

"Defendants, through owner Siyaj, instructed employees to 'streamline' data entry by entering the name of a patient and immediately hit a series of keys that would input defaults for the remaining entries, including defaulting a patients insurance information to 'uninsured,'" the complaint says.

A Center for COVID Control site offers free testing for the coronavirus on Chicago's North Side on Jan. 2.

The company and lab's director of operations also instructed employees to "begin falsely post-dating samples, in order to make them appear to be more recent than they actually were, and to continue sending such samples to the lab for processing," the complaint says.

"If a consumer called multiple times, employees were instructed to falsely tell consumers that the test result had been inconclusive and that they needed to take another test," the complaint says, allowing the company and labs to bill for the test and to encourage patients to take another test for the company to bill.

The complaint includes several reports of people receiving test results without ever taking a test. One account alleges a person filled out the testing sites online form Jan. 2 but left the site before getting tested because the line was too long. That night, the person received an email with the results of a rapid antigen test, which were negative.

More: How does omicron differ from earlier COVID-19 variants? We look at symptoms, risk and more

The Minnesota Attorney General's Office is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, fees and restitution and disgorgement for Minnesota consumers, Assistant Attorney General Jason Pleggenkuhle said in a news conference Wednesday.

"Even though these were free sites, there are out-of-pocket losses for Minnesota consumers," Pleggenkuhle said. "Lots of consumers we've heard from had to go obtain tests elsewhere, sometimes paying for tests elsewhere, missing work because they can't show up at work. So there's additional restitution for consumers at issue in the case."

The Center for COVID Control's principal and mailing address is in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The company says it "primarily uses" Doctors Clinical Lab as a clinical testing vendor partner. According to public records, the lab is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the same Rolling Meadows address.

The Illinois Attorney General's Office has acknowledged receiving complaints about the Center for COVID Control but has not filed a complaint.

The Center for COVID Control launched in 2020. The company began offering pop-up testing sites in Minnesota in late fall 2021, according to the complaint. There were at least eight sites operating in Minnesota, Assistant Attorney General Noah Lewellen said.

The Minnesota Department of Health began receiving complaints in December, and the department "observed that it had not received any COVID-19 test results" from the company or lab, the complaint says.

"We brought action as quickly as we could," Pleggenkuhle said.

Last week, the company announced a nationwide "one-week pause on all operations," running through Friday, Jan. 21. In Minnesota, the company is switching to only providing rapid antigen tests at home for self-testing, Lewellen said. The Minnesota Attorney General's Office "will monitor the situation to see if that changes," he said.

The office would not comment on if a criminal investigation is pending.

"Here's what I will tell you: We are investigating all avenues for accountability," Attorney General Keith Ellison said.

Ellison thanked Minnesota residents for coming forward with complaints, as well as the media for "shedding light" on the situation.

"I want to encourage people who know or who have information about these companies to continue to come forward, whether you are a consumer or former employee," Ellison said.

Told about the complaint Wednesday, Christina Morales, 29, a former Center for COVID Control employee who spoke with USA TODAY about her time working at the main office, said, "Finally."

"I am glad people are speaking out and understand how serious this is," Morales said.

If you have more information about the Center for COVID Control or Doctors Clinical Lab, contact reporter Grace Hauck at ghauck@usatoday.com. People can also contact the Minnesota Attorney General's Office at 651-296-3353.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawsuit: COVID Control lab behind Peoria tests faked results
BERLIN  A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germanys Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVIs handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said Benedict strongly denies any wrongdoing.

The findings, though, were sure to reignite criticism of Benedicts record more than a decade after the first, and until Thursday only, known case involving him was made public.

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The archdiocese commissioned the report from law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl nearly two years ago, with a mandate to look into abuse between 1945 and 2019 and whether church officials handled allegations correctly. The law firm examined church files and spoke to witnesses.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sits in St. Peter's Basilica as he attends the ceremony marking the start of the Holy Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

The archdiocese and the law firm said that top church officials were not informed of the results ahead of its publication. The current archbishop  Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a prominent reformist ally of Pope Francis  was faulted in two cases. Marx scheduled a statement later Thursday.

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Marxs predecessors include the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who served in Munich from 1977 to 1982 before becoming the head of the Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later being elected as pope. Benedict gave extensive written testimony for the report.

In a total of four cases, we came to the conclusion that the then-archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger, can be accused of misconduct, said one of the reports authors, Martin Pusch.

Two of those cases, he said, involved perpetrators who offended while he was in office and were punished by the judicial system but were kept in pastoral work without express limits on what they were allowed to do. No action was ordered under canon law.

In a third case, a cleric who had been convicted by a court outside Germany was put into service in the Munich archdiocese and the circumstances speak for Ratzinger having known of the priests previous history, Pusch said.

When the church abuse scandal first flared in Germany in 2010, attention swirled around another case: that of a pedophile priest whose transfer to Munich to undergo therapy was approved under Ratzinger in 1980.

The priest was allowed to resume pastoral work, a decision that the church has said was made by a lower-ranking official without consulting the archbishop. In 1986, the priest received a suspended sentence for molesting a boy.

Another of the reports authors, Ulrich Wastl, said Benedicts claim not to have attended a meeting in 1980 in which the priests transfer to Munich was discussed lacks credibility.

In all cases, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI strictly denies any wrongdoing on his part, Pusch said, and the retired pontiff cites largely lack of knowledge of the facts and a lack of relevance under canon and criminal law. But he added that the assertions of lack of knowledge were sometimes hard to reconcile with the contents of church files.

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The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the Holy See would hold off comment until it had read the report in full and could give the contents careful and detailed examination.

In reiterating shame and remorse for abuses committed by clerics against minors, the Holy See expresses its closeness to all victims and reaffirms the efforts undertaken to protect minors and ensure safe environments for them, he said in an emailed statement.

Benedicts former spokesman declined to comment in advance, deferring any response to the Munich archdiocese.

Benedicts legacy as pope had already been colored by the global eruption in 2010 of the sex abuse scandal, even though as a Vatican cardinal he was responsible for turning around the Vaticans approach to the issue.

Benedict gained a global and firsthand knowledge of the scope of the problem when he took over at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1982, after his time in Munich. Ratzinger took the then-revolutionary decision in 2001 to assume responsibility for processing those cases after he realized bishops around the world werent punishing abusers but were just moving them from parish to parish where they could rape again.

Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, who was Munichs archbishop from 1982 until Marx took over in 2008, was faulted over his handling of 21 cases. Pusch said he also denies wrongdoing.

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The report runs to nearly 1,900 pages, including annexes among which are Benedicts written responses, redacted to black out names.

It points to at least 497 abuse victims over the decades and at least 235 suspected perpetrators, though the authors said that in reality there were probably many more.

In an extraordinary gesture last year, Marx offered to resign over the Catholic Churchs catastrophic mishandling of clergy sexual abuse cases, declaring that the scandals had brought the church to a dead end.

Francis swiftly rejected the offer but said a process of reform was necessary and that every bishop must take responsibility for the catastrophe of the abuse crisis.

In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys.

In recent months, turbulence in the Cologne archdiocese over officials handling of abuse allegations has convulsed the German church. A report last year found that the archbishop of Hamburg, a former Cologne church official, neglected his duty in several cases in handling such allegations, but Francis rejected his resignation offer.

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That report cleared Colognes archbishop of wrongdoing, but Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelkis handling of the issue infuriated many Catholics. In September, the pope gave Woelki a several-month spiritual timeout after what the Vatican called major errors of communication.

___

Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.
In October, conservative activist Christopher Rufo wrote an article on the website of City Journal, a magazine of the Manhattan Institute. Walmart vs. Whiteness alleged that the nations largest employer puts on diversity workshops that denounce the United States as a white supremacy system.

Outraged readers fired off nearly 5,000 emails to CEO Doug McMillon in an email campaign organized by the nonprofit New Tolerance Campaign.

This is a politically charged issue for some, McMillon replied to one consumer, but he said he stood by the training, citing Walmarts commitment to becoming a more inclusive company.

As part of that commitment, we have had sessions for our leaders and salaried managers that encourage reflection on the history of race in the U.S. and systemic issues that Black and African American communities have faced, McMillon said. We have found those conversations to be constructive and thought-provoking. We dont always agree with every comment made by every participant in a session or endorse every view on a PowerPoint slide produced by others, but the experience has been a net positive for us as we strive to create more opportunities for everyone.

Its not just Walmart. America's culture wars have come to cubicles and corner offices across the country.

From critical articles in right-leaning publications to legislation in statehouses, conservatives are taking aim at how racism is taught, not just in schools but in private companies. Their rallying cry: critical race theory.

What is critical race theory?

In the 1970s and 1980s, a group of legal scholars including Kimberle Crenshaw and Derrick Bell began researching why racism against Black people and other underrepresented groups persisted despite anti-discrimination laws. They came up with an academic framework, and Crenshaw coined a term for it: critical race theory.

In short, critical race theory, or CRT, examines the role race and racism in U.S. law and institutions plays in the unequal treatment of Black people from slavery and Jim Crow to today.

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Usually, it's taught in graduate courses, not in workplace diversity training. But in recent years, activists, media personalities and strategists redefined critical race theory as a conservative talking point, alleging it teaches that white people are inherently racist and turning it into a mainstream powder keg.

Critical race theory is the idea that the United States is a fundamentally racist country and that all of our institutions including the law, culture, business, the economy are all designed to maintain white supremacy, Rufo told the Heritage Foundation.

Leading the charge against critical race theory are conservative think tanks.

As a White House official, Russell Vought wrote a memo warning federal agencies that President Donald Trump wanted them to cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions."

Today, he runs the Center for Renewing America. He says corporations are using their human resources departments and boardrooms "to impose this radicalism in all private workplaces."

Former Trump White House official Russ Vought and his conservative think tank, the Center for Renewing America, have helped draft legislation targeting critical race theory in the workplace.

Corporations are "the main ambassadors of the state-endorsed wokeism that is ripping apart our country along racial lines," Vought said in a recent speech at Hillsdale College.

He has called on states and the federal government to strip "woke" corporations of tax breaks and other government benefits and he has worked with states on how to restrict how corporations talk to employees about racism.

Florida may allow employees to sue over critical race theory

While most legislation focuses on education, more than a handful of states including New Hampshire, Iowa and Texas have introduced or passed bills that put limits on how employees of state and local agencies or school districts and, in some cases, employees of government contractors are taught about racism.

The bills generally use language banning divisive concepts such as an individual, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.

Now Republicans are stepping up pressure on the private sector.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made battling critical race theory one of his top legislative priorities. In December, he urged the states GOP-led legislature to pass legislation against it in the workplace.

Following DeSantis' lead, the Republican majority on the state Senate Education Committee this week advanced a measure that would allow workers to sue their employers if they feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin. It does not explicitly mention critical race theory.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

How is it not a hostile work environment to be attacking people based on their race or telling them that they are privileged or that they are part of oppressive systems when all they are doing is showing up to work and trying to earn a living? DeSantis told supporters at a campaign-style event last month at which Rufo spoke. We believe this corporate CRT is basically corporate-sanctioned racism.

State Senate Democrats argued the proposed legislation would lead to frivolous lawsuits and accused DeSantis, a possible 2024 presidential candidate who is up for reelection this year, of "fanning the flames of a culture war for political gain."

Rufo praised DeSantis as a trailblazer. He's preparing a bold new agenda to fight racialist abuse, Rufo said in an email to USA TODAY, and, no doubt, all of the other red state governors are watching.

Critical race theory 'bogeyman' after George Floyd murder

Rashawn Ray, a sociology professor and executive director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research at the University of Maryland, calls the legislation "an all-out assault on companies."

Its straight out of Trumps playbook when he put a halt to these types of diversity and bias trainings during his administration. Republicans at the state level are simply trying to follow that playbook and they are turning their attention to companies," Ray said. Critical race theory is just the bogeyman here. They are attacking any sort of pursuit to do diversity, equity, or inclusion work.

Critical race theory first became a flashpoint for conservatives in 1993 when President Bill Clinton withdrew his nomination of legal scholar Lani Guinier to lead the Justice Departments civil rights division after conservative critics claimed she championed a radical school of thought called critical race theory.

Ray says the controversy resurfaced following the murder of George Floyd as companies across the country engaged in the biggest racial equity push since civil rights legislation and federal regulation first opened doors for Black workers in the 1960s and 1970s.

 "Critical race theory is just the bogeyman here. They are attacking any sort of pursuit to do diversity, equity, or inclusion work," said Rashawn Ray, a sociology professor and executive director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research at the University of Maryland. 

A USA TODAY analysis of the hiring records from 83 companies in the Standard & Poors 100  a group of the nation's largest and most highly valued companies  showed that Black and Hispanic workers are underrepresented in the highest-paying and most influential positions, as well as in the ranks of professionals, such as lawyers and marketers. At the lower levels of organizations, they are concentrated  and often overrepresented  in roles such as administrative assistants, technicians and laborers.

With the nation becoming less white and more studies showing that diversity gives companies a competitive edge, corporate America says it has prioritized hiring and promoting more workers from underrepresented backgrounds and begun holding antiracism training.

Some employees reject 'racialized' training

Companies say that training is vital to building inclusive work cultures that are welcoming of people of all races and backgrounds. But it doesn't sit well with everyone.

In October, a former employee of American Express filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Brian Netzel, who was a client manager in Phoenix, said he was told he was being fired for posting memes on his Facebook page. The truth, he alleged, is that he was fired, in part, for voicing objections to "racialized" workplace training.

The tone and tenor of the trainings and the policies instituted by AmEx established a clear narrative: That America was, and remains today, systemically racist; that employees have to view each others race, first and foremost, when interacting with each other  the reason being that white employees all harbor some form of bigotry, regardless of whether they agree with this or not; and that any dissent from this established narrative would not be tolerated, Netzel said in his complaint against American Express.

American Express said the complaint has no merit.

"We have a longstanding commitment to living our company values, which include fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where all colleagues feel welcome and heard and have equal opportunities to thrive," American Express said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Our diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are singularly about upholding this commitment."

The National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, a conservative shareholder activist organization, is pushing a shareholder resolution that would require American Express to turn over employee training materials or submit to a "workplace nondiscrimination audit." American Express rejected the proposal. The Free Enterprise Project is appealing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

University of Marylands Ray says Republicans hold only so much sway over the private sector.

Companies have the autonomy to do what they see fit, he said. It will be up to corporations to stand their ground. It will be interesting to see the ones who do and the ones who dont.

Trump fired first salvo on critical race theory

Rufo is widely credited with turning critical race theory into a catchall phrase for terms such as white privilege and systemic racism. He says he began using it as shorthand because political correctness was too dated, cancel culture too vacuous and woke too broad.

Critical race theory, he told the New Yorker magazine, is the perfect villain.

Strung together, the phrase critical race theory connotes hostile, academic, divisive, race-obsessed, poisonous, elitist, anti-American, he said.

In the summer of 2020, an employee of the city of Seattle tipped Rufo to an anti-bias training session that divided employees up by race.

Under the banner of antiracism, Seattles Office of Civil Rights is now explicitly endorsing principles of segregationism, group-based guilt, and race essentialism  ugly concepts that should have been left behind a century ago, he wrote.

Soon more reader tips flowed into his inbox. That September, Rufo called on Trump to ban critical race theory during an appearance on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight.

What Ive discovered is that critical race theory has become, in essence, the default ideology of the federal bureaucracy and is now being weaponized against the American people, Rufo told Carlson.

Rufo got Trumps attention. Two days later, the White House Office of Management and Budget under Vought issued a memo instructing federal agencies to identify all contracts or other spending on critical race training or training that suggests that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.

A Trump executive order soon followed, banning federal agencies and government contractors from spreading divisive, anti-American propaganda that the U.S. is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

The executive order sent chills through the private sector. Corporations with government contracts worried that the diversity training they offer employees might run afoul of the new rules.

Asked about his executive order during the first debate of the presidential election, Trump said: "They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place, its a racist place. And they were teaching people to hate our country. And Im not gonna allow that to happen."

Then-Democratic-nominee Joe Biden responded: Nobodys doing that.

Ultimately, a California federal court blocked Trump's executive order and Biden overturned it shortly after taking office.

CVS Health, Verizon criticized for 'woke' training

Rufo was undaunted. For months, hes been publishing a popular series on woke capital at the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, where he is a contributing editor.

In September, for example, Rufo reported that CVS Health forced employees to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities then rank themselves according to their privilege. New Tolerance Campaign urged consumers to sound off to CEO Karen Lynch. The campaign generated more than 1,000 messages. CVS Health declined to comment.

Christopher Rufo

Other Rufo reports include:

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin sent executives to a retreat to deconstruct their white male privilege.

Walt Disney recommended that employees participate in reparations and decolonize their bookshelves.

Verizon advocated for defunding the police.

Google taught employees that all Americans are raised to be racist.

American Express believes that capitalism is racist.

While some companies declined to comment on his reports, others took sharp exception.

Walt Disney accused Rufo of distorting documents to make them appear as if they reflected company policy when in fact their purpose was to allow diversity of thought and discussion on the incredibly complex and challenging issues of race and discrimination that we as a society and companies nationwide are facing.

Verizon said Rufo quoted from panel discussions Verizon hosted about the social unrest following Floyds killing. In one session, a guest speaker called for more police resources to be diverted to community groups. The opinions of guest speakers do not reflect the opinions of Verizon, the company said.

The article alleged that Verizon supports defunding the police, Verizon said. This is completely false and absolutely absurd.

American Express CEO Steve Squeri replied this way to one concerned cardholder: I would be concerned as well if any of this was actually true.

Rufo told USA TODAY that he stands by his reporting.

Will businesses halt antiracism training?

With GOP critical race theory measures hijacking the national conversation about racial inequality, will the pressure campaign put a stop to antiracism training in the workplace? Evelyn Carter, president of diversity firm Paradigm, doesn't think so.

Paradigm fielded a handful of inquiries when the Trump administration issued its executive order in 2020 and a couple more last year when the national conversation about critical race theory heated up.

They listened to our answers, and it did not deter them from working with us, Carter said.

Evelyn Carter, president of diversity firm Paradigm

She says Republicans are ginning up unfounded fears by deliberately misrepresenting the intent and content of diversity, equity and inclusion training to stop people from having these conversations in the workplace because they are scary, because they are threatening and because they cast a light on some of the darkest parts of American and global history.

But the strategy isn't working, Carter said. Corporations are committed to this work. And if they aren't, she said, they should be.

In 2020, when many organizations made the public statements they want to be antiracist organizations, they made a commitment to the public and they made a commitment to their employees  particularly their Black employees and their employees of color  to do better, Carter said. So when there is a conversation about: Should we be doing these kinds of trainings or should we be having conversations, your employees of color are watching for how you navigate it.

Because this work is going to be challenging. And, if all it takes is for someone to tell you that you shouldnt be doing it because its hard, you are doing a disservice to the people who put their trust in you to do better by them. I really want to encourage organizations and leaders to stick with it.

Have you attended critical race training at work?

Have you attended antiracism or racial sensitivity training at work? USA TODAY is working on stories about workplace diversity training. Share your thoughts on the form below. If you don't see a form, click here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Critical race theory: GOP targets Google, Walmart and Disney training
The 5th District Court of Appeal on Wednesday ruled Tower Theatre in Fresno acted in bad faith by not revealing its proposed sale price to one of its tenants objecting to the sale.

Three judges in the case ruled the theaters owners did not disclose the sale price to the owners of Sequoia Brewery and then exaggerated the price to try to keep Sequoia from protesting the sale.

In the ruling, the judges also said Tower Theatres owners are responsible for any relevant attorneys fees accumulated by Sequoia.

The ruling reinforces a legal label called lis pendens on the theater, which legal experts say makes the property less appealing to buyers. The label notes the building is caught up in a legal battle.

Sequoias owners have argued their contract with the theater gives them the right to refuse a sale and to purchase the property themselves. The theaters owners had been in talks with Adventure Community Church for a sale that was not properly disclosed to Sequoia, the court wrote.

Sequoias attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.

Theater owner Laurence Abbate has signaled he would pull the Tower Theatre off the market and not sell to Adventure Community Church, according to a legal filing from April 6. But he has also said publicly he intends to sell to the church.

The sale has been controversial.

The ultimate fate for the 81-year-old theater and other properties around it remains unclear.

The owners attorney, David Camenson, said Wednesday he had not yet read the latest court finding and did not comment on a potential appeal. I cant comment on it at this time, he said.

The proposed sale to Adventure Church has set off weekly protests outside Tower Theatre, where the church has held services on Sundays.

In a separate legal battle, a Fresno County judge granted the city of Fresno access to the Tower Theatre to conduct an inspection of the historical building, which the owners had protested.
Dakota Johnson and Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network." Sony Pictures Releasing

Dakota Johnson said that "The Social Network" costar Jesse Eisenberg "didn't acknowledge" her on set.

In a conversation with Andrew Garfield for Vanity Fair, Johnson said perhaps the star was "in character."

Johnson played a Stanford student and Eisenberg starred as Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film.

Dakota Johnson said that her costar Jesse Eisenberg ignored her when she joined him and Andrew Garfield for lunch on the set of "The Social Network."

"You and Jesse were so busy on that movie and I was obviously in for four seconds," Johnson, who had a minor role in the 2010 film, told Garfield in a new conversation for Vanity Fair. "And I remember sitting down with you guys when you were having lunch one day."

Johnson recalled Garfield, who had a breakthrough performance as Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, asking her "loads of questions" during their interaction.

"You were really nice," she said.

"And Jesse didn't acknowledge me," Johnson continued. "He was probably in character."

In response, Garfield said that Eisenberg, who portrayed Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg, "was probably overwhelmed by"

"my beauty," Johnson chimed in.

Dakota Johnson in "The Social Network." Sony Pictures Releasing

David Fincher's "The Social Network" marked the second film role for Johnson, the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. In her conversation with Garfield, the star said that she was "so nervous" about her part.

Johnson appeared in one scene opposite Justin Timberlake, who starred as Napster cofounder Sean Parker. She portrayed a French major at Stanford who went by Amy rather than her full name, Amelia Ritter.

Sean discovered Facebook  then known as TheFacebook  through Amy, who called the social networking site "freakishly addictive." He later arranged a meeting with Mark and Eduardo, and suggested that they drop "The" and refer to their site as "Facebook."

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Garfield, for his part, has spoken highly of Eisenberg over the years.

The "Amazing Spider-Man" actor previously voiced his adoration of his costar in a featurette for Moviefone. And in a 2021 video as part of BuzzFeed's thirst tweets series, Garfield mentioned his "love for Jesse Eisenberg and the relationship that we created" for "The Social Network."

A representative for Jesse Eisenberg didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Henderson County Commissions met Jan. 18 to begin planning the county's $178 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Commissioners began planning the county's upcoming $178 million budget on Jan. 19, hearing that debt is falling off, and savings are piling up as it weighs capital projects that could cost the county upwards of $150 million.

At the Henderson County Board of Commissioners budget retreat, County Manager John Mitchell pointed out that halfway through the current fiscal year, the county's expenditures and revenues are right where they should be, at around 50%, while a boost in sales taxes and money saved from lapsed salaries has bolstered the county's fund balance.

Local option sales tax revenue was budgeted to raise $28.1 million in fiscal year 2021-22, and was $2.4 million ahead of pace through October, according to figures Mitchell shared.

The county budgets $2.34 million per month for sales taxes, and in just July-October of 2021, totaled more than 11.8 million, following a general trend of year-over-year growth in sales tax over the past four fiscal years.

Ahead of a 2024 revaluation that should see significant increases in property values in the county, revenues from property taxes are where the county expected them to be, Mitchell said, but the county is trending ahead in building permits and fees along with sales tax.

"The capital reserve fund is healthy, the debt service fund is healthy," Mitchell said. "And another big takeaway is that over the next four years, the outstanding principal in debt that the county owes is going to decline by a third."

That total, at $152.6 million for the current fiscal year, is forecasted to drop to $100.4 million by fiscal year 2025-26, according to numbers presented at the meeting, with payments of $16 million in the current fiscal year and $13.6 million in the following three years.

Going into the 2022-23 fiscal year, Henderson County is holding $27 million in fund balance above the 12% of its budget that county policy requires stay untouched, of which $21 million will be used to cover the gap between expected revenues and expenditures for the upcoming budget, Mitchell said.

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More: Looking to 2022: Henderson County manager John Mitchell talks priorities for coming year

That leaves $6 million unassigned fund balance that the county must decide how, or whether, to spend.

Chair Bill Lapsley noted that the fund balance appropriation to cover the budget usually doesn't end up being spent.

"It's intentional," Mitchell said. "We run the county like a business, and as many families do, we set aside money for rainy days or for global pandemics or whatever may come up."

One of the ways the county has done that, he said, it by managing that fund balance.

That budget's total is up more than $13.7 million from the previous fiscal year, thanks in part to $6 million in lapsed salaries and the forecasted $4 million in additional sales tax, Mitchell said.

With a total of around 800 employees, the county is now down to fewer than 70 open positions, but at its peak, that total was around 100, he said.

The proposed $178 million budget is an increase of around $5 million thanks to debt service, added compensation for employees and general expenses, Mitchell said.

A chart of Henderson County's unassigned fund balance since 2008, or the total funds the county has available over its policy requiring that 12% of its current budget total be kept in reserve.

Henderson County's current $0.561 property tax rate ranks as eighth among 28 urban counties in the state, below both the average of $0.648 among those counties with more than 100,000 people, and below the overall state average of $0.671.

Henderson County Public Schools

Superintendent John Bryant updated the board on the 13,000-student school system's upcoming roughly $140 million budget, $35 million of which is the county's contribution.

He noted a number of increases including $795,000 from pay raises coming down from Raleigh.

"When the state passed a budget this year, they increased teacher salaries, they increased non-certified personnel salaries, they increased salaries across the board," Bryant said. "Those increases have an impact to our school system."

The state also raised its minimum wage increase from $13-$15 per hour set to cost the county $390,000 starting July 1, he noted, and set a 0.25% increase in the local contribution for a total $310,000.

More: Henderson County Schools votes to reinstate mask mandate

Bryant cited things like state retirement increases and state salary increases as 3.5% in "uncontrollables," that are set by the state, saying it's important for the board and general public to note that just shy of $2 million in funding follows students to charter schools.

In the upcoming budget, $1.5 million is slated for capital outlay, he said, and the school system has $4 million in fund balance.

Blue Ridge Community College

Blue Ridge Community College President Laura Leatherwood noted recent growth in enrollment at the college, saying 2022 is set to see the most students ever for the 53-year-old community college.

Adult enrollment is up 32.5% this fall, she said, following a 41% increase in the previous fall.

"We hit on something here," Leatherwood says, on efforts to spur adult enrollment, and while that's good news, it's driving further needs at the college.

The college also seeks funds from outside the county, Leatherwood said, including two special appropriations from the state for $250,000 for the Police Officer Physical Ability Test building for which the county dedicated $1 million in 2019, and $300,000 in startup funds for skilled trades education.

Another $1.6 million has come from grants, she said, and the college currently has a potential $6 million in grant funds it has applied for, including $5 million from federal COVID-19 relief funds to fund the expansion of the nursing program by 20 slots to a total 74.

Other health care programs, including for medical assistants, nurse aids, dialysis technicians, respiratory therapists, and more are being expanded at the college as well, Leatherwood said.

Henderson County Commissioners are weighing expansions and upgrades at the 1995 courthouse and the county detention center that could cost nearly $130 million.

The college is requesting $6.78 million for capital improvements and $5.64 million in operating expenses, she said, part of the college's total $31 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The college has a master facilities plan totaling $67.7 million that includes replacing the Killian and Henderson buildings for a new student union and more, she said.

$120M plus to update, expand jail, courthouse

A study and conceptual plan on expanding and updated the 1995 courthouse and county detention center by Fentress Architects showed three options for new construction and renovation at both, with the recommended combination from architects carrying an early price tag of $127.6 million.

Different options for the detention center showed new mail housing behind the current building, where the county would need to secure a right-of-way from the North Carolina Department of Transportation that was apparently secured for a road that was never built alongside the railroad there.

Other options include building new male housing for the detention center down the hill to the north, toward 4th Avenue East, where the foundations would have to be elevated to bring the structure at the same level of the current facility, adding extra costs, according to architects.

County Engineer Marcus Jones said the county has secured rights of way from NCDOT before, and agreed with Mitchell's estimate of a 95% chance of success that the county could secure the property there. The project wouldn't require encroaching onto the railroad right of way beyond the NCDOT right of way.

At the courthouse, Matt Hemphill with Fentress said the building scored a 57 out of 100 for functionality, explaining the building just wasn't laid out very well for courtrooms.

The VFW building in Hendersonville is being converted into a multifunctional community.

The recommendation from architects was to construct a courthouse annex where the public parking area and courthouse entrance are now to house new courtrooms, and backfill the current courtroom space for existing county personnel and new county staff that may be working elsewhere now, to create more of a county complex, he said.

The county moved to proceed with exploring that option for now, as a design phase could last 9-12 months.

VFW Building renovation: $4.2M

Architect Lindsey Rhoden with McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture presented the latest plans to county commissioners for the Veterans of Foreign Wars building in Hendersonville, which the county purchased and plans to turn into a community center.

More: VFW building could require up to $4 million in renovations

Plans would add 18 parking spaces for a total 58, she said, upgrading bathrooms to be up to accessibility standards in the Americans with Disabilities Act, with elevator and kitchen outfitted with commercial equipment Commissioner Rebecca McCall said has been needed in the community.

The total cost of $4.2 million includes $3.5 million in construction costs, and the county decided Jan. 19 to move forward with using federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to cover the cost, now that the final rule on what local governments can use the money on has been finalized.

Edneyville Sewer: $20M

With $12.7 million in state funding bringing with it a deadline of Dec. 31, 2023 to have a permit for the project in place, county commissioners voted to move forward with the project to extend sewer service to the new Edneyville Elementary School and surrounding area.

Commissioners voted to begin seeking a needed wastewater discharge permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality that Jones said could take around a year to secure.

"I think we need to be talking to DEQ very quickly," he said.

A cost analysis presented to the county by Will Kerr, with accounting firm Raftelis, showed an estimate that a typical customer using about 4,000 gallons per month would pay $56 per month to the new sewer enterprise fund, a cost that includes building $50,000 per year in reserves.

That's $10 higher than what Henderson County charges out-of-city customers, but lower than other nearby systems, Kerr showed.

Will Buie, with WGLA Engineering, said the county could expect about a 20-30-year lifespan for the wastewater treatment plant, planned to initially handle 150,000 gallons per day.

More: After years of prep, it's decision time for Edneyville sewer project

The plant would be built and planned modularly, to add capacity in 150,000 gallon-per-day increments up to the 450,000 gallons per day an earlier study forecasted the system would serve at full build-out.

Lapsley called the project a rare situation for a utility, as it will include no debt service, with funds available from the state and from allocations with the Edneyville Elementary School construction project the county still has in hand, and the potential for American Rescue Plan funds, as well.

The board voted to move forward with preliminary work for one of 11 the county was considering, and to seek a permit for a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of up to 450,000 gallons per day.

Derek Lacey covers environment, growth and development for the Asheville Citizen Times. Reach him at DLacey@gannett.com or 828-417-4842 and find him on Twitter @DerekAVL.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Henderson County's capital reserve fund is healthy and debt declining
Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Senate Democrats failed again to pass sweeping new voting protections on Wednesday, in what may be the most brutal blow yet to efforts to strengthen protections for voters at a perilous moment for US democracy.

Just as they have done four other times in recent months, all 50 Republicans united in their opposition to the measure. They relied on the filibuster, a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance legislation to a final vote.

Related: Bernie Sanders suggests he may support primary challengers against Manchin and Sinema

Despite heavy pressure from Joe Biden and fellow Democrats, two senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, have dug in defending the measure, preventing Democrats from getting rid of it.

In a rebuke to Biden, Sinema gave a speech on the Senate floor last week making it clear she would not support changes to the filibuster. Manchin has also consistently made his support clear. I will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. The filibuster plays an important role in protecting our democracy from the transitory passions of the majority and respecting the input of the minority in the Senate, he said in a speech on Wednesday.

Their opposition set up a showdown as the ultimately doomed bill was taken up for discussion on Wednesday. Late in the evening, Republicans used the filibuster to vote to end debate on the bill, effectively blocking it from advancing. Immediately afterwards, Democrats moved to hold a vote to try and change the filibuster rules anyway. The effort failed 52-48, with Manchin and Sinema voting with all 50 Republicans to preserve the filibuster. Sinema loudly said aye when it was her turn to vote in favor of preserving the filibuster changes.

I am profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy. I am disappointed  but I am not deterred, Biden said in a statement.



Our Administration will continue to fight to pass federal legislation to secure the right to vote. We will not stop fighting against the anti-voter legislation that Republican legislatures continue to push at the state leveland to champion and support state and local elected officials who work to enact pro-voter legislation, Kamala Harris said in a separate statement.

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Isnt protecting voting rights, the most fundamental wellspring of this democracy, more important than a rule? Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said just before the vote on the filibuster change.

Speaking on NBCs Today show on Thursday morning, Harris also said: We as Americans cannot allow this blatant erosion of democracy, thats the topic and lets not get distracted by political gamesmanship. She added that foreign leaders are asking what is going on with voting rights in America.

Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said Democrats were seeking to restore a talking filibuster, where senators have to hold the floor of the US senate to prevent a vote on legislation.

Were going to take up a rules reform proposal that will not blow up the senate, he said on the Senate floor Wednesday evening. It switches the secret filibuster into a public filibuster. It makes both parties work on the floor to get the kind of extended public debate we joined together to seek.

Senator Angus King of Maine, who once defended the filibuster, said the process that was in place was a second cousin once removed of the filibuster.

Id venture to say if we had the rules we have today, we wouldnt have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, he said.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, described Wednesday as in all likelihood, the most important day in the history of the Senate. He said the Democratic proposal was just smoke and mirrors, and accused Democrats of undertaking a plot to to break the Senate.

The voting rights measure has failed before, but Wednesday marks the first time they have taken a formal vote on changing the filibuster. Its likely failure marks a profound setback for Bidens presidential agenda. The president spent an enormous amount of political capital in recent weeks pressuring Manchin and Sinema to support rule changes to the filibuster, giving a speech in Atlanta and traveling to Capitol Hill to try to get support.

In stirring remarks just before the vote on the voting rights bill, Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, said senators could not praise the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr while voting against voting rights. You cannot remember MLK and dismember his legacy at the same time, Warnock said. I will not sit quietly while some make Dr King a victim of identity theft.

Those of us who are students of Dr King, I know I have, often wonder what would I have done if I was alive during the civil rights movement? I know that we all would like to think we had a fraction, just a small fraction of the courage it took for John Lewis to cross that Edmund Pettus Bridge, he said. Well, for those of us who serve in the United States Senate in this moment, in this moral moment, we do not have to wonder  we dont have to wonder what we would have done. I submit that what we would have done back then we are doing right now. History is watching us.

Kamala Harris reacts to a failed procedural vote in the Senate on voter rights legislation on Wednesday. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

The bill that failed on Wednesday, Freedom to Vote: John R Lewis Act, combined two major voting rights bills into a single mega bill.

It would have set a national baseline for election access, guaranteeing 15 days of early voting as well as online voter registration. It protected local election officials from harassment and partisan interference in their jobs and curbed gerrymandering, the severe distortion of partisan district lines. It also restored a key piece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required places with a history of voting discrimination to get their changes approved by either the justice department or a federal court in Washington before they go into effect.

The bills failure comes as states across the US have waged an aggressive effort to restrict voting access after the 2020 election, which saw record turnout. In total, 19 states have passed 34 bills that restrict voting access, making it harder to request and return a mail-in ballot, among other measures, even though there was no evidence of fraud, either in mail-in voting or otherwise, in 2020.

Many of those efforts are obviously aimed at Black and other minority voters who helped Democrats win in 2020, activists say.

At the same time, Republicans in state legislatures are redrawing electoral districts at the state legislative and congressional level to virtually guarantee their re-election for the next decade. Seeing Democratic gains in traditionally Republican districts, Republicans have redrawn the lines to simply make many districts uncompetitive for the next decade, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

There is also growing concern about what experts call election subversion  efforts to inject more partisanship into election administration and counting votes.
Elliot Page has signed on as executive producer for an Italian documentary about a group of transgender friends and their gender transition journey.

Directed by Italian filmmaker Nicolo Bassetti, Nel Mio Nome (Into My Name) is the coming-of-age story of four young friends  Nic, 33, Leo, 30, Andrea, 25, and Raff, 23  who share important turning points in their lives and in their gender transitions, according to an IMDb synopsis.

What stands out to me about Nel Mio Nome is the way it so artfully and intentionally presents all the different pieces that make up a persons identity, Page said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Its a meditation on trans humanity, and Ive never seen another film like it, the 34-year-old actor and longtime LGBTQ activist added.

The film, which will premiere at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival next month, was rooted in the directors experiences as the father of a trans son.

Knowing that Bassetti consulted closely with his trans son throughout production is so beautiful to me, and I think that lived experience and input is clear in the films perspective, Page added. Im honored to be on board and cant wait for everyone to see it.

Bassetti said that he was truly grateful to Elliot for adding his lived perspective to help our film find its way in the world.

Page came out as transgender in a heartfelt Instagram post in December 2020. I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot, he wrote. I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer, he added.

The director also noted that his personal experience as a parent has allowed him to find the necessary self-assurance to approach the protagonists of this story, to delve into their emotions, and establish an intimate relationship built on trust and complicity.

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Environmental justice activists expressed disappointment Thursday in the citys response to a watchdogs recommendations on the Hilco smokestack demolition, calling for further disciplinary action to be taken against those they say are responsible and calling attention to other environmental challenges across the state.

It feels like we relive that day over and over again, said Kim Wasserman, executive director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization at the virtual news conference. Knowing that this was going to happen, and being told that nothing could be done.

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The city did not fire any officials as a result of the botched April 2020 implosion that covered the Little Village in dust, according to the offices quarterly report released Friday. The office of the inspector general had recommended that two people from the citys Department of Buildings be disciplined, and one person from the Department of Public Health be disciplined up to the level of firing, the report said.

Kim Wasserman, executive director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, joins other enivronmental activists near the former Crawford Coal Power Plant site in Chicago to voice their displeasure of a large warehouse built on former power plant site that is nearby on July 26, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Debris coated the neighborhood despite warnings up to seven months prior that the dust would be unpreventable and almost cataclysmic, according to the watchdogs report, and despite predictions by (Department of Public Health) senior staff that toppling the smokestack would be a disaster. 

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Instead of disciplinary action, two Department of Buildings employees will undergo remedial counseling, the report said. The public health employee who faced potential firing under the inspector generals recommendation instead received a written reprimand.

The city departments said the responsibility for the demolition lies with the redevelopment company, rather than the government. They argued structural changes would do more to protect public health than individual discipline, the report said.

The inspector general did not release the names of the individuals involved.

We want to see people fired, Olga Bautista, executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, said at the conference. This is inexcusable.

Activists from the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Chicago Environmental Justice Network and Sierra Club Illinois demanded an apology from Mayor Lori Lightfoot, ongoing air quality monitoring and air cleaning, and the release of the inspector generals full report  a different document than the one published last week.

The Crawford Coal Plant, where a smokestack was demolished Saturday, pictured from the Little Village neighborhood on April 12, 2020. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

The lack of discipline for city employees and lack of accountability for elected officials are part of a pattern of behavior that shows the city and its institutions dont respect the human lives of marginalized people or those living in Little Village, said Anderson Chavez, an activist with organizing group Unete La Villita.

Its just another manifestation of environmental racism, Chavez said.

He called out elected officials, including Lightfoot and Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, who he said could do more to advocate for the community.

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Rodriguez also spoke Thursday and expressed disappointment in the citys lack of disciplinary action but left before Chavezs comments.

The city has a specific responsibility to protect the health of residents in communities that are already burdened by disproportionate pollution, such as Little Village, said Serap Erdal, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicagos School of Public Health.

This event was completely preventable with proper planning and coordination with the community by the city, Erdel said. She called for comprehensive soil sampling to detect chemicals and permanent air quality monitoring in the neighborhood.

Activists have previously said Hilco and city departments were ill-prepared to handle a smokestack demolition. Residents of Little Village, which houses more than two dozen industrial facilities that use medium or heavy duty diesel trucks, have long fought for cleaner air.

Chicago ranks third in deaths and health costs related to diesel pollution, according to a recent analysis from the nonprofit group Clean Air Task Force. The pollution causes $3.7 billion each year in hidden health costs, and 340 people in the metropolitan area can be expected to die next year from diseases related to diesel pollution, the report said.

Activists at Thursdays news conference also asked for a permit to be denied to a metal shredding facility on the Southeast Side, an issue that has also been protested by environmental justice organizers in recent months.

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Illinois environmental activists are further monitoring the demolition of other smokestacks across the state, possibly as soon as this year, Sierra Club Illinois Director Jack Darin said at the conference.

The state of Illinois has a responsibility to protect these communities, to make sure that this disaster isnt replicated across the state, Darin said.

oolander@chicagotribune.com
Emma Raducanu bade farewell to the Australian Open (Andy Brownbill/AP) (AP)

Emma Raducanu was proud of her fighting spirit after revealing she might not even have taken to the court for her second-round match at the Australian Open.

The US Open champion was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-3 by Montenegros Danka Kovinic in a bizarre match that saw her reduced to hitting slice forehands because of a painful blister on her right hand.

Raducanu took a medical time-out for treatment after only five games and was hampered throughout but somehow won the second set before going down in three.

It was a difficult match, said the 19-year-old. I was struggling with my hand before the match. There were some people in my team that maybe didnt want me to play but I wanted to go out there and fight through it, see how far I could get.

But I thought it was a pretty good learning experience for me. I discovered tools about myself and my game that I didnt know I had before so I can take some positives even from this match.

Raducanu was forced off court for three weeks last month after contracting Covid-19, and she said: I have been struggling with blisters since I started playing really in Australia because 21 days, no tennis, my hands got pretty soft.

From day one, day two, I was getting blisters pop up here and there. This particular one has been with me for about five days and I have been trying to tape it for every practice, and it would harden and dry out, but then once I would play again, another layer would just keep ripping off.

(AP)

It ended up being pretty deep. Its a bit annoying because I know its something that will heal in a few days, but its just unfortunate timing.

Asked if she had considered pulling out during the match, as she did in her only previous grand slam defeat with breathing problems in the fourth round of Wimbledon, Raducanu added: When I was slicing forehands and really struggling, I was, like, Do I?

I fought so hard just to come out to Australia and play here, and I didnt want to go out like that. So I just left it all out on the court.

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Eurosport announced that Raducanus first-round win over Sloane Stephens on Tuesday generated the channels biggest audience in the UK for five years, and victory was clearly a big relief for the teenager after a tricky few months trying to adjust to her new status.

To get that second set with basically one shot, I can't believe it really.

This was another new situation for Raducanu, who was the big favourite for a grand slam match for the first time against the world number 98, but she looked calm initially, rattling through the first three games.

It soon became clear all was not well, though, and Kovinic won five games in a row either side of a lengthy medical time-out for Raducanu.

By the start of the second set, the 19-year-old was hitting almost exclusively slice forehands  a rarely-used shot in the professional game  but it unsettled Kovinic.

Despite her inexperience, competitive nous is clearly one of Raducanus big strengths and she managed to take the second set, smiling and laughing at the absurdity of it all.

A sharp wince while she received more treatment ahead of the third set showed just what Raducanu was dealing with and, although she managed to hit through her forehand a little more in the deciding set, it was not enough.

She said of her necessary innovation: That was definitely one thing I learned, that a nice slice forehand is not so bad and I have some sort of hand skills. That was a positive surprise. To get that second set with basically one shot, I cant believe it really.

The defeat means Raducanu misses out on a first clash with childhood hero Simona Halep for the third time in recent months  although this time, it is probably for the best.

I dont think youre getting very far against Simona with a slice forehand, said Raducanu with a wry smile.
Jan. 19WESTERLY  Hallie Wiltshire of Stonington and her boyfriend, Trevor McCoy of San Diego, decided to spend time ice skating Wednesday at Washington Trust Community Skating Center.

The pair wanted to do something wintery before returning to college Thursday in San Diego.
A coalition of environmental groups is taking Gov. Phil Murphy's administration to court over what it contends is a lack of real advances to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite years of promise.

EmpowerNJ filed a petition Thursday with an appellate court to force the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules that set a 50% targeted reduction in greenhouse gases from 2005 levels by 2030.

The group of 120 environmental and community groups has argued that the DEP must deny permits for any new fossil fuel projects that don't meet certain benchmarks, which would include a gas-fired power plant proposal for Newark that was slated to be approved last week until pressure from advocates prompted Murphy to postpone a vote.

Alyana Alfaro, a spokeswoman for Murphy, said Thursday that no one would comment on pending litigation.

An overwhelming majority of scientists, peer-reviewed studies and government agencies have shown that the planet is warming due in large part to human activity. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and gasoline has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, they say, preventing heat from escaping into space.

A warming climate has triggered many changes that threaten the globe and New Jersey. For instance, sea level has risen along New Jersey's coast by about 1.5 feet since 1911  more than double the global average, according to a 2019 report by Rutgers scientists.

Related: Climate change grants will let 9 Ramapo students research at Great Falls, Meadowlands

Increased warmth  2020 and 2021 were the second- and third-warmest years in New Jersey's recorded history  has helped fuel more intense storms such as Ida, whose record floodwaters in September killed 30 New Jerseyans.

Murphy has made climate change the centerpiece of his environmental agenda. He has stopped plans to build two gas-fired power plants in the Meadowlands. But some advocates say he is not doing enough.

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The litigation centers around an executive order signed by Murphy in November to speed up greenhouse gas reduction by 2030. It also revolves around an update the Legislature made in 2019 to the state's Global Warming Response Act that established a goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 2006 levels by 2050.

The group petitioned the DEP last year to speed up the process. The DEP denied the petition last month. The court filing on Thursday is an appeal of that denial.

In its denial, lawyers for the DEP said the administration was working to generate 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind and install 2,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030, increase energy efficiency standards and bolster new solar programs.

"There are only two ways to look at DEPs outright denial of our petition: DEP has gone rogue, or this administration is uninterested in pursuing its own stated policies and state law," said John Reichman, a lawyer for the environmentalists.

Scott Fallon has covered the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset in March 2020. To get unlimited access to the latest news about the pandemic's impact on New Jersey, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: fallon@northjersey.com

Twitter: @newsfallon

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Environmentalists take Phil Murphy to court on climate change
A pause has been reached in the fight over the mascot for the East Middle School Warriors.

The Erie School Board has tabled a resolution that would have retired the Native American image that symbolizes the school.

The 5-4 vote to put the resolution on hold came on Wednesday night, after the school directors heard from a dozen speakers who urged them to keep the mascot  a Native American warrior wearing a headdress.

The School Board a year ago also took no action on the mascot in response to calls to remove it as racist. The push to get ride of the mascot comes as the Black Lives Matter movement has spotlighted sculptures, building names and other public artifacts linked to racism.

The latest resolution in the Erie School District, like the proposal from 2021, would have discontinued the Native American mascot but kept the Warriors name, a detail that appeared to have been lost on some of the speakers on Wednesday night.

The speakers were largely alumni of East High School, the predecessor of East Middle School, on Atkins Street, near the intersection of East Sixth Street and East Avenue.

A few speakers said they were upset that the Warriors name was in jeopardy along with the image of the mascot.

"We will always be East High Warriors. I am a Warrior for life," said one speaker, Joseph Currier, who said he attended Erie High in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "The name will live on."

A majority of the nine school directors expressed concerns that the Native American mascot is racist and must go  the main part of the resolution, whose sponsor is School Director Jay Breneman, who took office in December.

But a majority of the school directors also said they wanted to hold community meetings to discuss, with students and parents, the fate of the East Middle School mascot and how to replace it.

The meetings, the directors said, should also include a discussion over whether to change school names, such as that for Woodrow Wilson Middle School, named after the U.S. president with a racist legacy. Wilson led the segregation of federal offices and spoke favorably of the Ku Klux Klan.

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An issue rekindled: Should East Middle School's Native American mascot stay or go? Erie School Board revisits debate

In an effort to salvage his resolution, Breneman proposed amending it to eliminate the section that would have retired the East Middle School mascot immediately. The amended resolution would have kept a section of his original resolution calling for community meetings.

Former Erie School Director Tom Spagel, an alumnus of Erie's East High School, speaks to the Erie School Board on Wednesday in opposition to a board resolution to retire the image of the Native American that serves as the mascot for what is now East Middle School. The saying on Spagel's T-shirt refers to East's school colors. The School Board tabled the resolution.

That section would have required the school district administration to "engage in a series of public discussions regarding the appropriateness of mascots and building names," with a report to the School Board in September 2023.

But the majority of the school directors decided to table the original resolution in its entirety, with a pledge to follow up later. The board established no timeline for when to ask for the original resolution to be taken off the table, which would restart the debate over the fate of the mascot.

Voting to table

School Director Rosemary Sheridan, a former teacher who said she started her career at East High, moved to table the resolution. She suggested that the board discuss it at its upcoming annual retreat.

Statewide issue: Should PA ban Native American mascots in schools? This state bill would do so

"It's obvious that we all have concerns about it," Sheridan said. "We are changing things. Our minds are not computing it. So, I would suggest that we table this, go back when we have our retreat, talk about it, come up with a resolution and then bring it forward."

School Director Sumner Nichols seconded the motion to table. Voting to table were Sheridan, Nichols, Gwendolyn Cooley, board President Lori Pickens and board Vice President John Harkins.

Voting against the motion to table were Breneman, Daria Devlin, Lauren Gillespie and Leatra Tate. They said that they wanted to have a resolution to make sure the meetings occur on the mascots and school names.

"This is where the proof is in the pudding," Breneman said of his resolution. "This shows to the community that we are going to have these conversations."

Only one school director, Harkins, defended the image and said removing it would cause more harm than good.

He highlighted that the Warriors name and Native American mascot was also associated with East High School, dedicated in 1921. A new East High School opened at the present location in 1998 and became East Middle School as part of the Erie School District's budget-driven reconfiguration in 2017.

The Erie School Board on Wednesday tabled a resolution to retire the image of a Native American that serves as the mascot for East Middle School, which would keep the name Warriors. The sign for East Middle School, located near East Sixth Street and East Avenue, is shown on Jan. 14.

"There is an emotional trauma on the alumni, the generations that went through here and the staff that worked here," Harkins said at the meeting. "There is more trauma on them, as I see it, than any trauma that can be solved that is alleged for Native American people. I don't hear it or see it."

'Unnecessary drama' or 'an opportunity'?

The Erie School Board's meeting on Wednesday night, at East Middle School, its usual meeting spot, lasted about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The board spent about half the meeting dealing with the mascot issue, listening to the 12 pro-mascot speakers for about 35 minutes and discussing the issue for another 35. About 45 people attended the meeting and listened to the speakers and much of the board debate.

All of the speakers supported keeping the image of the Native American as the mascot of East Middle School. Some also said that the School Board should focus on other issues, including dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the district and its more than 10,000 students.

"The intent of the East Middle School Warriors is to honor our Native American population," said one of the speakers, Tom Spagel, an East High alumnus and a former Erie School Board member. He said the push to retire the mascot seemed to be "an individual political move" that would "create unnecessary drama."

Spagel wore a T-shirt with the East logo on the front and the saying "We Bleed Scarlet and Grey" on the back, a reference to East's school colors. After two four-year terms, Spagel went off the School Board after he declined to run for reelection in November.

Another former School Board member, Tyler Titus, has asked the School Board to retire the East mascot. Titus, who also declined to run for reelection in November, addressed the school directors on the issue at its monthly study session last week. In January 2021, when he was president of the School Board, Titus also proposed retiring the mascot, but that proposal went nowhere due to lack of board support.

Previous discussion: Erie School Board president gets little support to change East MS Native American mascot

A year later, with four new Erie school directors, including Breneman, elected in November, the Native American mascot at East appears to be on its way out eventually, based on the stance of a majority of the School Board. What is unresolved is when the board will vote on the issue again.

Breneman's resolution, "gives us an opportunity to move forward in a way that honors and respects folks of all backgrounds," said Leatra Tate, one of the school directors who voted against tabling the resolution.

She said approving the proposal to retire the mascot would show that the Erie School District "focuses on equity" and how equity should be "embedded in all forms and systems."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie School Board tables proposal to retire East MS's Native American mascot
European lawmakers urged the European Commission and EU member states on Wednesday to act over the "deterioration" in media freedoms in Hong Kong, reiterating calls for sanctions on the city's top officials and proposing a review of Hong Kong's status at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

During a debate in the European Parliament, MEPs "deplored" the impact of Beijing's sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, citing the closure of the independent media outlets Stand News, DB Channel and Citizen News as evidence of a shrinking space for the free press.

Noting the shutdown of civil groups including trade unions and legal societies and the departure of Amnesty International from Hong Kong, the resolution said that the law had made it "impossible for human rights organisations to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals".

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"Let's be clear, we are witnessing a deterioration of the situation in Hong Kong," said Stella Kyriakides, the EU's health commissioner, who addressed the parliament on behalf of the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell. Still, Kyriakides did not propose any new course of action.

The flags of the European Union member states outside the principle seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, this week. Photo: Bloomberg alt=The flags of the European Union member states outside the principle seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, this week. Photo: Bloomberg>

The parliament was debating a new "urgency resolution" - a late addition to the agenda under an umbrella group of issues considered "breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law".

The parliament is one of three institutions that makes up the European Union, along with the European Council, made up of member state officials, and the European Commission, which acts as a secretariat and which conducts much of the technical and administrative work.

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Hong Kong was included alongside the crises in Kazakhstan and Sudan, with a vote on the resolution scheduled for Thursday.

The city's recent "patriots only" Legislative Council elections, combined with the mass arrests of candidates from rival camps, has "effectively obliterated" political opposition in Hong Kong, the resolution read.

It reiterated calls for sanctions on top officials in the city - including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Xia Baolong, the top mainland Chinese official in the territory - saying that the national security law "prevents a relationship of trust between China and the EU".

MEPs also called, for the first time, for a review of "the EU's support for Hong Kong's seat at the WTO in light of the destruction of the territory's autonomy" under the "one country two systems" model.

Hong Kong retains independent membership of the WTO, and is suing the United States in Geneva over a 2019 decision by Washington not to allow goods marked "made in Hong Kong" to enter its ports.

The EU resolution is non-binding, meaning no direct action will result from it. Instead, it is seen as a series of recommendations for the European Commission and EU member states.

Kyriakides described the December LegCo elections as "draconian" and said that the EU's annual report on Hong Kong would reflect the worsening situation.

"China claims that what is happening in Hong Kong is an internal matter. We reject this. The EU has strong stakes and interest in Hong Kong," Kyriakides said.

"These actions contradict China's international commitments. The EU will continue to stand by the people of Hong Kong," she added, without mentioning any action the EU may take.

The resolution called for "the Hong Kong government to release all political prisoners in Hong Kong", and for "the immediate unconditional release and dropping of all charges against all peaceful Hong Kong protesters arrested in the last years".

It criticised the banning of annual Tiananmen Square vigils in Hong Kong and Macau, and described the removal of the "Pillar of Shame" - a statue commemorating the bloody crackdown in 1989 - as "a continuous attack on academic freedom in Hong Kong and effort to erase history and collective memory".

Lawmakers called on Lam to withdraw plans to introduce additional national security legislation, Article 23, which would give authorities broad powers to clamp down on perceived offences of treason, theft of state secrets and foreign political bodies engaging in political activities in Hong Kong.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was one focus of the resolution being debated by the European Parliament Photo: Nora Tam alt=Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was one focus of the resolution being debated by the European Parliament Photo: Nora Tam>

The resolution "expresses concern" over the appointment of Peng Jingtiang, formerly a senior figure in the armed police force in Xinjiang, as a People's Liberation Army garrison commander in Hong Kong, and "about comments that he will focus on alleged terrorist activities in Hong Kong".

The European Union was also urged to help preserve "Hong Kong's democratic memory by assisting with the archiving, publicising, documenting human rights violations, and to counteract the PRC by making books banned in Hong Kong widely available online".

Numerous MEPs urged the EU to join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which begins on February 4.

"None of us should participate in a political show, where the Olympic flame is misused to cover up grave human rights abuses," said Green Party MEP Hannah Neumann. "We have two more weeks to work on that one."

MEPs also linked the deteriorating situation in Hong Kong with the economic coercion campaign China is accused of launching against Lithuania, an EU member state, due to its support for Taiwan.

"We must use trade relations as a means to gain leverage and to move things in the right direction," said Marie-Pierre Vedrenne of the Renew Europe group.

"But of course, [Hongkongers] are not the only ones: Taiwan and even Lithuania, a member of the EU, are also victims of Chinese policies. The anti-coercion instrument is key in actually upholding our interests and values," she added, referring to a proposed EU tool intended to tackle economic bullying.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Yimou Lee

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is looking for ways to potentially accelerate delivery of Taiwan's next generation of new-build F-16 fighter jets, U.S. officials said, bolstering the Taiwanese air force's ability to respond to what Washington and Taipei see as increasing intimidation by China's military.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they have not yet come up with a solution on how to speed delivery of Block 70 F-16s, manufactured by Lockheed Martin and equipped with new capabilities. The aircraft are currently slated to be delivered by the end of 2026.

Taiwan's government has privately expressed its wish for a faster delivery to U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, a senior Taiwanese official said, as the self-ruled island's air force scrambles jets to intercept increasingly aggressive Chinese military flights https://graphics.reuters.com/TAIWAN-CHINA/byvrjrmgnve.

More missions mean more wear-and-tear on Taiwan's aircraft.

"It's all about risk assessment ... and it's clear where the risks are," the Taiwanese official said, referring to tensions across the sensitive Taiwan Strait separating the island from mainland China. The F-16 is considered a highly maneuverable https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104505/f-16-fighting-falcon aircraft proven in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack.

Taiwan is on track to field one of the largest F-16 fleets in Asia once it takes delivery of 66 new-build F-16 C/D Block 70 aircraft under an $8 billion deal approved in 2019. It would bring the island's total number of F-16s, including older versions, to more than 200 by 2026.

Any move to accelerate deliveries of new aircraft could ultimately come down to a determination by Biden's administration that Taiwan's defense needs are more urgent than those of other U.S. allies and partners, according to experts.

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"That's a Biden administration decision," said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, the president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, an organization that encourages trade and business ties between the two. "They would have to decide that the threat from China was more important than the threat from Iran or the threat from the Russians."

The Block 70 aircraft are the newest F-16 configuration, with new avionics, a modernized cockpit and an improved engine, according to Lockheed Martin.

A move to accelerate the aircraft delivery would be seen in Beijing in part through a political lens, according to Abraham Denmark, a former senior Pentagon official.

"It is yet another clear signal of U.S. determination to support Taiwan's ability to defend itself," added Denmark, now an analyst at the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank.

DWARFED BY CHINA

Despite lacking formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the United States is the island's main international backer and arms supplier. That defense relationship angers China, which has ramped up military and diplomatic pressure against the island that it claims as "sacred" Chinese territory.

In the face of Chinese pressure, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has prioritized modernizing the armed forces, which are well-armed but dwarfed by China's military.

Lockheed Martin declined to comment on any potential future requests to change the production schedule, referring queries to the U.S. government and Taiwan's defense ministry.

The U.S. State Department, which oversees foreign military sales, declined to comment on any internal discussions about potential changes to the delivery timeline.

Lockheed Martin's new F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina has several customers in the production queue ahead of Taiwan, including Bahrain, Slovakia and Bulgaria.

The U.S. government has not asked Lockheed Martin for delivery timeline changes for the Taiwanese F-16 jets, a person familiar with the situation said.

The source declined to speculate about how much sooner Taiwan could get new-build F-16s even if a decision were made to accelerate deliveries. Any such effort would be complicated by production constraints, which include long lead times to source materials for Taiwan's specific configuration of fighter aircraft.

Taiwan's Air Force did not respond to questions on potential accelerated deliveries but told Reuters in a statement that the Taiwanese military's major weapon purchases are "rigorously planned in accordance with actual combat needs and planning schedules."

The U.S. sale of F-16s to Taiwan was guided by U.S. law and "based on an assessment of Taiwan's defense needs and the threat posed by (China), as has been the case for more than 40 years," a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.

'WEARING OUT THEIR OPPONENT'

The missions to intercept Chinese aircraft are putting stress on Taiwan's air force, which last year had several mishaps, including three fatal crashes. Over time, fuel costs, pilot fatigue and wear and tear on Taiwanese aircraft will threaten the readiness of the island's air force if this pressure continues, Taiwanese and U.S. military analysts said.

Last March, a senior Taiwanese official said Taiwan's military had stopped intercepting every Chinese aircraft.

Taiwan's air force last week suspended combat training for its entire F-16 fleet after a recently upgraded model of the fighter jet crashed into the sea in the latest of a series of accidents.

"They (the Chinese) are wearing out their opponent without firing a shot," said Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.

Taiwan's air force in 2020 scrambled 2,972 times against Chinese aircraft at a cost of T$25.5 billion ($905 million).

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington and Yimou Lee in Taipei; Additional reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Mary Milliken)
Chicago Public Schools plans to reduce the quarantine and isolation period for students and staff members from 10 to five days to mirror new guidance from the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, district CEO Pedro Martinez said Wednesday.

We are working with Dr. Arwady just to understand all the operational logistics because it isnt just as simple as shortening (the period) to five days. There are a lot of other requirements that happen for both students and staff, so were in the process right now of identifying those operational logistics, Martinez said at a news conference with city public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.

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Martinez said a timeline on implementation of the new quarantine and isolation guidelines would be available by next week. The news comes as CPS is reporting record levels of students in quarantine or isolation. The district recorded its highest COVID-19 case numbers of the school year last week as students returned to classrooms following a weeklong dispute with the Chicago Teachers Union that led the district to cancel classes.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, talk about fighting COVID-19 transmissions in schools on Jan. 4 at City Hall. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Martinez blamed the rise in cases  2,100 new student and 1,300 new adult infections last week  on students not being in school, where theyre required to wear masks indoors and theyre asked to social distance when possible.

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We always see the largest number of cases  as theyre coming into school after a long period of break, and so its not a surprise to me that we saw those surges immediately, Martinez said before noting that Arwady announced the city has formally passed its omicron-fueled peak.

I think this week will be interesting, because remember the city peaked last week. I think as we look at cases this week, I wouldnt be surprised if youre seeing really a downward spiral of cases because schools are actually open.

More than 675 student and 200 adult cases have been reported so far this week, according to CPS data that does not include charter school cases. The district said it is working toward COVID-19 testing at least 10% of each schools student population through its weekly testing program thats mandatory for unvaccinated staff members and voluntary for students.

More than 40,000 students had signed up for the free program as of last month. Martinez said Wednesday parents of nearly 83,000 students have given their consent. CPS is the nations third-largest school district, with 330,000 students enrolled.

As part of the COVID-19 safety agreement CPS reached with the teachers union last week, the district said it will work with CTU to increase student participation in testing and vaccination through phone banks and incentives. A CPS representative told the Tribune recently, however, At this point, the district is not offering incentives for testing.

For much of the school year, CPS has tried to administer 40,000 nasal swabs a week through its testing program. About 35,000 tests were taken last week, according to CPS data, with students only in school for three days because of the showdown. About 5% of those tests yielded positive results, which is higher than usual for the district.

Some testing hiccups persist. Drummond Montessori Magnet School Principal Erica Kittle told parents that only 91 of the 259 students and staff members who signed up for the program were tested Tuesday at the Bucktown school.

This was due to having only one tester and a late start. We typically begin testing at 1 p.m. and two testers efficiently complete testing for all students and staff on the list, Kittle wrote in an email to parents. I have requested that (testing vendor) Color continue our typical weekly routine and schedule a makeup date this week if at all possible.

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Meanwhile, the number of student vaccinations continues to rise. About 53% of students 12 and older are fully vaccinated, while about a third of students ages 5 to 11 have received at least one dose, according to CPS. The district says about 91% of its staff is fully vaccinated.

CPS students and staff members who tested positive for the virus no matter their vaccination status have been directed to isolate for 10 days. Unvaccinated students and staff members have been told to quarantine for 10 days if a positive case was detected in their classroom. CPS shortened its quarantine timeline from 14 to 10 days in October.

Fully vaccinated, asymptomatic students and staff members are not required to quarantine. CPS reported 18,575 students and 1,800 adults were in quarantine or isolation as of Thursday evening.

The state of Illinois now says students and staff members who test positive for COVID-19  regardless of vaccination status  should stay home for a minimum of five days and a maximum of 10 days after the day the symptoms began or the date of the positive test.

People may return to school after five days if they are asymptomatic or fever free without the use of medication. They must wear a mask around others for five days after returning to school.

Unvaccinated students and staff directed to quarantine should stay home for five days after the date of exposure. They should test for COVID-19 on day five, per the state, and wear a mask around others for five additional days. If they test positive, they should isolate.

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CPS said it has ordered 600,000 child-sized and 600,000 adult-sized KN95 masks for staff and student use by the last week of January. The district said it will order an additional 4 million KN95 masks at the end of February to split among adults and children.

tswartz@tribpub.com
The family of a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan filed a defamation suit against Alec Baldwin.

Rylee McCollum's relatives said Baldwin accused them on Instagram of being Capitol insurrectionists.

His sister was in Washington, DC, during the riot but never entered the Capitol, the lawsuit said.

The family of a US Marine who was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan over the summer has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, saying the actor accused them on Instagram of being insurrectionists after he learned the Marine's sister was in Washington, DC, during the riot on January 6, 2021.

Relatives of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, who was 20, said in the lawsuit that Baldwin's comments about the family on the social-media platform "were false, outrageous, defamatory, irresponsible, vindictive, and caused  and continue to cause  Plaintiffs severe emotional distress."

McCollum was among the 13 US service members killed in the attack at the Kabul airport on August 26 as troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

Alec Baldwin. AP Photo/John Minchillo

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in the US District Court for the District of Wyoming by McCollum's two sisters, Roice and Cheyenne McCollum, and his widow, Jiennah McCollum, alleged Baldwin defamed the family to his 2.4 million Instagram followers.

Baldwin donated $5,000 to the Marine's widow and her newborn daughter "as a tribute to a fallen soldier" after Rylee McCollum's death, the court papers said.

But on January 3, Baldwin posted about Roice McCollum after she shared a "throwback" photo of a crowd of pro-Trump protesters in front of the Washington Monument on January 6, 2021, "in anticipation" of the anniversary of the Capitol riot, the suit said.

"Are you the same woman that I sent the $ to for your sister's husband who was killed during the Afghanistan exit?" Baldwin's account commented on Roice McCollum's Instagram post.

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The suit said Baldwin then privately messaged her and accused her of being an "insurrectionist" and told her to "own it."

"When I sent the $ for your late brother, out of real respect for his service to this country, I didn't know you were a January 6th rioter," Baldwin messaged Roice McCollum, the lawsuit said.

The suit said she replied, "Protesting is perfectly legal in the country and I've already had my sit down with the FBI. Thanks, have a nice day!"

The lawsuit said she attended the rally on January 6, 2021, in a "peaceful, law-abiding manner."

Neither Cheyenne nor Jiennah McCollum were in Washington on the day of the Capitol riot, the suit said.

The lawsuit alleged that Baldwin messaged Roice McCollum: "I reposted your photo. Good luck." It added that he then shared a post on his Instagram account calling claims that people were at the Capitol peacefully "bullshit" and saying he donated money to a soldier who died in Afghanistan. "Then I find this. Truth is stranger than fiction," he wrote, the lawsuit said.

An attorney for Baldwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Wednesday.

The McCollums' lawsuit alleged that Roice got "hostile, aggressive, hateful messages from Baldwin's followers" within minutes of the post, including one message telling her to "get raped and die."

The McCollums said Baldwin "continued to engage his followers" and alleged he "fueled firestorm of hatred that he started."

The family members accused Baldwin of defamation, invasion of privacy, and negligence. They are seeking at least $25 million in damages, according to the lawsuit.

Read the original article on Insider
AMC released new images for the final season of "The Walking Dead." AMC

AMC dropped the first photos from the next batch of "The Walking Dead" episodes.

They feature new looks of Carol, Daryl, Negan, Mercer, and Pamela  the leader of the Commonwealth.

"TWD" returns to AMC on February 20 at 9 p.m. ET and be available to stream a week early on AMC+.

It's weird to see Daryl without his iconic vest.

Is Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon ditching the vest for good? Josh Stringer/AMC

We see him wear it at the Commonwealth in the new trailer, so it's still around. But it looks like Daryl (Norman Reedus) may be trying out a different look to blend in better with the new community for the time being.

Daryl looks like he'd be a good fit with the Commonwealth's army, but we could easily see him bump heads with the head of the militia, Mercer.

Carol's in full baker mode at the Commonwealth.

Melissa McBride's Carol Peletier looks right at home in the Commonwealth. Josh Stringer/AMC

The new trailer teased Carol (Melissa McBride) with a batch of cookies.

The last time Carol transformed herself into a homebody was when the group hesitantly entered the Alexandria community and kept their guard up.

Will Carol be more trusting of the Commonwealth or keep her guard up?

Princess and Eugene will bond more at the Commonwealth.

Paola lazaro and Josh McDermitt play Princess and Eugene. Josh Stringer/AMC

From the trailer, it looks like the two will work together to search for Stephanie, who apparently goes missing.

It's unclear whether or not we'll see Negan inside the Commonwealth.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Negan looks like he's going to be a lone wolf. Josh Stringer/AMC

At this point in the comics, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) goes his own way to live in isolation.

We could see Negan doing the same here or he could return if and when he changes his mind  or the group needs him.

Mercer is looking like a badass in his Commonwealth gear.

Michael James Shaw looks just like the comic character Mercer. Josh Stringer/AMC

Michael James Shaw joined "TWD" earlier in season 11 as the head of the Commonwealth's army.

Personally, I'm ready for Mercer and Princess (Paola Lazaro) to meet. In the comics, they become romantic partners.

Lazaro previously told me she's spoken with Shaw and that she was "very excited to hopefully have some deep scenes with him."

As teased in the most recent trailer, we'll finally meet the leader of the Commonwealth, Pamela Milton.

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Laila Robins plays Pamela Milton. Josh Stringer/AMC

Milton (Laila Robins) is also the mother of the young man, Sebastian, who Eugene punched in the face during the last batch of episodes.

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ORLANDO, Fla.  A Seminole High School student shot another student Wednesday, prompting police to lock down the Sanford campus for several hours as they investigated.

Just before noon, school resource officers received a report of a weapon on campus and then students told them they heard gunshots. A few minutes later, an officer found the 18-year-old victim near the schools Tomahawk building, according to the Sanford Police Department.

The victim, suffering from three gunshot wounds, was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition, the departments spokesperson Tammy Townsend said in a statement.

SPD Chief Cecil Smith told reporters at a press conference that the 16-year-old male suspected shooter was found and arrested at about 12:20 p.m.

He faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, possession of a firearm on school property, firing a weapon on school property, disturbing the peace and interfering with school administrative functions.

Authorities have not released the name of the victim and cited Marsys Law, the victims rights amendment to Floridas constitution.

The preliminary information determined it centers around a dispute over a young lady at school, Smith said. Its still early.

By 2 p.m., a line of dozens of parents in cars stretched for blocks outside the school and police were stationed in the surrounding neighborhood.

Many parents vented frustrations online that the school district didnt announce more quickly that there had been a shooting. Early social media posts mentioned an incident on campus but didnt include details.

Our district was pushing information as we were able to do so in a safe manner for our students and as we were getting information at the time, Seminole schools Superintendent Serita Beamon said, adding there will be an increased police presence Thursday at the school.

A video shared Wednesday by a parent of a Seminole High senior showed someone on a stretcher being wheeled into a parking lot by paramedics with police officers nearby. The victim on the stretcher was sitting up. The video looked to have been filmed through a second-story window.

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It is very scary as a parent, said the mother who shared the video and spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her childs privacy. Im like a mama bear with my kids.

The mother said her daughter, 17, was in the schools health academy building, located next to Tomhawk on the 4,200-student campus  the districts largest  when the incident occurred. She was locked in her classroom at 1:30 p.m. and safe.

Shes OK, the mother said. Ive been texting nonstop with her telling her to stay calm.

The school typically dismisses classes at 1:10 p.m. on Wednesday but delayed that because of the shooting. At 3:20 p.m., the district was starting dismissal for students who rode school buses, with car riders let out about 20 minutes earlier.

Seminole High alerted parents about the shooting in automated phone calls and on its Facebook page, asking parents not to come to campus to give police time to investigate.

This was an isolated incident. Students are safe on campus, but will remain in lockdown until cleared by law enforcement, said another message shared by Michael Lawrence, a spokesperson for Seminole County Public Schools.

On Facebook, some parents wondered if backpack checks and metal detectors were needed, noting another Seminole High student was arrested in December after police said he brought a loaded revolver to school in his backpack.

Other parents expressed anger at school officials, saying they were too slow to share information about Wednesdays shooting, while others praised the schools response.

I appreciate that the school took the necessary steps to secure the safety of the students before sending out an automated message, one mother wrote on Facebook. I, like many, want to be on campus and get my kid as quickly as possible but I also know what a mess it is down there and that my daughter said not to come yet. She is safe and thats all that matters!

Wrote another mother, We should be notified before it comes out in the news!

It is very sad. When you hear it from your kids before the school even calls you to let you know they are in code red. I hope the student that was [shot] is okay, wrote yet another.

Mental health counselors will be on Seminoles campus Thursday if students or teachers want to speak with them, Beamon said.

We want to be together and move forward together, she said.  Were all going to be there for our students.



(Orlando Sentinel staff writer Lisa Maria Garza contributed to this report.)


An Oklahoma City rabbi said negative implications ripple throughout faith communities whenever there are attacks like the recent standoff at a Texas synagogue.

But Rabbi Abby Jacobson said she also found something hopeful in the aftermath.

"We hear about things happening to our community and to other communities across the United States and it's sobering. It's terrifying. It's incredibly sad," said Jacobson, spiritual leader of Emanuel Synagogue.

"At the same time, I saw something that I think was very positive in the number of people across the world who were hoping and praying and watching the news for the safety of four Jews in a small town in Texas."

Police respond to a hostage situation at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.

Jacobson was among the local Jewish spiritual leaders who recently discussed the Jan. 15 hostage incident at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Four people were taken hostage at the synagogue in the Fort Worth suburb. One of the hostages was released a few hours before the other three eventually escaped and their armed captor, Malik Faisal Akram, was killed after a 10-hour standoff. Among those taken hostage was the synagogue's spiritual leader, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who threw a chair at Akram so that he and two other remaining hostages could get away.

According to national news reports, the FBI is recommending that houses of worship be vigilant in the wake of the hostage incident.

The rabbi said her synagogue reviews its security policies and procedures on a regular basis and will continue that practice.

Texas synagogue hostage standoff: Rabbi threw chair at gunman before escaping; FBI casts standoff as terrorism

Abby Jacobson

"We always have to take a threat to a Jewish community elsewhere as a threat to our community," she said.

She said she was grateful for how several agencies had reached out to her congregation in the aftermath of the Texas standoff, including the Oklahoma City Police Department, OSBI, FBI, Homeland Security, the Anti-Defamation League and the Serve Communities Network, the national homeland security initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

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The rabbi said she was trying to "focus on gratitude in a time of fear."

Like Jacobson, Rabbi Vered Harris said her house of worship has security measures that are always deemed a priority.

"We are always reviewing and updating our security protocols. It is always a part of our conversation," said Harris, spiritual leader of Temple B'nai Israel.

Vered Harris

Harris said her congregation's first line of concern was for Rabbi Cytron-Walker and Congregation Beth Israel, and matters close to home were tended to, as well.

"We don't wait for an expected terrible event to evaluate our security, but every time there is one, it provides us with further insight as to how to implement best practices," she said.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Ovadia Goldman, spiritual leader of Chabad Community Center for Jewish Life and Learning, said he was praying for a speedy recovery for the people who were taken hostage as they deal with the aftereffects of the trauma inflicted upon them.

Texas synagogue hostage crisis: Scapegoating Jewish community will continue to lead to bloodshed

Ovadia Goldman

Goldman also expressed gratitude for law enforcement agencies that respond in times of crisis.

"We're obviously extremely grateful for law enforcement for responding quickly and doing all they could to bring things to a healthy resolution," Goldman said. "I'm very thankful that we have amazing, ever-vigilant law enforcement that stays in contact with us."

The standoff at Congregation Beth Israel, he said, was another example of how the sacred space of a synagogue or another house of worship is not exempt from violence and worshipers cannot be guaranteed 100% safety there.

"Unfortunately, a house of worship is not respected the way it should in our society. As a nation, a house of worship should always be off limits for anything other than peace," Goldman said.

"So we are constantly on a regular basis reviewing the necessary security precautions that we feel we should take."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahomans discuss safety after synagogue hostage standoff in Texas
A new free COVID-19 testing site opened Tuesday at DePauls Loop campus.

The University of Illinois Systems nonprofit COVID-19 testing unit, called SHIELD Illinois, partnered with DePaul University and the Chicago Department of Public Health to set up the testing site, according to a news release from the University of Illinois System.

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The testing site, on the concourse level of the DePaul Center at 333 S. State St., will be open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m.

Shield Illinois now has 24 testing sites statewide. DePauls Loop campus partnership marks the nonprofits third testing site in Chicago. The other two are at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse and Northeastern University, according to the release.

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With the opening of the DePaul University Loop testing site, a record number of 64,000 COVID-19 tests were processed on Tuesday, surpassing the Shield Illinois daily record of 52,177.

The number of tests processed Tuesday surpassed the number of tests processed in the entire month of June, according to the release.

The three Chicago testing sites are funded through agreements with CDPH and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

These testing sites are part of a larger effort in the city.

Last week, the University of Illinois at Chicago opened a lab that can process on average 55,000 covidSHIELD tests per week.

The covidSHIELD test was developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Even before symptoms become noticeable, the saliva-based test can detect the presence of the virus that causes COVID-19, including the delta and omicron variants, according to the release.

The lab will serve schools, businesses and community testing sites like the one at DePauls Loop campus.

Shield Illinois has labs that can produce COVID-19 test results within 24 hours, according officials.

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With the new addition, Shield Illinois has the capacity to process up to 400,000 saliva-based and PCR tests per week.

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Shield Illinois has processed more than 3 million COVID-19 tests.

Timothy Killeen, president of the U. of I. System, said the university is proud to have developed a test that is protecting people across Illinois and beyond.

The University of Illinois System continues to adapt and innovate in response to the evolving challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and these improvements to access and capacity are just the latest example, Killeen said.

Shield Illinois has testing agreements with 1,706 K-12 schools, 57 community colleges, 24 community testing sites, and multiple businesses and government agencies, including the Illinois General Assembly.

Ron Watkins, managing director of Shield Illinois, said half of the positive samples the nonprofit has found during the life of the program have come since Jan. 1.

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What were experiencing is unprecedented, but were ready for it, Watkins said.

Editors note: This story has been updated to correct the location of the testing site.

tatturner@chicagotribune.com
There's now a phone number to order free COVID-19 at-home testing kits from the government.

According to the new COVIDtests.gov website that launched this week, Americans who have had difficulty ordering the tests online or "need additional support place an order," can call 1-800-232-0233 or TTY 1-888-720-7489.

The phone number also is the COVID vaccination hotline, which has been in use for several months.

The free tests anchor the Biden administration's testing reset as long lines and home test shortages have made it difficult for Americans to get checked for the highly contagious omicron variant that has ripped across the nation.

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Pacifier recall 2022: Mushie & Co recalls nearly 334,000 Frigg silicone pacifiers for choking hazard

Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes, but were doing more now," President Joe Biden said Wednesday during a press conference, recapping his first year in office.

The home tests are meant to supplement the more conventional lab tests consumers get at testing sites, clinics or hospitals.

Some Americans living in apartment and condo buildings with multiple units at a single address have had their orders rejected this week, according to social media posts. The hotline could help those who run into these issues.

The White House also announced Wednesday that it will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free at pharmacies and community health centers.

What is the COVIDtests.gov phone number?

It is 1-800-232-0233 or TTY 1-888-720-7489.

When will COVID test kits ship?

The testing kits will start shipping the week of Jan. 24, according to the government website's frequently asked questions. Tests will typically ship within seven to 12 days of ordering.

The federal government website COVIDTests.gov allows people to order four at-home tests per residence and have them delivered by mail.

Will USPS deliver the COVID tests in the mail?

Yes, these tests will be delivered in the mail through the U.S. Postal Service.

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Health insurance COVID test reimbursement: Insurance now covers at-home COVID testing kits. How to get free tests or reimbursement

Looking for a COVID test?: Here are tips to find at-home testing kits and get them for free

Can I track my COVIDtests.gov order?

Yes, youll also get an email with your order confirmation when placing the order on the website if you fill in your email address, which is optional. The site says youll receive email notifications with shipping updates, including estimated delivery date and a number to track on USPS.com.

Does USPS have additional support for more information on COVID tests?

Yes, you can learn more at a frequently asked questions page from USPS.

What COVID tests will be sent?

All tests distributed as part of this program are FDA-authorized at-home rapid antigen tests. You will not be able to choose the brand you order as part of this program, the government says on its website.

What if I need more than four free COVID tests?

According to the frequently asked questions, four is currently the limit. To promote broad access, the initial program will only allow 4 free individual tests per residential address.

But you can get up to eight at-home tests a month for each person on your health insurance plan.

How can I get a free N95 mask?

Americans will be able to pick up free masks at one of "tens of thousands" of pharmacies, thousands of community centers and other locations across the country beginning late next week, the White House said Wednesday.

New Amazon store: Amazon to open its first in-person clothing store. What we know about the new Amazon Style.

Bologna masks?: Oscar Mayer sells out of bologna-inspired face masks on Amazon, plans to restock

Contributing: Ken Alltucker and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY

Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko. For shopping news, tips and deals, join us on our Shopping Ninjas Facebook group.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID test kits: Phone number added to order free rapid at-home tests
PARIS (Reuters) -France's parliament passed an opposition-led motion asking the government to condemn China for "crimes against humanity and genocide" against its Uyghur Muslim minority and to take foreign policy measures to make this stop.

The non-binding motion, led by the Socialist party and supported by several other opposition parties, was adopted with 169 votes for and one vote against.

Coming ahead of the start of the Winter Olympics in China, the motion also asked the government to protect Uyghur residents in France against any intimidation or harassment by China.

China's embassy in France said accusations of genocide or other abuses committed against its Uyghur population were "pure lies".

Activists and U.N. rights experts say at least 1 million Muslims are being detained in camps in the remote western region of Xinjiang. The activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labour and sterilisations.

China denies any human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.

"The sensationalist allegations concerning Xinjiang such as 'genocide' are pure lies based on prejudices and hostility towards China," the Chinese embassy in France said in a statement on its website.

It added that Xinjiang issues were not about ethnicity, religion or human rights, but about the fight against terrorism, radicalisation and separatism, which concern sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security of China.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in December that he did not want to "politicise" https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/macron-questions-utility-diplomatic-boycott-winter-olympics-2021-12-09 the Olympics.

The United States, Australia and Britain are among Western nations that have said they will not send officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics in order to send China a message over its human rights record.

(Reporting by Myriam Rivet and GV De Clercq; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and former President Donald Trump Alex Brandon, John Bazemore/AP

A local Georgia prosecutor is moving forward with her investigation of Donald Trump.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants a special grand jury to assist her probe.

Willis says that some key witnesses need to be subpoenaed in order to compel their cooperation.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has requested that a special grand jury be formed to help with her office's probe into former President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure Georgia officials following the 2020 election, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Willis wrote in a letter to a local judge that her investigation has found "reasonable probability" that Georgia's 2020 elections were subject to "possible criminal disruptions."

Her office is the best placed to investigate what happened since the pressure campaign by Trump and his allies touched virtually every other level of state and federal government, leaving the Fulton County District Attorney's Office as the only one "that is not a potential witness to conduct related to this matter," she added.

A special grand jury would have subpoena power  something Willis says is needed to compel the cooperation of witnesses and to assist in gathering additional evidence. According to Willis, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger won't cooperate with her investigation unless he is subpoenaed. Trump famously pressured Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes," the margin he needed to win the state.

Trump released a statement calling Willis' investigation a "political witch hunt," and repeating his long-held defense that his call to Raffensperger was "perfect."

"My phone call to the Secretary of State of Georgia was perfect, perhaps even more so than my call with the Ukrainian President, if that's possible," Trump said in a statement released by his political PAC, adding that the special grand jury should instead be focusing on widely debunked claims of large scale fraud in Georgia.

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Georgia's 2020 election results were audited multiple times. Cobb County went through an additional signature matching audit, which found a "99.99% accuracy rate in performing correct signature verification procedures."

Trump's reference to a "perfect" call is a nod to his defense during his first impeachment trial that he did nothing wrong when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "do us a favor" by investigating debunked claims about the 2016 presidential election. Trump also asked Zelensky to "look into" disputed claims about Hunter Biden, a request that came when Joe Biden was expected to be Trump's most serious challenger for the presidency.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University College of Law, told Insider that Trump's recent statement still raises questions about whether something "unlawful" occurred during the phone call.

"We all know that there's a substantial amount of evidence out there in the public domain, which suggests that there might have been something unlawful that occurred," Kreis said.

Earlier this month, Willis told the Associated Press that her decision on whether or not to formally charge Trump could come as early as the first half of this year.

Former associates of Willis previously told Insider that a spike in crimes and a backlog in cases could make it difficult for Willis to juggle an investigation of the former president's actions with her office's day-to-day business.

Willis' request must be approved by a majority of the county's superior court judges. Special grand juries like the one Willis has requested are rarely used in the state, per The Journal-Constitution. If approved, the grand jurors would not be able to issue indictments.

Michael Moore, an Obama-era former US attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, told Insider that the probe's escalation could be a concern for Trump.

"Anytime you see an investigation take a step forward, people who have something to hide probably start to get a little nervous," he said. "This is probably about seeing what testimony she can get from people and what evidence she can use."

Read the original article on Business Insider
BERLIN (AP)  Germany's foreign minister said Thursday that the country's diplomats during the Nazi era shared blame for the Holocaust and she wants more training for staff to speak up against all forms of discrimination.

In a statement marking the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, Annalena Baerbock said it was important to recognize the role played by members of Germany's diplomatic service at the time.

The meeting of senior Nazi officials by a Berlin lake on Jan. 20, 1942, is seen as a key moment when Germany began implementing the plan to systematically round up and kill all Jews in Europe.

Today we remember the murdered Jewish women, men and children, and those who survived the Holocaust, Baerbock said. We will never forget what Germany did to them.

She added that Foreign Ministry officials who put themselves at the service of the crimes and genocide of the Nazi regime also bear responsibility for their suffering.

This chapter of history must act as an incentive to us to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again, she added.

A critical exploration of the role played by the ministry is already part of the training that diplomats undergo, including how to spot and confront antisemitism.

From now on, all our staff throughout the world will be reminded of this on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, said Baerbock. We intend to focus even more strongly on the issues of diversity and antidiscrimination in the context of further training in order to ensure that our staff remain vigilant.

The German government's coordinator against antisemitism has called for teachers to be required to visit the Wannsee Conference site or former concentration camps as part of their training.

Felix Klein told Germany's Funke media group that antisemitism remains a serious threat in Germany, even 77 years after the end of World War II.




Attorneys for British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted on sex trafficking charges last month, on Wednesday filed a motion for a retrial.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, Maxwell's attorney Bobbi Sternheim cited a juror who served at the trial as a reason for requesting a new trial.

Earlier this month, both Maxwell's attorneys and federal prosecutors raised concerns when a juror who spoke to media revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse.

The juror, identified as Scotty David, told media outlets that he had disclosed his history as a survivor of sexual abuse to convince his fellow members of the jury to "come around" on the issue of potentially imperfect recall from Maxwell's alleged victims.

"When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on - they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse," he told Reuters.

In December, a jury found Maxwell guilty on five counts including enticing minors to travel to engage in sex acts, transporting minors with the intent of having them engage in criminal sexual activity and perjury. Prosecutors later offered to drop the perjury charges in exchange for Maxwell being sentenced on the sex trafficking charges.

If sentenced, Maxwell potentially faces several decades in prison.

Potential jurors were asked on a questionnaire whether they or someone in their family had experienced past sexual abuse, with jurors' answers potentially affecting their impartiality. David claimed to not recall being asked about this, saying he "flew through" the questionnaire.

Prosecutors asked that Nathan open an investigation into the issue.

"The Government proposes that the Court schedule a hearing in approximately one month, along with an appropriate schedule for pre-hearing briefing regarding the applicable law and the scope of the hearing," they said, asking that the investigation be handled completely under the supervision of the court.

Maxwell's attorneys, however, immediately argued that this admission was grounds for a retrial.

"The government's request for a hearing is premature because based on undisputed, publicly available information, the Court can and should order a new trial without any evidentiary hearing," they said.
Screenshot from Lindsay Church

The House Veterans Affairs Committee took Wednesday as an opportunity to hold a virtual hearing on how toxic chemicals are killing U.S. soldiers. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) took the hearing as an opportunity to clean his gun.

Cawthorn, the youngest current member of Congress, fiddled with his black pistol while one witness explained how university medical researchers could help the government examine how burn pits are harming military service members.

It was immature. Hes a child. He lacks common sense. I think the congressman was overcompensating for something that he lacks and feeling inadequate among the heroes on that call, said John Feal, a 9/11 first responder who was at the virtual meeting.

Feal was one of at least two people at the Veterans Affairs meeting who noticed what Cawthorn was doing. Both were infuriated. But the general public couldnt see it, because the two-hour virtual hearing was held over Zoomwhich meant that those tuning in could only see the person speaking.

Cawthorn worked on his pistol out of sight for several minutes, two people told The Daily Beast, but it became plainly visible during the testimony of Jen Burch, a veteran who spent six years in the Air Force serving in Japan and Afghanistan.

Screenshot of hearing

From the layout of the office behind him, Cawthorn appeared to be in his congressional office at the time, but The Daily Beast could not immediately confirm his location. (Although firearm possession is generally illegal in the District of Columbia, members of Congress have carved out a special rule that allows them to maintain guns in their offices.)

The Daily Beast asked Cawthorns office if the congressman thought this an appropriate time to clean his firearm. His communications director, Luke Ball, responded: What could possibly be more patriotic than guns and veterans?

During the live recorded meeting, which ran close to three hours, politicians listened to veteran advocacy groups discuss how uniformed military personnel have been exposed to dangerous toxins when ordered to stand by burn pitsan ill-conceived method of burning trash at military sites in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

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That grimy duty usually fell to low-ranking soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, some of whom developed heart, lung, and digestive ailments after hours of standing over smoke from the burning plastics, rubber, and paper envelopes from families back home.

GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn Tried to Get on a Plane With a Glock

Rosie Lopez Torres, the cofounder of Burn Pits 360, told The Daily Beast that she did not notice that Cawthorn was working on his gun. She only recalled that he seemed distracted at times. But when she saw the picture of what he was doing, she was livid.

Oh wow, she said. That is insane. Total disregard and disrespect to Americas war fighters. He was so bored with the topic. Those that are sick and dying and the widows in his district should see how much he cares about the issue.

Some may find that criticism particularly notable, given that Cawthorn has made a name for himself by constantly singing praises about the nations military personnel. The glory of military service is also at the core of the public persona he built: he rose to prominence with a heart wrenching story about how a car crash took away his ability to walk and left him permanently in a wheelchair before he could enter the United States Naval Academy and begin a life of military service.

Journalist Tom Fiedler would eventually uncover how that story was built on a lie, because the Naval Academy had already rejected Cawthorn before his crash. And the friend Cawthorn claimed had left him for dead, in fact, pulled him from the wreckage.

Cawthorns behavior would have gone unnoticed on Wednesday were it not for Lindsay Church, the cofounder of Minority Veterans of America, who also spoke during the meeting. They tweeted out a picture of the congressman holding his gun backwards and wrote, Imagine you showed up for a Zoom meeting and a colleague decided that was when he needed to clean his gun. Because thats what happened today in a Congressional roundtable on toxic exposure. Were better than this.

Church later told The Daily Beast that Cawthorns behavior was misguided and lacking the dignity of his office.

He was doing this while the ranking member of his own party was conducting actual business. I'd be mad as hell if I was Bost, Church said.

The office of Rep. Michael Bost (R-IL), the top Republican on that committee, did not immediately respond to questions Thursday afternoon.

This isnt the first time the 26-year-old congressman has been irresponsible with this gun.

In February 2021, he tried to board a plane in his home state of North Carolina while he still had his 9mm Glock pistol inside his bag. Cawthorn was not arrested, and his spokesman at the time chalked it up to a simple mistakethough federal airport security guards regularly detain and fine average Americans for doing the same thing.

According to CBS, the Transportation Security Administration confiscated a record 5,674 guns at airport checkpoints last year.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Nellie King loads a car that came to receive a food distribution at GraceWorks in Franklin on April 8, 2020.

GraceWorks Ministries, a Franklin nonprofit that provides a food pantry, shelter and other resources for those in poverty, is looking for a new home. The nonprofit is set to lose its headquarters of the past 21 years at the termination of its lease in June 2023.

Now, local government officials are calling on residents to help the nonprofit find a new 40,000-square-foot home.

GraceWorks joins our front line to combat any crisis our community faces, Franklin Mayor Ken Moore wrote in an email. Now, GraceWorks needs our help as they face homelessness.

GraceWorks was founded in Franklin in 1995 to support Williamson County residents experiencing homelessness. The Christian nonprofit provides clothing, food, housing support, financial assistance and other services.

GraceWorks Ministries is where life starts to get better for our citizens living in poverty," Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson said in a news release. "I am proud to call GraceWorks a Williamson County born-and-raised nonprofit and encourage our lifelong citizens and newcomers to support GraceWorks community resource centers.

The nonprofit is looking for at least a 40,000 square foot space that can accommodate two or more truck bays, warehouse space, office space, retail space and 300 or more parking spaces.

"GraceWorks is also looking for a permanent home option so they do not face the threat of displacement again," the news release reads. "A gift of 6 acres or more would allow GraceWorks to plan to build a permanent home."

GraceWorks CEO Valencia A. Breckenridge invited anyone with space or land in mind to contact her via email at valencia@graceworksministries.net or by phone at 615-794-9055 x138.

Cole Villena covers Williamson County at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network  Tennessee. Reach Cole at cvillena@tennessean.com or 615-925-0493. Follow Cole on Twitter at @ColeVillena and on Instagram at @CVinTennessee.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: GraceWorks Ministries searches for new Williamson County home
Jan. 20PLATTSBURGH  The famed Arto Monaco (1913-2003) arranged "ships and men according to historical fact," (his words) in a diorama depicting the battles of Valcour Island and Plattsburgh.

The late Upper Jay artistic genius captured the battles 1/64th their actual size in a nine-foot-long by six-foot-high model commissioned by the Plattsburgh Rotary Club at a cost of $10,000.

It was unveiled on September 29, 1976 at the Clinton County Historical Museum, where it was on permanent display in City Hall, according to a press release that appeared in the Press-Republican on the same date.

The diorama was packed up with CCHA's subsequent moves, and 46 years on, it needs some work.

CONSERVATION GRANT

The Clinton County Historical Association received a Conservation Treatment Grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network for the conservation of Monaco's diorama.

"CCHA was thrilled to get this grant," Helen Nerska, museum director, said.

"We consider it the first phase in preparing the diorama to be exhibited as Arto Monaco originally intended for all to enjoy."

He was born November 15, 1913 to an American mother, Ida Martin, and Louis Monaco, an Italian immigrant and hospitality entrepreneur.

Artist/illustrator Rockwell Kent noticed Monaco's drawings in his father's restaurant.

With Kent's encouragement and that of a neighbor, Mrs. Wells, who had a close relationship with Mrs. Pratt, head of Pratt Institute, Monaco, who didn't have a high-school education, tested and was admitted to Pratt Institute, where he studied drawing, painting, graphic design and ceramics, according to a Mountain Lake PBS 2015 video, "A Castle in Every Heart: The Arto Monaco Story."

Monaco graduated from Pratt in 1937, returned to Upper Jay for a spell, before heading west to Hollywood.

An Adirondack Peter Pan "who could see the world through a child's eyes," Monaco was a theme park designer (Old McDonald's Farm, Storytown, now Great Escape, and Frontier Town), toy designer (Arto Monaco's Toy Co., Hasbro, Mattel, Ideal Toy Co), cartoonist (Disney), Hollywood studio artist (Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM), and celebs interior decorator (Charlie Chaplin, Fanny Brice, Ray Milland, etc.).

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Monaco's close-to-home park designs include Julian Reiss' vision, Santa's Workshop  North Pole, the first U.S. theme park, in Wilmington, and his very own child-centered, flood-ravaged Land of Makebelieve (1954-1982) in Upper Jay.

BICENTENNIAL GIFT

The Lake Champlain battles' diorama was a gift to CCHA from the Plattsburgh Rotary, who commissioned the work for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial celebration.

The diorama, on exhibit in CCHA Museum at 98 Ohio Ave. on the Old Base Museum Campus, depicts in exceptional detail both the Battle of Valcour and the Battle of Plattsburgh and is used to help tell the story of the Lake Champlain battles that influenced the entire history of the nation.

The NYSCA/GHHN Conservation Grant Treatment Program is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The conservation work will be carried out at the museum by Jennifer Baker.

"Conservator Jennifer Baker will be working with us to repair the surfaces and has suggested next steps after the surfaces have been conserved," Nerska said.

"The vitrine covering the diorama has seen years of wear and tear and needs to be replaced."

During the diorama's fabrication, financial considerations forced Monaco to use fewer materials than he would have preferred, according to the 1976 P-R article.

"Models, he noted, are very expensive, and he could only spend what the Rotarians granted him.

"He jokingly related with more funds or time the project 'could have stretched from here to Montreal.'

"The artist was able to give only three months to the diorama because of other work and personal considerations.

"Monaco said working on the project, however, was not only great fun, but educational as well. He claimed he learned more about the battles and the Revolutionary War from the diorama than he had ever learned in school."

Although the exhibit was highly detailed, it was not difficult to construct in his estimation.

Monaco was assisted by two other artists, including his niece, Linda Denton, also of Upper Jay, according to the article.

NARRATIVE COMPONENT

The narrative, while historic in itself as it was created and narrated by the late Dr. Carl Engelhart, needs to be shortened a little.

"The base of the diorama has a series of lights built in that work with the narrative to show where on the lake the narrator's story is taking you," Nerska said.

"This is more difficult to see or appreciate for anyone restricted by height or a wheelchair so we would like to add a video version.

"The work that went into this diorama decades ago was done with such precision you can see the cannons, the oars in the water, the boats burning and the sailors in the water or managing the sails. "While CCHA has many wonderful artifacts, this, like the Aikin Rifle, is on our 'must see' list at the museum."

NOT HIS FIRST RODEO

One of Monaco's earliest projects was creating "European-like villages" for the training of U.S. soldiers shipping out to the European Theater during in World War II.

Author John Steinbeck and director Lewis Milestone, regular patrons of Monaco's Restaurant, convinced the artist to return to Hollywood to illustrate storyboards for the 1939 Hal Roach Studios film, "Of Mice and Men."

His Tinseltown sojourn was interrupted when he got a 1941 draft notice.

Monaco enlisted into the U.S. Army while his childhood sweetheart/wife, the former Gladys "Glad" Burrell stood by his side.

Master Sgt. Monaco volunteered his artistic talent and ideas, which were put to use for signs ('Do not put cigarettes in latrine"), a large-scale working model camera lens, and Annadorf, a secret California training facility, which was a German town complete with pop-up Nazi snipers. Think of an analog version of "Call of Duty."

Monaco helped set up the first Training Aids Division, according to Adirondack Experience Library, Guide to the Arto Monaco Papers (MS 18-004).

The CCHA diorama is not the only one Monaco designed locally.

The 9' X 12' scale model of Heart's Delight Farm in Chazy was landscaped by him with his niece.

The landscaping was one of the last creations by the North Country legend, who is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Upper Jay.

Email Robin Caudell:

rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter:@RobinCaudell
Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that the United States and Russia are trading versions of I-dare-you over Ukraine, the announcement Thursday that the Doomsday Clocks hands wont move this year could be seen as a hopeful sign.

As it has since 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Thursday the position of the clocks big hand. It remains where it had been: at 100 seconds to midnight.

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The doorstep of doom is no place to loiter, the Bulletin wrote in explaining a decision announced virtually. By itself, thats a telling sign of the times. Before COVID, the reveal was annually made at the National Press Club in Washington.

The Doomsday Clocks time, set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists science and security board, has the has been set at 100 seconds to midnight. (Hastings Group Media)

Holing up in the Bulletins offices at the University of Chicago makes poetic sense. Just across campus is the birthplace of the Atomic Age. There, in 1943, Enrico Fermi demonstrated a self-sustaining splitting of atoms, an experiment that led to the development of the A-bomb.

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The site is marked by a Henry Moore sculpture depicting an atomic explosion.

Chicago artist Martyl Langsdorf designed the image of the clock 75 years ago. She was commissioned by the scientists who built the atomic bomb that ended World War II. By 1947 the Cold War was on, and they wanted to alert Americans to the danger of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union.

They hoped to frighten men into rationality, said Eugene Rabinowitch, a biologist and the first editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

The Doomsday Clock originally was set at 7 minutes to midnight. In 1953, it was advanced to 2 minutes before the hour, and Rabinowitch explained: Only a few more swings of the pendulum, and from Moscow to Chicago, atomic explosions will strike midnight of Western civilization.

In 1963, the Clock was moved back to 12 minutes, the Bulletin explaining: Conclusion of a limited (nuclear) test-ban treaty is an encouraging event.

In 1983 it was set forward to 3 minutes, the Bulletin observing: As we enter the new year, hope is eclipsed by foreboding. The nuclear arms race was full on.

In 1991, the Clock reached its apogee of optimism: 17 minutes before midnight, because The Cold War is over.

In 2007, the Bulletin added global warming and genetic engineering to its list of threats, and last year, it took note of attacks on the very concept of the truth.

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rgrossman@chicagotribune.com
Hey, Dallas! Let's get you all caught up to start this Friday, January 21 off on an informed note. These are the most important things going on around town today.

First, today's weather:

Sunny, but chilly. High: 43 Low: 24.

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Are you a local business owner or marketer in Dallas? We love showcasing trusted businesses who can solve problems for our amazing local readers. Click here to learn how it works.

Here are the top three stories in Dallas today:

The new must-see musical "Hadestown" in Dallas is a contemporary take on intertwining Greek myths. The musical is the winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Check out "Hadestown" at the Winspear Opera House-Dallas through Jan. 30. (WFAA.com) Dallas firefighters pulled an elderly man from a burning home yesterday. The fire was reported at noon yesterday in the 19000 block of Gus Thomasson Road. Officials don't have word yet on the man's condition. (FOX 4 Dallas) The Dallas Police Department is asking for the public's help in finding 11-year-old Traveon Michael Allen Griffin. Griffen was last seen at about midnight Thursday night in the 5900 block of Naravista Drive. He may be wearing white socks, black shorts with no shirt. (CBS Dallas)

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Today in Dallas:

International Gem And Jewelry Show - Dallas Market Hall (12 PM)

From my notebook:

Dallas magician Zak Mirz will be featured today at 7 p.m. on Penn and Teller. (CW33 NewsFix)

Check out three things to do in Dallas this week with Dallas Observer. (CW33 NewsFix)

Spay Neuter Network is offering a free Distemper/Parvo Vaccine clinic tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. for dogs only at the SNN Dallas location (2223 S. Buckner Blvd. Ste 203). (Facebook)

Donate to the Dallas Police Department's #PolarPlunge fundraiser! The event supports the Special Olympics. We invite the entire community out for a fun, family-friendly morning to watch members of the command staff #FreezeforaReason. (Facebook)

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Thanks for following along and staying informed! I'll be in your inbox tomorrow morning with another update.



 Nicole Fallon-Peek

About me: Nicole Fallon-Peek is a journalist and copywriter with a degree in Media, Culture and Communication from New York University. She has served as a freelance reporter, managing editor, copy editor, and editorial director for a variety of B2B news outlets. She currently co-owns and operates content creation agency Lightning Media Partners.

This article originally appeared on the Dallas Patch
The New Hampshire governor has hit out at Massachusetts officials over the disappearance of Harmony Montgomery after she was placed in the custody of her father just months before she was last seen more than two years ago.

Governor Chris Sununu sent a letter to Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Kimberly S Budd on Tuesday demanding to know why a Massachusetts judge granted monstrous drug dealer Adam Montgomery custody of his daughter.

The governor went as far as to claim that the result would likely have been very different for Harmony if the court had acted differently.

A Massachusetts judge awarded Mr Montgomery custody of Harmony back in February 2019, after her mother Crystal Sorey lost custody due to substance abuse the previous year.

Ms Sorey lives in Massachusetts while Mr Montgomery lives in New Hampshire and so the change in custody saw Harmony sent to live with her father in the latter state.

In December 2021, a missing persons investigation was opened for the little girl, now seven, after Ms Sorey said Mr Montgomery had severed all contact and she had not seen her since a video call in April 2019.

Investigators have since learned that the last known sighting of the girl was in October or November 2019, when she was five.

Mr Montgomery, an ex-convict with a history of violence, has been arrested and charged with child assault in connection to his missing daughter.

Investigators said he is refusing to say where Harmony is. Three weeks into the police investigation, her whereabouts are still unknown.

Harmony was known to the child welfare agencies in both states and questions are mounting over how she managed to slip through the cracks of the system and vanish for more than two years without alarm bells ringing.

Adam Montgomery is pictured in booking photo following arrest (AP)

Governor Sununu blasted the Massachusetts court system for allowing the little girl to leave the state in the custody of a dangerous criminal.

Harmonys father Adam Montgomery is a monstrous drug dealer with previous convictions including shooting someone in the head and a separate armed attack on two women in Massachusetts, he wrote in the letter.

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No child should ever leave Massachusetts in the custody of a dangerous criminal.

The governor said that the Massachusetts child welfare agency asked its New Hampshire counterpart to carry out a home study of Mr Montgomery and his wife Kayla Montgomery in 2018 as part of the process to grant custody of the little girl and transfer Harmonys case to the state.

He said that the New Hampshire agency was waiting for the necessary information about the Montgomerys from Massachusetts officials when a judge went ahead and approved custody before the home study could be carried out.

Why would the Massachusetts court choose to place custody of Harmony with this horrible individual? he asked.

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu says result would likely have been very different for Harmony if she wasnt in care of father (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Governor Sununu wrote that he believes the home study likely would have proven that Adam Montgomery was unfit and that, as a result, Harmony would not have been placed in his care.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker responded to Governor Sununus letter, telling reporters on Wednesday that he felt his pain.

I totally get where Governor Sununu is coming from, and we are cooperating to the fullest extent possible that can with the Office of the Child Advocate here in Massachusetts, which is an independent entity that is reviewing this case and has the ability to access the data thats necessary to figure out exactly what happened, he said.

Investigations are now underway in the two Republican-led states into their handling of Harmonys case and whether the system failed the little girl.

Governor Sununu announced on 12 January that the child welfare agency is carrying out an internal review of its handling of Harmonys case.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker responded to Governor Sununus comments (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Meanwhile an independent investigation is also being carried out by the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate in that state.

Family members of Harmony said they raised concerns multiple times to child welfare for Harmonys safety while living with her father in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Mr Montgomery was arrested on 4 January and charged with second-degree felony assault, two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one misdemeanor count of interference with custody in relation to his missing daughter.

On the assault charge, he is accused of striking [Harmony] in the face sometime in July 2019, giving her a black eye, according to the criminal complaint.

Police interviews with other family members revealed Mr Montgomery was allegedly abusive toward his daughter, including giving her a black eye, forcing her to clean the toilet with her own toothbrush and making her stand in a corner for hours as a punishment.

Harmony Montgomery was last seen around October 2019 in Manchester (Manchester Police Department)

Officials said Mr Montgomery is not cooperating with the investigation into his daughters disappearance and has refused to say where she is.

The day after his arrest, his wife was arrested on one felony charge of welfare fraud for allegedly fraudulently collecting welfare benefits for the missing child between December 2019 and June 2021.

Ms Montgomery, who has three children with her husband, is accused of fraudulently obtaining $1,500 in food stamp benefits meant for Harmony between December 2019 and June 2021 even though the girl was not living with them.

Prosecutors have now dropped that welfare fraud charge and added three new charges - one count of theft by deception and two misdemeanor charges of welfare fraud.

The charges accuse Ms Montgomery of making intentional false statements about her stepdaughters whereabouts in February and March 2021 in order to claim benefits.

Mr Montgomery has a history of violence and a long criminal record including convictions for shooting a man in the head in a drug deal just six months before Harmony was born.

He was also convicted in 2010 for attacking two women at gunpoint.

It has also emerged that Mr Montgomery is a suspect in the cold case murder of a 28-year-old man in Lynn, New Hampshire, back in February 2008.

Kayla Montgomery is pictured in her mugshot following her arrest (Manchester NH Police)

Darlin Guzman was found shot in the chest in the parking lot of the former White Hen Convenience store in Lynns Austin Square on the night of 10 February 2008. He was pronounced dead in hospital.

A law enforcement source told Boston 25 News that Mr Montgomery, who was 18 at the time, and two members of his family, who were not named, have been the focus of the murder investigation since day one.

The three family members had been in contact with the victim earlier that day and planned to meet with him at the convenience store, before the meeting culminated in gunfire, according to the source.

The victims car was later found abandoned in the direction of Bedford, New Hampshire, where Mr Montgomery lived at the time.

No one has ever been charged with the Mr Guzmans murder but the source said Mr Montgomery remains the focus of the investigation to this day.

Almost 14 years on from that killing, Mr Montgomery and his wife are now charged on counts related to his missing daughter.

However, while charged with serious offences including child abuse and welfare fraud, no charges have been brought against anyone directly in connection to Harmonys disappearance.

Anyone with information about Harmonys disappearance is asked to call or text 603-203-606
A $500,000 federal grant will support a Hartford police team focused on boosting the currently meager number of arrests and convictions in nonfatal shootings.

Formed last year, the Shooting Response Team seeks to gain victims trust and break down the no snitch code that stymies many investigations.

Not only do unsolved shooting cases fail to provide justice for victims and their loved ones, but they contribute to ongoing cycles of violence by undermining police efforts to deter gun violence and contributing to the willingness of individuals to seek retribution, the application for the U.S. Department of Justice grant said.

The grant, Mayor Luke Bronin said at a press conference Thursday announcing the award, is a recognition of the deliberate, evidence-based work that the Hartford Police Department is already doing, and it will provide valuable new resources to strengthen that work.

Whats happening with nonfatal shootings in Hartford?

While the citys homicide rate over the past 10 years has averaged about four times the national average, killings represent a relatively small part of most gun violence. Nonfatal shootings outnumbered homicides by about 7-1 in 2019 and 9-1 in 2020, according to the citys application for the U.S. Department of Justice grant.

Within the past two years, 90.2% of victims struck by gunshots survived. In 2019, Hartford police investigated 23 homicides and 124 nonfatal shootings, clearing 65% of the homicides, but only 23.4% of the nonfatal victimizations. In 2020, police cleared 68% of 25 homicides, but only 8.1% of nonfatal shootings.

Why is the nonfatal shooting clearance rate so low?

Both murders and nonfatal shootings tend to rise from gangs and the drug trade. These cases are hard to solve, police say, in large part because both witnesses and victims refuse to cooperate with investigators.

Their reasons for keeping quiet include a distrust of police, the street code against snitching, belief that police are unlikely to catch the offenders and some victims preference for retaliation outside the criminal justice system, according to experts cited in the grant application.

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Findings from a recent study of incarcerated shooting victims found that 66% who did not cooperate with police either knew their shooters or had identifying information, but did not cooperate due to distrust or belief that the police did not care about helping them, according to the grant application.

In Hartford, 34% of shooting cases in 2019 and 27% in 2020 were closed out explicitly due to uncooperative victims/witnesses, the grant application says.

Given that less than 25% of shooters in the city are apprehended for their crimes, it can be difficult to overcome the legal cynicism and fear of retaliation that prevents victims and witnesses from aiding investigations, the grant application says.

What can be done?

Historically, nonfatal shootings often are investigated by detectives who have higher caseloads. Formed in March 2021, the Shooting Response Team seeks to dedicate the same time and resources to nonfatal shooting investigations that have been applied to homicides.

The six-member team, the grant application says, emphasizes a victim-centric approach that is expected to play a vital role in clearing shooting cases.

All shooting victims are connected to victim advocates through the states attorneys office of victim services, and victims at-risk for becoming tomorrows shooters are referred to outreach and service providers whenever possible, Hartford police say.

What will the grant fund?

The grant will support continuation and expansion of the team (the goal is to hire two more members by March) and an evaluation after two years. The evaluation will explore whether the effort significantly improved responses to nonfatal shootings and increased clearance rates. Caseloads are to be evaluated annually to reassess whether additional investigators are needed.

Also, police say a new crime analyst in the major crimes division will help the Shooting Response Team gather intelligence and analyze data. The team also has a research partner, Lisa Barao, assistant professor of criminal justice at Westfield University.

Police Chief Jason Thody said the grant gives the department additional tools to help keep Hartford families safe by allowing us to investigate nonfatal shooting incidents more rapidly and with the increased focus they deserve.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com
New York police say this woman spat on and threatened to kill a group of children outside a synagogue in Brooklyn (NYPD)

New York police are searching for a woman accused of threatening and spitting on a group of Jewish children in a vicious antisemitic attack.

The New York Police Department has released surveillance footage of the alleged incident, which it says happened on Friday outside a synagogue in Brooklyn. The video (which does not include sound) shows the woman storming up to the three children, animatedly speaking to them, and then appearing to spit.

Hitler should have killed you all, police say she told them, according to the New York Daily News. Ill kill you and know where you live.

The woman then turns around and walks back, giving the camera a full view of her appearance. Police say she is a woman in her 20s, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, with long black hair. In the video, she is wearing an orange sweater, black leggings, and dark Ugg-type boots.

Police say she spat on an eight-year-old Jewish boy, and is wanted for aggravated harassment. They have asked for the publics help in finding her.

Do you know her? the NYPD tweeted on Wednesday. On 1/14/22 at approx. 12:35, in front of 4017 Avenue P in Brooklyn, the suspect approached an 8-year-old and two other children, made anti-Jewish statements, then spat on them.

Antisemitism in the United States has risen sharply in recent years. In 2020, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 2,024 incidents of vandalism, harassment, and assault against Jews in the US. This marked a slight decrease from 2019  which itself was a record-breaking year  but 2020 was still the third-worst year on record since 1979, the ADL says.

WANTED for AGGRAVATED HARASSMENT: Do you know her? On 1/14/22 at approx. 12:35, in front of 4017 Avenue P in Brooklyn, the suspect approached an 8-year-old and two other children, made anti-Jewish statements, then spat on the them. Any info? DM @NYPDTips, or call 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/MNG6kgcsBD  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 19, 2022

The 2020 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents documents alarmingly high levels of antisemitism in the United States, which require a concerted whole-of-society response, the League said in its annual report. When one individual is targeted by a hate crime, it hurts the whole community, and leaves people feeling vulnerable and afraid.

The ADL urges anyone who has experienced or witnessed an antisemitic attack to report it using the organizations incident form.

The NYPD, meanwhile, has asked anyone with knowledge of the Brooklyn spitting incident to message @NYPDTips on Twitter, or to call 800-577-TIPS.
IndyStar's David Woods was inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame and Kyle Neddenriep named Corky Lamm Sportswriter of the Year by the organization.

Woods joined IndyStar in 1994 and serves as our Butler and Olympics beatwriter. He attended every Olympic Games from 1996 through 2021, chronicling the incredible success of athletes with Indiana ties at sports' highest level and covered Butler's appearances in back-to-back Final Fours. Woods has written four books and won dozens of regional and national sportswriting honors during his 40-year career.

More: IndyStar's Gregg Doyel named Indiana Sportswriter of the Year

Butler must regroup for Big East opener

Neddenriep has been the state's No. 1 voice on high school sports since arriving at IndyStar 14 years ago. He was named the state's sportswriter of the year by National Sports Media Association in 2020.

IndyStar's Kyle Neddenriep was named 2020 Indiana Sportswriter of the Year.

They will be honored at the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association's awards banquet on April 10 at Valle Vista Country Club in Greenwood. The event begins at 2 p.m. with tickets costing $30. Send a check to Fred Inniger, ISSA Treasurer, 3011 Noble Hawk Drive, Kendallville, IN 46755 by March 20.

Also inducted into the hall of fame will be WTHR's Dave Calabro, former South Bend Tribune writer Eric Hansen, WNDU's Jeff Jeffers (deceased), Crawfordsville Journal-Review's Barry Lewis and Rob Weaver of WPGW Radio.

The organization also gave out the following awards: Marv Bates Sportscaster of the Year: Andrew Smith, New Pal Radio/voice of Indy Fuel; Bob Williams Helping Hand Award: Ray Simmons, Director of Athletic Communications for University of Southern Indiana; Ron Lemasters Lifetime Achievement Award: Tom Kubat, Lafayette Journal & Courier (retired).

Contact IndyStar Deputy Sports Editor Nat Newell at (317) 444-6182 or nat.newell@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NatJNewell.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyStar's David Woods, Kyle Neddenriep honored by Indiana media group
A University of Chicago police officer who shot and wounded a man in Hyde Park Tuesday was also involved in a shooting near campus in 2018 in which a student was wounded.

The officer involved in the two shootings was identified as Nicolas Twardak in a statement from the university Thursday. Twardak has been with the schools police force since 2016.

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The states attorneys office has approved charges against Rhysheen Wilson, 28, in connection with Tuesdays shooting, according to the schools statement. Wilson was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated discharge of a firearm to a person and aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon.

The 2018 shooting involving Twardak was also revealed in the universitys statement Thursday, which said the officer was involved in one previous shooting in April 2018. Both Chicago polices and the universitys investigations into that incident found the officers actions were consistent with applicable law, according to the statement.

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In the shooting this week, Twardak was on patrol about 11:45 a.m. Tuesday when he saw a man with a handgun walking south on Woodlawn Avenue near 53rd Street, according to Eric Heath, associate vice president for safety and security at the school. Twardak stopped his patrol car just south of 53rd and approached the man, who then fired shots.

Twardak took cover and told the man repeatedly to get on the ground before he fired back and struck the man. The man continued toward Twardak with his gun drawn, so Twardak shot the man again, officials said.

University police rendered aid before he was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was in critical condition as of Wednesday evening. Wilson is not affiliated with the university.

University police also released videos from Tuesdays shooting, including footage from the officers body-worn camera. It is unclear in the video who fired first and who was shooting when.

Twardak is currently on mandatory administrative leave as Chicago police and the university investigate. In addition to routine patrol duties, he has also had special assignments as a field training officer and bike officer, according to the university.

In the earlier incident, charges against Charles Thomas, a 21-year-old student at the university at the time he was shot by Twardak in April 2018, were dropped in May of last year when Thomas was entered into a deferred prosecution program, according to court records. Thomas was facing criminal charges in connection with the shooting, including felony aggravated assault of an officer and two counts of felony criminal damage to property.

Three U. of C. police officers, including Twardak, responded to a call of a burglary in the 5300 block of South Kimbark Avenue on April 3, 2018, where Thomas also lived at the time. Officers found Thomas breaking car and apartment windows with a long metal pipe. Thomas charged at the officers after refusing to put down the pipe, and Twardak fired his weapon once, hitting Thomas in the shoulder.

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Chicago Tribunes Megan Crepeau contributed.

sahmad@chicagotribune.com
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israels attorney general said Thursday he was launching an investigation into Israeli polices use of phone surveillance technology following reports that investigators improperly tracked targets without authorization.

In a four-page letter, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said he had not yet found evidence substantiating the claims in the Israeli business daily Calcalist, which said police monitored the leaders of a protest movement against then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, mayors and other citizens without court approval. But Mandelblit said many questions remained unanswered, and that he was forming an investigative committee headed by a top deputy.

The specific cases mentioned by the newspaper raise a very troubling picture, he said, but dont provide sufficiently concrete information to identify the cases of alleged misuse.

Mandelblit's letter came a few hours after Israel's police chief said he had ordered an extensive investigation into the newspaper's claims. In a report this week, Calcalist said police had used the NSO Group's Pegasus hacking software to surveil some of Netanyahu's political opponents, as well as a raft of other alleged misuses of the technology.

The police have dismissed the report as inaccurate and said they only operate according to the law. But the publication drew an outcry from lawmakers and prompted multiple investigations by various Israeli authorities into the allegations.

The NSO Group does not identify its clients and says it has no knowledge of who is targeted. The company says its products are intended to be used against criminals and terrorists, and that it does not control how its clients use the software. Israel, which regulates the company, has not said whether its own security forces use the spyware.

The Israeli spyware company has faced mounting scrutiny over its Pegasus software, which has been linked to snooping on human rights activists, journalists and politicians across the globe. In November, the U.S. Commerce Department blacklisted NSO, barring the company from using certain U.S. technologies, saying its tools had been used to conduct transnational repression.

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In announcing his investigation, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said that immediately following the report's publication, police launched a thorough internal investigation that has yet to find any instances of unlawful surveillance. He called on the paper to provide concrete details that will allow us to inspect the alleged incidents.

Tuesday's Calcalist article didn't name any of the people whose phones were allegedly hacked, nor did it cite any current or former sources in the police, government or NSO. The report referred to eight alleged examples of the polices secretive signal intelligence unit employing Pegasus to surveil Israeli citizens, including hacking phones of protesters, mayors, a murder suspect and opponents of the Jerusalem Pride Parade, all without a court order or a judge's oversight.

Shabtai said that if it turns out that there were specific instances in which regulations were violated, the police under my command will work to improve and correct," pledging full transparency. At the same time, he defended the polices lawful use of such technologies to combat crime.
By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) -The security situation facing Japan and France in the Indo-Pacific is unstable and "getting tougher", Japan's defence minister said on Thursday at the start of talks between the foreign and defence ministers of the two countries.

The so-called "two-plus-two" talks between Tokyo and Paris come as Japan has pushed to bolster security cooperation with Western allies as it faces China's growing might and North Korean missile development.

France has overseas territories in the Indo-Pacific and stations armed forces in the region. Rising tensions relating to Taiwan, over which China asserts sovereignty, have put a sharp focus on Japan's security role. North Korea also launched missiles recently in a rapid sequence of weapons tests.

"Unilateral attempts to change the status quo with force are continuing in the Indo-Pacific region, and the security environment surrounding Japan and France is getting tougher and unstable," Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said.

Kishi and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met with French counterparts Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly via video conference.

A final statement said the two countries had agreed to strengthen security cooperation and to raise the level of bilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

"The four ministers shared serious concerns about the South and East China Seas situation and agreed to strongly object to unilateral attempts to change the status quo with force," the final statement said.

"They also confirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and agreed to urge relevant parties to solve the cross-strait issue peacefully."

It was unclear what the strengthening of bilateral ties meant in practical terms.

Japan and France have already concluded several key security deals, including an agreement on the transfer of defence equipment and technology. The two have increased their joint military drills in recent years.

The bilateral talks come ahead of other security-related meetings involving leaders in the region, including a virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and consultations between Australian and British foreign and defence ministers, both on Friday.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris Editing by Michael Perry, Bernadette Baum and Mark Heinrich)




A federal judge on Thursday rejected an effort by a spokesman for former President Trump to force the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to return a trove of his personal financial records that the panel had obtained by subpoena.

Taylor Budowich sued the select committee in December, challenging its authority to issue the subpoena for his bank records and asking for an order to claw back the documents after his bank had complied with the demand.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said during a hearing on Thursday that he would deny Budowich's motion, saying that the Constitution prohibits courts from directing such orders at members of Congress.

"There really is no question that this Court has no jurisdiction to order Congress under the Speech or Debate Clause to return documents that it has received," said Boasberg, who was appointed by former President Obama.

In a statement emailed to The Hill, Budowich said he was seeking with the suit to determine if there were any limitations to a "partisan Congress" infringing on the rights of a private citizen.

"As I have said since day one, the challenge I have brought forward is not merely about me or my personal bank records-besides a tendency to impulse buy on Instagram, there is little of interest to be found. Instead, it's to answer the important question: are there any limitations preventing a partisan Congress from infringing on the rights and privacies of American citizens?" he said.

"After complying with this illegitimate committee, they know I have done nothing wrong. Yet, they are still weaponizing their power against their political opponents in such a way that should be chilling to every American. Regardless of where this case ends, the political pendulum will continue to swing and the Republican wave that is set to sweep the Midterms will look to this decision to inform its actions."

Christopher Dempsey, Budowich's attorney, said during the hearing on Thursday that he would consult with his client about next steps in the case.

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The subpoena directed at JPMorgan Chase for Budowich's records is sealed, but a subpoena issued by the select committee to the spokesman in November says that the lawmakers have reason to believe he helped direct $200,000 to a nonprofit that promoted the "Stop the Steal" rally just before the Jan. 6 attack.

"According to information provided to the Select Committee and press reports, you solicited a 501(c)(4) organization to conduct a social media and radio advertising campaign to encourage people to attend the rally held on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, in support of then-President Trump and his allegations of election fraud," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee's chairman, wrote to Budowich.

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, now a partner at the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, is representing JPMorgan Chase in the lawsuit and made an appearance during the virtual hearing in which she spoke only briefly.

The ruling is another court victory for the select committee and comes just hours after the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to deny Trump's lawsuit seeking to block the panel from obtaining White House records from the National Archives.

Boasberg said that even if he believed he had jurisdiction over the dispute, he would be bound by the higher court's ruling in Trump's lawsuit to rule that the committee had a valid legislative purpose to issue the subpoena and would be inclined to deny Budowich's other legal challenges against the panel's structure, which includes just two House Republicans selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

The judge scheduled a hearing for Jan. 27 to discuss next steps in the case.

Updated at 12:12 p.m.
Police are investigating after a juvenile was struck and injured by a vehicle in Atwater on Wednesday.

Officers responded to the area of East Juniper Avenue and North Buhach Road near Buhach Colony High School at about 3 p.m., according to Atwater Police Chief Michael Salvador.

Police said it appears the pedestrian was heading east across North Buhach Road when the youth was struck by a black two-door Honda traveling northbound on N Buhach Road near East Juniper Avenue. Police did not release the age or gender of the juvenile pedestrian..

The juvenile was taken by helicopter to Memorial Hospital in Modesto with what are believed to be moderate to major injuries, according to police. The victims condition is unknown at this time. Salvador said it is unknown if the pedestrian was in a crosswalk at the time of the collision.

Still trying to investigate cause and circumstances related to the accident, Salvador said.

Police said the adult driver of the vehicle remained on scene and cooperated with authorities. Police are working to speak with several witnesses and neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the collision, according to Salvador.

Anyone with information is asked to contact The Atwater Police Department at 209-357-6396 and ask for Officer Mike Rivera.
The Kentucky Democratic Party announced Thursday it's suing over congressional and state legislative redistricting maps the commonwealth's Republican-run legislature approved earlier this month.

The lawsuit claims the Republican-crafted maps for both Kentucky's six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and for the state House of Representatives' districts violates the Kentucky Constitution, according to a KDP news release.

The Democratic Party announced the lawsuit minutes after Republican lawmakers overrode Gov. Andy Beshear's veto of the Kentucky House redistricting plan.

The legislature's Republican supermajorities also overrode Beshear's veto of the new congressional map, finalizing that process Thursday evening.

Related: Move Kentucky's primary election to August? Louisville lawmaker says it may be necessary.

The lawsuit claims the Kentucky House and congressional maps both involve "extreme partisan gerrymandering," which violates the state Constitution "by arbitrarily denying the citizens of the Commonwealth the rights to a free and equal election, free expression, and free association."

The complaint, a copy of which KDP sent to The Courier Journal, also claims the state House map runs afoul of the constitution by "excessively and unnecessarily splitting counties into multiple districts without a legitimate purpose."

House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, told reporters attorneys are looking at the lawsuit. He indicated hed like to see a speedy resolution to this case, saying Thursday evening: Im very, very confident that the map will withstand any challenge.

Osborne suggested Beshear was doing "political theater" by waiting until Wednesday to veto their redistricting legislation, with the Kentucky Democratic Party suing soon afterward, when he received it from the legislature over a week ago.

The state Democratic Party is joined by several other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including House Democratic Caucus Chair Derrick Graham, of Frankfort, and four Franklin County residents.

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They want the Franklin Circuit Court to declare the redistricting legislation creating these new maps invalid and to prevent the May primary election from being conducted based on these Republican-drawn districts.

"These maps were drawn behind closed doors with no public input to silence the voices of hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians, KDP Chair Colmon Elridge said. We are joining residents who are disenfranchised by these gerrymandered districts to stop this partisan power grab."

Republican lawmakers have supermajorities in the legislature, putting them in full control of Kentucky's redistricting process  which happens every 10 years to reflect population shifts  for the first time in history. This week, a Louisville Republican filed a proposal to delay Kentucky's primary election to August in case his party's redistricting plans get tied up in court.

Suit targets James Comer's district

The lawsuit highlights U.S. Rep. James Comer's redrawn 1st Congressional District as an example of the "extreme partisan gerrymandering" it claims is unconstitutional.

Part of the 1st District got shifted further northeast and took Franklin County out of Rep. Andy Barr's 6th Congressional District under the new map Republican lawmakers crafted.

The lawsuit claims that was unnecessary and politically motivated, saying: "By going out of its way to move Franklin County into the 1st District, the map intentionally dilutes the votes of Democratic voters in Franklin County by attaching them to faraway counties in Western Kentucky to form a district where Republican voters will easily cancel out their votes."

More: Here's the Kentucky Senate GOP's plan to redo congressional districts, including Yarmuth's

The 6th District is arguably Kentucky's only swing district in Congress, with Democrat-leaning Lexington falling within its borders, University of Kentucky professor and election law expert Josh Douglas recently told The Courier Journal. Frankfort also skews Democratic, so moving its home county of Franklin out of the 6th District could make it a safer seat for Republicans.

This is the Kentucky Senate GOP's new redistricting map for the state's six congressional districts.

The stretched-out shape of the new 1st District has attracted plenty of criticism, and the Democratic Party's lawsuit highlights that as part of its case.

To illustrate the geographical absurdity of District 1: if one chose to drive the full length of District 1, staying entirely within District 1, it would require driving approximately 370 miles and would take approximately 6 hours and 45 minutes," the lawsuit says.

Additionally, the lawsuit suggests Republican lawmakers redrew the 1st District that way because Comer owns a home in Frankfort.

More: Congressional redistricting plan puts Rep. Jamie Comer's wants above Kentuckians' needs

Mary Lynn Collins, one of the Franklin County residents who's joined this lawsuit, said in a statement: "Their maps weaken my voice, my representation and my vote by placing me and my neighbors in a gerrymandered district that stretches for hundreds of miles to the Mississippi River.

Splitting up counties

Apart from the partisan gerrymandering claims, the lawsuit asserts the redistricting legislation for the Kentucky House map violates Section 33 of the state constitution by its "excessive splitting of several of Kentuckys most populous counties into more districts than are necessary to comply with applicable Constitutional mandates."

While a minimum of 23 counties must be split in a House map, the plaintiffs contend the 23 counties in the GOP map "are split far more times than is necessary to accommodate one person, one vote principles."

Whereas the Republicans' map splits 23 counties 80 times, the lawsuit points out that Democrats proposed redistricting bill, House Bill 191, splits 23 counties 60 times.

"These excessive splits were drawn solely to sub-divide counties in ways that favor Republican voters and candidates over Democratic ones," the lawsuit states, adding that communities of interest for urban voters "have been cracked to pair pockets of urban voters with more rural districts guaranteed to drown out their votes."

The lawsuit claims 13 counties, in particular, were divvied up too much, including Bullitt, Fayette, Hardin and Oldham.

While Beshear vetoed the House and congressional redistricting bills, he allowed Republicans' redistricting bill for the state Senate to go into law Friday without his signature, as he took no action on it in the 10-day veto period.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Contact Morgan Watkins at mwatkins@courierjournal.com and follow her on Twitter at @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Democratic Party suing over Republicans' redistricting maps
Jan. 19A Kentucky man has a July 11 jury trial set in connection with the September 2018 shooting death of a Terre Haute man.

Zavius E. King, 28, of Louisville, appeared via video in Vigo Superior Court 1 on Wednesday morning where Judge John Roach read the charges to King and ordered King held without bond pending trial.

King was booked into the Vigo County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. His next court hearing is May 10.

In February 2021, King was being held at the Shelby County, Kentucky, Detention Center on unrelated charges when the Terre Haute Police Department violent crimes unit obtained an arrest warrant for him. The charges of murder, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, armed robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon were filed in connection with the Sept. 7, 2018, shooting of Ronnie Caldwell, 48, of Terre Haute, at 1535 Elm St.

King was arrested in Kentucky a few days after the shooting on an attempted murder charge. Caldwell later died and the charge was amended to murder in October 2018.

In December 2019, however, the Vigo County Prosecutor's Office requested the charges be dismissed without prejudice, allowing the charges to be refiled if new information or evidence was discovered.

New information came to the THPD in October 2020 when investigators were notified that a firearm connected to the Caldwell shooting was recovered in Louisville, Kentucky.

In a probable cause affidavit filed almost a year ago, Detective Brad Rumsey said Louisville police recovered a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun. The firearm was test fired and the results entered into a database to see if they matched any other crimes.

The shell casing was found to be a likely match to the firearm used in the Caldwell shooting. THPD had recovered 12 spent .40 caliber shell casings at the Elm Street residence, but no firearm.

Rumsey went to Louisville and took possession of the firearm, and delivered it as well as recovered projectiles from the Caldwell autopsy to the Indiana State Police Laboratory for testing. The lab results showed the firearm recovered in Louisville had fired a projectile recovered in the Caldwell autopsy.

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In the affidavit, Rumsey said he interviewed a person who admitted being with King at the Elm Street house and witnessing King shoot Caldwell multiple times. The person said King had planned to steal cash and drugs.

King faces a potential prison sentence of 45 to 65 years if convicted of the murder charge. He also faces a potential sentence of 10 to 30 years for attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, and a potential sentence of three to 16 years for attempted robbery while pointing a gun at Caldwell. King also faces a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent offender, having a previous conviction of robbery in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Lisa Trigg can be reached at 812-231-4254 or at lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter at TribStarLisa.
The Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a ruling in favor of the University of Kentucky in a years-long whistleblower case between the university and a former surgeon who alleged financial corruption within UK HealthCare.

Dr. Paul Kearney, a former UK HealthCare employee, does not meet the state requirements for whistleblower status against UK, the Supreme Court said Thursday, consistent with past rulings in the case. The Fayette Circuit Court ruled the same in 2018.

The primary issue before this Court is whether the trial court and the Court of Appeals correctly concluded that Dr. Kearneys communications, as a matter of law, are not the kind of disclosures covered by the (Kentucky Whistleblower Act) and thus Dr. Kearneys suit against the University must be dismissed, Justice Lisabeth T. Hughes wrote. As noted, we find summary judgment for UK was appropriate.

The court also said that Kearneys claims that he only faced discipline and a salary reduction from the university after making the allegations of financial corruption, are not sufficient.

The beginnings of the lawsuit go back to 2015, when UK first suspended Kearney for abusive language and behavior toward UK employees, students and patients. The UK Board of Trustees stripped him of clinical privileges, the first time in UK HealthCares history, but let him keep tenured faculty status.

Kearney filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2016, alleging UK overlooked his behavior until he raised questions about financial practices at UK HealthCare and the Kentucky Medical Services Foundation, a $200 million affiliated entity which bills for all UK doctors and UK Chandler Hospital.

Kearneys questions about financial practices were raised in January 2014, when he and College of Medicine faculty member Davy Jones found that a committee which was supposed to decide doctor pay had not met for several years.

In April, they met with the College of Medicine Dean Frederick De Beer, UK General Counsel Bill Thro, then UK HealthCare executive vice president Michael Karpf and faculty trustee John Wilson. At that meeting, Kearney told the administrators about the lack of committee meetings and said the foundation needed an audit.

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Because of who Kearney reported the issues to  university employees and not authorities who have the power to remedy the allegations  he does not meet whistleblower status, the Supreme Court said.

Kearney alleged that UK stripped him of his clinical privileges after he raised concerns about the foundation. The university said those actions were taken after it learned of Kearneys behavior while at work, which included a complaint from a patient.

We are pleased that the Supreme Court agreed with two prior courts, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said. Dr. Kearney had no basis for his claims. The university acted appropriately and followed its procedures for determining that his inappropriate conduct toward patients and colleagues justified the disciplinary action that was taken.

Kearney could not immediately be reached for comment through his lawyer.

In 2020, Kearneys medical license was restricted by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, limiting his ability to prescribe controlled substances only immediately before, during or seven days after a major surgery on a patient. The order came after the board found that Kearney had committed violations including prescribing drugs to people without checking their history in a state monitoring system.

A 2016 investigation by the Herald-Leader found that the Kentucky Medical Services Foundation (KMSF), is run almost entirely by UK doctors and its money is used by UK HealthCare administrators when needed. In the past, UK HealthCare used the foundations funds to rent private airplanes for hotel executives, pay for construction of a daycare center, and fund millions of dollars in contracts with consultants and lawyers that arent subject to state procurement rules and dont have to go through a bidding process.

In 2007, UK borrowed $7 million from for a lease of Good Samaritan Hospital when it came on the market, plus legal and consulting costs to close a $35 million deal to purchase the hospital. All the money was paid back.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers included a significant chunk of funding for a massive effort to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes in its civil works plan released Wednesday.

The federal agency will put about $226 million toward the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project as part of funding received from the bipartisan infrastructure plan. The Brandon Road funding will cover the preconstruction engineering and design phase of the project, as well as initial construction at the site near Joliet.

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Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, called the investment a significant down payment on Great Lakes protection.

The Brandon Road Lock and Dam is seen on Feb. 1, 2021, in Joliet, Illinois. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

This is the clearest, strongest sign that this project will move forward, Smith said.

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Plans for the $858 million project include a technology gauntlet  an electric barrier, underwater sound, an air bubble curtain and flushing lock  to stop carp from swimming to Lake Michigan. The prolific fish, able to reproduce rapidly and consume loads of plankton, threaten to transform ecosystems and harm the regions $7 billion fishing industry.

Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said the development was historic.

Illinois, the projects nonfederal sponsor, signed an agreement with the Army Corps in December 2020 to complete the preconstruction phase, estimated at $29 million and expected to take three to four years. Illinois and Michigan committed to providing the nonfederal share of about $10 million with the rest coming from federal funds.

This knocks that out of the park, Flanagan said.

The funding will make the transition from design to construction more seamless, Flanagan said. And that will make things happen faster, which makes it more likely well get this project built before carp get to the Great Lakes.

The nonfederal cost share of the overall project is 20%. Theres contingency built into the total price, which could drop, but advocates are pushing for full federal funding, which they argue is warranted for a threat that extends across states.

In December, Great Lakes officials signed on to a letter asking Congress to provide funding for the rest of the project, saying the balance of project cost for design, construction, operation and maintenance is beyond the capacity of the Great Lakes States to match.

Controlling and eradicating invasive species in the Great Lakes  where vampiric sea lamprey once sucked the life out of fisheries and today zebra and quagga mussels reign in the hundreds of trillions  is an ongoing challenge.

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Reaching this phase of the Brandon Road project followed years of planning and a range of ideas including an $18 billion separation of Lake Michigan from the river.

Once this phase is complete, the Army Corps has said construction could be completed in six to eight years, meaning a best case finish in 2030.
Downtown business leader Jessica Lall, shown in September, called for creating a city department of homelessness if she is elected mayor. (Los Angeles Times)

Mayoral candidate Jessica Lall says that when she looks at the system that dispenses aid and care to homeless people in Los Angeles, she sees a "maddening refrain of 'it's not my responsibility.'"

To improve the situation, Lall said Wednesday that if elected she would create a city department of homelessness to coordinate the response to the crisis.

She said that a department singularly focused on homelessness  one in which officials from other agencies can convene to resolve bureaucratic challenges  would help improve the delivery of services to people living on the streets.

"Departments like sanitation unfairly [have] become the de facto lead agency dealing with street encampments," Lall said. "The department established to deal with waste and trash is asked to be the front face for our city to our unhoused population. It is both dysfunctional and unacceptable and must change."

The proposal was part of a broader homelessness plan released by Lall, who serves as president and chief executive of the downtown business group Central City Assn., and is mounting a long-shot bid for the city's top job, lacking the name recognition and stature of many of the other candidates who hold other elected office.

Unlike other candidates, Lall was unwilling to specify how many people she'd like to see housed early in her term. Last week Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) called for 15,000 people to be housed in her first year  though she didnt spell out how many would go into permanent housing, as opposed to interim housing such as bunk-style shelters, tiny homes or rented hotel rooms.

Last year, Councilman Joe Buscaino said he'd like to see 7,000 new interim housing units in his first 18 months. Lall said her rivals' homelessness plans "have these lofty goals but as we know goals are not a plan."

"We're not going to throw numbers against a dartboard," Lall said. "Part of the biggest problem is we don't have the data necessary to even know where we are, much less where we need to go."

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If elected, Lall said she would appoint herself to the commission overseeing the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and eventually appoint other elected city officials to join her to increase accountability. Currently, the commission includes former elected officials, people from philanthropy and business leaders. Adding elected officials is inspired by how the region's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is organized.

If after serving on the board she felt that the organization was ineffective, Lall said she would consider pulling the city out.

Lall also said she would immediately try to audit how money devoted to homelessness has been spent and begin monthly updates with the public about the crisis. Her hope was that her first budget would reflect a better understanding of how money is already being spent and would allow her to set realistic goals to communicate to the public.

Mike Arnold, who previously ran LAHSA and now runs the Midnight Mission on skid row, said Lall's proposals were encouraging even if many of her ideas aren't new ones. He pointed to her desire to be on the LAHSA board as example of how she wants to dive into the structural challenges currently associated with helping homeless people.

"She clearly understands how to structurally break down bureaucracy to bring about meaningful results," Arnold said.

She said the city needs to spend more on mental health services for homeless people  normally the purview of the county  thought she did not explain how it would be paid for. She has previously proposed creating a citywide public health department.

She was unwilling to lend her support to a recently announced ballot initiative that would increase taxes on real estate transactions in the city to fund permanent housing for homeless people and those at risk of ending up on the street. She said new taxes right now weren't acceptable.

She said a key metric for judging success would be the reduction of street encampments  a view shared by all the candidates. The Central City Assn. has been criticized by skid row activists who say it has advocated policies that would hurt the people living on the streets of downtown.

Lall said the portion of a law passed last summer that allows council members to seek to ban camping at specific locations is one of "the best examples of the dysfunction currently taking place."

"I support the cleaning of encampments and moving people into housing and services," Lall said. "I do not support doing this council district by council district where you have to get a group of people within a community to go to a council member to introduce a motion."

Laws about where people can and cannot camp should be enforced consistently and citywide, she said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Correction: Emilean Clemons name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. In addition, she did not teach at Lake Wales High School. Polk County Public Schools Regional Superintendent John Hill wrote her a recommendation letter and PCPS Superintendent Frederick Heid is listed as a reference.

LAKE WALES  It has been one year since Lake Wales Charter Schools Superintendent Jesse Jackson announced his resignation and the states only city charter school system began a nationwide search for a new leader.

The system is now within weeks of hiring a new superintendent.

A field of 25 candidates has been narrowed to five people, who were interviewed via Zoom on Thursday. On Monday, the Superintendent Search Committee will meet to whittle the list even more to the finalists, who will participate in in-person interviews, one-on-one talks with school board members, and community meet-and-greets Feb. 9-11.

Weve got a very good balance and very strong candidates, said Bill Vogel, a consultant with the Florida School Boards Association, which is facilitating the search, and a former superintendent of Sarasota County Public Schools. We have a current superintendent, we have a dean from the college, who is very familiar with the area and involved in the community, a successful high school principal, a district director who leads 50 charter schools, and an internal candidate who has been a successful administrator. The board will have a difficult time making a choice.

Previously: Lake Wales Charter School District going through changes

And: Jesse Jackson leaving after dustup with board

In 2004, Lake Wales officials moved to convert the citys seven schools to charters  the teachers at five schools voted to convert and the city subsequently added two charter middle schools.

In 2013, the state made Lake Wales a local education agency, which meant Lake Wales was its own school district  albeit one without elected officials who could be held accountable by voters. Like Polk County Public Schools, its board hires a superintendent to run its operations.

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Here are the five remaining candidates for superintendent:

Emilean Clemons

Emilean Clemons

Emilean Clemons is a homegrown candidate, who was raised in Lake Wales, attended its schools, graduated from Lake Wales High School in 1974, then returned to teach at schools in her hometown. .

She is the principal of Bartow High School, overseeing the unique setup that includes three distinct schools in one: Bartow High School, Summerlin Academy and The International Baccalaureate School at Bartow High.

It is of utmost importance to me that I lead with integrity and demonstrate positive character traits in whatever I do, Clemons wrote to the selection committee. As a Christian, I strive to live in a manner  personally and professionally  that portrays Biblical standards. In my visibility throughout the school and community, my conversations with stakeholders, or my communication with maintenance staff, I do my best to show support with a positive attitude, yet directly addressing any issues or problems that arise.

At BHS, she implemented several career academies through which students can graduate with professional certification and walk into a well-paying job in the workforce.

One of the reasons for Bartow High Schools improvement is Emilean's investment in career and technical education programs, Steve Cochran, Polk County Public Schools senior director of multiple pathways education, wrote in a recommendation letter. Emilean utilized the National Career Academy Coalition standards to build an academy system that is among the best in the state. Bartow High School has four model academies which are toured annually by visitors from across the nation, hoping to emulate her programs.

Clemons began her education career at Polk Avenue Elementary and McLaughlin Middle schools before moving up to administration at Bartow High School.

Lake Wales is very dear to my heart, as I was born and raised in Lake Wales attended all Lake Wales schools, was a graduate of the final class that graduated from the original high school, Clemons said in a video presentation to the selection committee. "I'm excited to see the revitalization that is going on with that school and I just think it's a tremendous opportunity for our students.

Clemons said she has forged valuable relationships with Polk County Public Schools' leaders  Regional Superintendent John Hill wrote her a recommendation letter and Superintendent Frederick Heid is listed as a reference  something she feels she could utilize to the advantage of the charter school district.

I feel that those relationships could be a bridge between providing additional resources and supports for the Lake Wales Charter School System, while maintaining the autonomy that the Lake Wales charter School System has enjoyed for their school leaders, their district leaders, as well as their school principals.

One way Clemons said she has led is by allowing special education students to participate in the elective classes that enrich their lives, like music, chorus, and fine art.

The one mistake she said she has learned from involved a parent-teacher conference in which a parent began verbally abusing a teacher  something Clemons said she was completely unprepared for and still brings tears to her eyes when she thinks about it.

I underestimated the volatility of the situation, Clemons said. I had no idea that I was walking into a situation where there was potential for disaster...it was like I froze and I was just, I just didn't know what to do. I finally was able to end the conference. Of course, my teacher, she was crushed. After the parent left, I just held her and we both cried together  she also was experiencing a difficult time with an illness with her dad at the time and I was just absolutely mortified that I had participated in a situation where one person treated another person so badly.

She said she now expresses expectations of all participants in meetings so people know not to cross the line from constructive complaining into verbal abuse.

I believe that this gives the opportunity for everyone present to voice their concerns, yet it enables me, as the facilitator, to ensure the meeting is conducted in a professional manner and it saves everyone the grief of being verbally attacked or feeling that they haven't been heard, Clemons said.

Clemons holds a doctorate in education from Southeastern University.

In case you missed it: Polk County School Board approves teachers union contract

More: What parts of the body make up the reproductive system? Polk school board, conservative group discuss

P.J. DAoust

P.J. DAoust has spent his career with Palm Beach County Public Schools, the 10th largest school district in the country. He has worked his way up from teacher to the current director of charter schools, overseeing 50 charter schools with 22,000 students, and fiscal oversight of $250 million.

I recently visited Lake Wales and it felt like the town where I grew up and raised my children, DAoust said in his letter to LWCS and in a video response to several questions. Plain and simple it felt right and I view this opportunity as a destination not a stepping stone.

P.J. D'Aoust

He earned a bachelors degree in finance from the University of South Florida and has two graduate degrees: a masters in elementary education from Florida Atlantic University and a specialist degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

He has also served as director of the department overseeing the full-time equivalent students, responsible for all financial and academic reporting for more than 195,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students and 10,000 adult students, and the generation of $1.5 billion in operational funding services for more than 250 district and charter schools.

He led the districts COVID-19 response, developing district student tracking tools, virtual kindergarten roundup, virtual summer programs and student engagement. And he has lobbied the legislature on behalf of the district and engineered a mental health process.

As a middle school principal at the district's largest middle school  with more than 1,600 students and 120 staff members and an $8 million budget  he increased academic achievement scores in seven of eight categories in reading, science, math, and writing. Under his leadership, the school also earned adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind program  the only traditional secondary school in Palm Beach County in 2010 to achieve this.

He is also the president of the Palm Beach County School District Staff Association, a professional organization that represents more than 1,500 staff members that support student achievement and district operations.

He describes himself as child centered and family oriented, with a commitment to the local community, and someone wo has established relationships with local and state government, community and business leaders, with a proven ability to change culture and systems in a large urban district.

He said one of the projects he is most proud of was a complete overhaul of the districts student information computer system.

As director of FTE student information, he sponsored and executed the largest public-facing IT project in our district's history, moving us off our legacy mainframe student system to a modern platform, said Jay Boggess, Palm Beach County public schools chief of staff. Just moving the data was a task, but, in the process, he was able to challenge district leadership to redefine business practices and enhance the student experience. The project was massive, but with strict project management, the student information system was a great success. The SIS was implemented in 250 sites and has become a household word in Palm Beach, allowing administrators, principles, teachers, students, and parents unfettered access into student academic records in real time.

Boggess added that DAoust is "trusted amongst his peers and has mentored many aspiring principals and administrators.

One question all the candidates were asked was what mistakes they had made and what did they learn from it.

DAoust explained that as a principal, he did not engage all stakeholders in a zoning issue that parents had brought up, particularly a concern about pick-up.

We had about 1,000 students and as the neighborhood grew, then we became landlocked and we had some issues, DAoust said. "I went to the village, who over the course of the weekend, decided to implement their own solution, and that Monday we went from 35-minute pickup to a 90-minute pickup...not the anticipated result.

He said he learned to include all points of view and to solicit responses, keep leadership informed so that they can be aware, and most of all realize that when projects fail, they take away from our core mission of educating students.

DAoust said he has family in the area and would love to be in Lake Wales.

The bottom line is that this job is one that would use all of my acquired talents to really affect student achievement in a way I never could have dreamed of, DAoust said. This is coming from a guy who loves his current job, doesn't need a new job, but genuinely wants this position.

Andy Oguntola

Andy Oguntola is a local candidate, with strong ties to the Lake Wales community and Polk County. The first-generation college graduate is not a man to sit still.

He is dean of workforce education and economic development, adjunct professor, and the director of the J.D. Alexander Center at Polk State College. In addition, he is chair of Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce, chair of the Lake Wales Police Advisory Committee and chair of the Economic Development Council. He is also vice chair of the Lake Wales Main Street Association, vice chair of the Lake Wales Arts Council, a member of the board of directors for the Lake Wales Family Literacy, and member of the board of directors for the United Way of Central Florida. He is a past member of the board of trustees for the Lake Wales Charter School District.

Andy Oguntola

He holds a doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, along with a bachelor's and masters in business administration from Webber International University in Babson Park.

He said he knows the benefits of the charter school district, but he is also aware of the challenges that face the area in coming years.

The city of Lake Wales is expected to bring 8,000 new homes to our region within a 3-to-6-year period, Oguntola wrote to the selection committee. Together we can focus on unique recruitment strategies to increase the educational attainment of our community. The financial pressures that the LWCS face are substantial, given the realities of revenue, state funding, and other fiscal challenges. It will be important for the next Superintendent to advocate during this years' upcoming legislation, as well as find and obtain grant opportunities to prevent financial burdens being placed on our system.

He said he will advocate with Polks legislative delegation to put LWCSS on their funding radar.

The Lake Wales community means everything to me, Orguntola wrote. The ability to wake up each morning and serve this community that has given me an amazing family, with three children who are immersed in the high-quality education that this system provides, gives me the fuel needed to serve in whichever capacity I can. If chosen as Superintendent, there would never be a doubt or wonder regarding my commitment to our community.

There was an issue with the previous superintendent, Jesse Jackson, who drove to Tallahassee every weekend to be with his wife and children after she left Lake Wales to return to what she felt was her home. He made that commute for many of the 13 years he served as superintendent, when he earned about $155,000 a year.

Lake Wales Mayor Eugene Fultz, County Commissioner Martha Santiago and Polk State College President Angela Garcia Falconetti all wrote letters of recommendation for Oguntola.

As you know, Dr. Oguntola is steadfastly dedicated to the Lake Wales community and to ensuring access to quality education, Falconetti wrote, adding that she has witnessed firsthand his diligent work ethic and unifying approach to providing education and economic development opportunities for the residents of Polk County...Dr. Oguntola has continued to dedicate his time to the Lake Wales community, signifying his unwavering commitment to the city he has called home for approximately 20 years.

Oguntola confessed in his video presentation that his greatest professional mistake actually involved his family and not including them on professional decisions he wanted to make.

This was a true lesson learned early in my career, has helped me grow into the leader I am today, Oguntola said. Addressing this mistake early in my career has taught me so many life lessons about becoming a father, husband, and a leader in my community. What I've learned during my younger years is that my family comes first and always deserves a choice towards a commitment...During this process my family and I sat around the table and, after much prayer, discussed the possibility of applying for Superintendent. I realized that if I'm selected the Superintendent of Lake Wales Charter Schools, you are hiring the whole person, which includes my wife, my three kids, and I'm glad to say you don't have to worry about that...as we are all committed to this.

Wayne Rodolfich

Wayne Rodolfich

In 2005, Wayne Rodolfich ascended to the superintendents job of the Pascagoula-Gautier, Mississippi, School District. A month later, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the area and Rodolfich, along with many people in his district, lost everything they owned.

When Hurricane Katrina destroyed our communities 29 days into my superintendency, leaving (in) its wake $26 million in damages to our schools, my team and I rolled up our sleeves, wrote grants, negotiated with insurance companies, and turned that devastation into an opportunity to bring our schools into the 21st century, completing $125 million in construction and renovation projects, Rodolfich wrote in his letter to the district.

He has the build and mindset of a boxer, fighting for his students and teachers, including a battle that went all the way to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

"When the State Legislature attempted to divide our tax base, I fought that unconstitutional law all the way to the State Supreme Court, and won, returning millions to our students since that victory, Rodolfish wrote. A hallmark of my career has been that if you tell me we cant, I will find a way to show you we can.

He gave as examples:

Paying off a debt in seven years the district had carried since 1957.

Lowering taxes five times, saving taxpayers more than $50 million.

Increasing accountability scores year after year, despite the changing demographics of students in a district in which all students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

And transforming the abandoned former Carver High School into the nationally recognized Aaron Jones Family Interactive Center, where more than 50,000 people have visited free, family-oriented, themed Super Saturdays.

The Pascagoula-Gautier School District is comprised of two municipalities, 19 schools, 6,700 students, and more than 1,400 employees, with an annual operational budget of $100 million.

As superintendent, he headed up the districts response to COVID-19, including ensuring academic, physical and mental well-being of students and employees during the pandemic.

Under his leadership, the district partnered with Ingalls Shipbuilding to create the HireUp program to train unemployed and underemployed adults for the shipbuilding industry.

Rodolfich holds a doctorate in education leadership from the University of Southern Mississippi, and two master's of education degrees from Delta State University.

In her recommendation letter to the district, Advance Placement History teacher Elizabeth Green recalled the first time she met Rodolfich when she was a third-year teacher starting over in a new school six hours away from her family and all she had known.

As a petite woman, I was dragging boxes down the hall when a man introduced himself to me as my assistant principal, Green wrote. He took me to my new classroom and got the keys for me. When we opened the door, it was obvious that the past teacher had cleaned house and had left me nothing. This assistant principal, who introduced himself as Wayne Rodolfich, had a desk and a chair in my room within the hour. He met me with textbooks and even helped me put up pictures on my bulletin board...Little did I know, that this leader would become such an integral part of my educational career.

Green also recounted Rodolfichs reaction after one of the most devastating hurricanes to ever hit the United States left their two towns without power and damaged most of their school buildings.

Dr. Rodolfich, like so many, lost everything but the clothes on his back and his vehicle, she said. He wasnt worried about him. He was worried about his teachers. He spent countless hours working to get school back up and running and to get teachers paid. Amazingly, during that most difficult of years, both high schools earned National Blue-Ribbon status, and he himself earned the national Terrel Bell Leadership award for the turnaround he affected at GHS.

Rodolfich said it was his work during those stressful post-Katrina days when he made one of the biggest mistakes of his career  not taking into account the mental health of his employees and how stressful adding on an hour to the school day would be for them as they tried to make up the 27 days they missed.

After realizing my error, we made sure that we put, you know, health professionals accessible to our employees and that we've created counseling sessions for that, Rodolofich said in his video statement. When the pandemic struck, well the first things we did was make sure we set up an employee assistance program. But we also had a very good social-emotional health program for our students because, as you know, many of our students  not only in Mississippi but across the country  have been impacted by this and we have a very aggressive social-emotional health program for our students right now where we're trying to engage on every single campus and I have a medical and mental health professional that works with us exclusively on developing these plans and we're putting out weekly information.

When asked why he wants to serve the students of Lake Wales Charter Schools, his answer was the names of his four school-aged children.

"My family and I have spent the last 15 years visiting Polk County at least once a year, Rodolfich said. As far as my family is concerned, nowhere else in the country offers such a variety of opportunities for children and families  beautiful land; the charm of towns like Lake Wales; the amenities of nearby larger cities; and diverse educational offerings... my family is eager to become a part of this vibrant community: we want to live, serve, attend school, worship, dance, and play soccer IN Lake Wales.

Rodolfich said the district wont find his name on a list of submitted applications for any other Florida school system or for another school system in the nation.

Quite frankly, Lake Wales Charter Schools is the only position I am interested in, he wrote.

Anuj Saran

Anuj Saran

As the assistant principal and head of the International Baccalaureate program of Lake Wales High School, Anuj Saran is the only candidate who currently works for the Lake Wales Charter School System. He has been involved in the district beginning a year after teachers at five schools voted to form their own charter system.

But he hadnt meant to be a teacher; he had majored in economics at Delhi University and obtained a master's degree in business administration from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. His wife was hired by a Lake Wales school, and he had intended to get a job in finance in Tampa or Orlando. But after volunteering at Polk Avenue Elementary School, he was offered a kindergarten teaching job there  which he didnt know involved far more than playing with and reading to students. He affectionately became known in Lake Wales as The Accidental Educator.

He approached his class without expectations of what a student of that age could or could not do  that proved to be quite a lesson for all, LWHS Principal Donna Dunson wrote in her recommendation letter. He became an extraordinary elementary educator. He had a wonderful balance of the warm/strict approach. It was fun to watch his work with his students unfold in the best possible manner.

Extraordinary was a word Dunson used in her letter multiple times, in the strongest way possible. His work earned him Teacher of the Year in 2008. Dunson said she has written a lot of recommendation letters throughout her career, but this one was unique.

This letter is in a different category than most because of this man's character, integrity, intellectual acuity, and overall excellence, Dunson said, adding that when she needed something done right, she knew she could turn to Saran. If he didnt know how to do it, he would learn and deliver the best possible outcome, she said.

Dunson hand-selected Saran to help her found Bok Academy South, the districts first middle school. He helped write the charter, assemble a budget and create curriculum.

Saran said they intentionally blended the best of private and public-school education in a community with limited middle school opportunities. Bok Academy has been an A school every year since we opened. I believe our foundational work played a key role in the making of Bok Academy as we know it today, and I was deeply involved with not just building the culture, but also the school climate including discipline, curriculum, and facilities. We took a student-centered approach, focused on developing active learners with empathy, and a commitment to building a life of purpose.

Saran also had another talent unknown to him or anyone else  financial donors to the school district trust him to treat their money with integrity.

On a winter morning in 2010, Saran gave a man unknown to him a tour of Bok Academy Middle School for more than an hour, answering his questions.

As we walked back to my office, he said he had one last question  If I gave you a check for $10,000 right now, what would you do with it? I was somewhat in disbelief, but said I would buy iPads for students, Saran recalled. A few months later, he gave another $50,000 for more iPads...That initial gift of $10,000 turned into a $1.2 million gift, followed by many more gifts year after year  over $4 million at this point for the high school alone.

That donor is philanthropist Henry McCance and he also wrote a recommendation letter for Saran.

Throughout my 13-year journey as a donor to the Lake Wales Charter School Foundation, Anuj has been my primary contact, McCance wrote in a recommendation to the district. He has been an excellent steward of these funds, been extraordinary as an implementer, and ensured that these initiatives have been successful and have maximum impact.

And then Dunson and Saran took on Lake Wales High School.

Data at the time, showed a fractured culture, high discipline issues, a 70% graduation rate, limited advanced course offerings, only 46% of the graduating class went on to college, and the minority graduation rate was in the low 50 percent range, Saran wrote to the selection committee. "Over the next few years, I took a data driven approach to look at each aspect of the high school and I led or co-led the key initiatives.

Those included:

Implementing a one-to-one technology program and the E-Rate process.

Co-leading the school to increase the graduation rate from 70% to 94% and narrow the achievement gap for all student subgroups including students with special needs.

Helping increase the percentage of graduates with post-secondary plans from 46% to 85%.

Founding the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at LWHS.

I may have started out as an Accidental Educator, but I am fortunate enough to have found a pathway to meaningful work that enabled me to lead a life of purpose right here in Polk County, Saran said. I was offered the Chief Financial Officer position at LWCS, and a principalship outside of LWCS at a private international school in Atlanta  I declined both because I was driven by the work I was involved with at the time and felt there was more to do in my current role.

As for his greatest mistake and what he learned, Saran said in his early years as an administrator, he was not firm enough with a teacher who was bullying colleagues and students.

At that time, I struggled with confrontation and avoided what, for me, would be an uncomfortable discussion over the next few weeks, Saran said, adding that the problem only grew worse. The same teacher made much stronger statements towards students and other staff members...as the school administrator, my number one priority is to create a safe learning environment for students and a supportive work culture for our staff members...I never actually made it clear that his actions and his words were hurtful and unacceptable in that school environment. Eventually we terminated his contract mid-year, but till this day I'm troubled by the fact that, had I dealt with the situation you know right at the beginning, at least two students would not have had to bear the brunt of a sarcastic and sometimes even racist put downs.

He said he was recently made aware that a student felt unsupported and possibly targeted by a teacher. He met with the student, parents and teacher.

"They cleared quite a few misunderstandings and it ended up being a pretty good conversation and it ended well, Saran said. But taking that first step of starting what, again for me, would be an uncomfortable conversation was fundamental to dissolving the issue and restoring the students faith in their teacher and also making sure that our teacher was supported.

The Lake Wales Charter School Board will make its final selection of a new superintendent on Feb. 22. See candidates cover letters, resumes, answers to questions and videos at the Lake Wales Charter Schools homepage.

Ledger reporter Kimberly C. Moore can be reached at kmoore@theledger.com or 863-802-7514. Follow her on Twitter at @KMooreTheLedger.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Meet the top five candidates for Lake Wales Charter Schools superintendent
A new law that went into effect on Jan. 1 mandates required psychological screening for new sheriff office employees across the state.

A new law that went into effect Jan. 1 brings more criminal justice reform to North Carolina.

Senate Bill 300 will require psychological screenings of sheriff's deputies and dispatchers prior to certification or employment. The law is intended to educate law enforcement on maintaining good mental health and provide information to officers on mental health resources available to them.

SB 300 applies to all newly hired sheriff deputies, detention officers, and telecommunications as of Jan. 1, unless they are already certified by the North Carolina Sheriffs' Training and Standards Commission.

"It's certainly a benefit; a plus and not a minus," said Craven County Sheriff's Office Maj. David McFadyen. "I think most law enforcement agencies and some of your larger agencies already have protocols in place to do this, this just makes it uniform across the state."

The reform comes with a price. The new law went into effect as an unfunded mandate from the state, meaning the county must foot the bill.

In order to do so, Human Resources Director Amber Parker addressed the Craven County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday asking for an amendment to the fiscal year 2021-2022 budget.

Parker explained the county expects to conduct 40 screenings throughout the remaining fiscal year (ending July 1) as each screening costs $445. The budget amendment was passed by the board unanimously for the sum of $18,000, transferred from the general fund to human resources.

It is the agencys (sheriff's department) responsibility to ensure the psychological screening has been completed prior to the deputy, detention officer, or telecommunicator performing any duties of his or her position.

Craven has psychological screenings before, just not mandated

The screenings for employment will be performed by The FMRT Group, which is also the vendor Craven County routinely uses for fitness-for-duty evaluations and other psychological services.

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McFadyen explained that previously there was not a required mental health screening prior to employment with the department, but they were done on a case-by-case basis if needed.

Before the required employment screening, the department used The FMRT Group for other purposes regarding mental health such as deputy-involved shootings where the mental health of a deputy may need to be addressed.

The Craven County Sheriff's Office will continue to use the group for additional mental health issues as needed, McFayden said.

"For instance, after incident issues involving a shooting, we have a couple of different sources," he said. "One was to use the current psychologist we will use now for employment screening but also the North Carolina Highway Patrol has a unit of trained officers who travel around the state when requested and assist agencies in post-critical incident response."

More: Craven deputy shot: Suspect fired at three deputies, one was injured Friday night

The psychological screening comes in the wake of an Oct. 1 incident involving Craven County Deputy Zachary Bellingham, who was shot in the line of duty. Bellingham is still in recovery two months after the incident.

It is unknown if any deputies needed counseling following Bellingham's injuries.

McFadyen explained the process of how the department approaches mental health needs.

The Craven County Sheriff's Office look for possible evidence off the Neuse River Bridge after a reported pursuit of a known felon occurred around noon in New Bern, NC, Oct. 21, 2020. Traffic was detoured to a single lane west bound along US 17 at the scene. No other information about the situation is available at time of incident. [Gray Whitley / Sun Journal Staff]

"In any critical situation like that, what we will typically do is put our deputies on administrative leave and more often than not, we will have a fitness-to-return-for-duty exam," McFadyen said. "That's been our standard practice prior to this legislation."

Will the screening discourage future applicants?

Commissioners raised concerns were raised during the meeting, particularly about what type of impact the screening could have on future applicants.

"My focus is not to create an extra burden on applicants," Chairman Jason Jones said. "I can see that for some it may have a deter, but we definitely have to follow the law."

Vice Chairman Denny Bucher also cited that the screening may provide a bottleneck in hiring for these positions in a time when applicants are hard to come by. Parker explained that is a possibility, but there are many municipalities that have used this type of service for a long time.

"It is interesting that this) just became law," added Parker. "You don't want to have someone who is not psychologically suitable, especially with what is happening currently in the country. There is a possibility we have a candidate that gets screened out, but there are a lot of tools used to ensure the candidate is giving valid responses. We want to make sure those we hire are suitable."

Reform comes in all shapes and sizes in new law

SB 300 not only includes an enhanced position on mental health, but several other items legislatures added into the law.

Here are a few noticeable items that may have an impact on the public moving forward.

 Database of justice officer certification suspensions and revocations.

The North Carolina Sheriffs' Training and Standards Commission is now required to create a database, accessible for the public, regarding any and all decertification and suspensions for sheriffs deputies.

 Require mandatory first appearance for misdemeanors when the defendant is in custody.

The new law requires a mandatory first appearance for misdemeanors if the defendant is in custody, along with shortening the time the defendant is required to have their first appearance, from 96 hours to 72 hours.

 Duty to intervene and report excessive use of force.

A law enforcement officer, while in the line of duty, who observes another law enforcement officer use force against another person shall intervene when safe to do so. If the officer believes the use of force was unauthorized, that person will be required to report the incident within 72 hours of it taking place.

 Provide immediate disclosure of body-worn camera recordings related to death or serious injury.

In the event of death or serious harm resulting from an officer-involved incident, the family or representative of the person is now entitled to have the body-worn camera footage disclosed to them. However, the family or representative can not copy the footage.

The release of body camera footage to the public must be petitioned to the court to get a judges approval.

Reporter Trevor Dunnell can be reached by email at tdunnell@newbernsj.com. Please consider supporting local journalism by signing up for a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Screenings now required for certain Craven County sheriff employees
Noah Berger / AP

A group of Democratic lawmakers in California recently introduced a sweeping, single-payer healthcare plan for all state residents that would be the first of its kind in the nation. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1400, passed scrutiny in an Assembly Health Committee hearing held Jan. 18  if passed, the bill would have significant economic impact on both individuals and businesses.

See: 21 Hacks To Reduce Your Healthcare Costs This Year

Find: The Rise of Healthcare Stocks in 2021

The legislation stands as an alternative to Gov. Gavin Newsoms plan that was released Jan. 17. His plan, part of a budget proposal titled the California Blueprint, would offer state-funded healthcare coverage to anyone falling below the federal poverty line, regardless of their immigration status.

Currently, Californias state program, Medi-Cal, provides limited healthcare coverage to illegal immigrants under 26 years old. Those who are aged 50 and older will qualify starting in May 2022, Yahoo! News reported. Under the current plan, the Medi-Cal policy for illegal immigrants only covers emergency room care and pregnancy-related care. Newsoms plan, if it passes, would provide full-scope coverage, including preventative medicine.

Newsoms proposal would purportedly cost $613.5 million in state funds for 2022 and $2.2 billion for each year it operates once it is fully rolled out in 2024. Currently, the state has a $132.7 billion budget for Medi-Cal, which covers roughly 14 million California residents.

How Much Would a Single-Payer Healthcare Plan Cost California?

The single-payer plan proposed by California Democrats, on the other hand, would provide universal healthcare coverage to everyone in the state under a single-payer system. Under a single-payer system, all medical expenses for California residents would be covered by a government-run fund.

The program would be funded, in part, by $163 billion in proposed new taxes. But the University of California Labor Center estimated that a single-payer system could cost $222 billion annually. Supporters of the single-player plan argue that the cost could go down without the administrative expenses of privatized healthcare plans, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Discover: Millions of Americans Have Medical Debt in Collections  What Can You Do to Avoid It?

What were trying to do is get rid of these dozens of buckets of funding  whether its private insurance, whether its employer, whether its Medi-Cal  put it into one bucket, Assemblyman Ash Kalra, who penned the proposal, told The Los Angeles Times.

High costs of care, including co-pays and deductibles, will also ostensibly disappear for California residents. In turn, overall healthcare costs could drop as more people would be able to, in theory, take advantage of preventative medicine, screenings and tests to avoid or prevent costly diseases.

Who Would Pay for the Program?

The program, deemed CalCare, would be funded by tax hikes on businesses and workers  essentially, all but the lowest-earning Californians would be paying the bill. The proposed tax increase could only pass as a constitutional amendment, requiring a supermajority vote in the Senate and Assembly and then ratification in June or November as part of the statewide election.

The amendment would impose an excise tax on businesses earning more than $2 million in revenue, with gross receipts in excess of that amount taxed at a 2.3% rate. Additionally, businesses with more than 50 workers would be required to pay another 1.25% on total annual wages. Workers earning more than $49,900 a year would see additional payroll taxes, The L.A. Times reported.

Learn: How a Payroll Tax Cut Could Affect Your Finances, Now and Later

Explore: How To Tackle Paying Off Unexpected Medical Debt

The amendment would also raise personal income taxes for workers earning more than $149,509 annually, while California residents with an annual taxable income of more than $2.5 million would pay a 2.5% surcharge.

If it passes, the program would not be fully rolled out until 2024.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Legislative Win Could Lead to Government-Funded Healthcare in California by 2024
Village of Loudonville

LOUDONVILLE - Village Council, at its Monday, Jan. 17 meeting, discussed but took no action on the need for tourist homes to be controlled through village zoning ordinances.

Previous meeting: Loudonville Mayor Jason VanSickle asks council to consider architectural review process

The body was split on the concept, with members Cathy Lance and Matt Young favoring permitting tourist homes, like Air B & Bs, be allowed throughout the village. Members Tom Young and Bill Huffman were reluctant to take that stance.

I dont want my neighbor to sell his house and the new home owner put a tourist home in with 10 cars parked in the yard, Tom Young said.

Currently village zoning allows tourist homes in areas zoned residential commercial, if they are approved as a conditional use by the zoning board of appeals. Mayor Jason VanSickle has suggested making this provision available in all residential areas.

Complicating the issue is that several Air B & Bs have been established in the village the past few years with no involvement, or enforcement, by the village.

Maybe all we need is a requirement to notify village police if a home is used as a tourist home, the mayor suggested.

Realtor Wendy Lance, of Loudonville, attended Mondays meeting to provide comments on the issue from a Realtors perspective. She preferred the village to allow tourist homes throughout residential areas.

Law Director Thom Gilman was not at Mondays session, so no further action was taken on the issue without his input. Tom Young suggested if the issue ever comes to vote in ordinance form, three full readings be held to allow for public input on it.

Council also delayed discussion on another land use issue, proposal to create an architectural review board for the downtown area, because of Gilmans absence.

Mayor VanSickle gives his first State of the Village address

Mayor VanSickle opened the meeting with his first State of the Village address since becoming mayor last summer.

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He said the village remained financially in good shape, ending 2021 with a carryover of $709,000. Income tax receipts for 2021 were almost $1.3 million, and total village cash balances were $3.5 million, up from $3.3 million at the end of 2020.

As we move into 2022, we will continue to be mindful of the villages financial health through sound budgeting and efficient day-to-day operations, VanSickle said.

Infrastructure improvement accomplished in 2021 included completion of North Market Street improvements, including resurfacing the street and installing new water mains, service lines and fire hydrants between Loudon and Burwell avenues. Total cost of the project was over $500,000, with 60% funded through a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission.

Bids were awarded for resurfacing of East Campbell and North Jefferson streets north of Ohio 3, and this work should be completed by June 2022, the mayor said.

The village continues to reduce its loan balance for the new maintenance building on Wally Road, with the village on track to pay off debt on it, with assistance from Loudon Post 257 of the American Legion.

Ohio Theatre improvements also continue, with work underway to replace the fire escape on the south side of the building, including an American with Disabilities act-required ramp, improved sidewalks for the main floor and improved exits on the north side of the building, $200,000 of which is funded by a grant through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission and the remainder, about $175,000, by the village.

The mayor reported the village received American Rescue Plan funding totaling $376,275 that will be used to install new residential water meters throughout the village.

With the new meters, the village will be able to read meters in a fraction of the time it now takes to manually enter readings door to door, the mayor said.

This will reduce our utility fund expense, he said.

He also announced a $180,000 grant was obtained to install new LED lighting at the ball fields in Riverside Park in the coming months, and new decorative lighting will be installed for increased security in Central Park.

Retired village officials receive thanks for their service

VanSickle extended thanks to three retired village officials, Gary Hannan, detective with the police department; John Burkhart, former mayor and maintenance department superintendent; and Tom Gallagher, councilman for the past term, former fire chief, and longtime member of the village planning commission.

He also extended appreciation to the former mayor, Steve Stricklen, who retired last summer, for his many years of service as councilman and mayor, particularly for his work on the maintenance building project.

Council approved uses of Central Park by the library for its summer reading program in June and July, and by the Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District to hold farmers markets on selected dates during the summer months.

It also approved the village again hosting the Mohican 100 mountain bike event May 23.

Next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. in council chambers, 156 N. Water St., upstairs.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Loudonville Council mulls tourist home zoning
BERLIN (Reuters) - Mali's authorities banned a German military plane with 75 troops on board from overflying the country late on Wednesday, forcing it to divert to Gran Canaria, the German defence ministry said.

The transport plane was on its way from a German air base to a logistics hub in Niamey in Niger when it was told it could not enter Mali's airspace, a spokesman for the defence ministry in Berlin said.

Germany has deployed some 1,200 troops to Mali and has to decide by the end of May whether to extend the military mission which is supplied via the logistics base in Niamey.

Berlin has voiced concern over the latest developments in Mali after the arrival of private military contractors of the Russian Wagner Group and the interim authorities' failure to hold democratic elections next month as agreed following a 2020 military coup.

"When we are told that the elections are being postponed for five years, things are clearly not moving in the right direction," German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said last week, adding she expected democratic progress and a solution to the Wagner group issue if German troops were to stay in Mali.

The European Union has announced that it will impose sanctions on Mali in line with measures already taken by the ECOWAS grouping of West African states. Decisions are likely by the end of January.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Four contenders in the Republican race for governor largely spent as much or more than they raised during the final quarter of 2021 as they competed for the right to take on billionaire Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin joined the Republican race for governor on Monday at the top of a slate looking to gain the financial backing of Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of Citadel. (Steve Johnston/for the Beacon News)

A fifth contender, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, joined the Republican race on Monday at the top of a slate looking to gain the financial backing of Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel. Irvins fundraising for the campaign is just underway, but he can shift the $164,888 that was in his mayoral campaign fund at the end of the year to his newly launched bid for governor.

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Absent Griffins financial intervention, the diminutive fundraising totals of the Republican contenders make clear the financial disparity they face in competing against Pritzker. The first-term governor, whose campaign has been repeatedly airing reelection commercials, spent more in the last three months  more than $9.9 million  than the GOP candidate with the most cash had on hand, and ended 2021 with $14.7 million in his campaign fund.

But just days before Irvin jumped into the contest, Pritzker added $90 million to his campaign. Including his first run for office, Pritzker now has put a total of $303 million into his campaign fund, records show.

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Central Illinois venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan has launched a bid for the Republican nomination for governor. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Among the Republican hopefuls, businessman Jesse Sullivan of Petersburg held the most available cash on hand to start the year with $9.1 million.

Sullivan, who heads a venture capital firm, raised nearly $294,000 in the September to December reporting period, including $100,000 from cybercurrency CEO Bradley Garlinghouse of Ripple Labs. But he spent more than $1.2 million in the three-month reporting period.

His campaign filing also appeared to incorrectly list that he had another $10 million in an investment account for his campaign, but that figure was not backed by reports of the funds that he raised since launching his campaign last September.

Republican gubernatorial candidate state Rep. Darren Bailey, of Xenia, at Federal Plaza in Chicago on Jan. 8, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

State Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia reported having more than $707,000 in cash available at the start of the year, and has taken in $1,000 since. During the September to December reporting period, Bailey raised nearly $500,000 but reported spending nearly $800,000.

Bailey reported giving $200,000 to the Restore Illinois political action committee, a PAC formed in 2018 to back conservative Republican state legislators in east central Illinois whose purpose was expanded last year to support statewide candidates like Bailey.

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A week after giving the PAC money, Restore Illinois returned $150,100 to Bailey as a refund for exceeding campaign donation limits. Bailey also reported giving nearly $60,000 each to three of his Eastern Bloc conservative colleagues in the General Assembly.

Gary Rabine, Republican candidate for Illinois governor, speaks with the Tribune at his office on March 30, 2021, in Schaumburg. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Gary Rabine, a businessman from Bull Valley, reported $525,752 in cash on hand to start the year and has raised $22,500 in large-dollar contributions since then. In the three-month reporting period, Rabine raised $580,626, including a $180,000 loan he gave to his campaign in December. But Rabine spent nearly $471,000 during the time period. Since announcing his candidacy last year, Rabine has put more than $450,000 of his money into his campaign.

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Gubernatorial candidate and former Illinois state Sen. Paul Schimpf appears at Republicans Day at the Illinois State Fair on Aug. 19, 2021. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo reported nearly $81,000 in cash on hand after raising nearly $62,000 and spending almost $55,000, the campaign finance reports showed.

The reporting period also marked the end of the campaign fund for one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, the wealthy businessman Pritzker defeated in 2018. Rauner, who is spending much of his time in Florida, closed out his fund with $995 in unreconciled expenditures and nearly $40,000 in unpaid debts to a campaign vendor.

In the race for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state to replace retiring incumbent Jesse White, former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias had more than $4 million in cash available to start the year.

Campaign reports show Giannoulias raised more than $658,000 while spending only $82,244 during the last quarter. Giannoulias, attempting a political comeback after losing a 2010 bid for U.S. Senate, has seen his campaign fund boosted by nearly $2.3 million in family loans.

Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, also seeking the Democratic secretary of state nomination, reported nearly $900,000 in cash available for her campaign on Jan. 1, raising more than $331,000 while spending more than $156,000.

A third announced candidate in the race, Chicago Ald. David Moore, 17th, listed $81,539 in cash on hand after raising more than $44,500 and spending more than $61,400, reports showed.

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Jan. 20The University of Hawaii today announced a $50 million gift over seven years from billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, for research about the impact of climate change on the ocean.

The largest cash gift in UH history will support various research groups within the university's Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and underwrite research and programs that document changing ocean conditions, explore ways to support healthier ocean ecosystems, enhance coastal resilience from storms and sea-level rise and study problems for marine creatures.

In a statement, UH President David Lassner said ocean ecosystems face unprecedented threats linked to "our growing human population and our behaviors, " and the gift will be "transformative " in allowing the university to accelerate its conservation research.

"The clock is ticking, " he said, "and we must fast-track not only our understanding of marine ecosystems and the impacts of climate change, but the actions we must take to reverse the devastation underway. There is no place on Earth better than Hawaii to do this work, and no institution better able than UH."

UH researchers have already documented impacts to Hawaii's marine life due to climate change and ocean acidification. Many species, they have found, are struggling to adapt to the rapid changes.

The cash gift will fund efforts to develop methods for more accurate forecasting of future ocean conditions and research about marine organisms like coral reefs and sharks.

In a statement released by the university, Zuckerberg and Chan said, "Hawaii has one of the richest marine ecosystems in the worldand having a deeper understanding of this ecosystem is the key to preserving and protecting it. We're honored to support the University of Hawaii's conservation efforts, including their trailblazing research on coral reef restoration, the impact of climate change on coastal waters and other areas related to the health of our oceans."

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The gift is part of a growing record of philanthropy by Zuckerberg and Chan in their adopted home state. The couple bought 700 acres on Kauai in 2014 and built a house. In April they bought another 600 acres and added another 110 acres in November.

While they did create a stir over controversial moves to secure their land in their first few years here, the couple of late has been making positive headlines through charitable giving, most of it on Kauai.

They created a charitable fund in their name through the Hawaii Community Foundation to support local nonprofits that work in education, health, the environment and culture.

In November, Kauai Habitat for Humanity announced that it was awarded $4.85 mil lion in grants from the Chan Zuckerberg Kauai Community Fund to build affordable housing in Waimea, Anahola and Waipouli.

Earlier, the fund contributed $4.2 million to Kauai's Rise to Work jobs program and $4 million to nonprofits The Trust for Public Land and Malama Huleia to purchase the 102-acre Alakoko "Menehune " Fishpond for cultural and environmental stewardship in perpetuity.

Forbes has ranked Zuckerberg as the eighth-richest person in the world with a net worth of about $120 billion.

The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology is a unit of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, the university's largest receiver of outside research funding. SOEST's overall annual budget is more than $130 million with external research funding reaching about $100 million a year.

Chip Fletcher, interim SOEST dean, said the Zuckerberg gift, among other things, will result in new equipment devoted to ocean ecosystem health, including buoys to measure carbon dioxide in the water and the air, and water drones to collect an array of measurements that will help refine climate change modeling.

"It will be research that matters to Hawaii, " he said.

But the gift isn't only for research.

"Through internships, mentoring, community engagement efforts and graduate research fellowships we will grow our pool of scholars, policymakers and conservationists from underrepresented communities around our state, " Fletcher said.

Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Director Eleanor Sterling said the money will support the kind of interdisciplinary work that will lead to a better understanding of ocean systems and Indigenous strategies to help develop effective approaches for ocean conservation.

"We aim to make significant strides toward ensuring healthy, diverse oceans as well as meeting the needs of local communities, " Sterling said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is drawing criticism for comments he made shortly before the GOP blocked a federal elections bill, when he said that African American voters cast ballots at similar rates to Americans.

The minority leader made the remark at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, when he was asked about concerns that people of color have about voting rights.

The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans, McConnell said.

The comment implied that Black voters are somehow not American and underscored the concerns of voting rights advocates that Republicans in state legislatures across the country are explicitly seeking to disenfranchise Black voters. The timing was also notable, coming the same day that McConnell engineered a filibuster to block voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protecting democracy.

In follow-up remarks Thursday, McConnell said: I have consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans.

Back home in Kentucky, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker tweeted, Being Black doesnt make you less of an American, no matter what this craven man thinks. Booker, who is Black, unsuccessfully ran for McConnells seat in 2020 and is challenging GOP Sen. Rand Paul this year.

Hey @LeaderMcConnell, tweeted Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, who is Black, ...for your information, Im also an American!

McConnell's supporters called it an unfair attack, saying he simply left out a word and meant to say that Black people vote at similar rates to all Americans. Black voters do cast ballots at about the same rate as all voters, falling in between Latinos, who are less likely to go to the polls than African Americans, and whites, who are more likely to go to the polls.

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In 2016 and 2020, white voters turned out at higher rates than Black voters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The census shows that 71% of eligible white voters cast a ballot in 2020, compared with 63% of eligible African Americans. In 2016, 65% of white voters cast a ballot, versus 60% of Black voters.

Scott Jennings, a former adviser to President George W. Bush who has close ties to McConnell, said attacks on the senators remarks were ridiculous.

McConnell was clearly stating that African American voting rates are similar to the entire electorate as a whole, to point out how easy and fair our system of voting is for everyone, he said.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is Black, also came to the senators defense, saying the faux outrage over McConnells remarks was absurd. Cameron, a Republican, is McConnells former legal counsel. Cameron also said that McConnell was making a point that Black voting rates are similar to the entire electorate as a whole.

Two Democratic senators joined all 50 Republicans in refusing to change Senate rules to overcome the GOP filibuster on Wednesday. Democrats could not persuade holdout Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia to change Senate procedures on that bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.

Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League in Kentucky, said McConnells comments were particularly frustrating to hear after the voting legislation failed in the Senate.

Reynolds, who is Black, said the lack of support for the legislation from McConnell and other lawmakers showed African Americans that they are still not seen as Americans worthy of having our voice heard at the ballot box.

Our patriotism, our citizens status, should never be questioned, Reynolds said. "... And we are owed an apology, not just for Freudian slips, but for failures to honor the role that we have played in building this great country.

___

Associated Press writers Piper Hudspeth Blackburn in Louisville, Ky., and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
By Andrew Hay

TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - New Mexico on Wednesday asked National Guard members and state employees to volunteer as substitute teachers to keep schools and daycare centers open during a surge in COVID-19 infections.

State employees and Guard members who take up the call to teach will get their usual pay and be considered on administrative leave or active duty, respectively, according to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.

National Guard members have mobilized across the United States to help hospitals and clinics slammed by staff shortages but New Mexico appeared to be the first state to ask them to become classroom teachers.

Some 60 schools in New Mexico have gone into remote learning since the winter break and 75 child daycare centers partially or completely closed as staff tested positive for COVID-19 or quarantined, according to a statement from the governor.

"We've heard from multiple districts that a lack of substitute teachers is among the most critical staffing issues right now," New Mexico Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said in a statement.

Under the staffing plan, schools will decide whether National Guard members wear uniform or civilian clothes. The reservists will be unarmed.

Guard members and state employees will undergo background checks and an online teacher training course before being sent into schools.

"It's just a vehicle to make sure schools can stay open," Lujan Grisham said at a press conference outside Santa Fe High School, which is operating remotely due to a lack of substitute teachers.

The pandemic has exacerbated teacher shortages in poorer U.S. states like New Mexico and neighboring Oklahoma, which on Tuesday appealed to state employees to work as classroom substitutes.

Wealthier states are also scrambling to keep schools open, with California streamlining its substitute teacher hiring process and Kansas opening up substitute positions to people with no college education.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Kaylee Burdick paints a canvas with notable Disney characters while in the Florida Capitol rotunda Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

Mickey Mouse made a special visit to Capital Regional Medical Center Wednesday morning to deliver a hand-painted piece of art to be displayed in the hallways of the hospital.

The art was painted by Walt Disney World cast members, Florida lawmakers and visitors to the Florida Capitol during Disney Day there on Tuesday.

The piece is made up of six canvases with notable Disney characters including Mickey, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck.

Ushering in 2022: Meet Kaisleigh and Kanelo: Tallahassee hospitals welcome first babies of 2022

Opinion: CRMC: Working toward healthier tomorrows together

In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney Resort and in honor of Florida's healthcare heroes, Disney Cast Members including Mickey Mouse teamed up with Foundation for Hospital Art to present hand painted artwork to colleagues at HCA Florida Healthcare's Tallahassee hospital, Capital Regional Medical Center on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. The artwork was painted by those who stopped for a moment while in the Florida Capitol during Walt Disney Day on Tuesday.

Disney Cast Members partnered with the Foundation for Hospital Art to present the colorful artwork to colleagues at CRMC.

Health care is a work of heart and we are extremely grateful to Walt Disney World and the Foundation for Hospital Art for this special work of art to recognize our colleagues in a magical and meaningful way, said Alan Keesee, chief executive officer of CRMC.

Reach photojournalist Alicia Devine at adevine@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @alicia_c_devine. Check out her photos on Instagram @adevinephotography.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Disney, Foundation for Hospital Art brighten halls at CRMC in Tallahassee
PARSIPPANY, NJ  The omicron-variant surge has shown signs of slowing down in the Parsippany area, with a decline in new infections for the second straight week. But case totals still remain among the area's highest since the pandemic began.

In fact, Morris County's reported total of 645 new cases Thursday remains higher than any of the area's case counts before the omicron wave, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

Here's what's happening around Parsippany.

Cases

Morris County averaged 825.7 infections per day this past week, according to the state health department. That's an improvement over the prior week, when the county averaged 1,422.9 new cases per day. The week before, Morris County averaged 1,637.4 daily infections.



Morris County hit a record daily case total Jan. 7 with 1,775 reported infections, but the area's average case totals have gradually declined since.

Parsippany saw 706 infections from Jan. 10 to Wednesday, bringing the township's case total to 8,359 since the pandemic began, according to Morris County data. That's a 9.2 percent increase to the township's case total in nine days.

Hospital Data



The number of patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in New Jersey hospitals has declined in recent days. After an omicron-wave peak of 6,089 on Jan. 11, COVID hospitalizations are down to 4,966 as of Wednesday.

Hospital-specific data, which comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only reflects hospital capacities through the week ending Jan. 13. The most recent week of data indicates strain on many local hospitals as of last week.

The ratio of COVID-19 hospitalizations to total beds provides insight on how much strain a hospital is under. The ratio becomes concerning when it crosses 10 percent, and anything more than 20 percent represents "extreme stress," according to a framework the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation developed.

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Additionally, ICU capacity also indicates hospital strain, hospital-capacity experts told NPR. When COVID-19 patients fill more than 30 percent of ICU beds, it suggests a hospital is under "high stress." Sixty percent or more indicates "extreme stress."

Several Parsippany-area hospitals fell into the data categories of high or extreme stress for the week ending Jan. 13. Here's what federal officials reported in that timeframe:



Morristown Medical Center: COVID-19 patients occupied 24 percent of adult inpatient beds and 20 percent of adult ICU beds.

Saint Clare's Denville Hospital: COVID-19 patients occupied 23 percent of adult inpatient beds and 28 percent of adult ICU beds.

Chilton Medical Center (Pompton Plains): COVID-19 patients occupied 37 percent of adult inpatient beds and 40 percent of adult ICU beds.

Kindred Hospital New Jersey (Dover): COVID-19 patient data unavailable.

Overlook Medical Center (Summit): COVID-19 patients occupied 26 percent of adult inpatient beds and 17 percent of adult ICU beds.

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (Livingston): COVID-19 patients occupied 35 percent of adult inpatient beds and 18 percent of adult ICU beds.

But the hospitals still have beds available for those in need. The New Jersey Hospital Association has urged people not to delay medical care, including trips to the hospital.

Here is the federal data for overall bed use in Parsippany-area hospitals for the week ending Jan. 13:

Morristown Medical Center: 77 percent of adult inpatient beds and 58 percent of adult ICU beds were in use.

Saint Clare's Denville Hospital: 63 percent of adult inpatient beds and 62 percent of adult ICU beds were in use.

Chilton Medical Center (Pompton Plains): 84 percent of adult inpatient beds and 58 percent of adult ICU beds were in use.

Kindred Hospital New Jersey (Dover): 82 percent of adult inpatient beds were in use. ICU data was unavailable.

Overlook Medical Center (Summit): 65 percent of adult inpatient beds and 38 percent of adult ICU beds were in use.

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (Livingston): 90 percent of adult inpatient beds and 43 percent of adult ICU beds were in use.

Vaccine Data



As of Thursday, 46.7 percent of Morris County's fully vaccinated population received the COVID-19 booster shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reported that 78.8 percent of Morris County's vaccine-eligible population  people 5 and older  have completed their first COVID vaccine course. As of Thursday, 92.9 percent of Morris County residents 5 and older have received at least one COVID shot.

Deaths



Twenty-eight people in Morris County died from COVID-19 in the past week, according to the CDC.

See more local news and resources:

Need to get tested for COVID-19? See Parsippany Patchs guide on what to know about local testing centers.

Here's where to find a COVID-19 booster shot  or first or second vaccination  around Parsippany.

Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order Wednesday that will require employees in health care settings or "high-risk congregate" environments to receive COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots. Workers in those settings will soon lose the choice to opt out of the requirement by undergoing weekly testing. Read more.

Although most people with COVID-19 get better within weeks of the illness, some experience conditions known as long COVID or long-haul COVID, according to the CDC. Learn more about long COVID at the CDC's post-COVID conditions page.

Thanks for reading. Have a news tip? Email josh.bakan@patch.com. Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter and follow the Parsippany Patch Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on the Parsippany Patch
Chinese embassy celebrates 30th anniversary of China-Ukraine ties

Xinhua) 08:32, January 20, 2022

People visit a photo exhibition, which showcases more than 50 photographs depicting important events for China and Ukraine, in the Chinese Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

KIEV, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal sent a congratulatory letter to the Chinese embassy, in which he praised the progress made in the development of China-Ukraine relations, expressing the hope that Beijing and Kiev will use the occasion of the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to achieve even greater and better results.

Shmyhal wished the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games a success.

While addressing the reception, Chinese Ambassador Fan Xianrong said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Ukraine 30 years ago, the relations between the two countries have continuously developed, and their cooperation has expanded and deepened.

China and Ukraine have become important strategic partners, Fan said, adding that China is Ukraine's largest trading partner, while Ukraine is the biggest supplier of corn, sunflower oil and meal to the Chinese market.

Noting that Ukraine is China's friend and partner, Fan stressed that the peoples of the two countries have long been friendly towards each other, and China will always promote friendly relations and cooperation with Ukraine.

The reception also featured a photo exhibition, which showcased more than 50 photographs depicting important events for the two countries.

Chinese students sing at a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

Chinese Ambassador Fan Xianrong speaks at a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
A Waukegan woman ran over and killed her friend with a car after they argued early Saturday in North Chicago, Lake County prosecutors said.

Gabriela Martinez, 25, remained jailed Thursday in lieu of $200,000 bail. She is charged with reckless homicide and failure to report an accident resulting in death, in connection with the death of Alyssa Charles, 24, also of Waukegan.

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The Lake County coroners office said it was called to the 1500 block of Lincoln Street in North Chicago at 2:19 a.m. Saturday for a report of a pedestrian killed after being run over by a car.

Jim Newton, spokesman for States Attorney Eric Rinehart, said authorities learned that Martinez and Charles, along with two other women, had been out together that night and had ended up at the North Chicago address, which is the home of another friend.

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However, authorities said, as the women were parked in the driveway, an argument erupted within the group. It reached the point that Charles, who had been seated in the right rear passenger seat, exited the vehicle, Newton said. But after getting out, Charles realized that she had left items in the car, Newton said, and began pounding on the vehicles rear window.

Charles ended up behind the vehicle as Martinez backed out of the driveway, and prosecutors said in court the vehicle suddenly accelerated while in reverse, running over Charles, Newton said.

Charles was taken to Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan, where she was pronounced dead, prosecutors said. Coroner Jennifer Baneks office said Thursday that an autopsy performed earlier this week showed that Charles died from multiple blunt force injuries.

Martinez came to the police station at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, about eight hours later, and was arrested and charged. She appeared in bond court Sunday. She is due back in court on Feb. 10.

Rinehart said victim witness support staff from the states attorneys office have reached out to the Charles family.
WASHINGTON  Ukraine's president pushed back Thursday on President Joe Biden's suggestion that a "minor incursion" by Russia into Ukraine might not merit a strong international response.

"We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a tweet Thursday morning. "Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power."

Zelenskyy's comment was a remarkable retort from a close U.S. ally that has received millions of dollars in military assistance.

During a news conference Wednesday, Biden said the U.S. would hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable if Russia invades Ukraine but suggested the consequences would depend on the extent of Russia's aggression toward its neighbor.

Video: President Biden gives first speech of 2022

"It depends on what (Russia) does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about we have to do and not do," Biden said in his remarks. The president also predicted that Russia would invade Ukraine, even as he warned of "severe economic consequences" if that happens.

The comments sparked a fierce backlash from Republican lawmakers, and the White House has scrambled to clarify the president's remark.

On Thursday, Biden said any Russian forces crossing into Ukraine would constitute an invasion.

"If any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion. Let there be no doubt if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price," Biden told reporters before a meeting with his infrastructure task force.

"The Ukrainian foreign minister said this morning he's confident of our support and resolve, and he has a right to be," the president added.

Biden's remarks came on the heels of a similar statement, sent out Wednesday night, from White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

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Incursion v. invasion

Republican lawmakers said Biden's comment was deeply problematic and could be seen by Putin as a free pass to invade Ukraine. Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine's border.

President Bidens remarks on Russias buildup near Ukraine tonight were nothing short of a disaster," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement Wednesday.

"He shared the potential disunity of Western nations on tough sanctions and clearly gave Vladimir Putin the green light to launch a minor incursion'," McCaul argued.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who recently visited Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders, wrote on Twitter that he was "deeply troubled" by Biden's insinuation that a Russian invasion may just be a minor incursion.

Portman said "any Russian military incursion into Ukraine should be viewed as a major one that could likely destabilize Ukraine and Europe."

Leading Democratic lawmakers also pushed back on Biden's remarks, though they said Biden understands what's at stake and fully supports Ukraine.

"He was obviously very interested and very strong on taking action against whatever Vladimir Putin does in Ukraine. I think he misspoke at his press conference, but I am comfortable that we are looking at a range of scenarios and the appropriate responses to whatever Putin does," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who also traveled to Kyiv, said during a Thursday press briefing.

"Russias short-term goal is to get Ukraine back into its orbit. Russias long-term goal is to smash NATO," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who also joined his Senate colleagues in Kyiv, wrote on Twitter.

"Biden understands that Putin is using the short-term goal as a wedge to achieve the long-term goal. Thats why we must get NATO unified on Ukraine policy," Murphy continued.

Biden aides brace for the worst

Ahead of his meeting with his Russian counterpart on Friday in Geneva, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian officials have "rebuffed" diplomatic efforts to defuse the situation.

Blinken also warned that the conflict had deep implications for other countries in the region and around the world, calling it "a crisis with global consequences" that "requires global attention and action."

Blinken reiterated that a Russian invasion would result in immediate economic sanctions on the country. US officials and NATO allies have also indicated in recent days they will support an insurgency effort in Ukraine, potentially prolonging the fighting into a brutal and costly conflict.

"The human toll of renewed aggression by Russia would be many magnitudes higher than what we've seen to date," he cautioned, asking if Russian families would be willing to tolerate the high costs of war.

Blinken is among a number of Biden administration officials working to unify NATO and reassure Ukraine as the threat of a Russian attack looms.

On Thursday, Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, met with his counterparts in the eastern European NATO states, known as the "Bucharest Nine," to assure them of the US military commitment to their defense. Sullivan also briefed the group on Blinken's diplomatic efforts ahead of his meeting with Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart.

The State Department also announced Thursday new sanctions on four Ukrainian officials who the Biden administration says are responsible for "recruiting Ukrainian nationals in key positions to gain access to sensitive information."

The list includes two current Ukrainian members of parliament, Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn, and two "FSB-connected former Ukrainian officials," Volodymyr Oliynyk and Vladimir Sivkovich.

Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.

Michael Collins contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukrainian president rebukes Biden over Russia 'minor incursion' remark
Hampton Roads largest school division opted Thursday night to make wearing masks optional  as school boards around the region raced to make decisions before Gov. Glenn Youngkins executive order goes into effect.

Three area school boards  Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach  made their decisions Thursday. Starting next week, masks will be optional in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, mandatory in Portsmouth.

Chesapeake and Virginia Beach voted 7-1 and 9-2, respectively, while Portsmouths vote was unanimous.

The decision to make masks optional didnt come as a surprise in Chesapeake as former Vice Chair Colleen Leary stated the board would reevaluate its mandate if the circumstances around face coverings changed. The district recanted its decision to make masks optional last month after COVID-19 cases surged before students returned from winter break due to the omicron variant.

Portsmouth is the only school division in Hampton Roads to defy Youngkins order, requiring all students, employees and visitors to wear a mask. During its meeting the local health department advised board members the city has recently seen record-high case numbers since the start of the pandemic.

Norfolk board members unanimously voted Wednesday to continue following the districts mitigation plan and require masks indoors. The plans mask exemptions section updated the next day to include a portion for parents choosing to opt out of its mandate. Students and staff also must continue to wear face coverings masks while riding the bus.

Masks have been mandatory in most Virginia schools since they reopened to in-person learning - and have drawn criticism since before then. Many school officials and teachers embraced the mandate, in part because maintaining a safe distance among staff and students was difficult to achieve.

While trying to find alternatives Thursday for a layer mitigation strategy without a mask mandate, many Virginia Beach board members apologized to teachers who will bear the brunt of the decision, coining them frontline workers and heroes.

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Thank you for getting up every day and doing what you do every single day. And I hope and I pray that what comes out of this is really the uplifting of our educational professionals, Vice Chair Kimberly Melnyk said.

Attempts to make masks optional in Virginia Beach had failed three times. But those who have pushed for parent choice in the division were triumphant after board members deliberated for two hours before going into closed session. The vote adopted administrators recommendation to abide by state law and continue mask-wearing in schools, while giving parents the option to decline.

I think what were doing is acknowledging that we are operating in the auspices of a state law, which allows and suggests we ought to keep a mask mandate in place and also acknowledging that there is an executive order from our governor, Superintendent Aaron Spence said to member Jessica Owens after she suggested the division wait until after a court decision on the matter.

What were doing is saying that those two things exist simultaneously. Should the courts interpret that differently, as weve done all the way through this mess of this pandemic, well adjust accordingly, Spence said.

In addition to the recommendation, the vote will require all students to wear a mask while visiting the school nurse. The district must also work to speedily order KN95 masks for teachers and figure out a way to collect parent notification for students who can forego masking.

Thirteen parents from Chesapeake have sued to halt Youngkins order.

Sierra Jenkins, 229-462-8896, sierra.jenkins@virginiamedia.com
North Korea may resume tests of its nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

State media KCNA said Thursday that Pyongyang was considering lifting a self-imposed suspension on those activities.

Tension has been rising between the U.S. and North Korea in recent weeks over Pyongyang's unusually-rapid series of short-range missile tests, conducting four so far this year.

But North Korea has not tested its nuclear weapons or long-range missiles since 2017, as it started engaging in denuclearisation talks with South Korea and the United States.

Before that, ittested a missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

However, Washington's push for fresh sanctions this month was called 'hostile' by Pyongyang.

Its powerful politburo of the Workers' Party said the U.S. had reached a 'danger line', citing its continued joint drills with Seoul and its repeated calls for sanctions.

The U.S. State Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pyongyang has defended the missile launches as its sovereign right to self-defense, and accused Washington of applying double standards.
Oklahoma lawmaker's bill looks to add restrictions to homeless camps




It's Wednesday, welcome to Overnight Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

President Biden sparked confusion and intense criticism over suggestions that Russia would face lesser consequences for launching a "minor" attack against Ukraine, prompting the White House to quickly try to clean up the remarks.

More on that, plus details on the president's move to ramp up protection of sensitive national security systems, the declassified video that showed the U.S. drone strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians, and the more on the deadly Marine vehicle accident in North Carolina.

For The Hill, I'm Ellen Mitchell. Write me with tips at emitchell@thehill.com

Let's get to it.

Biden sparks confusion with Russia remarks

The White House quickly moved to clarify Biden's remarks that suggested Russia would face lesser consequences for launching a "minor" attack against Ukraine.

The remarks: "It depends on what he does as to what extent we're going to be able to get total unity on the NATO front," the president said during a press conference at the White House, referring to the allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"I think what you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not to do," Biden said.

The clarification: The White House quickly sought to clarify Biden's position and tamp down concerns among allies and Ukrainian officials amid warnings Russia could take action imminently.

"President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement right after the press conference's conclusion.

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"President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response," Psaki added.

Further cleanup attempts: Psaki's statement came shortly after Emily Horne, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, issued a tweet emphasizing Biden was distinguishing between military and nonmilitary actions, such as cyberattacks that would be met with a reciprocal response.

Biden himself had attempted to clean up his remarks when given the chance during his nearly two-hour press conference when a reporter followed up to ask if he meant to effectively give Putin a green light to take offensive action by saying a "minor incursion" may not be as big of a deal.

"The serious imposition of sanctions relative to dollar transactions and other things are things that are going to have a negative impact on the United States and a negative impact on the economies of Europe as well," Biden said. "So I've got to make sure everybody's on the same page as we move along."

The criticism: Still, the remarks prompted confusion and criticism among experts and pushback from Republicans. The confusion came at an inopportune time for the Biden administration, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken preparing to meet with his Russian counterpart in Geneva later this week.

"I am very concerned by the weak, incoherent message we just heard from [President Biden] on Ukraine," tweeted Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and who briefed the president earlier Wednesday on his bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine over the weekend.

"This administration must be clear that ANY Putin move into Ukraine is unacceptable, and we should do more to impose costs on him."

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the president's rhetoric "will make Putin believe he can get away with more aggression and embolden our adversaries like the [Chinese Communist Party] to follow suit."

Read the full story here.

More coverage of the situation:

Biden to boost security systems protection

President Biden signed a national security memorandum on Wednesday that sets new cybersecurity requirements for sensitive national security systems run by the Pentagon, intelligence community and other federal agencies.

Details on the memo: The memorandum lays out how Biden's May executive order on federal government cybersecurity applies to national security systems controlled by government agencies, stating that national security systems should at minimum have the same security protection as federal civilian networks under that order.

The memorandum requires these agencies to prioritize resources to adopt and use cloud technology. It also directs agencies to implement multifactor authentication and encryption for most national security systems within 180 days of its signing.

Other requirements: It also requires affected agencies to report suspected breaches of national security systems to the National Security Agency (NSA) and requires the NSA in coordination with DNI and CIA to establish plans for reporting such suspected compromises.

The memo empowers NSA to issue binding directives to agencies to take action to mitigate a potential cyber threat or vulnerability.

Additionally, it orders the NSA, CIA, FBI, Defense Department branches and the intelligence community to develop a framework to better coordinate on cybersecurity and incident response efforts on national security cloud technologies.

Some context: The new memorandum is a product of Biden's May 12 executive order, which mandates the federal government to adopt requirements for national security systems within 60 days.

Biden signed the sweeping executive order last year following major cyberattacks, including the SolarWinds hack in which Russian state-sponsored hackers gained access to nine federal agencies and dozens of private sector organizations. The SolarWinds breach occurred under the Trump administration.

Read the full story here

Videos show deadly US drone strike

Afghans inspect damage of Ahmadi family house after the August U.S. drone strike in Kabul

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) released declassified footage on Wednesday showing the moments before, during and after the Kabul drone strike conducted by the United States in late August that killed 10 Afghan civilians.

The footage, roughly 25 minutes of video, was first published by The New York Times following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against Centcom.

The newspaper said that the footage had been misinterpreted by officials who initiated the Aug. 29 drone strike, noting that the images are times difficult to make out.

What the video shows: One color video provided by Centcom, which showed slightly better details than a second black and white one, showed children outside and a person opening a white car's right door. Footage also showed water being poured on the fire after drone strike.

The black and white video, which appeared to be less focused, shows the white car that longtime aide worker Zemerai Ahmadi, whom U.S. officials incorrectly believed was an operative of ISIS-K who had explosives, drove moving through a few streets and making its way toward a courtyard. The car can be seen backing in as the footage shows several minutes of people milling around the area's courtyard.

The video later shows the explosion that resulted from the strike.

Confirmation: "I can confirm that the videos obtained by the New York Times via litigation related to the Freedom of Information Act are, in fact, videos of the strike in Kabul on August 29, 2021," Capt. Bill Urban, the spokesman for Centcom, said in a statement.

"While the strike was intended for what was believed to be an imminent threat to our troops at Hamad Karzai International Airport, none of the family members killed are now believed to have been connected to ISIS-K or threats to our troops. We deeply regret the loss of life that resulted from this strike."

Read the full story here

A MESSAGE FROM HUAWEI

'MULTIPLE CASUALTIES' IN MARINE VEHICLE CRASH

The Marines reported 'multiple casualties' on Wednesday after a military vehicle crashed near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Earlier in the day, the 2nd Marine Logistics Group said it was aware of a vehicle rollover involving service members.

"We are aware of a vehicle rollover in Jacksonville, North Carolina, involving service members with 2nd MLG. We are working closely with @camp_lejeune and Onslow County officials to gather details regarding this incident," read a tweet from the unit from 2:24 p.m.

The accident: About an hour later, the unit confirmed "multiple casualties as a result of this incident," and said it would share more information on Twitter as it became available.

The incident occurred at around 1 p.m., local NBC affiliate WITN reported. According to the outlet, a seven-ton Marine truck with 19 service members on board lost control on a highway while making a right turn.

Marines were thrown from the truck as a result.

In a news conference, North Carolina State Highway Patrol confirmed that two Marines died as a result of the crash, and two other Marines were taken to a local hospital, according to local news station WNCT.

Read the full story here

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW

WHAT WE'RE READING

A MESSAGE FROM HUAWEI

Well, That's it for today! Check out The Hill's defense and national security pages for latest coverage. See you tomorrow!
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., sentenced a Palm Harbor messianic rabbi Thursday to two months of home confinement plus a year of probation for strolling into the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

Michael Stepakoff, was also ordered to pay a $742 fine to reimburse the government for the cost to monitor him throughout the past year.

Entering the Capitol was a terrible mistake on my part, Stepakoff said in court. I deeply regret it. I wish I could take it back, but I cant. It was not done in defiance or as an a act of civil disobedience, but because I failed to properly appreciate the situation.

While prosecutors had requested a two-week period of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras concluded incarceration was unnecessary. But the judge didnt buy arguments from Stepakoffs lawyer that he wasnt aware of the seriousness of his actions when he entered the Capitol with the mob.

He refers to himself as Mr. Magoo-like character, oblivious to the mayhem around him, Contreras said. The defendant is a highly educated individual, who the court finds is highly unlikely to have been oblivious.

Stepakoff pleaded guilty in September to a single charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

He attended a rally in support of former President Donald Trump early that afternoon, according to court records, then followed the crowd to the Capitol. Along the way, Stepakoff recorded a video.

There comes a time for people to say, were not going to take it, he said in the recording, as quoted in court records. Here we are taking our stand on Capitol Hill.

At about 3 p.m. that day, Stepakoff was seen on security video walking into the Capitol through a door marked exit. He walked around the hallway amid a growing crowd, took pictures, and walked back out a few minutes later.

The Capitol is OUR house. Not theirs, he later posted on social media. He went on to say that there was very little violence, despite fake news images, and described the events as an almost completely peaceful demonstration.

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The riot, which disrupted congressional certification of the 2020 election results, caused more than $1 million in damage. More than 100 law enforcement officers were injured. Five people, including an officer, died.

In the leadup to Thursdays hearing, Stepakoffs lawyer, Marina Medvin, downplayed the violence of that day as the actions of a few, referring to the majority who breached the Capitol as peaceful.

Stepakoff saw no violence, the attorney said, and shook hands with a police officer before leaving. When he later heard about violence that day from TV reports, he brushed them off as media embellishment or the work of antifa.

Medvin suggested that a $50 fine was an appropriate sentence, and noted that Stepakoff had already paid $500 in restitution.

But prosecutors accused Stepakoff of willful blindness to the signs of danger all around him on Jan. 6. He saw people scaling walls. He saw toppled barricades. He walked past people crawling through windows and skirted past broken glass furniture, but claimed not to notice.

He posted social media messages about storming the gates, and wrote of violence becoming inevitable, among other statements, according to the prosecutions sentencing memo.

The prosecutor noted Stepakoff is a former lawyer. Thus, she said, he should have known his conduct was illegal.

The government pointed out that Stepakoff in 2006 received a temporary suspension from practicing law for what was described as acts of dishonesty. It had to do with a case in which he suggested that his 94-year-old client invest $30,000 in a real estate development company, without disclosing that he was part owner of the company, according to court records. His license to practice law has since lapsed, according to Florida Bar records.

Stepakoff, 56, leads Temple New Jerusalem, a house of worship for messianic Judaism in Palm Harbor. Messianic Judaism is a syncretic religion that combines Jewish traditions with Christianity, including a belief in Jesus as the messiah.

Before he was sentenced, Stepakoff explained that he went to the Capitol to be part of what he said was a significant historic event. He said his aim was only to make his voice heard.

If the GOP candidate lost, so be it, he said. Theres always another election, two years and four years later. Thats America.
A mailbox at Lincoln and Arthur Avenues in Lincolnwood is one of several in the village where mail has been reported stolen over the last two years, according to police reports. (Jennifer Johnson / Pioneer Press)

Reports of stolen checks, each mailed from a U.S. postal box in Lincolnwood, continue to be made to the villages police department this month.

Between October and early January, the department took nearly 70 reports of checks stolen and cashed after they were placed in mailboxes within the village, said Lincolnwood Deputy Police Chief Travis Raypole.

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Each report was forwarded to the U.S. Postal Inspectors Office, the agency assigned to investigate the theft of mail, he said.

Within the month of December alone, police took 32 reports of stolen mail, according to information provided by the Lincolnwood Police Department in a Freedom of information Act request.

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Raypole said residents are reporting that after mailing a check in a U.S. Postal Service mailbox in the village, they discovered the check was altered and cashed by someone who was not the intended recipient. The checks were washed, meaning that the ink was erased and a new payee name and amount was written in, he said.

No U.S. Postal Service mailboxes in the village showed signs of forced entry, Raypole said.

David Mirza said his 92-year-old father, a Lincolnwood resident, had two $20 checks stolen after he dropped them in a mailbox across the street from the Lincolnwood Police Station in October.

The payee name and amounts on the checks were changed so that $13,200 was withdrawn from his fathers account, Mirza said.

Thirteen thousand dollars is obviously a lot of money, considering that he wrote two checks for $20 each, he said.

According to a report filed with Lincolnwood police on Oct. 30, a woman reported that a check for a $31.78 Nicor Gas Bill she had mailed was intercepted, altered and cashed for $8,181. A second check, written for $300, was changed to $8,310, and a third check that had been mailed was missing, according to police.

The woman reported that she mailed the checks from a mailbox outside the Lincolnwood Police Station at 6900 Lincoln Ave. on Sept. 25.

Additional reports of checks stolen from the mail occurred throughout 2020 and 2021, with dozens of complaints made to the police, according to documents obtained by Pioneer Press/Chicago Tribune.

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Not all the reports indicate where the checks were mailed, but several addresses that were included showed thefts from the mailbox in front of the police station, across the street from the Chicago Post Office branch at 3401 Devon Ave., on the 6500 block of Lincoln Avenue next to the Lincolnwood Post Office, and in front of a Walgreens at 6798 Lincoln Ave., among other locations.

In one incident, a business reported that 13 checks were stolen, altered and cashed in July 2021, resulting in a theft of $33,395, police said.

Silvia Carrier, spokeswoman for the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, said she could not comment on the Lincolnwood cases, including whether mailboxes or locks have been replaced, due to the ongoing investigation.

In December, Lincolnwood police arrested a Chicago man and charged him with breaking into a condominium building on the 6400 block of North Cicero Avenue and stealing mail on three different occasions.

Anyone who is the victim of mail theft is advised to file a report with the Postal Inspection Service by calling 877-876-2455 and closely monitor financial accounts and credit, Carrier said.

The Lincolnwood Police Department recommends that residents who mail checks use gel pens when filling out the checks.

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The gel ink soaks into the check and makes it harder for (criminals) to wash them, Raypole said.

The police department is currently offering free gel pens to any Lincolnwood resident who requests one at the police station, 6900 N. Lincoln Ave.

The police department has shared warnings about mail theft on its Facebook and Twitter pages, Raypole said.

Raypole also advises residents to avoid mailing checks if possible.

For me personally, I would try to automate as many payments as I can, explaining that using a banking app or paying online will eliminate the need to send a check through the mail.

Other communities have also reported multiple thefts from mailboxes.

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In Park Ridge, after a series of reports of stolen checks from mail that had been deposited in boxes outside the post office, a Dolton man was arrested and charged with theft of mail in September 2021.

According to federal court documents, the man was in possession of a U.S. Postal Service mailbox key. After the arrest, new mailboxes were installed outside the Park Ridge Post Office, but they were later broken into, according to police.

Lombard also reported multiple thefts from mailboxes at its post office, police said.

In September, the U.S. Justice Department announced that seven former postal service employees from the Chicago area were arrested and charged with conspiring to steal credit cards and financial information from the mail that they delivered in Chicago or processed and sorted at the U.S. Postal Service facility in Palatine.

jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
An American Airlines Boeing-777 Getty Images

A woman who refused to wear a face mask caused a London-bound flight to turn around, officials said.

Flight AAL38 returned to Florida over a "disruptive customer," American Airlines said.

The woman  who is in her 40s  was not charged as a result of the incident, police said.

An American Airlines passenger who refused to wear her face mask forced a flight to London from Miami to divert back to Florida roughly an hour into the 4,400-mile journey, officials said.

Heathrow Airport-bound flight AAL38 departed the gate from Miami International Airport at around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, but returned to the Florida airport at around 9:30 p.m. "due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement on Thursday.

The Boeing 777 was carrying 129 passengers and 14 crewmembers and "landed safely at [Miami's airport] where local law enforcement met the aircraft," the airline said.

"We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," the airline said.

When the plane landed back at the Miami airport, officers with the Miami-Dade Police Department escorted the non-compliant passenger  described by authorities as a woman in her 40s  off of the aircraft, cops said.

American Airlines placed the woman on its "internal refuse list" pending further investigation.

"They had a disturbance on the plane with the female passenger refusing to wear her mask, which was enough for them to bring back the plane and call us," Miami-Dade Detective Argemis Colome told Insider.

Colome added, "Once we arrived, we basically just kind of kept the peace."

The woman was not detained or charged as a result of the incident, said Colome.

"She was escorted off the plane, but there was no further incident after that," Colome said. "Her outcome was pretty much dealt with by the American Airlines staff. They dealt with that administratively and that was it."

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Flight trackers show that the plane was off the coast of North Carolina when it turned around.

In 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration logged 5,981 unruly passenger reports with 4,290 mask-related incidents reported.

So far this year as of January 18, the FAA recorded 151 reports of unruly passengers with 92 related to face masks, according to the agency.

Read the original article on Business Insider
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) talk outside of the speaker's office. Pelosi said Thursday that she is open to banning lawmakers from owning and trading individual stocks if that's what members of her caucus want. (Photo: Bill Clark via Getty Images)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she is open to banning lawmakers from owning and trading individual stocks if enough Democrats want that, but said she was personally always in favor of trusting our members not to do illegal things.

There has been growing momentum on both sides of the aisle for a ban on individual stock trading among members of Congress, but Democratic leadership has been reluctant to push the issue. In December, Pelosi said outright that lawmakers should be allowed to trade stocks.

We are a free-market economy, the California Democrat said at the time. They should be able to participate in that.

Pelosi seemed more open to a ban on Thursday, however, saying, If members want to do that, Im OK with that.

But shes certainly not pressed to act on the issue.

I do come down always in favor of trusting our members, she said. To give a blanket attitude of we cant do this, and we cant do that because we cant be trusted  I just dont buy into that.

Pelosi added that she would support increasing the penalties for insider trading, which is federally banned, and said justices on the Supreme Court should be subject to the same penalties for insider trading as members of Congress currently are.

A growing list of Democratic lawmakers are backing a proposal from Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) that would prohibit lawmakers, their spouses and their dependent children from trading individual stocks. The topic has also become an issue on the campaign trail, with several candidates, including Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Rep. Connor Lamb, coming out in support of a ban.

Some Republicans have also caught on. The partys leader in the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), said he would direct a Republican-led chamber to implement the ban if voted back into the majority. Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance said he supports the idea. Even Donald Trump chimed in on the issue, saying Pelosi specifically should not be allowed to trade stocks.

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Such a law would, of course, come at great financial cost to the majority of lawmakers, including Pelosi. Her venture capitalist husband netted a $5 million gain last summer on Alphabet stock, according to financial disclosures.

The current interest in banning members from trading stocks began after it was reported that multiple senators, or their spouses, sold off large amounts of stocks in February 2020  shortly before the public fully learned what the arrival of COVID-19 meant for the economy. The Department of Justice looked into trades by Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), but ultimately dismissed them. The Securities and Exchange Commission is still investigating Burr.

These investigations, though mostly dropped, came on the heels of the successful prosecution of Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) for engaging in insider trading of stock in a pharmaceutical company whose board he sat on. Trump pardoned Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse his 2016 presidential bid.

An investigation by Insider further piqued interest in a stock trade ban, as it found that 42 lawmakers and 182 high-level staff failed to properly report stock trades as required under the 2012 Stock Act.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Police have identified the victim of the fourth known homicide in Oklahoma City this year and made an arrest. The homicide stemmed from a traffic-related confrontation, the second linked to a fatal shooting since New Year's Day.

Police have made an arrest in the fourth known homicide in Oklahoma City for 2022.

Officers arrested 25-year-old Daquan Andrez Estes Tuesday in the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Oscar Fermin Alvarez, who died on Jan. 6.

Shortly after 7 p.m. that evening, police responded to reports of a shooting at the intersection of Reno Avenue and S Pennsylvania Avenue. Officers found Alvarez shot to death inside a vehicle. Investigators said the shooting stemmed from a "road rage" incident.

It is the second deadly traffic-related shooting reported in Oklahoma City since Jan. 1, after another homicide occurred 15 minutes into the new year.

"The first homicide was related to traffic, but not as much, because they may have known each other," said Sgt. Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department. "That started in a parking lot, then they fled and chased each other, so I don't know if that was really road rage as much as it was a situation where two people just didn't like each other."

Like a war zone: Oklahoma City hospitals are in crisis again as COVID-19 tears through state

Police said nothing indicates Alvarez and Estes knew each other.

Knight said he did not believe the two recent shootings contributed to any noticeable trend of deadly road rage incidents for the Oklahoma City metro area.

"Those things certainly happen, but we don't really track road rage events, in and of themselves," Knight said. "They're all so different."

Estes was booked into the Oklahoma County jail Tuesday on a murder complaint.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Man arrested in deadly 'road rage' incident in Oklahoma City
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP)  A man choked a hospital worker unconscious and tried to snap another employee's neck during a rampage inside a North Carolina emergency room earlier this week, authorities said.

Rothwell Jacob Simmons, 24, has been charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of assault by strangulation, according to the New Hanover County Sheriffs Office. Simmons was arrested at New Hanover Regional Medical Center after Tuesday's attack. His bond was set at $7.5 million, news outlets reported.

According to WECT-TV, Simmons appeared in court on Wednesday and, when asked if he wanted to hire his own attorney, Simmons told the judge, Im not sure man, I dont know what the hell got into me.

An attorney who was later assigned to Simmons was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

According to an arrest warrant, Simmons threw the first victim on the ground, choking her until she became unconscious. He also tried to snap the second victims neck, leaving the woman with neck injuries and contusions as he strangled her, officials said.

A spokesperson for Novant Health confirmed the attack, but declined to reveal the extent of the victims injuries. The spokesperson also declined to say whether there were any connections between Simmons and the victims. Officials have not said what may have provoked the attack.
EAST LANSING  Police have identified a man found dead Tuesday morning on West Road as Michael Wayne Son Jr., 38.

Son was found dead after a driver reported hitting a man who was down in the roadway, East Lansing police said. The incident happened about 5:15 a.m. on West, near Abbey Road.

Police later learned that a pickup truck was missing from Son's residence nearby and believed it might have been stolen, officials said.

The truck  a grey, four-door Dodge RAM owned by Son's father  was later found in the area of Chandler and State roads, East Lansing police Lt. Chad Pride said Thursday.

Investigators were looking for "a person of interest," he said.

Police don't know how Son came to be in the road, Pride said. The driver who hit him tried to render aid and called police, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call East Lansing police.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Police release name of man found dead on West Road; missing pickup truck found
An ice sculpture featuring the famed pyramid of Kukulcan in Mexico was inaugurated Wednesday at China's largest ice-themed park in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.



Expanding 440 square meters, the ice sculpture is 9.5 meters tall and 20.9 meters in length and width. More than 500 sculptors worked a week on the sculpture, which consumed 1,100 cubic meters of ice.

The inauguration at the 23rd Ice and Snow World in Harbin forms part of the series of events that mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Mexico.

Cheng Xiaoming, deputy mayor of Harbin, said via video link at the inauguration ceremony that the city is willing to take this opportunity to carry out cooperation in various aspects with different regions in Mexico.

Jesus Seade, the Mexican ambassador to China, said via video link that the inauguration showcases the friendship and cooperation between people and governments of both countries, which will become even closer with frequent exchanges.
EXCLUSIVE: While passing the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act was a long shot, President Biden and allies refuse to give up on voting rights reform.

President Joe Biden defended his commitment to Black voters when pressed about his handling and timing on the issue of voting rights passage during a televised press conference with the White House press corps on Wednesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on January 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

I had their backs. Ive never not had their backs, said Biden, who was asked about criticisms and frustrations from Black Americans who feel his administration handled a growing wave of nationwide voter suppression bills with a lack of urgency.

Instead, some have argued, President Biden prioritized other national issues like infrastructure investment and a comprehensive social spending plan that failed in Congress after months of pushing for its passage.

The presidents press conference happened just hours before the U.S. Senate ultimately voted against the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act on Wednesday night. After debating the bill for two consecutive days in a long shot bid to advance the voting rights legislation, Republicans tanked the bill. Soon after, two members of the Democrats own party refused to change Senate rules in order to overcome Republican opposition and pass the bill with a simple majority.

We have not run out of options yet, Biden said while standing at the podium in the East Room on the eve of the anniversary of his first year in office as the 46th president of the United States.

In a statement responding to the failed John Lewis legislation late Wednesday night, the president said I am disappointed  but I am not deterred.

He added, My Administration will never stop fighting to ensure that the heart and soul of our democracy  the right to vote  is protected at all costs.

The new Democratic bill was meant to supplement what the United States Supreme Court gutted from The Voting Rights Act of 1965, leaving Americans  particularly Black and Brown Americans  without the full voting protections of the landmark law.

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A pivotal piece of that law guaranteed protections against voter discrimination and suppression. Known as pre-clearance, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required that any new voting law in southern states with a history of suppressing Black and minority access to the ballot be approved by the federal government. Thanks to rulings from the high court, Section 5 and Section 2 are essentially moot.

In his speech on Wednesday, President Biden lamented that the road to voting rights reform may be an arduous one.

Its going to be difficult. I make no bones about that. Its going to be difficult, but were not there yet. Weve not run out of options yet. And we will see how this moves, he said.

During and after the press conference on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Senators debated for hours on Capitol Hill ahead of a vote on the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. Vice President Kamala Harris also appeared on the Senate floor to preside in her official capacity as Senate president.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harrus departs the Senate Chambers after presiding over a procedural vote on ending the voting rights legislation debate process at the U.S. Capitol Building January 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

We are not giving up, Harris said to the press after the failed vote. We will not give up.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey fiercely responded on the Senate floor to Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and other Republicans who not only opposed the newly proposed voting rights law, but chastised Democrats who compared their opposition to the days of Jim Crow.

Dont lecture me about Jim Crow. I know this is not 1965. Thats what makes me so outraged. Its 2022, and theyre blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented, Booker remarked. Im not making that up. That is a fact.

Democrats have not been able to overcome the needed 60-vote threshold to pass voting rights legislation. Fifty Republicans are a no vote, and two Senate Democrats  Krysten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia  are unwilling to support a rule change to the filibuster that would allow Democrats to pass the bill with a simple majority vote despite being in support of the legislation itself.

In recent weeks, Democrats and activists have tried to tie the fight to restore voting rights to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That strategy so far has not convinced Sinema, Manchin, or Republicans to change their stance.

President Biden at the press conference said he is hopeful that the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act will adequately address what Democrats and activists have slammed as voter suppression bills being passed into law by Republicans in states across the country.

I think there are a number of things we can do, but I also think we will be able to get significant pieces of legislation if we dont get it all now, the president said.

Though there is public skepticism they will ever be able to overcome roadblocks from 50 Republican senators and two members of their own party, Democrats are not giving up hope.

Outgoing U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois told theGrio, Anti-democratic forces are trying to control the Black vote [and] we will never allow that to happen.

Veteran Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush listens during testimony at a July House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Energy hearing titled Oversight of DOE During the COVID-19 Pandemic. (Photo: Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

The 75-year-old former Black Panther added, We have always been able to overcome the odds and that which is against us. Even if the John Lewis voting rights bill is not passed, I still think were going to use this power to vote  We are always going to be fighting for freedom, justice and equality because thats who we are. Thats our condition.

Meanwhile on the ground, activists are continuing to push for the White House and Congress to do whatever is needed to pass voting rights. They feel the fight is not yet over as there are still several months before the midterm elections and a potential red wave of Republican electoral wins.

Were saying that it is not right what is happening to this nation. Were saying that were willing to be arrested, LaTosha Brown, activist and co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told theGrio.

Co-founder Black Voters Matter LaTosha Brown speaks as other voting rights activists listen during a Rally for D.C. Statehood, the last stop of BVMs Freedom Ride for Voting Rights bus tour, at the National Mall June 26, 2021 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Brown, along with other voting rights organizers in Georgia, played a crucial role in the 2020 election that saw a high turnout of Black and Brown voters who elected Biden and handed Democrats their slim majority in the Senate.

She and other demonstrators were arrested on Tuesday while protesting at the Capitol for passage of the stalled voting rights bill.

Thats not a good experience. Thats not something that we wake up and just want to do every day because we dont have other things to do. Were doing it because we believe in this moment, said Brown.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American in Congress, has challenged the idea that apathy among Black voters will be the consequence of the missed opportunity to pass this historic legislation into law.

Standing with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) speaks to reporters about voting rights outside of the Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on January 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The blame game and finger pointing is underway amid the battle over voting rights from Capitol Hill to the White House. Senior advisor to President Biden, Cedric Richmond, in an interview with theGrio laid the blame directly on the shoulders of former president Donald Trump and his influence over Republican lawmakers, swaying them not to support efforts to protect the right to vote.

The Republican Partys opposition to the John Lewis bill is a departure from history as they overwhelmingly supported reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2006 when then Republican President George W. Bush signed it into law.

Despite the quagmire on voting rights in Washington, lawmakers and stakeholders show no signs of giving up.

Yes, we want this to happen expeditiously, but we also recognize that the goal for us was not necessarily like it has to happen on this particular day, but that it has to happen as soon as possible, said Latosha Brown.

We have to continue. What we are very convinced of is that when the people step up and demand that this happens, it is going to happen.

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The post President Biden, Democrats maintain will to fight despite voting rights collapse in Senate appeared first on TheGrio.
Pupils will no longer have to wear face masks in classrooms (PA Wire)

Schools in areas with lower vaccination rates are being encouraged to keep face mask rules in place.

From Thursday, students no longer need to wear masks in secondary school classrooms.

Rules requiring coverings to be worn in indoor communal areas will no longer apply from Thursday next week.

But council leaders are urging caution while more than 40 per cent of people in some boroughs remain unvaccinated and schools still suffer teacher shortages caused by Covid.

In Hammersmith and Fulham just 38 per cent of residents aged 12 and over have had a booster dose.

Council leader Stephen Cowan told the Standard: "Children who may not be badly affected by the virus still go home to parents, grandparents, get on buses and go in shops.

"Even if triple vaccinated, if it hits someone with a health vulnerability it can be very nasty.

This virus mutates and if we get a new variant we could be back to square one.

It could be at the mid part of this year we have dealt with it. But we won't find that if there is a new variant. We need to keep those precautions."

Barking and Dagenham leader Darren Rodwell has written to the Government to stress the dangers of lifting Plan B restrictions.

He said: While I respect the Governments decision, I have to put on record my objections to the sudden change in everything we have told people to do over the past 20 or so months and throughout the pandemic.

We have consistently told people to wear face masks on public transport, schools and other enclosed places as it helps to prevent the spread of a virus, which is still ravaging communities.

In my borough, one of the most deprived in the country, we have sadly lost 612 people to the pandemic and their families are still mourning and dealing with the loss. As at 13 January, we have 1,880 people infected by the virus.

This announcement is counter-productive and will make an already difficult job of getting people to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, take the vaccine or the booster a lot more difficult.

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As a borough we will continue to follow the scientific evidence.

But a spokesman for the Harris Federation, Londons biggest academy chain, said its schools will be following Government guidance.

Masks will be an option, but no longer mandatory, they said.

Our students were happy to wear masks when asked to do so in order to keep each other, and our staff, safe - but they are of course also hoping to get back to normal.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has defended the decision to end the masks requirement in schools, saying while the prevalence of the virus remained high, case numbers were falling and ministers had to consider the impact of mask-wearing on childrens education.

There has long been a debate about face masks, particularly in schools. The Governments job is to take a balanced and proportionate decision, in this case balanced against the best interests of children, he told the BBC.

It is harder to teach children and it will have an impact on their education if they are required to wear masks.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  The Tampa Bay Rays' proposed plan to split the season between Florida and Montreal has been rejected by Major League Baseball.

Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the news on Thursday.

Today's news is flat-out deflating, Sternberg said.

The idea of playing in both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal has been discussed over the past several years after attempts to build a new full-time ballpark locally failed.

Things had progressed nicely and things had been working nicely, and then recently it just sort of took a turn to the south and we dont precisely know why," Sternberg said. I have no doubt that what we tried to accomplish with our sister-city plan will become accepted in all of professional sports. Major League Baseball simply isnt prepared to cross that threshold right now.

When asked if he felt somewhat betrayed by his fellow owners, Sternberg replied thats a word.

The game is peculiar in a lot of senses and things happen for a lot of reasons, Sternberg said. Sometimes for the good, but always with good intentions for the game itself. We quite often have differing opinions on what that might mean.

Sometimes people dont like to be first," Sternberg added. "There was a fellow on this call when we went cashless a few years ago said to me, I get it, I understand, but why do you have to be first.' Its just people have different approaches to things. We dont mind being first on things.

Montreal had a big league team from 1969, when the expansion Expos began play, through 2004. The Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals for the 2005 season.

They were as, if not more, devastated than I was at the news, Sternberg said.

The Rays' lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the team has played since its inaugural season in 1998, expires after the 2027 season.

Since Sternberg took control in October 2005, the once-struggling franchise has been a success on the field but not at the box office.

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Despite reaching the World Series in 2008 and 2020, the Rays have annually ranked near the bottom in attendance. The Rays averaged about 9,500 for home games last season, 28th in the majors and ahead of only Miami and Oakland.

St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch said he thought a new stadium in his city remains a possibility. Governmental officials have been working on a redevelopment plan for the Tropicana Field site.

We are working with our county partners and city council to put together the best plan possible, which will work in conjunction with my planned evolution of the Tropicana Field master development proposals, Welch said in a statement. With this collaborative approach, I am confident we can partner with the Tampa Bay Rays to create a new and iconic full-time home for Major League Baseball in St. Petersburg while also achieving historic equitable economic growth.

The city of Tampa is also in the mix.

All along our goal has been to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay, Tampa mayor Jane Castor said in a statement. We had been working on both sister-city and full-season proposals, and now we can focus all of our energy on a full season. I am optimistic the Rays will call Tampa Bay home for many years to come.

Sternberg said the team will definitely explore options in the Tampa Bay area. He has no plans to sell the team or request permission to explore relocation from MLB.

Well see how the stands look this year and the support we get, and thats going to help inform us as well going forward on our plans, Sternberg said.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Bravo/YouTube

Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jennie Nguyen has issued an apology after fans began circulating racist Facebook posts she shared amid the protests following George Floyds death.

I want to acknowledge and apologize for my deleted Facebook posts from 2020 that resurfaced today, the freshman cast member wrote Wednesday afternoon on Instagram. At the time, I thought I was speaking out against violence. (This, it should be noted, is a pretty ironic claim, considering one of the posts in question was a cartoon of a woman bragging about how many rioters shes hit with her car.)

I have since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were, she continued. Its why I deactivated that account more than a year ago and why I continue to try to learn about perspectives different from my own. I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused.

Screenshots of Nguyens since-deactivated account show reposts of anti-Black memes and condemnations of Black Lives Matter protesters. One post features the text, If you follow the officers orders, you wont get shot, over an image of Ken Jeongs character in Community cupping his hands around his open mouth. Many of the posts convey strong support for the police, including one that reads, Im sick of people saying cops need more training. You had 18 years to teach your kids its wrong to loot, steal, set buildings a blaze, block traffic, laser peoples eyes, overturn cars, destroy buildings, and attack citizens.

According to Page Six, Nguyen also shared a debunked, completely fabricated story about Floyd assaulting a woman in Spain.

All of this would be a bad look for anyone, but Nguyen has specifically staked much of her storyline this season (after failing to generate interest in an obviously fake sister-wife plot) on calling out co-star Mary Cosby for her racist comments.

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Mary Cosby Explains Why She Flaked on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Reunion: They Told Lies

Cosby has been embroiled in her own controversy this season, with some of her fellow Housewives questioning her extravagant lifestyle and the way she runs her Faith Temple Pentecostal Church. As The Daily Beasts Cheyenne Roundtree reported late last year, several ex-members of the church have accused her of running the church like a cult.

As if that wasnt enough drama for one season (and its not even the tip of the iceberg), the past few episodes of RHSLC have largely focused on offensive remarks Cosby made about Nguyen and Jen Shah. She described Nguyens skin as having yellow tones and commented on her slanted eyes. Cosby also compared Shah, who was charged last year with money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, to Mexican thugs. Nguyen has been leading the charge in holding Cosby accountable for her words, though Cosby has refused to apologize or admit wrongdoing.

Of course, true devotees know that swift and sincere apologies are as rare in the Housewives universe as sensible footwear or happy marriages. Perhaps Nguyen is taking a page out of Ramona the Apologizer Singers book with her latest Instagram post. But its safe to assume that, should she be brought back for a second season, this is not the last we will hear about Nguyens Facebook history.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
Edwin Rigoberto Hernandez-Ventura, a refugee from Honduras, with a painting he and other immigrants created as part of The Samaritas Youth Refugee Art exhibit on display at Casa de Rosado in Lansing Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Edwin, now 22, started his journey to the United States when he was 14 and now has a green card.

LANSING  Okemos resident Edwin Rigoberto Hernandez-Ventura still has the scars.

When he lived in Honduras with his mother, her boyfriend at the time didnt like the young man, who identifies himself as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The boyfriend would hit the then 13-year-old and Hernandez-Ventura recalled one incident where the man screamed at him while intoxicated.

And then he takes out a revolver, tries to shoot me, the 22-year-old said.

The boyfriend said he was going to kill the teen, but couldnt make the gun work and left. Afterward, Hernandez-Venturas mother told her son none of it would have happened if he had kept himself silent, he recalled.

This domestic violence and personal reasons prompted Hernandez-Ventura to leave Honduras and travel to the United States at 14 as an unaccompanied minor and refugee youth. He made it to the country in 2014, he said.

Hernandez-Ventura shares his experience through his work as the Michigan delegate for Refugee Congress, a national organization that promotes the wellbeing and dignity of vulnerable migrants, and is participating in the Samaritas Youth Refugee Art exhibit at Casa de Rosado at 204 E. Mt. Hope Ave. in Lansing.

The Samaritas Youth Refugee Art exhibit on display at Casa de Rosado will be coming down soon but is available for viewing online through the gallery. Tuesday, Jan. 2022.

The exhibit

The exhibit, which can be viewed by one-on-one virtual tours until Sunday, converges multiple journeys as unaccompanied youth from homelands torn by violence and finding temporary refuge at Samaritas and envisioning new lives in the community.

"Casa de Rosado has always had a focus of social justice in the arts, art gallery owner Theresa Rosado said. And this just exemplifies the importance to have a voice, in that goal, and having a safe opportunity and place to share that story is what we seek to do here.

Rosado said there are 51 pieces in the gallery. These are just some of over 100 paintings youth have been creating to raise awareness since 2015, said Kayla Park, Samaritas community outreach team lead for refugee youth services.

Samaritas provides refugee services and resettles families from all over the world. The organization is based in Lansing but works around the state to connect unaccompanied refugee minors with foster care and more, Park said.

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She said youth come from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ghana, Afghanistan and other countries. All of their stories are different except theyre all fleeing violence and persecution of some kind.

"What I want them (people) to know, how amazing these kids are, especially the kids who are coming here truly are fleeing danger," she said. "The one thing I want to press on people is that the kids who come here fleeing violence, fleeing gangs, that's because they're the kind of kids who do not want to be a part of that.

Edwin Rigoberto Hernandez-Ventura, a refugee from Honduras, talks openly about his immigrant journey to the United States Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, at Casa de Rosado in Lansing.

Part of the community

Park said she has seen kids leave the Samaritas program who have started businesses, started families and have become incredible community members.

The Samaritas Youth Refugee Art exhibit helps connect people with refugee minors and unaccompanied children through their voices, their words, their dreams and expressions instead of just statistics people read in the news, she said.

As of Oct. 31, 2021, there were approximately 10,680 unaccompanied children in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services care. The Department of Homeland Security referred 15,381 unaccompanied children to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in 2020 and in 2019 there were 69,488 unaccompanied children referred, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Its important to remember these youth are here, Park said.

"They're not just overseas in refugee camps, she said. They're not just in government shelters, they're here, a part of our community. And because they're here, we have the opportunity to step into their story.

The Samaritas Youth Refugee Art exhibit on display at Casa de Rosado will be coming down soon but is available for viewing online through the gallery. Tuesday, Jan. 2022.

Making the connection

Those stories include Hernandez-Venturas. Since moving to the Lansing area he's graduated from Charlotte High School, studied at Lansing Community College for two years and received his green card. He wants to study social work so he can help others, he said.

His piece in the art exhibit is Follow Your Dreams and shows a night scene with a road leading into the distance. The road can look empty, but you never know how it will clear for you later and he's following it, he said.

Hernandez-Ventura said he shares his story because he wants to give people a real picture of what its like to be an immigrant to the United States. He wants to have those uncomfortable conversations with people who might be afraid or hateful, try to get them to understand and tell them, hey, we are not bad people.

Have empathy type of thing, he said. Like try to connect to them.

The Samaritas Youth Refugee Art exhibit also will be available from 3 to 4 p.m. on Jan. 30 at Resurrection Parish at 48755 Warren Road in Canton Township.

People can support the Samaritas Refugee Foster Care program, unaccompanied refugee minors and other unaccompanied children in its care by purchasing from its online Youth Art Shop. For more information people can contact Park at rfcinfo@samaritas.org. People interested in learning more about the current exhibit can contact Casa de Rosado by messaging its Facebook page.

Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or bairgood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Refugees share stories of coming to U.S. as minors at Lansing gallery
You are here: Business

China's outbound direct investment (ODI) saw stable growth last year, rising by 2.2% year on year to 936.69 billion yuan, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

In U.S. dollar terms, the ODI during this period rose 9.2% from a year ago to $145.19 billion, said MOC spokesperson Shu Jueting.

Non-financial investment into countries along the Belt and Road increased 14.1% year on year to $20.3 billion during the period, the data showed.

In 2021, China saw 560 newly-signed foreign contracted projects with a value of more than $100 million, 46 more from the previous year, said the ministry. The projects are mainly in the infrastructure sector, such as transportation.

"We also saw fruitful achievements in the building of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones," Shu said.

By the end of 2021, investment into overseas economic and trade cooperation zones totaled $50.7 billion, contributing a combined $6.6 billion in taxes and fees to investment destinations and creating 392,000 local jobs, according to MOC data.
The front page of the Palm Beach Post the day after it snowed on Jan. 19, 1977.

'You must be drunk'

Wednesday was the 45th anniversary of the day it snowed in South Florida.

I wrote about it in detail on the 40th anniversary and my favorite part of the story was the guy who recorded it for the National Weather Service when there was still a manned station at Palm Beach International Airport.

Joe Vidulich was a 27-year-old meteorological technician at the station. He said he was working the midnight to 8 a.m. shift on Jan. 19, and while snow was expected in Central and North Florida, he didn't think it would make it to Palm Beach County and beyond.

"I went outside to take an observation and I noticed these particles flying by. At first I thought they were bugs, but it was snow," Vidulich said. "I ran back inside so excited and my partner was sleeping in a chair. I said, 'Wake up Bernie, it's snowing.'

He said, 'You must be drunk.'"

It was a time before weather events were politicized, analyzed, dissected, and sucked dry of magic and wonder. In 1977, it was just snow in South Florida, and it was enchanting.

Also in this newsletter is the sad tale of a gopher tortoise cut in half on a site slated for retirement homes and a tale of woe for our beloved St. Augustine grass.

Live Lightly.

Kmiller@pbpost.com

@Kmillerweather

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Remember when it snowed in South Florida?
(Reuters) - David Perdue, a Republican candidate for Georgia governor, on Thursday called for the establishment of a police unit to investigate voter fraud, underscoring his campaign strategy of promoting falsehoods about wrongdoing in the 2020 election.

Perdue, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump in his bid to unseat fellow Republican Brian Kemp, said that he was proposing an "Election Law Enforcement Division" to investigate and enforce election laws in Georgia.

"This is about transparency and accountability. Georgians deserve confidence that only legal votes will be counted, and that anyone who tries to interfere with our elections will be arrested and prosecuted," Perdue wrote on Twitter.

Multiple recounts and audits have confirmed Democratic President Joe Biden's narrow win over Trump in Georgia, and there has been no evidence of widespread fraud in any state. Still, Trump and his allies in the Republican Party have continued to promote false claims about fraud causing Trump's 2020 electoral loss.

With the proposal, Perdue is following in the footsteps of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who earlier this week asked state lawmakers for nearly $6 million to create a dedicated police force to investigate voter fraud. DeSantis is also a Republican.

A spokesman for Kemp, who has become a target of Trump's ire because he refused to help overturn Biden's 2020 victory in the battleground state, said in a statement that the governor's office lacks the authority to investigate election crimes.

"By proposing this unit, Perdue is finally admitting what state law and the Georgia constitution have made abundantly clear: the Governor has no legal authority regarding the oversight, investigation, or administration of elections in our state," Cody Hall said in an emailed statement.

A spokesman for Brad Raffensperger, the state's top election official, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Story continues

Perdue's proposal comes as Republicans across the country have enacted laws rolling back ballot access. Last month, Butch Miller, the No. 2 Republican in Georgia's state senate and a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2022, introduced a bill https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-republican-proposes-eliminating-ballot-drop-boxes-ahead-2022-elections-2021-12-13 to eliminate absentee ballot drop boxes, which say high use in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kemp is battling Perdue in a Republican primary that will determine who will campaign against Stacey Abrams, who is widely expected to be the Democratic nominee for governor.

The Abrams campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Perdue's proposal.

(reporting by Nathan Layne; editing by Jonathan Oatis)




Russia accused the West of staging "provocations" in Ukraine amid new alarms over the impending threat of a Russian attack.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said that the recent fears expressed by officials from the West that Russia could be preparing an invasion of Ukraine were a "cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character," according to The Associated Press.

"They may have extremely tragic consequences for the regional and global security," she added.

Zakharova also noted the recent weapon deliveries to Ukraine by the United Kingdom, saying that Ukraine sees Western military assistance as a "carte blanche for a military operation in Donbas," according to the news outlet.

Donbas is located in eastern Ukraine and is currently controlled by Russia-backed separatists who initiated an insurgency that killed over 14,000 people over eight years of conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the U.S. threat of a possible cutoff from global banking systems in Russia could allow Ukraine forces to reclaim control of the area.

"It may implant false hopes in the hotheads of some representatives of the Ukrainian leadership who may decide to quietly restart a civil war in their country," Peskov said in a call with reporters, according to the AP.

Lawmakers have pressed the Biden administration to send more military aid to Ukraine. While the nation received an additional $200 million in defensive security assistance, some lawmakers continue to push for extra help.

Global concerns for Ukraine and Russia arose after Russia amassed about 100,000 troops near the border of Ukraine. Next month, the Kremlin is also sending an unspecified number of troops to Belarus for war games.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday visited Ukraine and reassured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that more military aid is "scheduled in the coming weeks."

Blinken is set to deliver a speech on the crisis on Thursday in Berlin.
By Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's central bank on Thursday proposed banning the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, citing threats to financial stability, citizens' wellbeing and its monetary policy sovereignty.

The move is the latest in a global cryptocurrency crackdown as governments from Asia to the United States worry that privately operated and highly volatile digital currencies could undermine their control of financial and monetary systems.

Russia has argued for years against cryptocurrencies, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. It eventually gave them legal status in 2020 but banned their use as a means of payment nL1N2T110W.

In a report published on Thursday, the central bank said speculative demand primarily determined cryptocurrencies' rapid growth and that they carried characteristics of a financial pyramid, warning of potential bubbles in the market, threatening financial stability and citizens.

The bank proposed preventing financial institutions from carrying out any operations with cryptocurrencies and said mechanisms should be developed to block transactions aimed at buying or selling cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies.

The proposed ban includes crypto exchanges. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance told Reuters it was committed to working with regulators and hoped the report's release would spawn dialogue with the central bank on protecting the interests of Russian crypto users.

Restrictions on owning cryptocurrency are not envisaged, said Elizaveta Danilova, head of the central bank's financial stability department.

Active cryptocurrency users, Russians have an annual transaction volume of about $5 billion, the bank said.

SHADOWING CHINA?

The central bank said it would work with regulators in countries where crypto exchanges are registered to collect information about the operations of Russian clients. It pointed to steps taken in other countries, such as China, to curb cryptocurrency activity.

Story continues

In September, China intensified its crackdown nL1N2QQ0MG on cryptocurrencies with a blanket ban on all crypto transactions and mining, hitting bitcoin and other major coins and pressuring crypto and blockchain-related stocks.

"For now there are no plans to ban cryptocurrencies similar to the experience of China," Danilova said. "The approach we have proposed will suffice."

Joseph Edwards, head of financial strategy at crypto firm Solrise Group, played down the report's significance, saying no one outside Russia would be losing sleep over it.

"Moscow, like Beijing, is always rattling its sabre over 'crypto bans', but Russia has never been a pillar of any facet of the industry in the same way as China has been at times," he said.

CRYPTO MINING

Russia is the world's third-largest player in bitcoin mining, behind the United States and Kazakhstan, though the latter may see a miner exodus over fears of tightening regulation following unrest earlier this month.

The Bank of Russia said crypto mining created problems for energy consumption. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are "mined" by powerful computers that compete against others hooked up to a global network to solve complex mathematical puzzles. The process guzzles electricity and is often powered by fossil fuels.

"The best solution is to introduce a ban on cryptocurrency mining in Russia," the bank said.

In August, Russia accounted for 11.2% https://ccaf.io/cbeci/mining_map of the global "hashrate" - crypto jargon for the amount of computing power being used by computers connected to the bitcoin network.

Moscow-based BitRiver, which operates data centres in Siberia hosting bitcoin miners, said it did not consider a complete crypto ban likely, expecting a balanced position to develop once different ministries have discussed the proposals.

The central bank, which is planning to issue its own digital rouble, said crypto assets becoming widespread would limit the sovereignty of monetary policy, with higher interest rates needed to contain inflation.

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow; additional reporting by Tom Wilson in London; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Get on up, Sacramento! It's Thursday, so let's get you started with everything you need to know going on in town today.

First, today's weather:

Fog in the a.m.; lots of sun. High: 59 Low: 39.

Here are the top five stories in Sacramento today:

The Sacramento City Unified School District is seeing a sharp increase in teachers and students calling in sick. The district said that in the final week before winter break student attendance was at 84%. Last week it was down to just under 75%. District spokesperson Al Goldberg said COVID infection rates at schools are below the neighborhoods we serve and schools can be one of the safest places for students to be. Still, staffing is a big problem. On Tuesday, the district said it received 308 requests for substitute teachers but could only fill 190 of them. (KCRA3) As part of a statewide program announced this week, Sacramento college students will soon be able to participate in a new community service program aimed at helping them pay for college and reducing the amount of debt they take on. The California College Corps will give students who do 450 hours of service work in a year $10,000. Those selected for the program will tutor local students to make up for learning time lost to the pandemic and will partner with local organizations to fight climate change and food insecurity. (Merced Sun-Star) Dozens of residents fought for and against whether a new gas station should be built at Crocker Village during a Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday night. Some of the public who commented on Tuesday said they go to Crocker Village to eat, get groceries and even get a haircut. A gas station in the Village would be very convenient, they argued. Others said the gas station is too close to the light rail and pedestrian bridge. The Sacramento City Council voted against the gas station in a 7-0 vote. (FOX40) The West Sacramento Police Department will become one of the first departments in the nation to implement new national measures developed by community leaders and police experts from around the country. WSPD will adopt the Commons Model, in which law enforcement and the community they serve are equal players in the creation of a data dashboard designed to meet everyones concerns. The Commons data dashboard includes a policy goal that is mutually agreed upon with the community, enables any user to easily filter by, at a minimum, race, age, and sex and has data that is regularly updated. There will be a public webinar on Jan. 24 to discuss data and how it can be used to improve policing and community safety. For more information about the webinar, visit measuresforjustice.org/about/events/code-webinar-2022-01-24. (Woodland Daily Democrat) The 19-year-old who was found dead in her vehicle just off the onramp to westbound I-80 from West El Camino Avenue has been identified as a missing woman from Woodland. Woodland police say there was a woman who was reported missing to them on Monday. Police have also confirmed that she was the same woman that was found on Tuesday, but no other details have been released. (CBS Sacramento)

From our sponsor:

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Hey Sacramento, are you looking to buy a house, refinance or just explore your options? Check out the new Patch Mortgage Center for all your home financing needs!

Today in Sacramento:

The International Sportsmens Expo will be at Cal Expo this weekend, January 20 - 23. (11:00 AM)

Californians for the Arts is teaming up with local arts leaders to bring you the 2022 Regional Conversations - a virtual conversation with artists, arts workers, organizations, and advocates. (3:30 PM)

Learn about current trends in youth substance use and drug paraphernalia popular with youth at the Hidden in Plain Sight Workshop . In addition, we will discuss the ways drugs, alcohol, and medicine arebeing hidden in everyday objects undetected by adults in plain sight. (4:00 PM)

Pastel Reflections is a paint and sip event at Bacchus House Wine Bar & Bistro in Folsom. (5:30 PM)

Come to Sheldon Wine Shop's Sip & Smoke in Elk Grove. You'll get Besmoke Expression cigars, Sheldon Wine Shop wine and Tacos for dinner. (5:30 PM)

From my notebook:

When COVID hit, it meant the halting of many plans. Among them, an approximately $40 million art park and adjacent parking garage by Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. This project now has new life. The development will include a flex space for art-focused events and programs. (Comstock's Magazine)

When you go to the park, don't you want to have a super happy fun time? So did one Roseville resident who submitted Super Happy Fun Time as the potential name of a new park there. The City Council loved it! Ground breaking on Super Happy Fun Time Park will take place this summer. (CBS Sacramento)

Celebration Arts' 2022 season announcement will take place on January 22, 2022. Join them for an evening filled with spectacular performances, as well as a raffle with big prizes! You dont want to miss this! (sacculturalhub.com)

More from our sponsors  thanks for supporting local news!

Events:

Blue Eye Shadow - Award Winning Short Film - Free Screening (January 22)

Taxes In Retirement Webinar (January 25)

Add your event

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Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Thursday off right. See you all tomorrow for another update!

 Jeri Karges

About me: Jeri Karges has been living in and loving the Sacramento region for over 30 years. Her passion is finding new and unique ways to enjoy the city and surrounding areas. On weekends, you can find her pestering her friends to sample the restaurant that doesn't have silverware, or try their hand at throwing an axe. Jeri also enjoys writing about retirement planning at https://rockinretirement.subst...

This article originally appeared on the Sacramento Patch
Jan. 20AJ Bianco, considered the state's top quarterback prospect, has decided to attend the University of Nevada, the Saint Louis quarterback announced on Twitter today.

"After talking with my family and those close to me, I have decided that it is in my best interest to decommit from the University of Hawaii, " Bianco wrote on Twitter.

Bianco committed to Hawaii before the December early signing period. He did not sign with Hawaii then to keep his options open as turmoil surrounded the UH football program. Todd Graham resigned last Friday after two seasons with the Warriors.

Bianco also wrote : "Hawaii is my home and it will forever be my home but I believe that the University of Nevada presents me with the best opportunity to succeed both in the classroom and on the field. Therefore, I will be committing to the University of Nevada. #GoPack."
Melanie Allen

FREMONT  Sandusky County Department of Job and Family Services announced Sandusky, Seneca and Wyandot counties are welcoming the arrival of the Tiered Treatment Foster Home program.

The tri-county program builds on collaborative efforts with the Mental Health & Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Ottawa, Sandusky & Wyandot counties, according to a news release.

The goal of the program is for youth requiring out-of-home care to remain in or near their community in a more specialized setting.

The program will be led by Jenni Zaika, the program lead for all three counties.

Zaika will work with licensed family foster homes to begin the process of upgrading to therapeutic homes and recruit new treatment homes.

She will work closely with local families and the children to bring about therapeutic care for children who are often placed out of county, and sometimes out of state.

Wordle struggles: 3 tips to mastering the viral word game

Help for youth with history of bad behavior, substance abuse, mental health issues

Melanie Allen, director of Sandusky County Job and Family Services, said in an email that many of the children who could benefit from a treatment home will have a history of issues such as substance use and destructive behaviors.

They may also struggle in school with attendance, behaviors and grades, Allen said.

She said those children also could have various mental health diagnoses, including depression, PTSD, conduct disorder and mood disorders.

Allen said the mental health board will assist with Crisis Intervention Training (40 hours) which will help caregivers learn specifics of mental health crisis de-escalation and about mental health medications.

Caregivers will need to attend training in trauma-informed care, in addition to training on behavior management.

The three counties have been working on this project, the approval of the treatment policy, and recruiting for the new position for nearly a year.

Addiction awareness: Webber taking cross country trip to raise awareness about addiction, mental health

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A project a year in the making

Allen said the treatment program and the related policies are shared among all three counties and the program was approved by the state in October.

She said the position's salary and any needs to operate the treatment program are split among the counties along with assistance from the mental health board to start the program.

There are 15 family foster homes in Sandusky County and 31 children in foster care.

Allen said, typically, half of the children in care will be maintained in traditional family care.

However, the rest of the children have higher needs and are placed in congregate care settings, like group homes and residential facilities with hired staff.

"Typically these teens are demonstrating behavioral and mental health issues beyond the scope and ability of a traditional family. However, a well-trained caregiver with the time and patience could positively impact the futures of our older foster teens in care," Allen said.

Allen said the number of children in foster care has remained steady and stable over the past few years without any noticeable jump one way or another.

"We remain diligent at locating family members as placement options so foster care is a last resort," she said.

Anyone interested in more information about what treatment foster care is or how to become licensed may reach out to Zalka at Jenni.Zaika2@jfs.ohio.gov.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter: @DanielCarson7

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Sandusky, Seneca, Wyandot counties combine for new foster home program
By Elaine Lies and David Brunnstrom

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The leaders of the United States and Japan will contend with China's growing might, North Korea's missiles and Russia's aims in Ukraine when they hold their first substantial talks since Fumio Kishida became Japanese prime minister in October.

The online meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Kishida, scheduled for Friday Washington time, will build on this month's so-called "two-plus-two" discussions when their defense and foreign ministers pledged to work together against efforts to destabilize the Indo-Pacific region.

Alarm over China's growing assertiveness, tensions over Taiwan, and shared concern over Ukraine have raised Japan's global profile on security matters, while North Korea has ramped up tensions with an unusually rapid series of missile tests.

Pyongyang, which fired tactical guided missiles this week in its latest of a series of tests, warned on Thursday it might rethink a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his Japanese counterpart Akiba Takeo set the agenda on Thursday when they spoke about their respective approaches to North Korea, China and economic issues in the Indo-Pacific, the White House said.

"Sullivan underscored concern about the possibility of further Russian aggression in Ukraine, and the two concurred on the importance of solidarity in signaling to Moscow the strong, united response that would result from any attack," a White House statement said.

The White House has said the leaders will discuss economic and security matters, emerging technology, cybersecurity, climate change and other bilateral issues.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday the aim was "to further strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance" and ensure "a free and open Indo-Pacific" - language used to describe U.S. efforts to push back against China.

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The talks follow other security-related meetings involving Indo-Pacific leaders - two-plus-two talks between Japan and France on Thursday and between Australian and British foreign and defense ministers on Friday.

Japan's defense minister said after the talks with France that the security situation in the Indo-Pacific was unstable and "getting tougher."

Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia under former President Barack Obama and now with Asia Society Policy Institute, a think tank, said the two-plus-two meeting showed Washington and Tokyo were on the same wavelength.

"We should expect their discussion to focus on practical measures to deter and defend against destabilizing behavior, whether from North Korea or in hot spots like the Taiwan Strait and the South and East China Seas," he said.

China has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan, which it claims as its own.

Messaging on China becomes all the more important as Biden and Kishida both face elections this year, for Japan's upper house of parliament in July and U.S. midterm congressional elections in November.

"As the election approaches, I think Kishida will be called upon to show a resolute stance against China, and the United States is in the same position," said Airo Hino of Tokyo's Waseda University.

Both nations are reviewing their security strategy, with details expected to be unveiled later this year. Japan has approved record defense spending for 2022.

Japan will be looking at not just strategy but also its defense programs, including procurement, its Washington ambassador, Koji Tomita, told the Brookings Institution think tank on Tuesday.

"The new review will have a much sharper focus on what's happening in the Asia-Pacific region. And I think the picture we are having in this region is increasingly troubling."

Japan will beef up its defenses of islands near Taiwan, Kishida said this week, following a promise in October to revise security strategy so as to consider "all options, including possession of so-called enemy-strike capabilities."

(Writing by Elaine Lies and David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Editing by David Dolan, Clarence Fernandez and Howard Goller)
Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young attend the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED in Los Angeles, California (Getty Images)

Heather Rae Young has given her followers an update on her fertility journey as she looks to freeze her eggs.

The Selling Sunset star, who started documenting the process just before the new year, took to her Instagram account on Wednesday after a visit to her doctor, saying it was great news.

We are officially home from egg retrieval and got great news from my Doctor, she said in a video shared on IGTV.

Initially Tarek and I thought we were only going to get two eggs [from] this retrieval but we ended up with seven eggs, six ended up being good.

While Young acknowledged that there are no guarantees, she said that she is trying to maintain a positive attitude.

Ive had a few low moments throughout this journey but Ive tried to stay as positive as possible, she said.

And it shows that the body is incredible and can do wonders. Going into this having sad moments that my body wasnt creating enough healthy follicles and to come out of this with great news!

The update follows news earlier this year when Young said it wasnt clear whether or not she would be able to extract any eggs.

So I do have follicles that are growing  I have a total of five, but one of them looks like it's not going to be mature enough to extract. So we have two that are strong, one that is still growing, and another one that is still growing, so I have four that are looking decent, the 34-year-old said in a previous post.

Not the best number, so I'm going to talk to my doctor a little later and see if it's even worth extracting to create the embryo or if we are going to have to do another round, which, obviously it's not the most fun thing to go through, so I'm really hoping for some good news later.

Young began documenting her fertility journey in December last year where, in a TikTok video, she said that she hoped sharing the process would help some of you ladies.

She filmed the video in a fertility clinic after an ultrasound where the technician checked her follicles, which are small sacs of fluid in the ovaries that contain developing eggs.

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She told her fans: I have six on one side, and then on the other side I have a cyst. Which is fine, they just monitor it, but she could not find any follicles on that side.

If we decide to move forward, we will start the process next week to get me ready for the egg-freezing in January. Last time I did this, I got six healthy eggs. So I have six on ice right now.

The realtor married husband Tarek El Moussa in a lavish wedding near Santa Barbara, California, in October last year after more than two years of dating.

Young told People in November that she was open to having children, despite the couple previously deciding they did not want to expand their family.

El Moussa, 40, has two children from a previous marriage, 11-year-old daughter Taylor and six-year-old Brayden. Young refers to herself as the childrens bonus mom, but admitted she might regret not having a child with El Moussa.

In the TikTok video, she spoke about getting blood tests to determine her egg count and check her progesterone levels to see where my levels are at.

Young added that she previously had low fertility and low egg count. In the caption of her video, she wrote: Going to be sharing my fertility process on ig [sic], hope this can help some of you ladies.

Before Thanksgiving, the couple told E! News that they were practicing having babies until they make their final decision.

Young said: Were going to freeze embryos first, go from there and then see what happens.

Were raising two kids. Im already a mommy. So Im Like, well, why not have just one more? she added on the Daily Pop chat show.

It comes after Youngs co-star, Maya Vanders, revealed she had a stillbirth at 38 weeks into her third pregnancy in December.

Vanders shared the devastating news on Instagram and told fans she had gone through the hardest day of my life following what was supposed to be a weekly checkup.

Instead of delivering a baby, I get to go home with a memory box I do not wish this on anyone. What was a regular weekly checkup turned into a nightmare that I never imagined will happen to me [sic], she wrote.
You are here: China

Chinese police seized 27 tonnes of illicit drugs in anti-drug operations in 2021, said an official with the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) Wednesday.

At a press conference, Liang Yun, head of the MPS' anti-narcotics bureau, also said that about 54,000 criminal cases involving drugs were solved in the year, and 77,000 suspects were apprehended.

China's war on drugs continued to progress steadily, noted Liang, adding that the number of drug-related criminal cases and the number of illicit drugs seized have been on the decline for consecutive years.

Both numbers are lower than figures in 2020 when more than 55 tonnes of drugs were seized and 64,000 drug-related cases solved.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer alongside fellow Democrats during a press conference regarding Democrats' voting-rights push. AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades

The Senate voted down a one-time change to the filibuster that was meant to pass a voting bill.

Two Democrats and the whole GOP rejected the move requiring a talking filibuster to block the bill.

The lack of a filibuster change marks the death of Democrats' voting-rights agenda for now.

The Senate voted against a one-time change to the chamber's filibuster rules late Wednesday night, with two key Democrats striking the final nail in the coffin for their party's efforts to pass their signature voting-rights package.

All 50 Senate Republicans and Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona voted against a proposal brought by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to require Republicans to maintain a talking filibuster to block the passage of the voting-rights bill.

Previously on Wednesday, all 50 Republicans had also blocked a motion to invoke cloture, or end debate, on the bill, which required a 60-vote majority to advance.

The vote is a major setback for President Joe Biden's domestic agenda and for congressional Democrats, who failed to unify their caucus to pass legislation that top Democrats, including Biden, cast as imperative to save American democracy from GOP-led attacks on voting rights and fair elections at the state level. Congressional Republicans argued this bill represented a brazen partisan power grabs by Democrats and usurped the powers of states to run elections.

After Manchin and Sinema threw cold water on other proposals, like carving out a filibuster exception for all voting-rights legislation, Schumer settled on the one-time return to the talking filibuster just for the voting bill.

A talking filibuster would require one or more senators to speak continuously on the Senate floor to block legislation, making it more difficult to successfully block a bill while also potentially stalling all other work before the chamber.

Talking filibusters, like the kind portrayed in the 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," have been far less common since changes to Senate procedure in the 1970s that allowed the chamber to work on multiple bills at once.

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"We feel very simply: On something as important as voting rights, if Senate Republicans are going to oppose it, they should not be allowed to sit in their office," Schumer said in a Tuesday-evening press conference. "They've got to come down on the floor and defend their opposition to voting rights, the wellspring of our democracy."

"Once members of the minority party have exhausted all of their speaking rights and defended their position on the Senate floor," he added, "the debate will have run its course and the Senate will move to vote on final passage at a majority threshold, which has always been the threshold for final passage."

Normally, changes to the Senate rules require a two-thirds majority to pass. But under the chamber's procedure, Senate leaders can invoke the so-called nuclear option to change the filibuster with a simple majority. The nuclear moniker derives from those who view it as an extreme workaround on Senate rules.

The Senate, under Majority Leader Harry Reid, invoked the nuclear option in 2013 to lower the cloture threshold to a simple majority to confirm nominees to the executive branch and federal courts. Sen. Mitch McConnell, then the majority leader, did so again in 2017 for Supreme Court nominees.

Manchin and Sinema, however, have consistently opposed lowering the threshold to end debate on most legislation below 60 votes; in the past week, both reiterated their opposition to weakening the filibuster. Manchin also opposes changing to filibuster rules along party lines via the nuclear option.

The West Virginia Democrat is the only sitting senator who voted against lowering the 60-vote threshold with the nuclear option in 2013, when Democrats controlled the chamber, and again in 2017, when Republicans controlled the chamber.

"The Senate's greatest rule is the one that's unwritten," Manchin said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "This is an unwritten rule, and it's the greatest one we have: It's the rule of self-restraint, which have very little of anymore. The rule will be broken along with the cloture rule if the nuclear option is executed, and to that I cannot be a party."

And before Biden paid a special visit to Senate Democrats' closed-door caucus meeting last Thursday to lobby for voting rights and filibuster changes, Sinema upstaged him by taking to the Senate floor to again restate her support for maintaining the 60-vote cloture threshold.

"These bills help treat the symptoms of the disease, but they do not fully address the disease itself," she said of the voting-rights measures. "And while I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country."

Sinema's colleague from Arizona, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who is facing reelection in 2022, voted in favor of Schumer's one-time filibuster change.

"As an astronaut and combat veteran, I can tell you that if NASA or the Navy functioned like the United States Senate, we would never get the rocket off the launchpad and in combat we'd never complete the mission," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
William Christopher Little

A man scheduled to be sentenced for first-degree manslaughter had his court date cancelled because he was infected with COVID-19.

William Christopher Little, 33, was scheduled to be sentenced at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Aug. 21, 2020 death of Roseanne Eagle Road

Judge Bradley Zell confirmed to the Argus Leader via email that Little, who is housed at the Minnehaha County Jail, could not attend his sentencing hearing because he contracted the disease.

More Argus911: 13 cases of vehicles with broken windows reported in Sioux Falls, police say.

Instead of having Little attend his sentencing via Zoom, it was decided the hearing would be rescheduled. A new date has not been set.

The Minnehaha State Attorney's office will be contacting family of the victim before deciding on a new date for Little's sentencing.

Why was Little scheduled to be in court?

Little pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter Oct. 26 and had the first- and second-degree murder charge against him dropped, according to court documents.

The charges stemmed from an incident that happened at about 10:45 p.m. at Russell Street and Kiwanis Avenue. The Sioux Falls Police Department were called out for a woman bleeding and yelling for help.

The woman died at the entrance to the Food-N-Fuel gas station from at least one stab wound to her chest, according to court documents.

The Monday after the incident, Lt. Terrance Matia said Little stabbed Eagle Road in a vehicle after a dispute over narcotics.

The two planned to buy drugs with two other witnesses that Friday night, according to court documents. After Eagle Road purchased the drugs in a room at the nearby Motel 6, she returned to the vehicle and said the drugs "tasted odd."

One witness told police that Little thought Eagle Road had cheated her share of drugs, and stabbed her, according to prior reporting by the Argus Leader.

Little was scheduled for a jury trial starting Nov. 1, but had a change of plea hearing on Oct. 26, according to court documents.

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The first-degree manslaughter charge can be sentenced by a life imprisonment, but by taking a plea deal Little will most likely be given a shorter sentence, thus making him available for parole.

Got a story idea from your community? Email reporter Alfonzo Galvan at agalvan@argusleader.com or follow him on Twitter @GalvanReports.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: End to 2020 manslaughter case delayed by COVID, Minnehaha judge says
Jan. 19This week the Buzz is moving, watching trees for telltale signs and taking in Maine's national vegan ranking.

First up: It's a new home for the Somali Bantu Community Association.

When the group best known for its farming initiatives moved into its current space on Pierce Street in October 2015, it had one employee, Executive Director Muhidin Libiah.

It's up to eight employees now and a new building at 222 Pine St. will offer three times the room.

"There's a lot of possibilities," Libiah said Tuesday. "We have programs that we've been dreaming of doing that we can right now do in the extra space."

He envisions restarting a summer camp program along with creating a community center for people to drop-in and connect or get assistance with paperwork or resource referrals.

In the winter, "they can't sit in Kennedy Park and talk, so we're going to try to create a winter Kennedy Park for the elders and community members," Libiah said.

The sale was brokered by Renee Roy from Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate/The Masiello Group and Noah Stebbins at The Boulos Company and closed Friday.

Renovations have already started and Libiah is hoping to move in in mid-February.

"I usually don't get excited real quickly, but Friday when we closed, I got excited and I brought in a lot of my co-workers, my people, the community members to help the contractor to remove the old carpet," he said.

Maine maple syrup production was down an estimated 16% last year, according to figures released this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2021 crop production summary.

In Maine, that meant 495,000 gallons versus 2020's 590,000.

By comparison, production was down 21% in Vermont, the country's maple syrup leader, with 1.5 million gallons in 2021.

Ed Jillson wasn't too surprised by the numbers.

"It's all about the weather," said Jillson of Jillson's Farm & Sugarhouse in Sabattus. "If you can get 15 days of freezing and thawing, you get a good season. Last year, we had eight or nine or 10."

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Key is to be looking for all the signs starting in February.

"You might think you know it, and you tap them, and (the sap) might not run for three weeks," he said. "It's a hard thing to know  the idea is to be ready when it happens."

He'll tap about 3,000 trees this season and start stringing tubing soon.

Totalshape.com this month jogged the number of Google searches for vegan restaurants, actual number of vegan restaurants, vegan group Meetups and number of animal welfare groups to rank the states by its own vegan friendly index.

Maine ranked No. 33.

Nevada came in at No. 1, North Dakota at No. 50.

Feel like adding more vegetables and grains to your diet? Perfect timing. According to that same USDA report, Maine harvested 30,000 acres of corn last year, 19,000 acres of oats, 10,000 acres of barley, and 53,300 acres of potatoes.
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain has sent warships to join NATO naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as tension in the region rises over the Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Thursday.

A mine-sweeper is already en route and a frigate will sail within three or four days, Robles told reporters. The Madrid government is also considering sending fighter jets to Bulgaria, she said.

"Russia cannot tell any country what to do, so NATO will protect and defend the sovereignty of any country that can or wants to join NATO," she said.

Spain's preference was for an "exclusively diplomatic response" to resolving the conflict, she added.

The Spanish contribution to the NATO military deployment in eastern Europe comes after Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed a coordinated response to the threat to Ukraine from Russia at a meeting in Washington on Tuesday.

Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops on its borders with Ukraine and Western states fear Moscow is planning a new assault on a country it invaded in 2014.

The Kremlin denies it is planning an attack but says it could take unspecified military action if a list of demands are not met, including a promise from NATO never to admit Ukraine as a member.

Western officials, diplomats and former officials told Reuters this week https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-nato/analysis-russian-troop-build-up-sparks-unintended-nato-renewal-idUSKBN2JU11A that NATO - created in 1949 to deter the Soviet threat - was obliged to consider reinforcements that go against Putin's demand that the alliance must not expand further eastwards.

Denmark said it was sending a frigate to the Baltic Sea this week and French President Emmanuel Macron has offered to send troops to Romania. Further troop decisions could be made as early as a NATO summit in Madrid in June, diplomats and officials said.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Aislinn Laing and Angus MacSwan)
Lee becomes only the 36th director to receive this honor in the 86-year-history of the DGA.

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) have announced that Spike Lee will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2022 DGA Awards. The DGAs President Lesli Linka Glatter stated on Wednesday that the Brooklyn-born filmmaker will receive the award for his distinguished achievement in motion picture direction.

Icon. Trailblazer. Visionary. Spike Lee has changed the face of cinema, and there is no single word that encapsulates his significance to the craft of directing, Glatter said in a statement.

From his groundbreaking Do the Right Thing, BlacKkKlansman, and everything in-between to his signature double dolly shot, Spike is an innovator on so many levels. His bold and passionate storytelling over the past three decades has masterfully entertained, as it held a stark mirror to our society and culture.

Spike Lee attends The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on September 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Lee began distinguishing himself as a singular director with his iconic independent 1986 film, Shes Gotta Have It. From there, the Academy Award winner brought his unique eye, skill, and sense of storytelling to the history of American cinema.

Films like School Daze, his 1989 Oscar-nominated breakthrough film, Do The Right Thing, Mo Betta Blues, and Jungle Fever, all captured Lees idiosyncratic ability to call out the social inequity of Black Americans, while also displaying a mastery of developing memorable and dynamic characters.

Lees dedication to using his platform to expose social issues, both directly and indirectly, in films like He Got Game, Get On The Bus, and Bamboozled, led the DGA to honor him back in 2002 for his distinguished contributions to our nations culture in support of filmmaking.

Spike Lee, winner of Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman, attends the 91st Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball at Hollywood and Highland on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

His 1992 biopic, Malcolm X, as well as his 2006 suspense drama Inside Man, illustrated that while he was able to pull off an epic film with large scope and distribution, he never lost his independent spirit.

Glatter continued by saying that although Lee is no stranger to huge commercial success, he is also the beating heart of the independent film. Even as countless filmmakers call Spike their mentor and inspiration, he continues to devote his time to teaching future generations how to make their mark. We are thrilled to present Spike with the DGAs highest honor.

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Lee becomes only the 36th and the first Black recipient of The DGAs Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction in the organizations 86 year history.

The most recent honoree was Ridley Scott in 2017. Past winners also include Alfred Hitchcock (1968), Orson Welles (1984), Steven Spielberg (2000), Martin Scorsese (2003), and Milos Forman (2013).

Lee will receive his honor at the 74th annual DGA Awards, taking place on Saturday, March 12.

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The post Spike Lee to receive lifetime achievement honor at DGA Awards appeared first on TheGrio.
BIRMINGHAM, MI  Starbucks will no longer require COVID-19 vaccinations of its 228,000 workers at 9,000 U.S. coffee shops, including those in Birmingham.

Starbucks is one of the first big companies to change vaccination policies after the U.S. Supreme Court quashed a vaccine mandate that would have affected about 84 million workers, or about half of the U.S. labor force. Had the mandate been allowed to stand, workers would have had to either get fully vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

The courts Jan.13 6-3 ruling came as the omicron coronavirus variant was driving a surge in COVID-19 infections. Nothing in the Supreme Court ruling, which allows the Biden administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most U.S. health care workers, requires companies with 100 or more employees to ease vaccination requirements.

Although big businesses in Michigan do not need to require workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to regular weekly testing after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed a federal mandate requiring them to do so, some businesses, including Carhartt kept its COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.

The large employer federal mandate would have effected an estimated two million Michigan workers. However, in a separate court ruling, the court allowed the vaccine mandate to stand in health care systems, and said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was within its authority to set the requirements, since "vaccination requirements are a common feature of the provision of healthcare in America."

The new Starbucks vaccination policy, first reported by The Associated Press, was announced in a memo to employees Tuesday.



Amtrak temporarily suspended its vaccine mandate in December, before the Supreme Court ruling. In a memo to employees seen by Reuters, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said nearly 96 percent of its employees were either fully vaccination or had received an accommodation for religious or medical reasons.

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More big businesses operating in Birmingham could follow suit as the coronavirus surge worsens the countrys labor shortage. A record 8.8 million people called out sick with COVID-19 between Dec. 29-Jan. 10, according to data reported by The Washington Post.

Retail establishments and their advocates have been vocal critics of the now-blocked requirement, arguing theyre already struggling to find enough workers as the coronavirus pandemic persists. Millions of Americans have quit their jobs since the pandemic began in whats being called The Great Resignation.

Brett Coburn, a lawyer at Atlanta-based Alston & Bird, told The New York Times a lot of companies were pursuing the vaccine or test requirement only because they were being required to do so.

The AP reported Boston-based General Electric Co. got rid of its vaccine mandate last week after the court ruled, according to IEU-CWA Local 201, the union representing machinists, electricians and other GE employees. Overall, GE has 56,000 U.S. workers.

Not all big businesses plan to follow the lead of Starbucks and GE, though. New York-based Citigroup Inc., one of the largest banks in the U.S., in October said its workers needed to be fully vaccinated or receive an accommodation by Jan. 14. Citigroup told the AP that 99 percent of its employees are now fully vaccinated.

Its up to employers to navigate state and local laws in the absence of a federal mandate. More than a dozen states prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates of any kind, CNBC reported.

"For most employers, it has proved to be a day-to-day crisis because when they think they know the answer, the rules change," Domenique Camacho Moran, a labor and employment lawyer with the firm Farrell Fritz, told The New York Times.

This article originally appeared on the Birmingham Patch
SEATTLE  Starbucks will no longer require COVID-19 vaccinations for 228,000 workers at its 9,000 U.S. coffee shops.

Starbucks is one of the first major companies to change vaccination policies after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a vaccine mandate that would have affected about 84 million workers, or about half of the U.S. labor force. Had the mandate succeeded, workers would have had to either get fully vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling came as the omicron coronavirus variant drives a record-breaking surge in COVID-19 infections. Under the Jan. 13 ruling, the Biden administration can require vaccines for most U.S. health care workers, but the court removed a stipulation that would've mandated vaccination in companies with 100 or more employees. Washington state had already mandated vaccination for health care workers.

The new Starbucks vaccination policy, first reported by The Associated Press, was announced in a memo to employees Tuesday.

Amtrak temporarily suspended its vaccine mandate in December, before the Supreme Court ruling. In a memo to employees seen by Reuters, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said nearly 96 percent of its employees were either fully vaccination or had received accommodations for religious or medical reasons.

More big businesses operating in Washington could follow suit as the coronavirus surge worsens the countrys labor shortage. A record 8.8 million people called out sick with COVID-19 between Dec. 29-Jan. 10, according to The Washington Post.

Retail establishments and their advocates have been vocal critics of the now-blocked requirement, arguing theyre already struggling to find enough workers as the coronavirus pandemic persists. Brett Coburn, a lawyer at Atlanta-based Alston & Bird, told The New York Times a lot of companies were pursuing the vaccine or test requirement only because they were being required to do so.

The AP reported Boston-based General Electric Co. got rid of its vaccine mandate last week after the court ruled, according to IEU-CWA Local 201, the union representing machinists, electricians and other GE employees. Overall, GE has 56,000 U.S. workers.

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Not all big businesses plan to follow the lead of Starbucks and GE, though. New York-based Citigroup Inc., one of the largest banks in the U.S., in October said its workers needed to be fully vaccinated or receive an accommodation by Jan. 14. Citigroup told the AP that 99 percent of its employees are now fully vaccinated.

In Washington, school staff, state employees and several other groups are required to vaccinate, but the impact of those mandates on the workforce has been minimal.

Its up to employers to navigate state and local laws in the absence of a federal mandate. More than a dozen states prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates of any kind, CNBC reported.

For most employers, it has proved to be a day-to-day crisis because when they think they know the answer, the rules change, Domenique Camacho Moran, a labor and employment lawyer with the firm Farrell Fritz, told The New York Times.





This article originally appeared on the Seattle Patch
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to King of Tonga Tupou VI over the grave disaster caused by the recent volcanic eruption in the South Pacific island country.

In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn about the volcanic eruption and the resulting tsunami and other grave disasters, which have caused heavy losses.

Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in his own name, extended sincere sympathies to the Tongan government and people.

China and Tonga are comprehensive strategic partners who support and help each other, Xi said, adding that China stands ready to provide as much support as its capacity allows for Tonga to help the Tongan people prevail over the disasters and rebuild their homes.

Also on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message of sympathy to Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni.
Jan. 19A state board has ruled that Brunswick city officials violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act during a closed session in August.

The Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board, part of the state Attorney General's office and the body tasked with enforcing the Open Meetings Act, ruled the city violated multiple parts of the law, including failing to provide an accurate list of all individuals present during the closed session.

"While the same procedures and processes were followed for this meeting that have been followed by the city for all other closed meetings for many years, we understand the board's findings and interpretations, and will immediately make necessary adjustments to our process and procedures going forward," Mayor Nathan Brown said in a prepared statement during the city's Jan. 11 meeting.

Because the Compliance Board's opinion is advisory only, according to county attorneys, the city was just required to acknowledge and provide a summary of the opinion at the next meeting, which came Jan. 11.

Minutes from the Aug. 17 meeting state that the city met to "discuss a potential business locating in Brunswick," and a list of those present included Brown, the six members of the City Council and a number of county staff, though there's no mention that personnel from the business in question were present too.

Brown said in an interview Wednesday the city omitted individual names to conceal the identity of the business, but state law requires governing bodies to publish at least a generic description of who else was there, like "representatives of the subject business."

The mayor declined to say how many people aside from city staff were present or what businesses they represented.

"The city had been diligently working with a business about the potential of locating in Brunswick," Brown said during the city's Jan. 11 meeting. "We were working towards beginning the public discussions and process. We regret that due to issues with this business and other government agencies (beyond the city of Brunswick), all discussions have now ceased."

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The Compliance Board also found in its opinion, published Jan. 5, that the city failed to adequately notify the public that it would meet openly before entering into closed session and didn't provide the public an opportunity to object to the closure.

A post on the city's official Facebook page from Aug. 16 stated that the mayor and City Council would hold a closed session the following day to "discuss a proposal for a business to locate in the city in accordance with the Maryland Open Meetings Act." But the post didn't mention that the city would first meet openly, which the Open Meetings Act requires.

Lastly, the Compliance Board ruled the city failed to properly cite the statute that allowed for the closed session. In its minutes from the Aug. 17 meeting, the city cited a statute that had been repealed and was no longer in effect.

One day before the city's closed session meeting, the Frederick County Council held the first of a pair of closed meetings. In a similar ruling in December, the Compliance Board found the County Council had violated the Open Meetings Act in each of its closed meetings.

Based on the County Council's minutes, which unlike minutes from Brunswick's meeting included a full list of attendees, there were 13 people at the meeting who didn't appear to be part of county government.

A Google search showed that at least six of the names  Michael Punke, Tony Burkart, Becky Ford, Garrett Jansma, Keith Klein and Matt Mincieli  match LinkedIn accounts of officials with Amazon in such departments as economic development, real estate acquisition and development, environmental policy and public policy.

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter: @jckhogan
Don Smiley, president and chief executive of Milwaukee World Festival Inc.

The pandemic shut down Summerfest in 2020 but the Big Gig's boss still pulled down a good wage.

Don Smiley's total compensation package hit $1.292 million, according to the latest federal tax filing from Milwaukee World Festival Inc.

More than half of the compensation wasn't paid out to Smiley immediately, though, under terms of Smiley's employment agreement.

Smiley is president and chief executive of the organization that oversees Summerfest. His compensation package is ultimately approved by the organization's 25-member board.

Smiley's total payout in 2020 included $414,644 in salary, a $109,454 bonus, $26,635 in other nontaxable benefits like health coverage and $17,932 in fringe benefits that include membership fees for two clubs.

The largest figure was $723,403 in retirement and other deferred compensation.

Under Smiley's contract, the board sets aside about $300,000 annually for its CEO with the money invested in the stock market. The organization pays out the sum at the end of five years.

Smiley would lose this deferred compensation if he didn't meet benchmarks or quit before the end of the period.

The current five-year period ended Dec. 31, with Smiley due to receive the payout early this year.

"The board originally entered into the deferred compensation program as a mechanism to retain Don as a CEO," said Howard Sosoff, who chairs the board. "His performance was strong. The board was happy with what he was doing."

Smiley, hired as CEO in 2004, has overseen the massive rebuilding of the Summerfest stages, including the overhaul of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater that was completed during the pandemic.

The festival's momentum was stopped in 2020, when the pandemic forced Summerfest's first cancellation.

As a result, Milwaukee World Festival's revenue dropped from more than $55.5 million in 2019 to $6.1 million in 2020, according to the organization's audited financial report. Summerfest paid the City of Milwaukee more than $2 million rent during 2020.

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Summerfest officials said they laid off eight full-time staffers, as well. Five of the positions have since been filled with another soon to be added.

The organization was able to land a $10 million federal grant under COVID-19 relief. And in 2021, Summerfest was back up and running.

Sosoff defended Smiley's pay.

"I don't think everybody understands the magnitude of this organization," Sosoff said, pointing out that it takes all year to organize Summerfest as well as handle other events, including ethnic festivals.

Sosoff said the organization and Smiley are negotiating a new employment contract.

Smiley's compensation  first reported by Urban Milwaukee  drew harsh criticism from two members of Milwaukee's Common Council.

"What's the justification for these kinds of increases or even continuations given the pandemic and an organization that basically shut down," said Milwaukee Ald. Robert Bauman.

Bauman added: "I think the focus should be on the board of directors. No CEO earns anything without approval by the board of directors."

Ald. Michael Murphy called Smiley's compensation "out-of-whack with the marketplace."

"You can get very talented people making a lot less money and not charging as much at the gate," Murphy added.

Pabst Theater Group CEO Gary Witt called for "more transparency" from Milwaukee World Festival.

"As business operators we, like everyone else, felt the pinch of the pandemic," Witt said in a statement. "During this time, we had to address ways to maintain our staff and ensure cash flow so that we could stay in business. I cant imagine the pain that the Summerfest employees who were laid off felt when they read that Mr. Smiley received a huge raise to a total of over $1.29 million in compensation, while they lost their jobs and Summerfest as an organization posted a ... deficit."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Summerfest CEO Don Smiley awarded $1.292 million compensation in 2020
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected former President Donald Trumps request to prevent congressional investigators from obtaining White House records concerning Trumps activities leading up to and during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol building.

The 8-1 decision by the justices was the latest hurdle to Trumps attempt to claim executive privilege over hundreds of pages of documents sought by the House select committee investigating Jan. 6. In November, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump did not have the authority to overrule current President Biden, who has so far chosen to waive executive privilege over the records sought by the committee. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., then affirmed that ruling in December, prompting Trump to submit an emergency request last month asking the Supreme Court to intervene.

Pro-Trump supporters at the Capitol following a rally with then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

But nearly all of the justices ruled against Trumps request on Wednesday, with only Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting.

By rejecting the ex-presidents executive privilege claims, the Supreme Court decision opens the door for the Jan. 6 committee to receive hundreds of pages of White House communications, emails, text messages and other documents that could offer a new and potentially significant roadmap to the activities of Trump and his key advisers as they attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The courts decision also could effectively moot the challenges to committee subpoenas by former Trump aides, like ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, both of whom have invoked Trumps claims of executive privilege as grounds for not turning over documents or agree to submit for questioning by the committee.

The courts terse opinion was especially surprising since only one justice, Clarence Thomas, voted to take up the case and hear the former presidents arguments on the issue. None of Trumps three appointees to the court  Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh  sided with him, although Kavanaugh issued a limited dissent stating that he did not accept a portion of a U.S. Court of Appeals opinion stating that former presidents did not have standing to invoke executive privilege if the incumbent president doesnt. But since the Court of Appeals ruled that Trumps executive privilege claims would have failed even if he was still president, the limited Kavanaugh dissent didnt matter; he concurred in the courts opinion that the documents in question should be turned over.

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Former President Donald Trump at a rally in Florence, Ariz., on Jan. 15, 2022. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., praised the Supreme Court decision in a statement Wednesday evening, calling it a victory for the rule of law and American democracy.

The Select Committee has already begun to receive records that the former President had hoped to keep hidden and we look forward to additional productions regarding this important information, read the statement from Thompson and Cheney. Our work goes forward to uncover all the facts about the violence of January 6th and its causes. We will not be deterred in our effort to get answers for the American people, make legislative recommendations to strengthen our democracy, and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again.
Jan. 20Proposals to ban members of Congress from trading stocks have divided Maine's congressional delegation, mirroring a broader debate that has created odd alliances and pitted rank-and-file members against congressional leaders.

Maine's two U.S. senators have balked so far, with Republican Susan Collins arguing current laws need to be enforced better and independent Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, saying he is reviewing current proposals. They are the only two members of the state's delegation to benefit from buying or selling individual stocks. Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree, both Democrats, back proposals to rein in stock trading by members of Congress.

Congressional stock trading became a bigger issue in recent weeks following a report from Business Insider that found that more than 50 members of Congress violated a 2012 law aiming to prevent conflicts of interest and insider trading by failing to report buying or selling stocks on time. No members of Maine's delegation were implicated.

It came on the heels of federal investigations in 2020 into the trading activities of U.S. senators shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several sold shares of companies that dropped in value when the market contracted that March or bought shares of companies that made protective gear. Authorities did not pursue charges against any members, however.

The issue prompted a range of bipartisan efforts to limit congressional stock trading. Golden was among the early backers of a bill from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, that would bar lawmakers and their top staffers from buying or selling individual stocks or serving on corporate boards. That bill also got support from lawmakers as disparate as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Matt Gaetz, R-Florida.

Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, and Chip Roy, R-Texas, put forward a different proposal that would require members to put investments in blind trusts. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, put forward a proposal this week, as did Sens. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, and Mark Kelly, D-Arizona.

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But leaders have been reluctant to take up stock trading, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, saying earlier this month that members should be able to engage in a "free market economy." She has called for strengthening enforcement of a 2012 law that bars members of Congress from using non-public information to inform their stock purchases or sales.

It is a unique example of an issue where Congress is debating a bill that would directly affect members' finances. Neither Pingree nor Golden own stocks, according to their most recent financial disclosures, while Collins and King both disclose stocks owned by their spouses.

A spokesperson for Pingree said Tuesday that she supported the bill sponsored by Spanberger and Roy. But Maine's senators have stopped short of backing any of the proposals so far.

King "believes that elected officials should take every possible step to uphold the immense faith the American public has placed in them" and was reviewing legislation on stock trades and "examining opportunities to strengthen that trust," a spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Collins noted her work on the 2012 law, saying "appropriate safeguards" to prevent members from trading stocks based on insider knowledge are "already in place and should be enforced."

The number of competing proposals could pose a challenge for lawmakers aiming to restrict trading. But Golden drafted a letter to Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, this week encouraging the pair to bring a bill to the floor, saying the emergence of multiple bills on the issue was a "sign of broad rank-and-file support."

"There is no reason that members of Congress need to be allowed to trade stocks when we should be focused on doing our jobs and serving our constituents," he wrote. "Perhaps this means some of our colleagues will miss out on lucrative investment opportunities. We don't care. We came to Congress to serve our country, not turn a quick buck."
Authorities have arrested and charged a man with a hate crime in connection with an alleged attack on a Sikh taxi driver at John F. Kennedy International Airport early this month.

The criminal complaint alleges a verbal dispute on Jan. 3 between the Sikh driver and another man, who has been identified as 21-year-old Mohamed Hassanain, escalated into a physical assault, which led to the Sikh mans turban unraveling and falling off his head.

The victim declined to be interviewed and, through, the Sikh Coalition asked to remain anonymous.

According to the complaint, a verbal dispute escalated into a physical altercation at Terminal 4.

Hassanain allegedly punched the victim in his face and body several times, called him you turban guy and told him to go back to your country, according to the criminal complaint. The victim sought treatment at a local hospital. The attack, which was recorded and posted online by multiple users, was used in the complaint by the detective and Hassanain to identify himself as the individual who punched the victim.

The victims turban, which is an integral part of the Sikh identity and is said to provide Sikhs spiritual strength, unraveled and fell off his head.

Its hard to put into words what a turban means to a Sikh, Simran Jeet Singh, senior fellow for the Sikh Coalition and executive director for the Aspen Institutes Program on Religion & Society, told NBC Asian America. Its more than just a piece of cloth, and its more than a religious article of clothing. The relationship between a Sikh and their turban is deeply personal, and thats why its so painful to see a Sikhs turban knocked off their head and fall to the ground. I know how upsetting that feels, and I hate seeing other people go through that, too.

Hassanain has been charged with assault in the third degree as a hate crime, assault in the third degree, and harassment in the second degree.

I came to the airport to pick up my girlfriend. I saw a cab driver there who cursed at me. I threw a punch and cursed at him, Hassanain told the detective who filed the police report, according to the complaint.

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Hassanains legal aid representation did not respond to NBC News request for comment.

It paints a very clear picture that bias is at least partly driving these incidents, Aasees Kaur, senior legal client manager at the Sikh Coalition, said. That makes it much more alarming because why should anybody be subjected to violence based on how they look when theyre just trying to do their job?

According to a Sikh Coalition analysis of FBI data last year, anti-Sikh hate crimes in 2020 were at their highest reported level since they were first tracked in 2015, and hate crimes in general were at their highest reported level since 2001.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams tweeted his support for the victim, saying: We are shocked and angered too.  This is an outrageous attack. We say hate has no home in New York City and were living that value.

The victim also released a statement through the Sikh Coalition.

I am thankful to law enforcement, the Sikh Coalition, and all those in the community who have offered their strength in this difficult time, he said. No one should experience what I did  but if they do, I hope they receive the same overwhelming amount of support and quick, professional action by the authorities in response.
Rutherford County Judge Donna Scott Davenport (Rutherford County)

A judge in Tennessee has announced her sudden retirement after being accused of illegally arresting and jailing more than a thousand children  even in cases where no crime was committed.

Judge Donna Scott Davenport, who has served in Rutherford Countys juvenile court since 2000, announced in a statement on Tuesday that she will step down rather than seek reelection when her current eight-year term ends in September.

The judge made no mention of the controversies swirling around her and instead claimed the court had positively affected the lives of young people and families in Rutherford County during her two-decade tenure.

After prayerful thought and talking with my family, I have decided not to run for re-election after serving more than twenty-two years on the bench, she said in the statement.

I will always look back at my time as Judge as one of the greatest honors of my life and I am so proud of what this Court has accomplished in the last two decades and how it has positively affected the lives of young people and families in Rutherford County.

I wish my successor the best and hope that this job provides them the same fulfillment it has provided me over the years.

Judge Davenports announcement is a marked turnaround as she had been seeking reelection.

Her sudden change of heart came just one day after state lawmakers filed a joint resolution to impeach the judge and remove her from the bench over allegations she illegally jailed children.

A bombshell investigation by ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio , released in October, found that the judge introduced an always arrest policy within the countys juvenile justice system, where children were routinely arrested and jailed in juvenile detention center.

Once there, Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center Director Lynn Duke introduced a filter system to determine which children should continue to be detained in the detention center before the youths then appeared before Judge Davenport.

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The judge, who is the only juvenile judge in the county, had also appointed the director to that position.

The ProPublica probe found that, under her watch, children were jailed in 48 per cent of all cases referred to juvenile court in Rutherford County.

By contrast, across the state of Tennessee, children were jailed in just 5 per cent of cases.

Many of the children impacted were also Black and, in many cases, no crime had been committed, the investigation found.

In December, a lawsuit brought by children incarcerated under the judges system was settled for around $6m.
The New Mexico Department of Health dispensed with its weekly live-streamed news conference on COVID-19 Wednesday afternoon in favor of a shorter, invitation-only video conference with journalists submitting questions in advance.

Whereas previous updates had been broadcast live on the department's Facebook page and included spontaneous questions from reporters, sometimes running for two hours or more, the department said the new format was an effort to streamline the process. The news conferences are to be recorded and posted to the Facebook page after the fact.

In keeping with the abridged format, state acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase offered a shorter presentation with three key messages: Boosters work, home tests are important and it's a good time to upgrade to a N95 or KN95 mask.

"We're at an all-time high in case counts," Scrase said in his introduction, with daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 ranging between 4,000 and 6,000 over the past week.

COVID-19 tests are given out at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, N.M. by Curative on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022.

Dona Ana County, for instance, passed 50,000 official cases and four more deaths with Wednesday's report of 5,735 new confirmed cases statewide.

In light of the shorter press updates, health department officials encouraged reporters to consult epidemiology reports posted weekly on the state's COVID-19 website, http:///cv.NMhealth.org.

The Jan. 17 variant report found there reported that the delta variant remains the dominant strain in New Mexico, with just 298 cases sequenced to omicron. However, a spokesperson for the DOH responded that the actual number was likely "much higher than is being sequenced" and that "our team feels omicron is the dominant strain."

Scrase said that as omicron spreads, it is presenting challenges for treatments that aim to keep COVID-19 patients out of New Mexico's hospital system, which has been overwhelmed with patients for months.

Federal teams had been deployed to support hospital staff at San Juan County Regional Medical Center in Farmington and at UNM Hospital in Albuquerque, he said, but more were needed as the U.S. contends with a shortage of healthcare workers.

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More: New Mexico senator seeks $60M to send masks and COVID-19 test kits to residents

Omicron has proved resistant to earlier monoclonal antibody treatments, with the exception of sotrovimab, of which supplies are tight nationwide. Meanwhile, supplies of new oral medicines that have demonstrated effectiveness against COVID-19 have begun to arrive and are being distributed to areas of greater social vulnerability, Scrase said.

A COVID-19 testing event is held at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, N.M. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022.

Data modeling suggests the wave of infections from omicron might peak by the end of the month, Scrase said, though the steady case count and record-breaking hospitalizations of Americans did not look promising.

While daily case reports have been high, Scrase repeated earlier comments that he, like federal health officials, had begun to look at hospitalization rates rather than daily cases as a measure of the public health emergency.

"We've never had a perfectly clear picture of how many cases there are," Scrase acknowledged. With increased reliance on rapid antigen tests that may be taken at home, and new state and federal programs allowing individuals to order home kits free of charge, Scrase said the state's daily case count would likely miss more positive case, prompting a shift in focus to hospitalizations and fatalities as well as education on strategies to slow community spread.

Scrase presented data on infections, hospitalizations and deaths based on vaccination status in pressing the case for everyone eligible to follow a primary vaccination course with a booster shot.

A motorist caps a sample taken for a COVID-19 test at a testing event at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, N.M. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022.

For instance, the state calculated that the case fatality rate among patients with no vaccination is 1.26 percent, but dropped below 1 percent among those who had received vaccine, and to 0.01 percent among those with boosters.

He warned, however, that small percentages can mislead people about risks, noting that large numbers of people were still being hospitalized and/or dying after contracting COVID-19.

As an example, he said if the New Mexico's case fatality rate since the beginning of the pandemic  1.6 percent  represented the amount of daily flights that crash, on a day of 40,000 flights there would be 640 crashes.

Scrase said early evidence from hospitals suggested that fewer patients infected by the omicron variant required ventilators, but was reluctant to pronounce omicron as a "milder" variant until more data were available.

The federal government officially launched a website allowing the public to order home test kits on Wednesday. Additionally, New Mexico has begun distributing free at-home tests to emergency managers across 26 counties to ZIP codes with the highest social vulnerability index, which measures socioeconomic status, household composition, minority status, housing and transportation to determine populations at risk during public health emergencies.

Cheerleaders wear masks as the NMSU Aggies face off against the UC Irvine Anteaters at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.

The state had also ordered a million KN95 and N95 masks for distribution to areas of greatest need and least supply.

Scrase said increasing supplies of at-home tests "is really going to be a game-changer," recommending PCR tests for those showing symptoms of disease while using the rapid tests when no symptoms are present. For accuracy, Scrase recommended testing twice, 36 to 48 hours apart, saying that two antigen tests were equivalent to one lab-verified PCR test.

Catching cases, especially among those without symptoms, was essential to limiting spread, he said. Catching the disease early was also important for treating cases that might lead to hospitalization if treatment is delayed.

Although the state will not be taking reports of positive test results from at-home tests, Scrase recommended New Mexicans download the NM Notify app, which allows residents to report a positive test result, triggering an alert to users of mobile phones who have been in close proximity in recent days, without identifying anyone.

He also promoted use of a N95 or KN95 mask for indoor public spaces, saying their higher-quality filtration offered improved protection for the wearer as well as others.

The state's mask mandate is in effect into February, but Scrase made no mention of it or other public health orders, emphasizing "learning to live with COVID-19  as opposed to being told how to live with it."

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico urges vaccine boosters, home COVID testing and better masks
Americas top diplomat on Thursday vowed a united response from the United States and its European partners to any possible Russian aggression against Ukraine, a day after President Joe Biden suggested there were divisions within the transatlantic alliance over how to react to a smaller-scale Russian operation.

At a news conference with his German counterpart in Berlin and later in a speech, Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to shift the focus to what he called Russias threatening actions, after Biden raised doubts about whether the United States and its European allies were in sync on how to respond to any possible Russian attack on Ukraine.

We have been very clear throughout if any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine that will be met with a swift severe united response from the United States and our allies and partners, Blinken told reporters when asked about the U.S. presidents comments.

At a White House news conference on Wednesday, Biden said he expected Russia would move against Ukraine but that there would be differences between Washington and European capitals if Moscow staged a minor incursion.

Its one thing if its a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, Biden said.

The White House later sought to clarify his remarks, saying any move to seize Ukrainian territory by force would trigger sweeping sanctions from the United States and European governments. And Biden tried to clear up the issue on Thursday, saying if any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion and would be met with a severe and coordinated economic response.

But the presidents words on Wednesday sparked immediate alarm and sharp criticism from Ukraine, Republicans in Congress and former Western diplomats.

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a tweet.

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In his speech in Berlin, Blinken pushed back against Moscows portrayal of Ukraine and NATO as threatening Russia and European security, citing Russias military buildup around Ukraines borders and its track record of military interventions in former Soviet states. He said it was Moscow that was endangering stability in Europe and the international order by claiming the right to change borders through military force.

Russia justifies its actions by claiming that Ukraine somehow poses a threat to its security. This turns reality on its head, Blinken said.

Whose troops are surrounding whom?" he asked. "Which country has claimed anothers territory through force? Which military is many times the size of the other? Which country has nuclear weapons? Ukraine isnt the aggressor here. Ukraine is just trying to survive."

It was Russia that had violated agreements that were designed to protect the sovereignty of all countries and ensure advance notice of troop movements, Blinken said. A military offensive designed to redraw Ukraines borders would shatter the rules and principles established after World War II, and send a dangerous signal to other countries that those rules no longer applied, he said.

To allow Russia to violate those principles with impunity would drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when Europe was divided with Soviet and Western spheres of influence and the world lived in fear of a catastrophic conflict between Moscow and Washington, he said.

Blinken said Russias effort to destabilize Ukraine had been relentless, and warned that a military attack would inflict an immeasurable cost in human lives.

And now Russia is poised to go even further. The human toll of renewed aggression by Russia would be by many magnitudes higher than what weve seen to date, he said.

Blinken, who is due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in Geneva, said Washington remained open to diplomacy and to work toward a mutual understanding with Moscow.

Russia is entitled to protect itself, like any country. And the United States and the countries of Europe are prepared to discuss Russias security concerns and how we can address them in a reciprocal way, he said. But Blinken added that the principles of sovereignty or territorial integrity are not negotiable.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  Tunisias moderate Islamist party has blamed the death of one of its party members who was hospitalized following protests last week on the excessive violence of the security forces.

The Ennahdha party said that Ridha Bouziane, 57, died on Wednesday after succumbing to a brain hemorrhage that they say was caused by violence meted out by police officers at a protest on Jan. 14 against the president's policies.

On July 25 last year, following nationwide anti-government protests, Saied abruptly dismissed his government and suspended parliament, taking on sweeping powers himself. Observers have since warned of democratic backsliding, while rights groups have condemned a series of extralegal arrests and the increased use of military courts against civilians.

An investigation into Bouzianes death has been opened. A statement from the prosecutors office said that while an individual who was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 14 had died, the body of the deceased bore no visible traces of violence.

At a news conference on Thursday, Abdelfatah Taghouti, a member of Ennahdhas executive board, said that the death was the latest episode in a series of attacks on rights and freedoms, highlighting the recent arrest of Ennahdha vice president and former justice minister Nourredine Bhiri.

The establishment of the dictatorship is accelerating he said. The events of Jan. 14, 2022, demonstrate the dangerousness of the situation to come.

Ennahdha spokesman Imen Khemiri, meanwhile, said that he held the authorities responsible for both Bouzianes death and attacks on protesters.

Since July 25, there has been a deviation toward the violation of rights and freedoms. The most important of which is the right to peaceful demonstration, the imprisonment of many politicians in illegal house arrests without legal or constitutional basis, and the extension of power to the executive and legislative authority The revolution and the 2014 constitution did not intend to put such powers in the hands of one individual, Khemiri said.

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The Jan. 14 protest was marked by violence and scuffles, as police fired water cannons and tear gas at a thousand-strong crowd who had defied new COVID-19 restrictions banning public gatherings to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the Tunisian revolution. Jan. 14 marks the date in 2011 when autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country.

Several protesters were arrested and videos circulating on social media appeared to show officers hitting or brutally detaining demonstrators. While he was filming one such arrest, Mathieu Galtier, a correspondent for the French daily Liberation was also beaten by police, and he had his phone and notebook confiscated. They started hitting me from all directions he told Liberation. I was on the ground, curled up in a fetal position, screaming that I was a journalist.

While the Interior Ministry has not commented on Bouzianes death, a statement from the ministry reiterated the requirement to adhere to new COVID-19 measures and said that the Jan. 14 demonstrators deliberately tried to break through the security barriers and attack the security forces stationed to maintain order and security."

Saied has justified his measures  which initially proved widely popular  by pointing to government mismanagement and the countrys deep economic and political crisis, placing part of the blame on Ennahdha, who held the majority in Parliament and have dominated Tunisias politics since the revolution.

Bouzianes death follows a call from civil society organisations for Saied to publicly apologise for the assaults committed against the demonstrators on Jan. 14 and to honor his commitments regarding rights and freedoms. Referring to unprecedented attacks by the police, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists said at a news conference on Tuesday that they had recording 20 attacks against journalists  with four of them arrested  on Jan. 14.

While Saied has not responded to the violence at the protest, he appeared to criticise the demonstrators, announcing that he would be intransigent with those who seek to harm the state or to use its devices for personal gain. Saied rarely condemns police brutality, which has persisted in Tunisia since the revolution.
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected former President Donald Trump's request to block the release of White House records sought by the Democratic-led congressional panel investigating last year's deadly attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

The decision means the documents, held by a federal agency that stores government and historical records, can be disclosed even as litigation over the matter continues in lower courts.

Trump's request to the justices came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Dec. 9 ruled that the businessman-turned-politician had no basis to challenge President Joe Biden's decision to allow the records to be handed over to the House of Representatives select committee.

Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the panel's chairman, and Republican Representative Liz Cheney, its vice chair, in a statement called the Supreme Court action "a victory for the rule of law and American democracy." The committee has already begun receiving some of the documents Trump had hoped to withhold, they added.

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump and his allies have waged an ongoing legal battle with the committee seeking to block access to documents and witnesses. Trump has sought to invoke a legal principle known as executive privilege, which protects the confidentially of some internal White House communications, a stance rejected by lower courts.

The brief Supreme Court order noted that the weighty question of whether a former president can assert an executive privilege claim did not need to be answered to resolve the case.

"Because the court of appeals concluded that President Trump's claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former president necessarily made no difference to the court's decision," the unsigned order said.

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Only one of the court's nine members, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, publicly noted disagreement with the decision.

The House committee has said it needs the records to understand any role Trump may have played in fomenting the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021. His supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden's 2020 presidential election victory over Trump.

The committee has asked the National Archives, which holds Trump's White House records, to produce visitor logs, phone records and written communications between his advisers.

Biden, who took office two weeks after the riot, has determined that the records, which belong to the executive branch, should not be subject to executive privilege and that turning them over to Congress was in the best interests of the nation. Trump has argued that he can invoke executive privilege based on the fact he was president at the time even though he is no longer in office.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Nov. 9 rejected Trump's arguments, saying he had not acknowledged the "deference owed" to Biden's determination that the committee could access the records and adding: "Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President."

The select committee is comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans. The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, but it has not always been receptive to his requests.

The court last year rejected his request to block disclosure of his tax records as part of a criminal investigation in New York and also turned away attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.

Shortly before the riot, Trump repeated to a crowd of his supporters his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, telling them to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell" to "stop the steal."

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Alexander Cornwell

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement used cruise missiles and ballistic missiles alongside drones in Monday's deadly strike on the United Arab Emirates, which intercepted part of the attack, the Gulf state's ambassador to the United States said.

It is the first time the UAE, which rarely discusses its security in public, has said missiles were used in the assault that killed three civilians in Abu Dhabi, and the first time it has claimed to have intercepted some of the weapons.

The Houthis said they fired four Quds cruise missiles at an oil refinery in Musaffah district and the airport in Abu Dhabi, a Zulfiqar ballistic missile at Dubai airport and several drones at those and other sites.

The UAE said the attack hit a fuel depot of state oil firm ADNOC in Musaffah and a construction site near Abu Dhabi airport. Abu Dhabi police said they found parts of small planes that could possibly be drones.

"Several attacks - a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones - targeted civilian sites in the UAE. Several were intercepted," Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba told an online panel hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

A person briefed on the attack, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said an under construction passenger terminal at Abu Dhabi airport was hit by missiles, injuring construction workers.

The individual said some drones crashed in desert areas in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, adding that the missiles and drones were believed to have been launched from Yemen and flew at a low altitude to avoid detection.

UAE authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen. The UAE in 2019 largely reduced its military presence but continues to support Yemeni forces, some of which recently joined battles against the Houthis in the energy-producing Shabwa and Marib regions.

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Otaiba said the UAE had "long left the Yemen war" and urged Washington to reinstate the Houthi terrorist designation, revoked by President Joe Biden's administration last February due to concerns it would exacerbate a dire humanitarian crisis.

Biden said on Wednesday the United States is considering re-designating the Houthi movement, which largely controls north Yemen after ousting the government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014.

(Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Ghaida Ghaida, Peter Graff, William Maclean)
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department dropped charges Thursday against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of concealing ties to the Chinese government, a further setback to a federal initiative that was set up to prevent economic espionage and theft by Beijing of trade secrets and academic research.

The department revealed its decision in the case against Gang Chen in a filing in federal court in Boston, saying it could no longer meet its burden of proof.

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, said the move was in the interests of justice and was the result of new information the government had received about the allegations.

After a careful assessment of this new information in the context of all the evidence, our office has concluded that we can no longer meet our burden of proof at trial, Rollins said. As prosecutors, we have an obligation in every matter we pursue to continually examine the facts while being open to receiving and uncovering new information.

The outcome, which had been expected and was earlier recommended by prosecutors in Boston, is a blow to a Justice Department effort known as the China Initiative, which was set up in 2018 to crack down on Chinese economic espionage and trade secret theft. A key prong of the initiative has focused on academics in the U.S. accused of concealing research ties to China on grant applications. But critics have long said the effort unduly targets researchers based on ethnicity and that it chills academic collaboration.

The Justice Department is currently reviewing the future of the program, a process expected to be complete in the coming weeks, said spokesperson Wyn Hornbuckle.

In a statement, Chen thanked his supporters and said he would have more to say soon.

While I am relieved that my ordeal is over, I am mindful that this terribly misguided China Initiative continues to bring unwarranted fear to the academic community and other scientists still face charges, Chen said.

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A mechanical engineering professor, Chen was arrested in January 2021 in the final days of the Trump administration and charged with concealing ties to Beijing while also collecting U.S. dollars for his nanotechnology research.

Prosecutors accused him at the time of entering into undisclosed contracts and appointments with Chinese entities, including acting as an overseas expert for the Chinese government at the request of the Peoples Republic of China Consulate Office in New York. Many of those roles were expressly intended to further the PRCs scientific and technological goals, authorities in court documents.

He was accused of failing to disclose information about connections to China in an application for an Energy Department grant. Chens lawyers have consistently said that he did nothing wrong and that he disclosed what he needed to disclose.

The case began to wobble as the government received new information, including from the Energy Department, a person familiar with the matter said last week.

In a statement Thursday, defense attorney Robert Fisher called the case a wayward prosecution and said his client was eager to return to work. He thanked the many witnesses who came forward and told the government how badly they misunderstood the details surrounding scientific and academic collaboration.

Our defense was this: Gang did not commit any of the offenses he was charged with. Full stop. He was never in a talent program. He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything he was supposed to disclose and he never lied to the government or anyone else, Fisher said in a statement.

Many of the China Initiative cases against academics and professors have centered on false statement or fraud allegations, rather than accusations of espionage or passing along academic research or technical or scientific expertise to China.

The initiative has resulted in some significant guilty pleas and convictions, and did score a high-profile win last month with the conviction of a Harvard University professor on charges that he hid his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program.

But other big cases brought as part of the China Initiative have faltered.

A federal judge in September, for instance, threw out all charges against a University of Tennessee professor accused of hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving research grants from NASA, and the university has since offered to reinstate him.

Critics of the China Initiative have called for the Justice Department to shut the program down. The department's top national security official, Matthew Olsen, met Wednesday with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, who expressed their concerns.

Andrew Lelling, who was U.S. attorney in Boston when Chen was charged, wrote in a LinkedIn post several weeks ago that the China Initiative was created in response to concerns about economic espionage involving an emerging political rival.

Now, he wrote, the initiative has drifted, and in some significant ways, lost its focus. DOJ should revamp, and shut down, parts of the program, to avoid needlessly chilling scientific and business collaborations with Chinese partners.

____

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
The Department of Justice seal is seen in Washington, D.C.





Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice asked a Boston court on Thursday to drop a case against an MIT professor accused of failing to disclose ties with China.

The DOJ said it could no longer "meet its burden of proof at trial" for the prosecution of Gang Chen, a professor and researcher at MIT, a Thursday statement reads, citing new details that informed the decision.

"Today's dismissal of the criminal charges against Gang Chen is a result of our continued investigation into this matter. Through that effort, we recently obtained additional information pertaining to the materiality of Professor Chen's alleged omissions in the context of the grant review process at issue in this case," said U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins. "After a careful assessment of this new information in the context of all the evidence, our office has concluded that we can no longer meet our burden of proof at trial."

The move was expected after The Washington Post reported last week that the case was in jeopardy.

Robert Fisher, a defense attorney for Chen, applauded the dropped charges in a statement obtained by the MIT Technology Review.

"The government finally acknowledged what we said all along: Professor Gang Chen is an innocent man," he said.

A judge will review the filing, but the move to drop charges likely spells the end of a case included in the DOJ's China Initiative, a controversial program from the department with a "strategic priority of countering Chinese national security threats" focused on investigating "and prosecuting those engaged in trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage," according to the DOJ's website.

The effort so far has resulted in dozens of cases brought against Chinese nationalists, businesspeople and academics, including a rheumatologist professor sentenced to 37 months in prison last year for his role in an "immunology research fraud scheme" and a Chinese intelligence officer who was convicted in November for attempting to steal trade secrets, according to the DOJ's webpage.

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The China Initiative, led by the DOJ's National Security Division since it was established in 2018, is under review after critics have raised concerns about the targeting of people based on their ethnicity.

The DOJ has accused Chen of being an "overseas expert" with ties to the People's Republic of China (PCR) while receiving millions of dollars of funding from the PRC since 2012.

He was charged with failing to disclose that he was an advisor for PRC entities when he applied for and received a U.S. Department of Energy grant between 2017 and 2019, the DOJ said in a press release. Chen was indicted last January on two counts of wire fraud, one count of failing to file a foreign bank account report (FBAR) and one count of making a false statement in a tax return.

Fisher said his client did not commit "any of the offenses he was charged with."

"He was never in a talent program. He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything that he was supposed to disclose and never lied to the government or anyone else," Fisher said in his statement, according to the MIT Technology Review.
Photo of the Russia embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Getty Images

The US Treasury sanctioned four Ukrainian nationals who were accused of working to "destabilize Ukraine."

The Treasury said in a press release that they engaged in "Russian government-directed influence activities."

Thursday's sanctions come as US officials warn that Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine.

The US Treasury Department on Thursday issued sanctions against four Ukrainian nationals accused of working to "destabilize" the Ukrainian government. The department said in a news release that the four sanctioned individuals "engaged in Russian government-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine."

"This is the latest action we have taken to target purveyors of Russian disinformation, including designations in April 2021," the release continued.

The four people who were sanctioned are: Taras Kozak, who currently sits in the Ukrainian Parliament; Oleh Voloshyn, who is also a member of Parliament; Volodymyr Oliynyk, a former Ukrainian official who fled the country to seek refuge in Russia; and Vladimir Sivkovich, the former deputy secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council.

Both Kozak and Voloshyn are part of the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc party that's led by the Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, "who is already subject to US sanctions for his role in undermining Ukrainian sovereignty in 2014," the Treasury said.

The department also said the four Ukrainians targeted by Thursday's sanctions acted at the direction of the FSB, Russia's primary spy agency that's also been sanctioned by the US. It went on to say that the officials "have played various roles in Russia's global influence campaign to destabilize sovereign countries in support of the Kremlin's political objectives."

Kozak runs several news channels in Ukraine that he used to spread lies about the 2020 US election, the department said, and supported the FSB's smear campaign against several members of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle.

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Voloshyn is accused of working with Russian actors to "coordinate passing on information to influence US elections at the behest of Russia." One of the people Voloshyn is alleged to have worked with is Konstantin Kilimnik, a former intelligence operative who the US designated last year as a "known Russian agent."

The Treasury said that Oliynyk worked with the FSB last year to obtain information about Ukraine's critical infrastructure. The Russian government has long targeted Ukraine's electrical and power grids and cybersecurity experts previously told Insider that Russia has spent years using Ukraine as a "cyber weapon testing ground." Oliynyk was designated on Thursday for "having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation."

Sivkovich, meanwhile, was accused of working with a "network" of Russian intelligence operatives to carry out influence operations aimed at building support for Ukraine to "officially cede" Russian-controlled Crimea "in exchange for a drawdown of Russian-backed forces" in the Donbass region where fighting continues.

Thursday's sanctions come as US officials repeatedly warn that Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine. US President Joe Biden predicted on Wednesday that Russia would "move in" on Ukraine but drew sharp backlash for discussing a US or NATO response in the event of a "minor incursion."

His comments, later clarified by the White House, also prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to issue a statement pushing back.

"We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations," Zelensky tweeted. "Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones."

Russia has gathered tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border, sparking concerns across Europe that a new conflict could be on the horizon.

The recent Russian military buildup near Ukraine marks the second time in the past year that Moscow has prompted fears of an invasion by gathering a large force near the former Soviet republic. The Kremlin claims it has no plans to invade while blaming NATO for the contentious dynamic. Meanwhile, Russia refuses to pull its troops from Ukraine's border and continues to stage provocative military exercises.

During remarks in Berlin on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was "absurd" for the Kremlin to blame NATO for the tensions and highlighted Russia's history of aggression in the region. Russia in 2014 invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It's also been supporting rebels in a war against Ukrainian forces in the Donbass region since then.

Diplomatic efforts to stave off a broader confrontation have so far been fruitless, and Russia continues to make demands for binding security guarantees that both the US and NATO have made clear are non-starters. Among other things, Russia has insisted that Ukraine and Georgia be barred from ever joining NATO, but the alliance has been adamant that its open-door policy is not up for discussion.

Blinken is in Europe this week to continue Washington's effort to resolve the conflict peacefully. He visited Kyiv on Wednesday, and after his time in Berlin on Thursday will travel to Geneva on Friday for a meeting with his Russian counterpart.

The US has warned Russia it will face severe economic consequences if it invades Ukraine.

"If any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion. Let there be no doubt if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price,'" Biden said at the White House on Thursday.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Republican candidate for Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares Virginia speaks at an event at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va., on Thursday, July 29, 2021 with Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.





Virginia will exit a multi-state coalition of attorneys general backing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) announced Wednesday night.

Miyares, who took office this past weekend, tweeted that Virginia will no longer participate in the case, West Virginia vs. EPA, arguing it could be detrimental to coal jobs in southwestern Virginia.

In the lawsuit, currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, 19 states, led by West Virginia, argued the EPA does not have the authority to enact the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP). The CPP required states to reduce emissions from electricity generation by 32 percent by 2030.

Former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) in August joined a brief from a separate coalition of 23 attorneys general backing the EPA in the case.

In a letter Wednesday, Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson confirmed the state has reversed its position on the case.

"Following the change in Administration on January 15, 2022, the Attorney General has reconsidered Virginia's position in this case. Virginia is no longer of the view that EPA's repeal of the CPP was unlawful," he wrote. "Thus, although Virginia remains a respondent pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 12, it supports the petitioners' arguments in this case."

Ferguson cited the precedent set by the Supreme Court's ruling against the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for businesses. The ruling, he wrote, established that congressional approval is needed to authorize agencies to implement policy at such a sweeping level.

After Republicans swept statewide races in Virginia's 2021 elections, newly-inaugurated Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has also taken several steps to reverse his Democratic predecessors' environmental policies.

While still governor-elect, he announced he would withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon market of East Coast states, and named former EPA head and coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as the state's Secretary of Natural Resources.

Virginia Democrats, who retained their majority in the state senate, have vowed to fight Youngkin on both fronts. They have argued that because Virginia entered the RGGI legislatively, Youngkin cannot unilaterally leave it, while also indicating they would refuse to confirm Wheeler.
Biden (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

One day, there will be an Oscar-baiting biopic called Mitch and Joe that charts the unlikely, tragicomic relationship between Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell. I imagine it as a cross between Frost/Nixon and The Fox and the Hound, mostly drawing inspiration from the latter. If you, too, had your childhood devastated by that particular slice of Disney output, youll remember that Tod the fox and Copper the hound  once best friends gamboling in the leaves  end up peer-pressured into becoming distant enemies in their adulthood, even as they privately nod to each other every so often while going about their separate lives. Its a bit of a downer, to be honest. Its one of those Disney movies where the moral of the story throws up a few questions. But as a cartoon reflection of what goes on in Congress, its pretty much perfect.

I know this because of how Biden handled a question at his first press conference of 2022 about the man we dont call Moscow Mitch. Mitch McConnell has been talking about your report card as president, he was told. What do you think that report card might look like?

Biden paused. He smiled. Mitch has been very clear, he began, and then he laughed what sounded like a genuine laugh. Hes going to do anything to prevent Biden being a success. I get on with Mitch. I like him. I actually like Mitch McConnell! But the real question is: Whats Mitch for? Whats he for? Whats he for on immigration? Whats he for in dealing with Russia? Whats he for on these things? What are they for?

The they in this aside referred to McConnells Republican party, who Biden had gently but devastatingly speared a few minutes earlier, smilingly asking: Think about this  what are Republicans for? Name me one thing theyre for.

This was clearly the pre-prepared message for the press conference, because Biden always comes prepared. Unlike Trump, he doesnt suddenly start wondering out loud whether Covid might be curable by bleach or UV light; he doesnt ramble on about voting boxes in Detroit and then cut his interviews off. One always feels that his (few) appearances in front of journalists for questions happen after hours of strategizing. Another question about whether he feels that he hasnt achieved enough during his first year in office led to the answer: One thing I havent been able to do so far is get my Republican friends [to stop blocking me]. Another led to the revelation that five Republicans privately support Bidens Democratic agenda but are too afraid of Trumps influence to vote with him (They tell me: Joe, if I do it, Im gonna be defeated in a primary.)

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And yet, and yet. Something unexpected always sneaks through when Joe gets going. And this time round, it was a psychologizing soliloquy on Vladimir Putin which revealed the extent of their conversations. Putin believes hes dealing with the most tragic thing thats ever happened to Mother Russia, Biden said. Hes trying to find his place in the world between China and the west Im not sure hes ascertained what hes going to do. Theres two things hes said to me he wants. One is Ukraine will never be a part of Nato, and two is strategic weapons will never be stationed in Ukraine I shouldnt go further. Later in the conference, he added: I suspect it matters what side of the bed [Putin] wakes up on in the morning, what hes gonna do. If he plans to invade Ukraine from the north, from Belarus, hes gonna have to wait a little bit until the grounds frozen I shouldnt go further.

Ive always been a fan of Bidens foreign policy breakdowns, because they seem to so expertly straddle the unexpected territories of United Nations bureaucracyspeak and self-help introspective talk straight out of an Esther Perel relationships book. I dont say that lightly: I believe that the presidents gentle ability to peel off the onion layers of Vladimir might be the secret to making progress with Russia. Clearly, his ability to feel sympathetic on a human level about the perspectives and contexts of others is key to that friendship with Mitch McConnell and his ilk, too. The question is whether those kinds of friendships  or indeed those kinds of understandings  are helpful in todays America.

The rest of the press conference was suffused with Bidens always surprisingly likable energy. Why are you such an optimist? he asked a reporter with a particularly doom-laden question, to a few restrained laughs. When another asked if he was willing to name those five Republican senators who support him in private, he said, Sure, laughed, and then: Are you kidding me? And when a shaky-voiced attendee from the far-right outlet Newsmax asked why Biden thought their polls showed most Americans dont think hes cognitively fit, he simply said a polite but unimpressed, I have no idea, and moved on immediately.

Almost two hours into the conference  which overran by much longer than expected  Biden wrapped up with a repeat of his line on the GOP: What is their agenda? Do they have an agenda? I wonder what a Republican platform would be I honest to God dont know what theyre for.

Most of us suspect, unfortunately, that Trumpists do have an agenda, and a sordid one at that. Biden would prefer to pretend that that isnt an agenda at all, but instead a black hole where policies should be. Hes selling himself as the person who, in contrast, has principles, who has heart, and who gets things done. But the truth is that he has managed to achieve very little in office, mainly due to his slim majority and the refusal of two senators in his own party  Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin  to get in line. If he doesnt solve that problem, he wont get much further on charm alone.
The Providence College men's basketball team will get to take the court again after COVID-19 forced the postponement of three straight games.

The missed time didn't hurt the Friars in the national polls as PC moved up two spots in the Associated Press top 25, reaching No. 21. Providence is also ranked 21st in the USA Today Coach's Poll, but dropped one spot over the past week.

PC's last game was an 83-73 home win over St. John's in Big East Conference action. Since that Jan. 8 win, games against Creighton, UConn and Seton Hall were all put on hold as a COVID-19 outbreak left several members of the Friars program in isolation.

In the win over St. John's, PC (14-2 overall, 4-1 Big East ) was led by senior center Nate Watson's double-double of 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

The rankings: Idle Providence Friars move up to No. 21 in AP poll

Georgetown (6-8, 0-3) comes into the game mired in a 4-game losing skid, most recently dropping an 88-69 decision Sunday at St. John's.

Senior Kaiden Rice led the Hoyas over the weekend with 19 points. Freshman guard Aminu Mohammed added 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Two weeks ago: Red-hot PC Friars are the top Big East team in the nation: RI college basketball news

When does Providence College basketball play Georgetown?

Tipoff is set for 5 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 20 at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence.

How to watch PC basketball vs. Georgetown Hoyas

The game will be broadcast on FS1.

How to stream the PC Friars-Georgetown game

The game can be watched via streaming at FoxSports.com.

How to listen to PC-Georgetown

The game will be broadcast on WPRO: 630 AM/99.7 FM

How to get tickets for Providence College basketball

Tickets range in price from $18 to $85 and can be purchased online.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: PC basketball: How to watch to Providence College vs. Georgetown
The White House on Wednesday sought to clarify President Joe Bidens comments about a potential Russian invasion into Ukraine, after Biden said the U.S. response would depend on the severity of Russias actions.

President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, thats a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.

The statement came less than an hour after Biden wrapped up a marathon news conference, in which he said Russia would be held accountable for invading  though he added that the U.S. response would depend on the nature of Russian President Vladimir Putins actions. National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne took to Twitter during the news conference to clarify that Biden was talking about the difference between military and non-military/para-military/cyber action by the Russians.

Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does, Biden said, when asked how he would hold Russia accountable for an invasion.

Its one thing if its a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing with the force amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.

The answer immediately drew ire from Republican lawmakers who said the president gave Putin a green light to cross the border. And during the news conference, Biden didnt do much to alter his answer when asked whether he was giving Putin permission, as long as it was a minor incursion, and whether Russia could avoid severe sanctions the U.S. has threatened.

I think we will if theres something that is  where theres Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters, et cetera. I think that changes everything, Biden said. But it depends on what he does.

White House officials have been vocal this week about their growing concerns about a looming Russian invasion. The alarmist chatter comes after last weeks talks between Russia, the U.S. and allies flamed out, doing little to divert the path toward war.


This month marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bushs landmark education legislation championed by bipartisan leaders ranging from Ted Kennedy to John Boehner. It was coherent, thoughtful and premised on a core theory as to why schools struggled: the soft bigotry of low expectations for students and insufficient attention to holding schools responsible for childrens learning.

While some good has come from NCLBs core approach  notably a clearer focus on outputs over inputs, the disaggregation of student results by race and ethnicity, and a revolution in education data  it is hard to argue that the law has lived up to its promise. Roughly one-third of students graduated ready for college or a career back then, and the same is true today. Performance on international assessments havent moved in 20 years, while recent trends on the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicate that performance is going in the wrong direction.

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Nor did NCLB put the nation on a path toward any semblance of educational equity, as achievement gaps havent shifted in two decades. Eight percent of Black 12th graders, for example, are now proficient in math  up from 6 percent back in 2005. At that rate of progress, it would take another 200 years for their performance to match that of white students, and that would assume white students performance stayed the same.

Now, as schools try to address the profound learning losses caused by the pandemic, the NCLB playbook seems wildly out of touch. Students returned to school this fall in need of real solutions to support their educational and social-emotional recovery following 18 months of profound disruption. But for many schools, the challenges of filling an unprecedented level of staffing vacancies, implementing COVID-19 precautions and managing parent politics have taken all priority. Accountability based on end-of-year grade-level assessments may well be the last thing on their mind.

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Why did NCLB fail to deliver on its promise? Some will fault political opposition, economic conditions or bad implementation as key reasons, and there is some evidence to support each of these claims. However, we believe these explanations belie a larger truth that those who wish to improve our nations system of schooling can no longer ignore:

To modify the James Carville adage: Its the model, stupid.

While NCLB shaped the foundation for the work of those looking to reform education, it left the basic century-old industrial paradigm of how schooling happens intact. Schools function, by and large, with all same-aged students learning the same material at the same time from a single teacher and textbook.

In the middle of the 19th century, this model was considered the most efficient way of supplying a factory-ready workforce that needed some assimilation and to be able to perform repetitive tasks, follow directions and apply basic numeracy and literacy skills. But from that point forward, nearly every effort at school improvement has been limited by its inherent constraints.

NCLB was only the latest of many well-intended school improvements that could not overcome the limits of the industrial paradigm of schooling. Raising academic standards can signal to teachers what they should expect, but they provide little guidance on what to do when students begin the school year multiple years behind. Good teacher training can make a big difference, but when skilled educators quit because of a fundamentally unsustainable role, its back to square one. Assessments can also be useful, but adjusting instruction to meet each students unique needs is near impossible. School choice can be a godsend for families whose children would otherwise be stuck in a low-performing school, but if the schools that are chosen are operating within the same industrial-era boundaries, differences may not be so stark.

Ironically, NCLBs focus on trying to optimize a century-old delivery model took effect during the same time that other sectors saw the internet and its related technological advancements as an opportunity to modernize the ways in which they did business. From retail to energy to media to banking, the world of 2021 bears little resemblance to what existed at the dawn of the 21st century. Even churches now livestream on Sunday mornings.

Many of these shifts were funded by commercial forces looking to leverage modern technologies to capture new segments of the marketplace. When early-stage investment was deemed too risky for private capital, public investments in research and development stepped in to fund breakthroughs such as the internet, GPS and mRNA vaccines.

NCLB did little to stoke any form of R&D investment to modernize the K-12 delivery model. In 2001, the federal government authorized $264 million to the Department of Education to support R&D  dead last among all federal agencies. That expenditure was even lower in 2020 (and still dead last). And since the vast majority of education R&D dollars have gone toward research and not development, only about $50 million in 2020 was actually aimed at building things that schools could actually use. By comparison, the makers of Snapchat spent $1.1 billion in 2020 on R&D, exploring new ways for teens to send digital photos to one another.

Why has the industrial paradigm remained steadfast? Perhaps because there isnt much effort aimed at creating any viable alternatives to it.

Beyond the lack of R&D, overcoming the limits of the paradigm was made even more difficult by the policies embedded within NCLB itself. Annual accountability for performance on grade-level-aligned exams meant everyone was on the hook for showing higher proficiency on the next years test. In response, many schools decided to hunker down and teach harder.

But when the pandemic hit, the implications of trying to improve schooling without really changing it were fully laid bare. While the general public was still able to do much of what it could do pre-pandemic  order groceries, watch movies, pay bills, stay connected to friends  schooling was reduced to teachers scrambling to bring their industrial-era classrooms online or somehow make them work in a hybrid context.

Make no mistake about it: It was optimization-only thinking at the heart of NCLB that left them in the lurch.

Parents are now onto all of this as well. Many had a front-row seat to Zoom school and didnt like what they saw. A recent survey revealed they want to see more fundamental change in how school happens. On their wish list: relevant and real-world learning, improved technology to better support instruction and greater customization to meet varied learning needs.

Related: Parents Poll: Less Than Two-Thirds Give Schools Top Grades for Handling Students Pandemic-Related Academic, Social-Emotional Needs

While some schools and districts will take bona fide steps to respond to these aspirations, many know that systemically achieving them within the constraints of the industrial paradigm is futile.

It simply cannot be, in the 21st century, that the best way for students to learn about photosynthesis, parallelograms or the Vietnam War is through the pages of a tedious textbook in the company of 28 same-aged students. Yet, these core elements of an industrial paradigm from a time long past remain an ever-present design constraint that leaves millions of students bored, stressed and unable to access a high-quality education.

Nor does the factory-inspired model seem to work especially well for educators. Before the pandemic, teacher satisfaction had reached its lowest level in two decades. Now, more than a quarter of educators want to quit. The pandemic made them more comfortable using technology, but the burden of reimagining what a classroom can look like cannot fall on their shoulders.

If our ways of education are not working for students, for teachers or for the nation, how long will we continue down this path without laying the foundation for new ways of schooling? Can we not conceive of more effective ways to educate students that are not viewed through the industrial-era prism?

The architects of NCLB were right: Expectations matter. However, policies that center exclusively on optimization around the existing model of schooling reflect just the opposite  that the century-old way of doing school is simply the best we can hope for in the 21st century.

Its not.

As policymakers look forward to more recovery investment and to future reauthorizations of the federal education law itself, they would be wise to heed the most important lesson from the last 20 years:

Our nation cannot force an educational system that leaves no child behind. It must invent one.

Jenee Henry Wood is head of learning at Transcend, a national nonprofit organization that supports communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Joel Rose is CEO of New Classrooms Innovation Partners, a national nonprofit organization focused on the development and adoption of innovative approaches to learning that personalize education for each student.

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Willamette University's public lecture event "We Need Rest" with Dr. Nicholas Grier has been moved online due to COVID-19 concerns.

Willamette University has been offering a number of events this week to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year's theme is: (Un) Rest as Resistance.

Grier will still speak at 7 p.m. Friday about the importance of rest and the systems of oppression that prevent people from resting. Those systems especially affect the marginalized and oppressed.

"Oftentimes we correlate the protests, etc. against racial injustice, hate and rhetoric as unrest and as resistance against the systemic oppression caused by the privileged communities and systems," Gordy Toyama, director of Willamette's Office of Multicultural Affairs and leader of the MLK Celebration Committee, said in an email about the celebration. "We also need to recognize that rest for BIPOC, LGBTQ+ is also a form of resistance and that other identities can help carry the load."

Meet our Mid-Valley: Julianne Jackson is bringing Black joy to every Oregon city

Grier, author of "Care for the Mental and Spiritual Health of Black Men: Hope to Keep Going," is also an associate professor at the Claremont School of Theology and a counselor at the Bishop Wellness Center.

According to the program description, the lecture will also focus on the importance of "nurturing systems and cultures that help people rest."

The lecture will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21 on Zoom at: willametteuniversity.zoom.us/s/97645473135.

The event will be recorded and available online for those unable to watch live. It will also be broadcast on KMUZ.

Dianne Lugo is a reporter at the Statesman Journal covering equity and social justice. You can reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com, 503-936-4811 or on Twitter @DianneLugo.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Willamette University's MLK celebration will move forward online
State health regulators investigators were on site Wednesday at a short-staffed Thomasville, N.C., long-term care facility where two residents died over the weekend and two more are in the hospital in critical condition.

The N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation is reviewing Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Centers compliance with applicable staffing requirements.

According to Tuesdays Thomasville Police Department report, responding officers determined there was inadequate staffing to accommodate the 98 patients of the facility at 706 Pineywood Road.

One licensed practical nurse and two certified nursing assistants were available at the time of the investigation.

Neither federal nor state law prescribe a minimum staffing ratio for nursing homes, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Officials with Principle LTC, the Kinston-based operator of Pine Ridge, have not returned requests for comment on the deaths and police investigation. Thomasville police has not commented beyond its report.

DHHS said federal and state regulations require nursing homes to have sufficient staff (particularly nurses) with the appropriate competencies and skills sets to provide nursing and related services to assure resident safety and well-being.

Staffing levels also are dictated by resident assessments and individual plans of care (that) consider the number, acuity and diagnoses of the facilitys resident population.

All nursing homes in North Carolina that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs must also comply with the federal regulations.

COVID-19 clusters

Separately, DHHS reported Wednesday that Pine Ridge has a current outbreak of 13 staff members and seven residents. That was up from eight staff members and two residents as of the Jan. 11 update. There had been no reported COVID-19 related deaths as of Tuesday.

A cluster is defined as at least five cases over a 28-day period. The state does not report when the cases were diagnosed.

A facility must be at least 28 days removed from its last new case to be taken off the list of clusters.

DHHS said there were previous outbreaks at Pine Ridge that began on July 18, 2020, and ended on Feb. 26, 2021, and began on Oct. 13, 2021, and ended on Nov. 10, 2021.

The July 2020 cluster have at its peak 99 infected residents involving nine deaths and 57 staff with no deaths. The October 2021 cluster had three staff and one resident with no deaths.

Staffing protocols

Pine Ridge has been subject of at least 16 complaints to state health regulators since January 2017.

Of those complaints, there were deficiencies cited in six  all of which were corrected following in-person inspections by DHHS-led inspections.

For example, a February 2018 recertification said long-term care facilities must have an emergency preparedness plan  utilizing an all-hazards approach  that complies with applicable local, state and federal requirements.

The DHHS report found that the requirement is not met as evidenced in that the facility failed to have an emergency preparedness plan.

The plan did not include facility- and community-based risk assessments, which included missing residents, the facilities resident population and a process that included collaboration with local, regional, state and federal officials.

The plan did not have any policy or procedures regarding the emergency plan, the provision of needs for staff and residents, evacuation, sheltering of residents and staff that remain in the facility and the transportation of medical records. ... The plan failed to have a training program.

Background

The two unidentified deceased Pine Ridge residents were found during a welfare check conducted Sunday night by Thomasville police and other local first responders and medical personnel.

The police report said the families had been notified of their deaths by staff before the police investigation began. Their bodies were sent to the autopsy center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

One resident was taken to High Point Medical Center, while the other was transported to Thomasville Medical Center.

The report said the welfare check was requested by residents, who claimed staff members had not been seen by some residents and could not be reached by phone.

Officers contacted Thomasville Fire Department and Davidson County Emergency Medical Services for assistance in conducting a door-to-door assessment of every resident that lasted until 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Obviously, the weather and road conditions contributed to the inadequate staffing issues with this facility, Capt. Brad Saintsing said in the report.

First and foremost, we want to ensure each and every resident of the facility is getting the quality of care they deserve. With these types of facilities, there is a protocol, and we want to ensure it was followed as it relates to the weather and/or emergency situations.

Gov. Roy Cooper said in response to the deaths of the Pine Ridge residents that these reports are deeply troubling and need to be investigated thoroughly.

The health and safety of patients, particularly those in long-term care facilities, are critical.

The investigation has been expanded to include the State Bureau of Investigation, Davidson County District Attorneys Office, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, and Davidson County Social Services.

According to the Principle website, it operates 56 centers involving about 7,200 beds overall in North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, offering services ranging from short-term transitional care to Alzheimers and dementia care.
The Runaway by Nick Petrie (G.P. Putnams Sons)

Long haul trucker Roy Wiley is handsome and charming, so when he stops at a gas station in dreary Coldwater, Montana, the lonely 19-year-old girl working behind the counter begs him to take her with him.

But Wiley is not what he seems. Months later, Helene Johansen finds herself pregnant and married to the murderous leader of a gang professional thieves. Terrified of him, she decides to escape.

In The Runaway, Nick Petries seventh thriller featuring Marine veteran Peter Ash, the hero discovers her standing beside a broken-down car on a rural Montana road. But as Ash helps her into his truck, Wiley and his gang show up, guns blazing. As they recapture her, Ash dives into a river, barely escaping with his life.

Helene claims that Ash was abducting her, but Wiley isnt sure he believes it. Hes also worried she might have told Ash what the gang has been up to. So he sets out to hunt Ash down.

Ash goes on the run, but those familiar with the earlier books know that he wont be running from danger for long. As his friend June, an investigative reporter, explains it, Ash cant keep his nose out of other peoples problems.

It was one of the things that kept his post-traumatic static from raging out of control, she says. It provided the periodic doses of atonement he needed to keep washing himself clean of that war. Plus his inner marine liked the adrenaline.

So as Wiley and his gang are hunting Ash, the hero, hell-bent on rescuing Helene, starts hunting them. The result is another violent, fast-paced thriller in this action-packed series.

Nevertheless, The Runaway is something of a departure from the previous books which were narrated from Ashs point of view. In this one, the story is told through Helenes eyes, too.

Gradually, we watch her transformation from a hapless victim into a fierce participant in her own rescue  and something of a dangerous character in her own right.

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of Americas Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including The Dread Line.
GRUNDY CENTER (AP)  The trial for a man charged with killing an Iowa State Patrol trooper will be moved out of Grundy County but a new location for the trial has not been determined.

Prosecutors did not resist a defense request for a change of venue for the trial of Michael Thomas Lang, 42, in the death of patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported.

During a Wednesday hearing in Grundy County District Court, argued over a defense motion to have a separate trial on the assault charge.

Judge Joel Dalrymple said he would rule on the motion at a later date.

An April hearing was set on a defense motion to suppress statements Lang made during police interviews after the standoff.
The three finalists for superintendent of Lewis Central Community School are Dr. Joel Beyenhof, Dr. Brenton Hoesing and Dr. Nicole Kooiker, the district announced Wednesday.

The board is pleased to announce the three well-qualified finalists, said Dorene Scheffel, president of the Board of Education. We look forward to getting feedback from Stakeholder Interview Committees.

Besides the District Administrator Team committee that includes others in supervisory positions, there are two interview teams, each of around 30 people that include teachers, support staff, students, parents and others who live in district and are a part of our Council Bluffs community, she said.

Beyenhof is the current principal of Lewis Central High School, a position he had held since 2012, according to a press release from search firm Grundmeyer Leader Services. His leadership of the school has included creating a vision of academic success for all students, managing the schools budget, prioritizing student achievement, leading professional development and engaging in community outreach. Previously, he was a middle school principal in the Council Bluffs Community School District.

He holds a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a masters degree in educational administration and supervision from UNO and a masters degree in curriculum and instruction from Doane College.

Hoesing is currently superintendent of Missouri Valley Community Schools, where he has focused on sound financial managements, curriculum and instructional practices, facility and technology upkeep and communication and community involvement in the schools, Grundmeyers press release stated. Previously, he served as a middle school principal, associate principal and business and technology teacher in Missouri Valley.

He holds a doctorate in education from the University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota) and a masters degree in education from Wayne State College (Nebraska).

Kooiker is currently deputy superintendent of Cedar Rapids Community School District, Iowas second-largest school district, the press release stated. There, she has worked to expand early learning opportunities by shifting to full-day programs, implementing before- and after-school programs and creating a family engagement initiative in response to parent feedback. She previously served as superintendent of Ottumwa and West Marshall Community School Districts.

She holds a doctor of education degree in educational leadership from the University of Northern Iowa and a masters in educational leadership from the University of Sioux Falls.

Kooiker was a finalist in 2019 ahead of the hire of current LC Superintendent Eric Knost.

The Board of Education has been working with Grundmeyer Leader Services to conduct the search. The process has included a community-wide survey asking district residents to provide their input on the qualities and characteristics they would like to see in the districts next leader. The board interviewed semifinalists Monday via videoconference.

The board and stakeholder interview teams will conduct final interviews with each of the three finalists on Monday, Jan. 24. The board will then discuss the candidates and reach a final decision soon after the formal interviews.

The new superintendent will begin serving Lewis Central Community Schools effective July 1, 2022.

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As I reflect on 2021 in the Council Bluffs metro, a word comes to mind: generosity. Our community showed that we know what it means to give what we can. The numbers prove it.

Giving Tuesday donations to local nonprofits increased 100% in this county. When Iowa Western Community College hosted a clean-up day during Do Good Week, more than 300 volunteers wanted to take part; Iowa Western received so much interest they needed to expand their clean up area to accommodate everyone. Throughout the year over 9,500 Iowans took time out of their busy lives to connect with local nonprofits on the SHAREomaha.org platform and consider ways to share their time, dollars and items. Our appetite for giving back is limitless.

What does this mean for whats possible in 2022? For a fresh perspective on everyday philanthropy, I asked the current Youth Leadership Council Bluffs class, facilitated by the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce, to share their thoughts on how we can think about generosity in new ways.

McKenna Rethmeier, 17, an Abraham Lincoln High School student, expressed that generosity looks like the realization that something is bigger than you and going out of your way to benefit or improve that thing.

McKenna reminded me that her generation prioritizes acceptance when considering opportunities for community improvement. We love to accept people from all cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, etc. Each and every person has a unique perspective and with the beauty of acceptance we get to see from new perspectives. Our generation is also willing to see from (other generations perspectives).

I hear McKenna saying that when we make an effort to think about the bigger picture, beyond ourselves to the impact on the collective, generosity will come naturally. What is possible in 2022 if we each take time for this reflection and give freely to support our community, even those who are different from us?

Each of the members of this years Youth Leadership Council Bluffs care about different causes. Aubrey Stark, 16, an AL student, told of her dedication to blood donation. I was finally able to donate for my first time this past October and am doing my second donation in a couple weeks. There is a massive shortage of blood in hospitals all around the United States recently. I have been volunteering at blood drives for the past three years and am now going to be donating for as long as I can to try and help people in need.

I hear Aubrey saying that when you find a cause that matters to you, generosity will easily follow. What is possible in 2022 if we each take time to learn about the vital nonprofits who are improving our community and ask how we can help?

Aubreys exuberance for giving her time and resources, even as she might experience some discomfort, is the 2022 energy we should all strive to have.

I feel that our generation is building a lot of skills to help not just ourselves, but the community of people around us. Personally, I am learning so many new things every day that help me understand people. The Council Bluffs community is becoming stronger with all the leaders that we are developing. This generation is definitely forming to create a force to be reckoned with and that is something that I am proud of, Aubrey said.

The Youth Leadership Council Bluffs program is helping to shape the next generation of leaders for our city, with new approaches to generosity and community problem-solving. Though the birth year on our drivers license may exclude us from joining this program for high schoolers, its not too late for us each to develop our own new ways to give back and create positive change.

Fourney is the marketing and communications manager for SHARE Omaha.
The Endow Iowa program began in 2003 with an aim of capturing a percentage of the states transfer of wealth to support Iowa communities now and in the future. Without question, the program has been a huge success and a model for growing community-based endowments.

Since the inception of the Endow Iowa Tax Credit program, Iowa community foundations have leveraged more than $336 million in permanent endowment fund gifts. The contributions were made through 43,564 donations. The beauty of endowment funds is that these dollars will continue to grow in perpetuity, improving lives for Iowans both now and for generations to come. Last year alone, Endow Iowa funds at Iowa community foundations granted over $20 million to nonprofits and charitable causes in the state. Endow Iowa tax credits are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to donors who make a gift to a permanent endowment fund, established for the benefit of an Iowa charitable cause, at a qualified community foundation in Iowa.

Qualified community foundations are those accredited by National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations. The program is utilized by a wide range of donors, including individuals and businesses, with a majority of donations being $1,000 or less. The program began when the state legislature made $2 million in tax credits available. Demand for the tax credits has grown each year and since 2013, $6 million has been available annually through this program. Iowa community foundations have reached a challenging point in being able to realize the programs full potential. The program is so successful that the credits are exhausted earlier and earlier each year. All 2020 credits were allocated before the end of 2019; all 2021 credits were allocated by December 2020; and all 2022 credits were allocated via a waitlist by September 2021.

As a result, all Endow Iowa tax credit applications submitted from September 2021 on will be added to the 2023 waitlist. Without legislative action, we anticipate Endow Iowa tax credit applications being added to the 2024 waitlist as early as the first quarter of 2022.

Of course, this demand is a good problem. Iowans are investing in endowed funds at record rates in Iowa, but now they are waiting up to two years to realize this tax advantage. In order for this program to remain effective, the state legislature should increase the annual allocation from $6 million per year to $10 million per year. For each public tax credit dollar allocated, four private philanthropy dollars are leveraged. Those funds are making an incredible impact in each county in Iowa. One example right here in Pottawattamie County is through the Meighan McCarthy Johansen Hope Fund.

Meighan McCarthy Johansen passed away on February 28, 2013, at the age of 29 from a nearly two-year courageous battle with cervical cancer. The McCarthy family was blessed with an outpouring of generosity from family, friends and community members during Meighans radiation and chemotherapy treatments at Methodist Hospital in Omaha and during the experimental therapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. When Meighan passed away, parents Deb and Jerry knew they wanted to honor their eldest daughters memory by giving back to the community that had offered them so much love and support.

Jerry and Deb initially considered a scholarship in Meighans name since she was a teacher. However, after learning about PCCF and meeting with staff to discuss their options, they decided to create the Meighan McCarthy Johansen Hope Fund  a donor advised fund  in 2014. Jerry and Deb liked how flexible, convenient and simple it was to meet their goal of creating a larger impact in our community.

Since 2015, the Meighan McCarthy Johansen Hope Fund has distributed 33 grants totaling over $17,000. The fund has impacted the city of Avoca and surrounding communities. Meighans mother, Deb, appreciates the personal approach to giving the community foundation and donor advised fund creates.

She shared: Our partnership with PCCF has been extremely rewarding. We appreciate the knowledge and support of their staff in enabling us to keep Meighans memory alive, while supporting worthy organizations that impact childrens lives.

Every year, Iowans invest millions of philanthropic dollars in our state to ensure that the most compelling and urgent needs facing our communities are being met. Families like the McCarthys make a tangible difference toward long-term impact, and the Endow Iowa program is a wonderful and truly innovative way to incentivize charitable investments and reinforce the impact created. We are fortunate to live in a state that values philanthropy.

Without an increase to the annual allocation, the growing waitlist will continue to compound in future years and Iowa communities may miss out on endowed gifts that could benefit their communities forever. This program not only benefits Iowa donors, but also the nonprofits, charitable causes and communities they love. We hope the Legislature will see the continued value of this program and re-commit to the programs goals with an increase in Endow Iowa funds for the future.

Donna Dostal is president and CEO of the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation and Kari McCann Boutell is president of the Iowa Council of Foundations.
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Distance, volcanic ash delay Tonga aid: UN

Xinhua) 08:33, January 20, 2022

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 17, 2022 by a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion aircraft shows the view of main island of Tonga after volcano eruption. (New Zealand Ministry of Defense/Handout via Xinhua)

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Tongan authorities, said that water, food and restoration of communications top the list of needs. However, it will be days before naval ships from Australia and New Zealand can arrive and dock on the main island of Tongatapu.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Needs assessment expands for Tonga volcano disaster relief and aid efforts scale up, but delivery is delayed by distance and ash-laden runways, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Tongan authorities, said that water, food and restoration of communications top the list of needs. However, it will be days before naval ships from Australia and New Zealand can arrive and dock on the main island of Tongatapu.

Saturday's eruption affects 84,000 people, or 80 percent of the population, OCHA said. The casualty count remains at three dead and an unknown number of people injured.

While 90 percent of electricity on Tongatapu is back up, volcanic ash blocks runways at the international airport at Nuku'alofa, the capital city. They are expected to be cleared by Thursday local time, said OCHA.

Domestic phone service operates only within Tongatapu and 'Eua islands.

When foreign relief can be delivered it is expected to be on a hands-off basis because of the island kingdom's strict anti-COVID protocols. It is one of the few COVID-free countries in the world.

"The United Nations is concerned about the islands of Mango, Fonoifua, and Nomuka which have been severely impacted, though sparsely populated," the office said. "All houses are destroyed on Mango and only two houses remain on Fonoifua, with extensive damage reported on Nomuka. Evacuation of people from Mango and Fonoifua to Nomuka is under way."

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion aircraft prepares to leave for Tonga from Auckland, New Zealand, Jan. 17, 2022. (New Zealand Ministry of Defense/Handout via Xinhua)

Surveillance flight data showed up to 100 houses were severely damaged on the main island and about 50 on 'Eua, OCHA said. Tongan authorities are conducting search-and-rescue operations and have sent two vessels carrying health teams and water, food and tents to the Ha'apai island group, where Mango, Fonoifua and Nomuka are located.

The humanitarian office said the Tongan Red Cross Society and other local partners are distributing emergency water, food rations, shelter and kitchen supplies. The UN Children's Fund is shipping water and other supplies with Australia's HMAS Adelaide, but the ship won't leave for Tonga until Friday.

Japan announced an emergency grant of more than 1 million U.S. dollars along with a pledge to send relief supplies and equipment, OCHA said. The Red Cross Society of China will provide 100,000 dollars in cash and humanitarian assistance.

On one of Tonga's nearest neighbors in the southwestern Pacific, Fiji, 50 engineers from the military forces are on standby to assist in the relief effort should there be a request by the Tongan government, the office said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Questions to ask before signing selling carbon credits

 Whats the buyers agenda?

 What are you contracting for? Carbon credits or rights to future credits?

 What qualifies?

 What is the time commitment?

 What is the payment plan?

 Is there data privacy when you sell carbon?

Source: TruTerra
The U.S. government has donated Morocco seven ultra-cold chain freezers, which will strengthen the countrys storage capacity of vaccines against Covid-19.

The announcement was made by Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In a tweet posted Tuesday, Mrs. Samantha said the ultra-cold freezers will help Moroccan health authorities keep doses safe and effective.

In its vaccination campaign, Morocco is using a variety of vaccines including Pfizer which can be stored for up to nine months in an ultra-cold freezer, between -80 and -60C. Once it has been moved to a fridge, it must be used within 31 days and cannot be refrozen.

So far, over 23 million people have been fully vaccinated in Morocco, 24.6 million received their first dose of the vaccine, while nearly 4 million others have received a third booster jab.
France-based international media protection organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued Wednesday a stark report about the state of media in Tunisia as it warns against risk of diluting the achievements of the revolution.

In the report titled Journalism in Tunisia: the hour of truth, the NGO, stressed that journalism in Tunisia is at a turning point in its history.

The report was issued in the wake of the January 14 crack down on anti-Saied protest by security forces. The demonstration was organized by political parties and organizations opposed to President Kais Saieds July 25 move during which he seized the countrys major powers. The protest movement was marked by police violence on journalists who came to cover the uproar.

Journalism in Tunisia is at a turning point in its history. The slow transformation of the Tunisian media sector over the last ten years and recent political developments threaten the freedom of the press, which was the first achievement of the Tunisian revolution 11 years ago. There is clearly danger in the house, as recent news attests, RSF said in the report.

The scenes of violence during the January 14 demonstrations, which had not been seen in the capital since the departure from power of President Ben Ali in 2011, only confirmed concerns about the real commitment of the head of state to press freedom, the report added.

The organization also indicated that a free press in Tunisia is inseparable from the future of Tunisian democracy.

We call on President Kais Saied to make a firm commitment to preserving and respecting Tunisias constitutional guarantees and international commitments to freedom of the press and information, RSF stressed.

RSFs report follows Frances concern about police violence against journalists during the Friday demonstration. Several journalists, including correspondents from the French and international press, were victim of violence while covering the demonstrations in Tunis on January 14, 2022. This is not acceptable, the foreign ministry of the European country said in a statement.
Brady Village Board Chairman Todd Roe will run for the Lincoln County Board, giving the lengthy 2022 ballot for county government its first primary contest.

Roe, 41, filed Wednesday to challenge first-term District 2 Commissioner Kent Weems in the May 10 Republican primary. No Democrats have yet filed.

He said he entered the race without any issues except to give voters fresh eyes and fresh ears in county government.

Roe sang the praises of Weems, who finished a one-year term Tuesday as County Board chairman.

Hes one of my favorite chairmen, Roe told The Telegraph. Its a shame we live in the same district.

But serving in county government is something Ive wanted to do, he added. Ive just never been in the position of being able to. That position has changed.

Roe, who first joined the Village Board in 2014 to fill a vacancy, co-founded Lazy RW Distillery with his father, William.

Though the distillery is across the Frontier County line in Moorefield, Todd Roe said, hes lived in Brady all his life except for college.

He also owns Lazy RW Hardware in Brady and grazes cattle on Lincoln County land, he said.

Roe graduated from Brady High School in 1999. After two years at North Platte Community College, he received a bachelors degree in construction management in 2004 from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

He completed two years of graduate study in engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before starting a 12-year stint in 2006 at the former Bloedorn Lumber in North Platte.

Roe previously served on the boards of Nebraskaland Days and the West Central Nebraska Development District.

Its important to serve, he said. I never served in the military, and community service is a way to give back.

He and his wife, Lisa, have a 12-year-old son, Tyler, as well as three grown children from previous marriages.

Lincoln Countys other County Board race is in District 3, where appointed GOP Commissioner Micaela Wuehler has filed for a full four-year term.

A three-member panel of county officials appointed Wuehler to finish the term of Bill Henry, who resigned Sept. 30 for health reasons.

In other recent 2022 election filings:

 Joe S. Wahlgren of rural Brady and David Colvin of rural North Platte have filed for re-election to the Twin Platte Natural Resources District board. Wahlgren represents Subdistrict 2 and Colvin Subdistrict 4.

 Challenger Justin Falcon has entered the race for Maxwells school board, joining incumbents Shaun Pagel and Monica Breinig.

 Incumbent Amy Wolfskill became the first to file in Hersheys school board race.

More by Todd von Kampen

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As the saying goes, North Platte Police Officer Matthew Proehl just happened to be in the neighborhood.

Proehl, who joined the force in July 2019, was honored at Tuesday nights City Council meeting for using an automated external defibrillator in his patrol car to help save a 50-year-old North Platte womans life on Nov. 23.

Becka Neumiller, program manager of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Office of Emergency Health Services, gave Proehl a certificate of appreciation after highlighting a private trusts donations to help stock law enforcement vehicles with AEDs.

North Platte police received 10 such units and the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office 24 last spring under a $6.4 million statewide grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

That grant paid for more than 2,500 AEDs delivered to law enforcement agencies statewide, Neumiller said before presenting the certificate.

Even when other first responders are on their way, putting AEDs in patrol cars increases a patients survival odds when cardiac arrest is involved, she said.

Nebraska is vast, and first responders often have great distances to cover to arrive on scene, Neumiller said. Every minute a patient is in cardiac arrest without high-quality CPR and defibrillation, their odds of survival go down 10%.

Proehls response the Tuesday before Thanksgiving illustrates the difference a few minutes can make, she added.

Dispatchers had received a report that a woman wasnt breathing, Police Chief Steve Reeves said. CPR was in progress, and he just happened to be near the address.

Proehl stopped at the residence, brought his AED in with him and used it to restore the womans pulse. She was taken to Great Plains Health and eventually was released, Reeves said.

We havent had (the AEDs) in the cars all that long, the chief added.

Proehl received a standing ovation from the audience in the City Hall council chamber after Neumiller gave him his certificate.

North Platte is very lucky to have a dedicated Police Department who have chosen to go the extra mile to serve their community, she said.

Proehl thanked DHHS, the city and his family in brief remarks.

Im just lucky that I was in the area at the time (and) lucky that we had those AEDs in the back of our cars, he said. Im glad they were able to help someone out that night.

More by Todd von Kampen

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Members of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) picket outside the BlackRock headquarters in New York City. Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Over the last ten months, Brian Kelly has traveled, twice, from his home in Alabama to New York City. Kelly, along with roughly 900 of his co-workers, has been on strike since April 2021, a lengthy ordeal they pin on their employer Warrior Met Coals lackluster proposals for a new contract. In an unusual move for a labor strike, he and hundreds of workers came to protest the three hedge funds that own Warrior Met and pressure them to pressure the companys management. It hasnt been easy: Last November, the NYPD arrested Kelly and several others in front of the headquarters of BlackRock, the largest shareholder in Warrior Met.

A third-generation coal miner, Kelly worked for Warrior Mets predecessor, Walter Energy, for two decades until it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2015. Thats when a judge allowed the private equity firms that took it over, including Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, and KKR, to reject prior labor contracts with Kellys union, the United Mine Workers of America, as the Financial Times previously reported. Miners accepted a pay cut of $6 an hour to keep their jobs. Health-insurance costs increased. Then they forced us to work seven days a week, up to 16 hours a day, Kelly recalled. Overall, we made a sacrifice during that time. The firms say they saved jobs; instead, miners say private equity prospered from their suffering. Though private equity no longer owns the company, the strike is arguably their legacy.

All told, we estimate that this conglomerate of private equity firms realized about $1.1 billion in savings coming out of the bankruptcy court just over the past five years, that were essentially taken out of the pockets of workers, said Phil Smith, a spokesperson for the United Mine Workers. A bigger payday was still to come. Before its initial public offering in 2017, Warrior paid them a $190m dividend from cash on hand, the Financial Times reported. A few months later it paid a $600m dividend funded with cash as well as a $350m debt offering. Austerity for some can be a windfall for others.

In statements, Apollo, Blackstone, and KKR all emphasized that they are no longer intertwined with Warrior Met. Our former investment in Warrior Met saved the companys mining operations from the brink of collapse, allowed the company to deleverage and invest in its business and preserved more than a thousand high-paying jobs in Alabama, a spokesperson for Apollo said. During the time of Apollos investment until our ultimate exit in 2019, the company thrived  its stock price increased, they had positive relations with its workforce and the representative union, and employees, who rank among the top earners in Alabama, received significant pay increases and bonuses.

That likely wont persuade Smith or the miners who make up his union. Smith calls the firms vulture capitalists, which he explained in detail. What the vultures do is they see something lying down on the ground and they come and they eat it, right? he said. Warrior Mets predecessor, Walter Energy, was lying dead in bankruptcy court, he explained, when private equity swooped in. Theyre preying on distressed and dead companies and figuring out ways to extract more money for themselves and for their investors from the bones and the remains of those companies, he added.

As miners forge on with their strike, their plight has attracted high-profile attention, with the role of private equity swimming into clearer focus over time. In November 2021, senators Tammy Baldwin, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren sent letters to the Apollo and Blackstone firms that linked their previous ownership of Warrior Met to the ongoing strike. While workers endured severe cuts to pay and benefits after the Warrior Met takeover, Apollo and the rest of the private equity consortium appear to have made off like bandits, the senators said in a letter to Apollo. Warren reintroduced her Stop Wall Street Looting Act last year, which would make the firms liable for violations of labor law by the companies they control and would require firms to prioritize worker pay throughout the bankruptcy process. What happened to Warrior Met is a classic example of what happens when billion-dollar Wall Street firms come to town: They extract as much as they can to line their pockets, all at the expense of workers and communities, she said in a statement.

Even beyond the terms encompassed by bills like the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, private equitys time with Warrior Met is in some respects a case study for how much the firms can get away with doing. Its common for companies to use bankruptcy to restructure their collective bargaining agreements, said Kenneth Ayotte, a University of California Berkeley professor specializing in labor law. Typically, the reorganization process is supposed to take a long time where the company and unions negotiate under court supervision, Ayotte said, but from reading the documents in the case, the sense that I got was that it wasnt really a bargaining process at all. The private equity consortium that controlled Warrior Mets finances had a clear interest in a fast bankruptcy process that would largely benefit their own bottom lines.

They were arranging a fast bankruptcy process to sell the company to themselves, Ayotte said, and they had every incentive to make this a quick process so they could buy the company, get the judge to sign off on getting rid of the collective bargaining agreements, and get the company on attractive terms. Private equity made money off terms that werent so attractive to workers like Kelly.

Some workers have crossed the picket line and gone back to work in that time, Kelly said, but most have not. I would say at least 90 percent of us are still out on strike, he said. Its been wearing, its been stressful. It makes you really tired. Regular rallies with the unions international president help keep their spirits high, he said, but his entire family has taken on extra work to keep their bills paid, even with the $400 per week strike benefit paid by the union. Im treading water pretty good, he said. But, he added, everyone else had to go out and get other jobs and do the picket line duties. And you know, I think were doing an outstanding job right now.

Kelly sounds undaunted, even as the strike nears its first anniversary. The firms need to be put on guard that they need us, they need unions, and they need to stop doing this not only in the coal mines but to other workers and unions across this country, he said.
Students, faculty, staff and alumni of Auburn University have opportunities for dialogue on Thursday and Friday with Chris Roberts, dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, via open mic forums, and the university encourages all interested to attend.

Roberts was announced as the universitys sole finalist for its 21st president to replace Jay Gogue, who has served as Auburn Universitys 20th president since 2019 after serving as 18th president from 2007-2017.

The public forums are a great opportunity for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and all members of the Auburn Family to meet and ask questions of Dr. Roberts, Auburn trustee Wayne Smith said in a written response to questions from the Opelika-Auburn News. It is a time to learn more about Dr. Roberts and his vision for the university if selected as our next president.

Two public forums will be held in person Thursday, with one for students in the afternoon followed by a reception for university, community and alumni at the Auburn Alumni Center later in the evening. A third forum is scheduled for Friday at the Auburn University Hotel for any students, staff or university stakeholders.

Smith said Roberts will be sharing his background, qualities relevant to the position of university president and what he hopes to see for the future of Auburn University.

Trustee Sarah Newton, the chair of the presidential search advisory committee, will introduce Roberts and then Roberts will speak and take questions, Smith said. There will be a microphone available for the audience to ask Roberts questions, (and) Roberts will take all questions.

No one else from the university side will answer questions, as Smith said the aim of the public forums is for the university student and staff body to meet Roberts.

Auburn University hired executive search consultant Greenwood/Asher & Associates of Miramar Beach, Fla., to aid in seeking its next president.

On its official presidential search website, the Auburn Board of Trustees states it has been committed to actively seeking a diverse pool of exceptional candidates. Smith said the search firm, four trustees, and 21 individuals in the Auburn community considered diversity and proven commitment and experience of the utmost importance in the search.

The advisory search committee, the 15 individuals that met with the advisory search committee and ultimately the five individuals who met with members of the board of trustees were all groups that included significant diversity by gender and race, he said.

He said the eight listening sessions the university hosted for the community in September saw strong attendance and gave Greenwood/Asher & Associates valuable input.

Of the five finalists, one withdrew and the board of trustees determined three to be worthy of consideration, but two pulled out of the public forum process. Smith previously said the full search saw over 60 applicants and that the advisory search committee spoke with 15 individuals before the holidays.

The finalist pool had diversity in terms of race and gender, Smith said. Many of the finalists were sitting presidents, provosts or deans at other institutions.

The student forum will be hosted from 1-1:45 p.m. in the Melton Student Center Ballroom, while the University, Community and Alumni Reception will take place from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Galloway Atrium of the Auburn Alumni Center. Fridays forum will run from 9-9:45 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Auburn University Hotel.

Roberts will host a final in-person forum at Auburn University Montgomery from 2-3 p.m. on Friday.

A virtual forum will be hosted Friday via Zoom at 3 p.m. More information may be found on Auburn Universitys presidential search website.

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Tuesday nights Auburn City Council meeting was defined by debate.

A report was presented calling the validity of an alternate map submitted for the citys redistricting process into question. The absence of Mayor Ron Anders and Mayor Pro Tem Beth Witten, prayer and the mention of litigation all came together as council members postponed the redistricting vote yet again.

With Witten and the mayor absent for health reasons  I believe it would be responsible and reasonable for us to move this  in hopes that we have a full council here to deliberate and vote, said Ward 4 Councilperson Brett Smith.

Under leadership of Ward 8 Councilperson Tommy Dawson, who filled in for Anders and Witten in their absence, council members voted unanimously to hold a special meeting on Jan. 25. The delay followed a report from Balch and Bingham attorney Dormand Walker, who attended Tuesdays council, to determine whether the alternate proposal from Lee County NAACP Branch 5038 was compliant with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Lee County NAACP submitted their map to the City of Auburn on Dec. 21 ahead of when the council was initially prepared to vote on its own map. The NAACPs proposal includes two majority-minority wards as opposed to the singular majority-minority Ward 1 among the citys current districts present and in its planned map.

Majority-minority wards are those in which racial and ethnic minorities make up most of the population in the district.

Walker was joined by Trey Hood, a professor at the University of Georgias Department of Political Science. The two put the NAACPs map up against three conditions, or prongs, of the Gingles Test, a practice used to determine whether a majority-minority district is necessary for a given area in a city because of vote dilution.

I was unable to find any evidence, statistically speaking, to sustain any of the three Gingles prongs, and you need all three of them to sustain a vote dilution claim, Hood told council members at the conclusion of the report. Theres not any evidence of minority vote dilution related to the City of Auburns City Council redistricting.

The consultants report

The three prongs of the Gingles Test per Hoods report are:

Is the minority group sufficiently large and compact to form a majority in a single-member district?

Is the minority group politically cohesive?

Is the preferred minority candidate of choice typically defeated by a majority white bloc vote?

Hood looked at Auburns overall voting age populations by race in evaluating each prong. He said non-Hispanic whites make up about 71% of Auburn residents in the general voting age population, while non-Hispanic Black voters, Hispanic voters, non-Hispanic Asian voters and other minorities make up 29.3% of residents.

If you look at another metric which is important in this case, the citizen voting age population, a slightly different picture emerges  this is the 18-plus population who were citizens for the City of Auburn, Hood said. Now you see 76% non-Hispanic white and a 24.1% minority citizen voting age population.

In bar charts Hood displayed, only Wards 1 and 6 of the NAACPs map had over 50% minority voters and only in the case that the general voting age population was used. When using the citizen voting age population, no wards had greater than 50% minority voters.

My assessment on Prong 1 looking at the (Citizen Voting Age Population), none of the City Council districts proposed in this particular plan would effectively function as majority-minority districts, Hood said.

To determine minority political cohesion, the second prong, Hood analyzed the 2018 and 2014 Auburn mayoral elections. The 2014 race was uncontested, so Hood more closely evaluated the 2018 election and said he found no evidence of racially polarized voting on candidates.

One caveat: theres only four precincts to analyze, which gives us very little statistical power, but the takeaway point is looking at the mayors runoff race, he said. The statistical analysis I performed does not provide evidence that whites and other minority groups had different candidates of choice.

In addition, he said he couldnt find the existence of a coalition district in which there is voting cohesion among all the districts minority voters. The 2018 municipal election saw six candidates vying to be Auburns mayor.

Because Hood didnt find a minority candidate of choice, he concluded his report by saying there is no supporting evidence for the third prong of the Gingles Test.

At the previous Auburn City Council, on Jan. 5, Walkers character was questioned because of past emails he exchanged with late political strategist Thomas Hofeller in 2011 during Alabamas state redistricting process. Hofeller was notorious for gerrymandering in the 1970s and 1980s allegedly in favor of Republican candidates and to reduce Black voter power, according to the New York Times. Ward 6 Councilperson Bob Parsons took the opportunity at Tuesdays meeting to press Walker on the matter.

Walker responded that his correspondence with Hofeller was brief and didnt include any discussion on the views that were revealed after the strategists death in 2018.

After he died, his daughter  got copies of computer files that portrayed some fairly egregious positions with regard to how redistricting could be used to steal votes from Democrats and from minority voters, and perhaps some racist views, Walker told the council. I dont believe those are the appropriate things to do. I think distribution should be done in a way that makes our democracy function, and I certainly think we have to be very vigilant in the protection of minority voting rights.

The NAACP responds

After hearing from Walker and Hood, the Auburn City Council proceeded on to its regular meeting at about 7:30 p.m., and members of the Lee County NAACP exited the council chambers into the lobby of the Auburn Municipal Complex in an apparent move to confer about the analysis of their map. They were accompanied by Tabitha Isner, a Montgomery-based data and technology consultant whom the organization hired for her experience working as an electoral cartographer.

When they returned into the council chambers as the redistricting was up on the agenda, they contended during a public hearing that their map was a valid submission and compliant with the Voting Rights Act.

Our map is legal  the districts are evenly sized, it does not hurt minorities (and) it does not dilute the ability of minorities to elect representatives of their choosing, Isner said. I find it very bizarre that its being presented as if its not a legal map.

Isner asserted the Gingles Test is intended for courts if a redistricted map is believed to be invalid after adoption by a municipality. She said council members should instead base their process on having equally sized wards above other factors.

She argued that the citizen voting age population shouldnt be considered in the redistricting process as the 2020 census didnt ask questions about citizenship. Because of this, she alleges the numbers Hood presented in the report are inaccurate.

The Census Bureau has not released (Citizen Voting Age Population) estimates for the 2020 census, so I dont know what (Hood and Walker) are using to get those but theyre not coming directly from the Census Bureau, at least not data Ive been able to find anywhere, Isner told the council.

On remarks about racially polarized voting, Isner said courts usually defer to the totality of circumstances when dealing with election cases. Because Auburn only has four voting precincts as also mentioned by Hood, Isner said the report doesnt have an adequate sample size.

In law, the totality of circumstances is a method in which courts base their decisions on all factors present in a case rather than any specific rule, which in this instance would be the number of precincts.

Isner last said the Lee County NAACP doesnt believe its map gerrymanders as she said it aimed to connect wards reasonably and no wards are separated by significant distance.

If you look at our maps side by side  they are not wildly different, she said. Its just a different map in which the districts have the same population and in which minorities have the opportunity to have one more person of their communitys choosing on the city council.

Terra Foster, executive director of the NAACP Alabama State Conference, attended Tuesdays council meeting and appeared at the podium after Isner with a scathing conclusion.

I cant help but think our map, the NAACP map, is being discredited, Foster said. I ask that your vote is taken seriously when you return, because we are watching, we are interested, and we dont want to go to court. We just ask for fairness.

Fosters reference to legal action left council members hesitant to the idea of meeting with groups before the vote without being accompanied by legal counsel.

Other community members followed with voices in defense of the Lee County NAACP, with many ending with raucous applause from the public. One statement, from resident Bill Lee, encouraged the council to explore combining elements of both the city and NAACP map proposals. Joe Davis, director of mission and outreach at Auburn United Methodist Church, took the stand to lead a three-minute prayer.

Auburns City Council will reconvene at its special called meeting Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers to further deliberate over redistricting and cast a potential vote. City Manager Megan Crouch has asked the council to make a final decision on whether to adopt a redistricted map by the end of its Feb. 1 meeting, otherwise the current map drawn after the 2010 census will be retained.

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Multimedia Reporter

Staff writer Harry Funk, a professional journalist for three-plus decades, has been on the staff of The Almanac since 2015. He has a bachelors degree in journalism and master of business administration, both from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
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In recognition of a high-flying career, Auburn alumnus and aviator Mike Ballard was honored Wednesday with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award during a special ceremony at the Auburn University Regional Airport.

The award is the most prestigious distinction offered by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, to licensed pilots. To be eligible, candidates must have exhibited exemplary aviation expertise, distinguished professionalism and steadfast commitment over a career of at least 50 years. Ballard was presented the award in surprise fashion Wednesday in front of family, friends and others. He was nominated for the award by his son Nathan, who is also a pilot.

Im really proud of this...this is big for me, said Ballard. Im glad to be here flying. It all started here at Auburn. My son is in aviation, my grandson is in aviation, my granddaughter is in aviation, and at the top of the list, my wife is in aviation also learning right here at Auburn.

Ballard was introduced to aviation by his father James, an Army Air Corps flight instructor during World War II. His father took him on a flight that would instill in him a love for flying that has lasted decades, and he has since shared with his wife and son.

Ballard earned his private pilots license while in the Air Force ROTC at Auburn University. After graduating from Auburn in 1964, Ballard was commissioned into the Air Force as a second lieutenant, earning his wings in 1966. He served a three-year tour of duty at Bitburg Air Force Base in Germany during the height of the Cold War as a member of the 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron.

After completing his tour of duty, Ballard flew as a pilot for Delta from 1970 until his retirement in 2002. By the end of his career with Delta, Ballard was completing international flights.

In 1993, while the Ballards were building their house, they asked the builders to make an oversized basement opening to use for building airplanes. Since then, Ballard and his brother Jimmy, also an Auburn graduate and retired American Airlines pilot, have built four airplanes out of the basement known as the Ballard Aviation Workshop.

One of Ballards basement-built airplanes, Judy Judy Judy2, an RV-8, was sold to a British citizen who flew the plane over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Ballard and his wife have been members of the retirement learning program Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, or OLLI, at Auburn University for more than six years. However, he has recently taken a few years off to focus on building airplanes.
Only about $9.6M (~4%) of NPR's budget comes from Federal funding. In terms of the discretionary spending from the federal budget (~$1.6T), that's 0.000006%. That's dust. A sneeze. That's nothing. Conservatives are idiots with stupid priorities. Bears shit in woods.

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mte, i was like... funding??? it's NPR, what funding???

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These stats don't matter to them. It's all about virtue signaling and rage politics. The anger keeps their base feeling motivated to vote, donate, buy merch, etc....

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I call bullshit.

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Hope this isn't the first comment, but the way SCOTUS members always refer to themselves as close friends with like years of history has always come off as incredibly tone deaf to me. Like ok my colleague might say something funny once in a while but if he fundamentally wants to take away human rights at every opportunity through unreasonable interpretations of existing laws and cases that will probably affect millions of people for generations, we cannot be friends.

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Preach. Beyond being people with awful opinions, these conservative justices literally make decisions that have disparate impact on the lives of marginalized people. Like, how unprincipled do you have to be to call someone who harms people like you for a living a friend?

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cause they are supposed to pretend to be objective and not political so they gotta act like they are friends while secretly hating each other

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Unfortunately SCOTUS members care more about protecting the integrity~ of the institution because pointing out the politicization of the court taints their own legacies and the legitimacy of the court. No one ends up on SCOTUS by accident and I think all justices have the ego to match the position so to speak, I don't care how "liberal" their judgments may be. The justice system has always been politicized/biased but I think this particular makeup of the court has had a lot more people questioning how legitimate it is to have 9 unelected people overturn government decisions on a whim and all justices will protect their own first. Besides, it's not like any of them are likely adversely affected by their decisions!

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Its funny that you say that because the article from NPR yesterday talked about how the bench in the 40s - 50s was so anti being friends that they were nicknamed the Scorpions or something. It made much more sense to me than these people taking vacations and shit together.

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Agreed! I never found it "adorable" about RBG and Scalia's friendship. Scalia sucked on so many issues.

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Exactly, it isn't like we are talking about disagreements over soy tariffs or corporate tax structures... when the disagreement is about fucking basic human rights, equality, etc.... we can't be friends!

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Have yall recently been able to upgrade (if you have the means)?



im in the usa and home depot is where ive purchased them in the last two weeks

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do they have the medical grade ones at home depot? i bought some through the 3m website and then quickly learned i didn't buy the medical-rated ones.

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Oh shit. I hope mine are ok

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They are not the surgical ones that are rated for fluid resistance but the spec sheet does say it's good for "airborne biological particles" so I am going to assume they're good enough.





ETA: I couldn't help myself and kept reading, and it looks like the surgical ones are specifically designed for tuberculosis and blood spatter, and "As a disposable particulate respirator, it is intended to reduce wearer exposure to certain airborne particles including those generated by electrocautery, laser surgery, and other powered medical instruments."



So it's probably overkill and the ones you got are probably fine? Here's their page on it:





The ones at the top (the 9205+ not surgical rated) also say this: "Can also be used to help reduce inhalation of certain airborne biological particles like mold, Bacillus anthracis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, etc. Example applications include emergency or pandemic preparedness planning, stockpiling, etc."



So yeah... it sounds like the regular ones at Home Depot are good for covid? But buying the others would definitely do the job too lol



Edited at 2022-01-20 01:33 am (UTC) These are the ones I bought at Home Depot: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v101143932/ They are not the surgical ones that are rated for fluid resistance but the spec sheet does say it's good for "airborne biological particles" so I am going to assume they're good enough.ETA: I couldn't help myself and kept reading, and it looks like the surgical ones are specifically designed for tuberculosis and blood spatter, and "As a disposable particulate respirator, it is intended to reduce wearer exposure to certain airborne particles including those generated by electrocautery, laser surgery, and other powered medical instruments."So it's probably overkill and the ones you got are probably fine? Here's their page on it: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v101143973/ The ones at the top (the 9205+ not surgical rated) also say this: "Can also be used to help reduce inhalation of certain airborne biological particles like mold, Bacillus anthracis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, etc. Example applications include emergency or pandemic preparedness planning, stockpiling, etc."So yeah... it sounds like the regular ones at Home Depot are good for covid? But buying the others would definitely do the job too lol

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I'm assuming you can't purchase the medical-rated ones unless you are a medical facility but if its a product number on the niosh list you should be okay.

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In the US, surgical rated N95 masks are not available for sale to the public, only health care facilities. Surgical N95s are rated by the FDA as medical devices and NIOSH as N95 respirators. I think the only difference is that the surgical N95 has a level of fluid resistance that the regular N95 doesn't. More info here https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1839703O/surgical-n95-vs-standard-n95-which-to-consider.pdf

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yep, i ordered some last week and they got here today. which is great timing since I'm currently at the doctor's waiting to get tested lol

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https://shop.projectn95.org/respirators/n95 I bought mine from Project N95, but they cost beaucoup bucks 

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Yes, but only because I bought mine (from Home Depot!) right when we started talking about omicron. It's been difficult to find them since and in my parents' area (a suburb of a large city) it's been impossible.



I sent them some of what I had and in December sent them a box directly from the 3M website. Delays/shortages have been such that the package hadn't even reached them till this week.

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I've been wearing KN95 masks from Powecom since Delta became a thing, but I bought some regular N95s (the 3M Aura) at Home Depot last week. Some doctor on Twitter recommended them, but I don't love them because the piece of fabric at the nose allows my breath to permeate and fogs up my glasses.

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I got some from Home Depot.

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Anyone know of appropriate ones with

the ear loops? I got to try some KN95s, but they wrap around your head, which doesn't really work with my hair and apparently theyre all like that? So Ive just been doing the surgical styles masks.

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My university is offering free N95 masks to faculty and graduate students teaching in-person, but the amount is unspecified and likely nowhere near enough to get through the semester. We're going remote for the first week, but I already have a student who tested positive with COVID-19 two days into the semester so I'm just like

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They've partially shipped and the other part has a label printed so hopefully they'll be here soon. I bought some kn95s from Armbrust who I trust -- https://www.armbrustusa.com/collections/usa-made-n95-masks-respirators/products/us-made-kn95-mask?variant=39621701828741 They've partially shipped and the other part has a label printed so hopefully they'll be here soon.

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Costco sells them at a decent price in bulk. I believe you can buy a Costco gift card to shop them without a membership?

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Anyone know of appropriate ones with

the ear loops? I got to try some KN95s, but they wrap around your head, which doesn't really work with my hair and apparently theyre all like that? So Ive just been doing the surgical styles masks.

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If its available to you, I saw that my work EAP and even ADP had links to PPE resources with discounts for KN95s.

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Im so lucky that I have squirrel tendenciesI dont hoard or anything but I did buy a few extra packs of KN95 masks & filters last fall for my whole family. I did have to restock my preschoolers masks recently which was harder than I expected but thankfully I found them! 3/4 of my family are chronically ill but still mostly have to be out in the world so Im beyond thankful that I was a little over cautious back when people stopped buying masks mostly%

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they way they're letting us order free test, they should also just send a bunch of masks in my professional opinion

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nah, I looked at the prices and decided against it - if I were more often in high-risk settings for long periods of time than it would be worth it, but since I'm generally only masked for short periods and in relatively uncrowded/well-ventilated situations, I figured my little (probably knock-off) KN95s and surgical mask/cloth mask combo would suffice.

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I have some from Home Depot, but I'm really not a fan of the straps. I'm using them up, but I ordered some KN95's from Bona Fide Masks I'm waiting for. I probably should have sprung for the N95's, but I'm hoping the KN95's are almost as good.

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I think they try too hard to try to show they are all friends and a unified front but if Gorusch was such a good friend he would have worn the damn mask. What he did speaks more than their statement.



Speaking of SCOTUS, they aren't blocking the archive released yet Thomas was the only one that didn't agree with the ruling. Wonder what he wants hidden.



Edited at 2022-01-20 01:19 am (UTC)

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thomas' wife was *allegedly* an organizer or in communication with them

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Yeah, I'm 100% sure its to protect his wife who has every offensive view known to mankind.



Edited at 2022-01-20 03:22 am (UTC)

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What doesn't that waste of space want hidden?

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it's a shame that the one time he didn't follow Scalia was into the sweet embrace of death.

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Nina Totenberg has WAYYY too much class and is a total legend who would never lie.

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The right's fundamental misunderstanding of collective action is so funny

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These are the same people who hate cancel culture.

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they hate cancel culture but they do love their irony

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npr is one of the incredibly few sources I do trust so tbh I believe them and it wouldn't surprise if scotus is just trying to put up a united front even tho we know it's gotta be bs behind the scenes

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I mean, Republikkkans would know all about misleading/innacurate news media.



Edited at 2022-01-20 01:16 am (UTC)

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Democrats constantly going out of their way to do a PR cleanup for Conservatives really is annoying. Sonia, he wants you dead, next time just turn off your notifications or something.



Nina Totenberg's connections to the Supreme Court are way too deep for this to not be true.

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SCOTUS freaks, all of them. They treat that body like a religion and would absolutely lie to protect its image.

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Gorsuch shouldn't even be on the goddamn bench anyway

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im using kn95 masks but i like to complain about something not related but kinda related the free 4 covid test kits. they're acting like it's a lot and easily accessible but i rent so im not able to get them because we share the same address doesn't matter if there's multiple units.

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Which is why the tests need to be distributed at pharmacies instead of via mail

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Im not too sure about that. I saw a lot of people bringing up their concerns about the masks being distributed to pharmacies (vs being mailed to homes) because not everyone has easy access to a pharmacy (disabled, carless, etc).



Im not sure what the answer is. :(

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the roll out of tests at pharmacies was a fucking disaster in ontario and quebec so i'm not sure how well it would work for you guys

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What about the housebound and immunocompromised that cant safely leave their homes? How is having to go to pharmacy a more accessible option??

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So you cant order any even if you have different apartment numbers?

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Yeah, that's a big tech fuckup on USPS's part. Someone said to flip the address order, and do your unit number on line 1 and the street address on line 2 and it should work.

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People were discussing this issue on Gothamist, and the USPS said that it was only a problem if you live in a building that is not officially multifamily. I heard putting your unit number in the second address line works, which is what I did. I doubt I was the first person in my 100+ unit building to sign up since I did it a day after the website opened. https://gothamist.com/news/why-some-nycers-cant-order-bidens-free-covid-tests-from-uspsand-how-to-fix-it

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For the first time in a year, the worlds largest oil importer, China, publicly disclosed data showing it had imported crude oil from Iran, despite the U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

China has been importing crude from the Islamic Republic all along since the sanctions on Iran entered into force in 2018, when former president Donald Trump quit the so-called nuclear deal. Yet, China has rarely officially admitted it had purchased crude from Iran.

On Thursday, Chinese customs data, cited by Bloomberg, showed that the worlds top oil buyer imported in December a total of 1.9 million barrels of crude oil from Iran. This was the first public disclosure since December 2020 that Beijing is purchasing crude from the Islamic Republic, Bloomberg notes.

It is not immediately clear why China should publicly admit it continues to buy oil from Iran, but the disclosure comes amid difficult negotiations in Vienna about the U.S. and Iran possibly returning to the so-called nuclear deal. In addition, China and Iran have recently sought to advance their cooperation, including in energy, under a 25-year strategic partnership agreement signed last year.

China, Iran, and Russia are also set to begin joint naval drills in the northern Indian Ocean later this week, a public relations official from Irans armed forces told semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA.

Cheaper crude from Iran and Venezuela while international oil benchmarks were rallying was incentive enough for China to purchase in 2021 the most crude from the two U.S.-sanctioned exporters in three years, shrugging off risks of penalties from the United States.

Chinese refiners imported 53 percent more oil from Iran and Venezuela last year compared to 2020, according to estimates from market intelligence firm Kpler cited by Bloomberg earlier this month. In total, China imported last year 324 million barrels of crude from Iran and Venezuela combined, the highest volume since 2018.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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A few years ago, battery energy storage began drawing attention as what one industry executive at the time called the Holy Grail of renewable energy. In the years since, EVs have stolen the spotlight but now battery storage is back, larger than life and, quite likely, twice as expensive.

The ongoing energy crunch in Europe is one good illustration of why, if we are going down the renewable energy path, we need to build battery storage - and a lot of it. One cause of the crunch, admitted unwillingly but still admitted, was lower than usual wind power output. With storage, at least some of that output might have been stored for later use.

The Financial Times reported this month that the battery storage industry is getting billions poured into gigafactories, where battery cells for EVs and storage installations are made. According to the report, energy storage companies raised $5.5 billion in venture capital funds over the first nine months of 2021 across 59 deals. This compared with just $1.2 billion across 91 deals during the same period of 2020.

Batteries will play an increasingly important role in allowing high levels of penetration of variable renewable energy like wind and solar on the grid, the FT quoted Oxford Institute for Energy Studies research fellow Barbara Finamore as saying. The [investment] numbers are changing so fast, people cannot keep up with how many gigafactories are in the pipeline.

The above smacks of a future bubble, but given the net-zero targets of the Paris Agreement, investors are excused for buying into this particular bubble. Among these targets, per the International Energy Agency, is selling only electric cars from 2035 onwards and having two-thirds of the global energy supply come from wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, and geothermal. This is one massive undertaking that cannot happen without equally massive storage.

In October last year, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie forecast that battery storage would really take off after the worst of the pandemic passes. With the market recovering following the pandemic and a growing acceptance of energy storage as a mainstream power technology, the total energy storage market will double in size in 2021 to reach 56 GWh, with that number expected to increase by 17x in 2030, Le Xu, senior analyst, Power and Renewables, wrote.

An expected increase is one thing. The cost of this expected increase and its usefulness is quite another matter. For starters, the Wood Mac forecast sees a doubling of global lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity. This means a surge in demand for battery metals and minerals such as lithium, nickel, and manganese. For seconds, the world consumes huge amounts of energy every minute. Storage will need to become a lot more compact and cheaper to handle this consumption. And this will be tricky.

Lithium prices are on the climb as demand for the metal rises with battery demand projections and more gigafactories in the pipeline. But the lithium market is already in a deficit, which means even higher prices ahead.

Related: Drone Attacks And Invasion Fears Send Oil Prices Soaring

Nickel demand is on its way to outpacing supply, according to Rystad Energy, with the market seen swinging into a deficit in two years. This means more upward cost pressure for batteries.

And the shortage of metals is not all. There is also the ESG aspect of their mining to consideran aspect that has become essential for European governments, which are also the ones with the most ambitious renewable energy plans for the future. Europe, in other words, is picky about its, say, lithium and cobalt supply. It wants to make sure that it was mined ethically. And this automatically makes it expensive because it limits the places where these metals can be sourced, and puts constraints on the miners.

So, battery cells are only going to become more expensive at a time when they need to become cheaper, so energy and EVs become more affordable, and adoption increases. But this is not the biggest problem of energy storage. The biggest problem is that the amount of storage needed to be deployed in order to ensure energy supply security is truly insane.

Bjorn Lomborg, president of an environmental think-tank and a vocal critic of the renewable energy push in its current form, wrote on Twitter earlier this month that Asia consumes 25 GWh of electricity per minute. The continent has a battery storage capacity of 13 GWh, which is enough for 31 seconds of consumption. With plans in place to boost battery storage capacity 25 times, in 2030, Asia will have enough storage for about 10 minutes of consumption.

But perhaps some would say the whole continent of Asia is not a good example. After all, battery storage capacity there is not exactly equally distributed and aimed at securing the energy supply of the whole of Asia. So lets take another example. Germanys per-capita energy consumption for 2018 stood at 6.8 GWh. Germanys population is over 83 million people. So, Germany alone will need more than the worlds total projected storage capacity for 2021 to secure its energy supply, assuming a 100-percent renewable grid, which is the purpose of the energy transition. It would need a lot more.

It is true that without energy storage, wind and solar are far from reaching their full potential and far from being reliable sources of electricity. Yet the factors determining the commercial viability of storage installations are such that the projections made by Wood Mac and virtually every other energy forecaster out there might end up feeding a bubble that will sooner or later burst.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Although Libyas crude oil production is now re-approaching the 1 million barrels per day (bpd) level, according to various industry reports, the outlook for sustained gains appears as tenuous as it has been since the removal of long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011, and the ensuing multi-factional civil conflict that ensued. Given the delicate supply and demand balance at play in the oil market, which is likely to remain for some time, as analysed in depth in my new book on the global oil markets, even relatively incremental additions to that supply on the margin can be significant.

On the one hand, up until the most recent blockade of its western fields ended and eastern ports, Libya had been producing around 1.2 million bpd. Even from that level, though, there is ample scope to increase this to the 2.1 million bpd targeted by Libyas minister of gas and oil, Mohamed Aoun, and to hit the informal interim targets of 1.45 million bpd by the end of 2022, and 1.6 million bpd by the end of 2023. Libya has around 48 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves  the largest in Africa  and before the removal of Gaddafi the country had been easily able to produce around 1.65 million bpd of mostly high-quality light, sweet crude oil. This comprised most notably the Es Sider and Sharara export crudes that are particularly in demand in the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe for their gasoline and middle distillate yields. Moreover, production had been on a rising production trajectory, up from about 1.4 million bpd in 2000, albeit well below the peak levels of more than 3 million bpd achieved in the late 1960s. This said, the NOC had plans in place before 2011 to roll out enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques to increase crude oil production at maturing oil fields. As such, the NOCs predictions of being able to increase capacity by around 775,000 bpd through EOR at existing oil fields looked well-founded.

Moreover, prior to the most recent blockade there was further cause for optimism for a sustained bounce in Libyan oil production, as the countrys Government of National Unity (GNU) approved the sale of the 8.16 percent stake in the countrys giant Waha oil concessions held by the U.S.s Hess Corporation to the remaining stakeholders. These are Frances TotalEnergies (with a 16.3 percent share), and ConocoPhillips (also 16.3 percent), each of which were to be offered half of Hesss stake. This followed highly positive news in April last year after the meeting between NOC chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, and the chief executive officer of oil and gas giant, TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne. The French firm agreed to continue with its efforts to increase oil production from the giant Waha, Sharara, Mabruk and Al Jurf oil fields by at least 175,000 bpd and to make the development of the Waha-concession North Gialo and NC-98 oil fields a priority, according to the NOC. The Waha concessions  in which TotalEnergies took a minority stake in 2019  have the capacity to produce at least 350,000 bpd together, according to the NOC, which added that: [TotalEnergies will also] contribute to the maintenance of decaying equipment and crude oil transport lines that need replacing.

In a similarly positive vein, last August saw news that Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) was looking to return to Libya, after senior representatives of the company met with NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla during their visit to Tripoli. Shell had ceased its operations in Libya in 2012, partly due to contract terms but mainly because of the deteriorating security situation after the removal of Gaddafi, according to local news reports, but during the meeting with the NOC had discussed contributing to the development of various oil fields in Libya and to increasing its activity in developing refineries in the country. Also looked at was Shells participation in various renewable energy projects, including plans for the capture and use of associated gas in several of Libyas major oil fields, and the development of oil storage terminals in Es Sidr and Ras Lanuf. According to reports from November, Shell also examined other projects related to exploration in the onshore Sirte and Ghadames basins, as well as the offshore Cyrenaica basin, and proposed re-developing ageing fields such as block NC-174 in the Murzuq basin and developing new fields including in the Ain Jarbi block.

On the negative side, however, there remain significant short- and long-term constraints hanging over Libyan oil production. In just the past few months, there have been severe reductions in the countrys oil output from - in reverse order: the just-ended blockade of its western fields and closure of ports in the east; a major pipeline closure; and the closure of several ports on the east due to bad weather. Longer-term, major political problems continue to simmer, as they have done since the removal of Gaddafi, with the delay of Decembers scheduled presidential elections being a case in point, and likely to be a spark for further major trouble in the oil sector. Multiple disputes over the eligibility of candidates in the elections in just a reflection of the uneasy understanding that has been in place since an agreement was signed on 18 September 2020 between Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the rebel Libyan National Army (LNA), and elements of Tripolis U.N.-recognised GNA to lift the then-blockade of Libyas energy infrastructure.

At that point in 2020, with Libyan oil production only averaging around 70,000 bpd, the agreement between the two sides that had been engaged in a three-year civil war was to be reviewed after just a month, as highlighted by Haftar. He also made it clear at that stage that unless a further agreement laid out precisely how oil revenues were to be divided in the future, in a manner that was agreeable to his side, then no extension of the deal to keep the blockade lifted would be granted. This was addressed to a degree with a corollary in-principle agreement by the GNA  particularly supported by its then-Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmed Maiteeq - to look into establishing a commission to determine how oil revenues across Libya are distributed and also to consider the implementation of a number of measures designed to stabilise the countrys perilous financial position. Since then, progress on all fronts has been difficult to detect, although in terms of broader policy, the oil and gas ministry recently sent a series of proposals to the GNU aimed at improving the sectors organisation in order to attract more investment from foreign companies.

Although the ministry did not publically release the details of these proposals, the legal sources spoken to by OilPrice.com at the time highlighted that they are broadly in line with the original ideas in the September 2020 agreement that were aimed at clarifying how oil revenues would be paid and dispersed. Part of this process would be the creation of technical committees with representatives drawn from all sides of the civil conflict. These separate committees would deal with field awards, in tandem with the oil and gas ministry, and the dispersal of oil and gas revenues, in tandem with the ministry and the Central Bank of Libya (in which the revenues are physically held).

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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As China and Russia continue to support Iran in its posturing against the U.S., it seems likely that the countrys oil industry will flourish regardless of sanctions

While negotiations continue over the potential lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran, Iran is planning to invest heavily in its oil industry and boost production

Iran is taking its oil future into its own hands, despite ongoing sanctions from the U.S. With higher oil sales and revenues in 2021, Iran is planning to invest in its oil industry by opening a new refinery, constructing a new pipeline, and fostering international relationships to enhance its export opportunities. While U.S. sanctions continue to restrict Irans oil exports, this is not stopping the country from continuing trade where possible and preparing for life after sanctions.

This month, the Head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr stated that oil revenues climbed significantly in 2021. This has been supported by both public and private sector investments in the countrys oil industry. Iran has seen an increase in its sales of crude oil as well as gas condensates and petrochemical products in recent months.

Oil Minister, Javad Owji, reported last week that Irans budget for the year, commencing in March, has factored in oil sales of 1.2 million bpd. This is a substantial aim seeing as China is Irans only officially known oil importer. It is clear that Iran has been exporting oil at an increasing rate in recent years, however, due to ongoing U.S. sanctions, no other countries have admitted to importing Iranian oil.

Iran is nonetheless investing in its oil industry by opening a super heavy oil refinery on the southern island of Qeshm. President Ebrahim Raisi opened the first phase of the $220 million Qeshm refinery last week. The new plant offers Iran a significant opportunity to boost its petrochemical output, with crude arriving at the refinery from the Soroush and Nowruz oilfields. It has the potential to turn 35,000 bpd of super-heavy crude oil into a variety of products, including bitumen, naphtha, diesel, and light oil. And this figure is expected to rise to around 100,000 bpd within the next three years.

Elsewhere, the government is making plans for a new pipeline project. This month, Irans National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) signed a memorandum of understanding with Bank Mellat for the financing of the construction of a strategic oil pipeline over a four-year period. The Tabesh pipeline, which will be built to connect the Kerman and Razavi Khorasan Provinces, is expected to measure 948 km at a cost of $425.1m. Included in this price are three terminals and two pump stations. NIORDC is aiming for a total transportation capacity of 150,000 bpd of petrol products, ensuring greater fuel security in the east and northeast of Iran.

Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji stated, "If this pipeline is not there, about 800 to 1000 tankers would be needed to carry this product daily." In addition, "The project is important for fuelling power plants and industries [in this region], but also for exporting to neighbouring countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Yet, Iran still remains firmly under U.S. sanctions, limiting the oil-rich countrys potential for growth. Iran and the United States continue their stand-off over the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal but, despite stubbornness from both sites, Iran and the U.S. both stand to benefit from the signing of an agreement. For Biden, it would mean advances in U.S. foreign policy, following a messy exit from Afghanistan. For Iran, it would mean the alleviating of conflict, as well as the potential to revive its economy through greater oil revenues and increased trade in general.

Recently, Iran has garnered greater support from major world powers China and Russia in its battle against the U.S., following years of almost total opposition. In a meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian a 25-year cooperation agreement was announced between the two states. Wang stated in the meeting that the U.S. bore the primary responsibility for the continuing difficulties with Iran, due to its unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He also said that China opposes illegal unilateral sanctions against Iran.

Similarly, in a meeting this week between President Vladimir V. Putin and President Ebrahim Raisi, the Russian leader said his country had been resisting America for 40 years. He suggested that the two states, along with China, should put on a united front against the U.S. Despite significant differences between the two states, Putin said On the international arena, we are cooperating very closely.

While U.S. sanctions on Iran continue, and tensions mount over ongoing negotiations, Iran seems set on developing its oil industry. With plans for increased oil sales over the next year, greater oil security through the construction of a new pipeline, and the increase of petroproduct output thanks to its new super-heavy crude refinery, Iran is clearly setting itself up to take center stage in regional oil production. And with support from major players like China and Russia, it is only a matter of time until Iran achieves this goal.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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The hottest oil countries in South AmericaGuyana, Suriname, and Brazilare set to discuss later this week the setting up of a new energy alliance and building infrastructure across the countries to share their growing oil and gas resources.

The heads of state of Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname will discuss on Friday joint infrastructure and energy projects that would boost the countries economies and help oil equipment transportation, exports, and imports.

Before the three-way summit, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to visit Suriname on Thursday and travel with his Surinamese counterpart to Guyana on Friday.

Construction of roads, bridges, and a deepwater port in Guyana will be among the topics discussed.

The deepwater harbour is a major part of our transformation agenda, and we want Brazil to be part of it, Guyanas Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud told Reuters earlier this week. Guyana offers the shortest and quickest access to the Atlantic for significant parts of northern Brazil, he added.

The three heads of state are also expected to discuss the Arco Norte projecta 3,000-MW power link to connect Guyana, French Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil.

Brazil has long been a major oil producer in South America, while Guyana and Suriname have only recently become the next hotspots offshore the continent.

One of South Americas poorest countries, Guyana, became a major holder of oil and gas reserves in 2015 when ExxonMobil found oil in its waters in what turned out to be a block with resources estimated at 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels and counting. Now Guyana wants to capitalize on the large oil and gas discoveries over the past half-decade to build up an economy powered by its own energy resources.

Suriname, too, hopes to replicate Guyanas success. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Guyana-Suriname Basin could hold up to 32.6 billion barrels of undiscovered oil resources, underscoring the tremendous hydrocarbon potential that the countries share.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Asia is set to be the region that will see the most growth in nuclear energy, with China, India, and South Korea all looking to increase their nuclear energy capacity

While several states around the world are turning their back on nuclear power, the overall appetite for the low-carbon energy source is climbing

As countries around the world seek to transition away from high carbon energy sources, investments in nuclear power are set to soar in the coming years

Nuclear power can be a polarizing energy source, but as countries seek greener, low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels, investments in nuclear are projected to soar in the coming years. Rystad Energy research indicates that $91 billion will be invested in the global nuclear sector by the end of next year as its popularity continues an upward trend in heavily populated countries such as China, India, and Russia.

Investments in nuclear are expected to total $45 billion in 2022 and $46 billion in 2023, up from $44 billion in 2021, with 52 reactors currently under construction in 19 countries worldwide. Once completed, this new infrastructure will deliver 54 gigawatts (GW) of new installed capacity.

Global installed nuclear power capacity totaled nearly 400 GW last year and accounted for almost 10% of global electricity generation. Building a new nuclear plant takes at least five years, so capacity increases are unlikely in the near term, meaning the sector will experience a decline in capacity caused by recent shutdowns. However, global investments are rising due to countries with well-defined nuclear expansion plans, and capacity will as a result increase in the long term.

Nuclear generation is the second-largest source of low-carbon electricity after hydropower and has been in use since the 1950s. With the imperative to cut emissions stepping up worldwide, nuclear power generation is set to play an important role in the push to limit global warming, says Rystad Energy analyst Karan Satwani.

However, not all countries are on the same page regarding prolonging or adopting the technology. The recent closure of nuclear reactors in countries including the US and France has caused a drop in installed nuclear generation capacity, with further phase-outs in countries such as Germany on the cards. Concurrently, other nations are establishing their first nuclear reactors to provide baseload low-carbon electricity.

Europe is the region with the most installed capacity at more than 170 nuclear reactors in operation, contributing to just under a third of global nuclear-installed capacity. French operator Electricite de France has 56 reactors in its portfolio alone. Asia is in second place with about 140 nuclear reactors in operation and holds a market share of just over 30%. North America, chiefly driven by the US, is responsible for nearly 28% of the global total with 112 operational nuclear reactors. Global installed capacity is likely to remain stable over the next two years as new reactors are cancelled out by the closure of existing nuclear plants. In the US, France, and the UK, many nuclear reactors have been in operation for more than 40 years and are nearing the end of their life cycle.

Global installed capacity will grow at a modest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.2% from 2017 to 2023. Most of this growth will be in Asia, which is expected to increase its share of nuclear power generation in the coming years. Asia has 32 nuclear reactors under construction that will generate over 30 GW in electricity annually, with China, India, and South Korea primarily driving the regions growth. China is planning at least 150 new nuclear reactors over the next 15 years at a total estimated cost of $440 billion. This will meet China General Nuclear Power Corporations plan to expand nuclear capacity significantly.

India is also exploring a multitude of options to reduce its carbon emissions. In September, the New Delhi administration announced a target of tripling its annual nuclear power generation compared with current levels in the next 10 years. Earlier this year, US President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that includes $6 billion to establish a new Civil Nuclear Credit program  a critical investment that aims to extend the life of the existing reactor fleet in the US and ensure they operate safely for as long as is technically possible. Elsewhere, several African nations have expressed an interest in nuclear power, with many currently at various decision-making stages.

Four nuclear-generation projects started construction in 2021  three in China and one in Turkey. Chinese operators China Huaneng Group, Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corporation, and Liaoning Nuclear Power began building a nuclear reactor of more than 1 GW in capacity. In Turkey, the Akkuyu Nuclear Joint Stock Company has started constructing a reactor capable of producing 1.1 GW of power once online. Although several countries are planning to invest significantly in the nuclear sector and are prioritizing a role for nuclear power as part of the energy transition, some others are opting out of nuclear power altogether in light of concerns over safety and other issues, opting instead to shift their focus to other sources of energy.

By Rystad Energy

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In the same vein, China has become the world's biggest LNG importer, managing to overtake Japan for the first time since the latter pioneered the industry in the 1970s.

According to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, output from American facilities edged above Qatar in December after a jump in exports from the Sabine Pass and Freeport facilities.

The 60-year liquefied natural gas industry has a new hierarchy in place, and it's opening up new trading opportunities. For the first time ever, the United States has become the world's largest LNG exporter, establishing itself as a bona fide natural gas superpower.

From a position of relative obscurity just five years ago, the U.S. LNG sector has rapidly risen through the ranks to challenge the heavyweights. U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity has expanded rapidly since the Lower 48 states first began exporting LNG in 2016. In 2020, the United States became the world's third-largest LNG exporter, behind Australia and Qatar.

And now, the United States has become the world's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter as deliveries surged to energy-starved Europe. According to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, output from American facilities edged above Qatar in December after a jump in exports from the Sabine Pass and Freeport facilities, with LNG giant, Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE: LNG), saying last month that a new production unit at its Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana produced its first cargo.

In the same vein, China has become the world's biggest LNG importer, managing to overtake Japan for the first time since the latter pioneered the industry in the 1970s.

Interestingly, the two seismic events are being blamed for the massive spike in volatility in the natural gas markets. Gas markets have become highly volatile, trading up and down on single days in ranges they barely covered over decades. For instance, European natural gas prices, often used as a benchmark for LNG, hit a record high of 180 euros per megawatt-hour in mid-December before crashing more than 60% over a 10-day span.

According to Bloomberg, the new LNG superpowers are not nearly as predictable as their predecessors leading to uncertainties in the markets. For starters, reliable data from China is hard to come by. China's enormous weight within the market allows it to more easily influence spot rates or long-term pricing norms.

As a result, LNG prices have seen wild swings as it's become a widely traded commodity, similar to crude oil. Trading desks have proliferated globally, with Wall Street banks like Macquarie Group and Citigroup Inc. hiring traders to cash in on the volatility while Japanese LNG giants like Jera Corp. and Tokyo Gas Co. have set up their own LNG trading houses.

In recent years, independent traders such as Vitol Group and Trafigura as well as in-house trading units of oil and gas giants such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE:RDS.A), BP Plc (NYSE:BP), and TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) have posted record profits thanks to increased volatility in the oil and gas markets.

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. LNG Winning

Last month, European natural gas prices hit a new record high after a pipeline that brings Russian gas to Germany switched flows to the east while U.S. ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) destined for the European market are diverting to Asia, where prices are even higher.

Westward gas flows through the 2,607-mile-long Yamal-Europe pipeline, one of the major routes for Russian gas to Europe, have been gradually falling since Saturday but have now reversed direction, a move the Kremlin says has no political implications.

Some western politicians contend that Russia is using its natural gas as a weapon in the political tussle tied to Ukraine, as well as delays in the certification of another controversial pipeline, Nord Stream 2. Russia, of course, has denied any connection.

"There is absolutely no connection (to Nord Stream 2), this is a purely commercial situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call.

The litmus test of Gazprom's capacity to act as a swing supplier was its ability to drop production dramatically in 2020 and then to bring it back up again quickly in 2021. Yet, Gazprom has failed to bring any more spare production capacity online when needed most for one reason: it has none left.

Related: Tight Physical Crude Market Points To Higher Oil Prices

According to Vitaly Yermakov, expert with the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Gazprom has really been "firing on all cylinders", pushing its gas output to maximum levels at all of its key fields for most of 2021 so far. In fact, there was no sharp cyclical decline in output over the summer months.

Yermakov points to several reasons why Gazprom has been unable to cover the call for increased gas production or to fully refill gas storage in Russia and in Europe. First off, very low gas prices in 2020 forced extremely high withdrawals of gas from storage by producers in a bid to minimize transportation costs and reduce losses. Second, the combined effects of robust gas demand, extreme weather patterns, and limited LNG availability in Europe have resulted in extreme market tightness and high prices. Gazprom has actually done well by managing to meet all its contractual obligations and increased deliveries to Europe, but could not single-handedly address Europe's energy insecurity.

The latest reverse flows have only added to bullish factors for the gas markets, but there's one big winner: the United States.

Although the U.S. LNG lead appears temporary at the moment, the country is set to become the world's undisputed leader in LNG exports once the new LNG liquefaction units, called trains, at Sabine Pass and Calcasieu Pass in Louisiana are placed in service by the end of the current year.

Global LNG demand has hit record highs each year since 2015, thanks in large part to surging demand in China and the rest of Asia. Much of that global appetite has been steadily met by rising U.S. LNG exports, which have reached new records every year since 2016, a trend that appears set to continue.

Source: EIA

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (IEA) projects that U.S. LNG exports will hit 11.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2022, good for a 22% slice of the expected world LNG demand of 53.3 bcfd.

The U.S. expects to make key LNG export capacity additions next year:

Train 6 at the Sabine Pass LNG export facility

Train 6 will add up to 0.76 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of peak export capacity. The terminal began producing LNG in late November, with the first export cargo from this train expected to be shipped before the end of 2021.

Calcasieu Pass LNG

This new export facility has 18 liquefaction trains with a combined peak capacity of 12 million metric tons per annum (1.6 Bcf/d). Commissioning activities at Calcasieu Pass LNG started in November 2021, with the first LNG production expected before the end of this year.

All liquefaction trains are expected to be operational by the end of 2022.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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Major Chinese liquefied natural gas (LNG) importers are now offering to resell some cargoes on the spot market this year, suggesting that China has stocked up more than enough to see it through the winter and easing concerns about the global gas crunch.

Natural gas prices fell on Wednesday and Thursday after reports emerged that major state-owned LNG importers in China have turned to the spot market to sell some cargoes.

The trading arm of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, issued this week a sales tender to sell dozens of LNG cargoes for delivery between February and October, traders familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday. According to the traders, this will be the first time that Sinopec has offered to sell such a large number of LNG cargoes, up to 45.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the largest Chinese importer of liquefied natural gas, is also tendering a cargo each month between May and November, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The moves from some of the biggest LNG importers in China suggest that the country has managed to stock up well on gas before the energy crunch sent natural gas prices surging at the end of last year. Milder weather in China so far this winter has also helped Beijing to see a comfortable supply of gas.

However, traders are anxious that the LNG offering could signal expectations from the Chinese state majors that the zero-COVID policy could hit gas demand in the country, Bloomberg notes.

Meanwhile, the influx of LNG cargoes to Europe offset fears of low Russian supply and the rising Russia-Ukraine tensions to send European gas prices lower on Wednesday. The LNG inflows pushed Europes gas prices lower, despite geopolitical trends such as increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine, delays in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and eastward flows on the key Yamal-Europe pipeline for the 30th consecutive day with no further exports to Europe planned from Gazprom in February.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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OPECs share of crude imports in India dropped last year to the lowest in at least 15 years, as the worlds third-largest oil importer bought more crude from North America to offset the inability to buy from Iran and Venezuela, Reuters has estimated, based on data obtained from industry sources.

OPEC continued to hold the largest share of Indias oil imports, but that share fell to 70 percent last year. To compare, back in 2008, Indias crude oil imports from the organizations producers stood at 87 percent.

India has been trying to diversify its oil imports for years, considering high import dependence on OPEC as a geopolitical risk. The country had to stop purchases from OPEC members Iran and Venezuela over the past two years because of the U.S. sanctions. Indian refiners chose to abide by the sanctions regime and not give the United States reasons for possible secondary sanctions or for cutting off Indian companies from the U.S. financial system and markets.

The lack of crude from Venezuela and Iran was one of the reasons why OPECs share of Indian oil imports fell last year to the lowest at least since 2007. The other was Indian refiners opportunistically importing more crude from the United States and Canada when arbitrage allowed and prices were favorable.

India is one of the most price-sensitive large importers of oil, and last year it repeatedly called on OPEC and OPEC+ to increase production more than planned in order to bring international crude oil prices down.

Early last year, India called on the OPEC+ group to boost production, saying that it does not support artificial cuts to keep the price going up.

As oil prices rallied at the beginning of 2021, India started to call on OPEC+ as early as January to consider the effects of higher oil prices on consumption in recovering economies.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Millard Public Schools Superintendent Jim Sutfin said his school district is in crisis mode as it struggles to keep schools staffed amid the omicron surge.

Folks, were in crisis mode, Sutfin told his school board this week. We are absolutely in crisis mode.

Some Nebraska school districts, including Millard, are shortening their school weeks to prevent classrooms from not having a teacher. Millard has scheduled remote learning for Friday, Jan. 28; Monday, Jan. 31; and Friday, Feb. 11.

By going remote, the district is hoping teachers and students who have contracted the virus can recuperate at home without missing as many school days, the district said in a letter to parents.

At a school board meeting earlier this week, Sutfin described the challenges his district is currently facing.

Sutfin said on Jan. 13 that the district had 186 staff absences. That number included only certificated staff members, who require substitute teachers to replace them. It did not include secretaries, custodians or food service workers.

The district couldnt find substitutes for 35 of those staff members and scrambled to get those jobs filled. By the evening of Jan. 13, the district had 40 unfilled substitute teacher jobs, and Sutfin said he knew the number would only grow overnight.

Millard, and almost every other school district in the metro area, declared Jan. 14 a snow day. Sutfin said its not a secret that the snow day was called partially because of staffing issues.

Westside Community Schools Superintendent Mike Lucas tweeted as much when he announced the snow day for his district. He cited the weather and a high number of student and staff absences due to COVID-19.

In addition to staff absences, Sutfin said the district is seeing a record number of students absent for COVID-19 and also a few more absences due to the mask mandate.

Requiring masks has been hotly debated in Millard, and the district had made them optional prior to a mask mandate being instituted in Omaha last week.

For each student absence, teachers must create makeup work and catch students up when they return. And because of staffing shortages, more staff are being asked to cover lunch and their co-workers classrooms, often giving up their own plan time in the process. Staff must then do their own work after school or on the weekends.

Its just not a great situation for our teaching staff, and its really, really worn them down, Sutfin said.

Millard is trying to help with the workload by shutting down professional development work beyond a few vital items. Heather Phipps, associate superintendent of education services for Millard, said the district is trying to ease up in some areas to allow teachers to recoup some plan time lost when they fill in for co-workers.

District-level staff are also being asked to substitute teach and fill in when jobs go unfilled.

Even with using district-level leaders, theres only so much capacity in the district, which means theyre going to be suspending the work they are currently doing during this time period, Sutfin said.

When asked which district-level leaders would be asked to help out, Sutfin said it will be anybody with a teaching certificate. This Friday every qualified district-level staff member will be on standby to substitute teach.

Fridays are often the worst days because the virus builds all week, Sutfin said.

Sutfin said Millard has been blessed compared to some school districts. He said there are horror stories, including from other school districts in the metro area, where classes have gone without a full-time teacher for the entire school year.

This is an issue of the workforce and being able to staff our buildings, and right now were in trouble, Sutfin said. Were in a struggle. This is not just Millard, this is every school district across the country and every school district across the metro area.

On Wednesday, there were 315 active cases of COVID-19 reported in the district. Thats 1.15% of the districts population.

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LINCOLN  Arguments that Nebraska needs to beef up protections for religious rights and freedoms fell short Wednesday in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Legislative Bill 774, a proposal that would have provided broader protections, got only four votes from committee members. It needed five to advance to the full Legislature.

State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon introduced the measure, which he dubbed the First Freedom Act. During a public hearing Wednesday, he said the bill would ensure that people of all faiths can live their lives and practice their religion freely in Nebraska.

The senator said he had been looking at the idea but was inspired to introduce the bill by a 2020 case involving two Native American students in the Cody-Kilgore school district. School employees repeatedly cut the girls hair, even after their parents objected and informed school officials that hair is a sacred symbol in Lakota tradition. The parents have filed a federal lawsuit over the incident.

In addition, Brewer, who is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said he had heard from Native American inmates in the states prisons who said they were being prevented from exercising their faith.

John Horsechief, who works for Open Door Mission, urged support for the bill. He cited the history of suppression of Native American faiths, as well as concerns that faith-based organizations face funding discrimination.

Mae Anne Balschweid said she backed it because of her experiences working with refugees and immigrants of many different religions.

LB 774 is similar to laws passed at the federal level and in more than 20 other states. But new, COVID-era sections were added to ensure that religious organizations and practices would not be targeted under future health and safety measures.

Tom Venzor, executive director for the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said such measures provide for a balancing test, under which governments can limit or penalize a persons freedom of religion only if those restrictions are essential to a compelling government interest and are the least burdensome means of achieving that end.

But opponents said the bill would give special legal exemptions and preferences to religious people and organizations. They said the bill would allow religious groups to ignore laws that apply to others, particularly when it comes to discriminating against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Its not a balancing as much as it is an elevating, said Brett Parker, state policy manager for American Atheists. Your religion should not give you more or less civil rights under the law.

Spike Eickholt, a lobbyist for ACLU Nebraska, said the state and federal constitutions already provide robust protection for religion, but do not allow religious freedom the right to harm others or to discriminate.

He raised concerns about how the bill would apply during public emergencies, such as the pandemic. He said it was constitutionally appropriate to restrict religious gatherings along with non-religious gatherings to protect the health and safety of the public.

During discussion later, Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha said she thought the bill needed an amendment to address opponents concerns about discrimination and whether religious freedom arguments could be used to ignore state laws.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha said he agreed and questioned whether a problem existed with religious freedom being impaired in Nebraska.

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A bill that would have Nebraska law enforcement agencies collect DNA from people accused of some felonies barely cleared a filibuster to earn second-round approval in the Nebraska Legislature Wednesday.

Proponents see Legislative Bill 496 as a tool for solving cold cases and exonerating innocent people, while opponents see it as government overreach that would exacerbate the already-disproportionate impacts of the criminal justice system on people of color.

The state already collects DNA samples from people convicted of felonies.

Under LB 496, law enforcement agencies would also swab the cheeks of people who are arrested and booked on suspicion of burglary and felonies such as arson, assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, murder and robbery.

In the latest version of the bill, their sample wouldnt be tested or entered in the state database until a judge determines theres probable cause to charge that person, or if they waive the hearing where probable cause is determined.

If probable cause isnt found, that persons sample would be destroyed. A person could request that their records be cleared from the state database if their conviction is reversed or if the charge is dismissed. The State Patrol, which maintains the states database, would have to purge DNA records and destroy samples when it gets that sort of request.

Similar laws have passed in over 30 other states. Amendments to Nebraskas bill brought it into alignment with a law that the U.S. Supreme Court deemed constitutional in its 2013 Maryland v. King decision, according to sponsor Sen. Robert Hilkemann.

This is a bill I believe will help Nebraska be smart on crime by using DNA to exonerate the innocent and identify individuals responsible for unsolved crimes, said Hilkemann, who represents District 4 in Omaha.

During debate, which stretched over three legislative days, Hilkemann presented examples of how the law has helped solve cold cases in other states. He also referenced a personal experience with unsolved crime: His second cousin, David Stevens, was killed in California in 1998, and it took years before the killer was brought to justice.

Opponents argued that anecdotes arent enough to justify collecting DNA from people who will ultimately be found innocent.

We have due process for a reason in this country, and it is to protect every citizen and their rights, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said. And it is to protect the constitution. We shouldnt be taking shortcuts.

Cavanaugh argued that any resources available for DNA testing should go toward chipping away at a backlog of sexual assault kits. The State Patrols crime lab is still testing kits from 2020, she said.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha raised concerns that a person may not be able remove their records from a federal database if they plead down to a lower-level crime. The State Patrol provides records to the FBI for its Combined DNA Index System, where DNA profiles can be searched against each other.

Wayne, whos a public defender, also said the burden for a judge finding probable cause is extremely low  and afterward, people may still be found not guilty or they can plead down to a lower charge. Sen. John Cavanaugh, also a public defender, estimated he had won just 1% of probable cause hearings, and Wayne estimated hed won one out of a few hundred.

He and others also objected to the bills potential impact on people of color.

If communities are overpoliced and study after study show that theyre overcharged, then the result of this bill is going to be an overcollection of certain peoples DNA, Wayne said.

Senators voted 33-12 to end the filibuster, just hitting the 33-vote minimum, and voted 26-16 to give it second-round approval.

Whether LB 496 has enough support to make it into law, though, seemed uncertain.

In Wednesdays debate, Wayne pleaded with colleagues who committed to getting the bill through this round but wont vote for its final passage. He asked them to instead give the bill a fast death. And he warned fellow Democrats that if they voted to end the filibuster, this would turn into a long session.

Im just saying you cant be an ally when its convenient, he said. He called voting to end the filibuster playing with peoples lives.

Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln was among senators who voted to end the filibuster, but not for the bill to advance. Wishart said that she was giving Hilkemann a lifeline, allowing him to work with the opposition to see if theres a way forward.

Its not yet clear when the bill will come back to the floor for final consideration. When it does, it will need 33 votes to overcome another filibuster and 25 to pass.

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LINCOLN  The embattled State Board of Education could be eliminated and the Nebraska Department of Education brought under the governors control under a measure introduced in the Legislature Wednesday.

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn introduced Legislative Resolution 278CA. The proposed constitutional amendment would go before Nebraska voters in November if passed by lawmakers.

The resolution seeks to do away with a normally low-key elected board that has been in existence since 1952. The eight-member board sets policy for Nebraska schools, hires the education commissioner and oversees the work of the Education Department.

The board and commissioner oversee a variety of programs, including statewide academic standards and assessments; accountability; teacher certification and discipline; school accreditation; federal school aid and programs; career, technical and adult education; and vocational rehabilitation.

Board members faced a firestorm of criticism last year after proposing new health education standards for Nebraska schools that incorporated teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation. The standards have since been shelved.

Linehans proposal differs from an initiative petition drive, which proposes to eliminate the state board, the commissioner position and the Education Department, replacing them with an Office of Education under the governor. Linehans measure would leave the department and commissioner in place but have the governor pick the commissioner.

Among other bills introduced Wednesday:

School discipline School employees could physically restrain students when necessary to protect people or secure property under a bill introduced by Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte. LB 1179 represents Groenes latest attempt to strengthen school discipline. Previous attempts have failed in the face of filibusters.

LB 1179 would protect employees from liability for using classroom safety interventions under certain conditions. It would require key school employees to be trained about such interventions and about behavioral awareness and would provide funding to schools for such training. The bill also would require that schools develop a policy describing when and how a teacher can request that administrators remove disruptive students from class.

Medication abortions Nebraska would tighten restrictions on medication-induced abortions under LB 1086, introduced by Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln. The proposal is the third this year targeting abortion rights.

It would allow medication-induced abortions only within the first seven weeks of pregnancy, or three weeks earlier than recommended by the federal Food and Drug Administration. It would require that physicians schedule follow-up visits with patients 14 days after an abortion and submit reports to the state about any abortion-related complications. It also would prohibit abortion-inducing medications from being mailed or delivered to a person.

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The Nebraska Attorney Generals Office has accused a New York couple of carrying out a $59.6 million Medicaid fraud involving the ownership of a chain of nursing homes in Nebraska.

In the complaint filed in Lancaster County District Court, Joseph Schwartz, Rosie Schwartz and Skyline Healthcare LLC are accused of surreptitiously directing and controlling the major operations and management of 22 Nebraska care homes under the Cottonwood Healthcare LLC umbrella and making decisions that harmed the nursing homes and benefited the Schwartzes and Skyline financially.

The facilities ultimately were put in receivership in 2018 after failing to make payroll. They were in communities across the state, including Omaha.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Vicki Adams said Skyline, through the Schwartzes, acquired operational ownership of well over 100 nursing homes in Nebraska and a half dozen other states starting in 2016.

The 22 in Nebraska previously had operated as Golden Living.

Adams said business office managers, many of whom had worked for Golden Living before the transfer of ownership, were told the facilities would function much the same as they had before.

She said the managers went to Skyline, which had no more than 15 employees at any given time, when they needed assistance or direction managing the facilities.

According to the lawsuit, some expressed concern about Skylines ability to successfully manage the Nebraska Cottonwood facilities.

While local facilities hired staff for day-to-day operations, the financial operations werent within their control. They had no operating budget or monthly financial reports tracking expenses.

Adams said Skyline determined which bills got paid. Often vendors that were owned by Joseph Schwartz or his business associates were paid while others werent.

In some cases, employees at the Nebraska nursing homes would use their own money to pay vendors for the residents sake.

By March 23, 2018, Skyline informed state officials that it couldnt make payroll for its Nebraska employees, and the state sought to place the Cottonwood facilities into receivership.

Adams said a number of employees at the local level learned they didnt have health insurance through their jobs despite paying premiums through Skyline.

Shortly after the Nebraska Cottonwood facilities went into receivership, the same thing happened in South Dakota, Kansas and some of the Arkansas facilities.

Adams said the businesss cost reports, which are required to be provided by long-term care facilities for payment by Nebraska Medicaid, used false numbers that led to the payment of $3 million above the approximately $30 million they should have received for the operation of the Nebraska Cottonwood nursing homes.

The company now is accused of making false records, failing to maintain documentation and fraudulent misrepresentation, which resulted in payments to which they werent entitled.

As a result of the defendants breach of their agreements with Medicaid, the plaintiff suffered damages in the amount of $59,652,388.90, the attorney said in the lawsuit.

Violations of the False Medicaid Claims Act are subject to up to three times damages and up to a $10,000 penalty per claim submitted.

Adams said in addition to the $59.6 million amount, Nebraska is seeking triple damages of $178,957, plus attorney fees.

In December, 61-year-old Joseph Schwartz, of Brooklyn, was charged in Arkansas with eight counts of Medicaid fraud for the alleged overbilling there that resulted in an overpayment of $3.6 million for the eight nursing homes there.

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The university announced last week it had procured a batch of the masks that it would distribute to the campus community for free. The masks are believed to provide better protection against the omicron variant than cloth masks.

Distribution started Tuesday, with more information for students expected throughout the week, said spokesperson Eric Jome. The masks come in packages of two per person, so students and employees are still encouraged to get their own if they can.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on Jan. 14 to say that N95 and KN95 masks, which are technically considered respirators, are appropriate for day-to-day wear. It had earlier discouraged their widespread use to reserve supplies for medical workers.

ISU started the semester with two weeks of remote learning due to the surge in COVID cases across the country and in Bloomington-Normal. Students are also required to test negative before returning to campus.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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BLOOMINGTON  COVID remains a massive challenge facing Bloomington District 87 since school resumed earlier this month.

Things have been extremely challenging to say the least, Superintendent Barry Reilly said at Wednesdays board meeting.

The district reported Monday that there were 210 student cases last week, along with another 32 staff cases. More than 500 students who were close contacts were able to return to school due to being vaccinated or testing negative under the "test to stay" protocol, while 316 students had to quarantine for the full time.

Since Saturday there have been around 30 staff who have been out due to being sick or being close contacts, Reilly said.

He pointed to the test to stay program as a success, where students can stay in person if they test negative after being a close contact. There were concerns earlier that the high school might run out of available tests for the program, but Reilly said that staff had been able to find more tests.

As you know, if youve heard anything in the news about testing, its extremely difficult to get tests, he said.

The board also approved a large increase in expense for cybersecurity insurance. Chief Financial and Facilities Officer Michael Cornale said the increase was part of a nationwide trend of rapidly increasing costs. The 2022 premium is $22,229, a 334% increase from 2021, when the district paid $6,661.

The district participates in the Suburban School Cooperative Insurance program, through which it receives the insurance. The cooperative is contracting with Cowbell Cyber.

The board also accepted a contract with GRP|WEGMAN, an energy services contractor. The initial bid was accepted at the December meeting. The second contract solidifies a proposal from the company to replace the chiller at Bloomington High School for $377,800.

The contract guarantees savings from the new equipment, including compensation from the company to the district if the energy savings are not as high as expected, Cornale told The Pantagraph.

The board heard one public comment from Michelle Purkes, a staff member at Sarah E. Raymond School of Early Education. She expressed disappointment in recent administrative decisions at the school over the past year, including the sudden move to remote instruction earlier this month and what she said was a lack of support during the teacher and substitute shortage.

One audience member asked to speak but had not signed up beforehand so was not allowed to under board rules. He said he had originally gone to the high school where the meetings are normally held and so had missed the signup period.

The meeting was held at the junior high school due to theater rehearsal at the high school, Reilly said.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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CHICAGO - A group of Chicago civil rights attorneys signed a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot Wednesday asking her to withdraw an ordinance introduced in September which aims to allow the fining of gang members and gives police the authority to seize their property.

The proposal, called the Victims Justice Ordinance, was introduced as Lightfoot is under pressure to crack down on Chicagos gun violence and high homicide rate. The mayor has repeatedly acknowledged that many Chicagoans dont feel safe, a dynamic that threatens public safety, residents mental health and the citys economy. The ordinance was expected to prompt legal challenges from civil rights attorneys and social justice organizations, who believe the measure could wrongly accuse Black and Latino residents of being involved in gang activity.

The letter says that the proposed law will cause the city costly litigation and perpetuate racial disparities in law enforcement practices and it will not reduce harm and violence.

We regularly represent Chicagoans who bear the brunt of CPDs unlawful, racist policing, the letter says. Our clients dont just want to be free from state violence  they want to live in safe, healthy, thriving communities. But for the reasons described further below, the Victims Justice Ordinance will only further the inequities that plague our city.

Lightfoot and her office have also faced criticism from former high-ranking staff. Susan Lee, a top adviser to Lightfoot and former deputy mayor for public safety, resigned in August while raising concerns about the citys ability to keep moving the ball forward on its violence prevention efforts and the police departments consent-decree implementation.

A month after Lee resigned, she co-wrote an article with Southwest Side Ald. Matt OShea in which they declared Chicago a city in crisis.

The ordinance, if approved, could allow judges or court officers to impose fines as high as $10,000 for each offense and seize any property that is directly or indirectly used or intended for use in any manner to facilitate street gang-related activity.

It also calls for the seizure of any property that gangs obtained through illegal means such as drug-dealing or other crimes.

To be very blunt and clear, we are going after their blood money, Lightfoot said when she announced the proposal.

Asked about criticism of the plan, Lightfoot on Tuesday said her administration needs to do more to educate the public about the ordinance.

Theres a huge profit motive that these gangs have to wreak havoc and commit violence across the city and we want to take that profit motive away, Lightfoot said. I think thats absolutely a tool that we need to be using.

The mayor said her administration will use money recovered under the act, if it passes, to support victims and witnesses.

Sheila Bedi, one of the civil rights attorneys who signed the letter, said the letter is signed on by attorneys who have often filed lawsuits against the police department and have been responsible for the city spending over half a billion dollars in legal fees and judgements related to police misconduct.

This is a proposal that will do nothing to stop the harm that our communities are experiencing, Bedi said. To the contrary, well add in a whole other layer of harm in it will give the state another tool to use to target our Chicagos poor black and brown community. ... If the mayor wants to avoid the kind of legal liability that the Chicago Police Department has exposed taxpayers to over the years, it will listen to the attorneys that have signed on to this letter.

The letter from the civil rights bar said that Chicago has a long history of focusing its policing efforts on street gangs, but these practices have led to significant legal challenges, and this new ordinance will likely suffer the same fate due to its broad language.

The ordinance also gives the city broad discretion to seize any property that it claims is used to facilitate gang-related activity, the letter says, which could cause relatives of police-suspected gang members to have their property taken.

In addition, the ordinance relies on CPDs gang designations and intelligence, which the letter calls notoriously inaccurate and racially disparate.

The letter also cites a study from the Lucy Parson Lab Chicago, which looked at all asset forfeiture by CPD from 2009 and 2015. It found that the department focused on asset forfeiture on the South and West sides of Chicago, targeting Black and poor residents. In addition, the letter also says that there is little oversight over how CPD uses the money collected from asset forfeiture, so the ordinance could create incentives for officers to label people as gang members and take their property because the department would benefit from the forfeitures.

We urge you to abandon this Ordinance and the failed approach to public safety it represents, the letter says. Instead, we hope you will adopt public safety initiatives that invest in and build on the strengths of our communities.

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When they met in 2018, Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar found Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin to be a bright guy who was personable and ultimately left a favorable impression.

Irvin, who had just been elected to lead Illinois second-largest city the previous year, was participating in the Edgar Fellows program, a five-day executive training designed by the former governor to influence attitudes and foster mutual understanding among emerging Illinois leaders across partisan, ethnic and regional lines.

Irvin so impressed Edgar that he was invited back to speak on a panel of mayors to a future Edgar Fellows class.

But one impression that was not immediately clear to the former Republican governor was that Irvin, who holds a nonpartisan office, was himself a Republican.

I was impressed with him, but I guess I thought he was a Democrat, Edgar told me in an interview Tuesday. And I think that's going to be probably the major challenge for him is to convince Republicans that he's a Republican. Time will tell whether thats going to happen or not.

Irvin announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor on Monday. He is running as part of a slate of candidates recruited by ex-staffers of former Gov. Bruce Rauner and former Sen. Mark Kirk and expected to be funded by billionaire Ken Griffin and other large donors.

The goal is to beat incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire himself, with Griffin pledging to go all in on the effort. Griffin and other major Republican donors had been searching for a Republican candidate to back against Pritzker, believing the existing field of GOP candidates not viable in a general election.

They believe they found their man in Irvin, an Army veteran and former prosecutor who would be the states first African American governor, if elected.

A day after his announcement, Irvin released a list of 60 endorsements from various establishment GOP figures in Illinois, including House Minority Leader Jim Durkin and former U.S. Rep. John Shimkus.

However, the take on Irvin and the GOP slate that I wanted to hear most was from Edgar, who knows a thing or two about winning elections as a Republican in a blue state.

After all, he was the last Republican to be reelected to a second term as governor of Illinois. He also left office extremely popular  so much so that the national party twice attempted to recruit him to run for U.S. Senate.

Edgars successor, Republican Gov. George Ryan, on the other hand, opted not to run for reelection and left office under the cloud of scandal, which eventually led to federal corruption charges and a stint in prison.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner was defeated by Pritzker in 2018 after four years marred by fights with legislative Democrats and a more than two-year budget impasse.

The party is now shut out of all statewide offices and is toiling away in the superminority in the General Assembly.

So, I called Edgar on Tuesday to ask for his thoughts on Irvin and the slate, which includes state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, for lieutenant governor; state Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, for treasurer; lawyer Steve Kim for attorney general; former U.S. Attorney John Milhiser for secretary of state; and McHenry County Auditor Shannon Teresi for comptroller.

It'll be interesting to see how the party receives that, Edgar told me. But, the candidates seem like they're legitimate candidates. I mean, I think they bring something to the table and if Griffin's coming through with the money, money is really important in a primary.

If he's going to fund these campaigns, that will definitely give them a leg up, Edgar said. Now the drawback, though, is people are going to say, 'well, they're all going to be his puppet,' and they're going to have to handle that charge, particularly in the governor's race.

Irvins announcement featured a tough-on-crime message that played up his background as a prosecutor and his record on the issue as mayor of Aurora.

Ive seen it up close. Defund the police is dumb, dangerous and it costs lives. And I believe that all lives matter. Every family should be safe, Irvin said. My city is now safe, stronger and full of opportunity. I want that for Illinois.

However, Irvin has pulled Democratic primary ballots in several recent elections and is on tape praising Pritzkers pandemic response just within the past year. Its led some to question his conservative bonafides.

In a sense, Irivin is somewhat of a blank slate regardless as running a city is not inherently the most partisan endeavor. Theres no such thing as Republican potholes or Democratic streetlights.

However, this may play to his advantage in a general election, Edgar said, noting the importance of Republicans winning back moderates in the Chicago suburbs.

I do think that he would make a viable candidate  if he can get past the primary  in the fall, Edgar said. The fact that he seems somewhat moderate; he's well funded; he's African American, so perhaps he can pull over some African American votes, which are really the key to the Democrats in Illinois.

But the Republicans, I think, have to realize that they've got to win a lot of independents and moderate Republicans back  and maybe what I call 'thoughtful Democrats.' And you can't go too far to the right to do that, Edgar continued. That's why Irvin would have a good shot because I think he will undoubtedly be perceived more in the middle than he will be to the far right.

But even if Irvin emerges from the GOP primary, it will be an uphill climb in the general election, Edgar said.

Well, I think an incumbent governor has the advantage going into an election  should have the advantage  unless they've been a terrible governor, Edgar said. And I don't think Pritzker has been a terrible governor. I mean, he's had some tough things to deal with, particularly the virus.

Though Pritzkers poll numbers could be better, particularly among independents, Edgar thinks he is the favorite going into this race as the incumbent and with his unlimited financial resources. But, Irvin would give Republicans a fighting chance that other candidates would not, he said.

Again, I still think Pritzker would be the favorite, but I think it would be a race," Edgar said. "Whereas some of these other primary candidates, I'm not sure that it would be viewed as a strong race at that point.

The other Republican candidates for governor are state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia; businessman Gary Rabine; former state Sen. Paul Schmipf, R-Waterloo; and venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan.

Edgar acknowledged that it's tougher than it used to be to win as a Republican in Illinois, but it's possible, he said, if the party can win back voters in the suburbs and exurbs of Chicago who may have been turned off by Rauner and former President Donald Trump.

If Biden's numbers don't get better, even though he's not on the ballot, it still has an impact on how people vote to some extent, Edgar said. In the suburbs, particularly. The suburbs swing more than any other part of the state.

Aurora mayor lands key GOP endorsements in race for governor GOP governor candidate Richard Irvin heads a slate assembled to attract backing from investment firm founder Ken Griffin, the states wealthiest person.

And, even if Irvin does not win, having a moderate candidate at the top of the ballot may help suburban House and Senate candidates down ballot. And, it could allow other members of the slate an opportunity to win.

Milhiser or state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who are running for secretary of state, would perhaps be in the best position as they are running for an open position.

Edgar, a former secretary of state himself, said an incumbent has a huge advantage in that office. So not having an incumbent does make it a more level playing field.

That, I think, could be a very interesting race, it could be a close race, Edgar said. And this is the chance for the Republicans to get that office. Historically that's been a good office to have  It's been a good stepping stone.

Undoubtedly, the Republican Party has changed since Edgar, a pro-choice moderate, held office.

Still, hes the most successful living former Republican statewide official. At the very least, his two cents is worth listening to as Republicans decide who they may support in the June primary, which is only 160 days away.

This article has been updated to include the name of state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, whose candidacy for secretary of state was omitted in an earlier version.

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As the warmth of the holiday season ebbs, Americans are taking a cold look at their Christmas gifts. Many don't like what they see.

One in 4 Americans expects to return at least one holiday gift by next weekend, according to a report by UPS. That's at least 60 million packages in a single returns season for the world's largest package shipper alone, and a 10% increase over 2020 holiday returns. As the costs of shipping and handling those returns increases, retailers and consumers are facing an expensive and unsustainable shopping future.

For generations, savvy retailers adopted lenient return policies as a way to project reliability and retain customers. They knew perfectly well that unscrupulous customers could exploit no-questions-asked or receipt-optional refund policies. But the success of retailers like Nordstrom Inc. and Target Corp., both of whom have famously permissive return policies and loyal customers, highlighted the countervailing benefits. In a recent survey of apparel companies, 86% of respondents agreed that returns are a necessary evil.

Online retailers recognized the necessity early, adopting lenient return policies and free return shipping to build trust and loyalty with consumers new to e-commerce.

It's an expensive way to gain market share. In 2020, U.S. consumers returned around $428.6 billion in merchandise, or 10.6% of total retail sales. Now online retailers, buffeted by picky COVID-era consumers, face return rates between 15% and 30%.

Refunds are just the start of a retailer's costs. According to a recent analysis from companies involved in the returns industry, it costs $33 for retailers to process a $50 return item in 2021, a 59% increase over the previous year.

Several familiar factors figure into those rising costs during the COVID-19 era, especially for e-commerce retailers. Rising transportation costs have made it more expensive to move returned goods to specialized processing centers and then to their final destinations. Rising labor costs have pressured retailers in need of employees to open, assess and route returned products.

But the biggest costs, by far, are related to write-downs and liquidation of returns (on average, between $6.50 and $35.25 per $50 product). Few returned products are rerouted back into a retailer's inventory. The flood of returns is so heavy (and growing) that it's simply impossible for retailers to assess whether each individual pair of jeans, porch furniture combo or Lego set is in resellable condition.

To manage the volume, retailers rely on a byzantine network of brokers, resellers, liquidators and  sometimes  themselves to wring value out of returns. For example, Home Depot Inc. hosts online liquidation auctions of returned products with lot descriptions like "Truckload (18 pallets) of Outdoor Power Equipment, Vanities & More." Winners sort and  hopefully  resell the products. But there's no guarantee that everything will work (it's a return, after all), and thus the reseller also takes on the burden of disposal.

That can be a heavy burden. In 2020, retail returns produced nearly 6 billion pounds of waste. Some of that is packaging. But much of it is returned product that cant be resold. In those cases, resellers and retailers, faced with an unmanageable flood of returns, are known to incinerate returned inventory or dump it in landfills. Retailers who fail to address the problem not only bear responsibility for the waste, but risk alienating customers.

A better approach might be a retail industry campaign that outlines the environmental and financial costs associated with product returns. At a time when consumers and retailers are keen to burnish their sustainability credentials, an honest acknowledgment of what happens when consumers buy more than they need (or want) could benefit everyone.

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

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100 years ago

Jan. 20, 1922: Bloomington is easing into hiring women on the police force. The city retained Emma McNoldy as a policewoman. The first use of two women was as chaperones for dances, with the Womens Club paying them. The experiment worked well and the city will pay Mrs. McNoldy.

75 years ago

Jan. 20, 1947: An 18-year old from LeRoy has confessed to many thefts all over Central Illinois, and to helping other teen boys commit similar crimes. His 17-year old wife is also charged. She told police she went along on the jobs because she was afraid to stay home alone.

50 years ago

Jan. 20, 1972: Five suspects, including former Gov. Otto Kerner, entered pleas of innocent on corruption charges in federal court. Kerner himself is now a federal judge. The five are charged with conspiring to profit from a race track stock deal during Kerners second term as governor.

25 years ago

Jan. 20, 1997: President Bill Clinton was sworn in for a second term. Hip Pocket, the Danvers band, was to play at one of the inaugural balls. But drummer Jeff Shoemaker became ill. So they canceled, deciding to make no impression instead of a bad one with a last-minute substitute.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) will begin the administration of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines from today.

The move forms part of the revision made to the national COVID-19 vaccination policy by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with stakeholders.



The policy has also been revised to include the vaccination of pregnant women, who will receive either Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.



The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, announced the review at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday.



Phases



He said the implementation of the booster policy would be in phases, with the initial phase targeting the three arms of government, health workers, people with underlying health conditions, people 60 years or above and all frontline security personnel.



The minister said the boosters were supposed to be taken between three and six months after being fully vaccinated.



We have reviewed the national vaccination policy to include booster doses and the vaccination of pregnant women.

The National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) proposed the update made today, which has been accepted for implementation. We will continue to ensure the safety and health of all Ghanaians, he said.



Arrival policy exemptions



Additionally, the policy had been revised to exempt Ghanaians and resident non-Ghanaians who were partially vaccinated or unvaccinated from the current policy, which required all arriving at the Kotoka International Airport to show proof of full vaccination or be vaccinated before allowed to board any airline to the country or be vaccinated on arrival, Mr Agyeman-Manu said.



However, he explained that the exempt group would be offered the opportunity to take the vaccines on arrival, stressing that refusal to take the jab would attract a seven-day mandatory quarantine at a cost to the individual.



He said the country had also revised its de-isolation and discharge guidelines for all persons testing positive for COVID-19 from 10 to seven days after testing positive, irrespective of vaccination status.



Assurance



The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, gave an assurance to all target groups of the COVID-19 vaccination, particularly the latest addition  expectant mothers  that all safety due diligence had been done to uphold public health strictly.



He assured pregnant women that the vaccines would not have any consequences on their pregnancies or unborn babies (foetuses).



Throwing more light on the de-isolation and discharge policy review, Dr Kuma-Aboagye reiterated the fact that the duration for isolation after testing positive would be seven days.



All hospitalised patients without symptoms will de-isolate 10 days after testing positive. In cases of high or moderate risk exposure to someone infected with COVID-19, the affected person will stay at home/self-quarantine until day five after last exposure.



If symptoms develop, the person will be tested for COVID-19. If the result is negative, the person can resume normal activities on day five. Where test is positive, the person will stay isolated until day seven after last exposure, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.



Background



The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines in the country started in phases among segmented populations in March last year.



Phase one targeted segmented populations who were at most risk, including frontline health workers, people with underlying health conditions and people 60 years and above, and ended in October Last year.



The GHS expanded the vaccination exercise to the general population in order to achieve herd immunity and subsequently reduce the burden of the disease.



The second phase, which targeted the public, except people below 18 years and expectant mothers, began from October 26, last year.



The GHS made it clear from the start that the exempt group would be vaccinated when adequate scientific evidence on safety became available.



The Pfizer vaccine has been authorised for children aged 15 and beyond, widening the Ghana population that will be protected against the virus.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Four persons died on the spot in an accident that occurred at Tuobodom in the Techiman North District on the Kintampo-Techiman highway in the Bono East Region at dawn yesterday.



The deceased included a mother and her four-year-old son, a nine-month-old baby boy and the bus driver's mate.



The 39 other passengers who sustained varying degrees of injury are receiving treatment at the Techiman Holy Family Hospital include an officer of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).



The accident occurred about 3:50 a.m. when a KIA Grandbird bus from Bolgatanga to Kumasi ran into a breakdown DAF articulated truck in front of the Tuobodom Senior High School.



The breakdown truck had two different Burkina Faso registration numbers  11-KM-1338 at the front and 11-KM-7337 at the back.



There were no warning triangles or reflectors to warn oncoming vehicles and other road users about the parked truck.



Briefing



The Bono East Regional Director of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Mr Emmanuel Akyeampong-Parry, who confirmed the accident, said the Kia Grandbird bus crashed into the rear of the truck.



The bus driver, who also appeared to have lost concentration or could possibly have been sleeping while driving at top speed, crashed the bus into the rear end of the stationary articulated truck, he said.



Passengers narration



According to a passenger who said he was seated behind the driver in the bus, Frederick Inzohini, when he realised the bus was veering towards the stationary truck, he tapped the driver on the shoulder.



He claimed that the driver was sleeping, and that when he (driver) suddenly woke up after the tap, he attempted steering away, but the bus hit the truck in the process.



Mr Inzohini further alleged that during the journey, passengers had complained about the loud music in the bus, to which the driver explained that it was a strategy to prevent him from sleeping.



For his part, the Bono East Regional Fire Officer, DCFO George Anim Frimpong, said officers of his outfit had to cut through the wreckage to retrieve the dead bodies.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) registered 21,567 vehicles in the first week of January this year.

This represents an increase of 1,841 (9.33 per cent) over the 2021 figure of 19,726 vehicles within the same period.



Statistics from the DVLA made available to the Daily Graphic further indicated that 5,448 vehicles were registered on the first working day of the year, as against 5,131 in 2021.



At the beginning of every year, there is usually a high number of people who rush to the various offices of the DVLA to register their vehicles.



Regional breakdown



The regional breakdown of the first day of registration is as follows: Accra,1,384 vehicles, compared to 1,361 on the same day last year; Tema, 567 vehicles were registered, as against 452 in 2021.



The Ashanti Region (Kumasi) registered 916, compared to 410 last year.



Figures for the other regions are Western, 57; Bono (Sunyani), 129; Eastern, 96; Central,133; Volta (Ho), 37; Northern, 158; Upper West, 363; Weija, 888; Ashanti (Obuasi), 120; Bono (Techiman), 108; Volta (Denu), 44; Ashanti (Bekwai), 123; Mampong, 41; BIVAC-Kuntunse, 121; Tarkwa, 84, and Wenchi, 30.



Registration process



The vehicle registration process begins with an inspection of the vehicle at a private garage within the premises of the DVLA.



This is followed by the submission of the test report on the vehicle, custom documents covering it and the vehicle itself for inspection.



After ascertaining that custom duties covering the vehicles are duly paid, the licensing officers further check the chassis and the engine numbers, cubic capacity, tyre size, number of tyres, colour of the vehicle, among others.



The biometrics of the registrant are subsequently taken, after which the vehicle owner makes the necessary payment and he or she is given the vehicle number.



The registration documents, such as certificate of title, vehicle registration biometric card, vehicle roadworthiness certificate, licence plate and other ancillary items are then handed over to the owner.



Smooth exercise



According to the Public Relations Manager of the DVLA, Mr Francis Tuffour, the process for registration had been smooth in view of the measures put in place by the management of the authority.



He said a team had also been put in place to facilitate the exercise.



He, however, advised vehicle owners to ensure that customs and other supporting documents required for registration were in their original form, adding that they must also present their national identification cards (Ghana Cards) as the primary identity document.



He said all persons duly authorised to transact business for and on behalf of vehicle owners must present a power of attorney and an ID card for verification.



Mr Tuffour further cautioned vehicle owners to desist from engaging middlemen, popularly called goro boys, in the process to avoid fraud.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Ghanas Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Tuesday held discussions with the UN Secretary-General on the security situation in the Sahel and West Africa.



Ms. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Mr. Antonio Guterres discussed ways to mobilize funding sustainably for peace operations in Africa, in the closed-door engagement attended by three other senior Ghanaian foreign ministry officials.

It is the first such meeting since Ghana took a seat on the 15-member Security Council on January 1st.



Ghana was elected last June for two years, alongside Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Gabon and Albania to join five other non-permanent members, including Kenya, who have a year left of their tenure.



Restoring peace and security in the Sahel and West Africa, and ending piracy in the Gulf of Guinea are two of the major problems on the continent, which Ghana wants to galvanize the Security Councils attention and international resources to resolve.



Ghana chairs the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council as well as the Council of Ecowas Heads of State.

Ms. Botchwey also participated in the UN Security Councils first debate of this year, the maiden one for Ghana in this fourth tenure on the Council since independence in 1957.



The debate on Women, Peace and Security, presided over by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, addressed the threats and violence women, in particular, faced when, ironically, they were working for peace.



In 2020, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified 35 cases in which women involved in peace and security work were killed.



They included human rights activists, journalists and trade unionists in seven conflict-affected countries. Academics, judges, youth and civil society activists also suffered violence, the report said.



Ms. Botchwey said Ghana was concerned that those who gave their time to make the world a better place were rather threatened. The Council can always count on Ghanas unwavering support.



She said the Ghana Armed Forces and other security institutions were reviewing regulations to ensure they were women-friendly.

The debate topic is of particular relevance to Ghana because the country is the ninth leading contributor of personnel to UN peace-keeping operations in which an increasing number of Ghanaian women are deployed.



As of April 2020, more than a quarter of Ghanaian police and 14 per cent of its military personnel sent on UN and African Union peace operations were women.



Ms. Botchwey said: Women are usually the most adversely affected by conflict but the most marginalised in peace processes, and the most punished for their peace-building efforts.



Therefore, ensuring the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace-building should not be reduced to mere rhetoric within the confines of the Security Council.



We owe it to women in peace and security all over the world to convert the rhetoric into zealous and concrete action,



Earlier in the week, Ms. Botchwey met in London with British Minister for Africa Vicky Ford and Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister for South Asia, UN and Commonwealth, for bilateral talks.



They discussed mutual co-operation on the Security Council, trade and investment promotion between Ghanaian and British businesses, and Covid-19 vaccine supply.



Ms. Botchwey thanked the UK government for a recent donation of 1.6 million vaccines, with the reminder that sharing vaccines was key to ending further mutations of the covid-19 virus.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Chief of Akotom in the Prestea Huni Valley Municipality of the Western Region, Nana Tweneboah Kodua lll has lauded the government of Ghana for the introduction of the National Alternative Empowerment and Livelihood Program (NAEL) for illegal Miners.



He believed this has come to help address the issues of galamsey in the area and he was positive the programme will facelift the town with economic development.



Speaking at a short ceremony when the National Coordinator and the contractor for the Project paid a working visit to Akotom site, Nana Tweneboah Kodua lll asked the government to extend the project to accommodate more unemployed youth since Western Region is tagged to be the headquarters of galamsey activities with majority of the youth engaged in illegal mining.



NAEL is an initiative that would help provide alternative sources of livelihood for illegal miners who have been stopped from engaging in wanton destruction of water bodies and the entire environment.



The programme has six modules namely: National Land Reclamation and Re-Afforestation Programme, Agriculture and Agro-Processing, Apprenticeship, Skills Training and Entrepreneurship, Responsible, Viable and Sustainable Small-Scale Community Mining, Mine Support Services and Community Enhancements Project.



At Akotom, a 10 acre of Land has been cleared for the raising of 3 million seedlings of different species like Mahogany, Wawa, Sapele, among others. This program is projected to give 500 direct and indirect jobs to the town folks.



Before Akotom, the team also inspected a cleared area of land at Adinkra in the Ashanti Region which is being prepared under NAEL Project.



The National Coordinator of NAEL, Dr Carol Serwaa Donkor said its the vision of the government to reduce unemployment among the youth especially those in mining communities hence the initiative.



She added the government is poised to sustain the project to capture more youth.



The Contractor of the Project, Mr. Richard Ekow Quansah of Richies Plantation Limited in an interview with Peacefmonline, said if the youth would commit to the programme, their lives would change since the programme comes with a lot of benefits.



Mr Quansah implored the beneficiaries to work hard and make their new found life worth living to entice other illegal miners to join the programme.





Fnally, some of the beneficiaries who were once involved in illegal mining, recounted the stress and difficulties they used to encounter during their galamsey activities describing it as awful.



We will spend days, sometimes more than a week in a galamsey pit digging for gold irrespective of the dangers involved, one beneficiary hinted.



Im very grateful to the President for honoring this promise, in fact after hearing this programe I moved to this town to partake and honestly, after working for some days I have realized this work is more stress-free as compared to the galamsey work," another beneficiary also added.

Source: Sampson Kwame Nyamekye/Kumasi









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
There is uneasy calm at Nima, a suburb of Accra, and adjoining Mamobi in the Ayawaso East municipality following clashes between two rival groups.



There was sporadic shooting on the streets of Nima last Tuesday as some young men wielding guns and other weapons, such as machetes and clubs, from either group attempted to overpower members of the other.



The police moved in to contain the violence and arrested nine people in connection with the clash.



The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, has condemned the violent clash and called for restraint on the part of the factions and the youth.



Those the police arrested included Abdul Gafari Mohammed, Bashir Ganiyu, Mohammed Saidu Baribui, Attawurah Basson and Gariba Abdul Mumin.



The rest are Abdul Aziz Sulemana, Imoro Ibrahim, Issah Seidu and Elliasu Salim.



The police retrieved 12 empty cartridges, a live bullet and three AAA live ammunition from the scene at Nima.



Other items found and retained to aid investigations included a pistol magazine, two machetes, two knives, a toy pistol and two mobile phones.



Two persons, including a commercial motorbike rider, popularly referred to as Okada rider, are in critical condition at the 37 Military Hospital after they were hit by a stray bullet during the shooting.



One of them also sustained deep matchete cuts on the neck and the back.



A barbering shop was also vandalised in the process.



The police have since intensified patrols in the area and mounted snap checkpoints where they stop moving vehicles and check their occupants and content.



A number of young people said to be members of the two groups have allegedly fled the area for fear of being arrested by the police.



Visit to Nima



When the Daily Graphic visited Nima in the early hours of yesterday, residents were seen going about their daily activities, even though some claimed they were afraid of reprisal attacks.



There was heavy deployment of policemen, with police riot vehicles stationed at vantage points near the Nima Market, the Nima Roundabout and along the Nima Highway.



Investigations



The Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Kwesi Ofori, said the people behind the incident were being pursued to face justice.



In line with that, he said, a special intelligence and surveillance team had been deployed to Nima, Mamobi and adjoining communities in pursuit of the remaining members of the two gangster groups.



Preliminary investigations, he said, indicated that the violent disturbance was occasioned by a misunderstanding between the two gangster groups, namely, the Bombom group, led by one Ali Awudi, alias Bomba, and the Kumodzi group, led by one Ibrahim Hussain, based at Mamobi and Nima Gutter, respectively.



Investigations also established that Kumodzi, who controlled the Nima-based group, went to the Mamobi black market to transact foreign exchange business.



While he was there, the two gangster groups violently attacked each other, in the course of which some gang members and two black market currency dealers were hit and injured.



Arrest from hideout



He said seven out of the nine suspects arrested were currently in police custody assisting with investigations, while the rest, who sustained varying degrees of injury, were at the Police Hospital in Accra under police guard.



He said the police, through intelligence, found out that one of the people captured on video in respect of the violence was hiding at Ashalaja.



A team of policemen proceeded to the location yesterday and arrested Seidu and Elliasu, he said.



A search conducted in the house in which they were arrested led to the retrieval of a pump action gun, an unregistered motorbike and a military camouflage uniform, he added.



Gang leaders wanted



Describing the incident as gangsterism and mass violence, ACP Ofori said preliminary investigations had so far established that it started about 3:30 p.m. last Tuesday, and that the timely intervention of the police helped to restore order.



He said the police had established that the violence was caused by the Hussein/Kumodzi rival groups who had been opposing each other.



He said the leaders of the groups had been declared wanted, with GH20,000 bounty placed on their heads and appealed to the public to assist by volunteering information that would lead to their arrest.



ACP Ofori said those arrested would be subjected to investigations and those found culpable arraigned.



The Police Administration will not look on unconcerned for hoodlums and criminals to take over the streets. We will nip violence and gangsterism in the area in the bud, he said.



He stressed that the police would continue to patrol the area to protect lives and properties there.



Chief Imam



The National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, expressed disappointment over the violent clash among the groups in Nima-Mamobi, communities with a large Muslim population, reports Dickson Worlanyo Dotse.



Condemning the clash during a courtesy call on him by 16 Regional Chief Imams at his Fadama residence in Accra, Sheikh Sharubutu urged the youth to avoid dispute among themselves and rather live in peace and stay united, stressing: Togetherness is Gods mercy.



Do not dispute



The National Chief Imam urged all Muslims to embrace diversity, which he said did not give room for war among people.



He added that the people and the youth of the two adjoining communities should support and help one another, and that peace was the source of all good.



The best thing for us is to get more united because Allah has indicated in the Quran that do not dispute among yourselves, he said.



Furthermore, he instructed members of the Muslim community to live in peace with non-Muslims so long as they had not stood in the way of their worship and not chased them out of their homes.



The Spokesperson of the Chief Imam, Sheikh Arimiyaw Shaibu, described the incident as an eyesore and not in accordance with the teachings of Islam.



He entreated Muslim youth in Accra and across the country to respect and uphold the sanctity of human lives.



He added that the Chief Imam had charged all Imams across the country to make peace and unity a key subject in their Friday sermons.



Create wealth



The National Imam for the Ahlu Sunna, Sheikh Umar Ibrahim, urged the Muslim community to rise up and create wealth, adding that the cause of all violence among adherents of Islam was poverty.



The source of violence in Nigeria, Mali and, therefore, Ghana is poverty, so we must rise up and create wealth, he said.



Sheikh Ibrahim said that was the reason Allah commanded the Prophet Mohamed to collect the Sadaqah  dues paid by the wealthy among the Muslim community  for the benefit of the poor.



The Ahlu Sunna National Imam also said Muslims ought to conduct their affairs through consultation, stating that Allah Himself commanded the Prophet Mohammed to use consultation to resolve matters, and that was why the conference that brought together all Chief Imams was a great achievement.



Concerns



In interactions with the Daily Graphic, some residents of Nima said the two rival groups were popular at Nima and Mamobi, as their leaders, Kumodzi and Bomba, were appointed and had followers who were at their beck and call.



Some people said the clash started after a member of a rival group allegedly exchanged foreign currency and provoked a member of the opposing group.

Gunshot marks in the roof of a shop were seen.



The owner of the shop, who gave his name only as Haruna, said his shop was shot into during the clash.



He said although he was busy with some business activities, he was forced to lock up and leave for home through a back door for fear of being hit by a bullet.



An eyewitness and opinion leader in the community, Musa Wahab, expressed concern over the violence in the area.



This is a bad example for the younger generation. It is not good and we must stop it. We cannot have young men fighting one another with guns and machetes like this, he said.



Another resident of Nima, Mr Karim Abdul, said the development had been a regular one in the community over the years.



He said many people owned guns and used them at will, adding that some people have lost their lives and it is becoming a problem.













Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Billionaire Microsoft founder, Bill Gate has warned that future pandemics could be worse than the coronavirus pandemic.



Gates spoke of his worries as the Bill & Melania Gates Foundation donated $150 million (110m) to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) on Wednesday, January 19.



CEPI are set to use the donations in the fight against coronavirus as well as in preparation for potential pandemics in the future, it was announced on Tuesday.



Speaking about the work done by CEPI, Gates said in a statement; "As the world responds to the challenge of a rapidly evolving virus, the need to deliver new, lifesaving tools has never been more urgent."



"Next time the world suffers pandemic it could be worse than coronavirus."



CEO of CEPI, Dr Richard Hatchet, said: "These generous pledges will dramatically advance CEPI's plan to reduce epidemic and pandemic risk in the future by developing vaccines against emerging infectious diseases while ensuring equitable access for all."



Gates added: "Our work over the past 20 years has taught us that early investment in research and development can save lives and prevent worst-case scenarios."



The Bill & Melania Gates Foundation has pledged the $150 million to "Help CEPI accelerate the development of safe and effective vaccines against emerging variants of the coronavirus and to prepare for, and possibly even prevent, the next pandemic".





Gates took the chance to urge governments to contribute in order to "prevent the spread of future pandemics, some of which could have the potential for a higher fatality rate than the coronavirus pandemic"



In a blog post on Wednesday, Gates explained a few things had gone wrong when it came to Covid, writing;

"Creating new vaccines isn't enough. We also have to make sure that everyone who can benefit from vaccines has access to them, and that's where the world has collectively failed in its response to COVID.



"While at least 9 billion doses were distributed in the past year, less than 1% went to people in low-income countries.



"We need to do better the next time the world faces a pathogen that has the potential to spark a pandemic".









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Mohammed Awal has disclosed that the industry will invest over $20 million to improve tourism and arts attractions.



To this end, Dr Awal said the Ejisu Museum, Yaa Asantewaas tomb, Lake Bosomtwe and some six handicraft centers in the Ashanti Region will be improved so that 250,000 jobs could be generated annually and also contribute to the nations GDP.



Dr Awal said this when he paid a courtesy call on Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.



He said the pandemic has affected the number of tourists coming in, therefore, the ministry is seeking the Asantehenes support to shift focus on domestic tourism where Ghanaians will be encouraged to travel across the country.



The Asantehene noted that the tourism industry could generate income more than Cocoa if managed well, therefore, the high cost of hotels should be resolved to attract visitors in the country.



Otumfuo also encouraged art and tourism lessons for commercial drivers who make first contact with visitors for further advancement in the sector.









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Erik Barmack, the former Netflix VP of international originals who brought Money Heist to the streamer, has boarded Tianna Johnsons London-set fantasy drama Obeah, which topped the Brit List 2021 of un-produced screenplays.

The move sees Barmack, now working out of his own L.A. label Wild Sheep Content, a company which he started with The Mediapro Studio, coming on board to develop and produce Obeah with Johnson.

More from Variety

The Brit List is based on recommendations by the British film and TV industry, ranging from its producers to talent agencies, sales companies, financiers, distributors and broadcasters.

Described by Barmack as The Sixth Sense meets a crime series and the best script I read last year, Obeah is set largely in present-day North-West London but draws inspiration from indigenous spiritual practices in the Caribbean.

When the bodies of young people start showing up across the country, an angsty woman finds herself on the hunt for a serial killer acting out a very ancient revenge.

One of the reasons why I became a producer for the last couple of years was to work on projects that are one of a kind where youre really breaking new ground and in TV thats quite hard to do, said Barmack.

Obeah plays on tropes that are very familiar, like a serialized crime story, but there are fantastical elements, voices and characters that I havent seen on British television, he added.

Johnson is second generation British Jamaican. I really wanted to explore how difficult it can be being a member of the diaspora, she told Variety. I grew up loving fantasy and crime series. They were a great escape from racial trauma, gender trauma, etc.

Story continues

I really want to take something that was particularly painful and make it fantastic and magical, but writing about British Jamaican communities and characters, people that are very real and very raw, she added.

The London she knows is a blend of so many different cultures where magic is very existential, treated like a very serious practice.

Part of Obeah moves to Jamaica in the past, its overarching story turning on revenge, Johnson observed, and what the U.K. is responsible for, and what could justice look like for those descended from enslaved people?

Its amazing to read someone with such a fine grip on both cultural themes, crime beats, and genre, Barmack added, citing one early hook: The protagonist, affected by her familys past, can see and talk to the dead and has a sense of what happened to them, but as the bodies pile up, she doesnt have at first a true sense of why these people are getting murdered. Its a completely unique setup. Ive never seen anything like that.

Barmack and Johnson will serve as producers on Obeah, Wild Sheep Content contributing resources for Johnson to complete a bible. The project will then be taken out to market.

I want to make sure that this story is broad and entertaining and theres murders and grounded fantasy. The world building is hugely ambitious here, fun, and surprising, Barmack said.

Johnson is represented by Curtis Brown.

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A couple visiting a Brook Advisory Centre in the 1960s. Credit: Brook Advisory Centre

Cambridge historian Dr. Caroline Rusterholz challenges assumptions about the sexual revolution of the 'Swinging Sixties' and sheds new light on the controversial origins of a sexual health service which is now largely taken for granted.

The study, published in the Journal of British Studies, is the first to examine the history of the Brook Advisory Centers (BAC), officially founded by Helen Brook in 1964, and still a key player in sexual health. By looking for the first time at the contents of the Center's Annual Reports and memorandanow archived in Wellcome Librarythis research provides important new information about how the scheme came into being and survived initial opposition.

One record, a minute, in the archive reveals that in November 1962, eighteen months before the official inauguration of the first BAC clinic, Brook launched a secret birth control session for unmarried women in London. To begin this experiment, Brook, then director of the Marie Stopes clinic, used a loophole in the Foundation's constitution to expand its clientele to include unmarried mothers, a highly controversial move at the time.

Brook had strategically filled the clinic's committee with committed activists from the Family Planning Association (FPA) to ensure that her plan would be ratified. She presented the session for unmarried people as a fait accompli and in November 1962, in one of the Stopes clinic offices, Brook's team began to offer contraceptive advice to unmarried mothers.

Then in March 1963, Brook went even further, proposing an early evening doctor's consultation session to which 'girls and young men, often still at school or university' could come for discussion and advice on contraception and problems with sexual relationships.

The committee unanimously supported Brook's new suggestion, provided that the Marie Stopes Foundation Board agreed. The Board consisted of six members from the Eugenics Society and to pre-empt any opposition, the committee's letter requesting approval emphasized that the session 'would not be publicized but would be made known by word of mouth." Within weeks, even without publicity, word had spread rapidly among women in and around London.

Rusterholz says: "Helen Brook didn't just want to reduce illegal abortions. This archive shows just how determined she was to help young people avoid unwanted pregnancies at a time when increasing numbers of young girls, in particular, were entering higher education. She saw knowledge about contraception as a crucial way to maintain professional opportunities for women."

Taking on the 'tut-tutting'

When the Board grew nervous that these sessions could result in 'bad press,' they recommended that Brook set up an ad-hoc trust, using the clinic's premises, for a few years to mitigate the risks. Dr. Faith Spicer, who ran the sessions, assured the Board that they were targeting young students (1819 years old on average) who were in stable relationships but unable to marry for financial reasons.

Like Brook, Faith Spicer strategically emphasized the commitment of young people and their desire to marry in the foreseeable future to align her work with the older sexual values of the FPA and Marie Stopes. The board unanimously agreed on the clinic's value and subsidized the project but asked that it be "not publicized in the Press."

Helen Brook didn't appear to take this request too seriously. In November 1963, she told the Daily Mirror: "Tut-tutting will not bring down the illegitimate birth rate figures. Contraceptive and correct sex knowledge will." And in June 1964, the newspaper welcomed BAC in an article entitled "Full mark[s] to this sex-help clinic for the teenage lovers."

These developments fuelled a fierce debate among FPA members, some of whom feared that providing contraceptive advice to unmarried girls would "open the doors to wholesale national fornication."

Keen to distance itself from youth sexuality, the FPA decided not to develop such a service itself but instead tasked Helen Brook to do so. Helped by an anonymous donation of 5,000 a year over three years, the first Brook Advisory Center officially opened in July 1964 and quickly gained the support of the Labor-led London County Council.

Birmingham

Helen Brook then set about encouraging the creation of centers in other locations. But, as Rusterholz shows, the first of these, in Birmingham, suffered severe labor pains. While Helen Brook's public relations campaign triumphed in London, her colleagues in the more conservative city of Birmingham deviated from her narrative of responsibility and faced a fierce backlash from those who claimed the scheme promoted promiscuity.

In August 1965, Dr. Martin Cole, a lecturer in genetics at Birmingham University and one of the leaders behind the suggested center in the city, provoked outrage when he defended young people's right to enjoy their sexuality in the Sunday Mercury newspaper. Having highlighted the "need to stem the appalling tide of illegitimate births," Cole called for "a society which will allow young people to enjoy sexual experience free of feelings of guilt and free of fear of disease."

Cole insisted that he was not in favor of "a sexual free-for-all' but that young people should learn about sex to avoid illegitimate babies and venereal diseases and to have what he defined as this 'wonderful experience' without hurting themselves or other people. By contrast, Helen Brook never mentioned young people's right to sexual pleasure.

Opposition came from the British Medical Association branch in Birmingham, which officially took a stance against the center, fearing it would encourage promiscuity. Some family doctors reacted by describing the scheme as "a prescription for fornication without tears."

Faith Spicer helped to win back some critics of Cole's radical stance by emphasizing that young people generally behaved responsibly and came to the center to "work out a way of life for themselves that they can feel is good and valuable," as she put it to the Sunday Mercury.

The Birmingham clinic finally opened in September 1966. Due to fears about protests, two guards were hired to make sure everything went smoothly but this proved unnecessary. Local political opposition did, however, persist for several yearsthe City of Birmingham Health Committee voted against endorsing BAC and allowing its social workers to publicize BAC services. And despite the Family Planning Act of 1967, which allowed local authorities to provide birth control to all women, the Health Committee continued to refuse to accept that the Center's work was "vital and necessary."

It wasn't until 1972, when the Labor Party gained control of the city council, that the BAC was called on to help provide a full free contraceptive service for Birmingham residents.

Rusterholz says: "Brook and Spicer presented the centers not as birth control shops but places where young people could discuss their difficulties and make informed decisions under the gentle guidance of trained professionals.

"The Brook Advisory Centers modified the notion of responsibility promoted by the Family Planning Association, to include young unmarried people. This paved the way for increasing autonomy and sexual freedom in the following decades."

Promoting responsibility

The study sheds new light on Helen Brook's pioneering role in encouraging young men to take greater responsibility for their sexual behavior, a persistent challenge to this day. Annual reports and media articles covering the work of the centers emphasized the involvement of young men who accompanied their girlfriends, booked them appointments, or even attended the center alone.

By 1968, half of the clients who attended the Birmingham center came as couples. And in 1971, it reported that its patients "were serious responsible young citizens, faithful to one partner but living in an age when social patterns change drastically."

The statistics compiled by BAC reflected this vision of responsibility. Its clientele increased steadily from 1964 and in both cities, the vast majority of clients were in steady relationships (or claimed to be). Roughly one-third were students and in 1967, less than 10% of London patients were aged 1617, the majority being 2021, while in Birmingham, the majority of patients were 1921.

Rusterholz says: "In their early years, Brook Advisory Centers functioned as places where responsible behaviors could be taught, and the clinic's statistics emphasized that the majority of clients were receptive. All of this challenged a powerful public narrative in Sixties Britain which presented young people as promiscuous and irresponsible."

Explore further Young people embrace new model of teaching sexual consent, study finds

More information: Caroline Rusterholz, Youth Sexuality, Responsibility, and the Opening of the Brook Advisory Centres in London and Birmingham in the 1960s, Journal of British Studies (2022). Caroline Rusterholz, Youth Sexuality, Responsibility, and the Opening of the Brook Advisory Centres in London and Birmingham in the 1960s,(2022). DOI: 10.1017/jbr.2021.188
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Common air pollutants from both urban and rural environments may be reducing the pollinating abilities of insects by preventing them from sniffing out the crops and wildflowers that depend on them, new research has shown.

Scientists from the University of Reading, the UK Center for Ecology & Hydrology, and the University of Birmingham found that there were up to 70% fewer pollinators, up to 90% fewer flower visits and an overall pollination reduction of up to 31% in test plants when common ground-level air pollutants, including diesel exhaust pollutants and ozone, were present.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, is the first to observe a negative impact of common air pollutants on pollination in the natural environment. The theory is that the pollutants react with and change the scents of flowers, making them harder to find.

Dr. Robbie Girling, Associate Professor in Agroecology at the University of Reading, who led the project, said: "We knew from our previous lab studies that diesel exhaust can have negative effects on insect pollinators, but the impacts we found in the field were much more dramatic than we had expected."

Dr. James Ryalls, a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow at the University of Reading, who conducted the study, said: "The findings are worrying because these pollutants are commonly found in the air many of us breathe every day. We know that these pollutants are bad for our health, and the significant reductions we saw in pollinator numbers and activity shows that there are also clear implications for the natural ecosystems we depend on."

Previous laboratory studies by members of the Reading team have shown that diesel fumes can alter floral odors. This work suggested that pollution could contribute to the ongoing declines in pollinating insects, by making it harder for them to locate their foodpollen and nectar.

The impact this phenomenon has in nature, where insects provide pollination of important food crops and native wildflowers is less well understood, so this new study aimed to gather evidence to investigate how air pollution affects different pollinating insect species, some of which rely on scent more than others.

The study, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, used a purpose-built fumigation facility to regulate levels of nitrogen oxides (NO x )  present in diesel exhaust fumesand ozone in an open field environment. They then observed the effects these pollutants had on the pollination of black mustard plants by free-flying, locally-occurring pollinating insects over the course of two summer field seasons.

They used pollution concentrations well below maximum average levelsequating to 40-50% of the limits currently defined by US law as safe for the environment

This pales in comparison with the far higher levels of pollution that occur around the world due to breaches of regulations. For example, outside of London, a 2019 analysis showed illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide were recorded in local authorities in large areas of northern England, including Cheshire and Gateshead, and south England, including Wiltshire, Chichester and rural areas such as the New Forest.

Observations revealed there were 62-70% fewer pollinator visits to the plants located in polluted air. This reduction was seen in seven pollinator groups, particularly bees, moths, hoverflies and butterflies. There were also 83-90% fewer flower visits by these insects, and ultimately a 14-31% reduction in pollination, based on seed yield and other factors.

Such findings could have wide ranging implications because insect pollination delivers hundreds of billions of pounds worth of economic value every year. It supports around 8% of the total value of agricultural food production worldwide, and 70% of all crop species, including apples, strawberries and cocoa, rely on it.

This research is part of continuing studies into the effects of air pollution on insect health and their interactions with the environment by researchers at the University of Reading.

Dr. Christian Pfrang, Reader in Atmospheric Science at the University of Birmingham and a co-author on the study, said: "This truly cross-disciplinary work demonstrated very clearly how atmospheric pollutants negatively impact on pollination with direct consequences for food production as well as the resilience of our natural environment."

Explore further The buzz about pollinators in canola fields

More information: James M.W. Ryalls et al, Anthropogenic air pollutants reduce insect-mediated pollination services, Environmental Pollution (2022). Journal information: Environmental Pollution James M.W. Ryalls et al, Anthropogenic air pollutants reduce insect-mediated pollination services,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.118847
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Black holes are intriguing and widely studied cosmic bodies with extremely high tidal forces, from which even light is unable to escape. While many studies predicted the existence of black holes, which have also recently been detected, many questions about these cosmic bodies remain unanswered.

Researchers at University of Leipzig have recently carried out a study examining the vacuum polarization induced by a quantum-charged scalar field near the inner horizon of a charged black hole. The results of their analyses, published in Physical Review Letters, suggest that at a charged black hole's inner horizon, the quantum charged current could be either positive or negative.

"The theory of general relativity unites space and time into the concept of spacetime and describes gravity as a bending of that spacetime," Christiane Klein, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org. "One of its most prominent predictions are black holes (i.e., regions of the spacetime from which even light cannot escape). If a black hole is electrically charged or rotating, its interior has an interesting feature: Inside the black hole, there is a surface with properties resembling those of the event horizon (i.e., the outer edge) of the black hole. It is therefore called the inner horizon."

Essentially, up to a black hole's inner horizon, the spacetime and everything happening within it can be theoretically predicted based on knowledge of the state of the universe at some point in the past, which physicists refer to as 'initial data." This ability to predict spacetime, known as determinism, is an important feature of physics theories.

Based on theoretical predictions, however, an observer crossing a black hole's inner horizon could bypass the central singularity of the black hole, where space and time become infinitely curved, and re-exit into a different universe. Moreover, past the inner horizon, determinism would theoretically break down, which essentially means that an observer's journey would no longer be determined by the so-called initial data.

In his work, titled "Gravitational Radiation and Gravitational Collapse," British mathematician Roger Penrose predicted that this would not happen, as there would be remnants of a black hole's collapse or other small deviations from the initial data of the black hole spacetime.

"According to Penrose, these deviations would accumulate near the inner horizon and bend the spacetime near the horizon so strongly that any observer approaching it is destroyed, turning the inner horizon into a singularity," Klein said. "This idea is called the strong cosmic censorship conjecture. In the literature, different kinds of black holes with inner horizons and different perturbations of their initial data have been studied to test this conjecture and determine the strength of the singularity at the inner horizon."

Recent studies have found that in charged black holes within an expanding universe, the singularity can be weak enough to cross. These findings (Cardoso et al. ; Dias et al. ; Cardoso et al.) ultimately inspired some of the researchers in the team to investigate what would happen if they also accounted for the quantum nature of gravitational fields and matter.

"Usually, these quantum perturbations are negligibly small," Klein said. "It turned out that close enough to the inner horizon, quantum effects dominate classical effects and are strong enough to turn the inner horizon into a strong singularity. This showed that quantum effects should not be neglected near the inner horizons of black holes and motivated us to have a closer look at other quantum effects in this region."

As an electrically charged black hole can only be formed from electrically charged matter, Klein and her colleagues decided to specifically look at electrically charged quantum matter. One of the primary observable signatures of this type of matter is the electric current it produces. Therefore, the researchers tried to determine how this current would behave in the proximity of a black hole's inner horizon.

"In previous studies it was argued that such currents are mainly due to the spontaneous creation of oppositely charged particles inside of the black hole which are then accelerated in opposite directions," Klein said. "This would have the effect of discharging the region of the black hole behind the inner horizon. One goal was to check whether this intuitive particle picture is correct."

In their recent paper, the researchers considered a spacetime describing an expanding universe with a charged black hole inside it. Subsequently, they framed quantum field theory of a charged scalar field within this hypothetical spacetime.

"For the time being, we ignored that the presence of the quantum field should alter the spacetime," Klein said.

Using their proposed framework, the team was able to study the electric current of a quantum field in the example they considered. Their numerical setup they developed was based on results they gathered in the past.

"We found that the dominant contribution to the current at the inner horizon is independent of the state (i.e., the initial conditions) of the quantum field, as long as it is physically reasonable," Klein said. "We picked a convenient state and derived a formula for the current using the techniques of quantum field theory on curved spacetimes. The formula must be evaluated numerically for a set of parameters of the spacetime (mass and charge of the black hole and a cosmological constant describing the amount of expansion of the universe) and the quantum field (mass and charge of the field)."

The key elements contained in the formula used by Klein and her colleagues are so-called 'scattering coefficients." These are numbers that describe the extent to which field perturbations are transmitted into the black hole or are reflected into space. To calculate these coefficients, Klein and her colleagues used methods they developed in one of their previous studies.

"The current should always have the same sign, but we find that the dominant contribution to the current at the inner horizon can be positive as well as negative, depending on the parameters of the spacetime and the quantum field," Klein said. "It should be noted that in the parameter region very close to the maximally allowed charge of the black hole (if the charge is increased further, there is no more event horizon and the singularity in the center becomes 'naked') the current always tends to decrease the charge of the inner horizon. This ensures that its charge cannot be increased beyond the allowed maximum."

The results of the researchers' analyses were fairly surprising, as they contradict the prediction of the particle picture. In contrast with what they expected, their results predict that under certain circumstances, the charge of a black hole inside the inner horizon can be increased by quantum effects.

"Even though our numerical results cannot cover realistic spacetime and quantum field parameters, our work demonstrates that the particle picture is insufficient to fully capture quantum effects inside black holes," Klein said.

In addition to contradicting particle picture predictions, the results gathered by Klein and her colleagues could shed further light on well-established findings related to the event horizon. In fact, their work suggests that quantum effects can behave quite differently in the proximity of a black hole's inner horizon than they do at the event horizon, where they are expected to decrease a black hole's charge. Moreover, the results could inspire new studies investigating similar quantum effects in more realistic settings.

"One expects realistic black holes to have at most a negligibly small electric charge, but significant angular momentum (i.e., rotation)," Klein said. "In fact, one could consider charged black holes as mere toy models for rotating ones: they share many features, such as the presence of an inner horizon, but charged black holes are much easier to handle mathematically. One future line of research we are currently pursuing is the extension of our results to rotating black holes. It would be interesting to test whether quantum effects can increase the rotation of the black hole near its inner horizon instead of decreasing it, as one might naively expect."

Explore further Black holes gain new powers when they spin fast enough

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 2022 Science X Network
Credit: DOI: 10.1007/s00227-021-03993-x

A pair of researchers, one with the University of Western Australia, the other NOAA National Systematics Laboratory, has recorded on video a young bigfin squid swimming just above the seafloor at an approximate depth of 6,200 meters. In their paper published in the journal Marine Biology, Alan Jamieson and Michael Vecchione describe how they captured video of the squid while they were looking for a sunken warship.

Jamieson and Vecchione were operating a manned submersible hunting for the USS Johnston, a navy destroyer that was sunk during World War II, in the Philippine Trench. After diving to near the bottom of the trench, the researchers spotted the squid, which is relatively easy to recognize due to its distinct swimming style and the very long black fins that trail behind it as it swims. The researchers captured the squid swimming on video, though not at close range, but just close enough to confirm it was a bigfin. The finding represents a depth record for a finned octopodthe previous record-holder was another that had been spotted at approximately 4,700 meters down.

The researchers also spotted several cirrate octopuses, which are more famously known as dumbo octopuses because their fins resemble the cartoon characters' ears. They were all at nearly the same depth as the bigfin. The researchers' observation of the dumbos was only the second sighting of them swimming in such deep water. It has been suggested that the prior sighting was a fluke, but this new second sighting shows that it was not. The dumbos looked somewhat different from the others that had been swimming at such depths, which indicates they were likely a different species.

Credit: DOI: 10.1007/s00227-021-03993-x

The findings show that multiple types of cephalopods live in very deep parts of the world's oceans. This raises questions about how the creatures are able to live at such depths, where pressures can be as great as 600 times that of the surface.

Explore further Multiple sightings of mysterious bigfin squid documented in the Great Australian Bight

More information: Alan J. Jamieson et al, Hadal cephalopods: first squid observation (Oegopsida, Magnapinnidae, Magnapinna sp.) and new records of finned octopods (Cirrata) at depths > 6000 m in the Philippine Trench, Marine Biology (2021). Journal information: Marine Biology Alan J. Jamieson et al, Hadal cephalopods: first squid observation (Oegopsida, Magnapinnidae, Magnapinna sp.) and new records of finned octopods (Cirrata) at depths > 6000 m in the Philippine Trench,(2021). DOI: 10.1007/s00227-021-03993-x

 2022 Science X Network
Figure 1. Areal interpolation infographic. The mobile traffic dataset comprises mobile service usage statistics for 25 000 geo-located base stations (BS; bottom layer). The coverage areas of BS are approximated by Voronoi polygons where mobile traffic is assumed to be uniformly distributed (middle layer). The mobile traffic is weighted and interpolated into French administrative areas (IRIS zones; top layer). The top plot depicts the average daily time series of downlink traffic per inhabitant at the richest 5% (dashed lines) and the poorest 5% IRIS zones in Paris for two representative mobile services: Facebook (red) and news (blue). As can be seen, time series of raw byte counts in the same area are highly correlated and reveal little information. However, the relative traffic generated by the two services in different areas exposes unique patterns that can be exploited for SES prediction. Credit: DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0350

Social networks are used more often in poor neighborhoods than in affluent neighborhoods, while the latter tend to consume more information from traditional online media. This is one of the conclusions of a scientific study undertaken by researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the IMDEA Networks Institute, and Orange Innovation which analyzes the relationship between internet usage and variables such as education, income, or inequality in a specific area.

The digital gap in terms of accessing technology and the internet is minimal in developed countries, given that nearly everyone has a smartphone. When this initial gap is narrowed, the "usage gap," as these researchers have named it, appears. This gap represents how different social classes use the internet differently due to their economic status.

Generally speaking, "higher levels of news consumption via traditional online media is associated with higher purchasing power and higher levels of education. On the other end of the spectrum, higher levels of Facebook consumption are associated with lower purchasing power and lower levels of education," notes one of the study's authors, Inaki Ucar, researcher at the UC3M-Santander Big Data Institute.

Researchers highlight some of the possible consequences of this difference in use: "As platforms, such as YouTube, or social networks, such as Facebook, have been used to spread misinformation, and the relative use of these platforms is higher in areas where the population has lower levels of education and lower-income, the effect of this misinformation is likely to have affected these areas more," explains Esteban Moro, from the UC3M's Department of Mathematics.

Credit: Carlos III University of Madrid

The paper, recently published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface uses anonymous aggregated telephone data in France to predict census variables. Researchers believe that, due to globalization, these results could apply to countries with similar cultures and of similar wealth, such as countries around Europe and North America.

The digital gap in usage that they have detected is particularly large for certain types of services, such as social media, audio and visual streaming, email, and consumption of news content. "This is a rather surprising result, especially given that the analysis has been carried out in dozens of cities in a developed European country, where it could be assumed that digital gaps would have been closed due to the omnipresent availability of access to mobile broadband," notes another of the study's authors, Marco Fiore, a researcher at the IMDEA Networks Institute.

In this study, scientists have demonstrated, quantitatively and on a large scale, the validity of hypotheses on the heterogeneity of mobile services usage by different socio-economic groups for the first time. "Prior to our study, these hypotheses had only been validated using qualitative studies on small groups of individuals. Demonstrating that this phenomenon is valid for hundreds of thousands of users is an important step forward," concludes Esteban Moro.

Explore further New tool using Facebook data shows worldwide gender gap

More information: Inaki Ucar et al, News or social media? Socio-economic divide of mobile service consumption, Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2021). Journal information: Journal of the Royal Society Interface Inaki Ucar et al, News or social media? Socio-economic divide of mobile service consumption,(2021). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0350
Does nuclear power's virtue as a source of carbon-free energy outweigh unsolved problem of nuclear waste?

European Union environment ministers gathered in France Thursday to mull climate policy and the merits of a carbon border tax, while airing differences on whether nuclear energy can be classified as "green".

The two-day informal talks in Amiens, hosted by France as it takes the rotating reins of the EU presidency, will look for a unified path toward achieving the 27-nation bloc's ambitious target of slashing carbon emissions 55 percent from 1990 levels.

Discussion on overhauling the EU's electricity market and carbon-trading system, already fraught, unfolds against a backdrop of sharp increases in energy prices, especially natural gas.

EU energy ministers will join the fray on Friday, and then continue on with separate talks.

Since last year, French President Emmanuel Macron has led the charge for the rapid implementation of a "carbon border adjustment mechanism", essentially a tax on imported products made in countries with less stringent rules on reducing carbon pollution.

The objective is to avoid shifting Europe's carbon emissions overseas as they are reduced at homeknown as "carbon leakage".

The sectors affected include steel, alumium, cement, fertiliser and electricity.

China and the United States are both opposed to such a tax, with Beijing saying last year when the plan was unveiled that it would "violate World Trade Organization (WTO) principles."

Is nuclear 'green'?

Even within Europe, Germany insists the mechanism can only be implemented gradually, and several countries are outright opposed, mainly because the tax would replace the allocation of free emissions permits.

"Spain, Portugal, Poland and Austria want to maintain free quotas," a European diplomat said.

Such a carbon tax "raises complicated questions," he added. "Who collects the money? Where does it go?"

But France's ecological transition minister Barbara Pompili said that there is already an "agreement in principle", and talks have shifted to questions of timing.

After EU ministers hammer out a consensus on "CBAM", as it is known, they will undertake negotiations with the EU Parliament to finalise an agreement.

Another divisive issue that has pitted Paris against Berlin is whether nuclear power's virtue as a source of carbon-free energy outweighs safety issues and the as-yet unsolved problem of nuclear waste.

A greater share of electricity in Franceabout 70 percentis generated by nuclear power than any other country in the world.

The question on the table is whether nuclear power and natural gas should be officially classified in the "EU taxonomy" as environmentally sustainable, an important signal to companies, investors and policymakers.

Nuclear power is neither "sustainable" nor "economic", Germany environment minister Stefan Tidow said in Amiens. "It is not a green energy."

Pompili did not disagree, acknowledging that storage of spent nuclear fuel remains a major problem.

'Imported deforestation'

But "nuclear is a decarbonised energy," she said. "We cannot deprive ourselves of it at the same time that we need to very rapidly reduce our carbon emissions."

A third initiative favoured by France is developing tools to fight so-called "imported deforestation," stemming from products indirectly responsible for the destruction of tropical forests.

Palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia and Africa, and commercial soy production in South Americamostly to feed cattleare major drivers of deforestation.

A draft law submitted by the European Commission in November is currently under discussion in the bloc's Parliament.

Environmental NGOs said the text has too many loopholes, excluding commodities such as corn and rubber.

Yet another initiative running into stiff headwinds is a measure to expand the cap-and-trade system of carbon pollution quotaswhich currently covers heavy industry and the electricity sectorto transport fuel for trucks and domestic heating fuel.

The controversial proposal, championed by the European Commission, has found scant support among ministers, concerned the measure would result in unpopular price hikes for consumers.

France has expressed "strong reservations," according to a French official.

"We saw the rise of the 'yellow vests'," he said, referring to popular protests in 2018 sparked by a modest increase in petrol prices.

 2022 AFP
Schematic view of the entangled photon generator. The dark blue bottom layer is a superconductor from which the paired, entangled electrons tunnel through the light blue layered structure to the upper layers. The entangled photon pair is created, when the tunneled electrons make a transition to empty lower energy levels simultaneously. Credit: Ethan D. Minot

Entanglement is a central phenomenon of quantum mechanics. It enables two photons to be connected with each other regardless of distance, and it is the basis of the immense potential of quantum technologies. However, the continuing development of quantum computers, cryptography, and sensors requires new, more efficient sources of entangled photon pairs.

Researchers at Aalto University plan to build a revolutionary LED light source to generate entangled photon pairs. The research group led by Professor Pertti Hakonen has received three-year funding from the Future Makers Funding Program of Technologies Finland Centennial Foundation and Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation.

"Previously, entangled photons have been produced with non-linear crystals, which is extremely clumsy and rather inefficient, as just a few quantum pairs are extracted, and the generation process is random and has a low efficiency," Hakonen explains.

In the new project, the researchers will develop an effective, compact, bright and controllable source for entangled photons. Their approach is based on modern material science technologies which make it possible to create layers of single or few atoms, such as graphene, boron nitride, or molybdenum disulfide, and tailor them to form custom structures.

"The layer structure can be used to adjust whether the material is locally metallic or semiconducting and also whether it is a weak or strong semiconductor. The layered structure also enables electrons to tunnelthat is, to traverse the materialto produce entangled light," Hakonen says.

A step toward the quantum internet

Integrating an entangled photon generator into quantum processors would make fast quantum communication between separate processors possible even if they are far away from each other. Inter-connected individual quantum computers could form a quantum internet through which distributed quantum computing could be done.

"Due to distributed quantum computing large quantum processors can consist of simple superconducting quantum computers, avoiding significant practical issues in individual qubit operation," Hakonen explains.

Efficient entanglement generators are also in demand by the rapidly growing quantum cryptography field. Technologies for exchanging encryption keys via sharing entangled photons between the legitimate users promise to become the basis for unconditionally secure communications.

"Any attempt to eavesdrop would break the entanglement, which is easy to detect," Hakonen adds.

Professor Zhipei Sun and his group will participate in developing sample production techniques and the classification of entangled photons produced by the device. Hakonen and Sun have shared equipment for stacking ultrathin and reaction-sensitive layered structures. Ethan D. Minot, a professor at Oregon University and visiting professor at Aalto until summer 2022, also has a central role in the project. The cryotechnology partner of the project is Aalto's spinoff company Bluefors.

Explore further Entangling electrons with heat
Nanoantibiotics developed by the Liang lab at TTUHSC are tiny hairy spheres comprised of polymer brushes (blue) covalently grafted atop silica nanoparticles (black). Once they land on bacterial membranes (headgroups in green and white; hydrocarbon tails in golden), the bundled polymer brushes act as daggers to pierce the bacterial membranes. Credit: TTUHSC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 2.8 million Americans experience antibiotic-resistant infections each year; more than 35,000 die from those infections.

To address this critical and worldwide public health issue, a team of researchers led by Hongjun (Henry) Liang, Ph.D., from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Department of Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics, recently investigated whether or not a series of novel nanoparticles can kill some of the pathogens that lead to human infection without affecting healthy cells.

The study, "Hydrophilic Nanoparticles that Kill Bacteria while Sparing Mammalian Cells Reveal the Antibiotic Role of Nanostructures," was published Jan. 11 by Nature Communications.

Past research has shown that hydrophobicity (a molecule's ability to repel water) and hydrophilicity (a molecule's ability to attract and dissolve in water) affects cells; the more hydrophobic a substance is, the more adverse the reaction it will cause. However, Liang said, there is no quantitative standard for how much hydrophobicity is acceptable.

"Basically, you can kill bacteria when you increase hydrophobicity," Liang said. "But it will also kill healthy cells, and we don't want that."

For their study, the Liang team used novel hydrophilic nanoparticles known as nanoantibiotics that were developed by Liang's laboratory. Structurally speaking, these novel nanoantibiotics resemble tiny hairy spheres, each composed of many hydrophilic polymer brushes grafted onto silica nanoparticles of different sizes.

These synthetic compounds, which Liang's lab produces, are designed to kill bacteria via membrane disruptions like antimicrobial peptides do, but through a different mode of membrane remodeling that damages bacterial membranes and not mammalian cells. Antimicrobial peptides are a diverse class of amphipathic molecules (partially hydrophilic-partially hydrophobic), which occur naturally and serve as the first line of defense for all multicellular organisms. The direct use of antimicrobial peptides as antibiotics is limited by their stability and toxicity.

There have been other studies in which researchers grafted amphipathic molecules onto nanoparticles, and they too kill bacteria. However, Liang said the primary issue in using amphipathic molecules is that it becomes very difficult to strike the right balance between their hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity so that the toxicity of these molecules to our own cells is significantly reduced.

"In our case, we remove that uncertainty from the equation because we started with a hydrophilic polymer," Liang pointed out. "The cytotoxicity of hydrophobic moieties is not a concern anymore. Those hydrophilic polymers by themselves, or the silica nanoparticles alone don't kill bacteria; they have to be grafted onto the nanostructure to be able to kill bacteria. And so, this is the first important discovery."

The Liang team also discovered that the degree of antibiotic activity is affected by the size of the hairy spheres, which according to Liang is the second important discovery of this research. Those measuring 50 nanometers and below appear to be much more active than those whose size exceeds 50 nanometers. Liang said those measuring approximately 10 nanometers appear to be the most active. (Using synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering and other methods, the Liang team is able to interpret the molecular mechanism of the size-dependent antibiotic activity.)

These discoveries are important because using nanoantibiotics to kill bacteria evades all known mechanisms of bacterial resistance unless bacteria completely revamp their pathways for making cell membranes, which Liang said is unlikely.

"It is also nearly impossible for bacteria to develop new resistance against the nanoantibiotics," Liang emphasized. "Furthermore, this discovery illuminates a blueprint to develop new antibiotics that would kill bacteria upon contact, but remain amiable to humans because they are produced using non-toxic and environmentally friendly ingredients via nanoengineering."

Explore further New copper surface eliminates bacteria in just two minutes

More information: Yunjiang Jiang et al, Hydrophilic nanoparticles that kill bacteria while sparing mammalian cells reveal the antibiotic role of nanostructures, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Yunjiang Jiang et al, Hydrophilic nanoparticles that kill bacteria while sparing mammalian cells reveal the antibiotic role of nanostructures,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27193-9
An ore ship passes through the Soo Locks on June 10, 2005 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The Biden administration's new infrastructure package will pump more funding into a Great Lakes project. A project that will boost Great Lakes shipping in a crucial bottleneck and another intended to protect the lakes from invasive carp will get big funding increases under the Biden administration's infrastructure package, officials said Thursday, Jan. 20. 2022. Credit: AP Photo/John Flesher, File

A project that will boost Great Lakes shipping in a crucial bottleneck and another intended to protect the lakes from invasive carp will get big funding increases under the Biden administration's infrastructure package, officials said Thursday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would pump $479 million into construction of a new navigational lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, expanding a complex that enables vessels to haul bulk cargo between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes.

Additionally, the Corps will devote $226 million to the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois, where plans call for the installation of obstacles to prevent invasive carp from migrating up the Illinois River to Lake Michigan.

The projects have been top priorities for members of Congress from the eight states that border the Great Lakes. The infrastructure measure, which also includes $1 billion to improve water quality, makes "the single largest investment ever in the Great Lakes," Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan said in a statement.

About 7,000 vessels pass annually through the Soo Locks on the St. Marys River, which connects Lake Superior and Lake Huron and has a 21-foot elevation drop. Two locks are operational but only the Poe Lock can accommodate the biggest freighters, which are around 1,000 feet (305 meters) long.

The industry has long pushed for another, warning that if the Poe were disabled for long, it would disrupt the transport of commodities essential to Midwestern manufacturing.

Nearly all domestically made steel used in automobiles and appliances is produced from iron ore mined in Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and shipped through the Poe Lock.

"The new lock at the Soo will provide much needed resiliency in the Great Lakes navigation system," said Kevin McDaniels, deputy district engineer for the Corps' Detroit District. "It will eliminate the single point of failure in our nation's iron ore supply chain."

The new funding will be enough to finish building the $1.3 billion lock, Stabenow and Peters said.

"The critical role that Great Lakes waterways play in sustaining and advancing America's economic vitality cannot be overstated," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat and chairwoman of the House Energy and Water Subcommittee. "The revitalization of the Soo Locks will strengthen America's commercial shipping capabilities and support good-paying jobs throughout the Industrial Heartland."

The Brandon Road Lock and Dam funding will complete preconstruction, engineering and design work on upgrades to block the path of invasive carp, as well as initial construction. Electric barriers, bubble screens, noisemakers and other devices will be used.

Rivers and canals between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan are infested with carp imported from Asia in the 1960s to clear sewage lagoons and fish farms of algae and weeds. They escaped into the Mississippi River and have spread into its tributaries and are competing with native species for food.

Scientists say an invasion of the Great Lakes would threaten its $7 billion fishing industry.

The new funding "is an historic step forward for this critically needed project to add a chain of smart technologies to the waterway that will stop invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan," said Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Explore further Deal reached on project to protect lakes from invasive fish

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The transport of carbon dioxide stored in the Earth's lithospheric mantle beneath the Hyblean Plateau in southern Italy at a depth of approximately 50 to 150 kilometers is responsible for the exceptionally large CO 2 emission of Mount Etna. That is the result of research conducted by an international team of geologists, including researchers from the Universities of Florence (Italy) and Cologne (Germany), and from the Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). To reach this conclusion, the team determined the ratios of a particular set of elements in the magmas emitted by the volcanoes using cutting-edge, high-precision measurement methods. The results have been published in the article "A carbon-rich lithospheric mantle as a source for the large CO 2 emissions of Etna volcano (Italy)' in the journal Geology.

Over the geological times, variations in atmospheric CO 2 depended mainly on volcanic emissions, which are difficult to estimate because they are not directly related to the volume of the magmas erupted. Indeed, some volcanoes show exceptionally large emission of CO 2 when compared to the amount that can be dissolved in their magmas. Etna is perhaps the most striking example, contributing to 10 per cent (9000 tons/day) of the present global volcanic CO 2 emission. That is three times more CO 2 than a volcano like Kilauea (Hawaii) emits, which erupts four times more magma.

The team investigated magmas from four volcanoes in the region (Etna, Vulture, Stromboli, and Pantelleria), using the two rare elements Niobium (Nb) and Tantalum (Ta) as tracers. Ratios of Nb/Ta are very constant in many rocks and are only modified by few geological processeslike the infiltration of carbonate-rich melts in Earth's mantle. The study revealed that magmas from Mount Etna and Mount Vulture are characterized by extremely high Nb/Ta ratios, higher than any other active intraplate volcano. This means that the magma compositions testify to the presence of lithospheric mantle domains beneath southern Italy that are extremely enriched in carbon. This carbon is 'tapped' during the melting of the magmas.

The process is directly related to the region's complex geodynamic setting: The carbon-rich lithospheric mantle domains are located beneath the Hyblean Plateau in southern Sicily. These domains are transported towards the region beneath Etna by means of tectonic activity, specifically the rollback of the Ionian subduction plate. A symmetric mechanism is likely occurring on the other side of the Ionian plate, beneath Mount Vulture.

"The data also allow us to infer the contribution of such carbon-rich domains to the Earth's atmosphere in the past, suggesting that the CO 2 emissions of Mount Etna during its ancient activity might have been even higher than at present," Professor Dr. Carsten Munker from the University of Cologne's Institute of Geology and Mineralogy commented. He and his team were responsible for the high precision measurements including the two critical elements Nb and Ta.

Lead author Dr. Alessandro Bragagni, former postdoc at Cologne and now at the University of Florence, added that "similar carbon-rich domains might be hidden beneath other volcanoes worldwide, hence contributing to their CO 2 emissions. The innovative trace element approach used in this study represents a promising way to better estimate the contribution of carbon-enriched lithosphere to overall volcanic CO 2 emissions, both at present and in the past, which may have played a key role in changing the climate of our planet."

Explore further Volcanologist suggests Mt. Etna behaves more like a giant hot spring than a volcano

More information: Alessandro Bragagni et al, A carbon-rich lithospheric mantle as a source for the large CO2 emissions of Etna volcano (Italy), Geology (2022). Journal information: Geology Alessandro Bragagni et al, A carbon-rich lithospheric mantle as a source for the large CO2 emissions of Etna volcano (Italy),(2022). DOI: 10.1130/G49510.1
NEA Scout is composed of a small, shoebox-sized CubeSat (top left) and a thin, aluminum-coated solar sail about the size of a racquetball court (bottom left). After the spacecraft launches aboard Artemis I, the sail will use sunlight to propel the CubeSat to a small asteroid (as depicted in an illustration, right). Credit: NASA

Launching with the Artemis I uncrewed test flight, NASA's shoebox-size Near-Earth Asteroid Scout will chase down what will become the smallest asteroid ever to be visited by a spacecraft. It will get there by unfurling a solar sail to harness solar radiation for propulsion, making this the agency's first deep space mission of its kind.

The target is 2020 GE, a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) that is less than 60 feet (18 meters) in size. Asteroids smaller than 330 feet (100 meters) across have never been explored up close before. The spacecraft will use its science camera to get a closer look, measuring the object's size, shape, rotation, and surface properties while looking for any dust and debris that might surround 2020 GE.

Because the camera has a resolution of less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) per pixel, the mission's science team will be able to determine whether 2020 GE is solidlike a boulderor if it's composed of smaller rocks and dust clumped together like some of its larger asteroid cousins, such as asteroid Bennu.

"Thanks to the discoveries of NEAs by Earth-based observatories, several targets had been identified for NEA Scout, all within the 16-to-100-foot [5-to-30-meter] size range," said Julie Castillo-Rogez, the mission's principal science investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "2020 GE represents a class of asteroid that we currently know very little about."

2020 GE was first observed on March 12, 2020, by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey as part of its search for near-Earth objects for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Developed under NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and JPL, NEA Scout is a science and technology demonstration mission that will enhance the agency's understanding of small NEAs. Using a six-unit CubeSat form factor, it will ride as one of 10 secondary payloads aboard the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will launch no earlier than March 2022 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NEA Scout will then be deployed from a dispenser attached to the adapter ring that connects the rocket and Orion spacecraft.

The mission will act as a nimble scout for future human and robotic missions that may utilize asteroid resourcesand will gain important planetary defense insights about this class of NEA.

"Although large asteroids are of most concern from a planetary defense perspective, objects like 2020 GE are far more common and can pose a hazard to our planet, despite their smaller size," said Castillo-Rogez. The Chelyabinsk meteor was caused by a small asteroid about 65 feet (20 meters) in diameterit exploded over the Russian city on Feb. 15, 2013, creating a shockwave that broke windows all over the city and injured more than 1,600 people. That was the same class of NEA as 2020 GE.

Low mass, high performance

Learning more about asteroid 2020 GE is only part of NEA Scout's job. It will also demonstrate solar sail technology for deep space encounters. When released from its dispenser after launch, the spacecraft will use stainless steel alloy booms to unfurl a solar sail that will expand from a small package to a sail about the size of a racquetball court, or 925 square feet (86 square meters).

Made from plastic-coated aluminum thinner than a human hair, this lightweight, mirror-like sail will generate thrust by reflecting solar photonsquantum particles of light radiating from the sun. The sail will provide most of NEA Scout's propulsion, but small cold-gas thrusters with a limited propellant supply will also assist with maneuvers and orientation.

"The genesis of this project was a question: Can we really use a tiny spacecraft to do deep space missions and produce useful science at a low cost?" said Les Johnson, the mission's principal technology investigator at Marshall. "This is a huge challenge. For asteroid characterization missions, there's simply not enough room on a CubeSat for large propulsion systems and the fuel they require."

Sunlight acts as a constant force, so a tiny spacecraft equipped with a large solar sail can eventually travel many miles per second. Solar sails are a high-performance propulsion system for low-mass and low-volume spacecraft, according to Johnson. NEA Scout will maneuver by tipping and tilting its sail to change the angle of sunlight, altering the amount of thrust and direction of travel, similar to how a boat uses the wind to sail.

In September 2023, asteroid 2020 GE will make a close approach with Earth, and with a gravitational assist from the moon, NEA Scout will have gathered enough speed to catch up. Mission navigators will fine-tune NEA Scout's trajectory before the spacecraft approaches within a mile of the asteroid.

"NEA Scout will accomplish probably the slowest flyby of an asteroid everat a relative speed of less than 100 feet [30 meters] per second," said Castillo-Rogez. "This will give us a few hours to gather invaluable science and allow us to see what asteroids of this class look like up close."

NEA Scout sets the stage for future solar sails: NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System will demonstrate novel, lightweight booms to deploy a solar sail from a CubeSat following its 2022 launch. After that, Solar Cruiser, an 18,000-square-foot (nearly 1,700-square-meter) solar sail technology demonstration, will use sunlight to travel toward the sun in 2025, enabling future missions to better monitor space weather.

Explore further NASA solar sail asteroid mission readies for launch on Artemis I

More information: For more about the NEA Scout mission, visit For more about the NEA Scout mission, visit www.nasa.gov/content/nea-scout
A new study refutes the long-held belief that dust storms spread spores and cause valley fever. Neither past literature nor a new analysis supported a reliable relationship between dust storms, like the one shown here that hit Phoenix in 2011, and valley fever outbreaks. Credit: Alan Stark, CC BY-SA 2.0

Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as valley fever, is a disease caused by two species of fungi from the genus Coccidioides: C. immitis and C. posadasii. Normally found in desert soil, these fungi can cause such symptoms as fatigue, coughs, headaches, and fevers when they colonize human lungs.

Because Coccidioides resides in soil, researchers and public health officials have often assumed that dust storms spread spores and cause infections. But a new study by Andrew Comrie refutes this long-held belief by showing that neither past literature nor his own analysis supports a reliable relationship between dust storms and coccidioidomycosis outbreaks.

The Tempest from Tehachapi, a historic dust storm that swept through Kern County, California, in 1977, may have solidified the link between dust storms and coccidioidomycosis in scientific literature. This storm stirred up soil from as deep as 15 centimeters and was followed by a spike in coccidioidomycosis cases. Studies of other dust storms, however, have failed to show a consistent connection. In a recent study, scientists measured concentrations of airborne Coccidioides before, during, and after a major 2015 dust storm in Arizona and found higher concentrations before the storm than at any other time.

In addition to reviewing past studies, Comrie performed his own analysis using a technique called compositing, also known as superposed epoch analysis. He analyzed around 100 dust storms that occurred in Maricopa County, Arizona, and Kern County, California, looking for disease spikes in each of the 12 months following each individual storm. Neither county experienced significant increases in valley fever cases following the storms. Tweaking his analysis to examine coccidioidomycosis cases on a weekly basis instead of monthly and to focus on individual seasons when dust storms are frequent did not change Comrie's conclusion.

Coccidioides spores are unlikely to survive for long on the harsh surface of the desert, perhaps explaining why dust storms that disturb only superficial soil don't usually spread the fungus. Instead, places where soil has recently been disrupted, like animal burrows or construction sites, could be sources of infectious spores. Public health officials may need to reconsider their messages to the public in light of these findings.

Explore further Dust storms and valley fever in the American West

More information: Andrew C. Comrie, No Consistent Link Between Dust Storms and Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis), GeoHealth (2021). Andrew C. Comrie, No Consistent Link Between Dust Storms and Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis),(2021). DOI: 10.1029/2021GH000504

This story is republished courtesy of Eos, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Russia's sole active female cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, is due to travel to the International Space Station in September on a Soyuz rocket, the national space agency said Thursday.

Kikina, a 37-year-old engineer, will be only the fifth professional woman cosmonaut from Russia or the Soviet Union to fly to space.

Last year, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said "our beauty" Kikina would fly aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon as part of a cross-flights deal between Roscosmos and NASA.

On Thursday, Roscosmos said that if the two countries finalise the deal, Kikina will fly to space with the Americans in August, while NASA's Francisco Rubio will travel on a Soyuz.

But if the deal does not work out, she will travel to the ISS on a Soyuz rocket in September.

The last Russian woman to fly to space was Elena Serova, who spent 167 days aboard the ISS from September, 2014 to March, 2015.

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space when she travelled into orbit on June 16, 1963.

Svetlana Savitskaya was the second woman in space, and the first woman to perform a spacewalk in July, 1984.

In October, Russia also sent to space an actress, Yulia Peresild, who spent 12 days on the ISS shooting scenes for a movie.

By comparison, more than 50 American women have travelled to space.

Roscosmos also said Thursday that three Russian cosmonautsOleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergei Korsakovwill fly to the ISS in March.

"For the first time in the history of the ISS, the Soyuz crew will include three Russian professional cosmonauts," the space agency said.

A Roscosmos official said this was because a contract with NASA on joint flights was nearing its end.

"Talks are currently underway to extend the contract," the representative told AFP.

Explore further Russian rocket tests briefly destabilise space station

 2022 AFP
Credit: Shutterstock

There's just over a week to go before term one starts across the countryexcept in Queensland which has pushed back the start of the school year. We are yet to see states and territory plans for how to open schools safely, and to minimize the inevitable Omicron-induced teacher shortages, but one thing is clear: even with plans in place, schools will continue to experience disruptions in 2022.

As such, they will bear the consequences for the mental health of their staff and students.

We investigated what schools have done during the pandemic to help support and maintain the well-being of their students and staff. We reviewed studies world-wide on the initiatives they used and listened to 25 expertsschool leaders, teachers and school psychologists and counselorsfrom public, independent, primary and secondary schools across Australia. Most participants (80%) were from Queensland schools and all had experienced school disruptions during the pandemic.

We pulled out seven steps schools can take to mitigate mental ill health during COVID-related disruptions and help staff, students and the school community deal with uncertainty.

1. Have clearly outlined plans for certain events

School staff need a clear protocol for what to do when certain events occur, so all staff are on the same page.

For example, what happens if the school closes for face-to-face teaching (fully or partially)? What roles will each staff member play? What happens when a child or teacher gets very sick or even dies?

These guidance documents must be easily accessible and every staff member must know where to look.

One teacher whose school had such plans in place said, "We had excellent protocols [] it was great to just get that folder off the shelf and go."

2. Help staff maintain their own well-being and emotionally support students

Schools must provide staff with the skills they need to have difficult conversations with students, identify those at risk, and incorporate some psychological and emotional strategies into their teaching practice.

Our interviewees described such professional development being part of their weekly after-school staff meetings (sometimes termed learning lounges). They recommended many of these meetings could focus on self-care and provide opportunities for teachers to share their experiences of stress and how to deal with it.

This time could also be used to give teachers strategies to manage their own well-being. One study we looked at examined the effectiveness of a reframing intervention to build resilience and reduce burnout in teachers in Israel. Teachers would identify their stressful thoughts and then find evidence for opposing these thoughts. Teachers reported increased resilience and improved well-being relative to the control group who reported greater burnout.

School psychologists and counselors and other professionals could also share strategies with teachers for how to incorporate mindfulness techniques into classes.

And they can help teachers have difficult conversations with kids. It is normal for students to feel worried or sad after loss of any kind. In the initial stages, they need to have a conversation with a familiar person who can empathize with their worry and grief. Teachers who know a student well can be helped on how to have these early conversations and refer the student for further support when needed.

3. Be patient with students who may need time to adjust

Children and young people benefit from a secure school environment and familiar routines, but returning to school after a disruption requires flexibility.

Schools and teachers must understand it won't be possible to get back to normal right away, so be patient with all students and their unique responses. Students may have had different COVID-related experiences and where one student takes disruption in their stride, another might need more support and time to adjust.

4. Incorporate mindfulness and calming techniques into classes

Incorporating activities to teach self-calming, emotion regulation, and other coping skills into regular class time can help. Mindfulness has been shown to be particularly effective for reducing anxiety, depression and stress in 1418 year olds.

A review of numerous studies recommends 35 minute group mindfulness sessions, twice a week for eight weeks (including basic stress management education, yoga, and breathing and relaxation techniques) delivered by trained teachers as part of typical classroom routine. There are also free smartphone apps tailored to young people that offer mindfulness and other exercises.

One teacher we interviewed told us "a pandemic feels like you're out of control," and recommended "normalizing that [] using mindfulness, gratitude and going for walks."

A study of teenagers in China found listening to daily mindfulness increased students' resilience and emotional intelligence. In another study, primary school students in Canada received two forms of online art therapy which showed a reduction in their anxiety.

5. Put together a team to address school community's concerns

Principals (or a senior leader) should be available for teachers and parents to express their concerns to.

The school can bring together a leadership team of school psychologists/counselors, chaplains, health nurses and other support people to share the burden of addressing them.

Regular communication is also important. Anxiety will be high and keeping the school community regularly informed of any changes or protocols will go some way to calming the sense of uncertainty.

One school leader said, "It's really important to communicate regularly and the same message over and over again to everybody."

6. Have a support system in place for teachers

We found an effective way to help support teachers is to have a buddy system so teachers can support each other.

Another way is to make sure the leadership team checks in with all the staff members regularly. As one school leader said, "We had a group list of [] every single staff member and we made a commitment that we would ring each one of those people once a week."

7. Identify and keep an eye on students at risk

Watch for signs when a student is not coping in the weeks and months following a disruption. Young people don't always ask for help, but their behaviors can be a sign when something is wrong.

For example, a younger child might say they have a tummy ache, become aggressive, or disinterested in the things they usually enjoy. An adolescent might be moody, irritable, say negative things about themselves, and isolate from friends. If you see students whose behavior is telling you they are having mental-health issues, refer them to specialized services.

Explore further New study shows benefits of mindfulness for middle-school teachers

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Sinuous stellar jets meander lazily across a field of stars in new images captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab. The gently curving stellar jets are the outflow from young stars, and astronomers suspect their sidewinding appearances are caused by the gravitational attraction of companion stars. These crystal-clear observations were made using the Gemini South telescopes adaptive optics system, which helps astronomers counteract the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence. Credit: NOIRLab

Young stellar jets are a common by-product of star formation and are thought to be caused by the interplay between the magnetic fields of rotating young stars and the disks of gas surrounding them. These interactions eject twin torrents of ionized gas in opposite directions, such as those pictured in two images captured by astronomers using the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachon on the edge of the Chilean Andes. Gemini South is one half of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, that comprises twin 8.1-meter optical/infrared telescopes on two of the best observing sites on the planet. Its counterpart, Gemini North, is located near the summit of Maunakea in Hawai'i.

The jet in the first image, named MHO 2147, is roughly 10,000 light-years from Earth, and lies in the galactic plane of the Milky Way, close to the boundary between the constellations Sagittarius and Ophiuchus. MHO 2147 snakes across a starry backdrop in the imagean appropriately serpentine appearance for an object close to Ophiuchus. Like many of the 88 modern astronomical constellations, Ophiuchus has mythological rootsin ancient Greece it represented a variety of gods and heroes grappling with a serpent. MHO 1502, the jet pictured in the second image, is located in the constellation of Vela, approximately 2000 light-years away.

Most stellar jets are straight but some can be wandering or knotted. The shape of the uneven jets is thought to be related to a characteristic of the object or objects that created them. In the case of the two bipolar jets MHO 2147 and MHO 1502, the stars which created them are obscured from view.

In the case of MHO 2147, this young central star, which has the catchy identifier IRAS 17527-2439, is embedded in an infrared dark clouda cold, dense region of gas that is opaque at the infrared wavelengths represented in this image. The sinuous shape of MHO 2147 is caused because the direction of the jet has changed over time, tracing out a gentle curve on either side of the central star. These almost unbroken curves suggest that MHO 2147 has been sculpted by continuous emission from its central source. Astronomers found that the changing direction (precession) of the jet may be due to the gravitational influence of nearby stars acting on the central star. Their observations suggest that IRAS 17527-2439 could belong to a triple star system separated by more than 300 billion kilometers (almost 200 billion miles).

Sinuous stellar jets meander lazily across a field of stars in new images captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab. The gently curving stellar jets are the outflow from young stars, and astronomers suspect their sidewinding appearances are caused by the gravitational attraction of companion stars. These crystal-clear observations were made using the Gemini South telescopes adaptive optics system, which helps astronomers counteract the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

MHO 1502, on the other hand, is embedded in a totally different environmentan area of star formation known as an HII region. The bipolar jet is composed of a chain of knots, suggesting that its source, thought to be two stars, has been intermittently emitting material.

These detailed images were captured by the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI), an instrument on the 8.1-meter-diameter Gemini South telescope. Gemini South is perched on the summit of Cerro Pachon, where dry air and negligible cloud cover provide one of the best observing sites on the planet. Even atop Cerro Pachon, however, atmospheric turbulence causes the stars to blur and twinkle.

GSAOI works with GeMs, the Gemini Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics System, to cancel out this blurring effect using a technique called adaptive optics. By monitoring the twinkling of natural and artificial guide stars up to 800 times a second, GeMs can determine how atmospheric turbulence is distorting Gemini South's observations. A computer uses this information to minutely adjust the shape of deformable mirrors, canceling out the distortions caused by turbulence. In this case, the sharp adaptive optics images have made it possible to recognize more details in each knot of the young stellar jets than in previous studies.

The research was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The study is titled "High-resolution images of two wiggling stellar jets, MHO 1502 and MHO 2147, obtained with GSAOI+GeMS."

Explore further Gemini South telescope captures image of Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula

More information: L. V. Ferrero et al, High-resolution images of two wiggling stellar jets, MHO 1502 and MHO 2147, obtained with GSAOI+GeMS, Astronomy & Astrophysics (2021). Journal information: Astronomy & Astrophysics L. V. Ferrero et al, High-resolution images of two wiggling stellar jets, MHO 1502 and MHO 2147, obtained with GSAOI+GeMS,(2021). DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202142421

Provided by NOIRLab
Credit: Illustration: Olivier Bachmann / ETH Zurich.

Located near Naples, Italy, Vesuvius last had a violent eruption in 1944, towards the end of the Second World War. It could be a few hundred years before another dangerous, explosive eruption occurs, finds a new study by volcano experts at ETH Zurich.

Vesuvius is one of Europe's most dangerous volcanoes. More than three million people live in its immediate vicinity, and in historical and prehistoric times, there were explosive eruptions that destroyed entire settlements and towns in the area.

So, the pressing question is: When will Vesuvius erupt again and how strong could the eruption be?

To answer this question, a research group at ETH Zurich, in collaboration with researchers from Italy, has taken a close look at the four largest eruptions of Vesuvius over the last 10,000 years so that they can better assess whether a dangerous event might be expected in the foreseeable future.

The four eruptions studied include the Avellino eruption of 3,950 years ago, which is considered a possible "worst case scenario" for future eruptions, and the eruption of AD 79 that buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The latter was documented by the Roman writer Pliny the Younger, and so all eruptions of this type are referred to as "Plinian" eruptions. Further, the volcanologists studied eruptions of 472 AD and 8890 BC. The sub-Plinian eruption of AD 472 is the smallest of the investigated eruptions but still similar in size compared to the recent Tonga eruption.

Garnets allow precise dating

In their study, which has just been published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers working with lead author Jorn-Frederik Wotzlaw and ETH Zurich Professor Olivier Bachmann determined the age of garnet crystals present in the volcanic deposits. This mineral grows from the magma as it is stored in the magma chamber in the upper crust beneath Vesuvius. Knowing the age of these minerals makes it possible to infer how long magma resided in this chamber before the volcano spewed it out.

Pompeii was destroyed in 79 AD during a massive eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Credit: Jorn-Frederik Wotzlaw

Garnet is an unusual choice for determining the age of volcanic ejecta. Researchers typically use zircons, which are tiny accessory minerals found in many igneous rocks. Magma from Vesuvius, however, is too alkaline to crystallize zircons, but it is rich in garnet.

To determine the age of the garnets, the researchers used the radioactive elements uranium and thorium. The crystal structure of garnet incorporates both in small but measurable quantities, with a preference for uranium. Using the ratio of the isotopes uranium-238 to thorium-230, the researchers can calculate the crystallization age of the minerals.

The garnets for this study all came from material that the ETH team collected on site with the help of colleagues from the Universities of Milan and Bari. For this purpose, they searched for corresponding sites where the volcanic deposits from the four eruptions mentioned above are exposed at the surface and are accessible for sampling.

Intervals become shorter

By using the crystallization ages of garnets, the researchers can now show that the most explosive magma type at Vesuvius (so called "phonolitic" magma) is stored in a reservoir in the upper crust for several thousand years before the influx of more primitive, and hotter, magma from the lower crust triggers an eruption.

For the two prehistoric events, the researchers determined that the phonolitic magma resided in the chamber for about 5,000 years. Before the eruptions in the historical period, it was stored in this reservoir for only about 1,000 years.

For all the eruptions, the residence time of the phonolitic magma in the upper crustal chamber coincides with Vesuvius' quiescent periods.

Vesuvius spewed out these pumice deposits 3,950 years ago. Credit: Jorn-Frederik Wotzlaw

"We think it's likely that a large body of phonolitic magma in the upper crust blocked the upwelling of more primitive, hotter magma from deeper reservoirs," Bachmann says. "Vesuvius has quite a complicated plumbing system," he adds with a grin.

Below the volcano are several magma chambers connected by a system of pipes. The top chamber, which is critical for the eruptions, fills with magma from one of the lower chambers in a fairly short time. In this colder environment, the magma cools and crystallizes, leading to chemical changes of the residual melt (a process called "magmatic differentiation"). Experts call the "differentiated" magma of Vesuvius phonolite. At some point (probably at relatively regular intervals), more primitive, or "mafic" magma flows into the upper chamber from greater depths. This recharge leads to a pressure rise within the chamber, which can force the phonolitic magma upwards, potentially all the way to the surface, starting an eruption.

A reservoir of phonolitic magma appears to have almost always existed beneath Vesuvius for the last 10,000 years. However, the question is whether one today that could feed a dangerous eruption like the one of 3,950 years ago or the one of AD 79.

Magma build-up rather unlikely

Seismic surveys indicate that there is indeed a reservoir at a depth of about six to eight kilometers underneath Vesuvius. However, the composition of the magma it containsi.e., whether it is phonolitic, or more maficcannot be determined using seismic technology. But since Vesuvius has been producing mostly mafic magma since 1631, researchers believe it is unlikely that differentiated phonolite is currently accumulating. "The last major eruption in 1944 is now nearly 80 years ago, which may well be the beginning of a prolonged quiescent period during which differentiated magma can accumulate. Still, a dangerous eruption comparable to the one in AD 79 probably needs the quiescent period to last much longer," Wotzlaw says.

If predominantly mafic magma is ejected in the coming decades, this could indicate that the magma body detected by seismic surveys is not composed of differentiated magma and that none is currently present beneath Vesuvius. "That's why we think it's more likely that a large, explosive eruption of Vesuvius would occur only after a quiescent period lasting for centuries," Bachmann says. Wotzlaw adds, "However, smaller but still very dangerous eruptions like the one in 1944 or even the one in 1631 can occur after shorter periods of quiescence. Accurate forecasting of size and style of volcanic eruptions is so far not possible. However, the reawakening of the magma reservoirs beneath volcanoes are now recognizable by monitoring."

Close monitoring

To avoid any nasty surprises, Vesuvius and its activity, together with its big brother to the west, the Phlegraean Fields, are monitored around the clock. For example, Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology measures every earthquake around the volcanoes, analyzes gases emitted from fumaroles and observes ground deformation, which are indicators of underground activity. There is also an emergency plan outlining how to evacuate the greater Naples area should surveillance conclude that an eruption is imminent.

Explore further Crystals from Popocatepetl volcano reveal the links between magma recharge patterns and eruption style

More information: Jorn-Frederik Wotzlaw et al, Garnet petrochronology reveals the lifetime and dynamics of phonolitic magma chambers at Somma-Vesuvius, Science Advances (2022). Journal information: Science Advances Jorn-Frederik Wotzlaw et al, Garnet petrochronology reveals the lifetime and dynamics of phonolitic magma chambers at Somma-Vesuvius,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk2184
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Ever wondered whether whales can burp, and why they don't drown when they gulp down gallons of water and krill? New UBC research may just hold the answer.

Researchers found that lunge-feeding whales have an 'oral plug', a fleshy bulb in their mouths that moves backwards to seal off the upper airways during feeding, while their larynx closes to block the lower airways.

This plug prevents water from entering their lungs when they feed, according to a paper published today in Current Biology. "It's kind of like when a human's uvula moves backwards to block our nasal passages, and our windpipe closes up while swallowing food," says lead author Dr. Kelsey Gil, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of zoology.

Lunge-feeding whales eat by, you guessed it, lunging at their prey, accelerating at high speed and opening their mouths to engulf water and krill. Sometimes this amount can be larger than their own bodies, says Dr. Gil, an impressive feat given this group includes the humpback and the blue whale, the largest animal on Earth. Water is then drained via their baleen, leaving the tiny, tasty krill behind to be swallowed.

The researchers investigated fin whales specifically, a type of lunge-feeding whale and found the 'oral plug' needed to move in order to allow food to pass to the esophagus. The only way it could was towards the back of the head, and up, blocking off the nasal passages when the whale swallows. Simultaneously, cartilage closes at the entrance to the larynx, and the laryngeal sac moves upwards to block off the lower airways, says Dr. Gil. "We haven't seen this protective mechanism in any other animals, or in the literature. A lot of our knowledge about whales and dolphins comes from toothed whales, which have completely separated respiratory tracts, so similar assumptions have been made about lunge-feeding whales."

It turns out humans have a similar system to swallow food without getting anything in their lungs: we have the epiglottis and soft palate, a 'lid' of cartilage and a flap of muscle in our throat and mouth, respectively. Humans could probably eat underwater as well, says Dr. Gil, but it would be rather like swimming at high speed towards a hamburger and opening your mouth wide as you approacheddifficult not to flood your lungs.

The whales' oral plug and closing larynx is central to how lunge-feeding evolved, a key component in the enormous size of these creatures, the researchers say. "Bulk filter-feeding on krill swarms is highly efficient and the only way to provide the massive amount of energy needed to support such large body size. This would not be possible without the special anatomical features we have described," says senior author Dr. Robert Shadwick, a professor in the UBC department of zoology.

Investigating whale anatomy often involves trying to dissect whales that have died from stranding which comes with such challenges as trying to complete work before the tide rises. However, for this research, Dr. Gil and her colleagues dissected whales in Iceland in 2018, recovering tissue that wasn't being used for food from a commercial whaling station. Working with whales in real-time would be wonderful, she says, but might require some advancements in technology. "It would be interesting to throw a tiny camera down a whale's mouth while it was feeding to see what's happening, but we'd need to make sure it was safe to eat and biodegradable."

The team will continue to explore the mechanisms related to the pharynx, and of the small esophagus that is responsible for rapidly transporting hundreds of kilograms of krill to the stomach in less than a minute. With the many human impacts that disrupt food chains, and knowing how whales feed and how much they eat, it's good to know as much as possible about these animals in order to protect them and their eco systems, says Dr. Gil.

And there's plenty more to find out, including whether whales cough, hiccup, and yes, burp. "Humpback whales blow bubbles out of their mouth, but we aren't exactly sure where the air is fromit might make more sense, and be safer, for whales to burp out of their blowholes."

Explore further Big-city coastal whales consume millions of microplastics every day

More information: Kelsey N. Gil, Anatomical mechanism for protecting the airway in the largest animals on earth, Current Biology (2022). www.cell.com/current-biology/f  0960-9822(21)01727-9 Journal information: Current Biology Kelsey N. Gil, Anatomical mechanism for protecting the airway in the largest animals on earth,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.12.040
Credit: Nadezhda Kerimova et al. (2022) Visual processing of green zones in shared courtyards during renting decisions: An eye-tracking study.

Researchers from HSE University and St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPSUACE) used eye tracking to study how residents who own cars and those who don't look at the shared courtyards of multistorey apartment buildings. The study was published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.

In many countries, new urban districts are full of lifeless parking lots and there is almost no greenery. And while urban residents like spending time in green parks, they continue to accept the barren courtyards of new housing developments.

The study by HSE University and SPSUACE used eye-tracking technology to study how residents perceive the shared courtyards of apartment buildings.

The researchers took two groups of participantsthose who own a car and those who don'tand showed them images of shared courtyards, asking the subjects to evaluate their attractiveness. A total of 20 car owners and 20 people who did not own a car took part in the study.

The researchers found that the longer people looked at trees (greenery), the more attractive the courtyards seemed to them. And vice versa: the longer they looked at parking lots, the more unattractive they found the area. Computational data analysis confirmed the correlation between the time spent looking at trees and the courtyards' attractiveness, with an opposite negative effect from looking at parking lots. On average, a twofold increase in attention to greenery makes a courtyard about 30% more attractive.

Car owners found courtyards full of parking spaces and no trees less unappealing than those who don't own a car. But among car owners, the correlation between the time spent looking at trees and their evaluation of a courtyard as particularly attractive turned out to be the strongest. Greenery impacted car owners 33% stronger than participants without cars.

"The results demonstrate an internal conflict in urban residents who own a car: on the one hand, they are interested in additional parking spaces, but still value greenery highly. Resolving such internal tensions in various groups of urban residents will likely help return cozy green courtyards to our cities," said Vasily Klucharev, the project's coordinator and Director of the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience.

"Architects often underestimate the importance of green spaces during construction planning. Together with an HSE laboratory, we used a contemporary method of eye tracking to study the urban residents' attention. Our results have confirmed that the more attention people pay to green spaces, the more positively they evaluate urban districts. Such studies are extremely important for changing the philosophy of architects and developers, for understanding the preferences of residents and potential conflicts between different groups of residents," said Nadezhda Kerimova, co-author of the paper, Associate Professor at the Department of Architectural Design, SPSUACE.

"In our studies, we are trying to get to the bottom of why we accept the concrete of modern construction and forget that green spaces in cities are necessary, first of all, for our health. Trees decrease air pollution, protect us from noise and heat, decrease the chances of cardiological and psychological disorders. Furthermore, Canadian researchers recently proved that having ten more trees in a city block improves health perception in ways comparable to being seven years younger. That's why we will make sure to continue our studies of how green space development impacts people," added Vasily Klucharev.

Explore further High human population density negative for pollinators

More information: Nadezhda Kerimova et al, Visual processing of green zones in shared courtyards during renting decisions: An eye-tracking study, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (2022). Nadezhda Kerimova et al, Visual processing of green zones in shared courtyards during renting decisions: An eye-tracking study,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127460

Provided by National Research University Higher School of Economics
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FIG. 1. Yutu-2s routing path and slippage on the farside of the Moon.(A) Routing path of the rover. The yellow dots represent waypoints. The red dots represent Yutu-2s starting waypoint of each lunar day; they are also the sleeping waypoint of the last lunar day. The rover passed through 132 waypoints in the first 25 lunar days. The exploration phase of the eighth and ninth lunar day is zoomed in to show detailed traverse routes. The base image is a high-resolution (0.9 m per pixel) digital orthophoto map (DOM) (60) generated from LROC narrow angle camera (NAC) imagery (61). (B) Box plot of Yutu-2s wheel slip ratios along the routing path on each lunar day. Paths that are too short were dismissed in the statistics because they were usually without visual localization results or introduced too many errors. Paths controlled in driving time without planned target waypoints were also dismissed. Credit: DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abj6660

A large team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China, Germany and Canada has provided an update of findings made by the Yutu-2 rover, which is exploring a crater on the far side of the moon. In their paper published in the journal Science Robotics, the group notes that thus far, they have found that the soil on the far side of the moon has a different texture than that found on the Earth-facing side.

China's National Space Administration launched its Chang'e 4 robotic space mission in December of 2018the spacecraft entered lunar orbit several days later and the Yutu-2 rover touched down on the surface on January 3. The landing site was an eastern part of the Von Karman crater, not from the south pole. Since landing, the rover has traveled over 1,000 meters. The rover is equipped with near-ground penetrating radar, an infrared spectrometer, a panoramic camera and other instruments that it has been using to gather information about nearby terrain.

Thus far, the rover has made three major discoveries. The first is that the soil is stickier on the far side of the moon than on the nearer side, and grainier. As the rover rolls across the surface, the researchers found, clods sometimes stick to its wheels, a finding that could help better plan wheel structures for future missions. The rover has also shown that there are more craters on the far side of the moon and that most of them are pretty smallthus far, those observed have a diameter of just 12 meters. The researchers suggest that many of the little craters were likely created by debris falling from larger impacts. Data from the rover has also shown that the far side of the moon is also much less rocky than the near sideand flat. One rock, which resembled a man-made object from a distance, made headlines. Closer inspection showed it to be just an unusually shaped rock.

The researchers suggest data from Yutu-2 will very likely play a strong role in determining the next type of craft to be sent to the moon by China's National Space Administrationboth for rover design and for construction of a human outpost sometime in the distant future.

Explore further Data from Yutu-2 suggests top layer of lunar regolith is material thrown from nearby crater

More information: L. Ding et al, A 2-year locomotive exploration and scientific investigation of the lunar farside by the Yutu-2 rover, Science Robotics (2022). Journal information: Science Robotics L. Ding et al, A 2-year locomotive exploration and scientific investigation of the lunar farside by the Yutu-2 rover,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abj6660

 2022 Science X Network
WHITE CREEK  A Hoosick Falls man was arrested on Monday for allegedly driving drunk and nearly colliding with a state police vehicle.

Police said DJ J. Finefrock, 37, backed onto Shaftsbury Hollow Road in White Creek at about 8 p.m., directly into the path of a police car traveling east. The trooper was able to avoid the collision, police said.

After speaking with Finefrock, the trooper smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and observed signs he was under the influence.

Finefrock was unable to complete roadside sobriety tests and was arrested. He provided a breath sample at the Greenwich state police station, which showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.20%  more than twice the legal limit for intoxication.

Finefrock was charged with misdemeanors of DWI and aggravated DWI. He is also facing a felony count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument after police said the Vermont inspection on his vehicle had been altered.

Finefrock was issued an appearance ticket and is due in White Creek Town Court on Feb. 3.

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GREENWICH  A Salem man was arrested following an investigation stemming from a traffic stop in Greenwich, according to state police.

Eber P. Lopez, 31, of Salem, is charged with second-degree forgery of an official document, a felony.

According to police, Lopez was initially stopped for a traffic violation. During the traffic stop, the trooper observed temporary New Jersey license plates on his vehicle.

It was later determined that the plates were fraudulent, according to police.

Lopez turned himself in to the state police station in Greenwich and was issued a court appearance ticket. He is due in Greenwich Town Court on Feb. 10.

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U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, said she is not laying groundwork to run for president in 2028, no matter what Donald Trump might think.

Im not planning on that, she said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Trump, when he introduced Stefanik at a political fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 12, said, Man is she moving fast. That means at this rate shell be president in about six years, The New York Post reported.

Thats a very kind thing that President Trump said, but no announcement, Stefanik said.

She said she is focused on the congressional district, on her role as the No. 3 leader in the House Republican Conference and on being a mom.

Earlier in the week, St. Lawrence County Republican Chairwoman Connie Elen said she interpreted Trumps comment as a humorous quip, not a prediction.

I have to say that with a child less than 1 year old, shes not going to be running for any office other than Congress soon, Elen said.

Matt Putorti and Matt Castelli, two of the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Stefanik in November, recently criticized her for voting in the House by proxy the same day that she attended the Florida fundraiser.

Child care, workforce training are priorities

Among other topics in a wide-ranging interview, Stefanik said child care and workforce development are important issues that have not gotten much attention in the national media.

Stefanik said she is attempting to build support for legislation she introduced in May to allow states, if they wish, to provide federal COVID-19 relief funding to small businesses, known as family child care networks, which provide child care in a home-based setting.

Stefanik said chambers of commerce and businesses in the district asked her to advocate for the concept.

There often is a shortage of traditional child care centers in rural areas, she said.

The proposed legislation  HR 3545  has not gained traction, so far.

As of Tuesday, it had just three co-sponsors, all Republican, the most recent of which signed on July 1, according to The Library of Congress government information website.

In December, Stefanik introduced legislation intended to offer business owners a larger role in the design of workforce training programs.

The legislation  HR 6255  would allow federal workforce training funds to be used for Employer Directed Skills Accounts, in which employers would pay a portion of costs for programs they help design, and would guarantee employment to individuals that successfully complete the training program.

The legislation had two co-sponsors, both Republican, as of Wednesday.

Stefanik said legislation that she co-sponsored to establish a five-year demonstration program in the Department of Veterans Affairs to use veterans to train service dogs and place the dogs with veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression has a good chance of passing the House this year.

Stefanik was an original co-sponsor of the legislation  HR 1446  introduced in March 2021.

The legislation had 317 co-sponsors  197 Republicans and 120 Democrats  as of Wednesday.

I think that is one thing that we can get done in this polarized environment, she said.

Response to Jan. 6

Four candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Stefanik in November: Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism official from Wilton; Bridie Farrell, a political activist and former competitive skater from North River; Putorti, a lawyer from Whitehall; and Ezra Watson, a technician from Wilton.

Democratic candidates have focused on Stefaniks vote against certifying the 2020 presidential election, and have alleged that she has not been vocal enough in criticizing the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Stefanik said the she believes there are questions about the process of counting and verifying votes.

She said she has been clear in House remarks and in statements about her stance on the Jan. 6 invasion.

Most recently, on Jan. 6, 2022, she said in a statement: On Jan. 6, 2021, I strongly and clearly condemned the violence and destruction that occurred at the U.S. Capitol  just as I strongly condemned the entire year of violence and lawlessness that raged across our nation throughout 2020.

Stefanik said she is excited about the potential of Republican women House candidates that she has endorsed and is supporting through her E-PAC political action committee.

She said that she will be announcing another round of endorsements in about a month.

She would not say if she plans to endorse in the Wyoming House race where Rep. Liz Cheney faces a Republican challenge from four opponents, including one that Trump has endorsed.

Youll have to wait for the announcement to find out, Stefanik said.

Stefanik replaced Cheney as House Republican Conference chair, the No. 3 leadership position, in May.

Stefaniks E-PAC endorsed and financially supported Cheneys House campaigns in 2020 and 2018.

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A select group of smaller communities in New York could benefit from a $100 million program proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in her 2022-23 executive budget.

Hochul wants to establish the New York Forward program, which would be modeled after the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The regional economic development councils would select the villages or hamlets to receive state funding. In the DRI, each winning municipality receives $10 million.

The goal of New York Forward, according to the budget briefing book released by Hochul's office on Tuesday, is to "advance the renaissance of our smaller downtowns."

"The state's investment in shovel-ready projects that demonstrate their ability to accelerate revitalization will strengthen the competitiveness of future community projects, overcoming barriers and closing the gap between the trajectory of New York state's small communities and larger urban centers," the book reads.

While any downtown area is eligible for a DRI prize, the awards typically go to cities. There have been villages that won awards. Newark, in Wayne County, won $10 million in 2021.

But the New York Forward program would create an easier path for smaller communities to receive state funding for downtown areas.

"Governor Hochul knows the value of hamlets and villages as the connection that ties our rural communities together," the governor's office wrote in the State of the State book released earlier this month. "The successful DRI demonstrates that New York state's plan-then-build approach to downtown revitalization works, but more needs to be done to revitalize the burgeoning hamlets and villages of the state."

Along with New York Forward, Hochul also proposed the sixth round of DRI grants. The program would receive $100 million, with $10 million for each of the 10 regional councils.

Hochul's budget address on Tuesday was the official kickoff of budget season in Albany. There will be legislative hearings to discuss the executive budget and both houses will pass their own plans. That's when negotiations usually heat up between the governor and state legislative leaders, who hope to pass a new state budget before the start of the fiscal year on April 1.

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CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  Youth who join a new Cape May County 4-H Club will receive a free lamb to raise, but hurry because only a few spaces remain. 4-H is pleased to offer a unique club for youth in 4th to 12th grades  the Dairy Sheep 4-H Club. Starting Feb. 18, the club will meet at 6 p.m. Fridays at Misty Meadows Sheep Dairy, 100 Dennisville-Petersburg Road, Petersburg.

Bill and Barbara Simmerman, owners of Misty Meadows Sheep Dairy and two of the leaders of the 4-H club, are not only hosting the new club at the dairy but also donating 10 lambs for club members to raise at the dairy. In return for the lamb, each club member will work five hours a week at the dairy caring for their lamb. Members will learn all aspects of raising sheep, from lambing to making sheep products.

We are excited about this new 4-H club especially because it provides a wonderful opportunity for youth who might not otherwise have the opportunity to raise livestock, said Linda Horner, Cape May County 4-H Program Coordinator.

Each youth will be given a lamb in February and all food, supplements and needs will be provided by the farm. The lambs will remain at the farm until the 2022 4-H Fair, scheduled for July 21-23, where they will be sold. The proceeds from the sale will go to the club member who raised the lamb.

Bill Simmerman commented, When I drive down the driveway to the farm, I often think of the song Most People Are Good and the specific part of the song that goes like this: I believe kids oughta stay kids as long as they can, turn off the screen, go climb a tree, get dirt on their hands. We hope this club brings new and fun experiences to our members. And, of course, happy sheep make happy milk.

Slots are going fast, so if you are interested in joining the Dairy Sheep 4-H club, please contact Linda at the 4-H office at linda.horner@co.cape-may.nj.us or call 609-465-5115, ext. 3605.

For more information about the Cape May County 4-H Youth Development Program, call 609-465-5115, ext. 3605, visit capemay.njaes.rutgers.edu and like us on Facebook at Cape May 4-H or Instagram at cape_may_4h.

The 4-H Youth Development Program is part of Rutgers, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station-Cooperative Extension. 4-H offers educational programs to all youth, grades K13, on an age-appropriate basis, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
ATLANTIC CITY  City Council approved an agreement Wednesday night accepting an annual community service contribution of $267,180 from AtlantiCare Regional Medical Centers City Campus.

The payment follows a new state law that sets a formula for how much hospitals should contribute to the municipalities that host them.

As a result of the agreement, all tax appeals will be withdrawn without prejudice, according to the resolution.

The amount is determined by the number of acute care beds in the hospital on Jan. 1, 2020, which was 244.

Each bed is assessed a fee of $3 per day, times 365 days per year, according to the resolution.

AtlantiCare has had a similar agreement with Galloway Township for the past few years.

AtlantiCare also agreed to pay $181,458.85 for the tax year 2021 for block 158, lot 3.02, which both the city and medical center agree is not tax-exempt.

The amounts paid will increase by 2% a year under the agreement.

In other news, new Councilman Bruce Weekes questioned a new city policy requiring all council members to take citizen concerns and other issues to Council President George Tibbitt, rather than address them directly with department heads or other members of the administration.

We all received an email earlier this week regarding a restriction to interface with directors, Weekes said. What was the reasoning?

Weekes said there should be some way of tracking concerns if the council members cannot address them themselves with administration representatives.

The council president told me he gives preferential treatment to people who voted for him, Weekes said.

OK deal on nonprofit hospital support for towns is better than none Most New Jersey hospitals are structured as nonprofits and put most of what they make back i

You are so wrong, sir, Tibbitt responded but declined to argue further.

We are going to hold you responsible, Weekes said. We want detailed, play-by-play conversations with directors.

Business Administrator Anthony Swan said under state law and the Faulkner Act, which covers Atlantic Citys form of government, thats the way its supposed to work.

You have a council president and vice president who are supposed to be the voice of council with respect to the administration, Swan said. Thats why the change was made. We will be responsible.

Im having a hard time with that, said Councilwoman LaToya Dunston. Somewhere along the line things can get lost.

There have been times things were sent to her through Tibbitt, but she never received it, she said.

Christie proposes freeze on hospital property-tax liability ELIZABETH  Gov. Chris Christie is proposing a two-year freeze on property-tax liability for

Councilman Jesse Kurtz said he has been asking for some type of ticketing system for council, to help them track constituent concerns.

We should be given tools to succeed, Kurtz said.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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NORTHFIELD  Three political activists and a foster mother asked the Atlantic County commissioners on Tuesday to demand the state take further action on the Kayan Frazier child sex abuse case in Atlantic City.

This is much broader than Atlantic City, said Craig Callaway, of Atlantic City. We dont know how many child victims there are. When he was arrested they found thousands of pornographic videos and photos of children.

Callaway, his brother David, Atlantic City resident Steve Young and Mays Landing foster mother Tracey Thompson asked the board to pass a resolution demanding a state investigation of how the abuse happened, and how the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency hired Frazier as a caseworker after Frazier was fired from Atlantic City schools.

We are calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to investigate state entities and hold everyone accountable, starting with Kayan Frazier, said Young.

Frazier was never charged under state law with child rape or other crimes, Callaway said. Fraziers charges were all federal.

Frazier is the cousin of LaQuetta Small, wife of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. LaQuetta Small was principal of the Pennsylvania Avenue School when Frazier was a substitute teacher there, and Frazier was later found to have abused one of the students from that school.

LaQuetta Small, now superintendent of Atlantic City schools, fired Frazier after finding out he was spending time outside of school with the boy and having sleepovers with him.

Frazier pleaded guilty in February to one count of child exploitation involving sexual abuse and child pornography, and in July was sentenced to 20 years and one month in federal prison. Callaway said Frazier should be in jail for the rest of his life.

He was 28 when he was sentenced (actually he was 29 and had already served two years), so hell be 47 to 48 years old when gets out. Thats a younger person, said Callaway, a longtime political foe of Mayor Small, as is Young.

State charges of child rape and other crimes would keep Frazier in jail longer, Callaway said.

Im a licensed foster mother. I have two foster children now, said Thompson. We are trying to say this man never got charged with raping, manipulating (and harming) these children.

She asked why that never happened, if we are trying to take predators off the street.

Former Atlantic City school substitute and state caseworker sentenced for child exploitation CAMDEN  A former Atlantic City substitute teacher and state Department of Children and Fami

Commissioner Frank X. Balles, a retired police captain and former Atlantic County sheriff, said law enforcement sometimes goes for broader charges to put a serious offender away for a long time, so children dont have to testify and go through the legal system for years.

A lot of time they dont want to revictimize children, Balles said.

We dont know how many victims there are, Callaway said. My bigger concern is the state didnt do a proper investigation to find out how (Frazier) was hired by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency. How did that happen?

I agree 100% on that, Balles said, adding the board will consider a resolution but could not do it without some time and thought.

It was while he was in the state job, and living in a Somers Point apartment, that Frazier was arrested in April 2019 on federal charges to which he later pleaded guilty.

In a raid of Fraziers apartment, the FBI found enormous amounts of child pornography, some involving the Atlantic City boy he met while a substitute teacher.

Atlantic City Board of Education subpoenaed in child porn case ATLANTIC CITY  Board of Education member John Devlin said Wednesday the board has received 

The mother of that child, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, is suing the Smalls, the Atlantic City school district and others. She has not sued the state.

Thompson said she is aware of other mothers who had interaction with Frazier and who are frightened their children may have been abused.

I dont care if hes in state prison or federal prison. He needs to be in somebodys prison, Thompson said of Frazier. Well look up and this man will be younger than me out there on the streets.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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ATLANTIC CITY  A long-promised $500 refund to city property owners wont be automatic, but it will happen soon, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Thursday during a news conference.

The refunds, which those current on property taxes will get if they fill out a form certifying they have been financially stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic, will be funded through the federal American Rescue Plan, Small said.

The forms will be mailed in two to three weeks, Small said. This shows when you stick to a plan, believe in a plan, just because it doesnt happen right away when we want it to happen  we still get it done.

Once certification forms are returned, the city will start sending payments as quickly as possible, Small said.

About $3.2 million in payments will go out to owners of residences and business properties, Small said.

When announcements are made, people want what they want expeditiously, Small said. We have been bombarded with calls and comments from residents (saying), When is it going to happen?

Atlantic City will make COVID bonus payments to workers with state blessing ATLANTIC CITY  After delaying bonus payments to city employees who worked during the worst 

The forms were created by city Solicitor Mike Perugini and Assistant Solicitor Carl Timbers, along with state workers, Small said.

Timbers said the city has determined a list of eligible property owners and will mail forms to them. After property owners mail them back, they will be reviewed, he said.

We are looking for an indication that (the applicant) received an economic negative impact from coronavirus, Timbers said. The city retains discretion to use the form to determine eligibility.

Property owners will be asked to indicate whether they are of low to moderate income, and whether they faced unemployment or revenue or wage losses, food insecurity or physical or behavioral health impacts during the pandemic, Timbers said.

There is also a box to check called other in which people can show other effects of the pandemic to be taken into consideration, he said.

If you are a business, you still have to indicate a negative economic impact, Timbers said, such as decreased revenue or gross receipts; increased costs related to COVID; food insecurity; challenges to payroll, rent or mortgage payments, etc.

Small said even those whose jobs continued during the pandemic would have other losses, such as increased child care costs due to school being virtual.

Just because you didnt miss a paycheck doesnt mean you werent affected, Small said.

Our plan is simple, to invest in employees and property owners and businesses, Small said. It took time to get over the hill with the employee payment, but that happened. The property tax issue took a long time.

Small had announced worker and property taxpayer COVID bonus payments in August, but the state then stalled the plans, saying it had to make sure the programs would meet federal requirements for use of American Rescue Plan money.

In September, the state allowed the city to use ARP funds to reward city employees who worked during the worst of the pandemic on site, rather than at home. The maximum payment was $3,500, which 85% of city employees received, Small has said.

This area was savagely affected by the pandemic, Small said.

Atlantic City announces requirements for stipends from American Rescue Plan Act ATLANTIC CITY  After it was announced last week that city employees and taxpayers would soo

The state has oversight of city finances under the 2016 Municipal Stabilization and Recovery Act, which was recently extended another four years.

Under federal rules, the citys millions in American Rescue Plan money could be used in a variety of specific ways, including to give stipends to essential workers.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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ISTANBUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has so far administered 140 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as part of the ongoing vaccination campaign, the Turkish Health Ministry revealed on Thursday.

According to the ministry's data, the vaccination rate of citizens aged 18 and over who have received two vaccine doses hit 84.10 percent, and those with one shot reached 92.31 percent.

The number of people who have taken their booster doses neared 24 million in the country of 83 million people, it added.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca particularly urged unvaccinated people aged 65 and over to immediately get their shots as the hospitalization rate among them is over 10 percent.

Bulent Kocer, a medical expert told local media that COVID-19 patients may have lung problems and cardiovascular troubles in the long run after the infection, drawing attention to the importance of the vaccination.

The daily COVID-19 cases have been hovering around the 70,000 thresholds for the last 10 days, according to the ministry.

Experts have been warning that the cases could hit the peak in the coming weeks as around 18 million Turkish students will begin a two-week winter break on Friday, and the mobility will be high.

Turkey launched its vaccination drive a year ago with China's Sinovac vaccine, and later included the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It started to use its indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Turcovac at the end of December 2021. 
WILDWOOD  The Shamrock Beef & Ale, long treasured by locals and visitors as a popular bar and restaurant, may have closed, but the historic building is being saved, thanks to its owner.

The orange-and-green building nearly completed a roughly two-day, 200-yard move Thursday from its spot in the 3700 block of Pacific Avenue to an empty lot in the 200 block of East Lincoln Avenue. Onlookers snapped photos and videos as the building was placed onto a freighter and driven across the street.

Crews moving the building were forced to abandon it on Lincoln Avenue overnight into Thursday, leaving a lowered electrical wire down and forcing police to close portions of the road.

And again Thursday evening, Wildwood police said crews were forced to leave the building just shy of its final destination and will return Friday morning to finish the job. The 100 and 200 blocks of East Lincoln were shut down with the work left undone.

The bar was closed in May of last year when the state pulled its liquor license for COVID-19 rule violations. Owner Tom Gerace decided the fines were too much to handle and put a bad taste in his mouth.

They had me pay, Gerace said Thursday. They were coming after me, and it was just ridiculous.

Gerace sold the property on which The Shamrock stood since being built in the 1900s. He anticipates the sale being finalized in the coming weeks.

After starting as the Berwind Hotel, Irish immigrants bought the building, making it their home. They converted the first floor into the Shamrock Cafe in 1937, as Wildwood gained traction as one of the premier vacation spots at the Jersey Shore.

Gerace bought the property in 2016, hoping to continue Pacific Avenues reputation as a hotspot in Wildwood.

I didnt need to buy a bar, Gerace said. Im basically semi-retired. I did it because I wanted to improve Wildwood.

Several buildings on Pacific Avenue, like the Shamrock, are historic. There are only a few buildings left in Wildwood from that era, which is why Gerace agreed to move the building, which will become his residence once its placed onto its new foundation.

Many in the community are thankful for the move, Gerace said, and have approached him to thank him for his decision.

Gerace declined to comment on who is buying the Shamrocks former lot, but he said hes hopeful theyll help keep Pacific Avenue vibrant, a goal for city commissioners as they look to bring new business into town and lower property taxes.

Historic documents indicate the Shamrock became a popular space for live music, specifically providing local bands a place to showcase their sounds during the 1970s. Records say guitarist Billy Jack was likely the longest-tenured resident at the Shamrock, starting a decade later.

Many in town, like Mayor Pete Byron, will miss the Shamrock. Besides its sprightly nightlife and food, its been an icon for the town.

You could go anywhere in the world or walk on the beach somewhere and see a Shamrock T-shirt, Byron said. Theres a lot of fond memories with that building, so we never like to see a piece of our history go away.

Several historic buildings, recently the former St. Anns Rectory, have been demolished, with fresh condos and homes taking their place. The community doesnt like seeing historic buildings demolished, but the city doesnt have much control as to what goes and what stays.

The last thing the city wants to do is to put constraints or discourage new development, especially in a city thats overtaxed, Byron said, and the way to get a handle on taxes is to bring new ratables to town.

The Wildwood Historical Society is among those thankful the building is being preserved, if in a different location. Its especially important, Historical Society President Taylor Henry said, because many of the citys Victorian-era-styled hotels that were converted to businesses are vanishing.

We think it was very important to preserve that building, Henry said. Theres a lot of buildings that were there that are similar to it, and there arent many left.

Contact Eric Conklin: 609-272-7261 econklin@pressofac.com Twitter @ACPressConklin

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Experts say Xi's address at WEF virtual session charts better world, injects momentum into global development

Xinhua) 08:35, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's special address at the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual session on Monday has charted the course towards a better world, and injected strong momentum into reinvigoration of global development, experts from different countries have said.

"The history of humanity is a history of achieving growth by meeting various tests and of developing by overcoming various crises. We need to move forward by following the logic of historical progress, and develop by riding the tide of development of our times," Xi said in his address titled "Forge Ahead with Confidence and Fortitude to Jointly Create a Better Post-COVID World."

Speaking highly of Xi's address, Selcuk Colakoglu, professor of international relations and director of Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, noted that global challenges and transborder disasters like the pandemic cannot be handled by any single country, especially as unilateralism and protectionism are posing a grave risk to aggravate these challenges.

Against such a backdrop, Colakoglu stressed, China has been constantly urging the international community to increase multinational initiatives as a way to build the post-pandemic world, and advance cooperation for global economic development.

Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that Xi's address has highlighted China's commitment to pursuing win-win cooperation and enhancing friendship with other countries around the world.

"China has always been ready to work with the international community to restore confidence in multilateralism and globalization, build an open and pluralistic world economy, and blaze a new trail in inclusive growth and sustainable development, so as to shape a brighter shared future," he told Xinhua.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a test for the unity of mankind, and only through mutual respect and understanding can the world move successfully out of the crisis, said Lawrence Loh, director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at National University of Singapore.

Through its global collaboration initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, China plays a key role in uplifting other emerging countries, Loh said.

French writer and sinologist Lea Bessis said she is impressed by Xi's stress on the need to "embrace cooperation and jointly defeat the pandemic," adding that only when countries around the world unite and work together can they defuse various risks and get rid of the scourge of the pandemic.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
TEHRAN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Oil Minister Javad Oji said on Thursday important agreements and documents in the field of oil and energy have been signed between Iranian and Russian companies.

In an interview with the official IRNA news agency, the minister said the two sides signed "important" documents relating to Russian companies' participation in the development of Iran's gas and oil fields, the construction of petro-refineries, and the transfer of technology and technological equipment that Iran needs.

Oji, who is also the joint chairman of the Iran-Russia Joint Economic Cooperation Commission, said Tehran has made it clear that it is committed to strengthening and maintaining "strong relations" with Moscow.

Regarding Russia's role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC Plus), a loosely affiliated entity consisting of the 13 OPEC members and 10 of the world's major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations, Oji said that "Iran has similar views and decisions with Russia in the OPEC Plus summits."

Oji was a member of the Iranian delegation led by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Moscow on Wednesday. 
A reporter for a West Virginia television station was filming a live shot reporting on a water main break when a car unexpectedly hit her from behind on Wednesday night.

Despite the accident, the reporter, Tori Yorgey, got up and finished her live shot anyway.

I just got hit by a car but Im OK, Tim, Yorgey told the anchor at WSAZ.

According to Yorgeys Twitter bio, she was born and raised outside of Philadelphia.

Believe it or not, it was not her first run-in with a car.

I actually got hit by a car in college too just like that, Yorgey said shortly after getting hit by the car on live TV.

Sometimes when things go wrong during a TV news broadcast, the camera fades to black or cuts back to the studio, but here, the camera kept rolling and Yorgey went on with her live shot.

The anchor in the studio asked Yorgey if she was bumped down low or hit up high and she responded, I dont even know, Tim. My whole life just flashed before my eyes.

But this is live TV and everything is OK! Yorgey continued as the camera kept rolling.

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Chicago Public Schools plans to reduce the quarantine and isolation period for students and staff members from 10 to five days to mirror new guidance from the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, district CEO Pedro Martinez said Wednesday.

We are working with Dr. Arwady just to understand all the operational logistics because it isnt just as simple as shortening (the period) to five days. There are a lot of other requirements that happen for both students and staff, so were in the process right now of identifying those operational logistics, Martinez said at a news conference Wednesday with city public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady.

Martinez said a timeline on implementation of the new quarantine and isolation guidelines would be available by next week. The news comes as CPS is reporting record levels of students in quarantine or isolation. The district recorded its highest COVID-19 case numbers of the school year last week as students returned to classrooms following a weeklong dispute with the Chicago Teachers Union that led the district to cancel classes.

Martinez blamed the rise in cases  2,100 new student and 1,300 new adult infections last week  on students not being in school, where theyre required to wear masks indoors and theyre asked to social distance when possible.

We always see the largest number of cases  as theyre coming into school after a long period of break, and so its not a surprise to me that we saw those surges immediately, Martinez said before noting that Arwady announced Wednesday the city has formally passed its omicron-fueled peak.

I think this week will be interesting, because remember the city peaked last week. I think as we look at cases this week, I wouldnt be surprised if youre seeing really a downward spiral of cases because schools are actually open.

More than 590 student and 170 adult cases have been reported so far this week, according to CPS data that does not include charter school cases. The district said it is working toward COVID-19 testing at least 10% of each schools student population through its weekly testing program thats mandatory for unvaccinated staff members and voluntary for students.

More than 40,000 students had signed up for the free program as of last month. Martinez said Wednesday parents of nearly 83,000 students have now given their consent. CPS is the nations third-largest school district, with 330,000 students enrolled.

As part of the COVID-19 safety agreement CPS reached with the teachers union last week, the district said it will work with CTU to increase student participation in testing and vaccination through phone banks and incentives. A CPS representative told the Tribune Friday, however, At this point, the district is not offering incentives for testing.

For much of the school year, CPS has tried to administer 40,000 nasal swabs a week through its testing program. About 35,000 tests were taken last week, according to CPS data, with students only in school for three days because of the showdown. About 5% of those tests yielded positive results, which is higher than usual for the district.

Some testing hiccups persist. Drummond Montessori Magnet School Principal Erica Kittle told parents that only 91 of the 259 students and staff members who signed up for the program were tested Tuesday at the Bucktown school.

This was due to having only one tester and a late start. We typically begin testing at 1 p.m. and two testers efficiently complete testing for all students and staff on the list, Kittle wrote in an email to parents. I have requested that (testing vendor) Color continue our typical weekly routine and schedule a make-up date this week if at all possible.

Meanwhile, the number of student vaccinations continues to rise. About 53% of students 12 and older are fully vaccinated, while about a third of students ages 5 to 11 have received at least one dose, according to CPS. The district says about 91% of its staff is fully vaccinated.

CPS students and staff members who tested positive for the virus no matter their vaccination status have been directed to isolate for 10 days. Unvaccinated students and staff members have been told to quarantine for 10 days if a positive case was detected in their classroom. CPS shortened its quarantine timeline from 14 to 10 days in October.

Fully vaccinated, asymptomatic students and staff members are not required to quarantine. CPS reported 15,400 students and 1,100 adults were in quarantine or isolation as of Wednesday evening.

The state of Illinois now says students and staff members who test positive for COVID-19  regardless of vaccination status  should stay home for a minimum of five days and a maximum of 10 days after the first day the symptoms began or the date of the positive test.

People may return to school after five days if they are asymptomatic or fever free without the use of medication. They must wear a mask around others for five days after returning to school.

Unvaccinated students and staff directed to quarantine should stay home for five days after the date of exposure. They should test for COVID-19 on day five, per the state, and wear a mask around others for five additional days. If they test positive, they should isolate.

CPS said it has ordered 600,000 child-sized and 600,000 adult-sized KN95 masks for staff and student use by the last week of January. The district said it will order an additional 4 million KN95 masks at the end of February to split among adults and children.

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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!
As the winter chill envelops Afghanistan, the Biden administration is moving to remove some obstacles to providing humanitarian aid, education and other basic services for the people of that ravaged country.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked Friday with two key leaders of the Afghan relief effort: Martin Griffiths, the U.N. undersecretary of humanitarian affairs, and Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee for the Red Cross. The two urged Blinken to support international efforts to provide cash for basic needs as Afghanistan's economy and financial system collapse under Taliban rule.

Griffiths and Maurer told me after their meeting that Blinken had given "unequivocal approval" to their request for American help to avoid what could become an unmanageable humanitarian catastrophe this winter. They said Blinken had pledged, specifically, that the United States would support a World Bank plan for a "humanitarian exchange facility" to ease the liquidity crisis that has strapped Afghanistan's ability to pay teachers, doctors and humanitarian workers.

The State Department's expanded commitment to aid comes after sharp criticism in the past several months that the administration wasn't taking the plight of the Afghan people seriously enough. Relief groups will welcome the news of Blinken's comments to leaders of the relief community.

A State Department official on Monday outlined the broad effort the Biden administration is planning, headed by Special Representative Tom West, to help the Afghan people without formally recognizing the Taliban government. The administration has spoken with some senior Senate Democrats and Republicans, who have expressed tentative support for this broader effort.

Helping the Afghan people survive this winter of suffering is complicated by a thicket of legal rules imposed by sanctions against the Taliban. The administration began to clear that thicket in late December, after the U.N. Security Council passed an exemption from Afghanistan sanctions for humanitarian relief and basic needs. The Treasury Department quickly approved new licenses to facilitate payment for health, education and other basic needs.

The administration has also provided $474 million in direct humanitarian aid through USAID, and an initial commitment of $308 million toward the United Nation's $4.4 billion Afghanistan appeal for 2022. It has been difficult, however, to get this cash into the hands of people who need it.

Keeping Afghanistan's schools open, including for women and girls, has been a key goal. The country has about 220,000 teachers, more than 60% of the civil service, but providing support for their salaries has been difficult because they work for the Taliban government. Administration officials hope that recent promises to open all schools to girls, made by Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's deputy minister of culture and information, will prove reliable. The U.S. government wants humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF to verify that these promises are being kept.

To pay teachers and other civil servants, the State Department has encouraged the World Bank to make money available from the $1.5 billion Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. An initial payment of about $280 million was released in recent weeks. State Department officials expect that an additional $400 million will be released by the end of this month, with more to be delivered in April.

The State Department also plans to reassure humanitarian organizations and other service providers that they can meet with Afghan officials to facilitate humanitarian work, despite continuing sanctions. The aim is to remove obstacles that cause needless suffering, without condoning a Taliban regime that hasn't met international norms.

The trickiest part of the Afghan relief effort is the collapse of the country's financial system. Without a functioning central bank, Afghanistan can't provide cash that allows banks to pay salaries and fund relief projects. These problems can't be fully resolved until the Taliban government installs a professional, independent central bank that accepts international norms against money laundering and terrorism financing. But for now, some emergency measures are underway.

One new source of liquidity will be the World Bank's humanitarian exchange facility, which will allow donors to convert their dollars and euros into the local currency, known as "afghanis," to pay doctors, nurses, aid workers and others who are essential parts of the social safety net. The facility is likely to begin operating in mid-February and is expected to send $20 million to $40 million into the country each month.

Afghanistan has little cash to conduct transactions. To help fix that, the Biden administration is encouraging a cash infusion program that, so far, has shipped about $150 million to ease the liquidity crunch, mainly through a financial services company based in Europe. The aim is to provide about $120 million to $150 million a month, through private aid donors, to ease the liquidity squeeze and to enable relief groups to expand, pay their staffs and, hopefully, relieve suffering.

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November 29

1. A 2011 Chevrolet Silverado and a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado collided at the 800 block of Middle Road, resulting in $850 in damage

December 9

2. A juvenile was arrested at the 3300 block of 18th Street on suspicion of fifth degree theft

3. Robert Ray Kientopf, 46, 2045 West 1st Street, Davenport, was arrested at Grant Street and Interstate 74 on suspicion of second degree eluding, driving while barred habitual offender, interference with official acts, registration violation, violating one way traffic designation and eight counts of failure to obey traffic control device

December 13

4. A 2016 Ford Fusion and a 2007 Chevrolet Tilt Master collided at Happy Joe Drive and Middle Road, resulting in $11,000 in damage

December 15

5. Crayola bath drops, two John Deere shirts, a fitness box and exercise equipment, total value $390, were reported stolen at the 3300 block of Dundee Lane. All items were later recovered

December 17

6. A harassing phone call was reported at the 5700 block of Texas Drive

7. Kenneth Wayne Holland, 62, 806 Pershing Avenue, Davenport, was cited at the 900 block of Middle Road on suspicion of third degree theft. Electronics, valued at $149.50 were reported stolen but later recovered

8. Dean Thomas Allendorf, 57, 3588 Cobblestone Drive, was arrested at the 3700 block of Cobblestone Drive on suspicion of OWI second offense and failure to maintain control

9. A 2008 Jeep Wrangler, a 2012 Honda Accord and a 2018 Dodge Charger collided at the 3700 block of Cobblestone Drive, resulting in $12,000 in damage

December 19

10. Stefanie Leigh Stanton, 27 111 Scott Drive, West Branch, was arrested at the 1800 block of Isle Parkway on suspicion of domestic assault, interference with official acts and public intoxication

11. Property damage, valued at $25, was reported at the 2600 block of Central Avenue

December 20

12. Currency, valued at $1,258.58, was reported stolen from the 2500 block of Tech Drive

13. A Chevrolet Equinox, valued at $10,000 was reported stolen from the 20 block of Parklane Circle, but was later recovered

14. Currency, a drivers license, a debit card, medication, perfume, gift cards, a wallet and a purse, total value $736, was reported stolen and a 2013 Honda Accord was reported destroyed at the 2200 block of Middle Road

15. Burglary, resulting in approximately $200 in damages to a motor vehicle, was reported at the 1800 block of Sutton Place

December 22

16. Pablo Melendez III, 49 and Sandy Lynn Cardoza, 47, 2420 North Zenith Avenue, were arrested on suspicion of OWI first offense at the 1700 block of Isle Parkway

17. A vehicle was reported egged at Devils Glen Road and 53rd Avenue

18. Clothing, valued at approximately $2,000, was reported stolen from the 3100 block of Chateau Knoll

19. Jessica M Hart, 42, 1535 36th Avenue, Moline, was arrested at the 3900 block of State Street on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia

20. Mark Joseph Anderson, 38, 107 5th Avenue, Colona, was arrested at the 1800 block of Grant Street on suspicion of fifth degree theft, interference with official acts and possession of drug paraphernalia. Tools, valued at $8.49, were reported stolen but recovered

December 23

21. Allison Courtney Jacoby, 34, 3217 Chateau Knoll, was cited at the 4500 block of Utica Ridge Road on suspicion of assault

22. A fraudulent credit card, resulting in $3,981.95, was reported at the 3400 block of West Harbor Drive

December 25

23. Larona L Schneider, 60, 1336 25th Avenue, Rock Island, was arrested at the 1700 block of Isle Parkway on suspicion of violation financial liability coverage

24. Shelly Lynn Ortega, 52, 2738 State Street, was arrested at the 2700 block of State Street on suspicion of domestic abuse

25. Ricardo Cervantes, 2705 9th Avenue, Rock Island, was cited at the 3000 block of Utica Ridge Road on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance

December 26

26. Tools, valued at $4,450, were reported stolen from the 7000 block of Matthews Pass

December 27

27. Tools, valued at $7,925 and a vehicle, valued at more than $10,000, were reported stolen from the 3000 block of Charissas Place

December 28

28. A 2019 Subaru Crosstrek and a 1995 Chevrolet 1500 collided at the 3400 block of Middle Road, resulting in $250 in damage

29. A 2017 Honda CRV and a 2006 Hyundai Tucson collided at Spruce Hills Drive and Interstate 74, resulting in $2,500 in damage

30. A 2017 Jeep Compass, a 2005 Nissan Titan and a 2013 Toyota Prius collided at the 2500 block of Devils Glen Road, resulting in $4,600 in damage

December 29

31. A hit and run was reported at the 4400 block of Devils Glen Road

32. A domestic fight was reported at the 2200 block of Crow Creek Road

33. Fraudulent airline tickets/vouchers, valued at $2,580 were reported at the 6000 block of Shawnee Court

34. Kiara Chiquita White, 32, 47 Manor Drive, Eldridge, was arrested at Middle Road and Oakbrook Drive on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and violation financial liability coverage

December 30

35. A 2009 GMC Sierra and a 2013 Ram 1500 collided at Spruce Hills Drive and Utica Ridge Road, resulting in $6,000 in damage

36. Assault was reported at the 5000 block of Competition Drive

37. Wayne Lee Schumacher III, 39, 202 Mississippi Court, East Moline, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of intrastate warrant, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, two counts of interference with official acts, and possession of drug paraphernalia at the 800 block of Golden Valley Drive

38. A 2021 Ford Fusion and a 2005 Mercury Mariner collided at Spruce Hills Drive and Utica Ridge Road, resulting in $6,000 in damage

39. Jatten Tyzer-Tavon Kuhrt, 22, 1080 39th Street was arrested at the 1000 block of 39th Street on suspicion of domestic assault and child endangerment

December 31

40. A 2018 Honda CRV and a 2018 GMC Acadia collided at Learning Campus Drive and Spruce Hills Drive, resulting in $550 in damage

41. Fraud, resulting in $2,335.20 lost, was reported at the 3200 block of Johnathan Avenue

42. Sloane Kenon Murray, 32, 2846 Magnolia Drive was arrested at the 300 block of Utica Ridge Road on suspicion of operating without valid drivers license when disqualified, improper turn and operation without registration

43. Fraud was reported at the 6800 block of Prairie Grass Lane

44. Assault was reported at the 100 block of 12th Street

January 1

45. Two tins of Pokemon cards, valued at $35, were reported stolen and a 2002 Pontiac Grand AM was reported destroyed from the 3400 block of Middle Road

January 2

46. A 2008 Ford F35 and a 2022 Audi Q7 collided at the 1400 block of Kimberly Road, resulting in $4,400 in damage

47. Vandalism resulting in $200 in damage was reported at the 1700 block of Bristol Drive

48. A 2015 Jeep Patriot and a 2008 GMC Yukon collided at Brown Street and 17th Street, resulting in $1,000 in damage

49. William Ray Kill, 75, 1516 Antler Court, was arrested at the 1500 block of Antler Court on suspicion of domestic assault

January 3

50. A 2006 Chevrolet Equinox and a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country collided at the 2700 block of 62nd Street Court, resulting in $10,000 in damage

51. Counterfeit $20 bills, equaling $260, were reported at the 800 block of Middle Road

52. A 2019 Toyota Corolla was reported stolen at the 1700 block of Isle Parkway

53. Clayton Thomas Reed, 28, 2707 Magnolia Drive was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property-second degree theft and driving while barred habitual offender at 2600 Magnolia Drive. A 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee, valued at $4,000 was recovered

54. A 2008 Ford Escape and a 2011 Kia Sorento collided at the 800 block of Middle Road, resulting in $100 in damage

January 4

55. A 2017 Volkswagon Jetta and a 2014 Ford Focus collided at Forest Grove Drive and Middle Road, resulting in $2,000 in damage

January 5

56. A 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, valued at approximately $7,000 was reported stolen from the 2900 block of Maplecrest Road

January 6

57. A 2006 Ford Econoline E250 and a 2016 Subaru Forester collided at Middle Road and Oakbrook Drive, resulting in $3,000 in damage

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Three men awaiting trial in the Scott County Jail for various crimes are facing additional charges after attacking several corrections officers earlier this week, Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said.

"I had three correctional officers assaulted yesterday (Tuesday) on two different incidents, and another one assaulted this morning," Lane said Wednesday. "And one of those correctional officers was a sergeant."

Malachi Damir Howard, 18, is facing charges after allegedly striking three corrections officers on Monday. He is awaiting trial on three counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree theft and one count of first-degree burglary, and being a felon in possession of a firearm among other felony charges.

Howard has been charged with three counts of assault on persons in certain occupations and two counts of assault while participating in the felony. Each of the charges is a Class D felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of five years.

Howard also is charged with conspiracy to commit a forcible felony, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Scott County Sheriffs Investigator Ethan Roling, Howard was angry because corrections officers would not move him to a different cell.

Lane said that one of the corrections officers was hit in the eye and had to be treated at the hospital.

Hell be OK, Lane said. He was not hurt too badly  no broken eye orbit, but there is a lot of bruising.

Lane said Howard had asked for help at one of the kiosks to which inmates have access to receive money from family and friends to buy things from the jail commissary. When the corrections officer went to help, Howard punched him.

Howard also struck another corrections officer who arrived on the scene. Howard then kicked a third corrections officer in the abdomen as she was walking up a set of concrete stairs causing her to fall backward. She was caught by other corrections officers.

The attack on the corrections officers occurred at 1 p.m.

According to the arrest affidavits, Howard had communicated his intentions to another inmate, Aaron Deon Hanson Gales Jr., 21, who is awaiting trial on charges of escape and being a felon in possession of a firearm, both Class D felonies. He also is awaiting a hearing on violating his probation on a theft conviction from July 2020.

Hanson Gales is charged with two counts of assault on person in certain occupations, two counts of assault while participating in a felony and one count conspiracy to commit a forcible felony.

According to the arrest affidavits, Hanson Gales attacked two correctional officers at 4:47 p.m. Monday after watching Howard attack three corrections officers. Lane said one of the corrections officers attacked by Hanson Gales had been attacked by Howard.

On Tuesday at 7:52 a.m., Lamont Lloyd, 32, who is awaiting trial for first-degree kidnapping, a Class A felony that carries an automatic sentence of life in prison, struck a corrections officer. Lloyd then was subdued by correctional staff. Lloyd is charged with an aggravated misdemeanor charge of assault on persons in certain occupations. The charge carries a prison sentence of two years.

Lane said all three men had been held in special management, which is a section of the jail apart from general population.

Lane said inmates in special management could be there for multiple reasons. Some are there for disciplinary reasons such as assaultive behavior either on corrections officers or other inmates. Others are there because of extreme mental health issues. Some inmates in special management also have special handling requirements.

None of the inmates in special management are classified as being able to go into general population, he said.

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Charges will not be filed against an employee of a Rock Island tobacco and vape shop who shot two robbers, killing one, Tuesday night, Rock Island County Attorney Dora Villarreal said Wednesday night.

Rock Island Police were sent to Blackhawks Tobacco & Vape, 2733 18th Ave., at 10:54 p.m. in response to a report of an armed robbery and a shooting.

According to a news release issued Wednesday by Rock Island Interim Police Chief Richard Landi, three people wearing masks entered the store and started threatening employees and demanding merchandise. One of the suspects had a gun.

An employee of the store pulled out a handgun and fired several shots at the suspects, the release states. The suspects ran from the store.

A short time later, Police received a report of a person with a gunshot wound in the 1700 block of Lincoln Court. When officers arrived they learned the wounded person had already left to go to a hospital in Davenport.

Davenport police were called to a Taco Bell in the 1400 block of Locust Street, where they found the gunshot victim, later identified as one of the suspects from the robbery. The gunshot victim was then taken to Genesis Medical Center-East Campus, where he was declared dead.

A second wounded person was found in the 2100 block of 16th Avenue. This person was taken via ambulance to UnityPoint Trinity Hospital. This person, who was also identified as one of the robbery suspects, was listed as being in serious but stable condition, according to the release.

The third robbery suspect is still being sought by the police. The identities of the suspects have not been released.

In her statement issued Wednesday night, Villarreal said that, "after a preliminary review of the surveillance video and witness interviews, it appears the use of force by the employee was justified as self-defense and for the defense of others inside the story during the robbery.

"At this time, no charges will be filed against any employees of the store and the State is preparing to file aggravated robbery counts against the remaining two suspects."

Additional charges are being considered against the would-be robbers.

Police ask anyone with information to contact the Rock Island Police Department at 309-732-2677 or Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500 or using the "P3 Tips" app.

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A retiring hospital system spokesman says he will run as a Democrat for an open Iowa House seat representing part of Davenport.

Craig Cooper announced Wednesday his candidacy for Iowa House District 81, which includes portions of west and northwest Davenport.

Cooper will retire from Genesis Health System as senior communications specialist at the end of January and is a former sports and business reporter at the Quad-City Times.

Cooper, in a statement, said if elected he would work to find solutions to fill Iowas workforce gaps, especially in the health care and teaching fields; to provide "safe and high-achieving public schools for all Iowa students;" protect voting rights and voter access to the ballot box; and bolster the state's response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

That, Cooper said, includes filing legislation that would provide financial incentives, either through stipends, scholarships or student loan forgiveness, to train more teachers and nurses.

"Iowa nurses and teachers have been heroes during the COVID-19 crisis," he said. "Unfortunately, many have left their fields because of personal safety concerns, family needs, emotional distress and overwhelming exhaustion."

Cooper noted school districts are having trouble funding substitute teachers and Iowa has brought in traveling nurses from out of state to help overwhelmed hospitals and health care facilities respond to a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

"We have to find a way to get nurses back in the hospital at the bedside and teachers back in the classroom," Cooper said. "Iowa needs to make sure we are exploring solutions to the health care and education staffing crises," including providing financial, social and mental health support.

"Schools are combining classrooms and substitutes are carrying much of the load," he said.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed using federal stimulus funding on a one-time $1,000 retention bonus for all Iowa teachers who remain at their school for another year.

Cooper, who serves on the Davenport Public Library Board of Trustees as well as the Local School Improvement Advisory Committee and City of Davenport Citizens Advisory Committee, said he was running "to be a voice for the district, which is very diverse. "

Cooper is the third candidate to announce his candidacy for the house seat.

Also running for the seat is Republican Davenport real estate agent Sean Hanley.

Hanley, former director of the Quad City Realtors Association, unsuccessfully ran for the Iowa House in 2020 against Democratic incumbent state Rep. Monica Kurth of Davenport and no-party candidate Jonathan Vance in 2020. Hanley walked away with 42% of the vote to Kurth's nearly 55%.

Vance, director of purchasing and corporate chef for the company that owns Happy Joes Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor, announced in November his intent to run as a Democrat for the House seat.

The new district is not currently represented by an incumbent after Kurth and fellow Democratic state Rep. Cindy Winckler, who live in the western part of Davenport, were drawn into the same district.

Winckler, a retired teacher and education consultant, announced she will seek election to the new Iowa Senate District 49 seat. Kurth, a retired community college instructor, plans to seek election to the new Iowa House District 98 seat.

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JOLIET - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers included a significant chunk of funding for a massive effort to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes in its civil works plan released Wednesday.

The federal agency will put about $226 million toward the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project as part of funding received from the bipartisan infrastructure plan. The Brandon Road funding will cover the preconstruction engineering and design phase of the project, as well as initial construction at the site near Joliet.

Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, called the investment a significant down payment on Great Lakes protection.

This is the clearest, strongest sign that this project will move forward, Smith said.

Plans for the $858 million project include a technology gauntlet  an electric barrier, underwater sound, an air bubble curtain and flushing lock  to stop carp from swimming to Lake Michigan. The prolific fish, able to reproduce rapidly and consume loads of plankton, threaten to transform ecosystems and harm the regions $7 billion fishing industry.

Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said the development was historic.

Illinois, the projects nonfederal sponsor, signed an agreement with the Army Corps in December 2020 to complete the preconstruction phase, estimated at $29 million and expected to take three to four years. Illinois and Michigan committed to providing the nonfederal share of about $10 million with the rest coming from federal funds.

This knocks that out of the park, Flanagan said.

The funding will make the transition from design to construction more seamless, Flanagan said. And that will make things happen faster, which makes it more likely well get this project built before carp get to the Great Lakes.

The nonfederal cost share of the overall project is 20%. Theres contingency built into the total price, which could drop, but advocates are pushing for full federal funding, which they argue is warranted for a threat that extends across states.

In December, Great Lakes officials signed on to a letter asking Congress to provide funding for the rest of the project, saying the balance of project cost for design, construction, operation and maintenance is beyond the capacity of the Great Lakes States to match.

Controlling and eradicating invasive species in the Great Lakes  where vampiric sea lamprey once sucked the life out of fisheries and today zebra and quagga mussels reign in the hundreds of trillions  is an ongoing challenge.

Reaching this phase of the Brandon Road project followed years of planning and a range of ideas including an $18 billion separation of Lake Michigan from the river.

Once this phase is complete, the Army Corps has said construction could be completed in six to eight years, meaning a best case finish in 2030.

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El Salvador offers Illinois farmers thousands of skilled workers seeking seasonal, 10-month jobs through a 2020 agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador governments, the El Salvador Consulate general counsel said during a Jan. 6 speech in Springfield.

This (labor program) is a win-win-win, Consul General Federico Guerrero told attendees of the Illinois Specialty Crop Conference. Based in Chicago, Guerrero worked in the multinational tech industry before joining his countrys foreign service, first as vice consul in Los Angeles in 2019. He was later promoted to general consul in Chicago.

In 2020, the two governments established programs allowing Salvadorans to apply for H-2A and H-2B visas to work in temporary U.S. agricultural and nonagricultural jobs. Our main ally is USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) in every step. It is backed up by the embassy of the United States, Guerrero said.

Guerrero highlighted program benefits.

There is no recruitment fee, the general consul noted, adding the El Salvador government handles recruiting.

Its completely legal. We take the person to the U.S. consulate for approval, he explained. The recruitment and visa process takes 21 or fewer days, and the El Salvador government will help workers fill out forms and with the application process. During the pilot program, 97% of visas were approved. The program doesnt limit the number of Salvadorans an employer may hire.

Illinois farmers will find a wide selection of potential employees.

A database of 50,000 Salvadoran profiles has been compiled. Agricultural workers have field experience with corn, vegetables, fruit, beans, coffee and sugar crops. We can match workers with experience to jobs, Guerrero said.

Asked about unfamiliar Illinois crops, Guerrero said, his government will work to help the workers prepare once we learn what you (growers) need. We will start working with our minister of agriculture so they can learn the theory so once they come here it will be a little easier. It will only be tough the first month, but then youll have people who will become experts. They will go back and share that with more people.

Guerrero emphasized the temporary workers will return to their country and families. We assure 100%, they will go back home, he said.

The El Salvador government will put individuals accepted into the program through health screenings to assure theyre healthy, Guerrero said. To date, each one in the program has been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and most already have had booster shots. Before they come here, we will assure everyone has had a booster shot, he added.

After the workers arrive, 21 El Salvador consulates across the U.S. will support and monitor them while theyre temporarily in the U.S.

Interested Illinois farmers should first contact an immigration attorney who specializes in the H2 program, Guerrero said. Thats where they will send all the information and have to fulfill some steps they will abide by. They will choose El Salvador as the citizenship of this program.

Then, the Department of State will give you clearance for you to be able to bring Salvadorans in. Thats the point where you contact us, or you can even contact us once you start this process, Guerrero said.

During the pilot program, Salvadoran H-2A workers were employed in Mississippi, Louisiana and several other states, but not in Illinois.

We look forward to having them in Illinois in 2022, Guerrero said with a smile.

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When they met in 2018, Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar found Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin to be a bright guy who was personable and ultimately left a favorable impression.

Irvin, who had just been elected to lead Illinois second-largest city the previous year, was participating in the Edgar Fellows program, a five-day executive training designed by the former governor to influence attitudes and foster mutual understanding among emerging Illinois leaders across partisan, ethnic and regional lines.

Irvin so impressed Edgar that he was invited back to speak on a panel of mayors to a future Edgar Fellows class.

But one impression that was not immediately clear to the former Republican governor was that Irvin, who holds a nonpartisan office, was himself a Republican.

I was impressed with him, but I guess I thought he was a Democrat, Edgar told me in an interview Tuesday. And I think that's going to be probably the major challenge for him is to convince Republicans that he's a Republican. Time will tell whether thats going to happen or not.

Irvin announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor on Monday. He is running as part of a slate of candidates recruited by ex-staffers of former Gov. Bruce Rauner and former Sen. Mark Kirk and expected to be funded by billionaire Ken Griffin and other large donors.

The goal is to beat incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire himself, with Griffin pledging to go all in on the effort. Griffin and other major Republican donors had been searching for a Republican candidate to back against Pritzker, believing the existing field of GOP candidates not viable in a general election.

They believe they found their man in Irvin, an Army veteran and former prosecutor who would be the states first African American governor, if elected.

A day after his announcement, Irvin released a list of 60 endorsements from various establishment GOP figures in Illinois, including House Minority Leader Jim Durkin and former U.S. Rep. John Shimkus.

However, the take on Irvin and the GOP slate that I wanted to hear most was from Edgar, who knows a thing or two about winning elections as a Republican in a blue state.

After all, he was the last Republican to be reelected to a second term as governor of Illinois. He also left office extremely popular  so much so that the national party twice attempted to recruit him to run for U.S. Senate.

Edgars successor, Republican Gov. George Ryan, on the other hand, opted not to run for reelection and left office under the cloud of scandal, which eventually led to federal corruption charges and a stint in prison.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner was defeated by Pritzker in 2018 after four years marred by fights with legislative Democrats and a more than two-year budget impasse.

The party is now shut out of all statewide offices and is toiling away in the superminority in the General Assembly.

So, I called Edgar on Tuesday to ask for his thoughts on Irvin and the slate, which includes state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, for lieutenant governor; state Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, for treasurer; lawyer Steve Kim for attorney general; former U.S. Attorney John Milhiser for secretary of state; and McHenry County Auditor Shannon Teresi for comptroller.

It'll be interesting to see how the party receives that, Edgar told me. But, the candidates seem like they're legitimate candidates. I mean, I think they bring something to the table and if Griffin's coming through with the money, money is really important in a primary.

If he's going to fund these campaigns, that will definitely give them a leg up, Edgar said. Now the drawback, though, is people are going to say, 'well, they're all going to be his puppet,' and they're going to have to handle that charge, particularly in the governor's race.

Irvins announcement featured a tough-on-crime message that played up his background as a prosecutor and his record on the issue as mayor of Aurora.

Ive seen it up close. Defund the police is dumb, dangerous and it costs lives. And I believe that all lives matter. Every family should be safe, Irvin said. My city is now safe, stronger and full of opportunity. I want that for Illinois.

However, Irvin has pulled Democratic primary ballots in several recent elections and is on tape praising Pritzkers pandemic response just within the past year. Its led some to question his conservative bonafides.

In a sense, Irivin is somewhat of a blank slate regardless as running a city is not inherently the most partisan endeavor. Theres no such thing as Republican potholes or Democratic streetlights.

However, this may play to his advantage in a general election, Edgar said, noting the importance of Republicans winning back moderates in the Chicago suburbs.

I do think that he would make a viable candidate  if he can get past the primary  in the fall, Edgar said. The fact that he seems somewhat moderate; he's well funded; he's African American, so perhaps he can pull over some African American votes, which are really the key to the Democrats in Illinois.

But the Republicans, I think, have to realize that they've got to win a lot of independents and moderate Republicans back  and maybe what I call 'thoughtful Democrats.' And you can't go too far to the right to do that, Edgar continued. That's why Irvin would have a good shot because I think he will undoubtedly be perceived more in the middle than he will be to the far right.

But even if Irvin emerges from the GOP primary, it will be an uphill climb in the general election, Edgar said.

Well, I think an incumbent governor has the advantage going into an election  should have the advantage  unless they've been a terrible governor, Edgar said. And I don't think Pritzker has been a terrible governor. I mean, he's had some tough things to deal with, particularly the virus.

Though Pritzkers poll numbers could be better, particularly among independents, Edgar thinks he is the favorite going into this race as the incumbent and with his unlimited financial resources. But, Irvin would give Republicans a fighting chance that other candidates would not, he said.

Again, I still think Pritzker would be the favorite, but I think it would be a race," Edgar said. "Whereas some of these other primary candidates, I'm not sure that it would be viewed as a strong race at that point.

The other Republican candidates for governor are state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia; businessman Gary Rabine; former state Sen. Paul Schmipf, R-Waterloo; and venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan.

Edgar acknowledged that it's tougher than it used to be to win as a Republican in Illinois, but it's possible, he said, if the party can win back voters in the suburbs and exurbs of Chicago who may have been turned off by Rauner and former President Donald Trump.

If Biden's numbers don't get better, even though he's not on the ballot, it still has an impact on how people vote to some extent, Edgar said. In the suburbs, particularly. The suburbs swing more than any other part of the state.

And, even if Irvin does not win, having a moderate candidate at the top of the ballot may help suburban House and Senate candidates down ballot. And, it could allow other members of the slate an opportunity to win.

Milhiser or state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who are running for secretary of state, would perhaps be in the best position as they are running for an open position.

Edgar, a former secretary of state himself, said an incumbent has a huge advantage in that office. So not having an incumbent does make it a more level playing field.

That, I think, could be a very interesting race, it could be a close race, Edgar said. And this is the chance for the Republicans to get that office. Historically that's been a good office to have  It's been a good stepping stone.

Undoubtedly, the Republican Party has changed since Edgar, a pro-choice moderate, held office.

Still, hes the most successful living former Republican statewide official. At the very least, his two cents is worth listening to as Republicans decide who they may support in the June primary, which is only 160 days away.

This article has been updated to include the name of state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, whose candidacy for secretary of state was omitted in an earlier version.

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SPRINGFIELD  Aiming to increase diversity in wind and solar jobs, a proposed measure in the Illinois General Assembly would require more transparent reporting on the level of participation of minority-owned businesses in clean energy jobs.

Rep. William Davis, D-Hazel Crest, advanced House Bill 4217 through the House Energy and Environment Committee on Tuesday. The measure aims to increase diverse participation in projects that could include African-Americans, Latinx, and women-owned firms.

In the bill, energy suppliers who generate more than 500 kilowatt hours of electricity with at least 100,000 customers and companies that develop, install, or maintain a renewable energy project with annual revenues over $15 million would be required to submit annual reports on procurement goals and spending on contracts with female-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned companies and small businesses.

Annual reports would need to outline a buying plan for specific goods and services the company plans to procure in the next six to 18 months, include any procurement codes used by the company. Its an effort to assist entrepreneurs and diverse companies in understanding upcoming opportunities with the company submitting the buying plan, according to the bill.

Part of our effort, as we have done in many other sectors, is to start by trying to ask those individuals that are doing it, to supply reports, to fill out reports and show us what they are doing relative to diversity, and not only what their numbers look like but also, in some cases, the plan to increase that diversity over time, Davis said.

Businesses that make less than $15 million a year would possibly be exempt from filling out diversity reports but would still have the opportunity to do so if they desired.

Dan Johnson, a lobbyist representing the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association, said the idea of these reports is to act as a bridge between large buying institutions and minority-owned, female-owned and veteran-owned businesses.

Reports would be found on the Illinois Commerce Commissions website under supplier diversity, which makes it easier for utility companies to look up and get in touch with the desired businesses.

Since renewable energy focuses more on the maintenance of wind and solar farms, Johnson noted that the law had yet to contemplate the reality of renewable energy businesses and suppliers when building these farms. Language in HB 4217 would align standards with the Clean Energy Jobs Act, he said.

In a way, were sort of trying to catch up to the workforce diversity that was in the (CEJA package) to say lets catch up on the supplier diversity piece of it as well, Johnson said.

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CHICAGO  Four contenders in the Republican race for governor largely spent as much or more than they raised during the final quarter of 2021 as they competed for the right to take on billionaire Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker in November, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

A fifth contender, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, joined the Republican race on Monday at the top of a slate looking to gain the financial backing of Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel. Irvins fundraising for the campaign is just underway, but he can shift the $164,888 that was in his mayoral campaign fund at the end of the year to his newly launched bid for governor.

Absent Griffins financial intervention, the diminutive fundraising totals of the Republican contenders make clear the financial disparity they face in competing against Pritzker. The first-term governor, whose campaign has been repeatedly airing reelection commercials, spent more in the last three months  more than $9.9 million  than the GOP candidate with the most cash had on hand, and ended 2021 with $14.7 million in his campaign fund.

But just days before Irvin jumped into the contest, Pritzker added $90 million to his campaign. Including his first run for office, Pritzker now has put a total of $303 million into his campaign fund, records show.

Among the Republican hopefuls, businessman Jesse Sullivan of Petersburg held the most available cash on hand to start the year with $9.1 million.

Sullivan, who heads a venture capital firm, raised nearly $294,000 in the September to December reporting period, including $100,000 from cybercurrency CEO Bradley Garlinghouse of Ripple Labs. But he spent more than $1.2 million in the three-month reporting period.

His campaign filing also appeared to incorrectly list that he had another $10 million in an investment account for his campaign, but that figure was not backed by reports of the funds that he raised since launching his campaign last September.

State Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia reported having more than $707,000 in cash available at the start of the year, and has taken in $1,000 since. During the September to December reporting period, Bailey raised nearly $500,000 but reported spending nearly $800,000.

Bailey reported giving $200,000 to the Restore Illinois political action committee, a PAC formed in 2018 to back conservative Republican state legislators in east central Illinois whose purpose was expanded last year to support statewide candidates like Bailey.

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A week after giving the PAC money, Restore Illinois returned $150,100 to Bailey as a refund for exceeding campaign donation limits. Bailey also reported giving nearly $60,000 each to three of his Eastern Bloc conservative colleagues in the General Assembly.

Gary Rabine, a businessman from Bull Valley, reported $525,752 in cash on hand to start the year and has raised $22,500 in large-dollar contributions since then. In the three-month reporting period, Rabine raised $580,626, including a $180,000 loan he gave to his campaign in December. But Rabine spent nearly $471,000 during the time period. Since announcing his candidacy last year, Rabine has put more than $450,000 of his money into his campaign.

Former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo reported nearly $81,000 in cash on hand after raising nearly $62,000 and spending almost $55,000, the campaign finance reports showed.

The reporting period also marked the end of the campaign fund for one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, the wealthy businessman Pritzker defeated in 2018. Rauner, who is spending much of his time in Florida, closed out his fund with $995 in unreconciled expenditures and nearly $40,000 in unpaid debts to a campaign vendor.

In the race for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state to replace retiring incumbent Jesse White, former state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias had more than $4 million in cash available to start the year.

Campaign reports show Giannoulias raised more than $658,000 while spending only $82,244 during the last quarter. Giannoulias, attempting a political comeback after losing a 2010 bid for U.S. Senate, has seen his campaign fund boosted by nearly $2.3 million in family loans.

Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, also seeking the Democratic secretary of state nomination, reported nearly $900,000 in cash available for her campaign on Jan. 1, raising more than $331,000 while spending more than $156,000.

A third announced candidate in the race, Chicago Ald. David Moore, 17th, listed $81,539 in cash on hand after raising more than $44,500 and spending more than $61,400, reports showed.

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CHICAGO - Customers adding new phone numbers or lines in Chicagos south suburbs can expect to be assigned a brand new area code beginning Friday, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission.

The new area code, 464, soon will be the default for people living in the area covered by the 708 area code. Current users of the 708 area code can keep their number, as the change only affects new numbers and lines, according to the commerce commission.

Rates and services will not change, it said.

The addition of the new area code, announced by the ICC in August, was in response to increasing demand for new phone numbers. Residents in the 708 area code had to begin 10-digit dialing in October.

The 464 area code was designated to overlay 708 in 1996, the same time when other parts of Chicago were assigned second area codes, said George Light, an engineering analyst at the ICC.

However, due to lower demand in the south suburbs, 464 did not need to come into use until this year, Light said. The area is an anomaly of the suburbs, in that its the last region to need a second area code, he explained.

Residents used to express tremendous pushback to new area codes, Light said, because they require people to dial out 10 digits.

But I mean, fast forward to 2022, he said. When was the last time you physically dialed?

Further, Light said, as numbers travel with cellphone owners through moves across the country, people dont associate places with area codes as much as they used to.

Still, some social media users responded to the change with skepticism.

I wouldnt feel comfortable using it, said Alexandria Johnson, a South Holland resident who reacted on Facebook. Shed rather have a more easily recognized area code, like downtowns 312, she said.

Jose Aguado, who lives in the western suburbs, said hes worried about spam calls, as telemarketers pick up on the new area code.

Adding another unfamiliar code just adds to that confusion, Aguado said.

The next area code to be added near Chicago likely wont come until 2033, and would affect the region currently covered by 847 and 224, Light said. After that, the next changes arent expected until 2049 and 2063.

The 708 area code serves most of western and southern Cook County and eastern and southern Will County. Affected communities include Alsip, Beecher, Bellwood, Berwyn, Blue Island, Bridgeview, Broadview, Burbank, Calumet City, Chicago Heights, Chicago Ridge, Country Club Hills, Crest Hill, Crete, Dolton, Elmwood Park, Evergreen Park, Flossmoor, Forest Park, Glenwood, Harvey, Harwood Heights, Hazel Crest, Hickory Hills, Homewood, Justice, La Grange, Lansing, Lyons, Markham, Matteson, Maywood, Melrose Park, Midlothian, Mokena, Norridge, Northlake, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Oak Park, Orland Park, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Park Forest, Richton Park, River Forest, River Grove, Riverdale, South Holland, Steger, Tinley Park, Westchester, Western Springs and Worth.

If it is important to residents to have a 708 number, it might be possible to secure a new line or number before Friday, when the change goes into effect.

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Cook County Judge William Raines has been taken off the bench of his felony courtroom after he was caught on a YouTube livestream last week mocking an attorney who had argued before him earlier that day.

According to an order signed Tuesday by Chief Judge Timothy Evans, Raines has been reassigned to restricted duties or duties other than judicial duties, which generally focus on paperwork. He also must undergo sensitivity training and gender bias counseling, and the matter will be referred to the Judicial Inquiry Board.

Raines appeared with an attorney before the Circuit Courts executive committee on Tuesday and expressed contrition, according to the order.

The subject of the ridicule, attorney Jennifer Bonjean, said last week she would make a complaint against Raines to the Judicial Inquiry Board, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by Illinois judges and can file formal charges against those judges with the Illinois Courts Commission.

Bonjean had participated in animated arguments Jan. 11 regarding the case of Roosevelt Myles, who is trying to get his decades-old murder conviction dismissed.

Later that day, at the end of Raines live-streamed court call, the judge mentioned Bonjean to two Cook County prosecutors and an assistant public defender who remained on the videoconference. The attorneys who participated in the conversation were not involved in the Myles case.

Can you imagine waking up next to her every day? Oh, my God, Raines said.

There would be a number of things wrong with my life if I was waking up next to her, Assistant States Attorney Susie Bucaro said.

I couldnt have a visual on that if you paid me, Raines said.

Raines also went on to call Bonjeans colleague a man-child, and ridiculed her demeanor earlier that day.

Did you see her going nuts? Glasses off, fingers through her hair, the phones going all over the place, its insane, he said.

Raines cut the feed after he noticed the video was still being publicly live-streamed to YouTube. The video was available for public viewing on YouTube until Thursday before being marked as private.

Raines recused himself from the Myles case the day after the conversation. On Thursday, Bonjean successfully asked Criminal Division Acting Presiding Judge Erica Reddick to preserve the video, in part so she could bring a complaint to the Judicial Inquiry Board.

Raines has been a Cook County judge since 2014. Before taking the bench, he spent much of his legal career in private practice as a criminal defense attorney. For six years in the 1980s, he was a police officer in Oakland, Calif.; he retired after being shot while on duty.

Bonjean is a high-profile New York-based attorney who has made her name, in part, doing work to overturn alleged wrongful convictions.

She also represented actor Bill Cosby in a successful appeal that overturned his conviction for a sex-crimes case. Recently, she signed on to represent R&B singer R. Kelly, who was convicted last year on federal racketeering and sex abuse charges.

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CHICAGO  The state's top officials in the battle against COVID-19 on Wednesday reported that the vicious surge in the disease fueled by the omicron variant is slowing statewide and in Chicago, the nation's third-largest city.

But even as record numbers of hospitalizations decline, authorities said health care resources are still stretched to the limit.

We are a long way from being out of the woods, Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference. "The threat is in no way over, but the news is good in terms of the direction that its turning."

At a separate briefing, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that since Jan. 13, when the number of hospital patients statewide hit an all-time high of 7,308, it's dropped nearly 12%.

"But there are an awful lot of people still battling for their lives in hospitals across the state...," Pritzker said. We have lost so many people in recent weeks  1,500 just since the beginning of the year.

Most of those were never vaccinated. Nine in 10 people now hospitalized with the omicron variant have not received protective initial inoculations or booster shots.

In Chicago, COVID-19 test positivity peaked at nearly 20% on Jan. 1 and is about 13% currently. The peak of daily cases was 8,553 on Jan. 4 and currently is averaging just under 3,000 a day. Hospitalizations haven't dropped but started to plateau.

Public health officials said the city is nowhere near dropping its indoor mask mandate, vaccination proof at indoor venues and no states are coming off the citys travel advisory list, which currently covers the whole country.

Additionally, raw numbers statewide look worrisome  a 2.9% increase in new cases from the 201,428 reported the first week of the year. But the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, said patients in hospital beds is a more reliable indicator when an unknown number of at-home tests are positive but not reported in public health databases.

"You cant hide a hospitalization, Ezike said. That is definitely a clear signal of the direction were moving in.

It's a direction which, two years into Illinois' coronavirus saga, leads to cautiously plotting a post-pandemic way forward.

You learn so much, youve amassed so much knowledge, we have to figure out how were going to coexist with COVID, Ezike said. There may be some adjustments or shifts that we will make given the wide availability of vaccines and now the onboarding of therapeutics.

Since Jan. 24, 2020, when a Chicago woman became the state's first COVID-19 case  and just the second nationally  there have been 2.59 million confirmed or probable cases in Illinois alone. Deaths total 29,099, an increase during the past week of 2.6%.

Also Wednesday, the head of Chicago Public Schools said there have been increases in families signing up for weekly COVID-19 testing and vaccines at school events. His comments come as students returned to school last week following a standoff with the teachers' union over safety protocols.

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There's been much debate about alcohol and flying in the past few years, with some airlines banning booze onboard flights altogether.

However, a New Zealand wine company is taking things in a slightly different direction by launching the "world's first winery airline."

Invivo will begin operating a route from the North Island of Auckland to Queenstown, in the South Island later this year, with its debut flight taking off within the next few months.

Co-founders Tim Lightbourne and Robin Cameron have chartered a 34-seater Swedish-built Saab plane for the maiden journey of Invivo Air, proving "business class in every glass."

Maiden voyage

While the duration of the flight is around two hours, the entire experience will last 24-hours, with a visit to Invivo's Central Otago growers and a stay at The Hilton Queenstown included.

"Obviously, there will be some complimentary wines served on board, as well as some non-alcoholic drinks," says Lightbourne.

"There'll be a range of Invivo wines available and maybe Robin and I will be serving it to the guests on the flight. It should be a lot of fun."

Lightbourne and Cameron decided to launch Invivo Air in a bid to celebrate the reopening of Auckland's borders in December as well as promote domestic tourism in New Zealand.

The pair also want to support those working in Auckland's hospitality sector, which was hit badly during the 119-day lockdown put in place after a Covid-19 outbreak in the city.

Half of the seats on the maiden flight will be complimentary, with priority given to those hospitality and tourism staff in Auckland who've been impacted by the lockdown, as well as residents who've been unable to visit loved ones located in New Zealand's South Island due to the border closures.

"A lot of the restaurants have been shut in Auckland for all that time," explains Lightbourne. "So it's been pretty hard. We'd like to reward some of those hospitality staff with a flight down to Queenstown, which is one of our major tourism destinations."

Domestic tourism boost

He also hopes the flights will provide a boost to the hugely popular Queenstown, which drew around three million visitors a year pre-pandemic, with over 60% those from abroad.

However, the resort town, situated in New Zealand's Otago region, "has been doing it tough" due to the lack of international tourists, according to Lightbourne.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Invivo team have found the process of setting up an airline from scratch rather tricky to say the least.

"We've had to talk to some people in the industry about the goings on and the challenges and all that sort of stuff," admits Lightbourne.

"It's a trial for us. But the feedback has been positive. There have been thousands of people registering. We could have sold out the flight 100 times over."

While the debut flight is indeed a "trial," Lightbourne says the team plan to running regular flights on the Auckland to Queenstown route, and hope to add new destinations in the future.

"We have vineyards in Marlborough, which is also the South Island, " he adds. "And in the North Island, we have some in the Hawke's Bay region and Gisborne. We'd love to get some flights out that way later on this year, hopefully."

Founded in 2008, Invivo produces wine from New Zealand, while also working in partnership with growers around the world to make wine from the top producing regions, including the Prosecco region of Veneto, Italy.

The Invivo winery is based in Te Kauwhata, located in the Waikato region, just south of Auckland.

Celebrity passengers?

Invivo's various shareholders and collaborators include "And Just Like That..." star Sarah Jessica Parker and British TV presenter Graham Norton, and Lightbourne hints that we may see one of the stars onboard an Invivo Air flight at some point.

"Both Graham and Sarah Jessica are really keen to get to New Zealand," he adds. "So they could potentially be one of the official guests on a flight in the future for sure."

New Zealand has been hugely praised for its response to Covid-19, and cases have remained remarkably low due to its strict border restrictions and quarantine measures -- there have been just over 15,000 recorded infections in the destination to date.

However, the country has been effectively closed to the rest of the world for the entire pandemic, aside from a brief quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia that was halted in July 2021.

This has proved incredibly challenging for many, particularly businesses that rely on international tourism, as well as those who've been separated from family members.

"Everyone knows it's for the greater good," says Lightbourne. "But having said that, we're really keen to get back to normal and open up the borders to international travel. It's been nearly two years."

Invivo Air passengers are required to comply with all applicable rules and regulations, including showing a valid vaccine pass before boarding the flight.

Although 50% of the seats on the debut flight will be available to purchase, seat prices are yet to be determined.

___

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday expressed alarm at the continued airstrikes in Sanaa, Hodeidah and elsewhere in Yemen in recent days, said his spokesman.

Guterres also noted with alarm that missile attacks and shelling continued in several areas in the country. All of these actions have resulted in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman.

"The secretary-general reiterates his call on the parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any escalation amid heightened tensions in the region, as well as to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law," the spokesman told a daily press briefing.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthi militia overran much of the country and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014. Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab military coalition that intervened since 2015 to support the Yemeni government.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg has just left Riyadh after concluding a visit to Saudi Arabia. He met Saudi Vice Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, and other Saudi and Yemeni interlocutors, said Dujarric.

During his meetings, Grundberg also denounced the recent wave of military escalation, including the heavy airstrikes on Sanaa, which have engulfed Yemen and spilled over the borders to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Grundberg exchanged views on possible options to achieve immediate de-escalation and pave the way for comprehensive political talks, said the spokesman. 
Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead is the deepest underground laboratory in the United States  and among the deepest in the world.

As a dedicated research facility, SURF hosts experiments in physics, including dark matter and neutrinos, as well as biology, geology and engineering. SURF also hosts a low background counting facility and will house the massive underground neutrino detectors of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

The world-leading research taking place at SURF is changing the understanding of the universe and the planet. It also has a tremendous economic impact throughout the region and the state of South Dakota.

An economic impact report was completed in 2021 for SURF and the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, which operates the lab with the U.S. Department of Energy. The report showed that through operational spending and job creation  both direct hires and jobs generated by large science projects on-site  SURF creates a ripple of impacts throughout the state.

The SDSTA is proud to play a major role in advancing South Dakotas economy. This study demonstrates that the states investments in SURF are paying off, said Mike Headley, Executive Director of the SDSTA and Lab Director of SURF.

In addition to the economic impacts, the science being performed at SURF is truly world-leading and is putting South Dakota on the map with the international science community. Were also leveraging this research to educate learners of all ages about our work, including learning opportunities for science teachers and our kids.

The economic impact study demonstrates just how large those impacts are in job creation, household earnings, and spending for activities and experiments at SURF, including the LBNF/DUNE.

From 2020 to 2029, SURFs net economic impact is projected to reach $1.6 billion, creating $572 million in household earnings for South Dakotans and 1,052 jobs annually. Approximately 90% of the impacts will be seen in Western South Dakota.

SURF's impact on tax revenue are also expected to total nearly $20 million over the next decade for state and local government, the report showed.

Although SDSTA and Fermilab are tax-exempt organizations, a portion of the increased economic activity created by SURF will be subject to state and local taxes. Over the next decade, SURF will generate a total of $9.2 million in additional state sales tax revenue, $2.9 million in additional municipal sales tax revenue, $7.0 million in state contractors excise tax revenue, and $850,000 in other revenues, including state tourism tax revenue and payments for permit fees and government services. This new revenue will grow from approximately $600,000 in 2020 to over $1.2 million in 2029, the report showed.

Currently, nearly 200 people are employed by the SDSTA. Additionally, through the construction of LBNF, Fermilab has employed an average of 160 people annually in the region to date.

Researchers and other visitors to SURF also have a significant impact on the economy. Each dollar spent by the SDSTA, Fermilab, employees, contractors and researchers, supports additional business activity, jobs and payroll across the state, leading to even larger economic benefits.

SDSTAs capital expenditures to expand SURFs capacity for new experiments also inject money into the state and local economies. Additionally, a partnership with Fermilab to construct and operate part of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility at SURF will result in significant spending and employment in South Dakota in the coming decades.

SURF also hosts a number of visiting researchers who contribute to the facilitys economic impact when they spend money on meals and accommodation during their stay.

The lab makes a direct impact on the South Dakota and Western South Dakota economies when SDSTA and Fermilab purchase goods and services from local vendors and employ workers. SURF vendors and employees, in turn, increase their own expenditures, recirculating funds through the economy and generating indirect economic impacts.

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Rapid City Area Schools Superintendent Lori Simon underlined the importance of early childhood education as she addressed the Pennington County Republican Women on Thursday. She suggested strong school-based pre-kindergarten could play a vital role in closing persistent achievement gaps between children in the school district.

Simon served as the organizations guest speaker for this month with her presentation on Thursday at the Hotel Alex Johnson, in Rapid City. Earlier this month, she announced her decision to resign as RCAS superintendent after the school year has ended. She will have served six years in the position.

Simons presentation covered a broad range of territory, from academic performance to construction needs within the district. She also spent time unpacking the uses of various kinds of assessment, including the South Dakota State Test of Educational Progress.

An area that sparked a question later  and that seemed to underpin much of the data Simon delivered throughout her presentation  was the level of readiness RCAS students displayed at the beginning of their school careers. Simon showed data from Acadience learning assessments, which the district has been using in reading for four years and in math for one. Its used for children at various grade levels, but here Simon focused on children just coming into kindergarten. She looked at reading and math.

What were seeing is a trend over four years' time of only about 40% of our kindergartners beginning school developmentally where we would expect them to be, in terms of their reading preparedness, she said. We see a very similar story with math.

She said about 43% of the school district's kindergartners start at a solid readiness level with regard to math.

The big takeaway is that the achievement gap exists before students even start school, she said.

Simon discussed a related issue at some length: the impact of poverty on learning. She noted that the poverty rate in RCAS stands at 53.5%, several percentage points higher than the rate in Sioux Falls and about 17 percentage points higher than the state average.

During the question-and-answer session, one attendee asked, Is there anything that can be done as a community to close the poverty-learning gap?

That's when Simon's suggestion for school-based pre-kindergarten emerged.

Im going to go out on a limb here because I think this is essential," she replied. "I have leadership experience both as a principal and assistant superintendent, in previous roles and previous districts, closing achievement gaps through the implementation of school-based high-quality pre-K for kids living in poverty."

She said that in short periods of time, in previous positions, she's watched strong school-based pre-kindergarten yield significant results.

That is something that Ive continued to talk to legislators about, she said, noting that she's discussed the topic with teachers in the district as well.

Simon noted that the U.S. Air Force recently conducted a study that included Douglas School District and Rapid City Area Schools. She cited early learning as an area flagged, in the study, as in need of attention.

In a 2021 Support of Military Families report, the U.S. Air Force noted pre -kindergarten learning, graduation rates and chronic absenteeism as "areas requiring additional support" for military families near the Ellsworth Air Force Base. The study can be found at https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/2021SAF/09_Sept/External_CASH_single_map_file_v4.2.pdf.

Simon also noted achievement disparities between Native and non-Native students that appear to extend beyond poverty. She said roughly a third of the districts students come from Native backgrounds  and she cited statistics revealing performance gaps in the district regardless of economic status, with Native students at a disadvantage.

She said that the districts Indigenous Education Task Force had recently completed its meetings and assembled an executive summary and recommendations.

Simons wide-ranging presentation touched on strong student performances in science, based on a set of assessments in several grades.

We performed very well and exceeded (national norms) at many grade levels, she said.

Simon spent much time discussing the districts staffing needs, noting 35 teaching vacancies and 112 vacancies among classified staff. The latter includes 18 openings for bus drivers. The vacancies, she emphasized, are exacerbated by absences due to illness.

Simon praised the proposed 6% increase in state aid to education, but she noted pressing needs for long-term funding solutions.

She recounted, too, the bond initiative for about $189 million that failed in 2020 to achieve the 60% plus one supermajority required for passage in South Dakota. She reminded the audience that it received 56% of the vote. Now, she said, some of the needs that the bond would have addressed are being met, at least in part, by recent federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

Simon noted that those ESSER funds are being used to build a new South Middle School and are slated to be used to update air purification in all of the districts schools.

Using ESSER funds to build this new middle school would reduce that bond plan pretty significantly, she added.

Sara Frankenstein, president of PCRW, said Simons presentation was part of a three-part series on education for the organization, spread out over the coming months. She said she expected a member of the RCAS Board of Education to speak in March, followed by South Dakota Secretary of Education Tiffany Sanderson in April.

Weve seen such an interest at a local level, a state level and nationally with regard to childrens education, Frankenstein said. We thought wed give a comprehensive view to our members and others who attend so they can think intelligently about education."

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The Rapid City Council voted 9-1 Tuesday night to approve the first reading of an ordinance that establishes new ward boundaries, which is done every 10 years after the census.

Wards 1, 2, 3 and 5 will have new boundaries, while Ward 4 will mostly stay the same if the ordinance is approved at the second reading

Finance Director Pauline Sumption said the city had to wait for the state Legislature to complete its redistricting duties, which was a lengthy process. She also said the city wanted to align city wards with legislative districts.

Without knowing what those legislative boundaries were, we would not be able to determine where our ward and precinct boundaries should be to prevent that from happening, she said.

Council member Jason Salamun said he wanted the lessons the council learned from the process reflected in the record. He expressed concerns about the city's initial proposal at the Jan. 12 Legal and Finance meeting.

That proposal had Ward 3 with 15,610 residents and Ward 5 with 14,308. He said at the time there should be a more balance in the populations. In the approved ordinance, Ward 3 has 14,956 people, while Ward 5 has 14,962.

On Tuesday, Salamun said the council learned who should be on the redistricting committee, that it include council members, the committee should have clear goals, and make sure redistricting is presented in a timely manner.

Evans said he voted no on principle because he believes there should be more time spent considering the options for something that will last a decade. The Legal and Finance Committee, which has five members of the Rapid City Council, first saw the proposed boundary map at its Jan. 12 meeting.

Mayor Steve Allender appointed the redistricting committee that included himself, City Attorney Joel Landeen, Sumption, Geographic Information Systems Coordinator Angie Tallon, Pennington County Election Supervisor Lori Severson, Rapid City Area Schools Director of Business and Support Services Coy Sasse, and County Commissioner Lloyd LaCroix.

Sumption said the plan was to have public input during the first and second reading of the ordinance, as well as at the committee meeting.

Subdivision plan approved

The council also approved a preliminary subdivision plan that creates 141 residential lots on about 44 acres southeast of Longview Road and Reservoir Road in the Murphy Ranch Estates Subdivision. The approval is with stipulations, including an agreement between the city and Rapid Valley Sanitary District to serve the development, a road maintenance agreement and about 11 other stipulations.

Community Development Director Vicki Fisher said this would provide a connection to South Dakota Highway 44 through Murphy Ranch up to Longview.

Weve been waiting for this connection for a long time, she said.

$75,000 grant approved

The council also approved an up to $75,000 agreement with the Volunteers of America, Northern Rockies for community co-response services. The organization will help with emergency housing placement for homeless individuals ready to take the next step into housing, and provide case management. Volunteers of America will also conduct homeless street outreach and coordinate homeless services and an emergency housing component.

The outreach and co-response service follows the agreement the council approved in November for Journey On, a street-level outreach program working with Rapid Citys homeless population. According to a memo from Mayor Allender to the council, Journey On responded to 117 calls for service in four weeks. He said it represented 16% of all calls for service related to intoxication.

 Contact Siandhara Bonnet at siandhara.bonnet@rapidcityjournal.com 

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Active cases, hospitalizations and deaths all continue to rise in South Dakota, according to the daily COVID-19 report by the Department of Health. South Dakota reported 2,588 new infections Thursday, an increase in active cases to 34,086.

Hospitalizations rose above 400 with 403 people being treated statewide with 76 people in ICU. In the Black Hills region, there are 73 patients being treated for COVID-19 illnesses with 16 in ICU.

There were nine additional deaths reported Thursday, bringing January's total to 96. Three of those deaths were reported in Pennington County. There have been 302 deaths in Pennington County since the pandemic began in March of 2020. Hutchinson County reported two deaths and there was one each in Campbell, Day, Moody and Todd counties. The deaths included one woman and eight men with one in their 50s, one in their 60s and seven over 70.

Of the 2,588 new cases, 578 of them were in children under 19. Some of those cases can be found in the Rapid City schools.

The Rapid City Area Schools continued to set records with active infections as more than 350 students had an active COVID-19 infection, according to Wednesday evening's RCAS update. There are 356 students out with COVID-19 and 76 staff members.

In addition to the active infections, there are 418 students and 16 staff members required to quarantine.

The biggest outbreak is still at Rapid City Stevens High School where there are 69 active cases after 26 new cases were recorded Wednesday. Rapid City Central is next with 48 active cases. There were 19 new infections at Central on Wednesday.

Twelve other schools have at least 10 active infections  Southwest Middle (39), Meadowbrook Elementary (34), West Middle (26), Corral Drive Elementary (23), Rapid Valley Elementary (23), North Middle (19), East Middle (19), Canyon Lake Elementary (17), South Middle (17), Valley View Elementary (14), Rapid City High (13) and Wilson Elementary (13).

Minnehaha County has seen active cases increase to 9,686 after they reported 445 new cases there Thursday. Pennington County saw active cases climb above 5,000 with 392 new infections reported Thursday. There are now a record 5,040 active infections in the county. Before the current spike in cases, there had never been more than 2,100 active cases.

Oglala-Lakota County reported 204 new infections and there were 85 in Meade County and 82 in Lawrence County. Fall River County recorded 32 positive tests and there were 23 each in Butte and Custer counties.

Brown County added 130 cases and Brookings County had 127. There were 109 new infections in Codington County and 103 in Lincoln County. Davison County recorded 88 new cases and there were 70 in Yankton County. Clay County reported 64 positive tests and there were 63 in Todd County. Charles Mix County added 37 new cases and there were 37 in Jackson County.
Episode 30: Richard Kyte and Scott Rada talk about U.S. immigration policy and why this is one of the most polarizing issues in America today. Next they discuss whether automated traffic enforcement is a better way to keep people safe. And in the third segment, they look at why some people choose to be ignorant about whats happening in their lives.

Links to stories discussed during the podcast:

US Chamber of Commerce CEO calls for doubling immigration into US, 'permanent solution' for DACA recipients, by Adam Shaw of Fox Business

What we don't want to know, by Shayla Love of Vice

Subscribe to this podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

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Editor's note: This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series "Grizzlies and Us." The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West. This story also contains an excerpt from The Grizzly in the Driveway: The Return of Bears to a Crowded American West by Robert Chaney, author and long-time reporter for the Missoulian.

The roomful of biologists had lots of funny ideas why Ethyl the grizzly bear logged 2,800 miles arcing from Coeur dAlene past Florence and Missoula and eventually up to Eureka by way of Glacier National Park.

Was she was looking for someone she couldnt find? Maybe she ate a bad chicken and took a long time to walk off the indigestion. She had Alzheimers and couldnt trace her way back to her home range northeast of Bigforkone place she noticeably skipped in her three-year ramble across Montana and Idaho.

The one thing we can say is this was not representative of normal bear movement, and certainly not female grizzly bear movement, said US Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen in 2014. She had some really bizarre travels.

Heres one more thing we can say about Ethyl. The twenty-year-old sow demonstrated that grizzly bears can cross interstate highways, major city boundaries, municipal landfills, and residential backyards without getting in trouble with humans. She added hope that the big omnivores can coexist with people as their populations pooch out of their wilderness core habitat.

Ethyl spent most of her life around Montanas Lake Blaine, between the tourist town of Bigfork and the Swan Mountains. After game wardens captured her while raiding an apple orchard, she was relocated to the Wounded Buck Creek drainage along Hungry Horse Reservoir.

She returned with a two-year-old cub in tow and got busted again in the apples in 2012. This time, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear specialist Rick Mace gave her a satellite-linked radio collar before hauling her and her cub to the more remote Puzzle Creek drainage, hard against the Continental Divide south of Marias Pass.

And then Ethyl took off.

She prowled around the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex for a while, including a few peeks at the eastern Rocky Mountain Front between Lincoln and Augusta. Then she drifted down to the Mission Mountains and the Jocko Lakes area. Passing Arlee, she cleared Highway 93 and headed for the northern fringe of the Bitterroot Mountains.

That meant hopping the Interstate 90 corridor, the biggest single barrier to reunification of the two biggest grizzly ecosystems remaining in the Lower 48 states. Ethyl braved the four-lane freeway and headed west into Idaho.

She may have crossed I-90 several times as she explored the mountains around Kellogg and Wallace until she reached the city limits of Coeur dAlene. A December 15 Kellogg newspaper article printed an Ethyl sighting about ten miles from the high school. She made a den somewhere in the Idaho Panhandle and hibernated through the 201213 winter.

If the story ended here, Ethyl would still warrant a chapter to herself in the bear biology books. Grizzly home ranges average seventy square miles for females and from two hundred to four hundred miles for males. Sow grizzlies rarely travel more than eight and a half miles into new country each year. One of Ethyls fellow grizzly moms in the Mission Mountains alongside the Flathead Indian Reservation had a home range of three square miles, from mountainside den site down to a boggy basin where she foraged all summer.

Ethyls collar went dormant to conserve battery power on November 25, 2012. It revived the following March, showing her moving back east along Interstate 90. She cruised past Superior, Montana, then straight up and over several steep drainages between I-90 and US Highway 12. She reached the southern fringe of Missoula on May 13. In a short day, she zipped through the Blue Mountain Recreation Area and then south a dozen miles to Lolo. She probed the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains as far south as Florence.

On May 20, she goes basically right through downtown Lolo and we didnt have any sightings, Servheen said. She was minding her own business, walking around trying to figure out where she is.

Ten days later, she shot back into Idaho as far as Coeur dAlene, as if she remembered shed left something back at the den. Then she turned around, and safely crossed Interstate 90 again to return to Missoula. She went right past the citys landfill but only sniffed the garbage. She cruised some apple orchards in the meadows east of Evaro Hill. That fall, elk hunters spotted her eating the gut piles they left behind. Each night that fall, shed pad four miles back to the Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula to sleep.

Then she barged north up the Bob Marshall again, bypassing her Lake Blaine denning site, and headed for Glacier Park. After some time there, Ethyl moved west toward Eureka on the western edge of the NCDE. She lost her collar on October 17, 2014.

Thats a total distance of two thousand eight hundred miles, Servheen said. The only place she didnt go in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem was the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Ethyls ramble capsulizes the problem grizzlies present to those who want to recover them. They wontcantstay still.

Lets start with food. While technically carnivores, grizzly bears come as close to vegetarian as anything with fangs. In some places, grizzlies subsist on almost 90 percent plant matter, supplemented by bugs and the occasional carrion buffet. Those five-inch claws and shoulder humps of muscle get a lot more use digging up roots and ant hills than dismembering elk.

To meet that need, grizzlies have learned to follow a green wave of plant regeneration through the growing season. As soon as they arise from their dens, they look for two things: a shot of protein from some winterkilled fellow mammal and a meadow full of new clover. They often find both in the runout zones of avalanche chutes.

As spring days lengthen, the bears start digging up the carbohydrate-loaded bases of plants like biscuit root, yampa, glacier lily, and wild onion. This serves until the plants reach flowering stage, whereupon the nutritional value of the roots fades. Bears move up and down in altitude, following the retreat of winter snowpack and the aspects of changing sunshine to fresh growth.

When summer sets in, bears look for berries and other fruit. Where possible, they sniff out middens of whitebark pine seeds buried by industrious but forgetful squirrels. In some remarkable spots in the Mission Mountains and the Beartooth Plateau, they climb near the summits of ten-thousand-foot mountain peaks to find the breeding sites of army cutworm moths and ladybugs. They shred rotten logs to dig out ant colonies, and yes, they do raid beehives for honey.

The claws and teeth do get put to more presumptive uses. In May and June, Yellowstone bears zigzag through meadow edges hoping to scare up elk calves (which are born virtually scentless, so bears hunt for them by sight). A rare bear may hunt and kill a bison, elk, or deer. More often, that offensive weaponry goes to chasing off wolves that have already brought down a big meal with their more effective pack-hunting methods. The reintroduction of wolves in the mid-1990s had a marked benefit on bear populations in Yellowstone Park.

Nevertheless, theres no one-stop shopping. Whats the nutritional value of fighting for a berry patch before the berries have ripened? Male grizzlies in particular do not share, and will attack virtually anything that impinges on their meal of the moment. But theyre moving through that habitat like we cruise the farmers market, picking up fast-sprouting lettuce at one stall in April and ignoring another until the good tomatoes appear in August.

When she dropped her satellite-connected Argos collar in 2014, Ethyl disappeared from active research. However, the lopsided W she traced across the maps of Montana and Idaho continues to tantalize her human overseers.

If shed gone twenty miles farther west of Eureka, Ethyl would have tagged three recovery ecosystems. And if she settled in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem, fireworks would have gone off in Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters.

Forty years previous, that office braced for more of an implosion. As Dick Knight, the original leader of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team put it, Every grizzly bear carries our society inside him like a bomb, a ticking bomb, already well advanced toward blowing him off the face of the earth, and continuing relentlessly to tick toward ignition unless we intervene to disarm it.

Before Knight took the job in 1973, perhaps six hundred grizzlies remained alive south of the Canadian border. The 1975 ESA designation listed all grizzlies in the Lower 48 statesa single population destined to subdivide into a legal quagmire.

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Faced with the possibility of federal judges redrawing Montana political districts, state legislators on Tuesday again passed on bringing the five regions of the Montana Public Service Commission into constitutional compliance before the 2022 election.

Lawmakers on the Energy Telecommunications Interim Committee were cautioned before voting that federal courts dont seem content to wait for the 2023 Legislature to correct PSC districts that have gone unchanged for 19 years and now violate the one-person, one-vote principle of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Also Tuesday, judges denied Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen's motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by voters. The defense team for the state's top election official had argued the case was premature and voters should have waited until the 2023 Legislature met. The order was one more indication that if the Legislature didn't redraw the districts in time for the 2022 election, the court was likely to.

The gist of one-person, one vote, is that every voter has the right to have their vote counted with the same weight as any other voter. Thats not the case in Montanas PSC districts where voters in the least populated of the five districts receive the same amount of representation on matters like electric and gas bills as voters in the most populated district, despite having 53,000 fewer voters.

In a court order Jan 13, a panel of U.S. District Judges concluded that voters were likely already being harmed by the Legislatures inaction on redistricting. And the court concluded that lawmakers had the power to call a special session and bring the districts into constitutional compliance before the 2022 election. That order came just hours after the Legislative Council briefed lawmakers on the matter Jan. 13. And those lawmakers settled on taking up the issue a year from now and never brought up the possibility of a special session to fix the districts this spring.

The Legislature is not precluded from acting in advance of the 2024 elections  or even the 2022 elections of if a special session is called, the court concluded. The Legislature may be convened in special session by the governor or at the written request of a majority of the members."

Sen. Mary McNall, ETIC chairwoman, said the court has promised a decision by March 4. The Billings Democrat preferred to wait.

The filing deadline for candidates is March 14. The primary election is June 7. Currently, no one can file to run for PSC because of a court order.

Only one lawmaker at the ETIC meeting Tuesday was ready to put the districts to a redraw this year. Rep. Derek Skees put the idea forward as the committee debated whether it has the power to redraw the districts without getting the full body of 150 state lawmakers involved. The committee doesnt.

I'm challenging everybody in the Legislature. We need to have a special session. We need to have a meeting and decide this for the legislature. We need to have a special session, Rep. Derek Skees, of Kalispell, told the committee. I wish that it could have been solved by you folks, and then offered as a suggestion for a piece of legislation for the next cycle. But unfortunately, the judges in Montana don't want to have us in that timeframe.

Skees also intends to run in 2022 for Public Service Commission District 5, which includes Helena and Kalispell. PSC District 2, which runs along the Hi-line from Shelby to Sidney, is also on the ballot. Secretary of State Jacobsen is prevented by court order from registering PSC candidates until the redistricting matter is resolved.

I would like to see the courts not handle this and I dont want to see a special session either, said Sen. Terry Gauthier, of Helena. I'd like to see this whole thing go right straight to the legislative body in January 2023. And let the people earn their paychecks and do the job that needs to be done with open committee debate on the floors and have all the public comment.

Its the secretary of state who will get the chance to continue arguing for the districts to remain out of balance for the 2022 elections and redrawn in 2023. As the states top election official, she was sued in December by three voters seeking to have the districts brought into constitutional compliance for the 2022 elections. Jacobsen recognizes the districts are unconstitutional the way they are currently drawn, but her legal argument is that the Legislature deserves a chance in regular session to correct the districts before the courts get involved.

The voters are Bob Brown, a former Montana Republican secretary of state, Hailey Sinoff and Donald Seifert of Gallatin County. If the Legislature wont redraw the districts for the 2022 election, the voters argue that a three-judge panel should. It wouldnt be the first time the federal courts intervened and redrew Montana political maps because the Legislature wouldnt. The court redrew Montanas U.S. House districts after the Legislature failed to do so following the 1960 U.S. Census.

The justices in this case have already indicated theres no reason to assume the Legislature would redraw the districts in 2023, given that the districts werent redrawn after the 2010 Census and that several attempts to do so over the last decade were rejected by lawmakers.

The justices are U.S. District Judge Don Molloy, of Missoula, District Judge Brian Morris, of Great Falls, and Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford, of Pasadena, California.

The districts have only been redrawn once in nearly 50 years, the voters argue.

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. 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.

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.

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A California man has been sentenced to nine months in jail and fined more than $2,900 following a drunken spree at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel in Yellowstone National Park last fall, ending with an attack on law enforcement officers.

Benjamin J. Bagala, 27, of Santa Rosa, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman on Wednesday and was sentenced for three counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees and one count of depredation against property of the United States, according to a Department of Justice press release. Bagala made his appearance in the Wyoming courtroom via Zoom.

According to the DOJ release, on Sept. 25, 2021 Bagala was drinking heavily and harassed guests at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, ran through the halls causing damage and approached a security guard with threatening behavior.

When a park law enforcement officer arrived the incident escalated and Bagala attacked the ranger who deployed his taser.

Bagala was extremely intoxicated and displayed injuries from earlier activities, so an ambulance was called, according to DOJ. As Bagala was being transported to the hospital in Livingston he broke out of his restraints and fought with an officer who was in the back of the ambulance. The other officer, driving the ambulance, had to pull over and assist. During this time, both officers received injuries from Bagalas actions.

Bagala was given credit for four days he already served and must surrender on or before March 4, 2022, to complete his jail sentence. He also received one year supervised release with special conditions that include a ban from Yellowstone National Park; he cannot possess alcohol or enter any drinking establishment, and will continue with alcohol treatment. Bagala was ordered to pay $2,865 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.

Damages at the hotel included broken plexiglass shields, broken plates, broken doors and frames, damaged light fixtures, and blood splattered throughout the halls and lobby.

The crime was investigated by the National Park Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Hambrick.

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A college degree is not required to enter the workforce through a new training program developed for veterans, transitioning military, industry and other individuals seeking great-paying jobs in the defense industry, specifically within the naval shipbuilding and sustainment sectors.

Launched in 2020, the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program is helping fill the critical skills gap within the defense industrial base by providing a fast-track, entry-level training program while connecting students to quality jobs in one of four program areas: additive manufacturing, CNC machining, metrology and welding. This pilot project is funded through the Cornerstone Other Transaction Authority and National Imperative for Industrial Skills of the U.S. Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Office. The program is managed by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

Focused training

The rigorous 16-week training program is designed on three founding principles that combine to prepare students to immediately take advantage of jobs: speed-to-credential, an unparalleled training facility and an exceptionally low student-to-instructor ratio. Danville Community College, located near the Virginia-North Carolina border, provides the customized curriculum for the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program. The classrooms are outfitted with tens of millions of dollars worth of cutting-edge equipment that allows students to move with ease from training to employment. Students have immediate access to the equipment throughout their training, as well as one-on-one access to the instructors. Participants are engaged in hands-on training starting with the first week of class, said Karen Hardy, ATDM program coordinator.

Nationally recognized credentials

The skilled pathways offered by the ATDM program do not require a two-year or four-year degree. Every student who enrolls will have an opportunity to apply for nationally recognized credentials, which employers are seeking.

Industry demand

Employer demand to fill jobs in defense manufacturing is on the uptick. This has opened some major opportunities for veterans, transitioning military and other individuals looking for a career in these skilled areas. Manufacturers in the defense industrial base are struggling to find workers with the skill sets needed to deliver products on time, Hardy said.

Within the shipbuilding industry alone, there are more than 300 companies in the supply chain that are looking to fill workforce gaps.

ATDM is currently seeking applicants for the next training session that begins April 18, 2022. This is entry-level training, so no job experience is required. However, applicants must have a high school diploma or GED. Click here to apply.
Employees at two Starbucks coffee shops in the Richmond area are seeking to unionize, joining a movement in multiple states to organize workers at one of the nations largest retail chains.

Workers United, a Philadelphia-based union that represents workers in various service and warehouse industries, said Wednesday that employees at Starbucks stores at 11136 Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County and at 6980 Forest Hill Ave. in Richmond have submitted petitions to the National Labor Relations Board seeking union representation.

We want Starbucks to give us a seat at the table, said Iman Djehiche, a barista at the Midlothian Turnpike store for almost two years. We want to be treated with respect and dignity.

Those two Starbucks are the first in Virginia to file the union petitions.

The move comes a little more than a month after Starbucks workers at a store in Buffalo, N.Y., voted to unionize. It was the first time that workers had voted to unionize at a store operated by the 50-year-old coffee retailer, which is the worlds largest coffee chain with about 9,000 company-owned stores in the U.S.

Workers at a second Starbucks in Buffalo voted to unionize last week. Three more stores in that area are slated to vote at the end of the month on union representation.

Starbucks has opposed unionization attempts at its company-owned stores, but a company spokesperson said that employees at some licensed stores already are members of unions.

Employees at the Richmond-area stores watched the Buffalo votes closely and decided that organizing a union would be their best option for having various concerns addressed.

The workers at the Midlothian Turnpike store dont have problems with the local store managers, Djehiche said.

Our concern is with upper management, Djehiche said. We very much felt like weve had to fight tooth and nail just to have our voice considered about what happens on the floor.

Among those concerns are employees health during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the recent spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. Wages are also an issue, Djehiche said.

A lot of us live paycheck to paycheck, Djehiche said. We also want to fight for proper seniority pay. I know people who have been working at Starbucks for almost nine years and are making what someone who has worked there two years makes.

The next steps would be for the NLRB to review the petitions, conduct a hearing to determine exactly who would be in the bargaining units, then set a date for separate elections by employees at each of the stores, said Virginia Diamond, president of the Northern Virginia Labor Federation. Workers United is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

Diamond said she thinks other Starbucks stores in Virginia will seek unionization efforts, and she characterized that as part of a larger movement  particularly among younger workers  to push for more bargaining power for people who work in retail and service industries.

The working class has been decimated, she said. Just like the workers of the 1930s, who organized the manufacturing sector and created the middle class in the first place, these workers are trying to do the same in the service sector.

Starbucks said in a statement that its position on unionization hasnt changed. Starbucks success  past, present and future  is built on how we partner together, always with our mission and values at our core, the company said. From the beginning, weve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us at Starbucks, and that conviction has not changed.

The union said petitions also have been filed to unionize other stores located in Buffalo, N.Y.; Boston; Knoxville, Tenn.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Chicago; Cleveland; Seattle; Mesa, Ariz.; Eugene, Ore.; Hopewell, N.J.; and Superior, Colo.
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The first relief flights arrived at Tonga's just re-opened international airport on Thursday, carrying much-needed water, sanitation and shelter supplies, communications gear and power generators, UN humanitarians said Thursday.

The arrivals came as assessment teams reached most parts of the remote southwest Pacific nation, including far-flung and isolated islands, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Once workers shoveled ashfall from the runway, the office said aircraft from Australia and New Zealand landed.

"The government of Tonga has asked us for urgent assistance," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "The resident coordinator, Sanaka Samarasinha, has responded and remains in close contact with the Tongan authorities."

Dujarric said that 23 resident UN staff in Tonga support the government's assessment and response efforts and are helping to distribute aid.

The most pressing needs are the availability of safe water, not only on the main island of Tongatapu, but also on smaller islands in the country, particularly in the Ha'apai island group, OCHA said. Some 50,000 people need clean water. While water testing proceeds, residents rely on bottled water.

The office said water, water purification units and desalination equipment are being shipped to Tonga. Oxfam is operating a water treatment unit.

The humanitarian office said volcanic ash damage to crops, livestock and fisheries, saltwater intrusion and acid rain potentially affects about 60,000 people. There are reports of a fuel shortage. But supplies are expected shortly as part of a regular shipment and support from Australia.

Saturday's eruption of an undersea volcano just 65 km from the main island of Tongatapu cut regular communication between Tonga and the rest of the world through a submarine cable. Communication among the country's 169 islands -- only 36 inhabited -- also was cut.

A UN telecommunications cluster coordinates with local, regional and global partners on the deployment of critical equipment to ensure that the government and responders have access to communication tools to coordinate the response and allow affected people to contact family, OCHA said.

The office said there is still limited international connectivity, although the situation is gradually improving. There are various initiatives from the government through the UN International Telecommunication Union, phone capability from New Zealand and other donor partners, and Digicel.

Although OCHA said a ship from Papua New Guinea would repair the underwater communication cable, it might take weeks to complete. Communication with outer islands remains very limited. 
A Mexican restaurant from Ohio plans to take over space in the Fan District that had been used for decades as the Strawberry Street Cafe.

Rafael Ayala described his Blue Habanero Street Tacos & Tequila restaurant as "modern Mexican."

"It's street-style tacos, cocktails and freshly squeezed margaritas," Ayala said. "Modern Mexican is not going to be your combo with enchilada and rice and beans. We do like 15 to 16 different types of tacos and we do specialty dishes - bowls, salads, appetizers - all freshly prepared in house with the best ingredients and products that we can find in the market."

Blue Habanero should open at 421 Strawberry St. by April, he said.

This would be his fourth Blue Habanero restaurant. The other three are in the Cleveland area.

Ayala was born in Mexico but came to the U.S. as a teenager with his parents. They lived in the Richmond area. He graduated from Douglas S. Freeman High School.

A year or so after graduating, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he and his brother helped another family member there run a restaurant there. Then the brothers moved to Akron, Ohio, to open their first restaurant, Tres Potrillos.

He decided to branch off from his brother and operate his own restaurant by opening his first Blue Habanero in Cleveland in late 2018. He has since opened two more area locations - in the Cleveland suburbs of Strongsville and Brecksville.

In the past year, Ayala was talking to his two cousins who live in the Richmond area. They work for a restaurant (he wouldn't say which one) and one of his cousins is the manager.

"He came to us and said 'I want to do my own thing and would you guys be interested?' I said 'yeah, why not.' I came to Richmond a few times looking for places and we found that [former] Strawberry Street Cafe [space] and it was no brainer. I mean we knew that was a perfect space for Blue Habanero. We're really excited about that place," Ayala said.

His cousin would be in charge of running the front of the house part of the restaurant.

"He's already in the business for a long time working for somebody else. But now he's going to do his own thing. He's our partner. So he's going to be there," Ayala said. "But I'll be there opening the restaurant myself. I will probably be there for a couple months to get it going. Once I feel that these guys are feeling OK being there by themselves and having the team together and everything, then I will come back home."

Work is underway to convert the space, he said.

"We're not doing much of anything because the way it is there is a perfect way, a perfect setup that is going to work for us," he said. "We're going to get new tables, new furniture and we're going to do the cosmetic stuff. The kitchen is very much the same. All of that's going be the easiest part. The most difficult I think is going to be getting all the permits and everything."

The 3,500-square-foot space has been vacant since late 2019 when Scuffletown Garden closed after operating for about five months.

Strawberry Street Cafe had operated there for 43 years before that - from 1976 until March 2019. The restaurant was well known having its signature salad bar in an antique clawfoot bathtub.

The restaurant and building were sold in late 2018. The new owners decided to close Strawberry Street Cafe for a renovation and rebranding to Scuffletown Garden.

"I'm passionate about the restaurant business," Ayala said. "I love creating new stuff, bringing freshness to people - good, earthy, healthy food. Making as fresh and close to everything from scratch as possible, that's one of the things that gave us a lot of popularity in the Cleveland area. It's a little different than the regular Mexican restaurant. I'm almost 100% sure that people are going to love the idea."
NORFOLK  Burke McCormick embraced his remaining son just after the verdicts were read Thursday holding a Richmond man responsible for the death of his eldest son, Graham McCormick.

A Norfolk jury found John Randolph Rand Hooper, 35, guilty of involuntary manslaughter and failure to render aid after a boating accident in Lancaster County in 2017 that killed 31-year-old Graham McCormick.

Graham gets to rest now, Gordon McCormick, Grahams brother, said in an interview after the three-day trial, which ended a day ahead of schedule. Ive lost 4 years of my life waiting for justice.

Graham McCormick was found floating in Carter Creek, off the Rappahannock River, on the morning of Aug. 11, 2017.

He had been visiting Hooper at his parents Irvington home. They had been drinking when they took a boat for a late-night joy ride. It crashed into a bulkhead that juts into the creek about 2 miles, by water, south of the Hooper home, sending McCormick overboard. Hooper returned to his parents home on the boat, leaving McCormick to drown.

His death stunned the family, which only 18 months earlier had buried their youngest son, Will, after a long battle with cancer. During her testimony, Sallie Graham, Graham McCormicks mother, said that when his body was found, she insisted on seeing him.

I held his brother, Sallie Graham testified. I have to see him. I have to hold him.

But the real shock came at Hoopers involvement, which the family didnt know the extent of until after Hooper spoke at Graham McCormicks funeral, a little over a week after the crash.

They were the best of friends, Burke McCormick testified. Later, in an interview after the trial, he added: The enormous sense of betrayal I feel, its palpable.

Hooper left the courtroom in handcuffs. He could face up to 15 years in prison for the two felonies. A date for sentencing has not been set.

Hooper had faced a more serious charge of aggravated manslaughter, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser degree of manslaughter. The most serious charge, felony murder, was dismissed earlier Thursday by retired Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Charles Poston, who said there was insufficient evidence to support malice, which is an essential element in proving the charge.

The jury reached its verdict after a little over 90 minutes of deliberation.

King William County Commonwealths Attorney Matthew R. Kite argued that Hoopers actions were essentially the same as driving drunk on the wrong side of the highway.

He would have survived, Kite said of Graham McCormick. He would have survived if someone would have helped him. He left his best friend to drown.

A state medical examiner determined the cause of death was drowning. Though blunt-force trauma contributed to his death, the lacerations to his head wouldnt have killed him on their own, the doctor testified Wednesday.

After at first denying knowing what happened to McCormick, Hooper later told police he figured McCormick was a good swimmer, detectives testified.

Thats like saying a person ejected from a vehicle in a crash is a good walker, Kite said.

He knew Graham was in the water, and he left. The two were friends. But when push came to shove, it was Rand Hooper who mattered, not Graham McCormick.

Kite said Hooper fled because he didnt want to get in trouble.

Hoopers three-man defense team, led by Craig Cooley, didnt contest that the crash occurred, but they said McCormick was driving, not Hooper, and that prosecutors couldnt prove otherwise.

All that evidence, all of that testimony over the last three days would be identical no matter who the operator of the boat was, Cooley told the jury. No matter if it was Mr. Hooper or Mr. McCormick, or you or me.

Kite pointed out that earlier testimony showed that Hooper claimed not to remember who was driving, not that he wasnt.

The case was tried in Norfolk because of the media attention the long-running case has received in Lancaster County and Richmond. Hooper and McCormick are from Richmond, though McCormick had moved to Atlanta shortly before his death for a job in banking. Both mens parents still live in the Richmond area.

This case had more twists and turns than a bobsled track, Burke McCormick said afterward. It was long, hard slog to get justice.

Former Lancaster prosecutor Jan Smith, who lost re-election in 2019 and has since had his law license suspended for a year for his handling of this case, initially charged Hooper with a misdemeanor for failing to report the crash about two months after it happened. He later withdrew it, saying others would be filed. It took nearly a year for Smith to seek new charges. In the meantime, McCormicks family filed a civil lawsuit and received a $4 million settlement.

In 2019, Smith and Hoopers attorneys negotiated a controversial plea agreement in which Hooper would serve only one year of a 15-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter and failure to render aid, which are the same charges Hooper was convicted of Thursday. McCormicks family said the punishment was too lenient.

Before that plea agreement could be entered in court, Lancaster Circuit Judge R. Michael McKenney recused himself after receiving a letter from a witness in the case. In the letter, Benjamin M. Chip Woodson, who owns the land just off of which McCormicks body was found, said Smith alleged that McKenney had already made up his mind about the case, which the judge denied.

McKenney appointed Circuit Judge Herbert M. Hewitt, who typically presides in King George County. Five months later, Hewitt rejected the plea deal, saying the sentence was inappropriate and that Hoopers actions came from a cold and malignant heart.

The case passed through a few other hands until it landed on the desk of Poston, the retired judge. A special prosecutor, Kite, was appointed after Smiths successor, Tony Spencer, was removed from the case after Hoopers attorneys alleged his election was supported by McCormicks family.

In October 2020, Kite dropped all charges against Hooper; then, in December 2020, Hooper was indicted on the more serious charges.

In the rotunda outside the courtroom, the McCormick family and friends clapped for Kite and his deputy Tiffany Webb.

Gordon McCormick said he had nearly lost faith in the criminal justice system.

All I was after from day one, was the truth, he said. There was not a more truthful, decent person than Graham. He can rest easy knowing the truth has been told.
Five months after voting in unison for students to return to the classroom with a mask, the Chesterfield County School Board upheld its mask mandate in a divided vote Thursday afternoon.

The move puts the board at odds, at least temporarily, with an executive order from Gov. Glenn Youngkin that leaves the decision of masks to parents.

In a 3-2 vote, the board decided to uphold its mask mandate for now. Three out of the five said they support the governors order, but only Ryan Harter was willing to make masks optional before receiving more guidance on how to do so safely from the Youngkin administration and the new superintendent of public instruction.

Vice Chair Dot Heffron was the second dissenting vote alongside Harter, but for a different reason: She said she was opposed to the caveat asking for guidance from the state. Heffron supports upholding the mask mandate, as does board member Kathryn Haines.

I want to be clear that I believe that any changes that we make to our mask guidance should be driven by our board. This is not a decision that should be based on the superintendent of instruction for the state of Virginia. We absolutely need to maintain our mask policy the way it is, Heffron said Thursday.

Youngkins executive order calls for parents to decide whether their children will wear a mask in school. The order, set to take effect Monday, would not apply to buses because a federal order requires masks on public transportation.

But come Monday, Chesterfield, Richmond Public Schools and Henrico County Public Schools will not be following the governors order. And Northern Virginias five largest school districts  Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun and Arlington counties and the city of Alexandria  all say they will continue requiring masks.

In another challenge to the executive order, a group of Chesapeake parents filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Youngkin, asking the Supreme Court of Virginia to declare the order void because it is in direct conflict with a 2021 state law that requires schools to adhere to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions COVID-19 guidelines to the maximum extent practicable.

Haines, one of the Chesterfield board members who voted to uphold the mask mandate, said the board shouldnt take another vote until the Virginia Department of Health weighs in. Haines also said the executive order conflicts with the 2021 state law.

According to our local public health director, Dr. [Alexander] Samuel, whom I spoke with this morning, VDH has not yet provided guidance to local school districts on how to resolve this obvious conflict.

In comments before the vote, Haines read a portion of a statement from the School Health Advisory Board, which was signed by 16 of its 20 members: As individual members of the SHAB we strongly urge you to keep the current maximum policy in place and reassess after the current [COVID] surge is over no earlier than February 1, 2022.

During the August vote, board members Debbie Bailey, Ann Coker and Harter all expressed their disappointment that they were voting for masks.

But on Thursday, board Chair Coker and Bailey were in agreement that while they support parental choice, they want more guidance from state officials before making a decision. Harter, on the other hand, wanted to adhere to the executive order immediately.

In December, Harter, who was board chairman at the time, wrote in an email to a Chesterfield parent saying masks would be gone once the Executive Mansion changed hands.

I have spoken with a few members of the Governors transition team in regards to masking. We stand ready to change when the Governor takes office and action, Harter, who did not respond for a request for comment, wrote in an email on Dec. 4.

Harter, who voted against upholding the mandate, said during Thursdays meeting that, after this executive order takes effect, masking is no longer a practicable strategy.

This emergency order was directed to parents. It gives parents the right to choose what is best for the child. As thousands of kids come back possibly with no mask on Monday, what are we going to do? How is staff going to confront that? Are we going to ask our staff to confront parents, if they choose to have their child wear a mask or not wear a mask? I can tell you that the majority of educators, theyre dreading this and theyre looking for direction.

Coker said she wants to comply with the executive order, but not until more of the unknowns are known. She asked the Youngkin administration to provide appropriate guidance about COVID mitigation strategies, contact tracing, quarantine guidelines and Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements.

I want nothing more than for parents to be able to make the choice for their child to wear a mask in school, for students to return to a normal school day that allows for face-to-face interaction with their fellow students and teachers. Children do better without masks, Coker said Thursday.

Bailey said, I believe the risk of COVID-19 to children does not justify the universal masking in school. I believe parents, children and teachers should be permitted to make informed decisions based on their own values and risk tolerance and choose to mask or not.

Bailey encouraged families to have serious conversations with their children about their expectations for mask wearing. But before a decision is made, Bailey wants more information from Youngkin because a rush decision could result in walking back promises.

Parents, you have a choice. You will have a choice. Its just the timeline is just a little aggressive for me to get it right, Bailey said. As far as Im concerned, the only reason why were waiting is because operationally they have not told us how to proceed.

While a public comment period was not scheduled during the meeting itself, community members were welcome to attend and were encouraged but not required to wear a mask. All School Board members wore masks during Thursdays meeting.

Brooke Pega, a Dale District resident, parent and teacher, wrote that without masks, students will have to quarantine more frequently and potentially for a longer period of time. Pega said schools need more COVID supplies, including KN95 masks and plastic screens. In addition, HVAC systems, especially in older schools, will continue to need improvement.

Some comments not only asked for masks to be gone but also for contact tracing to be abandoned, with one parent calling it a farce. Other parents asked for the option for their children to go virtual if the masks were made optional.

I would prefer to keep the mask optional for students, Matoaca resident Jennifer Schoemmell wrote in. It has been proven that fabric masks do little to reduce the spread unless the school is going to provide KN95 masks; what are we really accomplishing? I am still getting daily notifications about positives, so obviously the masks are not effective.

A Midlothian parent wrote that they would be happy to provide proof of their childs COVID vaccination status in exchange for them not having to wear a mask any longer.

Clover Hill resident Cassie Fiscus, who supports keeping the mandate, said: I urge you to think of the medically fragile students, the families with elderly family members at home, or the mom with a new baby who cannot be vaccinated. The vulnerable population needs our help.

Many of the pro-mask comments noted the districts record-level COVID cases among students and staff in recent weeks.

As of Thursday afternoon, the district COVID dashboard reported 1,113 cases among students and staff for the past seven days. Of the 1,113 cases, 957 were students and 156 were staff members, a slight dip from Wednesdays seven-day numbers. On Tuesday alone this week, the district recorded 335 cases, 299 of which were infected students. On Jan. 11, the district recorded 388 cases, the highest for the month so far.

In response to Youngkins executive order, Chesterfields NAACP branch issued a statement on Jan. 17 in support of upholding the mask mandate, saying the impending order flatly denies science.

While Governor Youngkin may be appeasing parent-choice and anti-mask proponents, he is willfully ignoring what impact this move will inevitably have on the most vulnerable humans in our schools, said NAACP Chair Katherine Poindexter in a statement.

Poindexter said the chapter anticipates vocal opposition, if not a possible strike, by Chesterfield teachers if the mask mandate is reversed.

Christine Melendez, president of the Chesterfield Education Association, asked for the school system to uphold the mask mandate.

On one day in early January 2022, CCPS had 588 instructional absences. This was with indoor mask wearing. The education workers who are the heart, soul, and backbone of this school division are being stretched thin by staff absences. Theyre doing everything they can to provide the world-class education Chesterfield County is known for. An end to indoor mask wearing would jeopardize the ability of the county to continue offering effective, student-centered in-person learning, Melendez wrote in public comment.
As a longtime resident of the former Westover Plantation  it was her childhood home, and she returned there a decade ago with her husband and
ANKARA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkey hit Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) targets after the latter shelled on the Syrian city of Afrin, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

The YPG launched a missile attack against the city center of Afrin on the 4th anniversary of Turkey's cross-border Operation Olive Branch, the ministry tweeted.

According to initial findings, the YPG killed four civilians and injured 20 others after it carried out a missile attack from the Tel Rifat region in northern Syria, said the ministry.

Turkey's security forces responded by hitting the YPG targets with artillery, it added.

The Turkish army launched Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016, Operation Olive Branch in 2018, Operation Peace Spring in 2019, and Operation Spring Shield in 2020 in northern Syria, in order to eliminate the YPG group along its border with the neighboring country.

Turkey sees the YPG as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the EU, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives. 
The Virginia legislatures only medical doctor supported a bill on Thursday aimed at encouraging health care providers to be allowed to prescribe drugs to treat COVID-19 that have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for that purpose.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, would have prohibited the state from disciplining health care providers who prescribe the two drugs for that purpose.

The Senate Education and Health Committee rejected the bill on a partisan vote of 8-6, with Democrats opposed and Republicans in support. The bill would have prohibited the state Board of Medicine from punishing providers who prescribe, to treat COVID, the anti-parasite drug ivermectin and drug hydroxychloroquine, which can be used to treat arthritis or malaria.

We have recently made medical marijuana available in Virginia because we believe that there are decisions that can be made between doctors and patients about the risk and the value of medications and how theyre used, and I really dont think that the state should be obstructing those conversations, said Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, an OB-GYN and a member of the committee.

There should be no obstructions to prescribing these medications.

Both drugs have been promoted as treatment for COVID by some conservatives; former President Donald Trump promoted hydroxychloroquine.

But ivermectin has not been shown to be safe or effective in treating COVID, according to the FDA, and taking large doses of it is dangerous.

The FDA says hydroxychloroquine has not been shown to be safe and effective in treating or preventing COVID.

The approved vaccines to prevent COVID are safe and available for free.

Some people attending the hearing were upset that the committee didnt advance the bill, and one woman yelled at the committee chair, Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

Senator Lucas, you will repay. You will pay for this one day, the woman told Lucas, repeating it as a police officer directed people from the hearing room. Youll pay for this one day. You really will.

Chase, who sponsored the bill, was censured by the Senate last year for conduct unbecoming of a senator. She was given no committee assignments.
The parents of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died after being taken hostage by North Korea and released by the country in a coma in 2017, should receive $240,300 seized from a North Korean bank account, a federal judge has ruled last week.

The amount would be a partial payment toward the more than $501 million Fred and Cindy Warmbier of Wyoming, Ohio, were awarded in 2018 by a federal judge who ruled that the secretive regime was responsible for the UVa third-year students kidnapping, torture and death.

The payment was ordered last week by a federal judge in New York, who directed the state comptroller to give the Warmbiers money seized from North Korea. Its unclear how much of the $501 million award has been paid to the Warmbiers.

The couple have claimed that their son, a third-year UVa Echols Scholar, was tortured by North Korea after being convicted in 2016 of trying to steal a propaganda poster and imprisoned for months. The 22-year-old suffered severe brain damage and died shortly after being returned to the United States in a vegetative state in June 2017.

After his death, Warmbiers lead neurologist concluded his brain damage most likely resulted from loss of blood flow to the brain for a period of five to 20 minutes. Experts told the court that his injuries were consistent with torture.

Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 as he prepared to leave the country after a five-day trip to North Korea with a tour group.

North Korea officials at the time of his arrest said Warmbier was under investigation for perpetrating a hostile act against the [country] after entering it under the guise of tourist for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.

North Korea denied that it tortured or cruelly treated Warmbier and said it was the biggest victim in his death, accusing Washington politicians and South Korea of orchestrating a smear campaign.

During a 2019 Hanoi, Vietnam summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, then-President Donald Trump said he didnt think Kim was involved in the mistreatment of Warmbier.

He tells me that he didnt know about it, and I will take him at his word. Trump said at the time.

Warmbier told the North Korean court he wanted the banner with a political slogan on it as a trophy for the church member, who was the mother of a friend and was offered a used car in exchange.

He also said one of UVas secret societies encouraged him to take a banner.
State health regulators investigators were on site Wednesday at a short-staffed Thomasville, N.C., long-term care facility where two residents died over the weekend and two more are in the hospital in critical condition.

The N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation is reviewing Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Centers compliance with applicable staffing requirements.

According to Tuesdays Thomasville Police Department report, responding officers determined there was inadequate staffing to accommodate the 98 patients of the facility at 706 Pineywood Road.

One licensed practical nurse and two certified nursing assistants were available at the time of the investigation.

Neither federal nor state law prescribe a minimum staffing ratio for nursing homes, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Officials with Principle LTC, the Kinston-based operator of Pine Ridge, have not returned requests for comment on the deaths and police investigation. Thomasville police has not commented beyond its report.

DHHS said federal and state regulations require nursing homes to have sufficient staff (particularly nurses) with the appropriate competencies and skills sets to provide nursing and related services to assure resident safety and well-being.

Staffing levels also are dictated by resident assessments and individual plans of care (that) consider the number, acuity and diagnoses of the facilitys resident population.

All nursing homes in North Carolina that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs must also comply with the federal regulations.

COVID-19 clusters

Separately, DHHS reported Wednesday that Pine Ridge has a current outbreak of 13 staff members and seven residents. That was up from eight staff members and two residents as of the Jan. 11 update. There had been no reported COVID-19 related deaths as of Tuesday.

A cluster is defined as at least five cases over a 28-day period. The state does not report when the cases were diagnosed.

A facility must be at least 28 days removed from its last new case to be taken off the list of clusters.

DHHS said there were previous outbreaks at Pine Ridge that began on July 18, 2020, and ended on Feb. 26, 2021, and began on Oct. 13, 2021, and ended on Nov. 10, 2021.

The July 2020 cluster have at its peak 99 infected residents involving nine deaths and 57 staff with no deaths. The October 2021 cluster had three staff and one resident with no deaths.

Staffing protocols

Pine Ridge has been subject of at least 16 complaints to state health regulators since January 2017.

Of those complaints, there were deficiencies cited in six  all of which were corrected following in-person inspections by DHHS-led inspections.

For example, a February 2018 recertification said long-term care facilities must have an emergency preparedness plan  utilizing an all-hazards approach  that complies with applicable local, state and federal requirements.

The DHHS report found that the requirement is not met as evidenced in that the facility failed to have an emergency preparedness plan.

The plan did not include facility- and community-based risk assessments, which included missing residents, the facilities resident population and a process that included collaboration with local, regional, state and federal officials.

The plan did not have any policy or procedures regarding the emergency plan, the provision of needs for staff and residents, evacuation, sheltering of residents and staff that remain in the facility and the transportation of medical records. ... The plan failed to have a training program.

Background

The two unidentified deceased Pine Ridge residents were found during a welfare check conducted Sunday night by Thomasville police and other local first responders and medical personnel.

The police report said the families had been notified of their deaths by staff before the police investigation began. Their bodies were sent to the autopsy center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

One resident was taken to High Point Medical Center, while the other was transported to Thomasville Medical Center.

The report said the welfare check was requested by residents, who claimed staff members had not been seen by some residents and could not be reached by phone.

Officers contacted Thomasville Fire Department and Davidson County Emergency Medical Services for assistance in conducting a door-to-door assessment of every resident that lasted until 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Obviously, the weather and road conditions contributed to the inadequate staffing issues with this facility, Capt. Brad Saintsing said in the report.

First and foremost, we want to ensure each and every resident of the facility is getting the quality of care they deserve. With these types of facilities, there is a protocol, and we want to ensure it was followed as it relates to the weather and/or emergency situations.

Gov. Roy Cooper said in response to the deaths of the Pine Ridge residents that these reports are deeply troubling and need to be investigated thoroughly.

The health and safety of patients, particularly those in long-term care facilities, are critical.

The investigation has been expanded to include the State Bureau of Investigation, Davidson County District Attorneys Office, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, and Davidson County Social Services.
Weekend weather in Richmond will be cold and dry. A weak system approaches on Sunday evening, which could conceivably bring some snow showers at night, but the air will be so dry to begin with, that squeezing out any snow from the clouds will be difficult.

Central Virginia will be about 5-10 degrees colder than normal this weekend, but we are beginning to crawl out of the climatologically coldest time of the year.

Lots of cold still sits on the record book from this time of year. Earlier this week was an anniversary of the last time Richmond was colder than -5 degrees.

On January 21, 1985, the morning after a 4-inch snowfall, Richmond woke up to a temperature of -6 degrees. Only five nights since then have been below zero, but none colder than that.

Richmond's coldest stretch on record was late January 1940, which was also the coldest January on record in Richmond. For the six-night period from January 25-30, every night was below zero.

And it wasnt close, the average low during that stretch was -7.5 degrees. Not surprisingly, this period brought the single coldest night on record in Richmond, -12 degrees on January 29.

For a more recent perspective, there is only one January so far this century among Richmonds ten coldest, 2014, which is tied for tenth place with 1994.

Forecast for metro Richmond

Saturday: Mostly sunny and very dry. High 34.

Saturday night: Scattered clouds. Low 18.

Sunday: Sun and clouds, not as cold for the afternoon. High 44.

Monday: Sun and clouds. High 46.

The rest of next week still looks colder than normal, with the second half of the week colder than the first. A fresh shot of Arctic air comes in after some rain or snow showers on Tuesday, keeping highs in the 30s to lower 40s and lows in the teens to mid 20s for Wednesday through Friday.

The Arctic air also keeps Richmond dry for the second half of next week, but there are strong signals that another large coastal storm develops in the Southeast for the weekend of the 29th. While it is far too soon to make any judgements on that system for Virginia yet, there is still plenty of data there to give snow lovers hope for a big finish to the month.
A new COVID-19 community testing center will open Thursday at Valley View Mall in Roanoke.

The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Staff will offer free PCR testing by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, visit vase.vdh.virginia.gov/testingappointment. Appointment slots will become available 24 hours before each testing event at the center.

Test results will be sent through text message or email within 24-48 hours.

Virginia is working to increase its testing capacity as a surge in demand reflects skyrocketing COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts Director Cynthia Morrow said case numbers in the area are at an all-time high for the third week in a row. The health department reported 4,454 new cases in the past seven days. The snow storm over the weekend caused the health department to cancel testing events, so the overall case count is likely much higher.

Former Gov. Ralph Northam announced two weeks ago that the Virginia Department of Health will spend $5 million to open nine new community testing centers to increase availability in the state. The state expects the nine centers will administer 50,000 tests in January.

The testing centers will be near or on the same property as community vaccination centers. The new testing center in Roanoke will join the vaccination clinic in the former Sears store at Valley View Mall.

Morrow said the testing center will have up to 350 appointment slots per day. The availability is limited mainly due to laboratory capabilities, she said. Because the demand for PCR tests is so high, labs have to be diligent about how many tests they can process. The tests administered at the community testing center will be sent to the lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.

The health department is also hosting a testing event 3-5 p.m. Thursday at Fincastle Baptist Church, located at 7330 Roanoke Rd, Fincastle. Appointments are required and can be made by calling 877-ASK-VDH3 or visiting vdh.virginia.gov/roanoke/covid-19-testing-locations.

Morrow said 48% of the people tested at Fincastle Baptist Church last week were positive for COVID-19. She said if someone has flu or cold-like symptoms, its reasonable to assume they have contracted the virus.

At-home testing kits can also be ordered from covidtests.gov. Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order four free tests.

Vaccinations are still available at the community vaccination center at Valley View Mall. Everyone aged 5 or older has been approved to receive a vaccine. People can make appointments at vaccinate.virgina.gov or by calling 877-829-4682. Walk-ins are also open for adults and children receiving vaccines.

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A teacher at Alleghany County High School was arrested Tuesday on 31 charges of indecent acts with children, all for incidents that court records said occurred years ago.

Gavin Andrew Haynes, 35, of Covington, is being held in the Alleghany Regional Jail. He is scheduled to have a bond hearing Thursday in the countys circuit court.

Listed on the high schools website as a health science and physical education teacher, Haynes has been on administrative leave for the past year, schools Superintendent Kim Halterman said a statement released Tuesday.

The statement, which did not name Haynes, said that a staff member was arrested Tuesday on 31 felonies related to alleged sexual contact involving minors, and that the staff member had been put on leave on Jan. 21, 2021, when administrators learned of the accusations against the person.

This individual is not allowed on school property. Because this is a personnel matter, there is little else we can share at this time, Haltermans statement said.

According to court records, 20 of the charges against Haynes have an offense date of June 10, 2010. Another has an offense date of Aug. 1, 2010. Eight more have offense dates of Aug. 1, 2012, and two of Aug. 1, 2016.

Haynes arrest followed a county grand jury last week returning direct indictments against him for the 31 charges.

The schools referred questions to Virginia State Police or to Alleghany County Commonwealths Attorney Ann Gardner.

State police Sgt. Richard Garletts issued a short statement Wednesday that gave no details about what Haynes is said to have done beyond confirming his arrest. Gardner was out of the office Wednesday.

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Sue Stroud still remembers noticing the solitary stranger who walked into the Backstreet Cafe on the night of Sept. 22, 2000.

He was described as a bit like Kenny Rogers, a middle-aged man, with a full salt-and-pepper beard. He ordered a beer, and stood alone by the bar as he sipped his drink from its plastic cup.

Stroud, now 66, was out that night with her girlfriend celebrating an upcoming birthday. Backstreet was one of their favorite places. One of the few gay nightspots in Roanoke at the time, with a tight-knit group of regulars, who gathered to play pool, share a laugh, find community.

It was almost like our Cheers, Stroud said.

Nothing about the man at the bar struck her as odd at first other than that he was wearing a long trench coat on a warm autumn night. Minutes later, he would reach into that coat and pull out a 9mm pistol, turning and shooting straight into the chest of 43-year-old Danny Overstreet, before opening fire on the rest of the bar.

Ronald Edward Gay, a drifter and troubled Vietnam War veteran, would later tell police that he set out that night to target gay people. He said he was left bitter by years of teasing over his name. He said God told him to do it. He once wrote that there was an evil inside of him telling him to shoot or have no rest.

On Saturday, Gay died at the age of 74. He was still in prison, most recently at Deerfield Correctional Center in southeastern Virginia, serving the four consecutive life sentences he was given after pleading guilty in a case that drew national attention.

Stroud said she still remembers the bright flash of the guns muzzle that night as people screamed and fell to the ground.

Overstreet, who had never harmed a soul, died almost immediately and six others were wounded. Still more were left scarred, emotionally and psychologically, by the violence that advocacy groups called one of the worst anti-gay attacks in the nation at the time.

The entire ordeal unfolded in just minutes. Afterward, witnesses said, Gay calmly walked out of the bar as though nothing had happened.

Im glad that hes gone. I have to admit that, Stroud said. He made a lot of people suffer.

Nobody was harming him, she said. We werent harming anybody.

The community reaction to the shooting was immediate. Stunned and outraged Roanokers gathered for vigils and marches. Nearly 1,000 walked through the streets of downtown to honor Overstreets life and urge Congress to pass federal hate crimes legislation.

The night after the shooting, the Rev. Catherine Houchins, of Metropolitan Community Church of Blue Ridge, an LGBT-affirming congregation, got a call asking her to come back to the chapel quickly because a crowd was forming outside.

She found people huddled around the church and a neighboring LGBT bookstore. They were angry. They were tearful. They were grieving.

The next day, the church hosted a community forum so people could talk more. So many arrived that the fire marshal moved the event outside.

It generated a lot of discussion about how we deal with evil, and how we deal with hurt and harm, Houchins recalled. It brought a lot of people out.

Houchins, who conducted the funeral service for Overstreet, remembers being asked by a national news reporter if she feared the attack would drive more people back into the closet.

No sir, she said, it will bring them out, buoyed by the swell of community support and by their own outrage over the attack.

It brought out that were not going to be hemmed in, were not going to be held back, she said.

Ronald Gays death was confirmed by the Virginia Department of Corrections. Questions about the cause were referred to the Tidewater Districts medical examiner. The spokesperson for that office couldnt immediately be reached late Wednesday.

The Backstreet Cafe, located in downtown on Salem Avenue, remained in operation for years after the attack but slowly changed over time and has since been revamped and reopened as The Front Row.

Stroud remained a regular at the watering hole for years, and was one of the first to visit when it reopened its doors after the shooting.

Not because it was easy to venture back into the site of such heartache, she said. But because she didnt want to let the shooter take one more thing from her.

It was something I had to do for myself, Stroud said. That was our place. Thats where we went. It was almost like our second home.

I said, Im going, because if I dont then he wins, she said. And hes not going to win.

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali has regained flight clearance from the authorities and can restart operations in the country, said a UN spokesman on Thursday.

"We are happy to report that the peacekeeping mission in Mali tells us that, following fruitful discussions with the country's authorities, they are now able to restart air operations," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Today, they are working on preparations to restart these operations and the actual flights are scheduled to resume on Friday, he said.

Dujarric said Tuesday that all regular flights were grounded as the United Nations was trying to get clarification on new procedures put in place by the Malian authorities.

"There were new procedures put in place for us to get clearance for our flights. At this point, all (regular) flights are grounded as we try to get clarification on these procedures. Because they make it extremely difficult for the UN to fulfill its mandates. So we are continuing our discussions with the authorities," he said Tuesday.

The UN peacekeeping mission, known by its French acronym as MINUSMA, welcomed the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterized these discussions and their conclusion. They also reiterated the United Nations' commitment to continue supporting Mali in its efforts to restore lasting peace, security and stability, he said.

Dujarric said the UN secretary-general had a phone call on Wednesday with the interim president of Mali, Col. Assimi Goita.

The spokesman said the flights might be part of the conversation. But the issue was resolved locally in discussions between MINUSMA and the relevant government authorities in Mali.

Guterres' call with Goita was focused on getting the transition in Mali back on track, "within what the secretary-general has described as an acceptable calendar," he said.

The spokesman refused to say whether the Malian leader has committed himself to a specific date for elections.

"They talked about the transition and what the secretary-general has already referred publicly as an acceptable calendar. Was there a date committed to and a date given, I do not know," said Dujarric, adding that it is the business of the Malian authorities to make such an announcement. 
A former Rocky Mount police officer has joined his ex-colleague in arguing that they did nothing felonious by venturing inside the U.S. Capitol as it was being raided by a mass of Donald Trump supporters.

An attorney for Jacob Fracker filed a motion Monday that asks a federal judge to dismiss his charge of obstructing a Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress as it met to certify an election Trump lost to President Joe Biden.

The request is identical to one filed last month by Thomas T.J. Robertson, a former sergeant with the Rocky Mount Police Department who can be seen along with Fracker posing for a selfie photograph taken in the Capitols Crypt.

Although they voiced displeasure about the election on social media, the two off-duty police officers committed no acts of violence and had no direct bearing on what federal prosecutors call an insurrection, the motion states.

The photograph, which shows Fracker making an obscene gesture as he and Robertson stood in front of a statue of a Revolutionary War hero, appeared on Facebook in the days following the riot.

In a later deleted post, Fracker told a friend: Lol to anyone whos possibly concerned about the photo of me going around, according to court records. Sorry I hate freedom? ... not that I did anything illegal.

More than 700 people from across the United States have been charged with taking part in the uprising, which came shortly after Trump urged a large crowd to fight like hell against an election he claims was stolen from him.

There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Fracker and Roberton are each charged with obstruction of an official proceeding  a felony  and three misdemeanors: entering a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in such a place, and disorderly conduct in the Capitol. The motion to dismiss does not address the misdemeanor charges.

In asking that the felony count be struck, attorneys for the defendants argue that it is unconstitutionally vague as applied to their actions. They also contend that the government is improperly using their comments to make its case.

The opinions expressed by Fracker and Robertson on social media were just speech, and no matter how unpopular, they cannot be considered criminal conduct punishable by the government, the motions state.

In a response to Robertsons motion last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi said he was being prosecuted for what he did  not for what he said.

That his own statements about his conduct will serve as evidence of his intent to commit this crime does not render the prosecution in violation of the First Amendment, Aloi wrote in court filings.

Robertson has been more prolific than Fracker about his political views, writing in one of many social media posts that VIOLENCE was the next step in a revolution that began Jan. 6. The 48-year-old is currently being held without bond after a judge ruled he violated the conditions of his bond by ordering more than 40 guns from an online vendor after being told he was not allowed to have them.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is expected to rule on the duos request to dismiss their felony charges by no later than March 29. A trial is scheduled to begin April 4 in Washington, D.C.s, federal court.

Robertson and Fracker were fired from their jobs with the Rocky Mount Police Department shortly after they were charged a year ago.

Although they have said they entered the building peacefully  and in fact were waved in by Capitol police officers  before posing for a photograph and leaving a short time later, the government has cited Facebook posts from Fracker that describe their actions differently.

In one post, Fracker wrote that he hadnt been that hyped since his days as a combat veteran in Afghanistan. A surveillance video showed him wearing a gas mask while in the Capitol at one point, according to an affidavit from an FBI special agent.

It was fing amazing, Fracker wrote, according to court records. Flash bangs going off, CS gas, rubber bullets flying by. Felt so good to be back in the s- hahaha.
Virginia Tech will integrate its studies of information sciences and quantum mechanics at a planned new research center in Blacksburg, school President Tim Sands said during his annual State of the University address Wednesday.

Sands addressed a live audience of 50 and what was estimated at more than 1,000 people watching online as he gave the 2022 speech at the Moss Arts Center.

The nearly 30-minute address underscored dozens of accomplishments in science, fundraising, infrastructure and other key areas that occurred during the past year or will occur soon. Sands took no questions; one faculty member who wished to ask about leadership was assured he could get a message to the president at a later time.

Speaking from a script projected onto a screen, Sands said the new research complex will be called the Virginia Tech Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering. University physics professor Sophia Economou will lead it, Sands said.

The center will grapple with information science using the power of quantum mechanics, the discipline that tries to make sense of the murky, counterintuitive behavior of particles at atomic and subatomic scales, the university said. The center is expected to yield new insights into how information can be stored, manipulated and shared, officials said.

Sands did not give its total cost or a specific location, but officials said a kickoff workshop will be announced later this year.

Among other highlights, Tech feels it successfully managed the pandemic, Sands said, by transitioning rapidly to remote and hybrid learning and operations. The schools vaccination rate is 95%, he said.

The university mobilized its labs to develop testing and surveillance tools that ended up being used statewide.

It demonstrated the real-time impact that university research can have on communities, Sands said.

Tech also broke ground on construction of its Innovation Campus in Alexandria associated with planned East Coast headquarters of Amazon.

The university expects to hold a grand opening for a new research facility later this year at the Childrens National Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, a collaboration between Tech, Childrens National Hospital and Johnson & Johnson, Sands said.

Also this year, Tech plans to open what will be its new Data & Decision Sciences building, part of a future complex geared to business-science collaboration.

A new school of construction is coming, as is a new engineering building, the latter paid for with the largest alumnus donation the school ever received, Sands said. The engineering complex will be enormous.

When complete, the 284,000-square-foot facility will be the largest building in Blacksburg, Sands said.

Applications to attend Tech continue to pile up, with 45,000 received for this coming fall. Sands said the university is committed to holding undergraduate enrollment at 30,000 while it adds such basic infrastructure as residence and dining facilities.

There are also efforts being made to support the mental health and well being of members of the campus community; improve transportation and accessibility with more elevators; expand access to child care; and stay on course to become carbon neutral by 2030, Sands said.

Sands referred briefly to his decision three months ago to create an internal task force on student sexual assault, the Sexual Violence Culture and Climate Work Group, but had no other update about its work.

Sands, too, said fundraising is yielding explosive results.

Boundless Impact: The Campaign for Virginia Tech reached $1 billion, or 75% of its goal, at the end of 2021. It will continue into 2027, Sands said.

The schools endowment reached $1.69 billion, growing beyond expectations with money that is used to attract and retain top faculty and make college affordable to more students, Sands said.

Some 20% of Tech alums donated money, well above an estimate compiled by U.S. News & World Report that found that colleges on an average receive money from 8% of their alums, Sands said.

They like what they see and are investing in our future, he said.

This is the universitys 150th year  its sesquicentennial  a time of like few in its history, the university president said as he wrapped up.

An earlier key moment occurred when Tech became a comprehensive university about 50 years ago, he said. Another occurred when it set out to become a leading research university 20 years ago. This is another such time  a signature moment, he said  with the university now bent on becoming what Sands called a leading global university research institution.

Its going to be a great year, so lets go Hokies, he said.

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RICHMOND  A bill supported by Roanoke County could allow an extra 1% sales tax to help fund new school construction, as approved by a committee of state senators on Wednesday.

Seeking a way to pay for at least $150 million in necessary school construction, Roanoke County leaders last year discussed the possibility of a 1% increase to the local sales tax. If passed into law, Senate Bill 472 would allow all counties and cities to levy such a tax, only if approved by local voters via a referendum.

While planning continues on replacing Roanoke Countys Burton Center for Arts and Technology, an aged career and technical education center located in Salem, other Southwest Virginia school divisions are similarly pondering how to finance crumbling schools.

Roanoke County Legislative Liaison Eldon James voiced support for SB 472 to the 16-member Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations during its meeting in Richmond Wednesday morning.

This bill offers an opportunity for the county to put this option before the voters, James said. Especially when considering the urgent need to replace the CTE school that was constructed in 1962, and is woefully out of date and undersized.

Presently, nine localities elsewhere in Virginia have special permission from the General Assembly to boost sales tax for school buildings. SB 472 removes the need for that special permission, leaving it up to counties, cities and their voting citizens.

SB 472 aligns with one recommendation that came from the Virginia Commission on School Construction and Modernization, said Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who introduced the bill and sat on the committee.

The commission adopted about seven recommendations because we wanted to have multiple tools in the toolbox, McClellan said. For some localities, the sales tax will be the solution. In other localities weve got six more options for the General Assembly to consider.

In Virginia, more than half of school buildings are beyond 50 years old, according to the commissions findings, McClellan said. Statewide, schools need more than $9.8 billion worth of construction and renovation work.

Having cleared the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday morning on a 14-2 vote, SB 472 will next be reported to the 40-member Virginia Senate for deliberation. If it passes votes the Senate, the 100-member House of Delegates will have to approve it before a signature from Gov. Glenn Youngkin could turn it into law.

And even then, if Roanoke County decides it indeed wants to increase local sales tax to support new school construction, a majority of voters will have to approve any changes in taxation.

An equivalent bill, HB 531, is also filed in the House, with Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, listed as one of the patrons. That bill remains in the hands of delegates serving on the House Finance Committee.

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Editor's note: This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series "Grizzlies and Us." The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West.

OVANDO - Which grizzly bear defined the summer of 2021?

Was it Monica, the aging sow on the northern edge of Glacier National Park who had to be killed by game wardens after she and her subadult cubs of the year went on garbage-raiding sprees at cabins along the North Fork of the Flathead River?

Or Felicia, an equally prolific female with cubs who became a traffic hazard on Togwotee Pass east of Grand Teton National Park, inspiring a posse of volunteer bear patrollers who tried to keep the peace between camera-slinging tourists and bears trying to make a living along a federal highway?

Or was it the unnamed 4-year-old male grizzly that killed a bike-camper in her tent in Ovando, roughly halfway between Glacier and Grand Teton, in the middle of whats fast become one of the most contentious Endangered Species Act debate in the nation?

The July 6 mauling death of Leah Davis Lokan, 65, made international headlines.

To say the incident happened in downtown Ovando overstates the size of the ranching center along Highway 200 thats grown equally popular with trout anglers and long-distance bike tourists. But looking at where Lokan pitched her tent, a dozen feet from the Brand Bar Museum, next door to the post office and across the main street from a grocery, cafe, and fly-fishing store, puts the attack squarely in the center of human habitat.

The details of the other two grizzlies, including the names Monica and Felicia, illustrate how humans have pushed the other way, into places grizzlies used to dominate. When Lewis and Clark made their Voyage of Discovery at the opening of the 19th century, an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears inhabited the Lower 48 States west of the 100th meridian  the longitudinal line running roughly from North Dakota to Texas.

A dozen decades later, the bear emblazoned on the flag of California was nearly extinct throughout its natural range. Systematic destruction of its habitat and numbers, by ranchers, farmers and government agents, removed the grizzly bear from virtually every place except the preserves of Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.

Remarkably, the grizzlys attractiveness to tourists spared it from National Park Service predator culls. An 1895 Yellowstone superintendents report mentions the bears had increased notably after the U.S. Army put out garbage to feed them, while other bounty hunters were eradicating the wolves, mountain lions and coyotes in the park.

When the grizzly bear became the eighth animal given protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, somewhat fewer than 600 individual bears remained between Canada and Mexico. Over the next 45 years, two numbers changed: Grizzly populations grew from 600 to an estimated 2,100 in the recovery zones of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. And humans in the same space expanded from 1.9 million to 3.4 million.

What didnt change was the size of the landscape. Put another way, people in the Rocky Mountain West went from 5.9 per square mile to 10.3 per square mile between 1975 and 2020. Grizzlies went from .002 to .006 per square mile.

Monica the North Fork grizzly was about 20 years old when Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks killed her and her three yearling cubs in early September. In her lifetime, annual visitation to Glacier National Parks Polebridge entrance went from 31,000 to 89,000, data shows.

While she often spent time near homes and was observed by residents, she did not cause conflicts that we knew about until the fall of 2018 when she had just two of her three yearlings with her, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear manager Tim Manley noted in a report to the North Fork Preservation Association. The initial reports we had were that the family group had ripped into a yurt, damaged two vehicles, got into unsecured garbage and had pushed on a trailer.

Wardens captured Monicas two yearlings, who were suspected of causing the most trouble, and killed them. She gave birth to three more cubs in 2020, but had no reported conflicts. Things stayed quiet until this summer.

Manley said in late August, Monica and her triplet yearlings got into trouble all over the Polebridge vicinity. They knocked over barbecues, broke into improperly closed bear-resistant trash cans, pulled garbage out of a horse trailer, broke windows out of a pickup topper to get food, damaged a car that didnt have any food, and tore the wall out of a camper trailer to get a big food reward.

The sow and all three of her yearlings were captured and killed.

I have said it many times before, killing bears is the worst part of my job, Manley told the homeowners. We try to avoid having to do it, but when bears become very food-conditioned and start causing property damage and breaking into vehicles, trailers and cabins, those bears are removed.

Outside Grand Teton, the opposite problem developed. People wouldnt leave Felicia alone.

Wildlife biologists call the bear by her number, 863, which means she was the 863rd bear to be caught and affixed with a telemetry collar in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. On social media, she became Felicia.

Either way, the female with cubs who likes to munch on grass and clover near Highway 26/287 in western Wyoming has become one of the most famous grizzly bears after fellow Grand Teton Bear 399. And her propensity to be near traffic  and apparent nonchalance about hordes of people gathering to take pictures  helped make her into a bit of a social media sensation. She also created a traffic hazard, according to Wyoming wildlife and law enforcement officials, not to mention the daily possibility that one of those photographers will inch just a little too close before everyone remembers too late that grizzly bears on the side of the road are still grizzly bears.

Were trying to alter the bears behavior but also trying to fix peoples behavior, and thats where the big challenge is, said Dan Thompson, large carnivore section supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. From a human psychological standpoint its been fascinating to be involved with.

Draw a line about 25 miles to the south and the human behavior aspect of the story changes.

Ranchers say theyre struggling against an increasing number of grizzlies preying on their cattle. Problem grizzlies must be managed, and often lethally removed. Their ranching livelihoods depend on it. Conservation groups are suing to stop those killings, and leasing in general. Grizzlies and cattle dont mix, they say, among other things.

At the same time, new homeowners are buying houses and property, often sight unseen, throughout the stretch of land bordering Yellowstone National Park on any side. The buffer has long been a place where grizzlies could wander with minimal impact, with its human residents long-ago trained in the art of keeping food away from bears. Wildlife managers worry the flood of new residents may not be so bear wise, and that conflicts will only increase.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Highway Patrol and Forest Service tried placing flashing signs telling people not to stop on the side of the road. They threatened tickets to those standing in traffic, ignoring oncoming vehicles. Eventually, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to spend a couple of weeks hazing the female with cubs to make her leave the road and move further into the mountains.

Jack Bayles understands that some people behaved irresponsibly. Watchers started a live video stream from Togwotee Pass to alert anyone following them when she appeared. People from as far as Montana, Salt Lake City, Utah and Colorado came to the area, and some approached her and her cubs far too closely.

But the best reaction wasnt to shoot the bear with rubber bullets and bean bags, he said. Instead, Bayles said he believes officials should have managed the human side of the situation.

They have no problem when that section is a parking lot in the weekend in the winter and people are dragging trailers 90 mph down icy roads, Bayles said. Its not the land of many uses, just the land of uses we approve of.

Bayles is one of countless guides in the Yellowstone region and across bear country stretching from Jackson to Katmai National Park in Alaska that take people out to watch bears and other wildlife. He started his business in 2015 with his wife, Gina, and named it Team 399 after the regions other famous bear.

The accidental ambassador of her species, she is representative of a new age in human  wildlife relationships where coexistence and understanding are the new way, where a love of the wild is foremost in our hearts and minds, their website reads.

He wants to raise awareness for conservation issues. He wants to give back to the wild places and wild creatures that have given so much to us. He also knows that most people coming to Yellowstone or other areas with grizzly bears are there, at least in part, for the chance to see a grizzly bear.

Its the only place in the world where the common middle class person can see a grizzly bear in the wild, Bayles said. You could say over the course of our life, bear 399 is a billion-dollar bear to the Wyoming economy.

There is going to be conflict between bears and people, Thompson said. We will have to lethally remove grizzly bears for the greater good  theres the potential for humans to be injured and even killed, and thats the reality of it. The notion of a future of bears and humans together without conflict is very naive.

As far as the future? I dont think its going to get any easier.

In Ovando, the future holds a lot of work.

While complete details surrounding the death of Lokan await the release of a Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee Board of Review report, a big part of the small town was on the scene that night, trying to staunch the campers fatal wounds and wondering what had triggered the attack.

For many, it was a replay of The Night of the Grizzlies, the famous book chronicling the 1967 tragedy when two women in two separate campgrounds were attacked and killed by two separate grizzlies on the same night in Glacier National Park. At the time, resort managers in both Glacier and Yellowstone national parks deliberately left garbage out to attract grizzly bears for tourist viewing. Some Yellowstone hotels even set up bleachers to watch the evening show.

That food conditioning combined with growing popularity of backcountry camping put two 19-year-old hotel workers in the path of two predators in a place marketed and managed for recreation.

The grizzly that killed Loken had also raided a chicken coop nearby the same evening. Two nights later, a game warden staking out another chicken coop spotted it with night-vision goggles and shot it to death. The entire time, strings of long-distance bike riders kept pedaling into Ovando, often off-the-grid and bewildered by the swarm of armed agents, helicopters, culvert traps and law enforcement vehicles infesting their vacation itinerary.

This is one of those absolutely very rare and extremely unfortunate events, like a lightning strike, said Seth Wilson, the executive director of the Blackfoot Challenge, whose office sits about 75 feet from where Lokan was killed. This is not a time where we say Lets throw our hands up and go home, but Lets roll up our sleeves and see what we can do to improve our work.

The rural region south of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex where the Blackfoot Challenge works has endured many economic lurches, from the collapse of logging and mining to the rise of tourism and the ever-volatile agriculture sector. It also sits on the southern tip of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem  the most productive grizzly bear recovery area in the Lower 48 States with about 1,000 resident bears.

Ranchers who grew up rarely seeing a grizzly in their childhood now fear for their grandchildren when they visit favorite fishing spots or hunt pheasants in thickets. Ovando and nearby Lincoln both sit in the middle of major wildlife corridors, and bears as well as elk and deer and wolves make a constant presence. That means new costs and hassles in damaged fencing, plundered crops, harassed cows and frightened workers.

Among the most effective changes the Blackfoot Challenge has helped instill has been a carcass pickup program thats overwritten the old practice of boneyards  dumps for dead livestock on the far edge of a ranch. Those boneyards were regular feeding grounds for grizzlies and wolves. But as the numbers of both predators increased, Wilson said ranchers started to see that getting free meat off the menu discouraged big scavengers from hanging around herds.

On the human side, Ovando residents quickly raised several thousand dollars to upgrade protections for chicken coops, buy bear-resistant trash cans for landowners, create a stockpile of bear spray for residents to use and install four new food storage lockers for bike tourists moving along Highway 200. The plan is to first increase Ovandos bear-awareness, and then work with the visitors whose behaviors are harder to influence, Wilson said.

Weve come to expect some level of bear activity in these small towns, Wilson said. Were located in the middle of prime grizzly bear habitat.
A male juvenile sustained several gunshots to the leg Sunday morning in a shooting near the intersection of Railroad and McElhaney avenues in Santa Maria, according to police officials.
" " Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge kiss (with eyes closed!) on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after their marriage on April 29, 2011 in London, England. Christopher Furlong/Staff/Getty Images

Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca." Wills and Kate on their wedding day. The "Kissing Sailor" in Times Square on V-J Day. Iconic kisses all around. Now imagine all of those beautiful people locking lips with their eyes wide open. Intensely creepy mental images, right?

There's a reason the thought of kissing with your eyes peeled immediately makes you cringe (aside from the disturbingly close view of another human's facial features). Or at least there's a possible reason, rooted in a 2016 study from Holloway University of London. When the paper was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, media outlets quickly extrapolated the results to the world of make-outs (because, sure, why not). Some science writers were quick to point out that the original study made no mention of kissing, but see for yourself if the findings make sense in the context of swapping spit.

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For the study, psychologists Polly Dalton and Dr. Sandra Murphy fitted participants' hands with small devices that emitted light vibrations. While wearing the devices, the participants were then tasked with completing both mental and visual tasks involving a letter search, and had to simultaneously report on the presence or absence of the vibrations. The researchers found that when participants were asked to complete more demanding visual tasks, they were far less sensitive to the vibrations.

Again, the study itself wasn't intended as an investigation of kissing etiquette, but it does make sense why people eagerly adapted the results that way. Kissing is inherently intimate and clearly physical  for the brain to fully appreciate the intensity and sensation, the eyes would have to be shut to focus all the attention on the very visceral experience. As Dalton told The Independent, "These results could explain why we close our eyes when we want to focus attention on another sense. Shutting out the visual input leaves more mental resources to focus on other aspects of our experience."

Of course, she was more likely referencing drivers' inability to perceive a vehicle's tactile drifting lane alerts when engaged in demanding visual tasks, but ... that's kind of romantic in its own way, isn't it?

Now That's Crazy Weird kissing laws exist and they're hilarious. In Indiana, for example, it's illegal for men with mustaches "to habitually kiss human beings" and in Hartford, Connecticut, men are banned from kissing their wives on Sundays.
LUANDA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Angola raised 850 billion kwanzas (about 1.6 billion U.S. dollars) with the sale of 73 assets under the country's Privatization Program, Angolan Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury Ottonil dos Santos said Wednesday.

During an assessment session, dos Santos said Angola is expected to privatize 15 assets, of which 11 are industrial units and two are financial institutions, during the first quarter of 2022.

Started in mid-2019, the Privatization Program essentially aims to strengthen the country's private sector, making it more efficient and competitive, said dos Santos.

The program is in line with the country's 2018-2022 National Development Program and falls within the scope of the Public Finance Reform, with a view to promoting macroeconomic stability, increasing the productivity of the national economy and achieving a more equitable distribution of national income. 
FLORENCE, S.C.  The Florence County Councils redistricting efforts took a step forward Thursday morning.

All nine members of the council voted in favor on the second reading of an ordinance redrawing the nine county council voting districts to comply with the constitutionally and court-established one person, one vote requirements.

The countys current district lines exceed the 5% population deviation recommended by the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. In specific, the countys current districts have a population deviation of 20.52%.

To determine the deviation of the districts, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office uses the 2020 Census to determine the countys population, 137,059, and then subtracts the 274 inmates at the Palmer Pre-Release Center to get a total population of 136,785. The population of 136,785 is then divided by nine and rounded to the nearest whole number, 15,198.

Information provided to the council in October indicates the most populous county council district, District 9 (parts of west Florence), has a population of 16,798 which is 10.53% above 1,198. District 1 (Lake City, Scranton, Olanta) has a population of 13,680 people which is 9.99% below 15,198.

In all, three council districts are above the maximum allowed deviation; Districts 9, 8 (parts of south and west Florence) and 5 (parts of south and west Florence, part of Effingham, Coward). And three districts, 1, 2 (Pamplico, Johnsonville, Effingham), and 7 (parts of north Florence, east Florence and northern Florence County) are below the maximum allowed deviation.

The remaining districts  3 (north Florence and northwest Florence), 4 (Timmonsville and parts of west Florence), and 6 (Mars Bluff, eastern Florence County) have populations within the recommended limits.

To correct the population deviations, the councils plan adds people to Districts 1, 2 and 7 and subtracts people from Districts 5, 8 and 9.

District 1 and 2 get larger geographically. In specific, the councils plan shifts an area south and west of Coward from District 5 to District 1. District 1 also exchanges a few areas between Lake City and Johnsonville with District 2.

In addition to the exchange with District 1, District 2 also gains an area north of Pamplico from District 6.

District 3 moves west and southward, picking up parts of west and south Florence from Districts 8 and 9.

District 4 gains an area in Effingham from District 5.

District 5 gets skinnier, losing an area south and west of Coward to District 1 and a small area in Effingham to District 4.

District 6 gets smaller, losing an area north of Pamplico to District 2 and two very small areas in east Florence to District 7.

District 7 gains two small areas in east Florence from District 6.

District 8 shrinks, losing parts of south and west Florence to District 3.

District 9 moves westward, losing parts of west Florence to District 3.

The plan reduces the countys population deviation from 20.52% to approximately 3.32%.

The district with the largest population, District 8 (15,464), is 1.75% above 15,198 and the district with the smallest population, District 2 (14,958), is 1.58% below 15,198.

Florence County Administrator Rusty Smith Jr. added Thursday morning that the plan also maintains three majority-minority districts.

Those Districts are 1 (55.22% African American, 2.50% from other races), 3 (63.85% African American, 5.02% from other races) and 7 (72.19% African American, 2.56% from other races).

Smith said the council held a public hearing in October to get views on changes and the first reading of the ordinance was held in November. He said the Florence County GIS department met with each councilman individually and reported the councilmens views to the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.

Smith said the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office provided the plan to county administration on Dec. 13 and added that the plan should comply with the one person, one vote requirements.

Willard Dorriety Jr., Florence County Council chairman, thanked GIS head Crystine Hoge and said he felt the process went smoothly. He said he felt the council kept the sprit of the districts as they have been.

The third and final reading of the redistricting plan will likely occur at the county councils February meeting.

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COLUMBIA, S.C.  South Carolina Gov. Henry McMasters fifth State of the State address drew praise from the Pee Dee members of the South Carolina General Assembly.

House Speaker Jay Lucas said he applauded McMaster for the vision he laid out in the address.

The House of Representatives joins him in acknowledging our current challenges while celebrating our states hard-won successes, Lucas said in an emailed statement. I appreciate the governors prioritization of issues such as protecting our elections, cutting income taxes, and reforming education funding to provide more opportunity to all of South Carolinas children. The House looks forward to working with Gov. McMaster to achieve our shared goals and pursue a commitment towards building a better South Carolina.

Assistant Senate Minority Leader Ronnie Sabb said he agreed with McMaster on the benefits of the South Carolina technical education system in that it offered an opportunity for young people to find a lucrative career for free and retraining for displaced workers.

He said he was also pleased to see McMaster make rural broadband access a priority.

Sabb said he was disappointed the governor did not mention the need to improve and invest in the school infrastructure in rural South Carolina and that he called for merit-based pay increases for state employees rather than across-the-board increases.

State Sen. Kent Williams said it was an honor to attend the address. He also thanked McMaster for his service to the state and his desire to build a better South Carolina.

I hope over this next year we see him deliver on his promises of building a stronger economy and offer solutions to critical issues facing our state  such as the needs of our public education system, expanding access to affordable health care and bringing high quality jobs to the state, Williams said. He said he remains focused on working with the governor and the other members of the General Assembly to improve the lives of the people in his district.

State Senate candidate and state Rep. Jay Jordan said McMaster did an excellent job, as always, of painting a very optimistic picture for the state. He also said he agreed with McMasters calls for infrastructure investments and tax cuts.

State Senate candidate Mike Reichenbach said he looked forward to working with McMaster to lower the state income tax for Pee Dee families and job creators.

This bold plan will require the new type of leadership and business-minded fiscal responsibility I offer to come to fruition, not the proven record of voting for tax increases and corporate opponents that my opponent does, Reichenbach said.

He added the state wouldnt be in the financial shape it was in without receiving federal funding from the Biden administration.

State Rep. Terry Alexander said McMasters speech wasnt a real bad speech. He said he agreed with McMasters calls for infrastructure improvement and transforming the educational system but added that he did not know what that the transformation would look like.

Alexander said he did not like the divisiveness of the parts of speech where McMaster criticized President Joe Biden.

If he doesnt like Joe Biden that much, tell him to send the $2.5 billion back, Alexander said.

State Rep. Phillip Lowe said he was impressed by the financial data McMaster provided.

McMaster said the states gross domestic product had grown by 10% during the pandemic and Lowe added the state has more money than ever to spend.

Lowe said he agreed with McMasters proposals for a tax cut and investments in roads and water and sewer infrastructure, broadband access improvements and making sure law enforcement and first responders have the tools they need.

State Rep. Roger Kirby said he agreed with Alexander that the meaningless partisan rancor needed to stop and that the state needed to have good reasonable debate on how to spend its extra funds.

State Rep. Robert Williams said he wanted to go farther than the investments McMaster proposed in roads, water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure.

Williams wants to cut the marginal tax rate to 5% instead of the 6% McMaster is proposing. The current rate is 7%.

State Rep. Lucas Atkinson said he felt McMasters address went well. He added that he was pleased to see McMaster speak about the needs of law enforcement, increasing broadband access and improving state employee pay.

South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick said the states residents are fortunate to live in a state with such strong Republican leadership, and COVID reaffirmed that.

During the pandemic, Gov. McMaster consistently led the way, and now South Carolina is bouncing back better and faster than most of the country, McKissick said in an emailed statement. Our unemployment rate is at a record low, new industry is coming to all corners of the state, and more jobs are being added every day. While other states completely shut down and inserted big government and woke ideals into the classroom, the Governor didnt let it happen here because he recognizes the important role parents deserve to play in their childs education.

McKissick said the Republican Party wholeheartedly agreed dollars should follow the student, and education savings accounts will help ensure children receive the quality education they deserve.

And when Joe Biden tried to use the federal government to force unconstitutional mandates, the Governor fought back against those too, McKissick continued. Its clear South Carolina is booming, and we look forward to working with Governor McMaster on continuing this great success.

He added while Republican ideals keep on winning, South Carolina Democrats keep on losing.

Their message of liberal, big government in our classrooms, in our health care, in our wallets, and everywhere in between is a failing message  which is why the Democrats rebuttal to the State of the State will fall on deaf ears, if people didnt turn off their TV in the middle of their response, McKissick said.

The South Carolina Democratic Party sent out an email arguing the American Rescue Plan, proposed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and approved by a Democratic majority Congress, funded much of McMasters proposals.

Every South Carolina Republican opposed the bills that are the basis of our states budget, programs, and recovery for the next year, Chair Trav Robertson Jr. said. We will not let Henry take any credit for this, as his party has obstructed every step of the way. It is ironic that Henry is trying to fix his failures by using money his Republican colleagues opposed.

McMaster mentioned the Pee Dee four times during his speech.

He mentioned Lake City Police Lt. John Stewart as he paid respect to the emergency responders the state lost in 2021.

McMaster mentioned the Pee Dee when he said his executive budget offered $300 million to fund the South Carolina Office of Resilience including providing funding for repair of Pee Dee homes damaged by Hurricane Florence.

He also mentioned a bill sponsored by House Speaker Jay Lucas that would standardize election procedures across county lines and the need to complete Interstate 73 from the North Carolina border through the Pee Dee to the Grand Strand.

McMaster also recapped the priorities he outlined in his executive budget including lowering income taxes, increasing the states rainy day fund, improving infrastructure with the state budget surplus and federal funds and increasing election and educational funding transparency.

Charleston state Rep. Spencer Wetmore delivered the Democratic response.

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The South Carolina Club for Growth seems to inadequately explain its methodology for creating annual legislative scores for House and Senate members.

For example, one F score given to Rep. Jay Jordan was due to his vote in favor of the gas tax bill in 2017. That bill, approved by a 90-20 vote in the House, had been needed in South Carolina for 30 years. It is a user fee, over one-third of the taxes are paid by non-South Carolina residents driving through South Carolina, and the result has been major improvements in our state roads. But the Club for Growth gives Rep. Jordan an F? Those supportive Republicans deserved an A+ for that vote.

The Club for Growth even gave Congressman Trey Gowdy low scores in his last term in Congress. One questions how credible their criteria for evaluating legislators really are.

Many Florence voters may not realize that the Club for Growth contributed to the campaign of an opponent to defeat Sen. Hugh Leatherman in the 2016 primary. Leatherman did more to benefit the industrial/business/infrastructure base in Florence County than any legislator in Florences history. And the Club for Growths mission was to get rid of a man like Leatherman.

Now they are lobbying against another experienced candidate who has a proven conservative record of supporting the very same local initiatives that Sen. Leatherman promoted.

Why are Republicans so always obsessed with political infighting over who is the most conservative? It reminds us of some species of animals who eat their young and thus destroy part of their family. Conservatives seem to be eating their own and may soon destroy the Republican family.

With the Club for Growths full endorsement, Jordans opponent has contradicted one of his own main campaign slogans:  I am not a politician. So much for promised campaign rhetoric. For better or for worse, the day after any new politician takes the oath of office, he/she becomes that good ol' boy and a member of the establishment.

Jordan is the only candidate who has the personal relationships with the other senators to negotiate advantageous legislation and funding that will benefit the Florence business community.

Florence needs Jay Jordan in the senate to succeed Hugh Leatherman.

CARROLL PLAYER

Florence
 Gallup polling shows "Americans' Support for Death Penalty Stable" | Main | "How Changes in American Culture Triggered Hyper-Incarceration: Variations on the Tazian View" 

October 23, 2014

Pope Francis now advocating for total abolition of LWOP sentences as well as the death penalty

As reported in this story from the Catholic News Service, the leader of the Catholic Church can now be added to the list of persons vocally advocating against life without parole sentences. Here are the details:

Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment, and denounced what he called a "penal populism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice. "It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples' lives from an unjust aggressor," the pope said Oct. 23 in a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law. "All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment," he said. "Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty." The pope noted that the Vatican recently eliminated life imprisonment from its own penal code. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cited by Pope Francis in his talk, "the traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor," but modern advances in protecting society from dangerous criminals mean that "cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."... The pope denounced the detention of prisoners without trial, who he said account for more than 50 percent of all incarcerated people in some countries. He said maximum security prisons can be a form of torture, since their "principal characteristic is none other than external isolation," which can lead to "psychic and physical sufferings such as paranoia, anxiety, depression and weight loss and significantly increase the chance of suicide." He also rebuked unspecified governments involved in kidnapping people for "illegal transportation to detention centers in which torture is practiced." The pope said criminal penalties should not apply to children, and should be waived or limited for the elderly, who "on the basis of their very errors can offer lessons to the rest of society. We don't learn only from the virtues of saints but also from the failings and errors of sinners." Pope Francis said contemporary societies overuse criminal punishment, partially out of a primitive tendency to offer up "sacrificial victims, accused of the disgraces that strike the community." The pope said some politicians and members of the media promote "violence and revenge, public and private, not only against those responsible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion, justified or not." He denounced a growing tendency to think that the "most varied social problems can be resolved through public punishment ... that by means of that punishment we can obtain benefits that would require the implementation of another type of social policy, economic policy and policy of social inclusion." Using techniques similar to those of racist regimes of the past, the pope said, unspecified forces today create "stereotypical figures that sum up the characteristics that society perceives as threatening."

October 23, 2014 at 04:06 PM | Permalink

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I understand, the Church is slow. Has it ever apologized or denounced the Inquisitions it conducted for 700 years,and which funded the building of the Vatican?

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Oct 24, 2014 5:22:03 AM

Scalia is on the phone and is not impressed.

Posted by: Joe | Oct 24, 2014 9:33:27 AM

Joe, that's a bigoted comment.

Posted by: federalist | Oct 25, 2014 11:15:45 AM

bigoted -- "having or revealing an obstinate belief in the superiority of one's own opinions and a prejudiced intolerance of the opinions of others"

Without more, my quip, which I believe does reflect Scalia's own beliefs (which I did not disparage -- I just stated them), does not appear to me to be "bigoted."

Posted by: Joe | Oct 25, 2014 6:37:46 PM

Face it, Joe, your comment makes a note of Scalia's religion in a disparaging way. It's ugly and offensive. Why don't we start by getting that right, you bigot.

Posted by: federalist | Oct 26, 2014 9:56:39 AM

Federalist, STFU. It is completely legitimate to note that someone who is very publicly Catholic seems to hold views completely at odds with the Pope's. That's not disparaging his religion, or the Pope.

Posted by: Anon | Oct 26, 2014 3:16:37 PM

Aw, anon, did I upset you? Bigotry is just that--bigotry. If the issue were just an apparently disagreement between the Pope and Scalia on a bit of Catholic doctrine, then I guess it's ok, although I'd wonder what the point is. One can easily make a much stronger point about Justice Sotomayor, whose views on abortion are far from Church doctrine.

But that's not what Joe did--his comment mocks Scalia's beliefs--but I guess it's ok when a conservative Catholics get their beliefs mocked.

Posted by: federalist | Oct 26, 2014 9:19:33 PM

My blog was linked via my comment here. Again, my quip did not "disparage" religion in a way that was bigoted. I'm not going to say STFU or anything, but it didn't.

The suggestion I'm selectively mocking religion is tedious, especially since I find myself ("someone is wrong on the Internet!") repeatedly challenging those actually showing arguably some bigotry of religion since religion itself advances good and bad.

Posted by: Joe | Feb 11, 2015 11:49:42 AM

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March 22, 2015

Pope Francis categorically condemns death penalty as "inadmissible" in today's world

As reported in this piece from Vatican Radio, which describes itself the "voice of the Pope and the Church in dialogue with the World," Pope Francis spoke about capital punishment during a meeting with members of an international anti-death penalty group. Here are details:

Capital punishment is cruel, inhuman and an offense to the dignity of human life. In today's world, the death penalty is "inadmissible, however serious the crime" that has been committed. That was Pope Francis unequivocal message to members of the International Commission against the death penalty who met with him on Friday morning in the Vatican. In a lengthy letter written in Spanish and addressed to the president of the International Commission against the death penalty, Pope Francis thanks those who work tirelessly for a universal moratorium, with the goal of abolishing the use of capital punishment in countries right across the globe. Pope Francis makes clear that justice can never be done by killing another human being and he stresses there can be no humane way of carrying out a death sentence. For Christians, he says, all life is sacred because every one of us is created by God, who does not want to punish one murder with another, but rather wishes to see the murderer repent. Even murderers, he went on, do not lose their human dignity and God himself is the guarantor. Capital punishment, Pope Francis says, is the opposite of divine mercy, which should be the model for our man-made legal systems. Death sentences, he insists, imply cruel and degrading treatment, as well as the torturous anguish of a lengthy waiting period before the execution, which often leads to sickness or insanity. The Pope ... makes quite clear that the use of capital punishment signifies a failure on the part of any State. However serious the crime, he says, an execution does not bring justice to the victims, but rather encourages revenge and denies any hope of repentence or reparation for the crime that has been committed.

March 22, 2015 at 12:49 PM | Permalink

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Many disagree with him on contraceptive use; some (like Scalia) disagree with him on this issue.

The pope's position does show the potshots at "the left" or whatever are a tad bit lame.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 22, 2015 4:40:29 PM

As the sole remaining member of the Truth Squad, really a full time job, I have a simple reply to the Pope's ipse dixit.

No mention of the murder victims, where there is quite a lively capital punishment pace going on right now. He is an appalling Argentinian leftist, shouting from the dustbin of history to which big government has been relegated. Naturally, he is oblivious to the generation of huge numbers of government make work jobs by criminals. Victims generate nothing and my rot in this awful Commie's book.

It is ironic that the Church was helped find its now accepted true place in politics after the French Revolution ended the business of the Inquisition by beheading and expelling 10,000 church officials. So the hypocrisy is through the roof.

The Inquisition enforced its business plan by roasting scientists, and other blasphemers. So how about washing your filthy hands, before pointing fingers at others.

Pope John Paul stood up to the Commies, and was shot by them. No the Commies are in the Papacy, just as they are running the government of the US. I am not referring to one of the worst Presidents in history, Obama, but I am including Harvard indoctrinated George Bush. The latter blew up the size of government, of the debt, of the federal employment, of the Register of Federal Regulations. They are all the same, the Commie filth. Some. like Bush are slicker liars.

Isn't it time, the lawyer profession grew up and started fulfilling its real function, by severing its ties to the Catholic Church? (See the court that looks like a church, the standing, the sitting, the pews, the buffoon sitting on the altar, with his asshole gavel, in his Halloween outfit from St. Thomas More's fashion preferences. See the supernatural doctrines outright plagiarized from the Catechism in a massive violation of the First Amendment.) You are not a criminal cult enterprise. You are not the Inquisition 2.0. You are not rent seekers. You are the keepers of that absolutely essential utility product, the rule of law. Try turning it on for a chage of pace. See what happens to your income, your self esteem, your public esteem.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 22, 2015 6:11:15 PM

No mention of the LWOP as an absolutely immune license to kill in prison, with more prison murders than executions in this country.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 23, 2015 12:59:28 AM

That's a strange statement, Mr. Claus, when the statistics clearly show that in-prison homicide rates are higher in capital punishment jurisdictions.

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5115

I would like to know on what basis you believe that the death penalty deters, or is necessary to deter, murder in prisons.

Posted by: Boffin | Mar 23, 2015 11:24:22 AM

Boffin.

I do not use deterrence as any argument against the death penalty.

1) the dose-response curve of the death penalty is at the too small a dose end, and will appear ineffective. Too little of a remedy, it does not work. Too much of a remedy, it becomes toxic. Botox, possibly the strongest poison on earth, in low doses, helps people all kinds of ways.

2) Punishing someone to scare a speculative other person he has never met, and who has not yet committed a crime violates the due process clause in the Fifth Amendment by its unfairness.

So I have disposed of the deterrence argument on behalf of abolitionists. I want fairness credit for that.

The death penalty is to incapacitate for safety. It is not even a punishment, though I used that word above. It is to get rid of the person. The reasoning is that the deceased will not hurt people. Do you need evidence for that claim?

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 23, 2015 12:26:06 PM

Above, "against" the death penalty should read "for" the death penalty.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 23, 2015 12:30:07 PM

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This local story reports on the messages Pope Francis delivered to prisoners and to all of us society as he visited a local jail during his last day of his trip to the United States. Here are some details of the visit:

In one of Pope Francis' most anticipated visits on his first trip to the United States, the pastor pope who has made prison reform one of his top priorities did what few in power ever do: He likened himself to criminals. "All of us need to be cleansed, to be washed," Pope Francis said. "And me in first place."

After arriving at the prison on State Road near Rhawn Street via helicopter, Pope Francis walked into the prison's gymnasium to a standing ovation. "I am here as a pastor, but above all as a brother, to share your situation and make it my own," he said.

Attending the pope's speech were male and female inmates from across the Philadelphia Prison System, their families, prison employees, and local officials. Also present were relatives of Patrick Curran and Robert Fromhold, the former Holmesburg Prison warden and deputy warden, for whom the prison is named  both murdered in the line of duty by Holmesburg inmates in 1973.

Sunday's prisoners were chosen not for their crimes or alleged offenses  which ranged from murder to assault  but rather for their behavior while in custody and their good attendance in prison programs and services.

Several prisoners in the carpentry division of PhilaCor, the prison's job-skills program, even built a 6-foot walnut chair that they gave to Pope Francis. "The chair is beautiful," the pope said. "Thank you very much for the hard work."

Pope Francis began his speech  which he delivered in Spanish  by criticizing countries that are complacent to people in anguish. While not directly naming the United States - which has 25 percent of the world's inmates but only 5 percent of its population - his message was clear. "Any society, any family, which cannot share or take seriously the pain of its children and views that pain as something normal or to be expected, is a society condemned to remain a hostage to itself, prey to the very things which cause that pain," he said.

Pope Francis spent a good portion of his 15-minute speech talking about how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples because the dirty roads during that time made their feet "dusty, bruised, or cut." Francis himself has washed the feet of prisoners on more than one occasion since his papacy began, but did not do so Sunday. "Life means getting our feet dirty from the dust-filled roads of life and history," he said.

But above all, what Jesus wants is for our journeys to continue, the pope said. "He wants us to keep walking the paths of life, to realize that we have a mission, and that confinement is not the same thing as exclusion," he said, and a prisoner applauded.

Just as he did in his speech to Congress on Thursday, Francis underscored the need for hope and rehabilitation in every punishment. "It is painful when we see prison systems which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities," he said.

Francis ended his talk to the prisoners by asking that they look to Jesus. "He comes to save us from the lie that says no one can change," the pope said. After his speech, the pope greeted each prisoner and family members individually. Some wept; a few embraced him. Others requested a blessing, which he provided by gently laying his hand atop their heads and praying. As he walked among the prisoners, aides followed behind and gave each a photo of the pope and a white rosary that was neatly tucked into a burnt-sienna plastic envelope with the papal crest on the front.

At the request of the prisoners, before Pope Francis left, he blessed them and their rosaries. "May God bless and protect you and may his grace shine upon you," he said. "And may he grant you peace."
 Suggesting unionization as a (partial) solution to to federal indigent defense problems | Main | Investigating how elected judiciary may impact capital punishment's administration 

The title of this post is the headline of this notable new FoxNews commentary authored by Newt Gingrich and Pat Nolan. Here are excerpts:

Pope Franciss visit to the United States is attracting a flood of attention, and preparations have been underway for months in the cities and communities that will welcome him. While the pope will be greeted by thousands as he visits our nations famous landmarks and cathedrals, he has also planned a stop where the residents cannot come out to greet him: a local jail in Philadelphia. A jail isnt a typical location for the fanfare that usually surrounds a papal visit, but Pope Franciss decision to shine a spotlight on people in jail shouldnt come as a surprise.

The pope has often implored us through his words and actions to treat the people we put in jail or prison with respect and mercy. Some of those in jail have committed serious crimes, while others have committed relatively minor offenses. Many struggle with mental illness or drug addiction. Many simply cant afford to make bail. Treating them justly and fairly is a strong Christian, and quintessentially Catholic, imperative. After all, Jesus taught us to visit those in prison. He also told us that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters we do for Him.

When Pope Francis visits the inmates in Philadelphia we hope that all people, no matter what their traditions or beliefs, will heed his call to treat those who are incarcerated with respect. Pope Francis continues the tradition of Catholic leaders urging us to offer hope and a second chance to prisoners....

The popes visit to the jail in Philadelphia will call attention to a part of our criminal justice system that receives too little notice: local jails. Prisons are the focus of most of the discussion about criminal justice reform, even though 20 times more inmates (12 million) pass through our jails each year compared to our prisons. The jail population is different from prisons because most jail inmates are nonviolent offenders awaiting trial, and innocent in the eyes of the law.

Indeed, many of those in jail dont belong there. One in six men and one in three women in local jails have serious mental illnesses  rates much higher than in the general public. These people are sick, not always bad. They need treatment, not necessarily incarceration. Others are held in jail for months and even years because they dont have the money to post a small bond. For example, in New York City, almost a third of inmates in 2012 were held until trial because they could not pay a bond of $500 or less.

We see time and time again that overincarceration tears families apart by locking up fathers, mothers, brothers, and daughters mostly for minor crimes. The vast majority of people in our jails are there for nonviolent offenses like traffic violations or drug use. When they are finally released, most have lost their jobs, which leaves them unable to support their families and puts stress on their loved ones and the community....

We have worked over the last decade to build conservative support for criminal justice reform, rooted in our political views as well as our faith. Our Catholic beliefs hold that each person is a child of God and worthy of respect. A cornerstone of the Catholic faith is that redemption is available to everyone, no matter what they have done. We are all sinners, and the ground is level at the foot of the Cross.

You dont have to be a Catholic to see the importance of Pope Franciss message. When he visits the inmates in Philadelphia we hope that all people, no matter what their traditions or beliefs, will heed his call to treat those who are incarcerated with respect, and offer them a second chance to turn their lives around.
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September 24, 2015

Pope Francis, speaking to Congress, urges abolishing death penalty (and LWOP)

I have finished watching the Pope's speech to a joint session of Congress, and these passages from the full text of the speech should be of special interest to sentencing fans (with my emphasis added at end):

Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal. We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Mt 7:12). This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development. This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.

These passages will surely be the focal point for those eager to advocate for the complete abolition of the death penalty, but the language of hope and rehabilitation never being excluded from "just and necessary punishment" is also significant as a criticism of sentences of life without the possibility of parole.

A few prior related posts:

September 24, 2015 at 11:06 AM | Permalink

Comments

The Pope.

Lectures his hosts, but does not do the same to his Cuban hosts.

Says take in immigrants, when the Vatican has the most restrictive policy of exclusion on earth.

Then he sounds just like Esteban Vihaio, from the end of Kill Bill. Bill's mentor, both in articulation and content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flpxujAPNYE

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Sep 24, 2015 9:33:50 PM

Prof. Berman

You are an unrepentant equivocator on the matter.

Welcome to your own purgatory.

Posted by: Peter | Sep 24, 2015 11:12:33 PM

Equivocation is a bit of a norm in the U.S. on this matter.

Posted by: Joe | Sep 25, 2015 10:07:46 AM

I am with the Pope on this one.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Sep 26, 2015 10:01:32 PM

Rehab is quackery. It is like weight loss commercial claims. They may have testimonials of people who truly lost weight, they fail to mention, they represent 1% of the buyers.

Ordinary common sense. Make more money than Prof. Berman without studying 80 hours a week for years. No income tax. No regulatory burden. All the crack whores you can handle. Or, let's teach you to do maintenance in a school at $9 an hour. But, because of the felony conviction, your application will be rejected in 100 places. Your parole officer will have to pull strings and call in favors to have his brother in law hire you.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Sep 29, 2015 1:05:55 PM

I do not want to bash religion because it helps people on balance, represented early attempts to explain natural phenomena.

But let me understand the idea. You give us money today. You will be rewarded after your death with eternal life in an ether that is not in the physical world.

Then, it is the only scam or crime with constitutional immunity in the Free Exercise Clause of the constitution.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Sep 29, 2015 1:18:18 PM

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October 1, 2015

Basic elements of Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015

As I write this, I am watching (at this link) the tail end of speeches being given by a series of US Senators discussing their pleasure and thanks concerning the bipartisan agreement to propose the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 (which I will start calling SRCA 2015). Here are links to two documents provided by the Senate Judiciary Committee summarizing what appears in this bill:

Here ais the full text of the summary document:

Reforms and Targets Enhanced Mandatory Minimums for Prior Drug Felons: The bill reduces the enhanced penalties that apply to repeat drug offenders and eliminates the three-strike mandatory life provision, but it allows those enhanced penalties to be applied to offenders with prior convictions for serious violent and serious drug felonies. 

Broadens the Existing Safety Valve and Creates a Second Safety Valve: The bill expands the existing safety valve to offenders with more extensive criminal histories but excludes defendants with prior felonies and violent or drug trafficking offenses unless a court finds those prior offenses substantially overstate the defendants criminal history and danger of recidivism. The bill also creates a second safety valve that gives judges discretion to sentence certain low-level offenders below the 10-year mandatory minimum. But defendants convicted of serious violent and serious drug felonies cannot benefit from these reforms.

Reforms Enhanced Mandatory Minimums and Sentences for Firearm Offenses: The bill expands the reach of the enhanced mandatory minimum for violent firearm offenders to those with prior federal or state firearm offenses but reduces that mandatory minimum to provide courts with greater flexibility in sentencing. The bill also raises the statutory maximum for unlawful possession of firearms but lowers the enhanced mandatory minimum for repeat offenders.

Creates New Mandatory Minimums for Interstate Domestic Violence and Certain Export Control Violations: The bill adds new mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes involving interstate domestic violence and creates a new mandatory minimum for providing weapons and other defense materials to prohibited countries and terrorists.

Applies the Fair Sentencing Act and Certain Sentencing Reforms Retroactively

Provides for Prison Reform based on the Cornyn-Whitehouse CORRECTIONS Act: The bill requires the Department of Justice to conduct risk assessments to classify all federal inmates and to use the results to assign inmates to appropriate recidivism reduction programs, including work and education programs, drug rehabilitation, job training, and faith-based programs. Eligible prisoners who successfully complete these programs can earn early release and may spend the final portion (up to 25 percent) of their remaining sentence in home confinement or a halfway house.

Limits Solitary Confinement for Juveniles in Federal Custody and Improves the Accuracy of Federal Criminal Records

Provides for a Report and Inventory of All Federal Criminal Offenses

WOWSA!! And the more detailed section-by-section analysis suggests that lots and lots of badly over-sentenced federal offenders subject to extreme mandatory minimum sentencing provisions in not-so-extreme cases (including folks I have represented or filed amicus briefs on behalf of like Weldon Angelos and Edward Young) might be able to get retroactive relief if this legislation becomes law!! Thus, to summarize, just the introduction of SRCA 2015 is a huge development, and I strongly believe its provisions can will significantly reshape the federal sentencing and prison system if (and I hope when) it becomes law.

Though I will still need to see the precise text before I will be in a position to really assess all that appears in this bill, these summary documents confirm my hope that this bill was likely to be among the biggest and most ambitious federal sentencing reform efforts we have seen since the enactment of the Sentencing Reform Act more than three decades ago. Mega-kudos to all involved, Senators and staffers and advocates of all stripes, and now let's see if all the good mojo that this SRCA 2015 represents might get this bill through the Congress in the coming weeks!!

UPDATE: The full text of the SRCA runs 141 pages, and the folks at FAMM have it available at this link.

October 1, 2015 at 10:33 AM | Permalink

Comments

Right....it's exactly as I feared. We are going to replace "the war on drugs" with a "war on violence" the irony of which will be lost of no one but the Congress. I get the fact that you personally benefit Doug but I'll be writing my Congressperson telling them to oppose the bill.

Posted by: Daniel | Oct 1, 2015 11:44:32 AM

25% part is a joke. 6 years! Therefore those incarcerated to be released before then, will never see the benefit. On top of that, 25% off any sentence 4 years or lower (sentences for many low risk offenders, which this is supposed to help) is equal to or less than the 12 months they are already able to receive for halfway house. So there's no ability to earn what they are already possibly able to get. Unless this is in addition to that time, which I highly doubt, there is no benefit for those sentenced 4 years or less.

Posted by: Tina | Oct 1, 2015 11:58:52 AM

This is a huge victory. Anyone who doesn't see it needs to get into the real world. Of course its not perfect or what ultimately needs to happen but opposing the war on drugs and opposing this bill is a contradiction.

Posted by: Antonio Maestas | Oct 1, 2015 3:42:49 PM

Antonio,

Given that it is not yet law I fail to see how it is any sort of victory.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Oct 1, 2015 3:53:40 PM

One observation: State gun crimes will now count towards the repeat 924(c) penalty, 15 as opposed to 25 years under the legislation. This will apply to a lot of Ds. In my district, we see many Ds in Hobbs robbery cases who have prior local armed robbery convictions. These Ds will have much greater man min exposure on a single robbery where a gun was brandished (15 years v. 7 under the current law) I see USAOs now taking more single Hobbs robbery cases (a single 7-11 robbery)with a D who has a qualifying state robbery.



Posted by: AUSA12 | Oct 1, 2015 4:11:34 PM

Opposing the bill, as mere citizens such as I will do, makes sense. We're not representing criminal clients, so lack that bias. We are trying to protect life, limb, and property, and so have that bias--if that can be called a bias, rather than common sense. A bill driven by ginned-up media outrage and so-called high costs of incarceration (when our government pours money down the drain in far-off lands--money it could easily shift to offset these incarceration costs and help ensure safety at home in a far more direct way than propping up distant failed states) is a bill undoing much that, provably, has made people safer over the past three decades. The "mass incarceration" meme has, as its necessary antecedent, mass lawlessness. Now, a bill that aims at reducing mass lawlessness is ones citizens will support--but re-defining anti-social and non-productive conduct in ways to avoid calling it criminal, or to weaken sanctions designed to deter it, is security theatre far more broadly damaging to the concept of ordered liberty than anything the TSA has been accused of doing. Wowsa, yourself.

Posted by: Juan Padron | Oct 1, 2015 6:12:55 PM

Don't hold your breath.Congress is Slow as molasses getting anything done.they are good at giving themselves raises and it's about time for another 5 week vacation.Especially for nonviolent drug crimes.Sentencing is not fair.The bill is vague on state sentencing.The families suffer and the states suffer.States like Massachusetts can afford to keep people in jail.They have no problem getting the money from the tax payers.

Posted by: john | Oct 1, 2015 8:13:55 PM

Juan,

You speak as if you lack any sophistication or reasoning ability, though the quality of your writing belies stupidity. Are you incapable of understanding that there can be such a thing as overpunishment. Why exactly do you oppose the bill? Is it inconceivable to you that there can be a middle ground? Right thinking folks -- with absolutely nothing in it at all for them (it's not their kids serving these monsterous sentences) -- are trying to do something to address a national disgrace, and you just throw stones and question motives. I am not a lawyer, but what "bias" do criminal defense lawyers have other than having observed the system closely and having seen enough to know we have a real problem with our justice system. Do you even know that our rate of incarceration is six of seven times that of the UK?

Are there particular aspects of the bill that you believe are ill-advised? I hazard a guess you can't point to any specific objections because you are not thinking rigorously. For example, do you have an articulable reason for objecting to certain mandatory minimums being reduced from 20 to 15 years? Of course not.

You are not engaged in evidence-based, robust discussion. You just spout ignorance. It's attitudes like your's that have gotten our system to where it is to today. If you can't familiarize yourself with some basic theories of rational punishment or put yourself in someone else's shoes for a moment, you do not have any basis to opine and probably shouldn't do so.





Posted by: Mark38@gmail.com | Oct 1, 2015 9:19:40 PM

Mark,

There may be such a thing as over-punishment but I believe that what we have, for the most part, is far from it,, Like I have said, I would only be troubled by execution for crimes comparable to thefts in the low tens of dollars. Anything more serious than that and I believe that execution has been well earned.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Oct 1, 2015 9:31:20 PM

Change has to start somewhere. It's a step toward the direction of reform instead of no direction at all. It's compromise. Before this Congress couldn't agree or even compromise. But now at least there's a median. Sometimes that's all it takes.

Posted by: D. | Oct 1, 2015 9:34:04 PM

Soronel,

Are you a self-styled prankster, just nuts, or a sadist. It is really hard to tell. You certainly don't seem to capable of rational discussion.

Posted by: Mark38@gmail.com | Oct 1, 2015 9:38:35 PM

It is progress in the right direction, although definitely only moderate progress. It recalibrates existing and new long sentences, but still calls for a quite harsh regime overall.

The question is, will it forestall more significant reforms in the future, or will it grease the tracks for further efforts by showing that reducing sentences is politically possible, even at the federal level, and even when the changes are retroactive?

I'm a bird in the hand guy, and this is going to trim a meaningful number of years in prison for many, many thousands of people who are wasting away, so on balance, I think that it is worth passing, but I certainly hope we'll see further legislative actions sometime sooner than two decades from now, and I don't have the same sense of "wow" that some supporters do.

Posted by: ohwilleke | Oct 1, 2015 9:41:35 PM

Sadist, definitely. Also, proudly anti-moderate.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Oct 1, 2015 10:35:26 PM

I see a lot of giving matched by lots of taking away. This isn't so much sentencing reform as sentencing reformulation. I suspect the net effect on the ground will be minimal.

Posted by: C.E. | Oct 1, 2015 11:30:36 PM

"The bill expands the existing safety valve to offenders with more extensive criminal histories but excludes defendants with prior felonies and violent or drug trafficking offenses unless a court finds those prior offenses substantially overstate the defendants criminal history and danger of recidivism. "

Yes please, more arbitrary subjective elements to what purports to be a quasi-scientific/mathematical sentencing system.

We now have congress AND the sentencing commission chasing the judiciary to reman relevant after Booker/Kimbrough.

Posted by: USPO | Oct 2, 2015 12:31:58 AM

This bill is designed to never pass. First, it is 141 pages. That is a bad thing--it means there are lots of things in it that can create controversy. If this bill was designed to pass, it would have been a short and simple bill. Second, it is drastically reducing sentences for violent criminals. That will not fly with Congress during an election year. That is especially true when there are many cities throughout the country experiencing an uptick in violent crime. Third, the retroactivity provisions will draw lots of objections. And, how is the USPO supposed to handle all of these newly released defendants without a HUGE increase in resources. We are talking about thousands and thousands of criminals being released early--all of whom will be starting supervised release. The USPO is stretched thin as it is.

Congress would have been better off to simply (1) revise the safety valve; and (2) revise the drug sentencing provisions to ensure that low-level drug traffickers don't receive lengthy mandatory minimum prison terms. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks added stuff in the bill intentionally to make sure it WOULD NOT pass.

Posted by: Never pass | Oct 2, 2015 7:31:55 AM

Although he's a crackpot, Sanders' bill to re-implement parole is a much simpler, more straightforward solution.

Posted by: Mark | Oct 2, 2015 1:09:20 PM

Dear sir/madaam, Does this Sentencing Reform act referencing gun enhancement include California. My Nephew Antoine Waite is serving 25 to life on a gun enhancement. His primary cononvition is voluntary manslaughter with a sentence of 7 years.

He has not only survived the prison aystem, but has rehabilitated himself.

Posted by: Felicia Rule | Oct 14, 2015 6:28:03 PM

I am so glad to see that we are finnaly seeing that ypu can not lock up a drug problem..I gave sixteen years of my life away when i got out of the marines for selling a dime bag of weed in a park to a guy that looked like he needed help he looked like he wanted some weed but was uncomfortable kinda dorky and so i asked him and he said he wanted a dime i took his money to one of the multiple people in the park that sold weed and gave it to them and i didnt even pinch it i just gave the poor dork his bud and went on my way ....then bam i actually get bullied into pleading guilty to felony manufacture sales and distributiion because they said i could get six years in prison or six years of probation if i pled to it...so i took the charge as a 24 year old kid and when i failed at my probation because i drank a couple beers i ended up in prison...and i turned it into 16 because all i got in prison was a heroin addiction..im not perfect i own i said yes..i like to smoke weed im in a state that figured it out but we got a long way to go still in THE LAND OF THE FREE...MY BODY MY CHOICES MY FREEDOM IF I WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM THEN BY GOD YOU GIVE ME MINE...i hurt none but myself and if i hurt one of you then hold me accountable...but to lock me away for drugs and to lose my mother behind walls i cant get through...that is the most cruel inhumane thing u could ever have done to this marine...thank god we broke the camels back and that someone saw..

Posted by: quinn sales | Oct 18, 2015 5:50:18 AM

And solonol youre a fucking nut job dont waste your time breathingjust get on with it.

Posted by: quinn sales | Oct 18, 2015 5:58:20 AM

It's worth noting that the SRCA defines a "serious drug felony" as a drug felony for which "the offender served a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months." I'm not sure how many recidivist sentences were previously triggered by drug felonies that resulted in imprisonment of fewer than 12 months, but I bet it's a relatively small proportion. I suspect the pool of persons qualifying for the enhancements will therefore be roughly the same under the SRCA as it is now.

Posted by: Avi | Oct 22, 2015 1:16:02 AM

I think some of these people have served their time. You have some in prisons that was sentenced to 20 years or more for drug charges, really? When you have murderers and rapist to get less time. It's not fair!

Posted by: Christi | Nov 2, 2015 7:07:51 PM

nice post i love it

~~~~~~~

http://www.th3games.com

Posted by: alexander02 | Dec 19, 2015 11:36:14 AM

they took out the sealing and expungement provisions in section 211. What a disappointment. America, the land of the exceptional criminal record.....till death do us part.

Posted by: Long lost student | Feb 8, 2016 6:42:54 PM

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October 4, 2020

Pope Francis' new encyclical clearly condemns the death penalty (as well as life imprisonment)

As reported in this new article from America, which is headlined "Pope Francis closes the door on the death penalty in Fratelli Tutti," there are new papal teachings that have much to say about extreme punishments. Here are the details:

Pope Francis new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, does something that some Catholics believed could not be done: It ratifies a change in church teaching. In this case, on the death penalty. In 2018, Pope Francis ordered a change in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official compendium of church teaching, when he termed the death penalty inadmissible. Today the pope placed the full weight of his teaching authority behind this statement: The death penalty is inadmissible, and Catholics should work for its abolition. A papal encyclical is one of the highest of all documents in terms of its authority, removing any lingering doubt about the churchs belief. There can be no stepping back from this position, says Francis, referring to the opposition to capital punishment expressed by St. John Paul II. Today we state clearly that the death penalty is inadmissible and the Church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide.... In past centuries, the church was generally accepting of the death penalty. Both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas declared it licit not only for the sake of punishment, but also as a way for the state to protect itself, ideas that took hold in the church and influenced civil society. In the Roman Catechism, written after the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the church supported the death penalty for those two reasons: Another kind of lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to whom is entrusted power of life and death, by the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. As recently as the 1990s, the Catechism of the Catholic Church said that the state could still use capital punishment to protect people from violent criminals: The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. In 1995, however, in his encyclical "Evangelium Vitae," St. John Paul II tightened the restrictions, saying that the times that the state needed to use capital punishment to protect other citizens were very rare, if not practically non-existent. Four years later, he called for its abolition. So did Pope Benedict XVI, in 2011. The door to the death penalty was gradually closing. Today it was shut. It is a clear example of the development of doctrine over the centuries. In his new encyclical, Francis also traces a lesser known counternarrative, showing a theological thread that has always been against the death penalty: From the earliest centuries of the Church, some were clearly opposed to capital punishment, he writes and includes commentary from St. Augustine, who argued for mercy in the case of two assassins. In Fratelli Tutti, the pope grounds his opposition to capital punishment not only in mercy, perhaps his most characteristic spiritual theme, but also in opposition to revenge. Fear and resentment can easily lead to viewing punishment in a vindictive and even cruel way, rather than as part of a process of healing and reintegration into society, he writes. Moreover, he bases the teaching in the inviolable dignity of each personincluding the person on death row. Let us keep in mind that not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this, he says, quoting The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae). Francis continues: The firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and to accept that he or she has a place in this universe. Today Pope Francis also condemned life imprisonment, which he calls a secret death penalty. George Williams, S.J., who served for many years as a Catholic chaplain at San Quentin Prison in California and worked with inmates on death row, praised the popes stance, saying "In nearly 30 years of prison ministry, I have witnessed the soul-killing damage caused by sentencing men and women to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I believe it is crueler to sentence someone to prison with no hope of ever getting out than it would be to execute them outright. Executions kill the body, but life without parole kills the human spirit." With Fratelli Tutti Francis has moved opposition to the death penalty into the foreground of Catholic social teaching, completing the churchs long journey of mercy and reconciliation.

The full text of this new encyclical is available here in English, and the discussion of the death penalty starts at paragraph 263. Here is the text of subsequent paragraph discussing both the death penalty and life imprisonment and prison reform:

268. The arguments against the death penalty are numerous and well-known. The Church has rightly called attention to several of these, such as the possibility of judicial error and the use made of such punishment by totalitarian and dictatorial regimes as a means of suppressing political dissidence or persecuting religious and cultural minorities, all victims whom the legislation of those regimes consider delinquents. All Christians and people of good will are today called to work not only for the abolition of the death penalty, legal or illegal, in all its forms, but also to work for the improvement of prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their freedom. I would link this to life imprisonment A life sentence is a secret death penalty.

Because I am not at all a scholar of Catholic teaching or documents, I am not sure if this new encyclical is a consequential new development in what I have long seen as the Catholic Church's modern categorical opposition to capital punishment. But I am sure this might be one more thing for Senators to consider discussing with SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett in light of her co-authored article back in 1998, titled Catholic Judges in Capital Cases, which explores whether and how Catholic judges can and should be involved in enforcing the death penalty as members of the judiciary.

October 4, 2020 at 06:22 PM | Permalink

Comments

A welcome development from the Catholic Church and the Pope. Now we wait to see if the lawmakers, and potential lawmakers in the US show their typical hypocracy with regard to their commitment to Christian teaching and values. They are happy to swear on the bible but less to accept that the world has changed around them and that this requires a Christian response. Is America still truly Christian? The Constitution may not claim to have been infused by or specifically incorporate Christian values, but the population then and now surely believe otherwise. As Christian values change, so perhaps should the law.

Posted by: peter | Oct 5, 2020 8:52:32 AM

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A Pakistan pilot refused to complete a journey because his shift ended after the plane had to make an emergency landing.

A plane with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the countrys national air carrier, was scheduled to leave Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and fly to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

The PIA pilot, however, had to make an emergency landing shortly after take off at Saudi Arabias Dammam airport due to bad weather conditions.

The pilot then refused to fly, saying his shift hours had ended, according to The Express Tribune.

The sudden turn of events led to brief chaos after agitated passengers refused to get off the plane and began to protest.

Authorities at Dammam airport had to call security personnel to bring the situation under control. Hotel arrangements were made for the passengers at the airport.

A pilot should rest because it is necessary for flight safety. All passengers will reach 11pm at Islamabad Airport until then all arrangements have been made in hotels, a PIA spokesperson was quoted as saying by Gulf News.

The incident comes two months after the national carrier expanded its flight operations.

PIA said it would operate 35 flights for Saudi Arabia every week after South Arabia lifted travel restrictions on flights from Pakistan and other nations due to the Covid pandemic.
AUBURN, Iowa -- Every now and then, passersby make an unplanned stop, needing a closer look at three oak trees standing near the Grant Park Trail trailhead here.

Are the 24-foot-tall oaks real? Or are they just incredibly realistic replicas?

"There's actually been some people that say they had to get out and touch them," said Tanner King, a skilled welder who creates lifelike metal sculptures that at first glance might fool you into thinking they're the real thing.

It's exactly the kind of reaction King aims for.

"That's one of my goals, to make sure it looks as real as possible," King said.

The majority of his business at Martin's Welding remains commercial welding for area farmers, but the number of requests he receives for his ornamental welding pieces continues to grow.

"You never know what's coming next," King said.

He sure couldn't have known his sculptures would end up at resorts in Okoboji and Lake of the Ozarks when, drawing on the artistic ability he said runs on both sides of his family, he first made a life-sized palm tree about seven years ago.

"I thought it would be pretty cool to build sculptures," King said. "I just figured I could sell them."

As he quickly discovered after that first tree sold, if you build it, customers will come.

"Word of mouth spread like crazy," he said. "I've probably made close to a hundred of those."

Some have sprouted in Auburn and nearby Sac City and Lake View. Others stand in Okoboji and Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. He sold a truckload of 15 to a buyer in Kansas City.

Once word spread of King's talent for making palm trees, other requests came. The city of Sac City asked if he could make some dandelions to place in the city's South Park. The result, three stunning 26-foot-tall stainless steel sculptures of seeded-out dandelions so realistic you'd expect to see the seeds blow away in the breeze. King has made bald eagles, turtles, cranes, butterflies, owls and other animals and plants -- all of them extremely lifelike.

"I look at a picture and build from there," he said.

He pulled a lot of dandelions apart as research before building the Sac City pieces. Before sculpting a turtle, he caught one and kept it in a tank in his shop for a week to study it before turning it loose. Realism is important to King, and it's a big reason why you won't find him making abstract art.

"That's one thing I will not do is make something that doesn't look like it should," King said.

The artistic side of his work continues to develop upon a lifetime spent welding. He grew up across the street, spending hours in the shop owned by his grandfather Martin Erickson, who had owned it since 1955 and taught King how to weld. A mini motorcycle the two built together when Tanner was 12 or 13 is displayed inside.

King began renting the shop from Erickson in 2010 or 2011, he said, eventually inheriting it after his grandfather's death in 2014. Erickson never really retired, King said, showing up at the shop nearly every day to see how things were going. He saw his grandson's first palm tree, and King said he would have appreciated the growing ornamental side of the business.

"He'd think it was cool," King said.

A lot of other local residents think so, too.

King said he and his two employees have enough orders for ornamentals to keep them busy until July. That, of course, depends on what else comes through the door. King's focus remains on his commercial customers. You won't find him working on palm trees during the busy spring planting and fall harvest seasons, when farmers are coming to him to weld broken machinery.

The artwork keeps him busy during slower times, when he can take the time to allow his creativity to take over.

"It's been good," King said, "and obviously the longer we do it, the easier it's getting."

And the easier it gets for King, the harder it gets for the rest of us to tell his creations from the real thing.

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SINGAPORE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping can be a basis for global interaction and cooperation to overcome global challenges, a Singaporean scholar has said.

Xi's speech at the UN Office in Geneva in 2017 continues to be "a relevant and monumental" expression of a hope for world progress since he first presented the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind to the world during a visit to Russia in 2013, Professor Lawrence Loh, director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at National University of Singapore, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

In his speech, Xi placed priority on partnership, security, growth, inter-civilization exchanges and a sound ecosystem in building such a community.

"It is a fundamental articulation of the synthesis of peace and development, sustainability and good governance," Loh noted, adding that "we should continue to strive to realize this vision."

In today's world, it is critical for countries to continue to engage in dialogues and strengthen collaborations. Multilateralism should be the most crucial foundation of global governance, and directions of the world should be a collective decision of all countries -- big and small, East and West, Loh said.

In Loh's opinion, all countries should strive to be good global citizens and global advocates for social responsibility, particularly on a multilateral basis.

It is critical that countries should never forsake globalization for the purpose of self-interest, he said.

China's development mode is actually one of this kind in the world that emphasizes collective advancement for people across all segments of society. It is equitable, encompassing and effective, thus suitable for China's next phase of socioeconomic development, said Loh.

Moreover, China has continued to broaden and deepen its international contributions, which is good, he added.

China has clearly moved from a production and consumption country to an innovation one. Xi's global vision of green and low carbon development will complete the progress into a sustainable country. More importantly, the commitment will continue in the efforts to balance humanity with nature, Loh said.

While economic advancement should be the foremost priority of countries in the world, China can play a key role in uplifting many emerging countries through global collaboration initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the digital Silk Road, Loh said.

"With the widening economic gaps across nations and amongst their people, China's idea of common prosperity will be relevant to the world as well -- countries should come together to enhance each other's economic development," he said.

Talking about the current COVID-19 pandemic, Loh said it is a test for the unity of humankind, noting that it is only through mutual respect and understanding that the world can move successfully out of the crisis. 
HULL, Iowa -- A Hull man has been charged with sexually assaulting a minor female several times dating back to 2020.

The Sioux County Sheriff's Office began an investigation in October after receiving a report of a sexual assault at a rural Hull residence. On Monday, deputies arrested Treyton Huyser, 21, on three counts of third-degree sexual abuse.

Huyser posted $10,000 bond Wednesday and was released from the Sioux County Jail.

According to complaints filed in Sioux County District Court, the assaults began in March 2020 and involved a girl under age 16 with whom Huyser had sexual contact. Court documents show that the last incident occurred June 30.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man accused of sexually abusing a young girl 10 months ago has been arrested.

Jourdain St Cyr, 36, was booked into the Woodbury County Jail Friday on one count of second-degree sexual abuse. He is being held on a $25,000 bond.

According to a complaint filed in May in Woodbury County District Court, St Cyr had sexual contact on March 3 with a girl who is under age 12. The girl told her mother it had happened while St Cyr was lying with her on a couch.

St Cyr initially told the mother that it was an accident that happened while he was playing with the girl, the complaint said. He later admitted he had touched the girl.

The incident was reported to police, and a warrant for St Cyr's arrest was issued in May.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City physicians group has agreed to pay more than $600,000 to settle allegations that it billed state and federal programs for medically unnecessary procedures and overbilled for other procedures.

Tri-State Specialists was accused of violating the False Claims Act by billing Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for the procedures. Tri-State agreed to pay $612,501.44 to the United States, Iowa and South Dakota to resolve the allegations.

"False Claims Act investigations and enforcement are critical in protecting the government healthcare programs upon which millions of Americans depend. We will continue to vigorously investigate allegations of overbilling and medically unnecessary services in this district," Sean Berry, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, said in a news release.

The claims against Tri-State are allegations only, and there was no determination or admission of liability.

A provider of orthopedic services, surgery and other specialties, Tri-State consolidated its operations with CNOS earlier this month. Calls to the Tri-State Specialists phone number were automatically forwarded to CNOS, and former Tri-State members could not be reached for comment.

The settlement would be paid by the former Tri-State members because CNOS did not assume their liability under their consolidation agreement, said Suzi Gausman, CNOS vice president of compliance and engagement. She said CNOS had no further comment on the settlement.

"It would be inappropriate for CNOS to comment on this issue. We were not involved," Gausman said.

The government alleged that from August 2014-August 2019, Tri-State submitted false claims for payment to government healthcare programs for surgical procedures and office visits performed by a plastic surgeon who previously was a partner with Tri-State.

The government alleged that the surgeon performed cosmetic procedures that were falsely billed as medically necessary. The government also alleged the surgeon did not perform services sufficient to justify billing for some of the procedures and that the surgeon did not perform services sufficient to bill for some high-value office visits.

Tri-State was liable for the surgeon's acts, the government alleged, because the surgeon was an agent of Tri-State and because Tri-State knew of the surgeons acts.

Investigators were alerted to the alleged violations by a whistleblower. Under False Claims Act provisions and the settlement agreement, the whistleblower will receive a share of the financial recovery.

Though not named the news release, the dates of the allegations coincide with the dates that Dr. Adam Smith was affiliated with Tri-State. Before leaving in fall 2019, Smith was charged by the Iowa Medical Board of professional incompetency and unethical conduct and accused of providing inappropriate surgical care to 17 patients and other unprofessional conduct from December 2014 to September 2017. The case was resolved after Smith voluntarily surrendered his Iowa medical license. He also surrendered his South Dakota medical license.

In November, a federal judge ordered Smith, who now lives in Minnesota, to pay a civil judgment of more than $236,000 in damages and penalties for filing dozens of fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims when he practiced in Michigan before moving to Sioux City. He earlier pleaded guilty in Michigan to a federal criminal charge of making false statements. He was placed on probation and fined $3,000.

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SIOUX CITY -- An Arizona man faces federal charges after authorities found nearly 13 pounds of cocaine hidden in his car during a traffic stop.

Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Mahoney on Tuesday ordered that Scott Pride, 68, of Tucson, Arizona, remain detained. He faces a charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

A Woodbury County Sheriff's deputy stopped Pride for speeding at 4:30 p.m. Sunday about a mile east of Sioux City on U.S. Highway 20.

According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, a Sioux City Police Department K9 unit was summoned, and the dog alerted officers to the presence of a controlled substance inside the Lexus Pride was driving.

Officers conducted a probable cause search on the car and found five heat-sealed packages concealed inside the back seat cushion. A field test on the white, powdery substance inside the bricks was positive for cocaine. Officers also seized $1,000 in cash, a cellphone, iPad tablet and other documents as evidence.

Pride was detained, and during an interview at the Sioux City Police Department, he refused to talk about the items found in his car and asked for an attorney. The interview was terminated, and Pride was arrested.

According to court documents, Pride was arrested in Texas in 2019 for possession of marijuana and convicted in the case in August of possession of 2-4 ounces of marijuana.

During a 2008 traffic stop in Nebraska, officers seized $114,000 from a vehicle driven by Pride. According to court documents, Pride was charged with trying to bribe the officer by offering him $25,000 to let him go. The charges were later dismissed, but the money and car were forfeited and Pride never attempted to regain possession of them.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City woman accused of faking a child welfare investigation in order to get a mother to turn over custody of her kids and pay her nearly $12,000 has pleaded not guilty of extortion and other charges.

Anna Perez-Joaquin, 39, entered her written plea Wednesday in Woodbury County District court to charges of extortion, commission of a specified unlawful activity and first-degree theft.

According to court documents, Perez-Joaquin had fake social workers visit the home and send fake emails to convince the mother that if she did not relinquish custody of her two children or pay money, she would face criminal charges.

The scheme began on Aug. 26, when, court documents said, Perez-Joaquin convinced the woman she and her children were the subject of an Iowa Department of Human Services investigation and tricked the mother into granting temporary custody of the kids to her. Perez-Joaquin then used a fake lawyer profile to get the mother to pay her $400 a month in child support and give Perez-Joaquin her child tax credit check and other monthly benefits the children received.

During the four-month period, Perez-Joaquin accepted at least 16 cash payments and bank transfers totaling approximately $11,874 from the mother.

Perez-Joaquin had plans to take the children to Mexico, court documents said.

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SIOUX CITY -- A woman was arrested Tuesday in connection with an assault in which shots were fired outside a Sioux City home.

Lacoyata Fourkiller, 25, of Sioux City, was booked into the Woodbury County Jail on charges of simple assault and carrying a dangerous weapon.

She is one of five suspects sought after gunshots were fired at a group of people at about 2:28 a.m. Tuesday at a house in the 1500 block of McDonald Street.

According to a Sioux City Police news release, a male victim reported he was walking back to the house when a car pulled up and people inside began asking him for money. When he refused, four males and one woman got out of the car and assaulted him. The victim's family members came out of the house to help him and were also assaulted. The fight ended when one of the subjects fired several shots in the family's direction.

No one was struck by gunfire, but a parked car was damaged.

Fourkiller was arrested a short time later after officers stopped her and found a handgun under her car seat. Police continue to seek the four males, who have been identified.

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SIOUX CITY  Sioux City public schools superintendent Paul Gausman would have the authority to order a temporary mask requirement for district buildings, under a proposal set for debate at Monday's school board meeting.

Gausman will ask the seven-member board to add the authority to the district's AR907 policy, which governs operations during a public emergency. The board approved AR907 at the start of the 2020 school year.

With new COVID-19 cases spiking in Woodbury County, the district needs to make decisions more quickly to respond to changing conditions with the virus, board president Dan Greenwell said Wednesday.

"The focus of the school board is to ensure that we keep the schools open and keep students in person learning, as the best possible way of educating students,"

Greenwell said in an interview. "Nearly a third of the people in Woodbury County are testing positive. What we want to have is a policy is place that makes sure the school district can respond quickly if we need to."

His comments came on the same day Siouxland District Health reported Woodbury County added nearly 2,200 new cases of COVID-19 last week, as the highly-contagious omicron variant continued to surge. The case rate was roughly a 31% increase from the week before, and the positivity rate hit 33.1%.

The revised AR907 policy would authorize Gausman or one of his designees to implement a mask requirement for students, teachers, staff and the public on a time-limited basis district-wide or for specific buildings, according to an advisory released to the media Wednesday.

Gausman is scheduled to discuss the proposal with reporters on Thursday morning.

Four months ago, the school board declined to act on a measure that would have required facial coverings for all students, teachers, staff and visitors in all district buildings. Then-board vice chair Monique Scarlett pushed for the mandate days after a federal judge blocked a new state law that had prohibited local districts from adopting such measures.

The new law, passed on the final day of the legislative session, was soon challenged in both state and federal court. A state court upheld the law, but on Sept. 13, a federal judge ordered the temporary halt of enforcement while the courts consider legal challenges to the law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The federal suit, initiated by the Biden administration, argues the law discriminates against students with disabilities and serious health conditions, because their health is endangered by schools with unvaccinated students who are not wearing face masks.

As it has been in much of the rest of the country, the issue has been controversial locally. Two dozen 23 citizens weighed in during the Sept. 15 emergency school board meeting. The environment in the packed board room was heated, with people in the crowd interrupting speakers and board members with shouts, claps and verbalized frustrations.

Scarlett's motion to adopt the mandate died due to a lack of a second.

Other board members said said they saw no reason to vote on the issue, citing a flood of calls, texts and emails they received from students, parents, teachers and other community members opposed to the proposed requirement.

Scarlett and other advocates argued masks have been scientifically proven to be the second best way to reduce the spread of the virus, after vaccinations.

The proposed mask policy change will be on the agenda for the board's regularly scheduled meeting Monday, which starts at 6 p.m.

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Last week, the county reached a new milestone when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination, with 50% of its residents having completed single- or two-dose vaccinations.

In the last 30 days, seven COVID-19-related deaths have been recorded in the county.

"COVID activity is increasing in the county and reducing the impact is the goal. Vaccine helps and it's not too late to get yours," the post said.

Northeast Nebraska Public Health Department (NNPHD) reported 455 new cases of the virus from Jan. 9 to 15 in its district, which is comprised of Cedar, Dixon, Thurston and Wayne counties. New COVID-19 cases have increased more than eight times since Jan. 1 in the district, according to NNPHD.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Carl T. Curtis Health Education Center in Macy, Nebraska, reported 143 active cases on the Omaha Reservation.

"Our numbers are rising quickly and we are at the highest it's been since we began tracking our positive patients. At the peak last November, we had 76 patients test positive. We are almost double those numbers. Please don't let your guard down," the post said.

Dakota County Public Health Department will offer free curbside COVID-19 testing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday outside the Dakota County Courthouse, 1601 Broadway St. Members of the public are to wear masks and remain in their vehicles the entire time. Test results will be available in one or two days.
NORTH SIOUX CITY -- Pet food maker Royal Canin on Thursday announced a $185 million expansion of its North Sioux City plant that it says will create 149 new full-time jobs.

The company, a division of multinational manufacturer Mars Inc., currently employs more than 380 in the southeast South Dakota City.

Over the past two years, the country experienced a boom in pet ownership and heightened focus on pets health," Cecile Coutens, president of Royal Canin North America, said in a statement. "Royal Canin is seeing significant growth as a result. We want to continue to invest in our business to support these pets, their owners, and our professional partners.

"We already know what an incredible place the North Sioux City community is and are thrilled to expand our presence here.

To support the project, the South Dakota Governors Office of Economic Development has awarded the company a $3.95 million Reinvestment Payment Program grant. The funding was approved by the Board of Economic Development.

I applaud Royal Canins continued investment in North Sioux City with this expansion, Gov. Kristi Noem said. We are proud to provide a business climate that can help companies like Royal Canin grow and succeed.

It's the latest major investments by Royal Canin in North Sioux's Gateway Business Park. In 2019, Royal Canin completed a $120 million project that replaced its aging factory with a state-of-the-art facility. The new 224,000-square-foot plant, almost double the size of the previous one, allowed the company to nearly double its production capacity.

The new building at 630 N. Derby Lane was designed for future growth. The expansion announced Thursday calls for building an addition to the plant.

Founded by a veterinary surgeon in a French village in 1967, Royal Canin manufacturers products geared toward the age and size of animals and distributes them primarily through veterinarians' offices, breeders and specialty retailers such as PetSmart and Petco.

In 2007, Mars acquired the North Sioux City plant from Menu Foods for $26.3 million. Four years later, Mars officially changed the plant name from Mars Petcare to Royal Canin.

Royal Canin is an innovative company and a valued member of the North Sioux City business community," Andrew Nilges, executive director of the North Sioux City Development Corp., said. "Their products are known and trusted by pet owners around the world. North Sioux City is appreciative of Royal Canin choosing to expand here and are proud to collaborate with them on their expansion project.

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SIOUX CITY -- No one was injured Thursday when a fire broke out in a homeless encampment underneath a train bridge in Sioux City.

Sioux City Fire Rescue Captain Ryan Collins said a fire crew working a couple blocks away saw heavy black smoke coming from the 100 block of Steuben St. at 12:01 p.m. and responded.

When they arrived at the scene, the firefighters found a fire underneath a railroad bridge. The fire had been contained to the east side of the Floyd River Channel. The transients had already left the scene, according to Collins.

He said the bridge, which is owned by BNSF, sustained "slight damage." Contractors are expected to inspect the bridge on Friday.

Collins said personal items in the encampment caught fire, but the exact cause remains under investigation.

"We haven't had a chance to talk to them," he said of the transients who may have been cooking or warming themselves under the bridge. "We just don't know the circumstances surrounding the fire at this time."

A similar -- but far more destructive -- fire damaged an Interstate 29 box-culvert bridge in Sioux City near the end of October, 2019. That fire, which also ignited in a homeless encampment, wreaked havoc on the concrete structure of the bridge only a year after it was built. The cost to repair the I-29 bridge after the fire was estimated at more than $1 million, and the repair work constricted traffic flow near the Wesley Parkway and Hamilton Boulevard exits.

The Journal's Mason Dockter contributed to this report.

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Chinese envoy calls for new impetus for settlement of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Xinhua) 08:42, January 20, 2022

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the international community to give new impetus to the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The question of Palestine has been on the UN agenda for 75 years. The new year should bring new hope to the Palestinian people, and the international community should act with a stronger sense of urgency by taking vigorous actions to promote the comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue, said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

Violence and hostilities must be stopped and tensions eased, he told a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Last year saw continued unrest in the occupied Palestinian territory. Since the beginning of this year, the situation on the ground has continued to be tense and worrying, said Geng. "We call on all parties concerned to keep calm, exercise restraint, refrain from hostilities and violence, and consolidate the cease-fire in Gaza."

As the occupying power, Israel must fulfill its obligations under international law, guarantee the safety of the people in the occupied territory, investigate violence against Palestinian civilians, and maintain the historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israel's legitimate security concerns must be respected, he said.

Relevant Security Council resolutions must be implemented and settlement activities must stop, said Geng.

In 2021, Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank continued to expand, and the number of demolished Palestinian homes was the highest since 2016. Settlement activities violate international law. China urges Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes, stop evicting Palestinians and expanding settlements, and create conditions for the development of Palestinian communities in the West Bank, he said.

China is equally concerned about Israel's recent announcement that it will invest more than 300 million U.S. dollars in settlement construction in the Golan. The international community recognizes Syria's sovereignty over the Golan. China urges Israel to stop settlement activities that could lead to tensions, he said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of individuals are believed to have traveled abroad with bogus negative PCR test certificates, Swedish Police said on Thursday.

Around 35,000 individuals who are believed to have fallen victims to the alleged scam, involving a testing company that the authorities listed as legit, have now been contacted.

Their email addresses were found during the investigation into Doktorgruppen, a company that allegedly issued negative test certificates without actually analyzing the tests. The tests cost around 1,500 Swedish kronor (164 U.S. dollars) each.

Doktorgruppen, which had several clinics in the Swedish capital, was listed as legit by the Swedish Public Health Agency and operated for more than six months before it was shut down when raided by police in mid-June last year.

Among the things the investigators want to know from the presumed victims of the scam is whether they developed COVID-19 symptoms shortly after taking the test, reported Expressen, a nationwide evening newspaper in Sweden.

"There are indications that individuals have received false negative test results from Doktorgruppen and that individuals who thought they had taken a test and were healthy instead may have been ill and traveled abroad at a time when the risk of infection was at its highest," the investigators say in the email, according to Expressen.

At least five individuals connected to the company have been arrested and are being investigated for spreading infection, fraud, false testimony, and endangerment of others. (1 U.S. dollar = 9.15 Swedish kronors) 
An agent who previously represented both Depp and Heard said in response to her breakup with Elon Musk, "You told me a thousand times you were just filling space." Get that news and more here.
The Nebraska Attorney General's Office has accused a New York couple of carrying out a $59.6 million Medicaid fraud involving the ownership of a chain of nursing homes in Nebraska.

In the complaint filed in Lancaster County District Court, Joseph Schwartz, Rosie Schwartz and Skyline Healthcare LLC are accused of surreptitiously directing and controlling the major operations and management of 22 Nebraska facilities under the Cottonwood Healthcare LLC umbrella and making decisions that were detrimental to the facilities and financially beneficial to the Schwartzes and Skyline.

The facilities ultimately were put in receivership in 2018 after failing to make payroll.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Vicki Adams said Skyline, through the Schwartzes, acquired operational ownership of well over 100 nursing homes in Nebraska and a half dozen other states starting in 2016.

The 22 in Nebraska previously had operated as Golden Living.

Adams said business office managers, many of whom had worked for Golden Living before the transfer of ownership, were told the facilities would function much the same as they had before.

She said the managers went to Skyline, which had no more than 15 employees at any given time, when they needed assistance or direction managing the facilities.

According to the lawsuit, some expressed concern about Skyline's ability to successfully manage the Nebraska Cottonwood facilities.

While local facilities hired staff for day-to-day operations, the financial operations weren't within their control. They had no operating budget or monthly financial reports tracking expenses.

Adams said Skyline determined which bills got paid. Often vendors that were owned by Joseph Schwartz or his business associates were paid while others weren't.

In some cases, employees at the Nebraska nursing homes would use their own money to pay vendors for the residents' sake.

In December 2017, Cottonwood's regional director had a meeting in Omaha to discuss cuts to reduce expenses at the Nebraska facilities.

By March 23, 2018, Skyline informed state officials that it couldn't make payroll for its Nebraska employees, and the state sought to place the Cottonwood facilities into receivership.

Adams said a number of employees at the local level learned they didn't have health insurance through their jobs despite paying premiums through Skyline.

Shortly after the Nebraska Cottonwood facilities went into receivership, the same thing happened in South Dakota, Kansas and some of the Arkansas facilities.

Adams said the business's cost reports, which are required to be provided by long-term care facilities for payment by Nebraska Medicaid, used false numbers that led to the payment of $3 million above the approximately $30 million they should have received for the operation of the Nebraska Cottonwood nursing homes.

The company now is accused of making false records, failing to maintain documentation and fraudulent misrepresentation, which resulted in payments to which they weren't entitled.

"As a result of the defendants' breach of their agreements with Medicaid, the plaintiff suffered damages in the amount of $59,652,388.90," the attorney said in the lawsuit.

Violations of the False Medicaid Claims Act are subject to up to three times damages and up to a $10,000 penalty per claim submitted.

Adams said in addition to the $59.6 million amount, Nebraska is seeking treble damages of $178,957, plus attorney fees.

In December, the 61-year-old Joseph Schwartz, of Brooklyn, was charged in Arkansas with eight counts of Medicaid fraud for the alleged over-billing there that resulted in an overpayment of $3.6 million for the eight nursing home facilities.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSpilger

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DES MOINES  Local governments or law enforcement officers who enforce federal gun regulations that exceed Iowas rules would be subject to $50,000 fines under a legislative proposal advanced Wednesday by Iowa Senate Republicans.

The proposal, which Senate Republicans have titled the Second Amendment Preservation Act, would nullify any federal gun regulations that exceed Iowa state law. The legislation is similar in spirit to resolutions passed by several Iowa counties declaring themselves so-called sanctuary counties from federal gun laws.

The state bill, Senate File 2002, was introduced by Sen. Zach Nunn, a Republican from Altoona and an officer in the Iowa National Guard.

Our Second Amendment in and of itself is sanctuary, Nunn said Wednesday during a subcommittee hearing. There should be no law that crosses that line.

The proposal is based on similar legislation that was passed in Missouri in 2021. The Missouri law has faced legal challenges, including from the Justice Department, and most recently a group that represents nearly 60 Missouri police chiefs has asked for changes to that states law.

Organizations representing Iowa law enforcement so far have registered as neutral on the bill, and none spoke at the subcommittee hearing.

This is a dangerous bill, Traci Kennedy, with the gun safety advocacy group Iowa Moms Demand Action, said during the hearing. It would make it illegal for any public officer or law enforcement to assist with enforcement of federal gun laws that help keep our communities and state safe.

Nunn said Jasper County was the first in Iowa to declare itself a sanctuary county from federal gun laws. He cited recent orders from federal agencies as examples of why his proposed legislation is needed.

Drafting this bill I took no pleasure in identifying there could come a time when a fed regulatory authority could enforce on the state something that is protected by the (U.S.) Constitution, Nunn said. (The bill) is a clear indication to the federal government that their overreach in Iowa will not be tolerated.

Kelly Meyers, a lobbyist for the Iowa County Attorneys Association, said county attorneys have expressed concern the legislation would make it difficult for law enforcement to enforce laws that are designed to protect victims of domestic violence.

Sen. Jeff Reichman, R-Montrose, who is shepherding the bill through the legislative process, said he is willing to amend it to address those types of concerns. He said the subcommittee hearing was the first time he had heard that specific concern.

And that is a great concern, said Reichman, adding that he was going from the subcommittee on this bill to one on domestic violence. Weve had, I think, four deaths I know of in recent history in my county, and three of them have been domestics. So thats a great concern to me and obviously want to make sure that point is addressed.

With its passage out of subcommittee, the bill is eligible for consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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DES MOINES  Iowa Democrats are off to a rocky start when it comes to funding the partys 2022 campaign for governor.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds campaign finished 2021 with nearly $4.8 million in her campaign account, according to new state fundraising reports published Wednesday.

Deidre DeJear, who has the highest profile among Democratic gubernatorial candidates, finished the year with just more than $8,500 in her campaign account.

Reynolds campaign raised nearly $3.8 million in 2021  more than 13 times what DeJear raised.

DeJears campaign raised nearly $280,000 in 2021, but spent nearly $271,000 to run her campaign.

Wednesday was the deadline for state candidates and political parties to file campaign fundraising reports for the 2021 calendar year.

Earlier this week, Reynolds campaign issued a news release on her 2021 fundraising numbers, claiming both set records for Iowa fundraising for state office.

Reynolds won her first election in 2018 by just less than 3 percentage points, a year after being promoted from lieutenant governor. She has not yet officially announced her re-election campaign, but is widely expected to do so.

Going into 2022 with just more than $8,500 in her campaign account could make it difficult for DeJear to mount an effective challenge against Reynolds in the general election. And before DeJear even gets there, she still has to win the Democratic nomination.

In a video posted to social media Wednesday, DeJear said her campaign received more than 7,300 individual donations and that more than 5,000 were from individuals who donated $5 or $10, with an average contribution of $38.

It was very challenging raising money last year for this campaign. But each and every one of you all dug deep, DeJear said in the video. We are so grateful that you are digging deep for the future of this state.

DeJear, from Des Moines, is a businesswoman and was the Democratic candidate for Iowa secretary of state in 2018.

The only other Democratic candidate for governor is Kim West, an attorney from Des Moines whose 2021 report was not pasted as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Iowas 2022 primary election is June 7; the general election is Nov. 8.

STATE TREASURER

In other races, Republican treasurer candidate Roby Smith reported raising nearly $135,000 in 2021, and finishing the year with nearly $145,000 in his campaign account.

Smith, a Davenport businessman and state legislator, is challenging longtime incumbent and Democrat Mike Fitzgerald, the longest-serving state treasurer in U.S. history.

Smiths 2021 haul was more than eight times that from Fitzgerald, who reported raising just more than $16,000 in 2021, finishing the year with roughly $50,000 in his campaign account.

Smith highlighted that his cash on hand total of nearly $145,000 is more than the roughly $144,000 Fitzgerald has raised over the past 10 years.

The race is on. Fitzgeralds anemic fundraising report coupled with his reliance on money from East Coast liberals is indicative of Iowans desire for a change in the treasurers office, Smith said in a campaign news release.

LEGISLATIVE LEADERS

Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader from Ankeny, reported raising more than $547,000 in 2021.

Legislative leaders often use their campaign funds to assist other statehouse candidates from their political party.

Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, reported raising $233,000 and finishing the year with more than $219,000.

House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, reported raising nearly $394,000 and finished the year with more than $335,000 in his account.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, reported raising $110,000 and finishing the year with more than $103,000.

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The Legislature's Revenue Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill to speed up full exemption of Social Security income from the state income tax by 2025 on a 5-0 vote.

And not far behind will be a bill designed to secure an estimated $200 million in additional property tax relief for Nebraskans in 2024 by eliminating an earlier $375 million annual floor in the refundable income tax credit created in 2020.

That proposal, LB723, introduced by Sen. Tom Briese of Albion initially failed to advance to the floor of the Legislature despite a 4-0 vote, but the bill was later advanced when Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk called in the fifth vote.

The Social Security income tax exemption contained in LB825, introduced by Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, would be phased in over the next four years, beginning with a 40% exemption in 2022 that would grow in 20% increments until full exemption is achieved in 2025.

The loss in potential state revenue was estimated at $40 million in fiscal 2022-2023, rising eventually to $73 million.

Both tax reduction proposals were opposed by Tiffany Friesen Milone, speaking for Open Sky Policy Institute, who warned that the bills would obligate the state to revenue reductions without knowing if state government can afford it.

The state's revenue flow is "now propped up by federal funding," she told the committee during a public hearing.

And an increasing ratio of older Nebraskans may shift more of the tax load to future working Nebraskans with subsequent pressure on the state budget, she said.

Lindstrom, who is a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has been working on reduction, and eventual elimination, of Social Security income tax liability throughout his two terms in the Legislature.

"This thing needs to go away," he said.

Delores Tonack, president of NSEA-Retired, said "it's an unfair tax on retirement benefits" and its removal will "enable Nebraska to be more retirement-friendly."

Briese said his bill would correct an oversight that would restore the intent of earlier legislation to provide additional direct tax relief through a rebate on school property taxes.

Mark McHargue, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, urged the committee to support the measure.

While acknowledging that the Legislature has provided "substantial property tax relief," he said work still needs to be done to create balance among property, sales and income taxes.

Property taxes now represent about 42% of the total, he said.

Also on Wednesday, a total of 102 bills and resolutions were introduced, including:

MEDICAL ABORTION: Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist introduced a bill (LB1086) prohibiting doctors from providing abortion-inducing drugs to pregnant women after seven weeks of gestation. Doctors who do provide medication abortions would be required to file a report with the state.

DUAL ENROLLMENT: Sen. John Stinner of Gering wants to appropriate (LB1087) $15 million to Nebraskas community colleges to expand opportunities for high school students to get college credit.

NUCLEAR STUDY: Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard sponsored a bill (LB1100) appropriating $1 million in federal stimulus funds for a feasibility study for new nuclear reactors throughout Nebraska.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP: The Environmental Response Act (LB1102) proposed by Bostelman would provide the director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy more power to take action to clean up pollutants and assess penalties. It would also create a cash fund to pay for expenses incurred by the state.

AUTISM PLATES: Nebraskans would be able to purchase an Autism Awareness license plate under a bill (LB1105) from Sen. Jen Day of Gretna.

ELECTIONS: A bill (LB1121) from Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston would require employees of the Secretary of State to inspect vote-counting devices before each election to ensure they arent connected to the internet. Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard brought a bill (LB1123) that would prohibit election commissioners from counting any ballots before all polling places in the state have closed.

CONTRACEPTIVES: Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld introduced legislation (LB1129) requiring the state to provide free contraceptives to any woman who requests one.

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS: More inmates eligible to be placed in community corrections or transitional houses would be allowed to do so, under a bill (LB1154) from Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney.

SCHOOL MATERIALS: Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue introduced a bill (LB1158) that would allow parents and guardians to request textbooks, websites or other curriculum materials, including teacher training materials, and request their children be excused from certain instruction.

NITRATES: Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart brought a bill (LB1160) that would tag $10 million in federal stimulus funds for the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy to provide grants for reverse osmosis systems to small and rural communities with high nitrate levels in drinking water.

INTERNSHIPS: Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk is seeking $30 million in federal funds to create an internship program under the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and $20 million in federal funds to create a Department of Labor grant program to retain workers.

TEACHER PAY: Morfeld also sponsored a bill (LB1131) to give teachers, child care workers and health care workers in Nebraska a $1,000 bonus from federal stimulus funds. A bill (LB1169) by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn would use federal stimulus money to provide $5,000 grants to teachers in their first four years of their careers earning less than $75,000 annually.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon

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GRUNDY CENTER  Trial for a Grundy Center man accused of killing an Iowa state trooper wont be held in Grundy County.

The move comes after prosecutors declined to resist a request by attorneys for Michael Thomas Lang to relocate the proceedings because seating a Grundy County-based jury to hear the matter would be difficult.

A new location for the trial hasnt been determined.

Lang, 42, a former candidate for sheriff, is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault on a peace office in the death of Sgt. Jim Smith with the Iowa State Patrol.

Authorities said Lang struggled with a Grundy Center police officer during a traffic stop in April and then fled home. He allegedly shot and killed Smith with a shotgun when officers attempted to enter his home to arrest him. A standoff ensued, and Lang was wounded in a shootout with officers.

During a Wednesday hearing in Grundy County District Court, the state argued against severing the charge of assault on a peace officer into a different trial.

The defense requested separating out the assault charge because the offense happened during the traffic stop before the standoff. Defense attorney Aaron Hawbaker argued it would be unfairly prejudicial for jurors to hear about that incident.

Grundy County Attorney Erika Allen argued in court records that the incidents are related.

The defendants motive for all three counts was to assault police officers. All three counts occurred on the same day and within hours of each other. All three counts occurred in the temporal proximity to the defendants residence, Allen argued.

During Wednesdays hearing, Judge Joel Dalrymple indicated he will make a ruling on the matter at a later date.

The defense also is seeking to suppress statements Lang made during police interviews following the standoff. An April hearing has been scheduled to address that issue.

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When I was teaching in the 1980s, the Iowa State Education Association motto was, Take Pride in Iowa Schools. It worked because it was true. Iowa took pride in its schools.

But that was then; this is now.

Then, both Republicans and Democrats understood Iowa didnt have beautiful mountains, pristine beaches, or magnificent tourist attractions. We had high performing schools needing protection and nurturing. Each party had different philosophies behind its approach, but in the end, political leaders wanted schools to help communities thrive. Yes, there was conflict, and partisan fighting, but they found the middle, where most Iowans lived politically.

Now, the old proverb, Pride comes before the fall, is true and has a new political twist.

We have GOP majorities in both chambers and a governor who chokes out pride by pandering to a loud, and extreme base intent on attacking what once we proudly held as a true Iowa value. When was the last time you heard the governor or the leadership of the Legislature, promote Iowa public schools? The silence is both defining and deafening.

Thats not to say educators in communities across Iowa arent stepping up despite repeated attacks. They are. If legislators from both parties would step inside a public school, theyd see that classrooms are still four walls, where miracles are made. But how long will educators endure the noise from Des Moines drowning out the magic of the classroom? In the words of one teacher, "Its getting harder and harder to survive."

The governor and her minions in the Iowa Senate and House are pandering and pretending instead of leading. Iowas public education tradition of excellence is crumbling. its time for parents, educators, and community leaders to sound the alarm, because the upcoming session of the Legislature promises more of the same.

Recently, Gov. Reynolds announced her support of Legislation in the name of transparency allowing parents more information about books in the school library and curriculum. But her plan isnt about transparency.

Its about pandering to a small group of loud parents wanting to remake public school curriculums to fit their own political agenda. Imagine for a minute how the Governors proposal would really work. One students parents think the Catcher in the Rye is a seminal piece of literature. Another students parents, think its pornography. Does the school listen to the parents who shout the loudest or do they teach what prepares all students?

Without this new law, parents can visit their childs school anytime they choose. Also, last time I looked, the library card catalog isnt locked. Currently, most public schools have board policies allowing parents to object to library material. Gov. Reynold knows this or at least should. In addition, parents already have a say in the management of public schools. Its called a local school board election.

Her proposal is really a solution in search of a problem.

The purpose of a public school is not to teach kids only what parents want them to be taught. Its to teach them what society needs them to know. Parents are not the customer of the public school. They are partners in their childs education.

Clearly, parents should be involved in their childs education. They should attend parent teacher conferences, help with homework, read to their children and reenforce learning that is lifelong. Parents should not dictate what books should be available. Its an educators job to find age-appropriate books to help students learn.

Iowans still want leaders to take pride in Iowa schools through positive actions, not pandering attacks. Lets make that happen before its too late.

Bruce Lear, who lives in Sioux City, has been connected to public schools for 38 years. He taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring.

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In 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to a U.S.-backed coup that ousted a pro-Russian regime in Kyiv by occupying Crimea, President Barack Obama did nothing.

When Putin aided secessionists in the Donbass in seizing Luhansk and Donetsk, once again, Obama did nothing.

Why did we not come to the military assistance of Ukraine?

Because Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We had no obligation to come to its aid. And to have intervened militarily on the side of Ukraine would have risked a war with Russia we had no desire to fight.

Last year, when Putin marshaled 100,000 Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine, President Joe Biden declared that any U.S. response to a Russian invasion would be restricted to severe sanctions.

The U.S. would take no military action in support of Ukraine.

Why not? Because, again, Ukraine is not a member of NATO.

Clearly, by its inaction, America is revealing its refusal to risk its own security in a war with Russia over a Ukraine whose sovereignty and territorial integrity are not vital U.S. interests sufficient to justify war with the largest country on earth with its huge arsenal of nuclear weapons.

This is the real world.

And as Ukraine is not a NATO ally, and we are not going to invite it to become a NATO ally, Biden should declare so publicly, urbi et orbi, to remove Putin's pretext for any invasion.

Biden has already declared that we will not put offensive weapons in Ukraine. If, by declaring that we have no intention of expanding NATO further east by admitting Ukraine or Georgia, we can provide Putin with an off-ramp from this crisis that he created, why not do it?

Speaking last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "They must understand that the key to everything is the guarantee that NATO will not expand eastward."

If what Lavrov said is true -- that the "key" for Moscow, the crucial demand, is that the eastward expansion of NATO halt, and Ukraine and Georgia never join the U.S.-led alliance created to contain Moscow -- we ought to accede to the demand.

If this causes Putin to keep his army out of Ukraine, admitting the truth will have avoided an unnecessary war. If Putin invades anyway, the world will know whom to hold accountable.

The purposes of the Biden declaration would be simple: to tell the truth about what we will and will not do. To remove Putin's pretext for war. To give Putin an off-ramp from any contemplated invasion, if he is looking for one.

A Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war that would inevitably follow would be a disaster for Ukraine and Russia, but also for Europe and the United States. It would ignite a second Cold War, the winner of which would be China, to whom Russia would be forced to turn economically and strategically.

Thus, to avert a war, Biden should declare what is the truth:

"Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and neither we nor our allies have any intention or plans to bring Ukraine into NATO or to give Kyiv an Article 5 war guarantee."

The same holds for Georgia in the Caucasus. We did not come to Tbilisi's defense when it invaded South Ossetia in 2008 and was driven out by Putin. And we are not going to give Georgia any Article 5 war guarantee. Frankly, the time has come to declare that NATO will expand no further east and that NATO enlargement is at an end.

No more former republics of the Russian Federation -- not Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus or Kazakhstan -- will be admitted to a NATO alliance whose roster is restricted to present membership.

Indeed, if the purpose of NATO is the defense of Europe from a revanchist Russia, why would we extend NATO so far to the east that it provokes Russia into attacking its neighbors in Europe?

With Russia having issued virtual ultimata, our objective has to be to prevent a catastrophe war that an invasion of Ukraine would ignite.

Such an invasion of Ukraine, a country of more than 40 million, would inevitably end with Kyiv's defeat. And the longer Ukraine resisted and the fiercer it fought, the greater the number of dead and wounded on both sides and the more enduring the hatred and hostility that would be created between them.

Already, Americans in official circles are reportedly discussing aid to Ukrainians in fighting a guerrilla war against Russian occupation troops.

There is another issue here, and that is the morality of not doing all we can to avoid an invasion and its consequent war.

Would it be moral for the United States to provide arms for a bloody insurgency if there were no realistic chance of quickly expelling the Russian invaders?

Given his problems in Belarus and Kazakhstan, Putin cannot be anticipating happily the military occupation of millions of Ukrainians.

Ending NATO enlargement could be a victory for all of us.

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Reports of Boba Fetts death have been greatly exaggerated. I mean that literallythe character, supposedly killed off in Return of the Jedi all those years ago, reappeared very much alive years later in The Mandalorianbut also in that claims that the new Disney+ series ruins the character are overblown. Boba Fett, introduced in The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, has always been cooler in fan imagination than he ever was onscreen, and any remaining mystique about him was already quashed in the prequel trilogy. If you want a show about an enigmatic bounty hunter who never takes off his helmet, well, the first season of The Mandalorian is right there.

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Still, The Book of Boba Fett is missing a lot of what made The Mandalorian fun. Each episode is padded with flashbacks documenting Bobas journey from the belly of the Sarlacc to the head of a criminal enterprise (formerly belonging to Jabba the Hutt) who we already know he becomes. In the present day, the Big Bads are a bit of a snooze, a coterie of mostly interchangeable gangster types and a corrupt mayor with minimal screen time. And unlike on The Mandalorian, there is no Baby Yoda to distract from the series weaknesses by sipping soup or wandering into trouble or having the sweetest widdle gween face yes he does yes he does!

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Ahem, so: The Book of Boba Fett needs a villain, and it needs a baby. Fortunately, there is a character who already exists in Star Wars canon that can fill both rolesa character with strong ties to Tatooine and its criminal underbelly. A character who has been a part of Star Wars for more than a decade and yet is unknown to most.

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And he looks like this:

Meet Rotta the Huttlet. Like Boba Fett, he was introduced in a critically reviled, little-seen Star Wars moviein this case, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie in 2008, where he was kidnapped in a plot to trick the Hutts into choosing a side in the galactic civil war. Thats where he earned the nicknames Stinky (because he smells) and Punky Muffin (because hes a baby, and people say ridiculous stuff to and about babies). He was safely returned to his father by the Jedi, and thats where things get interesting, because his father was none other than Jabba the Hutt.

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That means thatno matter what those twin Hutts who showed up on The Book of Boba Fett sayRotta is the rightful heir to Jabbas criminal empire, the one Boba Fett has taken over. Like Yodas species, Hutts age very slowly, so its perfectly reasonable to assume that at the time of The Book of Boba Fett, Rotta is still a baby. He has not been seen in Star Wars canon since the Clone Wars movie, surely because the powers that be are saving his return for the perfect moment. And what could be more perfect than Rotta, now a pungent, squirming orphan, confronting the man sitting on his throne so he can reclaim his birthright?

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The Book of Boba Fett has made its titular character into a big softie, and I get it: Disney+ prides itself on being family-friendly to the extreme, and a protagonist who cuddles rancors, dresses down greedy merchants, and defends indigenous rights is more palatable as a hero than the guy from the movies who froze Han Solo in carbonite. But come on! Whereas The Mandalorian used Baby Yoda to humanize its hero, I want The Book of Boba Fett to use Rotta to give Boba back some of his edge. Specifically, I want him to dropkick that little slug all the way to Nal Hutta. Sorry, Stinky.
Care and Feeding is Slates parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email askateacher@slate.com or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group.

My question is regarding school violence. We pulled our son from school yesterday at his request because another high school in the same district was evacuated due to reported gunshots (police eventually ruled it as a false alarm). The Oxford school shooting was only 45 minutes from us, and our district has had multiple threats over the past five years. My son has a great sense of humor that is always on, so when he called and begged to come home we knew he was beyond stressed. He does much better in classrooms than remotely, so were hesitant about pulling him and homeschooling. What else can be done to alleviate his stress and worry besides that?

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A Question I Hate to Have to Ask

Dear AQIHtHtA,

That is the big question, isnt it? What can any of us do to feel safe in a society where gun violence has become so prevalent? How can kids learn when they dont feel safe in their own school?

The unfortunate and alarming truth is that our kidsat least the students I teach and knowhave become inured to this threat. Since kindergarten, theyve been doing evacuation drills, sheltering in hard corners and barricading classroom doors. Like your son, many students (and teachers) have moments where the reality of the whole thing hits us. Its an unavoidable act of our times, and we all have different ways of coping.

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I think you did the right thing. When he felt unsafe, you pulled him out of school. That doesnt mean he has to be permanently homeschooled. What was important was that when he felt stressed and vulnerable, you showed him that you care and respect his feelings.

From here, encourage him to join student organizations that work toward social change. These will give him an opportunity to contribute and feel part of a larger movement, instead of feeling helpless. Many schools have chapters of Students Demand Action, a national youth-run organization devoted to gun reform activism. Another organization is the Start with Hello movement, which emerged from the Sandy Hook tragedy. Start with Hello focuses on creating a welcoming school climate to help prevent students from feeling ostracized and disaffected. If his school doesnt have chapters of SDA or Start with Hello, he could start one, or he could check with his school about a comparable peer counseling or service-based extracurricular that shares a similar mission.

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I know so many teenagers who feel that in a global society with world-sized problems, their individual efforts cant change anything. But remind your son that hope is better than fear. Action, no matter how small, is better than turning our backs on the problem. These organizations arent going to solve these enormous problems overnight, but he may feel better and more secure if hes making concrete efforts to help be part of a solution.

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Mr. Vona (high school teacher, Florida)

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How are teachers doing mid-pandemic as Covid numbers rise rapidly and political assaults on public education weigh you down? How can parents help support you and bear witness to the heavy weights you all struggle with? How can we help you?

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Helping Our Heroes

Dear HOH,

Thank you for asking! To support teachers during this most recent COVID spike, parents must continue to be vigilant despite everyones understandable weariness. Get your child the best mask possible: surgical masks are better than cloth; N95s and KN95s are best of all. Show your child how to pinch the mask at the nose to keep it from falling down, and make sure the mask fits properly: ask your student to talk and yawn while wearing it. If it falls down, help them adjust it or find one that fits better. If your kids are in middle or high school, emphasize that the mask needs to cover their nose to work effectively (and they better not be rolling their eyes at a teacher who asks them to pull it up!). Parents of kids who are showing COVID symptoms should keep them home from school. And get them vaccinated, for Petes sake! Youd think after two years of living through this pandemic, everyone would know these things by now, but Im still fighting the good fight every day so clearly many parents either havent gotten the message or are just so fatigued theyre slipping up. Stay the course.

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Next, be patient with your school as it grapples with substitute shortages. Teachers are getting sick, or their own kids are getting sick (my 3-year-old has COVID as I write this). This means they are going to be absent, often for long periods of time. Its frustrating, yes, but its inevitable. School districts in my area are actually asking parents to become subs. At my daughters elementary school, parents were pushing for outdoor lunch but there was not sufficient staff to make it work. Undeterred, parents are now volunteering to facilitate lunch periods and many kids are eating outside. If youre able to substitute teach, even for part of the week, or volunteer at the school in some capacity, that would be an enormous help to overworked school staff.

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The political attacks on education require a different sort of support. I would be over the moon to see parents rallying in support of public education. If people are trying to ban books, ban masks, or exert control of the curriculum in order to whitewash history, use your voice to stand up for what is right. Your voice will be more powerful if you join with other parents. If youre not sure where to start, find out what the teachers union is doing and ask how you can help.

Thank you for your letter, Helping Our Heroes. I appreciate your desire to help and hope you can find one tangible action to demonstrate your support for educators.

In solidarity,

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Ms. Holbrook (high school teacher, Texas)

Im really hoping you can help me with a problem Im having with my third grader. When she was in first grade, her teacher warned me that she was starting to not put forth her best effort with her schoolwork.

This year at conferences, her teacher expressed similar concerns about her motivation, and I decided to reach out to the school counselor. Anytime I try to talk to my daughter about putting forth her best effort she gets super upset, breaks down crying, and starts saying shes bad at school. I have no idea where thats coming from other than that shes just a sensitive kid with big emotions. I was hoping the school counselor would be able to give me some guidance, but after he met with her, I never heard anything back.

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Now her teacher emailed me saying she did poorly on a math quiz, and that he has had to take fidget toys from her, as well as scraps of paper that shes been drawing on instead of doing her work. I notice focus issues at home, too; she often doesnt stay on task with her homework. I would like to leave it alone and let her deal with the natural consequences of not doing her work, but I feel like that just makes me look like an uninvolved or uncaring parent.

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After her teacher reached out and asked me for suggestions, I decided to make a reward chart such that if she puts forth effort with her schoolwork we can have a fun afternoon together, but Im not sure if this is the right approach? What are your thoughts? I would appreciate your advice.

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Missing Motivation

Dear MM,

Its hard to know exactly what is needed without being directly involved, but it sounds as if your daughter might be struggling with confidence, self-esteem, or attention-related issues and could benefit from a meeting of the minds. Rewards charts can be helpful depending on the student, but in some cases, a lack of effort is only a manifestation of a more complex problem. More than likely, there is an underlying factor impacting her effort.

The sooner you identify that problem, the sooner you can respond.

I would ask to meet directly with the teacher and the school counselor to discuss ways of determining the root cause of the problem and brainstorm some possible accommodations. A plan should be put into place that seeks to identify your daughters specific struggle and develops a systematic means of addressing it.

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Also, and this is important: Teachers dont judge parents based upon the behavior of their child. Your daughter is a human being, separate and independent of who you are. We understand that the most involved parents in the world can have some of the most challenging children in existence, and conversely, a seemingly uninvolved parent can have a remarkably well-behaved and hardworking child. You should never be concerned about being perceived as an uninvolved or uncaring parent. Youre doing your best, which is all that any parent can ever do.

Best of luck.

Mr. Dicks (fifth grade teacher, Connecticut)

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My son started kindergarten this year after spending over a year at home with just us (his parents), his brother, and a babysitter who came 4 hours a day. He is academically advanced compared to typical kindergarten readiness standards (he knows how to read, he multiplies 2-digit numbers in his head for fun, he likes to quiz us on world geography, etc.), but he has been undersocialized due to the pandemic, and he struggles with emotional regulation.

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I knew that the academic stuff would present some challenges, but I also know that developmentally he has a lot to gain from what would otherwise be an age-appropriate school situation. Despite all my confidence to the contrary, so far, kindergarten has been horrible. He is exhibiting a level of defiance at school that is absolutely outrageous (we had to sit him down at home and make him do his online reading diagnostic because he refused to do it at school for 2 months; he regularly has tantrums in class).

Even worse, I feel like the staff at his school, especially his teachers, seem completely uninterested in collaborative problem-solving. I get that his behavior is unacceptable. I am mortified. I cry at least once a week about it. But it doesnt help that when they call, they complain about his behavior but make no in-school recommendations and communicate irregularly.

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They didnt tell us for the two months that he was refusing to do his diagnostic, despite my asking a few times about why he was placed in such a low reading group. I met with his teachers and the guidance counselor to try to problem-solve together, but I was basically just lectured about his behavior. To say it was unproductive would be an understatement.

I dont know what to do. Were doing sticker charts, rewards for specific good behavior, consequences at home for poor behavior. Ultimately theres only so much we can do at home to reinforce good behaviors at school. He needs help with emotional regulation, and we are working our butts off to try to get an appointment with a behavioral health appointment but that seems like it is at least months away.

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In the meantime, we also need school-based interventions. Im afraid my kid, who loves learning, is going to hate school; Im afraid his teachers dont like him and he can tell; Im afraid he wont be able to make friends because he is acting out. Im considering asking to switch to the other kindergarten class, trying to transfer to a different public school, or pulling him out and homeschooling until first grade (though I dont think this really helps anything in the long-term).

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What do I do? I am at a loss and feel every day like I have failed as a parent because my child is (apparently!) so ill-equipped for the classroom. This sucks so much in ways I was never prepared for.

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Drowning

Dear Drowning,

First, I would take a deep breath. While his behavior may seem like an insurmountable hurdle, its quite commonespecially among children who are beginning their educational career during the pandemic. Its great that youre working on getting an appointment with a behavioral health specialist. Ultimately, they will be able to provide the clearest picture of whats going on with your son. Theyll also be able to provide strategies to be implemented both at home and school that will help him make better choices and self-regulate more effectively.

Its likely that your district also has behavioral psychologists on staff who may be able to provide support more readily. If you havent already explored this option, I would go directly to the district office and request any information or support they may be able to offer in getting your son evaluated. Id caution against changing classes or pulling him out to homeschool until youve got a clear understanding of whats triggering these challenging behaviors for your son.

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Based on what youve shared it seems like he may be experiencing extreme boredom or anxiety around transitioning out of the classroom. Shifting from the comforts of home to a more structured learning environment is often very difficult for children, and the pandemic in this case may be adding to that difficulty. In the meantime, Id explore curricular resources such as Kelsos Choices or Second Step to help build your sons ability to self-regulate while you work to get an appointment scheduled with the behavioral specialist.

Mr. Hersey (elementary school teacher, Washington)

More Advice From Slate

I live in a large city and am lucky to have the choice of multiple different public elementary school options. My child will be entering kindergarten, and its the time of year where Im supposed to attend open houses and put together a ranked list of my preferences for a school choice. Apart from the obvious differences, like different art/music/after-school program offerings, what kinds of questions should I be asking the principals and prospective teachers?
BOSTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Boston prosecutors have recommended the U.S. Justice Department drop charges against a Chinese American professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who was accused of hiding his ties to China when seeking U.S. federal grant money, Reuters has recently reported.

Federal prosecutors in Boston recommended the case's dismissal in recent weeks based on new information, Reuters quoted a person familiar with the matter on Friday.

The Chinese-born nanotechnologist Gang Chen faced federal charges last year for failing to disclose that he served as an "overseas expert" to the Chinese government and sat on the advisory board of Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen when applying for a U.S. Department of Energy grant, according to the report.

"However, as it turns out, nothing significant was omitted on his application and several of the government's allegations were simply wrong," Reuters cited Chen's lawyer Brian Kelly as saying. 
In a press conference Wednesday marking his first year in office, President Joe Biden was unmistakably defensive about his administrations COVID response. He said the U.S. is clearly in a better place than it was a year ago. But are we? Right now, the country is averaging 800,000 new COVID cases a day, three times as many as last January, and hospitalizations are higher than theyve ever been.

Biden came into office assuring the American public that, unlike Donald Trump, he had a plan that would defeat the pandemic. On Thursdays episode of What Next, I talked to Washington Post health reporter Dan Diamond about where that plan succeeded and failed and how much blame to place on the current administration. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Mary Harris: You said that if you take a careful look at this plan, you can see places where maybe the administration has met a goal, but just barely, and needed to have pushed harder. I know you spoke to a bunch of experts about the plan. What did they say when you asked, is the administrations plan working, or has the administration even followed the plan?

Dan Diamond: When I was first talking to experts, I specifically would go through the plan with them and say, is this something you would give them a pass? Would you fail the White House here, or would you say its partially achieved on ideas like masking, like testing? And the White House promised at one point in this plan that they were going to do, quote, predictable and robust federal purchasing of testsessentially, the government was just going to buy up as many tests as they could in a predictable way, so if you were a test manufacturer, you knew that you had guaranteed customers.

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Youre basically creating a marketplace.

Exactly. That didnt happen. 

A more complicated example is on the global side, where the administration did come through, and you can go down the list and check, check, check. They rejoined the World Health Organization. They joined this vaccine sharing alliance. Theyve tried to restore some global luster and leadership after President Trump retreated from the world stage. I mean, you could say they did all the things, but at the same time, the global crisis is still pretty bad. So the question of did they do what was needed to make enough progress on the global frontI think the answer, and I got this from federal officials, is no. Theres a lot that is still needed in 2022 and beyond to make sure that variants dont pop up overseas and come back, let alone all the people who are suffering from COVID infections and collateral damage that could really use the help of the richest and most powerful nation in history.

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The experts also talked about health care workers. And of course, now were seeing hospitals overwhelmed with omicron. So what was in this plan that maybe could have prevented that?

The White House did say a year ago, as they took the measure of where the United States was in January 2021, they said hospitals are full, we have to come up with a plan to make sure this doesnt happen again. Unfortunately, hospitals are again full, workers are that much more burned out. But the plan was to surge support to hospitals that would need it, so crisis teamswhich we have seen the White House do.

Another plan was just to recruit more workers into the field so shortages could be averted. Some of that work has begun, but thats a long process. You cant make a nurse overnight. Maybe well be ready in three years with more health workers, but we kind of need them now. So the issue is kind of this middle point: Could there have been more to keep people in the field? And I talked to one expert, David Grabowski, this great expert on long-term care at Harvard University, whos been banging the drum for two years that some of the workers in nursing homes could have used a $5 an hour pay hike that the federal government financed, if youre trying to keep people in some of the most sensitive work settings.

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And then theres the second piece, even beyond the shortage issue, of the safety concern. There are workers who have been exposed to COVID, whether at hospitals and nursing homes, packing plants, wherever, they have argued for two years that there need to be more workplace safety standards that hold employers accountable. The Biden administration came in promising to explore this idea, even push it, but has not made significant progress, and Ive talked to front-line workers who are really dispirited about that, people who supported President Biden as a candidate but say hes not following through as president.

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I imagine when you brought these criticisms to the Biden administration, they maybe didnt really think that this was their fault. I was struck by a quote from Andy Slavitt, who used to work in the administration early on: This is a good plan overcome by events. And I wondered what you made of that.

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You know, Andy was pretty honest. I think he celebrated where he thought the plan did well. The Biden administration and folks like Andy who worked there can point rightly to the vaccination campaign. And even though the U.S. vaccination rate lags other countries, its not for lack of trying by the Biden administration.

I think where Andy and others acknowledged some challenge was the evolution of the virus. That delta became more transmissible. That omicronnot only more transmissible but dodging all the vaccines that the Biden administration had worked to put in arms.

One reason the White House went to this idea of misinformation or Republican resistance is its a little bit of a get-out-of-jail card.  Dan Diamond

But didnt we know the virus was going to evolve?

I mean, Im not endorsing the defense, but I think the Biden administration is pointing to that as an argument for why they were celebrating in the summer that the virus was increasingly in the rearview mirror, when it turned out not to be. There are plenty of people who said we need to be ready for the next variant.

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A lot of officials you spoke with seemed to point to misinformation as a big hurdle for them. And it didnt really follow for me, because there are also things they just didnt do until literally this week, like allowing Americans to order free COVID tests to their homes.

So when it comes to misinformation, Gayle Smith, who led the State Departments COVID response globally, said, to her, misinformation was like a second virus that they were trying to contain. When you looked at all of the people who were passing on vaccines or were not taking the precautions that they should, the Biden administration could take steps to try and protect people, but if folks are refusing to listen, then thats a challenge thats pervasive and a real problem.

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At the same time, I think one reason the White House went to this idea of misinformation or Republican resistance is, frankly, its a political argument, and its a little bit of a get-out-of-jail card. The White House can say, well, we did all these things, but misinformation, Republican resistance, we couldnt have predicted that, we couldnt account for that. And Im not sure thats true. I mean, it seemed pretty clear from day one that the White House was going to go its way on vaccinations and public health messaging, and Republicans were going to fight the president. And I do think the White House is limited in some ways when its trying to take on the hydra of misinformation, of COVID myths, of political attacks. But there are things that were under the White Houses control that they did not do.

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As people were lining up to get COVID tests in December and January, and as infection rates have soared, I think theres been this palpable feeling of something needs to change in terms of the administrations response. And you can see that in the fact that all of a sudden the administration is standing up COVID tests for every American. I wonder if you think changing the administrations response means changing this plan youve been evaluating, or whether its about pressing on different levers with different degrees of pressure.

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I have wondered that, and Ive put that directly to the White House. When I was interviewing Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus coordinator, and his top deputy, Natalie Quillian, the idea of new strategies came up, and I jumped on that and said, does this mean youre going have a new strategy for year two? And immediately they said no, were sticking to what worked in year one, we think this is the right plan, were just going to keep doing more of it.

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I dont know if thats the right answer or not. There are lots of things in that plan that did appear to work. Again, the vaccination piece generally worked. We havent really talked about health equity, but the administration can point to a fair number of statistics where it looks like they closed some of the racial and ethnic gaps in COVID bad outcomes. So there are ideas that are proven and accepted by public health experts across the aisle. It does come down to this question of execution and political will. For whatever reason, the White House did back off on some of these things in the middle, late last year. I think they really did think they had gotten to a point where the vaccination campaign was going to carry us through.

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Kamala Harris gave an interview and was confronted with, you know, do we need to change course when it comes to the coronavirus? And her answer was so strange, but definitely along the lines of what youre alluding to. It was a little bit of word salad: It is time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day. Every day, it is time for us to agree that there are things and tools that are available to us to slow this thing down. It felt like resistance to acknowledging that the field of battle has changed.

I think because this is a political administration that is, like any White House, concerned about their political viability, concerned about approval ratings, it is very, very hard to run away from a plan, even if it is seen to not be working. It is an admission of failure that will then be thrown back in their face.

Subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts

Get more news from Mary Harris every weekday.
Did President Joe Biden just tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that it might be OK to launch a minor incursion into Ukraine?

Toward the end of his nearly two-hour news conference late Wednesday afternoon, Biden was asked why sanctioning Putin for invading Ukraine would work, given that previous sanctions havent had much effect on Russian behavior.

At first, Biden gave a by-the-book response. Because hes never seen sanctions like the one Ive promised, he replied. Russia will be held accountable if it invades.

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But then, Biden said that precisely how Putin will be held accountable depends on what he does. If he mounts a minor incursion, Biden said, there are differences within NATO about what countries are willing to do. If its a major invasion, there will be severe costs and significant harm for Russia and the Russian economy.

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So was Biden saying Russia might not incur severe costs and significant harm, if Putin mounts merely a minor incursion? And what is a minor incursion? Just another salami slice of eastern Ukraine, beyond Russias 2014 incursion into Donbas province and its annexation of Crimea? Just a helicopter landing in the capital? Just a few airstrikes?

As major news outlets sent push alerts with Bidens comments, White House press secretary Jen Psaki rushed to the rescue with a clarifying statement an hour after the news conference ended:

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President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, thats a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies.

Good work, but as the entire world already noticed, thats not what Biden said at all. Or it is what he said at one point during the news conference, but not at another point. Psaki then created her own round of confusion with what her statement went on to say:

President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.

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What does she mean by reciprocal response? That the U.S. and NATO will match cyberattacks with cyberattacks, paramilitary tactics with paramilitary tacticsand, by extension, an invasion with a counterinvasion? U.S. and NATO officials have said nothing of the sort. (They have made clear that they will not respond with U.S. or NATO troops.) They havent, until now, distinguished between one sort of aggressive act or another. Psaki should have stopped with swift, severe, and united response.

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For weeks now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and their counterparts in NATO have engaged in delicate, skillful diplomacy, ensuring that the 30 countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were all on the same page, warning Russia that any further violation of Ukraines territorial integrity would result in severe consequences, including supplying arms and intelligence to the Ukrainian army and citizen insurgents involved in repelling a Russian invasion and occupation.

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This is a hard thing to do, given the disagreements among a number of NATO countries, the dependence of several of them on Russian oil and gas supplies, and the fact that there is no support within the allianceincluding within the Biden administrationfor Ukraine to join NATO at the moment. And yet the diplomats made it work.

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Earlier on Wednesday, Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to assure him that the U.S. and its NATO allies were united in their support of Ukrainian sovereignty and independence.* On Friday, Blinken is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for discussions on possible diplomatic solutions. Blinken and Russias deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, have, on separate occasions, pointed to the Minsk agreementsa comprehensive peace accord signed by Russia and Ukraine in 2015, but never implemented by either sideas one possible way out.

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The point of Blinken and Shermans diplomacy has beenand still isto persuade Putin that aggression against Ukraine would be too big a gamble, that the costs outweigh the benefits. Now the president of the United States seems to have suggested that there is one form of aggressiona minor incursionwhere NATO unity would be less than clear-cut.

Does it matter? Had Putin altered his calculushad he decided against aggressionuntil Biden uttered that one sentence, at which point the scale of costs and benefits tipped in favor of going to war? Doubtful. Putin, a true Marxist-Leninist, will probably evaluate the balance of forces on what he sees as an objective basis; a stray remark during a two-hour press conference might be of minor consequence.

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However, it does complicate Blinkens task on Friday. Before, he was set to focus on diplomatic off-ramps. Now he first has to reemphasize the many dreadful things the West will do to Russia if Putin makes a move. And if Putins objective all along has been to use his 100,000 advancing troops as a bargaining chip to obtain political objectives, notably the permanent exclusion of Ukraine from NATO and the permanent preservation of a Russian sphere of influence, then he may well see Bidens remark as spurring the U.S. to make a deal.

In one sense, what Biden said was true. There is a difference between a minor incursion (define it however you will) and a major invasion. The NATO allies, and perhaps the American public, would be less willing to make sacrifices or take extravagant steps if Putin merely took another slice of eastern Ukraine.

But in the art of diplomacy and deterrence, this is not what a president should say publicly, especially as the moment of truth nears. This was a mistake. Well soon find out if it was a big one.
Democrats year-long push to pass major voting rights legislation stalled out on Wednesday night when Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema allowed Republicans to filibuster the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The defeat all but ensures that Congress will not, for the foreseeable future, pass a traditional voting rights bill prohibiting common methods of voter suppression in all 50 states. But there is one voting rights reform left on the table that stands a real chance of passage, even with the filibuster intact. And it would, if drafted correctly, serve as a safeguard against one uniquely treacherous and frightening form of mass disenfranchisement.

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That bill is a sweeping overhaul to the Electoral Count Act of 1887a loaded gun that Republicans wielded against Joe Biden on Jan. 6, and one that remains aimed at the heart of every future presidential election.

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The Electoral Count Act, or ECA, was passed in the wake of the disastrous 1876 election, when four states produced two conflicting sets of electoral votes. The law was designed to create clear procedures to resolve such disputes since the Constitution provides none. But it only muddied the waters with a new set of ambiguities, allowing Congress to reject electoral votes that are not regularly given, and to reject electors who are not lawfully certified.

What do those terms mean? No one knows for sure, leaving room for lawmakers to devise their own definitions. If one senator and one representative raise objections, Congress must suspend the count to address them. And if a majority of both houses agrees with the objectors, they may toss out the contested electoral votes. So, in theory, Congress can repudiate the lawfully elected president and install its preferred candidate. Moreover, the ECA directs the vice president to count electoral votes, a role he or she could attempt to exploit.

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On Jan. 6, we learned firsthand how easily this ramshackle process can be abused. Disgraced conservative attorney John Eastman pressured Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes for Biden. After Pence declined, Donald Trumps congressional allies raised frivolous objections to the electoral votes from six swing states. A staggering 147 Republicans backed these objections, including a majority of the House GOP.

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Consider that these schemes were thrown together at the last minute. If the ECA remains in its current form and Republicans win back Congress in 2022, it seems inevitable that they will mount a better organized challenge should Biden win reelection. Already, 15 Republicans who rejected the outcome of the 2020 election are running for secretary of state. If they prevail, and Biden carries their state in 2024, these officials may refuse to certify the true vote count, and endorse a slate of electors for Trump.

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And yet many top Democrats and progressive advocates are indifferent, if not outright hostile, to ECA reform. After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell floated the idea, Majority Leader Schumer condemned it as unacceptably insufficient, and even offensive, dismissing it as an attempt to divert attention from the real issue. Vice President Kamala Harris asserted that fixing the ECA is not a solution to the problem at hand. Democracy advocates Fred Wertheimer and Norm Eisen wrote that clarifying the language of the ECA would not deal with the democracy crisis that our nation is facing, adding that without voting rights reforms first and foremost, ECA reform makes a mockery out of our democratic governance.

Their attitudes offer the wrong framing.. ECA reform is not a substitute for voting rights legislation; it is voting rights legislation. We often discuss voter suppression and election subversion as two distinct assaults on democracy. But election subversion is, itself, a form of voter suppressionone that can function on a much larger scale than typical restrictions on the franchise.

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Republicans 2020 chicanery vividly illustrated this peril. In the run-up to Election Day, GOP officials across the country made it harder to vote. They banned ballot drop boxes, outlawed curbside voting, shuttered polling places, and sued election administrators who tried to make voting easier. It should be a scandal every time a qualified American citizen is denied the ballot. But these laws generally affect elections at the margins. They shave off a few thousands votes here and there, which can make all the difference in a close race. Election subversion operates on a much larger scale. An election subverter does not necessarily stop people from casting their ballots. Rather, they nullify those ballots after the factpotentially by the millions. When lawmakers refuse to certify the genuine results, everyone who supported for the actual winner sees their vote thrown away.

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As an example, consider what would have happened if Pence or Congress had rejected Pennsylvanias electoral votes (as Trump demanded). In 2020, Biden carried the state with 3,458,229 votes. Imagine if, after the election, Republican operatives invaded the ballot counting sites throughout the state and shredded a sufficient number of Democratic ballots to reverse Bidens victory. These operatives would, of course, be subverting the election. But they would also be suppressing those votesto the same degree as if they stood at the front of the polls on Election Day and refused to let Democrats in. By the same token, Pence would have suppressed these votes by rejecting Pennsylvanias electoral slate. And Congress would have suppressed them by siding with the Republican objectors.

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This fact is obscured by the presence of electors, the unique middle layer in presidential races. Technically, the people vote for electors, and electors vote for the president. Today, however, electors do not exercise independent judgment; they serve as trusty transmitters of other peoples decisions, as the Supreme Court put it. Most are bound by law to adhere to their states results. When they defy that obligation, they are, in the Supreme Courts words, reversing the vote of millions. And when the vice president or Congress does not acknowledge the legitimacy of an electors vote, they are doing the exact same thing.

Had Congress agreed with every objection raised by Eastman and others on Jan. 6, it would have nullified 12,742,397 votes for Biden. This figure is likely larger, by orders of magnitude, than the number of people barred from casting a ballot through traditional voter suppression. And next time could be worse. If McConnell is truly open to ECA reform, it is an invitation Democrats should accept. They need no longer worry that doing so will take the pressure off Manchin and Sinema; that ship has sailed. As longtime ECA critic Greg Sargent has reported in the Washington Post, there is already a bipartisan bill on the table that would Trump-proof the 2024 election. It is past time for Democrats to take the advice of election law experts like my colleague Rick Hasen and seize the moment to get this done.

Whether it occurs on the front end or the back end, the nullification of votes is an affront to democracy. The Constitution guarantees the right to have ones vote counted, and reforming the ECA will protect that right. Before they lose their trifecta, Democrats should jump on their last, best chance to voter suppression on a massive scale.
Having asked for institutional transparency for the sake of the Supreme Courts legitimacy last week, I am now just embarrassed. In case the Supreme Court Color War of 2022 isnt occupying 100 percent of your attention this week, let me catch you up: Justice Neil Gorsuch hasnt been wearing a mask at oral arguments this month. Justice Sonia Sotomayorwho is high risk of complications from COVID because she has Type 1 diabeteshas been participating telephonically. This has, understandably, raised some hackles, in part because it is childish and absurd, and in part because the court failed to clarify when pressed on what the policy for masking actually was. Then, veteran Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg at NPR reported Tuesday morning that Gorsuch, and the other justices, had in fact been asked by Chief Justice John Roberts to wear a mask because Sotomayor, who sits next to him at arguments, is at high risk for COVID, and he refused. Fury and shocked disbelief ensued.

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Unfortunately that is not the end but somehow just the beginning. Wednesday was like no day I can recall in the history of the court, opening as it did with a joint statement released by Gorsuch and Sotomayor in which the two announced that the reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false. While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends. That clarification made no sense at all, as court watchers quickly pointed out: Totenbergs reporting hadnt claimed Sotomayor made the request but that Roberts had in some form or other asked the other justices to mask up. The NPR report had also been about masking in conference, contending that Gorsuchs continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone.

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Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, a statement released by the chief justice through the public information office, further clarified that I did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench, and further affirmed that Roberts would have no additional comment. In other words, everyone has clarified that Gorsuch refuses to mask, that Sotomayor cannot come to court, and that nobody has asked him to do otherwise, but also that there is nothing to see here, kindly move along.

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Thus far weve seen the usual partisan fracture, as NPR stands behind its story, conservatives claim that NPR is lying, and liberals claim that the issue isnt who said what, so much as one justice refusing to make the workplace safe for a colleague. Im going to stand by my argument of last week that whether Gorsuch is a monster or a libertarian hero is kind of unknowable without more information and also kind of irrelevant. I just wanted the court to tell us what their public health rules were, and when, and if the justices declined to abide by their own rules, to explain why. But boy, did I fail to understand how awful all this simple grant of transparency was going to prove to be. This week makes me long for the good old days when Justice Antonin Scalia would do crazy stuff and then defend it outright.

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In the fullness of time, we will all learn who asked whom to do what, and what people said to whom about who asked whom to what, and we can continue to fight about it with all the zeal and vigor of middle school TikTok. This is now a problem for the media to solve. But lost in the debates about who was making stuff up is what actually happened, so lets rewind the tape. First, lets turn to the individual whom some members of the media have inexplicably treated like a legitimate and trustworthy source of information, Mike Davisa minor player in the push to confirm Donald Trumps judges and, more importantly, a former clerk and current friend of Gorsuch. Davis criticized the NPR story on Fox News on Wednesday. He was quick to condemn Ruth Marcus at the Washington Post and Nina Totenberg at NPR for, he claimed, intentionally spreading misinformation to smear Gorsuch. He went on to state why Gorsuch stood alone in refusing to wear a mask in a courtroom where everyone else did so. It was to make a point:

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The Supreme Court spent a bunch of money to upgrade the air filtration system, and for months, all nine Justices sat through these oral arguments, eight of them without masks. It was not an issue. Justice Sotomayor wore a mask, the other eight didnt. And so two Fridays ago for some reason, the science somehow changed for the two COVID [mandate] cases, and Gorsuch didnt want to play along with that. He wasnt going to play politics. So he continued to do what he did for the prior months and not wear his mask.

Now that is interesting. Im going to hazard that what Davis is saying here is that Gorsuch believes that to wear a mask in January if you were not wearing one in November is to play politics, rather to respond directly to the evolving situation that is the coronavirus pandemic. Which means, one must also infer, that Justices like Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas are playing politics by wearing masks now when they didnt do so before. This is deeply strange not just because it denies that the science changed around omicron (it did). Its deeply strange in that he expressly links the change in the courts masking policy to the public oral arguments in the vaccine-or-test cases, suggesting that the two are somehow related, rather than simply coinciding in time. If Davis is to be credited as explaining Gorsuchs true motives, then, he really does paint everyone else on the bench as a phony who is performing public health compliance for political reasons. It also surely implies that Sotomayors decision to participate remotely is just playing politics as well.

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I have tried to be scrupulous about not assigning motives to Gorsuch, but Davis has taken a rather different tack. His argument, ostensibly on behalf of Gorsuchthat the decision of justices to don masks this month is all gratuitous virtue signaling about an imaginary spike in a pandemic that coincides with oral arguments on the topicis actually one of the most damning things Ive read all week. He isnt saying Gorsuch wants to infect his colleague. He seems to be saying that, the science notwithstanding, masks dont make a lick of difference and everyone aside from himself is buckling to the creeping evil of the Fauci state.

I actually believe Sotomayor and Gorsuch when they claim to be warm colleagues and friends. And I believe they think its best for the court and the country to assert loudly that their friendship and collegiality somehow preclude the need for any discussion of what we do for our friends and colleagues when they are immunocompromised in a pandemic. Usually, what we do doesnt require waiting for them or for anyone else to ask that we take on the trivial inconvenience of a mask. Usually we just err on the side of performing solicitude because that is a minimal human effort that costs nothing. What Wednesdays bizarre public statements confirmed for me was simply that neither Sotomayor nor the chief justice think it appropriate to ask Gorsuch to perform such solicitudeto do the thing my dentist, my grocer, and my aunt dont have to ask me to do in public settings each day: err on the side of caution. What all the public statements and Davis clarification further confirmed is that Gorsuch declines to do so because his self-certainty that everyone else is misinformed trumps all else.

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I guess this is how maskgate ends. With yet more polarized public outrage. Again. Me, I see it as yet another opportunity for an institution to have modeled real collegiality and genuine mutual respect, but yet again it is instead snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. Imagine if everyone had simply put on a mask for a few weeks, not because the science was perfect, but out of respect for a colleague they loudly claim to adore. Imagine if we werent fighting about who had to ask their colleague to do what would plainly be the respectful thing. But Gorsuchwho writes so dismissively of the risks around COVIDdidnt want to play politics by conceding that COVID is actually quite dangerous, especially to the elderly and those with underlying conditions. This isnt a theoretical problem. It sits next to him at work. So, if Mike Davis is telling the truth, instead of respecting that possibility, he played politics by performing his contempt for the public health guidelines in place throughout the District of Columbia and his own place of business. Checkmate. Everyone can be a little more self-certain and pissed off.

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The saddest part here is that while whatever happened surely meant something, a performance of workplace collegiality and friendship it was not, jolly joint statements notwithstanding. The nation most certainly would have benefited from a tangible showing of that, but at the end of the day, Gorsuch still isnt wearing a mask, and Sotomayor is still phoning in from the safety of her chambers. Call it playing politics, but in another time, demonstrating out of an abundance of caution some regard for your colleagues healthwithout being askedwould have merely been leadership, or empathy, or even humility. That other time is long gone. We are all of us scorpions in a bottle now.
On Wednesday evening, the Supreme Court delivered a crushing blow to Donald Trumps efforts to keep relevant White House records secret from the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. In an apparent 81 decision, with only Justice Clarence Thomas noting his dissent, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had not made an obvious error in holding that Trumps claims of executive privilege over the documents would fail under any test proposed by the former president.

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Under federal law, the Supreme Court could only grant Trump a reprieve at this stage if the legal rights at issue are indisputably clear. It appears a majority of the justices did not believe the former president has an indisputably clear right to stop the National Archives from releasing potentially incriminating documents. Their decision means that the committee should immediately begin to receive records surrounding the events of Jan. 6 from the National Archives, prying loose critical information as to how Trump and those around him responded in real time to an ongoing insurrection that the president had inspired. The court did, however, leave the door open for Trump to raise stronger, more specific executive privilege claims to try to block testimony of other associates who have refused to cooperate with the committee. Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a concurrence that also gave future witnesses a tool to seek to avoid testimony.

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In its December decision, the D.C. Circuit strongly suggested that a former president could not claim executive privilege if the current president waived that privilege. Thus, Trump could not stop the Jan. 6 committee from obtaining records with Bidens blessing. The Supreme Court clarified that this portion of the lower courts opinion is not a binding precedent. Kavanaugh went further, suggesting that a former presidents privilege claims might carry similar weight as claims raised by the current president. Kavanaugh wrote:

If Presidents and their advisers thought that the privileges protections would terminate at the end of the Presidency and that their privileged communications could be disclosed when the President left office (or were subject to the absolute control of a subsequent President who could be a political opponent of a former President), the consequences for the Presidency would be severe.

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As Kavanaugh is essentially the tiebreaking vote on this extremely conservative court, his views on the executive privilege of former presidents are likely to carry great weight should the issue come before the court again. With multiple Jan. 6 witnesses refusing to cooperate with the committees subpoenas, it seems inevitable that the issue may resurfaceand that these witnesses stalling tactics may work.

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Though Steve Bannon has already been charged with criminal contempt for refusing to respect a congressional subpoena, former chief of staff Mark Meadows has not been charged yet despite a criminal referral from Congress. The courts order on Wednesday may offer a temporary reprieve for Meadows, or perhaps even a get-out-of-jail-free card, if hes able to raise stronger privilege claims than Trump brought this time around.

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As the D.C. Circuit made clear, raising a stronger claim should not be difficult given how little effort Trumps attorneys made to demonstrate any reason whatsoever for the courts to accept his privilege claim. As the lower court wrote, Trump had failed even to allege, let alone demonstrate, any particularized harm that would arise from disclosure, any distinct and superseding interest in confidentiality attached to these particular documents, lack of relevance, or any other reasoned justification for withholding the documents. If Meadows or other Jan. 6 witnesses are able to raise even one specific reason executive privilege claims should shield their testimony, they will have done more than Trump did in this litigation and will have a better chance before a favorable Supreme Court.

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In this case, though, Trumps claims are toast. Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trumps claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, the Supreme Court held in siding against Trump, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the courts decision.

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The documents that the Jan. 6 committee will now receive should be extremely revelatory. They include early drafts of statements that Trump gave that day that failed to quell the violence as lawmakers begged him for support, a draft executive order on election integrity, and handwritten notes concerning the events of Jan. 6 from Meadows himself.

While Kavanaugh and the rest of the court left open the door for witnesses like Meadows to try to shirk their duty to testify, Wednesdays order may make their effort to avoid testimony more difficultif only for practical purposes. The more information that is revealed about Jan. 6, the greater odds will be that Congress can use that information to demonstrate that there is no reasonable excuse to block future revelations through privilege. As a result, Meadows and others might have a harder time convincing the justices to block the committees requests if and when this conflict returns to the Supreme Court.
ARCHIVED - Half of Spain on alert for freezing temperatures: weather update January 20



Murcia and Valencia are on alert for temperatures as low as -8C

After weeks of spring-like temperatures, Spain has been experiencing a more seasonable cold snap in recent days and the occasional sub-zero temperatures will persist throughout Thursday January 20. Alerts are in place mainly due to minimum temperatures that could plummet as low as -8C in 18 provinces and warnings have been issued in coastal communities due to wind, according to Aemet.

The most widespread adverse weather phenomenon this Thursday will be for minimum temperatures dropping to between -4C and -8C in Huesca, Zaragoza, Teruel, Segovia, Soria, Zamora, Albacete, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Ciudad Real, Murcia, Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Valencia and Alicante

Cloudy skies are expected in the extreme north of the country with scattered light rainfall in the eastern Cantabrian Sea and the Pyrenees, which is also on alert for snowfall at an altitude of 700 to 800 metres.

Cloudy intervals are also forecast along the Mediterranean coast and some weak and isolated showers can be expected in the Balearic Islands later in the day. The maximum temperatures will tend to drop in mountainous areas of the northern and southeastern half of Spain.

Inland areas will start the day with some frost but in general, temperatures across the country will be close to the normal values for this time of year.

In the Canary Islands, a yellow warning has been activated in La Palma due to heavy rains, while on the eastern islands high clouds will predominate.

Much of the country will be exposed to winds from the north or northeast on Thursday, and weather warnings continue for freezing temperatures in the Region of Murcia at least until tomorrow

Image: Aemet
ARCHIVED - Spain registers highest number of irregular migrants since 2019



Some 1,600 immigrants have illegally arrived in Spain in the first 15 days of this year

A total of 1,604 migrants have arrived in Spain irregularly in the first two weeks of 2022 according to the latest data released by the Ministry of the Interior, the highest figure recorded in this period since 2019, when more than 3,000 entries were registered. This is also a 16.5% increase compared to the beginning of last year.

Of the total arrivals between January 1 and 16, the majority have travelled by sea: 1,585 in 90 small boats, which represents an increase of 27%. In contrast, since tighter security measures were introduced, only 19 immigrants managed to cross the land borders at the north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

The most striking difference in numbers has occurred in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands.

So far this year, 790 migrants have arrived on the Canary coast, a significant decrease of 26.1% compared to the more than 1,000 that had already reached the archipelago in the first days of 2021. On the other hand, the Ministry has registered a staggering increase of 346% in irregular arrivals to the Balearics and the rest of the countrys coast.

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The cave needs to be cleared of rubble left behind by miners first.

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The Cave of Peace is located between the famous Demanovska Cave of Freedom and the Demanovska Ice Cave, which form one of the most remarkable cave systems in the Carpathians. Although work to make it accessible began shortly after its discovery almost 70 years ago, no visitor has ever entered the Cave of Peace.

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Jan Zuskin, director of the Slovak Caves Administration, maintained that the Demanovska Cave of Freedom and the Demanovska Ice Cave are rare sites.

"Anyone who likes to visit caves cannot be disappointed," Zuskin told the My Liptov website.

The Demanovska Cave of Peace, over 16 kilometres in length, is the longest of the caves in the Demanovska system. It is home to several unusual features such as the largest lake in the entire system and a huge sinter formation reminiscent of the Dukla monument in eastern Slovakia.

Cave adapted to the tourist route

The Cave of Peace was discovered in 1952. A year later, cavers officially announced that it would be made available to the public. However, it took very long to create the plan of how to make the cave accessible to people, and the work itself did not begin until the late 1970s.

However, more than 30 years ago, work stopped completely. There is still a two-kilometre-long concrete path in the cave and a lot of rust-eaten iron, which miners used to make railings and load-bearing structures.

The work on making the cave accessible was not exactly considerate of the extremely sensitive cave space. Miners adapted the cave to the path, not the other way around. They perceived various cave corridors and holes as pits, covering them with rubble. Tons of such material have remained in the cave.

What has been left in the cave after the careless access work represents a burden that needs to be removed.

Problem to be fixed

The State Nature Conservancy of Slovak Republic, under which the Slovak Caves Administration falls, received financial support from the EU to restore the disrupted parts of the underground of the Demanovska Cave of Peace and the subsequent reconstruction of the tourist route itself.

The estimated value of the project is 1.4 million.

"The aim is not to make the cave accessible for commercial purposes in the first place, but to relieve the cave of damaging loads," Zuskin said.

Read also:

Read also: New cave discovered in Demanovska Valley Read more

The cave will not be accessible to the public until five years after the end of the project, he added.

Spectacular Slovakia travel guides
Asylum seekers now rely on NGOs. A new amendment should change that.

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Until now, the state in Slovakia, while considering and occasionally granting claims of asylum, has taken little formal responsibility for those actually granted protection here. Instead, the job of helping them to integrate  not to mention the costs  has fallen mostly to NGOs. That now looks set to change.

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A draft amendment to Slovakia's asylum law was approved by the government on January 12 and will now be considered by parliament. If it passes, the state will take on much more responsibility for those in the asylum system, and asylum seekers will get earlier access to the labour market.

Those granted protection will also be entitled to financial support. People granted asylum or subsidiary protection, an alternative status granted to applicants who do not qualify for full asylum, will receive an integration payment from the state, which will also arrange for a cultural orientation course, and for psychological counselling for asylum holders, asylum seekers and people granted subsidiary protection.

The aim of the proposed law is to systematically adjust the primary integration of asylum holders and foreigners offered subsidiary protection, the Interior Ministry, which is behind the amendment, states. If approved by parliament, the law would come into effect on June 1, 2022.

NGOs which help asylum holders and people granted subsidiary protection to integrate in Slovakia agree that the amendment will introduce several important changes. First of all, responsibility for providing services to asylum holders in Slovakia will pass to the state from NGOs, which currently carry most of the burden.

In the case of approval of the amendment, the conditions for providing assistance to persons granted asylum or subsidiary protection will be enacted, Peter Devinsky, director of the Slovak Humanitarian Council NGO, told The Slovak Spectator.

NGOs responsibility

Slovakia granted asylum to 24 people in the first 11 months of 2021 and refused asylum to 113 others, according to official data from the Interior Ministry. Moreover, subsidiary protection was granted to 13 people and refused to 12 other applicants.
He has been taken into custody. The next trial will be held on January 26.

School children who were taught by Ashling Murphy hold pictures of their teacher outside St Brigid's Church, Mountbolus, Ireland, at the end of her funeral on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. Hundreds of mourners in Ireland attended the funeral mass of the 23-year-old schoolteacher whose murder has reignited the debate on how to tackle violence against women. (Source: AP/TASR)

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Irish authorities have charged a 31-year-old Slovak with the murder of teacher Ashling Murphy.

The man, identified as Jozef Puska, lives in the town of Tullamore in Ireland. He stood trial on January 19 after he was charged, the TASR newswire reported.

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23-year-old Murphy was attacked while exercising beside a canal in Tullamore on January 12.

In court, a detective sergeant gave evidence of the arrest and charge. The judge ordered Puska be taken into custody to appear again at Clover Hill District Court on January 26, the British broadcaster BBC reported.

Puskas defence solicitor applied for free legal aid and for the services of an interpreter, stating that the man is a Slovak national who has been living on 200 a week, as reported by BBC.

Even though the police detained another man during the investigation, he was later released, without any charges being brought against him, TASR wrote.

The Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry said it is monitoring the investigation of the case along with the Slovak representation office in Dublin. Yet, the ministrys spokesperson Juraj Tomaga refused to comment on the matter on January 19.

At the time, it was still unofficial information and no charges had been pressed. The information that the suspect was a Slovak national was only reported on by the Irish and British media.

Tomaga said that in similar cases if charges are pressed and the suspect asks for consular assistance, the ministry tries to assist them within the bounds of possibility, the SITA newswire reported.

Slovak law enforcement bodies involved

On January 18, The General Prosecutors Office provided Ireland with information from criminal records, Dalibor Skladan, spokesperson for the General Prosecutors Office, said.

The Prosecutor's Office was contacted by Irish authorities through the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), the TASR newswire said.

"The Prosecutor General's Office of the Slovak Republic immediately provided the Central Authority for the Exchange of Information from the Criminal Records of the Republic of Ireland with all relevant information in accordance with the Criminal Records Act and the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters," the spokesperson said.

Slovak police also said their Irish counterparts had been in touch with them over the case, according to a report on TV Markiza.
Instead of New Years Resolutions and a wish for a Happy New Year, a friend simply wished for Hope for the New Year. For those around the world and indeed, in Australia, who are experiencing persecution, hope in Christ is perhaps the only thing to cling to.

But instead of looking at it from the perspective that hope is all we have, we must shift our gaze from just hope to Hope with a capital H! Hope in a powerful God who can do more than we imagine: Psalm chapter 140, verse 12:But I know the Lord will help those they persecute; he will give justice to the poor.

And we can pray with Paul, the writer of the letter to the Ephesians that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of their imagination, flooding them with light, until they experience the full revelation of the hope of his callingthat is, the wealth of Gods glorious inheritances that he finds in them, his holy ones! From Ephesians Chapter 1, verse 18 (The Passion Translation, amended by me)

Update on Ethiopia: TPLF retreats to Tigray and appeals for ceasefire

Hope in God will not disappoint! Praise God who has turned back the battle in answer to prayer!

The head of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), DebretsionGebremichael, has written to the United Nations explaining that he has ordered all units of the TigrayDefence Force outside of the borders of Tigray to withdraw to Tigray. As the TPLF retreats it leaves in its wake 'a trail of abuse', including a multitude of displaced and massacred civilians, looted aid warehouses and vandalised empty hospitals.

But this conflict was always about much more than TPLF ambitions. Foreign elements want to weaken, divide, and rule Ethiopia (by proxy [the TPLF]) so they can dominate the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea Region. The collapse of Ethiopia would trigger a Christian crisis of monumental proportions. Please continue to pray that God will fulfil all his purposes for Ethiopia.

'The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands' (Psalm 138:8 ESV).

Update on Haiti: all 17 hostages returned free

Praise God for answered prayers.

Founded in 1981, Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) describes itself as 'a foreign-aid outlet for Amish and Mennonite and other conservative Anabaptist groups and individuals to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world.' On 9 October a criminal gang seized 16 American and one Canadian CAM missionaries/supporters in Haiti, where they had been visiting a CAM-run orphanage.

The gang demanded one million US dollars ransom per captive and threatened to kill them if it was not forthcoming [see RLPB 621 (27 Oct)]. Two missionaries were released on 21 November and three more were released two weeks later.

Then, on the night of 15 December, the remaining 12 hostages made a daring night-time escape, walking for hours in the dark over rugged terrain until the dawn when they approached someone who phoned for help. On 20 December, under a banner declaring, 'Praise God for answered prayers', CAM General Director David Troyer gave a press conference, rich in gracious thankfulness, announcing the safe return of all 17 hostages.

Praise God and continue to pray that Haiti will be delivered of its spiritual darkness.

Hope will not disappoint  a historical perspective

In 1860, Charles Spurgeon preached on Amos chapter 9 verse 13, envisaging that the land of Israel, which had been turned into desert during Turkish/Ottoman rule, would become fertile once again. Today, a restored Israel has made the desert bloom.

Much has changed since Spurgeon's day! Then, most Christians lived in the Judeo-Christian West, and persecution was limited largely to the indigenous Christian peoples of the Ottoman Empire.

By the year 2000, after some 200 years of Protestant missions (initially from the West, but now [since the 1960s] increasingly indigenous), most Christians live in the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, traditional or atheistic non-Western world. Multitudes exist as counter-cultural religious minorities in states with appalling human rights records and little to no religious liberty, amidst escalating intolerance.

The reason persecution has grown to be a global phenomenon is because Christianity has grown to be a global faith! God is fulfilling his promises!

At the end of 2021, Elizabeth Kendall challenged us: Dare we image a future in which churches in China and Iran are freely sending out missionaries all over the world? Dare we believe that the day may be coming when instead of Islam pressing southwards through Africa, a spiritual harvest might be reaped in Sudan, across the Sahel, and throughout West and North Africa as the Holy Spirit sweeps north unleashing revival among the Hausa, the Fulani and the Arabs? Dare we imagine a mostly Christian India or Japan or Afghanistan? Dare we trust God to be faithful to his word? 'I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Jesus, in Matthew 16:18 ESV).

Almighty God our Heavenly Father,

Please merciful God, increase our faith so that we will never tire of interceding for and supporting your persecuted Church as she serves you on the front line of an increasingly intense spiritual battle.
Opposition attacks presidents 'most serious failure'.

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President Zuzana Caputova supports Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Slovakia and the US. She considers it a way of strengthening defence cooperation with allies.

We are a NATO member country and this should contribute to cooperation, Caputova said.

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She does not think the DCA would in any way harm Slovak sovereignty. The President also noted that 23 out of 29 NATO countries have such an agreement.

Caputova made the statement after she met with PM Eduard Heger (OLaNO) and Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollar earlier this week, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korcok and Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad, to discuss the agreement.

President lays down a condition
Quarantine in Slovakia could be cut. Slovak median salary at 1,288 gross in 2021.

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Good evening. The Thursday, January 20 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready, giving the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

President gives conditional support to DCA

President Zuzana Caputova (Source: SITA)

President Zuzana Caputova supports concluding the Slovak-US Defence Cooperation Agreement.

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However, she said she is aware that opinion about the DCA differ in society and has therefore put a condition on its ratification that the agreement must include an interpretation clause. This will be part of her approval for a member of the government to sign the DCA on Slovakia's behalf.

The interpretation clause will, among others, state that the agreement will be implemented in a way that does not pose a threat to the Slovak Republic.

The president noted that the US does not have to sign the interpretation clause but that if the US refused it, Slovakia will not sign the DCA.

PM Eduard Heger has said he welcomes the President's stance, but the opposition Hlas party has described it as "the most serious failure of the President in relation to Slovak citizens so far."

Infectious people may be soon going to work

Illustrative stock photo (Source: Sme)

The Health Ministry is ready to shorten the compulsory isolation period for people who test positive for Covid. This is the plan after the onset of the latest Omicron wave of infections in Slovakia, during which tens of thousands of people are expected to be infected per day.

The current quarantine period is ten days, but this could be cut to five if employee shortages become so severe because workers will need to quarantine that essential services will be under threat.

People in the shortened quarantine will have to remain at home for five days, and then in the five days after that quarantine period, will be able to conduct only essential activities, such as go only to work and buy groceries.

It is clearly a pragmatic decision for a time when there will be large shortages of staff in various areas, Health Ministry analyst Matej Misik said.

Shortening quarantine is a step that some other countries have taken, including neighbouring Austria and the Czech Republic. Analysts expect Slovakia could be in such a situation in a matter of weeks.

More coronavirus and vaccination news

Vaccination in a bus in Kosice (Source: TASR)

6,011 people were newly diagnosed as Covid positive out of 17,803 PCR tests performed on Wednesday. The number of people in hospital is 1,606. 61 more deaths were reported on Wednesday. The vaccination rate is 50.60 percent, 2,783,230 people have received a first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.

out of 17,803 PCR tests performed on Wednesday. The number of people in hospital is 1,606. 61 more deaths were reported on Wednesday. The vaccination rate is 50.60 percent, 2,783,230 people have received a first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here. Most positive PCR tests on Wednesday were in the districts of Bratislava (539), Dunajska Streda (330), Zilina (261), Kosice (257) and Namestovo (207), according to the National Centre for Health Information.

(539), Dunajska Streda (330), Zilina (261), Kosice (257) and Namestovo (207), according to the National Centre for Health Information. Omicron accounted for 61 percent of samples, according to Unilabs Slovakia, a network of laboratories sequencing positive samples from the end of last week. The remainder is the Delta variant. The laboratories sequenced 384 positive samples from across Slovakia.

according to Unilabs Slovakia, a network of laboratories sequencing positive samples from the end of last week. The remainder is the Delta variant. The laboratories sequenced 384 positive samples from across Slovakia. Legal analysis of mandatory vaccination by the Justice and Health Ministries is ready. After presenting it to PM Eduard Heger and other involved people and subjects, the ministries will inform the public of their findings.

Photo of the day

A difficult hike to Velky Choc, a mountain peak near Ruzomberok in central Slovakia, is rewarded with a beautiful view of the surrounding wilderness.

Feature story for today

Until now, the state, while considering and occasionally granting claims of asylum, has taken little formal responsibility for those actually granted protection here. Instead, the job of helping them to integrate  not to mention the costs  has fallen mostly to NGOs. That now looks set to change.

State reconsiders its duty towards asylum seekers Read more

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you.

In other news

The program of cooperation between the Slovak and Russian General Prosecutor's Offices includes two round tables, workshops and a professional meeting in 2022 and 2023 . This is according to a document published on the website of the General Prosecutor's Office. The document was added to the website by the prosecutor's office after it refused to make it available to the Sme daily.

. This is according to a document published on the website of the General Prosecutor's Office. The document was added to the website by the prosecutor's office after it refused to make it available to the Sme daily. InoBat Auto has entered into a joint development agreement with the International Finance Corporation which belongs to the World Bank Group. According to the Slovak company, the goal of the partnership is to build a gigaplant for batteries for electric cars in Central and Southeastern Europe.

which belongs to the World Bank Group. According to the Slovak company, the goal of the partnership is to build a gigaplant for batteries for electric cars in Central and Southeastern Europe. The median salary in Slovakia was 1,288 gross in 2021 . This means that 50 percent of people working in the country had a lower basic salary, according to a recent analysis of the Platy.sk website, which runs under the Profesia recruitment company.

. This means that 50 percent of people working in the country had a lower basic salary, according to a recent analysis of the Platy.sk website, which runs under the Profesia recruitment company. More than 10,000 beverage packagings were collected since the system of returning packaging on deposit was launched . Currently, there are about 2,000 collecting sites in Slovakia.

. Currently, there are about 2,000 collecting sites in Slovakia. Trnava-based carmaker Stellantis wants to hire more than 300 employees as part of an ongoing recruitment programme . According to the company's spokesperson, Peter Svec, the factory wants to return to its original production pace from February due to the improving situation with the supply of semiconductors.

. According to the company's spokesperson, Peter Svec, the factory wants to return to its original production pace from February due to the improving situation with the supply of semiconductors. The number of passengers at Poprad airport fell 36 percent y-o-y in 2021, due to restrictions associated with the spread of coronavirus variants. According to Peter Dujava, the director of the airport, behind this unfavorable development are the reduction of flights and rotation on the Poprad - London - Luton route to once a week, weak ticket and holiday sales last summer, as well as the completely canceled winter season.

Do not miss on Spectator.sk today

Slovak charged with killing an Irish teacher Read more

Bratislava zoo mourns the loss of its oldest giraffe Read more

People have waited decades to visit the Cave of Peace. They must wait longer Read more

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/finland-very-unlikely-to-join-nato-for-now-neither-us-or-russia-can-influence-decision-pm-says-1092402728.html

Finland Very Unlikely to Join NATO for Now, Neither US or Russia Can Influence Decision, PM Says

Finland Very Unlikely to Join NATO for Now, Neither US or Russia Can Influence Decision, PM Says

While it enjoyed non-aligned status after the end of WWII, Finland has drifted toward NATO since the end of the Cold War, taking part in alliance drills... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T16:15+0000

2022-01-20T16:15+0000

2022-01-20T18:54+0000

finland

nato

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Finland is very unlikely to join NATO in the immediate future, but will support the US and Europe with extremely tough sanctions against Russia if Moscow decides to invade Ukraine, Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said.NATO membership was not on the cards at the moment, according to Marin, because we have a very fresh new paper on foreign security policy and we have decided that we have the opportunity, the possibility to become a NATO member state, but we are not applying and we are not discussing of applying. But we have that possibility in the future.On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden held his second talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in a month to discuss the importance of Finlands close defence partnership with the United States and with NATO amid the current crisis between Russia and the West over Ukraine.The US and its allies have claimed that Russia is preparing to invade its western neighbour. Moscow has vehemently denied the claims and accused Washington of using trumped-up claims of Russian aggression to justify NATOs eastward creep.Marins remarks to Reuters follow on comments she made during her New Years address to the nation, when she said that Finland retains the option of applying for NATO membership, and would uphold this freedom of choice and make sure it remains a reality, as this is part of every countrys right to decide its own security policies.President Niinisto echoed Marins sentiments in his own address, and criticized the Russian security proposals  which ask NATO to halt its eastward expansion, as an outdated notion about spheres of influence.During the Cold War, Finland, which shares a 1,340 km border with Russia, was able to enjoy neutrality, with neither the Western nor the Eastern blocs interfering with its security, economic or political affairs. After the Soviet collapse, the country began a slow drift toward NATO, engaging in joint drills with bloc members, and allowing the alliance to use its territory under a host nation support agreement signed in 1994.Finlands potential membership in NATO has been debated for decades. This week, polling conducted for the Helsingin Sanomat national newspaper found that 42 percent of Finns were opposed to the prospect of alliance membership, with 28 percent in favour, and 30 percent undecided.In neighbouring Sweden, recent polling has found that 35 percent of Swedes are in favour of NATO membership, with 33 percent opposed and the rest undecided.Late last year and again earlier this month, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance already enjoys close cooperation with Helsinki, and that Finland is welcome to join anytime if it so chooses.Last month, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that the accession of either Finland or Sweden into the Western bloc would necessitate an adequate response from Moscow. Accusing NATO of seeking to draw the two countries into the orbit of its interests and opportunistic policies, Zakharova stressed that Russia sees the countries non-alignment as an important factor for ensuring stability in northern Europe, with the choice of a national defence strategy remaining in the hands of each state.

https://sputniknews.com/20220102/finnish-pm-president-on-nato-finland-should-keep-options-open-may-join-at-will-1091971941.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220107/sweden-talks-nato-with-finland-as-supreme-commander-slams-russian-security-proposals-1092083186.html

finland

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Ilya Tsukanov

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https://sputniknews.com/20220120/from-grape-or-grain-but-never-the-twain-to-red-wines-health-halo-science-versus-alcohol-myths-1092396383.html

From 'Grape or Grain But Never the Twain' to Red Wine's 'Health Halo': Science Versus Alcohol Myths

From 'Grape or Grain But Never the Twain' to Red Wine's 'Health Halo': Science Versus Alcohol Myths

There are popular beliefs that bar-hoppers are ready to swear by. But is there actually any science behind alcohol myths?

2022-01-20T13:57+0000

2022-01-20T13:57+0000

2022-01-20T13:57+0000

wine

alcohol

beer

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One can never really predict how ones body (and ones liver) will react to alcohol. But there swarms of popular beliefs that bar-hopping folks are ready to swear by.Beer Before LiquorBeer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, youre in the clear, or Grape or grain but never the twain these phrases suggesting that you can avoid a hangover if you take drinks in the right order or avoiding mixing them has been debunked as false by science.A study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutricion, broke up 90 people into three groups before the drinking, factoring in size, age and gender.Carlsberg Pilsner lager with an alcohol content of 5 percent was served, as was a white wine with an alcohol content of 11.1 percent. One group drank two-and-a-half pints of beer followed by four glasses of white wine. The second group consumed the beverages in the opposite order. A third drank either only beer or only wine.A week later the study groups switched. Hangover severity was judged in line with the Acute Hangover Scale (AHS) rating on the day following every session. The result showed that changing the order of the drinks or sticking to one made little to no difference. Its all about the amount of alcohol the body needs to metabolize at once, not the form.Straw TheoryMany believe that straw-sipping your way through Margaritas will allow the alcohol to hit you faster. Proponents of the "Straw theory" argue that people drink any form of liquid faster through a straw. Because they are ingesting more alcohol in a shorter period of time, they will arguably become drunk faster. Secondly, they claim a straw creates a vacuum, which eliminates oxygen, triggering a "feeling of intoxication."However, thereis no evidence to support the idea that people get drunk faster if they drink alcoholic beverages through a straw, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Is Tequila is a Stimulant?There are numerous myths surrounding agave-based spirits , such as tequila and mescal. Agave is a wild succulent that grows throughout much of Mexico and has been harvested since the time of the Aztecs, used in food, in medicine, and alcohol. When people claim tequila acts as a stimulant, they are mostly relying on common urban legend, claim experts. In effect, the alcohol in beer, wine, and tequila all affect the brain in the same way, according to Dr. Nehal Vadhan, Senior Research Scientist at the Wellbridge Center for Addiction Science.Tequila, most typically consumed by means of quick shots, as opposed to wine-sipping, is not a stimulant."This perception can be magnified by popular culture, and especially on social media, by the anecdotal experiences of a few individuals," Vadhan explained to Delish, adding that all forms of alcohol are classified as depressants, due to how they decrease central nervous system activity. Red Wines Health HaloRed wine, albeit in moderation, has long been thought of as heart healthy, as certain substances in it, called antioxidants, may help prevent coronary artery disease. The latter condition can lead to heart attacks.The so-called French Paradox has also fed into this belief.The term, dating to the 1980s, references a scientific study that looked into Frances low incidence of coronary heart disease.The Polyphenol most commonly linked to red wine is resveratrol. Resveratrol also has anticarcinogenic properties and the potential to inhibit tumour formation and growth.However, as there is only a small amount of polyphenols in red wine, one might be advised to boost its intake by opting for cereal with berries or tucking into plums, rather than topping up the wine glass, according to research, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.Can Some Drinks Cause Worse Hangovers?Alcohol is alcohol, and the barhoppers myth that specific types or combinations of drinks affect the outcome  or in other words, the hangover is not true. Its all about the amount you drink, as the chemical compound of alcohol is the same. However, sometimes additives like sugar can change how the alcohol is being processed.Hair of the DogAnd, finally, one of the most popular beliefs out there is that the best hangover cure is to keep drinking. It comes from the premise that sometimes the cause of an ailment can also be its cure.What the Hair of the Dog practice does is trick ones brain into thinking youre having a good time, but it fails to fix any of the physical side effects caused by alcohol, chiefly dehydration.When you add on the booze, these ailments will just get worse and worse.

https://sputniknews.com/20161117/smoke-damage-red-wine-1047563027.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220114/here-comes-the-sun-corona-rolls-out-vitamin-d-enriched-alcohol-free-beer-1092262322.html

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Svetlana Ekimenko

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https://sputniknews.com/20220120/havana-syndrome-not-result-of-deliberate-campaign-by-hostile-country-cia-interim-finding-says-1092387937.html

Havana Syndrome Not Result of Deliberate Campaign by Hostile Country, CIA Interim Finding Says

Havana Syndrome Not Result of Deliberate Campaign by Hostile Country, CIA Interim Finding Says

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Central Intelligence Agency says it does not consider Havana syndrome to be the result of a deliberate global campaign by any... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T07:14+0000

2022-01-20T07:14+0000

2022-01-20T07:12+0000

cia

havana syndrome

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"We don't see a global campaign by a foreign actor," a senior CIA official said, as quoted by Politico on Wednesday.According to the media, the agency found convincing and plausible explanation for Havana syndrome in hundreds of cases. The representatives did not identify any mechanism or weapon used at this point.However, according to the official, there are still about two dozen unresolved cases and the agency continues to investigate whether any country or power stands behind such symptoms as headaches and nausea."We would definitely not rule out the possibility of foreign-actor involvement in some discrete cases," the official said, as quoted by the news agency.According to US media, some people, including those affected by the syndrome, expressed their disappointment with the CIA statements. They called the assessment "internal," stressing that it was made without coordination with other US agencies.Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that diplomats working at the US diplomatic missions in Geneva and Paris may have been affected by Havana Syndrome. The incidents reportedly happened in the summer of 2021. In Geneva, three American officials reported symptoms similar to Havana Syndrome. At least one diplomat was evacuated to the US for treatment. Senior embassy officials in Paris also informed diplomats by email of one more suspected case and called on the mission's staff to report unusual symptoms.US diplomats were first diagnosed with Havana Syndrome in Cuba in 2016 and then in China in 2018. The diplomats said they experienced piercing sounds that have caused longer-term health effects. American diplomats in Russia, Tajikistan, Austria and in several African countries have also reported experiencing Havana Syndrome symptoms, including nausea and dizziness.Moscow denied any involvement in Havana Syndrome in the past.

https://sputniknews.com/20211210/us-diplomat-affected-by-havana-syndrome-reportedly-sues-state-department-1091411357.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20220120/iranian-president-visits-moscow-anti-coup-protests-in-sudan-ned-funded-kazakhstan-coup-plotters-1092381218.html

Iranian President Visits Moscow; Anti-Coup Protests in Sudan; NED Funded Kazakhstan Coup Plotters

Iranian President Visits Moscow; Anti-Coup Protests in Sudan; NED Funded Kazakhstan Coup Plotters

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that his visit to Moscow will be a turning point in political, economic, and trade relations between Iran and Russia. 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T08:33+0000

2022-01-20T08:33+0000

2022-01-20T08:33+0000

ethiopia

sudan

mali

ukraine

kazakhstan

ebrahim raisi

nord stream 2

the critical hour

radio

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Iranian President Visits Moscow; Anti-Coup Protests in Sudan; NED Funded Kazakhstan Coup Plotters Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that his visit to Moscow will be a turning point in political, economic, and trade relations between Iran and Russia.

Dr. David Oualaalou, author and international security analyst, joins us to discuss Iran and Russia. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that his visit to Moscow will be a turning point in political, economic, and trade relations between Iran and Russia.Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author, joins us to discuss the European security crisis. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Ukraine as the White House is pushing the trope that Russia is on the verge of attacking Ukraine. Also, the Nordstream project seems to be moving forward again as Europe acknowledges the relationship between affordable energy and economic development.Scott Ritter, former UN weapon inspector in Iraq, joins us to discuss Kazakhstan. The National Endowment for Democracy, a US intelligence cut-out, provided over a million dollars to groups working to illegally overthrow the government of the Western Asian nation. Also, many argue that the CSTO's ability to quell the attempted coup signals that the days of US-sponsored color revolutions are over.Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss Africa. Seven people were killed as anti-coup protests continue in Sudan. Also, Western sanctions against Mali could cost the lives of thousands of citizens and plunge the nation into a humanitarian crisis.Chris Hedges, investigative journalist, joins us to discuss America's class war. Chris Hedges argues that voting will not change the economic plight of the working class in America. He maintains that organized labor is the only way to significantly affect the dynamics of neoliberal capitalism.KJ Noh, activist, writer, and teacher, joins us to discuss China. China, Russia, and Iran will be holding another series of joint maritime exercises in a move that is said to help ensure the safety of maritime shipping. Also, China argues that Nicaragua's rejection of Taiwan as an independent nation is a turning point, and that Taiwan is running out of supporters.Robert Fantina, journalist and Palestinian activist, joins us to discuss Israel. A Washington Post op-ed piece argues that Israel's leadership is trying to put a pretty face on their "apartheid" policy by making friends with politicians abroad. Meanwhile, the situation for the Palestinians has not improved.Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emeritus at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California, joins us to discuss President Biden's voting rights bill. Professor Cohn argues that Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) are holding up the legislation.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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mali

ukraine

kazakhstan

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ethiopia, sudan, mali, ukraine, kazakhstan, ebrahim raisi, nord stream 2, the critical hour, , radio
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/love-birds-netizens-swoon-over-candid-shot-of-owlets-posing-for-pre-wedding-shoot-1092389486.html

Love Birds: Netizens Swoon Over Candid Shot of Owlets Posing for Pre-Wedding Shoot

Love Birds: Netizens Swoon Over Candid Shot of Owlets Posing for Pre-Wedding Shoot

Usually, couples are quite enthused about pre-wedding photoshoots. They try their best to stand out from the rest and this practice has gained prominence in... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T09:06+0000

2022-01-20T09:06+0000

2022-01-20T09:06+0000

viral video

maharashtra

wildlife

india

wildlife

animal

viral video

viral video

viral

wildlife

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Netizens have gone gaga over a photo shared by an Indian Forest Services (IFS) official which shows two young owls, perched atop a branch of a tree, nuzzling together.Sharing a collage of the two adorable owlets on Twitter on 19 January, IFS officer Madhu Mitha aptly remarked: Pre Wedding Photoshoot I suppose!Soon, the post garnered a lot of attention online, leaving netizens in splits. While most agreed with the IFS officer and said the birds can give couples a run for their money, others chimed in with hilarious jokes and memes.The photograph was captured by Ashwin Kenkare in Bhandara, a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. He had first posted the photograph on a Facebook page called Indian birds; it then took flight on other platforms as well.

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viral video, maharashtra, wildlife, india, wildlife, animal, viral video, viral video, viral, wildlife, viral, viral videos, viral, india
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/north-korea-warns-us-threats-may-force-pyongyang-to-resume-nuke-and-long-range-missile-tests-1092404674.html

North Korea Warns US Threats May Force Pyongyang to Resume Nuke and Long-Range Missile Tests

North Korea Warns US Threats May Force Pyongyang to Resume Nuke and Long-Range Missile Tests

North Korea unilaterally suspended testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles in 2018, amid warming relations with Seoul and Washington under Donald... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

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2022-01-20T19:12+0000

north korea

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North Korea has warned that it may scrap its self-imposed moratoriums on nuclear and long-range missile testing, saying US military threats which had reached a danger line, were to blame.Assessing that the hostile policy and military threats by the US have reached a danger line that cannot be overlooked any longer despite our sincere efforts for maintaining the general tide for relaxation of tensions in the Korean Peninsula since the DPRK-US summit in Singapore, the [Politburo] unanimously recognized that we should make more thorough preparation for a long-term confrontation with the US imperialists, the Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday, citing decisions taken in a meeting of the countrys leadership, chaired by General Secretary Kim Jong-un.The DPRK politburo also accused the US of viciously slurring Pyongyang and committing a foolish act by slapping over twenty packages of sanctions against the Asian nation.Vowing practical action to more reliably and effectively increase the countrys military potential, the politburo instructed its armed forces to immediately bolster more powerful physical means which can efficiently control the hostile moves of the US against the DPRK getting ever more serious day by day.Missile MadnessNorth Korea unilaterally suspended nuclear weapons and long-range missile testing in 2018 amid a warming of ties with Seoul and Washington, and stuck to its pledge even after negotiations between Kim and Trump broke down in 2019. Relations further cooled under Biden in 2021. Since 2018, the country has limited its missile testing to short-range projectiles.Over the past two weeks, North Korea has dramatically ramped up its testing activities, successfully testing hypersonic projectiles, launching two conventional ballistic missiles from a rail-based system, and firing off a pair of tactical guided missiles.The US Treasury on 12 January slapped six North Korean officials with sanctions, accusing them of involvement in the procurement of components for Pyongyangs weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes. A Russian businessperson and their company were also charged for activities or transactions that have materially contributed to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their means of delivery.Biden did not bring up North Korea at a Wednesday solo press conference marking his first anniversary in office. A White House spokesperson declined to get into the hypotheticals of a potential US response to a resumption of nuclear and long-range missile testing by Pyongyang, but said that Washingtons goal remains the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken characterized North Koreas missile testing as profoundly destabilizing, and said the US would work with its regional allies to find a solution.Pyongyang has expressed a willingness to work with Seoul and Washington to reduce tensions in the region, but has rejected US demands that it unilaterally abandon nuclear weapons. Pyongyang reportedly sees weapons of mass destruction as a guarantee of its strategic security against foreign aggression. The country has gradually built up its missiles capabilities, in May 2017 gaining a theoretical ability to hit Guam, and carrying out two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles - the Hwasong-14 and the Hwasong-15 - in July and November 2017. The latter two weapons are said to be capable of reaching the US mainland.The country demonstrated another ICBM  the Hwasong-17 - in October 2020, with that missile said to have a range of up to 13,000 km and a potential warhead weight of 2,000-3,500 kg.

https://sputniknews.com/20220117/north-korea-tested-tactical-guided-missiles-on-monday-state-media-report-1092328116.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220115/photos-dprk-says-friday-launches-were-firing-drill-by-railway-borne-missile-regiment-1092269620.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220101/north-koreas-leader-reportedly-says-2022-to-be-year-of-great-struggle-1091959846.html

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Ilya Tsukanov

Ilya Tsukanov

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Ilya Tsukanov

north korea
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/outcry-online-after-school-employee-seen-taping-mask-to-childs-face-1092383900.html

Outcry Online After School Employee Seen Taping Mask to Childs Face

Outcry Online After School Employee Seen Taping Mask to Childs Face

Pennsylvania Parents in Shock After Seeing School Employee Taping Mask to Childs Face

2022-01-20T03:54+0000

2022-01-20T03:54+0000

2022-01-20T03:56+0000

us

school

pensylvania

mask

viral

covid-19

/html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content

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Parents in the North Penn School District have lambasted local authorities after an incident in which a school employee was seen attaching a mask to a child's face with tape.According to the statement by the school district, the photo taken in one of our classrooms last week and circulating on social media does not represent the universal values that the North Penn School District strives to instill in both our students and staff.Authorities noted that the matter is serious and it is being addressed with the employee, but refused to identify the school employee as all personnel and student matters are confidential. At the same time, some of the outraged parents demanded that the school employee involved in the incident face immediate disciplinary action.State authorities have no right to require masks after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled the governors school mask mandate, but some school districts were authorized to keep the mandate.There is no information about the identity of the woman depicted in the photo or her position at the school.

pensylvania

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Alexandra Kashirina

Alexandra Kashirina

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Alexandra Kashirina

us, school, pensylvania, mask, viral, covid-19
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/prince-andrews-ex-gf-claims-epstein--clinton-were-like-brothers-loved-hanging-around-with-him-1092383008.html

Prince Andrew's Ex-GF Claims Epstein & Clinton Were 'Like Brothers', 'Loved' Hanging Around With Him

Prince Andrew's Ex-GF Claims Epstein & Clinton Were 'Like Brothers', 'Loved' Hanging Around With Him

The late pedophile, disgraced royal, and once the most powerful man in the world were among the subjects of ITV's documentary "Ghislaine, Prince Andrew, and... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T03:14+0000

2022-01-20T03:14+0000

2022-01-20T03:14+0000

bill clinton

society

prince andrew

jeffrey epstein

sex crime

sex scandal

pedophile ring

underage sex

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Lady Victoria Hervey, a socialite and Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend, claims that Jeffery Epstein and former US President Bill Clinton "were like brothers" and "loved" being around the Duke of York, according to a new ITV documentary.The 44-year-old socialite and former "It Girl" met Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell about 20 years ago. She is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and is claimed to have briefly been the love interest of the Duke of York.She discussed Clinton's relationship with Epstein, who has been pictured with the pedophile billionaire on several occasions and is said to have flown on his infamous private plane at least nine times.The model and aristocrat underscored that Clinton was "super close to Jeffrey Epstein."The convicted former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, in fact, attended the wedding of Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton's daughter, in 2010. Epstein and the former president are not friends at all, according to Clinton, who denies having any sort of close relationship with the late pedophile.The Duke of York, who, like Clinton, is alleged to have spent time at Jeffery Epstein's private houses and at parties organized by the financier, and is thought to have been close with Maxwell, is another high-profile individual caught up in the scandal involving Maxwell and Epstein, and also featured in the documentary.She then claimed that the pair, Epstein and Maxwell, used her as "bait" to entertain Epstein's friends, claiming that the pedophile "sat back and waited for her to go fishing and find however many girls were needed to entertain his friend," and compared Maxwell and Epstein to "Batman and Robin" and a "double act."Lady Victoria claimed that she was "young and naive" back in the day, so she "didn't realise it of course at the time, but looking back..."In addition, among the other revelations of the film, there was also one very delicate issue pertaining to the disgraced prince. He, according to former employees of the royal palaces and journalists, was very defensive of his large collection of teddy bears, and would berate royal maids if they did not arrange them in a certain way.Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of being an accomplice to her former partner, Epstein, and aiding the sexual abuse of minors last month on December 29. She faces a sentence of 65 years in prison, which means she might spend the rest of her life there. She was convicted of sex trafficking on five of six charges, marking a total fall from grace for the former London "It girl" who eventually rose to the top of New York's social scene.

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2022

Kirill Kurevlev

Kirill Kurevlev

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Kirill Kurevlev

bill clinton, society, prince andrew, jeffrey epstein, sex crime, sex scandal, pedophile ring, underage sex
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/show-must-go-on-west-virginia-journo-hit-by-car-continues-reporting-1092396902.html

'Show Must Go On': West Virginia Journo Hit by Car Continues Reporting

'Show Must Go On': West Virginia Journo Hit by Car Continues Reporting

Being a journalist can be a challenging job, especially when something goes wrong live on air. 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T14:10+0000

2022-01-20T14:10+0000

2022-01-20T14:10+0000

media

west virginia

journalism

viral video

world

united states

world

media

journalism

west virginia

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The phrase "the show must go on is fitting for a journalist  this video doing the rounds on social media is proof. Tori Yorgey of WSAZ-TV is seen reporting on a water main break in Dunbar city in West Virginia's Kanahwa County when she's hit by a pickup from behind. Due to the speed of the incident, veteran news anchor Tim Irr in the studio initially failed to grasp what had happened. However, Yorgey continued reporting and informed him and the viewers that she wasnt hurt.Yorgey exclaimed: "Oh my god! I just got hit by a car, but Im OK. I just got hit by a car, but I'm OK, Tim."Replying to her, Irr said: "Wow, thats a first for you on TV, Tori.""Thats live TV for you. Its all good," she said. "I actually got hit by a car in college, too, just like that. I am so glad Im The woman who was apparently driving the pickup can be heard apologising in the video as Yorgey assures her that she's fine.You are ok. Were all good. Yorgey assured. Maam, you are so sweet, and you are ok. It is all good."Were you bumped down low Tori or were you hit up high? I couldnt really tell I just saw you disappear out of the screen, the studio host enquired. I dont even know Tim. My whole life just flashed before my eyes, the journalist replied.The video has gone viral on social media and netizens have left messages praising the journalist.

west virginia

world

kanawha county, west virginia

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media, west virginia, journalism, viral video, world, united states, world, media, journalism, west virginia, kanawha county, west virginia, world, reporting, viral video, viral video, journalism, viral, viral, viral videos, media, viral, world
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/sputnik-v-bests-pfizer-jab-in-effectiveness-against-omicron-research-shows-1092359455.html

Sputnik V Bests Pfizer Jab in Effectiveness Against Omicron, Research Shows

Sputnik V Bests Pfizer Jab in Effectiveness Against Omicron, Research Shows

Previous data already suggested that Sputnik V vaccine is highly effective against the Omicron variant, with studies also pointing at a lesser and slower... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T11:00+0000

2022-01-20T11:00+0000

2022-01-20T11:00+0000

sputnik v

omicron covid strain

russian direct investment fund (rdif)

vaccine

gamaleya research institute of epidemiology and microbiology

pfizer

covid-19

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Sputnik V is twice as effective as the Pfizer vaccine in neutralising the Omicron strain - this is the key takeaway from the latest analysis by Italy's National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Russias Gamaleya Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology and Moscow State Sechenov Medical University.The researchers pitted Russias Sputnik V vaccine against the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA jab in a comparative preprint study published by MedRxiv portal. The goal was to explore the efficacy of the two COVID-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant.The examination has been prepared by the 12 Italian scientists in a Rome lab, using the blood serum samples of persons vaccinated with these jabs, who had similar levels of IgG (immunoglobulin G) antibodies and the same neutralising activity against the initial variant of novel coronavirus registered in Wuhan.It turns out that in comparison with the Pfizer jab, Sputnik V had 2.1 times more neutralising antibodies against the Omicron in general, and 2.6 times more antibodies three months after vaccination.When it comes to in-depth analysis of protection mechanisms, researchers noted that Sputnik V neutralises the Omicron variant because it forms a stronger immune response due to the high level of antibodies. When reviewing the basic level of RBD (receptor-binding domain)-specific IgG antibodies, researchers pointed out that within the upper 25% of samples with the highest levels of IgG, 100% of individuals vaccinated with Sputnik V had these antibodies, compared to 83.3% in the Pfizer group. In total 74.2% of Sputnik V blood serum samples successfully neutralised the Omicron strain compared to 56.9% for Pfizer.As to reasons why Sputnik V forms such an immense response to Omicron, there are several factors at play, such as producing a much broader spectre of neutralising antibodies, whilst the Pfizer jab uses the S-protein in proline-stabilised form aimed against specific parts of the antigen molecules, which, in the case of the Omicron are usually deformed by the viruss mutations. Sputnik Vs heterologous prime boost technology also plays a role, with the Russian vaccine using two different carrier adenovirus vectors, with the human adenoviral vector platform itself having an additional advantage of being a better imitation of the infection. The Spallanzani-Gamaleya MedRxiv publication mentions this approach as the most effective one:The joint Italo-Russian study also confirms earlier findings by the Gamaleya Institute, which were published by MedRxiv in December of 2021. According to the document, Sputnik V has a high level of virus-neutralising activity against the Omicron variant.The Universal Booster ShotThe overwhelming spread of the Delta variant followed immediately by the wave of the Omicron strain, has led to a global search for the perfect booster vaccine. The answer, according to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), comes in the form of Sputnik Light.Sputnik Light is single-shot vaccine based on the human adenovirus serotype 26 (which is also used as the first component of the two-dose Sputnik V). The Russian Ministry of Health recommends Sputnik Light as a booster to be applied 6 months after primary vaccination.Data from clinical studies in Argentina and other countries, as well as from domestic trials, have shown high safety and immunogenicity of Sputnik Light as a booster shot for vaccines of other manufacturers. Its efficacy as a single-shot booster against the notorious Delta variant for other vaccines is close to the efficacy against Delta of the two-shot Sputnik V jab: more than 83% against infection and 94% against hospitalisation, as per a report by RDIF.RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev has underlined the importance of using Sputnik Light as a booster:Worlds First Registered Jab Against COVID-19Sputnik V has been authorised for use in 71 countries with a total population of 4 billion people, with Australia becoming the latest nation to recognise the Russian vaccine. Sputnik Light has been authorised in 30 countries. Both jabs have been developed using a well-known adenovirus vector technology which as a 30-year-long history and a proven safety and efficacy record. Unlike the competing technology, the adenoviral virus platform has not been connected with serious adverse effects, such as pericarditis or myocarditis. Among other key advantages of Sputnik V is the fact that it can be kept at temperatures from +2 to +8 Celsius, which makes it easier to deliver and preserve the batches, while some of the competing vaccines require special ultra-low temperature freezers.Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is the country's sovereign wealth fund, established to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside international strategic and financial investors. The Fund is in charge of Sputnik V and Sputnik Lights production and international distribution.The Omicron variant of SARS-Cov-2 was identified in November 2021 and has rapidly become the dominant type of the novel coronavirus around the world. As of 12 January 2022, the Omicron strain has been registered in 150 countries.

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sputnik v, russian direct investment fund (rdif), vaccine, gamaleya research institute of epidemiology and microbiology, pfizer, covid-19
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/two-men-arrested-in-uk-over-texas-synagogue-hostage-taking-1092391440.html

Two Men Arrested in UK Over Texas Synagogue Hostage-Taking

Two Men Arrested in UK Over Texas Synagogue Hostage-Taking

LONDON (Sputnik) - Two men were arrested on Thursday in Manchester and Birmingham as part of an ongoing investigation into the attack on a Texas synagogue by a... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T09:56+0000

2022-01-20T09:56+0000

2022-01-20T09:54+0000

us

arrest

synagogue

uk

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"As a result of this ongoing investigation, two men have been arrested this morning in Birmingham and Manchester. They remain in custody for questioning," the Counter Terrorism Policing North West division said in a statement.Earlier this week, the Greater Manchester Police said they detained two teenagers as part of the investigation into the hostage-taking situation in Texas. Last Sunday, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation identified the man who had taken a rabbi and three others hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel the previous day as 44-year-old British citizen Malik Faisal Akram. He had been holding the four people hostage for several hours before the police stormed the building and shot the hostage-taker during an operation. All the hostages were safely released. According to the British Security Service, MI5, Akram had been the subject of an investigation in 2020 but by the time he went to the US, he had been described as no longer posing a risk.

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us, arrest, synagogue, uk
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/us-green-lights-ukraine-proxy-war-against-russia-1092401299.html

US Green Lights Ukraine Proxy War Against Russia

US Green Lights Ukraine Proxy War Against Russia

The authorizing of more US missile supplies to Ukraine at this critical juncture indicates Washingtons agenda of starting a war against Russia. 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T15:42+0000

2022-01-20T15:42+0000

2022-01-20T15:42+0000

columnists

russia-nato row on european security

us

russia

ukraine

nato

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https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/102312/83/1023128339_0:0:2936:1653_1920x0_80_0_0_1ff4346f5714492d06e8e9506d1b568c.jpg

This is on top of already massive inventories of military equipment despatched to Ukraine by the Biden administration. But given the new additional supplies emerging only days after Russian officials met with US and NATO counterparts to seek security guarantees is a clear sign of reckless contempt.The agenda seems to be one of fomenting a major conflict with Russia using Ukraine as a proxy; in a similar way to how the Americans armed Afghan insurgents during the 1980s to create a debilitating quagmire for the Soviet Union.It is reported that the US State Department has given approval for NATO members to supply American-made weapons to Ukraine. The NATO members include Britain and the Baltic states, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.The weapons in question are reportedly Javelin anti-tank missiles as well as ground-to-air Stinger anti-aircraft rockets. The US has previously sent its own supplies of these missiles, but the additional supply routes from Britain and the Baltic states spell a significant ramping up of military support to the Kiev regime.This week, Britain has already sent several military cargo planes to Ukraine loaded with tonnes of arms, according to the Russian foreign ministry.The weapons are being sent under the pretext of defending Ukraine from Russian aggression. Moscow has vehemently denied it has any plans to invade Ukraine. The invasion hysteria seems to be a ploy to cover up the provocative militarization by the NATO-backed Kiev regime. There is a more plausible real danger that this regime, which came to power in a CIA-backed coup detat in 2014, is trying to incite a war with Russia.Other significant pointers are the visits to Kiev last week by CIA chief William Burns who met with top officials. Then earlier this week a delegation of senior US Senators were vowing more weapons to Ukraine to deter Russian aggression.One of those Senators, Chris Murphy, who sits on the influential Foreign Relations Committee, has previously told media that the United States would like to see Ukraine becoming another Afghanistan for Moscow.This is a reference to the 1980s war in Afghanistan when the US supplied Mujahideen fighters Stinger missiles that were effective in combating Soviet aircraft and possibly tipped the decision by Moscow to withdraw from the Central Asian country. The late American imperial planner Zbigniew Brzezinski gloated about how the proxy war gave the Soviet Union its Vietnam.What is happening in Ukraine is shaping up in a similar way. The blatant arming of the anti-Russia regime in Kiev is encouraging its forces to seek a military solution to the civil war in the country against pro-Russian self-defense forces in the southeast Donbas region. If that war is ramped up then there will be immense political and moral pressure on Russia to come to the aid of Ukraines ethnic Russian population.President Joe Biden predicted this week in a high-profile White House press conference that Russia will make an imminent incursion into Ukraine and the United States will impose sanctions like never seen before. It sounds like an orchestration.It seems that Washington and its NATO partners are hellbent on trying to goad Moscow into a proxy war over Ukraine. That will facilitate the US and its European Union lackeys to target Russia with even more draconian economic sanctions in a bid to cripple the Russian economy, including cancelation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The ultimate US objective is regime change in Moscow.Last week, Russian officials met with US and NATO counterparts in various European capitals to discuss urgent security proposals set out by Moscow. Those proposals included a commitment from NATO to cease its expansion towards the east, in particular a moratorium on letting Ukraine and other former Soviet republics join the military bloc. There was also a proposal for NATO to scale back its offensive forces in neighboring Eastern European countries.The US and NATO snubbed Russias concerns as non-starters. There is no sign so far that Washington will formulate a written reply to Moscows requests for security guarantees.More pointedly, the moves to increase the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine from Baltic NATO members that are notoriously Russophobic is an ominous sign that diplomacy and peaceful engagement are being shelved. Recklessly, the United States is putting Ukraine and other gung-ho NATO members on a war footing against Russia.

https://sputniknews.com/20220120/us-speaks-about-russias-alleged-invasion-of-ukraine-to-cover-its-provocations-moscow-says-1092389879.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220117/mccaul-says-us-got-into-new-cold-war-with-russia-calls-for-sanctions-more-arms-sales-to-ukraine-1092307037.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220117/kremlin-on-nulands-18-response-scenarios-in-ukraine-russia-also-considering-various-scenarios-1092313842.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220114/to-kill-russians-cia-reportedly-trained-ukrainian-squads-to-launch-anti-russian-insurgency-1092261276.html

ukraine

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Finian Cunningham https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/01/0c/1081745381_0:429:2048:2477_100x100_80_0_0_02c0961b33c51d5d1a17db3237ef3811.jpg

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columnists, us, russia, ukraine, nato
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/violent-israeli-demolition-of-palestinian-home-in-jerusalems-sheikh-jarrah-rebuked-by-us-at-un-1092409349.html

Violent Israeli Demolition of Palestinian Home in Jerusalems Sheikh Jarrah Rebuked by US at UN

Violent Israeli Demolition of Palestinian Home in Jerusalems Sheikh Jarrah Rebuked by US at UN

The US envoy to the United Nations spoke out on Thursday against the forcible eviction of a Palestinian family in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T21:15+0000

2022-01-20T21:15+0000

2022-01-20T21:14+0000

un security council

east jerusalem

israel

eviction

palestine

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Speaking at the UN Security Council, US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield upheld Washingtons commitment to the two-state solution articulated in the Oslo peace process, condemning all forms of violence and hatred as inimical to that goal.To make progress, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution. That includes annexations of territory, settlement activity, demolitions, and evictions  like what we saw in Sheikh Jarrah  incitement to violence, and providing compensation for individuals imprisoned for acts of terrorism, she added.Early on Wednesday morning, roughly a dozen Israeli police officers arrived outside the home of the Salhiya family in Sheikh Jarrah, a district in northern East Jerusalem, and dragged the houses 15 occupants outside before demolishing the structure with a bulldozer. It was the neighborhood's first eviction since 2017.According to Yasmin Salhiya, one of the evicted residents, police beat members of her family, including children, and fired rubber bullets. They also arrested 25 people, including five members of the Salhiya family.In A Battle for 25 YearsWednesdays before-dawn raid was the second attempt by Israeli police: on Monday, protesters confronted Israeli forces that included the Yamam counterterrorism unit. Mohammed Salhiya took to the house roof with gas canisters and threatened to burn the structure down if Israeli forces entered it.While the raid failed to evict them, the familys tree nursery business was demolished.Israeli authorities claimed the land had been appropriated for public use since 2017 to build a school for children with disabilities, and that the Sulhiya familys homes were illegal. The family had an active appeal in the Jerusalem District Court, with a final hearing scheduled for January 23.Israels envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, defended the demolitions."We are talking about a family that stole public lands for their own private use, while these lands have been earmarked for the building of a school for children with special needs," Erdan told the UNSC on Thursday."This is a municipal issue that has gone through all of the respected channels of the independent Israeli legal system, yet nevertheless the Palestinians use this issue  and this institutions Pavlovian anti-Israel response  for their own political gains," he added.A Half-Century of EvictionsThe sought eviction of several Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah has made the area a major flashpoint in East Jerusalem, with right-wing Jewish groups staging marches through the neighborhood and frequent clashes between Palestinian defenders of the four remaining families and the Israeli police and civilians who attacked their homes.Protests against an Israeli courts ruling against the families in May 2021 coincided with violence elsewhere in Jerusalem during Ramadan, including the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli police, which together helped set off 11 days of rocket bombardments by Hamas and airstrikes in Gaza by the Israeli Air Force that killed 254 Gazans and 13 Israelis.In the United Nations partition of the UKs Palestine Mandate in 1947, neither Palestinians or Jewish settlers controlled Jerusalem, which is home to holy sites of both Jews and Muslims, as well as Christians. However, in the war that followed, the newly formed state of Israel captured the western half of Jerusalem, seizing the eastern half from Jordan in 1967 in an ambush offensive that captured the rest of the West Bank, as well.In violation of international law, Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and declared the united city its capital. Many countries have refused to recognize the move and kept their embassies in Tel Aviv, but the US made the shift in 2018, causing several other countries to follow suit.

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un security council, east jerusalem, israel, eviction, palestine
https://sputniknews.com/20220120/want-my-child-back-gazan-christian-pleads-for-help-after-brainwashed-daughter-converts-to-islam-1092384682.html

'Want My Child Back': Gazan Christian Pleads For Help After 'Brainwashed' Daughter Converts to Islam

'Want My Child Back': Gazan Christian Pleads For Help After 'Brainwashed' Daughter Converts to Islam

It is not really clear what pushed the Palestinian Christian girl Mirna to embrace Islam. The 18-year-old claims it was her own will, but her mother is certain... 20.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-20T05:20+0000

2022-01-20T05:20+0000

2022-01-20T05:20+0000

gaza strip

hamas

islam

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Entisar al-Turuk, a Palestinian Christian from Gaza and mother of three, has never thought she would be begging to talk to her own child. However, this is exactly what has happened with her 18-year-old daughter Mirna.Forbidden TiesIt all traces back to the beginning of 2021. Back then, Mirna fell in love with the son of her Muslim neighbour, something that her Christian family couldn't accept.That lack of acceptance was expressed with violence. Beginning of the EndIt was at that point, says the woman, that all problems broke lose. The police didn't open an investigation into the incident. Instead, they placed Mirna in the so-called Beit Al Aman, or a shelter, an institution that operates under the Ministry of Social Development and that's aimed at protecting women from violence.Eventually, multiple attempts and pressure have bore fruit, and when the mother was finally allowed to speak to Mirna, she discovered that her daughter had converted to Islam.The mother was only allowed to see Mirna after her daughter had promised that she would not discuss her new religion.'Brainwashed and Forced'Entisar believes Mirna was brainwashed and pushed into Islam. She also claims that it was done under the encouragement of Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Gaza Strip.Since 2007, when Hamas took control of the coastal enclave, the conditions of local Christians has gradually deteriorated. Their churches have been destroyed, adherents of Christianity have been persecuted, and many were pushed to convert to Islam.Today, there are only several hundred Christians in the Strip, whereas 3,000 used to reside there before 2007. Like all Gazans, their economic condition is dire and unstable, but given the fact that they are a minority in the enclave, their position is even more fragile and vulnerable.Not Losing HopeThe frustration of Entisar is directed primarily at Ghazi Hamad, Deputy Minister of Social Development in Gaza, who throughout the years has filled a number of important posts within the Hamas government.The woman claims that Hamad has played a pivotal role in converting Mirna to Islam and that it was he who had prevented her family from seeing her.Hamad himself, who spoke with Sputnik over the phone, tells quite a different story.He acknowledges that Mirna was put in a shelter following the violence she had experienced at home, but claims the decision to convert to Islam was personal. It was not forced, nor was it dictated to her by anyone.Sputnik has tried to arrange an interview with the 18-year-old but those requests have been rejected. Instead, she sent a message slamming her family for the lies they spread.However, that explanation does not sit well with neither the story of the mother, nor Hamad. What's also curious is that any Christian who chooses to convert to Islam in Gaza is supposed to attend a special meeting with the local clergymen, to make sure the decision of the individual was not forced, but that has never happened to Mirna.Father Youssef As'ad, assistant pastor of the Latin community, who knows the family well, says that he is familiar with the Muslim cleric who converted Mirna to Islam. He also claims she has never sat with the Christian clergymen and therefore they could not verify whether her decision to convert was done from pure intentions or whether it was carried out as a result of brainwashing and force.At this point, says Entisar, she no longer cares whether her daughter is Christian or Muslim. All she wants now is to have her back.

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Starting Friday, Marcus Theatres will offer vaccine-required shows at the Lincoln Grand Cinema downtown.

The vaccination-only shows will be available for two titles daily. Those showtimes will be marked on the Marcus Theatres website and app.

This weeks vaccine-required shows at the Grand will be Scream and Redeeming Love. Each of the films will be offered two times a day  "Redeeming Love" at 12:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. and Scream at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Moviegoers attending those shows will be asked to present their vaccination card or a photo of their card along with a photo ID. Proof of negative tests will not be accepted for admission.

All guests, including children, must be vaccinated to attend those shows.
The Legislature's Revenue Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill to speed up full exemption of Social Security income from the state income tax by 2025 on a 5-0 vote.

And not far behind will be a bill designed to secure an estimated $200 million in additional property tax relief for Nebraskans in 2024 by eliminating an earlier $375 million annual floor in the refundable income tax credit created in 2020.

That proposal, LB723, introduced by Sen. Tom Briese of Albion initially failed to advance to the floor of the Legislature despite a 4-0 vote, but the bill was later advanced when Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk called in the fifth vote.

The Social Security income tax exemption contained in LB825, introduced by Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, would be phased in over the next four years, beginning with a 40% exemption in 2022 that would grow in 20% increments until full exemption is achieved in 2025.

The loss in potential state revenue was estimated at $40 million in fiscal 2022-2023, rising eventually to $73 million.

Both tax reduction proposals were opposed by Tiffany Friesen Milone, speaking for Open Sky Policy Institute, who warned that the bills would obligate the state to revenue reductions without knowing if state government can afford it.

The state's revenue flow is "now propped up by federal funding," she told the committee during a public hearing.

And an increasing ratio of older Nebraskans may shift more of the tax load to future working Nebraskans with subsequent pressure on the state budget, she said.

Lindstrom, who is a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has been working on reduction, and eventual elimination, of Social Security income tax liability throughout his two terms in the Legislature.

"This thing needs to go away," he said.

Delores Tonack, president of NSEA-Retired, said "it's an unfair tax on retirement benefits" and its removal will "enable Nebraska to be more retirement-friendly."

Briese said his bill would correct an oversight that would restore the intent of earlier legislation to provide additional direct tax relief through a rebate on school property taxes.

Mark McHargue, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, urged the committee to support the measure.

While acknowledging that the Legislature has provided "substantial property tax relief," he said work still needs to be done to create balance among property, sales and income taxes.

Property taxes now represent about 42% of the total, he said.

Also on Wednesday, a total of 102 bills and resolutions were introduced, including:

MEDICAL ABORTION: Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist introduced a bill (LB1086) prohibiting doctors from providing abortion-inducing drugs to pregnant women after seven weeks of gestation. Doctors who do provide medication abortions would be required to file a report with the state.

DUAL ENROLLMENT: Sen. John Stinner of Gering wants to appropriate (LB1087) $15 million to Nebraskas community colleges to expand opportunities for high school students to get college credit.

NUCLEAR STUDY: Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard sponsored a bill (LB1100) appropriating $1 million in federal stimulus funds for a feasibility study for new nuclear reactors throughout Nebraska.

ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP: The Environmental Response Act (LB1102) proposed by Bostelman would provide the director of the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy more power to take action to clean up pollutants and assess penalties. It would also create a cash fund to pay for expenses incurred by the state.

AUTISM PLATES: Nebraskans would be able to purchase an Autism Awareness license plate under a bill (LB1105) from Sen. Jen Day of Gretna.

ELECTIONS: A bill (LB1121) from Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston would require employees of the Secretary of State to inspect vote-counting devices before each election to ensure they arent connected to the internet. Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard brought a bill (LB1123) that would prohibit election commissioners from counting any ballots before all polling places in the state have closed.

CONTRACEPTIVES: Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld introduced legislation (LB1129) requiring the state to provide free contraceptives to any woman who requests one.

COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS: More inmates eligible to be placed in community corrections or transitional houses would be allowed to do so, under a bill (LB1154) from Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney.

SCHOOL MATERIALS: Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue introduced a bill (LB1158) that would allow parents and guardians to request textbooks, websites or other curriculum materials, including teacher training materials, and request their children be excused from certain instruction.

NITRATES: Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart brought a bill (LB1160) that would tag $10 million in federal stimulus funds for the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy to provide grants for reverse osmosis systems to small and rural communities with high nitrate levels in drinking water.

INTERNSHIPS: Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk is seeking $30 million in federal funds to create an internship program under the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and $20 million in federal funds to create a Department of Labor grant program to retain workers.

TEACHER PAY: Morfeld also sponsored a bill (LB1131) to give teachers, child care workers and health care workers in Nebraska a $1,000 bonus from federal stimulus funds. A bill (LB1169) by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn would use federal stimulus money to provide $5,000 grants to teachers in their first four years of their careers earning less than $75,000 annually.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon

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In August 2020, our nation marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendments ratification, which gave women the right to vote. This was the final victory in a decades-long struggle by these visionary reformers.

The womens suffrage movement succeeded partly because it appealed to a promise our Founding Fathers made at the birth of our nation, but which remained unfulfilled until the 19th Amendments ratification: that all men  and women  are created equal.

Today, a different group of reformers is fighting to fulfill another promise made in the Declaration of Independence: the promise of an unalienable right to life.

Every January for nearly 50 years, pro-life advocates have come together at the March for Life to defend that right. The first march in 1974 saw 20,000 attendees; this year, as many as 100,000 people will gather in Washington to support the right to life for all.

The March for Life will take place on January 21 this year, and those who attend have a lot to march for. To start, President Biden is asking the Senate to confirm an FDA commissioner who has revealed himself to be an instrument of the abortion lobby.

During his tenure as a prior FDA commissioner under President Obama, Dr. Robert Califf consistently opposed the right to life. Under his leadership, the FDA loosened restrictions on chemicals used in abortion drugs, a policy that led directly to the agencys decision last year to allow access to on-demand, mail-order abortion drugs. I will strongly oppose his nomination to lead the FDA.

The Supreme Court is also currently considering the case Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which is focused on a Mississippi law that would limit abortion after 15 weeks. The Justices heard oral arguments in the case on December 1 of last year, and I was proud to join more than 200 members of Congress in sending an amicus brief to the Court on behalf of Mississippis law.

Like many of my colleagues in Congress, I am proud to be pro-life  and I am also proud to be pro-woman. These two things are not in conflict. Susan B. Anthony, one of the most prominent suffragists and an early advocate for the abolition of slavery, strongly opposed abortion.

After all these decades, in spite of so much opposition from members of the media, politicians, and left-wing activists, the pro-life movement is stronger than ever. This strength is partly thanks to the March for Life. But it is also thanks to amazing advancements in modern medicine.

At the time Roe was decided, ultrasounds and sonograms had just been invented. Today, these technologies allow expectant mothers and fathers to see incredible pictures of their unborn children, even after as few as eight weeks of pregnancy. Babies hearts begin to beat after just six weeks. And new innovations have allowed children born long before the traditional point of viability to not only survive outside the womb, but go on to live healthy lives.

Throughout all of this time, the March for Life has been a constant presence, peacefully demonstrating each and every January for the right to life. I am proud to support the participants as they march for the 49th year in a row.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has lost $5 billion so far on its contract to supply the U.S. Air Force with new KC-46A aerial tankers. The problems were all on Boeing and now the air force has decided to proceed with their plan to order another 140 tankers. These are not automatically coming from Boeing. The air force is holding a competition to see who will get the follow-on contract for an existing (non-developmental) tanker. There are only two tankers that qualify; the KC-46 and the Airbus KC-30. Airbus lost the initial competition to Boeing but has been far more successful in getting its KC-30 (formerly KC-45A), now known as the MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport) into production, and has already won over some tanker customers who were originally going to take whatever the Americans were using. Another irony here is that originally the KC-45A/30 was in the lead and won the initial competition. Boeing sued for a do-over and barely won that. The new competition may find Airbus as the only competitor as Boeing may decline to compete, if only to avoid more bad publicity.

KC-46A finally entered service in 2019 but was still dealing with new manufacturing and design problems. The first problem delayed the first deliveries in 2019 because of FOD (Foreign Object Debris), including tools and other metal objects, still showing up in various parts of the aircraft. This indicated a serious lapse in the management of assembly and quality control. After nearly a month of effort to check out aircraft nearly ready for delivery as well as factory inspection procedures, the air force agreed to begin accepting KC-46s. Deliveries continued despite a recently discovered cargo lock (unreliable cargo tie-down latches) problem. The air force was concerned about Boeing, while also needing the KC-46A as soon as possible. Boeing is the same firm that is having worse problems with its new 737 Max commercial airliner.

Once deliveries began Boeing planned to deliver 36 KC-46As by the end of 2019 and later expected to meet that goal even though only 19 had been delivered by early September. At the end of the year, the goal of 36 was missed but Boeing did fix the cargo lock problem and this allowed cargo to again be carried. There was one problem left with the accuracy of the remote viewing system used by the 46A boom operator. That does not prevent the operation of the aircraft, it slows down refueling in some cases.

In 2021 a problem was discovered involving leaky toilets. Most tankers are based on commercial freighters, with the addition of more onboard fuel and aerial refueling equipment. There is a lot of space left for passengers and cargo. The KC-46 can carry over a hundred passengers and when it does the crew toilet is not sufficient. There was already a cargo pallet based ATGL (Air Transportable Galley-Lavatory) in use with the C-17 and C-130 transports. These aircraft alternate between carrying all cargo, mixed (cargo/passenger) and all-passenger modes. Boeing, the developer of the KC-46 was told to make sure the KC-46 could easily handle the ATGL. It was a simple request for a simple task; just note the ATGL specs and their use on the other transports and the job is done. Like so many other simple design and construction tasks on the KC-46, Boeing got it wrong. They moved the orientation of the ATGL 90 degrees to fit into the KC-46 and did not note that the ATGL anti-spill valve did not work reliably in the new orientation. Boeing did not discover that until the ATGL underwent testing on the KC-46 and the leak problem became obvious. Now a new valve must be developed and tested, and there is no certainty when that will get done. Based on the many past problems with the KC-46, these avoidable problems take longer than anticipated to fix. Some problems discovered several years ago are still unresolved.

Boeing was in a hurry to deliver nearly 200 KC-46As to the air force but the air force is now seeking ways to have someone else provide a more reliable tanker. The total value of the project, to replace the aging fleet of KC-135 and KC-10 tankers, was potentially as high as $44 billion. The initial order was for 18 aircraft at about $150 million each. That initial order also came with about a billion dollars for development work plus $4 billion in additional development costs that the manufacturer absorbed. The air force planned on ordering over a hundred KC-46As, but the exact number depended on what kind of future aircraft the air force will be using. The air force now wants the Airbus tanker to take over and the current contract with Boeing allows that.

On paper the capabilities of the American (Boeing) and European (AirBus) tanker candidates was quite close. The KC-330 carries 20 percent more fuel than the KC-767, plus 37 percent more cargo pallets and passengers. But this apparently worked against the KC-330, as the KC-767 is closer in size to the KC-135, and thus will not require as many new maintenance facilities. The KC-767 is also considered easier and cheaper to maintain. The KC-330/45A was to have cost about $175 million each, 17 percent more than the KC-46A.

The KC-46A is based on the Boeing 767-200 airliner, which sells for about $120 million. The 767 has been in service since 1982, and over 1,100 have been manufactured so far. Boeing developed the KC-46A on its own, at a cost of nearly a billion dollars. Boeing also developed the original KC-135 tanker in the 1950s and has since built over 2,000 of these.

The two engine KC-330 (KC-45A) was based on the AirBus-330, which costs about $160 million each. Over 1,400 330s have been produced since the aircraft entered service in 1994. Both candidates were selected for their ability to replace the four-engine KC-135. This older aircraft carries 90 tons of fuel and can transfer up to 68 tons. Typically, aerial tankers service B-52s (which carry over 140 tons of jet fuel) and fighters like the F-15 (over five tons). The KC-135 has long made itself useful carrying cargo and passengers, as well as fuel, and both the KC-767 and KC-30 have more capacity for this. The KC-46A can pump 1,200 gallons (4,900 liters) a minute total while each of the underwing pods can deliver a third of that per minute.

With the continued KC-46A delays most export sales went to the KC-330s, now called the A330 MRTT or KC-30A. So far, 50 of these have been ordered by or delivered to Australia, France, NATO, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, and Britain. The KC-46A has two export customers so far; Israel (8 KC-46As) and Japan (2). Several other nations are considering the KC-46A, but all these problems dont help with turning consideration into orders.
The Philippines Navy recently ordered two 3,200-ton corvettes from South Korea. Each will cost $227 million and both will be delivered by 2026. Each corvette is 116 meters (371 feet) long and armed with a 76mm gun, eight VLS (vertical launching system) tubes with anti-ship missiles, a 35mm CIWS, six tubes for anti-submarine torpedoes as well as much better electronics, in including an AESA radar.

Because of the threat from China, the Philippines has been seeking to obtain six new frigates/corvettes and so far, has ordered four of them from South Korea. The first two were ordered in 2016. These were 2,600-ton Jose Rizal class ships and both now in service with the Philippine Navy.

The Jose Rizal class frigates are armed with a 76mm gun and a SMASH 30mm autocannon RWS (Remotely Operated System). The Italian 76mm cannon is also RWS and can fire 85 rounds a minute at targets up to 20 kilometers distant. Rizal is equipped to handle a CIWS (close in weapons system) like Phalanx but is not yet armed with one. There are also mounts for four 12.7mm machine-guns. The Rizal is called a missile frigate because it has lots of missiles. These include four South Korean anti-ship missiles (sort of improved Harpoons) with a range of 160 kilometers. There are also four South Korean 320mm lightweight anti-submarine torpedoes with a range of 19 kilometers. There are two twin-launchers for Mistral heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles with a range of six kilometers. There is space for an eight cell VLS and, as with the CIWS, the fire control system can handle these if installed. There is also a hanger and landing pad for a helicopter. There are also two RHIBs (rigid inflatable speed boats) for boarding parties.

Leaving out the CIWS and VLS cells and using the simpler Mistral anti-aircraft missiles kept the price down. The Rizal can also handle a towed sonar but does not have one. There is a sonar built into the hull. There is a 3-D air search radar as well as a navigation radar, a fire control radar and an electro-optical tracking system. The Rizal has a crew of 65 with accommodations for twenty more sailors and 25 passengers. Top speed is 48 kilometers an hour with a range of 8,300 kilometers. Endurance is 30 days. While the Rizals are capable of long-range cruises, most of their time will be spent patrolling coastal waters and the Filipino EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) which extends 360 kilometers from the coastline. Given that the Philippines consists of 7,600 islands, there is plenty of coastline. Some of those islands are in the South China Sea and claimed by China.

The two new corvettes are 600 tons heavier and are better armed and equipped than the Rizals. The new ships have the same power-plant as the Rizal, which means they are slower. This puts them in the corvette class. Centuries ago, in the age of sail, frigates were the smallest type of ocean-going warship. Corvettes were smaller and generally used for coastal and offshore patrol. By the late 19th century sail had been replaced by steam and the frigate and corvette categories remained. The U.S. Navy called its corvettes cutters and these served with the coast guard. In wartime, coast guard ships serve with the navy. During World War II the U.S. Navy used some British designed corvettes that were considered patrol boats and similar to American designed ocean-going ships called destroyer escorts. Since World War II the terms frigate and corvette have often been used interchangeably.

Such is the case with the new warships purchased from South Korea, which has long been one of largest commercial ship builders in the world and since the 1980s became a major warship builder, for the South Korean Navy as well as a growing list of export customers.

South Korea is also donating two used Pohang-class corvettes to the Philippines. One was delivered in 2019 and another will arrive when the next one is retired from South Korean service. The 1,200-ton Pohangs are small ships, with 24 built in the 1980s. They are 88.3 meters (290 feet) long with a crew of 95 that operates a large number of weapons. There are four Harpoon anti-ship missiles, two 76mm cannon, two twin-40mm autocannon, six torpedo tubes (each with a Mk46 324mm/12.75 inch anti-submarine torpedo), and twelve depth charges. Max speed is 59 kilometers an hour, cruising is 28 kilometers an hour. Endurance is about ten days.

The United States donated three retired 3,200-ton Hamilton-class coast guard cutters. These are ocean-going ships armed with a 76mm gun and three autocannon plus several heavy machine-guns. The Philippines uses them for patrol and training new sailors. Twelve Hamiltons entered service between 1967 and 1972 and all were retired between 2011 and 2021. Eleven are still in service, after refurbishment and donation to foreign navies.
Dhaka, Jan (IANS) The husband of Bangladeshi actress Raima Islam Shimu, whose dismembered body was found on the outskirts of Dhaka, has confessed to murdering her, a top police official said here.



Dhaka district's Superintendent of Police (SP) Maruf Hossain Sardar told IANS that the victim's husband Khandaker Sakhawat Alim Nobel confessed to the police, adding that his friend SM Wai Farhad helped him in killing her.



The police said that while Nobel killed Shimu, Farhad helped him in hiding the body.



Parts of her dismembered body was found in two sacks by the side of the road near the Hazratpur Bridge in the Aliapur area of Keraniganj on Monday afternoon.



The body was identified by Shimu's elder brother Shahidul Islam Khokon at the Mitford Hospital in Dhaka.



Nobel and Farhad were detained and brought to the Keraniganj Model Police Station of the Capital after Shimu's body was found.



The SP said that the two are currently in police custody and a case is being prepared against them.



Shimu lived with her husband and two children in Green Road Dhaka.



She left home on Sunday and never returned. Nobel filed a complaint after she went missing at the Kalabagan Police Station on Monday.



Shimu made her debut with the film 'Bartaman' in 1998. She has since worked in as many as 25 films.



She was an associate member of the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association.



In addition to films, she also worked in TV dramas and produced as well.
ABINGDON, Va.  Jade Murray would sit and daydream about becoming her own boss.

Until, one day, the Abingdon entrepreneur decided to make it happen. Unhappy with her medical field job, she was ready for a change.

Amid a global pandemic last year, when more businesses were closing instead of starting up, Murray took a leap of faith and began expanding her online childrens boutique business into a brick-and-mortar store in Abingdon.

Little Daydreamers, located in the Stone Mill Village in Abingdon, next to Milanos Italian Cuisine, is no ordinary clothing store. In a Facebook post, Murray described her new business as a childrens boutique for kids of all ages created by a mama with a dream.

In addition to offering childrens clothing from infants to sizes 14/16, the business offers a play area for young children as well as an art room where childrens artistic imaginations can take off with a little bit of daydreaming.

The new business owner opened the doors to her business for the first time last Saturday, introducing the store to nearly a dozen community members during a soft opening.

It went really well, said Murray. We did a survey during the event, and one kid wrote that he loved this place.

When Murray got the idea to open the business, she knew she wanted something special. Thats when I did more daydreaming and came up with the opportunity for children to engage in play while their mothers shopped.

As a mother of three young children, Murray hopes her business will be helpful for other mothers who want to add more interactive play to their daily regimen.

There arent many places like this in the area, especially ones for the younger children, she said. Its a safe place for families to come.

Parents can sit and talk at a snack bar at the business that offers coffee, snacks and drinks. Eventually, Murray wants to allow families to host birthday parties at the site.

The play room, geared toward ages 1 to 7, features a Jungle Jumparoo, slide, kitchen set, playhouse, Legos, tunnel, grocery store, puzzles and more.

An art room for ages 2 to 10 contains a table that seats 12 children and a shelf thats brimming with just about every kids art supply you can imagine. Paper rolls on the wall are used for drawing activities. Craft kits for making things like wind chimes, birdhouses and dreamcatchers are an added feature.

Each week Murray will select an Artist of the Week, posting the featured childs photo on the store window and on the stores Facebook page.

Much of the boutique clothing sold at the store is designed by Murray and carries her Little Daydreamers logo on the tag.

The clothing is exclusive

Murray designs her own clothing by first selecting fabrics and styles from an online store before commissioning a clothing manufacturer to make the clothing items.

The clothing is exclusive. You cant find these custom-created items anywhere else but at my boutique, she said. Most of the childrens clothing in her store is made from a milk silk fabric that is extremely soft, she said.

The entrepreneur hopes the community will give her the same inspiring support she has received from her own family during this venture.

My children are my inspiration. They have inspired me in every possible way to do this. They have so many ideas we have added to the project. My husband Tyler and our children have been with me every step of the way while I followed my daydream, she said.

I dont have a business degree, wrote Murray on Facebook, but Ive come to find out the most important part of being an entrepreneur is the heart behind what youre building. I want children to know that at any point in their lives they can daydream and find what makes their souls happy.

Little Daydreamers, located at 1060 W. Main St., Suite 10, in Abingdon, can be reached at 276-525-8961.

Check out their website at www.littledaydreamersllc.com, or visit their Facebook page.

Carolyn R. Wilson is a freelance writer in Glade Spring, Virginia. Contact her at news@washconews.com.
Nippon Dynawave Packaging received state funds earlier this month to support planned repairs to the railroad crossing at Industrial Way and Washington Way in Longview.

The company received a $10,000 reimbursement from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commissions Grade Crossing Protective Fund on Jan. 13 to cover a portion of the costs to improve the railroad crossing.

Nippon estimated the total cost of the improvements at $52,400 in their application for the state funds. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, which owns the train tracks, would contribute around $10,000 of in-kind labor to the project. Nippon is expected to cover all remaining costs.

In the companys application for the funds, Nippon Security Manager Greg Hendricks said 200,000 vehicles cross the Washington Way grade every year to enter the Longview plant through Gate 10. The asphalt around the track is cracked or crumbling, which slows down vehicles and poses a risk for pedestrians and bikers trying to make the crossing.

Traffic through that intersection is expected to increase over the next few years. The current plans for the Industrial Way/Oregon Way intersection would close one of the other main gates leading into Nippons Longview site, which Hendricks said would increase the truck traffic across the grade even more. The Port of Longviews continued development of Barlow Point also would lead to more trains along that stretch of rail.

Nippon has not announced an intended start time for the work on the tracks near Washington Way. The Utilities and Transportation Commission requires the project be completed by June 15, 2023, in order to be reimbursed.

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COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the state and Cowlitz County, straining health-care systems and testing capacity, health officials said Wednesday.

Statewide, cases are extremely high and likely an undercount because most at-home tests are not reported, said Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, chief science officer, during a news briefing Wednesday. There are some signs growth is slowing in western Washington, but continues to increase in other parts of the state, he said.

Overall the situation in the state will continue to be difficult over the coming weeks, Kwan-Gett said.

Cowlitz Countys two-week case rate has quadrupled since mid-December, reaching its highest levels yet, according to the county health department. On Jan. 10, more than 300 positive tests were reported, double the record of about 150 during the delta surge.

Unlike most of the past year, Cowlitz Countys case rate remains below Washingtons. Dr. Steve Krager, county deputy health officer, said its unclear if the county is lagging behind the state and will see cases rise to that same level or if rates will remain lower throughout the surge. The difference may be for various reasons, including a lack of testing availability in the county, he said.

Cowlitz County recorded 862 new confirmed and 156 new probable cases since Friday, bringing the total to 17,975. The county has recorded 294 COVID-19 deaths.

Wahkiakum County reported seven new cases Tuesday, bringing the total to 287, with 19 potentially active. The county health department considers cases with a positive test result in the last 21 days to be potentially active.

Washingtons seven-day hospitalization rate increased to about 24 new COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people from Jan. 3 to Jan. 9. Cowlitz County reported about 22 patients per 100,000 that same week. PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center had 18 COVID-19 patients as of Wednesday morning.

Krager said its possible Cowlitz County is beginning to see an uptick in hospitalizations but it is hard to tell right now.

Its what we would expect with the way rates have gone, he said. Hopefully we can weather this surge and get back to those lower numbers.

Even though the proportion of people infected with COVID-19 who are hospitalized has fallen, the dramatic rise in cases overall has led to an increase in the patient count, Kwan-Gett said.

Secretary of Health Umair Shah said the length of stay for many patients is shorter than before and patients are less severely ill on average, but hospitals are still very full and strained. About 80% of COVID-19 patients in the hospital are unvaccinated, he said.

COVID-19 deaths have not increased but may be flattening after decreasing over the last few months, Kwan-Gett said.

The health officials emphasized the importance of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots to decrease risk of severe illness and death.

As of Saturday, 53% of eligible Washington residents had received a booster or additional dose. About 25,307 Cowlitz County residents had received an additional dose, which includes boosters or third doses for those who are immunocompromised and didnt develop adequate immunity with the two-dose series.

About 59.3% of Cowlitz County residents had initiated vaccination and 54% were fully vaccinated as of Saturday. Statewide, 69.2% of the residents had initiated vaccination and 63.2% were fully vaccinated.

To help address a testing shortage, the state Department of Health is launching a website in the next few days for residents to order free at-home COVID-19 tests. The state ordered about 5.5 million COVID-19 tests, with 3.5 million to send to residents, officials said earlier this month.

Each household will be able to order one kit containing four or five tests, said Lacy Fehrenbach, deputy secretary for COVID response. The state is expecting to serve 350,000 households in the first week and more tests will be available as supply allows, she said.

People with limited English or who dont have internet will be able to order their kits through the states COVID hotline, 1-800-525-0127.

Households also can order free at-home tests from the federal governments website, www.covidtests.gov.

These efforts are about providing a public resource during a critical moment and making it easier for people to find tests, Fehrenbach said. Home tests in particular are a key component of your medical kit at home and something we want you to have on hand before you need them. We also want to lift the burden off of our emergency departments right now so critical care can go to people who really need it.

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From the Mars Ingenuity helicopter's first powered flight on another world to the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope that will peer into the earliest epoch of the Universe, 2021 was a huge year for humanity's space endeavors. Beyond the science milestones, billionaires battled to reach the final frontier first, an all-civilian crew went into orbit, and Star Trek's William Shatner waxed profound about what it meant to see the Earth from the cosmos, as space tourism finally came into its own. Here are selected highlights.

- NASA's Red Planet robot duo -

a time when the craft relies on its automated systems for descent and landing, to touch down flawlessly on Mars' Jezero Crater in February.

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Since then, the car-sized robot has been taking photos and drilling for samples for its mission: determining whether the Red Planet might have hosted ancient microbial life forms.

A rock sample return mission is planned for sometime in the 2030s.

With its state-of-the-art instruments, "Percy," as the helicopter is affectionately known, can also zap Martian rock and chemically analyze the vapor.

Percy has a partner along for the ride: Ingenuity, a four-pound (two kilogram) rotorcraft that in April succeeded in the first powered flight on another celestial body, just over a century after the Wright brothers' achieved the same feat here on Earth, and has performed many more since.

"Perseverance is sort of the flagship mission, it's doing a long-term detailed investigation of this fascinating area of Mars," Jonathan McDowall, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told AFP.

By contrast, "Ingenuity, is one of these cute, small, cheap little technology demos that NASA can do so well," he added.

The insights gained from Ingenuity could help scientists develop Dragonfly, a planned thousand-pound drone copter, to search for signs of life on Saturn's moon Titan in the mid-2030s.

- Private spaceflight takes off -

An American millionaire became the world's first space tourist in 2001, but it took 20 more years for the promise of private space flight to finally materialize.

In July, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson faced off against Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos to complete a suborbital spaceflight.

While the British tycoon won that race by a few days, it was Blue Origin that surged ahead, launching three more flights with paying customers and celebrity guests.

Elon Musk's SpaceX entered the fray in September with a three-day orbital mission around the Earth featuring an all-civilian crew on Inspiration 4.

"It's really exciting that finally, after so long this stuff is finally happening," said space industry analyst Laura Seward Forczyk, author of the forthcoming book "Becoming Off-Worldly," intended to prepare future space travelers.

But it was William Shatner, who played the swashbuckling Captain Kirk on the 1960s TV series "Star Trek," who stole the show with a moving account of his experience.

"What you're looking down on is Mother Earth, and it needs protecting," he told reporters.

A Russian crew shot the first feature film in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021, and Japanese tourists made their own visit there on a Russian rocket.

For a few minutes on December 11, there were a record 19 humans in space when Blue Origin carried out its third crewed mission, the Japanese team were on the ISS along with its normal crew, and Chinese taikonauts were in position on their station.

The sight of wealthy elites gallivanting in the cosmos hasn't been to everyone's liking, however, and the nascent space tourism sector triggered a backlash from some who said there were more pressing issues to face, such as climate change, here on Earth.

- Globalization of space -

During the Cold War, space was dominated by the United States and the former Soviet Union.

Now, in addition to the explosion of the commercial sector, which is sending up satellites at a dizzying pace, China, India and others are increasingly flexing their space flight muscles.

China's Tiangong (Palace in the Sky) space station -- its first long-term outpost -- was launched in April, while its first Mars rover, Zhurong, landed in May, making it the only the second country to achieve such an exploit.

"In the past 20 years since China finally decided to go big on space, they've been in catch up mode," said McDowall. "And now they're kind of there, and they're starting to do things that the US hasn't done."

The UAE placed a probe into Martian orbit in February, becoming the first Arab nation and fifth overall to reach the planet.

Russia meanwhile launched a missile at one of its own satellites, becoming the fourth country to hit a spacecraft from the ground, in a move that reignited concerns about the growing space arms race.

Washington slammed Moscow for its "reckless" test, which generated over 1,500 pieces of large orbital debris, dangerous for low Earth orbit missions such as the ISS.

- Coming soon... -

The year closed out with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion marvel that will make use of infrared technology to peer back 13 billion years in time.

"It's arguably the most expensive, single scientific platform ever created," said Casey Drier, chief advocate of the Planetary Society.

"To push the boundaries of our knowledge about the cosmos, we had to build something capable of accessing that ancient past," he added.

It will reach Lagrange Point 2, a space landmark a million miles from Earth, in a matter of weeks, then gradually start up and calibrate its systems, coming online around June.

Also next year, the launch of Artemis 1 -- when NASA's giant Space Launch System (SLS) will carry the Orion capsule to the Moon and back, in preparation for America's return with humans later this decade.

NASA plans to build lunar habitats and use lessons learned there for forward missions to Mars in the 2030s.

Observers are encouraged that the program launched by former president Donald Trump has continued under Joe Biden -- even if he hasn't been as vocal in his support.

Finally, sometime next fall, NASA's DART probe will smash into an asteroid to kick it off course.

The proof-of-concept test is a dry run should humanity ever need to stop a giant space rock from wiping out life on Earth, as seen in Netflix's new hit film "Don't Look Up."
An Emirates Airlines Boeing 777 lands at Logan International Airport in Boston, March 10, 2014. Long-haul carrier Emirates said Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, it would resume its Boeing 777 flights to the U.S. amid an ongoing dispute over the rollout of new 5G services there. Credit: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File

Long-haul carrier Emirates said Thursday it will resume its Boeing 777 flights to the U.S. after halting its use of the aircraft there over concerns new 5G services in America could interfere with airplane technology that measures altitude.

International carriers that rely heavily on the wide-body Boeing 777, and other Boeing aircraft, canceled early flights or switched to different planes Wednesday following warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Chicago-based plane maker over possible interference with radio altimeters.

The FAA gave approval late Wednesday for more types of planes to land in low visibility near 5G signals, including the Boeing 777.

Among the most-affected airlines by the FAA decision was Dubai-based Emirates, a crucial East-West travel airline which flies only the 777 and the double-decker Airbus A380.

Emirates said its Boeing 777 service to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle would resume Friday.

Flights to Boston, Houston and San Francisco, which saw Emirates deploy its Airbus A380 jumbo jet, will resume Boeing 777 flights on Saturday.

Tim Clark, Emirates president, apologized in a statement to the airline's customers for the disruption.

"Safety will always be our top priority, and we will never gamble on this front," Clark said. "We welcome the latest development which enables us to resume essential transport links to the U.S. to serve travellers and cargo shippers."

However, he added: "We are also very aware that this is a temporary reprieve, and a long-term resolution would be required." That refers to Verizon and AT&T only temporarily reducing the rollout of 5G near dozens of airports as the FAA assesses which aircraft are safe to fly near the new 5G frequencies and which will need new altimeters.

Similar 5G mobile networks have been deployed in more than three dozen countries, but there are key differences in how the U.S. networks are designed that raised concern of potential problems for airlines.

The Verizon and AT&T networks use a segment of the radio spectrum that is close to the one used by radio altimeters, devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground to help pilots land in low visibility.

The Federal Communications Commission, which set a buffer between the frequencies used by 5G and altimeters, has said the wireless service posed no risk to aviation. But FAA officials saw a potential problem.

Explore further Airlines cancel some flights after reduced 5G rollout in US

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
An iPhone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019. Online companies would have to ramp up efforts to keep harmful content off their platforms and take other steps to protect users under rules that European Union lawmakers are set to vote on Thursday Jan. 20, 2022. Credit: AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File

Online companies would have to ramp up efforts to keep harmful content off their platforms and take other steps to protect users under rules that European Union lawmakers are set to vote on Thursday.

The 27-nation bloc has gained a reputation as a trendsetter in the growing global push to rein in big tech companies as they face withering criticism over misinformation, hate speech and other harmful content on their platforms.

Here's a look at the proposed EU rules, known as the Digital Services Act, and why they would make an impact:

WHAT IS THE DIGITAL SERVICES ACT?

The legislation is part of a sweeping overhaul of the European Union's digital rules aimed at ensuring online companies, including tech giants like Google and Facebook parent Meta, protect users on their platforms and treat rivals fairly. It's an update of the EU's two-decade-old e-commerce directive.

"The Digital Services Act could now become the new gold standard for digital regulation, not just in Europe but around the world," the lead EU lawmaker on the bill, Christel Schaldemose, said during a debate Wednesday. "Big tech nations like the U.S. or China are watching closely to see what we're now going to agree."

The proposals are one-half of flagship digital regulations drafted by the bloc. EU lawmakers are also working on a separate proposal, the Digital Markets Act, which is aimed at reining in the power of the biggest online "gatekeepers." Both still face further negotiations with EU bodies before taking effect.

WHAT WILL IT COVER?

The Digital Services Act includes a raft of measures aimed at better protecting internet users and their "fundamental rights online." Tech companies will be held more responsible for content on their platforms, with requirements to beef up flagging and removal of illegal content like hate speech or dodgy goods and services sold online like counterfeit sneakers or unsafe toys.

But lawmakers have been battling about the details of such takedowns, including whether court orders would be required.

A woman walks past the logo for Google at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, Nov. 5, 2018. Online companies would have to ramp up efforts to keep harmful content off their platforms and take other steps to protect users under rules that European Union lawmakers are set to vote on Thursday Jan. 20, 2022. Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File

Online platforms will have to be more transparent about their algorithms that recommend the next video to watch, product to buy or news item at the top of people's social media feeds. So-called recommender systems have been criticized for leading people to more increasingly extreme or polarizing content.

Some amendments to the legislation proposed giving users the option of turning recommendations off or using third-party systems.

There are also measures to ban platforms from using "dark patterns"deceptive techniques to nudge users into doing things they didn't intend toas well as requiring porn sites to register the identities of users uploading material.

ARE THERE ANY CONTROVERSIAL POINTS?

One of the legislation's biggest battles is over surveillance-based advertising, also known as targeted or behavioral advertising. Such ads would be banned for children, but digital and consumer rights groups say the proposals don't go far enough and have called for prohibiting them outright. That idea has faced fierce resistance from the digital ad industry dominated by Google and Meta.

Surveillance ads track online behavior, such as the websites visited or products bought online by a user, to serve them more digital ads based on those interests.

Groups such as Amnesty International say ad tracking undermines the rights that the legislation is supposed to protect, because it involves a massive invasion of privacy and indiscriminate data harvesting as part of a system that manipulates users and encourages ad fraud.

WHAT HAPPENS TO OFFENDERS?

The EU's single market commissioner, Thierry Breton, took to Twitter on Wednesday to portray the proposed rules as the start of a new era for tough online enforcement.

"It's time to put some order in the digital 'Wild West,'" he said. "A new sheriff is in townand it goes by the name #DSA," he said, posting a mashup of video clips from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti Western film.

Under the Digital Services Act, violations could be punished with hefty fines of up to 6% of a company's annual revenue. Some amendments have pushed for raising that amount.

Explore further Report urges UK government to beef up online safety measure

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The European Parliament on Thursday approved a proposal to impose unprecedented curbs on content online, including bans on the most intrusive methods of advertising, in a blow to Google and Facebook.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favour of their version of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is aimed at ensuring tougher consequences for platforms and websites that violate a long list of rules on content.

The DSA is a companion text to the EU's Digital Markets Act, which is specifically focused on the tech behemoths like Meta/Facebook, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.

EU member states in November already approved their own version of both laws, and highly delicate negotiations will now take place to reconcile the legislative texts.

"The largest platforms can no longer hide behind a veil of ignorance," Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose, who spearheaded the law through parliament, said after its adoption.

"They'll be forced to face up to the consequences of their algorithms," she said, calling the law a new "gold standard" in tech regulation.

Big tech companies that violate the rules face fines of as much as six percent of their global sales.

"What happens on the internet, parents see it, it's the Wild West," said EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who tabled the original proposal in December 2020.

"We don't know what kids are doing anymore... harassment, hate speech, attacks on democracy, personal attacks, counterfeit products."

With the DSA, "what is allowed in everyday life will be allowed on the internet, but everything that is prohibited will be as well," he told RTL radio in France.

'Battle not over'

Some MEPs had hoped for a flat-out ban on online tracking for advertising, as well as more painful consequences for big tech companies when they let illegal or harmful content through.

The case to be tough was made in November by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who urged lawmakers not to lose their resolve.

"The battle is not over," said French MEP David Cormand of the Greens group, who defended the DSA as a "first step".

"We need to be more ambitious in tackling the manipulative algorithms and the divisive business models of Big Tech," he said.

Striking compromise legislation will be up to the French government, which took over the EU's six-month presidency on January 1 and will be negotiating with senior MEPs on a final outcome.

During that time, big tech companies and other interests will continue to lobby furiously to influence the final law.

Breton deplored the "increased lobbying efforts", which he said were "in vain".

France's minister for EU affairs, Clement Beaune, said that the DSA was "an opportunity for Europe to set new global standards in regulating content of the major platforms."

The EU parliamnetary vote "is a major step", he said.

Explore further EU lawmakers back rules to curb Big Tech

 2022 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Google on Thursday appealed an EU court decision to uphold the bloc's 2.4-billion-euro ($2.8-billion) fine for abusing its search engine dominance.

The tech giant said it would go to the European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, after the General Court confirmed in November a decision by the European Commission in 2017.

At the time, the fine was the European Union's biggest ever. But it was later exceeded by a 4.3-billion-euro fine against Google over its Android smartphone operating system.

"After careful consideration, we have decided to appeal the General Court's decision because we feel there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice," a short statement by the company said.

The case centres on Google's shopping service and is one of three against the search engine giant currently moving through the EU's drawn-out appeals system.

The new appeal could take up to two years to reach an outcome, stretching the case out to well more than a decade after the commission launched its investigation in 2010.

The court confirmation on Google Shopping was a win for the EU's anti-trust supremo Margrethe Vestager, who burst onto the scene in Brussels by scrapping her predecessor's more conciliatory approach to the US internet giant.

Vestager had lost in the same court in a different major case, against Apple and Ireland, in which her teams had ordered the iPhone maker to repay 13 billion euros plus interest to the Irish taxpayer. The EU has appealed that ruling.

The fine for Google came after seven years of investigation launched by complaints from other price-comparison services that saw traffic plummet against Google Shopping.

Explore further Google awaits EU court verdict in anti-trust case

 2022 AFP
Google called for the EU and US to quickly negotiate a new data transfer framework.

A years-long saga over tech firms transferring data from Europe to the US re-erupted on Thursday, days after Austrian officials slapped down Google for failing to respect EU privacy rules.

Austrian data privacy group NYOB (none of your business) filed dozens of complaints across Europe in 2020 after an EU court decision struck down a deal with the US on transfer of data.

Last week, the group claimed its first victory when Austria's Data Protection Authority ruled that the Google Analytics tool transferred users' data to the US, where it could be subject to snooping by security agencies.

It was not clear what sanctions Google might face in Austria or how the ruling would affect companies that use Google Analytics. AFP has contacted the authority for comment.

Google responded on Wednesday with a blog post playing down the ruling and calling for the EU and US to quickly negotiate a new data transfer framework.

The blog provoked a furious response on Thursday from NYOB's Max Schrems, an Austrian lawyer whose campaigning led to previous US-EU data agreements collapsing.

He wrote on Twitter that Google was engaging in "Bullshit PR" and accused the firm of swerving the question of US surveillance law reform.

"It's not about @EU_Justice moving, it's about the US legislators providing stable protections to customers of @Google, @Microsoft, @AWS, @Apple, @Meta, once their data is processed by US industry," he wrote, suggesting that otherwise customers would take their business elsewhere.

The battle over privacy is part of a multi-layered series of spats between US tech giants and European authorities, which also covers tax issues, competition practices and hate speech.

No 'inflexible standard'

The current cases filed by NOYB relate to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in July 2020, which invalidated an EU-US deal over transfer of data across the Atlantic.

Judges ruled that the deal, known as Privacy Shield, failed to allow people in the EU remedies in the courts against US authorities.

The EU and US have held sporadic talks since in a bid to replace Privacy Shield, but have not yet agreed a deal.

The cases filed by NOYB say tech firms have not acted on the 2020 ruling, meaning they are failing to comply with GDPR, an EU-wide data protection regime.

"Instead of actually adapting services to be GDPR compliant, US companies have tried to simply add some text to their privacy policies and ignore the Court of Justice," Schrems said after the Austrian decision.

On Wednesday, Google's head lawyer Kent Walker wrote that the Austrian ruling had envisaged the type of request from security agencies that was unlikely to ever happen.

And he said the 2020 court ruling "did not impose an inflexible standard under which the mere possibility of exposure of data to another government required stopping the global movement of data".

Walker said business on both sides of the Atlantic wanted a quick deal to resolve the issue.

EU commission spokesman Christian Wigand said on Thursday talks had intensified in recent months but the issues at play were "complex" and negotiations "take some time".

Explore further Tech under threat as EU court rules on Facebook case

 2022 AFP
Credit: Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science

Since they came into use by physicians and researchers, Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) or Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) have provided ways to treat neurological disorders and shed light on how the brain functions. As beneficial as they've been, BCIs have potential to go far beyond the technology's current capabilities. In a collaboration between the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS) and Yale School of Medicine, a team of researchers are looking to break through these limitations.

"The goal is to build a class of ultra-low-power devices that are safe for chronic implantation in humans," said Abhishek Bhattacharjee, associate professor of computer science. "Chronic implantation opens the door to a number of clinical uses, ranging from implants to treat epilepsy and movement disorders to designing assistive devices for patients with paralysis, as well as many research uses."

Chronic implantation is the practice of placing a device in the brain of patients, who then go about their daily lives, albeit with regular check-ins with their doctors. At SEAS, Bhattacharjee has been working on this with Rajit Manohar, the John C. Malone Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Anurag Khandelwal, assistant professor of computer science. Their collaborators at the Medical School are Dennis Spencer, the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery, and Hitten Zaveri, assistant professor of neurology.

The research team's work is part of a larger effort to push the potential of BCIs to accomplish things that once seemed the stuff of science fiction. A video of a monkey playing Pong with the help of a neural interface created by Elon Musk's company, Neuralink, has been viewed by millions. The same company has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the technology. And it's more than just buzz fueling the interest. Synchron, Inc. received permission from the FDA earlier this year to begin human testing for a brain implant designed to treat paralysis.

The BCIs that epilepsy surgeons Spencer and Zaveri commonly use are implanted in the brain just below the skull  it's small and you typically wouldn't know that someone has one. The device continuously monitors the patterns of the patient's brain, detecting any anomalies as a way to predict an oncoming seizure. When it does so, the device sends an electrical stimulus to specific regions of the brain to disrupt those patterns. At this point, it's used only for patients who are resistant to drug treatment. Spencer said most epilepsy patients using BCIs see their seizures decrease by at least half after 18 months. While it's been effective enough to become very popular for patients with limited options, Spencer and Zaveri are looking toward a technology that could prevent all seizures. A BCI with considerably enhanced capabilities such as the Yale solution, they said, could bring about that result.

The tricky part about this goal is that these implantable BCIs are limited by how much power they use. Federal and international guidelines state that BCIs must not use more than 15 to 40 milliwatts of power, depending on the depth within the brain tissue that the BCI is implanted. Anything beyond that is unsafe for chronic implantation in humans. Excessive power dissipation causes the devices to overheat, which brings the risk of damaging the cellular tissue of the brain. The SEAS researchers' task, then, is broadening the potential of these devices while staying within a very constrained power limit. They're limiting the power of their own device to 15 milliwatts, which would allow it to be placed deeper into the brain, where power constraints are more stringent.

An early version of the teams chip diagram. Credit: Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science

"So, it's power-constrained, but at the same time, there are some serious computation needs hereyou need to be able to read and perform fairly sophisticated signal processing on more and more data from the brain for these devices to be more useful," Bhattacharjee said. "How you do all of this under really tight power budgets of 10 to 15 milliwatts is a wide-open question."

To that end, they've developed HALO (Hardware Architecture for Low-power BCIs), a general-purpose architecture for implantable BCIs. The technology allows for the treatment of various conditions, and records and processes data for studies to advance our understanding of the brain. The technology includes a chip and sensors and allows for a microelectrode array that reads roughly 50 megabits per second from 96 distinct parts of the brain. And unlike other BCIs, which are designed for one specific purpose  treating epilepsy, for example  the HALO technology can support numerous tasks. This is all achieved while operating within the team's strict power budget.

The initial HALO concept was detailed in a recent paper, "Hardware-Software Co-Design for Brain-Computer Interfaces," authored by the Yale researchers in collaboration with scientists at Rutgers and Brown University. It was published at the flagship conference for computer architecture, the International Symposium on Computer Architecture, and was selected for inclusion in IEEE Micro's Top Picks in Computer Architecture magazine as one of the top computer architecture papers published in 2020.

"One of the things that I'm particularly excited about in our research is that it shows that if you build BCIs that can balance specialized hardware with general purpose hardware in a principled way, you can actually be under the power limit, while supporting a much broader class of computational functionalities than what existing devices support," Bhattacharjee said. He also believes that the results point to a broader question beyond BCIs, particularly because the waning of Dennard scaling (the principle that as transistors get smaller, their power stays constant) "poses questions about how best to determine what to build hardware accelerators for, how to integrate these hardware accelerators seamlessly, and how to enable a modular platform that can naturally slot in new accelerators. HALO is an exemplar of these research questions."

The lead graduate student on the HALO project, Karthik Sriram, said he became interested in the field of BCIs as an undergraduate. "I wanted to see how we can bridge this gap between the human brain and our attempts to analyze it  and how to integrate that with computer systems that we have come to be more comfortable using," said Sriram, a Ph.D. student in Bhattacharjee's lab.

The work they've done at Yale is just the beginning, he said.

Unlike traditional BCIs, the teams technology can support numerous tasks and expand potential treatments. Credit: Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science

"HALO is a working demonstration that we can get a more flexible architecture that can do a lot more than current BCIs and support a much higher data rate," Sriram said. Beyond that, he said, the research could lead to some exciting possibilities, such as creating a network of BCI devices that record from multiple parts of the brain.

"Neuroscientists are interested in that because they're looking to analyze the brain like a bunch of graph connections  especially for something like seizures," he said. "They're starting to analyze it as a more graph-based problem, rather than a single-source localized problem."

Manohar's role on the team is taking the design for HALO and building chips to create a physical device. He worked on the chips with postdoctoral associate Ioannis Karageorgos and graduate student Xiayuan Wen. The researchers figure it could be a few years before they have a prototype for human trials.

"It takes effort to do a good job, like everything, and as we learn more and more about the problem, we're building it in steps, we're starting with the core of its architecture and adding to it," Manohar said. "And we're designing the architecture to make it relatively modular and easy for us to extend it."

Khandelwal has lent his expertise in distributed systems to the project. His first goal, with Bhattacharjee, is finding a way to increase data storage in BCIs while working within the power limitations. Currently, researchers conducting a longitudinal study on a patient with an implanted BCI would need to bring the patient into the clinic to collect the data from the implant. It's cumbersome and limits the amount of data that can be collected.

"What we are essentially looking for is something where the BCI upstreams the data to another device in the patient's home, or somewhere near it," he said.

An updated chip diagram with the various components of HALO labeled to show their relative complexity. Credit: Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science

More ambitiously, he wants to improve the communication between the different components of a BCI to reduce latency. In a system that's designed to detect and ward off oncoming seizures, or in a brain-controlled prosthetic limb, speed is critical.

A major part of this project is the fact that implantable BCI technology has a broad range of use. In addition to epilepsy, prosthetic limbs, and research purposes, the devices have been used to treat people with conditions such as Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, or elevated levels of anxiety. So not only do the researchers want to extend the capabilities of these devices, but they also want to design them in a way that allows them to be adapted to changing needs.

"This is a field where new things are being discovered continuously and the field evolves and you don't want to have to build a new device every time different groups decide they want new functionality," Manohar said. "We're trying to address a much broader range of possibilities with a single device."

And that, Zaveri said, is crucial to expanding the range of patients who are eligible for BCIs.

"The Yale team's work allows us to draw from a larger set of application areas and patients because they're not making what we call an ASIC  an application-specific integrated circuit  they're making a powerful general-purpose solution on which you could run different algorithms," Zaveri said. "So, you could have a version for epilepsy, and another version for patients who are paralyzedthe hardware could be the same, though."

Zaveri said the SEAS researchers' work has great potential for both clinical and research applications. Having technology that can run very powerful algorithms in real time to interact with the brain would open up numerous research applications.

Key components of implantable BCIs including the sensors which consists of conductive needles that penetrate millimeters of cortical tissue. Credit: Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science

"We're currently collecting data and processing it offline, so this development enables studies and therapies that aren't possible at present," he said.

For instance, he said, a device that allows clinicians to monitor the brain of an epilepsy patient and detect aberrance in an epilepsy network in real time and can modulate that network increases the possibilities for treatment. It also expands what disorders can potentially be treated, such as depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders with a broader, more diffuse manifestation in the brain.

Nicholas Turk-Browne, a professor of psychology at Yale, has also talked with the SEAS researchers about applying their work to his own research.

"One application they're doing is clinical, but another is to study brain function with precision and then to use those signals for neurofeedback-type applications," said Turk-Browne, director of the Wu Tsai Institute. "Both require expertise with designing cognitive tasks and psychological experiments, which is the expertise that I bring  how to measure and quantify human behavior and brain function with respect to cognition. So, I've had a lot of conversations with them about that."

Spencer noted that this work is in the spirit of Yale's collaborative environment.

"This is the beauty of cross-disciplinary research," he said. "I am a clinician and throughout my career I have presented problems to those who are smarter than I am technologically. And those researchers may be working on something more theoretical or on something in a different field, when something lights up and they say, "That problem may have a solution in what we're doing." The chips they are developing just unlock a whole new world for those of us who are asking questions about how to deconstruct brain function into parcels that can then be reconstructed as a meaningful network for study and modulation."
Passengers walk next to Nuctech security scanners at the Brussels Eurostar train terminal on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. A growing number of Western security officials and policymakers fear that China could exploit Nuctech equipment to sabotage key transit points or get illicit access to government, industrial or personal data from the items that pass through its devices. Nuctech dismisses those concerns, countering that its European operations comply with local laws, including strict security checks and data privacy rules. Credit: AP Photo/Erika Kinetz

At some of the world's most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to China's military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party.

The World Economic Forum in Davos. Europe's largest ports. Airports from Amsterdam to Athens. NATO's borders with Russia. All depend on equipment manufactured by Nuctech, which has quickly become the world's leading company, by revenue, for cargo and vehicle scanners.

Nuctech has been frozen out of the U.S. for years due to national security concerns, but it has made deep inroads across Europe, installing its devices in 26 of 27 EU member states, according to public procurement, government and corporate records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The complexity of Nuctech's ownership structure and its expanding global footprint have raised alarms on both sides of the Atlantic.

A growing number of Western security officials and policymakers fear that China could exploit Nuctech equipment to sabotage key transit points or get illicit access to government, industrial or personal data from the items that pass through its devices.

Nuctech's critics allege the Chinese government has effectively subsidized the company so it can undercut competitors and give Beijing potential sway over critical infrastructure in the West as China seeks to establish itself as a global technology superpower.

"The data being processed by these devices is very sensitive. It's personal data, military data, cargo data. It might be trade secrets at stake. You want to make sure it's in right hands," said Bart Groothuis, director of cybersecurity at the Dutch Ministry of Defense before becoming a member of the European Parliament. "You're dependent on a foreign actor which is a geopolitical adversary and strategic rival."

He and others say Europe doesn't have tools in place to monitor and resist such potential encroachment. Different member states have taken opposing views on Nuctech's security risks. No one has even been able to make a comprehensive public tally of where and how many Nuctech devices have been installed across the continent.

Nuctech dismisses those concerns, countering that Nuctech's European operations comply with local laws, including strict security checks and data privacy rules.

"It's our equipment, but it's your data. Our customer decides what happens with the data," said Robert Bos, deputy general manager of Nuctech in the Netherlands, where the company has a research and development center.

He said Nuctech is a victim of unfounded allegations that have cut its market share in Europe nearly in half since 2019.

"It's quite frustrating to be honest," Bos told AP. "In the 20 years we delivered this equipment we never had issues of breaches or data leaks. Till today we never had any proof of it."

In addition to scanning systems for people, baggage and cargo, the company makes explosives detectors and interconnected devices capable of facial recognition, body temperature measurement and ID card or ticket identification.

Passengers prepare to place items through Nuctech security scanners at the Brussels Eurostar train terminal on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. At some of the world's most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to China's military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party. Nuctech dismisses those concerns, countering that its European operations comply with local laws, including strict security checks and data privacy rules. Credit: AP Photo/Erika Kinetz

Critics fear that under China's national intelligence laws, which require Chinese companies to surrender data requested by state security agencies, Nuctech would be unable to resist calls from Beijing to hand over sensitive data about the cargo, people and devices that pass through its scanners. They say there is a risk Beijing could use Nuctech's presence across Europe to gather big data about cross-border trade flows, pull information from local networks, like shipping manifests or passenger information, or sabotage trade flows in a conflict.

Airports in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Athens, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Zurich, Geneva and more than a dozen across Spain have all signed deals for Nuctech equipment, procurement and government documents, and corporate announcements show.

Nuctech's ownership structure is so complex that can be difficult for outsiders to understand the true lines of influence and accountability.

What is clear is that Nuctech, from its very origins, has been tied to Chinese government, academic and military interests.

Nuctech was founded as an offshoot of Tsinghua University, an elite public research university in Beijing. It grew with backing from the Chinese government and for years was run by the son of China's former leader, Hu Jintao.

Datenna, a Dutch economic intelligence company focused on China, mapped the ownership structure of Nuctech and found a dozen major entities across four layers of shareholding, including four state-owned enterprises and three government entities.

Today the majority shareholder in Nuctech is Tongfang Co., which has a 71 percent stake. The largest shareholder in Tongfang, in turn, is the investment arm of the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), a state-run energy and defense conglomerate controlled by China's State Council. The U.S. Defense Department classifies CNNC as a Chinese military company because it shares advanced technologies and expertise with the People's Liberation Army.

Xi has further blurred the lines between China's civilian and military activities and deepened the power of the ruling Communist Party within private enterprises. One way: the creation of dozens of government-backed financing vehicles designed to speed the development of technologies that have both military and commercial applications.

In fact, one of those vehicles, the National Military-Civil Fusion Industry Investment Fund, announced in June 2020 that it wanted to take a 4.4 percent stake in Nuctech's majority shareholder, along with the right to appoint a director to the Tongfang board. It never happened"changes in the market environment," Tongfeng explained in a Chinese stock exchange filing.

But there are other links between Nuctech's ownership structure and the fusion fund.

CNNC, which has a 21 percent interest in Nuctech, holds a stake of more than 7 percent in the fund, according to Qichacha, a Chinese corporate information platform. They also share personnel: Chen Shutang, a member of CNNC's Party Leadership Group and the company's chief accountant serves as a director of the fund, records show.

Nuctech maintains that its operations are shaped by market forces, not politics, and says CNNC doesn't control its corporate management or decision-making.

But Jaap van Etten, a former Dutch diplomat and CEO of Datenna, said the question was "whether or not we want to allow Nuctech, which is controlled by the Chinese state and linked to the Chinese military, to be involved in crucial parts of our border security and infrastructure."

Explore further China state firms invest in TikTok sibling, Weibo chat app

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
South Hills (15301)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low 58F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low 58F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Former Sen. David Perdue and his wife Bonnie didnt have to wait long in line Monday to cast their ballots for the May 24 primary, which will determine who will receive the Republican nomination for the race to serve as Georgias next governor.
When Republican gubernatorial candidates were asked Wednesday night which key issue they would address as Texas governor, they all said the U.S.-Mexico border required urgent attention.

Allen West, Don Huffines, Chad Prather and Danny Harrison all answered questions at the Republican Governor Forum 2022 at the College Station Hilton, but the biggest topics were border security and immigration.

West said securing the border is job number one in order to protect the sovereignty of the state.

Weve got to make sure that when we deploy our National Guard troops down to that border they have the tight mission, task and purpose, West said at the event sponsored by Grassroots Victory Texas and the Republican Party of Brazos County. I think its absolutely abhorrent that the cartels, which are terrorist organizations, are firing across that border pretty much every week and our National Guard troops are told they cannot return fire.

The cost of the border wall would be around $3.5 billion compared to the $6-8 billion spent annually on illegal immigration in Texas, Huffines said.

Im going to make Mexico secure their side, so we have to put the hurt on Mexico, Huffines said. There are 25 bridges over that river. Im stopping mostly inbound commercial traffic for Mexico to make sure they feel the pain to secure the river.

Harrison said revenue streams are something that he looks at when it comes to funding the wall with the cannabis industry possibly having the opportunity to bring more jobs to Texas. Cutting government spending would be a key point for Prather when it comes to funding the wall.

Were ranked as a global leader in terms of oil, gas and energy production, Prather said. We have revenue streams. This governor spent a $48 billion increase on top of the budget in the last seven years.

Huffines said when it comes to combating illegal immigration, he would require companies to e-verify all employees to make sure they are legal along with counting all illegal immigrants in the government school systems.

Youre spending $6-7 billion educating kids that arent supposed to be here, Huffines said. Im going to do an accounting on that. Were going to push back on that as far as we can.

Harrison said illegal immigrants would be instantly deported instead of being apprehended in order to save on state funds. Prather said his goal would be to disincentivize the reasons people come to the United States illegally.

Right now the health care, welfare, education and the benefits that theyre getting is bringing them here and were not doing anything about it, Prather said.

Texas was ranked second in most illegal immigration and first in refugee resettlement, according to the 2020 Migration Policy Institute Report. As governor, Harrison said there would be no refugees under his administration. Prather followed suit.

Its only costing you money and its taking away your rights and your liberties when you have illegals that are being put in man camps and our men and women in the oil and gas field cant even do their job. Our hotels are being taken up and weve got veterans on the streets and living homeless, but yet were putting these illegals in housing, Prather said.

West said those coming to the U.S. need to be vetted before they are allowed entry just as two of his interpreters during his time in Afghanistan did when they wanted entry into the country.

What I had them do is read the declaration of independence, read the United States Constitution and write an essay on why they though the United States of America was the best country in the world, West said.

The primary election will take place March 1 with early voting on Feb. 14 and Feb. 25.

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Another candidate has entered the race for Grand Island mayor.

Doug Brown has been operations and security manager for Central Nebraska Regional Airport for the past 16 years, and served in the U.S Navy for 25 years.

Im getting ready to retire, Brown told The Independent. Im going to retire this year in November or December. I thought, this will be a good transition. I want to do something for the community.

Brown joins local business owner Julie Wright and Mayor Roger Steele, who has filed for reelection, in the 2022 Grand Island mayoral race.

Brown is a lifelong resident of Grand Island, having attended Jefferson and Walnut schools, and graduating from Grand Island Senior High in 1977.

He was inspired to run for the position by a lifelong interest in serving as mayor.

Ive always wanted to run for mayor because I love Grand Island, Brown said. When I got about 20-some years old, I left for 25 years. I was in the military, active-duty. I always said, I want to go back to my hometown.

Nothing in the last 16 years has changed his opinion that Grand Island is a great place to live, Brown said.

I just want to make it better, he said.

As head of operations and security at CNRA, Brown is in charge of the grounds and safety for all air travel coming and going from Grand Island.

All the planes landing and taking off, the runways and taxiways, lights, everything associated with the aircraft, and I coordinate all the security for them with TSA (Transportation Security Administration), he said.

Brown applauded the growth thats taken place at CNRA during his time, which has gone from 5,000 when he started to 70,000 at CNRAs pre-pandemic peak.

In the U.S. Navy, Brown retired as a command master chief of a destroyer-class ship, which he accomplished in 20 years but takes most people 30, he said.

Serving in the Persian Gulf, he honed his management and emergency skills, Brown said.

Everything I do, I do quickly and efficiently, he said.

Running for mayor, Brown is not daunted, he said, because he has given presentations to U.S. Navy admirals before.

Brown is particularly concerned about the Grand Island Police Department, which is currently facing a shortage of officers.

He wants GIPD to have plenty of people and all the resources they need to maintain their presence here.

Its a tough job, he said. I want to make sure theyve got everything they need.

Quality of life is important to Brown, as well.

We need people to move to Grand Island because we need employees, he said. Every business you go by out here has got a help wanted sign. Weve got to make quality of life important, and affordable, for people to move here and take those jobs.

Brown commends the city for its care in improving its infrastructure.

I drive around a lot and see things being remodeled, new things being built, things being fixed up, he said. I think were doing well. We can do better, though.

Brown is a member of the Nebraska Admirals Association and serves on the boards for Central Nebraska Shriners and Masonic Lodge Eastern Star Home for Children.

This is his first campaign after having turned in his paperwork Tuesday.

Already lots of people are contacting me, friends and people I know are saying theyve got my back, he said.

Filing for city and county seats in Hall County began Jan. 5.

The deadline for incumbents to file is Feb. 15 and the deadline for new candidates is March 1.

For more information about running for office in Hall County, visit hallcountyne.gov.

Questions for Brown as a mayoral candidate can be sent to doug@flygrandisland.com.

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As new COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the Grand Island area, the Central District Health Department board approved retention bonuses for current staff members.

CDHD has 32 full-time employees and three temporary positions.

At Mondays meeting of the CDHD board, Board President Ron Peterson reported that a board committee recommended the bonuses.

After the first year of employment, staff members will receive a 20% bonus.

Total staff bonuses for the first year will be $37,718.

A 30% bonus after the second year and 50% bonus after the third year also were approved.

The total bonus payout for the three-year period, with taxes, is expected to be $300,369.80.

Peterson said it is needed to retain CDHD staff.

Weve looked at a number of different ways to deal with it, he said Monday. This has been an extremely difficult time for them in terms of the amount of time and energy, and also the issues theyve had to deal with both publicly and through inquiries, that sort of thing.

CDHD staff members also have been exposed to people infected with coronavirus.

Many of them have had to take time off because theyve been sick, Peterson said.

The number of new COVID-19 cases and positivity rates have reached record highs in the CDHD coverage area, which includes Hall, Hamilton and Merrick counties.

The district currently has a 63% positivity rate, with 1,400 cases in the last seven days and one new death, according to CDHDs COVID dashboard, which was updated Tuesday.

This breaks the record set Wednesday, Jan. 12, of 870 new cases in a seven-day period.

Before, the record was 710 new cases and 45.4% positivity in November 2020.

CDHD attributes the new record highs partly to the extremely transmissible omicron variant, which first appeared in the Grand Island area in mid-December.

The community transmission dial is at its very top - at high transmission.

Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent COVID-19 and head off the worst symptoms, according to a post on CDHDs Facebook page.

Other mitigation efforts include wearing tight-fitting surgical masks while in public, social distancing, and getting tested if you develop symptoms.

CDHD Director Teresa Anderson said the intent of the retention bonuses is to keep together this fabulous COVID team thats developed over the last couple of years.

We want to have them continue in their positions as they are, rather than see them leave us because theyre getting burned out or because they can go somewhere else for more money, she said Monday.

That is already happening, Anderson reported. A receptionist who was treated with hostility from the public took another job, and a nurse was recruited by a traveling nurse agency.

Were not rewarding (staff) necessarily for past performance, but to show them the board has a commitment to them and keep them in place for the next three years, Anderson said.

Peterson said CDHDs WIC (Women, Infants & Children program) staff will not be eligible for the new bonuses, as they are Nebraska Health Department employees.

WIC staff also work mainly from home and havent been called in for extra time or duties.

We felt it would be reasonable to work to repay the staff that has the knowledge of COVID, the expertise and the skillset, Anderson said.

Board member Chuck Haase, who headed the committee, called the effort inclusive, with the exception of the WIC employees.

We can set this money aside right now and have it as a one-time, three-year program, and its fully funded to start with, he said. Well do this, and anyone we hire in this three years will be eligible for those payments.

He added, We think this is something that we share with the staff that shows our appreciation for them, as well.

Peterson said the key to providing such a bonus is having sufficient funds available.

Its something a number of the health departments across the states are doing because theyve been able to generate this extra money from doing shots and with FEMA money, he said.

CDHD had a fee-for-service agreement via Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services using pass-through Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars.

Through this agreement, CDHD received $40 per COVID vaccine or booster shot.

That contract ended July 2021.

Because of internal efficiencies, CDHD realized a net income of roughly $300,000.

We can set that money aside in an account and know that its taken care of, Peterson said. We felt like that made a lot of sense knowing what our obligation could be, and any new employee who came on could be eligible for a portion of it, based on how much they worked that particular year.

For COVID-19 guidance and other community resources, visit cdhd.ne.gov.

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It will still be some time before authorities receive answers involving a human arm bone found by an area hunter, Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman said.

On Oct. 18, a hunter setting up a goose blind near the North Platte River on property between Minatare and Melbeta, not far from Link 79E on Nebraska 92, found part of a lower arm bone. A piece of cloth, believed to be a shirt, was found about 100 feet from the bone. A local forensic pathologist confirmed the bone to be human, Overman said.

Authorities worked with a University of Nebraska lab to try to get DNA from bone marrow, he said. However, because of the age of the bone and other factors, such as the bone having been underwater, he said, the lab was unable to return a valid sample.

Working the Wyoming Department of Investigations, Overman said, authorities were referred to labs in the U.S. that may be able to complete the testing. Currently, the Scotts Bluff County Sheriffs Office is on the waitlist at a Florida university lab and hopes to see results from that lab once it is accepted for testing.

Two cases have possible ties to the North Platte River, and DNA comparisons will be made with material collected in those cases. One case involves that of Walter Gene Patterson-Black. Authorities searched the North Platte River after the man was reported missing on May 15, 2016. The man had not contacted anyone in several days, and authorities located his vehicle in the parking lot of the YMCA in Scottsbluff.

The second case involves Chance Englebert, 25, of Moorcroft, Wyoming, who was reported missing after he left a Gering residence on July 6. Cell phone activity indicates he was walking in the area of the North Platte River near the river bridge on Avenue I or in the area of Riverview Golf Course.

In both cases, authorities with multiple jurisdictions searched the North Platte River. Air and K-9 searches were also conducted as part of the investigations and searches.
YORK  Ruben Avila, 30, of Grand Island has been sentenced to time in jail in a case where he was caught with meth-loaded needles in his possession in York County.

He was also initially charged with failure to appear, but that was dismissed because it was determined Avila was incarcerated somewhere else and was unable to appear for an earlier arraignment date.

This case began when an officer with the York Police Department was on regular patrol in the middle of the night. In court documents, he indicates he saw a speeding vehicle in the 100 Block of North Lincoln Avenue and a traffic stop was initiated.

Avila was the driver.

According to court documents, when the officer asked for Avilas drivers license, he could not produce one. Rather, he gave the officer an identification card from California and a post-release identification card from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. The officer said Avila told him he was coming from Grand Island and he had borrowed the vehicle from a friend.

An examination of Avilas information showed he had been charged with a number of controlled substance-related offenses.

While a citation was being issued for speeding, a drug dog alerted to the presence of narcotics in Avilas vehicle.

During a search, officers found a bag with two prepped hypodermic needles, each containing methamphetamine. They said they also found a baggie containing methamphetamine.

He was facing a possible maximum sentence of two years in prison. This week, in York County District Court, he was sentenced to a term of six months in the York County Jail.
Editor's note: Each year, the York/Hamilton County Cattlemen's Association honors two livestock producers, one from each county. This year's York County recipient are the McLeans. Each recipient is featured by the respective newspapers in their areas -- this is the feature written by the News-Times. The accompanying feature from Hamilton County can also be found on our website.

YORK  The McLean familys home place lies on the west side of Highway 81 near Benedict; however their impact on the American beef industry ripples out far and wide from there.

McLean Beef will be honored by the York-Hamilton County Cattlemens Association during the organizations annual banquet next Tuesday at the Holthus Convention Center south of York.

Max and Jeanette McLean, the latest generation to ramrod the multi-faceted cattle operation, oversee cow-calf operations and the next step in the process; expansive feedlots in which the animals are finished under the attentive eyes of the McLeans, their adult children and spouses and  soon  grandchildren. There is also a staff of some 10 employees who see to everything from health, which is monitored daily from horseback, to nutrition, creature comfort and high-tech computer tracking of each animal.

The operation traces its roots to its founding in 1949 by Max McLeans great grandfather and includes a farming operation which produces much, but not all, the tonnage of feed required to bring their inventory of cattle to harvest weight.

It took a while to happen, but in 1999 McLean filled a niche when it began offering its corn-fed, dry-aged beef direct to the consumer. At first their locally-sourced product was offered in quarters, halves and whole animals only, but before long individual retail cuts of beef were being sold from stuffed-full freezers at the companys office at one end of their home.

A website soon made McLeans uniquely dry-aged beef available for sale nationally and so began a shipping system that fed their product, literally, to consumers nationwide.

In September 2021 in the face of an increasing packer monopoly controlling the industry, and beef shortages brought about by shuttered mammoth processing plants in the COVID era, McLean Beef took the next step. It was a big one.

The company purchased an existing but vacant building alongside Highway 81 on the strip between York proper and the interstate. After many months of brainstorming, design sessions and, finally, construction, the structure was retro-fitted to accommodate McLean Beefs processing, shipping and retail sales complex.

This final step in the McLean evolution includes full slaughter service and custom processing for customers who prefer a quarter or half of beef  whether obtained from McLean or not  and full, USDA inspected retail cuts available to walk-in customers. The array includes Japanese Wagyu beef crossed with registered Angus animals, also finished in McLean feed yards, for those in search of something even more unique.

Now, as 2022 dawns, the operation is going great guns and with a staff of nearly 20 provides beef, pork, smoked products and even a commercial kitchen  complete with its own executive chef on a two-person culinary staff - serving breakfasts (Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:30-10 a.m.) plus the brand new Build Your Own Burger (and more) lunch service (Monday-Friday).

McLeans York facility includes a shipping room in which employees pack beef, pork, gift boxes, special orders and variety bundles that are shipped daily across the U.S. and Canada. In the entrance out front, two conversation-piece vending machines offer quality beef, pork and other products 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We love it, says Max McLean on an introductory video at mcleanbeef.com., adding that the cattle business has become something of an addiction. We enjoy it and are well satisfied with what we can get out of it as they do more than their part to feed a hungry world.

As for the nearly 75-year-old company itself, Max says, We would love to see the business keep flourishing from generation to generation.

By all indications, McLean Beef can be counted upon to do exactly that.
State Legislation

Survey Finds Teacher Shortage Crisis Exacerbated By Push to Ban Classroom Discussions of Race and Gender

Education-equity advocacy nonprofit Stand for Children has released a new national survey of teachers that finds that 3 in 10 teachers are considering leaving the profession at the end of this school year, and more than a third of the 2,000 K12 educators surveyed cited as a reason new state laws restricting classroom discussions on race, gender, and sexuality.

Censorship laws being passed by Republican-led legislatures across the country  and which bar teachers from discussing topics of race, gender, and sexuality  threaten to exacerbate the teacher shortage, Stand for Children said in a news release. Of the teachers surveyed, 37% said that the push for laws that prevent honest teaching and conversations in their classrooms would make them more likely to leave teaching at the end of this school year.

There is a direct connection between states pushing for censorship laws and teachers willingness to stay in the teaching profession, and students and families are paying the price, said Jonah Edelman, executive officer at Stand for Children. At a time when public officials should be supporting kids and families to help students to catch up academically and recover socially and emotionally, these laws are instead fueling crippling staff shortages, and preventing students from learning a truthful, thorough, fact-based account of U.S history that enables them to learn from the past in order to create a better future.

The organization noted that 32 states have introduced legislation to ban classroom curricula and conversations on important but challenging topics such as the ongoing effects of racism and inequality in the United States. Thirteen states have already enacted such laws, many of which include stiff punishments for teachers who violate the often-vague guidelines, Stand for Children said.

Some recent examples include:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rolled out legislation that would allow parents to sue schools that teach critical race theory.

In Ohio, a bill introduced in the state Legislature teachers accused of discussing banned ideas'' could have their classes not count toward graduation requirements.

In Wisconsin, the proposed legislation would withhold 10% of funding to schools that promote race or sex stereotyping.

In Texas, after a conservative lawmaker listed 850 books he wanted banned, hundreds of books have already been pulled off the shelves, preventing students from learning from Pulitzer Prize-winning authors like Toni Morrison and historical figures like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

One respondent explained their dismay with such bans: Laws restricting classroom discussions take away from the students in that classroom, said the respondent, a high school teacher in Montana. Schools are not there to make you think one way or another, and laws restricting discussions force students to only think in one way. Students should be able to discuss what they believe. This helps better prepare them for a world in which they will disagree with others and a world in which their voice matters just as much as other persons.

The Ohio program director for suburban housewife advocacy group Red Wine & Blue, Crystal Lett, said shes concerned that adding restrictions on what teachers can discuss in the classroom will make the ongoing teacher shortage much worse.

Additional loss of teaching staff will place our education system in full crisis, with harmful consequences for our children, our families, and ourselves as parents, said Lett, also a parent of three K12 students. Our children are very aware of the world around them, and the focus must be on preparing them for success by giving them the skills needed to address inequality and understand complex, tough issues.

Overwhelmingly, respondents agreed that students need to learn honest, accurate, and truthful history even if those conversations are uncomfortable, with 93% of teachers surveyed saying that students deserve a thorough and accurate account of American history and that it is essential for schools [to teach historical truths] to help children learn to value and respect the humanity of every person.

The national survey was conducted by SurveyUSA, an independent survey research firm, from September to October 2021. The full results can be viewed on the Stand for Children survey website.
Grants for Educators

151 Ohio Classrooms Awarded STEM Learning Funds Totaling $687K

The Ohio STEM Learning Network announced this week it will award 151 educators with grants of up $5,000 each to create new STEM classroom projects, with a total investment of $687,500.

The grants will reach more than 51,000 Ohio students in public and private K-12 schools across 55 Ohio counties, the organization said in a news release.

The schools and educators awarded today will create powerful new experiences to amaze and inspire students, said Kelly Gaier Evans, director of the Ohio STEM Learning Network. We invest in these programs to foster the next generation of Ohio innovators.

The grant program, funded by nonprofit applied science and tech institute Battelle, aims to provide more access for all students to experience quality science, technology, engineering, and math education, a top priority for Battelle, according to the announcement.

Battelle is proud to expand its impact in STEM education to support more educators across Ohio, said Wes Hall, vice president of philanthropy and education. This program creates connections to the statewide network and STEM opportunities for thousands of new students.

Awarded classroom projects are founded on one or more of the programs four missions:

Community Problem Solving

STEM Career Exploration

Building STEM Mindsets

Design Thinking and Infrastructure

Educators interested in future grants or other opportunities supporting STEM education from the Ohio STEM Learning Network can subscribe for updates on the networks website. Find a complete list of awarded schools at the Ohio STEM Learning Network grants website.

The grants are funded by Columbus-based science and tech company Battelle.
PAT MAYSE LAKE REPORT

The lake is 2.3 feet low with temperatures at 48 to 53 degrees. Crappie were slow in 35 feet on hair jigs and Bonehead Brushgliders. Natural colors or black/chartreuse fished near the bottom. Bass were extremely slow fishing shallow on squarebills and small plastics.

High pressure days following the fronts are excellent times to practice fishing slower than normal with the black/blue jig and pig or a small profile shad colored hair jig to catch a heavyweight from your preferred species.

 Bruce Bullard
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President Joe Biden on Thursday sought to clarify his stance on a potential Russian incursion in Ukraine, cleaning up remarks from the prior day's news conference during which he suggested a "minor incursion" by Russia would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.

"I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding. If any -- any -- assembled Russian units move across Ukrainian border, that is an invasion. But it will be met with severe and coordinated economic response that I've discussed in detail with our allies, as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin," Biden said at the top of an event aimed at promoting the bipartisan infrastructure package passed last year.

If Putin chooses to invade, Biden added, "Russia will pay a heavy price."

During the news conference Wednesday, the President predicted Putin would "move in" to Ukraine -- though he speculated that the Russian leader is still not clear on what he's going to do. In a comment that sent shockwaves across Europe, Biden then alluded to disunity among US allies about how to respond to anything less than a full invasion.

"It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do," Biden told reporters at an East Room news conference. "But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine."

Later, asked to clarify what he meant by "minor incursion," Biden said he drew the line at "Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters."

"I think that changes everything," the President said. "But it depends on what he does, to what extent we'll get total unity on the NATO front."

"It's very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page. That's what I'm spending a lot of time doing, and there are differences," he went on. "There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens."

The remarks prompted near-immediate outcry in Kyiv, where officials had been meeting with Biden's top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as Russian troops amass on the country's border. High-level attempts to clean up the comment soon followed at the White House, including a Wednesday evening statement from press secretary Jen Psaki, and subsequent media appearances by Psaki and Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday morning.

In a subtle but strongly worded tweet Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a "reminder" to the US.

"We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power," Zelensky said.

And his foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, warned in a virtual press briefing that a country "can't be half invaded."

"One can't be half invaded or half aggressive. Aggression is either there or not. And we can say as a concrete fact that the aggression of the Russian Federation against the state of Ukraine has been going on since 2014," Kuleba said.

As he sought to clean up his previous remarks, Biden noted that Russia has a "long history" of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression, including paramilitary tactics, so-called gray zone attacks, attacks by Russian soldiers not in uniform, little green men and cyberattacks.

"We have to be ready to respond to these as well and decisively," Biden said, echoing comments made late Wednesday and earlier Thursday by Psaki and Harris.

He noted that Kuleba said Thursday that he is "confident of our support and resolve and he has a right to be."

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

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A new bill in the Illinois General Assembly proposes appropriating $4.5 million in COVID-19 emergency funds to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

For more than 4 decades, HIV/AIDS 5 has ravaged communities across America and Illinois, doubling 6 down on the racial health disparities also laid bare across the 7 opioid epidemic, maternal and infant mortality rates, COVID-19 8 mortality and morbidity rates, and the rising rates of 9 sexually transmitted infections (chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis), the text of the bill reads.

The bill proposes using these funds to expand access to PrEP, testing and treatment for the virus.

If passed, the bill would go into effect immediately and would help to fund assistance programs relating to AIDs and the Getting to Zero Illinois Plan  a program with the goal of ending the transmission of the disease in the state by 2030.

The bill, HB4264 is sponsored by Rep. Greg Harris (D-13) and is before the Illinois House Appropriations-Human Services Committee.

As of 2019, an estimated 42,400 Illinoisans are living with HIV, including those who are undiagnosed; 22,700 of those people lived in the city of Chicago, according to the bill.

Black and Latino/a/x communities comprise 73% of those living with HIV in Illinois despite these communities only comprising 14.6% and 9 17.5% of the states population, respectively.

Without question, ending the HIV epidemic in Illinois is a health equity and racial justice issue, the bill said.

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JEFFERSON COUNTY  The Jefferson County Sheriffs Department is pursuing new technology in identifying a 1993 murder victim whose decapitated head was found in a local state park.

Police are using new technology anthropological re-analysis and DNA extraction to identify the unknown woman named Ina Jane Doe."

The presumed white female's decapitated head was found on Jan. 27, 1993 on the side of a wooded roadway within Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park, police said in a news release Tuesday.

The sheriffs office has investigated Ina Jane Does cases for nearly three decades and has still been unable to identify her.

Thanks to new technology that was not available three decades ago, police are able to use new identification techniques.

Avenues pursued include anthropological re-analysis from University of New Hampshire assistant professor Dr. Amy Michael, DNA extraction and sequencing by Astrea Labs, and forensic genetic genealogy by Redgrave Research Forensic Services, police said.

New forensic art has also been prepared by sketch artist Carl Koppelman to reflect updated findings.

One image is without eye makeup and the other is with eye makeup, police said.

The news release posted on Facebook garnered hundreds of comments with people comparing the new forensic images with images of other missing persons; however, so far, no identifications have been proven.

The head of the victim was originally found by two girls  ages 10 and 12  who were running through the park, according to an Associated Press newspaper clipping obtained by The Southern from January 1993.

The head was dumped on a peninsula that extends into Rend Lake, the story read.

The victim was estimated to be 30-to-50 years old at the time of her death, and she had likely died two to three days prior to discovery, police said.

The police described her as having long reddish hair and a pin-shaped mole in her left ear.

Shed had extensive dental work, including a silverpoint filling, and she had possibly worn braces at some point, police said.

The victim also had skeletal asymmetry that, in life, may have been visible in her facial features.

Additionally, she may have experienced issues with her neck, police said.

Anyone with information about this females identification or this investigation can contact Detective Captain Bobby Wallace at the Sheriffs Office (618)244-8004 or Crimestoppers at (618)242-TIPS (8477).

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A 34-year-old Gaston woman is facing the charge of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injuries following a collision on North Road in Orangeburg on Dec. 27, 2021.

Theresa Mae Kelly appeared in bond court on Thursday afternoon.

She was in a wheelchair and wiped tears from her eyes during some parts of the hearing.

Angela Weeks, wife of the 52-year-old man Kelly is accused of injuring, told the court, I about lost my husband twice. When I called the ICU on the eighth (of January), the doctor came to the phone, which I knew that wasnt good. He told me that a team of doctors were trying to resuscitate my husband.

Weeks said that was the second time since the collision that her husband nearly died.

Hes now at home with me. My house has been turned into a hospital and our lives have totally been changed, Weeks told the court.

He was the only one that worked, in our house. He took care of seven people and we live week-to-week. Im having to pay for nurses and everything because she only had liability (insurance), she added.

He is in pain and he may never walk again, Weeks said.

In addition to a broken pelvis, hip, femur, back and organ damage to his kidney, liver, intestines and pancreas, surgeons had to remove the injured mans gallbladder and spleen.

The injured man was driving to work the morning of the collision.

Weeks said her husband came home from the hospital this past Friday.

Orangeburg County Magistrate Valerie Lawrence asked, Mrs. Kelly, you do know the seriousness of driving under the influence, correct?

Yes, your honor, Kelly replied.

But it was a choice that you made that day, correct? Lawrence asked.

Yes, your honor, I dont remember a whole lot, Kelly said.

You remember you were drinking though? Lawrence asked.

Your honor, Ive been under a whole lot of stress and a whole lot of depression and anxiety and I apologize sincerely for what happened to Mr. Weeks and to the entire family, Kelly said tearfully, I never meant to cause harm to anyone.

Lawrence told Kelly thats why its important not to drive under the influence.

Kelly also told the court that shes not able to walk well due to injuries she sustained, such as several broken bones in her back. She mentioned that she may have to have surgery on an artery and her back.

She also told the court that she was unable to go to some of her appointments because she had COVID-19.

An S.C. Highway Patrol trooper told Weeks, during the hearing, that he was aware of a Facebook post concerning Kelly.

Weeks told the court that she removed the Facebook post in question.

Both the trooper and Lawrence urged Weeks to let the case move through the court system and to avoid social media posts about Kelly.

The trooper also noted that Kelly has been cooperative and turned herself in to authorities.

Lawrence set a no contact order for both Kelly and Weeks.

Lawrence also set Kellys bond at $21,119.50.

Kelly faces up to 15 years in prison and fine of up to $10,000 if shes convicted.

Also, if shes convicted, Kellys drivers license could be suspended and an ignition interlock device could be placed on her vehicle for three years.

Kellys previous record includes pleading guilty on March 15, 2017, in Lexington County to first-offense driving under the influence with a blood alcohol concentration of less than .10.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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DENMARK  Rusty Munoz, accountant for the City of Denmark, mentioned the city has received approximately $700,000 in American Rescue Funds during a December teleconference meeting of council and that the city has spent $112,805.60 of the funds so far.

No itemized list was available in the budget of how these funds had been spent nor was it discussed.

Council member Hope Long Weldon stated council should have a meeting soon about how these funds are being spent. Mayor Gerald Wright said that they would need to get through the upcoming holidays before meeting.

Wright said, We will plan to meet the second week in January (for a budget meeting) to discuss the American Rescue funds and their usage. It will be announced.

It will be at a consensus or a time convenient for council, he added. He stated he would confer with council either before and/or after the upcoming holidays about a good day and time.

Wright also stated that by the next council meeting that they should have council assignments for committees ready.

Police Chief Leroy Grimes stated in his report that they had a recent break-in at Daniels Pharmacy. He was a homeless man from out of town. We caught him just as he broke in the front door, Grimes added.

Grimes also said he and the entire department went down to Denmark-Olar High School during the recent alleged nationwide TikTok scare in which students were allegedly being asked by a TikTok user to shoot individuals at their schools.

We stayed at the school at least three or four hours because of these concerns, Grimes added.

Grimes said he is working on building up his department and then will work on hiring a school resource officer.

City Administrator Heyward Robinson said the work on renovating the old City Hall building for a new police department continues.

We have advertised for a construction manager to assist in estimating the cost of renovations. The goal is to renovate without exceeding the $400,000 as provided by the Capital Sales Act, Robinson added.

Robinson next stated work on the new fire truck is continuing.

The manufacturer has concerns with the supply chain and the contract has been extended by the Department of Commerce. We expect to have a completed fire truck by the end of 2022, Robinson added.

In other business:

Councilman Calvin Odom stated that MUSC and Family Health Centers are partnering together with the City of Denmark to have a vaccination event Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Depot. We will provide tables, chairs, and the facility, Odom added and mentioned that vaccination numbers are not where they would like them to be in the area. He said at the event there will be a dee-jay and food available as part of the funding. Odom had met last month with DHEC at the Brooker Center to discuss promoting COVID-19 vaccination. Weldon next mentioned that a booster can be obtained from CVS in the city during the day without an appointment.

Grimes also reported that he had 43 new cases in his department including simple assault, aggravated assault, burglary, domestic violence, vandalism of property, motor vehicle theft, trespass of real property, disorderly conduct, driving under suspension, traffic collision, etc.

Municipal Judge James Spellman will be holding court next on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022 at 10 a.m.

Robinson gave the Public Works report and stated they repaired 12 water leaks in town and are in the process of flow testing all fire hydrants in accordance with DHEC regulations.

Robinson said the Denmark Fire Department had 30 total fire calls during the month.

According to minutes from the November meeting, which The T&D did not attend but received the minutes for during the December meeting, Councilwoman Bervay Carter made a motion to give second reading to adopt a revised business license ordinance in accordance with the Business License Standardization Act. The motion was seconded by Odom, the vote was unanimous, and the motion passed. Carter also made a motion to give second reading on a proposal to rezone property from R-1 to R-2. The motion was seconded by Odom. This vote was also unanimous, and the motion passed.

Also in November, there was discussion about litter and the need for cameras to be installed to catch litterers. Grimes stated the cameras were already installed.

Laura McKenzie of Keep Bamberg Beautiful called in to the November teleconference, according to minutes, and thanked the 131 volunteers who helped pick up trash during a cleanup event throughout Bamberg County.

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Emergency officials say The T&D Region should be prepared for the possibility of freezing rain and ice that could down trees, cause power outages and make for hazardous roads.

Orangeburg County Emergency Services Director Billy Staley says hes concern that residents may be complacent because the area escaped significant problems last week.

Pay real close attention to these forecasts, he said.

The potential for a severe weather event is here. We know we can have them and in some cases they can be crippling. Don't take them lightly, Staley said.

A winter storm watch was issued for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties from 1 a.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday. By the close of business Wednesday, a watch had yet to be issued for Bamberg County.

Forecasts are calling for total ice accumulations of between .1 to .25 inches in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties, with about .01 to .1 inches for a large majority of Bamberg County.

Total snow accumulations of about .2 inches are forecast for Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. The northernmost point of Bamberg County could also see some snow.

Staley said Orangeburg County is working on some contingency plans for possibly opening up a warming shelter, although he said plans for opening up a shelter would not be finalized until Thursday.

People need to be ready and understand this event has the potential to have a huge impact on the community, he said.

Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities spokesman Randy Etters said Wednesday, We are growing a bit concerned about the current forecasts as ice accumulations above .25 can be problematic for our electric system.

We did as much prep work as possible last week, so we still feel good about our preparedness.

DPUs focus Wednesday was on planning and purchasing meals for our outside crews in the event of an outage.

The DPU, in an effort to keep our team in the field, will provide meals on site to our staff for lunch, and then prepare and distribute food for breakfast and dinner. This takes massive coordination as we attempt to estimate numbers and timing, Etters said.

The National Weather Service says drivers should plan on slippery and hazardous road conditions.

Also, the NWS says Some power outages and tree damage will likely occur with these potential ice amounts.

Forecasts for Orangeburg have rain moving into the area late Thursday morning and lasting through the night.

The chance of rain Thursday night is 80%. Early indications are that will be an all-rain event Thursday night

Temperatures are forecast to fall to around 31 degrees Friday morning.

Fridays forecast for Orangeburg calls for rain through about 1 p.m. before the precipitation turns to freezing rain. The high Friday will be 35.

Freezing rain could last through 9 p.m. Snow and sleet could be mixed after 10 p.m. Friday night into Saturday morning through about 6 a.m.

The chance of freezing rain, snow and sleet is about 70%. The low in Orangeburg on Saturday morning will be around 24.

The high Saturday will be about 40.

Icing is more likely in Calhoun County. Freezing rain is expected to begin earlier Friday, with lows Friday morning in St. Matthews forecast to be about 30.

After 8 p.m. Friday, the St. Matthews area could also see some sleet and snow.

When asked his biggest concern about the storm, Calhoun County Emergency Services Director David Chojnacki simply said, I am concerned about the ice.

They are predicting up to a quarter of an inch of ice, he said. That can bring down trees and power lines. People could be out of power for a long time.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the county is not planning to open up any shelters, although that could be a possibility.

Bamberg County can also expect to see freezing rain Friday evening beginning around 6 p.m., with a changeover to sleet and snow after 3 a.m. Saturday.

Winds could be somewhat gusty as well. Maximum wind gusts for Orangeburg are forecast to be about 20 mph Friday and 16 mph on Friday night. Gusts along with ice accumulation could result in an increase in downed trees and power lines.

Black ice could also be an issue overnight Friday night into Saturday morning.

Local emergency crews and highway officials prepared for the possibility of ice last weekend.

Staley said, We are still ramped up and we are still in a very high vigilance mode of monitoring, prepping and reviewing plans.

Winter weather is notoriously hard to forecast, he said.

Even with this forecast, there still remains uncertainty as to the amount of ... wintry precipitation, the NWS said in its Wednesday forecast discussion. There also remains uncertainty in the depth of the low-level arctic air mass, which will affect whether this event remains freezing rain, or ends up having sleet and/or snow mixed into the precipitation on Friday and Friday night.

There is still a large spread of possible outcomes with this event, ranging from mild inconvenience to highly impactful winter storm across the Midlands and CSRA, the NWS said. With either outcome, now is the time to be making preparations.

Following the storm, temperatures will remain below normal, with highs through Tuesday of next week struggling to make it out of the 50s. Lows will be in the 20s.

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Ukrainian president, U.S. secretary of state discuss security situation around Ukraine

Xinhua) 08:49, January 20, 2022

KIEV, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met here on Wednesday to discuss the security situation around Ukraine, Zelensky's press service said.

In particular, the two sides exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement.

"We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," Zelensky said.

He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict-hit region of Donbas is observed and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week.

The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs U.S. assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the United States would support Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Madrid.

After talks with Zelensky, Blinken said on Twitter that he had informed the Ukrainian president on the U.S. engagements with Russia last week and stressed that "there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine."

On Jan. 10, the United States and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues.

Recently, Ukraine, the United States and some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine.

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014.

Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. Later this week, he will meet German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
In 2016, then-93-year-old Harold Ness of Denmark was among World War II veterans aboard the final Honor Flight of South Carolina journey from Columbia to Washington, taking veterans to see the memorials built to honor them.

This trip to Washington, D.C., was an eye-opening experience for me. I have never been to places like that, and it was just outstanding, Ness said afterward. It was a wonderful thing for them to do to send us to those memorials, and they acted like we were heroes everywhere we went. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Ness and others having served during World War II deserve hero status.

He commented about the war in 2016: We would send out 10 planes and only five would come back and sometimes only three would come back. It would just break our hearts to see that, and it happened on every flight. My squadron commander, Robert Longlois, was on his last mission and he was one of them we sent out, and the last we heard of him was someone saw his parachute open up and we never heard from him again. There were 10 men per plane, and we almost never got them all back. It was heartbreaking and still breaks my heart to talk about it today."

Ness served his country in the war as a member of Operations in the 8th Air Force, 545th Squadron, 384th Bombardment Group at Grafton-Underwood Airfield in Northamptonshire, England. He participated in the preparation of diversionary tactics related to the Normandy D-Day invasion. He later served in the Air Force in France.

Ness is the latest of the Greatest Generation to be lost. The iconic Denmark businessman died Jan. 15 at age 99.

According to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics in December 2021, just more than 240,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are alive today. The VA reports that 234 WW II veterans die each day.

The war was a significant factor in the lives of Ness and so many others. Yet after the war and over a lifetime, he contributed to his country and community.

He owned and operated Ness' Department Store from 1947 to 1989 in Denmark.

As described in his obituary: During this time he transformed a small, struggling business into an attractive, thriving enterprise. In this personable apparel business, his many customers became his friends. Whether his customers were journeying from other areas or from a nearby neighborhood, they all enjoyed coming to shop at the place to go for the brands you know. He served his community by running this family business where one could purchase all their clothing needs, from Johnny Carson suits to dairy boots.

Ness also was a member of the South Carolina State Development Board from 1973 to 1977, served as a member of the Voorhees College Board of Trustees and was a member of the Bamberg County Hospital Board for 10 years.

Of note, Ness was the last survivor from a group of four siblings, one being the late S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Julius Bubba Ness.

We join country and community in saying thank you to Harold Ness.

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Casper police are looking for victims of a series of residential burglaries in which the suspect allegedly stole women's underwear and clothing, a release said Wednesday.

According to police, the unnamed suspect is detained at the Natrona County Detention Center on unrelated charges.

The burglaries likely occurred inside "residences of unsuspecting victims" over the last six months, Wednesday's release said, and the victims may not notice any other "apparent signs of a home break-in."

Among the items stolen were "a wide variety of women's clothing and undergarments, of various styles and sizes" and other personal items, police said.

Victims may have noticed these items missing with no explanation from their home. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Casper Police Department at (307) 235-8286.

We believe this investigation entails a pattern of behavior we find greatly disturbing, said Lt. Ben Mattila in Wednesday's release. While sensitive in nature, we encourage anyone who may be a victim to come forward.

Due to the ongoing investigation, police did not provide any further information Wednesday.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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CHEYENNE (WNE)  The Cheyenne Police Department successfully talked a man off of a bridge over the weekend, according to a CPD Facebook post.

At 11:50 a.m. Saturday, Cheyenne Police officers were dispatched to a reported suicide attempt near the 2000 block of West Lincolnway. Officers arrived on scene and located a 44-year-old man on a railroad bridge that spans over West Lincolnway and the Union Pacific Railroad.

Officers noticed the man had a ligature around his neck, with the other end attached to the bridge he was on. The male stated he was going to jump off of the bridge and hang himself.

Several additional officers arrived on scene, and multiple officers spoke with the man. After a long conversation, officers were able to de-escalate the situation and convince him to come off of the bridge. An officer on scene was able to cut the ligature from the bridge.

Once the man agreed to come down, Cheyenne Fire Rescue assisted him from the bridge with it ladder truck and moved him to safety.

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A $295,000 settlement has been reached in a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Teton County School District, in which a former student alleged she was raped and sexually assaulted by two fellow students.

The Jackson Hole High School student, referred to in the suit as Rachel Roe to protect her identity, said in her complaint that she was also subjected to severe harassment and retaliation after reporting the assaults to district officials.

Following the settlement, the federal case was dismissed earlier this month.

The suit, originally filed at the end of 2020, alleged that the district and its leadership had violated Roes Title IX rights by failing to adequately investigate her reports.

It is difficult to fully comprehend how sexual harassment and abuse affects the survivor and all other people involved, said Kaden Canfield, an attorney for Roe. The community should be proud that Ms. Roe was willing and brave enough to come forward and share her story. I hope the resolution of this case can help Ms. Roe on her path to recovery, which can truly take a lifetime.

The complaint alleges that in 2017, Roe was assaulted twice by the same student, once on school property. Months after those assaults, the suit says, Roe attempted suicide and was admitted to in-patient therapy.

The following year, the suit alleges, Roe was raped by another student who had given her alcohol until she was slipping in and out of consciousness.

The incidents detailed in the suit reportedly took place at the same time as those brought in another case settled by the district last year. In that lawsuit, a Jane Doe defendant alleged officials disregarded her report of being sexually assaulted by a classmate in 2017.

Both suits accused the district of failing to train its administrators on sexual misconduct between students and Title IX procedures.

"While TCSD does not comment on litigation, we are confident that our teachers, counselors, administrators and staff met their legal and professional responsibilities and duties while focusing on the best interest of all students, Charlotte Reynolds, spokesperson for the district, said in an email.

The suit states that Roe had not reported either of the incidents for several months out of fear of retaliation and additional harassment at school.

When she did report the first two alleged assaults, the suit says, she was subjected to embarrassing and harassing sexualized rumors spread by the alleged assailant and his friends. The complaint also alleges that school officials failed to report the assaults to law enforcement. JHHS Principal Scott Crisp denied that claim in his response to the lawsuit.

The 2018 rape was reported to law enforcement, the suit states. A deputy assigned to the case reportedly told school officials that the alleged rapist had a reputation of getting female students intoxicated and then taking advantage of them sexually.

According to the suit, Roe had talked to other victims of sexual assault at the school, who said they intended to report their assaults to the school until they saw the districts poor response to Roes case.

Roe, the suit states, eventually moved out of Wyoming to continue her education.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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A reworked version of a bill that aims to create protections for unvaccinated Wyoming residents is headed to next months legislative session.

House Bill 32 would require health care facilities, governmental entities and providers of essential services to offer accommodations to people who are unable or unwilling to provide proof of immunization. It would also outlaw COVID-19 vaccine requirements in Wyoming schools for the next five years and make requiring immunization as a condition of employment a discriminatory or unfair employment practice.

For starters, the bill requires health care facilities to provide a reasonable accommodation to any person seeking to visit a patient or resident of the health care facility if the person is unable or unwilling to provide proof of immunization, the bill reads. Reasonable accommodations are often associated with protections for people with disabilities. For example, an employer might have to provide a desk that a worker who uses a wheelchair could use to perform their job.

The bill defines a reasonable accommodation as any change in policy, process, location or other appropriate measures that allows a person who is unable or unwilling to provide proof of immunization to visit a patient or resident of the health care facility or to access publicly funded services unless doing so would create an undue hardship or would pose a direct and unavoidable threat to the health or safety of the patient, resident or staff or other patients or residents of the health care facility.

While this language may appear complicated, human resource teams at businesses have been dealing with the concept of reasonable accommodation and hardship for 30 or 40 years at least, said Rep. Sue Wilson, R-Cheyenne, who co-chairs the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee, which is sponsoring the bill.

The measure is a less severe version of House Bill 1006, which failed in last years special session, which was held to fight back against federal vaccine mandates.

A similar attempt was taken via Senate File 1003, a special session bill, that would have required places like nursing homes to allow unvaccinated visitors in the facilities. Nursing homes have been among the most impacted health care facilities of the pandemic, and that earlier bill prompted some concerns from senior advocates.

Our concern with 1003 is as written, a nursing home couldnt determine whether it is closed to visitors without a vaccine when it is deemed to be in the best interest of the residents by administration, Tom Lacock, spokesman for the Wyoming AARP, previously told the Star-Tribune.

The new bill includes a list of business types  such as pharmacies, hospitals, grocery stores and banks  that must provide services to the unvaccinated or a reasonable accommodation.

The legislation carries a possible misdemeanor charge punishable by imprisonment for not more than six months, a fine of no more than $750.00, or both, if someone is denied an essential service without a reasonable accommodation based on their vaccination status.

Children in Wyoming are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The bill seeks to ensure that COVID vaccines could not be mandated in any Wyoming schools  public or private  during the next five years. This section does not apply to vaccinations that have been around for decades, only new ones that may crop up. Nor does it prevent parents from making their own vaccination choices.

This doesnt stop parents from immunizing their children, Wilson pointed out.

Lastly, the bill would make it a discriminatory or unemployment practice for an employer to require as a condition of employment that any worker or prospective employee be immunized for any preventable disease unless the requirement is strictly based on federal law, or the employer can demonstrate that an unvaccinated employee would create an undue hardship or pose a direct threat to the health or safety of people in the workplace that cannot be eliminated or reduced by means of a reasonable accommodation.

The move is not new. During the special session, Sen. Drew Perkins, R-Casper, sought to make vaccination status a protected class, joining race, religion, color, sex and national origin. The attempt was not successful.

If this section of the bill makes it into law, state money would go towards supporting the Department of Workforce Services in fielding these discrimination claims. The state would get no federal dollars to handle these cases.

The Department of Workforce Services did not respond to request for comment Wednesday.

With all that said, the bill never uses the phrase COVID-19. That was on purpose, Wilson said.

If youre going to put laws in the green books, they should he generally applicable and not just to the disease of the year, she said. I dont like to legislate just for this year.

House leadership declined to introduce the previous version of this bill during the special session because it wasnt specific to COVID, Wilson said.

Unlike many of the early phase bill drafts from the special session, House Bill 32 partly acknowledges the federal governments role and its constitutional right to supersede state law.

I not trying to put employers in a nutcracker between state law and federal law, Wilson said.

Last fall, the Biden administration announced vaccine mandates for various groups  including worker at large private businesses. The U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that workers at companies over 100 employees cant be federally obligated to be vaccinated against COVID-19, while workers at health care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid can be federally mandated to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

All of the states 38 nursing homes and 28 hospitals take federal money.

The upcoming legislative sessions main goal is to amend and adopt a statewide budget for the next two-year cycle. Its also a redistricting year, meaning the Legislature is required to pass a bill that contains a redrawn map of the state House and Senate districts based on the 2020 census.

During the budget session, bills that dont pertain to the budget or redistricting  including committee sponsored bills  have to pass a lofty two-thirds introduction vote.

I think this bill may have problems doing that, said committee member Sen. Dan Furphy, R-Laramie, who has generally voted against bills of this type.

The state Department of Education and the Department of Health declined to comment.

Follow state politics reporter Victoria Eavis on Twitter @Victoria_Eavis

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The Wyoming Department of Corrections paid $2.3 million in hazard pay to employees during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, state records show.

The payments, which ranged from $150 to nearly $10,000, went out to more than 900 WDOC employees between March and December 2020, department spokesperson Paul Martin said in an email.

In total, the department paid out $2,312,850. All of that came from Wyomings CARES Act fund, Martin said.

The payments were made based on employees contact with people exposed to COVID, whether directly or indirectly. The department characterizes indirect contact as working in a facility that had positive cases at the time, and direct contact as physically working inside of an isolation room or area where there are confirmed positive cases.

Those who worked up to 40 hours a month in indirect contact with positive cases received $150 in hazard pay for that period, while those in direct contact for the same time received $900. Rates went up from there, by $150 increments for each additional 40 hours of hazard work in a month.

Employees working directly with people whod tested positive for more than 160 hours in a month, or four 40-hour weeks, could earn up to $1,500 in a month. Those working indirectly in those facilities could receive as much as $750 in the same time.

Other field services employees working outside the states five prison facilities were eligible for $150 per month if they were not authorized to work remotely and had to continue to come into offices during the pandemic.

Hazard Pay was an add-on pay that did not impact any other compensation a staff member might otherwise be entitled to, Martin said in an email last week.

The facilities where employees earned the most hazard pay also reported some of the earliest cases of COVID in Wyoming prisons.

Staff at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington received a total of $854,250 in hazard pay, while employees working at the state penitentiary in Rawlins earned $858,300.

Corrections employees working in rehabilitation or other contract facilities, like the Casper Reentry Center or Booth Hall in Gillette, were not eligible for hazard pay from Wyomings pockets, Martin said, since the payments went to state employees only.

Twelve employees working in central administration for the department received payments totaling $6,000.

The departments most recent budget allotted $265 million for operations in one year.

Hazard pay has not been authorized since the start of 2021, the department said. However, the worst surges of the pandemic in Wyoming prisons  as well as the state and the U.S. in general  have occurred since then.

The states largest COVID surge in prisons came in the fall, with the arrival of the delta variant in Wyoming. WMCI reported the largest outbreak in October, when one in three people incarcerated at the Torrington facility tested positive for the coronavirus in a three-week period.

At the same time, around one in five people incarcerated across the state had reported a positive test. The department said that roughly half of those cases were in fully vaccinated people. Wyomings prisons have surpassed the states general population in vaccination rates since the summer of 2021.

Most recently, the Wyoming State Penitentiary experienced an outbreak in November, with a quarter of residents testing positive in three weeks that month.

To date, the Department of Corrections has reported eight deaths from COVID among incarcerated people  the first in December 2020 and the most recent in November 2021.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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SMALL business owners in three Caribbean countries will get the opportunity to showcase how their enterprises are transforming their communities, and themselves, due to support from the social enterprise, Nudge Caribbean.

The opportunity comes tomorrow, at an event called Nudge Now, which is being organised by Nudge Caribbean, which was founded by Anya Ayoung-Chee, design strategist and social entrepreneur, and Julie Avey, Massy Groups senior vice president of People and Culture.
The Point is to Change the World, a collection of writings by Guyanese political activist Andaiye, was in the spotlight on Thursday, the first day of the 2022 Bocas Lit Fest, which kicked off with a series of virtual events.

Thursdays conversation centred on Andaiyes writings and legacy.

Journalist Sunity Maharaj said while Andaiye left a legacy through her work, she also used her platform to be open and honest about every aspect of her life, including her battle with cancer.
Many people are struggling during this Covid-19 pandemic as prices increase, while many are 
And so it has come to pass. One week after the island-wide blackout of February 16, we told you in this space that, from among the best authority available, there would be, there could be no one to blame for what happened.

We told you that the determination had already been made as to what happened, how and why, and that nobody could have been held responsible for that. It was a warning against the natural national tendency to go for blood. Loud had been the shouts of sabotage, the result of worker discontentment, and a clamour for heads to roll.
Editor's note: This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series "Grizzlies and Us." The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West.

Although shes moved from black bear management issues in the forests of northwest Montana to the Beartooth Front in the states south-central region to deal with grizzlies, Kylie Kembel said the work remains much the same.

Everyone struggles with bears all across the state, she said.

Kembel was one of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks 2017 hires to beef up its bear program, now composed of 11 experts spread across the state. As a bear management technician, she mainly deals with educating the public about how to live and play safely as black bears and grizzlies become more common along the Beartooth Front. These teaching efforts stretch from civic and school groups to local landowners.

My role is to work with the people in Region 5 who have questions, concerns, struggles with bears, she said. People who request me to come to a group event typically have some understanding, but some of the more detailed aspects they have questions about.

Kembel attended the University of Montana majoring in wildlife biology. That led to her working in wild places across the West, including as a volunteer outside of Lander, Wyoming, and in the Flathead Valley next to Glacier National Park and the expansive Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

Red Lodge was picked by FWP as a location to place Kembel because of an increasing grizzly bear presence in an area that for decades only had to worry about black bears. Grizzlies began regularly showing up in about 2011, possibly following the mountains up from Wyoming. Two years later a pair of bears were captured after wandering into the Red Lodge region. They were relocated as reports of eight to 10 bears spread across the landscape trickled in to wildlife officials.

More grizzlies along the Beartooth Front is due to the success of their protection under the Endangered Species Act, as well as the animals population growth in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the core of which is Yellowstone National Park.

Along the Beartooth Front, grizzlies often use drainages as travel corridors, following creeks down from the mountains onto the foothills where they are more likely to run into homes, ranches, towns and farms.

Theyre just out searching for food everywhere, Kembel said.

Her main focus is conflict prevention, helping people to understand what bear attractants are and how to stay safe in bear country. The themes have been widely circulated for years.

Property owners should pick up fruit from trees in their yards, keep barbecue grills inside garages and avoid putting pet food outdoors. Hikers should travel in groups, make noise on the trail, carry bear spray and know how to use it. Campers need to secure their food inside of a hard-sided vehicle when not around or at night.

Backcountry hunters need to hang the carcass of a deer or elk they kill out of a bears reach. Backpackers are also advised to hang their food in bear country or keep it inside bear-proof containers.

Kembel also works with the larger Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee on its information and education outreach for the entire region. She works in partnership with other officials from Yellowstone National Park and Wyoming Game and Fish, to name a few.

The goal is to prevent bears from associating humans with food. Thats safer for bears and humans. The old adage that a fed bear is a dead bear often holds true. When problems arise and a bear needs to be removed or killed, Wildlife Services  a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture  is called. Wildlife Services also partners with FWP to investigate livestock depredations, sometimes trapping problem bears for relocation or, when bears are repeat offenders, to euthanize the animal.

The increased education effort has been paying off, Kembel said, with more people in the community reaching out to her for advice on living safely in an area where homeowners had previously never seen grizzlies. Her work isnt limited to just spring, when bears wake up from hibernation, and fall, when they eat heavily to pack on calories before their long winter nap. Instead, she said shes busy the entire time bears are awake.

Thats OK because Kembel enjoys what shes doing.

There are a lot of fun aspects to my job, she said. Working with people who are just first-time experiencing bears and helping them understand theres ways to be here and enjoy Montana with the bears, helping people understand that is very rewarding.

Bears are also a very charismatic species, she noted, as well as adaptable.

We try to understand bears, but in the end they are wildlife.

Her role, along with others in FWP, similar agencies and conservation groups to spread the word about living with bears will be key to the big animals surviving on a landscape that is seeing increasing development in what used to be largely rural areas. Also, bears are encountering more hikers and campers using forests since the COVID-19 pandemic, some of whom have no knowledge of how to recreate responsibly in bear country.

Theres no place you can go in the Beartooths that you shouldnt be thinking about grizzly bears, said Shawn Stewart, FWP wildlife biologist in Red Lodge. And with COVID, the people are everywhere."

Kembels education efforts have the additional effect of informing the public in hopes of increasing understanding and acceptance of the species.

I think we need people to support the bears if they are going to stay, Kembel said.

If anyone is worried about bears, she encourages them to contact her for more information.

People can reach out any time they have questions and concerns.

Her phone number is 406-850-1131.

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Volunteers work at The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona's drive-thru food distribution and the food bank's assembly line for their emergency food bags at the food bank on Jan. 18.

After record breaking fiscal year, the community food bank is need of more volunteers to help with the distribution and prep of food for their drive-thru distribution tent.

The food bank, from June 2020-June 2021, distributed 86 million pounds of food to about 316,000 people through out the five counties the food bank covers, according to Norma Cable, public relations and marketing specialist.

"It's the biggest number we have ever done," said Cable.

However, due to the Arizona National Guard leaving at the end of November of 2021 and the pandemic, the food bank is in need of volunteers.

"Our need for volunteers is urgent," said Cable.

Prior to the pandemic, the food bank had multiple operations where people could volunteer. Now the food bank, still limiting volunteer opportunities due to covid, is in need of volunteers for their drive-thru distribution and their assembly line for packaging food bags and boxes.

A few volunteers also help with sorting food from donations. The food bank serves about 500 vehicles per day, according to Cable.

If interested in volunteering, there is a link on the food banks website or send an email to volunteers@communityfoodbank.org. Volunteers must be 16 years or older, are required to wear a mask if inside and the food bank is recommending volunteers be vaccinated, said Cable.
Instagram is where many Tucsonans track the latest local food trends and discover new restaurants. From the crisp photos of vegan favorites to the eye-popping close-ups of micheladas, we talked to a few accounts on the cutting edge of Tucson foodie content!

@deathfreefoodie

Hannah Hernandez didnt start her Instagram account, @deathfreefoodie, trying to become an influencer. She was newly vegan and exploring restaurants she had never visited before. Every time shed take a photo, in amazement, shed post the picture on her personal Instagram account.

My friends were getting annoyed, they just werent interested in food, she said with a laugh.

But I was so excited  I couldnt believe this was vegan! So I decided to start a separate page. People just started following me and hoping to see more. I didnt think it would ever get as big as it is now.

If you scroll back to 2019, youll see some good iPhone photos of the chickpea scramble at Prep & Pastry and the jackfruit tamales at Tumerico. I can get annoyed with myself, because I take so long taking so many pictures, she said. Sometimes Ill take a ton of angles and think I did a great job and come home and say, these are not winners. Since, she has amassed a following of over 6,000 people and upgraded her camera.

Before I went vegan, I only went to three restaurants, she said. Once she (and her husband, who she convinced to join her) went vegan, they started eating at new places. Now, her Instagram is an encyclopedia of restaurants with vegan options across town, from spotlighting vegan pop-ups like Nopalinda to ongoing coverage of the surprisingly vast array of vegan options at El Torero.

Before I started the page, I was afraid to go into a business by myself, she said. My anxiety was too high. Talking to a manager of a chef would be terrifying. My confidence has gone up so much. When I drive past a place, I just stop by and see what its all about.

You make it happen, she said. Afterwards, you think, Im amazing.

Here are some questions we asked Hernandez about her favorite restaurants and why she went vegan:

Where would you recommend out-of-towners visit?

Yoshimatsu, El Torero, Urban Fresh, Renees and Cafe Maggie (Im obsessed with their pancakes, she said.)

Off the top of your head, whats the first iconic, Tucson vegan dish that comes to mind?

El Toreros vegan green corn tamales.

Why did you go vegan?

For a long time I felt weird eating beef. I just love cows so much. I look in their eyes and think, I cant eat them. As I got older, I started researching more and found out about how theyre treated, and the antibiotics and hormones.

How did you make the switch?

I started slow, just removing certain ingredients, then dairy, until eventually everyone in my household became vegan. Theres no right way to do it.

Which IG accounts inspire you?

@cheaplazyvegan, @onegreatvegan, @avantgardevegan and @thetucsonlocalista.

Any fun facts your followers might not know about you?

I am really into taking boudoir photos. I love just seeing people after they see their pictures. It builds their confidence. And Im super sarcastic. Sometimes people dont know Im being sarcastic, and I get misread. I want to be myself on my IG more, with my stories or writing, and Im afraid people will think Im a little jerk! So I reign it in.

@tucson.munchies

If you spend a lot of time scrolling through the #tucsonfood hashtag, or any variation of the concept, you are likely familiar with Francisco Sanchezs work posted to his account, @tucson.munchies. His close-up, sun-drenched shots of decadent foods have created a trend across Tucson and built his following to the tens of thousands.

Before he made a career of social media, he developed a signature look while researching food itineraries for family trips to LA. Hed go through a lot of foodie accounts and take stock of their pictures. A lot of people stick to the professional, magazine-style look to their page, he said. I like making it look like its up close and personal, with the sunlight hitting it, an organic, natural picture.

The Neighborhood was the first joint I wrote about for This Is Tucson, before I even started the job. I was captivated by Sanchezs photos of their kitchen sink micheladas. Danny Cordova, the mastermind behind The Neighborhood and La Chingada, must know that photos of his over-the-top menu items  from a sea of oven-melted queso to a burger decked out in tots and onion rings  are downright intoxicating.

Cordova is now expanding an empire on Congress Street, including an oyster bar and a raspados playground. I believe part of his success is indelibly linked to Sanchezs eye-catching pictures on social media.

While Sanchez runs social media accounts for a few restaurants across Tucson, his style has been followed  consciously or not  by some of the most fun restaurants of 2021.

What came first, the food-porn photo shoot or the obscenely decadent menu?

Here are some questions we asked Sanchez about his passion for food and what restaurants he recommends:

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Where does your passion for food come from?

Ive always had that passion. Since I was young, I would always be watching the Travel Channel  whos the guy with spiky hair? The drive-ins show? But I was always watching food shows. The bald guy, Bizarre Foods, he was just going around the world and trying different stuff. I was always trying different restaurants.

I thought that Tucson was really underrated, because theres so much out here, really amazing food. I wanted to showcase that. I would hear a lot of people saying there arent many options, but I knew they only went to a few places.

Whats the craziest thing youve eaten (or photographed)?

The most surprising thing Ive tried here in Tucson is a taco spot called Tacos Apson. Theres one on 12th, across the street from Pueblo H.S., and there I tried a taco thats made with calf testicles. It sounds nasty but it wasnt bad. I liked it. If someone wants to try something different, Id recommend that.

If someone was coming from out of town, where should they eat?

One of my favorite spots is La Chingada  I, myself, Im Mexican, I love Mexican food. Its easily my favorite, and [La Chingada] is one of the best. Its very homemade. Id definitely recommend the chilaquiles. I love chilaquiles, and theirs are amazing.

Oh, and I was left speechless by the lamb chops at Contigo Latin Kitchen.

Sanchez also recommended Sullivans tomahawk steak, the ribs at Brother Johns, and anything at Smokey Mo. (Their spotlight moment is coming soon, he said, of Mo. It deserves some shine.)

Is there anything your followers might not know about you?

I started Tucson Munchies in 2017, when I was 22. And I invest in NFTs. (His biggest flip was from a derivative of the buzzy Bored Ape Yacht Club.)

@yelptucson

@yelptucson is a little different than the other foodie influencers Im showcasing here. While many influencers work with business owners to trade free food for exposure, or get paid for their promotions, Isabella Joffroy is the local community manager for the review platform Yelp. On Instagram, that means she mainly reposts (with permission, of course) standout photos taken by Yelp users, especially the local Yelp Elite.

On one hand, her status means she's unbiased in her recommendations. She is not negotiating a direct business interest when she raves about the sushi at Yamato. Thats her preference as a civilian, or, at most, a Yelp user. On the other, she has a discrete corporate goal of promoting her companys services.

I have used Yelp before, but nothing on the platform has ever left me with as strong impressions as the work Joffroy does within our community. I admire the way she puts the spotlight on local small-business owners and curates Tucsonans reviews of our favorite restaurants. When I see local influencers posting about their Yelp Elite status, they seem genuinely proud of the accomplishment, to be a super user, to be a part of Joffroys community.

While Instagram users tend to connect in the comment sections of posts and through direct messages, Joffroys community is ultimately an in-person experience. She organizes events, from huge (pre-pandemic) tasting parties for charity to a Sonoran dog roundup with this Yelp Elite named Brad. (Hes a hot dog hunter, she said.) Each month theyd pick a spot, gather a small group, and try the dogos. Brad would rate each one on various qualities, from the toastiness of the bun to the quality of their salsa bar.

I had so much fun talking about food with Joffroy. When I brought up restaurants on my to-do list, she would give me a succinct review, always ending with a number out of five, in the parlance of her platform. I went to Just Kabab a lot while staying with my in-laws in Oro Valley, she said. She prefers her old neighborhood, Menlo Park, which reminds her of home in Nogales. But she liked the takeout. Id say four stars, she said.

For Joffroys Q&A, Id like to share a few of her thoughts on favorite restaurants, review style:

Yamato Japanese Restaurant

Hes super traditional, old school  he only has a handful of rolls on the menu. He has a full Japanese grill menu too, which Ive been ordering from more now that Im pregnant and need to explore his more cooked foods. But the nigiri is really fresh, and his rice is perfectly seasoned.

He can be a bit standoffish at first, but Ive been going there for 10 years, so he knows my family and is such a sweet man.

He keeps the bar closed and dine-in is reservation only. If youre going to do dine-in, he does it right. He doesnt fill up the dining room. He does a ton of takeout, so it can be slow. Hes the only person there. Once he retires, Yamato is over, so definitely try it.

El Antojo Poblano

Unlike a lot of Tucson Mexican food, shes not from Sonora, shes from Puebla. Her mom makes the mole the traditional, homemade way. The lady who runs the place is such a lovely person. I cant wait for them to reopen. (Breaking news: they just did!)

Ceres Pasta

I'm a stickler for good service and just being authentic and doing something good. Ceres is this little pasta place that I think is another good example of honoring Italian pasta. And the sauce is good.

Italy is my adopted nationality  my husband is Italian, my mother-in-law is from Italy, so we spend a lot of time there.

Taqueria Pico de Gallo

Nobody does a corn tortilla like them.

Their corn tortilla is a thing to try. Because it's fluffy. It's almost like they made it out of tamale masa or something. Nobody does it like that. So definitely try there. Wow.

And go back and try their tortilla soup. Its a little too full of ingredients, but the broth is amazing, and thats what I look for. In general, you can tell how good a taqueria is based on the quality of their ingredients.
A judge has issued an arrest warrant linked to a Wednesday morning fatal shooting at an apartment complex west of downtown Tulsa.

U.S. Magistrate Susan E. Huntsman issued the warrant late Wednesday. It alleges that Dillon Charles Wilson, 25, committed first-degree murder in Indian Country in connection with the fatal shooting of Jamitric Landrum at the Sandy Park Apartments in the 6300 block of West 11th Place.

Police found Landrum, 20, in the 5900 block of Charles Page Boulevard after receiving a call about 1:18 a.m. Wednesday of a wrecked vehicle in the area, according to an affidavit submitted by an FBI agent in support of the arrest warrant.

Landrum, who was driving a white Ford Edge, had been shot once in the back. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about two hours later, according to the affidavit.

Landrums girlfriend, who was a passenger in the Ford, was hospitalized with crash injuries that were not life-threatening, according to Tulsa police.

Police initially believed Landrum was chasing suspected car burglars when he was shot, but the affidavit says he and his girlfriend were in their apartment when the girlfriend heard someone trying to force open the front door and turn the door handle, according to the affidavit.

The girlfriend woke Landrum, and the two saw someone in dark clothing around the corner when they went outside their apartment, according to the affidavit.

The two then drove around the complex looking for the person.

The couple pulled into a nearby parking lot, where they saw two men and a woman talking to a tow truck driver, according to the affidavit.

Landrum told one of the men to go inside, according to the affidavit.

That man, later identified as Wilson, then pulled out a gun, according to the affidavit.

The girlfriend told Landrum the man was armed, prompting Landrum to start driving away, the affidavit says.

Wilson started shooting at the vehicle and Landrum grabbed his chest while continuing down Charles Page, where Landrum eventually crashed the vehicle, the affidavit states.

A witness said the shooter drove away in a gray sport utility vehicle.

Tulsa police investigators determined that Wilson was with his sister in the complex, the affidavit states.

Another witness told investigators she was inside the apartment with the sister and others when she heard three to four gunshots.

The woman told police she went outside and saw Wilson put a black handgun in his pocket, telling her he busted back at the people in the white vehicle, the affidavit says.

Wilson is a member of the Muscogee Nation, which gives federal law enforcement jurisdiction in the case since the crime occurred within the boundaries of the Muscogee Nation reservation.

Anyone aware of Wilsons whereabouts is asked to call 911 or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous at 918-596-COPS (2677).

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An aide to County Commissioner Karen Keith described Wednesdays announcement that the federal government would provide $137.4 million to make improvements to the Tulsa levee system as Keiths birthday and Christmas presents all wrapped up in one.

That might have been an understatement.

Keith  joined in Washington by Sen. Jim Inhofe  has been championing the project since she took office in 2008.

Inhofe did not vote for the legislation that wound up funding the project. The money is coming from a disaster recovery appropriation that was part of a continuing resolution passed by Congress at the end of September. Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole was the only member of the states delegation to vote for that measure.

None of us knew this was coming, just so you know, Keith said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. This is the day we have all waited for.

The long-sought-after dollars will pay for new relief wells, water pumps, detention ponds and 13 miles of filtered berms with toe drains in the levee system. Plans also call for constructing a cutoff wall at the Superfund site in Sand Springs to prevent unsafe materials from leaching into the Arkansas River.

Im numb, Todd Kilpatrick, Drainage District 12 levee director, said prior to the press conference . Ive waited over a decade for this moment right here, and its surreal.

Dawn Rice, who will oversee the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said construction will be done in four phases, with initial work expected to begin next summer.

That may not be continuous throughout the next couple of years, but that is when we will have our first contract, Rice said. We expect it to be awarded by then.

Keith praised Inhofe, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and everyone else who advocated for the project.

This is a very good day to be a Tulsan, and I say hurrah to that, she said.

Inhofe issued a press release thanking all those who made Wednesdays announcement possible.

This has been a priority of mine for as long as I can remember, and I am grateful for the tireless work of Army Corps Chief of Engineers Lt. General Spellmon, his predecessor Lt. General Semonite, as well as Brig. Gen. Beck, Col. Preston and their staff, Inhofe said. I also want to thank District 2 Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith and District 12 Levee Commissioner Todd Kilpatrick for their years of work  they have been in the trenches with me on this for more than a decade. This is a very good day to be a Tulsan.

The Tulsa-west Tulsa levee system, completed in 1945, stretches from Sand Springs east to Southwest Boulevard.

The levee repairs were one of 500 projects totaling $14 billion that the Biden administration announced Wednesday would receive funding through the Corps. The Corps will pay the entire cost of the project up front. Once it is completed, local government entities will have 30 years to repay the 35% of the project cost for which they are responsible.

Rich Brierre, executive director of the Indian Nations Council of Governments, noted that it is highly unusual for a project such as the levee repairs to be funded in such a short period of time.

With projects of this magnitude, it is an incredibly short period of time to go from authorization of a project to fully funded in about five years, Brierre said. It often takes decades.

Brierre said that more than 10,000 people live behind the levees, with that many people or more working and attending school in the protected areas. The land includes more than 4,000 commercial, residential and government parcels valued at approximately $2 billion.

Mayor G.T. Bynum has been working with Keith to secure funding for the levees since he was a city councilor. Citing the 2019 floods as an example, he gave a vivid account of why the reconstruction and repair project is so desperately needed.

You had personnel from the National Guard 24 hours a day whose sole job was to walk up and down these levees and look for boils that were the first sign of a failure in the levee, and we were literally calculating how we can get TPD out into neighborhoods to tell people that they would have maybe 10 minutes to get out of their house before it would be flooded, Bynum said.

I mean, those were the situations that we were running through in our minds and preparing for because of the state of our levees. That is why today is such a big day.

Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, said it has been an honor to work with local partners to advance the project. The chamber for years has included funding for the levees on its OneVoice regional legislative agenda.

On behalf of the chamber and the regional business community, we are so delighted to celebrate this important victory, and we want to thank each and every one who has worked so hard together to achieve this, Neal said.

2019 video: Levee secured during Tulsa flood

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The timing of Trump's planned rally has sparked shock and anger among some because it coincides with Juneteenth, the nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

Trump rally attendees in Tulsa cannot sue if they contract COVID-19 at the event
A senior U.S. defense official says the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of the Ukrainian resistance. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. militarys assessment, says the U.S. believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east. The officials says that as the troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven, and certainly not decisive in any, in any event."
OKLAHOMA CITY  State officials expect an uptick in the availability of in-home COVID-19 tests to help residents make more informed decisions to reduce the virus spread.

The important thing is it does get an important tool in the hands of the people out there, said interim Health Commissioner Keith Reed. It helps them to understand their current situation. It helps them to better understand if they would pose a risk if they were going out. It helps them to plan if they are looking at family gatherings and such.

The free tests can be ordered at covidtests.gov, he said. The limit is four tests per household. The test kits will be shipped within seven to 12 days, Reed said.

He gave an update Wednesday on the status of the virus during a virtual press conference.

Residents should not go to hospital emergency rooms just to be tested, Reed said.

We want to make sure they are in the business of emergency care and not just routine COVID testing and such, he said. We have other means to do that.

While having access to in-home testing is encouraging, it presents new challenges, he said.

Currently, we have no mechanism for the reporting of these test results, making it difficult to have a full scope of reportable daily numbers, Reed said.

As with other states, Oklahomas recent allocation of monoclonal antibodies, a potential treatment for people with COVID, has been insufficient to ensure adequate supply, Reed said.

The state is pursuing all avenues with its federal partners to increase allocations, he said.

We have been successful in gaining increased monoclonal antibodies, but, unfortunately, the ones most effective against the omicron variant are in the least supply, he said. We will continue our efforts to get as much as possible to meet Oklahomas needs.

The treatments are only used for COVID-19 patients who meet specific criteria, Reed said. They help reduce severe symptoms in very high-risk patients who have already contracted the virus, he said.

For this week, the state got about 8,000 doses of two types of monoclonal antibodies and around 500 doses of another type, cetuximab, which has shown to be the most effective against omicron, he said.

The state also got antiviral pills, including 600 Pfizer and 2,800 Merck pills, Reed said, adding that the Pfizer pill is considered to be more effective.

Reed said officials expect the surge in new COVID cases to peak soon and decline rapidly.

But we must remember, even if that happens, our medical system will still continue to be strained for a period beyond, he said.

Other states, such as New York, Florida, New Mexico and Louisiana, have seen a decline in cases, he said.

Dr. Gitanjali Pai, Oklahoma State Department of Health chief medical officer, said the risk of reinfection with omicron is higher than for prior variants.

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The number of statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations reported Wednesday surpassed the delta variant waves peak, with Oklahoma rapidly climbing into the top 10 worst states in four key pandemic metrics monitored by the federal government.

The three-day average for COVID hospitalizations in Oklahoma hit 1,702, which is 6% above the worst average during the delta surge, which was 1,607 in late August. The level is 15%  293 hospitalizations  below the overall record posted in late December 2020, when the state reported daily counts and not three-day averages.

For the first time, every single one of Tulsa Countys 42 reportable ZIP codes is in the Tulsa Health Departments worst dark red color denoting extremely severe risk of COVID spread. One Tulsa County ZIP code, 74117, has so few residents that the Health Department does not report its rate of spread.

Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahomas chief COVID officer, noted that Arkansas, next door, also is experiencing a very large outbreak as the omicron variant migrates inward from the coasts.

What were seeing is the coasts have the very high rates of this omicron variant and its moving into the Midwest, Bratzler said. So right now were a week or 10 days perhaps behind the East Coast, and our cases are going up quite rapidly.

Oklahomas seven-day moving average of daily new cases is at a record 11,118  a whopping 161% above the record, set last January, of 4,256. The case count average is 55% above a week ago (7,185) and 223% up from two weeks ago (3,440).

Interim Health Commissioner Keith Reed noted that case counts underestimate the true spread of the disease in the community because of so much at-home testing and individuals with no-to-minor symptoms not seeking PCR tests, the numbers of which are reported.

Reed said hes heard that there might be three to eight unreported cases for every confirmed case. During the first surge, he said, antibody testing in Oklahoma indicated that a 3-to-1 ratio was appropriate.

However, the original SARS-CoV-2 strain wasnt nearly as transmissible as the omicron variant, he said.

So you would anticipate with omicron that ratio would go up, but I would be concerned about trying to narrow that down too much because we just dont have a lot of data that will support any kind of estimate of that right now, Reed said.

The countrys weekly new case rate dropped for the first time since late 2021, according to the latest federal data from Monday.

But Oklahomas rate continued to rise swiftly, positioning the state as No. 7 in the nation for most new weekly cases.

The state was No. 2 in COVID hospital admissions per inpatient bed and No. 2 in test positivity.

Reed said New York is starting to experience a rapid decline in cases, along with Florida, New Mexico and Louisiana. He anticipates a rapid drop in Oklahoma, too, after it hits its peak.

He said its going to be a tough couple of weeks, and maybe longer, as the strain on hospitals is very real right now as they try to navigate the influx with even fewer staff members available to care for patients than in previous surges because of exposures or infections among the staff.

About 1 in 5 COVID patients in hospitals requires intensive care, down from a typical historic average of about 1 in 3.

While it has been reported that omicron produces less severe illness  and that does seem to be the case  it is important to maintain perspective, Reed said. There is still risk of serious illness associated with COVID, especially for the immunocompromised and the unvaccinated.

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After increasing the prior week, first-time and continued jobless claims both declined in Oklahoma during the week ending Saturday, according to a government report.

The U.S. Labor Department reported 1,834 initial claims were filed the week ending Saturday in the state, a 33.6% decline from the prior week when a revised 2,760 claims were logged.

Continued claims, those filed after one week of unemployment, declined in the state from 14,177 claims the week ending Jan. 1, to 11,803 claims the following week, a 16.7% drop.

As a comparison, weekly continued claims in January 2020 ranged between 17,000 and 19,000.

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, which doesnt comment on new figures until they are revised a week later, said the labor market appeared to be returning to pre-COVID-19 seasonal patterns.

We believe the increases we have seen in the last couple of weeks could be reflective of a return to a pre-COVID environment where we will see seasonal patterns that impact week-over-week numbers with increases and decreases, said OESC Executive Director Shelley Zumwalt.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of both initial and continued claims increased slightly.

The four-week moving average of initial claims increased from 2,018 the week ending Jan. 1 to 2,266 claims the following week.

Continued claims increased from 13,496 the week ending Dec. 25 to 13,540 the following week.

As we move into 2022, continued claims numbers are lower than pre-pandemic claims, which indicates the strength of our economy and the continued recovery from the unprecedented past two years, Zumwalt said. When comparing the current continued claims four-week moving average to March 2020 before the surge in unemployment numbers, todays reported numbers are 20% lower than before the pandemic.

All six states bordering Oklahoma reported a decline in initial claims for the week ending Saturday.

Nationally, initial claims increased by 55,000 to 286,000 the week ending Saturday while continued claims increased by 84,000 to 1,635,000 the week ending Jan. 8, according to revised figures.

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To anyone watching the war of words between Oklahoma tribal leaders and the Governors Office, the past several days have been a dizzying display of escalation.

During a meeting of Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes on Friday, Cherokee National Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said hed oppose Gov. Kevin Stitts reelection.

Choctaw Chief Gary Batton and Muscogee Principal Chief David Hill likewise criticized Stitts handling of a number of issues important to the tribes, with Hill saying they want to get someone in office thats going to work with the tribes and not against us, according to The Oklahoman newspaper.

The tribes have been at odds with Stitt since the governor tried to force the tribes to renegotiate their gaming compacts with the state. That went nowhere, with a federal judge siding with the tribes claim that those agreements automatically renewed.

Tensions were further fueled by a similar breakdown over compacts the state had with the tribes over hunting licenses. As with the gaming issue, Stitt wanted a better deal for the state, and the tribes believed the compacts were fine the way they were.

That impasse pretty much scrapped the system, one in which the tribes paid the state $2 apiece for licenses that were then distributed for free to tribal members. In turn, the state received hundreds of thousands of dollars for the licenses, plus tens of millions of federal dollars based on how many new licensed hunters and anglers the state could rightfully claim.

But the biggest bone of contention centers on the U.S. Supreme Courts McGirt decision, which ruled that the Muscogee Nations reservation was never disestablished by Congress. State courts have ruled that McGirt also applies to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Quapaw and Seminole reservations.

The tribes took this as a win for Indigenous sovereignty; Stitt and state Attorney General John OConnor say its causing chaos in the states criminal court system and could have more far-reaching implications that threaten state authority over eastern Oklahoma.

The state is seeking to have the Supreme Court overturn the McGirt decision.

One might have thought there were brief signs of hope last week when OConnor, speaking to the Republican Womens Club of Tulsa County, told attendees that hes reached out to the tribes. Hoskin confirmed that he has received a call from OConnor, mostly to talk about issues relating to McGirt.

But Hoskin said that conversation was months ago, and with the 2022 campaign season heating up, McGirt is going to be at the center of tribal opposition to Stitts candidacy.

Stitt appeared to welcome the confrontation, invoking Martin Luther King Jr. during a Monday observance in Oklahoma City of the national holiday honoring Kings life and legacy.

I believe that freedom fighters like Dr. King would be astounded, maybe even disgusted, by the McGirt ruling, Stitt said during his speech. The ruling created two sets of rules for Oklahomans based on their race. In eastern Oklahoma right now there is not equal protection under the law.

(It should be noted that King championed Indigenous rights, going so far as to say this in his 1963 book, Why We Cant Wait: We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its Indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.)

Tough talk aside, solving the complexities caused by McGirt appears to be happening more between tribal and local officials.

Tribes are recognizing legal gaps where crimes either dont rise to the level of federal prosecution for major offenses or arent covered by tribal law.

And in Broken Arrow, City Manager Michael Spurgeon said the Muscogee Nation has bent over backwards to work with the city in navigating this new legal maze.

Cross-deputization, state-tribal compacts and expanded tribal court systems may offer actual solutions to the far-reaching set of challenges the McGirt decision has brought, barring the Supreme Courts reversing itself.

But policy and politics are not the same. On the political front, a confrontation seems set. Whether tribal members follow their chiefs lead is yet to be seen  the tribal vote is far from monolithic in Oklahoma. But a clash is coming, and for the tribes and the Governors Office, its game on.

Tulsa World Opinion: Theres always someone ready to take away a right

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A year after pandemic-related shutdowns and remote learning, Oklahoma students have returned to public schools with an increase that is nearing a 700,000 enrollment.

Its a sign of confidence for public education among families. It ought to be a sign to lawmakers to start investing in public schools, bringing up the per-pupil expenditure from 46th in the nation.

Until COVID-19, public school enrollment had been climbing steadily for about 19 years. The pandemic prompted a lot of parents of pre-K and kindergarten students to delay putting them in school, and some traditional students opted for virtual charter schools.

The annual Oct. 1 count of students found that enrollment overall went up 4,583 students to 698,696 students total, according to a story from reporter Andrea Eger. Virtual charter schools declined by 35%.

Tulsa Public Schools posted a student enrollment of 33,211, making it the largest school district in Oklahoma. The TPS student total is a decline from 7.14% due to removing students at the six TPS-sponsored charter schools (3,196) from the roster. This marks the first year the state Education Department counts district-authorized charter school students separately from the district.

Still, 642 more students are attending a traditional TPS school. Its a signal that positive programs are happening in the district.

The Broken Arrow and Union districts made the top 10 list of largest districts. Bixby is the fastest-growing district in the area, with an 11.1% jump to around 10,000 students, surpassing its pre-pandemic enrollment.

Families have plenty of choices for an education, but its clear that public schools remain a top choice.

Lawmakers must prioritize bolstering public schools with resources and avoid adding unfunded mandates or micromanaging curriculum decisions.

Looming large is the teacher shortage crisis; more teachers are retiring and resigning than are entering the workforce. Emergency certifications are set yearly, meaning more untrained teachers are put into classrooms.

A step forward was made after a statewide teacher walkout in 2018 pushed through a raise  a first in a decade. But working conditions were not addressed.

Classroom sizes remain too large; schools need counselors trained in mental health; substitute pay needs to increase; and teachers need more of about everything.

What isnt needed is politicizing the profession. The pandemic has created an unprecedented kind of stress, and that morphed into a disrespect toward educators. Lawmakers can do good by turning that attitude around and respecting what teachers have to say.

Oklahoma families are placing trust in teachers. Its time lawmakers do the same.

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In one executive order, Gov. Kevin Stitt managed to insult educators and state employees  both facing staffing shortages  believing all those professions are interchangeable.

The surge of COVID-19 has caused more than half of schools across Oklahoma to go to remote learning or cancel classes because teachers are getting sick. Also, students and their families are becoming ill.

This is backed by information from hospitals and other public health officials. Oklahoma City hospitals announced there are no beds available, with patients sometimes treated in hallways.

Stitts order does not address those underlying public health challenges. The economy  not public health  has been the leading principle from the states leadership. The focus has been on keeping workers on the job and freedom from mask and vaccine mandates  the two most effective prevention tools.

Everyone wants students in classrooms, but the best education is with full-time, qualified teachers. Just keeping the doors open with an adult taking roll is not a learning environment. Having schools full of substitutes with no teaching credentials isnt providing a quality education.

Students end up watching videos or doing busy work, with schools becoming babysitting warehouses where the virus can continue spreading.

Schools dont need substitutes for a day or two; this has required temps for several weeks. Flaws in the plan include the time to approve a substitute. State law requires an annual federal background check that could take up to six weeks at a cost between $40 and $57 per person.

Also, thousands of state employees are paid by federal dollars earmarked for specific programs. Its doubtful those workers can shift to work outside their federally approved duties.

State agencies are facing their own staffing strains. Recently the state Department of Human Services offered $7,000 bonuses to social workers who had left the job to return. The Department of Corrections has been understaffed for years. State agencies need the workers they have to operate public services.

So, what state services are Oklahomans willing to scale back  processing unemployment claims, investigating child neglect, providing food assistance, processing drivers licenses, auditing public agencies, inspecting poultry plants?

The jobs of state employees are not expendable.

The Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce is urging private businesses to follow suit and let employees substitute without losing their regular pay.

We are all for community members, from private workers to government employees, learning more about the challenges faced by public educators. But not everyone is cut out to manage a classroom.

Teachers are professionals. They are trained in teaching to different learning styles, handle discipline issues, plan classroom lessons and grade assignments. Special education teachers handle Individualized Education Programs, and many teachers handle extra duties such as coaching or debate teams.

Substitutes cannot perform those tasks. Just keeping the doors open wont change that.

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AstraZeneca is seeking a Vietnamese partner to expedite the transfer of its COVID-19 vaccine production technology, the company said at a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

PM Chinh hosted a reception for Nitin Kapoor, chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Vietnam, in Hanoi on Wednesday.

The meeting was also attended by Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and leaders from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The premier praised AstraZenecas role in and contributions to the fight against COVID-19 in both the world and Vietnam, adding that the company had completed a contract to provide 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for Vietnam in 2021, enabling the country to switch to its current model of living safely with the pandemic.

Kapoor spoke highly of Vietnams efforts in implementing its vaccine diplomacy policy, describing the country as an exemplary model in pandemic prevention and control.

He gave some updates on the implementation of agreements reached by PM Chinh and AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot in their meeting last November during the premiers visit to the UK.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) talks with chairman and general director of AstraZeneca Vietnam Nitin Kapoor in Hanoi, January 19, 2022. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

AstraZeneca is speeding up a US$90 million project to transfer drug manufacturing technology to Vietnam and is seeking a Vietnamese partner to which it can transfer vaccine production technology, Kapoor continued.

The biopharmaceutical firm is also considering reducing its vaccine price for Vietnam, he added.

PM Chinh proposed that AstraZeneca continue to realize its committed projects in Vietnam as well as supply new-generation COVID-19 vaccines and treatment medicines to the Southeast Asian country.

The government leader also asked the company to share international experience in giving COVID-19 vaccines to children aged five to 12.

The Vietnamese government will support and create favorable conditions for AstraZeneca to implement its research, production, and technology transfer projects in Vietnam.

He hoped that the firm will keep accompanying Vietnam's healthcare sector, contributing to deepening the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership.

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When one hears about coconut flower syrup, or coconut nectar, for the first time, they may think about something like honey, but it is different.

Coconut nectaris the first of its kind to be produced in Vietnam by a young couple.

At the Vietnam Festival 2021, which was held in Japan in early December, there was a special kiosk making many customers very curious.

It offered a specialty product named coconut nectar, which was unknown and exciting to many attendees.

Once used as a kind of natural sugar by the ethnic community of Khmer in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, coconut nectar did not become a commodity because of limited demand, and it was gradually forgotten over time when the Khmer stopped using it.

A worker climbs up a coconut tree to extract syrup in a supplied photo.

Running business with traditional heritage

Nearly three years ago, there was a young couple who decided to leave Ho Chi Minh City for Tra Vinh to build their career.

The wife, Thach Thi Chal Thy, has a masters degree in food technology, and her husband, Pham Dinh Ngai, is an electrical engineer.

They launched an enterprise whose name reflects their dream: Sokfarm, which means 'happy farm' in Khmer, Thys mother language.

To date, Sokfarm has been the only company producing coconut flower syrup and other byproducts in Vietnam.

It was never easy as it took Ngai and Thy around six months to be able to extract coconut nectar using the Khmers traditional skills in the beginning.

Then they managed to perfect the technique of vacuum concentration at 55 degrees Celsius. While Thy tried to figure out a way to concentrate the nectar, Ngai helped her design machines to realize her desired products from coconut flower syrup.

We are lucky thanks to the coconut genies help, Ngai said, laughing.

The family company has employed 25 full-time workers since its launch in June 2019. Each of the employees can earn a monthly salary of VND6 - 9 million (US$265-397), which is rather high by local standards.

Sokfarm buys coconut flower syrup from many other local farmers as well. The income from selling syrup is about 3-5 times higher than selling coconuts, according to Ngai.

For the couple, one of their greatest achievements is that 90 percent of their workers are Khmer.

I feel that coconut syrup exploitation is suitable for our farmers, who follow Buddhism and consider it enough to be happy, said Ngai.

Our employees work with coconut trees every day, regarding them as their friends, to whom they can show their happiness, sadness, and anger.

"It is hard to believe that the trees do yield more nectar when our farmers enjoy their work."

This supplied photo shows Pham Dinh Ngai and his wife Thach Thi Chal Thy, co-founders of Sokfarm.

Being proud of Vietnamese agricultural products

Based in a Mekong Delta province that is 102km away from Ho Chi Minh City, Sokfarm still has an international mindset of developing its business strategy.

Ngai has tried his best to expand Sokfarms foreign markets, believing that Vietnamese agricultural products would be a magnet for customers.

After gaining a foothold in the Netherlands and Cambodia, their products arrived in Japan in October 2021 thanks to one of their partners, Luu Thi Hang.

Luu Thi Hang (R) poses for a picture with her friends in front of her store at the Vietnam Festival 2021 in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan on December 11-12, 2021 in a supplied photo.

Having worked in Japan for many years as an interpreter, Hang found out the unreasonable fact that despite Vietnam ranking 5th in planting coconut trees, the products that were made out of coconuts in Japan mostly came from the Philippines or Thailand.

The mother of two children, Hang has never launched a company before but she has the professional capability to find out solutions to any problem.

She taught herself everything needed to export coconut syrup from Vietnam to Japan.

In Hangs experience, if the Japanese like Canadian maple syrup and other similar natural products, they would be likely to welcome Vietnamese coconut flower syrup too.

Hang arrived at a decision to import the syrup from Sokfarm then, but she spent many months preparing before realizing her idea.

She chatted with Ngai nearly every day and it took them several months before agreeing on the final decision to import the syrup. The first obstacle they had to overcome was to make the product meet all the requirements to be shipped to Japan.

The first packages of coconut syrup were exported to Japan in October 2021 in a supplied photo.

Until September 2021, Sokfarm's nectar had met more than 300 quality standards to convince Japanese authorities that their product is a syrup, not a kind of water, which would require more complicated paperwork.

Not only do the quality issues have to be settled, but the young entrepreneurs have also made efforts to meet the strict criteria on product labeling, including character fonts, languages, and more.

Hang has successfully registered a store selling the syrup online at Rakuten, one of the two most popular e-commerce platforms in Japan along with Amazon.

To date, Sokfarms products have been sold to Thailand, Cambodia, and Japan, with many more markets on the radar screen, according to Ngai.

Sokfarms employees are seen working in a lab producing the syrup in a supplied photo.

Sokfarms nectar has won an ASEAN award In 2021, Sokfarm was the only enterprise in Vietnam to be honored at the ASEAN Business Awards, particularly in the category of Inclusive Business. This years beginning, Thy was one of 57 outstanding young individuals who were given the Luong Dinh Cua Award. The Luong Dinh Cua Award is given away annually by the Ho Chi Minh Central Youth Union to young people with significant achievements in manufacturing, trade, modern technology application, environmental protection, and new rural lifestyle change.

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The US$538 million Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway was open to traffic on Wednesday after 13 years of constrruction, which will help shorten the time to travel between Ho Chi Minh City and Mekong Delta provinces.

The expressway's inauguration followed a ceremony in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on Wednesday.

At the event, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc hailed the efforts of Tien Giang authorities, Deo Ca Group, relevant agencies in overcoming difficulties, especially in relocating more than 3,200 households, to complete the project.

Although the project is expected to be officially finished in March, it was open to traffic early to meet travel demand during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, about two weeks away.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the ceremony in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam, January 19, 2022. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Automobiles will be allowed to travel on the expressway in the direction from Trung Luong to My Thuan from January 25 to January 31, and in the opposite direction from February 1 to February 15, according to VnExpress.

Stretching 51 kilometers, the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway is part of the country North-South Expressway network and is considered a key route linking the Mekong Delta region with Ho Chi Minh City and the southern key economic region.

It starts from the intersection with the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway in Chau Thanh District, Tien Giang and ends at the junction with National Highway No. 30 in Cai Be District, Tien Giang.

A section of the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam, January 19, 2022. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Together with the My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway, which is under construction, the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway will shorten the time to travel between Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho City in the delta by about one to two hours.

Costing more than VND12.2 trillion (US$538 million), the construction of the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway began in 2009 and was originally expected to complete in 2013.

However, the project was repeatedly delayed and had to change its developer twice during the first ten years of implementation.

The Tien Giang Peoples Committee was eventually put in charge of managing the project, while Deo Ca Group was selected as the contractor in March 2019.

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A court in Vietnam is dealing with a lawsuit filed by a foreign woman against a casino in Phu Quoc Island City off southern Kien Giang Province for failing to pay her US$1.96 million out of $2.4 million she won in gambling last year.

In her petition submitted on October 11, 2021 to the provincial People's Court, the woman, just identified as T. with Italian citizenship, said she gambled at the Corona Casino, part of the Corona Resort & Casino complex on the island, from May 30 to June 9, 2021 and won a total of VND54.6 billion ($2.4 million).

The casino operator is Phu Quoc-based Kongkon One Member Company Limited (Kongkon), which was hired by the complexs investor, Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development JSC.

After confirming T.s reward, Kongkon paid her VND10 billion ($440,000) in three installments on May 31, June 7, and June 10, 2021.

Kongkon has since failed to pay the remainder of VND44.6 billion ($1.96 million) to the gambler despite her repeated requests to the casino operator, according to the petition.

T. also said she had sent written notices to the complexs investor asking for the payment but she has received no reply.

The winner asked the Kien Giang People's Court to order the gambling operator and investor to pay her the remaining reward together with the interest arising thereon from the last installment until the court opens the first-instance trial for the case.

By the date she filed her petition to the court, the interest had amounted to VND1.4 billion ($61,600), according to the petition.

As prescribed in Article 21 of Decree No. 03/2017 of the government on casino business, casino-operating enterprises must promptly pay full prizes to winning gamblers, T. told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

After considering the T.s petition, the court on January 10 this year issued a case acceptance notice to the relevant parties, including T., Kongkon, and Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development JSC, asking them to submit their respective written statements on the case, along with relevant evidence, within 15 days on receipt of the notice.

Any party wanting to extend this period must file a request to the court, clearly stating the reason for its desired extension, the notice said.

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Vietnams Ministry of Health announced 16,715 coronavirus infections on Thursday, while reporting 5,736 recovered patients and 152 deaths.

The newest infections, including 78 imported and 16,637 domestic transmissions, were recorded in all 63 provinces and cities, the ministry said, elaborating that 11,796 caught the pathogen in the community.

Hanoi reported 2,884 of the latest local cases, Da Nang 983, Hai Phong City 722, Khanh Hoa Province 579, Hung Yen Province 565, Quang Ninh Province 389, Bac Giang Province 386, Quang Nam Province 288, Thua Thien-Hue Province 285, Nam Dinh Province 283, Ho Chi Minh City 245, Lam Dong Province 231, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province 154, Tuyen Quang Province 153, Binh Thuan Province 138, Quang Binh Province 132, Dong Nai Province 65, and Binh Duong Province 61.

Vietnam had documented 15,936 locally-acquired infections on Wednesday.

The country has confirmed 2,088,295 community transmissions in all its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave erupted on April 27, 2021. More than 1.79 million of them have recovered from COVID-19.

Ho Chi Minh City tops the list with 512,195 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 292,085, Hanoi with 100,112, Dong Nai Province with 99,530, Tay Ninh Province with 86,553, Ca Mau Province 53,962, Dong Thap Province with 46,817, Can Tho City with 43,996, Long An Province with 41,246, An Giang Province with 35,180, Tien Giang Province with 35,134, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 30,004, Binh Thuan Province with 28,607, and Da Nang with 22,265.

Vietnam logged only 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves.

Hospitals discharged 5,736 recovered patients on Thursday, raising the tally to 1,794,924, according to the health ministry.

The toll has gone up to 36,266 mortalities after the ministry confirmed 152 deaths on the same day, including 13 in Ho Chi Minh City, 12 in Dong Thap Province, 12 in Vinh Long Province, 12 in Kien Giang Province, nine in Soc Trang Province, and the remainder in 25 other provinces and cities.

Vietnams patient count has added up to 2,078,087, including 108 imported and community-based Omicron infections, since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country in early 2020.

The Omicron cases consist of 68 in Ho Chi Minh City, 27 in Quang Nam Province, three in Da Nang, two in Thanh Hoa Province, two in Khanh Hoa Province, two in Quang Ninh Province, one in Hanoi, one in Hai Duong Province, one in Hai Phong City, and one in Long An Province.

Health workers have given more than 172.7 million vaccine doses, including 1,060,059 shots on Wednesday, since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8, 2021.

Over 78.7 million of the countrys 98 million people have received at least one dose while above 73.3 million have been jabbed twice.

The number of third doses  including additional primary shots for immunocompromised people, boosters, and third jabs of Cubas Abdala vaccine has exceeded 20.6 million.

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Vietnamese authorities, supported by the UKs National Crime Agency at the request of police from Scotland, arrested a 77-year-old man in connection with non-recent sexual offenses against children under an Interpol Red Notice on Tuesday, the British Embassy in Vietnam announced on its verified Facebook page a day later.

Arrangements are underway to transport the man, Kenneth Divers, back to Scotland.

Divers, a former teacher at a secondary school, is set to appear in court in the coming days, according to Daily Records sources.

Scottish and European warrants for his arrest were issued in 2016 after he was accused of carrying out a string of sex attacks on young boys in the 1960s and 1970s, Daily Record reported.

We are grateful to the authorities in Vietnam and our colleagues at the National Crime Agency for their assistance with this matter, the British Embassy in Vietnam quoted Detective Superintendent Alan Henderson.

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Foreign visitors who do not have a visa will be allowed to enter Vietnam to work, attend conferences, seminars, study, and more, as Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has recently agreed to relax the entry procedures for international arrivals.

According to Minhs in-principle approval announced by the Government Office, foreigners entering Vietnam include those invited or guaranteed by agencies, organizations, or individuals in line with the law on foreigners entry into, exit from, transit through, and residence in Vietnam.

However, foreigners wishing to come to Vietnam for tourism purposes in the short term are still welcomed under the pilot reopening program for international tourists.

Foreigners and overseas Vietnamese and their relatives with valid entry papers can enter the country without undergoing personal examination, visa granting, and visa exemption procedures again.

They also do not need to seek entry approval from ministries, sector watchdogs, or localities.

In terms of foreigners who have not got visas, provincial-level Peoples Committees will consider approving their entry so as to create optimal conditions for them to work, attend meetings, study, or engage in humanitarian activities.

Ministries, sectors, and central agencies will make decisions on the invitation and reception of foreigners coming to work with them, and be responsible for managing those individuals, according to the approval.

Deputy PM Minh requested the Ministry of Public Security review the newly added cases of entry bans and report them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to notify overseas Vietnamese representative agencies of the cancelation of their entry papers.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines said that the national carrier has implemented the aforementioned new regulations on international flights to Vietnam from Wednesday.

Statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) showed that about 140,000 overseas Vietnamese have a need to return to their homeland to celebrate the 2022 Lunar New Year, which begins on Fenruary 1.

It is forecast that the number of international arrivals to Vietnam, including Vietnamese citizens, overseas Vietnamese and foreigners who are diplomats, public servants, experts, and investors, will exceed 30,000 passengers a week.

In order to meet that high demand, the CAAV has decided to increase the frequency of international flights to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore.

The aviation watchdog is seeking permission from the Ministry of Transport to organize flights from France, Germany, the UK, and Russia.

Vietnam partially restored regular commercial flights on nine international routes on January 1 to mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, and the U.S..

After arriving in Vietnam, fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from COVID-19 will have to self-isolate, either at home, hotels, or other facilities, for three days.

They will be tested on the third day.

If results are negative, they will be required to monitor their health for the next 11 days, be free to move about, and have to avoid large gatherings or crowded places.

Arrivals who are not fully vaccinated will be quarantined for seven days and be tested on the third and seventh days.

Arrivals must pay for their real-time RT-PCR tests.

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This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears uswhatever we askwe know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15)
The Associated Press quoted political scientist Christopher Devine in a story picked up by at least 180 outlets nationwide. Historian Julius Amin contributed a piece to The Conversation. Distinguished Research Associate and former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft talked to Governing magazine about being a governor. Local media highlighted faculty expertise about the economy and the return of students for the spring semester.

Africans and African-Americans would honour Martin Luther King by rekindling their bonds

The Conversation

Julius Amin, history

Ohio governor facing primary: No pandemic response regrets

The Associated Press

Christopher Devine, political science

Why being governor is the best job in politics

Governing

Bob Taft, political science

Greater West Dayton Incubator Business Blitz now accepting applications

WDTN-TV

Whitney Barkley, Greater West Dayton Incubator

Pandemic tempers optimism about Dayton region economic prospects in 2022

Dayton Daily News

Richard Stock, Business Research Group

Dayton and Springfield regions had third lowest unemployment rates in Ohio

Dayton Daily News

Richard Stock, Business Research Group

Here's what local experts are projecting for the economy in 2022

Dayton Business Journal

Richard Stock, Business Research Group

Census data shows area communities diversifying

Dayton Daily News

Joy Kadowaki, sociology and School of Law

UD students celebrate move-in weekend, nearly 80% of campus vaccinated

WDTN-TV
There have been a lot of online groups that share adult content on the Internet, especially since smart cameras became a trend every home uses, there are more groups specializing in this kind of content because many people like it," said P.N from Hanoi.

This 26-year-old man did not hesitate to share a series of tips to hunt down the latest clips, which were revealed through the surveillance camera system distributed and shared by hackers in the aforementioned groups.

Most of these groups will charge entrance fees depending on the quality of the content, from 100,000 to 250,000 VND, P.N revealed. Not only providing adult content, some groups also share accounts that grant access to hacked camera systems with a lifetime fee of about 3-4 million VND.



Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Chairman of Lumi Vietnam Joint Stock Company, said that recently, there have been many cases of leaked footage from users surveillance cameras, most of which happened because of users fault as they did not know how to secure their information.



Usually, users hire another party to set up and configure their cameras systems, so the third party will be the one to create an account with a very simple password. Customers often start using them right away without changing the password, hence the information leaks. In addition, some cases resulted from the customer's own phone when it was brought to repair shops or transferred without deleting all information.



If you want to ensure safety for your surveillance systems, it is necessary to choose products from a big brand name that has existed on the market for some time. These companies will have a surveillance system capable of ensuring information security for customers.



Previously, a representative of the Information Security Department of the Ministry of Information and Communications said, just visit the Shodan website and try typing the keyword cameras in Vietnam, the results show that 1,452 cameras are being exposed online, from private homes to public places. As soon as they have your personal information, thieves can dig very deep into and exploit your private life and will cause unpredictable consequences.



Many cameras originate from China



Concerned about this issue, a representative of MobiFone said that private footage and personal information are leaked mainly through seemingly harmless items such as cameras - a device that is being used a lot in Vietnam not only by households but also the government. More than 90% of these cameras are from China and all have codes in their software to sync with the server. Therefore, the possibility of them leaking personal information to the outside is very high.



Talking about the risk of information leakage, Mr. Ngo Tuan Anh, Deputy General Director of BKAV said: "Currently, most cameras on the market come from China, so controlling information security and safety should be a matter of concern. Some cameras are even cloud-based, which means they connect to a server located in China and users in Vietnam must circle through this server before connecting to their camera".



According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc, CEO of Cyradar, government agencies should be more selective when using cameras, and avoid using cloud-based cameras to ensure information safety. According to Vietnam's Cybersecurity Law, it is not allowed to store user's data outside of Vietnam.



Camera will have to be made in Vietnam



Mr. Tran Quang Chien, CEO of CyStack emphasized that cameras are one of the most important devices in implementing surveillance-identification systems, smart cities, and smart homes services. It is essential that Vietnamese enterprises develop these devices with good quality and ensure safety, which will also reduce the risk of exposing sensitive data for users. However, the research and development process for these devices will take a long time.



In the current period, I think that Vietnamese authorities should have standards and regulations to evaluate the quality and safety of suppliers of these camera equipment, not only from China but also suppliers from other countries. Especially the equipment used in security monitoring systems, information collection of state agencies and important systems," said Chien.



Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, Chairman of Lumi Vietnam, said that for Vietnamese brands, if they research and invest in product development themselves, they are definitely aiming to ensure safety and security for customers.



Agreeing with this point of view, Mr. Nguyen Anh Phan, Head of Incident Monitoring and Handling Department, said BKAV Company offered a view that to ensure absolute national security for the government and key industries, using made in Vietnam products is very necessary in helping us to be proactive in controlling and keeping our information secured.



I highly appreciate the talent and intelligence of human resources in Vietnam, we can definitely make high-tech products just as good as other countries in the world. Currently, Vietnam has been able to produce security cameras integrated with artificial intelligence and export them to the US, the most demanding market in terms of technology. That alone has proved the capability of the Vietnamese technology industry, said Mr. Nguyen Anh Phan.



According to many experts, the trend of using cameras is becoming increasingly popular. It is an important component in e-Government systems, digital government and smart cities, helping to monitor traffic, security and order. Therefore, the production of cameras is an urgent need to ensure information safety and security for Vietnam.



Thai Khang  Luu Diep

Privacy becomes more expensive than ever before In this era of booming information technology, infringements of privacy and personal data on social media have continuously increased in frequency.
A team of divers who had agreed to help the family of a woman missing for four years found a car Wednesday in the Brazos River thought to be linked to her disappearance.

A private operation called Adventures with Purpose worked with the Waco Fire Department to recover a two-tone blue-gray Kia Rio in the river near the south boat ramp at Brazos Park East.

Crews pulled the car up from about 13 feet of water around 4:45 p.m. The windshield of the car was missing and the passenger side window was broken. About 30 minutes later, they found human remains in the car. Because of the condition of the body, investigators were unable to positively identify the victim Wednesday, but hope to know more after an autopsy is complete, according to a Waco Police press release.

While the car had no license plates, Waco Police announced Wednesday night the VIN number on the Kia Rio confirms it belonged to Stephanie Torres, a convenience store clerk who disappeared in December 2017 at the age of 43. At the time of her disappearance, Waco Police had described Torres as possibly intoxicated and suicidal.

The divers found two other submerged cars not believed to be related to Torres disappearance. Waco Fire Department and Waco Police officials will arrange for the other two cars to be recovered at a later time, police spokesperson Cierra Shipley said.

Waco Police Detective Ruston Thompson took DNA swabs from Torres family members who waited at the park for about six hours during the recovery. Justice of the Peace James Lee was called to the scene after officials discovered remains in the car.

Torres daughter, Bianca Rosas-Torres, 27, said she has never given up hope of finding her mother, who counted Brazos Park East as one of her favorite places.

She said her mother was despondent over health issues and suffered fibromyalgia, a syndrome that causes musculoskeletal pain.

Shipley said Waco Police detectives worked the case until 2019 and then suspended it after leads dried up.

Adventures with Purpose officials contacted Rosas-Torres and offered to help after they came across her social media posts about her missing mother.

Jared Leisek, founder of Adventures with Purpose, notified Rosas-Torres and her brother, Jonathan Torres, that the workers found remains after the Kia was recovered from the river. The siblings cried and held each other in a long embrace as other friends and family members gathered around them. Rosas-Torres also hugged Leisek and thanked him and his crew for their help.

Earlier Wednesday, before the car was brought out of the river, Rosas-Torres expressed frustration at Waco Police, saying Leiseks crew had accomplished more in an hour by finding the car than Waco Police investigators had in four years.

Shipley said Waco Police take all missing person cases seriously and work diligently to try to resolve them. She said Waco Police uncovered no definitive leads that would have led them to search the murky river.

While Rosas-Torres said she is sad that the car and what is believed to be a portion of her mothers remains were finally found, she said she also feels a sense of relief that her family is close to possibly finding out what happened to her mother.

Adventures with Purpose employs a team of divers who travel the country conducting underwater searches for missing people. The team offers its services for free to law enforcement and is funded through videos on social media sites along with merchandise sales. The scene at Brazos Park East was being recorded by a documentary film crew and a national NBC news team.

The team was in Central Texas in the past few days to help the Bosque County Sheriffs Office search Lake Whitney for the remains of a man, John Creech, who went missing 13 years ago.

The sheriffs office reported that two vehicles were removed from the lake Saturday from a depth of 40 to 65 feet, according to a San Antonio Express-News report. Six more vehicles were located and searched, the newspaper reported. It was unclear whether any of the vehicles belonged to Creech.

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Walk with a Doc

Waco Family Medicine will conduct its regular Walk with a Doc program from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday at its community gathering space, 1600 Providence Drive.

Walk with a Doc is a national grassroots nonprofit that aims to inspire communities through movement and conversation with physician-led walking programs. It is designed as a fun and safe place to walk, learn about health and meet new friends. The event is free, and all are welcome.

For more information, call Dr. Iliana Neumann at 919-548-2704.

YMCA diabetes class

The Waco Family YMCAs yearlong diabetes prevention program is designed to help people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes reduce their risk.

It will meet weekly, starting at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Waco Family YMCA, 6800 Harvey Drive. The cost is $35.75 per month.

For more information, call 254-776-6612.

Square dancing quarterly

The Texas State Square and Round Dancers group will have its quarterly meeting and dance Saturday at Allemande Hall, 106 Westlake Drive.

Early rounds start at 7 p.m., and square dancing will start at 7:30. Cost to dance is $8 per person.

Peace Lutheran GriefShare

Peace Lutheran Church, 9301 Panther Way, will start a new GriefShare session from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Meetings will continue each Tuesday for 13 weeks.

To preregister, email Becky Ritz at rjritz@earthlink.net or call 832-418-0371.

YMCA Kids Art Class

Waco Family YMCA, 6800 Harvey Drive, will have an art class for kids ages 6 to 12 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7.

Registration ends Feb. 1. Cost is $15 per child. The class is designed to foster a love and appreciation for art.

For more information, call Crystal Hernandez at 254-776-6612.

Submit printed or typed items to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco, 76702-2588; or email goingson@wacotrib.com.
South Africa: Minister commends top learners for stellar performance

Despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19, the 2021 matriculants persevered and were relentless in their pursuit of excellence during the year-end National Senior Certificate Examinations, says Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga.

The Class of 2021 is literally and figuratively a class of its own. It is the only class so far that studied for two consecutive years under the National State of Disaster to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Minister said on Thursday.

Addressing the 2021 Top Achievers at a breakfast session at the Houghton Hotel in Johannesburg, Motshekga commended the learners for delivering a stellar performance while demonstrating discipline, time-management and hard work.

We want to congratulate our top learners for setting the bar high in a large and complex system as ours with almost a million learners writing part-time and more than 800 000 learners writing full time. You have sent a profound message to South African children that despite any difficulties you can make it if you persevere, humble yourself, respect and work hard, the Minister said.

She said the education sector is proud that it has given learners a solid foundation to keep on climbing the mountains of life.

Public schooling incorporates teaching about life and building a truly democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, united and prosperous society based on justice and equality.

After 12 years, we assume that you have mastered the art of knowledge, acquisition and now you are getting to a stage where you will be producing knowledge so we expect engineers and researchers from you.

You are the best of the best so we are pinning our hopes, dreams and aspirations on you. We also believe as a country and a nation that it takes a village to raise a child, which means you are children of the nation. As you begin your journey, I want to appeal to you to deliver for the nation, the Minister said.

Motshekga urged learners to continue to appreciate the process of basic education because it is their proud history and part of their lives.

As you begin your journey towards adulthood, history demands you to espouse the values of hard work, honesty, truth, integrity, humility and selflessness.

March to victory and conquer, become the better version of the person that you are because to be a top learner of the Class of 2021, you are the epitome that success comes at a price because it would have not been easy [because of the COVID-19 pandemic], the Minister said.

This evening the Minister will announce the 2021 National Senior Certificate Examination Results. SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China's Sinovac to support Egypt with fully-automated cooling facility for vaccine storage

Xinhua) 09:04, January 20, 2022

CAIRO, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac has signed a cooperation agreement with Egypt's Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA) to establish a cold storage facility for vaccine storage and preservation in Egypt, said the Chinese Embassy in Egypt on Wednesday.

The agreement was signed between the two companies via both a video conference and an offline ceremony attended by Egyptian Acting Health Minister and Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar and Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang at the Egyptian Health Ministry's headquarters in Cairo.

"China-Egypt anti-epidemic cooperation has continued to deepen and vaccine cooperation has seen many bright spots. China is willing to continue to work with Egypt to strengthen mutual confidence and overcome difficulties together," said the Chinese ambassador.

"China will donate another 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Egypt to help Egypt achieve its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of its population by the middle of this year," Liao added.

The fully-automated cold storage facility is agreed to be built in VACSERA's new factory complex in Giza's 6th of October City west of the capital Cairo.

For his part, Abdel-Ghaffar expressed appreciation of China's "strong assistance" to Egypt with the anticipated cooling unit and the millions of doses of vaccines.

"China's pragmatic measures to provide Egypt with a new batch of 10 million doses of vaccine fully demonstrate the firm determination of China and Egypt to fight the epidemic together," said the Egyptian minister during the signing ceremony.

Egypt is willing to continue to strengthen cooperation with China in localized vaccine production, technology transfer and drug research and development, so as to make greater contributions to the fight against the pandemic in Africa, Abdel-Ghaffar added.

The cold storage facility to be built by Sinovac will have a storage capacity of 150 million doses of vaccine and is expected to be the largest vaccine storage center in Africa.

Sinovac and VACSERA already have a cooperation agreement for joint vaccine production signed in April last year, according to which the Sinovac vaccines are locally manufactured in VACSERA's factory in Egypt, with the final product carrying the VACSERA-Sinovac label.

Through the joint production, Egypt seeks to become a hub for vaccine export in Africa.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats have a special gift in mind for what would have been the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s 93rd birthday: declaring hyperpartisanship an insurmountable reality and capitulating accordingly.

Specifically, in order to advance voting rights legislation, Democrats are on the brink of eliminating the Senate filibuster, a 60-vote threshold for moving legislation forward, to make it possible to pass bills with a simple majority of 51 votes. It strikes me as both ironic and cynical that this craven surrender to partisanship is attached to King, a leader who never flinched when faced with adversity.

Most certainly, Congress is called upon to protect every citizens ability to cast a vote, and a healthy debate can  and should  be had on the many provisions contained in the Freedom to Vote Act as well as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. In an earlier column, I argued that there should be no difference between a Texas voters ability to participate in a national election and a voter from Massachusetts or California. With several hundred election-focused bills making their way through state legislatures across the country, this clearly is a time when Congress and the courts need to pay close attention to voting rights and need to step in to protect this most fundamental component of participatory democracy.

This, however, is a different debate. The filibuster debate is about admitting defeat to our hyperpartisan times and abandoning forever the notion that the Senate is the worlds greatest deliberative body.

The filibuster protects the minority party and moves bills forward for a vote only if at least 60 Senators agree. It forces the Senate to actually debate the issues shaping our countrys future instead of simply relying on 50+1 as the winning formula. The filibuster is frustrating, much abused (thank you, Sen. Ted Cruz, for ruining Green Eggs and Ham for generations to come) and stifles the majoritys ability to bring about big change quickly. It also is what makes the Senate different from the House. The Senate was specifically designed as the slower, more insulated chamber that, thanks to six-year terms, was not going to simply ride popular waves when considering legislative action. In addition, it frankly is one of the last safeguards against extremist legislators from either side of the aisle pushing through laws that the vast majority of the country would oppose.

None of the above is any judgment on the necessity or merit of voting rights legislation. But if Biden and Senate Democrats carve out yet another exemption to the filibuster for this specific issue, then the Senate, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, will cease to exist. As the Senate makes clear on its own website: To the framers themselves, Madison explained that the Senate would be a necessary fence against the fickleness and passion that tended to influence the attitudes of the general public and members of the House of Representatives. George Washington is said to have told Jefferson that the framers created the Senate to cool House legislation, just as a saucer was used to cool hot tea. In other words, the Senate puts the brakes on the House, and via the filibuster, no simple majority can dictate the path forward.

One would think Democrats learned this lesson by now: In 2013, frustrated by Republican filibusters during the Obama administration, Democrats eliminated the filibuster for Cabinet appointments and judicial nominations other than the Supreme Court. The result? When Republicans took back the Senate, hundreds of federal judges were confirmed by a simple majority during the Trump administration. And the simple majority threshold was extended to Supreme Court nominees, enabling Sen. Mitch McConnell to confirm three highly conservative justices on the court without the need to find nominees who could garner significant Democratic buy-in.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is absolutely correct that protecting every citizens right to vote is a fundamental responsibility of government in a free and democratic society. And Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is absolutely correct when he said in March 2020 that the filibuster serves the framers design to require prudent deliberation by the Senate, so that cooperation results in federal laws broad enough to earn the lasting consent of the governed. The onus is on the two of them to avoid the nuclear option of replacing the filibuster with a simple majority. One needs to come to the table willing to forgo the power of the majority; the other one needs to allow his conference to negotiate in good faith. That is called political leadership, and Kings memory would be much better served.

Pete Weichlein is a columnist for The Fulcrum, a nonprofit news organization that covers reforms to the U.S. political system.
This weekend in Florence, Arizona, supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered to attend one of his infamous rallies, to bond with like-minded MAGA cohorts and bathe in Trumps ill-fated promises and unhinged conspiracy theories.

They got their moneys worth. Trump pushed the debunked theory that the FBI had plants among the insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He pushed the so-called massive evidence that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen, evidence that has yet to reveal itself, despite Republicans in statehouses looking really, really hard for it.

And he continued to lie about the role of Democrats in the violent insurrection. The crowd, unsurprisingly, ate it all up.

Cool, cool.

But one conspiracy theory Trump has yet to publicly embrace is the, erm, idea that John F. Kennedy Jr.  who definitely died more than 22 years ago in a tragic plane crash  is alive and poised to be Trumps running mate in 2024.

Go to any MAGA gathering and it isnt hard to find the folks who earnestly believe this lunacy. And if maskless rallies arent on your 2022 agenda, just go to TikTok or YouTube. Jaw-dropping interviews with JFK Jr. truthers abound.

Politico caught up with one in Arizona, who admitted, I dont want to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, about the return of a man who definitely is no longer living, but hes coming back. Hes supposed to reveal himself on the 17th if hes truly alive. I think well see him.

For those of you with access to a calendar  admittedly an evil apparatus of the deep state  Jan. 17 has come and gone, and John-John has yet to make an appearance. That we know of.

Fear not, however. These predictions are merely suggestions, it would seem. According to QAnon adherents, John-John was also supposed to arrive on Nov. 23 of last year.

That was after he was going to appear on Nov. 3, 2021.

And that was after he was definitely arriving on July 4, 2019.

Youd think that all these disappointing no-shows would pierce the infallibility of the JFK Jr. resurrection-or-revival-or-reemergence theory, but alas, evidence is the domain of the elite, the establishment, the Deep State, the left, the so-called scientists and the lamestream media.

But youd also think the fact that Trump himself hasnt endorsed this conspiracy (yet) would also provoke some gentle chin-scratching.

Or at the very least, youd wonder why the newly alive son of a beloved Democratic dynasty would reemerge from hiding after two decades to run for president with a reviled Republican loser.

Obviously, there are good explanations for all this. According to one Trump supporter, JFK Jr. was in fact at the Arizona rally, but he was disguised  you guessed it  as Trump. (You didnt guess that?)

If you think this sounds more like a kooky cult than a major political movement, I have two words for you: Harold Camping. Camping was an engineer-turned-evangelist who launched California-based Family Radio in the late 1950s. Camping was bit by the doomsday bug hard, and first predicted the Biblical End of Times would occur on Sept. 6, 1994.

When the day came and went, he pushed his prediction back a bit, to the end of the month, Sept. 29.

Then he changed it to just a few days later, Oct. 2. Eventually giving up on the year 1994, he predicted March 31 of 1995 would be the end of the world as we knew it.

In the decade that followed, Camping raised millions in donations and gained an international following off of these failed predictions. In 2011, he returned to the doomsday business, announcing a new date for the Rapture  May 21. When that day disappointed, he gave his final prediction, Oct. 21. He retired that year following a stroke, after leading his company into financial ruin. Many of his former followers described becoming disillusioned and coming to view him as a cult leader.

Science reporter Tom Bartlett studied Campings followers, and described one, a gifted young musician.

He continued: Because he was convinced the world was ending, he had abandoned music, quit his job, and essentially put his life on hold for four years. It had cost him friends and created a rift between some members of his family.

It all seemed so real, like it made so much sense, but it wasnt right, the former follower said.

Well have to wait and see if QAnon and the JFK Jr. truthers have the same wake-up call one day, if anything can pull them out of the cult of Trump, where Im sure it all seems so real.

Until then, no need for alarm  only the fate of our next election and the future of democracy on Earth hang in the balance.

S.E. Cupp is the host of S.E. Cupp Unfiltered on CNN. A political commentator and longtime conservative, she is author of Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Medias Attack on Christianity and co-author of Why Youre Wrong About the Right: Behind the Myths.
WAVERLY  Roger Bartlett hasnt lived in Waverly for almost 30 years, but when he and his wife Evelyn were in Poland in September to visit their son, he was reminded of somewhere familiar. Bartlett kept noting the friendly demeanors of the Krakow locals, who were quick to offer help or directions to tourists.

Evelyn and I were just totally wrapped up in it, Bartlett said. Were in Europe? Are you sure were not in Waverly?

Bartlett shared that anecdote with a number of old friends at the Waverly Area Kiwanis chapters 45-year anniversary party, which took place at the Waverly VFW on a cold Saturday night in mid-January. Waverlys tight-knit community was a big reason Bartlett started the Kiwanis club back in 1976.

It makes the place where you live better, he said, and its just a way to make the community a community and involve as many people as you can, from kids to adults.

Thats why the Kiwanis club launched the earliest iteration of the Camp Creek Threshers event in 1976, thats why they formed the Waverly Arts Foundation, and thats why the Kiwanis chapter is still going strong after numerous membership fluctuations and the losses of longtime members.

Bartlett formed Waverly Area Kiwanis with his friend Gene Friesen when the two were looking to establish a scholarship program for Waverly High School students. They sought advice from a member of a Lincoln Kiwanis chapter who had helped with a similar program.

Next thing you know, we have a couple of people who come to visit us, Bartlett said.

That small group turned into the Waverly Area Kiwanis club, which now has its handprints all over the past half-century of Waverly history. Bartlett said the group maxed out at about 30 full-time members, but they received contributions from many more who performed in plays at Wayne Park or dressed up as Santa over the years.

Cal Weeks, the chapters current secretary, said some of its most significant contributions to the community today include running the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, supplying backpacks for Waverly students and hosting pancake feeds at Tractor Supply Co. and at the Camp Creek Threshers event.

Another veteran member, Ken Ellis, joined the Kiwanis club in 1978. When asked why hes remained in the group for more than 40 years, he responded: The kids.

He smiles when he talks about taking Waverly and Eagle kindergarteners to the Lincoln Childrens Zoo with the Kiwanis club, which he said has become a yearly tradition. After the zoo, they take the kids out for pizza.

The field trip couldnt happen in 2021 because of the pandemic, but Ellis and the Kiwanis members compromised by taking kindergarteners to Pizza Ranch and Wayne Park afterward.

They got the pizza and stuff and ran around, and we did the same thing at Eagle, and they just loved it, Ellis said. Aint as much fun as taking them to the zoo, but it worked.

A running joke among the Kiwanis colleagues is their relative ages, which Ellis says is typical of other Kiwanis chapters. Weeks said the youngest members in the Waverly club are in their mid-40s. Young adults have too many family obligations to join a group like the Kiwanis chapter, Ellis said.

We get them when theyre older, though, he said.

Active participation has been higher in the past  Weeks said there are about 20 members who regularly come to the groups Saturday morning meetings at Trackside Bar and Grill.

Had a lot of good people come and go, Ellis said. Weve lost some. That cant be prevented, I guess.

But he joked that a clause in the groups bylaws requires each member to find a replacement before they die.

Bartlett spoke in front of the chapter at the 45-year anniversary party, sharing fun activity ideas to keep kids engaged: blowing big bubbles, making a paper fortune teller, playing hopscotch and hide-and-seek. He said old people are especially good at hiding because they can blend in with trees and bushes.

He hasnt been a regular member of Waverly Area Kiwanis since he moved to Lincoln in the early 90s, but it makes him proud to see the club still making an impact on Waverly and its youth. He closed the anniversary party by summing up the past 45 years.

I am proud of all of you. We had so much fun in the early days  We always grew, we always participated. We got to know each other very well, whether we wanted to or not, Bartlett said.

He invited his wife, Evelyn, up to the front for a quick run-through of We Wish You A Merry Christmas  the event doubled as the Kiwanis chapters holiday party  and a note of gratitude to the members who have helped Waverly Area Kiwanis continue since 1976.

Thank you for being here, for taking care of it, Bartlett said. We love it, and we love you.

Sam Crisler is a reporter for The Waverly News. Reach him via email at samuel.crisler@wahoonewspaper.com.
Editor's note: This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series "Grizzlies and Us." The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West.

Rancher Brian Quigley doesnt beat around the bush  he believes its time to take a firm hand with grizzlies.

Problem bears, regardless of whether its a sow or a boar or whatever, need to be shot, he said.

He isnt advocating for extirpation of the species, however. And hes willing to fight fur with fur  employing a pack of specially bred guard dogs to defend his cows.

The grizzly bear has as much a right to be here as you, me and anybody else. When they start destroying my property, and theyre killing my livestock, theyre in violation of my constitutional right, he said.

American jurisprudence has found wildlife are a public trust, belonging to all Americans, however. That builds tension between the hundreds of millions of people who want grizzly bears protected and the thousands of ranchers who live with grizzlies in their midst.

Quigley said the big bears have been present on the landscape near Avon throughout his lifetime. Now there are just more of them. He has had at least three on his property this year.

Though he hasnt confirmed cattle losses in 2021, he said grizzlies have been responsible for losses on his property the last two years, and in years before that as well.

Delisting the Northern Continental Divide and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems' grizzly populations is long overdue, Quigley believes. He also thinks the official counts underestimate grizzly numbers and supports the slate of new Montana laws allowing livestock owners to kill bears that pose a problem and prevent FWP from taking a problem bear from my neighborhood and dumping it into somebody elses neighborhood.

He also believes in a grizzly bear hunting season.

But since the grizzly is protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, the Montana Legislature lacks authority to give landowners killing rights. And given the growing divide between Montanas anti-predator wildlife policies and the federal governments ESA duties, the chance of grizzlies getting delisted, and therefore becoming huntable, has declined.

Quigley has taken steps to protect his property within the bounds of current laws.

He has used livestock guardian dogs for six years to protect his animals from wolves and other predators, including grizzlies.

Theyre not a cure-all, he said. Theyre kind of a neutralizer. They try to push the predators out.

This year, his game cameras captured video evidence: his dogs going berserk on a grizzly in his stockyard while a bear tried to get into a bear-resistant container holding their feed.

Quigley has been working with Kim Johnson of the nonprofit organization People and Carnivores to reduce grizzly threats. Johnston connected Quigley with a breeder for some additional guardian dogs  Turkish Boz-Kangal crosses.

These dogs seem to be really effective with these apex predators like wolves and bears, Johnston said. They're also good patrolling dogs, which is good for cattle.

Nothing is easy on a ranch.

With roaming guardian dogs, its necessary to have the dogs food secured out on the landscape as well  another potential lure for predators.

Quigley secured the feed in bear-resistant containers, but a grizzly managed to get into two containers stationed in remote locations late this summer.

"You'll never catch me saying bear proof and there's a reason, Johnston explained. When they do the certification testing on the containers, the criteria is that they test it with actual live grizzly bears for 60 minutes of paws-on, full-force contact.

She wasnt out there in the night, but Johnston speculated that the grizzly, motivated by a food reward, put in some serious time and work.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear manager Rory Trimbo dropped off some heavy-duty metal tool boxes early September as replacements. So far, theyve worked as expected.

Johnston knows grizzlies. Before joining People and Carnivores, she was a bear management technician with FWP and worked at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana. She loves collaborating with working landowners.

"When you get on the ground and visit with these people  most ranchers, people in Montana, they appreciate the wildlife we have, Johnson said It's just finding solutions when it's their family or their kids and their property (at stake).

Ranchers often have an excellent understanding of the movement of local wildlife, she added.

Quigley has likewise enjoyed working with Johnston, and said he benefited from her grizzly expertise.

Shes been very helpful to me, he said.

Theyve been hard at work training the new dogs, and are using a phone app and SPOT GPS tracking system Johnston rigged up for dog collars thats more affordable than traditional tracking systems and has a longer battery life.

On Sept. 11, one of Quigleys older livestock guardian dogs was killed by a grizzly, and the depredation was confirmed by U.S. Wildlife Services trapper Bart Smith. The trapper was unable to capture the bear that was responsible.

Theyre important to my business as a livestock producer, Quigley said. Right now I have six dogs left. Ill probably have to replace what I lost.

Confirmation allows the rancher to seek reimbursement from the Montana Livestock Loss Board for the dog that was killed.

Quigley and Johnston continue to work together, and grizzlies were still digging for caraway roots in Quigleys hay fields as of early October, very close to his home.

If you kill one bear, another bear is just going to come in, Johnson said. It might help for the moment, but a lot of times it doesnt help them in the long-term. Ive talked to a lot of ranchers that see that lethal control is not the only solution. We really do think conflict prevention is much more effective than killing bears to help that rancher sleep at night.
A few hundred sacks of contaminated solid waste will remain at AltEn for the time being after state regulators intervened in the former ethanol plants plan to sell biochar to a Kansas landowner.

The biofuel plant, where seed coated with pesticides was turned into ethanol along with highly contaminated solid and liquid byproducts, told the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy it found a buyer for the charred distillers grains in December.

But the Topeka-area landscape company owner who initially agreed to remove the biochar from AltEn told the Journal Star he wasnt aware of the ethanol plants operations and history of running afoul of state environmental regulations until this month.

AltEn is the site of a massive environmental cleanup after it was ordered to shut down last year following years of warnings issued by the state. The cleanup is being led by six agricultural industry giants that previously disposed of their unplanted seed at the facility south of Mead.

Once I learned it was under investigation, it was just a no, said Brady Yingling, owner of B. Cole Agriculture, which was identified by AltEn as the buyer in records kept by the state.

Yingling said he has long been interested in biochar as a substitute for chemical fertilizers, using the natural product  most often, biochar is wood turned into charcoal  in place of anhydrous ammonia, nitrogen or petroleum-based products.

His plan, he said in a phone interview, was to apply biochar to the fields surrounding his home north of the Kansas capital, measure the results and promote the method to farmers as a cheaper organic option for improving soil health.

In the market for the product, he said he reached an agreement with AltEn to purchase the biochar in November.

Tanner Shaw, AltEns president, told the state in a Dec. 27 letter the biochar would be land applied to corn and soybean acres. He disputed an analysis of the product that found it heavily contaminated with neonicotinoids, pesticides commonly used in seed treatments.

The March 2021 sample showed levels of clothianidin, which can be found in high levels in solid and liquid byproducts at AltEn, reaching 8,790 parts per billion.

The Environmental Protection Agency has established a benchmark of 630 ppb as safe in drinking water, while the Minnesota Department of Health has set that level at 200 ppb.

Shaw suggested in his letter the finding reported by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy was an outlier.

NDEE received a positive test on its lab analyses and has advised that the biochar must be handled and disposed of as solid waste, Shaw wrote in his letter. This positive result is likely due to unreacted material, as the biochar process, based upon our testing to date, successfully changes the contaminants to non-detectable.

The next day, Dec. 28, Tom Buell, the head of monitoring and remediation at the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, phoned his counterpart at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Kansas officials quickly called Yingling to tell him they concurred with Nebraska's environmental regulators in considering the biochar solid waste unless B. Cole Agriculture planned to apply the product to farm ground using the recommendations on the seed bag labels.

Yingling told both states he had reconsidered.

"It was not disclosed in any manner of the risks associated with this project," he wrote to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Jan. 6. "We have made a decision to NOT take delivery of any of the products."

Yingling told the Journal Star the ethanol company did not provide any information about the biochar he was interested in purchasing.

"I was not given a label or a complete analysis of what I was going to buy," he said.

According to the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, about 600 sacks of biochar are being stored in one of two hoop buildings at AltEn.

The ethanol plant, which initially planned to sell its wet cake as a soil amendment to farmers in Saunders County, began running the byproduct through a biochar system it brought to its campus in February 2018.

Owned by Green Disposal Mead LLC, a subsidiary of the same Kansas-based company that owns AltEn, the biochar system was intended to heat organic matter to a few thousand degrees, creating a charcoal-like substance.

AltEn would deliver a few dozen tons  a truckload or two  of wet cake to the biochar kiln per day to begin, state records indicate, before ramping up that process to more than a hundred tons daily.

But the system was prone to breaking down, according to state records.

After the Nebraska Department of Agriculture stripped AltEn of its soil conditioner license, leaving the company with limited options for disposing of its pesticide-contaminated wet cake, it indicated that it planned to turn the byproduct into charcoal.

Environmental regulators questioned how effective the biochar process would be in removing or reducing the level of pesticides in the wet cake, indicating their concern that incineration would release the chemicals into the air.

Testing done by the state ultimately found trace amounts of pesticides in air emissions coming from the biochar system, while a sample of the biochar itself showed concentrations well above the recommended rate set by the chemicals' manufacturers.

"Therefore, NDEE continues to consider the biochar to be a solid waste," the agency told AltEn in a March 26, 2021, letter. "Due to the nature of the pesticides contained in the waste, NDEE is prohibiting land application."

Green Disposal Mead later told the department in October 2021 it was decommissioning the biochar unit, leading to questions from the state on what was happening to the machine, as well as the sacks of charred wet cake remaining at AltEn.

AltEn's response, in turn, brought Yingling to the state's attention.

"The last thing I want is to bring a product to this community that would harm anyone," he said. "I'm glad I didn't get in the middle of it."

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS
JESUP  The Jesup Citizen Herald weekly community newspaper was printed for the final time Dec. 29, its publisher, Kim Edward Adams of Waterloo, confirmed in a recent telephone interview.

That effectively ends a 122-year run, 43 of which have been under Adams leadership.

Its website, www.jesupcitizenherald.com, while still active, includes a touching letter from Adams titled, Saying goodbye to Jesup, as well as access to recent obituaries, and contact information for him.

But Adams affirmed he has no intention of resurrecting the digital medium to include past articles. The easiest way to obtain past publications is by visiting the Jesup Public Library.

Adams, a newspaper enthusiast since college, said he and his longtime news partner, Robin Harms  who contributed to all facets of the newspaper, was a well-known columnist, and happens to be his ex-wife  ceased publishing the Citizen Herald for a few reasons.

Adams unexpectedly suffered a detached retina in his left eye that required surgery and was unable resume his workload because of difficulties with his vision.

In addition, Adams and Harms are in their 60s and are really getting tired. She was overworked and overwhelmed at a job he says often requires more than 12 hours a day.

In fact, he said, Harms gave notice a few years ago but still stuck with it.

But we eventually came to an agreement that we would sell or close it by the end of the year, he said.

An effort was made to sell the newspaper in the last several years  far and away when it was most profitable because of a decision in 2019 to sell the office, about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, because most employees wanted to work remotely.

That eliminated significant overhead.

He talked with four to six interested buyers, but most of them had no prior newspaper experience.

For any of those potential buyers to take it over in that short of time would have been insurmountable, he said.

His business, Horizon Publishing Company, will continue operating its smaller newspapers, the Denver Forum weekly, which it owns, and the monthly Readlyn Chronicle, which is owned by the Readlyn Community Club.

The decision to shut down was emotionally trying. His heartfelt letter, more than 1,300 words, on the Jesup newspapers website only took him an hour and a half to write.

I just sat down (a couple weeks before the last issue), and did what has been typical for me the last 40 years, he said. When it all comes together in my head, then its time to write.

The words rapidly flowed out onto the screen.

Cedar Valley school districts holding off on vaccine mandate after decision by Iowa OSHA The Iowa Division of Labor, which operates an approved OSHA plan, announced Friday that it won't enforce the federal requirement on COVID-19 vaccine.

Is this difficult? You bet it is. Are there regrets? Of course, he wrote. Beyond those things, fraught with emotion, is a sense of peace. A sense of fulfillment. A sense of contentment. A sense of pride at being able to serve this community for so, so many years.

In March 1978, I showed up in Jesup, as the new publisher and co-owner with my brother, Bob (who remained in Denver as publisher and co-owner of the Denver Forum).

Since then, its been a whirlwind of deadlines, photos to take, stories to write  sometimes corrections to make  ads to show to business people, books to read on the latest technologies, employees to train, trips to conventions to learn how to better serve the community. There have been business decisions  starting a portrait studio and photography business to use the skills Id first learned for the newspaper. There have been hours in the darkroom, then a swift transformation to digital technology; and the early shift to computers for design and composition in 1986. So much change over so many years.

But despite all the changes, theres been a sense of continuity. He mentioned the past and current employees who played a significant role and his newspapers history, as well as what it all has meant to him.

He expressed gratitude to the supporters of the weekly over the years, including two subscribers who have read it for more than 60 years, as well as city employees and school officials who have given him their time.

Asked about his favorite story hed written while covering Jesup, he said he was privileged to collaborate with Kathyrn Kate Koob, a U.S. diplomat and native of the area who was held captive for 442 days during the Iranian hostage crisis before being released Jan. 20, 1981.

Beginning in a van after she arrived at the Waterloo airport, we talked, I dont know how many hours, for like three or four weeks, he said. It was a huge undertaking, writing about what she experienced.

Multiple stories would follow; however, they were like the same story, just continued.

With the additional free time, when not working to publish his smaller newspapers he hopes to continue traveling the world with his life partner, Dee Loecher.

As for the Jesup Citizen Herald, it is finished.

At this age (68) I dont have the energy anymore, he said.

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Thursday that there would be a swift, severe response from the United States and its allies if Russia sends any military forces into Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday announced sweeping naval drills in several parts of the world this month, and claimed the West is plotting provocations in neighboring Ukraine where the Kremlin has been accused of planning aggressive military action.

Also today, President Joe Biden sought to clarify his stance on a potential Russian incursion in Ukraine, cleaning up remarks from the prior day's news conference during which he suggested a "minor incursion" by Russia would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.

Here's what you should know as tensions escalate:

AN EXPLAINER

***

MORE COVERAGE OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE STANDOFF

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After watching Gov. Kim Reynolds speech Jan. 11, I felt compelled to write this editorial as a lifelong advocate for Iowas hardworking teachers and the children they educate.

While $1,000 bonuses for teachers are a nice gesture, its not going to keep teachers from leaving their profession or fix the overarching teacher shortage. This crisis is statewide, complex and has been going on for far too long.

Our goal should be policy that produces a long-term solution to a complicated problem. One that brings more teachers to the profession, retains our existing teachers and attracts more full-time and substitute teachers to Iowa.

Three years ago, Linn-Mar Superintendent Shannon Bisgard told me his top concerns had shifted from funding issues and school security to simply finding qualified teachers to fill open positions. He urged me to write a bill that would address teacher shortages with measures to attract college students to the education profession.

In 2019 and 2021, I filed a teacher recruitment and retention task force bill. In 2020 and 2021, I filed a rural teacher shortage and loan forgiveness bill. None of the bills were moved forward to the Senate Education Committee, governed by a GOP majority.

Bisgard told me about 50 teachers left the Linn-Mar school district last year. A handful were retiring, but many were just done.

Last fall, I was frustrated that the teacher shortage crisis seemed to be escalating and organized a group of interested legislators. We held roundtables in four eastern and Northeast Iowa school districts, Linn-Mar/Marion, West Delaware and Howard-Winneshiek, to listen firsthand and see just how dire the situation was becoming.

Administrators said low morale, exhaustion and stress are reported by teachers often and the problem is much worse than the public may perceive.

Now its 2022, and the legislature has done little to solve this. State budgets have not kept up with rising costs or paying teachers their worth.

Each two-hour roundtable meeting led to creative ways to immediately alleviate the crisis and solve long-term systemwide issues. Solutions included fixes around licensure requirements and salaries, increased efficiencies in teacher training, upward mobility and promotion and compensation for student teachers.

Recent rhetoric spoken by a GOP senator during a legislative session targeted teachers as sinister.

A day later, I received an email from a 20-year teacher who was contemplating other work and said, It is no mystery to me or my colleagues why we have a shortage of teachers and school staff. The abuse from the state is longstanding and predictable.

Iowas hardworking teachers who have sacrificed so much the past few years deserve better. They deserve to be treated with fairness and respect  and be properly supported financially and emotionally. currently are bringing roundtable ideas across the aisle and forming legislation for the benefit of our teachers and our children  our future depends on it.

Liz Mathis represents Linn County in the Iowa State Senate. Mathis was a broadcast journalist, taught at Wartburg College and worked at Four Oaks, a childrens mental and behavioral health agency. Mathis is running for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District.
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NEW MILFORD  First responders and critical town employees in the newly formed Housatonic Valley Health District soon can receive free rapid PCR COVID-19 tests, reducing for many a stressful testing burden.

For essential and critical workers who are required to show a negative PCR test to get back to work, finding a test and getting the results in less than five days has been a challenge. This new plan aims to give people the tests and results they need in 30 minutes or less.

On Feb. 1, Lisa Morrissey, incoming director of the new health district, hopes to have about 350 PCR tests available, with a steady supply coming in after that. She sent a letter on Jan. 14 to the health districts first selectmen and mayor letting them know about the plan.

This will decrease the amount of time spent waiting for test results, provide peace of mind to your employees and return your critical workforce back to work sooner, the letter reads.

Tests will be administered starting Feb. 1 in the health districts offices in New Milford and Southbury.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said the town is still seeing tremendous demand at its testing site. Morrissey added relief is available with the at-home antigen testing. However, some employers require proof of negative PCR test, rather than antigen tests, to return to work. This can vary by employer and town.

I think this will be a really good tool in our toolbox  especially for our critical workers and our first responders, Bass said, citing the tests and quicker results.

New Milford plans to make this testing available to first responders and critical town employees  police, fire and public works teams who are essential to road safety and maintenance during the winter. Non-critical employees are set up to work from home if necessary and would not get this testing, Bass explained.

The tests will be free for qualifying workers, and the town will pay the bill.

Towns who contract with the health district for the service will be charged $100 per test, but Morrissey said most leaders have told her they plan to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover the cost. New Milford has not made a final decision on funding, but may use its COVID fund that was created with a prior budget surplus.

At least three towns outside the health district have asked to get in on the deal, Morrissey said. The cost for non-member towns who sign a testing contract after Feb. 28 will increase to $135. She could not release the names of the other towns because details are still being finalized.

The health department is not profiting from the tests, Morrissey said. The $100 cost covers the test, staffing, equipment and the reagent solution. Private market rapid PCR options werent going to be financially sustainable for towns, she said.

Our piece here is we just cant run in the red, Morrissey said.

By March, Morrissey hopes to offer the test to the general public.

The major limiting factor in getting tests for everyone in February was supply of the reagent, which is essential for testing, according to McKesson, who provides the test.

We just dont think that well be able to get the reagent to keep up with the demand, Morrissey said of offering rapid PCR tests to everyone at the moment.

When these tests become available to residents, the health district will bill residents health insurance companies which Morrissey called a whole other logistical piece.

We dont want to saddle people with additional costs, she said.

Since Morrissey took over as New Milfords health director a year ago, the town has become a regional hub for COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, thanks to expanded offerings and efforts to obtain special licenses allowing for additional services. Formation of the new health district is an example of the expanding health care in New Milford.

The new health district is expected to incorporate Feb. 1, the same date the testing is set to begin. One of the main goals of forming a health district from smaller local health departments was to pool resources and staffing to create a stronger health base for towns. Morrissey has said community health does not stop at a towns border.

This new rapid PCR testing option for critical workers will be the districts first big health initiative.

This is one shining example of things we can do as we work together, Bass said. This is just the start some of the other things Lisa [Morrissey] and the district are thinking about.

After two years of a pandemic, towns have looked for ways to address the virus after everyone was caught by Decembers massive surge in cases.

Before we were kind of in the triage stage where we didnt know much about the disease. We were just trying to do what we could as we learned from it, Bass said. We have to know that this is going to be here, and now we have to manage through it.

Connecticut Media Group
We don't typically think of the Mission when it comes to San Francisco's stateliest houses, but in the late 1800s, the neighborhood was home to some of the most coveted addresses, especially on a stretch of South Van Ness once known as Mansion Row.

Here a dozen or so Victorians were built from redwood and oak, sporting the emblematic gingerbread-style trim, including the turreted Queen Anne at 959 S. Van Ness which has been called one of the most dramatic examples in SF. If that's a bit too frothy for you, the home next door, built in 1900 and now painted a modern black, has the historical significance but with a remodel suited to modern living.

But what makes the house at 955 S. Van Ness particularly unique is its design to hold two separate residences, each with a private entrance.

The first is the two-level owner's residence with four bedrooms and as many bathrooms over about 3,100 square feet. The second, lower unit has three bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths spanning 2,700 square feetnot exactly a shabby space to use as a rental or office.

Aside from the bay windows and pitched upstairs ceiings, the homes' interior architecture has little to do with the classical Victorian craftsmanship out front. Contemporary skylights let sunlight flood over wide-plank oak floors throughout; the bathrooms are all wholly modern with spa-like touches. There are laundry rooms in both units.



In the main residence, an open floor plan connects the large living room and a second sitting room with the dining area and a corner kitchen anchored by a large island with a sink and seating for four. Down the hall are a bathroom and two bedrooms, one with a private deck.

Upstairs, the master suite has high ceilings and an arched alcove that makes for an ideal study; a small living area here is also a good place to cozy up with a book. Gray tones cover the primary bathroom with a dual-sink vanity, soaking tub, and rainfall shower. A large walk-in closet with built-ins and two additional closets in the room provide ample storage. Another bedroom with an en-suite bath and an outside deck complete this floor.



The lower unit has a similar palette, high ceilings, quality appliances, and tons of storage space. Topping off the house is a terraced yard and two-car garage.

Bedrooms: 7

Bathrooms: 7.5

Size:5,820 square feet

Asking price: $4,995,000

// 955 South Van Ness Ave. (Mission); for more information, visit compass.com.


Quarterly Activities Report 31 December 2021

Perth, Jan 20, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to provide the December 2021 Quarterly Activities Report. Horizon is an exploration and production company within the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie regions of Western Australia.A key focus for the Company is on exploration upside within our 1,100km2 tenement package with up to four drill rigs currently operating as part of the large-scale new discovery and project generation exploration program. Horizon holds numerous multi - commodity assets including listed investments and a joint venture covering the world class 1.8Bt Richmond - Julia Creek oxide Vanadium Project in North Queensland.Primary activities during the Quarter included the continuation of the 50,000m project generation and new discovery drilling program and release of results, resource modelling and mine optimisation studies for Ore Reserve estimation, further toll treatment of low-grade stockpiles for cash generation and geological review, joint venture assessment and review of further consolidation and divestment opportunities.To view the Quarterly Report, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited

Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.
Eliza Coupe was humbled when Liz Astrof sought her out for a role in the sitcom, Pivoting.

Astrof is the series creator and reached out to Coupe to be part of the series.

That was back in 2019.

Flash forward to today, Pivoting is airing at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays on Fox and the series is resonating with audiences.

They came to me for the show and that in itself is a special thing, Coupe says. We were supposed to go into production in 2020 and we all know what happened next.

Pivoting follows the friendship of Jodie, Amy and Sarah, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, Coupe and Maggie Q, respectively.

After the death of a friend, the three women upend their lives in an effort to find happiness while there is still time, taking on the mid-life challenge they never saw coming.

Coupe plays Amy, who is a morning show producer that doesnt have time for her family.

Yet, after her friends death, Amy decides to make it home early and be a mother to her two young children.

A few episodes into the series, Coupe has heard a lot of response from fans about making the big leap into something else.

This series was happening before everybody needed to pivot, Coupe says. Im so glad that people are taking time for themselves and figuring out what makes them happy.

Amy is married to Henry, played by Tommy Dewey, which reunites Coupe and Dewey.

Tommy is one of the funniest people Ive ever met in my life, Coupe says. We worked together on Casual, thats where we met. When they said Tommy was going to play my husband, it made the project so much better. We just have so much fun on set.

In playing Amy, Coupe found an opportunity to break some stereotypes with women.

Being given the opportunity to show that Amy doesnt always feel like a mother is alright.

Amy doesnt like being a mother but she loves her children, she says. The beautiful thing here is why I wanted to do the role. Weve been programmed and conditioned that a mother needs to be a certain way. As long as you are loving and nurturing to your children, that should be seen as success. Amy isnt a bad mother. Its beautiful to watch her embrace and open up to motherhood.

And then theres the part of Coupe thats playing a role different than herself.

I laugh when I think of my parents and realize Im 40 now and my mom had two kids by that age, Coupe says. I have moments in my life where I didnt feed my dogs for a day. Im realizing that parents are still learning with each day. Theres no set out path and they are figuring it out as they go.

Coupe hopes Pivoting, helps an audience realized that there shouldnt have to be a life-changing event happen in order to make change.

Life is really an experience, she says. We dont have it all figured out. Every single thing is a lesson and tool for growth. We should step back and ask, How do I want to make the best of life today? We have these choices. What people do to us is out of our control. Its how we react to it that makes the difference.

Being a veteran actor in a movie industry, Coupe admits to having moments of clarity on what she would do if she werent acting.

I want to learn to be a farmer and to be self-sustaining all in the Captain Fantastic way. Throw in Viggo Mortensen as my life partner, she says with a laugh. (Mortensen starred in the film Captain Fantastic, which was filmed in New Mexico.)

Coupe does see herself making a change and moving from Los Angeles.

New Mexico is on that list, she says. My ex is from Albuquerque and I was there so long ago. I really loved it. I want to go visit Santa Fe and Taos. Im really considering there or Sedona, Arizona, or Costa Rica or Italy.

ON TV

Pivoting, which stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Eliza Coupe and Maggie Q, airs at 8:30 p.m. Thursday on Fox.
Over the past few years, our state has expanded opportunities for New Mexicans to pursue career training and college degrees, which is an investment in accelerating our workforce and economy now and for years to come. While we continue to be a national leader in breaking down barriers for undergraduate students at all levels, we know there are still tens of thousands of New Mexicans who could reach higher for their families and communities by continuing their education if financial obstacles are removed.

After meeting with dozens of the students who have benefitted from the Opportunity Scholarship across the state last year, the thing that still strikes me the most is the stories they share about the life-changing difference free college can make. I heard from students like Debra Washburn, a student from the Navajo Nation who spoke about how the ability to afford gas to travel to campus can be a barrier for students. Because of the Opportunity Scholarship, she is pursuing a counseling degree at Navajo Technical University and plans to work in her community while providing for her family.

The New Mexico Opportunity and Lottery Scholarships have already seen widespread success, with over 18,000 scholarships awarded this fall, but expanding funding in 2022 means that all New Mexicans seeking to continue their education would be eligible for a scholarship. For just 1% of the states overall budget, we can break down barriers for up to 35,000 New Mexicans and empower New Mexico families, communities and our economy for the future.

Working together with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, students, community partners and lawmakers, we will deliver a comprehensive free college package that finally serves the diverse needs of New Mexicans, whether they are part-time students, working parents, returning adult learners or recent high school graduates. The average age of college students in New Mexico is 26, and the majority of students attend part time due to work and family obligations. Despite being the majority, this type of student has historically had few financial support options available to them.

The New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship has been a game-changer for helping students who dont have the luxury of attending college full time or right out of high school, and the Lottery Scholarship once again covers the full cost of tuition for recent high school graduates attending full time. However, we need to help even more students if we are to improve the well-being of our citizens and state.

Nearly a quarter of New Mexicans have completed some college coursework but not attained a degree, and half of our population has no education beyond high school. When you consider that over two-thirds of jobs in our state require education or training beyond high school and that certificate and degree-holders earn better wages and face lower unemployment rates, it is clear why paving the way to these opportunities is so critical.

If students and their families believe college is affordable, they are more likely to attend. A research report released this month by the National Center for Education Statistics shows nearly 40% of students who believe college is unaffordable never attend. Expanding free college means no New Mexican has to view cost as an obstacle to higher education.

We know that when we invest in our citizens, they build fulfilling lives, happier and healthier families, and more stable communities. When people can go to school, pursue meaningful careers and contribute to the same communities where they were born and raised, we all benefit; our state will benefit. Together, we can reach higher for New Mexico.
Although I have never lived in South Africa, I have witnessed apartheid firsthand. I was born and raised in Chile. I remember as if it were yesterday, when I was 10 years old, that Salvador Allende became the first elected Marxist president in the world. At that age I could not have defined proletariat or dialectical materialism, but almost daily, walking home from school, I had to dodge rocks and tear gas canisters being lobbed by warring factions. And three years later, I will never ever forget Augusto Pinochet taking power and attempting to stabilize and bring peace through torture, desaparecidos and other brutal human rights abuses.

When my wife Kathryn and I moved to Lima, it was at the height of the Maoist revolution and anything but peaceful. We lived through daily bombings, assassinations and brutal terrorist acts. But what stunned us most was how the Shining Path claimed it was fighting for the peasants and native population of Peru but had no compunction in brutalizing any campesino or Amazonian who did not support its tactics.

Kathryn and I also remember, as if it were yesterday, the day in 1992 when President Alberto Fujimori, with military backing, carried out a self-coup by closing congress and the judiciary. Our neighbors cheered, claiming por fin un lider se pone los pantalones!  at last a leader put his pants on. And they were even happier a few months later when Fujimori captured Abimael Guzman, thus decapitating the Shining Path. But Fujimori is now spending his last decades in prison as he was convicted of horrendous human rights abuses in his efforts to stabilize and bring peace to Peru.

It was clear the pendulum easily swings from one form of dehumanization to another, to another. It was most providential that Kathryn and I, and our three boys, moved to Albuquerque and I began taking many of the classes John Jack Condon and other world-renowned interculturalists at UNM offered. And it was even more providential when Karen Foss agreed to chair my thesis committee as I carried out a rhetorical analysis of Desmond Tutus book, No Future Without Forgiveness.

I regret never meeting Desmond Tutu face to face, but I feel my thesis process allowed me to be at his feet for many months. With Foss wise help, I was able to uncover it wasnt mere forgiveness Tutu was extolling. He was actually pointing to a humanizing ubuntu worldview that needed to replace a dehumanizing apartheid system that had been in place for decades. Since his death I have heard some describe Tutu as a moral compass and the conscience of a nation/the world. I believe a compass not only points us where we are to go, but it also clarifies what we are leaving behind. And a conscience helps us determine what we are to embrace and perpetuate, as well as what we are to be repulsed by and reject.

The last 20 years since earning my MA from UNM, I have had the profound honor of teaching in close to 20 countries and have heard myself channeling my inner Tutu, repeating over and over again: Run from, be repulsed by, leave behind apartheid arrogance, the conviction that human worth is determined extrinsically, that the universe revolves around me/us, that security and survival come through independence, self-focus, alienation and revenge. And I have heard myself repeating over and over again: Run toward, embrace, perpetuate ubuntu humility, the conviction we need others, including those who disagree with us, to contribute to healing, that security and survival come through interdependence, other-focus, magnanimity and by respecting and upholding the human rights of all. In writing I simply want to honor and thank Desmond Tutu for what he has meant to me, and Foss as well as the communication department at UNM for all they have contributed to my life.
One of the most important lessons we should have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that as a state we have allowed our public health infrastructure to dwindle so badly it slowed our ability to respond. This must not happen again.

We have an opportunity to be better prepared. New Mexico will see an unprecedented revenue bonanza this fiscal year. Oil revenue and economic recovery from the pandemic have produced a billion-dollar reserve above currently budgeted spending. Furthermore, we still have $700 million in federal American (Rescue Plan Act) funds available.

Legislators are now suggesting transformative uses for these unprecedented revenues, projects that dont just add to what already exists but could be genuine game-changers, projects future generations might look back on for the positive shifts they produced in our trajectory.

One such idea is for a School of Public Health, operated jointly by the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University. It has drawn enthusiastic support from UNMs new vice president of Health Sciences, Dr. Douglas Ziedonis, and from the leadership of both UNM and NMSU. Ziedonis was involved in creating a School of Public Health at UC San Diego and has seen firsthand just how powerful a tool such an institution can be in focusing on preventing and eliminating health threats  not just on medically treating illness once it occurs.

In the current state budget we spend $9 billion on treating disease, mostly through Medicaid. In contrast, expenditures on public health  before COVID-19 brought in huge amounts of federal money  was less than $100 million. Yet medical experts point out 90% of the gains in life expectancy we enjoy today come from public health initiatives like vaccination programs, clean air and water efforts, highway safety laws, prenatal and infant care improvements, environmental clean-up and similar attacks on social determinants of health.

We spend vastly larger sums on medical care. Improvements in surgical and pharmaceutical technology are impressive, but the gain in life expectancy from treating people once they get ill amounts to only about 10%. This is not an argument for reducing spending on medical care, but it suggests stepped-up spending on public health could see a far larger direct benefit to the populace.

Health policy formulation currently flies blind for lack of independent analysis of medical care outcomes. We simply dont have the personnel or the resources needed to analyze the data being produced on expenditures, procedures, effectiveness and unmet need. The new school could take the lead in this  and do it largely financed with federal and foundation research grants.

Many states have created government resource centers at a major state research university. Finding a way to use academic research findings in developing legislation and programming in state government would create the possibility of rational, data-driven policies, perhaps for the first time in the health field.

Our new School of Public Health, by involving cross-disciplinary expertise from engineering, business, regional planning, communications and practically every other department on the campuses, would become our New Mexico Government Resource Center. An expenditure for it from this years surplus funds would be a win-win for the state for decades to come.
A Glastonbury business owner was sentenced to six months in prison for filing false tax returns, according to federal authorities.

George Lee, 51, also was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to serve one year of supervised release and to pay a $5,500 fine, federal authorities said in a statement.

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Lee owns and operates American U.S.A. Paving and for the 2015 through 2018 tax years, provided his tax return preparer with information that substantially understated gross receipts for the paving business, federal authorities said in the statement, citing court documents and statements made in court.

As a result, Lees personal federal income tax returns for the 2015 through 2018 tax years, which Lee authorized his preparer to file with the IRS, underreported his income by a total of more than $588,000, resulting in a tax loss of $154,238, federal authorities said in the statement.

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Lee has paid full restitution to the IRS, federal authorities said in the statement.

The Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building and Courthouse on Main Street. (Kenneth R. Gosselin / Hartford Courant)

Lee pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return on July 20, 2021, federal authorities said.

Lee is free on bond and is required to report to prison on March 30, according to federal authorities.

The investigation was done by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division; it was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser.
Shortly after taking office in 2017, state Rep. Rebecca Dow joined other House members in a 66-0 vote in support of a constitutional amendment to create a State Ethics Commission.

When the Independent Ethics Commission Amendment was sent to voters in the general election of 2018, it was no surprise 75% of voters approved its creation  given how some political insiders in New Mexico had lined their pockets at the expense of taxpayers for decades.

The creation of a State Ethics Commission was a major step forward in good government. At the time, New Mexico was one of only seven states without one. To give it credibility, the seven-member commission is comprised of one commissioner each appointed by the governor, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the minority floor leader of the Senate, the speaker of the House and the minority floor leader of the House. The final two commissioners are appointed by the four legislatively appointed commissioners.

To further ensure its independence, no political party can hold more than three seats on the commission, and any action by the panel must be supported by at least two Democratic and two Republican members.

Back to Dow, the three-term Truth or Consequences Republican who is running for governor.

Documents that became public earlier this month show Dow fought subpoenas as part of an ethics commission probe into whether she properly disclosed over $5,000 in gross income in 2019 from a nonprofit group she founded, AppleTree Educational Center.

The documents show Dow refused to sit for a court-ordered deposition for almost two months, resulting in sanctions of $50 a day imposed by a District Court judge. Dow finally appeared for a deposition in late October. Shes lucky the contempt of court penalty was just $50 a day. The penalty could have been sitting in jail after a judge said she violated a court order.

The ethics commissions general counsel, Walker Boyd, offered to settle the case in January 2021 if Dow would pay a $250 civil fine and acknowledge her responsibilities under state law. But Dow didnt respond to the settlement offer and eventually paid about $4,115 in compensatory and coercive sanctions.

All of this was sealed from public until the ethics commissions general counsel found probable cause earlier this month to support allegations Dow had violated state laws.

Dow says she voluntarily amended financial disclosure documents to address concerns raised by the ethics commission, but Boyd says the documents didnt entirely address potential violations. Nonetheless, Dow argues she overdisclosed the details of her work and compensation from AppleTree, of which she formerly served as CEO. She says she consulted with attorneys with the Legislative Council Service and was told she did not need to list AppleTree. She contends the complaint is politically motivated.

Yes, the allegations against Dow are part of a complaint filed in September 2020 by Dows Democratic opponent that year. Some of the allegations have been dismissed. Other allegations stand  that Dow violated the Financial Disclosure Act by failing to report income from AppleTree, which receives much of its revenue from state grants and contracts, and that she represented clients before state agencies in violation of the Governmental Conduct Act.

Dows case is the first one to be made public by the ethics commission after a finding of probable cause. Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan C. Torgerson is serving as the hearing officer to consider the allegations.

Dow is entitled to her day in court, as is anyone else. However, her recalcitrance  even after a judges order  has been disappointing, particularly for someone in a leadership post as the House Republican caucus chair.

Dow was once among those who supported an ethics commission to hold public officials accountable. But now that the commission has turned its focus on her, its disappointing shes doing everything she can to impeach its credibility.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

State health officials said the COVID-19 omicron surge in New Mexico will likely peak by the end of the month or in early February, though the viruss growth already appears to have slowed.

The omicron variant is currently ripping through New Mexico at rates not previously seen in the pandemic. The state has been reporting between 4,000 and more than 5,500 cases per day for more than a week. On Wednesday, the state reported 5,735 new cases  a single-day record.

Thats about twice as many cases as the state was reporting during the viruss peak in late 2020, before vaccines were widely available.

The good news, however, is that COVID-related deaths and hospitalizations havent been moving in step with cases.

One promising sign from our hospitals is that they are seeing a definite drop in the number of people with COVID in the hospital who are on ventilators, Dr. David Scrase, the acting health secretary, said in a virtual media briefing Wednesday. It could be an early indication here in New Mexico that omicron might be a little less serious disease.

Nonetheless, there were 28 new deaths reported Wednesday, pushing the statewide toll to 6,205 since the start of the pandemic. There were 626 people hospitalized with COVID throughout the state Wednesday, according to the Health Department.

Omicron peak

Scrase said the omicron variant poses a new dilemma. Two common monoclonal antibody therapies that had been regularly used for outpatient COVID patients arent effective against omicron and arent being used currently. That leaves doctors working with one monoclonal antibody therapy and two antiviral oral medications that are effective against omicron.

This week, the state had 1,950 doses available for outpatient COVID patients  a supply that included 926 antiviral oral medications and 1,030 doses of a monoclonal antibody treatment. Three weeks ago, there were 4,687 effective doses for outpatient COVID patients.

Scrase said the state created a scoring system that was sent to providers to determine which patients qualify for the treatments. He said the system assigns points to patients based on their various chronic conditions. A score of three qualifies a patient for one type of treatment and a score of six or above qualifies them for the other two available treatments, he said.

Anytime in medicine when there is a scarce resource, we always triage, Scrase said. We were surprised to learn that two of our monoclonal antibodies werent effective against omicron. But we can expect those kind of surprises.

Scrase said health officials are expecting it to be about three or four weeks before the supply of COVID treatments increases.

Meanwhile, Scrase said that modeling is predicting the omicron variants surge in the state will peak sometime between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.

Its sort of strange, weve sort of been seeing steady case counts for the last week.  Case growth has stopped accelerating, Scrase said. I think what were believing and hoping is that we see (the peak) as soon as Jan. 27, hopefully right around the end of the month.  I think were feeling like thats reasonable way to look at it today.

Effectiveness of booster

Health officials say New Mexico data shows the importance of a booster shot.

About 2.5% of people who get COVID after only receiving an initial vaccine series are hospitalized, compared to 0.16% of people who get COVID after getting a booster shot.

The hospitalization rate for the unvaccinated is 5.48% and the death rate is 1.26%, according to Health Department data. Since Feb. 1, 2021, unvaccinated individuals accounted for 89.1% of COVID-related deaths.

The death rate for those who only complete their primary series of the vaccine is 0.35%. The rate is 0.01% for those who have had a booster shot, according to the data.

So obviously the booster works, no question about it, Scrase said. It doesnt mean the primary series isnt good, its just that its effectiveness runs out.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

San Felipe Pueblos Cynthia Chavez Lamar has been hired to lead the Smithsonians National Museum of the American Indian.

Chavez Lamar will be the first Native American woman to serve as the museums director when she takes over Feb. 14. She is currently acting associate director for collections and operations.

Chavez Lamar is an accomplished curator, author and scholar whose research has focused on Southwest Native art. Early in her career, she was a museum intern and, later, an associate curator from 2000 to 2005 at the Smithsonian museum she will now lead.

Dr. Chavez Lamar is at the forefront of a growing wave of Native American career museum professionals, said Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian. They have played an important role in changing how museums think about their obligations to Native communities and to all communities.

Chavez Lamar, whose ancestry also includes Hopi, Tewa and Navajo, will oversee the museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the museums George Gustav Heye Center in New York and the Cultural Resources Center in Maryland, which houses the museums collections, and its curatorial and repatriation offices.

The museum has one of the largest and most extensive collections of Native and Indigenous items in the world. It includes more than 1 million objects and photographs, and more than 500,000 digitized images, films and other media documenting Native American communities, events and organizations.

Since January 2021, Chavez Lamar has been responsible for overseeing its collections, facilities, and safety and information technology departments. She leads efforts to ensure effective management of, and care for, the museums collection.

I am looking forward to leading and working with the museums experienced and dedicated staff, Chavez Lamar said. Together, we will leverage the museums reputation to support shared initiatives with partners in the U.S. and around the world to amplify Indigenous knowledge and perspectives, all in the interest of further informing the American public and international audiences of the beauty, tenacity and richness of Indigenous cultures, arts and histories.

From 2014 through 2020, Chavez Lamar served as assistant director for collections at the museum.

In this role, she guided the overall stewardship of the museums collection. Chavez Lamar led museum efforts to improve collection access and availability by advocating for and encouraging an increase in the number of collections online.

She supported the development of a collection-information system module to record access, care and handling instructions provided by tribal, nation and community representatives. Chavez Lamar also established and prioritized partnerships and collaboration with Native nations and tribes, and developed a loan program for tribal museums and cultural centers that provides training and technical assistance to enhance collections stewardship and reconnects descendant communities with the museums collections.

Her history runs deep in the arts world in New Mexico.

From 2007-14, she was director of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe.

While there, she raised the visibility of the 12,000-object collection, and developed institutional projects and programming to highlight it.

She also led and supported the development of Guidelines for Collaboration to assist Native communities in accessing museum collections and museums working collaboratively with them.

From 2006-07, she was director of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

Chavez Lamar has a doctorate in American studies from the University of New Mexico.

She is the third director of the National Museum of the American Indian and succeeds Kevin Gover (Pawnee), who served as director from December 2007 until January.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2462731/indigenous-nm-woman-to-lead-smithsonian-american-indian-museum.html

San Felipe Pueblo member to lead Indian museum

EX: Chavez Lamar first Native woman to direct branch of Smithsonian
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Public policies that helped to improve child and family well-being in New Mexico have been undermined by the pandemic, according to the just released New Mexico 2021 Kids Count Data Book.

The pandemic has led to increased childhood food insecurity, greater numbers of children enrolled in Medicaid, and significantly higher numbers of chronically absent students, said Emily Wildau, the Kids Count coordinator for New Mexico Voices for Children, which publishes the annual data book.

The report is released at the beginning of the legislative session each year to provide lawmakers with a synopsis of the ongoing needs of New Mexico children and families. The report tracks child well-being across four domains: economic security, education, health, and family and community. Within those domains, it looks at indicators such as child poverty and food insecurity rates, parental employment and education levels, and teen birth rates.

Hardest hit by the pandemic have been families of color  particularly Hispanic families, the report said.

Among households with children that lost income in 2021, 28% were Hispanic, compared with 10% for non-Hispanic white households.

In households with children that had difficulty paying for usual household expenses, 41% were Hispanic, compared with 27% of non-Hispanic white households.

The pandemic delayed medical attention in 26% of Hispanic households with children, compared with 20% of non-Hispanic white households with children.

In households where children were not eating enough because food was unaffordable, 36% were Hispanic and 11% were non-Hispanic white; and where there was little or no confidence in the ability to make the next rent or mortgage payment, Hispanic households with children outpaced non-white households with children at 27% compared with 8%.

The rate and number of children living in poverty decreased likely because of pandemic economic relief measures, the data book said. Still, 116,000, or 25% of the states kids live at or below the federal poverty level, ranking New Mexico 48th in the nation in child poverty.

Native American children fared the worst, with 40.1% living in poverty, followed by Black kids at 32.4%, Hispanic kids at 30.1% and non-Hispanic white children at 13.7%.

The expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is credited with greatly improving the percentage of children with health insurance. At 11%, Native American kids represent the biggest group still lacking insurance, followed by Hispanic kids at 5%, and non-Hispanic white kids and Black kids at 4% each.

Child well-being was steadily improving prior to the onset of the pandemic, and much of that was due to changes in public policies that made kids and working families a priority, said Amber Wallin, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children.

The data book noted that during the 2021 legislative session and throughout the pandemic, New Mexico legislators provided: Emergency economic relief for immigrants and others who were left out of federal stimulus payments; hunger relief for families; relief payments for essential workers; and passed a paid sick-leave policy for workers. They also agreed to allow voters to decide whether to increase the distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Fund, which, if approved, would result in a long-term revenue source for early childhood education and K-12 schools.

If lawmakers continue putting kids and families first, we expect to see even more improvements, Wallin said. However, in order to ensure an equitable recovery from the pandemic and recession, these policies must consider the unique barriers faced by our children, families, and communities of color.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

As the New Mexico Legislature crafts spending plans for a hefty budget windfall, lawmakers are pushing bills that would ensure water, agriculture and climate initiatives get a slice of the funding pie.

Rep. Jack Chatfield, a Republican rancher from Mosquero, is co-sponsoring a bill to revive a state meat inspection program with a $1.7 million appropriation to the livestock inspection board.

Chatfield said a lack of local inspectors leaves food production vulnerable to shutdowns at corporate meat-processing facilities in neighboring states.

People want to know where their food comes from, he said. This is about New Mexicans having a good, reliable supply of quality beef produced by people that you know.

Meanwhile, a bill introduced by Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, and Rep. Debra Sarinana, D-Albuquerque, would give $4.6 million to the newly created Reforestation Center.

The funding would allow the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to work with universities to train foresters, grow seedlings and replant forests.

EMNRD Secretary Sarah Cottrell Propst said the center will help the state recover better from forest fires.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has backed two climate bills focused on reducing emissions.

The Clean Fuel Standard Act would reduce the carbon intensity standard for petroleum and other transportation fuels. The bill enables producers to offset high-carbon fuel by buying credits from companies that reduce emissions or create such alternatives as biodiesel and ethanol.

I think, given the scale of the oil and gas industry in New Mexico, were likely to see very substantial credit generation coming out of that industry in particular, said Graham Noyes, executive director of the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition.

Opponents say the bill could raise gas prices. But supporters point to crude oil prices as the major factor in costs at the pump, and say other states have not seen a correlation between fuel standards and gas prices.

The Clean Future Act would mandate state greenhouse gas levels be at net-zero emissions by 2050  a goal first outlined in the governors executive order on climate change.

Other bills include:

 $12 million to the Office of the State Engineer for water planning and administration

 $10 million to NMSU for operation of 12 agricultural science centers

 $500,000 to the Public Education Department for an outdoor learning specialist and assistant, outdoor learning training and materials

 $400,000 for acequias and community ditches

 $50 million to $60 million to the Water Trust Fund for water storage, reuse and delivery projects

 Amending the Natural Heritage Conservation Act to authorize land acquisitions

 Amending the New Mexico Constitution by adding the right to a clean and healthy environment

Editors Note: An earlier version of this article listed the incorrect amount of general fund dollars included in a bill for the Water Trust Fund.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
MADRID  When the coronavirus pandemic was first declared, Spaniards were ordered to stay home for more than three months. For weeks, they were not allowed outside even for exercise. Children were banned from playgrounds, and the economy virtually stopped.

But officials credited the draconian measures with preventing a full collapse of the health system. Lives were saved, they argued.

Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different COVID-19 playbook. With one of Europes highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay. Similar steps are under consideration in neighboring Portugal and in Britain.

The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.

Spains center-left prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, wants the European Union to consider similar changes now that the surge of the omicron variant has shown that the disease is becoming less lethal.

What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters, he said Monday.

Sanchez said the changes should not happen before the omicron surge is over, but officials need to start shaping the post-pandemic world now: We are doing our homework, anticipating scenarios.

The World Health Organization has said that its too early to consider any immediate shift. The organization does not have clearly defined criteria for declaring COVID-19 an endemic disease, but its experts have previously said that it will happen when the virus is more predictable and there are no sustained outbreaks.

Its somewhat a subjective judgment because its not just about the number of cases. Its about severity, and its about impact, said Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHOs emergencies chief.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum panel on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases doctor in the U.S., said COVID-19 could not be considered endemic until it drops to a level that it doesnt disrupt society.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has advised countries to transition to more routine handling of COVID-19 after the acute phase of the pandemic is over. The agency said in a statement that more EU states in addition to Spain will want to adopt a more long-term, sustainable surveillance approach.

Just over 80% of Spains population has received two vaccine doses, and authorities are focused on boosting the immunity of adults with third doses.

Vaccine-acquired immunity, coupled with widespread infection, offers a chance to concentrate prevention efforts, testing and illness-tracking resources on moderate- to high-risk groups, said Dr. Salvador Trenche, head of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, which has led the call for a new endemic response.

COVID-19 must be treated like the rest of illnesses, Trenche told The Associated Press, adding that normalized attention by health professionals would help reduce delays in treatment of problems not related to the coronavirus.

The public also needs to come to terms with the idea that some deaths from COVID-19 will be inevitable, Tranche said.

We cant do on the sixth wave what we were doing on the first one: The model needs to change if we want to achieve different results, he said.

The Spanish Health Ministry said it was too early to share any blueprints being drafted by its experts and advisers, but the agency confirmed that one proposal is to follow an existing model of sentinel surveillance currently used in the EU for monitoring flu.

The strategy has been nicknamed flu-ization of COVID-19 by Spanish media, although officials say that the systems for influenza will need to be adapted significantly to the coronavirus.

For now, the discussion about moving to an endemic approach is limited to wealthy nations that can afford to speak about the worst of the pandemic in the past tense. Their access to vaccines and robust public health systems are the envy of the developing world.

Its also not clear how an endemic strategy would coexist with the zero-Covid approach adopted by China and other Asian countries, and how would that affect international travel.

Many countries overwhelmed by the record number of omicron cases are already giving up on massive testing and cutting quarantine times, especially for workers who show no more than cold-like symptoms. Since the beginning of the year, classes in Spanish schools stop only if major outbreaks occur, not with the first reported case as they used to.

In Portugal, with one of the worlds highest vaccination rates, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared in a New Years speech that the country had moved into an endemic phase. But the debate over specific measures petered out as the spread soon accelerated to record levels  almost 44,000 new cases in 24 hours reported Tuesday.

However, hospital admissions and deaths in the vaccinated world are proportionally much lower than in previous surges.

In the United Kingdom, mask-wearing in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped on Jan. 26, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday saying that the latest wave had peaked nationally.

The requirement for infected people to isolate for five full days remains in place, but Johnson said he will seek to scrap it in coming weeks if the virus data continues to improve. Official statistics put at 95% the share of the British population that has developed antibodies against COVID-19 either from infection or vaccination.

As COVID becomes endemic, we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance, urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others, Johnson said.

For some other European governments, the idea of normalizing COVID-19 is at odds with their efforts to boost vaccination among reluctant groups.

In Germany, where less than 73% of the population has received two doses and infection rates are hitting new records almost daily, comparisons to Spain or any other country are being rejected.

We still have too many unvaccinated people, particularly among our older citizens, Health Ministry spokesman Andreas Deffner said Monday.

Italy is extending its vaccination mandate to all citizens age 50 or older and imposing fines of up to 1,500 euros for unvaccinated people who show up at work. Italians are also required to be fully vaccinated to access public transportation, planes, gyms, hotels and trade fairs.

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Associated Press writers Maria Cheng, Danica Kirka and Sylvia Hui in London, Raf Casert in Brussels, Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Treasury Department levied new sanctions Thursday against four Ukrainian officials, including two current members of parliament who administration officials say are part of a Russian influence effort to set the pretext for further invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions name parliament members Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn and two former government officials. According to Treasury, all four have been intimately involved in disinformation efforts by Russias federal security service, known as the FSB.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the four men were at the heart of a Kremlin effort begun in 2020 to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian state to independently function.

The new sanctions were announced less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden said he thinks Moscow will newly invade Ukraine. He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would pay a dear price in lives lost and a possible restriction in access to the global banking system if it does.

Biden faced criticism from Republicans and Ukrainian officials that he invited a limited Russian invasion by suggesting in comments to reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would react with a measured response if there was only a minor incursion. Administration officials immediately sought to clarify his remarks, and Biden himself did so on Thursday.

Ive been absolutely clear with President Putin, Biden said Thursday. He has no misunderstanding: any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.

Biden on Wednesday said his team is looking at possible sanctions against Moscow that would target the Russian banking system, restricting its ability to deal in dollars. Biden was referring to potentially limiting Russias access to dollar clearing  the conversion of payments by banks on behalf of clients into U.S. dollars from rubles or other foreign currency, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat who co-led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine last weekend, told reporters Thursday she understood the administration was still analyzing what the impact would be on other countries if Russia were banned from SWIFT, a banking system that handles the flow of money around the world.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan in a Twitter posting urged the administration to take action that makes certain that Russian oligarchs that support Putin arent able to spend their weekends shopping in Monaco and Paris.

The White House last week warned that Russia has stationed operatives in and around Ukraine possibly to create a pretext for an invasion. U.S. and Ukrainian officials have also been concerned about the Russian weaponizing of disinformation.

The United States is taking action to expose and counter Russias dangerous and threatening campaign of influence and disinformation in Ukraine, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. We are committed to taking steps to hold Russia accountable for their destabilizing actions.

Kozak, who controls several news channels in Ukraine, is accused of amplifying false narratives about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys inner circle and the 2020 elections. Voloshyn has worked with Russias FSB to undermine Ukrainian government officials, Treasury says.

Treasury officials say Voloshyn also worked with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national who was previously sanctioned for allegedly attempting to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election and passing on information to Russian intelligence.

Treasury also sanctioned Ukraines former deputy secretary for national security and defense councils, Vladimir Sivkovich. The administration says Sivkovich worked last year with a network of Russian intelligence activists to carry out influence operations that attempted to build support for Ukraine to officially cede Crimea to Russia in exchange for a drawdown of Russian-backed forces. Russian troops seized Crimea in 2014 and Russia then annexed the Black Sea peninsula.

The other former official cited is Volodymyr Oliynyk, who Treasury says worked at the direction of the FSB to gather information about Ukrainian critical infrastructure. Oliynk is currently living in Russia, according to Treasury.

Biden on Thursday noted that Russia has a long history of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression.

After his speculation about a minor incursion by Russia, Biden underscored that any invasion would be seen as violation of Ukraines sovereignty and would result in severe consequences for Russia. Nevertheless, his comments rattled Kyiv.

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations, Zelenskyy tweeted Thursday shortly before the new sanctions were announced. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones.

Some 100,000 Russian troops have massed near Ukraines border. Russian officials are demanding written guarantees that NATO will not expand westward. Members of the alliance refuse to give such a pledge.
KEMMERER, Wyoming  In this sleepy Wyoming town that has relied on coal for over a century, a company founded by the man who revolutionized personal computing is launching an ambitious project to counter climate change: A nationwide reboot of nuclear energy technology.

Until recently, Kemmerer was little-known for anything except J.C. Penneys first store and some 55-million-year-old fish fossils in quarries down the road.

Then in November, a company started by Bill Gates, TerraPower, announced it had chosen Kemmerer for a nontraditional, sodium-cooled nuclear reactor that will bring on workers from a local coal-fired power plant scheduled to close soon.

The demonstration project comes as many U.S. states see nuclear emerging as an answer to fill the gap as a transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Many residents in Kemmerer, where the population of 2,700 is little-changed since the 1990s, see the TerraPower project as a much-needed economic boost because Rocky Mountain Powers Naughton power plant will close 2025. The plant employs about 230 and a mine that supplies coal exclusively to the plant  and is also at risk of closing if it cant find another customer  almost 300.

Kemmerer needs something or itll become a dust bowl, said Ken Spears, a 69-year-old retired coal mine worker whose family has depended on the mine and power plant for generations.

Spears was among a group of men who gathered recently in a downtown bar, Grumpies, near a park with statue of James Cash Penney and his first store. They played pool near an antique piano and signs reading Lets go Brandon and Trump 2020 No More Bull

Kemmerer is a quaint town of old-time storefronts and rolling hills, off the beaten path other than for occasional tourists who pass through on a slower, more scenic route to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. Residents speak proudly of the coal heritage, quiet lifestyle and easy access to open lands where they can fish, hunt and hike. A river that is iced over in the winter runs through town nearby a railroad track that is down the hill from neighborhoods of older houses where families of deer roam at sunset.

Wyoming has the biggest coal industry in the U.S. by far. Trump won the state with some of his highest margins, almost 70%, in 2016 and 2020 on promises to shore up coal mining.

Yet concerns about TerraPowers unusual, coal-replacing nuclear plant seem few and far between in this town.

This isnt a Chernobyl-type thing, said Spears, wearing a camouflaged jacket and University of Wyoming cap with the bucking-horse-and-rider logo. Kemmerer needs something.

The U.S. nuclear industry has been at a standstill, providing a steady 20% of the nations power for decade amid the costly and time-consuming process of building huge conventional nuclear plants.

Only one new commercial nuclear project, the Tennessee Valley Authoritys Watts Bar No. 2, has come online in the U.S. in the past 25 years.

By cooling the planned Kemmerer reactor with liquid sodium, a metal that boils at a temperature much higher than water and solidifies at well above room temperature, TerraPower says its relatively small, 345-megawatt plant, able to power about 345,000 homes, will be safe and less expensive than conventional, water-cooled nuclear plants. The companys Natrium plant will use a simpler and less expensive system of unpressurized coolant and vents not dependent on electricity to halt fission during an emergency.

The approach isnt new. Russia has had a commercial sodium-cooled reactor in use at full capacity since 2016 and such designs have been tested in the U.S.

TerraPower plans to make its plant useful for todays energy grid of growing renewable power. A salt heat battery will allow the plant to ramp up electricity production on demand, offsetting dips in electricity when the wind isnt blowing and sun isnt shining.

It should provide a more useful reactor, really, for operating on a grid that has a much greater amount of wind and solar than in the past, said TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque.

At peak capacity, the plant could generate 500 megawatts, enough for 500,000 homes, he said.

The project will cost up to $4 billion, half of it from the U.S. Department of Energy, but costs should come down as demand for carbon-free energy grows and more are built, said Levesque.

If we can show that the plant can be built affordably and on time, well have orders for additional Natrium reactors even before the first one starts up. In the 2030s, there will be massive demand for this kind of power, Levesque said.

One downside: The plants fuel, at least at first, would need to come from Russia. The plant will require uranium fuel enriched to 20%, four times higher than in conventional nuclear plants. The U.S. doesnt currently enrich fuel to that level for commercial power.

For that matter, Levesque pointed out, about one-fifth of conventional nuclear fuel also is imported.

So far, concerns in Wyoming about the project have been few. The Wyoming Outdoor Council, noting the declining cost of solar and wind power, points out that nuclear remains costly and sodium-cooled in other countries have had leaks leading to fires and shutdowns.

In between games of pool at Grumpies bar, Colt Quintard, a 30-year-old coal mine worker, said he isnt as convinced as others the nuclear plant will be as big a boon to the community.

He fears many of the plants full-time workers will come from out of town due to the training needed and others will live in larger cities and commute. Hes open to getting training to work at the nuclear plant, but said more likely hell have go back to working around the county as a diesel mechanic, keeping him from being able to see his 2-year-old daughter each night.

I dont think this community is going to benefit from it the way a lot people think its going to, said Quintard. Change is going to happen, regardless. There is nothing we can do.

Rocky Mountain Power employee Crystal Bowen has no such misgivings, saying the plant should allow her and others with Rocky Mountain Power to shift to jobs at the new plant. Bowen said her online research about the nuclear technology eased any concerns.

It was pretty shocking, back in 2019, when we heard that the fate of the plant wasnt as long-lived as we thought, said Bowen, who works in payroll and is a lifelong resident of the community. I did not want to have to leave. I have children here. I have parents here and the idea of having to move to another location was pretty scary.

She added: I dont know if Kemmerer would have survived if we lost the power plant and the coal mine. It may have just turned into a ghost town.

TerraPower has pledged to train workers so anyone interested can transition to working at the nuclear plant when it opens, said Rodger Holt, manager of the Naughton coal plant.

Kemmerer beat out three other Wyoming cities for the nuclear plant: nearby Rock Springs, Gillette in a coal-rich northeastern part of the state and Glenrock in east-central Wyoming. The Naughton plant employees, with experience on equipment such as generators that are used in both coal and nuclear plants, were a major reason for putting the plant in Kemmerer, according to TerraPower.

The plant remains years off  2028 is the current estimate  but already has triggered interest in real estate and breathes new life into the town, Mayor Bill Thek said.

Gates reputation as a global supporter of developing and distributing vaccines  against COVID-19, malaria and other diseases that have killed millions worldwide  also have earned him skepticism in Wyoming, a deeply conservative state among the least vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Gates, the famous co-founder Microsoft, started Bellevue, Washington-based TerraPower in 2008 and is chairman of its board. When asked about the billionaire, most in town held their tongues.

Thek laughed when asked and said he didnt want to pick apart Bill Gates and said everyone knows who Bill Gates is, while reminding that the U.S. government will pay for half of the project.

Hes put his money into this and thats it, period, Thek said.

One thing Gates and Thek agree on: TerraPowers planned Natrium plant could be key to cleaner energy not just for Kemmerer and Wyoming, but the world.

Im not really on that bandwagon that everything is going to be green, said Thek, who describes himself as a conservative. But Im absolutely for saving our environment. If we get in on the ground floor of being part of saving and making our environment better, Im all for that.

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Gruver reported from Cheyenne.

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To read APs coverage of global climate change issues: https://apnews.com/hub/climate
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A total of 17 people died in the January 9 blaze, which started from a malfunctioning space heater in a second-floor apartment of the 19-story Twin Parks North West.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Cardi B is offering a helping hand for families of those who died in an apartment fire in the Bronx. On Wednesday, January 19, the "WAP" hitmaker announced that she will pay funeral costs for all 17 victims.

"I'm extremely proud to be from the Bronx and I have lots of family and friends who live and work there still," the hip-hop star said in a statement. "So, when I heard about the fire and all of the victims, I knew I needed to do something to help."

"I cannot begin to imagine the pain and anguish that the families of the victims are experiencing, but I hope that not having to worry about the costs associated with burying their loved ones will help as they move forward and heal," the wife of Offset added. "I send my prayers and condolences to everyone affected by this horrific tragedy."

Cardi's representative noted that she joined forces with The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City to make sure that the victims' families would be included in her donation. She also hopes "that the final wishes for their loved ones were met."

Upon learning of Cardi's generous offer, Mayor Eric Adams issued a statement to express his gratitude. "We are grateful for Cardi B, a real superstar on and off the mic, for granting some critical financial relief to families of the victims," so read the message.

"The city will be forever thankful to her and also to the grassroots donors and corporate partners who have been able to offer immediate support for our neighbors in need, to reestablish themselves during this difficult time," it added.

The January 9 blaze, which became the city's deadliest fire in more than 30 years, started from a malfunctioning space heater in a second-floor apartment of the 19-story Twin Parks North West. According to the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, all the victims died of smoke inhalation.
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The actor portraying Anton Morgart on Marvel's upcoming miniseries has passed away after he accidentally collided with another skier in the ski area of the La Rosiere resort in Montvalezan, French.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Gaspard Ulliel has passed away. The actor portraying Anton Mogart on Marvel's upcoming "Moon Knight" tragically died following a fatal ski accident in southeastern France. He was 37 years old.

The actor's death was confirmed to the Associated Press by his agent's office. He was in the Savoie region's Rosiere ski area when the accident occurred, according to the Savoie prosecutor's office.

As explained by Albertville prosecutor Anne Gaches, whose office conducted the investigation into the incident, the accident took place on Tuesday, January 18, at 4:00 P.M. in the ski area of the La Rosiere resort in Montvalezan. Anne further shared that Gaspard collided with another skier on top of the blue slope Tetras after turning left, presumably to join his friends on another track.

Anne added that "a judicial investigation was immediately entrusted to the CRS Alpes, Albertville detachment, by the Albertville prosecutor's office." Based on the initial testimonies and findings, she stated that it seemed both skiers "fell to the ground." When help arrived, she continued, Gaspard was found "motionless" and "unconscious" while the other skier was found "unharmed."

A media spokesperson for La Rosiere ski resort said, "Ski patrol rescue and an in-house resort doctor were called for help and immediately arrived onto the scene following the accident." The doctor then called a helicopter, the spokesperson added, to transport Gaspard to the University Hospital of Grenoble.

Anne further shared that Gaspard was pronounced dead by the doctor of the resuscitation service at the hospital shortly after 4:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 19. The French actor is survived by his girlfriend, model Gaelle Pietri, as well as their 6-year-old son, Orso.

Gaspard's tragic death arrived one day after the debut of the trailer for "Moon Knight", the new miniseries featuring the actor alongside Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke set to premiere in March. Even though Gaspard has appeared in American productions before, "Moon Knight" would have probably exposed him to one of his largest audiences yet.

Upon learning of his passing, a spokesperson from Marvel said in a statement, "We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of our friend and colleague Gaspard Ulliel." The rep added, "Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this time."

In the meantime, Thierry Fremaux, the director of the Cannes Film Festival, mourned, "Gaspard belonged to this new generation of actors who were making tomorrow's French cinema." He went on saying, "He knew how to select his roles and shaped his career which filled every promise."

"Each appearance on the red carpet, from 'La Princesse de Montpensier' to 'It's Only the End of the World' illustrated his presence, both discreet and full of kindness," Thierry praised the late actor. He further gushed, "He was equally brilliant and talented. He gave a lot and we'll always remember him."

Also mourning the death of the Cesar-winning actor was French Prime Minister Jean Castex. "Gaspard Ulliel grew up with cinema and cinema grew with him. They loved each other madly," tweeted the politician. "It is with a heavy heart that we will no longer see his most beautiful interpretations. We have lost a French actor."
A Watertown woman flew to Florida with her boyfriend for a weekend in November, leaving her two young children home alone, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released Thursday.

Kerry Lyn Caviasca, 36, was arrested Saturday on two counts each of risk of injury to a minor and second-degree reckless endangerment. Caviasca was released without having to post bail and is due in Waterbury Superior Court on Jan. 25.

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Caviasca is a public teacher in Waterbury. She has been placed on leave while the district investigates, according to a statement from the school district.

Caviascas former husband became suspicious and approached police after he was unable to reach the children, ages 9 and 11, by phone from Nov. 20-22. He also found that both children missed school on Monday, Nov. 22, with unexcused absences, the warrant says. He told police that the children denied being left home alone, but he felt they were protecting their mother, police said.

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The ex-husband had access to one childs cellphone and found messages from Kerry Caviasca telling the boy and girl to stay in the basement.

Hi mom, one child wrote on that Sunday night, according to the warrant. What are we going to have for dinner? The warrant says Kerry Caviasca answered, Just eat candy. Im sorry... whatever is downstairs... theres so much downstairs... Ill make it up to you. One child told police later they had snacks and food was ordered for them several times through Uber Eats, the warrant says.

The former husband told police he sent his father over to the house to check on the children, but no one answered the door, the warrant says.

On Dec. 17, the ex-husband told police he had an emergency temporary custody order from Family Court for one of the children. He asked that police accompany him to his ex-wifes home. Police said Kerry Caviasca greeted them, admitted that she had gone to Florida for the November weekend, but that her brother had watched the children, the warrant says.

Her brother said he did not remember the weekend and did not wish be be involved in the investigation, police said. Later, however, police interviewed both children and both said they were left alone, according to the warrant. Police also checked the brothers work schedule at the U.S. Post Office and found he had worked that weekend, the warrant says.

Kerry Caviascas attorney, Joseph DeCicco, would not comment on the case other than to ask for privacy for his client.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com
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After 'The Wendy Williams Show' makes a new social media post, many fans of the daytime diva jump to the comment section, saying that they're 'enough of these co-hosts already.'

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Wendy Williams' fans are demanding the daytime diva to return to "The Wendy Williams Show". After the show made a new social media post, many fans of the TV hostess urged her to make a comeback to her iconic purple chair in the comment section.

On Wednesday, January 19, the daytime talk show made a fun post about mercury retrograde's energy that featured Finesse Mitchell and Kym Whitley posing. In the caption, it's simply written, "OVER IT."

Wendy's fans were quick to flood the comment section with their criticism as there's no update from the show's team regarding the 57-year-old ailing host. "We're over it too!!. Bring Wendy back or call it a day. Give the show over to someone else and we can decide to watch or dump it. OVER IT," one fan wrote, while another added, "Why won't anyone tell us when Wendy Williams is returning? Enough of these co-hosts already!!"

"Skipping this week, I've tried to watch but not feeling it at all," a separate fan claimed. A loyal fan added, "Wendy, your loyal viewers deserve an update. Just say something, good grief!"

Someone else insisted that "no Wendy, no show," while a fourth asked, "Where Wendy Williams? want her back." A fifth went on to accuse Wendy of "letting her fans down" as she's "staying silent" about her battle with physical and mental health issues.

As for "The Wendy Williams Show", the beloved talk show will reportedly be bringing Michael Rapaport back as a guest host. While the show has yet to make the official announcement, a source spilled to The Sun on Wednesday that the 51-year-old actor will guest-host on January 31 into the first week of February.

Michael actually had guest-hosted earlier this month, but his time was cut short after he tested positive for COVID-19. "I have to pull out of doing 'The Wendy Williams Show' the rest of the week because unfortunately, I got [the] damn coronavirus, which I'm disappointed about," the "Atypical" star said on January 11. "I'm really, really disappointed for many, many, many reasons. Obviously, I'm fine and I'll be all right."

Meanwhile, Wendy recently sparked rumors she'll "never return" to her show as she reportedly had cut off communication with her show's production team. On January 13, an insider spilled to The Sun, "She hasn't been talking to anybody, not producers, not senior producers, no one. She has disappeared and the only line of contact production has is through her manager."

In the meantime, other sources told the outlet that staffers fear Wendy will never return to the show as her ongoing health woes continue to keep her from returning to her daytime talk show. The insider shared, "I don't think she's ever going to come back to the studio."

Prior to the reports, Wendy appeared healthy in a clip posted by her son Kevin Hunter Jr. via Instagram. In the boomerang video, Kevin also added a location tag, Miami Downtown Brickell.

Previously, Wendy's brother Tommy Williams also insisted that he's fully confident "she's not finished." He shared, "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."
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Many social media users blast the 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' star and the NAACP after the actress is nominated for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for her role in 'Raya and the Last Dragon'.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Awkwafina may need to hold herself back from celebrating her NAACP Image Award nomination. The Golden Globe-winning actress has faced backlash after she received a nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for her role in "Raya and the Last Dragon".

While the NAACP does not exclusively nominate black entertainers, people took issue with the fact that the comedian/rapper has previously come under fire for allegedly appropriating African-American culture. She has been accused of using blaccent for years.

So, instead of congratulating the 33-year-old star, many took to social media to express their outrage. "Awkwafina & J Balvin accepting nominations and awards meant for the Black community is exactly the lack of POC solidarity we be talking about," one Twitter user pointed out.

A baffled user wrote, "Awkwafina getting recognition from the NAACP for Raya even though she's done a horrible blaccent in 80% of her work and won't even acknowledge she's wrong for it Idk that's a big word for Elmo."

"Awkwafina got an NAACP award. I know Shaun King mad af," a third commented. Another was equally confused as writing, "Out of all the awards, I would think the NAACP Image Awards would be the last one to nominate someone like Awkwafina, who thinks it is ok to make a minstrel out of Black people for a living. Yikes."

"lmao this is f**king pathetic," someone called out the nomination. Another reacted, "This is the same institution that snubbed POSE-a show full of queer/trans Black people-in 2019. It is also the same institution that nominated Meghan McCain for an award that same cycle. And now they're shoving Ms. Vag back in my face."

Awkwafina reacted to her NAACP Image Award nomination.

Awkwafina herself posted on her Instagram Story after receiving the nomination, "Extremely honored to be nominated at the @naacp image awards, alongside so many people I love, appreciate and respect. Thank you @naacp for all that you do and have done." She has not reacted to the criticism.
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Prior to this, executive producer Andy Cohen addressed the Bravo personality's absence from the filming for season 2 reunion which he described as 'very disappointing.'

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Mary Cosby has broken her silence on skipping "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" reunion. She took to her social media account on Tuesday, January 18 to join a conversation on Twitter Space.

"The only thing I have to say about the reunion is I didn't go because it was one-sided," Mary told several fans during the audio-only chat hosted by user @Tea_witdre. "Everyone heard one side of what they felt...I mean, they told lies, one side of my story."

The reality TV star went on to say, "And I was not going to get on the reunion for a four-part reunion and talk about this guy who has passed," seemingly referring to Cameron Williams, Lisa Barlow's late friend. He attended her Fresh Wolf event on the show and played a big role in the ladies' suspicions regarding Mary and her church.

Lisa previously revealed that Cameron was the one who gave the Cosbys around $300,000, which required him to mortgage his house. He, however, later left Mary's church because he was suffering from "extreme religious trauma."

Mary's religion and her familial ties to the church that she inherited from her grandmother Rosemary has long been the talk of the town. She was accused of creating a cult because she earned said inheritance by marrying Rosemary's husband a.k.a. her step-grandfather, Robert Cosby Sr.

Mary vehemently denied the cult speculations. "I'm not God," she told Lisa in an episode. "I worship the God in me."

Meanwhile, in the Twitter Space, Mary said, "I mean, how many titles did they put on me? I was a lot of things this season. I was everything. I mean, call me Batman."

Prior to this, Andy Cohen addressed her absence which he described as "very disappointing." Andy explained during Sirius XM's "Radio Andy" on January 11, "I spoke to her on New Year's Eve, a few hours before I went on the air [for CNN], we had a long talk. It's her story to tell, but I got the sense that she was not finding gratitude in being on the show anymore."

Andy continued, "This is what I dislike about people not showing up to the reunion: You allow the others to control your narrative as your last gesture. I would much rather hear from her, and the truth of the matter is...she was a big part of the success of this show."
Facebook/Instagram Celebrity

When showing support to the 'Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta' star, the 'Pull Up' femcee reveals that she also has six tattoos dedicated to her late ex-boyfriend, King Von.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Asian Doll (Asian Da Brat) has Omeretta's back amid backlash over the latter's posts. After the "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star got attacked by online users for getting six tattoos of her boyfriend Ta'Byron Smith's name, the "Pull Up" femcee was quick to come to her defense.

On Wednesday, January 19, Omeretta turned to Instagram Story to give fans a look at her new inks. Some of her tats were placed behind her ear, back and even wrist. In one of the snaps, she wrote, "Addicted."

Unfortunately, the raptress found herself landing in hot water after showing off her tattoos. She then addressed the criticism via Twitter by writing, "I can't believe folks this mad about some tattoos [crying laughing emojis] this crazy to me especially cuz I always post my s**t."

One user later replied, "It's because she has that ghetto b***h mentality." In response to the tweet, Omeretta argued, "Okay ima ghetto a** b***h so what y'all hoes build fake aesthetics off the 'ghetto b***h' persona everyday but make fun of the real thing y'all h*es slow."

Catching wind of the back-and-forth, Asian showed support to Omeretta. She penned, "You good gang [blue heart emoji] I got mines tatted 6 times too @omeretta4l, some people just express they love for others different that's all."

Earlier this month, the Dallas-born recording artist debuted her sixth King Von-inspired tattoo on social media. "I just tatted yo name on my face," she declared at the time.

The self-proclaimed Queen Von herself announced her plan of getting a face tattoo of Von back in March 2021. As for the other tats, they are reportedly placed "under [her] titty, Across [her] arm, On [her] hand & the side of [her] arm."

Asian has flooded her social media accounts with tributes to King Von since he died in a November 2020 shooting incident. In February, the "Poppin' " raptress claimed to be the late rapper's soulmate in one of her tweets.
Instagram Celebrity

Internet users find the posts galling as the Vietnamese-American star accuses her 'RHOSLC' co-star Mary Cosby of being racist with her 'slanted eyes' comments.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jeannie Nguyen is taking herself accountable over past mistakes. The 44-year-old Bravo personality made use of her Instagram account to personally apologize for her offensive Facebook posts back in 2020 that she posted following protests and riots over George Floyd's death.

"I want to acknowledge and apologize for my deleted Facebook posts from 2020 that resurfaced today," Jennie began her statement in the Wednesday, January 19. "At the time, I thought I was speaking out against violence, but I have since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were."

She went on to note that it was the reason "why I deactivated that account more than a year ago and why I continue to try to learn about perspectives different from my own." However, Page Six claimed that the account was still active earlier on Wednesday.

The mom of three added, "I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused."

Jennie faced backlash after her offensive 2020 Facebook posts resurfaced online. Throughout the year, the Vietnamese-American reality TV star posted and reposted images at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, using phrases like "BLM Thugs" and "Violent Gangs." Her posts allegedly also included words of "blacks" as well as a post of theory, which has been debunked, that George Floyd assaulted a student in Spain.

She also shared a cartoon which seemingly made light of the rash of protesters who were rammed by cars during the protests, a figure the Boston Globe found at least 139 instances of between May 2020 and September 30, 2021 - three of which were fatal.

Internet users found the posts galling as Jennie accused her "RHOSLC" co-star Mary Cosby of being racist after the latter told her that she has "nice slanted eyes."

"It is insulting to our Asian culture to call me that, and it comes across as racist," Jennie said in a confessional in the January 2 episode. "And it's shocking cause Mary should be more educated and understand it's not appropriate to say stuff like that."

Later in the episode, she called Mary out while the housewives were attending a party together."You're an adult, take some responsibility. Right now, there is a lot of Asian hate. Take responsibility for your words," she attacked the church leader.
WENN/Avalon/Instar Celebrity

The 'Avengers: Infinity War' actress first talked about Lowe's makeup artist wife Sheryl Berkoff's precious lesson when appearing on the actor's 'Literally! with Robe Lowe' podcast back in July 2020.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Rob Lowe's wife Sheryl Berkoff has an incredibly strong bond with Gwyneth Paltrow even since the latter was young. Berkoff was even the one who taught Paltrow "how to give a blow job," and Lowe further addressed the revelation in an episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!".

"Here's the thing: The good news is my wife doesn't watch anything I do so she won't be watching this, so I can say it," the "9-1-1: Lone Star" actor told Jimmy Kimmel in the Tuesday, January 18 episode of the late-night talk show. He then shared how the "Avengers: Endgame" actress met his wife.

"When Gwyneth was a little, precocious 18 year old, my wife was still a makeup artist on a movie that Gwyneth's mother Blythe Danner was working on," he explained. "Gwyneth came to visit and Sheryl would give her cigarettes and they'd go out and smoke behind the trailers. She was like a big sister to Gwyneth, still is."

"And, apparently, Gwyneth told me on the podcast, I had no idea but I must thank her, that my wife taught Gwyneth how to-- how should we say this on network television? It's your show," Lowe asked, to which Kimmel responded, "I think 'perform oral sex' would be the way to go. Which is a very nice thing for her to do."

Referring to Paltrow's ex-husband and current one, Lowe later joked, "Or, as I like to say, Chris Martin and Brad Falchuk, you're welcome!" The Goop founder announced her split from the Coldplay frontman, with whom she shares two children together, in March 2014. The "Glee" alum later tied the knot with Falchuk in 2018.

Paltrow talked about Berkoff's precious lesson when appearing on Lowe's "Literally! with Robe Lowe" podcast back in July 2020. At the time, she said, "I met Sheryl when I was 15 or 16. She was doing my mom's makeup on this TV movie, and I went down to visit. It was in Florida. I met Sheryl, and I was like immediately obsessed with her."

"First of all, she was dating Keanu Reeves, who was my celebrity crush. And she was so cool," Paltrow went on to divulge. "And she knew that I was sneaking cigarettes, and she would come smoke with me behind the trailer, and she taught me how to give a blow job, and you know, all the classic Sheryl stuff."

"I just worshipped her. I thought she was literally the coolest chick of all time," she gushed. "She was so awesome to me. And I was a high school kid. Like, the fact that she's loved me that much before I was anyone or anything, you know?"
Instagram Celebrity

Excited by the new gift, the former star of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' takes to social media to show off her new expensive car that has an orange interior.

Jan 20, 2022

AceShowbiz - Porsha Williams couldn't be happier to have a fiance who loves to spoil her. Revealing that Simon Guobadia bought her a $300,000 Rolls-Royce Ghost, "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" alum thanked her "hubby" publicly on social media.



The reality star showed off the luxury gift on Instagram on Wednesday, January 19. She uploaded some photos of her posing next to the car, which has an orange interior and is decorated with a large red bow on the hood.

In the accompaniment of the post, the 40-year-old TV personality boasted, "The only way you win is if I quit!" She added hashtages, "#ThankYouHubby #PhotoDump #LivingLife #ThePursuitOfPorsha #RRGhost."

Simon has been all out when it comes to proving his love to Porsha. Earlier this month, the film producer got his fiancee's name tattooed underneath his neck. Giving fans a look at Simon's new ink was Porsha herself, who shared photos of the tat and a video of the tattooing process on Instagram.

In the caption, Porsha seemingly quoted Simon as saying, "My love for you knows no limits. It is timeless, spaceless, formless, unshakable and un breakable. In good times and bad, happy and sad, through the highs and lowest of lows know that I am there with you." The message added, "I will be your strength as you have been mine, desire your best and highest good to manifest itself in your life."

"You are an unbelievable comfort, grace, wonder, inspiration, soul deep connection for which I will forever be grateful," it continued. "Do not think for one second you are alone, for two hearts and souls joined together in friendship, for this life and in many past lives, forges an unbreakable bond that only grows stronger in time. I love you."

Porsha then shared a sweet message to Simon. "Awe I'm so excited your very first tattoo is my name," she gushed. "My ride or die through thick or thin, this love will stand strong until the end. @iamsimonguobadia #MrsGuobadiaLoading #Unbreakable #ThisLove #Fiance #Family1st #LoveBirds #CostaRica #PlaceOfPeace."
EaseMyTrip, Indias second-largest online travel platform, has launched a new television campaign featuring Varun Sharma and Vijay Raaz. The quirky ad campaign highlights EaseMyTrips free of charge, full-refund medical policy through which customers can claim a complete refund on domestic air ticket cancellations caused due to medical emergencies*. The TVC also highlights how EaseMyTrip is providing exceptional services and customer care support during such unprecedented times. The campaign is now playing across all television and digital platforms. The campaign will also be amplified through outdoor and print media presence.

Varun Sharma and Vijay Raaz have created a niche in the market basis their unique performances, which syncs with the EaseMyTrip brands image of establishing itself and gaining market share purely basis performance to date. Through this campaign, EaseMyTrip aims to target digital-savvy customers who make online bookings. The brand has chosen Varun Sharma and Vijay Raaz as they have a strong mass appeal and connect well with both the young and old audience base. This is the first time that Varun Sharma and Vijay Raaz are coming together as a duo for a brand campaign.

Speaking on the TVC launch, Prashant Pitti, CEO & Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip said, Looking at the current uncertainties in the travel space, we believe that it is the right time to launch a TVC that highlights our unique full-refund policy for medical emergencies, and our exceptional customer support during such trying times. We are excited to associate with Varun Sharma and Vijay Raaz who enjoy a unique mass appeal for their impeccable comic timing and incredible versatility. They have a unique connect that cuts across all audiences and geographies, and their personalities resonate and fit perfectly into the brand's narrative of providing an exceptional and hassle-free booking experience.

EaseMyTrip has always believed in leveraging relevant and meaningful avenues for brand connect and this association is in-line with the same brand philosophy. The company has aggressive plans to grow its business with a slew of customer-centric initiatives including the zero-convenience fee, full refund on medical grounds, train waitlisted feature which offers discounted airfares to users with unconfirmed train tickets and many more.
Lendingkart Group, Indias leading fintech platform, announced today that it has entered into a first of its kind co-lending partnership with Canara Bank, the third largest nationalized bank in India. This partnership will bring forth low-cost business loans to MSMEs across India with fast turnaround time for loan approvals powered by Lendingkart 2gthr platform using zero touch technology. Under this arrangement, Canara Bank aims to broaden its reach to support MSME borrowers to enhance financial inclusion under Reserve Bankss Priority Sector initiative.

Lendingkart aims to deploy its cash-flow based underwriting model using zero-touch loan journey, to deliver same day approvals for business loans to MSME borrowers across the nation. Canara Bank will leverage Lendingkart platforms xlr8 to originate and distribute MSME loans and cred8 to underwrite these loans.

Commenting on the partnership, Co-founder & CEO at Lendingkart, Mr. Harshvardhan Lunia said, we are pleased to announce this co-lending partnership with the countrys top-tier bank to provide pan India loans to MSME borrowers. Lendingkart will use its might for onboarding pan India MSME borrowers and shall be the face to the customer through the loan life cycle. This partnership will connect the underserved MSME borrowers with the top-notch bank to contribute growth of Indian economy

Ms. A. Manimekhalai, Executive Director at Canara Bank stated, "We are always on the lookout for ways to improve the flow of credit to the unserved/underserved sector of the economy at an affordable cost. As a step forward, we are pleased to enter into a Co-Lending agreement with M/s Lendingkart Finance Limited to cater to the credit needs of MSMEs falling under the MUDRA category. Further, the loans will be originated and sanctioned end to end leveraged through the digital platform which will offer hassle free access to the MSMEs under the gloomy COVID19 scenario

Lendingkart has been at the forefront in leveraging various digital tools such as video KYC, participating with India stack, e-NACH, e-sign, and others. This has tremendously enhanced Lendingkarts capability to deliver their offering to the remotest locations in the country. Lendingkart extends its services pan India with no branch presence. It is supported by a world-class technology infrastructure that allows zero physical touchpoints, customer-centric and transparent loan process for borrowers as well as lending partners. Lendingkarts underwriting model is not limited to a traditional financial basis, and instead adopts a holistic approach of evaluating alternate customer data e.g. bank data and GST data to estimate the customer creditworthiness. The underwriting is based on its proprietary machine-learning model working on close to 5,000+ variables for each loan, which has resulted in strong portfolio performance.
Starting the new year with new possibilities, LinkedIn, the worlds largest online professional network, today launched a new job-seeker research which reveals that despite the pandemic, Indias workforce is optimistic about the future of work, and 82% are considering changing their jobs in 2022. To help them navigate todays evolving world of work, LinkedIn has launched the Jobs Bootcamp program of content, live events, and Learning courses on LinkedIn to help job seekers with job-seeking tips and career advice from experts.

The job-seeker research further reveals that the Great Reshuffle in India is being led by freshers with up to 1 year of work experience (94%) and Gen Z professionals (87%), who are more likely to consider changing jobs in 2022. Based on the responses of 1,111 professionals in India, the survey shows that professionals are leaving their current jobs due to poor work-life balance (30%), not enough money (28%), or greater career ambitions (23%). When looking for new roles in the new year, professionals in India say flexible working arrangements will be top priority.

Professionals are optimistic about the future of work, but 7 in 10 still doubt their own mettle

LinkedIns research reveals that professionals in India are confident about their job roles (45%), careers (45%), and overall job availability (38%) getting better in 2022. In fact, 86% of professionals in India say they are confident about the strength of their professional networks as they enter into the new year looking for new job opportunities.

But despite this confident outlook towards the future work, the survey also uncovers Indias emotional ambivalence as 71% of professionals say they question their abilities at work more now than before the pandemic, while 63% say they suffer from imposter syndrome. This self-doubt seems to be a byproduct of working in isolation for nearly two years as 33% of professionals say the pandemic has negatively impacted their confidence at work. Findings show that lack of face-to-face support from supervisors and peers (40%), having to take on new responsibilities (34%), and having to use more technology (31%) are the top 3 work stressors for professionals in India.

Better pay, appreciation, and work-life balance can convince professionals to stay

The top reasons that can convince professionals in India to stay with their current employer in 2022 include better salary (42%), more appreciation (36%), and improved work-life balance (34%). But findings also indicate a glaring disparity in the perception of men and women towards how they are being compensated by their current employers today.

According to the survey, working women (37%) are 1.3x more likely to quit their current job due to poor work-life balance, when compared to working men (28%). They are also more likely (49%) to say they will remain with their current employer if they get better pay, when compared to working men (39%). This may be a wake up call for employers to revisit their compensation benefits and ensure more inclusivity through their offerings.

IT, healthcare, and business development roles dominate this years Jobs on the Rise 2022 India list

To help job-seekers identify the fastest growing opportunities in India, LinkedIn has launched the second edition of the annual Jobs on the Rise 2022 India list. To put together this years rankings, LinkedIn looked at their platform data to identify job titles experiencing the highest growth rates from January 2017 through July 2021.

With businesses looking to further evolve their digital footprint in 2022, the list spotlights a growing demand for highly skilled IT workers (Site Reliability Engineer, Data Science Specialist, Machine Learning Engineer) and business development talent (Affiliate Marketing Specialist, Business Development Representative, Strategy Associate). The list also reveals that the healthcare sector is looking to fill vacancies for Wellness Specialists and Molecular Biologists who can mitigate the COVID-19 crisis and help businesses and communities to shelter from the pandemic.

The pandemic has spurred people to rethink their careers and look for new job opportunities to meet their renewed purpose and priorities in life. As confidence in new opportunities grows, it is evident that the Great Reshuffle in India is clearly being led by job seekers, and talent is in the drivers seat right now  with flexibility as their no. 1 priority today. Our Jobs on the Rise list shows that the demand for tech savvy talent is growing hotter across the IT, healthcare, and business development sectors. In this evolving labour market, there is no better time for us to launch a Jobs Bootcamp  a series of LinkedIn Live events with career experts who will share career advice and job-seeking tips, the fastest-growing jobs list, the Top Voices: Career Experts List, and unlock a range of Learning courses that can help job-seekers build key skills to find their next opportunity in 2022, shares Ankit Vengurlekar, India Managing Editor, LinkedIn News.

Here are the top 15 fastest growing jobs in India as per LinkedIns Jobs on the Rise 2022 India list:

Affiliate Marketing Specialist Site Reliability Engineer Molecular Biologist Wellness Specialist User Experience Researcher Machine Learning Engineer Recruitment Associate Data Science Specialist Chief Legal Officer Ebusiness Manager Back End Developer Media Buyer Strategy Associate Business Development Representative Service Analyst

While the fastest-growing list shows a number of new career opportunities in India, it also highlights a worrying gender imbalance for hires made in 2021. Out of the 15 fastest growing jobs listed, men constituted at least 70% of hires for IT roles such as Site Reliability Engineer (79%) and Machine Learning Engineer (78%); and Marketing & Advertising roles such as Affiliate Marketing Specialist (68%) and Media Buyer (67%). The 4 roles that saw more women being hired include Wellness Specialist (54%), User Experience Researcher (60%), Recruitment Associate (68%), and Strategy Associate (60%). Overall, more men were hired for IT and Marketing & Advertising roles as compared to women.

To help job seekers navigate the new world of work, LinkedIn is launching a Jobs Bootcamp  a series of LinkedIn Lives, featuring industry and career experts who will share practical career advice and job seeking tips. The Linkedin Lives will be available on the platform from January 17 to 25, 2022 at 11.30 am IST. Below is the schedule:

LinkedIn is also unlocking a range of LinkedIn Learning courses to help job seekers build key skills to find their next career opportunity. Some of these courses include Creating Great First Impressions, Video Interview Tips, Finding a Remote Job and Finding a Job at Companies That Embrace Diversity and Inclusion, and many more. These courses are available for free through 1 Feb 2022.

All week, LinkedIn will be talking about career progression, career pivots, and job-seeking tips across its social channels, and members can follow the #GetHired hashtag on LinkedIn to join the conversation.

To see the full LinkedIn Lives schedule and to read more content, data & insights, career tips, follow the conversation on the Jobs Bootcamp program on the LinkedIn News India page here.
The Glastonbury location of Gyro Love has a second restaurant inside the building called Pizza Pie, which serves pizzas, flatbreads, wings and salads. (Susan Dunne / The Hartford Courant )

Gyro Love, a fast-casual chain of Greek-inspired restaurants in Connecticut, has opened its fifth location, this one at 2941 Main St. in Glastonbury.

The restaurants serve American-Mediterranean fusion food. The Glastonbury, Southington and Cromwell locations have a second restaurant inside the building called Pizza Pie, which serves pizzas, flatbreads, wings and salads. The other locations are in Bristol and Newington.

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William Mutraji of Farmington founded both chains in 2019 with the opening of the Cromwell location.

William Mutraji of Farmington opened his fifth location of Gyro Love in early January. He hopes to expand with six to 10 more stores in Connecticut by the end of 2022. (Susan Dunne / Hartford Courant)

Theyre two separate businesses, two brands. I thought it was a good idea, something for everyone, like a mall. If the kids want pizza and the parents want Greek food or a healthy salad, it will make them all happy, he said. Its not Greek pizza, its Italian. The kitchens are separate.

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Mutraji said the Gyro Love recipes are traditional Mediterranean  gathered from his travels to Greece, Lebanon and Turkey  but with adaptations to make them more attractive to American palates.

Gyro Love serves gyro sandwiches with shrimp, falafel or the house gyro meat (beef and lamb); hummus; stuffed grape leaves; and salads.

The shop also sells gyro bowls. Each offers a base of skin-on French fries, rice or salad; a protein of chicken, shrimp, falafel or the house gyro meat; and a side of hummus, eggplant hummus or tzatziki. Baklava is sold for dessert.

One standout on the menu is the Greek fries, a huge portion of skin-on French fries with feta, oregano and olive oil and drizzled with lemon, so cheesy it must be eaten with a fork.

It sounds weird, lemon on fries, but it tastes good, he said.

Among the dishes at Gyro Love are stuffed grape leaves, gyro sandwiches, Greek fries, falafel and baklava. (Susan Dunne / The Hartford Courant )

The other four locations also sell chicken, gyro meat or lamb chop platters; crostini; gyro meat pizza; baked feta with sliced bread; tapas platters; veggie platters; the grill mix with a variety of proteins; and a two-people combo with a combination of meats and appetizers.

Mutraji said after the Glastonbury staff gets up to speed with the rhythm of the restaurant and the computer systems, he will add those dishes to the menu there.

Food & Drink Weekly Keep up with news from the Connecticut food scene, delicious recipes, and restaurant and bar reviews >

The new store, which had its soft opening Jan. 7 and will host a grand opening in the spring, has tables and chairs but is primarily geared toward takeout. Ordering can be done online, in kiosks in the store and at the stores counter. Everything is served in takeout containers even for those who want to eat in.

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Mutraji said that if all goes well and the supply-chain slowdowns  which delayed the opening of the Glastonbury location by about three months  ease up, he hopes to open six to 10 more Gyro Loves around the state by the end of the year.

So far it is going really well, Mutraji said. The customers are really coming out.

All of the stores are open Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday noon to 8 p.m.

The other stores addresses are 751 Terryville Ave. in Bristol; 136 Berlin Road in Cromwell; 832 Queen St. in Southington; and 337 Willard Ave. in Newington.

More information at gyro.love and woodfiredpizzapie.com.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
The countrys education sector, over the past two years, was affected in countless ways due to the pandemic. The sudden stress of adapting to our new normal threw the entire education system into a state of unrest. The educational institutions have been coming up with various ways to cope with the time and resources wasted in this pandemic period. Providing a helping hand to the educational sector in North-east India, News18 Assam-NE has come up with a month-long initiative  Competitive Success Conversations (NabaProjonmorXapunPuronorDixe)  starting from January 2022 onwards.

The show will mostly delve into the education sector by trying to find out possible ways to help the students from Assam in getting admissions to excellent institutions of higher education in the country. The month-long reforms will garner participation from students, teachers, entrepreneurs, educationists, and government officials. This synergy between the young and the elderly as the perfect blend of experience and knowledge is expected to act as a huge pool of human resources.

The sessions will include conversations on different issues affecting the education sector in Assam and neighbouring states, difficulties that students might face in education on national level and the expectations of the elderly from the aspiring millennial population.

If you or someone you know are aspiring to apply for higher education on national and international level soon, do not forget to tune in to News18 Assam-North East every Sunday at 7.50 PM to watch Competitive Success Conversations (NabaProjonmorXapunPuronorDixe).
Pixis (formerly known as Pyxis One), a leading provider of contextual codeless AI infrastructure for complete marketing optimization, today announced it has secured US $100M in Series C funding. Pixis will leverage the fresh funds to help the company rapidly scale its AI platforms and plugins, as well as accelerate expansions across North America, Europe, and India.

The Series C round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from new investor General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. Existing investors Celesta Capital, Premji Invest, and Chiratae Ventures also participated in the round. This round has enabled Pixis early investor Exfinity Venture Partners to make a partial exit, with record returns. The venture funds have brought out the stake held by Exfinity. With the close of its US $17M Series B round just four months prior, Pixis has raised a total of US $124M to date since its inception in 2018.

Founded by Shubham A. Mishra (Global CEO), Vrushali Prasade (CTO), and Harikrishna Valiyath (CBO), the Pixis AI infrastructure leverages self-evolving neural networks to empower over 100 customers worldwide with AI-powered decision-making. Having witnessed a 600% growth since its inception, today, Pixis is uniquely poised to disrupt marketing to make it more agile and data-backed, especially in a world that is speedily heading towards a cookieless web. The SoftBank Vision Fund 2 investment in Pixis confirms that in a cookieless world, Artificial Intelligence could be the big differentiating factor for brands.

Priya Saiprasad, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers said, Marketing is one of the largest spending categories for companies but many of its decisions are still driven by intuition rather than data. Pixis has developed an end-to-end codeless AI infrastructure, that equips teams with cutting-edge data science to automate and improve core processes, from budget allocation to real-time campaign optimization and reporting. We are excited to partner with Shubham and the team to support their mission to make marketing data-backed, intelligent, agile, and effortlessly scalable in the new cookie-less world.

Shubham Mishra continued, The web going cookieless, in conjunction with decreasing access to the depth of data that was previously available, is a worrisome situation for marketers. In this environment, it is self-evolving neural networks that are proving to be invaluable assets in countering the disruptions to the marketing landscape. Were excited to partner with SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and General Atlantic to make codeless AI infrastructure accessible to every market in the world.

Customers using the Pixis AI infrastructure have witnessed a 20% decrease in acquisition costs on average, in addition to at least 300 hours of manual work saved per month. The alluring factor for customers, however, is definitely the prospect of activating AI in 8 seconds without having to write a single line of code.

Pixis is on a rapid growth trajectory and the fresh funds will help us far exceed our timelines for that, said Neel Pandya, the companys APAC CEO. Especially with the introduction of our unique AI plugin, weve recorded enormous growth and retention with our current customer base. Our immediate focus will be to hire talent in India as were looking to more than double our team size here.

Looking ahead, Pixis aims to add over 200 customizable self-evolving AI models to the infrastructure it offers and has already introduced close to four dozen AI models since its last funding. And now, with the US$100 million Series C funding, Pixis is all set to fast-track tech and AI development.
Qarmatek, a pioneering refurbished and renewed electronics category, announced that it has raised $3 Million in a funding round led by GVFL (Gujarat Venture Finance Limited) and Caspian Debt. In the preliminary stage, the funds will be utilized towards - expanding and digitizing operational capabilities, to scale across key domestic markets and to foray into B2C operations with MOBEX, a brand by Qarmatek that is emphatically customer centric. MOBEX has already been instituted in Tier 1 and 2 cities of Gujarat fetching impressive results in terms of sales and concept adoption. The brand is now set to replicate the mantra in the B2C markets in neighboring states as well as cities with major urban and cultural influence, with this fresh round of funding. The investment will also enable Qarmatek to align with its grander vision of creating a tech-enabled circular economy for e-waste in India while also enhancing the customer experience from the sales to purchase touch points. Qarmatek intends to use a portion of the funds towards creating an all-purpose technologically forward infrastructure that will ensure a seamless experience of an embellished B2C journey for the end user, while offering best prices and exceptionally high-quality products.

MOBEX has an expansive network currently of around 4000 smartphone retailers in Gujarat to alleviate their day-to-day operations of sales via E-commerce platforms & offline channels. This network is planned to be scaled up into major cities and reaching to more than 1 lac partners within next couple of years. Considering the absence of a categorized player with similar capabilities and Qarmateks fortitude in repairs and refurbishment, MOBEX has already anchored the trade-in mechanism and is in concluding talks with leading OEMs for direct procurement of OBUs rendering superior quality devices. The expansion will set stone from Gujarat leading to Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telanganaand other pivotal markets where MOBEX sees, based on extensive research and analysis, a huge potential for sellers and buyers of refurbished and renewed electronics.

Speaking on the occasion, Krunal Shah, Co-Founder and Director, Qarmatek said, We are thrilled with the support we have received from GVFL & Caspian Debt as we unfold the next phase of our journey. With this round of capital infusion in the business, we look forward to accelerating our ability to serve more customers effectively and swiftly. Appreciating this marvelous breakthrough, we aim to strive towards creating a better workplace environment for all our 800+ family members and focus on their personal as well as professional growth. Today, we as a business can fulfill 200,000 repairs per month but we are geared to take this to half a million repairs per month by the end of the ongoing calendar year. Our focus is to stay ahead of the curve and with our expansion plans underway we are geared to become a future-ready organization with an interplay of advanced technology, enhanced customer experience and sustainability at the heart of all our efforts.

Mr.Mihir Joshi, GVFL, said, Qarmatek is re-inventing the wheels of repair and refurbish industry and we are excited to support such a dynamic organization. They are not only encouraging the use and utilization of old electronics but are also harboring the agenda of reducing E-Waste and making our society more conscious even as we push the consumption story for India. Together, we aim to help them expand their footprint and digital presence across the country.

Adding on to this, Avishek Gupta, Managing Director & CEO Caspian Debt, said, We are delighted to support Qarmatek in their journey of promoting new era of using repaired and refurbished electronics. Through refurbishment and encouraging reuse, Qarmatek not only reduces the e-waste in the environment but also minimizes CO2 emissions which would otherwise go in production of new phones. The company also makes it possible for the aspirational Indian consumer to own coveted brands and devices in near new condition at affordable prices. They have shown exemplary growth over the years, and we are excited to participate in their journey ahead.

The funding allocations will aid in the development of a progressive application tied up with multiple categories and diverse choices to empower customers to buy and sell electronics in real-time with the assurance of quality and care that is par excellence. MOBEX has recognized various categories where the competition of their refurbished variants is zero and will be introducing the same in its product portfolio real soon. As MOBEX pursues growth, one of the focus areas will be of exploring additional channels to generate sales and finding better value for its customers and divergence of these multiple channels shall ensure the flow of sales in a viable and continual manner.

India's e-waste production has risen almost 2.5 times to 3.23 million metric tons in six years to 2019, according to the Global E-Waste Monitor Report 2020.This problem is further exacerbated in wake of the accelerated digital adoption during the ongoing pandemic. MOBEX hopes to not only bring about a shift in consumer behavior, by bringing about more attention to the e-waste challenge we face, but also providing an effective and sustainable solution by creating a market and demand for refurbished electronics in India at scale.

Currently Qarmatek serves customers by working closely with all major electronic brands to offer a seamless repair experience and has built a reputation of delivering superior quality products. All its Refurbished and Renewed products accompany a 1-year warranty and certifies test results cementing the trust in the quality it commits. The fund raise is the first step in laying a stepping stone for more such benchmarks in customer experience and sustainability for the repair and refurbishment of electronics in India.
Despite Connecticut families losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID aid since September, state governments revenues have swelled to record levels, according to a report released Tuesday.

Increasing income, sales and corporation tax receipts have state finances finishing more than $2.2 billion in the black this fiscal year  a whopping cushion approaching 10% of the entire budget.

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That growth also has effectively wiped out any projected shortfall after the next gubernatorial election, when state government also will be weaned off federal pandemic relief.

The consensus projections from budget analysts for the Executive and Legislative branches give Gov. Ned Lamont and incumbent legislators great flexibility to cut taxes as they campaign for re-election, but its also sparking increased calls for more services for some hit hardest by the pandemic.

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Finance chairman: Wall Street has fared better than Main Street

I do think that the topic of conversation this session should be: What is the most effective way to help middle and working class families as we deal with year three of COVID, said Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, who co-chairs the legislatures Finance Committee and is exploring a campaign for state comptroller. The economy by many metrics is doing well  but we have an economy right now that is working more for Wall Street than for Main Street.

The latest report bears out Scanlons point.

Analysts project state taxes alone will generate nearly $18.5 billion this fiscal year. Thats $600 million more than Lamont and legislators were counting on when they adopted a new state budget last spring, and a big reason  along with surging federal grants and frugal spending during the pandemic  that the General Fund will spend $1.3 billion less than it takes in this year.

The rest of the $2.2 billion surplus involves a special savings program created in 2017 that limits how much income tax revenue tied to investment earnings  a source that fluctuates greatly  can go into the General Fund.

This volatility adjustment, which accounts for the rest of this years surplus, has been the most robust revenue engine for the state since 2019  and has grown considerably even since the coronavirus first struck Connecticut in March 2020.

And the good news continues in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, when analysts forecast another $1.9 billion surplus  nearly $1.2 billion in the traditional budget combined with more than $700 million in excess income tax receipts from investment earnings.

But while the states coffers are overflowing, many households have lost ground.

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Federal unemployment benefits, which added $300 per week on top of state jobless benefits to hundreds of thousands of households, expired in early September. State labor officials said this federal aid was worth more than $70 million per week, and close to $300 million per month, to Connecticut households last summer.

An expansion of the federal income taxs child tax credit, which added $1,000 to $1,600 per child for thousands of Connecticut families, ended in December.

Scanlon is one of several officials who already have proposed state tax cuts in the coming year to help low- and middle-income households.

The Guilford lawmaker wants a $600-per-child credit within the state income tax for households making $200,000 per year or less. To ensure poor households  which often owe little or no state income taxes  still could benefit, Scanlon also proposed making 70% of the credit refundable.

Lamont has said he will propose expanding the property tax credit, another income tax provision aimed at working class families.

GOP lawmaker: CT must keep using surpluses to reduce pension debt

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Minority Republicans in the Senate want to temporarily roll the state sales tax back from 6.35% to 5.99% and suspend the 1% surcharge on restaurant food and other prepared meals.

State Sen. Henri Martin of Bristol, ranking GOP senator on the Finance Committee, said providing some modest tax relief is important, but officials also must continue dedicating most of this projected surplus to reduce Connecticuts massive pension debt.

Because the states rainy day fund, which holds $3.1 billion, already is at its legal maximum at 15% of annual operating costs, any projected surplus not spent on programs or use to fund tax relief would be used to pay down pension debt.

The state has nearly $41 billion in unfunded pension obligations stemming from more than seven decades of inadequate savings, and analysts project this will continue to place pressure on other programs in the budget well into the 2040s.

I think we stay steady, Martin said. I think it would be too premature to make any type of significant changes.

We should not view that [revenue growth] as an excuse to forgo the good fiscal discipline that helped get us here, added state Rep. Holly Cheeseman of East Lyme, ranking House Republican on the Finance Committee.

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Melissa McCaw, Lamonts budget director, also was cautiously optimistic Tuesday, noting that state finances for this fiscal year and next combined are supported, in part, with more than $1.75 billion in federal coronavirus aid.

The surging state revenues give us the ability to reduce this reliance on one-time revenues from the federal government, making progress, albeit not fully, towards a structurally balanced budget  Connecticut has made significant strides to improve its financial standing in the last five years.

Those significant strides are expected to continue for at least a few more years, according to the latest report.

State government is financially ready when federal COVID aid expires

The 2023-24 fiscal year  when federal pandemic relief will have expired  sounds far off, but its not.

That fiscal year begins in July 2023, and the winners of this Novembers gubernatorial and legislative elections will have to begin working on that budget 13 months from now.

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Analysts now project state finances for 2023-24 have a built-in hole of $520 million. But that doesnt include another $680 million they expect to be captured by the volatility adjustment. Those funds, plus the $3.1 billion in the states rainy day fund, would enable the next governor and legislature to easily manage state finances even without lost federal pandemic relief.

And with that problem well in hand, a leader of the legislatures budget-writing committee said its time for Connecticut to bolster some services for its most vulnerable.

Private nonprofit agencies, which provide the bulk of state-sponsored social services, say demand for their programs has surged by 68% since the pandemic began.

The CT Community Nonprofit Alliance, which represents hundreds of these agencies, estimates that after more than a decade of minimum growth in state funding, the industry loses $461 million per year.

State Sen. Cathy Osten, co-chairwoman of the legislatures Appropriations Committee, joined the alliance Tuesday in calling for annual increases in funding over the next five years to close this gap, arguing the state can easily afford to help those who serve the disabled, people struggling with mental illness, and others in need.

We have always said we valued our nonprofits and we need to show that value, not just by thanking them, Osten said. We have to start funding the services at a level that allows them to more than exist but to treat their clients with the respect that we expect them to.
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Courtesy of JTA; Photo credit: Adelman via TABC website.

Rabbi Shlomo Adelman resigned abruptly as the head of school at Torah Academy of Bergen County.
Even the venerable Abraham Lincoln, in a presidency dragged down by the secession of half his domain, chose to separate the causes of the Confederacy from the character of the people settled upon it. In that one and only American Civil War, Lincoln became the Great Unifier when the loss of 360,000 Union soldiers might easily have justified a heavy-handed approach to everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line.

More Orwellian than Lincolnian, Joe Biden has plotted a more calamitous course for his administration. Aligning with progressive politicos who juxtapose January 6, the Civil War, September 11, and Pearl Harbor in a single talking point, Biden has now taken authoritarianism to excess, putting his political fate in the hands of woke boardrooms, big tech, and a doting media while forming an ideological front against the will of his own people, either by his own volition or on behalf of his all-knowing, face-on teleprompter.

Last weeks Morehouse University sales pitch for voting rights calling for the abolition of the filibuster rule was demagogic on its face and declared an intifada on Republicans. Biden tried to soothe his partys brittle relationship with black Americans, holding himself up as a beacon of civil rights standing athwart a Trump militia reminiscent of Jim Crow, Bull Connor, and soldiered by white supremacists and conservatives. The speech fell flat with many black voters and several progressive allies and organizations gave the rally a cold shoulder. With the electorate shifting to the GOP column and members of his own party delivering recurrent death blows to his agenda in the Senate, it was a desperate gambit to brand the new voting majority as the enemies of democracy. In Atlanta, the flower came off the bloom for Joe Biden, and he is now leading without a moral compass.

On many issues, but especially race and vaccine mandates, Biden is an emperor without clothes. The media strains to deflect from his racist gaffes but cannot pull the covers up and over a career of political support for prominent segregationists. Disparaging George Wallace and Jefferson Davis before a largely black college faculty and students is laughable in view of Bidens longstanding advocacy for the former Democrat governor and for voting in favor of a 1977 Senate bill to restore U.S. citizenship to the president of the Confederacy. He cozied up to James Eastland, John Calhoun, and Strom Thurmond, three senators known to be long-winded on racist rhetoric, and the latter of whom conducted the longest filibuster in congressional history over his strong opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Because it favored his appointments to select committees, Biden opposed school bussing, desegregation, and took a stance against reparations while supporting mass incarceration at the heart of the 1994 crime bill. As vice president, he publicly slurred Barack Obama by race on at least two occasions, faux pas that may have brought Obama to openly question his competency to run for president.

Biden has always been an outsider to the genteel class of Democrat power brokers. His Senate years brought him three failed presidential runs and repeated notoriety for cribbing the words and writings of others more gifted and cerebral. Over five decades in Congress, his given name has been accessorized with Crazy, Sleepy, and Old, while those propping him up cloaked his ill-gotten family wealth behind blue-collar misnomers such as Amtrak, Middle Class, and Scranton Joe. All of it has brought about a cottage industry of memes and caricatures highlighting a creepy uncle who gropes and sniffs at necklines, believes electric cars can cross the country on one tank of gas, that truth trumps facts, makes a cringe-worthy mess of every teleprompted speech, and naps at the most inopportune times.

Joe Biden has exhibited erratic behavior for much of his political life, some innate to his character and perhaps consequent to the surgical removal of two cranial aneurysms. Hissy fits and mood swings at the podium replete with a bipolar medley of whispers and bug-eyed tantrums have become endemic to his public addresses. There have been face-to-face outbursts at working-class voters using tough-guy lines purloined from vintage Westerns. Biden does not suffer complaints quietly and fancies himself above denunciation. Political critics are challenged to pushup competitions and schoolyard fisticuffs.

While Biden pushes voting rights as a subterfuge for one-party rule, vaccine mandates are the sanctum for Bidens despotism. Vax tyranny is an anti-science charade that now leverages the low mortality of the latest strain to claim credit for inoculations and boosters while harping upon its more virulent transmission to maintain public fears, demand papers and proofs everywhere but the polling booth, keep kids out of schools, and families at each others throats.

For an administration obsessed with the idea of racial inequities, vaccine compliance has a racially-disparate impact. In Bidens backyard, where the District of Columbia resident population is evenly split white and black, fully-vaccinated whites outnumber blacks by almost twenty percent in the 18-65 working-age group. The latest compliance reporting from 42 states indicates that blacks trail whites in 33 states, with the national rates being 54 percent of whites to 45 percent of blacks within their respective populations.

Biden is scrupulous in imposing restrictions upon the unvaxxed. He chose wizardry over science in ordering mandates on mid-size businesses while exempting blue voting blocs who receive welfare and food stamps, the millions who have entered the country illegally, and the U.S. Postal Service, whose 200,000-strong union pledged support to Biden and participated in numerous incidents of ballot hanky-panky.

Large swaths of the American electorate are frustrated and remorseful, many hounded and demonized for their skepticism over how a basement presidential candidate who couldnt fill a convenience store parking lot at his campaign speeches won the presidency by a landslide, with several state election results overturned in the wee hours after a massive ballot infusion. The media persists that no evidence of election fraud was found and that President Trump filed and lost more than sixty election lawsuits. Truth be told, out of eighty court filings in 2020 and early 2021, thirty-four of the cases were summarily dismissed by judges who chose not to hear the evidence in the critical swing states, including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia. These cases were not lost on their merits. In fact, twenty-one additional cases were decided after presenting evidence, with President Trump winning two-thirds.

Save for a 25th Amendment intervention or an unlikely resignation, Joe Biden will fumble his way through to 2024, his domestic and international policies steered by radicals and interventionists, and his cognitive decline further exacerbated by age and pharmaceutical side effects. Unless the Democrats intervene by hook or by crook, a growing electorate of Republicans, independents, blue dogs, and accelerating numbers of black and Hispanic voters will oust majorities from the upper and lower chambers of Congress.

Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of COVID tests are about to flood American households, keeping Americans off-balance, focused on the virus, and fearful of every sniffle or dry cough. Absent a federal takeover of state elections, it is likely that the Biden administration will keep public COVID fears at peak levels in an effort to manufacture a crisis over in-person voting and force a return to widespread mailed ballots.

Democrats in earnest will continue to wag the dog in an effort to upend the predicted outcome of the 2022 midterms. Voting hijinks, saber-rattling with Russia and China, COVID variants du jour, and January 6 conspiracies and criminal charges to unseat congressional Republicans are all dog-eared in the playbook. Now convinced of the means to ill-gotten power, they are determined not to lower the curtain until theres an encore.

Image: Gage Skidmore
On Monday, off-duty LAPD officer Fernando Arroyos and his girlfriend were out in South L.A. looking at houses, in anticipation of getting married and settling down there. Sure, it was after dark, and most Angelenos do not venture out at night these days, but Fernando was LAPD, highly trained in police work and educated at U.C. Berkeley, and thought he had it all down. Then four gangbangers from the local crime organization (too highly advanced to be called a gang), Florencia 13, saw the silver chains around his neck and decided to rob him. Arroyos told his girlfriend to run. Shots rang out, at least one hit Arroyos, and he died on the way to the hospital.

On Thursday, a 70-year-old nurse was attacked by a transient, right in front of Union Station, as she was waiting for a bus. (Public transport is often dangerous for people who work in downtown L.A.) She died in the hospital four days later.

Later that day, in a fashionable neighborhood in L.A.  in fact, the location of the mayor's mansion  a lovely young woman and recent college grad, Brianna Kupfer, was working in a design store on the busy main street, when a man walked in and for some inexplicable reason stabbed her to death. Just a fluke, the usual reassuring lie? No doubt it was meth or mental illness or both, as most random murders are these days in L.A. Residents are now setting up candles outside the store in yet another makeshift memorial instead of standing outside the mayor's office or the D.A.'s office shouting for their resignations. This, by the way, occurred a week after a woman pushing a baby stroller was robbed right in front of her nearby Hancock Park home.

With the deaths of these three people, two not yet out of their twenties, someone finally snapped in L.A. His name is Alex Villanueva, the elected sheriff of L.A. County, where the Arroyos murder occurred.

Usually, when a cop is murdered, the city's mayor and D.A. come out and angrily vow to catch and prosecute the killers to the fullest extent, and they file charges. After all, they are the apex of the law enforcement pyramid. If they don't care, the people are in deep trouble. This is the response from D.A. George Gascon's office, though: a condolence tweet for the "death of an off-duty police officer" without even saying his name, without even admitting it was a murder.

Sheriff Villanueva discussed the case with some of Gascon's staff and then, in a shocking move, filed the case with the U.S Department of Justice instead, as he had no faith in Gascon's office to properly prosecute the case.

Gascon has said often that he will no longer file enhancements that result in extra prison time for criminals. So a criminal who robs someone would normally also have to answer for committing that crime with a gun or as a member of a gang. Villanueva was told by the D.A.'s office that they would not file gun or gang enhancements. It is passing strange that an anti-gun leftist D.A. declines to file gun enhancements, which are designed to punish gun violence, but that is another story. The death penalty is now on the table with the federal charges.

Some wonder how the feds could file so quickly. The gang is well known; the feds term it a multi-generational gang, more along the lines of the Mafia than a bunch of guys hanging out, and the subject of two prior racketeering cases. Let us hope that A.G. Garland does not interfere with this welcome turn of events.

Mayor Garcetti issued a weak statement decrying "gun violence," as if a gun jumped up and shot Officer Arroyos. Governor Newsom at least admitted he was killed by criminals. Still no voice of support for the federal prosecution of these murderous thugs.

Directly linked to the random violence in our streets, the Los Angeles homeless situation has exploded in the past couple of years despite billions spent to stop it. Villanueva is also the only official who has stepped up with any credible enforcement of vagrancy, drug-dealing, and assault laws. No matter that violence is perpetrated on and by what the leftist city structure euphemistically calls "the homeless" or "persons currently experiencing homelessness." The police have admitted that Ms. Kupfer's killer was likely a homeless person, for instance, as was the man who killed the nurse at a bus stop.

Villanueva calls L.A. pols "architects of failure" and so has gone around them to clean up the camps and over their heads to prosecute killers  because the city refuses to. He has cleaned out the settlements at Venice Beach and other tourist spots like Olvera Street and has vowed to keep them cleaned out. And CA has spent at least $3 billion per year on this issue, to no effect except to grow the homeless population. In response to the failure, Newsom just proposed another $13 billion, while the city of L.A. spends about a billion. No one except developers will be helped.

Finally and remarkably, after a record 397 homicides in 2021, it took these latest two murders last week to rouse the city out of its progressive slumber. Even the left-leaning media are reporting on it. On the center-right, local radio personalities John and Ken describe the destructive ideology as "like a religion ... a weird doomsday psycho cult." (Listen to reporter Steve Gregory's riveting report on the crimes on their January 14 podcast.)

Sheriff Villanueva has promised to end the institutional failure on virtually every aspect of city life. He has acted on it and promised more. The referral to the federal DOJ is a welcome effort. Angelenos stand behind him in his campaign to restore sanity to this once beautiful city. What other choice do we have?

P.S.: The new Virginia attorney general has announced legislation to allow prosecutors to bypass their Soros D.A.s and file criminal cases with his state office. A welcome tactic is developing.

Patricia Jay is a film essayist and writer in Southern California and writes at https://pd1000.substack.com.

Image: Adoramassey via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped).
Not only has Islam transformed Jesus Christ into a Muslim, and a Palestinian one at that; Palestinians are apparently trying to transform him into a heroic martyr -- a term often translated by those infidels on the receiving end of such heroism as a terrorist.

As a January 14, 2022 article by PMW explains:

The PA uses many euphemisms and terms to refer to terrorists, and they are applying two of them to Jesus. The first is Fidai, literally self-sacrificing fighter. For example, terrorist Ashraf Naalwa, who brought a rifle to work, tied up a young mother of a 15-month-old, and then murdered her and another coworker, was called by Fatah: The heroic Fidai. Fatah official Rawhi Fattouh applied this status to Jesus: Jesus the first Palestinian Fidai. The second term is Shahid  Islamic Martyr  the word the PA uses for every terrorist killed during his/her attack, including suicide bombers. Senior Fatah leader Tawfiq Tirawi applied both terms to Jesus: The first Fidai and the first Martyr, the messiah Jesus.

It must, of course, be remembered that for Palestinians and Muslims in general, those who sacrifice their lives for the cause of Allah -- and Allah is very much interested in things like land and territorial disputes -- are the apple of that deitys eye, deserving of the highest paradisiacal rewards. After all, the martyr -- the shahid -- is special to Allah, to quote the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a canonical hadith:

He is forgiven from the first drop of blood [he sheds]. He sees his throne in paradise... Fixed atop his head will be a crown of honor, a ruby that is greater than the world and all it contains. And he will copulate with seventy-two Houris [celestial sexual women -- big-bosomed and wide-eyed, says the Koran (56:22, 78:33) -- created by Allah for the express purpose of sexually gratifying his favorites in perpetuity].

In this context, Jesus Christ, whom Muslims have appropriated and transformed into Isa the prophet, is a great martyr -- not because he was crucified for the sins of mankind (Islam teaches someone else was crucified in Christs place at the last minute), but because he gives his life to fight infidels and uphold sharia.

To understand the true nature of Islams Jesus, consider what some of the most canonical hadiths say about him (translations of the following are from Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period by James E. Lindsay and Suleiman Mourad)

In one, Jesus approvingly quotes Muhammad saying that whoever makes him, Muhammad, Christs equal -- and thereby contradicts the oldest Christian Creed (1 Cor. 15: 3-7) -- will go to heaven: Whoever testifies that there is no god but God, alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and that Jesus is His servant and messenger Allah will admit him to paradise for saying that.

In another hadith, a woman says to Jesus, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that suckled you. To this, a shocked Jesus replies: No, but blessed is he who reads the Quran and follows what is in it!

But it is only when he returns in Islams version of the end times that Jesus truly shines. According to Muslim teaching, he will return to break the crosses, slaughter the pigs, end the jizya tax on non-Muslims, making warfare against the People of the Book (e.g. Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, etc.) and others licit. In the midst of the final showdown between the forces of Allah and the forces of the Antichrist, Jesus appears praying behind an Islamic leader. Then, after Jesus finishes his prayer, he will take his lance, go toward the Antichrist and kill him. Then Jesus will die and the Muslims will wash him and bury him.

In such a manner is he a martyr -- no different, for many Muslims, than his supposed Palestinian kinsmen who blow themselves up in the service of Islam.

Here, then, is yet another stark reminder that Islams appropriation and subsequent mutilation of biblical figures is not a source of commonalities and bridges between Islam on the one hand and Judaism and Christianity on the other, as the ecumenists insist. Rather, it is Islams way of manipulating the figures of Judaism and Christianity for its own agenda and precisely against Jews and Christians.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

Image: Tom Spender
The Democrats and the propaganda ministry have tried to portray the events of January 6 as the greatest assault on democracy in like, forever. But it seems like that narrative is starting to unravel. The unraveling began when many people began to suspect that the whole thing was a setup and started looking into it.

It wasnt law enforcement or MSM journalists investigating -- they could be controlled. It was amateur citizen investigators using the power of the internet. Ah the internet -- allowing average citizens to cross-reference and collate a limitless sea of information. Our Founders would approve.

Citizen investigators began to identify individuals who were clearly involved in inciting the riot on January 6. But a curious number of them had not been arrested by the FBI, even though their identity was well known. One such individual is Ray Epps. Epps is seen on video urging the crowd to enter the Capitol building. He lives in Arizona on a ranch and hasnt been arrested. There are numerous others, just like him. The question became unavoidable: Did the federal government have involvement with January 6? We dont know the answer to that question -- and thats a problem for a constitutional republic.

As this curious information began to come to public attention, the FBI cover-up started. It removed Ray Epps from its most wanted list and released a report stating that there was no evidence of a coordinated attack on the Capitol -- even though they had been calling it a coordinated attack for months. Apparently, the bureau hoped the whole thing would fade into obscurity. But it didnt. Merrick Garland and San Fran Nan wouldnt let it.

The proud head of the police part of our police state couldnt let it go. Garland was having too much fun playing with his new fully operational death star -- which has the Orwellian name Department of Justice. The only thing missing is a Peoples at the beginning of that name. Unfortunately, Garland has bragged for months about his shock and awe campaign to bring insurrectionists to justice. The DoJ has had hundreds of citizens under arrest for months -- for the horrendous crimes of trespassing and taking selfies on Capitol grounds. What are prosecutors supposed to do? Go to the judge and say, Oops! Our bad. Thats not the way police states operate.

Merrick Garland isnt the only one pushing the narrative beyond what the evidence supports. San Fran Nan has kept the topic in the news as well. She is facing a midterm shellacking, looking down the barrel of a Trump return to politics, and needs a propaganda blunt object with which to beat on Republicans. Her solution was simple, elegant, and stupid.

Appoint a committee to investigate something that didnt happen -- the greatest assault on our democracy since Pearl Harbor -- or was it 9/11? I forget.

Add a couple of useful idiot Republicans -- preferably of the #NeverTrump variety.

Subpoena every Republican in the known universe.

Provide creative leaks to the awaiting propaganda ministry. [Pelosi note to self: Dont forget to add Adam Schiff to the committee.]

Voila, a years worth of negative Trump news cycles. Maybe it could even be stretched to three years. But after a year of investigating an insurrection that the FBI said wasnt an insurrection, the questions started to get a bit too inconvenient for San Fran Nans committee. So, she did what masters do. She jerked the leash hard, and her twin dogs barked. The committee released a statement defending Ray Epps, and the FBI arrested Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, and a number of his fellow travelers.

In August of 2021, the FBI said there was no evidence of a coordinated attack on the Capitol. Now, in January of 2022, the FBI is saying that Rhodes organized teams to conduct an armed paramilitary operation to prevent congressional certification of the vote. Theres just one problem: It never happened. Except for the activities of Ray Epps, who is no longer wanted by the FBI, there was no coordination at all of the mob at the Capitol. Stewart Rhodes was present, but he never entered the Capitol, and like the other Oath Keepers present, he was unarmed. In fact, the only firearms present in the Capitol on that day were those in the possession of the Capitol Police -- one of which was used to kill an unarmed protester.

The indictment of the Oath Keepers is not about what they did. Its about what they wanted to do -- even though they didnt do it. Crimes of intent are tricky things to prosecute. How can any man know whats in another mans heart and mind? Does the FBI have some evidence of his actual desire, or is Stewart Rhodes automatically guilty of wrong-think because hes a patriotic (i.e., anti-government) conservative?

Maybe the FBI has gotten possession of incriminating emails. Its possible that Rhodes (a Yale-trained lawyer) blasted out his insurrection plans with his Gmail account. Of course, the jury will also need to consider the FBI history of falsifying emails, such as it did to get warrants against Carter Page.

Maybe the FBI has witnesses that overheard the Oath Keepers plans. The bureau is well known for planting informants in organizations suspected of subversion. But whatever witnesses it has had better have more credibility than Andrew McCabe, Peter Stzrok, Kevin Clinesmith, or any of the three agents that have been removed from the Whitmer kidnapping witness list.

Im not jumping to any conclusions about the Oath Keepers. Whatever evidence the FBI has, is going to need very close examination -- by an army of citizen investigators. Dont underestimate their abilities. Doing so didnt work out so well for Dan Fake but Accurate Rather.

Much to the FBIs consternation, the January 6 investigation hasnt faded, and the amateur investigations continue. The questions are getting more inconvenient by the nanosecond.

Now we have an attorney general and various FBI officials who can do little more than stammer, mutter the words ongoing investigation, and stare at the ceiling while being questioned by Congress. Ongoing investigation is starting to feel like the new pleading the 5th.

After the Republicans win the midterm elections, they should keep the January 6 committee in place -- but under new management. San Fran Nans committee set a few precedents that should be very useful. The minority party has no rights. Committee members are subject to the approval of the Speaker of the House. Executive privilege is a thing of the past. Any member of the opposing party is also fair game. The Republicans should subpoena Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, and Nancy Pelosi. Im dying to see how Granny Boxwine does under questioning from Ted Cruz. Watching Cackles Harris laugh nervously at every question should just about end her political future -- if she hasnt already ended it herself. Heck, they should even subpoena the electronic devices of Shifty Schiff and Bang-Bang the Fang Fang Swalwell. Im sure they have some interesting texts and emails about January 6 as well.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He currently writes at the American Free News Network (afnn.us). He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: Tyler Merbler
As the latest wave of COVID cases surges in the West, all is quiet in the East. It has always been quiet. Millions have died from the coronavirus epidemic as it sweeps the world. However, few consider it strange that the nation where the virus first appeared amid an entirely unprotected public of 1.3 billion people should record a mere 4,636 fatalities over the past three years.

China's statistics remain in the hands of officials who carefully do everything possible to make sure China's image remains unblemished. They claim that low numbers are due to the communist nation's brutal "zero tolerance" policies. China is presented as a model for the West.

Some voices are appearing that dispute this claim. One expert says the fatality figures are likely closer to 1.7 million. This figure would put China in the same camp as the rest of the world. It would also point to the failure of the world's strictest lockdown and explain the recent shutdowns of whole cities and regions due to the virus, which supposedly kills no one in China.

Statistically Impossible

George Calhoun, director of the quantitative finance program at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, claims that China is engaged in systematic data suppression. His research is based on models developed by The Economist and reported by the Epoch Times.

Government statistics record, for example, that only two deaths have taken place in China since April 2020. This amazing immunity from death occurred while the pandemic raged everywhere, treatments were unknown, and the Chinese population was unprotected.

"That's impossible. It's medically impossible, it's statistically impossible," Mr. Calhoun claims.

Other Evidence of Cover-Up

Throughout the COVID crisis, China has been accused of suppressing the death toll. Cai Xia, a Chinese professor who taught at the elite Central Party School, was expelled from the Communist Party when he insisted that the death toll had been misreported.

When the virus first broke out in Wuhan, inhabitants claimed that the toll was much more than the 3,0004,000 released by the government. Based on the deliveries of funeral urns and other data, many estimated that some 42,000 people were killed by March of 2020 in Wuhan alone.

Statistics as a Weapon

Communist parties have always used statistics as a tool and weapon to advance their agenda. Officials feel free to change the numbers to reflect well upon the state, which controls everything. Truth is whatever furthers the fortunes of the party. If statistics must be changed as a result, there is no problem. Hence the notorious unreliability of communist statistics.

The problem is complicated by anxious officials who must report good news to party leaders or face the consequences of their failures, including death. Zero tolerance numbers may be statistically impossible and even absurd, but most officials prefer their survival over inconvenient truths.

Also disturbing is the complicity of Western media that repeat the cooked numbers of communist regimes. Few dare to question impossible figures or "follow the science" when leftist prestige is involved. During the long Cold War, the West presented the Soviet Union as the second-largest economy. When the Berlin Wall fell, the actual size of the economy was found to be significantly less.

Treating Citizens like Prisoners

The COVID figures show that the communist State reigns supreme in China. It can change reality to reflect whatever it wants. Moreover, the regime cares little for the well-being of its people. All must serve the state.

The effort to safeguard China's reputation is now entering a brutal phase, especially as the Winter Olympic Games approaches. Reported COVID outbreaks of as little as one or two cases have triggered massive lockdowns of whole cities. Zero tolerance strategies are now in place involving millions of people under draconian restrictions that include banning outdoor activity and even grocery shopping.

Rounds of citywide testing are commonplace, while businesses and schools are closed. Massive quarantine camps holding thousands in tiny metal-box cabins have been constructed all over the country. Citizens can suddenly be bused to these camps, where they spend isolation periods of two weeks.

Despite all efforts, fresh cases of COVID continue to rise, closing down sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, official statistics show hundreds (only) of new cases but continue to register no new deaths... It is just unbelievably amazing.

Image: Our World in Data.
Some of the wayward wussies who indulged their delicate psyches in academia's safe zones are now working at Microsoft  specifically, the Office 365 division. The software twits that tinker with the Office 365 version of Word have concocted an inclusiveness spellchecker that obtrusively highlights mundane terms that some hypersensitive dear may internalize.

Some of the P.C. alternatives they've concocted can be confounding. For example, "expert" is suggested for "master," "performing artist" for "showgirl," "lover" replaces "mistress," "workforce" for "manpower," "house cleaner" for "maid," and "humankind" for "mankind."

That last one  humankind  provides a thread for some sample paragraphs that highlight the absurdity that these touchy nerds foist upon us. Here are three paragraphs (followed by more content) replete with woke Word trickery that simply confounds Noel S. Williams:

It took a lot of workforce to build the Saturn V rocket that propelled the crewed Apollo 11 command module to space. Fortunately, the crew weren't screwed because of the excruciating attention to details the NASA scientists, engineers, and man agers exhibited; in fact, many of them had Expert of Science degrees or better.

Following their giant leap for humankind , the astronauts embarked on a worldwide goodwill tour. Their wives accompanied them during this 45-day extravaganza, so surreptitious rendezvouses with lovers from their ports of call were deterred. Still, the performing artists (like the "Golddiggers" during Neil Armstrong's USO tour of Vietnam) probably provided some welcome distraction from the tedious experts of ceremonies at various events.

I'm sure Buzz Aldrin would have been distracted, for he had lovers, which exacerbated the marital tensions with his first wife. Still, when he remarried, I bet the house cleaner of honor swelled with pride in leading bridesmaids in the wedding of the second human to experience the magnificent desolation of the Moon.

As demonstrated above, rather than soften our supposed biases, the nonsensical substitutes proposed by Word's inclusiveness spellchecker backfire, serving to reinforce the silliness of woke hubris.

One benefit of the pandemic is that virtual learning and vocationally tailored education are bourgeoning, while traditional campus enrollment is down  one million fewer students are in college.

It would also be beneficial (less P.C.-induced anxiety and reduced student debt) if the wannabe Microsoft software engineers would shun the culture-canceling campus safe zones where loony lexicography pervades. Instead, they might try Codeacademy.com or even LinkedIn developer tutorials (owned by Microsoft) to escape the clingy cognitive clutches of academia's postmodern leftist indoctrination.

No wonder there is so much anxiety among today's students  it must be exhausting always looking for ways to be offended. It requires a lot of wallowing in perceived victimhood to always be looking for novel examples of some imagined bias, rather than getting on with life. The resultant cognitive distortions surely keep the cognitive-behavioral therapists busy, even as the popularity of meditation apps soars.

If the linguistic police can co-opt our language and revise our herstory, including corrupting Neil Armstrong's revelatory moon-landing quote, then they will be a step closer to blacklisting thoughts that countervail their vapid leftist ideology. With no worthy ideas beyond the ash heap of history, they simply must control our language. Deferred success ("failure") is not an option.

Oh dear, I just realized: the word "blacklist" is unacceptable. Word 365 now recommends "accepted list" as the P.C. alternative. Too bad the intolerant left's practice of blacklisting those who disagree with it remains acceptable. So much for inclusiveness.

Image via Pxhere.
I won't say this opinion is the worst to come down the pike since Dred Scott. It just offers a variation on Peter Finley Dunne's "Mr. Dooley," in that the Supreme Court follows the editorial pages (along with the election returns). It is not with difficulty that one imagines Chief Justice Roberts's anticipation of thunderous criticism from The New York Times had the Court ruled in favor of the former president.

Seems to me the Court (save for Justice Thomas) has now given the power of rejecting executive privilege to a successor president who unconditionally loathes his predecessor. Political decisions are hardly conducive to consistency in governmental transitions.

It is alarming that a Court that relies on precedent should be blind to the havoc it has now wrought in governmental stability as we careen from one administration to another.

Perhaps the craven conservatives, joining the rabid leftists on the United States Supreme Court, are pleased to have contributed some small measure to the current campaign to keep the White House Trumprein from January 20, 2025, to January 20, 2029. This likelihood, certainly, must mean that the Judicial Branch, playing politics, not jurisprudence, has likely acted to bring about a Republican landslide in November 2024, far greater than with Donald J. Trump the GOP standard-bearer, particularly if Mr. Trump appreciates the effect of his departure from presidential politics on the Democrats.

What, pray tell, will the Democrat base do if they no longer have Donald J. Trump to demonize? Will they come out in droves (or massive ballot box drops) to oppose, say, the gravitas-laden, newly svelte Michael Pompeo, former member of Congress, former CIA director, former successful secretary of state, as the Republican nominee for president in 2024? Of course not; they will stay home, leaving the bastions of Trump-haters and NeverTrump malcontents fuming as their sailing vessels remain in port due to the absence of political winds. One imagines the mindsets of voters from New York City to L.A.: "Mike Pompeo, a lying, white nationalist threat to U.S. democracy? Give me a break."

This horribilus political statement from the United Supreme Court may well be a signal that the Deep State will not tolerate Mr. Trump's return to the presidency  as it would not tolerate his re-election in 2020. The Deep State will have shown itself too clever by half in maintaining its focus on Mr. Trump. It just might be about to learn, starting with the midterms next November, that winning a battle does not determine the outcome of the war  and this war has always been a matter of the aggrandizing class against conservative populists, not against the solitary figure of Donald J. Trump.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
There can't be a worse, more dangerous, and outright evil class of people than those who want to tell others how to think and what to do. Those who would rule you and take away your liberty do not do it "for your own good." Ever. The Founders knew this. That is why they pushed back hard against "The Intolerable Acts." It is why they tossed tea into the harbor. It is why they eventually fought the world's mightiest military. And it is why they so valued the Right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness granted to us by our Creator.

It led Patrick Henry to proclaim, "Give me liberty or give me death."

George Washington could have been king. He declined. He also declined to serve a third term as president, desperately wanting to return to domestic life at Mount Vernon rather than continue as the most powerful man in the nation. When England's King George III, America's implacable enemy, heard of this, he exclaimed, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."

More than 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War that others may be free.

This is our heritage as citizens of the United States of America. And I, for one, am getting damned sick of that heritage being bastardized, twisted, denied, denigrated, and mocked.

The U.S. has long been the guarantor of freedom, both at home and around the world. There is a reason why Germans rushed to the West to surrender to American troops rather than be captured by Russians. The Great Communicator, who won the Cold War that followed World War II, knew how fragile liberty is. Reagan said:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

Do we want to, in effect, be that "one generation" that permits the extinction of freedom? Or do we want to hand it down to our children as our Founders did to us?

Because today, despite the clear, unyielding historical record, many in our own nation are calling for the destruction of capitalism and free markets...and the imposition of socialism and Marxism. Since time immemorial, the left has been about one thing and one thing only: power.

To wit: Does anybody truly believe that those who want to ostracize the unvaccinated, tax them, fine them, take away their livelihoods, and confine them to "camps" really wish to do so out of concern for the unvaccinated? Or for anybody  or anything  else but their own power? Is this why people in need of life-saving organ transplants are being sent away if they haven't acquiesced to the jab? Is this why those who so loudly profess deep concern for their fellow man so often make comments about those with whom they disagree, like "let them die"?

Democrats and "progressives," and authoritarians of all stripes, have imposed their will on the rest of us for two years now, in the form of mask and vaccine mandates. At times they have told us we can't go to work or leave our homes, have our family over for Christmas, attend church, go to weddings, visit dying relatives, or even allow more than a handful of people to grieve with us at their funerals.

What the hell, people?! Those who created, fought, and died for this country would be equal parts stunned, devastated, repulsed, and angry if they could see it now. So much for a limited government "of, by, and for the people."

We have let those who rule over us take away our (pursuit of) happiness and our liberty. The ultimate in taking away others' liberty is taking away their lives. (See "let them die.")

We must wake up from this woke nightmare and reclaim our liberty before it's too late. Or we will sentence our descendants to perpetual servility and darkness...until the sun expires.

Photo credit: Al Dia, CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
Facebook continues to reinforce the perception of its content moderators as pre-adolescents, and I mean in terms of character and maturity regardless of age, who are unable to handle authority responsibly. These moderators come across to me as using their authority to advance their personal political agendas and biases rather than enforce what the social media platform calls its "community standards." Here is the feedback that Hillel Neuer's U.N. Watch got for a post that is obviously condemnatory of the Taliban, and that added that one would not see Ben & Jerry's boycott this organization. "Your page is at risk of being unpublished ... due to continued community standards violations."

A look at the purported violation tells us immediately that there are only two credible, at least to me, explanations for the moderator's behavior. The first is that the moderator is a Taliban sympathizer who took personal offense at Mr. Neuer's depiction of the Taliban in a clearly negative context. The second is that the moderator supports the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement to which Ben & Jerry's made itself a party. The moderator's explanation was that the post violated a policy against "dangerous individuals," but this is not credible because the post condemns rather than promotes the dangerous individuals in question. Does Facebook now have a policy against denunciation of the Taliban, Hamas, al-Qaeda, violent white supremacist organizations, and so on?

I also wondered whether Facebook was censoring derogatory material about Ben & Jerry's because the company is an advertiser, but it is not. Facebook needs to take a rapid, and hard, look at what this moderator's conduct has done to its brand.

Moderated Social Media? You Keep What You Don't Delete.

"You keep what you don't delete" means that the instant a social media platform takes it upon itself to issue warnings, suspend people's accounts, block them from posting, or remove their posts, it owns whatever it does not delete. Facebook and Twitter both banned Donald Trump from their platforms, so they are now morally responsible for whatever hate speech they don't delete. Facebook's action against Mr. Neuer reinforces this even further; Mark Zuckerberg now owns, as I see it, every single piece of hate speech that he permits to reside (such as "Mossad put the explosives here," with "here" referring to the Twin Towers), or permitted to reside (Jewish Ritual Murder), under his roof. He and those who work for him have (1) proven, e.g. with their latest action against Mr. Neuer, that they have the power to remove this material and terminate the users' accounts, but (2) have not done so as demonstrated by its continued presence.

Wir haben nicht gewusst? Nein.

Facebook cannot claim, "Wir haben nicht gewusst" ("we did not know"), either. It has certainly been more than diligent in finding and censoring content from Mr. Neuer, which means it is equally capable of finding and removing "Mossad put the explosives here" if it regards this kind of material as problematic. It is meanwhile a matter of record that Facebook knew about "Jewish Ritual Murder" and chose not to remove it until public outrage compelled it to do so.

MoveOn.org similarly censored content with which it did not agree but left online anti-Semitic content such as "Jew Lieberman" and also hate speech against Catholics and evangelical Christians. MoveOn claimed that it did not see the hate speech, but its FAQ page said moderators read everything that was posted at least twice. Oops. In addition, the very fact that it censored far less objectionable, but conservative rather than leftist, content showed that it had the ability to remove the hate speech but chose not to. You keep what you don't delete.

Donald Trump No, "Jewish Ritual Murder" Yes

Facebook tolerated a page called "Jewish Ritual Murder" and told those who complained about it that it did not violate Facebook's community standards. This page, along with TruthAboutJews on Twitter, was taken down only after a major public outcry.

"Jewish Ritual Murder's" background, as I recall, depicted black-coated Jews near black crows or ravens near German children and might well have come from Nazi propaganda of the 1930s. Here (item 4, "Dehumanization") is the image in question. "Taken from a children's book, this illustration compares Jews to ravens. Germany, 1936. Source: Montreal Holocaust Museum." This is what I recall seeing on Facebook, although it is not on the archived pages that are still available. Here are examples of the kind of commentary that did not violate what the pre-adolescents who appear to moderate Facebook call their community standards.

Facebook's moderators also seem to think this beauty meets community standards.

Facebook needs to take rapid action on the deletion of Hillel Neuer's denunciation of the Taliban and Ben & Jerry's, noting how the moderator's conduct affects Facebook's brand. Disciplinary counseling plus a letter of apology to Mr. Neuer seem appropriate. Perhaps Facebook should go even further by making clear that dismissal will be the consequence for the next moderator who does anything similar, but Facebook needs to do something.

The same goes for Twitter's toleration of tweets by Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren that falsely and therefore libelously accused an identifiable police officer of murder. While the Communications Decency Act shields Twitter (but not Harris or Warren) from legal action by the officer in question if it is not outside the statute of limitations, Twitter is nonetheless a moral albeit not legal accessory to libel under the reasonable doctrine "you keep what you don't delete."

Facebook's and Twitter's advertisers, meanwhile, need to take a hard look at the conduct their money supports, and I mean the conduct of content moderators who do not understand that authority comes with a responsibility to work by the rules rather than do whatever they want. If you moderate your users' content, then you keep what you don't delete. Facebook owned "Jewish Ritual Murder," and it still owns "Mossad put the explosives here," just as Twitter owned TruthAboutJews, which also included a racial slur about "darkies," and still owns the libelous content from Harris and Warren. That is all there is to it.

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. The author is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.

Image via Max Pixel.
A recent article introduced the term "negative efficacy" regarding COVID vaccines and implied that this reaction explains why more vaccinated than unvaccinated people are getting sick with COVID. A non-Google search turned up several articles about negative efficacy that confirmed the claim with more details. The most detailed article made the following points:

It [negative efficacy] doesn't mean the protection wears off (like we were told). It means the OPPOSITE of what you were told: it means the vaccines helps the virus to infect you (by suppressing your immune system, probably permanently each time we are injected according to Dr. Ryan Cole).

In short, we've been lied to about the vaccine. It is protecting you less and less over time. While you may get a benefit for earlier variants, the benefit for other variants (and likely other diseases) is going to be negative. In short, you are getting a short term benefit against Delta, but at the expense of a degradation of your overall immunity to everything else.

To test the above hypothesis, trend data from Our World in Data was used to compare five different countries. For simplicity, I focused only on the vax rate, the number of new cases, and confirmed COVID deaths. The U.S. was selected for obvious reasons followed by the U.K. because it had somewhat stricter lockdowns like most of Europe. Australia was added because of the intensity of its lockdowns, mask, and vax mandates. Admittedly, Australia did have success using these tyrannical police state methods to minimize the damage from COVID at least until now.

Sweden is there because of its notoriously minimal lockdowns followed by praise for its success in achieving natural herd immunity well before any other Western country. India was added because it alone appears to have tamed COVID from day one by using common, inexpensive therapeutics in its early outpatient protocols (notably hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin) and much less reliance on vaccines. Except for one surge in hospitalizations and deaths due to the emergence of the delta variant, India has experienced far fewer total deaths relative to its population.

Vaccination Rates: Notice that Australia and Sweden now rank highest, although both started their vax campaigns much later than either the U.S or the U.K., while India arrived very late to the vax party.

Daily New Confirmed COVID Cases: Things are looking grim for the start of 2022! However, we know that much more testing is being done now and this could partially explain the surge. Note that only India with its lower vax rate has not skyrocketed with new cases, but likely tests less. Of interest, the three countries with the highest vax rates also surged up the most with Australia exploding past all.

Daily New Confirmed COVID Deaths: Obviously, deaths are the most important metric and will lag behind new cases by at least two weeks and sometimes a month or more. However, notice that COVID deaths in every country except India have spiked upward almost in unison. You can continue to monitor the same daily death rates here.

Some Key Takeaways:

The more contagious, but far less deadly omicron variant plus more frequent testing are likely driving cases up. However, the totally unexpected increase in deaths is concerning. The winter season may explain some of it, except Australia, where it is their summer. These data confirm that the countries with high vax and booster rates correlate with the Jan. 2022 increase in cases and deaths. This confirms that the most likely cause is the claimed negative efficacy effect from the overuse of the original vaccines. In other words, the original vaccines are now causing more harm than good. Sweden's herd immunity success is now busted, likely because of its belated decision to force vaccinations when almost everyone there was already protected by natural immunity. Australia's unexpected surge in cases and deaths suggests that its draconian lockdowns and other mandates have delayed COVID but totally failed to keep it away. Costly universal lockdowns, regardless of how extreme, serve only to delay the inevitable. Only India's exceptionally low death rate is unaffected at least so far, but its climbing vax rate, if continued, is a concern. The world needs to immediately cease relying on the original vaccines and learn to live with the virus. For people infected, follow India's example by approving the emergency use of similar early-treatment therapeutics to stop the progression of the disease before it can reach the stage resulting in hospitalization or death. Obviously, more in-depth research by professional immunologists with much more expertise than mine will be required to confirm these findings.

Let's face it. The virus has reached the stage where it is endemic and will be with us forever, just like the related common cold and seasonal flu. It's time for us to resume living our lives without the continual government fear-mongering, virtue-signaling, and freedom-robbing COVID mandates.

Images: Our World in Data.
(Image source from: IANS)

PRC Order: AP government employees threaten Strike:- The government employees of Andhra Pradesh are unhappy with the PRC order issued by the government. They threatened of serving strike notice on the Chief Secretary on January 21st if the government fails to respond to their requests. APJAC Chairman Srinivasa Rao revealed that the further course of action will be announced by the JAC leaders today. They made it clear that the negotiations with the government will be initiated only after the GO on the 11th PRC is canceled. The state's Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma called for a meeting with the leaders to explain about the stand and the move of the government. The leaders were not satisfied with the explanation of the Chief Secretary. CS said that the revenue of the state has fallen drastically because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Employees Association of the Andhra Pradesh chaired a meeting that covers 40 departments. President Suryanarayana and General Secretary Askara Rao were present and they rejected the GO on PRC that is announced by the government of Andhra Pradesh on Monday night. The government officials have been waiting from the past 42 months for the implementation of the PRC. They said that the government never considered the Ashutosh Mishra committee report before the PRC was finalized. PRC Saadhana Committee is formed and JAC along with PRTU, SLTA, YSRTF, SC-ST TF, MAPTA, APUS, RJUP, APTG, BTA, RTU and NTA. All the unions and the members will participate in the agitations starting from today. The strike notice will be served tomorrow to the Chief Secretary if the GO is not canceled.
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Apple and Google are under fire in Illinois, with state senators filing a bill to restrain the companies practice of charging commissions on in-app purchases from the developers. This bill addresses the Google Play Store for Android and the App Store by Apple.

Last year, Google lowered its commissions to 15% for the developers first $1 million in annual revenue. However, the 30% limit would still apply to anything beyond this figure.

The bill, known as the Freedom to Subscribe Directly Act, also wants to permit developers to sell their products and services outside of Apple and Googles app ecosystems. Additionally, the senators are also seeking the removal of the aforementioned commission policy. Illinois-based tech company Bandcamp strongly favors the senators move as it has been directly impacted by the policies.

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Apple demanded we sell our new service through their payment processor, so they could take their 30% cut, or wed be thrown out of the app store, Bandcamp co-founder and CTO, David Heinemeier-Hansson said.

Basecamp might have among the few companies willing to speak up but we are far from the only ones dealing with these oppressive regimes, he went on to say.

Facebook recently launched a separate site to purchase Stars

As WGEM notes (via Phone Arena), similar bills are under process in nine state legislatures across the U.S. These include Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and North Dakota.

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The 30% commission also applies to subscriptions purchased via Android or iOS news apps. Senator Steve Stadelman, a former reporter himself, said that the commissions should go back to the newsrooms. Local news operations have already lost a lot of advertising money to tech companies, I think this is one way to make that playing field more fair, the senator said.

While previous attempts at similar bills havent gone well, app developers would hope for this new bill to be different. There have been calls for Apple and Google to revise or remove the 30% cut for in-app purchases. However, its been a significant hurdle for legislators, given the monopoly of the two companies.

Meta recently launched its own website for Facebook users to purchase an in-app currency known as Stars. The platform also offered bonus stars for customers who bought it via the website rather than Apple or Googles app hubs. While this may work for Meta/Facebook, smaller companies cannot afford such maneuvers.
T-Mobile is expanding its Home Internet service across 57 cities and towns in Texas. This move aims to improve internet access across the states rural communities to benefit a wide range of sectors. The carrier claims that around 4 million Texans today either have only one home broadband provider or none at all.

An estimate by the Texas Education Agency reveals that nearly 1.8 million students in the state couldnt undertake virtual learning due to a lack of broadband at home. Meanwhile, over a quarter of the population in Texas towns like Brownwood, Mount Pleasant, and Fredericksburg reportedly have no access to traditional home broadband.

T-Mobile is also positioning itself as a viable alternative to traditional landline ISPs (internet service providers) across Texas. The carrier claims ISPs charged their customers over $9 billion in monthly fees throughout 2020.

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By comparison, T-Mobiles Home Internet service costs $50/month with autopay included. The carrier also promises to maintain the same pricing for at least two years. And for a limited time, new Home Internet customers get a $50 virtual prepaid card. Thats one month of service ON US, the carrier said in a press release.

T-Mobile is offering a few perks for first-time customers of Home Internet

This is certainly an exciting proposition for customers in rural Texas looking to get broadband for the first time. Some of the other promotions include $10 off on Philo and YouTube TV for one year. Theres also one year of Paramount+ for free.

Apple TV+ is free for a year, provided you are signed up for the Magenta plan. You can also get Netflix for free, although it requires a qualifying T-Mobile wireless plan. First-time customers of T-Mobile Home Internet also get a free TVision HUB.

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Its hard to believe that in 2022 we could have so many homes without internet access, T-Mobiles Executive Vice President of Emerging Products, Dow Draper said.

With the investments weve made in our 5G network, we have the additional capacity needed to deliver on the full potential of 5G technology and bring home internet to millions of households across Texas and nationwide.

Head over to T-Mobiles site for more information on regions newly supported by Home Internet in Texas.
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Talladega, AL (35160)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
PALERMO - The MSF-run migrant rescue ship Geo Barents on Thursday morning rescued 109 people on a boat off the Libyan coast.

Among them were many Eritreans and almost half were minors between the age of 15 and 17, most of whom were travelling without any adult with them.

On Wednesday the MSF ship had rescued 87 others including two children.
ROME - Every day some five million cigarette butts are dropped on beaches and a total of 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered in the environment every year across the world.

These are the figures presented as part of the results of an awareness campaign entitled "Small Gestures, Large Crimes 2021" against the leaving cigarette butts in the environment, organized by Marevivo in collaboration with the Italian branch of BAT.

In the Mediterranean, cigarette butts account for 40% of rubbish, while plastic bottles are 9.5%, plastic sacks 8.5%, and aluminum cans 7.6%.

Moreover, Marevivo noted, this waste is not biodegradable and dissolve into microplastics that, if consumed by marine species, become part of our food chain.

The cigarette butts release harmful substances into the sea, resulting in significant damage to the marine ecosystem.

This second edition of the Marevivo-BAT campaign, held through 2021, involved the following cities: Fermo, Catania, Bari, San Felice Circeo, Marina di Cecina, Viareggio, and Saviano.

Some 15,000 pocket ash collectors were handed out to reduce the littering and 15 cigarette butt collectors were installed in the city.

Over 100 posters were hung up as well, to raise awareness.

Over 10,000 people, Marevivo said, have signed a manifesto against littering and the JustOnEarth monitoring service found a reduction of cigarette butts amounting to 86% in Fermo, 57% in Catania, and 16% in Bari.
MSF's Geo Barents rescues 109 migrants off Libya 87 on Wednesday from a large boat having difficulties

(ANSAmed) - PALERMO, JAN 20 - The MSF-run migrant rescue ship Geo Barents on Thursday morning rescued 109 people on a boat off the Libyan coast.



Among them were many Eritreans and almost half were minors between the age of 15 and 17, most of whom were travelling without any adult with them.



On Wednesday the MSF ship had rescued 87 others including two children. (ANSAmed).




Syrian father and son in iconic photo to arrive in Italy Friday evening, then a future in Siena

(ANSAmed) - SIENA, JAN 20 - Munzir and Mustafa, a Syrian father and son missing limbs due to the war in their home country and featured in a now-well-known photo entitled 'Hardship of Life', will arrive on Friday evening in Italy to start a new life in Siena.



They will receive medical treatment at the Vigorso di Budrio prostheses center near Bologna.



The announcement was made by Siena International Photo Awards, which awarded the photograph of Munzir and Mustafa by the Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan as its top winner.



The festival has begun raising funds to help the father and son and other victims of the conflict in Syria.



The fundraising, which is also to support a program for rehabilitation and aid for people who have had amputations, is now at over 100,000 on the Gofundme platform.



"Munzir and Mustafa will arrive tomorrow evening in Italy, at the Ciampino airport from Turkey," said the founder and artistic director of the award, photographer Luca Venturi. "Then they will go to live in a Caritas home in Siena provided by the archdiocese and they will be able to receive treatment at Vigorso di Budrio prostheses center".



Venturi said that the "the comunicative power of that photo has turned into real support for the family thanks to the fundraising that we started and which many people have contributed to. As photographic competition, we did not consider ourselves the most appropriate to do this, but in the end it was the right choice because it made this miracle possible." (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - A contest of wills continues between Tunisian president Kais Saied and the Higher Judicial Council (HJC) as part of the "need for a reform of the judicial system for an effective fight against corruption", the president has said.

With a presidential decree, Saied decided to do away with financial bonuses granted to members of the High Judicial Council, including through some modifications to Law 34 of 2016, which regulates the body.

The move immediately angered judges, first and foremost the honorary president of the Association of Tunisian magistrates, Raoudha Karafi, who said that Saied's decision to lift the benefits was to be expected.

"The bonuses for HJC members are, according to the law regarding the HJC, prerogative of the Council. Saied's decision is punitive because the HJC has held onto its independence and refused government interference," Karafi said.

The HJC is seen by some president-aligned factions as part of a corrupt judiciary in need of reform.

The Tunisians For Equal Justice observatory had recently asked Saied to "not hesitate to dissolve the self-monitoring and directional body of the judiciary, on the basis of inspection reports by the Justice Ministry and the Audits Court, as well as numerous cases that involved several corrupt judges." The bonuses that Saied has lifted, the judges say, include a few thousand dinars and a quantity of petrol for each member of the HJC, a measure that has been called populist by some initial commentators.
Lorraine Kelly has addressed her 2019 tax tribunal case, saying: I dont want people to think I would do anything to get out of paying what I should be paying.

The TV host made headlines when she won a 1.2 million battle with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), with a judge saying the Scottish star presents a persona of herself, agreeing she was not an ITV employee and instead was hired to perform the role of a friendly, chatty and fun personality.

Kelly, 62, told The Guardian she was happy to address the case because Ive never got my chance to put my side of the story across.

She added: Im a firm believer in the NHS, a firm believer in better education and housing and looking after people who cant help themselves.

I was brought up in a very working-class background where you pay your dues.

Kellys on-screen break came in 1984 when she joined TV-am, and since then, she has become a familiar face on the small screen and has presented her hugely popular daily talk show Lorraine since 2010.

She told the paper she could live with the mirth prompted by the ruling, which suggested she was essentially playing the role of Lorraine Kelly.

The HMRC had argued that Kelly is effectively an ITV employee and should be subject to income tax and National Insurance payments.

Lorraine Kelly said the case had given people great hilarity (PA)

But the judge ruled she was hired for her services as an entertainer and was in control of both her working day and her show.

We were satisfied that Ms Kelly presents a persona of herself, she presents herself as a brand and that is the brand ITV sought when engaging her, the judge said.

All parts of the show are a performance, the act being to perform the role of a friendly, chatty and fun personality.

Kelly told The Guardian: Now that I can laugh at.

It was, sadly, a bit of a misinterpretation but I knew what (the judge) meant.

Obviously, its given people great hilarity and I can live with that.
The boss of City Pub Group has said the return of office workers will be a much needed boost to the hospitality sector as he also warned that cost increases will lead to higher prices for customers.

Clive Watson, chief executive of the pub group, told the PA news agency that it has been coming through the worst of it in recent weeks after December trade was hit hard by the spread of Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The company, which runs around 50 pubs, predominantly in London and the south of England, said December began well but eventually saw trade at 85% of pre-pandemic levels after most office party bookings were cancelled.

However, it added that strong sales in October and November offset the impact of the weaker performance last month.

The group said that January saw a slow month following Omicron caution but highlighted a significant increase in trade over the past 10 days.

Mr Watson said: We obviously did not start the year in quite the place we would have hoped a month earlier but weve seen positive signs in the past week or two.

It will take a bit of time before we get back to the levels we saw in October or November but hopefully will be there by the end of February at least.

We are massively positive about losing the Plan B restrictions and particularly the change regarding working from home.

The return of office workers will be a much needed boost and gives us plenty of encouragement.

The pub group boss also warned that price increases for food and drink were inevitable amid a surge in the firms energy bills and other cost rises.

City Pub added that it witnessed a rise in Covid-related absences in December and the start of January due to the spread of Omicron but has recently seen this improve.

Bra group Revolution said it has seen cancelled corporate parties rebooked for the start of this year (Revolution/PA)

Separately, bar group Revolution told shareholders on Thursday that it also saw a downturn in custom in December due to the work from home guidance, vaccine certification in clubs and government messaging which unhelpfully encouraged the limiting of social interactions.

It said it particularly felt this impact with the cancellation of office parties, with a 39% drop in pre-booked revenue over the six weeks to January 1.

However, it added that many of the cancelled corporate bookings have been moved to early in 2022.

The group reported that total sales for the six months to January 1 were 1.4% higher than the same period two years earlier.

Rob Pitcher, chief executive officer of Revolution Bars Group, said: I am so proud of our teams resilience in the face of the confusing government messaging and the disappointment of the wave of corporate booking cancellations it caused during December.

The only comfort is that many of these parties have already been rebooked and it was pleasing to see the number of general guest bookings significantly up versus 2019 demonstrating that our young guest base remains as enthused and excited about our offering as we are.

Yesterdays news of the scrapping of the work from home guidance and the cancellation of all other restrictions is very welcome for our business and will actively help rebuild consumer confidence.
Lawyers for British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell have asked for a retrial after her conviction for sex trafficking.

Maxwell, 60, who was labelled dangerous by the prosecution during her three-week trial in New York, was found guilty of enticing vulnerable teenagers to financier Jeffrey Epsteins various properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Maxwells lawyer, Bobbi C Sternheim, made the official request in a letter to Judge Alison Nathan which states: Today, counsel for Ghislaine Maxwell filed her motion for a new trial.

The retrial request comes after a juror in the case told media that he spoke to the other jurors of his experience of being sexually abused.

In the letter, the lawyer adds: We request that all submissions pertaining to juror no 50 remain under seal until the court rules on the motion.

Earlier this month Maxwells lawyers had argued there is a compelling basis for the court to overturn Ms Maxwells conviction and grant her a new trial based on the disclosures of Juror 50 during deliberations.

Potential jurors had to fill out questionnaires as part of the selection process which asked if they, a friend or family member had ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault.

The questionnaire also stated that witnesses in the case may testify claiming sexual abuse or sexual assault, and asked whether the potential juror would have any difficulty in assessing the credibility of these people.

Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein (US Department of Justice/PA)

The full indictment against Maxwell listed six charges, including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Maxwell was also accused of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, sex trafficking conspiracy.

She has yet to be sentenced after being convicted last month on five of the six counts she faced.

She was found not guilty of one count  enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.

The court in the Southern District of New York heard that Maxwell imposed a culture of silence by design at Epsteins properties, where staff were told to see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.

The prosecution told the jury that while the horrific abuse was going on, the defendant lived a life of luxury and the trafficking was described as a means to support her lifestyle.

Defence lawyers Laura Menninger (left) and Jeffrey Pagliuca (middle right) leaving the federal courthouse after Maxwell was convicted (Anthony Behar/PA)

The court has set a deadline of February 2 for the Governments response to the motion for a new trial, and February 9 for the defence reply, while the judge previously delayed the preparation of a pre-sentence report until April while post-trial motions are resolved.

Lawyer Jill Greenfield, who represented alleged UK victims of Epstein in civil claims, told the PA news agency: I am upset for the victims and those that gave evidence at trial. To have done that once is obviously very difficult for them but the uncertainty surrounding this is, I am sure, causing them a great deal of anxiety.

With the fortune he made from his financial dealings, Epstein and Maxwell lived a life of luxury jetting around the world and living at the millionaires many properties around the world while bragging about being friends with high-profile figures, including former US president Donald Trump.

Maxwells friends also included royalty.

She had known the Duke of York since her days at university and introduced Andrew to Epstein.
Lifetime researching corn reaps national bounty

(China Daily) 09:10, January 20, 2022

Cheng Xiangwen, a corn seed engineer of Henan province's Hebi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, discusses the growth of corn with fellow agricultural workers in a field in Hainan province. (Photo/CHINA DAILY)

HAIKOUFor his 86th birthday, Cheng Xiangwen enjoyed a corn-shaped cake prepared by his colleagues.

"My birthday wish is to develop better corn varieties," he said. After the celebration, he set off on yet another trip to Sanya, in South China's Hainan province, where he has worked for a large chunk of his life.

The 86-year-old is an agronomist and has dedicated his life to studying and cultivating corn. He comes to Sanya every year in November and stays for six months.

Cheng's work is part of national efforts to strengthen agriculture and food security.

Over the years, China's policies on ensuring food security have played a significant role in elevating the living standards of its 1.4 billion people and have contributed to global food security. Ensuring food security will remain a national priority this year.

During the annual central rural work conference held last month, Chinese leaders reiterated that the country must maintain a secure food supply at all times and urged all relevant parties to play their role in protecting farmland and stabilizing grain output.

Cheng is a native of central China's Henan province, a massive center of corn production. After graduating in 1963, he became an agrotechnician in Henan's Xunxian county. At the time, the national average annual corn output was a meager 750 kilograms per hectare.

Once, as he was conducting a field survey, a female farmer said to him in tears: "You graduated from college. Could you please find a way to boost the corn output here? If the yields are higher, our children will no longer suffer from hunger."

Since then, Cheng has made breeding high-yield corn varieties his life's goal.

In 1964, he came to Hainan, where it is warmer, and began breeding work. He slashed the cultivation period and created hybrid corn breeds for the first time. With these new breeds, average corn output in Xunxian exceeds 3,750 kg per hectare per year. The farmers there describe Cheng's seeds as "golden beans".

Despite the beautiful coastline, the area where Cheng works used to be plagued by grinding poverty and poor traffic and was once known locally for having many rats, mosquitoes, leeches and poisonous snakes.

At the time, he did everything on his own. He went back and forth between the cornfield and a public toilet several kilometers away to collect manure, and lived in a village house for over 20 years. He often went deep into the mountains to chop firewood for cooking.

Cheng's hard work has paid off. Now, authorities have approved 14 new, high-yield corn varieties he helped develop.

Soon, he will celebrate his 57th Chinese Lunar New Year at the cultivation center in Sanya. He now heads a research team of 10, and the research facilities have greatly improved.

The agronomist is dedicated to breeding high-yield corn varieties with greater resistance that are easier to harvest by machine. He still goes to the fields every day to observe and record the corn's growth.

"Cultivating seeds is like raising children. Only by careful parenting can you become familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and help them grow healthily," he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
FRIENDS:

Susan Orlean puts her literary agility to work with On Animals (Avid Reader Press, 256 pp., $28). These 16 essays, many originating in The New Yorker, are well researched but also full of her personal passion for animals of all varieties.

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She wanted a cat from childhood: We had a cat, but she lived outside and came by the house only to collect her meals. Alternatives were few; pet-averse Mom could be swayed only so much. But the attraction of dogs and mice and ponies endured.

Folks asked: Why animals?

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They amuse me, she reports. They keep me company.  They seem to have something in common with us, and yet theyre alien, unknowable, familiar but mysterious.

She talks from experience; I was animalish, but the rest of the world might not be.

She married a lawyer. When a landlord refused to rent them an apartment in Manhattan, he explained: No lawyers. I dont rent to lawyers.

I felt faint, she says. To the landlord she blurted, But we have a dog.

Thats nice, he said. Dogs are fine, its just lawyers that arent okay.

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Daywatch Weekdays Start your morning with today's local news >

Orlean: The art critic and philosopher John Berger once said that we like to look at animals because they remind us of the past and particularly of the agrarian life  I agree, but I also think we look at animals because theyre funny and companionable and interesting. Some of my animals have jobs.  My dog scares the FedEx man. The cats, by their arrogant disregard of duty, serve to remind me that I have to schedule Terminix to come and chase the mice out of the basement.

Thats action. Heres adventure:

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The knock on chickens, Orlean notes, has always been that theyre stupid. ... But my hens didnt seem stupid. They explored the pen with that stop-action motion that makes chickens look like cartoon characters, but with a brisk alertness and sharp curiosity. Right away, I figured out that pecking order isnt just a figure of speech. They adhered to a strict social system, with each hen taking her turn at the feeder and corrective nips doled out to any chicken that stepped out of line.

Orlean places her hands gently on the human condition, often with a remarkable sense of ham-on-wry:

If therapists didnt charge you and were willing to chase sticks, they would be dogs. The kindly and receptive silence, the respect for secrets, the inexhaustible supply of attention ... . Dogs, though, are more fun  more tender, more dear, and certainly more admiring.

Susan Orlean sees the love. And shares it. Brilliantly.

Bill Ruehlmann is professor emeritus of journalism and communications at Virginia Wesleyan University.
WASHINGTON  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has invited Ivanka Trump to give voluntary testimony.

In a letter sent Thursday to former President Donald Trump's eldest daughter, who served as a top White House adviser, the committee's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said it was seeking information about her communications with the White House surrounding the attack.

The committee said it that has evidence that Ivanka Trump was "in direct contact" with her father on the day of the riot and that she may have "direct knowledge" of the former president's efforts to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to block Congress' certification of the 2020 election results.

A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump told NBC News that she "just learned that the January 6 Committee issued a public letter asking her to appear. As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally. As she publicly stated that day at 3:15pm, any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.

The committee's letter does not allege that she spoke at the rally.

The committee said it obtained text exchanges and testimony given by White House officials at the time describing efforts to convince the former president to intervene in the riot. The letter cited a text message exchange that it says occurred between a White House staff member and a person outside the White House.

"Is someone getting to potus? He has to tell protestors to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed," said a person outside the White House staff, according to the committee.

According to the committee, the White House staff member replied: "I've been trying for the last 30 minutes. Literally stormed in outer oval to get him to put out the first one. It's completely insane."

The letter also cited testimony from Keith Kellogg, who was Pence's national security adviser at the time and told the committee that Ivanka Trump made multiple attempts to convince her father to step in.

The committee also wants to discuss the effort after the attack "to persuade President Trump not to associate himself with certain people, and to avoid further discussion regarding election fraud allegations," said the letter.

The committee said it also obtained texts between Fox News host Sean Hannity and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Jan. 7 laying out a planned approach for conversations with Trump.

"No more stolen election talk," said Hannity in a text to McEnany, according to the letter.

The letter says she replied: "Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will help reinforce ... "

Thompson requested to meet with Ivanka Trump in early February.

Earlier this month, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said the panel has testimony that Ivanka Trump asked her father to intervene as his supporters ransacked the Capitol.

"The committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred. We know, as you know well, that the briefing room at the White House is just a mere few steps from the Oval Office," Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, said on ABC News' "This Week" on Jan. 2.

She said that at any moment, Trump could have walked to the briefing room and appeared on television.

"We know members of his family, we know his daughter  we have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence," Cheney said.

Over the past few months, the committee has been accelerating its investigation into the riot, as well as any actions or inaction by Trump and his allies. The panel also recently asked Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Scott Perry, R-Pa., to provide information about their activities. Thompson, as chairman, said that the committee's ability to subpoena the two lawmakers remains uncertain.
The Government has badly let down British Council staff and contractors with many still trapped in Afghanistan, Labour has said.

But the Government said it is working with the international community to do all we can to enable those eligible to relocate to the UK.

Asking an urgent question in the Commons, Labour shadow foreign office minister Fabian Hamilton said: Months after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, there are still many, many British Council staff and contractors stranded in the country and facing threats of violence every single day from the regime.

He insisted we owe those brave, brave people so much for supporting the UKs work in Afghanistan over the last two decades, adding: The fact that some of them, many of them, are still trapped in the country, fearing their own lives means that the UK Government has badly let them down.

SNP MP Anum Qaisar said: Around 100 ex-British Council staff are still in Afghanistan having so far been denied the right to come to the UK.

The MP for Airdrie and Shotts said those people now feel abandoned by the country that they worked for.

While Labour MP Hilary Benn said: Afghans who worked for the British Council are in fear of their lives.

I have been told that in one case the Taliban came to a house, hit a seven-year-old girl in order to try and get her to reveal where her father was.

The MP for Leeds Central suggested providing money and other support to those in hiding.

A full flight of 265 people supported by members of the UK Armed Forces on board an evacuation flight out of Kabul airport, Afghanistan (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/PA)

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) raised concerns over whether British aid is reaching those in need, saying there are children, pregnant mothers, people about to die if this aid doesnt get to them.

Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling said British Council staff have performed a really important role in Afghanistan and it is therefore right that we are supporting those in need.

She said: The Government agreed to resettle more than 50 British council contractors in August, many of whom have already arrived in the United Kingdom.

But we are looking to resettle those British Council contractors who are most at risk.

She added: Employees have already been able to resettle to the United Kingdom, but the contractors who will be eligible will be based on their risk.

Ms Milling said: We are committed to working in step with the international community to do all we can to enable those who are eligible to relocate to the UK.

It is also worth noting that resettlement is just one element to the UKs Government response to the situation in Afghanistan.

In addition to our diplomatic and international aid in the region, we are also working alongside like-minded states as part of the international community.

She said the UK has doubled aid to Afghanistan to 286 million which will be so essential to provide humanitarian assistance to those most in need.

She said: The ACRS (Afghan citizens resettlement scheme) that was announced earlier this month will provide those most at risk by recent events in Afghanistan a route to safety.

And this scheme will prioritise those who have assisted the UKs efforts in Afghanistan.
An American who is believed to have faked his own death to escape sex assault charges  and was later arrested in a Scottish hospital after almost dying from coronavirus  has been arrested again after missing his extradition hearing.

Nicholas Rossi, who is known by various other names, was wanted in connection with an alleged sexual assault in Utah in 2008, the Utah County Attorneys Office said, and was arrested in a Glasgow hospital late last year.

He was expected before Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday for his extradition hearing but failed to attend and a warrant was issued for his arrest, the Mail Online reported.

Nicholas Rossi was expected to appear before Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday (Jane Barlow/PA)

The Utah County Attorney confirmed on Thursday Rossi was wanted by police, and that officers later arrested him in Glasgow.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: Officers arrested a 34-year-old man in the Woodlands area of Glasgow today, Thursday, 20 January, 2022, in connection with an arrest warrant. He is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday.

The 34-year-old was arrested using another alias, Arthur Knight, in December last year as he was being treated for Covid at the citys Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

David Leavitt, Utah County Attorney, said: We again express our gratitude to the law enforcement agencies for their diligent efforts in this matter to bring this individual to justice.

We do not comment on extradition proceedings or on the details of the work done in the course of this ongoing investigation.

Utah prosecutors said the alleged fugitive fled the country to avoid prosecution and attempted to lead investigators and state legislators in other states to believe that he was deceased.

Several media outlets reported in 2020 that Nicholas Alahverdian, said to be one of Mr Rossis many fake names, had died on February 29 2020 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

They cited the website EverLoved.com, which said his body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.

An online obituary dedicated to Nicholas Alahverdian read: Nicholas Alahverdians battle for life ended on February 29 2020.

The children and families in the care of the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) for whom he inspired and led through turbulent government transgressions have lost a warrior that fought on the front lines for two decades.
President Joe Biden arrived in office with lofty expectations from environmentalists who hoped that his ambitious campaign rhetoric would translate into an aggressive climate platform to match.

One year into his tenure, advocates credit Biden for setting an historically bold agenda, taking important steps to undo Trump-era rollbacks, and enacting a whole-of-government approach to combat climate change.

"President Biden is delivering," said Margo Oge, the former director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, and current chair of the International Council on Clean Transportation.

But for others, the honeymoon has ended. Inconsistencies and broken pledges have frustrated some, and the fate of Biden's ambitious Build Back Better proposal -- which would commit $550 billion toward addressing climate change -- remains in congressional purgatory.

His most fervent critics say he is failing.

"While Biden started off the year strong by undoing most of Trump's anti-climate executive orders, Biden has stopped leading and is instead feeding us empty promises without delivering on a bold climate agenda," said Varshini Prakash, executive director of Sunrise Movement, an advocacy group that supports political action on climate change.

MORE: How Biden is reversing Trump's environmental actions

The mixed reviews reflect a larger dispute within the environmental community as to what constitutes success. Pragmatists see Biden's climate change efforts as crucial momentum in what Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce calls the "incredibly plodding, deliberative pace of administrative rulemaking." But more progressive groups like the Sunrise Movement see it differently. Biden, says Prakash, is "refusing to meet the moment we're in right now."

Indeed, as the Biden administration embarks on its second year in power, important climate change metrics continue their dire trend. European scientists recently concluded that the past seven years have been the hottest on record "by a clear margin." And in 2021, America's greenhouse gas emissions rose by more than 6%, according to the Rhodium Group global research institute.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Nov. 2, 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland. (TASS via Getty Images)

Experts warn that the political outlook for the coming year may shrink Biden's window for a legislative victory. Congressional gridlock shows no sign of letting up, looming midterm elections may soon complicate efforts to take bold action, and Biden's approval rating remains on a downward trend, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.

And if Democrats lose control of Congress in November's midterms, or the White House in 2024, advocates fear the next few months may end up being the last chance for environmentalists to see major legislative action for a decade.

On Wednesday, Biden said he remains "confident [the administration] can get pieces -- big chunks -- of the Build Back Better law signed into law" before the midterm elections.

"Now is the time for the Biden administration to build on and accelerate the progress made in their first year," said Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental group.

'Come out swinging'

For environmentalists, Biden's very presence in the White House marked an important turning point in the climate fight. His predecessor, former President Donald Trump, sought to dismantle the federal government's ability to address climate change and took a series of executive actions in line with that philosophy, including removing the U.S. from Paris Climate Accord -- a move that Biden reversed on his first day in office.

Under Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency also took steps to loosen emissions standards put in place during the Obama administration -- another measure that Biden has since reversed.

"We were super excited for President Biden -- who ran on what was the most aggressive and ambitious climate agenda ever -- to come out swinging," said Pierce. "The level of ambition, scope, and breadth of what he was tackling was extraordinary."

PHOTO: Pieces of the melting face of Fjallsjokull glacier jut into a lake of the glacier's own meltwater, Aug. 14, 2021, near Hof, Iceland. Iceland is undergoing a strong impact from global warming. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Before even setting foot in the Oval Office, Biden signaled his intent to prioritize climate issues. He committed to making the U.S. government carbon neutral by 2050, and placed fighting climate change in his pantheon of top priorities alongside strengthening the economy, ending the coronavirus pandemic, and battling racism.

The emphasis on climate reached the far corners of Biden's transition process. A former member of Biden's intelligence transition team told ABC News that their mandate was to focus resources toward combatting "the three C's" -- COVID-19, China, and climate change.

"Climate science demands this 'whole of government' approach that pursues every opportunity," said Chase Huntley, the vice president of strategy at the nonprofit Wilderness Society.

MORE: Manchin says he's a 'no' on Biden's Build Back Better social spending plan

Once in office, Biden took several organizational and bureaucratic steps to pivot away from Trump's policies. He launched a White House Climate Policy Office to coordinate an administration-wide response to climate change, and established the White House's first Environmental Justice Advisory Council to ensure that at least 40% of the benefits of climate investments go to communities that are disproportionately impacted by pollution.

Then came the executive actions, which environmentalists lauded for their sweeping reversal of Trump's rollbacks. A Washington Post analysis found that Biden targeted half of the Trump era's energy and environmental executive actions. A White House spokesperson highlighted Bidens efforts to restore U.S. climate leadership abroad, jump-start electric vehicle development, and accelerate clean energy initiatives.

But since those early days of the Biden administration, his climate victories have been blunted by setbacks.

Two steps forward, one step back

While experts say the Biden administration has made meaningful progress on climate issues ranging from emissions standards to fossil fuel extraction, environmentalists also see inconsistencies -- actions from the administration that seem to undermine the president's own pledges and rhetoric.

On the use of federal lands and waters, for example, the administration garnered praise from environmentalists when the Department of Interior suspended its controversial oil and gas leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the summer of 2021. And just last week, the White House announced plans to open up large swaths of New York and New Jersey coastal waters for renewable wind infrastructure, which experts say will eventually produce enough energy to power two million homes.

But those developments have been overshadowed by the Biden administration's auctioning off of large swaths of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico for oil drilling, a decision that will serve to "perpetuate climate pollution from public lands instead of reduce it," according to Huntley.

PHOTO: In about 8,000 feet of water, Shell's Perdido offshore drilling and production platform is the world's deepest offshore rig. Shown in this 2012 photo, it is located in the Gulf of Mexico 200 miles southwest of Houston. (Corbis via Getty Images)

Biden pledged to end new drilling on federal lands during his presidential campaign, and just days before the lease sale in November, he encouraged every nation at the Glasgow COP26 Climate Conference to "do its part" to solve the climate crisis.

"It's hard to imagine a more dangerous, hypocritical action in the aftermath of the climate summit," said Kristen Monsell, a lawyer for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.

Administration officials justified the decision to move forward with the lease sale by citing a court order to do so, despite claims from environmentalists that they were under no such obligation. On Wednesday, environmental groups sent a legal petition calling on the administration to cease oil and gas production on public lands by 2035. The Department of Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vehicle emissions have also emerged as a source of contention. The EPA under Biden recently proposed the most aggressive limits on pollution from cars and light trucks in history, mandating higher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles starting in 2023. Experts welcomed the measure and took stock of its significance.

MORE: EPA announces strictest vehicle emissions standards ever

"Given that transportation is the number-one greenhouse gas contributor in the U.S., that was a pretty big deal," said Oge.

But Biden refused to sign on to a multi-country commitment to take similar steps for buses and large trucks -- some of the highest-polluting vehicles on the road. After the COP26 summit in Glasgow, 15 countries signed a pledge to make all new commercial trucks electric by 2040. The U.S. was not one of them.

"I was disappointed," Oge said. "But it does not mean the administration can't still take steps to reduce those emissions."

The administration also scored points with activists when it stepped in to halt the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. But Abigail Dillen of Earthjustice points out that it failed to take action against the Line 3 pipeline, which, "from a climate standpoint, [is] equally harmful," Dillen said.

PHOTO: The tar sands of Alberta, Canada, produce the oil that is transported in the Line 3 pipeline. (ABC News)

"The Biden administration has clear authority to take back the Line 3 permit," said Dillen. "The real difference between these two pipelines appears to be a political calculus. The Biden administration encountered unsurprising blowback in some quarters for its Keystone decision."

Several environmentalists speculate that the Biden administration has sought to use its executive authority sparingly -- doing enough to strengthen major climate priorities, but not so much as to put off moderate legislators whose votes will be needed to pass Build Back Better.

Despite those apparent contradictions, Biden's political allies remain in his corner -- particularly when his environmental record is held up against Trump's -- but they say they're looking forward to additional progress in the coming year.

"Compared to Trump, the Biden administration has done a good job," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. "But we must hold our government to a higher standard than President Trump and his cronies if we are going to be serious about taking on climate change."

Hope and headwinds

Environmentalists and industry leaders view the next few months as crucial to Biden's climate legacy, even as he faces political headwinds. Many seem inclined to be patient with Biden and his team, in light of their progress and pledges to date, and point to several areas where Biden can put points on the board.

Advocates say the administration can take additional executive actions, such as encouraging federal agencies, including the Pentagon, to turn toward electric vehicles for its fleets. The EPA has also signaled that it may propose tighter greenhouse gas emissions for heavy-duty vehicles starting in 2027 -- which Oge said she hopes will include "strong and ambitious requirements for buses and delivery vans to be electric."

PHOTO: A view of downtown Los Angeles looking north from Optum Heath Care parking lot through the smoke from the Bobcat and the El Dorado fires with poor air quality in Los Angeles, Sept. 11, 2020. (MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

"Looking ahead, this administration needs to be turning all the knobs under their control as far as they can go, for the sake of climate," Huntley said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in February in a case brought by Republican-led states that could curb the EPA's authority to regulate carbon emissions standards.

The most pressing issue, however, remains Biden's signature Build Back Better plan -- an enormous package that experts believe will make or break Biden's environmental ambitions. The plan is universally opposed by congressional Republicans

MORE: Biden's report card: 1 year in, accomplishments and stalled priorities

The plan is universally opposed by congressional Republicans, who have expressed concern over what its $1.7 trillion price tag would do to the national debt, and a pair of moderate Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who are advocating for a pared-down version of the bill.

But the White House indicated this week that it will press forward, even as other legislative priorities take center stage.

"Yes, there is a lot one can do under executive order -- but a really large portion driving the kind of investments to tackle climate change has to come from Congress," said the Sierra Club's Melinda Pierce. "When you look to measure what was done in Year One, clearly the piece that has to be achieved legislatively is incomplete."

1 year in, Biden's climate record is a mix of progress and inconsistency originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Sen. Joe Manchin stands in a hallway just outside the Senate Chamber, after speaking on the floor of the Senate. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

Among President Biden's most valuable political skills has been a knack for planting himself firmly at the ideological center of the Democratic Party, a trait that helped him win elections amid shifting winds over five decades in public life. In office, that strategy enabled him to cobble together enough lawmakers to pass a large economic relief package and a bipartisan infrastructure bill.

But as he begins his second year, battling a relentless pandemic while navigating the limits of the narrowest of congressional majorities, he has struggled to follow that familiar path for the rest of his legislative agenda.

The desires of the Democratic center  transformational spending on social programs, tackling climate change and combating Republican efforts to limit voting  are not shared by all Democrats in the Senate. Without 100% agreement in the evenly split chamber, Biden cannot accomplish anything, given Republicans' refusal to cooperate.

That disagreement and tiny margins for error have left Biden pivoting from a losing battle over a $1.8-trillion spending plan to another futile confrontation over a voting rights bill that died in the Senate on Wednesday.

Biden, who prides himself on reading Congress, knew his voting rights push was unlikely to succeed, with at least two Democratic senators and the full Republican caucus on record opposing changes to the arcane Senate filibuster rules. He warned in a CNN town hall in October that the battle over the rules could distract and imperil his economic and foreign policy agendas.

Yet this month he felt he had no choice but to plunge ahead in the face of pressure from activists and other members of his party who say that democracy is on the line. They argue that Republican-led states are aggressively remaking election rules that restrict voting access, a campaign fueled in part by former President Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Black voters, the core of the party's base, have been particularly passionate advocates in seeking to override such state laws with federal legislation. Civil rights groups have spent the last year asserting that GOP measures  especially in places such as Georgia that have a long history of racial discrimination when it comes to voting  are likely to disproportionately affect voters of color. Many complained loudly that Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold national office, was given the task of leading the effort but without the authority to negotiate in the Senate or make the strategic decision on whether to push for a change in the rules.

"You think it's bad for him to stick his neck out and lose a vote on voting rights? Well, it is f untenable for him not to have done it," said Cornell Belcher, a pollster who specializes in African American outreach. "Shrugging his shoulders and saying, 'Well, I can't win so I won't try'  that would have been disastrous for him."

Republicans, who have obstructed Biden at almost every turn, are reveling at his paralysis.

It is a little mind-boggling," said Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "I cant imagine a scenario where youre trying to distract the American public from a legislative failure by embarking on another one that is certain to fail.

They see Biden's move as an attempt to hang on to the party's most partisan voters in the November midterm elections and a concession that he has no chance with pivotal independents who care more about the economy and the pandemic.

Even some who share Biden's goals question the tactics. Richard L. Hasen, a voting rights expert at the UC Irvine's law school, said Biden should have worked on more narrow legislation designed to avert Trump's attempts to subvert the counting and certifying of the electoral college vote. That issue, especially after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, had attracted at least some Republican support. Hasen said Biden should have jumped at that opening.

Ive been mystified for months why Democrats continued to raise the stakes when it was clear that they were not going to get the buy-in from" Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), he said. "Maybe they thought the public pressure would make a difference, but I dont understand the strategy."

Biden acknowledged Wednesday that he didn't call many Republicans to negotiate on vote-counting legislation, arguing that he was first "trying to make sure we got everybody on the same page, in my party, on this score."

Sinema and Manchin have both hung on to the belief that the Senate can return to an era of bipartisan cooperation despite recent evidence to the contrary. Though the two support Democrats' voting rights bills, they have both refused to change the filibuster rules, leaving Democrats short of the 60 votes needed to pass a bill. Republicans, who once supported voting rights bills as a matter of routine, have rejected Manchin's overtures for a compromise.

Manchin has little political incentive to give Biden any more victories beyond his votes on a bipartisan infrastructure deal and approval of his nominees. West Virginia voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020. Manchin has defied his state's strong Republican tilt by defining himself as a thorn in side of the Democratic Party. An angry chorus of Democratic activists arguably helps his stature at home.

While Biden held a major year-end news conference Wednesday, trying to projectoptimism about the progress he has made, Manchin was on the Senate floor speaking about his opposition to changing the filibuster. Manchin and Sinema voted hours later against changing the 60-vote threshold into a so-called talking filibuster, which would allow members to speak twice for as long as they want before a simple majority vote on final passage.

"I respect that you have changed your position on this," Manchin said. "I hope that you would respect that I have not and I have never wavered on this."

Ruy Teixeira, a senior fellow and demographics researcher at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, compared Democrats' efforts to persuade Manchin and Sinema to Americans who go to a foreign country and compensate for their lack of language skills by shouting loudly in English.

They turned the volume up to 11 on how, if they dont do this, American democracy will die. 'You're on the side of Bull Connor or Jefferson Davis,'" Teixeira said. "Theyve just got to wake up and smell the coffee, that this doesnt work. It just doesnt.

Many Democrats disagree with that line of thinking, believing this was a fight worth having regardless of politics, given the fundamental importance of voting.

A big question here is: Are we going to have elections past 2024? Are we going to have democracy? said Brian Stryker, a Democratic pollster who has otherwise warned his party to beef up its economic message.

But now Biden has to find a way to move on. Barring early retirements, deaths or party switches, he has just a year left to govern with his current narrow majorities in Congress. If history holds, his party will lose power in at least one congressional chamber in November, giving him even less leverage in the final two years of his term.

In the meantime, he might win a few other legislative victories before January 2023 by focusing on less heralded bills targeting the supply chain and competition with China. And there is a chance he can garner 10 Republican votes for legislation protecting the presidential vote-counting process.

He said at Wednesday's news conference that he would pursue the vote-counting legislation along with "big chunks" of his spending bill, including money for early education, energy and the environment.

"I'm a mainstream Democrat and I have been," Biden said. "If you notice, 48 of the 50 Democrats supported me in the Senate on virtually everything I've asked."

But if he and those 48 lawmakers want to pass anything else, they will have to accept what Manchin and Sinema are willing to give him.

Times staff writers David Lauter and Eli Stokols contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
An Alaska Airlines plane crosses Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood as it prepares to land at Hollywood Burbank Airport in July 2019. (Raul Roa / Times Community News)

Several serious concerns have emerged this week about the California bullet train's impact on Hollywood Burbank Airport, Burbanks water supply and the taking of a massive commercial development along a proposed 13.7-mile route that is close to final environmental approval.

The final decision for the downtown Los Angeles-to-Burbank segment, which would not begin construction for about a decade if the rail authority can find money for it, was outlined at a rail authority board meeting Wednesday. Approval of the environmental impact report was scheduled for Thursday. State officials said they had carefully considered impacts along the route and that it was time to certify the documents.

The rail authority asserts that the route from the Burbank airport to Union Station would reduce air pollution, cut energy consumption, reduce congestion, improve transportation and boost the economy. The segment would cost $4.3 billion to build, including a 50-foot deep underground train station in Burbank that would be about 200 feet from a future airport passenger terminal and about two miles of tunnels near Burbank.

South of Burbank, the route would be located along an existing right of way used by Metrolink. A future bike path would have to be rerouted. Sound walls would help reduce but not eliminate significant noise impacts. Twelve residences and 133 businesses will be taken, the document indicates.

Major infrastructure projects in California often result in hard-fought negotiations with municipal officials and other groups, in part because the California Environmental Quality Act gives affected parties a powerful tool to extract concessions and compensation.

At Wednesday's meeting, Burbank officials sent letters and appeared at the proceeding, calling on the state rail authority to delay approval because of many unresolved impacts.

City water officials say the construction will temporarily take out 75% of the city's water supply and force it to recertify its system with state regulators afterward. A massive retail project that was launched a few years ago would also be taken, potentially costing the rail authority more than $900 million, according to correspondence from the developer in the last week.

Meanwhile, airport officials contend the plan could compromise air safety and that the Federal Aviation Administration has raised its own concerns with city officials.

"The airport continues to have significant concerns over the project's safety hazards and impacts," Ginetta Giovinco, an attorney representing the airport, said Wednesday at a rail authority board meeting.

Patrick Lammerding, deputy executive director of planning for the airport, said that questions remain about the route's design, including technical issues with the boring equipment, vent shaft designs and other details. "We can't look at the documents with a reasonable degree of assurance that what they are proposing is compatible with how we operate the airport," he said in an interview.

Lammerding said the city has also received concerns from the FAA about potential electromagnetic interference that the high-voltage train could have with airport communications and navigation equipment. Those talks are ongoing with the airport, which is operated under a joint powers authority, and the rail authority, he said.

Serge Stanich, director of environmental services at the rail authority, said not all of the potential construction issues along the route have been resolved, but the certification of the environmental documents would be a first step. Refinements would occur in later steps, such as permits that must be obtained before construction could occur.

But in a letter to the rail authority, Burbank has called on the rail authority to delay approval of the documents and resolve the issues, a position that Giovinco reiterated verbally on Wednesday.

It did not appear the rail authority board was prepared to grant a delay. Lynn Schenk, the longest-serving member, said nobody wanted to impact aviation safety. But she added, "We can't let those unknowns stop the project. We have to keep this going."

The environmental impact statement also indicates that the project would take a 60-acre commercial and industrial development, known as Avion Burbank, that is mostly completed. The land is needed for a tunnel staging area, the documents say.

In a letter to the authority this week, Overton Moore Properties, the developer, called on the authority to delay approval of the documents. Timur Tecimer, an executive at the firm, wrote that it would cost the state more than $900 million to acquire the property. The development would consist of about 1 million square feet of industrial buildings, 142,000 square feet of condominiums, 15,500 square feet of stores and restaurants, and a 150-room hotel.

"Given that the site likely represents the most valuable real estate that would need to be acquired for the CHSR Project, the final EIR/EIS should be revised based on a more realistic estimate of the true cost of acquiring the site," he wrote. In addition, he added, the environmental documents "should be revised to identify and evaluate additional alternatives that would avoid or minimize the need to acquire and demolish the recently-completed Avion Burbank Project."

The rail authority at one point internally estimated the cost of acquisition at $300 million, according to an official knowledgeable about the matter who was not authorized to speak to the news media.

Rail authority spokeswoman Annie Parker said the developer's estimate of the value was unsubstantiated, while the authority's estimate is "based on a reasonable and appropriate methodology."

The rail project could also disrupt the Burbank water system, which relies on a series of wells and treatment plants that are close to the future track. The wells pull water from a contaminated aquifer that is part of a Superfund site and removes industrial solvents from past aerospace operations at Lockheed Martin. The rail would involve relocating two of those wells.

Michael Thompson, manager of water engineering for the city, told the rail board that the city would have to replace 75% of its supply with purchases from the Metropolitan Water District "at great cost." He did not specify an amount. In addition, any new wells will trigger a new permitting process, because the existing wells do not satisfy current permitting requirements and will have to be upgraded, he said. All of those costs will have to be fully covered by the rail authority, he said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A chaplain at the all-female federal prison in Dublin, Calif., has been charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a woman incarcerated in the facility, authorities said Wednesday. (Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

A chaplain at an all-female federal prison in the East Bay area has been charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a woman incarcerated in the facility, authorities said Wednesday.

James Theodore Highhouse, a federal correctional worker at FCI Dublin, faces five federal charges  two counts of sexual abuse of a ward under his control in the prison, two counts of committing abusive sexual contact and one count of making false statements to FBI agents and the Department of Justice's inspector general's office.

The charges against Highhouse are the latest in a far-reaching investigation that has brought scrutiny to the prison and its staff. A former warden and two former prison guards have also been accused of sexually abusing women in their custody.

The prison, located about 20 miles southeast of Oakland, opened in 1974. It was converted to an all-female facility in 2012, one of five such institutions in the federal correctional system, and currently houses about 750 women.

Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin served time at the facility for their roles in the college admissions bribery scandal.

Federal prosecutors have portrayed the prison as a place of rampant sexual abuse, where those in charge offer the women behind bars gifts and privileges in exchange for sex.

Court records allege Highhouse's offenses occurred between May 15, 2018, and Feb. 9, 2019.

Highhouse denied the charges, prosecutors said.

His arrest comes four months after Warden Ray J. Garcia was charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting one inmate, sexually harassing another and storing pictures on his Bureau of Prisons work computer that showed the first woman naked in her cell.

Garcia, 54, is accused of digitally penetrating a woman in the prison on multiple occasions while he was the associate warden. In that capacity, he had disciplinary authority over inmates.

According to the complaint, Garcia physically assaulted the woman and placed her hand on his genitals.

In June, Ross Klinger, a former correctional officer from Riverside, was charged with sexually abusing two inmates inside the prison. Prosecutors say Klinger, 36, later met one of the women at a San Diego halfway house, where he had sex with her and proposed marriage with a diamond ring.

John Bellhouse, 39, of Pleasanton, who was assigned as a safety administrator at the prison, engaged in sexual acts with an incarcerated woman last year and gave her special privileges and gifts, the U.S. attorney's office alleged last month. He was placed on leave in March.

Law enforcement sources who were not authorized to discuss the wide-ranging probe at the prison publicly and requested anonymity said further charges may be coming.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The federal trial of three former police officers charged in the death of George Floyd is set to begin Thursday with jury selection, and some legal experts expect the presence of Floyd's convicted murderer, Derek Chauvin, to loom large over the case of his one-time subordinates.

Fired Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, 28, Thomas Lane, 38, and Tou Thao, 35, have not been offered plea deals by federal prosecutors and are set to fight civil rights charges for their alleged roles in Floyd's 2020 murder.

All three are charged with using the "color of the law," or their positions as police officers, to deprive Floyd of his civil rights on May 25, 2020, by allegedly showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs as Chauvin dug his knee in the back of a handcuffed 46-year-old Black man's neck for more than 9 minutes, ultimately killing him.

Kueng and Thao both face an additional charge alleging they knew Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd's neck but did nothing to intervene to stop him. Lane, who was heard on police body-camera footage asking if they should roll Floyd on his side to help ease his breathing, does not face that charge.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 28, 2020, file photo, people carry posters with George Floyd on them as they march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Carolyn Kaster/AP, FILE)

All three men have pleaded not guilty.

The trial in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota, will commence a little over a month after Chauvin, 45, a former Minneapolis police officer, pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd's death and the abuse of a 14-year-old boy he bashed in the head with a flashlight in 2017. He admitted in the signed plea agreement with federal prosecutors that he knelt on the back of Floyd's neck even as Floyd complained he could not breathe, fell unconscious and lost a pulse.

The guilty plea came after Chauvin was convicted in Minnesota state court of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison in the state case and is facing an even stiffer sentence in the federal case.

Legal experts interviewed by ABC News said that attorneys for Kueng, Lane and Thao will likely paint Chauvin as the villain -- and their clients as following the orders of a senior training officer. One also said that Chauvin could be called as a witness, a move that would likely present a challenge to prosecutors if he were to testify that he was solely responsible for Floyd's death.

What to expect from the defense

Kueng and Lane were rookies being trained by Chauvin at the time of Floyd's fatal arrest.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said he expects defense attorneys for Kueng, Thao and Lane to point to Chauvin as the culprit.

You really have a boogeyman that you can point the finger at," Rahmani, now president and co-founder of Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers, told ABC News. Heres someone who is not only a convicted felon, but a murderer; first time in the state of Minnesota a police officer has been convicted of second-degree murder."

PHOTO: Former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are shown in a composite of their criminal mugshots released by Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota, June 3, 2020. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP, FILE)

Rahmani said that prosecutors will likely frame the case as "an aiding-and-abetting type case."

"No one is saying that Lane, Keung and Thao actually killed George Floyd. They (allegedly) aided-and-abetted Chauvin in the murder."

In fact, following the federal trial, Lane, Keung and Thao are facing a state trial on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

The state trial, which had been scheduled to get underway in March, was postponed on Wednesday until June 13 due to uncertainty over how long the federal trial will last.

The three defendants have pleaded not guilty to the state charges.

From the outset of the state case, Lane's attorney in both the state and federal cases, Earl Gray, has portrayed Chauvin as the villain.

"What was my client supposed to do but follow what his training officer said?" Gray asked during a 2020 hearing in the state case.

In a video-recorded interview with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension after Floyd's death, Thao claimed he did not see what Chauvin and the others were doing with Floyd because he was focused on keeping a hostile crowd at bay. "I could have been more observant to Floyd," he said in the interview.

PHOTO: Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, center, is taken into custody after the verdicts were read at Chauvin's trial for the 2020 death of George Floyd, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, FILE)

PHOTO: In this image taken from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, accompanied by defense attorney Eric Nelson, addresses the court during his sentencing proceedings on June 25, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, FILE)

Jill Huntley Taylor, a veteran jury consultant and trial strategist, told ABC News that it is crucial for the defendants to differentiate themselves from Chauvin.

"I think in some ways they want for him to be the center of the case," said Taylor, the CEO of Taylor Trial Consulting. "If I'm a defendant, I think I would want to shift all attention to Chauvin. Theyre not going to defend his actions."

Trial to hinge on video

Like in the state trial of Chauvin, video is expected to play a major role in the federal case.

Its huge and its really what ultimately led to Chauvins conviction," said Taylor, who is not involved in the case.

"I think that may suggest that one of these guys, or all of them, wants to take the stand so that they can put in their own words what was going through their minds so its not just the video," added Taylor.

PHOTO: Former Minneapolis Police officer J. Alexander Keung leaves with his attorney Thomas Plunkett after a hearing at the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility on June 29, 2020 in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, FILE)

Unlike the Chauvin trial, the federal case is not expected to be livestreamed, although a coalition of media outlets has asked the judge presiding to reconsider.

The May 25, 2020, police encounter with Floyd was video recorded from start to finish and included multiple angles taken by bystanders with cellphones, police body cameras and surveillance cameras.

The footage showed Chauvin grinding his knee into the back of Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Kueng helped keep Floyd down even after he stopped resisting by placing his knee on the man's back and holding and lifting one of his handcuffed hands. Lane, according to the videos, held down Floyd's feet.

Thao, according to footage, stood a few feet away, ordering a crowd to stand back despite several witnesses, including an off-duty firefighter, expressing concern for Floyd's well-being.

MORE: Derek Chauvin pleads guilty to federal charges of violating George Floyd's civil rights

Rahmani said Lane appears to have the best chance of beating the charges because he was the only officer who seemed to voice concern for Floyd.

At one point, police body-camera footage captured Lane asking if they should roll Floyd onto his side to help him breathe easier.

"I can easily see him taking the stand," Rahmani said of Lane.

PHOTO: In this July 21, 2020, file photo, former Minneapolis Police officers Thomas Lane (L) and Tou Thao pass each other ahead of a courthouse appearance at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images, FILE)

Neither prosecutors or defense attorneys have said if they will call Chauvin to testify in the case, but Rahmani said such a move could possibly benefit the three defendants.

Lets say he were to take the stand, fall on the sword and say, I am solely responsible for George Floyds death,'" Rahmani said. "Potentially, if he were to take the stand and testify and say something to that effect, it would be a challenging case for the prosecutors."

Jury selection

Judge Paul Magnuson, who was randomly selected to preside over the federal trial, said last week that he plans to have a jury of 18, including six alternates, seated in two days. In contrast, it took more than two weeks to select a jury in Chauvin's state trial.

The jury will be chosen from a pool of 256 Minnesotans asked to report to the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul on Thursday.

PHOTO: Former Minneapolis Police officer Tou Thao exits the Hennepin County Government Center, after a courthouse appearance, on July 21, 2020, in Minneapolis. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images, FILE)

During a hearing last week, Magnuson said he will question potential jurors during the voir dire process with suggestions from the attorneys in the case. During voir dire in the state case against Chauvin, attorneys, as well as the judge, questioned potential jurors.

But Magnuson said he wants the case to move quickly to lessen the possibility of people involved in the trial coming down with COVID-19 as the omicron variant continues to spread across the country.

Rahmani said the speed of the process could be problematic for properly vetting potential jurors

MORE: Derek Chauvin found guilty on all counts in death of George Floyd

"Two days for jury selection is insane to me because everyone in the entire world has not only heard about this case but seen it, has lived it and they know that Chauvin has been convicted," Rahmani said. "The case is going to come down to jury selection and there are folks who have preconceived views about police officers. You have to really drill into what the potential jurors think about law enforcement and race."

MORE: Derek Chauvin wants to go to federal prison, even though it means he'll do more time

Taylor said prosecutors and attorneys for Lane, Keung and Thao will have different views on who they want to see on the panel.

"I think the prosecution wants people who want to hold police responsible for misconduct," Taylor said. "And the defense wants people who are very pro-police, but who are also going to defer to the judgments of police rather than challenge them."

Derek Chauvin's presence to loom large in fed trial of former cops charged in George Floyd's death: Experts originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
WASHINGTON  By turns defiant, reflective and hopeful, President Biden used just the second press conference of his presidency on U.S. soil to argue that his administration has hardly been the moribund and aimless affair depicted by Republicans and in some media reports.

While acknowledging that his first year was marked by a number of challenges, both foreseen and not, the president offered an optimistic vision of the crucial months ahead, in which both parties will prepare for Novembers midterm elections.

He described his agenda as realistic and achievable, despite a Republican opposition that he admitted caught him off guard. I'm not asking for castles in the sky, he said at one point of his embattled domestic proposals. Im asking for practical things the American people have been asking for for a long time. A long time. And I think we can get it done.

Lasting nearly two hours, Bidens press conference was nearly 30 minutes longer than the longest press conferences of either presidents Obama or Trump. As such, it was a demonstration that Biden is not the enfeebled senior portrayed nightly by Fox News pundits.

I am still standing, he joked as the press conference approached the two-hour mark and darkness fell over Washington.

Here are the key developments, revelations and unanswered questions from the press conference:

On COVID, Biden admits to testing miscalculation

President Biden giving the second news conference of his presidency. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Having declared near independence from the coronavirus in July, the president has spent the fall and winter battling the Delta and Omicron variants, which together have deprived him of the broad national reopening he had hoped for.

Biden acknowledged that his administration didnt ramp up production of rapid tests during a critical pandemic lull throughout the spring and early summer, when the nation's thin stockpile could have been bolstered.

Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes. But were doing more now, he said. The administration has begun offering free rapid tests through a website this week, but critics say the effort comes too late and is not large enough in scope.

The president acknowledged the difficulties of the present moment and tenuously pointed to life beyond the coronavirus. After almost two years of physical, emotional and psychological impact of this pandemic, for many of us, its been too much to bear, Biden said, describing an exasperation with the pandemic that his own poll numbers reflect.

Some people may call whats happening now a new normal. I call it a job not yet finished, Biden said to the masked journalists seated before him in the East Room of the White House. It will get better, were moving toward a time when COVID-19 wont disrupt our daily lives.

Reframing school closures

Residents wait in line for a COVID test in San Francisco. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

School closures have presented a persistent problem for Biden, a longtime ally of the same unions who, earlier in the pandemic, resisted having their members return to in-person instruction. Schools are now open, but not everywhere and not quite as consistently as many parents would like.

Very few schools are closing, 95 percent are still open, the president said. While that may be statistically correct, it does not entirely acknowledge how politically charged the issue has become. He later alluded to that reality, pointing out that when schools closed, they were always going to be the top of the news.

In response to a question from Yahoo News, Biden acknowledged that Republicans would likely use school closures as a wedge issue in the congressional midterms, even if school closures were no longer an issue by that time.

I think it could be, Biden said. Democrats are increasingly concerned about that prospect.

Republicans are to blame forwell, everything

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a press conference on Wednesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Biden was vice president to Barack Obama, whom then-Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell determined to make a one-term president. He didnt succeed, but did stifle his agenda at every turn.

Now Biden is discovering a similar scenario. "I did not anticipate that there'd be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn't get anything done, he said on Wednesday.

Republicans have stymied passage of his massive Build Back Better domestic spending plan, as well as his proposal to enshrine broader voting rights protections in the face of state-level Republican efforts that experts and activists say could discourage election participation. Asked by a reporter if both measures were stuck at the moment, the usually expansive Biden was blunt, responding, Thats true.

Nevertheless, he predicted that aspects of the Build Back Better agenda  which includes provisions on climate change and childhood poverty, among other measures popular with progressives  would pass in large chunks, if not as the single showstopper legislation he had hoped for. And he described his recent voting rights effort as earnest, not merely an attempt to show activists he was on their side. Ive had their back, Biden said at one point of the African American voters whose participation in the electoral process Republican efforts appear to be targeting.

At times growing indignant, Biden wondered rhetorically if Republicans had any agenda other than stopping his own: What are they for?

Asked by Yahoo News why he thought he would receive better treatment than Obama, Biden said that the party that has effectively endorsed the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol as a justifiable response to his own election was not the same one he had encountered as vice president, when he was regularly dispatched to Capitol Hill.

They werent nearly as obstructionist as they are now, Biden told Yahoo News, citing Republicans who at that time were willing to work with Democrats, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who years later would become one of Trumps staunchest supporters.

They had an agenda back then, Biden said, but I dont know what their agenda is now.

Questioning the integrity of the 2022 elections

The U.S. Capitol. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

A recent report from the States United Democracy Center found Republicans in 41 states introducing 262 different bills to subvert free and fair election administration.

It was with that reality in mind that Biden told reporters that he could not be sure that the 2022 midterms would be conducted with integrity. The remark came as he compared legislators unwilling to back his electoral reforms as being in league with notorious segregationists like Bull Connor and George Wallace  a comparison he defended, sometimes angrily, on Wednesday.

His remarks about 2022 represented a further evolution of that argument. Im not saying its going to be legit, the president said of the congressional midterms, arguing that without broader federal protections, state-level efforts by Republicans would deprive of the democratic process of fundamental credibility. The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.

As the president spoke from the White House, the Senate prepared to vote on a voting rights bill whose demise was a foregone conclusion, given the public opposition of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both of whom are Democrats.

Biden argued that his concerns about 2022 justified new voting rights protections. It all depends on whether or not were able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election, the president said.

My guess is Putin will invade Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Although Biden faces no shortage of challenges at home, Russias deployment of troops to the Ukrainian border signals a growing rupture in Europes postwar order. Biden has threatened tough sanctions on Russia, but his response on Wednesday to questions about the looming conflict in Eastern Europe only revealed just how much about the volatile situation remains unclear, including what the United States is  and is not  willing to do to help a longtime ally.

A former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden prides himself on an experience with international affairs that both Trump and Obama notably lacked. Along with Iran, Russia presents the greatest challenge to his conception of the United States as the leader of the global community.

Perhaps most noteworthy was Bidens admission that he believed that Vladimir Putin would move in to sovereign Ukraine territory, much as Russian forces did when they invaded their much smaller and less powerful neighbor in 2014. At the same time, he predicted that the campaign would amount to a minor incursion, which only raised questions about what kind of response that would merit from the White House.

An outright invasion, Biden said, would result in heavy penalties for Putin. He's never seen sanctions like the ones I promised to impose if he moves," he warned. At the same time, he held out hope that Putin would understand that outright war would not benefit the Kremlin in the long run. He suggested that the Russian leader was trying to find his place in the world.
Richmond's statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed in September. In their petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, the residents argued that the the decision by Virginias Supreme Court has implications beyond just the Lee statue. (Steve Helber/AP)

RICHMOND  Two Richmond residents living near the site where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee stood for more than a century have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia that let state officials remove the towering monument.

In a petition filed with the high court Wednesday, lawyers for the landowners argued that former Gov. Ralph Northam did not have the authority to revoke an agreement to maintain the statue on state-owned land on Richmonds Monument Avenue.

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Virginia promised to forever maintain the statue in 1887 and 1890 deeds transferring its state ownership. But the Supreme Court of Virginia sided with Northam last year, ruling that obligation no longer applied as values change and public policy changes too in a democracy.

The statue was removed in September. In their petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, the residents argued that the the decision by Virginias Supreme Court has implications beyond just the Lee statue.

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The impact of the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia affirming Governor Northams removal order will be widespread and significant, attorney Patrick McSweeney wrote in the petition.

If this Virginia decision is followed, every contract entered into by a state government can be abrogated when a governor or a court  not the legislature  decides that the contract violates public policy. This would leave those who contract with state governments at the mercy of judges and executive or administrative officials who have no legitimate role in setting the Commonwealths public policy, the petition states.

Northam announced his decision to remove the statue in June 2020, 10 days after George Floyds death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer sparked protests over police brutality and racism in cities nationwide, including Richmond. The nationally recognized statue became the epicenter of a protest movement in Virginia after Floyds death.

The unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia cited testimony from historians who said the enormous statue was erected in 1890 to honor the southern white citizenrys defense of a pre-Civil War life that depended on slavery and the subjugation of Black people.

More than a century later, its continued display communicates principles that many believe to be inconsistent with the values the Commonwealth currently wishes to express, the justices said.

It was not clear when the U.S. Supreme Court would decide whether to hear the case.

Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy for most of the Civil War. The city has removed more than a dozen other pieces of Confederate statuary on city land since Floyds death, which prompted the removal of Confederate monuments in cities across the country.
Four decades passed before Klan member Edgar Ray Killen was convicted for the killings of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. (Associated Press)

An aging ex-Klansman once said something to me that I found very disturbing, that colored my view of history forever after.

I was working on a story in Philadelphia, Miss., that dealt in part with the deaths many years earlier of three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner. I knocked on the door of Cecil Price, the deputy sheriff and Klan member who had arrested the three young men in June 1964 and then delivered them into the hands of his fellow Klansmen to be murdered in the dark.

Price had served a ludicrously short 4 1/2 years in prison, and he was living comfortably back in his hometown with his wife and son. He was a member in good standing of the local country club.

He chatted briefly, but when I asked him about the killings he gave me an affable half-smile and said, just before shutting the door, Oh, lets just let bygones be bygones, why dont we.

He said it innocently enough, but I knew how disingenuous his words were. Though nearly a quarter-century had passed, the deaths of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner were not bygones. In fact, it would be 17 more years  2005  before the Klan ringleader, Edgar Ray Killen, was finally tried and convicted and sentenced to 60 years for his role in the killings.

My conversation with Price came back to me when I saw a few weeks ago that Brenda Stevenson  a history professor at UCLA whose book on the 1991 killing of Latasha Harlins I admire  had been nominated by President Biden to serve on the new Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. Last week, she and others nominated for the board testified at Senate confirmation hearings.

The operating principle behind the cold case board is that Price was wrong: We must not let bygones be bygones.

The history of racial violence in the United States is replete with cold cases. Anyone who has been to the immensely moving national lynching museum in Montgomery, Ala., knows that only a fraction of the violent crimes perpetrated against Black men and women in the last century were investigated and punished.

Many people are familiar with the Emmett Till case, which was reopened by the Justice Department in 2017 as part of its own cold case efforts, and then closed again last month with no further prosecutions. But there are countless others. To name just a random few, theres the case of Rogers Hamilton, a Black 18-year-old abducted by two white men and then shot in the head in Alabama in 1957; James Brazier, a Georgia man who died after his skull was fractured by two white police officers in 1967; Clarence Triggs, a Black bricklayer shot by night riders in Bogalusa, La., in 1966 after being promoted into a job some believed should be for whites only.

Their killers were not punished. There have been efforts to reinvestigate their cases (and many others), but it is extremely difficult to bring new charges after decades have passed, evidence has disappeared or disintegrated, statutes of limitations have expired, and witnesses and perpetrators have died.

I dont mean to suggest the newly appointed board will change that, or that it will necessarily result in new trials. The commission is limited in its mission, and in many ways is itself an acknowledgement that the era of criminal prosecutions is coming to an end for these cold cases from 1949 to 1979.

But even where theres no prosecution, history still gets to render a judgment.

The new boards modest goal is to make sure files and records of unsolved civil rights crimes are in the public domain, available at the National Archives for historians, journalists, researchers and others to study. Board members will hunt down documents and data, make decisions about which sealed or classified documents may be released and which may not, and work to make sure files are accessible, digitized, findable.

Sometimes it just takes fresh eyes, said former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) at Thursdays hearing. A successful prosecution is not always possible with these cases which are so old, but knowing the truth can bring healing and peace.

Jones, who sponsored the legislation creating the board, successfully prosecuted two Klansmen for their role in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where four young Black girls died. The trial took place nearly 40 years after the crime.

For the record, I believe in forgiveness and mercy. I believe in statutes of limitations, and that time heals many wounds. But I dont believe in burying the past. If we dont want to repeat our ugliest history, wed best not forget it.

There were a few FBI agents who said, 'I have no time to look at a 50-year-old case in which everybody involved is probably dead,'  said Cynthia Deitle, who spent two decades as an FBI agent working on civil rights cold cases, in an interview. They said, 'Im not a historian  Im an FBI agent.' And I appreciate that. But the more persuasive argument is that it is our job to find the truth of what happened, no matter how much time has passed.

And not because the perpetrators remain dangerous. Eighty-year-old Edgar Ray Killen, who used a wheelchair, was unlikely to reoffend by the time he was retried and convicted in the Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner killings.

But we have an obligation not to forget, to hold criminals accountable and to send a message to the world that bygones arent always bygones after all.

@Nick_Goldberg

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks at a December news conference. (FedNet)

Recent allegations of lawmakers potentially benefiting from personal stock market trades has propelled new interest in reining in their ability to trade or own individual stocks while in office.

Dozens of lawmakers have come out in support of competing but similar bills that would limit their ability to hold or trade stocks while in office, perhaps requiring them to put any stocks into a blind trust before being sworn in.

The issue has drawn a range of support and opposition, but not along the usual party divide. Most of the support has been driven by lawmakers, Democratic and Republican, who were elected in the past five years, with longer-tenured lawmakers generally noncommittal or less supportive.

After previously pushing back on the proposals, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) opened the door to the idea of new prohibitions on Thursday.

If members want to do that, Im OK with that, she said. But she rejected the idea that a ban is needed because lawmakers cannot be trusted to act ethically. I just dont buy into that," she said.

Pelosi does not personally own or trade stocks, but her husband, Paul Pelosi, is a frequent trader and, according to recent disclosures required under existing law, owns millions of dollars in individual stocks, including in high-profile companies such as Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

Pelosis comments signaled how quickly the tide might be changing on the issue. Last month, she said lawmakers should be allowed to participate in the free market economy.

At that time, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) told Punchbowl News that he is considering new limitations or an outright ban on members owning or trading stocks if Republicans take the majority next year.

Other Democratic leaders have been hesitant to take a position. In separate comments this week, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Vice Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) took no position on the proposals, but indicated theyre open to discussions.

Given the political popularity of banning lawmakers from trading stocks, Jeffries and Aguilar refused to cede the ethical high ground to McCarthy's proposal.

What we aren't going to do is to be lectured on this issue by someone who coddled the twice-impeached president  who had his own ethical issues related to disclosures, Aguilar said, referring to McCarthy's relationship with President Trump.

Pelosi tasked Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) with reviewing the existing law governing lawmakers stock holdings.

Lofgren said "the issue of some members noncompliance with these important reporting requirements merits a fresh review of the law, including its enforcement requirements and penalties for noncompliance."

Most of the proposals would prohibit lawmakers from trading individual stocks while in office. Others would prohibit any ownership of stocks, with one plan allowing stocks to be placed in a blind trust.

There is some debate about whether ownership or trading prohibitions should extend to spouses and dependent children. Members would be allowed to keep mutual funds or Treasury bonds.

What is just stunning to me  with the access to information that we receive  is that we can trade individual stocks, said Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), whose plan would implement a House rule that would require lawmakers to sell their stocks before coming to Congress. Just the appearance that members of Congress benefit financially from their positions really isn't sustainable.

Although insider trading is already illegal, proponents of the bans say lawmakers have access to information the public does not.

The potential for conflict confronted Craig in 2019 when, as a member of a House aviation subcommittee, she was frequently briefed on when Boeings 737 Max airliner may be reapproved for flights after two deadly crashes.

Having worked in investor relations before coming to Congress, Craig said, I'm thinking to myself, my God, the information I just received, someone could  not that I'm accusing members of Congress of doing it  go out and short Boeing stock today and make a fortune."

The issue has caught fire with members in office for less than five years. Bills have also been introduced by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who was first elected in 2016; Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), both elected in 2018; Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), elected in 2018; and Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), both elected in 2020.

Craig attributes the interest from newer lawmakers, particularly in her 2018 class, to the fact that many of them are political newcomers who reflect how their constituents see Washington.

There is such an erosion of trust in Congress, in Washington itself, that many of us feel like the only way to repair that is to reform the institutions themselves, she said. Of the resistance, she added, A lot of people have been around for a long time in Washington, and they prefer the institutions as they are.

There are outliers. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) placed her assets in a blind trust when she entered the Senate in 1992. She said in a statement to The Times, I believe this is an appropriate way for members of Congress to hold investments while serving.

Feinsteins husband, Richard Blum, has substantial financial assets and is a frequent stock trader, according to her financial disclosures. In 2020, the Justice Department briefly investigated her for stock trades conducted in the pandemics early days. She was cleared.

Although there are many members of Congress who do not own private stocks, there are several lawmakers  or spouses  who are prolific traders.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) is a co-sponsor of Krishnamoorthis bill and, according to his spokesperson, would be in compliance with the legislation because he does not own any individual stocks himself. Still, his wifes accounts reported hundreds of trades in 2021.

These are his wifes assets prior to marriage and managed by an outside financial advisor, the spokesperson said. No trading is done through joint accounts.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) has mutual funds but no individual stock holdings and is supportive of efforts to restrict individual stock ownership, according to his spokesperson.

The swell of interest comes in the wake of several high-profile instances in 2020 of lawmakers making profitable trades in the early days of the pandemic, suggesting they were profiting off information they gleaned through their elected office.

In addition, last year, 54 lawmakers violated the existing disclosure requirements on stock transactions, according to Insider and other media reports, underscoring what critics call already lax regulations and penalties.

Voters have a right to know that their elected officials are acting in the public interest and not their own personal financial interests, said Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center and former deputy chief counsel at the Office of Congressional Ethics. Some type of reform has to take place because the current laws are not giving voters that right.

It was nearly a decade ago when the issue of congressional stock trading last bubbled to the surface. In response, the 2012 STOCK Act was passed to reinforce that insider trading is illegal for members of Congress. It also required lawmakers to frequently disclose their stock trades.

But the law provided only an X-ray image of the problem by showing how frequently many members traded, but didnt cure the problem of conflicts of interest, Payne said. Now, he said, the cure is obvious: prohibitions on trading.

We did a 10-year experiment," he said. "Disclosure alone is not enough.

The legislative branch is not the only one under scrutiny. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said last month that the courts need to do a better job enforcing conflict-of-interest laws that are supposed to prevent judges from deciding cases affecting companies in which they hold stock.

Pelosi on Thursday decried the lack of disclosure requirements at the Supreme Court and indicated that any new legislation covering lawmakers would include justices.

I dont think the court should be let off the hook, she said. When we go forward with anything, lets take the Supreme Court with us to have disclosure.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department dropped its case Thursday against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor charged last year with concealing research ties to the Chinese government, saying it could no longer meet its burden of proof at trial.

The department revealed its decision in the case against Gang Chen in a terse, single-page filing in federal court in Boston.

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, the top federal prosecutor in the state, said the move was in the interests of justice and was the result of new information the government had received about the allegations.

Chen was accused last year of concealing ties to Beijing while also collecting U.S. dollars for his nanotechnology research. His lawyers have said he did nothing wrong.

In a statement Thursday, defense attorney Robert Fisher called the case a wayward prosecution and said his client was eager to return to work.

Our defense was this: Gang did not commit any of the offenses he was charged with. Full stop. He was never in a talent program. He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything he was supposed to disclose and he never lied to the government or anyone else, Fisher said in a statement.

The move comes as the Justice Department nears completion of an internal review of its investigations and prosecutions of university professors in the United States accused of concealing their ties to China.

Those investigations are part of the China Initiative, a Justice Department effort launched during the Trump administration to crack down on Chinese economic espionage and trade secret theft. Critics of the efforts have called on the Justice Department to end its pursuit of Chinese academics.
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The Virginia Beach School Board meets about mask mandates in December. Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order to eliminate mask mandates in schools has created confusion about the next steps. (Mike Caudill / The Virginian-Pilot)

The years-long argument over masks in schools has entered a new phase, and the battle lines already are being drawn  with Virginia school boards in the middle.

On one side is new Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the many voters swayed by his campaign promise to eliminate mask mandates even as the latest surge of COVID-19 continues. On the other are those  including teachers associations  who believe masks remain an important part of fighting the coronavirus as case numbers climb.

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On his first day in office, Youngkin issued an order that says mask mandates have been ineffective and parents alone should decide whether their children should wear face coverings in school. So far, several Virginia school systems, citing the standing advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a state law, announced they would defy it. The order is to go into effect Jan. 24, and several of the governor allies have said those school systems could face penalties.

In Hampton Roads, the order prompted a flurry of activity  but few decisions.

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Four area school boards scheduled a special meeting this week to discuss the issue  bringing forward concerned educators, along with parents on both sides of the debate.

Its unfortunate the governors order created a lot of confusion around what the current law states in the context of what it is, Newport News School Board Chairman Douglas Brown said.

Some divisions, such as Hampton, said officials are waiting for guidance from the Virginia Department of Education, which did not respond to requests for comment. The Poquoson School Board voted Tuesday night to lift its mandate.

The Norfolk School Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to keep its mask mandate for students, faculty and staff, according to a division statement.

[ Previous coverage: Norfolk keeping students masked despite Youngkins order; Chesapeake waiting for guidance ]

Several teachers and parents spoke during the public comment portion of Newport News regular meeting Tuesday  12 people pleaded with board members to keep its mask mandate, including Conor Collins, a Warwick High School social studies teacher.

Collins submitted a petition with roughly 150 signatures asking members to abide by state law that requires students to be in-person five days a week and follow mitigation strategies from the CDC to the maximum extent practicable. If masking becomes optional, Collins said, he worries about staffing issues schools could face, along with higher transmission rates.

Its impossible for us  at least in Newport News  to provide 6 feet distance in our classrooms that are 20 plus students at least at the secondary (level), Collins said during a phone interview before the meeting. One of his classes has 29 students, but because they all wear masks, he said theyre able to safely meet. When you send your child to a public school, its a school that is for the public community.

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Mark Bear has three children attending Newport News Public Schools. He told board members Tuesday he opposed mandatory masking and said although he respects anyones choice to wear a mask or get vaccinated, he doesnt believe their choices should be forced on everyone.

I think you should allow these kids to be kids and have the same freedoms we have, he said, siding with three additional people spoke out against masking requirements.

During an interview, Brown said parents and teachers should expect an update Friday from Superintendent George Parker III.

Although every person spoke about the order during public comment, school officials did not address any plans during the Tuesday meeting. Other school districts redirected inquiries about its next steps to previous communication sent to parents and pending guidance from VDOE.

In Williamsburg-James City County, the school districts health advisory team suggested it should have a multi-layered mitigation strategy to slow transmission  remaining socially distant, masking, practice safe hand hygiene, getting a vaccine, among others.

One of the advisory team members said cases could peak in the upcoming week, but once community transmission rates are low, the district could revisit plans to remove masks.

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Meanwhile, new state Attorney General Jason Miyares has threatened to initiate legal action action against recalcitrant school districts. Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears said on Fox News that the state could opt to withhold funding from them.

According to VDOEs website, the department distributes state funding, which is approved by the General Assembly, to divisions across the commonwealth. Districts also receive federal and local funding each school year.

The executive order aims to uphold state code that says a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parents child. The same law has been cited by parents in recent months alleging improper and controversial ideas are being taught, such as critical race theory.

[ Related: Group of 13 Chesapeake parents sue Youngkin over scrapping of statewide school mask mandates ]

The order also states that VDOEs Acting Superintendent Rosa Atkins will need to issue new guidance for K-12 schools to align with the policy.

Daywatch Weekdays Start your morning with today's local news >

When you put your child into public school there has to be some sort of standard, Sarah Bickings, who has a fifth-grader in Newport News schools, said she hopes the district will keep its mask mandate. Even if there is concern about the legality, (I hope) it remains in place until the courts can decide does the executive order match the law.

Still, statewide organizations including the the Virginia Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics released statements citing the importance of masking in schools.

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After a fifth wave in cases following the holidays, the Virginia Parent Teacher Association said schools are still dealing with staffing challenges that have impacted the quality of students learning experience and absentee rates due to quarantining.

Maintaining the safe functioning of preK-12 schools and high academic standards for all students should be the first priority of every school division the Virginia PTA said in a statement supporting mask requirements.

Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News and Portsmouth had regular meetings scheduled this week. But Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Isle of Wight County board members are set to have separate special meetings Thursday  weather permitting  to discuss the governors order. Williamsburg-James City County will hold a special meeting Friday to finalize its decision.

Staff writer Em Holter contributed reporting to this story.

Sierra Jenkins, 229-462-8896, sierra.jenkins@virginiamedia.com
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne M. Tracy and U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Edward Vaughan, Deputy Director of Plans, Policy, Strategy and Capabilities at United States European Command, participated on January 19, 2022, in a ceremony at the Central Military Hospital to mark the donation of $665,000 worth of medical equipment from U.S. Global Peace Operations Initiative to Armenias expeditionary military medical unit. The equipment includes defibrillators, X-ray machines, tents, generators, lights, and other supplies, ARMENPRESS was informed from the US Embassy in Armenia.

In her remarks Ambassador Tracy highlighted the courage and dedication of Armenias military medical personnel. You seek to heal and treat your fellow soldiers and airmen, putting others ahead of yourself. We hope that this equipment will save and improve many Armenian lives, Ambassador Tracy said.

"This equipment will assist the Armenian military in saving lives by providing the best possible medical care to its service members, and it further demonstrates the U.S. engagement with our Armenian partners," General Vaughan stated.

This event marks the most recent chapter of our long-standing partnership with Armenia and joint efforts to modernize Armenias civilian and military medical and disaster response capabilities. Over the past year, United States European Command, through the Embassys Office of Defense Cooperation, has also made large donations of anti-coronavirus protective and diagnostic equipment to Armenian hospitals and built or renovated several fire and rescue stations, among other security cooperation initiatives.

Besides the donation ceremony, General Vaughan met with senior officials from the Armenian Ministries of Defense and Emergency Situations and Defense Staff and discussed U.S.-Armenian security partnership.
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BJP president J.P. Nadda, addressing a press conference, said the National Democratic Alliance partners will fight the elections together

BJP National President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath at a meeting with alliance parties leaders, at BJP HQ in New Delhi, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (PTI/Kamal Singh)

New Delhi: After losing some prominent OBC faces, including former Cabinet minister Swamy Prasad Maurya, to the Samajwadi Party, the BJP on Wednesday officially announced that it would contest all 403 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly along with its key allies  the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party -- whose core vote bank is comprised of the backward classes. The seat-sharing formula will be announced soon.

BJP president J.P. Nadda, addressing a press conference here, said the National Democratic Alliance partners will fight the elections together and lauded UP chief minister Yogi Adityanaths government over its performance on a host of issues, including the restoration of law and order, boosting investments and an improvement in social indicators.

Mr Nadda also tweeted a photograph of the NDA leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the two allies along with other leaders, and claimed that the NDA will again cross the tally of 300 in Uttar Pradesh.

Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modis government at the Centre for working for the interests of Other Backward Classes (OBC), Apna Dal (S) chief and Union minister Anupriya Patel and Nishad Partys supremo Sanjay Nishad hit out at the BJPs rivals for the denial of rights to a large section of the backwards community.

Union home minister Amit Shah, who had held series of meetings with the leaders of the BJPs allied parties on the seat-sharing issue, also tweeted: Had a meeting with J.P. Nadda, Yogi Adityanath and allies Anupriya Patel and Sanjay Nishad. Blessings of the people of UP are with NDA and under PM Modi, we will again form the government with a thumping majority.

The BJP chief claimed that the mafia used to be active in Uttar Pradesh in nexus with the previous governments but the BJP government had restored the rule of law in the state and made it a destination for investment.

Sharing the dais with Mr Nadda, the Apna Dal leader said that her party has always struggled for justice for the common man and with PM Modi, the party realised that it can strengthen social justice. She said the BJP government has been a good cocktail of development and social justice. Nishad Partys leader Sanjay Nishad said that the backward classes were being betrayed and orphaned but the BJP government had helped them to secure their rights.
by Shafique Khokhar

This is the second case in a week in which capital punishment is imposed for violations of controversial blasphemy rules. The young woman was also sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined 200,000 rupees. She apparently used certain apps to share pictures of Muslim religious figures on social media. A friend of hers turned her in. According to some rumours, he took his revenge against her after being spurned.

Rawalpindi (AsiaNews)  An anti-cybercrime court in Rawalpindi (Punjab) sentenced a 26-year-old woman, Aneeqa Atiq, to death after she was convicted of blasphemy. The defendant also received a 24-year prison sentence and fined 200,000 rupees (about US$ 1,135).

This is the second death penalty handed down involving blasphemy since the start of the year. in an unrelated case, a Christian man had his sentence commuted from life imprisonment to death sentence more than two weeks ago. He is the longest prisoner serving time in prison on a blasphemy charge,

Aneeqa Atiq was arrested in May 2020, charged with posting "blasphemous material" (sketches of Muslim religious figures) on WhatsApp status.

A friend of hers, Hasnat Farooq, suggested to her to delete the pictures; instead, she apparently forwarded the same images to him using the app. At that point, he filed a complaint with the cybercrime unit of Pakistans Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Some sources claim that the young man had some interest in the young woman, but was spurned and so he used the pictures as a pretext to take his revenge against her.

On 13 May 2021, the FIAs cybercrime unit filed a case in a Rawalpindi court against the young woman, charging her with blasphemy and violations of the Anti-Cybercrime Act, on the basis of Hasnat Farooqs accusations

Aneeqa Atiqs lawyer, Raja Imran Khalil, told Voice of America (VOA) that his client drew some pictures of religious pictures and posted them on WhatsApp status.

When the case went to court, a 36-page chat with insulting material was entered as evidence; during the investigation, her laptop, USB sticks, memory card, and mobile phone were seized. They are said to have contained insulting material.

Through the online game PubG, the defendant sent sensitive religious material to the accuser, Hasnat Farooq, who described himself as a religious man who did not like the young womans provocations.

For this reason, he began collecting evidence, which he handed over to police when he filed his complaint. The defendant allegedly posted sensitive and insulting material on YouTube as well.

In its ruling, the court said that the accused did not provide any evidence in her defence during the trial; for this reason, she was sentenced to death by hanging, plus 24 years in prison and a fine.

Human rights activists and other critics note that blasphemy rules are often used to settle personal disputes or attack rivals, minorities (including Christians), and even fellow Muslims, knowing that the trial often ends in a conviction.

For Mariyam Kashif, a Karachi-based human rights activist, while religious sensitivities should not be attacked, alternative sentences should exist to hanging, such as jail and fines.

The case of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother on death row for years, is a case in point. It caused a stir in pakistan and abroad, but thanks to the intervention of human rights organisations, governments, and even Pope Francis himself she was found innocent and released.
A conference on the themes of the Synod desired by the Pope is scheduled for March 15-17. Representatives from the dioceses, the Roman Curia, local and international charitable organisations will be present. Maronite Archbishop of Damascus: an opportunity "to rediscover our mission". The exodus of young people abroad shrinking an already tiny Christian minority.

Damascus (AsiaNews) - The apostolic nuncio to Damascus, Cardinal Mario Zenari describes an upcoming three day seminar dedicated to the Synodal Path invoked by Pope Francis as one of the "most significant" events in terms of "synodality of the Church in Syria".

The long-time Vatican diplomat who has never abandoned the country even in the harshest and darkest moments of the conflict, spoke to AsiaNews about the March 15-17 meeting titled "Church, House of Charity - Synodality and Coordination", pointing to the participation of "all the dioceses in Syria, as well as representatives of the Roman Curia, Syrian and international charitable organisations".

The Cardinal confirmed the importance of the appointment for the local Church as a response to the directives outlined by Pope Francis, who invited the entire ecclesial reality to walk together. "Synodality and the exercise of charity", added Card. Zenari, represent a medicine with which to heal the wounds inflicted by "these years of bloody conflict" and by the economic sanctions that end up affecting the civilian population, starting with the poverty bomb.

The Church in Syria has managed to survive despite the difficulties of recent years, not least migration - like other nations in the region, see Iraq - which has decimated the community. In a message to the faithful in 2017, the Maronite archbishop of Damascus, Msgr Samir Nassar, wrote that "not a single baptism or wedding has been celebrated in the last eight months". A collapse in the sacraments over the previous five years and "the absence of young people" has led to inevitable repercussions "in parish life".

The "heroic" Christian families, as the archbishop himself called them in his Christmas message of 2021, have however been able to fight, resist and today look to the future with renewed hope. For the general synod, explains Msgr Nassar to AsiaNews, groups have been set up to deepen their knowledge, prayer meetings have been promoted and conferences have been organised to study in depth the themes proposed by the pontiff and the local Church. Yesterday saw the conclusion of three days (17-19) dedicated to consecrated life in which "hundreds of nuns and religious participated" with a great spirit of participation and being able to count "on the apostolic nuncio Card. Zenari and Card. Leonardo Sandri who helped us to prepare these special events".

The general synod", observes Msgr Nassar, "will help us to rediscover our mission". Being small groups, each will be able to express their own "interesting evaluations and give answers" to the most topical issues. In particular, on how to be a synodal Church "walking together as Christians and as citizens" in Syria. For the prelate, the synod is "an opportunity to discuss many areas", from schools to churches, the activities of hospitals so important in the war before and today with the Covid-19 pandemic, the prison population, the life of families.

A number of Muslims will also take part in the Syrian Church's synodal work. They will receive the daily bulletin and "answer questions" that arise during the working sessions. There is one last point to which Mgr Nassar looks with attention, mixed with concern: "Of the 19 couples whose marriages I celebrated in 2021, 13 have already left Syria, the others are trying in every way to follow them. From a minority, we are becoming a minority within a minority. So it is hard to go on... but the hope is that the Synod will give us strength and morale to understand how to live as a small community" that despite the difficulties is able to bear fruit.
In other news today: Kuala Lumpur eases anti-Covid restrictions for Lunar New Year; India's UN ambassador calls for 'Hinduophobia' to be recognised as religious hatred; Pyongyang ready to restart nuclear tests; Ankara bans arms sales to Myanmar; for Patriarch Kirill, part of Orthodoxy ready to switch with schismatics.

CHINA

Since 2014, Beijing has forced the repatriation of almost 10,000 citizens abroad by coercive, extra-judicial means. According to the NGO Safeguard Defenders, these figures are "the tip of the iceberg". China is allegedly multiplying "illegal" operations on foreign soil. On an official level they are fighting corruption, but they mainly target dissidents and critical voices.

MALAYSIA

Kuala Lumpur relaxed anti-Covid-19 guidelines ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations on 31 January. The measures cover family gatherings, convivial times at the dinner table and visits to homes. Unlike last year, there are no particular prohibitions, although receptions will have to respect a maximum capacity of 50%. Temples are open for prayers.

NORTH KOREA

Pyongyang is ready to resume nuclear tests and the launching of long-range ballistic missiles. The announcement came today, at the end of the meeting of the political bureau of the country led by Kim Jong-un. The country is reportedly preparing for a 'long-term confrontation' with the US. In the past, threats and experiments were used to cover up internal, economic or food crises.

TURKEY - MYANMAR

The government in Ankara has approved a ban on the sale of weapons and military equipment to the Burmese army. The decision, although late, is a response to the military coup in February last year and the military's use of weapons against the civilian population in recent months. Turkey is the 45th country in the world to publicly declare a ban on arms sales.

ARMENIA - AZERBAIJAN

More than a year after the Moscow agreements, the commission to define the state borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not yet been formed. The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan has promised to keep the public informed "about the forthcoming formation of the commission".

INDIA

The Indian Ambassador to the UN, T.S.Tirumurti, called for "Hinduphobia" and violence against Buddhists and Sikhs to be added to the forms of religious violence condemned by the UN. He also rejected the idea that the violent actions of Hindu extremist groups could be recognised as terrorism.

KYRGYZSTAN

In Kyrgyzstan, the negative effects of the extremely hot summer, characterised by several periods of drought, which led to a shortage of agricultural crops, are materialising. In all, wheat production has been reduced by more than half by 2021, and increases in food prices are feared, despite the optimism of the Ministry of Agriculture.

RUSSIA

Moscow Patriarch Kirill (Gundjaev) is not ruling out a substantial part of world Orthodoxy may "move into the camp of schismatics", given the latest developments in internal conflicts between Churches. We know," said the Patriarch, "that not only individuals, but also entire Churches are turning away from God under the influence of powerful external forces".
Caste will now be a protected category at California State University so that disadvantaged castes will be protected under the universitys anti-discrimination policies. This comes after complains from young Indian students. Caste biases persist even among overseas Indian communities. In the US, one in four Dalits has experience physical or verbal attacks because of their caste.

Los Angeles (AsiaNews/Agencies)  California State University (Cal State, CSU) has decided to include disadvantaged castes in its anti-discrimination policy.

More than 485,000 students are enrolled in Cal State, many of them from South Asia and overseas South Asian communities. With caste as a protected category, anti-Dalit bias will now be targeted on Cal States 23 campuses and eight off-campus centres.

One of our students brought our attention to caste discrimination as not being something that is happening far away, but something that is being dealt with daily by some of our students in their personal lives, said Prof Dr Sarah Taylor, chair, Department of Social Work, CSU East Bay.

Cal State, one of the largest American public universities, is the first to adopt such a policy in the country.

This kind of issue is not new. In California, Cisco Systems, one of Silicon Valleys technological giants, was sued by the State following a complaint by an Indian-born engineer who was outed by co-workers as a Dalit who gained entry to the Indian Institute of Technology, one of Indias most prestigious universities, only as a result of affirmative action benefitting members of Scheduled Tribes and Castes.

The Indian community in the United States numbers more than four 4 million, and like people back home, is divided in castes, a reality that is still hurtful for many.

An in-depth survey carried out in 2016 by Equality Labs found that 25 per cent of Dalits living in the United States suffered caste-related physical and/or verbal abuse. Among university students, one in three has suffered discrimination for the same reason.

Some 60 per cent of Dalits living in the United States reported being mocked in the workplace because of their caste.
Agreement to reduce fuel prices by freeing up some of their strategic oil reserves is set to come into force. Beijing the first buyer of US natural gas liquids. US businesses go where they make money, a logic that appeals to Chinese companies. Biden blocked by Congress for greater openness to Xi Jinping.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - China and the United States are attempting to restart dialogue around energy cooperation leaving to one side the burning issues of the future of Taiwan and the South China Sea, trade, technological leadership, human rights and global governance.

Instead Beijing and Washington are cooperating, and with no small amoung of profit, on energy issues, with Reuters reporting on a recent Chinese government decision to put part of its strategic oil reserves on the market. The move, which should coincide with the Lunar New Year (February 1), is part of a coordinated plan with the United States and other countries to reduce fossil fuel prices, which have been rising in recent months mainly due to growing European demand.

Until now, the Chinese have always kept the details of their energy reserves secret. The understanding with the US suggests that China has agreed to release a larger quantity of oil at prices above a barrel, and a smaller volume at around . Today, WTI crude is worth more than a barrel.

There is no shortage of geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. Neither are commercial tensions in short supply. The Chinese have not met the targets set in "phase one" of the trade agreement signed with the Trump administration in January 2020. According to data from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, as of 30 November, the Asian giant had imported only 62% of the 184 billion in additional US goods and services it had promised to purchase over two years - the baseline being China's 2017 imports.

Despite this, the US has continued to sell liquid natural gas to the Chinese. Since December, the US has been the world's leading exporter of this resource, overtaking Qatar and Australia, a lead fuelled largely by Asian demand. With a 13% share, China is along with South Korea the top buyer of US liquid gas. US energy companies go where they can find profits: Washington's promises, from Obama onwards, for discounted supplies to European allies threatened by a possible Russian energy blockade have found no room in the reasoning of American suppliers.

However, in recent weeks the trend has changed. US liquid gas is heading more for Europe than Asia, but only because high demand from the Old Continent has caused prices to soar. For the Chinese, this is not necessarily a negative sign. As some businessmen on China's west coast have explained to AsiaNews, a Sino-US dialectic based on market and competitive logic is welcome for their interests.

It remains to be seen to what extent energy diplomacy will be able to function as a "stabiliser" in relations between China and the United States. The US Congress is divided on everything, but on maintaining a muscular policy towards China - among other things to protect Taiwan - Democrats and Republicans are in agreement.

This bipartisan welding has prompted Joe Biden to largely confirm Trump's trade war against the Chinese. Yesterday, the US president specified that it is too early to make any commitments regarding the elimination or reduction of Trump's tariffs on Chinese exports: a position that will disappoint US multinationals, who are in favour of normalising relations with Beijing.

But greater openness from Biden will be difficult with Congressional hostility towards China likely to force concrete decisions from the US president - especially on trade - only after the mid-term congressional elections on November 8.

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by Mathias Hariyadi

The East Jakarta District Court sentenced Arif Sunarso yesterday. On the run for 18 years, he also played a key role in some attacks in the Philippines in the early 2000s.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  The East Jakarta District Court sentenced Arif Sunarso, head of the group responsible for the 2002 Bali terrorist attack, to 15 years in prison. More than 200 people, mostly foreign nationals, were killed.

Also known as Zulkarnaen, Daud and Abdullah Abdurrohman, the 58-year-old managed to avoid capture for 18 years.

Previously, prosecutors requested a life sentence for the terrorist, but the panel of three judges ignored the first charge because the prosecution period had expired.

Information about the ruling from East Jakarta District is absolutely correct, said Alex Adam Faisal, the courts spokesperson.

The accused not only masterminded the Bali attacks, but was also responsible for attacks on Jolo Island (Philippines) and was a key asset for the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, as an instructor in its training camps. For at least seven years, he oversaw the training of Islamist fighters in Afghanistan and the Philippines.

Police had detained Sunarso previously in connection with a series of attacks against Indonesian churches in several cities between Christmas and New Year in 2000-2001, Indonesian police spokesman Ahmad Ramadan said in 2020.

During the trial the defendant denied involvement in the Bali bombings, specifically rejecting the prosecutions claim that he was took part in the planning; however, he admitted that the bombings were carried out by his team.

Sunarso was captured on 20 December 2020 by Densus 88, Indonesias special anti-terrorism squad, after spending nearly 18 years in Lampung, on the island of Sumatra.

According to internal Densus 88 documents, the terrorist was involved in clashes between radical Islamists and Protestant Christians in Ambon (Maluku province) and Poso (Central Sulawesi province), between 1998 and 2000.

He was also held responsible for a bomb attack against the Philippine ambassador's residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on 1 August 2000.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, center, arrives to deliver his State of the Commonwealth address before a joint session of the Virginia General Assembly in the House chambers at the Capitol Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, in Richmond. (Steve Helber/AP)

The Virginia General Assembly session kicked off last week with a divided political makeup.

After Novembers election, Republicans hold a majority in the House of Delegates. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin assumed office on Saturday. Democrats, meanwhile, retain a slight majority in the Senate.

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Lawmakers from both sides have introduced dozens of bills that would change environmental rules.

Heres a look at some of those introduced thus far.

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Flooding and resiliency

Flood Relief Fund : Republican Del. Will Morefield of Tazewell has proposed the creation of a fund ( HB 5 ) that would give money to people whose property has been damaged by a major disaster such as a flood or mudslide. It would be funded by redirecting some of the money earned by Virginia in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative from an existing flood fund. Morefield said in an email the idea came after a major flood damaged nearly 200 homes in the Guesses Fork community of Hurley, and he learned that FEMA denied private assistance to homeowners. What happened in Hurley is heartbreaking, he said and added that hes committed to getting the flood victims and future victims across the commonwealth the help they deserve. He developed the idea before Youngkin announced plans to withdraw Virginia from RGGI, but said if that happens the fund could take some of the existing money.

: Republican Del. Will Morefield of Tazewell has proposed the creation of a fund ( ) that would give money to people whose property has been damaged by a major disaster such as a flood or mudslide. It would be funded by redirecting some of the money earned by Virginia in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative from an existing flood fund. Morefield said in an email the idea came after a major flood damaged nearly 200 homes in the Guesses Fork community of Hurley, and he learned that FEMA denied private assistance to homeowners. What happened in Hurley is heartbreaking, he said and added that hes committed to getting the flood victims and future victims across the commonwealth the help they deserve. He developed the idea before Youngkin announced plans to withdraw Virginia from RGGI, but said if that happens the fund could take some of the existing money. Commonwealth Flood Board : A bill ( HB 602 ) from Del. Cliff Hayes Jr., a Democrat from Chesapeake, would create a flood policy board under the executive branch. It would oversee funds given out for sea level rise adaptation and flooding as well as programs across the state, federal and local levels. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission has been pushing for such a board, saying coordination on the issue is necessary.

: A bill ( ) from Del. Cliff Hayes Jr., a Democrat from Chesapeake, would create a flood policy board under the executive branch. It would oversee funds given out for sea level rise adaptation and flooding as well as programs across the state, federal and local levels. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission has been pushing for such a board, saying coordination on the issue is necessary. Stormwater : A bill from Virginia Beach Democrat Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler ( HB 577 ) directs state officials to compile a list of stormwater systems throughout the commonwealth, and then document the impact of flooding on such systems. The topic of flooding threatening stormwater infrastructure is growing among officials dealing with climate change. In some Norfolk neighborhoods, for example, rising tides have decreased the stormwater systems capacity by about half.

: A bill from Virginia Beach Democrat Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler ( ) directs state officials to compile a list of stormwater systems throughout the commonwealth, and then document the impact of flooding on such systems. The topic of flooding threatening stormwater infrastructure is growing among officials dealing with climate change. In some Norfolk neighborhoods, for example, rising tides have decreased the stormwater systems capacity by about half. Resilience: Three pieces of legislation from Fairfax Democrat Del. David Bulova are intended to help prepare for impacts from climate change. The first (HB 516) builds upon the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan released by Gov. Ralph Northam in December. Bulovas legislation would require the plan to be expanded and updated every five years as a living document, as well as develop more community outreach. He said its part of a recognition that while the plan is a great framework, more is needed to look at inland flooding in Virginia. Another bill (HB 520) would require localities to consider climate resilience when developing or updating their comprehensive planning documents. A third (HB 517) creates a chief resilience officer position in the state government. The role is currently filled by the secretary of natural resources. At the end of the day, Virginia is one of the most vulnerable states in terms of our infrastructure, Bulova said. Climate resilience is an issue we need to address.

[ A guide to the language we use about the environment in Hampton Roads ]

Energy

Solar : A bill from Republican Del. Michael Webert of Marshall ( HB 206 ) requires any small renewable energy project, such as a solar farm, to determine whether it will adversely impact at least 10 acres of prime agricultural soil or 50 acres of forest. If so, the project would have to submit a mitigation plan. A bill from Arlington Democrat Sen. Barbara Favola ( SB 290 ) requires any state or local agency constructing or renovating a building to ensure the roof is ready for solar panels, with some exceptions. It also requires public school renovation and construction to be designed and operated to generate more electricity than consumed. Republican Del. Danny Marshalls bill ( HB 172 ) would allow localities to restrict the visibility of solar energy projects from public secondary roads in order to maintain the view of the surrounding community. Marshall, who represents Danville, said it was a request from a constituent in rural Virginia concerned about the aesthetics of a solar farm.

: A bill from Republican Del. Michael Webert of Marshall ( ) requires any small renewable energy project, such as a solar farm, to determine whether it will adversely impact at least 10 acres of prime agricultural soil or 50 acres of forest. If so, the project would have to submit a mitigation plan. A bill from Arlington Democrat Sen. Barbara Favola ( ) requires any state or local agency constructing or renovating a building to ensure the roof is ready for solar panels, with some exceptions. It also requires public school renovation and construction to be designed and operated to generate more electricity than consumed. Republican Del. Danny Marshalls bill ( ) would allow localities to restrict the visibility of solar energy projects from public secondary roads in order to maintain the view of the surrounding community. Marshall, who represents Danville, said it was a request from a constituent in rural Virginia concerned about the aesthetics of a solar farm. Virginia Clean Economy Act : A bill from Republican Del. Lee Ware of Powhatan ( HB 74 ) would have the State Corporation Commission create an exemption program for energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries constrained in their ability to pass on costs to customers that are incurred while complying with the acts emissions rules. Such industries, including steel and cement producers, often argue that foreign competition prevents them from passing on most carbon compliance costs, according to the National Resources Defense Council.

: A bill from Republican Del. Lee Ware of Powhatan ( ) would have the State Corporation Commission create an exemption program for energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries constrained in their ability to pass on costs to customers that are incurred while complying with the acts emissions rules. Such industries, including steel and cement producers, often argue that foreign competition prevents them from passing on most carbon compliance costs, according to the National Resources Defense Council. Renewable energy : Another bill from Del. Ware ( HB 73 ) would redefine which types of energy facilities are considered in the public interest by Virginia law. It would also nix a requirement for lawmakers to receive a report before the SCC approves an investor-owned electric unit that emits carbon.

: Another bill from Del. Ware ( ) would redefine which types of energy facilities are considered in the public interest by Virginia law. It would also nix a requirement for lawmakers to receive a report before the SCC approves an investor-owned electric unit that emits carbon. Carbon : A bill from Culpeper Republican Del. Nicholas Freitas ( HB 118 ) would repeal provisions that require the Air Pollution Control Board to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity-generating units and that prevent the board from approving new carbon dioxide-emitting energy projects. It also replaces language positioning solar and wind power as in the public interest with language promoting nuclear energy. Democratic Sen. Ghazala Hashmi of Richmond introduced a bill ( SB 272 ) that would give performance bonuses to contractors who use lower-carbon concrete products in state projects.

: A bill from Culpeper Republican Del. Nicholas Freitas ( ) would repeal provisions that require the Air Pollution Control Board to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity-generating units and that prevent the board from approving new carbon dioxide-emitting energy projects. It also replaces language positioning solar and wind power as in the public interest with language promoting nuclear energy. Democratic Sen. Ghazala Hashmi of Richmond introduced a bill ( ) that would give performance bonuses to contractors who use lower-carbon concrete products in state projects. Coal : A bill from Republican Sen. Travis Hackworth of Richlands ( SB 120 ) would have energy from waste coal  a byproduct of coal processing operations  be considered renewable energy. It would also exempt certain coal-fired plants in the coalfield region of Virginia from a state requirement to close carbon-emitting electricity plants by 2045.

: A bill from Republican Sen. Travis Hackworth of Richlands ( ) would have energy from waste coal  a byproduct of coal processing operations  be considered renewable energy. It would also exempt certain coal-fired plants in the coalfield region of Virginia from a state requirement to close carbon-emitting electricity plants by 2045. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative : The big news on RGGI has come at the executive level, with Gov. Youngkin issuing an executive order over the weekend on withdrawing Virginia from the regional carbon cap and trade program through legislative or regulatory action. But several proposed bills currently operate under the assumption Virginias participation will continue, such as Morefields flood relief fund. One from Republican Del. Terry Kilgore of Gate City ( HB 892 ) would create a reserve account for companies that had existing power purchase agreements before RGGI. Such entities would buy their carbon credits through RGGI at a discounted rate because of their inability to recover costs associated with the program.

: The big news on RGGI has come at the executive level, with Gov. Youngkin issuing an executive order over the weekend on withdrawing Virginia from the regional carbon cap and trade program through legislative or regulatory action. But several proposed bills currently operate under the assumption Virginias participation will continue, such as Morefields flood relief fund. One from Republican Del. Terry Kilgore of Gate City ( ) would create a reserve account for companies that had existing power purchase agreements before RGGI. Such entities would buy their carbon credits through RGGI at a discounted rate because of their inability to recover costs associated with the program. Methane: A bill from Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell of Northern Virginia (SB 565) would allow natural gas companies to capture methane from landfills, composting facilities or other waste sources and use it in the gas sold to customers. The legislation would also let the companies get credit for reduced emissions achieved through enhanced leaked protection, like capping leaky methane wells. Surovell said the SCC currently doesnt approve such activity because its more expensive for customers. The goal would be to repurpose methane, a greenhouse gas, rather than allowing it to be released. Why not take it out of the atmosphere for people to heat homes and cook with instead of heating up the atmosphere? Surovell said. Virginia Beach-based Virginia Natural Gas recently filed with the SCC asking it to approve a similar program.

[ State flood fund has sent millions to Hampton Roads  but Youngkin plan would cut it off ]

Water and wildlife

Chesapeake Bay : A bill from Urbanna Republican Del. Keith Hodges ( HB 771 ) would require the state environmental quality department to publicly list on its website the criteria and efforts adopted by Hampton Roads localities concerning Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, which have special rules for development to protect wetlands. Another bill from Del. Webert ( HB 189 ) stipulates that an aquaculture lease in Chesapeake Bay waters includes the rights to breed shellfish by whatever legal means necessary.

: A bill from Urbanna Republican Del. Keith Hodges ( ) would require the state environmental quality department to publicly list on its website the criteria and efforts adopted by Hampton Roads localities concerning Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, which have special rules for development to protect wetlands. Another bill from Del. Webert ( ) stipulates that an aquaculture lease in Chesapeake Bay waters includes the rights to breed shellfish by whatever legal means necessary. Algae blooms : Harmful algal blooms are clusters of algae that form when water is warm, slow-moving and full of nutrients, usually due to polluted runoff. Such blooms can threaten human and marine health as well as impact waters used for fishing and tourism. Republican Sen. Mark Peakes bill ( SB 171 ) would make officials develop a plan for controlling algal blooms when they pop up in state waters. Peake said the bill stems from issues in recent years at Lake Anna, part of which is in his district. Budget amendments previously studied the issue; the legislation would now remedy it, he said. There are not sufficient steps being taken right now to fix whats occurring, the senator said.

: Harmful algal blooms are clusters of algae that form when water is warm, slow-moving and full of nutrients, usually due to polluted runoff. Such blooms can threaten human and marine health as well as impact waters used for fishing and tourism. Republican Sen. Mark Peakes bill ( ) would make officials develop a plan for controlling algal blooms when they pop up in state waters. Peake said the bill stems from issues in recent years at Lake Anna, part of which is in his district. Budget amendments previously studied the issue; the legislation would now remedy it, he said. There are not sufficient steps being taken right now to fix whats occurring, the senator said. Trees : Legislation about preserving and expanding tree canopy in the commonwealth builds upon others passed in recent years. Convirs-Fowler of Virginia Beach has a bill ( HB 541 ) that would allow local governments to require tree conservation during the land development process. Another from Vienna Democrat Del. Mark Keam ( HB 706 ) cuts in half the time for localities to achieve minimum tree canopies on new developments, from 20 years to 10.

: Legislation about preserving and expanding tree canopy in the commonwealth builds upon others passed in recent years. Convirs-Fowler of Virginia Beach has a bill ( ) that would allow local governments to require tree conservation during the land development process. Another from Vienna Democrat Del. Mark Keam ( ) cuts in half the time for localities to achieve minimum tree canopies on new developments, from 20 years to 10. Native and invasive species: A pair of bills from Northern Virginia Democratic Dels. Bulova (HB 491) and Paul Krizek (HB 314) aim to promote native plant species while discouraging planting invasive ones. The agriculture department has a list of invasive noxious weeds that are prohibited from being sold in the commonwealth. But Bulova said current policy makes it difficult to add anything to the list because anything that is deemed commercially viable doesnt apply. His bill would amend that definition to commercially significant, making it a bit easier for officials to add invasive species to the no-go list. It also has a consumer education piece by giving out signs to nurseries and plant retail stores listing invasive species. Krizeks bill directs the state to develop such retail signs, as well as labels for retail plants indicating whether they are native or invasive.

Katherine Hafner, 757-222-5208, katherine.hafner@pilotonline.com
by Guido Alberto Casanova

For company CEO, We must support the wellbeing of each employee. With COVID-19, smart-working has expanded in Japan. The new trend is running up against a workplace culture that monopolises employees attention making it hard for them to separate work and personal life.

Tokyo (AsiaNews)  Panasonic announced its intention to offer its employees in Japan a four-day working week.

According to the companys CEO Yuki Kusumi, We must support the wellbeing of each employee to enable them to pursue their personal interests.

A 2020 government study found that two days off per week is still uncommon in Japan with only 8 per cent of Japanese companies offering this option.

The decision by the manufacturing conglomerate follows a rapidly growing trend among companies, from pharmaceuticals and finance to information technology.

There are many reasons behind it. On the one hand, some businesses have decided to give their employees more personal time to develop new skills that can then be used in the company; on the other, a shorter week allows employees to devote more time to their families.

Some companies have also decided to use the four-day week as a strategy to recruit the best and brightest available in the job market.

Despite its reputation for high efficiency, Japan ranks last among G7 countries in terms of labour productivity as calculated by GDP per hour worked.

It is no accident that the economic and fiscal policy plan approved by the Japanese government in June 2021 includes provisions to encourage four-day weeks, in the belief that it is possible to work less and better.

The issue is already on the agenda of Japans Liberal Democratic Party; and as such, it could give further impetus to the trend.

The latter has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed many work habits deeply rooted in Japan.

One example is the famous happy hour after work among employees, a practice long considered essential to develop an esprit-de -corps within a business. Since the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, a majority of workers found it unnecessary for the first time, this according to a Kyodo News poll released last November.

As a result, work from home, almost absent before the pandemic, is now starting to be accepted as the norm; in some cases, employers encourage it:

Yahoo Japan, for example, told its employees (90 per cent of whom now work remotely) that they are no longer required to work from the company offices; for those who need to come in, the company will allocate a commute budget.

Although Japan's rigid work culture is changing, many obstacles still exist and the changes caused by COVID-19 may not last.

For decades, the way work was organised favoured a close relationship between employees and their company; even today many young people find it hard to separate professional and personal life.

This is especially the case when wages are directly proportional to the number of hours worked; many workers rightly fear that a shorter work week will mean fewer earnings.

The issue, however, is now on the table. Japans labour market, still shaken by a high number of work-related fatalities, is just now starting to come to terms with this reality, even if finding a new balance appears to be a very distant goal.
[T]ransparency in decision-making processes and economic choices is fundamental. It makes it possible to avoid unfair competition, which in the economic and labour fields often means job losses, as well as support for unreported or underpaid work.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis met today with a delegation from Italy's National Association of Building Contractors (ANCE[*]). This provided him with the opportunity to talk about the Christian view of values like competition and transparency; responsibility and sustainability; ethics, legality and safety.

In his address, the pontiff explained that competition must push us to do better than others, not to eliminate them; for this reason, transparency in decision-making processes and economic choices is fundamental. It makes it possible to avoid unfair competition, which in the economic and labour fields often means job losses, as well as support for unreported or underpaid work.

In todays difficult times, it is important to draw on motivations, on fundamental choices, Francis said. Taking his cue from this, he turned to the parable of the house built on the rock.

Jesus, the Pope noted, describes as charlatans those who build houses on sandy soil, while good builder know that such houses will be wiped out as soon as it floods. However, "His parable goes on with the downside: I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock (Lk 6:47-48).

The picture is even more interesting if we think that such a builder not only did the right thing in the present moment, but defended the house from possible future floods. Still, One might say: but it never happened! Yes, but it could happen. That's what we're seeing with climate change.

In short, Jesus teaches that the believer is one who does not limit himself to appearing outwardly Christian, but [is the one who] actively acts as a Christian. And it is precisely this 'operational coherence' that allows him to build up himself not only in the regular moments of life, but [lets him remain so even in difficult times. This also means that faith does not protect us from the elements, but, accompanied by good works, it strengthens us and makes us able to resist them.

It is on the basis of the preservation of Christian values that Francis said that in the utilitarian logic of the market, [competition] can push towards conflict and even the elimination of others. It creates the illusion that one can beat others or that the others defeat is due to the vagaries of the economy. When this happens, the trust that allows the market itself to function properly is jeopardised.

Competition must be a stimulus to do better and well, not [kindle] a desire to dominate and exclude. This is why transparency in decision-making processes and economic choices is fundamental. Competition and transparency go together.

This makes it possible to avoid unfair competition, which in the economic and labour fields often means job losses, as well as support for unreported or underpaid work. This ends up favouring forms of corruption that are fed into the dark world of illegality and injustice. And this is not the right path; it is a road that sickens, it is not good.

Responsibility and sustainability. Never as in our times, have we heard so much about sustainability: it raises questions about the capacity of each ecosystem to regenerate itself. In the construction industry, the use of materials that offer safety to people is fundamental.

At the same time, we must avoid exploiting the environment by helping make some particularly exploited territories unlivable. Every company can make its own responsible contribution to making work sustainable. In addition, sustainability has to do with the beauty of places and the quality of relationships.

Indeed, the reference to the beauty of places led Francis to insist that, in addition to reliance on technical disciplines, housing and neighbourhood designs are even more valuable to serve another type of beauty: the quality of life of people, their harmony with the environment, their mutual outreach and help.

This is also why it is so important that the point of view of locals always be allowed to contribute to urban analysis and planning. May your work help communities strengthen the bonds of solidarity, cooperation and mutual help.

Finally, Francis stressed the need to protect workers. "Last year there were many, too many deaths at work. These are people, not numbers. Construction sites have also experienced tragedies that we cannot ignore. Unfortunately, if you look at workplace safety as a cost, you start from a wrong assumption.

People are the real wealth. Without them there is no working community, there is no business, there is no economy. Workplace safety means safeguarding human resources, which are invaluable in the eyes of God but also in the eyes of real business people. For this reason, the law should be seen as the protector of the greatest resource, i.e., people.

Working safely allows everyone to express the best of themselves by earning their daily bread. The more we take care of the dignity of work, the more we are sure that the quality and beauty of the work carried out will improve.

[*] Associazione Italiana di Costruttori Edili.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Despite recent popular protests, the family and business partners of the former Kazakh president still control the local economy. An internal struggle within the ruling elite is underway, with Russia and China playing their own game.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In spite of protests and an institutional crackdown, the family and business partners of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev continue to control the economy of Kazakhstan, one of the most prosperous countries in Central Asia.

Five Kazakhs have made it onto the list of the world's richest people, published annually by Forbes. They are Nazarbayev's daughter Dinara and her husband Timur Kulybaev, owners of the People's Bank, the most important in the country, and linked to the oil industry. Then there is an 'adviser' to the former Kazakh president, Bulat Utemuratov, who is active in many sectors. He owns the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Nur-Sultan, Moscow and Vienna and the Burger King chain in Kazakhstan.

The fourth name is Vladimir Kim, the richest man in the country, with his Kaz Minerals companies, also called the 'Nazarbaev portfolio', for which he is said to have bought a sumptuous property in London. The last of the top-five is called Vjaceslav Kim, not a relative of Vladimir and also called the 'Elon Musk of Kazakhstan'. He is the founder of the innovative bank Kaspi, which processes most payments in Kazakhstan together with Nazarbaev's nephew Kajrat Satybaldy.

Satybaldy is not on the Forbes list, although he is considered one of the richest people in the country. A former general of the Knb, the security services, Satybaldy controls many offshore funds in Luxembourg, according to information released by Radio Azzatyk, which allow him to own the largest telecommunications companies in Kazakhstan.

The recent social and political upheaval raises the question of the real consistency of power of Kasym-Zomart Tokaev, the president appointed by Nazarbayev as his successor, and until now considered to be his puppet. In the last few days Tokaev has eliminated the 'elbasy' (father of the fatherland) himself and many of his relatives and close associates from leadership roles, so much so that some speculate that the 81-year-old Nazarbayev and his clan are in exile, if not dead. Above all, information has been spread about the private flight on 6 January from Almaty-Bishkek-Dubai of his younger brother Bolat, one of the main custodians of the family's wealth, together with five other people.

The former president wanted to calm public opinion with a video in which he assured Tokaev of his loyalty and his stay in the capital Nur-Sultan, but this did not stop the rumours and controversy against him. Local experts assure that Tokaev has no safe references among the oligarchs linked to his predecessor's clan, who for 30 years have known no restraint in their actions.

Opposition politician Aydos Sadykov, founder of the magazine Base, argues that in reality the current conflict in Kazakhstan is an internal settling of accounts within the elite that has so far supported Nazarbayev, with various external forces supporting the different factions, from Putin's Russians to the Chinese, who are very present in the affairs of the wealthy former Soviet republic of Central Asia.
The biggest issue, however, concerns the 3.4-liter engine advertised with 3.5 liters. Dubbed V35A-FTS, the force-fed sixer features a turbo wastegate actuator thats not functioning properly. Its not clear if were dealing with a mechanical or software-based issue, but in any case, there are plenty of reports alleging failing wastegates. Toyota Headquarters moderator MG recently posted a few pictures of a cab separated from the chassis in order to fix the wastegates, which is a gargantuan task for such a small problem.Even more recently, Keith from Trigger Happy posted two YouTube videos of his broken Tundra with only 335 miles (539 kilometers) on the clock. The TFT display in the instrument cluster shows a total of three warning messages: check engine, limp mode, as well as parking support brake malfunction. Essentially a $60,000 brick is how the owner describes the well-optioned pickup thats currently sitting in the dealerships parking lot.Speaking of which, the dealership says the parts needed to fix the wastegates are on a 30-day backorder, which presents yet another problem. If the vehicle has been in the shop for more than a month for any problems covered by the automakers warranty, then it may fall under the Lemon Law.Keiths update on the 2022 Toyota Tundra is even more worrying for would-be owners. More specifically, customer care basically said this is all were going to do for you, recommending the owner to either wait at least 30 days for the spare parts to be shipped or pursue the Lemon Law claim.On that note, do you still want a brand-new Tundra over an F-150?Keith's Tundra has been sitting in the shop for a whole month now
Introduced in November 2007 at the Los Angeles Auto Show for the 2008 model year, the second-generation Sequoia is a thirsty people carrier with seating for eight people, a fully-boxed frame, and independent rear suspension. Only available with a free-breathing V8 and six-speed automatic transmission, this fellow is really outdated by 2022 standards.The F-150 pickup truck-based Ford Expedition, by comparison, features the more powerful and efficient 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 twin-turbo mill connected to the 10R80 ten-speed automatic transmission. Even Chevrolet, which still uses pushrod V8s in the Tahoe and Suburban, is rocking a ten-speed automatic in order to maximize the gas mileage whenever possible.Given these circumstances, Toyota cannot afford to dilly-dally too long. Come January 25th, the next-generation Sequoia will be revealed with underpinnings from the 2022 Toyota Tundra. Switching to a brand-new platform will see production move from Princeton, Indiana, to San Antonio, Texas, where the full-size pickup is also made. The Indiana-based facility, on the other hand, will be retooled for two new three-row utility vehicles.The landing page for the third-generation Sequoia reveals three more teasers waiting to be published, which is a similar pre-debut campaign as Toyota ran for the all-new Tundra. Given time, we can expect an image of the redesigned interior as well as an underhood image of a twin-turbo engine.TNGA-F is how the body-on-frame platform of the Sequoia and Tundra is called. Shared with the Land Cruiser and Lexus LX, this vehicle architecture has been developed specifically for six- and four-cylinder mills. In other words, prepare to bid farewell to the 3UR-FE in favor of the V35A-FTS.Be warned that 2022 Toyota Tundra turbo wastegate actuators have been failing left and right, so keep that in mind before you reserve a Sequoia.
The Stratofortress first flew back in 1952, at a time when tensions between East and West were rapidly climbing. It was born in the hangars of Boeing as a strategic bomber, a sub-sonic machine capable of dropping vast quantities of bombs, including nuclear if need be, onto the heads of the enemy.And it did so many times. One of its most notable contributions was to Operation Desert Storm back in the 1990s, when it dropped 40 percent of all bombs the allies used. It generally releases its deadly cargo from very high up, as it can fly at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,166 meters).Any lower, and its mammoth size is instantly visible in the clear sky. As clearly shown here, in this pic of one of the B-52 taken back in March of last year and recently published by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) as part of its Year in Photos album.This particular plane was flying at the time over an undisclosed region in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility (an area that includes Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, among others). The photo was snapped just as the plane, deployed with the 5th Bomb Wing, was moving away after getting its fill from a KC-135 Stratotanker of the 350th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron.Even if it is incredibly old, the Big Ugly Fat Fella will continue to cast its shadow over Americas enemy nations well into the 1950s, becoming the worlds first military aircraft to be in service for over a century.
The current masking policy will remain in place in Williamsburg-James City County Schools following a 4-2 vote at a special called School Board meeting Thursday afternoon.

Students, faculty and staff will still be required to wear masks while on school grounds despite Gov. Glenn Youngkins executive order which seeks to make masks optional. The order, which goes into effect Monday, states that parents can choose if their child wears a mask while in school without explanation.

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The Williamsburg-James City County School Board met with legal counsel in a closed session to consider the legality of the decision and the best steps forward. According to School Board member Kyra Cook, legal counsel recommended the board maintain its current mitigation strategies.

The executive order, as it stands, contradicts a previous law passed last year that requires public schools to follow U.S. Centers for Disease Controls COVID-19 mitigation guidelines to the maximum extent practicable.

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The CDCs current guidelines recommend wearing masks in schools.

During board discussions, School Board member Sarah Ortego argued that the executive order and the current law do not contradict each other as the executive order defines what is the maximum extent practicable despite the schools legal counsel stating otherwise.

The vote comes at the recommended request of Superintendent Olwen Herron citing eliminating the masking policy amidst a growing rise in COVID-19 cases could be detrimental to staff, students and school operations.

Throughout the pandemic, we have made decisions to protect the health and safety of our students, staff and families, Herron said. As a school division, our first priority is to provide a safe learning environment for all. Per our attorney, current law allows us the opportunity to do just that.

There were discussions prior to the vote with some members in favor of upholding the governors executive order. Chairman Greg Dowell and member Ortego led a motion to uphold the order, against the recommendation of Herron, the schools health advisory team and the divisions legal counsel, which did not pass with a two to four vote.

Our community members are responsible individuals and I think thats what this executive order outlines that we can make good judgment for ourselves and we can respect the good judgment of our parents in our communities, Dowell said.

Member Kim Hundley argued that the governors office should have worked with the school divisions before issuing an executive order as it takes time to properly plan for such a transition. However, without offering any guidance, Hundley said she will continue to support the current mitigation standards.

Members James Beers, Julie Hummel, Hundley and Cook voted in favor of continuing its current masking requirements with Ortego and Dowell voting against it.

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Williamsburg-James City County Schools joins other divisions across the state, including Norfolk, in announcing it will keep its mask mandate.

Currently, the division is facing staffing shortages as a result of an influx in cases. As of Thursday afternoon, the division reports a total of 1,297 confirmed cases since the beginning of the school year. Of those, 249 are confirmed staff cases and 1,048 are confirmed student cases.

In January, the division reports 786 confirmed cases ahead of the anticipated omicron variant peak. As of Tuesday afternoon, the division reports 215 students positive in isolation, 26 staff positive in isolation, 403 students in quarantine and five staff members in quarantine.

The divisions Chief Operating Officer Daniel Keever addressed the board at its Tuesday night meeting that the division is facing a major staffing shortage as a result of the uptick in cases. Additionally, with a limited number of substitute teachers available, the division is only able to fill about 46% of all substitute requests.

As a result, teachers are filling in in other classrooms in addition to their own and the division is relying on central office staff to fill in substitute teaching positions.

With several bus drivers out along with the divisions bus maintenance crew, Keever said drivers are having to make three to four runs a day and folks within the department who have CDL licenses but do not typically operate the buses are making bus runs.

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At its Tuesday afternoon meeting, the board heard from public health officials in the community who serve on the divisions health advisory team.

William & Mary epidemiologist Carrie Dolan warned that while the division will eventually get to a point where it can begin easing mitigations, it is not there yet.

According to Dolan, the best mitigation practices include vaccinations and boosters. With vaccination rates low in K-12 students low across the division, the division relies on other mitigation strategies like social distancing and mask-wearing.

If the division eliminated its masking policy, Dolan said it would be eliminating the top three mitigation strategies and it would be unlikely that the division could continue to provide in-person learning.

Youngkin has not said how he will enforce his executive order. But Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears said on Fox News earlier in the week that the state could withhold funding from noncompliant school divisions.

Herron said that the division plans to develop a strategy to soon begin lessening mitigation practices but, at this current time, it is not feasible or practical with the ongoing case rates. Once cases decline, the division will adjust accordingly.

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If masks are not required we will not have the staff or substitutes to sustain in-person learning and most likely, out of sheer necessity, will have to shift to virtual learning, Herron said.

For more information, visit wjccschools.org.

Em Holter, emily.holter@virginiamedia.com, 757-256-6657, @EmHolterNews.
The Seasam was launched back in 2019 by French manufacturer Notilo Plus but wasnt so popular until it was featured in Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maurys horror/mystery movie The Deep House, released last year.Measuring 55 x 45 x 23 cm (22 x 18 x 9) and weighing 9 kg (20 lb.), the Seasam is a true explorer of the subsea, with the ROV itself being just a part of a larger ecosystem that also consists of the Seasam control center, Notilo Cloud, where all the data recorded by the Seasam is directed, and the Seasam Sensor Hub, a system that allows you to use 3rd party sensors to your drone.Back to the Seasam autonomous underwater drone , it comes with seven rotors, six degrees of freedom (6 DOF), it can locate and track specific targets and can be used for a variety of applications such as hull inspections, leaks detection, to offer just a few examples.Capable of working at depths of up to 100 m (328 ft), the drone can be operated remotely from the surface of the water, with the user being able to hook it up to a communication cable. It can also be operated from underwater via the control unit that sends acoustic signals toward it to control/steer it.The Seasam offers live streaming, packing a camera with a resolution of 2MP (still image) and full HD 1080p (30 fps) (for video) even in low light conditions. It is also equipped with two 1,000-lumen LED spotlights.Its 6600 mAh battery offers a runtime of 1.5 hours after 2.5 hours of charging, but you can upgrade the battery to a better one that extends the runtime to 4 hours. The camera can also be upgraded to a 4K one.In addition to its built-in sensors (such as depth sensors, temperature sensors), the Seasam also allows you to mount third-party sensors on top of it, as we already mentioned above.The autonomous underwater ROV does not come cheap, starting at a base price of approximately $13,600. You can get an exact quote by contacting Notilo Plus , with the manufacturer being able to offer you a customized solution tailored to your specific needs.
ABC

Its never fun to be involved in a car crash. Even minor damage is a headache, with a lot of paperwork and calls to the insurance company. But, there are some who might try to take advantage of you, especially if youre a celebrity.Jesse Williams, best known for his role as Dr. Jackson Avery on themedical drama Greys Anatomy , found himself in a very undesirable situation after a car crash that occurred in January 2020, in Los Angeles, California. Little did he know back then that, two years after the crash, the case would be far from over.The actor rear-ended a woman's car while he was out driving his Porsche Cayenne of the previous generation. Both vehicles, his Porsche and the Paula Bruce's Mercedes-Benz GLC sustained some damage, but neither driver was injured in the accident.After the car crash, Bruce assured Williams she was okay, and the actor called the cops, who advised them to exchange insurance information since there were no injuries, TMZ reports. Williams reportedly decided to stick around and take pictures of the damage. He only left the crash scene when his assistant arrived to wait for a tow truck, trying to avoid paparazzi.Now the woman is suing Williams for fleeing the scene and claims to have suffered emotional distress, and lost several wages due to injuries she sustained in the car crash.The 40-year-old actors lawyer, William Briggs, dismissed these claims and revealed to the outlet that, while Williams was guilty of rear-ending her, he stuck around, and did not flee the scene. Furthermore, he checked in on the woman a few days after the crash, and she allegedly claimed she was fine.The woman is now suing him after almost two years of silence. She is requesting $1.6 million from the actors insurance company, claiming it was a hit and run. The actor is planning to take legal action against these claims.
Tom Felton grew to fame thanks to his role as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series. He went on to star in several films like the Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and a series of indie films, and also appeared in a season of The CWs The Flash.But its his connection to the popular film franchise Harry Potter that helped the Brit score a net worth of approximately $20 million. Although he acts very down-to-Earth on social media, Tom Felton has a passion for supercars But on January 19, the Evening Standard reported the 34-year old actor broke the speed limit last summer, when driving on the M4 in Brentford, UK, doing 46 mph (74 kph) in a 40-mph (64 mph) zone while behind the wheel of his red Ferrari 488 Spider at 12:46 am last summer, on June 25.The publication added the actor confirmed he was the driver at the time of the incident. He reportedly did not enter a plea and did not offer any mitigation following the violation. He received three points on his license, a 220 ($300) fine, and 124 ($169) in court costs and fees at a behind-closed-doors sentencing hearing on January 5. A speed camera image was included in the evidence.Powered by a 3.9-liter V8 engine, and, mated to a seven-speed automatic gearbox, the Ferrari 488 Spider delivers 661 horsepower (670 ps) at 8,000 revs, and a maximum torque of 561 lb-ft (760 Nm) at 3,000 rpm. With these figures, its naturally quite fast, sprinting from zero to 62 mph (0-100 kph) in just 3 seconds, with a top speed of 202 mph (325 kph).While the 488 Spider also comes with an exotic exterior and has the figures that make it a thrill to drive, we might understand why Felton would feel the need for speed. But given his speeding ticket, hell probably be more careful in the future.
Helsinky Shipyard Oy will be building an innovative icebreaker designed by Aker Arctic for Norilsk Nickel, a huge Russian mining company that produces palladium and refined nickel. The shipyard specializes in high ice-class vessels that are meant to operate in harsh conditions and on challenging routes, but this new project is extra-special.It will not only be powered by a hybrid propulsion system, but it will actually become the largest and most powerful diesel-electric icebreaker ever built in Finland.This will be a high ice-class vessel (class notation 8, of the Russian Maritime Register/RMRS), capable of breaking 6.5 feet (2 meters) of ice thats covered with snow. In addition to breaking channels, it will also be able to transport various types of cargo, and it has a built-in helipad for helicopter operations. In terms of power, it will integrate a dual-fuel diesel-electric power plant.Dual-fuel means that it can use either liquefied natural gas (LNG) or low-sulfur diesel, both of which are considered low-emissions alternatives to conventional maritime fuel.This future eco-friendly vessel will have an important mission. It has to break a channel in the Yenisei River thats located in Siberia, and one of the largest rivers in Asia, for the Nornickel Arctic Expresses. Plus, it will tow an additional fleet of cargo ships with a total freight weight of 20,000 tons. The vessels home port will be Murmansk, a seaport thats about 125 miles (200 km) north of the Arctic Circle, and its operating area will extend to the Yenisei Bay and the Kara sea.Construction work on the new icebreaker is due to start this year, but it wont be a short journey to completion, as Finlands largest eco-friendly arctic vessel wont be ready earlier than 2025.
Everything would have happened in the morning of January 19. At 6:30 AM local time, three Fremont police cars and one fire truck were in front of the factory.According to KTVU, the matter is now in the hands of the police and Cal-Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the entity responsible for workplace safety enforcement in California.The agencys spokesman informed that Tesla notified it about the death. Peter Melton also disclosed that state investigators are now collecting information about what caused the passing of this worker, which will have to wait for the autopsy results. The rest of the investigation process will probably require speaking to eyewitnesses and Tesla.At this point, it is not clear if there is any relation to the cause of death and anything related to the work this person performed in Fremont . The incident may lead Cal-Occupational Safety and Health Administration to carry out an inspection in the factory.If that happens, the agency may help to confirm or refute what some workers accuse Tesla of doing. Dennis Duran said that Fremont was a modern-day industrial sweatshop in a video that we published on June 28, 2021. This is not a new accusation, and it is also not restricted to the American plant.On December 25, 2020, Pinwest published an investigation that qualified Giga Shanghai as a Giga-Sweatshop. Tesla sued the Chinese website, and the website sued Tesla back, but we still do not have the results of that lawsuit.Apart from these accusations, Fremont was fined $1 million due to more than 30 air quality violations in May 2021. It will end up paying only $750,000 because it agreed to build a solar roof for poor communities affected by the polluted air. We are not sure the violations ceased after the fine. Plant workers also say Tesla does not curb racism and sexual harassment in Fremont, and the company was recently sentenced to pay $137 million to Owen Diaz due to racism.
Heres a statement from the Japanese automakers Japanese website : The delivery time is about four years. Were doing our utmost to shorten the delivery time for our customers, and we appreciate your understanding.In other words, youre getting your Land Cruiser in 2026 at the earliest.More than 10 million LCs were delivered as of September 2019, which is a drop in the bucket compared to many other vehicles out there. But as opposed to the Ford F-Series, the Land Cruiser is an off-road legend with more luxury appointments than any other Toyota except for the Century.Over in the Land of the Rising Sun, the five-seat GX with the V6 gasoline mill is listed from 5,100,000, yen while the five-seat GR Sport with the 3.3-liter diesel engine costs 8,000,000 yen. Thats $44,680 and $70,100 at current exchange rates. Last sold in the United States for the 2021 model year, the previous-generation Land Cruiser used to cost $85,665 stateside.Although Toyota has discontinued the LC from the U.S. lineup, fret not because the TNGA-F platform and twin-turbo V6 gasoline powerplant are shared with the Lexus LX and Tundra pickup truck. Come January 25th, the all-new Sequoia will be revealed with similar underpinnings and oily bits.Scheduled to arrive at dealers in the spring, the LX 600 is arguably the closest equivalent to the Land Cruiser. The 2022 model year is listed from $88,245 with 409 horsepower on tap compared to $88,275 and 383 horsepower for the V8-engined 2021 model. At the other end of the spectrum, the four-seat LX 600 Ultra Luxury can be yours for a simply ridiculous $127,345.Not long now, Lexus will further sweeten the deal with a hybrid option.
While electric public means of transportation have already taken over multiple cities across Europe, the first electric bus to ever operate in Africa, and thats also locally developed, is gearing up to become a real game-changer. A Swedish-Kenyan company is writing history with the first African-designed electric bus ever.

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By the end of this year, commuters and tourists in London will be able to travel throughout the Central Zone onboard a different type of high-speed ferry, one that combines battery power with biofuels. Its Thames Clippers first foray into the world of sustainable maritime travel, soon to be followed by even bigger steps towards the famous net-zero goal.The hybrid Uber Boat ferry will operate using only battery power while its providing transportation services for commuters and sightseers, and then switch to biofuel when its operating outside of central London. The added benefit is that the batteries will be recharged when the ferry is running on biofuel, using the excess power from the engines. This means that its not dependent on any shore-based recharging systems.This is part of Uber Boats strategy, similar to many in the automotive industry, to achieve zero emissions with its newly-built models by 2025, and with its entire fleet and infrastructure, and overall environmental footprint by 2040. The companys projects that are developed within this strategic frame are being funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), as well as by European Union programs that are specifically dedicated to emissions-free high-speed passenger ferries.The future hybrid Uber Boat ferry will claim the title of not only the capitals eco-friendliest passenger boat but also the companys quietest vessel ever developed  zero noise pollution levels are one of the main advantages of hybrid and electric urban means of transportation, whether it be in the sky or on water.Two new hybrid vessels are currently being built at the Wight shipyard on the Isle of Wight. The first of them is scheduled to enter service this Fall, while the second one will be launched in early 2023.
Marcel Petitjean was not quite successful as a race driver back in the 60s, but he sure compensated later with his clever investments. The former privateer racer started amassing an impressive collection of classic cars to diversify his investment portfolio.He even considered opening an automobile museum, but his plans fell through and he later decided to sell the cars. This is why he sold two-thirds of his collection in 2020 and now he is selling 28 more cars. Only this time theyre all Ferraris, and all of them are in pristine shape, being hardly ever driven.The collection is led by a gorgeous 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO worth at least $2.8 million. This is the second model in Ferraris history to carry the immortal GTO letters and it's worth mentioning only 272 units were ever produced. The car has less than 9,600 kilometers (5,965 miles).Another great addition to any collection is the 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, the first production Ferrari to be fitted with the four overhead camshaft version of the V12. This classic had the engine rebuild in the 70s and was never driven afterward. It will probably fetch more than $2.2 million at auction.Other highlights include a restored 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Series II Cabriolet and a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT/L Berlinetta. Both feature the 3.0-liter short-block Colombo V12 engine and will no doubt add more than $1 million each to Mr. Petitjeans bank account.
A couple of China-only reveals have kept the global headlines. Pixel masters were also wide awake and CGI ready to morph them into their visions. Those new entries would be the cool and large Ford Mondeo, as well as the quirky yet stylish Volkswagen Lamando L four-door liftback.Both have instantly become the CGI darlings of virtual content creators, it seems. The former morphed both into a two-door Mondeo Coupe that acted as the authors proposal for a Capri revival , as well as a Mondeo Estate that could fit inside most of everything.The latter has also adopted some fake Skoda Octavia Combi cues and transformed into a Lamando Variant grocery getter. But thats not all, as Kleber Silva - the same Brazil-based virtual artist better known as kdesignag on social media, has a major Chinese focus these days. One that, in this case, completely discards any prior Vizzion/ Space Vizzion OEM ideas.Instead of being a large saloon or estate based on a couple of official VW concepts, his take on the upcoming ID.7 comes out as more of a crossover mashup between the real-world Lamando L and ID.4 electric models. Oddly enough, we do not mind at all. Albeit, using the Lamando L cues would probably restrict VW to making this a China-exclusive entry, yet again.Hopefully, thats not going to happen. And, instead, VW will follow through with its plans to morph the ID. Vizzion and ID. Space Vizzion concepts into real ID.7 production versions. After all, the Passat line has already bowed out of America ... But we still need a few sedans and station wagons in our lives. Sustainable ones are particularly good, thank you very much!
The Williamsburg-James City County School Board heard from several parents and teachers at its Tuesday afternoon meeting; several urged them to continue requiring universal masking despite Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order. Em Holter/Staff (Em Holter)

Williamsburg-James City County school teachers, parents and residents pleaded with the School Board to continue its masking requirements at its Tuesday night meeting citing safety concerns and teacher shortages.

The requests came as a result of newly inaugurated Gov. Glenn Youngkins executive order which mandates divisions lift their universal masking requirements and allow parents to decide whether their child will wear a mask while on school grounds.

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There were roughly 50 residents in attendance in the James Blair Middle School gymnasium and another 250 who watched online.

With several things to consider ahead of making a decision, the board heard from three professionals in the medical field, Superintendent Olwen Herron, Chief Operating Officer Daniel Keever and 13 residents who spoke to defy the order.

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The board also heard from eight residents, many of whom did not follow masking guidelines at the meeting, to argue it should adhere to the new policy.

Prior to its public comment period, the board heard from members of its health advisory team: William & Mary epidemiologist Carrie Dolan, Olde Town Medical nurse practitioner Kendra Robertson and pediatrician Kris Powell.

According to Dolan, case rates continue to grow and are at historic highs as the state continues to brace during its fifth wave of the pandemic.

Models project a continued steep rise in cases with a peak sometime in the upcoming week and then there is an anticipated drop, Dolan said.

According to Robertson, the current recommendation is to continue to adhere to multiple mitigation strategies to limit the spread of the virus. This includes maintaining physical distance, wearing masks, proper hygiene, proper ventilation, quarantining and, the most effective, vaccination.

While there are some that are not as effective on their own, Robertson said a combination of mitigation strategies is the most effective.

While the division is facing a drastic increase in cases, reflective of the region, according to contact tracing, only about 2% of the confirmed COVID-19 cases are a result of being at school. According to Dolan, the school can soon begin adopting an off-ramp plan which will see mitigation plans lessened as they slowly adjust to normalcy.

But Robertson said it should only do so if community transmission rates are low and the burden to the school is low, as in the school has enough staff to maintain absences and quarantines.

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If the school burden is low and community transmission is low then it might be a good time to take the masks off and challenge it, but this is called the dynamic masking strategy, Robertson said. Its dynamic and it changes. You can challenge it and then reconsider in the next few weeks.

Current challenges

According to Keever, the division is currently struggling with staffing because of the rising uptick in cases. In a typical year, out of all of its substitute teacher requests, the division is able to fill 95% of them. This year, with substitute teachers in high demand, the division can only meet about 46% of those requests.

The division has relied on central office staff to fill in substitute teaching positions. Since Nov. 1, the central office staff has filled 140 school substitute requests with 46 of those requests coming in the last two weeks.

Last week, the entire bus maintenance crew was out because of confirmed cases and quarantining. Keever said 10 bus drivers were out and several bus drivers are having to make three and four runs a day. Members of the transportation office with CDL licenses, who typically take phone calls, are now making bus runs.

What does that do in terms of our ability to provide on-time service? Well, we cant, to be blatantly honest, we cant provide on-time service, Keever said. It has been an all-hands-on-deck approach to try to maintain daily in-person learning. We are at a very tenuous point.

For teacher Sara Webb, this year has been a difficult one and the recent spike in COVID-19 cases as a result of the omicron variant has only placed additional strain on faculty. With limited staff as a result of quarantines, Webb said it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep the schools afloat as substitute teacher pools dwindle and the central office staff is pulled to different classrooms to make things work.

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According to Webb, a decision to stop mask mandates in schools would be detrimental as it would only lead to more quarantines and more positive cases.

I have never seen my fellow educators this stressed and unhappy. I hear more and more teachers threatening to leave. I speak for myself and others when I say we are absolutely exhausted and we cannot take anything else on our plate, Webb said. With the mask mandate being removed, potentially, on Jan. 24, I know myself and others will feel even more unsafe than we already do.

Stonehouse Elementary teacher Kasey Bailey echoed Webb. Addressing the board, Bailey, a veteran teacher, said the current situation in the division has left numerous teachers feeling undervalued and overworked.

In 20 years, I have never felt less valued in society, Baliey said. Now is not the time to send the message to teachers that health and well-being of them and their families is not a top priority.

James River Elementary teacher Lindsey Taylor urged the School Board to spend a day in one of the schools in the division and witness the current state of the division.

In the past few weeks, Taylor said she spends the first part of her day deciding where she will be placed for the day and if she will be filling in for other teachers to make in-person learning possible.

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If what we have just seen and what we have been through in the past two weeks is not the peak, then I am not sure we will be able to get through that in our schools, Taylor said. I spend the first 20 minutes of my day every day deciding whos covering what, whether l am teaching P.E., library or computer class, or all three.

According to pediatrician Powell, the best measure to limit the spread and move the division closer to lessening mitigation practices, including masking, is to promote vaccinations and get the divisions vaccination rates higher.

As of Wednesday morning, 91% of the divisions faculty and staff are fully vaccinated, 21.2% of children ages 5-11 are fully vaccinated and 43.9% of children ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated.

According to Dolan, the vaccination rates are not high enough for the division to do away with one of its mitigation strategies at this time.

Our vaccination rates for K-12 are low. They are very low and because they are so low, it gives you less options and if you got the vaccination rates up and they were higher, you have more choices, Dolan said. My personal opinion, eliminating vaccines, eliminating boosters, eliminating masks is a fast track to not being able to stay in school.

Whispers from the audience rose from those in favor of eliminating masking as the health advisory team presented their findings in the community and the current state of mitigation practices in schools.

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Among the speakers who spoke in favor of eliminating masks was Phyllis Eastman, who said she does not have children in the Williamsburg-James City County schools.

Eastman argued that masks and vaccines do not work especially with the omicron variant and that the schools have denied children their right to view the faces of their teachers and other children.

They have been denied one of the greatest learning tools that God gave us: the face, Eastman said. Very recently, the CDC admitted that masks have delayed childrens articulation. Our mistake has been a total dependency on the federal bureaucracy known as the CDC.

The Virginia Department of Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Pediatrics Association agree that wearing masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and vaccinations are the most effective measure against hospitalization and death.

There is no current study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that masks affect childrens ability to learn including their ability to communicate.

Several speakers denied the significance of the COVID-19 virus citing that the common flu is equally as destructive.

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According to the Virginia Department of Health, during the 2020-21 flu season, it reported no pediatric deaths, ages 0 to 17, as a result of flu. As of Wednesday morning, the department has reported 17 COVID-19-related pediatric deaths in the state.

The CDC reported in 2019, its most recent data set, that 1,100 Virginians died of the flu. As of Wednesday morning, 15,835 Virginians have died as a result of COVID-19.

Following the presentations, Superintendent Olwen Herron said she recommends the board vote to maintain its masking requirements despite the executive order.

Despite Herrons recommendation, Chairman Greg Dowell said the board will need time to consider its option before the executive order goes into effect Monday.

The board will hold a special-called meeting Thursday at James Blair Middle School gymnasium, 101 Longhill Road, in which it will make its decision. The closed session will begin at 12:15 p.m. and the public portion of the meeting will begin at 12:30. There will be no public comment period and the public is encouraged to watch the livestream of the meeting at wjccschools.org. The meeting was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved due to predicted inclement weather.

For more information, visit wjccschools.org.

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Em Holter, emily.holter@virginiamedia.com, 757-256-6657, @EmHolterNews.
Apples AirTag debuted not a long time ago with a form factor that allows it to be nearly undetectable when placed in a hidden small spot such as behind a cars license plate.And unfortunately, criminals across the world have noticed this nefarious potential of the AirTag for all kinds of questionable purposes , including stalking victims and keeping an eye on their location.The Lower Providence Police Department in Montgomery County has recently issued related to hidden AirTags, all after a woman ended up being tracked with such a device and then seeing the stalker outside her home window.The police explained the woman went out to watch a movie, and when returning home, she received a message on her iPhone that the live location could be tracked with an AirTag. After further investigation, including a closer look at the tracking, she noticed that someone followed her location until she arrived home.So when looking out the window, she noticed a vehicle, possibly a Subaru, according to the police, which was just sitting down the roadway. When the woman wanted to approach the car, the person behind the wheel just drove away.The police are now trying to find the stalker, and in theory, this shouldnt be too hard if they reach out to Apple. Each AirTag is associated with a unique Apple ID, so when law enforcement requires such information, the Cupertino-based tech giant should theoretically be able to disclose the identity of the owner.However, the police officers warn everybody that they should always be vigilant of their surroundings. Furthermore, if you get a notification youre being tracked and you believe youre in danger, just call 911 immediately, the Chief of Police, Michael Jackson, said.
SHANGHAI, CHINA - A Chinese man looks at the new Lincoln SUV during the China International Import Expo (CIIE) at the National Exhibition and Convention Center on November 6, 2018 in Shanghai, China. (Photo : Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Ford's work with Lincoln in China is paying off, with the luxury carmaker having its biggest year yet in the world's largest automotive market. According to Automotive News China, a total of 91,000 Lincoln units were sold in the country last year, a massive 48 percent increase compared to the numbers the company posted in 2020.

Mixed bag for Ford as Lincoln grows in China but drops in the US

For the first time in its history, Lincoln sold more vehicles in China than in its home country of the United States. Only 86,929 units were sold in the USA in 2021, an 18 percent drop compared to the previous year. Those numbers are concerning for Ford, considering Lincoln's lowest yearly total in the United States since 2013.

Lincoln's rapid growth in China is simply astonishing as the company had a late start in the country, opening its first dealership there only in 2014. Other luxury car brands opened dealerships in China way before Lincoln did, but Ford had an ace up its sleeve. They offered Chinese customers a unique buying experience, calling this approach the Lincoln Way.

Lincoln managed to achieve this by hiring Eight Inc., the company that designed the original Apple stores. They studied what Chinese consumers wanted and focused on making their experience worthwhile before completing the sale.

The firm installed tea rooms and waterfall displays inside the dealerships to provide a welcoming experience to the customers. A heritage wall was also included in the design, detailing Lincoln's long and storied history as one of the great American carmakers.

Related Article: Elvis Presley Cadillac up for Auction; Bidding Starts for 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham

Sedans and customer experience powering Lincoln's growth in China

Lincoln also had a few of its vehicles displayed in the showrooms, placing the cars on pedestals with enhanced lighting to capture the attention of the possible buyers. Dealers in China were also given specific training on how to cater to the needs of their wealthier customers, a move that has paid dividends.

Also powering Lincoln's popularity in China are the company's sedans. Lincoln's gorgeous all-new Zephyr will launch later this year while the popular Continental model remains on sale here in China. Given Lincoln's strong sales in China, Ford has decided to localize most of the luxury brand's production in that area instead of importing the cars from the United States.

Ford's president of the Americas, Kumar Galhotra, was proud of Lincoln's growth in China, saying that "This is an iconic American brand, and a big part of the appeal in China is because it's an iconic American brand."

The next step for Ford is to make Lincoln an even bigger force worldwide. Ford once had hoped to sell 300,000 Lincolns globally by 2020 but was forced to reduce that target in 2018. Despite diminishing sales in the US, Ford is not giving up on the Lincoln brand and has made no plans of making its vehicles for Chinese consumption only.

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MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS - A detailed view of the 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 know as Eleanor from the movie or Hero Car in "Gone in 60 Seconds" during the 25th edition of InterClassics Maastricht held at MECC Halls on January 12, 2018 in Maastricht, Netherlands. (Photo : Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

History was made at the Mecum Auctions event in Kissimmee, Florida, on January 16 as a one-of-a-kind 1965 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R sold for a record price of $4.07 million. That amount was $220,000 more than what the same car got back in a 2020 auction, making the winning bid the highest price ever paid for a Mustang.

5R002 is one of only two prototypes built in 1965

The car put up for auction bears the serial number 5R002. The said Mustang was built as a prototype for the famed GT350R competition model, one of only two was built in 1965, and the other car was chassis number 5R001. This Mustang was the one presented for homologation for the SCCA B Production class to the FIA and the second GT350 built by Carroll Shelby.

It was the same car that the great Ken Miles raced in Smithfield, Texas, at the Green Valley Raceway back in 1965. It was the first time a Ford Shelby GT350R entered a sanctioned race and an SCCA event, for that matter. The said race gained even more importance when Miles brought home the win, making it the first recorded race victory for a Shelby Mustang.

Miles' win was immortalized thanks to a photograph capturing the car lifting off the ground during the race. That earned the winning car its famous Flying Mustang nickname. Apart from Miles, other notable drivers spent time behind this Mustang's wheel, including Jerry Titus, Shelby, Bob Bondurant, Chuck Cantwell, and Peter Brock.

Apart from having a modified version of the Mustang's 289 cubic-inch V8 that generates over 350 horsepower, the GT350R also received new suspension tuning, fiberglass body panels, Plexiglass windows, and an improved cooling system. Its interior was gutted with a full roll cage added to meet racing regulations. And because this car was a prototype, the vehicle was fitted with several parts not included in the 34 GT350R customer race cars that Shelby created for 1965.

Related Article: China's Auto Sales Grow for First Time Since 2017; Climb 3.8% In 2021 With 26.28 Million Units Sold

The car remains the most valuable Mustang in the world

Shelby sold the prototype in 1966 to Ford engineer Bill Clawson for $4,000. The Dearborn, Michigan native continued to race the car for another year before eventually selling the Mustang again. The car at one point went to a customer in Mexico before ending up in a Shelby American Museum in Boulder, Colorado.

The Museum became the prototype's home for 14 years before famous Shelby collector John Atzbach acquired the vehicle in a deal back in 2010. He restored the GT350R to its original racing configuration when it competed at Green Valley.

Atzbach made a nice profit with the car in 2020, selling it for $3.85 million at a Mecum auction to make it the world's most valuable Mustang. That record was broken just one year later, with the Mustang switching hands again.

READ MORE ON AWN:

Top 6 Value Vehicles: Get the Best Bang for Your Buck

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The head of Israeli military intelligence told ministers during a Security Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel will be better off if the Iran nuclear talks lead to a deal rather than collapsing without one, two Cabinet ministers who attended the meeting tell me.

Why it matters: While Israel campaigned vigorously against the 2015 nuclear deal, and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett continues to take hawkish positions on diplomacy with Iran, the statements from Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva reflect a broader shift in the thinking of the Israeli defense establishment.

Driving the news: Haliva, who was appointed as the head of military intelligence in October, told the Cabinet that a deal in Vienna would serve Israels interests by providing increased certainty about the limitations on Iran's nuclear program, and it would buy more time for Israel to prepare for escalation scenarios.

Haliva was reacting to a briefing by Mossad director David Barnea on the spy agency's annual intelligence assessment.

Barnea raised reservations about whether a deal would serve Israels interests and said there was still time to influence the U.S. position in Vienna, according to the two ministers who attended the meeting.

"It is not a lost cause, and it is worth putting the time and the effort in a dialogue with the Americans," Barnea told the ministers.

Behind the scenes: Israeli officials say the general assessment in Jerusalem had until recently been that Iran was only playing for time in Vienna, but now a deal is looking more likely.

"It will be a big surprise if some kind of deal doesnt emerge from Vienna," a senior Israeli official told me.

What to watch: The two ministers who attended the Cabinet meeting say the consensus was that even if a deal is reached in Vienna, Israel should refrain from publicly criticizing the Biden administration over it.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned in the meeting that such public attacks could seriously damage the relationship with the administration.

Whats next: In a briefing with reporters on Monday, Lapid said Israel would continue to engage with the Biden administration and other world powers to influence the parameters of a possible nuclear deal. "We are now in a trench war to improve the deal," Lapid said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told U.S. senators visiting Kyiv this week that waiting to impose sanctions on Russia until after an invasion is of no use to Ukraine, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

Why it matters: The Senate is currently working on a major sanctions package to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine. Democrats and Republicans are united in their support for Ukraine, but divided over whether it would be more effective to sanction Russia now to signal resolve, or hold up the threat of future sanctions to demonstrate the high costs of an invasion.

State of play: The Biden administration and its European allies have warned they will impose severe consequences if Russia invades, but have yet to lay out specific measures that all sides can agree on.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has introduced what he calls the "mother of all sanctions" bill, which would go into effect if President Biden determines that Russia has escalated its hostilities toward Ukraine.

His Republican counterpart, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), has introduced legislation that would immediately increase military support for Ukraine and impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which the Ukrainians view as an existential threat to their security.

Between the lines: The Democratic bill would ultimately give Biden discretion on when to impose sanctions, which he already has the authority to do; the Republican bill would force the president's hand now.

Behind the scenes: Zelensky expressed gratitude to the seven senators who made the trip for their bipartisan support, but argued that real deterrence would mean imposing immediate costs to signal to Vladimir Putin that the U.S. is not to be trifled with.

"The president was very clear: Nord Stream must be sanctioned now. And any prospective sanction of Nord Stream or other sanctions are not helpful, whether it's a policy or a law," a source close to Zelensky told Axios.

Sanctions that are conditional on further escalation "are at best neutral, at worst actually emboldening Putin," the source added, contending that, as neighbors, the Ukrainians have a better understanding of "the Russian mentality."

"Putin does not understand these kind of vague threats. 'If' is not in his vocabulary. There's 'yes' and there's 'no.'"

The other side: A senior Democratic aide hit back at Zelensky's message, telling Axios: "If anybody should understand the perils of interfering in the legislative process of another country, it should be President Zelensky."

The big picture: Another senior Democratic aide told Axios that the overall tenor of the meeting with Zelensky was positive and warm, despite the disagreement on when sanctions should be triggered.

"The focus of the policy of the U.S. administration is about building the toughest sanctions package that can be levied in coordination with the European allies, because whether we like it or not, the Europeans actually have the stronger hand here with respect to sanctions that can really hurt Russia," the aide said.

The source close to Zelensky also stressed that the meeting was positive and the Ukrainian government appreciates the bipartisan support.

What to watch: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters on a briefing call Monday that he was returning from Kyiv "pretty confident that the Senate can come together on a set of prospective deterrent sanctions against Russia."
The Ministry of Health said in the morning that 621 people tested positive for the virus in the past day, up from 360 cases recorded on Tuesday.

The daily number of officially confirmed coronavirus infections in Armenia had steadily and significantly declined since the beginning of November. Only between 100 and 150 cases a day were registered there in late December and the beginning of this month.

Avanesian said that the latest resurgence of the disease reflects the ongoing spread of Omicron. Her ministry reported the first two cases of the variant in the country as recently as on January 9.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Yerevan, Avanesian said the health authorities will tackle Omicron by continuing to increase Armenias vaccination rate, which remains the lowest in the region. Less than a third of its population has been fully vaccinated so far.

The Armenian government hopes that its vaccination campaign will gain fresh momentum with the introduction on Saturday of a mandatory coronavirus health pass for entry to cultural and leisure venues. Only those people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have had a recent negative test will be allowed to visit them.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that the health pass must be strictly enforced by not only government bodies but also the managers of theaters, museums, bars, restaurants and other public venues. He dismissed strong objections to the measure voiced by some restaurant owners.

The rising coronavirus cases have not yet translated into a larger number of deaths. The Ministry of Health said that only one person died from COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The ministry has registered 9,545 coronavirus-related deaths in the country of about 3 million to date.
The Antalya Diplomacy Forum organized by the Turkish government will bring together politicians, diplomats and experts from around the world for three-day discussions on international security.

The foreign ministers of 39 countries have already confirmed their participation, Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

We have also invited neighboring countries: Armenia, Greece, Greek Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, he added, listing nations with which Turkey has strained relations.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that Mirzoyan has received an invitation from Ankara. He has not yet decided whether to participate in the forum, said a ministry spokesman.

Cavusoglu revealed the invitation to Mirzoyan less than a week after special envoys of Armenia and Turkey held the first round of negotiations on normalizing relations between the two neighboring states.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministries described the talks held in Moscow as positive and constructive. They said the two envoys agreed to continue the dialogue without preconditions. It is not yet clear when they will meet again.

Cavusoglu said that Ankara is interested in the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations. But he would not say whether it could establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan and open the Turkish-Armenian border soon.

Cavusoglu repeatedly stressed earlier that Ankara will continue to coordinate its policy on Armenia with Azerbaijan.
Lubbock, TX (79409)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Storms may produce some hail. Low 58F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Storms may produce some hail. Low 58F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
I have enjoyed being able to serve the STM as dean in ways I never imagined as a faculty member, said Fr. Stegman. I'm very proud that the Schoolalong with the Theology Departmenthas gained greater external recognition. I am also proud of the faculty and staff hires we have made and are making, of facilitating the addition of seven nihil obstats in the Ecclesastical Faculty, and of the palpable sense of community one feels when entering Simboli Hall.

During his tenure as dean, Boston College rose to seventh overall in Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies in the QS World University Rankings, considered the foremost international survey of theological studies programs. The STM also achieved a significant increase in domestic and international students who were drawn to the school for its academic programs in theology and ministry, and an increasingly diverse faculty, reflecting the strategic priorities Fr. Stegman set for the school as dean.

He also established the Spirituality Studies Program, the Committee on Race and Ethnicity to address diversity and inclusion issues within the school, and a popular program called Formacion Continua, which offers continuing education courses in Spanish for learners worldwide. In addition, he created a partnership with Jesuit Relief Services in which STM faculty developed a curriculum called Building Relationships in Troubled Contexts to assist those working in refugee camps, and secured funding for the Henry R. Cavalieri Jesuit Fellowship Fund to bring international Jesuit scholars to the STM and provide funding for Jesuits to study at the school.

The first strategic direction from the School of Theology and Ministrys mission statement is to continue efforts to establish the STM as a premier Catholic institution for theological scholarship and for intellectual and pastoral formation of priests, religious, and lay women and men, said Fr. Stegman. We are doing what we should be doing, and thanks to our faculty and our students' good will and passion, I think the STM is positioned well to grow and to respond pastorally and theologically to the needs of the Church and world.
Bluefield, WV (24701)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low 61F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low 61F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
A man affiliated with the Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos prison gang has been arrested in relation to the kidnapping of two migrants in 2019, according to authorities.

Angel Guerrero, 22, had a warrant out for his arrest for failure to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on the kidnapping case. He had been on the lam since Feb. 4, 2021, until his arrest on Jan. 10 by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Guerrero had been indicted on two counts of aggravated kidnapping for ransom/reward on Aug. 5, 2020.
Vijayawada: Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma has affirmed that there would be no deduction in the salaries of government employees following the implementation of 11 PRC. Addressing the media, he dismissed the fears of government employees about a reduction in their salaries, and said their gross salary will go up with the 11 PRC implementation.

Nowhere has the government set aside the Ashutosh Mishra Committee recommendations on PRC. It is natural for the employees to entertain doubts and the government will continue discussions with them to resolve issues, if any, he said.

The CS said APs revenue dropped to Rs 62,000 crore against the Rs 98,000 crore per annum the previous term due to the Covid-19 crisis. The government is readying to face the third wave and the Omicron impact. The employees must be mindful of the fact that the state revenue has largely reduced. This is the time to balance between government schemes and the employees salaries. The government is already providing many benefits to the employees compared to the scene in other states, he said.

Sharma recalled that already the government had allocated an interim relief of Rs 17,000 crore to the government employees. "The employees are aware that IR is not part of the payroll and the total wage should be taken into account. It is not right to make accusations against the government on the PRC issue as it is increasing gross salary and also offering an increase in pension and gratuity."

He said the government had taken into account the recommendations of the Central Pay Commission based on scientific studies. Life expectancy has largely increased and hence there is nothing wrong in increasing the retirement age to 62 years.

The government has other commitments too. All the factors including the PRC, education, welfare, infrastructure etc., have to be taken into consideration in the state budget. Other states have cut welfare schemes during the Covid-19 crisis but the AP government continued with all such schemes. The states resources are limited, he said.

Chief Secretary to revenue and services Shashi Bhushan said the implementation of the PRC would place an additional burden of R 10,247 crore on the government. The salary of every employee will increase massively and the increase of the retirement age will result in an additional benefit to them of Rs 24 lakh per employee for two years, he said.

Finance Secretary S.S. Rawat, adviser to government on employees welfare N. Chandrasekhar Reddy, revenue department EO Satyanarayana and information commissioner T. Vijay Kumar also addressed the media.
A man who plotted the death of his soon-to-be ex-wifes family in Honduras has been sentenced in Jefferson County for a federal crime born out of vengeance.

Santos Orellana-Hernandez, 47, who is a Honduran national and Port Arthur resident, on July 23 pleaded guilty, to use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, tampering with a witness by intimidation and threats and conspiracy to commit witness tampering.

He has now been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield, which was announced U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas Brit Featherston on Tuesday.

From January to March 2020, Orellana-Hernandez, solicited the murder of two extended family members who live in Honduras, according to court documents, the release said.

The purpose of the intended murders was revenge against Orellana-Hernandezs soon-to-be ex-wife, who was seeking a divorce from Orellana-Hernandez in Jefferson County, the release said.

Orellana-Hernandez reportedly told his estranged wife that he would make her cry tears of blood, the release added.

According to court documents, the release said Orellana-Hernandez offered to pay $8,000 to Gustavo Ramires in Honduras to kill Orellana-Hernandezs mother-in-law and brother-in-law on or after April 21, 2020. The date marked the finalization of the couples divorce.

That amount equates to approximately $200,000 in Honduran Lempira, a payment that would only be received upon photographic proof that he had killed the two targets along with two other unnamed individuals.

Ramires later placed a recorded telephone call to Orellana-Hernandez, in which the two discussed the murder-for-hire plot, using code language such as planting the corn, to refer to the killings, the release said. Ramires later told investigators that planting the corn meant burying victims bodies.

Orellana-Hernandez was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 20, 2020 and taken into federal custody. In early June, while he was jailed, Orellana-Hernandez conspired with his brother to intimidate his soon-to-be ex-wife in an attempt to make her withdraw the murder-for-hire accusation, the release said.

On November 4, 2020, the grand jury returned a superseding indictment that added the witness tampering charges, the release said.

This case exemplifies excellent local and federal law enforcement cooperation, and the FBI collaborated with our international partners in Honduras to successfully stop a senseless act of violence by Orellana-Hernandez, U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston said. The Port Arthur Police Department and the FBI did an excellent job! Crimes of violence, here or abroad, will not be tolerated and all the tools of law enforcement will be utilized to stop violent crime and prosecute the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Port Arthur Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ross and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean C. Day.

meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com

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China and the United States have engaged in a renewed spat over the activity of a U.S. naval ship in the South China Sea, with Washington asserting its right to navigate territorial waters and Beijing warning of serious consequences.

The USS Benfold guided-missile destroyer conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, the U.S. Navys 7th Fleet said.

The Chinese military immediately responded by accusing the U.S. ship of illegally intruded into Chinas territorial waters of Xisha (Paracel islands).

Senior Col. Tian Junli, spokesman of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, said in a statement released on the microsite Weibo that the actions of the U.S. side have seriously violated Chinas sovereignty and security.

The latest event is another cast-iron proof that it (the United States) is pursuing navigational hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea, the statement said.

The PLA Southern Theater organized naval and air forces to track and monitor and warned them to leave, it said.

This is the second time in six months the USS Benfold was accused by China of illegally entering its territorial waters, or within 12 nautical miles from the baseline self-claimed by Beijing around the whole group of Paracel islands. In a recent report, the U.S. described that claim as unlawful.

Previously in July 2021, the PLA said it successfully expelled the American destroyer.

We solemnly demand that the U.S. side immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events, the new statement warned.

The USS Benfold participates in a South China Sea drill, Jan. 20, 2022. [U.S. Navy]

US response

The U.S. Navy 7th Fleet quickly responded to Chinas accusation.

A revised statement said the Chinese statement about the U.S. destroyers mission was false.

USS Benfold conducted this FONOP in accordance with international law, it said, adding: The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle.

Nothing PRC (Peoples Republic of China) says otherwise will deter us.

The lengthy statement went on to explain that under international law as reflected in the Convention of the Law on the Sea (UNCLOS), ships of all states  including their warships  enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.

The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for innocent passage is unlawful, it said, pointing out that not only China but Taiwan and Vietnam also demand permission or advance notification before a foreign military ship passes through their territorial sea.

The United States challenged the unlawful restrictions imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam, the 7th Fleets statement said.

Retired Australian Rear Adm. (retd) James Goldrick, a prominent maritime affairs analyst, explained to BenarNews: Many U.S. FONOPs, including those in the South China Sea, are not in relation to whether a particular nation claims a feature but to what rights that nation thinks derives from the feature.

Thats why U.S. FONOPs have deliberately gone through the zones of not only Chinese-claimed features, but Vietnamese ones, as well as those of the Philippines, Goldrick said.

The USS Benfold conducts a South China Sea freed of navigation operation, Jan. 20, 2022. [U.S. Navy]

Flexing naval muscles

In another development, one of the U.S. Navys most powerful nuclear submarines  the USS Nevada  made a rare appearance in the Western Pacific over the weekend.

The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine carrying 20 Trident ballistic missiles and dozens of nuclear warheads made a port visit in the U.S. territory of Guam on Saturday. Since the 1980s the U.S. Navy has announced visits by its submarines to the Pacific island only twice and their movements are generally kept secret.

The U.S. has 14 nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs), called boomers, which are capable of launching precision nuclear warheads.

This port visit to Guam reflects the United States commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, Adm. Jeffrey Jablom, commander of the Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a brief statement.

Alexandre Neill, a Singapore-based defense analyst, said the port call represented a statement of U.S. resilience following a recent collision in the South China Sea involving the submarine USS Connecticut which struck an underwater mountain.

Stationing a SSBN close to China is also a clear deterrent message and a message about the needs for nuclear strategic stability, Neill said. The U.S. does not want a regional arms race in the nuclear domain.

Another analyst, Shen Ming-Shih from Taiwans Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the port visit and announcement is aimed at China.

The U.S. is flexing its muscles as a push back on Chinese recent activities in the region, he said.
Vice Presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (center) distributes relief goods during a visit to the southern Philippine island of Siargao, which was devastated by Super Typhoon Rai in December, Jan. 20, 2022.

The Philippine defense establishment, which is supposed to be politically neutral under the constitution, appears to be backing a plan by President Rodrigo Dutertes daughter to conscript young adults into military service if she is elected vice-president this year.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, a candidate for the nations second highest office, said Wednesday that she would make military service mandatory for Filipinos aged 18 and older. Her comments drew criticism from a civil rights group, which said conscription violates basic civil and political rights.

On Thursday, both the armed forces and the Defense Secretary issued statements in favor of Duterte-Carpios plan.

We welcome the proposal as this is attuned to the times while [the] government is faced with adversities and challenges, Col. Ramon Zagala, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said in a statement.

The proposal is aligned with our aspirations  for the citizenry to contribute to nation building, he added.

Mandatory military service, he said, would help the country establish the base for a strong armed forces, and therefore, a strong nation.

When contacted by BenarNews, Zagala clarified that he wasnt favoring any candidate but was only stating a preference.

Duterte-Carpio is contesting the May general election as the running mate of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of a former Philippine dictator.

I will use my office, the Office of the Vice President, to talk to our Congress and the Senate  to make military service for all [people] 18 years old, male and female, mandatory in our country, she said Wednesday during a virtual campaign event alongside Marcos Jr.

Under the plan, conscripts fees and other essentials would be subsidized, she said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he supported the plan.

It would create a ready pool of trained soldiers and reservists to defend the country and to be deployed in times of disasters, he said.

In a statement, Lorenzana acknowledged that there would be certain hurdles if the plan were implemented, including the allocation of funds to accommodate millions of Filipinos who turn 18 every year.

The other two potential obstacles include resistance to the draft from those who are not inclined to serve in the military, Lorenzana said. Third, we are not on [a] war footing and there will be little need of a general mobilization.

Instead, Lorenzana suggested making an existing college military training course mandatory once again.

Originally mandatory for all college students in the Philippines, the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) was made voluntary several years ago following reports of abuse and brutality in the ranks.

President Duterte has been advocating for its reinstatement as a mandatory course.

Marcos and Duterte-Carpio are seen as representing the legacies of their fathers.

President Duterte has often resorted to police and military intervention in non-security crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. And Marcos father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, placed the country under martial law from 1972 to 1981.

Not everyone is on board with Duterte-Carpios plan. Conscription violates the right to conscientious objection against military service guaranteed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the rights group Karapatan, said in a statement.

Mandatory military service or conscription, especially with the current prevalent repressive military institutions that we have, will not only bring about involuntary servitude or forced labor, she said.

It violates basic civil and political rights such as the right to freedom of thought, beliefs, and conscience, especially if you are forced to provide service or fight in unjust wars or repressive endeavors of the State.

Civic duty is best fulfilled not through such draconian measures but through promotion of human and peoples rights, Palabay said.
Women arranges their swabs test samples on the stand at IGMC Stadium in Vijayawada on Thursday. (Photo:DC)

VIJAYAWADA: Nearly 2,000 medical students and government doctors have been infected with Covid-19 in recent days in Andhra Pradesh.

Of the total infected, a majority were medical students attending to patients in both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 out-patient wards in 11 government medical colleges attached to various hospitals. In Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayan Ruia government general hospital alone, nearly 100 medical students were infected. In RIMS, Kadapa, 50 out of 150 MBBS final year students were infected.

Similar reports are coming in from other government medical colleges in the state where both students and doctors are getting infected.

The health authorities have stopped elective surgeries in Ruia hospital in Tirupati on Thursday while the government medical college attached hospitals in Guntur and Visakhapatnam have also stopped elective surgeries so that only emergency cases like deliveries, surgeries and others having life-threat are being attended.

As the daily caseload of Covid-19 infections is witnessing a rapid surge, the health authorities are likely to stop non-Covid-19 out-patient wards also, so that they can pay more attention to Covid-19 OPs, carry out Covid-19 tests, administer Covid-19 jabs and provide treatment to the infected patients.

Unlike the opting for home isolation and hospital quarantine for 28 days in the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and 14 days in the second wave, the medical students and the doctors are going for one weeks home isolation or hospital quarantine based on need, recovering well from the infection and resuming work.

AP Junior Doctors Association president Dr Jaswanth said, We have been receiving reports from government medical colleges and hospitals that several students are getting infected with Covid-19 as they are getting exposed to the infected patients while attending to their duties. However, they are showing only mild symptoms, are recovering well and resuming work.

The junior doctors favour continuation of the Covid1-9 OP wards despite facing the threat of getting infected as if they stop attending to them, the poor patients may be left high and dry.

They maintain that, so far, there is no adverse impact on government medical colleges and hospitals as regards taking care of patients, and caution that if the same trend of coronavirus spread continues, these too might be facing strain.

AP Government Doctors Association convener Dr Jayadheer said, Several government doctors are getting infected with Covid-19 and fortunately, they are recovering well and resuming work. We have lost 18 government doctors in the first and second waves of the pandemic in the state and we appeal to the state government to provide jobs to their family members as was promised.
Thailand will restart its quarantine-waiver program for fully vaccinated foreign visitors on Feb. 1, the coronavirus task force announced Thursday, as COVID-19 infections fall and the nation looks to revive the lucrative tourism industry ravaged by the pandemic.

The so-called Test and Go program, introduced in November 2021 as an alternative to a two-week hotel quarantine, was suspended last month amid the global spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The policy will apply to double-vaccinated visitors only, Taweesilp Wissanuyothin, spokesman for the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.

Thailand will be open to travelers from all countries again. The Test and Go policy had been stopped on Dec. 21 to prevent the Omicron variant, Taweesilp said.

The tourism sector, which contributes to about one-fifth of the gross domestic product, has been hit hard by the outbreak of COVID-19, which was first detected in Thailand in mid-January 2020.

In 2019, almost 40 million people visited the Southeast Asian country  a number that fell to about 700,000 last year. Half of the 2021 visitors arrived in less than two months when Test and Go was active, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

This new policy requires those who enter the country under the program to do an RT-PCR test on arrival and again five days later. They have to book a hotel with Safety and Health Administration (SHA) Plus certification for Day 1 and Day 5. The travelers will pay for the test and accommodation, Taweesilp told reporters in Bangkok.

He said visitors also must agree to download an app that tracks their whereabouts.

In case there are more infections or the situation changes, there will be a reassessment for inbound travelers and an adjustment of the sandbox scheme, Taweesilp said.

The sandbox is another quarantine waiver program where a vaccinated visitor agrees to stay in one designated area for a week. It has been established in tourist areas on the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui and mainland regions of Krabi and Phang-Nga.

In Chiang Rai, the owner of a local guesthouse questioned government efforts to control the pandemic.

The government changes measures very often and every time, they lack effective management. They do not consult anyone and just change whenever they want to, Hataichanok Inthawong, who owns Pun Hug Homestay, told BenarNews. We have bookings by tourists, especially foreigners, who have canceled because of the confusion.

COVID-19 cases

Health officials reported 8,129 new COVID-19 infections and 19 deaths on Thursday.

Since the pandemic began two years ago, more than 2.35 million have been infected and nearly 22,000 have died while more than two-thirds of Thais have been fully vaccinated and about 15 percent have received booster shots.

The task force spokesman said the mortality rate was lower than projected and less than a third of the nations 147,000 hospital beds are occupied.

Since the situation is gradually improving, there is going to be more relaxation of the restriction measures, Taweesilp said.

Thai authorities also extended the period when restaurants are allowed to serve alcohol by two hours, to 11 p.m., starting Jan. 24, in major cities and tourism centers. The ban on bars and nightclubs continues.

The announcement followed a warning by the nations public health permanent secretary to foreign travelers that they will be responsible for all medical costs should they be infected by COVID-19 once Test and Go resumes.

We will no longer subsidize. The visitors must buy insurance that covers all treatments or purchase additional health insurance when they arrive here, Secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit told reporters.
A police officer joined by a religious leader tries to negotiate with two rebels before a gunfight broke out in Pattani province, southern Thailand, Jan. 20, 2022.

Two suspected rebels were killed and a Thai soldier was injured in a gunfight after negotiations failed during a standoff between insurgents and government authorities in Thailands Deep South, the police commander in Pattani province said Thursday.

The incident occurred days after the Thai government and Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the main rebel group fighting a separatist insurgency in the Muslim-majority southern border region, resumed in-person peace talks in Malaysia for the first time in nearly two years.

On Thursday, police on the Deep South received a tip that a group of rebels was planning an ambush in Sai Buri district, authorities said. They asked government officials, religious leaders and community elders to help negotiate a surrender, said Maj. Gen. Narin Busaman, the Pattani provincial police chief.

The negotiation went for more than four hours, but failed, he told BenarNews. When the rebels left the house, they started firing at people who had gathered outside. In the ensuing gunbattle, Capt. Suriya Binyawang was shot in his left bottom, while the two insurgents were killed.

We chose to negotiate, and the protocol strictly followed law and human rights principles, Kiattisak told reporters.

Because the rebels opened fire, the officials were forced to respond. In the end, the criminals were killed at the scene.

He said the captain was sent to a local hospital and was out of danger.

Col. Kiattisak Neewong, spokesman for the border regions Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC-4), said the suspects were top-level insurgents.

Since 2006, they have repeatedly committed crimes, he said, killing and injuring a great number of people.

He blamed them for the deaths of the Kittiprapanan family in April 2021. A businessman, his daughter, and his nephew died when attackers sprayed their truck with bullets and then set it aflame in Pattani province.

Officials at the time claimed the attack was retaliation for the killing of a suspected insurgent and the arrest of two others.

Fighters of God

A relative of one of the dead men told BenarNews that officials could have taken them into custody, but chose to kill them.

We are always forced to accept the consequences. We always have to endure the injustice and oppression, said the relative who spoke on condition of anonymity over safety concerns.

We did the ceremony and buried our fighters. They are fighters of God. They will be recognized by God, the relative said.

There were many people who came to the ceremony. Some we know and do not know  I dont know where theyre from.

Last week at a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, representatives of the BRN rebels and Thai government officials agreed to form a Joint Working Group to find a peaceful solution to the decades-long insurgency in the Deep South.

A Malaysian official facilitated the meeting in Kuala Lumpur where the two sides discussed a three-point plan to reduce violence, allow for political participation and to establish a discussion mechanism in the Deep South.

Thai crime scene investigators inspect the site of a bombing in Yala, southern Thailand, March 17, 2020. [AP]

Backlash over prisoner handover

On day two of the talks, Malaysian immigration authorities handed over three suspected Thai insurgents hiding in the country, the first official prisoner transfer related to the insurgency in about 25 years.

A Deep South civil society leader said the handover of the three suspected combatants had raised doubt over Malaysias role as an honest broker  at the negotiating table.

The country risks becoming irrelevant in a role that requires them to be neutral and impartial, Artef Sohko, president of The Patani, a civil society group based in southern Thailand, said in a statement on Saturday.

On Thursday, Malaysian facilitator Rahim Noor said the handover of the three suspected rebels would not affect the peace talks. He said troops arrested the three who were handed over to immigration officials to be processed and deported to Thailand.

I was not aware of the arrest. I only heard about it recently. BRN representatives also did not contact me to ask about it, nor did the Thai officials, Rahim Noor told BenarNews, adding, This will not affect the discussion and my role as facilitator.

That was what I heard. It is within the Immigration Departments jurisdiction. Do not ask me about their work, and they dont need to inform me about it, he said.

BenarNews was unable to reach BRN for comment on the prisoner handover.

Artef said that while no one had established a link between the peace talks and the handover, one cannot deny the fact that the timing of the handover does not make Malaysia look good.

If anything, it undermines Malaysias credibility and international standing, he said.

The alleged crime of the three suspects is still unclear.  The culture of impunity and gross human rights violation by the Thai security forces in the Patani region are well documented by both local and international human rights organizations, he said.

The Deep South encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala provinces and four districts of Songkhla province. Since the insurgency reignited in January 2004, more than 7,000 people have been killed and 13,500 others injured in violence across the mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking border region, according to Deep South Watch, a local think-tank.

Muzliza Mustafa contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur.
China's wetlands of int'l importance improving: white paper

Xinhua) 09:53, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The ecology of China's wetlands of international importance has been improving in the wake of better water quality and biodiversity, said a white paper issued by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Wednesday.

China now has 64 wetlands of international importance, including 63 on the mainland and one in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The white paper surveyed the wetlands on the mainland.

The 63 wetlands covered 3.73 million hectares in 2021, up from the size registered in 2019. They are home to 2,258 species of wetland plants and 260 species of wetland birds, according to the white paper.

Despite progress in conservation, the wetlands face threats from alien plant invasion, environmental pollution and overgrazing.

In the future, China will continue to boost conservation of the wetlands of international importance, carry out wetland ecological restoration, strengthen the prevention and control of alien species and improve wetland management capacity, said Wu Zhimin, an official with the administration.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China joining the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat. The convention, which took effect in 1975, aims to provide the framework for international cooperation for the conservation of wetland habitats.

Wetlands include marshes, beaches and lakes, which in many cases are the natural habitats of waterfowl, particularly migratory birds which move across borders.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Hyderabad: The state government on Thursday completed the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu funds for the rabi season, depositing Rs 7,411.52 crore into the bank accounts of 62.99 lakh farmers covering 1.48 crore acres.

Nalgonda district stood at the top with 4.69 lakh farmers getting Rs 601.74 crore while Medchal-Malkajgiri district had the lowest 33,352 farmers getting Rs 33.65 crore. The government had initiated the disbursement process on December 28.

In a media statement, agriculture minister S. Niranjan Reddy thanked Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for releasing funds to Rythu Bandhu in time despite financial constraints.

He demanded that the Centre come up with a national policy for the welfare of farmers.

"Farmers have been facing a lot of problems due to shortage of farm labour. The Centre should link the MNREGA scheme with the agriculture sector for the benefit of farmers. Although the CM made repeated requests to PM in this regard, there has been no response," Reddy said.

The minister urged the Centre to empower state governments to declare minimum support price (MSP) considering the local cultivation and other factors. "The Centre should procure the entire produce at MSP. It should implement the Swaminathan Committee recommendations on MSP", he said. "The Centre is announcing MSP and washing off its responsibilities. This is deplorable."
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Chennai: Vigilance raids were conducted on Thursday in different parts of Tamil Nadu and in Telangana at the premises of AIADMK leader and former Minister K P Anbalagan in connection with a disproportionate assets case.

Anbalagan was the Higher Education Minister in the previous AIADMK government.

The AIADMK condemned the searches as 'political vendetta'.

Top party leaders O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami alleged that the DVAC action was aimed at hiding the administrative inefficiency of Chief Minister M K Stalin.

In a statement, the duo said that rather than working towards people oriented welfare initiatives, the DMK regime is focused on taking 'vengeful' action due to vendetta against the AIADMK.

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), Dharmapuri, registered a disproportionate assets case against Anbalagan and four of his close family members, even as sleuths simultaneously raided 58 premises linked to him in Dharmapuri, Salem and Chennai districts besides in Telangana.

During the searches, the authorities seized material objects and incriminating documents pertaining to the case. In addition to an amount of Rs 2,87,98,650, gold ornaments weighing about 6.637 Kilograms, about 13.85 Kilograms of silver and unaccounted cash of Rs 2,65,31,650, and bank locker key were seized. Further investigation is on.

Anbalagan is the sixth former AIADMK Minister to come under the scanner of the DVAC.

The FIR, registered by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, DVAC, under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, named Anbalagan and accused him of being involved in "corrupt activities and intentionally enriching himself illicitly and acquiring properties and pecuniary resources on his name and on the names of his family members, disproportionate to his known source of income."

The case pertains to his acquisition during his term in office as Minister between 2016 and 2021.

Anbalagan, aged 62, is accused of "illicitly enriching" himself to the tune of Rs 11,32, 95,755 on his name and that of his family members and others, disproportionate to their known sources of income. His assets should not have exceeded Rs 10,10,39,663 during the 'check period,' the DVAC said.

Also named in the FIR were Anbalagan's wife A Maliga, sons A Sasi Mohan and A Chandra Mohan and S Vaishnavee, his daughter-in-law.

"The affidavits filed by him during the 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections and information received from credible sources were taken into account for arriving at the quantum of disproportionate assets," the FIR said.

A petition had been filed by N Krishnamoorthy in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the DVAC to take up investigation with regard to his petition sent to the department in which he alleged that Anbalagan had amassed wealth disproportionate to his income.

Anbalagan, representing the Palacode Assembly Constituency, Dharmapuri district, is the sixth former minister from the main opposition party to come under the vigilance net over alleged disproportionate assets, with the others being MR Vijayabhaskar, SP Velumani, K C Veeramani, C Vijayabaskar and P Thangamani.
NORTH ADAMS  It has become a familiar refrain, and Jeffrey Thomas hears it constantly when speaking with local employers.

Everybody we talk to says, I cant get people on the line, Thomas said.

He is referring to the staffing shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that has handcuffed so many Berkshire employers. The head of one Pittsfield manufacturer has been difficult to reach recently, and one reason, Thomas said, is because he is working on the factory floor.

Thomas is executive director of the small-business accelerator Lever, and he is hoping that his companys college internship program, known as Berkshire Interns, might be able to make up for some of these persistent local staffing shortages as the year progresses. The Berkshire Interns program provides college students with 10-week paid summer internships with local employers.

Lever began placing interns with Berkshire employers in 2018, and two recent expansions to the program, Berkshire Entry and I2P2, the companys Inclusive Internship Preparation Program, are designed to bring more qualified and diversified talent into the local workforce.

Berkshire Entry markets full-time entry jobs to college seniors. I2P2, designed by Lever Workforce Programs Manager Jade Schnauber, is designed to bring more members of underrepresented minority groups to the Berkshires in order to diversify the local workforce.

Lever started both initiatives before the coronavirus pandemic hit, but Thomas believes that they might be more relevant now, given the current economic circumstances.

We do think that employers should be looking more strongly at internships as a way to build their employee pipeline, Thomas said. We think, given the shortage that we see right now, its a better idea than ever.

Quote "They have a really wide reach for recruiting, which has been really helpful. They show Berkshire-based students opportunities that are in the Berkshires, and they're also bringing in students from out of the area to show what the opportunities are in the Berkshires, which is great." Kelli Kozak, MountainOne Financial Partners vice president of community engagement

Berkshire Interns makes sense for smaller companies that are trying to fill staff shortages and do not have the hiring resources that some of Berkshire Countys bigger employers do, Thomas said.

A company that doesnt need Berkshire Interns much is General Dynamics, Thomas said. But, companies like LTI [Smart Glass] or Cord Master or Boyd Technologies, these are smaller companies that dont have the resources to recruit [college] students on campuses themselves. Weve built a whole infrastructure that has been effective in getting students on campus.

Berkshire Interns placed 25 college students in internships last summer, and it hopes to place at least 35 this year and could easily handle 45, according to Schnauber.

Ten members of the Berkshire Interns program have found full-time jobs in the Berkshires since Lever began the initiative four years ago, according to Schnauber, who is one of them.

Schnauber, a Pittsfield native who once served as a ski instructor at Bousquet Mountain Ski Area, interned at Lever in summer 2018 and summer 2019, while attending the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, before landing a full-time position with the company. She graduated from MCLA in 2020, with a degree in sociology. Many of the participants havent found full-time employment yet because they are attending school, Thomas said.

MountainOne Financial Partners has participated in the Berkshire Interns program since it began and is helping to finance the I2P2 initiative, according Kelli Kozak, the companys vice president of community engagement. One former MountainOne intern, Avril Levesque, is now Levers communications manager. Kozak referred to Levers Berkshire Interns program as a good fit for local employers.

They have a really wide reach for recruiting, which has been really helpful, Kozak said. They show Berkshire-based students opportunities that are in the Berkshires, and theyre also bringing in students from out of the area to show what the opportunities are in the Berkshires, which is great.

Ive been part of the training program that they do ... roundtables and panels and training, and thats been super helpful, she said.

Berkshire Interns is available to students in more than 140 colleges across the country, with the priority placed on schools located on the East Coast. According to Thomas, two-thirds of the students who have received internships during the programs first four years originally are from Berkshire County, but many who do not have local ties have applied.

The I2P2 internship program that Schnauber founded is entering its second year. It is targeted toward members of underrepresented communities, such as people of color or the LGBT community. Schnauber thought it would be a good idea to form a program that would target those communities, in order to give them chances at internships that they might never have known existed.

I think any program that supports diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging is great, Kozak said.
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.
PITTSFIELD  A city man has been allowed to spend the pretrial phase of his domestic violence cases at home.

Maurice Lee, 34, of Pittsfield, was released from pretrial custody with a number of conditions following a lengthy dangerousness hearing last week in Central Berkshire District Court.

He has pleaded not guilty charges of assault and battery on a family or household member, strangulation or suffocation and threatening to commit murder.

Lee is accused of allegedly punching the woman in the face on Saturday and choking her with her necklace on Jan. 1.

Arguing for Lees pretrial detention, Assistant District Attorney R. Talmadge Reeves said Lee is a habitual domestic abuser, and said his record included four past restraining orders being taken out against him.

Additionally, Reeves said Lee had been a defendant in previous criminal cases before he picked up the very serious present charge of strangulation, the lethality factor of which he said is incredibly high.

Reeves submitted to the court jailhouse recordings that he said demonstrate that Lee attempted to have others speak with the named victim to have her possibly alter her story or change it in some way.

Defense attorney Ryan Smith sought to raise questions about the victims credibility during the Jan. 12 hearing before Judge Paul Smyth.

Under questioning by Smith, Lees mother also said that Lee has a serious heart condition that requires a life-saving medical device.

She testified that she saw Lees behavior improve and him become a completely different person over the summer due to a medical scare. She added that she will allow Lee to live with her, and monitor him, during the pretrial phase of his criminal cases.

Crediting the testimony of the defense witnesses, Smyth said there are conditions that could be imposed on Lee in order to release him from pretrial custody while maintaining the safety of the community and the victim in the case.

He ordered Lee to wear a GPS monitoring device, remain at his mothers home in New York, not to commit any crimes, to maintain or seek employment, to have no contact with the victim and to avoid alcohol and unprescribed drugs.

On Tuesday, a judge denied a request from probation officials seeking to detain Lee without the right to bail on another open case out of Southern Berkshire District Court, where Lee is charged with assault and battery on a family or household member and witness intimidation.
Tanglewood Music Festival originally began as the Berkshire Symphonic Festival and was held on the Dan Hanna estate in 1934, as seen here. The first two years of the Berkshire Symphonic Festival were under the direction of the New York Philharmonic. The Boston Symphony Orchestra arrived in 1936, performing three concerts that summer.

The music festival would also be held at the Holmwood estate, before the Tanglewood estate was donated as the permanent home of the festival in 1936. The first concerts were held on the Tanglewood grounds in August 1937. The second weekend of concerts was held under a tent during torrential rains that caused a collection to be taken up for the construction of a permanent structure. That structure, known as The Shed, was opened in 1938.

Purchase photos in this gallery on SmugMug.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
PITTSFIELD  Resettling asylum-seekers is typically a long process, but the U.S. military evacuation of Afghanistan in August gave resettlement agencies little time to plan.

After the evacuation left around 50,000 Afghans staying at U.S. military bases, a Springfield-based resettlement agency partnered with locals to make the Berkshires a resettlement destination.

With the evacuation in Afghanistan, there would be no way, as a resettlement agency, we would be able to handle that kind of volume with merely our staff, said Gabriela Sheehan, the Berkshires resettlement coordinator for Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts. So, we reached out and asked the community if they would partner with us.

With the help of 150 volunteers and several groups, Jewish Family Services has brought 28 Afghan evacuees to Berkshire County, mostly in the Pittsfield area. One family of three will arrive next week, and as many as 30 asylum-seekers  from Afghanistan or other countries  may resettle in the Berkshires later this year, Sheehan said.

Quote We all felt that we owed a debt to the Afghan people that stood with us. In fact, its ingrained in our warrior ethos to never leave a comrade behind. Mark Pompi, a veteran of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on why he got involved with evacuee resettlement plans

People have come from everywhere to help because this is something that has deeply touched our community, Sheehan said. After Afghan resettlement and we start getting refugees from all over the world, I just know that its going to be able to make our community stronger and better.

The latest support came Wednesday in the form of a $10,000 donation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 448, which local VFW members voted to make on Jan. 5. Those funds can be used for school supplies, drivers licenses, transportation, job training and other educational needs, Sheehan said.

Retired Sgt. First Class Mark Pompi, a veteran of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he and other veterans got involved after learning of the resettlement plans in an August phone call from state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield.

Those evacuated from Afghanistan were mostly U.S. allies.

As Afghan evacuees began settling into the Berkshires, the quest for halal meat began LEE  Thomas Logsdon was about to receive a large family of evacuees from Afghanistan into his home last month when he realized he needed to f

We all felt that we owed a debt to the Afghan people that stood with us, Pompi said. In fact, its ingrained in our warrior ethos to never leave a comrade behind.

A quickly expanding network of veteran and civilian volunteers contributed by fundraising and getting the word out. But as time went on, the work grew.

Basically one cold Saturday, we moved the contents of an entire living room from a family that donated it to one of the Afghan families, Pompi said, crediting Bill OGara for that deed.

Pompi, Sheehan, Farley-Bouvier, Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer and VFW Post 448 Commander Arnold Perras all spoke at a Wednesday event where Perras announced the donation.

Tyer and Farley-Bouvier had worked with Jewish Family Services in 2016 on a plan to resettle Syrian refugees before a change in presidential administrations  and federal refugee admission policies  dashed that plan.

Work to resettle 31 Afghans in Berkshires proceeds, four years after federal policies halted resettlement of Syrian refugees Berkshire County now is home to 15 Afghan evacuees, and it will welcome 16 more by the end of January. Planning for resettlement in the Berkshires during an earlier humanitarian crisis, leaders say, left them well prepared to accommodate Afghans.

Among the families who have arrived, many have at least one member who speaks very good English, Sheehan said.

There was hope that meetings with employers could start next week, but evacuees are still waiting to receive their Social Security cards. But, some may begin English as a Second Language instruction shortly at Berkshire Community College, she said.

Pompi said he hopes the donation can help support not only Afghans but also the next groups that come in and the next crisis that comes in.

Its not going to be over with Afghanistan, he said.
Williamstown Interim Police Chief Mike Ziemba, then serving as K-9 Officer, conducts a tour of the new Police Department shortly after opening in 2019. Ziemba is working with the U.S. Department of Justice to organize a communitywide meeting to discuss the police departments successes and failures.
Palanikumar told the meeting that the Commission was fully prepared to hold the election any time and that all necessary arrangements had been made. (Representational Photo:AP)

Chennai: Election fever slowly sets in as the State gears up for the Urban Local Body polls with the authorities all set for the event and the political parties, too, starting the process of selecting candidates to contest for the various posts in the 21 Corporations, 138 Municipalities and 490 Town Panchayats.

Since the old system of holding indirect elections will be followed in the polls that are likely to be held in the second week of February, voters would be selecting their respective ward members and councilors, who will subsequently choose the chairpersons for the town panchayats and municipalities and the Mayors for the Corporations.

Holding the polls for all the urban local bodies on a single day was the overwhelming demand of all the political parties that took part in a preliminary level meeting called by the State Election Commission (SEC) at its office in Chennai.

The meeting, in which representatives of recognized political parties took part, was presided over by the State Election Commissioner V Palanikumar with senior officials from the SEC and Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi participating in it.

Palanikumar told the meeting that the Commission was fully prepared to hold the election any time and that all necessary arrangements had been made.

Besides finalizing the voters list and also announcing the reservation for women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Caste women in the wards and posts of chairpersons and Mayors, the Commission has also begun the training of officials who would be involved in the conduct of the elections.

DMKs representative at the meeting, Girirajan, later told the media that the demand for a single phase polling was a unanimous one voiced by all the parties, apart from the insistence on strictly following Covid-19 protocols.

Pollachi Jayaraman of AIADMK said that they pointed out some discrepancies in the electoral rolls, in which some names were repeated.

The time suggested for the polls was between 7 am and 6 pm, with the last one said R Damodharan of the Congress, while BJPs Karu Nagarajan said that they wanted para military personnel to be deployed in all the sensitive wards.

The Election Commission had reacted positively to all the demands placed by the various representatives, which also included the fixing of CCTV cameras to monitor the polling process, they said.

Even as the SEC was making the preparations, political parties also swung into action to gear up for the polls that are expected to be announced by January 22, giving not much time for the campaign.

Of the political parties, Kamal Haasans Makkal Neethi Miam was the first to announce the first list of 47 candidates for the coming polls on January 13 itself.

The ruling DMK has started the selection process by entrusting the responsibility with the district level office-bearers, who would also be dealing with the alliance partners at the local level to finalize seat sharing and seat allocation.

Others like the AIADMK, Congress and BJP, too, have started receiving applications from aspirants, though the recent announcement on the reservation of the wards would lead to a change in the profile of the applicants, some of whom would be seeking interest for the first time.

The Naam Tamilar Katchi and the DMDK have announced that they would go it alone in the elections while the DMK and AIADMK would continue the same alliances they had for the earlier rural local body polls.
GREAT BARRINGTON  Five months into its effort to finalize a proposal regulating short-term, Airbnb-style rentals, the Select Board on Tuesday was unable to get beyond the second sentence in the first section, labeled Purpose and intent.

A key point of disagreement remains whether the town should use its authority to pressure second-home owners who rent their property into either forsaking the short-term rental market for the long-term rental market or to sell. Freeing up housing for long-term use has been a stated goal of Leigh Davis, vice chair of the Select Board, who drafted the original proposal last fall.

The majority of public feedback to the proposal has been negative. Tuesday's meeting made it clear that members of the Select Board are not, themselves, in unanimous agreement on what the bylaw could accomplish or even what its intentions are.

Even after an attempt by town officials late last year to de-emphasize how the bylaw could free up housing for long-term rentals, Davis, in opening remarks on Tuesday, again spoke of the bylaw as one part of "a multi-faceted puzzle" to make more housing available for year-round use.

I will guarantee you when we're done with this, no one will be happy on this board, but hopefully we will have accomplished something  and we haven't tonight, said Select Board Chairman Stephen Bannon.

The Select Board may again discuss the proposed bylaw at its next meeting on Jan. 24, contingent upon the board receiving data it has requested from town staff. That data includes the number of existing properties offering short-term rentals, how many are commercially owned, how many are owned by limited liability companies and the average value of such commercially owned properties.

One of the considerations, proposed by Select Board member Ed Abrahams, is to adopt a bylaw similar to the one passed by Stockbridge voters at last Junes annual town meeting.

What I like about the Stockbridge one is it does what it says it's trying to do, Abrahams said. It does something that it can do. It's been past the attorney general, so we know that it's legal without legal fees.

Following Tuesdays meeting, Davis pointed out what she considers a problematic element to the Stockbridge bylaw: that it does not prohibit LLCs from offering short-term rentals. Indeed, some in Stockbridge have said that not restricting LLCs remains a weak point in that towns bylaw.

Under Great Barringtons draft bylaw, as it currently stands  including revisions made by the towns Planning Board  short-term rentals would be limited to properties that serve as the owners primary, permanent residence or to units located on the same tax parcel as the owners primary, permanent residence. Other stipulations include matters of health and safety and reducing commercial activity in residential neighborhoods. Owners who offer property for short-term rentals would have to register with the town.

In order to go into effect, the proposed bylaw would have to be approved at town meeting in spring.

In a statement she read at the start of the meeting Tuesday, Davis underscored the towns crisis regarding long-term rental availability and the need to discourage out-of-town investors from buying up homes for short-term rentals.

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According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, she said, there are 200 short-term rentals in Great Barrington, yet there are zero properties available for long-term rent. Fifty-six short-term rentals are owned by investors. These 56 properties could be homes for families wishing to move here, seniors wishing to downsize or move closer to their children, apartments for essential workers or starter homes for young couples.

Reducing demand from speculators is key, she said. The primary residency requirement in this proposed bylaw is designed to deter speculators from purchasing housing for profit that may otherwise be available to residents and bring prices back down to reasonable levels that restore balance to this community.

Abrahams, on Tuesday, noted that few homeowners in town would support an initiative that would seek to reduce home values.

I guess what I'm looking for is, what are we trying to accomplish? Abrahams said. What's the likelihood that it will accomplish that? What are the costs and then the cost benefit?

He emphasized he would support a bylaw that would seek to stop the practice of people buying up homes and renting them out solely as short-term rentals. But he suggested that the town has more powerful tools at its disposal to create long-term housing. Specifically, he noted what are called accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which are either attached to principal dwellings or separate structures on the same property.

Almost every one of us has a backyard with room for an ADU, he said. The town could be encouraging people to build ADUs and give tax abatements when you do it. We're not doing that, he said. We're not talking about that. That's what we should be talking about.

The board on Tuesday never got beyond the second sentence of the proposed bylaw, which begins, Further, this article is intended to reduce commercial activity in residential neighborhoods  .

Abrahams said the language is too vague. Any kind of rental, including short-term and long-term, can be considered commercial activity, he said.

He also said he had an extreme issue with how the proposal, as written, doesnt distinguish real estate speculators from the many homeowners in town who have relied on the income they generate from short-term rentals of property that would not fall under the category of primary residences.

I would also like to stop speculators, he said, addressing Davis. You are also stopping somebody who's lived here their whole life and retires to Florida and spends more than six months there.  If I have a second home, if I move to Florida and I can't afford to keep my home empty, I have to sell it or rent it year round and not use it. Then I can't come back.

Why are we doing that? he said. Why do we want to do that to our people who've lived here their whole lives, who've invested in this community, who raised their kids here? Why do you want to tell them they can't keep their home unless they rent it out year round and don't use it?

Abrahams continued, I don't see how taking some taxpaying homeowners and treating them differently from others  taxpaying members who are part of this community, who support things we do here, who shop in our stores, who hire contractors here  I don't see how treating them differently solves this problem.

I'm sorry if second home-owners are getting swept up in the net, Davis said, but we have a housing crisis, and people with second homes have options.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, right, speaks reporters in July 2021, as Mass. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, left, looks on during a news conference in Boston. Sources close to Healey say that she is ready to enter the 2022 race for Massachusetts governor.
The Massachusetts House and Senate jointly voted 159-41 last June to let voters decide on the 2022 statewide ballot whether to pass a constitutional amendment imposing a new 4 percent surtax on annual household income over $1 million.
BIG RAPIDS  With just a little over two months on the job, Big Rapids Mayor Fred Guenther said he is impressed with the professionalism and dedication of the city employees and excited about the future of the city.

I toured everything, and I am very impressed with the great job the employees of the city do and what a good and dedicated crew we have here," Guenther told the Pioneer. "The professionalism of the fire and law enforcement has been very much a positive for me.

"I am also impressed with the quality of the commissions, such as the housing commission, the planning commission and the parks and rec commission, he continued. The citizens are really dedicated to improving Big Rapids and that has been a big plus factor for me.

When Guenther ran for office, one of the main things he said he wanted to focus on was bringing additional housing to the city, and a new housing project is one of the things he is excited about moving forward.

There is going to be a new big project for housing that we are working on, he said. We have a good plan for some new started homes for young couples and families, so I am excited about that.

The housing commission, in conjunction with the city, is working to establish a new housing development on property owned by the housing commission, along Mechanic Street. Last week, they purchased additional acreage along Bjornson Street to create additional lots.

With the additional land purchase, it could mean as much as 100 lots that will be sold and developed, so we are really excited about that, Guenther said. We are going to do everything we can to come with plans and funding to put in the necessary infrastructure so we can add a whole new housing area to the city. That could be in development over the next five years.

City officials, as well as housing commission members, will be looking into various grant opportunities and state funding programs to assist with funding the development, he said.

With this being his first time in an elected office, Guenther said it is a totally different world and involved a definite learning curve.

There is absolutely a learning curve, Guenther said. You really do jump into it fast and have to catch up quickly. You better study it and get it done and do your homework every night. It is way more complicated and busy than I ever dreamed it would be.

He said he attends at least four meetings a week, and they are all very strangely different.

One may be about sewer, one may be about Ferris, one may be about housing, he said. It is so challenging mentally, but I like that. That has been good for me.

I never ran for office before, so this is totally unusual, but I have enjoyed it, he added. I get a lot of interesting phone calls and a lot of unusual emails from people. It is sometimes annoying, but it is generally good. I am a people guy. I have taken care of people my whole life, so I am happy with it.

One experience he wasnt expecting to be a part of, but did recently, was conducting a wedding ceremony.

The mayor in Michigan can do weddings in his county, so I had my first wedding, Guenther said. That was a giggle for me because the person I married was a girl I had delivered, and I have delivered her children. So that was kind of fun. It was an uplifting experience.

Guenther was a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology in Big Rapids for many years prior to becoming mayor.

Looking ahead in 2022, one of the main hurdles the city faces is the decline in state revenue sharing funds for the city due to the lower Census numbers, Guenther said.

That is probably my biggest concern for the city  how we are going to make up that 27% revenue loss, he said. We have not discussed that, yet. We can do cost cutting and look for ways to increase revenue, but that will only go so far. A 27% reduction in revenue is scary to me.

I am not excited about the prospect of doing a repeat census, he continued. That has been a little discouraging because the cost of a repeat census is very high, and you dont know if you will go ahead if you do it. So that was a bit of a negative.

He said one of the most important things to focus on is figuring out how to get people to stay in the city and move into the city in order to get the Census numbers back up.

He is excited about the future of Big Rapids and some of the new projects the city is working on in the next year, as well as a continued relationship between the city and Ferris State University, and continued improvements of city amenities which will hopefully keep people in the city and bring in new residents, he said.

I want to stay positive, because I think we have a great city, Guenther said. I really hope we can continue to have a good relationship with Ferris. It has been very good for us, and I hope when the new president comes in he will also want to have that relationship because they are such a big part of us.

I think that we are going to have more positive forward thinking use of our citizenry and our leaders to try to move the city forward, and that is my goal, he continued. "I gave a talk to the Leadership Mecosta Group, and there are people there that can lead and do great things. I dont think there was anybody there over 40, and we need those young people to get involved and that is what we are going to work on.

Guenther was elected to the office of mayor in November 2020, replacing former Mayor Tom Hogenson, who was term-limited.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com According to a brand new CBS News poll, it is immigration. More Americans want that situation dealt with than any other current problem. Right now 39% of Americans approve of the way President Trump is handling the immigration issue. Fifty-five-percent disapprove. Now that number should come as no surprise because the media in general has hammered the president for his aggressive order to remove criminal aliens. As you saw last night on The Factor, the left does not want to consider the word criminal, instead always falling back on peaceful migrants. ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, FMR L.A. MAYOR (D): It's immoral to divide mothers from their children in the way that they are beginning to do now. ((EDIT)) They have expanded the definition of a criminal offense to include crossing the border multiple times to come back to your family, to include using fake documents so when you are stopped that you are not deported, to include using driving without a driver's license when you couldn't get a driver's license. So let's think about what the former mayor of Los Angeles just said. He's okay with illegal aliens defying deportation multiple times to "come back to your family." What does that mean? Does the mayor want open borders? Sounds like it. How about his rationalization of using fake documents? He's fine with it because everyone should be allowed in here with no restraints. Same thing with licenses. Why should states issue the privilege to drive to people who are not supposed to be in the country in the first place? That make any sense to you? So when you examine the illegal immigration situation without emotional politics, it all comes back to the law. That being said, Talking Points believes the law should be changed. There should be a generous guest worker program put into place so American businesses have access to labor that they need. Also, the illegal aliens already here should have a hearing, all of them, to determine whether their presence is benefitting the country. That would take a while and the aliens would have to register, but let's be fair on this issue. For decades the federal government has turned the other way while migrants came in here, there's no question about that. So while the individual illegal alien did violate immigration law, our federal government permitted it. It's like the teacher who lets students run around the classroom for weeks then suddenly says they are all suspended. Now the apathy on immigration is going to change because President Trump wants the rule of law to be re-established in America. South of the border it is depressing to watch the Mexican government object to a lawful display by America. What nerve. It's entirely Mexico's fault that millions of their citizens feel they have to come here to earn a decent living. Canada doesn't have that problem, but Mexico does and always has because their system is chaotic. Same thing with the violent drug cartels. The government of Mexico cannot control them, so we're not entitled to put up a barrier to try to prevent poison from coming into this country? That's just insulting. Mexico should take full responsibility for its inability to provide a decent economy for its own people and for failing to defeat drug peddling monsters. But they never will. And that's the memo.
The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) has announced that The Infinite Dial South Africa, the leading study on digital audio from Edison Research, will be released in the coming weeks.

This second iteration of what has become a global benchmark to compare digital media consumption trends is once again sponsored by Triton Digital, and produced in association with the National Association of Broadcasters South Africa (NAB).We are excited to release the results of this second Infinite Dial study in South Africa, particularly given how changing media consumption habits during the pandemic have needed to be measured. To be able to see trended and comparative data since the 2019 study will be of great benefit, said the BRCs CEO, Gary Whitaker.The Infinite Dial has been published in six countries around the world, and provides broadcasters, online audio publishers, podcasters, advertisers and the financial community with insightful data around consumption of streaming radio, online music and podcasts, as well as the usage of smart speakers and more.The Infinite Dial South Africa explores the consumption of audio among South Africans living within the major metro commercial areas, covering the upper two of the three SEM Supergroups (or upper three of the five SEM Clusters).We believe that the broader scope of the study will make for a richer and more comprehensive dataset, and we look forward to releasing the full results, concludes Whitaker.
Delivering email at scale is a technically challenging endeavour, and getting it wrong could shut down the entire email communication channel. In fact, this is why most businesses turn to email service providers (ESPs) to deliver messages on their behalf, rather than trying to do this on their own.

It is important that the sender domain reputations of both the ESP and the sender are as positive as possible, to ensure receiving email domains and the server trust and accept the content. This mostly comes down to spam monitoring organisations wanting to protect email recipients from spam, content that is not relevant, or even worse, harmful, as in the case of phishing emails.So, what should organisations be looking for in a reputable provider? Here are five things that differentiate an average email service provider from a good one:When an ESPs sender domain reputation is above a certain threshold, there is a level of trust which means the email domains receiving the email will accept almost all email from that ESP. This will generally happen regardless of blemishes that the sender domain might contain.A reputable provider should have dedicated resources who are constantly monitoring delivery, sender reputation performance and key performance indicators which are critical to success. Spam monitoring organisations rarely inform you of black-listings which makes it difficult to pin-point the cause of the issue. Leading ESPs dedicated resources are able to identify and manage any issues immediately.To effectively manage the delivery of emails at scale, it greatly benefits you if your ESP has relationships with relevant internet service providers as well as managers of large email domains  typically when they are clients of the ESP. These are things Everlytic have in place.A well-managed ESP should have its own internal scoring mechanisms to classify recipients based on their holistic engagement, and then group these various classes of engaged recipients on appropriate IPs in order to ensure that highly-engaged recipients get to receive their mail first, and consistently, whilst bad data doesnt spoil the delivery of the good. In other words, strategically balancing different content and contacts across a wide range of IPs evens out email delivery so that if one IP address is flagged, other IP addresses are still able to deliver emails  this is referred to as email blending.Organisations should look for a scaled ESP that has hundreds of IP addresses that are actively and strategically managed.The inverse of email blending is appropriate when you have highly engaged contacts and low complaint rates. Most leading ESPs will offer dedicated IP addresses that isolate performance to only your data, content, and sending habits. This is particularly useful for transactional email, used for sending OTPs, account verification mails, invoices, and the like.Availability, knowledge, experience, expertise, and commitment are crucial. These are characteristics of leading ESPs who position themselves as trusted advisors and partners. Not only are queries and support requests dealt with quicker, but your strategy gets a lift. Having experts available helps you deliver a better strategy and helps you execute it faster.Asking your potential service provider whether they have the above in place will ensure that you select a leading ESP, minimising the possibility of your emails being marked as spam, or even worse, being blacklisted by monitoring organisations. Choosing a provider that meets these five criteria can give you a head start as you strive for email marketing success.
Following the launch of LG Electronics' Global Ambassador Challenge in South Africa late last year, a large number of citizens responded to the call to help solve Mzansi's most pressing social issues. In partnership with Korean Food for the Hungry International (KFHI), the challenge was open to all Gauteng-based residents with a desire to make a real difference and catalyse positive change in their communities. Talented students, designers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and innovators submitted their best community-growth ideas in the hopes of not only building a better society, but also being recognised as official LG ambassadors.

A panel of judges assessed each application based on the necessity, effectiveness, efficiency, specificity, and feasibility of the applicants idea. After much deliberation, three winners were identified, and the company announced its newest brand ambassadors at a media event at the LG Electronics Headquarters in Midrand, Gauteng. Cavall-Ann Elliott from Soweto, Johannesburg, Annette Hole from Mamelodi, Pretoria, and Sarah Shkaidy from Eersterust, Pretoria, were crowned as the official winners of the challenge.Elliotts project aims to empower people within the community, especially young people, with digital education, while Shkaidy hopes to provide people the tools and resources to live sustainably by starting a bakery. Holes vision is to transform the community with an agriculture project, and her team is ready to invest their hard work by harvesting their new future.Each winner was awarded a grant of $10,000 (up to R150,000) from LG and the opportunity to turn their ideas into fully fledged projects. Recently appointed LG South Africa president Jinkook Kang also attended the event to welcome the ambassadors to the LG family."We're proud to announce three very deserving winners of the LG Global Ambassador Challenge. The selected winners ideas have the potential to enrich the lives of South Africans and create a better future for all," explained Juhee Lee, Korean Food for the Hungry International (KFHI)."The overwhelming response to our challenge made us realise that we have extraordinary untapped talent and no shortage of inventive thinkers in South Africa, Juhee Lee added.It gives us great pleasure to partner with organisations such as KFHI, and we truly appreciate the work they continue to do on a global scale. LG is a global and corporate citizen, and we fully support initiatives that are aligned to market and governments needs where we operate. Through this partnership, we are able to continue to contribute to building a future-proof society where people can enjoy a better world, one which they deserve, said Jinkook Kang.By extending the initiative, the annual LG Global Ambassador Challenge will empower everyday South Africans to step up as local leaders and community heroes. If anything, the contest has proved that the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone.
In 2017, YouTube said the subscriber-only first season of originals racked up 250 million views. (Representational image: Youtube)

Washington: YouTube is going to scale back a significant portion of YouTube Originals, which produced original content including scripted series, educational videos, and music and celebrity programming.

As per The Verge, going forward, the company will only fund originals in the YouTube Kids Fund and the Black Voices Fund, a program created in 2020 that committed USD 100 million to "amplify" Black creators on the platform.

Chief business officer for YouTube Robert Kyncl announced in a statement on Twitter, "With rapid growth comes new opportunities and now our investments can make a greater impact on even more creators when applied towards other initiatives, like our Creator Shorts Fund, Black Voices Fund, and Live Shopping programming to name a few."

YouTube Originals has changed approaches throughout the years. Created in 2016 and led by Susanne Daniels, it began with scripted shows and movies focused on creators, like the comedy-thriller series 'Scare PewDiePie'.

In 2017, YouTube said the subscriber-only first season of originals racked up 250 million views. The company began pivoting toward ad-supported content featuring celebrities like Katy Perry and Kevin Hart, free for users to access without a subscription.

As per The Verge, over six years, YouTube made few titles that looked like breakout hits. And by the end, it was unclear what the original programming provided strategically to a service that's already one of the most popular video destinations in the world.

Today's statement also announced Daniels will depart the company in March, which also contributed to the decision to scale back the division.

New original programs were being announced as recently as last year, including series featuring Will Smith and Alicia Keys. YouTube says it will honour existing commitments for shows in progress and will contact creators in the coming days.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
The Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council and the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) will have their case heard in the Western Cape High Court over the next two days as they seek an interdict to stop the R4.6bn River Club redevelopment currently underway in Observatory.

Support of First Nations leaders, groups

"The fact that the developers have advanced in construction at Precinct 2 is the result of administrative decisions made which exercised extraordinary discretion in favour of allowing the development to proceed before all approvals have been secured," the parties, including the Lieskbeek Action Campaign, alledge."We believe the High Court judge will consider our arguments to be rational and based on the evidence, and will put a stop to the construction so that the High Court can review the decisions in question that have allowed a private developer and the City and Provincial authorities to destroy a sacred floodplain."The Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government and the Western Cape First Nations Collective will be opposing the application.James Tannenberger, trustee and spokesperson for the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust, in a statement has said that the applicants have "tried to mask the fact that not only will the redevelopment of the private, under-utlised and degraded property bring enormous benefit to the people of Cape Town, but that it also has the support of the majority of First Nations leaders and groups in the Western Cape (known as the Western Cape First Nations Collective) including the Gorinhaiqua - the recognised historical custodians of the Two Rivers landscape of which the River Club property forms 5%".The project, he noted, will include several heritage features including a Cultural, Heritage, and Media centre, an indigenous garden, heritage eco-trail and garden amphitheatre to function both as sites of memory and living cultural practice and celebration."It is unfortunate that a small group of individuals appear hellbent on blocking this world class redevelopment when it is evident that there would be an enormous loss to the people of Cape Town should this project be stopped," said Tannenberger.Watch the live stream of the court hearing taking place this week here
Once upon a time, there was a government so paranoid about its hold on power that it treated everyone and everything as a threat and a reason to expand its powers. Unfortunately, the citizens of this nation believed everything they were told by their government, and they suffered for it.

When terrorists attacked the country, and the government passed massive laws aimed at paving the way for a surveillance state, the people believed it was done merely to keep them safe. The few who disagreed were labeled traitors.

When the government waged costly preemptive wars on foreign countries, insisting it was necessary to protect the nation, the citizens believed it. And when the government brought the weapons and tactics of war home to use against the populace, claiming it was just a way to recycle old equipment, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were labeled unpatriotic.

When the government spied on its own citizens, claiming they were looking for terrorists hiding among them, the people believed it. And when the government began tracking the citizenrys movements, monitoring their spending, snooping on their social media, and surveying them about their habitssupposedly in an effort to make their lives more efficientthe people believed that, too. The few who disagreed were labeled paranoid.

When the government allowed private companies to take over the prison industry and agreed to keep the jails full, justifying it as a cost-saving measure, the people believed them. And when the government started arresting and jailing people for minor infractions, claiming the only way to keep communities safe was to be tough on crime, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were labeled soft on crime.

When the government hired crisis actors to take part in disaster drills, never alerting the public to which disasters were staged, the people genuinely believed they were under attack. And when the government insisted it needed greater powers to prevent such attacks from happening again, the people believed that too. The few who disagreed were told to shut up or leave the country.

When the government started carrying out covert military drills around the country, insisting it was necessary to train the troops for foreign combat, most of the people believed them. The few who disagreed, fearing that perhaps all was not what it seemed, were shouted down as conspiracy theorists and quacks.

When government leaders locked down the nation, claiming it was the only way to prevent an unknown virus from sickening the populace, the people believed them and complied with the mandates and quarantines. The few who resisted or voiced skepticism about the governments edicts were denounced as selfish and dangerous and silenced on social media.

When the government expanded its war on terrorism to include domestic terrorists, the people believed that only violent extremists would be targeted. Little did they know that anyone who criticizes the government can be considered an extremist.

By the time the government began using nationalized police and the military to routinely lockdown the nation, the citizenry had become so acclimated to such states of emergency that they barely even noticed the prison walls that had grown up around them.

Now every fable has a moral, and the moral of this story is to beware of anyone who urges you to ignore your better instincts and blindly trust that the government has your best interests at heart.

In other words, if it looks like trouble and it smells like trouble, you can bet theres trouble afoot.

Unfortunately, the government has fully succeeded in recalibrating our general distaste for anything that smacks too overtly of tyranny.

After all, like the proverbial boiling frogs, the government has been gradually acclimating us to the specter of a police state for years now: Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality.

This is how you prepare a populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

You dont scare them by making dramatic changes. Rather, you acclimate them slowly to their prison walls. Persuade the citizenry that their prison walls are merely intended to keep them safe and danger out. Desensitize them to violence, acclimate them to a military presence in their communities, and persuade them that only a militarized government can alter the seemingly hopeless trajectory of the nation.

Its happening already.

The sight of police clad in body armor and gas masks, wielding semiautomatic rifles and escorting an armored vehicle through a crowded street, a scene likened to a military patrol through a hostile city, no longer causes alarm among the general populace.

Weve allowed ourselves to be acclimated to the occasional lockdown of government buildings, military drills in small towns so that special operations forces can get realistic military training in hostile territory, and Live Active Shooter Drill training exercises, carried out at schools, in shopping malls, and on public transit, which can and do fool law enforcement officials, students, teachers and bystanders into thinking its a real crisis.

Still, you cant say we werent warned.

Back in 2008, an Army War College report revealed that widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security. The 44-page report went on to warn that potential causes for such civil unrest could include another terrorist attack, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.

In 2009, reports by the Department of Homeland Security surfaced that called on the government to subject right-wing and left-wing activists and military veterans to full-fledged, pre-crime surveillance.

Meanwhile, the government has been amassing an arsenal of military weapons, including hollow point bullets, for use domestically and equipping and training their troops for war. Even government agencies with largely administrative functions such as the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Smithsonian have been acquiring body armor, riot helmets and shields, cannon launchers and police firearms and ammunition. In fact, there are now at least 120,000 armed federal agents carrying such weapons who possess the power to arrest.

Rounding out this profit-driven campaign to turn American citizens into enemy combatants (and America into a battlefield) is a technology sector that has been colluding with the government to create a Big Brother that is all-knowing, all-seeing and inescapable. Its not just the drones, fusion centers, license plate readers, stingray devices and the NSA that you have to worry about. Youre also being tracked by the black boxes in your cars, your cell phone, smart devices in your home, grocery loyalty cards, social media accounts, credit cards, streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, and e-book reader accounts.

And then there are the military drills that have been taking place on American soil in recent years.

In the latest unconventional warfare exercise, dubbed Robin Sage, special forces soldiers will battle seasoned freedom fighters in a realistic guerrilla war across two dozen North Carolina counties.

Robin Sage follows on the heels of other such military drills, including Jade Helm, which involved U.S. Army Special Operations Command, the Navy Seals, Air Force Special Operations, Marine Special Operations Command, Marine Expeditionary Units, the 82nd Airborne Division, and other interagency partners.

According to the government, these planned military exercises are supposed to test and practice unconventional warfare including, but not limited to, guerrilla warfare, subversion, sabotage, intelligence activities, and unconventional assisted recovery.

The training, known as Realistic Military Training (RMT) because it will be conducted outside of federal property, are carried out on both public and private land, with locations marked as hostile territory, permissive, uncertain (leaning friendly), or uncertain (leaning hostile).

This is psychological warfare at its most sophisticated.

Add these military exercises onto the list of other troubling developments that have taken place over the past 30 years or more, and suddenly, the overall picture seems that much more sinister: the expansion of the military industrial complex and its influence in Washington DC, the rampant surveillance, the corporate-funded elections and revolving door between lobbyists and elected officials, the militarized police, the loss of our freedoms, the injustice of the courts, the privatized prisons, the school lockdowns, the roadside strip searches, the military drills on domestic soil, the fusion centers and the simultaneous fusing of every branch of law enforcement (federal, state and local), the stockpiling of ammunition by various government agencies, the active shooter drills that are indistinguishable from actual crises, the economy flirting with near collapse, the growing social unrest, the socio-psychological experiments being carried out by government agencies, etc.

And then you have the governments Machiavellian schemes for unleashing all manner of dangers on an unsuspecting populace, then demanding additional powers in order to protect we the people from the threats. Almost every national security threat that the government has claimed greater powers in order to fightall the while undermining the liberties of the American citizenryhas been manufactured in one way or another by the government.

What weve seen play out before us is more than mere totalitarian paranoia run amok.

What has unfolded over the past few years has been a test to see how well we the people have assimilated the governments lessons in compliance, fear and police state tactics; a test to see how quickly we the people will march in lockstep with the governments dictates, no questions asked; and a test to see how little resistance we the people will offer up to the governments power grabs when made in the name of national security.

Most critically of all, this has been a test to see whether the Constitutionand our commitment to the principles enshrined in the Bill of Rightscould survive a national crisis and true state of emergency.

We have failed the test abysmally.

We have also made it way too easy for a government that has been working hard to destabilize to lockdown the nation.

Mark my words, theres trouble brewing.

Better yet, take a look at Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity, a Pentagon training video created by the Army for U.S. Special Operations Command.

The training video is only five minutes long, but it says a lot about the governments mindset, the way its views the citizenry, and the so-called problems that the government must be prepared to address in the near future through the use of martial law.

Even more troubling, however, is what this military video doesnt say about the Constitution, about the rights of the citizenry, and about the dangers of locking down the nation and using the military to address political and social problems.

The training video anticipates that all hell will break loose by 2030thats barely eight short years awaybut were already witnessing a breakdown of society on virtually every front.

The danger signs are screaming out a message

The government is anticipating trouble (read: civil unrest), which is code for anything that challenges the governments authority, wealth and power.

According to the Pentagon training video created by the Army for U.S. Special Operations Command, the U.S. government is grooming its armed forces to solve future domestic political and social problems.

What theyre really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nations security.

The chilling five-minute training video, obtained by The Intercept through a FOIA request and made available online, paints an ominous picture of the futurea future the military is preparing forbedeviled by criminal networks, substandard infrastructure, religious and ethnic tensions, impoverishment, slums, open landfills, over-burdened sewers, a growing mass of unemployed, and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots.

And then comes the kicker. Three-and-a-half minutes into the Pentagons dystopian vision of a world of Robert Kaplan-esque urban hellscapesbrutal and anarchic supercities filled with gangs of youth-gone-wild, a restive underclass, criminal syndicates, and bands of malicious hackers, the ominous voice of the narrator speaks of a need to drain the swamps.

The government wants to use the military to drain the swamps of futuristic urban American cities of noncombatants and engage the remaining adversaries in high intensity conflict within. And who are these noncombatants, a military term that refers to civilians who are not engaged in fighting? They are, according to the Pentagon, adversaries. They are threats.

They are the enemy.

They are people who dont support the government, people who live in fast-growing urban communities, people who may be less well-off economically than the government and corporate elite, people who engage in protests, people who are unemployed, people who engage in crime (in keeping with the governments fast-growing, overly broad definition of what constitutes a crime).

In other words, in the eyes of the U.S. military, noncombatants are American citizens a.k.a. domestic extremists a.k.a. enemy combatants who must be identified, targeted, detained, contained and, if necessary, eliminated.

In the future imagined by the Pentagon, any walls and prisons that are built will be used to protect the societal elitethe havesfrom the have-nots.

If you havent figured it out already, we the people are the have-nots.

Suddenly, the events of recent years begin to make sense: the invasive surveillance, the extremism reports, the civil unrest, the protests, the shootings, the bombings, the military exercises and active shooter drills, the color-coded alerts and threat assessments, the fusion centers, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, the distribution of military equipment and weapons to local police forces, the government databases containing the names of dissidents and potential troublemakers.

The government is systematically locking down the nation and shifting us into martial law.

This is how you prepare a populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

As Nazi Field Marshal Hermann Goering remarked during the Nuremberg trials:

It is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

It does indeed work the same in every country.

Its time to wake up and stop being deceived by government propaganda.

Mind you, by government, Im not referring to the highly partisan, two-party bureaucracy of the Republicans and Democrats.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, Im referring to government with a capital G, the entrenched Deep State that is unaffected by elections, unaltered by populist movements, and has set itself beyond the reach of the law. Im referring to the corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country and calling the shots in Washington DC, no matter who sits in the White House.

Be warned: in the future envisioned by the government, we will not be viewed as Republicans or Democrats. Rather, we the people will all be enemies of the state.

WC: 2607
One of Prince Andrews well-connected ex-girlfriends has claimed that former President Bill Clinton and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein were so close, they were like brothers.

Clinton was definitely very close to Jeffrey, Lady Victoria Hervey, 45, said in the new ITV documentary, Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Pedophile, which aired in the UK Tuesday night.

The socialite said she got to see the powerful group up close as a longtime pal of Epsteins madam Ghislaine Maxwell, who first introduced her to Andrew.

Hervey and the royal briefly dated in 1999.

I dont know if you saw the paintings that were in Jeffrey Epsteins house? One of them being a portrait of Bill Clinton wearing the dress that Monica Lewinsky wore when they had the affair, noted Hervey.

So yeah, he was super close to Jeffrey Epstein. They were like brothers, you know, and he was close to Ghislaine as well, she said in the documentary.

Hervey, the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, was a high-profile It Girl at the time  and believes Maxwell and Epstein used her as bait while they hunted for young girls for the now-deceased pedophile.

She insisted it was the same reason the pair  and Clinton  were attracted to Andrew, who has since been banished from using the title His Royal Highness over the scandal.

Prince Andrew was a son of the Queen of England. Americans love that. Jeffery loved that. Bill Clinton loved that, she told the ITV special.
The Florida Department of Health suspended a top medical director on Tuesday after he sent an email to staffers encouraging them to get vaccinated.

Dr. Raul Pino, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, wrote in a January 4 email that he was concerned that only 219 out of 568 staff members had received two doses of the vaccine, the Associated Press and Central Florida News reported.

I am sorry but in the absence of reasonable and real reasons, it is irresponsible not to be vaccinated, Pino wrote, the AP reported. We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000 and we are not even at 50%  pathetic.

I have a hard time understanding how we can be in public health and not practice it, he added, Central Florida News reported.

The Florida Department of Health confirmed that Pino was put on administrative leave and said it will be investigating whether any laws were broken by sending the email.

As the decision to get vaccinated is a personal medical choice that should be made free from coercion and mandates from employers, the employee in question (Pino) has been placed on administrative leave, Department of Health press secretary Jeremy Redfern said in a statement, News 6 reported.

Last year Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis barred government agencies and private businesses from implementing vaccine mandates.
The January 6th Committee on Wednesday issued subpoenas to Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey for allegedly promoting "unsupported claims about the 2020 election."



Nicholas J. Fuentes and Patrick Casey are leaders of the 'America First' or 'Groyper' movement and were present on the Capitol grounds on January 6th," a statement from the January 6th Committee said. "Both individuals participated in the events prior to January 6th promoting unsupported claims about the election, including at the November 14th, 2020 Million MAGA March in Washington, D.C. and the December 12, 2020 Stop the Steal rallies, also in Washington, D.C., where they called for the destruction of the Republican Party for failing to overturn the election. According to public reports, both Fuentes and Casey received tens of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin from a French computer programmer, funds the FBI has scrutinized to assess whether funds from this donor were linked to the Capitol attack or otherwise used to fund illegal activity."





The Select Committee has issued subpoenas to Nicholas J. Fuentes and Patrick Casey.



The committee is demanding records and testimony from the two witnesses who promoted unsupported claims about the 2020 election and were present on the Capitol grounds on January 6th. pic.twitter.com/0mLN2C1a4k  January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) January 19, 2022



Both are being subpoenaed purely for their political views, just as with Alex Jones who video after video shows encouraged rallygoers not to enter the Capitol.



Fuentes responded with mockery to the news on Telegram saying, "They couldn't give me my own post? What a rip."







Fuentes and Casey had a falling-out ahead of Fuentes' America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Feb 2021.



"Also I wasn't sent 'tens of thousands of dollars in bitcoin,' it was hundreds of thousands. Just saying," Fuentes said in another follow-up post.







"While I was at the rally on January 6, I attended peacefully, did not enter the Capitol, and did not disobey any commands or directions given by law enforcement," Casey said in a statement on Telegram.



"Moreover, I was not involved in the planning of the January 6 rally in any capacity," he continued. "Make no mistake, the Jan. 6 Committee is nothing more than a partisan witch hunt, one designed to punish and malign President Trump and his movement. The fact that they have subpoenaed me, despite knowing that I did not engage in or encourage any illegal activity, reveals what a desperate fishing expedition this Committee's investigation is."











French computer programmer and early Bitcoin adopter Laurent Bachelier "donated more than half a million dollars in bitcoin to a variety of right-wing causes" before committing suicide due to a debilitating medical condition known as trigeminal neuralgia, the Wall Street Journal reported last year.



"There is no suggestion that the donations were a crime."



Fuentes was placed on the No Fly List and had his bank account seized last year despite not being charged with any crime.



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Mark Brzezinski, son of former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, has been sworn in as US ambassador to Poland. Vice President Kamala Harris conducted the ceremony on Wednesday, which was attended by Brzezinskis sister Mika and brother-in-law Joe Scarborough, both hosts of MSNBCs Morning Joe.

Brzezinski, who previously served as US ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015, was nominated for the position in August and confirmed by the Senate last month.

His father, Zbigniew, served as the national security advisor under former president Jimmy Carter and was well known as the architect of the Grand Chessboard theory of geostrategic power. The elder Brzezinski viewed the Eurasian continent as the fulcrum of world power and believed it was in the best interests of the US to control it, given its richness in natural resources, physical wealth, and population.

His efforts to wrest control of Eurasia from the Soviet Union included funding and supporting the Mujahideen, the Islamic fundamentalist faction in Afghanistan which later became the Taliban. He openly spoke in interviews of seizing the opportunity to giv[e] to the USSR its Vietnam war.

However, the consequences of that project later led to the 9/11 attacks and Americas own war in Afghanistan. It became the longest in US history and eventually culminated in disaster for the Biden administration, whose pullout from Afghanistan last August was widely criticized and has contributed to his spiraling approval ratings.

Brzezinski the younger heads to Warsaw as tensions between the US and Russia mount, with the US attempting to frame troop movements within Russian borders as a plot to attack Ukraine despite no evidence of such a plan and NATO members threatening to further amass their own troops along Russias borders.
Registration of immunizations in Illinois would change from voluntary to mandatory under a bill Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Highwood) introduced last week.

Critics of HB 4244 include more than 10,000 citizens who have filed opposition slips describing the measure as asinine, and unconstitutional. Many say they are disgusted that lawmakers are even considering the action.

The House committee on Health and Human Services planned to take it up on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

Health care providers, physician's designees, or pharmacist's designees shall (rather than may) provide immunization data to be entered into the immunization data registry, the bill synopsis says. The written information and the immunization data exemption forms must include information that the health care provider shall (rather than may) report immunization data to the Department of Public Health to be entered into the immunization data registry. Effective January 1, 2023.

State Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville), who serves on the Health and Human Services committee, said his office has been flooded with calls and emails opposing the bill.

Meier called the proposal unconstitutional and un-American.

This is not what you do in a free society, Meier said. The State of Illinois should not be forcing health care providers, physician's designees, or pharmacist's to report private individual health records to the government.
According to KrebsonSecurity, the IRS announced that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log into irs.gov will be through ID.me. Founded by former Army Rangers in 2010, the McLean-based company has evolved to providing online ID verification services which several states are using to help reduce unemployment and pandemic-assistance fraud. The company claims to have 64 million users.

Some 27 states already use ID.me to screen for identity thieves applying for benefits in someone elses name, and now the IRS is joining them. The service requires applicants to supply a great deal more information than typically requested for online verification schemes, such as scans of their drivers license or other government-issued ID, copies of utility or insurance bills, and details about their mobile phone service. When an applicant doesnt have one or more of the above  or if something about their application triggers potential fraud flags  ID.me may require a recorded, live video chat with the person applying for benefits. -KrebsonSecurity

For the sake of his article, Krebs made himself a guinea pig and signed up with ID.me to describe the lengthy process that "may require a significant investment of time, and quite a bit of patience."

After uploading images of one's driver's license, state issued ID or passport.

If your documents get accepted, ID.me will then prompt you to take a live selfie with your mobile device or webcam. That took several attempts. When my computers camera produced an acceptable result, ID.me said it was comparing the output to the images on my drivers license scans. -KrebsonSecurity

Once that's accepted, Id.me will ask to verify your phone number - and will not accept numbers tied to voice-over-IP services such as Skype or Google Voice.

screenshots via krebsonsecurity.com

Krebs' application became stuck at the "Confirming your Phone" stage - which led to a video chat (and having to resubmit other information) which had an estimated wait time of 3 hours and 27 minutes. Krebs - having interviewed ID.me's founder last year - emailed him, and was able to speak with a customer service rep one minute later "against my repeated protests that I wanted to wait my turn like everyone else."

As far as security goes, CEO Blake Hall told Krebs last year that the company is 'certified against the NIST 800-63-3 digital identity guidelines" and "employs multiple layers of security, and fully segregates static consumer data tied to a validated identity from a token used to represent that identity."

"We take a defense-in-depth approach, with partitioned networks, and use very sophisticated encryption scheme so that when and if there is a breach, this stuff is firewalled," said Hall. "Youd have to compromise the tokens at scale and not just the database. We encrypt all that stuff down to the file level with keys that rotate and expire every 24 hours. And once weve verified you we dont need that data about you on an ongoing basis."

Krebs believes that things such as facial recognition for establishing one's identity is a "Plant Your Flag" moment, because "Love it or hate it, ID.me is likely to become one of those places where Americans need to plant their flag and mark their territory, if for no other reason than it will probably be needed at some point to manage your relationship with the federal government and/or your state."

The top commenter in his comments section, meanwhile, begs to differ...
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It is still too early to tell if the province has hit or passed the fourth-wave peak, says Manitobas top doctor.

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JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin.

It is still too early to tell if the province has hit or passed the fourth-wave peak, says Manitobas top doctor.

The speed and nature of the omicron variant has changed how the province tracks and manages cases, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said on Wednesday. While 919 new cases were reported yesterday, he re-iterated those numbers are not reliable as there are likely far more unreported cases.

Because of how quickly the virus spreads, the provincial government has shifted from containment to mitigation.

"That doesnt mean all the work we put in over the last two years is in vain," he said. "I thank all Manitobans who have done their part and stepped up. We are asking Manitobans to step up yet again."

Last Wednesday, the province reported 1,478 new cases and the Wednesday before that 1,790. This may look like cases are dropping, but the province has changed its testing strategy over the last two weeks. Rapid testing performed at home is not being taken into consideration  only PCR tests and medically supervised rapid testing is being added to the daily case count.

Hospitalizations and deaths are still being used as the more accurate indicator of the virus spread and overall risks. While both hospitalizations and deaths are considered a lagging indicator the wave has peaked in some cases, Roussin said this virus moves so quickly, they cant say for sure if the wave has peaked.

Roussin has hope the peak is coming, but there is still a significant amount of transmission happening. Everyone still has to be very cautious with contacts, he said. People still need to follow measures, such as wearing a mask, staying home when sick, testing if you suspect your symptoms are COVID and being vigilant about your contacts.

The best defence is still getting vaccinated. While it may not prevent outright infections, it still provides the best protection against severe outcomes.

"The numbers support this. You are three times more likely to be hospitalized if you are not fully vaccinated, 11 times more likely to be admitted to the ICU and 10 times more likely to die," Roussin said.

As children return to school, parents can help slow the spread by making sure they get their first and second doses. Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead for the provinces vaccine implementation task force, said there are clinics happening during school and after school in many districts, and parents can find out more from their school districts. This is especially important as the province prepares to administer second doses of the pediatric vaccine this week.

Vaccine uptake among adults is also a concern. While 92 per cent of Manitobans have had one dose and 82 per cent their second, only 62 per cent have had a booster shot. Among specific ages, there has been good uptake in the 70-plus age category for the booster, but not as many in the 50-to-69 age category.

"Once you are over 50, your risks for a severe outcome increase and over 60, they increase even more," Reimer said.

There are many other at-risk groups that need to get their booster as soon as they can, including anyone over the age of 18 and has diabetes, those with heart conditions, kidney or liver problems and First Nations.

To underscore the effectiveness of vaccines, Reimer talked about new data from a few studies. One study from Israel showed the risk of long-term effects from COVID was far less in vaccinated than unvaccinated.

"The effects of the virus on the vaccinated [were] actually close to those never infected," she said. "This is still being researched, but this is promising."

Vaccine manufacturers are studying the virus to find ways to target it. There are some looking at focusing on parts of the virus that do not mutate as fast. Reimer said variants will be inevitable as it has demonstrated it is very effective at mutating. No one anticipated the omicron variant; many were expecting something closer to the delta variant, but omicron developed from the original strain. This caught a lot of scientists off-guard.

"The next question is, what will the next variant look like? Will it be more transmissible, or will it be more severe or have more of an impact on the vaccine effectiveness?," Reimer said. "While omicron does look different, these vaccines are still able to produce an effective immune response that can recognize it and prevent severe outcomes."

 kmckinley@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @karenleighmcki1
A newly-minted Manitoba cabinet minister spent a month in Florida as COVID-19 ravaged the province and Ottawa advised against non-essential travel.

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A newly-minted Manitoba cabinet minister spent a month in Florida as COVID-19 ravaged the province and Ottawa advised against non-essential travel.

A source close to Doyle Piwniuk, who was sworn in as transportation and infrastructure minister in Tuesdays cabinet shuffle, said the Turtle Mountain MLA spent close to four weeks in the Sunshine State with his family before returning Jan. 7.

Piwniuk, who was first elected in a 2014 byelection, was not made available for an interview Wednesday.

A statement from his press secretary said the MLA would have stayed home  had the federal advisory against international travel been issued before he left.

"Minister Piwniuk drove to the United States on Dec. 11, 2021, to tend to maintenance of his property. The federal advisory on non-essential travel went out on Dec. 15, and the (Manitoba) premiers orders against international travel on Dec. 17. The minister had departed [before] both directives were issued, otherwise he would not have travelled."

When asked if she had any concerns about her new cabinet appointee choosing to leave the country last month, Premier Heather Stefansons office replied by email.

"Minister Piwniuk had already left the province before the federal and provincial travel recommendations were issued," press secretary Olivia Billson wrote. "I am confident Piwniuk followed all public health measures and protocols in place prior to, during and after his travel period."

NDP public affairs critic Malaya Marcelino said the "decision does show poor judgment."

"Doctors here in Manitoba were issuing warnings and asking us to have more restrictions than what public health was even calling for to get ready for Omicron (variant of the novel coronavirus) as best as we could," said Notre Dame MLA.

In early December, the World Health Organization was signalling the fast-spreading variant was on the move. On Dec. 10, federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos issued a warning: "It should be a serious alarm bell. There is uncertainty and risks with travelling in other countries over the next few weeks."

Duclos said that day an advisory against non-essential travel could soon come: "My advice to Canadians is, be extremely prudent when thinking about travelling."

On Dec. 15, when Ottawa warned Canadians against all non-essential international travel, Piwniuk was already in the United States.

"Hes a very sweet person and is very respectful all the time, but I do think that he made a mistake in travelling at that time," Marcelino said. "As political leaders, we need to do better and be role models."

In an interview Dec. 21, Stefanson said she instructed the Tory cabinet and caucus not to travel abroad. She didnt mention a caucus member was already out of the country.

"She tried to make it seem like everyone was home and doing their part," Marcelino said Wednesday.

For someone who was soon to become a minister of the Crown, taking off to a sun destination amid warnings a new COVID-19 variant was spreading globally isnt setting a good example, said Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont.

"We have the Omicron blowing up with all sorts of warnings," he said. "Its really unfortunate that you would make that decision. I think its bad judgment."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
The province is planning to send roughly 300 people to the United States for operations as a way to deal with the growing surgical and diagnostic backlogs.

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MIKE DEAL/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Health Minister Audrey Gordon

The province is planning to send roughly 300 people to the United States for operations as a way to deal with the growing surgical and diagnostic backlogs.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Audrey Gordon, along with several members of the diagnostic and surgical recovery task force, outlined four measures the province will take to address the backlog. There are more than 153,000 pending surgical and diagnostic cases, according to numbers last updated Jan. 13 by Doctors Manitoba.

Part of that is a medical out-of-province referrals program. Gordon said the province is finalizing an agreement with Sanford Health in Fargo, N.D., for some spinal surgeries. No surgeries are scheduled, but Gordon said this will be an interim measure when the situation between Manitoba and North Dakota is safe and Sanford is in a position to perform surgeries safely.

"This is an option for people who are suffering, waiting for relief, waiting for a return to their normal lives," she said. "They can speak with their doctor about a referral and they can choose if they want to go to Sanford."

The talks are ongoing, but she said they have helped develop a framework to manage COVID-19 risks in Sanfords operating rooms and in Manitoba. Referrals will be ongoing and surgery performed only when Sanford has the capacity to do so.

This option is for people who are considered stable, but in pain and need relief, explained Dr. Ed Buchel, provincial surgery lead for Shared Health. He stressed no one needing critical care will be sent to Sanford.

"This is a program for those we consider in the middle and they are the group that has been waiting the longest," he said. "This is a great opportunity to deliver care to patients who need surgery."

Time in hospital will be anywhere from a few days to a week, he said. After that, the patient and doctors in Manitoba and Fargo will collaborate to determine rehabilitation plans and they will return to Manitoba for their ongoing care. Costs for the surgery will be covered by the province.

Transferring patients between Canada and the United States has been going on for decades. Ian Shaw, lead for the provincial health system transformation, said this process has been in place for 40 years and has been used to manage patients in other jurisdictions across Canada and the U.S. In Manitobas case, when patients are identified for those services by their referred specialist, Manitoba has negotiated this relationship on an individual basis.

"Earlier in the year, this was identified by surgeons to work through and we have been working with them to develop a structure and a process to manage patients, co-ordinate their care, have their pre- and post-care delivered," he said.

He added this program is flexible and allows doctors in Manitoba and North Dakota to manage patients together. They are in the final stages of development and taking steps with Sanford to identify patients to refer to specialists. An update will be provided in the near future.

While this is an interim program, Buchel said there is a plan to improve health care in the short- and long-term future. However, the system is complex and many departments rely on each other for resources. Speaking to surgery, it needs space, infrastructure and staff as well as surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and systems.

Human resources is a major component of this, as staff are redeployed to help fill vacancies caused by a myriad of issues, including sickness and burnout. Nurses and licensed practical nurses are being hired to augment the system. In terms of human resources, Buchel said they are looking at different staffing models. They are also actively recruiting surgeons.

As well, they are in ongoing talks as to how to increase and improve physical spaces for operating and recovery rooms in the provinces care facilities.

"These dont take a day, but we are announcing them now because we are talking about them and there are more to come," he said.

Another key component is having an accurate surgical wait list management system to track wait times, and the resources they have and the care they need to deliver. That has been approved and is going through the request for proposal system and being evaluated by care providers who deal with those information systems. They hope to implement this as early as this spring or summer.

"That is a significant portion of our plan to move forward and make sure nobody falls through the cracks. We are looking at staff, space and resources while we simultaneously help people on the wait list."

Gordon added there have been many talks behind the scenes over longer-term plans to improve the provinces health-care system. Some of those include certifying internationally trained nurses. The government has committed funding to make sure they get trained and acquire certification and they will continue to work with the Manitoba College of Nurses and the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Manitoba to get them into the health-care system.

They are also working closely with Shared Health and doctors in the province to help identify what needs to be done to alleviate long-term problems like staffing. This isnt a unique problem to Manitoba, so they are studying what other jurisdictions are doing to relieve similar problems in their own systems.

"We are looking across the entire system to make sure we have the right supports right here in Manitoba to make sure people have the care they need," she said.

Gordon said the province is also working on an agreement with Maples Surgical Centre and several other local partners to address issues in womens health, specifically 3,000 women currently waiting for gynecological procedures.

Dr. Peter MacDonald, the chair of the task forces steering committee, said some of the women have been waiting since 2019, and about two-thirds of the cases are eligible for day surgery. He said the task force expects this agreement could accommodate up to 1,000 cases.

The province is also shifting how it screens for colon cancer to a diagnostic process called fecal immunochemical testing (FIT). MacDonald said FIT screening does not require an endoscopy, and as a result, it will allow for faster screening and will free up more operating room space for other procedures.

"This is a minimally invasive, highly accurate test  much more accurate and specific than the occult fecal blood test," MacDonald said. "This will lessen the backlog for endoscopies, specifically colonoscopies, by up to 10 to 15 per cent."

He said other initiatives are being explored in the endoscopy area and will be announced in the future.

The province is also planning to hire and train up to 13 new anesthesia clinical assistants over the next three years and place them in operating rooms across the province. MacDonald said anesthesia services are fundamental to safe and effective surgical procedures, adding anesthesia clinical assistants let anesthesiologists delegate and observe care over multiple patients.

 kmckinley@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @karenleighmcki1
WINNIPEG - American investigators believe the deaths of four people, including a baby and a teen, whose bodies were found in Manitoba near the United States border are linked to a larger human smuggling operation.

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WINNIPEG - American investigators believe the deaths of four people, including a baby and a teen, whose bodies were found in Manitoba near the United States border are linked to a larger human smuggling operation.

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota said Steve Shand, 47, has been charged with human smuggling after seven Indian nationals were found in the U.S. and the discovery of the bodies.

RCMP officers are shown near the town of Emerson, Man., on Wednesday Jan. 19, 2022. Mounties in Manitoba say they have found the bodies of four people including an infant and a teen, near the United States border. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RCMP* MANDATORY CREDIT*

Court documents filed Wednesday in support of Shand's arrest allege one of the people spent a significant amount of money to come to Canada with a fraudulent student visa.

"The investigation into the death of the four individuals in Canada is ongoing along with an investigation into a larger human smuggling operation of which Shand is suspected of being a part," John Stanley, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said in court documents.

According to the documents, a U.S. Border Patrol officer in North Dakota stopped a passenger van just south of the border Wednesday. Shand was driving and court documents allege he was with two undocumented Indian nationals.

Around the same time, the documents said five other people were spotted by law enforcement in the snow nearby. The group, who were also Indian nationals, told officers they'd been walking for more than 11 hours in frigid conditions.

A woman stopped breathing several times as she was transported to hospital. Court documents said she will require partial amputation of her hand. A man was also hospitalized for frostbite but was later released.

One of the men in the group was carrying a backpack that had baby supplies in it. Court documents said he told officers it belonged to a family who had become separated from the group overnight.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy told a news conference in Winnipeg that once Mounties were notified the family may still be in Manitoba officers immediately began to look in the area.

After a difficult search in nearly impassible terrain, she said officers found three bodies together  a man, a woman and a baby  just 10 metres from the border near Emerson, Man. The search continued and a teen boy was found a short distance away. It is believed they died from exposure.

"It is an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy," MacLatchy said.

They were wearing winter clothing, she said, but it would not have been enough to save them with the freezing conditions.

"These victims faced not only the cold weather but also endless fields, large snowdrifts and complete darkness," MacLatchy added.

Shand was arrested Wednesday and remains in custody. American authorities allege in that documents that Shand has likely been involved in other border crossings, including two in December.

Officials in both countries said it is more common to see crossings north from the U.S. into Canada. Border crossings into Canada on foot increased in 2016 following the election of former U.S. president Donald Trump.

That December, two men lost their fingers to severe frostbite after getting caught in a blizzard while walking from the U.S. into Manitoba. A few months later, a woman died of hypothermia near the border on the American side.

In 2019, a pregnant woman who walked across the border was rescued after she became trapped in a snowbank and went into labour.

Emerson-Franklin Reeve Dave Carlson said illegal crossings there have dropped significantly in recent years. He was surprised to learn of the four deaths.

"If you look at the political climate on both sides of the border, it's just mind-boggling to me that anyone had that sense of desperation to try and cross in extreme conditions."

Deputy Patrick Klegstad with the Kittson County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota said his department is supporting the American side of the investigation. Its officers patrol the "desolate" open fields near the border every day, he said, and the area where people crossed is treacherous, especially in the cold.

"Why they picked that spot to travel would be the million-dollar question."

Klegstad, echoing Canadian officials, said it's uncommon to have people make the harrowing journey from Canada into the U.S.

"It's not very often we do have southbounders."

Mounties warned that people should not attempt to cross the border outside a checkpoint, in either direction, because it can be deadly.

"Do not listen to anyone who tells you they can get you to your destination safely. They cannot," MacLatchy said.

Anthony Good, a sector chief border patrol agent in Grand Forks, N.D., said anyone thinking of crossing the border illegally in these treacherous conditions should not do it.

Smugglers only care about the money they are going to make and have zero regard for lives lost, he said in a statement.

 With files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton and Brittany Hobson in Emerson

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has not decided whether it will help arm Ukraine's forces with military hardware after NATO ally Britain said Monday it would supply anti-tank weapons to the eastern European country.

In this photo provided by Ukrainian National Guard Press Office Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, right, greets Ukrainian soldiers during her visit to the National Guard base close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP

OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has not decided whether it will help arm Ukraine's forces with military hardware after NATO ally Britain said Monday it would supply anti-tank weapons to the eastern European country.

Joly wrapped her two-day trip to Ukraine, the first leg of a three-country continental tour that will include stops in France and meetings with European Union and NATO leaders in Brussels.

Her talks with Canada's allies come as fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine are running high in Europe.

"The goal is to make sure that we contribute to their increased capacities, capabilities in light of the Russian threat, and also a further invasion of Russia," Joly told a joint press conference in Kyiv with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

"We've heard loud and clear the demands on the part of the Ukrainian government," she added. "We know that it is important to play our part  and therefore we're looking at options and we'll take a decision in a timely manner."

Canada's Ukrainian diaspora  an influential constituency in domestic political affairs numbering 1.4 million  has asked Ottawa to supply arms to Ukraine to help it defend against a possible Russian invasion.

"It is very important that Minister Joly was in Kyiv these last days to hear first-hand from Ukrainians on the urgency of the need to provide Ukraine with more defensive weapons," Ihor Michalchyshyn, the executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said Tuesday.

"Canada should be providing defensive weapons to Ukraine immediately, as a deterrent to the increasing threat of a further Russian invasion of Ukraine, rather than in response to a further invasion, should one come. War must be made more expensive for Russia than peace."

In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with some of his key ministers and officials about the situation in Ukraine.

A readout of the call said they condemned Russias military buildup in and around the country as well as Russias annexation and illegal occupation of Crimea. They underlined the need for Russia to de-escalate the situation, uphold its international commitments, and the need to find a peaceful solution through dialogue.

"Prime Minister Trudeau emphasized that any further military incursion into Ukraine would have serious consequences, including co-ordinated sanctions," said the readout.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Tuesday he was not in favour of arming Ukrainian troops, saying targeted sanctions were a better option.

"I am concerned about going down the path of arming and military presence. I don't want to escalate a situation that is already quite tense," Singh said.

Russia has positioned about 100,000 troops on Ukraine's eastern border along with tanks and other heavy artillery, but has denied it intends to invade Ukraine.

Russia has demanded assurances from NATO that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the 30-country transatlantic military alliance, but Canada, the United States and their allies have firmly rejected that demand.

"Russia's military buildup around Ukraine is unacceptable. Russia is the aggressor," Joly said, adding that Canada stands "shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine."

She spoke after visiting with Canadian troops taking part in Operation Unifier, which is helping train Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian government has pressed Canada to extend the military training mission beyond its late March end date, and Joly suggested Canada will continue that modest contribution to bolstering Ukraine's forces.

"And that's why it's important for Canadians to understand that our commitment to the professionalism of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine is long-standing and will continue in the future," she said.

Joly heads next to Paris and Brussels for further talks with Canada's allies. She will meet with her French and EU counterparts, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Josep Borrell, as well as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Joly said Canada wants to work with allies on a diplomatic solution with Russia that would include talks with international organizations like NATO and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Kyiv for talks on Wednesday with Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"The past week of diplomacy proved the strength and unity of Europe against the background of Russian ultimatums," Kuleba said Tuesday.

"Now the question is, what's next? I am convinced that the only way for Russia to prove that it does not really plan a new attack on Ukraine is a continuation of its discussion within existing formats."

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled the surname of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Some provinces were pointing to glimmers of improvement Thursday in the Omicron-stoked fifth wave of the pandemic, but the outlook was not as positive in others.

A bottle containing the drug remdesivir is held by a health worker at the Institute of Infectology of Kenezy Gyula Teaching Hospital of the University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests the antiviral medication remdesivir could have a "modest but significant effect'' on COVID-19 patient outcomes, including decreasing the need for mechanical ventilation by approximately 50 per cent. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Zsolt Czegledi/MTI via AP)

Some provinces were pointing to glimmers of improvement Thursday in the Omicron-stoked fifth wave of the pandemic, but the outlook was not as positive in others.

Ontario announced a plan to start loosening COVID-19 restrictions by the end of the month, but Quebec said it was too early to ease any public health measures.

Modelling in Saskatchewan predicted a possibility of a record-high of people in hospital, while Alberta said hospitalizations will continue to increase.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday that his province is to begin easing restrictions on Jan. 31 after they were brought in earlier this month. That includes boosting the size of social gatherings and reopening businesses, such as restaurants, gyms, cinemas and museums, but with capacity limits.

Spectator areas at sporting events, concerts and theatres will be able to operate with no more than 500 people, or half capacity for smaller venues.

A directive announced by Ford on Jan. 3 for hospitals to pause all non-urgent surgeries and procedures is to remain in place. Health Minister Christine Elliott said it is too soon to lift that order, because the peak of admissions to intensive care units isn't likely to happen until mid-February.

If trends don't become a concern, restrictions are to be further eased Feb. 21 and again March 14.

Ford said he's confident the worst of the fifth wave has passed.

"While we can be confident in how far we've come, I want to be crystal clear: we're not out of the woods yet," Ford cautioned.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford holds a press conference at Queen's Park regarding the easing of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. Ford says public health indicators are starting to show signs of improvement, allowing for the province to begin easing COVID-19 restrictions at the end of the month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

"The coming weeks will continue to pose real challenges, especially to our hospitals."

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney also said there were early signs the province has "reached and surpassed" peak COVID-19 cases in the fifth wave.

"If the (Omicron) variant performs in Alberta like it has in jurisdictions all around the world, we can reasonably expect that we may now be beginning on the down-slope of transmission," Kenney said.

But the swell of expected hospitalizations could continue to put more pressure on an already overwhelmed health system.

Kenney said the government is building additional bed capacity, maximizing the workforce with nursing students, and opening COVID-19 community clinics.

In Quebec, the number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 dropped for the first time since Dec. 16. The Health Department said there were 14 fewer people than the day before, although hospitalizations still stood at 3,411. Some 285 people remained in intensive care.

Projections from a Quebec government health-care research institute suggest the drop will continue. The institute said it expects about 200 new daily admissions by the end of January. Quebec has been recording between 296 and 470 new hospitalizations every day for the past week.

But Quebec Premier Francois Legault said COVID-19 restrictions cannot be eased because the situation in hospitals remains too fragile.

"The situation will continue to be difficult for the next few weeks," Legault said. "I understand that we are all tired, but lives are at stake. We are currently at the limit in our hospitals."

Prince Edward Island said COVID-19 recoveries were outpacing new cases. The province reported 249 new infections along with 292 more recoveries. There were 2,471 active cases reported, down by 43 from Wednesday.

Newfoundland and Labrador health officials said kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms are to reopen Tuesday. Students will have to take two rapid tests before returning to school.

Tony Stack, chief executive officer of the province's English school board, said there is plenty of help available from retired teachers, teaching assistants and about 1,100 substitute teachers if large numbers of instructors have to stay home.

In B.C., the Education Ministry said schools will soon get rapid antigen tests as a way to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 among staff, including teachers and administrators. The Education Ministry says 200,000 test kits are being shipped to elementary and high schools in an effort to keep them open.

The news in Saskatchewan was more grim. Leaked government modelling showed a best-case scenario of more than 500 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital by mid-February  nearly double what the province experienced during the Delta wave last fall.

Six of Saskatchewan's largest unions representing 113,000 front-line workers demanded more safety measures to slow the increase.

The unions asked Premier Scott Moe to immediately bring in recommendations made by the chief medical health officer, which include a 10-person cap on gatherings and suggesting people limit interprovincial travel.

Moe said modelling is only one source of information the Saskatchewan Party government considers. It places a "greater emphasis on closely tracking actual real-time data from across Canada to inform our COVID-19 response," he said in a statement.

Moe pointed to the province's hospitalization rate, which he said is 34 per cent below the national rate.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased 114 per cent in the last month to 215, including 23 patients receiving intensive care. During the province's Delta peak, there were 356 in hospital, the most during the pandemic.

"The government recognizes that hospitalizations are rising and will continue to rise for some period of time," Moe said. "However, we see no clear evidence that lockdown measures have reduced hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths in other provinces and, as a result, there is no reason to impose harmful new restrictions in Saskatchewan."

 With files from Allison Jones in Toronto, Jacob Serebrin in Montreal and Mickey Djuric in Regina

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
Harrisonburg, VA (22807)

Today

Variable clouds with showers at times, and perhaps a rumble or two of thunder, especially this evening. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers at times, and perhaps a rumble or two of thunder, especially this evening. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Last month, Donald Trumps fledgling social media company announced that it had lined up $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) from 36 investors. The size of the deal, the former president said in the announcement, signalled that his startups plan to end the tyranny of Big Tech had significant support.

Getting there was no slam dunk.

Despite the opportunity to invest in a deal whose terms were structured to make a profit for investors, many of Wall Streets big names passed on investing in Donald Trumps social media company. Credit:AP

Beginning in the fall, bankers for the company, Trump Media & Technology Group, approached dozens of investors pitching the $US1 billion deal, which offered them lucrative financial terms. By then, the startup  intended partly as a conservative alternative to Twitter  had separately raised roughly $US300 million through its planned merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

Those willing to put up at least $US100 million, Trump Medias bankers told potential investors, would get a call from Trump, said five people who were briefed about the pitches but were not authorised to speak publicly. Despite the opportunity to invest in a deal whose terms were structured to make a profit for investors, many of Wall Streets big names passed.
China needs to boost comprehensive upgrade of transportation networks: official

Xinhua) 09:58, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- China needs to urgently push for the comprehensive upgrade of transportation networks to realize high-quality development in the area, an official with the country's top economic planner said Wednesday.

Transportation should play a leading role in China's modernization drive to provide better support for major national strategies and the overall economic and social development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), said Luo Guosan, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference.

Luo stressed transformation towards a more innovative, digitalized, and integrated system, citing the unbalanced and inadequate development of the country's transportation system.

The country will expand the network coverage in western regions, improve the transportation conditions in border areas, and promote the integration of urban and rural transportation, Luo said.

Efforts will be made to enhance the global competitiveness of the smart transportation system by empowering it with intelligent infrastructure and advanced equipment, said Luo.

The country will also expand the coverage of low-carbon transportation equipment, focusing on building charging facilities in hub stations and highway service areas.

"During the period, the country will continue to promote the quality development of transportation services to meet people's diversified needs and expectations for a better life," said Xu Chengguang, an official with the Ministry of Transport, at the press conference.

China has unveiled a plan outlining primary targets for transportation network development from 2021 to 2025.

High-speed railways will stretch to a total length of 50,000 km in 2025, up from 38,000 km in 2020, according to the document released by the State Council.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The worlds first carrier of liquefied hydrogen has arrived at Victorias Port of Hastings to pick up its inaugural cargo and transport it to Japan, marking a major milestone for the emerging industry.

The Suiso Frontiers upcoming voyage carrying super-cooled liquid hydrogen from a Japanese-Australian consortiums $500 million pilot project in the Latrobe Valley to Kobe in Japan will be the first worldwide to transport liquid hydrogen by sea to an international market.

The Suiso Frontier is the worlds first carrier of liquefied hydrogen.

Hydrogen  which emits only water when it burns  is seen as a promising future tool for decarbonisation as long as the process of manufacturing it is also emissions-free. Governments are increasingly looking to hydrogen for its ability to store and transport energy generated from renewables and clean up difficult-to-decarbonise parts of the economy.

Japan, the top buyer of Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG), has set a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 and is betting on hydrogen to diminish the role of fossil fuels in its energy mix.
When General Franco died in 1975, Spain was propelled down a political waterslide to splash into democracy. Liberation was sudden and thrilling. In Madrid, the sense of resurgence was expressed in the explosion of fun, creative energy and dissolute pursuits known as La Movida: The Movement.

Pedro Almodovar: This is another form of motherhood Im showing in the film. Credit:Getty Images

Pedro Almodovar was both chief chronicler of La Movida  in a torrent of scurrilous short films and his 80s features, such as What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Law of Desire and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown  and its gay disco-king personification.

In his candy-coloured version of Spain, peopled with flamboyant queer folk, excessive party-goers and fabulous viragos, there was no room for repression. He was making films, he said at the time, as if Franco had never existed. Every film pushed the old repression further into the past.

Almodovar has long since expanded his cinematic universe to include a breadth of human experience; at 72, he is seemingly at the height of his creative powers. His last feature, Pain and Glory (2019), was a powerful fictionalised review of his own life, assailed by illness but also by painful ruptures and estrangements. Now he has made Parallel Mothers, about two very different women sharing a hospital ward who give birth at the same time and become close. At the centre of their friendship, however, is a terrible lie.
Police have established a crime scene at a house in the Murray River region in the south of NSW after finding the body of a three-month-old baby wrapped in plastic inside a freezer on Wednesday night.

A family member called police, who went to the home in Corowa, near the Victorian border, for a concern-for-welfare check about 10pm on Wednesday.

Police have established a crime scene at a house in Corowa, near the Victorian border, after finding the body of a three-month-old baby wrapped in plastic inside a freezer on Wednesday night. Credit:Jason Robins

The mother, 40, was arrested at the Church Street address where she was staying with her parents and newborn child, and was taken to Albury police station on Wednesday evening, then later released without charge.

Police say investigations are ongoing.
Find the elite achievers among the NSW students who were awarded their HSC for 2021.

This list contains honours for all-round achievement, best in course and all Band 6/E4 results.

The honour roll will also appear in Fridays print edition of The Sydney Morning Herald.
Nervous in line for her COVID-19 vaccine at ThePharmacy in Leichhardt, Harper Summer brought a little friend to help her through.

Its a Squishmallow, a mouse named Misty, the six-year-old explained, adding that she hoped it would help her be brave.

Six-year-old Harper Summer, pictured with mother SJ Rex, received her COVID-19 vaccine in Leichhardt on Thursday. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Once inside, Harper said she stayed calm by turning away when the needle went in and talking to pharmacist Christine Kelly. When it was done, she was a bit shocked because it was so quick.

It was a really lovely experience for a little person who was a bit frightened, Harpers mother, SJ Rex, said.
A third of Queenslands aged care facilities, housing about 12,000 of the states most vulnerable people, are still waiting to be visited by vaccine booster teams, more than 10 weeks into the Commonwealth governments rollout.

Industry insiders expected half of the residential aged care facilities in Queensland to soon be dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19, a scenario set to swell the death toll and prompt more localised lockdowns that confine residents to their rooms.

Health Minister Greg Hunt says the booster program is ahead of schedule. Credit:SMH

The distressing numbers emerging from Queensland this week have underscored the weeks-long plea from health authorities for eligible people to immediately get their third shots to maintain immunity.

Of the 65 Queensland deaths since Omicron crossed the border on December 13, most had been elderly and only four were boosted (at least two of these three had serious underlying health issues).
The Tongan government has released images showing the scale of the damage to the archipelago from a massive tsunami that swamped the islands after an undersea volcano erupted on Saturday.

The images, showing children among the debris, ash covering cars and homes ripped to the ground, were released as HMAS Adelaide was docked at Brisbane before heading to the battered island with supplies.

The Tongan consulate has released images of the damage to Nukualofa, the islands capital. Credit:Consulate of the Kingdom of Tonga

A C-17 plane took off from Amberley, south-west of Ipswich in Queensland, on Thursday morning with humanitarian relief, and to assess damage to the runway, which was covered in ash.

The Consulate of the Kingdom of Tonga released images online overnight of parts of Nukualofa severely damaged, saying the region was covered in volcanic ash from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano, just 65 kilometres from the capital, Nukualofa.
Western Australia has recorded two new local cases of COVID-19 overnight including a mystery case who was detected after a man presented at an emergency department.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the man, aged in his 60s, lives with four other men and was believed to be linked to the massage parlour cluster.

Authorities are working with the man on his whereabouts to understand how he may have contracted COVID-19, she said.

My understanding is he did present [to Fiona Stanley Hospital] with some symptoms that were not related to COVID and it came through he was positive.
Google Australia claims it is doing all it can to stop Clive Palmers United Australia Party from spreading misinformation on its platforms, despite accepting more than $100,000 for political ads that it ultimately removed for breaching its advertising policies.

The UAP has spent almost $5 million on advertising on YouTube  owned by Google  since August, with Googles own transparency report showing it had removed four of the partys 57 video ads after they had run on the platform for between four and eleven days, collectively notching up millions of views in that time.

Google pulled four of Clive Palmers United Australia Party video ads from YouTube for breaching its misinformation policies. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

At a federal parliamentary inquiry into online safety, Labor MP Tim Watts questioned whether Googles policies were failing if Mr Palmers UAP could promote misinformation with advertising funding.

We certainly are doing everything in our power to stop him  and every other person who might propagate misinformation relating to COVID or other [misinformation]  on our platforms. We do not seek to profit from that information in our ad policies and our enforcement is in line with that, Google Australia executive Lucinda Longcroft said.
One of the Queenslanders Prime Minister Scott Morrison relies on to pass laws in the Senate has labelled his own leader pathetic and accused him of caving in over his criticism of rogue LNP MP George Christensen.

Mr Christensen announced his impending resignation from a plum position as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth on Wednesday night, after Mr Morrison confirmed high-level discussions about the MPs future had taken place.

Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick called his leader pathetic in a Facebook post on Thursday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Christensen, the retiring LNP member for Dawson who sits in the Nationals party room as part of the federal Coalition, on Tuesday called for parents not to vaccinate their children against COVID-19. Mr Morrison released a statement strongly disagreeing with his own MPs views and encouraged Australians to ignore him and follow expert medical advice.

But Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick defended Mr Christensen in a Facebook post on Thursday, slamming the Prime Minister in the process.
The Morrison government is referring all claims it is seizing rapid antigen tests to the Australian Competition and Consumer Competition to investigate.

The move follows a series of allegations from suppliers - and the Queensland government - that the federal government has been diverting RATs throughout Australia.

Health Minister Greg Hunt denies claims the federal government is acquiring rapid antigen tests for the National Health Stockpile and will now refer all claims to the ACCC. Credit:Nine News

On Thursday morning, Brisbane Times referred to the federal health department a second allegation from Queensland Transport that 15,000 rapid antigen tests ordered by Queensland Rail for its essential rail workers had been seized by the federal government using emergency powers.

The federal department later issued a statement that the claims were categorically untrue.
Two million rapid antigen tests could be produced in Australia every week under a pitch to use existing facilities for local manufacturing while the country continues to grapple with major test shortages.

The peak body representing major suppliers says accredited plants could start manufacturing tests within six months, calling for a government commitment to purchase local tests in future if such a plan was commenced.

Two million rapid antigen tests could be produced in Australia every week under a pitch to use existing facilities for local manufacturing. Credit:Justin McManus

They could pump out about 2 million tests each week. And there are facilities in Australia already with that capability, such as AnteoTech [in Brisbane] and Lumos Diagnostics [in Melbourne], said Dean Whiting, chief executive of Pathology Technology Australia.

In order to set up local capacity we need a commitment from governments to order the products ... to get some certainty that the tests would be bought locally.
Berlin: A damning report has found the former pope, Benedict XVI, failed to take action against clerics in four cases of alleged sexual abuse when he was archbishop of Munich.

The archdiocese in 2020 asked Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW) to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in its ranks between 1945 and 2019.

Pope Benedict and Pope Francis in 2014. Credit:AP

The report, released on Thursday (local time), said there were at least 497 victims of abuse, mainly young males. Many other cases had probably not been reported, it said.

It also found fault with the current Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, 68, in two suspected cases. Marx is not under any suspicion of having actually participated in abuse.
A map posted to social media of the 28-hour route Lisala Folau swam after he was swept out to sea. Credit:Facebook - Vise Lavaki Folau didnt respond as he didnt want anyone to risk their safety trying to save him. Extraordinarily, Folau has mobility issues. I left everything and try to escape but bear in mind that I am disabled. I cant walk properly, both my legs are not working properly and when I can, I believe a baby can walk faster than I, he said. So I just floated, bashed around by the big waves that kept coming. It stayed with my mind if I can cling to a tree or anything and if anything happens and I lose my life, searchers may find me and my family can view my dead body.

A police boat sped past as Folau waved a rag, but it missed him. Folau said thinking about his family kept him swimming. Eventually, he reached Tongatapu some time after 9pm on Sunday, where he found a man who was able to contact with his family. So unexpected that I survived after being washed away, floating and surviving the dangers I just faced, he said. Folau thanked God, his family, and his church for giving him the strength to survive.

Loading An image uploaded to Facebook by his daughter showed his journey through the ocean. She described the period during which he was missing as a night of hardship and said she couldnt stop crying while he was missing. She said she was proud of her fathers bravery and, in her post, thanked Jesus for protecting him. Atata has now been evacuated and the United Nations said every building on it was either damaged or potentially damaged and there was no drinking water.

One death has been reported from the island. A page has been created on social media by one of the owners of the Royal Sunset Island Resort on the island to raise money to repair the village. The first aircraft carrying humanitarian supplies arrived in Tonga on Thursday. A Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster III aircraft delivers the first load of Australian Aid to Tongas FuaAmoto international airport on Thursday. Credit:ADF A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules landed at the Fuaamotu International Airport, a Defence spokesperson said, after a blanket of volcanic ash was cleared off the runway.

An Australian Globemaster military transport aircraft also landed, ABC TV reported. The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment, New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement. Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said its aircraft was loaded with supplies including water desalination equipment, shelter, kitchens, and a sweeper to help remove ash from the airport. A second Australian aircraft was due to leave on Thursday. An area of the Tongan capital, Nukualofa, damaged by the tsunami. Credit:Broadcom Brodcasting/AP The delivery of the supplies was contactless to ensure Tonga remains free of the coronavirus.

On Thursday, Queen Elizabeth sent a message of support to Tonga. I am shocked and saddened by the impact of the volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga, she said in a statement. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Tonga, as you work together to recover from the damage caused. It must be incredibly difficult for those who are unable to contact friends and family while communications are disrupted, and I hope that they will soon be restored. On Wednesday evening, some communication links were restored between the country and the outside world. Telecommunications company Digicel said it had restored international calls to Tonga via satellite and would also distribute free SIM cards to Tongans.
on Thursday launched the iconic SUV model Hilux in the country.

The automaker, which is a joint venture between the Japanese Toyota Motor Company and Kirloskar Group, has commenced bookings for the model, with deliveries expected to begin in April.

The company noted that the vehicle would come with a 2.8 diesel powertrain mated to both manual and automatic transmissions. The model comes with a 4X4 drive and a water wading capacity of 700 mm among other safety and convenience features.

(TKM) is expected to reveal the price of the model next month.

"We begin an amazing journey with the launch of an iconic vehicle known for extreme toughness across terrains of the world. The name Hilux needs no introduction, as its global sales have already surpassed 20 million units. This much-awaited lifestyle vehicle is best suited for off-roading adventures and daily city drives," TKM Managing Director Masakazu Yoshimura told reporters in an online event.

Today, as India continues to make larger economic strides, many customers are seeking a sophisticated lifestyle vehicle that delivers exceptionally on and off-road prowess and fulfil their daily urban mobility needs, be it work or pleasure, he noted.

"The Hilux will cater to these customer demands and hopefully spawn a new genre in the country. Further, this launch will set the path for us in India to welcome many more new customers to the Toyota family," Yoshimura stated.

The model is being produced at the company's Bidadi plant in Karnataka with around 30 per cent of localised content.

Elaborating on the new product, TKM Executive Vice President of Sales and Customer Service Tadashi Asazuma told PTI that considering the customer expectations around the SUV and the segment, this seems to be a good time to introduce Hilux in the country.

"There are many 4x4 enthusiasts who are eagerly waiting for this car. But how big the recreational segment can become in India depends on how much variety of lifestyle we can give to the customer - they should be able to just take their luggage and go outside for a family trip anytime," he noted.

The 4x4 vehicles are getting popular with camping culture increasing, so the segment is picking up, Asazuma said.

"If customers get more aware of the benefits of the vehicle, this segment can become more popular in the country. We are hoping this vehicle will help make this market much bigger," he added.

When asked about the sales number the company is targeting from the model, Asazuma stated: "Toyota is more interested in giving maximum customer satisfaction, rather than just achieving volumes. These days our mantra is how can we be a mass happiness provider to society? That is what we are trying to achieve with the Hilux".

He noted that the model would be sold from its dealerships all across the country.

"We will be going for nationwide sales since India has a variety of road conditions and this vehicle can meet all expectations," Asazuma said.

When asked if the model could be exported from India, he stated: "As of now, we are not planning to export. We are focussing all our attention on the Indian domestic market as of now".

Globally, the Hilux sales have surpassed 20 million units in over 180 countries.

The model comes with various first-in-segment features like an electronic drive switch, electronic diff lock, and downhill assist control.

It also features 7 airbags, vehicle stability control and hill assist control.

The automatic transmission (AT) variants generate 204 HP of power and torque output of 500 Nm, while the manual trims generate 204 hp of power and 420 Nm of torque.

All variants come with a 4X4 drivetrain enabling customers to engage in off-roading activities.

(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.)
flights to the US resumed on Thursday following a clearance from .

The airline was forced to cancel most of its flights to and from the US on Wednesday over concerns related to 5G rollout, but has resumed services upon receiving fresh operating instructions for the 777 aircraft from the plane maker.

An 777 aircraft took off for New York on Thursday morning, while flights from Delhi to Chicago and San Francisco departed in the afternoon with a slight delay as some passengers had to undertake fresh RT-PCR tests.

In a tweet, said its flights to the US were affected during the last two days and normal operations will resume from Friday. Currently, the airline operates flights to New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco.

Late on Wednesday evening, Boeing shared its technical guidance with the airline on anomalies that could occur due to interference of 5G signals with the radio altimeter in aircraft. This guidance, which is issued in the form of flight crew operations manual bulletin, also lists steps and recommends actions that pilots need to take in various stages of the flight.

Air India also issued a standard operating procedure to its pilots after receiving the guidance from Boeing. When operations are planned at a US airport where the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen) for 5G interference, the flight crew will need to be alert for system anomalies. Monitoring and cross-checking of barometric and radio altimeter indications can provide early indications of 5G interference. If the autopilot or autothrottle is not performing as expected, pilots should disconnect both and apply manual inputs to ensure proper control of path and performance, Boeing said in its bulletin.

Telecom service providers AT&T and Verizon announced on Tuesday a pause in 5G rollout around key airports in the US following an urgent plea by airlines. However, this announcement by telecom isnt enough. The FAA and aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus or Boeing still need to undertake mitigation measures to ensure safe operations at US airports.

On January 16, the FAA had approved two radio altimeter models installed in a wide variety of Boeing and Airbus planes. On Wednesday it cleared three other altimeters. FAA also said it was working with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems.
Ltd on Thursday said its Swiss arm has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Lotus International Pte Ltd for commercializing its innovative nasal spray Ryaltris in Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Under the agreement signed between Glenmark Specialty SA and the wholly-owned subsidiary of Lotus Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd (Lotus), Glenmark will be responsible for manufacturing and supply of Ryaltris.

On the other hand Lotus will be responsible for its commercialization subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, in these markets, the company said in a statement.

Glenmark will receive an upfront payment as well as regulatory and sales-based milestone payments from Lotus, it added.

"This partnership will provide patients access to a highly effective and proven treatment for allergic rhinitis in these key South-East Asian markets," Ltd Chief Commercial Officer Robert Crockart said.

Lotus CEO, Petar Vazharov said, "the partnership not only strengthens the competitiveness of our overall product portfolio but also accelerates our expansion in key SEA countries."



He further said this is also the first brand product to be included in Lotus' respiratory portfolio with strong clinical data and IP protection.

Ryaltris, developed by Glenmark, is a novel, fixed-dose combination nasal spray of an anti-histamine and a steroid, indicated for treatment of symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis in adults and pediatric patients, 12 years of age and older.

Glenmark said it has also entered into commercial agreements with several partners around the world, including Menarini for the commercialization of Ryaltris in select EU markets, with Bausch Health in Canada (where it is under review by Health Canada), with Grand Pharma in China and with Yuhan Corporation in South Korea for commercialization of the nasal spray.

(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.)
Jio's arm and of Oulu have signed an agreement to collaborate for development of 6G technology as well as to foster entrepreneurship.

The collaboration with the Estonia-based is expected to extend Jio's 5G capabilities and will help explore use cases in the 6G era.

Jio Platforms is the parent of telecom player .

"As the leader of the world's first major 6G research programme, the of Oulu focuses on wireless communications leading to 6G technologies.

"We are looking forward to collaborating with Jio and the entire Reliance Group on targeted research initiatives that will enable future wireless end-to-end solutions for a wide range of end-user requirements," University of Oulu's Director of the 6G Flagship Professor Matti Latva-aho said in a statement on Thursday.

The university said that 6G builds on top of 5G and extends digitisation through unique capabilities, adding that 5G and 6G will co-exist and cover a broad range of consumer and enterprise use cases.

The collaboration will foster entrepreneurship by bringing together a world-class pool of expertise from both industry and academia in aerial and space communication, holographic beamforming, 3D connected intelligence in cyber security, micro electronics and photonics.

"The collaborative effort will aid in competing with 6G-enabled products in the defence, automotive, white goods, industrial machinery, consumer goods, efficient manufacturing, novel personal smart device environments, and experiences such as urban computing and autonomous traffic settings," the statement said.

Jio CEO Taavi Kotka said Jio has more than 400 million subscribers in India and their experience shows that building capacity to transmit large amounts of data is becoming critical.

"With this collaboration with the University of Oulu, we can make sure that we keep growing and developing as a world region of the future," he said.

Jio Platforms Senior Vice President Aayush Bhatnagar said that early investments in 6G research and capabilities with the university can complement Jio Lab's capabilities in 5G and bring 6G to life.

(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.)
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Thursday said its heavy engineering arm has dispatched six of the world's largest drums to .

These drums were successfully manufactured during the COVID-19 pandemic at L&T's state-of-the-art Heavy Engineering Complex located at Hazira near Surat, the company said in a statement.

"The heavy engineering arm of Larsen & Toubro, dispatched six of the world's largest drums weighing 658 tons each for a refinery project in ordered by PTI Infraestructura de Desarrollo, (PTI-ID), a subsidiary of the Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX (Petrleos Mexicanos)," the statement said.

These coke drums are part of a delayed coking unit in the PEMEX Dos Bocas Refinery Project, which will convert the residue from the combined distillation plant into higher-value products.

"We thank PTI-ID for reposing faith in L&T for supplying world's largest Coke Drums for such prestigious project. It's heartening to have lived up to the expectations of our client and delivering coke drums on-time," said Anil V Parab, Member - L&T Executive Committee, Senior VP and Head, Heavy Engineering.

(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 National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has approved ArcelorMittal's resolution plan for Odisha Slurry Pipeline Infrastructure (OSPIL) dismissing a raft of appeals including those filed by SREI entities.

OSPIL owns and operates a 253-km slurry pipeline  a critical ancillary unit of Essar Steel, now Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India). Early December 2019, India Private Ltd's (AMIPL) resolution plan for OSPIL under the insolvency law was approved by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Cuttack bench in March 2020.

However, the plan was challenged in by SREI Infrastructure Finance as a financial creditor as well as SREI Multiple Asset Investment Trust (SMAIT). A scheme of SMAIT, India Growth Opportunities Fund (IGOF) held 69 per cent equity in OSPIL (the balance was with Essar Steel).

In the appeal filed by SIFL, the said, Having held that the plan approved by the CoC by a vote of 100 per cent in its meeting and approved by the Adjudicating Authority, in toto, we do not find any infirmity or illegality in the order passed by the Adjudicating Authority approving the Resolution Plan.

The order was passed by on January 18 and uploaded today (Thursday).

SIFLs main contention was that the plan discriminates in the matter of distribution of money between similarly placed financial creditors, negates personal guarantee of promoter provided to it and permits abatement of title suit pending before Sealdah Court, Kolkata.

It also contended that the plan failed to consider the user charges that were due and payable by Essar Steel to OSPIL.

The slurry pipeline was leased to Essar and the user charges captured in the right to use (RTU) agreement. The pipeline connects AM/NS India iron ore beneficiation plant in Dabuna with the 12 million tonne pellet plant in Paradip.

As far as the grievance regarding distribution of money was concerned, the appellate tribunal said that it had not come across any discrimination made to the appellant with regard to its payment and treatment on par with the other secured creditors. SIFL was made an upfront payment of the entire principal sum of Rs 321.6 crore.

SMAIT in its appeal had raised that AMIPL was ineligible under Section 29A as Essar was a 30.2 per cent shareholder in OSPIL. However, the NCLAT observed that AMIPLs resolution plan for OSPIL was approved by the CoC prior to taking over management control of Essar. Therefore, it cannot be treated or classified as a connected person.

On December 16, 2019, jointly with Nippon Steel had acquired Essar in a Rs 42,000 crore deal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and renamed ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India). The resolution plan for OSPIL was approved on December 6, 2019.

In conclusion, the order said that the appellant (SMAIT) has not made out any case and a futile exercise in filing this appeal.

The NCLAT also dismissed an appeal filed by the Government of India, GST & Central Tax, regarding claims as an operational creditor. An appeal by the IDBI Bank against admitting SIFL as a financial creditor was dismissed as well.

BOX: Odisha Slurry Pipeline Infrastructure Ltd

Asset: 253-km slurry pipeline connects AM/NS Indias iron ore beneficiation plant in Dabuna with 12-million-tonne pellet plant in Paradip

Resolution amount: Rs 2,358 crore
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By Nidhi Verma and Gavin Maguire

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - OPEC's share of Indian fell in 2021 to the lowest in more than a decade despite a 4% rebound in annual crude purchases by the world's third biggest oil importer, data obtained from industry sources showed.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), mainly from the Middle East and Africa, saw their share of the pie in India shrinking to 70% in 2021, from a peak of 87% in 2008, a Reuters analysis of the data from 2007 to 2021 showed.

India's crude imports rebounded 3.9% to 4.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021, the data showed, but remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Imports are expected to rise further this year as fuel demand is recovering, with the government resisting lockdowns despite surging COVID-19 cases while refiners' margins are expected to stay strong. Last year, refiners had to cut crude processing for a few months as lockdowns hit gasoil and jet fuel consumption.

In December, imports surged to an 11-month high of about 4.7 million bpd, about 5% more than in November, but still 7.8% lower than a year earlier, the data showed.

"With fears of Omicron spread receding and refineries are expected to operate at full capacity because of improved cracks and fuel demand, Indian could rise by about 5%," said M. K. Surana, chairman of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL).

OPEC's share shrunk as refiners increased imports from Canada and the United States, at the expense of Africa and the Middle East, the data showed.

As U.S. sanctions made it difficult for India to import crude from Venezuela and Iran, Indian buyers have turned to the United States, Canada, Guyana and some small producers in Africa for supplies.

U.S. and Canadian oil accounted for a record 7.3% and 2.7% of India's imports, respectively, compared with 5.5% and 0.7% a year earlier.

The share of Latin American oil plunged to a 12-year low of 8.7% as India halted imports from Venezuela under pressure from U.S. sanctions, the data showed. Middle Eastern oil accounted for about 62% of India's overall imports, the data showed.

Iraq remained India's top supplier in 2021 since it overtook Saudi Arabia in 2017.

Iraqi supplies to India are expected to increase in 2022 as HPCL will lift 45% more crude for its expanded refining capacity.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Florence Tan and Susan Fenton)

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Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the 'one district-one airport' concept is good, and instructed officials to expedite the works on Bhogapuram and Dagadarthi in Vizianagaram and Nellore districts.

At the review meeting on ports and held on Thursday, the chief minister instructed the officials to plan such that that all in the state are identical.

"Efforts should be made for developing the basic infrastructure for the airports, and the runways should be developed to allow even Boeing airplanes to land," he said while telling the officials to put special focus on the development and expansion works on the existing six airports in the state along with the two new airports.

The chief minister said that special focus should be laid on the expansion works of Gannavaram airport catering to Vijayawada and Amaravati, keeping in view the growing traffic.

The officials appraised the chief minister of the work in progress at Tirupati, Kadapa, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Kurnool airports.

The chief minister also told the officials to take up on a priority basis the construction works of nine fishing harbours and three ports. Work on Bhavanapadu and Ramayapatnam ports will begin soon, the chief minister was informed by officials.

Works taken up on four fishing harbours in the first phase will be completed by October, the officials said. Of the nine fishing harbours, Uppada (East Godavari), Nizampatnam (Guntur), Machilipatnam (Krishna), and Juvvalpalem (Nellore) will be completed in the first phase, officials said.

Remaining five harbours will be taken in the second phase and will be completed in the specified timeline and tenders are to be finalized soon, officials said.

In the second phase, harbours will be coming up at Budagatlapalem (Srikakulam district), Pudimadaka (Visakhapatnam), Biyyaputhippa (West Godavari), Odarevu (Prakasam) and Kothapatnam (Prakasam).

Industries minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy, chief secretary Sameer Sharma, and other officials were present at the review meeting.

--IANS

pvn/skp/

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The has sought assistance of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) to locate missing boy Miram Taron on their side and return him as per established protocol, sources in the defence establishment said on Thursday.

Arunachal Pradeshs MP Tapir Gao said on Wednesday PLA on Tuesday abducted a 17-year-old boy from inside Upper Siang district.

Sources in the defence establishment said that when the Army received the information about Taron, it contacted the PLA through an established mechanism of hotline informing that an individual, who was collecting herbs, has lost his way and cannot be found.

Meanwhile, Chinas Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of the incident but said the PLA controls the borders and cracks down on illegal entry and exit activities.
With results from the Gadchiroli district announced on Thursday, the maintained its top position in nagar panchayat by winning a total of 419 out of 1,791 seats.

It was followed by NCP which won 381 seats and Congress which won 344, the state election commission (SEC) data showed. The Shiv Sena, which heads the ruling Sena-NCP-Congress coalition in the state, was in the fourth place with 296 seats, while 239 seats went to independent candidates. Remaining seats were won by parties like CPM, BSP and local outfits. The voting for zilla parishad (ZP) and panchayat samiti in Bhandara and Gondia districts had been held simultaneously and the results were announced on Thursday. Out of 105 ZP seats in two districts, the won 38, Congress 34, NCP 21 while the rest went to independents and others.

Similarly, out of 210 seats of Panchayat Samiti, the won 93, Congress 53, NCP 36 while others went to independents and others, the SEC said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A bomb threat call was reported from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters in on Wednesday evening which was later declared a hoax, officials said.

They said a call was received at the police control room at 6:36 PM from the paramilitary force which stated that a "bomb has been planted" in the five-storey building located inside the Central Government Offices (CGO) complex on Lodhi Road in the national capital.

Personnel from the Lodhi Colony police station, an ambulance and two fire tenders soon reached the headquarters of the country's largest paramilitary force, they said.

Some senior officers were present at the headquarters when the alert was sounded, officials said.

"A joint bomb detection team of the CRPF, CISF and Police was constituted and a thorough search was conducted along with the dog squad.

"Nothing was found in the premises of headquarters building and the surrounding area. The call was then declared a hoax," a senior police officer said.

He said officials informed the police after a person from Gorrekunta in Warangal (Telangana) called on a landline number operational at the paramilitary force's head office informing about the bomb.

The about 3.25 lakh personnel strong is the lead internal security force of the country.

The security establishment in the national capital is on a high alert in view of the upcoming Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

This incident came hours after two unattended bags created a bomb scare in East Delhi's Trilokpuri, but officials said nothing suspicious was found in them except for a laptop and personal belongings.

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A day ahead of the government deciding about the future of COVID-19 curbs that are in place across the state, Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Thursday said both lives and livelihood of the people will be considered, while arriving at any decision.

Clarifying that there was no confusion within the government regarding the curbs, the Minister said views expressed by leaders of all political parties and several organisations will also be taken into account, before taking the decision.

"Regarding COVID guidelines, the Chief Minister has called an important meeting at 1 PM tomorrow with senior Ministers. Opinions expressed by leaders of various political parties and organisations regarding the curbs that are in place, and the centre's guidelines will also be taken into consideration," Ashoka said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said there are about 15-20 districts in the state where cases are low, while in cities like Bengaluru and Mysuru the numbers are rising.

"While protecting the lives of people, the government will also have to facilitate for their livelihood, especially of poor and daily wage workers, keeping all this in mind, we will arrive at a decision. I'm confident that the Chief Minister will announce a decision that will be good for the people," he added.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said his government will re-examine the COVID-19 curbs that are in place, and will take a decision regarding relaxation, including the weekend curfew on Friday.

With a surge in cases, the government had last week decided to extend the existing COVID curbs such as night curfew and the weekend curfew till the end of January.

Asked about any confusion within the government as it is indicating about relaxing curbs at the time when cases are expected to peak, according to experts, by end of this month and early February, Ashoka said, "there is no confusion within the government, if anyone is making statements it is their personal one, which will also be kept in mind before taking a decision tomorrow."



The government will arrive at a decision that is applicable to the state, after taking into account the views of the experts, he said, "the government had earlier imposed curbs like weekend and night curfew based on experts report.

(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.)
Emporia, KS (66801)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 45F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Gym Association representatives and owners of gyms across the city Thursday staged a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence, demanding they be allowed to reopen their fitness centres which have been shut for over 20 days due to the spike in Covid cases.

Gyms were closed in the city during the yellow alert which was sounded by the Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) when the positivity rate of COVID-19 cases had crossed 0.5% in December last year.

The protesters also carried empty liquor bottles to argue that if liquor vends can remain open gyms can too.

They said that all the other activities are kept open but gyms are always the first ones to be closed. They argued that in the neighbouring states also, gyms are open and no spike in the cases of Covid is seen from the gym.

Gym Association Vice President Chirag Sethi said it was unfair on the part of the Delhi government and the DDMA to close gyms when everything else, even liquor shops, is open.

In the last 20 months our gyms have been closed for 9 months. How are we going to survive like this? How will we pay rent, fixed electricity and water charges, take care of our family? In evening, if your kid goes out where you want them to go, at a wine shop or to a gym which makes their body and mind healthy, Sethi said.

In Delhi, there are 5500 gyms and over 1 lakh people are dependent on the fitness industry for their livelihood.

Gyms build immunity, it's easy to track people in gyms in case someone is found Covid positive compare to a restaurant or weekly markets. The businesses that promote immunity are asked to shut but wine shops are open, Sethi lamented.

Delhi on Thursday reported 12,306 fresh COVID-19 cases and 43 more fatalities due to the viral disease, while the positivity rate dipped to 21.48 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

This is the highest number of deaths reported in a day since June 10, 2021, when 44 fatalities were recorded.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
on Thursday recorded 24,485 new cases, the highest single-day spike so far, pushing up its tally above the 10-lakh mark, while 13 patients succumbed to infection, the state health department said.

With these additions, the state's COVID-19 tally rose to 10,01,563 cases, while the death toll increased to 10,199, said a health department release. The latest surge in new cases also pushed up the state's active tally above the 1- lakh mark, said the release. Ahmedabad city recorded the highest number of infections - 9,837 - during the day, followed by 2,981 in Surat city, 2,823 in Vadodara city, 1,333 in Rajkot city and 728 in Surat district. As per the latest data available on the COVID-19 dashboard, over 1.30 lakh tests were being conducted everyday in the state, whose positivity rate now stands at 15.11 per cent. The rate indicates the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested. The tally of recoveries increased to 8,86,476 after 10,310 persons were discharged during the day, the release said. now has 1,04,888 active cases, of which 156 patients are on ventilators, it said. As many as 9.58 crore doses of vaccines have been administered to the eligible population so far in the state, of which, 2.47 shots were given during the day, the department said. As many as 41 new cases of COVID-19 and 27 recoveries were registered in the adjoining Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in the last 24 hours, said an official release. Of the total 11,130 persons found positive for in the UT so far, 255 are under treatment, four have died, while 10,871 have recovered, said the release. COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 10,01,563; new cases 24,485, deaths 10,199; discharged 8,86,476; active cases 1,04,888, people tested so far - figures not released.

(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.)
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said it seems that the peak of the third COVID-19 wave has gone past in the national capital, even as he cautioned that the city is not out of the danger zone yet.

Interacting with reporters, Jain said Delhi saw a record surge in the number of daily Covid cases recently with over 28,000 cases registered in a day and the positivity rate too had gone beyond 30 per cent.

"That spike which Delhi saw can be considered as the peak of the Covid wave and it seems that we are past the peak now.... The number of daily cases has come down in the last few days. Over 13,000 cases were recorded yesterday with a positivity rate of close to 24 per cent. And today, the number of cases is lesser than that," he said.

The national capital reported 28,867 fresh COVID-19 cases on January 13, the sharpest single-day spike here since the outbreak of the pandemic, with a positivity rate of 29.21 per cent. On January 14, the positivity rate had increased to over 30 per cent.

Jain, however, cautioned that the peak of the Covid wave may have gone past in Delhi, but "still we cannot say that we are out of the danger zone yet and we need to watch the trend".

Asked if some restrictions will be eased, the minister said proactive measures have also led to the fall in the number of cases and for any decision on easing restrictions, "we will have to monitor the situation first in the coming days".

On a reduction in the number of tests to detect the infection, Jain claimed that Delhi is still conducting more daily tests than other states and "no one is being denied any test, if needed".

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A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed the bail application of former MD and CEO of YES Bank, Rana Kapoor, in a money laundering case related to the wrongful loss of Rs 466.51 crore to the bank.

Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal denied the relief to the Kapoor, noting that the allegations against him were most grave and serious in nature.

Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the present case, since the allegations against the accused are most grave in nature, as a resultant no ground for his bail is made out at this stage. Consequently, the bail application of accused is dismissed, the court said.

Kapoor moved the application after he was summoned by the court which took cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

He told the court that he was not arrested by the ED during the investigation and since the charge sheet has already been filed, no purpose will be served by sending him in custody in the case.

Kapoor is currently lodged at Taloja Jail, Mumbai in judicial custody in another matter of the ED.

The application was opposed by ED's special public prosecutor N K Matta, who told the court that Kapoor was instrumental in the generation of the proceeds of crime.

The court, however, granted bail to 15 other accused - B Hariharan, Abishek S Pandey, Rajendra Kumar Mangal, Raghubir Kumar Sharma, Anil Bhargava, Tapsi Mahajan, Surendra Kumar Khandelwal, Sonu Chadha, Harsh Gupta, Ramesh Sharma, Pawan Kumar Agarwal, Amit Mamtani, Ashish Agarwal, Amit Kumar, and Vinod Bahety - in the case.

The judge observed that the 15 accused were only hands so as to say and as per the averments mentioned in the complaint appeared to have been doing certain acts/omissions, while seemingly taking instructions from either accused Gautam Thapar or accused Rana Kapoor, as their agents/ employees.

It also noted that they always cooperated during the investigations, as and when called by the investigating agency and they were stated to have joined investigations on a number of occasions.

A trial court had earlier dismissed the bail plea of businessman Gautam Thapar, Promoter of Avantha Group. Thapar bail plea is presently being examined by the Delhi High Court.

Thapar was arrested by the ED in August last year and is currently in judicial custody.

While Kapoor was represented by advocate Vijay Aggarwal, the other accused were represented by senior advocates Vikas Pahwa, N Hariharan, and Pramod Kumar Dubey and advocate Sandeep Kapur of Kanjawala & Co.

The court had in October last year, had taken cognizance of ED's prosecution complaint, an equivalent of a charge sheet, against the accused persons in the case, saying there were sufficient grounds to proceed against them.

According to the ED, the case was registered against Thapar, Avantha Realty Ltd (ARL), Oyster Buildwell Pvt Ltd (OBPL), and others alleging criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and forgery for diversion or misappropriation of public money during the period 2017 to 2019.

Earlier, ED had told the Delhi Court that investigation revealed that approximately Rs 500 crore proceeds of crime, were laundered through OBPL, Jhabua Power Limited (JPL), Jhabua Power Investment Ltd. (JPIL), Avantha Power and Infrastructure Ltd (APIL), ARL, etc. which were being controlled and beneficially owned directly or indirectly by Thapar.

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reported 13,785 fresh COVID-19 cases and 35 more fatalities due to the infection on Wednesday while the positivity rate climbed to 23.86 per cent, according to the data shared by the Health Department.

Earlier in the day, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the positivity rate in the national capital is not low enough to lift the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the infection and that the government will monitor the situation for three to four days.

The national capital had logged 11,684 Covid cases and 38 deaths due to the disease on Tuesday, while the positivity rate had declined to 22.47 per cent.

The city had reported 12,527 cases and 24 deaths on Monday while the positivity rate was 27.99 per cent.

A total of 57,776 tests were conducted to detect the infection on Tuesday, up from 52,002 on Monday.

Of the 57,776 tests, 44,737 were RT-PCR ones while the rest were rapid antigen tests.

Monday's figure was higher than the 44,762 tests carried out on Sunday.

Responding to a question about low rate of testing in Delhi, the health minister said no one is being denied a Covid test and the authorities are following the guidelines issued by the Centre.

"They said high-risk contacts of Covid patients and those with symptoms should be tested. On Tuesday, they clarified that tests be conducted in some pockets in the community too, which we are doing," he said.

had been conducting 50,000 to 60,000 tests daily for the last six months, he added.

Delhi had logged 28,867 COVID-19 cases last Thursday, the sharpest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic.

The number then declined to 24,383 on Friday, 20,718 on Saturday, 18,286 on Sunday, 12,527 on Monday, and 11,684 on Tuesday.

The positivity rate stood at 30.6 per cent on Saturday, the highest in the ongoing wave of the pandemic so far.

Delhi's previous biggest daily jump of 28,395 cases was recorded on April 20 last year.

A total of 2,734 Covid patients are admitted to hospitals, including 908 on oxygen support, of whom 147 are on ventilator.

Since last week, the minister has been saying that the hospital admissions have stabilised in the national capital and that the wave has plateaued.

He reiterated the fact on Wednesday too. He said daily hospital admissions have not increased for one week.

"We have prepared 37,000 Covid beds, of which only 15,600 beds have been released. Only 17 per cent of the beds are occupied, which is why we are not releasing more beds," he said.

Jain reiterated that the ongoing wave of the pandemic has peaked and is on the decline in Delhi.

"We hope that its descent is as sharp as its rise. Let us wait for a few more days," he said.

An analysis of government data has shown that the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to Delhi hospitals in January so far is higher than the number of those discharged.

On an average, 395 Covid patients were admitted to hospitals on a daily basis between January 1 and January 17 while 243 patients were discharged daily in the period.

A total of 4,134 patients were discharged from the city hospitals in the period as against 6,707 patients who were admitted to these facilities.

The data also shows that the number of admissions was more than double the number of discharges between January 1 and January 7.

The number of containment zones stands at 39,489.

The case tally has climbed to 17,47,966 in Delhi while the death toll due to the disease has gone up to 25,460.

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Justice (retired) Ranjit Singh, who headed a commission to probe the 2015 incidents in Punjab, on Wednesday said it was the sect followers who were behind the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib at Faridkot.

The former judge of the and Haryana High Court also said according to the available evidence, there was an active role of the then Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in the subsequent police firing on people protesting the desecration incidents.

The former judge made the revelation, lamenting that both the previous SAD-BJP regime and the Congress government could not deliver justice despite the lapse of seven years after the incidents.

Justice Singh made the revelation in his book 'The Sacrilege', based on the inquiry he conducted into the 2015 and subsequent police firing incidents. The book was launched here on Wednesday.

The incidents related to the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing at anti- protesters at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan took place in 2015 in the Faridkot district. Two persons were killed in the police firing at Behbal Kalan.

The Amarinder Singh-led government had formed the one-man commission led by Justice Ranjit Singh in 2017 to inquire into several sacrilege incidents. The report was submitted in August 2018.

Addressing the media here, Justice Singh said the commission's report was debated in the state assembly and was accepted by the House but did not come out in the public domain.

Effort has been made to bring various facts and truth before the public which led to the sacrilege incidents hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community and the nation leaving indelible scars, he stated.

Justice Singh clarified that there was no political aim behind bringing out the book when he was asked about the release of the book just ahead of the assembly polls.

It is a coincidence that the book is being released now. I neither had any political aim when the probe began nor now. I do not belong to any political party nor do I have any interest in it, he said.

He further pointed out that the release of the book got delayed because of some administrative reasons.

My only aim in writing this book is to bring out the truth," he said.

Asked who were responsible for the sacrilege incidents at Faridkot, the former judge said, Dera 'premis' (followers) were responsible for the sacrilege incidents.

He further said during the police investigation it was found that the Dera followers were responsible for the theft of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, putting up hand-written sacrilegious posters and scattering the torn pages of the holy book.

To a question on police firing incidents, Justice Singh said according to the evidence available, there was an active role of the then Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in it.

Sacrilege has been an emotive issue in . The ruling Congress had always slammed the Akalis over this issue as it took place during the previous SAD-BJP regime in 2015.

The delivery of justice in the 2015 sacrilege incidents was one of the important issues of the coming assembly polls in Punjab.

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When the pandemic was first declared, Spaniards were ordered to stay home for more than three months. For weeks, they were not allowed outside even for exercise. Children were banned from playgrounds, and the economy virtually stopped.

But officials credited the draconian measures with preventing a full collapse of the health system. Lives were saved, they argued.

Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different COVID-19 playbook.

With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay. Similar steps are under consideration in neighbouring Portugal and in Britain.

The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.

Spain's center-left prime minister, Pedro Snchez, wants the Union to consider similar changes now that the surge of the omicron variant has shown that the disease is becoming less lethal.

"What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters, he said Monday.

Snchez said the changes should not happen before the omicron surge is over, but officials need to start shaping the post-pandemic world now: We are doing our homework, anticipating scenarios."



The World Health Organisation has said that it's too early to consider any immediate shift. The organisation does not have clearly defined criteria for declaring COVID-19 an endemic disease, but its experts have previously said that it will happen when the virus is more predictable and there are no sustained outbreaks.

It's somewhat a subjective judgment because it's not just about the number of cases. It's about severity, and it's about impact, said Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies chief.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum panel on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases doctor in the US, said COVID-19 could not be considered endemic until it drops to "a level that it doesn't disrupt society.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has advised countries to transition to more routine handling of COVID-19 after the acute phase of the pandemic is over.

The agency said in a statement that more EU states in addition to Spain will want to adopt "a more long-term, sustainable surveillance approach.

Just over 80 per cent of Spain's population has received a double vaccine dose, and authorities are focused on boosting the immunity of adults with third doses.

Vaccine-acquired immunity, coupled with widespread infection, offers a chance to concentrate prevention efforts, testing and illness-tracking resources on moderate to high-risk groups, said Dr. Salvador Trenche, head of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, which has led the call for a new endemic response.

COVID-19 must be treated like the rest of illnesses, Trenche told The Associated Press, adding that normalized attention by health professionals would help reduce delays in treatment of problems not related to the .

The public also needs to come to terms with the idea that some deaths from COVID-19 will be inevitable," Tranche said.

We can't do on the sixth wave what we were doing on the first one: The model needs to change if we want to achieve different results," he said.

The Spanish Health Ministry said it was too early to share any blueprints being drafted by its experts and advisers, but the agency confirmed that one proposal is to follow an existing model of sentinel surveillance currently used in the EU for monitoring influenza.

The strategy has been nicknamed flu-ization of COVID-19 by Spanish media, although officials say that the systems for influenza will need to be adapted significantly to the .

For now, the discussion about moving to an endemic approach is limited to wealthy nations that can afford to speak about the worst of the pandemic in the past tense. Their access to vaccines and robust public health systems are the envy of the developing world.

It's also not clear how an endemic strategy would coexist with the zero-Covid approach adopted by China and other Asian countries, and how would that affect international travel.

Many countries overwhelmed by the record number of omicron cases are already giving up on massive testing and cutting quarantine times, especially for workers who show no more than cold-like symptoms.

Since the beginning of the year, classes in Spanish schools stop only if major outbreaks occur, not with the first reported case as they used to.

In Portugal, with one of the world's highest vaccination rates, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared in a New Year's speech that the country had moved into an endemic phase.

But the debate over specific measures petered out as the spread soon accelerated to record levels almost 44,000 new cases in 24 hours reported Tuesday.

However, hospital admissions and deaths in the vaccinated world are proportionally much lower than in previous surges.

In the United Kingdom, mask-wearing in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped on January 26, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday saying that the latest wave had peaked nationally.

The requirement for infected people to isolate for five full days remains in place, but Johnson said he will seek to scrap it in coming weeks if the virus data continues to improve. Official statistics put at 95 per cent the share of the British population that has developed antibodies against COVID-19 either from infection or vaccination.

As COVID becomes endemic, we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance, urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others, Johnson said.

For some other European governments, the idea of normalising COVID-19 is at odds with their efforts to boost vaccination among reluctant groups.

In Germany, where less than 73 per cent of the population has received two doses and infection rates are hitting new records almost daily, comparisons to Spain or any other country are being rejected.

We still have too many unvaccinated people, particularly among our older citizens, Health Ministry spokesman Andreas Deffner said Monday.

Italy is extending its vaccination mandate to all citizens age 50 or older and imposing fines of up to 1,500 euros for unvaccinated people who show up at work. Italians are also required to be fully vaccinated to access public transportation, planes, gyms, hotels and trade fairs.

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US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke to India's Foreign Secretary Harsh V. Shringla and discussed Russia's military build-up on Ukraine's borders along with regional issues and Covid pandemic.

Within a week, it's the second time that the US talked with India about the Russia's presence at borders.

"The US Deputy Secretary and the India's Foreign Secretary agreed to remain closely coordinated on shared goals and priorities and reiterated the importance of a strong US-India partnership to mitigate the Covid-19 Omicron variant's rapid advance," Ned Price, spokesperson of the US's State Department, said on Wednesday.

Earlier, on January 14, the US Charge' d' Affaires Patricia Lacina also called on Shringla and discussed India-US relationship with the regional issues of mutual interest.

Interestingly at the time when India and US were holding talks, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to reaffirm the "unwavering" US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of ongoing Russian military buildup.

After the meeting, Blinken met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as part of ongoing efforts to encourage Russia to choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue.

According to the State Department Blinken met Zelenskyy in Kiev as part of US' "close and continued coordination" with following the US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue in Geneva, the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels, and the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna.

Blinken during the meeting has emphasised that if Russia chooses the path of "further aggression" against Ukraine, the US, together with its allies and partners, will impose crippling costs on Russia's economy, reinforce NATO's presence in frontline allied states, and increase defensive assistance to .

--IANS

nimish/shs

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reported eight more cases of the Omicron variant of Thursday, taking the total number to 15, a senior health official said here on Thursday.

He said initially, the Omicron variant was reported only from international arrivals, but now it is being recorded among the community also.

A total of 156 samples of the patients found COVID positive from December 15 to December 31 were sent for whole genome sequencing (WGS) to the Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Delhi, he added.

Of the 156 samples, 43 reports were received on Thursday confirming mutations in 29 samples, he added.

Of the 29 mutations, eight WGS samples have been found positive for the Omicron variant and 21 for the delta variant, he added.

The eight new Omicron cases include five from Kullu and one each from Shimla, Solan and Chamba respectively, he said, adding none of them has any ravel history to a foreign country.

Of the seven cases reported previously, one was reported from a cluster in Sirmaur district recently, while six had international travel history, he added.

Of the six international passengers, three are from Mandi, two from Una and one from Kullu.

One of the six cases was reported on December 26, while the rest five on January 17, he added.

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India logged over 317,000 cases on Thursday morning and the countrys daily positivity rate exceeded 16 per cent. Meanwhile, January has witnessed a dramatic increase in home testing, even as overall testing numbers have, barring a few districts, remained the same as in the second wave, health ministry data showed. While in 2021, 3,000 home tests were used, January 2022 has already seen over 200,000 such tests.

The health ministry expressed worry over rising cases and high positivity rate in six states: Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. We are in continuous contact and dialogue with these states. I have briefed the health administration of these states, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.

India has so far vaccinated 94 per cent of its adult population with one dose of Covid vaccine and 72 per cent with both doses. On April 30, 2021, during the second wave of Covid-19, the fully vaccinated population stood at 2 per cent. At the time, 386,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths and 3,170,228 active cases were recorded, health ministry data shows. On January 20, 2022, while the total daily cases were comparable to the second wave, the number of deaths were lower at 380 and active cases stood at 1,924,051.

Benefits of vaccines in reducing deaths can be seen week by week through data. The current surge is not leading to severe disease and death due to high uptake of vaccines. Those with comorbidities should monitor their health, said Balram Bhargava, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research.





There are still over 65 million people who are overdue to take their second dose. This will weaken our shield. They must come forward and get fully vaccinated. Reminders are being sent, V K Paul, member-health, Niti Aayog, said.

On vaccines for children below 15, Paul said, We will take a holistic view of the situation. Work is happening on this front as well.

Health ministry data suggested that the incidence of Covid cases during the first two waves were similar in paediatric and adolescent population: those up to 19 years made for 10 per cent of the total cases in 2020 and 11 per cent in 2021. And the deaths were 0.96 per cent and 0.7 per cent in this age group for 2020 and 2021 respectively.

During the current way, the rate of hospitalisation has been low, said the government. In Delhi, for instance, with over 75,000 active cases and 13,000 daily cases, the number of those hospitalised is around 2,624, the health ministry said.

Around 99 per cent patients have common symptoms of fever, with or without rigours, cough, irritation in throat, and these signs usually wane after the fifth day of infection, according to the Delhi case study. In 11- to 18-year-old patients, fever is a common symptom along with upper respiratory tract infection.

Nearly 52 per cent of adolescents in the 15-18 age group have taken their first dose of the vaccine.
A member of Parliament from on Wednesday claimed that a 17-year-old youth has been 'abducted' "from inside Indian territory".

Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament from East Arunachal Pradesh, claimed that the youth was 'abducted' on Tuesday from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district.

He claimed that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abducted the youth where the Tsangpo River enters in .

He tweeted, "Chinese PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido vill. yesterday 18th Jan 2022 from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China-built 3-4 km road inside in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bushing village) of Upper Siang dist., ."

"His friend escaped from PLA and reported to the authorities," said Gao.

"All the agencies of the Government of are requested to step up for his early release," he tweeted.

In his tweet, Gao has tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the Indian Army.

The MP claimed that he has informed the Home Ministry regarding the incident and requested their intervention.

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Cooperation between India and Mauritius, including in maritime security, has translated the vision of SAGAR - Security and Growth for All in the Region - into action, Prime Minister said on Thursday.

Modi also said is a prime example of India's approach to development partnership which is based on the needs and priorities of its partners and respects their sovereignty.

He made these remarks after he along with his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated India-assisted social housing units project in virtually.

The two prime ministers also took part in a virtual foundation stone laying ceremony for two other projects -- construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and a 8 MW Solar PV Farm -- also undertaken as part of India's development support.

The ceremony included exchange of two key bilateral pacts -- an agreement for the extension of USD 190 million Line of Credit from the Indian government to the Mauritian government for the Metro Express and other infrastructure projects, and an MoU on the implementation of small development projects.

In his remarks, Modi said is also integral to India's approach to the Indian Ocean and recalled that it was in the island nation, during his 2015 visit, that he had outlined India's maritime cooperation vision of SAGAR - 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'.

"I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action," he said.

Jagnauth, during his address, broke into chaste Hindi several times and thanked India and its government for the development assistance it has been providing.

The Mauritian prime minister said that as gratitude for India's support to the metro express project, his government has decided to name one of the major metro stations as 'Mahatma Gandhi' station.

Modi underlined that India and Mauritius are united by history, ancestry, culture, language and the shared waters of the Indian Ocean.

"Today, our robust development partnership has emerged as a key pillar of our close ties," he said.

Recalling the inauguration of the metro express project, the New ENT Hospital and the New Supreme Court building in Mauritius, Modi said he was delighted to know about the Metro's popularity, crossing the 5.6 million passengers mark.

"We look forward to supporting the further extension of the Metro, under the 190 million dollar Line of Credit agreement exchanged today. It is also a matter of satisfaction and pride for us that the New ENT Hospital has been instrumental in combating COVID-19," he said.

Noting that India-Mauritius cooperation during the Covid pandemic has been exemplary, he pointed out that under India's Vaccine Maitri programme, Mauritius was one of the first countries it was able to send Covid vaccines to.

"I am happy that today Mauritius is among the few countries in the world to have fully vaccinated three-fourths of its population," Modi said.

He asserted that Thursday's event again demonstrates the shared commitment to improving the lives of the people of the two countries.

"Pravind ji, I am happy to join you on the completion of the Social Housing project. We are particularly glad to be associated with this important effort to provide affordable houses to the common people of Mauritius," Modi said.

"We are also initiating today two other projects that are critical to nation-building: a state-of-the-art Civil Service College that will help in skilling government officers, for Mauritius's continued progress; and the 8 Mega Watt Solar PV Farm project, which will help mitigate the climate challenges that Mauritius faces as an island country," he said.

In India too, we are focusing on innovative approaches to civil-service capacity building under our Mission Karmyogi, Modi highlighted.

"As we launch the 8 Mega Watt Solar PV Farm, I recall the One Sun One World One Grid initiative, which was launched on the sidelines of the COP-26 meeting in Glasgow last year," he said.

"It is an idea that I had put forth at the First Assembly of the International Solar Alliance in October 2018. This initiative will not only reduce carbon footprints and energy costs, but also open a new avenue for cooperation between different countries and regions," Modi said.

"I hope that India and Mauritius can together create a shining example of such cooperation in solar energy," he added.

Modi said the agreement on small development projects will deliver high-impact projects at the community level across Mauritius.

"In the coming days, we will begin work on several important projects such as the Renal Transplant unit, the Forensic Science Laboratory, the Library & Archives, the Mauritius Police Academy, and many others," he said.

"I would like to reiterate today that India will always continue to stand by Mauritius in its development journey," Modi added.

He also recalled the stellar contribution of the late (former Mauritian PM) Anerood Jugnauth to strengthen India-Mauritius ties.

He was a visionary leader, who was widely respected in India, the prime minister said.

"Upon his passing, we had declared a day of mourning in India, and our Parliament had also paid homage to him. It was our privilege to honour him with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2020," Modi said.

The Civil Service College project, located in Reduit, is being financed through a grant support of USD 4.74 million, under an MoU signed in 2017 during the visit of Jugnauth to India. Once constructed, this will provide a fully equipped and functional facility for the civil servants of Mauritius to undertake various training and skill development programme.

The 8 MW Solar PV Farm project involves the installation of 25,000 PV cells to generate approximately 14 GWh of green energy annually, to electrify approximately 10,000 Mauritian households with an estimated avoidance of 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year, helping Mauritius mitigate the effects of climate change.

(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.)
Cooperation between India and Mauritius, including in maritime security, has translated the vision of SAGAR - Security and Growth for All in the Region - into action, Prime Minister said on Thursday.

Modi also said is a prime example of India's approach to development partnership which is based on the needs and priorities of its partners and respects their sovereignty.

He made these remarks after he and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated India-assisted social housing units project in virtually.

The two PMs also took part in a virtual foundation stone laying ceremony for two other projects -- construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and a 8 MW Solar PV Farm -- also undertaken as part of India's development support.

The ceremony included exchange of two key bilateral pacts -- an agreement for the extension of USD 190M Line of Credit from the Indian to the Mauritian government for the Metro Express and other infrastructure projects, and an MoU on the implementation of small development projects.

In his remarks, Modi said is also integral to India's approach to the Indian Ocean and recalled that it was in the island nation, during his 2015 visit, that he had outlined India's maritime cooperation vision of SAGAR - 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'.

"I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action," he said.

Jagnauth, during his address, broke into chaste Hindi several times and thanked India and its government for the development assistance it has been providing.

The Mauritian prime minister said that as gratitude for India's support to the metro express project, his government has decided to name one of the major metro stations as 'Mahatma Gandhi' station.

Modi underlined that India and Mauritius are united by history, ancestry, culture, language and the shared waters of the Indian Ocean.

"Today, our robust development partnership has emerged as a key pillar of our close ties," he said.

Recalling the inauguration of the metro express project, the New ENT Hospital and the New Supreme Court building in Mauritius, Modi said he was delighted to know about the Metro's popularity, crossing the 5.6 million passengers mark.

"We look forward to supporting the further extension of the Metro, under the 190 million dollar Line of Credit agreement exchanged today. It is also a matter of satisfaction and pride for us that the New ENT Hospital has been instrumental in combating COVID-19," he said.

Noting that India-Mauritius cooperation during the Covid pandemic has been exemplary, he pointed out that under India's Vaccine Maitri programme, Mauritius was one of the first countries it was able to send Covid vaccines to.

"I am happy that today Mauritius is among the few countries in the world to have fully vaccinated three-fourths of its population," Modi said.

He asserted that Thursday's event again demonstrates the shared commitment to improving the lives of the people of the two countries.

"Pravind ji, I am happy to join you on the completion of the Social Housing project. We are particularly glad to be associated with this important effort to provide affordable houses to the common people of Mauritius," Modi said.

"We are also initiating today two other projects that are critical to nation-building: a state-of-the-art Civil Service College that will help in skilling government officers, for Mauritius's continued progress; and the 8 Mega Watt Solar PV Farm project, which will help mitigate the climate challenges that Mauritius faces as an island country," he said.

In India too, we are focusing on innovative approaches to civil-service capacity building under our Mission Karmyogi, Modi highlighted.

"As we launch the 8 Mega Watt Solar PV Farm, I recall the One Sun One World One Grid initiative, which was launched on the sidelines of the COP-26 meeting in Glasgow last year," he said.

"It is an idea that I had put forth at the First Assembly of the International Solar Alliance in October 2018. This initiative will not only reduce carbon footprints and energy costs, but also open a new avenue for cooperation between different countries and regions," Modi said.

"I hope that India and Mauritius can together create a shining example of such cooperation in solar energy," he added.

Modi said the agreement on small development projects will deliver high-impact projects across Mauritius.

"In the coming days, we will begin work on several important projects such as the Renal Transplant unit, the Forensic Science Laboratory, the Library & Archives, the Mauritius Police Academy, and many others," he said. 'd like to reiterate today that India will always continue to stand by Mauritius in its development journey," Modi added.

He also recalled the stellar contribution of the late (former Mauritian PM) Anerood Jugnauth to strengthen India-Mauritius ties.

He was a visionary leader widely respected in India, the PM said.

"Upon his passing, we had declared a day of mourning in India, and our Parliament had also paid homage to him. It was our privilege to honour him with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2020," Modi said.

In a tweet, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the delivery of Indian projects abroad has radically improved and Mauritius is a good example. "After the Metro Express, ENT Hospital and Supreme Court, this Social Housing Project is the proof of change.

(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.)
Prime Minister on Thursday said that the progress of the people lies in the progress of the nation itself.

"Today crores of Indians are putting the foundation stone of Swarnim Bharat. Our dreams and the country's dreams are not different. Our personal and country's achievements are not different. Our progress lies in the progress of the nation," the Prime Minister said while virtually delivering the keynote address at the launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore'.

Speaking at the event the Prime Minister further said, "The nation exists from us, and we exist from the nation. This realization is becoming the biggest strength of Indians in the making of a new ."

The Prime Minister also said that with 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav Se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore', today we are starting a very important event for the country.

The program unveiled yearlong initiatives dedicated to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav by the Brahma Kumaris, which include more than 30 campaigns and over 15000 programs and events.

During the event, Prime Minister flagged off seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris. These include My Healthy India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers, Women: Flag Bearers of India, Power of Peace Bus Campaign, Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally, United Motor Bike Campaign and green initiatives under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Brahma Kumaris is a worldwide spiritual movement dedicated to personal transformation and world renewal. Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumaris has spread to over 130 countries. The event is being held on the occasion of the 53rd Ascension Anniversary of Pitashree Prajapita Brahma, Founding Father of Brahma Kumaris.

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: Prime Minister would unveil a 216-foot statue of Ramanujacharya, a 11th century saint and a social reformer, in on February 5.

The statue described as the 'Statue of Equality is located in a 45-acre complex at Shamshabad on the outskirts of the city.

"Prime Minister will dedicate the Statue of Equality to the world on February 5, 2022. It is a 216 feet tall statue of Sri Ramanujacharya, a 11th century Bhakti saint, and a revolutionary social reformer," a press release from the organisers said on Thursday.

The event, along with a 1,035 'yaaga' fire oblation, said to be the largest in modern history, and other spiritual activities like mass mantra-chanting are to be conducted as part of Ramanuja Sahasrabdi Samaroham'.

It is to celebrate the 1,000th birth anniversary of the saint, it said.

The events would kick off from February 2.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao would be co-hosting the event with renowned spiritual guru Chinna Jeeyar Swami, the release said.

Several other chief ministers, politicians, celebrities and actors would also attend the function.

The Rs 1,000-crore project was funded entirely by donations from devotees globally.

The inner sanctorum deity of Ramanujacharya is made of 120 kg of gold to commemorate the 120 years the saint walked this earth.

President Ram Nath Kovind would unveil the inner chamber of the statue of Ramanuja on February 13, the release said.

The outdoor 216-foot statue would be one of the tallest statues in a sitting posture, it said.

The statue is made of 'panchaloha', a mix of five metals - gold, silver, copper, brass and zinc.

The complex has identical recreations of 108 Divya Desams, the 108 ornately carved Vishnu temples mentioned in the works of the Alwars, mystic Tamil saints.

Born in 1017 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, Ramanujacharya liberated millions from social, cultural, gender, educational and economic discrimination with the foundational conviction that every human is equal regardless of nationality, gender, race, caste or creed.

He opened the doors of temples to all people, including those subjected to extreme discrimination. He remains a timeless icon of equality for social reformists around the world, it said.

We heartily welcome everyone including chief guests, dignitaries, devotees, and people from all walks of life for the grand opening of Statue of Equality," said Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji.

Ramanujacharya has remained a true icon of equality for 1,000 years and this project will ensure his teachings are practised for at least another 1,000 years, he said.

"Our mission is to make the Statue of Equality a culturally paramount destination for people across the globe and inspire everyone to make the world a more equal place to live. Today, as the world is fraught with divisiveness and populism, the need of the hour is Ramanujacharya's ideology," he said.

The foundation stone for the project was laid in 2014, the release said.

The 54-foot high base building named Bhadra Vedi' has dedicated floors for a Vedic digital library and research centre, ancient Indian texts, a theatre, an educational gallery and a robust multi-language audio tour detailing many works of Ramanujacharya.

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As the nation gears up for the celebrations, the Police and the security agencies are sparing no effort to secure the capital amidst various threats.

Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana along with Special Commissioner of Police Satish Golcha and DCP New Deepak Yadav visited the Rajpath area to review the security arrangement ahead of the celebrations on January 26.

In a bid to tackle the various threats, security arrangement has been tightened with over 50,000 security personnel being deployed and a central control room setup with over 500 CCTV cameras fitted with facilitating facial recognition for enhanced security.

The capital has also been converted into a no fly zone i.e. flying of drones, UAVs, hot air balloons has been prohibited. Anti-drone teams have also been put in place in order to check for any unattended flying objects in the airspace.

Speaking to ANI, Special Commissioner, Delhi Police Satish Golcha said, "Latest technology is being used to prevent any possible drone threats. Apart from this, face recognition database has also been aligned with CCTV cameras. Terror threats of all kinds have been identified and a multi layered security arrangement has been put in place."

With regards to tackling drones and UAVs, the Delhi Police is working alongwith DRDO and NSG. We are keeping a close watch on such activities, said Golcha.

"We have briefed our staff extensively about suspected persons and objects. We are also coordinating with the neighbouring states for precise arrangements as well," he added.

DCP New Delhi Deepak Yadav told ANI, "Verification of the people staying in hotels in the nearby areas is also taking place. Central Vista construction is one of the major challenges before the security agencies and hence the verification of the construction workers is being done again so as to leave no stone unturned to make the parade to go on smoothly.

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Halting, then reversing the dangerous, ongoing loss of Earth's plant and animal diversity requires far more than an expanded global system of protected areas of land and seas, scientists warned.

Needed is successful, coordinated action across a diverse, interconnected set of "transformative" changes, including massive reductions in harmful agricultural and fishing subsidies, deep reductions in overconsumption, and holding change to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

More than 50 scientists from 23 countries on Wednesday delivered to governments a synthesis of the science informing and underpinning 21 targets proposed in the draft apost-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework' being negotiated under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and scheduled for adoption later this year at a world biodiversity summit in China.

The analysis was coordinated by two renowned international science bodies: bioDISCOVERY, a programme of the Future Earth organization, and the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON).

Says Paul Leadley, an assessment leader, past chair of bioDISCOVERY, and Professor at Paris-Saclay University, France: "The target of protecting 30 per cent of all land and seas is important and attracting a lot of attention. And expanding protected areas is a good start if done well, but far short of what's needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss -- called abending the curve' for biodiversity'.

"There's very good evidence that we will fail again to meet ambitious international biodiversity objectives if there's too much focus on protected areas at the expense of other urgent actions addressing the threats to biodiversity.

"Governments are clearly struggling with the breadth and depth of the atransformative changes' needed to bend the curve for biodiversity, and sometimes seem unwilling to face up to it. But deep changes are necessary and will greatly benefit people in the long run."

The essential point, says bioDISCOVERY co-Chair Lynne Shannon, a Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is that "there is no one-to-one linkage from any action target to a specific milestone or goal; instead, 'many-to-many' relationships exist among them".

"We need to recognise, therefore, the complex relationships among targets, milestones and goals and undertake our planning and actions in an integrated manner."

Among the group's key conclusions and recommendations: Success requires transformative change. Past experience in slowing and reversing biodiversity loss as well as scenarios of future biodiversity change show that only a comprehensive portfolio of interrelated actions will significantly reduce direct threats to biodiversity from land and sea use change, direct exploitation of organisms, change, pollution, and invasive alien species.

None of the Global Biodiversity Framework targets that address these direct threats to biodiversity will alone contribute more than 15 per cent of what's needed to reach the world's ultimate goals for ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.

Action must be coordinated at every scale, with progress assessed frequently. The degree of biodiversity change, and the relative importance of drivers, vary greatly across scales and from place to place, and drivers in one place can affect biodiversity in other places far away ("telecoupling," e.g. through global trade, change, etc).

Success will require action coordinated across local, national and international levels, in natural and managed ecosystems, and across intact and aworking' lands and seas.

Says co-author Maria Cecilia LondoAo Murcia of the Humboldt Institute, Colombia: "The sooner we act the better. Time lags between action and positive outcomes for biodiversity can take decades so we must act immediately and sustain our efforts if we are to reach the global goals by 2050."

--IANS

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The Centre is considering a gradual phasing out of certain direct tax exemptions meant for corporate and personal tax payers in the upcoming Union Budget. More on that story in our top headlines this morning. Microsoft, Telangana seal deal for data centre in Hyderabad

US tech giant and the Telangana government have finalised a deal to set up a Rs 15,000-crore data centre in Hyderabad. A 50-acre land near the city is believed to have been finalised and the project is expected to create around 300 jobs. According to sources aware of the development, a formal announcement is likely to come within a month. Read more

Budget likely to phase out of some tax exemptions

The Centre is considering a gradual phasing out of certain direct tax exemptions meant for corporate and personal tax payers.

This is among the tax proposals being discussed for the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. Read more

Overseas investment cap for domestic mutual funds may be doubled

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering doubling the overseas investment limit for domestic mutual funds (MFs), a move that will help citizens diversify their investments. According to sources, the market regulator intends to increase the industry-wide limit from $7 billion to $12 billion or $15 billion. Read more

High LNG prices may impact India's climate goals

India awarded 61 areas under the 11th city gas distribution (CGD) round that will, when it is complete, extend coverage to 88 per cent of the countrys land area and 98 per cent of households. This is a remarkable achievement considering that five years ago city gas networks covered only 11 per cent of the countrys area and 19 per cent of the population. Read more

Omicron spread: Uber-exclusive clubs turn to home deliveries

The grand white buildings of Kolkatas colonial-era clubs have fallen quiet again. The virulent Omicron that has swept through the city, which is recording a weekly positivity rate of over 47 per cent, is keeping patrons away. Read more
The government on Thursday decided to increase the guest limit in marriage functions from 50 to 100 in cities from January 24.

The number of guests allowed at marriage functions in rural areas of the state was already capped at 100 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the guidelines released by the Home Department, weekend curfew will now be limited to municipal areas only from Saturday 11 pm to Monday 5 am whereas night curfew will be effective everyday from 11 pm to 5 am.

The department has advised hotel associations and operators to either adjust or return the money taken in advance if any person wants to cancel or postpone the booking.

All government and private offices, commercial institutions and market associations have been asked to put it on notice board from February 1 about mandatory vaccination of both the doses, failing which action can be taken.

recorded 14,079 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths related to the disease, the state health department stated on Thursday.

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The country's exports of agricultural products, including marine and plantation goods, increased 23.21 per cent to USD 31.05 billion in April-November 2021 and is expected to cross USD 50 billion for the "first time" this fiscal, the said on Thursday.

The ministry has taken several steps during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to push the exports.

These measures include an extension of validity of various certifications/ accreditations beyond their dates of expiry; setting up of control rooms to resolve problems; issuance of online certificates for exports; and facilitating opening up of more testing laboratories.

Due to these initiatives, it said, India was able to meet the global demand, which has provided momentum to agriculture exports.

"With the present level of growth, India's agriculture exports are likely to cross USD 50 billion for the first time, which is the highest ever in history," it said.

The ministry said that rice exports are likely to touch 21-22 million tonnes this year.

Exports of non-basmati rice, wheat, sugar, and other cereals too have recorded healthy growth so far.

An increase in exports of these products has benefitted farmers in states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra, it added.

Further, it said that exports of marine products are likely to cross USD 8 billion this fiscal for the "first time".

"Spice exports are also likely to touch record levels of around USD 4.8 billion. Despite facing tremendous supply-side issues, coffee exports have registered a healthy growth of around 35 per cent, which has improved realisations for coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu," it added.

Measures taken by the ministry have helped in pushing exports from unexplored areas, it said, adding exports have taken place from clusters like Varanasi (fresh vegetables, mangoes), Ananthpur (banana), and Solapur (pomegranate).

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What should be an ordinary commercial dispute between Amazon.com Inc. and the founders of a near-bankrupt retailer is shining a harsh light on the quality of legal and regulatory protection investors actually receive in India.

The long drawn-out saga has thrown up two questions for prospective investors, or those who already have business interests in India. First, what does a go-ahead from the countrys antitrust authority even mean if an entire chain of investment based on that approval has to be unwound or reversed after two years? Second, can one rely on international arbitration to enforce Indian contracts, or will local courts get involved and throw a spanner into alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms?

Last month, Amazon was fined 2.02 billion rupees ($26.7 million) by the Indian competition watchdog. Worse, its $192 million capital infusion in Future Coupons Pvt.--a 2019 transaction.--was put in abeyance for being economical with disclosures. The commission said it was denied an opportunity to assess the effects of the actual combination, which gave Amazon strategic rights over publicly traded Ltd. Never mind that those effects, even if the trustbuster did get a chance to study them, are unlikely to have included concentration of power in the retail industry, for the simple reason that Amazon is not a retailer in India. Its an electronic marketplace for buyers and sellers.

Globally, the definition of what constitutes abuse of dominance is expanding beyond price fixing. As part of a broader crackdown on its tech titans, Beijing imposed a record $2.8 billion antitrust fine on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for using data and algorithms to obtain an unfair advantage over merchants. Tencent Holdings Ltd. was hauled up for not properly reporting past acquisitions and investments, and food-delivery app Meituan was punished for forcing restaurants into exclusive arrangements. Even outside China, large consumer tech platforms are facing increasingly hostile scrutiny. The Italian regulator recently handed a 1.1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) penalty to Amazon for discriminating against third-party sellers who do not use its logistics service.

Amazons travails in India, however, have little to do with dominance. The foreign firm is legally barred by Indias overseas investment rules from acting as a retailer that owns or discounts inventory. That explains why Amazon sought to control indirectly, via its investment in Future Coupons, a related firm. To keep on the right side of Indian law, the global e-commerce giant has similarly kept its voting rights in another of its acquisitions  the local grocery chain More  below 26%. In doing those deals, however, the U.S firm hasnt started wielding outsize influence on Indias $800 billion-a-year consumer commerce. Mom-and-pop stores control 80% of the grocery market.

founder Kishore Biyani did his deal with Amazon in 2019 because he was desperate: He wanted to channel funds to his debt-laden retail network, and Jeff Bezos was willing to be his white knight. The competition regulator gave the deal its approval. While providing the money, though, Amazon insisted on a list of restricted parties to which Futures assets couldnt be divested without its permission. On that list was Mukesh Ambani, Asias richest man who also controls Indias largest retail chain.

However, when the retail industry fell into an abyss after Indias Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, Biyani turned around and sold his 1,500-plus stores to Ambanis Ltd. Amazon began arbitration proceedings in Singapore for breach of contract, jeopardizing the $3.4 billion acquisition. Without that obstacle, Reliances own 37 million square feet of retail space would by now have received a nice boost from Futures 16 million square feet. (Reliance is not a party to the legal squabbles between Future and Amazon.)

The freezing of the antitrust approval has put a question mark around the very contract that Amazon is trying to enforce. When Future tried to use that loophole to get further hearings in Singapore quashed, a Delhi High Court judge remarked that for arbitration to speedily settle disputes, interference by courts must be kept to a minimum. If the parties are encouraged to approach the court at every stage of the arbitration proceedings, the whole purpose of the arbitration would stand frustrated, the judge said. And yet, just a day later, a two-judge bench of the same court set aside the order, and imposed a stay on proceedings by the Singapore tribunal.

The clock is ticking. Future Retail recently missed a payment to banks, and Reliances offer to buy the stores from the cash-strapped firm expires in March. Yet the dispute about the fate of its assets is far from over. Amazon is challenging the latest Delhi High Court order in India's Supreme Court and has appealed against the antitrust agencys volte face before a company-law tribunal. And thats the final point investors need to bear in mind: They must be ready for expensive and time-consuming litigation to protect the value of their transactions. Prime Minister Narendra Modis government claims--with some justification--to have made Indias bureaucratic labyrinth easier for global firms to navigate. Once they do enter, however, contract enforcement can be a whole different story.
Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday said that the Government is aware of the fact that without ensuring safety, security and welfare of the working class, the fruition of the concept of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat which is the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cannot be imagined.

His remarks came while addressing a first of its kind unique initiative where the Union Minister interacted with national level office-bearers of Unorganized Workers' Unions and Associations on the problems and issues of unorganized workers over video conference.

During the interaction, Yadav stated that the Government has been working relentlessly and sincerely for the welfare and upliftment of unorganised workers in particular and for the working class in general.

The Minister particularly thanked all the Trade Union leaders for their wholehearted cooperation for motivating and mobilising the workers to register in the E-shram portal and said that it has already turned into a public movement with full jan-bhagidari. The Minister informed that in just over 200 days nearly 23croreunorganised workers have already registered themselves.

Acknowledging the problems faced by workers employed in the brick kiln, forestry, plantations etc. in getting themselves registered on the E-shram portal, the Minister said that special camps will be organized for them.

The Government has undertaken several social security schemes for the unorganized workers. Besides, the all survey of Domestic and Migrant workers is also undertaken with full earnestness and soon the Government will take meaningful and constructive action on the report, keeping in view the aspect of social security and welfare of the working class.", further stated Shri Yadav.

The Union Minister also highlighted that more than 400 occupations and sub occupations comprise the unorganized sector. He also stated that it is the endeavour of the Government to implement the proviso of ESIC all over the country. After a survey of migrant and domestic workers, the data shall be linked to E-shram portal. The NCS portal shall also be linked to eShram.

The Minister informed that In view of the resurgence of COVID-19 and subsequent imposition of certain restrictions by State Governments, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has reactivated the 21 Monitoring Centres from 5th January 2022 in order "to mitigate the problems of migrant workers through coordination with various state governments" under the Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) across the country.

Yadav further stated that once the pandemic situation is eased, he and his colleague, Rameshwar Teli, Minister of State would travel extensively, interact with the working class and the labour union members and take their views on the implementation of various welfare and social security measures.

The representatives of construction workers, domestic workers, textile workers, municipal workers, transport workers, street vendors, brick-kiln workers and railway malgodam workers participated in the meeting.

The Unorganised Workers' representatives appreciated the Ministry's initiative of eShram Portal and stated that not only this has given identity but also dignity to the workers and will help in alleviating the sufferings of the unorganized workers. The Trade Union leaders put forth their problems and issues very candidly.

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president will contest the assembly polls from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district, the party's national spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said Thursday.

Akhilesh, who is an MP from Azamgarh seat, had on Wednesday said he would decide on contesting the polls after talking to the people of his constituency.

"The party president will contest from Karhal seat of Mainpuri," Ashutosh Verma told PTI on Thursday.

SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav represents Mainpuri constituency in parliament.

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Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and senior leader on Thursday slammed AAP, and the Congress parties ahead of Goa .

Fadnavis said, "We have always believed in a good and stable government. From Parrikar ji to Sawant ji, we can see the journey of Goa."

Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly slammed Congress party by saying that, "Congress has been a corrupt government and their interests in government has only been for corrupt 'raajneeti'."

"This fact is being witnessed as several leaders have deserted Congress," he added.

The leader also slammed the politics being played by Trinamool Congress in state. He said, " had formed an alliance in Goa in vain.....Goa has rejected their aggressive politics already. came with a suitcase to put forward their expansion plan. Goa leaders are not up for sale here."

The TMC-MGP are in alliance in Goa. Reportedly, a party cadre of MGP has been feeling very upset with the TMC alliance and called it's an uninspiring alliance.

Fadnavis also called Aam Aadmi Party as a "party of lies".

He said, " is a party of lies and that's why they will be rejected by Goans. AAP's false promises have been exposed even in Delhi."

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced 34 candidates for the upcoming Goa . Notably, Utpal Parrikar, son of late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's name is not on the list.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will contest from Sanquelim, while Deputy CM Manohar Ajgaonkar will contest from Margaon.

Goa will go to the assembly polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

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A day after former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his brother-in-law and former Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Pramod Gupta is set to join the in Lucknow on Thursday.

Gupta while talking to media persons at his residence in Auraiya said, "Today at noon I will join in presence of Laxmikant Bajpai."

He further alleged, "SP is giving shelter to mafias and criminals and there is no point in staying in such a party. Akhilesh has imprisoned Yadav. Netaji (Mulayam Singh) and Shivpal were tortured by Akhilesh."

Aparna Yadav had joined on Wednesday in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and BJP State president Swatantra Dev Singh.

Aparna is the wife of Yadav's younger son Pratik. They got married in 2011. For the forthcoming assembly elections, Aparna has sought a ticket from the Lucknow Cantt assembly seat, as per sources.

Notably, Aparna made her political debut in the 2017 assembly elections in the state by contesting from the Lucknow Cantt seat. However, she was defeated by BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who had secured nearly 63,000 votes.

Besides politics, Aparna runs an organisation named 'beware' for the welfare of women. She also runs a shelter for cows in Lucknow.

In the past as well, she has praised BJP's initiatives in the state and had also donated Rs 11 lakh for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

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If there is one vote bank that the Samajwadi Party can be completely sure of in the upcoming Assembly elections, it is the Yadavs.

The Yadav community that had partially shifted to the in 2017 Assembly polls and then again in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is now back with the Samajwadi Party.

The Yadavs are now placing their bets on because they feel that with the support of other non-Yadav backward castes, the Samajwadi Party is much better placed for elections.

"We were upset with the family split in the Samajwadi Party in 2017. The style of Akhilesh's leadership was not like that of Mulayam Singh and so a number of us felt that we should go with BJP," says Utkarsh Yadav, a software engineer from Firozabad.

However, Utkarsh admits that they were disillusioned with the and since the family ties have also been repaired, they are back with SP.

The main reason for Yadav's disillusionment with the is that the party and the government did not promote any Yadav leader.

"Tell me one Yadav leader who has been promoted by the BJP? They have promoted Maurya, Kurmi, Nishad, Saini, Gurjar but not Yadav. Why? If the BJP does not treat us well, we might as well return to our parent party," says Sushil Yadav, a businessman from Kanpur.

Sushil further says that SP can no longer be termed as a 'Yadav only' party.

"Akhilesh has broad-based the party's base. The state president, Naresh Uttam Patel, is a non-Yadav OBC. The 72-member committee has over 40 per cent OBCs, 10 Brahmins, 11 Muslims, more than six Dalits (including three former Bahujan Samaj Party leaders), five women and within this there is a balanced representation of all the regions of the state. The committee has only seven Yadavs," he says to prove his point.

"Moreover, with the recent influx of OBC leaders from the BJP, further proves that SP is now the rallying point for OBCs," he adds.

Responding to the allegation that the Samajwadi Party belongs to just one family, Dadda Yadav, a septuagenarian farmer in Etawah, defends the Yadav clan.

"What is wrong if Mulayam promoted his family? I have a small business and agricultural land and I have adjusted my four sons and three nephews in the business. Should I be blamed for this? Which family does not take care of its children?" he asks.

Yadavs are also apparently upset at the manner in which Mulayam and Akhilesh were targeted by the Yogi Adityanath government.

"Only the Yadav leaders were targeted and were made to vacate their government bungalows. Why was former MP Kusum Rai allowed to retain her bungalow which was allotted to a trust? Why was Fateh Bahadur Singh allowed to retain his bungalow that was allotted to his father's trust? Was it because they belong to the BJP?" asks a retired government officer who belongs to the Yadav community.

He adds, "If people are victimised because of their caste, there is bound to be a reaction from the community and that is what is happening now."

He further says that with Yadavs firmly supporting Akhilesh, the community will also help in bringing other small OBC caste groups into the SP fold.

Yadavs form the largest group, estimated to be about 14-15 per cent of the 42 per cent OBCs in .

After the Mandal agitation, the Yadav community rallied behind Mulayam Singh Yadav and then the Samajwadi Party.

In 2017 and 2019, about 26- 27 per cent of the Yadavs backed the BJP, according to Lokniti , a centre for the study of developing societies findings.

--IANS

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The employees of one of the world's largest life insurance companies, the of India (LIC), deserved a good wage revision based on their performance and they got it, said a top leader of All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA).

"Anybody can tell the bankers that LIC is on a sound financial footing as compared to public sector . In spite of the competition, LIC's management expense ratio is by far the lowest in the industry. So, the LIC employees deserves a good pay package," Shreekant Mishra, General Secretary, All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), told IANS.

The AIIEA is a major union in LIC and also has a decent presence in the government-owned general insurance companies.

Mishra was responding to comments made by the General Secretary of All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), S. Nagarajan, that LIC employees got favourable treatment so that the Central government can dilute a small portion of its stake in LIC through an initial public offer (IPO).

The bankers seem to suffer from heartburn or indigestion with the wage revision agreement signed by the unions in the LIC and the management, Mishra.

These include a hike in Dearness Allowance and a five-day working week for LIC's 1,35,000 employees, compared to the rest of the industry that is saddled with lower DA and alternate Saturdays offs.

In the last wage revision (April 2021), the LIC staffers were given a 0.08 per cent hike for every 4-point rise in DA calculation, although the banking industry is getting 0.07 per cent for every 4-point rise.

"This move by the Centre has created an imbalance in the entire banking and insurance sector with the LIC staffers being given a favourable treatment, ostensibly to rush through the LIC IPO without much objections from its employees," Nagarajan had said.

Continuing further Mishra said: "It is true there is heartburn in the banking industry as regards the wage settlement signed in the LIC. But this is not the way to express that."

The AIIEA has always maintained that wage revision of LIC employees should be based on the growth and prosperity of the institution. The growth of LIC has been phenomenal, Mishra said.

"LIC's claims settlement records is by far the best in the industry. Per capita policy servicing by LIC employees is one of the highest in the world. Naturally, LIC employees deserved a good wage revision and they got it," he added.

According to Mishra, it is because of the uncompromising struggle of the AIIEA, backed by the policyholders and the people at large, that the privatisation of LIC has been stalled for three long decades. There is no parallel in the world where a trade union stalled a government policy for almost 27/28 years.

"The fact that changes to the LIC Act were made a part of the Bill and no Bill was moved to amend the LIC Act speaks volumes about our campaign," Mishra said.

The AIIEA has called upon the employees to draw inspiration from their three-decade long struggle and intensify the agitation.

"Our units are in the midst of a campaign. We are in touch with other unions to expand unity against the IPO. We are planning to go for an industrial action on the day LIC IPO opens for subscription, to register our protest and forcefully display our determination to resist the government's policy on LIC," Mishra concluded.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)

--IANS

vj/arm

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A powerful blast on Thursday ripped through a crowded market where Indian commodities are sold in Pakistan's cultural capital here, killing at least three persons and wounding 25 others, police said.

Lahore police spokesperson Rana Arif confirmed the death of three persons in the blast that shattered windows of nearby shops and buildings, Dawn newspaper reported.

According to police, the blast took place near the Paan Mandi in the famous Anarkali market, where Indian commodities are sold.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.

Lahore Deputy Commissioner Umer Sher Chattha said that the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle which was parked outside a bank in the area.

Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the blast and urged authorities to provide the best medical facilities to the injured. He also sought a report from the Punjab government.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed the inspector general of police to submit a report on the incident. He also directed officials to provide the injured with the best possible medical facilities.

"This incident is aimed at sabotaging the atmosphere of law and order. Those responsible for the blast will not be able to escape the clutches of the law," he said.

"We are ascertaining the nature of the blast," Deputy Inspector General Police Operation Dr Mohammad Abid told reporters at the site of the blast near Lahore's historic Walled City.

"The crater at the blast site indicated the possibility of a time device. However, at this stage we can't confirm this," he said.

The Counter Terrorism Department and Bomb Disposal Squad officials are examining the nature of the blast, he said.

Over 25 people have been injured in the blast and shifted to hospitals.

According to the Rescue 1122, the injured have been shifted to the Mayo Hospital where two succumbed to their injuries.

Mayo Hospital medical superintendent Dr Iftikhar said that two persons including a boy succumbed to their wounds. He said the condition of four injured brought to the hospital is critical.

A good number of motorcycles and vendors' stalls were also damaged in the blast.

Police have cordoned off the area. The whole Anarkali Bazaar is shut after the blast.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Political Communication Shahbaz Gill said that the enemy takes such steps to spread chaos and uncertainty in an effort to damage the economy.

Punjab's former chief minister and opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said that an incident of terrorism in Lahore, following one in Islamabad was not a good omen for the country.

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of precious lives in a blast in Lahore's historical and lively area of Anarkali," he tweeted.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that a blast in an area like Anarkali was incredibly sad and disturbing.

(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.)
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday urged reforms that would give permanent representation there, saying such changes would prevent aggression against .

Museveni spoke at a meeting attended by high-ranking officials representing 10 of the African Union's 55 members. The meeting is the latest in a series focusing on changes at the Security Council that would favour the African continent of 1.3 billion people. A previous meeting called for at least two permanent seats with veto powers and two non-permanent ones.

The U.N. Security Council should have been and must be reformed, Museveni said. This is not a favour by anybody but a right of all peoples that inhabit the planet Earth.

The matter of reforming the 15-member council has provoked debate for decades. Its five permanent members reflect the power structure at the end of World War II: the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain.

The council's 10 other seats rotate among members who serve two-year terms. Gabon, Kenya and Ghana are among the council's current 15 non-permanent members.

But African leaders have long asserted the continent's right to stronger representation on the council.

Museveni called the current system unfair, adding that must have a permanent seat to ensure that it is not used negatively against Africa and that it is, instead, used positively for Africa and the rest of the world.

The Ugandan president said reforms would stop what he described as mistakes such as the removal from power of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, who ruled for nearly 42 years before he was ousted by an uprising in 2011. He was captured and killed two months later.

While there is widespread support for revamping the Security Council to reflect current global realities, efforts have been mired in national and regional rivalries.

In 2005, deep divisions forced the General Assembly to shelve three rival resolutions on expansion. One sought permanent seats without veto power for Germany, Japan, Brazil and India on a 25-member council.

A group of middle-ranking countries including Italy and Pakistan wanted a 25-member council with 10 new non-permanent seats. And the African Union wanted a 26-member council with six additional permanent seats, including two for Africa with veto power, and five non-permanent 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.)
An aid flight from New Zealand carrying humanitarian supplies arrived in Tonga on Thursday, five days after the South Pacific island nation was hit by a volcanic eruption and that devastated communities and spoiled most of its drinking water.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules had landed in Tonga's Fua'amotu International Airport, a defence spokesperson said, after a blanket of volcanic ash was finally cleared off the runway.

An Australian Globemaster military transport aircraft is also due to arrive. "The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment," New Zealand's foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, said in a statement.

Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said its aircraft was loaded with supplies including water desalination equipment, shelter, kitchens, and a sweeper to help remove ash from the airport. A second Australian aircraft is due to make the flight on Thursday.

The delivery of the supplies is expected to be contactless to ensure Tonga remains free of the . The explosion of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano on Saturday killed at least three people, sent waves rolling across the archipelago, damaging villages, resorts and many buildings and knocked out communications for the nation of about 105,000 people.

Rachael Moore, Australia's high commissioner to Tonga, said the loss of property had been "catastrophic". "Along the western beaches there is a moonscape where once beautiful resorts and many, many homes stood," Moore told Australian radio, adding that drinking water was "an extremely high priority".

Telephone links between Tonga and the outside world were reconnected late on Wednesday, though restoring full internet services was likely to take a month or more, according to the owner of the archipelago's sole subsea communications cable.

Speaking to Reuters from the capital, Nuku'alofa, journalist Marian Kupu said Tongans were cleaning up all the dust from the volcanic eruption but feared they may run out of drinking water.

"Each home has their own tanks of water supply but most of them are filled with dust so it's not safe for drinking," Kupu said.

She also said villages on the western side of Tonga were very badly hit. "I won't say we are expecting more deaths but as we are speaking the government is trying to fly to the other islands to check over them."

Asked if there were enough food supplies, she said: "I can say maybe we can survive for the next few weeks but I'm not sure about water."

'SIGH OF RELIEF'

New Zealand is sending two ships, one of which is carrying 250,000 litres of water and desalination equipment that will be able to produce 70,000 litres a day. This ship is due to arrive on Friday, while the other is due in on Thursday and will check shipping channels and wharf approaches at Tonga's port.

An Australian ship is due to set sail on Friday. Tongans abroad were frantically calling families back home to ensure they are safe.

"There's a sigh of relief as we are able to communicate with our loved-ones," said John Pulu, an Auckland-based Tongan television and radio personality.

"We are breathing and sleeping a little better." The United Nations said that about 84,000 people a more than 80% of the population - has been badly affected by the disaster.

"They have been affected through loss of houses, loss of communication, what we understand is the issue with the water," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

The most pressing humanitarian needs are safe water, food and non-food items, he said. "Water is really the biggest life-saving issue." The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted about 40 miles (65 km) from the Tongan capital with a blast heard 2,300 km (1,400 miles) away in New Zealand.

Waves reaching up to 15 metres (49 feet) hit the outer Ha'apai island group, destroying all the houses on the island of Mango, as well as the west coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, where 56 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged, the prime minister's office said.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon and Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool, Michael Perry and Richard Pullin)

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Elaine Sanchez explores the new MHS GENESIS Patient Portal at Brooke Army Medical Center, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Oct. 6. The San Antonio Market will transition to the new electronic health record system  known as MHS GENESIS  this month. MHS GENESIS began in 2017 and is now in more than half of all military hospitals and clinics.
U.S. President predicted on Wednesday that will make a move on Ukraine, saying would pay dearly for a full-scale invasion but suggesting there could be a lower cost for a "minor incursion." Biden's comments at a White House news conference injected uncertainty into how the West would respond should Russian President Vladimir Putin order an invasion of Ukraine, prompting the White House later to seek to clarify what Biden meant.

"My guess is he will move in," Biden said of Putin at a news conference. "He has to do something."

" will be held accountable if it invades - and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera," Biden said. "But if they actually do what they're capable of doing ... it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade ." Russian officials have repeatedly denied planning to invade, but the Kremlin has massed some 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders, a buildup the West says is preparation for a war to prevent from ever joining the NATO Western security alliance.

Shortly after the nearly two-hour news conference ended, the White House stressed any Russian military move into would elicit a tough response.

"If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

But cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics by Russia "will be met with "a decisive, reciprocal, and united response," she said.

The U.S. State Department has cleared Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send U.S.-made missiles and other weapons to Ukraine, three sources familiar with the decision said.

The third-party transfer agreements will allow Estonia to transfer Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, while Lithuania will be permitted to send Stinger missiles, said one of the sources.

Republicans expressed concern about Biden's remarks.

"Any incursion by the Russian military into Ukraine should be viewed as a major incursion because it will destabilize Ukraine and freedom-loving countries in Eastern Europe," said Republican Senator Rob Portman.

SUMMIT 'A POSSIBILITY'

Biden said a third summit with Putin "is still a possibility" after the two leaders met twice last year. He said he was concerned that a Ukraine conflict could have broader implications and "could get out of hand." Speaking to reporters at length about the crisis threatening to engulf his presidency, Biden said he believed Putin would test Western leaders. The response to any Russian invasion, he said, would depend on the scale of Moscow's actions and whether U.S. allies squabbled over how to react.

Biden and his team have prepared a broad set of sanctions and other economic penalties to impose on Russia in the event of an invasion and the U.S. president said Russian companies could lose the ability to use the U.S. dollar.

Pressed on what he meant by a "minor incursion," Biden said NATO allies are not united on how to respond depending on what exactly Putin does, saying "there are differences" among them and that he was trying to make sure that "everybody's on the same page."

"Big nations can't bluff, number one. Number two, the idea that we would do anything to split NATO ... would be a big mistake. So the question is, if it's something significantly short of a significant invasion or ... just major military forces coming across. For example, it's one thing to determine if they continue to use cyber efforts; well, we can respond the same way," Biden said.

Biden said Putin had asked him for guarantees on two issues: that Ukraine would never join NATO and that "strategic" or nuclear weapons never be stationed on Ukrainian soil.

U.S. officials see limiting NATO expansion as a non-starter, but Biden noted there was little chance of Ukraine joining the alliance soon and he suggested there could be a deal under which the West might not station nuclear forces in Ukraine.

"We can work out something on the second piece," depending on Russia's own posture, Biden said.

Visiting Kyiv in a show of support, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia could launch a new attack on Ukraine at "very short notice" but Washington would pursue diplomacy as long as it could, even though it was unsure what Moscow really wanted.

The Kremlin said tension around Ukraine was increasing and it still awaited a written U.S. response to its sweeping demands for security guarantees from the West, including a halt to further NATO expansion and a withdrawal of alliance forces from central and eastern European nations that joined it after 1997.

The pessimistic statements highlighted the U.S.-Russian gulf ahead of talks between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday that one Russian foreign policy analyst called "probably the last stop before the train wreck." Russia has also moved troops to Belarus for what it calls joint military exercises, giving it the option of attacking neighboring Ukraine from the north, east and south.

Eight years ago it seized Crimea and backed separatist forces who took control of large parts of eastern Ukraine, but it has consistently denied any intention of invading now.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine, military maneuvers and NATO aircraft flights were to blame for rising tensions around Ukraine.

(Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Steve Holland in Washington and Simon Lewis in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Matthias Williams, Pavel Polityuk and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv, Tom Balmforth and Dmitry Antonov in Moscow, Benoit van Overstraeten, Myriam Rivet and Tangi Salan in Paris, Susan Heavey, Daphne Psaledakis, Tim Ahmann, Trevor Hunnicutt, Andrea Shalal and Heather Timmons in Washington; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Howard Goller)

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A third dose of Covid-19 vaccine increases the level of antibodies that can effectively neutralise the Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to a study published in The Lancet journal.



Researchers from Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UK, found that antibodies generated in people who had received only two doses of either the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer vaccine were less able to neutralise Omicron as compared to Alpha and Delta variants.

They also found that antibody levels dropped off in the first three months following the second dose but a third booster' dose raised levels of antibodies that effectively neutralise the Omicron variant.

The study found that in people who had received the Pfizer vaccine for all three doses, antibody levels against Omicron after a third dose were similar to those previously reached against Delta after only two shots.

Overall, antibody levels were nearly 2.5 times higher against Omicron after three doses compared to after two jabs, according to the researchers.

Higher levels of antibodies against Omicron were also found in people who received two doses of either vaccine and also reported previously having Covid-19 symptoms, compared to those who didn't have disease symptoms in past.

While levels of antibodies alone do not predict vaccine effectiveness, they are a very good indicator of protection against severe Covid, the researchers noted.

The study confirms that three doses of Covid-19 vaccine are essential to boost antibodies to quantifiable levels and maximise the amount of protection against severe disease and hospitalisation.

"People who have queued outside vaccinations centres should be reassured that a vaccine booster is the best way of protecting them from Omicron," said Emma Wall, an infectious diseases consultant at UCLH Biomedical Research Centre of NIHR.

"And for people who haven't yet had a booster or even a first dose, it's not too late," Emma said in a statement.

The researchers analysed 620 blood samples from 364 people who enrolled in the study.

They tested the ability of antibodies to block entry of the virus into cells, so called 'neutralising antibodies', against different variants of SARS-CoV-2, including Omicron.

The researchers also included synthetic neutralising antibodies that are currently in use for Covid-19 treatment to test if they have neutralising activity against variants of SARS-CoV-2.

The team found that Xevudy (sotrovimab), a recently-approved synthetic monoclonal antibody used to prevent and treat patients at risk of developing severe Covid-19, was able to neutralise the Omicron variant.

"We have really important early data to suggest that at least some versions of synthetic antibodies that we currently use to treat certain patients, are likely to be effective against this new variant," Bryan Williams, UCLH Director of Research, added.

David LV Bauer, from Francis Crick Institute, said while Omicron has considerably more mutations than other recent variants, such as Alpha and Delta, the study shows that the boosters push the immune system to make a broad response capable of tackling it.

"This new variant can overcome the immune blockade put in place by two vaccine doses, but thankfully following the third dose, neutralising activity is robust in the vast majority of people," Wall said.

"A third dose builds our defences higher, making it harder for the virus to cause severe COVID-19," she explained.

Goldman, Citi ask London staff to return to office Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are among the firms asking London staff to return to their desks, as finance firms start to push workers to return after the U.K. dropped its work-from-home guidance. Goldman employees are being asked to return in line with the governments announcement. (Bloomberg) Over 100 countries to get cheaper Merck Covid pill Generic drug manufacturers will make a more affordable version of Merck's anti-Covid pill for 105 poor nations, a UN-backed group said. The global Medicines Patent Pool signed agreements with 27 manufacturers to produce the oral antiviral medicine molnupiravir, for supply in low- and-middle-income countries (AFP) Thailand loosens entry restrictions as Covid cases ease Thailand will ease entry requirements for vaccinated visitors from all countries next month as concerns about omicron of the decline, officials said.The country's tourism-dominated was devastated by travel curbs imposed in 2020 to fight the spread of Covid-19. (AP)

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lowered mortgage lending benchmark rates on Thursday as monetary authorities step up efforts to prop up the slowing economy, after data earlier in the week pointed to a darkening outlook for the country's troubled property sector.

The cut to the one-year and five-year loan prime rates (LPR) followed surprise cuts by China's central bank on Monday to its short- and medium-term lending rates, and came days after the central bank's vice governor flagged more moves ahead.

With the property sector's downturn seen persisting into 2022 and the fast-spreading Omicron variant dampening consumer activity, many analysts say those easing measures will be necessary, even as other major economies, including the United States, appear set to tighten monetary policy this year.

December economic data showed further weakening in consumption and the property sector, both major growth drivers. At a monthly fixing on Thursday, lowered its one-year loan prime rate (LPR) by 10 basis points to 3.70% from 3.80%. The five-year LPR was reduced by 5 basis points to 4.60% from 4.65%, its first cut since April 2020.





China's central bank "should hurry up, make our operations forward-looking, move ahead of the market curve, and respond to the general concerns of the market in a timely manner," People's Bank of Vice Governor Liu Guoqiang said on Tuesday, heightening market expectations for more stimulus.

All 43 participants in a snap Reuters poll had predicted a cut to the one-year LPR for a second straight month. Among them, 40 respondents also forecast a reduction in the five-year rate.

The cut to the 5-year rate suggested that "the Chinese authorities are keen to lower the cost of credit lending, so total credit growth is expected to rebound after the Spring Festival to ease the pressure on macro economy," said Marco Sun, chief financial analyst at MUFG.

"China's monetary policy still has some room for easing in the first half of this year, depending on the policy transmission effect and the growth target set by annual parliamentary meeting in March."

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reported the first imports of Iranian crude oil in a year despite ongoing sanctions by the United States government, according to data released by customs on Thursday.

brought in 260,312 tonnes of Iranian crude oil in December, according to data from the General Administration of Chinese Customs, which last recorded Iranian oil inflows in December 2020 at 520,000 tonnes.

It was not immediately clear which company brought in the latest cargo, which is equal to the amount of oil that would fit onto one very large crude carrier (VLCC) tanker, and which terminal it was discharged into.

Unofficially, China's imports of Iranian oil had held above 500,000 barrels per day on average between August and October, as buyers judged that getting crude at cheap prices outweighed the risks of busting U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported in November.

To avoid the sanctions, Iranian crude has been exported to marked as oil from Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, squeezing out supplies from Brazil and West Africa, traders have said.

Imports from have accounted for about 6% of China's crude oil imports, according to shipping data and trader estimates.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Muyu Xu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christian Schmollinger)

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critics on Wednesday called on the world's largest social network to release a impact assessment it commissioned in 2020 to investigate on its platforms in India.

The company, which is now called Meta, faces increasing scrutiny over its handling of abuses on its services, particularly after whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents showing its struggles monitoring problematic content in countries where it was most likely to cause harm.

In a letter sent to the company this month and made public Wednesday, rights groups, including Amnesty International, Watch and India Civil Watch urged to release the report.

Gare Smith, partner and chair of global business and practice at the U.S. law firm Foley Hoag, which commissioned to carry out the assessment, said: "Such projects are complex, particularly in a country as diverse and large as India."

Meta's director of human rights policy Miranda Sissons said in a statement: "Given the complexity of this work, we want these assessments to be thorough. We will report annually on how we're addressing human rights impacts, in line with our Human Rights Policy."

In November, rights groups told the Wall Street Journal that the company had narrowed the draft report's scope and was delaying the process.

A Meta spokesperson did not address Reuters questions about these allegations or the timeline of the review. Foley Hoag's Smith said the firm had "taken numerous steps to ensure the assessment is completed fairly and independently."

Rights groups have for years raised alarms about online and misinformation stoking tensions in India, the company's largest market by number of users.

"As a result of the consistent and continuous barrage of hate on social media, particularly on Facebook, Indian Muslims have been practically dehumanized and rendered helpless and voiceless," said Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, a former Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission, speaking at a press briefing organized by a group of Facebook critics known as the Real Facebook Oversight Board.

Reuters' previous reporting on Myanmar and other countries has investigated how Facebook has struggled to monitor content across the world in different languages.

The company said last week it would "assess the feasibility" of commissioning an independent human rights assessment into its work in Ethiopia, after its oversight board recommended a review of how its platforms have been used to spread content that heightens the risk of violence there.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Anna Driver and Aurora Ellis)

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The first flight carrying fresh water and other aid to Tonga was finally able to leave on Thursday after the Pacific nation's main airport runway was cleared of ash left by a huge volcanic eruption.

A C-130 Hercules military transport plane left New Zealand carrying water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene supplies and communications equipment, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said.

Australia was also preparing to send two C-17 Globemaster transport planes with humanitarian supplies. The flights were all due to arrive in Tonga on Thursday afternoon.

The deliveries will be done with no contact because Tonga is desperate to make sure foreigners don't bring in the coronavirus. It has not had any outbreaks of COVID-19 and has reported just a single case since the pandemic began.

"The aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand," Defense Minister Peeni Henare said.

UN humanitarian officials report that about 84,000 people more than 80 per cent of Tonga's population have been impacted by the volcano's eruption, U.N. spokesman Stphane Dujarric said, pointing to three deaths, injuries, loss of homes and polluted water.

Communications with Tonga remain limited after Saturday's eruption and appeared to have broken the single fiber-optic cable that connects Tonga with the rest of the world. That means most people haven't been able to use the internet or make phone calls abroad, although some local phone networks are still working.

A navy patrol ship from New Zealand is also expected to arrive later Thursday. It is carrying hydrographic equipment and divers, and also has a helicopter to assist with delivering supplies.

Officials said the ship's first task would be to check shipping channels and the structural integrity of the wharf in the capital, Nuku'alofa, following the eruption and .

Another New Zealand navy ship carrying 250,000 litres of water is on its way. The ship can also produce tens of thousands of litres of fresh water each day using a desalination plant.

Three of Tonga's smaller islands suffered serious damage from waves, officials and the Red Cross said.

The U.N.'s Dujarric said "all houses have apparently been destroyed on the island of Mango and only two houses remain on Fonoifua island, with extensive damage reported on Nomuka". He said evacuations are underway for people from the islands.

According to Tongan census figures, Mango is home to 36 people, Fonoifua is home to 69 people, and Nomuka to 239. The majority of Tongans live on the main island of Tongatapu, where about 50 homes were destroyed.

Dujarric said the most pressing humanitarian needs are safe water, food and non-food items, and top priorities are reestablishing communication services including for calls and the internet.

Tonga has so far avoided the widespread devastation that many initially feared.

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By David Shepardson, Tim Hepher and Jamie Freed

(Reuters) -Disruption to U.S.-bound air travel caused by the rollout of 5G services in the United States eased on Wednesday as authorities approved more flights, but a top airline warned "irresponsible" regulatory confusion would be felt internationally for days.

Airlines and telecom companies have been at loggerheads over the deployment of 5G mobile services over concerns that the powerful signals could interfere with airplane systems.

Carriers across Asia, the Middle East and Europe cancelled flights to the United States or switched planes at the last minute on Tuesday and Wednesday, disrupting travel for thousands of passengers, over safety concerns caused by the 5G deployment.

But Japanese carriers said late on Wednesday they would restore cancelled flights and U.S. airlines said thousands of planes were operating normally after two telecom carriers agreed to delay the rollout at key airports.

The decision late on Tuesday by AT&T and Verizon Communications to delay switching on new telecom masts near key airports, just hours ahead of a wider U.S. rollout, came too late to avoid a ripple of cancellations.

Much of the initial disruption hit the Boeing 777, for decades a workhorse of long-distance air travel.

Dubai's Emirates, the world's largest passenger carrier and the largest 777 operator, hit out at "mixed messages" as it suspended nine U.S. destinations.

The airline's longstanding president Tim Clark told CNN it had not been aware of the extent of the safety concerns until Tuesday and let rip at what he called it "one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible" episodes in his career.

Some 32,000 Emirates passengers over the next three days "will be completely inconvenienced as a result of flight cancellations," Clark said, adding the message about safety risks had "got through at a very, very late stage".

United Airlines, by contrast, said it was forecasting only "minor disruptions" due to remaining 5G restrictions.

carriers are particularly exposed because of the lead time needed to prepare flights and pre-position crews ready to fly intercontinental jets home, experts said.

"The last-minute postponement happened too late to stop the crews being sent out for today's (return) flight. It just made it a nightmare," said a pilot with a major European airline.

Shares in European long-haul carriers fell by 3-4%, underperforming slightly weaker shares in U.S. airlines.

INTERFERENCE

U.S. airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have warned that the 5G frequencies and transmission strength being deployed in the United States could interfere with radio altimeter readings needed for bad-weather landings on some jets.

Radio altimeters must give clear data on the height above the ground on approach to help with automated landings and also verify that a jet has landed before allowing reverse thrust.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he had "pushed as hard I can to have the 5G folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines until they could more modernize over the years -- so 5G would not interfere with the potential of a landing".

Boeing said it was working with all parties on a "data-driven solution for the long-term".

Its 777 was last year the second-most used widebody plane on flights to and from U.S. airports with around 210,000 flights, behind the older 767, according to data from FlightRadar24.

European regulators say no risks have been found elsewhere.

The Federal Aviation Administration is frantically reviewing guidance on which airports and planes are affected.

On Wednesday, it said it had issued new approvals allowing some 62% of U.S. commercial airplanes to perform low-visibility landings at airports where 5G is deployed, up from 45% cleared previously.

Analysts said a slump in long-haul flying caused by pandemic border restrictions would limit the immediate airline impact.

"It's the off season, so in January or February airlines will be losing money and that's not counting the impact of the pandemic. At the moment they are fighting for survival," said James Halstead, managing partner at UK-based Aviation Strategy.

"Where it might hurt is that some airlines are using the same long-haul aircraft to carry freight," he added.

Airlines reporting cancellations or model switches earlier included Germany's Lufthansa, Korean Air Lines, Singapore Airlines and British Airways - all long-haul carriers with major freight operations.

(Additional reporting by Ed Copley and Josephine Mason in London, Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Alexander Cornwell in Dubai, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Lilian Wagdy and Moataz Mohamed in Cairo, Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru, Duncan Miriri in NairoboiEditing by Mark Potter, Bernard Orr and Richard Pullin)

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With his country holding the presidency this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday said the world needs more resilient health infrastructure to face future threats and the block of 20 leading economies has an important role to play in the development of resources to meet this goal.

In a special address at the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda 2022 summit, he called on the IMF to mobilise global health resources with support from advanced economies and the .

He also said is prioritising the transition to sustainable energy, but developing countries need finance and technology from developed nations to make it happen.

"The G20 and advanced economies must work together to create a more resilient and responsive global health architecture to face future threats and pandemics," Widodo said.

He said the Monetary Fund (IMF) should be tasked to mobilise resources to revitalise global health architecture.

This should include a global contingency fund for medical supplies, building capacity in developing countries to manufacture vaccines and the creation of global health protocols and standards.

"The costs will be much lower than the losses we sustained due to the vulnerability of the system during the pandemic," the president noted.

In a discussion with Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Widodo highlighted that G20 will play an important role in mobilising the development of this global health architecture.

"I trust that advanced economies will not object to supporting such initiatives," Widodo observed.

He invited all global business leaders to contribute their ideas to the G20's three key goals for 2022 -- creating a more resilient global health system; optimising digital technology to support societal transformation; and driving a fair and affordable transition to clean energy and a circular .

"The benefits must be felt by wider society," he said.

The Indonesian president also said six of his country's sectors are wide open for foreign investment -- export-oriented labour-intensive industries like health, renewable energy, infrastructure, automotive (especially electric vehicles), tourism and value-added mining.

In response to a question on how -- a nation heavily dependent on coal-fired power -- could accelerate its own energy transition, Widodo said developing countries need technology transfer and financial support from advanced economies to ensure the transition does not burden their citizens.

needs USD 50 billion for its renewable power sector and a further USD 37 billion for forestry, land use and marine sectors.

"Concrete outcomes can only be achieved through strong cooperation. Technology and financing will be key," he said.

The president pointed out that as part of its roadmap to reach net-zero by 2060, had slashed the coverage area of forest fires sevenfold, from 1.7 million hectares in 2014 to 229,000 hectares in 2021.

He also said Indonesia has the potential to be a global market leader in carbon trading and is predicted to surpass the carbon trade potential of Peru, Kenya and Brazil -- countries with the same tropical forest cover.

His government also plans to raise capital by issuing environmental and social bonds, and through projects that reduce deforestation and promote sustainable forest management.

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India on Wednesday at the UN Security Council open debate on the Middle East, reiterated its firm and unwavering commitment to the peaceful resolution of the issue and supported a negotiated two-state solution.

Ambassador TS Tirumurti, Permanent Representative of India at UN supported a negotiated two-state solution leading to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of living within secure and recognized borders, side by side at peace with Israel.

"Resolution 2334 was adopted by this Council to reaffirm the community's firm commitment to preventing the erosion of the two-state solution," said Tirumurti.

Deeply concerned by recent developments in the West Bank and Gaza, the Indian ambassador said, "Unilateral measures unduly alter the status-quo on the ground, undercut the viability of the two-state solution and pose serious challenges to the resumption of peace talks."

He urged the community to send a strong signal against any step that would prevent the possibility of durable peace between Israel and .

"Encouraged by direct contacts between Israel and Palestine leadership, initiatives which are in the interest of both parties, help maintain stability and discourage possible recurrence of terror and violence," said Tirumurti.

He also stressed on the need for a clear roadmap for early resumption of direct negotiations on all final status issues.

"Absence of these direct talks on key political issues has asymmetrical costs for both Israelis and Palestinians and does not augur well for long-term peace in the region," said Tirumurti.

The Indian ambassador also expressed strong condemnation of the recent terror attack in Abu Dhabi, in which two Indians tragically lost their lives.

"Such an attack on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure is completely unacceptable. It is a blatant violation of law and against all civilized norms," said Tirumurti.

The two Indians and one Pakistani national were killed and at least six persons were injured on Monday as three petroleum tanker trucks blew up after catching fire near a major oil storage facility in the Mussafah area of the capital of UAE

Tirumurti further said that India stands in solidarity with UAE and extends its full support for an unequivocal condemnation of this terror attack by the Council.

(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.)
Two major Japanese said Wednesday they will restore to the after the deployment of mobile in the had prompted some foreign carriers to cancel numerous U.S. bound .

A decision by AT&T and Verizon Communications to delay switching on the powerful new telecom masts near key airports, following protests from about possible interference, came too late to avoid a ripple of cancellations on Wednesday.

Japan and All Nippon Airways said Wednesday they would resume Boeing 777 service to the on Thursday after announcing cancellations earlier based on guidance from Boeing.

Both airlines said they had been told by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) there is no safety issue after the reduced wireless deployment.

United Airlines said Wednesday it forecast only "minor disruptions at some airports due to the remaining restrictions" and praised the Biden administration's deal with AT&T and Verizon "to avoid mass cancellations across the aviation industry."

Airlines across Asia and several in the Middle East and Europe had said they were cancelling some or switching models, with much of the initial disruption hitting the Boeing 777, for decades a workhorse of long-distance air travel.

Dubai's Emirates, the largest user of the Boeing mini-jumbo, kicked off a slew of industry cancellations or aircraft changes late on Tuesday, saying it would suspend nine U.S. routes.

The airline's veteran president Tim Clark told CNN the carrier had not been aware of the extent of the problem until Tuesday and called it "one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible" episodes he had seen, a CNN reporter tweeted.

The disruption caps a weeks-long dispute between airlines and telecom companies over the speed of deployment of mobile services in the United States, mirrored by tensions between regulators of the economically sensitive industries.

U.S. airlines and the FAA have warned that the frequencies and transmission strength being deployed in the United States could interfere with the precise height readings needed for bad-weather landings on some jetliners.

European regulators say no risks have been found elsewhere.

The U.S. wireless carriers agreed on Tuesday to delay turning on 5G near key airports but are pressing ahead with the wider U.S. deployment on Wednesday of services designed to serve tens of millions of people.

Late on Tuesday, the FAA began updating guidance on which airports and aircraft models would be affected, in a move expected to dramatically lessen the impact of the nearly 1,500 notices of 5G restrictions previously issued by the regulator.

Even so, dozens of flights had to be cancelled or modified, pushing shares in European long-haul carriers down about 2%.

"The last-minute postponement happened too late to stop the crews being sent out for today's (return) flight. It just made it a nightmare," said a pilot with a major European airline.

OFF SEASON

Analysts said a slump in long-haul flying caused by pandemic border restrictions would limit the immediate impact, however.

"It's the off season, so in January or February airlines will be losing money and that's not counting the impact of the pandemic. At the moment they are fighting for survival," said James Halstead, managing partner at UK-based Aviation Strategy.

"Where it might hurt is that some airlines are using the same long-haul aircraft to carry freight," he added.

Korean Air Lines said it had switched planes on six U.S. passenger and cargo flights, Taiwan's China Airlines rescheduled some flights and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said it would change aircraft types if needed.

Radio altimeters give precise readings of the height above the ground on approach and help with automated landings, as well as verifying a jet has landed before allowing reverse thrust.

Boeing said it was working with all parties on a "data-driven solution for the long-term that ensures all commercial airplane models can operate safely as 5G is deployed."

The 777 last year was the second-most used widebody plane on flights to and from U.S. airports with around 210,000 flights, behind the older 767, according to data from FlightRadar24.

In other disruption, Germany's Lufthansa said it had cancelled one flight and was switching aircraft on .

Air India said its four U.S. flights would be curtailed or face changes in aircraft type starting from Wednesday.

Singapore Airlines said it had switched the aircraft used on select U.S. routes.

British Airways switched its daily flight to Los Angeles to an Airbus A380 from the usual Boeing 777 service and cancelled or modified other U.S. flights.

Cargo airlines AeroLogic and Polar diverted away from Cincinnati to Atlanta, according to web tracker FlightRadar24 which said Atlanta was not subject to 5G related restrictions.

Not all 777 flights have been hit. Emirates said it would keep flying the 777 to Washington, which is not so far affected.

Qatar Airways and Air France said U.S. routes were operating as scheduled and Israel's El Al and Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said their services had not been affected. Kenya Airways said it was taking precautions outlined by Boeing and the FAA.

(Additional reporting by Ed Copley and Josephine Mason in London, Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Alexander Cornwell in Dubai, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Lilian Wagdy and Moataz Mohamed in Cairo, Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru, Duncan Miriri in Nairoboi; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Richard Pullin, Mark Potter and Bernard Orr)

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Fort Hood, TX (76544)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 67F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Washington [US], January 20 (ANI): President said that he's not ready to lift tariffs that have been imposed on Chinese imports, despite calls from US businesses to relieve the duties.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai is "working on that right now," said Biden on Wednesday marking his first year in office. But "the answer is uncertain," he added.

"I'd like to be able to be in a position where I could say they're meeting their commitments -- more than their commitments -- and be able to lift some of it, but we're not there yet," Biden told during a news conference at the White House.

President Biden was referring to China's commitments under a Phase 1 trade deal signed by his predecessor Donald Trump. US businesses have long complained about the detrimental effects of punitive US tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by the Trump administration and some even stressed the need for a more comprehensive strategy for dealing with China.

China has fallen far short of its pledge under the two-year Phase 1 trade agreement to buy USD 200 billion in additional US goods and services during 2020 and 2021, and it remains unclear how the shortfall will be addressed. This leads to questions over how the Biden administration will hold China to commitments that have not been met, as well as tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports.

Like the Trump administration, the current US administration has also called out Chinese leaders and even businesses over abuses in Hong Kong and against ethnic Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

Last year witnessed China receiving a smaller share of foreign investments compared to previous years, a trend that started with former US President Trump's trade war with China.

Although his successor, campaigned on a promise to end the trade war saying the steep tariffs on Chinese imports are hurting US consumers, farmers and manufacturers, his administration is now continuing to enforce the so-called "phase one agreement" made by China with the Trump administration in early 2020.

Phase One among other things commits China to purchase an additional USD 200 billion of not only US agriculture, but also manufacturing, energy, and services exports, by the end of 2021. As of now, China is estimated to have purchased only slightly more than 60 per cent of the goods it promised.

The phase one agreement also commits China to make progress on enforcing intellectual property rights, removing non-tariff barriers to farm imports, and liberalising its financial services sector.

The US-China trade war is not the only factor having an impact on investments in China. Perceived human rights violations in Xinjiang, the erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy, China's zero COVID strategy, supply chain challenges, and rising costs are resulting in many global companies leaving China's shores.

(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 CEO of exchange crypto.com, a platform endorsed by famous Hollywood actor Matt Damon, has confirmed that hundreds of user accounts were hacked and their funds stolen.

CEO Kris Marszalek told the media that nearly 400 customer accounts had been compromised.

During the hack, Crypto.com paused its users' ability to withdraw funds.

"We have a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts. We will be pausing withdrawals shortly, as our team is investigating. All funds are safe," the company said in a tweet.

Marszalek also reiterated in a tweet that "no customer funds were lost."

Blockchain security and analytics company Peckshield, however, tweeted that Crypto.com lost about $15 million (around 4,600 ethereum).

"The @cryptocom loss is about $15M with at least 4.6K ETHs and half of them are currently being washed via @TornadoCash," Peckshield tweeted.

Tornado Cash is a platform that obscures transactions so that these are harder to be tracked.

Marszalek claimed that Crypto.com's 200 security professionals had created a "very robust" infrastructure and stated it had defence-in-depth.

Damon recently faced backlash for a Crypto.com commercial where he compares investing in crypto to great accomplishments achieved by mankind such as scaling Mount Everest or space exploration.

Earlier this month, reports surfaced that victims of a $200 million hack of popular cryptocurrency exchange BitMart were still waiting for their money even after over a month since the exchange was hacked.

According to reports, BitMart had promised a full reimbursement to the victims of the platform-wide $200 million hack.

Hackers stole various crypto tokens on December 4, after using a stolen privacy key to gain access to one of BitMart's hot wallets.

--IANS

na/svn/dpb

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Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau cancelled his visits to and Malta, as he contracted COVID-19, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina said.

"Due to receiving a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, Minister of Foreign Affairs @RauZbigniew has cancelled his visits to and Malta," Jasina wrote on Twitter.

"Minister Rau will be fulfilling his duties in accordance with procedures for this type of situation," the spokesman said.

Jasina said Rau had received three vaccine shots and felt well.

According to official statistics, since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of relevant deaths in has exceeded 100,000. The total number of COVID-19 cases has topped 4.2 million.

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President has flagged as a major achievement of his administration the US-led move to release 50 million barrels of oil from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower energy costs for Americans, a decision taken in coordination with other major economies like India and China.

In November last year, President Biden announced that the Department of Energy will make available releases of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower prices for Americans and address the mismatch between demand exiting the pandemic and supply.

"Now, with regard to the whole issue of energy prices, that gets a little more complicated. But you saw what happened when I was able to convince everyone from - including China, India - a number of other countries - to agree with us to go into their version of the - of their petroleum reserve to release more into the market so that - that brought down the price about 12, 15 cents a gallon in some places, some places more, Biden said on Wednesday during a press conference held at the White House to mark the first year of his presidency.

India had also announced on November 23 that it will release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its emergency stockpile in tandem with the US, China, Japan, and other major economies to cool oil prices.

This was the first time ever that India, which stores 5.33 million tonnes or about 38 million barrels of crude oil in underground caverns at three locations on the east and west coast, decided to release stocks for such purposes.

The move came after the US made an unusual request to some of the world's largest oil-consuming nations, including China, India and Japan, to consider releasing crude stockpiles in a coordinated effort to lower global energy prices.

"As a result of President Biden's leadership and our diplomatic efforts, this release will be taken in parallel with other major energy consuming nations including China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom, the White House had said at the time.

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US authorities have said that a businessman accused in the July 7 killing of Haitian President Jovenel Mose was extradited to face criminal charges in Miami after he was detained in the Dominican Republic.

"We can confirm Rodolphe Jaar is in US custody in the Southern District of Florida," said Nicole Navas, spokesperson at the Department of Justice, on Wednesday.

"He will be presented with criminal charges tomorrow at his initial appearance" at the federal court, she said in a written statement sent to The Associated Press.

Jaar, who was convicted of drug-trafficking charges a decade ago and once served as an informant for the U.S. government, was extradited from the Dominican Republic, where he was detained earlier this month.

Jaar is the second foreigner extradited to the United States to face charges related to the assassination of the Haitian president.

Earlier in January, US authorities arrested a former Colombian soldier, Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, after he fled from to Jamaica. A Jamaican judge ordered him deported to Colombia, but he was detained in Panama during a layover by US authorities who had been in touch with him while he was still in hiding.

The arrests come more than six months after the squad allegedly made up of former Colombian soldiers, Haitian police officers and others went to the president's residence to carry out his assassination. More than 40 people have been arrested in the case.

A criminal complaint and affidavit charging Jaar in the conspiracy case has not been unsealed.

Palacios was the the first person to be formally charged in Mose's assassination.

In a criminal complaint drafted by the FBI, he is charged of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and providing material support resulting in death, knowing that such support would be used to carry out a plot to kill the Haitian president.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Secretary of State met here on Wednesday to discuss the security situation around Ukraine, Zelensky's press service said.

In particular, the two sides exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement.

"We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," Zelensky said.

He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict-hit region of Donbas is observed and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week.

The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs US assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the United States would support Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Madrid.

After talks with Zelensky, Blinken said on Twitter that he had informed the Ukrainian president on the U.S. engagements with Russia last week and stressed that "there will be nothing about Ukraine, without ."

On January 10, the United States and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues.

Recently, Ukraine, the United States and some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with .

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014.

Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. Later this week, he will meet German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and visiting US Secretary of State discussed the security situation in and around Kiev during their meeting here.

According to Zelensky's press service, the two on Wednesday exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," the President said.

He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in the country's conflict-hit region of Donbas is in force and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week.

The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs US assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the Washington would support Kiev's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the NATO in Madrid.

After his talks with Zelensky, Blinken tweeted that he updated the Ukrainian President "on our engagements with Russia last week and stressed there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine".

"I applaud Ukraine's commitment to a peaceful resolution and urge Russia to pursue diplomacy as the only way forward," he added.

On January 10, the US and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues.

Recently, Ukraine, the USand some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with .

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014.

Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. He is scheduled to meet his German and Russian counterparts Annalena Baerbock and Sergei Lavrov, respectively, later this week.

--IANS

ksk/

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that talks with over its nuclear program are at a decisive moment, but warned that if a deal is not reached in the coming weeks then Washington and its allies may change tactics.

Speaking in Berlin after meeting senior diplomats from Germany, France and Britain, Blinken said that the longer fails to comply with the 2015 Vienna accord intended to rein in Tehran's nuclear program the closer it would get to being able to build an atomic weapon.

We are indeed at a decisive moment, Blinken told reporters, adding that he believed modest progress had been made during the ongoing round of talks in the Austrian capital.

But we are not where we need to be. And if we don't get there very soon, we will have to take a different course, he said.

The withdrew from the Vienna accord under President Donald Trump and reinstated economics sanctions on Tehran. responded by increasing the purity of uranium it enriches and its stockpiles, in breach of the accord.

President Joe Biden has signaled that he wants to rejoin the deal.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, whose country remains part of the accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action along with France, Britain, China and Russia, echoed Blinken's words.

Our objective is to maintain and to preserve the agreement and above all, to make Iran see sense and to ensure that Iran can no further increase its enrichment capacity," she said.

Baerbock indicated that European nations had sought to ensure China and Russia also maintain pressure on Tehran. Both countries have in recent days spoken of new trade and economic cooperation agreements with Iran, which some fear could undermine efforts to get Tehran to make concessions at the Vienna talks.

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The United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to begin talks on removing former President Donald Trump's import taxes on British steel and aluminum.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and UK Trade Minister Anne-Marie Tevelyan said they would be working toward a swift deal that ensures the viability of the steel and aluminum industries in both countries and also "strengthens their democratic alliance".

In 2018, Trump imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on foreign steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, calling them a threat to US national security a move that outraged the British, Europeans and other longstanding American allies.

Although President Joe Biden had criticized Trump for alienating allies, he was slow once taking office a year ago to undo the metals tariffs, popular in the politically important steel-producing states.

Last year, the Biden administration reached a deal with the European Union, agreeing to drop the tariffs on EU metals that come in below new import quotas and continuing to tax imports that exceed them. The EU dropped retaliatory tariffs on US products, including whiskey.

In a statement Wednesday, the UK Department for Trade said: "Our focus now is on reaching a speedy resolution that lifts these tariffs promptly and clears the way for our thriving trading relationship to grow."



US distillers are hoping the talks with Britain will lead to an end to the UK's remaining tariffs on American spirits. Chris Swonger, president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, called Wednesday's announcement "a very positive development".

Critics said all along that Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs did little to address the real problem confronting American producers of steel and aluminum: overproduction by China. But the United States already shuts out most Chinese steel. So the Trump tariffs dealt out punishment mostly to American allies.

In their joint statement on Wednesday, the US and the UK said they had discussed Chinese overproduction and promised to "hold countries that practice harmful market-distorting policies to account".

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Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights groups argued is vital for protecting democracy was blocked Wednesday by a Republican filibuster, a setback for President and his party after a raw, emotional debate.

Democrats were poised to immediately pivot to voting on a Senate rules change as a way to overcome the filibuster and approve the bill with a simple majority.

But the rules change was also headed toward defeat, as Biden has been unable to persuade two holdout senators in his own party, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to change the Senate procedures for this one bill.

"This is not just another routine day in the Senate, this is a moral moment," said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

The initial vote was 49-51, short of the 60 votes needed to advance over the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no for procedural reasons so Democrats can revisit the legislation.

The nighttime voting capped a day of piercing debate that carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed in lengthy speeches by opponents of civil rights legislation.

Voting rights advocates are warning that Republican-led states nationwide are passing laws making it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes.

Vice President Kamala Harris presided, able to cast a potentially tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 Senate.

Democrats decided to press ahead despite the potential for high-stakes defeat at a tumultuous time for Biden and his party. Biden is marking his first year in office with his priorities stalling out in the face of solid Republican opposition and the Democrats' inability to unite around their own goals. But the Democrats wanted to force senators on the record even their own party's holdouts to show voters where they stand.

"I haven't given up," Biden said earlier at a White House news conference.

Sinema and Manchin have withstood an onslaught of criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations, and they risk further political fallout as other groups and even their own colleagues threaten to yank campaign support.

Schumer contended the fight is not over and he ridiculed Republican claims that the new election laws in the states will not end up hurting voter access and turnout, comparing it to Donald Trump's "big lie" about the 2020 presidential election.

The Democrats' bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. It has passed the House.

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the legislation but are unwilling to change Senate rules. With a 50-50 split, Democrats have a narrow Senate majority Harris can break a tie but they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the GOP filibuster.

Instead, Schumer put forward a more specific rules change for a "talking filibuster" on this one bill. It would require senators to stand at their desks and exhaust the debate before holding a simple majority vote, rather than the current practice that simply allows senators to privately signal their objections.

But even that is expected to fail because Manchin and Sinema have said they are unwilling to change the rules on a party-line vote by Democrats alone.

Emotions were on display during the floor debate.

When Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky whether he would pause for a question, McConnell left the chamber, refusing to respond.

Durbin said he would have asked McConnell, "Does he really believe that there's no evidence of voter suppression?" The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said at one point, "I am not a racist."



McConnell, who led his party in doing away with the filibuster's 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees during Trump presidency, warned against changing the rules again.

He derided the "fake hysteria" from Democrats over the states' new voting laws and called the pending bill a federal takeover of election systems. He said doing away with filibuster rules would "break the Senate".

Manchin drew a roomful of senators for his own speech, upstaging the president's news conference and defending the filibuster. He said majority rule would only "add fuel to the fire" and it was "dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart".

Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus walked across the Capitol building for the proceedings. "We want this Senate to act today in a favourable way. But if it don't, we ain't giving up," said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest-ranking Black member of Congress.

Manchin did open the door to a more tailored package of voting law changes, including to the Electoral Count Act, which was tested during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. He said senators from both parties are working on that and it could draw Republican support.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said a bipartisan coalition should work on legislation to ensure voter access, particularly in far-flung areas and to shore up Americans' faith in democracy.

"We do not need a repeat of 2020 when by all accounts our last president, having lost the election, sought to change the results," said Murkowski.

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Yemen's rebels used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones in an attack on this week that killed three people and set off fires at a fuel depot and an airport, the Emirati ambassador to the said Wednesday.

The remarks by Ambassador Yousef Al-Otaiba marked an official acknowledgement that missiles and not just drones were used in Monday's attack, claimed by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Several attacks a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones targeted civilian sites in the United Arab Emirates, Al-Otaiba said.

Several were intercepted, a few of them didn't and three innocent civilians unfortunately lost their lives," he added in remarks at a virtual event hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

Al-Otaiba did not elaborate or respond to further questions from The Associated Press about how many missiles targeted the and how many were intercepted.

Monday's attack targeted an National Oil Co. fuel depot outside the city center of the Emirati capital, as well as an area of Airport still under construction.

The attack killed two Indian nationals and one Pakistani. Six people also were wounded at the oil and gas facility when a fire caused an explosion of fuel tankers. Police in Abu Dhabi said preliminary investigations suggested the possibility of drones sparking the fires.

The was part of the Saudi-led coalition that launched into war in Yemen in 2015. Although the has largely withdrawn its forces from the conflict, it is still heavily involved in the war and supports local militias on the ground in Yemen.

The Houthis have used bomb-laded drones and missiles to attack Saudi Arabia, the UAE and key oil targets in the Persian Gulf over the course of the war, now in its eighth year.

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Adani Enterprises on Thursays said the of Ltd (AWL) will open for subscription on January 27 and shall close on Jan 31.

Adani Enterprises said the issue comprises of fresh issue of new equity shares by for up to Rs 3,600 crore.

Those holding one or more share Adani Enterprises share in demat on January 19 will be considered eligible shareholder.





The company, which sells cooking oils under the Fortune brand, is a 50:50 joint venture company between Ahmedabad-based Adani Group and Singapore's Wilmar Group.

AWL, which is among the leading food FMCG companies in India with revenues of Rs 37,195 crore, plans to aggressively look at M&A (merger and acquisition) prospects in the foods space. The company may acquire a brand or a company engaged in foods, staples and value-added product categories.

Currently, six Adani group companies are listed on domestic bourses. Apart from Adani Enterprises, other listed ones are Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy, Adani Power, Adani Total Gas, and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.

Out of the proceeds, Rs 1,900 crore will be used for capital expenditure, Rs 1,100 crore will be used for the repayment of debt and Rs 500 crore in funding strategic acquisitions and investments, reported PTI on January 15.
Edible oil major will hit the capital market on January 27 to raise up to Rs 3,600 crore through an Initial Public Offer (IPO).

Adani Wilmar, which sells its cooking oils and some other food products under Fortuna brand, has cut the size of its initial share sale to Rs 3,600 crore from the Rs 4,500 crore planned earlier.

is a 50:50 joint venture between Adani group and Singapore-based Wilmar group.

The issue will be open for subscription by the public on January 27 and will close on January 31, Adani Enterprises said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

Adani Enterprises Ltd said the company has been informed that the red herring prospectus of was filed with the Registrar of Companies, Gujarat on January 19 and approved by the RoC on January 20.

The issue comprises fresh issue of new equity shares of face value of Rs 1 for an amount of up to Rs 3,600 crore, the filing said.

Adani Wilmar Ltd, which is having an annual revenue of Rs 37,195 crore, plans to aggressively look at M&A (Merger and Acquisition) prospects in the foods space.

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Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pruned their shareholding in almost two out of three stocks from the top 200 universe during the recently-concluded December quarter, an analysis of data provided by Capital Line shows.

Of the 144 companies that have disclosed their shareholding pattern, 86 have seen a fall on a quarter-on-quarter basis, 56 have seen an increase, while two have seen no change in FPI stake. The average decline has been 20 basis points.

Pharmaceutical company Ipca Laboratories saw the highest decrease at 608 basis points (bps), followed by private sector lender IndusInd Bank (346 bps) and non-life insurer ICICI Lombard (318 bps).

On the other hand, realty firm Macrotech Developers (Lodha) saw the highest increase of 654 bps, followed by plastic processing company Supreme Industries (578 bps) and public sector lender Canara Bank (305 bps).





The saw a huge drawdown in FPI flows during the three months ended December 31 of $5.1 billion. If inflows into the primary are excluded, sold $10.8 billion worth of stocks on the exchanges. The sharp outflows were partially offset by strong inflows from domestic institutional investors (DIIs).

As of December, both and DIIs were overweight (OW) energy, financials, real estate, and telecom, and underweight (UW) utilities. are overweight IT, discretionary and staples while DIIs are OW healthcare, industrials and materials, observed BofA Securities in a note.
Market experts on Thursday said the government should consider relieving traders of the Securities Transaction Tax on equity trade in the Union Budget, which will be presented by the finance minister on February 1.

The move is expected to boost the capital and encourage new investors to start trading, they added.

The government had introduced Securities Transaction Tax (STT) in 2004 on transactions in different types of securities. The rate presently varies from 0.025 per cent to 0.25 per cent depending upon the type of security traded and transaction -- whether sale or purchase.

"The investment industry will benefit if the Securities Transaction Tax is abolished, as both long-term capital gains (LTCG) and short-term capital gains (STCG) are in place," Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of True Beacon and Zerodha, said.

Nonetheless, if the government does not intervene with STT, it could look at removing the tax on long-term capital gains, he added.

Puneet Maheshwari, Director, Upstox, said the government may consider relieving traders of the STT. By doing so, new investors would be encouraged to start .

"There needs to be more participation in indexes or exchange-traded funds. By offering a lock-in and tax incentives on the lines of equity-linked tax savings schemes, the government can encourage long-term savings in Nifty or Sensex," he noted.

A greater allocation by the government-owned provident funds and pension funds into equity could also help, he added.

Kamath believes that there is a strong case for easing the listing norms in India while tightening penalties for violation of laws.

"While companies reach out to the government requesting a change to existing regulations, allowing unlisted Indian companies to list abroad, I believe it is the right time to work in-house," he said.

According to him, entry barriers for companies to get listed are high in India. However, once listed, the penalty for violations is minimal, making investors, especially retail, susceptible to a lot more risk.

"We should be looking at it the other way around to foster innovation while keeping a check on corporate governance," he added.

Kamath said bringing taxation of Category-III Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in line with Category-I and Category-II AIFs will be a shot in the arm for the budding hedge funds industry.

Rohit Sarin, co-founder of Client Associates, Private Wealth Management and India's first Multi Family Office (MFO) firm, said capital gains taxation should be simplified by having a uniform long-term and short-term capital gains structure across all categories of capital assets.

He further said capital gains taxation on unlisted equities and real estate should be brought at par with that of listed equities.

This would invite more investment capital into these growth asset classes which would then have an indirect impact on the growth of the economy, he added.

Last month, in its Budget proposals to the finance ministry, Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI) had said the government should look at waiving the commodity transaction tax to boost volumes.

CPAI urged the government to take a relook at commodity transaction tax (CTT) as it has yielded little revenue and destroyed national market volumes by 60 per cent.

(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.)
Shares of slumped 19 per cent to Rs 20.65 on the BSE in Thursdays intra-day trade after three independent directors of the non-banking finance company (NBFC) resigned from the board with immediate effect citing instances of alleged serious lapses in corporate governance and compliance.

Shares of PTC India, a parent company of PTC India Financial Services, dipped 7 per cent to Rs 104.50 on the BSE.

At 09:52 am; was down 13 per cent at Rs 22.35, as compared to 0.37 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volume at the counter nearly doubled with a combined around 16 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.

We are in receipt of resignations from three independent directors mentioning some reasons. The matter will be addressed at the board level and subsequent update will be communicated to all the stakeholders appropriately, PTC India Financial said in an exchange filing.

The company informed BSE on Wednesday after market hours that Kamlesh Shivji Vikamsey, Thomas Mathew T. and Santosh B. Nayar on account of reasons as mentioned by them in their resignation letters.
Mirroring the global sentiment, the NSE Nifty is likely to start trade on a negative note this morning. As of 08:00 AM, the SGX Nifty January futures quoted at 17,905 as against the spot Nifty 50 close of 17,938.

Meanwhile, here are the top for trade today.

Earnings Watch: Asian Paints, Agro Tech Foods, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Holdings, Banaras Beads, Beeyu Overseas, Biocon, Century Textiles, Container Corporation of India, Cyient, Datamatics Global Solutions, Doodla Dairy, Hatsun Agro Products, Havells India, Hindustan Unilever, Hi Tech Pipes, Khaitan Chemicals, Lyka Labs, Bank of Maharashtra, MphasiS, National Steel & Agro Industries, Persistent Systems, PNB Housing Finance, Reliance Industrial Infrastructure, Sasken Technologies, Shoppers Stop, South Indian Bank, Vimta Labs and VST Industries are some of the companies to announce December quarter results today.

Bajaj Auto: The two-wheller marker reported 22 per cent YoY fall in net profit at Rs 1,214 crore for the quarter ended December 2021 from Rs 1,556 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY21. Net sales, however, rose marginally to Rs 9,022 crore from Rs 8,910 crore. READ MORE



ICICI Lombard General: The countrys largest private sector general insurer, reported a marginal 1.28 per cent YoY increase in net profit at Rs 318 crore in the OctoberDecember quarter (Q3FY22), missing street estimates. Sequentially, the net profit was down 29 per cent. Its gross direct premium income rose 16 per cent to Rs 4,699 crore. READ MORE



The companys net profit more than doubled to Rs 320 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal when compared to the same quarter last fiscal. Total revenue also increased to Rs 1,984 crore from Rs 1,659 crore. JSW said the increase in revenue was primarily due to increase in short term sales and realisation. READ MORE Indias largest electric two-wheeler maker, Hero Electric has entered into a 5-year strategic partnership with the Mahindra Group, with an aim to more than double capacity to 1 million units by 2022. Meanwhile, M&M is likely to benefit by way of extra revenue in the range of Rs 140-150 crore over the contract period. READ MORE : The Centre on Wednesday approved an additional payment of about Rs 973 crore to SBI on account of pending claims for governments compound interest waiver scheme that reimbursed interest-on-interest charged on small ticket loans of up to Rs 2 crore. READ MORE The crisis-hit private lender seeks to raise new capital in a bid to allay investor concerns over its financial health. According to sources, the bank is looking to raise as much as Rs 1,500 crore. READ MORE The company reported 2.4 per cent QoQ and 18.7 per cent YoY growth in Q3FY22 net profit at Rs 83.50 crore on the back of a 3 per cent QoQ and 24.8 per cent YoY jump in Total income to Rs 557.70 crore for the quarter ended December 2021.

Syngene International: The company reported a 1.6 per cent YoY rise in Q3 net at Rs 103.40 crore, and a 8.5 per cent YoY increase in total income at Rs 652.40 crore for the quarter ended December 2021.

Oracle Financial Services (OFSS): The IT company reported a flattish growth in Q3 net and total income for the quarter ended December 2021 on a YoY basis. Net profit was up 1.3 per cent at Rs 435.34 crore, and total income was up 3.3 per cent at Rs 1,301.94 crore.

Ceat: The tyre maker reported a dismal set of numbers. It reported a net loss of Rs 20.18 crore for Q3FY22 as against a net profit of Rs 132.34 crore in Q3FY21. Total income, however, was up 8.6 per cent at Rs 2,416.44 crore from Rs 2,225.30 crore.

Stocks in F&O ban: BHEL, Escorts, Granules India, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea and SAIL are the stocks in the F&O ban period on Thursday.
On a consolidated basis, the auto maker's net profit declined 16.70% to Rs 1429.68 crore on 0.86% rise in net sales to Rs 8805.50 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

Bajaj Auto's profit before tax (PBT) declined 18.44% to Rs 1,788.36 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

On a standalone basis, the company's net profit fell 21.98% to Rs 1,214.19 crore on 1% decline in total revenue from operations to Rs 9,022 crore during the period under review. Operating profit fell 21% to Rs 1,334 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

EBITDA fell 20% year-on-year to Rs 1,405 crore in Q3 December 2021. EBITDA margin stood at 15.6% during the quarter, lower than 19.8% in the same quarter last year.

Sequentially, EBITDA margin improved from 15% (adjusted) in Q2 FY22, largely due to positive net impact of price increase, less material cost increase and favourable export realization for US$ to INR.

As on 31 December 2021, surplus cash and cash equivalents stood at Rs 17,883 crore as against Rs 17,526 crore as on 30 September 2021.

The company's total sales fell 10% to 11,81,361 units in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020. Bajaj Auto's market share in the domestic two-wheeler market improved to 19.2% in Q3 FY22 as against 18.6% in Q3 FY21 and 18.1% in FY21.

The firm's exports continue to record strong sales with average monthly volumes in excess of 219,000 units. For the calendar year 2021, exports, by volume, exceeded 2.5 million units - highest ever.

Bajaj Auto International Holdings BV (BAIH BV), a Netherlands based 100% subsidiary of Bajaj Auto, held 47.99% stake in KTM AG. As on 29 September 2021, BAIH BV swapped 46.50% stake in KTM AG for 49.90% stake in Pierer Bajaj AG. As per the public offer dated 5 November 2021 by KTM AG to buy back shares, BAIH BV tendered the balance 161,939 shares (1.49% stake) held in KTM AG. The resultant gain of 8.7 million euros (Rs 75 crore ) is shown as other income in consolidated financial results of Bajaj Auto.

Bajaj Auto is ranked as the world's fourth largest three and two wheeler manufacturer and the Bajaj brand is well-known across several countries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, South and South East Asia.

Shares of Bajaj Auto fell 1% to Rs 3409.25 on the BSE.

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The key equity benchmarks declined further in morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 17,850 mark. IT shares declined for the fifth consecutive session.

At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 398.37 points or 0.66% to 59,700.45. The Nifty 50 index lost 100.65 points or 0.56% to 17,837.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.29%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1756 shares rose and 1384 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.

Results Today:

Hindustan Unilever (down 0.63%), Asian Paints (down 0.83%), Bajaj Finserv (down 0.96%), Bajaj Holdings & Investment (up 0.78%), Havells India (down 0.52%), Biocon (down 0.68%), Mphasis (up 0.17%), Persistent Systems (up 1.88%), PNB Housing Finance (up 1.69%), Hatsun Agro Product (down 0.10%), Container Corporation Of India (down 0.95%), Cyient (down 0.32%), Century Textiles & Industries (up 0.69%), Bank of Maharashtra (up 0.93%), Orient Electric (down 0.14%), Dodla Dairy (down 0.07%), Shoppers Stop (down 0.40%) and VST Industries (down 0.11%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index fell 0.76% to 13,578.50, extending losses for third day. The index has declined 3.36% in five sessions.

Gland Pharma (down 1.78%), Lupin (down 1.45%), Divi's Labs (down 1.23%), Cipla (down 0.85%), Laurus Labs (down 0.83%), Sun Pharma (down 0.82%), Dr. Reddy's Labs (down 0.66%), Ipca Laboratories (down 0.60%) and Strides Pharma (down 0.58%) declined.

Concurrently, Granules India (up 2.05%), Pfizer (up 0.74%), Torrent Pharma (up 0.12%) and Alkem Laboratories (up 0.11%) outperformed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

CEAT fell 3.65% to Rs 1092.10. The tyre maker posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 20.18 crore in Q3 FY22 as compared with net profit of Rs 132.34 crore in Q3 FY21. Total income rose to Rs 2416.44 crore from Rs 2225.30 crore.

Dhunseri Tea & Industries added 4.44% to Rs 319.65. The company has entered into an agreement for sale dated 19 January 2022 with Warren Tea for acquisition of Balijan North Tea Estate.

Glenmark Pharma shed 0.84% to Rs 494.30. The company said that its subsidiary, Glenmark Specialty S.A, has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Lotus International for commercializing its nasal spray Ryaltris in Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

COVID-19 Update:

In last 24 hours, India registered 3,17,532 new COVID-19 infections in a day, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday. The country reported 491 new deaths taking the death toll to 4,87,693. The country recorded 2,23,990 recoveries, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,58,07,029. The active cases comprise 5.03% of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.69%, the ministry said.

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Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today announced that its Swiss subsidiary, Glenmark Specialty S.

A., has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Lotus International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lotus Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Lotus), for commercializing its innovative nasal spray Ryaltris in Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam.

Under the terms of the agreement, Glenmark will be responsible for the manufacture and supply of Ryaltris, whereas Lotus will be responsible for commercialization of Ryaltris (subject to receipt of regulatory approvals), in these markets. Glenmark will receive an upfront payment as well as regulatory and sales based milestone payments from Lotus.

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The domestic equity benchmarks traded on a weak note in early trade on selling pressure in index pivotals. The Sensex fell below the 60,000 level.

At 09:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 255.23 points or 0.42% to 59,843.59. The Nifty 50 index lost 68.30 points or 0.38% to 17,870.10.

Tata Consumer (up 2.54%), Power Grid Corp (up 2.25%), Grasim (up 1.05%), and Ultratech Cement (up 0.79%) were the top index gainers.

Infosys (down 1.56%), Asian Paints (down 1.07%), Wipro (down 0.84%) and Reliance Industries (down 0.82%) were the top index losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.22% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.51%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1612 shares rose and 1097 shares fell. A total of 101 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bajaj Auto fell 1.22% to Rs 3401.55. The auto major posted a 22% fall in net profit to Rs 1214 crore on 1% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 9022 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech shed 0.48% to Rs 6660. The IT firm posted 11% rise in consolidated net income to Rs 612.5 crore on 9.8% rise in revenue to Rs 4137.60 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q2 FY22.

Tata Communications slipped 1.56% to Rs 1498.75. The company posted a 28% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 395 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 309.4 crore reported in Q3 FY21. Gross revenue from operations declined 0.9% to Rs 4,185 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Rallis India slumped 4.96% to Rs 280.05. The company posted a 13.3% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 40 crore on 10.1% rise in revenue to Rs 628 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

Global markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed on Thursday as China cut its key lending rates.

China on Thursday cut its one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points, while its five-year LPR, which influences the pricing of home mortgages, was cut by 5 basis points, the first time since April 2020.

Wall Street's main indices ended sharply lower on Wednesday after a diverse set of corporate earnings and as investors continued to worry about higher US Treasury yields and the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy.

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SGX Nifty:

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could slide 72 points at the opening bell.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Thursday as China cut its key lending rates.

China on Thursday cut its one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points, while its five-year LPR, which influences the pricing of home mortgages, was cut by 5 basis points, the first time since April 2020.

Wall Street's main indices ended sharply lower on Wednesday after a diverse set of corporate earnings and as investors continued to worry about higher US Treasury yields and the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy.

Domestic markets:

Back home, the key equity benchmarks ended with deep cuts on Wednesday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slumped 656.04 points or 1.08% to 60,098.82. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 174.65 points or 0.96% to 17,938.40.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 2,704.77 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 195.07 crore in the Indian equity market on 19 January, provisional data showed.

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To manufacture and sell Molnupiravir Capsules in India

Natco Pharma announced today that it has signed a non-exclusive licenses agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Switzerland. MPP had taken license from Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. (MSD), USA for the same.

Natco with this license agreement can manufacture and sell molnupiravir Capsules 200 mg. for Indian market, which will be sold under brand name MOLNUNAT for treatment of Covid 19 infection with Sp02>93% and who have high risk of progression of the disease including hospitalization or death.

This agreement allows Natco to expand access to Covid-19 medicines in 105 countries in generic name. Under the license, Natco can set its own price for the generic products it produces, paying a royalty on sales to MSD. MSD, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Emory University will not receive royalties for sales of molnupiravir under this agreement for as long as COVID-19 remains classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health. Organization

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The domestic equity barometers declined further and traded with significant losses in mid morning trade. The Nifty was trading below the 17,800 mark. Metal stocks, however, advanced for the second consecutive session.

At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 578.86 points or 0.96% to 59,519.96. The Nifty 50 index lost 152.35 points or 0.85% to 17,786.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.06% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.22%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1727 shares rose and 1513 shares fell. A total of 100 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 0.86% to 5,850.85, extending gains for fourth day. The index has added 1.66% in two sessions.

Welspun Corp (up 3.47%), Hindustan Copper (up 2.78%), NMDC (up 2.26%), Coal India (up 1.71%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.59%), JSW Steel (up 0.92%), National Aluminum Co. (up 0.78%), Vedanta (up 0.66%) and Tata Steel (up 0.53%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Cadila Healthcare shed 0.93% to Rs 420. The company announced that it has received final approval from the USFDA to market vigabatrin tablets in the strength of 500 mg.Vigabatrin is used to treat babies, one month to 2 years old with infantile spasms. It is also used in combination with other medications to treat seizure disorders (epilepsy).

Mastek slumped 11.66% to Rs 2843.25. On a consolidated basis, the IT company's net profit rose 2.4% to Rs 83.50 crore on 3.4% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 551.90 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q2 September 2021.

Global markets:

Asian stocks were trading mixed on Thursday as China cut its key lending rates.

China on Thursday cut its one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points, while its five-year LPR, which influences the pricing of home mortgages, was cut by 5 basis points, the first time since April 2020.

Wall Street's main indices ended sharply lower on Wednesday after a diverse set of corporate earnings and as investors continued to worry about higher US Treasury yields and the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy.

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Tata Communications posted a 28% jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 395 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 309.4 crore reported in Q3 FY21.

Gross revenue from operations declined 0.9% to Rs 4,185 crore in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21. The company said all three segments (Core Connectivity, Digital Platforms, & Incubation services) of data business witnessed healthy growth sequentially.

The company's Digital Platforms and Solutions continued to improve and gain growth momentum, revenues grew by 6.7% year on year. Within Digital Platforms, all segments except Collaboration witnessed double digit year on year growth. Core Connectivity witnessed a revenue growth of 1.3% year on year.

Consolidated profit before tax surged nearly 27% to Rs 483.8 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 381.4 crore posted in Q3 FY21. EBITDA grew by 3.5% year on year to Rs 1,0825 crore in Q3 FY22. Meanwhile, the company's EBITDA margin improved by 110 basis points year on year to 25.9% in period under review.

Commenting on the results, A.S Lakshminarayanan, MD and CEO of Tata Communications said, We witnessed another quarter of good sequential growth in our data business, with digital platforms and solutions delivering robust results. We continue to focus on providing holistic solutions to our customers and accelerating their digital transformations.

Kabir Ahmed Shakir, CFO of the company said, We are pleased with the growth in revenue as well as profitability during Q3 FY22. Our performance demonstrates sustained progress in our journey towards our financial fitness. Healthy improvement in free cash flows and reduction in net debt provides us headroom to invest for future growth.

Tata Communications is a leading global digital infrastructure provider. Its Tier-1 IP network, wholly-owned subsea fibre backbone and consortium cables' global network carries approximately 30% of the world's internet routes.

Shares of Tata Communications ended 2.62% higher at Rs 1,522.45 on Wednesday.

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The AAP councillors will hold a protest outside the BJP headquarters on Friday demanding dismissal of the party's Delhi unit chief Adesh Gupta over his alleged role in an illegal construction in the national capital.

A recent plea filed in the Delhi High Court against Gupta alleged that the West Patel Nagar councillor has swindled crores of rupees in corruption and spent huge amounts in properties and constructions by misusing his power and position.

The BJP's Delhi state president Adesh Gupta, along with his sons, occupied the Municipal Corporation of Delhi land. The high court itself has issued notice against Gupta for illegal construction, the AAP alleged in a statement



The AAP councillors will protest against this at 12 noon tomorrow at BJP headquarters and demand the dismissal of Delhi state president, it added.

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response from the Delhi government and the lieutenant governor on a plea alleging unauthorised construction and encroachment of public land by the Delhi BJP chief, who is a councillor at the Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).

The bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued the notice to Gupta, the Delhi government, lieutenant governor, NDMC and chief executive officer of BSES Yamuna on the petition.

The PIL alleged that Gupta has failed to act in accordance with the norms of integrity and conduct which ought to be followed by public functionaries and abused his position to obtain favour for himself or others.

West Patel Nagar falls under NDMC and is governed by the BJP currently. The BJP is also in power in the city's two other municipal corporations SDMC and EDMC.

The AAP, which is the ruling party in the national capital and main opposition party in Delhi civic bodies, has been alleging mismanagement and corruption in the BJP-ruled corporations.

The elections for the three municipal corporations in the national capital are due to be held in the coming months.

(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.)
West Bengal Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister for the second time in a week expressing her 'strong reservations to the Centre's proposal to amend the (Cadre) Rules, 1954.

The Trinamool Congress chief urged the Prime Minister to roll back the decision, claiming that the change in rules for central deputation of officers will affect the states' administration.

"I had written to you on this, conveying my strong reservations and objections to the Centre's draft amendment of the (Cadre) Rules on January 13, 2022, but I have to write again, further reiterating my points, because the Central government has meanwhile further accentuated its stand, proposing yet another revised draft, taking the matter to further non-federal extremes," the Chief Minister said in her letter to the Prime Minister, the second in seven days.

"I find the revised amendment proposal more draconian than the former, and indeed its very grain is against the foundations of our great federal polity and the basic structure of India's Constitutional scheme. The moot point of the further revised draft amendment proposal is that an officer, whom the Central government may choose to take out of a state to any part of the country without taking his/her consent and without the agreement of the state government under whom he or she is serving, may now stand released from his/her current assignment forthwith," Banerjee said.

"The power proposed to be usurped by the Central government by resorting to over-centralisation of powers is going to destroy the morale and freedom of the All-India Service officers. It is going to completely render them and all the state governments at the mercy of the Central government since the All-India Services serve as the backbone of a state's administrative machinery. It will hang on the head of each officer of the All-India Services like a Damocles' sword.

"It will create fear psychosis which is bound to impact their performance, effectiveness and accountability to the state government. This will destroy the fundamental principle of the Services, which postulates that an officer serving in connection with the affairs of the state is accountable to the state government alone," the Chief Minister added.

Requesting the Prime Minister not to take any step that will irreparably damage the spirit of mutual accommodation between the Centre and the states, Banerjee said, "This is going to destroy the federal fabric and basic structure of our Constitution too. It is our Constitution which gives the states their powers and functions, and it is our Constitution which provides the framework and structure of the All-India Services as they exist. The swift unitary turn that the Central government has now proposed will strike at the root of the frame which has existed and worked well since the inception of our democracy."

Expressing her concern that the all-pervasiveness of the Central government over the All-India Service officers will leave the states 'at the mercy of the Centre', the Chief Minister warned the Prime Minister that this kind of a move will surely be misused by the party in power at the Centre.

Banerjee also said that this would 'nullify India's Constitutional scheme in letter and spirit'.

Asking the Centre to reconsider its decision, else threatening to go for a greater movement, the Chief Minister said, "I would like to think that no government would like to be seen as implementing this change which reduces the so called 'steel frame' of India to an entity functioning in perpetual fear, pressure or intimidation, causing instability and uncertainty in administration and development process. Governments and political parties come and go, but to weaken this 'steel frame' so immeasurably not bode well for us in the 75th year of our Republic."

"Every government, state or Central, depends on the proper, efficient, objective and fearless functioning of the bureaucracy and the proposed change would irreparably deliver a body blow in the solar plexus of this steel frame. Its adverse consequences would be endemic, permanent and irreversible. I beseech you to kindly withdraw the proposed amendments which will not only harm the country but will also lead to demolition of our democracy," Banerjee concluded.

--IANS

sbg/arm

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At least three Opposition-ruled states are up in arms about the rejection of their tableaux for this years Republic Day celebrations in Delhi. The most incensed is Kerala whose tableau has been rejected for the third time in a row. The fact is that the selection of a state tableau for the R-Day parade is an exhaustive (and exhausting, for those involved) exercise that begins in September of the previous year.

A theme is selected by July and for 2022, the states were sent identical letters. Here is the anatomy of the process. Tableaux guidelines As the organisation and ...
Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 20 (ANI/NewsVoir): Alstom as a part of its CSR initiative, in collaboration with NGO partner United Way Bengaluru (UWBe), kickstarted 'Rural Rising'- an integrated rural development program at Selakarachal Gram Panchayat, Sultanpet Block in Coimbatore to improve the overall condition of the gram panchayat in the areas of environment, sanitation and education.

At the inaugural and Bhoomi Puja today, Alstom handed over a tractor to the Gram Panchayat to strengthen the Solid Waste Management (SWM) system. The gram panchayat has been trying to implement a proper solid waste management system. This tractor support will help to put in place a systematic door to door collection process, and also timely transport of the garbage ensuring better hygiene and sanitation in the area. The inaugural event was graced by Mr. Kandasamy V.P. MLA, Sulur Constituency; Ms. Navamani, Block Development Officer; Maragathavadivu Karupsamy - President, Gram Panchayat and representatives from Alstom and United Way Bengaluru.

In addition to the Solid Waste Management initiative, community toilet construction and usage awareness activities have commenced helping the gram panchayat in its goal to improve the sanitation condition of the village and encourage toilet usage among the community members.

"This project is a stellar example of Alstom's commitment to promoting and funding initiatives that improve the living conditions and economic possibilities of communities. We are looking forward to providing holistic development to the people of Selakkarichal Gram Panchayat through this initiative and have engaged a team of active and passionate employee volunteers who are keen to implement these interventions over the next three years," said S Selvakumar, Site MD, Alstom.

"Our commitment to helping rural societies develop their education, health and environment situation is echoing with our CSR partner Alstom and the Selakarachal Gram Panchayat. This initiative is a perfect private-public-partnership model of collaboration. This project has been implemented with a vision to empower the community members and ensure long-term sustainability," said Rajesh Krishnan, Executive Director, United Way Bengaluru.

Alstom and United Way Bengaluru are also strengthening the Anganwadi Centres by building a new one and upgrading two more Anganwadi Centres with new services, facilities and infrastructure to make the centres happier, safer and conducive for children. United Way Bengaluru's early childhood education program, called the Born Learning Campaign, will be running in these Centres to ensure the enhancement of the developmental domains of children and capacity building of Anganwadi workers and parents.

Apart from this, the project will also undertake livelihood initiatives, especially for women and youth. Overall, the Rural Rising initiative in Selakkarichal Gram Panchayat will benefit a population of approximately 6000 over the next three years.

UWBe, part of United Way Worldwide, is an NGO focused on social issues that seek immediate and long term attention. The chapter catalyses unified efforts from corporates, civic bodies and citizen associations to bring about visible change. The organisation works in four key areas - Environment, Education, Healthcare and Livelihood. Currently, UWBe is implementing four flagship campaigns that serve important purposes: 'Wake the Lake' works to protect Bengaluru's lakes, 'One Billion Drops' aims at conserving rainwater through percolation pits, 'Born Learning' helps provide nutrition and education to very young children and 'Rural Rising' aims to develop and empower the rural communities. Besides, COVID relief work is another key area where the organisation is helping healthcare institutions, healthcare professionals and other organisations working towards COVID relief.

For more information, please visit (http://www.uwbengaluru.org/).

Leading societies to a low carbon future, Alstom develops and markets mobility solutions that provide the sustainable foundations for the future of transportation. Alstom's product portfolio ranges from high-speed trains, metros, monorail and trams to integrated systems, customised services, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions. Alstom is committed to supporting carbon neutrality in transport by building innovative, sustainable mobility solutions with a lower carbon footprint while actively contributing to the public debates on sustainable development policies.

For more information, please visit (https://www.alstom.com/).

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 20 (ANI/Target Media): Good news for all Residents of the western suburban area in Mumbai! Now they can avail advanced treatment facility at their nearby location for all Adult & Paediatric Digestive & Liver Diseases related ailments. Globus, a 20 bedded dedicated Super-speciality hospital in Malad, is equipped with world-class diagnostic & therapeutic endoscopic procedures.

A brainchild of Dr Vedant Karvir, it was first dedicated day-care endoscopy centre in Malad that came into existence in 2014 & expanded to super Speciality hospital in 2019. Further, it gained status in 2017 when it got the High-Definition Olympus 170 Series Endoscopy System with NBI feature, which helps early detections of GI mucosal cancers. The super speciality hospital was first in the western suburb zone to start dedicated Paediatric Gastroenterology services under the care of Dr Bijal V. Karvir.

The speciality hospital has an expert team of Hepato-Gastroenterologists headed by Dr Vedant H. Karvir. He has done many advanced procedures that involve controlling G.I bleeding, Esophageal & Colonic dilatation, ERCP (Removal of stone in CBD) & PEG feeding tube Insertion.

According to the HOD of the Gastroenterology at Globus Hospital, Dr Vedant, who has performed more than 15,000 Gastroscopies and over 5,000 Colonoscopies, "GLOBUS hospital was established with a vision to serve you with utmost care and affection along with a team of highly experienced doctors and in-house medical & surgical group for all kinds of GI tracts ailments

The health centre offers all kinds of surgical gastroenterology services, including paediatric gastrointestinal and laparoscopic surgeries by renowned doctors using the high-end modular Major OT with C-arm imaging facilities. A state-of-the-art Diagnostic testing facility provided at GLOBUS hospital includes Upper GI endoscopy / Gastroscopy/ OGD scopy (for & lt;1 year old) ultra slim endoscopy, FIBROSCAN for Liver disease testing, Upper GI bleed, Colonoscopy, ERCP, etc. Other diagnostic facilities available at the hospital are Esophageal & Ano-Rectal Manometry Testing, Urea Breath Test for H - pylori Ultrasonography & Doppler, Ultrasound Guided Biopsy & Ascitic (Abdominal) fluid tapping.

The highly qualified and experienced Gastroenterologist further explains that All Digestive & Liver Diseases are related to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract - it starts from Oesophagus (food pipe), stomach, liver, pancreas, small intestine & colon. Whenever there is a problem in the GI tract such as blood in stool, abdominal pain, diarrhea, swallowing problems, nausea, vomiting, Chronic constipation, etc., your general physician should immediately recommend you to consult a Gastroenterologist who will further guide you for few tests such as colonoscopy, GI endoscopy, ultrasound etc. to detect digestive tract problems.

It is to be noted that Children especially new born and infants suffer from Digestive, liver, and nutritional problems that are often different from those seen in adults. So, one needs an expert pediatric gastroenterologist to treat them.

Again, under the supervision of Dr Bijal V. Karvir, the Pediatric & Neonatal gastroenterology & Liver Diseases section of the hospital successfully treats Celiac Disease, Chronic Constipation, Chronic Diarrhoea, Pediatric Diagnostic & Therapeutic Endoscopies including removal of Foreign Bodies (E.g., Coin) in G.I Tract, etc.

The specialised team focuses on problems unique to pediatric patients, including growth, maturation, physical and emotional development, and age-related social issues. They also treat bleeding, swallowing problems, or other problems encountered in the intestines. Special instruments, such as ultra slim endoscopes (5.4mm), are used to examine the inside of the digestive tract or obtain tissue samples (biopsies) of babies & lt; 1 year old. Endoscopic procedures paediatric gastroenterologists perform include Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD scopy) and Colonoscopy.

The Hospital also caters dermatology & cosmetology services under senior Dermatologist & cosmetologist Dr. Hemraj Karvir.

The department offers chemical skin peeling, Radiofrequency ablation of skin tags & warts & laser treatment for permanent hair reduction.

The Globus Hospital also has a department for Urology for treating issues relating to kidney stones, prostate, cystoscopy as well as it offers services for gynaecological issues such as Hysterectomy (Open & Vaginal). Globus hospital also attends patients of Nephrology, Psychiatry & General Medicine Services.

This story is provided by Target Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Target Media)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ice sculpture of Mexican pyramid inaugurated in China's largest ice-themed park

Xinhua) 09:59, January 20, 2022

HARBIN, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- An ice sculpture featuring the famed pyramid of Kukulcan in Mexico was inaugurated Wednesday at China's largest ice-themed park in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Expanding 440 square meters, the ice sculpture is 9.5 meters tall and 20.9 meters in length and width. More than 500 sculptors worked a week on the sculpture, which consumed 1,100 cubic meters of ice.

The inauguration at the 23rd Ice and Snow World in Harbin forms part of the series of events that mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Mexico.

Cheng Xiaoming, deputy mayor of Harbin, said via video link at the inauguration ceremony that the city is willing to take this opportunity to carry out cooperation in various aspects with different regions in Mexico.

Jesus Seade, the Mexican ambassador to China, said via video link that the inauguration showcases the friendship and cooperation between people and governments of both countries, which will become even closer with frequent exchanges.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Riding high on nostalgia, Classic Legends recently relaunched the iconic Yezdi motorcycle. The Mahindra Group-backed company hopes to make a cut into the mid-size motorcycle segment, with an eye on the affluent class. But what about the other sections of population for which bike is a necessity? The sales of two-wheelers plunged to lowest in nine years in 2021. Does the trend reflect the declining purchasing power of people in the middle and lower income group? The impact of pandemic was a tad more devastating for the informal sector. Even the ruling BJP, which is facing elections in five states next month, has in a way acknowledged it. Its representatives raised this concern with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this week and asked her to extend support to the informal sector and MSMEs in the upcoming Union Budget. We take a peek into the condition of this sector which accounts for over 45% of countrys economic activity. Spooked by the pandemic, markets too are keenly awaiting the budget.

After two straight days of bear hammering, equity markets may stabilize today. The BSE Sensex is holding the 60,000-mark while the Nifty50 is just above 17,900 level. Now, a sharp move on either side could be triggered by the earnings report card of index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The Mukesh Ambani-led company is set to announce its Q3 results on Friday, and analysts have extremely optimistic earnings expectations from two key segments. Equity markets will have a reason to cheer if the government reins in its target at 6.25% of gross domestic product, a recent survey claimed. So as the government presents the Union budget on February 1, all eyes will be on the . It is the difference between its earnings and expenditure. Find out how the is calculated, how the government manages it and more in this episode of the podcast.
In 2016, demonetisation dealt a severe blow to the struggling Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector, which supports a big chunk of population. And the acknowledgement came two years later, from the countrys central bank after a study. In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the (MSMEs) have been adversely hit by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll-out and demonetisation.

And just over two years later, pandemic dealt another blow to it. Wave after wave, its share shrunk, significantly impacting the overall credit of the sector.

It wont be wrong to say that are the backbone of the economy. With 63 million units, the sector provides employment to 111 million people, making it the largest source of employment after the agriculture sector.

Besides, it contributes to 30% of Indias GDP, 50% of exports and 95% of industrial units. And for inclusive growth, this sector cannot be ignored.

Now, the sector is looking towards the government for the breather.

Economic observers too are looking for an inclusive Budget from Union Finance Minister on February 1.

Naushad Forbes, the Co-Chairman of Forbes Marshall told Business Standard in a recent interview about what makes an inclusive budget.

A recent survey of 150 by consulting firm MSMEx revealed that four out of 10 businesses changed their business models to survive the pandemic while 50% of the respondents said government schemes did not help them with sustaining their business through the pandemic.

As part of pre-Budget consultations, representatives from the ruling BJP and its state units sought support from Sitharaman for the sectors that have been the worst affected by the pandemic. These include hospitality, leisure, tourism and other contact services.

Some concerns that were raised during the interaction include lack of availability of credit, rising cost of raw materials and base metals, and targeted assistance to stressed sectors.

We spoke with BJPs national spokesperson and economic cell head Gopal Krishna Agarwal on what hes expecting from the Budget for the informal sector.

One of the major demands of the sector is the extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme beyond March 2022.

The scheme was launched in 2020 to help tide over the crisis and its scope was expanded last September. Since its launch, top up loans worth Rs 3 lakh crore have been sanctioned from 4.5-lakh crore limit under the scheme. These loans are 100% guaranteed by the Centre and involve no processing fee.

A cut in corporate taxes and Production-linked Incentive Schemes worth Rs 2.75 trillion introduced last year have largely benefitted big companies. The MSME industry is looking to get a similar boost in the Budget.
Today, the Popeyes brand and Jubilant Foodworks Limited (JFL), Indias leading food service company with a strong legacy of introducing and growing international brands in the country, are excited to open the first restaurant in Bangalore, India, in the city's hot spot of Koramangala.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220119005900/en/

(Photo: Business Wire)

We are very excited to work with Jubilant Foodworks Limited to officially introduce Indian guests to the Popeyes experience and our iconic Louisiana style chicken with its unique blend of spices and flavors, said David Shear, President RBI International, parent company of Popeyes. This milestone furthers our commitment to open hundreds of restaurants across India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the coming years and builds on our track record of working with best-in-class operators to reach more guests around the world, concluded Shear.

Founded in New Orleans in 1972, Popeyes has more than 45 years of history and culinary tradition. Popeyes famous chicken is marinated for at least 12 hours, battered and breaded by hand, then slow cooked to perfection using a proprietary cooking technique. The popularity of the Popeyes brand has grown across the world to 3,500 restaurants across 25 countries.

Speaking on the launch of the Popeyes brand in India, Mr. Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman and Mr. Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant Foodworks Limited said, With chicken being one of the largest and fastest-growing categories in India, we are excited to introduce the Popeyes brand to the chicken-loving Indian guests. We are confident that Popeyes will not only delight Indian guests but also strategically complement our portfolio and fortify JFLs leadership in the QSR domain. We believe that JFL and Popeyes share a common love for good, authentic-tasting, delicious food that promises joy with every bite!

The Popeyes menu in India features not only iconic products like the signature Chicken Sandwich but also includes some Indian inspired innovations. Popeyes has introduced vegetarian recipes that are cooked and served from a separate kitchen counter in identifiably different packaging. Popeyes is committed to offer a unique guest experience and to bring its digital innovation via digital ordering screens in restaurant, mobile ordering and delivery, with plans to expand across India in the years to come.

Popeyes recently announced agreements to enter South Korea, France, and Romania. Other international expansions over the past years include Spain, Brazil, China, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Mexico, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

About POPEYES

Founded in New Orleans in 1972, POPEYES has more than 45 years of history and culinary tradition. Popeyes distinguishes itself with a unique New Orleans style menu featuring spicy chicken, chicken tenders, fried shrimp, and other regional items. The chain's passion for its Louisiana heritage and flavorful authentic food has allowed Popeyes to become one of the world's largest chicken quick service restaurants with over 3,600 restaurants in the U.S. and around the world.

About Restaurant Brands International Inc.

Restaurant Brands International Inc. is one of the world's largest quick-service restaurant companies with more than $35 billion in annual system-wide sales and over 28,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. RBI owns four of the world's most prominent and iconic quick-service restaurant brands  TIM HORTONS, BURGER KING, POPEYES, and FIREHOUSE SUBS. These independently operated brands have been serving their respective guests, franchisees, and communities for decades. Through its Restaurant Brands for Good framework, RBI is improving sustainable outcomes related to its food, the planet, and people and communities.

About Jubilant Foodworks Ltd

Jubilant Foodworks Limited (JFL/Company) is part of Jubilant Bhartia group and is Indias largest food service Company. Its Dominos Pizza franchise extends across a network of 1,314 restaurants in 285 cities (as of December 31, 2020). The Company has the exclusive rights to develop and operate Dominos Pizza brand in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. At present, it operates in India, and through its subsidiary companies in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Company also enjoys exclusive rights to develop and operate Dunkin Donuts restaurants in India, has in operation 27 restaurants across 8 cities in India (as of December 31, 2020). JFL has ventured into the Chinese cuisine segment with its first owned restaurant brand, Hongs Kitchen, which serves 2 cities with 7 restaurants in India (as of December 31, 2020). Recently, the Company has added Indian cuisine of biryani, kebabs, breads and more to the portfolio by launching Ekdum! with 3 restaurants in Gurugram. Following shifting consumption habits, the Company has also begun offering their brand-owned ready-to-cook range of sauces, gravies and pastes, ChefBoss.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, which reflect management's current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, initiatives and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements about our expectations regarding the ability of the Popeyes business to open hundreds of restaurants across India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan in the coming years; and our expectations regarding our ability to bring digital innovation. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from RBI's expectations are detailed in filings of RBI with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, such as its annual and quarterly reports and current reports on Form 8-K and include the following risks: risk related to our ability to successfully implement its domestic and international growth strategy and risks related to its international operations; risks related to our ability to compete domestically and internationally in an intensely competitive industry; global economic or other business conditions that may affect the desire or ability of our customers to purchase our products; our relationship with, and the success of, our franchisees and risks related to our fully franchised business model; and the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising programs and franchisee support of these programs. Other than as required under applicable laws, we do not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or circumstances, change in expectations or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220119005900/en/
Protegrity, a global leader in data security, today announced it has partnered with Google Cloud to support the upcoming release of BigQuery remote functions. First announced at Google Cloud Next 21 in October, BigQuery remote functions offer Google Cloud customers the ability to extend BigQuery with their own external code. With support for remote functions, Protegrity adds an additional layer of data protection, while enabling customers to deliver faster, more robust analysis through Google Cloud BigQuery.

Protegritys partnership with Google Cloud lays a strong foundation to deliver de-identified data sets across many Google Cloud services. In addition to its support for Google Cloud remote functions, Protegrity also announced the availability of the Cloud API for Google Cloud, a serverless API that can be used to integrate data protection into cloud services and ETL workflows, as well as the Snowflake Protector on Google Cloud.

Through our partnership with Google Cloud, one of the foremost leaders in cloud computing and data analytics, we are enabling our mutual customers to accelerate data innovation without compromising privacy, said Jeffrey Breen, executive vice president of product and strategy at Protegrity. Joining forces with Google Cloud delivers a privacy-by-design approach to more customers, enhancing their ability to bring to life the value of their sensitive data, pursue secure data collaboration, and innovate through advanced analytics.

Protegritys Support for BigQuery Enables Secure Analytics at Scale

BigQuerys serverless architecture offers businesses the ability to operate at scale and speed, which allows for faster analytics over large data sets. With Protegritys remote functions support, customers can now securely leverage data sets that contain personally identifiable information. In combination with BigQuerys out-of-the-box security features, Protegritys fine-grained data protection gives customers a high level of confidence to achieve compliance with strict data privacy regulations and internal security and risk management policies. This allows businesses to deliver faster, more robust data analysis through BigQuery, without jeopardizing privacy.

Protegritys vaultless tokenization uses a data de-identification methodology to protect the privacy of individuals by tokenizing personal identifiers and quasi-identifiers. Tokenizing data before it moves to the cloud delivers a Security by Design framework and underpins a customers ability to rapidly innovate new applications and analytical models while preserving privacy. Protegritys persistent data protection element ensures that data is protected in the case of intrusion, configuration error, or other cases of data exposure.

As data and analytics have become increasingly important to business growth and innovation, so too has data privacy and security, said Sudhir Hasbe, Director, Product Management, Google Cloud. Were excited for BigQuery remote functions to be generally available for customers and to provide even more ways to run data analysis with speed, privacy, and security in partnership with Protegrity.

Protegritys support for BigQuery remote functions will be generally available in Q1 2022.

Protegrity Cloud API and Snowflake Protector Safeguard Sensitive Data

Protegrity also announced two new data protectors for Google Cloud customers, including the Cloud API, a serverless API that can be used to integrate data protection into cloud services and ETL workflows, as well as the Snowflake Protector on Google Cloud.

Cloud API: The Cloud API is a serverless API that allows developers to integrate data protection into custom applications and ETL workflows in the cloud. These components operate on each platforms native Function-As-A-Service (FaaS) for full cloud, elastic scaling.

The Cloud API is a serverless API that allows developers to integrate data protection into custom applications and ETL workflows in the cloud. These components operate on each platforms native Function-As-A-Service (FaaS) for full cloud, elastic scaling. Snowflake Protector: The Snowflake Protector is a purpose-built protector that integrates seamlessly with Snowflake SQL to protect or unprotect data. It has been benchmarked to blazing speeds with elastic scaling to support the largest workloads.

In todays data economy, a companys competitive advantage lies in their ability to harness the power of the cloud for advanced analytics, said Matt Hutton, vice president of cloud engineering at Protegrity. With Protegritys advanced data protection capabilities now available for Google Cloud, organizations can generate valuable insights faster and more securely than ever before.

To learn more about Protegritys support for Google Cloud, please visit the blog.

Learn More

Website: protegrity.com

Twitter: @Protegrity

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/protegrity/

About Protegrity

Protegrity, a global leader in data security, protects sensitive data everywhere and future-proofs businesses as data-privacy regulations evolve. Maintaining privacy today across distributed data has become impossibly complicated. With Protegrity, enterprises can secure data wherever it resides, control how its protected, and have confidence that data is safe, even if a breach occurs. The Protegrity Data Protection Platform is a modern alternative to traditionally complex data-protection methods that leave gaps in security. Whether encrypting, tokenizing, or applying privacy models, Protegrity protects data at the speed of business. Deep integrations with Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Teradata, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Cloudera, Databricks, and many other enterprise applications ensure that data remains fully protected in hybrid-cloud, multi-cloud, and on-premises environments. The platforms fine-grained data protection anonymizes personally identifiable information (PII) thats used in AI and machine learning models, providing faster access to critical analytics data and dramatically shortening the time to business insights. Protegrity protects the sensitive data of more than two billion individuals across global enterprises, including four of the worlds 15 largest banks, four out of 10 of the top health insurance providers, and three of the worlds leading multinational companies. With more than two decades of industry-leading innovation, Protegrity allows businesses to finally tap into the value of their data and accelerate digital transformation timelines  without jeopardizing individuals fundamental right to privacy.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220119005395/en/
Experts discover funerary avenues that stretch for miles as old as 4,500-years old in the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Alongside the avenues are innumerable paths with Bronze age tombs that are its predominant feature. The scientists studying it are baffled why the long-distance arrangement and the other reasons for its existence.

Discovery of Pendant Tombs

In Saudi Arabia, archaeologists have found a massive 4,500-year-old network of 'funerary roads' lined with well-preserved Bronze Age tombs.

Scientists in Saudi Arabia's Al-'Ula and Khaybar provinces detail the placement of roughly 18,000 tombs encompassing thousands of miles in a new paper, reported the Daily Mail.

Scientists suggest they're composed of little stone piles grouped in complex configurations, representing the location where single people or small groups are interred.

Since they resemble circular pieces of jewelry tied to a chain or 'tail,' the tombs are called 'pendant' graves.

Human remains have been recovered in pendant tombs reaching back to the mid-third millennia BC, in the Bronze Age, cited Nation LK.

Analysis of tombs explains the arrangement

As many as 18,000 tombs have been seen on the funerary avenues and long-distance corridors that connect oases and pastures designated by graves. A mere 80 has been sampled and excavated.

The tombs are supposed to have been established as a commemoration ('cenotaphs') or for other symbolism or ceremonial purposes which are still undiscovered.

Findings' principal author Dr. Matthew Dalton from the University of Western Australia's School of Humanities, says he and his team employed satellite pictures, helicopter-based aerial photos, field surveys, and digging to find and analyze the funerary avenues with Bronze age tombs.

Read Also: Ancient Greek-Roman Suburb Discovered by Archeologists Reveals Egyptian 'Bride of the Mediterranean'

Dr. Dalton told CNN, 'The folks who live in these regions had known about them over the thousands of years.' 'But I do not think it was completely understood before we acquired satellite imagery how prevalent they are.'

The Levant and Arab Peninsula in the desert regions have interlinking pathways with countless stone monuments. Most of them are ancient tombs in these areas.

Thousands of kilometers of these roads and landmark elements, known as 'funerary avenues,' can be seen throughout the landscape, especially around and between important perennial water sources. Dr. Dalton called it the superhighways of the day when it was used several millennia back.

Their continued presence indicates that the people who lived in the Arab World 4,500 years ago were much more crucial for economic growth connected than previously imagined.

The researchers remarked that the biggest numbers of funerary monuments on these routes were found near permanent water sources. The avenues' route showed that people would use them to travel between a major oasis, such as Khaybar, Al-'Ula, and Tayma.

Dr. Dalton added that the Khaybar oases are the densest placement of tombs anywhere in the world. He said that the 18,000 graves show that many settled there about 4,500 years ago.

According to the researchers, continued excavation and analysis of remains found within these monuments would be significant in the future.

Further analysis in the journals of the graves might give an idea of why the relic is made in such a way how the people at those times decided on such a burial.

The funerary avenues in the desert that has Bronze age tombs has social significance and offers a look into the past 4,500-years ago.

Related Article: Ancient Board Game Discovered in the Qumayrah Valley From Bronze Age Settlement Played by the Inhabitants 4000-Years Ago

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Colored areas on a map from the National Weather Service show where NWS meteorologists forecast the effects of an incoming winter storm to occur late Thursday into early Saturday. (NWS graphic)
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The Tonga tsunami was captured by satellite imaging that was captured in real-time as the undersea volcano vented its fury more than 20 miles up in the atmosphere. The locals called Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai, which is non-existent as the island has been wiped off the map.

A tsunami wave propagated from the center of the volcanic eruption, reaching Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and US coastal areas; such is the blast's power.

Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai largest eruption since

When the eruption cleared up after twelve hours after the sky darkened from pyroclastic material, the images seen from space show the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai gone after the catastrophic explosion, reported the Sun UK.

Tongatapu, the main island, was damaged heavily by the giant wave. The pictures show destroyed areas in the north to the south side of the areas struck.

In 2014, when the volcano erupted, that caused damage to Uoleva and Nomuka, islands close by.

Although the Hunga-Tonga volcano has spewed constantly in the past few decades, preliminary evidence indicates this is the largest eruption after Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines 30 years ago, remarked New Zealand-based volcanologist Shane Cronin, cited Reuters.

This blast has been seen via a satellite, Cronin concluded. Based on the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) update on the eruption, they warned that another blast might be in the works to caution the locals.

Two low-lying islands, the Fonoi and Mango, have been mounting due to distress beacons from the disaster struck by the Tonga tsunami.

Read Also: Submarine Volcano Eruption With 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Devastated the Capital of Tonga; Status of the Island Remains Unknown as Communication Lines Are Down

Assessing the Tonga tsunami damage

The Tonga figures suggest that 36 people live on Mango and 69 on Fonoi. It comes after her husband James recovered the remains of his wife Angela Glover, a 50-year-old British charity worker who was swept away by the tsunami. Fatalities were registered as two people drowned in the Peru coastal areas hit by the high waves.

This volcano had an influence as far as Fiji, New Zealand, the United States, and even Japan. Aid workers said that about 80,000 Tongans were adversely affected by the event.

Meanwhile, reconnaissance flights have been deployed by Australia and New Zealand to assess the damage from the eruption for appropriate responses.

Zed Seselja, Australia's Pacific Minister, claimed Australian police have visited coastlines and discovered significant damage, involving "houses blown around from the sheer force of the volcanic and seismic event, noted Business World Online.

Curtis Tu'ihalangingie, Tonga's deputy head of mission in Australia, is very concerned and alarmed about the possibility of COVID-19 propagating to the island, which is COVID-free.

The Haatafu Beach Resort is located on the Hihifo Peninsula, about 13 miles west of the Nukualofa capital. It was destroyed, remarked the proprietors.

According to a report, its family management fled for their lives through woods to evade the tsunami. Its western shoreline, as well as Kanukupolu town, has indeed been entirely demolished.

Officials from the Red Cross were mobilizing their infrastructure to attend to what they characterized as the deadliest volcanic eruption in the Pacific in generations.

The generation of the Tonga tsunami has caused severe after-effects and devastation from the volcanic event, and no one knows how much has been damaged exactly yet.

Related Article: Hunga Tonga Volcano Undergoes Catastrophic Explosion Generating Aerial Shockwave Reaching New Zealand, Sparking Tsunami Alerts

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Re.: Missy Thicketts letter Appalling behaviour at KGH (Castanet, Jan. 19)

This is about the people who are so rude to nurses and all health personnel, such as the patient who laughed when she explained the last nurse who did a nose swab on her "got slapped.

If she thought her remark was hilarious, she's got a very twisted sense of humour.

She should be told to apologize to the nurse or be denied treatment and kicked out I don't care what her health issue was.

She's obviously like that with everyone and will not learn to act better unless she's truly confronted with it.

There needs to be more security present at the emergency ward to handle situations like this immediately. That behavior should not be tolerated.

Why should any (hospital) staff put up with that? There's no excuse.

Beverly Ryder
Photo: The Canadian Press

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Thursday that there would be a swift, severe response from the United States and its allies if Russia sends military forces into Ukraine.

Blinkens comments in Berlin appeared to be another effort to clear up any confusion about the position of the U.S. and its NATO allies after U.S. President Joe Biden was heavily criticized for saying a minor incursion by Russia would elicit a lesser response.

If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe, united response from the United States and our allies and partners," Blinken told reporters.

Top U.S. and European diplomats are seeking to project a united front to Russia over concerns that it may be planning an invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine, and Biden said Wednesday he thinks Moscow will invade. He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would pay a dear price in lives lost and a possible cutoff from the global banking system if it does.

Against that backdrop, Blinken held talks Thursday with diplomats from Germany, France and Britain  a so-called Quad meeting. A day earlier, he met Ukraines president in Kyiv to discuss the threat.

Russia has denied it is planning an invasion and, in turn, accused the West on Thursday of plotting provocations in Ukraine, citing the delivery of weapons to the country by British military transport planes in recent days.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that Ukrainian and Western talk of an imminent Russian attack was a cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character.

The U.S. and its NATO allies face a difficult task on the Ukraine crisis. Biden has said he is not planning to send combat troops in the case of a further Russian invasion. But he could pursue a range of less dramatic yet still risky military options, including supporting a post-invasion Ukrainian resistance.

The rationale for not directly joining a Russia-Ukraine war is simple. The United States has no treaty obligation to Ukraine, and war with Russia would be an enormous gamble. But doing too little has its risks, too.

The challenges of keeping the United States and its NATO allies united in their response to Russia were on display Wednesday, when Biden warned Russia against any invasion but also said a minor incursion would elicit a lesser response. He later sought to clarify that he was referring to a nonmilitary action, such as a cyberattack  but the remark elicited a barrage of criticism at home that he was not being tough enough on Russia and raised the specter of possible divisions abroad.

In explaining the remark, Biden said its very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page.

But the president also prompted consternation among allies after saying that the response to a Russian invasion depends on what it does.

"Its one thing if its a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, he said.

Blinken was at pains Thursday to stress that the U.S. and its partners were united in the face of Moscows actions, noting that American diplomats have held more than 100 meetings with allies in recent weeks to ensure that we are speaking and acting together with one voice when it comes to Russia.

That unity gives us strength, a strength I might add that Russia does not and cannot match, he said. Its why we build voluntary alliances and partnerships in the first place. Its also why Russia recklessly seeks to divide us.

On the question of whether the Nord Stream 2 pipeline built to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany could be subject to Western sanctions against Moscow, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that should there be a further escalation, all measures would be laid on the table.

Blinken was to speak on the Ukraine crisis later Thursday in the German capital before flying to Geneva, where he will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday.

In his speech to the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Blinken will elaborate on the American position on Ukraine, the broader historical context of the current crisis, and the need for allies to present a unified front to confront Russias aggression and violations of international norms, U.S. officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to publicly preview Blinkens speech.

Blinken is also expected to address the Russian people to outline the costs that their country will pay should it move ahead with an invasion, they said.

While the meeting in Berlin will focus primarily on Ukraine, the ongoing talks over reviving a deal aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear program will also be discussed, according to the officials.

Following his meeting with Bilnken this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to arrive Thursday in Poland, which has long supported Ukraines efforts to move closer to the democratic Western world.

That move westward is a key point of contention in the standoff with Russia. Moscow wants guarantees that NATO will not expand to include Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations and that the alliance wont deploy weapons to those countries.

Washington and its allies firmly rejected Moscows demands in security talks last week, but kept the door open to possible further talks on arms control and confidence-building measures to reduce tensions.
Photo: CTV News

The Canadian commander of a NATO battlegroup in Latvia says his troops are at a state of high readiness, as tensions between the military alliance and Russia continue to escalate.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Lt.-Col. Dan Richel says his 1,000-strong unit, which includes about 350 Canadian soldiers, is trained and equipped to help defend Latvian territory in the event of an attack.

The Canadian-led battlegroup is one of four such units that were first deployed across the Baltics and Poland five years ago in response to NATO concerns about Russian aggression in eastern Europe.

The Russian government has demanded the alliance withdraw all its forces from the region, including the battlegroup in Latvia, after mobilizing about 100,000 troops on Russias border with Ukraine.

Canada, the U.S. and other NATO members have rejected the demand, leading to growing concerns about armed conflict between the two sides.

Richel says morale is high as the battlegroup continues training and getting ready for a possible Russian attack, as it has been doing since 2017.
Photo: Contributed

A Quesnel man was rushed to hospital with serious injuries Wednesday after being stabbed by an unknown assailant.

RCMP Cpl. Madonna Saunderson says just after 5:30 p.m., police were called to assist paramedics after they were notified of a person in need of urgent medical attention.

It was reported that an adult man had been walking along the 400 Block of Reid Street when he was confronted by an unknown man and stabbed, Saunderson says.

The victim was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

This could have ended much differently, and we ask that anyone who may have been in the area during this time, to contact the police, said Sgt. Richard Weseen.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Quesnel RCMP at 250-992-9211.
Photo: The Canadian Press Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic speaks during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022.

Trying to defuse large protests by environmentalists, Serbias populist government said Thursday that it was canceling all licenses for mining giant Rio Tinto to open a lithium mine in the Balkan country.

We have fulfilled all the requests of the environmental protests and put an end to Rio Tinto in the Republic of Serbia, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said in a televised address. Everything is finished. Its over.

Used in batteries for electric cars, lithium is considered one of the most sought-after metals of the future as the world shifts to more renewable energy sources.

For several weekends, thousands of demonstrators in Belgrade and other Serbian towns have blocked main roads and bridges to protest the planned mine in western Serbia, despite an intimidation campaign by authorities. Opponents say the project would cause severe environmental damage.

The protests posed the biggest challenge yet to the increasingly autocratic rule of President Aleksandar Vucic, who has denounced the road blockades as illegal and claimed they are being financed from abroad to destabilize the country.

Brnabic said all the licenses granted to Rio Tinto, which has been exploring mining possibilities in the country for about two decades, were provided by the previous, pro-Western government.

But Serbia's independent media allege that the main contracts with Rio Tinto were signed with the current right-wing leadership. Critics argued that by sidelining Rio Tinto, the government is doing damage control ahead of April general elections.

Earlier Thursday, Rio Tinto in a statement expressed concern over reports that the project would be scrapped.

The company said any decision should be accompanied by discussion and dialogue based on facts. It added that it is dedicated to developing the project in accordance with Serbian and international regulations.

We are not afraid of Rio Tinto, Brnabic said. We are here for our people and our country. They can do whatever they think they should do. This is the final decision of the government of the Republic of Serbia. "

It is widely believed that Serbia, which formally seeks European Union membership but instead has been forging close ties with Russia and China, may want to hand over the lithium mining to China by sidelining Rio Tinto from the project in which it has pledged to invest $2.4 billion.

Throughout its almost 150-year history, Rio Tinto has faced accusations of corruption, environmental degradation and human rights abuses at its mining sites.

Environmentalists are also upset at the Serbian governments lack of response to rising pollution in the country.
B.C.'s Urban Mayors' Caucus is applauding the opening of four complex care sites in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley as a "good first step."

The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions announced Thursday morning the first four sites will be located in Vancouver, Surrey and Abbotsford.

Details around when they will be operational was not announced.

The Urban Mayors' Caucus has listed complex needs housing as one of the four main issues it urges government to address.

It renewed calls on the government to act just a week ago.

In a news release caucus co-chairs, Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said they are pleased to see the government take these first steps toward implementing supports to assist the most vulnerable in our communities.

They say while the announcement of 98 complex care spaces is welcomed, there are still many across the province in critical needs to see this model in place.

"We continue to advocate strongly for additional funding to be allocated to expand complex care housing and supports, and we hope that the 2022 provincial budget will reflect further commitments," the mayors stated in their news release.

"Complex care housing will make a real difference in the lives of our most vulnerable residents. Its time to try new approaches to housing and to increase the level of care and support services.

"We look forward to working with the province and our health authorities to support them in getting these first four sites, and future sites, open as quickly as possible.

The Urban Mayors' Caucus represents 13 of the larger communities in the province.

They continue to advocate for four key priorities, including:
At the conclusion of his marvelous poem "Lepanto," G.K. Chesterton imagined the great Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes, setting his sword back in his sheath and smiling contentedly after playing his part in the historic victory of the Christian fleet over its Turkish foe at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Chesterton concluded his poem with these lines as a way of showing that the victory was crucial to the survival of Christendom and its cultural fruits, epitomized and symbolized by Cervantes' classic novel, Don Quixote, about "a lean and foolish knight [who] forever rides in vain."

Miguel de Cervantes fought heroically at Lepanto, receiving a serious wound to his left hand that he would wear as a badge of honor for the remainder of his life, as well he might. Born in Spain in 1547, he would not attain success as a writer until the publication of the first part of Don Quixote in 1605, when he was fifty-eight years old. The second part would appear ten years later, a year before his death. Cervantes was, therefore, a late bloomer and what might be called a one-hit wonder, his other works being largely unsuccessful during his own lifetime and largely forgotten today.

If, however, Cervantes can only claim one literary classic to his name, as distinct from the dozens of classics written by his great contemporary Shakespeare, he can claim to have written the most successful work of literature in the history of the world, at least in terms of global sales. It is generally accepted that Don Quixote is the all-time bestseller, outselling its nearest rivals, A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. As for its literary merit, we can trust the view of Maurice Baring, a fine writer who was himself the finest of critics, that "no book has such a good beginning as Don Quixote, and no book has a finer end."

So, what makes Don Quixote so special?

First, if not necessarily foremost, it was a first of its kind, arguably the first novel ever written and the progenitor of a whole new literary form. It is full of exciting action and is driven by the unlikely friendship of Don Quixote and his servant and traveling companion, Sancho Panza. The latter's almost cynical no-nonsense realism serves as an intellectual foil to Quixote's manically romantic fantasizing. At the novel's heart is the evident desire of Cervantes to satirize and lampoon the popular books of chivalry, the libros de caballerias, which were the pulp fiction of the day.

"Wherever compassion toward ridiculed and ingenious beauty is presented, the readers sympathy is aroused. The mystery of humor lies in this excitation of compassion."

This has been seen by some as evidence of a deep-seated cynicism, or at least an anti-romanticism, on Cervantes' part. Lord Byron, for instance, in his poem, Don Juan, argued that Don Quixote is an iconoclastic attack on civilization itself. Strong words indeed. The great Russian novelist Dostoyevsky, on the other hand, regarded Don Quixote as the "most perfect...of all the beautiful individuals in Christian literature," adding that "he is beautiful only because he is ridiculous." He then gets to the mystical and mysterious heart of the novel: "Wherever compassion toward ridiculed and ingenious beauty is presented, the reader's sympathy is aroused. The mystery of humor lies in this excitation of compassion."

Dostoyevsky wrote these words as he was beginning to create the quixotic character of Prince Myshkin, the protagonist of his novel The Idiot, who is clearly inspired by Don Quixote and indeed modelled on him. Prince Myshkin's transparent goodness, his lack of guile, and his noble simplicity make him an object of ridicule in the eyes of the cynically worldly and yet evoke sympathy in those who admire his virtue and see something akin to wisdom in his innocence. It is for this reason that Sancho Panza, for all his own scepticism and jaded worldliness, is attracted to the "holy foolishness" of his master. Don Quixote "has nothing of the rogue in him," he says. "[O]n the contraryhe could do no harm to anyone, but good to all, nor has he any malice in himand it is on account of this simplicity that I love him as I love the cockles of my heart, and I can't invent a way of leaving him, no matter what piece of foolishness he does."

It is, therefore, in this light, perhaps, that we should read Don Quixote, seeing its protagonist as a holy fool with whom we should sympathize, even when he is at his most ridiculous. And yet there is a real danger in taking this quixotic foolishness too far. If we are not careful, we begin to see the foolishness as something which is an end in itself, as a divine madness separating faith from reason. This is a perilous path to take, leading to the heresy of fideism. Don Quixote can lead us in this direction, seducing us to sympathize with irrational faith over rational disbelief, or it can lead us in the opposite direction, enticing us to see all faith as madness.

It is clear, however, that Cervantes intends to lead us in neither direction, both of which are inimical to the Catholic insistence on the intrinsic and indissoluble bond of faith and reason (fides et ratio). He leads us, in fact, to Don Quixote's conversion to the fullness of Catholic realism, philosophically understood, in which goodness is not married to madness, but in which sanctity and sanity are one and indivisible in the holy matrimony of fides with ratio. In short and in sum, Don Quixote is healed of his delusions at the end of the novel, regaining his sanity which finds full and final expression in his reconciliation with Holy Mother Church.

"Blessed be the Almighty for this great benefit He has granted me!" he cries in a loud voice upon awakening from sleep during his final illness. "Infinite are His mercies, and undiminished even by the sins of men."

"What mercies and what sins of men are you talking about?" asks his niece.

"Mercies," Don Quixote answers, "that God has just this moment granted to me in spite of all my sins. My judgment is now clear and unfettered, and that dark cloud of ignorance has disappeared, which the continual reading of those detestable books of knight-errantry had cast over my understanding. I find, dear niece, that my end approaches, but I would have it remembered that though in my life I was reputed a madman, yet in my death this opinion was not confirmed."

Coming to his senses, he asks for a priest to hear his confession. The priest, after absolving him of his sins, announces that there is no doubt that he is at the point of death, "and there is also no doubt that he is in his entire right mind."

"I was mad," Don Quixote says a little later, "but I am now in my senses."

And so this most enigmatic of novels concludes with the happiest of endings in which the madness of life is healed by the holiest of deaths.

In sound mind and in a state of grace, "after he had received all the sacraments," Don Quixote breathes his last.

And so this most enigmatic of novels concludes with the happiest of endings in which the madness of life is healed by the holiest of deaths. Let the final words belong to the words inscribed on Quixote's tomb:

Here lies the noble fearless knight,

Whose valor rose to such a height;

When Death at last did strike him down,

His was the victory and renown.

He reck'd the world of little prize,

And was a bugbear in men's eyes;

But had the fortune in his age

To live a fool and die a sage.

On St. George's Day 1616, Miguel de Cervantes breathed his last, on exactly the same day as the death of William Shakespeare. It was singularly and surely providentially appropriate that the brightest jewels in the golden ages of Spanish and English literature should have taken their respective last bows together. It was also singularly appropriate that these slayers of dragons should have died on the Feast of St. George, true knights as they were, who had wielded their pens like lances in the service of the good, the true, and the beautiful.
As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Ukraine on Wednesday, the Biden administration will provide an additional $200 million military assistance to Kyiv to help boost its defensive capabilities in preparation for a possible Russian invasion.

Reports say the assistance was approved in December as part of the US commitment to help Ukraine protect its "sovereignty and territorial integrity." However, US officials did not disclose details of the military assistance in public before the scheduled meeting of Blinkin with top Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.

The Associated Press reported that one US official, who requested anonymity, said that the United States "will continue to provide Ukraine the support it needs. However, it had not provided more information on the US military aid package to Ukraine.

The announcement was made as Blinken hastily scheduled a visit to Ukraine to boost warnings as the White House said on Tuesday that Russia could at any point launch an attack in Ukraine.

Blinken said that the US is aware of the plans of Moscow to further increase its military force in the area "on very short notice" which gives Russian President Vladimir Putin the capability "to take further aggressive action against Ukraine" in a short period.

The US Secretary of State is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials, to be followed by a short trip to Berlin for talks with European allies on Thursday. Then Blinken will meet with his Russian counterpart in Geneva on Friday to examine if Russia is willing to resolve the crisis diplomatically.

Read Also: Ukraine Government Websites Hit by Cyberattack That Warns To "Expect The Worst" as Russia Moves More Troops

The US Steps Up The Pressure On Russia

According to a CNN report, the military aid is part of the Biden administration's effort to increase the costs for Russian President Vladimir Putin if he proceeds to invade Ukraine, after last week's diplomatic negotiations with Russian officials that generated no remarkable progress. Moscow has also continued to increase its military force at its territory near the Ukraine border in the past few days.

A senior US official said that the US is also considering opportunities to strengthen Ukrainian soldiers' capacity to withstand a possible military takeover by Russia. That includes providing the Ukrainian Army with more ammunition, Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-craft missile systems, mortars. Such supply and equipment would possibly come from NATO allies.

In comments to U.S. Embassy staff in Kyiv, Blinken went further by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin has plans to significantly enhance Moscow's military presence near Ukraine's border, which now numbers roughly 100,000 troops.

Sending of US Troops to Ukraine is Not An Option

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that the situation is now at "a stage where Russia could at any point launch an attack in Ukraine" and Blinken intends to "highlight very clearly" that there is a diplomatic way to resolve the conflict between the two countries.

However, US President Joe Biden has stated before that sending US combat forces to Ukraine to fend off Russia is not an option.

Last week, Washington has accused Moscow of plotting a "false-flag" operation that will allow Russia to accuse Ukraine of preparing an assault. Russia has refuted such allegations by the United States, as per BBC.

Related Article: Joe Biden Outmaneuvered by Putin Regarding the Ukraine Border; Russia at an Upper Hand Advantage That Washington Will Regret

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Savannah Cement seeks KES40bn to fund new clinker plant

20 January 2022

Savannah Cement, Kenya, wants to raise KES39.7bn (US$350m) via a bond on the London Stock Exchange to build a clinker production plant.

The firm has been relying on imported clinker to meet cement demand. Savannah Cement Chief Executive Samson Shivina said that the firm expects the plant to be completed by mid-2024.

"This is entirely being financed by a bond on the London Stock Exchange because locally, we may not find banks who are going to finance such size of the project unless it is a syndicate," said Shivina. "The site works have already begun," he added.

Savannah Cement says the clinker plant will be based in Kitui and will have a capacity of 8000tpd or 2.7Mta. The company will also use the money to set up a grinding plant of 700,000tpa at the same place in Kitui to give it a competitive edge in serving northeastern parts of the country, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Imports fall

Kenya imported 0.924Mt of clinker in the nine months to September 2021, down from 1.465Mt in a similar period in 2020, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows.

The value of the imported clinker was KES5.6bn, compared with KES6.22bn spent in the preceding similar period in 2020.



Savannahs planned clinker plant comes amid calls for the government to increase import duty on the commodity from 10 per cent to 25 per cent to encourage local consumption.

New expansion projects

National Cement is planning to increase its clinker capacity by 2Mta while Bamburi will expand its capacity by 1.6Mt. Others on an expansion drive are Rai Cement (1.3Mt), Karsani Ramji & Sons (1Mta) and Portland Cement (0.096Mt).

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A medical flight crew from the Tennessee National Guard conducted an emergency air evacuation mission after a hiker became hypothermic on the Appalachian Trail on Tuesday.

Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the Tennessee Military Department and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were notified of a stranded hiker near Gregory Bald in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

The hiker was suffering from hypothermic conditions after becoming disoriented and getting lost due to heavy snowfall. Once alerted, the Tennessee National Guard began preparing for an emergency rescue mission.

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from Detachment 1, Company C, 1-171st Aviation Regiment, based in Knoxville, prepared for flight and took off less than 30 minutes later.

The flight crew consisted of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew Ridley, pilot in command, 1st Lt. Justin Hyler, pilot, Sgt. Chris Farrar, crew chief, and Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Banta and Sgt. 1st Class Giovanni DeZuani were the flight paramedics.

Just after 10:30 a.m., the flight crew located the patient in a snowy ravine. Farrar lowered Banta on the helicopter rescue hoist to the patient for a medical assessment. Next, he hoisted DeZuani down to the patient to assist in the rescue. Shortly after 11 a.m., Farrar hoisted the patient, and both paramedics, into the aircraft. Once the patient was on board, the crew rendered aid to the patient as the aircraft flew to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

Approximately 11:50 a.m., the aircraft landed at UT Medical Center where medical personnel received the patient. The entire rescue mission took less than an hour and a half.
President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that if he runs for reelection in 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris will be his running mate.

When asked by a reporter if he was happy with Harris' job leading the White House's voting rights initiative and whether he would commit to putting Harris on the ticket again, the President simply answered, "Yes and yes." Following an op-ed in which Biden proposed replacing Harris with Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Harris rejected a query about whether she'd be on the ticket in 2024 in an interview with NBC last week.

Biden commits to Harris as running mate

Still, it's unclear whether Biden intends to run for president again in 2024. Mistakes by Harris, whose supporters say she is underappreciated as a political asset and overexposed to complex subjects, have prompted deeper reflection on the Democratic Party's future.

Harris has repeatedly stated that she and Biden have not discussed whether the 79-year-old would seek reelection in 2024. In a December interview, Biden reiterated his intention to run for reelection in 2024, but he did leave some wriggle space in his response, according to CNN.

After defeating Donald Trump in the 2020 election, the US President was inaugurated in January 2021. Biden created history when he named Kamala Harris as his vice president, making her the first woman to do so. Biden will be 80 years old when the election takes place on the first Tuesday in November 2024. A running mate is a person who runs on a joint ticket with another person during an election.

Read Also: Jen Psaki Once Again Shuts Down Reporter Inquiring About Joe Biden's Delaware Trips; Press Secretary Defends Child's Virginia School

Kamala Harris' approval ratings drop

Biden defended his administration during a news conference held one day before his first anniversary in office. He claimed to have "outperformed" expectations and chastised Republicans for opposing him. He also claimed that he did not make many promises to the American people when he first took office.

Because Trump has intimated that he would run in the next election, Biden might face another difficult race. In February of last year, Trump intimated that he "may decide to beat them again." The former US President delivered a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in which he attacked the Democrat who defeated him in the 2016 presidential election. Trump hinted in his address that he would run for president in 2024, as per Express.

Harris, the first woman and the first Black and Asian American to be sworn in as vice president, appeared to be the successor apparent at first. However, her halo has fallen amid reports of staff instability, doubts about her status within the administration, and concerns with difficult tasks like minority voting rights and the southern border migration issue.

"I did put her in charge. I think she's doing a good job," Biden said of Harris' voting rights record. Biden urges Congress to pass two major bills that would expand voting rights, impose more onerous conditions on states attempting to change voting laws, and protect election officials from undue influence.

Democrats and voting rights campaigners have championed the measures as a necessary reaction to Republican efforts to restrict voting, particularly among Black and Latino Americans, NDTV reported

Related Article: Joe Biden's 1st Year in Office: President's Promises Couldn't Be Fulfilled as the COVID-19, Disunity To Push Agenda Rage On

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Several area sheriffs have announced their support for Austin Garrett for Hamilton County sheriff.

The current chief deputy sheriff is the only candidate thus far.

He announced the endorsement of three sheriffs representing Catoosa County, Dade County, and Walker County, Ga., as well as Jackson County, Ala.

The endorsements come from Sheriff Gary Sisk of Catoosa, Sheriff Ray Cross of Dade, Sheriff Steve Wilson of Walker and Sheriff Chuck Phillips of Jackson County

Each Sheriff submitted an endorsement letter to Mr. Garrett.

Sheriff Sisk said, In my opinion, Austin Garrett, is an excellent candidate for Sheriff of Hamilton County, Tennessee, and I would be honored to work with him in the future serving our respective communities.

Sheriff Cross said, If I had the opportunity to vote in Hamilton County, I would not hesitate for an instant in casting my ballot for Austin Garrett. I encourage all Hamilton County voters to do the same.

Sheriff Wilson said, Chief Garrett is a leader with proven results. I encourage the fine citizens of Hamilton County to vote for Austin Garrett in 2022.

Prior to joining the Sheriff's Office, he served 25 years with the Chattanooga Police Department, retiring as a lieutenant.

Sheriff Phillips said, This is what it takes to be sheriff - leading by example. Respecting and trusting your co-workers and superiors. Loyalty to not only the cause, but also the team that surrounds you. Commitment, energy, and willingness to go the extra mile. Austin exemplifies all these traits and more.

Sheriff Phillips began his tenure as Sheriff of Jackson County in 2011. Starting his career in law enforcement in 1988, Sheriff Phillips served alongside Austin Garretts father, who deputies called Cowboy, a 20-year veteran of the office at the time.

Sheriff Phillips went on to state, His achievements during his career speak for themselves, but knowing him as I do, I know they were earned and not given.

Austin Garrett stated, I am humbled to receive the endorsement and support of these fine men. Sheriff Phillips knew my father for many years and has been a friend and mentor since I first began my law enforcement career at the Chattanooga Police Department. Thank you Sheriff Phillips, Sheriff Wilson, Sheriff Sisk, and Sheriff Cross for your support and leadership.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology Massage Therapy faculty members Renee Johnson and Tiffany Hammond have earned Certified Massage and Body Educator status from the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education. Ms. Johnson is the senior instructor and program director for Chattanooga States Massage Therapy program and Ms. Hammond serves as an associate instructor.

We are very pleased that Renee and Tiffany have completed their certification, said Dr. Jim Barrott, executive vice president of TCAT. It demonstrates their commitment to making our Massage Therapy program the very best in the State of Tennessee, and the program graduates will be the real winners of their commitment.

CMBE certification is for a period of three years, renewable upon completion of nine continuing education hours concentrated in the areas of teaching and learning. Ms. Johnson and Ms. Hammond completed a voluntary portfolio review demonstrating proficiency in the core competencies for massage therapy teachers. As experienced educators, the portfolio review process allowed them to become certified as CMBEs without having to go through a formal teacher training process.

I feel honored to be one of the few instructors to become a Certified Massage and Bodywork Educator through AFMTE not only in our state but in the nation, said Ms. Johnson. Going through their rigorous process was very validating in that I passed a very strict standards test, set by our governing body of knowledge for massage therapy and that we are providing a quality education in a CTE (Career and Technical Education) venue.

Ms. Johnson noted that educational opportunities through summits and conferences have been imperative as they work to ensure that the program and instructors strive to be the best and to encourage students to be the best in the field as well. To me, being a massage therapy educator is a calling, said Ms. Johnson. I feel a deep need to be sure that our future massage therapists are trained to work compassionately with clients to provide quality care in the health and wellness sector of todays environment.

Ms. Hammond agreed that achieving this certification will elevate their TCAT program. This certification will show that we are willing to go the extra mile for our students and continually learn new aspects of teaching to bring to the program, she stated. I got into massage therapy because I knew I wanted to help people on a daily basis, never expecting to fall into a teaching role, but I am so thankful that I have.

Chattanooga States Massage Therapy program though TCAT consistently rates a 100 percent completion and job placement rate. Average earnings are more than $47K per year and that through 2030, the job outlook change will rise much faster than average at 32 percent.




A man on West 37th Street told police he was upset with a woman because he thinks she's out running around on him and doesn't think she is hanging out with her mother as she tells him. The woman said she likes to spend time with her mother and doesn't like that the man gets so jealous and upset every time she goes out.

* * *

An anonymous caller said a white male was taking stuff out of a vehicle and putting it into a truck at 18400 I-24 westbound. When police arrived, they spoke to a man who said he had keys for the SUV and was getting stuff for his friend. He said there was a window that was already broken when he arrived. The vehicle did not come up as stolen and the man did not have any warrants. The officer was unable to locate the owner of the vehicle to do anything further.

* * *

An officer responded to a disorder on East 11th Street. A woman said she came around a corner and another woman started to curse her. The second woman said she does not know the complainant and said nothing to her. The officer told both women to stay away from each other, which they agreed.

* * *

A woman on Portland Street said she and her son had been getting into verbal arguments for the last two days and she wanted him gone. The officer spoke with the son and told him he was no longer able to be on his mothers property. The officer asked the son if he had anywhere to stay the night, and he did not. The officer asked him if he wanted to go to the Community Kitchen to which he agreed. The officer took the son to the Community Kitchen for a place to stay for the night.

* * *

Police responded to a disorder on Cherry Street. A man was bleeding from his forehead and right eyebrow. When the officer asked him what happened, he said he just fell down but was okay. The officer asked him if he needed any medical attention for his cuts to his face and he said that he did not. He said he was just going to go where he stays under the bridge. The officer again offered medical attention, and he again refused.

* * *

Police were in the area of several dumpster fires on Johnson Street and found a man known to police loitering there. He was wearing a green construction jacket and riding a white bicycle. The man consented to a search of his person and no arson-related objects were found. He was allowed to leave the area.

* * *

Numerous arson incidents had occurred overnight in the downtown area. While patrolling those areas police came across a homeless man wearing festive patterned pajama pants, a pink beanie and black jacket. He also had a tote bag. The man was very cooperative and had no criminal history of arson or even vandalism. The officer thanked the man for his assistance.

* * *

A man on Vine Street said a man back at his house was outside yelling at him to give him his stuff. The first man said he was not going to give him his items after the incident that took place last night. The first man said he told the second man he was calling the police, and the second man got into a blue Jeep and left the scene. The first man said the second man was the one that broke his window and wished to press charges.

* * *

The manager at Speedway at 3956 Brainerd Road said a man was outside panhandling and she just wanted him to move along. Police told the man to leave the premises, which he did.

* * *

An anonymous caller on Lantana Lane said they found a vape pen in their yard near the road. Police found the vape pen and checked but were unable to find any police calls from the night before. Police collected the items and entered them into property as evidence.

* * *

While on patrol on Gunbarrel Road, police saw a white male on the side of road at the busy Walmart intersection with a sign asking for money. Police said the man was roughly 10 feet from a no solicitation sign. Police spoke to the panhandler and identified him and found he was from Oklahoma. He said he was not from this area and would leave right away. Police provided the man with information on the Community Kitchen and the services they provide. Police watched as the man drove off in his white Ford van.

* * *

A woman on Columbine Trail said around 5:30 p.m. the day before, a message popped up on her computer saying she had a Microsoft error and she would need to call them to have it fixed. She called the number on the screen and spoke to a man who she thought was a Microsoft tech and she was then turned over to another person who claimed to be named Jason and he was pretending to work on her computer. He told her to not turn off her computer and she would need to purchase a program needed to fix the problem. In order to do that, she said he instructed her to go to Target and buy a gift card for $500 and then send the card numbers by text to Ph# 508-470-0607, which she said is registered to Dennis Ma. but she's not sure if that's real. She said she purchased the gift card with her debit card and sent the text with the numbers at 7:28 p.m. last night. She later realized this was a scam and contacted her bank - Suntrust/Truist and they gave her a fraud case number. She also reported it to Target and they gave her a case number. There is no way to know if the name Jason is real at this time.

* * *

A woman on Madison Street called police and said there is residential construction ongoing. She said sometime, probably in the last 24 hours, copper wiring was stolen from the garage area at the residence. She said the suspect(s) cut the wiring from panel boxes in the garage. It will cost around $3,500 to replace what was stolen.

* * *

A man on Rosebrook Drive told police his father and stepmother requested his medical records and forged his signature to obtain them. The man said the forgery occurred at an unknown location, possibly at their residence in Ooltewah, and the medical records were emailed to his fathers email address. The man said his stepmother then presented it along with other fraudulent paperwork to his Marine recruiter at the Marine recruiting office at 6219 Lee Highway. The man said his father and stepmother are attempting to prevent him from joining the Marines.
The Health Department will be distributing a limited amount of BinaxNOW Rapid COVID tests at the Tennessee Riverpark vaccination site this Friday beginning at 9 a.m. while supplies last.

These kits are available by drive-thru only. During that time, they will only be distributing test kits.

They will begin administering vaccines that day at 11:30 a.m. and end at the regularly scheduled time of 4 p.m.

Call the hotline for more information at 423-209-8383, or visit health.hamiltontn.gov.
The law firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, PLLC announces that attorney Laura E. Bassett, of Chattanooga, has joined their Nashville office as an associate.



Ms. Bassetts areas of practice include general liability, workers compensation, labor & employment, premises liability and insurance coverage and defense.

She graduated from the University of Tennessee with her B.S. summa cum laude and went on to receive her juris doctor from the Michigan State University College of Law, cum laude. She received an LL.M. from the University of Edinburgh in 2018 with merit.

She is a member of the Tennessee and Nashville bar associations as well as the Lawyers Association for Women, Marion Griffin chapter.

Prior to joining the office, she practiced general liability, employment law and workers' compensation at a defense firm in Nashville.
Southern Lit Alliance announces guest speaker Michael Almonds company at the Arts Building on Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. Mr. Almond will be discussing his debut murder mystery and legal thriller novel, The Tannery, as well as discussing the history and personal involvement behind the story. Tickets will be $15. For more information, visit https://www.southernlitalliance.org/.

Review for The Tannery:

The Tannery details the tumultuous investigation of the mysterious, brutal murder of a young white woman in Post-Reconstruction North Carolina. Her father and tannery owner, Jakob Schumann, enlists the help of prosecutor Vincent Taliaferro, who immediately pins the blame on Virgil Wade, a sixteen-year-old mixed-race boy. However, local lawyer Ben Waterman remains unsure and begins to fight his way through the investigation of unclear evidence, racial tension, and Jim Crow ideals to convince a jury of all white men of Virgils innocence. Waterman will stop at nothing on his quest for truth in order to free a potentially innocent man from the grips of racism.

Mr. Almond, a retired international business attorney, was raised in the small town of Pilot Mountain in the Piedmont foothills of North Carolina. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was a Fulbright Scholar in political science at the University of Mannheim, Germany. His accomplishments as an attorney and experience in business law make him an equally accomplished businessman and author, giving him the heart of an author, and the mind of a historian.

An avid reader of Southern history and literature, Mr. Almond finds his passion writing about the rich history of the South. He and his wife Helen Ruth reside in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with two horses, three donkeys, and their canine companions, Lucy and Greta. The Tannery is his debut novel.




Unemployment in the state of Tennessee reached a two-year low in December, according to new data released by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The state ended 2021 with an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, which was 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the rate it recorded in November.Over the past year, Tennessee's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 1.8 percentage points from 5.6 percent to 3.8 percent.Tennessee has not seen unemployment at this level since January 2020 when it had a rate of 3.7 percent.The state experienced slight increases in unemployment in February and March of that year before COVID-19 business closures dramatically impacted the states workforce. In April 2020, Tennessee reached a record high unemployment rate at 15.8 percent. The workforce has been recovering ever since then.Total nonfarm employment across the state increased by 14,500 jobs between November and December. Tennessee employers added the largest numbers of workers in the leisure and hospitality sector, followed by the trade, transportation and utilities, and the education and health services sectors.Over the year, nonfarm employment in Tennessee increased by 96,400 jobs. The largest increases occurred in the leisure and hospitality, the professional and business services, and the trade, transportation, and utilities sectors.Across the country, unemployment in December was at its lowest rate since March 2020, one month before the pandemic began to impact the nations workforce. The United States seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December came in at 3.9 percent, down 0.3 of a percentage point from Novembers rate.A complete analysis of the states December 2021 unemployment data can be found here While the number of Tennesseans out of work continues to decrease, many citizens are still searching for work or looking for a different type of job. TDLWD offers a variety of services that can help those individuals. Assistance is available online or in-person and job seekers can begin their journey at www.TNWorkReady.com.The state of Tennessee will release the latest county unemployment rates on Thursday, Jan. 27 at 1:30 p.m. CST.
Josh Duggars trial concluded at the end of 2021 with a guilty verdict. In April 2021, federal agents arrested Josh on suspicion of downloading and obtaining child sexual abuse material. He headed to court later in the year. After a multi-day trial, he was found guilty of the crimes and now awaits sentencing. But his legal team just filed an appeal for a new trial. So, what happens now?

Josh Duggars trial ended with a guilty verdict in December 2022

Josh Duggar speaks during the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) | Kris Connor/Getty Images

On Dec. 9, 2021, Josh Duggars trial concluded with a guilty verdict. The jury found Josh guilty on two counts of obtaining child sexual abuse material. He currently has to remain in solitary confinement at a local Arkansas jail while he awaits sentencing.

According to The Sun, Josh was teary-eyed but not crying when the guilty verdict was read. As for Josh Duggars wife, Anna Duggar, she reportedly looked stoic when she heard the verdict. When the trial concluded, Anna, Jim Bob Duggar, Justin Duggar, and Claire Spivey left the courtroom together, with Anna hurriedly rushing out the door in front.

Once the trial concluded, a number of Duggar family members spoke out on social media. Many of them agreed that the justice system did its job well, and they noted theyd help take care of Anna.

Josh Duggars legal team filed an appeal for a new trial

#EXCLUSIVE: Josh Duggar demands a new trial after GUILTY child pornography verdict https://t.co/GVkBbU795F pic.twitter.com/aWOrd6yt0C  The US Sun (@TheSunUS) January 20, 2022

At the end of Josh Duggars trial, his legal team stated theyd file an appeal in the hopes of attaining an acquittal or a new trial. The Sun reports his legal team just as they said they would.

The publication notes Joshs legal team requested an acquittal of the guilty verdict. According to the defense, the team wants the judge to dismiss the possession of child pornography charge. The papers claim the Government failed to adduce any evidence that Duggar knew that the visual depictions were of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct . They also claimed the jury didnt have any evidence to suggest Josh personally viewed the illegal files on his computer.

Additionally, the court documents note Joshs legal team wants Josh to have a new trial because the Government failed to timely disclose exculpatory evidence. They also note they werent able to call upon Caleb Williams. Williams worked at Wholesale Motorcars.

What happens next? Is Anna Duggar supporting her husband through the appeal?

Josh Duggar and wife Anna's prison calls have been revealed after the disgraced #19KidsAndCounting star was found guilty in his child pornography trial. https://t.co/EtELgxPUBf  In Touch Weekly (@intouchweekly) January 12, 2022

Now that the court documents are in, what happens next? According to United States Courts, the case may go to oral argument. The lawyers and judges will meet and present the new arguments for about 15 minutes each.

From there, the court of appeals makes its final decision. Its possible the case could then go to the U.S. Supreme Court for review, but this isnt always the case. Joshs legal team would have to file a petition for a writ of certiorari to ask the Supreme Court to review.

If Josh is granted the appeal, the appellate court may order a new trial completely.

As for Anna Duggar, she has yet to comment publicly on Josh Duggars trial. And it seems she continues to contact Josh while he awaits sentencing while in jail. Call logs from The SoJo Files podcast note Anna Duggar placed over 40 calls to Josh between mid-December and early January 2022. We dont anticipate her talking publicly about Josh anytime soon.

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: Joy-Anna Duggars Statement About Josh Duggars Trial Acknowledges Anna Duggar Will Raise 7 Children Alone
Cynthia Bailey and Mike Hill continue to gush about their love for one another. Their love story was documented on Baileys last three seasons on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Despite the couple living in newlywed bliss, Hill admits things arent always peachy.

Mike Hill and Cynthia Bailey attend the 2021 Ebony Power 100 | Robin L Marshall/WireImage

Cynthia Bailey credits her husband for making her believe in love again

Bailey was previously married to Peter Thomas. Their marriage was riddled with financial trouble and rumors of Thomas cheating. Bailey filed for divorce in 2016. Post-divorce, she dated around for a bit before meeting Hill during a dating segment on The Steve Harvey Show.

Source: YouTube

RELATED: RHOA: Mike Hill Was a Fan of Cynthia Bailey Before They Met

After her divorce from Thomas, she vowed to never marry again. But Hill changed her mind. After my divorce, I needed a minute and I took some time to kind of just do me and it was very much needed, the former supermodel told ESSENCE in 2019. With Mike, the question for me I ask myself is not would I get married again, it just kind of became Would I marry Mike? Yeah, Ill marry Mike for sure because Mike is  he just feels right to meHe just feels good and he makes me happy and I feel good when Im with him and hes just his own person  hes a whole person, Im a whole person and, when were together, its great.

The couple wed in a lavish ceremony in Georgia in October 2020. Several of Baileys RHOA co-stars were her bridesmaids.

The sportscaster admits they had a tense disagreement while celebrating their wedding anniversary

The couples busy schedules force them to schedule time together. This includes celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary. But Hill says their anniversary wasnt without conflict. In an interview with Behind the Velvet Rope podcast, Hill explains that even their good times can be interrupted.

Source: YouTube

RELATED: RHOA: Cynthia Bailey Gives an Update on Where She and Husband, Mike Hill, Will Live Permanently Following Their Wedding

Sunday was our anniversary and then I took Monday off and had to go back to work on Tuesday. We basically stayed in town and went to this great hotel thats in town in West Hollywood and we just chilled, went to dinner, and enjoyed each others company, he began. But Ill say because we are also very transparentyeah we argue and Im going to tell you right now that Sunday was great [but] that Monday, I was like, We might not make it to year two. Because it was just something that happened..I dont go too far into our businessit was nothing maliciousit was just a misunderstanding. A lot of times its just communication.

Luckily they quickly got over their drama. He credits being willing to fight through their disagreements as to the reason for making their relationship work.

Mike Hill and Cynthia Bailey faced cheating rumors

Last November, a woman claimed Hill sent her nudes on social media. Hill immediately denied the womans story.

Both Hill and Bailey spoke with TMZ while trailing through an airport about the alleged scandal. Hill, 51, that the allegation was not true. Bailey corroborated her husbands account, adding the situation was very annoying. Hill added, Were greatrumors are rumors.

The sportscaster made it known that he would absolutely take legal action against the woman if the allegations continue. Well take care of it the way its supposed to be taken care of, he said. Hill also said he has no idea who it is, but he hopes the woman will get help.

RELATED: RHOA: Cynthia Bailey Says Mike Hill Had an Exit Strategy While They Were Dating
Following the conviction of Jeffrey Epsteins former associate Ghislaine Maxwell on several counts of recruiting and grooming underage girls for sexual encounters with the late financier, all eyes were back on Prince Andrew.

Queen Elizabeth IIs second-oldest son, who was once friends with both Epstein and Maxwell, has been accused of having sex on multiple occasions with one of Epsteins alleged victims when she was a minor. That led to calls for the removal of Prince Andrews titles and on Jan. 13, the queen did just that. However, there is still some confusion as to why after his military titles, royal patronages, and HRH were taken away hes still the Duke of York. Heres more on that and what residents in York, England are saying about Andrew retaining that title.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew standing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Why Prince Andrew still has his Duke of York title

After the ruling that a civil case against Andrew filed by his accuser will move forward, the princes mother was left with no choice but to take away his military affiliations and patronages.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: With the queens approval and agreement, the Duke of Yorks military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.

It was also reported that Andrew can no longer use His Royal Highness. So why is he able to keep the Duke of York title? According to the Guardian, the only way to strip Andrew of his dukedom requires an act of Parliament.

Andrew has held the title since 1986 when he married Sarah Ferguson. Before him, Queen Elizabeths father was the Duke of York.

Prince Andrew at a service marking the anniversary since the start of the Battle of the Somme | Christopher Furlong  WPA Pool/Getty Images

York residents want Andrews dukedom taken away too

There are many people who arent thrilled that Prince Andrew is still the Duke of York and now calls are growing for that title to be removed as well. Perhaps no calls are louder than those of the residents in the city of York who have started the hashtag #NotInYorksName.

For the prince to remain the Duke of York is an association we no longer feel is appropriate, and is surely not in the benefit of our city, Darryl Smalley, a Liberal Democrat and senior member of City of York Council, told Sky News. He added that those who live in the town are very unhappy Andrew still has his dukedom and said it seems strange to a lot of us here in York.

Rachael Maskell, the Labour and co-operative MP for York Central, echoed that tweeting: Its untenable for Andrew to cling onto his title another day longer; this association with York must end. Theres a very serious allegation made against this man of privilege & entitlement. Im working with agencies to tackle sexual violence & misogyny.

Why is Andrews ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, still the Duchess of York?

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew attending Royal Ascot together | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Another question many royal fans have is about Andrews ex-wife who still uses the Duchess of York title even though her marriage to the prince ended in 1996.

Closer Weekly reported that following their divorce, Sarah was allowed to retain that duchess title as was the custom. An issue that was raised is that she continued to use the style Her Royal Highness as well, so the palace sent out a letters patent regulating post-divorce royal titles. It stated that Fergie could not use HRH anymore since she was no longer married to Andrew. However, she would still be officially known as Sarah, Duchess of York but if she were to ever remarry that title would be removed from her name.

Now, it remains to be seen if she and Andrew will keep those duke and duchess titles.

RELATED: Prince Andrew Took a Dig at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Right Before Princess Eugenies Wedding
The House Select Committee, which is responsible for investigating the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot, has gained access to Trump White House records after the Supreme Court denied the former president's attempts to block the process.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court's decision cleared the way for the release of the highly-contested records. The order means that more than 700 documents can now be transferred to Congress that some lawmakers believe could show details on events prior to the Capitol Hill insurrection of loyal Trump supporters.

Supreme Court's Decision

More than a year ago, the incident had hundreds of rioters, who believed that former President Donald Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 elections, stormed the Capitol to stop Joe Biden's certification. Only Justice Clarence Thomas publicly said that he never granted Trump's request to block the document handover from the National Archives to the House Select Committee.

On the other hand, Biden's administration supported the release of the documents to the select committee, arguing that it was in the best interest of the nation to decline Trump's executive privilege. The panel is seeking to explore the former president's role in the Capitol Hill riot and trying to overturn the 2020 election results, CNN reported.

Read Also: Jen Psaki Once Again Shuts Down Reporter Inquiring About Joe Biden's Delaware Trips; Press Secretary Defends Child's Virginia School

Despite all of Trump's attempts to block the handover of the documents, he will not be able to appeal the Supreme Court's decision. In late 2021, the Republican businessman also made failed attempts in Washington, D.C.'s federal district and appeals court to block the panel from gaining access to the records. He then asked the Supreme Court to take the case in hopes of stopping the process.

Trump had previously argued, unsuccessfully, that he had the authority as a former president of the United States to invoke executive privilege to prevent the disclosure of the records. He cited that argument in his application to the Supreme Court.

White House Records

The lower courts ruled that Trump did not have the authority to override Biden's decision to waive executive privilege over the records. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said that the situation where it is being questioned whether and when a former president could obtain a court order blocking the release of records despite an incumbent president saying they can be released was unprecedented, CNBC reported.

In a previous emergency application, Trump's lawyers said that Congress did not have authority to rifle through "confidential, presidential papers" of a former president to meet political objectives or advance a case study. They said that the requests were a sign of the panel's broad investigation of a political foe.

The White House counsel, Dana Remus, said that Congress was closely examining the assault on the country's Constitution and democratic institutions. She said that the actions were provoked and fanned by the people who swore to protect them. Remus noted that the conduct under investigation extends far beyond typical deliberations concerning the proper discharge of the president's constitutional responsibilities, the New York Times reported.

Related Article: New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James Claims Donald Trump's Children Donny, Ivanka Are Involved in Company's Fraudulent, Misleading Asset Valuations

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RHOSLC newcomer Jennie Nguyen came under fire following the release of offensive 2020 Facebook posts. The reality star has since apologized for the content, claiming she thought she was speaking out against violence at the time.

RHOSLC newcomer Jennie Nguyen Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen  Season 18 | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

Jennie Nguyen apologized for controversial Facebook posts

In Jan. 2022, a Reddit user released screenshots of controversial content the newest Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member shared to her Facebook page in 2020.

Several hours following the release, and after many fans called for her firing, Jennie Nguyen acknowledged the backlash in a statement. She started it off by apologizing for the now-deleted posts, claiming she thought she was speaking out against violence at the time of posting.

RELATED: RHOSLC: Lisa Barlow Responds to Heather Gays Get Her Comment: Youve Got Issues

However, the Housewife insisted she has since learned how offensive and hurtful my words were. Nguyen continued, explaining she deactivated the account last year and planned to keep educating herself on differing perspectives. She ended her statement with, I regret those posts and am sincerely sorry for the pain they caused, and the hashtag, hate is a virus.

While Nguyen turned off her Instagram comments, those on Twitter could respond. Many didnt accept her apology as they wanted her to explain the controversial posts that had nothing to do with speaking out against violence. Additionally, some thought she only apologized because the posts resurfaced.

She uploaded anti-BLM and vaccination content to her Facebook page in 2020

The newcomers numerous posts shocked many Housewife fans as they accused her of being racist and anti-Black Lives Matter. Several memes Nguyen shared promoted former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party while speaking negatively about Democrats.

One aimed at Vice President Kamala Harris accused the politician of earning her position by sleeping with the right powerfully connected men.

Jennie from #RHOSLC is facing tons of backlash after her Facebook posts from 2020 have came to light. pic.twitter.com/NnysIqRw9l  jay (@JaysRealityBlog) January 19, 2022

A focus of much of the content reposted by Nguyen surrounded the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd that sparked various protests across the country. She shared memes spreading misinformation about the case, including a pregnant woman Floyd was falsely accused of attacking before his murder.

The RHOSLC star has also posted videos supporting Asian business owners who attacked Black protesters and rioters and content expressing anti-vaccination sentiments. Finally, Nguyen advocated for police officers in several posts, maintaining they arent the problem.

Nguyen is a cast member on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

Introduced to the cast by Lisa Barlow for RHOSLC Season 2, the ladies say they met while pregnant at the same time.

Born in Vietnam, the successful businesswoman previously sold her medical spas on spending more time with her three children.

Those of us who peeped Jennies game knew something was up with her after how she was speaking to Mary on this trip, yet some of you cheered her on week after week after week! So where are all of those Team Jennie accounts at now? #RHOSLC https://t.co/E8dO4hj2u7 pic.twitter.com/xJaxbT9Lfu  The Peach Report Daily (@ThePeachReport) January 19, 2022

RELATED: RHOSLC: Mary Cosby Leaves Hints That She Has Quit the Franchise

During the second season, the cameras follow her as a full-time stay-at-home mom who doesnt want any more kids despite husband Duys pleas. As he has already noted his desire to have a large family, the newest housewife is resistant, mainly due to the number of miscarriages the couple has already experienced.

Nguyen seemed to easily fit in with the ladies but quickly butt heads with Mary Cosby. Additionally, a conversation in which she told Jen Shah about the private investigation Meredith Marks had into her backfired, putting her in the hot seat. RHOSLC airs Sundays on Bravo.
Netflixs Singles Inferno contestant Song Ji-a has faced backlash over a major scandal. She captured fans attention for her beauty and exquisite taste in luxury brands like Chanel and Prada. But fans soon realized her big lie. The designer items she wore on the show were proven to be fake by fans. After the news spread, Ji-as appearance on The Manager will be edited out.

Song Ji-a from Singles Inferno Paradise date | via Netflix

Singles Inferno Song Ji-a issued a public apology through Instagram over the scandal

Fans were enamored with Ji-as name brand items on Singles Inferno. The beauty content creator and social media influencer paraded on the island wearing Louis Vuitton swimsuits, a pink Chanel sweater, and a furry hot pink Prada bag that fans loved. Fans analyzed the clothing items and jewelry she wore on the show and made a startling discovery.

Many of Ji-as items on Singles Inferno were dupes or fake. As a high-end Youtuber who shared recently bought luxury items with fans, it was a major disappointment. Ji-a admitted to the fake designer items being partly true and apologized to fans through Instagram.

I would like to apologize to the brands who have suffered damage from the issue. I extend my sincere apology to my fans and subscribers as well, she said. Ji-a also explained she had removed all Instagram posts with the fake designer items.

According to The Korea Herald, purchasing fake designer items is illegal in South Korea. Buyers who are unaware of their fake authenticity are not scrutinized under the law.

Song Ji-as appearance on The Manager is in jeapordy

RELATED: Singles Inferno: Cha Hyun-seung Rejected Requests to Star in the Show and What Made Him Say Yes

After news of the fake designer scandal, Ji-a faces another dilemma. Since her time on Singles Inferno, she gained a considerable following and has become a bit of a celebrity. She recently finished recording a guest appearance on variety shows.

According to Soompi, JTBCs Ask Us Anything and MBCs The Manager reported on Jan.18 they would continue with her scheduled appearance. But on Jan.20, representatives of The Manager revealed footage of Ji-a will not air. Single Infernos Ji-a was to appear alongside actor Kang Ye-won.

Multiple rumors about the Singles Inferno cast and Ji-a have surfaced

RELATED: Singles Inferno: Song Ji-As Luxury Apartment Allegedly Does Not Belong to Her

The cast of Singles Inferno has faced some scrutiny since the shows finale. Besides the controversy surrounding Ji-a, Kim Hyeon-joong was accused of using steroids to gain his muscular physique. According to Koreaboo, he firmly denied the allegations in an Instagram Q&A.

I have never used it. I have been exercising for 11 years, said Hyeon-joong. That is not all. Fans also accused Choi Si-hun of having worked in a host bar. Host bars are all-night drinking rooms where female customers can pay for male companionship. According to Koreaboo, he addressed the allegation in a post on Instagram.

Firstly, I would like to say honestly that I am not a host bar host. Ive never done anything bad in my life and have been making an honest living, said Si-hun.

Fans learned of Kang So-yeons past as a K-Pop idol and what happened between Cha Hyun-seung and An Yea-won during the show.
The Young and the Restless cast has gone through many changes the past year, including the departure of Tara Locke (Elizabeth Leiner). Tara became the shows biggest villain when she tried to break up Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) and Summer Newman (Hunter King). Yet, like many bad girls, Tara eventually got her comeuppance and was carted off to prison. However, the show has left it open for a possible return down the road.

The cast of The Young and the Restless I Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

The Young and the Restless fans wonder if theyve seen the last of Tara Locke

Tara debuted on The Young and the Restless in March 2021. Shes the wife of New York businessman Ashland Locke (Richard Burgi) and mother of Harrison Locke (Kellen Enriquez). However, Tara later reveals her past affair with Kyle and that hes Harrisons father. Ashland divorces Tara after learning about her betrayal, and she immediately sets her sights on reuniting with Kyle.

RELATED: The Young and the Restless: Elizabeth Leiner Set to Exit the Show

Tara joins forces with Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope) to get rid of Summer. Their plan works when Summer leaves Genoa City for a new job in Milan, Italy. However, Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) becomes suspicious and discovers the womens scheme. Phyllis busts the duo then gets revenge by having Tara arrested for fraud.

Her last appearance came on Aug. 6, 2021, when she was hauled off in handcuffs. Since then, theres been no mention of her, and fans on Reddit wonder if Tara will ever return. I always was shocked that she just got hauled to prison and never heard from again. Like no custody arrangements, no trial, just straight up locked away, wrote one viewer.

Whats happened during her absence?

Its been five months since Taras exit, and a lot has changed on The Young and the Restless. Kyle married Summer, and the couple now lives in Italy with Harrison. As for Taras ex-husband Ashland, hes also moved on.

Ashland married Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) in Tuscany, where Kyle, Summer, and Harrison showed up for a surprise reunion. Ashland and Victoria are settling into married life nicely, and hes becoming involved in the latest business drama with The Newmans.

Taras main storyline during her brief stint on the show was breaking up Summer and Kyle. With the couple gone, there seems no need for Tara to return. However, there are plenty of stories for when and if she comes back.

Possible storylines for Tara Lockes return

Taras potential return could spell trouble for another The Young and the Restless couple. Lies about his past plagued Ashland and Victorias relationship. After Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) began snooping, Ashland confessed to his real identity and scamming Camilla Rhodes out of money.

RELATED: The Young and the Restless: Richard Burgi Set to Exit the Show

Despite Ashlands lies, Victoria stayed with him but made him promise no more secrets. Fans know theres more to Ashland than hes letting on. Tara may have some juicy information about her ex-husband that shed love to share. Given what Taras been through, shed love nothing more than to see Ashlands downfall.

Aside from Ashland, Tara will also be seeking payback against Phyllis. The redhead is why she was sent to prison, and an angry Tara isnt going to let Phyllis off the hook. With Sally also having her issues with Phyllis, the two could again team up, this time to take down the hotel owner.
A new method can measure the electrical (re-)charging of boundary layers between very small, metallic particles and aqueous solutions and understand it at a molecular level.

Researchers from the RESOLV Cluster of Excellence at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB) have used current and voltage measurements on individual nanoparticles to determine that the capacitively stored charge at platinum interfaces can be significantly higher than previously assumed. They attribute this to a special arrangement and bonding of water molecules. To this end, the international team led by Professor Kristina Tschulik, whose ideas were awarded an "ERC Starting Grant" by the European Research Council in 2020, cooperated with partners from France and Israel. The authors describe their findings in the journal "Angewandte Chemie International Edition" - online, published December 19th, 2021.

Although interfaces between metals and water are the local areas where crucial processes of energy technologies such as water splitting occur, comparably little is known about their structure and changes during such processes. For more than 100 years, the scientific description of such interfaces has been based on the model of the so-called electrochemical double layer. It states that charge carriers in an aqueous solution are increasingly arranged in the boundary region to the metal, to compensate for excess electrical charges on the metal side. In the process, the opposing charges are separated by water molecules. Similar to a standard plate capacitor, this nanoscopic charge separation in the interface allows energy to be stored and released later. Processes in which the molecular structure of the electrochemical double layer changes are relevant to many green technologies, such as supercapacitors and fuel cells.

Thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair

Nanoparticles, which are thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, are investigated for such technical applications. Due to their advantageous ratio of process-relevant surface area to volume, they offer particularly good conditions for this. "In order to track down the capacitance and the rearrangement processes in the electrochemical double layer on platinum and gold nanoparticles, it was crucial to develop a method with which precise discharge currents can be measured on individual nanoparticles in solution," reports Kristina Tschulik. Otherwise, it would not be possible to distinguish effects related to the electrochemical double layer from effects caused by the interaction of neighbouring nanoparticles, since billions of them are present on a conventional electrode.

The Iranian scientist Dr. Mahnaz Azimzadeh Sani, who was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), used so-called colloidal nanoparticle dispersions. There, nanoparticles are separated from each other and finely dispersed in aqueous solution, randomly striking a biased microelectrode every now and then. With the help of computer-aided molecular dynamics simulations, on which researchers from the RUB and the Universite Paris-Saclay and Sorbonne Universite in Paris worked, it was possible to interpret similarities and differences in voltage-dependent measured capacitive currents of different types of nanoparticle dispersions. The measured unexpectedly high capacitances, are attributed to the increased accumulate of dissolved ions in regions between a compact water layer bound to platinum (and less trongl to gold) and an adjacent water layer of a different arrangement. "Furthermore, water molecules are detached from the metal surface when more negative voltage is applied" explains Dr. Julia Linnemann, team leader at Tschulik's chair. In the future, the RUB scientists want to find out whether and why the double layer structure is different on large electrodes consisting of many nanoparticles, in order to make the findings utilizable for commercial applications.
Cherokee Nation finalized the acquisition of the Greasy School campus in southern Adair County in October 2021. The tribe plans to repurpose the site into the Cherokee Nations second Cherokee language immersion school starting with the 2022-23 school year.
Funeral Service will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday, April 30, 2022, at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church. Interment will be at Rose Hill Cemetery under the direction of Sevier Funeral Home. Elnora J Rock of Chickasha, OK, passed away on Thursday, April 21, 2022, at the age of 85. She was born Dece
Widespread outrage ensued after more than 100 Muslim women from India were put up for sale in an online "auction" where their pictures were made public on an open software app on GitHub, prompting Indian police to make several arrests.

In the incident, which is the second such online auction in India over the last six months, the female victims involved in the fake auction include female activists, journalists, and politicians. Right-wing trolls have continued to target the minority Muslim community in the region; the majority of which support the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Online Auction of Women

The Muslim women who have been critical of the policies enforced by the BJP-led federal government have filed complaints against the people who managed the online auction app. Police authorities said that they have so far arrested four people between the ages of 18 and 21.

Officials have identified 21-year-old engineering student Bishnoi as one of the suspects and is believed to be the alleged creator of the app. Activists have said that the app, known as the Bulli Bai app on GitHub, was designed to bully and humiliate Muslim women who have spoken out against the government, Nikkei Asia reported.

The name of the app is a derogatory Hindi phrase for Muslim women; one of its victims is a 27-year-old journalist identified as Quratulain Rehbar. She said that it took her at least two to three hours to process the information that she saw on the app.

Read Also: Select Committee Gains Access to Trump White House Records After Supreme Court Rejects Former President's Block Attempts

While authorities quickly shut down the fake online auction app and arrested several people in connection to the incident, some of the victims have said that the damage had already been done. Rehbar, who hailed from Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region bordering India and Pakistan, said the app's goal was to "sexually harass, disgrace, humiliate, and hate on women for speaking out against the government."

Bullying and Harassment

A similar app was released in July 2021 when Sulli Deals created profiles of nearly 100 women using images that were found online and described the female victims as "deals of the day." The word "Sulli" is also a derogatory Hindi slang term that many right-wing Hindu nationalists use for Muslim women, the New York Post reported.

Another victim of the recent fake auction, Hiba Beg, a graduate student in the United States, was simply visiting the grave of her grandmother in New Delhi over the weekend when she learned that she was put up for sale on the app. The incident is her second time being involved in such an attack in less than a year.

Her screen quickly filled with dozens of calls and messages from friends, all sharing the same screenshot of the profile that was created on the app mimicking her. Beg, who was a former journalist with an active online presence, found her images being used on the app on Saturday before it was taken down by authorities.

The online space within India is rife with misogyny and harassment of women, but the two recent incidents have amplified concern about the potentially organized nature of the crime. It also showed how they tried to silence women who were speaking out, the New York Times reported.



Related Article: UK Prime Minister Johnson Eases COVID-19 Restrictions Amid Leadership Crisis

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During his 21 years as lead pastor of Grace Church in Greenville, North Carolina, Mike Meshaw has seen many people come and go in the transient area that is home to East Carolina University.

Before COVID-19 shut things down in March 2020, the independent evangelical church averaged about 220 people a week. Almost two years after the church briefly suspended in-person services because of COVID-19, he says they are averaging about 150 people a week.

Most of the people who are not attending [services] are afraid, he told us. They are uncomfortable being around crowds.

The church voluntarily halted in-person worship early in the pandemic, but it was not long before the leadership began hearing from members who missed their church family. More than 50 percent of our church pushed us to reopen, Meshaw noted.

As soon as possible, they reopenedand sooner than other churches in the area. That decision turned out to be a positive thing for the church.

Our people still take precautions, social distancing, and masksvoluntarily, Pastor Meshaw stated, including canceling a service when necessary. But we stay open.

While the church has fared well, the pastor is concerned about the impact of the ongoing pandemic on his congregation, especially during this recent surge in cases.

One positive test and you put the information out there, and the fear multiplies into a monster, and people get shaken by it, he said. My concern is this wear and tear on peoples emotions. How long will they be able to sustain that before they just get frustrated? Some have.

Other churches have had to deal with declines in attendance and tensions in the congregation over safety protocols.

Wade Bradshaw is the lead pastor of a large PCA church in Charlottesville, Virginia, which began livestreaming services in March 2020 and reopened for in-person worship last fall.

There was a Zoom fatigue that set in with streaming, he acknowledged, adding that the church has experienced significant, discouraging tension over masking. He explained that many doctors attend the church and advise us to be conservative. But an element of the congregation is angered by the mask-mandated position.

Overall, Bradshaw said church attendance has not recovered to pre-COVID levels, but, he added, it is very hard to prognosticate on what long-term effects the pandemic will have.

Some recent research offers insight into that question.

In June 2021, the Associated Press broke a story that many houses of worship in the US had shuttered forever because of the pandemic.

According to data collected in April and May 2020 by Barna Group, one in three practicing Christians dropped out of church completely at the beginning of COVID-19. Moreover, church membership in the US dropped below 50 percent for the first time in 2020, according to Gallup data dating back to 1940.

This year, a new Institute for Family Studies (IFS) analysisusing the American Family Surveysheds further light on how religious attendance has declined significantly over the past two years.

The share of regular churchgoers is down by 6 percent, from 34 percent in 2019 to 28 percent in 2021. (Its worth noting that the terms church, religious services and house of worship are used interchangeably.) Meanwhile, the share of secular Americans who have never or seldom attended religious services increased by 7 percent.

The American Family Survey measured religious service attendance as: Aside from wedding and funerals, how often do you attend religious services? (We dont know whether respondents answers included online church attendance as part of their religious service attendance.)

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The decline in religious attendance varies by a few demographics. Americans who are younger or older are more likely than those in the middle age groups to have experienced a drop in attendance. It is also more pronounced among married adults without children under age 18. Some 30 percent of married adults without young children attended religious services regularly in 2021, down from 40 percent in 2019.

On the other hand, ideology does not appear to be linked to the decline. Conservatives are more likely than moderates and liberals to attend religious services in the first place, but the decline in attendance is similar in all three groups. Likewise, there are no significant differences by income.

Thats not the case when it comes to race. According to the data, Black Americans are more likely than others to have experienced a sharp decline in church attendance.

In 2019, 45 percent of Black Americans attended religious service regularly. But by 2021, the share dropped to 30 percent, a difference of 15 percent. The decline in other racial/ethnical groups is between 5 to 6 percent.

We spoke to an African American pastor of a 2,000-member evangelical church in Raleigh, North Carolina, that has managed to beat the pandemic odds. The Upper Room Church of God in Christ just celebrated its 86th week of live worship since going online for a seven-week stretch nearly two years ago.

One of our slogans is We believe worship is worth the risk, so we put our safety protocols in place, the senior pastor, Bishop Patrick L. Wooden, Sr. explained. This includes mandatory temperature checks, socially distanced seating, and two worship services to help space people out. We have fared well, and the Lord has spared us, he added.

Although the church has not experienced a big decline in attendance, some of its members have not returned to in person worship yeteither due to sickness, the compromised health of a family member, or just not being comfortable coming back yet. But he says most of the congregation still wants to gather in person.

Im telling you, they have come out! Wooden said, noting the church has even had visitors travel from other states to worship with them just to be in a live church service.

Still, he is concerned about the decline in church attendance nationwide, which he attributes, in part, to many churches closing their doors to in-person worship.

I am somewhat disappointed with how many are responding to this particular hour, he said. Weve begun to justify closing our churches and going online. If you think that church attendance is down now, what do you think is going to happen as these same people hear ministers say that attendance is not necessary? he asked. Just sit there in the comfort of your home, and stream us, and thats the same? I dont think we can survive that kind of a thing.

As more COVID-19 vaccines and treatments become available, the burning question is whether there will be a rebound in church attendance after the pandemic finally passes. It is hard to predict, but previous research on how the 20072009 Great Recession affected religious attendance may shed some light.

At the time, many people believed the economic crisis would lead to higher levels of church attendance. However, data shows there has been no such increase since the Great Recession. Research also suggests the financial crisis did not have any clear impact on the levels of religious attendance in European countries, either.

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I think some people look at [the pandemic decline in church attendance] as the church being purified of people who are just uncommitted, rolling over into the rise of the Nones, Meshaw said. But for our church, that has been a low number. He believes most people who havent come back are just not comfortable enough to attend in person yet, but hes been reassured by many others who continue to show up on Sunday.

It is possible that some empty pews may be replaced by online worshipers, but there is no available data to support this. Moreover, a lack of in-person interaction could weaken the social bonds within churches as the pandemic prolongs.

As we know, religious service attendance is not only linked to having a better social support network, but also to several public health benefitssuch as less depression, lower suicide rates, and less drug and alcohol overdoses. Online services, with people isolated at home, are unlikely to offer the same level of benefits.

There are also emotional costs for people who practice religion but no longer attend services. According to the Barna survey, respondents who stopped attending church during COVID-19 were more likely to feel insecure and anxious, compared to practicing Christians who didnt stop attending services in person.

As Tyler VanderWeele and Brendan Case pointed out in a recent CT article, Empty pews are an American public health crisis. And this crisis includes the health of the nuclear family. Thats because Americans who attend religious services frequently are more likely to be married and have children.

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, religious Americans are also more likely than nonreligious Americans to have a stronger desire for marriage and children. So a decline in religious service attendance has the potential to negatively affect not only public health but also family stability and population growth.

I believe that the reason we have tremendous increase in suicides, depression, and mental problems is because the House of God is closed, Wooden said. He believes the solution to the decline in church attendance is simple: more churches should get back to in-person fellowship, safely.

Pastor Meshaw of Grace Church in Greenville, NC emphasized that the pandemic has increased the need for pastoral care ministry.

He said pastors need to work harder than ever to keep in touch with people who cannot attend a church servicewhether through social media, email, phone calls, or visiting in person when possible, especially for the elderly who have been hit hardest by the isolation.

At the end of the day, however, Meshaw is not letting the pandemic discourage him about the future of the church.

If anything, he said, Im more motivated than ever to shepherd our people through this to the other side.

Wendy Wang is director of research at the Institute for Family Studies and a former senior researcher at Pew Research Center.

Alysse ElHage is the editor of the Institute for Family Studies blog. She formerly worked for 17 years as a writer and researcher for the North Carolina Family Policy Council.

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This piece was adapted from Russell Moores newsletter. Subscribe here.

Some people in her own party want Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to lose her membership on committees and even her place within her partys conference in the United States House of Representatives, all because she wont move on from her beliefs that the attempts to overturn the last electionleading up to last Januarys attack on the Capitolare a clear and present danger to democracy.

Whatever you think of Cheney (as you can imagine, I am a fan), theres a larger point hereone that applies to many evangelical Christians in a thousand different situations in their churches and communities: At what point will you stop conserving your influence?

I thought about this conundrum last week while reading the transcripts of a New York Times podcast debate between Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark and Rich Lowry of National Review, both of whom are conservatives that admire Congresswoman Cheneys integrity and conviction.

Where they disagree is on whether Cheney has squandered her influence within her party in ways that will prevent her from solving these problems in the future.

As a politician, you have to be aware of where your voters are, Lowry said. Doesnt mean that you pander to them or play to their worst instincts or always say yes to anything they want. But to live is to maneuver. Especially if youre a politician. Lowry said that Cheneys refusal to back down on these matters wouldnt be helpful. After all, if youre not at the table, you cant have influence.

Sykes noted that this idea is a common rationalization and that its circular. People who want others to remain silent or to go along with any sort of craziness often tell themselves that they need to stay in the room so they can sound the alarm, but they refuse to sound the alarm so they can stay in the room.

When I read this, I immediately thought of how often I have sat in the surreal situation of a television debate where the person I was debating gave a sad shrug and agreed with me off camera but went right back to saying the opposite as soon as the lights and cameras came back on.

I can think of people Ive known in Christian ministry who told me, behind closed doors, how disgusted they were with a politician they deemed to be immoral but then, in public, praised the same politician as a man of integrity. The same thing is true all through the government.

The argument is that we need grownups in the room. As leadership expert John Maxwell once put it, Being one step ahead makes you a leader.  Being fifty steps ahead could make you a martyr. People in the vortex of crazinesswhether in a workplace, a church, or a governmentoften tell themselves they have to play along with things they find insane to maintain their long-term ability to keep bad things from happening. If Im not here; someone worse will be, they reason.

Theres a kernel of truth there, of course. I do a facepalm every time I hear of a young pastor who, after just arriving at a church, removes the American flag from the sanctuary or tries to excommunicate everybody who hasnt attended in a year. Even if you are right, these are not your biggest problems right now, I would tell that person. And this is the wrong time to take them on.

Daniel in Babylon was willing to go the lions den over the demand that he worship the king, but, when it came to eating the rich delicacies of the kings table, he prudently posed alternatives instead. Jesus didnt believe he owed the temple tax but paid it so that we may not cause offense (Matt. 17:27). The apostle Paul circumcised Timothy so that the younger mans Gentile heritage wouldnt be a stumbling block to the mission (Acts 16:3).

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The problem is that there comes a point where one moves from choosing battles to having ones conscience seared. Peters refusal to eat with the Gentiles was, Paul wrote, not acting in line with the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:14). Almost every time someone acts out of fear of getting kicked out of what C. S. Lewis called the Inner Ring, the person reasons that this is just working within the system or living to fight another day.

Whatever you think of Liz Cheney (did I mention that Im a fan?), no one can seriously suggest that she was a radical revolutionary inattentive to maneuvering. She twice supported the president she now criticizes and voted with him over 95 percent of the time. She had the esteem of her colleagues such that she was elected to the third-highest rank in her partys House hierarchy. She is a grownup. She was in all the rooms.

There came a line, though, that she could not crosswhen she was asked to support things she believed to be contrary to her oath to the Constitution. What was she supposed to wait for? If attacking the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes is not the moment she should speak out, what exactly is that moment?

Martin Luther King Jr., in his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, was responding to a group of white moderate pastors who had criticized his nonviolent action in the city as doing more harm than good by pressing progress so fast that it caused backlash.

Sociologist Peter Berger explained in the same time period how this happens. He showed that a key predictor of whether a pastor would speak out on the injustice of Jim Crow was whether that church was in a building program or a major church growth campaign.

And, contrary to the idea of biding ones time and building ones influence in order to do the right thing later, Berger found that the longer a pastor served at his church, the less likely that pastor was to challenge Jim Crow.

On the way up, we tell ourselves, I dont have the platform yet to speak; when I get one, I will. After we arrive wherever we were heading, we tell ourselves, I have too much to lose; if I am not at the table, they will lose my voice. We think this is the voice of prudence inside us, but maybe more often than not, its just ambition mixed with fear.

Not only are the internal rationalizations circular, but so are the external circumstances. Whether in a church, a ministry, a workplace, a city council, or a neighborhood association, we tell ourselves, I am going to live with this little bit of craziness so that I will be here to stop major craziness.

Yet while those crazy things are happening, someone watching all this is wondering, Am I the only one who sees that this is crazy? When everyone else acts like the crazy situation is normal, that observer shrugs and concludes, It must just be me.

And then the craziness becomes the new normal. And folks conserve their influence for when its needed, for whatever is just a step crazier. Ive been there, and that way leads to nowhere good.

Sooner or later, ones influence isnt conserved but hoarded. Sooner or later, one is operating not out of prudent patience but from a seared conscience.

Stop counting on the grownups in the room to solve the problems. Stop imagining that the crises erupting around us will settle down on their own.

Sometimes the grownup in the room is the only one who can point out that the room is on fire.

Russell Moore leads the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today.
Abortion holds a unique place in the realm of American public opinion.

While views on issues like same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization have shifted dramatically over the last ten years, people tend to hold on to their positions on abortion. In my upcoming book, 20 Myths about Religion and Politics in America, I spend a chapter explaining how abortion opinion is basically unchanged over the last four decades.

Evangelicals have been the religious group with the strongest views against abortion, and across generations, theyve held to their pro-life stances. As recently as 2016, the age gap between younger and older generations on the issue was small and substantially insignificant.

But data from 2020 has begun to show a different trend. Younger white evangelicals have become more permissive of abortion, while older ones have moved in the opposite direction.

When survey participants were asked about abortion rightswhether women should always be allowed to obtain an abortion as a matter of choiceoverall support was predictably low in 2016. Just a third of those 35 and younger were in favor. In older groups, fewer and fewer evangelicals were in support. Among white evangelicals of retirement age, less than a quarter were in favor. There was about a 10-percentage-point gap between the youngest and oldest evangelicals on the issue of abortion.

By 2020, support for abortion rights dropped among every age group but the very youngest.

Thirty-eight percent of them said that they favored abortion on demanda four-point increase in four years. But among older evangelicals, support dropped significantly. In 2020, just 16 percent of the oldest white evangelicals were in favor, a drop of eight points in just four years. The age gap doubled in the four-year span, now up to 22 percentage points.

This age gap is persistent across a number of questions about abortion.

Respondents were asked if they favored allowing private employers to decline coverage for abortion in their insurance. Support for the policy has been robust among white evangelicals both in 2016 and 2020, never dropping below 60 percent among any age group.

However, the age gap has also grown. In 2016, there was almost no variation to this question based on age. Evangelicals born in the 1950s became even more supportive of the policy in 2020, a jump of nearly 10 points, while support from younger evangelicals dropped nearly as much. In 2016, about 73 percent of white evangelicals born in 1990 were in favorit was 64 percent by 2020.

When respondents were asked about late-term abortions, the age gap persisted. In 2016, between 80 percent and 85 percent of older white evangelicals supported a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of gestation. Just four years later, support for a ban increased by about five percentage points.

Yet among evangelicals born in 1980 or later, there was less enthusiasm for a late-term abortion ban in 2020 compared to 2016. Among white evangelicals born in 1990, 77 percent were in favor in 2016, dropping to 74 percent in 2020. While the majority still believe in banning late-term abortions, the age gap is much larger in 2020 compared to 2016.

Its not possible to say that white evangelicals actually changed their minds on abortion because the same people were not surveyed in both waves of the research. Instead, we can see that older people who identified as evangelicals were more anti-abortion in 2020 than they were in 2016, while younger white evangelicals became more in favor of abortion rights.

Why did we see so much change in just the four years between 2016 and 2020? There arent easy answers in the data. Younger white evangelicals, in many ways, are just as committed to Republican politics as older ones.

One potential explanation is that abortion has become less stigmatized and more openly discussed, and that can have tremendous impacts on public opinion. Its plausible that some younger evangelicals were persuaded to moderate their stance on abortion because they had a more personal connection to the issue.

Abortion may not be as central a cause for young people overall. A 2021 New York Times article noted that some, raised in a post-Roe world, do not feel the same urgency toward abortion as they do for other social justice causes.

For years, pro-life evangelicals were the exception. Pro-choice advocates had worried about the intensity gap among young people, Slate reported, with a NARAL survey finding that pro-choice voters under 30 were half as likely as their pro-life counterparts to consider the issue of abortion very important in the 2016 election.

Perhaps the shifts we see among young evangelicals, and the burgeoning wave of Gen Z adults, show this distinction beginning to fade.

In a year when many evangelicals are anticipating a major milestone in the pro-life movementthe chance that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wadeit looks as if fewer young believers will celebrating alongside them.

Ryan Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University. His research appears on the site Religion in Public, and he tweets at @ryanburge.
Indiana pastor, elders accused of covering up child sex abuse resign amid investigation

An Indiana church is on the lookout for new leadership following the resignation of three of its elders and its pastor, who are under investigation after being accused of failing to appropriately address reports that the pastors underaged family member had sexually abused up to 15 children.

Pastor Jared Olivetti and ex-elders Keith Magill, Ben Larson and David Carr of West Lafayettes Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church have issued their resignations following allegations of mishandling reports of abuse, the congregation was told during Sundays service.

Ken de Jong, who serves as Immanuels provisional moderator, made the announcement.

We want to make sure everyone here knows what transpired this week, especially yesterday, de Jong said.

At the congregational meeting yesterday, elders Keith Magill, Ben Larson and David Carr resigned, and the session received this resignation, and its effective tomorrow, so theyre still elders today. Pastor Jared Olivetti has also submitted his resignation, which will be processed through the presbytery over the next couple of weeks.

He added that the four issued their resignations very reluctantly.

They have done so specifically to encourage the growth and development of this congregation, he said.

Thank you, men for your service, and we pray that God would use this in the life of this congregation and the lives of these men. They are not going anywhere  thank the Lord, de Jong added. Give an earnest prayer for the congregation on Friday, when the church will seek to find the Lords leading with respect to those who will step in and fill the roles these men have given up for the sake of the Lords Gospel and His church.

The resignations came after the Reformed Presbyterian Church placed Olivetti on leave earlier this month as it investigated the accusations.

It had been disclosed that Olivettis teenage relative had been harassing children and committing sexual offenses against minors, as well as engaging in other unlawful acts. According to internal church documents acquired by The Indianapolis Star, church leadership, including Olivetti, allegedly did not act with any urgency.

Olivetti and the session leaders were alleged to have tried to hide the allegations from church members and denominational leaders for roughly four months.

Although there are no criminal charges filed against the pastor and three elders, ecclesiastical charges are pending against them amid regional and national investigations within the denomination, according to the Indy Star.

The newspapers December investigation revealed that the abuse happened at the Immanuel church location, and abuse also occurred away from the church grounds from spring 2019 to March 2020.

Eight victims from different families reported over- and under-clothes touching, oral-genital contact and penetration committed by a boy at church.

An order entered in Tippecanoe County juvenile court indicates that investigators identified up to 15 children who suffered abuse at the hands of the boy in question, according to The Indianapolis Star. The newspaper adds that a judge found the juvenile to be delinquent on multiple felony charges of child molestation, and the child was sent to a residential facility.

The Christian Post reached out to Immanuel Reformed Presbyterian Church to comment on the allegations. A response was not received by press time.

Magill took to the podium in front of the church to deliver a final prayer during the service.

As with great confidence, we affirm what we heard this morning in that the King of a Christ will stand, he began. Nothing will defeat Jesus, until the end of time and all things are consummated, when He returns and we live in that hope day in and day out and that knowledge deeply planted in our hearts today.

We want to respond, Lord, by just saying again: We belong to you and we want to do your will, he continued. We want to follow you with a whole heart and we want to serve the good King with joy day in and day out.

Magill thanked the Lord and referred to the book of Matthew where Jesus said He would build His Church and the gates of Hell should not prevail against it.

And we are in the middle of seeing that here now at Immanuel, he said.

Youre building Your church. Sometimes its a little strange how You do it, but we know youre doing it. And so, we trust You, Magill said to the Lord. We give You thanks for doing it. And thank You for letting us be a part of it, which is no small thing. Were just very grateful this morning for these truths that drive us and motivate us. And keep us on track.

Magill prayed for the Lord to help the church amid the ongoing challenges.

With it being his final church service as an elder, Magill redirected his prayer to focus on the elder elections to replace the leaders who resigned.

We ask Lord that You would raise up another set of men who are willing to take on this challenging, difficult situation here but can do it with hope, with determination, with humility, and with a desire to see Your will accomplished, he asked.

Magill prayed that the Lord would give them the ability to look forward to what lies ahead in the future.

I pray that it would just be so clear where Your Hand is upon this process and guide us, we ask in the work of Your Spirit, he said. And bless those men that are elected as they go through the examination process, as they figure out what their job is going to be, how to work it out.

As his prayer came to a conclusion, Magill prayed for mercy for him and the other leaders who resigned.

We also pray Lord for the judicial commission of senate. They now have some big decisions to make regarding us, based on whats been done this week, he added.

I just pray that Youll give them a merciful spirit, he said, choking up on his words. I pray that Youd give them kindness and love and that You would help them to bring this whole thing to a just conclusion. And we pray Lord that if they do otherwise, that You, Lord, would give a great deal of wisdom in how to respond, what to say, what to do, what not to say, what not to do, that we might see these troubles come to some kind of a resolution in facing.
United Methodist seminary ordered to sell campus to local consortium amid financial woes

A California-based seminary affiliated with the United Methodist Church dealing with financial woes was recently ordered by a court to sell its campus to a local consortium of higher education institutions although it hoped to merge with another college with ties to Methodism.

The Los Angeles Superior Court issued a ruling earlier this month ordering Claremont School of Theology to provide an offer to Claremont Colleges, Inc., a consortium of local schools, to buy the campus.

In a statement released on Jan. 6, CST said that while it is considering an appeal to the decision, the school aims to make sure that it receives a fair price for the property.

Our number one priority is ensuring our current and prospective students maintain access to the world-class education they want and deserve from Claremont School of Theology, said CST President Rev. Jeffrey Kuan in the statement.

We hope to collaborate in good faith with The Claremont Colleges Inc. to identify a mutually beneficial and fair resolution to this matter that will allow CST to continue to operate on our present property, perhaps on a smaller footprint, while also supporting the future fiscal stability of our institution.

In 2015, due to financial struggles, CST had expressed an interest in merging with Willamette University of Salem, Oregon, which has historic ties to the Methodist Mission.

However, citing a 1957 agreement, Claremont Colleges argued that it has the right of the first offer on the CST property and could purchase the property well below what CST was asking.

We are pleased with the Courts rulings, a Claremont Colleges statement reads. As invested members of the Claremont community for 135 years and firmly committed to our home, The Claremont Colleges are duty bound to protect the property entrusted to us for the benefit of our students, faculty and staff as well as the community.

Claremont Colleges includes seven other member institutions: Claremont Graduate University, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Keck Graduate Institute, Pitzer College, Pomona College and Scripps College.

CST purchased the land from TCC, at a negotiated price, to begin operations in Claremont in 1957, the consortium explained in its statement.As part of the parties original agreement, TCC retained a right to repurchase the property according to an agreed purchase-price formula if CST ever desired to sell or transfer the property or left Claremont.

CST agreed to the repurchase right in 1957, that right was documented in their 1957 agreement, and that right has been recorded in the propertys chain of title ever since.

The consortium has stated that it has several potential plans for the property, which include the creation of new student housing, additional classroom spaces while other institutions renovate older facilities and new academic programs.
This week in Christian history: Infant baptism debate, St. Anthony dies

Throughout the extensive history of the Church, there have been numerous events of lasting significance.

Each week brings anniversaries of impressive milestones, unforgettable tragedies, amazing triumphs, memorable births, notable deaths and everything in between.

Some of the events drawn from over 2,000 years of history might be familiar, while other happenings might be previously unknown by most people.

This week  Jan. 16 to Jan. 22  marks the anniversary of the Hampton Court Conference, Zurich holding a debate over infant baptism, and the death of an early church saint who pioneered organized monasticism.

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Christian romance film Redeeming Love to show what real love looks like': Author Francine Rivers

The bestselling book Redeeming Love has been adapted into a film and Francine Rivers, the creator of the popular romance novel, said she hopes it will show the world what real love looks like.

Redeeming Love has remained on multiple fiction bestseller lists for over 15 years, sold over 3 million copies, and has been published in more than 30 languages. Bringing her classic book to life on the big screen has been a long journey! Rivers told The Christian Post in a recent interview. Despite several offers to adapt Redeeming Love into a movie, the author felt the scripts were never reflective of the primary message.

They didnt capture Michaels Christlike character, and I couldnt give approval, she said of the main character in her book, who is supposed to serve as an example of the pursuing love that God shows to His people. Thats always been the most important thing for me: to make sure the movie shows what Gods love is like  passionate, patient, persistent  ever-lasting.

Not finding any script to be quite right, Rivers decided to start reading books on scriptwriting and write her own sample script depicting what she wanted to see on screen.

The film is now being directed by DJ Caruso and produced by Roma Downey (The Bible) and Cindy Bond (I Can Only Imagine).

I didnt expect them to want my effort, but they did, Rivers said of her script. When D.J. Caruso came onboard as director, he restructured the script and worked with me to strengthen scenes. The collaboration is what makes the film different from, but true to the book.

The novel is based on the Old Testament book Hosea and is filled with scripture verses from beginning to end. Like the novel, the film is set in the backdrop of the California Gold Rush of 1850. Although referenced throughout the movie, the religious elements are not seen as much in the cinematic feature.

I want people to see that no matter whats been done to us or the sins we commit, God loves us and offers us new life through Jesus," Rivers told CP, reflecting on what she wants viewers to learn from the film.

"Michaels obedience to God and patient courtship of his wife softens her heart. She falls in love with him, but its really God who will free her. We all have to make a choice. Surrendering to Jesus is the one decision that changes us from the inside out and sets us free to love as God loves us. I wanted viewers to see the difference between what the world says love is and what real love looks like. Hopefully, they will want to experience that kind of love for themselves, available only through Jesus Christ, The New York Times bestselling author added.

The story centers on Angel (Abigail Cowen of 'I Still Believe') who was sold into prostitution as a child. She has survived through hatred and self-loathing until she meets Michael Hosea (Tom Lewis of 'Gentlemen Jack') and discovers there is no brokenness that love cant heal. The story reflects the redemptive power of unconditional and sacrificial love with characters and circumstances relevant to the contemporary world, the film synopsis reads.

In the Hollywood telling of the romance novel, both of the main characters tap into prayer at different points in the film.

Prayer is communication with God," Rivers continued. "The inner thoughts of the two characters cant fully be seen on screen, but are clear in the book. Angel hears and believes Satans lies. Michael listens to God. He knows he is in the middle of a spiritual battle over Angel. Watching his obedience as he lives a life of faith is what begins to change Angel from the inside out.

"But the ultimate step to freedom involves her making a choice. When she cries out to God in prayer, He hears and answers, and her life is changed forever. The same is true for all of us. Every human being on the planet has a choice to make. Choosing to believe Jesus Christ brings freedom and a right and everlasting love relationship with our Creator.

Although not overly preachy, the movie made an impact on some people on set.

I remember one young woman on the crew who said she had never been religious or a believer, but seeing the story come to life made her want to believe, Rivers told CP. Thats what Im hoping will happen. The story of Michael and Angel will create a hunger and thirst for Gods love. Its available to all.

Also, one of the stars said the set had a very different (peaceful, communal) feel from all others hed been on. So many involved in the film had one goal: to glorify God, she added.

The harrowing story exposes the evil of human trafficking and child exploitation. When Rivers wrote the novel over 30 years ago, she had no idea people worldwide were still being bought, sold and trafficked into all forms of slavery.

The story is based on the book of Hosea in the Bible, a book that had a tremendous impact on my own faith journey, she continued. It was letters from readers who shared their devastating stories of abuse and shame and how Redeeming Love gave them hope that opened my eyes to Gods love for them. Its important to see the harsh reality of life. We cant stop trafficking unless we acknowledge it is happening. Then we can stand with survivors and fight to stop it.

An unexpected blessing that has come out of adapting Redeeming Love into a movie is the formation of the Redeeming Love Sanctuary Foundation, headed by Holly Caruso, wife of D.J. Caruso.

She and I talked at length, and I shared with her how Rick and I have always seen Redeeming Love as my first fruits as a Christian writer. It has always belonged to God, including the proceeds (minus taxes) which have gone to charity work. Whatever Rick and I make from the movie will go into this foundation, Rivers explained. Our mission is to aid in preventing sex trafficking and abuse by funding survivor support services, education and recovery programs in the United States and abroad.

After all the books success, Rivers shared what she is most thankful to God for doing.

I am most thankful for how God can use anything, even a work of fiction, to reach into the hearts of His beloved children, River testified.

When someone is deeply touched by the story of Michael and Angel, its God holding out His arms to that person. He loves us so much. All He wants is for us to love Him back, she added.

Rivers ended the interview by saying that her big dream for the film is that people would leave the theaters understanding how long-suffering, passionate and wonderful Gods love is for each of us.

Redeeming Love hits theaters on Jan 21.
Raphael Warnock to Senate colleagues: You can't remember MLK and dismember his legacy

Rev. Raphael Warnock, who was elected as Georgias first black U.S. senator a year ago, urged his colleagues in Congress Monday not to "dismember" the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by opposing Democrat-backed voting rights legislation.

The 52-year-old Warnock, who continues to lead the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. and King Jr. both served as pastors, made the call during the Beloved Community Commemorative Service remembering famed civil rights leader's life at the church on Monday.

Our nation needs our prayers. We are at a critical moment. As pastor of this church now for over 16 years, I know that at this time of the year, everybody lines up to offer praise in memory of Martin Luther King Jr. Everybody loves Dr. King. They just dont always love what he represents, Warnock began.

Everybody quotes Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend. Perhaps the most quoted speech will be that one that he delivered in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. I Have a Dream 1963, an important speech.

However, Warnock reminded the audience that the I Have a Dream speech was not the first speech King gave before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

First time he gave a speech at the Lincoln Memorial the year was 1957, when Dr. King, in his own relevant and powerful and prescient way, talked about all kinds of conniving methods being used to stop people from voting, Warnock said. Was he talking about then or was he talking about now? Warnock continued before taking aim at his colleagues.

I asked the question because Ive been to this mountain at this moment time and time again, and I know that politicians especially, God bless their hearts, would want to be seen standing where Dr. King stood, he said. Let the word go forth. You cannot remember Dr. King and dismember his legacy at the same time. If you would speak his name, you have to stand up for voting rights. You have to stand up on behalf of the poor and the oppressed and the disenfranchised.

The Democrat continued that those championing the words of King have to stand up for healthcare because he said out of all the injustices, inequality in healthcare is the most shocking and the most inhumane.

He invoked the words of Joshua 24:15.

I was a preacher long before I was in the Senate, he said. So I offer you the words of Joshua. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.

Democrats have been loudly beating the voting-rights drum in recent weeks, including some in the faith community. About 25 progressive faith leaders recently embarked on a hunger strike in a bid to push Congress to pass voting rights legislation by Martin L. King Jr. Day Monday.

Conservatives contend that bills, such as the one passed last year in Georgia, aim to improve the integrity of the voting process amid allegations of voter fraud. Progressives believe that such bills curtail ballot access for urban and suburban communities.

Legislation proposed since Democrats won the House in 2018 includes the For the People Act, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Last week, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that combines the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. That bill is now before the more evenly divided Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris breaks a 50-50 tie in favor of the Democrats.

The Democrats voting bills have been met with varying degrees of resistance from Republicans while an ongoing debate over whether the Senate filibuster should be repealed continues to rage.

Abolishing the filibuster would give Democrats the ability to pass bills with a simple majority in the Senate rather than compromising with Republicans to meet a 60-vote threshold. Two Democrats  Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona  have said they would not vote to end the filibuster.

I am sometimes sitting in the chamber when some of my colleagues are making arguments against the voting rights bills that we are trying to pass right now, and as I listen to their arguments, their arguments sounded strangely familiar, Warnock argued Monday.

And I began to wonder why, and I went back and looked again at the history that Ive studied my whole life, and I realized that many of the segregationists who opposed voting rights  many of the opponents of voting rights, they didnt stand up and say we are opposed to black people voting. They made states rights arguments.

He argued that voter suppression bills have been passed in 19 states and introduced in 49 states.

Governors and members of the Congress are channeling old states rights arguments to fight against voting rights now the same way they did back then, he contends. So  Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. You cannot remember Dr. King and dismember his legacy at the same time.

As progressives maintain their voting bills aims to prevent states from suppressing votes, critics of the legislation say they are attempts to defang voter identification laws passed in 35 states, ban the updating of voter rolls and block poll observers from watching the vote count.

Several other speakers at the King ceremonial event, including Vice President Harris, who joined remotely, spoke about voting rights and the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, which aims to set national standards for voting access.

A landmark bill, as we all know, sits before the United States Senate: The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act. This bill represents the first real opportunity to secure the freedom to vote since the United States Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act nearly a decade ago. And the Senate must pass this bill now, Harris said.

You know, it was more than 55 years ago that men, women and children marched from Selma to Montgomery to demand the ballot. When they arrived at the state capitol in Alabama, Dr. King decried what he called normalcy  the normalcy, the complacency that was denying people the freedom to vote.

Harris stressed that the only normalcy King would accept is the normalcy that recognizes the dignity and worth of all Gods children.

Today, we must not be complacent or complicit. We must not give up, and we must not give in, she said. To truly honor the legacy of the man we celebrate today, we must continue to fight for the freedom to vote, for freedom for all.

Despite a Democrat-imposed Martin Luther King Day deadline to vote on the voting rights bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced last Thursday that a vote wont take place until at least Tuesday. But Democrats dont appear to have enough votes to pass the legislation as long as the filibuster remains in place.
New York district attorney calls for end to prosecuting serious crimes. Its every criminals lucky day in Gotham

All criminals are welcome appears to be the policy of the New York district attorney.

With the departure of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the election of Eric Adams, a Democrat who at least rhetorically voiced support for the police and law and order, some hoped that worrying crime trends in New York City would be reversed.

The early signs arent promising.

Newly-elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a day 1 memo highlighting how various crimes  some quite serious  will no longer be prosecuted under his leadership.

One of the crimes his office wont prosecute is armed robberies of businesses. Suspects in those cases who make off with less than $1,000 in stolen goods will now be charged with the lesser crime of petty larceny, a misdemeanor.

Among the other crimes his office will no longer prosecute are resisting arrest, fare beating, prostitution and trespassing. Basically, the only criminals who will now face serious jail time are murderers.

It gets worse.

Even when Bragg does intend to seek jail sentences, the penalties will not be stiff, wrote Seth Barron at City Journal. Bragg says that the maximum sentence sought for any offense will be 20 years, and that his office will never seek life without parole. If 20 years is the maximum sentence for the worst offenses, expect a severe discount on sentences for other offenses across the board.

If these policies seem familiar, thats because they mirror a path charted by other radical, left-wing district attorneys across the country, like Chesa Boudin in San Francisco and Larry Krasner in Philadelphia.

These district attorneys have made policing nearly impossible, as even in the cases when an already stretched thin and beleaguered police force is able to arrest criminals, they are very soon put back out on the street.

Things arent working out well in those cities. Violent crime is soaring, and other types of crime  like mass retail looting  are also on the upswing.

The situation is so terrible in San Francisco that Mayor London Breed, who defunded the police, recently called for an end to the reign of criminals and the city, and announced that the city would pursue more aggressive policing.

Well see if they follow through.

The problem remains that whatever the mayor and police department do to clean up criminality, those measures can be easily undermined by an out-of-control district attorney who simply refuses to bring criminals to justice in the name of social justice.

Thats what may soon happen in New York.

Like many big, blue metropolitan areas, New York has been hit with a massive surge in violent crime since the summer of 2020. Yet, despite the trend, New York has generally been safer than other cities, thanks to the crime-fighting policies of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others who cleaned up Gotham in the 1990s.

It seems many have forgotten the lessons of the very recent past.

The New York district attorney said that his policies were meant to marry fairness and safety. But given the details of his memo, its clear this marriage is a sham.

Some prominent New York leaders expressed concern with Braggs memo.

The New York Police Departments newly appointed police commissioner Keechant Sewell said she thought they could put public safety 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, she wrote in an email to police officers.

Should anyone be surprised though? Bragg ran on an explicitly progressive message. He is just carrying progressive ideas about defunding the police and restorative justice through to their logical conclusions.

The evidence is already coming in that criminals are learning that they have the keys to the city, and theres little the justice system will now do about it.

A New York Post report on Wednesday highlighted a case in which Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Jay Weiner told an ex-convict being charged with misdemeanor petit larceny that his case two weeks ago would have been charged as a robbery, and that he was lucky that he wouldnt face a long prison sentence.

The man, who had a lengthy criminal record, threatened a drug store owner with a knife and allegedly stole thousands of dollars in items.

Naturally, he didnt show up to his follow-up court appearance after being released without having to post cash bail. New York abolished bail for minor crimes in 2019. Not great when almost all crimes are now considered minor crimes.

As a recent Wall Street Journal editorials headline noted, the new district attorneys policies will make New York a sanctuary city for crime.

Its not exactly a wild prediction to say that other hardened criminals in the city will likely realize that today can be their lucky day, too.

Unfortunately, this is not just a problem for New Yorkers or people living in cities with other radical district attorneys and irresponsible political leaders. Our cities becoming hives of violence and criminality will affect everyone. Like an infected wound, the lawlessness will allow criminality to spread as more dangerous people are let out on the street to act with impunity.

The progress this country made on crime in the last few decades will very soon evaporate and we will have to go through the arduous process of setting things right.

We all pay when progressive fantasies about restorative justice and crime become reality, and reality comes back to slug us all in the face.

Originally published at The Daily Signal.
Religious Freedom Day: The Biden admin. is failing to uphold our first freedom

Since 1993, the United States has formally observed Religious Freedom Day on January 16. The day honors the nations first religious freedom law, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, passed in 1786. Like other presidents before him, President Joe Biden released a proclamation acknowledging the day. Although the presidents comments on religious freedom were mostly encouraging, it is difficult to appreciate his rhetoric when many of his actions throughout the first year of his presidency have undermined the freedoms he claims to support.

In his proclamation, President Biden described religious freedom as a cornerstone of who we are as a Nation and a vital aspect of our American character. The president also said that protecting religious freedom is as important now as it has ever been. On these points, the president is right. Enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution, religious freedom is central to our national identity. But even though the presidents comments rightly place religious freedom as essential to the American way of life, his administration has unfortunately failed to meaningfully protect the rights of the faithful.

For example, following his inauguration on January 20, 2021, the new president issued an executive order that requires federal agencies to interpret federal laws that prohibit sex discrimination as also prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In doing so, Biden expanded the holding of the problematic Bostock v. Clayton County U.S. Supreme Court decision far beyond its intended scope of employment discrimination.

On February 4, 2021, President Biden issued a memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons Around the World. This memorandum reaffirms and supplements an Obama administration executive order that sought to ensure United States diplomacy and foreign assistance promote[s] and protect[s] the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons everywhere. What this really means is imposing the far Lefts human sexuality agenda onto other countries, including U.S. allies with laws upholding natural marriage and human sexuality. This is just one example of how instead of prioritizing religious freedom overseas, the Biden administration has given preference to radical LGBT policies.

Another example is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) memorandum issued on February 11, 2021, which applied the Supreme Courts Bostock decision to the administration and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. The likely ramifications of this action could include HUD-funded shelters for battered women being mandated to allow biological men to be housed alongside women, where they may share private spaces such as sleeping quarters and bathrooms.

On February 14, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order dismantling the previous administrations White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, replacing it with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The accompanying fact sheet revealed that the office would function as an intersectional advancement of progressive policies  a shift away from preserving religious freedom and towards ensuring religious entities that want to work with the government do not operate according to their religious beliefs that are counter to the LGBT agenda.

On March 8, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order establishing a White House Gender Policy Council. The accompanying fact sheet states that the council will aggressively protect certain groups, including the LGBT community, in its endeavor to advance equal rights and opportunities, regardless of gender or gender identity, in advancing domestic and foreign policy. The removal of the scientific and biological parameters of sex will prevent this council from adequately protecting and addressing the needs of biological women.

The same day, President Biden issued another executive order declaring that the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions (collectively, agency actions) to ensure they line up with the LGBT agenda.

On March 26, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memorandum on the application of Bostock to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, paving the way for schools mandatory acceptance of gender identity ideology. In addition, President Biden issued a statement on May 17 recognizing International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, which celebrates the anniversary of the World Health Organizations declassifying homosexuality as a mental disorder. He touted the administrations work on the issue and called on Congress to pass the Equality Act, a bill that would erode the freedom of houses of worship, religious schools and students, and faith-based organizations.

When he was inaugurated last year, President Biden inherited a federal bureaucracy accustomed to defending religious freedom. Under the previous administration, Americas first freedom had been prioritized and actively protected. For example, the DOJ vigorously enforced laws that protected prayer and religious expression. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within its Office of Civil Rights to enforce federal laws that protect conscience rights and religious freedom. The U.S. State Department hosted an annual ministerial highlighting religious freedom issues abroad. In other words, the Trump administration embraced policies that valued religious freedom and actively protected the rights of people of faith.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration has managed to undo or undermine many of these policies, relegating religious freedom to the backseat while pursuing radical policies couched in anti-discrimination language.

Less than a decade ago, President Barack Obama commemorated Religious Freedom Day by declaring, individuals should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind  and of the heart and soul. The idea of living out ones faith means that ones convictions apply to the whole of life. True religious freedom means someone should have the freedom to believe what they want in terms of doctrine and theology and have the freedom to order their life according to their deepest convictions.

Unfortunately, despite the pro-religious freedom rhetoric, the Biden administration is failing to protect these rights and is seemingly working overtime to roll back some of the hard-won protections secured by the previous administration.

Originally published at the Family Research Council.
New York City police are searching for a lady who reportedly made antisemitic remarks to three youngsters before spitting on one of them. The incident occurred about 12:30 p.m. on Friday in the Marine Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, according to the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force.

The lady is accused of approaching an 8-year-old kid who was accompanied by two other youngsters. According to police, she made the remarks and then spat on him before fleeing. She then went along Avenue, according to FOX 5 New York. The incident did not result in any injuries to the youngsters.

New York woman could face charges for spitting on child

As a result of what transpired, the lady may face accusations of aggravated harassment. She had a light complexion, was in her 20s, stood 5'3" tall, weighed roughly 140 pounds, and had long, black, straight hair. At the time of the incident, she was wearing an orange hoodie with black leggings and black "Ugg" type boots, according to authorities.

On security footage taken shortly after 12:30 pm on Friday, the lady can be seen storming up to the youngster and two other children on Avenue P near Coleman St. in Marine Park. According to authorities, the children were standing in front of the Kehal Tiferet Avrohom Ziditshov Orthodox synagogue.

"Hitler should have murdered you all. "I'm going to kill you and find out where you live," the woman said as she stepped in front of them as per the cops. They claimed she then spit, turned around, and walked away, Daily News reported.

Read Also: Connecticut Boy Dies of Fentanyl Overdose After Bringing Nearly 40 Bags of Deadly Drug at School

A woman recently dies of hate crime

Meanwhile, police say a woman was shoved to her death in front of a subway train at the Times Square station on Saturday, little over a week after the mayor and governor announced plans to beef up subway patrols and outreach to homeless individuals on the city's streets and trains.

At a press conference with Mayor Eric Adams at the station, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated the individual suspected of being responsible fled the scene but turned himself in to transit police a short time later. Michelle Alyssa Go, a 40-year-old Asian-American woman from New York, was waiting for a southbound R train at 9:40 am when she was allegedly shoved.

A second lady told police she had been contacted by the man minutes before and was afraid he would force her down the rails. As word of the newest subway system attack circulated, Manhattan metro commuters were astonished and horrified. Simon Martial, 61, was identified as the suspect by police late Saturday night.

Martial was charged with second-degree murder when authorities discovered he was destitute. During the outbreak, many New Yorkers have been concerned about subway facilities and safety. Although police figures suggest that significant offences on subways have decreased in recent years, ridership has also decreased, making comparisons impossible.

Recent attacks have also drawn public attention and sparked anxiety. Three transportation personnel were assaulted in separate instances on the same day in September. In May, a group of assailants stabbed and attacked many passengers on a train in lower Manhattan; and in February, four separate stabbings - two of which were deadly - occurred within a few hours on a single subway line.

Several individuals have been stabbed, punched, or forced into the rails at subway stations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Times Square in recent months. The attack on Go on Saturday came amid a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in New York and around the country. Officials said the homicide was under investigation, including if it was a hate crime; but they noted that the first lady Martial reportedly approached was not Asian. Martial is a black person, South China Morning Post reported.

Related Article: Pregnant Woman Shot Dead in New York While Trying To Halt Dispute Between Ex and Boyfriend at Her Baby Shower

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200 Hindu radicals attack Christians at house church in India

A mob of some 200 Hindu nationalists attacked a house church during its worship service in Indias eastern state of Chhattisgarh, injuring the pastor and at least two other Christians and forcibly converting a Christian woman to Hinduism, according to a report.

The mob, apparently led by a man identified as Sanjith Ng, assaulted the Christians in a church in Odagoan village in Chhattisgarhs Kondagaon District on Sunday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported.

Sanjith Ng barged into the house where the worship service was underway and beat Pastor Hemanth Kandapan and a member of the congregation, identified as Sankar Salam, ICC said, adding that the man then dragged the pastor out of the house where more than 200 people had gathered.

The mob brutally beat the pastor and Salam, claiming they were illegally converting Hindus to Christianity. The pastor and the congregant sustained severe internal injuries and had to be hospitalized.

The mob threatened the Christians, saying they would be killed if they continued to hold prayers in the village.

I was under house arrested for nearly nine hours, Pastor Kandapan was quoted as saying. All through that time I was hackled and abused by the mob even in the presence of the police.

On Monday, leaders of the Hindu nationalist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) forced the Christians to participate in a religious ceremony where a Christian woman, named Sunderi Bathi, was forcibly converted to Hinduism.

The situation in the village is still tense, Pastor Kandapan said.

We do not know how long these families will have to stay out of their homes, he added, referring to five families that had fled the village.

Kondagaon is a tribal-majority district.

Attacks against tribal Christians have increased since radical Hindu groups launched a campaign in 2020 to stop the countrys tribal, or indigenous, people from converting to Christianity. These groups have been demanding that the government ban those who convert from receiving education and employment opportunities.

Most tribals do not identify as Hindus; they have diverse religious practices and many worship nature. However, the governments Census deems them to be Hindu.

In September 2020, tribal villagers vandalized 16 houses belonging to Christians from the same tribe in three separate attacks, forcing most of the Christian women in those villages to flee into jungles for safety at the time.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, attacks on Christians have increased and intensified.

While Christians make up only 2.3% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%, there has been an uptick in radical Hindu nationalist attacks on religious minorities.

The watchdog group Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, reports that Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences.

Hindu extremists believe that all Indians should be Hindus and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam, an Open Doors fact sheet on India explains. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background. Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and blamed for bad luck in their communities.

For Indias Christians, 2021 was the most violent year in the countrys history, according to a report. At least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution were reported in the year.
Pastors among 9 Christians arrested, charged with 'illegal' conversions in India: watchdog Authorities storm church during worship service, confiscate Bibles

Police in Indias central state of Madhya Pradesh arrested nine Christians, including two pastors, on false charges of illegal conversion under the states controversial anti-conversion law, a Christian persecution watchdog organization reports.

Police arrived at a house church in Jhabua Districts Padalya village, where Pastor Ramesh Vasuniya was leading a worship service last Sunday, local sources told the U.S.-based International Christian Concern reported.

The pastor was allegedly dragged to a police van, and five congregants were reportedly arrested.

In a separate incident in Bisoli village in the same district, police reportedly arrested three Christians, identified only as Pastor Jansingh, Ansingh and Mangu. They were charged with forced conversion.

Sources also allege that officers beat the three Christians inside the police station.

Upon searching their homes, authorities reportedly confiscated Bibles and a certificate for a Bible course as evidence of forced conversion.

Officers were said to have demanded Pastor Jansinghs wife to pay 300,000 rupees (approximately $4,000), saying she would otherwise never see her husband again.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, human rights advocates have warned that attacks on Christians have increased and intensified.

While Christians make up about 2.5% of Indias population and Hindus comprise about 80%, radical Hindu nationalists have carried out attacks on Christians under the pretext of punishing the use of monetary rewards to convert Hindus to Christianity.

Several Indian states, including Madhya Pradesh, have enacted anti-conversion laws, which bans the use of force, financial benefits or other forms of allurement to encourage Hindus to convert to Christianity.

While some of these laws have been in place for decades, no Christian has been convicted of forcibly converting anyone to Christianity. Hindu nationalist groups often abuse these laws to make false charges of forced conversion against Christian leaders and organizations.

Anti-conversion laws typically state that no one can use the threat of divine displeasure, which essentially means Christians cant talk about Heaven or Hell since it would be seen as luring someone to convert.

The independent news website The Scroll reports there has been an "anti-Christian" mobilization in the Jhabua district for over a year that has organized rallies and pressured government officials. In September, the Jhabua district administration reportedly issued notices to Christian leaders and churchgoers demanding information on their conversions to Christianity.

According to the newspaper, the notices were meant to serve as a ground for legal action against those responsible for alleged forced conversions in the area. Those notices were withdrawn by the province's high court in early December.

India ranks as the 10th worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs 2021 World Watch List. According to the organization, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences.

Hindu extremists believe that all Indians should be Hindus and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam, an Open Doors fact sheet on India explains. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background. Christians are accused of following a foreign faith and blamed for bad luck in their communities.

According to a report from the United Christian Forum, 2021 was the most violent year in the countrys history for Christians. The forum documented at least 486 violent incidents of Christian persecution. The previous record was 328 incidents in 2019.
14-year-old Pentecostal girl kidnapped, forced to marry captor in Pakistan

Yet another underage girl in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her Muslim captor and police have allegedly been slow to act on the case, according to a report.

Mahnoor Ashraf, a 14-year-old Pentecostal Christian, has been missing since she left her home, along with her 8-year-old nephew in Lahores Cantonment area in Punjab province for a nearby shop on Jan. 4, Morning Star News reported.

The nephew later told Mahnoors parents that their Muslim neighbor, 45-year-old Muhammad Ali Khan Ghauri, had abducted her with the help of his friends.

When Mahnoors father, Ashraf Masih Chaudhry, went to the alleged abductors house, he was informed that he had been missing ever since.

Ghauris house is on the same street, and our families had good terms with each other, Mahnoors older brother, Akram Masih Chaudhry, was quoted as saying. We dont know when he managed to lure Mahnoor into a relationship.

The abductor is married with two children.

Chaudhry then filed a police complaint but the investigating officer was slow to act on their case, Akram said, adding that on Jan. 7, Ghauris family informed them that Mahnoor had allegedly converted to Islam and married Ghauri on Jan. 4, the day she was abducted.

Ghauris friends who allegedly helped in the abduction have been identified as Muhammad Waqas, Raza Ali and Muhammad Imran. A local cleric who performed the Islamic marriage despite knowing that she was a minor has been identified as Muhammad Ibrar.

The marriage certificate states Mahnoors age as 19, though her birth certificate shows her year of birth as 2007.

The police are not doing anything to find Mahnoor, Akram was quoted as saying.

A 2014 report by The Movement for Solidarity and Peace Pakistan estimated that hundreds of women and girls from Pakistan's Hindu and Christian communities are abducted, forcibly married and converted to Islam every year.

Many victims are minors taken from their families, sexually assaulted, married to an assailant, and held in captivity justified by falsified marriage and conversion documents, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said previously. Violence, threats and grooming tactics are used to compel victims to make statements in court supporting their captors.

Religion is often injected into cases of sexual assault to place religious minority victims at a disadvantage, ICC previously reported, adding that perpetrators play upon religious biases to cover up and justify their crimes by introducing an element of religion.

International watchdog group Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, ranks Pakistan at No. 5 on its 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.

Pakistan is also listed by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for tolerating in or engaging in egregious violations of religious freedom.
No question about it: Oil prices took a tumble at the beginning of the pandemic. However, last year, plenty of life breathed into the energy sector. Energy jogged to first place of all the sectors in the first half of 2021. In fact, oil prices reached their highest levels in six years.

But what about market dynamics in the coming year? After all, technological development, regulations, consumer preferences and investor sentiments have all caused the energy sector to shift.

What can you expect from the energy sector, what actually makes up the energy sector and what to invest in? Full speed ahead, but a major hint: Analysts have overwhelmingly screamed "Buy!" for the sector in general.

What is the Energy Sector?

The energy sector relates to producing or supplying energy. Companies and processes involved include the fossil fuel industry, which include petroleum industries, coal industries and natural gas industries, as well as the electrical power industry, nuclear power industry and the renewable energy industry. Let's take a quick look at each area.

Petroleum, Coal and Natural Gas

Let's walk through these three areas  after all, you shouldn't invest in what you don't understand! (Advice directly from Warren Buffett.)

Oil and gas drilling: Drilling for oil and gas depends on the material, the size of the hole and how deep to drill. Experts must drill a hole through various rocks, materials and layers to reach it and consider the geology and potential subsurface structure as well as the optimal drilling rig to make it happen. Petroleum refineries then change crude oil into petroleum products for transportation, heating, paving roads and generating electricity which are reconfigured into new products. Petroleum refineries break crude oil using three steps: separation, conversion and treatment.

Drilling for oil and gas depends on the material, the size of the hole and how deep to drill. Experts must drill a hole through various rocks, materials and layers to reach it and consider the geology and potential subsurface structure as well as the optimal drilling rig to make it happen. Petroleum refineries then change crude oil into petroleum products for transportation, heating, paving roads and generating electricity which are reconfigured into new products. Petroleum refineries break crude oil using three steps: separation, conversion and treatment. Coal extraction and processing: Coal miners use two primary ways to extract coal: surface mining and underground mining. In surface mining, large machines remove the topsoil and layers of rock to expose coal seams. Underground mining occurs when coal exists underground.

Coal miners use two primary ways to extract coal: surface mining and underground mining. In surface mining, large machines remove the topsoil and layers of rock to expose coal seams. Underground mining occurs when coal exists underground. Natural gas extraction: A large piece of drilling equipment drills through soil and rocks to reach natural gas deposits.

All three of these areas also involve distribution and sales, as well as a whole host of other functions within the industry.

Electrical power industry: Within the electrical power industry, three main areas are hard at work, including electricity generation, electricity transmission, electric power distribution and the sale of electric power.

Nuclear power industry: use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Plants typically use uranium and plutonium.

Renewable energy industry: The renewable energy industry typically involves alternative energy and sustainable energy companies, including hydroelectric, wind and solar. It also concerns itself with alternative fuels  specifically, the manufacture, distribution and sale.

Top Energy Stocks for 2022

Now for the fun part. Which companies are poised to make headlines in 2022? Let's find out.

Magnolia Oil and Gas Corp., headquartered in Austin, Texas, explores and produces oil and gas in the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk formations in South Texas. The company prides itself on generating significant free cash flow after capital expenditures, organic production growth, high operating margins, a conservative leverage profile and reinvestment of cash flow.

A fairly new company (Magnolia was founded in 2018), it reported third quarter 2021 net income attributable to Class A Common Stock of $119.4 million  $0.67 per diluted share. Q3 net income $159.9 million and adjusted net income was $157.9 million  $0.67 per diluted share. Net cash provided by operating activities was $221.9 million during the third quarter and free cash flow of $143.5 million.

The company had cash to the tune of $245 million on its balance sheet in Q3 and is undrawn on its $450 million revolving credit facility, with no debt maturities until 2026. Even better, it has no plans to up its debt levels.

Its clear path forward and burgeoning business means Magnolia Oil and Gas Corp. could ramp up the excitement level in your portfolio.

EOG Resources Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, explores, develops, produces and markets crude oil and natural gas. The company operates through the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and in other international segments. It has introduced a "Double Premium" drilling model, which means it can tap thousands of drilling locations and produce more output that lasts longer.

EOG Resources generated $1.6 billion of free cash flow in 2020, which both paid the dividend and rectified its balance sheet, even though oil prices averaged less than $40 per barrel, according to the company's website.

For dividend investors: The company also increased regular dividend 82% to an indicated annual rate of $3 per share in Q3 2021 and declared a special dividend of $2 per share.

The company earned an adjusted net income of $1.3 billion, or $2.16 per share, and generated $1.4 billion of free cash flow.

The company's strong earnings and free cash flow as well as extended track record of reliable execution and savvy capital expenditures, operating costs and product prices may make EOG resources a gem for your portfolio.

You don't have to look any further than the Energy Select Sector ETF fund, an ETF that tracks an index of energy companies in the S&P 500, to see the success of the energy industry. As the ETF throws large energy companies into the mix from various sectors within the sector, you can enjoy wide exposure and a diversified reach.

The Energy Select Sector ETF invests in some giants: ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) and Schlumberger Ltd (NYSE: SLB).

With a market capitalization of $31.97 billion and current rocketing success, it's worth your while to consider this monster instead of trying your hand at stock picking.

Ready to Buy Energy?

Only time will tell how many surprises the energy industry has in store for us in 2022. However, who wants to mess with a good thing, especially since energy investors have had precious little to celebrate over the past few years? Get 'em while they're hot!

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The Kraft Heinz Company KHC is committed to accelerating its international growth strategy, which focuses on the Taste Elevation platform. In this regard, the company concluded the previously-announced acquisition (On Dec 10, 2021) of 85% stake in Germany-based Just Spices GmbH (Just Spices).The other 15% stake will be retained by Just Spices founders.

Just Spices  an innovative start-up  is pioneering growth across the taste elevation category with yearly sales of almost 60 million. It boasts a solid product portfolio, including spice blends, salad dressings and organic offerings, among others. Kraft Heinz expects to leverage its scale and agility to accelerate Just Spices growth across the rapidly-growing taste elevation market beyond its German base and latest market entries in Spain, Austria and Switzerland. The buyout will enhance Kraft Heinzs direct-to-consumer operations and go-to-market expansion. The combination of Just Spices innovation and brand power with Kraft Heinzs team and scale bodes well.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Shares of the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have increased 13.6% in the past year compared with the industrys growth of 6.5%. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

What Else Should You Know?

Kraft Heinz has been committed to its goal of becoming one of the best players across the taste elevation category worldwide. Management acquired sauces-focused business  Assan Foods  from privately-held Turkish conglomerate Kibar Holding in October 2021. Through this buyout, the company expects to accelerate its retail and foodservice growth across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In September 2021, the company signed an agreement to buy the Brazil-based condiments and sauces company  Companhia Hemmer Industria e Comercio ("Hemmer"). The move will widen consumers taste options in Brazil and diversify Kraft Heinzs product portfolio. The buyout will further accelerate growth in the companys condiments and sauces category. Further, the company made investments in BR Spices in Brazil in the past year.

Several other companies in the food space like Post Holdings, Inc. POST, Hormel Foods Corporation HRL and McCormick & Company, Incorporated MKC are benefiting from acquisitions.

In fourth-quarter fiscal 2021, Post Holdings top line included $99.8 million in net sales from the acquisitions made in fiscal 2021. The buyouts include Private label ready-to-eat cereal business Egg Beaters liquid egg brand, Almark Foods business and related assets and Peter Pan nut butter brand.

Hormel Foods is strengthening its business through strategic acquisitions. In June 2021, HRL acquired the Planters snacking portfolio. Prior to this, the company acquired Texas-based pit-smoked meats company Sadlers Smokehouse in March 2020. The buyout is in sync with Hormel Foods initiatives to strengthen its position in the foodservice space.

McCormick strategically increased its presence through acquisitions, which have been strengthening its portfolio. In December 2020, McCormick bought a 100% stake in FONA International, LLC and some of its affiliates. FONAs diverse portfolio helps McCormick bolster its value-add offerings and expand the flavor solutions segment into attractive categories. In November 2020, McCormick acquired the parent company of Cholula Hot Sauce  a premium Mexico-based hot sauce brand.

Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

As one investor put it, curing and preventing hundreds of diseaseswhat should that market be worth? This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9% in one year.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL): Free Stock Analysis Report



McCormick & Company, Incorporated (MKC): Free Stock Analysis Report



Post Holdings, Inc. (POST): Free Stock Analysis Report



The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC): Free Stock Analysis Report



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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administrations (EIA) latest Drilling Productivity Report, oil output in the Permian Basin will surpass 5 million barrels per day in February. The agency forecasts that crude volumes from the western part of Texas and the south-eastern part of New Mexico will go up from a record 4,996 thousand barrels per day (Mbbl/d) in January to 5,076 Mbbl/d next month. The projected production figure for February would be a new high for Americas biggest oil field and reflects the steady addition of rigs. As proof of improvement in activity, the rig count in the Permian Basin has risen to 293 from an all-time low of 116 in August 2020.

As far as combined U.S. oil supplies from seven major shale formations (Anadarko, Appalachia, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Niobrara and Permian) is concerned, EIA expects it to increase from 8,436 thousand barrels per day (Mbbl/d) in January to 8,540 Mbbl/d in February. As crude prices hover around the $85-barrel level, production is expected to increase in five of the seven unconventional plays, with the largest gain of 80,000 barrels per day happening in the Permian Basin.

The effects of strong oil prices can also be seen in the number of wells that are being drilled but not completed, or wells that could be turned on at short notice. The EIA said that the number of such wells declined by 214 over the past month, with 91 of those in the Permian.

Experts say that its cheaper to drill and complete oil wells in the Permian Basin as compared to most other major fields. Moreover, there are certain parts of the shale play whose well-returns are the best in the U.S. Permians attractive economics. This means that producers can make money and sustain growth there at the current price. According to estimates, the average breakeven prices in most of the Permian well locations is below $50 per barrel  the lowest in the United States.

Its not surprising that the United States top energy moguls have renewed their focus on the largest U.S. shale play. The likes of ExxonMobil XOM, Chevron CVX and ConocoPhillps COP are placing long-term bets on the Permian Basin to take full advantage of the commodity upcycle.

ExxonMobil continues to invest heavily in the low-cost play. The company recently unveiled its plans to spend between $20 billion and $25 billion each year out to 2027. Along with offshore Guyana developments, XOM will allocate the lions share of the budget toward Permian.

At the third-quarter end, to Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) ExxonMobil produced 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the Permian Basin, which comprised more than 40% of its total production in the United States. XOM has a strong presence in the prolific area, where it continues to lower its fracking & drilling costs.

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Chevron, meanwhile, announced that for 2022, it intends to spend $4.5 billion on shale, with the largest part (or $3 billion) going to the lucrative Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico alone. In fact, CVXs existing project pipeline is among the best in the industry, thanks to its premier position in the lucrative play.

Driven by robust output in the showpiece region, Chevron's U.S. volumes during the first three quarters of 2021 increased some 10% from the year-earlier level to 1,113 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. CVX currently holds approximately 2.2 million net acres in the Permian  primarily in the prolific Midland and Delaware basins.

Another big U.S. company ConocoPhillips' Permian footprint has expanded significantly over the past year, culminating with the recent purchase of 225,000 net acres in the core of the oilfield. The acquisition added 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of production to COPs portfolio, putting it just behind ExxonMobil to become the second-largest hydrocarbon producer in the Lower 48.

To further frame the Permian's importance for ConocoPhillips, COP expects a company-wide capital expenditure of $7.2 billion in 2022, including $700 million associated with the Permian asset acquisition.

In conclusion, crude production in the Permian Basin  the lowest-cost shale region  seems to have taken off with commodity prices stabilizing within the range of $75 to $85 a barrel. As major operators hit the accelerator on drilling activity, the region is set to experience significant gains in oil production next year, taking it past the pre-pandemic levels.
WASHINGTON  Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Americans who have had a hard time getting their hands on masks and at-home tests are suddenly being showered with offers of freebies  courtesy of taxpayers and the Biden administration, which had come under sharp criticism for not acting sooner.

On Wednesday, the administration announced that it would make 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks available free of charge at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the United States. The White House said that to ensure broad access for all Americans, there would be a limit of three masks per person.

The news came a day after the administration rolled out covidtests.gov, its new website where Americans can order at-home coronavirus tests at no cost.

Taken together, the moves represent a stepped-up effort by the White House to combat omicron, the fast-moving coronavirus variant that first appeared in November and has fueled a spike in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the country. But some public health experts said that while the efforts were welcome, they were too late.

It will not be as impactful as it would have been had we done it at the beginning of the omicron surge or the beginning of the delta surge, said Julia Raifman, a health law and public policy expert at the Boston University School of Public Health.

The White House called the distribution of masks the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history. Wednesdays announcement came days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance to acknowledge that cloth masks do not offer as much protection as surgical masks or respirators.

The N95 masks will come from the Strategic National Stockpile, the nations emergency reserve of medical supplies. The stockpile was badly depleted at the outset of the pandemic, leaving health care workers without masks and other personal protective gear essential to fighting the coronavirus. As late as December 2020, the United States was still facing alarming shortages of personal protective gear.

The decision to distribute masks from the stockpile to the public is a sharp departure from prior practice; in the past, they were reserved for health care workers.

According to the CDCs new description of masks, well-fitting respirators, including N95s, offer the highest level of protection. Their name refers to their ability to filter out 95% of all airborne particles when used correctly.

This month, in a series of opinion articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, six former advisers to President Joe Bidens transition team called for a new pandemic strategy that would include making N95 masks free and easily available to all Americans, and vastly increasing the number of free coronavirus tests.

But Biden faced challenges, particularly on the testing front. His administration had pledged to ramp up testing capacity but had not done so by the time the omicron variant emerged. So while he announced shortly before Christmas that his administration would purchase 500 million rapid tests to distribute free to the public, Americans had to wait for them.

They talked a lot about substantially ramping up testing, and it didnt happen, said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, adding, I think that was a real failure of the administration, to not have more tests available by the time we got into the holidays.

Last week, Biden stepped up the testing initiative and announced that his administration would purchase another 500 million tests, bringing the total to 1 billion. Jeffrey Zients, the presidents coronavirus response coordinator, also told reporters last week that the administration was actively exploring ways to make high-quality masks available.

Jha said distributing free high-quality masks may only help on the margins, because just a small minority of Americans are interested in wearing them. He said he agreed with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, who has said that the best mask is one that people will wear.

The White House said in a statement Wednesday that the government would begin shipping N95 masks to pharmacies and health centers at the end of this week, and that the masks were expected to be available starting at the end of next week. The program will be in full gear by early February, the statement said.

An investigation by The New York Times published in March 2021 found that for years, the Strategic National Stockpile was heavily weighted toward protecting against bioterror attacks; throughout most of the past decade, nearly half its budget was spent on the anthrax vaccine. At the same time, China made half the worlds masks before the coronavirus emerged there, and the country was hoarding them.

The Biden administration promised to correct the stockpiles deficiencies. At a Senate hearing last week, Dawn OConnell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the stockpile had 737 million N95 masks, all from domestic manufacturers.

Lisa OConnor, former chief nursing officer at Boston Medical Center, said she was concerned that distributing stockpile assets to the public would put health care workers at risk.

This precious resource should be in the hands of health care providers only, which has been the practice and guidance for 20 years, said OConnor, who is now a health care consultant at FTI Consulting.

But OConnell, of the Department of Health and Human Services, told senators last week that the government was soliciting proposals from companies that have the ability to produce 141 million N95 masks per month in a crisis and that would be able to manufacture them at a much lower rate when demand is lower.

The idea is for the stockpile to keep this capacity that we currently have going, she said, even when demand diminishes.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
January is our back-to-basics month each year. This week, we discuss the importance of local media in building a vibrant transformative community. Dont confuse local media with national media, they are different in their mission and scope. Local media can be vital in a communitys transformation and vibrancy.

It was recently asked, What happens when a community loses their local newspaper? A follow-up question was also asked, How would that community then get their news?

As might be expected, answers varied from things such as radio, social media, word of mouth, friends, neighbors, to answers such as other regional outlets and so forth. All of which are accurate to a degree, but regardless, it was agreed the community would suffer from lack of accurate information.

Yes, communities would still figure out when businesses closed, violent crimes tend to blanket social media and word of mouth, the not so pleasant news and information tends to reach far and wide on social media, radio, friends, neighbors etc. And yes, they would get a bit of regional coverage for any high-profile crimes and business closings. They might even get unlucky and have a major news outlet like the New York Times or Washington Post swoop into town doing a feature story on another dying rural American town.

But who is consistently going to be the community voice sharing the communitys feel-good stories, business openings, and convey the great things happening locally to the outside world? Aside from a local media company sharing the great happenings in your community, lets carry reality one step further.

When potential new businesses are looking to relocate to a community, they first tend to Google all the prospective communities or locations. Without a voice sharing the great things going on, what they will see besides the business closings, crime stories, obituaries, and yes, that NY Times piece, will appear at the top of their search.

Without that voice conveying the good things, they are left with only the impressions of the less desirable things. What conclusions do you think they will make? While I wish this was only a what if situation, unfortunately, nearly 2,000 communities across the country experience this scenario today.

Local newspapers can be the eyes into the soul of your community. They should be the communitys ambassador to the outside world. If the local newspaper cant convey your communitys positive message to the outside world, who then will be able to convey that message in a consistent and accurate fashion?

If your local newspaper isnt doing this, demand them to do so. Newspapers should be the communitys proverbial communication town square. In todays world of media fragmentation and information sources, providing this role is more critical than ever. Local communities need every bit of help they can muster, having a local media presence fulfilling the above roles is critical to the overall success and vitality of the community.

A recent Notre Dame study indicated a community that loses their newspaper could expect the cost of local government to increase by 30% within five years. This doesnt mean government is bad, but without the media oversight, they tend to spend more than they otherwise might.

Regardless of the political leanings of the local newspaper, that simple act of oversight saves a community hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Another recent poll shows most residents believe their local newspaper is doing fine financially. While many newspapers are okay, it is safe to say most local media outlets are facing challenging and potentially crippling economic headwinds. Importantly, it is often the case communities are facing many of these same economic challenges.

The media company and the community must work together, finding synergies that can be created to mold a strong community foundation from which to build. For both to succeed, they need each other more than ever before.

When a community loses its newspaper, part of that community dies. In addition to less civil engagement, these communities may lose their identity.

A quote by Portland States Lee Shaker was recently shared with me.

He said in a Nieman Lab report, If a community loses its newspaper, it stops being its own place. It becomes a satellite of something else, rather than having its own core identity.

A community without a newspaper becomes a rudderless ship adrift in the treacherous economic currents of life.

John A. Newby, of Pineville, MO. is the author of Building Main Street, not Wall Street a weekly column appearing in over communities. He is Founder of Truly-Local, LLC and dedicated to assisting communities create excitement, energy and combining synergies with their local media to become more vibrant and competitive. His email is: info@Truly-Localllc.com.
Several donors who have already spent millions to elect Kyrsten Sinema and other Democratic senators are threatening to drop their support if the Arizona official did not support the changing of Senate rules in order to pass voting rights legislation.

The situation comes as a letter was sent to Sinema where 70 Democratic donors, some of whom were crucial to giving the Arizona senator her 2018 campaign's maximum contribution allowed by law. The document wrote that they will support a primary challenge to Sinema and demanded that she return their financial contributions if she continues her opposition.

Voting Rights Legislation

In the 1,400-word letter, donors said that they were terrified about their prospects as a democracy if the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis VRA Act were not passed. They said that without Sinema's support on the bills, they would die out and noted that bipartisanship only worked if it was reciprocal. Donors argued that Republicans were gutting the electoral system in state capitals with no federal check, Politico reported.

The president of Emily's List, Laphonza Butler, released a statement on Tuesday warning Sinema that the Arizona senator may find herself standing alone in the next election. She said that it was crucial to understanding that access to the ballot box and confidence in election results for the betterment of the country.

Read Also: Joe Biden Praises Kamala Harris on Voting Rights, Commits to Her as Runningmate in 2024 Election Despite Americans' Dissatisfaction with VP

Butler said that she and others have joined many more in attempting to encourage Sinema to understand the importance of the pending voting rights legislation in the Senate. She added that, so far, those concerns have not been addressed.

She announced that Emily's List has chosen not to endorse or contribute to Sinema since her election in 2018. Butler insisted that the Arizona senator's decision to reject the voices of allies, partners, and constituents will cause her to lose those allies in the next election, Fox News reported.

Dropping Support for Sinema

In the event that Republicans block the bill with a filibuster, which is what many are expecting, Democratic leaders plan to try to change the Senate's rules to overcome the minority party's opposition. But to do that, the left-wing would need the support of all 50 members of their caucus on board, including Sinema.

Sinema released a statement on Tuesday night noting that the filibuster "has been used repeatedly to protect against wild swings in federal policy, including in the area of protecting women's health care." The Arizona senator said that different people of good faith can have honest disagreements about policy and strategy.

"Such honest disagreements are normal, and I respect those who have reached different conclusions on how to achieve our shared goals of addressing voter suppression and election subversion and making the Senate work better for everyday Americans," said Sinema, the New York Times reported.

Emily's List, which is the largest funder of female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, has faced growing pressure from liberal activists and its own donors to take a stand on the issue ahead of this week's showdown. The group is the biggest donor to potential primary challengers for Sinema's 2024 run, including Rep. Ruben Gallego.



Related Article: Biden Admin Gives Additional $200 Million Military Aid to Ukraine Amid Russian Invasion Fears

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LINCOLN TOWNSHIP  "Pretty rig," were words used to describe the new, bright red fire engine Lincoln Township Fire Department acquired as a needed replacement.

Members of the fire department and community gathered on a frigid, but sunny afternoon, Saturday, Jan. 15 at the Lincoln Township Fire Station for a push-in ceremony and blessing of a new fire truck.

Lincoln Township Fire Department services Lincoln and Cedar townships in Osceola County, and the northern half of Pinora Township in Lake County.

The afternoon began with Richard Steig of T.C. Energy, who used to be in the department, presenting a paycheck for a partial-payment toward the new fire engine to Lincoln Township Fire Chief David Beldon.

TC Energy, at an earlier time, contributed money toward new fire pagers, and now toward purchasing the fire truck, a 2022 Pierce pumper with a $295,000 price tag.

"It's a godsend," Beldon said, describing all the support toward the purchase of the much-needed new fire engine. "The other truck was failing and needed immediate replacement."

During the ceremony, members of the fire department gathered around as Beldon welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming.

"I'd like to welcome you this afternoon to our push-in ceremony. We are excited to bring this fire engine into service today," Beldon said, explaining the 'push-in ceremony' is a tradition which dates back to the 1800s when hand-drawn pumpers and horse-drawn equipment were used. When horses couldn't easily back up fire equipment into the station after a fire call, the equipment was removed from the horses, and firefighters would push the equipment back into the bays by themselves.

The new fire engine was built by Pierce Manufacturing in Bradenton, Florida, and seats five firefighters, carries roughly 2,000 feet of hose, has a 1,000 gallon water tank, and pumps 1,250 gallons of water per minute, Beldon explained.

He said how the services the fire department provides significantly changed over the past 20 years, saying how today's fire engines are a multi-purpose emergency vehicle, which, besides fighting fires, can carry needed medical equipment, rescue tools including Jaws of Life, water rescue gear, power saws and large fans to exhaust smoke and toxic gasses.

"Each fire engine has a service life of approximately 20 years and our old fire engine was built in 1995, and has served us well over the last 27 years," Beldon said. "That old engine cost $122,000."

Beldon thanked those who assisted with the purchase of the new engine, including TC Energy, and Lincoln Township Board, who was able to provide enough funding to purchase much needed new equipment to place on the fire engine.

Lincoln Township Supervisor Mark Brock then said a blessing over the new fire engine, praying for safety and protection for all who use the fire engine and all who ride in it.

Members of the fire department then gathered around the back of the new engine and pushed it into the fire bay. Following the push-in ceremony, those present were invited to celebrate inside the station with snacks and light refreshments.
The Doomsday clock remained 100 seconds to midnight on Thursday for the second straight year, last moving in 2020. The clock measures how close humanity is to a number of existential threats or how large the threat of global disaster looms.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which sets the clock, measures global security issues including nuclear threats, climate science and disruptive technologies such as anti-satellite weapons.

The Doomsday clock remaining the same, however, is not necessarily a good thing.

"Steady is not good news," Sharon Squassani, science and security co-chair at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which measures the Doomsday clock, said in a virtual press conference. "We are stuck in a perilous moment."

Squassani said that the bright spots the organization found did not outweigh long-term negative trends, including climate change, where "rhetorical progress is not yet met by swift actions."

Squassani also said that there has been an intentional undermining of consensus due to informational warfare.

"In the current environment where we have neither arms race stability, nor tension stability, tensions over Ukraine are ominous, and with China, efforts to craft a strategic stability are in their infancy," she said.

EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and previous Doomsday clocks

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists includes 13 Nobel laureates and is based in Chicago. The organization was founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists. Thursday's announcement marked the 75th update of the clock, representing the likelihood of a man-made international catastrophe that could cause humanity's annihilation. This is the closest humanity has been to midnight in the clock's history.

The clock has been moved backward in its history, and the Bulletin says it serves as a call-to-action to reverse the hands. The clock measured 17 minutes to midnight proceeding the cold war, the furthest away it has been in its history.

Speaking at last year's conference, Bulletin President Dr. Rachel Bronson said that "we recognize that humanity continues to suffer as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world."

"The pandemic revealed just how unprepared and unwilling countries and the international system are to handle global emergencies properly," Bronson continued. "In this time of genuine crisis, governments around the world too often abdicated responsibility, ignored scientific advice, did not co-operate to communicate effectively and consequently failed to protect health and welfare of their citizens."
Agricultural Bank of China receives first funds through carbon reduction tool

Xinhua) 10:57, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Agricultural Bank of China, one of the country's largest commercial lenders, has received nearly 11.37 billion yuan (about 1.79 billion U.S. dollars) of funds from the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, through a supporting tool for carbon reduction.

The tool was rolled out in November last year by the central bank to provide low-cost loans for financial institutions and guide them to give loans to firms in key carbon-reduction fields.

The funds the Agricultural Bank of China has received are among the first batch of funds worth 85.5 billion yuan that the central bank provides to financial institutions through the tool.

The central bank adopts "the system for direct funds," which means financial institutions could apply for this low-cost funding from the central bank after the loans for carbon reductions are made.

It will provide 60 percent of the loan principal made by financial institutions for carbon-emission cuts, with a one-year lending rate of 1.75 percent.

The move supports the development of clean energy, energy conservation, and carbon-reduction technologies, among others, and mobilizes more social funds to promote carbon-emission cuts.

The Agricultural Bank of China said it received this funding from the central bank for the 18.95 billion yuan in loans it provided to clean energy, energy conservation and environmental protection projects.

Those projects include a wind and photovoltaic power demonstration project in Hebei, fishery and photovoltaic complementary project in Zhejiang, and pumped-storage hydropower station in Shanxi.

The bank said the loans have supported 263 projects and 197 companies.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The Senate failed to reach an agreement on voting rights legislation, which would have required 60 votes to go to final approval. There will be a second vote to amend the Senate rules to allow the measure to pass with a simple majority after another round of speeches on the Senate floor. It would need 51 votes to pass, and it is also anticipated to fail.

In an unprecedented turn of events, the Senate convened on Wednesday morning, with all Democrats asked to stay in their seats as they sought to move forward on voting rights legislation and a challenge to a long-standing Senate rule, according to ABC News.

Republicans block voting rights bill in the Senate

Back-to-back losses would be a big setback for President Biden, who used a White House press conference during the Senate debate to criticize Republicans' success in delaying his domestic agenda, including the voting rights bill. It was a demoralizing moment for Democrats in Congress, who had thrown their weight behind the issue despite the long chances of victory.

Both the voting measure and the move to reduce the filibuster were fiercely opposed by Republicans. They accused Democrats of creating a crisis by misrepresenting the significance of new state rules in order to achieve a long-held aim of getting more influence over state elections - at the risk of jeopardizing the Senate's distinctiveness in doing so.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, a conservative Republican who grew up with a single mother who worked 16-hour days as a nurse's aide, scoffed at the similarity. He pointed out that in the Jim Crow South, African Americans who ventured to vote risked being lynched, losing their jobs, or being forced to literacy tests - a far cry from now.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, a liberal Democrat and the Ivy League-educated son of parents who were among IBM's first Black executives, responded with an impassioned statement. Booker maintained that racial prejudice still exists today.

Even as they faced a setback, Democrats predicted that once Americans realized that Republicans were working hard in states across the country to make it more difficult for some people, particularly people of color, to vote after Democrats won the White House and Congress in 2020, they would rally to their side, The New York Times reported.

Read Also: Joe Biden Praises Kamala Harris on Voting Rights, Commits to Her as Runningmate in 2024 Election Despite Americans' Dissatisfaction with VP

Failed voting rights bill is a setback for Democrats

Even more concerning for Democrats is that the party's procrastination comes at a time when Biden's presidential popularity rating is decreasing, as is voter excitement for the midterm elections. According to a Morning Consult poll conducted in July 2021, less than half of Democratic voters (48%) indicated they were "very" enthused about the forthcoming midterm elections, down 5 percentage points from the previous April. Biden's job popularity with all groups polled, including Democrats and Black voters, fell between July and September of last year, according to the Pew Research Center.

We predict some of this lack of enthusiasm among the Democratic base, attributed to previous midterm election tendencies. What's more troubling for the party is that crucial blue-voting communities, such as Black voters, are fed up, and there are signs that their support for the president is dwindling. Furthermore, there isn't a clear piece of legislation that Democrats can enact next to bolster their base's support.

To put it another way, if Biden and his Democratic colleagues want to keep their congressional majority, they're in a genuine pickle. The preservation of American democracy isn't the only thing Democrats stand to lose if they fail to act and let their constituents down, as seen by the recent opposition to the party's most recent assault on voting rights, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Related Article: Chuck Schumer Urges Sinema, Manchin To Back Modified Filibuster; Senator Vows To Turn Up Heat on GOP on Voting Rights

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A photograph of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that went viral lately revealed the politician's substantial weight loss after giving up cheese. With chronic food shortages in North Korea, the country's Supreme Leader is said to have given up his favorite cuisine when numerous COVID-19 regulations stopped particular items from entering the country.

Slim Kim Jong Un went viral

The politician, who was formerly said to weigh 20 stone, was seen at the end of 2021 during a significant governing party with a smaller frame that drew international notice. "We know he has good sources, he adores cheese, he's a strong drinker, and he has access to all junk foods," Dr. Sojin Lim added.

The politician, who was once reported to weigh 20 stone, was snapped sporting a slimmer frame https://t.co/ApOCkVNdkG  Men's Health UK (@MensHealthUK) January 18, 2022

It's also been alleged that before losing weight, Kim Jong-un ate fried chicken, vodka, Hennessy Cognac, and Champagne. Perhaps this is what caused the North Korean leader's ankles to fracture as a result of his overwhelming weight. Whatever his motivation for his current weight loss, the politician has made a wise decision, according to Men's Health via MSN.

In images issued by the regime recently, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have lost weight. During a critical ruling party meeting before the end of the year, the dictator looked to have a sleek, slimmed-down new appearance. Kim was said to be eating less for the benefit of the country, which is suffering from acute food shortages.

It's possible that we'd prefer to appear more like a man of the people, as being an overweight tyrant in a starving nation isn't the best appearance. However, there may be more to it than that, since the country's strict border lockdown in reaction to Covid-19 may be preventing Kim from obtaining his favorite dish.

The despot has a passion for Swiss cheese, eating so much of it that he once weighed 20 stone and shattered his ankles. Fried chicken, Russian vodka, Hennessy Cognac, and champagne are all said to be favorites of his.

Some defectors believe Kim gained weight on purpose to resemble his hefty grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. However, the leader's limited access to fatty meals may work in his advantage as he tries to maintain morale while his followers go hungry.

While North Korea's rigorous "zero COVID-19" policy may mean no more imported luxury meals for its dictator, it is wreaking havoc for the country's common citizens. Despite the fact that no cases of the virus have been proven, the East Asian country has shut down entire cities and established a "shoot on sight" policy along its southern border, as per Metro.

Also Read: Boris Johnson Says UK Is Considering To End All COVID-19 Restrictions as Pressure Grows for PM To Resign or Face Ousting

North Korea may reconsider missile tests moratorium

Meanwhile, official media KCNA claimed Thursday (Jan 20) that North Korea will beef up its defenses against the US and explore restarting "all temporally-suspended activities," an apparent allusion to a self-imposed ban on testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

Tensions have been growing as a result of North Korea's recent missile launches. A US effort for further penalties was met with a vehement response from Pyongyang, increasing the possibility of a repeat to the 2017 "fire and fury" threats.

According to the official KCNA news agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a meeting of the governing Workers' Party's powerful politburo on Wednesday to discuss "important policy matters," including counter measures against "hostile" US policies.

According to KCNA, the politburo ordered a review of trust-building measures as well as "immediately studying the problem of restarting all temporarily paused operations," as well as "quickly boosting more robust physical methods."

After the United States failed to react to requests for concessions to restart discussions, Kim stated at the end of 2019 that he would no longer be bound by the moratorium on nuclear weapons and long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), The Straight Times reported.

Related Article: North Korea Launches New Missiles in Response to US Sanctions; Booming Hacking Industry Reportedly Stole $400 Million in Cryptocurrency

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Vice President Kamala Harris, in a recent interview, was inarticulate that stressed how wholly incapable she was in her position. She was unable to do anything at the border and everything else assigned to her since. Her signature laugh has annoyed many unobjective attitudes in dealing with issues.

Harris Showed She Isn't up to the Job

After the Vice President had such a car-crash interview on NBC news, it proved to be a terrible option as Joe Biden's party's nominee.

Kamala Harris, 57, has been reprimanded by a conservative commentator who claims she is unsuitable for filling in for Joe Biden, 79, as Vice President, reported the Express UK.

After a recent interview on NBC News, Horace Cooper of Project 21 at the National Center for Public Policy Research spoke on the pro-Trump One America News Network to imply that Biden's chosen running mate proved she wasn't up to the job.

When asked if the Biden administration would consider changing its COVID-19 strategy, Stephanie Hamill of One America News displayed a videotape of Harris faltering. The answer to the question is a word 'salad' that was confusing and showed that she did not know anything.

Considering the resources at her disposal but still not giving a convincing answer made it clear that Vice President Kamala Harris is a headless chicken.

Read Also: Joe Biden Plummets to 33% Approval Polls Pushing Hillary Clinton To Run in 2024 Because of Shallow Democrat Seat

Cooper, who wrote a book about Donald Trump, said one of the Vice President's major functions is to serve as the President of the United States' chief supporter.

He added saying, "When you show up and you give an answer and it sounds like you're reading a hostage note you're definitely not on point," cited News Lanes.

Furthermore, if she were upbeat, a cheerleader, and considerably more positive than the circumstances would allow. This would be preferable, not how it was going about.

Critics Say VP Not Suitable

During the ill went interview, one of the problems where the vice president looked ill-informed incompetent on the issues. The effect of her lousy performance is on the idea that women should be able to compete as well as men in any situation. She is so awful that her poor performance jeopardizes equality.

The critic of Harris added that more voters would see how bad it is. Judge her as the worst vice-president to even enter the White House.

Based on the polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight, the Vice President's reputation has plunged since she worked at the White House. Everything has gone downhill, and it looks bad for her, noted 9 Web.

In April 2021, the former Senator from California had a net approval rating of 23.5 percent. However, Harris' rating collapsed to a low of -11.4 percent earlier this month.

While in February 2021, former Donald Trump, 75, had a -19.6 percent approval rating in that period. While Trump's support remains negative, it has dropped to only -10.5 percent, remarked FiveThirtyEight. Cooper criticizes the choice of VP as the worst possible pick, and Harris cannot hack it.

It is damning and monumental that the President of the United States made a terrible decision by allowing identity politics to play a significant role in choosing the number two post in the country.

Vice President Harris is seen by Cooper as a sinking ship, making things worse and might soon be ignored as anything than dead weight.

Related Article: Joe Biden Got Mocked When Reporters Jabbed One Last Question About a Press Conference Soon

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RIDGEFIELD  Residents this week gave permission to the Conservation Commission to purchase 15 acres of land in the Pine Mountain area of town.

The commission will spend approximately $124,000 of its own funds to acquire the property and convert it into open space in perpetuity, which could lead to more trails in the area.

The deal also includes the donation of a 42-acre parcel that abuts the smaller 15-acre parcel. The properties are located at the Ridgefield-Danbury border, and were acquired from the Boy Scouts of Americas Connecticut Yankee Council, the previous owners.

During a town meeting Wednesday night, Commission Chairman James Coyle and member Matt Sharp displayed maps to attendants to demonstrate where the land is located and provide a brief history.

In 1974, the Tuccio family donated the 42-acre parcel to the council to be used for scouting purposes. The deed provides that if the land went unused, the council would convey ownership to the town.

Because of this, the commission has historically counted it towards the towns open space total, Coyle said. Open space is land a town conserves for the sake of maintaining biodiversity, scenic beauty and a place for outdoor activities.

The scouts later purchased the abutting 15-acre parcel in the early 2000s, Coyle said. Unlike the larger parcel, the smaller parcel is not deed restricted, which means the council owns it outright.

We spent a long time getting here, as this property has been eyed by the commission for decades, Coyle said. It was very important to (the Boy Scouts) that it remain (as) open space in perpetuity, and we were 1,000 percent in agreement with that.

The total 58 acres will provide a continuation of open space that already exists on the north end of town.

Last year, Ridgefield received a $42,000 grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to tack on additional terrain to its Bear Mountain preserve. A portion of the grant was used to partially fund the purchase of a 14-acre parcel adjacent to Hemlock Hills, connecting a 3-acre parcel of town-owned space to the 386-acre Hemlock Hills lot in the Bear Mountain area.

What we do gain is an opportunity for folks like Matt to go in there and enhance the trail system and the connection to Pine Mountain, Coyle said.

Selectwoman Maureen Kozlark questioned how much the commission would have left in its coffers following the $124,000 purchase. Coyle estimated the remaining balance would be about $450,000.

Board of Finance member Greg Kabasakalian strongly encouraged voters to allow the commission to move forward with the acquisition.

As a child, going through the woods with my dad was one of the greatest joys I had growing up in Ridgefield, he said. We are so blessed to have property like this. We need to keep it, we need to preserve it.

The motion carried with a chorus of ayes, followed by a round of mild applause.

alyssa.seidman@hearstmediact.com
Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys are likely to file a formal plea on Wednesday to have the British socialite's sex abuse conviction reversed, citing a juror's apparent failure to reveal that he was sexually assaulted as a kid before the trial.

Maxwell, 60, was found guilty on five counts of sex trafficking and other charges on Dec. 29, 2021, for recruiting and grooming underaged females to have sexual relations with Jeffrey Epstein, a late billionaire and convicted sex offender. Maxwell may face a sentence of up to 65 years in jail.

Ghislaine Maxwell to formally request a retrial

However, her attorneys stated earlier this month that there were "incontrovertible grounds" for a new trial after a juror, Scotty David, who preferred to be named only by his first and middle names, revealed being molested as a kid during jury deliberations to Reuters and other news sites.

This generated suspicions that he had concealed his misuse throughout pretrial screening. In a questionnaire, potential jurors were asked if they had ever been a victim of sexual abuse. Scotty David told Reuters that he couldn't recall the question but would have replied truthfully.

Prosecutors now have until February 2 to reply to Maxwell's motion, which requests that US District Judge Alison Nathan launch an investigation into the juror's remarks. Even if the juror did not report his abuse on the questionnaire, legal experts said Maxwell would not be assured a fresh trial, adding that incidents of juror dishonesty that resulted in judgments being overturned often involved jurors who actively lied in order to be picked, as per Reuters.

Read Also: Prince Andrew, Prince Harry Ineligible for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee Medal After Being Stripped of Military Honors

Lady Victoria claims Maxwell is Epstein's victim

Two acquaintances indicated in an ITV program that Prince Andrew and Maxwell were more than buddies. Paul Page, a former Buckingham Palace royal protection officer, and Euan Rellie, a university friend of Maxwell's, both believed the two were closer than what was previously supposed. Virginia Giuffre has filed a sexual assault legal complaint against Prince Andrew in New York, and he has categorically refuted all charges. The ITV documentary accusations elicited no response from Prince Andrew's representatives.

Last week, it was revealed that the king is facing a legal action over accusations that he sexually abused Giuffre when she was just 17 years old in 2001. All of the charges, as well as any misconduct, are categorically denied by the prince, according to Independent.

During an interview on ITV's Lorraine this morning, Lady Victoria Hervey portrayed convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell as a "victim" and a "scapegoat." In the early 2000s, socialite Lady Victoria made acquaintance with Ghislaine Maxwell, attending parties and gatherings with her and Jeffrey Epstein before the latter was convicted of child sex charges for the first time.

Lady Victoria told broadcaster Lorraine Kelly from Los Angeles that she believes humiliated socialite Ghislaine was a victim. The socialite admitted that she felt "used by the pair" at the time, but added that she was "naive and having fun." Lady Victoria claimed she watched Maxwell's trial in New York, where a jury convicted her guilty of child sex trafficking, but found it "disappointing" because of the lack of publicity, Mirror reported.

Related Article: Ghislaine Maxwell Defense Team Seeks Retrial After Juror's Sex Abuse Claims as Prosecutors Request Inquiry

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On Wednesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued an update on Twitter about the spread of COVID-19 and said there are "some signs" the increase in the spread is starting to slow, although the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to "strain hospital capacity."

Texas DSHS tweeted on Jan. 12 that new cases of coronavirus were skyrocketing due to the omicron variant, spreading COVID across Texas faster than ever before.
An "aggressive" mountain lion was seen walking a residential street in Belmont after killing another lion early Wednesday morning.

According to the Belmont Police Department, the animal was seen on the 2500 block of Hastings Drive between Carlmont High School and Waterdog Lake and Open Space.

The police advise the public to use caution in the area. The location and timing of the killing of the other mountain lion was not detailed in the post.

The U.S Forest Service states that, territorially, mountain lions "maintain spatial separation between each other, thereby assuring each individual has the resources necessary to survive," adding "if these separations are not maintained, mountain lions will kill each other."

A lion was seen in another Peninsula neighborhood in Daly City last week. It's not clear if this is the same mountain lion spotted in Belmont.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife states on its website that in recent years there has been "ever-increasing interactions between people and mountain lions."

The wild cats, also know as pumas and cougars, call more than half of California home. Mountain lions tend to live wherever deer are found. "They are solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans," the CDFW says. If you live in mountain lion country, which includes much of the Bay Area, the agency advises deer-proofing yards, setting up motion sensitive lighting and avoiding letting pets out when mountain lions are most active at dawn, dusk and night.
United States President Joe Biden continues to express his support for the Build Back Better bill, arguing that many Americans are also in favor of the legislation, and said that it could be passed in pieces.

In response during a press conference on Wednesday, Biden said that the American people "overwhelmingly" agree with him on prescription drugs. He claimed that citizens of the United States were also on his side regarding early education. The Democratic leader's remarks were an answer to a question of whether he will be scaling back his agenda to allow it to pass through Congress.

Biden's Build Back Better

The U.S. president argued that the ideas present in his Build Back Better legislation still remained politically popular. Biden said that the issue was only a matter of him speaking to Americans to "make the case" for what Democrats are working towards ahead of this year's midterm elections.

Biden added that he would go out to the public to make the "contrast as clear as we can" between his and the agenda of the GOP. The president argued that there was nothing unrealistic about what his party was demanding, Fox News reported.

The U.S. president said that the bill will most likely have to be broken up into pieces for it to be passed by Congress. During the Wednesday press conference, Biden said that he was confident he could get pieces or large parts of the bill signed into law.

Read Also: Donors Threaten To Drop Support of Kyrsten Sinema Unless Democrat Supports Voting Rights Legislation

It was in December last year when Biden's signature proposal was blocked after Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has continued to oppose the legislation by not supporting it. In order for the president's massive $1.75 trillion House-passed bills to be signed into law, it needs the support of every single Senate Democrat.

The U.S. president has said that he has already been talking to a number of his colleagues in Congress. Biden said he believes he can win the required support for more than $500 billion in spending to combat climate change, CNBC reported.

Pass in Pieces

During the press conference, Biden said he would not be negotiating against himself as to what should and shouldn't be in the bill. The Democrat said they would work on passing some parts now and come back and fight for the others at a later date.

Biden noted that there were two people in the Democratic party who were opposed to some parts of the bill, a reference to Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. However, the U.S. president said that the two senators would most likely agree with some of the parts of the legislation.

Later on, Biden acknowledged that the extension of the child tax credit and funding for the cost of community college will face difficulty in passing. Biden's cornerstone proposal, the Build Back Better legislation, includes spending on programs such as the advanced child tax credit, investments in early education, money for programs to fight against climate change, and health care provisions, and has faced numerous opposition from both parties, The Hill reported.



Related Article: MAGA Conspiracy Theorists Convinced Joe Biden Will Impose Martial Law

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FBI agents were seen Wednesday afternoon conducting an operation at the Laredo, Texas home of U.S. congressman Henry Cuellar, as first reported by MyRGV.com's Valeria Gonzalez.

According to FBI San Antonio Division public affairs officer Rosanne Hughes Wednesday evening, agents were "present in the vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity. The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation.

NBC's Haley Talbot later tweeted a statement from Cuellar, a member of the House Democratic Caucus, responding to the day's events.

"Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld," the statement reads.

Images tweeted Wednesday by Gonzalez show agents wearing "FBI Evidence Response Team" shirts outside the congressman's home. She reported that agents snapped photos of vehicles on the property and left with materials from the residence

Rep. Cuellar's dogs appeared to the only non-FBI entities on the scene, per Gonzalez.

A call to the congressman's Laredo offices for comment was not immediately returned.

Cuellar, who was a member of the Texas House of Representatives and served as Texas's secretary of state, is now one of Congress' more conservative Democrats, and has worked in the House of Representatives since 2005. His next reelection bid for Texas' 28th Congressional District starts on March 1 against challengers Tannya Benavides and Jessica Cisneros.

In July of 2021, Cuellar co-authored a letter with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) criticizing President Joe Biden's response to undocumented crossings on the U.S. Southern border and urging the appointment of former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson as the administration's new border czar. Graham and Cuellar praised Johnson for his previous work during the Obama administration for enacting "a thoughtful U.S. response to a migration influx and prioritizing certain eligible cases for immediate removal."'
Republican Reps. Ashley Hinson of Iowa and Kay Granger of Texas voted against the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal that President Joe Biden signed into law last November, criticizing it as "spending at its worst" and arguing that it was emblematic of a socialist push by the Democratic Party.

But now that money from the package is starting to reach their home states, the two Republicans are touting the achievements of a bill they vociferously opposed.

In a statement Wednesday, Hinson celebrated the allocation of $829.1 million in funding from the infrastructure deal - one of the Biden administration's key achievements - for the modernization of locks and dams on the Mississippi River, which borders her Iowa district.

"This landmark investment will be game-changing for Iowans and communities along the Mississippi River like Dubuque," Hinson said in a joint statement issued by a group of bipartisan lawmakers from Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. "That's why I helped lead a bipartisan group of my colleagues in urging the administration to prioritize funding for these essential upgrades. I'll always fight to ensure Iowans' taxpayer dollars are reinvested at home in Iowa."

In a November statement, Hinson described efforts to pass the infrastructure bill as having been "torpedoed by partisan politics." The need, she said, to make "meaningful investments" in infrastructure "was sacrificed to advance a partisan, socialist spending spree."

She also accused the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, namely Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., of hijacking negotiations and said the bill was "the biggest leap toward socialism this nation has ever seen."

"It takes the Marxist ideology that once only existed in textbooks and makes it law in the United States of America," she said.

In a similar statement Wednesday, Granger, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, celebrated the news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would spend $403 million for a flood control project in her home state. That funding was allocated as a result of the infrastructure bill, which in November Granger described as a "liberal wish list."

"Instead of working together on a targeted infrastructure proposal focused on our nation's true needs, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi chose to pave the way for her nearly $2 trillion socialist plan full of crushing taxes and radical spending," Granger said back then.

Ultimately, only 13 House Republicans voted for the infrastructure bill - and were heavily criticized by former president Donald Trump for doing so. Some, such as Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, received threatening messages after voting for the bill.

Hinson's promotion of the funds earmarked by the bill did not go unnoticed by Democrats. In a tweet, Iowa state Sen. Liz Mathis, who is running against Hinson for the House seat, accused Hinson of "taking credit for work she didn't do."

"You voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill," Mathis tweeted. "The bill clearly isn't 'spending at its worst' now that you want to take credit for it."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also called out Hinson, with spokeswoman Elena Kuhn accusing her of trying to "rewrite her record."

A spokeswoman for Hinson, Sophie Seid, explained that once the money was available from the law, the congresswoman was going to pursue it for Iowa.

"Since the bill was signed into law, this money was going to be spent regardless. If there's federal money on the table she is, of course, going to do everything she can to make sure it is reinvested in Iowa," Seid said in a statement. "That's why she worked with a bipartisan group of her colleagues in asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize NESP construction along the Upper Mississippi River."

A spokesman for Granger did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Mayor Sylvester Turner slammed the Texas Secretary of State's office Tuesday after it revealed that supply chain issues would play a limiting factor regarding the number of voter registration forms the state could provide voting groups this year.

In a Twitter thread, Turner invoked the senate's failure to pass voter reform expressed frustration over news of potential paper shortages, specifically citing one organization, the League of Women Voters of Houston (LWV), which he alleged was told by the Secretary of State's office that it would receive a total of 50 such forms in 2022.

That is disgraceful," Turner tweeted, adding that in previous years LWV has prepared 3,500 voter registration cards and information packets a month for its events. "Fifty voter registration applications for a month worth of events, directly before the March 1st primary, in the 4th largest city in America.

According to officials at the Secretary of State office, Turner's claim is either an exaggeration or based on false information.

In an interview with KUT, Assistant Secretary of State communications officer Sam Taylor acknowledged supply shortages would limit the number of forms to between 1,000 to 2,000 documents per requestfewer than in past years but many more than the "50" figure cited by the mayor.

We are limited in what we can supply this year, because of the paper shortage and the cost constraints due to the price of paper and the supply of paper, Taylor told KUT, adding the lack of forms is also due to an increase in demand following the passage of Senate Bill 1.

Taylor also provided recent emails between the office and Grace Chimene, Texas president of the League of Women Voters. In the correspondence, Chimene mentions a member of her organization requested 8,000 voter registration forms but was told the Secretary of State's office could only provide 1,000again, a far cry from the number of documents desired but significantly more than 50.

[Turner's claim] is absolutely false and we have evidence that it is false, Taylor wrote. We have no idea where Mayor Turner got the 50 number from, but its clearly false and there is evidence in the text of the email sent from League of Women Voters Houston VP of voter services.

Turner's spokeswoman Mary Benton pushed back, saying "it is our understanding that the Secretary of States Office lowered the maximum ask of voter registration cards to 1,000 across the board" but that the Houston and statewide League of Women Voters had the receipts to prove the organization was only offered 50 registration applications.

Indeed, an email provided by the League of Women Voters of Houston from the Elections Division of the Secretary of State's office confirmed the figure, stating that "Due to extenuating circumstances beyond our control we are unable to provide this volume of applications at this time. We are working diligently to fulfill all requests with a reasonable amount given the current circumstances. We will be happy to send you 50 voter registration applications."

The League did eventually receive 1,000 voter registration cards from the Texas Secretary of State's Office according the organizations Twitter account.
A Republican candidate in a closely watched race for Congress running in the mold of former President Donald Trump is blaming an anti-Trump Facebook post from 2016 on a prank by his son.

The candidate, Ed Cabrera, is among seven Republicans running for the 28th Congressional District, currently held by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and a target of the national GOP. Cabrera, a businessman and rancher from the Rio Grande Valley, is running as a Trump-like candidate, and his platform includes finishing the "Trump border wall" in some areas.

But a February 2016 post, which showed Cabrera posing outside the Mexican consulate in New York City, includes the caption, "Better to be a Mexican, than to be a citizen of a country that elects Trump as President. Don't pay for the wall, arriba Mejico!"

Cabrera's campaign says it is not what it seems.

"The social media post was a practical joke by Mr. Cabrera's son to mock Mr. Cabrera's strong support of President Trump," Cabrera's campaign said in a statement. "It was posted when Mr. Cabrera gave his son his phone to take a picture."

Before the anti-Trump comment, the post said Cabrera was posing at the consulate "for my son .... born in the USA, grew up in the USA and is a U.S. citizen- who is becoming a Mexican citizen today."

The post appears to have remained on Cabrera's Facebook page until around the time he launched his campaign late last year.

Republicans are determined to make new inroads in South Texas this year, but first they have to get through a series of crowded primaries, where support for Trump, who remains very popular with the GOP base, is a major sticking point. In the statement, Cabrera's campaign went on to say there is "no candidate more like President Trump in this race," hailing Cabrera as a successful businessman who is self-funding his campaign as Trump did in part.

While Cabrera has not had to file his first campaign finance report yet  it is due Jan. 31  he has already started buying TV time. His opponents include Cassy Garcia, a former Ted Cruz staffer who is endorsed by the U.S. senator, and Sandra Whitten, the 2020 GOP nominee for the seat.

The National Republican Congressional Committee named the 28th District a target in February, and this fall, GOP state lawmakers redrew it to be more competitive for the party. Cuellar faces two primary opponents, including Jessica Cisneros, the challenger who came within 4 percentage points of him in 2020.

There is heightened attention on the race after Wednesday, when FBI agents visited Cuellar's home in Laredo. The agency did not say why officials were there other than for "court-authorized law enforcement activity." Cuellar promised to cooperate with any investigation.

Disclosure: Facebook 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.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin orders more forces, including units from the Russian Navy, while the west is divided and unsure of its next moves.

Several Russian landing ships have steamed by the United Kingdom, sparking speculation that they are on their way to a 'full-scale invasion' of Ukraine, as Kiev warns that troop build-up all along the border is 'nearly complete.'

Today, the Korolev, Minsk, and Kaliningrad of the Russian Baltic Fleet were heading south from across the United Kingdom, trailed by the Northern Fleet warships that passed the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark last Monday.

Russian ships sail to Ukraine

These ships, which can carry up to 25 armored personnel carriers, are deployed three days before. But it is unclear if they are destined for Ukraine.

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved its forces and equipment close to the border, reported the Daily Mail.

According to Ukrainian Defense Ministry intelligence, Moscow has around 127,000 troops along the border, including a sea component, putting it a 'full strength' force.

CNN describes the situation as "challenging," and warns that Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to break the European Union and weaken NATO. Also, for Russian security in Europe, neutralize the US.

While meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues to peddle intel claiming that Ukraine is a target of the Kremlin.

He told Russian President Vladimir Putin to choose diplomacy to solve differences with Ukraine, but how can Russia choose that path when the US arms Kiev.

Read Also: Russian Politicians Taunts the West, Threatens To Rain Nuclear Missiles on New York and London

The Kremlin wants no trouble by the US is insisted there is ill-intent; so Putin is preparing for the worst-case scenario.

The stark warning comes after two rounds of last-ditch discussions between both the West and Russia failed to de-escalate a confrontation that has been simmering since late last year.

These 'highly irregular' movements of Russian ships spurred Swedish officials to deploy hundreds of troops and armored personnel carriers to the Swedish island of Gotland.

Military conducts more drills

Drills yesterday involved military aircraft that came from airfields in Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, and Sverdlovsk regions.

Engaged In 'large-scale' maneuvers employing 500 military troops, they attacked targets of a simulated opponent.'

However, in a naval practice in the Black Sea, the Kasimov anti-submarine ship effectively destroyed air and sea targets using artillery fire under turbulent circumstances.

A missile regiment armed with the S-400 Triumf mobile surface-to-air missile system performed electronic attacks at a practice in the Leningrad territory in the Western Military District.

Though the weapons had been stationed with Russian forces ahead of the testing, Moscow has proclaimed the conclusion of tests on its Kinzhal or Dagger hypersonic missiles that can deliver nuclear or conventional weapons with such a range of 1,250 miles in the Arctic.

This week, the Kremlin also deployed servicemen to Belarus, ostensibly for major military operations with the country, sparking fears in neighboring Lithuania, cited Delfi.

The arrival of Russian armed forces in Belarus, according to Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas, is not just a disruptive factor in the military situation, but also a genuine threat to Lithuania.'

Belarus is a full-fledged theater of operations that Russia can exploit to expand aggression towards Kiev, remarked a Ukrainian intelligence study.

Russian President Vladimir Putin knows the west is weak and Joe Biden cannot hold them together, turning the screws to crush NATO and the US.

Related Article: US Warns the Press Not Report on Proceedings Until Verified; Russian Media Reports May Be Unbelievable, Part of Putin's Propaganda

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Local

YMCA launches programs out of Crystal River facility

mattbeck / Photos by Matthew Beck / Chronicle photo editor Three-year-old Rosalie Hoggard has fun learning her ABCs Tuesday morning, Jan. 18, as she and other children participate in a new YMCA program, Early Learning Readiness. The program is being held inside of the City of Crystal River YMCA Community Engagement Center in Jim LeGrone Park.

A nurturing environment for caregivers and their young to bond and learn.

An after-school hangout and sanctuary for children and teenagers to have fun and grow.

A workout studio for adults to get active.

Opportunities for everyone to enjoy together.

These are just some the initiatives the Citrus County YMCA wants to have at its blossoming facility  The City of Crystal River YMCA Community Engagement Center at Jim LeGrone Memorial Park.

We understand ... that in this community, theres a lot of need, said David Reed, executive director of the Lecanto-area YMCA, I know we have the resources and capabilities to reach out to those families, in partnership with the city, and welcome them in.

The new City of Crystal River YMCA Community Engagement Center is located adjacent to Jim LeGrone Park.

While theres yet to be an official ribbon cutting for its LeGrone Park site at 405 SE Seventh Ave., the YMCA already started several programs to begin building its connections with city neighborhoods.

In the past, there were some mixed feelings about the Y coming to this location, and how the community is going to react to it, Reed said, so we really want to get to know them and build that relationship so we can continue to offer programs in a more meaningful way.

Live near the Citrus-Levy county border? From 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Jan. 22, the YMCA is hosting an open house at its South Levy location at 137 Highway 40 W., Inglis.

There are six group activities being offered, from Pilates to Silver Sneaker exercises for older adults.

To learn more about the YMCAs area services, call the Citrus Memorial Health Foundation YMCA at 352-500-9622.

Reed said anyone whos a member of Citrus County YMCA can take advantage of the YMCAs locations in Inglis and Crystal River.

With a unanimous vote in April 2021, Crystal River City Council gave the YMCA a five-year, no-cost contract to lease the city building at LeGrone Park.

Councils decision followed the recommendation of a committee tasked with deciding which civic organization would be best suited to put on year-round programs to benefit the neighborhood of Knights Addition and beyond.

This was not a singular effort, there were a lot of folks involved, City Councilman Ken Brown said. Im so pleased with what the Ys doing thus far.

Brown began discussions roughly two years ago for the city to consider a new tenant to succeed the Spot Family Center, which occupied the building since 2006.

We were very happy and pleased with what the Spot Family did over the years at that facility, Brown said, but, as the years progressed, their mission statement kind of changed; they were using that facility less and less during the course of the year.

After its lease with Crystal River went into effect June 1, the YMCA moved in and renovated with fresh coats of paint inside and out, new flooring and a working air conditioner.

Crystal River, which is responsible for fixing the buildings roof and air-conditioning issues, allotted $20,000 for the YMCA to address its faulty climate controls.

Weve definitely had a great partnership with them, Reed said of the city.

With the city making worthwhile major capital investments downtown and on the west side of U.S. 19, Brown said hes happy more is being done to accommodate those living east of the highway.

Were a city of one, he said.

YMCA board member and city native, Al Hopkins said hes elated to see the YMCA in his hometown and in Knights Addition.

Its going to be extremely impactful to that area ... but even all the way down the new Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, down toward the high school, there are a lot of residents down there, he said. The impact of that facility being in our city is just going to be endless.

Garrett Adkins, the local YMCAs senior membership director, said Hopkins is helping guide the YMCA to create services and activities designed to assist those living in lower socio-economic areas.

Parents and children alike work together Tuesday, Jan. 18, during an Early Learning Readiness program taught by Citrus Memorial Health Systems YMCA instructors. The program helps parents and students develop skills to get a jump start on education. Above, students, with the help of their parents and Y staffers, utilize a carpet with letters and pictures to memorize their ABCs.

This includes the YMCAs free Early Learning Readiness or ELR program, which provides newborns to children up to 5 years old who dont have access to preschool with a setting to grasp the first steps of education alongside their parent or provider.

It really focuses on getting the parents and kids working together, and having the parent understand that they have a role in their child, Reed said, and if theyre not going to child care or being around their kids, it kind of teaches them to do that.

Yoga and Zumba are also on the YMCAs weekly schedule at LeGrone Park, and other YMCA group exercise courses are arriving soon.

Its doing a lot of the same things were doing at the Y in Lecanto, Reed said, and just kind of bringing them over here and letting this community react to it.

To make its fee-based programs more affordable, the YMCA offers financial assistance.

Crystal River also gave the YMCA responsibility for scheduling sporting events on the city parks athletic fields, but the organization has to consider the publics use as well.

There are already people here playing pickleball so were trying to build a relationship there, Reed said.

A YMCA youth soccer league already kicked off at LeGrone Park, and the YMCA building could be the perfect venue for a future awards banquet.

Reed said the YMCAs next step is letting the community know whats available.

One way to encourage more people to visit is by working with Citrus County and its school district to have their buses stop at LeGrone Park, especially for students leaving campuses.

Some folks who live in this community dont have the resources to drive to the Y, Reed said, so we really wanted to be in this community and allow them to have the same Y experience in their backyard.

In order for this program to be successful, weve got to get folks there, Brown added, and it has to be a county effort.

Reed said the YMCA also wants to start a summer camp at LeGrone Park, and also, maybe by next school year, set up a recreational area and tutoring spot inside the community center for the youths to take advantage of after school.

Hopkins said hes working with Reed and Adkins to also get mentoring programs online.

One of the things were lacking there in the African American community is there a lot of single-parent homes, he said, and the the only way we can fill the gaps in those homes is through mentoring programs.

Reed said the YMCA will keep welcoming feedback from community members with upcoming social events, like coffee hours.

To just to sit, relax and listen to them, he said, get to know them.
Florida, US (34429)

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Slovenia shocked Beijing after Prime Minister Janez Jansa criticized China's economic coercion and vowed that his country will strengthen its relationship with Taiwan, a move that received condemnation from Chinese authorities.

Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan aired an interview on Tuesday with the Central European leader. In it, he disclosed his government's plans to follow Lithuania's lead by establishing reciprocal trade offices with Taipei.

Slovenia and Taiwan

He also warned that continued Chinese pressure against the democratic island and its newfound allies in the European Union would be met with consequences. On the other hand, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, said in a press conference that Beijing was surprised by the decision and strongly opposed Slovenia's plans.

Zhao described Jansa's remarks as a "dangerous statement in support of 'Taiwan independence.' While China has never governed Taiwan, Beijing authorities assert a historic claim to the island, whose formal title is the Republic of China and has no official diplomatic relations with any EU member, Newsweek reported.

China has continued to claim that Taiwan is part of its territory to be brought under its control and if needed, by force. Recently, Beijing has ramped up its diplomatic pressure on the island to force it into political concessions.

Read Also: Biden Continues Call for Build Back Better, Says Bill Could be Passed in 'Pieces'

In a statement, Zhao said that no one should underestimate the strong determination, firm will, and strong ability of the Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The two regions split amid civil war in 1949, and the People's Republican insists that it is the sole legal representative of the island.

Slovenia's decision came after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in its capital under the name "Taiwan" rather than "Chinese Taipei." Officials from the United States and Lithuania said that China blocked imports from the northern European country since the Taiwanese government was allowed to open a trade office under its own name and not as a part of China, ABC News reported.

Beijing's One-China Policy

Zhao added that the one-China principle was a universally recognized norm in international relations and a general consensus of the international community. The spokesperson added that it was also the political foundation of China-Slovenia and China-Europe relations.

On Tuesday, the Taiwanese government welcomed Jansa's comments and confirmed that there have been negotiations underway for the island and Slovenia to establish representative offices on each other's territory.

"Actually, we have normal relations with Taiwan. Last year, when we saw some good anti-pandemic measures in Taipei, I personally called the health minister of Taiwan and we had an audio-video conference, exchanging our experiences. I personally visited Taiwan four or five times so far," said Jansa, the South China Morning Post reported.

Jansa noted that Taiwan was a democratic country and argued it was difficult to listen to a capital with a one-party system lecturing about democracy and peace around the world. He added that Taipei was a democratic country that respected all international democratic standards, including international law. China has previously responded to Lithuania by cutting down ties with the region and could do the same with Slovenia.



Related Article: Donors Threaten To Drop Support of Kyrsten Sinema Unless Democrat Supports Voting Rights Legislation

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Wilkes Barre, PA (18701)

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A Georgia pastor and his wife could face multiple charges for allegedly keeping eight mentally or physically disabled individuals inside their basement.

According to reports, Curtis Bankston and his wife were arrested after officials responded to a call for help after one of the residents inside the property suffered a seizure.

When they arrived at Bankston's home, they noticed that the door to the basement was locked, so they decided to go in through the window. There, they saw eight people being held in the pastor's home against their will.

The Griffin Police Department later confirmed that Bankston and his wife used their home as an unlicensed group home. They have also been using the guise of a church known as One Step of Faith 2nd Chance.

Bankston and his wife have not only been mistreating the eight individuals that were rescued from their basement. Reports also revealed that they control their victims' finances, medications, and public benefits.

Griffin Police Department releases statement

Following their arrest, the eight victims were transported to temporary care facilities to be taken care of.

"It is both frightening and disgusting to see the degree to which these individuals have been taken advantage of by people who were in a position of trust. The City of Griffin, along with DHS, will continue to use any resources available to ensure this does not happen again," the Griffin Police Department said via News 4 Jax.

According to The Independent, Bankston and his wife have been leasing their house for fourteen months. And they are just using their basement as a personal care home for the individuals.

Read Also: 5 Georgia Officers Receive Multiple Charges After Killing a Festivalgoer; Victim's Family Pleased With Indictment

Georgia pastor could face multiple charges

However, these people were imprisoned against their will. And their lives were also put at risk because there was no exit out of the residence in case of an emergency.

According to Macon, independent investigations have also been conducted by the Division of Aging Services and the Department of Human Services. Bankston was later charged with false imprisonment.

Georgia woman killed while driving her car

Elsewhere, Georgia police are also gathering information on the person responsible for shooting and killing a 71-year-old woman while driving her private vehicle.

Barbara Luke was shot at least once on Sunday on Delray Drive. The shooting caused her car to crash into a tree.

Following the incident, authorities attempted to do chest compressions on the patient, but Luke died on the scene.

Columbus police chief Freddie Blackmom confirmed there were previous reports of gunfire in the area where Luke was shot and killed. However, they still do not know if this is connected to the victim's shooting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

One neighbor shared audio of the gunshots recorded on her Ring camera. Multiple gunshots can be heard in the audio recording, but how many hit Luke is still unclear.

Investigations into the woman's death are still ongoing, and Columbus Police is urging anyone with relevant information to come forward immediately.

Related Article: Former Georgia Sen. David Perdue Files Lawsuit Against Senate Bill 221 That Favors Gov. Brian Kemp, Calls It Unconstitutional

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Landlord-musician. Im a hyphenated guy. Depends what kind of cocktail party Im at, whether I say landlord or musician first (I play clarinet in a klezmer band), but I dont try to hide the landlord part. I should: everybody hates landlords. Nobody paid rent as a child, so people think they should live free as adults, too. The walls, heat, and waterthat should be free, like the wind, rain, and baby food.

I used to feel guilty about charging rent. I hadnt done anything to deserve it, other than maintaining a buildinga building I hadnt even built. Now that Im middle-aged, though, I feel fine collecting rent. Somebody has to keep these old buildings from falling down.

Landlord-musician. I know one more in Cleveland. Hes a tough guy who wears a toupee, plays accordion and trumpet, and tells dirty jokes. Hes got a strip center on the West Side of Cleveland. Strip centerstrange term. Its short for shopping strip center.

I dont have any strip centers. I do have about 25 storefronts: Main Streetstyle buildings in Lakewood, Ohio, an inner-ring suburb of Cleveland. On the street level are stores. (Ive rented to art galleries; they all go under. Things that dont go under: beauty parlors, tanning salons, yoga studios, and bars.) Above the stores are apartments, about 160 suites in total. Like Disneylands Main Street, but with real mice.

A landlord friend turns up his speakerphone to demonstrate how much his tenants love him. Some kid on the other end asks if he has to hook up his own washing machine and dryer at the rental house. My buddy says, No, well supply that. Save your appliances for down the road when you buy a house. The kid is happy.

My landlord friend rents houses in Cleveland Heightsthe East Sideto medical residents, Case Western Reserve Ph.D. candidates, and Cleveland Institute of Music students. These people are high achievers with no time or inclination to trash an apartment. Has my buddy ever rented to a stripper? No.

Clevelands West Side, where my properties are, is a little dicier. My company screens tenants big-time. (We did let a stripper in. Make that exotic dancerexotic dancer with child.) We do criminal and civil court checks, credit checks, previous landlord checks.

Thats called keeping up the neighborhood. Sound middle-class? Yep: were making a civic contributionoffering people a decent place to live in a decent neighborhood. Thats probably a bigger civic contribution than the one my bandYiddishe Cupmakes. My plumbers and custodians keep up appearances. Every day, we create an art installation called Decent Neighborhood.

My Webb Road building is a perfect example. It has a Lebanese mini-mart guy and a Korean dry cleaner on the ground floor; upstairs are a Suzuki violin teacher, a United Express flight attendant, a truck driver, a welder, and so on. By and large, everybody gets along; in fact, some marry each other. Thats bad for business. They move in together, and I have an empty.

After I raised the rent a mere $10 per month on a flower-shop owner, Toby, my father, smiled and said, Youre a nice guy. I think Tobys smilea raritymeant he was glad I wasnt a total hard-ass like him. We had arrived.

During my dads final days, the Cleveland Clinic nurses called him Chief because he was so bossy. A doctor said, Youre a hard one. Toby answered, Thats right. Its my life. A nurse wondered if my father was in the medical field because he carried a stack of homemade medical folders. He was flattered. The closest hed ever come to the medical field was a dental-school acceptance in the 1950s, but he couldnt afford to go because he already had children.

Years later, I sat at McDonalds with my elder son, Ted, 28. The first generation (my father) scrapes, the second generation (me) tries to keep things on keel, and the third (Ted) needs tutorials in toughness because it doesnt remember the first. I told my son not to forget the little things: pens, checks, camera, Post-it notes. I said, Lesson One: Write everything down. You dont want to think about cold water leak, Apt. 24 all day. Lesson Two: Be wary of restaurant workers, particularly chefs and servers. They come home late, party hard, and wake up the solid-citizen tenants in the building. Lesson Three: ABC, for Always Be Closingclosing a deal, that is, which, in my case, means collecting the rent. Thats from a David Mamet play and was an inside joke between my son and me. My son, like every other young person, enjoys quoting movies verbatim.

I thought of a non-movie line for Ted: If the tenant has not mailed his rent, say to him, Do not mail in your late rent. Hand it to the custodian. Hand it. We dont want to wonder if the post office has lost the check. Ted seemed more interested in his burger. I wasnt up to Mamets standards. The job sucks on some level! I said. That got Teds attention. You make it interesting. It took me a while.

Back in 1986, my father dragged me to a lightning-round tutorial with Cousin Gershy. Gershy looked horriblethree strokes and two heart attacks. He said, Youve got that little curl in the tailthat little something differentthat something the new treatment doesnt cure. Youre in trouble. They say, We cant straighten out your tail. Youre dead. Thats what the doctors tell me.

Gershy had shotguns over the mantle, plus a horn from a longhorn steer and plaques that read SHALOM. You wouldnt believe it, but I used to be a shtarker, Gershy said. (Strong guy or bully.) I believed it.

Gershys steer horn cost $50. At one point, the gun dealer who had sold it to Gershy decided that he wanted it back. Gun dealers is a funny ballpark, Gershy said. He could shoot me, but a deal is a deal. Thats the way it is.

Gershy owned a shopping strip center on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights and wanted to sell it. His price was too high, Toby said. If the kid is interested, Gershy said, looking at me, Id come down. Its up to the kid, Toby said. Ill work with him, Gershy said.

Driving home, Toby said, Gershy has mellowed. Mellowed? And hes a ganef, Toby added. (Thief.) Dont buy anything from him.

I didnt.

At McDonalds, I told my son, If a real-estate broker claims operating expenses are just 45 percent of gross income, hes delusional. I slid a Wall Street Journal across the table. Take it. Take the paper. The Journal was the best I could offer. I didnt see any Gershys or Tobys around. Unless you counted me.

How hard is this to understand? If the applicant is approved and makes a depositand then decides not to move into the apartmentthe deposit will be forfeited.

Nobody gets it. . . . I changed my mind. My mom just found out shes terminally ill. Im going back with my wife. I should have told you Im an alcoholic and need to move into a sober house. Business is business. I hang on to the deposit.

An applicant once stopped payment on her deposit, a bank check. That workedI didnt know you could stop a bank check. Nice move. She got me.

I get a lot of late rent checks, too. Some landlords charge $50 for a late check. I charge $20. Late fees are a no-win situationyou charge more and the tenant goes into debt even more quickly. I learned that lesson about late fees from an old-time Cleveland landlord who made a million and lost it and made it back. He wound up killing himself because he lost a million the last time around.

A lot of real-estate guys are gamblers like that, but Im not. I went into real estate because it was the family business. It was an odd fit. Real estate isnt a field for University of Chicago types, and I was a University of Chicago type. Actually, I went to the University of Michigan, but I visited the University of Chicago a lot when I was in college. I liked how the U of C students laughed at the jokes in all the right places in cult movies like Harold and Maude. The movie itself wasnt that funny, but the students were.

I do my own forcible entry and detainers. That means evictions. First, I serve the deadbeat tenant an eviction notice. Then I go to court and, for $85, fill out another piece of paper, called a forcible entry. On the form, under cause of action, I write: Tenant owes back rent. I used to write novellas, like wherefore plaintiff prays to receive damages and the cost of this actionwaste of time. The tenant is broke; youre not going to get anything by writing more.

I occasionally lose a case, usually on oddball stuff, like when an AIDS victim claimed I didnt rent to him because of his illness. I hadnt known he had AIDS. We settled for $620, and I was fine with that. You know what a discrimination case can cost? Another AIDS victim wanted to move from the fourth floor to the first. I didnt want that; the guy was always late with his rent, and I would have to repaint his old suite and his new one. He got a lawyer who said I was discriminating. I said, Can I help you with that couch?

I sometimes hire a lawyer for legal complicationsmatters beyond the workaday. For instance, the city wanted to ban basement dwellings because the mayor thought below-ground suites were a throwback to the dark ages when custodians lived underground and stoked coal-fired boilers.

My lawyer brought a stenographer to the city hearing. The city guys were impressed. A group of babushka landladies who also owned basement rental units were there as well. Afterward, they all thanked me for stymieing the citys effort.

Heres some free legal advice. Do not discriminate against people with kids. Federal law prohibits it. Do discriminate on ageon the young sideif you want. But be consistent. For example, you can ban adults under a certain age, say 22, from your apartments. That means 18-to-21-year-olds cant live in your buildings, which reduces the partying and the potatoes stuck in the toilet trap.

When you try to evict a party animal, you need to quote verbatim from the Ohio Revised Code, Section 5321.05(A)(8). Thats the part that requires a tenant to conduct himself and require other persons on the premises with his consent to conduct themselves in a manner that will not disturb his neighbors peaceful enjoyment of the premises. You have to use that exact language.

Peaceful enjoyment: thats the goal.

Before I hire a building manager, I interview the candidate at his residence. One mans house had no front stoop, and he had four dogs in the living room. There was hardly any non-dog space in the house. We did the interview in a bedroom on the third floor. There was a big bird up there.

How about a doormat that says GOT BEER? I hired a woman with that doormat and she worked out well. She was a steady worker and controlled her drinking.

Ethnic factory workers are usually solid, too. Too bad theyethnics and factoriesdont really exist any more. Benny Artino, one of my building managers, worked the day shift at Eaton Axle. His wife, Betty, was the worlds best cleaner. She wanted to be buried with a can of Comet. I gave her an unlimited cleaning budget. She liked to vacuum every day. I didnt try to stop her. Why would I?

One of my worst hires was a cocaine addict. She ran up my Home Depot account with charges for an air compressor and a toolbox, which she fenced. But the $50 gift certificate she bought was over the top. After I fired her, she asked me to meet at Taco Bell and reconsider. My father had given an employee a second chance once, and she had repaid my dad and stayed on the job. But my custodianthe cokeheadsaid, I have a few shopliftings but I never stole from people.

Was I not people? I stuck with fired. But I didnt say, Youre fired. I said, If you turn in the keys this weekend, Ill pay your moving expenses and give you $400, and I wont call the cops. Sometimes it pays to move people.

I once employed a custodian whose family was a bunch of burglars, according to the investigating cop. Why the cop had waited so long to tell me, I dont know. All along, the custodians kids had pilfered tools and lawnmowers from me, but I couldnt prove anything, and besides, I liked the guy. He was a hardworking hillbillyhis term. I was his little bitty buddy. His kids took the master key and broke into an apartment across the hall. Then they committed a botched burglary down the street and confessed to that, plus my break-in. My custodian had to move out. See you in the funny papers, he said. Six years with meand then, so long, because his kids were crooks.

One day, I discovered human excrement in the basement of one of my properties, an unlocked vacant store. (The store was unlocked because we had a carpet crew coming in, but we didnt know when.) Why the trespasser hadnt used the toiletwhich workedwas a mystery.

I offered the buildings manager $25 to clean up the mess. He said, Ill take $38.75. I said $40. He stuck with $38.75. He said, A good bottle of Scotch is $38.75. Scotch malt whiskey, my God in freaking heaven, the joy of it!

I ran into the carpet foreman and asked if he had taken a dump in the basement. Why not ask? He said no. He was an odd guy, though. For instance, nearly every time I saw him, he would make an off-key remark about Jews. Jews are cheap, that was his favorite. He told tenants, Stratton wont put anything good in because that costs money. I got rid of him a couple of times. But he did good workand he was cheapso I brought him back.

He said, Its Chanukah time. Were best buds. Can you pay me up front? He had no idea what he was talking about. Pay him up front? Best buds? He said Scrooge was Jewish. No, I said, Scrooge wasnt Jewish. He answered that I was a Reformed Jew and that I didnt know what I was talking about. I asked him to stop talking about Jews, but he couldnt help himself. He told me his mother was Jewish. He repeated, Were best buds, Bert. Come on, pay me. You know Im going to do the job tomorrow.

I didnt pay him. Feces happens. But I did pay the building manager the $38.75.

A tenant almost sued me for icicle damage to her body. A falling icicle had grazed her shoulder. She said it was a 25-pound icicle.

She wouldnt have won. There is no law stating that I control the weather. Icicles are in the playoff series, nature division, along with cardinals, sycamores, and lightning bugs. And there is no way to prevent ice buildup unless you put a heating cable in the gutter. But she might have endlessly bugged me, so I told her to take some money off her rent.

At the Webb building, the icicles look like Niagara Falls in stop-action. The alleyway in back should be declared a national sanctuary for icicles, its so frigid and dark. A college film crew shot a crime-action movie in that alley. They strewed litter to make the alley look worse. (They picked it up afterward.) They also spread rock salt to melt the snow and ice. Use the snow, use the icicles, I wanted to tell them. Work with it.

When the police call at 2 AM, I can usually guess the script: A drunk has fallen through a storefront window. A lot of people are coming out of bars at 2 AM, and some of them are falling through windows.

Ive rented to a couple of bars. That state liquor license, thats gold for a working-class guy trying to enter the middle class. A bar can change its name and ownership, but itll always be a bar.

Unless its demolished. I razed a bar oncethe Stop-N-Go. The city replaced it with a shopping center. Was I against eminent domain? Not in this case. The Stop-N-Go was a hole, and we got a good price. The only real loss, civically speaking, was the bars secluded back-door entrance, which was behind a warehouse. Nobody could see you go in. Mailmen in uniform especially liked that.

We sprayed a tenants suite for cockroaches, and it didnt work. The tenant wrote a letter demanding that we do it again; if we didnt, she would put her rent in escrow. She worked in a law office.

We sprayed again. Then we sprayed the whole building. About $1,000 worth of spray. She still had bugs, so she called the citys buildings department, which sent out its newest, most gung-ho inspector, who decided we needed to point the chimney, plane the boiler-room door in the basement, and fix up everything in between. Which we did.

Then she complained again. So we brought in a guy with cockroach poison-gas bombs. He zapped her apartment, including a direct hit on her coffeepot. A dozen cockroaches scampered out. She had gotten a used coffeepot from her boyfriend. That roach-infested coffeepot set me back $2,000.

I planned not to renew her lease, but she told me she was leaving anyway. That annoyed me. As did her 20-pound bond legal stationery. She wasnt even a lawyer.

On move-out day, she left her mattress and air conditioner on the lawn. I had to move them to the Dumpster. And I didnt deduct anything from her deposit. She was an okay tenant. Her only major negative: she had dropped a dime on me, times 20,000.

I knew a building inspector who could smell rats. Thats what he claimed, anyway. He didnt even have to see the droppings. I also knew a custodian who could jimmy almost any apartment door with a credit card.

My own talentsomewhat dubiousis figuring out if a tenant has skipped out or not. First, the tenant hasnt paid his rent. Thats a given. I knock loudly on the tenants door. No answer. I yell maintenance a couple of times and bring out the master key. I yell maintenance a third time, and I step into the apartment.

A couch, a bed . . . always. Skippers leave behind the heavy stuff. TVs, too. Everyone upgrades his TV on move-out. Some small items stay behind: beer bottles, pennies, unopened bills. Usually enough junk to fill three or four trash bags. The stove: broken and greasy. The refrigerator: always missing some shelves. (Why?) Underwear and socks: gone. No socks, no tenant. The guy has definitely skipped.

If Im not completely sure the skipper is gone, I have to file an eviction. I buy eviction notices by the carton. I go to court every two months. The deadbeats rarely show up, and if they do, theres nothing to talk about. They didnt pay the rent; they have to move.

My friend the nice-guy landlord knows all his tenants, and sometimes they screw him out of four months rent because hes so nice. I know another landlord who takes some of his tenants out to dinner. At Christmastime, I used to buy chocolates for tenants. I spent over $1,000 and got thank-you notes from 1 percent of them. My dad thought I was nuts.

I used to keep a folder called goodwill in case some reporter phoned and said, Can I speak to the slumlord? Id whip that folder right out. I havent needed it yet.

Real estate is like life. Its not orderly. One day, two-bedroom apartments are moving; the next, nobody will touch them. Some years, tons of tenants move out in January; in other years, everybody stays. There is no pattern to anything in real estate. The only certainty is that 10 percent of your tenants will give you 90 percent of your problems.

I try to avoid certain tenants in the hallways. If I say hi to some of these people, its going to cost me at least $400. Could be a new stove or a bathroom tile job.

I had a tenant whose wristwatch played Beethoven. I talked to him, and it didnt cost me a cent. He had moved to Cleveland from Buffalo to teach guitar. His family ran a musical-gifts company, he told me.

I had another tenant who enclosed a poem with her rent, something about wildlife outside her apartment window. The hawk waits / A dignified duration. / Flies. Not bad. I told her to take $25 off her rentonce.

I had a tenant who regularly won the Miss Cleveland contest for transvestites. Young guys would crawl in through his ground-floor window. The copsand Idid not like that. Too many visitors is a big negative.

William, my drug-dealing tenant, also attracted a lot of traffic, which was bad for the hallway carpet. The cops told me to stand to the side of the doornot directly in frontwhen I gave him his eviction notice. The cops were right next to me. William said he wasnt dealing drugs. But he did move; I guess he didnt like the cops knocking on his door.

The basic rule in Cleveland real estate is that the landlord gives you a fresh coat of paint, a clean refrigerator, and some heat, and you give him a third of your income. And you figure you should be paying a whole lot less than that.

Or else you do pay a whole lot less than that and move into a ramshackle apartment in a lousy neighborhood.

Illustrations by Jock
Oklahoma City, OK (73106)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 53F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Human Appeal UK has partnered with the US charity Globus Relief to deliver projects in Syria and Iraq.

Together, the charities will distribute $2.5m (approximately 1.8m) worth of medical supplies to at least 24 healthcare centres across northwest Syria and Iraq.

Human Appeal says this partnership will go towards strengthening healthcare systems in the countries, and expects to help 115,500 people gain access to health services. Shipments of the medical supplies are already underway.

Globus Relief is a humanitarian organisation and its mission is to unite non-profits to save lives and relieve suffering of those who are in need of basic healthcare.

Human Appeal has collaborated with the US charity since last year, when they successfully delivered medical supplies to Dar Al-Shifa hospital in Tripoli, Libya.

The impact of Covid-19

Both Syria and Iraq have largely been taken over by the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). Syria has also been at war for over 10 years, which has left over 380,000 people dead, as well as 2.1 million civilians gaining injuries or permanent disabilities from the conflict.

The pandemic has put additional strain on the countries. Covid-19 cases are currently rising in the regions, putting an increased pressure on healthcare. According to Worldometer's statistics , there are currently 50,748 Covid-19 cases in Syria and over two million in Iraq.

The humanitarian aid charities hope to combat the pressure this is putting on healthcare services in the regions through its projects.

'An ideal partner'

Dr Mohamed Ashmawey, CEO of Human Appeal, said: Globus Relief is a leader in the field of medical supplies, making it an ideal partner for us when it comes to getting vital healthcare supplies and equipment to crisis regions around the world. The Covid-19 situation in Syria in particular is worsening by the day, and with their support we can swiftly provide greatly needed medical supplies and assistance to an area already in urgent need of assistance to limit the spread of the virus, particularly in winter.

Globus Relief is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is rated four out of a potential four stars by Charity Navigator, a rating system for US non-profits. The charity was created by two businessmen in 1996, and has distributed $1bn worth of medical supplies across the world since it began.

Shaimaa AlWassiti, Globus Reliefs president, adds, A new chapter in Globus Reliefs global partnerships has begun with our collaboration with Human Appeal. There are few organisations with the local knowledge and presence as Human Appeal has in these regions, and now in the midst of winter, it is imperative the medical supplies reach the vulnerable.

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A year after publishing our 2021 report Saving Journalism: A Vision for the Post-Covid World, our researchers went back to see what happened to some of the promising measures we documented. What follows is an excerpt from our most recent findings.

Ripple Effects from Australias News Media Bargaining Code

Perhaps the biggest news of 2021 was the February implementation of Australias News Media Bargaining Code, which had global repercussions. The code was passed by Australias Parliament on February 25, 2021, after lobbying and threats from Google and Facebook. Google claimed the law would break the way Google works. In the week before the legislation passed, Facebook did in fact black out users accessing news content through the platform in Australia.

Its not clear how much money has been given to Australian media outlets as a result of the Code. Indeed, the Code has been criticized for its lack of transparency, as the arrangements between the outlets and Google and Facebook are kept secret. One interviewee told us that the total payouts in 2021 were around $AU150200 million ($110$150 million in US dollars), with Facebook paying a bit more than Google and giving some outlets around $AU800,000 (about $US600,000). One analyst estimates that The Guardian got between $AU35 million (approx. $US3 million). News Corp (Murdoch-owned) and Nine (which merged with Fairfax Media in 2018) are thought to be getting tens of millions of dollars. Google is apparently giving smaller outlets around $AU100,000 to $400,000 each ($US75,000 to $300,000)a tiny amount, given the annual revenues of both Google and Facebook.

Despite these inequalities, the redirection of resources from Google and Facebook toward the media sector resulting from the News Media Bargaining Code is an important step forwardat least for bigger traditional outlets. As Richard Denniss, chief economist of the Australia Institute, said, There is nothing egalitarian about the Code at all. Google and Facebook were forced to negotiate and bigger outlets are getting a lot more money than the smaller ones, and we will probably never know whether the ratio of cash paid to clicks is constant across the mastheads. But if smaller publishers are not happy with the offer they can hold out and an independent arbitrator can set the price for them. Its not fair, but its shoveling a lot of money from people who have an enormous amount of money to a sector that doesnt have any.

In Australia, however, groups that were left out of the Code or that feel they were not bargained with in good faith are continuing to pressure Facebook. The Conversation launched a petition against Facebook, noting that while Google agreed to negotiate, Facebook refused.

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Global tensions between large and small outlets

In other countries besides Australia, weve seen smaller journalism organizations oppose programs favoring large ones. In Germany, the Krautreporter successfully protested after the German government announced in 2020 that it would provide 220 million in its budget for the year in order to support digital transformation. Cofounder Sebastian Esser argued that this was unfair to digital natives, and after Krautreporter threatened a lawsuit, the government dropped the plan (and at this writing has yet to replace it). We killed it. But I dont mind that, and we didnt get complaints from other publishers about it, actually. This approach was messed up from the start, so better to start from scratch, or not at all, Esser said in an email.

Can policy fixes from the Global North work in the Global South?

While there is debate among news publishers in the US, Canada, and the Global North about which policy options will benefit whom, there is a feeling in many parts of the Global South that many of the proposed policies would not be suitable for them. Many of the outlets are too small to pay taxes and have tiny staffs, so a tax credit for hiring new reporters would not help them. Others worry about government advertising, feeling that it may constrain what they can report on and lead to too much government influence. They say that accepting such advertisements may erode brand credibility and that if they accept government advertising, they may be asked to kick back some of that funding to the officials who allocated it.

Indonesia announced a journalism stimulus package in July 2020, which included tax credits and direct subsidies. The core policies were abolition of the value-added tax for newsprint, suspension of electricity charges for the media industry, a decrease of 50 percent on corporate tax, and exemption of income tax for employees earning up to 200 million rupiah. In addition, there was a subsidy for news outlets that came in the form of direct payments, on the condition that outlets publish a certain number of stories each month advising Indonesians on how to handle covid-19such as stories related to social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing. The policies were controversialsome credited them with saving the journalism industry during the pandemic, but others saw it as an example of direct government intervention in what content was produced.

Economists taking a pragmatic view

Economists we interviewed take a pragmatic view of the many policy options being proposed or implemented to help journalism. They agree that a tax on tech, which would be used to support quality journalism, is the ideal. Even better would be government funding journalism out of general revenues and imposing a tax on tech as a general matter of tax policy.

But economists we spoke to recognize that the idea is difficult to achieve in the current environment. For this reason, many support other policies such as tax breaks for news outlets and tax credits for new subscribers, as well as the Australian News Media Bargaining Code. None of these are ideal solutions, but if they cause no harm then that is good enough: Economists consider them second best measures. The media provide an important public good, they argue, and in the absence of public support there will be under-provisionan inadequate supply. Many economists believe its important to correct that problem, at least partially, even if the approach is imperfect.

There isnt hard economic data telling us whether many of the policies being proposed and implemented around the world will workthere is simply not enough clarity as to what will. But this is true of interventions besides those using the tax system. In the US, as in many other countries, tax credits have encouraged people to save for their retirement, but its not known exactly why. Its not clear whether the tax credit is an incentive in and of itself or whether the existence of IRA accounts in the US serves as a powerful reminder to people that they should save for their retirementand provides incentives for banks to advertise savings.

Economists generally believe that every policy option involves trade-offs, so it makes sense to choose whichever option is politically viable, most cost-effective, and lacking in unintended adverse side effectsor causing the least harm. When a government wants to support a particular industry there is a long menu of choices, explained Richard Denniss. One option is tax credits targeted towards the specific thing you want the company to do more of. For example, in the case of journalism you can provide tax credits that are linked to the wages an outlet spends on journalists. Its probably not going to do any harm, so you are just arguing over how much good you want it to do or whether you want to use other levers to support the media.

Dean Baker, founder of the Washington, DCbased Center for Economic and Policy Research, summed up this practical way of thinking in an email: I would generally be a fan of the tax credit system rather than vouchers for new subscriptions but my general view on this issue (and pretty much any issue) is to go with what is moving. If the credit idea is getting political favor, I couldnt see opposing it even if I thought the voucher system was preferable. It is such a huge improvement on the status quo and would make such an enormous difference to journalism if implemented, that it would be a shame not to do everything possible to get it through.

Whatever regulation governments implement, economists note that incentives can be built into its design. For example, an outlet that gets government funding could be given the funding on the condition that it not lay off reporters or that it hire more reporters. One provision in the Local Journalism Sustainability [Act] in the US that I would love to see is a ban on paywalls for any material produced by a newspaper getting money. We want people to be able to benefit from the news they pay for with their tax dollars. The papers should be smart enough to do this themselvesmake their material free to get more viewers and more creditsbut it would probably be a good thing to put in law to ensure and also for politicians to say when justifying a subsidy, says Dean Baker.

Tax creditsan idea spreading around the world

Tax credits for media outlets are being proposed and implemented in a number of countries as they are a relatively simple way of getting funding to large and medium-size outlets.

This is different from a tax on tech that would be given directly to funds that support journalism. Traditionally, tax authorities do not like such earmarked taxes. They would rather see funding go into government coffers so that the government can allocate revenue where needed through ordinary budget processes. According to Rod Sims, then-chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, if you want to fund journalism, proper fiscal policy says that you design an efficient tax system, you raise the money in the most efficient way, and then you allocate it in the best way and, in my view, youd allocate some of it to journalism. What you dont want is a system where you say, Whats my need, where will I find someone to go and tax? Youll just have a mess of a fiscal policy and a mess of a tax system.

However, after the covid-19 pandemic began, governments around the world expanded or implemented new tax credits in order to support journalism. France and Canada expanded existing tax credits while Indonesia and Tunisia started new ones. These credits can take many forms: credits for outlets that hire new journalists, credits for advertisers advertising in outlets, and tax credits for new subscribers to outlets. All include definitions of which outlets are eligible and often include other criteria. Tax credits for local news were included in the proposed Local Journalism Sustainability Act in the US. In November 2021, one portion of the billa tax credit for local news organizations designed to undergird a portion of a journalists salarypassed the US House as part of the Build Back Better Act. Clearly, if media outlets are not profitable then exempting them from profit taxes doesnt help much but its hoped that other kinds of tax relief will.

US interest in municipal advertising

Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, from the National Trust for Local News, believes that there are a number of policy measures, as well as investments, that can help local news in the US. Municipal advertising should be a policy priority at state and local level. Its a powerful tool, said Hansen. A payroll tax credit would be transformational. It would fundamentally change the economics of reporting and economic strength. That is the most expensive part of the newsroom.

In Colombia, Senator Richard Aguilar and journalist Werner Zitzmann pushed for a bill to be introduced with novel ideas for supporting local journalism. The bill proposes eliminating the tax on advertising for media outlets between 2021 and 2025, exempting all media outlets from the income tax for twenty years, and offering several economic incentives on subscriptions and payroll. However, the bills future is uncertain, as the senator who proposed it was recently jailed for corruption.

No shortage of good ideas

The good news is there are lots of good ideas about how governments can support journalism and strengthen democracies. While the US is in gridlock, others have moved ahead. The hard part will be summoning the political will to act and working out what policies are the most likely to be effective.

The taxonomy of interventions

As we did in our 2021 Saving Journalism report, we examine a number of initiatives from around the world aimed at helping journalism. Were again using a taxonomy suggested by Nishant Lalwani, executive director of Luminate, a foundation that spent about $20 million in 2021 to support journalism globally, who notes that many current efforts fall into four (somewhat overlapping) categories: more funding; new business models; a tax on the tech platforms; and public subsidies.

This article is adapted from Saving Journalism 2, commissioned by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Schiffrins coauthors on the report are: Hannah Clifford (SIPA), and Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey (School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University), Matthew Reysio Cruz (Columbia Journalism School), and Ryan Lee (SIPA).

The Journalism Crisis Project aims to train our focus on the present crisis and to foster a conversation about what comes next. We hope youll join us. (Click to subscribe!)

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Anya Schiffrin is the director of the media and technology specialization at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has agreed to pay $420 million to settle shareholder litigation alleging the company hid an anti-competitive scheme to fix the price of generic drugs.

The settlement was disclosed on Tuesday in papers filed in federal court in Connecticut. The company did not admit to wrongdoing.

Teva spokesperson Kelley Dougherty said the vast majority of the settlement will be funded by the companys insurers.

This resolution is in the overall best interest of Teva and the patients who continue to rely on us each day for the worlds largest portfolio of generics medicines, Dougherty said in an email.

Shareholders had sued the company in 2016 amid scrutiny by government authorities into alleged price fixing by major pharmaceutical companies.

We are very pleased with this outstanding result after five years of hard fought litigation and preparation for trial, said Joseph Fonti, an attorney for the investors.

The agreement requires the approval of the judge overseeing the case.

The U.S. Justice Department sued Teva in 2020, alleging the company conspired with competitors to raise prices for generic drugs. The company has denied the allegations.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Franklin Paul and Chris Reese)
A federal judge in New York has dismissed a potential class action against Marsh & McLennan by two former employees who sued after the firm suffered a data breach in 2021.

The plaintiffs, Florida residents Nancy Bohnak and Janet Lea Smith, who sought monetary damages and injunctive relief, failed to show that they suffered any legally cognizable injury to support their substantive claims, U.S. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York found.

The judge told the plaintiffs that to be cognizable under either Florida or New York law, damages must be capable of proof with reasonable certainty and not merely speculative, and they must be proximately caused by the defendant.

Marsh & McLennan reported that on April 26, 2021 it discovered at data breach potentially affecting the personally identifiable information (PII) of about 7,000 people. The data included Social Security or other federal tax identification numbers, drivers license or other government issued identification, and passport information. MMC immediately notified law enforcement and launched an investigation and took measures that ended all unauthorized access ended on April 30.

Plaintiffs Bohnak and Smith claimed they have always been careful about sharing their PII and have never knowingly transmitted their unencrypted sensitive PII over the internet or any other unsecured source. They alleged that MMC had inadequate security practices and brought claims of negligence, breach of implied contract, and breach of confidence.

Bohnak and Smith claimed that as a result of the breach they suffered injuries that included lost or diminished value of PII; out-of-pocket expenses associated with recovery from identity theft, tax fraud, and/or unauthorized use of their PII; lost opportunity costs associated with attempting to mitigate the actual consequences of the data breach, including but not limited to lost time, and the continued and certainly increased risk to their PII.

The plaintiffs also sought injunctive relief including requiring MMC to protect all collected data with encryption and to implement a comprehensive information security program.

MMC argued that the plaintiffs failed to state claims for negligence, breach of implied contract, or breach of confidence because they do not allege damages, the existence of an implied contract, or the existence of a confidential relationship.

The judge agreed and told the plaintiffs that their failure to plausibly allege damages doomed their request for monetary damages, and their failure to plausibly allege irreparable injury doomed their request for injunctive relief.

Plaintiffs can only speculate as to whether they will suffer harm at some unknown future date. They also can only speculate about the extent of that harm, if and when it does materialize. These damages are neither certain nor capable of proof with reasonable certainty. As to Plaintiffs allegations that they have suffered loss of time and money responding to the increased risk of harm, these damages are not cognizable because they are not proximately caused by the harm of disclosure, the judge wrote.

Their complaint falls short in establishing that they have suffered legally cognizable injury to support their substantive claims, the judge ruled.
Drugmaker Endo International plc said on Tuesday it had agreed to pay up to $65 million to resolve claims by the state of Florida and local governments that the drugmaker helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic.

The deal is the latest in a string of settlements that Endo has struck in recent months to resolve similar cases, including a $63 million settlement with Texas in December.

The Florida settlement included no admission of wrongdoing, Endo said, while reiterating that its goal was to achieve a global opioid settlement.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed seeking to hold drugmakers, drug distributors and pharmacy chains responsible for a drug abuse crisis, which the U.S. government says has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths over two decades.

Endo shares rose nearly 4% to $3.40 in premarket trading.

The settlement comes less than a month after Texas officials announced a $63 million settlement with Endo. The settlement requires Endo to pay into the Texas State Qualified Settlement Fundwhich will disperse funding accordinglywithout a requirement of a global settlement first, a news release said.
New Zealand is one of the few countries that has not detected its first Omicron case. But Prime Minister Jacinda Adern and some health officials are convinced that it's only a matter of time before the variant infects the country.

According to reports, Adern will have a red traffic light setting imposed within the next 24 to 48 hours after Omicron is detected in New Zealand. This simply means that locals will be required to wear masks, and there will also be limits on public gatherings.

Jacinda Adern explains why a lockdown isn't necessary

Adern also said that other restrictions could also be put in place. But having a countrywide lockdown won't happen.

"When we have evidence of Omicron transmitting in the community we won't use lockdowns, instead the whole country will move into Red within 24 to 48 hours. We know from other countries it can take as little as 14 days for Omicron cases to grow from the hundreds into the thousands. It's a case of when not if, and that's why we need to prepare," she said via Reuters.

Adern is also urging residents to get vaccinated and boostered. As of press writing, 93 percent of New Zealand's entire population over the age of 12 has already been vaccinated. About 20 percent have already received their booster shot.

Read Also: New Zealand To Stop Pursuing Zero COVID Strategy; PM Jacinda Ardern Plans To Transition to 'Living With The Virus' Approach

New Zealand postpones the reopening of borders

Before Omicron was detected in South Africa in November, New Zealand was already planning to reopen its borders to foreigners. However, they decided to push back their phased reopening plans to the end of February amid fears that Omicron could also be detected in the country.

In her statement, Adern acknowledged that Omicron is more transmissible than the previous COVID-19 variants that plagued the country and the rest of the world.

As such, it's going to be more challenging to keep Omicron out once it enters New Zealand. But Adern stressed that just like in the past, once Covid changes, they also change along with the virus.

New Zealand successfully combats COVID-19 despite criticisms

According to NPR, New Zealand successfully managed to contain the spread of the Delta variant months ago with only an average of 20 cases per day. But the country has also seen an increase in the number of people arriving in New Zealand with Omicron.

Even though New Zealand's COVID-19 response can be regarded as successful, Adern's critic, Christopher Luxon, said she still planned poorly for Omicron. Luxon also accused the government of not planning ahead for the newest variant.

In October, Adern was also criticized following her response to the Delta variant last year. At the time, New Zealand went into another lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.

But The Conversation still dubbed Adern's efforts as clumsy leadership. After all, there was constant blame, recrimination, avoidance, denial, and grief between the leaders and the citizens.

Still, there's no denying the fact that Adern's COVID-19 response since the pandemic started could be lauded as one of the best across the globe.

Related Article: New Zealand, United Kingdom's New Free Trade Agreement Will Cut Red Tape for Businesses, End Tariffs on UK Exports

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at the MMS- Payne Funeral Home Chapel from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Family will greet friends from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Grace Ann Harrison passed away on April 26, 2022 at the age of 76 years old. Grace Ann was born to Dryden and Joan Carman 


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Gail Marsha Malitz, age 83, of Beachwood, was born June 11, 1938, in Cleveland, and passed away on May 2, 2022.

Arrangements under the direction of Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel.
Donald Trump's White House documents pertaining to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot are already being released to the panel that's investigating the insurrection.

This week, the Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of releasing the documents that Trump has been asking the panel not to include in their investigation.

Three members of the Supreme Court that Trump nominated also voted in favor of the document's release. Clarence Thomas was the only justice to dissent.

House select committee thrilled with Supreme Court's decision

The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot also tweeted that some of Trump's hidden documents have already been turned over to them.

"The Supreme Court's action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and American democracy. The Select Committee has already begun to receive records that the former president had hoped to keep hidden and we look forward to additional productions regarding this important information," they said in a statement via the Huffington Post.

They also said that their work goes forward to uncover all the facts about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and why it happened in the first place.

Joe Biden denied Donald Trump's executive privilege plea

In October, Joe Biden already denied Trump's request to keep his White House documents hidden from the House select committee after citing executive privilege.

However, experts said that executive privilege can only be given to those who are still in office and those whose documents are not of public interest.

Read Also: Ohio Math Teacher's Made-Up Equation Suggests 2020 Election Result Was Rigged, Says All Votes Were Hacked

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who voted in favor of the release of Trump's documents, said that it is reasonable for presidents to keep some of their records private. But their executive privilege claims should diminish to some extent after their years in office.

According to CNBC, Trump cannot appeal the Supreme Court's ruling to release his White House records. This means that it's only a matter of time before the over 700 pages of records will be sent to the National Archives for review.

Donald Trump could be charged following the Capitol riot

Trump has not also been charged with anything, even though there's more than enough proof that he incited violence and encouraged his Republican supporters to flock to the US Capitol last year.

The ex-POTUS previously urged his supporters to take back what's theirs after convincing them that the election results were rigged.

But his lawyer argued that Trump also encouraged Republicans to return home safely and avoid any form of violence at the riot and elsewhere.

As of press writing, Trump continues to spread election fraud lies even though he doesn't have any proof.

According to the BBC, he previously said that he and the Republicans won the election by a landslide. He also stressed that they would stop stealing votes during a rally just hours before the Capitol riot.

Trump also claimed that they would never give up or concede. And he hasn't done so to this day even though some of his supporters already accepted that they lost to Joe Biden.

Related Article: MAGA Conspiracy Theorists Convinced Joe Biden Will Impose Martial Law

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu hosts 2022 the First BRICS Sherpas' Meeting

People's Daily Online) 14:20, January 20, 2022

On January 18, 2022, China's BRICS Sherpa and Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu hosted 2022 the First BRICS Sherpas' Meeting attended by the BRICS Sherpas of Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa as well as representatives of relevant departments of China.

Ma Zhaoxu said, currently, the once-in-a-century changes and pandemic together accelerate the evolution of the international landscape. Globalization encounters setbacks and the pandemic keeps raging, imposing severe impacts on countries, especially the emerging markets and developing countries. After 16 years' development, the BRICS mechanism has become an important platform for strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation among the five countries and an important force for the evolution of international order, the improvement of global governance and the promotion of common development. Facing the complex and changing international situation, the five BRICS countries should safeguard the common interest of the emerging markets and developing countries and play a greater role in upholding multilateralism, enhancing anti-pandemic cooperation and boosting economic recovery.

Ma Zhaoxu said that as the chair of the BRICS this year, China is willing to work with all sides to facilitate the building of a more comprehensive, closer, more practical and more inclusive BRICS partnership centering on the theme of "forming a high-quality partnership to jointly create a new era of global development" for the purpose of stronger, greener and sounder global development. Ma Zhaoxu briefed on the overall vision of BRICS cooperation for the year, stressing that China will do its best to host this year's BRICS Summit and activities throughout the year, and present fruitful cooperation results in such fields as pursuing multilateralism, solidarity in combating the pandemic, boosting economic recovery, promoting effective and pragmatic cooperation and accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China will facilitate the BRICS countries to strengthen strategic communication and make BRICS voices on major international issues. China will ensure continuous cooperation and implement the outcomes of all the previous BRICS Summits. China will expand the breadth and depth of cooperation in answer to the call of new situations and new requirements. China will focus on sustainable development and make active efforts to present cooperation highlights. Upholding the principle of comprehensiveness, respect, inclusiveness, consensus and coordination, China will cement BRICS cooperation in all fields step by step and help BRICS cooperation develop in an in-depth, practical and continuous manner.

Representatives of the countries unanimously applauded China's overall working idea and vision throughout the year, saying that China has identified the cooperation focal points that agree with the evolution of the international situation and the characteristics of BRICS cooperation, are sustainable, innovative and forward-looking, and reflect the open, inclusive and win-win cooperation spirit of partnership. All sides stated that they will wholeheartedly support China's role as the chair, actively participate in cooperation in all fields, and work together to make new achievements in the three-pillar-driven cooperation in the areas of economy and finance, political security, and people-to-people exchanges. They believe that led by China, the BRICS "China Year" will achieve fruitful outcomes to add new momentum to the development of the BRICS mechanism and make new contributions to the global sustainable development.

On January 1, 2022, China officially took over the BRICS chairmanship, and will host a series of activities including the 14th BRICS Summit. The Sherpas' Meeting is the first official event held by China after the takeover of the BRICS chairmanship, and serves mainly as a kickoff of the political preparations for the summit. At the meeting, relevant departments of China elaborated on the cooperation vision for various fields. All sides made in-depth discussions and reached wide consensuses on the key fields of BRICS cooperation and work plans for this year, laying a foundation for cementing the preparations for the summit.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema stand by their decision not to support a change in the Senate's voting rights rule despite Sen. Bernie Sander's criticisms.

Manchin said that eliminating the filibuster could be seen as the easy way out. That's why he cannot support his fellow Democrats.

Sinema, on the other hand, said that eliminating the filibuster would result in the deepening of divisions and more risks to other relevant matters.

Sen. Bernie Sanders furious at Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema

But Sanders was unable to hide his disappointment with his fellow Democrats and suggested that Manchin and Sinema wasted five months by getting into discussions about the voting rights legislation but refusing to get on board in the end.

"It's not just this vote. These are people who I think have undermined the president of the United States. They have forced us to have five months of discussions that have gone absolutely nowhere. I think it's up to the people in their own states," Sanders said via the Huffington Post.

Joe Biden disappointed by the Senate vote

Following Manchin and Sinema's shock decision, their fellow Democrats vowed not to support their reelection. Some of them also ended up blaming the moderates for their failure to get things done.

According to CNN, Joe Biden was profoundly disappointed by the Senate vote, but he vowed to continue fighting for America's right to vote.

Read Also: Voting Rights Advocates Plan To Boycott Joe Biden, Kamala Harris' Speech, Say They Need Federal Legislation Not Talks

Martin Luther King III slams Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema

Even Martin Luther King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, accused Manchin and Sinema of letting the country and its people down.

He also said that Manchin and Sinema were given countless opportunities to protect the people's right to vote, but they ignored the call of millions of Americans who are aware that there is a need to restore the Voting Rights Act for the sake of the country's democracy.

King III also vowed to continue fighting for voting rights legislation regardless of how many other roadblocks they still needed to face.

Joe Manchin explains why he can't support voting rights legislation

In June, Manchin explained why he's refusing to support the voting rights legislation by saying that American democracy shouldn't be about the party or politics.

Manchin also mentioned all the things that he did for West Virginians regarding their right to vote. But over the years, the senator also noticed how Americans' fundamental right to vote has become overly politicized.

In the end, the West Virginia senator said that congressional action on federal voting right legislation must be the result of both parties coming together and finding a way forward, according to the West Virginia Gazette.

Other than voting rights legislation, Manchin and Sinema are also opposed to Biden's Build Back Better bill. But even if this is the case, Democrats are reportedly willing to make certain adjustments to have the two senators on board.

In fact, they are currently figuring out ways to make the Build Back Better bill more Manchin-friendly. Biden also said he understands that the entire account may not push forward, but certain components that Manchin previously agreed with could still be a go.

Related Article: Democrats Plan To Create a More Joe Manchin-Friendly Build Back Better Act That the Senator Could Support

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19)  Davao City Mayor and vice presidential hopeful Sara Duterte is optimistic the Philippines will gain more foreign investments once the UniTeam Alliance dominates the 2022 national elections.

Duterte claimed if her team up with presidential aspirant Bongbong Marcos comes to fruition, it will spark "unity" among Filipinos.

"Nagkakasundo kami ni BBM na kailangan natin on a global stage ipakita na malakas ang Pilipinas dahil tayong lahat ay nagkakaisa," she said.

[Translation: BBM and I agree that we need to show on a global stage that the Philippines is strong because we are all united.]

She added this will give "confidence" to foreign investors to explore opportunities in the Philippines.

The mayor also said she would focus on the education sector to help Filipinos secure stable jobs if she wins the vice presidency.

"'Yan po ang backbone ng magagandang trabaho at malaking sweldo at mapayapang pamumuhay," she said.

"Ang developments at progress ay sumusunod kapag mayroon pong stability ang isang lugar," Duterte added.

[Translation: That is the backbone of good jobs, high salaries, and peaceful living. Development and progress follow when an area has stability.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) announced on Thursday the appointment of new officials of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) after a prison break earlier this week by four inmates and a deadly riot that rocked the national penitentiary on Jan. 2.

CSupt. Roy Villasi will be the new acting NBP Maximum Security Compound Superintendent after the relief of CSupt. Arnold Guzman.

CSInsp. Reynaldo Tuguinay was also appointed Commander of the Guards, replacing CSInsp. Israel Basi.

BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag said the relieved officials will be placed under the Directorate for Administration while the investigation is on-going.

Authorities are still hunting down Drakilou Yosores Falcon and Chris Candas Ablas, who were among the four prisoners who escaped from the NBP on Monday.

The two other escapees, Pacifico Adlawan and Arwin Bio Villeza, were killed on the same day in pursuit operations that lasted for eight hours.

Chaclag previously told CNN Philippines' The Source two fugitive prisoners shot one inmate as they escaped the NBP.

The Jan. 2 riot at the NBP, meanwhile, left three persons deprived of liberty dead and 14 other inmates injured.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  The government on Thursday launched expanded efforts to administer booster shots to fully vaccinated Filipinos with the help of the private sector.

A limited number of vaccine doses were allocated to five stores, including Mercury Drug, Southstar Drug, Watsons, Generika Drugstore, and The Generics Pharmacy, in Metro Manila for the first day of the "Resbakuna sa Botika" pilot program.

Mercury Drug in Malate, Manila set up a waiting tent outside the drugstore to ensure physical distancing as many pre-registered to receive additional protection against COVID-19 through the booster dose. It allocated a separate refrigerator inside the store to be used as cold storage of the temperature-sensitive vaccines.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who led the ceremonial event in Mercury Drug, explained why it took long for the Philippines to tap drugstores for the vaccination program when it has been launched in other countries much earlier.

"Ang supply ng bakuna natin ay nag-stabilize lamang noong Oktubre, hindi tulad ng mayayamang bansa noong unang parte ng 2021. Tayo ay nagantay kaya hindi natin agad mapalawig ang ating Resbakuna program. Kaya ngayon ay ating ine-expand ang ating vaccination centers para mas maraming tao ang mapagsilbihan," he said.

[Translation: Our vaccine supply only stabilized in October, unlike the rich countries that had enough supply as early as the first part of 2021. We had to wait so we cannot expand our program, but we are doing it now to serve more people.]

The expanded vaccination program will also be rolled out in two private health clinics on Friday. It will soon branch out to more pharmacies and clinics in other regions.

At least half a million doses need to be administered daily in the country to achieve the target of giving boosters to 72 million Filipinos in 2022. Currently, only an average of 267,900 booster shots are administered in the country per day.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Both the Department of National Defense and Armed Forces of the Philippines have expressed support for a push to have Filipinos undergo mandatory military service when they reach 18 years old.

In separate statements Thursday, National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and AFP spokesperson Col. Demy Zagala stated there are advantages if young people will be introduced to military work and discipline.

"First, the military will have a ready and steady trained pool of reservists to defend the country and do HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) work; second, the training and discipline that they will acquire will make them better citizens; third, service to the country will be inculcated in them," Lorenzana said.

The AFP, for its part, said they welcomed Mayor Sara Duterte's proposal.

"This is attuned to the times while government is faced with adversities and challenges, aligned with our aspirations for the citizenry to contribute to nation building," Zagala noted. "Rendering mandatory military service will only help us establish base for a strong armed forces, and therefore a strong nation."

READ: Sara Duterte to push for mandatory military service if elected VP

However, in the same statement, Lorenzana recognized the challenges that comes with the push, including where trainings would be held as well as the funds needed to cover such a program. He also acknowledged there may be protests from those he said are "not inclined to serve in the military," as well as people who'd argue that "we are not on war footing and there will be little need of a general mobilization."

The Defense chief suggested that a mandatory ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps ) program in schools would be a better alternative instead.

"This program, which targets the K11-K12 levels, will produce a huge number of youths who will form part of our reservists," he said.

RELATED: Netizens react to Sara Dutertes push for mandatory military service
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) released on Thursday the guidelines for the issuance of the 5,000 one-time cash aid to private sector workers affected by Alert Level 3.

A total of 1 billion will be allocated for the program, called the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) 3, according to Department Order No. 232.

DOLE said this will cover workers and individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic where Alert Level 3 or higher was declared from January 2022 onwards.

Excluded are government employees, as well as beneficiaries of the DOLE-Department of Tourism CAMP Odette+ program. Foreign nationals are also not eligible recipients, excluding persons of concern, or refugees, returnees, stateless people, internally displaced, and asylum-seekers.

Applications may be submitted either online on in DOLE offices by affected private establishments or employees, Labor Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez said in a press briefing.

To qualify, an establishment must have temporarily or permanently closed during the implementation of Alert Level 3 or higher in their area. Workers must have also been either temporarily laid off or retrenched during the period.

The following are the requirements for application:

For establishments:

- Submission of an online report of temporary or permanent closure through the DOLE Establishment Reporting System covering January 2022 onwards

- Latest payroll or any of these alternative documents: proof of payment of wages via logbook or ledger; employment contract; cash voucher or petty cash voucher; authority to debit account sent by employer to bank for the wage of employees; SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG Alphalist or list of remittances; or list of employees with 13th month pay

For workers:

- Clear photo of the employee holding a valid government-issued ID

- Duly notarized proof of employment covering the period of Alert Level 3 in their area

The DOLE clarified that workers already applied for by their employers or organization heads are barred from sending individual applications.

It said submissions will be evaluated by the concerned regional offices within three working days from their receipt.

If approved, the financial aid shall be issued directly to the beneficiary through bank transfer or electronic payment facility within two weeks upon receipt of notice of approval. Beneficiaries who failed to claim the money within 30 days from the date of disbursement will be subjected to replacement from the roster of approved applications.

The department order shall take effect immediately after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least one newspaper of general circulation, the DOLE said.

It earlier estimated that the one-time assistance would benefit around 200,000 formal sector workers in Metro Manila and other areas.

The department also previously released an advisory urging employers in the private sector to extend paid leave, on top of existing leave benefits, to workers who have to isolate or go under quarantine due to COVID-19.
New Yorkers are pleading with the MTA to seriously consider installing subway platform barrier doors to prevent unsuspecting victims from being pushed into the tracks.

Last week, 40-year-old Asian-American woman Michelle Go was pushed to her death while waiting for her subway ride. A man with whom she didn't interact was responsible for killing her.

Coincidentally, Go works with the homeless people of New York. And it was later revealed that the suspect, Martial Simon was also a homeless man who was suffering from mental health issues.

Michelle Go mourned by her family, friends

Go is remembered by her loved ones as someone with a compassionate soul.

In their statement, Go's grieving family said they hope the 40-year-old will be remembered for how she lived and not how she died. They also described her as a beautiful, brilliant, kind, and intelligent woman who loved her family and friends.

They also said that Go had a penchant for traveling, having recently visited the Maldives for the New Year and her birthday, according to CNN.

New Yorkers want MTA to install subway barrier doors

Following the incident, New Yorkers, including newly-elected Mayor Eric Adams, admitted that they don't feel safe while riding the subway. After all, there are no platform barrier doors in all the subway stations in the state.

However, MTA acting chair Janno Lieber said that the transportation agency wouldn't be able to install such barriers because it could interfere with ADA accessibility.

Read Also: New York To Install Crosswalk Signals for Blind Pedestrians After City Violated Laws Protecting PWDs

Former MTA staff accuse agency of stalling the idea

But Charles Moerdler, who was part of the MTA board until 2019, said that Lieber's claims aren't 100 percent accurate. In fact, there have been countless discussions about installing the barriers during his ten years with the agency.

"Not only is it feasible, it is readily feasible in many but not all stations. The constant ducking of the issue is really offensive to me... It has never been prioritized. And that's the failing. you have to have a will," Moerdler said via NBC New York.

According to the New York Post, the MTA previously knocked platform screen doors as prohibitively expensive and complicated that's why they never had them installed.

As of press writing, the only subway station in New York with platform barriers is the JFK Airport Air Train.

Former Transit President Andy Byford admitted that he previously weighed screen doors during his time with the MTA. But he eventually decided that other security measures are more important.

Due to the high cost of installing platform barrier doors, Byford said that the MTA just decided to focus its resources on creating more signals.

MTA wants more police officers to patrol NYC subway stations

The MTA acknowledged that the incident that took Go's life shouldn't have happened in the first place. But the agency also believes that it could've been avoided if police officers and other resources in the transit system were able to address mentally ill passengers adequately.

Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul also vowed to provide more homelessness outreach programs throughout the city's subway system. NYPD cops have also been deployed at the subway systems to help identify potential public safety issues.

Related Article: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Approves Changes to New York Schools After a Surge in Omicron Cases Among Students

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos and running mate Sara Duterte have included three more people to their official list of senatorial picks: suspended lawyer Larry Gadon, congressman Rodante Marcoleta and Senator Miguel Zubiri.

Marcos' spokesman Vic Rodriguez said Marcoleta is the team's first pick. He mentioned the SAGIP Party-list representative's credentials as a current House Deputy Speaker who has been in Congress since 2013 and is known for slashing the Commission on Human Rights' budget to 1,000 five years ago.

Marcoleta initially filed his certificate of candidacy under the PDP-Laban party. He is also known as one of the leading figures in blocking the franchise renewal of broadcast giant ABS-CBN in 2020.

On the other hand, Gadon was included because he "had been helping the BBM team for years," said Rodriguez. The Supreme Court recently suspended the lawyer from practice for verbal assault against a journalist.

Meanwhile, Zubiri's addition to the slate has bolstered the team's position in Mindanao, the senator's bailiwick, Rodriguez added. Zubiri is currently the Senate Majority Leader.

The tandem now has ten people in their partial lineup, including Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, former senator and Rep. Loren Legarda, former Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, and former Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Manila Mayor Isko Moreno expressed on Thursday his openness towards the usage of Manila Baywalk Dolomite Beach as a COVID-19 vaccination site in a bid to further boost the citys inoculation efforts.

Pansinin niyo, kapag pumipili tayo ng lugar, secluded halos lagi yung mga lugar. Geographically feasible dapat sa gagawing function doon sa particular na action plan. Pero okay yun, bakunahan sa dolomite [beach]," said the presidential aspirant.

[Translation: If you notice, the places we choose for vaccination are almost always secluded. They should also be geographically feasible for the function under the particular action plan. Vaccination in the Dolomite Beach is okay.]

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources also welcomed the idea, calling it a very good proposal. The agency is expediting the completion of construction work in the beach.

Maraming pumupunta sa Dolomite at pwede ring magkaroon ng vaccination area dun kagaya ng sa Manila Zoo, DENR Usec. Jonas Leones told CNN Philippines.

[Translation: Many go to the Dolomite Beach. So, a vaccination area can also be set up there just like the one in Manila Zoo.]

RELATED: Manila Zoo opens as vaccination site

However, Moreno noted that construction activities in the beach must be finished first to ensure public safety.

We are trying to complete the dolomite area by January-February. But we are just being hampered by the pandemic, Leones said.

Apart from Manila Zoo, the nations capital city also opened up drive-thru booster shot facilities in Quirino Grandstand, Kartilya ng Katipunan, and Bagong Ospital ng Maynila.

Manila has administered over 3.16 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to date. More than 1.53 million individuals are now fully vaccinated against the disease, while past 296,000 boosters have been administered so far.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Minority senators have filed a resolution seeking an inquiry on the extent of the damage caused by Typhoon Odette and how the government has responded in its aftermath.

"In order to deliver on this obligation, it must conduct a full inventory of damages, conduct a thorough evaluation of government response including gaps and structural inefficiencies, and identify the needs for rehabilitation, recovery, and reconstruction, including the corresponding budgetary and policy requirement," said Senate Resolution No. 976.

It was filed by Senators Leila de Lima, Franklin Drilon, Risa Hontiveros, and Francis Pangilinan.

The lawmakers noted that the government reported 10 billion in response funds, emphasizing that this "cannot even cover" half of the over 24.5 billion in agricultural and infrastructural damage reported so far.

"This assessment of government response and relief efforts should be done with the end in view of protecting our people and improving our existing National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework," said the senators, adding that "Odette" and prior calamities revealed vulnerabilities and problems in it.

"Odette" ravaged the Visayas, Mindanao, and parts of Luzon last December after making nine destructive landfalls.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Authorities destroyed illegal drugs worth billions of pesos in Cavite on Thursday, including 5 billion worth of shabu and 20 million worth of marijuana.

In a statement, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said the narcotics were destroyed via thermal decomposition or thermolysis at the Integrated Waste Management, Inc. (IWMI) facility in Barangay Aguado, Trece Martires City.

Broken down, the PDEA listed the destroyed drugs as follows:

- 779,521.75 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu worth 5,300,747,915.50

- 174,012.29 grams of marijuana worth 20,881,475.00

- 3,150.25 grams of cocaine worth 16,696,300.09

- 9,294.77 grams of MDMA or ecstasy worth 15,801,111.21

- 1,318.90 grams of MDMA+meth worth 1,811,520.00

- 185.74 grams of cocaine+MDMA worth 650,090.00

- 2,390.54 grams of amphetamine worth 5,737,296

- 10,405.03 grams of diazepam worth 403,194.84

- 12.86 grams of ephedrine worth 4,445.80

- 6,100.33 grams of nitrazepam worth 129,631.95

- 30 grams of toluene worth 3,166.80

- 618.14 grams of zolpidem worth 43,269.80

- 62 grams of meth+acetone

- 1,878.81 grams of clonazepam

- 0.40 grams of methylephedrine

- 1.10 grams of GHB

- 1,013.13 grams of sodium hydroxide

- 68,900 grams of surrendered expired medicines

- 90,755.00 milliliters of acetic anhydride

- 1,876.90 milliliters of liquid marijuana.

The PDEA said the prosecution and disposition of drug cases have allowed them to dispose of the drugs which were no longer needed as evidence in court.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Pharmacists who administered the pilot run of Resbakuna sa Botika booster rollout underwent a week-long training as part of the program, the country's presidential adviser for COVID-19 response Vince Dizon said Thursday.

Dizon told CNN Philippines' The Source that the pharmacists were virtually trained by the Health department to prepare them in applying the vaccines as part of the expanded efforts to inoculate more Filipinos.

RELATED: Pharmacies join govt's efforts to expand COVID-19 booster vaccine drive

"They did a training of I think a week online with the Department of Health," Dizon said.

"Ang maganda, ang mga pharmacists natin in the vaccination program for other diseases tina-tap rin sila ng gobyerno. Marami po sa kanila ay meron nang basic training sa pagbabakuna," he added.

[Translation: The nice thing about it, our pharmacists in the vaccination program for other diseases are also being tapped by the government. Many of them already have basic training in inoculation.]

Also serving as COVID-19 deputy chief implementer, Dizon noted that the training was, in particular, focused on the handling of COVID-19 vaccines.

"Itong nakuha nilang training noong nakaraang linggo ay specific na training sa mga COVID-19 vaccines tulad ng Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sinovac at yung iba-ibang bakuna natin dahil iba ang handling nitong mga bakuna laban sa COVID-19 kung ikukumpara sa mga bakuna sa ibang mga sakit," he added.

[Translation: The training that they received last week is specific to handling COVID-19 vaccines like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sinovac, and other vaccines because these ones had to be handled differently compared to those for other diseases.]

The government on Thursday launched "Resbakuna sa Botika" in select pharmacies and clinics. Dizon stated they intend to expand the program to more areas, with the possibility of including primary doses and allowing pediatric vaccinations.

Data from the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard show that 56.4 million Filipinos have completed their doses, while 5.6 million already received their boosters as of January 19.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 21)  Senator Panfilo Lacson said he will push for the full funding of the Universal Health Care Law if he gets elected president in the May 2022 polls.

Ang unang pangangailangan natin talaga sa kalusugan. Yung Universal Health Care, ipinasa namin yan [noong] 2018. Hanggang ngayon nandoon pa rin tayo sa low-cost na level, the presidential aspirant said in a statement.

[Translation: This is really our primary need in our health. The Universal Health Care, we (senators) passed that in 2018, but until now we are still on the low-cost level.]

Despite the passage of the law, the Universal Health Care has not been fully implemented due to lack of funding, he pointed out.

Under the 2022 budget, 80 billion has been allocated for the National Health Insurance Program to provide affordable and accessible health insurance for Filipinos in accordance with the law.

Lacson, however, noted that 257 billion is needed to properly utilize the measure, which will lead to allocating every patient a hospital bed, and barangays directly providing medical services to their residents, among other things.

He said this will be one of his administrations cornerstones if he wins the presidency with his running mate, Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Lacson added that this will be part of their flagship Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment (BRAVE) program and their advocacy of Ayusin ang Gobyerno at Ubusin ang Magnanakaw.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19)  The Cebu City government will restrict all unvaccinated persons against COVID-19 from entering indoor establishments in the city.

In an executive order signed on Wednesday by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, vaccination cards are required before entry to indoor venues in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19 and its highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Children below 11 years old are prohibited inside indoor establishments, while those aged 12 to 17 will be allowed to enter provided they are fully vaccinated and accompanied by a fully immunized adult.

Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia earlier mandated all towns and component cities in the province to relax their vaccination card requirements.

Although Cebu City is the capital of Cebu province, the highly urbanized city is independent from the jurisdiction of the provincial government. Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue are also independent cities, which are not under provincial supervision.

The memorandum from the Cebu provincial government included the non-requirement of vaccination cards in public transport, entry into establishments, employment, and schools.

The Cebu City local government is also enforcing a curfew for minors from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and for non-essential activities from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Cebu City has 3,709 active COVID-19 cases, the biggest among the three component cities in Cebu province, based on the latest count of the Department of Health-Central Visayas Center for Health Development. The city logged 564 new infections on Tuesday.

Cebu-based Dale Israel contributed to this report.
Staff Reporter

Mike has bachelors and masters degrees in journalism from Northwestern and is a 25-year member of the National Press Club. He has won four national writing awards for editorial work. He is a native of McLean, Va., and lives in Millville.
Two years since the start of the pandemic, some European countries are now considering a different approach to COVID-19 by treating it as a sickness that is here to stay, like flu,

Spain, Portugal, and Britain plan to approach COVID-19 as an endemic instead of an emergency. But they will ensure extra care for people with higher risk and comorbidity.

Since the surge of the Omicron variant is less fatal, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez asked the European Union to consider modifying policies on managing the pandemic.

He urged European leaders to think of long-term strategies on "how to manage the pandemic with different parameters."

Sanchez appealed to EU officials to begin implementing the changes as soon as possible as there is a need to prepare for the post-pandemic world, as per AP News.

The media calls Sanchez's strategy "flu-ization" as government officials say that the system for handling influenza will be applied significantly to COVID-19 in Spain. Around 80% of the country's population is fully vaccinated, and authorities target giving booster shots to adults.

In Portugal, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced in his New Year's message that the country had entered into "an endemic phase," being one of the countries with the highest vaccination rates.

However, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached record levels, debates regarding specific measures subsided. Portugal had over 44,000 new cases registered in a single day on Tuesday.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that mandatory wearing of masks in public places and COVID-19 passports would be discontinued since the country has "peaked" in its COVID-19 cases.

However, the requirement of a five-day quarantine period for infected persons stays. But Johnson plans to scrap the policy if the numbers improve in the coming days.

According to government data, 95% of the British population has produced antibodies against COVID-19 through infection or immunization.

Read Also: Germany's Daily COVID-19 Cases Surpass 100,000; Health Official Says Numbers Have Not Peaked Yet

WHO Warns On Easing of Restrictions

The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that any rapid change is premature. Although the organization does not have precisely defined criteria for labeling COVID-19 an endemic illness, its experts have earlier noted that it will happen when the virus becomes more predictable, and there will be no prolonged outbreaks.

WHO head Dr. Tedros Adhanom cautioned world leaders that the pandemic is "nowhere near over" with the extraordinary transmission of Omicron, new varieties are likely to emerge, as per BBC.

Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO emergencies chief, advised leaders not to rely on numbers whenever they make policy changes. "It's about severity, and it's about impact," he said.

US: The Fight Against COVID-19 Is Not Yet Over

Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden noted that the COVID-19 crisis in America is still far from over, and he will not "accept things as they are now."

"Some people may call what's happening now the new normal. I call it a job not yet finished. It will get better. We're moving toward a time and covid-19 won't disrupt our daily lives... Look, we're not there yet, but we will get there," Biden said in his message to close his first year as US President.

Data indicates that COVID-19 had killed more than 854,000 people in the US, while reported infections have reached above 68,628,000, according to Washington Post.

To help curb the number of infections, the Biden administration will be distributing N95 masks starting next week. Around 400 million high-quality masks will be given to the public via pharmacies and health centers, the largest in US history.

Related Article: WHO Predicts Half of Western Europe's Population Could Be Infected With COVID-19, Says Countries With Lower Vaccination Coverage Are At Higher Risk

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During the process of deciding to move off campus, many Penn State students often find themselves scrambling to keep up with the learning curve of new experiences  one of them being dealing with their landlords.

Honestly, I was very uneducated on it, Alexandra Arias said. My parents were immigrants they had to learn on their own, and I guess they finally thought the same thing for me because whenever I asked them, they were like, You can figure it out on your own.

In her struggle to learn how to manage bills and pay security deposits, she said she turned to her new landlord for advice  finding what she said were odd results.

They didnt even help me themselves, ironically, Arias (sophomore-biobehavioral health) said. They just give you like the nearest person in the office.

She said she didnt realize initially how difficult it is to get information from landlords.

I feel like its better when I call [because] I just get more information when theyre put on the spot, she said.

Before moving into his first apartment in State College, Brennan Farrand said when he thought of landlords, the word sleazy came to mind.

They really pressure you into signing the lease as soon as possible, Farrand (junior-chemical engineering) said. Theyll say you only have a certain amount of time, but like, if you ask for more time, typically they will give you more.

Since gaining experience in the downtown State College housing market, he said he has concluded that housing prices are way higher than they should be.

Its almost like [landlords are] working collectively together because the rents just way too high downtown for anything to be worth it in my opinion, Farrand said.

Nicholas Hill, who has been living in a student apartment complex for two years, said students who are renting for the first time may be at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with landlords.

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If theres something specific about the tenant-landlord relationship that might be toxic or something, they might not understand like that specific part is not supposed to be happening because this is their first time ever renting an apartment, Hill (senior-computer engineering) said.

During his years living off campus, he said most of his personal experiences with landlords have been touch-and-go, that is, until a pipe burst above his bathroom during winter break 2020-21.

When I came back, I found that the ceiling wasnt entirely repaired, Hill said. Eventually, that got plastered over, and occasionally, the ceiling would start leaking again seems like almost every six months or so after a while the ceiling kind of starts falling apart again.

Other students, like Bernardo De la Garza and Dwalyn Bryant, said theyve had helpful and decent experiences, respectively.

I give them a fair rating, Bryant (junior-biobehavioral health) said. When I have a maintenance issue, they come in  if I still see a problem, they come in again. They pick up their phone  not all the time but most of the time  its fair.

Bryant said her landlord has kept their exchanges professional and frequent.

For the most part, theyve been pretty understanding of when Ive had problems, De la Garza (senior-accounting) said of his landlord. Dont be afraid to ask for anything you need maybe they might surprise you.

While communication may be frequent for some, other students never meet with their landlord, according to Asher Smart.

I havent really met with my landlords personally, Smart (senior-psychology) said. Whenever I have any kind of issue [I] usually just send in a request, and it usually gets fixed in a matter of a week or two.

He said the requests are sent through an online portal, and theres no option to talk face-to-face.

Its efficient, but having an option to talk in person wouldnt hurt, Smart said. If you call or something, they just say, Go on the portal.

Sabrina Hinkley said when she lived in a larger apartment complex, she had no idea who her landlord was.

When you have a huge building, it gets hard to keep track of everything and like give everyone the attention, Hinkley (senior-kinesiology) said. Its nice to [live] in a smaller complex because you can kind of have more like a personable conversation with the rental people.

When it comes to dealing with landlords, Hinkley said sometimes students have to keep bothering them.

You kind of have to be persistent, she said. And when you think youre being annoying its just kind of what you have to do.

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The State College Police Department has asked for the public's assistance in finding a harassment suspect from Jan. 12 and provided a video of the incident Monday.

The incident occurred around 2 a.m. when a white male followed two female students from near Gumby's Pizza to the 500 block of South Pugh Street, according to the video released by the SCPD.

In the SCPD's initial release, the department said the male allegedly tried to get the females to "go to his place of residence."

The male, who has blonde hair and was wearing a black jacket, injured one of the female students by pushing her to the ground after both females ignored his advances, according to the SCPD.

The video released by the SCPD shows the two women in a crosswalk and a man trailing behind them. After a few seconds, the man begins to run up behind the women and pushes the one to the ground. After that, he is seen running down East Fairmont Avenue toward South Allen Street.

Police said the male may have been at Champs Downtown earlier that night, based on "statements made by the suspect."

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the State College Police Department at (814) 234-7150, or send an anonymous tip online, the release said.

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A Penn State employee was arrested and charged Friday after an alleged indecent exposure incident in downtown State College dating back to September.

Jonathan Leslie  a Penn State Media and Technology Support Services group leader electronic technician at the Wagner Annex  was charged with one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure, one misdemeanor count of open lewdness and one summary count of disorderly conduct, according to court documents.

The alleged incident occurred Sept. 8, 2021 when a female student made a report that Leslie allegedly indecently exposed himself in an alley downtown, according to the criminal complaint.

The student was allegedly walking to the gym and turned on West Calder Way from South Fraser Street when she saw Leslie down the alley, as well as a woman walking toward her with her back turned to Leslie, the criminal complaint said.

Leslie was wearing a purple shirt, gray cargo shorts, a brown hat and sunglasses, according to the criminal complaint, and when the student turned onto the alley, Leslie allegedly put down a cup and a bag on the ground.

He then allegedly pulled down his pants and exposed his genitals, and according to the criminal complaint, Leslie's genitals were erect and he "appeared excited."

The student then changed her course, continuing onto South Fraser Street, then turning right onto West College Avenue, the criminal complaint said.

She allegedly then crossed paths with Leslie again and saw him enter his vehicle. The student then took a picture, according to the criminal complaint.

Later that day, State College police drove to Leslie's home and saw the same vehicle  a Mini Cooper  and found the student's photo and description of him to be "very similar," the complaint said.

Charges were filed in the office of Magisterial District Judge Donald Hahn, and Leslie is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 9.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The name of the student was included in a previous version of this article and has been removed to protect their identity. The Daily Collegian apologizes for the harm that may have been caused.

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Students and alumni launched the new Penn State Forward'' campaign this week to support three young, forward-thinking candidates running for the 2022 Penn State Alumni Board of Trustees election, according to Nora Van Horn, a Schreyer Honors College scholar.

The Board of Trustees is Penn States highest governing body  established by the universitys charter  that holds responsibility for the governance and welfare of the university and all interests pertaining thereto, according to the Penn State Board of Trustees website.

The three candidates supported by the Penn State Forward campaign include atmospheric scientist and nonprofit founder Christa Hasenkopf, educational equity advocate and former Black Caucus president Ed Smith, and OB-GYN and anti-sexual violence proponent Dr. Farnaz Farhi.

The Penn State Forward campaign contains four central pillars, which include climate action, education equity, student safety, and transparent and inclusive governance, according to Van Horn (senior-philosophy, Chinese, and global and international studies)

The Penn State Forward campaign is in collaboration with Harvard Forward, a campaign that landed four trustees on Harvard Universitys Board of Overseers who prompted Harvard to divest from fossil fuels, according to Van Horn.

Theres a legacy of social change being catalyzed at institutions of higher education via these beliefs that the institution is capable of making these changes and with really amazing candidates who are willing to champion this progress, Van Horn said.

In January 2021, Van Horn said students and young alumni  including herself  began the process of bringing a similar campaign to Penn State.

During the spring 2021 semester, Van Horn said the group began seeking out candidates and searching for alumni who shared similar values and expertise aligned with what Penn State Forward members desired to accomplish through the campaigns initiative.

Van Horn said the candidate selection process was robust and included a diverse group of students who analyzed the candidates to select the best individuals to represent the community.

The Board of Trustees election process

The Board of Trustees established the dates for the annual Alumni Trustee election procedures and decided the nomination ballot phase would begin on Jan. 15 and conclude on Feb. 25, according to a release.

On Jan. 15, nomination ballots were distributed to all Penn State alumni with a valid email address on file. Individuals who failed to receive a ballot may request one with an online form, according to the release.

Only Penn State alumni may vote in the election.

Candidates and ballot positions will then be released in March with the election phase beginning on April 10 and finishing at 9 a.m. on May 5, the release said.

Trustee candidates who receive at least 250 nominations, meet trustee qualifications and formally accept the nomination via writing will receive a spot on the election ballot, which will be distributed to alumni via emails.

The three candidates who receive the most votes at the conclusion of the election will be elected as new members of the Penn State Board of Trustees, the release said.

The Charter and Bylaws of Penn State establish the Board of Trustees as consisting of 38 individuals, many of whom are appointed by elections, according to the Penn State Board of Trustees website.

According to Van Horn, only approximately 3% of eligible voters participated in the past Board of Trustees election, which means a low number of the alumni voters actively engaged in university politics.

The low voter turnout suppresses new ideas and alumni participation, Van Horn said. But I think we can increase voter turnout by advertising more that people can vote.

Van Horn said shes heard some alumni members say they have withheld from voting in the universitys Board of Trustees elections because they believe their vote fails to have an impact and make tangible change.

We are a really fantastic community, Van Horn said. And we have to be encouraging these alumni that are leaders everywhere  within the country and within the world  to participate in [governance]. Thats how we can make Penn State better. Thats how we can move the [university] forward.

If there were one word to describe the campaign, Van Horn said it would be grassroots because the campaign uses individuals within the Penn State community to collectively make change.

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Its empowering to be [one of the] first campaigns saying, No, we can stand up for these ideas. We can stand up for climate change. We can stand up for equity. We can stand up for safety, and we can stand up in a robust way for transparent governance, Van Horn said.

Van Horn said many volunteers have been eager to share this vision with the community as the election process proceeds forward.

One thing that motivates this campaign is that theres not just one issue at Penn State, Van Horn said. There are all of these issues that intersect, and the way that we address them as students is often at the bottom of advocacy with petitions and protests.

However, Van Horn said the Penn State Forward campaign allows current Penn State students and the alumni communitys voices to be heard and leave a meaningful impact.

A lot of students  to some extent  feel disillusioned because its really difficult to perform advocacy if you dont believe that the folks [who] govern the institution are really listening to student demands [and ideas], Van Horn said. We need governance that is proactive in addressing these issues and is willing to lead with moral courage, and in a way that is socially responsible for students at Penn State, for the commonwealth and for our nation.

Van Horn said an important way to view the campaign is that its not just three people who are really trying to get on the Board of Trustees. Rather, she said she perceives the campaign as a manner of getting student and young alumni perspectives onto the board and into administrative discussions.

These are people who are recruited by the campaign, Van Horn said. They are running for the Board of Trustees because they believe in the same things that we do, [and] they are eager to leverage being on the Board of Trustees as an opportunity to move Penn State forward.

Board of Trustees Candidate Dr. Farnaz Farhi

Dr. Farnaz Farhi, who currently works as an obstetrician and gynecologist at George Washington University, is a 2010 Penn State Schreyer Honors College graduate who studied biology and womens studies along with civic and community engagement during her undergraduate education.

Although shes an immigrant to the U.S., Farhi said she still came from a Penn State family.

Penn State has played a huge part in all of our lives, and its been a shared experience, which I think families that immigrate sometimes end up not having because of just how life changes during immigration, Farhi said.

After attending Penn State, Farhi finished her graduate studies in global health at the University of Oxford prior to attending medical school at the Boston University School of Medicine. She then completed her residency in Philadelphia at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

During her time at Penn State, Farhi said she completed her undergraduate thesis on sexual assault at Penn State, with one of her goals being to work with the administration to address the challenges and barriers to care.

Upon being contacted by Van Horn about the developing Penn State Forward campaign, Farhi said, It was really wonderful to have the opportunity to come full circle [and] work on these issues that had been such a big part of [her] time at Penn State and continue to be a big part of [her] life currently as an OB-GYN, where she has studied sexual violence and witnessed its impact on people.

Farhi said her decision to run for the Board of Trustees is also rooted in her own experiences at Penn State.

She said she remembers attending a speaking event with a Board of Trustees member during her undergraduate career and feeling like their involvement on the board was unrelated to her own personal academic experience at Penn State.

I was incredibly impressed at [the campaign teams] ability to connect the dots and show how there is that disconnect, Farhi said. But that doesnt have to be how it is, and we have the opportunity to have the board truly represent the Penn State that students [and alumni] want.

On the current board, Farhi said many individuals  like herself and her fellow campaign candidates  dont see themselves reflected in the member list, which she said primarily consists of older white men.

We represent a lot of different identities that individuals both within our alumni community as well as current students may identify with that is not reflected in the current Board of Trustees, Farhi said.

Farhi said she hopes the campaigns efforts encourage other alumni to be more accessible and available to current students.

We are running as three individuals to be a part of the board that is made up of many more than three individuals, and ultimately, we hope to inspire other young alumni to consider their involvement with the Board of Trustees as a way to make tangible improvements for the larger Penn State community, Farhi said.

Although there are certain goals she  and the Penn State Forward campaign  hope to accomplish if selected for the Board of Trustees, Farhi said theres also flexibility in their plans as they work with students and alumni to recognize better strategies to meet their goals and adapt accordingly.

We are hopeful that voices that havent always had a microphone at the Board of Trustees will hopefully have opportunities to speak and share and hopefully be heard, Farhi said.

For instance, Farhi said many opportunities are available to increase the support of students who experience sexual violence as well as to empower bystanders to be more involved and ensure improved safety for all.

Farhi said she hopes to work with students to identify real, practical ways that would make a tangible difference on campus  and not just the rhetoric.

As the campaign proceeds and the election nears in the coming weeks, Farhi said she plans to engage with acquaintances and friends from Penn State via social media as well as other alumni and current students.

Were trying to make sure that were sharing our message with as many people as possible and hopefully engaging alumni who dont typically vote in these elections, Farhi said. Theres a big opportunity to bridge some of that gap and ensure that all Penn State alumni who are eligible to vote know that they can and know that they can have an important influence on Penn States future.

Board of Trustees Candidate Christa Hasenkopf

Christa Hasenkopf is a first-generation college student who graduated from the Penn State Schreyer Honors College in 2003 with a degree in astronomy and astrophysics.

She pursued a doctorate in atmospheric and oceanic sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder following her time at Penn State.

During her life, Hasenkopf co-founded and led OpenAQ, which is an environmental technology nonprofit whose mission is to fight air inequality by opening up air quality data and connecting a diverse global, grassroots community of individuals and organizations, according to OpenAQs website.

Hasenkopfs accomplishments in both work and research led her to be featured in Vox, Forbes, and the New York Times.

Hasenkopf has also worked for the U.S. government and taught environmental policy at institutions like John Hopkins University and Georgetown University.

Hasenkopf, who has been mentoring first-generation students in the sciences for several years at Penn State, said shes been hearing and seeing their perspective on issues at Penn State, and said many issues have not been addressed or received the attention they should get.

Im a big believer that examples matter, Hasenkopf said. Examples are everything, [especially] for knowing what your possibilities are, and thats why mentorship and teaching have been super important to me because I know I really needed those examples to understand where I could fit in or what I could do, and I know how hard it is when you dont have those examples to attend to.

Before coming to Penn State, Hasenkopf said she didnt have family who attended the university and hadnt even visited State College before.

Hasenkopf said she remembers being at Penn State during the fall of her freshman year and feeling incredibly inadequate and doubting if she could do it.

College was a very foreign thing to me, and I didnt know how it worked, Hasenkopf said. Its all to say, for folks in the community who dont have a network of [people] who have gone before them to create a Penn State legacy  or to have really gone to college  I see you. I feel you. I want you to know that there are so many possibilities and so many things that you can do.

Hasenkopf said her own experience at Penn State was transformational as it changed the direction of where she could go and the opportunities she had available.

However, Hasenkopf said she saw through mentorship programs and other activities at Penn State that this wasnt the case for everyone who attended.

Hasenkopf said she also saw the impact of educational disparities from teaching at a high school in Baltimore after completing her undergraduate studies.

The thing that made me want to decide to run on the Board of Trustees was the fact that there was this coalition of students and young alumni who had so thoroughly put together pieces of this platform and [made] it so it wouldnt just be my ideas [or any other candidates], Hasenkopf said. It was really a way to start getting the heartbeat of Penn State and making sure [those ideas] would be surfacing with how we would be leading.

As an atmospheric scientist by training, Hasenkopf said the climate pillar of the Penn State Forward campaign is especially close to [her] heart  both because the climate crisis is an existential crisis for the entire world and also for the role that Penn State can play in helping to combat that, and I think its a fairly significant role.

Within the climate pillar, Hasenkopf said they hope to focus on divesting from fossil fuels and developing transparent and robust socially responsible practices around Penn States investment process for its endowments.

During the nomination period and leading up to the Board of Trustees election, Hasenkopf said she plans to maintain connections within the Penn State community and expand her connections among students, faculty and administration who are on the ground doing the work or learning or experiencing Penn State.

Hasenkopf said the Penn State Forward campaign members plan to engage with different student groups to discuss all four pillars of their platform and further information about the Penn State experience in order to continue shaping their platform and evolving it.

As this is the first year of the Penn State Forward campaign, Hasenkopf said shes excited for next year and the years to come.

She said shes enthusiastic to see how diverse and wide the Alumni Board of the portion of the Board of Trustees can be and represent so many different experiences and really make Penn State be the place that it potentially could be.

Board of Trustees Candidate Ed Smith

Ed Smith, a 2006 and 2010 Penn State graduate, obtained his undergraduate degree in economics through the College of the Liberal Arts and a masters degree in college student affairs in the College of Education.

Smith then studied at the University of Pennsylvanias Graduate School of Education to receive his doctorate.

As a two-time alum of Penn State University, I was part of movements to build a better Penn State  whether it was leading the Black Caucus at the time [or] ensuring that LGBTQ student rights were protected and that students felt safe on campus trying to destabilize a culture and sometimes policies that maintained sexual violence and misconduct, Smith said.

During his Penn State experience, Smith served as Black Caucus president and has advocated for educational equity and justice throughout his life.

Smith said his values tremendously align with the priorities of the Penn State Forward campaign, and he said he holds a deep love for Penn State  a critical love  that sometimes manifests in [his] advocacy.

Its important that the university system adequately serves students and ensures that the experience theyre having in the classroom, around the campus environment [and] as they traverse through their respective communities, enables their success, enables them to thrive and enables them to live their whole selves and be who they ultimately want to be  both for themselves and their communities, Smith said.

If selected for the Board of Trustees, Smith said he hopes to be able to audit the recommendations put forth through the diverse groups in the Penn State community  including students, faculty, staff and community members  to ensure that the best ideas and proposals are implemented.

We want to be able to be an agent of equality, to ensure that we not only have good reporting and data to track those disparities, but to [also] eliminate them eventually and harness the best of what Penn State can provide as far as academics and social and financial support to get those disparities eliminated, Smith said.

Smith said he holds transparency in governance to be an important concept that allows the Penn State communities to take stock in the things we invest in, the research were doing [and] the capital investments and projects being completed.

Smith said he believes organizations thrive through diverse leadership, which he said is highly correlated with increased positive experiences by community and organization members as well as increased achievement of goals.

Tied to diverse leadership also comes the opportunity for mentorship, and Smith said he supports having great mentorship experiences in place to help students thrive during  and after  their academic journeys.

I enjoyed my time at Penn State and had a lot of fun, and key to that enjoyment was my experience of being mentored by key faculty and staff who took an interest in me and saw something important, Smith said. Now being able to translate that back to people who are coming after me  either arriving at campus as first-year students or transferring from a commonwealth campus to University Park  I think it goes all ways.

Smith said he hopes to be able to help students on campus who are struggling with issues by being someone in position who understands [some] part of that struggle and could better translate those experiences to decision makers.

Throughout his career, Smith said he studied higher education policy at the federal and state level, taught in educational facilities across the education spectrum and now funds higher education research, capital projects, policy advocacy and student movements.

I think we would like to see folks who can wrestle with the current challenges that the university is experiencing as it pertains to a federal actor, as it pertains to state policy [and] as it pertains to its relationship with the community in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Smith said. Those who bring a diverse mix of [backgrounds] as well as those who are still evolving in their professional careers can bring that to the board and improve it in many ways  anticipated and unanticipated.

Going into the future, Smith said he hopes to see the university and its members chase a better version of [themselves], and he said one way for this to develop is through communication with community members to continue learning more about how to improve the university.

Therefore, Smith said the Penn State Forward campaign members plan to immerse themselves within the community to unveil priorities and hear feedback and recommendations on how to improve their goals.

Van Horn, whos been working on the Penn State Forward campaign since its beginnings, said there are three ways people can get involved, including making a donation, volunteering to spread the message and endorsing the candidates.

The campaign is really motivated by the idea that we believe that Penn State can champion climate solutions, Van Horn said. We believe that Penn State can amend educational inequities. We believe that Penn State can ensure student safety.

We believe that Penn State can have transparent governance structures, and we want to be the catalyst to enact those ideas and make them a reality.

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Penn State upperclassmen find great company living with roommates During a students time at Penn State, they are likely to hear of, or experience, difficulties that may accompany roommate situations.
Penn States University Park Undergraduate Association unanimously passed Resolution #22-16: Funding for Ally House Drag Show & Art Fundraiser during its Wednesday night meeting.

Ally House is a Special Living Option founded in fall 2013 as a collaboration between the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity and Sexuality and the gender studies minor in the College of the Liberal Arts.

The bill advocates for funding the event's reservation at 3 Dots Downtown located in State College.

Its purpose is to create a safe, inclusive and open environment for members of the LGBTQ community to use as a living space.

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Penn State updates COVID-19 Dashboard, sees decreased positivity rate On Tuesday, Penn State released updated results to its COVID-19 Dashboard for the week of Ja
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A West Virginia reporter assured her colleague that she was doing fine after being struck by an SUV during a live broadcast.

The shocking incident was captured on film, and it shows reporter Tori Yorgey crashing into the camera while reporting on a water main break in Dunbar.

After a few seconds, Yorgey reappeared on camera and told her fellow reporter, Tim Irr, that she had just got hit by a car.

The woman that struck her on live television could be heard apologizing to Yorgey, but she immediately urged her not to worry because she was unharmed.

Following the incident, Irr teased Yorgey about being hit by a car for the first time on TV. The West Virginia reporter then said that it was her second time being hit by a car, but the first one happened while she was still in college.

Yorgey told reporters that it was already her last week with WSAZ-TV when the incident occurred. She will be returning home to Pittsburgh, where she will work for a different station and be closer to her family, according to Fox News.

Reporter praised for her dedication during live broadcast

Hundreds of people also praised Yorgey for her professionalism and dedication, especially since she still continued her reporting even after the accident. Others also wished Yorgey well following the incident.

ESPN broadcaster Molly McGrath couldn't also get Yorgey out of her mind.

The broadcaster said that she couldn't believe how someone who just got hit by a car during her live shoot returned to her report and acted as if nothing happened, all the while reassuring everyone that she was okay, according to Heavy.

Read Also: Joe Manchin Refuses To Get On Board Joe Biden's Build Back Better Bill; Says He Won't Condone Entitlement Mentality

Tim Irr slammed following West Virginia reporter's live TV accident

But a slew of individuals also slammed Irr for not showing any care or compassion toward his colleague. Some of them said that it seemed as though he was just focused on finishing his reporting stint.

Some of them also urged the network to consider offering Yorgey a higher salary and better work opportunities. And if things don't work out, the reporter's new fans are hoping that she will get better opportunities back home in Pittsburgh.

Following the incident, Joshua Axelrod, a feature writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, confirmed that Yorgey would be joining WTAE on Feb. 1 as a nighttime reporter. The Penn State graduate also, reportedly, turned down offers to work in Cleveland and Baltimore for Pittsburgh.

West Virginia DNR director retiring after five years in office

Elsewhere, West Virginia also made headlines this week for entirely different reasons.

According to US News, DNR Director Steve McDaniel just announced that he'd be retiring. Daniel served as the West Virginia Division of National Resources director for five years.

Following his retirement, McDaniel will take on an advisory role to the DNR.

In his statement, the DNR director said that he decided to retire so that he could spend more quality time with his family.

Related Article: Virginia Employment Commission Criticized For Trying To Take Back $9,000 Unemployment Benefit From Former Employee

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As the Cubs were beating the Braves 6-3 Wednesday night Steve left to see the game with his mom and dad, Reva and Harold, brother Ron and baby niece Elizabeth Henney. He left behind to run the store his wife Kathleen (Knight), Amelia (27), Nathan (24) and his beloved cat Lewis Black. His sis
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who heads the EU executive, said Europe stands firm that it would respond to a new attack of Russia "with massive economic and financial sanctions."

As per Reuters, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that if Russia makes any kind of attack on Ukraine, it will result in disaster on both sides. He added, "it would be a disaster for the world."

Biden told the media on Wednesday that he expected Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action. He said Russia "will be held accountable" if it pursues to invade Ukraine, but the actions of The US and its Western allies will depend on how Vladimir Putin's decision.

"It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera," Biden said.

Soon after the two-hour press conference ended, the White House clarified Biden's statement. According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, If any Russian troops move across the border of Ukraine, it will be considered as "a renewed invasion," and "it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response" from the US and its allies in the West, as per US News.

Read Also: Ukraine Government Websites Hit by Cyberattack That Warns To "Expect The Worst" as Russia Moves More Troops

Russia Not Backing Down

Since Moscow annexed Crimea and supported a separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine in 2014, repeated rounds of economic sanctions have had little impact on Russian policy. But U.S. and European officials say there are still strong financial steps that have not been pushed.

On Tuesday, Germany, Europe's largest national economy, hinted that if Russia initiates an invasion, it will interrupt the new gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 that runs through Ukraine.

On the other hand, Russia denies that it intends to attack Ukraine. Still, it has threatened to use military force if its demands, including the rejection of Kyiv's NATO membership ambition, are not granted.

Last week, Moscow presented its demands to the West during security talks in Geneva that produced "no breakthrough," according to observers.

Russia Conducts Military Exercises Amid Fears Of Invasion

Amid its denial of invasion plans, Russia announced conducting joint military drills with Belarus next month. The participating troops from both sides will rehearse, repelling an external attack.

The "Allied Resolve" drills will be held on Belarus' western border with Poland and Lithuania and near its southern wing with Ukraine.

According to Deputy Russian Defense Minister Alexander Formin, the military exercises aim "to fine-tune the tasks of suppressing and repelling external aggression during a defensive operation, countering terrorism and protecting the interests of the Union State (Russia and Belarus)."

According to a report, Russia would deploy 12 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets, two S-400 anti-aircraft missile system units, and a Pantsir missile system deployed to Belarus for the drills.

On Monday, Russian military forces and hardware have begun arriving in Belarus for the drills, according to NBC News.

The West has expressed concern over a potential invasion of Ukraine by tens of thousands of Russian troops massed along the country's border.

Related Article: Russia Warns US Is Oblivious to Ukraine Issue as Officials Set To Discuss War Games, Missile Deployments

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Cursus

Learn how to investigate, respond to, and hunt for threats using Microsoft Azure Sentinel, Azure Defender, and Microsoft 365 Defender. In this course you will learn how to mitigate cyberthreats using these technologies. Specifically, you will configure and use Azure Sentinel as well as utilize Kusto Query Language (KQL) to perform detection, analysis, and reporting. The course was designed for people who work in a Security Operations job role and helps learners prepare for the exam SC-200: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst.

Na deze training

Mitigate threats using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Mitigate threats using Microsoft 365 Defender

Mitigate threats using Azure Defender

Create queries for Azure Sentinel using Kusto Query Language (KQL)

Configure your Azure Sentinel environment

Connect logs to Azure Sentinel

Create detections and perform investigations using Azure Sentinel

Perform threat hunting in Azure Sentinel

Voor wie is deze training bedoeld?

The Microsoft Security Operations Analyst collaborates with organizational stakeholders to secure information technology systems for the organization. Their goal is to reduce organizational risk by rapidly remediating active attacks in the environment, advising on improvements to threat protection practices, and referring violations of organizational policies to appropriate stakeholders. Responsibilities include threat management, monitoring, and response by using a variety of security solutions across their environment. The role primarily investigates, responds to, and hunts for threats using Microsoft Azure Sentinel,
In the latest release of its Edge beta, Microsoft introduced a new way for IT admins to better secure the Chromium-based browser against web-based attacks.

The release notes for Microsoft Edge Beta Channel describe the new security features as employing several techniques to guard against so-called zero-day exploits; Zero-day exploits are software or network vulnerabilities developers are unaware of, and so theyve not been patched.

Imagine if the keylock mechanism on your homes backdoor was faulty and jiggling the doorknob released the latch. Burglars could walk door to door looking for that particular vulnerability and jiggle doorknobs until one opened. Zero days are the same concept, but in cyberspace.

IT systems are increasingly coming under assault by new viruses, cyberwarfare, and brute-force attacks. One of the easier avenues into an organizations systems is through an unknown, and unpatched, vulnerability  especially one outside an organizations firewalls (i.e., an end-users device). The obvious problem with zero-day exploits is they're hard to catch when developers and security admins don't know what to look for, according to Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.

Hackers  both good and bad actors  sell zero-day exploits they discover. The good guys sell them to corporations to bolster their security; the bad guys sell them to other bad actors. For example, at the beginning of the pandemic, hackers sold software vulnerabilities discovered in the video conferencing app Zoom; one exploit was for Windows PCs, the other, for macOS systems. The hackers allegedly saw a half million-dollar payday.

Microsofts new Edge feature enables admins to configure certain Group Policies for end-user desktops (Windows, macOS, and Linux) to help protect against zero-day vulnerabilities. When turned on, the feature adds Hardware-enforced Stack Protection, Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG), and Content Flow Guard (CFG) as supporting security mitigations to better protect users online. The group policies include: EnhanceSecurityMode; EnhanceSecurityModeBypassListDomains; and EnhanceSecurityModeEnforceListDomains.

"So the safest way to protect browsing is to prevent the browser from interacting with any other parts of the machine," Gold said. "Basically, the safest way to do this is to put the browser in a 'vault' where all the browser code remains locked into a virtual section of the machine and cant go anywhere else. Its basically a containment policy. What Microsoft is trying to do with the new Edge features is to make sure that anything in the browser cant interact with over apps and/or modify the OS."

Stack protection and arbitrary code guard, Gold explained, prevent any zero-day exploits that would have a way to exit from the browser into the machine. Content follow is similar in that it prevents interacting with and taking over apps (e..g, opening an infected doc in Word).

"So, it is this a big deal," Gold said. "There are many examples of machines being infected with malware from browsing the wrong site. Anything that can prevent this from happening is good."

Conversely, setting policies also means that some sites that legitimately need to access other apps on an end-user's device, and/or access parts of the OS, will not be able to, Gold said. While that may be fine for casual internet browsing, the biggest challenge is that, if set this way, some internal browser-based apps may not run (e.g., pop up screens to fill in info or get a status).

"So, as with any security technology, there are pros and cons to shutting down specific features. But the potential damage of a zero-day getting into my machine, and then into the networks is a good reason to cause a bit of inconvenience," Gold said.

There are already other third-party browser implementations that have done a similar run in isolation feature for a while now; Edge is now catching up, Gold said.

The update to the Edge beta also introduces a custom primary password feature. While the browser already allows users to add an authentication step before saved passwords are auto-filled in web forms (in other words, two-factor authentication), being able to create a custom password adds yet another layer of privacy and helps prevent unauthorized users from using saved passwords to logon to websites.

Custom primary password is an evolution of that same feature, where users can now use a custom string of their choice as their primary password. After it's enabled, users will enter this password to authenticate themselves and have their saved passwords auto-filled into web forms.

Along with the new security features, other improvements include a fix for an issue where default search providers can't be removed, a small tweak to show search suggestions immediately when you click on the address bar, and the addition of Web Capture when viewing PDFs in Microsoft Edge.

Finally, Microsoft has updated its scrollbars with an overlay-based design in Edge. Users can turn this feature on in edge://flags.

Enabling this feature hides the toolbar, and prevents your scrollbar from appearing, requiring a user to hover the mouse over the edge of your window to trigger the scrollbar to appear.

Disabling it will make the toolbar automatically appear.
01/20/2022

Photo (c) Radoslav Zilinsky - Getty Images Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 68,636,638 (67,617,789)

Total U.S. deaths: 858,118 (854,292)

Total global cases: 338,375,610 (334,699,140)

Total global deaths: 5,567,534 (5,558,316)

Surviving COVID-19 makes reinfection less likely, study shows

A study released by state health agencies in New York and California found that people who had been infected with COVID-19 and recovered during the Delta variant wave had as much or more immunity than those who had only been vaccinated.

However, officials say that is no reason to skip a vaccination or booster. They say the study provides a number of caveats. The study was conducted over a short period of time before boosters were widely available and before the surge of cases caused by the Omicron variant.

We know that vaccination remains the safest strategy for protecting against COVID-19, said Benjamin Silk, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Gallup Poll finds growing pessimism about COVID-19

Call it pandemic fatigue. After nearly two years, a new Gallup Poll finds that Americans are growing more pessimistic about when the COVID-19 pandemic will end.

Conducted during the first two weeks of January, the poll found optimism about the future of the pandemic in the U.S. had fallen sharply, with an increase in the number of people worrying about getting sick. To compensate, more Americans are socially distancing and wearing masks in public.

The poll found that only 20% of the public thinks pandemic conditions are improving. Twenty-two percent think it is staying the same and 58% believe things are getting worse.

Layoffs took a surprising turn higher last week

Economists were taken by surprise today when the Labor Department reported an increase in the number of people seeking jobless benefits. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 286,000 last week  about the same as before the pandemic.

But many economists expected a lower number, pointing out the need for more workers. Nela Richardson, an economist at the human-resources software firm Automatic Data Processing, told the Wall Street Journal that very few firms are laying off workers.

Someone whos dependable, whos been on the job for a year and doesnt need to learn the ropesyou dont want to lay that person off when youre expecting a spring thaw in economic activity, Richardson said.

Around the nation

New Jersey : State officials have tightened COVID-19 rules for health care workers. Gov. Phil Murphy has removed the testing option and is now requiring workers to be vaccinated. We are no longer going to look past those who continue to put their colleagues and perhaps, I think even more importantly, those who are their responsibility, in danger of COVID, Murphy said.

Michigan: Counties across the state with the highest rates of vaccination reported the lowest number of deaths over a six-month period last year. An analysis by Michigan Live found that for every additional 10 percentage points a county was vaccinated, it had 0.9 fewer deaths per 10,000 residents between July and December.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has once again stated his growing concern about the massive decline in the global population.

Musk stated that it isn't just the population decrease that he is worried about, but at the same time a population extinction due to the expansion of the sun.

According to Express, the most notable mass extinction experienced on Earth was the 66 million-year-old asteroid that took off the dinosaurs, from the five mass extinction events the Earth has experienced.

As a result of the asteroid collision, 76% of the world's species were wiped off.

The asteroid's destruction was unprecedented.

Elon Musk on Mass Extinction

The disturbing new study that indicated the Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction enraged the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, which made him turn to social media to express his views on the recent problem.

He shared his take with this recent study to his more than 70.6 million followers on Twitter as he thinks there is a way to avert the extinction of the human species.

Musk Tweeted, "There is a 100 [percent] chance of *all* species extinction due to expansion of the sun unless humanity makes life multi-planetary."

The CEO wants people to feel the weighing seriousness of the drastic decrease in birth rate, hoping to encourage other people to take action on it.

Following a general decline in birth rate amid the pandemic, the entrepreneur shared his worries in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

In the US, the country's lowest number of births since 1979 was experienced during 2019 to 2020, the birth rate fell 4%.

People on Mars

Following a general fall in birthrate amid the pandemic, the CEO is also worried that the drastic and continuous fall in the birth rate might affect the future population on Mars.

We should be much more worried about population collapse  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2022

With that, the entrepreneur expressed his concerns in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Jan.19.

Musk, the creator and CEO of the space exploration business SpaceX, wants to establish a human colony on Mars.

In a recent podcast, he stated that SpaceX's Starship rocket will land humans on the planet in five to ten years.

However, he claims that if the population catastrophe continues, there will not be enough people to populate Mars.

If there arent enough people for Earth, then there definitely wont be enough for Mars   Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2022

Mass Extinction

The study was led by biologists from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France, and published in Biological Reviews.

Recalling that the five previous extinctions of biodiversity were caused by natural phenomena,

Experts warn that the sixth mass extinction is already underway and has been caused entirely by human beings and their activities

Macra reported that the lead author of the study and research professor at the UH Manoa Pacific Biosciences Research Center in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), stated that "Including invertebrates was critical in establishing that we are truly witnessing the onset of the Sixth Mass Extinction in Earth's history.

Unfortunately, 7.5% and 13% of its two million known species have already been lost to extinction on Earth since the year 1500,

Read Also: Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites Are Cat Magnets; Can It Cause Internet Problems?

Falling Birth Rate

Since 1960s, there has been a consistent downward trend experienced in the global birthrate as reported by World Bank.

According to Business Insider, a market research firm on the World Economic Forum website, CEO of Ipsos, Darrell Bricker, stated that the Economic uncertainties the COVID-19 pandemic brought contributed massively to the downward trend of birthrates.

The falling birthrate isn't just experienced in the US, the phenomenon is also seen in China and India, which are two of the most populous countries in the world.

The birth rate in China dropped to a record low of 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021 as recorded by China's Department of Statistics.

This happened despite the country permitting couples to have up to three children and scrapping up its decades-old one-child policy in 2016.

In addition to that, as reported by the Times of India, India's fertility rate fell below a critical replacement level last year.

Related Article: Elon Musk Is Captain Planet: SpaceX Wants to Turn Carbon Dioxide to Rocket Fuel, But Is It Possible?
The sign of the Korea Development Bank (KDB) is located in front of its headquarters in Seoul. KDB is among several public financial institutions that presidential candidates say they plan to relocate to provincial areas. Korea Times file



Rival presidential candidates committed to moving financial institutions to regional areas



By Yi Whan-woo



The relocation of state-run banks from Seoul to provincial areas has been brought up again by presidential candidates as a campaign promise to push forward with balanced regional development projects.



While the pledges have been labelled vote-buying-schemes and have yet to be realized, the case could be different this year as the two most popular rival candidates are equally committed to promising the relocations with the March 9 presidential election approaching.



Their commitment is accordingly unnerving employees of the three state-run lenders  Korea Development Bank (KDB), Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) and Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)  more than in past elections.



In addition, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is emerging with a plan to make amendments on a related law so as to move about 200 public institutions out of Seoul and the greater metropolitan area, many of which, are in the finance sector.



"We are extremely agitated every election season, as candidates regardless of their party, call for a need to move our headquarters," an employee of a state-run bank said, asking not to be named.





Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), answers reporters during his visit to a cultural district in Insa-dong, central Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap



The employee referred to DPK presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung's reassertion to relocate "all public institutions that remain in the Seoul metropolitan area" if he is elected.



Lee's pledge, if successful, will see the realization of an ambitious vision proposed in the first decade of the 2000s by then-President Roh Moo-hyun to relocate the nation's administrative capital as well as headquarters of public agencies, including state-funded firms and institutes.



To date, the project remains incomplete, as mostly non-financial institutions moved out of Seoul, amid partisan wrangling as well as protests from the labor unions of the financial organizations.





Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), announces his pledges on annual income tax refunds among other things at the PPP headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Sue B. Donnelly, 87, of Crossville, passed away at her home on April 26, 2022. She was born on May 18, 1934, in Crossville, Tennessee, daughter of the late James T. Brandon and Clara (Hamby) Brandon. Sue was the owner of Boats and Harbors and of the Baptist Faith. She is survived by her chil
Over the last few months, there has been an uptick of espionage revelations concerning Iran and its interest in collecting information against regional adversaries as well as Iranian ex-pats whose views are divergent to those of the current regime. It is important for CISOs to understand the human side to the Iranian offensive efforts to gather information of interest.

Iran recruits eyes within Israel

In mid-January Israels Shin Bet (internal security service) revealed four Israeli women had been arrested for espionage, having been successfully recruited by Iranian intelligence via Facebook. The women, all of Iranian descent, were contacted by an individual who identified himself as Rambod Namdar, who claimed to be a Jewish man living in Iran. The modus operandi is one that has been seen many times before: Establish contact via a social network and then daisy-chain the contact to a seemingly more secure communication medium, in this case, WhatsApp.

Shin Bet revealed that this specific operation resulted in the women being paid thousands of dollars over the course of five years.

According to the BBC, one of the women was identified as a 40-year-old woman who lived in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and who was tasked with taking photos of the U.S. Embassy, the interior of the social affairs ministry, and other buildings. Another was identified as a 57-year-old from Beit Shemesh who elicited information and documents from her son, whom she had encouraged to serve in Israeli military intelligence. A third set up a honeytrap configuration in her home, complete with surreptitious video, where she gave personal massages to clients from within the Iranian community in Israeli where she would elicit information. Her efforts included targeting a member of the Israeli Parliament.

Iran targets military and energy

Contemporaneously with the above in 2019, a former Israeli cabinet minister (energy and infrastructure), Gonen Segev, was sentenced to prison for 11 years for spying on behalf of Iran. Segev had apparently volunteered to the Iranians while in Nigeria in 2012 and then having made two clandestine trips to Iran where he was trained in a covert communications system that allowed him to communicate with Iranian intelligence in a secure manner.

Similarly, late-November 2021, Omri Goren Gorochovsky, the personal housekeeper for the Israeli minister of defense Benny Gantz, was arrested for collaborating with Iran to compromise the ministers electronic devices. Gantz, who had unincumbered access to the devices within the ministers residence, had sent photos of the home, office, computer, mobile phone, tablet, router, IP addresses and more. Shin Bet noted that Gorochovsky was not exposed to classified materials. Upon review, it was learned that Gorochovsky was a known felon, a fact that was not picked up by the background check.

Does Iran seed sources?

Then we have the ongoing case in Sweden of two brothers of Iranian descent who have been arrested. One of the brothers, Peyman Kia, is charged with aggravated espionage, according to the Swedish Security Service (SAPO). Kia was an officer with SAPO, the Office for Special Information Gathering (KSI) and Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST). Pia became a naturalized Swedish citizen in 1994. His linguistic faculty in Persian and knowledge of the middle east made him a treasured and sought-after resource for the Swedish intelligence community.

Insider threat takeaways for CISOs

These are the takeaways that percolate to the forefront for CISOs, as one can easily extrapolate the government espionage experiences to the commercial world where an unscrupulous insider or competitor would use similar techniques.
INTERPOL and the Nigerian Federal Police today announced the arrests of 11 business email compromise (BEC) actors in Nigeria as part of an international operation to disrupt and tackle sophisticated BEC cybercrime. Many of the suspects are thought to be members of SilverTerrier, a network known for BEC scams that have impacted thousands of companies globally. The results are the latest example of industry and law enforcement efforts to thwart BEC activity, the most common and costly cyberthreat facing organizations.

Operation focused on technical BEC activity, targeted malware skills and knowledge

According to Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, which shared intelligence and resources as part of the operation, the collaborative effort was novel in its approach in that it didnt target easily identifiable money mules or social media influencers who are typically seen benefiting from these schemes. Instead, this operation focused predominantly on the technical backbone of BEC operations by targeting the actors who possess the skills and knowledge to build and deploy the malware and domain infrastructure used in these schemes, Unit 42 wrote in a blog posting. Some of the actors arrested have avoided prosecution for the past half decade due to the complexities of mapping global victims beyond the flow of stolen funds back to the source of malicious network activity, it added.

BEC remains a significant security risk to organizations

While the success of the operation  dubbed Operation Falcon II  is a positive for law enforcement and the cybersecurity sector, it highlights the ongoing risk BEC poses to businesses across the globe. The BEC threat landscape is extremely active and constantly evolving, Pete Renals, Unit 42 principal researcher, tells CSO. As a threat type, it has grown over the years to become the most prevalent and costly form of malicious cyber activity targeting our customers. Additionally, while these attacks rarely result in physical damage to victim organizations, the financial losses associated with these schemes are often equally significant.

As such, it is imperative that organizations continue to prioritize defenses against email-based cyberattacks through preventative practices. As outlined in Unit 42s blog, these include:

Review network security policies, focusing on the types of files that employees can download and open on devices attached to company networks.

Review mail server configurations, employee mail settings, and connection logs.

Conduct tailored, regular cyber awareness training for employees.

Conduct tabletop exercises and rehearsal investigations to determine sources of evidence and establish reporting points of contact for the appropriate authorities.

Conduct compromise assessments on an annual or more frequent basis to test organizational controls and validate that there is no unauthorized activity occurring in the environment.

While detecting and preventing BEC schemes should be a top priority for organizations, we also believe that the best cybersecurity approach is one that focuses on tools and capabilities that provide flexible defenses against the entire range (BEC, ransomware, APTs, etc.) of possible threat vectors, concludes Renals.
United States President Joe Biden issued a 17-page National Security Memorandum (NSM) yesterday containing new cybersecurity requirements for national security systems (NSS). The memo's purpose is to ensure that these more sensitive systems employ the same or more stringent cybersecurity measures spelled out for federal civilian systems in Bidens comprehensive cybersecurity executive order issued in May 2021.

National security systems are information systems, including telecommunication systems, that involve intelligence or cryptologic activities related to national security, command and control of military forces, weapons systems, other activity critical to the direct fulfillment of military or intelligence missions, and classified information related to national defense or foreign policy. This latest effort to boost cybersecurity follows the order issued last May and an NSM for critical infrastructure owners, a directive to bolster pipeline cybersecurity, and several other actions by the administration to prioritize cybersecurity following a year of growing threats and attacks.

Memo address four areas of security

The NSM addresses four primary areas of security enhancements:

Cyber hygiene and protective measures: Consistent with the May executive order, the latest NSM establishes timelines and guidance for how these cybersecurity requirements will be implemented, including multifactor authentication, encryption, cloud technologies (including zero-trust architecture), and endpoint detection services. The memo lays out a series of deadlines to implement these requirements that range from 30 days from the date of the NSM to 120 days.

Cyber incident reporting: To promote greater visibility into cybersecurity incidents that occur on NSS systems, the NSM also requires agencies to identify their national security systems and report cyber incidents that occur on them to the National Security Agency (NSA), which by the prior policy is the national manager for the U.S. governments classified systems. In coordination with the Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the NSA has 90 days from the date of the NSM to establish procedures for reporting known or suspected compromises of NSS or otherwise unauthorized access of NSS.

Binding operational directives: The memo further requires the NSA to create binding operational directives requiring agencies to take specific actions against known or suspected cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. NSA has 30 days from the date of the NSM to coordinate with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence and establish procedures governing the circumstances under which a directive may be issued.

Cross-domain solutions inventories: Finally, the NSM requires agencies to inventory their cross-domain solutions (CDS), which are tools that transfer data between classified and unclassified systems, and directs NSA to establish security standards and testing requirements to protect these critical systems better. In coordination with the CIO of the Intelligence Community in the office of the ODNI, NSA has 60 days to issue a directive to all agencies operating a CDS connected to NSS to make available information regarding those deployments to establish timelines for the collection and receipt of this information.

Its noteworthy that the NSM also provides for exceptions from its requirements. Agency heads may relax the requirements whenever the head of an agency determines that unique mission needs necessitate any NSS or category of NSS to be excepted. This exception applies to specific categories of systems, including those that support military intelligence or sensitive law enforcement activities and systems or software procured for vulnerability research, testing, or evaluation purposes.

The memo garners an initial positive reaction

The initial reaction to the memo was positive. We stand ready to fulfill our role, and our responsibility, in securing our nation against foreign malicious actors, and any efforts to exploit our national security systems, General Paul M. Nakasone, commander, U.S. Cyber Command and director, NSA/Chief, Central Security Service, said.

I applaud President Biden for signing this order to improve our nations cybersecurity, Senator Mark Warner, (D-VA) chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-chair of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, said. Among other priorities, this National Security Memorandum (NSM) requires federal agencies to report efforts to breach their systems by cyber criminals and state-sponsored hackers. Now its time for Congress to act by passing our bipartisan legislation that would require critical infrastructure owners and operators to report such cyber intrusions within 72 hours.

This new memo makes a lot of sense, Bill Crowell, former deputy director of the NSA and advisory board member at LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, tells CSO. The authority given to the NSA to issue binding operational directives for national security systems is important, and I believe that's the right place for this authority.

LookingGlass CEO Gilman Louie tells CSO, The memo has good requirements on basic cyber hygiene. This is baseline what the DOD and IC should be doing for cyber defense.

These measures, particularly mandating the use of zero trust principles and endpoint detection and response (EDR) technologies, are sensible and timely, Drew Bagley, vice president and counsel for privacy and cyber policy at CrowdStrike, tells CSO. If adopted, these [requirements] should ensure that defense and national security systems are at least as well-defended as their civilian counterparts by leveraging emerging technologies already widely embraced within the industry.

Chris Jacob, global vice president, threat intelligence engineering at ThreatQuotient, tells CSO that he applauds the administrations efforts to shore up cybersecurity practices across the federal government. While the specific agencies addressed have long been known for having decent cybersecurity policies, a binding directive ensures the ability to enforce a set of standards for all agencies.

President Bidens national security memorandum is one of the biggest directives taken to date to secure our nations critical systems, W. Curtis Preston, chief technical evangelist, Druva, said in a statement. A requirement for federal agencies to more widely deploy cloud technologies will greatly assist in strengthening our nations defenses and can immediately help minimize the impact of ever-increasing cyber-attacks. These government-led initiatives are essential if we are going to drive change and ensure resilience for all.
Samsung Life Insurance's headquarters in southern Seoul / Yonhap



Court rules in favor of policyholders of insurer's immediate annuity contract



By Kim Bo-eun



Samsung Life Insurance has been mired in a number of legal battles in the past few years, which have weighed on the insurer as a major burden.



The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of policyholders of Samsung Life's immediate annuity, in a class action suit against the insurer over insufficient payments.



An immediate annuity is an insurance contract funded by a lump sum payment, such as money in a savings account. Policyholders are able to receive payments each month, which come from profits from investing the policyholders' lump sums of money.



A total of 18 holders of Samsung's immediate annuity policy filed the suit. The policyholders claim that Samsung did not properly notify them of deductions that would be made to their monthly payments, and are demanding the insurer pay up on the unpaid amounts.



Samsung has appealed the lower courts ruling, and it is expected that it will take over a year for the final court ruling on the case to be made. Multiple local life insurers are also mired in legal battles over immediate annuity contracts, including Hanwha and Kyobo.



In 2018, policyholders launched a class-action suit against a number of life insurers, including Samsung Life, accusing them of providing insufficient monthly payments to holders of immediate annuity contracts.



The Financial Supervisory Service's (FSS) dispute settlement committee earlier sided with the policyholders, stating Samsung did not provide clear standards on payments it would provide. The authority's stance is seen to be affecting court rulings on the matter.



However, court rulings on the same issue have varied. Samsung Life in October won a suit filed by an individual policyholder over its immediate annuity product. Though, given that more rulings have sided with policyholders so far, insurers including Samsung have been preparing for possible payouts by setting aside provisions.



Samsung Life's board earlier decided that it will provide payments according to the top court's ruling. The company reflected 278 billion won ($234 million) in provisions associated with lawsuits over its immediate annuity contracts in its earnings for the second quarter of 2021, after it lost a lawsuit filed by 57 policyholders.



Data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) shows that Samsung has the greatest amount of outstanding payments for immediate annuity contracts among life insurers, at 400 billion won. The policy has over 50,000 holders.



Samsung Life was also embroiled in a suit with policy holders over its cancer policy, but the Supreme Court in September 2020 sided with the insurer.



The claimants had called for Samsung to cover nursing home fees for holders of its cancer policies, but the company had refused, stating that the expenses were irrelevant according to the terms of its policy.



The FSS in December 2020 concluded that heavy sanctions should be imposed on Samsung Life for irregularities, including the refusal to pay cancer policyholders' claims.



The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is the entity that finalizes sanctions on financial firms, but it has yet to reach a conclusion, despite a full year having passed since the FSS forwarded its proposal. It is considered unusual for the FSC to take more than several months to impose a sanction after the FSS forwards its view.



Matters have become more complicated with the top court ruling in favor of Samsung in 2020.


Sometimes the government comes into possession of your money or property. Possibly its an old account or a reimbursement you never got paid.

So Connecticuts treasurers office made an online-accessible list, where all residents and business owners can find out what belongs to them and how to get it back. They call it the big list.

The bold logo, featuring a green outline of Connecticut, reads Youve got money.

Heres what you need to know about Connecticuts big list:

Where can someone find out about the big list?

The state maintains a website and database at ctbiglist.com. The site is maintained by the office of state Treasurer Shawn Wooden. It features a seal at the top acknowledging it is part of the states official websites.

What does the list entail?

The list includes financial property belonging to a resident or business that the state has come to possess.

According to the treasurers office, common property includes old checking and savings accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten utility deposits, unclaimed life insurance proceeds, or inactive stocks and bonds.

Officials said the property is considered unclaimed when it is held by someone other than who it belongs to and they have not been able to reach the owner.

How does someone find out if the state has possession of their property?

The website offers a comprehensive database of all the unclaimed property owed to residents in Connecticut. In order to determine if a resident or business owner has unclaimed property, they need to enter their name into the database.

While there is some overlap with names, the database allows people to narrow their search by including a city, zip code, or property ID  a unique identifier associated with the unclaimed property.

The treasurers office said the search is free and maintained by the offices unclaimed property division.

What does someone need to do to claim the property?

The site provides a form that a resident with unclaimed property needs to complete to start the process of getting the property back.

The process can also be started through the website, where users can fill out an online form.

According to the treasurers office: All claims require photo identification; an official document displaying claimants social security number; a signed and notarized claim form; and, all other documentation listed on the claim...

How long does it take to get the unclaimed property?

The treasurers office does not specify how long it takes for a resident or business owner to rightfully claim the property that the state is holding.

But it does offer a way for claimants to check the status of their claim by inputting the claim ID number into an online portal on the website.

Why is the state in possession of unclaimed property?

State law requires that unclaimed property be turned over to the state for safekeeping until the owner is able to then take possession of it, according to the treasurers office.

Typically, those holding unclaimed property are banks, credit unions, insurance companies, brokerage firms and utility companies, officials said.

The property is turned over to the state after a business loses contact with the owner of the property for three to five years, the treasurers office said.

What is not included in the database?

A recent article from the CT Mirror reported that the state does not provide a list of unclaimed property that is less than $50.

According to the article, more than $40 million worth of unclaimed property falls into this category.

The CT Mirror created a database that works like the big list, but for funds available under $50.
With snow and freezing rain in the forecast, some schools across the state opted to delay or cancel school for Thursday as a precaution.

The National Weather Service predicted 1 to 2 inches of snow, which caused slick roads before, during and after the morning rush hour. Officials statewide urged those who didnt need to be on the roads to stay home until the weather passed and roads were treated and cleared.

Here is the latest on school closures, traffic and another other weather-related updates throughout the inclement weather.

Noon - In Bridgeport, city officials said crews are going through sections and treating roads for hazardous conditions. Officials urged residents to drive and walk with caution Thursday, as temperatures are expected to drop later in the day and into the evening.

11:50 p.m. - The COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Hatters Park in Danbury is closed Thursday because of the weather.

11:12 a.m. - Police in Redding are asking drivers to stay off the road if possible to allow crews to work, and asked those who must drive to do so with caution.

9:17 a.m. - Snow has started to fall in Bridgeport, with an expectation of half an inch to an inch and a half falling in the city. Officials said crews have been dispatched to monitor and treat the roads throughout the city. Residents were advised to use caution as temperatures continue to drop, causing possibly hazardous conditions.

9:15 a.m. - The vaccination clinics at Hunt and Cummings parks in Stamford will open at noon and close at 4 p.m. Thursday. The city cited the weather as the reason for the delayed opening. Due to flooding, the city announced that the vaccination site at Scalzi Park was moved to the Community Health Center at 22 Fifth St. It will be open until 3:30 a.m.

8:55 a.m. - While there was no-parking ban issued for Hartford during the snowfall on Thursday, police urged those who could keep their vehicles off the street to do so to help with the cleanup efforts. Police said the Department of Public Works team will treat the roads and plow as needed.

8:20 a.m. - Connecticuts Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport will be closed Thursday. The zoo said it will be open for normal operating hours Friday.

7:40 a.m. - In Greenwich, the nonprofit Neighbor to Neighbor said it would be closed Thursday, including curbside pickup.

7:10 a.m. - The Connecticut Department of Transportation says crews have been treating highways and state roads since early Thursday, but still warned drivers that they should be cautious of slippery conditions and slow down if driving this morning.

6:15 a.m. - A winter weather advisory has been issued until 1 p.m. for southern Fairfield, southern New Haven, southern Middlesex and southern New London counties. The National Weather Service said in the advisory that drivers can expect slippery road conditions and possible hazardous travel Thursday morning. The precipitation is expected to possibly briefly start as rain before changing over to snow around 7 a.m. as the temperature dips below freezing, the weather service said. The advisory was issued, the NWS said, because of the potential for snow falling during the morning rush hour. Drivers are urged to slow down and use caution while driving, according to the weather service.

School updates:

ACES Schools : All ACES schools will have a two-hour delay.

Ansonia Public Schools : Closed.

Bethel Public Schools : Closed.

Brookfield Public Schools : Closed.

Central Connecticut State University : The New Britain campus will open at noon.

Common Ground High School : Closed.

Consolidated School District of New Britain : Closed.

Danbury Public Schools: Closed.

Darien Public Schools : Closed.

Derby Public Schools : Closed.

Fairfield Public Schools : Closed.

Greenwich Public Schools : Closed.

Hebron Public Schools : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. It is possible there may be a full closure announced by 7:30 a.m.

Naugatuck Public Schools : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. There could be a possible cancellation.

New Fairfield Public Schools : Closed.

New Haven Public Schools : Schools will be open after a two-hour delay.

New Milford Public Schools : Closed.

Newtown Public Schools : Closed.

Norwalk Public Schools : Closed.

Oxford Public Schools : Closed.

Paier College : Classes will start at 11 a.m.

Regional School District 8 : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. There could be additional announcements in the morning.

Regional School District 15 : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. School officials will reassess if schools should still open in the morning.

Regional School District 16 : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. School officials will monitor the weather in the morning to see if schools need to close.

Ridgefield Public Schools : Closed.

Seymour Public Schools : Closed.

Shelton Public Schools : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. School officials will announce if school is canceled no later than 7 a.m.

Sherman Public Schools : Closed.

Stamford Public Schools : Closed.

Stratford Public Schools : Closed.

Torrington Public Schools : Schools will open after a two-hour delay. Dismissal will be at the regular time rather than the early dismissal as planned. Morning pre-K will be canceled. School officials will send updates in the morning regarding the schedule if weather conditions do not improve.

Westport: Superintendent Thomas Scarice said he is considering a district wide two- or three-hour delay. The delayed opening will close Stepping Stones Preschool for students. Staples High School has a contingency plan for how this delayed opening will affect midterm exams.

Local updates

Plainfield : A parking ban is in effect for public roadways. The ban will start when 1 inch of snow has fallen and will remain in effect until the Department of Transportation clears the roadways, according to the towns police department. Vehicles violating the ban could be towed at the owners expense and get fined.

Winsted : The towns vaccine clinic Thursday will start at 11 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. The clinic will take place at the Norwestern Connecticut Community College in the multipurpose room in the Greenwoods Building, 119 N. Main Street, until 3 p.m. No appointments are necessary. The Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines will be available.

State updates

Gov. Ned Lamont has extended the states severe cold weather protocol through noon Feb. 2. Meteorologists said the state will have lower-than-normal temperatures through next week, which means highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits or teens for the next two weeks.

The protocol was activated Friday and was set to expire Wednesday. It allows local, regional and state emergency management officials and first responders to use a system to share information about shelter capacity, warming centers and other situations.

The protocol requires various agencies to provide transportation for those seeking shelter.

Anyone in need of shelter or a warming center should call 211. Resources can be found online at 211CT.org.
One day after the White House launched an initiative to deliver at-home COVID tests to all Americans who want them, some Connecticut residents of multi-unit dwellings say they were blocked from getting any kits.

The White House on Tuesday launched COVIDtests.gov, which allows users to request four free at-home rapid COVID tests.

There were, at one point, about 700,000 people using the site the day before its official launch. As of Wednesday morning, there were more than 167,000 users on the site.

The effort to get test kits comes as Connecticut still sees high levels of COVID-19 transmission. On Wednesday, the state reported a positivity rate of 16.55 percent. Hospitalizations also remain high, despite a net decrease of 14 patients for a total of 1,805.

As testing demand has surged in recent weeks, the White House launched the initiative to send the kits directly to peoples homes.

However, not everyone has had an easy time ordering them.

In particular, people who live in multi-unit buildings have had difficulty, and the United States Postal Service, which is coordinating distribution of the test kits, acknowledged that there have been some issues.

The postal service is seeing very limited cases of addresses that are not registered as multi-unit buildings, which could lead to COVID test kit ordering difficulties, USPS spokesperson Dave Partenheimer said Wednesday by email. This is occurring in a small percentage of orders.

Marie Avellani, of Oakville, for example, said she ordered kits for her elderly aunt who doesnt have a computer.

Since we live in a multi-unit complex, Im told theres only one allowed per address, she said.

Westport resident Evin Dubrow said, there is more than one family living at my current address.

The other family has already ordered the COVID test kits, leaving me with getting a message saying, four kits per household and this address has been used, she said.

New York state Rep. Carolyn Maloney said on Twitter that she heard reports of error messages for folks in multi-dwelling buildings such as apartments, and suggested using the USPS ZIP code lookup tool to find out how your residence is listed.

Users on Twitter noted that some had success including apartment numbers in the first line of the address field, rather than separating it out into the second line.

The system is registering identical street addresses as single households, one user said.

Not everyone had a hard time ordering the free kits. Marion Percy, of Stamford, said her experience had been quite the opposite of difficult.

If and when I receive more test kits, I will donate them, she said. I live alone. I don't need five, and possibly more, test kits.

Sue Sweeney, also of Stamford, said she did not have any trouble at all.

I ordered around 4 p.m. yesterday  no problem, she said Wednesday. In fact, I could not believe how fast and smooth it went.

Questions have been raised about the postal services ability to send four test kits to millions of residences. In the run-up to the 2020 election, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, among others, complained of mail delivery delays.

Partenheimer did not respond to questions about USPS capacity, and suggested that anyone having difficulties can contact USPS.

For help in the ordering process, the USPS recommends filing an online service request or contacting its help desk at 800-ASK-USPS.
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Getty Images / Contributed

BRIDGEPORT  A city man will serve three years in prison on a federal narcotics trafficking offense, according to prosecutors.

Judge Janet C. Hall sentenced 62-year-old Kevin Dutch Lucas to 36 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release, during a video conference court appearance on Wednesday.
SillaJen is one of the companies in the medical care and pharmaceutical sectors that are embroiled in financial scandals this year. Korea Times file



By Yi Whan-woo



Retail investors in biotech stocks face the risk of losing their invested money, as financial scandals surrounding key listed companies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors are chilling market sentiment after a rough start in 2022.



The related stocks on both the benchmark KOSPI and tech-heavy KOSDAQ took a tumble in general, over embezzlement scandals linked to Osstem Implant and SillaJen, and the bourse operator's preliminary measure to delist them from the KOSDAQ indefinitely.



The market capitalization of SillaJen once hovered around 10 trillion won ($8.3 billion) but shrank to 1.24 trillion won in the wake of the scandal.



Another KOSDAQ-listed company, Kolon TissueGene, awaits the Korea Exchange's (KRX) final decision as to whether it should be delisted permanently. Its shares have been temporarily suspended from trading since May 2019 over the mislabeling and false reporting of ingredients.



KOSPI-listed Celltrion is worsening the situation, due to suspected accounting fraud concerning the company and its two affiliates, Celltrion Healthcare and Celltrion Pharm.



Celltrion Healthcare, after being the No. 1 in market cap for about four years on the KOSDAQ, retreated more than 15 percent.



"Any delisting of the involved companies will deal a blow to minority shareholders, and furthermore, deepen investor distrust in the biotech sector," said a senior representative of KoreaBIO, an organization representing the interests of the industry.



The fact that retail investors account for a considerable share of the aforementioned companies is adding to the dim outlook of the market.



Minority shareholders account for 55.6 percent of Osstem Implant's shares, 92.6 percent of SillaJen's, 34.5 percent of Kolon TissueGene's, 64.29 percent of Celltrion's, 55.38 percent of Celltrion Healthcare's and 45.04 percent of Celltrion Pharm's shares.



"Unlike institutional or foreign investors, the minority shareholders will have no alternative means to retrieve the money they lost," a market observer said.



A dental implant manufacturer, Osstem was temporarily delisted on Jan. 3, after the company reported that one of its employees allegedly embezzled 188 billion won in its funds.



The amount is believed to be equivalent to 91.81 percent of Osstem's equity capital of 204.76 billion won. The case is the largest-ever embezzlement case in the history of the country's listed firms.



Drug maker SillaJen was delisted on Jan. 18, following a trading ban of its shares since May 2020, when its management was mired in an embezzlement scandal.



Concerning Celltrion, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) will open a discussion as to whether punitive measures should be taken over the accounting fraud.


Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  One person was seriously wounded in a shooting near a local store that left another individual with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police officials.

Officers responded to the 200 block of Grandview Avenue around 8 p.m. for a report of shots fired in the area, said Capt. Kevin Gilleran, head of the citys Detective Bureau.
Credit unions continually strive for new innovations and insights that help them meet the ever-evolving financial needs of their members. Its part of the People Helping People philosophy thats in their DNA  its the true reason they exist.

Here in the Northwest, for example, Connections Credit Union in Pocatello, Idaho wanted a better understanding of how to support under-banked residents in rural areas of the credit unions field of membership. What financial services are available to them? What are their financial stressors? What types of services could the credit union offer to help meet those needs?

Earlier this year, Connections partnered with the Idaho State University College of Business to study these questions. The work is being done, in part, with the support of the Northwest Credit Union Foundation (NWCUF) through a grant from our Rural Access to Financial Services Initiative.

Through this initiative, which was launched last spring, the NWCUF is partnering with credit unions in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington as they develop, test, replicate, and scale innovative responses to uniquely rural issues. Its work that will give credit unions essential perspective as they increasingly move into rural areas where other financial institutions have scaled back services or left communities altogether.

Its also an example of how the NWCUF is evolving to help Northwest credit unions unleash their collective power and magnify their positive community impact. Here in the Northwest, that includes buoying underserved and rural communities, blunting the affordable housing crisis, and wrestling with the opportunities and challenges of the post-pandemic world.

For many individual credit unions, the work to find effective answers to such large questions can quickly become overwhelmed by more immediate priorities. But, by working together and tapping into their collaborative and cooperative natures, credit unions have huge potential to make a significant impact on these and many other issues.

By convening credit unions around shared challenges, we help them join forces and expertise, leverage shared resources, and foster relationships with like-minded non-profit partners, government programs, and philanthropic organizations to tackle those challenges. We leverage resources from inside and outside the credit union space  and keep our finger on the pulse of community and social issues that affect credit unions and their members. In this way, credit unions are able to expand and accelerate their work to foster the financial well-being of their members and the vitality of the communities they serve. Its a model that speaks of credit unions spirit as cooperatively structured financial institutions and their intentional focus on providing the best possible value to their members and creating deep positive impact in their communities.

Northwest Credit Unions Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force, hosted by the NWCUF and the Northwest Credit Union Association, is another example. For months, 26 members of the task force, representing credit unions from varied asset sizes and geographic regions, met to identify actionable strategies. In its work, done with last years national discussion on racial equity serving as a backdrop and inspiration, the task force sought out examples and resources from around the nation and here in the Northwest. The result was a set of recommended best practices for credit unions looking to advance their DEI work as employers, financial institutions, and community partners. The Task Forces work is a ready resource for credit unions developing policies for their organizations and memberships, no matter where they are in their DEI journey.

The cost of housing is another area of concern for many credit unions and their members. Its an issue that credit unions, local businesses, governments, and community partners are working on across the Northwest. Through collaboration, NWCUF is seeking creative ways to connect the dots among these stakeholders and help to design innovative solutions to this challenge. Since 2018, credit unions have been awarded more than $800,000 in NWCUF grant funding to increase access to workforce housing. And we are looking to do a lot more.

These are just a few examples of how Northwest credit unions are striving to create lasting positive impact for their members and communities. And I know nationally and globally, credit unions are striving to provide similar results around myriad challenges. By coordinating and combining those efforts, the impact of the global credit union movement could be huge.

Founded upon collaborative principals that helped it grow to include more than 375 million members worldwide, the credit union movement has an extraordinary and positive effect on the people and communities it serves. But theres much more that could be done. By coming together and facing challenges as one, credit unions make amazing things happen for their members and their communities. The NWCUF would be honored and humbled to join the entire movement in making the most of that work.
Randy Stolp

Its a New Years riddle: What do you get when you combine a small, nimble team with the best technology?

The answer? Confidence in facing the unknowns of 2022, says Randy Stolp, chief information officer (CIO) at $462 million asset My Community Credit Union in Midland, Texas, and second vice chair of the CUNA Technology Council Executive Committee.

Our people prepare us for 2022, Stolp says. Our team is well-prepared for surprises by the ups and downs of our historically heavily oil-based economy.

My Community will send its staffall 108 of theminto the community throughout 2022 as part of a commitment to perform 70 random acts of kindness to celebrate the credit unions 70th anniversary.
Cullman, AL (35055)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selvan, left, and Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan pose at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, Jan. 8. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin



Brothers overcome culture shock, language barrier to follow dream



By Park Ji-won



It is not a simple road to become a Catholic priest in Korea, as it is in many other countries. To be ordained into the priesthood, men need to spend at least a decade in seminary training. Seminarians undertake bachelor's and master's degrees at Catholic universities to learn requisite skills, engage in volunteer activities and also mandatory military service. After the completion of these duties, various facets of the individual such as faith and personality are taken into consideration before ordination.



Due to the difficult process, about 30 percent of priestal candidates in Korea reportedly drop out. The country has two cardinals, 40 bishops and 5,538 priests according to 2020 data from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK). Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk died on April. 27, last year.



Also, there are only 123 foreign priests active in Korea as of March 1, 2021, according to the CBCK data, and most of them came here after being ordained in their home countries, where it is easier to do so through education in their mother tongue than in a foreign language.



But on Dec. 8, 2021, James Sahaya Arul Selvan and Xavier Sahaya Arul Selvan, twin Indian Catholic friars of Franciscan Missionary Brothers of Service based in Korea's South Chungcheong Province, completed the difficult task and were ordained under the Korean Diocese. The 32-year-old priests are known as the first Indians, as well as twins to do so in Korea. The ordination ceremony was held at Solmoe Shrine in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, under the Catholic Diocese of Daejeon.





The ordination ceremony for Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selvan and Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan is held at Solmoe Shrine in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, Dec. 8, 2021. Courtesy of Fr. James





Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selvan, left, and Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan smile after becoming ordained / Courtesy of Fr. James

"It has been about a month since (my brother and) I became ordained. It is hard to put into words, but I was able to become a priest thanks to the support from others and my family in this new environment," Fr. James said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the headquarters of the newspaper. The interview was held in Korean.



Many would wonder how they ended up wanting to become priests, coming from a Hindu-majority country. But the twins said it was a natural choice for them, as they were born Catholic and raised in Tamil Nadu in the southeastern coastal area of India, where there are a lot of Catholics. There are reportedly about 20 million Catholics in India.



Their parents went to a Catholic church and worked for Catholic schools in the town which was like a Catholic village. The twins naturally spent a lot of time in the church. Even though they did not talk about it to each other, becoming a priest had been their sole dream that naturally occurred in their minds from a young age, and their determination has never wavered.





Twin brothers Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selvan and Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan at a young age in this undated photo / Courtesy of Fr. James

"When we were young, we used to mimic the priests of our church holding a Mass by wearing a robe we made with towels. Clergymen looked so cool and I wanted to become one of them. As we spent most of the time in church, our parents even had to call the church to find us," Fr. James said.



They wanted to become priests in a diocese in India  one way to get ordained  but the head priest of the region, who has the power to issue the letter of recommendation necessary for becoming a priest candidate, had a bad relationship with their parents and the twins were unable to get the document.



They swiftly changed strategies and looked for a Catholic religous order which would accept them  another way to become a priest.



Although the two routes to ordainment have similar requirements, such as studying at a theological university, the latter is more time-consuming and more difficult, as a member of an order is obliged to spend an additional two to three years in the order's community before entering a university. Also a priest of a specific order is required to live with members of the order unless they leave the priesthood.



As soon as they made up their minds, surprisingly, they were able to have an in-person meeting with Heide Brauckmann, founder of their current order in Korea, who happened to visit India for her order's branch for nuns there. The two said she approved their entry to the order on the spot.



"Everything happened so naturally and quickly. In 2010, we were accepted to the order after having an hour-long consultation with Brauckmann, which is extremely rare as normally it takes about a year of observation to get the approval from the head or the order," Fr. James said.



After joining the order on June 30, 2010, and being dispatched to the Order of Friars Minor in India for two years, they were dispatched to the order's Zambia community for a year and then sent to Korea in 2013.





Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan, left, Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selvan during an entrance ceremony at Daejeon Catholic University / Courtesy of Fr. James



But living in a new culture was challenging. Knowing almost nothing about the country or its language, they relied on each other and started from scratch.



"What I knew about Korea before coming here were only kimchi and the names of Korean companies like Samsung and Hyundai. But we arrived in Korea on our birthday on Aug. 13, which we found very special," Fr. James recalled.



"I never thought of giving up the dream, as it was my (and our) dream since we were kids. I was confident that I had a calling from God and I thought the best way to make the dream come true was to endure the difficulties," Fr. Xavier said.



Upon their arrival here, however, they had to face culture shock unlike anything they ever imagined.



"I remember the very first day of our arrival at the religious order. People of the community knew that we don't drink alcoholic beverages. In a welcoming party for us, however, a brother from an African country gave us canned beverages saying 'People who don't drink alcohol drink these beverages instead.' It tasted bitter and weird. But later it turned out that they were canned beers. It was the first time for us to drink alcohol in our lives. I realized that it was a part of Korean culture (to get to know each other with food and alcohol)," Fr. Xavier said.



"In our preconceived notions, priests and even churchgoers don't drink alcohol or smoke in India. Some believers even confess to priests after drinking and smoking. But in Korea, eating and drinking alcohol together is the way to mingle and build friendships even among priests. It was a huge culture shock for me, but I compromised to drink a can of beer to meet people here," Fr. James said.



"Also, people kept asking us who is the older brother, as age seemingly really matters in Korean culture. But we actually didn't know and grew up without thinking about birth order. Our parents forgot about who was born first because we looked so identical when we were born 10 minutes apart. So, we randomly decided the older brother, which is me, James, to answer people's questions."



Another big challenge for them was learning Korean language, although there were many similarities between Korean and Tamil, the mother tongue of the two  there is a myth in Korea that Heo Hwang-ok, a Korean queen in 48 A.D. who migrated from India, spread her culture in Korea.





Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selva, left, Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan / Courtesy of Fr. James

They spent a year learning Korean at Chungnam National University until they were admitted to Daejeon Catholic University. Thinking that their language ability was not good enough to understand the upcoming lectures at the university, they decided to stop using their mother tongue, as well as English which they learned while attending Nazareth Margoschis College in India, and to use only Korean all times when praying, communicating with others and even talking to each other, except for when speaking to family in India.



It worked well, especially thanks to the praying. Sooner or later, their Korean became fluent enough to understand university lectures, and they started to dream in Korean as well. But as a side effect, they started forgetting how to speak their mother tongue to some extent, which is a "mystery" to them, too.



"The brain is now set to function in Korean. We read the Bible and pray in Korean. When learning a foreign language, people tend to think something in their mother tongue and translate it to another language. But we just started thinking and praying in Korean from the beginning. I think it really helped with improving our language skills and changing the brain system," Fr. Xavier said.



"Nobody believes that we forgot our mother tongue and it is a mystery to us, too. My family in India says we speak grammatically incorrect Tamil. I think praying in Korean helped us improve the language and instead made us fast forget our mother tongue  Apart from Korean, I even feel more comfortable in using English than Tamil. So we are worried of holding a Mass in Tamil back in India which is scheduled to be held this month," Fr. James said.



As their language ability improved, they found themselves increasingly comfortable here. Life in Korea also influenced their personalities and lifestyles.



"The university made us learn an impossible amount of the Catholic church's 2,000-year history in only seven years (during bachelor and graduate courses). I think Korean educational institutes teach students fast and intensely  Now I've also become impatient with people acting slowly, just as many other Koreans who prefer to do everything fast. We just loved Korean dishes such as doenjang jjigae (soybean soup), kimchi jjigae and cheonggukjang (fermented soybean paste soup) from the beginning," said Fr. James. "Many people say that we must have been Koreans in a previous life."



In general, an ordained priest gets assigned to duty within a month, but as they have family living overseas, they got a special vacation from the order to travel to India for about a month. They are planning to meet their family members. "We have two younger brothers. The elder one is also attending a Catholic university as a diocesan hoping to become a priest there. And we will attend the younger one's wedding."





Fr. James Sahaya Arul Selvan, left, and Fr. Xavier Sahaya Arul Selva pose at Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, Jan. 8. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin
Feature: Chinese employee in Tonga recounts moments of fear after volcanic eruption

Xinhua) 15:31, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- "A volcanic mushroom plume rapidly built up and sprawled across the sky seconds after an extraordinary blast rumbled our ears to deaf," a Chinese employee working in Tonga told Xinhua on Tuesday via a satellite phone as he recalled the colossal volcanic eruption that hit the island nation three days earlier.

Zhao Yongming, an employee at China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, has been working in Tonga for five years. The 32-year-old, together with his 37 colleagues, was operating near the country's airport -- luckily on higher ground -- when the eruption occurred.

"The sky turned dark in minutes. Particles kept falling from the sky like hailstones, rattling on the window-panes and blocking our sight," said Zhao. "There was nothing we can do. We were panicking."

On Saturday, an undersea volcano -- about 65 km north of capital city Nuku'alofa on the north coast of Tonga's main island Tangotapu, where Zhao's project is located -- belched ash, gas and steam more than 20 km into the air and set off a tsunami that pummeled the country of around 100,000 people with 15-meter-high waves.

"Since the Chinese embassy has warned us of the eruption days earlier, we have moved the important supplies to safety in advance. The incident has done no harm to our lives or property so far," Zhao said.

"What's more, our company has taken into account the emergency situation, for example, a lockdown amid the pandemic, and equipped us with sufficient food and water in advance," he said. "Now we have supplies for our 38 employees to live on for three months, face masks and generators for emergency use."

After the eruption, which is believed to be the largest in the past three decades, authorities on Tuesday reported at least three deaths. The submarine internet cable has been knocked off, leaving the nation largely cut off from the rest of the world, with only domestic phone calls possible.

"Except for the little connection with the outside, our life remain largely the same," Zhao said. "And since the embassy has informed our families in China of our safety, we are now feeling calm and relieved."

However, problems of food shortages and volcanic ash are among his primary concerns.

The lingering ash cloud continued to shroud the country and has proven more difficult to clear than expected, which forced people to limit outdoor activities and wreaked havoc on crops and vegetables.

"Fresh food is increasingly hard to get, and the plight might linger if not worsen in the foreseeable future," he said.

Nevertheless, the ash cloud did not dim the glitter of kindness and mutual support.

"During our retreat to our base at a higher altitude shortly after the eruption, we could not see anything even with our high beams on. After we arrived, we found that we were joined by unexpected 'guests' -- four Tongans from two families," Zhao recalled.

"They found themselves at lost after escaping from the coastal area, as the volcanic ash engulfed the island. The lights of our vehicles lit up their way in the dark, so they joined our cars and followed us here," he said.

"We invited them to our simple dinner and provided them with water to clean the ash on their skin," Zhao said. "They left the next morning with gratitude, saying they were grateful for our kindness and help in that night of panic, fear and uncertainty."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a politiburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Jan. 19, the North's official Korean Central New Agency reported Jan. 20. Yonhap



North Korea held a policymaking politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party presided over by leader Kim Jong-un and decided to consider restarting "all temporally-suspended" activities, Pyongyang's state media reported Thursday, apparently referring to its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.



The meeting took place following the North conducting four missile tests this month alone, including two of what it claims was a hypersonic missile, prompting the United States to slap new sanctions on the regime. The U.S. is leading a campaign within the U.N. Security Council to extend its own sanctions, with a closed-door council meeting on the issue scheduled Thursday.



During a session held the previous day, the participants vowed preparations for a "long-term confrontation" with the U.S., saying the "hostile policy and military threat by the U.S. have reached a danger line that cannot be overlooked anymore," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).



"They gave an instruction to a sector concerned, to reconsider in an overall scale the trust-building measures that we took on our own initiative on a preferential ground and to promptly examine the issue of restarting all temporally-suspended activities," the KCNA said.






Dalton, GA (30720)

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Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.
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Sunbury, PA (17801)

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Rain likely. Low 53F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

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Rain likely. Low 53F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.








American student Otto Warmbier is escorted to the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this March 16, 2016, file photo. AP-Yonhap





The parents of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. student who died after being imprisoned by North Korea and released by the country in a coma in 2017, should receive $240,300 seized from a North Korean bank account, a federal judge ruled last week.







The amount would be a partial payment toward the more than $501 million Fred and Cindy Warmbier of Wyoming, Ohio, were awarded in 2018 by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.







The couple have claimed their college student son was tortured by North Korea after being convicted in 2016 of trying to steal a propaganda poster and imprisoned for months. The 22-year-old suffered severe brain damage and died shortly after being returned to the United States in a vegetative state in June 2017.







North Korea has denied that it tortured or cruelly treated the University of Virginia student and has called itself the ''biggest victim'' in his death while accusing Washington and Seoul of orchestrating a smear campaign.







The partial payment was ordered by a federal judge in New York, who has directed the state comptroller to give the Warmbiers the money that was seized from North Korea on the grounds it could be used for terrorism, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday. Neither North Korea nor the North Korean bank from which the funds were seized responded to the legal action brought by the Warmbiers last March.







It's unclear how much of the 2018 award has been paid to the Warmbiers. (AP)


With Valentine's Day looming, many may be tempted to indulge in a bottle of Champagne - but an expert has revealed we may be going about the bubbly all wrong.

Australian brand director of luxury Champagne house, Mod Selection, Jeremy Allan, has shared his five biggest dos and dont's when it comes to treating yourself to some bubbly.

Mr Allan recommended never storing your Champagne in the fridge for too long, not popping the cork, ditching the flute for a wine glass, keeping your champers chilled in an ice bucket while you're drinking it and knowing your food pairings.

Brand director of Australian luxury Champagne house, Mod Selection, Jeremy Allan, has shared his five biggest dos and dont's when it comes to treating yourself to some bubbly

DON'T USE A CHAMPAGNE FLUTE

Theres a better way to enjoy your bubblyand it's not out of a Champagne flute.

Opting for a white wine, tulip-shaped or regular wine glass will allow more depth of flavour and complexity, while also enabling it to breathe and aromas to develop.

You should also hold the glass by the stem to avoid your hands warming the Champagne up too quickly, as nobody likes warm bubbles.

Mr Allen said to opt for a white wine, tulip-shaped or regular wine glass over the traditional Champagne flute

DO FORGET THE POP

It may be fun to pop the cork, but its best to keep the wire cage on when opening your bottle.

Not only does this help you control the cork, but it also gives you leverage to help separate the cork from the bottle.

When removing the cork, hold the top of the cage with your thumb to keep the cork in place, and untwist the wire, then hold the cage and cork together in one hand while using the other to twist the bottles base in a circular direction away from the cork to slowly work the cork out.

It may be fun to pop the cork, but its best to keep the wire cage on when opening your bottle as it helps to control the cork and gives you leverage to help separate the cork from the bottle

DON'T STORE YOUR BUBBLY IN THE FRIDGE

While champagne can be stored for several years prior to being consumed, the appropriate care must be taken to preserve it properly.

Its a common misconception that champagne should be stored in a fridge.

While fridges can be useful for chilling champagne just prior to serving it, theyre actually not a good storage option long-term.

Rather, its better to store it upright in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight.

This will help protect the integrity of the bottle and effectively retain its distinctive characteristics.

When stored correctly outside of the fridge, the flavour and colours will develop during this period, taking on unique notes and characteristics over time.

For convenience when outdoor dining, the best and quickest way to get your Champagne to the perfect 8-0 degree temperature is to get a bucket and fill it with water, ice, and a healthy dash of table salt

Best foods to pair with Champagne Salty snacks like crisps and French fries Crispy fried chicken Devilled eggs Mac n' cheese Mushrooms Fruity desserts like a strawberry shortcake or lemon tart Cheese toastie Lasagne Fish and chips Source: Taste of Home Advertisement

DO KEEP YOUR CHAMPAGNE CHILLED

The best temperature to serve Champagne is 8-10 degrees Celsius, which is around the same temperature as the cellar where the champagne producer would have first stored it.

For convenience when outdoor dining, the best and quickest way is to get a bucket and fill it with water, ice, and a healthy dash of table salt.

DO KNOW YOUR FOOD PAIRINGS

There are few foods that do not pair with Champagne, however the rule of thumb is that anything with salt, butter, oil, or fat will work best.

The crisp acidity of Champagne cuts through any fats on the palate, dancing with the flavours, and making you want to come back for more.

Dont be afraid to think outside of the box, especially when pairing complex styles of Champagne, as they can lend themselves to unexpected pairing discoveries.

Think: seafood, truffle fries, cheese and charcuterie, a gourmet burger; more-is-more.
Julian Fellowes' highly anticipated new period drama The Gilded Age, dubbed the 'US Downton Abbey', is less than a week away, and will bring a new cast of glamorous, privileged and exceeding wealthy personalities to our screens.

Yet while Fellowes' characters - played by stars including Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski and Meryl Streep's daughter Louisa Jacobson - are all fictional, they are inspired by a group of real-life society swans who dominated the New York social scene in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Gilded Age was a period of flashy materialism in America during the 1870s and featured a New York high society filled with lavish ladies all vying to be the ultimate hostess.

This viscous social circle - where Old Money fought to keep New Money from reaching the upper-classes - was overseen by the all-powerful gatekeeper, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, whose wealth could be traced back generations.

All that glitters: Julian Fellowes' highly anticipated new period drama The Gilded Age, dubbed the 'US Downton Abbey', is less than a week away, and will bring a new cast of glamorous, privileged and exceeding wealthy cast of characters to our screens. Pictured, stars including Cynthia Nixon (second from right) and Christine Baranski (far right) in a scene

Real life society royalty: Members of New York high society: From left to right John S. Milburn, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III, Stuyvesant Fish, James Roosevelt Roosevelt, and Cornelius Vanderbilt III, in 1909. They are the inspiration behind the characters in the new period series

Hosting parties where anyone who was anyone aimed to be invited, Caroline, known simply as 'Mrs Astor' was the formidable Queen Bee of New York society and oversaw what was known as The Four Hundred - the name given to the group of everyone who was anyone.

Her rival was Alva Vanderbilt; the Vanderbilt railway fortune was first-generation and tainted by the coarseness of its founder, Cornelius.

There was also the daughter of an Irish miner who married rich after he struck gold out West, a straight-talking hostess who greeted guests with insults and a captivating beauty who married into one of America's most powerful families, much to their dismay.

This feud between the up-and-coming middle classes - who were made extremely rich thanks to the industrial revolution of the late 19th century - and the existing upper class forms the basis for Fellowes' drama.

Released on Sky Atlantic and Now TV on January 25 in the UK and HBO on January 24 in the US, the series focuses on newcomer Marian Brook (played by Jacobson), who is guided by her Old Money aunts, whose lives are at odds with her New Money friends.

Here, FEMAIL reveals the real-life women of the Gilded Age, from the glitzy debutantes to the battling power players who kept aiming to out-do each other with their 5th Avenue mansions.

Caroline Schermerhorn Astor

Ultimate queen bee: The leader of New York high society for four decades, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (pictured) decided who was 'in' or 'out' of the aristocracy

Marriage: An illustration of Miss Caroline Schermerhorn Astor's wedding, published 1884

The leader of New York high society for four decades, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor decided who was 'in' or 'out'.

So much was her power, while most wives were known by their husband's name or title, she simply went by Mrs Astor - despite not even being the spouse of the top male in the family.

Mrs Astor, born in New York in 1830, was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and had colonial Dutch aristocracy on both sides of her family tree.

What was the Gilded Age? The Gilded Age is a term used to describe the prosperous years in American history post Civil War. Unprecedented growth in technology and industrial activity gave way to greed and corruption. Wealthy tycoons, bankers and politicians created extraordinary wealth at the expense of the working class. The elite grew rich through the monopolies they created in the steel, petroleum, and transportation industries, according to Britannica. Notable tycoons included John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford and J.P.Morgan. Fellowes' new show is described as 'a sweeping fictional epic of the millionaire titans of New York City,' according to Deadline. Advertisement

She united her fortune with an even greater one when she married William Astor, grandson of John Jacob Astor, fur magnate and real-estate businessman.

Her social career was launched in the 1860s, as she tried to maintain the importance of old wealth in a changing society of new rich people eager for admittance to the upper circles.

She enlisted the support of Ward McAllister a newspaper columnist and self-appointed arbiter of taste who joined Mrs Astor in drawing up lists of who was in  and who was out. The pair created an inner circle known as the 'Four Hundred'.

She was constantly dripping in diamonds, but aside from her materialistic ways, which were common in the Gilded Age, Mrs Astor was recognised for her discretion, patience (with her husband's womanising being well known) and sharp tongue.

Author Tony Rennell, writing for The Daily Mail, recently noted that she once said of 'shopkeepers', even Manhattan's finest and richest: 'I buy my carpets from them, but is that any reason why I should invite them in to walk on them?'

A firm believer that Old Money was better than New Money, she even snubbed Andrew Stewart, a department store owner, whose fortune placed him among the 20 wealthiest people in history.

If you were invited to her annual ball, held on the third Monday in January, you were seen as being in the top circle, according to Tatler, while if you didn't make the cut, you were decidedly 'out'.

Yet staying at the top was a constant struggle - and one of Mrs Astor's rivals was Alva Vanderbilt, whose husband's family's fortune was built from the railway.

And even in the Astor dynasty there was in-fighting, with Mrs Astor's own nephew William Waldorf Astor constantly battling to try and position his wife Mamie as Mrs Astor.

Ruling the roost: The Upper East Side property where Mrs Astor resided. The estate was known by her name, even after her son took up residency in the palatial property

His wife should have rightfully held the title considering William was the eldest son's eldest son, reported Beyond, The St. Regis Magazine.

But that wasn't going to stop Mrs Astor. Even after William had his father's house torn down and replaced by an enormous hotel, made to overshadow his aunt's mansion next door, she simply commented: 'There's a glorified tavern next door.'

Following his unsuccessful battle against his aunt, William left the US for England in 1891, commenting that 'America is no place for a gentleman'.

However, Mrs Astor's rule eventually came to an end; she was overthrown by her own former protege 32-year-old Grace Vanderbilt in 1902, whose brother had wed her youngest daughter.

Grace managed to entertain and dine the Kaiser's popular younger brother, over Mrs Astor. Mrs Astor died in her Fifth Avenue home.

Alva Vanderbilt

Mrs Astor's rival Alva (pictured) married William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius, in 1875

Elegance: Alva and her husband William Vanderbilt on board their yacht, Alva, in 1925

Powerful dynasty: The Vanderbilts in 1930 including (from left to right) Robert Lancaster, Rosamund Warburton Vanderbilt, Commodore Vanderbilt, William K. Vanderbilt II and Pierre Merillon. In front are children Barclay H. Warburton III and Rosemary Warburton

Family power: Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt, right, with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III, left, strolling in New York City during the early 1890's

Mrs Astor's rival Alva married William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of founder Cornelius, in 1875.

The Vanderbilt railway fortune was first-generation and tainted by the coarseness of its founder. When he died, his family set about adding some social glitter to their gold.

Alva supervised the building of a vast $3million chateau on Fifth Avenue, which was kitted out with gilded woodwork, tapestries and stained glass, Renaissance mantelpieces and Rembrandt portraits.

The housewarming in 1883 was to be the most luxury masquerade ball in New York history - an Olympian-themed party for 1,200 persons - and resulted in the Vanderbilts finally being included in the 'Four Hundred' - a list of the who's who of New York society.

In 1895 Vanderbilt divorced her husband and, a year later, after securing the marriage of her daughter Consuelo to the Duke of Marlborough, she wed Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont. Pictured, Alva following her marriage to Mr Belmont

Finding her voice: Following her husband's death in 1908, Alva Belmont became involved in women's rights and was the founder of the Political Equality League. Pictured, in 1910

Alva received her guests dressed as a Venetian princess, most notable was the string of pearls that belonged to Catherine the Great wrapped around her waist.

In the face of such opulence, Mrs Astor wilted and at the last moment she finally called on Alva in order to secure an invitation for her and her daughter.

'We have no right,' she was reported as saying, 'to exclude those whom the growth of this great country has brought forward, provided they are not vulgar in speech and appearance. The time has come for the Vanderbilts.'

In 1895 Vanderbilt divorced her husband and, a year later, after securing the marriage of her daughter Consuelo to the Duke of Marlborough, she wed Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont.

English rose: Consuelo Vanderbilt (pictured in 1911), daughter of William K Vanderbilt and his wife Alva, married the Duke of Marlborough in 1877. Their marriage was dissolved in 1920

Following her husband's death in 1908, Alva Belmont became involved in women's rights and was the founder of the Political Equality League.

She is said to have offered the advice 'Pray to God. She will help you.' and was elected president of the National Woman's Party in 1921, which she held for the rest of her life.

In her later years, she became an architectural designer and was one of the first women ever elected to the American Institute of Architects.

She spent her last years in France, where she owned several homes.

Marion Graves Anthon Fish

Making waves: While she wasn't as ambitious as the likes of Alva Vanderbilt, Marion 'Mamie' Graves Anthon Fish (pictured) was still one of the power players of the Gilded Age

While she wasn't as ambitious as the likes of Alva Vanderbilt, Marion 'Mamie' Graves Anthon Fish was still one of the power players of the Gilded Age.

Daughter of a a successful lawyer and married to banker and railway tycoon Stuyvesant Fish, she once claimed in all seriousness: 'We are only moderately well off; we have but a few million dollars.'

She was known for her quick wit and fun-loving temperament, and threw some spectacular parties for the Four Hundred.

Guests attending her lavish dinner parties would reportedly be greeted with the occasional insult, including: 'Oh, how do you do! I had quite forgotten I asked you!'

She even apparently said of Theodore Roosevelt's wife, 'it is said she spends $300 a year on clothes - and she looks like it, too'.

At one of her events, the guest of honour was a pet monkey, named 'Prince Del Drago of Corsica', while another saw her guests share the dance floor with an elephant.

Straight talking: Mamie fish, pictured, was known for her quick wit and fun-loving temperament, and threw some spectacular parties for the Four Hundred

Grand home: The family entertained at three separate addresses: her Upper East Side townhouse, her stately home Glenclyffe in Philipstown, New York, and at her mansion Crossways in Newport, Rhode Island, pictured

Mamie coveted the Queen Bee crown and set out to steal it by making her mark in Newport, the elite's exclusive summer watering hole in New England.

Here they boasted seafront 'cottages' - glamorous country houses with as many as 70 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms - and a society beauty was apparently expected to change her outfit nine times a day.

Mamie was of Dutch, English, French and German ancestry and grew up in Manhattan.

She reportedly received only a very basic level of education, and by her own admission, could barely read or write.

Mamie married Stuyvesant Fish, director of the National Park Bank of New York City and president of the Illinois Central Railroad, in 1876.

Together they had four children, three of whom survived to adulthood and made successful marriages, which would have been of paramount importance to a social climbing couple.

Daughter Marian married Albert Zabriskie Gray, the son of the Judge John Clinton Gray. Stuyvesant Fish Jr. married Isabelle Mildred Dick, who was described as looking like a 'medieval princess' on her wedding day, in one local newspaper report.

Second son Sidney Fish married Olga Wiborg, daughter of Cincinnati ink businessman Frank Bestow Wiborg. After their divorce, he married Esther Foss, the twice-divorced daughter of Governor Eugene Noble Foss.

The family entertained at three separate addresses: her Upper East Side townhouse, her stately home Glenclyffe in Philipstown, New York, and at her mansion Crossways in Newport, Rhode Island.

Mamie died on May 25, 1915, and is buried near Glenclyffe.

Grace Vanderbilt

Grace (pictured) and her sisters were branded the 'marrying Wilsons' by New York high society, due to their advantageous marriages

The daughters of New York banker Richard Thornton Wilson, Grace and her sisters Mary and Belle were known as the 'marrying Wilsons' by New York high society, due to their advantageous marriages 'above' their station.

One sister Mary wed businessman Ogden Goelet, with their daughter eventually marrying the Duke of Roxburghe, while another Belle tied the knot with Sir Michael Henry Herbert, the younger brother of the 13th Earl of Pembroke.

Yet the most glittering of them all was Grace, who eloped with Cornelius Vanderbilt III (who was Alva's nephew), to his parents' outrage.

The powerful Vanderbilts were dismissive of Grace from the start, believing she was a social climber who had ensnared their son, who no doubt would have been expected to marry someone 'more' than a banker's daughter.

His father even went so far as to cut his son's inheritance (although it was still a handsome $1.5 million).

Movers and shakers: Left to right: Miss Grace Vanderbilt, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt (Grace), Mme. Bahkmeteff, Miss Lota Robinson, and Mrs. William Payne Thompson

His brother later gifted him another $6 million, which was helpful considering Grace was known to be a big spender.

Cornelius had also inherited a lavish mansion on Fifth Avenue, meaning Grace could throw glamorous parties and eventually become the Queen of New York society.

It was Mrs Astor who took Grace under her wing, introducing her as a society hostess.

Despite Alva's disapproval, Grace and Cornelius found themselves at the centre of New York society, largely thanks to their European connections.

The couple befriended royalty when travelling across Europe, including Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.

It was a party that Grace threw for the Kaiser's popular younger brother during a visit to New York that reportedly toppled Mrs Astor.

Cornelius and Grace remained married for the rest of their lives and had two children, including Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, who married a staggering seven times but had no children.

Their daughter Grace, married twice.

In 1940, Cornelius sold their Fifth Avenue mansion in New York City but remained their until his death two years later.

Following her husband's death, Grace was forced to move out of the palatial property and took up residence in the William Starr Miller House at 1048 Fifth Avenue, now the Neue Galerie.

Theresa Fair Oelrichs

Rags to riches: Theresa Fair Oelrichs (pictured with her husband), another Queen Bee after the 'retirement' of Mrs Astor, had humble beginnings

Theresa Fair Oelrichs, another Queen Bee after the 'retirement' of Mrs Astor, had humble beginnings.

She was a daughter of a Californian miner James Graham Fair, who had emigrated to the United States from Belfast, Ireland, in 1843 at the age of 12.

He worked the California mines until 1860, when he moved to Nevada and met Theresa Rooney, an innkeeper's daughter. They wed in 1861 and had four children together.

In 1873, when Theresa was two years old, Mr Oelrichs and his partners reportedly discovered the 'Big Bonanza' - the largest single deposit of gold and silver ever found.

More than $100 million dollars worth of gold (over $2.5 billion in today's currency) was extracted from that mine before it was exhausted in 1898.

Fair used his share to expand into railroads and real estate, generating a fortune of $50 million. But privately his world crumbled. Fair developed an alcohol addiction and in 1883, 10 years after the gold discovery, Mrs Fair filed for divorce and gained custody of Theresa.

Yet with her father's fortune behind her, Theresa was a desirable match.

In 1890, Theresa married steamship tycoon Hermann Oelrichs in a lavish San Francisco wedding. Her father gifted her $1 million, but was not invited to the wedding.

The newlyweds settled in New York where Theresa became a major force on the social scene, alongside Alva Vanderbilt and Grace Vanderbilt.

Eager to keep up with her society peers, Theresa commissioned an architect to renovate a mansion in Newport, named Rosecliff, which would serve as their 'summer cottage', drawing on the Grand Trianon at Versailles for inspiration.

In New York, they lived at 1 East 57th Street, then at 1 East 72nd Street.

In 1899, Theresa orchestrated a coup for the family by marrying her younger sister Birdie off to William K. Vanderbilt II, son of Alva and William K. Vanderbilt and brother of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, in a wedding that was extensively covered in the society pages.

After the retirement of Mrs Astor, Tessie ruled American society as one of the so-called Triumvirate, made up of herself, Mamie Fish and Alva Vanderbilt.

However, Theresa and Hermann did not have a happy marriage, and when Hermann died suddenly of a heart attack, his fortune went to his brother instead of his wife, as he believed she would be content with her own wealth.

She contested it and was awarded half the estate. Her Rosecliff home is now open to the public after being sold by her son.

Elizabeth Wharton Drexel

Influential: She might not have been a Queen Bee or vying for the position, but author Elizabeth Wharton Drexel (pictured in 1899) was still a power player thanks to her reporting of the 'Four Hundred'

She might not have been a Queen Bee or vying for the position, but author Elizabeth Wharton Drexel was still a power player thanks to her reporting of the 'Four Hundred'.

Her two novels King Lehr and the Gilded Age and Turn of the World gave a glimpse into New York's high society.

TIME magazine said of the first: '[It] may confidently be opened as one of the most startling and scandalously intimate records of life among the wealthy yet written by one of them.'

Meanwhile, The Pittsburgh Press wrote of the second: 'The magnificent spectacle that went on behind the scenes in pre-war days of society's Gilded Age at Saratoga, Newport, New York and Paris is detailed by an insider, Elizabeth, Lady Decies, who was Miss Elizabeth Wharton Drexel as with evident nostalgia she tells of extravagant parties and fortunes spent for clothes and jewels'

Aristo bride: Following the passing of her first husband, Elizabeth wed Henry Symes Lehr. She later married for a third time becoming The Right Hon. Elizabeth, Baroness Decies. Pictured, Mrs. George Washington Kavanaugh and Lady Decies at the Met in 1943

Elizabeth's family's fortune came from the Drexel banking dynasty, established by her great-grandfather.

Following the passing of her first husband, she wed Henry Symes Lehr, dubbed King Lehr after attending a party by Mamie Fish, dressed as the Tsar of Russia.

However, their 28-year marriage was an unhappy one and she recounted the cruelty of their relationship, which was never consummated, in her memoir.

Her husband reportedly told her on their wedding night that he loathed her, having only wed her for her fortune, and could not stand the thought of ever touching her.

Yet he wanted her to understand she was to be polite to him in public, and he might in response call her 'darling' occasionally.

After his death, she married for a third time, becoming The Right Hon. Elizabeth, Baroness Decies.
The daughter of Songs of Praise presenter Aled Jones and his trapeze artist wife has been named the next big thing in Hollywood by US Vogue.

London-born Emilia Jones, 19, made her professional stage debut in the musical Shrek at the age of eight, with the show's star Amanda Holden watching over her like a benevolent fairy godmother.

A decade on, she's generating a buzz with her critically-acclaimed performance in Indie hit CODA, nomintated for Best Film at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards, with Jones winning breakthrough performer at the Gotham Awards.

Not only did the teenager have to master American Sign Language (ASL) and an American accent for the role, she also had to skipper a fishing boat  and take singing lessons. Her efforts paid off, after she recently won the Verified Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Onscreen performance.

Vogue has hailed the actress as '2022s Breakout Star to Watch'. However her incredible talents run in the family; her father happens to be Aled Jones, who found fame as a gifted boy soprano and later as a TV presenter, recording artist and concert performer.

London-born Emilia Jones, 19, who made her professional stage debut in the musical Shrek, has been named the next big thing in Hollywood by American Vogue

The teenager's incredible talents run in the family; her father happens to be Aled Jones, who found fame as a gifted boy soprano and later as a TV presenter, recording artist and concert performer

Aled, from Llandegfan, Anglesey, was 16 when he ended his four-year career as a boy soprano, during which he sold six million records, gave a private performance for Charles and Diana and sang at the Vatican.

A stint at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School followed and by the age of 25, he was back on stage as the lead in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Despite standing ovations every night he could not escape the feeling that something was missing.

It was then he met his wife Claire, and the two married in 2001, welcoming two children: Emilia and Lucas.

His daughter's acting career began when she was just eight-years-old when she won small parts in the film One Day and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

In 2011, Emilia made her theatrical debut after playing the princess Young Fiona in the original cast of Shrek the Musical in London (pictured, while performing on This Morning)

A decade on, the teenager won a breakout role in Netflix fantasy series Locke and Key, where she often stars in racy-scenes with her co-stars

She was later praised for her small performance in an episode of Doctor Who.

The Boston Standard lauded Jones for 'carr[ying] off her scenes with aplomb' and for 'really sell[ing] Merry's mixture of naivety, knowledge and childlike fear,' while the website Zap2It praised Jones' performance for being 'spot on.'

Emilia never considered a career in singing like her dad, previously telling the DailyMail's Baz Bamigmoye: 'My heart was always in acting.'

She explained: 'My mum is quite shy but I don't think she would ever give up on anything. She was in the circus when she was younger. She did the trapeze  she had to be strong to do that.

She is now the star of a Hollywood film Coda, giving a performance that will put her into the thick of the upcoming awards season competition

The teenager said she always dreamed of following her father into showbusiness (pictured as a toddler)

'And my dad worked from an early age. We have that in common.'

The same year she made her theatrical debut after playing the princess Young Fiona in the original cast of Shrek the Musical in London.

At the time her father was blown away by her performance, saying: 'Shes a little rocket. Shes not scared of anything.

'Its what she wants to do, who am I to stop her? I just worry because I dont want her to get a job  or not get a job  because of me.

She would later appear in Rebecca Lenkiewicz's stage adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw.

In December 2018, she landed her big break when it was announced that she was cast as Kinsey Locke, one of the main characters in the Netflix fantasy drama series Locke & Key.

She was attracted to the role of Kinsey because of the prospect of being able to play two versions of the same character: Kinsey before she removes her fear, and Kinsey after she removes her fear.

She said in an interview: 'This, for me, was one of the best shoots I've ever done. The cast and crew are incredible and I absolutely adore them.'

Her acting career began when she was just eight-years-old as she won small parts in the film One Day and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (pictured with her parents and her brother Lucas)

Last year, she starred in the Apple TV+ comedy-drama film CODA as Ruby Rossi, the only hearing member of a deaf family who dreams of going to Berkley.

For her audition, Emilia performed Fleetwood Mac's gentle ballad Landslide, accompanying herself on guitar.

In order to play the part, Jones spent nine months during the shooting of Locke & Key learning sign language extensively, while also learning how to operate a professional fishing trawler.

Starring alongside Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, who plays her mother  the fim has already garnered her acclaim in the US ahead of debuting here next week.

In December 2018, she landed her big break when it was announced that she was cast as Kinsey Locke, one of the main characters in the Netflix fantasy drama series Locke & Key

The character of Kinsley is often caught in romantic trysts while on the Netflix fantasy programme (pictured)

The first time Emilia bonded with her screen family  Matlin as mother Jackie; Troy Kotsur, playing father Frank and Daniel Durant as brother Leo  it was on the high seas off the Massachusetts coast.

'The first time I met them was on a fishing boat,' she explained.

As an animal lover, Emilia said she found the experience upsetting. 'I'd rescue a fish and the real fishermen would turn around, shake their heads and say: 'That's money'.'

Last year, she starred in the Apple TV+ comedy-drama film CODA as Ruby Rossi, the only hearing member of her family who dreams of going to Berklee

It didn't take her long to find her sea legs, though; and soon, she was grading cod like an old hand.

The crew taught her to check the lobsters, for females carrying eggs. They were thrown back into the briny, which made her happy.

Emilia was less sure about the singing side of the role. In the film, Ruby joins the school choir club as a way of getting a breather from her family.

Meanwhile the 19-year-old often shares snaps with her 500k Instagram followers while she holidays in exotic locations

And while Jones can sing  'I sang in Shrek,' she said; 'I'm singing around the house, and I was in the choir at school', she'd never had any training. 'Which was daunting.

'I was 17 when I shot this movie. I was a little bit nervous, and that's the same as Ruby. She's not very confident when she sings  she's confident when she signs. I related to her in that respect.'

The Sundance Film Festival awarded Coda its top prize back in January 2021, with the judges singling out the power of Emilia's acting for praise. And it was also voted best film at Sundance Film Festival: London this week.

The Daily Mail's critic Baz Bamigboye also highlighted Emilia's performance in his review, saying: 'There are many superb moments in the picture, but the one that has stuck with me is when Ruby sings Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now for a university panel, and as she performs the number, begins to sign the lyrics to her family, who have crept up to the balcony to watch.'

The actress was recently awarded for her performance in Coda with the Verified Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Onscreen performance, adding she was 'blown away' (pictured)

She said her dad has seen the film several times, and been moved to tears on each occasion.

But despite coming from 'a musical household'  during lockdown, she and her dad (once they were allowed to leave the house) went on drives 'where we sang together'  Emilia never considered a career in that field. 'My heart was always in acting.'

Coda, it seems, was the first time she realised she might be able to do both. 'I just never thought I would do a film where I would sing,' she laughed.

Her dad did not interfere with her singing lessons. 'He left it to the teachers. He was happy that I had the opportunity to sing  and he was happy that I was getting more confident.'

She recently began shooting the film adaptation of Kristen Roupenian's short story, Cat Person, which went viral when it was published in The New Yorker in December 2017.

Emilia will play Margo, a 20-year-old student  'a very strong, confident girl...she's pretty and she knows it'  who becomes involved with an older man, Robert (played by Nicholas Braun  cousin Greg from Succession).

'Cat Person touches on the grey area of consent,' she said, adding: 'everybody has a Cat Person story.'

'It's different to anything I've done before,' she said. 'I think it's exciting because as you grow from a kid, suddenly the roles get a little bit bigger and they're more interesting  and more challenging.'
Below Deck's Hannah Ferrier has revealed she cannot stand when people are rude to wait staff and has even 'walked out on dates' who don't show enough respect.

The 35-year-old blonde beauty, who is now engaged, spent ten years in the service industry and finds it 'really gross' when people are rude to service staff.

'I don't want to be near them,' she said on Kyle and Jackie O.

'It's a really bad look - I've walked out on dates before because of that. That clicking they do and the attitude is just gross.'

Below Deck's Hannah Ferrier has revealed she cannot stand when people are rude to wait staff and has even 'walked out on dates' who don't show enough respect

The 35-year-old blonde beauty spent ten years in the service industry and finds it 'really gross' when people are rude to service staff

The radio duo and listeners agreed, with many agreeing it's an 'instant turn off' when a date or even a friend is disrespectful to hospitality staff.

It has been two years since Hannah has been on Below Deck after being 'fired' for having valium tablets in her room.

The mum-of-one, who is currently planning a wedding to fiance Josh Roberts, told the duo she hasn't ruled out making further appearances with the franchise.

She said she has kept in touch with Captain Lee and told him she would be happy to fill in for half a season if he ever needed her.

Hannah spoke about rude guests during the short radio appearance and said some were so drunk and rude she was 'embarrassed for them'.

'The need to learn they can still have manners, basic respect,' she said.

While others were 'really cute wasted'.

She hates people who are rude to, click at or otherwise put down wait staff

Hannah worked on the Below Deck Mediterranean operation - where she had a famously rocky relationship with her boss, Captain Sandy Yawn.

She has since revealed between herself and Sandy were even worse off camera and that a lot of their drama had to be edited out by producers.

During an appearance on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday, Hannah said Sandy disliked her from the first moment they filmed together in season two.

Outspoken: Below Deck Mediterranean's Hannah Ferrier (centre) shared new details on her feud with Captain Sandy during an appearance on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday

'It was probably edited in a way where it looked like we were better than we were,' she explained, before adding: 'We weren't friendly at all.'

She went on to reveal their differences made it difficult for production to even get them both back on the show each season.

'It was every season, sitting down with production, going, "How can we get these two working together where it's an environment that they won't kill each other?"' she said.

Drama: The 35-year-old says things between herself and Sandy (pictured) were even worse off camera and that a lot of their drama had to be edited out by producers

Hannah went on to call Sandy a 'micromanager' and claimed their feud started because Sandy watched the show before she joined, and had disliked Hannah based on her portrayal in the first season.

'You can't do that because it's all edited,' Hannah said.

'I think it was about 45 seconds from our first introduction, [production] had to stop, and be like, "Sandy, you can't talk to her like that." Like straight off the bat.'

Jealousy? Hannah went on to call Sandy a 'micromanager' and claimed she was jealous of her Instagram following

The stewardess also said Sandy was envious because she had a much larger social media following.

'It's that competitiveness, kind of wanting to be the fan favourite,' she explained.

'Looking up Instagram followers,' she continued. 'Somebody overheard her talking about, "Why [does Hannah] have more Instagram followers?" It's just a little bit...'

Top dog! 'It's that competitiveness, kind of wanting to be the fan favourite,' Hannah said of Sandy (pictured)

Since leaving the show, Hannah has launched her own podcast and released an insect repellent fan called Bugs Off.

She also announced her engagement to boyfriend Josh Roberts in November.

The couple welcomed baby daughter Ava a month earlier, in October.

hayu is your VIP ticket Below Deck! Stream every season, every spin-off, plus brand new episodes - all in one place - only on hayu.
Triple vaxxed television star Shelly Horton regrets saying January would be a 'good time' to catch Covid after being struck down with a 'nightmare' case of the virus and a number of nasty symptoms.

The 48-year-old, who lives on the Gold Coast, battled the virus for an agonising ten days after catching it at a friend's 50th birthday party on the 8th of January.

'My sister-in-law had it before us and my husband joked that we should go to her house to get it over and done with,' she told FEMAIL.

Triple vaxxed television star Shelly Horton regrets saying January would be a 'good time' to catch Covid after being struck down with a 'nightmare' case of the virus and a number of nasty symptoms

'I have a really busy February so thought if I was going to get it, January would be a better option.'

But Shelly, who experienced 'chalky' bones, deep body aches and a severe cluster migraine in her 'skull and eye sockets', regrets 'tempting fate' with earlier comments and said she feels 'gas lit' by those who say it is a 'mild' virus.

'It is anything but,' she said.

The 48-year-old, who lives on the Gold Coast, described her nightmare ten-day battle with the virus which she caught at a friend's 50th birthday party on the 8th of January

Eight people at the birthday party caught the virus, which Shelly assumes was the Omicron strain based on her lack of severe respiratory symptoms.

For everyone wanting to catch it on purpose, be careful what you wish for because it isn't pleasant and it is much worse than a cold.

'On Sunday we did a big 10km walk on the beach so when we were sore that night we blamed it on that,' she said.

But there was no mistaking the pain that followed with Shelly saying her bones - especially her pelvis and spine - felt chalky and like they were 'grinding' on each other.

After the onset of a terrible fever and a positive RAT test she and her husband Darren remained positive.

'On Sunday we did a big 10km walk on the beach (pictured) so when we were sore that night we blamed it on that,' she said

There was no mistaking the pain Shelly (pictured with husband Darren) experienced, who said her bones - especially her pelvis and spine - felt chalky and like they were 'grinding' on each other

They had been working on their health and fitness so when symptoms started to clear up on Wednesday morning - day three - they were relieved.

But it was false hope.

Shelly worked for an hour when she was the MC for an NRL event (from her loungeroom) that day.

The short gig would usually be a bit of fun for the TV personality but she felt instantly drained.

'That's when the coughing started and I felt like any gains I had made had been stripped because I pushed myself, I felt like I was on day one all over again.'

Then she was taken down by a cluster migraine which melted down the right hand side of her face and 'permeated her right eye socket and skull'

Shelly didn't lose her sense of smell or taste while sick but did crave Vegemite on toast and orange juice; Darren craved 'tinned Irish stew'

For the next two days Shelly spent her time shuffling between bed and the couch.

Then she was taken down by a cluster migraine which melted down the right hand side of her face and 'permeated her right eye socket and skull'.

She had been using Panadol to help relieve symptoms before this adding the painkillers 'did work and made things a little less scary'.

But she had to 'kick it up a notch' to tackle the migraine.

Once it cleared Shelly appeared to be out of the worst of it - having spent ten days incapacitated by what she believed would be a mild disease.

Shelly's husband still has a lingering cough and is 'frustrated by it' but is also much better than he was last week

Shelly didn't lose her sense of smell or taste while sick but did crave Vegemite on toast and orange juice; Darren craved 'tinned Irish stew'.

'I am going to be super careful from now on, and I am drawing a line in the sand, I do not want to catch it ever again,' she said.

'And for everyone wanting to go to Covid parties, or to catch it on purpose, be careful what you wish for because it isn't pleasant and it is much worse than a cold.'

'I will be first in line for a fourth jab and I just hope I have enough immunity not to get it again,' she said.

Shelly's husband still has a lingering cough and is 'frustrated by it' but is also much better than he was last week.
The Duchess of Cambridge debuted a new, more 'serious' look for her first engagement of 2022, a beauty expert has explained.

Kate, 40, joined Prince William, 39, at the Foundling Museum in London yesterday, as they returned to in-person royal duties following a few weeks off over the festive season.

The mother-of-three, who has been patron of the museum since 2019, complimented her clothing choice of wide-leg black trousers, black polo neck jumper and a long-line navy coat, with a darker hair colour and toned-down makeup to create an overall 'professional' look, in contrast to the 'Christmas glamour' of recent months.

While her makeup in the weeks leading up to Christmas was characterised by a bronzed glow and dewy skin, yesterday Kate enhanced her natural English rose complexion with just a touch of pink on the cheeks and a slick of lipstick.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Laura Kay, makeup expert and founder of Laura Kay London, added that she has swapped her richer, chestnut autumn locks for a single darker brown shade that reflects the sombre mood at the start of the year.

'To kick off the New Year Kate has emerged with a completely toned-down appearance,' Laura said.

New year, new Kate! The Duchess of Cambridge debuted a new, more 'serious' look for her first engagement of 2022, a beauty expert has explained. Kate showcased a darker hair colour and a 'toned down' makeup look at the Foundling Museum in London yesterday (above)

Festive glamour: Kate's hair was a warmer, richer tone of brown at an outing to a London school in November (above). She also opted for a more dewy makeup base and darker eyes

'Her make-up is clean and fresh with a natural pink lip. Her matt foundation is quite powdery which contrasts against her new hair which is a dark brown block colour.

'Her new hair colour looks very grown up and serious in comparison to her recent richer tones, but the soft waves make her look youthful.

'Kates overall look is quite striking even though separate elements seem more reserved than we have seen lately.

'The powdered foundation might be to hide the appearance of dark circles under her eyes. The only heavy part of Kates look is the application of eye make-up.

'Black or very dark brown eyeliner and eye shadow has been applied heavily with subtle blending to soften out. Kate is wearing thick mascara and her brows are brushed up and coloured in for effect.

'To help her brows and eyes stand out she has applied white or lighter eye make-up above the folds of the eyes. This is a classic trick to reflect the light and helps flatter the face.

Back to business: The Duchess of Cambridge's hair was a single, darker shade of brown yesterday (seen above). Her skin was 'fresh and rosy' with just a touch of pink powder

Glamour girl: Kate, pictured in December, had been favouring more bronze, glowing makeup in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Now she is ready for a new year with a new look

'Kate is only wearing a small amount of pink powdered blusher and her cheek bones look fresh and rosy.

'Kates choices might be down to the daytime occasion as she may want to appear professional and natural looking - not too drastic or 'overdone' for the meeting.

'Kate is wearing a face mask in some photos which could also be the reasoning behind her make-up choices as she doesn't want too much transfer or smudging to occur.'

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a favourite pair of Jigsaw trousers for yesterday's engagement with a blue coat from her wardrobe.

Kate Middleton appeared delighted to be on duty with Prince William as they undertook their first engagement of 2022 during a visit to the Foundling Museum in London this morning

A rare sign of PDA! Prince William and Kate shared a giggle as they left the engagement earlier this morning (pictured together)

The Duke and Duchess participated in a therapy session with individuals who have experienced the care system, during a visit to the Foundling Museum

The royal, who wore her brown locks down in a loose curly blow dry, added a touch of glam to her outfit with a dazzling pair of 7 earrings from Accessorize.

She and William wore face masks as they walked inside the building in accordance with the museum's policy, which asks those visiting to wear a face covering.

The Duke and Duchess listened to the stories of those who have experienced life in care today, but William could not avoid the drama of his own family as a TV crew asked him 'do you support Prince Andrew?' as the couple left the museum.

William leaned closer to hear but then walked past without commenting.

Earlier the couple met adults who grew up without settled homes but had managed to turn their lives around at the London museum, which tells the history of the Foundling Hospital the UK's first children's charity founded in 1739 as a home for children whose mothers couldn't keep or care for them.

The couple laughed as they spoke with Britain's former track and field athlete Kriss Akabusi about his experience in the care sector (pictured)

Kate, who last year set up her Centre for Early Childhood, and William spoke with charity bosses who discussed homelessness, mental health impact and helping young people in care who fail or slip through the cracks.

Taking their seats, Kate asked the experts: 'From your experience what makes the difference between a young person succeeding after leaving foster care and when they do not.'

They heard about 'challenges for young people' when they regularly move home and are sometimes exploited by the criminal world.

William added: 'If you keep moving a child around when they are an adult their relationships are so short and shallow.'

Kate said she was concerned that without providing stable homes for children they risk being moved around and having to 'tell their story again and again.'

The natural beauty kept her makeup to a minimum, with just a touch of blusher, nude-coloured lip and light layering of mascara (pictured)

William said: 'That may become emotionally exhausting to tell the story again and again. We've had that in the mental health side of things, people end up on the street, go through hoops and hurdles, tell so many people in authority and nothing changes.

'You have to get to them a lot earlier so they don't have to keep doing this.'

The couple were said they also worried about the 'consistency in care:'

Olympic athlete Kris Akabusi, poet Lemn Sissay, and Allan Jenkins, editor of Observer Food Monthly, told the Duke and Duchess their experiences of growing up in care.

Akabusi said: 'I enjoyed the stability. It was a saviour for me'.

He said leaving care aged 16-years-old was 'very traumatic'.

Kate replied: 'You are petrified leaving for independence'. She asked the 400m hurdler if it had affected his relationships.

The royal couple wore masks as they walked through the Foundling Museum earlier today ahead of their roundtable with those who have experience of living in care

As the couple took their seats within the roundtable discussion, they could be seen sharing a laugh with other attendees at the engagement

Kris, with his distinctive laugh, replied: 'Yes, but I am a loner.'

He added: 'Now aged 63 there is no stigma attached when I say I was brought up in care but there was a stigma when I was 16.'

Women who had previously been in care then joined the couple in an 'ice-breaker' armed with three-foot long pencils.

They drew on a canvas what they could see in front of them without looking down at the floor.

Kate - who scored a master of arts degree in art history at St Andrews University - laughed out as she struggled with the artwork which had the look of a vast doodle when it was finished.
A man who unwittingly created an assassin hiring website has revealed how the spoof hitman service helps catch prospective murderers.

Bob Innes, 52, from California, created RentAHitman.com in 2005 as part of a university class project and forgot about the satirical website until three years later, when he checked the sites analytics while bored.

He discovered the site was attracting 6,000 visitors per month and that the inbox had been inundated with genuine requests for murder - inspiring Bob to set out catching the criminals.

Bob decided to change the format of the parody website to include application forms for 'field agents' to carry out murder plots so that he could collect more personal details of budding killers to pass on to the police.

Criminals have been caught and jailed because of the site, with one Michigan woman sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for trying to hire a contract killer to whack her ex-husband just last week.

Parody website RentAHitman.com pretends to allow users to hire 'field agents' to kill for money

Bob Innes, 52, created RentAHitman.com in 2005 as part of a university class project and has since been inundated with genuine requests for murder

Appearing on This Morning from his California home, Bob explained: 'I did have it up on several auction sites, unfortunately nobody was interested in purchasing it.

'I went back into the inbox and found 250-300 emails from people around the world who had requests for asset extraction, or how much for a hitman, do you serve these countries? I was just flabbergasted.'

The website features glowing testimonials from pretend customers and promises to 'make any troubled relationship disappear' by filling out a consultation form with all their personal details.

Users can even apply to be a 'field agent' with the make-believe hitman service, or donate money to those 'desperately seeking consultations' by keeping the website up and running.

The parody website asks users to fill out application forms for 'field agents' to carry out murder plots before passing the personal details of budding killers on to the police

The website features glowing testimonials from pretend customers and promises to 'make any troubled relationship disappear' by filling out a consultation form with all their and their target's personal details (pictured L-R)

The website claims to '100% HIPPA compliant', meaning they adhere to the pretend Hitman Information Privacy & Protection Act of 1964 - ensuring users total confidentiality

The website claims to '100% HIPPA compliant', meaning they adhere to the pretend Hitman Information Privacy & Protection Act of 1964 - ensuring users total confidentiality.

'Primarily they were just one-line emails asking if they served these countries, do we serve minors, how much to take someone out in this particular country. There wasn't really enough information to go off initially,' explained Bob.

Would-be murders who have been snared by RentAHitman.com The site has reportedly caught around a dozen would-be killers who have contacted Bob's alias for a contract killer. Wendy Lynn Wein, 52, of South Rockford, pleaded guilty on November 12 to using the RentAHitman.com site to hire someone to kill her ex-husband and for using a computer to commit a crime in July 2020. Wendy Lynn Wein, 52, of South Rockford, Michigan, was sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison on Thursday for using a fake hitman website to take out her ex-husband Last week she was sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison on Thursday and will be credited the 545 days she's already spent in jail. Fauber, of Verona, Virginia, pleaded guilty to three counts of solicitation to commit first degree murder. Bob is also said to have helped secure the conviction of Danae Wright, 39, who requested three people to be 'shut down' with 'guns, bombs, anything'. Wright, of Oakley, Kansas, was sentenced to 34 months in probation in February after admitting criminal solicitation to commit murder in the second degree. Advertisement

The idea to use the site to catch criminals began in 2010 with a British woman referred to as 'Helen', who was living in Canada.

She contacted the website insisting on hiring a killer to murder three members of her family living in the UK.

After contacting the police, Bob discovered that 'Helen' was wanted on 'more serious' charges, the Guardian reports.

'I received an email one morning I was in Los Angeles at the time and Helen's email was pretty long and convoluted. I could tell this lady was not healthy', he said.

'She indicated she wanted three family members murdered because she was upset they had stolen her inheritance, I didn't read much into it hours later she sent a second email with urgent in the subject line.

'I read that and the information she was providing was pretty eye-opening I could tell, I had this instinct she was serious about what she wanted done. That was the first email that really kind of started the site as it is today.'

Last week, Wendy Lynn Wein, 52, of South Rockford, Michigan, was sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison after using the website to try and hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband.

Wein had used a fake name to complete a service request on the site in July 2020, writing to Guido Fanelli that she wanted to have her ex-husband killed because he stole $20,000 from her.

Fanelli is the alias Bob uses on the site, which has ensnared over a dozen others who have tried to use the website to hire a contract killer, Rolling Stone reported after Wein's arrest last year.

'I will typically wait 24 hours before acting on it [an email], Bob explained. 'After that period I will ask "Do you need our services, do you want me to contact a field operative?"

'If the email bounces or they don't reply, I don't really act on it. But if they come back and say yes, I would like a field operative to contact me, it's pretty much game on at that point.'

Bob says the site has turned into a 'full time job' with mountains of emails daily but insisted that media attention on the website hasn't deterred naive users from the site.

'I get more emails than ever before a lot of that is due to the media attention the website has received, I am busy sorting out and vetting material, if these are hoaxes or if there is meat on the bone. Those are the ones that get taken seriously.'
A single mother who was harassed for months by her stalker ex-boyfriend has revealed how he hounded her with texts and camped outside her house, even after being arrested.

Recruitment consultant Sabrina, of Hampshire, was bombarded with abusive messages and pictures from a disguised phone number for three years. Her stalker photographed her house and claimed to know where her daughter went to school.

'Most evenings, at around 9pm, I would get a message,' she explained on BBC documentary Stacey Dooley: Stalkers, which aired last night.

'I was living on my own, with my little girl. Every message was "I'm going to ruin your life". Or "you should crash your car into the central reservation because no one will miss you", saying that my daughter would be better off without me.'

Eventually, by obtaining CCTV footage from a local pub, Sabrina was able to discover the stalker was a former boyfriend, someone who she thought was a 'lovely' man and who had lived with Sabrina and her daughter for a year.

Terrorised: Recruitment consultant Sabrina, of Hampshire, was bombarded with abusive messages and pictures from a disguised phone number for three years. Her stalker photographed her house and claimed to know where her daughter (pictured) went to school

Shocking: Eventually, by obtaining CCTV footage from a local pub, Sabrina was able to discover the stalker was a former boyfriend, someone who she thought was a 'lovely' man and who had lived with Sabrina and her daughter for a year

Hers was one of the harrowing stories shared in last night's documentary, the first in a two-part series.

Dooley followed the work of a helpline in Portsmouth and a specialist police unit in Cheshire, learning that one in five women have been subjected to stalking  as have one in ten men.

More than half the murders of women in the UK begin with stalking. The killers, often former partners, bombard their victims with intimidating messages before the crimes escalate.

In 50 per cent of stalking cases, the victim is terrorised by a former partner.

Among them was Sabrina, who initially refused to believe the man she once trusted was behind the threatening messages keeping her up at night.

'You're a nasty piece of work,' one of his late-night messages read. 'I hope your daughter doesn't grow up anything like you.'

TV investigation: Dooley followed the work of a helpline in Portsmouth and a specialist police unit in Cheshire, learning that one in five women have been subjected to stalking  as have one in ten men. Pictured, Dooley while filming Stalkers

Among the most threatening was a text that read: 'So you blocked me? Don't you think I know what school she goes to? Don't you want to know why I'm doing this?'

Sabrina then began to receive messages about places she had been, including details that only could have been known if the sender had also been present.

The endless texts made Sabrina paranoid. At one point she even suspected family members. 'I just looked at everyone completely differently,' she said.

But one day her stalker 'slipped up', she explained, and sent her a photo of her house, taken from the pub carpark across the road.

Sabrina turned detective and asked the pub landlord for CCTV.

Turning point: One day Sabrina's stalker 'slipped up', she explained, and sent her a photo of her house, taken from the pub carpark across the road. Sabrina turned detective and asked the pub landlord for CCTV. Pictured, Sabrina and Stacey visiting the pub carpark

'When I saw that, I saw him. I saw my ex,' she said. ''My heart shattered when I saw that. My whole world just collapsed.

'Everyone was telling me "yes, it's probably him" but I just kept saying "it's not, it's not him. He was lovely the whole time. We just didn't work out".'

The ex-partner had lived with Sabrina for a year and was 'best of friends' with her daughter.

He was arrested by police but just a couple of nights later, Sabrina received another photo, taken from the same spot.

Police interference hasn't been enough to put him off.

'He hasn't been scared,' Sabrina said. 'He's been arrested three or four times and it's still carried on.'

Relief: Sabrina later learned her ex had pleaded guilty, almost three years after the stalking started. He was eventually sentenced to nine months in prison

She added: 'This has changed me forever. I don't sleep very well. We've got cameras up at home. I check out my window every night... It's been full on.'

Sabrina later learned her ex had pleaded guilty, almost three years after the stalking started.

'That feels good,' she said, beaming. 'It's done. I feel like I can breathe.'

Just days later Sabrina was dealt another blow when her boss phoned to inform her that her ex had applied for a job at their company.

'I just burst out crying,' she said. 'I've never cried so much in my life. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't get my words out.

'It's just another game, just to say "I'm still here"... It's absolutely broken me. I can't do it. I can't do it anymore.'

At the end of the programme viewers learned Sabrina's ex had been sentenced to nine months in prison and given a five-year restraining order.

Just days later Sabrina was dealt another blow when her boss phoned to inform her that her ex had applied for a job at their company. She shared the news with Stacey over the phone, above

Hounded by her PT ex who stalked her grandfather's house before being jailed for two years Katie, 29, dated a personal trainer from her gym for five months before she dumped him when she discovered he was being unfaithful. 'To begin with, he wanted to win me back. He kept turning up here. I would come home from work and there was a note on my car. 'Then after he got the message that there was no going back, they [the messages] started turning threatening. 'It started with an anonymous number texting me but I knew it was him because of his spelling. I was getting hundreds of messages, it was never ending.' Victim: Katie, 29, dated a personal trainer from her gym for five months before she dumped him when she discovered he was being unfaithful Harassment: Craig's twisted revenge included beating himself up and reporting her to the police for assault. Pictured, Craig and Katie during their relationship His twisted revenge included beating himself up and reporting her to the police for assault. Craig ramped up his stalking and his lies by sending voice notes. He also began walking past her grandparents' house, knowing Katie was close to them. 'I got a picture of my granddad's flat saying "you've got to be outside this place at 7 or they're going to get it and there won't be a warning". 'I had no clue what he was capable of. I was petrified of him.' Katie's mother warned her grandfather, asking him to lock his doors. Craig was eventually sentenced to two years in prison. Days after his sentencing, Katie's grandfather died. Craig was able to apply for parole after serving less than half his sentence. His request was denied but he was released in November 2021. Threatened: Katie received photos taken outside her grandfather's house Advertisement

Stacey Dooley: Stalkers is available to watch on iPlayer
She is used to overseeing a 356-room castle nestled in the heart of a sprawling 16,000-acre estate.

But for the next four weeks the Duchess of Rutland, will see her living quarters reduced to nothing more than a few square metres.

For Emma Manners, 58, has swapped Leicestershire's majestic Belvoir - which stands in for royal residences in Netflix's The Crown - for a beachfront hut in India.

The chatelaine and mother-of-five revealed on Instagram today that she has jetted off to the southern state of Kerala to spend a month studying yoga and meditation.

Leaving the castle behind: The Duchess of Rutland is used to overseeing a 356-room castle nestled in the heart of a sprawling 16,000-acre estate. Pictured, outside Belvoir

Change of scene! The chatelaine and mother-of-five announced today she has jetted off to the southern state of Kerala to spend a month studying yoga and meditation

She has booked herself into Soma Manaltheeram, a wellness retreat that promises guests the opportunity to 'pamper themselves with a heavenly experience' and offers treatment programmes ranging from weight loss to stress management.

The accommodation takes the form of individual huts of varying degrees of luxury, scattered along the shore.

Even the highest-end option, the Kerala House Delux, is exceedingly modest compared to the refined opulence of Belvoir's bedrooms.

Costing in the region of 190 a night, the house is built with mud and bricks and is finished in traditional style, complete with antique furnishings. It also has a sea view.

Crucially, it also has air-con, which will help keep the Duchess cool in the 30-degree heat.

Belvoir Castle: The grand stately home has formed the backdrop for scenes in Young Victoria in 2007, The Da Vinci Code and season two of hit The Crown - where Matt Smith and Claire Foy filmed in one of the opulent rooms at Belvoir Castle, which stood in for Windsor Castle

Brush with Hollywood: Matt Smith and Claire Foy filming season two of The Crown in one of the opulent rooms at Belvoir Castle, which stood in for Windsor Castle in series one

Sharing a video of the retreat, she wrote: 'Just arrived at the beautiful @somamanaltheeram retreat in Kerala where I will be staying for the next few weeks practicing yoga and meditation. Stay tuned for more updates!'

The Duchess could be seeking out new ideas to bring home to Belvoir, which she runs as CEO and has worked hard to keep afloat after lockdowns significantly reduced their visitor numbers - and the money they brought in.

She lives on the estate with her estranged husband, David Manners, the 11th Duke of Rutland. The pair are legally separated and live in separate wings of Belvoir.

Ever entrepreneurial, Emma planned to offer 'yoga and juice healing retreats' on site last year and a five-day retreat including meditation, talks on neuroplasticity and emotional healing, Indian head massage and Reiki.

Out on the town: Emma Rutland (centre) with daughters Eliza (left), Lady Violet (right) and Lady Alice (second from right) at exclusive London private members' club Harry's Bar

Mother-of-five Emma Manners, 57, married David Manners (pictured together in May 2004), 61, the 11th Duke of Rutland, in June 1992 after meeting at a dinner party in 1990. The couple continued living on the estate, which features in The Crown, after their marriage broke down

With the women firmly in the driving seat at Belvoir, perhaps its no surprise the castle is embracing its feminine side.

Before lockdown, the castle already had a 'Wellness Wagon' in its grounds  a colourful gipsy caravan offering spiritual readings by 'Psychic Jeanie'  and other special events involving fortune-tellers and clairvoyants.

In 2019, Emma installed a Japanese 'peace pole', surrounded by crystals, which was sprinkled with 'love, positivity, light and energy' as part of a pagan ritual to atone for the Battle of Hastings.

The battle led to William the Conqueror gifting the land upon which Belvoir is built to the Duke's ancestors.

She also launched a gin brand, new shopping quarter and podcast, aptly called The Duchess.
South Korean nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk, left, speaks to reporters, with U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, right, after their meeting at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Aug. 30. Yonhap



South Korea's top nuclear envoy had back-to-back phone talks with his American and Chinese counterparts on Thursday, the foreign ministry said, amid rising tension over North Korea's apparent threat of nuclear and long-range weapons tests.



Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, talked with his American counterpart, Sung Kim, in their latest emergency consultations, hours after the North hinted at restarting "all temporally-suspended activities"  an apparent allusion to its yearslong self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.



"The two sides agreed to remain in close coordination to stably manage the situation on the Korean Peninsula, sharing the view that the peninsula's problem can be only solved through dialogue and diplomacy," the ministry said in a release.



In a separate conversation with his Chinese counterpart Liu Xiaoming, Noh exchanged views on the North's latest series of missile tests and asked for Beijing's "constructive" role in defusing tension and resuming stalled denuclearization talks with Pyongyang, it noted.



The North's latest saber-rattling came after it fired suspected ballistic missiles four times in a row this month, including two of what it claims to be a hypersonic missile.



In response, the Joe Biden administration last week imposed its first sanctions on the Kim Jong-un regime and is pushing for more U.N. Security Council sanctions.



The reclusive regime is already subject to a wide web of U.N. Security Council sanctions for its nuclear and long-range missile tests, which ban it from making any launch using ballistic missile technology.



It remains unclear whether the U.N. council will reach a consensus on blacklisting more North Koreans and entities especially as two permanent members  China and Russia  have veto power.



"We hope members of the #SecurityCouncil will view the current situation prudently with a long-term perspective and the big picture in mind, give serious consideration to #China's proposal make effort to stabilize the situation, accumulate mutual trust resume dialogue," Liu wrote on Twitter earlier in the day.



Experts said that North Korea could further ramp up pressure on the U.S. with more weapons tests, especially as it is set to mark key national holidays  the 80th birthday of Kim's late father, Kim Jong-il, on Feb. 16 and the 110th birthday of his late grandfather, Kim Il-sung, on April 15  in the coming months. (Yonhap)


A woman has shared a series of creepy voice notes she received from a Tinder match - who described the curtains that hang in her front window in detail - while berating her in a series of furious Snapchat messages.

Serena Rose, from Massachusetts, revealed that she and the man, who is named Sean, had a brief exchange after matching on the dating app back in July.

She gave him her Snapchat username and they sent each other one video and one photo before they stopped talking.

For six months they didn't speak to one another - but to Serena's surprise, the man started sending her a series of nasty messages last week, after she posted a picture with another guy to her Snapchat story.

He then brought up the pattern of the curtains that are in her front window - frightening Serena so much that she said she now wants to delete Tinder forever.

A woman shared the creepy voice notes she received from her Tinder match - who described the curtains that hang in her front window in detail

Serena Rose, from Massachusetts, revealed that she and the man, who is named Sean, had a brief exchange after matching on the dating app back in July

For six months they didn't speak to one another - but to Serena's surprise, the man recently started sending her a series of nasty messages after she posted a picture with another guy

She shared screenshots of their conversation to TikTok, where it quickly went viral - gaining more than 250,000 views in a matter of days - and many people were horrified by the ordeal.

'Really, you're gonna go out for drinks with that guy and only send me a duck face? Wtf. Like, what?' some of Sean's messages read.

He also called her 'toxic' for opening his messages and not replying to them.

Sean then began sending her voice notes. In one of them he said, 'I'm a kind, compassionate, genuine guy that wanted to take you out for dinner and drinks and get to know you, but no.

'Maybe it's because I'm vegan and I genuinely care about animals and stuff,' he continued. 'I see you play Animal Crossing and stuff. That's nice. How's your new job?'

Serena explained in the video that she has Animal Crossing curtains. In the comment section, she revealed that she once posted a photo of them to her story - which is most likely how he knew what they looked like - but has now decided to take them down in case he goes looking for them.

'Here's the thing, the Animal Crossing is a reference to the curtains in my front window,' she said in the TikTok.

'As for the new job, I got a new job and I posted one photo of my new company ID card - everything else was blocked out except the name of the company. So he's starting to know where I live and where I work.'

He then brought up the pattern of the curtains that are in her front window - frightening Serena so much that she said she now wants to delete Tinder forever

She shared screenshots of their conversation to TikTok, where it quickly went viral - gaining more than 250,000 views in a matter of days - and many people were horrified by the ordeal

In the comment section, she revealed that she once posted a photo of them to her story - which is most likely how he knew what they looked like

She also revealed she has now decided to take them down in case he goes looking for them

The messages from Sean continued to pour in.

'I'm looking for a relationship, not a hookup. [That's] why I'm on Tinder,' he wrote. 'Genuinely thought you were beautiful, kind, and outgoing. I see your personality.

'I'm all into nature and peace of mind, etc., smoking, drinking, shrooms, all that. Low-key, drama free. Traveling, camping, hiking, gaming, all that. I'm a science nerd.'

Serena didn't respond to any of them, and in the end, she decided to block him.

'Deleting Tinder forever,' she captioned the video.

In a second TikTok, she shared some more details on their interaction. She explained that after they chatted for a few hours on Tinder, Sean asked for her number - but she wasn't comfortable giving it out to a stranger so she gave him her Snapchat username instead.

He then sent a video of himself vaping, and she replied with a selfie which had a duck filter on it.

'I never answered him again. We didn't talk at all, until I went out for drinks with my friend last night and I posted a story of it and then this man freaked out on me,' she explained.

In a second TikTok, she explained that after they chatted for a few hours on Tinder, Sean asked for her number - but she wasn't comfortable giving it out so she gave him her Snapchat instead

He then sent a video of himself vaping, and she replied with a selfie which had a duck filter on it and they stopped talking - until she posted a story while out with a male friend

Many people took to the comment section to slam the man for his 'threatening' comments, and they shared their own horror stories from 'stalkers' that they matched with on dating apps

'He felt so entitled to me and my time for no reason, just because he exists. He feels like he deserves my company. Crazy.'

'Maybe it's because he's vegan,' she joked.

Many people took to the comment section to slam the man for his 'threatening' comments, and shared their own horror stories from 'stalkers' that they matched with on dating apps.

'Be careful. I once went on one date with a guy and he stalked me for years,' one person wrote. 'I mean like, I'm at the beach - no f**king way, there he is.'

'Oh no, please do not hesitate to reach out to the police and let them know that you feel threatened,' another added. 'I'm sorry this is happening to you.'

Someone else said: 'These dating apps are giving some scary people platforms to stalk and prey on people. I hope you're OK.'

'The last dude I met from Tinder looked up my last name from reverse phone search, then looked my name up on the voter registration website,' a fourth comment read.

'"I'm a nice guy..." *Stalks a woman who rejects him*,' a different TikTok user joked.

'"Drama free." *Sends multiple voice memos being insanely dramatic*,' another added.
A pastor who spent decades using and dealing drugs before changing his life around and setting up a charity for those in need has met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today.

Pastor Mick Fleming is a former drug dealer who set up Church on the Street in 2019 to help the homeless and people living in some form of poverty in Burnley and the surrounding area.

Today, Prince William and Kate visited the charity, meeting the pastor, volunteers, staff and service users to hear about their experiences first-hand after seeing television reports about Mick's work.

But before setting up the church, Mick was a violent drug user and dealer, covering up painful childhood memories, reported the BBC, including the loss of his older sister.

A pastor who spent decades using and dealing drugs before changing his life around and setting up a charity for those in need has met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today (pictured)

Mick grew up in a Burnley working-class family, with his dad being a window cleaner. He had a very strict upbringing - but his life changed forever at the start of February 1977.

Mick was told by his father this his sister, Ann, 20, was dead. She had died of a heart attack.

'Drugs were my solution, and that was my introduction,' said Mick. 'The next 30 years were hell. Pure hell. I would use any drug, and always alcohol.'

Aged just 14, he was dealing drugs, while telling those who asked that he was 'self-employed'.

He was soon a drug runner and debt collector, making 'crazy money'. He was arrested for murder trice, armed robbery three times and 'countless' firearms offences.

Pastor Mick Fleming (pictured) is a former drug dealer who set up Church on the Street in 2019 to help the homeless and people living in some form of poverty in Burnley and the surrounding area

Mick's best friend died from a drinking session aged 16, while another friends suffered a methadone overdose at 17.

The pastor was also leading a double life with a wife and three children. Eventually however, his mother had to step in to care for the children, to prevent social services getting involved.

But then in 2009, Mick suffered a 'complete breakdown' after nearly confronting a man who he was collecting a debt from with a gun - until spotting him with two young children.

'Within 24 hours, I was sectioned under The Mental Health Act. My new home was Burnley psychiatric unit. I had nothing but the clothes I arrived in,' said Mick.

It was at the unit that Mick met Pastor Tony, who used to visit. They would both pray and talk, and Mick soon started helping others.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet Carole Ellis and her great grandson Deacon Glover,11, whose mother, Grace Taylor has passed away, during a visit to charity, Church on the Street

Then a chance meeting with a tutor at the University of Manchester eventually resulted in a degree in theology.

He failed his first year, because he struggled to read and write, and was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia, yet with support from the university, he eventually achieved a 2:1 degree.

'I never drank or touched a drug again. It wasn't easy, it was horrendous. But it was my path to God - and all the way to 2020 and the pandemic. I had no idea of how much I'd be needed and how once again I'd be overwhelmed by suffering and pain.'

His project has continually grown and the Church, housed in a former gym, now offers refuge and a safe space for anyone struggling, including those with mental health problems.

Funded by donations, it provides a food bank, clothing bank, hot showers, laundry, a cafe, recovery groups, addiction and mental health support, access to a qualified counsellor, and a safe space for up to 200 people at any one time.

The Duchess of Cambridge (right) meets Trudi and Alastair Barrie and their daughter Anastasia during a visit to charity, Church on the Street, in Burnley, Lancashire, where she met with volunteers and staff as well as a number of service users to hear about their experiences first-hand

Pastor Mick, who leads church services, said he hoped the visit would help provide extra support for the people using his services.

'They said they'd seen a BBC report on what we were doing and they'd found it very moving.

'I'm very grateful because hopefully it will mean more people will get to know about what we are doing and more people here will get support because of their royal highnesses coming here.

'We rely on donations and we don't charge a penny for our services.'

The Church maintains an open-door policy and visitors can get the help they need to solve their immediate problems, whether that be a food parcel or simply a place to warm up.

By building relationships with repeat visitors and through faith, Pastor Mick is able to support those in need to help them change their circumstance and allow them to get on with their lives.

Several thousand people have passed through the Church's doors in search of support since it was first established.

Mick is now in discussions with local authorities, external support agencies and the NHS with the aim of providing further support for people who are struggling with their mental health.
Binge-watching TV can significantly raise your risk of suffering blood clots, a major review suggests.

British researchers found the risk was about a third higher in adults who spent four or more hours in front of the TV a day, compared to people who watched for two-and-a-half or less.

They are now urging people to take half-hour breaks between boxsets to 'stand and stretch' and cut down on snacks.

Bristol University experts also urged Netflix addicts to think about using a stationary bike.

Scientists have known for years that prolonged sitting can raises the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), which kills thousands of people every year.

Long periods of inactivity lets blood to pool in the extremities, which can then lead to clots. It is for this same reason airplane travellers are advised to move frequently on long-haul flights.

But the new study found that even physically active people were still at more risk of blood clots.

Researchers also warned people who binge on TV tend to eat junk food, which can lead to other conditions such as obesity and high blood pressure  also clot risks.

Dr Setor Kunutsor, a researcher at the university and lead study author, said: 'If you are going to binge on TV you need to take breaks.

British researchers found the risk was about a third higher in adults who spent four or more hours in front of the TV a day, compared to people who watched for two-and-a-half or less. Pictured: man watching TV

'You can stand and stretch every 30 minutes or use a stationary bike. And avoid combining television with unhealthy snacking.'

Around one in 500 Britons and Americans suffer from blood clots per year, with up to 60 per cent of cases among hospitalised patients partly due to the length of time they spend being idle.

Most clots occur in veins in the leg  which is called deep vein thrombosis  which is usually easily treatable.

But small parts of blood clots can break off and travel in the bloodstream to organs such as the lungs, known as pulmonary embolism. It can be fatal if not treated early.

WHAT IS VENOUS THROMBOEMBOLISM? Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a condition in which a blood clot forms. It includes pulmonary embolisms (PE), which is a blood clot in the lungs, and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is when blood clots develop in the veins. Around one in 500 Britons and Americans suffer from blood clots per year, with up to 60 per cent of cases among hospitalised patients due to the length of time they spend being idle. Risk factors for developing the condition include being idle for extended periods of time, such as among hospitalised and bedridden people, being aged 60 or over, a family history of the condition and being overweight. People with suspected PE or DVT should be referred to hospital and given blood thinning medication while waiting for a scan to confirm the condition. Advertisement

The review, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, examined three studies with a total of 131,421 participants from the US and Japan aged 40 or older who had no prior clotting diagnosis and were quizzed on their TV viewing habits.

The volunteers were divided into 'prolonged viewers' who watched TV for at least four hours per day and 'seldom viewers' who watched less than two-and-a-half hours per day.

Researchers detected 964 venous thromboembolism (VTE) cases after monitoring the participants for between five and 20 years, with 'prolonged viewers' being 1.35 times more likely to develop clots than 'seldom viewers'.

The team found that exercising did not offset the risk of developing clots among TV fanatics.

Dr Kunutsor said: 'The findings indicate that regardless of physical activity, your BMI, how old you are and your gender, watching many hours of television is a risky activity with regards to developing blood clots.'

The researchers noted that the findings are based on observational studies, so the increased risk among those who watched more television could be down to other factors, such as other lifestyle or health triggers.

But Dr Kunutsor noted prolonged TV viewing involves staying still which is a risk factor for VTE.

He said: 'This is why people are encouraged to move around after surgery or during a long-haul flight'

'In addition, when you sit in a cramped position for long periods, blood pools in your extremities rather than circulating and this can cause blood clots.

'Finally, binge-watchers tend to eat unhealthy snacks which may lead to obesity and high blood pressure which both raise the likelihood of blood clots.'

Dr Kunutsor added: 'Our results suggest that we should limit the time we spend in front of the television. Long periods of TV watching should be interspersed with movement to keep the circulation going.

'Generally speaking, if you sit a lot in your daily life  for example your work involves sitting for hours at a computer  be sure to get up and move around from time to time.'
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Antibiotic-resistant infections directly killed 1.2million people in 2019, according to the largest study of its kind that lays bare the growing threat of superbugs.

This would make superbugs a bigger global killer than AIDS or malaria, which killed 860,000 and 640,000 that year, respectively. In comparison, Covid killed an estimated 3.5million people in 2021.

On top of direct deaths, researchers estimate superbugs were also a potential factor in another 5million deaths globally in 2019.

Researchers from the University of Washington and University of Oxford warn unless urgent action is taken the death toll will only increase in years to come.

Superbugs are bacteria which have gradually evolved to have a resistance to antibiotics due to the drugs being overprescribed or incorrectly used. Health authorities fear a 'post-antibiotic' era where common conditions and medical operations become more deadly and dangerous as patients succumb to previously harmless bugs.

The 1.2million fatality figure is much greater than the previous biggest estimate by the World Health Organization which suggested the problem caused 700,000 deaths per year. In England alone, 5,000 deaths every year are estimated to be cause caused by resistant infections.

Officials have estimated superbugs will kill 10million people worldwide each year by 2050, but the researchers of the latest study say their data suggests the world is accelerating to this death toll faster than expected.

People can be infected by bacteria in a number of ways, from a person coughing, contaminated food or drink, to an open wound, infecting organs such as the lungs, or even the bloodstream. They can be fatal, causing issues like inflammation, or sepsis, as the immune system tries to fight off the bacteria.

Previously, medics could help a patient fight off the bacteria by prescribing antibiotics  but some species have developed resistance to the medications, making them far more dangerous.

Researchers came to their estimates by analysing 471million records, which included previous studies on superbugs, as well as hospital and health authority surveillance systems designed to track antibiotic-resistant infections. They then used this data to also make estimates on the number of deaths that could of been prevented if the superbugs had been susceptible to antibiotics.

This graph shows the combined direct and associated deaths from antibiotic-resistant bacteria per global region measured in the new research. Africa and South Asia had the greatest number of deaths per 100,000 people, however Western European countries like, the UK, still recorded a significantly high number of fatalities

This graph shows the total number of deaths attributed to superbugs by type of infection in 2019. LRIs (lower respiratory tract) infections like pneumonia were the biggest killer, responsible for about 400,000 deaths and a contributor to 1.5million. BSIs (bloodstream infections) were the next biggest killer, directly responsible and contributing to nearly 175,000 deaths. This was followed by intraabdominal infections, urinary tract infections (UTIs), tuberculosis, skin infections, central nervous system infections, typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella infections (TFPFiNTS), diarrhoea, cardiac infections, and bone infections

An illustration of Bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the 23 antibiotic resistant superbugs examined in the study, and one of the six biggest global killers

WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fueling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned if nothing is done the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate solutions to the growing crisis. Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics or if they are given out unnecessarily. Former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies claimed in 2016 that the threat of antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism. Figures estimate that superbugs will kill 10 million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs. Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world. Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the 'dark ages' if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years. In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, there have only been one or two new antibiotics developed in the last 30 years. In 2019, the WHO warned antibiotics are 'running out' as a report found a 'serious lack' of new drugs in the development pipeline. Without antibiotics, C-sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements will become incredibly 'risky', it was said at the time. Advertisement

Study co-author Professor Chris Murray a global health expert at the University of Washington, said the figures were a 'clear sign we must act now'.

He added: 'Previous estimates had predicted 10million annual deaths from antimicrobial resistance by 2050, but we now know for certain that we are already far closer to that figure than we thought.

'We need to leverage this data to course-correct action and drive innovation if we want to stay ahead in the race against antimicrobial resistance.'

Professor Murray called for better use of existing antibiotics to limit the development of superbugs and for more funding to be made available to develop new types of medication.

The findings were published in The Lancet.

Deaths per head of population due to superbugs were highest in regions like Africa and South Asia, which have less developed health infrastructure.

But death rates were still significant in higher income countries, like the UK.

Researchers also found that of the 23 pathogens studied, just six, including an antibiotic resistant strain of the stomach bug E.coli, were directly responsible for 900,000 deaths, and contributed to 3.5million more.

It was the resistance to two types of antibiotics  fluoroquinolones and beta-lactam  considered the 'first line of defence' against severe infections that accounted for 70 per cent of the global death toll.

Beta lactam antibiotics include penicillin, the first type of antibiotic developed for use in modern medicine, and was first identified by Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928.

Infections from antibiotic-resistant bacterial lower respiratory tract infections  which can lead to pneumonia, a swelling of the lung tissues  was the biggest killer in the study.

It was estimated to directly kill 400,000 people in 2019 and was associated with deaths of over 1.5million more.

Superbugs infecting the bloodstream were the second biggest killer, causing around 370,000 deaths and associated with just under 1.5 million.

This was followed by intra-abdominal infections, which can lead to appendicitis  where the appendix swells and needs to be removed surgically.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria were responsible for 210,000 deaths in people with this condition and were associated with an additional 800,000.

Deaths caused directly by superbugs in 2019 were estimated to be highest in sub-Saharan Africa, which is all regions of the continent excluding North Africa, with 24 deaths per 100,000 people.

This was followed by South Asia, which includes countries such as India and Pakistan, which recorded 22 deaths per 100,000 population.

In comparison, high income nations, like the UK, recorded 13 deaths per 100,000 people.

Associated deaths, where superbugs played a role in a death, were estimated to be 99 per 100,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa and 77 per 100,000 in South Asia.

These cases were defined as deaths where a drug resistant bacteria was implicated in the person's demise but it was unclear if the antibiotics would have been enough to save them if the bacteria had been vulnerable to the medication.

This graph shows the 23 antimicrobial resistance pathogens included in the study and the number of deaths attributed to each of them in 2019. Just six of these were directly responsible for 900,000 deaths and contributed to 3.5million more

The half-hour superbug test that will save thousands of lives on wards A rapid test that can spot deadly drug-resistant superbugs in just 30 minutes is set to be offered to hospital patients across the country, potentially saving thousands of lives in the years ahead. Experts have become increasingly alarmed about the spread of infections that dont respond to antibiotics on hospital wards and kill thousands every year. The bugs can spread prolifically among patients, many admitted for minor problems such as urinary tract infections. Until now, doctors would use tests that took at least 48 hours to return a result, by which time it was often too late to isolate the patient in order to stop the spread of the infection. But the new test, developed by scientists at Imperial College London, can almost instantly spot if an infection is resistant to one of the most powerful antibiotics. And crucially, it seeks out genetic clues within the bacteria that indicate how likely it is to spread. Dr Gerald Larrouy-Maumus, molecular biologist at Imperial College London and creator of the rapid test, said: These infections could be a much bigger threat than Covid if we dont take action to address the problem early enough. Tests like these will become routine in UK hospitals in the next few years. Antibiotics have been used as effective tools to fight infection for nearly 100 years. But in the past two decades concern has grown over the increasing number of bacteria that are becoming resistant to their effect. Advertisement

There were also regional differences in the types of superbug responsible for the most deaths identified in the study.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 36 per cent of all fatalities caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria were caused by two species, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

In comparison, around half of superbug deaths in countries like the UK were caused by either Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria which causes skin infections, or E. coli  famous for causing stomach bugs.

One of the limitations of the study, which the authors acknowledge, is the assumptions they have had to make in calculating superbug deaths in some parts of world due to a lack of available data.

Study co-author, Professor Christiane Dolecek an expert in tropical diseases from Oxford University, said this was a data gap that needed to be addressed if the global community wanted to curb the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

'With resistance varying so substantially by country and region, improving the collection of data worldwide is essential to help us better track levels of resistance and equip clinicians and policymakers with the information they need to address the most pressing challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance,' she said.

'We identified serious data gaps in many low-income countries, emphasising a particular need to increase laboratory capacity and data collection in these locations.'

Commenting on the research, Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, an epidemiologist from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, said the study's finding should drive global leaders to invest more in research to combat superbugs.

'Spending needs to be directed to preventing infections in the first place, making sure existing antibiotics are used appropriately and judiciously, and to bringing new antibiotics to market,' he said.

'Health and political leaders at local, national, and international levels need to take seriously the importance of addressing AMR (antimicrobial resistance) and the challenge of poor access to affordable, effective antibiotics '

Antimicrobial resistance is thought to have been encouraged by an overuse of antibiotics for mostly minor conditions such as ear infections, or being used by people incorrectly using them to treat viral conditions such as flu, for which they are useless.

Overuse of antibiotics leads to bacteria developing a resistance to them, meaning the medications become less effective when people really need them during severe infections or after major operations and can also spread between patients in hospitals.

Researchers calculated the global burden of superbugs using 471million individual records obtained from studies, hospitals records and other data sources, from around the world.


Health campaigners have today repeated their calls for England to adopt minimum alcohol pricing.

It comes after a new study found the biggest drinkers bought more alcohol during lockdowns, despite pubs being closed.

Britain's heaviest drinkers  defined as those living in the top 20 per cent of alcohol-buying households  bought 17-times more alcohol from shops than the bottom 20 per cent during the first lockdown.

Increases in alcohol purchases were not as sharp in Scotland and Wales, according to the study of 80,000 households.

Experts said the findings show minimum unit pricing for alcohol  currently fixed at 50p in Scotland and Wales  'can make a difference to purchases'.

Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: 'The pandemic highlights the urgent need for the Government to take action to protect the most vulnerable drinkers and disadvantaged communities from alcohol harm.

'This study suggests that minimum unit pricing can make a difference to purchases.'

And Professor Eileen Kaner, co-author of the Newcastle University study, said limiting alcohol prices in England should be considered.

The Newcastle University researchers graph shows the average amount of alcohol purchased per adult across Britain per day of the year in 2015 to 2019 (green line) and in 2020 (red line). The vertical black line marks when the Covid lockdown came into force on March 26, when all non-essential shops were forced to close and people were ordered to stay at home

Figures from the ONS show fatality rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland were around a third higher than the UK average in 2020, with 21.5 and 19.6 deaths per 100,000, respectively. England and Wales continued to have lower rates of alcohol-specific deaths, with 13 and 13.9 deaths per 100,000 persons, respectively. However, the largest year-on-year increase was seen in England, where deaths increased by 19.3 per cent, and in Wales, where the figure rose 17.8 per cent

Alcohol-related deaths in Britain hit highest ever level in 2020 Alcohol-related deaths in the UK rose to the highest level in nearly two decades in 2020. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows alcohol-related deaths across Britain spiked a fifth in a year to nearly 9,000, marking the highest annual increase since records began in 2001. Deaths caused by alcohol have been increasing for a decade but in 2020 the fatality count rose by more than 1,400, equating to 14 alcohol-related deaths per 100,000 Britons. Most deaths were related to long-term drinking problems and dependency  with alcoholic liver disease making up 80 per cent of cases. ONS statisticians said 'many complex factors' contributed to the hike last year, but noted people drinking more alcohol during the pandemic would have been a factor. Ian Hamilton, an addiction expert at the University of York, told MailOnline people who were already drinking 'risky' amounts of alcohol consumed even more during the pandemic. A survey by charity Drinkaware found boredom, having more time to drink and anxiety fuelled worrying trends in alcohol consumption during lockdowns. Advertisement

Official data shows 2020 saw the biggest leap in alcohol-related deaths in the UK in the last 20 years, with nearly 9,000 fatalities registered.

Researchers analysed the shopping habits of 79,417 households from 2015 to 2020, covering 5million alcoholic drink purchases.

Overall alcohol sales from shops was only 29 per cent during lockdowns.

Heaviest drinkers bought an average of 38 units every week  the equivalent of just under a litre of vodka, or four bottles of wine.

For comparison, the NHS advises Britons not to drink more than 14 units per week  around six medium glasses of wine or six pints of beer.

Households in socially disadvantaged areas also bought more, as did those living in the North of England.

Professor Kaner said the findings, published in the scientific journal PLOS One, paint 'a worrying picture'.

She said: 'Covid has undoubtedly had an impact on drinking habits within the UK.

'As we continue to live in uncertain times while moving towards recovery from Covid, it's even more important we focus on alcohol harm prevention strategies, including those that limit very low pricing of alcohol.'

Meanwhile, Sir Ian said: 'We know the number of high-risk drinkers in the UK is on the rise.

'Numerous lockdowns, isolation, bereavement and job losses have changed many people's relationship with alcohol over the course of the Covid pandemic.

'We have seen deaths linked to alcohol reach record numbers and one in five people in the UK currently drink alcohol in a way that could harm their liver.'

Professor Peter Anderson, from Newcastle University, said the change in trends had 'undoubted consequences for both physical and mental health'. He warned it would lead to death in 'many thousands of cases'.

The ONS data shows the vast majority of deaths (77.8 per cent) were caused by alcoholic liver disease (green), which is when prolonged and excessive alcohol consumption over many years causes serious and permanent damage to the liver. Mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol use was the second leading cause of deaths (light blue), leading to 1,083 fatalities and accounting for 12 per cent of the deaths. Some 552 deaths were caused by accidental or intentional alcohol poisoning (dark blue, marked as external causes). Men in their 50s and early 60s were behind nearly a third of the deaths, while 20 per cent were recorded among women aged 45 to 65

The ONS data shows six out of the nine regions in England recorded a rise in alcohol deaths, with the West Midlands seeing the biggest rise (33.1 per cent), followed by the South West (32.2 per cent) and London (25.3 per cent). Alcohol fatalities also increased in the North East (20. 5 per cent), the North West (19.4 per cent) and the South East (18.5 per cent). Within England, there was huge regional disparity, with 9.2 per 100,000 deaths due to alcohol in the East, compared to 20 per 100,000 in the North East  the highest rate out of all regions in England
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America's Covid situation could reverse soon, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week projecting that deaths from the virus will plummet by as much as 25 percent early next month.

The agency released projections on Wednesday showing that daily deaths in the U.S. could drop to as low as 1,400 per day by the week of February 12 - down 25 percent from the 1,867 current daily death average.

The CDC's projections estimate that somewhere between 9,800 and 35,700 new Covid deaths will occur during the week that ends on February 12, or in three weeks. That means that anywhere between 1,400 and 5,100 Americans will die every day that week if the projections hold true.

Projected totals match figures cited by the White House earlier this week that somewhere between 58,000 and 305,000 Americans will die from the virus between now and mid-March - or 1,000 to 5,000 deaths per day on average over the next two months.

Higher ends of these projections, while scary, seem outlandish when considering the current state of the pandemic. The highly infectious Omicron variant is a more mild strain, with CDC data revealed last week finding that the variant is 91 percent less likely to cause death that the Delta strain. Omicron accounts for 99.5 percent of active cases in the U.S. as well, and CDC director Rochelle Walensky even said last week that recent upticks in Covid deaths are more the responsibility of the more severe Delta variant.

The U.S. reaching 5,000 daily deaths would require mortality to triple in the U.S., even as daily cases start to decline and the virus starts to recede.

America is currently logging an average of 739,234 new cases every day - a six percent drop for the 787,887 deaths being averaged this time last week. On Wednesday, the nation recorded 979,920 cases. While it is a higher total than some previous Wednesdays, some lagging cases from the holiday weekend are still trickling in.

Daily deaths are up eight percent over the past week, from 1,717 deaths last week to 1,867 as of Wednesday.

The CDC also projected that 9,600 to 36,900 Covid hospitalizations will be reported during the week that ends of February 11 - or between 1,371 to 5,271 hospitalizations per day. While the U.S. is technically recording a pandemic-high number of hospitalizations at the moment - averaging 158,638 Americans receiving care while Covid positive every day - the figure is unreliable as many people receiving treatment for another condition at a hospital are testing positive while present and being added to the total.

Daily cases are no longer included in these projections by the CDC. It represents a shift away from using daily case counts as a barometer for the current state of the pandemic in the U.S., as the rampant spread of a more mild variant has made daily case counts often appear much more worrying than they truly are. Some media organizations, like the Associated Press, have even abandoned reporting on new daily case records in U.S. states.

A potential decrease in cases and deaths in the coming weeks has been on the cards as U.S. experts, including Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, have predicted that daily cases in the country would eventually recede as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant would eventually run out of people to infect.

Data from the UK and South Africa shows that the Omicron surge will likely rapidly decline after reaching its peak. Cases in the UK have slashed since reaching their peak in early January - down from around 180,000 cases per day to 100,000.

Britain's daily Covid cases fell by a single percent in a week on Wednesday in an early hint that the recent dramatic plunge in Omicron might be starting to level off. Government dashboard data shows there were another 107,364 positive tests across the country in the past 24 hours, down only slightly on the 109,133 last week.

The situation across the pond has brightened so much over the past few weeks that almost all Covid restrictions in the country have been lifted. Work from home orders, mask mandates and some indoor capacity restrictions have already been dropped.

South Africa experienced the first major case surge associated with the new variant in late November. Officials in the country were the first to discover the highly infectious, vaccine resistant, variant after dozens of breakthrough infections were discovered and sequenced.

Cases in the country rocketed, reaching over 23,000 per day in mid December. Cases are already down to around 3,300 per day as of Wednesday, as the massive decline of cases continue and it seems like the country has already defeated the variant.

The CDC projects that anywhere between 9,800 to 35,700 deaths from Covid will occur in the U.S. during the week that ends on February 12. This means deaths could drop by up to 25% over the next three weeks

The CDC also projected that 9,600 to 36,900 Covid hospitalizations will be reported during the week that ends of February 11. Hospitalization figures in the U.S. have become unreliable as many Covid positive people receiving treatment for other conditions are added to the tally

The CDC reports that the Omicron variant (purple) makes up 99.5% of Covid cases in the U.S., while Delta (orange) only makes up 0.3%. Last week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Delta was still responsible for increases in America's Covid mortality.

Between declining cases, the less viscous strain and more effective treatments against the virus becoming available, many are hopeful that the COVID-19 pandemic will end this year.

A model developed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations shows that Covid deaths could be in the low hundreds by late spring and early summer. If that is the case, it would be one of the lowest daily death totals since Covid took the nation by storm in March 2020.

Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and current board member at Pfizer, believes the virus could be controlled soon, and transition from pandemic to endemic.

I think the base case is that this signals the end of the pandemic phase of this virus,' Gottlieb tolb CNBC's the Squawk Box earlier this week.

Omicron has infected so many Americans - many of which had cases that were never logged into official data - that it will soon just run out of people to infect. Between natural protection a person has from previous infection, and the millions of Americans who have received booster shots, the variant is quickly running out of hosts.

Fauci warns against being too confident that Omicron spells the end of the pandemic. Like the rise of Omicron - which managed to evade much of the protection people have from either vaccines or previous infection - he fears another mutant strain that can evade protection could arise as well.

'I would hope that that's the case. But that would only be the case if we don't get another variant that eludes the immune response of the prior variant,' Fauci said.

Fauci has previously made grim projections about new COVID variants, and was ultimately proven correct about a variant like Omicron emerging.

In August, when the Delta variant was first rising in the US, Fauci warned that with transmission of Covid so rampant it was likely that a vaccine resistant variant would eventually emerge.

Months later, than variant did come about, when South African health officials discovered the highly infectious Omicron variant in late November.

If Covid does reach the endemic stage, then it will still be around, just controlled. The virus would still infect a certain section of the population every year. Infections would be relatively minor, though, and people will be able to live normal lives with out masking, social distancing, or vaccination checks.

Fauci also said this week he expects Covid vaccine eligibility to be expanded to include children under the age of five, which would put the U.S. among a shortlist of countries to vaccinate its youngest population that suffers little risk from the jab.

Massachusetts has joined the ranks of the states recording declining Covid cases, with daily infections down 11 percent over the past two weeks. The Bay State is recording 177 cases per every 100,000 residents at the moment.

New Jersey and New York were the first states struck by the variant, with New York City and the surrounding areas in both states being slammed hard and fast by Omicron in early December. Both immediately took the national lead and infection rate and both had their daily case rates increase more than seven-fold in a matter of weeks.

In New Jersey, 177 of every 100,000 residents are testing positive for the virus every day, down 49 percent over the past two weeks. In New York, a 42 percent drop has the Empire state's infection rate down to 206 cases per 100,000 residents.

Maryland is also among the leaders in dropping case rate, with cases in the state dropping 42 percent to 123 infections per every 100,000 residents every day.

Other states recording a contraction of cases over the past two weeks include Florida (cases down 22 percent), Connecticut (17 percent) and Georgia (12 percent). Delaware is recording no change in cases over the past two weeks, though they will likely join the ranks of states with declining cases in the coming days.

All of the states featuring case declines are along the east coast, highlighting the westward movement of the virus over time. Once Omicron arrived, it struck many population centers along the east coast and took an extra few weeks for it to make it across the country.

Of 15 states that are currently recording case increases of 100 percent or more, 14 are west of the Mississippi river. The lone eastern state suffering a massive surge is South Carolina. The Palmetto state has recorded a 109 percent jump in cases over the past two weeks, which is a far fall from the near 900 percent increase it was recording last week.

Alaska has reemerged as the national leader in case growth this week, with new daily cases up 304 percent over the past two weeks. The state experienced a large surge of cases during autumn, an early indicator of a winter Delta surge to come. Cases burned out there, though, and Alaska actually recorded declining cases for much of late fall and early Winter.

Omicron has finally found its way to the state 1,600 miles from the U.S. mainland, though, causing a second wave in the state during these fall and winter months. It is now among six states to have an infection rate of 300 per every 100,000 residents or higher, at 304.

No other state comes close to matching Alaska's recent case growth. The state with the next highest change is cases over the past two weeks is Oklahoma, with the state recording a 223 percent increase over the past two weeks. Wisconsin, which held the lead Wednesday, now falls to third in the U.S., experiencing a 211 percent increase over the past 14 days.

No other states have had cases triple or more over the past two weeks, though some states in the great plains - Wyoming (194 percent increase over past two weeks), North Dakota (184 percent) and Montana (183 percent) are starting to see cases climb as well.

Rhode Island is still the national leader in infection rate despite its high vaccination rate. The Ocean state is recording 404 infections per every 100,000 residents daily. The 78 percent of residents who are fully vaccinated is the second highest rate in America.

No other state is recording more than 400 infections per every 100,000 residents, though five are logging more than 300 per day - Wisconsin (398), Utah (341), South Carolina (338), Hawaii (312), Alaska (305).

Maine is the only U.S. state recording less than 100 daily infections for every 100,000 residents - at 68 - and is among the leaders in vaccination rate with 77 percent of residents having received their shots.

Alaska's case growth has also led to a surge in deaths, with the state now jumping to the top of daily average mortality rate as well. The state is currently logging 1.29 deaths per every 100,000 residents.

Michigan, a former leader which looked like it had gotten its situation under control, is seeing death counts rise as well. The Great Lakes state is now second in daily mortality rate, with 1.23 of every 100,000 residents dying of Covid daily.

Tennessee has relinquished the dubious honor of having the nation's highest death rate, and sits in third place with 1.1 daily deaths per 100,000 residents.

While cases may be dropping in New York and Maryland, deaths are lagging behind. Both states are also among the leaders in mortality rate, with 1.09 and 1.07 out of every 100,000 residents dying from the virus each day respectively.

No other state is recording more than one daily Covid death per every 100,000 residents as of Thursday.

The UK often trends ahead of the U.S. by a few weeks regarding Covid, and if this week is any indicator, things will brighten for the U.S. very soon. Starting Thursday, Covid rules in the UK have been scrapped. Work from home orders are now gone, and masking and capacity restrictions will soon follow.

Covid cases in the country have been steadily dropping over the past two weeks. The nation is averaging 108,069 cases per day, a 16 percent decrease from the 129,587 cases recorded last week. Deaths, often a lagging indicator behind cases, have steadied after surging during the early Omicron surge, averaging 359 cases per day, down 10 percent from the 398 case average last week.

'The central decision that he made which was to absolutely focus on boosters has been vindicated ... that is the main reason that we are where we are today because the Prime Minister made those decisions,' Health Minister Sajid Javid said of the dropped restrictions.

'The way we are going to do this is we're going to have to find a way to remove almost all of these restrictions and get life completely back to normal but with one or two really big things that I think will be there for a while.

'That is I think probably the need to vaccinate, I can't tell you how often that will be, but I think vaccinations will remain hugely important just as we have to have annual vaccinations protecting older people against flu.

'I think antivirals and treatments will continue to play a big role, especially for those that might be more exposed, and I think testing, it's great where we are today with testing and I think it will improve over time.

'These pharmaceutical defenses of the vaccines, antivirals, monoclonal antibodies, and testing, I think they will be the cornerstone of our future defenses.'

For comparison, the U.S. does not have these types of national mandates that Britain has. While many Americans are living under some sort of restriction, whether mask mandates, vaccine requirements or more, some citizens do not face any. States will largely make decision for themselves in Omicron continues to decline in the coming weeks, with red states likely to drop mandates quicker than their blue counterparts.

Life has returned to its pre-Omicron state in South Africa as well, as cases have declined so sharply that many are no longer fearful of the mutant strain. Hospitals are starting to empty in the nation as well - with weekly hospitalizations halving from 9,624 in mid-December to 4,772 last week nationwide. Cases have dropped by 80 percent during that period as well.

France's record Covid wave seems to be cresting as well, with the European nation finally seeing rampant case growth slow down in recent days. The country was averaging 286,000 cases per day as of last case reports on January 14, a ten percent increase over the 262,000 cases being recorded daily the week before.

For comparison, over the previous week, cases had increased by 63 percent.

Denmark was one of the first countries to suffer an Omicron-fueled Covid outbreak. The nation saw cases rapidly increase, and officials in the state instituted partial lockdown measures to counter the spread of the virus. Over the weekend, restrictions were lifted, signaling the nation is more comfortable with Omicron at the moment.

The country is averaging 28,800 new cases per day as of Wednesday, a record for the Nordic nation. Denmark has never suffered a massive surge of Covid cases, with its record being around 35 per day last winter. Currently, the nation is recording ten deaths from the virus daily.
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Covid case growth is starting to slow down nationwide as the U.S. finally reaches the peak of its winter Omicron surge. Cases have doubled over the past two weeks in only 15 states, after nearly every state was recording a 100 percent increase or more last week. Cases are either decreasing or flat in eight states and the District of Columbia as well.

On Thursday, there were 644,774 new cases reported in the US - a steep drop from the 979,920 the day before - and 2,479 who died from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

Omicron, which first arrived in the U.S. in late November and started fueling major outbreaks in December, is already burning out. States that were leaders in case growth last month are now recording the largest drops in cases.



Massachusetts has joined the ranks of the states recording declining Covid cases, with daily infections down 11 percent over the past two weeks. The Bay State is recording 177 cases per every 100,000 residents at the moment.

New Jersey and New York were the first states struck by the variant, with New York City and the surrounding areas in both states being slammed hard and fast by Omicron in early December. Both immediately took the national lead and infection rate and both had their daily case rates increase more than seven-fold in a matter of weeks.

In New Jersey, 177 of every 100,000 residents are testing positive for the virus every day, down 49 percent over the past two weeks. In New York, a 42 percent drop has the Empire state's infection rate down to 206 cases per 100,000 residents.

Maryland is also among the leaders in dropping case rate, with cases in the state dropping 42 percent to 123 infections per every 100,000 residents every day.

Other states recording a contraction of cases over the past two weeks include Florida (cases down 22 percent), Connecticut (17 percent) and Georgia (12 percent). Delaware is recording no change in cases over the past two weeks, though they will likely join the ranks of states with declining cases in the coming days.

All of the states featuring case declines are along the East Coast, highlighting the westward movement of the virus over time. Once Omicron arrived, it struck many population centers along the east coast and took an extra few weeks for it to make it across the country.

Of 15 states that are currently recording case increases of 100 percent or more, 14 are west of the Mississippi river. The lone eastern state suffering a massive surge is South Carolina. The Palmetto state has recorded a 109 percent jump in cases over the past two weeks, which is a far fall from the near 900 percent increase it was recording last week.

Alaska has reemerged as the national leader in case growth this week, with new daily cases up 304 percent over the past two weeks. The state experienced a large surge of cases during autumn, an early indicator of a winter Delta surge to come. Cases burned out there, though, and Alaska actually recorded declining cases for much of late fall and early Winter.

Omicron has finally found its way to the state 1,600 miles from the U.S. mainland, though, causing a second wave in the state during these fall and winter months. It is now among six states to have an infection rate of 300 per every 100,000 residents or higher, at 304.

No other state comes close to matching Alaska's recent case growth. The state with the next highest change is cases over the past two weeks is Oklahoma, with the state recording a 223 percent increase over the past two weeks. Wisconsin, which held the lead Wednesday, now falls to third in the U.S., experiencing a 211 percent increase over the past 14 days.

No other states have had cases triple or more over the past two weeks, though some states in the great plains - Wyoming (194 percent increase over past two weeks), North Dakota (184 percent) and Montana (183 percent) are starting to see cases climb as well.

Rhode Island is still the national leader in infection rate despite its high vaccination rate. The Ocean state is recording 404 infections per every 100,000 residents daily. The 78 percent of residents who are fully vaccinated is the second highest rate in America.

No other state is recording more than 400 infections per every 100,000 residents, though five are logging more than 300 per day - Wisconsin (398), Utah (341), South Carolina (338), Hawaii (312), Alaska (305).

Maine is the only U.S. state recording less than 100 daily infections for every 100,000 residents - at 68 - and is among the leaders in vaccination rate with 77 percent of residents having received their shots.

Alaska's case growth has also led to a surge in deaths, with the state now jumping to the top of daily average mortality rate as well. The state is currently logging 1.29 deaths per every 100,000 residents.

Michigan, a former leader which looked like it had gotten its situation under control, is seeing death counts rise as well. The Great Lakes state is now second in daily mortality rate, with 1.23 of every 100,000 residents dying of Covid daily.

Tennessee has relinquished the dubious honor of having the nation's highest death rate, and sits in third place with 1.1 daily deaths per 100,000 residents.

While cases may be dropping in New York and Maryland, deaths are lagging behind. Both states are also among the leaders in mortality rate, with 1.09 and 1.07 out of every 100,000 residents dying from the virus each day respectively.

No other state is recording more than one daily Covid death per every 100,000 residents as of Thursday.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said Wednesday that he expects the Food and Drug Administration to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children under the age of five as early as next month.

Fauci told Blue Star Families, a non-profit group that supports the families of U.S. service members, that he expects authorization for the shots to be extended soon.

Pfizer is currently trialing its Covid vaccine in children as young as six months old, and reportedly plans to submit its application for approval soon. The Pfizer vaccine is the only jab minors in the U.S. are eligible for, with children as young as five allowed to receive the shot.

The U.S. is already a part of a small list of countries that jabs children under the age of 12. Approving the vaccines for children as young as six months old would make U.S. kids the youngest in the world to receive the shots.

Dr Anthony Fauci (pictured), said Wednesday that he expects Covid vaccines to become available for children younger than age five as soon as next month. Pfizer is trialing its shot in kids as young as six months old

Vaccine uptake among U.S. children is already much lower than it is other age groups, as parents seem split on whether to get their child vaccinated. Children also suffer little risk from Covid and are asymptomatic in around 50% of infections

'My hope is that it's going to be within the next month or so and not much later than that, but I can't guarantee that,' Fauci said.

In December, the company announced it was extending the shots for younger children into a three dose jab, since trials found the two-dose regimen was not very effective in the age group.

The shots would also be significantly smaller. Adults and kids over 12 currently receive a 30 microgram dose of the vaccine, and children five to 12 receive a 10 microgram shot.

The jab for children younger than five will be three micrograms, a third of the size of the smallest available dose.

The company reported last month that its shot showed no safety concerns in clinical trials in kids aged six months to four years old.

Children are at an extremely low risk from Covid when compared to adults and their older peers.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that minors make up less than 0.1 percent of Covid deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.

Only 259 of the nearly 860,000 U.S. Covid deaths have been among children younger than five - the last age group in America not eligible for the shot.

A study published by researchers from the University of Utah in October found that 50 percent of children who contract Covid have an asymptomatic case.

The study was also performed during the Delta variant wave, before Omicron stormed the world and took over as America's dominant strain.

Omicron is much more mild than Delta and other previous strains of the virus, making it likely the risk children face has only decreased.

A CDC study published last week found that people of all ages are half as likely to require hospitalization as a result of Omicron infection and 91 percent less likely to die.

The little risk children face has made some concerned about vaccinations, as the small risk a kid faces of developing myocarditis may not be worth receiving the shot.

The World Health Organization's Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that she did not see it as necessary for health children to receive Covid boosters.

'The aim is to protect the most vulnerable, to protect those at highest risk of severe disease and dying, those are our elderly population, immunocompromised with underlying conditions and also health care workers,' she said during a briefing Tuesday.

Swaminathan lead's the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. The agency has long been critical of the rollout of Covid booster shots, believing that risk of infection for a fully vaccinated person is already low enough - and that nation's should instead donate doses overseas.

Many American parents are also split on whether they plan to vaccinate their children.

Children aged five to 11 are by far the least vaccinated group in the U.S. only 28 percent have received their first dose of the vaccine, and 19 percent are fully vaccinated, per CDC data.

For comparison, nearly every American over the age of 65 has received at least one shot, and at least 74 percent of every adult age group has received the jab.
BOOK OF THE WEEK

A TASTE FOR POISON

by Neil Bradbury (HarperNorth 20, 304 pp)

Who hasnt thought of poisoning someone? I know I have. Of my three true enemies, one is already dead, another is very old indeed and the third has had all sorts of health scares over the years, and has a tendency to drive up the motorway at 120 mph at the dead of night.

So I should probably just sit tight and wait. But there have been times when I have been sorely tempted.

Professor Neil Bradbury is a British-born, American-based academic specialising in physiology and biophysics, and what he doesnt know about knocking people off with toxic chemicals is probably not worth knowing.

Professor Neil Bradbury examines the origin of various poisons and what to do if struck down with them in a new book (file image)

This very splendid book is essentially a detailed primer on how to dispose of your enemies, although he is careful to point out, more than once, that you will probably get caught.

The undetectable poisons of early 20th century crime fiction dont really exist any more. Most of them are now easily identified, even if not so easily cured. Most of them are positively brutal in their effects.

Bradburys book is subtitled Eleven Deadly Substances And The Killers Who Used Them. Each chapter takes a particular poison, discusses its origins, tells a story or two about murderers who employed them, gives us a biochemical analysis of how they work in the body, and then tells us what we should do if we are struck down with them. Along the way he also entertains us with some fascinating facts.

The word poison has been in the English language since 1200, meaning a deadly potion or substance.

Poison can be delivered to a victim by four routes: Ingestion (eating or drinking it), respiration (breathing it), absorption (putting it on the skin) and injection (with a syringe or maybe a specially modified umbrella on Waterloo Bridge).

The top three poisons as measured by a number of criminal cases are: 1. arsenic, 2. cyanide, 3. strychnine. Many poisons are, in different and usually smaller doses, medically helpful and benign. Many drugs, if administered in different and usually much larger doses, can be lethal.

The best story is told by Sir John Mortimer, eminent barrister and creator of Rumpole of the Bailey.

As a rule, he said, women are the great poisoners, although I do recall with pleasure the case of the gentleman solicitor who poisoned everyone in sight. He couldnt stop himself. He was very genteel. He came up with the most memorable line in the annals of true murder.

As he handed one of his guests a poisoned scone, he said, Excuse fingers.

Professor Neil Bradbury said poison can be delivered to a victim by four routes: Ingestion, respiration, absorption and injection (file image)

Insulin, for example, is a vital drug for the treatment of diabetes, and was first identified and purified from animal pancreases by Canadian researchers in 1921. Thirty years later, though, it was used ingeniously by Kenneth Barlow, a former male nurse, to kill his young wife Elizabeth, who drowned in a bathtub in Bradford after he had injected her with a massive dose of the stuff.

The doctor knew something was up because her pupils were hugely dilated, which doesnt happen to drowning victims. A few years earlier, some schizophrenics in Austria had been injected with insulin as an experimental therapy. Researchers noted that patients began to sweat profusely, requiring repeated baths to wash away the sweat.

Then patients became restless and major convulsions followed. These ended only when they went into a coma, at which point the patients had fixed, widely dilated pupils. All these symptoms had been on display during Mrs Barlows last agonising hours.

The Home Offices forensic pathologist was convinced that Elizabeth had been injected with insulin to make her comatose before she was pushed underwater. The pathologist and his team went over the body inch by inch with magnifying glasses, looking for needle marks, and found them, two in each buttock.

The jury took 85 minutes to find Kenneth Barlow guilty, and the judge, sentencing him to life, described Barlow as a cold, cruel premeditated murderer who, but for a high degree of detective ability, would not have been found out.

A TASTE FOR POISON by Neil Bradbury (HarperNorth 20, 304 pp)

In November 1984, at the age of 65 and having been in prison for 26 years, Barlow was finally released, still protesting his innocence. And thats just the first chapter!

Atropine is another nasty little bugger, first synthesised from deadly nightshade berries in 1833. Venetian courtesans would squeeze a drop of it into their eyes to make their pupils dilate and make them look more alluring. Unfortunately, prolonged use made you go blind.

In 1995 a biochemist named Paul Agutter tried to murder his wife Alexandra with tonic water adulterated by atropine. He had also added the poison to a consignment of tonic water bottles he then placed in a supermarket in Edinburgh, to cover his tracks. He had put enough atropine in each bottle to make people ill but not to kill them, then added some more to the one he kept aside for his wife, just to make sure.

As Bradbury puts it, There are two key elements to committing the perfect murder: the intended victim should die; but the murderer should also escape arrest, conviction and imprisonment. Unfortunately for Paul Agutter, neither of these events took place. When Paul added gin to the laced tonic water and gave it to his wife, she sipped it but felt it didnt taste right.

The glass of gin-and-atropine would have been enough to kill her, but even the small quantity she drank was certainly enough to bring on all the symptoms of atropine poisoning. Her mouth went dry, her heart started racing and when she stood up, she was so dizzy she collapsed to the floor. At that point the hallucinations began, with Alexandra later recalling that everything looked as though it was made of gossamer silk.

Paul did not call for an ambulance, but instead rang the family doctor, who he knew was away that night. But, his frantic message was picked up by an on-call doctor, who came round, clocked the situation and called for an ambulance. At his trial a student of his, who had a job at the supermarket, testified that he had seen Agutter putting the atropine-laced bottles of tonic on the shelf. Alexandra survived by the skin of her teeth and Agutter got 12 years.

Bradburys book, a winning mixture of hard science and true crime stories, is almost indecently entertaining. Strychnine, you might be interested to learn, comes from the vomit button tree. Theres also a great story about killer horseradish. Its all thoroughly recommended.
Investors cheered as an overhaul by the education publisher Pearson appeared to be bearing fruit.

The FTSE 100 company brought in former Disney honcho Andy Bird in 2020 to spearhead a shake-up that puts digital learning at the heart of the business.

The City has been wary of this strategy so far but shares shot higher after it said sales rose by 8 per cent in 2021 and profits would smash estimates, with a rise of 33 per cent to 385million.

Overhaul: Pearson brought in former Disney honcho Andy Bird in 2020 to spearhead a shake-up that puts digital learning at the heart of the business

Pearson struggled when the pandemic struck and most schooling and university studying switched online.

This hit its textbook and testing income, though it said its testing services are rebounding. There is also no sign that US university students are not buying textbooks to save money.

Birds digital plan includes an online subscription model  it is often likened to Netflix, called Pearson+, for around 11 a month.

Stock Watch - Omega Diagnostics Omega Diagnostics slid after boss Colin King left. He had led it since late 2017 and through the Covid crisis, when Omega became a pandemic winner  its share price rocketed because of its work in coronavirus testing. No reason was given for Kings abrupt exit, though it follows speculation Omega may need to raise more money, which it denies. Jag Grewal, managing director of the health and nutrition arm, has replaced King. Shares fell 10.4 per cent, or 1.61p, to 13.88p.

This gives users instant access to its textbooks online and gives it direct access to customers. But Bird also said that learning and offering continued education was becoming a critical way for employers to retain staff.

He said employers need to try to set themselves apart from competitors with incentives other than higher pay if they want to hire more people to counter the Great Resignation.

Pearson finished 4.4 per cent higher, up 27.6p, to 660p, making it one of the biggest risers on the blue-chip index.

The Footsie as a whole climbed 0.4 per cent, or 26.11 points, to 7589.66, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.01 per cent, or 2.31 points, to 22,655.02.

Elsewhere, the stock market was awash with trading updates ahead of the next annual results season. Mining behemoths Rio Tinto (up 3.9 per cent, or 211p, to 5654p) and Antofagasta, (up 3 per cent, or 43.5p, to 1482.5p) both advanced despite posting disappointing fourth-quarter production reports.

They were boosted by rising metal prices. BHP rose 2.3 per cent, or 58.5p, to 2473.5p after iron ore and nickel production was up  though traders attention was likely on Bloomberg reports that BHP might look to buy rival Glencore  up 1.3 per cent, or 5.3p, to 419.1p.

Money transfer group Wise gained 2.6 per cent, or 17.2p, to 689.6p, after the amount of cash sent on its platforms jumped 38 per cent to almost 21billion in the third quarter.

Revenues surged 34 per cent to 150million on the increase, and the overseas payment groups annual sales are expected to rise by 30 per cent.

Crest Nicholson climbed 2.4 per cent, or 8p, to 347.6p as it moved back into the black in the last financial year despite raising its provision to tackle historic cladding replacements to 43million.

The housebuilder said a turnaround plan was complete after a torrid few years, posting profits of 87million, compared to a 13.5million loss the previous year.

But fellow construction group Galliford Try lost ground, falling 1.2 per cent, or 2.1p, to 176.7p, despite saying it was performing well.

Beyond the maze of financial updates, medical devices maker Smith and Nephew rose 1.7 per cent, or 21p, to 1263p after it snapped up knee implant specialist Engage Surgical in a deal worth up to 99million. Engage makes the only cementless knee implants available in the US market.

Smith & Nephew added that the purchase will boost its surgical robots business.

M&C Saatchi backers shrugged off an announcement that finance boss Mickey Kalifa is stepping down for personal reasons.

He will stay on until a replacement is found though his departure comes at a tricky time for the company after it fended off a bid from tech queen Vin Murria and is bracing for a potential higher offer. Shares in the advertising group fell 2 per cent, or 3.5p, to 175.5p.








A medical worker in a booth takes a nasal sample from a man at a makeshift COVID-19 testing site in Seoul, Jan. 19. AP-Yonhap





Daily new COVID-19 infections jumped to over 6,000 for the first time in 27 days Wednesday amid growing worries over the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.







The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 6,603 new cases, including 6,357 local ones, raising the total caseload to 712,503.






Luxury brands are roaring back to life as they put the pandemic behind them.

In separate bullish updates to investors, the British fashion house Burberry and Swiss giant Richemont have reported soaring sales in the run-up to Christmas.

The figures sent shares in Burberry 6.3 per cent higher in London while Richemont, whose brands include Cartier, and Montblanc, was up 5.1 per cent in Zurich.

British fashion house Burberry said sales before Christmas were 5% higher than a year earlier as 723m of bags, hats, scarves, coats and other clothing flew off the shelves

Chris Beauchamp, the chief market analyst at IG Group, said: 'The chasm in the global economy is clearly illustrated here, as the luxury goods sector makes headway while everyone else seems to worry about the rising cost of daily essentials.'

Burberry said sales before Christmas were 5 per cent higher than a year earlier as 723million of bags, hats, scarves, coats and other clothing flew off the shelves.

Full-price sales jumped 26 per cent reflecting its move away from offering discounts, and demand for leather goods was especially strong.

The fashion house also said profits for the year to April 3 would be 35 per cent higher than last year, well ahead of City expectations of 472million.

Finance chief Julie Brown said stores were attracting a new generation of customers, adding: 'The brand is stronger, the product is stronger.

'The key product categories, leather goods and outerwear, are performing very strongly.'

In Switzerland, Cartier-owner Richemont reported its fastest Christmas sales growth in more than a decade

Burberry shares rose 111p to 1866.5p. AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: 'It appears the wealthy are lapping up luxury items.'

Burberry chairman Gerry Murphy said the boom would continue and its incoming chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd would inherit an 'excellent' position to build from.

Akeroyd will join in April, having run Versace since 2016 and could take home 11million in his first year.

His predecessor, Marco Gobbetti, the mastermind of the multi-year plan to reposition Burberry, jumped ship to Ferragamo this year.

Mould said: 'Akeroyd will want to put his own stamp on the business, but he may want to consider an 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' approach given the progress under Gobbetti.'

In Switzerland, Richemont reported its fastest Christmas sales growth in more than a decade.

The firm, which is looking to give up control of fashion website Yoox Net-a-Porter, said sales in the three months to December 31 were 32 per cent higher than the same period a year earlier, at 4.7billion.

Jewellery sales jumped 38 per cent, fashion sales were up 37 per cent and watch sales rose by a quarter.
Conviviality owned Bargain Booze and supplied drinks to restaurants and pubs. At its height it was worth 500m

KPMG has apologised after being fined 3million for botching Convivialitys audits.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said there were serious failings in reviews of the hospitality groups accounts.

Conviviality owned Bargain Booze and supplied drinks to restaurants and pubs. It was once worth 500million  but collapsed after an accounting blunder led to a fatal profit warning.

The FRC said KPMG failings in 2017 and 2018 were serious, spanned several significant areas of financial statements and related to a number of fundamental auditing standards.

Jon Holt, UK chief executive of KPMG, said: Im sorry our work wasnt good enough in this instance.
The top scientist at pharma giant Glaxosmithkline has jumped ship to run a Silicon Valley start-up focused on anti-ageing technology.

In a setback for chief executive Emma Walmsley, veteran drug developer Hal Barron will step down as chief scientific officer in August.

He will become chief executive and co-chairman of Altos Labs, which is backed by billionaires including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and is hiring scientists around the world to explore how to reverse the ageing process.

Veteran drug developer Hal Barron will step down as Glaxosmithkline's chief scientific officer in August to become chief executive and co-chairman of Altos Labs

Barron, 59, will remain on the board as a non-executive director for three years, supporting the firms research and development efforts.

Tony Wood, GSKs senior vice-president of medical science and technology, will take over as chief scientific officer having joined the company from Pfizer in 2017.

Wood has worked on the launch of several key medicines including asthma treatment Nucala and HIV drug Cabenuva.

Altos, which has operations in Silicon Valley and San Diego in California, and Cambridge in the UK, is aiming to develop technology that can rejuvenate the bodys cells and extend lives.

Backers are said to include Bezos as well as Russian billionaire venture capitalist Yuri Milner.

Aside from Barron, the firm has attracted other top talent including Nobel Prize-winning stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, who sits on its scientific advisory board.

Barron said: I am deeply honoured to have been offered this once in a lifetime opportunity to lead such a unique company with a transformative mission to reverse disease.

Walmsley, 52, said the Altos opportunity was unique for Barron, and that GSK was pleased that it will continue to benefit from his expertise at the board.

She added that Wood was an outstanding scientist who is highly respected and that he was perfectly placed to build on Barrons progress.

Setback: The departure of Barron will be a heavy blow for boss Emma Walmsley (pictured)

Alistair Campbell, an analyst at broker Liberum, said the exit was a surprise given Barrons importance. But he added Wood was very closely aligned with Barron so the transition was likely to be seamless without any serious strategic implications.

The sentiment was shared by analysts at Bank of America, who said Wood was a continuity candidate but did little to address their concerns over the lack of progress in GSKs drug pipeline.

The companys shares, which were this week boosted by news of a 50billion bid from Unilever for its consumer healthcare arm, fell 2.1 per cent, or 348p, to 1666.4p.

Barrons departure will be a heavy blow for Walmsley, who once joked that she spent more time choosing him as chief scientist than she did picking her husband.

She went to great lengths to accommodate the California-based scientist during his tenure, including opening a small office in Barrons home of San Francisco when he agreed to join the company so he could stay there with his wife and two children.

Barron was even paid more than Walmsley in 2020, receiving a package of around 8.2million compared to her 7million, according to the latest annual report.

At the time, Barrons hiring was seen as a major coup shortly after she took over running the group.

However, his exit is likely to increase concerns from shareholders who have questioned her lack of a scientific background.

It will also provide ammunition to activist investors Elliott Management and Bluebell Capital, who have been pushing for Walmsley to reapply for her own job while also criticising her strategy of splitting off the consumer healthcare business, which includes brands such as Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkillers, into a separately listed company later this year.

The remaining part of the business will then turn its focus toward improving its pipeline of drugs and vaccines.

However, there are fears this strategy could be imperilled by Barrons departure.
State pension delays: We continue to hear from readers about being fobbed off and given misleading information by DWP staff

State pension chaos at the Department of Work and Pensions has led to one widow, 82, waiting more than a year for her money and ending up being owed 75,500, This is Money can reveal.

A service meltdown has seen pensioners face phone logjams, empty promises of help by staff when they do get through, and in the worst cases hardship or hunger while trying to get payments started.

The problems were first brought to light by our investigation at the start of September 2021.

Parveen Adams found out after being widowed in autumn 2020 that her late husband had not claimed his state pension.

The retired lecturer and her family struggled for more than a year to sort this out, including making a formal complaint that went ignored.

Within days of This is Money raising her case we were told she was due a staggering backpayment of tens of thousands of pounds, or a significant rise in future weekly payments, though the latter would be be offset by her husband's contracting out record.

Meanwhile, we have continued to hear from readers who are furious at being repeatedly fobbed off and misled by DWP staff over delays to their state pension.

'In what appears to be a common problem within the Government, I have not been told the truth and just been fed false promises,' says a retired civil servant, who turned 66 in April 2021 and was still waiting for his pension this January.

'My experience has shown that the helpline is nothing of the sort, can only provide answers to the most basic of queries and their main task appears to act as a buffer to the people who can solve problems and make decisions.'

A retired nurse, who was 66 in November and lives in the US, was informed by the DWP before Christmas she might have to wait another half a year for her state pension.

She says: 'Any claims that have been made in the House of Commons about issues being "resolved" are downright lies.'

>>>Are you still waiting for your state pension NOW? Find out what to do below

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman previously said normal service would resume by the end of October.

He blamed state pension delays on the pandemic and 'staffing issues which have now been rectified', and said hundreds of additional staff would be redeployed.

We asked the DWP to respond to our readers' accusations that Mr Opperman has broken his promise, and that DWP staff are misleading people who ring up about callbacks that don't happen and escalation of their cases.

A spokesperson says: 'We are committed to delivering an excellent level of service and ensuring the right outcome for our customers. The Department is continuously learning and improving from situations where errors happen.'

Regarding the individual complaints we highlight today, the spokesperson says: 'All of these cases have now been resolved and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

These delays are completely unacceptable. Ministers said they had solved this problem in the autumn and they quite clearly havent Matt Rodda, Shadow Pensions Minister

'There were various reasons for these claims not being processed, some of which were beyond our control.'

The DWP is considering whether to refer them to its team which decides on compensation.

Meanwhile, the DWP maintains that anyone making a claim today should not experience delays, and it notes some international state pension claims may take longer than UK claims.

Former Pensions Minister and This is Money columnist Steve Webb, who is now a partner at LCP, says: 'We are increasingly finding that unless cases are completely standard or "vanilla", DWP is taking an extremely long time to deal with them.'

Regarding the wait Ms Adams faced to resolve her and her late husband's pensions, he adds: 'In this case a family was owed a fortune in the form of a lump sum for a state pension that was never claimed, yet they had to battle for months to get someone to process their claim properly.

'DWP needs to increase the capacity of its state pension claims department to make sure that claims like this are handled swiftly and efficiently.'

Shadow Pensions Minister Matt Rodda says: 'People who have worked hard and contributed all their lives have every right to expect their pension to be paid on time, when they retire.

'To make matters worse, the delays are not only completely unfair, they are causing very real hardship.

'To be quite frank, these delays are completely unacceptable. Ministers said they had solved this problem in the autumn and they quite clearly havent. The Government must get a grip on this issue and treat pensioners with the respect they deserve.

'What is the point of taxpayers paying for helplines, call centres or response services, if the public do not receive the help they need and are left for months trying to get answers or waiting for call-backs and answers Ros Altmann, former Pensions Minister

Former Pensions Minister and campaigner Ros Altmann says: 'These cases are most concerning, because it seems the promises that the state pension delays had all been fixed are not correct.

'Of course there will be problems with any system involving large numbers of members of the public, an overly complex pension system and call centres which seem to have operators who either have insufficient knowledge to help callers, or insufficient authority to ensure others respond and follow up on promised call-backs.

'This is surely something that needs to be addressed urgently. The public has a right to expect much better service than this, especially when it relates to their state pension, which many will be wholly reliant on for their later life income.

'If they expect their pension to start on time and it does not arrive, this can cause serious hardship.'

Lady Altmann adds: 'The DWP has contracts with outside call centres and also has its own staff who handle customer phone inquiries, letters or emails.

'If those paid to respond to the public are not performing adequately, surely there should be penalties on them and redress offered to people who are being treated so badly.

'What is the point of taxpayers paying for helplines, call centres or response services, if the public do not receive the help they need and are left for months trying to get answers or waiting for call-backs and answers.

'It is really shocking. It seems that too often the only way to achieve progress is when Peers, MPs and the media intervene directly, which is clearly not right.'

'Trying to ring them is impossible': Widow and her family struggle for A YEAR to get pension

Parveen Adams, 82, ended up being owed 75,500 after the DWP failed to sort out her late husband's state pension for over a year.

She could opt to receive 154 a week extra for the rest of her life instead, and although this will be offset by a separate reduction in her own payments, she will be better off overall. See the box below.

Why do state pensions sometimes go DOWN after a spouse dies? When a late spouse was 'contracted out' of the second state pension and has a large work pension, a surviving partner's state pension is sometimes reduced to take account of that. This is Money's pension columnnist Steve Webb explains here.

The former lecturer, who is a writer on art and lives in London, lost her 72-year-old husband in September 2020.

When her brother, Darius Daver, was helping to sort out the estate he realised his late brother-in-law had never claimed a state pension.

Mr Daver says he spent half a day and made four phone calls to the DWP that November, and eventually got through to someone helpful.

He was told a separate department would investigate, his sister would receive an offer of a lump sum or additional pension for herself together with a widow's pension, and this would take up to 10 weeks.

Mr Daver sent a letter by registered delivery that December giving the details asked for and enclosing a marriage certificate, which was later returned.

However, over the year that followed, the marriage certificate was requested and returned again, and a form sent out and returned, but no action was taken to sort out Ms Adams's state pension.

She made a formal complaint by letter last November but received no response, then rang in December and was told she would get a call back within 10 days but this did not happen.

He brother then turned to This is Money for help, saying: 'It's now over a year since the matter was first raised and in the circumstances seems unkind and thoughtless.'

A family was owed a fortune in the form of a lump sum for a state pension that was never claimed, yet they had to battle for months to get someone to process their claim properly Steve Webb, former Pensions Minister

He told us: 'The biggest worry is there has been no response from anyone. It took months to get a form and then nothing. Then a formal letter to the complaints department, nothing. Trying to ring them is impossible.'

He says that luckily his sister is not short of money, but adds: 'Some people must be desperate.'

After our intervention, the DWP initially wrote to Ms Adams about the reduction in her state pension - for the reason explained in the box above - rather than ring her with an apology and a full explanation of her options regarding a lump sum or an increased weekly payment.

She was forced to call, and fail to get through, then email only to be told to call again, in a further delay she told us was making her ill.

This is Money had to chase up the DWP a second time to get the situation resolved.

The DWP subsequently told us that it would not seek to recover overpayments worth 2,700 which Ms Adams received between September 2020 and now.

'They haven't been upfront with me': Call centre staff are just a buffer and fail to help

Roger Harrison turned 66 last April but was still waiting for his state pension nine months later despite repeated calls to the DWP.

He didn't receive the usual letter people get sent just before state pension age, but rang to request a claim form the day after his birthday and submitted it in early May.

He was told in June his form had been completed correctly and no further information was needed - a message that turned out to be wrong, but which he was not informed of during his calls in August, September, October and November.

Instead DWP staff kept saying that he would receive a call back within two weeks, but this did not happen until November.

On that occasion, he says: 'I called again to be initially told my claim had not been received but after explaining my previous calls the form was eventually located.

'A supervisor did return my call the following day but was unable to offer any reason as to the delay, identify any problem or be in a position able to expedite my claim.'

After another subsequent broken promise of a call back within two weeks and an escalation of his case, Mr Harrison says he was on the verge of making another 'probably fruitless' call to the DWP in December.

Instead, when he read This is Money's last story about state pension delays he decided to contact us and his MP, Sajid Javid, who also agreed to help him.

Mr Harrison, who lives in Worcestershire, told us: 'I had planned my retirement, after 42 years of public service, to take into account my state pension and although I do have my occupational pension, I find I am increasingly having to use my savings to maintain the standard of living I had hoped for.

He added of his treatment by DWP staff: 'I am frustrated. They haven't been upfront with me. They keep fobbing me off by saying they will send an email and promising to phone me back in two weeks, and afterwards nothing.'

After This is Money raised his case with the DWP, a staff member called Mr Harrison to say he had made an error in his National Insurance number on his claim form, and there was a discrepancy in his date of birth on the system.

He questions why this was never picked up during his many phone calls, and tells us: 'The conclusion I draw from the "explanation" I have been given is that without the intervention of yourself and Sajid Javid I would not have been able to speak to anyone who approves applications and would still be in limbo over my claim.'

Mr Harrison has been paid arrears of around 5,550 and now started getting his state pension. He says: 'I hate to think of the stress and strain this would have caused someone who was reliant on receiving the pension for day to day living.'

Claims backlog NOT resolved: Retired nurse says 'denial of the facts is outrageous and disrespectful'

Deborah Thelwell turned 66 in November, so was appalled to be told the following month that she might have to wait another half a year for her state pension.

She does not have an MP because she lives in the US, so she emailed Pensions Minister Guy Opperman's office direct to say this was 'unacceptable'.

Deborah Thelwell: 'I was widowed in 2012, my late husband died at age 57, so he will never see his pension'

Mrs Thelwell wrote to him: 'I will not belabour the point that I am one of the unfortunate women who was not informed of the increase to age 66 until 20 months prior to my 60th birthday.

'So in addition to the six years I have already waited I am now forced to wait even longer. There is clearly no thought given to ones personal financial situation during this wait.

'I would also appreciate the cessation of some members of the House [of Commons] continuing to insist that the backlog of claims is now resolved - clearly it is not.

'This continued denial of the facts is outrageous and disrespectful to the people who you are actually employed to represent. Please do your job and ensure that the departments for which you are responsible do theirs efficiently.'

Mrs Thelwell told This is Money that a six-month state pension delay, on top of a six-year wait, was 'adding insult to injury'.

She says: 'I am not trying to make out that I am some kind of impoverished wretch who is asking for a handout. I have a good life, am in good health and merely want what is (and has been) due to me.

'I know that there are millions of women in a far worse situation than I, and it is also for them that attention needs to be brought to this issue.

'I was widowed in 2012, my late husband died at age 57, so he will never see his pension. There are thousands of men and women like him.'

Mrs Thelwell has received arrears of 885.18 and started getting her state pension. The DWP says it regrets there was a delay in processing her claim.

'I have no faith in them': DWP staff gave conflicting info during six-month wait for pension

Brenda Keneghan, who lives in Ireland, was 66 last July but her state pension claim was still stalled in January.

She applied through the Irish Department for Social Protection as she was advised to do this in the country where she was resident.

It told her that it had passed on her details in July, and it was up to the DWP to process her UK state pension, but she got nowhere when trying to raise it with staff at the international pension centre.

She also contacted Emily Thornberry MP, who represents the London constituency she previously lived in, and who agreed to help.

Mrs Keneghan, a former museum staff member, told us she has a small work pension but she was dependent on her husband without her state pension.

'This situation is causing me severe hardship,' she went on.

'I was depending on my pension for day to day living. I don't understand how they have accessed my records and given them to the department in Ireland without having sorted out my pension full stop.'

She says DWP staff gave her conflicting information, and kept telling her don't worry you will get your pension. She adds: 'I have no faith in them.'

After This is Money intervened, Mrs Keneghan received arrears of around 3,950 and started getting her pension. The DWP says it regrets there was a delay in processing her claim.

The DWP adds that some international state pension claims may take longer than UK ones. Readers are emailing This is Money from overseas to say they have received messages from the DWP that delays are running at 24 weeks, or sometimes at 26 weeks.

State pension delayed? What should you do

The state pension is paid four weeks in arrears when it first begins, but delays have stretched for a further month and sometimes several more.

'Anyone who has faced an unreasonable wait should definitely escalate the issue via their MP who should take it up with the DWP,' said former Pensions Minister Steve Webb.

Another former Pensions Minister, Ros Altmann, advised the same, saying: 'MPs should be able to represent their pensioner constituents and help sort out these kinds of problems.'

The Government will give an advance on a first state pension payment if you have made a claim and are in 'urgent financial need'.

Details of how to apply are here, but there is no information on what criteria it uses to make decisions.

The DWP said: 'We have procedures in place to escalate cases where a customer tells us they are in financial hardship and their state pension entitlement date is past due.

'Customer contacts of this nature are typically cleared and urgent payments issued the same day. The Pension Service phone number is 0800 731 0469.'

If you are having trouble getting payments started, write to This is Money and tell your story at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk.

Please put PENSION DELAY in the subject line. We will not be able to respond to everyone, and you may also want to seek help from your MP.
Cleo Smith's parents are considering changing the four-year-old's name to shield her from unwanted attention in the wake of her miraculous rescue 18 days after she was allegedly abducted.

Mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon have been seeking advice from other parents whose children have been unwittingly thrust into the spotlight after suffering comparable ordeals.

They are asking how young victims of high-profile crimes recovered psychologically, including whether they underwent professional counselling and if their parents considered that process worthwhile.

Cleo made global headlines late last year when Western Australian police found her in a house at Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth, 18 days after she disappeared from a camping ground.

Cleo Smith's parents are considering changing the four-year-old's name to shield her from unwanted attention in the wake of her miraculous rescue 18 days after she was allegedly abducted

Mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon have been seeking advice from other parents whose children who have unwittingly thrust into the spotlight after suffering similar ordeals

Her alleged abductor, who was not known to Cleo's family, is due to make his third court appearance on Monday.

Cleo's story will receive ongoing and widespread media coverage while the case progresses through the courts, as she reaches personal milestones and when anniversaries arrive.

It is almost inevitable what happened to Cleo will one day be turned into a film.

Her parents are concerned about how their daughter will cope with years of such intense attention, having already been the focus of worldwide publicity in early childhood.

'They're worried about the repercussions of the media and so forth down the track,' a source told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Smith has even raised with friends the possibility of changing Cleo's first and last names in an effort to protect her daughter's identity as she grows into adulthood.

'They're worried about people making the connection later on down the line,' the source said.

Cleo made global headlines late last year when Western Australian police found her in a house at Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth, 18 days after she disappeared from a camping ground. She is pictured back in the arms of her mother Ellie

Cleo's alleged abductor, Terence Darrell Kelly, is due to make his third court appearance on January 24. The 36-eyar-old was not known to Cleo's family but lived near their home

Daily Mail Australia understands Western Australian police have encouraged Ms Smith to talk about Cleo's future with the parents of other children who have experienced traumatic events.

'A big call' to change a child's identity says leading psychologist Forensic psychologist Tim Watson-Munro could not speak specifically about changing Cleo Smith's name but said any such a move would need to be considered carefully. 'I think it's a big call to change a child's identity,' he said. 'There'd have to be fairly compelling reasons for that. 'I understand they don't want publicity, they don't want to draw attention to themselves, they want to blend into the community. 'But that has to be considered in the context of the age of the child, the child's sense of identity at that age. 'If it's little Flossy and that's what she's grown up with all her life and all of a sudden she's told she's not that person anymore but someone else I think that has the potential to be quite damaging to the child. 'I guess it's a case-by-case scenario depending on the publicity and how robust the child is but it's not something you'd race into in my view.' Advertisement

'As with all matters such as these, WA Police Force provides ongoing support to families,' a spokeswoman said.

Forensic psychologist Tim Watson-Munro told Daily Mail Australia he believed it could be beneficial for Cleo's parents to talk to other families.

'I think it's a great thing as long as people are willing to speak with them,' he said. 'It's like any sort of therapy.

'Those who've been through trauma are often best-placed to speak to others about their experiences and they seem to identify more with it that way.

'They don't have people coming in just from a clinical, academic perspective. They're coming from real-life experiences and it seems to work for people.

'I think it's a great thing that they're doing it, frankly, if it's assisting people.'

Cleo disappeared from a tent on October 16 while on a weekend family holiday at the Blowholes campsite, about 80km north of Carnarvon.

She had woken about 1.30am and asked for water but when her parents got up at 6am the little girl was gone.

An land, air and sea search failed to find any trace of Cleo. Five days after she went missing police announced they believed Cleo had been abducted and offered a $1million reward.

Cleo quickly became perhaps the most recognisable four-year-old in Australia and within two weeks her smiling face would become famous around the world.

On November 3 police found Cleo alive and well inside a locked house at Carnarvon just minutes from her family home.

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was arrested nearby as Cleo was reunited with her parents and the nation celebrated what was described as both a miracle and outstanding police work.

Cleo quickly became perhaps the most recognisable four-year-old in Australia and within two weeks her smiling face would become famous around the world

International news outlets ran audio of the stunning moment the missing child told detectives 'My name is Cleo' and images of the blonde-haired girl in one of her rescuer's arms.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan even joked about who might star in a movie dramatising Cleo's disappearance and recovery.

Mr Watson-Munro said at the time Cleo and her family would have to work through 'enormous' trauma after the 18-day nightmare.

Mr Watson-Munro said Cleo's safe recovery was 'wonderful news' that almost no one expected and was relieved she had apparently been physically unharmed.

'Of course, we don't know about the psychological trauma, which I suspect will be enormous,' he told Today.

International news outlets ran audio of the stunning moment the missing girl told officers 'My name is Cleo' and moving photographs of her in a hero detective's arms (above)

Child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg told Sunrise that Cleo was likely feeling 'confused, scared, shocked, lonely and probably a tad insecure about the future'.

Dr Carr-Gregg said Cleo's reaction to what had happened to her would have to be closely monitored.

'The big concern that I have now is childhood PTSD, where you have constant, scary thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, a marked change in mood and thinking and they will, of course, be on the lookout for that,' he said.

Dr Carr-Gregg told The West that Cleo had 'been through enough' and needed to resume a normal life.

'I think mum and dad are going to have to do a lot to shield her from her new-found notoriety, because I don't think that's going to be helpful,' he said.

Professor Mark Dadds, head of the Child Behaviour Research Clinic at Sydney University, said Cleo's experience might not have left her permanently traumatised.

Child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said Cleo was likely feeling 'confused, scared, shocked, lonely and probably a tad insecure about the future'. Police are pictured at the house where Cleo was found

'We often assume that someone is going to have PTSD, like a traumatic response to the traumatic event, but that's not [always] the case,' Professor Dadds told NCA NewsWire.

'People are hugely varied in how they react to traumatic events. Some show traumatic reactions, but others don't.

'Her reaction will be very individual to her. Some kids are incredibly resilient and some can show a traumatic reaction to even the smallest thing.'

Professor Ian Hickie of Sydney Universitys brain and mind centre told Seven News: 'It's hard to live a normal life again when something so dramatic has happened and the worldwide interest is so large.'

Kelly, who is charged with forcibly taking a child under 16, is due to appear in Carnarvon Magistrates Court on January 24.
Charlise Mutten's heartbroken cousin has broken her silence to pay tribute to the 'sweet, innocent' girl allegedly murdered by her stepfather and dumped in bushland.

The nine-year-old was found in a barrel on Tuesday night in scrub near the Colo River - an hour from where she disappeared on a private property in Mount Wilson, in the NSW Blue Mountains.

Her mother Kallista Mutten's fiance Justin Stein, 31, has been charged with murder and was formally refused bail in court on Wednesday morning.

Charlise's cousin, Mellese, has spoken out about the tragedy in an emotional post on a Facebook group which had been dedicated to finding the previously missing school girl.

Charlise Mutten (pictured) was found dead near Colo River on Tuesday

The woman, who is related to the allegedly slain child's biological father, said she was 'absolutely devastated' by the turn of events.

'She was my cousin. A sweet sweet girl, innocent with a long life ahead!' she wrote.

'Seeing (your) face everywhere hurts.

'After wondering where you went for years and asking about you to now seeing this my heart is in pieces.'

The woman said her little first cousin was named after her and she felt 'honoured' by the gesture.

She added that the pair used to have 'so much fun' together and the family still have 'so many questions' about how she met her death.

Lashing out at relatives, the woman said she had been told by family members to suppress her thoughts about the situation and 'not say anything' but she shall be 'silenced no more'.

'I have been made to be silenced and I shall not stand for that!'

The nine-year-old's cousin issued a heartbreaking message on Facebook paying tribute to the young girl

Mourners comfort eachother at a vigil for Charlise outside Tweed Heads Public School on Wednesday

'I am beyond proud to have known you in this life and to have you apart of my family as well as being my only girl cousin!

'I will never be quiet about you and I will let the world know you are my family, my cousin and my blood.'

The shattered relative said the family were 'so lucky' so many people have been committed to finding Charlise as she vowed to get to the bottom of how the nine-year-old met her death.

'We will get answers! 'I'll always remember you and I hope justice gets served!'

Meanwhile, hundreds of devastated mourners gathered outside the Tweed Heads Public School in northern NSW on Wednesday night to hold an emotional candlelit vigil for the student.

Many of the young mourners held candles as they stood outside the gates adorned with countless bunches of flowers, pink balloons, cards and photos of Charlise.

Police will allege Stein spent up to five hours driving around the Harbour City with his fiance's daughter's body in the back of a boat while he tried to figure out where to dump her, the Daily Telegraph reports.

It is understood detectives believe Charlise's mother left her daughter in the care of Stein last Tuesday night - the last time she was confirmed to be alive.

Police will allege she was killed within the following 15 hours.

Charlise Mutten, 9, was initially believed to have last been seen on Thursday but was reported missing on Friday morning. Police will now allege she was killed on the Tuesday night, three days before her mother called 000

Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten's fiance Justin Stein (pictured) has been charged with murder

The schoolgirl, who was under the fulltime custody of her grandparents in the Gold Coast, was spending the holidays with her mother and stepfather at the Blue Mountains property when she was reported missing on Friday.

Homicide detectives retraced Stein's steps using CCTV after he allegedly bought five 20kg sandbags from Bunnings, fuelled up a boat, then tried to launch it from an inner-Sydney dock.

After finding the boat was inoperable, police will allege he then tried to dump the barrel containing Charlise's body in Colo River but was unable to roll it in due to the weight of the sandbags.

It is alleged he instead left her in bushland, where she was later discovered.

A blue tarpaulin was also found in the back of the boat. The barrel has now been seized and will be forensically examined.

Police revealed in a press conference on Wednesday they will allege Stein discussed buying sandbags and boat fuel before later travelling to the riverbed where his stepdaughter's body was later found.

The accused appeared in Central Local Court on Wednesday from Surry Hills police station, where he is detained

'(There were) a number of telephone conversations, to purchase a number of sandbags,' Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

Footage of Stein's arrest was released on Wednesday afternoon, showing the moment he walked from a car to a holding cell at Surry Hills Police Station with his hands cuffed in front of him.

He wore a grey Everlast jumper and shorts which he was still dressed in when he fronted court on Wednesday morning.

Ms Mutten reported Charlise missing to police on Friday morning.

The police fact sheet tendered in court on Wednesday indicates police believe she may have been killed several days before this call was made.

Police alleged Charlise was killed sometime between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am Wednesday January 12.

Detectives are still waiting to speak to Ms Mutten because she remains under guard at hospital and is 'hard to approach'.

'The mother is currently under healthcare and is difficult to approach,' Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

'She's under medical supervision, but when doctors allow, we will be talking to her.'

Mr Hudson said it was too early to speculate as to whether the accused had an accomplice.

'At this stage, we have no evidence to support whether the accused acted alone... However it is still early days,' he said.

There has been a significant delay in speaking with the girl's mother Kallista Mutten (pictured) because she remains in hospital under guard. 'The mother is currently under healthcare and is difficult to approach,' Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said

Footage of the man's arrest was released on Wednesday afternoon, showing as he walked from the car to the holding cell at Surry Hills Police Station with his hands cuffed in front of him

Police have seized Stein's red ute (pictured) as part of their investigation into Charlise's alleged murder

Police were investigating a number of 'anomalies' they claimed to identify in the accused's initial testimony, which included allegedly giving two separate versions of events in the lead up to the young girl's disappearance.

Mr Hudson said through tracking the movements of a car they seized via CCTV, they were able to establish certain facts as to Stein's movements.

Charlise's doting grandparents, who live in Coolangatta, have been notified.

More details about Charlise's death and final moments are expected in the coming days after her post-mortem results are shared with detectives.

The 31-year-old accused, who was arrested inside a Surry Hills unit shortly after her body was found, did not apply for bail in court on Wednesday - and it was formally refused.

The 31-year-old man was arrested at an apartment in Surry Hills on Tuesday night and he briefly faced court on Wednesday

Police made the grisly discovery near the Colo River (pictured) in Sydney's west on Tuesday night

His lawyer asked the court for a 12 week adjournment to seek a mental health assessment, noting he's been on 'long term medication'.

An eyewitness also told Daily Mail Australia they had seen a car leaving the property she was last seen at in the early hours of Friday morning.

The one hour drive from Mt Wilson to the Colo River follows Mt Wilson Road to the Bells Line of Road then via one of two routes to reach the river.

Driving past houses and equestrian properties, the road becomes a dirt track as it enters the Wollemi National Park.

Comleroy Road to Upper Colo is a winding and often steep and treacherous dirt road which crosses through the flowing Colo River past the remote Wheeny Creek campground.

Emergency crews are seen in Colo River near the Blue Mountains, near where Charlise's body was found

Pictured: Police vehicles moving down the driveway at Mount Wilson, in the NSW Blue Mountains

RFS volunteers (pictured) were deployed to the area to search for the nine-year-old and have been combing bushland

A road posted with a sign warning 'Protect children! Please drive carefully' goes past the Upper Colo Anglican Church and local rural fire brigade headquarters.

Charlise's 'shattered' father, who cannot be identified, shared an emotional tribute on Wednesday morning, hours after learning of her death.

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' he said.

'You have captured the hearts of the nation and the world, and now those hearts are breaking with mine.'

Her father vowed this 'would not be the end of [her] or [her] story' in his statement.

'This doesn't happen. Kids need to be safe. What is wrong with people?'
Dr Kamran Abbasi  editor of the British Medical Journal  slammed Facebook for 'censoring' its report into allegations of malpractice during Pfizer's Covid vaccine trials

The editor of the British Medical Journal has slammed Facebook for 'censoring' its report into allegations of malpractice during Pfizer's Covid vaccine trials.

Dr Kamran Abbasi accused the social media giant of suppressing 'fully fact-checked' journalism and 'trying to control how people think'.

A BMJ investigation in November warned that a contractor which ran a number of Pfizer's original jab studies may have falsified data and skewed findings.

Its report was based on dozens of internal documents, photos, audio-recordings, videos and statements from three former employees.

But when some users shared the journal entry on Facebook, their post was automatically given a 'missing context' label.

The shared article was also accompanied by a warning that said it could 'mislead people' and a link to a fact-checking website.

The BMJ is lodging a complaint with Facebook's Oversight Board this week after a failed appeal to Mark Zuckerberg to have the tags removed made via an open letter.

Dr Abbasi wrote in the BMJ today: 'We should all be very worried that Facebook, a multibillion dollar company, is effectively censoring fully fact checked journalism that is raising legitimate concerns about the conduct of clinical trials.'

He added: 'Facebooks actions wont stop The BMJ doing what is right, but the real question is: why is Facebook acting in this way? What is driving its world view?

'Is it ideology? Is it commercial interests? Is it incompetence?

The BMJ has slammed Facebook after its article on mistakes made during the Pfizer vaccine trials was labelled as 'missing context'. Above shows a post where a user shared the article, which is accompanied with a note from Facebook

People who shared the BMJ article on Facebook also received these notifications. The BMJ has already complained to Mark Zuckerberg, and will be taking the case to its Oversight Board this week. Facebook said the article was labelled because it was being shared by anti-vaxxers

'Users should be worried that, despite presenting itself as a neutral social media platform, Facebook is trying to control how people think under the guise of "fact checking".'

The BMJ's article related to an arm of Pfizer's trial in Texas which involved 1,000 participants. There is no suggestion that it skewed the overall findings of the broader trial.

The prestigious medical journal has submitted a complaint to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which helps to police misinformation online.

Social media bosses face tough criminal sanctions for hosting extremist content Social media bosses could face 'criminal sanctions with tough sentences' if they allow extremist content to appear on their platforms, Boris Johnson has said. He told MPs that the forthcoming Online Safety Bill would tackle web giants if they allow 'foul content' to circulate. And he promised the long-awaited legislation would make quick progress in the Commons, with the bill receiving its second reading before Christmas. But a Whitehall source later said the second reading might not take place until early next year. Published in May, the draft bill gives regulator Ofcom the power to impose multibillion-pound fines on technology giants that fail to show a duty of care to users. But it stops short of bringing criminal sanctions against bosses. Instead, a new criminal offence for managers has been included as a deferred power that can be introduced if Ofcom finds that firms are failing to keep to their new responsibilities. Some campaigners have raised fears that the rules risk stifling the free press, 'silencing marginalised voices' and introducing 'state-backed censorship'. Advertisement

Facebook says the article was initially labelled as 'missing context' because it was being used by anti-vaxxers as 'proof' that Covid jabs were unsafe.

Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have come under intense scrutiny over misinformation during the pandemic, particularly related to vaccines.

Earlier this month, Boris Johnson said anti-vaxxers were being allowed to spread 'mumbo-jumbo' and 'complete nonsense' online.

Gary Schwitzer, from the University of Minnesota and who runs a website evaluating health journalism, said Facebook's fact-checking process was not transparent or consistent enough.

The BMJ's Pfizer trial report, published in November last year, warned corners had been cut in an arm of the study run by medical company Ventavia.

Whistleblower Brook Jackson, who briefly worked for the business in 2020, told the BMJ Ventavia did not always test patients with symptoms, potentially masking how well jabs performed.

She added that it was 'falsifying' data, and said underqualified staff had been hired as vaccinators and to follow-up on side effects.

Her statements were corroborated by dozens of internal documents and two former Ventavia employees, who wished to remain anonymous.

The Texas-based contractor was responsible for 1,000 participants at three sites in the state, or just two per cent of all those involved.

But the report raised concerns that similar issues may have crept into other parts of the trial, although these remain unsubstantiated.

The BMJ's head of journalism Rebecca Coombes and investigations editor Madlen Davies said they had 'serious concerns' about the fact checking being undertaken for Facebook.

They said the lack of accountability and oversight of third-party 'fact-checkers' was leading to the censorship of accurate information.

Researchers running a small number of Pfizer's original Covid vaccine trials may have 'falsified' study findings, the BMJ has reported (file)

Pfizer has since rehired Ventavia to work on four other trials of its jabs, including for children, young adults and pregnant women, as booster doses.

Ventavia has denied the claims, saying an internal investigation had found they were 'unsubstantiated'.

They said Ms Jackson was employed by the company for approximately two weeks in September 2020, and was not responsible for the Covid vaccine trial as part of her job.

Meta, which owns Facebook, told MailOnline that its fact checkers were independent and were responsible for reviewing content and applying ratings to stories.

A spokesman said: 'We are transparent with publishers when their content is fact checked, and we have an appeals process in place for publishers who wish to issue a correction or dispute a rating directly with a fact checker.'

Lead Stories, the fact-checkers for Facebook, said the BMJ article carried 'a scare headline that oversells the whistleblower and overstates the jeopardy'.

Facebook has about 2.85billion users, equivalent to more than a third of the world's population.

The UK's upcoming Online Safety Bill is set to make tech giants accountable for 'harmful' content being circulated on their platforms.

This will include illegal content, such as terrorist propaganda and child abuse, and 'legal but harmful' content, such as cyberbullying and misinformation  including around Covid vaccines.

News organisations have raised concerns, however, that it will lead to legitimate journalism being taken down because companies will use algorithms to sift through posts.

Peter Wright, editor emeritus of DMG Media, has previously said social media platform's algorithms for monitoring content are 'very poor'.

He told a Parliamentary Committee hearing that attempts by Facebook to moderate journalism in the US was leading to articles being blocked before anyone had a chance to read them.

Mr Wright said; 'it's arbitrary, it often fails to understand the nature of the content, it's imposed without any sort of process, it is not in line with English legal thinking on journalism, which is that the editor must take responsibility for what he or she publishes, and pay the consequences afterwards'.
A retired professor is being sued by the sons of his late wealthy socialite girlfriend, who accuse him of selling dozens of her valuables to an antique dealer in Washington DC - just months after being charged with stealing a $32,000 brooch from a friend.

Lawrence 'Larry' Gray, 78, spent a decade attending black-tie dinners, classical concerts and vacations in the Hamptons with his longtime girlfriend Jacqueline Quillen. The two were never married but lived together in the four-bedroom, $1.6 million Georgetown home she owned in Northwest Washington, D.C.

Quillen - the granddaughter of former Wall Street giant, Alfred Lee Loomis, who invented the Long Range Navigation System - was 77 when she died in October 2020 of heart failure.

Gray had tenure at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy as a political science professor and traveled back and forth between Rome and Washington, D.C. to be with Quillen before retiring in 2011.

She ended her relationship with Gray months before she died because she suspected he was stealing from her, but allowed him to stay in the home. He remained in the house even after Quillen's death, despite her family's requests for him to leave, leading to him being accused of 'squatting' by her sons.

The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court by one of Quillen's sons, Parker, alleges that Gray stole thousands of dollars worth of art and jewelry from Quillen, including a $17,000 diamond ring, a $10,000 Patek Philippe watch and $4,700 diamond earrings.

In a separate case, an arrest warrant was issued for Gray in Rhode Island in October after he was accused of stealing - and then selling off - a $32,000 brooch from a friend's home. He pleaded not guilty and will reappear in court next month.

'Wherever Defendant Lawrence 'Larry' Gray goes, the discovery of theft often follows,' Quillen's attorneys wrote in their original complaint.

Lawrence Gray, 78, spent a decade attending black-tie dinners, classical concerts and vacations in the Hamptons with his longtime girlfriend Jacqueline Quillen before she died in October 2020. She ended her relationship with Gray months before she died because she suspected he was stealing from her, her sons claims in a lawsuit

A pioneering businesswoman, Quillen founded the Wine & Cheese Company in 1974, while raising three boys. Quillen is pictured with her three sons, Barton, Parker, and Whitney, outside her Georgetown home in 1991

Gray and Quillen were never married, but were romantically involved for a decade and lived together in the four-bedroom, $1.6 million Georgetown home she owned in Northwest Washington, D.C.

Parker Quillen, who is the trustee of the Jacqueline Quillen Living Trust, filed the lawsuit that alleges that Gray stole from his mother before and as her health declined.

After her death, Gray sold dozens of her art pieces and other valuables to a Georgetown antique dealer, and sought to auction and consign her jewelry and clothing, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also alleges that Parker Quillen 'discovered only recently' that his mother kept 'a written record' of her 'suspicions' that Gray was stealing her jewels as early as four years before her death.

In the months after her death, Gray made several trips to consignment shops in the D.C. area.

He told Krista Johnson, the owner of the Ella Rue consignment shop in Georgetown, a copy of Quillen's obituary in hand, that he needed 'to be a minimalist and get rid of everything.' She told the Washington Post that Gray told her, 'I need to move on.'

She also told the Washington Post that over time, his behavior began to strike her as odd and so she looked up Quillen's obituary, and saw 'there was no mention of him.'

In a court filing responding to Parker Quillen's complaint, Gray's attorney denied the lawsuit's claims that his client had sold Jacqueline Quillen's belongings to Ella Rue and L'Enfant Gallery.

But store owner Peter Colasante told the Washington Post that Gray brought bags of glassware into his shop soon after Quillen died, and that Gray invited him to what he 'claimed was his home' on R Street, creating the impression that he and Jacqueline Quillen 'were married and he was the survivor.'

Colasante added that he paid Gray about $25,000 for dozens of pieces, including paintings, etchings, statuettes, Persian rugs, glassware, Tiffany plates and a Hamilton watch.

He said he first heard from the Quillen family after he posted on his shop's website photos of a dozen or so Steuben martini glasses he had purchased from Gray. Parker Quillen, he said, told him the 1920s-era glasses had once belonged to his great-grandfather.

Jacqueline Quillen and Lawrence Gray are seen relaxing on the beach in East Hampton in September 2018, two years before her death

Quillen came from a wealthy family and attended the most prestigious schools, including Radcliff College at Harvard and Tulane. She died in October 2020 at the age of 77

The couple met in Washington, D.C. in 2004, when he was on a sabbatical from John Cabot University, according to an account of their relationship in Gray's counter-complaint.

Quillen came from a wealthy family and attended the most prestigious schools, like Radcliff College at Harvard and Tulane, according to her obituary.

Her grandfather, a Wall Street giant, Alfred Lee Loomis, was the inventor of the Long Range Navigation System that helped develop radar technology, an advance cited as a key to the Allied victory in World War II.

Described in her obituary as a pioneering businesswoman, Quillen founded the Wine & Cheese Company on Magazine Street in 1974, while raising three boys as a single parent in New Orleans. She then worked at Christie's Auction House where she started a wine department in North America.

For years, Quillen and Gray attended dinner parties and classical music concerts, and traveled extensively.

But there were signs of trouble in their relationship starting as early as 2016, according to the complaint, when Quillen 'suspected Gray was stealing from her.'

Gray and Quillen met in Washington, D.C. in 2004, when he was on a sabbatical from John Cabot University, according to an account of their relationship in Gray's counter-complaint

For years, Quillen and Gray attended dinner parties and classical music concerts, and traveled extensively. But there were signs of trouble in their relationship starting as early as 2016, when Quillen 'suspected Gray was stealing from her'

'I can't imagine life without him,' she wrote, apparently referring to Gary. 'It's so rich when it's good. I would be very sad to not have him as my companion for cooking, making dinner, watching the news, traveling.'

She also allegedly wrote that Gray had 'no moral compass,' as she described him opening her safe where she kept her jewelry and finding '12 items missing,' a cache worth $72,000.

'The only person who knew the numbers to open my safe besides me was Larry,' she wrote, according to the lawsuit. 'The stealing has been going on a long time.'

Their relationship ended soon after her health began to deteriorate in June 2020. According to the lawsuit, Quillen was convinced that he had stolen her $9,500 diamond, sapphire and ruby brooch and three sets of earrings worth $5,750.

Quillen said, according to the complaint, that Gray 'was the only person in the home that day  and the only person who could have stolen the items.'

But she allowed Gray to stay in her home, which he continued to do after her death on October 1, 2020, despite her family's requests for him to leave, according to the lawsuit. 'He is squatting,' the lawsuit claims.

In court filings, Gray's attorney, Jonathan C. Windle, contends that the couple had a $2,500-a-month lease agreement and that he continued to write rent checks after her death.

He wrote that Parker Quillen is using 'defamatory allegations' to unlawfully evict his client 'in the midst of a national pandemic.'

Windle also described Parker Quillen's lawsuit as 'hyperbolic fiction,' akin to 'To Catch a Thief,' the 1955 movie which features Carey Grant as a jewel thief.

'With nothing more than his imagination, his personal disdain for Gray, and perhaps a love for Alfred Hitchcock movies,' Windle wrote, Parker Quillen 'points his accusing finger' at the professor 'as the mastermind behind these thefts.'

In his own counter-complaint, Gray accused Parker Quillen of taking a $160,000 engagement ring that Gray had once intended to give Jacqueline. Park Quillen denied these allegations.

In October, a Rhode Island judge issued a warrant for Gray's arrest on a charge that he stole a diamond and sapphire brooch valued at $32,000.

The brooch belonged to Nannette Herrick, at whose Newport home Gray and Jacqueline Quillen stayed while attending a wedding in 2016.

The incident is just one of nine occasions from 2013 to 2020, according to Parker Quillen's lawsuit, that his mother and Gray were guests in homes where art, jewelry or cash disappeared.

According to Newport Police, Gray sold the brooch to Doyle Auctions, which sold it in 2016 for $22,500. The brooch was among 'approximately 25 jewelry and art items Gray consigned' to Doyle from 2015 to 2020, according to the affidavit.

Gray pleaded not guilty.

A Rhode Island judge released him on his own recognizance and allowed him to return to Washington. A pretrial conference is scheduled for February 2.
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President Joe Biden suffered a stinging defeat Wednesday night as Senate Democrats failed to advance their voting rights legislation in yet another major blow to Biden's domestic agenda.

'I am profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy. I am disappointed  but I am not deterred,' the president wrote in a statement late Wednesday.

Biden was handed another blow as Democratic centrist Senators Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona joined all 50 Republicans to thwart their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster after a raw, emotional debate.

With Vice President Kamala Harris standing by to break a 50-50 tie, but the rules change was rejected in a 52-48 vote, and Harris left before the final roll call.

Democrats needed 60 votes in order to end debate and initiate a vote on the legislation that would overhaul U.S. voting laws.

The package combined two separate legislative items that were already passed by the House  the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bills would make Election Day a holiday, adjust the redistricting process and crack down on money in politics.

Despite a day of piercing debate and speeches that often carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed by opponents of civil rights legislation, Democrats could not persuade holdout senators Sinema and Manchin to change the Senate procedures on this one bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.

The Democrats' hopes to pass voting rights bill by ending filibuster rules went down in flames

President Joe Biden, who blasted Republicans as obstructionists during press conference earlier on Wednesday, posted tweet (below) shortly after Democrats failed to push through his agenda later in the day

Republicans also were able to block Democrats from limiting debate on voting rights package

Vice President Kamala Harris attended the Senate session on Wednesday evening but was not needed to cast a tie-breaking vote

Protesters organized by ShutDownDC wave their signs which read 'protect your voting rights' as the motorcade of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris drives by on her way to the U.S. Capitol during the live debate between U.S. Senators of voting rights legislation in Washington on January 19

But Biden said he would not be deterred from continuing to push for getting voting rights legislation passed.

'My Administration will never stop fighting to ensure that the heart and soul of our democracy  the right to vote  is protected at all costs,' he wrote in his Wednesday statement following the vote. 'We will continue to work with allies to advance necessary legislation to protect the right to vote. And to push for Senate procedural changes that will protect the fundamental right to vote.'

The blow comes as midterm campaigns commence and Democrats try to hold onto their razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate.

Manchin forcefully defended his opposition to changing the filibuster rule, even though he supports the voting rights legislation itself. His vote would be needed to overturn the rule.

'Let this change happen in this way and the Senate will be a body without rules,' Manchin said. 'We don't have to change the rules to make our case to the American people for voting rights.'

Biden said during a rare news conference earlier on Wednesday that he had not given up hope of advancing voting rights.

'We've not run out of options yet,' Biden said.

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the legislation, but Democrats fell far short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill over the Republican filibuster. It failed 51-49 on a largely party-line vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer cast a procedural vote against the bill so it could be considered later.

Next, Schumer put forward a rules change for a 'talking filibuster' on this one bill. It would require senators to stand at their desks and exhaust the debate before holding a simple majority vote, rather than the current practice that simply allows senators to privately signal their objections.

But that, too, failed because Manchin and Sinema were unwilling to change the Senate rules in a party-line vote by Democrats alone.

Republicans wasted no time in lauding the Biden defeat as a win for former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was rigged and riddled with fraud by Democrats.

'The Democrat election lie died tonight,' Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a Wednesday evening statement.

'Joe Biden calling Americans racist for wanting voter ID was never a winning strategy, and neither was trying to break the Senate to appease radical left-wing activists,' she added. 'Americans are facing real problems like rampant crime and rising prices, but Joe Biden doesn't care.'

Emotions were on display during the Senate floor debate.

When Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois asked Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky whether he would pause for a question, McConnell left the chamber, refusing to respond.

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema walks outside Senate chamber before casting her No vote to end filibuster

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia fields phone call before casting vote against eliminating the filibuster

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (C) walks with staffers to the Senate chamber for a procedural vote on voting rights legislation, on Capitol Hill on January 19

Protesters, one holding a sign which reads 'we want actual democracy', gather around a screen projecting the live debate from U.S. Senators, including U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), of voting rights legislation near the U.S. Capitol building on January 19

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harrus departs the Senate Chambers after presiding over a procedural vote on ending the voting rights legislation debate process on January 19

Sen. Bernie Sanders (center) talks to reporters after Democrats lost bid to bypass filibuster and pass voting rights bill

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) speaks to reporters as he leaves the Senate Chambers of the Capitol following a vote on amendments to Senate procedures on January 19

What's in the John Lewis Act and the Freedom to Vote Act The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act together would make Election Day a holiday, expand access to mail-in voting and strengthen U.S. Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. Republicans oppose federal laws on voting, arguing elections should be run on a state level. Democrats are pushing the bills to combat a slew of new state laws in GOP-controlled states that they claim hurt voting rights access, particularly among people of color, and would help nullify election results. The two pieces of legislation were combined into a single bill. The House passed the single bill on Thursday and sent it to the Senate for consideration. Because the bill will be categorized as a 'message between the houses,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer can skip the 60-vote threshold needed to start debate, allowing him to bypass Republicans' vow to filibuster. That will allow debate to begin on the legislation. However, it doesn't guarantee the legislation will get passed. When debate on the bill concludes, Schumer will still need 60 votes to file cloture to end debate on the bill - that means he needs 10 GOP senators on board. Republicans can use their filibuster power then to stop the legislation its tracks. Here is what is in the legislation: The Freedom to Vote Act is a slimmed down version of the House-passed For the People Act, a massive Democratic bill on on voting rights, campaign finance, and federal ethics. After Senate Republicans filibustered the For the People Act in the Senate in June, a group of Democratic senators, including Joe Manchin, drafted the Freedom To Vote Act. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has called the act an attempt by Democratic lawmakers 'to have the federal government take over how elections are conducted all over America.' The legislation would require: Making Election Day as a federal holiday.

Creating a national standard on elections: A set of standards for federal elections to ensure that voters have similar access to the ballot box across the country.

Online, automatic, and same-day voter registration.

A minimum of 15 days of early voting, including during at least two weekends.

No-excuse mail voting with ample access to ballot drop boxes and online ballot tracking, in addition to streamlined election mail delivery by the US Postal Service.

States would need to accept a wide range of forms of non-photographic identification in places where ID is required to vote.

Counting eligible votes on provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct.

Restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated people convicted of felonies.

Imposes stricter regulations on voter list maintenance that make it harder for states to remove eligible voters from the rolls.

More protections and resources to serve voters with disabilities and overseas/military voters.

Greater federal protections and oversight for voting in US territories.

Improving voter registration resources and outreach, in addition to reauthorizing and strengthening the US Election Assistance Commission. It would also: Prohibit partisan gerrymandering by requiring states to use certain criteria when drawing new congressional districts.

Require states to use voter-verifiable paper ballots and conduct post-election audits.

Give cybersecurity grants to states and directs the EAC to strengthen cybersecurity standards for voting equipment.

Prohibit local election officials from being fired or removed without cause.

Make interfering with voter registration a federal crime, and imposes stricter penalties against harassment, threats, and intimidation of election workers.

Restate chain of custody requirements protecting the integrity of ballots and election materials, a provision meant to combat unofficial partisan 'audits.' Finally, on campaign finance reform: It includes provisions from the DISCLOSE Act, which targets so-called dark money in elections, and the HONEST Ads Act, which seeks to enhance transparency in campaign advertising.

Creates a federal obligation for campaigns to report instances of foreign interference.

Stricter enforcement of illegal coordination between single-candidate PACs and campaigns.

Stronger enforcement of campaign finance regulations by the Federal Election Commission. The John Lewis bill would restore key provisions of the Voting Rights of 1965 that have been struck down or weakened by the Supreme Court, and change the way federal courts handle election cases. Senate Republicans struck down the act in November. All GOP senators voted against it except Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But her support still left Democrats short the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. McConnell called the bill a 'trojan horse.' 'This is a Trojan horse to carry a lot of other provisions that the Democrats had wanted to enact through the earlier voting rights bill that we've already considered and rejected,' he said. 'Clearly they want to change the subject away from how the American people feel about this administration, about the reckless tax and spending bill onto a nonexistent problem with this marching out of the John Lewis voting rights act,' he said. It creates a new formula to restore the federal preclearance requirement mandating states with histories of discrimination to seek permission from the federal government before enacting new voting rules or redistricting plan. The Supreme Court struck down the old formula.

Reverses the Supreme Court's new 'guideposts' and standards from the Brnovich decision that make it harder for plaintiffs to prove racial discrimination under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Enshrines judicial precedent and legislative history to strengthen efforts to draw majority-minority districts under the parameters of the Voting Rights Act.

Takes aim at the federal courts by requiring judges to explain their reasoning in emergency rulings they take up on the so-called shadow docket, and tries to limit judges' from relying solely on the proximity to the election in deciding emergency cases on election rules, known as the Purcell principle.

Election Worker and Polling Place Protection Act, which provides greater federal protections for election workers against harassment and intimidation.

Includes the Native American Voting Rights Act, a bill that strengthens voting rights and voter protections for voters in Indian Country. Advertisement

Durbin said he would have asked McConnell, 'Does he really believe that there's no evidence of voter suppression?'

The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said at one point, 'I am not a racist.'

McConnell, who led his party in doing away with the filibuster's 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees during Donald Trump's presidency, warned against changing the rules again.

McConnell derided the 'fake hysteria' from Democrats over the states' new voting laws and called the pending bill a federal takeover of election systems. He said doing away with filibuster rules would 'break the Senate.'

Manchin drew a roomful of senators for his own speech, upstaging the president's news conference and defending the filibuster. He said changing to a majority-rule Senate would only 'add fuel to the fire' and the 'dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart.'

Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus walked across the Capitol building for the proceedings.

'We want this Senate to act today in a favorable way. But if it don't, we ain't giving up,' said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest-ranking Black member of Congress.

Manchin did open the door to a more tailored package of voting law changes, including to the Electoral Count Act, which was tested during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. He said senators from both parties are working on that and it could draw Republican support.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said a bipartisan coalition should work on legislation to ensure voter access, particularly in far-flung areas like her state, and to shore up Americans' faith in democracy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer began debate on the Democrats' doomed voting rights legislation on Tuesday and called Republican opposition to the bill an 'implicit endorsement of Donald Trump's big lie.'

He continued the condemnation of the opposition party on Wednesday evening as Republicans voted to block the legislation.

Schumer doubled down on his promise Tuesday to move to kill the filibuster if Republicans use it to stop the voting rights legislation from advancing, which ultimately happened Wednesday evening.

'The eyes of the nation will be watching what happens this week in the United States Senate,' Schumer said on Tuesday. 'The public is entitled to know where each senator stands on an issue as sacrosanct as defending our democracy. The American people deserve to see their senators go on record.'

'Republicans will have to choose which side they stand on protecting democracy or offering their implicit endorsement of Donald Trump's big lie,' he said, referring to Trump's false claim he won the 2020 election.

Meanwhile Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Democrats for turning against the filibuster after once supporting it when Republicans were in the majority.

Democrats often wield the filibuster when in the minority, even as recently has during Trump's administration.

'Until the last couple of years, senators on both sides have understood the Senate is not here to rubber stamp massive changes under thin majorities,' McConnell said.

'This is about one party wanting the power to unilaterally rewrite the rulebook,' he noted.

Manchin also recognized the hypocrisy of his own party during remarks from the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon.

'Just four years ago 61 of us  61 senators, myself being one, 33 of us on the Democrat side, many of which are studying in the chamber today, you've heard this many times  we sent a letter to Senator Schumer and to Senator McConnell warning them of the dangers of eliminating the filibuster,' Manchin said during his remarks Wednesday.

'That letter presented a united front committed to preserve the ability of the members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor,' he continued. 'Well some of the senators have changed their positions. I have not. I respect that this is a two way street. And I would hope you would respect where I am.'

'I respected you had changed your position on this. I would hope that you would respect that I have not and I have never wavered on this. I do not and will not attack the contents of the character of anybody who's changed their positions, and I would hope you would give me the same opportunity and not attack mine.'

Biden has personally lobbied Manchin and Sinema to support killing the filibuster on this issue so the bill can advance, but his efforts have been for naught.

When Biden went to Atlanta last Tuesday to discuss voting rights, several local civil rights activists boycotted his address out of frustration about the lack of action.

Stacey Abrams, the voting rights activists who helped Biden win Georgia in 2020, wasn't there due to a 'conflict.'

The vote came hours after Biden defended his presidency on Wednesday by bragging he has 'outperformed' expectations, slamming Republicans for working against him and then saying some GOP lawmakers secretly have told him they're on his side but too worried about a primary to publicly support him.

In the wide-ranging press conference, he admitted he'd likely have to break up his stalled Build Back Better bill to get it passed, predicted a Russian 'move in' on the Ukraine and defended the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer.

Speaking the day before his one-year anniversary in office, Biden started his first press conference in 78 days by tackling the two issues that are behind his falling poll numbers: the COVID pandemic and the record high inflation hurting the economy. The president's approval rating has dropped to the low 40s as voters give him low marks on those two issues.

'It's been a year of challenges but also been a year of enormous progress,' Biden said in his second solo press conference held in the White House.

He spoke for nearly two hours and took questions from 24 reporters in the room. He made none of the verbal gaffes he's made at past press events - such as Kamala Harris the president - but he grew snippy at one point when asked about a voting rights speech where he compared Republicans to prominent white supremacists. He also played the role of time-keeper, repeatedly checking his watch and noting how long he was taking questions.

'I'm still standing,' he said as he approached the two hour mark.

He also blamed Republicans for stalled legislation on Capitol Hill, saying what he didn't expect in his first year was for GOP lawmakers to be so unsupportive.

'I did not anticipate that there would be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn't get anything done,' the president said.

'Think about this. What are Republicans for? What are they for? Name me one thing they're for,' the president continued. ' I haven't been able to do so far is get my Republican friends to get in the game and making things better in this country.'

He said he likes Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell but blamed him for legislation on Capitol Hill being stalled by moderate Democrats.

'Mitch has been very clear. He will do anything to prevent Biden from being a success,' he said.

Biden also said he's had private conversations with five Republican senators who told him they're on his side but too worried about being primaried in this year's midterm election to publicly support him.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock from Georgia rides an elevator as he leaves the Senate Chambers of the Capitol following a vote on amendments to Senate procedures on January 19

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had vowed to attempt to eliminate the filibuster entirely as the GOP uses it to block their legislative agenda  even though Democrats used the mechanism several times when they were in the minority in the Senate

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) elbow bumps a U.S. Capitol Police Officer as he arrives to the Senate Chambers for a procedural vote on ending the voting rights legislation debate process on January 19

'I've had five Republican senators talk to me, bump into me, or sit with me who have told me that they agree with whatever I'm talking about. 'But Joe, if I do it, I'm going to be defeated in a primary.' We have to break that. It's got to change,' Biden said.

He declined to name the Republican senators when asked. Republicans have been wary of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who are looking to play an oversized role in the GOP primaries this year. Trump has publicly attacked Republican lawmakers who have publicly disagreed with him.

Biden marveled at the grip Trump still had on the party.

'Did you ever think that one men out of office could intimidate an entire party where they're unwilling to take any vote contrary to what he thinks should be taken for fear of being defeated in a primary?' he said.
A gay couple were stunned to be told they could not buy their dream house in Surrey from a devoutly Christian couple - because of their sexuality.

When they tried to arrange a viewing through internet estate agents Purplebricks, they were refused and sent astonishing references to fire and brimstone Bible passages by the couple.

Luke Whitehouse and his ITV producer partner Lachlan Mantell spotted a 650,000, three-bed, semi-detached cottage as they looked to get on the property ladder.

The vendors, builder Luke Main, 33, and his wife, Cambridge University medical physicist Dr Joanna Main, 34, refused to let Luke and his partner even view the house, let alone buy it, because they were gay.

They cited passages from the Bible and said they could not sell the house to 'two men in a partnership.'

Luke Whitehouse and his partner Lachlan Mantell (pictured) were told they couldn't view a property that they had seen because the owners didn't want to sell to a gay couple

Luke Main (left), 33, a builder and his wife, Cambridge University medical physicist Dr Joanna Main (right), 34, told them they were against selling their home to 'two men in a partnership'

The Christian couple's property (pictured) was advertised with a guide price of 650,000

Now the online property giant has removed the ad from their site, telling the Mains that their message to Luke and his partner was 'completely opposed' to the firm's values.

Fuming Luke, 34, told MailOnline: 'Initially for the first 10 seconds I laughed. I thought it was a joke.

'But then I was upset and angry and I had a cry on the phone to my mum. Homophobia still exists, it is still out there. I did not see it coming. I was blindsided by it.'

Luke and Lachlan, 37 - who have been together for eight years - planned to view the house in Surrey last week.

When they asked for a viewing, the Mains messaged them back saying: 'Would you mind telling us a bit about your position and circumstances when you have a moment please?'.

Lachlan happily replied telling them a little about why they liked the area, adding: 'I'm a 37-year-old TV producer for ITV and Luke is a 33-year-old business owner in education.'

But the Christian couple's response stunned them: It read: 'Dear Lachlan and Luke, thank you for sharing your circumstances with us.

'We're sorry if we seem intrusive, but we just want to make clear that we would be unwilling for two men in a partnership to view or buy our house.

'As it is contrary to the gracious teaching in God's Word, the Holy Bible, e.g Romans 1:24-28 and Jude 7 (King James Version). With regards'

Luke, 34, and his partner Lachlan, 37 - who have been together for eight years - told MailOnline that they were stunned that they had been prevented from viewing the property

The gay couple spotted the ad for the three bedroom semi detached property on Rightmove

Messages sent between Luke and Lachlan to the Christian couple sent through the Purple Bricks website show how they had tried to set up a date and time to visit the property

The Christians asked Luke and Lachlan to explain their circumstances. But when it became clear that they are in a same-sex relationship, the booking was cancelled by the homeowners

The first Bible passage cited reads: 'Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

'They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creatorwho is forever praised. Amen.

'Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

'In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

'Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.'

Purple Bricks informed Mr Main and his wife of their decision to no longer list the property

The second reads: 'Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'

Luke reported it to the online estate agents who were selling it via Rightmove.

They have now decided to cease selling the property saying the comments from the owners are against its 'views and values.'

A Purplebricks spokesperson told them: 'Thanks for sharing this message Lachlan and we're so sorry you've had this experience.

'This stance is completely opposed to our views and values. We'll refund this seller's fee as Purplebricks no longer wish to list it.'

Luke and Lachlan - originally from Adelaide, Australia are desperate to get their own place after being kept apart during the pandemic,

He said: 'We were separated during Covid, he was in America while I was here, we were forced apart. Buying a house was something that we wanted to do for a long time. But this was the only house we planned for a viewing. We were looking forward to going this weekend.'

He added: 'Since I came out eight years ago I have not come across descrimation. I probably have been discriminated against but was just not aware of it.'

When contacted by MailOnline, Mr Main (left) said that he would have to discuss the matter with his wife Mrs Main (right) - but added that they were 'not ashamed' of their stance

Luke expressed his anger at the situation on Facebook saying it was 'shocking and disgusting'

Purple Bricks responded by saying that the stance is 'completely opposed to our views'

Business owner Luke, of Putney, south west London said they wouldn't buy or even view the house even if the owners apologised and changed their mind.

He added: 'We will look for something else now

'We are not going to let it affect us trying to buy a house.'

Purplebricks said it was not aware of the message the sellers sent to Luke and Lachlan until it was reported to them.

The estate agent said as soon as it saw it, staff responded immediately and insisted as a company it celebrates diversity.

A Purplebricks spokesperson said: 'The sentiments expressed in this message are completely opposed to Purplebricks' views and values.

'We have contacted the seller to return their fee and request that they sell their property with a different agent.'

The incident has echoes of the 2014 'gay cake row' in Belfast when a bakery refused to supply a cake decorated with the words 'support gay marriage'.

Ashers Bakers won their case in the Supreme Court in 2018 on the grounds that no-one could be forced to promote a belief they profoundly disagreed with.

Stonewall campaigners condemned the couple's action.

Sasha Misra, Associate Director of Communications and Campaigns at Stonewall said: 'It is shocking to hear that a gay couple were turned away from buying a property because of their sexuality. Gay people should be able to rent or buy property wherever they choose and should not expect to be treated differently because of who they love. Instances like this hark back to an era when it was commonplace to treat lesbian, gay, bi or trans people unfairly, refuse their custom or turn them away from accommodation - and it simply has no place in Britain today.'

The Mains have expressed their views on gay relationships before, and both of them wrote to a House of Lords Committee in 2019 outlining their views on how the subject should be handled in schools' 'relationship education'.

Mr Main wrote: 'Thank-you for granting parents and others the opportunity to share their views on the above proposed Statutory Instrument.

This case echoes that of Christian bakers Daniel McArthur and his wife Amy (pictured) who refused to make a cake by an activist in support of gay marriage

The Belfast bakers refused to make a cake decorated with the words 'Support Gay Marriage' (pictured: A cake with a similar design, made by another bakery)

In 2018, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Northern Ireland gay rights activist Gareth Lee was not discriminated against by the Christian bakers' stance

'I am a single 30-year-old, who has 13 siblings, and I am very concerned that they and others, are not taught things which will be harmful to them, and society at large. Secular, liberal views which seem to dominate society today, to the complete exclusion of God and His Word, the Holy Bible, are damaging to us and our posterity. Therefore I am saddened that the State should want to indoctrinate children with ideas of relationships which should never be mentioned or countenanced, let alone taught and encouraged. And then to imply that the parents would have no right to withdraw their children from these lessons is bordering on draconian.

'I would be glad if you would kindly consider my proposal, which would be to diligently compare proposed teaching content with the Holy Bible, on which our very Constitution is based, and then please consider that it violates the rights of parents in the upbringing of their children, to enforce teaching on those children which is not only unnecessary, but dangerous and harmful.

'I hope you will be given help and wisdom from God to discuss this matter, and bring it to an issue which is pleasing in His sight, before Whom we will all give an account of our deeds after we die: Romans 14:12' Dr Main wrote: 'I am very concerned about the above law that is proposed.

In particular, I am extremely uncomfortable about forcing children aged 4 to 11 to learn about non-traditional families, relationships and sexual identities. This overrides the rights of parents to bring up their children within certain belief systems. At the very least parents should have the right to exclude their children from this Relationships Education.

'Please vote against this Statutory Instrument to save our children from being stolen from their parents and sold to state-decreed way of thinking. Variety of opinions and beliefs is what makes us a diverse and healthy society, and we cannot afford to stifle freedom of thought and belief.

I would be very grateful if you could carefully consider my concerns. '

Mr Main is listed as a director of LM Buildscapes Ltd, a company which was dissolved in 2011, but his Transit van still carries the name of LM Buildscapes.

Dr Bunker, who obtained her PhD at University College, London, appeared on a 2017 YouTube video as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge.

She is currently listed as staff on the website of Cambridge University's Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Centre.

Contacted by MailOnline, Mr Main said he would have to discuss the matter with his wife, but added: 'Not that we're ashamed of what we said in any way'.




Three South Korean companies are among 27 drugmakers chosen to produce low-cost versions of Merck Co.'s COVID-19 pill for low- and-middle-income countries, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and Seoul's health ministry said Thursday.







The U.N.-backed public health organization announced that it signed sublicense agreements with 27 generic drug manufacturers, including South Korea's Celltrion Inc., Hanmi Pharm Co. and Dongbang FTL, to produce the oral antiviral medication molnupiravir to be supplied to 105 countries.







Celltrion will make the finished drug and Dongbang FTL will produce ingredients, while Hanmi will produce both.







The MPP, which works to increase access to and facilitate the development of life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries, signed a licensing agreement with the U.S. drugmaker last year to boost global access for molnupiravir.







The South Korean government vowed active support for the pharmaceutical companies by easing regulations and establishing a consultative entity involving government ministries and companies.







"The companies that were offered the sublicense successfully demonstrated their ability to meet MPP's requirements related to production capacity, regulatory compliance, and the ability to meet international standards for quality-assured medicines," the MPP said.







"This is a critical step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed COVID-19 treatment and we are confident that, as manufacturers are working closely with regulatory authorities, the anticipated treatments will be rapidly available in LMICs," it added.







The MPP's list of the generic manufacturers also includes 10 Indian and two Chinese firms, and 13 out of the 27 companies will produce both raw ingredients and the finished drug, according to the MPP. (Yonhap)






A seven-year-old Venezuelan girl drowned in the Rio Grande after a rip current separated her from her mother in their failed attempt to reach the United States from Mexico.

Victoria Lugo was found by Mexican authorities Monday around 10am in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila.

Lugo and her mother, Mayerling Mayor, 36, were part of a large group of migrants from Venezuela who were trekking across a stretch of the waterway when Mayor lost her daughter's hand as the current swept her down the river, Val Verde County Sheriff said.

Seven-year-old Victoria Lugo (left), of Venezuela, drowned in the Rio Grande on Monday after a current separated her from her mother, Mayerling Mayor, as they tried to walk across the river that separates Mexico and the United States.

Agents with Mexico's National Institute of Migration retrieve the body of Victoria Lugo, a seven-year-old Venezuelan girl who died while she was attempting to reach the United States via the Rio Grande before a rip current separated her from her mother and a group of migrants they were traveling with

Mexican agents assigned to a division within Mexico's National Institute of Migration that provides assistance to migrants at the border initiated a search for Lugo on an airboat. They found her lifeless body near the Rio Grande shore in the Ciudad Acuna neighborhood of Granjas del Valle.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that Mayor was processed and released, but she has to report to immigration authorities at a date that has yet to be determined.

A spokesperson with the Val Verde County Sheriff told DailyMail.com that Mayor continued on to Dallas.

Seven-year-old Victoria Lugo drowned in the Rio Grande on Monday while attempting to walk with her mother across the river that divides Mexico and the United States

Mexican agents remove the body of Victoria Lugo from the Rio Grande in Coahuila, Mexico

A family member told Univision Atlanta reporter Jensser Morales that the journey to the United States started after Mayor quit her job as a school teacher in the Venezuelan state of Falcon. She sold her home around July or August 2021.

The single mother moved with Lugo back to her mother's home in the state of Zulia and began working to secure passports to leave for Mexico in February or March.

Upon learning that the Mexican government was going to require travel visas from Venezuelan nationals seeking to enter the country as of January 21  at the behest of the U.S. government to curb migration at the southern border - Mayor changed her travel plans.

She flew last Thursday to Colombia where she and Lugo boarded a connecting flight to Mexico. They spent the weekend at the home of Mayor's childhood friend and headed for the U.S. border on Monday when tragedy struck.

Mayerling Mayor with her daughter Victoria Lugo

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a spike in encounters with Venezuelan migrants at the U.S. southern border in the first two months of fiscal year 2022. The 33,762 interdictions will certainly surpass the totals for fiscal year 2021, when border officers registered 48,768 encounters

Carlos Vecchio, the U.S. ambassador under Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, said he reached out to Mayor and offered the government's full support.

Vecchio also pinned the tragic incident on the communist regime of President Nicolas Maduro, blaming him for sparking a humanitarian crisis that has displaced more than 6 million Venezuelans.

'Thousands of Venezuelans are risking everything, fleeing the disaster generated by the Maduro dictatorship, looking for a better present and future,' Vecchio said as quoted by Univision. 'Over 6 million exiles and counting. To stop this international crisis of Venezuelan migrants, we must put an end to the root of the problem.'

According to CBP data released in December 20121, U.S. Border Patrol agents have reported 33,762 encounters with Venezuelan migrants during the first two months of fiscal year 2022.

Figures for the current fiscal year, which spans October 2021 to September 2022, are on pace to eclipse totals for fiscal year 2021, when border officers registered 48,768 interdictions.
A man has been arrested after authorities in Virginia uncovered a body on Tuesday matching the description of a missing woman who vanished after closing up at the convenience store where she worked.

Ahrea'l Smith, 28, was last seen on video taking the trash out back at the Claraville Little Sue store in Heathsville around 9 pm on Jan. 12, but then she disappeared, leaving her car running all night in the parking lot.

Surveillance footage shows Smith starting her car at 9.05 pm before she got into another vehicle briefly at 9.18pm. The owner of the second car is not a person of interest, police said.

She then is seen going back into the store, setting the alarm, locking up and taking bags of trash from the store, but then she goes outside the camera scope, according to the Northumberland County Sheriff Johnny Beauchamp.

On Saturday, Tyrone N. Samuel of Heathsville, 50, was arrested and charged with her abduction. More charges are expected.

The body that authorities believe to be Smith's was found on 'a property in Heathsville', but police did not say where that property was or whether it had any connection to Samuel.

A body matching the description of missing woman Ahrea'l Smith, 28 (pictured), was discovered in Heathsville, Virginia on Tuesday - a coroner will need to verify the body's identity

Tyrone N. Samuel of Heathsville, 50 (pictured) was arrested and charged with Smith's abduction on Saturday. More charges are expected. The Northumberland Sheriff's Department confirmed that Smith and Samuel knew each other before Smith's disappearance, but said that they were not in a relationship

Smith and Samuel knew each other before Smith was abducted, but it is unclear how. They were not in a relationship, the department told WRIC. DailyMail.com could not reach the sheriff's office for any information about why Samuel is suspected.

Heathsville is in eastern Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay.

Lydia Smith, Smith's older sister, told NewsNation Prime that her sister sent her text messages about a strange person outside the convenience store on the day she went missing.

'She said someone outside the store made her uncomfortable,' Smith said on Monday, the day before the body was found. 'She never really said a name, but she said someone, you know, made her feel uncomfortable.'

'But not that she was afraid. When she went to that trash, like, the last look on her face was her normal self. Her demeanor was calm. Somebody was waiting and they snatched her.'

Smith said the family did not know Samuel. 'I'm assuming that his connection to her would be that convenience store,' she said.

The community banded together for six days of thorough searching. More than $9,000 had been raised by area businesses for information leading to Smith's location, including $1,000 from Little Sue.

Lydia told NewsNation that Smith's phone was turned off, so locating her using cellphone tower signals impossible.

Police told her family that Samuel was 'really not giving up any information' and 'refused to talk or answer any questions.'

The community banded together for six days of thorough searching. More than $9,000 had been raised by area businesses for information leading to Smith's location. Little Sue had offered $1,000. Meanwhile, Smith's familu scoured wooded areas and abandoned buildings nearby

Beauchamp said the Virginia State Police used a K-9 unit to try to track Smith's scent from the dumpsters behind the store, but that dogs lost her scent after about 100 yards on a nearby road.

Smith's family carried out their own search, Lydia Smith said, scouring wooded areas and abandoned buildings to no avail.

After Samuel was arrested on Saturday, Beauchamp said that his department was 'receiving a substantial number of calls regarding threats to persons and property related to the Ahrea'l Smith investigation.'

An autopsy at the Richmond County Medical Examiner's Office will confirm whether the recovered body is Smith, pictured, and determine the cause of death

'Regardless of any intentions, violence of vigilantism will not be tolerated,' he said. 'We would ask the public to please understand that each one of these calls for service diverts needed resources from the investigation. Our office will release vetted, accurate information as we are able.'

An autopsy at the Richmond County Medical Examiner's Office will confirm the identity of the recovered corpse and determine the cause of death.
Australian professors have urged residents and health workers to wear eye protection to help stop the spread of Covid, suggesting face masks may not be enough.

Research conducted by UNSW ophthalmologist Professor Minas Coroneo and infectious disease expert Professor Peter Collignon suggested that focusing on the mouth and nose may have left people more vulnerable to catching the virus.

They explained droplets from the virus can enter the respiratory system through the eyes.

'Still a lot of discussion on different face masks. But we are still missing a much bigger point,' Professor Collignon tweeted on Wednesday.

'Protect your eyes. Will make a lot more difference to decreasing community transmission than mask debate.'

Australian professors have urged residents and health workers to wear eye protection to help stop the spread of Covid, suggesting face masks may not be enough

In an observational study published last February, the pair said that despite face masks being widely used, there was still rampant spread of the virus, suggesting 'perhaps something major is missing in our approach'.

Professor Coroneo and Professor Collignon referenced a study conducted by epidemiologist and US Army Captain Kenneth Maxcy 100 years ago which found bacteria could enter people's bodies via their eyes when their noses and mouths were covered.

Studies with animals like monkeys and ferrets have also indicated that the eyes can be vulnerable to airborne viruses.

UNSW ophthalmologist Professor Minas Coroneo and infectious disease expert Professor Peter Collignon indicated virus particles could still enter the respiratory system via the eyes

'Inadequate eye protection might explain why front-line workers who, despite wearing apparently adequate gloves, gowns, and masks, still can remain at increased risk of infection,' the researchers said in the report.

A study in India showed that 19 per cent of community health workers caught the virus despite wearing three-layered surgical masks.

When changing to face shields, none of the health workers contracted Covid.

Professor Coroneo said the eyes were vulnerable because Covid particles can linger in the air for extended periods of time.

'So if you walk through a crowded, inadequately ventilated environment, contaminated by viral particles and they go anywhere near your eye, or even on the eyelid skin, they can be conveyed to the tear film and quickly transported via the nasolacrimal duct into your nose,' he said.

'But because coronavirus is considered a respiratory virus, all the focus has been on breathing it in via the mouth or nose, while ignoring this other potential pathway.'

Both professors recommended frontline health workers wear eye protection but said more practicality was needed such as to do with fogging and comfort.
A father who was described as 'one of the sickest ever' Covid patients has only just come off a nasal cannula after falling ill with the virus more than a year ago.

Andrew Watts, 40, from Bexley, had one of the longest patient stays doctors had ever seen after being admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Woolwich, with Covid-19 pneumonia on Christmas Day 2020.

In February, after a five-week induced coma and two life-threatening lung collapses, doctors called his wife Hayley to discuss turning off his ventilator because his condition had deteriorated so badly.

But after spending 300 days in hospital - including eight months in intensive care and two months on a ward - Mr Watts, who was in remission from lymph cancer at the time, was able to go home in October.

Now, the London cab driver has come off a nasal cannula for the first time since leaving hospital, but he still battles ongoing complications from his time on a ventilator.

Andrew Watts (pictured), 40, from Bexley, had one of the longest patient stays doctors had ever seen after being admitted to hospital with Covid-19 pneumonia on Christmas Day 2020

After a five-week induced coma and two life-threatening lung collapses, doctors called his wife Hayley to discuss turning off his ventilator. Pictured: Mr Watts while he was unwell

He told MyLondon: 'Only a week and a half ago, I came off a nasal cannula (a device used to deliver supplementary oxygen) for the first time since leaving hospital.'

Mr Watts said he had been using the cannula for nine hours every night to help his lungs get back to 'some sort of normality'.

Being on a ventilator in the ICU for months meant that Mr Watts had to learn to walk and talk again, and he is now able to walk for around 15 minutes at a time.

Mr Watts - who is a father to sons Jack, six, and Joshua, three - re-learnt to talk after communicating with his wife using letters on a board while on a tracheostomy pipe in hospital.

In November, Mr Watts said his 'major goal' was to walk to and from his son's school and said he has finally managed to achieve his aim.

He added: 'I managed to get to son's school and back last Monday. I say that, we parked around the corner, so it wasn't the full way. But still.

After spending 300 days in hospital, Mr Watts (pictured with his wife Hayley and sons Jack, six, and Joshua, three) was able to return home

'I can do about 15 minutes walking before my legs start burning up. I think people should be grateful that they can do these little tasks.'

Mr Watts said that when he was 'fit and healthy' he took everyday things for granted, but said he realised not to take them for 'granted' when he became unwell.

But speaking of the complications he still tackles, Mr Watts, who was described by doctors as 'one of the sickest Covid patients', said his neck hasn't yet healed properly from where a tracheostomy pipe was inserted in hospital.

He added: 'That's why there is a whistle when I'm talking, as there is essentially a hole in my neck where air comes out.

'I can't get water in it - or it makes me cough like mad.

'I could get an infection, it means I can't go swimming, I can't shower the way I want to.'

When Mr Watts was first admitted to hospital in December 2020, he had not been vaccinated as it was in the early stages of the vaccination campaign, but he has now had three doses of a Covid vaccine.

Mr Watts has urged other Londoners to get vaccinated, saying that while he was in hospital, someone told him that they didn't believe vaccinations would do anything and that the whole pandemic was a conspiracy.

'The fact that there are people that know what I've been through and still say that!' he added.

'Its up to individuals [whether to get vaccinated]. If it was me, I would tell them to go and get it. If they decide not to get it, then that's their own fault.'

Mr Watts said he was badly affected by Covid-19 because he was in remission from lymph cancer after successful chemotherapy treatment.

Now, the London cab driver (pictured) said he has come off a nasal cannula for the first time since leaving hospital. He had been using the cannula for nine hours every night

The father-of-two had been diagnosed with lymph cancer in October 2019 and spent much of 2020 carefully shielding due to being classed as vulnerable.

It comes as the Prime Minister today announced the end of Plan B measures, with the onus now falling on the British Public to mitigate the risks of Covid.

Mr Watts said he welcomes this change, despite still being clinically vulnerable, as he believes we have to learn to 'live' with the virus.

He continued: 'I want everyone to live their lives to the max, this isn't going anywhere we've got to learn to live with it.

'I could wrap myself in cotton wool and live in a box but then what's the point in living?'

Mr Watts added that he was taking the 'necessary precautions' and said it is 'unlikely' that he would get the virus again.

Speaking about being branded London's 'sickest ever' Covid patient, Andrew said: 'I fought until the end, I wanted to get back to the kids and the wife.

'It's been a bit surreal to me to be honest. I think, why did it happen to me? I feel proud that I managed to get out of it, and out the other side, and get my life back.'

When he was discharged, medical staff, including doctors, nurses, physios and speech and language therapists turned out to say goodbye on October 21.
Republicans are blaming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the administration's 'lack of leadership' in the long awaited, yet disastrous, rollout of 5G technology.

GOP members of transportation and technology-related congressional panels released a joint statement Wednesday claiming the Biden administration 'sleepwalked' the process.

'The Biden administration has failed to provide any leadership to find a solution to this spectrum issue,' the statement reads. 'The U.S. government has hardworking experts who can address any outstanding technical issues, but instead of leading, the White House has sleepwalked through this botched process.'

'By lurching from one arbitrary deadline to the next with no clear plan or strategy for resolution, this Administration's negligence continues to delay finding a lasting solution that improves our everyday wireless communication while protecting aviation safety.'

The letter was signed by four Republicans  Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves from Missouri; Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Garret Graves from Louisiana; Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington; and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta from Ohio.

AT&T and Verizon launched their 5G network across America on Wednesday morning, switching on 4,500 towers to bring faster wireless to their customers. They had to hold back on ten per cent of the towers - 500 - that are near airports because the frequencies the towers emit could interfere with the signal on some planes.

Some airline passengers who were unaware of the fiasco showed up at airports ready to board their flights but were told they had been canceled.

In total, 239 flights to, from and within the US have been canceled as of Wednesday afternoon. It's unclear if all have been scrapped because of 5G, but the network launch is causing major issues.

Texas Republican Representative Beth Van Duyne tweeted of the disaster: 'The airline industry has been hit hard by authoritarian vaccine mandates and staffing shortages. The last thing it needs is failed leadership on the 5G rollout.'

Buttigieg and the administration also faced some backlash from within their own party for the fiasco.

Democratic Representative Sharice Davids tweeted Wednesday: 'Glad to see that Verizon and AT&T have agreed to delay 5G deployment around key airports. Our main priority as Congress is safety, and this solution allows the vast majority of wireless deployment to continue while protecting passengers and cargo from delays and disruption.'

A group of Republicans who head up the minority in transportation and technology-related committees and subcommittees slammed the administration for it's disastrous 5G roll out. They wrote: 'The U.S. government has hardworking experts who can address any outstanding technical issues, but instead of leading, the White House has sleepwalked through this botched process'

Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne slammed the administration for 'failed leadership' leading to a slew of flight cancelations due to the roll out

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr also blasted Biden on Wednesday.

'The Biden Administration's botched handling of C-Band 5G offerings highlights a failure of competent leadership,' he wrote on Twitter. 'The White House walked back a Biden-brokered infrastructure agreement after just two weeks.'

'This is a bad deal,' he assured.

'The Biden Administration could have stood up and sided with science,' Carr continued. 'They didn't. Their silence paved the way for a pressure campaign timed to maximize the chances that Administration officials would cave. They did.'

'Running a dysfunctional process does not promote air safety or America's 5G leadership.'

The president of Emirates has slammed the 5G fiasco as the 'most delinquent, irresponsible' mess he has seen in his 50-year aviation career and blamed it on Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who he says knew about the impending chaos but failed to warn anyone in time to stop it.

Eighty-eight airports now have buffers to protect against it but some major airports like Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Memphis do not.

In the most recent FAA announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the government said '62 percent' of flights could operate safely - leaving nearly half to reschedule.

Sir Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, appeared on CNN, Wednesday that American airlines knew about the risks before the rest of the world, and that it forced them to scramble to cancel flights then bring them back once it was safe.

American airline CEOs - who have lucrative contracts with the government - are praising it for reaching a negotiation with the telecoms giants, and reserving all criticism of why it took so long.

'Let the truth be known, we were not aware of this until yesterday morning to the extent that it was going to compromise the safety of operation of our aircraft and just about every other 777 operator to and from the United States and within the United States. It came to a head, it was known by the US operators probably a little bit more than we knew.

'We have evidence of letters being written to the Secretary of Transport in the US government alerting that group to what was likely to happen and its consequences.

'I need to be as candid as I normally am and say this is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues, I've seen in my aviation career because it involves organs of government, manufacturers, science,' Clark said.

Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, appeared on Bloomberg Wednesday to blame the shambolic situation on the Biden administration, which greenlit the 5G rollout without addressing the safety fears of the aviation industry first. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not been able to offer a solution to the fiasco and the airlines say they weren't even made aware of the risks until Monday

Buttigieg - who took two months of paternity leave late last year - has not issued a comment on the fiasco since yesterday, when he said the government was 'aware'

WHICH FLIGHTS HAVE BEEN CANCELED OR CHANGED ALREADY? DELTA Delta said in a statement that it expects some flights to be canceled, but the airline will not say which flights or why. 'Telecom companies agreed Tuesday to limit the scope of Wednesday's planned 5G deployment and will delay implementation around certain U.S. airports. 'While this is a positive development toward preventing widespread disruptions to flight operations, some flight restrictions may remain,' the airline said in an announcement EMIRATES All Emirates flights to and from these airports are indefinitely canceled; Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Newark, New Jersey, Orlando, Florida, San Francisco and Seattle The airline's flights to L.A.X., New York City and Dulles are still operating. ALL NIPPON 20 passenger and cargo flights scheduled on Boeing 777s from Haneda and Narita airports in Japan to the US through Thursday. All Nippon said it would also be changing the Boeing 777 aircraft used on some U.S. flights. The airline is advising passengers with tickets to check if they have been rescheduled to a flight on a different aircraft. JAPAN AIRLINES Japan Airlines has canceled three passenger and five cargo flights on Wednesday. AIR INDIA All flights between Delhi and from New York, San Francisco and Chicago, and between Mumbai and Newark are canceled until further notice. BRITISH AIRWAYS British Airways cancelled a handful of flights from Heathrow to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco on Wednesday. The carrier said some flights due to be operated by Boeing 777s are using different, larger aircraft such as the Airbus A380 to ensure people can still fly on the same day they booked. CATHAY PACIFIC Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said it is deploying different types of airplanes where necessary to the affected airports and that its flights to the United States have not been affected so far. KOREAN AIRLINES Korean Air Lines, South Korea's biggest airline, switched four passenger planes from Boeing 777s to 787s and two cargo planes from 747-8s to 747-400s overnight, and will continue to avoid operating 777s and 747-8s at affected U.S. airports. AUSTRIAN AIRLINES Austrian Airlines scrambled to switch their aircraft from their usual Boeing 777 service GERMANY'S LUFTHANSA Lufthansa also swapped out one kind of Boeing 747 for another on some U.S.-bound flights Advertisement

'The notion that, for instance, the United States government should sell its franchise for all the frequencies for a large amount of money...somebody should have told them at the time - that the risks and the dangers they placed in certain frequency uses around field, airfields, metropolitan fields that should have been done at the time,' Sir Tim fumed.

'We were aware of a 5G issue. Okay. We are aware that everybody is trying to get 5G rolled out after all it's the super cool future of whatever it may be communication and information flow.

'We were not aware that the power of the antennas in the United States have been doubled compared to what's going on elsewhere.

'We were not aware that the antenna themselves have been put into a vertical position rather than a slight slanting position, which when taken together compromise not only the radio altimeter systems, but the flight control systems on the fly-by-wire aircraft.

'So on that basis we took that decision late last night to suspend all our services until we had clarity.'

Delta Chief of Operations John Laughter, in a statement on Wednesday, reserved criticism of the US government.

'We're continuing to work with the FAA, the FCC and the telecom industry to find a practical solution that will allow for the rollout of 5G technology while preserving safety and avoiding flight disruptions.'

United said: 'We're pleased the Biden Administration reached a compromise with AT&T and Verizon to avoid mass cancellations across the aviation industry. We look forward to a higher level of coordination between the regulators, telecom companies and the aviation industry to ensure that customers are not faced with disruptions going forward.'

British Airways, Emirates, All Nippon and Japan Airlines, had canceled dozens of their scheduled flights to and from the US or put people on different flights using different aircraft.

Air India canceled flights on Tuesday and are yet to put people on other services.

Jageish Rathor, who was due to fly to Delhi from Newark this morning, arrived at the airport to learn the flight had been canceled.

'They say the flight is canceled until further notice.

'I' traveling to Deli, Air India. They say the flight is canceled until further notice. They're saying some kind of 5G network...the agent told me the flight canceled.

'They want to charge me $400 extra to get on a flight tomorrow.

'I am from New Jersey, I spent $70 on an Uber to come here, I didn't get an email or message. I just found out when I got here

'I'm supposed to go to my niece and nephew's wedding two days after today, and I can't get there.'

He was among dozens of people in the same position.

Now, as a result of the halt, the airlines - which are based in different time zones and heard the news at varying times throughout the night - are scrambling to resume Boeing 777 flights.

The result is a thickening headache at airports where the chaos is playing out in cancelations, staff shortages and a lack of the right planes in the right place at the right time.

United Airlines has canceled 20 flights in and out of Newark already on Wednesday. British Airways canceled all its 777 flights to New York, Boston and L.A.X from London, putting passengers on different aircraft. The airline is now working to resume those flights.

'Safety is always our priority. We are monitoring the situation in the US closely and will continue to review our schedule in the next few hours.

'We're disappointed that some of our customers are facing potential disruption and will update them as soon as possible on any changes to their travel plans,' a spokesman told DailyMail.com.

Japan Airlines announced that it is working to resume flights to the US, a day after issuing a blanket cancelation on all of its services.

'On January 18, 2022, Boeing has notified us that 5G signals for U.S. mobile phones, which will begin operating in the U.S. on January 19, may interfere with the radio wave altimeter installed on the Boeing 777.

'Based on that information, we were forced to cancel some flights to the U.S. mainland on January 19.

WHICH AIRPORTS DON'T HAVE BUFFERS? The government will not provide a full list of the major airports that normally welcome 777s but won't be able to without a 5G buffer. They have issued a list of the airports that do have buffers, from which these airports are missing; BOSTON MEMPHIS ATLANTA DENVER HONOLULU NEW ORLEANS Advertisement

'Today on January 19, we have received confirmation from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) that there is no longer a problem with the operation of the Boeing 777 and we will resume service to the U.S. mainland with Boeing 777 from January 20.

'We will continue to monitor the situation closely and if there is any impact on our flight operations, we will promptly announce it on our website,' the airline said in an announcement on its website.

Emirates, which had canceled all flights to nine US airports indefinitely, has now shortened that list.

It will still not operate flights to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando, and Seattle, but some flights to San Francisco and Boston are back on the schedule.

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10 percent of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said.

But details of the agreement, including the length of the pause for the rollout, and a solution were not disclosed.

Lacking an immediate solution, passengers and airlines are bracing for further delays and cancellations as the travel chaos shows no sign of stopping.

Scores of people have now been left stranded at airports, with many complaining on social media about their flights being cancelled due to the 5G rollout.

One passenger, identified as Siddhartha on Twitter, complained that he and other passengers were 'not happy' that their Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco had been cancelled.

Travelers were seen crowded together at Indira Gandhi International Airport as they waited for more news.

Another passenger, identified as Kausi on Twitter, was left frustrated after they were told their Emirates flight to Chicago had been cancelled as soon as she landed in Dubai.

Kausi complained that she and other passengers were not left 'stuck' in airports.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines warned passengers of cancellations and long delays as a result of the 5G rollout.

Delta said they are 'planning for the possibility of weather-related cancellations caused by the deployment of new 5G service in the vicinity of dozens of U.S. airports starting as early as Wednesday.'

People at the Air India customer service desk after a Delhi flight was cancelled at JFK Airport, Queens, New York, on Wednesday

Stranded: Passengers who were due to fly to Delhi on an Air India flight from Newark arrived at the airport on Wednesday morning to learn it had been canceled

An empty check-in at the British Airways counter at JFK. The airline had to scrap its 777 flights to the US on Wednesday morning and put those passengers on other flights. A spokesman told DailyMail.com the airline was 'disappointed' by the disruption caused to the service

Cancellations are seen on boards at JFK Airport, Queens, New York. January 19 2022. All Nippon Airways canceled all its US flights on Tuesday to heed the FAA warning, then announced on Wednesday that some were being brought back. The British Airways flight to Heathrow tonight was canceled

This graphic shows how the wireless spectrum used by 5G networks could interfere with altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude and is especially important for low-visibility operations. The CEOs of the airlines have asked officials that the 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways at some key airports

TIMELINE OF 5G TRAVEL CHAOS MONDAY: Airline CEOs beg Biden administration to intervene in AT&T and Verizon's rollout, citing safety fears that 5G tech will interfere with radio altimeter technology on Boeing 777s TUESDAY MORNING: Boeing issues warning to international airlines that 5G signal will interfere with their planes Airlines like Emirates, Japan Airlines and All Nippon make arrangements to cancel their 777 flights bound for America, or put people on different aircraft TUESDAY AFTERNOON: AT&T and Verizon agree to halt the rollout of some of their towers near some airports. They won't say which airports or how long they have agreed to pause it for. WEDNESDAY: 5G launches across America - excluding near some airports. Airlines overseas scramble to get the 777 jets they'd grounded back up and running. The chaos results in delays and disruption in other airports and airlines Advertisement

United Airlines told customers on a flight from Denver to Houston that a three-hour delay was a result of the new 5G systems, according to a notice on its website. It also suggested customers with any concerns reach out to the Federal Communications Commission.

A major issue for airlines has been their use of the Boeing 777 model, a long-range, wide-body aircraft, which is said to be particularly affected by the 5G signals. It has prompted cancellations and a mad dash to change the aircrafts.

Japanese major airline All Nippon Airways said it would be cancelling some of its flights and changing the Boeing 777 aircraft used on some U.S. flights.

But on Wednesday morning, the airline announced the flights would be resumed.

'As the launch of the 5G service in the U.S. has now been partially postponed, operation of ANA flights from Jan. 20 will follow the normal schedule based on FAA notification that there is no safety issue with the operation of Boeing 777 aircraft to the U.S. airports that we serve.

'We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers,' they said.

Meanwhile, British Airways opted to switch aircraft on its daily flight to Los Angeles to an Airbus A380 from the usual Boeing 777 service, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

And Korean Air Lines, South Korea's biggest airline, switched four passenger planes from Boeing 777s to 787s and two cargo planes from 747-8s to 747-400s overnight, and will continue to avoid operating 777s and 747-8s at affected U.S. airports, spokeswoman Jill Chung said.

Germany's Lufthansa also swapped out one kind of 747 for another on some U.S.-bound flights

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said it is deploying different types of airplanes where necessary to the affected airports and that its flights to the United States have not been affected so far. Taiwan's EVA Air also said it had taken 'contingency measures to ensure flight safety,' without elaborating.

The airlines said they were acting in response to a notice from Boeing that 5G signals may interfere with the radio altimeter on the 777, leading to restrictions.

Industry sources said Boeing had issued technical advisories noting potential interference, but that flight restrictions were in the hands of the FAA, which has for now limited operations at key airports unless airlines qualify for special approvals.

But Air France said it planned to continue flying its Boeing 777s into American airports. It did not explain why it didn't change its aircraft as many other carriers have.

All Nippon Airways has resumed flights to the US after canceling them due to the 5G security fears

Japan Airlines is resuming flights on 777s to the US as a result of the telecoms giants halting the launch of 5G near some airports at the last minute

HOW DOES 5G AFFECT PLANES? AT&T and Verizon have spent tens of billions of dollars to license the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz frequency range for the new high-speed C-Band 5G service. The C-band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 gigahertz (GHz), although the US Federal Communications Commission has designated 3.7-4.2 GHz as C band too. The problem is that wireless spectrum used by 5G networks could interfere with radio altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude - especially important for low-visibility operations. Airlines fear that C-band 5G signals will disrupt planes' navigation systems, particularly those used in bad weather. This interference with radio altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude, could lead to the loss of radar altitude information or, worse, incorrect radar altitude information unknowingly being generated, they say. It is not seen as a problem in Britain or Europe, according to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority, Ofcom and EU Aviation Safety Authority. All three insist there is no evidence 5G interferes with aircraft systems. However, in Europe 5G networks work in the 3.4-3.8GHz spectrum so regulators on this side of the Atlantic don't appear as concerned about it being close to the 4.2-4.4GHz band for radio altimeters. It seems the basis for US airlines' fears is that mobile networks' traffic from the top edge of 3.98GHz might bleed into the neighbouring altimeter band. 'The issue is that the C-band frequency used for 5G in the US is a little bit close to the frequencies used by altimeters,' Roslyn Layton, vice president at Strand Consult, told Tech Monitor. The radio altimeter is a critical aviation safety technology that indicates the airplane's height and supports safe landing. It operates in the 4.2-4.4 GHz spectrum band; cell phones are currently not permitted to operate in that band or any nearby band to prevent interference. However, if telecommunication authorities reallocate the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for 5G, the risk of interference could increase. The airlines want 5G signals to be excluded from 'the approximate two miles of airport runways at affected airports as defined by the FAA on 19 January 2022'. This would ensure that no airplanes are affected by the 5G interference, they say. There have been fatal accidents associated with incorrect radar altitude, most recently Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 in Amsterdam in 2009. The FAA has warned that potential interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as altimeters and make an impact on low-visibility operations. So this threat could compromise key safety systems and result in suspended passenger and cargo flights. For passengers, flights may be cancelled or have to be diverted to other airports if 5G towers are deployed too close to airport runways. But most aviation regulators are content the risks posed by 5G to planes are low, according to Layton. 'This whole thing is unhelpful for the world's airport regulators,' she said. 'They have blessed this technology years ago, so what does it look like when the FAA all of sudden says 'there's a problem'? It's really inconvenient and a bit embarrassing.' AT&T and Verizon have agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks. In the UK, Ofcom said the country had had 5G deployments and other services in the bands near to radio altimeters for years and there have been no known cases of interference. Similarly, other countries are already using these frequencies for 5G and other wireless services with no reported incidents of interference to aviation equipment. The issue in the US is that it's about to deploy these services, so there's concerns of the effects deployment may have. Advertisement

A spokesman for Boeing had no immediate comment.

Similar 5G mobile networks have been deployed in dozens of other countries - sometimes with concessions like reducing the power of the networks near airports, as France has done. But in the U.S., the issue has pitted the FAA and the airlines against the Federal Communications Commission and the telecoms companies.

The 5G service uses a segment of the radio spectrum that is close to that used by radio altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground and help pilots land in low visibility. The FCC, which set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use, determined that it could be used safely in the vicinity of air traffic.

AT&T and Verizon have said their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics.

But FAA officials saw a potential problem, and the telecom companies agreed to a pause while it is addressed.

AT&T and Verizon on Tuesday agreed to temporarily defer turning on some wireless towers near key airports in a bid to avert further disruption to U.S. flights.

President Joe Biden hailed the agreement, saying it 'will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.'

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10 percent of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said. Details of the agreement, including the length of the pause, were not disclosed.

Both Verizon and AT&T will launch 5G on Wednesday elsewhere in the country bringing faster speeds to tens of millions of people.

The row erupted on Monday when US airline CEOs begged the Biden administration to stop AT&T and Verizon from rolling out their C-band 5G technology.

The telecoms giants had been planning to launch the technology across the US on Wednesday, turning on 5,000 towers across the country that will bring Americans' faster internet speeds, including 500 which the airline industry say pose a threat to flight safety.

Both AT&T and Verizon have reluctantly agreed to halt turning on those towers of concern until a resolution can be found, in order to avoid a mass cancelation of flights across America and travel chaos that would up end the already distressed supply chain and scupper consumer travel.

It seemed to appease domestic airlines but did not calm international fear.

The FAA has said it will allow planes with accurate, reliable altimeters to operate around high-power 5G. But planes with older altimeters will not be allowed to make landings under low-visibility conditions.

Part of the problem, according to the FAA, are the signal strength of the 5G towers and the orientation of their antennae.

'Base stations in rural areas of the United States are permitted to emit at higher levels in comparison to other countries which may affect radio altimeter equipment accuracy and reliability,' the FAA said in December.

The FCC's chairwoman said in a statement that the 5G 'deployment can safely co-exist with aviation technologies in the United States, just as it does in other countries around the world.'

Emirates has now canceled flights to Boston, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle.

In its announcement, Emirates cited the cancellation as necessary due to 'operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the U.S. at certain airports.'

'We are working closely with aircraft manufacturers and the relevant authorities to alleviate operational concerns, and we hope to resume our U.S. services as soon as possible,' the state-owned airline said.

The United Arab Emirates successfully rolled out 5G coverage all around its airports without incident, like dozens of other countries. But in the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration worries that the C-Band strand of 5G could interfere with aviation equipment.

Of particular concern in the 5G rollout appears to be the Boeing 777, a major workhorse for Emirates, which only flies that model and the Airbus A380 jumbo jet. Its Mideast competitor, Qatar Airways, anticipates 'minor delays' on return flights from the U.S. but says otherwise its dozen U.S. routes are operating as scheduled.

All Nippon and Japan Airlines have canceled all of their Boeing 777 flights to the US, and they say they did so at the request of Boeing.

'Boeing has announced flight restrictions on all airlines operating the Boeing 777 aircraft, and we have cancelled or changed the aircraft for some flights to/from the U.S. based on the announcement by Boeing,' a statement from All Nippon Airways said.

All Nippon cancelled 20 flights to the U.S. over the issue to cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Japan Airlines similarly said that it had been informed that 5G signals 'may interfere with the radio altimeter installed on the Boeing 777.'

'We will refrain from using this model on the continental United States line until we can confirm its safety and we regret to inform you that we will cancel the flight for which the aircraft cannot be changed to the Boeing 787,' the airline said. Eight of its flights were cancelled on Wednesday - three passenger trips and five for cargo.

Boeing has not confirmed that it has given the order to airlines to ground their US 777s.

It's unclear exactly how many flights have been canceled so far, or how many more will be.

The 777 last year was the second-most used widebody plane on flights to and from U.S. airports with around 210,000 flights, behind only the 767, according to data from FlightRadar24.

Industry sources said Boeing had issued technical advisories noting potential interference, but that flight restrictions were in the hands of the FAA, which has for now limited operations at key airports unless airlines qualify for special approvals.

Radio altimeters give precise readings of the height above the ground on approach and help with automated landings, as well as verifying the jet has landed before allowing reverse thrust.

Air India, which serves four U.S. destinations with Boeing 777s, has canceled flights to and from Delhi to and from New York, San Francisco and Chicago, and between Mumbai and Newark 'due to deployment of the 5G communications' equipment. It said it would try to use other aircraft on U.S. routes as well.

Choi Jong-yun, a spokeswoman of Asiana Airlines, a South Korean carrier, said the company hasn't been affected so far because it uses Airbus planes for passenger flights to the U.S. and doesn't use the affected Boeing planes to transport cargo.

However, Choi said airlines have also been instructed by the FAA to avoid automatic landings at affected U.S. airports during bad weather conditions, regardless of plane type. Asiana will redirect its planes to nearby airports during those conditions, she said.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been unable to offer a solution to the fiasco.

Aviation officials fear that 5G signals near airports could interfere with certain airplane instruments, including the radio altimeter used to gauge altitude

'We recognize the economic importance of expanding 5G, and we appreciate the wireless companies working with us to protect the flying public and the country's supply chain,' said Buttigieg.

'The complex U.S. airspace leads the world in safety because of our high standards for aviation, and we will maintain this commitment as wireless companies deploy 5G,' he said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that 5G wireless interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as radio altimeters, which are crucial aids to pilots landing in low-visibility operations.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement the FAA 'has a process in place to assess altimeter performance in the 5G environment and resolve any remaining concerns. It is essential that the FAA now complete this process with both care and speed.'

The telecoms giants say they do not understand why the US has not been able to find a workaround when other countries have been able to launch.

The 5G signals that Verizon and AT&T want to emit are stronger than those in Europe.

Despite the delay, some international airlines are already canceling flights to the US out of an abundance of caution.

The list of 50 airports with 5G buffers that should be protected AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTL LAURENCE G HANSCOM FLD BOEING FLD/KING COUNTY INTL BIRMINGHAM-SHUTTLESWORTH INTL NASHVILLE INTL BOB HOPE AKRON-CANTON CHARLOTTE/DOUGLAS INTL DALLAS LOVE FLD DALLAS-FORT WORTH INTL DETROIT METRO WAYNE COUNTY ELLINGTON EWR NEWARK LIBERTY INTL FRESNO YOSEMITE INTL FORT LAUDERDALE/HOLLYWOOD INTL FLINT MICHIGAN WILLIAM P HOBBY NEW HAVEN GEORGE BUSH INTCNTL/HOUSTON INDIANAPOLIS INTL LONG ISLAND MAC ARTHUR JOHN F KENNEDY INTL HARRY REID INTL LOS ANGELES INTL LAGUARDIA LONG BEACH (DAUGHERTY FLD) KANSAS CITY INTL ORLANDO INTL HARRISBURG INTL CHICAGO MIDWAY INTL MCALLEN INTL MIAMI INTL MINNEAPOLIS-ST PAUL INTL/WOLD-CHAMBERLAIN ONTARIO INTL CHICAGO O'HARE INTL SNOHOMISH COUNTY (PAINE FLD) PALM BEACH INTL PHILADELPHIA INTL PHOENIX SKY HARBOR INTL ST PETE-CLEARWATER INTL PITTSBURGH INTL RALEIGH-DURHAM INTL FREDERICK DOUGLASS/GREATER ROCHESTER INTL SEATTLE-TACOMA INTL SAN FRANCISCO INTL NORMAN Y MINETA SAN JOSE INTL JOHN WAYNE/ORANGE COUNTY ST LOUIS LAMBERT INTL SYRACUSE HANCOCK INTL TETERBORO Advertisement

It's unclear how long the FAA and airlines now have to resolve their safety concerns.

AT&T is now demanding to know why the FAA - a government body - waited so long before sounding such alarm.

'We are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner.'

Despite the urgency conveyed by the CEOs of American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as officials from FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, Transport Secretary Buttigieg has yet to make a public statement about the issue ahead of Wednesday's rollout.

Of 88 airports that could be affected around the country, there are currently 50 with 5G buffers around them to reduce the interference of 5G.

The FAA has not named the remaining 38 affected airports.

Despite the buffer, the airports could still face 5G interference.

If any of the 88 airports experience bad weather, where altimeters are a necessity, the FAA and U.S. airlines said flights would be cancelled, diverted or delayed.

Allied Pilots Association spokesperson Dennis Tajer echoed the airlines' concerns and urged the cellular companies to push back the 5G rollout.

'This is reckless, it's dangerous, and it's got to stop,' Tajer told the Today Show on Tuesday.

'Take a pause. This is about a cellphone signal, and we're focused on protecting lives.'

The warning comes after airline International airports and airlines have also begun warning customers to check if their trips to the U.S. will be cancelled or delayed due to the 5G launch.

Although the FAA approved 48 of the 88 airports most directly affected by 5G to use two radio altimeters to avoid confusion on Sunday, it ultimately issued an order to all pilots to avoid using the instruments because they could still face issues.

The buffer zones call for the 5G towers to be located at least two miles away from airports and to limit the towers' heights.

'Even with the approvals granted by the FAA..., U.S. airlines will not be able to operate the vast majority of passenger and cargo flights due to the FAA's 5G-related flight restrictions unless action is taken prior to the planned January 19 rollout,' Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta Airlines and FedEx, told Reuters.

As of Tuesday morning, the stocks for American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines remained stable with a small upward trend.

AT&T and Verizon, which won nearly all of the C-Band spectrum in an $80 billion auction last year to launched their 5G services, had agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks and take other steps to cut potential interference for six months.

'Even with these new approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected,' the FAA warned in a statement.

'The FAA also continues to work with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems. Passengers should check with their airlines if weather is forecast at a destination where 5G interference is possible.'

Despite the worries in America, 5G's possible effects on planes has not been a major concern in Europe.

Last month, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement that 5G emission's won't harm British airlines.

'Conversations with [national aviation authorities] has established that there have been no confirmed instances where 5G interference has resulted in aircraft system malfunction or unexpected behavior,' the agency said, adding that it will continue to monitor the issue.

AT&T and Verizon told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that they were not commenting on the issue at this time.

On Monday, the CEOs of American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as officials from FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, wrote a letter to government officials urging them to pause the launch of 5G.

The CEOs warned that a significant number of widebody aircrafts will become unusable and 'could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas.'

'Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,' the CEOs wrote.

'The harm that will result from deployment on January 19 is substantially worse than we anticipated for two key reasons,' they explained.

The CEOs also argued that because radio altimeters provide critical information to other safety and navigation systems in modern airplanes, multiple modern safety systems 'will be deemed unusable.'

'Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swaths of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded.'

'The ripple effects across both passenger and cargo operations, our workforce and the broader economy are simply incalculable,' the CEOs wrote as they asked officials 'that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways' at some key airports.

'Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies.'

The carriers added they urge action to ensure '5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The letter, which was obtained by DailyMail.com, went to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Airlines late on Monday were considering whether to begin canceling some international flights that are scheduled to arrive in the United States on Wednesday.

'With the proposed restrictions at selected airports, the transportation industry is preparing for some service disruption. We are optimistic that we can work across industries and with government to finalize solutions that safely mitigate as many schedule impacts as possible,' plane maker Boeing said.

United Airlines also separately warned on Monday that the issue could affect more than 15,000 of its flights, 1.25 million passengers and snarl tons of cargo annually.

United said it faces 'significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional aircraft in major cities like Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.'

JetBlue Airways Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes told employees on Monday that the planned rollout of new 5G service by AT&T and Verizon on Wednesday is set to 'further stress our already fragile air system.'

Hayes said in a memo that the airline is preparing for the 'worst' when the new service and new flight restrictions take effect.

'While we will do our best to avoid customer disruption, we won't be able to avoid the impact of this, including significant flight delays, cancellations, and diversions in low visibility flying,' Hayes wrote.

One area of concern is whether some or all Boeing 777s will be unable to land at some key U.S. airports after 5G service starts, as well as some Boeing cargo planes, airline officials told Reuters.

The airlines urged action to ensure '5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The FAA said on Sunday it had cleared an estimated 45% of the U.S. commercial airplane fleet to perform low-visibility landings at many airports where 5G C-band will be deployed and they expect to issue more approvals before Wednesday.

The airlines noted on Monday that the list did not include many large airports.

The CEOs of major airlines and Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun held a lengthy call with Buttigieg and Dickson on Sunday to warn of the looming crisis, officials told Reuters.

The CEOs of some of the nation's largest airlines wrote to federal officials on Monday warning about the potential negative effects of 5G

Altimeter's are a key tool for pilots landing in low-visibility conditions

THE EVOLUTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND UP TO 5G The evolution of the G system started in 1980 with the invention of the mobile phone which allowed for analogue data to be transmitted via phone calls. Digital came into play in 1991 with 2G and SMS and MMS capabilities were launched. Since then, the capabilities and carrying capacity for the mobile network has increased massively. More data can be transferred from one point to another via the mobile network quicker than ever. 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than the currently used 4G. Whilst the jump from 3G to 4G was most beneficial for mobile browsing and working, the step to 5G will be so fast they become almost real-time. That means mobile operations will be just as fast as office-based internet connections. Potential uses for 5G include: Simultaneous translation of several languages in a party conference call

Self-driving cars can stream movies, music and navigation information from the cloud

A full length 8GB film can be downloaded in six seconds. 5G is expected to be so quick and efficient it is possible it could start the end of wired connections. By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G. Advertisement

But the issue doesn't just affect airplanes - they could also have a negative effect on the nation's helicopters, including lifesaving medevac choppers.

Under U.S. law, all commercial helicopters must have a working altimeter in order to fly. Without them, officials warn, landing in remote areas or on hospital landing pads will be near impossible.

Helicopter Association International petitioned the FAA in October asking for medevacs to be exempt from the law when 5G rolls out, and the FAA granted it last week for areas where 5G C-Band interference could affect the radio altimeter.

Airlines for America, the group that organized the letter, declined to comment.

The CEO's also complained that: 'Given the short time frame and the exigency of this completely avoidable economic calamity, we respectfully request you support and take whatever action necessary to ensure that 5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The FAA said it 'will continue to ensure that the traveling public is safe as wireless companies deploy 5G.

'The FAA continues to work with the aviation industry and wireless companies to try to limit 5G-related flight delays and cancellations.'

The other government agencies did not comment.

The U.K. CAA, the mobile phone industry and Ofcom released statements earlier this month in response to U.K. concerns. They said they did not share the worries of that in the U.S. at this stage.

A spokesperson for the CAA, the UK equivalent to the FAA, said: 'We are aware of reports that suggest that the frequency band being used for 5G in a number of countries could potentially pose a risk of interference with aircraft radio altimeters.

'There have been no reported incidents of aircraft systems being affected by 5G transmissions in U.K. airspace, but we are nonetheless working with Ofcom and the Ministry of Defense to make sure that the deployment of 5G in the U.K. does not cause any technical problems for aircraft.'

A spokesperson for Ofcom said: 'We're aware that the aviation sector is looking at this; we've done our own technical analysis and are yet to see any evidence that would give us cause for concern.'

Gareth Elliott, head of policy and communications at Mobile U.K., which represents mobile networks, said: 'The U.K.'s mobile network operators follow all health and safety guidelines and engage with a variety of industries on interference.

'Mobile operators are actively coordinating with the aviation authorities to ensure no interference in the U.K.'
Fired-up Sunrise hosts David Koch and Natalie Barr have asked the question that every Australian wants answered about rapid antigen tests (RATs) - where are they?

The Sunrise hosts posed the question to the Health Minister on Thursday morning as RAT shortages persist across the country.

While Mr Hunt said the Morrison Government has been working to secure supplies since August, stocks remain scarce with the situation unlikely to improve for weeks.

'Where are they though? If you started buying since August, why can't we buy them at pharmacies at the moment and supermarkets?,' quizzed Koch.

Sunrise hosts David Koch and Natalie Barr have quizzed Health Minister Greg Hunt in a tense interview on Thursday about rapid antigen test shortages in Australia (pictured)

Mr Hunt said there were 'challenges at the moment' with RAT supplies across the world, including in the US and UK.

But Koch was quick to fire back.

'Not really. Not really. I have a daughter who sends tests to us here. Because she just buys them by the bucket load in London.'

'And if you've been buying since August... where are they?' interjected Barr.

Mr Hunt reiterated the Federal Government has supplied 6.1million tests to the aged care sector with an additional 66 tests approved for use by the TGA.

Mr Hunt (pictured) said the government has been working to secure RATs since August during a tense exchange with the Sunrise Hosts on Thursday

'The states have acquired 70million and that's additional supply that's coming from Commonwealth aged care in common with responsibilities,' Mr Hunt added.

'The states have now started to receive their purchases, and there is very significant community supply coming through pharmacies and supermarkets going forward.'

A fed-up Koch, who along with Barr were heard sighing throughout the interview when Mr Hunt failed to directly answer their questions, brought the interview to a close by thanking the Health Minister before adding: 'Still can't buy one though.'

The tense exchange comes as 52million rapid antigen test kits are due to arrive from Asia and the US this month through an emergency freight supply scheme.

A lack of easily available stock has caused a disastrous flow-on effect with critical labour shortages due to employees struggling to find tests needed to be cleared to work coupled with the tens of thousands who are isolating across the country.

A recent survey conducted by Professional Pharmacists Australia found 94 per cent of pharmacies are having problems sourcing RAT supplies.

Another 52 million rapid antigen test kits are due to arrive from Asia and the US this month through an emergency freight supply scheme (pictured, a nurse performs a rapid antigen test in October)

Chief executive Officer Jill McCabe said the shortage of stock is placing an increasing strain on pharmacists, describing the situation as 'beyond dire'.

'Pharmacists are telling us they are extremely overworked and under significant pressure and that they do not have the supplies and equipment they need to do their jobs properly,' Ms McCabe said.

'Others spoke of the mounting pressure they were under, including one pharmacist who said there were not enough staff to handle "100 phone calls an hour asking for RATs whilst doing 80 vaccinations a day on top of the regular workload of a 400+/day script pharmacy".

Of the 22 TGA approved RAT kits, the majority are manufactured in China but further delays are expected as Chinese factories are set to close for the upcoming Lunar New Year.
Joe Manchin took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to voice his absolute opposition to eliminating the filibuster as President Joe Biden was across the city delivering his first press conference in 78 days.

'Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out. It wasn't meant to be easy,' the West Virginia centrist Democrat said during a Senate floor debate on voting rights legislation that will see a vote later Wednesday evening.

'I cannot support such a perilous force for this nation when elected leaders are sent to Washington to unite our country not to divide our country,' he continued. 'We're called the United States not the Divide States  and putting politics and party aside is what we're supposed to do.'

'It's time we do the hard work to forge a difficult compromise that can stand the test of time. And that's what we're here to do.'

Democratic Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has also voiced her opposition to ending the filibuster, making her and Manchin isolated against their party on the issue.

While fellow Democratic Arizona Senator Mark Kelly has been cool to the idea of ditching the mechanism, he warmed up to the idea Wednesday, saying he would support the rule change if Republicans block his party's election bills later that evening.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin made remarks January 19 adamantly coming out against his party ending the filibuster. 'Eliminating the filibuster would be the easy way out. It wasn't meant to be easy,' the West Virginia centrist said during a Senate floor debate on voting rights legislation that will see a vote later Wednesday evening

Senator Mark Kelly (left) said that despite being cool to the idea of ending the filibuster before, he would support the rule change if Republicans block his party's election bills later Wednesday evening. This has further isolated Manchin (right) in his opposition

'My year in the Senate has shown me how dysfunctional this place can be, and how that prevents progress on issues that matter to Arizonans,' Kelly said Wednesday. 'We're seeing that now, as voting rights legislation remains blocked while partisan politicians work to undermine Arizona's successful vote-by-mail system and create more barriers to vote.'

'If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote,' the senator who faces a difficult reelection this year added.

Republicans are expected to vote either unanimously or nearly unanimously against ending debate on Democrats' bills  which they combined into one piece of legislation  denying the 60 votes needed to advance them.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York is expected to try to change the Senate filibuster on a party-line vote using the so-called 'nuclear option,' which Manchin also denounced on Wednesday.

He argued that members of his party are trying to 'break the rules to change the rules' of the Senate.

During his remarks, there was a sign over Manchin's left shoulder reading: 'The United States Senate has never been able to end debate with a simple majority.'

Manchin has faced a slew of backlash from his own party in recent months as he quickly emerged as the Democrat who would block parts of Biden and his party's progressive agenda from getting through in the 50-50 split Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York is expected to try to change the Senate filibuster on a party-line vote using the so-called 'nuclear option'

Weeks after killing Biden's $1.75 trillion Build Back Better package, Manchin is now adamantly coming out against eliminating the filibuster. If they were able to end the filibuster, Democrats would be able to get through their agenda without needing opposition members to vote to end debate on the matter.

Biden has held several one-on-one and group meetings with Manchin to persuade him to join the rest of his party in some of their more progressive agenda items  like passing trillions for social and welfare spending and ending the filibuster.

The White House described Biden's meeting last Thursday evening with Manchin and Sinema as 'candid and respectful,' as the president made a last-ditch effort to change the moderates' minds on filibuster reform.

Manchin pointed out on Wednesday the hypocrisy of many within his party, claiming that four years ago 33 Democrats, himself included, signed a letter with 28 Republicans to the Senate leaders warning against eliminating the filibuster.

'Just four years ago 61 of us  61 senators, myself being one, 33 of us on the Democrat side, many of which are studying in the chamber today, you've heard this many times  we sent a letter to Senator Shumer and to Senator McConnell warning them of the dangers of eliminating the filibuster,' Manchin said during his remarks Wednesday.

'That letter presented a united front committed to preserve the ability of the members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor,' he continued. 'Well some of the senators have changed their positions. I have not. I respect that this is a two way street. And I would hope you would respect where I am.'

'I respected you had changed your position on this. I would hope that you would respect that I have not and I have never wavered on this. I do not and will not attack the contents of the character of anybody who's changed their positions, and I would hope you would give me the same opportunity and not attack mine.'

Machin said senators 'owe it' to the American people to keep the filibuster in order to have robust and extended debate that would see a compromise, rather than the majority party steamrolling the minority.

'We've wasted a year behind the scenes  partisan negotiations, back-and-forth talking, through each other, around each other, but not to each other,' Manchin lamented on Wednesday.

'Let's have the debate, Democrats and Republicans and let the American people decide,' he continued. 'The pressure will come  that's what filibusters were about. The pressure mounted until you made ether a compromise, you made a decision, you all decided to go  you know  one way or another you were going to end that filibuster and today we haven't seen that.'
Justin Stein, the man accused of murdering his stepdaughter Charlise Mutten (pictured) shared a whirlwind romance with the nine-year-old's mother

Kallista Mutten shared a whirlwind romance with her fiance before he allegedly murdered her nine-year-old daughter Charlise - as police wait to question the mother in hospital.

Justin Stein, 31, was charged with murdering the schoolgirl and denied bail yesterday after her body was found in a barrel in scrub near the Colo River in Sydney's north-west.

Police allege Ms Mutten, 31, left Charlise in his care last Tuesday, and court documents show detectives allege Stein killed her in the following 15 hours.

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten key questions about the alleged events after she suffered a 'medical episode' and collapsed one day into the search for her daughter.

Social media posts show the pair shared a rapid romance, announcing they were in a relationship about a year after Ms Mutten, a former ice addict who has served jail time, walked free from prison.

In one loved-up December 2020 photo, Ms Mutten, 31, could be seen leaning in to kiss Stein as the pair lay in bed together.

Stein proposed to Charlise's mother, a former ice addict, in December 2020. Beneath this photo of Stein on Facebook, Ms Mutten wrote 'Mmmm yup' and 'absolutely gorgeous'

Ms Mutten had been released from jail in 2019 after serving a two-year jail term for dangerous driving causing death and driving under the influence of drugs.

In November 2020, Ms Mutten showed her affection for Stein by commenting on a selfie photo he posted on Facebook.

'Mmmm yup,' she wrote. 'Absolutely gorgeous.'

She also shared a photo of the church where she planned to marry Stein, writing 'cute church near his family's home' next to a photo of the chapel. It was in that same month the pair announced their engagement.

Detectives have been frustrated in their attempts to speak to the mother in recent days.

In one-loved up photo taken around the time of their engagement in December 2020, Ms Mutten, 31, could be seen leaning in to kiss Stein

'The mother is currently under health care and has been difficult to approach and contact,' NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson admitted during a media conference on Wednesday.

'She's under the care of medical supervision. At some stage, hopefully, when those doctors allow we will be talking further with her.'

Stein appeared in Central Local Court on Wednesday morning where he didn't apply for bail and it was formally refused.

His barrister told Magistrate Robert Williams his client needed his medication for mental health issues while in custody, adding he had been on 'high dosages' for many years.

He also expressed Stein had concerns for his safety.

'The other matter I'm instructed to raise relates to his concerns for personal safety in custody,' the barrister said.

'He has asked the court to recommend a no association classification.'

Magistrate Williams said Corrective Services only had the power to separate the accused from other prisoners.

Stein's lawyer also asked the court for a 12 week adjournment to seek a mental health assessment.

It comes after police alleged Stein drove around Sydney for hours with his fiance's daughter's body in the back of a boat while he tried to figure out where to dump her, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Ms Mutten also shared a photo of the church where she planned to marry Stein, writing 'Cute church near his family's home' next to a photo of the chapel

Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten's fiance Justin Stein (pictured) has been charged with murder

Charlise, who was under full-time custody of her grandparents in the Gold Coast, was spending the holidays with her mother and stepfather at the Blue Mountains property when she was reported missing on Friday.

Homicide detectives retraced Stein's steps using CCTV after he allegedly bought five 20kg sandbags from Bunnings, fuelled up a boat, then tried to launch it from an inner-Sydney dock.

After finding the boat was inoperable, police will allege he then tried to dump the barrel containing Charlise's body in Colo River but was unable to roll it in due to the weight of the sandbags.

It is alleged he instead left her in bushland, where she was later discovered.

A blue tarpaulin was also found in the back of the boat. The barrel has now been seized and will be forensically examined.

Police revealed in a press conference on Wednesday they will allege Stein discussed buying sandbags and boat fuel before later travelling to the riverbed where his stepdaughter's body was later found.

The accused appeared in Central Local Court on Wednesday from Surry Hills police station, where he is detained

A candlelight vigil was held for Charlise on Wednesday night outside her Tweed Heads public school

There has been a significant delay in speaking with the girl's mother Kallista Mutten (pictured) because she remains in hospital under guard. 'The mother is currently under healthcare and is difficult to approach,' Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said

Footage of the man's arrest was released on Wednesday afternoon, showing as he walked from the car to the holding cell at Surry Hills Police Station with his hands cuffed in front of him

The 31-year-old man was arrested at an apartment in Surry Hills on Tuesday night and he briefly faced court on Wednesday

Police officers speak with each other at a mobile command post in Mount Wilson during the search for Charlise on Tuesday

'(There were) a number of telephone conversations, to purchase a number of sandbags,' Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

Footage of Stein's arrest was released on Wednesday afternoon, showing the moment he walked from a car to a holding cell at Surry Hills Police Station with his hands cuffed in front of him.

He wore a grey Everlast jumper and shorts which he was still dressed in when he fronted court on Wednesday morning.

Ms Mutten reported Charlise missing to police on Friday morning.

The police fact sheet tendered in court on Wednesday indicates police believe she may have been killed several days before the phone call was made.
A young mother has been left furious by a serious facial injury her two-year-old daughter suffered at daycare, and the reaction of staff who had treated it as a minor incident even though the girl ended up requiring surgery.

Naaz Shereen Ali, 34, arrived at Frogtastic Childcare Centre in the Queensland city of Bundaberg 5.50pm on January 13 and was met by one of the staff holding two-year-old Ruhee in her arms, with the girl clutching a blood-soaked tissue to her mouth.

'I asked what had happened and they told me she had a minor cut to her lip because a girl threw a ball at her face... They did not call me and tell me when it happened,' Ms Ali told The Courier Mail.

Two-year-old Ruhee had to go to hospital and be put under anaesthetic to have surgery on her teeth (stock image)

On the way home Ms Ali discovered her daughter's two front teeth were damaged - one pushed well back and ultimately needing removal, and the other badly chipped - and there were cuts to her lips.

Having seen the extent of the injury, she phoned the childcare centre to speak to staff again to find out more about what happened but says she was told they were going home for the day so they could not talk to her.

Determined to find out exactly how Ruhee was injured she then drove back to the centre and asked to speak with the owner.

'They told me they couldn't give me the owner's number unless it was an emergency,' she said.

Ms Ali then took her daughter to Bundaberg Base Hospital where doctors told her she would need to be put under general anaesthetic so they could perform surgery on her mouth.

One of her teeth was removed and she was put on antibiotics for the cuts on her lips, with a doctor explaining the injuries could easily have become infected if left untreated.

When the distraught mother and her husband went to the childcare centre the next day they were given an incident report.

Having watched CCTV, staff reviewed their original version of events about being hit by a ball and said another girl had picked up a hard balance board and hit Ruhee in the face with it.

'They didn't see it happen... So then why tell me someone threw a ball?'

The childcare centre and the government department which oversee the industry are both investigating the incident.

Frogtastic Childcare Centre (pictured) said they were investigating the incident
Two Republican senators are demanding answers after the Secret Service refused to hand over details about Hunter Biden's trips to Kazakhstan, Russia and China.

Biden, now 51, was granted Secret Service protection while his father was vice president from 2009-17 - although he requested it cease in July 2014.

At the time, he was a globe-trotting businessman, and Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa are investigating Biden for 'his use of government-sponsored travel while he conducted private business.'

The senators have requested documents relating to Biden's travel, and so far have received 259 pages from the Secret Service. But in a letter to director James Murray, they said that they 'have serious concerns about the production'.

They note that the pages are heavily redacted, which they say is unnecessary for members of Congress, and they complained that they were missing entire years - 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Furthermore, one email shows members of the Secret Service detail requesting information about Biden's plan in May-June 2014 to travel from Paris to Kazakhstan, and asking if they can accompany him.

It is unclear whether Biden ever went to Kazakhstan. The travel logs, the senators say, do not mention the trip.

Chuck Grassley (left) and Ron Johnson, both Republican senators, are seeking information about Hunter Biden's travel on private business while protected by the Secret Service

Hunter Biden, embracing his father in November 2020, had Secret Service protection from 2009-14

Last year, it was reported that Biden decided to leave his Secret Service bodyguards before flying to Kazakhstan to pursue a deal on behalf of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, on whose board he sat and was paid $50,000 a month.

Biden reportedly planned to meet with then-Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Massimov, who was arrested on treason charges Saturday following his ouster as head of the country's counterintelligence and anti-terror agency.

An undated photo shared by the Kazhakhstani Initiative on Asset Recovery in 2019 showed Hunter and his father with Massimov and his son at a Washington DC restaurant.

The senators also note that, during the 'missing' years, Biden was known to visit China, Russia, Mexico, Spain and Italy.

Hunter Biden (third from left) poses with a number of Chinese executives in 2010, while his father was serving as vice president

Hunter Biden is seen with his father in December 2013 during a visit to Beijing

In 2013, one of the missing years, Biden was photographed touring Chinese factories and offices, touting for business for his investment firms and interests.

Biden stopped the Secret Service protection in July 2014, shortly after Time magazine published an article highlighting his financial ties to Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian natural gas conglomerate.

A report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee released in September 2020 indicates he took 411 domestic and international flights upon which the federal government provided security between June 2009 and July 2014.

Secret Service flight logs show that Hunter Biden traveled to at least 29 foreign countries, including one trip to Russia and five visits to China, respectively.

Biden now lives in Los Angeles with his South African-born wife Melissa and their son.

In the case of the presidents immediate family, the agency is required by law to provide round-the-clock security unless it is told not to.

Few have declined Secret Service protection, although for an adult with an independent life it can be a challenge.

Hunter, with wife Melissa and their son, lives in Los Angeles

All immediate family of the president-elect and vice president-elect can have protection

All of Donald Trump's children have accepted Secret Service protection - although Donald Trump Jr, 42, briefly rejected it.

In September 2017 Trump Jr, an avid camper and hunter, was reported to have said he no longer wanted their protection as he was seeking more privacy than he could expect with a contingent of agents accompanying him everywhere.

Less than a month later, he took it again for unspecified reasons, and with the Secret Service refusing to confirm any details.

George W. Bush's daughters Jenna and Barbara both received Secret Service protection for his time in office, but they were in their mid-20s when he left in January 2009.

George H.W. Bush's five adult children did not receive protection when he was in the White House.

When his father was in the White House, Hunter Biden received protection for some of the time - including when he tested positive for cocaine.

Agents are not supposed to stop their charges from wrongdoing, but inevitably buying drugs with agents on hand is challenging.

Ronald Reagan Jr. was the most high-profile first son to reject protection, in his father's second term.

The Secret Service is authorized to protect the president, the vice president, the president-elect and vice president-elect, and their immediate families.

Former presidents and their spouses are given protection, except when the spouse re-marries.

In 1965, Congress authorized the Secret Service to protect a former president and his or her spouse during their lifetime, unless they decline protection.

Children of former presidents are protected until the age of 16.




Rep. Yang Jung-suk leaves the Seoul Southern District Court, Jan. 20, after being fined 3 million won for illegal electioneering. Yonhap





A court fined independent lawmaker Rep. Yang Jung-suk 3 million won ($2,500), Thursday, after finding her guilty on charges of illegal electioneering. The punishment is heavy enough to result in Yang losing her National Assembly seat if it is confirmed by the Supreme Court.







The Seoul Southern District Court also sentenced Yang, formerly affiliated with the now-defunct Platform Party (PP), to an eight month prison term, suspended for two years, for underreporting her personal wealth to the National Election Committee as a candidate before the April 2020 general election.







Yang was additionally charged with defaming party officials and reporters who had raised suspicions against her.







Under the law, lawmakers lose their National Assembly seats if they are convicted on charges of violating the Election Law or Political Fund Law and sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more.







The lawyer-turned-politician was expelled from the PP, a former proportional representation party affiliated with the ruling party, after the allegations were raised soon after the election. (Yonhap)


LCPS Chief of Staff Mark Smith is out following criticism and controversy

The chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools in northern Virginia is no longer in that role following high-profile controversies, including sexual assault allegations against a teenager known as the 'boy in a skirt'.

Chief of Staff Mark Smith had also been the district's Title IX Coordinator, responsible for compliance with federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, and had faced harsh criticism over his performance.

Asked about Smith's departure, which was first reported on Wednesday by WJLA-TV, a district spokesperson simply said 'the position is vacant' and declined further comment.

Smith's exit follows last week's sentencing of the 15-year-old boy convicted of two sexual assaults of female classmates at separate schools.

The father of one of the victims was infamously dragged out of a school board meeting where teachers lied about never receiving reports of sex assaults in the girls' restrooms.

Smith had also been the district's Title IX Coordinator, responsible for compliance with federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in schools, and had faced harsh criticism

People gather in Loudoun County in October to protest the school board's handling of a sexual assault that happened in a locked 'gender-fluid' school bathroom in May

One school board member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WJLA that Smith 'had obligations under Title IX and they weren't met.'

'He was not a Title IX expert, but it was his job,' the school board member said. 'Someone had to pay and it was him.'

Smith could not immediately be reached for comment by DailyMail.com on Wednesday evening.

The local parents' advocacy group Fight for Schools celebrated Smith's departure as much-needed accountability for the handling of the sexual assault cases.

'We have been saying for months that Loudoun County Public Schools violated Title IX and this report confirms that,' the group's executive director Ian Prior told the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

'While it is a positive development to see that LCPS is taking action, the fact remains that the buck stopped with Superintendent Scott Ziegler and the former leadership of the school board,' he added.

'Ziegler remaining while his subordinates take the fall only further diminishes the trust in LCPS leadership,' said Prior.

Parents' advocacy group Fight for Schools celebrated Smith's departure but also called for the removal of Superintendent Scott Ziegler (above)

After the first rape occurred in a school bathroom at Stone Bridge High School (above) in May 2021 the boy was allowed to attend nearby Broad Run High School while he awaited trial in juvenile court. The second assault occurred in a Broad Run classroom last October

Last week, the teen convicted of the sexual assaults in the district was ordered Wednesday to attend a locked, residential treatment facility until he turns 18, but spared prison time.

He also was ordered to be placed on the sex offender registry at a hearing Wednesday in Loudoun County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, a step the judge said she had never previously ordered in a juvenile case.

The 15-year-old rapist - who DailyMail.com is not naming because he is a minor - was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls in two different schools in May and October last year.

Judge Pamela Brooks said she felt compelled to do so after reviewing psychosexual and psychological evaluations of the boy conducted after he was found guilty of the assaults.

"Yours scared me," she said of the reports. "I don't know how else to put it. They scared me for yourself. They scared me for your family. They scared me for society."

But the judge spared the teen rapist any prison time after the mother of one of the victims pleaded for him to be given a second chance to turn his life around.

Jessica Smith, whose husband Scott (with her above) was dragged from a school board meeting last year, stood up at her daughter's rapist's sentencing hearing and asked the judge not to jail him, and help him seek treatment instead

Scott Smith, whose daughter was assaulted, was infamously dragged out of a board meeting where teachers lied about never receiving reports of sex assaults in the girls' restrooms

Jessica Smith, whose husband Scott was dragged from a school board meeting last year, stood up at her daughter's rapist's sentencing hearing and asked the judge not to jail him, and help him seek treatment instead.

'I feel that if this boy goes directly to juvenile jail he will not receive any treatment.

'I feel if he is placed in a long term residential he might have a fighting chance of becoming a better human being, she said.

The boy wept and hung his head on the table after the judge imposed the requirement that he register as a sex offender, the only part of the sentence to which his lawyer objected.

Defense attorney William Mann said the lifetime stigma associated with the registry contradicts "the idea of rehabilitation for a young teenager" that he said should be the overriding goal of a juvenile proceeding.

Juvenile Court judge Pamela Brooks said the boy 'scared' her

The case became a touchstone for an array of incendiary cultural and political issues last year in Loudoun County, where the assaults occurred.

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin called for an investigation of the county school board's response to the assaults during his successful campaign last year, and Virginia Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares has said he plans to conduct that probe.

Parents were angered that there were multiple assaults.

After the first one occurred in a school bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021 the boy was allowed to attend nearby Broad Run High School while he awaited trial in juvenile court.

The second assault occurred in a Broad Run classroom last October.

The case also became embroiled in debate over extending protections to transgender students in schools, amid allegations that the boy had been wearing a skirt when he assaulted his classmate at Stone Bridge.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that the boy in part blamed that assault on the fact that he accidentally caught his knee-length skirt on his watch while locked in a bathroom stall with the girl, according to news reports.

It was alleged in court that he had assaulted a third victim who he is yet to acknowledge. He has not been charged with a third offense.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Jessica Smith told DailyMail.com she was 'relieved'.

'Residential treatment is what each of us were pushing for. If he messes up, he will go to jail,' she said.
Queensland has announced 16,812 new cases of Covid-19 and nine deaths.

There are now 850 people in hospital, with 48 in ICU and 28 people needing ventilation.

The new cases compared with 19,932 cases and 11 deaths recorded on Wednesday.

There are now 91,300 active Covid cases in the state.

Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said one of the deceased was an 18-year-old with 'significant underlying medical problems'.

'There was also one person in their 70s, five people in their 80s, one in their 90s and one person aged over 100,' Dr Gerrard said of the deaths.

Dr Gerrard said three of those who passed were unvaccinated, five were double vaccinated and one had received a booster.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles announced the new cases at Brisbane manufacturer of rapid antigen tests, AnteoTech.

'It is urgent we get more RATs approved in Australia and if we can have them made here, we avoid all the import and competition issues associated with trying to get a product in demand right around the world,' Mr Miles said.

Deputy Premier Steve Miles announced 16,812 new cases of Covid-19 and nine deaths in Queensland on Thursday

Mr Miles said the first guests would use the Wellcamp quarantine facility developed at Toowoomba in February.

Two pods of 250 beds each will be open next month, one to be used for travellers who need to undertake isolation and one for locals who need to quarantine because their own accommodation is unsuitable.

He also announced a new 'quarantine commissioner', Joanne Greenfield, to manage the state's isolation arrangements into the future.

'Even two years [into the pandemic] in we see that quarantine and isolation are public health tools we need to utilise,' Mr Miles said, defending the expenditure on establishing the facility.

A woman leaves a PCR Covid testing site with Panbio branded rapid antigen testing kits in Brisbane, Queensland

Mr Miles said people would not be charged if they are directed into isolation at the Wellcamp facility under a public health order.

He said some quarantine hotels would be maintained at Cairns, the Gold Coast and Brisbane Airport until the Federal government's proposed quarantine facility at Pinkenba in inner Brisbane was opened.

Mr Miles said people who were well enough will be able to transport themselves to the Wellcamp facility.

He said a private company, Aspen Medical, would manage medical treatment at the facility, overseen by Queensland Health.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said 'serious consideration' was being given to bringing the three-month mark forward for Queenslanders to get a booster vaccine after a second dose.

'There are 40 per cent of those eligible for a booster who have yet to come forward,' Ms D'Ath said.

Ms D'Ath said advice from the Commonwealth and the Federal health advisory body, AHPPC, was required before shortening the time for a booster vaccine to less than three months.

She again urged people not call Triple O or the ambulance service in relation to RATs and revealed that the Gold Coast University Hospital had now dedicated seven wards to managing Covid-19 patients.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said 'serious consideration' was being given to bringing the three-month mark forward for Queenslanders to get a booster vaccine after a second dose

Dr Gerrard said the peak of the current outbreak would not be reached until towards the end of January and that the state could still expected thousands of cases.

He warned on Wednesday that while the state was approaching the peak of the current Omicron outbreak, hospitals and healthcare would be placed under strain in the immediate future.

'The next three weeks or so are going to be a very tough time for Queenslanders and also specifically for our health care workers in Queensland hospitals,' Dr Gerrard said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also announced yesterday that from 1am this Saturday, fully vaccinated international travellers no longer have to do quarantine.

The premier said the decision was made possible by the state's current vaccination rate of 91. 5 per cent of the population with one dose of a vaccine and 88.82 per cent who are double dosed.

Travellers will need to do a RAT test within 24 hours of arrival and unvaccinated travellers will still need to do two weeks of quarantine.
President Joe Biden snapped at a reporter Wednesday who asked if invoking white supremacists like Bull Connor and George Wallace and saying those who didn't support voting rights legislation were in the 'same camp' as them backfired.

'No I didn't say that. Look what I said. Go back and read what I said,' said Biden, getting louder as he made each statement, to Real Clear Politics reporter Phil Wegmann. 'And tell me if you think I called anyone who voted on the side of - the position taken by Bull Connor - that they were Bull Connor.'

At Wednesday's White House press conference marking the end of Biden's first year in office, Wegmann pointed out that Biden had campaigned on a 'return to civility.'

'No I didn't say that. Look what I said. Go back and read what I said,' President Joe Biden shouted at a reporter during Wednesday's press conference when he was asked referencing Bull Connor and George Wallace in a voting rights speech last week

Real Clear Politics reporter Phil Wegmann got yelled at by President Joe Biden after asking him about invoking the names of white supremacists like Bull Connor and George Wallace and saying those who didn't support voting rights legislation were in the 'same camp' as them

'And I know that you dispute the characterization that you called folks who would oppose those voting bills as being Bull Connor or George Wallace, but you said that they would be sort of in the same camp,' Wegmann noted.

At that, Biden started yelling.

'I assume you got into journalism because you like to write,' the president uttered.

Wegmann then tried to finish his question.

'Did you expect that would work with Senators Manchin or Sinema?' the reporter asked.

Biden traveled to Atlanta last week to deliver a big voting rights speech, only to still have the two moderate Democrats say no, that they would not support a special carve-out of the filibuster to muscle this specific legislation through the upper chamber.

In Atlanta, Biden asked lawmakers how they wanted to be remembered.

'On the side of Dr. King or George Wallace?' he asked. 'Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Biden for making those comparisons.

At the press conference, Biden said 'there are certain things that are so consequential you have to speak from your heart as well as your head.'

'I was speaking out forcefully about what I think to be at stake,' Biden said.

'No one, no one, forgets who was on the side of King versus Bull Connor. The history books will note it,' he continued.

'Don't think this is a freebie. You don't get to vote this way and somehow this goes away. This will stick with you the rest of your career and long after you're gone,' the president added.

Biden later told reporters that he had reached out to McConnell after the Kentucky Republican objected to the president's comments in the speech - and said he would talk again to Sen. Mitt Romney too.

Romney said that he hadn't heard from the White House on voting rights, despite sometimes being a swing vote.

'I have no reluctance to reach out to any Republican,' Biden said.

Wegmann was given a chance to ask a question after Biden stopped calling on reporters from a list he kept at the podium.

Instead, he worked through the rest of the room.

Prior to getting to Wegmann, Biden took a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy after the journalist demanded to be called on.

'Why are you trying to hard to pull the country so far to the left?' Doocy asked the president.

The president laughed at the question.

'Well I'm not, I don't know what you consider to be too far to the left,' he answered, pointing that in his first year he got Americans money for COVID relief and infrastructure.

'I'm not Bernie Sanders. I'm not a socialist. I'm a mainstream Democrat,' Biden said.
With a shortage of workers crippling supply chains due to Covid-19 and a lack of immigration, Scott Morrison has come up with a novel plan to help out.

The Prime Minister, who is often pictured behind the wheel of forklifts, trucks and other industrial vehicles, wants to allow children to drive forklifts to help get items onto supermarket shelves more quickly.

In Victoria, NSW and Queensland 18 is the minimum age for getting the skilled work licence needed to drive a forklift, but Mr Morrison will reportedly ask at today's national cabinet meeting for this to be lowered.

Scott Morrison (pictured right) will reportedly ask at today's national cabinet meeting for the age for being allowed to get a forklift licence to be lowered

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) observes a hydrogen powered forklift during a tour of the Toyota Hydrogen Centre in Altona last November 9, 2021

Mr Morrison is likely to tell state premiers he is passing on a suggestion from industry, Guardian Australia reported.

On Wednesday, Mr Morrison said some changes had already been made to speed up the supply chain process, but more were required 'at a state level, and I'm continuing to pursue those with the states'.

The Prime Minister also wants the states to get rid of rules requiring daily rapid antigen tests for workers, except in high-risk industries.

Forklift driving can be one of the most dangerous occupations in Australia.

In NSW alone, there were five forklift accident fatalities in 2020 and 2021, and hundreds of incidents.

A man in Dandenong South in Victoria was killed in a workplace forklift accident on Monday.

Darren Lamb, 44, was killed when a shipping container fell on him while he was driving a forklift.

He leaves behind his wife of 22 years, Charlene, and seven children, aged from one to 20 years old.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured during a tour of the Snowy Hydro Lobs Hole site in December) is looking for solutions to Australia's supply chain crisis, including a reported plan to allow children to drive forklifts

SafeWork NSW executive director Tony Williams said the main factor in people being killed or seriously injured by a forklift is inadequate separation between pedestrians and forklifts.

FORK LIFT INCIDENTS IN NSW 2020-2021 Five people were killed in forklift accidents

There were 598 incidents involving forklifts

75 per cent of all incidents happen in just five industries - transport, manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale Source: SafeWork NSW Advertisement

'While not all incidents involve an injury or death, many of these incidents include collisions between forklifts or other vehicles, rollovers and objects falling off forklifts when loading or unloading.'

Almost 75 per cent of all incidents happen in just five industries  transport, manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale.

'We have issued 494 notices to operators in the same time the 598 incidents happened  almost 20 per cent of workplaces don't have simple seatbelt compliance in place.

'The use of forklifts continues to grow and they are great tools for all sorts of businesses, but if we are not doing it safely then people will be forced to stop using them,' Mr Williams said.

A proposal to recognise New Zealand truck licences in Australia will be seen as less controversial than allowing children to drive forklifts.
Former President Donald Trump hit back at reports of a bitter rift with Republican Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, insisting they had a good relationship.

DeSantis has emerged as a heavyweight contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

The result has been a number of unnamed advisers trashing DeSantis to journalists amid reports that Trump is furious that the governor will not say he will stand aside if the former president decides to run again.

'Well, I have a very good relationship with Governor DeSantis,' said Trump on a conference with a small number of reporters when asked about the issue.

The call was to promote his coffee table book, 'Our Journey Together,' but Trump fielded questions on everything from the January 6 investigation and impeachment to whether he had plans for another book during the 20-minute conversation.

He did not say whether DeSantis was featured in his book, but said that the 43-year-old owed his political rise to Trump's endorsement

In a call with reporters, former President Trump insisted he still had a good relationship with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis despite sources recently saying he was furious that the younger man had not offered to step out of the 2024 race if Trump decided to run

Trump's book, 'Our Journey Together,' was published at the end of last year. Another 100,000 copies have now gone on sale after supply chain woes caused problems

'You know, he won the election the day I announced that I was going to give him my endorsement,' he said by phone from his home and political headquarters at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

'And then I helped him beat their so-called star the Democrat star, who turned out not to be much of a star.

'But now I had a very good ... I have a very good relationship with him.

'And we've had that for a long time. And I was very supportive of him.'

Several polls have suggested that DeSantis would be Republican voters' favorite candidate if Trump opted out of running again.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that DeSantis' is refusing to commit to clear the way for Trump if the ex-president jumps into the 2024 presidential race.

Trump wants other presidential hopefuls to bow out if he gets in, clearing the way for an easy GOP primary win.

While DeSantis is running for re-election this year, he's shaping up to be a top GOP 2024 White House contender.

DeSantis told his inner circle the 'expectation that he bend the knee is asking too much,' The Times said.

Behind-the-scenes, Trump has reportedly remarked that DeSantis has 'no personal charisma' and a 'dull' personality.

And when Trump's people were asked to comment on DeSantis courting social media influencers who share pro-Florida sentiments, Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesperson, pointed out the role Trump played in making DeSantis.

The pair are among the most popular Republican figures in the country, and with Trump eyeing another presidential run in 2024, many political pundits believe he is irritated by DeSantis' interest in running against him and his growing popularity

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is inviting conservative social media influencers to spend time with him in Tallahassee

'The MAGA world has, in large part, followed President Trump to Florida as it readies for the future,' Budowich told Politico. 'After introducing the world to Governor DeSantis in 2017 through a Tweet, Floridians have reaped the rewards of President Trump's America First candidates.'

'Now with DeSantis up for re-election, it's an all hands on deck effort to propel Governor DeSantis across the finish line once more,' Budowich added.

It came after several unnamed sources said Trump had been badmouthing his fellow Republican.

He says DeSantis has no personal charisma and has a dull personality,' one told Axios.

Trump's advisers say Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is responsible for ramping up the stories of a feud.

They pointed to DeSantis' appearance on the Ruthless podcast, which is co-hosted by McConnell's longtime adviser Josh Holmes, after the Florida governor criticized the Covid lockdowns that Trump had encouraged early on in the pandemic.

A top Trump adviser, voicing the views of four other anonymous staffers, told Fox News: 'I like Josh. Josh is great. But he's a wholly owned subsidiary of McConnell World.

'And there's no way you can tell me that this was all a coincidence.'
Covid restrictions in England are set to be lifted, Boris Johnson announced last night, with ministers now looking at ways to 'live with Covid'.

The Government's Plan B measures, introduced in December to slow the spread of Omicron, are now Plan-soon-to-B gone, with ministers aiming to have all restrictions lifted by the end of March.

Some measures are being lifted as early as today, with ministers no longer asking people to work from home and lifting mandatory mask wearing rules in English schools.

But restrictions on care home visits, as well as masks in public spaces will continue for at least a week under the Government's new road map.

Ministers also hope to lift compulsory self-isolation periods for those with Covid from late March.

The announcement came after Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs he was 'cautiously optimistic' that regulations could be 'substantially reduced' and that the peak of the Omicron wave had passed.

Pointing to ONS data showing a fall in infections, including in older age groups, and a drop in hospital admissions due to Covid, he said the time was right to start lifting measures.

In a Downing Street press conference last night, he said the country 'must learn to live with COVID, in the same way that weve learnt to live with flu'

However he urged people to 'stay vigilant' and warned 'we must be mindful that there could be bumps in the road ahead'.

Meanwhile health chiefs such as Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, have urged caution and warned 'are likely to have to learn to live alongside Covid for years to come'.

Here MailOnline breaks down when each of the Covid measures will be lifted:

IMMEDIATELY

WORKING FROM HOME

The Prime Minister said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home.

He called on people to speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office.

The Prime Minister (pictured yesterday during PMQs) said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home

FROM TODAY

MASKS IN SCHOOLS

From today, secondary school pupils will not have to wear face coverings in classrooms.

The requirement to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas will end next Thursday, January 27.

Face masks in schools will no longer be required from next Thursday

FROM NEXT THURSDAY

MASKS IN PUBLIC PLACES

From next Thursday, the Government will no longer legally mandate the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport.

But they will continue to suggest masks should be worn in enclosed and crowded places where people could come into contact with those they do not normally meet.

The Prime Minister said this meant the Government will 'trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one'.

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday. Pictured: Health Secretary Sajid Javid speaks at a Downing Street press conference yesterday

COVID PASSPORTS

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday.

But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want.

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday. But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want

BY THE END OF THE MONTH

TRAVEL

An announcement is expected soon on scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test on returning to England.

No 10 said the rules will be reviewed by the end of January.

Commuters in London riding the Northern line on the Underground this morning as they go to city offices

CARE HOMES

Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days.

At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents.

Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days. At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents

BY MARCH AT THE LATEST

SELF-ISOLATION

Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24.

He said this could happen even earlier, if the data allows.

The legal requirement will be replaced with guidance that urges people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.

Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24

BY JULY

FREE TESTS

Free Covid lateral flow tests look set to be scrapped by July.

People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven.

Free Covid lateral flow tests (pictured) look set to be scrapped by July. People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven.

Day one of the 'new normal': Commuters head to work as WFH is scrapped after Boris ordered civil service to lead by example and get back to their desks - but some bosses say they won't bring staff back for months

By Jack Wright for MailOnline

Commuters in England are heading back into city offices today after Boris Johnson dramatically scrapped all Covid curbs yesterday.

Photos show people in London riding Tube services and traffic building up on the A102 Blackwall Tunnel approach in Greenwich during rush hour this morning after the Prime Minister ordered civil servants to lead by example and get back to their desks.

In a statement to the Commons yesterday, Mr Johnson announced WFH guidance would be dropped immediately and rules on masks in schools would also be scrapped from today. Other restrictions including compulsory face coverings on public transport and in shops, and Covid passes for entry to nightclubs and large events will end next Thursday.

And the legal requirement for people with Covid to isolate will also be allowed to lapse when the regulations expire on March 24.

The move could help appease Mr Johnson's Tory critics after a 'Pork Pie Putsch' against the PM over the lockdown party scandal melted away last night.

Business chiefs hailed yesterday's WFH announcement, calling it 'great news for small businesses and city centres that rely on office workers'.

And nightclub bosses indicated that they won't continue enforcing Covid passes after next Thursday, telling Radio 4's Today programme that there is 'no proof anywhere in the world that nightclubs are any worse than any indoor setting' for virus transmission.

However, teaching unions have defied the PM by ordering children to keep wearing masks in schools. They have accused the Tory leader of making the decision to try to save his own political career, and claimed he was flouting his 'duty of care' to teachers by axing compulsory face coverings in classrooms.

The National Education Union warned against lifting curbs 'too quickly', saying it could lead to 'more disruption' for schools. General secretary Dr Mary Bousted called the removal of masks 'premature', adding: 'Rather than announcements aimed at saving Boris Johnson's job, (the) Government should be exercising a duty of care to the nation's pupils and the staff who educate them.'

London Mayor Sadiq Khan put himself at odds with the PM by ordering TfL customers to continue wearing masks on TfL Tube and bus services.

Britain's top medics also insisted that scrapping Covid curbs at such pace 'risks creating a false sense of security' with the NHS still under pressure.

Commuters crossing London Bridge this morning after Boris Johnson yesterday scrapped WFH guidance

Traffic building up on the A102M Blackwall Tunnel approach in Greenwich, south-east London during rush hour today

In a statement to MPs in the Commons yesterday, Boris Johnson announced WFH guidance would be immediately dropped and rules on masks in schools would also be scrapped from today. Other restrictions including compulsory face coverings on public transport and in shops will end next Thursday

Schools are preparing to defy the Prime Minister by ordering children to continue wearing masks in classrooms

The Association of School and College Leaders hinted that they would support the wearing of masks in classrooms if 'supported by sound public health and scientific advice'.

Its general secretary Geoff Barton warned that 'the situation in schools and colleges remains extremely challenging with significant levels of pupil and staff absence because of Covid-19'.

'There is a danger that we are heading once again for a situation in which the Government gives the impression that the crisis is over when in actual fact there is huge disruption continuing to take place in education and it is very far from being a case of business as normal,' he added.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association council, said: 'This decision clearly is not guided by the data. When Plan B was introduced in December, there were 7,373 patients in hospital in the UK. The latest data this week shows there are 18,9791.'

He warned that ending mandates on mask-wearing would 'inevitably increase transmission' and place the most vulnerable at a higher risk.

And Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation representing health bodies, said now 'is not the time for complacency about this virus'.

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery said that some trusts had reported they were expecting their peak later this week despite a fall in case numbers nationally due to regional variations in the number of hospital admissions.

'That's why it's important that there is recognition that this surge isn't over, and that the health service is still operating under extremely challenging circumstances,' she added.

Yesterday the Mayor of London warned: 'Sadly this is not the end of our fight against the virus. Covid-19 still poses a significant threat to all of us, our livelihoods and our loved ones.

'Wearing a face covering is one of the single most important and easiest things we can all do to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and the Government should rethink their plans and keep legislation in place to make them mandatory on public transport as well as in shops and indoor public venues.

'If we have learnt anything from this pandemic, it is that we must not get complacent and undo all our hard work and sacrifices. That's why face coverings will remain a condition of carriage on TfL services.

'I'm asking everyone in our capital to do the right thing and continue to wear a face covering when travelling on TfL services to keep us all protected and to prevent further restrictions from being necessary later down the line.'

However, business chiefs cheered the latest easing of curbs. Kevin Ellis, chairman of PwC UK, told the Times: 'The No1 question I'm being asked from our people is when can we get back to the office  they value time with colleagues, alongside the flexibility to work from home.

'After the last lockdown restrictions were lifted, it took us two months to get back to 80 per cent capacity. We're expecting a faster bounce-back now  people know the drill'.

Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the easing of Plan B would be applauded by her members, 'particularly those based in city and town centres which rely on footfall from office workers'.

Chris Hirst, global CEO of Havas Creative, told Radio 4's Today programme that 'many of our employees really do want to come back' and predicted most of the UK workforce would be back in the office from Monday. He added that he would be talking to individual staff nervous about the WFH relaxation.

Matthew Fell, the CBI's chief policy director, said: 'It's great news that Plan B is coming to an end and businesses will be hopeful that we are finally starting to turn the corner on Covid-19.

'There's a vital need now for greater consistency in how we live with the virus in the longer term. Swinging back and forth between restrictions and normality has been damaging.'

Mr Fell said hybrid working would remain, as firms sought a balanced approach to home and office working.

He added: 'There are clear benefits to being in the office, such as collaboration and on-the-job learning, and blanket work-from-home guidance has had significant downsides for city centre trade in sectors such as hospitality and retail.'

Jace Tyrrell, Chief Executive of the New West End Company said: 'With office employees set to return to London's West End, retailers, bars and restaurants will be looking ahead to a promising year.

'With the support of returning shoppers and Government alike, we are confident that the West End can achieve 7.5billion of turnover this year as it continues on the long road to recovery.'

The Federation of Small Business also welcomed the move, though bosses warned it was not all good news, against a backdrop of higher taxes and business rates.

Commuters crossing London Bridge this morning after Boris Johnson yesterday scrapped WFH guidance

Its chairman Mike Cherry said: 'We would now urge everyone to get behind small firms  be that on a commute, whilst working from home, online, or in-person  as they work night and day to recover from another incredibly stressful festive season.

'Equally, it's important to respect the house rules that each individual small firm has implemented to keep its customers and staff safe  many have invested thousands in making premises more secure.

'Small firms and sole traders stand ready to spur our economic recovery from this recession as they did the last. After new import checks took effect this month, however, they are now staring down the barrel of a jobs tax hike, a dividend taxation increase and business rates bills landing in April.

'The Government should be looking at policies that will empower small businesses and start-ups to get our economy firing on all cylinders again.'

It comes after Covid cases fell in most parts of the UK for the first time since early December, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Mr Johnson said that while there are some places where cases are likely to continue rising, including in primary schools, scientists believed 'it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally'.
A bizarre Facebook page run by the mother of Charlise Mutten has resurfaced after the tragic death of the nine-year-old.

The 'Windowlicking - Windex Crew' page features photos of Kallista Mutten appearing to lick windows in houses and glass doors in public venues.

Labeling herself as a 'comedian' at the top of the page, most of the bizarre behaviour shown on the page occurred between 2011 and 2014.

Ms Mutten is currently hospitalised after the disappearance and subsequent discovery of her daughters' body near the Colo River in Sydney's north-west.

Her fiance, Justin Stein, is alleged to have murdered the girl.

The 'Windowlicking - Windex Crew' Facebook page features photos of Kallista Mutten (pictured) licking the windows of police cars and the glass doors in public venues

Labeling herself as a 'comedian' at the top of the page, most of the bizarre behaviour by Ms Mutten displayed on the page occurred between 2011 and 2014

'I am not afraid to be different and do not care about peoples mainstream thoughts of not normal because I am normal hahaha what's normal too you?' Ms Mutten wrote on the page

NSW Police are awaiting Ms Mutten's condition to improve before interviewing her about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Charlise, who Ms Mutten reported missing last Friday morning.

She remains under guard at hospital and is 'hard to approach'.

'The mother is currently under healthcare and is difficult to approach,' Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

'She's under medical supervision, but when doctors allow, we will be talking to her.'

One of the posts on the window licking Facebook page shows a person placing their tongue on the window of a parked police car in April 2013.

'Police window ... done,' Ms Mutten posted with the photo.

An unidentified person licks the window of a police car, which Ms Mutten posted to the page with the caption, 'Police window ... done'

Police allege Charlise Mutten was killed sometime between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am Wednesday January 12 after she was reported missing from a Blue Mountains, NSW property last Friday, January 14

Friends and other family members are also seen performing the stunt in posts.

The odd hobby appears to have been in reaction to the 'planking' Internet trend that started in 2011, where people would post photos of themselves lying prone in odd and public places.

'To all the plankers haha got nothing on extreme Window Licking mwah happy licking people geez it feels got to not be like everyone else and get out there lick where ever you like as who cares do it, feel it, love it, hate it either way try it and lick away.. LICK AND TAG my friends let go,' Ms Mutten posted in July 2011.

'I am not afraid to be different and do not care about peoples mainstream thoughts of not normal because I am normal hahaha what's normal too you?' she wrote in another post.

The last post on the age was July 2015 but since Ms Mutten's identity was revealed last week, people have started posting to the page commenting on what happened to her daughter.

The red ute and boat seized by police before yesterday's arrest of Kallista Mutten's fiance, Justin Stein

Police allege Charlise was killed sometime between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am Wednesday January 12.

The schoolgirl had been spending the holidays with her mother and stepfather at a Blue Mountains property at Mount Wilson when she was reported missing on Friday, January 14.

Detectives believe Charlise's mother left her daughter in the care of Stein last Tuesday night - the last time she was confirmed to be alive.

Police will allege she was killed within the following 15 hours.

Her body was found in a barrel on Tuesday night in scrub near the Colo River - an hour from where she disappeared on the Blue Mountains property.

Stein, 31, appeared in Central Local Court on Wednesday morning where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

Homicide detectives retraced Stein's steps using CCTV after he allegedly bought five 20kg sandbags from Bunnings, fuelled up a boat, then tried to launch it from an inner-Sydney dock.

After finding the boat was inoperable, police will allege he then tried to dump the barrel containing Charlise's body in Colo River but was unable to roll it in due to the weight of the sandbags.

It is alleged he instead left her in bushland, where she was later discovered.

Family, friends, students and members of the community congregated outside the front gates of Charlise's former school as they celebrated her short, but impactful life

A candlelit vigil for Charlise was held at the gates of Tweed Head Public School on Wednesday night.

Among other speakers, including one of Charlise's teachers, a student of the school said, 'This should not be happening.'

Family, friends, students and members of the community congregated outside the front gates of her former school as they celebrated her short, but impactful life.

'We are gathered here tonight to recognise, honour, and celebrate the young life of Charlise Mutten - a beautiful, loving and gentle spirit who has been taken far too soon,' her schoolmate said.
President Joe Biden admitted his administration fell short on supplying the U.S. with coronavirus tests, but during his Wednesday press conference said he believed the pandemic was getting better.

'Should we have done more testing earlier, yes,' the president said at the top of the press conference, marking the end of his first year in office. 'But we're doing more now. We've gone from zero at-home tests a year ago to 375 million tests on the market in just this month.'

The Omicron surge of COVID-19 hit the United States in the run-up to the December holidays, leading to a widespread coronavirus testing shortage.

President Joe Biden admitted his administration fell short on supplying the U.S. with coronavirus tests, but during his Wednesday press conference said he believed the pandemic was getting better

This week, the administration started allowing Americans to sign up for four free COVID tests via the U.S. Postal Service's website.

The tests are due in homes at the end of the month.

'Some people may call what's happening right now the new normal. I call it a job not yet finished,' the president continued. 'It will get better. We're moving toward a time when COVID-19 won't disrupt our daily lives.'

'We're not there yet, but we will get there,' the president added.

The administration's COVID response came up throughout the press conference, with Biden explaining why no heads have rolled over confusing messaging.

He said COVID guidelines on masking and testing had been confusing 'because the scientists are learning more.'

He also pointed out that his medical experts are scientists not communications people.

'This is a brand new virus, a brand new phenomenon,' the president said. 'This is an unfolding story.'

When asked to describe what COVID looked like a year from now, the president used the question as an opportunity to tout vaccines.

'Well the answer is I hope the new normal will be that we don't still have 30-some million people not vaccinated,' Biden said.

He also pointed to more widespread use of therapeutics, which should prevent more Americans from getting more severe COVID disease, and said he hoped other countries, like the U.S., would share their vaccine reserves with other parts of the world.
An Australian mother has warned shoppers to be on high alert after finding an angry scorpion hiding in vegetables she bought from the supermarket.

Mum Chloe was 'shocked' to find a live scorpion living in a head of broccoli purchased from Aldi at Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast when she went to prepare the vegetable in her kitchen.

The stinging arachnid crawled out of the broccoli and reared up when exposed.

Mum Chloe was 'shocked' to find a live scorpion living in a fresh head of broccoli when she went to prepare the vegetable in her kitchen (pictured, the actual scorpion she found)

Thousands of people die each year from scorpion stings, but no fatality has ever been recorded in Australia. The deadly varieties live in Africa, the Middle East, India, Mexico and parts of South America (pictured an Algerian scorpion)

'I'm happy dealing with caterpillars and bugs in fresh produce but was shocked to see a scorpion crawling around. He was very much alive and very cranky,' Chloe told 9Honey.

She said the broccoli was bought by her father-in-law, whom she called after finding the nasty critter.

'Just a friendly reminder to check your fresh produce,' wrote Chloe in a mum's social media group next to the photo of the stinger.

'My [father-in-law] bought a head of broccoli from the [Aldi] Ulladulla store today and after I had cut it up and started cooking it I realised something was crawling around my chopping board. It turns out a scorpion was living in the broccoli.'

NSW mum Chloe said she was usually fine with finding bugs in fresh food, but finding a scorpion was a different matter

Chloe admitted she called her husband on finding the bad news bug, and he repeated 'some choice words'.

Scorpions are found right across Australia, living in a huge variety of habitats, but there have not been any fatalities recorded from their bites here.

'Several thousand people die each year from scorpion bites, but this mortality is due to the venom of about 25 species located in northern Africa, the Middle East, India, Mexico and parts of South America,' according to the Museum of Victoria.

But they can inflict an extremely painful sting - administered by the stinger at tip of the tail - that results in swelling and pain for several hours.

You should call a doctor if you get bitten by a scorpion.

Alarmed social media users reacted with shock and humour at the sight of the scorpion and the chance the same thing could easily happen to them.

Chloe's father-in-law purchased the broccoli, which came with a free scorpion, at Aldi at Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast

'Bloody hell! This wouldn't of happened if it was a donut box! See people! Healthy eating is dangerous,' said Margarita.

'Just shows the food was fresh with no chemicals on it,' wrote Troy.

'Just another reason not to eat brocolli,' said Sari on Facebook.

'For the current price of broccoli right now finding the protein already added saves money,' Lesley joked.

'We strongly encourage customers to bring issues to our attention directly so we can review,' Aldi said in a statement.

'Without contact with the customer, we can confirm that it is very unusual, and that this broccoli hitchhiker isn't where they belong  which is likely back on our Aussie producers' farm.'
Universities are facing fines if they cannot get 60 per cent of students into a professional job under a crackdown on 'Mickey Mouse' courses.

Plans could see institutions fined up to 500,000, stripped of their right to take student loans or effectively shut down.

The Office for Students (OfS) wants to eliminate 'low-quality' courses by setting a new threshold requiring courses to send at least 60 per cent of students to further study or professional employment.

On top of that, at least 80 per cent of students should not drop out after the first year, and 75 per cent should graduate.

Office for Students wants to eliminate 'low-quality' courses by setting a threshold requiring courses to send at least 60 per cent of students to further study or professional employment

The rules, published today, also introduce a 'requires improvement' rating in the TEF, the official universities ratings system.

Universities with this rating will not be able to charge full annual fees of 9,250. The rules are hoped to tackle 'Mickey Mouse' degrees with low postgraduate success rates.

Unconventional courses that could fall victim to the new rules could include the University of Sunderland's BA in Fashion Journalism, where students learn 'essential' skills such as catwalk reporting and the history of Chanel.

They have only a 40 per cent chance of entering highly skilled work 15 months after leaving.

At University College Birmingham, BSC Bakery and Patisserie Technology students  who learn how to 'make artisan bread'  have a 15 per cent chance of rising to the challenge of a professional job within 15 months.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan welcomed a 'crackdown', adding: 'When students go to university, they do so in the pursuit of a life-changing education, one which helps pave their path towards a highly skilled career.

'Any university that fails to match this ambition must be held to account.'

OfS found that at 25 universities, fewer than half of students find professional work within 15 months.

OfS found at 25 universities, less than half of students find professional work within 15 months, including London Metropolitan (39.8 per cent). Pictured: File photo of London Metropolitan

These included Birkbeck in London (31.6 per cent), the University of Bedfordshire (33.5 per cent) and London Metropolitan (39.8 per cent).

Business and management courses at the University of Bedfordshire (14.8 per cent) were among the least likely to lead to graduate-level jobs.

Miss Donelan cited eight computing courses with 40 per cent drop-out rates, saying: 'There simply is no excuse for this'.

She added: 'Our university system is acclaimed as world class but there are too many pockets of poor quality.

'Through this tough regulatory action we are protecting students from being let down by these institutions.'

The OfS said it wanted to stop students receiving a 'performance that is below our minimum expectations', given that they 'are likely to be paying substantial sums'.

Nicola Dandridge, of the OfS, said the rules were likely to 'generate significant debate' and that the OfS would consider a consultation.

The University of Sunderland said it always looked 'to find ways to improve outcomes'.

University College Birmingham said data on graduates and definition of 'professional work' was limited.
Two brothers indicted on charges of murdering their grandmother leave the Daegu District Court in Daegu, in this Aug. 31, 2021, file photo. Newsis



A teenager was sentenced to a prison term of up to 12 years, Thursday, for killing his grandmother, while his younger brother was given a suspended term for assisting in the murder.



The Daegu District Court sentenced the 19-year-old elder brother to a prison term of between seven and 12 years for murdering his grandmother at their home in Daegu in late August last year. He was also ordered to wear a GPS tracker for 10 years.



Under the Juvenile Act, courts can impose an unfixed jail term for underage convicts whose crimes require a two-year or longer jail sentence. After serving the minimum term, they are eligible for early release following a review by correctional service officials.



The 17-year-old younger brother was given a two-and-a-half year prison term, suspended for three years for aiding and abetting in the murder.



The elder brother was charged with stabbing his grandmother to death in a fit of rage over her scolding. The younger brother allegedly closed the windows beforehand so that their grandmother's screams wouldn't be heard from outside.



The elder brother was also charged with the attempted murder of his grandfather at the scene, which the younger brother prevented.



The brothers had been living with their grandparents, who were their main guardians, since 2012 after their parents divorced and cut communications.



The court acknowledged the brothers' unfortunate childhoods, caused mainly by repeated changes in their guardians, may have affected their behavior and that they have a sufficient chance to reform.



The court also ruled the killing was accidental, given a psychological analysis that showed the elder brother had a tendency for "explosive emotional outbursts."



"Considering that he underwent a difficult childhood due to his parents' divorce, the crime does not seem to be the result of innate anti-social behavior or malice," the court said of the elder brother.



"He is well aware of his wrongdoing and seems to have sufficient room for reform," it added. (Yonhap)




A convicted drug trafficker has been extradited to the US to face murder charged over last year's assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.

Rodolphe Jaar, 49, is in federal custody in the Southern District of Florida on Thursday, and was expected to make his first court appearance later the same day, the Department of Justice told The Associated Press. Jaar, who claims to be a businessman, was extradited from the Dominican Republican after being arrested there earlier this month.

His official charges include conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the U.S. and 'providing material support resulting in death, knowing or intending that such material support would be used to prepare for or carry out the conspiracy to kill or kidnap.'

Rodolphe Jaar, a native of Haiti with citizenship in Chile, is being held by U.S. federal authorities in Florida, where he is facing charges in connection to the July 7, 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise

Late Haitian President Jovenel Moise was murdered at the presidential palace on July 7

Jaar, a native of Haiti who also holds citizenship in Chile, is the second foreigner extradited to the United States to face charges related to the July 7 murder of the 53-year-old Haitian president.

He was convicted of drug-trafficking charges a decade ago and once served as an informant for the U.S. government. He was extradited from the Dominican Republic, where he was detained earlier this month.

Jaar and a group of 20 Colombians and dual Haitian-American citizens reportedly plotted to kill or murder President Moise. Jaar was reportedly present when another suspect, identified in court documents as 'Co-conspirator #1,' obtained a signed document from a former Haitian judge to secure Moise's arrest and imprisonment.

'On June 28, 2021, Co-conspirator #1, a dual Haitian-American citizen traveled from Haiti to the United States in furtherance of the conspiracy and provided other individuals with the document, and flew from Florida back to Haiti on July 1, 2021, to participate in the operation against the president,' the Department of Justice said in a statement Thursday.

The suspects had planned to kidnap President Moise to place him under arrest, but instead killed him at the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.

Jaar is accused of facilitating weapons to the Colombian defendants to carry out the operation and provided some of the Colombian suspects shelter at a residence that was under his control.

He reportedly was in contact with Co-conspirator #1, who is currently under arrest in Haiti, to assist him and the Colombian suspects while they were on the run from Haitian authorities.

Former Colombian soldier, Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, was the first person to be charged by U.S. authorities for his role in the July 20201 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise

More than 40 people have been arrested in the case.

Former Colombian soldier, Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, 43, was turned over to U.S. authorities on January 4.

He evaded captured after the assassination and fled from Haiti to Jamaica. A Jamaican judge ordered him deported to Colombia, but he was detained in Panama during a layover by U.S. authorities who had been in touch with him while he was still in hiding.

Palacios was the the first person to be formally charged in Moise's assassination.

In a criminal complaint drafted by the FBI, he is charged of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and providing material support resulting in death, knowing that such support would be used to carry out a plot to kill the Haitian president.

Jaar and Palico could be sentenced to life in prison if they are convicted.
New Mexico is taking unprecedented steps to keep schools and day care facilities open, providing National Guard and state bureaucrats as fill-ins for least 800 substitute teachers and childcare workers out with Covid infections.

On Wednesday, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced her plan to ask National Guard members and state employees to volunteer to become licensed substitute teachers or child care workers to keep schools and day care centers open during a surge in COVID-19 infections.

The governor said state workers are encouraged to participate in a spirit of public service and that no one is being drafted.

State employees and Guard members who participate will get their usual pay and be considered on administrative leave or active duty, respectively.

Lujan Grisham said the state is hoping to deploy 500 new substitute teachers and day care workers as soon as possible.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (pictured) announced her plan to ask National Guard members and state employees to volunteer as substitute teachers

New Mexico appears to be the first state to ask National Guard members to become classroom teachers

Governor Lujan Grisham (pictured) said the state is hoping to deploy 500 new substitute teachers and day care workers as soon as possible

'Our schools are a critical source of stability for our kids,' governor Lujan Grisham said in a press release. 'We know they learn better in the classroom and thrive among their peers. Our kids, our teachers and our parents deserve as much stability as we can provide during this time of uncertainty.'

While the governor did not specify what kind of state workers she was hoping to fill-in for teachers, she volunteered herself, hoping she could pitch in at a classroom by Monday.

'I expect that by the weekend I will be cleared, and I will be available to support a school anywhere,' Lujan Grisham said, outside of Santa Fe High School on Wednesday where she spoke in front of masked National Guards members. 'Certainly easier for me in Santa Fe and Albuquerque but if somebody needs me, I will find a way to travel.'

New Mexico's Public Education Department is working with districts and charter schools to streamline their licensure processes for prospective substitute teachers while the Early Childhood Education and Care Department has set up an online application for those interested in helping with child care programs, the Governors Office announced.

Although National Guard members have mobilized across the US to help hospitals and clinics slammed by staff shortages, New Mexico appears to be the first state to ask them to become classroom teachers.

The governor said that since winter break, about 60 schools in New Mexico have gone into remote learning and 75 child day care centers have partially or completely closed, due to staff testing positive for COVID-19.

Under the staffing plan, schools will decide whether National Guard members wear uniform or civilian clothes. The reservists will be unarmed.

Guard members and state employees will undergo background checks and an online teacher training course before being sent into schools.

'It's just a vehicle to make sure schools can stay open,' Lujan Grisham said Wednesday.

The desperate search for substitute teachers comes as the latest Omicron surge has caused a huge number of Americans to miss work.

The Washington Post reported that between December 29 and January 10 approximately 8.8 million workers reported not working because they were sick with the coronavirus or caring for someone who was, according to data from the Census Bureau.

That figure is nearly triple the levels from the first two weeks of December, before Omicron cases began to peak and were also the highest numbers since the Census Bureau began tracking in April 2020.

New Mexico Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said that multiple districts reported that a lack of substitute teachers was among the most critical staffing issues currently affecting schools.

Steinhaus applauded the governor's efforts, KOB4.com reported.

'This is state government at its best,' he said, 'and we are ready to step up to support our teachers, who have been on the front lines of the pandemic for nearly two years now, by increasing the state's pool of substitute teachers.'

The pandemic has exacerbated teacher shortages in poorer U.S. states like New Mexico and neighboring Oklahoma, which on Tuesday appealed to state employees to work as classroom substitutes.

Other states are also scrambling to keep schools open, with California streamlining its substitute teacher hiring process and Kansas opening up substitute positions to people with no college education.

The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been trending upward since mid-November, reaching nearly 1,700 on January 17 - still below the peak of 3,300 in January 2021.

Cases have rocketed in recent weeks, reaching 800,000 daily cases on average earlier this week. Testing shortages, the prevalence of asymptomatic cases and many rapid tests going unreported means the figure is likely even higher.

The spike in cases has, fortunately, not also translated into a sharp increase of deaths from the highly infectious strain.

Despite signs Omicron causes milder disease on average, the unprecedented level of infection spreading through the country, with cases still soaring in many states, means many vulnerable people will become severely sick.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a bid by former President Donald Trump to block the release to a congressional committee of documents related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Trump, citing executive privilege, had sought to prevent the documents held by the National Archives from being given to the committee investigating the assault on Congress by Trump supporters.

Trump, who has been accused of fomenting the riot on the Capitol, had asked the nation's highest court to stay a ruling this month by a federal appeals court which rejected his attempt to keep the documents and records secret.

Stephen Parlato holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in DC on Wednesday

But the Supreme Court - packed with three Trump-appointed justices - voted 8-1 against issuing a stay and upheld the appeals court ruling.

Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, was the only justice in favor of issuing a stay.

Trump had sought to exercise his privilege as a former president to keep under wraps White House records and communications that might relate to the attack.

Developing story, more to follow.
Charlise Mutten's stepfather drove approximately 200km towing a boat loaded with a plastic barrel carrying the remains of the nine-year-old over a circuitous five-hour trek, police allege.

The barrel allegedly lay under a blue tarpaulin in the boat towed by Justin Stein's red Holden ute from the Blue Mountains to Bunnings at Marsden Park, a nearby BP petrol station, and then on to two Sydney boat ramps.

Attempts to dispose of the schoolgirl's remains in the water are said by police to have been thwarted by Stein's inability to launch the motor boat taken from his family's luxury Blue Mountains property.

In the end, after failing to start the boat and take the barrel now also weighted down with sand to sink into deeper water, Stein allegedly took off for the Colo River.

On the afternoon of Thursday, January 13, on a river bank around 80km northwest of Sydney, police say the 31-year-old pulled up his ute in bushland.

Stein then allegedly tried to drag the heavy barrel to the river's edge and roll it in, but the weight of the sand prevented him doing so and finally he was forced to abandon it in the scrub.

Police allege Charlise Mutten, 9, who arrived to holiday at the Wildwood mountain estate was murdered and her body encased in a barrel which was towed for hours in a boat before being dumped on a lonely riverbank in dense bushland

Police allege Justin Stein, 31, towed a boat behind his ute which had Charlise Mutten's body inside a barrel on board as he tried to dispose of the remains

Stein's red Holden ute (above, after it was seized by police) allegedly towed a boat with the barrel of Charlise's remains from Mount Wilson to Marsden Park and two Sydney boat ramps

Charlise's remains lay in the barrel on the riverbank for five days as emergency workers searched fruitlessly for the missing girl around Mount Wilson, 65km further west.

That was until the afternoon of Tuesday, January 18 when police, acting on GPS data, located the barrel in the bush and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise's decomposing remains.

This is how the tragedy unfolded from the moment police allege Justin Stein murdered his new fiancee's daughter who had come to holiday with them at the Stein family's grand country estate, Wildenstein.

Nine-year-old Charlise Mutten's remains were placed inside a barrel and put in a boat which was towed 200km on a circuitous trek before she was dumped in scrub on the Colo River

Charlise Mutten, 9, who lives fulltime with her grandparents, Deborah and Clint Mutten in the Queensland border town of Coolangatta, arrived at Wildenstein during the Christmas-New Year school holidays.

Owned by the wealthy antique dealer Stein family for two decades, Wildenstein was operated as a wedding venue by Justin's older brother James and his husband Keegan Buzza.

Justin Stein had stayed in a shack on the five-hectare property in past years and Charlise came to spend a vacation there with her biological mother.

Police seized a boat from the Wildenstein property (above) where Charlise was staying with her mother and Justin Stein on holiday before she was allegedly murdered

Justin Stein allegedly called Kallista Mutten (above) as he bought bags of sand, boat fuel and then unsuccessfully tried to launch the vessel with the barrel from two different boat ramps

Police (above) at the Colo River where Justin Stein allegedly dumped Charlise's body in a barrel five days before the nine-year-old's decomposed remains were found

Kallista Mutten had relinquished guardianship of Charlise after developing a methamphetamine addiction, failed attempts to undergo rehabilitation and a two year prison stretch for killing a female friend she drove into a river while high on ice.

Police allege that between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am on Wednesday January 12 - when Kallista Mutten is said to have been absent from Wildenstein - Justin Stein murdered Charlise.

But it would take two days for police and the community to be aware that anything was amiss with the little girl, whose remains were placed into a plastic barrel.

On Thursday, January 13, Justin Stein left the Wildenstein property at Mount Wilson in his Holden Colorado, police say, towing a boat carrying the barrel with Charlise's body inside.

A blue tarpaulin is believed to have been draped over the barrel in the boat.

According to GPS data detectives later obtained from Stein's mobile phone and his ute, he allegedly made the approximately one hour 20 minute journey to Marsden Park Bunnings.

Justin Stein (above in custody) was arrested a week for Charlise's alleged murder after police found inconsistencies in accounts of his whereabouts leading up to the girl's disappearance

Police say Justin Stein went to Marsden Park Bunnings (above) and bought five 20kg bags of sand which he allegedly later placed in the barrel with Charlise's body to weight it down

Next stop was BP Marsden Park where he allegedly bought boat fuel in an effort to launch the vessel carrying Charlies's body in the barrel secreted under a blue tarpaulin

Charlise Mutten, 9, was holidaying away from Queensland at the luxury Stein family estate at Mount Wilson when she vanished and became the subject of a futile search to find her alive

At Bunnings, Stein bought five 20kg bags of sand and made a phone call to Kallista Mutten, police allege.

He then allegedly made a three minute drive to the BP service station at Marsden Park, where he filled up the boat with marine fuel and called Kallista Mutten again.

At some point, Stein must have emptied the bags of sand into the barrel to weight it down.

From the BP, it is at 40 minute drive to Five Dock boat ramp on the Parramatta River in inner western Sydney, where he is said to have failed to launch the motor boat, because it was 'inoperable'.

Stein again allegedly called Kallista Mutton and discussed his futile attempt to float the vessel and is then believed to have made the hour-long 60km drive to Windsor boat ramp.

Kallista Mutten (above) having a medical episode at the Wildenstein estate before being taken off to Katoomba Hospital where she remains and police wait to formally interview her

Kallista Mutten and Justin Stein (above, left) had a whirlwind romance before becoming engaged and inviting her daughter Charlise Mutten (above right) on the tragic trip to Mount Wilson

Police vehicles and officers on foot made their way down the driveway to Wildenstein this week for another round of interviews as the mystery of Charlise's whereabouts deepened

The boat was still unable to be started and from the Windsor ramp, on the Hawkesbury River, it is a 24km drive north to the Colo River via the Putty Road.

To veer off the road into dense bushland along the river requires driving onto dirt roads, such as Upper Colo Road and Lower Colo Road, both narrow dirt tracks which are difficult to traverse, even without towing a boat.

There is no mobile phone reception along these roads and in the area around Colo River Park jetty.

It is alleged Stein tried to drag the barrel from the boat and dispose of it in the Colo River.

Because it was heavy with sand, police say he failed to drag the barrel very far and abandoned it in scrub on a river bank on Thursday afternoon.

Wildenstein's next door neighbour John Haitzler (above) said his wife Carole was reading at 4.30am when she saw a vehicle with its lights off coming down the driveway from the house

Emergency services volunteers gathered for another futile day looking to find Charlise alive when in face her body lay inside a barrel on a river bank 65km away

Charlise (above) with her grandmother Deborah Mutten who learnt the tragic news this week that the adored granddaughter for whom she was fulltime carer had died

Windsor boat ramp where Justin Stein is believed to have allegedly tried to launch the motor boat carrying the barrel with Charlise Mutten's body and kilos of sand inside

Around 4.30am on Friday, Mount Wilson resident Carole Haitzler was reading a book in bed when she heard the sound of a vehicle on the driveway of the neighbouring property, Wildenstein.

She got out of bed and went to the window from which she could see the shadow of a vehicle without its headlights on moving along the driveway.

Almost four hours later a person, believed to be Kallista Mutten, dialled Triple-0 to report that Charlise was missing from the Wildenstein property.

When police arrived, Ms Mutten was present at the estate without the company of her fiance and during an informal round of police questions she had 'a medical episode' and was taken to Blue Mountains Hospital at Katoomba.

Police began to search Wildenstein and then a wider search of the Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine areas was initiated, with SES and RFS volunteers calling in to participate.

On Friday afternoon, Stein drove his ute to High Street, Penrith and entered Penrith Police station and spoke with detectives.

SES and police search the Hawkesbury River where it is believed Justin Stein allegedly tried to launch a boat carrying a barrel in which Charlise Mutten's remains had been placed

A pair of flippers, a swimming cap and goggles believed to have belonged to enthusiastic swimmer Charlise were posted in tribute at Tweed Heads Public School

Using GPS data, police went to the Colo River on Wednesday afternoon and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise Mutten's five-day old remains in a barrel on the bank

Children wept and embraced at a memorial vigil for Charlise as they remembered their schoolmate as 'very funny', 'kind' and a 'sweet and lovely' kid who brightened up the classroom

Police seized his parked ute and impounded it, towing it away to a location for forensic examination; officers also seized the motor boat from Wildenstein estate.

For five days, emergency services workers searched steep terrain around Mount Wilson looking for Charlise, with police warning by day five - the morning of Tuesday, January 18 - that the girl would by now be 'lethargic' and immobile.

A convoy of detectives and uniformed police drove every day to Wildenstein, inside which they are believe to have interviews relatives of Justin Stein.

Kallista Mutten remains at Katoomba Hospital where she is said to be in the care of doctors and 'difficult to approach', meaning police still had no conducted a formal interview with her.

As volunteers searched in vain in the Mount Wilson bush for Charlise, detectives were pursuing their own leads.

The sprawling Wildenstein estate (above) where Charlise Mutten came for a holiday and ended up inside a barrel in a lonely riverbank grave in bushland

The jetty at Colo River Park near where Charlise Mutten's remains were dumped in a barrel, police allege, by her mother Kallista Mutten's fiance, Justin Stein

Police were investigating a number of 'anomalies' they claimed to identify in the accused's initial statements, which included allegedly giving two separate versions of events in the lead up to the young girl's disappearance.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said through tracking the movements of a car they seized via CCTV, they were able to establish certain facts in relation to the vehicle he was allegedly driving and of his movements.

'Through electronic means, through GPS tracking, through CCTV tracking, we were able to establish certain facts in relation to the vehicle he was driving and those movements,' Mr Hudson said.

While Kallista Mutten was in hospital, Justin Stein had travelled to Sydney and was staying at a housing commission apartment block on Riley Street in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

On Tuesday afternoon, a flurry of activity among police near the house saw detectives racing in cars from Mount Wilson down the highway to Penrith.

Justin Stein was staying at this Surry Hills Housing Department block (above) when police arrested him on Tuesday night and charged him with murder

Stein, 31, has been refused bail and asked that he be held in protective custody in prison as he awaits his next court appearance on a charge of alleegdly murdering 9-year-old Charlise

The court heard on Wednesday that Justin Stein (above, depicted by a court artist) is on a heavy dosage of antipsychotic drugs which he has been taking for years to treat a mental health disorder

Sometime between 3pm and 5pm, police are believed to have set off for the Colo River using GPS tracking co-ordinates and located the barrel and its grisly contents.

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Riley Street, Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken back to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder.

On Wednesday, Stein appeared in Central Local Court where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

His barrister told magistrate Robert Williams that while on remand in prison, Stein needed supplies of Quetiapine and Risperidone which he had been taking in high dosage for many years to treat 'mental health problems'.

The antipsychotic medications are used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

The court heard that Stein also wanted to be placed in a protection wing in prison for his own safety as he awaited his next appearance, in Penrith Local Court in March

.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed New Zealand will scrap lockdowns when Omicron gets into the community after her Government offered a hint about when Australians could be allowed back.

The nation will move to code red alert setting as part of its Covid-19 protection framework once Omicron cases emerge, but the country will not go into lockdown.

'Omicron is more transmissible. That is going to make it harder to keep it out, but also make more challenging to control once it arrives,' Ms Ardern said.

'But just like before, when Covid changes, we change and we are in a solid position to do that with the data and evidence from the experience of other countries to make the best decision we can, based on what we're seeing elsewhere.'

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed there won't be lockdowns when Omicron hits the community

At code red, businesses will be allowed to remain open and domestic travel to continue, but included mask wearing and gathering restrictions to help slow the spread of the virus and keep pressure off the health system.

Cabinet Ministers are also considering when to reopen the nation's borders, which would allow Australians to travel to New Zealand without entering hotel quarantine.

However the pressing question for Ms Ardern is when to make border changes, knowing it is likely to see Omicron seep into the community.

At code red, businesses will be allowed to remain open and domestic travel to continue, but mask wearing and gathering restrictions will be in place to help slow the spread of the virus and keep pressure off the health system (pictured, masked residents wait for coffee at a cafe in Auckland in September)

The previous plan was to allow Australian-based Kiwis to self-isolate from this week, which was kicked down the road to the end of February.

On Wednesday, Minister Chris Hipkins suggested that timetable had also been given the boot.

'There's no question we're moving to a self-isolation model ... the question of exactly when that happens and the sequencing, that has changed,' he said.

'No decisions have been made on the date, sequence and conditions for the border reopening and Cabinet will consider options within the next couple of weeks.

'In the meantime, our focus will be on getting booster rates up and immunising as many 5-11 year-olds as possible before Omicron takes hold in the community.'

Cabinet Ministers are also considering when to reopen the nation's borders, which would allow Australians to travel to New Zealand without entering hotel quarantine (pictured, police check travellers vaccination passes at the Northland checkpoint at Uretiti in December)

It comes as pressure is growing for Ms Ardern to phase out New Zealand's border regime and the compulsory 10-day stay in hotel quarantine for all travellers, including citizens.

Places in quarantine, known locally as MIQ, are hotly contested - the government offers them in ballots, which are generally well over-subscribed.

And for the moment, they're off-limits.

Earning the ire of overseas-based Kiwis, Ms Ardern's government cancelled this week's MIQ room release due to a groundswell of Covid-19 cases, including the Omicron variant, at the border.

'There has been a 10-fold increase in positive Covid-19 cases at the border compared to December,' MIQ chief Chris Bunny said in a statement issued late on Tuesday night.

'We appreciate that this will be disappointing for many people wanting to come back to New Zealand. The government's strategy is to minimise the risk of Omicron in New Zealand as much as possible.'

As of Wednesday, 93 per cent of Kiwis aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated and 95 per cent are partially vaccinated (pictured, a woman gets a haircut in Auckland under strict Covid restrictions in November)

To date, just five community Omicron cases have been picked up, all of whom were vaccinated, with transmission limited to households.

The reopening question is a vexed one for Ms Ardern, who earned a thumping re-election 2020 with a political brand inexorably linked to NZ's elimination strategy.

Of course, it may not be the government's decision when Omicron leaks into the community.

With an average of 35 border cases arriving each day, Ms Ardern said this week an Omicron outbreak was a matter of 'when, not if'.

A group of New Zealand's most prominent public health experts published an open letter this week with suggested changes to Covid-19 settings based on Omicron's rise.

'The first urgent priority is to increase measures to delay the arrival of the Omicron variant to give more preparation time', they wrote.

They also suggest a 'shift from the current suppression strategy to mitigation' ... 'to "flatten the curve" and minimise the risk of health service overload and social and economic disruptions".

One of the authors, University of Otago professor Michael Baker, told AAP 'some sort of mitigation approach is probably the best we can manage'.

'If you're going to let it in, is there an optimal time for that? There is a case to say you don't want Omicron arriving in the middle of winter,' he said.

'If you say it's inevitable, at some point after February and before winter, if you could pick a point, it would be in that range.'

In making the tricky reopening call, New Zealand can at least rely on strong vaccination rates.

As of Wednesday, 93 per cent of Kiwis aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated, 95 per cent are partially vaccinated, with a fast-tracked booster campaign and the children's vax drive on in earnest.
A tycoon who reached a speed of 257.2mph on a German motorway in his 2.5million Bugatti was condemned by road chiefs yesterday.

Radim Passer, 58, posted a video online of himself racing down the A2 between Berlin and Hanover. Like many sections of autobahn there was no speed limit.

Mr Passer said the stunt in the Bugatti  which can do 0-124mph in 6.5 seconds  was undertaken last year on a six-mile, three-lane strip of road with 'visibility along the whole stretch'.

'Safety was a priority, so the circumstances had to be safe to go,' he claimed.

But his car can be seen passing other vehicles in the blink of an eye and the light in the video suggests it was taken at twilight.

In a statement, the transport ministry in Berlin said that it 'rejects any behaviour in road traffic that leads or can lead to endangering road users'.

Radim Passer (pictured), 58, posted a video online of himself racing down the A2 between Berlin and Hanover. Like many sections of autobahn there was no speed limit.

'All road users must abide by the rules of the road traffic regulations,' it added, citing the first clause of the legislation, which states that 'anyone participating in traffic must behave in such a way that no other person is harmed, endangered or obstructed or inconvenienced more than is unavoidable under the circumstances'.

Noting that the video shows the Czech businessman taking his hands off the steering wheel to celebrate as the car slows down, the ministry said the law also required drivers to 'only drive so fast that the vehicle is constantly under control'.

Mr Passer, who according to Forbes is the Czech Republic's 33rd-richest individual with a wealth of 226million, suggested beneath the video that he placed his faith in more than just his driving skills.

'We thank God for the safety and good circumstances, as we were able to reach the speed,' he wrote.

Despite his boast, the investment chief set only the third fastest speed down the autobahn.

The record was set in 1938 when racing driver Rudolf Caracciola hit 268.8mph in a specially-modified Mercedes Benz.

Mr Passer said the stunt in the Bugatti (pictured)  which can do 0-124mph in 6.5 seconds  was undertaken last year on a six-mile, three-lane strip of road with 'visibility along the whole stretch'

He clocked just half-a-mile an hour quicker than rival Bernd Rosemeyer, driving an Auto Union, the firm that would become Audi.

The pair had had the motorway shut down.

The Green Party, now a junior partner in Germany's coalition government, called for an 80mph speed limit across the autobahn network in last year's election campaign, as part of efforts to cut the carbon dioxide emissions.

But that idea was ditched during talks to form the new government.

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo owns the same model of Chiron, which has an electronically limited top speed of 261mph.
These days its not enough to give your dog a decent walk every day and maybe a few tasty treats.

Now owners can take their canine buddies along with them to the cinema to watch doggie blockbusters such as Lassie, Hotel For Dogs, Bolt and the original Scooby Doo.

The screenings are taking place at the Ducie Street Warehouse complex in Manchester, where owners are already welcome to take their pets into the cinema.

Now it is offering the dog-themed viewings at its 36-seat venue every Monday for pets and their owners.

The cinema has been adapted for the animals, with lower sound levels and well-lit rooms. So far every night has been a sell-out.

The idea was suggested to venue staff by guests.

Owners sit with their dogs as they watch a film at the Ducie St Warehouse cinema in Manchester

Dog owners can now tuck into 'pawpcorn' with their four-legged friends to watch blockbusters in the cinema

Events manager Nathan Wrigglesworth said: People love to treat their dogs as a member of their family. They dont just want to take dogs on walks  they want to involve them in their whole life.

Ducie Street ensure the dogs remain well-fed, offering them a range of treats and even pawpcorn.

Mr Wrigglesworth added: Only humans get seats. Depending on how big they are, some dogs will sit on their laps or on the floor.

Most are running around saying hello to each other. Whether the dogs are actually watching the film  that is still up for a debate.
A university boss has failed in her attempt to keep secret a report which found her guilty of bullying.

Professor Alice Gast continues in her 519,000-a-year role as president of Imperial College London even though her behaviour was found to fall 'considerably short' in a secret QC-led investigation.

In a bid to prevent the report being released to the public, she claimed her bullying was 'relatively minor' and bizarrely compared herself to ex-University of Sussex academic Kathleen Stock, who suffered a hate campaign over her views on trans issues, but has not faced allegations of bullying or a probe into her conduct.

Professor Alice Gast (pictured), the president of Imperial College London, has failed in her attempt to keep secret a report which found her guilty of bullying

University regulator the Office for Students is already investigating Imperial over the scandal, and yesterday the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ordered it to publish swathes of the report.

Imperial had admitted it needs to 'improve' but refused to disclose the detail of the misbehaviour by Professor Gast, 63, and chief financial officer Muir Sanderson.

But backing a freedom of information challenge brought by the Daily Mail, the ICO said it 'considers that there is a stronger than usual public interest in disclosing more of the report so that staff and students at the college can decide for themselves'.

Professor Gast, from Texas, is expected to leave Imperial this summer after earning millions during her eight years in charge.
Employers must create a more 'understanding' environment to make fair adjustments for women experiencing the menopause, legal experts have told MPs.

Menopausal women who work face stigma and ignorance about the condition, the women and equalities committee heard yesterday.

Menopause should be a protected characteristic in employment law rather than a disability in discrimination cases, lawyers said.

The committee's inquiry into menopause and the workplace heard evidence two days after research indicated more than one million women in the UK could be forced out of jobs this year because of a lack of employer support during the menopause.

Almost two-thirds of women surveyed said their workplace had not introduced any kind of policy to make things easier for them.

Lawyers suggested that employees should have direct access to occupational health services instead of via their employer.

Menopausal women who work face stigma and ignorance about the condition, the women and equalities committee heard yesterday. (file photo )

They said employers could do more to enforce current legislation but clearer guidance needed to be provided.

Adam Pavey, director of employment and HR at commercial lawyers Pannone Corporate, told the committee: 'This is a knowledge exercise that must apply to men as well as women. Menopause is more than just having a hot flush from time to time.

'When an employee feels there is no understanding, they stand no chance of overcoming difficulties.

'Organisations should have policies related to the menopause, but it must come with training and understanding.'

No current legislation requires employers to have a policy relating to menopause and its symptoms.

Almost two-thirds of UK women surveyed said their workplace had not introduced any kind of policy to make things easier for them. (file photo)

Menopause is not a protected characteristic under the law  unlike race, religion or age  with employees often forced to claim disability discrimination instead.

Colin Davidson, of the Discrimination Law Association, said 'employers and employees would benefit' from change. 'Employees do not believe they will be heard by a sympathetic ear,' he added.

'You have to sue for disability just to get minor adjustments in the workplace.'

There are also issues with the legal process, according to Marian Bloodworth, chairman of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Last month Dr Heather Currie, a former head of the British Menopause Society, suggested every workplace should have a 'menopause champion' to offer support.
FBI agents searched the Texas home and campaign headquarters of United States Representative Henry Cuellar as part of a 'court-authorized' investigation.

Federal agents were seen inside and around Cuellar's mansion in Laredo on Wednesday, where they took photos of trucks parked in the circular drive out front, The Monitor reported.

FBI agents were seen loading boxes, bins, bags and a computer from Cuellar's home into their vehicles.

The FBI also executed a separate search at the same time at an office where Cueller's campaign is headquartered on Washington and Davis Avenue in Laredo, reported KGNS News.

In a statement, the FBI remained tight-lipped about the reason for the visit, but confirmed that it was part of an 'ongoing investigation.'

'The FBI was present in the vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity,' a Bureau spokesperson said. 'The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation.'

Cuellar, a nine-term Democrat who has harshly criticized the Biden administration over its border policies, vowed in a statement to cooperate with any probe.

FBI agents have been spotted conducting a 'court-authorized' investigation at the Texas home of United States Representative Henry Cuellar, who has vowed to cooperate fully

FBI agents load boxes, bins, bags and a computer from the home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar into their vehicles in Laredo, Texas, on Wednesday

FBI agents load items including a computer from the home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, into their vehicles on Wednesday

FBI still present at the home of Rep. Henry Cuellars in Laredo. https://t.co/CYOyJVSSGJ pic.twitter.com/N8rGyZVpNz  Valerie Gonzalez (@ValOnTheBorder) January 19, 2022

FBI agents have been spotted conducting a 'court-authorized' investigation at the Texas home of United States Representative Henry Cuellar

'Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld,' Cuellar's office said.

It's unclear whether the FBI was investigating threats against Cuellar, or pursuing a probe in which he is a subject or target.

Public records show that Cuellar purchased his luxurious Laredo home in 2010.

The 6,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home in a gated community is valued at $825,000 currently by Realtor.com.

Cuellar, who represents much of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, has been a vocal critic of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their handling of a surge of illegal crossings at the border.

Federal agents were seen inside and around Cuellar's mansion in Laredo (above in a file photo) on Wednesday, where they took photos of trucks parked in the circular drive out front

Cuellar said last month that he's done trying to work with 'border czar' Harris on migration issues, after she allegedly snubbed him on her border visit (above) last year

Cuellar, who represents much of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, has been a vocal critic of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on their handling of border issues

Cuellar said last month that he's done trying to work with 'border czar' Harris on migration issues, as Border Patrol agents continue to record a surge in encounters with people crossing the border illegally.

'I say this very respectfully to her: I moved on,' Cuellar told The New York Times earlier in the week.

'She was tasked with that job, it doesn't look like she's very interested in this, so we are going to move on to other folks that work on this issue.'

Cuellar's gripes originated when Harris said she'd be visiting the border in June and a phone call from his office to hers went unreturned, he said.

Cuellar was also among the bloc of moderate House Democrats who sided against Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year to insist on passage of Biden's infrastructure bill, which progressive hoped to hold back to force passage of a broader $3 trillion social spending package.

The infrastructure bill succeeded with bipartisan support, but the broader package remains stuck in Congress due to the objections of moderate Democrats.




Police said Wednesday they were looking into a case of an Ethiopian man found dead in the western part of the Han River in Seoul.







According to officials, a witness discovered the body of the 37-year-old man floating near the northern foot of the Han River Bridge at 1:40 p.m. and reported it to the police.







Authorities said a passport was found with him, and there were no visible signs of a crime being involved. The body was transferred to a hospital, they added.







Officials are investigating the cause of death without excluding the possibility of suicide, they added.

(Yonhap)


Mark McGowan has taken another shot at his eastern counterpart, saying he has thrown New South Wales' $5million invoice for hotel quarantine in the bin.

Premier Dominic Perrottet sent Western Australia the latest bill for returning residents from the closed-off state, taking its total owed since mid-2020 to $16.4million.

That figure would mean NSW has helped bring almost 5,500 West Australians home, based on the $3,000 individual hotel quarantine fee.

Mr McGowan said the bill was 'ridiculous' and that it was every state's responsibility to help bring home Aussies from overseas, despite his state providing significantly less places than NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

'On behalf of every Western Australian, the invoice has been treated exactly how it should be - it is scrunched up in a ball at the bottom of my bin,' the WA premier said.

Premier Dominic Perrottet sent Western Australia the latest $5million bill for hotel quarantine for returning residents from the state, taking its total owed since mid-2020 to $16.4million

In June, 2020 NSW had 11,670 arrivals, compared to Western Australia's 1,760.

December of the same year saw NSW welcome home 16,410 returning Aussies while WA allowed in 4,580.

Last month, NSW brought 40,610 Australians home while Western Australia only allowed in 7,220.

Mr McGowan said the bill was 'arrogant' and 'unAustralian' because every state should share the responsibility, despite NSW overwhelmingly providing Australia's gateway to the world.

'We all have a responsibility to look after returning Australians and Western Australia has done more than our fair share of the heavy lifting per capita, so for NSW to demand millions in payments from every Western Australian is wrong,' he said.

The Labor leader said the payments were a 'punishment' for his state doing 'such a good job' of managing Covid, by cutting itself off from the rest of the country for the better part of two years.

Mr McGowan said the bill was 'arrogant' and 'unAustralian' because every state should share the responsibility of bringing residents home

'First they came for our fair share GST. Now they want millions more. When will it ever be enough?' he said.

'By doing the right thing, Western Australians have crushed and killed any virus outbreaks.

'In doing so, we are single-handedly propping up the rest of the nation  including NSW.

'Western Australians should not be penalised for doing such a good job of managing the pandemic, especially by a State that has not only mismanaged the virus, but in doing so sparked other outbreaks across the nation, including here in WA.'

Figures from Revenue NSW show WA, QLD and the Northern Territory owe NSW a combined $66million for their residents spending hotel quarantine in the state

Figures from Revenue NSW show WA, QLD and the Northern Territory owe NSW a combined $66million for their residents spending hotel quarantine in the state.

Mr Perrottet's government claim the states and territories agreed to cover the costs for their residents returning home, something that has been widely denied by Mr McGowan and QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

'If the donor states - WA, NSW and Victoria - had all provided an equal contribution to the Federation over this period, NSW would owe WA $82.4 billion,' he said.
The first humanitarian flights departed for Tonga early Thursday, carrying much needed aid supplies to the volcano and tsunami-devastated Pacific island nation.

Flights departed from Australia and New Zealand after the runway on the Pacific island's airport was cleared of ash.

An Australian Globemaster aircraft left Brisbane this morning carrying aid. Australia has provided AUD $1 million for the recovery effort, and two Royal Australian Air Force aircraft will arrive in Tonga today.

The Australian High Commission in Tonga said: 'They are loaded with much-needed humanitarian supplies, as well as telecommunications equipment to help re-establish connectivity between the main island and remote islands.'

HMAS Adelaide will also set sail from Brisbane on Friday with water purification equipment and more humanitarian supplies, the statement said.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister said its air force has also sent a C-130 Hercules from Auckland which will land in Nuku'alofa at about 4 p.m. New Zealand time.

The first humanitarian flights departed for Tonga early Thursday, carrying much needed aid supplies to the volcano and tsunami-devastated Pacific island nation. Pictured: A helicopter on the deck of HMAS Adelaide en route to Tonga on Wednesday

'The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment,' Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement.

The delivery of supplies will be contactless and the aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand, she said. Tonga is COVID-19 free and is concerned that aid personnel may bring the virus.

Aid agencies have warned that Tonga is facing imminent water and food shortages after crops and drinking sources were inundated with salt water and ash from the devastating volcanic explosion which triggered a 50ft tsunami.

Water which tens of thousands of people rely on to drink has been polluted, the Red Cross said on Wednesday, as Tonga's parliamentary speaker added that 'all agriculture' on the islands has also been destroyed.

Tongan communities abroad have posted images from families on Facebook, giving a glimpse of the devastation, with homes reduced to rubble, fallen trees, cracked roads and sidewalks and everything coated in grey ash.

The explosion of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which has killed at least three people and sent tsunami waves across the Pacific, badly damaging villages, resorts and many buildings in Tonga.

It also knocked out communications of about 105,000 people on Saturday.

Pictured: Chinook Heavy-Lift Helicopters, on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, before departing the port of Brisbane, Australia, to provide humanitarian assistance to the Government of Tonga

Telephone links between Tonga and the wider world began to be reconnected late on Wednesday, though restoring full internet connectivity is likely to take at least a month according to the owner of the country's sole subsea communications cable.

Speaking to Reuters from Nuku'alofa, local journalist Marian Kupu said Tongans were in the process of cleaning up all the dust from the volcanic eruption but feared they may run out of drinking water.

'Each home has their own tanks of water supply but most of them are filled with dust so its not safe for drinking,' Kupu said.

Kupu said a few villages on the Western side of Tonga were very badly hit.

'I won't say we are expecting more deaths but as we are speaking the government is trying to fly to the other islands to check over them,' she said.

When asked if there was enough food supplies, she said: 'I can say maybe we can survive for the next few weeks but I'm not sure about water.'

Meanwhile, Tongans abroad were frantically calling their families back home to ensure their safety.

Pictures have emerged on social media showing the scale of the devastation in Tonga following the tsunami. The island nation is facing imminent water and food shortages after crops and drinking sources were inundated with salt water and ash from a devastating volcanic explosion which triggered a 50ft tsunami, aid agencies have warned

A man surveys the scene of devastation with debris strewn across the road in Tonga in the wake of the tsunami. Water which tens of thousands of people rely on to drink has been polluted, the Red Cross said today, as Tonga's parliamentary speaker added that 'all agriculture' on the islands has also been destroyed

'Today there's a sigh of relief as we are able to communicate with our loved ones back home,' said John Pulu, an Auckland based Tongan, who is a television and radio personality. 'We are breathing an sleeping a little better,' he said.

The United Nations said that about 84,000 people a' that is more than 80% of the population - has been badly affected by the disaster.

'They have been affected through loss of houses, loss of communication, what we understand is the issue with the water,' U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

The most pressing humanitarian needs are safe water, food and non-food items, he said.

'Water is really the biggest life-saving issue. Water sources have been polluted, water systems are down.'

Wasteland: The coastline of the tropical paradise has been flattened in some areas with palm trees and buildings swept away

Pictured: A plume rises over Tonga after the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted in this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite operated by Japan Meteorological Agency on January 15, 2022

New Zealand said Tonga, one of the few countries to be free of the new coronavirus, had agreed to receive two of its ships carrying aid and supply, despite concerns about importing a COVID-19 outbreak that would make matters worse.

Vaccination against the virus is as high as 90 percent among Tongans.

The ships, which was carrying 250,000 litres of water along with other supplies, will arrive on Friday.

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted about 40 miles (65 km) from the Tongan capital with a blast heard 2,300 km (1,400 miles) away in New Zealand, and sent tsunamis across the Pacific Ocean.

Waves reaching up to 15 metres (49 feet) hit the outer Ha'apia island group, destroying all the houses on the island of Mango, as well as the west coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, where 56 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged, the prime minister's office said.

The U.N. said evacuation of people from these islands is underway.

The international airport is being cleaned up and the U.N. hopes it will be operational on Thursday.
A 40-year-old woman was arrested then released after the body of a three-month-old baby was found wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a freezer on Wednesday night.

Police made the horror discovery as they searched a house in Corowa, 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, after reports of a missing infant.

Neighbours reported hearing a loud scream coming from the Church Street home late on Wednesday night.

The woman was arrested at the scene. Homicide detectives have now launched an investigation and the home is being searched by specialist forensic officers.

A 40-year-old woman was arrested then released after the body of a three-month-old baby was found wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a freezer on Wednesday night (pictured, investigators at the scene on Thursday)

Police made the horror discovery as they searched a house in Corowa, 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, after reports of a missing infant

The woman was taken to Albury Police Station and was assisting police with inquiries before she was later released without charge while the investigation continues.

The little boy's body was found at 10pm after officers were told of 'welfare concerns' for the child by a family member.

'Officers searched the house and located the body of a child,' said a NSW Police spokesman. 'Investigations are ongoing.'

Local detectives have been joined by the State Crime Commands Homicide Squad to set up Strike Force Walumil to probe the childs death.

A post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

Local detectives have been joined by the State Crime Commands Homicide Squad to set up Strike Force Walumil to probe the childs death at the home (pictured)

The little boy's body was found at 10pm after officers were told of 'welfare concerns' for the child by a family member (pictured, investigators at the scene of the grim discovery)

A woman at the home where the body was found said she couldn't comment about the investigation.

'I can't say anything,' she said. 'Thank you.'

Federation Council Mayor Pat Bourke said the community was sharing a sense of devastation over the tragedy overnight.

'Anytime a child is lost, under any circumstances, is a tragedy,' he said.

'Our thoughts go out to everyone affected, especially the family of the infant and our first responders.

Federation Council Mayor Pat Bourke (pictured) said the community was sharing a sense of devastation over the tragedy overnight

The baby's lifeless body was found in a house in Corowa (pictured, the main street in Corowa)

'I would like to take this opportunity to request our local residents to respect that an investigation is now underway and that lead authorities will have more to say as soon as they are able to do so.

'As NSW Police have indicated, if you have any information that can help with this investigation, please provide this directly to Crime Stoppers.'

More to follow
The 11-month-old baby from The Bronx who was shot in the face by a stray bullet while sitting in her parents' car overnight is expected to survive, her mother revealed on Thursday.

The shooting of the child, identified by her family as Catherine Ortiz, shocked the city, which is grappling with rising crime rates and mounting public safety concerns.

Miraida Gomez, 32, the baby's mother, told New York Post that her daughter was stable at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, where doctors spent the night fighting for her live.

'Shes going to be OK,' the mom told the outlet outside her apartment in The Bronx. 'God willing. Its in Gods hands.'

Gomez and her husband, Louis Ortiz, also have two older daughters, ages 8 and 9.

Catherine's first birthday is on Friday. Her paternal aunt, Nancy Ortiz, said that her niece is just learning to walk.

Miraida Gomez, 32, the mother of 11-month-old Catherine Ortiz, who was shot in the face in The Bronx by a stray bullet, says her daughter is expected to survive

Earlier on Thursday, police released heart-stopping video footage showing the moment a gunman shot baby Catherine in the face while chasing a rival through The Bronx.

In the recording, the suspect - dressed in dark clothing, including a black Nike hoodie - races around a corner in Bedford Park with a gun in his hand.

He can be seen opening fire, while a rival dashes away, and disappears from the camera shot. The gunman, who has not been named or arrested, can be seen pausing and firing shots close to two pale cars.

It is unclear which vehicle Catherine was in, but she was struck while sitting next to her mom, who mistook the bullet for a rock hitting their parked car.

Moments later, the gunman can be seen running back down the street and out of sight. His tiny victim was rushed to hospital in a critical but stable condition. Her blood-stained pink coat was photographed lying on the ground afterwards.

Screenshots from surveillance video released by the NYPD shows a man pulling out a gun and firing while pursuing another person in Bedford Park, The Bronx, on Wednesday, leaving an 11-month-old baby gravely wounded

Cones mark evidence from the scene of Wednesday night's shooting, with the 11-month-old victim's pink coat stained red with blood

The child is the latest victim of a surging wave of violence that has overwhelmed New York City, with shootings, assaults and rapes all skyrocketing, and which the new mayor, Eric Adams, is determined to curtail, despite lenient state bail reform laws that have seen repeat offenders released back into the community.

The mother's husband was at a nearby store at the time of the shooting and ran outside when he heard his wife's screams. During a press conference near the scene, Mayor Adams described how the dad cradled his wounded daughter, dressed in a pink coat stained red with her blood.

One of the gunmen is caught on camera fleeing on foot, back past the deli, and they both remain at large.

The little girl, who turns one on Friday, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical but stable condition, before being intubated and transferred to Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. No further updates on her condition have been given.

Adams visited the child and her mother on Wednesday night in the hospital, the mayor told reporters.

One of the two sought gunmen is seen on the left running back past a corner deli after spraying the area with bullets

One of two gunmen who opened fire in the Bronx on Wednesday night, injuring a baby, is seen with his gun

A man can be seen running from the shooting after the baby was shot. Both gunmen remain at large

Police are seen on the corner of East 198th street in the Bronx following the 6:45pm Wednesday shooting

A heavy police presence is seen in the Bronx on Wednesday night after the shooting

The street is seen taped off on Wednesday night, as locals gathered to observe

Police patrol cars block the street after the 6:45pm shooting on Wednesday in the Bronx

Adams said that 'the first thing the mother did when she walked in the room, she grabbed our hands and she prayed.' The woman and her husband have two other children.

'When I hear people say that we should not incarcerate those who are discharging bullets of death through our community, they need to talk to this mother,' Adams said.

The 52nd Precinct tweeted: 'Due to Police activity, please avoid the vicinity of East 198 Street between Bainbridge and Grand Concourse.

'Expect Emergency vehicles and delays in the area.'

The shooting came as the newly-minted mayor struggles to get a grip on violence in the city.

Adams, a former NYPD officer, was elected on a campaign promise to reduce soaring crime, but in the first two weeks of his term shootings have continued to rise.

There have been 52 shootings in the week to January 16, with 57 victims - an increase of 15.6 percent on 2021.

Total crime is up 35 percent, year on year, according to CompStat.

Adams is seen on Wednesday night at the scene of the shooting, after visiting the family in hospital

Adams, a former NYPD officer, tweeted that the violence was unacceptable and must stop

At the scene on Wednesday night, Adams described the shooting as a 'wake up call' and said: 'I refuse to surrender New York City to violence.'

The 61-year-old tweeted: 'An 11-month-old baby shot in the Bronx.

'If that's not a wake up call, I don't know what is.

'It should be unimaginable that this would happen in our city. But it did.

'Leaders at every level have abandoned city streets. I won't. I refuse to surrender New York City to violence.'

Adams added: 'We will not give up the fight to keep babies like her safe.'

He appealed for anyone with information to get in touch.

On Tuesday night, Adams addressed a Times Square vigil for a 40-year-old Deloitte executive who died on Saturday when a mentally ill homeless man pushed her into the path of an oncoming train.

Adams said the violence has to stop.

'Right here in Times Square, I served as a police officer, and spent many days in the early '80s wearing a blue uniform as a police officer - a transit police officer, watching where we were,' he told the crowd.

'Swearing and committed that we would never go back.'

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, is seen on Tuesday night at a vigil for Michelle Alyssa Go, who was pushed under a subway train on Saturday by a mentally ill homeless man

Go, 40, is beamed on to the side of Times Square during Tuesday night's vigil

Go's friends and colleagues and hundreds of well-wishers gathered in Times Square to pay their respects

Tributes to the 40-year-old 'fearless' Deloitte executive, who grew up in San Francisco, were on display on Tuesday night

The vigil was organized by Asians Fighting Injustice, and founder Eric Wei told the New York Post the group is demanding that City Hall set up an Asian-American task force to address ongoing concerns over anti-Asian violence.

Anti-Asian crime was up 361 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, with 129 anti-Asian crimes, according to the NYPD - and 183 anti-Semitic crimes.

Simon Martial, 61, who was well known to police, has been arrested for shoving Go.

It is unknown if her racial background was a factor in the 9:40am attack on Saturday, but police suggested it was random.

Martial - who admitted to killing her - ranted publicly after his arrest that he was God, and was allowed to do it.

Adams on Sunday sparked widespread anger by seeming to downplay the concerns of subway riders.

'New Yorkers are safe on the subway system,' he said.

'I think it's about 1.7 percent of the crimes in New York City that occur on the subway system.

'Think about that for a moment. What we must do is remove the perception of fear.'

On Tuesday, before the vigil, he backtracked and admitted there was a problem - reversing his previous stance.

Adams is seen on Tuesday holding a press conference in City Hall, in which he admitted he does not feel safe on the subway

'Day One, January 1, when I took the train, I saw the homelessness, the yelling, the screaming early in the morning, crimes right outside the platform,' he said, during an in-person City Hall press briefing.

'We know we have a job to do  and we're going to do both.

'We're going to drive down crime, and we're going to make sure New Yorkers feel safe in our subway system.

'And they don't feel that way now. I don't feel that way when I take the train every day, or when I'm moving throughout our transportation system.'
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Boris Johnson has told civil servants to get back to their desks and 'show the lead' after work from home guidance was axed.

The Prime Minister yesterday announced plans to scrap all Covid restrictions by the spring as the Omicron wave continued to recede, with Covid cases, deaths and hospitalisations all down on last week.

While measures such as Covid passports and compulsory face masks are to be dropped from next Thursday, staff are being encouraged back to offices and other workplaces immediately.

Within minutes of his announcement, civil servants were told via a Cabinet Office email that they should being to return to work, with other departments expected to communicate similar memos today.

There are no plans for targets, however, on how many staff are back at desks and how many days a week they are expected to be in the office.

The PM insisted the move was vital for younger workers in particular, who would struggle to build up the necessary skills, experience and networks from home.

Mr Johnson said that 'across Whitehall, we need to show a lead and make sure that we get back to work, everybody gets back to work'.

However, some unions expressed concern, including the FDA, which represents civil service workers, saying that forcing civil servants back to work to encourage the private sector to follow suit was 'insulting'.

Its head, Dave Penman, told the Times: '[Johnson] fails to recognise the innovation and flexibility shown by the civil service in adapting to the changing guidance, but the prime minister also talks about a return to work when the civil service has been working flat out.

'The idea that forcing civil servants back into the office will somehow show a lead to the rest of the economy is frankly insulting to all those businesses who have made decisions that enhance their efficiency and profitability.'

The PM also yesterday laid out his intentions to remove all remaining Covid laws by March 24, including basic measures like mandatory self-isolation for positive cases and the requirement to give your address to NHS Test and Trace if you have Covid.

The shock announcement came as the UK recorded 108,069 new positive Covid tests, down 16.6 per cent on last Wednesday's 129,587 and the 14th day in a row that cases have been down week-on-week.

Fatalities were down 9.8 per cent, with 359 deaths recorded today, ad hospitalisations fell 14.5 per cent to 1,752 on Saturday, the latest date data is available for.

While Mr Johnson  who is currently facing enormous pressure to resign over a number of parties in No10 during the brutal first lockdown of 2020  unveiled the Covid-loosening plans to MPs in the Commons today, it was Health Secretary Sajid Javid who was sent to announce them to the public at a press conference tonight and fend of questions from journalists about his boss' latest scandal.

Speaking at the podium in Downing Street, Mr Javid declared 'Omicron is in retreat' as he hailed the decision to lift Plan B as the start of the 'next chapter' in the pandemic.

He said the Government was fulfilling its promise to 'open up the country as soon as the data supports it' as he pointed to rapidly collapsing Covid cases and plateauing hospital rates.

Mr Javid added: 'This plan has worked and the data shows that Omicron is in retreat.'

He described the relaxation of measures as a 'major milestone', adding: 'But it's not the end of the road and we shouldn't see this as the finish line because we cannot eradicate this virus and its future variants.

'Instead we must learn to live with Covid in the same way we have to live with flu. And we will be setting out our long-term plan for living with Covid this spring.'

In other developments:

Documents sent between the UK's health agencies revealed free Covid lateral flow tests will be scrapped from July under the Government's virus 'exit strategy';

Britain's gold-standard infection study showed Covid cases plummeted by a fifth in England last week in more confirmation that Omicron is on its way out;

A study found children who develop a rare Kawasaki-like inflammatory syndrome after catching Covid recover within three months;

Research showed Covid patients who only experience mild illness can still experience 'brain fog' that lasts for up to nine months;

A study showed claimed a 15 blood-thinning drug could help Covid patients and prevent lung damage.

Boris Johnson has told civil servants to get back to their desks and 'show the lead' after work from home guidance was axed

A deserted Whitehall last year, amid the government's work from home guidance, which has since been lifted after the PM's announcement

Health Secretary Sajid Javid who was sent to announce the new rule changes to the public at a press conference tonight and fend of questions from journalists about his boss' latest scandal

Mr Javid said that, starting with immediate effect, No10's work from home guidance will no longer apply, and face masks will no longer be required in school classrooms in England from tomorrow. Covid passes and compulsory face masks will be axed from next Thursday.

The Health Secretary said that testing, vaccines and antivirals will be the 'cornerstone of our future defences' when 'almost all' restrictions end.

He claimed that the re-opening of the country now when many nations in Europe are still living with draconian lockdown measures was a vindication of the PM's response to Omicron.

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference, Mr Javid denied Mr Johnson 'just got lucky' when he chose not to impose further restrictions over Christmas.

'The central decision that he made which was to absolutely focus on boosters has been vindicated,' he said. 'That is the main reason that we are where we are today because the Prime Minister made those decisions.'

Free lateral flow Covid tests to be scrapped by JULY Free Covid lateral flow tests will be scrapped from July under the Government's virus 'exit strategy', according to documents sent between the UK's health agencies. Ministers have urged Britons to take the swabs regularly in an attempt to quell the spread of Omicron  but only key workers will be able to access free tests if No10's mooted plan to 'ramp down the Universal Testing Offer' gets signed off. Instead, officials say an online ordering system will be ready by the end of June to direct Britons to purchase the tests, which are said to cost the Government 30 per pack of seven. No10 has previously said it would 'at a later stage' stop offering everyone the tests, which are free to order from the Government website or pick up at pharmacies. No10 has spent billions of pounds on securing the kits as part of its mass-testing strategy. Amid record high cases at the start of the year, more than 8million lateral flows were registered over the space of one week. However, only a fraction of tests used are officially logged. But Covid infections have been in freefall for the past fortnight. The natural fizzling out of the Omicron wave has piled pressure on Boris Johnson to unveil his pandemic 'exit strategy' to prepare the country for living with Covid like flu. Advertisement

Discussing his future plan to 'live with Covid', he told the conference: 'The way we are going to do this is we're going to have to find a way to remove almost all of these restrictions and get life completely back to normal but with one or two really big things that I think will be there for a while.

'That is I think probably the need to vaccinate, I can't tell you how often that will be, but I think vaccinations will remain hugely important just as we have to have annual vaccinations protecting older people against flu.

'I think antivirals and treatments will continue to play a big role, especially for those that might be more exposed, and I think testing, it's great where we are today with testing and I think it will improve over time.

'These pharmaceutical defences of the vaccines, antivirals, monoclonal antibodies, and testing, I think they will be the cornerstone of our future defences.'

Mr Johnson told MPs at lunchtime the Government will still 'suggest' to people to wear face coverings in certain 'enclosed or crowded places' but 'we will trust the judgement of the British people'.

He also said there will 'soon come a time when we can remove the legal requirement to self-isolate altogether', promising the change will be made by March 24 at the latest.

Ministers are confident they can lift the final restrictions because of the increasingly positive data.

Even NHS consultants have now claimed the end of the pandemic is 'now in sight'. Dr Richard Cree, an intensive care consultant at Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital, said: 'I am confident that the worst will soon be behind us.'

Today's figures also show another 75,088 booster vaccine doses were dished out yesterday, taking the country's total to 36.6million  63.7 per cent of the over-12 population.

More than 18,000 first doses and 29,000 second doses were also dished out, meaning 90.7 per cent of people in the age group now have at least some protection against the virus.

Mr Johnson said March 24 is the date when the regulations underpinning the current five-day self-isolation period expire and the Government 'very much expect not to renew them'.

The PM said his preference is actually to 'seek a vote in this House to bring that date forward'.

The move on self-isolation is likely to be welcomed by business chiefs after the quarantine rules and spiking case numbers during the Omicron wave wreaked havoc with the nation's workforce.

Mr Johnson said the Government's scientific advisers believe that the Omicron variant 'has now peaked nationally' and 'the data are showing that time and again this government got the toughest decisions right'.

The changes in England come after Scotland and Wales had already set out plans to ease their respective restrictions.

A limit on the number of people who can attend outdoor events in Scotland was removed earlier this week while table service-only rules and a three household limit on mixing will end next Monday. Scotland has not yet ditched its work from home guidance.

In Wales, the limit on the number of people who can attend outdoor events will be lifted from Friday this week.

The rule of six, table service and 2m social distancing for hospitality will then be axed from January 28.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson today announced that he is lifting Plan B Covid curbs in England

Even mild cases of Covid can lead to 'brain fog' that lasts for up to NINE MONTHS, study claims Covid patients who only experience mild illness can still experience 'brain fog' that lasts for up to nine months. Researchers already knew survivors struck down by long Covid can suffer attention and memory difficulties. But a new study, by Oxford University academics, spotted similar effects in people without any lasting symptoms of the virus. The study, published in the journal Brain Communications, analysed 135 people who were invited to play 12 'brain games'. Forty per cent of volunteers said they had already had Covid. Of those who had been infected, seven had severe symptoms. Two confessed to experiencing long Covid. The rest said they had not suffered the other issues associated with long Covid  including fatigue, shortness of breath and aches and pains. Their tests results were then compared against those of a control group, who were considered to be of a similar state. Experts said the Covid group performed well in short-term working memory and planning. But they scored significantly worse in their memory of past events and in their ability to sustain attention over time. Advertisement

Mr Johnson rolled out his Plan B curbs across England in December to combat the spread of the Omicron variant.

The regulations underpinning the Plan B restrictions are due to expire on January 26 and the Government committed to reviewing them ahead of that date.

Mr Johnson met with his Cabinet this morning to hammer out the way forward.

Delivering a statement to MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Johnson said that because of the booster jab campaign and the public adhering to Plan B rules 'we can return to Plan A in England and allow Plan B regulations to expire'.

He said: 'As a result, from the start of Thursday next week mandatory certification will end.

'Organisations can, of course, choose to use the NHS Covid Pass voluntarily but we will end the compulsory use of Covid status certification in England.

'From now, the Government is no longer asking people to work from home and people should now speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office.

'And having looked at the data carefully, the Cabinet concluded that once regulations lapse, the government will no longer mandate the wearing of face masks anywhere.

'Mr Speaker, from tomorrow, we will no longer require face masks in classrooms, and the Department for Education will shortly remove national guidance on their use in communal areas.

'In the country at large, we will continue to suggest the use of face coverings in enclosed or crowded places, particularly where you come into contact with people you don't normally meet.

'But we will trust the judgement of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one.'

Mr Johnson said the current requirement for people to self-isolate for five full days after a positive Covid test will remain in place.

But he told MPs: 'There will soon come a time when we can remove the legal requirement to self-isolate altogether - just as we don't place legal obligations on people to isolate if they have flu.

'As Covid becomes endemic we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.

Calls grow to ditch compulsory Covid jabs law for NHS staff as 80,000 face the sack Ministers are under pressure from Tory MPs to scrap a law requiring all NHS staff to have a Covid jab as bosses prepare to start sacking 80,000 in a fortnight. All frontline workers must have had two doses of the vaccine by April 1, meaning the first must have been administered by February 3. But more than 80,000  6 per cent of the workforce  remain unvaccinated despite repeated efforts to boost take-up. New NHS guidance to employers says staff who have not been jabbed should start being called into formal meetings from February 4 and warned they face dismissal with the notice period ending on March 31. But the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives have urged ministers to delay the rules, saying they could have a 'catastrophic' impact on the delivery of services. And Mark Harper, the chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Conservative MPs, yesterday urged No 10 to reconsider its approach. He said: 'The Government is still ploughing on, regardless of the consequences on staffing levels. It's nonsense. Ministers must change course.' Advertisement

'The self-isolation regulations expire on March 24, at which point I very much expect not to renew them.

'Indeed were the data to allow, I would like to seek a vote in this House to bring that date forwards.'

Mr Johnson said that in advance of March 24 the Government will set out its 'long-term strategy for living with Covid-19'.

The premier said this document will explain 'how we hope and intend to protect our liberty and avoid restrictions in future by relying instead on medical advances  especially the vaccines which have already saved so many lives'.

'But to make that possible, we must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter,' he said.

'When there are still over 16,000 people in hospital in England alone, the pandemic is not over.

'And, Mr Speaker, make no mistake, Omicron is not a mild disease for everyone - and especially if you're not vaccinated.'

Mr Johnson said 'we know that around 90 per cent of people in intensive care are not boosted' as he repeated his plea to the nation to get jabbed.

The PM also said the Government will make an announcement about easing Covid travel restrictions 'in the next few days'.

Mark Harper, the chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, welcomed the lifting of Plan B but said: 'I hope the Prime Minister will forgive me for not being extraordinarily grateful for the withdrawal of these measures.

'I and many colleagues on these benches didn't think they were necessary in December but I do nonetheless welcome their removal.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer blasted the PM as he claimed he is 'too distracted to do the job'.

Sir Keir said: 'The 438 deaths recorded yesterday are a solemn reminder that this pandemic is not over. We need to remain vigilant, learn the lessons from the Government's mistakes, with new variants highly likely we must have a robust plan to live well with Covid, so where is it?

'He's too distracted to do the job and it's not just the Prime Minister who's letting us down. Where's the Health Secretary's plan to prepare for another wave of infections?

'Why isn't the Chancellor working with British manufacturers to shore up our domestic supplies of tests? Where is the Foreign Secretary's plan to help vaccinate the world? They're all too busy plotting their leadership campaigns to keep the public safe.

Mark Harper, the chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, welcomed the lifting of Plan B but pointed out he had always opposed the measures

'While the Conservative Party tear themselves apart, jostling for position, looking inward, the Labour Party is focused on the national interest, filling their void. We have a plan that the Prime Minister doesn't.'

Covid pandemic is 'nowhere near over' and new variants are likely to emerge, WHO warns, despite cases continuing to plummet in Britain The Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, the World Health Organization's chief said Tuesday, cautioning against a narrative that the the Omicron variant is risk-free. 'This pandemic is nowhere near over,' chief of the UN health body Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters from WHO's headquarters in Geneva. Tedros warned against dismissing the coronavirus Omicron variant - which has spread like wildfire around the globe since it was first detected in southern Africa in November - as mild. Omicron is much more contagious than previous strains but seems to cause less serious disease in patients. That has triggered a debate on the virus passing from being a pandemic to becoming endemic - with the implication that the danger will have passed. But the WHO has warned that the sheer numbers of people infected will mean many vulnerable people are still falling seriously ill and dying. Experts have also warned that allowing Covid-19 to spread out of control dramatically increases the chance on new variants emerging. Advertisement

NHS bosses said it is up to Mr Johnson when to impose and lift Covid rules but warned 'Covid-19 has not magically disappeared'.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: 'While it is the job of the Prime Minister and the Government to weigh up the balance of pros and cons for lifting restrictions, this is not the time for complacency about this virus.

'COVID-19 has not magically disappeared, and we are likely to have to learn to live alongside it for years to come. Lifting restrictions doesn't mean a return to normality is inevitable.

'We need to be honest with the public that a decision to lift restrictions is a trade-off. We will have greater freedoms but the cost - at least in the short term - will be that more people are likely to get sick with Covid, and that the health service will continue to have to deal with the extra burdens that this creates.'

Hospitality bosses said the lifting of Plan B represents 'extremely good news' for the sector.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: 'The announcement from the Prime Minister today to remove all Plan B restrictions when they expire on 26th January is extremely good news for our pubs and brewers.

'However, the severity of the impact these measures had on trade during the festive period and into the new year must not be underestimated.

'It is vital the Government now lays out its plan for living with Covid as an endemic disease, this will enable the sector to plan for a strong and sustainable recovery.'

The PM had faced growing pressure from Tory figures to axe mandatory face mask rules after there were reports that they could be kept in place.

Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister who quit the Cabinet in December over the imposition of Plan B, had tweeted this morning: 'It is good news if the Cabinet does decide this morning to lift some 'Plan B' restrictions.

'But the job isn't done if mask wearing remains in place. The evidence for masks is weak & the many downsides are persistently discounted. All Plan B measures need lifting *for good*.'

The Government's strategy for living with Covid will see local testing centres starting to shut in the spring, according to The Times.

The Treasury believes the estimated 10billion a year cost of the testing operation is not sustainable and wants it to be reduced.

A Government source told The Times: 'The wind-down will be quite swift and will mean fewer test centres because we don't need all of the sites.'

It is thought the long-term coronavirus strategy could be unveiled by the Government by the end of February.

Official Government data showed there were a further 94,432 Covid cases recorded in the UK yesterday while a further 438 people had died within 28 days of testing positive.

A total of 19,450 people were in hospital in the UK with Covid-19 as of January 17.

This is down two per cent week-on-week - though the total had risen slightly in the most recent two days.

During the second wave of coronavirus, the number of hospital patients peaked at 39,254 on January 18, 2021.

There were 1,892 Covid-19 hospital admissions on January 14, the latest UK-wide figure available, down five per cent week-on-week.

Admissions during the second wave peaked at 4,583 on January 12 2021.

Lifting the Plan B restrictions is part of a Downing Street policy blitz, dubbed 'Operation Red Meat', designed to stabilise the PM's premiership after the Partygate row.

Other crowd-pleasing policies have already been announced, including bringing in the military to tackle the migrant Channel crossings crisis and freezing the BBC licence fee for two years.

The lifting of Plan B rules came as Scotland's national clinical director said Omicron is 'definitely' on a 'downward slope', but urged caution over thinking the pandemic is in its final stages.

Asked if we are in the 'endgame', Professor Jason Leitch told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we're in the endgame of Omicron. I'm afraid that's not the answer you wanted.

'Nobody knows if we're in the endgame of the whole pandemic. And anybody who does, I'm afraid it's hope rather than reality.

'I hope we're in the endgame, and the WHO are telling us still to be cautious  don't drop your guard for surveillance of other variants that might come into your country or you might generate yourself.

'But we're definitely in a downward slope of Omicron, which is terrific news.'

So what is changing... and when will it happen? Your guide to the post-curb rules as Boris Johnson announces the end of Covid Plan B restrictions

IMMEDIATELY

WORKING FROM HOME

The Prime Minister said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home. He called on people to speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office.

FROM TODAY

MASKS IN SCHOOLS

From today, secondary school pupils will not have to wear face coverings in classrooms.

The requirement to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas will end next Thursday, January 27.

Face masks in schools will no longer be required from next Thursday

FROM NEXT THURSDAY

MASKS IN PUBLIC PLACES

From next Thursday, the Government will no longer legally mandate the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport.

But they will continue to suggest masks should be worn in enclosed and crowded places where people could come into contact with those they do not normally meet.

The Prime Minister said this meant the Government will 'trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one'.

COVID PASSPORTS

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday.

But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want.

BY THE END OF THE MONTH

TRAVEL

An announcement is expected soon on scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test on returning to England.

No 10 said the rules will be reviewed by the end of January.

CARE HOMES

Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days. At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents.

BY MARCH AT THE LATEST

SELF-ISOLATION

Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24.

He said this could happen even earlier, if the data allows.

The legal requirement will be replaced with guidance that urges people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.

BY JULY

FREE TESTS

Free Covid lateral flow tests look set to be scrapped by July.

People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven.
Unions reacted furiously to the scrapping of masks in classrooms last night, accusing Boris Johnson of flouting his 'duty of care' to teachers.

The Prime Minister lifted a range of restrictions on Wednesday, including axing work from home guidance and removing the need for Covid passes at large venues next week.

From today, it will also no longer be mandatory for pupils to wear face coverings while learning at school.

The move was hailed in some areas as a large step towards a return to normality, but the National Education Union warned lifting curbs too early could in face cause more disruption.

Joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: 'Schools and colleges are still feeling the impact of Covid-19.

'The latest ONS infection survey update shows one in 10 primary age pupils have Covid-19.

'While the trend amongst secondary aged children is down it is however uncertain, due to the short time schools have been back since the Christmas holidays, that this trend will continue.

From today, it will also no longer be mandatory for pupils to wear face coverings while learning at school

The Prime Minister lifted a range of restrictions on Wednesday, including axing work from home guidance and removing the need for Covid passes at large venues next week

'Such uncertainty could lead to a pronounced risk of increased disruption with children and staff having to isolate.

'We are concerned to see what the Covid-19 related absence is when figures are released next week.

'The danger is we lift restrictions too quickly before the effects of returning to school are clear.

'This will result in more education disruption which is extremely worrying particularly for pupils taking national exams this year whose education has been so badly disrupted already.

'Rather than announcements aimed at saving Boris Johnson's job, Government should be exercising a duty of care to the nation's pupils and the staff who educate them.

'This disruption is at the door of the Government who should have got ventilation and filtration solutions in place before Omicron as advised by SAGE and they should be getting these solutions in place urgently now to ensure interruption of education remains at the minimum.'

It comes after teachers also warned that pupils will take more than 18 months to catch up after falling behind on their studies due to Covid.

State school teachers were far more likely to offer a gloomy forecast compared to their private school counterparts, according to a survey of 4,690 teachers in England by Teacher Tapp for leading EdTech event, Bett.

The study showed that 14 per cent of teachers in private primary schools and 23 per cent in private secondaries had not seen pupils falling behind due to school closures or Covid-related absences.

It comes after teachers also warned that pupils will take more than 18 months to catch up after falling behind on their studies due to Covid

A majority of private secondary school teachers thought their pupils would catch up within six months. Just three per cent of teachers in state schools did not think pupils had fallen behind compared to 19 per cent in private schools.

The figures may partly be explained by private schools adapting faster to home learning, including by giving pupils laptops.

Some 36 per cent of primary teachers in state schools thought it would take 18 months or more for pupils to catch up, while 32 per cent of secondary state school teachers thought the same.

Overall, classroom teachers were slightly more pessimistic than headteachers or members of the senior leadership teams (SLT).

Some 32 per cent of teachers at the coalface thought it would take 18 months or more, compared with 31 per cent of SLT and 28 per cent of heads.

When analysed by subject, language teachers and Key Stage 2 primary teachers were the most pessimistic, with 34 per cent believing it would take more than 18 months.

It also emerged that nearly four in ten - 38 per cent - of teachers agree or strongly agree with banning school closures and classing them as essential infrastructure.

The move is proposed by senior Tory MP Rob Halfon, the chairman of the education select committee, who wants school closures to be banned unless they are voted for in parliament.

Eve Harper, director of the Bett show, who commissioned the research, said: 'Our survey shows that teachers are clearly concerned that the learning gap has widened since the pandemic. More teachers think that the Covid catch-up will take 18 months or more.

'There is also a stark difference in how long state school teachers fear it will take for pupils to recover lost learning compared with private school teachers.

'Education technology has been pivotal during remote learning and beyond but it is clear that there is a great deal to do to ensure that all students are given the very best opportunity to catch up and that teachers feel well supported in their roles.'
A man accused of stealing 42,000 rapid antigen tests and boxes of face masks has received bail in Sydney after turning himself in following a police raid on storage units in the city's south.

The supplies, worth at least $500,000, were uncovered in two Rosebery storage units on Wednesday afternoon about 24 hours after going missing from a Botany freight depot.

Images released by police on Thursday show dozens of boxes of the Chinese-made tests and KN95 face masks inside one of the units, however police were not able to say whether all 42,000 of the tests have been recovered.

Pictured: A man accused of stealing 42,000 rapid antigen tests and boxes of face masks has received bail in Sydney after turning himself in following a police raid on storage units in Rosebery, NSW

Zeshi Wu, 28, attended Mascot police station on Wednesday night and was charged with dishonestly obtaining property by deception.

He appeared in Central Local Court on Thursday where he received bail.

News Corp reported Mr Wu's defence lawyer told the court he was a married father of two with no criminal history.

Pictured: Chinese-made tests and KN95 face masks inside one of the units, however police were not able to say whether all 42,000 of the tests have been recovered

Pictured: K95 masks where uncovered by police during a storage unit raid in Rosebery on Wednesday

It's understood depot workers may have been tricked into allowing the tests to leave the facility with false documentation provided by someone impersonating a courier

Police allege he played a part in organising the theft.

NSW Police acting Superintendent Brendan Gorman said a 'first-rate' investigation resulted in 'a very swift resolution of this matter', although police inquiries are ongoing.

It's understood depot workers may have been tricked into allowing the tests to leave the facility with false documentation provided by someone impersonating a courier.

'There's obviously some documentation (that) has had to be provided at that import facility, that documentation that has been provided is part of the investigation and will be before the court.'

The tests were privately imported, rather than the state-purchased tests bound for schools, aged care and vulnerable communities.

Supt Gorman said police allege the tests were to be sold on the street amid high demand and scarcity and there's concern this won't be the last investigation into stolen rapid antigen tests they will have to conduct.

The tests uncovered during the storage unit raids (pictured) were privately imported, rather than the state-purchased tests bound for schools, aged care and vulnerable communities

Police will seek to release any seized tests back to their importer as quickly as possible after forensic examination

'There is always those that will try and profit on the misery or the illnesses of others,' Supt Gorman said.

He says police will seek to release any seized tests back to their importer as quickly as possible after forensic examination so they can reach their intended destination.

Australian National University emeritus criminology professor Roderic Broadhurst told AAP a squeeze on supply creates opportunities for criminal entrepreneurs, whose most difficult task is obtaining supply rather than distributing it.

'They've already got a contraband logistical arrangement, they may not even have to go to a great deal of elaboration' to offload products on the black market, Professor Broadhurst says.

Earlier in the pandemic, dark web marketplaces were trafficking in protective equipment and dubious vaccines, later moving into things like vaccine certificates, though Prof Broadhurst notes entrepreneurial criminals aren't just cashing in on COVID-19.

'It's anywhere we've got supply (issues),' he says.

'The golden rule is crime follows opportunity, when there's a gap in the market to exploit, it will be (exploited) by somebody.'

Three men arrested at the storage unit on Wednesday were released from custody after being interviewed and providing some further information to police.

The theft comes amid a nationwide shortage of the kits and some retailers charging exorbitant prices.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission boss Rod Sims says the agency has received reports of RATs costing up to $500 for two tests through online marketplaces, and more than $70 per test through convenience stores, service stations and independent supermarkets.

Despite wholesale RAT costs being up to $11.45 a test, the agency said prices for the kits are often retailing between $20-$30 and are priced much higher through smaller outlets.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is also investigating some businesses found breaking up packs of multiple RATs so each test can be sold individually at a higher price.
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The Pentagon has declassified and publicly released video footage of a U.S. drone strike in Kabul that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in the final hours of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan last year.

The videos include about 25 minutes of footage from two MQ-9 Reaper drones, showing the scene of the August 29 strike prior to, during and after a missile struck a civilian car in a courtyard on a residential street.

Indistinct images show civilians moving in or near the attack zone, including children rushing into a courtyard seconds before the strike.

US Central Command posted the footage publicly on Wednesday evening, just after President Joe Biden delivered his first formal press conference in 10 months. The footage was released in response to a New York Times lawsuit to obtain the video.

It marks the first public release of video footage of the strike, which the Pentagon initially defended but later admitted was a tragic blunder.

This image from video, released by the Department of Defense, from video drone footage, shows a missile fired from a drone in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 29, 2021, that killed 10 civilians

It marks the first public release of video footage of the Aug. 29 strike, which the Pentagon initially defended but later called a tragic mistake. Of the 10 people killed in the attack, seven were children

The botched drone strike killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in the final hours of the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan last year

The military has said the strike targeted what it thought was an ISIS-K extremist, who might imminently detonate a bomb near the Kabul airport, where a hurried evacuation was still under way.

Three days earlier, a suicide bombing at the airport had killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 160 Afghans.

Days after the botched drone strike Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark A. Milley infamously defended the action as a 'righteous strike'.

When it later acknowledged its error in strike, Central Command said it determined that the man driving the car had nothing to do with the ISIS-K group.

DailyMail.com and other outlets had already reported that the target of the strike, Zemari Ahmadi, worked for Nutrition and Education International, a U.S.-based aid organization, and appeared to be a civilian.

Seven children were among the dead when a Hellfire missile hit his white 1996 Toyota Corolla, mistakenly identified as being packed with explosives in the Afghan capital.

The footage released on Wednesday briefly shows what appears to be a blurry shorter figure in white next to a taller figure in black inside the courtyard as the car is backing in, about two and a half minutes before the explosion.

One color video, which is slightly clearer than a second black and white one, showed children and a person opening the car's right door.

The black and white video shows the car backing into the courtyard of a home from the street, with indistinct figures seen moving around it.

Prior reporting indicates that as Ahmadi arrived at his home, children came out to greet him. His adult cousin Naser walked outside to help him bring some water jugs inside. US forces immediately assessed Naser to be a 'co-conspirator' and launched the strike, claiming that they did not see children in the area.

A Hellfire missile detonated inside the Corolla at 4.53pm. Killed were Ahmadi and three of his children, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; Ahmadi's cousin Naser, 30; three of Ahmadi's nephews, Arwin, seven, Benyamin, six, and Hayat, two; and two three-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya.

A CENTCOM spokesman confirmed that the videos depicted the August 29 drone strike in Kabul.

'While the strike was intended for what was believed to be an imminent threat to our troops at Hamad Karzai International Airport, none of the family members killed are now believed to have been connected to ISIS-K or threats to our troops,' the spokesman said in a statement.

'We deeply regret the loss of life that resulted from this strike,' he added.

PICTURED: The 10 victims mistakenly killed by a US drone strike which was targeting ISIS-K in Afghanistan

Ahmadi's home is roughly three kilometers from Kabul airport, where US forces were holed up attempting an evacuation, and where a suicide attack had killed hundreds of Afghans and 13 Americans on August 26.

'We were very concerned that the vehicle could move quickly and be at the airport boundary in a matter of moments,' CENTCOM commander General Frank McKenzie said in September.

The Pentagon initially claimed that a secondary explosion proved that the Corolla was carrying explosive materials.

McKenzie later admitted that the missile likely ignited a propane tank near the car, which created a large fireball spotted on drone surveillance.

McKenzie claimed that upon review of the drone footage, 'a few partially obscured forms were briefly visible moving in the compound'.

'The strike was a tragic mistake,' McKenzie said.

The decimated Toyota Corolla is seen in the aftermath of the tragic drone strike in Kabul

The military has said the strike targeted what it thought was an ISIS-K extremist, but later admitted they were mistaken

Last month, the Pentagon said that no punitive action would be taken against military personnel involved in the botched drone strike.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said senior commanders had made their recommendations to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin - none of which included holding any officers accountable.

'What we saw here was a breakdown in process and execution in procedural events, not the result of negligence, not the result of misconduct, not the result of poor leadership,' he said.

An independent military investigation led by the Air Force's inspector general found no one criminally negligent in the strike.

That left it left it to General McKenzie and General Richard Clarke, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, to decide whether any disciplinary action was appropriate.

'The recommendations were more about procedure and process and the secretary reviewed them and has accepted them,' said Kirby.

'And again, most of them are of a classified nature. ... but there was no overt recommendation made by either specific to accountability and any punishment for anyone.'

'This was a righteous strike,' said Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark A. Milley days later, claiming that Ahmadi was an 'ISIS facilitator'

The Defense Department admitted in September that it had made a 'tragic mistake.'

During the press briefing, Kirby said the heightened risk of attack on Kabul airport was important context.

'This was a dynamic situation in which we were we believe we were dealing with a very active, tangible threat on that day to our people and to Afghans at the airport,' he said.

But the decision horrified critics of the strike, who said it made so sense to acknowledge the mistake but not hold anyone accountable.

'This decision is shocking,' Steven Kwon, the founder of Nutrition & Education International that employed Ahmadi, told the New York Times.

'How can our military wrongly take the lives of 10 precious Afghan people, and hold no one accountable in any way?'

The Department of Defense has previously said it will offer condolence payments to the relatives of the people killed and was also working with the State Department to help surviving family members relocate to the United States.

'We take issues of civilian harm very seriously,' Kirby said last month.

'When we say we take it seriously, we mean it. It doesn't mean we're perfect. It doesn't mean we always get it right,' he said.

'And when we don't get it right, we want those mistakes investigated.'
The body of a California woman was found at the bottom of an aqueduct, five days after her boyfriend was charged with her murder.

Missy Hernandez, 30, was discovered at the structure near Huron on Tuesday.

Her boyfriend Ramon Jimenez, 41, was charged with her murder after the Fresno sheriff's office determined that she had died under suspicious circumstances.

Hernandez, who has an 11-year-old daughter, had last been seen on December 7 after going to an art show in downtown Fresno with Jimenez.

Friends of Hernandez became worried after she stopped picking up her phone and taking their calls, describing her sudden lack of contact as 'unusual.'

Missy Hernandez, 30, pictured, went missing on December 7, in Huron, California

Officers visited Hernandez's home a encountered her boyfriend Ramon Jimenez, 41, pictured, and arrested him

'Missy is a very social person who is out in the public view regularly, so for her to not be responsive or seen was considered unusual,' said Tony Botti, a spokesperson for the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.

A deputy went to her home where he ran into Jimenez and recognized him 'as a person wanted for domestic violence against Missy in October 2021 at this same address,' the sheriff's office said.

Jimenez was taken into custody on December 8 and booked into the Fresno County Jail.

He has been charged with murder and domestic violence, with his next court appearance is scheduled for March.

Following his arrest, Hernandez's friends went to her home where they discovered evidence that she had been injured.

It led to a month-long investigation which saw the police collecting evidence, including DNA, that suggested an act of violence had occurred at her home.

The body of the missing Missy Hernandez was recovered from an aqueduct near Huron

Hernandez, 30, was discovered at the structure near Huron. Pictured, law enforcement and a dive team recovered her body

Friends of Hernandez became worried after she stopped picking up her phone and taking their calls describing her sudden lack of contact as 'unusual'

Hernandez's body was later found under the water in the aqueduct, near Huron

Search teams then looked for Hernandez's remains in several locations, including the Grapevine on Interstate 5 and the Highway 198 corridor in western Fresno County.

'After not having any success, a decision was made on January 16th to attempt a dangerous dive operation in a specific area of the California Aqueduct,' the sheriff's office explained.

Hernandez's body was later found under the water in the aqueduct, near Huron.

The California Aqueduct is a system of canals that carries water from the Sierra Nevada to other parts of California.

Hernandez's family set up a GoFundMe to help pay for her funeral.

Hernandez had an 11-year-old daughter. Funds are being raised on GoFundMe for her

'As many of you know my aunt was taken from our family in a very tragic and horrific way,' her niece Dolly Ayala wrote.

'She was murdered by someone who abused her daily, a coward who took her from her daughter and family in the worst possible way.

'She tried to leave and get away many times and in the end she lost this long fight. She went missing on December 7 and was missing for over a month before we found her.'

'We finally have her back and we can finally lay her to rest and get the closure we need,' Hernandez's niece said.
Tongan Lisala Folau miraculously swam for 28 hours to safety after a tsunami triggered by a volcanic eruption swept him out to sea

A brave Tongan who was swept out to sea by a tsunami after Saturday's volcanic eruption miraculously drifted through darkness and rough currents for 28 hours before reaching safety.

Lisala Folau was swept away when the tsunami hit Atata - a small island near the Tonga capital Nuku'alofa - about 6pm on Saturday.

Mr Folau survived by letting the waves carry him for more than 15km, finally reaching the mainland at 10pm on Sunday.

Mr Folau first drifted for 12 hours to the island of Toketoke, before reaching nearby Polo'a at 9pm on Sunday and a beach in Nuku'alofa an hour later.

'Such a brave man,' Tongan TV company Kingdom Digital wrote on Facebook.

Mr Folau survived by letting the waves carry him for more than 15km for 28 hours - initially from island to island before he finally reached the mainland

'He casually lets the current carry him and has two pit stops at uninhabited islands, then reaches mainland after being alone in the water for more than 24 hours!'

Almost all of the buildings on Atata were destroyed and the island's entire population of about 100 people have been evacuated.

Three workers at a resort on the island are still missing.

UN humanitarian officials report about 84,000 people - more than 80 per cent of Tonga's population - have been impacted by the volcanic eruption.

The first humanitarian flights departed for Tonga early Thursday, carrying much needed aid supplies to the Pacific island nation.

Fights departed from Australia and New Zealand after the runway on the island's main airport was cleared of ash, an Australian official said.

The first humanitarian flights departed for Tonga early Thursday, carrying much needed aid supplies to the volcano and tsunami-devastated Pacific island nation. Pictured: A helicopter on the deck of HMAS Adelaide en route to Tonga on Wednesday

Wasteland: The coastline of the tropical paradise has been flattened in some areas with palm trees and buildings swept away

Pictured: A plume rises over Tonga after the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted in this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite operated by Japan Meteorological Agency on January 15, 2022

New Zealand's Foreign Minister said it had sent a C-130 Hercules from Auckland which will land in Nuku'alofa at about 4 pm New Zealand time.

The delivery of supplies will be contactless and the aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand.

Tonga is Covid-19 free and there are concerns aid personnel may bring the virus to the nation. Vaccination against the virus is as high as 90 percent among Tongans.

Lisala's journey took him between several uninhabited islands off the coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, before he eventually reached safety

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted about 40 miles (65 km) from the Tongan capital with a blast heard 2,300 km (1,400 miles) away in New Zealand, and sent tsunamis across the Pacific Ocean.

Waves reaching up to 15 metres (49 feet) hit the outer Ha'apia island group, destroying all the houses on the island of Mango, as well as the west coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu.
One of the activists from Plan 0 speaks during a protest against the four presidential candidates who have so far neglected to make pledges concerning climate change, in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Art at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Jan. 20. One of the cardboard pickets prepared by the environmental group reads, "It's not an economic crisis, it's a climate crisis." Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan



A coalition of environmental activists held a protest Thursday in downtown Seoul, urging the presidential candidates to hold an open debate concerning climate change.



Plan 0, a coalition of young activists in their 20s and 30s from four different groups, huddled in front of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts at Gwanghwamun Square, one of the city's largest open public spaces. Four activists made speeches, criticizing the candidates for having neglected to make pledges on dealing with climate change.



The protest ended with a performance, parodying the four leading candidates  Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), Ahn Cheol-soo of minor opposition People's Party and Sim Sang-jung of the minor opposition Justice Party  in a debate while not addressing climate change issues.



The activists represented young age groups that are key swing voters in this election. The DPK's Lee and the PPP's Yoon have rolled out pledges dedicated to these age groups, such as creating millions of new jobs, raising the salary for young men in compulsory military service, and mitigating regulations for virtual coin investment. But despite these pledges, the activists on Thursday condemned the candidates for not having made any clear environmental pledges to prepare the country for the impending climate crisis.



Oh Ji-hyuk, from the environmental activist group, Youth Climate Emergency Action, said that the candidates are neglecting climate issues and instead making headlines mostly about poorly thought-out pledges  such as offering insurance coverage for hair loss treatment or shutting down the country's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family  or for negative campaigning against rival candidates' wives.



He also criticized the DPK and the PPP for having agreed to hold a TV debate involving only their parties' two candidates during the Lunar New Year holiday later this month. He said that doing so would block people from having the chance to hear more diverse opinions from more candidates on the climate crisis and other important social issues, which would allow viewers to evaluate the candidates better.



Oh, who also represents Plan 0, said that following Thursday's protest, the activists will try to approach Yoon and urge him to join a debate about climate change with the other candidates. He added that the activists will also contact Lee, Sim and Ahn to hold them to their past promises to join such a debate.









"We are now devising plans about how to respond to the candidates if they break their promises to participate in a debate about climate change," Oh said.



Kim Ji-yun, the co-representative of activist group Green Environment Youth Korea, said during Thursday's protest that Plan 0's activists, "who represent the MZ Generation, will choose a 'climate president' who will guarantee the survival of us all."





Environmental activists from Plan 0, wearing giant head masks of Lee Jae-myung, from left, Yoon Suk-yeol, Sim Sang-jung and Ahn Cheol-soo, parody the candidates debating while remaining silent about climate change. Yonhap
More than 50 million doses of the Novavax vaccine will soon be hitting Australian shores after it was granted provisional approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The vaccine is expected to be popular among those who are not yet double jabbed because it's the first traditional protein-based vaccine to be made available in Australia.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said he hoped the new dose would bring the country's vaccination rate closer to 100 per cent.

'Obviously we have a first dose national vaccination rate of 95.2 per cent, and we know some people have waited for Novavax,' Mr Hunt said.

'Hopefully this will encourage those people in that less than five per cent to come forward and be vaccinated.'

Australia has secured 51 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with the long-awaited jab expected to arrive in coming weeks

So when will Novavax arrive in Australia?

The Australian government has secured 51 million doses of the Novavax vaccine with the first shipment expected to arrive in the next month.

As the doses have been provisionally approved by the TGA, Novavax now needs to be given the green light by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.

Once this is given, the vaccines will be available in coming weeks.

How will it be administered?

Australians aged 18 and above will be given two doses of Novavax three weeks apart.

The vaccine is not yet available as a booster shot or for those under the age of 18.

On December 21 the World Health Organisation said data on the safety and efficacy on the use of Novavax in pregnant women was not yet available.

Australians aged 18 and above similarly to Pfizer will be given two doses of Novavax three weeks apart

'WHO recommends the use of the COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women when the benefits of vaccination to the pregnant woman outweigh the potential risks,' WHO said.

Anyone with a history of anaphylaxis to any component of the vaccine are recommended to choose another vaccine.

Why is it popular with the unvaccinated?

Australian authorities expect those who haven't already got the jab to roll up their sleeves for Novavax due to its protein base.

TGA head professor John Skerritt said those skeptical about the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna would likely be more comfortable being jabbed with the newly approved dose.

'The technology on which Novavax is made is an older technology. And I would have had several hundreds of emails from individuals and groups who have said, for whatever reason, we would like to have a protein vaccine,' Professor Skerritt said.

Epidemiologist Catherine Bennett told Daily Mail Australia Novavax was more of a 'conventional' approach to vaccines as the receiver was being injected with a protein.

The vaccine is not yet approved to be used as a booster shot but has a 90 per cent efficacy rate against mild, moderate and severe disease, according to WHO (women attend a vaccination clinic in Brisbane, pictured)

'The viral protein segment that they're using as a trigger for the immune system is produced in a laboratory,' she said.

'Whereas with the other vaccines, it's actually getting our cells to produce the protein and then your immune system sees it and reacts to it.

'(Novavax) is doing that bit of work up front, before it's injected.'

Ms Bennett said because the protein was produced in a lab, researchers had to work hard to ensure there was no contamination.

'So what goes into you is a bit more complex because it includes a protein,' she added.

'You still have then the production of antibodies (with Novavax).'

Novavax can have mild side effects such as muscle aches and a headache after administration (stock image)

Are there any side effects?

Novavax differs from mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna but all have similar side effects after a person is jabbed.

These include soreness around the site of injection, fatigue, headaches and muscle aches.

The vaccine, which is the fifth to be approved in Australia, is able to be stored in a normal fridge for up to three months, unlike other doses which must be kept at very low temperatures.

The vaccine has been proven to have 90 per cent efficacy rate against mild, moderate and severe disease, WHO said.
Western Australia's February 5 re-opening date is just over two weeks away but officials have only provided a vague outline of how the state will deal with an impending influx of visitors.

The state has remained closed to the rest of the country for the majority of the pandemic, but with vaccination rates creeping towards 90 per cent Premier Mark McGowan appears to be holding firm with the roadmap.

However, critical workers remain in the dark about the plans for dealing with an expected rise in Covid cases, with healthcare staff and school faculty asking for clarification from the state government.

It comes as the state's Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local Covid cases in a sign the virus is spreading ahead of the border reopening.

Four of the cases are close contacts, two of whom were in quarantine, with the others potentially infectious in the community.

The source of the final infection is unknown.

How YOU will be able to enter Western Australia on February 5 Double dose vaccinated international arrivals will be required to: While double dose vaccinated international arrivals will not be required to quarantine and are not subject to the arrivals cap, unvaccinated international arrivals will be required to quarantine for 14 days, either in a designated hotel or the future quarantine facility.

All international travel into WA remains subject to the Commonwealths biosecurity and border settings  as that being the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government.

All domestic arrivals, aged 12 and over, must be double dose vaccinated, unless ineligible or medically exempt.

All domestic travellers coming into WA will need a G2G Pass. Testing requirements for domestic arrivals fall under three categories: Interstate arrivals coming into WA or WA travellers leaving and returning on a trip that is six days or more will require a negative PCR test within 72 hours of departure prior to travelling to WA, and undertake a negative PCR test within 48 hours of arrival

Interstate arrivals coming into WA for five days or less will require a negative PCR test within 72 hours of departure but are not required to have any tests on arrival into WA

WA travellers who leave then return to WA within 5 days or less do not need a test before arriving back into the State, but they will require a PCR test within 48 hours of returning Advertisement

WA's Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said in a press conference on Wednesday that hospitals would would be told 'this week' of the plans for isolation period and close contacts beyond February 5.

She did however admit that rules for the wider public are yet to be confirmed.

'I would like that information to be delivered this week, and there will certainly be information going to the healthcare workforce this week,' Ms Sanderson said.

'What the broader industry requirements will be are being worked on as well and that will be communicated.'

Several events in the lead up to February 5 have already been called off, including Perth Festival and the City to Surf.

Businesses are telling staff to remain working from home, with the capital's CBD a relative ghost town.

Western Australia: What we know about the rules for re-opening National Cabinet has agreed to define a 'close contact' as someone who has spent four or more hours with a positive case in a household-like setting. Mr McGowan has indicated Western Australia will follow this definition

Isolation periods remain 14 days in WA but eastern states have cut that period to seven days, with that even smaller for critical workers. It's not known whether Mr McGowan will reduce isolation times

Rapid antigen tests are expected to become common place for critical workers including healthcare, teachers and supply chain, as they have in eastern states

Pharmacies and chemists have had extra time to stock RATs but a shortage in Australia may mean lower numbers

Density limits on venues remain a mystery

Caps of private events including weddings are also unknown

Schools are demanding answers on rules should positive cases arise among staff and students

Masks will be required to be worn in some high risk indoor settings including: on public transport, taxis or ride share services; at airports and on flights; and by visitors to hospitals, residential aged care, disability care or custodial corrections facilities

Proof of vaccination for people 16 years and older will be required at: venues or events with 1,000 or more patrons, nightclubs, the Crown complex, and the four major stadia (Optus Stadium, RAC Arena, HBF Stadium  Main Arena and HBF Park)

Other businesses may also choose to have proof of vaccination requirements as a condition of entry to protect their staff and patrons

Businesses should consider their individual circumstances and seek their own legal advice before adopting a proof of vaccination requirement

Contact registration, including the use of SafeWA will be required at all public venues, and expand to also include taxis and rideshare services

To keep patrons and staff safe, revised COVID Safety Plans, Event Plans and Checklists must be followed. These are currently being updated and will be available soon

Public health and social measures may be scaled up or down based on updated health advice or rates of hospitalisation Advertisement

Western Australia's February 5 re-opening date is just over two weeks away, with officials still yet to put in place mandates for the impending influx of visitors

Ms Sanderson said the goverment were going over the plans for WA residents, but admitted they won't know how to handle Omicron until well after the state re-opens.

'What we want to do is put out the most final plans that we can,' Ms Sanderson said.

'I absolutely understand that there is some concern and anxiety in the community, particularly the health workforce, around what is going to be (like) if and when the surge comes.

'We need more time for Omicron to essentially be present (in Australia) before we can determine the death rate for example.

'We're not going to be relying on modelling as such as to be making these decisions at this point.'

Ms Sanderson said Mr McGowan's (pictured) government were going over the plans for WA residents, but admitted they won't know how to handle Omicron until well after the state re-opens

Mark McGowans Safe Transition Plan, released in November, is built off the more severe Delta strain and is largely irrelevant to the more mild but infectious Omicron variant.

The state's shadow health minister says the government have had adequate time to prepare a plan to re-join the rest of Australia.

'The McGowan Government has had two years to prepare for this day and it is completely unacceptable that with the imminent opening of the State's border our health workers, business community and students have absolutely no idea what will be required,' Libby Mettam said.

Mr McGowan took another shot at his eastern counterpart, saying he has thrown New South Wales' $5million invoice for hotel quarantine in the bin.

Premier Dominic Perrottet sent Western Australia the latest bill for returning residents from the closed-off state, taking its total owed since mid-2020 to $16.4million.

That figure would mean NSW has helped bring almost 5,500 West Australians home, based on the $3,000 individual hotel quarantine fee.

Mr McGowan said the bill was 'ridiculous' and that it was every state's responsibility to help bring home Aussies from overseas, despite his state providing significantly less places than NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

'On behalf of every Western Australian, the invoice has been treated exactly how it should be - it is scrunched up in a ball at the bottom of my bin,' the WA premier said.

Premier Dominic Perrottet sent Western Australia the latest $5million bill for hotel quarantine for returning residents from the state, taking its total owed since mid-2020 to $16.4million

In June, 2020 NSW had 11,670 arrivals, compared to Western Australia's 1,760.

December of the same year saw NSW welcome home 16,410 returning Aussies while WA allowed in 4,580.

Last month, NSW brought 40,610 Australians home while Western Australia only allowed in 7,220.

Mr McGowan said the bill was 'arrogant' and 'unAustralian' because every state should share the responsibility, despite NSW overwhelmingly providing Australia's gateway to the world.

'We all have a responsibility to look after returning Australians and Western Australia has done more than our fair share of the heavy lifting per capita, so for NSW to demand millions in payments from every Western Australian is wrong,' he said.

The Labor leader said the payments were a 'punishment' for his state doing 'such a good job' of managing Covid, by cutting itself off from the rest of the country for the better part of two years.

Mr McGowan said the bill was 'arrogant' and 'unAustralian' because every state should share the responsibility of bringing residents home

'First they came for our fair share GST. Now they want millions more. When will it ever be enough?' he said.

'By doing the right thing, Western Australians have crushed and killed any virus outbreaks.

'In doing so, we are single-handedly propping up the rest of the nation  including NSW.

'Western Australians should not be penalised for doing such a good job of managing the pandemic, especially by a State that has not only mismanaged the virus, but in doing so sparked other outbreaks across the nation, including here in WA.'
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has angrily denied a rumour that his government has diverted rapid antigen tests ordered by state governments and other suppliers.

Following a national cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Morrison said the claims RATs were being diverted for use by the Federal government were just 'not true'.

'Supplies of rapid antigen testing kits are not being redirected to the Commonwealth and at no time has the [health] department sought to place itself ahead of other commercial and retail entities,' Mr Morrison said.

'Where such claims have been made, the Department has written to the relevant retail to reassure them that is not the case and seek further details or evidence made by suppliers.'

Queensland's Deputy Premier Steven Miles claimed at a press conference this morning, for example, that RATs acquired for Queensland Rail had been diverted by the Commonwealth government.

In other details to emerge from national cabinet, Mr Morrison said the isolation period for a positive case will remain at seven days.

'The close contact definition that we have for essential workers is doing the job of alleviating the pressure and at the same time, helping us stay within our capacity to continue to support our hospital system,' he said.

A proposal to reduce the isolation period for positive people to five days had not been agreed to for now, Mr Morrison said.

'Some countries are doing five days, that is fine, they will make calls for their jurisdiction,' he said.

'We talk through the balance of risk on those things and it's about where you said that risk dial and we've chosen to keep it where it is on the 7-day arrangement.'

Mr Morrison also backed down a plan to draft 16-year-olds into driving forklifts to help alleviate supply chain issues during the current Omicron outbreak, saying the plan would not proceed.

Mr Morrison said claims rapid antigen tests were being diverted by the Federal government were just 'not true'

A woman hands out rapid antigen test kits at a community testing site in Melbourne

He said states will remain in control of re-opening dates for the 2022 school year, consistent with national principles agreed last week.

'There is a lot of discussion today about where the various states are up to with the pandemic and where the crest of the pandemic is.

'States are tailoring that regarding the opening arrangements [and]they will be consistent with the principles of getting schools open and keeping schools open and that is especially true from day one, term one, for those children of essential workers,' he said.

Queensland had already announced it will delay the return of all students two weeks until February 7 to allow more 5-11 year-olds to receive a first dose of a Covid vaccine.

Brothers Louise and Harry Taylor-Bishop pose for a photo after receiving their first vaccine at Kippa Ring Communication Vaccination Clinic, Brisbane. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said states will remain in control of re-opening dates for the 2022 school year, consistent with national principles agreed last week

He said the government will support states and territories who decide to use surveillance testing in schools based on the medical advice recommendation in each jurisdiction through a 50:50 cost-sharing arrangement.

Mr Morrison said the percentage of the workforce that could be absent should school not re-open on time could go from 10 to 15 per cent which he said would have a 'devastating effect' on the functioning of the economy.

'We need the schools open. We need them to stay open,' he said.

The announcement followed Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews confirming that Victorian schools will re-open for the 2022 year on schedule, in concert with NSW.

'We want every student back in the classroom day one, term one. We are looking to run one system, not necessarily to be having an online system as well,' Mr Andrews said earlier on Thursday.

'But I foreshadow, really clearly, it may look different. It will be under a bit of strain because of course teachers are not immune from this virus.'

Mr Morrison said 21.62 per cent of five to 11-year-olds had now received their first dose of a Covid vaccine.

Chief Health Officer Professor Paul Kelly admitted the start of the school year would increase the 'transmission potential' of the virus as parents and children moved around cities more frequently.

'That is something we need to deal with [but] we are very much agreed to get schools back,' Professor Kelly said.

'That is important [for the] health, physical, mental, social development of children.

'We need to take that on its merits and balance like we have been doing for essential workers.'

The prime minister and Professor Kelly said that while some states had mandated booster shots, the Federal government would not as yet formalise a three-jab program for a person to be considered fully vaccinated.

'We have only supported mandates in the case of health and aged care settings and certain disability settings and there's been no change to the Commonwealth view,' he said.

The prime minister opened the press conference by announcing that unemployment in Australia had fallen to 4.2 per cent.

He said more than 64,000 jobs had been created in December, with youth unemployment falling to 9.5 per cent after peaking at more than 16 per cent during the height of the pandemic.
Detectives probing the mystery death of a three-month-old baby boy have seized the freezer where the infant's body was found wrapped in plastic and stuffed inside.

Police made the horror discovery as they searched a house in Corowa, 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, after a relative raised concerns for the child.

Neighbours said they heard loud harrowing screams come from the house around the time of the tragic find.

A 40-year-old woman was arrested at the scene then released without charge on Thursday as the investigation continues.

Detectives probing the mystery death of a three month old baby boy have seized the freezer where the infant's body was found wrapped in plastic and stuffed inside (pictured)

Forensic officers scoured the home for clues on Thursday (pictured) and took away the large freezer for further examination

Police made the horror discovery as they searched a house in Corowa (pictured), 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, after a relative raised concerns for the child

State Crime Command Homicide Squad detectives have now joined local police to set up the Strike Force Walumil investigation into the heartbreaking death.

Forensic officers scoured the home for clues on Thursday and took away the large freezer for further examination.

Detectives are battling their way through a horde of bric-a-brac at the house of horror where the infant was found, including a stash of old plants, car wheels, cat carriers, an abandoned teddy bear and a rusty pink flamingo.

The little boy's body was found at 10pm after officers were told of 'welfare concerns' for the child by a family member.

State Crime Command Homicide Squad detectives have now joined local police to set up the Strike Force Walumil investigation into the heartbreaking death (pictured, a detective at the scene)

Detectives are battling their way through a horde of bric-brac at the house of horror where the infant was found including a pink flamingo and a teddy bear.

The garage and yard of the home were littered with household debris including old plants, car wheels, cat carriers and a rusty pink flamingo

The little boy's body was found at 10pm on Wednesday after officers were told of 'welfare concerns' for the child by a family member (Pictured, police at the home where the death was discovered)

A 40-year-old woman was arrested then released pending further investigations (pictured, investigators at the scene on Thursday)

Police made the horror discovery as they searched a house in Corowa, 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, after reports of a missing infant

'Officers searched the house and located the body of a child,' said a NSW Police spokesman. 'Investigations are ongoing.'

A post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

A woman at the home where the body was found said she couldn't comment about the investigation.

'I can't say anything,' she said. 'Thank you.'

The little boy's body was found at 10pm after officers were told of 'welfare concerns' for the child by a family member (pictured, investigators at the scene of the grim discovery)

The yard outside the home on the sleepy country town street is littered with discarded cat carriers, spare car parts and a windscreens (pictured)

Various different items were seen being removed from the home (pictured)

Some items were placed in brown paper bags to be taken away for further examination (pictured)

Detectives from the State Crime Command Homicide Squad have now joined the investigation (pictured, forensic personnel at the scene on Thursday)

Federation Council Mayor Pat Bourke said the community was sharing a sense of devastation over the tragedy overnight.

'Anytime a child is lost, under any circumstances, is a tragedy,' he said.

'Our thoughts go out to everyone affected, especially the family of the infant and our first responders.

Federation Council Mayor Pat Bourke (pictured) said the community was sharing a sense of devastation over the tragedy overnight

'I would like to take this opportunity to request our local residents to respect that an investigation is now underway and that lead authorities will have more to say as soon as they are able to do so.

'As NSW Police have indicated, if you have any information that can help with this investigation, please provide this directly to Crime Stoppers.'
The Prime Minister has backed down on a proposal for 16-year-olds work to forklift drivers, following a national cabinet meeting.

It was revealed on Thursday morning that Scott Morrison and the Premiers were planning to consider a push for children to drive forklifts amid Covid-related workforce shortages.

Mr Morrison took the plan to today's national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders - but the country's leaders agreed not to push ahead with it.

'We agreed to proceed no further with the issue of 16-year-old forklift drivers,' Mr Morrison said.

'We had a good discussion about (it) today and (it) is not something that we believe, collectively, that is something we should be pursuing at this time.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) observes a hydrogen powered forklift during a tour of the Toyota Hydrogen Centre in Altona last November 9, 2021

Children no longer have to fear having to work as forklift drivers to ease Australia's worker shortage after Scott Morrison's thought bubble on the matter was shot down by the national cabinet. Pictured is a boy on a forklift

In Victoria, NSW and Queensland 18 is the minimum age for getting the skilled work licence needed to drive a forklift.

Mr Morrison said some changes had already been made to speed up the supply chain process, but more were required 'at a state level, and I'm continuing to pursue those with the states'.

The Prime Minister also wants the states to get rid of rules requiring daily rapid antigen tests for workers, except in high-risk industries.

Forklift driving can be one of the most dangerous occupations in Australia.

In NSW alone, there were five forklift accident fatalities in 2020 and 2021, and hundreds of incidents.

A man in Dandenong South in Victoria was killed in a workplace forklift accident on Monday.

Darren Lamb, 44, was killed when a shipping container fell on him while he was driving a forklift.

He leaves behind his wife of 22 years, Charlene, and seven children, aged from one to 20 years old.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured during a tour of the Snowy Hydro Lobs Hole site in December) is looking for solutions to Australia's supply chain crisis, including a reported plan to allow children to drive forklifts

FORK LIFT INCIDENTS IN NSW 2020-2021 Five people were killed in forklift accidents

There were 598 incidents involving forklifts

75 per cent of all incidents happen in just five industries - transport, manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale Source: SafeWork NSW Advertisement

SafeWork NSW executive director Tony Williams said the main factor in people being killed or seriously injured by a forklift is inadequate separation between pedestrians and forklifts.

'While not all incidents involve an injury or death, many of these incidents include collisions between forklifts or other vehicles, rollovers and objects falling off forklifts when loading or unloading.'

Almost 75 per cent of all incidents happen in just five industries  transport, manufacturing, construction, retail and wholesale.

'We have issued 494 notices to operators in the same time the 598 incidents happened  almost 20 per cent of workplaces don't have simple seatbelt compliance in place.

'The use of forklifts continues to grow and they are great tools for all sorts of businesses, but if we are not doing it safely then people will be forced to stop using them,' Mr Williams said.

A proposal to recognise New Zealand truck licences in Australia will be seen as less controversial than allowing children to drive forklifts.
Demand is at record highs for farmers, animal and plant specialists - not just restaurant and cafe workers.

Australia's unemployment rate plunged to just 4.2 per cent in December, the lowest level since August 2008, as forced isolation of Omicron cases and their contacts creates major staff shortages.

In some states, unemployment has fallen to record lows of just 3.9 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data revealed on Thursday.

When it came to advertised jobs, demand has surged for farmers and farm managers separate data from the National Skills Commission showed.

Employer demand for those positions was the highest since January 2006, and other sectors too were desperately in need of staff.

Demand is at record highs for farmers, animal and plant specialists - not just hospitality and restaurant workers (pictured is Queensland farmer Matt Ferguson-Tait)

CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said unusually high summer rainfall in regional areas had boosted employment openings.

'With the end of the drought, significant rainfall, improved seasonal growing conditions, elevated soft commodity prices and strong global demand for food and beverages, demand for farmers, skilled animal and horticultural workers have all surged with job ads at record highs,' he said.

Farmers were far from the only in-demand job, with 250 positions advertised - the highest since records on internet job ads were first compiled in January 2006.

Records were also set for skilled animal and horticultural workers (1,606 ads), and jewellers, arts and other trades (1,157 ads).

Australians are also needed to care for others, with demand at record levels too for health and welfare support workers (2,905 ads), carers and aides (11,905 ads).

The hospitality sector was also crying out for staff with 9,847 ads for hospitality workers and another 3,462 available positions for food preparation assistants.

Mr Felsman said restaurants and cafes had hired staff since the Delta outbreak lockdowns, and consumers are showing more desire to eat out again despite the Omicron spread.

'Australia's labour market is tightening, despite recent disruptions caused by the surge in Covid-19 Omicron virus variant infections,' he said.

Last month, 245,600 jobs were advertised online, marking a 46 per cent surge compared with February 2020 before the pandemic.

The hospitality sector was also crying out for staff with 9,847 ads for hospitality workers and another 3,462 available positions for food preparation assistants (pictured is a waitress at the North Bondi RSL in Sydney's east)

Unemployment across Australia NATIONALLY: 4.2 per cent NSW: 4 per cent VICTORIA: 4.2 per cent QUEENSLAND: 4.7 per cent WESTERN AUSTRALIA: 3.4 per cent SOUTH AUSTRALIA: 3.9 per cent TASMANIA: 3.9 per cent NORTHERN TERRITORY: 4.2 per cent ACT: 4.5 per cent Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data for December Advertisement

In 2021, job advertisements climbed by 37.4 per cent or 66,900, with the Nationals Skills Commission compiling data from employment site Seek.

In December, unemployment fell to 4.2 per cent from an already-low 4.6 per cent in November, when Australia's border was still closed to international students and foreign workers.

While international students, skilled migrants and those on working holiday visas are gradually returning to Australia since the government re-opened borders in mid-December after 20 months closed, the number of available workers still remains relatively low.

With staff still hard to find, issues with the supply chain are likely to persist even as isolation rules are relaxed, with many businesses simply unable to source workers to fill critical roles that keep shelves stacked and customers served.

Last month, unemployment in South Australia and Tasmania plunged to just 3.9 per cent, the lowest level since the ABS began compiling monthly labour force data in February 1978.

Western Australia's jobless level fell to just 3.4 per cent, the lowest in 13 years while New South Wales had a three-year low jobless rate of 4 per cent.

Unemployment is below 5 per cent in every state and territory with Queensland having the highest jobless rate of 4.7 per cent, itself a 13-year low.

In December, unemployment fell to 4.2 per cent from an already-low 4.6 per cent in November, when Australia's border was still closed to international students and foreign workers. With staff still hard to find, issues with the supply chain are likely to persist even as isolation rules are relaxed, with many businesses simply unable to source workers to fill critical roles that keep shelves stacked (pictured is an empty set of shelves at Woolworths in central Sydney)

Despite the good economic news, Australians are still downbeat because of surging cases of the Omicron variant of Covid.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan measure of consumer confidence for the week ending January 16 produced the worst January reading since 1992 - back when unemployment was twice as high as it is now.

Australians are usually upbeat during summer but the surge in Omicron cases has made people gloomy.

The 97.9 score was below the 100 level which meant pessimists outnumbered optimists in the online survey of 1,516 people.

The 7.6 per cent weekly drop marked the sharpest decline since March 2020 when the World Health Organisation declared a Covid pandemic.
The top scientist at GlaxoSmithKline will leave the pharma giant to help lead a start-up founded by a cadre of billionaires who seek immortality.

Hal Barron, 59, announced he will jump ship to run the Silicon Valley venture Altos Labs, which is focused on anti-aging technology.

Billionaires including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner are funding the biotechnology firm with the aim of discovering a way to reverse aging.

Barron will step down as chief scientific officer in August to become chief executive and co-chairman of Altos Labs.

The company received $3billion in funding this week and is on a hiring spree as it recruits scientists around the world to explore how to reverse the aging process.

Altos Labs was incorporated in the US and the UK last year and is studying the potential of cell reprogramming technology in a bid to turn back the clock in animals, and potentially, humans.

Veteran drug developer Hal Barron, 58, will step down as Glaxosmithkline's chief scientific officer in August to become chief executive and co-chairman of Altos Labs

After conquering space travel with his Blue Origin rocket, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is now investing billions in a new venture that hopes to reverse the aging process

Barron, 59, will remain on the GSK board as a non-executive director for three years, supporting the firm's research and development efforts.

Altos, which has operations in Silicon Valley and San Diego in California, and Cambridge in the UK, is aiming to develop technology that can rejuvenate the body's cells and extend lives.

Altos, which has operations in Silicon Valley and San Diego in California, and Cambridge in the UK, is aiming to develop technology that can rejuvenate the body's cells and extend lives.

The focus will be on cellular programming. The technique has been proven to rejuvenate cells in a lab with some believing that it could help to end diseases that are linked with aging including cancer and Alzheimers.

Backers are said to include Bezos, 58, as well as Russian billionaire venture capitalist 60-year-old Yuri Milner.

Altos was founded by Richard Klausner, 70, who was the head of the National Cancer Institute in the U.S.

Altos Labs plans to do so through biological reprogramming, a technique discovered in 2006 by scientist Shinya Yamanaka, which was found to reverse aging in mice (pictured)

Cell reprogramming was first pioneered by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, left, who will serve as an unpaid advisor for Altos which was founded by Richard Klausner, 70, right, who was the head of the National Cancer Institute in the U.S.

We are building a company where many of the worlds best scientists can collaborate and develop their research with the speed, mission and focus of private enterprise, he said.

Aside from Barron, the firm Altos has attracted other top talent including Nobel Prize-winning stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, who sits on its scientific advisory board.

Yamanaka won the 2012 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine and is an unpaid adviser.

He discovered that by adding just four specific proteins to cells, they can be instructed to revert back into an earlier state with the properties of embryonic stem cells that make up building blocks of new animals.

Others joining Altos ranks include Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a biologist who believes lifespans could increase by 50 years.

In 2016 he demonstrated Yamanaka's embryonic stem cell technique and applied it to mice, which exhibited signs of age reversal.

After the experiment, Izpisua Belmonte dubbed the reprogramming technique as a potential 'elixer of life.'

He also became known for his research into mixing monkey and human embryos.

Jennifer Doudna who won the 2020 Nobel prize for chemistry is on the board. She helped to invent Crispr, a gene editing tool.

Jeff Bezos (left) and Russia-Israeli entrepreneur Yuri Milner (right) have both funded a startup biotechnology firm that aims to find a way that reverses aging

Jennifer Doudna who won the 2020 Nobel prize for chemistry is on the board. She helped to invent Crispr, a gene editing tool. The site in Cambridge in the UK will be led by Dr Wolf Reik, honorary professor of epigenetics at the University of Cambridge

Billionaires in hunt for the secret to eternal youth While young people dream of being rich, rich people dream of being young. So some of the world's wealthiest individuals are plowing money into research. A burgeoning industry in Silicon Valley is exploring how to halt ageing. Investors in anti-ageing include Amazon's Jeff Bezos (pictured with partner Lauren Sanchez), Google founder Larry Page and British tycoon Jim Mellon Investors include everyone from Amazon's Jeff Bezos (pictured with partner Lauren Sanchez) and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner to Google founder Larry Page and British tycoon Jim Mellon. Biological reprogramming was discovered in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka, while a study in 2016 led by biochemist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte showed it extended the lives of mice by six weeks  a significant increase on their normal lifespan. Both are now involved with Altos. Others in the field include Unity Biotechnology, which has attracted billionaires including Bezos and Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal. Calico Labs is backed by Google under Page. Mellon backs AgeX Therapeutics, a California firm. While no anti-aging tech has been tested on humans, market research group P&S Intelligence has estimated that the market could be worth $420bn by 2030. Advertisement

Among the talent being brought on at Altos labs is Dr. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte (pictured), who has performed experiments on cell switching as well as combining money and human embryos

The site in Cambridge in the UK will be led by Dr Wolf Reik, honorary professor of epigenetics at the University of Cambridge.

During the 2000s he found that individual cells could be reprogrammed where they enter an immature state.

During experiments on mice it appeared as though there were signs of ageing being reversed, but it was not all rosy with tumors also being created.

Back at GSK, Tony Wood, the senior vice-president of medical science and technology, will take over as from Barron as chief scientific officer having joined the company from Pfizer in 2017.

Wood has worked on the launch of several key medicines including asthma treatment Nucala and HIV drug Cabenuva.

Barron said: 'I am deeply honored to have been offered this once in a lifetime opportunity to lead such a unique company with a transformative mission to reverse disease.'

CRO of GSK, Emma Walmsley, 52, said the Altos opportunity was unique for Barron, and that the company was 'pleased' that it will continue to benefit from his expertise at the board.

She added that Wood was 'an outstanding scientist who is highly respected' and that he was 'perfectly placed' to build on Barron's progress.

Setback: The departure of Barron will be a heavy blow for boss Emma Walmsley (pictured)

Alistair Campbell, an analyst at broker Liberum, said the exit was 'a surprise' given Barron's importance. But he added Wood was 'very closely aligned' with Barron so the transition was likely to be 'seamless' without any 'serious strategic implications'.

The sentiment was shared by analysts at Bank of America, who said Wood was a 'continuity candidate' but did little to address their concerns over the 'lack of progress' in GSK's drug pipeline.

The company's shares, which were this week boosted by news of a $68billion bid from Unilever for its consumer healthcare arm, fell 2.1 per cent.

Barron's departure will be a heavy blow for Walmsley, who once joked that she spent more time choosing him as chief scientist than she did picking her husband.

She went to great lengths to accommodate the California-based scientist during his tenure, including opening a small office in Barron's home of San Francisco when he agreed to join the company so he could stay there with his wife and two children.

Barron was even paid more than Walmsley in 2020, receiving a package of around $11.1million compared to her $9.54million, according to the latest annual report.

At the time, Barron's hiring was seen as a major coup shortly after she took over running the group.

However, his exit is likely to increase concerns from shareholders who have questioned her lack of a scientific background.

It will also provide ammunition to activist investors Elliott Management and Bluebell Capital, who have been pushing for Walmsley to reapply for her own job while also criticising her strategy of splitting off the consumer healthcare business, which includes brands such as Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkillers, into a separately listed company later this year.

The remaining part of the business will then turn its focus toward improving its pipeline of drugs and vaccines.

However, there are fears this strategy could be imperiled by Barron's departure.
President Joe Biden has confirmed that he plans to keep Vice President Kamala Harris on the ticket in 2024, following rumors of tensions between the pair.

'Yes and yes,' Biden responded at his press conference on Wednesday when asked whether he was satisfied with Harris' work on voting rights and if he could 'guarantee' to keep her as a running mate.

Pressed to elaborate, Biden said: 'There's no need to, I answered the question.'

'She's going to be my running mate, number one,' he said. 'And number two, I did put her in charge. I think she's doing a good job.'

President Joe Biden has confirmed that he plans to keep Vice President Kamala Harris on the ticket in 2024, following rumors of tensions between the pair

In recent months, reports have suggested tensions between the vice president's office and the West Wing

In recent months, reports have suggested tensions between the vice president's office and the West Wing.

Rumors have even circulated among Beltway insiders that the president is considering nominating Harris to the Supreme Court as a backdoor method of selecting a new running mate.

Kamala Harris's gaffes June 8: Asked by NBC's Lester Holt why she hadn't yet, in her role as Biden's border tsar, visited the U.S.-Mexico border, she replied: 'And I haven't been to Europe. And I mean, I don't ... understand the point that you're making. I'm not discounting the importance of the border.' July 10: Harris was asked about proposals to enforce voter ID, and said that she was opposed to it because people outside the cities may not be able to print off copies of their documentation. 'There are a whole lot of people, especially people who live in rural communities, who don't  there's no Kinko's, there's no Office Max near them,' she said, to widespread mockery. September 29: A student attending an event to promote voting said that Israel was conducting an 'ethnic genocide' in Palestine. Harris responded: 'Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard.' Her office spent the next day trying to calm furious pro-Israel politicians and diplomats. October 11: Harris was found to have used child actors in the recording of a video promoting space, with children gushing about how much they loved science and technology. November 10: The vice president, on a visit to Paris, was mocked for meeting a group of French scientists working in a lab, and speaking to them with a French accent. Advertisement

Harris has battled mounting reports that her office is in disarray, and that her team is frustrated at being handed 'no-win' tasks that don't suit her skillset, such as tackling the 'root causes' of migration behind the recent border crisis.

At the same time, Biden's staff are reportedly privately disappointed with Harris over self-inflicted controversies, like her 'awkward' laughter when asked about visiting the border by NBC's Lester Holt.

They are said to blame her perceived failure on the border crisis for Biden's sliding poll numbers.

The latest Gallup poll found Biden had only 40 percent approval, with 54 percent dissatisfied with his performance.

Harris has also suffered plunging approval ratings since taking office, threatening what would normally be an easy path to the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, or 2024 if Biden decides not to seek re-election at age 81.

A recent Economist/YouGov poll found Harris had an unfavorable rating of 54 percent, with only 39 percent approving of her performance.

Harris is also grappling with a slew of reports painting her as a workplace bully and and her office losing seven staffers since the disastrous border trip on June 25.

Her director of press operations Peter Velz was the latest to confirm he is leaving his role with the White House.

Velz's announcement comes in the midst of a staff exodus following reports the vice president is a 'bully' who facilitates a toxic work environment and other reports indicate tensions between the president's staff and Harris'.

'Today is my last day at the White House, and it truly has been an honor,' Velz tweeted on Wednesday. 'I will be forever grateful to Vice President Harris, the incredible Team @VP, and I'm so proud of our work this past year supporting this historic Administration.'

Velz's next job will start later this month at the State Department's Protocol team where Velz says he will still support President Joe Biden and Harris in their meetings with foreign leaders, delegations and international travel.

His announcement comes the day after fellow staffer Vince Evans confirmed his departure from the vice president's office to replace Kyle Anderson as executive director with the Congressional Black Caucus.

At the end of December, Harris' chief spokesperson Symone Sanders left her post.

It followed the departure of Ashley Etienne, Harris' former communications director, who left in November.

In the aftermath of Harris' botched Central America and border trip, reports emerged that two other aides were eyeing the exits. Harris' former director of advance Karly Satkowiak and deputy director of advance Gabrielle DeFranceschi departed shortly after the trip in June.

Staffers on the VP's advance team are responsible for planning all of her trips, surveying venues for her to visit and working with local officials to prepare venues for media coverage.

At the time of Satkowiak's and DeFranceschi's departure from Harris' team it was not clear why they were leaving  but it did fuel further rumors of workplace tensions.

Rajan Kaur who was Harris' director of digital strategies left her staff in July after opting not to relocate to Washington D.C. from Brooklyn.

Both Harris and Biden have vehemently denied that there is any tension between them, denying reports that are mostly based on the accounts of anonymous staffers.

Both Harris and Biden have vehemently denied that there is any tension between them, denying reports that are mostly based on the accounts of anonymous staffers

The White House went full throat with their defense of her after a CNN report claimed Biden was distancing himself from Harris because of her sliding poll numbers, while the vice president is said to have felt isolated and frustrated with being given some of the most difficult issues for the administration in her portfolio.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tweeted Harris is an 'incredible leader' and Psaki argued Harris receives more criticism because of her status as a woman of color.

Harris is the country's first female vice president and the first vice president of color.

The president has publicly said he intends to run again, although pundits say that announcing he intends to step down after a single term would turn him into a lame duck leader.

But there has been anonymous chatter among Democrats that, if he does, he should consider replacing Harris.

There's additional speculation that if he doesn't run again, Harris would not be the strongest contender to replace him. Some have suggested Buttigieg would be a better candidate for the nomination.

A Politico/Morning Consult poll at the end of 2021 showed the transportation secretary with a higher favorability rating than both Biden and Harris  whom he led by 12 points.
Refugees and Centrelink recipients could be forced to solve Australia's supply chain crisis under a new plan from a heavyweight Australian investor.

David Williams, a financial powerbroker who helped bring Vegemite back to Australian ownership, says the Australian government should be turning to people on welfare and even asylum seekers to help labour shortages around the country.

Mr Williams said people being held in detention facilities, including those living in $109-per-night hotel in Melbourne where Novak Djokovic was detained, could be 'given a life' by a system that would reignite the market.

'Many farmers are in desperate need of labour to get product off (the farm) and all options need to be urgently considered,' he said.

Refugees and Centrelink recipients could be forced to solve Australia's supply chain crisis under a new plan from a heavyweight Australian investor

The Independent Food Distributors Association, which represents hundreds of suppliers across Australia, says the staff shortages were having a devastating impact on businesses, and rural communities were particularly vulnerable.

'We've got to keep in mind the remote and Indigenous communities are out there and we need to make sure we keep getting the food up to them,' chief executive Richard Forbes said.

'It's the great unknown at the moment ... we need to be as prepared as possible.'

The chairman of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, who is also the Asia Pacific president of Cadbury's maker Mondelez, says he would support releasing refugees to work on farms.

'I'm very happy to have discussions with the AFGC and with its members to see whether there is a program, which we could help to sponsor or be involved in where we could put people into some of the active agricultural work,' Darren O'Brien said.

'Whether it was providing an income or providing a different program that actually gave them sort of meaningful engaged work both from a mental health and overall perspective that provides a contribution and alleviates potentially some of the big (labour) shortages we're seeing because we still don't really have an open market for foreign students or backpackers or others who were fulfilling a large part of this casual work in the agricultural sector.

'I'm making an assumption that the majority of these people aren't considered to pose a security threat, so that the arrangements  could be relatively simple.'

The unemployed, older Australians and temporary migrants could be forced to stack supermarket shelves to help alleviate critical supply shortages (pictured is a Centrelink queue in Sydney early on in the pandemic)

There's also a push to cut isolation periods for supply chain workers from seven to five days to help take the pressure off.

'Nobodys proposing that anybody who has obviously tested positive would return to work,' Mr OBrien said, adding that businesses rather than governments needed to take a greater role in managing the pandemic.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said putting unemployed and older people to work could help feed regional and remote communities during the peak of the Omicron outbreak.

Workers catching the Omicron strain of Covid and having to go into isolation have caused supply chain problems.

The Independent Food Distributors Association, which represents hundreds of suppliers across Australia, says the staff shortages were having a devastating impact on businesses, and rural communities were particularly vulnerable.

'We've got to keep in mind the remote and Indigenous communities are out there and we need to make sure we keep getting the food up to them,' chief executive Richard Forbes said.

'It's the great unknown at the moment ... we need to be as prepared as possible.'

Job vacancies are now are record highs with 396,100 positions available in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed on Wednesday

Independent distributors deliver food to 1500 hospitals and aged care facilities around Australia, as well as prisons, schools and military bases.

Mr Forbes said federal, state and territory governments should be prioritising critical distribution services, and subsidising the cost of running their businesses during the pandemic.

'Just as we're getting our head above water, we have to pay for RAT tests. We should get free RAT tests for servicing the most vulnerable in society. That's fair,' he said.

Workers in critical industries who test negative to Covid will no longer have to self isolate if they are a close contact with a positive case they live with.

Mr Morrison last week said this meant supermarket workers could stack shelves at night, provided they weren't interacting with customers.
Jury selection for the federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers who are charged with violating George Floyd's constitutional rights while fellow Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man to the street begins today.

J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged with depriving Floyd of his civil rights while acting under government authority, but have also been charged separately with aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter in state court.

Legal experts say the federal trial will be more complicated than the state trial, scheduled for June 13, because prosecutors in this case have the difficult task of proving the officers wilfully violated Floyds constitutional rights - unreasonably seizing him and depriving him of liberty without due process.

This will see the prosecution attempt to show that the officers should have acted to stop Chauvin and didn't, rather than to prove that they actively did something to Floyd.

Floyd, 46, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd was face-down, handcuffed and gasping for air.

Kueng knelt on Floyd's back and Lane held down his legs, while Thao kept bystanders from intervening.

Chauvin was convicted in April on state charges of murder and manslaughter and is serving a 22-and-a-half year sentence. In December, he pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyds rights.

This combination of photos provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota on June 3, 2020, shows, from left, former Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. A state court trial for three former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd has been rescheduled for June 13, 2022

This image from video shows Minneapolis police Officers Thomas Lane, left and J. Alexander Kueng, right, escorting George Floyd, center, to a police vehicle outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis, on May 25, 2020

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man (L), was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. Police officer Derek Chauvin (R) knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while he lay handcuffed face down in the street, begging for his life

Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, said: 'In the state case, they're charged with what they did - that they aided and abetted Chauvin in some way. In the federal case, they're charged with what they didn't do - and that's an important distinction. It's a different kind of accountability.'

Potential jurors, who have have already answered an extensive questionnaire, will today be brought into a federal courtroom in St. Paul, where U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson will question them in groups.

The process will continue until a group of 40 is chosen, before each side will get to use their challenges to strike jurors.

In the end, 18 jurors will be picked, including 12 who will deliberate and six alternates.

In this image from surveillance video, Minneapolis police Officers from left, Tou Thao, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are seen attempting to take George Floyd into custody in Minneapolis, Minn on May 25, 2020

A fence is seen placed around the entire perimeter of the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse ahead of a pretrial conference for former Minneapolis police Officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, in St. Paul, Minn.

Magnuson said he thought the process could be done in two days, unlike the state trial for Chauvin, where the judge and attorneys questioned each juror individually and spent more than two weeks picking a panel.

Federal prosecutions of officers involved in on-duty killings are rare. Prosecutors face a high legal standard to show that an officer wilfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights.

An accident, bad judgment or negligence isn't enough to support federal charges, so prosecutors must prove that the officers knew what they were doing was wrong, but did it anyway.

Kueng, Lane and Thao are all charged with wilfully depriving Floyd of the right to be free from an officers deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The indictment says the three men saw Floyd clearly needed medical care and failed to aid him.

Potential jurors, who have have already answered an extensive questionnaire, will today be brought into a federal courtroom in St. Paul, where U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson will question them in groups (courtroom sketch, of Magnuson during the pretrial hearing, Tuesday, Jan.11, 2022)

Chauvin pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating George Floyd's civil rights, admitting that he kept his knee on Floyd's neck, resulting in his death. Chauvin was convicted earlier of state murder and manslaughter charges

Thao and Kueng are also charged with a second count alleging they wilfully violated Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not stopping Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck.

It is unclear why Lane is not mentioned in that count, but evidence shows he asked twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side.

Both counts allege the officers' actions resulted in Floyd's death.

Federal civil rights violations that result in death are punishable by up to life in prison or even death, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.

'This trial is going to present an evolutionary step beyond what we saw at the Chauvin trial because we're not looking at the killer, but the people who enable the killer. And that gets a step closer to the culture of the department,' Osler said.
This photo shows an electric vehicle charging station in Seoul. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government



By Bahk Eun-ji



Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon emphasized the necessity of nuclear power plants, saying that increasing electricity consumption by expanding the use of electric vehicles (EVs) cannot be a fundamental solution to the climate crisis.



He pointed out that currently nearly 70 percent of electricity production in Korea relies on fossil fuels, and said he believes the country's experiment in phasing out nuclear power has gone on long enough under the Moon Jae-in administration over the past five years.



"In fact, increasing electricity usage cannot be a fundamental solution to climate change," Oh said in a press briefing at City Hall for the Seoul Metropolitan Government's five-year project to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, Thursday.





Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon /Yonhap

"Through such painful experiments, a consensus has been made among the public that nuclear energy is the most desirable direction for energy development in response to climate change."



He added, "If nuclear fusion power generation becomes possible in the future, we can reach the ultimate goal of sustainable energy."






Mother Kylie Patten was still celebrating the birth of her beloved baby boy with a set of happy snapshots just days before he was found dead, wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a freezer.

Ms Patten, 40, posted a series of pictures of three-month-old Kevin John Patten on her Facebook account two weeks ago calling him her 'cutie'.

'Proud, looked so damn well cutie, had to...' she wrote on January 6 alongside the heartrending photographs of the infant looking up at her helplessly.

Just days later, on Wednesday night, a family member raised the alarm with police over concerns for the child's welfare.

Ms Patten (pictured) posted a series of pictures of three-month-old Kevin John Patten on her Facebook account two weeks ago and called him her 'cutie'

Kevin John Patten (pictured) is the three-month-old baby found dead in a freezer wrapped in plastic

It sparked a police search at their home in Corowa, about 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border.

The search ended in a loud harrowing scream heard by neighbours as it shattered the silence of the sleepy country town street about 10pm on Wednesday.

Officers found the tiny child's lifeless body inside a freezer at the house on Church Street, wrapped in plastic and a blanket.

The freezer was seized as evidence by police about 3pm on Thursday and loaded into a truck for forensic examination.

Ms Patten was arrested at the scene and helped police with their inquiries before being released without charge hours later on Thursday morning.

She is believed to have lived at the home with her parents Sue and Wayne Patten, well-known shopkeepers in the small town of 5,482 people, for the past six months.

Local detectives have been joined by the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad to set up Strike Force Walumil to investigate the child's death.

Ms Patten charted Kevin's whole short life on social media from even before he was born.

'Mummy loves you,' Ms Patten posted last March on one of her multiple Facebook accounts, with a picture of the positive pregnancy test.

Little Kevin (pictured) was found dead in his family's freezer by shocked police after a welfare call was made

Ms Patten (pictured) charted Kevin's whole short life on social media from even before he was born

Ms Patten charted Kevin's whole short life on social media from even before he was born

It was later followed by a picture of her swollen pregnant belly at 11 weeks and a link to her hospital scans in July.

'25 weeks? Babies heart beat is so strong (loud) that others (loved ones not everybody) can hear it,' she wrote.

'Aww sweetheart, how much I love you, I cant wait to hear/see/know you too. xox '

Heartbreakingly though, most of Ms Patten's posts - interspersed with pictures of her cats and kittens - were mostly only liked by herself.

The mum of three, including one adult child, calls herself a 'Happy Caring Sarcastic (ha!) Sweethearted Person' on her Facebook profile.

And she shared her joy at becoming a mature mum in November when Kevin was finally born.

'Kevin John Patten - Mummy loves you to the stars n all the way back to earth,' the proud mum posted on November 16.

Detectives probing the mystery death of a three month old baby boy have seized the freezer where the infant's body was found wrapped in plastic and stuffed inside (pictured)

Detectives are battling their way through a horde of bric-a-brac at the house of horror where the infant was found including a pink flamingo and a teddy bear.

Police made the horror discovery as they searched a house in Corowa, 60km west of Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, after reports of a missing infant

She posted another three pics a week later, adding: 'Beautiful Kevin is still amazing Mummy every day. Loves xXXXXx'

Her final pictures of Kevin were posted early in the morning of January 6 and included one pic which appeared to show the youngster sleeping soundly in her lap.

Horrified neighbours were shocked by the police investigation but paid tribute to Ms Patten's family on Thursday, saying they were 'nice, good people'.

The new mother had for several years lived at a house across town from her parents' home on Church street, which was owned by the couple.

Neighbours said she lived there alone with no signs of a romantic partner in at least the past year, and moved out about six months ago.

She is believed to have moved back in with her parents, in the home where Kevin's body was found, in the final months of her pregnancy.

'Kylie kept to herself and was very quiet, we knew she was pregnant but only exchanged words a few times,' neighbours told Daily Mail Australia.

'Her parents would come and go and she had friends who visited, but no one who stayed over that we could see.'

Ms Patten is believed to have moved back in with her parents, in the home where Kevin's body was found, in the final months of her pregnancy

The new mother had for several years lived at this house across town from her parents' home on Church street, which was owned by the couple

Neighbours said she lived in this house alone with no signs of a romantic partner in at least the past year, and moved out about six months ago

Neighbours of Ms Patten's parents said the new mother kept such a low profile they never even saw her and didn't know she had a baby.

The family is no longer at the Church Street house, which remains a crime scene with forensic officers spending the day pouring over it for clues.

Detectives are battling their way through a horde of bric-a-brac at the house of horror where the infant was found, including a stash of old plants, car wheels, cat carriers, an abandoned teddy bear and a rusty pink flamingo.

A post-mortem examination will be conducted on baby Kevin to determine the cause of death and the police investigation continues.

Mourners visited the Pattens' home to lay flowers against a power pole in the front yard once it was opened up by police.

One man brought his two young stepsons to lay a bunch of flowers on the growing pile on Thursday afternoon.

'Its just so sad when the young life is just taken,' he said.

Mourners visited the Pattens' home to lay flowers against a power pole in the front yard once it was opened up by police

One man brought his two young stepsons to lay a bunch of flowers on the growing pile on Thursday afternoon

The devastating news spread throughout the small town with locals horrified of the little boy's death and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it.

Federation Council Mayor Pat Bourke said the community was sharing a sense of devastation over the tragedy overnight.

'Anytime a child is lost, under any circumstances, is a tragedy,' he said.

'Our thoughts go out to everyone affected, especially the family of the infant and our first responders.

'I would like to take this opportunity to request our local residents to respect that an investigation is now underway and that lead authorities will have more to say as soon as they are able to do so.

'As NSW Police have indicated, if you have any information that can help with this investigation, please provide this directly to Crime Stoppers.'

State Crime Command Homicide Squad detectives have now joined local police to set up the Strike Force Walumil investigation into the heartbreaking death (pictured, a detective at the scene)
Ray Hadley has accused NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet of 'lying' about the state of NSW's hospital system as a feud between the pair erupts.

Hadley's comments come just days after the radio host accused the Premier of calling him a 'bedwetter' behind his back.

The 2GB radio host slammed Mr Perrottet during his morning program on Thursday after fed-up nurses protested outside Westmead Hospital in Sydney.

Dozens of nurses called on the Premier to visit Westmead Hospital on Wednesday as staffing shortages and overtime due to Omicron pushed workers to the brink.

Ray Hadley has launched another scathing attack on Premier Dominic Perrottet (pictured) telling the Premier to stop telling lies and labelled him 'misinformed'

Hadley accused the Premier of 'telling lies', arguing the states health system was not coping the rise in omicron cases being treated in hospitals and ICUs.

'Stop telling lies or stop being misinformed  we are not coping,' Hadley said as he read out personal accounts from fatigued healthcare workers at Sydney Hospitals.

'He's either misinformed by the bureaucrats or he's just plain lying, take your pick, one way or another he's doing the wrong thing.'

'He needs to talk to people at the front line,' he said.

On Thursday NSW recorded 30,825 new cases  including 13,178 positive results from rapid antigen tests  and 25 deaths.

NSW Health reported there was 2781 people in hospital suffering from Covid-19.

That number has been climbing steadily since passing 1000 on January 2, though today it dropped for the first time in the Omicron outbreak.

However, Hadley said it was 'nonsense' hospitals were coping with that rise in cases and highlighted the plight of the nurses who were protesting over conditions.

Hadley's comments come just days after he confronted Mr Perrottet over badmouthing the shock jock behind his back.

Hadley then went on to accuse the premier of 'bald-faced lying' after Mr Perrottet appeared on his program on Monday and told listeners the state was coping

Appearing on Hadley's 2GB morning program on Monday, Dominic Perrottet denied he was referring to people like Hadley when he said he would not 'give in to the bedwetters' by re-introducing Covid restrictions.

'I don't know where that's come from, I haven't made those comments in cabinet at all,' Mr Perrottet explained.

Hadley responded that people had told him Mr Perrottet had called 'people like me' bedwetters after a few drinks at a pre-Christmas function.

'Ray, I have no recollection of that,' Mr Perrottet responded.

Ray Hadley's social media team have been forced to disable comments on his Facebook page after he confronted the NSW Premier over badmouthing the shock jock behind his back

Hadley's feud with the new Premier ignited last year, when he said Perrotet wasn't doing enough to ensure residents would remain safe from Covid as he loosened restrictions.

'I think he's close to signing his political death warrant,' the shock jock said. 'He's putting Sydney and NSW at risk.

'I hope he's listening if he continues on this particular path, Chris Minns will be Premier in 2023 and he will go down the path of Kristina Kenneally being a partial Premier.'

Then on Monday, the pair locked horns for the first time this year, as Hadley returned to the airwaves.

Hadley's team blocked comments on both their post promoting Mr Perrottet's apperance and a December 17 story where the 2GB host called the premier (pictured) 'weak as piss'

He claimed former Premier Gladys Berejiklian had directly told him Mr Perrottet was part of 'a team' who pushed for most Covid restrictions to be dropped on December 15.

'Don't blame Gladys, she's gone!' Hadley told Mr Perrottet when the Premier said the roadmap for removing restrictions had been in existence before he took the top job.

'You were part of the team pushing the December 15 date, whether you deny it or not, because that comes straight from her to me,' Hadley said.

'You deny it, I'm telling you she says that you were part of the push to get the brakes released on December 15, and when you became Premier you were intent on doing it.'

Hadley has been a vocal opponent of Mr Perrottet's decision to end a range of Covid restrictions in mid-December, particularly as the Omicron variant began to take hold across the state.

'We've always made changes based on the information in front of us,' Mr Perrottet said.

2GB's Ray Hadley Hadley told NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet that people had told him the premier called 'people like me' bedwetters about their concerns on the lifting of Covid rules after a few drinks at a pre-Christmas function

The Premier said he had delayed the original re-opening date in NSW by two weeks to allow the full vaccination rate to increase.

Mr Perrottet said he didn't see decisions about ending or reintroducing public health measures as backflips but as 'adjusting to the circumstances we find ourselves in'.

He said it was a misconception that he had removed masks altogether saying the government's position was to 'highly recommend' the wearing of masks before it was made mandatory again on December 22 until January 27

'Did you tell ministers after the reshuffle we won't cave in to NSW Health on masks?

'No...' Mr Perrottet began to respond.

'See what you've got to understand, Dominic, is that there are people leaking to me because they're not happy with you, ok?', Hadley said. 'And they're very senior members of your government.'

'It's no good denying it, I know you said it... and you did cave in on the 23rd.'

'What I said was we highly recommend masks on the 15th of December, that was the point that we made,' Mr Perrottet responded.

Hadley said NSW and Australia had been 'the blue chip' of controlling the virus and was now no better than many other countries.

'You're sending people back into childcare centres who are close contacts to deal with little children who can't be vaccinated.

'Yes, we were [in a better position] Dominic... now we're no better than many other nations in the world, and this has happened under your premiership.'

'Ray, I disagree with you,' Mr Perrottet said, pointing to the state's high vaccination rate.

Mr Perrottet said the former strategy of pursuing a Covid elimination goal had to make way for living with the virus.

Hadley said respected clinical immunologist Graham Stewart had told him that Mr Perrottet could not have done more to make the current Omicron outbreak worse.

On December 23 Mr Perrottet announced masks would again be required for indoor settings and reintroduced the two square metre rule for venues, earning a rebuke from Hadley

'You, as Premier, you could not have done more to make it worse and herd infection won't produce herd immunity,' Hadley said.

'That's the sort of people I rely on, not someone who doesn't care or does care about whether they get re-elected in 2023.'

On December 23, Mr Perrottet announced masks would again be required for indoor settings and reintroduced the two square metre rule for venues, earning a rebuke from radio host Hadley.

'The boy Premier decided he knew more on December 15 and a week later, what did he do?' Hadley asked. 'Seven days after he made the decision, he reversed a decision he should never have made in the first place.

'I know one thing: this will cost him the premiership in 2023.'
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has reassured parents after a national cabinet meeting where return to school plans were at the top of the agenda.

On Thursday Professor Kelly described Covid is a 'very mild illness' in children to allay fears about classrooms reopening at the end of the month.

He referenced statistics that showed only 15 out of 17,000 cases of Delta in kids were admitted into intensive care.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said of the 17,000 cases of Delta Covid in NSW schoolchildren only 15 were admitted into intensive care

Prof Kelly said the recent data indicated Covid is 'in this sense a very mild illness in children'

'In this sense this is a very mild illness in children,' he said.

'It is mild with Delta, and we looked at whether there has been any change in the hospital and ICU admission rate and there hasn't been.'

Murdoch Children's Research Institute also found that children who contract Covid are likely to recover quickly.

A recent study found that there is 'little evidence' Covid symptoms in children last longer than 12 weeks with the most symptoms easing within four weeks of infection.

While the return to schools was a key item on the national cabinet agenda, surveillance testing for students and teachers will be handled on a state-by-state basis, should they choose to do so.

States and territories announced they have made their own plans on the best way to safely return to school despite weeks of leaders discussing a co-ordinated approach.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Commonwealth government will support states and territories that want to implement surveillance testing for schools on a 50-50 cost sharing basis.

But Mr Morrison stressed the health advice didn't recommend such a regime.

'While it is not the medical advice for (surveillance testing) to be undertaken, states and territories may be choosing to do that based on the education advice they are receiving to ensure schools can open and stay open,' he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

'Where they believe that is necessary, the Commonwealth government will be supporting that.'

Mr Morrison said the Commonwealth would support the states despite it not being federal health advice because keeping schools open was a top priority.

'States and territories will make decisions to keep schools open. We need the schools open, we need them to stay open,' he said.

'That is why we have agreed to be supportive and facilitative of that decision, where they choose to make it.'

In a national cabinet meeting on Thursday it was confirmed states and territories would be following their own designed back-to-school safe return plans

Mr Morrison said the Commonwealth would support the states despite it not being federal health advice because keeping schools open was a top priority

The definition of a close contact - at least four hours of contact with a Covid-positive household member - won't be extended to cover contact within schools grounds or buildings.

'If you are sick you should not be coming to school,' Prof Kelly said.

Prof Kelly acknowledged that while the illness in children was mild, there was a risk a student would become infected and bring the virus home.

'To keep them at school as much as possible, there are trade-offs today in terms of transmission,' he said.

'We want kids back at school and want them back on day one.'

But Mr Morrison said previous data revealed the most likely source of infection for a child was at home and with Omicron rampant in the community, there is risk everywhere.

Prof Kelly said there needed to be minimal disruption to face-to-face learning but didn't directly answer a question on what isolation requirements would be in place if a person in a classroom tests positive.

Queensland and South Australia will delay the opening of school for the year in order to lift vaccination rates.

Prof Kelly said there needed to be minimal disruption to face-to-face learning but didn't directly answer questions on isolation requirements

Labor frontbencher Kristina Keneally said there was no doubt schools needed some form of ongoing and regular rapid testing regime.

'Quite depressingly, Omicron may not be the last variant and we're going to need some type of system,' she told Sky News.

'But we don't have it right now, we simply don't. While (surveillance testing) might seem good in theory or on paper ... the prime minister didn't order enough tests.'

Speaking while national cabinet was meeting, Senator Keneally said there was no clear plan.

'We are days away from school, we have empty supermarket shelves, we have parents and teachers not sure what the rules will be for the safe return to schools,' she said.

Mr Morrison said states and territories would all be following the national principles set out earlier in January.

The six principles included schools being the first places to open and last to close in an outbreak, baseline public health measures continue, and responses will be proportionate and based on health risk.

The prime minister also said the return to schools would not increase furlough rates during an outbreak, with modelling suggesting a return to school would reduce the number of workers unable to work at any given time by five per cent.
A leading Australian pharmacist has been criticised for saying now would be a good time to get Covid-19 - as he admits he no longer makes his children wear masks.

Trent Twomey, National President of the Pharmacy Guild, said now would be the most 'convenient' time to contract the virus in order to fit his families schedule.

'There is no good time to get Covid, but if my family have to catch it, now would be a good time,' the pharmacist said.

He explained he would rather his children recovered from the virus before they return to school, as Covid could prove 'highly disruptive to their education'.

Chris Moy, the Vice President of the Australian Medical Association, has slammed the pharmacist's remarks for setting a bad example in the midst of a surging outbreak.

Leading Australian pharmacist Trent Twomey (pictured) has been slammed for saying now would be the most 'convenient' time for his family to contract Covid

Chris Moy, the Vice President of the Australian Medical Association, (pictured) has criticised the pharmacist's remarks for setting a bad example in the midst of a Covid outbreak

'I don't believe this is responsible, both from the point of view of the overall public health perspective, but also from a point of view of setting an example,' Dr Moy said.

'Suits us is not the same thing as suiting the entire community effort.'

Dr Moy said health authorities need to do everything in their power to help push booster shots as hospitals buckle under unprecedented pressure.

However, Mr Twomey said he had taken every precaution in protecting his family from the virus - but no longer makes his two young children wear masks.

The Queensland-based pharmacist defended his decision explaining both he and his wife were triple-vaxxed and their children are partially vaccinated.

'I don't think that's a controversial view. I think that's actually the consensus view. I've have had a lot of people say that,' he said.

Both of his children are under the age of 12 and therefore not required to wear a mask, however Mr Twomey says he wears one to comply with health orders.

Mr Twomey explained he would rather his children be infected before they return to school, as the virus could prove 'highly disruptive to their education' (pictured, Brisbane students)

The pharmacist (pictured) said his children have enjoyed more freedom since getting their first dose of a Covid vaccine but admitted he no longer asks them to wear masks

His comments come as the Prime Minister announced states will remain in control of re-opening dates for the 2022 school year, consistent with the national principles agreed last week.

'There is a lot of discussion today about where the various states are up to with the pandemic and where the crest of the pandemic is,' Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

'States are tailoring that regarding the opening arrangements [and] they will be consistent with the principles of getting schools open and keeping schools open and that is especially true from day one, term one, for those children of essential workers.'

Mr Morrison said the percentage of the workforce that could be absent should school not re-open on time could go from 10 to 15 per cent which he said would have a 'devastating effect' on the functioning of the economy.

'We need the schools open. We need them to stay open,' he said.

'We need the schools open. We need them to stay open,' Scott Morrison (pictured) said on Thursday following a national cabinet meeting

The PM said states would remain in control of their back-to-school plans with Queensland already delaying the return of students by two weeks (pictured, an Adelaide classroom)

Mr Morrison said 21.62 per cent of five to 11-year-olds across the country had now received their first dose of a Covid vaccine.

Queensland had already announced it will delay the return of all students two weeks until February 7 to allow more 5-11 year-olds to receive a first dose of a vaccine.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday confirmed that Victorian schools will re-open for the 2022 year on schedule, in concert with NSW.

'We want every student back in the classroom day one, term one. We are looking to run one system, not necessarily to be having an online system as well,' he said.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday confirmed that Victorian schools will re-open for the 2022 year on schedule, in concert with NSW (pictured, students in Victoria)

Chief Health Officer Professor Paul Kelly (pictured) admitted the start of the school year would increase the 'transmission potential' of the virus

'But I foreshadow, really clearly, it may look different. It will be under a bit of strain because of course teachers are not immune from this virus.'

Chief Health Officer Professor Paul Kelly admitted the start of the school year would increase the 'transmission potential' of the virus as parents and children moved around cities more frequently.

'That is something we need to deal with [but] we are very much agreed to get schools back,' Professor Kelly said.

'That is important [for the] health, physical, mental, social development of children.

'We need to take that on its merits and balance like we have been doing for essential workers.'
The US navy has denied sailing a warship 'illegally' sailed near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea after Chinese forces followed the vessel and claimed to have warned it away.

The Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army claimed the USS Benfold 'illegally' sailed into Chinese territorial waters without permission, violating the country's sovereignty.

They added that Chinese naval and air forces had tracked the ship.

'We solemnly demand that the US side immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events,' it continued.

The US Navy rejected the idea that the Benfold was warned away but appeared to confirm the ship was operating in the area, saying the mission reflected the U.S. Navy's commitment to defend freedom of navigation.

'The PRC's statement about this mission is false,' 7th Fleet spokesman Mark Langford said in a statement. The 7th Fleet is part of the U.S. Navy's Pacific force.

The US navy has denied sailing its warship, the USS Benfold (pictured in 2017), 'illegally' near islands in the South China Sea after Chinese forces followed the vessel and claimed to have warned it away

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines an exclusive economic zone as extending 200 nautical miles from shore. It gives the coastal state the right to explore and the responsibility to manage natural resources within this area

The Benfold was conducting what the navy called a freedom of navigation operation 'in accordance with international law,' the statement said. The ship then 'continued on to conduct normal operations in international waters.'

The U.S. Navy frequently carries out such missions in the South China Sea to challenge Chinese territorial claims.

'The United States is defending every nation's right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did this week. Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us,' the statement further added.

China has established military outposts on artificial islands in the waters of the South China Sea, which are crossed by vital shipping lanes and also contain gas fields and rich fishing grounds.

The South China Sea has become one of many flashpoints in the testy relationship between China and the United States, with Washington rejecting what it calls unlawful territorial claims by Beijing.

The Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army claimed the USS Benfold 'illegally' sailed into Chinese territorial waters near the Paracel Islands without permission, violating the country's sovereignty. Pictured: The Crescent Group of islands, part of the disputed Paracel Islands

China claims large swaths of the South China Sea. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have overlapping claims.

But previously, President Biden and his top officials have made clear their support for their Asian allies, with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines all receiving assurances the US will reject China's disputed territorial claims.

Taiwan has long been preparing itself for the possibility of a Chinese invasion, and earlier this month Taiwanese troops and armored vehicles were deployed for a mock urban street battle.

Soldiers from two platoons faced off in a simulated battle in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, firing at each other from houses and sandbag barricades as tanks rolled down a street in a mock-up town complete with signs for pharmacies and beer brands.

One soldier was seen throwing an aerosol bomb outside a fake O'Donoghues pub, sending pink smoke bellowing into the air, while dummy bodies of 'dead soldiers' were seen laying on the ground.

Democratic Taiwan lives under constant threat of an invasion by its authoritarian superpower neighbor China, which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory to be seized one day - by force if necessary.

Earlier this month, soldiers from two platoons in Taiwan faced off in a simulated battle, firing at each other from houses and sandbag barricades as tanks rolled down a street in a mock-up town complete with signs for pharmacies and beer brands

Urban warfare has become an increasingly key training subject for the military (Pictured: Taiwanese soldiers break a door for an assault against enemies , during an Army Preparedness Enhancement Drill)

Pictured: A Taiwanese soldier donning sunglasses throws an aerosol bomb during the exercise

Beijing has ramped up military drills and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen - who regards the island as a sovereign nation - came to power in 2016.

Much of this has focused on urban warfare, which has become an increasingly key training subject for the military.

'Any future battle to protect Taiwan will be an urban warfare,' Kiwi Yang, an instructor at Army Infantry School, told reporters, noting most of Taiwan's 23 million people live in cities.

'The Chinese communist troops' battle plans will be invading and landing firstly from coastal towns, then the fighting will progress into more populated residential and commercial areas and lastly push into mountainous villages,' he added.

With mountain ranges, changeable weather and limited beach landings, invading Taiwan would be a Herculean challenge for any military.

For decades analysts largely concurred that China simply could not pull it off but Beijing has dramatically closed the gap in recent years.

Sabre-rattling towards Taiwan has increased considerably under President Xi Jinping, China's most authoritarian leader in a generation unafraid to flex the country's geopolitical muscle.

And at the end of last year, China warned the US that it risks paying an 'unbearable price' over its support of Taiwan.

Previously, President Biden was accused by Chinese officials of 'encouraging Taiwan independence forces'

State councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi accused President Joe Biden of 'encouraging Taiwan independence forces' in the territory claimed by China as its own.

Meanwhile another Chinese minister also threatened 'drastic measures' if Taiwan makes moves towards formal independence.

The democratically governed country has been subjected to military and diplomatic pressure from China in recent years, fueling anger in Taipei and concern in Washington.

By 'encouraging 'Taiwan independence' forces' the United States 'not only puts Taiwan into an extremely dangerous situation but also exposes the United States to an unbearable price', Wang said.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office, added that China is willing to try its utmost to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan but would act if any red lines on independence were crossed.

At the end of last year, state councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi (pictured) warned the US that it risks paying an 'unbearable price' over its support of Taiwan

'If separatist forces in Taiwan seeking independence provoke, exert force or even break through any red line, we will have to take drastic measures,' Ma said.

Taiwan says it is an independent country and vows to defend its freedom and democracy.

China regularly describes the island as the most sensitive issue in its ties with the United States.

'Taiwan has no other way forward other than reunification with the mainland,' said Wang.

While the United States recognizes only one China, it is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and has long followed a policy of 'strategic ambiguity' on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.

The democratically governed country has been subjected to military and diplomatic pressure from China in recent years. Pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping

Ma said provocation by pro-independence forces and 'external intervention' could grow 'sharper and more intense' in coming months.

'Next year, the Taiwan Strait situation will become more complex and severe,' he said.

Beijing has sent repeated air missions over the Taiwan Strait in recent months to pressure Taiwan. It has said it will not give in to threats.

The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the Communists, who established the People's Republic of China.

Taiwan is just one of a number of factors in strained relations between China and the US, with an arms race between the two - and Russia - already underway.

China claims it has beaten the United States to developing heat-seeking hypersonic missiles that could hone in on targets including aircraft carriers and moving vehicles

The development, which is likely to add intensity to the ongoing arms race between China, the US and Russia, comes after Beijing denied testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August 2021. Pictured: The October launch of China's Long March rocket, which is said to have been used in August to test the hypersonic missile

On January 1, China claimed it had beaten the US to developing heat-seeking hypersonic missiles that could hone in on targets including aircraft carriers and moving vehicles.

The development came after Beijing denied testing a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August.

The projectile, which circled the planet, sparked concerns among officials in the US, but China insisted the missile launch was for a spacecraft.

However, now researchers from China's National University of Defence Technology claim to have developed technology to allow a hypersonic missile to find a target based on its heat signature.

According to research cited by the South China Morning Post, lead scientist Professor Yi Shihe claimed in a scientific paper published last month that China had made a 'series of core technology breakthroughs that were proven effective in tests'.

If true, it means China may have overcome the difficulty of developing a heat-seeking system which capable of of working at hypersonic speeds.

The feat is a challenge because the pace of the missile itself generates heat which can interfere with the detection systems.

Hypersonic missiles can reach speeds of up to 21,000mph and can strike anywhere on Earth from space within minutes.
Donald Trump on Wednesday denied President Joe Biden's assertion that he was working to 'intimidate' the Republican Party, insisting that the party 'loves' him and that he loves them.

Biden earlier delivered an almost two-hour press conference without once mentioning his predecessor by name.

Yet he said that Trump remained a potent force in politics, and accused the former president of working to cower current lawmakers into following his lead and blocking Biden's policies.

'Did you ever think that one man out of office could intimidate an entire party where they're unwilling to take any vote contrary to what he thinks should be taken for fear of being defeated in a primary?' asked Biden on Wednesday.

'I've had five Republican senators talk to me, 'bump into me'  quote, unquote  or sit with me, who've told me that they agree with whatever I'm talking about for them to do. 'But, Joe, if I do it, I'm going to get defeated in a primary.'

'We got to break that. That's got to change.'

Joe Biden on Wednesday did not mention Trump, but instead talked about 'one man out of office' who 'could intimidate an entire party'

The 75-year-old, seen at his Arizona rally on January 15, insisted he had no wish to intimidate the Republicans

Trump on Wednesday night was asked by Fox News whether he was intimidating Republicans, and denied the claim.

'No,' Trump told Fox News. 'The party loves me and I love the party.'

Biden said that he would run again with Kamala Harris in 2024 - which Trump said made him 'very happy.'

The 75-year-old is widely expected to run again in 2024, and said he would relish the challenge of taking on Biden and Harris once more.

'Oh, he did say that? Good,' Trump said. 'Wow.'

Biden on Wednesday confirmed that he and Kamala Harris would run on a shared ticket in 2024

He added: 'I am very happy about that. I am very happy for both of them.'

'Let me say, I am very happy for both of them.'

Trump has said he plans to formally announce whether he will run for re-election in 2024 after the midterms.

When asked about his plans Wednesday, Trump said he thinks he is 'going to make a lot of people happy' with his decision.

'I think you're going to see a lot of people are going to be very happy,' Trump told Fox.
Wild footage has emerged of the shocking moment a man and woman trying to escape a Melbourne shopping centre slammed head-first into three police cars.

In a video of the chaotic scenes the man and woman inside the allegedly stolen car are seen reversing up a ramp as the vehicle's bumper drags along the ground.

As shocked shoppers and officers stand-by, the driver accelerates down the ramp and slams into a highway patrol car with a loud crunch.

The vehicle damaged three police vehicles at the Westfield in Airport West and injured the legs of one officer just before midday on Thursday.

Shocked locals commented on the wild footage online, saying it 'looked like a GTA scene'.

As shocked shoppers and officers stand-by, the driver of the allegedly stolen vehicle flies down the ramp and slams into a highway patrol car with a loud crunch

Dozens of officers are seen racing towards the vehicle, with one man repeatedly banging on the car window in an effort to remove the two passengers.

The two passengers are finally hauled out of the car with some difficulty, as bemused shoppers are told to back away from the crash scene.

A few minutes later, an officer who appears to have injured his legs sits on the footpath as his colleagues confirm paramedics are on the way.

A man and a woman have been arrested over the incident.

Police had been called to the carpark on Louis Street over reports of a suspicious vehicle after a stolen four-wheel drive and a stolen white van were used in smash-grab burglaries at Glenroy and Fawkner on Wednesday.

The two passengers are finally hauled out of the car with some difficulty, as bemused shoppers are told to back away from the crash scene.

Dozens of officers are seen racing towards the vehicle, with one man repeatedly banging on the car window in an effort to remove the two passengers (pictured, the scene)

The man and woman were also allegedly involved in another burglary at a computer store in Altona North at about 2am on Thursday.

Victoria Police confirmed a detective acting sergeant was taken to hospital with serious leg injuries.

'A police officer has been injured and three police cars damaged after the offenders continued to ram the police vehicles as officers moved in to make their arrests,' they said in a statement.

'The man has been taken to hospital with minor injuries and the woman is assisting police with their enquiries.'

A witness said he saw a car smash into the two officers at the Westfield in Airport West - appearing to injure the legs of one - and then slam into a police vehicle (pictured is the scene)

A witness of the incident said they saw the vehicle speeding down the ramp before smashing into the police cars.

'All of a sudden this car comes driving down the ramp and tries to ram through the cop cars,' witness Chris told 3AW.

'It was unsuccessful and kind of hit a couple of cops in doing so, then they reversed again and then tried to ram through the middle of the cop cars again.

'After that seven or eight cops jumped on the car and tried to smash the windows and pull them out.'

Anyone who witnessed the incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
Charlise Mutten's mother has been revealed to be expecting a baby with the nine-year-old's alleged killer.

The shocking revelation comes after the nine-year-old's stepfather Justin Stein, 31, who had a gilded upbringing as a Cranbrook private schoolboy, was charged with her murder on Wednesday.

Kallista Mutten, 31, left her daughter in his care last Tuesday, and court documents show detectives allege Stein killed her in the following 15 hours.

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten key questions about the alleged events after the reportedly pregnant mother suffered a 'medical episode' and collapsed one day into the search for her daughter.

Social media posts have revealed she and Stein shared a whirlwind romance, announcing they were in a relationship about a year after Ms Mutten, a former ice addict who has served jail time, walked free from prison in 2019.

Stein drove approximately 200km towing a boat loaded with a plastic barrel carrying the remains of the nine-year-old over a circuitous five-hour trek, police allege.

The mother of nine-year-old Charlise Mutten (pictured) has been revealed to be expecting a baby with the schoolgirl's alleged killer

Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten, 31, (pictured) left her in Stein's care last Tuesday, and court documents show detectives allege Stein killed her in the following 15 hours

Police allege Charlise Mutten, 9, who arrived to holiday at the Wildwood mountain estate was murdered and her body encased in a barrel which was towed for hours in a boat before being dumped on a lonely riverbank in dense bushland

The barrel allegedly lay under a blue tarpaulin in the boat towed by Stein's red Holden ute from the Blue Mountains to Bunnings at Marsden Park, a nearby BP petrol station, and then on to two Sydney boat ramps.

Attempts to dispose of the schoolgirl's remains in the water are said by police to have been thwarted by Stein's inability to launch the motor boat taken from his family's luxury Blue Mountains property.

In the end, after failing to start the boat and take the barrel now also weighted down with sand to sink into deeper water, Stein allegedly took off for the Colo River.

On the afternoon of Thursday, January 13, on a river bank around 80km northwest of Sydney, police say the 31-year-old pulled up his ute in bushland.

Stein then allegedly tried to drag the heavy barrel to the river's edge and roll it in, but the weight of the sand prevented him doing so and finally he was forced to abandon it in the scrub.

Police allege Justin Stein, 31, towed a boat behind his ute which had Charlise Mutten's body inside a barrel on board as he tried to dispose of the remains

Stein's red Holden ute (above, after it was seized by police) allegedly towed a boat with the barrel of Charlise's remains from Mount Wilson to Marsden Park and two Sydney boat ramps

Charlise's remains lay in the barrel on the riverbank for five days as emergency workers searched fruitlessly for the missing girl around Mount Wilson, 65km further west.

That was until the afternoon of Tuesday, January 18 when police, acting on GPS data, located the barrel in the bush and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise's decomposing remains.

Meanwhile, Detectives have been frustrated in their attempts to speak to the mother in recent days as Kallista Mutten remains at Katoomba Hospital.

She is said to be in the care of doctors and 'difficult to approach', meaning police still had no conducted a formal interview with her.

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for schoolgirl Charlise Mutten outside the front gates of Tweed Heads Public School.

The nine-year-old had been a student at the school on the NSW coast with her fellow classmates commemorating their friend with colourful balloons, notes and flowers.

This is how the tragedy unfolded from the moment police allege Justin Stein murdered his new fiancee's daughter who had come to holiday with them at the Stein family's grand country estate, Wildenstein.

Nine-year-old Charlise Mutten's remains were placed inside a barrel and put in a boat which was towed 200km on a circuitous trek before she was dumped in scrub on the Colo River

Charlise Mutten, 9, who lives fulltime with her grandparents, Deborah and Clint Mutten in the Queensland border town of Coolangatta, arrived at Wildenstein during the Christmas-New Year school holidays.

Owned by the wealthy antique dealer Stein family for two decades, Wildenstein was operated as a wedding venue by Justin's older brother James and his husband Keegan Buzza.

Ms Mutten had on Facebook shared a photo of the church where she planned to marry Stein, writing 'cute church near his family's home' next to a photo of the chapel. It was in that same month the pair announced their engagement.

In November 2020, Ms Mutten showed her affection for Stein by commenting on a selfie photo he posted on Facebook.

'Mmmm yup,' she wrote. 'Absolutely gorgeous.'

In one loved-up December 2020 photo, Ms Mutten, 31, could be seen leaning in to kiss Stein as the pair lay in bed together.

It appears the pair got together following Ms Mutten's release from jail in 2019 after she served a two-year jail term for dangerous driving causing death and driving under the influence of drugs.

Justin Stein had stayed in a shack on the five-hectare property in past years and Charlise came to spend a vacation there with her biological mother.

Police seized a boat from the Wildenstein property (above) where Charlise was staying with her mother and Justin Stein on holiday before she was allegedly murdered

Justin Stein allegedly called Kallista Mutten (above) as he bought bags of sand, boat fuel and then unsuccessfully tried to launch the vessel with the barrel from two different boat ramps

Police (above) at the Colo River where Justin Stein allegedly dumped Charlise's body in a barrel five days before the nine-year-old's decomposed remains were found

Kallista Mutten had relinquished guardianship of Charlise after developing a methamphetamine addiction, failed attempts to undergo rehabilitation and a two year prison stretch for killing a female friend she drove into a river while high on ice.

Police allege that between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am on Wednesday January 12 - when Kallista Mutten is said to have been absent from Wildenstein - Justin Stein murdered Charlise.

But it would take two days for police and the community to be aware that anything was amiss with the little girl, whose remains were placed into a plastic barrel.

On Thursday, January 13, Justin Stein left the Wildenstein property at Mount Wilson in his Holden Colorado, police say, towing a boat carrying the barrel with Charlise's body inside.

A blue tarpaulin is believed to have been draped over the barrel in the boat.

According to GPS data detectives later obtained from Stein's mobile phone and his ute, he allegedly made the approximately one hour 20 minute journey to Marsden Park Bunnings.

Justin Stein (above in custody) was arrested a week for Charlise's alleged murder after police found inconsistencies in accounts of his whereabouts leading up to the girl's disappearance

Police say Justin Stein went to Marsden Park Bunnings (above) and bought five 20kg bags of sand which he allegedly later placed in the barrel with Charlise's body to weight it down

Next stop was BP Marsden Park where he allegedly bought boat fuel in an effort to launch the vessel carrying Charlies's body in the barrel secreted under a blue tarpaulin

Charlise Mutten, 9, was holidaying away from Queensland at the luxury Stein family estate at Mount Wilson when she vanished and became the subject of a futile search to find her alive

At Bunnings, Stein bought five 20kg bags of sand and made a phone call, police allege.

He then allegedly made a three minute drive to the BP service station at Marsden Park, where he filled up the boat with marine fuel and made another phonecall.

At some point, Stein must have emptied the bags of sand into the barrel to weight it down.

From the BP, it is at 40 minute drive to Five Dock boat ramp on the Parramatta River in inner western Sydney, where he is said to have failed to launch the motor boat, because it was 'inoperable'.

Stein again allegedly made another call to discuss his futile attempt to float the vessel and is then believed to have made the hour-long 60km drive to Windsor boat ramp.

Kallista Mutten (above) having a medical episode at the Wildenstein estate before being taken off to Katoomba Hospital where she remains and police wait to formally interview her

Kallista Mutten and Justin Stein (above, left) had a whirlwind romance before becoming engaged and inviting her daughter Charlise Mutten (above right) on the tragic trip to Mount Wilson

Police vehicles and officers on foot made their way down the driveway to Wildenstein this week for another round of interviews as the mystery of Charlise's whereabouts deepened

The boat was still unable to be started and from the Windsor ramp, on the Hawkesbury River, it is a 24km drive north to the Colo River via the Putty Road.

To veer off the road into dense bushland along the river requires driving onto dirt roads, such as Upper Colo Road and Lower Colo Road, both narrow dirt tracks which are difficult to traverse, even without towing a boat.

There is no mobile phone reception along these roads and in the area around Colo River Park jetty.

It is alleged Stein tried to drag the barrel from the boat and dispose of it in the Colo River.

Because it was heavy with sand, police say he failed to drag the barrel very far and abandoned it in scrub on a river bank on Thursday afternoon.

Wildenstein's next door neighbour John Haitzler (above) said his wife Carole was reading at 4.30am when she saw a vehicle with its lights off coming down the driveway from the house

Emergency services volunteers gathered for another futile day looking to find Charlise alive when in face her body lay inside a barrel on a river bank 65km away

Charlise (above) with her grandmother Deborah Mutten who learnt the tragic news this week that the adored granddaughter for whom she was fulltime carer had died

Windsor boat ramp where Justin Stein is believed to have allegedly tried to launch the motor boat carrying the barrel with Charlise Mutten's body and kilos of sand inside

Around 4.30am on Friday, Mount Wilson resident Carole Haitzler was reading a book in bed when she heard the sound of a vehicle on the driveway of the neighbouring property, Wildenstein.

She got out of bed and went to the window from which she could see the shadow of a vehicle without its headlights on moving along the driveway.

Almost four hours later a person, believed to be Kallista Mutten, dialled Triple-0 to report that Charlise was missing from the Wildenstein property.

When police arrived, Ms Mutten was present at the estate without the company of her fiance and during an informal round of police questions she had 'a medical episode' and was taken to Blue Mountains Hospital at Katoomba.

Police began to search Wildenstein and then a wider search of the Mount Wilson and Mount Irvine areas was initiated, with SES and RFS volunteers calling in to participate.

On Friday afternoon, Stein drove his ute to High Street, Penrith and entered Penrith Police station and spoke with detectives.

SES and police search the Hawkesbury River where it is believed Justin Stein allegedly tried to launch a boat carrying a barrel in which Charlise Mutten's remains had been placed

A pair of flippers, a swimming cap and goggles believed to have belonged to enthusiastic swimmer Charlise were posted in tribute at Tweed Heads Public School

Using GPS data, police went to the Colo River on Wednesday afternoon and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise Mutten's five-day old remains in a barrel on the bank

Children wept and embraced at a memorial vigil for Charlise as they remembered their schoolmate as 'very funny', 'kind' and a 'sweet and lovely' kid who brightened up the classroom

Police seized his parked ute and impounded it, towing it away to a location for forensic examination; officers also seized the motor boat from Wildenstein estate.

For five days, emergency services workers searched steep terrain around Mount Wilson looking for Charlise, with police warning by day five - the morning of Tuesday, January 18 - that the girl would by now be 'lethargic' and immobile.

A convoy of detectives and uniformed police drove every day to Wildenstein, inside which they are believe to have interviews relatives of Justin Stein.

As volunteers searched in vain in the Mount Wilson bush for Charlise, detectives were pursuing their own leads.

The sprawling Wildenstein estate (above) where Charlise Mutten came for a holiday and ended up inside a barrel in a lonely riverbank grave in bushland

The jetty at Colo River Park near where Charlise Mutten's remains were dumped in a barrel, police allege, by her mother Kallista Mutten's fiance, Justin Stein

Police were investigating a number of 'anomalies' they claimed to identify in the accused's initial statements, which included allegedly giving two separate versions of events in the lead up to the young girl's disappearance.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said through tracking the movements of a car they seized via CCTV, they were able to establish certain facts in relation to the vehicle he was allegedly driving and of his movements.

'Through electronic means, through GPS tracking, through CCTV tracking, we were able to establish certain facts in relation to the vehicle he was driving and those movements,' Mr Hudson said.

While Kallista Mutten was in hospital, Justin Stein had travelled to Sydney and was staying at a housing commission apartment block on Riley Street in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

On Tuesday afternoon, a flurry of activity among police near the house saw detectives racing in cars from Mount Wilson down the highway to Penrith.

Justin Stein was staying at this Surry Hills Housing Department block (above) when police arrested him on Tuesday night and charged him with murder

Stein, 31, has been refused bail and asked that he be held in protective custody in prison as he awaits his next court appearance on a charge of alleegdly murdering 9-year-old Charlise

The court heard on Wednesday that Justin Stein (above, depicted by a court artist) is on a heavy dosage of antipsychotic drugs which he has been taking for years to treat a mental health disorder

Sometime between 3pm and 5pm, police are believed to have set off for the Colo River using GPS tracking co-ordinates and located the barrel and its grisly contents.

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Riley Street, Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken back to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder.

On Wednesday, Stein appeared in Central Local Court where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

His barrister told magistrate Robert Williams that while on remand in prison, Stein needed supplies of Quetiapine and Risperidone which he had been taking in high dosage for many years to treat 'mental health problems'.

The antipsychotic medications are used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

The court heard that Stein wanted to be placed in a protection wing in prison for his own safety as he awaited his next appearance, in Penrith Local Court in March.
A former medical student who risked the lives of patients at a major Sydney hospital where she illegally interned while unqualified for seven months has been spared jail.

Zhi Sin Lee, 27, was sentenced to a two-year intensive correction order and fined in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.

The Zetland woman had pleaded guilty to claiming she could practise medicine despite not being a registered health practitioner after she was charged by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority.

Zhi Sin Lee (above), 27, has been fined $10,000 and sentenced to a two-year intensive correction order after she lied about being a registered health practitioner

Magistrate Glenn Bartley said the University of NSW student lied 'day after day, shift after shift,' and dismissed an excuse she was 'confused' when she had been offered the internship at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.

'If she was truly confused she would have got advice,' he said.

He said she 'deliberately misled the hospital,' and continued to work under 'repeated and calculated dishonesty' including leaving her registration number blank on multiple assessment forms.

Lee had left her medical degree in October of 2020 after failing six core subjects but began an internship at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital (above) on January 18, 2021

The international student applied in June 2020 for a 2021 internship, but after failing six core disciplines in October the university said she had been discontinued from completing the medical degree, according to the facts of the case.

But on January 18 she began interning after failing to declare she was not qualified or registered.

In February she was seen to be underperforming and put under even more supervision and guidance, and completed 126 shifts 'risking lives of patients and staff,' she wrote in a letter to the court.

After she was found out on August 9 she first declared she was 'waiting for documentation' from UNSW before giving up the guise.

She failed to declare to the hospital that she was not qualified or registered to be a health practitioner

Defence lawyer Razia Shafiq said her client's risk to others was reduced in February when her role was downgraded by the hospital after she was seen to be lagging behind the other interns.

The extra supervision meant Lee was not directing any decisions regarding patients nor exclusively dealing with them, Ms Shafiq said, and also queried why the error was not picked up earlier by hospital staff.

But the magistrate said already stretched frontline workers did not have 'Rolls-Royce resources' and had been further burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and were not to blame.

Lee wrote in a letter to the court that during her internship she completed 126 shifts 'risking lives of patients and staff'

'In a public hospital the risks aren't supervised minute-to-minute, one error could lead to the worst case of death,' Mr Bartley said.

Lee, of Malaysian and Chinese background, submitted to the court that she had been under extreme financial and social pressure from her family who had invested more than $300,000 in her medical training.

She was deemed of good character having no criminal record since arriving in NSW in 2014.

But the magistrate said he was not satisfied if put in a 'career or financial corner' and facing strong disapproval or shame from her parents, there 'won't be another round of dishonesty'.

In February her role in the hospital had been downgraded as staff noticed her lagging behind the other interns

Outside court Lee said there were 'a lot of factors that had led to this,' and was not just because of a 'simple lie'.

Her solicitor Chadi Irani said his client was 'very remorseful and that she had lost a lot in the process'.

Would she continue to pursue a career as a doctor?

'No I don't think so,' Mr Irani said.

Lee was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay AHPRA's costs of $3400, and under the ICO will have to undergo treatment for her mental health issues among other strict conditions.
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New evidence of a huge military build-up within striking distance of Ukraine ahead of a possible invasion has emerged hours after US President Joe Biden said he believes Russia's Vladimir Putin will invade.

Russian troops have been told they could be away from home for up to 'nine months' after being moved thousands of miles from the country's east to the border region and warned to expect being involved in a conflict in Ukraine.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles (330km) from the Ukraine border with rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles (125km) from Russia's border with Belarus.

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, that sit only 18 miles (30km) from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles (50km) from Russia's border with Ukraine.

And, in a new development, Vladimir Putin today announced huge new naval drills to take place this month and next in four seas involving 140 warships and tens of thousands of sailors.

The war games will take place in the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Mediterranean involving 'more than 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 pieces of military equipment, and about 10,000 servicemen', the Russian defence ministry said.

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border, but tensions have ramped up in recent days after a surge in equipment and troop movements, among them military police, from the extreme east of the country.

Videos showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 37 miles (60km) from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine.

Russia and Belarus have claimed the movement of troops and equipment is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently.

President Biden said yesterday that the Russian strongman now 'has to do something' but that he believes Putin does not want full-blown war - and warned Russia would pay a 'dear price' if Moscow launches a military incursion.

Meanwhile UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned it would be 'a disaster for the world' if Moscow makes 'any kind of incursion, on any scale whatever' into Ukraine.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border as Moscow ramps up a military build up along the frontier in preparation for a 'nine-month war'

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border (pictured, a battle group deployment in Voronezh, Russia, near the Ukrainian border on January 19)

Satellite images dated January 19 showed rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus, after a months-long build-up of troops along the border with Ukraine

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, (pictured) that sit only 18 miles from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles from Russia's border with Ukraine

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Military support vehicles and personnel have been ferried from eastern Russia to the border with Ukraine and service members families warned their relatives could be away from home for up to nine months and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine

Russian troops were seen arriving in Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, (pictured) both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine, ostensibly for joint military drills taking place from February 10

Russia and Belarus have claimed the mass movement of troops and equipment on trains to the over the border is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently

Moscow has for weeks been massing tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces along its eastern flank, sparking fears of an invasion, though the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defence force (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)

'He has to do something... He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West,' Biden said of Putin hours after announcing the US would provide an additional $200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

But he also suggested a 'minor incursion' might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country, a comment that drew immediate condemnation from some corners with Republican senators claiming the President had effectively given Putin the green light to invade Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today denounced Biden's remarks, blaming the US president for destabilising an already tense situation. At the same time he did not rule out new security talks between Putin and Biden.

This week's military massing in Belarus adds to Russia's forces to the east of Ukraine as well as south in Crimea and the Black Sea, where some 100,000 are believed to be in place.

The new analyses show that only part of the military hardware and troops are going to the training grounds announced for the exercises.

'The other part stopped halfway, near Gomel, in an area that is only 40km from the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and 90km from the Kiev region', according to a Radio Liberty report.

Meanwhile dozens of mothers and wives appeared to have taken to social media to voice concerns about their military relatives who have been shipped across the country in apparent preparation for war between Russia and Ukraine

Many of the comments indicated forces from the far east were sent 'first to Moscow, then to Ukraine' and said 'almost all contract soldiers' had been sent towards Ukraine.

While officially the joint Russian-Belarusian exercises last only from 10-20 February 'relatives and friends of the military write that the trip will last 6-to-9 months.'

The massing of troops along the border has been seen as an echo of the Russian playbook from 2014 when Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula and backed pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

A Russian convoy of a BM-27 220mm multiple rocket launcher and 11 9T452 transporter-loader vehicles arrived in Gomel, Belarus, on Monday from eastern Siberia.

While footage posted online showed 11 transporter-loaders and a single BM-27 multiple rocket launcher, which later was seen in Gomel, before heading 'directly for the Ukrainian border' just 30km away, DFRLab reported.

Local media reported that military equipment including logistical vehicles such as fuel trucks and other transports followed by a civilian truck and bus was seen heading south from Gomel, towards the Ukrainian border.

BM-27 launchers were also seen at the railway station in Rechitsa.

While trains seen in the Smolensk region in western Russia - seemingly en route to Belarus - appeared to show 16th Radiation, Biological, and Chemical Defence Brigade from Primorsky Krai, some 5,800 miles from its base.

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Russia and Belarus have claimed the mass movement of troops and equipment on trains to the over the border is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently

Images and footage showed rocket launchers and military support vehicles making the journey from east Russia to the border with Ukraine in recent days as Moscow ramps up the build-up of troops along the frontier

Military support vehicles and personnel have been ferried from eastern Russia to the border with Ukraine and service members families warned their relatives could be away from home for up to nine months and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine

Rocket launchers and troops were seen arriving in a snowing Rechitsa, Belarus, for supposed military drills next month, though observers have said the excuse is a smokescreen for an invasion

Armoured vehicles and troops were pictured at the Belarusian base in Gomel, under 60km from the border with Ukraine, ahead of the supposed joint military drills

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

President Biden said yesterday that his 'guess' was the Russian strongman would 'move in' to Ukraine in the coming weeks but that he believes Putin does not want full-blown war - and declared Russia would pay a 'dear price' if Moscow launches a military incursion

Biden also suggested a 'minor incursion' might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country, a comment that drew immediate condemnation from some corners with Republican senators claiming the President had effectively given Putin the green light to invade Ukraine

Russian military vehicles arriving in Belarus are seen in this photograph distributed by the Belarus Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, ahead of joint exercises

Russian servicemen prepare their military vehicles to unload for Russia and Belarus joint military drill in Belarus on January 18

The French Navy yesterday reportedly escorted Russian Baltic Sea landing ships Korolev, Minsk and Kaliningrad and Northern Fleet warships Olenegorsky Gornyak, Pyotr Morgunov, and Georgii Pobedonosets towards the English Channel, sparking speculation they are bound for the Black Sea.

The ships, which can each carry up to 25 armoured personnel carriers, were deployed three days ago but it remains unclear if they are heading for Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's latest intelligence assessment yesterday warned Russia had massed more than 127,000 troops along the border, together with a sea and air component that marked a 'full strength' force.

The assessment, seen by CNN, described the situation as 'difficult' and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin was 'trying to split and weaken the European Union and NATO' while also 'limiting the capabilities of the United States... to ensure security on the European continent'.

The deployment of Russian troops to Belarus was cited in the report which said Belarus 'should be considered as a full-fledged theater of operations that Russia can use to expand aggression against Ukraine.'

The assessment said Moscow had deployed troops to the border on a 'permanent' basis and said the movement of 'stockpiles of ammunition, field hospitals and security services' to the hinterlands confirmed 'the preparation for offensive operations'.

It said Russia had deployed 36 Iskander launchers, weapons capable of hitting targets up to 700km away, near Ukraine and said the medium-range missiles that could be used to 'destroy vital objects'.

The assessment put the number of rebels within Ukraine who are loyal to Moscow at 35,000 and estimated Russia has a further 3,000 military personnel within Kiev's territory.

Russian deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin confirmed that the mission includes the relocation of two S-400 mobile surface to air missile battalions, a Pantsir-S battalion and 12 Su-35 fighters for the 'surprise' inspection and drills.

And in another twist yesterday Moscow announced the 'successful' completion of tests on its Kinzhal - or Dagger - hypersonic missiles, which can carry nuclear or conventional weapons with a range of 1,250 miles, in the Arctic, though the weapons had been deployed with Russian forces ahead of the trials.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's latest intelligence assessment yesterday warned Russia had massed more than 127,000 troops along the border, together with a sea and air component that marked a 'full strength' force (Pictured: A convoy of Russian armoured vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea, Tuesday, January 18, 2022)

Six Russian landing ships (pictured, landing ship Minsk near the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark en route to the North Sea) have sailed past Britain sparking speculation they are bound for an impending 'full-scale invasion' of Ukraine

Northern Fleet warships Olenegorsky Gornyak Pyotr Morgunov, (pictured) and Georgii Pobedonosets passed through the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark on Monday, possibly en route to Ukraine
Committed Chinese investments in Nepal surge amid pandemic

Xinhua) 15:36, January 20, 2022

KATHMANDU, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese investors had pledged more direct investments into Nepal during the first half of the current fiscal year than the entire previous fiscal year, according to Nepali government figures.

Chinese investors committed 23.37 billion Nepali rupees (195.74 million U.S. dollars) in foreign direct investment in Nepal during the first six months of the 2021-22 fiscal year that started in mid-July last year, as against 22.5 billion rupees (188.45 million dollars) pledged for the whole 2020-21 fiscal year, showed data from the Department of Industry.

During the first half of 2020-21, Chinese investors pledged direct investments into Nepal worth 18.11 billion rupees (151.68 million U.S. dollars).

"The surge in pledged Chinese investments even in the middle of the pandemic shows that Chinese investors are keen to inject their capitals into Nepal," Ramchandra Tiwari, director general of the department, told Xinhua.

"These pledged investments took place when the COVID-19 cases were on a downward trend in the first six months. But we're concerned about the potential impact of rising coronavirus cases in the last two weeks," said the official.

Nepal on Wednesday reported 11,352 new infections, a record high since May last year.

The committed investments by the Chinese accounted for 76.47 percent of the total foreign direct investments in Nepal during the first half of 2021-22, continuing a trend in the past years, according to the Department of Industry.

During the first six months of 2021-22, a total of 107 industries with Chinese investments were registered at the department, covering hotels and restaurants, electronic equipment maintenance and repair, international cargo handling, mask manufacturing, software development, slaughter house, packaged drinking water, ready-made garment, electric vehicles assemble, furniture and copper mining, among others.

Nepal's service sector got 11.31 billion rupees (94.74 million dollars) in pledged Chinese investments, followed by tourism with 9.2 billion rupees (77.1 million dollars).

"The government has to show its seriousness in attracting foreign direct investments and ease the procedure for foreign investors to enter into Nepal," said Satish More, former president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
By Hakim Djaballah





A pandemic should have a beginning and an end; its duration is dictated by how well it is managed from a public health perspective. In ideal cases, it should not take longer than two years to eliminate the pathogen, with zero new infections reported over the course of at least six consecutive months.



Two years into this pandemic, we failed as we are experiencing a continuum of new cases reported in every country, even though vaccination rates have reached over 70 percent in some. The world remains in the first wave, it seems that the virus is winning this war, and consequently has led us to be tormented by COVID-19.



What went wrong in the management of this pandemic? There were two missed golden opportunities to stop the virus from spreading everywhere. The first big miss was in December 2019 thanks to the incompetence of the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and his political collusion with Chinese President Xi Jinping.



The virus was spectacularly contained in the Wuhan region as a show of strength, but allowed to leave China unhindered to infect others. The Chinese stance of non-cooperation made the situation worse by refusing to provide information on patient zero; instead, they provided a different narrative putting the blame on Wuhan's now infamous Huanan seafood wet market.



The Chinese authorities are no strangers to epidemics and pandemics. They knew about the imminent threats from SARS-CoV2 and the danger it presented to humanity. One possible reason for their actions could have been that maintaining economic dominance was more important to them or perhaps they thought they could bring the rest of the world to its knees by being the only unaffected country and open for business. In the mist of all the virus mayhem, China emerged with a new role of a world healer initiating a global medical diplomacy tour, while still refusing to cooperate on finding the origin of the virus.



The second big miss was in May 2020; while watching Italy, Iran and New York almost burn to the ground by the virus, world leaders still refused to stop travel, close borders, and confine their citizens. It is a kind of common sense that if fewer people travel and move around, the virus will not spread, will not replicate and will not generate new deadly variants.



With all the flashing danger signs, many countries continued with a business as usual approach, downplaying the imminent dangers. It is important to note that while Italy was being ravaged by the virus, French President Emmanuel Macron was leisurely walking the country's streets and savoring its ice cream.



In South Korea, control of the pandemic went exceptionally well, up to the month of April 2020; after that, it became a political tool for President Moon Jae-in to help the ruling Democratic Party of Korea dominate local politics, by first stigmatizing various religious groups and even prosecuting some of their leaders. Various minority groups ended up facing discrimination within Korean society as well.



In November 2021, the country registered nearly 8,000 new cases per day, with desperate hospitals filling up with the sick. The caseload in Korea declined but is now rising again with the spread of the Omicron variant. Many more examples about other world leaders' actions do not leave much for debate.



Was the decision to allow the virus to spread around the world deliberate? It is very hard to think otherwise, especially in view of the actions taken by many world leaders; in particular, the G20 leaders who must have known about the virus threat back in November or December 2019 through their respective intelligence agencies.



It is a plausible assessment that their deliberate decisions were primarily to safeguard their political ideologies, followed by their contribution to an undeclared new world order that we are still unclear as to what it entails: a social reset, a political reset, an economic reset, or even a dominance reset or a combination thereof?



What has emerged thus far is the obvious lack of cooperation and coordination between countries to make a combined effort to end this crisis. The WHO failed in its mission to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all, and it has become a discredited organization trying its best to win back public support.



Political reactions and crisis mismanagement in many countries keep fueling this pandemic, and calling for many speculations and conspiracy theories alike. It is hard to accept that with all the scientific and medical knowhow, we could not have ended it, unless it is deliberate. Soon enough, their actions will be judged by history.



As I write this column, I could not help but to reflect on this "politics of fear" used as the No. 1 governing asset to many world leaders in democracies and autocracies. With the help of both real and fake news together with social media platforms, this fear has taken over our daily lives toward a dark path with no end in sight.





Dr. Hakim Djaballah is an Algerian-born American molecular pharmacologist and technologist with expertise in virology and oncology. He sits on several advisory boards. He is the co-founder, president and CEO of Keren Therapeutics, a startup company dedicated to the science of aging. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.


Two men were arrested in Birmingham and Manchester this morning as part of the probe into the Texas synagogue attack by British hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram.

The siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, near Dallas, ended in gunfire on Saturday night with all four hostages released unharmed.

Akram, 44, originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, was shot dead when the FBI entered the building following a ten-hour stand-off. Two teenagers arrested in Manchester following the incident were released without charge on Tuesday.

British hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram is pictured in Dallas, Texas, on January 2 this year

SWAT team operations outside Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday

Greater Manchester Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West issue a statement today

Greater Manchester Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West said in a joint statement issued at 8am today: 'Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West continue to support US authorities with their investigation into the events in Texas.

'As a result of this ongoing investigation, two men have been arrested this morning in Birmingham and Manchester. They remain in custody for questioning. CTP North West officers continue to liaise with and support colleagues from other forces.'

The statement added: 'Communities Defeat Terrorism, and the help and support we get from the public is a vital part of that.

'So we would urge everyone to remain vigilant, and if you do see anything suspicious then please report it, in confidence, to police via the Anti-terrorist hotline or gov.uk/ACT. It wont ruin lives, but it may well save them.'
Bury South voters were split in their opinion of local MP Christian Wakeford after he sensationally defected from the Conservatives to Labour on Wednesday.

Mr Wakeford, 37, inflicted a huge blow to Boris Johnson's ailing premiership when he dramatically switched sides in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon after refusing 'to defend the indefensible'.

The Bury South MP became the first Tory in 15 years to cross the floor of the Commons to sit on the Labour benches.

In the central Radcliffe area of the town the MP's office, which is painted in true-blue Tory colours, was shuttered on Wednesday following his defection.

Many voters speaking to MailOnline revealed their dismay at Mr Wakeford's shock decision and called for a by-election - claiming their votes in the 2019 election now stood for nothing.

Sham Raja, 50, slammed the new Labour MP's actions as 'disgraceful', and called for him to step down as he had brought 'shame' on the Bury South constituency.

'It's so shameful. He signed up to be a Conservative MP,' he told MailOnline.

'I think he should step down as an MP and if he wants to be a Labour MP, he should apply to be one.

'It's disgraceful, he was elected under the Conservative banner. He only got these votes because of the Conservatives.

'I'm so upset, he's shamed all of us in Bury South.'

But the MP - who was last night dubbed Mr Wokeford by critics - rejected pressure to trigger a by-election despite previously supporting a backbench bill that called for any MP who switches parties to face a recall petition.

Christian Wakeford MP, 37, (right) inflicted a huge blow to Boris Johnson's ailing premiership when he dramatically switched sides in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon after refusing 'to defend the indefensible'

One Conservative voter, Sham Raja, 50, (pictured) slammed the new Labour MP's actions as 'disgraceful', and called for him to step down as he had brought 'shame' on the Bury South constituency

Christian Wakeford, MP for Bury South, became the first Tory in 15 years to cross the floor of the Commons to sit on the Labour benches on Wednesday

In the 2019 election, Mr Wakeford narrowly took the Bury South constituency from Labour - who had held the seat since 1997 - after winning with a slim majority of 402 votes.

He would hit the headlines again last November after he swore at Owen Paterson after Tory MPs were instructed to help block his suspension from the Commons for breaking lobbying rules.

Mr Wakeford was one of seven Tory MPs to publicly call for Boris Johnson to quit, but his defection means there is now one fewer letter of no confidence with 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady.

While the row over No10 parties had been the final straw for him, Mr Wakeford highlighted issues including free school meals, the row over Dominic Cummings' behaviour during lockdown, the cost-of-living crisis and the Owen Paterson affair, for his decision to defect.

He said Tories were 'trying to defend the indefensible and they are doing so gladly'.

And a close ally of the PM said last night that Mr Johnson was 'delighted' about Mr Wakeford's move as it has given the party a common enemy, while a senior Tory MP said it had 'united' the backbenches.

Bury South voters Hazel Donnelly, 64, (left) and Jeremy Burtles, 67, were highly critical of Mr Wakeford's shock move to the Labour party on Wednesday

Who is Christian Wakeford, the Tory MP who has just defected to the Labour Party? Christian Wakeford was elected as the Conservative MP for Bury South for the first time in 2019 - one of the Red Wall victories which propelled Boris Johnson to his massive election win. But the married 37-year-old has now switched to Labour, inflicting a massive blow to Mr Johnson's ailing premiership. Mr Wakeford hit the headlines in November 2021 after it emerged he called Owen Paterson a 'c***' to his face after the latter was found to have broken lobbying rules. Mr Wakeford narrowly snatched the Bury South seat from Labour in 2019, winning with a majority of just 402 votes. Labour had held the seat since 1997. Before entering politics, Mr Wakeford worked for a telecommunications firm having studied politics at Lancaster University. He served as a Tory councillor on Lancashire County Council and also previously worked as a case worker for Tory MP Andrew Stephenson. He served as the leader of the Tories on Pendle Borough Council. In Parliament, Mr Wakeford is a member of the Education Select Committee. He is also the co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews. Advertisement

Conservatives Lee Anderson and Jonathan Gullis said Tory MPs had dubbed him Christian 'Wokeford', as the people of Bury South 'voted for a Conservative agenda, not the Labour woke agenda that we're seeing today'.

Members of the local electorate also shared their fury at Mr Wakeford's desertion from the Tory party.

64-year-old Hazel Donnelly told MailOnline: 'I don't think it was very good at all, he shouldn't be allowed to do that. It won't change the way I vote because I'm a conservative.

'I don't think it's a big deal what Boris did - there are much worse things that have happened recently.

'There should be certain rules with these things. I think he has broken a rule but there are more important things going on at the moment.'

Jeremy Burtles, 67, agreed and added: 'There should be another election  you can't just switch.

'If you want to change parties, you need to step down.

'You always vote for the party you want in charge so I think it's ridiculous to switch all of a sudden.

'I've lived in Preswitch all of my life and it's always been more conservative than labour.

'If you're going to change your view, you should just step down.'

Barry Humphries, 78, a retired voter in the town, offered a more optimistic assessment.

He said: 'Good for him. I think he's doing what's right for him and he's standing up for what he believes in.'

But Tory voter Joan Humphreys said she feels like her tick at the ballot box in 2019 had been wasted.

She said: 'I feel like going down there and saying, 'Right. I want to withdraw it.'

'If he wants to become Labour, and he wants to support Labour's policies, we should have a by-election and see what the people say.

'If Boris had held his hands up at the beginning, people would have been far more forgiving about it, but he's not.

'But who are you going to have instead of Boris? I can't see anybody else.'

Outside on the street, ex-Labour and current Tory voter Mavis Leach said: 'Well, I'm surprised. Are there others doing it, as well, getting out of a sinking ship before it goes down?'

Mrs Leach, who said she disavowed Labour because of a dislike for former leader Jeremy Corbyn, said Boris Johnson should stay on as Prime Minister.

'I know he's done wrong, done a lot of things wrong,' she said. 'Boris has done a lot of things. We know that.

'But I think he's done a good job in other things, (such as) bringing the vaccinations in, and we're in a good place for that.'

Bury South voter Vickie Stone, 70, added: 'I don't know too much about it. If he wants to do it because of Boris Johnson then I think that's fair enough'

60-year-old Ikfan Ahmed, another local resident, said he had 'always been happy' with Mr Wakeford's role as his local MP

Vickie Stone, 70, added: 'I don't know too much about it. If he wants to do it because of Boris Johnson then I think that's fair enough.

'If he doesn't agree with the way Boris is handling the situation then that's up to him.

'I'm more bothered about the leadership, I'm worried about who is going to replace Boris if it ends up going that way.'

60-year-old Ikfan Ahmed, another local resident, said he had 'always been happy' with Mr Wakeford's role as his local MP.

'I think these days it's okay to change your policies,' he told MailOnline.

' He has been very good for our area and I'm happy with what he's done. It doesn't matter to me that he has changed.

'I don't think if you start your career as a Conservative candidate you shouldn't just be allowed to change.'

David Collins, who runs Marie's Coffee Shop, a stone's throw from Mr Wakeford's constituency office, said: 'I probably wouldn't vote for either of them anyway, Labour or Conservative.

'They're all as bad as each other.

'They all promise they're going to do things and none of it ever materialises, does it?

'You wouldn't think you were able to jump ship halfway through, would you?'

But Labour insiders have been highly critical of Mr Wakeford and refused to echo the warm wishes sent by the party's leader, Sir Keir Starmer.

A statement on Young Labour's Twitter account said: 'Christian Wakeford MP should not be admitted to the Labour Party.

'He has consistently voted against the interests of working class people; for the 20 Universal Credit cut, for the Nationality and Borders Bill and for the Police and Crime Bill. Young Labour does not welcome him.'

Christian Wakeford allegedly pictured at a house party in Manchester in June last year, Manchester Young Conservatives said on Twitter

The group claimed the MP for Bury South 'drank so much tequila he chundered' while at a house party

The Corbynite Momentum campaign group also said Mr Wakeford 'should be nowhere near the Labour Party'.

A spokesman said: 'Christian Wakeford has voted with this hard-Right Tory government almost 400 times in just two years  voting against measures to stop climate change and tax avoidance and against enabling domestic abuse victims to have access to benefits.'

Mr Wakeford's defection on Wednesday capped a gruelling day at the office for the Prime Minister, who was bluntly told to step down by senior Conservative and arch Brexiteer David Davis, 73, during a fiery round of PMQs.

Mr Davis sensationally told the Prime Minister to 'in the name of God, go' in the Commons on Wednesday shortly after one of the newest Tory MPs defected to Labour.

Mr Johnson went into the Commons with his premiership on life support, as a group of Tories who won their seats in the 2019 election landslide - dubbed the 'Pork Pie plotters - appeared to have lost faith in their boss.

No 10 said Mr Johnson will fight any no-confidence vote launched against him and insisted he expects to fight the next general election, with a spokesman insisting he remained 'the best man for the job'.

Mr Johnson's press secretary said he would have further meetings with MPs as he attempted to shore up support on his back benches.
Has your child been sent home for refusing to wear a mask? Email: jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

Parents have launched a campaign to prevent overzealous schools from imposing masks in schools after teaching unions threatened to derail Boris Johnsons easing of Covid curbs.

Head teachers in England are set to ignore the Prime Ministers bonfire of Plan B restrictions by compelling pupils to wear face coverings in classrooms.

Britains big teaching unions have accused the embattled Tory leader of making the decision to save his own political career as he handles the fallout from Partygate, rather than basing it on sound public health and scientific advice.

The National Education Union warned against lifting Omicron measures too quickly, claiming it could lead to more disruption for schools.

Its general secretary Dr Mary Bousted called the removal of masks premature, adding: Rather than announcements aimed at saving Boris Johnsons job, (the) Government should be exercising a duty of care to the nations pupils and the staff who educate them.

Geoff Barton, the ASCLs boss, said: There is a danger that we are heading once again for a situation in which the Government gives the impression that the crisis is over when in actual fact there is huge disruption continuing to take place in education.

Parent group UsForThem, which campaigned to get classrooms reopened during the pandemic, has now urged its supporters to bombard MPs and ministers with letters to stop overzealous local public health authorities from unilaterally implementing face masks in schools.

Mr Johnsons easing of Omicron curbs was also welcomed by senior Conservative backbencher Robert Halfon and the National Deaf Childrens Society.

It comes as a recent poll by parent voice charity Parentkind found that nearly two thirds of parents of secondary school children are not in favour of masks in the classroom. There was less opposition among parents to coverings in communal school areas.

Schools are preparing to defy the Prime Minister by ordering children to continue wearing masks in classrooms

Parents have launched a campaign to prevent overzealous schools from imposing masks in schools

Parent group UsForThem, which fought to get classrooms reopened during the pandemic (left, campaigner Molly Kingsley), has now urged its supporters to bombard Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi (right) MPs and ministers with letters to stop overzealous local public health authorities from unilaterally implementing face masks in schools

In a statement to MPs in the Commons yesterday, Boris Johnson announced WFH guidance would be immediately dropped and rules on masks in schools would also be scrapped from today. Other restrictions including compulsory face coverings on public transport and in shops will end next Thursday

So what is changing... and when will it happen? Your guide to the post-curb rules as Boris Johnson announces the end of Covid Plan B restrictions IMMEDIATELY WORKING FROM HOME The Prime Minister said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home. He called on people to speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office. FROM TODAY MASKS IN SCHOOLS From today, secondary school pupils will not have to wear face coverings in classrooms. The requirement to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas will end next Thursday, January 27. FROM NEXT THURSDAY MASKS IN PUBLIC PLACES From next Thursday, the Government will no longer legally mandate the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport. But they will continue to suggest masks should be worn in enclosed and crowded places where people could come into contact with those they do not normally meet. The Prime Minister said this meant the Government will 'trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one'. COVID PASSPORTS Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday. But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want. BY THE END OF THE MONTH TRAVEL An announcement is expected soon on scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test on returning to England. No 10 said the rules will be reviewed by the end of January. CARE HOMES Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days. At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents. BY MARCH AT THE LATEST SELF-ISOLATION Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24. He said this could happen even earlier, if the data allows. The legal requirement will be replaced with guidance that urges people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others. BY JULY FREE TESTS Free Covid lateral flow tests look set to be scrapped by July. People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven. Advertisement

The draft letter by UsForThem warns that unless the Government steps in to curtail the abilities of local authorities to introduce measures themselves, I fear that millions of children will still be subjected to masks in schools for months to come.

To reverse the damage, the new guidance you issue must be extremely strongly worded indeed, the letter adds.

You should certainly forbid local authorities from unilaterally implementing face masks in schools. In some US states where governors have banned mask mandates, they have protected children by making legal provision for parental opt-out.

The National Deaf Childrens Society today warned that schools which choose to impose masks risk flouting the Equality Act.

Mike Hobday, its director of campaigns, told MailOnline: Government guidance in England does not recommend masks are used by teachers or pupils in class from today, and from the whole school next week.

If schools choose to go against this recommendation, they would need to be confident that they have taken all the action needed to ensure they are fully complying with the Equality Act so that disabled children can access teaching and learning.

Unless these reasonable adjustments are made, there may be little point in deaf children even going to school.

In a statement to the Commons yesterday, Mr Johnson announced WFH guidance would be dropped immediately and rules on masks in schools would also be scrapped from today. Other restrictions including compulsory face coverings on public transport and in shops, and Covid passes for entry to nightclubs and large events will end next Thursday.

And the legal requirement for people with Covid to isolate will also be allowed to lapse when the regulations expire on March 24.

The move could help appease Mr Johnsons Tory critics after a Pork Pie Putsch against the PM over the lockdown party scandal melted away last night.

However, head teachers wrote to parents after Mr Johnsons announcement to say that they would like children to continue wearing masks.

Andy Byers, head of a state secondary in Durham, said the PMs Plan B U-turn creates some difficulty for us.

Case rates in the northeast are still relatively high. We currently have 60+ students and ten staff absent, having tested positive. A small proportion of those people have been quite poorly, he said.

Other local secondary schools are all in a similar position: high levels of absence with some students missing important face-to-face teaching, and a reliance on supply teachers covering lessons.

For this reason I would like to encourage students to continue wearing face coverings for the next two or three weeks until (hopefully) case numbers fall.

A spokeswoman for school leaderss union NAHT admitted that there is some concern about the easing of Plan B measures.

Its general secretary Paul Whiteman said: The Prime Ministers statement about lifting plan B measures will feel, to many school leaders, at odds with the current situation on the ground.

Mass disruption is ongoing, with high numbers of staff and pupils absent. School leaders are telling us they still feel very much in the eye of the Covid storm.

Willingdon Community School in Eastbourne, East Sussex, also wants its pupils to continue wearing masks.

Head teacher Emily May said: Our students have been fantastic wearing masks since October 2021 and understand that this small act of kindness is helping to keep our community safe.

We still have significant Covid infections within the school community and a 10 per cent rise of Covid cases in this local area.

It is not sensible to relax this measure yet. However, we do appreciate that each school needs to be able to make their own decision based on their school context and it needs to be reviewed regularly.

Children at Hanley Castle High School, Worcestershire, have also been told to keep wearing face coverings.

Lindsey Cooke, the head teacher, said: I do think this was a very rushed announcement.

Our year 11 and year 13 exam groups have missed so much school already; what we do not want to do is to rush into taking masks off and then get another outbreak in those year groups.

But other teachers welcomed the end of masks in schools. Joseph Sparks, an assistant principal at Stationers Crown Woods Academy in Greenwich, London, today called face coverings a barrier to learning.

Has your child been sent home for refusing to wear a mask? Email: jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

He told Sky News: We welcome the change here at the academy and ultimately we will follow the advice and guidance given to us by the DfE. And as you can see from the students in this particular class, theyve opted not to wear one this morning.

But well leave that choice to them, and for us at the academy, its about making them safe and making sure their learning experience is a seamless one and can continue as normal as possible.

Pressed on why masks can be a barrier to learning, he explained: I had an example yesterday where I was teaching a class, and I didnt know who had answered the question.

Sometimes it can be a bit of a barrier like that to that social interaction that takes place, and knowing which students might need help. Ultimately weve left that choice to the students from this point.

Mr Sparks added: Our job is to keep the students as safe as possible. Weve taken lots of measures over the course of the various lockdowns to ensure that our students remain safe.

Weve been really fortunate our students have continued to come to the academy every day, weve had really had attendance.

It comes as business chiefs hailed yesterdays WFH announcement, calling it great news for small businesses and city centres that rely on office workers.

And nightclub bosses indicated that they wont continue enforcing Covid passes after next Thursday, telling Radio 4s Today programme that there is no proof anywhere in the world that nightclubs are any worse than any indoor setting for virus transmission.

However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan put himself at odds with the PM by ordering TfL customers to continue wearing masks on TfL Tube and bus services.

Britains top medics also insisted that scrapping Covid curbs at such pace risks creating a false sense of security with the NHS still under pressure.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association council, said: This decision clearly is not guided by the data. When Plan B was introduced in December, there were 7,373 patients in hospital in the UK. The latest data this week shows there are 18,9791.

He warned that ending mandates on mask-wearing would inevitably increase transmission and place the most vulnerable at a higher risk.

And Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation representing health bodies, said now is not the time for complacency about this virus.

Let the mask madness begin: Confusion as commuters are told to wear and not wear coverings at the SAME station after TfL and rail firms issued conflicting orders - as some shoppers ditch them ALREADY Boris Johnsons mask U-turn descended into chaos today after TfL and rail firms issued conflicting orders and shoppers ditched them early. The Prime Minister is scrapping all Covid curbs in England, including compulsory masks on public transport from next Thursday. Already this morning, in an Asda supermarket in south London binned their masks and went without in a show of brazen non-compliance. John Lewis and Waitrose became the first major stores to confirm that masks are no longer necessary. A spokesman told MailOnline that it will suggest masks are worn, but stressed it will be down to individuals to make a personal choice. However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned that face coverings will remain a condition of carriage on all TfL services including Tubes, buses, Overground trains, trams or river boats  meaning people without masks may be denied travel unless exempt. TfL said that 500 officers and police partners will be out across the network in the coming days to ensure that customers continue to comply with the Governments restrictions until the law expires next week. The service warned that those who do not wear face coverings may be prevented from using our services or asked to leave the network. Messaging on masks threatened to collapse further into farce after the Rail Delivery Group said National Rail would only ask people to wear masks in busy indoor settings. This creates the bizarre situation in London where masks will be required on some services but not others travelling on the same tracks between the same stations  because one is operated by Transport for London and the other is not. For example, commuters travelling from Kensington Olympia to Shepherd's Bush will need to wear masks on Overground trains but not on Southern services. Advertisement

Deputy chief executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery said that some trusts had reported they were expecting their peak later this week despite a fall in case numbers nationally due to regional variations in the number of hospital admissions.

That's why it's important that there is recognition that this surge isn't over, and that the health service is still operating under extremely challenging circumstances, she added.

However, business chiefs cheered the latest easing. Kevin Ellis, chairman of PwC UK, told the Times: The No1 question Im being asked from our people is when can we get back to the office  they value time with colleagues, alongside the flexibility to work from home.

After the last lockdown restrictions were lifted, it took us two months to get back to 80 per cent capacity. Were expecting a faster bounce-back now  people know the drill.

Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the easing of Plan B would be applauded by her members, particularly those based in city and town centres which rely on footfall from office workers.

Chris Hirst, global CEO of Havas Creative, told Radio 4s Today programme that many of our employees really do want to come back and predicted most of the UK workforce would be back in the office from Monday. He added that he would be talking to individual staff nervous about the WFH relaxation.

Matthew Fell, the CBI's chief policy director, said: It's great news that Plan B is coming to an end and businesses will be hopeful that we are finally starting to turn the corner on Covid-19.

There's a vital need now for greater consistency in how we live with the virus in the longer term. Swinging back and forth between restrictions and normality has been damaging.

Mr Fell said hybrid working would remain, as firms sought a balanced approach to home and office working.

He added: There are clear benefits to being in the office, such as collaboration and on-the-job learning, and blanket work-from-home guidance has had significant downsides for city centre trade in sectors such as hospitality and retail.

Jace Tyrrell, Chief Executive of the New West End Company said: With office employees set to return to London's West End, retailers, bars and restaurants will be looking ahead to a promising year.

With the support of returning shoppers and Government alike, we are confident that the West End can achieve 7.5billion of turnover this year as it continues on the long road to recovery.

The Federation of Small Business also welcomed the move, though bosses warned it was not all good news, against a backdrop of higher taxes and business rates.

Its chairman Mike Cherry said: We would now urge everyone to get behind small firms  be that on a commute, whilst working from home, online, or in-person  as they work night and day to recover from another incredibly stressful festive season.

Equally, its important to respect the house rules that each individual small firm has implemented to keep its customers and staff safe  many have invested thousands in making premises more secure.

Small firms and sole traders stand ready to spur our economic recovery from this recession as they did the last. After new import checks took effect this month, however, they are now staring down the barrel of a jobs tax hike, a dividend taxation increase and business rates bills landing in April.

The Government should be looking at policies that will empower small businesses and start-ups to get our economy firing on all cylinders again.

It comes after Covid cases fell in most parts of the UK for the first time since early December, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Mr Johnson said that while there are some places where cases are likely to continue rising, including in primary schools, scientists believed it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally.

Has your child been sent home for refusing to wear a mask? Email: jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk.

Ministers draw up plans to require passengers to show proof of booster jab to enter UK with all testing rules set to be dropped for the fully-vaccinated

Ministers are set to ditch the Covid testing system for fully vaccinated holidaymakers within days.

The move will give the hard-hit travel industry another boost after the Government scrapped pre-return tests and costly post-arrival PCR swabs earlier this month.

It will save a family of four around 80 to 100 on testing costs. As it stands, returning double-jabbed Britons must take one rapid lateral flow test by day two. If positive, they must take a confirmatory PCR test.

But ministers are preparing to scrap this requirement, with an announcement by next Wednesday. It will be the first time fully-vaccinated Britons can go abroad without having to test on return since travel swabs were introduced in January last year.

Ministers are set to ditch the Covid testing system for fully vaccinated holidaymakers within days

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday

It is understood the definition of fully vaccinated could remain two jabs rather than three until spring. After that, travellers who have not received a booster jab could face testing restrictions.

Unvaccinated travellers will remain subject to multiple tests and self-isolation.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is said to have been leading the charge for scrapping the remaining testing restrictions.

However, all arrivals will still need to fill out a passenger locator form within 48 hours of arrival in England.

Boris Johnson came under pressure in the Commons over the issue from his predecessor yesterday after announcing Plan B curbs would be lifted.

The move will give the hard-hit travel industry another boost after the Government scrapped pre-return tests and costly post-arrival PCR swabs earlier this month

Former PM Theresa May said: If were going to learn to live with Covid, we need to facilitate travel.

'So will [Mr Johnson] take this opportunity to announce that when Plan B restrictions are removed next week, the Government will also make it clear that there will be no testing requirements for anybody entering England who is fully-vaccinated?

He replied: Were certainly reviewing the testing arrangements for travel and [Health Secretary Sajid Javid] will be making a statement in the next few days.

Alluding to the fact many countries will likely require three jabs as a condition of entry, he added: But I think its very important everybody in the country understands that getting your booster, wherever you want to go in the world, is going to be a pretty crucial thing to do.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: Ministers have been saying all the right things about needing to get on with our lives  this feels like the last hurdle to achieving that.

So what is changing... and when will it happen? Your guide to the post-curb rules as Boris Johnson announces the end of Covid Plan B restrictions

IMMEDIATELY

WORKING FROM HOME

The Prime Minister said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home. He called on people to speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office.

FROM TODAY

MASKS IN SCHOOLS

From today, secondary school pupils will not have to wear face coverings in classrooms.

The requirement to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas will end next Thursday, January 27.

Face masks in schools will no longer be required from next Thursday

FROM NEXT THURSDAY

MASKS IN PUBLIC PLACES

From next Thursday, the Government will no longer legally mandate the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport.

But they will continue to suggest masks should be worn in enclosed and crowded places where people could come into contact with those they do not normally meet.

The Prime Minister said this meant the Government will 'trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one'.

COVID PASSPORTS

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday.

But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want.

BY THE END OF THE MONTH

TRAVEL

An announcement is expected soon on scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test on returning to England.

No 10 said the rules will be reviewed by the end of January.

CARE HOMES

Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days. At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents.

BY MARCH AT THE LATEST

SELF-ISOLATION

Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24.

He said this could happen even earlier, if the data allows.

The legal requirement will be replaced with guidance that urges people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.

BY JULY

FREE TESTS

Free Covid lateral flow tests look set to be scrapped by July.

People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven.
Jason Isaacs has said he has not joined his Harry Potter co-stars in criticising its author JK Rowling over her views on trans issues because 'she has poured an enormous amount of her fortune into making the world a much better place'.

The actor, best known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Potter series, described Rowling's charity work as 'unequivocally good', having worked with her organisation Lumos himself and so he would not 'jump to stab her in the back'.

The franchise's younger stars, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, have spoken out against Ms Rowling when she voiced concerns last year that biological women were being put at risk in favour of trans rights.

But Isaacs said he would prefer to have a conversation with the children's author before sharing his views on the trans row that frequently dominates Twitter threads.

Speaking to the Telegraph, he said the author had opinions which 'differed' from his own and said he did not want 'to get drawn into the trans issues' which he described as an, 'extraordinary minefield.'

Jason Isaacs (pictured as Lucius Malfoy in the fourth film) has said he has not joined his Harry Potter co-stars in criticising its author JK Rowling over her views on trans issues because 'she has poured an enormous amount of her fortune into making the world a much better place'

Rowling voiced concerns that biological women were being put at risk in favour of trans rights

'She has her opinions, I have mine. They differ in many different areas.

'But one of the things that people should know about her too  not as a counter-argument  is that she has poured an enormous amount of her fortune into making the world a much better place, for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children, through her charity Lumos. And that is unequivocally good.

'Many of us Harry Potter actors have worked for it, and seen on the ground the work that they do.

'So for all that she has said some very controversial things, I was not going to be jumping to stab her in the front  or back  without a conversation with her, which I've not managed to have yet.'

The 58-year-old has frequently taken to Twitter to comment on other controversial subjects including refugees, Brexit and Trump, but has since stepped back having grown exhausted of its divisive nature, he told the Telegraph.

He added that he finds some controversies are blown out of proportion such as Jon Stewart's comments about the portrayal of goblins in the Harry Potter series.

Isaacs said he would like to have a conversation with Rowling before discussing the trans row

US comedian Jon Stewart slammed the author over the goblins that run Gringotts bank in her Harry Potter series on his podcast, The Problem with Jon Stewart.

Stewart, who is Jewish, questioned why Rowling chose to 'throw Jews in there to run the f***ing underground bank' in a fictional world where people 'can ride dragons and have pet owls'.

His comments come after fellow Potter star Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the movies, said he sees Rowling like an aunt he disagrees with.

Grint, 33, told The Sunday Times: 'I liken JK Rowling to an auntie. I don't necessarily agree with everything my auntie says, but she's still my auntie. It's a tricky one.'

The 56-year-old author was absent from the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Reunion released earlier this month  but the film's cast said her statements about gender were not responsible.

Miss Rowling has been vilified by trans activists for her comments.

In June 2020, she faced accusations of transphobia after she mocked an online article which used the words 'people who menstruate' instead of 'women'.

Then, in September 2020, she faced renewed calls of transphobia after it was revealed the the villain in her latest book, Troubled Blood - written under Rowling's pseudonym Robert Galbraith - was a male serial killer who dresses as a woman to slay his victims.

The author later clarified that she respected 'every trans person's rights to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them,' and went on to say she would march 'if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans'.

Grint likened Rowling's views on trans rights to that of a family member who he disagrees with

She then defended herself in a passionate essay on her website under the headline: 'J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues.'

Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, and Hermione Grainger actress Emma Watson, came out in support of the transgender community.

Amid the intense criticism where trans activists were calling for a boycott of the author, Rowling denied she was transphobic.

She tweeted: 'If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.

'I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.'
North Korea has threatened to resume its nuclear and long-range missile tests as it prepares for 'confrontation' with the US.

Kim Jong Un has not tested inter-continental ballistic missiles or nukes since 2017 after putting launches on hold, but fears are growing the tests will restart after the US crossed a 'danger line'.

Pyongyang has been carrying out a number of tests on other weapons including tactical guided missiles this week, as Kim strives to strengthen his military in response to 'hostile moves' from the US.

When Washington imposed fresh sanctions last week, North Korea said it was a 'provocation' and ramped up conventional weapons tests, vowing a 'stronger and certain' response to efforts to rein it in.

'The hostile policy and military threat by the US have reached a danger line that can not be overlooked any more,' a report on a meeting of the country's Politburo in state media KCNA said Thursday.

North Korea has threatened to resume its nuclear and long-range missile tests as it prepares for 'confrontation' with the US

The North's top officials 'unanimously recognized that we should make more thorough preparation for a long-term confrontation with the US imperialists,' KCNA reported.

This includes examining restarting all temporarily-suspended activities, the report added.

North Korea conducted its sixth and last test of a nuclear explosive device in September 2017 and its last launch of an ICBM was in November that year.

Experts say Kim is reviving Pyongyang's old playbook of brinkmanship to extract concessions from Washington and neighbors as he grapples with a decaying economy crippled by the pandemic, mismanagement and US-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions.

The North's Foreign Ministry had already warned of stronger and more explicit action after the Biden administration last week imposed fresh sanctions over the North's continued missile testing activity.

The UN Security Council has scheduled a closed-door meeting for Thursday to discuss North Korea and non-proliferation matters.

On Monday, North Korea carried out a test of a tactical guided missile as it ramps up its militarisation

Boo Seung-Chan, spokesman of South Korea's Defense Ministry, said it was closely monitoring North Korea's military activities but didn't make presumptions about what the North's next steps would be.

The potential resumption of tests of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US come at a delicate time in the region, with Kim's sole major ally China set to host the Winter Olympics next month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.

North Korea bided its time during US President Joe Biden's first year in office, but with no offer for top-level talks, they've moved on, said Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

'It's practically 2017 again,' he said, referring to a year in which Pyongyang tested nukes and ICBMs as 'little rocket man' Kim Jong Un exchanged barbs with 'dotard' Trump.

'With the North's announcement, it seems inevitable they'll conduct ICBM launches down the road,' he said.

Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace agreed that while nuclear testing was unlikely, 'long-range missile testing is back on the table.'

When Washington imposed fresh sanctions last week, North Korea said it was a 'provocation'

Kim Jong Un is 'reiterating a message he'd delivered back in late-2019: that US actions give him no reason to adhere to his self-imposed moratorium.'

Kim had put new long-range missile launches on his military modernisation agenda last January but had always tied a return to such tests to US actions, Panda said.

'The latest round of sanctions, unfortunately, appear to have precipitated this step,' he added.

The wording of the latest KCNA missive, however, indicates that 'Pyongyang may be leaving some space for flexibility, depending on how the Biden administration responds,' said Rachel Minyoung Lee of the Stimson Center.

Earlier this week the United States called on the country to 'cease its unlawful and destabilizing activities' after it said it would seek new UN sanctions on North Korea.

But China's special representative on Korean peninsula affairs poured cold water on the idea of a security council meeting to discuss fresh curbs on the North's already-struggling economy.

'The #SecurityCouncil has no plan to discuss the so-called draft resolution concerning sanctions on the #DPRK,' Liu Xiaoming wrote on Twitter.

Even as it flexes its military muscles, North Korea, reeling economically from a self-imposed coronavirus blockade, has quietly restarted cross-border trade with China.

A freight train from North Korea arrived at the Chinese border city of Dandong for the first time since early 2020 last weekend.

Duyeon Kim, an analyst at Washington's Center for a New American Security, said North Korea's claim of US hostility is a pretext for continuing testing.

'Pyongyang is squarely focused on meeting its nuclear weapons milestones because of its military imperative to do so. This means more tests to come,' she said.

'The pandemic has bought Pyongyang ample time to continue developing nuclear weapons because North Korea closed its borders and has been refusing direct talks, afraid of importing the virus.'

Kim Jong Un in recent years had showcased some new weapons he may wish to test, including what appeared to be North Korea's largest-ever ICBM that was rolled out during a military parade in October 2020.

He also issued an ambitious wish-list of sophisticated weaponry early last year while setting a five-year plan to develop military forces, which included hypersonic missiles, solid-fuel ICBMs, spy satellites and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.

If the North does stage another nuclear test, it may use that event to claim it acquired an ability to build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a purported hypersonic missile it tested twice so far this year, experts say.

Last week, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North's missile programs, in its response to North Korea's earlier tests this month.

The State Department ordered sanctions against another North Korean, a Russian man and a Russian company for their broader support of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction activities.

The Biden administration also said it would pursue additional UN sanctions over the North's continued tests.
The estranged father of the former private schoolboy charged with the murder of Charlise Mutton has spoken out for the first time, as his mother also comes forward to defend the accused killer.

James Stein said while he had never met the nine-year-old schoolgirl - whose body was found in a barrel near the Colo River - he felt 'heartbroken' by the sad news.

Mr Stein revealed he had not seen his son Justin, 31, who was charged with murder shortly after Charlise's body was found, for 'some time'.

Annemie Stein told the Daily Telegraph her Cranbrook-educated son had had a 'tortured life' and said she didn't approve of his relationship with Kallista Mutten.

The estranged father of Charlise Mutten's accused killer Justin Stein, 31, (pictured) has said the schoolgirls death has left him 'heartbroken' despite never meeting the nine-year-old

Stein currently remains behind bars on remand, after being charged with the murder of his nine-year-old stepdaughter Charlise (pictured) shortly after her body was found

The pair shared a whirlwind romance and got engaged after just over a year together, with Ms Mutten, 31, now reportedly pregnant with Stein's child.

'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink, or choose their partners, and sometimes it ends up in a headache like this one,' Ms Stein said.

The 56-year-old said it would be painful for any parent to have a child go through what her son was experiencing because 'parents know their children'.

Ms Stein described what would have been her step-granddaughter as a 'lovely' and 'beautiful' little girl who didn't deserve to die.

Her son currently remains behind bars on remand, after being charged with the murder of his nine-year-old stepdaughter on Tuesday night.

Ms Mutten left her daughter in his care last Tuesday, and court documents show detectives allege Stein killed her in the following 15 hours.

Stein's mother Annemie Stein said she didn't approve of her son's relationship with Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten - who is reportedly pregnant with his child (pictured)

Stein (pictured) is described by his mother as having had a 'tortured' upbringing despite being educated at one of Sydney's most prestigious high schools

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten (pictured) key questions about the alleged events after she suffered a 'medical episode' at the Wildenstein estate

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten key questions about the alleged events after the reportedly pregnant mother suffered a 'medical episode' and collapsed one day into the search for her daughter.

The wealthy antique dealer Stein family have owned the Wildenstein property where Charlise was holidaying with their son and her biological mother for two decades.

The sprawling estate is currently being operated as a wedding venue by Justin's older brother James and his husband Keegan Buzza with the younger Stein brother staying in a shack on the five-hectare property in past years.

The nine-year-old normally lived fulltime with her grandparents, Deborah and Clint Mutten in the Queensland border town of Coolangatta, but arrived at Wildenstein during the Christmas-New Year school holidays.

Kallista Mutten had relinquished guardianship of Charlise after developing a methamphetamine addiction, failed attempts to undergo rehabilitation and a two year prison stretch for killing a female friend she drove into a river while high on ice.

Stein stayed a shack on the five-hectare Wildenstein property (pictured) in past years

Charlise (pictured) had been staying at the Wildenstein property with Stein and her biological mother over the New Years-Christmas holidays when she first went missing

Police allege Charlise Mutten, 9, was murdered and her body encased in a barrel which was towed for hours in a boat before being dumped on a lonely riverbank in dense bushland

Police allege Stein drove approximately 200km towing a boat loaded with a plastic barrel carrying the remains of the nine-year-old over a circuitous five-hour trek.

The barrel allegedly lay under a blue tarpaulin in the boat towed by Stein's red Holden ute from the Blue Mountains to Bunnings at Marsden Park, a nearby BP petrol station, and then on to two Sydney boat ramps.

Attempts to dispose of the schoolgirl's remains in the water are said by police to have been thwarted by Stein's inability to launch the motor boat taken from his family's luxury Blue Mountains property.

In the end, after failing to start the boat and take the barrel now also weighted down with sand to sink into deeper water, Stein allegedly took off for the Colo River.

On the afternoon of Thursday, January 13, on a river bank around 80km northwest of Sydney, police say the 31-year-old pulled up his ute in bushland.

Stein then allegedly tried to drag the heavy barrel to the river's edge and roll it in, but the weight of the sand prevented him doing so and finally he was forced to abandon it in the scrub.

Police vehicles and officers on foot made their way down the driveway to Wildenstein for another round of interviews

Police (above) at the Colo River where Justin Stein allegedly dumped Charlise's body in a barrel five days before the nine-year-old's decomposed remains were found

Charlise's remains lay in the barrel for five days as emergency workers searched fruitlessly for the missing girl around Mount Wilson, 65km further west.

That was until the afternoon of Tuesday, January 18 when police, acting on GPS data, located the barrel in the bush and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise's decomposing remains.

Police allege that between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am on Wednesday January 12 - when Ms Mutten is said to have been absent from Wildenstein - Stein murdered Charlise.

On Thursday, January 13, Stein left the Wildenstein property at Mount Wilson in his Holden Colorado, police say, towing a boat carrying the barrel with Charlise's body inside.

A blue tarpaulin is believed to have been draped over the barrel in the boat.

According to GPS data detectives later obtained from Stein's mobile phone and his ute, he allegedly made the one hour 20 minute journey to Marsden Park Bunnings.

Charlise (above) with her grandmother Deborah Mutten who learnt the tragic news this week that the adored granddaughter for whom she was full-time carer had died

Emergency services volunteers gathered for another futile day looking to find Charlise alive when in face her body lay inside a barrel on a river bank 65km away

At Bunnings, Stein bought five 20kg bags of sand and made a phone call, police allege, emptying the bags of sand into the barrel to weigh it down.

At the Five Dock boat ramp on the Parramatta River in inner western Sydney, where he is said to have failed to launch the motor boat, because it was 'inoperable'.

The boat was still unable to be started and from the Windsor ramp, on the Hawkesbury River, it is a 24km drive north to the Colo River via the Putty Road.

It is alleged Stein tried to drag the barrel from the boat and dispose of it in the river, but due to its weight didn't get very far and dumped it in scrub near the bank.

Almost four hours later a person, believed to be Ms Mutten, dialled Triple-0 to report that Charlise was missing from the Wildenstein property.

When police arrived, Ms Mutten was present at the estate without the company of her fiance and during an informal round of police questions she had 'a medical episode' and was taken to Blue Mountains Hospital at Katoomba.

The court heard on Wednesday that Justin Stein (above, depicted by a court artist) is on a heavy dosage of antipsychotic drugs which he has been taking for years

After allegedly dumping his stepdaughter's body Justin Stein travelled to Sydney and stayed at a housing commission apartment block in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills (pictured)

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken back to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder

On Friday afternoon, Stein drove his ute to High Street, Penrith and entered Penrith Police station and spoke with detectives.

Police seized his parked ute and impounded it, towing it away to a location for forensic examination; officers also seized the motor boat from Wildenstein estate.

For five days, emergency services workers searched steep terrain around Mount Wilson looking for Charlise, with police warning by day five - the morning of Tuesday, January 18 - that the girl would by now be 'lethargic' and immobile.

While Ms Mutten was in hospital, Stein travelled to Sydney and stayed at a housing commission apartment block in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

Sometime between 3pm and 5pm, police are believed to have set off for the Colo River using GPS tracking co-ordinates and located the barrel and its grisly contents.

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken back to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder.

Police seized a boat from the Wildenstein property (above) where Charlise was staying with her mother and Justin Stein on holiday before she was allegedly murdered

Tributes left for Charlise after a candlelit vigil was held outside the front gates of the Tweed Heads Public School on Wednesday evening

Detectives have been frustrated in their attempts to speak to Kallista Mutten as she remains in hospital after suffering a 'medical episode' at the Wildenstein property

Kallista Mutten and Justin Stein (pictured) had a whirlwind romance before becoming engaged and inviting her daughter on the tragic trip to Mount Wilson

On Wednesday, Stein appeared in Central Local Court where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

His barrister told magistrate Robert Williams that while on remand in prison, Stein needed supplies of Quetiapine and Risperidone which he had been taking in high dosage for many years to treat 'mental health problems'.

The antipsychotic medications are used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

The court heard that Stein wanted to be placed in a protection wing in prison for his own safety as he awaited his next appearance, in Penrith Local Court in March.

Meanwhile, detectives have been frustrated in their attempts to speak to Charlise's pregnant mother in recent days as she remains in hospital.

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for the schoolgirl

Young mourners held candles, flowers and cards to leave at the gates for Charlise

More than 150 people attended the vigil on Wednesday night with Charlises's teachers describing her as a 'much-loved' member of the school community

She is said to be in the care of doctors and 'difficult to approach', meaning police still had no conducted a formal interview with her.

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for schoolgirl Charlise Mutten outside the front gates of Tweed Heads Public School.

The nine-year-old had been a student at the school on the NSW coast with her fellow classmates commemorating their friend with colourful balloons, notes and flowers.

A message on the school's notice board read 'don't count the days, make the days count' with the school releasing a statement on Wednesday morning.

'Charlise was a much loved member of our school who brightened all our days, every day,' the statement read, adding the school was 'absolutely devastated' by the news.

It was accompanied by a touching photo of the nine-year-old holding a literacy award she had received at the end-of-year presentation day.

'Charlise was a much loved member of our school who brightened all our days, every day,' a statement from the school read (pictured, a woman reads a speech for Charlise)

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' the schoolgirl's biological father shared

Charliese's biological father has shared an emotional tribute to his daughter and vowed to 'get answers' about her tragic death.

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said.

'You have captured the hearts of the nation and the world, and now those hearts are breaking with mine.'

Her father vowed this 'would not be the end of [her] or [her] story' in his statement.

'This doesn't happen. Kids need to be safe. What is wrong with people?'
A green campaigner has called for conservatories to be banned - while sitting in her own one.

Angela Terry said Britons need to dump the glass houses because they 'act like a furnace' for the rest of the home.

The environmental scientist, 47, claimed the move was about 'having a no regret' policy and protecting the planet.

But she appeared to exclude herself from the rules as she brazenly spoke from her conservatory in Wells, Somerset.

GMB presenter Susanna Reid pointed out the hypocrisy asking why she can have one but 'nobody else is allowed one from now on'.

Ms Terry suggested because her house came with one she was exempt from new legislation.

Angela Terry said Britons need to dump the glass houses because they 'act like a furnace' for the rest of the home

Who is environmental scientist Angela Terry? Angela Terry studied environmental science at Leeds University before doing a master's at Imperial in environmental technology. After leaving education in 1995, she worked as a water quality analyst before moving to Japan to proof read for the Japanese Journal of Mechanical Engineering. From here she trekked to Nepal where she conducted a socio-economic impact assessment of a hydro-powered ropeway in a remote village. She returned to Somerset in 1998 and moved to Bath where she worked as a project manager for Camco Clean Energy. Two years later she was flying back across the world to New Zealand, where she worked as a carbon scientist for two years, before jetting back to Watford to work as a senior energy consultant for Building Research Establishment. Just over a year later she joined Energy4All as development director and Managed the development of Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative, the first wind farm in the South East of England. Ms Terry stayed in this post for five years, but moved to the Forestry Commission to be head of wood fuel, contributing to the Renewable Energy Strategy. By 2017 she started setting up her own firms - beginning with the Climate Alliance, which tries to 'encourage consumers to reduce their carbon footprint and adapt to a warmer world'. Just over a year later she also founded One Home, which works with the media to ighlight impacts and solutions to climate change. Advertisement

Conservatories can overheat as they trap the sun during the country's increasingly warm summers.

Regulations are being brought in that could make the additions far rarer in new-build houses.

From June, any conservatory intended as part of a new development will need to show it will not create 'unwanted solar gain'.

Ms Terry, whose company One Home works with the media on climate issues, told GMB: 'It's all about how the world is warming.

'So our planet is getting hotter and hotter and hotter as global warming takes hold. What we saw in 2019 was temperatures reaching 39C.

'By 2050, which is only 30 years away, every other summer will be as hot as that summer.

'So we're looking at heatwaves and unbearable heat becoming regular. And what conservatories do is they concentrate that heat and act like a furnace for the rest of your house basically.

'So they build up heat all throughout the day so it just makes staying cool in your home much much harder.

'So that's the real problem when we talk about future proofing. Because if a developer is building a house today and putting a conservatory up, you'll assume that house will be around in 30 years.

'So it's about having a no regret policy. So once they're up we know people don't want to take them down, which is fine... obviously I'm in my conservatory here.

'When we bought the house it was here, so we're trying to keep people safe ultimately.'

Ms Reid asked: 'You're saying you're all right in your conservatory, yours is still going to stand... but nobody else is allowed to have one from now on. Is that your point?'

Ms Terry, who is followed on social media by Extinction Rebellion and has retweeted their posts in the past, hit back: 'So this house came with a conservatory on it. The new legislation is saying not to build new ones because we know the world is getting warmer.

'What you're doing is building infrastructure and we're doing it all round the UK that isn't fit for purpose for when we have hotter and hotter weather.'

The environmental scientist claimed the move was about 'having a no regret' policy and protecting the planet

Is the Great British conservatory under threat? Climate change looks set to claim an unexpected new victim  Britain's conservatories. They may be a sought-after addition to many middle-class homes but the sun traps can overheat in our increasingly warm summers. As a result, regulations are being brought in that could make conservatories far rarer in new-build houses. From June, any conservatory intended as part of a new development will need to show it will not create 'unwanted solar gain'. The change is part of a raft of measures aimed at future-proofing homes against summers where temperatures are predicted to reach 40C (104F). Though well above what is currently experienced in Britain, such highs would cause conservatories to become unbearably hot, often increasing the temperature uncomfortably indoors too. The new rules, which also aim to improve domestic ventilation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent, will limit window sizes according to which direction they face and whether the home is likely to overheat. Conservatories that are unheated and separated from the house with exterior walls and doors may be exempt. But others will face complex and expensive modelling to show they will not become too hot in the summer  limiting the use of trendy floor-to-ceiling glass. As a result, conservatories may become a premium product, unaffordable on cheaper new properties. Advertisement

Ms Terry set up One Home in Bristol in 2018 to push ideas on tackling climate change to the media.

The scientist, who holds a degree from Leeds and master's from Imperial College London, has studied the sector for all her working life.

She was pleased with how her performance was on GMB, tweeting: 'Delighted to speak on GMB about why conservatories are SO not fit for purpose as we try & stay safe due to #globalwarming.

'By 2050 there is a heatwave expected every year! 20 per cent of homes currently overheat even in cool summers.'

But social media users mocked her comments, with some asking if April Fools Day had come early.

Debra Prudhoe posted on Twitter: 'So why did she buy a property with a conservatory.'

In reference to the Downing Street parties, Keith Youngs put: 'Next she will be having a drinks party in that conservatory and telling us its a works function.'

One woman posted: 'I'm sure there's a conservatory manufacturer somewhere who would like to comment on this and perhaps educate her on the types of glass and blinds that actually regulate heat in the conservatory.'

She added: 'Oh and just close your doors into your house and use blinds or curtains indoors.'

Another said online: Honestly thought it was April fools day.'

Judy, from Richmond posted: 'Take down your conservatory and then talk about new ones.'

One viewer commented: 'Going to make absolutely no change to global warming. While sitting in a conservatory.'

And one man added: 'She had the audacity to be stood in her own conservatory with the excuse that it was already there when they bought the house.

'If she's so concerned why did she buy a house with a conservator?'

He added on Twitter: 'Best still, show how passionate she is supposed to be and pull it down.'

New legislation is being brought in from June meaning new developments have to show it will not create 'unwanted solar gain' from any conservatory.

The change is part of a raft of measures aimed at future-proofing homes against summers where temperatures are predicted to reach 40C (104F).

Though well above what is currently experienced in Britain, such highs would cause them to become unbearably hot, often increasing the temperature uncomfortably.

The new rules, which also aim to improve domestic ventilation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent, will limit window sizes according to which direction they face and whether the home is likely to overheat.

Conservatories that are unheated and separated from the house with exterior walls and doors may be exempt.

But others will face complex and expensive modelling to show they will not become too hot in the summer  limiting the use of trendy floor-to-ceiling glass.

As a result, conservatories may become a premium product, unaffordable on cheaper new properties.

Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing and planning policy at the National Federation of Builders, told the Telegraph: 'We can build heavily glazed buildings but smaller companies who do a number of different housing types on one development may avoid it, due to the potential cost of the dynamic thermal modelling on each home.'
The AA has been slammed by members after the car breakdown firm confirmed it does not prioritise call outs based on gender.

A member who had broken down 'at night in the dark' claimed on Twitter she had been told by an AA call handler that the firm treats lone women and men exactly the same because 'that's equality'.

Dr Helen Mott said she would then have to wait 'alone in the dark for 90 minutes or more' and added that the firm's policies 'need a revamp'.

Responding to her tweet, an AA spokesman confirmed they do not prioritise based on gender and instead 'consider the location', meaning they would give preference to a person broken down on a motorway over someone in a supermarket car park.

Furious members then slammed the firm, with one saying she was 'cancelling her membership' and others claiming to have had a similar experience to Dr Mott.

AA president Sir Edmund King also intervened, to say the firm gives priority to 'anyone at risk'.

The row comes after the deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, who were both attacked while out alone at night, and calls on the police and government to make Britain's streets safer for women.

An AA spokesman told MailOnline today that the 'wording' of their response to Dr Mott 'wasn't great' and they had apologised.

They added that in breakdowns involving lone women they receive the 'highest level of care and priority' if the customer raises concerns.

The AA has been slammed by members after the car breakdown firm confirmed it does not prioritise callouts based on gender. A member who had broken down 'at night in the dark' claimed on Twitter she had been told by an AA call handler that the firm treats lone women and men exactly the same because 'that's equality'

Dr Mott had said to the AA in her tweet last night: 'hi @TheAA_UK I am a lone woman whose car has broken down at night in the dark.

'Your call handler has told me you treat lone women and lone men as exactly the same priority in such circumstances because 'that's equality'.

In another tweet, she added: 'I will now wait alone in the dark for 90 minutes or more, something which as a lone woman nowhere near home is far more anxiety-provoking than it would be for a man, if you follow the news. I think your policies need a revamp.'

In response, the AA said: 'Hi Helen, you've been advised correctly. We don't prioritise based on gender, we do consider the location so as an example we would prioritise someone on a motorway over someone in a supermarket carpark.'

An AA spokesman told MailOnline today that the 'wording' of their response to Dr Mott 'wasn't great' and they had apologised

In its adverts, the AA often depicts its roadside mechanics helping stranded women who are either on the own or with children

This advert shows a mother with her young son being aided by an AA mechanic wearing a high-vis jacket

The popular anonymous barrister who uses the @CrimeGirl Twitter handle then claimed she would be cancelling her membership.

She said: 'The police prioritise lone females and so do the highways agency, because they recognise their sex places women AT RISK FROM MEN.'

But a Metropolitan Police spokesman said they do not prioritise calls based on 'any one single factor.'

They added: 'Every call is risk assessed based on the specific circumstances and a response allocated accordingly.'

Another Twitter user responded to the AA's online response by demanding: 'Why not? Women are more vulnerable than men.'

Other users claimed to have had a similar experience. One said: 'I have to say the same thing happened to me with the AA.'

Another added: 'AA that's appalling. If your response to breakdown is based on risk, you're clearly missing an important factor here.

The popular anonymous barrister who uses the @CrimeGirl Twitter handle then claimed she would be cancelling her membership

Other Twitter users criticised the firm for its policy. One said it was 'appalling', while another said they had always been 'under the impression' that the firm prioritises lone women

AA president Sir Edmund King also intervened, to say the firm gives priority to 'anyone at risk'

'I hope your customers see this; your practice and your response here - and they take their money elsewhere.'

An AA spokeswoman said: 'We accept that the wording of our initial response wasn't great and have apologised.

'In fact, we prioritise anyone at risk but more often than not it will be lone women. In breakdowns involving lone women where there is any concern raised by the customer they receive the highest level of care and priority.'

Despite the anger, rival breakdown firms the RAC and Green Flag both appear to have similar policies.

Greenflag say on their website: 'We prioritise those in vulnerable situations so a woman with children sitting on a motorways hard shoulder would receive priority of service over a customer sitting at their home address, for example.'

The RAC say they prioritise 'all customers who are in potentially vulnerable situations.

They include 'a lone female on a remote road, an elderly driver on a motorway, or drivers with young children.'
The Fresno County District Attorney has criticized the Governor of California as 'either ignorant... or a liar' over comments he made praising the work state laws have done to reduce crime, despite an uptick in crime rates.

Fox News reports that Governor Gavin Newsom previously claimed that work done by Proposition 47, Proposition 57 and Assembly Bill 109 had all helped to reduce crime in California.

And now he seems to have suggested that more work needs to be carried out by law enforcement officers and state attorneys if the state is going to see reduced crime rates.

However, hitting back at Newsom, Fresno District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said that he should be 'ashamed of himself' and that the laws he had praised were in fact 'not doing anything to stop' crime in the state.

Governor Newsom, who survived a recall election in September last year, has been labelled woke because of some of the laws he has implemented in California.

These include laws requiring gender-neutral displays of children's toys and toothbrushes in large department stores; clearing the way for a nation's first ban on the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers; and even prohibiting restaurants from handing out ketchup packets and other disposable condiments unless customers ask for them.

Governor Gavin Newsom (pictured on November 10, 2021) has appeared to suggest law enforcement officers and state DAs need to do more to help tackle the growing crime rate in California

California's Proposition 47 - lighter sentences for thieves Proposition 47 was passed by California voters on November 5, 2014. It made some 'non-violent' property crimes, where the value of the stolen goods does not exceed $950, into misdemeanors. It also made some 'simple' drug possession offenses into misdemeanors, and allows past convictions for these charges to be reduced to a misdemeanor by a court. Under California law, though, if two or more person's conspire to 'cheat and defraud any person or any property, by any means which are in themselves criminal' they can face no more than one year in county prison, a fine of $10,000 or a combination of the two. Advertisement

And his support for Proposition 47, is well documented.

The three state laws were introduced under former Governor Jerry Brown, under whom Newsom had worked for eight years.

Proposition 47 downgraded some felonies to misdemeanors, Proposition 57 reduced prison sentences and Assembly Bill 109 moved detainees from state prisons to local jails.

However, contrary to Newsom's comments, the number of high profile murders taking place in California has been on the rise.

Homicides in LA have grown nearly 40 per cent since 2019 after the county reported nearly 400 murders at the end of 2021.

In 2019, LA reported a total of 252 homicides, the lowest since 2014.

Then in 2020, murders shot up to 343 and continued to rise in 2021 as LA reported 397 deaths by the end of the year.

Turning attention from the three laws he had praised, Newsom also seemed to suggest more work needed to be done by law enforcement officers and district attorneys.

He said: 'We need arrests and we need prosecution. We need people held to account. No one condones that behavior  quite the contrary.'

He added that he believes Proposition 47 has been used as an excuse not to make arrests or hold people accountable for their crimes.

Hitting back at Newsom, Fresno District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp (pictured) said that he should be 'ashamed of himself' for blaming state law enforcement and that the laws he had praised were in fact 'not doing anything to stop' crime in the state

Responding to Newsom's comments, Smittcamp said: 'It's not deterring [crime], it's not preventing it. It's not doing anything to stop this, which is why it just keeps getting worse and worse and we keep seeing more bold behaviors, we keep seeing more criminals who are empowered.'

On Newsom's calls for state law enforcement to be doing more, Smittcamp said: 'He should be ashamed of himself. This is the environment that he created. And he's either ignorant of the statistics, or he's a liar.'

She added that state laws such as Proposition 47 had weakened the legal system in California and she accused Newsom himself of trying to destroy the state's law enforcement.

The war of words comes as LA reported a yearly surge in crime, despite an overall dip at the end of last month.

A number of high profile murders have been committed in recent months, including those of Brianna Kupfer, 24; Sandra Shells, 70; and Jacqueline Avant, 81.

Murders in Los Angeles reached an all time high in 2021 as the LA Police Department reported 397 homicides. The homicide rate took a sharp increase after Gascon took office in 2020

The end of 2021 saw a drop in crime rate in an otherwise violent year with record high murders

LA crime is on the upswing, according to police statistics. Shooting victims have increased 10.6 percent year-to-year and 53 percent from the same point in 2019

Shells, an ER nurse, was allegedly struck in the face without provocation by Kerry Bell, 48, a homeless man, as she waited for a bus to take her to work.

Shells succumbed to her injuries three days later.

'Sandy was a very hard worker. Very private person, stayed to herself but she was always working. I think her whole job, her whole life, was just helping other people,' Shells' neighbor Liz Anderson told ABC7.

'Her personality would effect anybody. A very caring person that just loved everybody, and I know that this community will really, she's just going to be missed.'

Bell, who had criminal histories in multiple states, was charged with murder.

Neighbors and colleagues described Shells as a compassionate and dedicated nurse

A makeshift memorial is seen at the spot where Shells was attacked last week

Shawn Laval Smith, 31, is wanted for the murder of Brianna Kupfer in Los Angeles. He has a lengthy rap sheet

Just hours after Shells' attack, Kupfer was stabbed to death while working alone at the Croft House store on La Brea, just minutes after she texted a friend that a man in the store was 'giving her a bad vibe'.

Smith is a career criminal with a long rap sheet spanning both coasts, and is currently free on a $1,000 bond from a misdemeanor arrest in Los Angeles County in October 2020, sheriff's records show.

The nature of that charge wasn't immediately clear, and it was also unclear why the case still hadn't been brought to a trial or a plea deal 15 months later.

A spokesperson for Gascon's office, who took office with a vow to stop prosecuting many misdemeanors, did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com.

Smith is also currently free on a $50,000 bond in Charleston, South Carolina in relation to a November 2019 arrest on suspicion of firing a weapon into an occupied vehicle, court records show.

An indictment in that case was handed down on March 16, 2020, just before COVID-19 paralyzed the courts, and the docket shows no further action on the case.

Brianna (pictured) was not supposed to be working on the night she died, but she ended up at the store alone. Her father said no one could have predicted that she would be attacked, but lashed out at leaders for failing to protect the community

Smith has a prolific criminal record, with dozens of prior charges in North Carolina and South Carolina

The suspected killer has a prolific criminal record, with dozens of prior charges in North Carolina and South Carolina, public records show.

Smith's prior charges on the East Coast include assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, assault on a police officer, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle, and misdemeanors for larceny and possession of stolen goods. The outcomes of those cases weren't immediately clear.

He has a history of failing to appear in court, and has been repeatedly arrested on bench warrants. In one case in Charleston, he was convicted in abstentia after skipping court, and does not appear to have served the sentence, which is sealed in court records.

And back in December, Jacqueline Avant, the 81 year-old wife of music producer Clarence Avant, was shot and killed at her $2.7 million Beverly Hills mansion.

Jacqueline was killed while her 90 year-old husband was at home but was not injured.

Jacqueline Avant (left), the 81 year-old wife of music producer Clarence Avant, was shot and killed at her $2.7 million Beverly Hills mansion

Maynor (pictured) was on parole at the time of the alleged homicide for a domestic violence case

Police were called to the Avants' home on December 1 after a 2:23am call reporting a shooting. Officers found Jacqueline with a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital but did not survive.

An hour later, Los Angeles Police Department officers were called to a home in the Hollywood Hills - about 7 miles from the Avant residence - for a reported shooting.

They found Maynor there, as well as evidence of a burglary at that home, and took him into custody.

Maynor accidentally shot himself in the foot while breaking into the Hollywood Hills home. An LAPD watch commander 'put two and two together' and reached out to Beverly Hills investigators.

He has since been charged with Avant's murder, but he has pleaded not guilty to this.

Commenting on the shocking wave of smash and grab raids in LA in recent months, George Gascon, the Los Angeles district attorney, said that 'the reality is that we go through these cycles, and we go through the cycles for a variety of reasons'

Avant's death became the most high-profile in a shocking wave of home robberies and organized smash-and-grab attacks on retailers in LA.

On January 3 in nearby San Jose, nine hammer-wielding thugs stormed a San Jose shopping center and smashed glass display cases at three stores before fleeing with $110,000 in jewelry.

Los Angeles police arrested 14 people last November in connection with 11 recent smash-and-grab robberies at stores, where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen.

A Los Angeles Nordstrom, a Lululemon in Studio City, a Fairfax district store, and a CVS pharmacy in South Los Angeles were among the stores hit.

However, due to county's zero-bail policies, the suspects were all released within hours of being handcuffed.

LA County DA Gascon said of rising crime rates: 'The reality is that we go through these cycles, and we go through the cycles for a variety of reasons  In many ways we cannot prosecute our way out of social inequalities, income inequalities, the unhoused, the desperation that we have.'
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Five former residents of the last remaining uninhabited town near Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant returned on Thursday to live there for the first time since the 2011 disaster.

Following extensive decontamination, numerous areas around the plant in northeast Japan have been declared safe after a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown over a decade ago.

TV footage showed the returnees inspecting the buildings, with one testing a tap outside his house.

'It's out! This is the first time in 10 years and 11 months that running water comes out,' he said.

A wrecked house stands behind sandbags at a beach in Futaba, with residents returning to mark the 10th anniversary of the earthquake

Abandoned houses inside the exclusion zone of Futaba, Fukushima, are being tested for living conditions after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Five former residents of Futaba will be allowed to stay until at least June

Five former residents of the last remaining uninhabited town near Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have returned, turning a tap inside one of the homes and celebrating the running water in almost 11 years

A signboard shows a poem about the 2011 nuclear accident and feelings for the home town of Futaba, where around 5,600 people were forced to flee over radiation fears

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake was one of the most powerful ever recorded. It triggered tsunami waves up to 40.5 meters high and destroying entire towns. Futaba is the last deserted town in the Fukushima region

A view of a deserted street in a neighbourhood in Futaba Town where the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant is located

Futaba, whose population of around 5,600 was forced to flee over radiation fears, had been the final deserted municipality in the Fukushima region.

But restrictions were lifted in a small part of the town in March 2020 and the government is preparing to lift the cordon on a wider area later this year.

A local official told AFP that five people from four households are returning to live in Futaba on a trial basis, the first of just 15 people who have applied to a scheme, working towards a permanent return to the town.

The group had already been back to visit Futaba, but Thursday marks the first time they will stay overnight.

They can live there as part of the trial until at least June, when the wider cordon is expected to be lifted and their residence can become permanent, the official said.

The stack of black plastic bags contain radioactive waste, with government workers literally scraping away layers of topsoil, to remove radiation

A closed gate prevents people from entering the exclusion zone in Futaba, abandoned for over a decade

No entry signs are displayed at a roadside near crippled Tokyo Electric Power

A deserted retail store property used to host several stores in Futaba, with only 2.4 percent of the prefecture still covered by no-go orders as of last year

Security guards stand at a restricted area in the town where the government has undertaken an extensive decontamination program to make the town livable

An abandoned public phone inside the exclusion zone of Futaba town

The scheme 'aims to ensure that residents will be able to live without problems, by, for example, checking if the sewers function well and there are facilities to support everyday life', a cabinet office official in charge of supporting Fukushima residents told AFP.

More than 18,400 people died or remain missing after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 which sparked the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The government has undertaken an extensive decontamination program in the region, literally scraping layers of topsoil, among other methods to remove radiation.

It has gradually declared areas safe for residents to return, with just 2.4 percent of the prefecture still covered by no-go orders as of last year.

But in some places, evacuees have been reluctant to return even after measures are lifted, worried about persistent radiation or fully resettled in other places.

Around 1,000 people live in the once abandoned Ukrainian city Chernobyl, according to World Population Review, inside the exclusion zone triggered by the 1986 meltdown widely considered the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Interagency differences should be narrowed first



The Korea Fair Trade Commission has imposed a combined fine of 96.2 billion won ($80.7 million) on 23 shipping companies providing cargo services between Korea and Southeast Asia. The KFTC said Tuesday that the shippers  12 of which are Korean  colluded to fix freight rates 120 times since December 2003. It was the first time that the antitrust agency applied the Fair Trade Act on price fixing by shipping companies.



However, the Korea Shipowners' Association is protesting the decision for neutralizing the purpose of the Marine Transportation Act, vowing to file an administrative suit. Price-fixing by shippers has been recognized as an internationally permitted practice since the United Nations established the Liner code in 1974. Before then, global shipping companies used to undercut prices to bring smaller firms to bankruptcy and then raise freight rates sharply later, at the expense of cargo owners and consumers. Korea also revised its related law in this direction in 1978 and has since operated accordingly, the shippers' group said.



In response, the regulator maintained that the shippers' acts were illegal, as they failed to meet certain criteria permissible under the law. For instance, the shipping lines did not report to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries within 30 days after taking "collective action" and omitted adequate discussion with freight owners before making a report, it explained. However, the ministry took a different stance, saying, "Basically, there is no need to report occasional decision-making adjustments made within the specified range." Shippers are finding it difficult to know which rhythm to follow.



Bluntly speaking, it will be like the tail wagging the dog if regulators drop a penalty bomb under the pretext of minor procedural flaws. The ongoing controversy occurred when the fair trade law aimed at preventing trust and collusion collided with the maritime transport law that puts weight on the specificity of Korea as an export-led economy. If the regulator blocks the fixing of freight rates, it might erode the competitiveness of Korean shippers that are no match for their European rivals who are ready to play a game of chicken. Policymakers and legislators should amend the marine transport act and end the unnecessary confusion quickly.


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Boris Johnsons mask U-turn descended into chaos today after TfL and rail firms issued conflicting orders and shoppers ditched face coverings early.

The Prime Minister is scrapping all Covid restrictions in England, including compulsory face masks on public transport and in shops from next Thursday.

Already this morning, in an Asda supermarket in south London shoppers binned their masks and went bare faced.

John Lewis and Waitrose became the first major stores to confirm that masks are no longer necessary. A spokesman told MailOnline that it will suggest masks are worn, but stressed it will be down to individuals to make a personal choice.

However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned that face coverings will remain a condition of carriage on all TfL services including Tubes, buses, Overground trains, trams or river boats  meaning people without masks may be denied travel unless exempt.

TfL said that 500 officers and police partners will be out across the network in the coming days to ensure that customers continue to comply with the Governments restrictions until the law expires next week. The service warned that those who do not wear face coverings may be prevented from using our services or asked to leave the network.

But the threat of being fined if people dont cover their faces will be dropped next Thursday because it will be no longer legally enforceable. TfL has fined more than 1,800 commuters not wearing masks between November 30 and yesterday, a spokesman told MailOnline.

Messaging on masks threatened to collapse further into farce after the Rail Delivery Group said National Rail would only ask people to wear masks in busy indoor settings.

A spokesman for the group, which represents Britains train operators, confirmed this will be guidance, and not enforced, adding: Passengers should follow the government guidance and, as a courtesy to others, wear face coverings if an indoor setting is busy.

This creates the bizarre situation in London where masks will be required on some services but not others travelling on the same tracks between the same stations  because one is operated by Transport for London and the other is not.

For example, commuters travelling from Kensington Olympia to Shepherd's Bush will need to wear masks on Overground trains but not on Southern services.

Similarly, people going from Upminster to Barking will have to cover their faces on District line trains  but not on c2c.

Commuters cram into the carriage of a Jubilee line train at Waterloo station on the London Underground this morning

Commuters wear face masks as the travel on the Jubilee Line in East London during rush hour this morning

Commuters at Waterloo station in London make their way into offices today after advice to work from home was dropped

Shoppers in an Asda in south London chose not to wear face masks. The change in rule comes into force next week

A female shopper in an Asda supermarket in south London chose not to wear a face mask

The current face mask rule stickers from Transport for London, pictured today, are a common sight on Underground trains

Commuters wear masks as they stand or walk on an escalator at Waterloo station on the London Underground this morning

People wearing face masks walk past a Covid-19 mask rules poster at Piccadilly Circus station in London this morning

Data published by TfL shows commuter traffic in the past two years (January 2020-22). It reveals that the number of workers travelling by bus or Tube, and commuter footfall across the capital, remains way down on pre-Covid

Do you have to wear a mask on a train in England from next Thursday? Transport for London : Yes. Wearing a face covering will be compulsory as a 'condition of carriage' across all TfL trains including Underground and Overground services unless you are exempt. Those who do not comply could be denied entry or asked to leave.

Avanti West Coast : No

: No c2c : No

: No Caledonian Sleeper : No

: No Chiltern Railways : No

: No CrossCountry : No

: No East Midlands Railway : No

: No Gatwick Express : No

: No Grand Central : No

: No Great Northern : No

: No Great Western Railway : No

: No Greater Anglia : No

: No Heathrow Express : No

: No Hull Trains : No

: No LNER : No

: No London Northwestern Railway : No

: No Lumo : No

: No Merseyrail : No

: No Northern : No

: No South Western Railway : No

: No Southeastern : No

: No Southern : No

: No Stansted Express : No

: No Thameslink : No

: No TransPennine Express : No

: No West Midlands Railway : No

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The change in mask rules is likely to coincide with a surge in passenger numbers on public transport after the Government axed its WFH guidance.

Emma Gibson, director of transport watchdog London TravelWatch, said: Seven out of ten people say that they feel safer on public transport if other people are wearing face coverings.

This figure is even higher for older people and those who use public transport more regularly.

Different policies for wearing face coverings on the train and tube will inevitably lead to confusion for passengers.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the Transport Focus watchdog, added: We know people are divided between not wanting to wear face coverings, and not wanting to travel if they arent worn.

The lack of consistency on rules is likely to cause some uncertainty and confusion. It could also make enforcement trickier. Clear information before and during journeys will be key.

A British Transport Police spokesman told MailOnline: As has been the case throughout the pandemic, officers will continue with the 4Es approach of engage, explain, encourage and, as a last resort, enforce any coronavirus legal requirements.

We are confident that those using the railway will continue to act responsibly and play their part in protecting each other by complying with the requirement to wear face coverings not only on trains but also in stations, unless they are exempt.

Our officers will continue to be out across the rail network supporting rail colleagues, engaging with passengers, and encouraging people to wear face coverings.

The force said it could not confirm how many officers will be on patrol this weekend for operational reasons, but added that its policing response will remain the same as it has been throughout the pandemic until legislation changes.

Commuters in London told MailOnline they supported the Governments decision to scrap WFH guidance.

However, they also expressed concerns that the relaxation could lead to a spike in Covid cases.

David Dix, who works as a film extra and was travelling from Northfields station, west London said: I don't think Covid is that serious any more and it makes sense to lifetime the restrictions so we can get back to normal.

I know a lot of people who've had Covid and their symptoms have not been that bad. I've been travelling to work as normal and the trains are going to get a lot busier so we all should continue wearing masks.

Photographer Al Stuart, 60, said: I've been on four tube trains this morning and they were very busy. I'm sure they're going to get even busier from next week now that the work from home advice has been lifted.

I'm going to carry on taking precautions and wear a mask but it's the right time for normal life to resume.

William Rogers, 50, a church worker who was travelling from Richmond station said: I've been working all the way through but I do feel it's safe now for everybody to return to work, especially if people are wearing masks and regularly sanitising.

Daniel Myers, 33, an IT worker who was travelling to his office from Ealing Broadway in West London, said: It doesn't really affect me because I've been going into work despite the guidance.

We were given a choice and I don't like working from home. I think it's better for everyone that we all go back to work because it will help to get the economy moving again too.

But it's going to get a lot busier on the buses and trains and my worry is that it's going to increase the chances of catching Covid.

Sheila O'Rourke, 29, who works in a central London restaurant, said: We've got to get back to normal life so it's a good decision because we can't all stay indoors hiding from Covid.

I haven't stopped going to work because the restaurant has stayed open but it's a good decision, even though it might lead to an increase in Covid rates.

Commuters in London said they supported the decision to scrap WFH guidance. Left, Al Stuart. Right, David Dix

William Rogers, a church worker who was travelling from Richmond station said: I've been working all the way through but I do feel it's safe now for everybody to return to work, especially if people are wearing masks and regularly sanitising

A female shopper not wearing a mask at a shop on Regent Street in central London today

Shoppers on Regent Street in central London were divided over masks as some wore them and some went without

Commuters walk along the concourse at London Waterloo train station while others check information boards this morning

Commuters sit on a Northern line train during rush hour this morning as they make their way through London

Commuters walk through a passageway at London Euston train station during rush hour this morning

Commuters sit on a Northern line train during rush hour this morning as they make their way through London

Commuters wait for information on boards at London King's Cross station this morning after work from home guidance ended

People wear masks as they walk near a London Underground sign in Piccadilly Circus this morning

Commuters wait for a Northern line train during rush hour this morning as they make their way into London

So what is changing... and when will it happen? Your guide to the post-curb rules as Boris Johnson announces the end of Covid Plan B restrictions IMMEDIATELY WORKING FROM HOME The Prime Minister said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home. He called on people to speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office. FROM TODAY MASKS IN SCHOOLS From today, secondary school pupils will not have to wear face coverings in classrooms. The requirement to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas will end next Thursday, January 27. FROM NEXT THURSDAY MASKS IN PUBLIC PLACES From next Thursday, the Government will no longer legally mandate the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport. But they will continue to suggest masks should be worn in enclosed and crowded places where people could come into contact with those they do not normally meet. The Prime Minister said this meant the Government will 'trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one'. COVID PASSPORTS Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday. But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want. BY THE END OF THE MONTH TRAVEL An announcement is expected soon on scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test on returning to England. No 10 said the rules will be reviewed by the end of January. CARE HOMES Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days. At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents. BY MARCH AT THE LATEST SELF-ISOLATION Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24. He said this could happen even earlier, if the data allows. The legal requirement will be replaced with guidance that urges people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others. BY JULY FREE TESTS Free Covid lateral flow tests look set to be scrapped by July. People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven. Advertisement

But a lot of people are vaccinated and have had the booster so that will give us a lot of protection.

Station staff said they had noticed a significant increase in passenger numbers, though they expected that to change from next week.

A member of staff at Ealing Broadway said: The announcement on WFH has only just been made and I think a full return will start happening from next week.

It's not been a hectic rush hour this morning, but my worry is that you're going to see the usual madness pretty soon.

Passengers just have to make sure that they are wearing masks, which will still be a legal requirement because we don't want Covid cases to rise.

Paul Lambert, 44, who was travelling from Kew to his office in central London, said: I've been in and out of work for a while now since the last lockdown ended. I think it's a difficult decision, to send people back to work and I hope that that it's the right decision.

Jane Doe, 50, said: I stopped going to work during the previous lockdowns but have continued over the past few weeks. I think it's absolutely safe enough, especially for young people.

Sanjeev Sharma, 38 who works in an electrical company and was travelling to his office from Northfields Underground station, said: It's a good decision but I'm also a bit worried. I've been doing a mix of working from home and going into the office as have a lot of people.

The tubes and buses are going to get packed again although they weren't like that today and my worry is that more people are going to get Covid.

Neil Davies, who was travelling from Richmond station, said: As long as people are careful, I think it's OK for them to return to work, but we still have a long way to go.

It comes as John Lewis announced that masks are not necessary at its John Lewis and Waitrose stores.

A spokesperson told MailOnline it will suggest that people cover their faces, but stressed it will be down to individuals to make a personal choice.

We value the safety of our customers and Partners and continue to follow the latest Government guidelines, they added.

An Asda spokesman said the Governments guidance is being reviewed. He would not be drawn on when a decision and announcement will be made.

A Sainsburys spokeswoman said: Were reviewing the latest guidance and will keep colleagues and customers updated on any changes to the measures in our stores.

And a spokeswoman for Morrisons said the supermarket will be able to give a clearer view once official guidance has been reviewed.

Mr Khan said that wearing a face covering is one of the most important things people can do to prevent the virus from spreading, and insisted that the fight against the virus had not ended.

He said: 'Wearing a face covering is one of the single most important and easiest things we can all do to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and the Government should rethink their plans and keep legislation in place to make them mandatory on public transport as well as in shops and indoor public venues.

'This ensures the rules are clear and consistent and, crucially, means enforcement action can continue to be carried out on our transport network.

'If we have learnt anything from this pandemic, it is that we must not get complacent and undo all our hard work and sacrifices.

'That's why face coverings will remain a condition of carriage on Transport for London services. I'm asking everyone in our capital to do the right thing and continue to wear a face covering when travelling on TfL services to keep us all protected and to prevent further restrictions from being necessary later down the line.'

He was backed by Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association, who said: 'As ever our union puts public health first and we know that face coverings help reduce transmission of the virus and will give the public confidence on public transport.

'It's vital our brave transport members who have been on the front line of this pandemic continue to feel they are protected.

'Sadiq Khan is spot on when he says face coverings should remain beyond the end of Plan B, especially given the rates of infection we are still seeing.

'Clearly the Government should back this, not only for London but across the rest of our public transport network.'

The Prime Minister announced yesterday that England will return to Plan A restrictions after claiming 'our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally', and Plan B could therefore now end.

But on the subject of masks, a TfL spokesman said: 'We are grateful that the vast majority of people have followed the rules and helped control the virus and keep each other, and our staff, safe and we ask them to continue to do so.

'Our intention is to retain the condition of carriage requiring customers to wear face coverings at all times while travelling on our network unless exempt, which we have found plays an important role in giving people confidence to use public transport and to travel safely.

'Under this condition of carriage, those who do not wear face coverings may be prevented from using our services or asked to leave the network.

'The transport network is cleaner than ever, with an enhanced cleaning regime, hospital grade cleaning products, widely available hand sanitiser and UV light fittings on escalator handrails to kill viruses, and regular testing by Imperial College London has found no trace of coronavirus on our public transport network.

'We look forward to welcoming back our customers and helping the city recovery from the pandemic.'

And in an weekend travel information update to passengers issued this morning, TfL said: 'You must wear face coverings for the duration of your journey or risk being fined, unless you are exempt.

The Prime Minister announced yesterday that mandatory face masks will no longer be required across England from next week, while advice for people to work from home will be dropped immediately

How congestion levels have varied in England over the past week TODAY London 7am: 44% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (46%), UP FROM LAST WEEK (38%)

8am: 72% - UP FROM YESTERDAY (71%), UP FROM LAST WEEK (66%) Manchester 7am: 33% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (36%) UP FROM LAST WEEK (31%)

8am: 63% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (68%), UP FROM LAST WEEK (56%) Sheffield 7am: 31% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (34%), UP FROM LAST WEEK (53%)

8am: 59% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY, UP FROM LAST WEEK Birmingham 7am: 31% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (41%), NO CHANGE ON LAST WEEK (31%)

8am: 55% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (65%), DOWN FROM LAST WEEK (57%) Leeds 7am: 27% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (33%), NO CHANGE ON LAST WEEK (27%)

8am: 44% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (54%), DOWN FROM LAST WEEK (48%) Newcastle 7am: 22% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (26%), DOWN ON LAST WEEK (21%)

8am: 39% - DOWN FROM YESTERDAY (45%), DOWN FROM LAST WEEK (40%) Advertisement

'Additionally, face coverings should be worn by everyone in taxi and private hire vehicles for the duration of their journey. TfL's 500 uniformed enforcement officers and TfL's police partners will be out across the transport network ensuring that customers comply with the Government regulation. Anybody who does not comply may be refused entry, directed to leave the network or face a fine.'

Councillor Rachael Robathan, leader of Westminster City Council, said: 'Footfall remains sharply down in the West End and a key part of that is the fact commuters have stayed away in significant numbers. That has starved our stores, shops and bars of customers, so the lifting of work from home restrictions comes none too soon.

'For the past 18 months the Council has been doing everything it can to attract people back into the City - staging high profile free arts events, backing pop-up businesses in empty shops and continuing with the roll out of al fresco dining where local people support it. We are also pressing on with ambitious plans for a 150million redesign of Oxford Street to make it more attractive for visitors.

'It's the people who make a City - creating the buzz, enjoying the shops, bars and our world famous locations. I look forward to welcoming them back.'

It comes as the chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said people's behaviour will make a difference to declining or rising coronavirus cases.

Dr Susan Hopkins told a press conference in Downing Street that people mixing and socialising will 'need to do that carefully and within the guidelines'.

The Prime Minister announced yesterday that mandatory face masks will no longer be required across England from next week, while advice for people to work from home will be dropped immediately.

Dr Hopkins told the press conference: 'I think what we've seen is that case numbers have declined. It's people's behaviour that is going to make the difference over the next four weeks, on whether those case numbers continue to decline, stay the same, or rise.

'Clearly when you're working from home you have less social contact, but we're already seeing some people start to go back into the office and mix and socialise more.

'They need to do that carefully and within the guidelines, taking care particularly when they're on public transport, in indoor spaces and crowded places to wear face coverings; to test regularly if they're going back out and meeting people, particularly those who are more vulnerable; and finally to ensure that they've taken up that vaccination offer.'

Dr Hopkins added that 'the biggest response that we all have as individuals is to take our personal behaviour seriously and that really is driving towards vaccination uptake, as well as remembering to wear our face coverings when you're in closed spaces with people that you don't know'.

Charities described the move to end the mandatory wearing of face masks a 'risk' following the announcement.

Richard Kramer, chief executive of Sense, a charity for the disabled, said: 'Whilst for many, and thanks to the success of the vaccination programme, Covid-19 isn't a significant risk to their health, we must remember that many disabled people still remain much more at risk of severe illness and complications from the virus.

'The restrictions that are being lifted, such as compulsory mask-wearing on public transport, are in reality safety measures, and their removal comes with risk, which will increase anxiety for many.

'The Government's message is that the world is opening up and that we're going back to 'normal', but for many disabled people this isn't the case.

'Many people, who have been considered clinically extremely vulnerable have chosen to continue shielding after it was formally 'paused' as they have simply not felt safe to leave their homes.'

Henny Braund MBE, chief executive of the Anthony Nolan charity, said: 'Infection rates remain extremely high and ending Plan B restrictions in England will pose a serious and ongoing risk to blood cancer patients, who remain vulnerable to Covid-19.

'They may be forced to shield for their own protection - two years from the start of the pandemic - while the rest of society moves on.

'We urge Government to keep face masks mandatory as they are proven to reduce virus transmission. We are also calling for a dedicated lead for people who are immunocompromised, so that there is clear guidance and support to stop blood cancer patients from being left behind.'
The Government's antisemitism advisor has met with the BBC's director-general to express 'major concerns' over its reporting of a Hannukah bus attack and the Texas synagogue stand-off, sources say.

Lord John Mann and BBC boss Tim Davie met for nearly one hour at Broadcasting House in central London yesterday where, it is understood, the former said there could be 'a real problem' when it comes to coverage of anti-Jewish racism.

The pair discussed the outlet's coverage of two events - last year's Oxford Street Hanukkah bus threats incident and last weekend's Texas synagogue hostage crisis, Jewish News reports.

The BBC had sparked fury following its reporting of an anti-Semitic incident on Oxford Street on November 29, with video showing a group of men hurling abuse and spitting at a group of Jewish teenagers sitting inside a bus.

The incident was treated as a hate crime by police, but in its original report, BBC News said 'racial slurs about Muslims could be heard inside the bus'.

The claim was criticised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, and lawyers acting on behalf of the victims - who 'categorically deny' the slur was said - wrote to the corporation to contest it.

Mr Davie was eager to listen to the concerns raised by Mann over the BBC's reporting during their meeting at Broadcast House yesterday, sources say.

It is believed that Lord Mann also raised concerns that a BBC News at 10 broadcast did not mention the word 'antisemitism' in connection with the Colleyville synagogue siege.

Footage showed the group of Jewish teenagers dancing as they celebrated Hanukkah moments before the attack (left) on November 29. A group of men were seen shouting abuse and gesturing at the bus after the teenagers got on board

Lord John Mann (left) and BBC boss Tim Davie (right) met for nearly one hour at Broadcasting House in central London yesterday where, it is understood, the former said there could be 'a real problem' when it comes to coverage of anti-Jewish racism

UK terror police arrest two men after British terrorist, 44, was shot dead in Texas siege Two men were arrested in Birmingham and Manchester this morning as part of the probe into the Texas synagogue attack by British hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram. The siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, ended in gunfire on Saturday night with all four hostages released unharmed and Akram shot dead. Greater Manchester Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North West said in a joint statement issued at 8am today: 'Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West continue to support US authorities with their investigation into the events in Texas. 'As a result of this ongoing investigation, two men have been arrested this morning in Birmingham and Manchester. They remain in custody for questioning. CTP North West officers continue to liaise with and support colleagues from other forces.' The statement added: 'Communities Defeat Terrorism, and the help and support we get from the public is a vital part of that. 'So we would urge everyone to remain vigilant, and if you do see anything suspicious then please report it, in confidence, to police via the Anti-terrorist hotline or gov.uk/ACT. It won't ruin lives, but it may well save them'. Advertisement

A source said: 'John [Mann] really went hard on how important it is for the BBC to get that tone of reports on incidents like Texas right. To miss out the word ''antisemitism'' was a massive own goal by the BBC.'

A BBC spokesman said: 'We value feedback and constructive scrutiny of our programming and we will always listen and reflect on it. The Director-General was pleased to meet Lord Mann and it was a positive and productive discussion.'

Police are investigating the November 29 Oxford Street incident.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews commissioned its own independent report by forensic audio experts and a linguist which concluded there were no anti-Muslim insults.

It found the phrase thought to be a slur was actually a Hebrew phrase, 'Tikrah lemishu,ze dachuf' meaning: 'Call someone, it is urgent.'

Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl described the BBC's 'misreporting' as 'a colossal error', which 'has added insult to injury in accusing victims of antisemitism of being guilty of bigotry themselves'.

She continued: 'What takes this from an egregious failure to something far more sinister is the BBC's behaviour when confronted with its mistake. Instead of admitting it was wrong, it has doubled and tripled down.'

Ms Van der Zyl demanded the corporation publicly apologise, and said the Board of Deputies would be holding a meeting with Director General Tim Davie later this month, which will include 'a full and frank discussion of this issue'.

She said the corporation's behaviour 'raises serious questions about deep-seated biases within the BBC towards Israelis, and indeed towards Jews in general'.

At the end of last month, the BBC stood by its report of the incident, and a spokesman said: 'Antisemitism is abhorrent. We strive to serve the Jewish community, and all communities across our country, fairly.

'Our story was a factual report that overwhelmingly focused on the individuals the police want to identify; those who directed abuse at the bus.

Pictured: Malik Faisal Akram, at a Dallas homeless shelter on January 2. The siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, ended in gunfire on Saturday night with all four hostages released unharmed and Akram shot dead

Hundreds of Jews gathered outside Broadcasting House for a protest in December, with attendees holding banners and chanting 'BBC News where's the proof!' and 'BBC News tell the truth!'

'There was a brief reference to a slur, captured in a video recording, that appeared to come from the bus. We consulted a number of Hebrew speakers in determining that the slur was spoken in English.

'The brief reference to this was included so the fullest account of the incident was reported.'

Hundreds of Jews gathered outside Broadcasting House for a protest about the story last month, with attendees holding banners and chanting 'BBC News where's the proof!' and 'BBC News tell the truth!'
A bungling British Army soldier has been kicked out of the military after admitting arson and causing 1,600 in damage when he tried getting high off his own boot polish.

Lance Corporal David Thomas, 28, accidentally sparked a blaze at Tidworth Garrison, Wiltshire, when he became 'disorientated' after sniffing the fumes from the burning tin.

Unbeknownst to him, the boot polish then set fire to a sofa in the common room where he'd lit it, setting off the smoke alarm and forcing fellow squaddies to put the blaze out with a fire extinguisher.

LCpl Thomas admitted causing 1,600 worth of damage after setting the sofa ablaze and 'scorching' the carpet and has now been dismissed from the Army after pleading guilty to arson.

Bulford Military Court, Wilts, heard that the incident took place in nearby Tidworth Garrison in January 2020 when LCpl Thomas decided to get high using the polish.

Certain shoe polishes are classified as 'dangerous goods' due to their high flammability and can release toxic fumes when set alight.

Lance Corporal David Thomas, 28, became disorientated after sniffing the fumes from the burning tin and dropped it on the floor at Tidworth Garrison, Wiltshire, before he wandered off, a court martial heard

Unbeknownst to LCpl Thomas, the boot polish then set fire to a sofa in the common room where he'd lit it at Tidworth Garrison (pictured), setting off the smoke alarm and forcing fellow squaddies to put the blaze out with a fire extinguisher

Major John Griffiths, prosecuting, explained how the potentially dangerous situation unfolded.

'The location for the fire was the service live-in accommodation block at Tidworth Garrison,' he said.

'On that day (January 16 2020) LCpl Thomas, who was living in the block, went to one of the common rooms on the ground floor and decided to get himself a legal high by setting fire to and sniffing shoe polish.

'He lit it inside the tin and became disorientated, and the shoe polish fell to the floor.'

After returning to his room upstairs in a haze, the fire alarms would later be set off after smoke started erupting from the sofa in the common room.

Eyewitnesses had reported LCpl Thomas as 'acting suspiciously', and having got rid of his shoe polish, according to the prosectutor.

Maj Griffiths added: 'During interview he explained he had tried to get high and should have checked on what had happened.

'In terms of damage the cost totals 1,625.11.'

'Reckless' LCpl Thomas smiles as he is dismissed from the British Army after admitting arson and causing 1,600 worth of damage

Bulford Military Court, in Wiltshire, (pictured) heard that the incident took place in nearby Tidworth Garrison in January 2020 when LCpl Thomas decided to get high using the polish

Dismissing the 'reckless' soldier Judge Advocate Alistair McGrigor told him: 'You were in a very troubled state of mind due to both your personal and professional life.

'You decided to get high by sniffing shoe polish in the common room of your accommodation.

'You became disorientated and dropped the tin on the floor. It scorched the floor and an old sofa.

'Luckily, it was spotted and extinguished - but, clearly, you were reckless in your actions.

'Your behaviour and the potential consequences means that you and the Army must part ways.

'We have also considered whether compensation should be ordered but we have had sight of the items damaged, which already looked extremely tired, and have been told you are without money at this time.'

Defending, Andrew Stone told the court martial LCpl Thomas had found a new job at a garage and was looking forward to starting a new life outside of the military.

Despite calls for a compensation order to be made from Maj Griffiths, the court heard LCpl had little more than '10' to his name and was also the subject of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement to pay off his debts.

He was dismissed from the military and given an 18 month community order.
A Royal Military Police officer wept in court today as he was convicted of sexually assaulting a female soldier by putting his penis on her shoulder, a court martial heard.

Corporal Edward Gadd had asked the woman to have sex and, after she refused, he tried to 'bargain' with her to carry out other sex acts at Pirbright Army Training Centre in Woking, Surrey.

The woman told the court that after turning down his suggestions, she saw Cpl Gadd's penis out of the corner of her eye as he touched her shoulder with it before trying to get her to rub it.

The woman also accused Cpl Gadd of groping her breast and slapping her bottom but he was found not guilty of sexual assault on these two charges.

Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, heard the woman rejected his sexual advances before he started 'bargaining' with her by offering her peace and quiet for sex.

The court heard he would have left her alone for four weeks if they had 'full sex' or for three weeks if she gave him oral sex.

She again refused his advances, but he took out his penis and placed it on her shoulder when she was not looking, the court later heard.

The woman again told him no, and she claimed he then said he was 'horny' and went into her bathroom before she chastised him about his actions - a conversation she recorded on video.

Cpl Gadd denied assaulting her and said that although he asked for sex, when she said no 'that was the end of it.'

Corporal Edward Gadd (pictured), of the Army Training Centre Pirbright in Woking, Surrey, had asked the woman to have sex and after she refused he tried to 'bargain' with her to carry out other sex acts

Cpl Gadd, who enjoyed a 10-year career with the Royal Military Police and earned an operational service medal for his role during the Afghanistan War, will now be sentenced for one count of sexual assault at a hearing in February.

The trial had heard Cpl Gadd and the woman were known to one another at the time and that day he was at her home while she did her make up.

The court heard she was kneeling in front of a mirror that was propped against her bedroom wall as she talked to Cpl Gadd who was sat on her bed.

Prosecuting, Commander Pete Barker said: 'He reached again from behind her and squeezed her breast, she noticed around 30 seconds later the tip of his penis by the right side of her face on her shoulder.

'She moved forward and turned around and saw he had pulled his penis out of his trousers and it was erect. He tried to make her move her hand on his penis and she told him to get off.'

The woman told the court: 'He came in [to my bedroom] while I did my make up in front of the mirror.

'So, I was facing towards the wall and he was just sat on the bed. He said we should have sex and I said no.

'He then started bargaining with me with sexual acts that became less intimate. I said no to all his suggestions.

'I saw his penis to my right side. He was not fully naked but it touched my shoulder.

'He had pulled his trousers down. I saw it in my peripheral vision and I turned around at that point and said "get off" but he tried to rub my hand on there. So, I pulled it away.

'I told him it was unacceptable behaviour.'

Cpl Gadd, who enjoyed a 10-year career with the Royal Military Police and earned an operational service medal for his role during the Afghanistan War, will now be sentenced for one count of sexual assault at a hearing in February

The woman told the court that after turning down his suggestions, she saw Cpl Gadd's penis out of the corner of her eye as he touched her shoulder with it

Cpl Gadd had denied three counts of sexual assault at Bulford military court (pictured). He will now be tried in a criminal court for one count of sexual assault

She told the court he then went to her bathroom and she confronted him about his actions when he returned.

In a conversation she recorded in a video, she asked him 'do you know what was wrong with what you did?' and he replied 'everything'.

That evening she texted Cpl Gadd to tell him not to come to her home again and blasted him for 'putting it on me when I wasn't looking after I said no'. Cdr Barker said Cpl Gadd 'immediately apologised' when she said this.

In an interview with police about the incident, Cpl Gadd said: 'I did ask for sex, I will admit that, however she said no. I am not stupid, I am a Royal Military Police officer. She said no and that was the end of it.'

When asked by police about the alleged touching of her breasts and buttocks, he said: 'Honestly I cannot remember at all, I have no recollection of that. I did not do it.'

When asked whether he put his penis on her shoulder, Cpl Gadd said he only touched her shoulders when she asked him to moisturise her back, adding: 'This is mental. I did not do it. I rubbed her shoulders.

'Why would I put my penis on her shoulder? It did not happen. I did not touch her with my penis. This is ridiculous.'
A father who repeatedly stabbed his own daughter before being shot down by armed police during a psychotic episode is suing the NHS for over 1m in a unique court case, claiming doctors botched his mental health treatment.

Marc Traylor used two knives to attack and seriously injure his 16-year-old daughter, Kitanna, after taking her hostage at their home in Hersden, Kent, while suffering psychotic delusions, in February 2015.

The attack by her father ended when police intervened to shoot him three times, but Miss Traylor suffered multiple stab wounds to her right arm, chest, right leg and stomach and was left with a torn bowel plus lacerations to her liver, colon and spleen.

Marc Traylor, 47, was shot by specialist firearms after he stabbed his daughter Kitanna repeatedly during a siege at the family home in Kent in February 2015 while suffering a psychotic episode

Kitanna Traylor, pictured, suffered extensive injuries during the attack. She and her father are suing the NHS over failures in his mental health care which they allege contributed ot the attack

Now, in a unique move, Traylor, 47, is suing his local NHS team - the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust - claiming negligence by medics who changed his anti-psychotic medication and failed to properly monitor him in the community led him to attack his daughter.

London's High Court heard that Traylor was on medication, having been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in 2012, with delusions that he was being poisoned and that people were trying to kill him.

During the attack after taking his now 22-year-old daughter hostage in the family home, he began smiling at her in a 'devilish and chilling' fashion and telling her: 'I want to end it' before 'flying across the room in a blur and stabbing her,' Mr Justice Johnson heard.

He was later tried for attempted murder in November 2016 at Canterbury Crown Court but found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The police gunshot wounds which ended the knife attack left Traylor with brain injuries affecting his mobility and ability to eat, drink or dress independently.

His lawyers now say his breakdown and the attack would have been avoided had he stayed on slow-release 'depot injections,' rather than switching to self-administered oral tablets for his medication.

The court heard that if Traylor had been properly assessed and advised while remaining on the correct medication, the incident would not have happened.

He also alleges that he should have been properly monitored while in the community 'the events of February 2 2015 would not have occurred'.

Miss Traylor is also suing the NHS for breaches of her rights under the Human Rights Act, alleging NHS staff failed to act to ward off the 'real and immediate risk to life' posed by her father.

Lawyers say their claims in the High Court are valued at over 1 million.

Police surrounded Traylor's house and searched for evidence after he was taken to hospital

But defence QC, Mr Bishop, argued that it would be morally wrong for Traylor to receive a cash pay-out for his own act of violence.

The 'effective cause of his loss is his own conduct', argued Mr Bishop, noting that a key factor behind Mr Traylor's loss of control was his own decision to stop taking his meds.

The available evidence suggested that Mr Traylor 'did not take a single tablet after his final depot injection on June 5, 2014 as a direct result of which he suffered the psychotic episode that led to the terrible events of February 8, 2015'.

Mr Bishop added: 'Even if the defence of insanity absolved Mr Traylor of all criminal responsibility his behaviour in deciding not to take his medication with full capacity and knowledge of the risks - and then to repeatedly lie about it - is behaviour that is "quasi-criminal" and so reprehensible that the law should deny him a remedy on the grounds of legal or public policy.'

Traylor had been sectioned and treated in hospital between December 2012 and June 2013, and a year later he told his psychiatrist that he would be switching from injections to oral medication to prevent further psychosis.

Lawyers for both Mr Traylor and his daughter accept that by law he could not have been forced to take any more jabs as he was judged to have mental 'capacity', but they say he should have been 'strongly advised to stay on the depot injection medication'.

Before the psychotic episode which led to the shooting, Traylor was being treated by the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust

Mr Traylor was also discharged from 'secondary mental health care' in December 2014 and from community mental health care on February 6 2015 - just two days before his horrific attack.

The case continues.
Statistics from health service also show NHS staff absences due to Covid have fallen 40 per cent in a week

And around 7,000 of the 14,600 Covid patients in England are so-called incidental admissions, data shows

Just 1,200 of London's nearly 3,000 Covid patients were primarily being treated for the virus (40.7 per cent)

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Six in 10 hospitalised Covid 'patients' in London are now primarily being treated for other ailments, according to official statistics.

NHS England's most up-to-date figures, released today, show almost 3,000 beds were occupied by patients who were infected with the virus on January 18. But just 1,200 were mainly unwell with the coronavirus, with the others treated for separate conditions.

The proportion of patients who are incidentally infected has fallen in line with explosion of Omicron, illustrating how the current wave is milder than previous surges.

And the picture is similar nationally, with just 7,600 of England's 14,600 Covid 'patients' primarily being treated for something else  meaning 47.9 per cent are so-called incidental cases.

Pressure on the NHS is already receding. Daily admissions peaked towards the end of December at around half the level seen during the spike last winter.

The downward trends spurred ministers to lift the remaining curbs, with guidance to WFH ending yesterday, while Covid passes for some large events and requirements to wear masks in public are being dropped next Thursday.

In another promising sign, statistics from health service also reveal NHS staff absences due to Covid have fallen 40 per cent over the past 10 days, mirroring the overall trend in infections. Fewer than 30,000 medics were off sick because of the virus on January 16, compared to nearly 50,000 on January 5  considered the peak of the health service's workforce crisis.

However, the NHS warns incidental cases still put a strain on hospital resources because they have to be isolated from non-infected patients. Around 2,000 beds were out of use in recent days because of measures in place to stop the spread of the virus.

And medics warn that Covid can exacerbate other conditions that people are admitted for, even if it is not the primary illness they are receiving care for.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, warned health service staff have 'many tough months ahead' due to Covid, higher than usual staff absences and the pandemic-fuelled backlog which reached a record 6million in November.

Just 40.7 per cent of Covid patients in London and 52.1 per cent of those in England were primarily receiving treatment for the virus, while the remaining patients tested positive but were admitted for other reasons. The proportion is the lowest recorded since the NHS began recording the data in October and highlights the increasing number of incidental cases due to the high prevalence of the virus in the community

NHS England data shows 2,962 patients in hospitals across London had tested positive by January 18 (pink line). But just 1,206  40.7 per cent  were hospitalised because they were unwell from the virus (blue line)

Of the 14,588 Covid patients in hospitals across England on January 18 (pink line), just 7,605 (blue line) were primarily receiving care because they were unwell with Covid

NHS England data shows 2,962 patients in hospitals across London on January 18 had tested positive for the virus.

But just 40.7 per cent (1,206) were primarily being treated for the virus  the lowest proportion recorded since the health service began publishing the data.

For comparison, before super-mutant Omicron took off in November, 83.8 per cent of patients who tested positive in London  the epicentre of the outbreak  were mainly ill with Covid.

UK Covid cases are down by a fifth in a week and falling in every age group except under-18s, symptom-tracking survey claims Britain's Covid cases are down by a fifth in a week and falling in every age group except the under-18s, according to a symptom-tracking survey. King's College London scientists estimated 144,527 people were catching the virus on any given day last week, equivalent to one in 27 now having the virus. This was down from 183,364 in the previous seven-day spell. Every region was now seeing its outbreak shrink, they suggested, with cases only rising among the under-18s because of the 'back to school' effect. Professor Tim Spector, who leads the study based on daily reports from 800,000 Britons, heralded today's promising statistics as 'great' but urged the nation to be sensible because cases remained high. Reams of official statistics point to Britain's Covid outbreak now being in a downward spiral, with daily cases now having dropped week-on-week for 14 days in a row. There are also signs that hospitals have passed the peak of their pressure, with admissions now beginning to point downwards while the number of Covid patients on wards plateaus. The number of patients in intensive care has barely risen and Covid deaths are still static. The promising figures have given Boris Johnson the confidence to do away with 'Plan B' restrictions, lifting strenuous curbs on daily life including work from home and vaccine passports. The Prime Minister has also announced  amid a round of upbeat messages following the partygate scandal  that the legal requirement to self-isolate after catching Covid would be scrapped on March 24. And as part of No10's 'exit strategy' from the pandemic, free Covid lateral flow tests will be ended from July. Advertisement

The proportion of true Covid cases began tumbling in the weeks after Omicron was first detected in the UK on November 27.

The figure dropped to 70 per cent on Christmas Eve, 60 per cent by New Year's Eve and 50 per cent in the first week of 2022, with incidental cases taking off as the variant spread rapidly across the country and tens of thousands infections were confirmed every day.

Hospitalisation figures in the capital sparked concern after they increased five-fold in a month. Ministers were said to be watching London's admission rates to measure whether more restrictions were needed in the run up to Christmas.

And modelling from SAGE scientists indicated that hospitalisations in England could reach 3,000 per day if extra measures beyond Plan B  work from home guidance, Covid passes and face masks in shops and on transport  were not brought in.

But UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data shows daily admissions in England peaked at 2,370 on December 29 and are now falling, with around 1,800 admissions on January 17.

And NHS England data shows incidental cases are also trending upwards nationally as well as in London, with nearly half of Covid patients receiving care for other illnesses.

Of the 14,588 Covid patients in hospitals across England on January 18, just 7,605 (52.1 per cent) were primarily receiving care because they were unwell with Covid, the lowest rate recorded by the NHS, meaning 47.9 per cent of cases were incidental.

Before Omicron emerged, NHS medics confirmed around three-quarters of patients were admitted because they were unwell with the virus.

In another sign the Omicron wave is subsiding, the number of NHS staff off work due to the virus has dropped 40.8 per cent in less than two weeks.

Before Omicron emerged, around 12,000 NHS staff were off work per day due to the virus, accounting for one in five absences within the health service.

This figure skyrocketed to 49,941 on January 5 at the peak of the Omicron wave, equating to 53.4 per cent of all absences.

But as the Omicron wave has subsided  with daily infections dropping to around 93,000 per day compared to the peak of nearly 220,000 on January 4  just 29,517 staff are off work due to Covid, accounting for 42.9 per cent of sick days.

Professor Powis, NHS national medical director, said despite 'numbers are going in the right direction', NHS staff have 'many tough months ahead' due to 'competing demands'.

He said: 'While staff absences remain high and continue to increase in some parts of the country  it is good to see they have been reducing week on week.

King's College London scientists estimated one in 27 people in the UK were now infected with Covid. This was down to

Commuters head to work as WFH is scrapped Commuters in England headed back into offices today after Boris Johnson dramatically scrapped all Covid Plan B restrictions - although city centres are unlikely to get back to normal for some time with some companies expected to wait months before bringing staff back in. Road congestion levels in London were at 72 per cent in the morning rush hour between 8am and 9am today, slightly up from 71 per cent yesterday but a bigger rise on 66 per cent last Thursday, according to TomTom. But it was more a mixed picture in other cities, with rush hour morning congestion in Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle down compared to yesterday and last Thursday - while the figure in Manchester and Sheffield was down from yesterday but up on last Thursday. Transport for London said Underground usage this morning to 10am increased by 8 per cent compared to last Thursday, with 1.09million entries and exits, while buses were up 3 per cent in a week with 1.19million taps. The Prime Minister has demanded civil servants get back to the office and set an example to the country after lifting working from home restrictions yesterday - but they appear to still be avoiding going into work. When pressed by MailOnline if staff have returned to the office, a Home Office spokesman confirmed he was still WFH. He refused to say if he has received an email from senior mandarins telling civil servants to come back to Whitehall. He added that guidance throughout the pandemic had explicitly discouraged civil servants from 'coming into the office under any circumstances'. The Department of Health and Social Care refused to say if staff have returned to the office. A spokesman from the FDA union representing civil servants did not know if mandarins had been instructed to come back in. It comes as FDA general secretary Dave Penman tweeted today: 'It's insulting because the PM said 'back to work' when everyone's continued to work hard whether from home or the office. And it's a strange world when Tory ministers feel able to lecture private enterprise on how to run their businesses.' Advertisement

'The number of people in hospital for both Covid and non-Covid care remains high, and arrivals at A&E via ambulance increased by more than 2,000, even as the largest and fastest vaccination programme in NHS history is boosting the nation and helping to protect people from the virus.

'Despite everything they have to manage, hardworking staff continue to provide routine care to patients, including rising numbers of routine checks, and they are determined to do more, so the public can help us by coming forward for care when they need it and getting their life saving Covid jabs.'

And Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said the figures highlight 'how intense pressures are in the health service, despite the fall in Covid cases nationally'.

Some data is 'moving in the right direction' but staff absences are 'still much higher than at the start of December' and figures for ambulance handover delays and bed occupancy show the NHS is 'at full stretch', she said.

'And while the Government has announced an easing of Covid restrictions, they must continue to keep an eye on the pressures in the NHS, the scale of the challenge ahead to recover from the pandemic, and make calculations based on the future level of risk,' Ms Deakin added.

It comes as one of the country's top epidemiologists said infections are falling 'rapidly'.

Professor Tim Spector, the King's College London scientist behind the Covid symptom tracking app ZOE, said: 'It's great to see cases falling rapidly. In just two weeks, the number of new cases per day has fallen around 31 per cent from its peak of over 211,000 to under 145,000.'

Latest estimates from the study  based on reports from more than 800,000 Britons  show 144,527 people were catching the virus on any given day last week, down on the 183,364 who were thought to be getting infected every day in the previous seven-day spell.

Every region was now seeing its outbreak shrink, they suggested, with cases only rising among the under-18s because of the 'back to school' effect.

It comes after Boris Johnson yesterday lifted work from home guidance with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, face masks are no longer needed in schools from today and rules requiring the public to wear them in shops and on transport will be lifted from January 26.

However, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he would continue to wear one for at least the next week because cases remained high.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'Will I be wearing a face mask? Yeah, I think I probably would be in a weeks time.

'Because prevalence is still high and there will be people there, especially if I am going to my local shop which is small and enclosed and can have quite a few people in there at one time in quite a small space, I dont know most of those people, I think that would be sensible.

'I think it will be sensible on the tube in London, for example  quite an enclosed space.

'People will be asked to make their own personal judgment just as we do in fighting flu.'


A couple who were almost conned out of their life savings in an elaborate scam have opened up about their horror at losing everything before their bank saved the day.

Sydney couple Cassie and Dennis Aviles were in the final stages of purchasing their new family home when they received an email that appeared to be from their solicitor.

The email requested the couple transfer $1.1million to a Commonwealth Bank account to finalise the sale of their new house.

Cassie and Dennis Aviles (above) were in the final stages of purchasing their new Sydney family home when they received an email that appeared to be from their solicitor

The email not only used their solicitors name and company but also had attached all of the contracts the couple had signed throughout the transaction and asked for $1.1 million to finalise the payment of a home

The couple and their three young children had just sold their home in Beaocn Hill on the Northern Beaches home ahead of the move.

'I've gone to the branch and transferred all our money only to find out it was some kind of scam account' a tearful Ms Aviles told Nine News through tears.

'They said they were not sure if they were going to be able to retrieve it for us.'

The scam email not only used the name of their solicitor and the company he works for but also had all the contracts they had signed during the transaction attached.

So the couple went ahead with the transfer and unknowingly called their solicitor to let him know they'd sent the payment, not knowing they'd been scammed.

'He just yelled into the phone "call the bank straightaway",' Ms Aviles recalled.

'I'm not somebody that would fall for this type of thing - I see this kind of scam on the TV and say "oh how could they fall for that?"'

How the scammer managed to get ahold of the couple's documents is still unknown, and their solicitor, Tanveer Khan, said he had never seen a scam like it.

The couple and their three children had only just sold their Northern Beaches home and the scam stole 'almost everything'

Fortunately St George and Commonwealth Bank were able to freeze the funds and recover the couple's money

But the couples' bank St George and Commonwealth Bank were able to freeze the funds and will able to return the missing money, thanks to the early notice.

St George told Nine News: 'email compromise scams are on the rise, and we encourage our customers to remain vigilant.

'In this case, being notified of the scam early has allowed us to work with another financial institution to investigate the issue quickly and work to return the missing money to our customers.'

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson also urged anyone who believes they have made an incorrect payment to contact the bank immediately.

'Your financial institution will always try its best to recover funds, and the best chance of this is when action is taken as soon as possible.'

Mona Vale police are currently investigating the case.
Former pope Benedict XVI has expressed 'shock and shame' at child sex abuse carried out in his diocese in the 1980s after a report found he knowingly failed to take action against the priests involved.

Benedict - who was the archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982 - has 'strictly' denied any responsibility in the four cases of abuse, said lawyer Martin Pusch of Westpfahl Spilker Wastl (WSW), which was commissioned by the church to carry out the probe.

The ex-pontiff's assistant Georg Ganswein told Vatican News: 'The Pope Emeritus, as he has already repeated several times during the years of his pontificate, expresses his shock and shame at the abuse of minors committed by clerics.'

He added that Benedict had no knowledge of the content of the report until this afternoon.

But the experts do not consider this credible, Pusch said.

Two of the cases where Benedict allegedly failed to act involved clergymen who had committed several proven acts of abuse but were allowed to continue with pastoral duties, Pusch said.

An interest in the abuse victims was 'not recognisable' in Benedict, he added.

In one case, a now notorious paedophile priest named Peter Hullermann was transferred to Munich from Essen in western Germany where he had been accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy.

Hullermann was reassigned to pastoral duties despite his history and continued to reoffend for many years.

A bombshell report has accused former Pope Benedict (pictured during a weekly audience in the Vatican when he was the pontiff) of misconduct over his handling of four cases of sexual abuse by priests while he was an archbishop in Germany

The law firm, which was commissioned to draw up the report by the Munich archdiocese, said that Benedict - whose civilian name is Josef Ratzinger (pictured in the Vatican after being elected Pope in April 2005) - strongly denies any wrongdoing

Benedict, 94 - whose civilian name is Josef Ratzinger - in 2013 became the first pope to step down from the role in 600 years and now lives a secluded life in a former convent inside the grounds of the Vatican.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni emphasised that it must still examine the report, 'the contents of which are not currently known', but reiterated the Vatican's 'sense of shame and remorse for the abuse of minors committed by clerics'.

Pusch said Benedict had initially shown a 'defensive attitude' when responding to questions for the investigation. However, he later changed his attitude and gave a detailed written statement.

The Munich report, which examined the years 1945 to 2019, found indications of sexually abusive behaviour in 235 people it investigated, including 173 priests.

The lawyers also accused Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the current archbishop of Munich and Freising, of failing to act in two cases of suspected abuse.

Marx had last year offered Pope Francis his resignation over the church's 'institutional and systemic failure' in its handling of child sex abuse scandals.

However, Pope Francis rejected his offer, urging the cardinal known for his reforms to stay and help shape change in the Catholic Church.

The reformist Catholic group 'Wir sind Kirche' (We are Church) said the report offered 'frightening insights into the lack of sense of responsibility of clerical office holders'.

It called on Benedict to 'face up to his ecclesiastical and moral responsibility instead of making more and more denials that are not very credible'.

The Catholic Church has been embroiled in a series of sexual abuse scandals in countries around the world, including Australia, Chile, France, Ireland and the United States.

In Germany, a string of reports in recent years have exposed widespread abuse of children by clergymen.

Benedict, (pictured in 1980) who served as the archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982, also approved the transfer of a suspected paedophile priest to the archdiocese to undergo therapy in 1980

A study commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference in 2018 concluded that 1,670 clergymen in the country had committed some form of sexual attack against 3,677 minors between 1946 and 2014.

However, the real number of victims is thought to be much higher.

Another report published last year exposed the scope of abuse committed by priests in Germany's top diocese of Cologne.

The abuse scandal has thwarted the Catholic Church's efforts to spearhead broad reforms in Germany.

It counted 22.2 million members in 2020 and is still the largest religion in the country, but the number is 2.5 million fewer than in 2010 when the first major wave of paedophile abuse cases came to light.

Payouts for victims of abuse were increased in 2020 to up to 50,000 euros ($56,700), from around 5,000 euros previously, but campaigners say the sum is still inadequate.

Matthias Katsch, a spokesman for the Eckiger Tisch victims' group, called the report 'shocking'.

It was 'impressive and very moving' to see the lawyers 'take apart this edifice of lies that has been erected to protect Benedict XVI', he said.

The report also faulted the current archbishop, a prominent ally of Pope Francis, in two cases.

The archdiocese and the law firm said that top church officials were informed of the results ahead of its publication. The archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, declined an invitation to attend the presentation.

In an extraordinary gesture last year, Marx offered to resign over the Catholic Church's 'catastrophic' mishandling of clergy sexual abuse cases, declaring that the scandals had brought the church to 'a dead end.'

Francis swiftly rejected the offer but said a process of reform was necessary and that every bishop must take responsibility for the 'catastrophe' of the abuse crisis.

In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014.

More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys. However, the real number of victims is thought to be much higher.

In recent months, turbulence in the Cologne archdiocese over officials' handling of abuse allegations has convulsed the German church.

The current Munich archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, (pictured in February 2019) declined an invitation to attend the presentation

A picture of three Church officials investigated in the report was posted on the side of a van at a demonstration ahead of the report's release today in Munich

A report last year found that the archbishop of Hamburg, a former Cologne church official, neglected his duty in several cases in handling such allegations, but Francis rejected his resignation offer.

That report cleared Cologne's archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, of wrongdoing. But Woelki's handling of the issue infuriated many Catholics.

He had kept under wraps a first report on church officials' actions, drawn up by the same firm that produced the Munich report, citing legal concerns.

In September, the pope gave Woelki a several-month 'spiritual timeout' after what the Vatican called 'major errors' of communication.

Marx, a reformist who sits on powerful financial and political committees at the Vatican, has been the archbishop of Munich and Freising since 2008.

The abuse scandal has thwarted the Catholic Church's efforts to spearhead broad reforms in Germany.

It counted 22.2 million members in 2020 and is still the largest religion in the country, but the number is 2.5 million fewer than in 2010 when the first major wave of paedophile abuse cases came to light.

Payouts for victims of abuse were increased in 2020 to up to 50,000 euros ($56,700), from around 5,000 euros previously, but campaigners say the sum is still inadequate.

Ahead of the publication of the Munich report, the Eckiger Tisch victims' group called for 'compensation instead of hollow words'.

'Far too many children and young people have fallen victim' to a system 'shaped by abuse of power, intransparency and despotism', said Matthias Katsch, a spokesman for the group.
Downing Street offered the Queen a Covid exemption for Prince Philip's funeral to allow more mourners to attend but she said no because she wanted to set an example to the nation, it was claimed today.

Number 10 offered to temporarily lift some of the Covid rules in place at the time of the funeral on April 17, 2021, according to Private Eye magazine.

But the offer was rejected by the Queen as the funeral went ahead with strict limits on the number of people who could attend.

The Queen sat alone  socially distanced from her family  as she mourned her husband.

Number 10 apparently contacted Buckingham Palace after the Duke of Edinburgh died on April 9 to make the offer.

Two social events were then held in Downing Street just seven days later on the eve of the funeral.

The latest claims pile more pressure on Boris Johnson over the Partygate row after he publicly apologised to the Queen earlier this week.

Downing Street offered the Queen a Covid exemption for Prince Philip's funeral to allow more mourners to attend but she said no because she wanted to set an example to the nation, it was claimed today

The claims pile more pressure on Boris Johnson over the Partygate row after he publicly apologised to the Queen earlier this week over social events in Downing Street on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral

England was in step two of Mr Johnson's lockdown exit roadmap at the time of the funeral.

That meant funerals were allowed to have up to 30 attendees while wakes were restricted to 15 people.

There was also a ban on non-household socialising indoors while the rule of six applied to outdoor gatherings.

Two parties were held in Number 10 on April 16, 2021, as the country was in a period of mourning after the death of the Duke.

The Prime Minister, who was at Chequers at the time of the parties, apologised to the Queen on Tuesday this week as he appeared emotional when he was asked about the incidents.

He could be heard breathing heavily behind his face mask when asked for his response to the events.

'I deeply and bitterly regret that that happened,' he said.

Downing Street had previously confirmed that an apology had been offered to Buckingham Palace after the parties came to light, but that was delivered through officials.

Mr Johnson publicly apologised to the Queen as he faced the cameras at Finchley Memorial Hospital in north London.

He said: 'I can only renew my apologies both to Her Majesty and to the country for misjudgments that were made, and for which I take full responsibility.'

The Telegraph reported that advisers and civil servants gathered after work for two separate events on April 16, 2021.

The events were to mark the departures of James Slack as Mr Johnson's director of communications and also one of the Prime Minister's personal photographers.

The two events are said to have started separately and later merged.

The newspaper reported accounts from witnesses who said alcohol was drunk and guests danced to music, with a person sent to a local shop with a suitcase to buy wine. Mr Slack, now the deputy editor-in-chief of The Sun, has apologised.

Downing Street has been contacted for comment over the claim it offered the Queen a Covid exemption for the funeral.
A primary school teacher who was sacked after mocking parents' Asian accents and calling colleagues 'fat sl**s' has had her unfair dismissal and age discrimination claim thrown out by an employment judge.

'Bully' Iqbal Khanem hurled racist and homophobic insults at fellow members of staff at New Christ Church Primary School in Reading, Berkshire, branding them 'bloody lesbians'.

Miss Khanem - who the tribunal heard was of Asian origin herself - also mocked Asian parents by mimicking their accents, a tribunal heard.

The experienced teacher, who taught children as young as five, also left pupils in their 'soiled' clothes for 45 minutes and let one cry unattended for 20 minutes.

Miss Khanem, who was also said to have made a child change their clothes in front of the rest of the class, claimed she was subject to a 'witch hunt' when she was subjected to disciplinary proceedings.

She insisted her derogatory language towards staff was just 'light-hearted banter' and said her strict style of teaching was acceptable even if not 'fashionable'.

She was sacked for gross misconduct in May 2019, but appealed the decision, saying the disciplinary process was a 'character assassination' and 'smokescreen' for the real reason for her dismissal - the cost of her salary.

Miss Khanem tried to sue the school for age discrimination by claiming bosses targeted her because she is over 50 and on an expensive salary.

But an employment tribunal in Reading threw out her case and criticised her behaviour.

Teacher Iqbal Khanem was sacked from New Christ Church Primary School in Reading (pictured) in 2019 after hurling racist and homophobic insults at fellow members of staff

The tribunal heard Miss Khanem worked at the school from February 2014 until her dismissal in May 2019, when she was teaching a year one class of children aged between five and six.

In November 2016, it was alleged Miss Khanem made a child 'get changed into different clothes in front of the rest of the class' and she received complaints she was 'sarcastic', 'very negative' and 'rude' with pupils.

She was taken through a disciplinary process which culminated in a six-month verbal warning and a referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).

After an inspection in 2018, inspection officers raised concerns of 'neglect' after Miss Khanem left a new starter child crying 'loudly and uncontrollably' for a period of 'at least 20 minutes'.

That same month the tribunal was told another child in Miss Khanem's class wore soiled clothes for at least 45 minutes, leading to a second LADO referral.

The following month a parent complained their child had 'wet themselves' in class the day before and arrived home having not been changed, with the young girl saying Miss Khanem had not allowed her to go to the toilet.

Miss Khanem became 'angry' and 'defensive' and accused the child of lying and 'attention seeking', later confronting the girl to quiz her over why she had 'lied' to her parents.

A teaching assistant told the tribunal the child was 'completely scared', 'extremely upset' and in tears when she was excluded from an entire 'Golden Time' - an hour-long 'free-play' session.

These incidents led to Miss Khanem's third LADO referral - referrals which were understood by the tribunal to be 'rare'.

Upon the third LADO referral a disciplinary process began, during which further allegations of discriminatory language used against colleagues were made.

The tribunal was told various members of staff suggested Miss Khanem had acted in a way that was 'racist, homophobic and derogatory' and could be viewed as 'bullying'.

This included Miss Khanem referring to a colleague as a 'lesbian' and saying 'bloody lesbians', as well as regularly using the term 'fat sl**s'.

Miss Khanem argued teachers over 50 were 'targeted' once an academy has taken over a school, as it was cheaper to hire newly qualified teachers who receive lesser salaries.

Her appeal was unsuccessful.

Rejecting her claims of unfair dismissal and age discrimination, Employment Judge Rebecca Eeley ruled Miss Khanem's age had had nothing to do with the decision to sack her.

She said: 'Miss Khanem seemed to think that academies often used capability procedures to manage older teachers out of employment. Miss Khanem's dismissal was not because of age.

'The dismissal was, on the evidence we have heard, solely because of her conduct (which formed the basis of the disciplinary case against her).

'Miss Khanem's age was not an effective cause of the dismissal. It was not a material factor. It made no contribution to the decision.

'There was clear evidence of her mocking Asian accents by imitation. She imitated/mocked the children's parents. The fact that Miss Khanem is herself of Asian origin is irrelevant; it is still unacceptable behaviour.

'She [also] accepted that she referred to 'fat sl**s'. This was yet another derogatory term. It was alleged that she used it regularly.

'At the very least Miss Khanem should have realised that her comments were derogatory and would be viewed as such.

'The real reason for dismissal was the evidence collected in the disciplinary process. Age had nothing whatsoever to do with it.'

The judge added: 'It is apparent to the tribunal that she would be likely to behave [towards children] in the same way again in the future. She believes that this is her style of teaching and that it is legitimate even if it is not currently fashionable.'
By Casey Lartigue Jr.





Last year at this time, I was in the process of gathering more than 900 pages of notes. My grand plan? Release a book in 2022 marking my 10th anniversary of working with North Korean refugees. As former champion boxer Mike Tyson has said, however: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."



My professional career has been focused on empowering others. The person who has said it the best is a South Korean lady named Cecilia (her father, Hwang Won, was abducted to North Korea in 1969): "You are the person who makes invisible people visible. You listen to people, find out what they need, and try to find people who can help them so their voices can be heard. I finally feel that I have the power for my voice to be heard."



I have passed up opportunities to be highlighted to focus on empowering others. Most notably, in 2015, a documentary director wanted to do a feature about me being a black man who had come to South Korea to work in solidarity with North Korean refugees. "That sounds like a wonderful story," I informed the documentary team, "but that's not what happened."



I could write a book later, accurately and on my own terms when I have more free time and had accomplished more. Lee Eun-koo and I were setting up an organization empowering and educating North Korean refugees with English, public speaking, and career development.



Then COVID-19 hit and I was left with more free time to write.



As I was organizing my notes and outline last year, I got punched in the mouth when a North Korean refugee asked me to co-author her memoir. Songmi Han had joined our organization in late 2019 as a student studying English (not public speaking). We hired her as a special assistant in early 2021.



It turned out that the quiet lady who rarely talked about her life in North Korea had some humorous stories to tell. I asked her one day if she had considered writing a book. "My story is too sad, no one wants to read it," she would insist, even as she often had me laughing out loud.



Her reasoning? She was neither a celebrity nor a YouTuber. She hadn't been part of North Korea's elite and didn't know about North Korea in general.



She later told me that after talking it over with her mother and thinking more deeply about it that she wanted to try. She told me some of the personal reasons that were motivating her.



She was worried, however, about a few things. One, she didn't want to talk about the North Korean regime or politics. Two, she feared having to do much media or public speaking (she had never given an interview or a speech).



Then, she punched me in the mouth. "Others have said I should write a book, but I said no without considering it. You are the only person in the world that I trust to tell my story. I can only write it if you help me."



Uppercut. Hit the pause button on my own book, click back into empowerment mode.



We started working on her book, but she still wasn't convinced anyone would want to read it. I started a pre-order campaign to test if people were interested. She was surprised when a few people pre-ordered the book. Then when 100 people had ordered the book in advance through our website, she felt more confident, announcing on her social media with a small following that she was writing a book. When we hit 650 pre-orders, I was surprised with her new confidence level that she didn't completely take over the book and dump me.



Selling 650 books in advance won't get her on the New York Times best-seller list, but she never imagined when she was struggling in North Korea that anyone would be interested in her story.



Our organization's mission is to empower North Korean refugees to engage in public speaking, and it was happening before my eyes quite dramatically. She explained: "Life has been happening to me. For the first time, I feel like I am making life happen."



Songmi will be making her public speaking debut next month timed with the release of her book, "Greenlight to Freedom." She has sent two thank you notes to people who ordered the book in advance.



So what about my book? I suspect that I will have more than 1,000 pages to sort through.



Punched in the mouth, I will instead focus on 2023 marking the 10th anniversary of empowering and educating North Korean refugees through the organization I co-founded with South Korean Lee Eun-koo.

Getting punched in the mouth doesn't mean that I got knocked out.





Casey Lartigue Jr. is co-author along with Songmi Han of the forthcoming book, "Greenlight to Freedom," and co-founder along with Eunkoo Lee of Freedom Speakers International (FSI).


Long-haul carrier Emirates today said it would resume its Boeing 777 flights to the U.S. by Saturday after halting its use of the aircraft there over an ongoing dispute over the rollout of new 5G services in America.

But the airline warned that a 'long-term resolution' is needed following the launch of 5G.

The warning comes as Republicans blasted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Biden administration for 'sleepwalking' through the long awaited, yet disastrous, rollout of 5G technology.

Dubai-based Emirates, which flies only the Boeing 777 and the double-decker Airbus A380, was among international carriers which cancelled early flights or switched to different planes on Wednesday following warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing over possible interference from the new 5G signals.

But the FAA later told airlines there was no longer a problem with the operation of the Boeing 777, leading them scrambling to resume their flights.

Emirates said it would resume its Boeing 777 service to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle on Friday.

Flights to Boston, Houston and San Francisco, which saw Emirates deploy its Airbus A380 jumbo jet, will resume Boeing 777 flights on Saturday.

Emirates President Tim Clark, who has slammed the 5G fiasco as the 'most delinquent, irresponsible' mess he has seen in his 50-year aviation career and blamed it on Buttigieg, apologized to the airline's customers for the disruption.

'Safety will always be our top priority, and we will never gamble on this front,' Clark said. 'We welcome the latest development which enables us to resume essential transport links to the U.S. to serve travelers and cargo shippers.'

But Clark warned: 'However, we are also very aware that this is a temporary reprieve, and a long-term resolution would be required.'

This graphic shows how the wireless spectrum used by 5G networks could interfere with altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude and is especially important for low-visibility operations. The CEOs of the airlines have asked officials that the 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways at some key airports

An Emirates Airlines Boeing 777 lands at Logan International Airport in Boston, March 10, 2014

AT&T and Verizon launched their 5G network across America on Wednesday morning, switching on 4,500 towers to bring faster wireless to their customers. They had to hold back on ten percent of the towers - 500 - that are near airports because the frequencies the towers emit could interfere with the signal on some planes.

Eighty-eight airports now have buffers to protect against it but some major airports like Boston and Memphis do not. In the most recent FAA announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the government said '62 percent' of flights could operate safely - leaving nearly half to reschedule.

On Wednesday, some airline passengers who were unaware of the fiasco showed up at airports ready to board their flights but were told they had been canceled.

Air India, Emirates, BA, Japan Airlines and All Nippon canceled flights on Tuesday, then rushed to bring them back on Wednesday following new FAA advice saying the Boeing 777 was safe to use.

In total, 473 flights to, from and within the US have been canceled so far, according to tracking website FlightAware. It's unclear if all have been scrapped because of 5G, but the network launch is causing major issues.

Republicans have blamed Buttigieg and the administration for the botched rollout, with GOP members of transportation and technology-related congressional panels releasing a joint statement Wednesday claiming the Biden administration 'sleepwalked' the process.

'The Biden administration has failed to provide any leadership to find a solution to this spectrum issue,' the statement reads. 'The U.S. government has hardworking experts who can address any outstanding technical issues, but instead of leading, the White House has sleepwalked through this botched process.'

'By lurching from one arbitrary deadline to the next with no clear plan or strategy for resolution, this Administration's negligence continues to delay finding a lasting solution that improves our everyday wireless communication while protecting aviation safety.'

The letter was signed by four Republicans  Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves from Missouri; Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Garret Graves from Louisiana; Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington; and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta from Ohio.

Texas Republican Representative Beth Van Duyne tweeted of the disaster: 'The airline industry has been hit hard by authoritarian vaccine mandates and staffing shortages. The last thing it needs is failed leadership on the 5G rollout.'

Buttigieg and the administration also faced some backlash from within their own party for the fiasco.

Democratic Representative Sharice Davids tweeted Wednesday: 'Glad to see that Verizon and AT&T have agreed to delay 5G deployment around key airports. Our main priority as Congress is safety, and this solution allows the vast majority of wireless deployment to continue while protecting passengers and cargo from delays and disruption.'

A group of Republicans who head up the minority in transportation and technology-related committees and subcommittees slammed the administration for it's disastrous 5G roll out. They wrote: 'The U.S. government has hardworking experts who can address any outstanding technical issues, but instead of leading, the White House has sleepwalked through this botched process'

Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne slammed the administration for 'failed leadership' leading to a slew of flight cancelations due to the roll out

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr also blasted Biden on Wednesday.

'The Biden Administration's botched handling of C-Band 5G offerings highlights a failure of competent leadership,' he wrote on Twitter. 'The White House walked back a Biden-brokered infrastructure agreement after just two weeks.'

'This is a bad deal,' he assured.

'The Biden Administration could have stood up and sided with science,' Carr continued. 'They didn't. Their silence paved the way for a pressure campaign timed to maximize the chances that Administration officials would cave. They did.'

'Running a dysfunctional process does not promote air safety or America's 5G leadership.'

The president of Emirates has slammed the 5G fiasco as the 'most delinquent, irresponsible' mess he has seen in his 50-year aviation career and blamed it on Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who he says knew about the impending chaos but failed to warn anyone in time to stop it.

Eighty-eight airports now have buffers to protect against it but some major airports like Denver, Atlanta, Boston, Memphis do not.

In the most recent FAA announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the government said '62 percent' of flights could operate safely - leaving nearly half to reschedule.

Sir Tim Clark, the president of Dubai-based Emirates, appeared on CNN Wednesday and said that U.S. airlines knew about the risks of 5G on the Boeing 777 before the rest of the world's airlines.

He said it forced Emirites and other international airlines to scramble to cancel flights - before bringing them back once FAA gave approval for more types of planes to land in low visibility near 5G signals, including the Boeing 777.

U.S. airline CEOs - who have lucrative contracts with the government - are praising it for reaching a negotiation with the telecoms giants, and reserving all criticism of why it took so long.

Clark said: 'Let the truth be known, we were not aware of this until yesterday morning to the extent that it was going to compromise the safety of operation of our aircraft and just about every other 777 operator to and from the United States and within the United States. It came to a head, it was known by the US operators probably a little bit more than we knew.

'We have evidence of letters being written to the Secretary of Transport in the US government alerting that group to what was likely to happen and its consequences.

'I need to be as candid as I normally am and say this is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues, I've seen in my aviation career because it involves organs of government, manufacturers, science.'

Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, appeared on Bloomberg Wednesday to blame the shambolic situation on the Biden administration, which greenlit the 5G rollout without addressing the safety fears of the aviation industry first. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not been able to offer a solution to the fiasco and the airlines say they weren't even made aware of the risks until Monday

Buttigieg - who took two months of paternity leave late last year - has not issued a comment on the fiasco since yesterday, when he said the government was 'aware'

'The notion that, for instance, the United States government should sell its franchise for all the frequencies for a large amount of money...somebody should have told them at the time - that the risks and the dangers they placed in certain frequency uses around field, airfields, metropolitan fields that should have been done at the time,' Sir Tim fumed.

'We were aware of a 5G issue. Okay. We are aware that everybody is trying to get 5G rolled out after all it's the super cool future of whatever it may be communication and information flow.

'We were not aware that the power of the antennas in the United States have been doubled compared to what's going on elsewhere.

'We were not aware that the antenna themselves have been put into a vertical position rather than a slight slanting position, which when taken together compromise not only the radio altimeter systems, but the flight control systems on the fly-by-wire aircraft.

'So on that basis we took that decision late last night to suspend all our services until we had clarity.'

Delta Chief of Operations John Laughter, in a statement on Wednesday, reserved criticism of the US government.

'We're continuing to work with the FAA, the FCC and the telecom industry to find a practical solution that will allow for the rollout of 5G technology while preserving safety and avoiding flight disruptions.'

United said: 'We're pleased the Biden Administration reached a compromise with AT&T and Verizon to avoid mass cancellations across the aviation industry. We look forward to a higher level of coordination between the regulators, telecom companies and the aviation industry to ensure that customers are not faced with disruptions going forward.'

British Airways, Emirates, All Nippon and Japan Airlines, had canceled dozens of their scheduled flights to and from the US or put people on different flights using different aircraft.

Air India canceled flights on Tuesday and are yet to put people on other services.

Jageish Rathor, who was due to fly to Delhi from Newark this morning, arrived at the airport to learn the flight had been canceled.

'They say the flight is canceled until further notice.

'I' traveling to Deli, Air India. They say the flight is canceled until further notice. They're saying some kind of 5G network...the agent told me the flight canceled.

'They want to charge me $400 extra to get on a flight tomorrow.

'I am from New Jersey, I spent $70 on an Uber to come here, I didn't get an email or message. I just found out when I got here

'I'm supposed to go to my niece and nephew's wedding two days after today, and I can't get there.'

He was among dozens of people in the same position.

Now, as a result of the halt, the airlines - which are based in different time zones and heard the news at varying times throughout the night - are scrambling to resume Boeing 777 flights.

The result is a thickening headache at airports where the chaos is playing out in cancelations, staff shortages and a lack of the right planes in the right place at the right time.

United Airlines has canceled 20 flights in and out of Newark already on Wednesday. British Airways canceled all its 777 flights to New York, Boston and L.A.X from London, putting passengers on different aircraft. The airline is now working to resume those flights.

'Safety is always our priority. We are monitoring the situation in the US closely and will continue to review our schedule in the next few hours.

'We're disappointed that some of our customers are facing potential disruption and will update them as soon as possible on any changes to their travel plans,' a spokesman told DailyMail.com.

Japan Airlines announced that it is working to resume flights to the US, a day after issuing a blanket cancelation on all of its services.

'On January 18, 2022, Boeing has notified us that 5G signals for U.S. mobile phones, which will begin operating in the U.S. on January 19, may interfere with the radio wave altimeter installed on the Boeing 777.

'Based on that information, we were forced to cancel some flights to the U.S. mainland on January 19.

WHICH AIRPORTS DON'T HAVE BUFFERS? The government will not provide a full list of the major airports that normally welcome 777s but won't be able to without a 5G buffer. They have issued a list of the airports that do have buffers, from which these airports are missing; BOSTON MEMPHIS ATLANTA DENVER HONOLULU NEW ORLEANS Advertisement

'Today on January 19, we have received confirmation from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) that there is no longer a problem with the operation of the Boeing 777 and we will resume service to the U.S. mainland with Boeing 777 from January 20.

'We will continue to monitor the situation closely and if there is any impact on our flight operations, we will promptly announce it on our website,' the airline said in an announcement on its website.

Emirates, which had canceled all flights to nine US airports indefinitely, has now shortened that list.

It will still not operate flights to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando, and Seattle, but some flights to San Francisco and Boston are back on the schedule.

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10 percent of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said.

But details of the agreement, including the length of the pause for the rollout, and a solution were not disclosed.

Lacking an immediate solution, passengers and airlines are bracing for further delays and cancellations as the travel chaos shows no sign of stopping.

Scores of people have now been left stranded at airports, with many complaining on social media about their flights being cancelled due to the 5G rollout.

One passenger, identified as Siddhartha on Twitter, complained that he and other passengers were 'not happy' that their Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco had been cancelled.

Travelers were seen crowded together at Indira Gandhi International Airport as they waited for more news.

Another passenger, identified as Kausi on Twitter, was left frustrated after they were told their Emirates flight to Chicago had been cancelled as soon as she landed in Dubai.

Kausi complained that she and other passengers were not left 'stuck' in airports.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines warned passengers of cancellations and long delays as a result of the 5G rollout.

Delta said they are 'planning for the possibility of weather-related cancellations caused by the deployment of new 5G service in the vicinity of dozens of U.S. airports starting as early as Wednesday.'

People at the Air India customer service desk after a Delhi flight was cancelled at JFK Airport, Queens, New York, on Wednesday

Stranded: Passengers who were due to fly to Delhi on an Air India flight from Newark arrived at the airport on Wednesday morning to learn it had been canceled

An empty check-in at the British Airways counter at JFK. The airline had to scrap its 777 flights to the US on Wednesday morning and put those passengers on other flights. A spokesman told DailyMail.com the airline was 'disappointed' by the disruption caused to the service

Cancellations are seen on boards at JFK Airport, Queens, New York. January 19 2022. All Nippon Airways canceled all its US flights on Tuesday to heed the FAA warning, then announced on Wednesday that some were being brought back. The British Airways flight to Heathrow tonight was canceled

TIMELINE OF 5G TRAVEL CHAOS MONDAY: Airline CEOs beg Biden administration to intervene in AT&T and Verizon's rollout, citing safety fears that 5G tech will interfere with radio altimeter technology on Boeing 777s TUESDAY MORNING: Boeing issues warning to international airlines that 5G signal will interfere with their planes Airlines like Emirates, Japan Airlines and All Nippon make arrangements to cancel their 777 flights bound for America, or put people on different aircraft TUESDAY AFTERNOON: AT&T and Verizon agree to halt the rollout of some of their towers near some airports. They won't say which airports or how long they have agreed to pause it for. WEDNESDAY: 5G launches across America - excluding near some airports. Airlines overseas scramble to get the 777 jets they'd grounded back up and running. The chaos results in delays and disruption in other airports and airlines Advertisement

United Airlines told customers on a flight from Denver to Houston that a three-hour delay was a result of the new 5G systems, according to a notice on its website. It also suggested customers with any concerns reach out to the Federal Communications Commission.

A major issue for airlines has been their use of the Boeing 777 model, a long-range, wide-body aircraft, which is said to be particularly affected by the 5G signals. It has prompted cancellations and a mad dash to change the aircrafts.

Japanese major airline All Nippon Airways said it would be cancelling some of its flights and changing the Boeing 777 aircraft used on some U.S. flights.

But on Wednesday morning, the airline announced the flights would be resumed.

'As the launch of the 5G service in the U.S. has now been partially postponed, operation of ANA flights from Jan. 20 will follow the normal schedule based on FAA notification that there is no safety issue with the operation of Boeing 777 aircraft to the U.S. airports that we serve.

'We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers,' they said.

Meanwhile, British Airways opted to switch aircraft on its daily flight to Los Angeles to an Airbus A380 from the usual Boeing 777 service, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

And Korean Air Lines, South Korea's biggest airline, switched four passenger planes from Boeing 777s to 787s and two cargo planes from 747-8s to 747-400s overnight, and will continue to avoid operating 777s and 747-8s at affected U.S. airports, spokeswoman Jill Chung said.

Germany's Lufthansa also swapped out one kind of 747 for another on some U.S.-bound flights

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said it is deploying different types of airplanes where necessary to the affected airports and that its flights to the United States have not been affected so far. Taiwan's EVA Air also said it had taken 'contingency measures to ensure flight safety,' without elaborating.

The airlines said they were acting in response to a notice from Boeing that 5G signals may interfere with the radio altimeter on the 777, leading to restrictions.

Industry sources said Boeing had issued technical advisories noting potential interference, but that flight restrictions were in the hands of the FAA, which has for now limited operations at key airports unless airlines qualify for special approvals.

But Air France said it planned to continue flying its Boeing 777s into American airports. It did not explain why it didn't change its aircraft as many other carriers have.

All Nippon Airways has resumed flights to the US after canceling them due to the 5G security fears

Japan Airlines is resuming flights on 777s to the US as a result of the telecoms giants halting the launch of 5G near some airports at the last minute

HOW DOES 5G AFFECT PLANES? AT&T and Verizon have spent tens of billions of dollars to license the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz frequency range for the new high-speed C-Band 5G service. The C-band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 gigahertz (GHz), although the US Federal Communications Commission has designated 3.7-4.2 GHz as C band too. The problem is that wireless spectrum used by 5G networks could interfere with radio altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude - especially important for low-visibility operations. Airlines fear that C-band 5G signals will disrupt planes' navigation systems, particularly those used in bad weather. This interference with radio altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude, could lead to the loss of radar altitude information or, worse, incorrect radar altitude information unknowingly being generated, they say. It is not seen as a problem in Britain or Europe, according to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority, Ofcom and EU Aviation Safety Authority. All three insist there is no evidence 5G interferes with aircraft systems. However, in Europe 5G networks work in the 3.4-3.8GHz spectrum so regulators on this side of the Atlantic don't appear as concerned about it being close to the 4.2-4.4GHz band for radio altimeters. It seems the basis for US airlines' fears is that mobile networks' traffic from the top edge of 3.98GHz might bleed into the neighbouring altimeter band. 'The issue is that the C-band frequency used for 5G in the US is a little bit close to the frequencies used by altimeters,' Roslyn Layton, vice president at Strand Consult, told Tech Monitor. The radio altimeter is a critical aviation safety technology that indicates the airplane's height and supports safe landing. It operates in the 4.2-4.4 GHz spectrum band; cell phones are currently not permitted to operate in that band or any nearby band to prevent interference. However, if telecommunication authorities reallocate the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for 5G, the risk of interference could increase. The airlines want 5G signals to be excluded from 'the approximate two miles of airport runways at affected airports as defined by the FAA on 19 January 2022'. This would ensure that no airplanes are affected by the 5G interference, they say. There have been fatal accidents associated with incorrect radar altitude, most recently Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 in Amsterdam in 2009. The FAA has warned that potential interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as altimeters and make an impact on low-visibility operations. So this threat could compromise key safety systems and result in suspended passenger and cargo flights. For passengers, flights may be cancelled or have to be diverted to other airports if 5G towers are deployed too close to airport runways. But most aviation regulators are content the risks posed by 5G to planes are low, according to Layton. 'This whole thing is unhelpful for the world's airport regulators,' she said. 'They have blessed this technology years ago, so what does it look like when the FAA all of sudden says 'there's a problem'? It's really inconvenient and a bit embarrassing.' AT&T and Verizon have agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks. In the UK, Ofcom said the country had had 5G deployments and other services in the bands near to radio altimeters for years and there have been no known cases of interference. Similarly, other countries are already using these frequencies for 5G and other wireless services with no reported incidents of interference to aviation equipment. The issue in the US is that it's about to deploy these services, so there's concerns of the effects deployment may have. Advertisement

A spokesman for Boeing had no immediate comment.

Similar 5G mobile networks have been deployed in dozens of other countries - sometimes with concessions like reducing the power of the networks near airports, as France has done. But in the U.S., the issue has pitted the FAA and the airlines against the Federal Communications Commission and the telecoms companies.

The 5G service uses a segment of the radio spectrum that is close to that used by radio altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground and help pilots land in low visibility. The FCC, which set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use, determined that it could be used safely in the vicinity of air traffic.

AT&T and Verizon have said their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics.

But FAA officials saw a potential problem, and the telecom companies agreed to a pause while it is addressed.

AT&T and Verizon on Tuesday agreed to temporarily defer turning on some wireless towers near key airports in a bid to avert further disruption to U.S. flights.

President Joe Biden hailed the agreement, saying it 'will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.'

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10 percent of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said. Details of the agreement, including the length of the pause, were not disclosed.

Both Verizon and AT&T will launch 5G on Wednesday elsewhere in the country bringing faster speeds to tens of millions of people.

The row erupted on Monday when US airline CEOs begged the Biden administration to stop AT&T and Verizon from rolling out their C-band 5G technology.

The telecoms giants had been planning to launch the technology across the US on Wednesday, turning on 5,000 towers across the country that will bring Americans' faster internet speeds, including 500 which the airline industry say pose a threat to flight safety.

Both AT&T and Verizon have reluctantly agreed to halt turning on those towers of concern until a resolution can be found, in order to avoid a mass cancelation of flights across America and travel chaos that would up end the already distressed supply chain and scupper consumer travel.

It seemed to appease domestic airlines but did not calm international fear.

The FAA has said it will allow planes with accurate, reliable altimeters to operate around high-power 5G. But planes with older altimeters will not be allowed to make landings under low-visibility conditions.

Part of the problem, according to the FAA, are the signal strength of the 5G towers and the orientation of their antennae.

'Base stations in rural areas of the United States are permitted to emit at higher levels in comparison to other countries which may affect radio altimeter equipment accuracy and reliability,' the FAA said in December.

The FCC's chairwoman said in a statement that the 5G 'deployment can safely co-exist with aviation technologies in the United States, just as it does in other countries around the world.'

Emirates has now canceled flights to Boston, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle.

In its announcement, Emirates cited the cancellation as necessary due to 'operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the U.S. at certain airports.'

'We are working closely with aircraft manufacturers and the relevant authorities to alleviate operational concerns, and we hope to resume our U.S. services as soon as possible,' the state-owned airline said.

The United Arab Emirates successfully rolled out 5G coverage all around its airports without incident, like dozens of other countries. But in the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration worries that the C-Band strand of 5G could interfere with aviation equipment.

Of particular concern in the 5G rollout appears to be the Boeing 777, a major workhorse for Emirates, which only flies that model and the Airbus A380 jumbo jet. Its Mideast competitor, Qatar Airways, anticipates 'minor delays' on return flights from the U.S. but says otherwise its dozen U.S. routes are operating as scheduled.

All Nippon and Japan Airlines have canceled all of their Boeing 777 flights to the US, and they say they did so at the request of Boeing.

'Boeing has announced flight restrictions on all airlines operating the Boeing 777 aircraft, and we have cancelled or changed the aircraft for some flights to/from the U.S. based on the announcement by Boeing,' a statement from All Nippon Airways said.

All Nippon cancelled 20 flights to the U.S. over the issue to cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Japan Airlines similarly said that it had been informed that 5G signals 'may interfere with the radio altimeter installed on the Boeing 777.'

'We will refrain from using this model on the continental United States line until we can confirm its safety and we regret to inform you that we will cancel the flight for which the aircraft cannot be changed to the Boeing 787,' the airline said. Eight of its flights were cancelled on Wednesday - three passenger trips and five for cargo.

Boeing has not confirmed that it has given the order to airlines to ground their US 777s.

It's unclear exactly how many flights have been canceled so far, or how many more will be.

The 777 last year was the second-most used widebody plane on flights to and from U.S. airports with around 210,000 flights, behind only the 767, according to data from FlightRadar24.

Industry sources said Boeing had issued technical advisories noting potential interference, but that flight restrictions were in the hands of the FAA, which has for now limited operations at key airports unless airlines qualify for special approvals.

Radio altimeters give precise readings of the height above the ground on approach and help with automated landings, as well as verifying the jet has landed before allowing reverse thrust.

Air India, which serves four U.S. destinations with Boeing 777s, has canceled flights to and from Delhi to and from New York, San Francisco and Chicago, and between Mumbai and Newark 'due to deployment of the 5G communications' equipment. It said it would try to use other aircraft on U.S. routes as well.

Choi Jong-yun, a spokeswoman of Asiana Airlines, a South Korean carrier, said the company hasn't been affected so far because it uses Airbus planes for passenger flights to the U.S. and doesn't use the affected Boeing planes to transport cargo.

However, Choi said airlines have also been instructed by the FAA to avoid automatic landings at affected U.S. airports during bad weather conditions, regardless of plane type. Asiana will redirect its planes to nearby airports during those conditions, she said.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been unable to offer a solution to the fiasco.

Aviation officials fear that 5G signals near airports could interfere with certain airplane instruments, including the radio altimeter used to gauge altitude

'We recognize the economic importance of expanding 5G, and we appreciate the wireless companies working with us to protect the flying public and the country's supply chain,' said Buttigieg.

'The complex U.S. airspace leads the world in safety because of our high standards for aviation, and we will maintain this commitment as wireless companies deploy 5G,' he said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that 5G wireless interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as radio altimeters, which are crucial aids to pilots landing in low-visibility operations.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement the FAA 'has a process in place to assess altimeter performance in the 5G environment and resolve any remaining concerns. It is essential that the FAA now complete this process with both care and speed.'

The telecoms giants say they do not understand why the US has not been able to find a workaround when other countries have been able to launch.

The 5G signals that Verizon and AT&T want to emit are stronger than those in Europe.

Despite the delay, some international airlines are already canceling flights to the US out of an abundance of caution.

The list of 50 airports with 5G buffers that should be protected AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTL LAURENCE G HANSCOM FLD BOEING FLD/KING COUNTY INTL BIRMINGHAM-SHUTTLESWORTH INTL NASHVILLE INTL BOB HOPE AKRON-CANTON CHARLOTTE/DOUGLAS INTL DALLAS LOVE FLD DALLAS-FORT WORTH INTL DETROIT METRO WAYNE COUNTY ELLINGTON EWR NEWARK LIBERTY INTL FRESNO YOSEMITE INTL FORT LAUDERDALE/HOLLYWOOD INTL FLINT MICHIGAN WILLIAM P HOBBY NEW HAVEN GEORGE BUSH INTCNTL/HOUSTON INDIANAPOLIS INTL LONG ISLAND MAC ARTHUR JOHN F KENNEDY INTL HARRY REID INTL LOS ANGELES INTL LAGUARDIA LONG BEACH (DAUGHERTY FLD) KANSAS CITY INTL ORLANDO INTL HARRISBURG INTL CHICAGO MIDWAY INTL MCALLEN INTL MIAMI INTL MINNEAPOLIS-ST PAUL INTL/WOLD-CHAMBERLAIN ONTARIO INTL CHICAGO O'HARE INTL SNOHOMISH COUNTY (PAINE FLD) PALM BEACH INTL PHILADELPHIA INTL PHOENIX SKY HARBOR INTL ST PETE-CLEARWATER INTL PITTSBURGH INTL RALEIGH-DURHAM INTL FREDERICK DOUGLASS/GREATER ROCHESTER INTL SEATTLE-TACOMA INTL SAN FRANCISCO INTL NORMAN Y MINETA SAN JOSE INTL JOHN WAYNE/ORANGE COUNTY ST LOUIS LAMBERT INTL SYRACUSE HANCOCK INTL TETERBORO Advertisement

It's unclear how long the FAA and airlines now have to resolve their safety concerns.

AT&T is now demanding to know why the FAA - a government body - waited so long before sounding such alarm.

'We are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner.'

Despite the urgency conveyed by the CEOs of American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as officials from FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, Transport Secretary Buttigieg has yet to make a public statement about the issue ahead of Wednesday's rollout.

Of 88 airports that could be affected around the country, there are currently 50 with 5G buffers around them to reduce the interference of 5G.

The FAA has not named the remaining 38 affected airports.

Despite the buffer, the airports could still face 5G interference.

If any of the 88 airports experience bad weather, where altimeters are a necessity, the FAA and U.S. airlines said flights would be cancelled, diverted or delayed.

Allied Pilots Association spokesperson Dennis Tajer echoed the airlines' concerns and urged the cellular companies to push back the 5G rollout.

'This is reckless, it's dangerous, and it's got to stop,' Tajer told the Today Show on Tuesday.

'Take a pause. This is about a cellphone signal, and we're focused on protecting lives.'

The warning comes after airline International airports and airlines have also begun warning customers to check if their trips to the U.S. will be cancelled or delayed due to the 5G launch.

Although the FAA approved 48 of the 88 airports most directly affected by 5G to use two radio altimeters to avoid confusion on Sunday, it ultimately issued an order to all pilots to avoid using the instruments because they could still face issues.

The buffer zones call for the 5G towers to be located at least two miles away from airports and to limit the towers' heights.

'Even with the approvals granted by the FAA..., U.S. airlines will not be able to operate the vast majority of passenger and cargo flights due to the FAA's 5G-related flight restrictions unless action is taken prior to the planned January 19 rollout,' Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta Airlines and FedEx, told Reuters.

As of Tuesday morning, the stocks for American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines remained stable with a small upward trend.

AT&T and Verizon, which won nearly all of the C-Band spectrum in an $80 billion auction last year to launched their 5G services, had agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks and take other steps to cut potential interference for six months.

'Even with these new approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected,' the FAA warned in a statement.

'The FAA also continues to work with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems. Passengers should check with their airlines if weather is forecast at a destination where 5G interference is possible.'

Despite the worries in America, 5G's possible effects on planes has not been a major concern in Europe.

Last month, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement that 5G emission's won't harm British airlines.

'Conversations with [national aviation authorities] has established that there have been no confirmed instances where 5G interference has resulted in aircraft system malfunction or unexpected behavior,' the agency said, adding that it will continue to monitor the issue.

AT&T and Verizon told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that they were not commenting on the issue at this time.

On Monday, the CEOs of American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as officials from FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, wrote a letter to government officials urging them to pause the launch of 5G.

The CEOs warned that a significant number of widebody aircrafts will become unusable and 'could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas.'

'Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,' the CEOs wrote.

'The harm that will result from deployment on January 19 is substantially worse than we anticipated for two key reasons,' they explained.

The CEOs also argued that because radio altimeters provide critical information to other safety and navigation systems in modern airplanes, multiple modern safety systems 'will be deemed unusable.'

'Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swaths of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded.'

'The ripple effects across both passenger and cargo operations, our workforce and the broader economy are simply incalculable,' the CEOs wrote as they asked officials 'that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways' at some key airports.

'Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies.'

The carriers added they urge action to ensure '5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The letter, which was obtained by DailyMail.com, went to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Airlines late on Monday were considering whether to begin canceling some international flights that are scheduled to arrive in the United States on Wednesday.

'With the proposed restrictions at selected airports, the transportation industry is preparing for some service disruption. We are optimistic that we can work across industries and with government to finalize solutions that safely mitigate as many schedule impacts as possible,' plane maker Boeing said.

United Airlines also separately warned on Monday that the issue could affect more than 15,000 of its flights, 1.25 million passengers and snarl tons of cargo annually.

United said it faces 'significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional aircraft in major cities like Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.'

JetBlue Airways Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes told employees on Monday that the planned rollout of new 5G service by AT&T and Verizon on Wednesday is set to 'further stress our already fragile air system.'

Hayes said in a memo that the airline is preparing for the 'worst' when the new service and new flight restrictions take effect.

'While we will do our best to avoid customer disruption, we won't be able to avoid the impact of this, including significant flight delays, cancellations, and diversions in low visibility flying,' Hayes wrote.

One area of concern is whether some or all Boeing 777s will be unable to land at some key U.S. airports after 5G service starts, as well as some Boeing cargo planes, airline officials told Reuters.

The airlines urged action to ensure '5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The FAA said on Sunday it had cleared an estimated 45% of the U.S. commercial airplane fleet to perform low-visibility landings at many airports where 5G C-band will be deployed and they expect to issue more approvals before Wednesday.

The airlines noted on Monday that the list did not include many large airports.

The CEOs of major airlines and Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun held a lengthy call with Buttigieg and Dickson on Sunday to warn of the looming crisis, officials told Reuters.

The CEOs of some of the nation's largest airlines wrote to federal officials on Monday warning about the potential negative effects of 5G

Altimeter's are a key tool for pilots landing in low-visibility conditions

THE EVOLUTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND UP TO 5G The evolution of the G system started in 1980 with the invention of the mobile phone which allowed for analogue data to be transmitted via phone calls. Digital came into play in 1991 with 2G and SMS and MMS capabilities were launched. Since then, the capabilities and carrying capacity for the mobile network has increased massively. More data can be transferred from one point to another via the mobile network quicker than ever. 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than the currently used 4G. Whilst the jump from 3G to 4G was most beneficial for mobile browsing and working, the step to 5G will be so fast they become almost real-time. That means mobile operations will be just as fast as office-based internet connections. Potential uses for 5G include: Simultaneous translation of several languages in a party conference call

Self-driving cars can stream movies, music and navigation information from the cloud

A full length 8GB film can be downloaded in six seconds. 5G is expected to be so quick and efficient it is possible it could start the end of wired connections. By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G. Advertisement

But the issue doesn't just affect airplanes - they could also have a negative effect on the nation's helicopters, including lifesaving medevac choppers.

Under U.S. law, all commercial helicopters must have a working altimeter in order to fly. Without them, officials warn, landing in remote areas or on hospital landing pads will be near impossible.

Helicopter Association International petitioned the FAA in October asking for medevacs to be exempt from the law when 5G rolls out, and the FAA granted it last week for areas where 5G C-Band interference could affect the radio altimeter.

Airlines for America, the group that organized the letter, declined to comment.

The CEO's also complained that: 'Given the short time frame and the exigency of this completely avoidable economic calamity, we respectfully request you support and take whatever action necessary to ensure that 5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The FAA said it 'will continue to ensure that the traveling public is safe as wireless companies deploy 5G.

'The FAA continues to work with the aviation industry and wireless companies to try to limit 5G-related flight delays and cancellations.'

The other government agencies did not comment.

The U.K. CAA, the mobile phone industry and Ofcom released statements earlier this month in response to U.K. concerns. They said they did not share the worries of that in the U.S. at this stage.

A spokesperson for the CAA, the UK equivalent to the FAA, said: 'We are aware of reports that suggest that the frequency band being used for 5G in a number of countries could potentially pose a risk of interference with aircraft radio altimeters.

'There have been no reported incidents of aircraft systems being affected by 5G transmissions in U.K. airspace, but we are nonetheless working with Ofcom and the Ministry of Defense to make sure that the deployment of 5G in the U.K. does not cause any technical problems for aircraft.'

A spokesperson for Ofcom said: 'We're aware that the aviation sector is looking at this; we've done our own technical analysis and are yet to see any evidence that would give us cause for concern.'

Gareth Elliott, head of policy and communications at Mobile U.K., which represents mobile networks, said: 'The U.K.'s mobile network operators follow all health and safety guidelines and engage with a variety of industries on interference.

'Mobile operators are actively coordinating with the aviation authorities to ensure no interference in the U.K.'
A Belarusian model who is being sued by her older Italian prince boyfriend for taking advantage of him has denied being a gold-digger.

Prince Giacomo Bonanno di Linguaglossa, 51, struck up a romance with Tanya Yashenko, 35, in 2019 after meeting at a dinner party.

But the relationship turned sour when they both launched lawsuits against each other last year, despite claiming they are still together.

Mystery is surrounding the true nature of their relationship, with the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office investigating both their claims while the couple profess to be happily in love.

It has led to allegations that the prince, a descendant of a Sicilian noble house, is being pressured into making public statements in support of his girlfriend, who is accused of exploiting his fragile mental state.

Ms Yashenko sued the prince last March, accusing him of stalking her after he showered her with gifts including a Mercedes worth 70,000, a 48,000 share in a Rome bed and breakfast, expensive jewellery and 15,000 for a Rome flat.

In December, Prince Giacomo launched his own legal action against Ms Yashenko, claiming he was traumatised after his ex-wife left him with his sons for the US, saying his new girlfriend took advantage by taking his money and assets.

The pair have since both back-pedalled, with the prince still regularly declaring his love on Facebook, and she insisting the pair are still dating 'serenely', despite both cases still being in the courts.

Prince Giacomo Bonanno di Linguaglossa, 51, struck up a romance with Tanya Yashenko, 35, in 2019 after meeting at a dinner party

The Italian prince is still publicly professing his love for his girlfriend on Facebook (pictured) despite the pair both engaged in lawsuits against the other

Ms Yashenko filed a lawsuit against the prince last March, accusing the prince of stalking her

Ms Yashenko said in a statement released through her lawyers on Wednesday: 'With amazement and regret, I acknowledge that a violent media campaign against myself has been underway for some time, artfully fed, to make me look like an unscrupulous woman accustomed to a comfortable and carefree life dependent on wealthy men.

'I reject with strength and indignation the tenor of these slanderous accusations by claiming my story as an independent and self-sufficient woman, who has carried out her life and work projects without the help of anyone and certainly even before meeting Giacomo, who has already denied the absurd accusations against me.

'I want to specify that the relationship with my partner continues serenely, albeit compatibly with the great state of anxiety and exhaustion that this absurd and incomprehensible media persecution creates.'

Similarly, Prince Giacomo has tried to distance himself from his own lawsuit, posting on Facebook earlier this month: 'I would like to publicly apologize to my partner Tanya Yashenko for my false statements.

Despite the public acrimony, the pair are still professing their love, with the prince posting daily Facebook posts about his 'princess'

'I didn't quarrel with my girlfriend. Newspapers have exaggerated with their fantasies. I would like to explain that jealousy is a big reason for my actions.

'But the gifts I gave I don't want back... I apologize for my mistakes.'

Ms Yashenko previously hired a psychiatrist, Dr Rosalba Trabalzini, to give evidence on her behalf but the expert switched sides and now argues that the prince is the victim in the relationship.

The psychiatrist said the Belarusian 'has been taking advantage of the psychological fragility of Linguaglossa'.

Ms Yashenko also sent texts to the prince calling him 'dishonest, false, traitorous, deprived of empathy, mediocre [and] a liar', according to Il Messaggero.

In her statement this week, the model added: 'With this press release I warn anyone from disseminating false information about me and in particular Dr. Rosalba Trabalzini is warned against providing the media with false representations of the sentimental relationship that binds me to Giacomo and from disseminating information taken in the context of the professional relationship as a therapist of the couple.

Despite the ongoing legal battle, it was reported that Prince Giacomo Bonanno di Linguaglossa and Tanya Yashenko spent the Christmas holiday and New Year's Eve together

'Given the pending investigations by the judicial authority I do not intend to provide further statements, the rest pending the outcome of the investigations, having the utmost confidence in the judiciary and in my lawyers.'

Dr Trabalzini said in her assessment that the prince was in a state of awe towards his girlfriend and the relationship was 'unbalanced', which had been exacerbated by the devastating separation from his ex-wife.

But according to Corriere della Sera, Ms Yashenko said: 'I was beaten and attacked by Giacomo and it was I who left him, then I forgave him.

'But I am convinced that now he is being manipulated or ill advised by someone.'

The Rome Prosecutor's Office is now weighing up whether she took advantage of his mental state to take possession of his assets.

Despite the public acrimony, the pair are still professing their love, with the prince posting daily Facebook posts about his 'princess'.

He wrote yesterday, as his girlfriend's statement was made public: 'We love each other.'

He later posted: 'Looking into your eyes is the part of the day.'

But the prince's lawyer Armando Fergola says his client is facing constant pressure from his girlfriend to withdraw his complaint.

He says the Facebook posts show evidence of the manipulation and the royal's state of confusion, and has asked the judge to forbid Ms Yashenko from making contact with her boyfriend.
The row over a school's ban on non-branded coats took another twist today as teachers accused parents of using 'abusive language' towards staff.

In a statement, Bishop Heber High School in Malpas, Cheshire, urged mothers and fathers to raise any concerns in a formal manner with the school complaints policy.

It claimed parents had been spouting off using inflammatory terms when opposing the controversial rules - which only permit students to wear the branded school jacket on the Chester Road grounds.

The school insisted 'no uniform will ever satisfy everyone, whether on cost or style'.

Last week parents were left furious after Bishop Heber confiscated children's non-school branded coats while they were outside.

Photos showed staff milling around in warm overcoats while some children were just in jumpers.

Headteacher David Curry (left) with Bishop Heber students in happier coat-free times

Parents were left furious after Bishop Heber confiscated children's non-school branded coats while they were outside

One mum said that her asthmatic son was put into isolation for retrieving his confiscated coat as he was cold.

The school says it believes if kids were allowed to wear their own coats, it would 'erode the great relationships we have with the students' because they might end up wearing hoodies.

Parents have also complained about the cost and quality of the branded windcheater.

In the statement, prepared by headteacher David Curry and chair of governors Suzanne Anderson, it states that the school branded coat was chosen and designed by students back in 2009 and costs 10, adding that there are no current stock issues with the supplier.

The statement described the current uniform as 'one of the cheapest to buy in the region' and said the school has always been committed to protecting 'the vulnerable members of the school community who could not afford expensive 'status-symbol' coats'.

The Chester Chronicle first reported on the school's coat ban in 2004, when students staged a walk-out in protest at the rule.

The full Bishop Heber statement read: 'Many of you will be aware of recent social media posts and press reports concerning the uniform policy at Bishop Heber High School. The Governors and School Leaders are concerned about the accuracy of those posts and reports.

Bishop Heber High School attracted parents' ire for ban on non school-affiliated jackets

'Almost 20 years ago, the school made a commitment to an affordable uniform policy, and we believe the current uniform is one of the cheapest to buy in the region and complies with the affordable school uniform legislation being introduced this year.

'The uniform policy is annexed to the Behaviour and Discipline Policy and students and parents are aware on joining the school that any coat can be worn to and from school but only the Heber coat and fleece can be worn at school.

'The coat was chosen and designed by students in 2009 and costs 10.

'We have been told that there are currently no stock issues with the Heber coat, and we are very keen to hear from parents who have faced problems so that we can liaise with our supplier.

'Since the start of term, the government advice has been to keep classrooms warm, notwithstanding the need to ventilate classrooms to reduce the spread of Covid.

'The school is confident that students are not sitting in classrooms that are unusually cold for the time of year and students should not need to wear coats to keep warm.

'Additionally, all students have access to an indoor space and/or classroom during any breaks. We hope that parents and the wider community appreciate that governors and school leaders are trying to do their best in what has been an exceptionally difficult period for us all.

'Governors hope that parents will use the school complaints policy if they have a concern.

'Such complaints can be dealt with formally and carefully and without some of the upsetting, abusive and inflammatory language that has been directed at staff and governors.

'No uniform will ever satisfy everyone, whether on cost or style. The school has always been keen to protect the vulnerable members of the school community who could not afford expensive 'status-symbol' coats and we hope that the present uniform strikes the right balance between affordability and practicality.

'On a more positive note, the many supportive comments that have been sent in over the last few weeks have been greatly appreciated.'
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SAGE has acknowledged that its terrifying Omicron hospital admission projections were off the mark  and it is now warning of a 'long tail' of infections as the UK comes out of the fourth wave.

As recently as December 23, modelling by the Government's scientific advisory group said there could be up to 10,000 daily Covid hospitalisations by mid-January. In reality, daily admissions peaked at just over 2,000 across the UK and are already falling in England, which has given the Prime Minister confidence to lift Plan B restrictions next week.

At SAGE's most recent meeting last Thursday, chaired by Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, the group admitted the anticipated surge in hospitalisations had 'not been seen so far'.

The panel put this down to a combination of the country's 'highly immunised population', vaccine protection waning slower than expected and 'precautionary behaviours' in vulnerable people.

In the minutes, which were made public today, members also acknowledged that official projections of more than a million daily Omicron cases had also not come to fruition. SAGE said that behavioural changes, this time among younger age groups, may have 'led to lower modelled numbers of infections of infections over recent weeks'.

A slew of international studies and mobility data over the last two years of the pandemic have shown that people change how they act and who they meet in the face of rising cases.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline that failing to factor in more accurate behavioural changes seen throughout the pandemic was one of the biggest reasons the models are 'overly pessimistic'.

As well as leaving out behavioural changes, a number of the projections published in December failed to adjust for Omicron's reduced severity  despite real-world South African clearly showing the variant caused milder illness.

In a separate document published today, the SPI-M modelling group that feeds into SAGE also said the Omicron wave of infections had not peaked due to natural immunity but rather down to people being cautious. It warned this means there are still swathes of people who have avoided the virus over the last eight weeks and therefore remain susceptible to getting infected.

As recently as December 23, modelling by the Government's scientific advisory group said there could be up to 10,000 daily Covid hospitalisations by mid-January. The doomsday scenario was presented in a model by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Warwick University's infection, hospitalisation and death projections on December 30: The group warned of up to 1.4million daily infections, 10,000 hospital admissions and nearly 3,000 deaths based on various level of restrictions and Omicron being 50 per cent less severe than Delta

LSHTM's estimates based on the degree of immunity escape that Omicron might show and booster effectiveness

Acknowledging the collapsing Omicron rates, the SAGE minutes read: 'The increase in hospitalisations, which is anticipated following the observed increase in cases in older age groups, has not been seen so far.

'This may be due to higher vaccine levels of protection against hospitalisation, slower waning of vaccine protection, or the impact of precautionary behaviours amongst the most vulnerable and those around them.

'Analysis from Bristol shows that intended behaviour change over December 2021 has led to lower modelled numbers of infections over recent weeks (compared to no such risk mitigation).'

SAGE added there was still 'uncertainty about what may happen to hospital admissions over the coming weeks' with case rates still high  around 90,000 Britons are testing positive every day.

Covid outbreaks receded in ALL of England's 150 local authorities last week Covid outbreaks fell in all of England's 150 local authorities last week, official figures showed today as separate data showed cases fell a fifth overall. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed infections fell by at least 12 per cent in all areas of the country during the week up to January 16. The sharpest drop off was in Wigan, which saw its case rate fall 59 per cent from 2,121 per 100,000 to 867 per 100,000 over the seven days. Meanwhile, King's College London scientists estimated 144,527 people were catching the virus on any given day in Britain in the week to January 17, down from 183,364 in the previous seven-day spell. Outbreaks are shrinking in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as every region of England, while cases are falling in every age group except under-18s because of the 'back to school' effect, the survey found. The findings are in line with the Office for National Statistics' weekly infection survey which also found Covid cases plunged in England by a fifth last week. Professor Tim Spector, who leads the symptom study, heralded the encouraging trend but urged the nation to be 'sensible' because cases remained high. Advertisement

Professor Robert Dingwall, a sociologist and former Government Covid adviser, told MailOnline that advisers must be 'quite careful this doesn't just become a sort of simplistic excuse for "it's all down to behaviour, and we can't predict that".'

He accepted it was difficult and makes modelling more complicated when factoring in nuanced elements like how often someone leaves the house, uses public transport or interacts with others.

But he added: 'But the [SAGE] modellers dont seem to have had a serious discussion with people in other fields. Sociologists and economists do modelling, there are people out there who do understand this stuff.

'People are beginning to realise that these models are [done by] the very narrow respiratory disease community... so their models havent really incorporated things others people know about.'

In SPI-M's consensus statement, made last Wednesday but only published today, the group claimed Omicron infections had not peaked naturally.

'As yet, there is no sign of a purely immunity-driven peak occurring in either the case data or the CIS for the UK or England.

'Peaks of infections have often been asymmetric in nature during Covid with many more than half of infections happening during the population decline stage and so a long tail may still need managing, even after the peak.'

But SPI-M expressed more optimism about what will happen in hospitals in the coming weeks, highlighting that there has been a 'much lower case fatality rate than those seen in previous waves of the epidemic'.

The statement adds: 'This is highly likely a result of the combination of omicrons decreased intrinsic severity and high vaccine effectiveness.'

Professor Hunter told MailOnline that SAGE 'should have' been able to factor in some extra behavioural changes because there is 'a lot of information on behavioural changes in response to rising infections out there'.

But Professor Hunter said he suspected natural immunity was not being properly factored into the models either.

He referenced Professor Lockdown Neil Ferguson's forecast of 250,000 Covid deaths without a lockdown in 2020 and said it was 'not that unrealistic'.

But Professor Hunter believes the projections have become worse over time because we are not properly accounting for protection from natural immunity.

He added: 'Models worked well at start of the pandemic. I think a lot of that stick [aimed at Professor Ferguson's 250,000 deaths model] was unfounded and over the top.

'But modelling endemic infections is more complicated than modelling epidemics. [SAGE is] Not good at modelling immunity.

'They need to look at assumptions around immunity and talk to people who have a track record in modelling immunity better.'
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A disabled Tongan man swam for 27 hours across eight miles of ocean in order to survive being swept out to sea by a devastating tsunami which hit the islands.

Lisala Folau, 57 and a retired carpenter, was at home on Atata Island with his son and niece around 6pm Saturday when a 20ft wave carried them miles from shore.

Adrift and alone, he spent the next 27 hours swimming between uninhabited islands and trying in vain to signal passing boats before eventually reaching the mainland, where he was picked up by a passing car.

Lisala, who has problems with both legs that causes him to 'walk slower than a baby', decided not to call for help because he didn't want his son or niece to risk their lives trying to save him. Tragically, they are both still missing.

Lisala Folau, 57, a retired carpenter who struggles to use his legs, survived the Tongan tsunami by swimming eight miles in 27 hours to reach safety

Lisala's journey took him between several uninhabited islands off the coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, before he eventually reached safety

A view from the Tongan capital of Nuku'olofa out to sea, close to the area where Lisala was adrift for 27 hours

Lisala was found by a passing car late Sunday, and has now spoken about his experience with a local radio station (pictured above)

Speaking to Tongan radio station Broadcom FM about his extraordinary experience, Lisala said he was first warned about the tsunami by his brother.

He said the family rushed outside their house and climbed a tree in order to escape the wave, which washed underneath them.

Thinking the danger had passed, the family climbed down - but the island was then hit by a second wave, which Lisala estimates to be more than 20ft tall, which carried all three of them out to sea.

Stranded miles from shore, Lisala said he could not see his son or niece in the water because it was dark, but he could hear them calling out to him.

After a while his niece's voice stopped, but his son kept calling.

Lisala said he made the difficult decision to ignore the cries and stay quiet, because he didn't want his son or niece to risk their lives trying and save him.

'The truth is no son can abandon his father. But for me, as a father I kept my silence for if I answered him he would try to rescue me,' he said.

'I thought if the worst comes, then it is only me.'

Lisala eventually found a broken tree and decided to cling to it thinking that, if he died, his family at least stood a chance of finding his body.

But, instead of dying, he actually drifted to nearby Toketoke Island - which is uninhabited - where he arrived early on Sunday morning.

The first humanitarian flights departed for Tonga early Thursday, carrying much needed aid supplies to the volcano and tsunami-devastated Pacific island nation. Pictured: A helicopter on the deck of HMAS Adelaide en route to Tonga on Wednesday

An Australian C-17A military transport plane filled with aid parcels prepares to take off from an airfield in Amberley bound for Tonga, which has warned it is facing an imminent shortage of water and food

Workers wearing full PPE suits at Tonga's main airport unload aid packages from the back of a New Zealand transport plane

Australian troops load aboard HMAS Adelaide in Brisbane before sailing to Tonga, where they will help coordinate recue efforts following the eruption and subsequent tsunami

A Japanese soldier loads a box of aid into the back of a military transport plan at Komaki airbase, central Japan, so it can be flown to Tonga to help with rebuilding efforts

Members of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force help load boxes of emergency relief goods into an airplane at an airbase in Komaki so they can be taken to Tonga

Australian High Commissioner to Tonga Rachael Moore and Tongan Foreign Minister Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu, watch the arrival of the first Royal Australian Air Force military jet carrying aid supplies

Lisala said he rested for a few hours while using a rag to try and signal at two passing boats, but neither of them saw him.

Then, around 10am Sunday, he made the decision to swim four miles to Poloa Island - which is also uninhabited - in order to get closer to the mainland.

The swim took Lisala around eight hours and he arrived on Poloa around 6pm, before swimming more than a mile to Tonga's main island of Tongatapu.

He was eventually found around 9pm in Sopu, on the outskirts of capital city Nukualofa, where he was picked up alive by a passing vehicle.

His family was informed, prompting his daughter to pen an emotional Facebook message saying she had cried the whole time he was gone while thanking Jesus for keeping him alive at sea.

But, tragically, Lisala's son and niece have not yet been accounted for.

Tonga has been in a state of chaos ever since the Hunga-Tonga volcano violently erupted late Saturday, triggering a tsunami up to 50ft which battered the islands.

The blast severed an underwater internet cable which has cut off communications to most of the islands, meaning updates have been few and far between.

Officially, the death toll stands at just three with 'a number' wounded, but Tonga has not yet said how many people are missing.

Damage to the main island has been largely limited to its west coast, where dozens of buildings were swept away, but some of the smaller islands have been hard-hit.

Atata, where Lisala lived, has seen almost every building damaged or destroyed with no drinking water after supplies were contaminated by ash and salt water.

Pictures have emerged on social media showing the scale of the devastation in Tonga following the tsunami. The island nation is facing imminent water and food shortages after crops and drinking sources were inundated with salt water and ash from a devastating volcanic explosion which triggered a 50ft tsunami, aid agencies have warned

A man surveys the scene of devastation with debris strewn across the road in Tonga in the wake of the tsunami. Water which tens of thousands of people rely on to drink has been polluted, the Red Cross said today, as Tonga's parliamentary speaker added that 'all agriculture' on the islands has also been destroyed

Waves wash ashore in Tonga following an eruption which triggered a tsunami in the Pacific

Pictured: A plume rises over Tonga after the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted in this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite operated by Japan Meteorological Agency on January 15, 2022

It is a similar story on Mango, Fonoifua and Nomuka islands, where tarpaulins are being used as shelters. Evacuations of all four islands are now underway.

Tonga has described the disaster as 'unprecedented' and called for international aid, with flights from Australia and New Zealand taking off Thursday after the main airport runway was cleared of ash to allow planes to land.

Naval vessels equipped with water purification devices are also en route, and are due to arrive on Friday.

An Australian Globemaster aircraft left Brisbane this morning carrying aid. Australia has provided AUD $1 million for the recovery effort, and two Royal Australian Air Force aircraft will arrive in Tonga today.

The Australian High Commission in Tonga said: 'They are loaded with much-needed humanitarian supplies, as well as telecommunications equipment to help re-establish connectivity between the main island and remote islands.'

HMAS Adelaide will also set sail from Brisbane on Friday with water purification equipment and more humanitarian supplies, the statement said.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister said its air force has also sent a C-130 Hercules from Auckland which will land in Nuku'alofa at about 4 p.m. New Zealand time.

'The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment,' Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement.

The delivery of supplies will be contactless and the aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand, she said. Tonga is COVID-19 free and is concerned that aid personnel may bring the virus.

Aid agencies have warned that Tonga is facing imminent water and food shortages after crops and drinking sources were inundated with salt water and ash from the devastating volcanic explosion which triggered a 50ft tsunami.
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New evidence of a huge military build-up within striking distance of Ukraine in preparation for a 'nine-month war' has emerged hours after US President Joe Biden said Russia's Vladimir Putin now 'has to do something'.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles (330km) from the Ukraine border with rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles (125km) from Russia's border with Belarus.

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, that sit only 18 miles (30km) from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles (50km) from Russia's border with Ukraine.

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border, but tensions have ramped up in recent days after a surge in equipment and troop movements, among them military police, from the extreme east of the country.

Military families have been warned their servicemen could be away from home for up to nine months after being moved thousands of miles to the West, and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine.

Videos showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 37 miles (60km) from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine.

Russia and Belarus have claimed the movement of troops and equipment is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently.

President Biden said yesterday that the Russian strongman now 'has to do something' but that he believes Putin does not want full-blown war - and warned Russia would pay a 'dear price' if Moscow launches a military incursion.

'He has to do something... He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West,' Biden said of Putin hours after announcing the US would provide an additional $200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

But he also suggested a 'minor incursion' might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country, a comment that drew immediate condemnation from some corners with Republican senators claiming the President had effectively given Putin the green light to invade Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today denounced Biden's remarks, blaming the US president for destabilising an already tense situation. At the same time he did not rule out new security talks between Putin and Biden.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border as Moscow ramps up a military build up along the frontier in preparation for a 'nine-month war'

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border (pictured, a battle group deployment in Voronezh, Russia, near the Ukrainian border on January 19)

Satellite images dated January 19 showed rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus, after a months-long build-up of troops along the border with Ukraine

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, (pictured) that sit only 18 miles from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles from Russia's border with Ukraine

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Military support vehicles and personnel have been ferried from eastern Russia to the border with Ukraine and service members families warned their relatives could be away from home for up to nine months and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine

Russian troops were seen arriving in Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, (pictured) both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine, ostensibly for joint military drills taking place from February 10

Russia and Belarus have claimed the mass movement of troops and equipment on trains to the over the border is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently

Moscow has for weeks been massing tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces along its eastern flank, sparking fears of an invasion, though the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defence force (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)

This week's military massing in Belarus adds to Russia's forces to the east of Ukraine as well as south in Crimea and the Black Sea, where some 100,000 are believed to be in place.

The new analyses show that only part of the military hardware and troops are going to the training grounds announced for the exercises.

'The other part stopped halfway, near Gomel, in an area that is only 40km from the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and 90km from the Kiev region', according to a Radio Liberty report.

Meanwhile dozens of mothers and wives appeared to have taken to social media to voice concerns about their military relatives who have been shipped across the country in apparent preparation for war between Russia and Ukraine

Many of the comments indicated forces from the far east were sent 'first to Moscow, then to Ukraine' and said 'almost all contract soldiers' had been sent towards Ukraine.

While officially the joint Russian-Belarusian exercises last only from 10-20 February 'relatives and friends of the military write that the trip will last 6-to-9 months.'

The massing of troops along the border has been seen as an echo of the Russian playbook from 2014 when Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula and backed pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

President Biden was yesterday accused of effectively giving Russia 'the green light' to invade Ukraine after he said a 'minor incursion' by Moscow might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.

'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,' Biden said at a White House press conference where Russia came up repeatedly.

Later Wednesday evening, National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne wrote that Biden had 'clarified this. He was referring to the difference between military and non-military/para-military/cyber action by the Russians. Such actions would be met by a reciprocal response, in coordination with Allies and partners,' she said.

A Ukrainian official, responding to Biden's original comments, told CNN after the press conference: 'This remark potentially gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure.'

The White House was also forced to issue a full clarifying statement. 'President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,' according to a statement from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

'President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response,' she said.

During the press conference, Biden has also said it would be a 'disaster' for Russia if Putin ordered an invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today denounced Biden for his comments, stressing that he was destabilizing an already tense situation.

Peskov said Biden's statements can 'facilitate the destabilization of the situation because they can inspire some hotheads in Ukraine with false hopes.'

At the same time Peskov did not rule out new security talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Biden.

With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border, fears are mounting that a major conflict could break out in Europe.

A Russian convoy of a BM-27 220mm multiple rocket launcher and 11 9T452 transporter-loader vehicles arrived in Gomel, Belarus, on Monday from eastern Siberia.

While footage posted online showed 11 transporter-loaders and a single BM-27 multiple rocket launcher, which later was seen in Gomel, before heading 'directly for the Ukrainian border' just 30km away, DFRLab reported.

Local media reported that military equipment including logistical vehicles such as fuel trucks and other transports followed by a civilian truck and bus was seen heading south from Gomel, towards the Ukrainian border.

BM-27 launchers were also seen at the railway station in Rechitsa.

While trains seen in the Smolensk region in western Russia - seemingly en route to Belarus - appeared to show 16th Radiation, Biological, and Chemical Defence Brigade from Primorsky Krai, some 5,800 miles from its base.

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Russia and Belarus have claimed the mass movement of troops and equipment on trains to the over the border is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently

Images and footage showed rocket launchers and military support vehicles making the journey from east Russia to the border with Ukraine in recent days as Moscow ramps up the build-up of troops along the frontier

Military support vehicles and personnel have been ferried from eastern Russia to the border with Ukraine and service members families warned their relatives could be away from home for up to nine months and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine

Rocket launchers and troops were seen arriving in a snowing Rechitsa, Belarus, for supposed military drills next month, though observers have said the excuse is a smokescreen for an invasion

Armoured vehicles and troops were pictured at the Belarusian base in Gomel, under 60km from the border with Ukraine, ahead of the supposed joint military drills

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

President Biden said yesterday that his 'guess' was the Russian strongman would 'move in' to Ukraine in the coming weeks but that he believes Putin does not want full-blown war - and declared Russia would pay a 'dear price' if Moscow launches a military incursion

Biden also suggested a 'minor incursion' might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country, a comment that drew immediate condemnation from some corners with Republican senators claiming the President had effectively given Putin the green light to invade Ukraine

Russian military vehicles arriving in Belarus are seen in this photograph distributed by the Belarus Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, ahead of joint exercises

Russian servicemen prepare their military vehicles to unload for Russia and Belarus joint military drill in Belarus on January 18

The French Navy yesterday reportedly escorted Russian Baltic Sea landing ships Korolev, Minsk and Kaliningrad and Northern Fleet warships Olenegorsky Gornyak, Pyotr Morgunov, and Georgii Pobedonosets towards the English Channel, sparking speculation they are bound for the Black Sea.

The ships, which can each carry up to 25 armoured personnel carriers, were deployed three days ago but it remains unclear if they are heading for Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's latest intelligence assessment yesterday warned Russia had massed more than 127,000 troops along the border, together with a sea and air component that marked a 'full strength' force.

The assessment, seen by CNN, described the situation as 'difficult' and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin was 'trying to split and weaken the European Union and NATO' while also 'limiting the capabilities of the United States... to ensure security on the European continent'.

The deployment of Russian troops to Belarus was cited in the report which said Belarus 'should be considered as a full-fledged theater of operations that Russia can use to expand aggression against Ukraine.'

The assessment said Moscow had deployed troops to the border on a 'permanent' basis and said the movement of 'stockpiles of ammunition, field hospitals and security services' to the hinterlands confirmed 'the preparation for offensive operations'.

It said Russia had deployed 36 Iskander launchers, weapons capable of hitting targets up to 700km away, near Ukraine and said the medium-range missiles that could be used to 'destroy vital objects'.

The assessment put the number of rebels within Ukraine who are loyal to Moscow at 35,000 and estimated Russia has a further 3,000 military personnel within Kiev's territory.

Russian deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin confirmed that the mission includes the relocation of two S-400 mobile surface to air missile battalions, a Pantsir-S battalion and 12 Su-35 fighters for the 'surprise' inspection and drills.

And in another twist yesterday Moscow announced the 'successful' completion of tests on its Kinzhal - or Dagger - hypersonic missiles, which can carry nuclear or conventional weapons with a range of 1,250 miles, in the Arctic, though the weapons had been deployed with Russian forces ahead of the trials.

On top of the military forces sent to Ukraine by Britain, the Biden administration today said it is providing an additional $200 million in defensive military aid to the country, with the US having previously supplied small arms, ammunition, secure radios, medical equipment, spare parts and other equipment. Biden has also previously ruled out sending US forces into Ukraine, but special forces already operate under rotation there to train Ukrainian soldiers

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's latest intelligence assessment yesterday warned Russia had massed more than 127,000 troops along the border, together with a sea and air component that marked a 'full strength' force (Pictured: A convoy of Russian armoured vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea, Tuesday, January 18, 2022)

Six Russian landing ships (pictured, landing ship Minsk near the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark en route to the North Sea) have sailed past Britain sparking speculation they are bound for an impending 'full-scale invasion' of Ukraine

Northern Fleet warships Olenegorsky Gornyak Pyotr Morgunov, (pictured) and Georgii Pobedonosets passed through the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark on Monday, possibly en route to Ukraine

A map showing the route the six landing ships could possibly be taking from Russia's second Baltic Sea base Kronstadt to Ukraine ahead of a 'full-scale invasion'. The vessels were pictured at the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark on Monday and, if heading to Ukraine, are likely to have already transited the Channel

Moscow insists it has no plans to invade Ukraine but has at the same time laid down a series of security demands - including a ban on Ukraine joining NATO - in exchange for de-escalation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a new round of security talks in Geneva on Friday.

Blinken said Wednesday he would not formally respond with written answers to Russia's demands, hoping instead to explore areas of cooperation.

Peskov said Thursday that Russia still expected to receive a 'written' response 'in the coming days.'

Blinken warned that Russia could attack Ukraine on 'very short notice' during remarks at the American embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Blinken met with President Volodymyr Zelensky as the Biden administration today said it is providing an additional $200 million in defensive military aid to the country amid growing fears that a Russian invasion is imminent.

Upon his arrival Kyiv to open a hastily arranged visit to show U.S. support, Blinken told embassy staff: 'We know that there are plans in place to increase that (Russian) force even more on very short notice.'

'That gives President Putin the capacity, also on very short notice, to take further aggressive action against Ukraine,' Blinken said.

He also maintained that a peaceful, diplomatic solution was still the priority, but stressed the situation was entirely reactive to Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions.

'I strongly, strongly hope that we can keep this on a diplomatic and peaceful path, but ultimately, that's going to be President Putin's decision.', Blinken said.

The United States' chief diplomat ratcheted up his warning about the Kremlin's military capabilities during a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Blinken added to his warning of a potentially imminent Russian attack that Ukraine could also face twice as many enemy troops in the process.
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A collection of antique treasures that were discovered inside a hoarder's home are now tipped to sell for more than 50,000 when they go up for auction.

The 'Aladdin's Cave' of antiques, including eight grandfather clocks, an organ and an 18th century coffer, were found buried under hundreds of bags and boxes inside the terraced property in Wolverhampton, West Midlands.

The treasure trove was unearthed during a clearance of the Victorian town house which belonged to a retired antiques dealer.

The hoarder, who spent 60 years filling his home with more than 400 valuables, has now moved into a smaller property with his elderly wife but his family will put his antiques up for auction on his behalf.



Hansons Auctioneers, who will be conducting the auction, said they found a classic 1956 Morris Minor in the garage of the property - which is valued at 6,000 - during their clearance of the property.

The collection of antique treasures were found buried under hundreds of bags and boxes inside the terraced property in Wolverhampton, West Midlands

Experts discovered eight grandfather clocks and more than 400 antique items inside the Victorian town house, which belonged to a retired antiques dealer

Inside the property was an 'Aladdin's Cave' of antiques, including a Staffordshire creamware mug (left), which could fetch 200 at auction, and a Welsh stick chair (right) which is being guided at 600-800

Experts also found a mahogany shipwright's chest packed with tools, which could sell for 1,000, and a 1790s Staffordshire creamware mug plucked from a box of worthless pottery - which is tipped to fetch 200.

Also inside the property was a collection of bicycles in the loft and a coffer which is estimated to fetch between 150 and 250.

There were also teddies which had been dressed up with silver pocket watches, bicycles and a Welsh stick chair.

Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers who cleared the house, said: 'It was unbelievable - a real Aladdin's Cave of objects gathered over more than 60 years.

'The house was packed with hundreds of items jumbled together.

'But far from being valueless, many antiques emerged including quality furniture such as a magnificent 18th century coffer, which was completely hidden from view.

'The coffer has an estimate of 150-250. Another great find was a Welsh stick chair which is being guided at 600-800.

'The elderly man who used to live at the house is a retired antiques shop owner and, as we slowly uncovered items, it became clear he has always had a real eye for items of quality.

'We regularly come across keen collectors who amass hundreds of items fuelled by their interests.

Experts discovered an original 1956 Morris Minor 'Split Screen', which is valued at 5,000-6,000, inside the property in Wolverhampton

Hansons Auctioneers, who will be conducting the auction, uncovered a mahogany shipwright's chest packed with tools which could sell for upwards of 1,000

Also inside the property, which belonged to a retired antiques dealer, was a coffer which is estimated to fetch between 150 and 250

'But this can turn us into hoarders over time, especially as the years rolls by. It's not unusual - almost a British pastime in fact.

'We all have a tendency to hang on to things we like or think we may need again.

'This gentleman collected a mountain of objects.

'For example, he had numerous watch parts in a repair room and we uncovered a mahogany shipwright's chest packed with tools which could sell for upwards of 1,000.

'There was another surprise in the garage. It housed an original 1956 Morris Minor 'Split Screen' - a great classic car discovery valued at 5,000-6,000.

'There were also quite a few bicycles, some vintage, in the loft space. The ceiling had been strengthened and the roof hatch made large enough to accommodate them.

'Another rather sweet find was a collection of teddies.

'The toys themselves were of little value but some of them had been dressed up with silver pocket watches.

'We kept on searching through cupboards and boxes and treasures kept emerging unexpectedly.

'For example, a circa 1790 Staffordshire creamware mug valued at up to 200 was plucked from a box of worthless pottery.

The former resident of the property spent 60 years filling his home with more than 400 valuables and his family will put his antiques up for auction on his behalf

The collection of antique treasures, including eight grandfather clocks, an organ and an 18th century coffer, are now tipped to sell for more than 50,000 when they go up for auction

'It was a home crammed to the rafters with hidden gems - a collector's paradise.

'We're told the owner moved into the property in 1956 and by 1957 the carpet was barely visible.

'I think it's very hard to stop collecting if you spend your life in the antiques business.

'A fascination with all things old, historical and quirky is what draws you into the industry in the first place.

'Thanks to this retired antique shop owner's eye for quality antiques and vintage finds, we can offer a new generation of collectors a multitude of interesting items to bid on.'

The sale by Hansons Auctioneers, of Etwall, Derbyshire, takes place on January 29.
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Rarely-seen photos of Profumo scandal mistress Christine Keeler have emerged for sale at auction.

The snaps include one of the model wearing a sleeveless dress and getting into her Mini car after her release from prison for perjury in 1964.

Two others show her posing for the camera in a dress with a glass of champagne, while a third image in the sale shows Keeler topless with her arms crossed.

All the photographs are being sold with Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet, in Essex.

Keeler became a national outcast after her affairs with both the then War Minister John Profumo and a Russian spy emerged in 1963.

Rarely-seen photos of Profumo scandal mistress Christine Keeler have emerged for sale at auction. Above: The model is seen posing in a sleeveless white dress with a glass of champagne next to her

One photo shows Keeler topless with her arms crossed, shortly before she embarked on a sordid affair with the war minister John Profumo

She was then jailed for perjury in December 1963, several months after Profumo had resigned over the scandal.

Keeler gave evidence during the trial of her former partner Lucky Gordon who she claimed had attacked her. He was convicted and jailed for three years.

However, it later turned out she had lied to the court and was sentenced to nine months in prison.

She served half of her sentence and upon her release met up with photographer Ray Bellisario.

The print of her in her Mini is tipped to sell for 600.

It has been owned by an anonymous collector since 2013. It is not being sold with copyright.

Another of the colour images shows Keeler sitting with a glass of champagne between her legs. All the photographs are being sold with Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet, in Essex

The snaps include one of the model wearing a sleeveless dress and getting into her Mini car after her release from prison for perjury in 1964

The three colour photos of Keeler by an unknown photographer are also expected to sell for 600 with auctioneers Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.

Mark Wilkinson, a specialist at Sworders, said the value of the pictures was being driven after Keeler's son, Seymour Platt, launched a legal battle to secure a posthumous pardon for her last year.

Seymour is attempting to overturn his mother's conviction after Keeler passed away in 2017.

In her will she requested that he do 'all he could' to tell the truth about her life.

Mr Wilkinson said: 'In 1963 when it emerged that John Profumo had lied to the House of Commons regarding an extramarital affair with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler, the nation's faith in the ruling classes was shaken.

'The credibility of the Macmillan government was severely damaged and the fallout contributed to the Conservative's defeat the following year.

'Almost 60 years later and dramatisations of the Profumo Affair continue to appear on stage and screen.

John Profumo is pictured with his wife, actress Valerie Hobson, in 1958. The pair remained married after his affair with Keeler emerged

'Keeler's story just gets bigger and bigger and last year her family made an application for a miscarriage of justice.

'The subsequent coverage has once again stimulated interest in her.

'Very few photos exist which were taken by Bellisario on her first day of freedom.'

The photos will be sold on February 15.

Profumo had been touted as a future Prime Minister before he resigned.

The scandal only emerged due to Lucky Gordon's unrelated conviction. He was jailed after admitting stalking and assaulting Miss Keeler.

At the same time as her affair with Profumo, Keeler had been in a sexual relationship with Russian spy and naval attache Eugene Ivanov.

There were allegations that Keeler had been asked by Ivanov to discover from the War Minister when the West Germans might receive U.S. nuclear missiles to be stationed on their soil.

However, Gordon appealed his conviction and Keeler was then charged with perjury for falsely denying two other men had been present during the attack.

She pled guilty on legal advice and was jailed for nine months. She ended up serving half the term.
Angela Rayner made clear her designs on Labour's top job today - before pledging her support to Sir Keir Starmer.

The plain-talking Mancunian said it would be 'an absolute honour' to enter Downing Street as a former single mum from a council estate.

But she told US broadcaster CNBC she planned to do it as deputy prime minister, with Sir Kier in the top job.

However, she declined to rule out running to replace him as party leader one day, saying: 'Never say never'.

The plain-talking Mancunian said it would be 'an absolute honour' to enter Downing Street as a former single mum from a council estate.

But she told US broadcaster CNBC she planned to do it as deputy prime minister, with Sir Kier in the top job.

'At the moment, I can't wait to get into number 10 With Keir and be his deputy prime minister as a girl from my background, who grew up on the, you know, a council estate very poor background to left school pregnant at 16, with no qualifications to become deputy prime minister would be an absolute honour,' she said.

'And I never forget the trust that the people of my constituency put in me at the moment. And that's what spurs me on to keep going. And they deserve better than what they've got currently. And I want to keep fighting to get that farther.'

It is not the first time Ms Rayner has talked openly about taking over at the top

Last September she positioned herself as a future leader on the first day of the party conference in Brighton, boasting: 'If Boris Johnson can bluster his way as PM, I know for an absolute certainty I can do a lot better than that.'

Ms Rayner was today asked if Keir Starmer was an electable leader.

'I think Kier Starmer has shown that he's actually the sort of leader that you want to look after your schools, looking after your hospitals, a really measured leader, you know he does take it incredibly seriously, you know he is a public servant and has been all his life and he comes in there not because he wants to you know big up his ego but actually wants to do the right thing for his children and for people families that are struggling,' she said.

'His mum was an NHS worker who needed the NHS when she had a very serious illness, and he started with a toolmaker, so he comes from a very working class background, and it's boy done good, you know, and that is the British story, you know.

'Many working class people in the UK, they might not have gone to university, but they want their children to have the opportunity and care get up because it's his story. And it's what happens to him. And he wants that for everyone else. And he wants people to play by the rules.'
Tony Blair today warned the UK is heading for 'lower league' status because Boris Johnson does not have a coherent strategy for the nation's long-term future.

The former prime minister said Britain's standing on the world stage will continue to slip unless there is a 'radical change in the governing of the country and its politics'.

Sir Tony said 'maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesnt' over the Partygate scandal 'but the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britains future'.

Sir Tony highlighted a trio of strategic challenges facing the country - the 'three revolutions' of changes resulting from Brexit, technological advances and climate change - but said the Government is 'ill-prepared' to address any of them.

The comments were made by Sir Tony as he delivered his first speech since a ferocious backlash over his knighthood.

More than one million people signed a petition calling for the New Year honour to be 'rescinded' because of the former premier's role in the Iraq war.

A YouGov survey published earlier this month found that 63 per cent of Brits disapproved of the knighthood while 14 per cent approved.

Tony Blair today warned the UK is heading for 'lower league' status because Boris Johnson does not have a coherent strategy for the nation's long-term future

Sir Tony said 'maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesnt' over the Partygate scandal 'but the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britains future'

Sir Tony delivered the speech this morning at an event hosted by the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London.

He said that 'we are living through three revolutionary changes simultaneously and are ill-prepared for any of them'.

He said: 'There is a gaping hole in the governing of Britain where new ideas should be.'

Sir Tony said he understood the public anger at Mr Johnson over the Partygate furore but insisted the 'real problem' is the PM's lack of a plan for the future of the country.

I understand completely the rage against what happened in Downing Street during lockdown and how the country feels,' he said.

And maybe Boris Johnson goes and maybe he doesnt. But the real problem for Britain is the absence of a Government plan for Britains future.

Sir Tony said turning the nation's 'fortunes around' will require 'hard' choices because 'old ways, old interests, old thinking, dont go gently'.

But neither should a country, especially one with such a proud history as ours, slip gently into a lower league without a strenuous effort at least to prevent it,' he said.

Yet without a radical change in the governing of the country and its politics this is where we are headed and this is the debate in my view that Britain needs.

Sir Tony said the Government is failing to grasp challenges across a myriad of policy areas.

The point is we cant go on as we are, even in an area as politically delicate as the NHS, and you could make this case across the whole of public policy,' he said.

We need to apply technology to areas like crime and immigration where the only sensible way of preventing illegal immigration is a system of digital identity.

A YouGov poll at the start of January found almost two thirds of Brits disapprove of Sir Tony getting the honour

We need to shift tax from labour and capital, especially post-Brexit, find other sources fo revenue so that our tax system is not colliding with our competitiveness.

And to rethink pensions of the next generation where apart from the burgeoning cost, the circumstances of retirement will be completely different in the next generation from today.

Fuel duty will probably have to be replaced by some form of road pricing and the point is this list is not exhaustive.

'But not a single thing we need to do to turn our fortunes around will come without political pain and our politics show few if any signs of preparedness to tolerate that pain.




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The government unveiled a long-term road map to foster its metaverse industry Thursday, with the aim of becoming the world's fifth-largest market over the next five years.







Under the plan, Korea will foster at least 220 metaverse companies with sales volumes of more than 5 billion won ($4.2 million) and create a "metaverse academy" this year to nurture 40,000 local experts by 2026, the ICT and science ministry said.







"The metaverse is a digital New World with infinite possibilities," Science and ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook said, noting that the government will work closely with firms in the sector and relevant ministries.







The metaverse refers to a shared virtual space in which users interact with each other through digital avatars and experience a virtual reality (VR) world. Such platforms have grown in popularity over recent years as people shifted their activities online amid the pandemic.







Korea also plans to build an online Korean language institute on metaverse platforms for foreigners and to start several projects to apply metaverse technology in tourism, medicine and the arts, including K-pop.







To boost further growth, it will run a "K-Metaverse Academy" to help global metaverse startups enter the Korean market and connect them with local content companies.







Currently, Korea is said to rank 12th in the world in terms of market share in the metaverse industry. (Yonhap)


This is the moment two terrified little girls are forced to flee the scene of a fatal broad daylight shooting.

The harrowing footage shows the girls, one of whom is seen wearing a princess dress and carrying a teddy bear, sprinting to safety after hearing the gunshots.

The pair were playing on Birch Street, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, when Luke Graham was shot at point blank range in the street by rival gang members.

The father-of-two was ambushed and executed by three men in balaclavas in June 2018 as part of an ongoing drugs turf war.

The 31-year-old, known as Tank, died in the incident, while Anton Verigotta, who was with him at the time, suffered gunshot wounds.

Five men have so far been jailed over the killing. But footage of the shooting and the two terrified girls being forced to flee has resurfaced following a new appeal by the National Crime Agency.

The major crime-busting authority yesterday named Callum Halpin, 27, who is is still wanted in connection with Graham's murder as one of their twelve 'Most Wanted'.

The 12 men are wanted for various crimes including murder, large scale drugs trafficking and supplying firearms and ammunition and are believed to be hiding in Spain.

The horrifying footage shows the girls, one of whom is seen wearing a princess dress and carrying what looks like a teddy bear, sprinting to safety after hearing the gunshots

The pair were playing on Birch Street, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, when Luke Graham was shot at point blank range in the street

The harrowing footage was broadcast in March as part of the BBC2 documentary The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime - which has been likened to the fictional hit drama Line of Duty, where the main characters take on an organised crime group.

It shows Verigotta approaching an address in Birch Street, before the door suddenly swings open to reveal a balaclava-clad gunman.

The gunman blasts his weapon at Graham, sitting inside a silver Volkswagen van, giving Verigotta the second he needs to flee.

Callum Halpin, 27, is wanted by Greater Manchester Police for the 2018 murder of rival Luke Graham, 31, in a turf war

The gunman then gives chase across the street, but Verigotta, while under fire, manages to sprint around a corner and eventually to safety.

The gunman gives up and returns to Graham, who is still inside the van and already wounded from the first shot.

The gunman approaches the driver's side door and shoots twice more. The passenger's side door timidly opens and Graham can then be seen falling out - fatally wounded.

Three men dressed all in black can then be seen getting into an Audi A4 before speeding off.

DCI Liz Hopkinson, who is commenting on the video as it plays, then points to the two girls seen running from the area.

She says: 'See those two little girls. She's got a little princess dress on.'

DCI Hopkinson says the gunman fired at least five shots, grazing Verigotta's leg and killing Graham almost instantly.

Police believe up to 10 members of an organised crime group worked together to mask the movements of the shooters.

They believe that Halpin was one of those involved.

Wade Cox, 29, of Droylsden, one of the five men jailed over the shooting, was found guilty of murder in July 2019. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 36 years.

Jordan Atkinson, 26, of Stalybridge, was found guilty of encouraging or assisting an indictable offence and was jailed for eight years.

The footage shows Verigotta approaching an address in Birch Street, before the door suddenly swings open to reveal a balaclava-clad gunman

CCTV footage shown on the BBC2 documentary, which was filmed with Greater Manchester Police over two years, showed the terrifying moment Luke Graham was shot by a violent gang

The investigation, led by DCI Liz Hopkinson (pictured examining the CCTV footage) , later revealed that father-of-two Graham had been dealing class A drugs on a patch run by an established gang

Jack West, 29, of Prestwich, Conor Cornforth, 27, of Droylsden; and Benjamin Dodd, 28, of Droylsden, were found guilty of assisting an offender.

Jack West was jailed for 42 months, Cornforth received 37 months; and Dodd got 30 months.

Yesterday Halpin was named among Britain's 12 most wanted fugitives.

The alleged criminals, who are believed to be hiding in mainland Spain or the Spanish islands, were named by law enforcement in a bid to flush them out.

A joint campaign involving the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and Spanish officials was launched in Madrid on Wednesday, where a rogues' gallery of men wanted for crimes including murder and dealing in guns and drugs was unveiled.

The list of fugitives includes two wanted murderers accused of killing members of rival criminal gangs.

Along with Halpin there was Nana Oppong, 41, who is wanted by Essex Police for the drive-by killing of Robert Powell, 50, who was shot eight times with a 9mm pistol on June 13, 2020,.

There is also Jack Mayle, 30, from Croydon, south London, who allegedly sold substances including class A drug MDMA via a phone line in south London, called the Flavour Quest, and on the dark web.

When he fled the UK he had a tattooed neck, a diamond tattoo under his left eye and 'Croydon' tattooed on the outside of his left forearm.

Mark Francis Roberts, 28, (left) from Liverpool, is wanted for GBH and attempted robbery in 2016. Roberts and an accomplice threatened the victim with a knife on his driveway at 1.30am in a bungled attempt to steal his 60,000 Richard Mille watch. John James Jones, 31, (right) was last known to have lived in the UK in Aughton, Lancashire. He is wanted for allegedly stabbing two victims multiple times, causing serious injuries

Mayle is heavily tattooed - his neck is covered with warriors and religious figures on horses, and he has a full back tattoo. He has a diamond shape under his left eye, 'Croydon' tattooed on the outside of his left forearm, and his hands are also covered in images.

His left hand has the words 'Money never sleeps', '12-20' and a small heart, while his right is decorated with a design featuring an eye and hands, and the word 'Littles'. On both hands he has tattoos on his fingers reading 'trap star'

The list also includes two suspected drug dealers from Cardiff who used the secret phone network EncroChat before it was taken down in an international sting.

Asim Naveed, 29, described as muscular and 6ft 2in, is accused of being the leader of a drug smuggling gang that brought 101lbs (46kg) of cocaine, worth nearly 8 million, into Wales between February and June 2020. His last known addresses were in Butetown and Pentwyn, Cardiff. Naveed, who is described as Asian, has a surgical scar along his left wrist.

Nana Oppong, 41, (left) is wanted by Essex Police for the drive-by killing of Robert Powell, 50, who was shot eight times with a 9mm pistol on June 13, 2020, while Callum Halpin, 27, (right) is wanted by Greater Manchester Police for the 2018 murder of rival Luke Graham, 31, in a turf war

His alleged customer Calvin Parris, 32, who has gold upper teeth, is accused of selling cocaine in the Welsh capital. His last known addresses were in Ely, Sully and Barry in Cardiff. He is black and around 5ft 11in.

Another suspect is Scotsman James 'Jamie' Stevenson, 56, who is wanted by the National Crime Agency and Police Scotland after the seizure of around one tonne of cocaine at the Port of Dover in September 2020, and 28million Etizolam 'street Valium' tablets in a raid on a suspected pill factory in Kent in June that year.

Stevenson, who is stocky and has a scar on the left side of his face, is also wanted in connection with two suspected arson attacks in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley in May 2020. His last known address was in Rutherglen, Glasgow, and he is around 5ft 9in with grey hair. He has links to Barcelona and Alicante.

NCA director general of operations Steve Rodhouse attended the launch of the campaign alongside Spanish Security Minister Rafael Perez Ruiz, British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliot, and Mark Hallas, CEO of CrimeStoppers.

Mr Rodhouse insisted that Spain 'is not a safe haven' for criminals.

He said: 'Fugitives usually continue offending while on the run and these men will be known in criminal circles wherever they are. The last thing the fugitives' associates will want is the combined determination and capabilities of the UK and Spanish law enforcement focusing on them.

'Many of these fugitives will be trying to blend in to the large British communities who have made their homes in Spain, and if you are resident, you may know one of them from your town or village. Loyalties change over time and we urge anyone with information about these men to help us find them.'

Callum Michael Allan, 23, (left) is wanted by Northumbria Police for allegedly being involved in drug dealing as well as assaulting an emergency worker, affray and dangerous driving. Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30, (right) from Liverpool, is also accused of being part of a drug dealing gang, trafficking heroin and crack cocaine from Liverpool to Grimsby via a dedicated phone line, and has a separate 2018 conviction for conspiracy to supply cocaine, for which he was sentenced in his absence to 10 years in prison

Dean Garforth, 29, (left) whose last known address was in Dingle, Liverpool, is wanted by Cheshire Police for being part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns. He is accused of having used the secret phone network Encrochat, that was brought down in an international sting, to carry out his crimes. Benjamin Macann, 32, (right) whose last known address was in Beetley in Norfolk, is wanted by police in the county for allegedly being involved in a cocaine dealing gang

Mark Francis Roberts, 28, from Liverpool, is wanted for GBH and attempted robbery in 2016. Roberts and an accomplice threatened the victim with a knife on his driveway at 1.30am in a bungled attempt to steal his 60,000 Richard Mille watch.

When the victim refused to hand it over, the pair stabbed him multiple times, leaving him with a collapsed lung and needing treatment in intensive care. Roberts, who is white, 6ft 1in and has a scar down his right leg, cut his arm during the attack and was identified when his blood was recovered from the victim.

John James Jones, 31, was last known to have lived in the UK in Aughton, Lancashire, is wanted for allegedly stabbing two victims multiple times, causing serious injuries. It is thought that Jones, who is white, around 6ft, and stocky with dark hair, fled to Madrid directly after the attack, and may now be in Ibiza.

Meanwhile Callum Michael Allan, 23, is wanted by Northumbria Police for allegedly being involved in drug dealing as well as assaulting an emergency worker, affray and dangerous driving. His last known address was in South Shields, and he is slim, white, around 5ft 11in, with fine hair, blue eyes and a Tyneside accent. Allan has links to Alicante and Marbella.

Benjamin Macann, 32, whose last known address was in Beetley in Norfolk, is wanted by police in the county for allegedly being involved in a cocaine dealing gang. He is white, 5ft 10in, has blue eyes and greying hair, and suffers from asthma. He has links to Barcelona.

Founder of the charity Crimestoppers Lord Ashcroft said: 'We know it can be difficult for people to speak up about crime, which is why our charity is here to give you an option.

'We guarantee you'll stay completely anonymous, just like the millions of people who have trusted our charity with their crime information since we were formed back in the 1980s.

'Please do the right thing by passing on what you know about these fugitives' whereabouts and help us ensure these criminals are no longer a danger.'

Anyone with information about the fugitives can call Crimestoppers anonymously in the UK on 0800 555 111 or from Spain on 900 926 111, or online at crimestoppers-uk.org/fugitives.
Mark McGowan has announced his border reopening plan, set to finally open Western Australia to the rest of Australia and the world, will be delayed.

The premier made the announcement during an emergency press conference on Thursday night, dashing the hopes of thousands of families due to finally be reunited.

Mr McGowan said that from 12:01am on February 5 the hard border would remain in place but with expanded exemption criteria, including compassionate visits.

'It would be reckless and irresponsible to open up now. I can't do it,' he said.

The state leader said he wanted to see higher third dose rates and more children vaccinated before he 'introduces Omicron deliberately' to Western Australia.

Premier Mark McGowan (pictured) has announced his border reopening plan, set to finally open Western Australia to the rest of Australia and the world, will be delayed

The border will instead reopen in stages with quarantine requirements to remain indefinitely in Western Australia.

Approved travellers will soon be able to enter to receive medical treatment, for compassionate reasons as well as those with genuine family links or returning residents.

The hard border settings will be upgraded to allow interstate travellers new exemptions, which will include those who have 'specialist skills'.

Arrivals will have to abide by strict testing and isolation criteria with those flying internationally required to isolate for seven days of hotel and home quarantine.

Six weeks ago it was declared WA would restart quarantine-free international and domestic travel on February 5, when 90 per cent of the state is fully vaccinated.

It was expected about 80,000 interstate and international arrivals would land in Perth Airport in the first two weeks of the reopening.

About 6,000 travellers were expected on the first day the borders were due to reopen.

Mr McGowan did not announce a new reopening date, instead stating his government would review the border rules throughout February.

Mr McGowan said that from 12:01am on February 5 the hard border would remain in place, but with new settings introduced for compassionate visits (pictured, arrivals in Perth)

Mr McGowan said that from 12:01am on February 5, the hard border would remain in place, but with expanded exemption criteria for travellers (pictured, a woman exercises in Perth)

He was asked if the delay was an admission that after two years of planning to reopen, his government had not properly prepared the state's health system.

'The advice we have is the health system is strong and ready, but the problem is the rollout of the third dose,' Mr McGowan replied.

'Watching what has occurred over east and making sure that when it comes to vaccination, we're as ready as we can possibly be.

'The aim is to get it up above at least 80 per cent, perhaps 90 per cent, but what we're going to do is review the situation over February and watch what is occurring over east and work out what the best approach is for Western Australia.'

Mr McGowan said about 35 to 38 per cent of people would be triple-vaxxed by February 5, but did not say what vaccine milestone would trigger an eventual full reopening.

The premier claimed hospitalisations in the eastern states had gone up 900 per cent since the arrival of Omicron with 700 deaths recorded in the last 19 days.

He said there was insufficient data to predict where Omicron could take the state and when Covid cases or hospitalisations would peak.

The state leader warned that even those fully-vaccinated were still vulnerable to contracting the virus with booster shots crucial to reducing transmission.

The state will instead open in stages with a expanded list of exemption criteria (pictured)

ALL THE CHANGES TO WA'S REOPENING Premier Mark McGowan announced the hard border currently in place in WA would remain past the original reopening date scheduled for February 5. The government has instead opted to reopen the state in stages with quarantine restrictions to remain indefinitely. Instead, relaxed travel exemptions will be enforced and will allow the following groups to enter the state: - Returning residents with strong recent connections with WA - Returning residents with family connections in WA - Compassionate reasons like funerals, palliative care or terminal illness - People entering for urgent or essential medical treatment - People entering WA for national or state security reasons - People with specialist skills - Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament, and diplomats - Other extraordinary circumstances that have been approved by the Chief Health Officer or Police Commissioner Advertisement

WA's small Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local Covid cases in a sign the virus is spreading (pictured, pedestrians in Perth on Christmas Day)

'So far, the science shows that people with only two doses of a Covid vaccine have only a 4 per cent protection against being infected by the Omicron variant,' he said.

'With a third dose it can provide a 64 per cent protection against infection.

'So let's just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it's very difficult over there, and we've got to do our best to avoid that occurring here.'

It comes after major pushback from health officials who said the state's hospital system was not prepared for borders to reopen.

Australian Medical Association WA President Dr Mark Duncan-Smith was one of these voices, in addition to Australian Nursing Federation state secretary Mark Olson.

Mr McGowan apologised for the delay and said he understood the situation would be unpopular with many as holiday and reunion plans were delayed once more.

'For that I am sorry, I understand exactly what this means for many people who had been hoping to reunite without any restrictions, but from February 5 there are enhanced compassionate exemptions,' he said.

Mark McGowan said there was insufficient data to predict when Covid cases and hospitalisations would peak across the state (pictured, staff at a pub in Perth)

'If we proceeded with the original plan, we would be deliberately ceding thousands upon thousands of Covid cases into WA and at this point in time that is not what I am going to do.

'Especially when the science says we need to boost third doses and so many young children still need to get their vaccine.'

Meanwhile, the state's small Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local cases in a sign the virus is still spreading.

Four of the cases are close contacts, two of whom were in quarantine, with the others potentially infectious in the community.

The source of the final infection is unknown.

Several events in the lead up to February 5 have already been called off, including Perth Festival and the City to Surf, with businesses telling staff to work from home.

Several events in the lead up to February 5 have already been called off, including Perth Festival and the City to Surf with staff told to work from home (pictured, Perth pub patrons)

'So let's just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it's very difficult over there, and we've got to do our best to avoid that occurring here,' Mr McGowan said on Thursday evening

As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of the state's population over the age of 12 had received two doses while 25.8 aged 16 and over had received a third dose.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanders announced a series of changes would be enforced if and when cases were widespread across the state.

Elective surgeries will reduce to category one and two for eight weeks, however this policy will not be introduced on February 5.

'We will hold off on implementing this policy until we really need to in order to allow elective surgeries to continue for as long as possible,' Ms Sanderson said.

From February 5, health workers returning to the state will be required to isolate at home for seven days and permitted to work from days eight to fourteen.
Two polar bear cubs walked hundreds of miles to return to humans at an Arctic gas field who had fed them scraps of food.

The orphaned brothers called Khara and Savey had been airlifted into the wild Russian tundra to get them away from people.

A video shows them being left in the middle of nowhere with a supply of more than 440 pounds of food to get them started in the wild.

The bear brothers, Khara and Savey, are named after the shift workers who fed them at the Kharasaveyskoye gas installation

The bear pair covered around 375 miles in total on the Yamal peninsula which is mostly made up of permafrost in northern Russia

Khara and Savey walked hundreds of miles across the frozen Russian tundra

The two cubs had more than 440 pounds of food to get them started in the wild, but the human connection proved hard to shake

The two brothers traveled night and day to reach the humans who fed them

Satnav attached to the pair showed them initially walking determinedly to the north of the Yamal peninsula - away from the shift workers who fed them at the Kharasaveyskoye gas installation, after which they are named.

But then they switched back and headed south again.

Their journey almost complete, they gnawed the Satnav devices off each others backs, so their final route was not quite clear.

The devices stopped working on 9 January and they returned begging for food on 13 January to the workers' hostel at the gas extracting plant.

In all they covered around 375 miles in a giant loop in search of the humans who fed them on the Yamal peninsula, say scientists.

'Even the dogs hardly barked when they returned,' said a shift worker.

They reappeared some 18 days after having been airlifted into the wild.

The polar bears became familiar with the gas field workers after a feeding session, leaving a strong impression on the bears

The cubs were left in the middle of nowhere but found their way back to their familiar feeding spot after only 18 days

Moving cubs is tricky, but scientists are trying to ensure growing polar bears fend for themselves in their natural habitat

After a 375-mile journey, the cubs eventually returned to their beloved humans at Kharasaveyskoye gas field in northern Russia

The dogs at the camp didn't bark when the cubs returned to their usual hiding spot

The cubs will need to be sedated before another attempt is made to re-introduce them into the Arctic wild as scientists seek to make avoid polar bear populations settling too close to humans

In fact, they could have walked a more direct route of around 65 miles over the frozen Kara Sea but instead made a huge detour before finding their way home.

Zoologist Andrey Boltunov, who took part in the operation to send the polar bears to a remote sport to fend for themselves, said: 'The brothers looked to be in very good shape when they came back.

'They had clearly found enough food, their fur looked much cleaner, too.

'As soon as they arrived, they went to the same quiet area in the village where they used to hide.'

'The cubs showed their exceptional ability to survive in the wild, yet the link to humans was stronger.

Now a new attempt will be made next week to sedate the one year old siblings and send them back into nature and far from people at the Gudansky nature reserve on the Yavay peninsula.

'We lost the battle, but not the war,' said Boltunov.

'The cubs showed their exceptional ability to survive in the wild, yet the link to humans was stronger.

'We will have another discussion on what can be done to break this link.'

The new location is 200 miles distant as the crow flies, but the route is more complicated if they try to return.

Scientists are trying to stop polar bears from getting too close to humans, both to avoid dangerous attacks, and to ensure the reducing population fend for themselves in their natural habitat.

A Russian map shows the route of the two bears until the point when their Satnavs stopped transmitting.
Jurors in the murder trial of Rikki Neave have been shown chilling images of the strangled schoolboy's clothes after hearing from the police officer who found the six-year-old's naked body.

Rikki was killed in a 'swiftly executed' attack in a woodland five minutes away from his house in Peterborough in November 1994, the Old Bailey has heard.

More than 20 years later, James Watson, who was 13 at the time, is standing trial charged with murder after his DNA was allegedly identified on Rikki's trousers.

Jurors were told today that a zip-shaped mark was left on Rikki's body after he was allegedly strangled with his own anorak.

He was then stripped naked and deliberately posed in a star shape before his clothes were later discovered in a nearby wheelie bin, the court heard.

Jurors were also shown pictures of Rikki's clothes on Thursday, before the original pathologist gave evidence to the trial.

Describing the scene, Dr Nat Cary told the court: 'I entered an area of scrubland adjacent to the road.

'There I was shown the body of a completely naked young male lying on his back with his arms and legs symmetrically spread-eagled.

'There was a mark clearly visible on the neck. There was petechial haemorrhage to the eyes and the face.'

James Watson, 40, is on trial for the murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave at the Old Bailey in London. He denies killing the youngster and dumping his body in woods near the victim's home in Peterborough in November 1994

The jacket Rikki was wearing when he was killed was recovered from a wheelie bin close to where his body was found

Muddy shoes were also found in the wheelie bin close to a woodland in Peterborough in November 1994

A white shirt worn by Rikki, who was stripped naked and deliberately posed in a star shape after his death

A small pair of sock worn by the six-year-old schoolboy, who was killed in a 'swiftly executed' attack, the Old Bailey heard

The muddy trousers recovered from the scene after being dumped into a wheelie bin a short distance from Rikki's body

Rikki was murdered near his home in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire on December 5, 1994 and his body was dumped in some nearby woods, circled

The pathologist said rigor mortis had set in and there was mud on Rikki's face, abdomen, knees and feet.

He also noted scars to the body, with some minor bruises and grazes to the head.

There was a ligature mark on Rikki's neck in a 'repetitive linear' pattern, possibly from a zip fastener, he told the court.

He had made this observation before seeing Rikkis jacket, jurors heard.

Dr Carey suggested the schoolboy was strangled by grabbing his clothes in a 'twisting action' from behind.

The pathologist said it was a 'swiftly executed' single attack and Rikki was placed in the star position in which he was found soon after his death.

Upon seeing Rikki's jacket, Dr Carey said he became 'more certain' it was used to strangle him, though his finding was not absolute.

Jurors also heard today that accused killer Watson gave a 'wealth of new detail' when he was interviewed by police 22 years after the murder.

The killer remained with the victim's body for an hour and made no attempt to conceal it, the Old Bailey has heard.

Rikki's mother Ruth Neave was wrongly accused of his murder and cleared by a jury in 1996.

Jurors have heard sophisticated DNA testing, used on Rikki's clothes in a 'cold case review' in 2015, found a 'definitive match' with Watson.

Now aged 40, Watson denies murdering Rikki, between November 28 and 29, 1994.

In his original police statement in 1994, Watson said he encountered a 'small boy' while walking to his father's house and they had a brief exchange about a nearby digger before parting ways.

He said at the time he did not know Rikki.

Re-interviewed by police in July 2015, Watson said: 'I have now read my original statement and I trust myself that what I said then is what happened.'

But a year later, Watson gave another account of his meeting with Rikki in which he 'introduced a wealth of new detail'.

He told police: 'I picked him up, chucked him over the, you know, over the fence.

'Not chucked him over the fence but you know held him up over the fence, watched the guys doing the work.

'And then we left and walked off down the second hill...we walked off here and I carried on my route here across, through these houses across home.

'I'm guessing I would've just picked him up under his arm pits and lifted him up the fence.

Police continued to appeal for information in the years following Rikki's murder

Rikki's mother Ruth Neave, pictured right with her husband Gary Rogers was initially charged with her son's murder but was later acquitted

Watson, centre, told police he had lifted Rikki up to look over a fence at a digger before he had been asked to account for his DNA on the young boy's clothes

'I couldn't, I wouldn't swear on it... that I would've just picked him up from behind under his armpits and held him up against this fence for you know half a second or thirty seconds or so while he had a look at the diggers.

'I guess yeah we finished having a look at the, the guys digging there... and then we both, we both went off.'

John Price, QC, prosecuting, said: 'Never having previously given an account of this meeting which comes even close to explaining how DNA of his should have been found on the dead boy's clothes, why on of April 19, 2016 was Mr Watson able to put forward an answer to that crucial question before it had even been asked of him?'

Prosecutors claim Watson, pictured, saw an episode of Crimewatch featuring the investigation which revealed the existence of 'scientific evidence'

Prosecutors claimed Watson had changed his statements to police between 1994 and 2015

Prosecutors claim Watson's assertion that he had lifted up Rikki to peer over a fence was incorrect as there was no fence at the location in November 1994

During a previous interview the same day, Watson was asked what he may have seen or read about the new investigation.

He told police he had watched a recent TV feature on the case, broadcast on BBC Crimewatch.

'If the person who strangled and stripped Rikki Neave watched it, he will have heard DCI Waite speaking about the new investigation,' Mr Price said.

Prosecutors: 'Rikki was a vulnerable child' Rikki was living with his mother and his two younger sisters on the Welland Estate in Peterborough at the time of his death. His older sister, Rebecca, aged eight at the time of his death, was living in foster care. The family were well known to local social services, the court heard, and Rikki in particular was on the at risk register. 'Fourteen months before he died, in September 1993, police had responded to two reports, made only days apart that he was missing together with his older sister Rebecca, who was then still living at the family home,' Mr Price said. 'At the time, it was not unusual for Rikki and his older sister to return home at well past the time they should have done, if coming straight from school. 'On the 29th of September 1993 Rebecca and Rikki did not arrive home until twenty to seven that evening.' Jurors heard he would be used by his mother to collect drugs, she being a heavy user of amphetamine sulphate at the time. 'This neglect exposed one so young to grave risk,' Mr Price added. 'We would suggest that Rikki Neave for that reason was a vulnerable child.' Advertisement

'Again, prominence was given in Mr Waite's remarks, to the potential for uncovering new, though unspecified, scientific evidence.'

At the time, the DNA match with Watson's profile had yet to be discovered, jurors heard.

Mr Price added: 'If the killer of Rikki Neave was watching, he knew he had stripped the body.

'He knew he had put the clothing in the bin.

'He knew he had handled it.

'Being the one person who knows the truth of it all, as he watched and listened, if he did, what would the killer have made of this?

'Might he have feared there was a real risk he was about to be identified all these years later?'

Detectives questioned the sudden appearance of 'the fence' in Watson's account, the court heard.

Mr Price said: 'It was pointed out to him that whereas in December 1994 in his witness statement he had spoken of his preferred route from Rotherby Grove through to Ragdale Close at that point being blocked by a digger, now in 2016 he was saying that a fence had been the obstacle.

'He was asked why that change had happened.

'He had marked where the fence stood [on a plan].

'It was at the same northwest end of the alleyway...which he had pointed out as the place where he had met Rikki to the police at 12:20 on December 5, 1994, though that statement made no mention at all of any fence.'

But there were no fences in that area on that Monday in 1994.

Video footage, recorded for a documentary about the case between November 28 and December 15 that year, proves this, jurors were told.

'There would, we submit, have been no cause on that day for Mr Watson to have picked Rikki up so that he might see a digger,' Mr Price said.

'There was no obstacle to prevent Rikki from seeing it.

'This cannot be, therefore we submit, why the hands of Mr Watson came to be in contact with Rikki's clothing on that Monday.

'So it cannot be how his DNA was found on fibres taken from the dead child's clothes.

'So we ask you again...how did the DNA get there?'

Later, the jury heard from PC Malcolm Graham, who was the first officer to find Rikki's body on the morning he had been reported missing.

Giving evidence in a grey suit and light blue shirt, he said he continued to serve with the Cambridge Constabulary as a police officer until 2019.

He was part of the team of officers who searched for missing Rikki, combing through the wood where his body was eventually found as part of that effort.

'I recall there were approximately 10 officers on the team and searching.

'We lined out...we were about 10 yards apart.

'We started to walk from east to west.'

The now retired officer confirmed that the photos shared of Rikki's body in court accurately showed how he found the six-year-old's body that day - 'naked, lying on its back and spread eagled'.

The body was tkane to the mortuary and the officer went with Rikki's father, Trevor Harvey, to formally identify the body the next day, the court heard.

He said he spotted Rikki's legs around five minutes after the search began.

'It was very quick.

'I remember going close enough to see the whole body and then calling my sergeant over.'

Mr Graham told jurors how the police employed 'dragon lamps', high intensity searchlights, to light up the wood as they searched.

Watson, of no fixed address, denies murder.

The trial continues.
Boris Johnson's personal rating have dived again as he struggles to cling on amid the Partygate scandal.

The PM was viewed unfavourably by 61 per cent of Britons in the latest research by Ipsos Mori - up six points in a week.

Just 22 per cent had a positive view of Mr Johnson, giving him a net score of minus 39. That is comparable to Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to the 2019 election, when Labour slumped to an historic defeat.

Keir Starmer has seen his ratings improve, but they are still in negative territory at minus 14.

Worryingly for Mr Johnson the only senior figure in positive territory overall was Rishi Sunak - seen as his most likely successor.

The poll, conducted over last weekend, also found 57 per cent believe Mr Johnson is a bad PM, an increase of six points.

Boris Johnson's net score of minus 39 in an Ipsos Mori poll is comparable to Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to the 2019 election, when Labour slumped to an historic defeat

Mr Johnson has been struggling to hold on amid a stream of 'Partygate' allegations

Worryingly for Mr Johnson the only senior figure in positive territory overall was Rishi Sunak - seen as his most likely successor

Gideon Skinner, Head of Political Research at Ipsos MORI, said the PM's net score is 'comparable to Jeremy Corbyn's low point during the last campaign'.

'Ratings of the Conservative party itself are not quite as negative but are also on a slow but steady downward trend since last spring, which should be another concern for the Government and its MPs.

'Among other leading politicians, Rishi Sunak has fallen from his honeymoon period but still receives the best scores among the public at large as well as from his party's own voters, while Keir Starmer also sees some improvement but still has some way to go to convince the public he is a genuine Prime Minister in waiting.'

Yesterday a survey by JL Partners for Channel 4 News - conducted in 45 seats in the North and Midlands that were won from Labour in 2019 - suggested the Tories were 11 points behind.

That would be a huge turnaround from the nine-point advantage they had at the last election.

A YouGov poll also put Labour 32 points ahead of the Tories in London, raising the prospect of many MPs losing their seats.

At the general election the Conservatives were only 16 points adrift in the capital.

As the Partygate row blazed on today despite MPs backing off an attempt to oust Mr Johnson, a senior Tory warned the PM's allies might be 'blackmailing' would-be rebels and urged them to call in the police.

William Wragg, chair of the Commons Public Administration Committee, said he had been told of 'pressures and intimidation' being used on politicians.

In an excoriating attack at the start of an evidence session, Mr Wragg suggested members of the government might have breached the ministerial code by threatening to pull investment from constituencies if people send in letters of no confidence.

'Additionally reports to me and others of members of staff at No10 Downing Street, special advisers, government ministers and others encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass those they suspect of lacking confidence in the PM is similarly unacceptable,' Mr Wragg said.

'The intimidation of an MP is a serious matter. Moreover the reports of which I am aware would seem to constitute blackmail.

'As such it would be my general advice to colleagues to report these matters to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.'

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Wragg - who has been heavily critical of Mr Johnson and previously called for him to quit - had highlighted 'grave and shocking accusations of bullying, blackmail, and misuse of public money' that 'must be investigated thoroughly'.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said in the Commons chamber that he was not aware of any details, but his 'general observation' was that government members were not 'above the criminal law' and attempting to 'intimidate' an MP would be a contempt of Parliament.

A No 10 spokesman said: 'We are not aware of any evidence to support what are clearly serious allegations.

'If there is any evidence to support these claims we would look at it very carefully.'

Heavy tactics by government whips are notorious at Westminster, and there have been a number of allegations during the latest crisis. Mr Wakeford was claimed to have been pushed 'over the edge' when he was hauled in and threatened with having the boundaries of his seat redrawn if he went against the PM.
Police probing a string of threats and abuse sent to deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner have arrested a 68-year-old man on suspicion of malicious communications.

Greater Manchester Police said working alongside their colleagues in Sussex, they arrested the man in Brighton on Wednesday as part of Operation Octant.

Officers said it was the fourth arrest made in connection with abusive messages sent to the Ashton-under-Lyne MP.

One man was previously charged and handed a suspended prison sentence over the posts.

Greater Manchester Police said working alongside their colleagues in Sussex, they arrested the man in Brighton on Wednesday as part of Operation Octant. Pictured: Ms Rayner last night

GMP said the latest arrest was related to 'abusive emails' sent to Ms Rayner on November 17. The man was later released on bail, with inquiries ongoing.

A spokesman for Ms Rayner said: 'We are working with the police to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and Angela would like to thank the police for their work during these investigations.

'Abuse and threats of this nature don't just have an impact on Angela but also on her family, her children and her staff, who are on the receiving end of these communications.'

A spokesman for Ms Rayner confirmed the arrest announced by Greater Manchester Police related to her.

Officers said it was the fourth arrest made in connection with abusive messages sent to the Ashton-under-Lyne MP (pictured, yesterday)

They said: 'We are working with the police to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice and Angela would like to thank the police for their work during these investigations.

'Abuse and threats of this nature don't just have an impact on Angela but also on her family, her children and her staff, who are on the receiving end of these communications.'

In October Benjamin Iliffe, 36, of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, was sentenced to 15 weeks imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

Iliffe appeared by video-link from Thorpe Wood police station in Peterborough and admitted sending the threatening email and possessing cannabis.

He was subject to a two-year restraining order not to contact Ms Rayner directly or indirectly, not to talk about her on social media and not to go to her office.


A prestigious Nobel Prize awarded to a physicist who was saved by Britain from the Nazis is being sold by his family for 200,000.

Walter Kohn, who came from a Jewish family, was 15 years old when his native Austria was annexed by Adolf Hitler in 1938.

He and his sister Minna escaped the country through the Kindertransport programme - which provided almost 10,000 children with safe passage to the UK - but their parents were killed during the Holocaust.

Because he was an Austrian national, Kohn was transported to Canada following the outbreak of the Second World War.

He studied there before enrolling at Harvard University in the US and embarking on an academic career.

He became US citizen and taught at the University of California.

He achieved a major breakthrough in 'density functional theory' which saw him awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998.

A prestigious Nobel Prize awarded to a physicist who was saved by Britain from the Nazis is being sold by his family for 200,000. Walter Kohn (pictured above in Vienna aged 14), who came from a Jewish family, was 15 years old when his native Austria was annexed by Adolf Hitler in 1938

Kohn achieved a major breakthrough in 'density functional theory' which saw him awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998

Kohn is seen above hugging his wife Mara at his home in Santa Barbara after he had been told he had won the Nobel Prize

This made it possible to calculate quantum mechanical electronic structure by equations involving the electronic density.

This became a widely used method for carrying out quantum calculations in chemistry and biology.

The 18 carat gold medal has Alfred Nobel's portrait on the front, with the goddess Isis on the reverse.

Kohn's name and the year 1998 in Roman numerals are engraved on a plaque below.

Kohn died aged 93 in 2016 and his Nobel Prize is now going under the hammer with US-based auctioneers Nate D Sanders, of California.

The sale also includes three science books he bought in a temporary internment camp in Canada which fuelled his interest in the subject.

Walter and his sister Minna (pictured above in Vienna with their parents) escaped Austria through the Kindertransport programme - which provided almost 10,000 children with safe passage to the UK - but their parents were killed during the Holocaust

Kohn in the Canadian Army in 1944. Kohn died aged 93 in 2016 and his Nobel Prize is now going under the hammer with US-based auctioneers Nate D Sanders, of California

He was forced to spend time in the camp by the Canadian authorities because of his nationality and the fact that the war was ongoing.

A Nate D Sanders spokesperson said: 'This Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Walter Kohn in 1998 is unique not only for the scientific impact of Kohn's work, but also for his life experience as one of the children rescued from Nazi-occupied territories in World War Two through the Kindertransport program.

'Kindertransport was established by the United Kingdom in 1938 immediately after the "Night of Broken Glass" pogrom in Germany, authorising the safe passage of almost 10,000 children into the UK.

'The children were placed in homes throughout the British empire, with Kohn ultimately finding a home in Canada after both his parents were killed in the Holocaust.'

Kohn as a child with his family at their summer house on the Baltic in Herringsdorf, Germany

The sale also includes three science books he bought in a temporary internment camp in Canada which fuelled his interest in the subject

Auctioneer Nate Sanders added: 'To think what would have been lost to the world had Walter Kohn not made it to the UK during World War Two is incomprehensible.

'This Nobel Prize is not only a testament to the knowledge that mankind is capable of, but also to its humanity.'

A delegation of British, Jewish and Quaker leaders visited Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on November 15, 1938, to urge him to allow the temporary admission of unaccompanied Jewish children without their parents.

The bill was passed in Parliament and Jewish children were taken in by Britons into foster homes, hostels, schools and farms.

The timed sale ends on January 27.
Kamala Harris faced a barrage of questions about the failed voting rights legislation, 2022 midterms, COVID and weak polling during less-friendly-than-usual network interviews airing Thursday morning on the one year anniversary of her and President Joe Biden's inauguration.

She suggested during a Today show interview that the administration is concerned about the 2022 midterms being fair after the two pieces of voting legislation were blocked by Republicans on Wednesday.

During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Biden was asked if the midterm elections would be 'legitimate' and he said that 'it all depends,' likely referencing whether the voting rights package passed later that evening, which it did not.

'Is [Biden] really concerned that we may not have fair and free elections?' Today host Savannah Guthrie asked the vice president.

'The president has been consistent on this issue,' Harris said. 'And the issue is that there are two bills  the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act  that have been the solution that has been offered to address the fact that around our country, states have put in place laws that are purposely making it more difficult for the American people to vote,' Harris explained.

She said the laws failing would be felt by 55 million Americans from all political parties and of all socioeconomic persuasions.

Guthrie and Harris then got into a cross-talk match where the vice president asked to be able to finish her statement before the host was able to push her on the matter.

'The specific question, if you don't mind  does he think, now that these bills haven't been passed, that the '22 midterms won't be legitimate or fair or free?' Guthrie pressed.

'Let's not conflate issues,' Harris responded before trying to walk back on suggesting there may be concerns over the fairness of the midterm elections.

White House Press Secretary was forced into clean up duty Thursday morning as she tried to backtrack on what Biden said Wednesday and what Harris reiterated in her Wednesday morning media blitz.

'Lets be clear: @potus was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election,' Psaki tweeted. 'He was making the opposite point: In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials made sure they could vote and have those votes counted.'

She continued: 'He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. We're fighting to protect it.'

The vice president also laughed off a question about whether the administration believes they have the coronavirus pandemic under control in a separate interview Thursday morning with CBS Mornings.

Vice President Kamala Harris faced a barrage of questions on failed voting rights legislation, bad poll numbers, broken COVID promises and whether the 2022 election will be fair in a round of interviews Thursday morning  on the one year anniversary of her inauguration

Harris refused to answer questions posed by Today show host Savannah Guthrie (left) on if Democrats are partly to blame for the voting rights package failing in the Senate on Wednesday evening and seems to suggest that she and President Biden are concerned the 2022 midterms will not be fair without the legislation in place

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was forced to do damage control Thursday morning, insisting that the president and vice president are not casting any doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 elections

'Let's talk about COVID because you all ran on, 'We are going to get COVID under control, we are going to get this licked.' As we sit here today, we're going into year three, still talking about COVID,' CBS host Gayle King said to Harris.

'So it is not under control,' she continued. 'So I'm wondering what is your strategy here? And have you come to the point that we have all got to figure out how to live with COVID?'

'So I'm going to try to unpack the various ' Harris started before King cut in with: 'I know there's a lot.'

At that point Harris laughed before continuing: 'But, they're important points.' She also admitted that there is still more work to be done, but did not expand on what the administration plans to do to tackle the prevailing pandemic.

Harris has faced a slew of criticism for laughing at inappropriate times during interviews and remarks, including when talking about COVID and the southern border crisis.

On Thursday, Harris was faced with contentious interactions that she has not yet faced as vice president with networks usually friendly to Democrat administrations. At several points she had to ask hosts to allow her to finish answering her question instead of being cut off.

Harris laughed when CBS Mornings host Gayle King (left) asked Thursday morning if the administration believes they have the coronavirus pandemic 'under control'

Republican were able to block Democrats in a 49-51 vote from limiting debate on voting rights package, which allowed them to use the filibuster to continue to put off the legislation getting a vote

What's in the John Lewis Act and the Freedom to Vote Act The Freedom to Vote Act is a slimmed down version of the House-passed For the People Act, a massive Democratic bill on on voting rights, campaign finance, and federal ethics. After Senate Republicans filibustered the For the People Act in the Senate in June, a group of Democratic senators, including Joe Manchin, drafted the Freedom To Vote Act. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has called the act an attempt by Democratic lawmakers 'to have the federal government take over how elections are conducted all over America.' The legislation would require: Making Election Day a holiday.

Creating a national standard on federal elections to ensure voters have similar access to the ballot box across the country.

Online, automatic, and same-day voter registration.

A minimum of 15 days of early voting encompassing two weekends.

No-excuse mail voting with ample access to ballot drop boxes and online ballot tracking, in addition to streamlined election mail delivery by the US Postal Service.

States would need to accept a wide range of forms of non-photographic identification in places where ID is required to vote.

Counting eligible votes on provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct.

Restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated felons

Regulating voter list maintenance to make it harder for states to remove voters from the rolls.

Protections and resources for voters with disabilities and overseas/ military voters.

Federal protections and oversight for voting in U.S. territories.

Improving voter registration resources and outreach, in addition to reauthorizing and strengthening the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. It would also: Prohibit partisan gerrymandering by requiring certain criteria when drawing congressional districts.

Require states to use voter-verifiable paper ballots and conduct post-election audits.

Give cybersecurity grants to states to strengthen cybersecurity standards for voting equipment.

Prohibit local election officials from being fired without cause.

Make interfering with voter registration a federal crime, and imposes stricter penalties against harassment, threats, and intimidation of election workers.

Restate chain of custody requirements protecting the integrity of ballots and election materials, a provision meant to combat unofficial partisan 'audits.' Finally, on campaign finance reform: It includes provisions from the DISCLOSE Act, which targets so-called dark money in elections, and the HONEST Ads Act, which seeks to enhance transparency in campaign advertising.

Creates a federal obligation for campaigns to report instances of foreign interference.

Stricter enforcement of illegal coordination between single-candidate PACs and campaigns.

Stronger enforcement of campaign finance regulations by the Federal Election Commission. The John Lewis bill would restore key provisions of the Voting Rights of 1965 that have been struck down or weakened by the Supreme Court, and change the way federal courts handle election cases. Senate Republicans struck down the act in November. All GOP senators voted against it except Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But her support still left Democrats short the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. McConnell called the bill a 'Trojan horse to carry a lot of other provisions that the Democrats had wanted to enact through the earlier voting rights bill that we've already considered and rejected.' 'Clearly they want to change the subject away from how the American people feel about this administration, about the reckless tax and spending bill onto a nonexistent problem with this marching out of the John Lewis voting rights act,' he said. It creates a new formula to restore the federal pre-clearance requirement mandating states with histories of discrimination to seek permission from the federal government before enacting new voting rules or redistricting plan. The Supreme Court struck down the old formula.

Reverses the Supreme Court's new 'guideposts' and standards from the Brnovich decision that make it harder for plaintiffs to prove racial discrimination under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Enshrines judicial precedent and legislative history to strengthen efforts to draw majority-minority districts under the parameters of the Voting Rights Act.

Takes aim at the federal courts by requiring judges to explain their reasoning in emergency rulings they take up on the so-called shadow docket, and tries to limit judges' from relying solely on the proximity to the election in deciding emergency cases on election rules, known as the Purcell principle.

Election Worker and Polling Place Protection Act, which provides greater federal protections for election workers against harassment and intimidation.

Includes the Native American Voting Rights Act, a bill that strengthens voting rights and voter protections for voters in Indian Country. Advertisement

When asked specifically about voting rights legislation, which was defeated Wednesday evening in the Senate, the vice president deflected to listing initiatives that were passed in Year One, including the bipartisan infrastructure law.

'The president put a lot of blame yesterday on Republicans for failure to get some of these key initiatives passed. But, you know, you have a 50-50 tie in the United States Senate, as you are well aware. Did the administration fail to temper its initiatives to meet political reality?' Today host Savannah Guthrie asked Harris.

'In other words, should you have been more willing to compromise to try to get all Democrats on board? These initiatives failed because Democrats weren't united, let alone Republicans. Was that an error as you look back on this year?'

'Well, when I look back on this year, I think about things like the bipartisan infrastructure law. Administrations, both Democrat and Republican, have tried for years ' Harris started before being cut off.

'Well, doesn't that show Republicans were willing to help if the initiatives were good?' Guthrie posed.

Harris shot back: 'Please let me finish.'

In the same interview, Harris refused to answer and dodged several questions on whether President Joe Biden believes the 2022 midterm elections will be fair now that the voting rights package failed to pass the Senate.

At a few points during the back-and-forth with Guthrie, Harris asked the Today show host to allow her to finish answering questions, despite the deflective nature of them.

When pushed by King in her CBS interview, Harris also deflected when asked what the administration will do to continue pushing voting rights legislation.

'I know it was a very long night in the Senate last night,' King said. 'As expected, the voting rights legislation did not pass last night, in part because of two of your own party members. But the president says he can take action to protect the voting rights. What specifically are you going to do?'

After the vice president gave a long answer about why voting rights are important, King further pushed for a direct answer.

'So what are you going to do? I mean, you all have laid out the case very nicely about what's at stake. And now we're here, and it didn't pass. What will you do?' she reiterated.

'What we will do is we will keep fighting to get the legislation passed because that is critical,' she laid out. 'So we are not giving up on that.'

'And then it is a matter of continuing to do the work of executive orders, doing the work through the Department of Justice, which has been litigating these cases in the various states because we believe that they are a violation of the spirit of the Constitution of the United States. It is going to be about continuing to elevate this conversation.'

Biden suffered a stinging defeat Wednesday night as Senate Democrats failed to advance their voting rights legislation in yet another major blow to the president's domestic agenda.

'I am profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy. I am disappointed  but I am not deterred,' Biden wrote in a statement late Wednesday.

He was handed another blow the same night as Democratic centrist Senators Joe Manchin from West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona joined all 50 Republicans to thwart their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster after a raw, emotional debate.

Harris was standing by to break a 50-50 tie, but the rules change was rejected in a 52-48 vote, and Harris left before the final roll call.

Democrats needed 60 votes in order to end debate and initiate a vote on the legislation that would overhaul U.S. voting laws.

The package combined two separate legislative items that were already passed by the House  the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bills would make Election Day a holiday, adjust the redistricting process and crack down on money in politics.

'Every member of the United States SenateDemocrats, Republicans, and Independentstakes an oath to preserve and protect our Constitution. It is their duty to safeguard our democracy and secure the freedom to vote,' Harris wrote in a Wednesday evening statement on Republicans blocking the legislation.

'Yet today, Senators voted to preserve an arcane Senate procedure rather than secure that fundamental freedom,' she continued. 'The American people will not forget this moment. Neither will history.'

The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act together would make Election Day a federal holiday, expand access to mail-in voting and strengthen Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.

Republicans oppose federal laws on voting, arguing elections should be run on a state level. Democrats are pushing the bills to combat a slew of new laws in GOP-controlled states that they claim hurt voting rights access, particularly among people of color, and would help nullify election results.

The two pieces of legislation were combined into a single bill. The House passed the single bill on Thursday and sent it to the Senate for consideration.

Because the bill will be categorized as a 'message between the houses,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer can skip the 60-vote threshold needed to start debate, allowing him to bypass Republicans' vow to filibuster.

That will allow debate to begin on the legislation. However, it doesn't guarantee the legislation will get passed. When debate on the bill concludes, Schumer will still need 60 votes to file cloture to end debate on the bill - that means he needs 10 GOP senators on board.

Republicans can use their filibuster power to stop the legislation its tracks.
The president of Emirates has slammed the 5G fiasco as the 'most delinquent, irresponsible' mess he has seen in his 50-year aviation career and blamed it on Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who he says knew about the impending chaos but failed to warn anyone in time to stop it.

AT&T and Verizon launched their 5G network across America on Wednesday morning, switching on 4,500 towers to bring faster wireless to their customers. They had to hold back on ten percent of the towers - 500 - that are near airports because the frequencies the towers emit could interfere with the signal on some planes.

Eighty-eight airports now have buffers to protect against it but some major airports like Boston and Memphis do not. In the most recent FAA announcement on Wednesday afternoon, the government said '62 percent' of flights could operate safely - leaving nearly half to reschedule.

On Wednesday, some airline passengers who were unaware of the fiasco showed up at airports ready to board their flights but were told they had been canceled. Air India, Emirates, BA, Japan Airlines and All Nippon canceled flights on Tuesday, then rushed to bring them back on Wednesday.

In total, 239 flights to, from and within the US have been canceled so far. It's unclear if all have been scrapped because of 5G, but the network launch is causing major issues.

It had a detrimental effect on Boeing, whose 777 and 787 planes are the ones affected and which has lucrative contracts with both the government and with the airlines; stocks fell by three percent on Wednesday as a result of the fiasco.

Sir Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, appeared on CNN, Wednesday that American airlines knew about the risks before the rest of the world, and that it forced them to scramble to cancel flights then bring them back once it was safe.

President Biden, at a rare press conference on Wednesday afternoon, shrugged off responsibility for the fiasco and instead tried to take credit for brokering the deal.

'What I have done is pushed as hard as I can to have 5G folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines so that 5g would not interfere with any tower within a certain number of miles.

'Anything that happens that is consequential is viewed as government responsibility,' he said.

Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, appeared on Bloomberg Wednesday to blame the shambolic situation on the Biden administration, which greenlit the 5G rollout without addressing the safety fears of the aviation industry first.

Boeing stocks tanked on Wednesday as a result of the fiasco. The company has huge contracts with both the government and the airlines

Brendan Carr, the Republican head of the Federal Communication Commission, also laid the blame with the Biden administration, calling it a 'failure of leadership' and 'botched' effort.

American airline CEOs - who have lucrative contracts with the government - are praising it for reaching a negotiation with the telecoms giants, and reserving all criticism of why it took so long.

'Let the truth be known, we were not aware of this until yesterday morning to the extent that it was going to compromise the safety of operation of our aircraft and just about every other 777 operator to and from the United States and within the United States. It came to a head, it was known by the US operators probably a little bit more than we knew.

'We have evidence of letters being written to the Secretary of Transport in the US government alerting that group to what was likely to happen and its consequences.

'I need to be as candid as I normally am and say this is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues, I've seen in my aviation career because it involves organs of government, manufacturers, science,' Clark said.

Buttigieg - who took two months of paternity leave late last year - has not issued a comment on the fiasco since yesterday, when he said the government was 'aware'

'The notion that, for instance, the United States government should sell its franchise for all the frequencies for a large amount of money...somebody should have told them at the time - that the risks and the dangers they placed in certain frequency uses around field, airfields, metropolitan fields that should have been done at the time,' Sir Tim fumed.

'We were aware of a 5G issue. Okay. We are aware that everybody is trying to get 5G rolled out after all it's the super cool future of whatever it may be communication and information flow.

'We were not aware that the power of the antennas in the United States have been doubled compared to what's going on elsewhere.

'We were not aware that the antenna themselves have been put into a vertical position rather than a slight slanting position, which when taken together compromise not only the radio altimeter systems, but the flight control systems on the fly-by-wire aircraft.

Republicans, including the FCC Commissioner, blamed Biden for the botched launch

'So on that basis we took that decision late last night to suspend all our services until we had clarity.'

Delta Chief of Operations John Laughter, in a statement on Wednesday, reserved criticism of the US government.

'We're continuing to work with the FAA, the FCC and the telecom industry to find a practical solution that will allow for the rollout of 5G technology while preserving safety and avoiding flight disruptions.'

United said: 'We're pleased the Biden Administration reached a compromise with AT&T and Verizon to avoid mass cancellations across the aviation industry. We look forward to a higher level of coordination between the regulators, telecom companies and the aviation industry to ensure that customers are not faced with disruptions going forward.'

British Airways, Emirates, All Nippon and Japan Airlines, had canceled dozens of their scheduled flights to and from the US or put people on different flights using different aircraft.

Air India canceled flights on Tuesday and are yet to put people on other services.

Jageish Rathor, who was due to fly to Delhi from Newark this morning, arrived at the airport to learn the flight had been canceled.

'They say the flight is canceled until further notice.

'I' traveling to Deli, Air India. They say the flight is canceled until further notice. They're saying some kind of 5G network...the agent told me the flight canceled.

'They want to charge me $400 extra to get on a flight tomorrow.

'I am from New Jersey, I spent $70 on an Uber to come here, I didn't get an email or message. I just found out when I got here

'I'm supposed to go to my niece and nephew's wedding two days after today, and I can't get there.'

He was among dozens of people in the same position.

Now, as a result of the halt, the airlines - which are based in different time zones and heard the news at varying times throughout the night - are scrambling to resume Boeing 777 flights.

The result is a thickening headache at airports where the chaos is playing out in cancelations, staff shortages and a lack of the right planes in the right place at the right time.

United Airlines has canceled 20 flights in and out of Newark already on Wednesday. British Airways canceled all its 777 flights to New York, Boston and L.A.X from London, putting passengers on different aircraft. The airline is now working to resume those flights.

'Safety is always our priority. We are monitoring the situation in the US closely and will continue to review our schedule in the next few hours.

'We're disappointed that some of our customers are facing potential disruption and will update them as soon as possible on any changes to their travel plans,' a spokesman told DailyMail.com.

Japan Airlines announced that it is working to resume flights to the US, a day after issuing a blanket cancelation on all of its services.

'On January 18, 2022, Boeing has notified us that 5G signals for U.S. mobile phones, which will begin operating in the U.S. on January 19, may interfere with the radio wave altimeter installed on the Boeing 777.

'Based on that information, we were forced to cancel some flights to the U.S. mainland on January 19.

'Today on January 19, we have received confirmation from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) that there is no longer a problem with the operation of the Boeing 777 and we will resume service to the U.S. mainland with Boeing 777 from January 20.

'We will continue to monitor the situation closely and if there is any impact on our flight operations, we will promptly announce it on our website,' the airline said in an announcement on its website.

Emirates, which had canceled all flights to nine US airports indefinitely, has now shortened that list.

It will still not operate flights to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando, and Seattle, but some flights to San Francisco and Boston are back on the schedule.

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10 percent of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said.

But details of the agreement, including the length of the pause for the rollout, and a solution were not disclosed.

Lacking an immediate solution, passengers and airlines are bracing for further delays and cancellations as the travel chaos shows no sign of stopping.

Scores of people have now been left stranded at airports, with many complaining on social media about their flights being cancelled due to the 5G rollout.

One passenger, identified as Siddhartha on Twitter, complained that he and other passengers were 'not happy' that their Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco had been cancelled.

Travelers were seen crowded together at Indira Gandhi International Airport as they waited for more news.

Another passenger, identified as Kausi on Twitter, was left frustrated after they were told their Emirates flight to Chicago had been cancelled as soon as she landed in Dubai.

Kausi complained that she and other passengers were not left 'stuck' in airports.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines warned passengers of cancellations and long delays as a result of the 5G rollout.

Delta said they are 'planning for the possibility of weather-related cancellations caused by the deployment of new 5G service in the vicinity of dozens of U.S. airports starting as early as Wednesday.'

Jageish Rathor, who was due to fly to Delhi from Newark this morning, arrived at the airport to learn the flight had been canceled. He is shown on hold to the airline while waiting to find out if can get another flight

An empty check-in at the British Airways counter at JFK. The airline had to scrap its 777 flights to the US on Wednesday morning and put those passengers on other flights. A spokesman told DailyMail.com the airline was 'disappointed' by the disruption caused to the service

Cancellations are seen on boards at JFK Airport, Queens, New York. January 19 2022. All Nippon Airways canceled all its US flights on Tuesday to heed the FAA warning, then announced on Wednesday that some were being brought back. The British Airways flight to Heathrow tonight was canceled

TIMELINE OF 5G TRAVEL CHAOS MONDAY: Airline CEOs beg Biden administration to intervene in AT&T and Verizon's rollout, citing safety fears that 5G tech will interfere with radio altimeter technology on Boeing 777s TUESDAY MORNING: Boeing issues warning to international airlines that 5G signal will interfere with their planes Airlines like Emirates, Japan Airlines and All Nippon make arrangements to cancel their 777 flights bound for America, or put people on different aircraft TUESDAY AFTERNOON: AT&T and Verizon agree to halt the rollout of some of their towers near some airports. They won't say which airports or how long they have agreed to pause it for. WEDNESDAY: 5G launches across America - excluding near some airports. Airlines overseas scramble to get the 777 jets they'd grounded back up and running. The chaos results in delays and disruption in other airports and airlines Advertisement

United Airlines told customers on a flight from Denver to Houston that a three-hour delay was a result of the new 5G systems, according to a notice on its website. It also suggested customers with any concerns reach out to the Federal Communications Commission.

A major issue for airlines has been their use of the Boeing 777 model, a long-range, wide-body aircraft, which is said to be particularly affected by the 5G signals. It has prompted cancellations and a mad dash to change the aircrafts.

Japanese major airline All Nippon Airways said it would be cancelling some of its flights and changing the Boeing 777 aircraft used on some U.S. flights.

But on Wednesday morning, the airline announced the flights would be resumed.

'As the launch of the 5G service in the U.S. has now been partially postponed, operation of ANA flights from Jan. 20 will follow the normal schedule based on FAA notification that there is no safety issue with the operation of Boeing 777 aircraft to the U.S. airports that we serve.

'We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers,' they said.

Meanwhile, British Airways opted to switch aircraft on its daily flight to Los Angeles to an Airbus A380 from the usual Boeing 777 service, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

And Korean Air Lines, South Korea's biggest airline, switched four passenger planes from Boeing 777s to 787s and two cargo planes from 747-8s to 747-400s overnight, and will continue to avoid operating 777s and 747-8s at affected U.S. airports, spokeswoman Jill Chung said.

Germany's Lufthansa also swapped out one kind of 747 for another on some U.S.-bound flights

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said it is deploying different types of airplanes where necessary to the affected airports and that its flights to the United States have not been affected so far. Taiwan's EVA Air also said it had taken 'contingency measures to ensure flight safety,' without elaborating.

The airlines said they were acting in response to a notice from Boeing that 5G signals may interfere with the radio altimeter on the 777, leading to restrictions.

Industry sources said Boeing had issued technical advisories noting potential interference, but that flight restrictions were in the hands of the FAA, which has for now limited operations at key airports unless airlines qualify for special approvals.

But Air France said it planned to continue flying its Boeing 777s into American airports. It did not explain why it didn't change its aircraft as many other carriers have.

HOW DOES 5G AFFECT PLANES? AT&T and Verizon have spent tens of billions of dollars to license the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz frequency range for the new high-speed C-Band 5G service. The C-band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies ranging from 4.0 to 8.0 gigahertz (GHz), although the US Federal Communications Commission has designated 3.7-4.2 GHz as C band too. The problem is that wireless spectrum used by 5G networks could interfere with radio altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude - especially important for low-visibility operations. Airlines fear that C-band 5G signals will disrupt planes' navigation systems, particularly those used in bad weather. This interference with radio altimeters, which measure a plane's altitude, could lead to the loss of radar altitude information or, worse, incorrect radar altitude information unknowingly being generated, they say. It is not seen as a problem in Britain or Europe, according to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority, Ofcom and EU Aviation Safety Authority. All three insist there is no evidence 5G interferes with aircraft systems. However, in Europe 5G networks work in the 3.4-3.8GHz spectrum so regulators on this side of the Atlantic don't appear as concerned about it being close to the 4.2-4.4GHz band for radio altimeters. It seems the basis for US airlines' fears is that mobile networks' traffic from the top edge of 3.98GHz might bleed into the neighbouring altimeter band. 'The issue is that the C-band frequency used for 5G in the US is a little bit close to the frequencies used by altimeters,' Roslyn Layton, vice president at Strand Consult, told Tech Monitor. The radio altimeter is a critical aviation safety technology that indicates the airplane's height and supports safe landing. It operates in the 4.2-4.4 GHz spectrum band; cell phones are currently not permitted to operate in that band or any nearby band to prevent interference. However, if telecommunication authorities reallocate the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for 5G, the risk of interference could increase. The airlines want 5G signals to be excluded from 'the approximate two miles of airport runways at affected airports as defined by the FAA on 19 January 2022'. This would ensure that no airplanes are affected by the 5G interference, they say. There have been fatal accidents associated with incorrect radar altitude, most recently Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 in Amsterdam in 2009. The FAA has warned that potential interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as altimeters and make an impact on low-visibility operations. So this threat could compromise key safety systems and result in suspended passenger and cargo flights. For passengers, flights may be cancelled or have to be diverted to other airports if 5G towers are deployed too close to airport runways. But most aviation regulators are content the risks posed by 5G to planes are low, according to Layton. 'This whole thing is unhelpful for the world's airport regulators,' she said. 'They have blessed this technology years ago, so what does it look like when the FAA all of sudden says 'there's a problem'? It's really inconvenient and a bit embarrassing.' AT&T and Verizon have agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks. In the UK, Ofcom said the country had had 5G deployments and other services in the bands near to radio altimeters for years and there have been no known cases of interference. Similarly, other countries are already using these frequencies for 5G and other wireless services with no reported incidents of interference to aviation equipment. The issue in the US is that it's about to deploy these services, so there's concerns of the effects deployment may have. Advertisement

A spokesman for Boeing had no immediate comment.

Similar 5G mobile networks have been deployed in dozens of other countries - sometimes with concessions like reducing the power of the networks near airports, as France has done. But in the U.S., the issue has pitted the FAA and the airlines against the Federal Communications Commission and the telecoms companies.

The 5G service uses a segment of the radio spectrum that is close to that used by radio altimeters, which are devices that measure the height of aircraft above the ground and help pilots land in low visibility. The FCC, which set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use, determined that it could be used safely in the vicinity of air traffic.

AT&T and Verizon have said their equipment will not interfere with aircraft electronics.

But FAA officials saw a potential problem, and the telecom companies agreed to a pause while it is addressed.

AT&T and Verizon on Tuesday agreed to temporarily defer turning on some wireless towers near key airports in a bid to avert further disruption to U.S. flights.

President Joe Biden hailed the agreement, saying it 'will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.'

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10 percent of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution, sources briefed on the matter said. Details of the agreement, including the length of the pause, were not disclosed.

Both Verizon and AT&T will launch 5G on Wednesday elsewhere in the country bringing faster speeds to tens of millions of people.

The row erupted on Monday when US airline CEOs begged the Biden administration to stop AT&T and Verizon from rolling out their C-band 5G technology.

The telecoms giants had been planning to launch the technology across the US on Wednesday, turning on 5,000 towers across the country that will bring Americans' faster internet speeds, including 500 which the airline industry say pose a threat to flight safety.

Both AT&T and Verizon have reluctantly agreed to halt turning on those towers of concern until a resolution can be found, in order to avoid a mass cancelation of flights across America and travel chaos that would up end the already distressed supply chain and scupper consumer travel.

It seemed to appease domestic airlines but did not calm international fear.

The FAA has said it will allow planes with accurate, reliable altimeters to operate around high-power 5G. But planes with older altimeters will not be allowed to make landings under low-visibility conditions.

Part of the problem, according to the FAA, are the signal strength of the 5G towers and the orientation of their antennae.

'Base stations in rural areas of the United States are permitted to emit at higher levels in comparison to other countries which may affect radio altimeter equipment accuracy and reliability,' the FAA said in December.

The FCC's chairwoman said in a statement that the 5G 'deployment can safely co-exist with aviation technologies in the United States, just as it does in other countries around the world.'

Emirates has now canceled flights to Boston, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle.

In its announcement, Emirates cited the cancellation as necessary due to 'operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the U.S. at certain airports.'

'We are working closely with aircraft manufacturers and the relevant authorities to alleviate operational concerns, and we hope to resume our U.S. services as soon as possible,' the state-owned airline said.

The United Arab Emirates successfully rolled out 5G coverage all around its airports without incident, like dozens of other countries. But in the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration worries that the C-Band strand of 5G could interfere with aviation equipment.

Of particular concern in the 5G rollout appears to be the Boeing 777, a major workhorse for Emirates, which only flies that model and the Airbus A380 jumbo jet. Its Mideast competitor, Qatar Airways, anticipates 'minor delays' on return flights from the U.S. but says otherwise its dozen U.S. routes are operating as scheduled.

All Nippon and Japan Airlines have canceled all of their Boeing 777 flights to the US, and they say they did so at the request of Boeing.

'Boeing has announced flight restrictions on all airlines operating the Boeing 777 aircraft, and we have cancelled or changed the aircraft for some flights to/from the U.S. based on the announcement by Boeing,' a statement from All Nippon Airways said.

All Nippon cancelled 20 flights to the U.S. over the issue to cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Japan Airlines similarly said that it had been informed that 5G signals 'may interfere with the radio altimeter installed on the Boeing 777.'

'We will refrain from using this model on the continental United States line until we can confirm its safety and we regret to inform you that we will cancel the flight for which the aircraft cannot be changed to the Boeing 787,' the airline said. Eight of its flights were cancelled on Wednesday - three passenger trips and five for cargo.

Boeing has not confirmed that it has given the order to airlines to ground their US 777s.

It's unclear exactly how many flights have been canceled so far, or how many more will be.

The 777 last year was the second-most used widebody plane on flights to and from U.S. airports with around 210,000 flights, behind only the 767, according to data from FlightRadar24.

Industry sources said Boeing had issued technical advisories noting potential interference, but that flight restrictions were in the hands of the FAA, which has for now limited operations at key airports unless airlines qualify for special approvals.

Radio altimeters give precise readings of the height above the ground on approach and help with automated landings, as well as verifying the jet has landed before allowing reverse thrust.

Air India, which serves four U.S. destinations with Boeing 777s, has canceled flights to and from Delhi to and from New York, San Francisco and Chicago, and between Mumbai and Newark 'due to deployment of the 5G communications' equipment. It said it would try to use other aircraft on U.S. routes as well.

Choi Jong-yun, a spokeswoman of Asiana Airlines, a South Korean carrier, said the company hasn't been affected so far because it uses Airbus planes for passenger flights to the U.S. and doesn't use the affected Boeing planes to transport cargo.

However, Choi said airlines have also been instructed by the FAA to avoid automatic landings at affected U.S. airports during bad weather conditions, regardless of plane type. Asiana will redirect its planes to nearby airports during those conditions, she said.

Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been unable to offer a solution to the fiasco.

'We recognize the economic importance of expanding 5G, and we appreciate the wireless companies working with us to protect the flying public and the country's supply chain,' said Buttigieg.

'The complex U.S. airspace leads the world in safety because of our high standards for aviation, and we will maintain this commitment as wireless companies deploy 5G,' he said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that 5G wireless interference could affect sensitive airplane instruments such as radio altimeters, which are crucial aids to pilots landing in low-visibility operations.

Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement the FAA 'has a process in place to assess altimeter performance in the 5G environment and resolve any remaining concerns. It is essential that the FAA now complete this process with both care and speed.'

The telecoms giants say they do not understand why the US has not been able to find a workaround when other countries have been able to launch.

The 5G signals that Verizon and AT&T want to emit are stronger than those in Europe.

Despite the delay, some international airlines are already canceling flights to the US out of an abundance of caution.

The list of 50 airports with 5G buffers that should be protected AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTL LAURENCE G HANSCOM FLD BOEING FLD/KING COUNTY INTL BIRMINGHAM-SHUTTLESWORTH INTL NASHVILLE INTL BOB HOPE AKRON-CANTON CHARLOTTE/DOUGLAS INTL DALLAS LOVE FLD DALLAS-FORT WORTH INTL DETROIT METRO WAYNE COUNTY ELLINGTON EWR NEWARK LIBERTY INTL FRESNO YOSEMITE INTL FORT LAUDERDALE/HOLLYWOOD INTL FLINT MICHIGAN WILLIAM P HOBBY NEW HAVEN GEORGE BUSH INTCNTL/HOUSTON INDIANAPOLIS INTL LONG ISLAND MAC ARTHUR JOHN F KENNEDY INTL HARRY REID INTL LOS ANGELES INTL LAGUARDIA LONG BEACH (DAUGHERTY FLD) KANSAS CITY INTL ORLANDO INTL HARRISBURG INTL CHICAGO MIDWAY INTL MCALLEN INTL MIAMI INTL MINNEAPOLIS-ST PAUL INTL/WOLD-CHAMBERLAIN ONTARIO INTL CHICAGO O'HARE INTL SNOHOMISH COUNTY (PAINE FLD) PALM BEACH INTL PHILADELPHIA INTL PHOENIX SKY HARBOR INTL ST PETE-CLEARWATER INTL PITTSBURGH INTL RALEIGH-DURHAM INTL FREDERICK DOUGLASS/GREATER ROCHESTER INTL SEATTLE-TACOMA INTL SAN FRANCISCO INTL NORMAN Y MINETA SAN JOSE INTL JOHN WAYNE/ORANGE COUNTY ST LOUIS LAMBERT INTL SYRACUSE HANCOCK INTL TETERBORO Advertisement

It's unclear how long the FAA and airlines now have to resolve their safety concerns.

AT&T is now demanding to know why the FAA - a government body - waited so long before sounding such alarm.

'We are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner.'

Despite the urgency conveyed by the CEOs of American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as officials from FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, Transport Secretary Buttigieg has yet to make a public statement about the issue ahead of Wednesday's rollout.

Of 88 airports that could be affected around the country, there are currently 50 with 5G buffers around them to reduce the interference of 5G.

The FAA has not named the remaining 38 affected airports.

Despite the buffer, the airports could still face 5G interference.

If any of the 88 airports experience bad weather, where altimeters are a necessity, the FAA and U.S. airlines said flights would be cancelled, diverted or delayed.

Allied Pilots Association spokesperson Dennis Tajer echoed the airlines' concerns and urged the cellular companies to push back the 5G rollout.

'This is reckless, it's dangerous, and it's got to stop,' Tajer told the Today Show on Tuesday.

'Take a pause. This is about a cellphone signal, and we're focused on protecting lives.'

The warning comes after airline International airports and airlines have also begun warning customers to check if their trips to the U.S. will be cancelled or delayed due to the 5G launch.

Although the FAA approved 48 of the 88 airports most directly affected by 5G to use two radio altimeters to avoid confusion on Sunday, it ultimately issued an order to all pilots to avoid using the instruments because they could still face issues.

The buffer zones call for the 5G towers to be located at least two miles away from airports and to limit the towers' heights.

'Even with the approvals granted by the FAA..., U.S. airlines will not be able to operate the vast majority of passenger and cargo flights due to the FAA's 5G-related flight restrictions unless action is taken prior to the planned January 19 rollout,' Airlines for America, which represents American Airlines, Delta Airlines and FedEx, told Reuters.

As of Tuesday morning, the stocks for American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines remained stable with a small upward trend.

AT&T and Verizon, which won nearly all of the C-Band spectrum in an $80 billion auction last year to launched their 5G services, had agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce interference risks and take other steps to cut potential interference for six months.

'Even with these new approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected,' the FAA warned in a statement.

'The FAA also continues to work with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems. Passengers should check with their airlines if weather is forecast at a destination where 5G interference is possible.'

Despite the worries in America, 5G's possible effects on planes has not been a major concern in Europe.

Allied Pilots Association spokesperson Dennis Tajer urged cellular companies to push back their 5G rollout due to the signal's effect on a plane's altitude reading

Airline CEOs are calling for immediate intervention ahead of Wednesdays 5G rollout, warning it may cause massive flight disruptions nationwide. @tomcostellonbc has the details. pic.twitter.com/KXr5ptCOuv  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 18, 2022

What are US airlines worried about and could British planes be affected? The debate about whether 5G has the potential to interfere with crucial aeroplane instruments is intense and unresolved. What are the airlines worried about? Airlines are concerned that the new 5G network could affect aircraft instruments including altimeters, which measure a plane's distance from the ground. This is because both the new 5G network and the altimeters will operate at a similar wavelength. What are the networks saying? AT&T and Verizon say there is no evidence their new network will interfere with aircraft operating systems. They have previously delayed the rollout to allow for more research to take place. What is the view in the UK and Europe? 5G is not seen as a problem for aircraft in Britain or Europe, according to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Ofcom and EU Aviation Safety Authority. All three insist there is no evidence 5G interferes with aircraft systems. 5G in Europe is on a different wavelength, which is seen as less likely to affect planes than the one used in America. Advertisement

Last month, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority issued a statement that 5G emission's won't harm British airlines.

'Conversations with [national aviation authorities] has established that there have been no confirmed instances where 5G interference has resulted in aircraft system malfunction or unexpected behavior,' the agency said, adding that it will continue to monitor the issue.

AT&T and Verizon told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that they were not commenting on the issue at this time.

On Monday, the CEOs of American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as officials from FedEx Express and UPS Airlines, wrote a letter to government officials urging them to pause the launch of 5G.

The CEOs warned that a significant number of widebody aircrafts will become unusable and 'could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas.'

'Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,' the CEOs wrote.

'The harm that will result from deployment on January 19 is substantially worse than we anticipated for two key reasons,' they explained.

The CEOs also argued that because radio altimeters provide critical information to other safety and navigation systems in modern airplanes, multiple modern safety systems 'will be deemed unusable.'

'Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swaths of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded.'

'The ripple effects across both passenger and cargo operations, our workforce and the broader economy are simply incalculable,' the CEOs wrote as they asked officials 'that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways' at some key airports.

'Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies.'

The carriers added they urge action to ensure '5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The letter, which was obtained by DailyMail.com, went to White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

Airlines late on Monday were considering whether to begin canceling some international flights that are scheduled to arrive in the United States on Wednesday.

'With the proposed restrictions at selected airports, the transportation industry is preparing for some service disruption. We are optimistic that we can work across industries and with government to finalize solutions that safely mitigate as many schedule impacts as possible,' plane maker Boeing said.

United Airlines also separately warned on Monday that the issue could affect more than 15,000 of its flights, 1.25 million passengers and snarl tons of cargo annually.

United said it faces 'significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional aircraft in major cities like Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.'

JetBlue Airways Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes told employees on Monday that the planned rollout of new 5G service by AT&T and Verizon on Wednesday is set to 'further stress our already fragile air system.'

Hayes said in a memo that the airline is preparing for the 'worst' when the new service and new flight restrictions take effect.

'While we will do our best to avoid customer disruption, we won't be able to avoid the impact of this, including significant flight delays, cancellations, and diversions in low visibility flying,' Hayes wrote.

One area of concern is whether some or all Boeing 777s will be unable to land at some key U.S. airports after 5G service starts, as well as some Boeing cargo planes, airline officials told Reuters.

The airlines urged action to ensure '5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The FAA said on Sunday it had cleared an estimated 45% of the U.S. commercial airplane fleet to perform low-visibility landings at many airports where 5G C-band will be deployed and they expect to issue more approvals before Wednesday.

The airlines noted on Monday that the list did not include many large airports.

The CEOs of major airlines and Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun held a lengthy call with Buttigieg and Dickson on Sunday to warn of the looming crisis, officials told Reuters.

Altimeter's are a key tool for pilots landing in low-visibility conditions

THE EVOLUTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND UP TO 5G The evolution of the G system started in 1980 with the invention of the mobile phone which allowed for analogue data to be transmitted via phone calls. Digital came into play in 1991 with 2G and SMS and MMS capabilities were launched. Since then, the capabilities and carrying capacity for the mobile network has increased massively. More data can be transferred from one point to another via the mobile network quicker than ever. 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than the currently used 4G. Whilst the jump from 3G to 4G was most beneficial for mobile browsing and working, the step to 5G will be so fast they become almost real-time. That means mobile operations will be just as fast as office-based internet connections. Potential uses for 5G include: Simultaneous translation of several languages in a party conference call

Self-driving cars can stream movies, music and navigation information from the cloud

A full length 8GB film can be downloaded in six seconds. 5G is expected to be so quick and efficient it is possible it could start the end of wired connections. By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G. Advertisement

But the issue doesn't just affect airplanes - they could also have a negative effect on the nation's helicopters, including lifesaving medevac choppers.

Under U.S. law, all commercial helicopters must have a working altimeter in order to fly. Without them, officials warn, landing in remote areas or on hospital landing pads will be near impossible.

Helicopter Association International petitioned the FAA in October asking for medevacs to be exempt from the law when 5G rolls out, and the FAA granted it last week for areas where 5G C-Band interference could affect the radio altimeter.

Airlines for America, the group that organized the letter, declined to comment.

The CEO's also complained that: 'Given the short time frame and the exigency of this completely avoidable economic calamity, we respectfully request you support and take whatever action necessary to ensure that 5G is deployed except when towers are too close to airport runways until the FAA can determine how that can be safely accomplished without catastrophic disruption.'

The FAA said it 'will continue to ensure that the traveling public is safe as wireless companies deploy 5G.

'The FAA continues to work with the aviation industry and wireless companies to try to limit 5G-related flight delays and cancellations.'

The other government agencies did not comment.

The U.K. CAA, the mobile phone industry and Ofcom released statements earlier this month in response to U.K. concerns. They said they did not share the worries of that in the U.S. at this stage.

A spokesperson for the CAA, the UK equivalent to the FAA, said: 'We are aware of reports that suggest that the frequency band being used for 5G in a number of countries could potentially pose a risk of interference with aircraft radio altimeters.

'There have been no reported incidents of aircraft systems being affected by 5G transmissions in U.K. airspace, but we are nonetheless working with Ofcom and the Ministry of Defense to make sure that the deployment of 5G in the U.K. does not cause any technical problems for aircraft.'

A spokesperson for Ofcom said: 'We're aware that the aviation sector is looking at this; we've done our own technical analysis and are yet to see any evidence that would give us cause for concern.'

Gareth Elliott, head of policy and communications at Mobile U.K., which represents mobile networks, said: 'The U.K.'s mobile network operators follow all health and safety guidelines and engage with a variety of industries on interference.

'Mobile operators are actively coordinating with the aviation authorities to ensure no interference in the U.K.'
Australia could get the economic cold shoulder from some of the world's richest nations unless it does more to curb its emissions, observers say.

Climate diplomacy experts have seized on a speech by Germany's new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who has called for the G7 industrial nations to become the founding members of a 'climate club'.

He promised Germany would use its G7 presidency to push for new standards by member nations, warning there would be no more waiting for stragglers.

'We will use our presidency of the G7 to turn that group into the nucleus of an international climate club,' he said on Wednesday at an event held by the World Economic Forum.

If the G7 'club' eventuate leaders from countries that have not agreed to its goals may face economic pressures like increased tariffs (pictured, Scott Morrison with British prime minister Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie at last year's summit)

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'What we want to achieve is a paradigm shift in international climate policy: We will no longer wait for the slowest and least ambitious.

'Instead, we will lead by example, and we will turn climate action from a cost factor into competitive advantage by agreeing on joint minimum standards.'

Scholz suggested the G7 climate club should commit to limiting global warming to 1.5C and achieving climate neutrality by 2050, and could seek to achieve those goals 'by pricing carbon and preventing carbon leakage'.

Economist Nicki Hutley, a councillor with the Climate Council, said the chancellor's comments make it clear what is on the line for countries like Australia if they fail to ramp up their emissions-reduction timetables.

Germany's new chancellor Olaf Scholz (pictured) has announced he wants to turn the G7 into a 'climate club' where member countries will put economic pressures on 'slow and least ambitious' countries

'The cost of failing to do so is not only through the prospect of carbon border tariffs, but also a loss of investment capital and the potential for economic gains from being a first mover in green industries,' she said.

Dr Wesley Morgan is an expert in international climate diplomacy and a research fellow at the Asia Institute at Griffith University.

He said Scholz's use of the phrase climate club is a nod to Nobel prize winning economist William Nordhaus, who proposed it back in 2015 as a way of stopping some nations trying to get a free ride on the back of action by others.

Nordhaus said collective action was the solution, including punitive mechanisms such as tariffs on products from countries that fail to pull their weight.

The chancellor's plan is for climate-driven countries to impose 'cost factors' only non-driven countries so there is a 'competitive advantage' in becoming climate-focused (pictured, mining in the Pilbara region of WA)

'The Morrison government will be paying very close attention to this climate club proposal because this is where the rubber will hit the road,' Dr Morgan said.

'It's going beyond diplomatic pressure, to major trading partners and major powers considering policy that they'll implement collectively - policy that will impose real economic and diplomatic costs on countries that are not doing enough.'

All G7 countries have pledged to halve their emissions by 2030 but Australia has only committed to a reduction of 26 to 28 per cent, although has said it expects to do better than that.

At the beginning of the year, Germany took over the presidency of the G7 bloc of leading Western economic powers, which also includes the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom.

AAP has sought comment from the government.
Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries' shipyard in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province. Courtesy of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries



Irregular worker's death jeopardizes shipbuilder's ESG rating



By Park Jae-hyuk



Minority shareholders of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) are furious after the company reaffirmed its earlier plan to go public with one of its subsidiaries, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, this year, according to industry analysts, Thursday.



The shareholders saw the KSOE stock prices plunge when another subsidiary, Hyundai Heavy Industries, was listed on the main KOSPI last September.



According to a report from Daishin Securities, KSOE Vice Chairman and CEO Ka Sam-hyun told local securities analysts Tuesday that Hyundai Samho will go public as planned, despite the recent failure in its attempt to acquire Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.



"When IMM Private Equity invested 400 billion won ($335 million) in Hyundai Samho, we promised to list the company on the stock market until 2022, but we deferred the deadline for two years," the vice chairman was quoted as saying. "The initial public offering (IPO) is a fulfillment of our promise for IMM that helped us during the shipbuilding industry's slump, so Hyundai Samho's IPO will go ahead as planned."



Once Hyundai Samho goes public, KSOE under Hyundai Heavy Industries Group will become the parent firm of the three listed shipbuilders: Hyundai Heavy, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho.



Hi Investment & Securities analyst Lee Sang-heon said in a report earlier this month that a subsidiary's IPO can cause a discount on its parent firm's stock price, damaging minority shareholders.



"If Hyundai Samho's IPO follows Hyundai Heavy's IPO, the discount rate may be even greater," analyst Choi Gwang-sik of the securities firm also said in another report.



A recent fatal accident at Hyundai Samho involving an irregular worker is also weighing on the shipbuilder and its parent firm.



A day after the KSOE vice chairman announced Hyundai Samho's IPO plan, a female worker in her 50s died at the shipbuilder's shipyard in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province. She reportedly fell from a ladder while doing cleaning work.



The accident occurred only a week before the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which states that the owner or chief manager of a business can face a minimum one-year prison term or a maximum fine of 1 billion won, if an industrial accident involving a death occurs when a workplace doesn't take the required safety measures. The Ministry of Employment and Labor started investigating the accident to find out whether the shipbuilder breached safety guidelines.



"We will intensively manage risk factors to prevent the recurrence of accidents threatening the safety of workers," Hyundai Samho CEO Kim Hyung-kwan said in his written apology after the accident.



In terms of rating the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors that have become significant for domestic and foreign institutional investors when making investment decisions, a worker's death is considered a negative social factor.



When the Korea Corporate Governance Service downgraded KSOE's social rating during the second and third quarters of last year, the proxy adviser cited a series of fatal accidents that had occurred repeatedly at Hyundai Heavy's shipyard.


The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been used in fake endorsements on social media to promote Bitcoin-related investment schemes.

Fabricated interviews, as well as photos of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, have been used in online articles falsely claiming the couple have backed schemes related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading.

One of the latest fake headlines reads: People earning millions from home by using Harry and Meghan latest advice.

The story also uses the logos of news brands including the Mail, the BBC, the Sun, Good Morning Britain and the Guardian.

Another said: Harry and Meghan shocked everyone in the studio by revealing how they making (sic) an extra 128k every month.

Harry and Meghan are among a string of celebrities  including Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg  being misused in get-rich-quick scams, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.

It comes as the number of consumers reporting possible scams to the UKs financial services watchdog has risen by more than 400 per cent in five years.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been used in fake endorsements on social media to promote Bitcoin-related investment schemes

One of the latest fake headlines reads: People earning millions from home by using Harry and Meghan latest advice. Another said: Harry and Meghan shocked everyone in the studio by revealing how they making (sic) an extra 128k every month

It comes as the number of consumers reporting possible scams to the UKs financial services watchdog has risen by more than 400 per cent in five years

The articles falsely claim that in TV interviews the royal couple backed investment schemes related to Bitcoin.

A supposed investor is quoted as saying: I let the software run and my profits stacked up like pancakes. It feels incredible having money rush in this fast and hard.

Another says: My ex-girlfriend dumped me because I was too poor. Now Im a multi-millionaire and I have an even better girlfriend.

The articles, seen by the FCA, appear to be linked to a website in Eastern Europe, the BBC reported.

The broadcaster contacted the website but had not replied. The online link now goes to a general feature on the Royal Family.

Representatives of the duke and duchess have reportedly been alerted. MailOnline has approached their spokesman for comment.

Last year, there were more than 34,000 reports from consumers with suspicions about possibly fraudulent investment offers, the FCA said. In 2016, it had been 8,000.

Harry and Meghan are among a string of celebrities  including Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg  being misused in get-rich-quick scams, according to the Financial Conduct Authority

Between April 2020 and March last year, there were 500 investment frauds found using fake celebrity endorsements, with losses of over 10million, according to the latest data from Action Fraud.

An FCA spokesperson told MailOnline: People should be very wary when they see investment ads offering high returns, even if they appear to be endorsed by celebrities.

You can check if a company is regulated by us on the Financial Services register. If it isnt, you are very unlikely to have any protection if things go wrong.

Where potential scam activity takes place outside of our remit, we will involve other law enforcement agencies who may be able to take further action.

We have continued to call on the Government to include financial content within the Online Safety Bill.

Citizens Advice director of policy Matthew Upton said the consequences can be truly devastating.

He told the BBC: These schemes are becoming ever-more sophisticated and can leave people feeling incredibly vulnerable and isolated  to the point where they can't even tell their family and friends what has happened.
The mother of the man accused of murdering schoolgirl Charlise Mutton has defended her son and made extraordinary comments aimed at the nine-year-old's biological mum, calling the situation 'a headache'.

Justin Stein, 31, has been charged over the grisly death after the child's body was discovered in a barrel near the Colo River near Sydney's Blue Mountains on Tuesday, following a five day search.

Annemie Stein revealed she didn't approve of the whirlwind relationship between her son - who went to Cranbrook, one of Sydney's most elite private schools - and the girl's mother, Kallista Mutten.

Social media posts show the pair shared a rapid romance, announcing they were in a relationship about a year after Ms Mutten, a former ice addict who has served jail time, walked free from prison.

The couple later got engaged and Ms Mutten, 31, is now reportedly pregnant with Stein's child.

Stein currently remains behind bars on remand, after being charged with the murder of his nine-year-old stepdaughter Charlise (pictured) shortly after her body was found

Kallista Mutten and Justin Stein (pictured) had a whirlwind romance before becoming engaged and inviting her daughter on the tragic trip to Mount Wilson

'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink, or choose their partners, and sometimes it ends up in a headache like this one,' Ms Stein told the Daily Telegraph.

The 56-year-old said it would be painful for any parent to have a child go through what her son was experiencing because 'parents know their children'.

Ms Stein defended her privately-educated son revealing he had a 'tortured life' despite his wealthy upbringing.

On Wednesday, the alleged killer appeared in Central Local Court where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

His barrister told magistrate Robert Williams that while on remand in prison, Stein needed supplies of medication which he had been taking in high dosage for many years to treat 'mental health problems'.

The antipsychotic medications are used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

Justin Stein, 31 (pictured), has been charged over the grisly death after Charlise's body was discovered in a barrel near the Colo River near Sydney's Blue Mountains on Tuesday, following a five day search

Social media posts show the pair shared a rapid romance, announcing they were in a relationship about a year after Ms Mutten (pictured), a former ice addict who has served jail time, walked free from prison.

Ms Stein described what would have been her step-granddaughter as a 'lovely' and 'beautiful' little girl who didn't deserve to die.

Charlise's estranged father also broke his silence saying he was 'heartbroken' by the sad news.

Mr Stein revealed he had not seen his son for 'some time' and was shocked by the tragedy.

Ms Mutten left her daughter in Stein's care last Tuesday, and court documents show detectives allege Stein killed her in the following 15 hours.

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten key questions about the alleged events after the reportedly pregnant mother suffered a 'medical episode' and collapsed one day into the search for her daughter.

The wealthy antique dealer Stein family have owned the Wildenstein property where Charlise was holidaying with their son and her biological mother for two decades.

Ms Stein described what would have been her step-granddaughter (pictured) as a 'lovely' and 'beautiful' little girl who didn't deserve to die

Stein (pictured) is described by his mother as having had a 'tortured' upbringing despite being educated at one of Sydney's most prestigious high schools

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten (pictured) key questions about the alleged events after she suffered a 'medical episode' at the Wildenstein estate

The sprawling estate is currently being operated as a wedding venue by Justin's older brother James and his husband Keegan Buzza with the younger Stein brother staying in a shack on the five-hectare property in past years.

The nine-year-old normally lived fulltime with her grandparents, Deborah and Clint Mutten in the Queensland border town of Coolangatta, but arrived at Wildenstein during the Christmas-New Year school holidays.

Kallista Mutten had relinquished guardianship of Charlise after developing a methamphetamine addiction, failed attempts to undergo rehabilitation and a two year prison stretch for killing a female friend she drove into a river while high on ice.

As police continue to investigate the case, they allege Stein drove approximately 200km towing a boat loaded with a plastic barrel carrying the remains of the nine-year-old over a circuitous five-hour trek.

Police allege Charlise Mutten, 9, was murdered and her body encased in a barrel which was towed for hours in a boat before being dumped on a lonely riverbank in dense bushland

Stein stayed a shack on the five-hectare Wildenstein property (pictured) in past years

Charlise (pictured) had been staying at the Wildenstein property with Stein and her biological mother over the New Years-Christmas holidays when she first went missing

The barrel allegedly lay under a blue tarpaulin in the boat towed by Stein's red Holden ute from the Blue Mountains to Bunnings at Marsden Park, a nearby BP petrol station, and then on to two Sydney boat ramps.

Attempts to dispose of the schoolgirl's remains in the water are said by police to have been thwarted by Stein's inability to launch the motor boat taken from his family's luxury Blue Mountains property.

In the end, after failing to start the boat and take the barrel now also weighted down with sand to sink into deeper water, Stein allegedly took off for the Colo River.

On the afternoon of Thursday, January 13, on a river bank around 80km northwest of Sydney, police say the 31-year-old pulled up his ute in bushland.

Stein then allegedly tried to drag the heavy barrel to the river's edge and roll it in, but the weight of the sand prevented him doing so and finally he was forced to abandon it in the scrub.

Rescue teams worked tirelessly to find Charlise in thick bushland at Mount Wilson (pictured on January 17) - before a body was eventually discovered

The area next to the Colo River (pictured) where Justin Stein allegedly dumped Charlise's body in a barrel five days before the nine-year-old's decomposed remains were found

Charlise's remains lay in the barrel for five days as emergency workers searched fruitlessly for the missing girl around Mount Wilson, 65km further west.

That was until the afternoon of Tuesday, January 18 when police, acting on GPS data, located the barrel in the bush and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise's decomposing remains.

Police allege that between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am on Wednesday January 12 - when Ms Mutten is said to have been absent from Wildenstein - Stein murdered Charlise.

On Thursday, January 13, Stein left the Wildenstein property at Mount Wilson in his Holden Colorado, police say, towing a boat carrying the barrel with Charlise's body inside.

A blue tarpaulin is believed to have been draped over the barrel in the boat.

According to GPS data detectives later obtained from Stein's mobile phone and his ute, he allegedly made the one hour 20 minute journey to Marsden Park Bunnings.

Charlise (above) with her grandmother Deborah Mutten who learnt the tragic news this week that the adored granddaughter for whom she was full-time carer had died

Emergency services volunteers gathered for another futile day looking to find Charlise alive when in fact her body lay inside a barrel on a river bank 65km away

At Bunnings, Stein bought five 20kg bags of sand and made a phone call, police allege, emptying the bags of sand into the barrel to weigh it down.

At the Five Dock boat ramp on the Parramatta River in inner western Sydney, where he is said to have failed to launch the motor boat, because it was 'inoperable'.

The boat was still unable to be started and from the Windsor ramp, on the Hawkesbury River, it is a 24km drive north to the Colo River via the Putty Road.

It is alleged Stein tried to drag the barrel from the boat and dispose of it in the river, but due to its weight didn't get very far and dumped it in scrub near the bank.

Almost four hours later a person, believed to be Ms Mutten, dialled Triple-0 to report that Charlise was missing from the Wildenstein property.

When police arrived, Ms Mutten was present at the estate without the company of her fiance and during an informal round of police questions she had 'a medical episode' and was taken to Blue Mountains Hospital at Katoomba.

The court heard on Wednesday that Justin Stein (above, depicted by a court artist) is on a heavy dosage of antipsychotic drugs which he has been taking for years

After allegedly dumping his stepdaughter's body Justin Stein travelled to Sydney and stayed at a housing commission apartment block in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills (pictured)

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken back to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder

On Friday afternoon, Stein drove his ute to High Street, Penrith and entered Penrith Police station and spoke with detectives.

Police seized his parked ute and impounded it, towing it away to a location for forensic examination; officers also seized the motor boat from Wildenstein estate.

For five days, emergency services workers searched steep terrain around Mount Wilson looking for Charlise, with police warning by day five - the morning of Tuesday, January 18 - that the girl would by now be 'lethargic' and immobile.

While Ms Mutten was in hospital, Stein travelled to Sydney and stayed at a housing commission apartment block in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

Sometime between 3pm and 5pm, police are believed to have set off for the Colo River using GPS tracking co-ordinates, locating the barrel and its grisly contents.

Police seized a boat from the Wildenstein property (above) where Charlise was staying with her mother and Justin Stein on holiday before she was allegedly murdered

Young girl leave tributes for Charlise after a candlelit vigil was held outside the front gates of the Tweed Heads Public School on Wednesday evening

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder.

A court on Wednesday heard that Stein wanted to be placed in a protection wing in prison for his own safety as he awaited his next appearance, in Penrith Local Court in March.

Meanwhile, detectives have been frustrated in their attempts to speak to Charlise's pregnant mother in recent days as she remains in hospital.

She is said to be in the care of doctors and 'difficult to approach', meaning police still had no conducted a formal interview with her.

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for the schoolgirl - leaving tributes outside

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for schoolgirl Charlise Mutten outside the front gates of Tweed Heads Public School.

The nine-year-old had been a student at the school on the NSW coast with her fellow classmates commemorating their friend with colourful balloons, notes and flowers.

A message on the school's notice board read 'don't count the days, make the days count' with the school releasing a statement on Wednesday morning.

'Charlise was a much loved member of our school who brightened all our days, every day,' the statement read, adding the school was 'absolutely devastated' by the news.

It was accompanied by a touching photo of the nine-year-old holding a literacy award she had received at the end-of-year presentation day.

'Charlise was a much loved member of our school who brightened all our days, every day,' a statement from the school read (pictured, mourners outside her school on Wednesday)

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' the schoolgirl's biological father shared (pictured, a woman lights a candle at a vigil outside Charlise's school on Wednesday)

Charliese's biological father has also shared an emotional tribute to his daughter and vowed to 'get answers' about her tragic death.

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said.

'You have captured the hearts of the nation and the world, and now those hearts are breaking with mine.'

Her father vowed this 'would not be the end of [her] or [her] story' in his statement.

'This doesn't happen. Kids need to be safe. What is wrong with people?'
'This isn't a case where we can say minute-by-minute what happened,' Rocah said, 'but we can say with confidence that he killed her in Westchester'

The prosecutor's declaration comes mere months after her office indicted Durst for his suspected part in his first partner's disappearance

Police blew opportunities to build a case against Robert Durst in the death of his first wife, New York prosecutor who oversaw reinvestigation says in report

Police blew multiple opportunities to build a case against Robert Durst in the death of his first wife because they had 'tunnel vision' and the powerful real estate scion fed authorities lies, a New York prosecutor who oversaw reinvestigation efforts into the case said Wednesday.

Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah, 51, blamed investigative shortcomings that failed to produce a charge following the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen 'Kathie' Durst from the couple's cottage in Westchester County, in her office's final investigative report into the incident.

'Some missed opportunities by law enforcement officials directing the early stages of the investigation may have contributed to delays in bringing the charges in this case,' Rocah said at a news conference. She added that authorities now 'can and must learn from this,' particularly for future investigations involving rich, powerful and high-profile people.

The suburban prosecutor's declaration comes mere months after her office indicted Durst for his suspected part in his first wife's disappearance - declared a homicide in 2017. Durst's death in a California hospital last week saw him escape charges in the four-decade-old case.

'This isn't a case where we can say minute-by-minute what happened,' Rocah said this week following the report's release, 'but we can say with confidence that he killed her in Westchester.'

The multimillionaire real estate mogul was set to stand trial for the crime this year but died aged 78 on January 10, just four months into serving a life sentence for killing his friend and confidant Susan Berman. Rocah said the office released the report in the wake of Durst's death 'because a public trial is no longer possible.'

In the report, Rocah revealed that her office was able to indict Durst during the reopening of the case due to damaging 'admissions' he made in the 2015 documentary 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.'

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Westchester DA Mimi Rocah blamed cops' 'tunnel vision' for investigative shortcomings that failed to produce a charge following the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen Durst from the couple's Westchester cottage, in her office's final investigative report into the occurrence

Durst was indicted by a New York grand jury last November following Rocah's probe earlier that year. He was set to stand trial for the murder of his wife, Kathleen, who disappeared in 1982 and was presumed dead in 2017. The couple is pictured in 1982

According to Rocah, Durst inadvertently aroused suspicion during interviews with the film's director, Andrew Jarecki, in which the suspected serial killer admitted that he had had a number of physical altercations with Kathie, including on the night she disappeared.

The report also cites an instance where Durst told Jarecki that he had lied to police about calling and speaking to her at the pair's apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

What's more, the real estate scion went so far as to contradict testimony he had given to investigators at the time of Kathie's disappearance in the series of interviews for the six-part biographical series, telling Jarecki that he was not actually having drinks with his Westchester neighbors on the night that she disappeared.

The film famously also features audio of Durst seemingly confessing to his crimes on a hot mic, that the filmmaker says he didn't realize was still on. While in the bathroom, Durst can be heard saying, 'What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.'

Durst, however, still insisted that he did not kill his first wife and claimed that his lies were intended to focus authorities' search to Manhattan.

The day before that final episode aired on HBO, Durst was arrested. He was then on trial for the 2000 murder Berman, who was long though to be an accomplice of the suspected killer in his first wife's death.

'The Jinx' documentary also revealed that a note sent to Beverly Hills police after Bergman's murder connected him to the scene of the 2000 killing, Rocah wrote, dubbing the letter the 'Cadaver Note' in the report.

'Around the time Berman's body was discovered, the Beverly Hills Police Department received a note in the mail,' the Westchester prosecutor wrote.

'The address on the envelope had the word Beverly misspelled as "Beverley," a fact that would become relevant later in the investigation. The note within the envelope contained Berman's address and the word "cadaver" (hereinafter, the "Cadaver Note").'

Then, more than a decade later, following Durst's interviews with Jarecki, the director received a tip from Berman's stepson, in the form of another letter, one that Durst had penned to his stepmom more than a year before her murder, Rocah's report reveals.

Late New York real estate scion Robert Durst, pictured here in court in August, died in police custody at the age of 78 on January 10

'The Jinx' documentary also revealed that a note sent to Beverly Hills police after Bergman's murder connected him to the scene of the 2000 killing, Rocah wrote, dubbing the letter the 'Cadaver Note' in the report

'After these interviews, Susan Berman's stepson gave Andrew Jarecki an envelope and letter that Robert Durst had sent to Susan Berman over a year before she was murdered, which he had found with Berman's possessions,' the report reads, adding that the return address on the envelope's back was emblazoned with Durst's name and Manhattan business address.

'The envelop was address in block lettering that appeared strikingly similar to the lettering on the Cadaver Note sent to the Beverly Hills Police Department around the time of Berman's murder, and included the same misspelling of "Beverly" as "Beverley."'

The report goes on to state that after receiving the envelope, Jarecki tried repeatedly to schedule another interview with Durst, intent on confronting him about these similarities. Durst avoided such a meeting for years, the report reveals, until the pair scheduled an interview for April 18, 2012.

The report says of their meeting: 'When questioned about the two envelopes, Durst admitted that the writing was very similar, and the misspelling the same.'

Durst even conceded that he had written the letter in question, according to the report. However, he continued to deny that he wrote the letter to police.

At the end of the interview, Durst, still wearing his microphone, went to the restroom where he was recorded talking to himself, the report goes on.

Durst seemed to incriminate himself, according to the report.

'There it is. You're caught,' the New York real estate honcho can be heard saying in the hot-mic recording.

'Well, that's... you're right, of course. But you can't imagine.'

Durst continues: 'That's good. Find them very frightening, and I do not want to talk to them. I don't know.'

Per Rocah's report, Durst then seems to utter something particularly incriminating at this point in the recording, which was collected without Durst's knowledge.

'Well I don't know what you expected to get, but the... rest of... I don't know what's in the house. Oh, I want this... killed them all of course.

'I want to do something new.'

Durst then added: There's nothing new about that. What a disaster. He was right. I was wrong... I'm having difficulty with the question. What the hell did I do?

Seemingly nonsensical, Durst later testified he was using methamphetamine during the interviews and deeply regretted doing them.

However, the recording was enough for Rocah and her office to set off on re-examining the case in January of last year.

'This isn't a case where we can say minute-by-minute what happened,' Rocah said Wednesday with the report's release, 'but we can say with confidence that he killed her in Westchester.' The suburban prosecutor's comments come just months after her office indicted Durst for his suspected part in his partner's disappearance

During a Wednesday afternoon press conference regarding the probe's findings, Rocah further asserted that investigators were wrongfully 'guided by Durst's version of events,' while also acknowledging that the investigation and indictment of Durst was a 'challenging circumstantial case.'

'The report summarizes facts not subject to grand jury secrecy that were gathered during the investigation into Kathie Dursts disappearance, and it sheds some light on why it took nearly 40 years to charge Robert Durst for her murder,' Rocah said.

'Sharing facts with the public, where possible, is the best way to enhance public trust in our justice system,' she continued, while noting that the domestic abuse allegations Durst at the time of his first wife's disappearance would likely have been taken more seriously today.

Durst had, for years, deflected suspicion in Kathleen's death and another killing - that of Susan Berman - and beat a murder charge in a third, before the 2015 documentary thrust him back in the limelight, and under the watchful eye of Westchester jurists.

Rocah said her inquiry turned up some new witnesses and physical evidence that corroborated elements of the case, and that her office had re-interviewed some witnesses who were 'more forthcoming than before.'

Noting that grand jury secrecy laws prevent divulging some of what investigators learned, the report also reviewed facts that already had emerged publicly.

An attorney for Kathie Durst's family blasted the DA's remarks as an attempt 'to explain away how money, power, and influence allowed a killer to escape justice' and called on Rocah to resign.

'All the evidence that was needed to prove that Robert Durst killed Kathleen beyond a reasonable doubt was available in 1982,' the lawyer, Robert Abrams, said in an interview.

Abrams told The Associated Press last week that he would soon be filing a new wrongful death lawsuit to the tune of more than $100 million against the estate and would renew legal actions against others he has claimed helped cover up the killing of Kathleen Durst 40 years ago.

According to Rocah, Durst inadvertently aroused suspicion during interviews in which the suspected serial killer admitted that he had had a number of physical altercations with Kathleen, including on the night she disappeared

Kathleen disappeared from the pair's Westchester County home on January 31, 1982

TIMELINE: THE DESCENT OF ROBERT DURST 1982: Robert Durst's wife, Kathleen McCormack goes missing on January 31. Durst claimed that he dropped her off at the train station on the night she disappeared, and spoke to her later that evening on the telephone. Kathleen was never seen again. 1994: Robert Durst is pushed out of the family business due to increasingly erratic behavior. His brother is named successor of the real estate empire. 2000: The Westchester County district attorney announces in November that she is reopening the investigation into Kathleen McCormack Durst's disappearance and Susan Berman is considered a prime witness. 2000: Susan Berman is found executed in her Beverly Hills home. Three days later, an anonymous letter arrives at the Beverly Hills Police Department containing Berman's address and the word 'cadaver.' On the envelope 'Beverly' was critically misspelled as 'Beverley.' But the case goes cold. 2001: Durst was arrested in Galveston, Texas, shortly after body parts belonging to his elderly neighbor, Morris Black, were found floating in Galveston Bay. Police tracked him down with a receipt that was left in one of the garbage bags containing Black's body parts. Durst was released on bail and went on the run for 45 days before he was caught shoplifting a sandwich in Pennsylvania. 2003: Robert Durst stands trial for the murder of Robert Black and is acquitted of first degree murder. He pleads guilty for the lesser charges of bail jumping and evidence tampering and is sentenced to two years in prison. 2015: HBO releases a six-part documentary, The Jinx, that discovers new evidence incriminating Durst in the murder of his best friend, Susan Berman in 2000. FBI agents arrest him in New Orleans on eve before the final episode aired on March 15 2020: Robert Durst's trial for the murder of Susan Berman begins on March 20. The trial was paused for 14-months during the Covid-19 pandemic and resumed in May 2021. 2021: Robert Durst is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole on October 14. 2021: On October 22, a Westchester County grand jury charged the ex-real estate scion for murder in the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie McCormack Advertisement

Durst always maintained that he last saw his then-wife when he dropped her off in Westchester County for a train to New York City, where they had an apartment and she was in medical school.

Investigators initially let themselves be 'guided by Durst's version of events' despite inconsistencies, Rocah said in the report.

For instance, while Durst said the two weren't having marital problems, one of their Manhattan neighbors told police that his wife had said he had beaten her and repeatedly sought shelter from him in the neighbor's apartment, once climbing over via their adjacent balconies.

Neighbors who he said he had visited in Westchester after dropping her at the train denied that he came over.

Meanwhile, a trash can in the Dursts' Westchester weekend home held a curious note he'd written: 'town dump, bridge, dig, boat, other, shovel, truck or car rental.' A cleaner said she told police that she'd noticed some unusual things - including what she believed was blood on the dishwasher - and that he had told her to dispose of many of his wife's possessions shortly after she vanished.

However, police didn't thoroughly search the Westchester home, the report notes.

The investigation remained focused in Manhattan, where some workers in the couple's apartment building reported seeing Kathie Durst on the night of her disappearance and the dean at her medical school said he had gotten a phone call from her the next day.

Pressed by prosecutors during the Los Angeles case, the initial lead investigator in New York City, retired Detective Michael Struk, reluctantly admitted several mistakes, saying he wished he had 'done other things and more things.' But he said he was 'not aware of any evidence that was conclusive' that Durst had killed his wife.

A re-investigation that the New York State Police and the DA's office began in 1999 frayed the potential proof that Kathie Durst had gotten to New York City.

The building workers said they were mistaken or uncertain about seeing her, and evidence developed that the medical school caller who said she was Kathie Durst was actually Susan Berman, a writer who was Robert Durst's best friend.

Berman was found slain in her home in her Los Angeles in December 2000, before a New York state police investigator could follow through on plans to interview her.

Durst was convicted in September of killing her, with prosecutors arguing he did so to keep her from incriminating him. He was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life - about three months, as it turned out. He died Jan. 10 after being hospitalized for a variety of ailments.

Rocah said the Los Angeles case paved the legal way for the New York charges.

At his trial, Durst denied he'd killed Berman or his wife, though he also said that if he had, he'd lie about it, and that he'd lied under oath in the past.

Kathie Durst was declared legally dead in 2017, but her body has never been found.

After the investigation was reopened in 1999, Durst took off, pretended to be a mute woman and holed up in Galveston, Texas, where he killed and dismembered neighbor Morris Black in 2001.

Durst was acquitted of murder after testifying that he was defending himself, but prosecutors in his Los Angeles trial argued that Black was killed for realizing who his neighbor really was.
A retired engineer has become the first person in the country to supply local households with cheap green energy from his own wind turbine.

Pete Bailey, 69, provides 17 households with electricity from his 50kw turbine, which is located on his land in Salwayash near Bridport, Dorset, as part of a pioneering scheme.

The renewable generator covers around half of their energy needs and saves each home as much as 60 per year.

The 69-year-old, affectionately nicknamed 'Windy Pete', installed his large white wind turbine ten years ago with a dream of offering power to local people.

But it proved too costly to implement until last year when he was invited to join a cooperative with householders called Energy Local Bridport.

Retired engineer Pete Bailey, 69, provides 17 households with electricity from his 50kw turbine which is located on a field in Salwayash near Bridport, Dorset

Mr Bailey (pictured centre with locals), affectionately nicknamed 'Windy Pete', installed his large white wind turbine ten years ago with a dream of offering power to local people

The scheme, which was developed by the not-for-profit organisation Energy Local CIC, sees Energy Local Bridport allow householders in the area to purchase the electricity generated by the 50kW wind turbine.

It is the first of its kind in England and organisers say it provides a blueprint for the future of green energy in rural communities.

Mr Bailey now makes around 50 per cent more money by selling his output to the community than to a utility provider.

And dozens of other residents have joined a waiting list for Mr Bailey's power.

The plan, set up by Dorset Community Energy, comes after countryside campaigners slammed a huge 75 acre solar farm erected in nearby Spetisbury which will exclusively power London's Square Mile.

Mr Bailey said: 'I'd been fascinated by the technology for years and I tried in 2012 to supply locally but it proved too difficult so I had to sell to a utility company.

'I'd been involved with Dorset Community Energy before when they installed solar panels on the village hall where I was chairman.

'When it came to setting up Energy Local Bridport, they thought of my wind turbine as a very suitable ''kernel''.

'To be able to supply to local people is very good indeed - not only does it make sense environmentally but economically too.

'Half of what I got from the utility provider I'm making again. Before I would have had to dismantle the turbine because the amount of money I was getting simply wasn't viable.

'By getting more money for the energy I'm generating, it allows me to keep it for the future.

'It's also making people here more aware of the importance of green energy because they can see the benefits themselves.'

The 69-year-old supplies energy to was invited to Energy Local Bridport - a non-profit organisation that trades renewable energy between generators and consumers at a local level

Mr Bailey (pictured inside the turbine) said he had been fascinated by the technology for years

Each home Mr Bailey supplies is fitted with a smart metre which calculates when the turbine is producing energy and when this is being used by a household.

This means that they pay at a cheaper rate for energy they use at times when the turbine is in motion, saving around 5p per kw.

On calm days when output is low, an existing utility company supplies them with electricity at the usual higher rate.

Alison Jay, Energy Local Bridport coordinator, said: 'Energy Local clubs are initiatives which allow communities to work together and get better value for renewable energy that's in their local area.

'Its about giving power back to communities so that they have more control over their energy consumption.

'This is the first of its kind in England, based on existing initiatives in Wales.

'We knew of a wind turbine with a very friendly owner called Peter who has always wanted people to benefit from the turbine.

'The energy it produces will be shared evenly between all the homes using electricity at that time.

'Each house has a smart meter which shows, for example, that the turbine is generating from 10am to 10.30am and they will be charged the cheaper tariff for the energy they consume at that time.

'If members of the club use power when the wind turbine at Salwayash is generating, they pay around 9p per kw which goes to Pete.

Each home Mr Bailey supplies is fitted with a smart metre which calculates when the turbine is producing energy

'That's less than the price of a normal electricity supply in Britain, but more than the generator would usually receive if he sold to the central grid.'

How does the scheme work? Pete Bailey supplies the energy from his wind turbine to Energy Local Bridport - a pioneering initiative developed by the not-for-profit organisation Energy Local CIC. Energy Local Clubs enable trading of renewable energy between generators and consumers at a local level and Energy Local Bridport allows householders in the Bridport area to purchase the electricity generated by the 50kW wind turbine. Each home Mr Bailey supplies is fitted with a smart meter which calculates when the turbine is producing energy and when this is being used by a household. This means that they pay at a cheaper rate for energy they use at times when the turbine is in motion, saving around 5p per kw. When there is not enough wind, an existing utility company supplies them with electricity at the usual higher rate. If members of the scheme use power when the wind turbine at Salwayash is generating, they pay around 9p per kw which goes to Mr Bailey. Dozens of people applied to join the cooperative which began in September 2021 but only 17 were chosen for the initial pilot scheme. Advertisement

Dozens of people applied to join the cooperative which began in September 2021 but only 17 were chosen for the initial pilot scheme.

Pete West, secretary of Energy Local Bridport, said they aimed to expand it to include 60 households by spring this year.

The turbine is expected to produce around 1200kw of energy for each household - almost half of their total projected consumption of 3000kw per year.

In addition Dorset Community Energy, a not-for-profit organisation, said they hoped to build a 250kw solar farm to make savings for an additional 250 homes.

Pete West, 72, said: 'We believe this scheme is going to be a real breakthrough for green energy. As manufacturing costs become cheaper and cheaper and the cost of oil and gas continues to rice, renewable energy is becoming a more affordable alternative.

'Not only does it save money for locals but it provides an opportunity for landowners by creating a 'farmer's market' in energy.

'The households that have been receiving lower cost electricity from the Salwayash wind turbine are only the initial pilot group.

'We aim to have the club at full capacity with a total of 60 households within the next two to three months. They will join the cooperative which represents their collective interests.

'The wind turbine generation is approximately 120,000 kw per year. With 50 households the amount of wind energy they consume would be roughly half that - 1,200 kw each, which is around 50 percent of their annual energy consumption.

'Dorset Community Energy intends to add 250 kw of solar panels on an acre of land to enable a further 250 households to make savings of 70 per year.

'We are in discussions with local housing associations about providing some of the cheap renewable energy to people on low-income in social housing.'
The Sackler family are being accused of helping fuel the US opioid crisis, a decision that threatened to upend the bankruptcy restructure of Purdue Pharma

Purdue Pharma - maker of the controversial drug OxyContin - was recently had its proposed $4.5billion settlement with plaintiffs overturned by a federal judge

There have been more deaths from October 2019 to September 2020, during the pandemic, than when the opioid crisis hit its peak

The opioid crisis was deemed an epidemic in 2013 and nearly 850,000 Americans have died of the drugs since 2020

Chisholm admitted that his prescriptions - which at one point Walmart would no longer fill - had a 'significant contributing factor' to the death of five patients

The DOJ found him guilty of 'routinely distributing' the medication 'without administrating a medical exam' or having 'legitimate medical purpose' for it

He prescribed 'thousands of pills' for highly addictive drugs, such as oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone

He will also be fined $25,000 after pleading guilty to illegally prescribing opioids to 350 patients from 2014 to 2019

David Chisholm, 64, of Wasilla, Alaska, has been sentenced to 34 months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in June

Former doctor David Chisholm, 64, of Wasilla, Alaska, was sentenced to 34 months in prison with three years of supervised released and a $25,000 fine on Tuesday for illegally prescribing opioids to 350 patients, resulting in the overdoses of five patients

An Alaskan doctor was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for illegally prescribing opioids that led to five patients' deaths after he wrote 20,000 prescriptions for the drugs to 350 patients over the course of five years.

Former Camelot Family Heath doctor David Chisholm, 64, of Wasilla was given 34 months in federal prison on Tuesday, followed by three years of supervised released, a $25,000 fine and has to surrender his medical license for 'illegally dispensing and distributing controlled substances to patients,' according to the U.S. District Court of Alaska.

Chisholm prescribed 'thousands of pills,' including highly addictive oxycodone, methadone, hydrocodone, morphine, tramadol, fentanyl, hydromorphone and buprenorphine to 350 patients a total of 20,524 times between January 2014 and October 2019.

The Justice Department found him guilty of 'routinely distributing' the medication 'without administering a medical exam' or having a 'legitimate medical purpose' for the prescription.

An undercover investigation found that the former doctor prescribed 'nearly two million total dosage units of various opioids,' including 7,500 for oxycodone; 3,600 for methadone, and 1,300 for hydrocodone, the Department of Justice revealed. Some of the doses had the potential to be 'lethal,' the DOJ said.

He prescribed the drugs from his practice at Camelot Family Health (right)

In addition to the high number of power opioid prescriptions, Chisholm 'often prescribed' a 'combination of medicines' that 'increased the likelihood of drug abuse and overdose among his patients,' the DOJ reported.

At one point, when Walmart refused to fill his patients' prescriptions, the doctor reportedly told his staff to encourage patients to 'go to other pharmacies.'

Chisholm admitted during trial that his prescriptions had a 'significant contributing factor' to the overdoses of five of his patients between 2016 and 2018 and failed to keep good records.

'Dr. Chisholms reckless conduct reflects a shocking disregard for the welfare of his patients. Nothing can excuse his opioid prescribing practices in light of what is today universally understood about the risks of opioid use disorder and opioid overdose,' U.S. Attorney John Kuhn said on Tuesday.

Chisholm's lawyer Nick Oberheiden told DailyMail.com on Thursday: 'Like so many other physicians, Dr. Chisholm faced the challenge of finding a remedy and a cure when treating chronic pain patients.'

Chisholm wrote more than 20,000 prescriptions for drugs like oxycodone (pictured), methadone, and hydrocodone and admitted that it was a 'significant contributing factor' to the five patient deaths. The Department of Justice found that Chisholm 'often' prescribed controlled substances without doing a medical examination and did not keep good records

'Unfortunately, as he admitted in open court, he excessively prescribed opioids without the appropriate training and qualification. He apologized to his patients and the community, and he is accepting the consequences of his misconduct.'

The former doctor pleaded guilty in June.

Nearly 850,000 Americans have died from opioid overdoses since 1999. Most of the patients were prescribed opioids prior to their addiction.

A federal judge recently rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's offer for a $4.5 billon settlement with thousands of plaintiffs, including individuals affected by the opioid crisis and local, state and native governments, because of a clause that would have protected the Sackler family from litigation.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York said that the bankruptcy court which first agreed to the settlement did not have the legal authority to release the family from liability.

Purdue - who made $10 billion off opioids before filing for bankruptcy - said they would appeal the December decision.

The Sackler family are being sued for their role in the opioid crisis, as Purdue Pharma made $10billion off opioids (Pictured L-R: Dr. Thomas Lynch, Richard Sackler, Jonathan Sackler, and Dean Robert Alpern; Seated: Mr. and Mrs. Raymond and Beverly Sackler)

Last year, an Anchorage doctor was sentenced for a similar offense to Chisholm, as well as health care fraud.

Former psychiatrist Michael Don Robertson, 68, was sentenced on January 6, 2021, to 12 months of home arrest and five years of probation for the conspiracy to commit controlled substance fraud and health care fraud.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said Robertson 'intentionally distributed controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.

Robertson wrote 465 prescriptions, totaling 32,109 pills, of meperidine - a pain relief narcotic that has a similar addiction rate as morphine - to 30 patients, which was later given back to Robertson in return for a controlled substance prescription.

'The investigation revealed that Robertson issued the meperidine prescriptions as part of a conspiracy in which the recipients filled the meperidine prescriptions and, then, distributed the meperidine to Robertson.

'In exchange for the recipients diverting the meperidine to Robertson, Robertson provided prescriptions for controlled substances, including fentanyl and oxycodone, to the recipients,' the DEA wrote.

The DOJ found that he failed to keep records for five patients and kept inadequate ones for 790 controlled substance prescriptions to patients.

Opioid overdoses - which was ruled an epidemic in 2013 - have been on the rise for many years, but have surged aggressively since the pandemic began.

More people died between October 2019 and September 2020 from opioids than they have at the height of the pandemic, with more than 87,000 Americans dying from an overdose.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a 29 percent rise in overdose deaths during that time, with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids being the leaders of the group, as well as methamphetamine.

Nearly 500,000 people have died of opioids as of 2019 and it has since risen to almost 850,000 in 2020

The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow, said more deaths are coming from drug combinations, such as fentanyl or heroin, than anything else.

At the beginning of the opioid crisis, the majority of deaths involved white, suburban patients but have now reached into the ethnic communities - who have a higher chance of dying.

'The highest increase in mortality from opioids, predominantly driven by fentanyl, is now among Black Americans,' Volkow said in November. 'And when you look at mortality from a methamphetamine, its chilling to realize that the risk of dying from methamphetamine overdose is 12-fold higher among American Indians and Alaskan Natives than other groups.'

Purdue has claimed the ruling will not hurt the company's operations, but it will make it harder for company and Sackler money to be used to fight the opioid crisis as the legal fight continues.

'It will delay, and perhaps end, the ability of creditors, communities, and individuals to receive billions in value to abate the opioid crisis,' said Steve Miller, chairman of the Purdue board of directors.

'These funds are needed now more than ever as overdose rates hit record-highs, and we are confident that we can successfully appeal this decision and deliver desperately needed funds to the communities and individuals suffering in the midst of this crisis.'

Forty-nine states, not including Oklahoma, have sued Purdue's role in the opioid crisis and are demanding $2.5 trillion in damages.

Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of lawsuits claiming the company pushed doctors to prescribe OxyContin, helping spark an opioid crisis.

Through the bankruptcy court, it worked out a deal with its creditors. Members of the Sackler family would give up ownership of the company, which would transform into a different kind of entity that would still sell opioids - but with profits being used to fight the crisis. It would also develop new anti-addiction and anti-overdose drugs and provide them at little or no cost.

Sackler family members also would contribute $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets as part of an overall deal that could be worth $10 billion, including the value of the new drugs, if they're brought to market.

If you or someone you know is experiencing drug abuse, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) hotline at 1-800-662-4357.
Mark McGowan has announced Western Australia's borders will remain closed indefinitely as opening up would be 'reckless', instead bringing a series of huge changes to entry rules.

The premier announced the reopening date of February 5 would be abandoned amid surging Omicron cases and low third dose rates in WA - and offered no alternative for when Australians can finally travel freely in their own country.

He said while the hard border would remain in place the exemption criteria for arrivals would be expanded - especially for compassionate visits.

'It would be reckless and irresponsible to open up now. I can't do it,' he said at an emergency press conference on Thursday night, adding he knew the decision would be unpopular with many.

The state leader said he wanted to see more children vaccinated and more of the population eligible before he 'introduces Omicron deliberately' to Western Australia.

Here's a complete guide to what WA's amended reopening plan means for you and when, if ever, you can travel west.

Premier Mark McGowan (pictured) has announced his border reopening plan which was due to finally open Western Australia to the rest of Australia and the world will be delayed

Poll DO YOU AGREE WITH MCGOWAN'S DECISION? Yes No DO YOU AGREE WITH MCGOWAN'S DECISION? Yes 1279 votes

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WHO CAN ENTER WA FROM FEBRUARY 5?

Mr McGowan said the border will instead reopen in stages with quarantine requirements to remain indefinitely in Western Australia.

Holidays to WA will remain banned for both domestic and international travellers.

Arrivals will be permitted to enter to receive medical treatment, for compassionate reasons as well as those with genuine family links or returning residents.

People entering WA for national or state security reasons, those with specialist skills and government officials are also allowed to enter the state.

Health workers, emergency services workers and family members of an approved traveller are also included in the expanded entry criteria.

Arrivals will have to abide by strict testing and isolation rules with those flying internationally required to do seven days of both hotel and home quarantine (pictured, Perth Airport)

ALL THE CHANGES TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S REOPENING PLAN: Premier Mark McGowan announced the hard border currently in place in WA would remain past the original reopening date scheduled for February 5. The government has instead opted to reopen the state in stages with quarantine restrictions to remain indefinitely. Instead, relaxed travel exemptions will be enforced and will allow the following groups to enter the state: - Returning residents with strong recent connections with WA - Returning residents with family connections in WA - Compassionate reasons like funerals, palliative care or terminal illness - People entering for urgent or essential medical treatment - People entering WA for national or state security reasons - People with specialist skills - Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament, and diplomats - Other extraordinary circumstances that have been approved by the Chief Health Officer or Police Commissioner Advertisement

The state will instead open in stages with a expanded list of exemption criteria (pictured)

WHAT ARE THE TESTING AND QUARANTINE REQUIREMENTS?

Arrivals will have to abide by strict testing and isolation rules with those flying internationally required to do seven days of both hotel and home quarantine.

These include having a G2G pass, being triple-vaccinated if eligible for a third jab, and a return a negative rapid antigen test 24 hours before arriving in the state.

Travellers and their household members will be required to quarantine for 14 days with the arrival to undergo a PCR test within their first 12 hours in WA with both the traveller and their household required to test on day 12.

International travellers will need to get a PCR test on day one, six, nine and 12 with their household members also required to get tested on the twelfth day.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Six weeks ago it was declared WA would restart quarantine-free international and domestic travel on February 5, when 90 per cent of the state is fully-vaccinated.

It was expected about 80,000 interstate and international arrivals would land in Perth Airport in the first two weeks of the reopening.

About 6,000 travellers were expected on the day the borders were due to reopen.

Mr McGowan did not announce a new reopening date instead stating his government would review the border rules throughout February.

He explained this was because of surging Covid cases in the eastern states.

It was expected about 80,000 interstate and international arrivals would land in Perth Airport in the first two weeks of the reopening (pictured, two woman wear masks in Perth)

Mr McGowan said that from 12:01am on February 5 the hard border would remain in place, but with new settings introduced for compassionate visits (pictured, arrivals in Perth)

DOES THIS MEAN WA ISN'T READY FOR COVID?

The premier was asked if the delay was an admission that after two years of planning to reopen his government had not properly prepared the state's health system.

'The advice we have is the health system is strong and ready, but the problem is the rollout of the third dose,' Mr McGowan replied.

'Watching what has occurred over east and making sure that when it comes to vaccination, we're as ready as we can possibly be.

'The aim is to get it up above at least 80 per cent, perhaps 90 per cent, but what we're going to do is review the situation over February and watch what is occurring over east and work out what the best approach is for Western Australia.'

Mr McGowan said about 35 to 38 per cent of people would be triple-vaxxed by February 5, but did not say what vaccine milestone would trigger the reopening.

The premier claimed hospitalisations in the eastern states had gone up 900 per cent since the arrival of Omicron with 700 deaths recorded in the last 19 days.

He said there was insufficient data to predict where Omicron could take the state and when Covid cases or hospitalisations would peak.

The state leader warned that even those fully-vaccinated were still vulnerable to contracting the virus with booster shots crucial to reducing transmission.

The state's Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local Covid cases in a sign the virus is spreading (pictured, pedestrians in Perth on Christmas Day)

'So far, the science shows that people with only two doses of a Covid vaccine have only a 4 per cent protection against being infected by the Omicron variant.

'With a third dose it can provide a 64 per cent protection against infection.'

'So let's just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it's very difficult over there, and we've got to do our best to avoid that occurring here,' he said.

The delay comes after major pushback from health officials who said the state's hospital system was not prepared for borders to reopen.

Australian Medical Association WA President Dr Mark Duncan-Smith was one of these voices, in addition to Australian Nursing Federation state secretary Mark Olson.

Mr McGowan apologised for the delay and said he understood the decision would be unpopular with many, as holiday and reunion plans were ruined once more.

'For that I am sorry, I understand exactly what the means for many people who had been hoping to reunite without any restrictions, but from February 5 there are enhanced compassionate exemptions.'

Mark McGowan said there was insufficient data to predict when Covid cases and hospitalisations would peak across the state (pictured, staff at a pub in Perth)

The delay comes after major pushback from health officials who said the state's hospital system was not prepared for borders to reopen (pictured, travellers at Sydney airport)

'If we proceeded with the original plan, we would be deliberately ceding thousands upon thousands of Covid cases into WA and at this point in time that is not what I am going to do.'

'Especially when the science says we need to boost third doses and so many young children still need to get their vaccine.'

ARE THERE ANY COVID CASES IN WA NOW?

The state's small Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local Covid cases in a sign the virus is still spreading.

Four of the cases are close contacts, two of whom were in quarantine, with the others potentially infectious in the community.

The source of the final infection is unknown.

Several events in the lead up to February 5 have already been called off, including Perth Festival and the City to Surf, with businesses telling staff to work from home.

As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of the state's population over the age of 12 had received two doses while 25.8 aged 16 and over had received a third dose (pictured, people are reunited in Brisbane)

'So let's just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it's very difficult over there, and we've got to do our best to avoid that occurring here,' Mr McGowan said on Thursday evening

From February 5, health workers returning to the state will be required to isolate at home for seven days and permitted to work for days eight to fourteen (pictured, Melbourne Airport)

As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of the state's population over the age of 12 had received two doses while 25.8 aged 16 and over had received a third dose.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanders announced a series of changes would be enforced if and when cases were widespread across the state.

Elective surgeries will reduce to category one and two for eight weeks, however this policy will not be introduced on February 5.

'We will hold off on implementing this policy until we really need to in order to allow elective surgeries to continue for as long as possible,' Ms Sanderson said.

From February 5, health workers returning to the state will be required to isolate at home for seven days and permitted to work for days eight to fourteen.
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President Joe Biden today used a script to offer his fulsome backing to Ukraine after he yesterday inflamed the invasion crisis by suggesting a 'minor incursion' by Russia would go unpunished.

Biden said Thursday a move by any Russian forces into Ukraine would constitute an unacceptable invasion.

Biden also said the U.S. would respond to any moves by 'Little Green Men', a reference to Russian soldiers posing as militia, as well as cyber actions and 'paramilitary tactics.'

'I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding: If any  any  assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion,' Biden said at the White House, reading from a prepared text at the top of a meeting.

He said an invasion would be met by a 'severe and coordinated economic response' that he has discussed in detail with allies 'as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin.'

And he later got prickly with a Fox News reporter who asked him about the Ukraine. As reporters were being pulled out of his meeting with his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News shouted at him: 'Why are you waiting on Putin to make the first move, sir?'

The president's response was captured by audio engineers. 'What a stupid question,' he said.

Biden caused international fury yesterday when he said Russia might not be punished for a minor incursion. It lead to an immediate clarification from the White House and Kamala Harris did a round of TV interviews this morning to push back on it.

President Joe Biden on Thursday sought to clean up his own comments on how the U.S. would respond to a Russian invasion or 'minor incursion' in Ukraine. He said an invasion would be met by a 'severe and coordinated economic response'

'Let there be no doubt at all: If Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price,' Biden said.

It was just one of the gaffes Biden had to clean up Thursday. The White House also denied President Biden thinks the 2022 midterm election will be illegitimate. It is a particularly charged issue, given former President Donald Trump's attacks on the 2020 election and Biden's stalled push for voting rights legislation.

Biden, in his nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, was asked if the 2022 election would be legitimate if Democrats' voting rights package didn't pass in the Senate. 'Im not going to say its going to be legit,' he said in response. 'The increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.'

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted in response: 'Lets be clear: @POTUS was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election. He was making the opposite point.'

In his Ukraine remarks, Biden spoke at length about other scenarios that might fall short of a massive military invasion. While Russia has more than 100,000 troops amassed near the border, it has long relied on other less overt tactics to impose influence.

'Russia has a long history of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression and paramilitary tactics  so called gray zone attacks, and actions by Russian soldiers not wearing Russian uniforms,' Biden said. 'Remember when they moved into the Donbass [region] with the Little Green Men? They were dealing with those who were Russian sympathizers and Russia said: "Nobody in there. Well, that includes Little Green Men and uniforms as well as cyber attack,' Biden said.

'We have to be ready to respond to these as well and decisive and united way with a range of tools at our disposal.'

Biden also addressed comments by Ukraine's foreign minister  choosing to address his statement of confidence rather than his pushback on his own 'minor incursion' remark.

The 'Ukrainian foreign minister said this morning that he's confident of our support and resolve, and he has a right to be,' Biden said.

Biden's comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government rebuked his comments about how the U.S. would respond to a 'minor incursion' by Russia  writing that there 'are no minor incursions.'

Zelensky tweeted about Biden's words Thursday, without naming the powerful ally who has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about his threats toward Ukraine  instead referencing 'great powers.'

'We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power,' he wrote, appending the Ukrainian flag.

His pushback came as Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke to the Wall Street Journal hours after Biden's comments about his country  in a signal of concern about how the president's words might be interpreted in Moscow.

The administration has spent weeks signaling that Russia would get hit by massive economic sanctions if Putin chose to invade its neighbor again, following the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

'Speaking of minor and full incursions or full invasion, you cannot be half-aggressive. You're either aggressive or you're not aggressive,' said Kuleba.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba commented publicly in response to President Joe Biden's words about how the U.S. would respond to a 'minor incursion' in his country. 'We should not give Putin the slightest chance to play with quasi-aggression or small incursion operations'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted about 'minor incursions' in response

'We should not give Putin the slightest chance to play with quasi-aggression or small incursion operations. This aggression was there since 2014. This is the fact,' he added.

He also said his government still believed Biden was committed to the country. 'We in Ukraine have no doubt that President Biden is committed to Ukraine,' he said.

Joining the criticism was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who warned it would be a 'disaster for the world' if Russia invades Ukraine.

Johnson said 'any kind of incursion, on any scale' would be 'a disaster not just for Ukraine but for Russia' as NATO allies try to dissuade Vladimir Putin from launching an attack the Pentagon warns is 'imminent'.

Zelensky and the foreign minister's public comments came hours after an unidentified Ukrainian official said Biden's comments gave a 'green light' to Putin. The official made the remark to CNN just minutes after Biden's comments.

''We should not give Putin the slightest chance to play with quasi-aggression or small incursion operations.,' said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (R), seen here with Secretary of State Antony Blinken

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows battle group deployments at the Pogonovo training area in Voronezh, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022

A service member of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stands next to a BM-21 "Grad" multiple rocket launcher during tactical military exercises at a shooting range in the Kherson region, Ukraine, January 19, 2022

Biden had said it would be a 'disaster' for Russia if it invaded Ukraine, but also said: 'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,' Biden said at a White House press conference where Russia came up repeatedly.

That comment prompted cleanup from the White House Wednesday night, a task Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Vice President Kamala Harris carried forward in Thursday morning TV interviews.

Psaki told Fox News in an interview Thursday: 'Let me be very clear what the president has conveyed directly to president Putin. If there is any movement of military troops across the border into Ukraine, if they go into Ukraine and invade there is an invasion and severe economic consequences,' she said.

She said US is prepared for 'a range of tactics the Russians use, whether it's the little green men or cyberattacks'  a possible reference to subversive tactics. The comment followed the emergence of internet images of armed men inside Ukraine who resembled members of the Russian military. Putin has insisted they are in fact Ukrainian 'self-defense groups.'

'We'll be prepared to respond to that as well. So we're prepared for a range of tactics they may use. If they move their military in Ukraine we'll be responding,' said Psaki.

Harris was at times defensive in her own comments. At one point Harris snapped at NBC Today anchor Savannah Guthrie who said the White House's messaging was 'less than clear' on the matter.

'I'm being clear with you right now,' Harris said over Guthrie. 'And so if you're interested, I'll continue to be clear. Which is we've had direct conversations through various levels of diplomacy -- with Putin, with Russia and most importantly with our allies and partners.

'We are clear and have been clear for quite some time, that our first approach and priority, and preference, is that these issues can be resolved diplomatically. We also have been clear, and continue to be clear, that if Russian takes aggressive action, it will be met with severe cost.'

President Joe Biden was asked about the tense situation in Eastern Europe during a lengthy press conference on Wednesday, where he promised Russia would be 'held accountable if it invades.'

Harris embarked on a slew of morning news interviews as part of the White House's effort to clean up Biden's comments

But then he continued: 'And it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.'

The administration immediately launched into damage control mode, with Psaki putting out a statement that any 'renewed invasion' would be met with 'a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.'

But Biden's remarks already sent shockwaves through the international community.

Officials in Kyiv reacted to Biden's words 'with alarm,' NBC reported.

And in another television interview, Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos also confronted Harris on the effect it had on the United States' Eastern allies.

Biden said at his press conference yesterday that it's 'one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera. But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia'

An adviser to Ukraine's president told ABC on Thursday that Biden's comment was met with 'shock and dismay' in Kyiv.

'The president has been very clear that if Russia takes aggressive action, it will be met with serious, severe, and a unified response and consequences,' Harris said.

'And that position that we have taken is grounded in a number of values that we hold dear, including the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity -- in this case of Ukraine -- and we have not wavered from that perspective.'

She didn't elaborate when asked whether a Russian invasion would be met with sanctions or even full scale military action.

'We will interpret any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia and Vladimir Putin as an aggressive action and it will be met with costs, severe and certain,' Harris said.

Biden said Wednesday he wasn't certain of Putin's intentions  saying it may be based on 'which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what hes going to do.'

'I'm not so sure he is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something,' Biden said, saying that Russia already has intelligence agents operating inside the country.

He also speculated on the issues Putin is weighing, amid the collapse of the old Soviet empire.

'He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West, 'Biden said.

He said he was 'very concerned' about the situation, which he said could 'very easily get out of hand.' He called it one of the 'most consequential' situations since World War II 'in terms of war and peace.'

'I think he still does not want a full-blown war,' Biden said, warning of the short and long-term consequences it would face.

Biden outlined part of what he said Putin would face in some detail  suggesting that Russia would be black listed and unable to deal in dollars on a global system of interbank electronic transactions  which could take a severe bite out of its economy.

President Joe Biden said said Russia would pay a 'dear price' through sanctions if it invades Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back with a statement saying there 'are no minor incursions'

'We find ourselves in a position where  there will be severe economic consequences,' Biden said. 'For example., anything that involves dollar denominations  if they invade, theyre going to pay. Their banks will not be able to deal in dollars. So there's a lot thats going to happen,' he said.

The president said Russia would pay a 'dear price' through sanctions if it acts, after assembling more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. But he also spelled an area for possible talks on one of Russia's demands  and even provided a reassurance on the issue of NATO expansion.

'He has never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves,' Biden said of the economic response the U.S. would impose should Russia once again its neighbor, after seizing Crimea in 2014.

'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,' he said.

He said it would be a 'disaster for Russia if they invade Ukraine.'

'But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine. And that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy,' the president said.

CIA chief William Burns made secret visit to Europe ahead of Secretary of State Blinken's trip as part of effort to drum up support for tough response if Moscow invades Ukraine

CIA chief William Burns visited Berlin and Kiev, it emerged on Friday

He slipped in just ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip this week

Biden has turned to Burns, a former ambassador to Moscow, for some of his most sensitive international missions

It comes amid concern that European nations may be too soft on Moscow

New satellite photographs show the extent of Russia's military buildup

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By Rob Crilly, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com

The head of the CIA quietly visited Europe ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip this week as Washington tries to rally allies around a tough response against Moscow if Vladimir Putin presses ahead with plans to invade Ukraine.

Senior figures have become increasingly concerned that countries including France and Germany may pursue their own path because of closer economic ties with Russia.

The diplomatic push took on even greater urgency on Thursday, a day after President Biden said he believed Putin would press ahead with an invasion.

At the same time it emerged that CIA Director William Burns slipped into the German and Ukrainian capitals days before Blinken's much trumpeted visit this week

U.S. and German officials told the Wall Street Journal that Burns, a former ambassador to Moscow and one of Biden's most trusted international fixers, briefed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the intelligence community on different scenarios involving Russia and Ukraine.

In particular, he urged Berlin to close the recently completed Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline to Russia in the event of an invasion, the officials said.

He was reportedly sent after Scholz refrained from making a public commitment about the pipeline, triggering unease in Washington.

CIA Director William Burns (left) reportedly made a trip to Berlin and Kiev ahead of the arrival of Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) as Washington tries to rally support for a tough response to a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border as Moscow ramps up a military build up along the frontier in preparation for a 'nine-month war'

Russian troops arriving in Belarus for 'Allied Resolve 2022' exercises. Ukraine fears they could be used to open a fresh front against it in the event of a Russian invasion

Russian army vehicles arriving by train in Belarus, part of a massive military buildup

At the same time, fresh evidence of Russia's deployments is emerging.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles (330km) from the Ukraine border with rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus.

The region has been on edge since 100,000 Russian troops, armaments and missiles were moved close to the border with Ukraine.

Moscow denies it is planning to invade but last week the White House said it had intelligence that Russian operatives had been deployed with plans to launch false-flag attacks on Russian-backed militias to provide justification to attack Ukraine.

Burns arrival in the region signals a new push. Biden has repeatedly turned to Burns, 65, for some of his trickiest diplomatic missions.

In August he was dispatched to Kabul to meet the Taliban in an effort to help smooth the departure of American troops from Afghanistan.

And in November he traveled to Moscow to lay out Biden's concerns about the troop build-up.

It is an usual role for the head of the intelligence agency, but his supporters say his background as a career diplomat makes him well suited to the task.

He was followed by Blinken, who on Thursday met in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and a senior British minister, James Cleverly.

'If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe, united response from the United States and our allies and partners,' Blinken said after the meeting.

His words appeared part of an effort to clear up any confusion about the position of the U.S. and its NATO allies after Biden on Wednesday said a smaller incursion would elicit a lesser response.

Moscow has for weeks been massing tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces along its eastern flank, sparking fears of an invasion, though the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defence force (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)

Russian tanks of the Novorossiysk Guards mountain formation took part in maneuvers on Friday, further raising the temperature along the border with Ukraine where 100,000 Russian troops are massed

Pictured: Ukrainian troops take part in military drills as tensions across the country's border with Russia continue to mount

'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,' he said during a White House press conference where Russia came up repeatedly.

Ukrainian officials reacted in horror, saying Biden had given Putin the go-ahead.

'This remark potentially gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,' one told CNN.

The next day Blinken was clear in accusing Russia of threatening the foundations of world order with its buildup of troops.

'To allow Russia to violate those principles with impunity would drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent - and this city - were split in two, separated by no-man's-lands patrolled by soldiers, with the threat of all-out war hanging heavily over everyone's lives,' Blinken told an audience at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.

'It would also send a message to others around the world that these principles are expendable.'

The U.S. Treasury Department also slapped sanctions on four Ukrainian officials, including two current members of parliament, who administration officials say are part of a Russian influence effort to set the pretext for an attack on Ukraine.

The sanctions name parliament members Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn and two former government officials. According to Treasury, all four have been intimately involved in disinformation efforts by Russia's federal security service, known as the FSB.

Blinken said the four men were at the heart of a Kremlin effort begun in 2020 'to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian state to independently function.'

Attack from multiple fronts, an escalation in Donbass or missile strikes: What a Russian invasion of Ukraine could look like - as military analysts fear it could be imminent Western military analysts have suggested Russia cannot keep such troops deployed where they are indefinitely for financial and logistical reasons and would need to pull them back by summer. Estimates of the numbers of new Russian troops moved closer to Ukraine vary from 60,000 to around 100,000, with a U.S. intelligence document suggesting that number could be ramped up to 175,000. U.S. officials have said Russia might attack Ukraine as early as this month when the ground will be harder, making it easier for tanks and other armour to move swiftly. At talks this week with the United States and NATO, Russia has sought security guarantees to defuse the crisis. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday Moscow was not ready to wait forever for a response and that it wanted a detailed written response to every Russian proposal. But what might a Russian attack look like and what could it seek to achieve? 'The current deployments are versatile. They keep Russia's options open and therefore keep the defender guessing,' said Keir Giles, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. Here are some possible scenarios. DONBASS ESCALATION Heavily armed Russian-backed separatists have controlled a swath of eastern Ukraine since 2014 and continue to exchange fire with Ukrainian government forces despite a 2015 ceasefire that ended major hostilities. The conflict in Donbass has killed 15,000 people, Kyiv says. Ukraine has long accused Russia of having regular troops in the region, something Moscow denies. Russia has accused Kyiv of harbouring plans to retake the region by force, something Ukraine denies. A militant of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) checks a machine gun at fighting positions on the line of separation from the Ukrainian armed forces near the rebel-controlled settlement of Yasne (Yasnoye) in Donetsk region In such a febrile atmosphere, the risk of a misunderstanding or unplanned escalation is greater, and Russia could use such an incident as a casus belli. A source familiar with the Russian Defence Ministry's thinking said this was the most likely scenario if Moscow decided to attack, but that he was unaware of any such decision. Kyiv might also be provoked into attacking by the separatists who could then ask Russia to send troops to help, he said. Russian forces could expand the fighting in Donbass to draw Ukraine into a conventional conflict, said Neil Melvin, director of International Security Studies at the RUSI think-tank in London. He said Moscow could try to seize Ukrainian coastal areas on the Sea of Azov, creating a land bridge from the Russian city of Rostov through Donbass to Crimea, adding: 'That would put the Ukrainian government under a lot of pressure.' ASSAULT FROM CRIMEA Russia has brought in new forces to Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow could launch an attack on Ukraine from Crimea and seize territory up to the Dnieper River that could serve as a natural barrier against any Ukrainian counter-offensive, said Konrad Muzyka, director of the Poland-based Rochan consultancy. The operation could begin with artillery, missile and air strikes on Ukrainian units in the south, and special forces units might seize bridges and railway junctions, allowing troops and tanks to advance, he said. There are only two roads from Crimea that could be blocked or destroyed, a potential weakness, he said. Forces would secure control of a canal that provided Crimea with fresh water supplies until Russia annexed the region and Ukraine stopped the flow, he said. MULTI-FRONT ATTACK A publicly available U.S. intelligence document said Russia could stage an invasion this month with up to 100 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) or some 175,000 troops. It said about 50 BTGs were already in place to the north and east of Ukraine and in Crimea to the south. Seizing southern Ukraine could cut Kyiv off from the coast and NATO's presence in the Black Sea, Melvin said, and could play well with Russian nationalists who see the area as the historic 'Novorossiya' lands or 'New Russia'. A multi-front assault might also involve a move into northeastern Ukraine, encircling but perhaps not entering cities where forces could get bogged down in urban fighting. Russian troops could also move into Belarus, opening a northern front for Ukraine that would put Russian forces closer to Kyiv, Giles said. 'This of course would be the most costly economically, politically and in terms of human lives and that's probably why it's least likely,' Melvin said of an all-out invasion. Military analysts said even if it overwhelmed Ukraine's army, which is half the size of its own, Russia could face guerrilla-type resistance, making it hard to hold on to captured territory. MISSILE STRIKES OR CYBER-ATTACK Giles said some scenarios could involve long-range missile attacks or cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure. Missile attacks would take advantage of Ukraine's weaker anti-missile defences. 'The different scenarios for how exactly Russia might seek to persuade the West to meet its (security) demands by punishing Kyiv don't even necessarily include a land incursion,' he said. A string of government websites was hacked on Friday. Some showed messages saying: 'Be afraid and expect the worst.' The finger of suspicion immediately fell on Russia, although Ukrainian officials said critical infrastructure had not been targeted. Advertisement

'Total disaster': Critics crucify Biden over his 'rambling' first press conference in 78 days in which he claimed to have 'over-performed' during first year despite 7% inflation, tanking approval, COVID chaos and woeful Afghan withdrawal

Joe Biden on Wednesday marked the anniversary of his inauguration with an almost two-hour press conference - his first in 78 days

Biden has held fewer press conferences than any of his recent predecessors, with only nine in his first year, versus 21 by Trump and 28 by Obama

The 79-year-old was asked to rate his performance in his first year and declared that he had 'over performed'

Yet he was dogged by questions over the highest inflation in 40 years, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and more COVID deaths than any year

Even Democrats such as Obama's speechwriter described his press conference as too long, while Republicans like Sean Hannity was scathing in their attacks

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By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com and Afp
Victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland will receive a public apology from leaders next month.

First Minister Paul Givan and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill confirmed details of the apology, which was a key recommendation of a public inquiry into the abuse.

The inquiry examined allegations of physical, emotional and sexual harm of children in residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

It looked at 22 institutions run by religious, charitable and state organisations across Northern Ireland over the 73-year period.

There were thousands of victims, with the children's homes investigated all over the country, in places like Belfast, Lisburn and Derry.

Mr Givan and Ms O'Neill will deliver the March 11 apology in Parliament Buildings in Stormont on behalf of the powersharing executive.

First Minister Paul Givan and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill at a press conference at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. They will deliver a public apology to abuse victims on March 11

There will also be statements made by representatives of state and religious institutions found by the Hart inquiry to have been responsible for the abuse.

The ministers outlined details of the official apology today, which is the fifth anniversary of the publication of the findings of the landmark inquiry, which was chaired by the late Sir Anthony Hart, a retired High Court judge.

A financial redress scheme for survivors, which was another recommendation of the report, has already been set up.

'Victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse have our full support, and we are determined they will receive the acknowledgement, support, and redress they deserve,' said Mr Givan.

'Our priority remains approaching an apology with care and sensitivity, and basing it upon the experience of victims and survivors.

'Since the publication of the Hart Report, the priority has been to provide practical support for victims and survivors.

'This included establishing in legislation the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board, the appointment of a Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse, and the health and wellbeing support services delivered by the Victims and Survivors Service.

'We hope that a public apology will be seen as a valued means for acknowledging harm for victims and survivors of abuse, and for our society as a whole.'

Ms O'Neill added: 'Historical institutional abuse should never have happened.

'While no apology will make up for the shameful failures, and the pain that victims and survivors have endured as a result, we owe it to them to acknowledge the harm they suffered.

'We have been meeting with victims and survivors, representative groups, and the Commissioner for Survivors of Childhood Institutional Abuse to help ensure the apology acknowledges the failures of a system that should have protected vulnerable children.

Margaret McGuckin, from Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia) said: 'We are not going to give up, there is a lot to be done.'

'We recognise that there are many different views on the public apology.

'We are announcing the date in advance as we want victims and survivors to have an opportunity to tell us their views on the arrangements and content of the apology.

'This apology will be an important moment, but we understand it will be an incredibly difficult and emotional day for many.

'The needs of victims and survivors are at the heart of this and we are working to ensure that we have the right support in place, before, during, and after the apology is made.'

While the apology will be broadcast, the number of invited guests at Parliament Buildings will be limited due to the ongoing public health situation.
Billionaire financier Leon Black has accused his Apollo co-founder Joshua Harris of forging a 'malicious smear campaign' by financing a Russian model's rape lawsuit against him, and for planting negative stories in the press.

For months, Black has claimed that 'someone secretly bankrolled' Guzel Ganieva, 38, - who made the rape allegations early last year - in order to stage a coup to oust him from Appollo Global Management.

Ganieva alleged that Black is a 'violent, sadistic,' sexual predator who raped and harassed her then coerced her into signing an non-disclosure-agreement. She went on to file a lawsuit against Black in June.

The allegations against Harris were detailed in a new motion filed in court this week as Black, the 70-year-old friend and client of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, continues to fight civil claims against Ganieva.

Black resigned from Apollo last March after an internal review found that had previous business ties with Epstein, and that he'd paid the convicted sex offender $158 million in fees for 'professional services'.

In the filing, Black names Harris as one of the mysterious financiers who backed Ganieva's litigation after losing 'a multi-billion-dollar succession fight' to replace Black as Apollo's CEO last year. He left the company in June after being passed over for the top job.

In the filing this week, Black states that Harris was 'enraged' that Apollo passed him over for the CEO position, so he then 'forged ahead with a malicious campaign to take Mr. Black down.'

Leon Black (right), once one of New York City's most powerful executives as the CEO of Apollo Global Management, has been accused of rape. Black was an associate of Jeffrey Epstein (left) and long stood by the pedophile. Pepe Fanjul is pictured center. Since publication of this photograph, we are informed that Mr Fanjul only met Epstein on one occasion and before Epstein was charged. They are pictured at a screening of Capote in 2005

Russian model Guzel Ganieva alleged that Leon Black is a 'violent, sadistic,' sexual predator who raped and harassed her then coerced her into signing an non-disclosure-agreement. She went on to file a lawsuit against Black in June

In the filing this week, Black names Apollo co-founder Josh Harris as one of the mysterious financiers who backed Ganieva's litigation after losing 'a multi-billion-dollar succession fight' to replace Black as Apollo's CEO last year. He left the company in June after being passed over for the top job

The filing states that Harris worked with public relations specialist Steven Rubenstein to plant negative stories in the press about Black as part of the alleged smear campaign.

Black resigned from Apollo last March after an internal review found that had previous business ties with Jeffrey Epstein, and that he'd paid the convicted sex offender $158 million in fees for 'professional services'

Black's attorneys are now attempting to subpoena phone records for Rubenstein and Ganieva, insisting that the documents could 'show communication between Ms. Ganieva's camp and Mr. Rubenstein's campbetween his accuser and the public relations team that works for his archrivalfurther demonstrating that Ms. Ganieva's claims are nothing but fabrications stitched together from whole cloth.'

'It is not a stretch,' Black's lawyers added, 'to infer that someone with very deep pockets is supporting her and/or this lawsuit. Mr. Black is entitled to probe and prove up that inference.'

A representative for Harris told Fortune that the the accusations are 'desperate and absurd.'

An attorney for Rubenstein said the PR specialist has 'absolutely no relationship' to Ganieva.

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.

Black has denied the accusations, stating 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.

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.

Billionaire financier Leon Black has accused his Apollo co-founder Josh Harris of forging a 'malicious smear campaign' in a failed attempt take over the investment firm by working with a Russian model who accused him of rape to plant negative stories about him in the press

Guzel Ganieva has accused Black of rape and a long-standing history of sexual abuse. Ganieva is pictured (left) with friends Natane Boudreau and Claudia Mason in 2011

Ganieva alleged that the former CEO of Apollo Global Management forced her to fly to Florida to 'satisfy the sex needs' of Jeffrey Epstein at his Palm Beach villa

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.

Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, in an interview on earlier this month 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 denied 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.

Leon Black, who is married to broadway theatre producer Debra Black, (pictured together) has refuted all of the sexual abuse claims made against him.

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.
Bob Saget's widow Kelly Rizzo said he had no health concerns and was feeling 'great' when he died suddenly on January 9.

Speaking in her first set of TV interviews since the actor's death, Rizzo, 42, sobbed and described him as the 'best man' she has ever known.

The pair were about to celebrate their third wedding anniversary when he died in a hotel room in Orlando earlier this month. It's unclear what caused the 65-year-old's death.

Rizzo told Good Morning America's TJ Holmes that Saget was healthy.

'All I'll point to is that last post of his where he said he felt 26,' she said, referring to her husband's tragic final Instagram post where he talked about his joy being back on stage.

She said he had COVID recently but that it was 'nothing serious' and that he otherwise felt 'great'.

'There's only so many tears your body will let you cry,' Rizzo said, speaking from the L.A. home she shared with the comedian. The interview, taped yesterday, was the first day she said she was able to speak about him without becoming overcome by emotion.

Through tears, she said: 'He just wanted to spread love and laughter. I'm so proud of him.'

Speaking in her first set of TV interviews since the actor's death, Rizzo, 42, sobbed and described him as the 'best man' she has ever known

Rizzo sobbed through the interview, describing Saget as the best man she's ever known

Bob Saget's widow, Kelly Rizzo, on her final phone call with the late actor before his sudden passing on January 9th: "He was happy and just loving what he did. It made him so happy, to just bring laughter to people." https://t.co/1uOQGmoU2k pic.twitter.com/B8IL65Ujnj  Good Morning America (@GMA) January 20, 2022

She said their last conversation was about how happy he was to be back on stage, performing stand-up comedy.

'He was on his way home back to his hotel. He was telling me what a wonderful show he'd had.

'It made him so happy to bring laughter to people.'

His final texts, she said, were 'I love you so much, I can't wait to see you tomorrow.'

'Everything that I am surrounded by is a reminder of him. It's been very sad but very beautiful,' she said.

In a separate interview on Today, she said: 'He was there to just enjoy life, and he just wanted to make people feel good,' she said. 'I mean, if we went to a restaurant, he would talk to all of the waiters, the waitresses, he knew all the hosts. Everybody knew him and loved him.

'And his constant message was, "Just treat everybody with kindness."

Because he had gone through so much in his life and he knew how hard life could be, and so he always was just so kind and loving to everybody,' she continued.

Overcome with emotion: Kelly Rizzo, 42, paid tribute to her late husband Bob Saget in an emotional excerpt from her Today interview that was released a day early on Wednesday

Missing him: Days after her husband's unexpected death in an Orlando, Florida, hotel room, Rizzo shared a moving Instagram post in which she wrote that she was struggling 'not think I was robbed of time' with her husband

Rizzo's voice began to crack and she reached up to dab her wet eyes as she struggled to finish her thought.

'He was just the best man Ive ever known in my life. He was just so kind and so wonderful, and everybody that was in his life knew it,' she said tearfully. 'And even anybody that would just casually meet him was like, "Wow, this is a special guy."'

'And he was yours,' Kotb concluded the excerpt while seeming to tear up as well.

Days after her husband's unexpected death in an Orlando, Florida, hotel room, Rizzo shared a moving Instagram post in which she wrote that she was struggling 'not think I was robbed of time' with her husband.

'But instead to think: How lucky was I that I got to be the one to be married to THE MOST INCREDIBLE MAN ON EARTH. I was the one who got to go on this crazy ride with him and be in his life these last 6 years,' she wrote.

'We had that time to make each other the happiest wed ever been and change each others lives forever. I got to be the one to love him and cherish him. He deserves all the love. Every ounce of it. Because thats how amazing Bob was. He was love. If you were in his life you KNEW he loved you. He never missed an opportunity to tell you.

Paying their respects: Saget was laid to rest with funeral services on Saturday that were attended by his Full House costars and a bevy of his fellow standup comedians; seen in 1993 with (LR) Dave Coulier, Andrea Barber, Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit, John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, Jodie Sweetin, Mary-Kate Olsen, Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit, Candace Cameron and Scott Weinger

Peaceful: Law enforcement sources speculated that he may have died of a heart attack or stroke in his sleep, as all the lights were out in the room, though a cause of death won't be released for weeks to come; seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2019

'He deserves all the love. Every ounce of it. Because thats how amazing Bob was. He was love. If you were in his life you KNEW he loved you. He never missed an opportunity to tell you,' she continued.

'Most importantly. I have no regrets. We loved each other so damn much and told each other 500 times every day. Constantly. I know how much he loved me until the very last moment and he knew the same. Im so grateful for that. Not everyone gets that.'

Saget was laid to rest with funeral services on Saturday that were attended by his Full House costars and a bevy of his fellow standup comedians.

The comic, who was 65, had reportedly spoken with Rizzo on the phone the night before he was found dead.

After she had trouble getting in touch with him the following death, staff entered his hotel room and found him dead in his bed.

Law enforcement sources speculated that he may have died of a heart attack or stroke in his sleep, as all the lights were out in the room, though a cause of death won't be released for weeks to come.
A handout photo made available by the Presidential press service shows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, third right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, fourth left, attending their meeting, in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 19. EPA-Yonhap



U.S. President Joe Biden predicted on Wednesday that Russia will make a move on Ukraine, saying Russia would pay dearly for a full-scale invasion but suggesting there could be a lower cost for a "minor incursion."



Biden's comments at a White House news conference injected uncertainty into how the West would respond should Russian President Vladimir Putin order an invasion of Ukraine, prompting the White House later to seek to clarify what Biden meant.



"My guess is he will move in," Biden said of Putin at a news conference. "He has to do something."



"Russia will be held accountable if it invades - and it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera," Biden said. "But if they actually do what they're capable of doing ... it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine."



Russian officials have repeatedly denied planning to invade, but the Kremlin has massed some 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders, a buildup the West says is preparation for a war to prevent Ukraine from ever joining the NATO Western security alliance.



Shortly after the nearly two-hour news conference ended, the White House stressed any Russian military move into Ukraine would elicit a tough response.



"If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.



But cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics by Russia "will be met with "a decisive, reciprocal, and united response," she said.



Republicans expressed concern about Biden's remarks.



"Any incursion by the Russian military into Ukraine should be viewed as a major incursion because it will destabilize Ukraine and freedom-loving countries in Eastern Europe," said Republican Senator Rob Portman.





Russian armored vehicles move along a highway in Crimea, Jan. 18. AP-Yonhap
New evidence came to light in a five-year-old cold case Wednesday when divers pulled the vehicle of a missing woman from the Brazos River in Texas, recovering a bone fragment inside that finally could answer some of her family's questions.

Stephanie Torres, 43, of Waco, was last seen December 20, 2017, as she drove away from home in her Kia Rio. She had attempted suicide earlier that day by trying to throw herself from a bridge. Her family unsuccessfully tried to block the driveway and prevent her from leaving.

Torres' family watched Wednesday as the Kia Rio, which did not have a license plate, was dragged to shore. It is believed to be her car, which had distinctive damage to the bumper, according to KWTX. Human remains also were recovered and are currently undergoing forensic testing.

Stephanie Torres of Waco, 43 (pictured), was last seen on December 20, 2017, by her family as she drove away from her home in her Kia Rio. Police believe that a vehicle dredged from the bottom of the Brazos River and a bone fragment found at the scene are hers

An upside-down Kia Rio, the same make and model as Torres' car, was uncovered on Wednesday about 55 feet from shore and 13 feet underwater in the Brazos River

Torres' family shed tears as a Kia Rio without a license plate, believed to be hers due to a distinctive missing piece of its bumper, was dredged out of the Brazos River on Wednesday

She appeared intoxicated when she left the house for the last time. It wasn't unusual for Torres to go missing for days at a time before returning home, and her family hoped she would do so, but she and her car never came back.

Fibromyalgia dominated Torres' life. Her children remember their mother weeping as she stood under the hot water in the shower each day after work to ease her pain, according to NBC News. Her medications, which she left at home along with her cellphone and wallet, made her depressed.

When the Waco Police Department learned of the extent of Torres' illness, the fact that she left her belongings at home and her family's suspicion of suicide, the investigation into her disappearance waned, said spokesperson officer Garen Bynum.

They contacted the Texas Rangers, and the two agencies searched for the Kia Rio's license plate on highways. The department contacted pharmacies to see if she had refilled her medications or posted on social media after her family reported her missing on December 21, 2017, but there were no clues and the case soon went cold. Police said 'every lead came up empty.'

With the help of firefighters at the Waco Police Department, the divers dredged the car out of the river

'I felt like they werent getting in touch with us or letting us know anything about the case,' Torres' daughter, Bianca, told NBC News.

Jared Leisek, of Adventures with Purpose, a team of divers that since 2019 has traveled the country to help find missing people, wondered why the family hadn't contacted him sooner.

'With Bianca, I'm like, knowing about us, how come you didn't reach out to us long before this? Her response was, "well, Jared, I didn't think anyone would care about my mom,"' Leisek said in a YouTube video posted by the team Wednesday.

After hearing about the details of Torres' life and last moments with her family, the team beelined to the river, just a few miles from where she was last seen.

Shipley said that crime scene investigators were investigating whether a bone fragment found at the scene 'is connected with Ms. Torres or someone else'

'We went off of those clues. What happened that day? What's the most likely scenario?' Leisek said.

Within 30 minutes of scouring the creek bed as Torres' family looked on, the divers found not just one, but three submerged vehicles. One, Leisek said, had been reported stolen from Austin, Texas. It is unclear how the other got there.

But the third was the Kia Rio, the same make and model as Torres' car, upside-down about 55 feet from shore and 13 feet underwater. Although its license plate was missing, the divers noticed a distinctive missing piece of the fender that Bianca had described.

With the help of firefighters at the Waco Police Department, the divers pulled the car from the river.

Police said the other two vehicles will be pulled from the river at a later date

'Once the vehicle was recovered, investigators found a small bone fragment,' Waco Police spokesperson Cierra Shipley told CBS News. 'The bone fragment and the vehicle are now being processed for evidence.'

Shipley said that crime scene investigators were looking into whether the bone 'is connected with Ms. Torres or someone else.'

Police said the other two vehicles will be pulled from the river at a later date.

'It is our honor to have brought Stephanie Torres home,' Adventures with Purpose said in a statement.
The military veteran who posted a photo of himself inside the Capitol building on January 6 with the caption 'lol' told a judge he's 'really ashamed' of his actions as he begged for leniency before being sentenced.

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps veteran Carey Jon Walden, 48, of Kansas City, Missouri, told a judge at a sentencing hearing Wednesday he regretted taking part in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots after brazenly showing off his part in the insurrection on social media.

He pleaded guilty to a 'parading' count, but other counts were dropped as part of his plea agreement. The 48-year-old veteran faced up to six months in jail, but instead got just 30 days of home detention and three years of probation.

'If I could take it all back, I would,' Walden told U.S District Judge Dabney Friedrich prior to his sentencing on Wednesday. 'I didn't see a lot (of) what I saw on TV when I was there. It was a terrible day, and I'm really ashamed of myself that I was a part of that.'

'I wish I hadn't been there, and I'm sorry that I did that,' he said.

Walden told investigators he traveled to Washington D.C. from Kansas City in a bus with other Trump supporters to attend the 'Stop the Steal' rally.

Investigators gathered several pictures of Walden at the Capitol, some taken by others and some taken by Walden himself, including a selfie of him wearing a gas mask.

Walden even captioned a photo of Trump supporters gathered on the Capitol lawn 'I had just climbed the west wall lol'

Walden even captioned a photo of Trump supporters gathered on the Capitol lawn 'I had just climbed the west wall lol'

Investigators gathered several pictures of Walden at the Capitol, some taken by others and some taken by Walden, including a selfie of him wearing a gas mask

He was initially charged with misdemeanor counts of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the grounds or in any of the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings, the Kansas City Star reported.

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.

Walden told investigators he traveled to Washington, D.C. from Kansas City in a bus with other Trump supporters to attend the 'Stop the Steal' rally

Prosecutors said Walden did not commit any violence, never leaving the foyer immediately inside the Senate wing doors where he remained for only nine minutes

Friedrich said that although Walden's offense was only a misdemeanor, 'his criminal conduct was very serious,' and that 'he was a willing participant in a riot, or an insurrection, that undermined our democratic electoral process and values.'

Fredrich added that while Walden did not injure anyone or damage property 'his presence and his active participation in the attack on the Capitol subjected law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect the Capitol and those who work there to greater risk.'

Fredrich noted that Walden accepted responsibility for his actions, spoke with law enforcement voluntarily, and even provided photos and videos from that day, the Star reported.

Prosecutors said Walden was prepared for violence when he traveled to the Capitol last year and said because he was a veteran he should have been aware of the danger his actions posed to police officers guarding the Capitol.

'Walden incited and celebrated the violence that was required to break through the police line by repeatedly chanting in the Capitol Building, 'traitor  traitors,' court documents said.

Prosecutors said Walden did not commit any violence or destroy any property, never leaving the area of the foyer immediately inside the Senate wing doors where he remained for only nine minutes, Kansas City Star reported.

Since the riot, more than 725 Trump supporters have been arrested and charged

Last week Stewart Rhodes, 56, (pictured) the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, was taken into custody by federal officials

Jacob Chansley, 37, known as the 'QAnon Shaman', was sentenced in November to 41 months in prison for his role in the riot - one of the first to be sentenced

But regardless, he 'celebrated the violence of that day.'

He also 'showed a lack of remorse for his conduct' by posting the photo of the chaos outside the Capitol Building to Facebook with the 'lol' caption.

In a letter sent to the the judge on January 7, Walden said he was just traveling to the Capitol with a group of older 'like-minded conservative Americans' none of whom were part of any extremist groups.

He wrote that when he arrived at the Capitol there were people scaling a wall to enter the building and he 'got caught up in the moment.'

'I could, and did, climb the wall, to see what was going on with my own eyes,' he wrote. 'I also took video and pictures of what was happening, for my friends and family to see what I was seeing.'

'I climbed through a broken-out window, where there were rioters and Capitol Police were facing off,' he added. 'Nobody I saw, including me, was attacking the Capitol Police.'

Walden wrote that he understands his actions that day were wrong.

'The smart thing to have done would have been to just stay away from all of it, and I didn't do that,' he wrote. 'I had no desire to destroy property, attack police officers or try and overthrow the government, and I did NOT do those things.'

'I have no idea who exactly started that riot,' he continued. 'I know that there were a lot of angry Americans who fell into a mob mentality, and took the "right to peacefully protest" to an extreme and that shouldn't have happened.'

Since the riot, more than 725 Trump supporters have been arrested and charged.

That list has grown almost daily, 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.

Last week, Stewart Rhodes, 56, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, was taken into custody by federal officials in Little Elm, Texas, after a grand jury returned indictments against him and a core group of 10 Oath Keeper members.

They are accused of planning and carrying out the insurrection to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory.

The seditious conspiracy charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper, is known for his eye patch. A former firearms instructor, he dropped a loaded handgun when he was 28 and it shot him in the face, blinding him in his left eye.

QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley, one of the best known US Capitol rioters, claimed he was actually trying to quell the crowd during last year's disturbance, and has blamed the media for making him the 'face' of the violence.

Chansley, 37, was sentenced in November to 41 months in prison for his role in the riot - one of the first to be sentenced.

Speaking from a federal prison in Oklahoma, Chansley - who is appealing his sentence - told CBS's Inside Edition that he blamed the media for his fate.

'As far as being the 'face', that's something the media made me,' he earlier this month. 'I didn't make myself anything.'

Chansley, from Phoenix, Arizona, was asked whether he regretted going to the Capitol.

'In retrospect, one thing I can say that I regret is not working to make sure there was far more peace on that day,' he said.
A worker at a pharmacy that sells Viagra online boasted about the size of his manhood and insisted colleagues call him Big D, a tribunal heard today.

Darshan Acharya was accused of being a 'creepy sexual predator' by a former colleague who resigned after she was allegedly disciplined for lodging a formal complaint against him.

The woman claimed Mr Acharya said his brother inherited better genes than him before pointing between his legs, adding: at least down there Im bigger.

He was also accused of groping the woman's bottom, referring to another female colleague as 'baby' and openly talking about the type of pornography he liked to watch.

The woman said she made a formal complaint about her colleague, but that bosses at MedExpress, where they both worked, disciplined her, prompting her to resign on February 5 last year.

That same day, the woman made a whistleblowing complaint to the General Pharmaceutical Council claiming MedExpress was re-selling used Covid-19 test kits returned by customers - an allegation which it strongly denies.

The woman is now suing Mr Acharya, MedExpress and its founder and director Dwayne D'Souza, alleging she suffered sexual harassment, sex discrimination, race discrimination, constructive dismissal and victimisation as a whistleblower.

Her lawyer Joe Sykes said she is seeking a figure in the region of 50,000 for lost earnings and hurt feelings in her claim at the Central London Employment Tribunal.

The company, Mr DSouza and Mr Acharya deny all the womans claims.

A woman is suing her former colleague Darshan Acharya, her former employer MedExpress and its founder and director Dwayne D'Souza, at the Central London Employment Tribunal (pictured) alleging she suffered sexual harassment, sex discrimination, race discrimination, constructive dismissal and victimisation as a whistleblower

Giving evidence by video link today, the woman tearfully told of her employment with MedExpress, where she worked as a pharmacy assistant.

She said a 'horrified' female staff member had told her at a December 2019 office party about Mr Acharyas boasts.

While packing orders, he allegedly told them 'his brother inherited "the good genes" while he inherited the bad ones'.

The woman said: 'He had added, while pointing between his legs, "but at least down there Im bigger".'

Branding Mr Acharya 'vulgar and obscene', she said: 'I found those words offensive and denigrating to female staff.

'Mr Acharyas comment boasted of his sexual ability. He implied female staff would be attracted to him as a result.'

She claimed Mr Acharya would deliberately come up close to her and invade her personal space when he was shredding documents.

She said he told other female colleagues about his 'sexual experience with a woman with weird nipples' and that he 'really enjoyed watching bondage and BDSM porn'.

The woman also claimed Mr Acharya called one colleague baby and said he 'wanted people to call him "Big D" in a further reference to his male private parts'.

She said it was in November that Mr Acharya fondled her bottom, adding: 'I felt a stroke down there. I froze, then screamed across the office "What the hell"?'

The woman claimed Mr Acharya also harassed another colleague by trying to help her put on her necklace; positioning himself close behind her as she bent over to clean a below-counter fridge; and pestering her to have lunch with him.

In her evidence, the colleague played down Mr Acharyas conduct.

She said: 'I dont think he realises he is being inappropriate. He can come across a little bit socially awkward, so it is easy to misunderstand him.'

The woman bringing the case against Mr Acharya told the tribunal that when she complained about him, she was disciplined by the firm for poor performance.

When she quit in February, she reported MedExpress anonymously to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for alleged health and safety breaches.

She told the tribunal: 'The company resold used, returned medication and used, returned Covid-19 test kits.

'The pharmacy manager instructed me and pharmacy staff to enter the returns in a spreadsheet as "binned". Having done so, we were to return the products to the shelves for resale.

'There was a significant risk that new patients could become infected by resold medication and Covid-19 test kits.

'I was concerned the company would try to persuade the GPhC there was no wrongdoing.

'The online GPhC record showed it conducted a telephone inspection of the pharmacy following my anonymous complaint.

'They criticised the company for its practices but accepted its evidence on the telephone that returned medications were only resold if not used. I know for a fact that evidence was untrue and have persisted with my complaint.

'I confirm the GPhC investigation is ongoing. They are taking it very seriously.'

The same day the woman resigned from her role with MedExpress, she made a whistleblowing complaint to the General Pharmaceutical Council claiming the company was re-selling used Covid-19 test kits returned by customers - an allegation which it strongly denies

She accused the firm of breaching her anonymity and privacy, as well as harassing her over her whistleblowing.

Mr Acharya insisted he compared himself to his brother only in terms of their heights and size - 'without any sexual element' - and denies asking to be called Big D.

The firms then HR manager Victoria Lee told the tribunal that, after the formal complaint was made against Mr Acharya, she warned all staff not to make inappropriate sexual jokes.

But she opted against suspending Mr Acharya and told the tribunal he had been 'mortified' to learn of the allegations against him.

Mr Sykes asked her: 'He was a heat-seeking missile of a sexual predator going through the workplace, picking on women and pestering them, wasnt he?'

She replied: 'He is perfectly entitled to ask women to lunch. Maybe he did not go about it in the right way but I dont think he is a sexual predator.

'I dont believe [the complainant's] story. I find the fact that she has had to collect other peoples stories to collaborate her own convenient.'

The hearing, due to last ten days, continues.
The murderer of children's author Helen Bailey - now on trial accused of killing his first wife - argued with her days before she died, his eldest son told a jury today.

Ian Stewart, 61, is in the dock accused of murdering of 47-year-old Diane Stewart at their home in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, in 2010.

Prosecutors say he was initially able to 'fool medical professionals by suggesting that she had died in the course of an epileptic fit', but brain tests later indicated it was likely her breathing was restricted from an 'outside source'.

Stewart's eldest son Jamie told Huntingdon Crown Court today he knew his mother was epileptic and took two tablets every morning, but had not seen her have a fit 'in my lifetime'.

He said he remembered there were 'raised voices... between my mother and father' when he was at home on study leave for A Levels the week his mother died.

Questioned further, Jamie said he 'couldn't hear what was being spoken about'.

Helen Bailey and her murdered Ian Stewart who killed her in 2016 and jailed for 34 years

Ian Stewart, 61, denies killing Diane Stewart, 47, in Cambridgeshire in 2010

He said he had seen his parents argue over the years but it 'wasn't a regular thing'.

Asked to describe how his father was at the funeral, Jamie replied: 'Devastated.'

His brother Oliver Stewart was 15 at the time of his mother's death and said he was brought home from school by a neighbour.

He saw ambulances outside the house, he said, and initially thought, 'Oh, Dad's going to have another spell in hospital,' as he had the rare long-term condition myasthenia gravis, which he described as 'muscle weakness'.

Oliver said someone from either the police or ambulance service told him his mother was dead.

Wiping tears from his eyes, he told the jury he identified her body.

Prosecutors allege Stewart was initially able to 'fool medical professionals by suggesting' Mrs Stewart 'had died in the course of an epileptic fit'

'She had foam coming out of her mouth,' he said, adding his gave his mother 'one last kiss'.

Asked by defence barrister Amjad Malik QC how his father was at that point, Oliver replied: 'In bits.'

Oliver said he was given information from the pathologist about how his mother died at a later date.

'I knew she was epileptic, I had seen the foam in her mouth, it added up,' he said.

Oliver described the relationship between his parents as 'loving, caring, kind, family-orientated'.

Stewart was jailed for a minimum of 34 years in 2017 for murdering Ms Bailey, 51, who had been drugged with sleeping medication and suffocated at their 3.3million Royston mansion.

His wife-to-be, who wrote the Electra Brown books, was discovered in a cesspit under the garage with her beloved dog in 2016.

After his conviction, police began looking into the 2010 death of Stewart's wife Diane, 47, whose sudden passing was put down to a massive epileptic fit.

Stewart denies the murder of his wife. The trial continues.
Boris Johnson has today warned it would be a 'disaster for the world' if Russia invades Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin continues to mass troops along the border.

The UK Prime Minister said that 'any kind of incursion, on any scale' would be 'a disaster not just for Ukraine but for Russia' as NATO allies try to dissuade the Russian strongman from launching an attack the Pentagon warns is 'imminent'.

Mr Johnson's remark comes after President Biden appeared to suggest that a 'minor incursion' by Russia into Ukraine would prompt only a limited NATO response.

Britain has been supplying military aid in an attempt to deter an attack by Putin, with Mr Johnson saying today he stands 'four-square' behind the country's sovereignty.

Boris Johnson has warned it would be 'a disaster for the world' if Russia were to invaded Ukraine, as Putin continues massing his forces on the border

Putin has demanded cast iron guarantees that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO, which have so-far been rebuffed by Joe Biden (right)

Biden's words, attacked by Ukrainian officials as giving Putin a 'green light' to invade, forced the White House to clarify - with staff insisting he was referring to non-military attacks such as cyber warfare.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been building since November last year, when Putin began massing troops on the border.

He has since issued a list of demands to NATO, including that Ukraine be banned from joining the alliance and that troops be removed from ex-Soviet states.

That has forced the US and its allies to the negotiating table, though NATO has described most of Russia's demands as 'non-starters'.

With little progress in talks, Putin has continued massing his forces while announcing a series of large-scale war games that could serve to disguise an invasion.

On Wednesday, Putin and ally Alexander Lukashenko - dictatorial leader of Belarus - announced joint war games as troops began moving on to Belarusian soil.

Today, Russia's defence ministry announced a huge naval drill that will take place between January and February in four seas - Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Mediterranean.

The drill will involve 'more than 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 pieces of military equipment, and about 10,000 servicemen', the ministry said.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border as Moscow ramps up a military build up along the frontier in preparation for a 'nine-month war'

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border (pictured, a battle group deployment in Voronezh, Russia, near the Ukrainian border on January 19)

Satellite images dated January 19 showed rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus, after a months-long build-up of troops along the border with Ukraine

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, (pictured) that sit only 18 miles from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles from Russia's border with Ukraine

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border with rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus.

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, that sit only 18 miles from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles from Russia's border with Ukraine.

Videos showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 37 miles from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine.

This week's military massing in Belarus adds to Russia's forces to the east of Ukraine as well as south in Crimea and the Black Sea, where some 100,000 are believed to be in place.

The new analyses show that only part of the military hardware and troops are going to the training grounds announced for the exercises.

'The other part stopped halfway, near Gomel, in an area that is only 40km from the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and 90km from the Kiev region', according to a Radio Liberty report.

The West has repeatedly warned Russia it would pay a 'high price' of economic and political sanctions should it invade Ukraine.

Hours before Blinken arrived in Berlin to coordinate the possible response to Russia, Biden sparked controversy as he appeared to indicate that a 'minor incursion' might prompt a smaller reaction from NATO allies.

'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, etcetera,' he said.

The UK has been sending military aid to Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles in order to try and deter Vladimir Putin's troops from attacking

A shipment of British anti-tank missiles arrives in Kiev earlier this week, after the UK agreed to send military aid to its ally

But the White House moved swiftly to clarify the comments, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki vowing any Russian movement in Ukraine would face 'severe' retaliation.

Statements like that, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, 'can facilitate the destabilisation of the situation because they can inspire some hotheads in Ukraine with false hopes'.

With both sides' positions entrenched, a series of talks between Western and Russian officials in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna has failed to yield any breakthrough.

NATO allies have signalled their willingness to keep talking but Moscow has demanded a written response on its proposals for security guarantees.

On the Russian wish list are measures that would limit military activities in the former Warsaw Pact and ex-Soviet countries that joined NATO after the Cold War.

But in Kyiv on Wednesday, Blinken said he would not present such a formal response at Friday's talks with Lavrov in Geneva.

Rather, the onus is on Putin to dispel fears that Moscow is planning an invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.

Ukraine has been fighting Moscow-backed forces in two breakaway eastern regions since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine.

More than 13,000 people have been killed, and the latest Russian troop build-up has also greatly rattled neighbours in the Baltics.

Washington said Thursday it has approved requests from the Baltic nations to ship US-made weapons to Ukraine.

Britain has also said it would send defensive weapons to Ukraine as part of a package to help the country secure its borders.

Kyiv has repeatedly pleaded with Germany to send armaments, a call that has so far been rebuffed.

During her first visit to Ukraine on Monday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany would 'do its all to guarantee Ukraine's security', but again rejected the call for weapon shipments.

In Berlin, the controversial gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, which is due to double supplies of cheap natural gas from Russia to Germany, could once again surface as a sticking point among allies.

Amid the latest bout of tensions with Moscow, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned of consequences for the pipeline, which is operational but not yet in service as it awaits approval from Germany's energy regulator.
Two Colorado cops are being sued by a 79-year-old disabled man who says they tasered him twice and threw him to the ground after he sat in a section of a McDonald's that was closed off due to COVID-19.

Clayton Shriver waited for his partner at a McDonald's inside a Walmart in Westminster, Colorado, on May 15, 2020.

Restaurant staff said he had to buy something or leave, but he couldn't make out what they were saying because of various impairments, including hearing loss and previous traumatic brain injuries, according to the lawsuit.

An officer who was already in the store was called over. When Shriver tried to walk to his car, he was tackled to the ground and tasered, he says. A second officer who arrived for backup allegedly tasered him again.

The incident left Shriver with right hip pain and limited motion in his right shoulder.

The Westminster Police Department said the incident, which was caught on video, was reviewed by a civilian review board and independent witnesses who found no evidence of excessive force. The two officers involved, Michael Owen and Tyler Farson, resigned last year for 'unrelated' reasons, police said.

Scroll down for video

Clayton Shriver, 79, was tackled to the ground and tasered twice by two officers after he suffered a medical emergency in a Walmart McDonald's in 2020, according to a lawsuit. Above, Shriver holds a bloodied shirt from the incident

Video from the incident shows Shriver sitting in a stool while speaking to a Westminster officer

Shriver says he was walking away to go to his car when the officer tackled him and tasered him

The retired sub-station engineer was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries (above) including severe right knee and elbow pain, a right knee abrasion, and a right elbow contusion

'It defies common sense that two healthy officers in good physical condition reasonably took down and twice tased 78-year-old Mr. Shriver, who suffers from significant debilitating and limiting medical impairments,' according to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in US District Court in Colorado.

Shriver is suing the Westminster Police Department and the two officers for excessive force, malicious prosecution and failure to train and supervise. He is asking for unspecified damages.

'At no time did Mr. Shriver pose an immediate threat to the safety of the Defendants or anyone else in the McDonald's or Wal-Mart,' the lawsuit states.

Video of the incident released by police shows Shriver, a retired sub-station engineer, standing in the McDonald's wearing a grey shirt and a green neck gaiter.

'We ask the public to review every situation based upon the unique set of facts and circumstance specific to that particular event and not make comparisons to other incidents,' police said in a description of the video, posted on Youtube on Wednesday.

Shriver appears to briefly speak to an officer before turning around, pointing at a witness behind him and approaching him, prompting the officer to pull him back.

He sits back down and speaks to the officer from a stool before he gets back up to walk away.

Shriver says he was tasered once by Officer Michael Owen and again by Officer Tyler Farson, causing him to bleed. Above, Shriver holds a pair of bloody underwear

Shriver says he posed no threat and that officers couldn't understand him because of his various medical conditions

The incident took place at a McDonald's inside a Walmart in Westminster, Colorado (above) on May 15, 2020

The officer grabs Shriver and a struggle ensues as customers crowd around them.

Shriver remains on the ground for several minutes as the officer is seen pointing a taser at him and rifling through Shriver's wallet.

'I have no idea why it escalated.  I think it was really hard for the officers and the workers to understand him because hes in the middle of a medical emergency, and so, I dont think he was clearly communicating, but that was due to his health,' Shriver's attorney Tiffany Drahota told KDVR.

Shriver had multiple issues that complicated his hearing, according to the lawsuit, among them: closed head injuries and traumatic brain injuries, memory loss, organic mood disorder, peripheral neuropathy, bilateral osteoarthritis of the knees, bilateral total knee arthroplasty, left-sided sensorineural hearing loss with right side restricted hearing, and spinal stenosis of the lumbar spine with neurogenic claudication.

When staff told him he needed to buy something or leave, Shriver raised his voice to say he needed medical help.

'Mr. Shriver was unable to speak clearly at the time due to his condition,' the lawsuit states.

Officer Michael Owen was called over by Walmart loss prevention.

Owen saw Shriver sitting in the 'no sitting' area. Shriver allegedly told the officer he was having a medical condition.

McDonald's staff complained to Owen about Shriver, who put his hands up and said, 'Wait a minute, Im in terrible pain.'

Shriver is suing the Westminster Police Department and the two officers for excessive force, malicious prosecution and failure to train and supervise. He is asking for unspecified damages

'Mr. Shriver further thought he heard that he was being asked to leave so placed his hands on the seat and began to pull himself up vertical to stand up, telling Defendant Owen, "Okay, I'll go to my car,"' the lawsuit states.

That's when, the suit says, Owen grabbed Shriver, threw him to the ground and handcuffed him, according to the 22-page lawsuit.

Owen allegedly tased Shriver in the stomach and thigh, despite 'AXON recommendations that the taser not be used against elderly individuals.'

The 79-year-old continues to have right hip pain lacks full range of motion in his right shoulder, the lawsuit states. Above, a photo of an injury suffered during the incident

Shriver called Owen a 'little s***' and began pulling the taser probes out of his body.

A second officer, Farson, arrived and tased Shriver again in the lower back and buttocks.

Shriver was then taken to the hospital with multiple injuries, including severe right knee and elbow pain, a right knee abrasion, and a right elbow contusion.

The 79-year-old continues to have right hip pain (and) lacks full range of motion in his right shoulder, the lawsuit states.

'Mr. Shriver continues to receive follow-up care for the physical injuries he sustained as a result of the excessive force used by the Defendants.'

Shriver was criminally charged with trespassing, obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest, but the charges were later dropped.

Westminster Police said the incident was reviewed by multiple bodies, both within the department and outside, who have concluded that no excessive use of force took place. They also say the two officers involved resigned last year, according to a statement obtained by KDVR.

'The Westminster Police Department was notified on January 18, 2022 of a lawsuit filed in US District Court regarding allegations of excessive force by two of our officers.

'The Westminster Police Department (WPD) did not receive a complaint of excessive force regarding this case prior to the notice of intent to sue from Mr. Shriver in April 2021 - nearly a year after the arrest.

'WPD takes use-of-force seriously, and upon notice from Mr. Shrivers attorney, WPD initiated an internal affairs investigation per department policy. The case was investigated by an internal affairs sergeant who gathered the facts, collected evidence, and completed witness interviews. Three independent, civilian witnesses refuted the allegation of excessive force in this case.

'These facts were then presented to an independent civilian review board to determine if the officers acted within policy and procedure. The board determined both officers acted within policy and procedure. The investigation was also reviewed by police department command personnel who determined the officers actions were within policy and procedure.

'Prior to the notice of intent to sue, Officer Michael Owen resigned from the department in February 2021 as a Senior Police Officer. Officer Tyler Farson also resigned from the department in May 2021 as a Senior Police Officer. Both officers left the department to pursue other opportunities and their departure was unrelated to Mr. Shriver. WPD officers were not equipped with body-worn cameras until January 2022. However, the surveillance footage from inside of the store was reviewed during the internal investigation.'

In September, another Colorado Walmart led to a huge payout for a 73-year-old woman with dementia who was beaten during an arrest and left in lockup for six hours without medical care.

The city of Loveland paid $3 million to settle a federal police brutality lawsuit.

The elderly woman, Karen Garner, was arrested by now-former Loveland police officers Austin Hopp, 26, and Daria Jalali, 27, on June 26, 2020 after she inadvertently left Walmart without paying for $13.38 worth of items.

Bodycam footage showed Hopp throwing Karen Garner to the ground on June 26, 2020

Garner's family said she was a happy grandmother (right) before the traumatizing arrest in June 2020 where she was left in a jail cell in pain with her broken arm still cuffed behind her (left)

They were seen in bodycam footage slamming Garner to the ground and twisting her arm, which resulted in a fractured elbow and dislocated arm, according to a federal lawsuit filed in April.

Garner was left in a jail cell for more than six hours and is seen in security footage from the cell crying out for help 51 times in the first hour alone.

'This is justice for mom,' Allisa Swartz said, while fighting back tears during a press conference.

Shannon Steward, Garner's daughter-in-law, said the incident was 'the lowest form of human behavior and indecency, particularly by people who should be respected and know how to show respect.'

Police Chief Bob Ticer said in a statement that 'there is no excuse, under any circumstances, for what happened to Ms. Garner.'

'We have agreed on steps we need to take to begin building back trust. While these actions wont change what Ms. Garner experienced, they will serve to improve this police department and hopefully restore faith that the LPD exists to serve those who live in and visit Loveland.'
A mother accused of beating her two-year-old son to death made a non-emergency NHS call in which she warned his body was 'going floppy' and his eyes were 'rolling back' shortly before he died, a court heard.

Phylesia Shirley, 24, phoned 111 for advice rather than 999 as she tried to revive her two-year-old son Kyrell Matthews at her one-bedroom flat in south London.

A recording of that phone call was played to the jury at the Old Bailey in London on Thursday, in which Brown identifies herself as the boy's mother and answers questions.

Asked what was wrong with him, she casually told the 111 operator: 'Basically Kyrell has been acting really funny.

'Like, his body is flopping, and his eyes is rolling back and his chest is not breathing,' he added.

Shirley and her then-partner, Kemar Brown, 28, are in court accused of repeatedly striking little Kyrell over several weeks, with harrowing secret audio recordings capturing the couple's alleged violent acts at Shirley's home in Thornton Heath.

The toddler, who was non-verbal, had 41 rib fractures by the time he died on October 20, 2019, as well as internal bleeding and a 1.6in (4cm) cut to his liver, jurors have heard.

But Brown's defence have since said the injuries found on young Kyrell were the result of 'incorrect advice' from NHS 111 on how to resuscitate the little boy.

The pair both deny murder. While Shirley has admitted allowing the death and serious physical harm to a child, Brown, who is not the child's father, has repeatedly denied both charges.

Kyrell Matthews, two, suffered months of abuse at the hands of his mother Phylesia Shirley and her boyfriend Kemar Brown according to recordings found on her phone, prosecutors said

The prosecution at the Old Bailey claim Kyrell suffered deadly injuries in at least five separate incidents in the four weeks leading up to his death.

But Brown's defence say the injuries found on young Kyrell were the result of incorrect advice from NHS 111 on how to resuscitate the little boy.

On Thursday, jurors were played the 111 call in which Shirley told a call handler that Kyrell was 'acting really funny' and was 'floppy' with his eyes rolled back.

An ambulance was dispatched and Shirley was told how to give emergency help to Kyrell.

The call was transferred to a clinical adviser, who instructed Shirley on giving two-handed chest compressions and breaths.

Shirley sobbed as she was told to 'push down hard and fast'.

She was told 'Do not be afraid to push hard' and 'Go for it' before counting the compressions out loud.

As Shirley repeated the procedure, she was told again: 'Don't be afraid to push too hard.'

A court sketch of Phylesia Shirley, and her partner, Kemar Brown, at the Old Bailey in London

As his mother continued to provide first aid under the nurses direction, Kyrell was heard making a louder noise.

Asked if that was him making noise, Shirley said: He's awake, his eyes just opened but he's not looking at anything, he's just staring.'

The nurse asked: Is his chest rising and falling regularly?

No, sobbed Shirley.

As the arriving ambulance could be heard on the recording, the nurse urged Shirley to continue breathing air into her sons lungs and chest compressions.

Jurors were told that the ambulance arrived 12 minutes after the initial call and continued to tried to save the childs life, but were unable to obtain a heartbeat.

Kyrell was pronounced dead upon arrival at Croydon University Hospital.

Prosecutor Edward Brown QC, earlier said: Phylesia Shirley was not alone - Kemar Brown was there at the time [of the incident] too.

Kyrell was rushed to Croydon University Hospital and despite extensive efforts by medical staff to revive him, they could not do so and life was pronounced extinct at 16:15.

As you have heard, at no time were they able to restore any heart beat. He had died at the flat.

As he made his way to the hospital, Brownclaimed he had gone to the shops and found Kyrell sleeping when he returned, the court heard.

Brown said the toddler began to twitch and became limp as the couple tried to wake him, at which point the couple decided to call emergency services.

While Shirley was distressed when emergency services arrived and became hysterical when Kyrell was declared dead, Brown was calm and disengaged throughout.

Shirley and Brown both deny murder and are on trial at the Old Bailey in London (pictured)

Mr Brown QC, prosecuting, previously told jurors at the Old Bailey: 'Kyrell had his ribs crushed or broken by blows within the four weeks before October 20.

'At least one of the defendants plainly inflicted a significant number of injuries in at least five separate incidents in the four weeks leading up to ... Kyrell's death.

'The pain and distress in those four weeks when he was abused was brought vividly to the fore by those harrowing recordings.

'On October 20, his ribs were crushed once more - it killed him.'

Police later discovered secret audio files on Shirley's mobile phone - the apparent results of attempts to catch Brown being unfaithful - which inadvertently captured the abuse, the prosecution said.

They included multiple audio files where it appeared Kyrell was hit repeatedly, with Brown saying 'shut up', causing the toddler to cry and scream.

On another occasion, prosecutors said, Brown inflicted several blows on the little boy before telling him: 'You have to ruin the fun.'

Another file, the prosecution said, captured Shirley striking her own child and causing him to cry in distress.

Shirley is said to have carried out the covert phone recordings at her one-bedroom flat to check whether then-partner Kemar Brown was secretly contacting other women.

However, police investigating the death of her son, Kyrell Matthews, discovered that the recordings contained disturbing evidence of the non-verbal boy being hit repeatedly, with Brown saying 'shut up', causing the toddler to cry and scream.

Prosecutor Mr Brown told jurors: 'It makes for harrowing listening, because, say the prosecution, you will hear Kemar Brown hitting that child again and again on different days, and you will hear Kyrell crying and screaming as a result.'

On one recording, the prosecution said Kyrell could be heard getting increasingly distressed amid 'slapping sounds' and 'hitting noises' as Brown told him to 'shut up'.

Jurors were told Brown admits it is his voice on the recordings.

The prosecution said Shirley could then be heard asking 'What did he do?', to which Brown is said to have replied: 'He got up'.

The prosecutor said: 'Plainly, she (Shirley) has seen distress at the very least, expecting punishment of Kyrell having taken place by Kemar Brown.

'It is plain, say the prosecution, what you can hear.'

In the fourth recording, taken in August 2019, Brown can be heard saying to Kyrell 'Stop crying, stop crying, yeah,' and imitating the baby's cries, followed by two slapping sounds minutes apart.

Minutes later, Brown can be heard saying 'What you crying for?', followed by two hits or slaps, at which point Kyrell yelps and faintly cries.

Brown showed no emotion as the recordings were played.

The prosecution described the case as a 'determined pattern of repeated and significant assaults on a completely defenceless and young child'.

Jurors were told that on one occasion in the days before he died, Kyrell was apparently 'reluctant to go back into his mother's flat' having spent the day elsewhere.

Jurors heard that the toddler did not attend a nursery and so was in the full-time care of his mother, then aged 21.

Neither defendant was employed in the period leading up to Kyrell's death, the court heard.

Both also said they left the flat at separate times, briefly, the day the boy died - although only Shirley's account could be corroborated by CCTV.

Shirley, of Bensam Manor Road, Thonton Heath, south London, denies murder but has admitted allowing the death of a child and allowing serious physical harm to a child.

Brown, of Grange Park Road, Thornton Heath, south London, denies murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child.

The trial continues.
Fury has erupted over Government plans to scrap the publication of daily Channel migrant figures as Tory MPs accuse Priti Patel of burying bad news, saying the information was vital to assess the progress in tackling the ongoing crisis.

The Home Office currently issues the data after arrivals have been processed by the UK Border Force, typically on the following day, but this could stop when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) takes over operations to intercept migrants, it emerged last night.

The UK Statistics Authority is understood to have raised concerns about the current way migrant numbers are released, but not publishing the numbers would leave ministers open to accusations of trying to hide crucial information from the public.

A Home Office source said it is 'currently considering advice' from the authority 'to ensure the underlying trends and total number of small boat arrivals can be presented clearly'.

The department is now set to release the figures every three months, but the move has drawn criticism from Tory MPs - with one saying it 'seems more like burying bad news than being transparent about crossings', The Telegraph reports.

Another anonymous Conservative said: 'It just looks like covering up, and no doubt journalists will come up with their own figures based on people arriving at Tughaven [the migrant processing centre in Dover] and Freedom of Information requests.'

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, described the decision as 'absolute nonsense and undemocratic'.

He told GB News: 'I cannot believe it. I thought "who is advising her [Patel] to do this?".

'It is utter nonsense. People are not going to stand back and wait for the figures to be issued. It is all going to come out anyway. It is presumably because they don't like the flack when large numbers come in.

'This is absolutely insane and undemocratic. The numbers are clearly going up. My assumption is that the figures will be going up and will continue to go up.'

Former UKIP leader and MEP Nigel Farage also described the proposal as 'disgraceful', saying it 'must not be allowed to happen' as people are 'seething'.

On Twitter, he added: 'This is a disgrace. The Home Office do not want us to know the truth.'

Priti Patel has been accused of 'burying bad news' Government plans to scrap the publication of daily Channel migrant figures

Official figures show more than three times as many migrants have arrived in Britain so far this month than in the whole of January last year. UK authorities have intercepted more than 950 migrants so far this year  more than three times the 223 in January 2021. Last year, 28,381 people were intercepted in the Channel, compared to just 8,410 in 2020

Border Force officials bring migrants ashore at Dover Harbour after arriving in Speedwell, January 19

What happens when someone arrives in the UK after crossing the Channel? By Rory Tingle The vast majority of people crossing the Channel in small boats claim asylum, according to the Refugee Council. At this point the process for what happens varies depending on whether they are an adult, unaccompanied minor or a family unit. ADULT 1 - Immediately transferred to a short-term holding facility dotted around the country, generally in southern England. Fingerprints are taken and they have a screening interview where they provide their name, date of birth and nationality. This registers them into the asylum system. 2 - One or two days later the asylum seekers would usually be sent to a hostel run by the Home Office, but in the last few years these have become full so officials are using hotels. 3 - Two to three weeks later they are dispersed to a town or city anywhere in the UK into 'housing in the community' - although these time scales have stretched recent years. In addition, dispersal accommodation has often been full so the Home Office has relied on rented accomodation from three private providers. The asylum seekers receive housing and 39.63 a week as a cash allowance. 4 - The asylum seekers are issued with a form called a preliminary information questionnaire (PIC) where they are asked why they have a fear of persecution. At some point they are invited to the Home Office for substantive interview where they will be asked questions based on information from their screening interview and PIC form. 4 - If the initial decision is a refusal, the applicant can appeal to an independent tribunal. Their accommodation and support would continue. 5 - If they get an initial refusal and they don't appeal or their appeal is refused they become what's known in official jargon as 'appeal rights exhausted'. The Home Office will send them a letter saying they will be evicted and the weekly support will stop. 6 - They have the option of signing up to the Voluntary Return Scheme, under which the Home Office will pay for their flights. If they don't sign up they are liable to being picked up and detained by immigration officers and perhaps forcibly removed. But they are not enough detention spaces for people in that situation so they often become homeless and destitute, the Refugee Council said. CHILD Children (under 18) are sent to a short term holding facility for a much shorter amount of time and then transferred into the care of a local authority. They are allocated a social worker and accomodation. The Home Office cannot remove minors if they have been separated from their parents. However, if their asylum claim is unsuccessful they could be given a form of leave to remain until they are 17 and a half. FAMILY The only slight difference is that if a family become an 'appeal rights exhausted' case the Home Office wouldn't evict them from the accommodation or stop their financial support. Advertisement

And Tory MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, said: 'This is not a statistical exercise  this is a serious crisis where people are exploited by criminal gangs on a daily basis and lives are tragically lost. Daily figures are vital so the progress in tackling this crisis can be properly monitored.'

It comes following revelations that the Army will start building camps to house up to 30,000 Channel migrants from next month.

Plans are being drawn up for soldiers to construct temporary housing on Ministry of Defence land across the UK.

The project is likely to cost tens of millions of pounds. Home Secretary Priti Patel has privately told Tory MPs that work on the first phase is due to start within weeks.

Government sources insist the scheme will be cheaper than the current accommodation provided for migrants, which has seen thousands placed in three and four-star hotels on full board.

Ministers hope the move towards temporary hostel-style housing on military bases will also act as a deterrent to migrants planning to cross the Channel.

On the network of new camps, a Whitehall insider said: 'There will be accommodation built at a number of bases around the country.

'We think it will be a deterrent. People will be housed in temporary, pre-fab buildings and not in mid-market hotels once the project had been rolled out.'

Exact locations have not been disclosed, but a new secure site for initial processing of Channel migrants opened in the last few days at an MoD site at Manston, Kent.

It is understood it is due to house illegal immigrants for up to five days after they arrive in the UK, but its role will now be expanded to provide longer-term accommodation.

Separately, the Government has hired planning consultants to handle applications for the ongoing use of Napier barracks in Folkestone.

It has housed up to 350 asylum seekers since September 2020 and ministers plan to keep the site in use until at least 2025. Sources confirmed Napier's capacity will be extended under the new project.

Billeting migrants at MoD sites will be controversial because Napier has drawn criticism.

A report by an all-party parliamentary group last month described 'appalling conditions' at the base and likened it to 'quasi-detention', even though occupants are free to come and go as they please.

A Government source said: 'The MoD will be responsible for sorting out housing for migrants as they arrive. This is likely to involve the use of more barracks or other spaces similar to Napier.

'We want to dial down the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, which is currently higher than we would like.'

It comes after reports the Home Office is planning for a worst-case scenario of up to 65,000 arrivals across the Channel this year.

Nearly 28,400 migrants reached Britain last year compared with 8,410 in 2020. More than 940 have been intercepted by UK authorities so far this month  more than four times the figure in January last year.

It does not include arrivals yesterday  which are thought to number around 25.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie revealed Thursday that he's tested positive again for COVID-19.

'I will not be voting, meeting in person, or making public appearances until next week. I am not vaccinated or boosted,' the 51-year-old congressman disclosed. 'If trolls or media have other questions about my health status, the answer is most likely, "NUNYA."'

Massie originally contracted COVID-19 early in the pandemic and received a positive test for antibodies in July 2020.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie revealed Thursday that he's tested positive again for COVID-19

Massie said he suspected he had mild symptoms because he tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies in 2020, meaning he had a previous infection. He also suggested he might have caught the Omicron variant

Massie, who's been against vaccine mandates, also disclosed that he remains unvaccinated

The Kentucky Republican also said the only medication he's taken is a generic form of Claritin, which treats allergy symptoms

'I can't guarantee, but I suspect my symptoms have been very mild due to prior infection 2 years ago,' he tweeted Thursday. 'Also, perhaps this was omicron?'

Massie said the only medication he's taken is a generic form a Claritin, an allergy drug.

'Seek doctors advice if you find yourself sick, because every case is unique and some cases are very serious,' he advised.

A wave of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have tested positive for the virus since Omicron surged in Washington, D.C.

Since the beginning of the year, 24 House members including Massie have tested positive for the virus, along with two senators, according to a tracker created by PBS Newshour's Lisa Dejardins.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, also announced Thursday he tested positive.

Two other Republicans who tested positive for in January, Reps. Nancy Mace and Ashley Hinson, had also previously had COVID.

Massie has been an outspoken critic against vaccine mandates.

In August, he faced blowback after posting and deleting a tweet that compared vaccine mandates to the holocaust.

More recently, Massie went after Washington, D.C.'s decision to require patrons to be vaccinated if they want to dine indoors.

Massie has been an outspoken critic of vaccine mandates and tore into one Washington, D.C. imposed over the weekend on diners

'The DC vaccine mandate kicks in this weekend. My office will not comply. We will not show papers,' Massie tweeted last Thursday. 'We will not order takeout from restaurants that require papers for dine in. We will get our food from Virginia or we will bring it to work.'

'Shame has befallen our nation's capital,' Massie added.

D.C.'s Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton replied saying that she would provide sandwiches to members of Massie's staff who are vaccinated and boosted but are 'afraid they'll get fired if they order in.'

'If that description fits you and you're hungry, DM me and my staff will be in touch,' Norton wrote. 'DC has your back.'

Massie replied that his office appreciated her offer.

'Just please promise you wont drive to get the sandwiches,' he said.

He then shared a 2015 viral video of the congresswoman trying to park in a diagonal space, hitting vehicles next to her several times, before giving up.

'Would you like a sandwich too, @RepThomasMassie,' Norton wrote in response. 'You'll feel better after you eat. There's even a word for feeling grumpy when you're hungry: Hangry. There, there. It's going to be okay.'
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Tory MP Dehenna Davison today denied being involved in the 'Pork Pie Plot' to oust Boris Johnson.

It had been claimed that Ms Davison was one of the ringleaders of a move by rebel Red Wall Conservative MPs to force a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson over the Partygate row.

But the MP for Bishop Auckland, who was elected for the first time in 2019, has dismissed the 'bonkers' suggestion that she was leading the effort as she accused Tory colleagues of briefing against her.

Ms Davison, 28, tweeted 'no, I'm not leading a coup' as she posted a link to an interview with a local newspaper in which she said 'the first thing I knew about me leading a coup' was when she read about the claims in the press.

She said she was 'very disappointed that a colleague would brief out against me in this way, but it is a strange time in politics'.

However, she admitted that she is 'incredibly angry about the Downing Street parties and the Prime Minister's response'.

Ms Davison is one of the most prominent MPs from the 2019 Tory intake. In October she came out as bisexual - the first female Tory to do so publicly.

Last night she was accused of having a mini-bar in her office and of being 'often on the whisky and Coke in the afternoons'. But the claim was rejected by Miss Davison who said her workplace was so small she didn't 'even have a filing cabinet.'

Before becoming an MP she appeared on the Channel 4 show Bride and Prejudice to discuss her marriage with Hull Tory councillor John Fareham, a man 35 years her senior. She announced they were divorcing in 2019.

It came as Mr Johnson tonight dismissed claims his allies have been blackmailing rebellious Tory MPs - amid claims a defector was threatened with cuts to school funding and changes to his constituency boundaries.

The PM insisted he had 'seen no evidence to support any of those allegations' after a dramatic intervention by William Wragg, chairman of the Commons Public Administration Committee.

Mr Wragg said he had been told of 'pressures and intimidation' being used on politicians and in an excoriating attack at the start of an evidence session, suggested members of the government might have breached the ministerial code by threatening to pull investment from constituencies if people send in letters of no confidence.

'Additionally reports to me and others of members of staff at No10 Downing Street, special advisers, government ministers and others encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass those they suspect of lacking confidence in the PM is similarly unacceptable,' Mr Wragg said.

'The intimidation of an MP is a serious matter. Moreover the reports of which I am aware would seem to constitute blackmail.

'As such it would be my general advice to colleagues to report these matters to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.'

Christian Wakeford, the former Tory MP who defected to Labour yesterday, claimed he was previously threatened with the withdrawal of funding for a school in his Bury South constituency if he voted against the Government on free school meals.

He told the BBC: 'How would you feel when holding back regeneration of a town for a vote, it didn't sit comfortably. That was really starting to question my place where I was and ultimately to where I am now.'

There have been suggestions Mr Wakeford was pushed 'over the edge' to defect when he was hauled in and threatened with having the boundaries of his seat redrawn if he went against the PM.

But Mr Johnson told reporters on a visit to Taunton: 'I've seen no evidence to support any of those allegations.

'What I am focused on is what we're doing to deal with the number one priority of the British people, which is coming through Covid.'

The Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland Dehenna Davison today denied being involved in the 'Pork Pie Plot' to oust Boris Johnson

It had been claimed that Ms Davison was one of the ringleaders of a move by rebel Red Wall Conservative MPs to force a vote of no confidence in Mr Johnson over the Partygate row

But the MP for Bishop Auckland, who was elected for the first time in 2019, has dismissed the 'bonkers' suggestion that she was leading the effort as she accused Tory colleagues of briefing against her. She is picture canvassing in Bishop Auckland with Carrie Johnson and Rishi Sunak

Before becoming an MP she appeared on the Channel 4 show Bride and Prejudice to discuss her marriage with Hull Tory councillor John Fareham, a man 35 years her senior. She announced they were divorcing in 2019.

Bisexual Tory rising star who married councillor 35 years her senior and was pally with Carrie before being linked to plot to overthrow Boris Dehenna Davison is the face of the 2019 new Tory intake and symbolic of a new generation of Tories. She made headlines when she arrived in Westminster as the new MP for the hitherto Labour stronghold of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, at the age of just 26. By then she had already married a man 35 years her senior. She appeared on Channel 4 show Bride and Prejudice with Hull Tory councillor John Fareham discussing their age gap, but she announced they were divorcing in 2019. After her victory over former minister Helen Goodman, she became the first Tory to hold Bishop Aukland since it was created in 1885. She received support on the campaign trail from Mr Johnson's then girlfriend Carrie, who said politics was about helping people 'get their benefits claim through, getting a pothole filled'. The former computer game shop worker admitted the 'poster girl thing' was probably due to her tragic backstory and her 'slightly unusual demographics'. But she added: 'I just want to get stuff done.' Carrie Symonds tweeted her congratulations after her victory, saying she was thrilled to hear her friend had become the first Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland. 'She will be fantastic,' she wrote. The pair both own rescue dogs and a photo posted on social media by Davison in 2019 saw the pals campaigning with Symonds' Jack Russell cross Dilyn and Davison's terrier cross Carter. At the time, Davison posted the snap to her followers with the caption #ToryGirlSquad. It remains to be seen whether that has been affected by her alleged links to defenestrate the PM. Ms Davison was born in Hull and studied politics at the city's university before spending a year as an aide to Jacob Rees-Mogg. She was just a young teenager when she learned her father Dominic had been killed by a single blow to the head in the pub. She has since campaigned to change the law to bring in tougher punishment for such one-hit attacks. Ms Davison previously recalled how she sat in a hospital waiting room as doctors battled for 45 minutes to save her father's life. 'I can still picture it. I can tell you what the colour the walls were and everything,' she said. 'They [the doctors] stopped and I went to see my dad's body, which is not something you expect to do at such a young age.' In October she came out as bisexual - the first female Tory to do so publicly - and admitted she did not consider it to be 'a big deal'. She told GB News: 'If anyone were to explicitly ask me, I certainly wouldnt try and hide it because I dont think its anything to be ashamed of. 'The reason I havent done a kind of, "By the way, guys", is because I dont want being bi to be considered a big deal. 'If I did a very public kind of coming-out parade, that would be me saying theres something really unusual about this and trying to make a big deal of it when to me its not. Its just part of who I am.' Advertisement

The move against Mr Johnson is thought to have begun on Tuesday when around 20 of the plotters gathered in the Commons office of MP Alicia Kearns.

It is Ms Kearns' Melton Mowbray constituency which gave the plot its moniker.

The MPs apparently discussed tactics for how to get rid of Mr Johnson, with a secret ballot revealing around half had already submitted letters of no confidence to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the Tory 1922 Committee.

The MPs were said to have concluded that the Partygate row was 'terminal' for the PM and discussed sending in their letters en masse to force a contest.

The bid to get rid of Mr Johnson appears to have stalled as Westminster waits for senior Whitehall official Sue Gray to publish her report into the parties.

Ms Davison gave an interview to The Northern Echo newspaper in which she said that 'the first thing I knew about me leading a coup' was when she read about the claims in the press.

She tweeted a link to the article and said: 'For the many people giving me grief over so called pork pie plots, here's what I had to say.

'Short version: No, I'm not leading a coup.'

She told the newspaper: 'I also was surprised to learn today that I was apparently planning to defect to the Labour Party, something else that is totally fabricated and, as a proud Conservative, something I would never do.

'Frankly, I'm very disappointed that a colleague would brief out against me in this way, but it is a strange time in politics.'

Ms Davison said that she is 'incredibly angry about the Downing Street parties and the Prime Minister's response'.

She said that she has had a 'number of conversations with colleagues about this' but the suggestion that she was leading a 'coup' was 'bonkers'.

It came as Labour called for an investigation into the claims made by Mr Wragg.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Wragg - who has been heavily critical of Mr Johnson and previously called for him to quit - had highlighted 'grave and shocking accusations of bullying, blackmail, and misuse of public money' that 'must be investigated thoroughly'.

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said in the chamber that he was not aware of any details, but his 'general observation' was that government members were not 'above the criminal law' and attempting to 'intimidate' an MP would be a contempt of Parliament.

A Number 10 spokesman said: 'We are not aware of any evidence to support what are clearly serious allegations.

'If there is any evidence to support these claims we would look at it very carefully.'

Heavy tactics by government whips are notorious at Westminster, and allegations have surfaced during the latest furore about the behaviour of supposed rebels.

Mr Wakeford was claimed to have been pushed 'over the edge' when he was hauled in and threatened with having the boundaries of his seat redrawn if he went against the PM.

The dramatic intervention by Mr Wragg came as a poll suggested Mr Johnson's popularity ratings have sunk to a similar level as Jeremy Corbyn before the 2019 general election, while Rishi Sunak is being seen more favourably.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid conceded today that Mr Johnson has been 'damaged', despite the immediate threat receding after the defection and extraordinary attack from veteran David Davis at PMQs yesterday.

Steve Baker, one of the leading rebels against Theresa May, insisted today that he would not be 'organising' against Mr Johnson - but said he thought it looks like 'checkmate'.

The dramatic intervention came as a poll suggested Mr Johnson's popularity ratings have sunk to a similar level as Jeremy Corbyn before the 2019 general election, while Rishi Sunak is being seen more favourably

Christian Wakeford, the former Tory MP to defected to Labour yesterday, claimed he was threatened with the withdrawal of funding for a school in his Bury South constituency if he voted against the Government

David Davis warned the Tory Party is 'dying a death of 1,000 cuts' and faces a 'year of agony' if it does not act swiftly to oust Boris Johnson over allegations of rule-breaking parties in Downing Street

Dehenna Davison rubbishes claims of leading 'coup' against PM Dehenna Davison today dismissed 'bonkers' claims that she was involved in the Tory backbench bid to oust Boris Johnson. The Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland used an interview with her local paper, The Northern Echo, to address reports that she was a ringleader in the so-called 'Pork Pie Plot'. She said the 'first thing I knew about me leading a coup' was when she read the claims in the press. 'I also was surprised to learn today that I was apparently planning to defect to the Labour Party, something else that is totally fabricated and, as a proud Conservative, something I would never do,' she said. 'Frankly, I'm very disappointed that a colleague would brief out against me in this way, but it is a strange time in politics. 'I'm currently in the process of writing to the many constituents who have contacted me about the Downing Street parties and the Prime Minister's response where I outline my position more fully.' Ms Davison told the newspaper that she is 'incredibly angry about the Downing Street parties and the Prime Minister's response'. She said: 'It will be for the Prime Minister himself, or the Conservative Party collectively, to decide the Prime Minister's future. 'Of course, I have had a number of conversations with colleagues about this, as is the case with every political development, be it policy based or otherwise, but to suggest I'm leading a coup is bonkers. 'My priority is to help restore integrity in politics, and restore people's faith in politicians. 'Now more than ever we need to ensure the Government is focused on tackling the challenges our country is facing, and on delivering real positive change in people's lives.' Advertisement

He told the BBC's Political Thinking podcast: 'Honestly, at the moment, I'm looking to the cabinet for leadership.

'At the moment, I'm afraid it does look like checkmate - but whether he can save himself, we'll see'.

Restive MPs have warned that Mr Johnson has only been given a stay of execution, with many holding off on deciding whether to send no-confidence letters to the chair of the powerful 1922 committee until after an inquiry by top civil servant Sue Gray reports.

There are claims that while Ms Gray will not directly criticise Mr Johnson it could paint a very grim picture of his Downing Street operation.

'It's not going to be as good as people think,' a government source told the Times.

'She's genuinely struggling to reconcile the Prime Minister's claim that this was a work event with what she's been hearing from other people. It's very difficult for her.'



In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Javid made little effort to varnish the challenge faced by the PM.

'It is damaging, of course it is,' the Health Secretary told Sky News.

Mr Javid said 'there were some parties' and people were 'right to be angry', insisting those who broke the rules should be 'disciplined'. He singled out the leaving bashes in Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral last April as 'wrong in every single way'.

He also stated bluntly that if Mr Johnson is found to have broken the law he will have to go.

'The Ministerial Code is very clear. If any minister from the Prime Minister down breaks the law, of course they shouldn't continue to serve as a minister,' he said.

'What I have just said is a general rule that applies to everyone. There is no exception to that rule.'

Responding to the statement from Mr Wragg, Ms Rayner said: 'These are grave and shocking accusations of bullying, blackmail, and misuse of public money and must be investigated thoroughly.

'The idea that areas of our country will be starved of funding because their MPs don't fall into line to prop up this failing Prime Minister is disgusting.'

As the Downing Street machine finally cranked into gear yesterday, No10 said Mr Johnson will fight any no-confidence vote launched against him and insisted he expects to fight the next general election.

He has been personally meeting wavering MPs in a bid to shore up support on his back benches.

Government whips 'threatened Tory defector with school funding cut and changes to seat boundaries' Boris Johnson tonight dismissed claims his allies have been blackmailing rebellious Tory MPs - amid claims a defector was threatened with cuts to school funding and changes to his constituency boundaries. The PM insisted he had 'seen no evidence to support any of those allegations' after a dramatic intervention by William Wragg, chairman of the Commons Public Administration Committee. Mr Wragg said he had been told of 'pressures and intimidation' being used on politicians and in an excoriating attack at the start of an evidence session, suggested members of the government might have breached the ministerial code by threatening to pull investment from constituencies if people send in letters of no confidence. 'Additionally reports to me and others of members of staff at No10 Downing Street, special advisers, government ministers and others encouraging the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass those they suspect of lacking confidence in the PM is similarly unacceptable,' Mr Wragg said. 'The intimidation of an MP is a serious matter. Moreover the reports of which I am aware would seem to constitute blackmail. 'As such it would be my general advice to colleagues to report these matters to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.' Christian Wakeford, the former Tory MP who defected to Labour yesterday, claimed he was previously threatened with the withdrawal of funding for a school in his Bury South constituency if he voted against the Government on free school meals. He told the BBC: 'How would you feel when holding back regeneration of a town for a vote, it didn't sit comfortably. That was really starting to question my place where I was and ultimately to where I am now.' There have been suggestions Mr Wakeford was pushed 'over the edge' to defect when he was hauled in and threatened with having the boundaries of his seat redrawn if he went against the PM. But Mr Johnson told reporters on a visit to Taunton: 'I've seen no evidence to support any of those allegations. 'What I am focused on is what we're doing to deal with the number one priority of the British people, which is coming through Covid.' Advertisement

Tory whips yesterday launched a concerted drive to crush the Pork Pie Plot. The plotters suggested that by 5pm yesterday the target of 54 letters needed to force a vote of no confidence in the PM would be passed. But the deadline came and went.

One Cabinet loyalist last night said the enormity of the plot was giving wavering MPs pause for thought.

'The sight of one of your own crossing the floor to join Labour reminds people how high the stakes are,' the source said.

'People are also having to face the question of what happens next. There is not a Boris figure to rally round who would do better electorally.'

Andrew Percy, Brigg and Goole MP, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'It's kind of made people a bit more relaxed, it's calmed nerves.

'I think people have recognised that actually this constant navel gazing and internal debating is only to the advantage of our political opponents.

'The Prime Minister is probably thanking Christian for what he did because it's made a lot of people think again, think twice.'

Despite the temporary reprieve, the anger from a former minister first elected in 1987 and Mr Wakeford, elected to the so-called Red Wall seat of Bury South two years ago, showed the breadth of the fury in the party.

One Cabinet source said the mutineers had 'overplayed their hand', adding: 'They are inexperienced and it has shown in the past 24 hours.'

Several wavering Tory MPs yesterday said they were waiting to see the report before deciding whether to move against Mr Johnson.

Andrew Bowie, a former vice-chairman of the party, said: 'I think the Prime Minister should be considering his position, but my position is that we need to wait and see what the facts were.'

Downing Street had hoped that Ms Gray's report would be published this week to give the PM the chance to draw a line under the affair.

But Whitehall sources yesterday said the constant drip-drip of new allegations, including from Dominic Cummings, meant it would be delayed.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Mr Davis said: 'The party is going to have to make a decision or we face dying a death of 1,000 cuts.'

The PM will appear to be 'shifting the blame' if he fires staff after Ms Gray delivers her inquiry into events held at No 10 during Covid restrictions, the Haltemprice and Howden MP said.

Then there will be the 'crises' of rising energy bills and the National Insurance hike being compounded by the 'disorganisation' at No 10, which could trigger a vote of no confidence at Christmas, meaning a 'year of agony', he continued.

'That's the worst outcome, particularly for the 2019 and 2017 and 2015 intake - that, slice by slice by slice, this carries on and we bump along at minus whatever and, even worse, we create policies to try to paper over it.'

Speaking shortly after his Commons outburst, Mr Davis admitted: 'I've just made myself the most unpopular person in the Tory party.

'Well, the second most unpopular. But I've gone from thinking maybe we can rescue it to maybe we just have to accelerate it and get it done.'

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg described Mr Davis as a 'lone wolf' as he downplayed the senior Tory MP's 'theatrical' call for Mr Johnson to resign.






A child plays with a scarf on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Jan. 18. AP-Yonhap





China is an enigma to many foreigner observers who fail to understand its unique history, culture and political system. As a result, it is all too easy for them to make false judgments about the country's policy direction.



The Chinese government has made a huge commitment to common prosperity, prioritizing it since 2021, and it may take decades to achieve. Three points need to be clarified to foster a better understanding of what China's goal of common prosperity really means.



Many overseas critics see China from an outdated perspective, leading them to oversimplify the concept and crudely define it as telling the rich to share their wealth with the rest of the country.



In the 1950s, the Communist Party nationalized private enterprises and assets in order to build a socialist country.



The historical echo from those times may have contributed to the misunderstanding of China's common prosperity push, even though in the reform era since 1978, non-state-owned sectors have been encouraged and have played a big role in China's growth.



Thus, many foreign commentators have conflated China's recent regulation of internet giants, which is a completely separate issue, with the goal of common prosperity and misrepresented the tension between entrepreneurs and the government.



The Economist, for example, said in October 2021 that, "Deng Xiaoping, one of Mr Xi's predecessors, famously said that he did not care if cats were white or black as long as they caught mice. Mr Xi's main opinion about cats is that he does not like them fat."



In fact, governments around the world grapple with regulation of internet giants and enforcement of antitrust laws. China's internet giants have been described as spoiled playground bullies for unfair practices such as forcing small businesses to pick one of the two major platforms.



The clampdown on them is about ensuring fair competition and sustainable growth, and has no connection with the much broader goal of common prosperity.



Also, while officials encourage charitable giving  which is referred to in China as the third or tertiary distribution of income  such donations and contributions are voluntary. This simply reflects the government's effort to improve the distribution system.



Common prosperity is not a new concept. In fact, the Communist Party is merely inheriting and continuing a historical mission. Some foreign critics have taken Deng's theory of "get rich first" out of context, thereby cutting the historical link of Xi's policy with that of his predecessors.



These are the commentators who say the new focus on common prosperity marks a significant policy shift, or that Xi is returning to more socialist principles.



On the contrary, the Communist Party has been consistent in its pursuit of common prosperity.



"Common prosperity and socialism have never disappeared from the Chinese Communist Party's official statements," sociologist Cao Jinqing said.



The term "common prosperity" made its first appearance in a party document on agricultural production cooperatives in 1953. Aiming to improve agricultural productivity, Mao Zedong said the party should organize peasants using socialist rural reform, shifting from small-scale private production to mass collective production so that peasants can gradually eliminate poverty and achieve common prosperity.



After Deng took power in the late 1970s, he led the Chinese people in blazing a new trail in socialism with Chinese characteristics. To boost economic development, he took a step-by-step approach towards achieving common prosperity.



He envisioned allowing some people and regions to get rich first, then letting these regions help the others gradually achieve prosperity.





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Members of a 'fascist' cell made pistol parts on a 3D printer, encouraged terrorism, and celebrated extreme right-wing attacks around the world, jurors were told.

Using a Telegram channel called Oaken Hearth, they exchanged terror manuals, shared racist ideology and posted videos of atrocities including the Christchurch mosque mass murder, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Daniel Wright, 29, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, is charged with disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing articles for terrorist purposes, and the collection of information contrary to the Terrorism Act.

He is also accused of possessing and manufacturing a firearm.

His friend Liam Hall, 31, also of Keighley, is charged with possessing articles for terrorist purposes, as well as possessing and manufacturing a firearm.

Hall's partner Stacey Salmon, 29, is charged with possessing articles for terrorist purposes, and having a firearm.

Samuel Whibley, 29, of Menai Bridge, Anglesey, is charged with the encouragement of terrorism, and disseminating a terrorist publication.

Daniel Wright, 29, of Keighley, West Yorkshire, is charged with disseminating a terrorist publication, possessing articles for terrorist purposes, and the collection of information contrary to the Terrorism Act

His friend Liam Hall (left), 31, also of Keighley, is charged with possessing articles for terrorist purposes, as well as possessing and manufacturing a firearm

Annabel Darlow QC, prosecuting, said: 'These four defendants were members of an extreme fascist and terroristic cell during the first four months of 2021.

'They embraced extreme right-wing propaganda and celebrated racist violence and killing.

'The defendants demonstrated an active interest in the manufacture of explosives and weaponry.

'They sought out the means and technical information required to manufacture firearms at home, using 3D printers to print plastic parts which could then be assembled together with metal components, with the intention of creating functional and lethal firearms.'

Ms Darlow added: 'The prosecution allege that the ideology embraced by these defendants, and the violent, terroristic views they expressed, clearly demonstrate that their actions in respect of these homemade firearms was terrorist in nature and intent.

'The group also exchanged a huge number of terror manuals, many of which contained instructions on the manufacture of weapons including explosives, together with instructions on killing techniques.'

Police linked Wright, Hall, and Salmon to firearm parts that were later recovered, while Whibley researched and posted details online on how to make a pistol, the court was told.

The prosecution said Wright was a frequent visitor to Hall and Salmon's home and that contact with Whibley was forged online.

Wright and Hall were welders, while Salmon was unemployed, the court also heard.

Hall's partner Stacey Salmon, 29, is charged with possessing articles for terrorist purposes, and having a firearm

Whibley, a student, set up the Oaken Hearth Telegram channel in January 2021, with a private chat function available to those who passed a series of questions proving they were far-right sympathisers.

Ms Darlow said the contents of the channel's chat expressed 'abhorrently racist views and advocated the use of extreme political violence'.

She added: 'Despite it being apparent that certain users of the chat were children, this in no way deterred those involved from the process of radicalisation and the repeated provision of detailed information on matters including the manufacture of homemade firearms.

'Extreme right-wing terrorists who had committed acts of mass murder in the name of their twisted ideology, such as Timothy McVeigh, who committed the atrocity in Omaha, Anders Breivik who murdered scores of young people in Norway, and Brenton Tarrant, who shot over 50 worshippers in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, were actively celebrated by members and praised as 'saints'.'

The defendants deny all charges and the trial, scheduled to last five weeks, continues.
A dad arrested last month over the disappearance of his young daughter who was last seen alive in 2019 is also suspected of a brutal 2008 murder.

Adam Montgomery, 31, is considered a suspect in the February 2008 killing of Darlin Guzman, a 28 year-old computer repairman, it was reported Thursday. Guzman was shot and killed in the parking lot of a convenience store in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Guzman was heard arguing with a man moments before he was killed, Boston25 reported. No-one has ever been charged over his murder, and no motive has been given - although the dead man's relatives said he'd planned to meet with Montgomery for an unknown reason.

One of Guzman's sisters on Thursday reacted to the news, calling Montgomery a 'monster' and stressing that the focus at this time should be on finding his missing daughter, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Montgomery was arrested last month on multiple counts related to daughter Harmony's disappearance two years ago when she was five, including assault and child endangerment. He pleaded not guilty and has been jailed in New Hampshire without bail.

Montgomery has refused to talk to the police about the whereabouts of his daughter, who was in his legal custody when she vanished.

Adam Montgomery (left), the father of missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery, is being investigated in connection with the 2008 cold-case murder of Darlin Guzman, 28 (right), in Massachusetts

Montgomery is facing charges of assault and child endangerment in connection with Harmony's disappearance in 2019

Montgomery is suspected of being involved in the killing of Guzman outside this convenience store in Lynn, Massachusetts

On February 10, 2008, Guzman, a father-of-three computer repairman, originally from the Dominican Republic, was fatally shot in the parking lot of a convenience store in Austin Square.

Emad Abedeldin, the owner of the the store, Austin Square White Hen Pantry, told the Daily Item at the time that he heard Guzman arguing with another man before gunshots rang out.

Guzman was shot in the chest and later died at a hospital.

Police at the time described the gunman as a light-skinned man in his 20s, standing at about 6 feet tall, wearing a red hooded sweatshirt. He was last seen driving a red Honda Accord towards Saugus.

Boston 25 reported, citing the police source, that Montgomery and two members of his family, who have not been named, have been considered persons of interest in the murder investigation for more than a decade.

Adam's estranged wife, Kayla Montgomery, is facing theft charges for allegedly receiving $1,500 in food stamps for Harmony after the child went missing in 2019

Montgomery was 18 years old at the time the killing. He was facing several unrelated criminal charges and was free on bail when Guzman was murdered.

According to the authorities, Montgomery and his relatives had been in contact with Guzman and agreed to meet in the parking lot of the convenience store prior to the shooting.

As of Thursday, Montgomery has not been charged in connection with Guzman's murder, which remains unsolved.

Anni Guzman, one of Darlin's sisters, told DailyMail.com she feels that after nearly 14 years of unanswered questions, the time has come to get justice for her brother.

'Our family is in shock and processing the news as best as we can,' she said of the latest development in the case. 'At this time we are praying for the child involved which is what caused the arrest...although [Montgomery] is the person of interest in my brother's case, this monster's child is missing and that is something that the news should be really focusing on. Finding her.

'My brother is gone and we know this but the whereabouts of the child still remain unknown and that should be the priority.'

Meanwhile, the search for Harmony Montgomery continues.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu slammed a Massachusetts judge for placing Harmony with her father and stepmother in 2018 before the state could complete a study of their home.

Sununu, in a letter to the chief justice of Massachusetts highest court, described Adam Montgomery as a 'monstrous drug dealer.' The 31-year-old's criminal record goes back to least 2007. In Massachusetts, he was previously convicted of shooting someone in the head and a separate armed attack on two women, Sununu wrote.

Sununu asked why the Massachusetts courts went ahead and placed Harmony with him. The governor said that at the time the court ruled, New Hampshires child protection agency had asked Massachusetts for additional information to complete the home study and would have likely found the father unfit.

'It is unclear why the Massachusetts courts moved so quickly with this permanent placement prior to the completion of the home study. Why would the Massachusetts court choose to place custody of Harmony with this horrible individual? What caused such a fateful decision?' Sununu demanded.

Sununu is requesting the court review the decision and all events leading to the judges ruling.

'No child should ever leave Massachusetts in the custody of a dangerous criminal like Adam Montgomery,' Sununu wrote. 'We must ensure that, moving forward, at-risk children of our states are protected and adequately monitored.'

Harmony was 5 years old and living with her father when she was last seen in November 2019. She is pictured with her birth mother, Crystal Sorey

Massachusetts Court System Spokesperson Jennifer Donahue said that the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate has opened an investigation 'into this tragic situation.' The Massachusetts Trial Court, she added, was cooperating fully with that investigation.

Harmony Montgomery was last seen at a Manchester home in October 2019, when she was 5 and living with her father and his wife, Kayla Montgomery, who is not the girl's mother.

Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, first learned Harmony might be missing when they received a call from Crystal Sorey, Harmony's birth mother, in November, telling them that she had been trying to locate her daughter for many months.

Sorey had lost custody of Harmony in 2018 because of her substance abuse problem. She said she last saw her daughter looking 'frightened' on a FaceTime call around Easter 2019.

Police launched their missing person investigation in December 27, 2021, after an official with the Department of Children, Youth and Families reached out to the agency, saying Harmony could not bee found.

Since then, police have searched the house where the child was last seen.

Adam Montgomery was arrested earlier this month on a second-degree assault for allegedly punching Harmony in the face and giving her a black eye in July 2019, based on his uncle's account.

He also faces charges of interfering with custody and child endangerment for 'purposely violating a duty of care, protection or support' by failing to know where the girl has been since late 2019  the last reported sighting.

Prosecutors dropped a welfare fraud charge last week against Harmony's stepmother, Kayla Montgomery, for collecting food stamps in the childs name. The charge was replaced with three other charges, including theft.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu this week slammed a Massachusetts judge for placing Harmony with her father, whom he called a 'monstrous drug dealer'

Kayla was charged on suspicion of obtaining $1,500 in food stamps from December 2019 to June 2021 for Harmony, even though the girl was not living with the couple. She pleaded not guilty.

In an interview with police on New Year's Eve, Kayla - who shares three children with her husband, ages 4, 2 and 1 - said she last saw Harmony in November or December 2019.

She said her husband was driving Harmony to the child's mother in Massachusetts. She said she believed Harmony had been returned to the mother and never saw or heard about Harmony after that day, according to police records.

Kayla also told police she hadn't seen Adam since October and had not spoken to him since November.

Police have received hundreds of the tips in the case and the reward fund has grown to more than $137,000.

Anyone with information can call the 24-hour tip line at 603-203-6060.
A supermarket delivery driver told jurors he only planned to 'extract money' when he was hired as a 100,000 hitman to murder a Pakistani political activist, a court heard.

Muhammad Gohir Khan, 31, is alleged to have taken a train to Amsterdam in the Netherlands where he rented a car to spy on, and plotted to eventually kill, Ahmad Waqas Goraya, who had criticised the Pakistani government online.

Khan, who was paid 11 an hour working for Iceland, was said to be 'enthusiastic' about carrying out the plan to earn money as he was heavily in debt, owing creditors more than 200,000.

But Khan, who lived with his parents, wife and six children in Forest Gate, east London, denies conspiracy to murder between February and June last year.

In one message to a contact in Pakistan, known as 'Mudz' or 'Zed', Khan said: 'I need to arrange fishing rods and accessories,' in what prosecutors say was a reference to sourcing a weapon.

Khan said he was 'just making things up' to try and convince the contact, who he believed was 'Muzmil' - a man he had first met while a schoolboy in Lahore.

He said Muzmil, who was nicknamed 'Papa' after cartoon character 'Papa Smurf', had stolen from his cargo shipping business and ripped him off over the sale of a car.

'My aim was to extract as much money as possible from him and leave it at that,' he said. Never did I intend to go there to kill, harm, anything.'

Muhammad Gohir Khan, 31, is alleged to have taken a train to Amsterdam in the Netherlands where he rented a car to spy on, and plotted to eventually kill, Ahmad Waqas Goraya (pictured) who had criticised the Pakistani government online

The court has heard the alleged plotters referred to targets as 'fish' in messages as they finalised the 100,000 deal, with Mr Goraya referred to as 'a little fish' and 'not a shark'.

Khan told jurors he did not know what 'job' Muzmil was offering when he was first contacted in February last year but was sent a picture of the intended victim along with his name and address on May 19.

'Having him given the address and having him given the picture and through the chats he's implying to me the job is for a murder or (to) kill Mr Waqas,' he said.

'Never have I intended to harm or kill Mr Waqas.

'To this day I have never searched for him, I have nothing to do with him.

'But he's implying it's to murder Mr Waqas.

'Never did I intend, or through my messages, was I conspiring to murder Mr Waqas.

'I was only there, I was only chatting (to) him to extract the money he stole from me, to cover my losses.'

The intended target, who describes himself as 'secular' and a 'progressive liberal' said he was abducted and tortured by the ISI on his return to Pakistan in 2017 after the country's intelligence agency discovered his secret political blog.

Mr Goraya, who lives with his wife and two children, said he and his family became the subject of threats after he was publicly accused of insulting God and the Prophet.

Khan, who was paid 11 an hour working for Iceland, was said to be 'enthusiastic' about carrying out the plan to earn money as he was heavily in debt, owing creditors more than 200,000, Kingston Crown Court (pictured) heard

He has frequently called Pakistan a 'terrorist state', made fun of the military and highlighted human rights abuses in online posts.

Mr Goraya was in December 2018 told he was on a 'kill list' by the FBI and believes he has received threats 'led and orchestrated' by the ISI, the court has heard.

In a statement read to the jury, he said he was attacked in February 2020 and separately told 'that whatever the price, Pakistan was going to kill him'.

Mr Goraya was not at his home in Rotterdam when Khan visited the Netherlands in June last year before he was arrested on his return to the UK.

He told police the trip was part of his plan to extract money from Muzmil and he had bought a paring knife to cut bread and fruit.

The trial at Kingston Crown Court continues on Friday.
A prominent member of the Austrian royal family has claimed her ex-Labour party fundraising husband should be sent to jail for breaching court orders.

Princess Marie-Therese Elizabeth von Hohenberg Bailey claims her ex-husband Anthony Bailey, 52, has committed contempt of court.

Ms Hohenberg is the great granddaughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination triggered World War I.

The 50-year-old has applied for an in-person hearing which will be heard at the Family Division of the High Court in London later this month. Mr Bailey's lawyers argue he should not have to attend in person.

Judges have already heard how the pair are embroiled in a bitter battle over their shared millions.

London's Central Family Court previously ruled Ms Bailey was eligible to walk away with more than 2million after the couple's split.

A High Court judge will now decide whether Bailey, a former PR consultant who raised millions for Tony Blair's Labour Party, should return to London for the hearing from his current residence in Portugal.

Anthony Bailey (left) has been embroiled in a fight over money with his ex-wife Austrian princess Marie-Therese Hohenberg Bailey (right) who has accused him of being in contempt of court and said he should be committed to prison

The couple married in 2007 during a grand ceremony in front of 600 guests at the Abbey of St Peter's in Salzburg, followed by a reception at Salzburg Festival Hall, in a wedding (pictured) which reportedly cost 1million

Ms Hohenberg Bailey has accused her ex-husband Mr Bailey of breached orders made as a result of their prior litigation.

Mr Bailey disputes all of the allegations made against him.

The pair had one son together, who was named after Ms Hohenberg's grandfather Maximilian, the son of Franz Ferdinand.

The couple married in 2007 during a grand ceremony in front of 600 guests at the Abbey of St Peter's in Salzburg, followed by a reception at Salzburg Festival Hall, in a wedding which reportedly cost 1million.

Austrian Royalty: The House of Hohenberg The Ducal House of Hohenberg is an Austrian noble family, descended from Countess Sophie Chotek who in 1900 married Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The House of Hohenberg was established by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria when upon the couple's marriage in 1900, he made Franz Ferdinand's wife Princess of Hohenberg with the style of Serene Highness, and the specification that this name and title should also be borne by her descendants. In the event, which is widely accepted to have sparked the outbreak of World War One, Archduke Franz Ferdinand - the nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire - was shot dead along with his Serbian wife, Sophie, on June 28, 1914. The couple had three children - Sophie, Maximillian and Ernst. Advertisement

The Ducal House of Hohenberg is an Austrian noble family, descended from Countess Sophie Chotek who in 1900 married Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Lawyers representing Mr Bailey on Thursday told Mr Justice Cohen that he was in Portugal and should not have to physically attend that hearing.

They told Mr Justice Cohen, who was overseeing a preliminary hearing in London, that Mr Bailey could attend via remote link.

Ms Hohenberg Bailey says Mr Bailey should attend.

Detail of the case emerged at a hearing last year.

The maximum punishment for being found to have committed contempt of court is a prison sentence for up to two years, a fine of 2,500, or both.

A one-time Tory supporter, Mr Bailey helped raise funds for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and donated 50,000 to David Miliband's run for the Labour leadership.

Ms Hohenberg Bailey had run up around 800,000 in legal bills, Justice Holman was told at an earlier hearing.

Mr Justice Holman added: 'I am very sympathetic to the situation of the wife here. She has got her order from the court and all she wants is her money.'

Lawyers representing Mr Bailey asked Mr Justice Holman to bar reporters from naming him in reports of the hearing, but Mr Justice Holman refused their application.

He said the hearing was being staged in public, in line with rules governing contempt applications, and Mr Bailey and his ex-wife could be named in reports of the case.

Mr Bailey, a former pizza parlour worker turned PR guru, was a one-time Tory supporter before he helped raise funds for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and donated 50,000 to David Miliband's run for the Labour leadership

Ms Hohenberg Bailey is the great granddaughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination sparked the First World War. With Mr Bailey she had a son who was named after her grandfather Maximilian, the son of Franz Ferdinand

Mr Bailey, a former pizza parlour worker turned public relations guru, donated 50,000 to Mr Miliband in 2010, five years after Labour's then treasurer, Lord Levy, rejected Mr Bailey's money over fears he was acting on behalf of businessmen from abroad.

Mr Bailey went on to start his own firm, Eligo International, which counts foreign banks and international statesmen on its books, offering them a 'discreet' service.

He has also worked with BAE, the arms manufacturer, which had its relationship with Saudi Arabia scrutinised by the Serious Fraud Office.

Mr Bailey was given an OBE for his 'interfaith' services in 2008 and counts Prince Charles as a friend. He was also close to the late Pope, John Paul II and is a devout Catholic.
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Boris Johnson today warned it would be a 'disaster for the world' if Russia invades Ukraine as the nation's president slapped down Joe Biden for 'green-lighting' an attack with his 'minor incursion' gaffe.

The UK Prime Minister said 'any kind of incursion, on any scale' would be 'a disaster not just for Ukraine but for Russia' as NATO allies try to dissuade Vladimir Putin from launching an attack the Pentagon warns is 'imminent'.

Johnson's remark came after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky slapped down the US president after he appeared to suggest that a 'minor incursion' by Moscow might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion.

Zelensky denounced Biden for 'green-lighting' an attack on the country with the remarks, warning that there was no such as thing as a 'minor incursion'.

'We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones,' Zelensky wrote on Twitter.

Biden, speaking at a White House press conference yesterday where Russia came up repeatedly, had said: 'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.

'But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia,' he added.

The president's comment prompted a cleanup from the White House on Wednesday night - a task Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Vice President Kamala Harris carried forward in Thursday morning TV interviews - and saw the US press heavily criticise Biden over his press conference.

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved troops, tanks and missiles, close to the border, but tensions have ramped up in recent days after a surge in equipment and troop movements, among them military police, from the extreme east of the country.

New evidence of a huge military build-up within striking distance of Ukraine emerged today in satellite images dated January 19 which show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from Ukraine as well as rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus.

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, that sit only 18 miles (30km) from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles (50km) from Russia's border with Ukraine.

Russian troops have been told they could be away from home for up to 'nine months' after being moved thousands of miles from the country's east to the border region and warned to expect being involved in a conflict in Ukraine. Around 100,000 Russian troops are currently stationed new to Ukraine's borders.

And, in another new development, Vladimir Putin today announced huge new naval drills to take place this month and next in four seas involving 140 warships and tens of thousands of sailors.

The war games will take place in the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Mediterranean involving 'more than 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 pieces of military equipment, and about 10,000 servicemen', the Russian defence ministry said.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border as Moscow ramps up a military build up along the frontier in preparation for a 'nine-month war'

The region has been on a knife-edge since the end of last year when Moscow moved as many as 100,000 troops, as well as tanks and missiles, close to the border (pictured, a battle group deployment in Voronezh, Russia, near the Ukrainian border on January 19)

Soldiers of assault engineer and recovery-and-salvage units of the Russian Army 1st Guards Engineer Brigade are seen during tactical and special training in the city of Murom, some 260 km east of Moscow

Pictured: Three soldiers take part in Russian military drills on Tuesday the city of Murom

Soldiers of assault engineer and recovery-and-salvage units of the Russian Army 1st Guards Engineer Brigade are seen during tactical and special training in the city of Murom, with one firing what appears to be a flame-thrower

Pictured: Ukraine soldiers conduct tactical exercises at one of the all-military training grounds of the southern Ukraine's Kherson region, just north of annexed Crimea

Pictured: Ukrainian military vehicles are seen conducting exercises s at one of the all-military training grounds of the southern Ukraine's Kherson region

Ukraine soldiers conducts tactical exercises at one of the all-military training grounds of the southern Ukraine's Kherson region, just north of annexed Crime. amid fears Russia is preparing to invade the country

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Military support vehicles and personnel have been ferried from eastern Russia to the border with Ukraine and service members families warned their relatives could be away from home for up to nine months and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine

Boris Johnson (left) today warned it would be a 'disaster for the world' if Russia invades Ukraine. He said that 'any kind of incursion, on any scale' would be 'a disaster not just for Ukraine but for Russia' as NATO allies try to dissuade Russian strongman Vladimir Putin (right) from launching an attack the Pentagon warns is 'imminent'

Russia and Belarus have claimed the mass movement of troops and equipment on trains to the over the border is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently

Moscow has for weeks been massing tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces along its eastern flank, sparking fears of an invasion, though the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defence force (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) denounced US President Joe Biden (right) for 'green-lighting' an attack on the country with the remarks, warning that there was no such as thing as a 'minor incursion'. Biden, speaking at a White House press conference yesterday where Russia came up repeatedly, had said: 'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera'

Ukraine's President lays flowers at ceremony honouring soldiers killed defending country from Russian-backed rebels Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky laid flowers today in memory of soldiers who were killed defending the country against Russian-backed rebels. Zelensky laid flowers at a Memorial Bell, located at the Ministry of Defence in Kyiv. The memorial was held to honour Ukrainian servicemen who died on January 20 - in various years - for 'freedom, independence and territorial integrity of the state', a statement from the president's office said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky lays flowers today in Kyiv at a Memorial Bell Pictured: Zelensky walks towards the memorial bell The names of 54 servicemen, who died in different years of the war in the east of the country, were read out. Each time a name was announced, the bell was rung. Among those named during the ceremony were 51 soldiers who died on January 20, 2015, defending the Donetsk airport. Advertisement

Videos showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 37 miles (60km) from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine.

Russia and Belarus have claimed the movement of troops and equipment is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently.

President Biden said yesterday it would be a 'disaster' for Russia if Putin ordered an invasion of neighboring Ukraine but said that the Russian strongman now 'has to do something' after spending months massing more than 100,000 troops along the border.

He also warned Russia would pay a 'dear price' if Moscow launches a military invasion despite believing Putin does not want full-blown war - and appearing to say the US would tolerate a 'minor incursion', sparking widespread criticism.

'Russia has a long history of using measures other than overt military action to carry out aggression and paramilitary tactics  so called gray zone attacks, and actions by Russian soldiers not wearing Russian uniforms,' Biden said.

'Remember when they moved into the Donbass [region] with the Little Green Men? They were dealing with those who were Russian sympathizers and Russia said: 'Nobody in there.' Well, that includes Little Green Men and uniforms as well as cyber attack,' Biden said.

'We have to be ready to respond to these as well and decisive and united way with a range of tools at our disposal.'

Biden also addressed comments by Ukraine's foreign minister  choosing to address his statement of confidence rather than his pushback on his own 'minor incursion' remark.

The 'Ukrainian foreign minister said this morning that he's confident of our support and resolve, and he has a right to be,' Biden said.

Later Wednesday evening, National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne wrote that Biden had 'clarified this. He was referring to the difference between military and non-military/para-military/cyber action by the Russians. Such actions would be met by a reciprocal response, in coordination with Allies and partners,' she said.

But a Ukrainian official, responding to Biden's original comments, told CNN after the press conference: 'This remark potentially gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure.'

The White House was also forced to issue a full clarifying statement. 'President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,' according to a statement from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

'President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response,' she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today denounced Biden for his comments, stressing that he was destabilizing an already tense situation.

Peskov said Biden's statements can 'facilitate the destabilization of the situation because they can inspire some hotheads in Ukraine with false hopes.'

At the same time Peskov did not rule out new security talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Biden.

The U.S. Treasury Department said today it is prepared to impose significant sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine, and is working closely with allies to shape those responses.

'The president has said that we would impose severe consequences on Russia if it invades Ukraine,' Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday told CNBC. 'We hope that Russia will look for a diplomatic solution, but we're prepared to impose significant consequences.'

She said Washington was working with European allies, who have stronger economic ties to Russia, to understand their concerns about possible economic and financial sanctions and take them into account in designing the responses.

Satellite images dated January 19 showed rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus, after a months-long build-up of troops along the border with Ukraine

Other images show military equipment gathered at two bases, Klintsky and Klimovo, (pictured) that sit only 18 miles from the Belarusian frontier and no more than 31 miles from Russia's border with Ukraine

Russian troops were seen arriving in Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, (pictured) both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine, ostensibly for joint military drills taking place from February 10

Soldiers of assault engineer and recovery-and-salvage units of the Russian Army 1st Guards Engineer Brigade are seen during tactical and special training in the city of Murom

'He has to do something... He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West,' Biden said of Putin hours after announcing the US would provide an additional $200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

But he also suggested a 'minor incursion' might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country, a comment that drew immediate condemnation from some corners with Republican senators claiming the President had effectively given Putin the green light to invade Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today denounced Biden's remarks, blaming the US president for destabilising an already tense situation. At the same time he did not rule out new security talks between Putin and Biden.

This week's military massing in Belarus adds to Russia's forces to the east of Ukraine as well as south in Crimea and the Black Sea, where some 100,000 are believed to be in place.

The new analyses show that only part of the military hardware and troops are going to the training grounds announced for the exercises.

'The other part stopped halfway, near Gomel, in an area that is only 40km from the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and 90km from the Kiev region', according to a Radio Liberty report.

Meanwhile dozens of mothers and wives appeared to have taken to social media to voice concerns about their military relatives who have been shipped across the country in apparent preparation for war between Russia and Ukraine

Many of the comments indicated forces from the far east were sent 'first to Moscow, then to Ukraine' and said 'almost all contract soldiers' had been sent towards Ukraine.

While officially the joint Russian-Belarusian exercises last only from 10-20 February 'relatives and friends of the military write that the trip will last 6-to-9 months.'

The massing of troops along the border has been seen as an echo of the Russian playbook from 2014 when Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula and backed pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

A Russian convoy of a BM-27 220mm multiple rocket launcher and 11 9T452 transporter-loader vehicles arrived in Gomel, Belarus, on Monday from eastern Siberia.

While footage posted online showed 11 transporter-loaders and a single BM-27 multiple rocket launcher, which later was seen in Gomel, before heading 'directly for the Ukrainian border' just 30km away, DFRLab reported.

Local media reported that military equipment including logistical vehicles such as fuel trucks and other transports followed by a civilian truck and bus was seen heading south from Gomel, towards the Ukrainian border.

BM-27 launchers were also seen at the railway station in Rechitsa.

While trains seen in the Smolensk region in western Russia - seemingly en route to Belarus - appeared to show 16th Radiation, Biological, and Chemical Defence Brigade from Primorsky Krai, some 5,800 miles from its base.

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Russia and Belarus have claimed the mass movement of troops and equipment on trains to the over the border is linked to hastily arranged joint military exercises between the two countries - but observers branded the explanation a smokescreen for preparations for an invasion of Ukraine which the West now expects to happen imminently

Images and footage showed rocket launchers and military support vehicles making the journey from east Russia to the border with Ukraine in recent days as Moscow ramps up the build-up of troops along the frontier

Military support vehicles and personnel have been ferried from eastern Russia to the border with Ukraine and service members families warned their relatives could be away from home for up to nine months and to expect them to be involved in a conflict in Ukraine

Rocket launchers and troops were seen arriving in a snowing Rechitsa, Belarus, for supposed military drills next month, though observers have said the excuse is a smokescreen for an invasion

Armoured vehicles and troops were pictured at the Belarusian base in Gomel, under 60km from the border with Ukraine, ahead of the supposed joint military drills

Footage showed trains carrying multiple rocket launchers, fighting vehicles, communication trucks and general transportation trucks over the Russian border to Belarusian bases in Gomel and Rechitsa, both of which at under 60km from the border are within striking distance of Ukraine

Russian military vehicles arriving in Belarus are seen in this photograph distributed by the Belarus Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, ahead of joint exercises

Russian servicemen prepare their military vehicles to unload for Russia and Belarus joint military drill in Belarus on January 18

The French Navy yesterday reportedly escorted Russian Baltic Sea landing ships Korolev, Minsk and Kaliningrad and Northern Fleet warships Olenegorsky Gornyak, Pyotr Morgunov, and Georgii Pobedonosets towards the English Channel, sparking speculation they are bound for the Black Sea.

The ships, which can each carry up to 25 armoured personnel carriers, were deployed three days ago but it remains unclear if they are heading for Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's latest intelligence assessment yesterday warned Russia had massed more than 127,000 troops along the border, together with a sea and air component that marked a 'full strength' force.

The assessment, seen by CNN, described the situation as 'difficult' and warned Russian President Vladimir Putin was 'trying to split and weaken the European Union and NATO' while also 'limiting the capabilities of the United States... to ensure security on the European continent'.

The deployment of Russian troops to Belarus was cited in the report which said Belarus 'should be considered as a full-fledged theater of operations that Russia can use to expand aggression against Ukraine.'

The assessment said Moscow had deployed troops to the border on a 'permanent' basis and said the movement of 'stockpiles of ammunition, field hospitals and security services' to the hinterlands confirmed 'the preparation for offensive operations'.

It said Russia had deployed 36 Iskander launchers, weapons capable of hitting targets up to 700km away, near Ukraine and said the medium-range missiles that could be used to 'destroy vital objects'.

The assessment put the number of rebels within Ukraine who are loyal to Moscow at 35,000 and estimated Russia has a further 3,000 military personnel within Kiev's territory.

Russian deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin confirmed that the mission includes the relocation of two S-400 mobile surface to air missile battalions, a Pantsir-S battalion and 12 Su-35 fighters for the 'surprise' inspection and drills.

And in another twist yesterday Moscow announced the 'successful' completion of tests on its Kinzhal - or Dagger - hypersonic missiles, which can carry nuclear or conventional weapons with a range of 1,250 miles, in the Arctic, though the weapons had been deployed with Russian forces ahead of the trials.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's latest intelligence assessment yesterday warned Russia had massed more than 127,000 troops along the border, together with a sea and air component that marked a 'full strength' force (Pictured: A convoy of Russian armoured vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea, Tuesday, January 18, 2022)

Six Russian landing ships (pictured, landing ship Minsk near the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark en route to the North Sea) have sailed past Britain sparking speculation they are bound for an impending 'full-scale invasion' of Ukraine

Northern Fleet warships Olenegorsky Gornyak Pyotr Morgunov, (pictured) and Georgii Pobedonosets passed through the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark on Monday, possibly en route to Ukraine
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Progressive Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was arrested near the Capitol on Thursday while participating in a voting rights protest.

It comes after his fellow Squad members attacked their Democratic Senate counterparts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for siding with 50 Republicans to uphold the filibuster even as the rule stopped voting rights legislation they supported from passing.

'Today, Congressman Jamaal Bowman joined a voting rights non-violent direct action at the North Barricade of the US Capitol Building and was arrested by the US Capitol Police,' Bowman spokesman Marcus Frias told multiple outlets.

'We will provide more information and updates as we gather them.'

Frias said the outspoken progressive Squad member was one of at least 20 others' arrested, 'including faith leaders and youth who have been hunger striking for our democracy.'

Capitol Police officers made a total of 28 arrests as left-wing activists demonstrated for federal voter protections, the law enforcement agency wrote on Twitter today. The statement did not say whether Bowman was among that number.

By the time they announced the arrests around noon, Capitol Police said they had given demonstrators 'three warnings.'

An activist group led by college students called Un-PAC announced earlier this month it would be staging a hunger strike in Washington, DC in a bid to put pressure on Congress to pass voting legislation, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, by Martin Luther King Jr. Day this past Monday.

Bowman (far right) is being restrained by a police officer during a demonstration outside the US Capitol

Bowman was participating in a protest in favor of federal voting legislation, after Democrats failed to pass it on Wednesday evening

Bowman's spokesman said he was arrested with roughly 20 other people

The Capitol Police put out a statement that they had arrested 28 people demonstrating outside the Captiol. They didn't say whether Bowman was among that number

BREAKING: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) was arrested Thursday alongside at least 20 others during a voting rights protest, for blocking one side of the North Barricade of the U.S. Capitol building. pic.twitter.com/sF7hcLkN1a  The Hill (@thehill) January 20, 2022

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., hinted at racism on Wednesday night in Manchin and Sinema's decision to keep the rule requiring 60 votes in the Senate to pass most legislation.

'The legacy of Jim Crow is alive and well in 2022,' she said. 'That's all I have to say right now about Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Senate Republicans.'

The voting rights package failed to pass Wednesday night with 50 Democrats voting for it and 50 Republicans voting against it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer - who knew the legislation would fail but forced a vote anyways - then put up a vote on a rules change that would have instituted a 'talking filibuster' on the package, allowing a simple majority vote to move it forward after senators stood at their desks and exhausted the debate.

That vote failed too, as expected, with Manchin and Sinema siding with Republicans to uphold the 60-vote hurdle to most legislation.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said that Manchin, Sinema and Republicans believe 'democracy is not for all of us.'

Squad members attacked their Democratic Senate counterparts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for siding with 50 Republicans to uphold the filibuster even as the rule stopped voting rights legislation they supported from passing

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., said that Manchin, Sinema and Republicans believe 'democracy is not for all of us'

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., even hinted at racism in their decision to keep the rule requiring 60 votes in the Senate to pass most legislation

'Even as it was expected, the vote last night was still painful. It showed us that some still believe that democracy is not for all of us,' she wrote on Twitter after the vote.

'Still remembering the images of the white mob violently banging on windows at our convention center shouting to stop the vote count. This Senate vote enables this attack on our democracy. They don't want our votes to count or make a democracy accessible to all of us, just them,' she wrote in a subsequent tweet.

'Just days after MLK Day, 52 Senators chose the Jim Crow filibuster over democracy and our sacred right to vote. What a damning commentary on the state of our union. The people won't forget and this fight is not over,' said Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

The package combined two separate legislative items that were already passed by the House  the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bills would make Election Day a holiday, adjust the redistricting process and crack down on money in politics.

Despite a day of piercing debate and speeches that often carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed by opponents of civil rights legislation, Democrats could not persuade holdout senators Sinema and Manchin to change the Senate procedures on this one bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.

Manchin forcefully defended his opposition to changing the filibuster rule, even though he supports the voting rights legislation itself. His vote would be needed to overturn the rule.

What's in the John Lewis Act and the Freedom to Vote Act The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act together would make Election Day a holiday, expand access to mail-in voting and strengthen U.S. Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. Republicans oppose federal laws on voting, arguing elections should be run on a state level. Democrats are pushing the bills to combat a slew of new state laws in GOP-controlled states that they claim hurt voting rights access, particularly among people of color, and would help nullify election results. The two pieces of legislation were combined into a single bill. The House passed the single bill on Thursday and sent it to the Senate for consideration. Because the bill will be categorized as a 'message between the houses,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer can skip the 60-vote threshold needed to start debate, allowing him to bypass Republicans' vow to filibuster. That will allow debate to begin on the legislation. However, it doesn't guarantee the legislation will get passed. When debate on the bill concludes, Schumer will still need 60 votes to file cloture to end debate on the bill - that means he needs 10 GOP senators on board. Republicans can use their filibuster power then to stop the legislation its tracks. Here is what is in the legislation: The Freedom to Vote Act is a slimmed down version of the House-passed For the People Act, a massive Democratic bill on on voting rights, campaign finance, and federal ethics. After Senate Republicans filibustered the For the People Act in the Senate in June, a group of Democratic senators, including Joe Manchin, drafted the Freedom To Vote Act. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has called the act an attempt by Democratic lawmakers 'to have the federal government take over how elections are conducted all over America.' The legislation would require: Making Election Day as a federal holiday.

Creating a national standard on elections: A set of standards for federal elections to ensure that voters have similar access to the ballot box across the country.

Online, automatic, and same-day voter registration.

A minimum of 15 days of early voting, including during at least two weekends.

No-excuse mail voting with ample access to ballot drop boxes and online ballot tracking, in addition to streamlined election mail delivery by the US Postal Service.

States would need to accept a wide range of forms of non-photographic identification in places where ID is required to vote.

Counting eligible votes on provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct.

Restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated people convicted of felonies.

Imposes stricter regulations on voter list maintenance that make it harder for states to remove eligible voters from the rolls.

More protections and resources to serve voters with disabilities and overseas/military voters.

Greater federal protections and oversight for voting in US territories.

Improving voter registration resources and outreach, in addition to reauthorizing and strengthening the US Election Assistance Commission. It would also: Prohibit partisan gerrymandering by requiring states to use certain criteria when drawing new congressional districts.

Require states to use voter-verifiable paper ballots and conduct post-election audits.

Give cybersecurity grants to states and directs the EAC to strengthen cybersecurity standards for voting equipment.

Prohibit local election officials from being fired or removed without cause.

Make interfering with voter registration a federal crime, and imposes stricter penalties against harassment, threats, and intimidation of election workers.

Restate chain of custody requirements protecting the integrity of ballots and election materials, a provision meant to combat unofficial partisan 'audits.' Finally, on campaign finance reform: It includes provisions from the DISCLOSE Act, which targets so-called dark money in elections, and the HONEST Ads Act, which seeks to enhance transparency in campaign advertising.

Creates a federal obligation for campaigns to report instances of foreign interference.

Stricter enforcement of illegal coordination between single-candidate PACs and campaigns.

Stronger enforcement of campaign finance regulations by the Federal Election Commission. The John Lewis bill would restore key provisions of the Voting Rights of 1965 that have been struck down or weakened by the Supreme Court, and change the way federal courts handle election cases. Senate Republicans struck down the act in November. All GOP senators voted against it except Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But her support still left Democrats short the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. McConnell called the bill a 'trojan horse.' 'This is a Trojan horse to carry a lot of other provisions that the Democrats had wanted to enact through the earlier voting rights bill that we've already considered and rejected,' he said. 'Clearly they want to change the subject away from how the American people feel about this administration, about the reckless tax and spending bill onto a nonexistent problem with this marching out of the John Lewis voting rights act,' he said. It creates a new formula to restore the federal preclearance requirement mandating states with histories of discrimination to seek permission from the federal government before enacting new voting rules or redistricting plan. The Supreme Court struck down the old formula.

Reverses the Supreme Court's new 'guideposts' and standards from the Brnovich decision that make it harder for plaintiffs to prove racial discrimination under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Enshrines judicial precedent and legislative history to strengthen efforts to draw majority-minority districts under the parameters of the Voting Rights Act.

Takes aim at the federal courts by requiring judges to explain their reasoning in emergency rulings they take up on the so-called shadow docket, and tries to limit judges' from relying solely on the proximity to the election in deciding emergency cases on election rules, known as the Purcell principle.

Election Worker and Polling Place Protection Act, which provides greater federal protections for election workers against harassment and intimidation.

Includes the Native American Voting Rights Act, a bill that strengthens voting rights and voter protections for voters in Indian Country. Advertisement

'Let this change happen in this way and the Senate will be a body without rules,' Manchin said. 'We don't have to change the rules to make our case to the American people for voting rights.'

Even President Biden himself suggested future elections could be 'illegitimate' without the package ahead of the Senate vote.

During the press conference Wednesday afternoon, Biden was asked if the midterm elections would be 'legitimate' and he said that 'it all depends,' likely referencing whether the voting rights package passed later that evening, which it did not.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, the House Majority Whip and No. 3 Democrat in Congress, said Thursday morning he is 'absolutely concerned' future election results could be illegitimate after the John Lewis Voting Rights Act failed to pass the Senate Wednesday night.

The Maryland congressman doubled down on a suggestion President Biden made during his press conference Wednesday that elicited shock across the media world and forced his press shop to clean up his remarks.

'Do you agree with what [Biden] said in that press conference, are you concerned that without these voting rights bills the election results won't be legitimate?' CNN's Kasie Hunt asked Clyburn Thursday morning.

'I am absolutely concerned about that,' he replied.

Clyburn said that 9 years ago the Supreme Court 'took direct aim' at the 1965 Voting Rights Act in Shelby v. Holder by eliminating the pre-clearance requirement, where states had to submit their new voting bills to the Department of Justice and prove they were not discriminatory if they were determined to have a history of discriminatory laws.

Republicans, meanwhile, seemed to grow tired of being branded as 'racists' for opposing the bill.

'Depending on which side you're on in this body today on this [voting rights] issue, you're either a racist or a hypocrite. Really? Really, is that where we are?' Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked on the Senate floor.

The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said at one point, 'I am not a racist.'

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell derided the 'fake hysteria' from Democrats over the states' new voting laws and called the pending bill a federal takeover of election systems. He said doing away with filibuster rules would 'break the Senate.'

He noted that 'African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.'

'A recent survey, 94 percent of Americans thought it was easier to vote,' he continued. 'This is not a problem. Turnout is up, biggest turnout since 1900. It's simply  they're being sold a bill of goods.'

McConnell's phrasing was poorly received by Democrats, who insisted that he meant to 'other' black people as non-American.

He presumably meant that African Americans vote at the same rates as Americans overall, which is true.

In 2008 and 2021, the years Barack Obama was running for president, black turnout actually exceeded turnout for all Americans. In 2016 and 2020, black turnout was consistent with the U.S. average.

'Please take 19 seconds to watch this video to understand why we have to fight for voting rights for ALL Americans, and why we have to stop the xenophobia, bigotry, racism, and partisanship that assumes only some people are American,' Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., wrote on Twitter, quoting the clip of McConnell's remarks.

'This is modern-day racism in full view. Being American isn't synonymous with being white. #MitchPlease,' wrote Rep. Donald McEachin, D.-Va.

'THIS IS DISGUSTING: To defend his stance against voting rights, Mitch McConnell is citing 'statistics' that 'African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.' African-American voters ARE AMERICANS & to suggest otherwise is about as racist as it gets!' said Rep. Diana DeGettem D-Colo.

McConnell told DailyMail.com his comment were consistent with previous Americans that voter turnout was high in the 2020 election for all Americans.

'I have consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African-Americans.'

Sen. Mitt Romney accused Democrats of going into 'deep hysteria.'

'Now I'd note that political overstatement and hyperbole may be relatively common and they are often excused, but the president and some of my Democratic colleagues have ventured deep into hysteria,' Romney said in an evening speech on the Senate floor.

'Their cataclysmic predictions for failing to support their entirely partisan election reform  worked out entirely by themselves without any input whatsoever from any single person on my side of the aisle  are far beyond the pale.'

On Sunday, Romney said he is willing to work with Democrats on voting rights but 'I never got a call on that from the White House.'
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The SNP is pressing on with a survey which asks schoolchildren 'intrusive' personal questions including whether they have had underage sex, despite an MP admitting it was 'regrettable' that a third of councils are boycotting it.

The Scottish Government has faced a major backlash over its Health and Wellbeing Census for asking pupils aged as young as 14 intimate questions on their sexual activity, including whether they have had anal or oral sex.

Of 32 local authorities in Scotland, ten have refused to take part including Scottish National Party-led councils Falkirk and West Dunbartonshire, while 11 others have indicated they will review the content.

SNP MP Hannah Bardell accepted there was now a danger that the Government would only get a partial view of child behaviour, but insisted the census will not be pulled and said: 'These were questions I was asked.'

It comes as the Fair Play For Women campaign group won the right to legally challenge plans to let people choose their gender in the census after SNP ministers allowed participants to self-identify as male or female.

Ms Bardell, the SNP's consular affairs spokesman and former digital and culture spokesman, was asked on the BBC's Politics Live this week whether the survey would be pulled given the mounting backlash.

But she replied: 'No. The First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) has been very clear that we can't stick your head in the sand. Young people don't have to answer these questions if they don't want to. I think it is regrettable that a number of councils have pulled this. These were questions that I was asked as a teenager when I was at school.

Scottish National Party MP Hannah Bardell (pictured) accepted there was now a danger that the Government would only get a partial view of child behaviour, but insisted the census will not be pulled and said: 'These were questions I was asked'

The Scottish Government's Health and Wellbeing Census asks pupils as young as 14 intimate questions on their sexual activity

More questions contained in the Scottish Government's Health and Wellbeing Census which has prompted a major backlash

Of 32 local authorities in Scotland, ten have refused to take part in the survey including Scottish National Party-led councils

The survey asks pupils intimate questions on their sexual activity and whether they used a condom

The final question in the section on sex asks pupils how easy they find it to say 'no' to sexual experiences they do not want

'You know, I didn't face anything like the challenges that young people face now in terms of the levels of online pornography, online harms. How can we make good policy and how can we help support young people to learn about relationships that are so important.

'The levels of misogyny, and violence against women at the moment is an epidemic and part of that is because we had such poor sex and relationships education.

Group will challenge plans to let people choose gender in census By Stuart MacDonald for the Scottish Daily Mail Dr Nicola Williams, director of Fair Play For Women A campaign group has won the right to legally challenge plans to let people choose their gender in this year's Scottish census. The Fair Play For Women organisation has been granted a court hearing after SNP ministers allowed participants to self-identify as male or female. Guidance says people can enter a different sex to the one registered on their birth certificate, even if they have not gone through the legal process to obtain a gender recognition certificate. Transgender rights activists have said the rules will have no impact on the quality of data and people should be able to answer in a way that reflects their daily life. However, feminist campaigners say the guidelines are unlawful because UK-wide legislation stipulates that the census must include a question on sex, and government ministers or departments do not have the power to unilaterally alter what this means. Fair Play For Women lodged a petition for judicial review of the guidance in the census, due to take place in March. The Court of Session has now ruled the review can proceed, and a one-day hearing has been set for February 2. The campaign group won a court challenge south of the Border last March, when a judge ordered that similar guidance be withdrawn, days before the census in England and Wales. Dr Nicola Williams, director of Fair Play For Women, said: 'There are huge differences between males and females in the UK, in critical areas such as crime statistics. That's why accurate recording of sex matters. The High Court in England backed our position and we are confident that the Scottish court will see it the same way. We will not stand by as the meaning of sex is erased.' The National Records of Scotland, which is running the census, said it would be 'inappropriate to comment further'. Advertisement

'I know what mine was like, it was absolutely appalling pre-devolution and we have a duty and a moral duty to young people to make sure we get it right for them. And we will only be able to do that if we have the best possible data.'

And former teacher Miriam Cates, the Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, told the programme that she had 'serious concerns' around the census.

She added: 'I think to be asking children intimate and intrusive questions from a position of authority and implying to them that they should answer these honestly and you know, even to strangers potentially even though it is through a form and they are identifiable, raises some serious red flags.'

Of 32 local authorities in Scotland, ten have refused to take part and 11 are expected to review the content.

Only eight councils have committed to sending out the survey - including Glasgow City, Perth and Kinross, North Ayrshire, Stirling, Angus, Clackmannanshire, South Ayrshire and Dundee.

The City of Edinburgh Council is carrying out the census in a censored form, excluding questions 'that we felt would present difficulties'.

Others boycotting the quiz are East Lothian, Midlothian, Aberdeenshire, North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Aberdeen, Highland, and Argyll and Bute.

The 11 councils which have indicated a review of content are East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, South Lanarkshire, Shetland, Fife, Inverclyde, Moray, Scottish Borders, Orkney, Renfrewshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

Five of the eight which will issue the survey are SNP-led - those being Glasgow, Stirling, South Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire and Dundee.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the census is confidential and 'ensures that any results of the research or resulting statistics will not be made available in form which identifies individual children and young people'.

One of the survey questions - aimed at pupils in S4 and S6 - asks: 'People have varying degrees of sexual experience. How much, if any, sexual experience have you had?'

Multiple choice answers include 'oral sex' and 'vaginal or anal sex'.

It also asks how many people they have had sexual intercourse with in the past 12 months.

The census, the full details of which are not available to parents, is to be given to children in years P5, P6 and P7, but the younger groups' questions are targeted at matters such as physical activity, mental health and sleep patterns.

Ministers have dismissed calls by the Children and Young People's Commissioner Bruce Adamson to pause the survey to ensure a 'rights compliant process' following concerns over privacy and whether informed consent is available.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted the census is confidential and 'ensures that any results of the research or resulting statistics will not be made available in form which identifies individual children and young people'

The Information Commissioner's Office, meanwhile, is looking into concerns that the census is not strictly confidential.

What is the position of the 32 local authorities in Scotland on the census? REFUSING TO TAKE PART Falkirk

West Dunbartonshire

East Lothian

Midlothian

Aberdeenshire

North Lanarkshire

West Lothian

Aberdeen

Highland

Argyll and Bute REVIEWING THE CONTENT East Ayrshire

East Dunbartonshire

South Lanarkshire

Shetland

Fife

Inverclyde

Moray

Scottish Borders

Orkney

Renfrewshire

Dumfries and Galloway SAYS MAJOR CHANGES ARE NEEDED Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

East Renfrewshire SENDING OUT THE SURVEY Glasgow City

Perth and Kinross

Stirling

North Ayrshire

Angus

South Ayrshire

Clackmannanshire

Dundee SENDING OUT SURVEY IN CENSORED FORM City of Edinburgh Council Advertisement

After a review, Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire councils have said they will not be taking on the survey, while Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and East Renfrewshire have said major changes would need to be made.

Argyll and Bute Council has decided not to take part after hearing concerns 'about the types of questions being asked'.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar after a review has said it will 'not be distributing questions relating to sexual experience to any pupils in the Western Isles'.

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: 'We are now finalising a version of this questionnaire to be issued in the coming months.

'Changes are being made to the sexual health section to ensure anonymity and it will also be separated from the main section to allow pupils to choose whether to complete this part of the questionnaire.

'We will share the questionnaire with parents/carers in advance of anything being issued to pupils.'

Two councils, Dumfries and Galloway and Renfrewshire, which had previously stated they were to distribute the survey, have indicated a change of thinking.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: 'We have been following national and local responses to the national health and wellbeing survey, including the views of the children's commissioner.

'We decided to temporarily pause the survey while we consider these views and those of our school communities.'

A Dumfries and Galloway Council spokesman indicated a shift after saying schools 'plan' to offer young people the opportunity to respond to the survey from next month.

But the spokesman added: 'To assure young people and parents, our youth council have been asked to consider whether they wish to give us any additional advice around how best we approach this work to identify issues children and young people are concerned about and to tailor our advice and support services accordingly.'

A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Health and wellbeing surveys like this one are not new and play a crucial role in ensuring children and young people have access to the help, advice and services they need.

'Parents/carers and children and young people are informed of how their data will be used in advance of any taking part in the census and they can decide to opt out if they wish.

'If children and young people do take part, they can skip any question they don't wish to answer or state that they would 'prefer not to say'. The questions for each stage are age appropriate.

'For example, questions on alcohol and smoking are asked of children and young people in S2 and above, and questions on relationships and sexual health are asked of young people in S4 and above.

'We fully support the administration of this important, voluntary, census.'
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A bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt was officially removed early Thursday morning from outside of New York City's American Museum of Natural History after 80 years and now will be moved to a new library in North Dakota dedicated to the 26th president.

Around midnight, the remainder of the controversial monument - Roosevelt's horse, alongside a Native American and African man on either side - was taken away.

Throughout the week, workers were seen dismantling the statue piece by piece with the monument hidden by a yellow tarp. The only piece that remained Thursday was the concrete pedestal, surrounded by scaffolding, where the statue once stood.

The 'Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt' was commissioned by the Board of Trustees of the New York State Roosevelt Memorial in 1925 and then unveiled to the public in 1940 in front of the Museum.

A vote in June 2021 by the New York City Public Design Commission deemed it a representation of colonialism and racism, the museum said on its website. Its new home will be the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, where it will remain on long-term loan. The duration of the loan is unclear.

The museum on its website also said it was proud of its long association with the Roosevelt family, adding: 'At the same time, the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing.'

The remaining part of the Theodore Roosevelt statue was removed from the front of the American Museum of Natural History on Thursday morning around midnight

Workers are seen securing the piece of the statue featuring Roosevelt's horse and a Native American and African man standing on either side of it

The structure was lifted to be transported onto a truck and taken to its new home at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota

The statue was voted to be removed in June by the New York City Public Design Commission as they claimed it represented colonialism and racism

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is set to open in 2026, announced its agreement with the City of New York for a long-term loan two weeks ago.

The statue has long been under fire for its depiction of Roosevelt on horseback alongside a black man and Native American. Critics said it signifies a racial hierarchy with Roosevelt standing higher than the other two.

The Theodore Roosevelt statue could be seen for last time early Wednesday morning before it was removed from the steps outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City

Workers remove the statue of Theodore Roosevelt, which has stood outside the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History since 1940, under cover of darkness

Pictured: the statue of Theodore Roosevelt can be seen draped in a tarp as workers secure the monument for removal early Wednesday morning

Objections to the statue grew more forceful in recent years, especially after the murder of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020. The death sparked a racial reckoning and a wave of protests across the US.

In early December, two weeks after the museum transfer was announced, the museum covered the statue under tarp and scaffolding.

While opposition to the statue has reached an all-time high, others are upset by the statue's removal.

Roosevelt, who was president from 1901 to 1909, was known for his exuberant and daring manner. He implemented antitrust and conservationist reforms, though critics said he took an interventionist approach to foreign policy, including projecting U.S. naval power around the world.

The piece was sculpted by James Earl Fraser and intended to 'celebrate Theodore Roosevelt as a devoted naturalist and author of works on natural history,' the museum says on its website, noting that Roosevelt's father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., was one of the museum's founders.

The 'Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt,' commissioned in 1925 and unveiled to the public in 1940, depicts Roosevelt on a horse, with a Native American man and an African man on foot at his side

The statue has welcomed visitors to the popular American Museum of Natural History for eight decades

People walk past the exterior of the American Museum of Natural History on Wednesday, hours after the equestrian statue of Theodore Roosevelt was removed

'Rather than burying a troubling work of art, we ought to learn from it,' Theodore Roosevelt V, a descendant of the late president said. 'It is fitting that the statue is being relocated to a place where its composition can be re-contextualized to facilitate difficult, complex, and inclusive discussions.'

In 2019, the museum ran an exhibit about the statue and how it was perceived by the public. The 'Addressing the Statue' exhibition opened up a conversation with museum attendees about the place of the statue in today's world.

The museum is on city-owned property and then-Mayor Bill de Blasio supported its removal.

'The American Museum of Natural History has asked to remove the Theodore Roosevelt statue because it explicitly depicts black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior,' de Blasio said at the time.

'The City supports the Museums request. It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue.'

The $2 million removal, pictured as workers secure a portion of the statue, seen here draped in a yellow tarp, before loading it on to a nearby truck

Section of the Theodore Roosevelt statue can be seen through a tarp after being removed in New York City

Large crane is brought in to hoist away the controversial statue of Teddy Roosevelt, who was the 26th US president

Part of a statue of Theodore Roosevelt is removed from outside the American Museum of Natural History

The remaining portions of the statue, including that of the Native American and African man, were taken away early Thursday morning.

The statue was sculpted by James Earl Fraser and intended to 'celebrate Theodore Roosevelt as a devoted naturalist and author of works on natural history.' In recent years, it has been criticized by some as a symbol of colonialism and racism. It will now be housed at Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, where it will remain on long-term loan

A wall, scaffolding and white tarp surround pedestal that held controversial equestrian statue of President Theodore Roosevelt as visitors leave the American Museum of Natural History on Wednesday
Talk about hitting a bad chord!

A Canadian guitar shop is singing the blues after one of its most expensive guitars is stolen right under its nose.

The York Regional Police are looking for two suspects who stole a Gibson 60th Anniversary '59 Les Paul Standard electric guitar - which retails for around $8,000 - from Cosmo Music store off Leslie Road on December 30.

Security footage shows a man, believed to be in his 20s and wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs hat, strumming a guitar on a stool in the store before shoving an instrument down his baggy, gray sweatpants in front of three other people.

Sticking the neck down first, he can be seen on video putting the neck of the guitar down his pants and the body of the instrument under his black coat before calmly picking up a nearby acoustic guitar to fiddle with.

He then fled the store with another man, who had his hair tied up and was wearing a black mask and sunglasses, who drove away, authorities said.

York Police in Ontario are searching for two men who allegedly stole a $8,000 guitar from Cosmo Music store office Leslie Road in Richmond Hill. One of the men (pictured) shoved the Gibson 60th Anniversary '59 Les Paul Standard electric guitar down his baggy, gray sweatpants

He can be seen in video footage putting the neck of the instrument down his pants in front of three other people before concealing the body of the guitar under his coat

He then drove off with another man (pictured) wearing a black mask and sunglasses

Police are now asking for the public's help in identifying the thieves and the investigation is ongoing.

Gibson Les Paul guitars are notoriously high quality and expensive. The '59 Les Paul is one of the most sought-after guitars and the 60th Anniversary edition - which is nearly a replica of the original - was released in 2019.

The Les Paul was a revolutionary instrument for its namesake owner and future rock n' roll music. Paul said he wanted a 'guitar that sustained and that reproduced the sound of the strings with nothing added.'

'No distortion, no change in the response from what the string was doing,' Paul told Guitar.com's Tony Bacon. 'I wanted the string to do its thing. I wanted to make sure it just gave you the string as the string was excited: you plucked the string, and that's what you got.'

The pair stole the expensive instrument from Cosmo Music (pictured) on December 30

The Gibson 60th Anniversary '59 Les Paul Guitar

The Les Paul guitars are considered 'Holy Grails' by famous rock n' rollers and the 60th Anniversary edition (pictured) is nearly a complete replica of the '59 edition

Les Paul (pictured) approached Gibson about making the guitar in 1941 and said they 'laughed at the idea' and called him a 'kid with a broomstick.' Paul said he wanted a guitar that let 'the string to do its thing' and had 'no distortion,' alas the solidbody was born

Paul approached Gibson in 1941 and said they 'laughed at the idea' and called him a 'kid with a broomstick.'

What he dubbed the 'log' would eventually become known as the 'solidbody' guitar.

Paul's guitar model would go on to be used by famous musicians, including Jimmy Page, Slash, Billy Gibbons and more.

It would become a bestseller, competing with Fender's Telecaster and Broadcaster guitars, and it redefined rock n' roll.

The '59 model was considered the 'Holy Grail,' according to Guitars.com and the 60th anniversary edition is almost the exact same model as the original with a few modern updates.

Les Paul guitars can run up from a few hundred to several thousand dollars in price.
Black-Caribbean people are the least likely ethnic group to have had a Covid booster vaccine in England, official data shows.

Just a third of adults in the group (33.9 per cent) had received a third dose by New Year's Eve, according to the Office for National Statistics.

White people were the most likely, with two-thirds (68.4 per cent) triple-jabbed by the same date.

Meanwhile, Muslims had the lowest rate of any religious group (40 per cent) and Jewish people had the highest (70.5 per cent).

Experts fear low uptake of the jabs in black and ethnic minority groups will continue to see those communities disproportionately affected by the virus.

The data also looked at the vaccine status of people aged 40 to 65 based on their occupation. It showed health professionals in this age group had the highest uptake of any job (83.3 per cent).

All NHS staff in England are required to get their first dose by February 3 or they will be sacked or redeployed as part of the controversial move. A booster will not be required.

Health and social care workers, which includes care home staff, were 11th in terms of most jabbed occupations, with 73.9 per cent aged 40-65 triple-jabbed.

This was despite the 'no jab, no job' rule coming into force in the sector in November for all frontline health and social care workers.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show just a third of black-Caribbean adults had received a third Covid vaccine dose by New Year's Eve, the latest date data is available for. For comparison, white Brits had the highest proportion boosted, with 68.4 per cent triple-jabbed by the same date  more than double the proportion

Muslims had the lowest rate of any religious group (40 per cent) and Jews had the highest (70.5 per cent)

The data also showed health professionals had the highest uptake of any job (80.3 per cent). All NHS staff in England are required to get their first dose by February 3 or risk losing their jobs

Experts fear low uptake of the jabs in black and ethnic minority groups will continue to see those communities disproportionately affected by the virus. Pictured: Masud Ahmad, 79, receives his first vaccine dose in Al Abbas Mosque, Birmingham, last January

Covid outbreaks receded in ALL of England's 150 local authorities last week, official figures show Covid outbreaks fell in all of England's 150 local authorities last week, according to official data which illustrate how the Omicron wave is fizzling out. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) bosses confirmed infection rates fell by at least 12 per cent in every council area of the country during the week up to January 16. The sharpest drop off was in Wigan, which saw its case rate fall 59 per cent from 2,121 positive tests per 100,000 people in the previous seven-day spell to 867 per 100,000. Meanwhile, King's College London scientists estimated 144,527 people were catching the virus on any given day in Britain in the week to January 17, down a fifth on the previous week. Outbreaks are shrinking in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as every region of England, while cases are falling in every age group except under-18s because of the 'back to school' effect, the survey found. Both findings are in line with the Office for National Statistics' weekly infection survey, which also found Covid cases plunged in England by a fifth last week. Professor Tim Spector, who leads the symptom study, heralded the encouraging trend but urged the nation to be 'sensible' because cases remained high. Advertisement

Overall, 36.7million third doses have now been dished out across the UK, with 80 per cent of eligible people fully protected against the virus.

Britain's rapid rollout - which has reached more people than any other country in Europe - has been credited as one of the main causes of its low hospital and death numbers.

The ONS data shows the second lowest uptake among ethnic groups was in Pakistanis, with only 37.8 per cent of the group getting a booster.

They were followed by black African Brits (37.9 per cent) and people of Bangladeshi origin (46.4 per cent).

Indian Brits had the second highest uptake of any group, with 65.3 per cent receiving their third jab by the end of the year.

Hindus had the second highest uptake numbers (70 per cent) of religious groups, followed by Christians (66.9 per cent), atheists (65 per cent) and Sikhs (62 per cent).

Third vaccination coverage was higher among people whose main language was English (66.6 per cent) than those who did not have English as their main language (45.5 per cent).

Poorer people were more likely to be triple-jabbed than the wealthy.

Seven in 10 (73 per cent) of people living in the least deprived areas in the country have had a booster, compared to 54.3 per cent in the most deprived.

Covid deaths in the second wave were up to five times higher in Bangladeshi Brits than white adults in England, while black Africans were 3.7 times as likely to die in the first wave.

Official breakdowns have not yet been released for ethnic outcomes from the Omicron wave, but experts fear lower booster uptake in some groups could put them at greater risk from the virus  despite the overall lower danger posed by the variant.

Ministers last week announced communities lagging behind in uptake will be targeted with a share of the 22million of funding earmarked for the Community Vaccine Champions scheme.

More than 60 councils including Bradford, Derby and Newham will be supported with bespoke projects to jab hard to reach groups.

Communities minister Kemi Badenoch said: 'In England more than 80 per cent of eligible adults over 18 have had a booster and for over 50s it is 90 per cent.

'This is a great take-up so far, but we need to do more as we know that the unvaccinated are up to eight times more likely to be hospitalised than those who are jabbed.

'By funding Community Vaccine Champions  an army of volunteers who are at the heart of their communities  we can reach those yet to be vaccinated and encourage them to protect themselves and the NHS.'
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian gestures during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, on Wednesday. AP-Yonhap



China on Wednesday condemned plans by Slovenia to upgrade relations with self-governing Taiwan, a move likely to spark diplomatic and economic retaliation against the tiny Central European country.



Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China was "shocked by this and strongly opposed to it," but gave no immediate details on how Beijing would respond.



"It is a dangerous statement made by the Slovenian leader that overtly challenges the one-China principle and supports Taiwan independence," Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing, referring to comments Monday by Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa.



China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and has been ratcheting up diplomatic pressure on the island to force it into political concessions.



"No one should underestimate the strong determination, firm will and strong ability of the Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Zhao said.



Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, and the People's Republic insists it is the sole legal representative of the island despite never having governed it.



Slovenia follows Lithuania's move allowing Taiwan to open a representative office in its capital under the name "Taiwan," rather than "Chinese Taipei" in a break with diplomatic convention.



American and Lithuanian officials say China has blocked imports from the northern European country since the Taiwanese government was allowed to open a trade office there under the name Taiwan.



The U.S. and most other governments, including Lithuania, have diplomatic relations only with Beijing but maintain commercial and informal political ties with Taiwan's democratically elected government. Most governments acquiesce to Chinese pressure by requiring Taiwanese entities to operate under the name Chinese Taipei.



Chinese pressure has reduced the number of Taiwan's formal diplomatic allies to just 14.



Beijing retaliated for Lithuania's move by expelling the Lithuanian ambassador, and Lithuania has since closed its embassy in Beijing.



Taiwan responded by setting up a $1 billion credit program aimed at funding projects by Lithuanian and Taiwanese companies, as well as creating a $200 million investment fund to help the Lithuanian economy.



Both Lithuania and Slovenia are members of the European Union, which has taken an increasingly forceful stance against aggressive political and economic moves by Beijing. Both are also members of NATO and plan to set up their own representative offices in Taiwan, a close U.S. ally.



In his comments, Jansa said ties with Taiwan would not include an exchange of ambassadors but would be at the same level as many of EU nations maintain with the island.



Referring to Lithuania, he said it was "terrifying" how China was attempting to isolate small European nations, saying that would harm Beijing's interests in the long term.



In Taipei, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou on Tuesday praised Jansa as a "friend of Taiwan for many years" who has visited on multiple occasions.



"We would like to make a positive response to the establishment of representative offices, express a high degree of welcome and our sincere thanks," Ou told reporters. (AP)


The people of York should get a say in whether Prince Andrew is stripped of his Duke of York title after he was stripped of his honorary military titles, a local MP has suggested.

Rachael Maskell, 49, the Labour MP for York Central said the case of Andrew showed that there needs to be a debate on how aristocratic titles which 'take their name from a geographical location' are assigned.

She previously said that Andrew's title as Duke of York is 'untenable' after he was stripped of his titles amid a court battle with Virginia Giuffre, who accuses him of having sex with her when she was 17. Andrew denies the allegations.

He stopped using his HRH style and was stripped of his prestigious honorary military roles by the Queen less than a week ago.

Today, during questions for Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, Ms Maskell called for a debate on whether the future of his title as Duke of York should be 'determined' by 'local people'.

She cited the precedent of a 1917 act of Parliament used to strip enemies of the United Kingdom of their British peerages during the First World War.

Rachael Maskell (left), 49, the Labour MP for York Central said the case of Andrew (right) showed that there needs to be a debate on how aristocratic titles which 'take their name from a geographical location' are assigned

During questions for Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, Ms Maskell called for a debate on whether the future of his title as Duke of York should be 'determined' by 'local people'

She said: 'My city of York has developed an interest about how titles are assigned and how they can be removed from people who take the name of a geographical location in their title.

'In 1917, Parliament enacted the Titles Deprivation Act to remove a title for the act of treason.

'Will the Leader make time to debate new legislation that empowers local people to determine the circumstances in which titles are awarded and removed and how that reflects on the geographical location from which a title is taken?'

She added: 'York has a global reputation not just through its rich cultural heritage but for the social values it espouses.'

Commons Leader Mr Rees-Mogg replied that the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act was 'an extremely interesting act of Parliament', adding: 'I understand the successors to the dukes who were deprived could petition to have their titles restored if they so wished.'

But he gave no indication that MPs would be allowed to debate Ms Maskell's proposals, and said: 'As regards the award of territorial designations, that is a matter for the sovereign.'

After Andrew was stripped of his military roles and HRH title, Ms Maskell joined senior York city councillors in calling for the Duke to be no longer associated with the city.

At the time, she said: 'It's untenable for the Duke of York to cling on to his title another day longer; this association with York must end.

'There's a very serious allegation made against this man of privilege and entitlement.

Nearly nine in ten residents in York have demanded that Prince Andrew be stripped of his dukedom as the dramatic fallout from his sex abuse lawsuit rumbles on, a poll suggests

Andrew at York Racecourse to open the new weighing room in May 2015

The prince pictured with his accuser Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell

'I'm working with agencies to tackle sexual violence and misogyny.'

Nearly nine in ten residents in York have demanded that Prince Andrew be stripped of his dukedom as the dramatic fallout from his bombshell sex abuse lawsuit rumbles on, a poll suggested yesterday.

A survey by York's daily newspaper The Press found that 88 per cent of its readers want to see the prince's Duke of York honours taken away from him as the prospect of a court showdown in the US looms.

Grenadier Guards give three cheers as the Queen replaces Prince Andrew as their chief... following rumours officers felt 'uncomfortable' drinking to the Duke's health at regimental dinners The Grenadier Guards greeted the news that Prince Andrew had lost his honorary role as their colonel with 'three cheers' for the Queen. After Buckingham Palace announced the decision to strip the Duke of York of his military affiliations, the regiment's ceremonial commander Roly Walker confirmed the position had 'returned to Her Majesty with immediate effect'. Lieutenant General Walker said in an email sent to all troops: 'I am sure you will offer a personal 'Three Cheers' for the colonel, an appointment she first held in 1942, 80 years to the day on February 24 this year.' Andrew, 61, inherited the role with the Grenadier Guards from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, when he retired from public life in 2017. The post has huge personal significance for the Royal Family. The prince even took riding lessons so he could lead the regiment on horseback for Trooping the Colour on the Queen's official birthday. It was one of the positions that he clung to when he first stepped back from official duties in 2019. But there were repeated reports that officers felt 'uncomfortable' at having to drink to Andrew's health at the end of regimental dinners. Advertisement

York appears to be distancing itself from the so-called 'pariah prince' after the Queen sensationally stripped him of his honorary military roles, royal patronages, and official 'HRH' status last week.

Andrew is facing a lawsuit from a woman who claims she was trafficked to have sex with him by paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. His accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleges she was forced to have sex with the duke on three occasions when she was a minor under US law.

Andrew denies the allegations and will fight the lawsuit as a 'private citizen'. He is not being accused of criminal wrongdoing.

The Duke of York Stakes, one of York Racecourse's most prestigious racing events, revealed it is planning to rename the sprint 'The 1895 Duke of York Stakes' to 'better reflect its long history and the specific Duke of York that it remembers'.

A York Racecourse spokesman told The Press that the Stakes was introduced in 1895 and named after Prince George, the Duke of York at the time  later King George V.

Meanwhile, more than 900 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for Andrew's dukedom to be revoked.

The petition claims that Andrew has 'a lack of morals, lack of humanity and lack of judgement by protracted fraternising with Jeffrey Epstein' and has a 'total lack of caring for others'.

'These are not Yorkshire values. Having him associated with such a proud, fair and straight talking county is contradictory and embarrassing,' it adds.

And pubs across the country are debating whether to rename their Duke of York pubs as Andrew's case continues.

In Marylebone in west London, the manager of The Duke of York Gastropub said there would be a meeting this week to discuss a potential name change.

The manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'We won't decide either way until next week in a meeting amongst the owners. It's a business change of name with the bank, and on credit card machines, so it's not just straightforward, but no decision's been made on that at the moment.'

In a round of interviews this morning, the Armed Forces minister said the associations kept by Andrew were 'horrifically ill-advised'.

Speaking on LBC, James Heappey said Andrew had 'caused enormous challenges for the royal family in a year when we should be celebrating the extraordinary service of Her Majesty the Queen as she reaches her platinum jubilee'.

He said he could not give any further comments which 'might risk being too
The White House on Thursday denied President Joe Biden thinks the 2022 midterm election will be illegitimate - their second clean up from his press conference the previous day.

But the messaging got mixed when a prominent black Democratic lawmaker said he was 'absolutely concerned' this year's election won't be legitimate.

Biden, in his nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, was asked if the 2022 election would be legitimate if Democrats' voting rights package didn't pass in the Senate.

'Im not going to say its going to be legit,' he said in response. 'The increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.'

Critics immediately lashed out, asking how Biden could question the legitimacy of the election after slamming Donald Trump for his false claim he won in the 2020 contest.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took to Twitter Thursday morning to clarify.

'Lets be clear: @POTUS was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election. He was making the opposite point: In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials made sure they could vote and have those votes counted,' she wrote.

'He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. Were fighting to protect it,' she added.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki denied President Joe Biden thinks the 2022 midterm election will be illegitimate

But some Democrats are concerned the 2022 midterm won't be a legitimate election, citing a slew of new voting laws passed in GOP-led states.

'I'm absolutely concerned about that,' Rep. James Clyburn told CNN. He cited concerns that black voters have a history of being disinfranchised and the Supreme Court striking down portions of the Voting Rights Act.

Between January 1 and December 7, 2021, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting, the nonpartisan Brennan Center found. More than 440 bills with provisions that restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states in the 2021 legislative sessions, the center said.

The Democrats' massive federal voting law package would address those Democratic concerns. But that legislation died in the Senate Wednesday night when Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refused to join their fellow Democrats in killing the Republicans' filibuster.

Republicans objected to the legislation, saying elections are state issues and should not be run on the federal level.

It was the second incident the White House had to clear up after Biden took questions from more than 20 reporters on Wednesday. The first involved a major verbal flub on Russia and the Ukraine.

Republicans and Democrats' alike criticized Biden for seeming to indicate he would be okay if Russia made a 'minor incursion' of the Ukraine.

The White House quickly put out a statement on Wednesday night clarifying the U.S. would accept no military action by Russia. And Biden himself clarified his comments on Thursday morning, saying 'if any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.'

Prominent Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn said he is concerned that the 2022 midterm election will be illegitimate, particularly after the Senate failed to pass voting rights legislation

President Biden said in his press conference he was concerned the 2022 election will be illegitimate, giving his officials a second mess to clean up from his nearly two-hour event

But Biden left it to his subordinates to clean up his comments on the legitimacy of this November's election - as Republicans called him hypocritical.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who heavily criticized Donald Trump for falsely claiming he lost the 2020 election, also slammed Biden's remarks

'It's the same path that Donald Trump went down, which is attempting to delegitimize an election*, which in my opinion, is a unfortunate and potentially dangerous course to take for the leader of democracy,' Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday night.

Psaki bluntly said Biden was not calling 2022 'illegitimate.'

'He is not predicting that the 2022 elections would be illegitimate,' she said on Fox News on Thursday.

The issue also came up in her daily press briefing on Thursday. She said what Biden was concerned about was a repeat of efforts on behalf of Trump supporters to try and overturn election results.

'The point he was making is that, as recently as 2020, as we know, the former president was trying to work with local officials to overturn the vote count and not have ballots counted,' Psaki said.

Vice President Kamala Harris was also grilled about Biden's comments in a series of interviews she did on the morning news shows to mark her and Biden's one-year in the White House.

'Is [Biden] really concerned that we may not have fair and free elections?' NBC's Today host Savannah Guthrie asked her.

'The president has been consistent on this issue,' Harris said. 'And the issue is that there are two bills  the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act  that have been the solution that has been offered to address the fact that around our country, states have put in place laws that are purposely making it more difficult for the American people to vote,' Harris explained.

She said the laws failing would be felt by 55 million Americans from all political parties and of all socioeconomic persuasions.

Guthrie and Harris then got into a cross-talk match where the vice president asked to be able to finish her statement before the host was able to push her on the matter.

'The specific question, if you don't mind  does he think, now that these bills haven't been passed, that the '22 midterms won't be legitimate or fair or free?' Guthrie pressed.

'Let's not conflate issues,' Harris responded before trying to walk back on suggesting there may be concerns over the fairness of the midterm elections.
The Queen has said she is 'shocked and saddened' by the devastating tsunami which hit Tonga and her 'thoughts and prayers' are with those affected.

In a message to the nation's monarch Tupou VI, the Queen said she understood how 'incredibly difficult' it has been for Tongans after the Hunga-Tonga volcano violently erupted late Saturday, triggering a tsunami of up to 50ft which battered the islands.

The blast severed an underwater internet cable which has cut off communications to most of the nation's islands and the rest of the world, meaning updates have been few and far between.

Most people have not been able to use the internet or make phone calls abroad, though some local phone networks are still working.

Pictures have emerged on social media showing the scale of the devastation in Tonga following the tsunami. The island nation is facing imminent water and food shortages after crops and drinking sources were inundated with salt water and ash from a devastating volcanic explosion which triggered a 50ft tsunami, aid agencies have warned

Images shared on social media show the devastation caused by the the earthquake and tsunami

The Queen has said she is 'shocked and saddened' by the devastating tsunami which hit Tonga and her 'thoughts and prayers' are with those affected

The 95-year-old monarch said: 'I am shocked and saddened by the impact of the volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga.

'My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Tonga, as you work together to recover from the damage caused.

'It must be incredibly difficult for those who are unable to contact friends and family while communications are disrupted, and I hope that they will soon be restored.'

UN humanitarian officials report that about 84,000 people - more than 80 per cent of Tonga's population - have been affected by the volcano's eruption.

Officially, the death toll stands at just three with 'a number' wounded, but Tonga has not yet said how many people are missing.

UN humanitarian officials report that about 84,000 people - more than 80 per cent of Tonga's population - have been affected by the volcano's eruption. Pictured: The damaged area in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, on Thursday

Satellite image shows showed the rapid expansion of a volcanic cloud following an explosive eruption of the volcano

Some have gone to extraordinary lengths to survive the tsunami with a disabled Tongan man swimming for 27 hours across eight miles of ocean when he was swept out to sea.

Lisala Folau, 57 and a retired carpenter, was at home on Atata Island with his son and niece around 6pm Saturday when a 20ft wave carried them miles from shore.

Adrift and alone, he spent the next 27 hours swimming between uninhabited islands and trying in vain to signal passing boats before eventually reaching the mainland, where he was picked up by a passing car.

Lisala, who has problems with both legs that causes him to 'walk slower than a baby', decided not to call for help because he didn't want his son or niece to risk their lives trying to save him. Tragically, they are both still missing.

Speaking to Tongan radio station Broadcom FM about his extraordinary experience, Lisala said he was first warned about the tsunami by his brother.

He said the family rushed outside their house and climbed a tree in order to escape the wave, which washed underneath them.

Thinking the danger had passed, the family climbed down - but the island was then hit by a second wave, which Lisala estimates to be more than 20ft tall, which carried all three of them out to sea.

Stranded miles from shore, Lisala said he could not see his son or niece in the water because it was dark, but he could hear them calling out to him.

After a while his niece's voice stopped, but his son kept calling.

Lisala Folau, 57, a retired carpenter who struggles to use his legs, survived the Tongan tsunami by swimming eight miles in 27 hours to reach safety

Lisala's journey took him between several uninhabited islands off the coast of Tonga's main island, Tongatapu, before he eventually reached safety

Lisala was found by a passing car late Sunday, and has now spoken about his experience with a local radio station (pictured above)

Lisala said he made the difficult decision to ignore the cries and stay quiet, because he didn't want his son or niece to risk their lives trying and save him.

'The truth is no son can abandon his father. But for me, as a father I kept my silence for if I answered him he would try to rescue me,' he said.

'I thought if the worst comes, then it is only me.'

Lisala eventually found a broken tree and decided to cling to it thinking that, if he died, his family at least stood a chance of finding his body.

But, instead of dying, he actually drifted to nearby Toketoke Island - which is uninhabited - where he arrived early on Sunday morning.

Lisala said he rested for a few hours while using a rag to try and signal at two passing boats, but neither of them saw him.

Then, around 10am Sunday, he made the decision to swim four miles to Poloa Island - which is also uninhabited - in order to get closer to the mainland.

The swim took Lisala around eight hours and he arrived on Poloa around 6pm, before swimming more than a mile to Tonga's main island of Tongatapu.

He was eventually found around 9pm in Sopu, on the outskirts of capital city Nukualofa, where he was picked up alive by a passing vehicle.

A view from the Tongan capital of Nuku'olofa out to sea, close to the area where Lisala was adrift for 27 hours

His family was informed, prompting his daughter to pen an emotional Facebook message saying she had cried the whole time he was gone while thanking Jesus for keeping him alive at sea.

But, tragically, Lisala's son and niece have not yet been accounted for.

Tonga has been in a state of chaos ever since the Hunga-Tonga volcano violently erupted late Saturday, triggering a tsunami up to 50ft which battered the islands.

Damage to the main island has been largely limited to its west coast, where dozens of buildings were swept away, but some of the smaller islands have been hard-hit.

Tonga has described the disaster as 'unprecedented' and called for international aid.

New Zealand and Australia have each sent military transport planes carrying water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene supplies and communications equipment.

Deliveries were dropped off without the military personnel coming in contact with people at the airport in Tonga to ensure foreigners do not spread coronavirus.

Naval vessels equipped with water purification devices are also en route, and are due to arrive on Friday.

The first humanitarian flights departed for Tonga early Thursday, carrying much needed aid supplies to the volcano and tsunami-devastated Pacific island nation. Pictured: A helicopter on the deck of HMAS Adelaide en route to Tonga on Wednesday

An Australian C-17A military transport plane filled with aid parcels prepares to take off from an airfield in Amberley bound for Tonga, which has warned it is facing an imminent shortage of water and food

Workers wearing full PPE suits at Tonga's main airport unload aid packages from the back of a New Zealand transport plane

An Australian Globemaster aircraft left Brisbane this morning carrying aid. Australia has provided AUD $1 million for the recovery effort, and two Royal Australian Air Force aircraft will arrive in Tonga today.

The Australian High Commission in Tonga said: 'They are loaded with much-needed humanitarian supplies, as well as telecommunications equipment to help re-establish connectivity between the main island and remote islands.'

HMAS Adelaide will also set sail from Brisbane on Friday with water purification equipment and more humanitarian supplies, the statement said.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister said its air force has also sent a C-130 Hercules from Auckland which will land in Nuku'alofa at about 4 p.m. New Zealand time.

'The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment,' Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement.

The delivery of supplies will be contactless and the aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand, she said. Tonga is COVID-19 free and is concerned that aid personnel may bring the virus.

Aid agencies have warned that Tonga is facing imminent water and food shortages after crops and drinking sources were inundated with salt water and ash from the devastating volcanic explosion which triggered a 50ft tsunami.
A cross-Channel power cable project linked to a Conservative Party donor has been rejected by the Government.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng decided to dismiss Aquind's plans to provide a new electricity link between Portsmouth and Normandy in France.

The proposal was controversial, with a former energy minister having to recuse herself from the process over funding from one of the company's owners.

Alexander Temerko, a British citizen who was born in the Soviet Union, has donated more than 1million to the Tories and is listed as a director of Aquind Limited.

Alexander Temerko (pictured with the PM), a British citizen who was born in the Soviet Union, has donated more than 1million to the Tories and is listed as a director of Aquind Limited

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng decided to dismiss Aquind's plans (pictured) to provide a new electricity link between Portsmouth and Normandy in France

A letter published on the Planning Inspectorate website showed Mr Kwarteng decided to 'refuse development consent' having considered his obligations under the energy National Policy Statement.

Trade minister Penny Mordaunt, the MP for Portsmouth North, celebrated the decision, tweeting 'we did it'.

Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan, a Labour frontbencher, said: 'The Government have finally seen sense and stopped the disastrous Aquind project.

Alexander Temerko is pictured with former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron

'This is a victory for the people of Portsmouth over years of uncertainty and Tory cronyism.'

Berwick-upon-Tweed MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan, now the International Trade Secretary, removed herself from the process in July over funding received by Northumberland Conservatives.

In 2020, Mr Temerko told MPs that Russian-linked businessmen have 'zero' political influence.

His remarks came amid concerns about the influence of Russian-linked oligarchs in the highest echelons of British business and politics.
Nancy Pelosi's new excuse for opposing a ban or limit on lawmaker's stock trading activity is that she always defers to 'trusting our members' and claims it's the Justice Department's responsibility to tackle insider trading.

'I do come down always in favor of trusting our members,' the House Speaker said during her weekly briefing on Thursday.

'Now if the impression that is given by some that somebody's doing insider trading  that's a Justice Department issue,' she continued. 'And that has no place in any of this.'

'But to give a blanket attitude of we can't do this and we can't do that because we can't be trusted. I just don't buy into that. But if members want to do that, I'm OK with that.'

Pelosi has come under immense fire for last month opposing regulating lawmakers' stock activity, especially in light of her husband Paul Pelosi, 81, purchasing and trading millions in stocks just days later.

The Democratic House leader claimed Thursday that her opposition is because she errs on the side of trusting members of Congress  specifically those within her Democratic caucus.

'Here's the thing  I say to my members on a regular basis when we gather in caucus I've said to them: 'Under this roof  figuratively or actually  is the greatest collection of intellect, integrity and imagination for doing the right thing for the American people.' I have great confidence in the integrity of my members  they are remarkable,' Pelosi said when asked about members of her own party and their various levels of trading activity.

'So when people talk about, 'Well somebody might do this and somebody may do ' well, I trust my members,' she continued.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing on Thursday that the reason she is against limiting stock trading for lawmakers is because: 'I trust my members'

'If, in fact, we should have severe penalties for delay in reporting on stock, then do that,' Pelosi said. 'I've said to the House Administration Committee, review all the bills that are coming in and see which ones  where the support is in our caucus.'

Just as Pelosi pushed back on the idea that lawmakers should not be able to make individual stock trades while in office last month, her husband bought shares in Google's parent company Alphabet, Disney and Salesforce worth millions.

'We're a free market economy,' Pelosi told reporters during a news conference on December 15, 2021. 'They [lawmakers] should be able to participate in that.'

Two days later, Paul Pelosi bought stock in Alphabet worth between $500,001 and $1 million. He also bought shares in Disney worth between $100,001 and $250,000.

Three days after that on Dec. 20, he made two separate purchases in Salesforce - one worth between $100,001 and $250,000 and another between $500,001 and $1 million, and one purchase of Roblox worth between $250,001 and $500,000.

On December 21, he purchased stock in Micron Technology worth between $250,001 and $500,000 and on Dec. 22, there was a purchase of Reoff XX worth $50,001-$100,000.

Over the course of five days, Paul Pelosi purchased stock worth anywhere between $1,750,007 and $3,600,000.

Paul Pelosi has proven himself a prolific stock trader, so much so that social investing app Iris allows users to track their trades and be notified every time he makes a purchase so that they can do the same.

Just days after Pelosi (left) came out against such regulations last month, it was revealed that her husband Paul (right) traded millions of dollars in tech stocks. The Pelosi's pose outside Downing Street in London on September 16, 2021 during a trip there to meet with Boris Johnson

Pelosi's periodic transaction report reveals her family is making millions of dollars while she's in Congress

Some members of Congress are getting ready to propose legislation that would limit stock activity of not only lawmakers, but their spouses and family members.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has signaled he is considering limiting or fully banning lawmakers' from engaging in the markets should Republicans take back a majority in the 2022 midterms.

The push for a ban on trading and holding stocks has escalated in recent months after concerns came up regarding a slew of market activity from lawmakers following an early 2020 briefing on the threat of COVID-19 before the public was privy to that information.

The accusations prompted Justice Department investigations into the financial activity of Senators Dianne Feinstein, James Inhofe and Richard Burr, as well as former Senator Kelly Loeffler. All four probes have since been closed and none of the lawmakers who engaged in stock activity following that briefing have been charged with any wrongdoing.

Currently under the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act) lawmakers and their aides are prohibited from using non-public information for private profit, including trade and holding stock. It also requires them to publicly disclose stock and bond transactions within 45 days.

Otherwise, there are few guardrails in place on Congress' private dollars.

The new proposals would further restrict trading and holding individual stocks, especially as representatives and senators often hear sensitive or confidential information regarding U.S. policy that could impact the markets.

One proposal Republicans are considering, according to McCarthy, include banning lawmakers from holding stock in companies or industries in which their respective committees oversee.

Many lawmakers have already voiced their support of some sort of limit on trading while a member of Congress. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (left) is considering legislation that would limit or ban lawmakers' stock activity if Republicans retake the majority in the 2022 midterms and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff is considering proposing a bill that would ban individual trading of lawmakers and their families during a congressional term

Some lawmakers have pushed for mandatory blind trusts for all members' holdings.

Freshman Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, 34, is also reportedly looking into proposals that would ban members and their families from participating in the stock market for the duration of their congressional term.

A similar bill to Ossoff's was introduced in the Senate in March, the Ban Conflicted Trading Act. However, its trading ban only extends to members of Congress and their staff, excluding Ossoff's limits on spouses and other family members.

Ossoff, the youngest sitting member of the Senate, is likely to face powerful opposition within his own party, especially after Pelosi spoke out against the measure. His bill would also specifically affect her husband's prolific trading activity.
An American fraudster who faked his own death, then fled to Scotland to escape sex charges only to be arrested after almost dying of COVID was briefly declared a fugitive Thursday after he failed to show up to an extradition hearing.

Scottish officials confirmed to DailyMail.com yesterday that Nicholas Alahverdian, 34, failed to appear for an extradition hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff's Court and that a warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was later hours nabbed at a Scottish residence, said the Utah County District Attorney's office, which is seeking him for a rape charge.

It is unclear whether the address where Alahverdian was found was the same one he had given during a bail hearing on December 23, and whether that address had been checked before the warrant for his arrest was issued.

It also remains unclear why Alahverdrian was freed on bail following a hearing held via videolink from Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth Hospital las December 23. A spokesman for Edinburgh Sheriff's Office refused to comment when asked for details of why Alahverdian had been released, given his status as a known fraudster.

No details have been given on when Alahverdian, who also goes by the surname Rossi, was discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital after recovering from COVID. Officials have yet to disclose his current health status - although he was put on a ventilator with a serious COVID infection shortly before his arrest. DailyMail.com has contacted the facility for further information.

Alahverdian was arrested on an Interpol notice at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow on December 13. He had checked in under the alias Arthur Knight, and was intubated after nearly dying of the virus.

News of the warrant and his arrest came as a Rhode Island newspaper detailed in a new report how Alahverdian was arrested a number of times in the state between 2010 and 2011 for alleged violent behavior.

Suspected conman Nicholas Alahverdian - who faked his own death to avoid sex and fraud charges in 2020 - was discovered alive and unwell by Interpol at a Scottish hospital last month. However, he's on the run again after being granted bail and failing to show up for an extradition hearing. He's pictured in an undated photo

Alahverdian had been due to appear before Edinburgh Sheriff's Court, pictured, for a hearing on Thursday. But he failed to show up, and a warrant was issued for his arrest

Alahverdian was freed on bail following a hearing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow, pictured, on December 23. It is unclear why the decision was made to free him on bail, given his status as a known fraudster, and the severity of the charges he faces in the United States

He was under armed guard at Queen Elizabeth hospital, where he appeared via a video for a December 23 court hearing.

'He was not remanded into custody during that time,' a court spokesman told DailyMail.com this week.

Scottish officials did not respond to queries requesting further information on the conditions of Alahverdian's arrest, nor did they say whether he was under police watch.

News of his escape shocked former friends familiar with his previous escapades.

'Holy sh**, they let a sexual predator go,' said former Rhode Island representative Brian Coogan, 51, who has known Alahverdian for decades. 'OMG.'

Alahverdian - who claimed to have died of cancer in February 2020, aged 32, before being buried at sea - is being sought over a 2008 sexual assault charge in Utah.

He is accused of raping an ex-girlfriend in September 2008, with police investigating Alahverdian discovering he'd been reported to the police over similar alleged attacks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Utah and Ohio.

The faker, who is also known as Nicholas Rossi, was convicted of sexual assault following an 'encounter' with another student at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

He is suspected of carrying out multiple other sex attacks, and was also accused of a $200,000 fraud after taking out credit cards and loans in his foster mother's husband's name in Ohio, it is alleged.

Alahverdian divorced his second wife in 2017 after less than two years of marriage, and is also said to owe her $52,000. Both of his former spouses took out restraining orders against him after their marriage ended.

After being arrested in Rhode Island for assault, Alahverdian reportedly banged his head against the bars of a police cruiser and screamed loudly on the way to jail

More details of his bizarre behavior was detailed by the Providence Journal, which obtained a series of Pawtucket police reports from more than a decade ago.

One accuser told police in July 2010 that Alahverdian lured her to his apartment under the guise that she'd be visiting his art studio. Instead, she told cops, he took away her phone and pressed her for sex.

When she refused his advances, he told her 'if she left, he would kill himself by stabbing himself in the chest with a knife,' the outlet reported.

Alahverdian was taken to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Police returned to his apartment that November on a tip, and said they encountered an 'extremely upset' woman with injuries to both eyes.

The woman told cops that Alahverdian snapped after their dinner guests' baby began crying earlier that night, and claimed they later got into an argument which turned violent.

Alahverdian 'grabbed her and knocked her to the ground and held her down' and 'slapped her on the facial area,' the outlet reported.

He resisted arrest, prompting police to physically carry him out of the apartment and into the cruiser, where he repeatedly smashed his head against the metal bars while screaming 'very loudly'.

He was pepper sprayed by the arresting officers in an effort to get him to stop self-harming.

Nicholas Alahverdian, pictured in 2011, has been arrested for a suspected sex attack after faking his death from cancer and fleeing from the US to Scotland

This map shows the trail of havoc and alleged criminal behavior carried out by Nicholas Alahverdian across the US

The next month, an even stranger story crossed the desk of police in Pawtucket.

A woman told police she went on a dinner date with Alahverdian, who picked up the tab. When they returned to his apartment and she refused his advances, he became 'enraged,' took away her cell phone, and ordered her to repay him for the meal, according to the report.

He drove her to a nearby ATM, where she withdrew $200 because 'She felt she had no choice but to give him the money, in fear of further violence.'

Before letting her go, he made her sign on camera an agreement that she 'could not pursue legal action and that the money she gave him was for therapy for him due to her violent actions and her sexual addiction.'

Criminal past of Nicholas Alahverdian Date unknown: Failure to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island. Accused of separate attack which allegedly saw him kidnap and sexually assault a woman Date unknown: Accused of similar abduction and sexual assault attempt in Massachusetts 2008: Convicted of sexual assault in Ohio after an 'encounter' with a fellow student at Sinclair Community College in Dayton. In September 2008, he allegedly raped an ex-girlfriend in Orem, Utah - the allegation that led to his arrest in December 2021. July 2010: Pressures date for sex and threatens to kill himself if she doesn't comply November 2010: Quarrels with partner over dinner guests' crying baby and allegedly later assaults her 2017 : Fraud in Ohio. Former foster mom in same state accused Alahverdian of $200,000 scam which saw him allegedly take out fake credit cards and loans in her husband's name February 2020: Fakes his own death of lymphoma, with unnamed 'widow' claiming Alahverdian had been buried at sea. In July, DNA links him to 2008 sex attack in Orem, Utah - the charge which ultimately led to his discovery in Scotland December 2021: Arrested at hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, while intubated with COVID on suspicion of Utah sex attack January 2022: Set to be extradited back to the US, where Alahverdian is almost certain to face further fraud charges for faking his own death in February 2020 Advertisement

An arrest warrant was issued for Alahverdian in 2011 for for violating a restraining order obtained by his then-wife.

Years before the made-for-Hollywood story unfolded, Alahverdian was a Rhode Island political activist who claimed to be victimized by the foster system as child, and who called for changes to state law.

His tale of a man with a haunted past - who overcame adversity to become a Harvard-educated political scientist - amazed the circles he frequented, with multiple lawmakers taking pity on him.

He began working at Rhode Island's state house as a teen, when he served as an errand boy, photocopying documents and delivering papers within the building.

The charming house page was so charismatic that he nearly convinced a state representative to adopt him.

Brian Coogan, 51, said he met Alahverdian in 2000 while representing Rhode Island's 64th District.

Alahverdian has been described as both vindictive and charming, and can be seen posing in an undated photo with former Vice President Mike Pence.

Coogan told DailyMail.com that he was initially enamored by the troubled teen - who claimed to be sexually and physically victimized in foster care - and moved to give him a permanent family after Alahverdian 'begged me to adopt him' shortly after meeting him in 2000.

On the day he was in court to begin adoption proceedings, Coogan said he overheard Alahverdian threatening a social worker, saying: 'I'll tell them you abused me, that you hit me.'

A judge later talked Coogan and his wife out of it, warning that he was 'manipulative' and prone to stealing peoples' identities.

The charge Alahverdian is awaiting extradition for relates to the rape of a woman in Orem, Utah who he befriended on MySpace in 2008 and later attacked, Utah County District Attorney David Leavitt told DailyMail.com.

Utah County Sheriff's Office in Provo began the hunt for Alahverdian in 2020 after testing old sexual assault kits.

Those had been uploaded to a national criminal database.

The samples which saw Alahverdian convicted of the Ohio sex attacks in 2008 flashed up as a match for a sexual assault said to have taken place the same year in Orem, Utah.

That case was originally closed by the lead detective without being referred to prosecutors.

They said DNA led to his capture in Scotland, although it is unclear how staff at the hospital grew suspicious of him.

'That's where we began this investigation,' Leavitt said Thursday.

'And what we found was a trail of victims from Utah to Ohio to Rhode Island, Massachusetts.

'All have very similar patterns, very similar stories.'

Brian Coogan (pictured) and his wife nearly adopted Alahverdian in 2000, but a judge convinced him not to

Alahverdian traveled in prestigious circles. He's pictured with East Providence Mayor Bob da Silva

The Utah DA said Alahverdian had also fled charges in Ohio, although further details of the allegations against Alahverdian - who claims to be a married dad of two children - have not been shared.

He also faced fraud and extortion complaints in Utah and Ohio, the Providence-Journal reported.

It is unclear if the Ohio fraud charge is linked to the fraudulently obtained loans and credit cards.

He was convicted in Dayton, Ohio in 2008 of public indecency and sexual imposition; Alahverdian claimed in a 2013 civil lawsuit that the charges stemmed from accusations he masturbated in a hallway of Sinclair Community College.

Alahverdian claimed to have died in Rhode Island, where his reported passing was mourned by state representatives, with his current medical issues meaning cops were finally able to track him down and arrest him.

The Providence Journal refused to publish an obituary for Alahverdian after a woman claiming to be his third wife failed to provide a death certificate, having claimed that her 'spouse' was buried at sea.

He was convicted in Dayton, Ohio in 2008 of public indecency and sexual imposition; Alahverdian claimed in a 2013 civil lawsuit that the charges stemmed from accusations he masturbated in a hallway of Sinclair Community College.

Alahverdian claimed to have died in Rhode Island, where his reported passing was mourned by state representatives, with his current medical issues meaning cops were finally able to track him down and arrest him.

An memorial tribute was posted in February 2020 which claimed Alahverdian had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that his last words were 'fear not and run toward the bliss of the sun'

The Providence Journal refused to publish an obituary for Alahverdian after a woman claiming to be his third wife failed to provide a death certificate, having claimed that her 'spouse' was buried at sea.

The con saw a gushing obituary to Alahverdian posted online, which his former foster mom suspected the alleged fraudster had written himself, after recognizing his writing style.

There was also a supposedly posthumous YouTube plea, uploaded three weeks after Alahverdian's death, asking supporters to help the former foster child push for reform of Rhode Island's Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

Speaking in a croaky voice towards the end of a self-aggrandizing video touting his achievements, Alahverdian said: 'I'm Nicholas Alahverdian and I kindly ask with you to join with me in my final fight to reform DCYF.'

Alahverdian was described as both charming and vindictive by a former acquaintance. He is pictured in this undated photo with former vice president Mike Pence

Alahverdian, who also goes by Nicholas Rossi, is a registered sex offender. He was convicted of two sex-related crimes in 2008. His mugshot from the sex offenders' registry is pictured

A local radio station's news report announcing Alahverdian's death was also uploaded to the same YouTube channel, in an attempt to underline that Alahverdian really was dead.

In March 2020, Rhode Island Representative Frank McCabe eulogized him as an accomplished author and child welfare reform advocate.

During his years in the custody of DCYF, he endured significant abuse, depravation of education, neglect, and unhealthy living conditions,' McCabe said in the House Chamber. The challenges he faced throughout those years could have irrevocably changed his life.

'Instead, those hardships gave him understanding, passion and drive. More than a survivor, Nicholas endured and ultimately overcame those years in the system,'

A 'memorial' Twitter accounted purported to be run by 'Nick's widow Louise Alahverdian' appeared to exist to shut down any claims he was alive.

'More fake news about Nick is released the more the Rhode Island gov & now the FBI prove they tried to silence him,' said one tweet. 'Too late. Difference now is he is deceased & I as his wife and 20+ staff can tell his story. He left 7 manuscripts to publish. RI politics will never be the same.'

There is no evidence online that Louise Alahverdian exists, though Alahverdian has been married twice before.

The sex offender, previously convicted of two sex attacks in Ohio in 2008, used the name Arthur Knight when detained by Police Scotland officers, but it is believed he went under at least eight different aliases since going on the run in 2018.

Further details on how Knight had ended up in Scotland, and how long he had been there, have yet to emerge.

Alahverdian, whose also uses the surname Rossi, fled the US after DNA linked him to a sex attack in Ohio amid reports of similar offences across the country.

According to the Utah County Attorney's Office, he is accused of fraud and sexual assault charges in at least two states.

An obituary was posted in February 2020 which claimed Alahverdian had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and that his last words were 'fear not and run toward the bliss of the sun'.

'At the time of his passing, the room was filled with the sounds of the end credits for the 1997 film Contact by composer Alan Silvestri, a film and score which held special meaning for Mr. Alahverdian,' the obituary said

The tribute also described him as 'one of the most vocal, outspoken, and constructive advocates for reforming Rhode Island's' child care system

The obituary claimed he passed away with his wife, family, and two children at his beside.

'At the time of his passing, the room was filled with the sounds of the end credits for the 1997 film Contact by composer Alan Silvestri, a film and score which held special meaning for Mr. Alahverdian,' the obituary said.

The tribute also described him as 'one of the most vocal, outspoken, and constructive advocates for reforming Rhode Island's [Department of Children, Youth and Families] and the child care system.'

A year after his self-proclaimed 'death', reports in the US emerged that police did not believe he was dead and were actively hunting him.

He had previously been questioned by the FBI over a credit card fraud allegation.

But he is now subject to extradition proceedings to Utah after DNA led officials to Scotland where he was found in hospital on a ventilator.

In 2008, Alahverdian was convicted of two sexual assault charges in Ohio and in 2017 his DNA from that case was uploaded to a national database.

Alahverdian grew up in foster care in Rhode Island and 'made it his mission to fight against his mission to fight against what he described as abuses in the state's childcare system,' local radio station WRPO 630 said in reporting his death.

Prosecutors claim that in 2020, his DNA matched samples from a sexual assault said to have taken place in Utah and discovered he was suspect in a number of other incidents across America.

He also had a live warrant out for his arrest after failing to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island.

Alahverdian is now the subject of extradition proceedings instigated by Leavitt, who thanked police worldwide including Police Scotland, for finding the wanted man.

He said: 'Our office is grateful for the significant interagency collaboration of law enforcement to bring this suspect to justice.'

Alahverdian, pictured in an undated photo, is now the subject of extradition proceedings initiatiated by the Utah County

The many aliases of an American fugitive Investigators say the suspected sex predator went by at least eight names, including: Nicholas Rossi

Nicholas Alahverdian

Nicholas Alahverdian Rossi

Nicholas Edward Rossi

Nicholas Alahverdian-Rossi

Nick Alan

Nicholas Brown

Arthur Brown

Arthur Knight Advertisement

An official Utah County Attorney statement added: 'Investigators also learned that Nicholas Rossi had fled the country to avoid prosecution in Ohio and attempted to lead investigators and state legislators in other states to believe that he was deceased.

'Through the diligent efforts of SBI Agents, and various investigators in other states and agencies, and in cooperation with the Utah County Attorney's Office, Mr. Rossi was discovered to be living under an assumed name in Scotland.

'He has been taken into custody and the Utah County Attorney's Office is working with federal and international agencies to extradite Mr Rossi back to Utah.'

Rhode Island State Police Major Robert A. Creamer said: 'He was located in Scotland about a month ago, where he was on a ventilator.'

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: 'Officers arrested a 34-year-old man in Glasgow on Monday, December 13, in connection with an international arrest warrant. A report was submitted to the procurator fiscal.'

A Crown Office spokeswoman added: 'I can confirm that Arthur Knight appeared via video link from QEUH on Thursday 23 December 2021 in relation to extradition proceedings for the US.

'No future dates have yet been fixed.'
So what is changing... and when will it happen? Your guide to the post-curb rules as Boris Johnson announces the end of Covid Plan B rules IMMEDIATELY WORKING FROM HOME The Prime Minister said the Government is no longer asking people to work from home. He called on people to speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office. FROM TODAY MASKS IN SCHOOLS From today, secondary school pupils will not have to wear face coverings in classrooms. The requirement to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas will end next Thursday, January 27. FROM NEXT THURSDAY MASKS IN PUBLIC PLACES From next Thursday, the Government will no longer legally mandate the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport. But they will continue to suggest masks should be worn in enclosed and crowded places where people could come into contact with those they do not normally meet. The Prime Minister said this meant the Government will 'trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one'. COVID PASSPORTS Proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will no longer be needed to enter nightclubs and large venues from next Thursday. But businesses will still be free to use the NHS Covid Pass if they want. BY THE END OF THE MONTH TRAVEL An announcement is expected soon on scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated travellers to take a Covid test on returning to England. No 10 said the rules will be reviewed by the end of January. CARE HOMES Plans to ease restrictions on care home visits will be announced in the next few days. At present, care homes must impose severe restrictions on visitors for up to 28 days if there has been a Covid outbreak affecting two or more residents. BY MARCH AT THE LATEST SELF-ISOLATION Boris Johnson said he 'very much expects' not to renew the legal requirement to self-isolate with Covid when the rules lapse on March 24. He said this could happen even earlier, if the data allows. The legal requirement will be replaced with guidance that urges people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others. BY JULY FREE TESTS Free Covid lateral flow tests look set to be scrapped by July. People will be pointed towards an online ordering system to purchase the tests, which cost 30 for a pack of seven. Advertisement

A quarter of small businesses will stick with working from home until at least April 2023 despite a change in Government guidance, a new report has said, because of the substantial savings of not having to pay for office space.

Firms with fewer than 50 employees are saving an average of nearly 4,000 a month by not having to pay for an office, according to research from Hitachi Capital Business Finance, and are likely to stick to working from home well into next year.

It comes after Boris Johnson today ordered Government departments to get their civil servants back into the office 'as soon as possible' as he demanded they set an example to the country after lifting working from home restrictions.

However, a survey of more than 1,000 small business owners has found that one in four had plans to continue working entirely from home until at least April next year, while a similar number were planning hybrid working.

Joanna Morris of Hitachi Capital Business Finance said: 'As the worst of the pandemic hopefully begins to fade, and the option of returning to a fixed workplace is put back on the table once again, we might expect to see most taking up this option and returning to normal.

'However, this research reminds us that it may not be the perfect solution for everyone.

'As with every business decision that owners make, particularly over the past 18 months, a range of factors need to be taken into consideration first, with the bottom line understandably often given a heavier weighting.

'The one positive that has come from this particularly challenging period has been the requirement to be far more flexible and open minded than ever before, with changes to the business that will reap benefits in the long term.'

Civil servants appear to still be avoiding going into work - with roads in Westminster looking quiet and congestion data for London today only marginally up on yesterday.

Union bosses have slammed the Prime Minister's 'insulting' language after he told people to get 'back to work' - and it seems city centres are unlikely to get back to normal for some time with some companies expected to wait months before bringing staff back in.

One Tory adviser told MailOnline that they had been into two Whitehall departments this week and found them almost deserted, saying: 'I saw four people while I was on one building. They need to be much tougher.'

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said today that Government staff have been ordered to return to offices 'as soon as possible', telling the Evening Standard: 'Secretaries of State have been asked to ensure all Government offices are open so staff can return to normal working patterns as soon as possible. That is also being communicated to permanent secretaries. Obviously, all employers should continue to follow the guidance to ensure a safe return for all workers.'

Minutes after the PM's announcement yesterday, the Cabinet Office emailed staff to say they were expected to start coming back in, and other departments are expected to do so today, according to The Times. But Government sources also pointed out that there were no proposals for targets on getting staff back in or how many days a week they would expected to do so.

It comes as business leaders urged the Government to encourage Britons to start commuting again by introducing a limited period of train fare discounts and launch a marketing campaign to remind people of the benefits of working in cities including London.

Business groups in London have also called on staff in Government departments to lead the way, saying a return of civil servants would be 'very positive' and they would 'like them to return to the city in greater numbers'.

Commuters walk through London King's Cross train station this morning as they head into the office around 8am today

Boris Johnson (pictured) has ordered Government departments to get their civil servants back into the office 'as soon as possible' as he demanded they set an example to the country

Schools are preparing to defy the Prime Minister by ordering children to continue wearing masks in classrooms

Alexander Jan, chairman of the Central District Alliance, which represents businesses in normally-bustling areas such as Holborn and Bloomsbury, told MailOnline: 'People need to be encouraged and motivated, not simply ordered, to come back into central London. Seeing others returning, including the civil service, would be very positive, but importantly all workers need reassurance that their journeys back into the office will be as reliable as possible.

'There should be more security in funding for our transport networks, ensuring that train service levels are maintained and perhaps the introduction of incentives like half-price sales on season tickets for six months, to help people shift their habits for the wider good.'

When pressed by MailOnline if staff have returned to the office, a Home Office spokesman confirmed he was still WFH. He refused to say if he has received an email from senior mandarins telling civil servants to come back to Whitehall. He added that guidance throughout the pandemic had explicitly discouraged civil servants from 'coming into the office under any circumstances'.

The Department of Health and Social Care refused to say if staff have returned to the office. A spokesman from the FDA union representing civil servants did not know if mandarins had been instructed to come back in.

And Health Secretary Sajid Javid said his department could not get all their staff in because there is not enough space in their offices. Asked if he would have 100 per cent of civil servants back in the Department of Health this morning, he told Times Radio: 'No, because I didn't even have 100 per cent before that guidance, because one challenge I have in my department is that we've had to increase the size of the department in the pandemic and we don't have space for everyone.

'We don't have a situation where we have 100 per cent at any time, but in general people that were working from home during Plan B, they are starting to slowly come back, and we want to do that like any employer in a safe way possible, so plans are being put in place now so they can start coming back into work, work from their desks, if that's what they were doing before.'

The proportion of civil servants still working from home before Plan B guidance came in was as high as 80 per cent in the case of the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport - with the DCMS permanent secretary Sarah Healey accused last October of undermining attempts to get staff back into the office after saying she preferred working from home as it gave her more time to spend on her high-end Peloton exercise bike.

A survey by the FDA one year ago found 97 per cent of civil servants want to retain the option of working from home after the pandemic ends, and one senior minister said last October that some were not returning because they 'just want to save their lunch and train fares'.

Today, road congestion levels in London were at 72 per cent in the morning rush hour between 8am and 9am, slightly up from 71 per cent yesterday but a bigger rise on 66 per cent last Thursday, according to TomTom.

But it was more a mixed picture in other cities, with rush hour morning congestion in Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle down compared to yesterday and last Thursday - while the figure in Manchester and Sheffield was down from yesterday but up on last Thursday.
A health official who has helped lead Florida's response to the pandemic has been put on administrative leave as state officials investigate whether he tried to compel employees to get vaccinated for Covid-19 in violation of state law.

Raul Pino, the director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, was put on leave after he sent an email to health staff earlier this month critical of their vaccination rate, blasting it as 'pathetic'.

Florida's state health agency is now conducting an inquiry into Pino 'to determine if any laws were broken in this case', according to the department's press secretary Jeremy Redfern.

Raul Pino (pictured), the director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, was put on leave after he sent an email to health staff earlier this month critical of their vaccination rate, blasting it as 'pathetic'

'The Department is committed to upholding all laws, including the ban on vaccine mandates for government employees and will take appropriate action once additional information is known,' Redfern said in the email. He didn't offer further details.

Orlando's WFTV reports that Pino was put on leave after he sent an email to staff earlier this month critical of their vaccination rate.

Pino wrote that out of 568 staffers, only 77 had received booster shots, 219 had gotten two vaccines doses and 34 only had a single dose, according to the television station.

'I am sorry but in the absence of reasonable and real reasons it is irresponsible not to be vaccinated,' Pino wrote. 'We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000 and we are not even at 50% pathetic.'

On November 18, DeSantis (pictured) signed into law a measure to prohibit government agencies from implementing vaccine mandates and restricts private businesses from having vaccine requirements unless they allow workers to opt out for a number of exemptions

Pino has led the health agency in Orange County since 2019 and has served as a leading figure in the public response to the pandemic in metro Orlando.

Last year, Governor DeSantis led a relentless fight against judges to make COVID-19 mandates illegal and has repeatedly appealed court rulings and withheld money from school districts that continue to enforce masks.

Eight school districts were subjected to potential funding cuts because they allowed parents to decide whether the students wear masks or not.

And last fall, on November 18, DeSantis signed into law a measure to prohibit government agencies from implementing vaccine mandates and restricts private businesses from having vaccine requirements unless they allow workers to opt out for medical reasons, religious beliefs, immunity based on a previous infection, regular testing or an agreement to wear protective gear.

'I called a special session of the legislature in November and we provided protections so that, in Florida, you're not going to lose your job over these shots,' DeSantis said during a guest appearance on the 'Ruthless' podcast earlier this month. 'You have the right to work.'

DeSantis said after the SCOTUS ruling earlier this month, which blocked President Biden's vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees, that he would enforce the Florida law banning private employers' vaccine mandates as well as requirements for public workers.

'We're going to make sure that that is enforced, and we're going to make sure we're providing protections for people so that they don't have their livelihoods ruined by an unconstitutional and really ham-handed federal mandate,' DeSantis said.

But Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary Mayhew said that centers receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding could still implement vaccine mandates for their employees.

'Hospitals are obligated to remain compliant with the programs' conditions of participation and must comply with this federal vaccine requirement now upheld by the highest court,' said Mayhew, who previously worked in the DeSantis administration, according to Florida Politics.

Mayhew said hospitals are now caught between the ongoing feud between Biden and DeSantis and 'may still need clarity from the courts regarding federal preemption regarding the Florida state law.'

On the other side, Biden called the Supreme Court's ruling against the private employer mandate 'disappointing' but touted that the healthcare mandate 'will save lives.' He encouraged private businesses to require vaccination of their own accord.

'This emergency standard allowed employers to require vaccinations or to permit workers to refuse to be vaccinated, so long as they were tested once a week and wore a mask at work: a very modest burden,' the president claimed.

'As a result of the Court's decision, it is now up to States and individual employers to determine whether to make their workplaces as safe as possible for employees, and whether their businesses will be safe for consumers during this pandemic by requiring employees to take the simple and effective step of getting vaccinated.'

Thirteen states including Texas, Florida and Arizona have bans or limits on imposing vaccine mandates while many companies including Macy's and Starbucks have already announced measures for their employees.

Democrat-led states such as New York with their own mandates won't be impacted and can keep their rules in place, while states without any rules in place can decide for themselves.

After the ruling, DeSantis lambasted Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts as having no 'backbone' as they sided with liberal justices to uphold President Biden's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

Despite blocking Biden's mandate ordering businesses with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly testing, the high court allowed a mandate requiring that facilities that receive federal funding to tell employees to get vaccinated.

'On the nurse mandate and the doctor mandate, Roberts and Kavanaugh joined with the liberals to allow the nurse mandate,' DeSantis said during a guest appearance on the 'Ruthless' podcast last week.

'So here's what's going on, think about how insane this is,' he continued. 'Now, in Florida, we protected the nurses, so we have people that are working. But in other states, they fired nurses who were not vaccinated.'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that Justices John Roberts (left) and Brett Kavanaugh (right) had 'no backbone' for deciding to allow Biden's healthcare vaccine mandate

The court ruled 6-3 to turn down the federal mandate for private employers, 5-4 to allow the mandate for federally funded healthcare facilities to remain in place.

The court's decision is not the final say on the healthcare mandate - 27 states had petitioned the Supreme Court to issue a stay on the rule while it is battled out in lower courts.

DeSantis noted that hospitals in places like California are allowing Covid-positive nurses to return to work due to short staffing.

'So they have COVID-positive people back on, meanwhile the unvaccinated, likely immune through prior infection, healthy nurses are on the sidelines fired,' the Sunshine State governor continued. 'How insane are these policies?'

'But honestly, Roberts and Kavanaugh did not have a backbone on that decision,' DeSantis also said. 'That's just the bottom line.'
The Government has 'badly' let down British Council staff and contractors with many 'still trapped' in Afghanistan, Labour and the SNP have said.

But the Government said it is working with the international community 'to do all we can' to enable those eligible to relocate to the UK.

Asking an urgent question in the Commons, Labour shadow foreign office minister Fabian Hamilton said: 'Months after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, there are still many, many British Council staff and contractors stranded in the country and facing threats of violence every single day from the regime.'

He insisted 'we owe those brave, brave people so much for supporting the UK's work in Afghanistan over the last two decades', adding: 'The fact that some of them, many of them, are still trapped in the country, fearing their own lives means that the UK Government has badly let them down.'

SNP MP Anum Qaisar said: 'Around 100 ex-British Council staff are still in Afghanistan having so far been denied the right to come to the UK.' The MP for Airdrie and Shotts said those people now feel 'abandoned by the country that they worked for'.

Former British Council deputy director in Kabul and whistleblower Joe Seaton (pictured centre) in Afghanistan with teachers, their faces pixelated for their protection. The Government has 'badly' let down British Council staff and contractors with many 'still trapped' in Afghanistan, Labour and the SNP have said

While Labour MP Hilary Benn said: 'Afghans who worked for the British Council are in fear of their lives. I have been told that in one case the Taliban came to a house, hit a seven-year-old girl in order to try and get her to reveal where her father was.'

The MP for Leeds Central suggested providing money and other support to those in hiding.

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) raised concerns over whether British aid is reaching those in need, saying 'there are children, pregnant mothers, people about to die if this aid doesn't get to them'.

Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling said British Council staff have performed a 'really important role' in Afghanistan and 'it is therefore right that we are supporting those in need'.

She said: 'The Government agreed to resettle more than 50 British council contractors in August, many of whom have already arrived in the United Kingdom.

'But we are looking to resettle those British Council contractors who are most at risk.'

Asking an urgent question in the Commons, Labour shadow foreign office minister Fabian Hamilton (left) said: 'Months after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, there are still many, many British Council staff and contractors stranded in the country. SNP MP Anum Qaisar (right) said: 'Around 100 ex-British Council staff are still in Afghanistan'

While Labour MP Hilary Benn (pictured in 2019) said: 'Afghans who worked for the British Council are in fear of their lives. I have been told that in one case the Taliban came to a house, hit a seven-year-old girl in order to try and get her to reveal where her father was'

She added: 'Employees have already been able to resettle to the United Kingdom, but the contractors who will be eligible will be based on their risk.'

Ms Milling said: 'We are committed to working in step with the international community to do all we can to enable those who are eligible to relocate to the UK.

'It is also worth noting that resettlement is just one element to the UK's Government response to the situation in Afghanistan.

'In addition to our diplomatic and international aid in the region, we are also working alongside like-minded states as part of the international community.'

She said the UK has doubled aid to Afghanistan to 286 million 'which will be so essential to provide humanitarian assistance to those most in need'.

She said: 'The ACRS (Afghan citizens resettlement scheme) that was announced earlier this month will provide those most at risk by recent events in Afghanistan a route to safety.

'And this scheme will prioritise those who have assisted the UK's efforts in Afghanistan.'

Last month, a whistleblower accused the British Council of abandoning staff to the Taliban.

Joe Seaton, a former Afghanistan manager for the organisation, said 100 personnel who were on the front lines of teaching had not been airlifted to safety.

He claimed bosses helped staff based in Kabul relocate while those who were the face of Britain across the country remain in hiding from the Taliban. He said these people now faced revenge attacks because of their work for the UK.

These educators, who delivered the UK Governments foreign policy objectives, and who were highly visible and recognisable to a wary and sceptical public, have now been left behind by the BC and the UK Government, and are all living in hiding and changing their addresses frequently in order to avoid the Taliban, he added.

Dozens of former staff said their belief in Britain has been shattered by months of waiting to hear the result of applications to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy programme. They say that no cases appear to have been processed yet.

Today's rebuke of the government's handling of the crisis came the day after the Armed Forces minister said the UK will continue to bring Afghans to the UK 'for as long as people who are eligible want to come'.

It was also announced that troops who airlifted more than 15,000 people from the country are set to receive a medal for their efforts.

James Heappey told LBC that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) continued to bring around 250 people a week out of Afghanistan, mostly through Pakistan, despite the winding down of Operation Pitting in August last year, and that this would continue 'indefinitely'.

The MoD announced Wednesday that personnel will receive the existing Operational Service Medal Afghanistan, featuring a new clasp reading 'Operation Pitting', recognising their contribution to the evacuation of Afghan and British nationals.

But Mr Heappey insisted the effort was not over, despite troops having left Kabul.

He told LBC: 'I would love to be able to fly a load of planes in Kabul, scoop up 1,000 people in one go, and bring them out - it's not realistic.

'People are having to get out through a number of routes.'

Personnel will receive the existing Operational Service Medal Afghanistan, featuring a new clasp reading 'Operation Pitting'

Pictured: A full flight of 265 people supported by members of the UK Armed Forces on board an evacuation flight out of Kabul airport, Afghanistan in August 2021

He said: 'Our commitment to those who served alongside our Armed Forces during our time in Afghanistan is absolute and we will keep bringing people here for as long as people who are eligible want to come.'

Approximately 600 soldiers were deployed to Kabul airport during Operation Pitting, providing food, water, and medical assistance to evacuees after the Taliban took control of the country.

Evacuees were flown out of Kabul by the Royal Air Force in what Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described as 'the largest British evacuation since the Second World War'.

One flight set a new record for the highest number of people carried in an RAF C-17 aircraft, at 439.
A man with a fast-spreading skin infection spent four nights on a chair while waiting for a bed in a Cardiff A&E.

John Evans, 59, was told to go to University Hospital of Wales after a recurrence of a skin infection which required 'serious treatments' including IV antibiotics.

He spent four days in the waiting room before finally being admitted to a bed.

Cardiff and Vale health board told BBC News that it had apologised to Mr Evans and was still in touch with him.

Mr Evans told BBC News: 'I was really shocked by the conditions that the patients and staff were in.

John Evans, 59, was told to go to University Hospital of Wales after a recurrence of a skin infection which required 'serious treatments'

Mr Evans spent four days in the waiting room before finally being admitted to a bed

'There was only one toilet to use and no hot food.

'The staff did a fantastic job and they worked really hard and they're so caring, but they were under real pressure as well.

'There was a sense of helplessness from the staff to the point where they had to just manage their way through a horrific situation, caring for people in this way.

'I'd always believed that the health service was there if I needed it.

'In this instance it was there, but only just and that was because of the staff and their professionalism.'

A health board spokesman told BBC News: 'Our services are under extreme pressure due to a number of factors including current staff shortages and the sustained challenges coronavirus presents.

Cardiff and Vale health board told BBC News that it had apologised to Mr Evans and was still in touch with him

'In addition, health and social care services across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan are experiencing significant and sustained pressures which is impacting the timely discharge of patients from hospital.

'These and other challenges are impacting on patient flow within our sites and, in turn, waiting times in our emergency unit.

'In this instance we sincerely apologise for the delays and experience for Mr Evans, and our concerns team are in touch with him to respond directly to the concerns raised.'

The pandemic has disrupted the flow of passengers from A&E beds through to longer-term care services, meaning A&Es across the UK have had slower than usual admission times.

There are currently 1,000 beds in Welsh hospitals occupied by medically fit people who cannot secure care and thus cannot be released from A&E.

As a result, more than 8,800 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to A&E in Wales during November.




Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during press conference before departing for Russia from Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Jan. 19, in a handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency. South Korea is in consultations with Iran over the proposed use of Tehran's funds, frozen here under re-imposed U.S. sanctions, to help it pay its dues to the United Nations and regain its voting rights, government sources said Thursday. AFP-Yonhap
The head of the CIA quietly visited Europe ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip this week as Washington tries to rally allies around a tough response against Moscow if Vladimir Putin presses ahead with plans to invade Ukraine.

Senior figures have become increasingly concerned that countries including France and Germany may pursue their own path because of closer economic ties with Russia.

The diplomatic push took on even greater urgency on Thursday, a day after President Biden said he believed Putin would press ahead with an invasion.

At the same time it emerged that CIA Director William Burns slipped into the German and Ukrainian capitals days before Blinken's much trumpeted visit this week

U.S. and German officials told the Wall Street Journal that Burns, a former ambassador to Moscow and one of Biden's most trusted international fixers, briefed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the intelligence community on different scenarios involving Russia and Ukraine.

In particular, he urged Berlin to close the recently completed Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline to Russia in the event of an invasion, the officials said.

He was reportedly sent after Scholz refrained from making a public commitment about the pipeline, triggering unease in Washington.

CIA Director William Burns (left) reportedly made a trip to Berlin and Kiev ahead of the arrival of Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) as Washington tries to rally support for a tough response to a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles from the Ukraine border as Moscow ramps up a military build up along the frontier in preparation for a 'nine-month war'

Russian troops arriving in Belarus for 'Allied Resolve 2022' exercises. Ukraine fears they could be used to open a fresh front against it in the event of a Russian invasion

Russian army vehicles arriving by train in Belarus, part of a massive military buildup

However, a U.S. official told DailyMail.com: 'Last week Director Burns visited Kiev on a previously scheduled trip, where he consulted with intelligence counterparts amid concerns of a further invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

'They discussed current assessments of risk to Ukraine and while there he also had the opportunity to discuss the current situation with President Zelensky and efforts to deescalate tensions.'

The official also confirmed he visited Berlin and Brussels to meet European and NATO leaders.

At the same time, fresh evidence of Russia's deployments is emerging.

Satellite images dated January 19 show a battlegroup deployed at Voronezh base around 200 miles (330km) from the Ukraine border with rows of tank artillery and support equipment massed at Yelnya, 77 miles from Russia's border with Belarus.

The region has been on edge since 100,000 Russian troops, armaments and missiles were moved close to the border with Ukraine.

Moscow denies it is planning to invade but last week the White House said it had intelligence that Russian operatives had been deployed with plans to launch false-flag attacks on Russian-backed militias to provide justification to attack Ukraine.

Burns arrival in the region signals a new push. Biden has repeatedly turned to Burns, 65, for some of his trickiest diplomatic missions.

In August he was dispatched to Kabul to meet the Taliban in an effort to help smooth the departure of American troops from Afghanistan.

And in November he traveled to Moscow to lay out Biden's concerns about the troop build-up.

It is an usual role for the head of the intelligence agency, but his supporters say his background as a career diplomat makes him well suited to the task.

He was followed by Blinken, who on Thursday met in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and a senior British minister, James Cleverly.

'If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe, united response from the United States and our allies and partners,' Blinken said after the meeting.

His words appeared part of an effort to clear up any confusion about the position of the U.S. and its NATO allies after Biden on Wednesday said a smaller incursion would elicit a lesser response.

Moscow has for weeks been massing tens of thousands of troops, tanks and artillery pieces along its eastern flank, sparking fears of an invasion, though the Kremlin has insisted it is merely a defence force (pictured, Russian forces currently massed in border regions)

Russian tanks of the Novorossiysk Guards mountain formation took part in maneuvers on Friday, further raising the temperature along the border with Ukraine where 100,000 Russian troops are massed

Pictured: Ukrainian troops take part in military drills as tensions across the country's border with Russia continue to mount

'It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,' he said during a White House press conference where Russia came up repeatedly.

Ukrainian officials reacted in horror, saying Biden had given Putin the go-ahead.

'This remark potentially gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,' one told CNN.

The next day Blinken was clear in accusing Russia of threatening the foundations of world order with its buildup of troops.

'To allow Russia to violate those principles with impunity would drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent - and this city - were split in two, separated by no-man's-lands patrolled by soldiers, with the threat of all-out war hanging heavily over everyone's lives,' Blinken told an audience at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.

'It would also send a message to others around the world that these principles are expendable.'

The U.S. Treasury Department also slapped sanctions on four Ukrainian officials, including two current members of parliament, who administration officials say are part of a Russian influence effort to set the pretext for an attack on Ukraine.

The sanctions name parliament members Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn and two former government officials. According to Treasury, all four have been intimately involved in disinformation efforts by Russia's federal security service, known as the FSB.

Blinken said the four men were at the heart of a Kremlin effort begun in 2020 'to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian state to independently function.'
A Tory MP has expressed outrage after a health minister announced the NHS is piloting new cancer hotlines for patients who cannot get a GP appointment.

Maria Caulfield, minister for patient safety and primary care, told the Health and Social Care Committee the NHS is piloting cancer hotlines staffed by nurse specialists as a route towards rapid diagnosis of the disease.

MPs heard testimony from patient Judith Neptial, who spent several years going backwards and forwards to her GP before being diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer in July 2018 after she begged for an operation.

After hearing from Ms Neptial, Ms Caulfield said that the NHS would be piloting the cancer hotline as well as new rapid diagnostic centres.

But the plans were challenged by Tory MP Jeremy Hunt, who said the answer is not to give patients yet another medical professional to speak with.

The NHS is piloting new cancer hotlines for patients who are concerned about their symptoms but cannot get a GP appointment, Maria Caulfield told MPs (stock image)

Speaking about the hotline, Ms Caulfield said if patients did not feel they are 'being listened to', they could phone up the hotline to share their symptoms with a cancer specialist nurse.

She explained: 'A patient themselves - if they feel that they're not being listened to or they're having difficulty getting assessments done - they can phone up that hotline, go through their symptoms, go through the experience that they've had, and that cancer nurse specialist can get them into the cancer pathway as well.

'So we're trying to open up that it doesn't always have to be the GP that necessarily gets them into that process, but to try and open up the opportunities to get diagnosed as quickly and easily as possible.'

A cancer hotline was set up by St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust amid the pandemic to help people with symptoms come forward. Further trials are being developed across England after it was judged to have positive outcomes.

But Mr Hunt, who is chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said instead of introducing new hotlines, the clinician who originally talks to the patient needs to listen to them instead.

Reflecting on Ms Neptial's testimony, he said: 'Surely if someone doesn't feel they're being listened to, the answer is not to give them a hotline so they can talk to someone else?

Ms Caulfield (pictured) told the Health and Social Care Committee the NHS is piloting cancer hotlines staffed by nurse specialists as a route towards rapid diagnosis of the disease

'What needs to happen is that, in the first place, the clinician that they're talking to needs to listen to them. And why is it you think that the people that she [Ms Neptial] talked to she felt didn't listen to her?

'And when she found out that it was stomach cancer and she wanted to ask more details, again she felt brushed off. Surely a hotline isn't an answer to that problem?'

But Ms Caulfield hit back at his criticism, arguing that a GP is a 'generalist' so may not take symptoms further if they are 'not sure'.

She added: 'Very often if you're dealing with someone who's a generalist... so a GP is a generalist, they look after all sorts of conditions, all sorts of patients.

'If they're not sure about symptoms, they may not take things further.

'So, even when pushed or repeated appointments come forward, they may not recognise that maybe some of the symptoms that Judith was raising could have in fact been cancer.'

She went on to say that a specialist nurse on a cancer hotline would be able to pick up on a patient's symptoms, but admitted that the hotlines were not an 'absolute solution'.

Ms Caulfield continued: 'Having that cancer hotline, with a specialist nurse who would pick up on Judith's symptoms and would think we need to get this lady seen as soon as possible, is one route in.

'I'm not saying it's the absolute solution, it's also about training and development of the workforce as a whole...

'It's also about upskilling the staff that's there already, so they do recognise and take seriously some of the more vague symptoms that may not be obviously cancer.'

Ms Caulfield said having rapid diagnostic centres to either exclude or diagnose cancer would ensure patients like Ms Neptial would feel they were 'being taken seriously' and would lead to faster treatment to 'improve survival outcomes'.

She said that, as of October, there were 159 rapid diagnostic pathways in place across England 'so we are rapidly rolling this out'.

Earlier, in her evidence to MPs, Ms Neptial described cancer as its own pandemic as she spoke of her experience getting her terminal cancer diagnosis.

Ms Neptial, who had an underlying stomach condition, explained she was referred between her GP and her consultant for years due to her other health condition, and was only diagnosed with cancer when she begged for an operation.

She said: 'Basically, I'd been going to my GP for probably a good few years beforehand.

But the plans were challenged by Tory MP Jeremy Hunt (pictured), who said the answer is not to give patients yet another medical professional to speak with

'And I should explain that I had an underlying stomach condition so I was also under the care of a consultant. I had been losing weight, had nausea and the general symptoms that I now know are associated with cancer.

'However, because I had an underlying condition, my GP constantly referred me back to my consultant, and my consultant constantly referred me back to my GP, and this went on for years.'

Ms Neptial eventually begged her consultant to operate on her, and when she came round from the operation, she was told she had terminal cancer.

Speaking about the Covid-19 pandemic, she said she felt she was 'living in a death sentence' as she couldn't properly experience the time she has left.

She explained: 'I'd already been told that I had a death sentence and then I was told whatever time I had couldn't really be lived.

'And then if there was an issue, I couldn't see anybody... there was no personal touch.

'I don't mean to not be sympathetic to everybody else, because Covid was huge and people lost their lives and I understand that more than anybody but, my God, cancer is a pandemic.

'You know, I'm dying, people are dying daily. Do we not count? Is my life more insignificant than somebody else's because of what I have? I don't think so.'

It comes after figures showed that half of women with suspected breast cancer are waiting more than the two-week target to see a specialist after being urgently referred by a GP.

The number of patients waiting longer than the target timeframe has quadrupled in just two months, from 5,280 in September to 23,704 in November, according to the latest data.

A staggering 48.2 per cent of women were not seen as quickly as they should have been, up from 12.5 per cent over the same two-month period.

Targets for cancer waiting times are being missed across the board, but breast cancer is faring worse than the rest.

It comes after figures showed half of women with suspected breast cancer are waiting more than the two-week target to see a specialist after being referred by a GP (stock image)

The next longest wait to see a specialist is for suspected skin cancer, with 23 per cent having to wait more than 14 days.

Charities described the figures as 'highly alarming' and warned delays cause anxiety and reduce survival odds.

The worsening performance is thought to be due to an increase in patients coming forward after lockdown, combined with pandemic disruption. Waits are expected to get worse before they get better.

Wes Streeting, Labour's shadow health secretary, on Tuesday asked ministers if they had 'de-prioritised' breast cancer after highlighting the NHS England figures in the Commons.

Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, replied: 'Of course it hasn't been de-prioritised and no cancer has been de-prioritised.

'We have seen... because of this terrible pandemic an impact on healthcare across the country, including sadly on cancer care as well.'

Mr Javid said all types of cancer care 'remain a priority' and revealed he wants to launch a 'war on cancer' in an attempt to radically improve care for patients.

He said he is working on a 'new vision' to improve the 'persistently poor outcomes' experienced by people in the UK.

Mr Streeting, who has been treated for kidney cancer, later added: 'I know from experience that an early cancer diagnosis can be lifesaving.

'Under the Conservatives, thousands of patients with suspected breast cancer are left waiting for weeks on end with the insecurity of not knowing.

'Yet the Health Secretary can't explain why breast cancer care is falling behind other forms of cancer, nor does the Government have a plan to fix it.'

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, said: 'It's highly alarming that the most recent data shows record numbers of women with potential breast cancer symptoms are not being seen by a specialist within two weeks of referral.

Wes Streeting (pictured), Labour's shadow health secretary, asked ministers if they had 'de-prioritised' breast cancer after highlighting the NHS England figures in the Commons

'We know that longer waits can cause many women unimaginable distress and anxiety.

'It's deeply troubling to see performance against the two week wait for breast cancer referrals specifically drop so sharply; this decline in performance is five times that of the average performance across all cancers.'

She added: 'The Government must set out how they will address the influx in demand for breast cancer services to prevent further deterioration in performance.'

Minesh Patel, head of policy at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: 'We have been sounding the alarm, loud and clear, about the desperately worrying state of cancer services for years.

'Chronic staffing shortages are already having a devastating impact on cancer patients and we know that nearly 50,000 people are still missing a cancer diagnosis in the UK because of the disruption caused by Covid-19.

'Whilst it is a relief to hear the Secretary of State's acknowledgement that urgent action is needed, his plans will fail without a plan to invest in frontline staff caring for patients.'

Professor Pat Price, an oncologist and co-founder of the Catch Up With Cancer campaign, said: 'If the Health Secretary wants to fight a 'war on cancer' then he needs to invest in the tools and the people to win it.

'Warm words won't solve the cancer crisis, nor will they clear the backlog and save lives.

'We need to put money behind our cancer services, the workforce and stop overlooking high potential technologies like radiotherapy.

'Unless the Secretary of State is willing to do things differently the backlog will cost more lives and the UK will remain at the bottom of the cancer league tables.'
The House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection in the Capitol has asked Ivanka Trump to voluntarily come and speak with them about what she saw that day.

'You will anticipate the committee inviting some people to come talk to us,' Rep. Bennie Thompson told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday, adding, 'not lawmakers right now  Ivanka Trump.'

It's the second blow to Ivanka this week after New York's attorney general went after the former first daughter for being given the option to buy a luxury NYC apartment from the Trump Organization for a third of the value listed on company financial statements.

Ivanka Trump served as an adviser to her father Donald Trump during his White House tenure. She, husband Jared Kushner and their three children moved to Miami after the Trump's administration ended.

In its letter to Ivanka, the House committee said they were seeking a voluntary interview about what she saw on January 6th, including Donald Trump's actions that day and his state of mind as his supporters stormed the Capitol.

'We propose meeting with you on February 3 or 4, 2022,' the panel wrote to her on Thursday. 'If you are unavailable on those dates, we can arrange a time during the week of February 7, 2022.'

Ivanka Trump did not say whether or not she would appear.

'Ivanka Trump just learned that the January 6 Committee issued a public letter asking her to appear,' a spokesperson for her told DailyMail.com. 'As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally. As she publicly stated that day at 3:15pm, "any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful."'

The committee has not indicated its next steps if Ivanka Trump doesn't appear. It does have the option of issuing of congressional subpoena.

The 11-page letter offered new details about the committee has learned about what happened in the White House on the day of the insurrection.

Ivanka is the latest member of the Trump family to be targeted by the panel. The committee has also sought logs of phone calls and text messages between the former presidents son Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

The chair of the House committee investigating January 6th said they will invite Ivanka Trump to come and speak with them

Ivanka Trump with her father Donald Trump at his rally outside the White House on January 6th

She was in the Oval Office on January 6th where she reportedly encouraged him to ask his supporters to stand down during their raid on the Capitol, where they tried to stop the official Electoral College certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory.

In its letter, the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol referred to Ivanka being present in the Oval Office on the morning of January 6th, when then-President Trump called Vice President Mike Pence to pressure him to try and hold up certification of the 2020 election.

'The Select Committee wishes to discuss the part of the conversation you observed between President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on the morning of January 6th,' the panel wrote to her.

The committee noted General Keith Kellogg, the retired general who served as a national security adviser to Pence and was also in the Oval that day, told them after Trump's call to Pence, '[Ivanka Trump] turned to me and said "Mike Pence is a good man."'

'Similarly, the Select Committee would like to discuss any other conversations you may have witnessed or participated in regarding the president's plan to obstruct or impede the counting of electoral votes.'

The panel also noted: 'The committee has information suggesting that President Trumps White House counsel may have concluded that the actions President Trump directed Vice President Pence to take would violate the Constitution or would be otherwise illegal,.'

'Did you discuss those issues with any member of the White House Counsels Office?'

They said they also wanted to speak with her about Donald Trump's response to the insurrection. They referenced a tweet Donald Trump sent at 2:24 that day where he said Pence 'didn't have the courage' to do what needed to be done.

'We are particularly interested in discussions inside the White House and with the President before and after his 2:24 p.m. tweet. Testimony obtained by the Select Committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill,' the panel wrote to Ivanka.

'Testimony obtained by the Select Committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill.'

And, they noted, that White House staff 'recognized that might be' the one person who could get Donald Trump to act.

The panel also noted Kellogg told them he had 'very strongly' recommended that Trump not do a live television statement on that day 'because press conferences get out of control and you want to control the message.'

'Apparently, certain White House staff believed that a live unscripted press appearance by the President in the midst of the Capitol Hill violence could have made the situation worse,' the panel noted.

President Trump ultimately filmed a video statement from the Rose Garden that was posted online. He reporatedly had to do multiple takes to get one staff would post.

'The Select Committee understands that multiple takes of the video were filmed but not utilized. Information in the Select possession suggests that the President failed in the initial clips to ask rioters to leave the Capitol. The Select Committee has sought copies of those unused clips from the National Archives,' the panel notes.

'You have knowledge bearing directly on the president's actions or inactions on January 6th and his state of mind as the violent attack occurred at the Capitol. The Select Committee would very much appreciate your voluntary cooperation with its investigation on these matters,' the panel wrote to Ivanka.

The committee also revealed its investigating whether or not President Trump ordered the National Guard to respond.

'The Committee has identified no evidence that President Trump issued any order, or took any other action, to deploy the guard that day. Nor does it appear that President Trump made any calls at all to the Department of Justice or any other law enforcement agency to request deployment of their personnel to the Capitol,' the panel wrote, saying they wanted to discuss that issue with her.

Finally, the panel said they wished to speak to Ivanka about efforts by White House staff and others - including Fox News host Sean Hannity - to have President Trump stop making statements claiming the election was 'stolen' from him.

They cite a text exchange between Hannity and then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who has already testified to the panel, where Hannity wrote to her: 'Key now. No more crazy people.'

'Yes, 100%,' McEnany wrote back.

'The Select Committee would like to discuss this effort after January 6th to persuade President Trump not to associate himself with certain people, and to avoid further discussion regarding election fraud allegations,' the panel wrote to Ivanka.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (center), chair of the select committee investigating the January 6 attack, said the panel wants to hear from Ivanka Trump

Jared Kushner in Miami on Wednesday - Ivanka and Jared moved to Florida after the end of the Trump administration

Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the panel, hinted to ABC News last month that Ivanka was on the list of people the panel wanted to speak with.

'I think it's also important for the American people to understand how dangerous Donald Trump was,' Cheney said.

'We know [House GOP] Leader [Kevin] McCarthy was pleading with him to do that. We know members of his family, we know his daughter,' she continued. 'We have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence.'

The House panel won a major victory on Wednesday evening, when the Supreme Court refused a request from Donald Trump to block the release of White House records concerning January 6th, basically rejecting the former president's claim of executive privilge.

The request from the committee tops off a difficult week for Ivanka Trump.

A court document filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James says Ivanka Trump was given the option to buy a luxury NYC apartment from the Trump Organization for a third of the value listed on company financial statements.

Ivanka had an option to purchase the Park Avenue apartment for $8.5 million, according to the court order seeking testimony filed by the AG's office, after leasing it on 'extraordinarily favorable terms'.

But her father Donald Trump, on his Statement of Financial Condition over several years listed values of the apartment at between $20,820,000 and $25,000,000, according to the document.

The revelations about the lucrative perk for the president's daughter comes in a sweeping court filing filed by the AG as she seeks to secure testimony and obtain further documentation in a probe of what the AG says in an extraordinary public statement are 'fraudulent and misleading' valuations of major business assets.

It all comes at time when the former president is positioning himself for a potential run to try to recapture the White House  while blasting the probe as a politically motivated witch hunt. It threatens to ensnare not only Trump and his top executives  some who have served his family for decades  but the adult children he relied on both at his business enterprise and while serving in the White House.

The same document reveals that her brother, Eric Trump, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 500 times over six hours of testimony  amid a parallel criminal investigation.

They are among the allegations of accounting tricks and unusual financial arrangements spelled out in court documents filed by James' office seeking to compel testimony by the former president, Ivanka and Eric Trump in their civil investigation of Trump's real estate and hospitality empire.

James' office mentions the apartment in a filing that alleges the Trump Organization pumped up valuations when communicating with lenders, but provided low-ball estimates to tax authorities.

Ivanka Trump had an option to purchase a Park Avenue apartment leased to her by her father's company for $8.5 million, according to the court order seeking testimony filed by the AG's office. But the firm listed its value as high as $25 million in financial statements

Park Avenue Apartment with 'extraordinarily favorable terms'

The AG argues the president's daughter, who served as an unpaid White House aide when Trump was in office, should have to testify.

'Given Ivanka Trump's involvement in these and other matters, her testimony plainly bears a reasonable relation to the matters under investigation by OAG and must be compelled,' according to the filing.

It states her 'knowledge' of the financial statements, and says Ivanka 'also has relevant information regarding the valuation of assets contained therein. In particular, she was able to ask for and access financial summaries and projections covering properties or businesses in the Trump Organization portfolio.'

According to a Trump Organization website, the building is 'idyllically situated near Central Park, world-renowned restaurants, shopping and some of Manhattans most prestigious schools'

Ivanka had an option to purchase the Park Avenue apartment for $8.5 million, according to the court order seeking testimony filed by the AG's office, after leasing it on 'extraordinarily favorable terms'. Ivanka is seen in the apartment with two of her kids

Ivanka's father father Donald Trump, on his Statement of Financial Condition over several years listed values of the apartment at between $20,820,000 and $25,000,000, according to the document. Ivanka and Jared's kids are seen in the apartment

The apartment had room enough for a Steinway baby grand. Ivanka was later given the option to buy a larger unit

Ivanka tweeted images from her apartment on Instagram

New court filings allege complex schemes to overstate the value of company holdings

The highlighted section of the document alleges Ivanka was given the option to purchase the property at a cheaper price

Ivanka paid 'a monthly rental rate that was a mere fraction per square foot of what other penthouse tenants paid in the building,' according to the filing.

She rented the apartment at Trump Park Avenue beginning in 2011, according to the filing.

The company's 2011 and 2012 financial statements were at 'approximately two and a half times as much as the option price, with no disclosure of the existence of the option.' In 2013, it was valued at $25 million  'more than three times the option price, again, with no disclosure of the existence of the option.'

In 2015, Ivanka got an option to purchase a larger penthouse unit at in the same building for $14 million.

According to a Trump Organization web site, the building is 'idyllically situated near Central Park, world-renowned restaurants, shopping and some of Manhattans most prestigious schools, houses over 120 luxury condominiums in one of the Upper East Sides most coveted locations.'

'Refitted with a world-class selection of Italian fixtures, polished hardwoods, and marble finishes, each detail of Trump Park Avenue is meticulously adorned with a sense of sophistication and classicism.'

The New York's attorney general is seeking a court order to force Donald Trump and his two oldest children to testify in their fraud case, stating that she has 'uncovered significant evidence' of financial misconduct.

James has since March 2019 been looking into the tax affairs of the Trump Organization, after former Trump confidante Michael Cohen shed light on its business practices.

James is probing at whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets in a bid to claim tax relief.
At least 20 current members of the US military signed up for the anti-government Oath Keepers militia at some point since its founding in 2009 - with 14 of them using their official military emails - despite Defense Department rules against participating in 'extremist activities.'

Overall, 81 people signed up for the Oath Keepers while in uniform, according to a USA Today analysis of a list released last fall by the nonprofit whistleblower collective DDoSecrets.

The Defense Department has known of members' involvement in extremist groups for decades, but it has relied on a policy that only banned them from actively advocating for them. The rules were beefed up in December in response to the January 6 Capitol riot.

Some say they signed up for the group at gun shows or other events without knowing what it stood for. Others touted their military training, such as shooting and recruiting, in case the group had to defend the Constitution against an attack.

In all, 19 members or associates of the Oath Keepers face charges of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding by traveling to Washington to stop lawmakers from declaring Joe Biden winner of the 2020 presidential election.

On Friday, Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes appeared in court on multiple charges, including seditious conspiracy, for his role in the riot.

A Defense Department spokesman said the department doesn't 'tolerate extremists in our ranks' and that individual supervisors can use 'the full range of administrative and disciplinary actions, including administrative separation or appropriate criminal action' to deal with any such links.

At least 20 current members of the military have signed up for the anti-government Oath Keepers militia since its inception, according to a USA Today analysis of leaked data

Members of the group, which believes that it may have to act violently if the government seizes its citizens' guns, have been arrested for taking part in the January 6 Capitol riot (above)

Anthony Guadagnino (left), a recruiter for the New York Army National Guard, said that joining was a mistake. US Marine William Potting (right) said he thought the Oath Keepers were a pro-Constitution veterans' group and that he unsubscribed after getting too many emails

The Department of Defense says it 'doesn't tolerate' extremists and that any discipline is handled by direct supervisors within the members' branches. Above, troops salute President Biden's motorcade on Inauguration Day last year

The Department of Defense routed DailyMail.com to the individual military branches for comment. The branches did not immediately respond to questions asking if the 20 service members will be disciplined.

Navy spokeswoman Priscilla Rodriguez told USA Today: 'Sailor participation in supremacist or extremist activities is directly contrary to professionalism standards which all Sailors are expected to follow. We will investigate reports of misconduct and those found in violation of the Navy's policies will be held accountable.'

In October, the newspaper confirmed that 40 current and former law enforcement officials have also signed up with the group based on the same leaked list from DDoSecrets.

Some service members signed up for the Oath Keepers with their official .mil email addresses.

Army veteran Jason Kobylarz, who signed up for the group in 2010, said this was probably because they weren't tech savvy and only had that one email at the time.

The Oath Keepers were founded in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2009.

The group 'claims to defend the Constitution' and is 'based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy Americans liberties,' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Members of the Oath Keepers believe that the government may at one point plan to seize all Americans' guns.

'The groups' fears around government overreach are most clearly exemplified in the group's list of 10 "Orders We Will Not Obey"  a compendium of perceived but unrealized threats from the government. Examples of these orders include the government imposing martial law, confiscating citizens guns and forcing Americans into concentration camps,' according to the SPLC.

The center had previously sent the Department of Defense a leaked membership list featuring members of the military back in 2018, USA Today reports.

Joshua Hockman, a fire control specialist with the Army National Guard in Florida, said he hadn't been involved with the Oath Keepers in almost 10 years and never finished paying his dues

Some members, like Coast Guard veteran Matthew Rupp (left) signed up with their official military email addresses. Others, like Army veteran Jeremiah Pulaski (right) touted their skills gained in the military

Susan Corke, the intelligence project director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, says the Oath Keepers purposely target military and law enforcement.

'Their ultimate goal is a hard-right ethnostate, and they're prepared to take up arms to do so, and they're actively preparing,' Corke said. 'The tactical expertise of military and law enforcement is very, very attractive to the Oath Keepers.'

Jeremiah Pulaski, an Army veteran living in Arizona, said: 'I'm not sure Im an Infantry man so Im limited. But if needed Ill get the job done.'

Matthew Vanderboegh has served in the US Army Reserve since 2000 and signed up for the Oath Keepers in 2010. He wrote in a form that he could help with 'recruitment' and 'passing out fliers.' Vanderboegh is also the son of the co-founder of the Three Percenters, another far-right militia.

'This is a really, really serious problem,' said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and former head of the Southern Poverty Law Centers Intelligence Project. 'And time is of the essence.'

'Too many active-duty troops have been caught up in domestic terrorism investigations in recent years, and you just say the words "Timothy McVeigh," or "Eric Rudolph," and you realize what the dangers are of a white supremacist or other kind of extremist who's learned a lot in the military and then uses it against the American people'

The Oath Keepers' ultimate goal is a 'hard-right ethnostate,' one expert says. Above, Oath Keepers including founder Stewart Rhodes (left) cheer at a Donald Trump rally in 2019

The Oath Keepers were founded in 2009 in Las Vegas. Many of the current and former military members who joined did so during that time. Above, Oath Keeper are seen at the Jan. 6 riot

Scott Wassmer, a Coast Guardsman from Wisconsin who left the service in 2015, wrote: 'If the time comes I will execute my duty as a III Percenter and Oath Keeper.'

Vincent DiCello, a former Navy pilot, touted his 'electronic warfare background' and recruiting training' and called himself an 'expert shot' with pistols and rifles.

Some of the members contacted by USA Today said they joined or signed up to receive emails without really knowing what the group was about.

Four of the 20 current service members said they signed up a decade ago and aren't actively involved.

Sgt. Anthony Guadagnino, a recruiter for the New York Army National Guard in Troy, New York, said it was a mistake.

'I thought it was patriotic,' he told USA Today. 'It's not.'

William Potting, a Marine, said he saw a post about the Oath Keepers on Facebook in 2013 in a group for supporters of former Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign.

'It looked like a veterans' group that was pro-Constitution,' he said. 'After awhile, the emails were just junk mail. They were constantly sending me emails, so I unsubscribed.'

Charles Martin, who's in the Navy, said the owner of an Army surplus store gave him a flier to fill out for a chance a framed copy of the US Constitution, similar to the one on the wall of the store.

'They kept emailing me and I just moved their crap to my spam folder and never dealt with them,' Martin told USA Today.

Several accused Oath Keeper rioters are seen in this picture released by the Department of Justice taken on January 6

New Department of Defense policy goes further in preventing service members from associating with extremist groups, banning them from fundraising and recruiting for the groups, liking or sharing their posts on social media or displaying any related paraphernalia

Joshua Hockman, a fire control specialist with the Army National Guard in Florida, said he hadn't been involved in almost 10 years and never finished paying his dues.

A longtime DoD policy prevented service members from advocating for extremism but not from being affiliated with it. The policy was updated in December.

'As a result of the January 6 attack and the number of military service members and veterans and law enforcement officers (who were involved in the attack), I think theres a growing recognition that there needs to be the due diligence done on individuals who are going to have positions of trust within the government,' said Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California who has been sounding the alarm on the issue of extremism in the military since at least 2019.

The new policy prevents members from advocating or engaging in 'unlawful force or violence' in the name of an extremist group.

It also bans them from fundraising and recruiting for the groups, liking or sharing their posts on social media or displaying any related paraphernalia, such as logos and badges.

Matthew Rupp and Michael Marion, both veterans of the Coast Guard, signed up with their official military email addresses, as did Cody Meredith from the Navy. They all told USA Today they didn't know much about the group when they joined nearly a decade ago.

Rupp said he sent $15 in 2013 after he saw a magazine ad about disaster relief.

'Once I got the pamphlet, I realized it was a load of horses***. It was not as described,' he said.

Daniel Medoff, 38, was in the Army when he signed up in 2009 after a tour in Iraq and working at a hospital in Germany. An ad for the Oath Keepers 'popped up' online.

'My heart wasn't really in it, it was just more the thrill of it  that addiction of feeling like I could belong somewhere,' he said.

Stewart Rhodes, shown in his booking photo on Thursday, appeared in court in Plano, Texas, on Friday to plead not guilty to seditious conspiracy

Overall, 19 members or associates of the Oath Keepers face charges of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding in the January 6 riot.

Founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, 56, and Edward Vallejo, 63, of Phoenix, Arizona, were arrested on Thursday.

The others who were charged were already facing criminal charges related to the attack.

Those include Thomas Caldwell, 67, of Berryville, Virginia; Joseph Hackett, 51, of Sarasota, Florida; Kenneth Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida; Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama; Kelly Meggs, 52, of Dunnellon, Florida; Roberto Minuta, 37, of Prosper, Texas; David Moerschel, 44, of Punta Gorda, Florida; Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia and Jessica Watkins, 39, of Woodstock, Ohio.

Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Uriah Orland said in a statement: 'We do not tolerate extremists in our ranks or any extremism activity. Any individual or individuals we identify who have extremist behaviors or extremist tendencies are addressed immediately.

When we become aware of these individuals or their activities, we refer them to appropriate authorities.'

He added that commanders can use 'the full range of administrative and disciplinary actions, including administrative separation or appropriate criminal action.'

At least 106 of the 753 people charged in the January 6 riot were part of a far-right or extremist organization, USA Today reports.

In 2006, the SPLC warned then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the military had 'relaxed standards to prohibit racist extremists from serving in the armed forces' in its quest to recruit for Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2009, agents at the Department of Homeland Security published a report warning that extremists were attempting to recruit current and former members of the military, but it was buried under Republican pressure.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors released photos of the Oath Keepers wheeling in bins of weapons, ammunitions and supplies to a hotel just outside of Washington, DC, the day before the January 6 riot.

Edward Vallejo, 63, helped coordinate the far-right militia's 'quick reaction forces,' which was ready to show up to the Capitol fully armed at a moment's notice if directed to do so by their colleagues on the ground, prosecutors say.

Edward Vallejo, 63, wheels bins with weapons, ammunition, and a month of supplies into a Comfort Inn just miles from the Capitol the day before the January 6 riot

Prosecutors say members of the Oath Keepers far-right militia waited at the hotel on January 6 and were ready to show up to the Capitol fully armed at a moment's notice

The day of the riot, Vallejo texted someone: 'Vallejo back at hotel and outfitted. Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist,' he wrote. Minutes later, he added, 'QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word'

He and others waited at the Comfort Inn Ballston in Arlington, Virginia - about seven miles from the Capitol - with 'weapons, ammunition, and essential supplies to last 30 days,' prosecutors said in a Tuesday filing in US District Court in Arizona as they urged a judge to keep Vallejo detained before trial.

The judge is set to consider the government's request Thursday afternoon.

On January 6 at 2.24pm, Vallejo messaged a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

'Vallejo back at hotel and outfitted. Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist,' he wrote. Minutes later, he added, 'QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word'

Vallejo and his team ultimately didn't have to bring the weapons to the Capitol since the group was able to breach the building without them.
Former President Donald Trump defended his infamous January 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as 'perfect' on Thursday after a state district attorney formally requested a grand jury in her investigation into whether the ex-president and his allies tried to interfere in the 2020 vote count.

He suggested such a panel should instead investigate 'large scale voter fraud' in the Peach State, despite there being no evidence of widespread fraud in the last presidential race.

'My phone call to the Secretary of State of Georgia was perfect, perhaps even more so than my call with the Ukrainian President, if that's possible,' Trump said, recalling his phone conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky that was at the center of his first impeachment.

'I didn't say anything wrong in the call, made while I was President on behalf of the United States of America, to look into the massive voter fraud which took place in Georgia.'

Leaked recordings of the January 2, 2020 phone call feature Trump telling Raffensperger, in charge of running Georgia's election, 'What I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.'

The ex-president had lost the state to Biden by a razor thin 0.2 percent margin.

He said on Thursday: 'What this Civil Special Grand Jury should be looking into is not my perfect phone call, but the large scale voter fraud that took place in Georgia. Then they would be doing a great job for the people. No more political witch hunts!'

Trump and his ally Senator Lindsey Graham are at the center of a 2020 election interference probe by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis

Today Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury.

She wrote in the letter that her office 'has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia's administration of elections in 2020, including the State's election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.'

Willis has declined to speak about the specifics of her investigation, but in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month she confirmed that its scope includes -- but is not limited to -- the phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between US Senator Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the US attorney in Atlanta on January 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.

At one point during their January phone call Trump appeared to threaten Raffensperger after indirectly accusing him of ignoring potential election fraud.

'Thats a criminal, thats a criminal offense. And you cant let that happen. Thats a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer,' Trump had said.

Raffensperger told the Washington Post in November 2020 that Graham had called him shortly after the election to ask whether Georgia's signature-match requirement could fall prey to partisan actors who accept ballots without verifying their sign-offs.

Hours after Willis formally requested a grand jury for her investigation, Trump released a statement vehemently defending his January 2020 call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger

He said the South Carolina Republican also asked if it was possible to throw away all mail-in ballots, which largely went to Biden, in counties with high concentrations of mismatched signatures.

A Trump spokesman has previously dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated 'witch hunt.' Graham has also denied any wrongdoing.

Federal and state officials have repeatedly said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Georgia or elsewhere in the country during the 2020 election.

Willis' office has tried to interview multiple witnesses and gather evidence, but some witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate without a subpoena, she wrote in the letter to Brasher.

For example, Willis wrote in the letter that Raffensperger, whom she calls an 'essential witness,' has 'indicated that he will not participate in an interview or otherwise offer evidence until he is presented with a subpoena by my office.' A special grand jury would have the power to subpoena witnesses.

Raffensperger's office did not immediately respond to an email Thursday asking whether he would decline to participate without a subpoena.

Special grand juries, which are not used often in Georgia, can help in the investigation of complex matters. They do not have the power to return an indictment but can make recommendations to prosecutors on criminal prosecutions.

Willis said the special grand jury is needed because it can serve a term longer than a normal grand jury term.

It would also be able to focus on this investigation alone, allowing it to focus on the complex facts and circumstances. And having a special grand jury would mean that the regular seated grand jury wouldn't have to deal with this investigation in addition to their regular duties, Willis wrote.

She also asked that a superior court judge be appointed to assist and supervise the special grand jury in its investigation.

Willis, who took office in January 2021, sent letters to top elected officials in Georgia in February instructing them to preserve any records related to the general election, particularly any evidence of attempts to influence election officials.

The probe includes 'potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election's administration,' the letters said.

A November 2020 phone call between Raffensperger and Senator Lindsey Graham is also part of Willis' investigation

Willis, a longtime prosecutor, has repeatedly said that she's aware of the intense public interest in her investigation, but she's said she won't be rushed. She told the AP that a decision on whether to seek charges in the case could come in the first half of this year.

In her letter to Brasher, Willis said her office has learned that people who may have tried to influence Georgia's election have had contact with the secretary of state, the state attorney general and the US attorney's office in Atlanta. That means her office is the only one with the authority to investigate these matters that is not also a potential witness.

It's the second instance of legal peril for the former first family within just hours.

Earlier today Ivanka Trump, the ex-president's only daughter, was asked on Thursday to sit down with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, after reports that she had been in the White House and attempted to reason with her father while a mob was storming the United States Capitol.

And in New York, Trump, Ivanka and his oldest son Donald Trump Jr. are grappling with subpoenas in state Attorney General Letitia James' civil probe into possible tax fraud on the part of their family business.

In a Tuesday evening court filing, James accused the Trump Organization of 'fraudulent or misleading' representations of their real estate values in order to secure loans or other deals.

It's unclear when her team of prosecutors could launch a formal lawsuit against the Trumps, but this week's filing is the first time the Democratic attorney has levied such specific charges against them.
Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told the House January 6th Committee that former President Donald Trump held secret meetings in the days before the Capitol riot, according to a new report.

The panel has revealed an increasing interest in Trump's 'state of mind' on and leading up to Jan. 6th as it seeks to reconstruct the events around the Capitol riot.

Grisham, a longtime Trump aide who was part of his 2016 presidential campaign, was in a position to ascertain who was coming into and out of the White House at that time. She had transitioned to become chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump.

The panel's interview with Grisham was more productive than expected, sources told the Guardian, which reported Grisham said Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows scheduled the meetings, and former chief usher Timothy Harleth would waive guests into the meetings.

Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham spoke to the House Jan. 6th committee. She told the panel Trump held secret meetings leading up to Jan. 6th

She told the panel about meetings Trump held in the White House residence, located in the East Wing.

She also told the panel that Secret Service documents contained information about whether Trump ever intended to march to the Capitol following a rally near the White House, according to the report.

Grisham met with the panel Jan. 5th, telling reporters she 'cooperated fully' with the select committee.

Grisham quit her post on Jan. 6th, 2020, then wrote a tell-all book about her time with Trump.

The White House never released visitor logs for meetings that Trump or other officials held at the White House, making all meetings outside of those publicly announced  or foiled by spotters or leakers, in effect secret.

Investigators have long been interested in who Trump met with during that time. The panel last year asked the National Archives to hand over visitors' logs. The Archives for the first time started handing over information Wednesday night, following a Supreme Court ruling yesterday.

Reporters sometimes had to rely on lucky or chance sightings to find out what Trump was up to in the days after the election. Members of the media spotted 'Kraken' lawyer Sidney Powell, who promoted Trump's election overturn effort in the courts, was spotted at the White House in December 2020.

Grisham quit her post on Jan. 6th, 2020, the day Trump addressed a crowd at the White House before the riot, then wrote a tell-all book about her time with Trump

FILE - Sidney Powell, right, speaks next to former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, as members of President Donald Trump's legal team, during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington. Powell was spotted at the White House after the election, as she pushed 'Kraken' lawsuits in court

The panel is probing Trump's state of mind on Jan. 6th, the day of the Capitol riot

My Pillow CEO Michael Lindell is seen outside the door of the West Wing at the White House on Friday, Jan 15, 2021 in Washington, DC

'My Pillow' CEO Mike Lindell was spotted at the White House Jan. 15th, after Grisham had left.

Trump was surrounding himself with ultra-loyalists in the days after the networks called the election for Biden, as a series of courts ruled against his allies' claims of fraud.

Attorney General Bill Barr resigned before Christmas, and Trump maneuvered new officials into key agencies in the final weeks of his administration.

On Thursday, the Jan. 6th Committee requested information from former first daughter Ivanka Trump. The panel quotes Fox News host Sean Hannity in a text exchange with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany beginning Jan. 7th, 2020.

He recommended the White House keep Trump away from 'certain people.'

'Key now. No more crazy people,' he wrote. McEnany responded: 'Yes 100%,' he said.
A host of major companies are opting for 'hybrid' and 'blended' working models in a bid to coax their employees back into the office following the lifting of working from home guidance today.

While major banking firms said they would be 'fully' re-opening their workspaces, the likes of HSBC and JP Morgan said they would be maintaining their 'flexible' working arrangements which have proven popular among employees since the onset of the Covid pandemic.

However some said they would be encouraging more workers to come into the office - and more often - in what is hoped to provide a boost to the many city centre businesses which rely on commuter trade.

Others business leaders urged the government to bring in train fare discounts and sophisticated marketing campaigns to get workers commuting again, with one London retail boss saying employees need to be 'encouraged and motivated' to return to their desks - and not 'simply ordered'.

The comment appeared to be a thinly-veiled criticism of Boris Johnson, who today ordered Government staff to return to offices 'as soon as possible' in the hope they would 'set an example' to the rest of the country after WFH was scrapped as part of the lifting of Plan B Covid measures.

But Whitehall and Central London seemed quiet Thursday as rush hour morning traffic increased by just one per cent compared to yesterday and only six per cent compared to a week earlier.

It came as none of the major companies surveyed by MailOnline today said they would be reverting back to the old days of fully-packed offices any time soon.

While major banking firms said they would be 'fully' re-opening their offices, the likes of HSBC and JP Morgan said they would be maintaining their 'flexible' working arrangements which have proven popular among employees since the onset of the Covid pandemic

Business leaders urged the government to bring in train fare discounts and sophisticated marketing campaigns to get workers commuting again (Pictured: The London underground on January 20 is a far cry from its pre-pandemic busy-ness despite WFH being lifted)

It follows a YouGov poll of more than 1,600 workers for the BBC in September which found that more than half would prefer to work at home at least some of the time - while 70 per cent believed full offices would never return.

The popularity of hybrid working seems to be holding sway over large firms, who say they will continue flexible working arrangements to suit staff's needs - although some said they would be encouraging more workers to come into the office.

Vodafone told MailOnline it would be encouraging staff 'who work under our blended working model to come in to the office when they need' from January 31, while HSBC revealed it is 'making arrangements for colleagues to return to the office as part of their hybrid working arrangements from today'.

MailOnline understands Google's working from home guidance is staying the same until the end of January, while JP Morgan is likely to revert to how things were before Plan B, when everyone spent at least some days in the office every week, on a team by team basis.

Fidelity International CEO Anne Richards told Bloomberg: 'We will be encouraging more people to come into the office... I'm looking forward to being physically back to the office from next week.'

Meanwhile Goldman Sachs Group, Citigroup, and Man Group Plc will also ask more staff to return to their desks - while KPMG is encouraging client-facing staff in England to come back for at least two days as week, a policy it also hopes to introduce in Scotland and Wales.

A spokesperson for Man Group told Bloomberg it expects staff to increase their time in the office, as did Citigroup, which told employees to come in at least three days per week.

'We are now free to gather in our offices, without restriction, where we are better able to generate the energy and collaborative spirit on which Citi thrives,' EMEA Chief Executive Officer David Livingstone and U.K. head James Bardrick said in an email to staff yesterday.

While it is not a return to pre-pandemic capacities, a fresh influx of workers in the high-earning banking sector will be a welcome relief to city centre businesses who rely on their rush hour commuter trade.

Meanwhile, Chris Hirst, global head of creative at French advertising agency Havas which has 11,500 staff worldwide, told BBC Radio 4 that his company will be 'fully reopening' its London office from Monday - before hinting that WFH may be available to those who want it, adding: 'We'll be talking to those people individually and finding solutions that work for them.'

Zurich insurance, which employs 4,500 people in the UK, said it is 'excited' to welcome staff back to its offices, but chief operating officer John Keppel said most staff are set to continue hybrid working.

A YouGov poll of more than 1,600 workers for the BBC in September which found that more than half would prefer to work at home at least some of the time - while 70 per cent believed full offices would never return (Pictured: Workers commute to work in London Bridge on January 20, 2022)

Whitehall and Central London seemed quiet Thursday as rush hour morning traffic increased by just one per cent compared to yesterday and only six per cent compared to a week earlier (Pictured: Empty streets in Westminster on January 20, 2022)

He told the BBC's Wake up to Money: 'We had a flexible working policy prior to the pandemic, but [Covid] meant suddenly everybody was experiencing the benefits and some of the downfalls and we've learnt a lot. Most of our employees will be operating some form of flexible working going forward.'

Deloitte appears to be following suit, as a spokesman explained: 'We continue to follow government guidance across the devolved nations. Deloitte's offices in England are fully open and available to our people.

'Our hybrid working model in the UK means that our people aren't required to be in the office for a set number of days and we have given our people the choice to work where, when and how they wish in the long-term.'

And a Sainsbury's spokesman told MailOnline: 'Our offices are open and our colleagues continue to work flexibly. We think colleagues will enjoy going back to the office to collaborate as well as being able to work at home if they want.'

However Lord Stuart Rose, chairman of Asda and former boss of Marks and Spencer and Argos, hailed the decision to scrap WFH guidance.

'I cannot believe we have a nation sitting at home now cowered by this government, because they are fearful of this virus,' he said.

'It is something we have to now live with.'

The change in WFH guidance is good news for city centre businesses, particularly bars, restaurants or cafes, which rely on trade from commuters which has almost completely dried up in recent months.

The City Pub Group said Thursday it expected 'consumer confidence and consequently demand' to grow once workers return to their offices, while the Gym Group said it expected demand to 'show further improvement'.

Matthew Fell, the CBI's chief policy director said: 'Blanket work-from-home guidance has had significant downsides for city centre trade in sectors such as hospitality and retail.'

But to get those vital customers back, business leaders urged the Government to encourage Britons to start commuting again by introducing a limited period of train fare discounts and by launching a marketing campaign to remind people of the benefits of working in cities like London.

Business groups in the capital have also called on staff in Government departments to lead the way, saying a return of civil servants would be 'very positive' and they would 'like them to return to the city in greater numbers'.

Alexander Jan, chairman of the Central District Alliance, which represents businesses in normally-bustling areas of the capital such as Holborn and Bloomsbury, told MailOnline: 'People need to be encouraged and motivated, not simply ordered, to come back into central London.

'Seeing others returning, including the civil service, would be very positive, but importantly all workers need reassurance that their journeys back into the office will be as reliable as possible.

What major companies are doing about returning to the office in England VODAFONE A spokesman told MailOnline: 'From Monday 31 January, we will, in England, be returning to our working approach that we followed prior to the December restrictions. This means we will be encouraging those team members who work under our blended working model to come in to the office when they need, to connect and collaborate. At present the vast majority of our employees are at home, but our offices have remained available should people need to come in for any reason.' SAINSBURY'S A spokesman told MailOnline: 'Our offices are open and our colleagues continue to work flexibly. We think colleagues will enjoy going back to the office to collaborate as well as being able to work at home if they want.' MORRISONS A spokesman told MailOnline: 'We'll be waiting for official government guidance and will be able to give a clearer view once we have reviewed.' HSBC 'We're making arrangements for colleagues to return to the office as part of their hybrid working arrangements from today.' GOOGLE MailOnline understands working from home guidance is staying the same until the end of January for now. JP MORGAN MailOnline understands the bank is likely to revert to how things were before Plan B, when everyone spent at least some days in the office every week, depending on a team by team basis. Only 15 to 20 per cent of staff in England have been in the office recently, but before Plan B it was more than 50 per cent. HAVAS Chris Hirst, global head of creative at French advertising agency Havas which has 11,500 staff worldwide, said it will be 'fully reopening' its London office from Monday. He told the BBC's Today programme: 'We will take the same approach as we did last September. Many of our employees really do want to come back into the office, but there are some people who are nervous and we don't have a one size fits all approach to that. We'll be talking to those people individually and finding solutions that work for them.' ZURICH The insurance firm employs 4,500 in the UK and is 'excited' to welcome staff back to its offices, but chief operating officer John Keppel said most staff are set to continue hybrid working. He told the BBC's Wake up to Money: 'We had a flexible working policy prior to the pandemic, but [Covid] meant suddenly everybody was experiencing the benefits and some of the downfalls and we've learnt a lot. Most of our employees will be operating some form of flexible working going forward.' DELOITTE A Deloitte spokesman said: 'We continue to follow government guidance across the devolved nations. Deloitte's offices in England are fully open and available to our people. Our hybrid working model in the UK means that our people aren't required to be in the office for a set number of days and we have given our people the choice to work where, when and how they wish in the long-term.' Advertisement

'There should be more security in funding for our transport networks, ensuring that train service levels are maintained and perhaps the introduction of incentives like half-price sales on season tickets for six months, to help people shift their habits for the wider good.'

Ruth Duston, the chief executive of the South Westminster Business Alliance, said seeing the return of civil servants would not be enough to re-energise the workforce alone.

She told MailOnline: 'We have London's largest concentration of civil servants and government departments in Whitehall and Victoria, and would of course like them to return to the city in greater numbers, but this alone won't reenergise the capital.

'This recovery will be driven by the private sector working with public sector partners to make London an attractive city that workers want to return to.

'A strong message of support from the Government, with them championing the UK's only global city, would show great leadership as the economic bounce back begins again.'

Meanwhile Hannah Essex, co-executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce, said today: 'We believe a hybrid way of working is here to stay in some form and Government must continue to work with councils, businesses and communities on new ways to make our high streets and city centres thrive again.'

In terms of the government workforce, when pressed by MailOnline if staff have returned to the office, a Home Office spokesman confirmed he was still WFH.

He refused to say if he has received an email from senior mandarins telling civil servants to come back to Whitehall.

He added that guidance throughout the pandemic had explicitly discouraged civil servants from 'coming into the office under any circumstances'.

It comes after one Tory adviser told MailOnline that they had been into two Whitehall departments this week and found them almost deserted, saying: 'I saw four people while I was in one building. They need to be much tougher.'

The Department of Health and Social Care refused to say if staff have returned to the office. A spokesman from the FDA union representing civil servants did not know if mandarins had been instructed to come back in.

And Health Secretary Sajid Javid said his department could not get all their staff in because there is not enough space in their offices.

Asked if he would have 100 per cent of civil servants back in the Department of Health this morning, he told Times Radio: 'No, because I didn't even have 100 per cent before that guidance, because one challenge I have in my department is that we've had to increase the size of the department in the pandemic and we don't have space for everyone.

'We don't have a situation where we have 100 per cent at any time, but in general people that were working from home during Plan B, they are starting to slowly come back, and we want to do that like any employer in a safe way possible, so plans are being put in place now so they can start coming back into work, work from their desks, if that's what they were doing before.'

Earlier today, FDA general secretary Dave Penman tweeted: 'It's insulting because the PM said 'back to work' when everyone's continued to work hard whether from home or the office. And it's a strange world when Tory ministers feel able to lecture private enterprise on how to run their businesses.'

A survey by the FDA one year ago found 97 per cent of civil servants want to retain the option of working from home after the pandemic ends, and one senior minister said last October that some were not returning because they 'just want to save their lunch and train fares'.

In addition, last September it emerged Treasury civil servants would be allowed to work from home indefinitely. Each government department can make its own decisions on how to manage hybrid working.

Mr Johnson said WFH guidance would be dropped immediately and rules on masks in schools would also be scrapped from today.

Other restrictions including compulsory face coverings on public transport or in shops and Covid passes for entry to nightclubs and large events will end next Thursday.

And the legal requirement for people with Covid to isolate will also be allowed to lapse when the regulations expire on March 24 - possibly even earlier.
Alexei Navalny's team has released a picture they claim shows a pole-dancing room inside Vladimir Putin's alleged 1 billion Black Sea palace.

The room had previously been pictured in computer images based on leaked detailed plans of the property, released by the jailed opposition leader.

But now Navalny's team claim to have found thousands of actual photographs of the palace confirming a 'striptease' room known as a 'hookah' with a stage and performer's pole.

Alexei Navalny's team has released a picture they claim shows a pole-dancing room inside Vladimir Putin's alleged 1 billion Black Sea palace

The room had previously been pictured in computer images based on leaked detailed plans of the property, released by the jailed opposition leader

'The striptease hall, hookah, call it what you want, really exists,' says a commentary with a video about the pictures. 'And it looks much worse than we could imagine.'

A computer generated image showing how the Navalny team had imagined the pole-dancing boudoir was released a year ago, based on leaked plans which also included a casino and 'aqua disco'.

The photograph now shows what they claim is the striptease room in reality inside the palace when it was still under construction.

'The stage is littered with pillows,' said the commentary.

A pulsating light appears above and behind where a dancer would perform.

'We don't even know how to describe it. A portal? A silhouette of a temple dome?'

Other images show Putin's alleged bedroom, a second bedroom and his office, and as well as a swimming pool, they claim.

Navalny's team claim to have found thousands of actual photographs of the palace (pictured) confirming a 'striptease' room known as a 'hookah' with a stage and performer's pole

Other images show Putin's alleged bedroom, a second bedroom and his office, and as well as a swimming pool, they claim

Pictured: A large room with grand ceilings is shown in pictures released by Navalny's team

The double-headed eagle symbol of Russia is found throughout the palace, appearing to give it an official seal.

Amid controversy over the palace stoked by Putin enemy Navalny, a year ago oligarch Arkady Rotenberg denied it belonged to the president and said he owned the sprawling clifftop property overlooking the Black Sea.

Billionaire Rotenberg is Putin's former judo sparring partner and perhaps closest friend from childhood.

At the time the tycoon explained: 'This is a stunning place. We would like to build an apart-hotel there, this is why it has so many rooms.'

He told the media without going into detail that he had managed to 'become a beneficiary' of the well-guarded property.

The high security palace reportedly includes a '16-storey underground complex' compared with the lair of a James Bond villain.

It was also described as 'a whole anthill in the rock under the house'.

This grab taken on January 25, 2021 of an handout video of the Alexey Navalny Youtube Channel shows an aerial view of a property, located along Russia's southern Black Sea, that Navalny claimes is owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Moscow Mayor at the Kremlin in Moscow, on January 20, 2022

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny looks at a camera while speaking from a prison via a video link, provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, during a court session in Petushki, Vladimir region, about 75 miles east of Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022

An engineer-turned-whistleblower who reportedly worked on the construction - named only as Viktor - thought of the palace as a 'national treasure'

He suggested the underground passageways buried in the rock were more ingenious than Dr No's bunker.

The palace designs included on the eighth subterranean floor 'a balcony - literally a loggia hanging over the sea' built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tasting from the palace stocks, he said.

It is, however, far from clear that Putin has ever lived in the palace and a year ago it appeared to be undergoing a reconstruction.

The Kremlin has denied that it is the president's private home.

Lawyer, anti-corruption campaigner and protest leader Navalny - seen as Putin's enemy number one - is in jail but is seen in the West as a political prisoner.
The former couple became embroiled in a family dispute, centring on a child

The couple split and he quit as an MP in 2018 after sending sexts to a barmaid

A former Conservative minister found to have raped and physically abused his ex-wife has been told by a High Court judge he cannot see his child for the time being.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot overturned a ruling by a lower-ranking family court judge allowing Andrew Griffiths, who was MP for Burton, to have 'direct contact', meaning face-to-face contact, with the child he shares with his ex-wife Kate.

The judge ruled that the order for direct contact should be 'set aside' and would be reconsidered at a later stage.

It comes after Mr Griffiths, 51, was found to have pressurised Ms Griffiths, who is the current Tory MP for Burton, into engaging in sexual activity, and used 'coercive and controlling behaviour', Judge Elizabeth Williscroft concluded in December.

The couple split in 2018 when it emerged that he had been sexting two barmaid constituents, sending over 2,000 explicit messages. He was forced to quit as a minister after the revelations of the texts in July 2018.

Mr Griffiths, a former small business minister, and his ex-wife have since become embroiled in an ongoing family court dispute, centred on a child.

Ms Griffiths had raised concern about the amount of contact Mr Griffiths should have with their child - and made a series of allegations about the way he had treated her when they were married.

Judge Williscroft had ruled that Mr Griffiths could have 'direct contact' with the youngster, but Mrs Justice Arbuthnot overturned the ruling on Thursday.

Andrew Griffiths, who was found to have raped and physically abused his ex-wife Kate (both pictured), has been told by a High Court judge he cannot see his child for the time being

Mrs Griffiths had appealed against the ruling made by Judge Williscroft, with her barrister Charlotte Proudman telling Mrs Justice Arbuthnot that Judge Williscroft was 'wrong to order direct contact'.

She argued the judge had failed to 'consider the short, medium, and long-term harm of contact on the mother and the child', and failed to consider Mr Griffiths' 'capacity to appreciate the effect of past domestic abuse'.

Ms Griffiths also appealed against Judge Williscroft's decision that she should share the costs of using a contact centre, where Mr Griffiths would see the child under supervision, with her ex-husband.

Ms Proudman told Mrs Justice Arbuthnot that Judge Williscroft was 'wrong' to say that Ms Griffiths, a 'victim of rape', should 'share the costs of supervised contact with her rapist'.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, who considered Ms Griffiths' appeal at a hearing in October, ruled that Judge Williscroft's order for direct contact should be 'set aside' - and said it would be reconsidered at a later stage in proceedings.

She indicated that, if a judge decided in future that direct contact should take place, the issue relating to payment of the costs of contact should also be reconsidered.

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot overturned a ruling by a family court judge allowing Mr Griffiths (pictured with Kate) to have 'direct contact', meaning face-to-face contact, with the child

Mrs Justice Arbuthnot said a judge would have to decide whether the case fell into a 'wholly exceptional' category in relation to contact costs.

The judge said: 'The order for direct contact is set aside. The order that the mother pay ... contact costs is set aside.'

During the ongoing family dispute, Ms Griffiths made a series of allegations about the way her ex-husband had treated her when they were married. They are now divorced.

She claimed that he raped her in her sleep and put his hands on her throat during their relationship. She has not made a complaint to police. Mr Griffiths 'strongly denied' the allegations.

Judge Williscroft concluded at an earlier stage of proceedings that Mr Griffiths raped and physically abused Ms Griffiths while they were married.

She made the ruling, on the balance of probabilities, at a private hearing after being asked to make findings of fact in November 2020. The findings were initially kept private but have now been made public.

Mr Griffiths had 'strongly denied' allegations made by Ms Griffiths - and denied rape.

The judge said it seemed to her that it had 'never crossed Andrew Griffiths' mind' that Ms Griffiths would not do what he liked her to do. She said Mr Griffiths had 'undermined' Ms Griffiths' 'self-esteem'.

He accepted that he had called Ms Griffiths 'fat and lazy'. The judge said Ms Griffiths had 'proved in her oral evidence to me' that Mr Griffiths 'did rape her when sexual intercourse took place'.

She said Ms Griffiths' allegations had been 'confirmed' by Mr Griffiths' 'responses'.

During a family court dispute, Ms Griffiths had raised concern about the amount of contact Mr Griffiths should have with their child - and made allegations about the way he had treated her

'Andrew Griffiths adamantly denied these allegations saying he had never had any form of sexual contact that was not consensual,' said Judge Williscroft. 'I could not accept there was sexual 'give and take' in their relationship.'

Ms Griffiths, who gave evidence behind a screen at court hearings so she could not see Mr Griffiths, had also given accounts of 'physical abuse'.

The judge said she found those accounts 'proved'.

She alleged that during an argument he knelt on her and put his hands on her throat, trying to strangle her. Mr Griffiths said no assault had taken place.

Judge Williscroft said she 'preferred' Ms Griffiths' account. The judge found that Mr Griffiths had pushed Mrs Griffiths when she was heavily pregnant.

She said there had been an argument about Mr Griffiths' 'continued wish' that Ms Griffiths should move to London with him.

Three appeal judges recently ruled that Judge Williscroft's findings could be made public after a 12-month legal fight by two media organisations - Tortoise and PA Media.

Ms Griffiths waived her right to anonymity and supported the fight by two journalists, saying publication would allow her to help constituents.

Mr Griffiths, 51, pressurised his ex-wife Griffiths into engaging in sexual activity, and used 'coercive and controlling behaviour', Judge Elizabeth Williscroft concluded in December

Mr Griffiths 'strongly denied' allegations made against him and argued that the family court judge's findings should not be made public.

He said the judge's findings should stay private in order to protect the child at the centre of the case.

Judges have ruled that neither the gender nor the name of the child can be revealed in media reports.

Mr Griffiths resigned as an MP in 2018 after a Sunday newspaper reported he sent 'depraved' messages to two constituents.

He demanded they send him something 'f****** filthy' and told them he would rather be 'licking naughty girls' instead of 'running the country'.

Mr Griffiths was said to have bombarded a 28-year-old barmaid and her friend with lewd comments over social media during a three-week period.

He also gave the pair 700 to and offered to rent out a flat so that they could hook up while demanding they send him something 'f****** filthy'.

Ms Griffiths stood against her disgraced husband when he tried to be reselected, and the local Tory party selected her as candidate and she won the constituency.
Students will be required to get weekly Rapid Antigen Tests while teachers will need to wear face masks as part of major changes to the classroom.

States and territories are finalising heir Covid-safe plans as students prepare to make a return to the classroom for the start of Term One.

NSW and Victoria are tipped to introduce strict Covid testing measures with students required to take an RAT as many as two times a week.

Victoria will also introduce a face mask mandate and distribute air purifiers across its classrooms. Students who test positive will need to go home, but classes will continue as normal.

Premier Daniel Andrews has also ruled out any return to remote learning.

Students will be required to get weekly Rapid Antigen Tests and wear a face mask as major changes are set to be rolled out across the classroom

Victoria will also introduce a face mask mandate and distribute air purifiers across its classrooms

Victoria has vowed to keep on track with reopening as scheduled with students to return to the classroom on January 31.

NSW students will return to school as planned on January 28.

Private school principals have been briefed by the Association of Independent Schools and told as much as 20 per cent of staff could be off sick at once at a single school due to rising Omicron infections.

The staff were told parents could volunteer to supervise those in the classroom while educators taught from home.

Those supervising parents won't be allowed to teach the students and would have to undergo child training programs.

More than 1,000 final-year university students and retired principals have already volunteered to be part of the back-up workforce to fill in for staff shortages.

Queensland and South Australia have pushed back the start of school to allow more children to get vaccinated.

Tasmanian schools will return on February 9 with rapid antigen tests and masks provided to teachers, and teachers will need to wear a mask indoors.

NSW and Victoria are tipped to introduce strict testing measures with students required to take an RAT as many as two times a week

NSW and Victoria have vowed to keep on track with reopening as scheduled, while Queensland and South Australia have pushed back the start of school to allow more children to get vaccinated

Major changes coming to classes States and territories are set to unveil their Covid-safe plan as students prepare to begin the first term of 2022. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced he will not delay the start of the school term with students set to return on January 28. Reports suggest students in the state may need to take two rapid tests at home each week before heading into the classroom under Covid safety measures. Private school principals have been briefed by the Association of Independent Schools and told as much as 20 per cent of staff could be off sick at once at a single school due to rising Omicron infections. The staff were told parents could volunteer to supervise those in the classroom while educators taught from home. Parents won't be allowed to teach the students and would have to undergo child training programs. Victoria Victorian school students will also begin the school term on time on January 31. Schools could be expected to complete as many as two Rapid Antigen Tests a week and wear face masks. Air purifiers are also expected to be rolled out across the classrooms. Premier Daniel Andrews announced students who tested positive would need to go home, but classes would continue as normal. Mr Andrews has ruled out any return to remote learning. ACT ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the government is planning for a return to on-campus learning for the start of term one, but more details would be made available when the plans are finalised. Tasmania Tasmanian schools will return on February 9. Rapid Antigen Tests and face masks will be provided to teachers. Teachers will be required to wear a face mask when they are indoors. Queensland Queensland has delayed the start of the term to allow more children to be vaccinated. The start date has been pushed back from January 24 to February 7. Some 1,800 staff are still unvaccinated prompting fears the state will be crippled by a teacher shortage. South Australia Some grades will start the new term with remote learning, before transitioning back to the classroom. Preschool, reception, Year 1, Year 7, Year 8 and Year 12 will return to face-to-face learning on February 2. Years 2 to 6 and 9 to 11 will begin remote learning on February 2. All students will return to the classroom by February 14. Advertisement

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the government is planning for a return to on-campus learning for the start of term one, but more details would be made available when the plans are finalised.

The federal government has agreed to split the cost of surveillance testing for those states and territories wanting to roll out such a scheme.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there was no health advice stating that testing was needed in schools, but keeping them open was a top priority for health and the economy.

'States and territories will make decisions to keep schools open. We need the schools open, we need them to stay open,' he said.

'That is why we have agreed to be supportive and facilitative of that decision, where they choose to make it.'

The definition of a close contact - at least four hours of contact with a Covid-positive household member - won't be extended to cover contact within schools grounds or buildings.

Queensland and South Australia have pushed back the start of school to allow more children to get vaccinated

'If you are sick you should not be coming to school,' Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said.

But Professor Kelly acknowledged that while the illness in children was 'very mild', there was a risk a student would become infected and bring the virus home.

He said a study conducted in the second half of 2021 in NSW showed 15 children were admitted to intensive care out of 17,000 Delta cases.

Meanwhile, plans are being made for the rollout of the protein-based Novavax vaccine in February.

It is believed tens of thousands of Australians have delayed their vaccination until the vaccine was approved, and the green light is expected to drive up adult jab rates in coming months.
One of Australia's top doctors is spearheading opposition to Mark McGowan's decision to keep Western Australia's Covid-19 borders shut - warning the whole country will suffer from the Premier's stunning backflip and his policies will fail.

On Thursday night the Premier abandoned his original plans to reopen on February 5, due to the spread of Omicron cases elsewhere in Australia and the state's low booster shot rates.

He offered no timeline for when Australians and the rest of the world can finally travel freely to the state and reunite with loved ones, but will expand the exemption criteria for arrivals, especially for compassionate visits.

Being cut off from the rest of Australia for almost two years has taken a high toll on the state.

At some pubs, the price of a pint of beer has soared to $16 due to supply chain issues.

Meanwhile, many businesses have been forced to close due to staff shortages, as they're unable to get labour in and out of the state.

Thursday night's decision has sparked a furious backlash over the broken promise to reopen, led by health and business experts, along with the state's top-selling newspaper.

Western Australia will remain cut off from the rest of the country following Mark McGowan's stunning decision to not reopen the border on February 5, as originally planned (pictured, a woman in Perth)

Perth-based Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid said Mr McGowan's attempts to keep the state Covid-free will not succeed.

'Gutted.....seems WA Premier Mark McGowan is a one-trick pony when it comes to Covid-19. Hard border with the rest of the country and world remains despite almost 90% vaxxed,' he tweeted.

'Was hoping for more courage from a Premier with an unprecedented parliamentary majority. This decision should be acknowledged as a failure by the WA govt to prepare and a broken promise.

'Don't pretend that the more "compassionate" border arrangements are a major move.. they're long overdue but the hard border continues to harm many people and needs to come down as soon as we are ready.'

Dr Khorshid urged Mr McGowan to use the delayed reopening to get the state prepared for reopening by bringing in critical health measures and ensuring easy access to rapid antigen tests.

The AMA head also urged the premier not to wait until winter to reopen.

'Look to South Australia for an alternative to the NSW/Vic approach -set a date and stick to it- not another vaccination target,' he continued.

'Omicron is here already, and it will cause a significant outbreak in WA soon enough. Sticking our head in the sand won't make it go away. Let's prepare!'

The Premier is yet to announce a new timeline on when Australians and the rest of the world can finally travel freely to the state and reunite with loved ones.

2BG radio breakfast host Ben Fordham described the decision as madness and labelled the premier a problem child.

'Mark McGowan has gone mad! He's drunk on power and he's heartless,' he told listeners.

'I know families living in Sydney who haven't been home to see their families since this madness started.'

The decision to delay re-opening comes despite evidence that Omicron surge appears to be in decline.

Active Covid case numbers have continued to drop across Australia this week, with Friday's numbers being the lowest in 10 days and having declined by 23 per cent in just four days.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Wilcox believes the WA decision will cause long-term damage to the state economy.

'It's impossible to get labour in and out of Western Australia. It is a decision which will set back the national economy as well, very severely,' he told the Today show on Friday.

'They are going to have to rejoin at some stage ... a pint of beer in Perth now is $16 because of supply chain problems as much as anything else, and staff shortages.

'It's being becoming very expensive to operate in WA and staff shortages are real and businesses are closing. They're not complaining, they're just closing.'

University of Sydney infectious diseases expert Dr Robert Booy warned of long-term ramifications for WA.

'At some point their industry is going to crumble, somehow they are surviving on the mining, so you can see a short- term gain for Mark McGowan but long term, is it the right thing for Western Australia?' he told the program.

'Is it the right thing for all those relatives and friends and people needing medical care who can't get there?'

The state's highest selling newspaper, The West Australian, spoke out against the delay in Friday's editorial.

'If WA can't open after two years, an economic boom, a relatively healthy population living in mostly hot weather and an urban sprawl that prevents congestion . . . then who the hell can be prepared?' it stated.

Mark McGowan (pictured) claimed it would be reckless and irresponsible to open up now

Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg reiterated the federal government's stance that it's time to learn to live with the virus.

'Western Australians this morning are very disappointed and are asking the question, if not now, when will their borders open?' he said.

'Other states are moving very rapidly learning to live with the virus. I would hope that WA, in time, will do so as well.'

He also fears the closed borders may also impact on campaigning for the upcoming federal election.

However Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has supported the backflip of his Labor colleague.

'He would be looking today at 46 deaths here in NSW, the worst day of the entire pandemic here in NSW,' Mr Albanese told Studio 10 on Friday.

'The fact that, nationally, we have had over 600 deaths in the last week, we have aged care facilities that people are cut off from and their relatives and loved ones are in. We have childcare centres that are closed. We have supermarkets that don't have meat or vegetables on their shelves.

'Mark McGowan comes from a state that has remote communities in big numbers that don't have high numbers of vaccination rates and he is right to say that the evidence is the booster shot is absolutely vital to protect people from Omicron.'

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton vowed to provide support for the state to reopen.

'The most important thing is to see WA through to the other side,' he said.

'People are separated from their families, there are small businesses suffering.

'West Australians want to be opened up to the rest of the country so they can travel again or you can see your grandchildren in WA or come and see a loved one who is sick on the east coast, whatever it might be.

'At the moment West Australians want to understand what is the next step how do we get through this and get the borders open.'

Perth-based Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid (pictured) slammed Mark McGowan over his lack of courage

But not everyone has lashed out at the decision.

'Brilliant #Leadership #MarkMcGowan Wish we had a #PrimeMinister like you making decisions like you have. Your handling of #COVID makes so much sense! Excellent Feb 5 hard border decision to keep WA safe & give people the opportunity to protect themselves & their loved ones & prepare,' one woman commented.

Poll DO YOU AGREE WITH MCGOWAN'S DECISION? Yes No DO YOU AGREE WITH MCGOWAN'S DECISION? Yes 1279 votes

No 3561 votes Now share your opinion





Another added: 'Well done. Keeping your people and economy safe. Following medical and scientific advice. Now that's leadership.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said he understands the WA government's decision.

'Given what is playing out (in eastern states) and the failure of support of Scott Morrison, I can understand Mark McGowan wanting to take time and keep WA safe,' he said.

'WA are in a position where they don't have the virus.'

Mr McGowan claimed it would be 'reckless and irresponsible' to proceed with the planned February 5 reopening given the Omicron numbers to the east, while acknowledging the decision wouldn't be popular.

'If we proceeded with the original plan, we would be deliberately seeding thousands upon thousands of COVID cases into WA and at this point in time, that is not what I'm going to do,' he told reporters.

Anyone who makes it into WA from February 5 will still be required to quarantine for 14 days.

The exemption criteria for arrivals into Western Australia will be expanded, especially for compassionate visits (pictured temperature screening at Perth Airport

ALL THE CHANGES TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S REOPENING PLAN: Premier Mark McGowan announced the hard border currently in place in WA would remain past the original reopening date scheduled for February 5. The government has instead opted to reopen the state in stages with quarantine restrictions to remain indefinitely. Instead, relaxed travel exemptions will be enforced and will allow the following groups to enter the state: - Returning residents with strong recent connections with WA - Returning residents with family connections in WA - Compassionate reasons like funerals, palliative care or terminal illness - People entering for urgent or essential medical treatment - People entering WA for national or state security reasons - People with specialist skills - Commonwealth and state officials, members of parliament, and diplomats - Other extraordinary circumstances that have been approved by the Chief Health Officer or Police Commissioner Advertisement

Interstate travellers will be allowed to self-quarantine but must be triple-dose vaccinated if eligible. International arrivals are required to enter hotel quarantine for seven days before being allowed to self-quarantine.

Anyone who travels to WA from February 5 will still need to quarantine for 14 days.

Interstate travellers will be allowed to self-quarantine but must be triple-dose vaccinated if eligible. International arrivals are required to enter hotel quarantine for seven days before being allowed to self-quarantine.

Mr McGowan would like WA's third dose rate to get as high as 90 per cent, which currently sits around 26 per cent, a level comparable with the eastern states.

He had said last month the only reason WA wouldn't reopen its borders on February 5 was if there was an 'unforeseen emergency', such as the emergence of a new deadlier strain or a realisation Omicron was deadlier than anticipated.

He insisted his position had not changed, despite WA having just 82 active cases.

'People aren't going to work (in the eastern states), hospitals are overflowing, hundreds of people are dying ... shopping malls are empty,' Mr McGowan said.

'We are doing our best to avoid that.'

The number of people with Covid in hospitals Australia wide has declined over the past two days to 5,134 - representing just 0.2 per cent of positive cases.

As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of the state's population over the age of 12 had received two doses while 25.8 aged 16 and over had received a third dose (pictured, people are reunited in Brisbane)

Fortress WA to stay SHUT as Covid-zero zealot Mark McGowan makes a string of rule changes

By Olivia Day for Daily Mail Australia

WHO CAN ENTER WA FROM FEBRUARY 5?

Mr McGowan said the border will instead reopen in stages with quarantine requirements to remain indefinitely in Western Australia.

Holidays to WA will remain banned for both domestic and international travellers.

Arrivals will be permitted to enter to receive medical treatment, for compassionate reasons as well as those with genuine family links or returning residents.

People entering WA for national or state security reasons, those with specialist skills and government officials are also allowed to enter the state.

Health workers, emergency services workers and family members of an approved traveller are also included in the expanded entry criteria.

The state will instead open in stages with a expanded list of exemption criteria (pictured)

WHAT ARE THE TESTING AND QUARANTINE REQUIREMENTS?

Arrivals will have to abide by strict testing and isolation rules with those flying internationally required to do seven days of both hotel and home quarantine.

These include having a G2G pass, being triple-vaccinated if eligible for a third jab, and a return a negative rapid antigen test 24 hours before arriving in the state.

Travellers and their household members will be required to quarantine for 14 days with the arrival to undergo a PCR test within their first 12 hours in WA with both the traveller and their household required to test on day 12.

International travellers will need to get a PCR test on day one, six, nine and 12 with their household members also required to get tested on the twelfth day.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Six weeks ago it was declared WA would restart quarantine-free international and domestic travel on February 5, when 90 per cent of the state is fully-vaccinated.

It was expected about 80,000 interstate and international arrivals would land in Perth Airport in the first two weeks of the reopening.

About 6,000 travellers were expected on the day the borders were due to reopen.

Mr McGowan did not announce a new reopening date instead stating his government would review the border rules throughout February.

He explained this was because of surging Covid cases in the eastern states.

It was expected about 80,000 interstate and international arrivals would land in Perth Airport in the first two weeks of the reopening (pictured, two woman wear masks in Perth)

Mr McGowan said that from 12:01am on February 5 the hard border would remain in place, but with new settings introduced for compassionate visits (pictured, arrivals in Perth)

DOES THIS MEAN WA ISN'T READY FOR COVID?

The premier was asked if the delay was an admission that after two years of planning to reopen his government had not properly prepared the state's health system.

'The advice we have is the health system is strong and ready, but the problem is the rollout of the third dose,' Mr McGowan replied.

'Watching what has occurred over east and making sure that when it comes to vaccination, we're as ready as we can possibly be.

'The aim is to get it up above at least 80 per cent, perhaps 90 per cent, but what we're going to do is review the situation over February and watch what is occurring over east and work out what the best approach is for Western Australia.'

Mr McGowan said about 35 to 38 per cent of people would be triple-vaxxed by February 5, but did not say what vaccine milestone would trigger the reopening.

The premier claimed hospitalisations in the eastern states had gone up 900 per cent since the arrival of Omicron with 700 deaths recorded in the last 19 days.

He said there was insufficient data to predict where Omicron could take the state and when Covid cases or hospitalisations would peak.

The state leader warned that even those fully-vaccinated were still vulnerable to contracting the virus with booster shots crucial to reducing transmission.

The state's Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local Covid cases in a sign the virus is spreading (pictured, pedestrians in Perth on Christmas Day)

'So far, the science shows that people with only two doses of a Covid vaccine have only a 4 per cent protection against being infected by the Omicron variant.

'With a third dose it can provide a 64 per cent protection against infection.'

'So let's just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it's very difficult over there, and we've got to do our best to avoid that occurring here,' he said.

The delay comes after major pushback from health officials who said the state's hospital system was not prepared for borders to reopen.

Australian Medical Association WA President Dr Mark Duncan-Smith was one of these voices, in addition to Australian Nursing Federation state secretary Mark Olson.

Mr McGowan apologised for the delay and said he understood the decision would be unpopular with many, as holiday and reunion plans were ruined once more.

'For that I am sorry, I understand exactly what the means for many people who had been hoping to reunite without any restrictions, but from February 5 there are enhanced compassionate exemptions.'

Mark McGowan said there was insufficient data to predict when Covid cases and hospitalisations would peak across the state (pictured, staff at a pub in Perth)

The delay comes after major pushback from health officials who said the state's hospital system was not prepared for borders to reopen (pictured, travellers at Sydney airport)

'If we proceeded with the original plan, we would be deliberately ceding thousands upon thousands of Covid cases into WA and at this point in time that is not what I am going to do.'

'Especially when the science says we need to boost third doses and so many young children still need to get their vaccine.'

ARE THERE ANY COVID CASES IN WA NOW?

The state's small Covid outbreak continues to grow, reporting five new local Covid cases on Thursday in a sign the virus is still spreading.

Four of the cases are close contacts, two of whom were in quarantine, with the others potentially infectious in the community.

The source of the final infection is unknown.

Several events in the lead up to February 5 have already been called off, including Perth Festival and the City to Surf, with businesses telling staff to work from home.

As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of the state's population over the age of 12 had received two doses while 25.8 aged 16 and over had received a third dose (pictured, people are reunited in Brisbane)

'So let's just take a deep breath, acknowledge that it's very difficult over there, and we've got to do our best to avoid that occurring here,' Mr McGowan said on Thursday evening

From February 5, health workers returning to the state will be required to isolate at home for seven days and permitted to work for days eight to fourteen (pictured, Melbourne Airport)

As of Thursday, 88.9 per cent of the state's population over the age of 12 had received two doses while 25.8 aged 16 and over had received a third dose.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanders announced a series of changes would be enforced if and when cases were widespread across the state.

Elective surgeries will reduce to category one and two for eight weeks, however this policy will not be introduced on February 5.

'We will hold off on implementing this policy until we really need to in order to allow elective surgeries to continue for as long as possible,' Ms Sanderson said.

From February 5, health workers returning to the state will be required to isolate at home for seven days and permitted to work for days eight to fourteen.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden and his administration frantically walked back an incredibly dangerous blunder that he made less than 24 hours ago.

Sitting behind a desk and reading from a script on Thursday, Biden pretended that yesterday didn't happen.

'Well, let me start by first getting a few words about Russia and Ukraine,' he said, looking down to read, 'I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding, if any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.'

The problem is that yesterday, when he wasn't reading from a script, he said something completely different.

'I think what you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades,' Biden said on Wednesday at the second press conference of his presidency. 'And it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.'

Biden may not have intended to give Vladimir Putin a green light for small hit-and-run attacks, but Biden effectively told Putin that the U.S. and NATO actions to 'hold Russia accountable' may not be as intense for a 'minor incursion.'

This is not deterrence; this is unwitting encouragement.

The remark triggered an immediate reaction around the world  especially in Ukraine.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden and his administration frantically walked back an incredibly dangerous blunder that he made less than 24 hours ago. (Above) Biden speaking at White House press conference on January 19, 2022

Biden may not have intended to give Vladimir Putin a green light for small hit-and-run attacks, but Biden effectively told Putin that the U.S. and NATO actions to 'hold Russia accountable' may not be as intense for a 'minor incursion.' (Above) Biden and Putin meeting on June 16, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted, 'We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power'

Putin has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border  as he threatens to invade and seize territory that he didn't take during Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to help with damage control as well, saying 'any kind of incursion, on any scale' would be 'a disaster not just for Ukraine but for Russia.'

But again, that's not what the President of the United States said when it mattered.

Even worse, Biden's answer at his press conference suggested he hadn't been listening in intelligence briefings about the Russian military.

'Minor incursions' are exactly how Russia's invasions of Crimea and eastern Ukraine started during the Obama administration.

'Little green men' were not Martians, but the first wave of Russian military forces, working without insignias for plausible deniability, who crossed over the Ukrainian border in Crimea and secretly began operations in February 2014.

In a belated-recognition of this fact, Biden tried to look smart today.

'Remember when they moved into the Donbass [region of Ukraine] with the Little Green Men?' he reminded reporters.

In a sign that some members of the White House press corps still recognize actual news, Biden was asked on Wednesday to elaborate on his remarks about a 'minor incursion.'

Putin has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border  as he threatens to invade and seize territory that he didn't take during Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.

'Are you saying that a minor incursion by Russia into Ukrainian territory would not lead to the sanctions that you have threatened? Or are you effectively giving Putin permission to make a small incursion into the country?' a reporter asked.

'Good question,' Biden laughed. 'That's how it did sound like, didn't it?'

Yes, it did Mr. President.

But then  nothing.

He didn't say that was a misstatement or a misinterpretation. He launched into another long-winded, confusing answer.

Subsequent follow-ups made it even worse, with Biden announcing to the world that, 'there are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do depending on what happens  the degree to which they're able to go'

'The serious imposition of sanctions,' he continued, 'relative to dollar transactions and other things are things that are going to have a negative impact on the United States, as well as a negative impact on the economies of Europe as well.'

Biden was referring to warnings sent to Russia in recent weeks that the U.S. could retaliate against the Kremlin by targeting the Russian banking industry's ability to convert roubles into dollars.

This may well represent Biden setting up Europe as a scapegoat if Russia invades and NATO's responses are weak and ineffective. Biden will later be able to use the excuse that he wanted to do more, but European allies wouldn't let him.

In short, in a press conference that was designed to reassure everyone, Biden declared that the U.S. might not respond strongly to a minor incursion, that NATO members are divided on what to do about Russia's aggression, and that European members fear the economic consequences of new sanctions on Russia.

At least Biden didn't blurt out the nuclear launch codes.

Even when grading on the curve of a 79-year-old man who was never known for verbal discipline, Biden's press conference Wednesday afternoon was deeply troubling.

We've watched him for decades, and we know the Biden before us is not as sharp, not as quick, not as energetic as the vice president and senator we remember.

Afterwards, White House press secretary offered one of her signature 'what the president meant to say' press releases, declaring, 'if any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies.'

But Biden had many opportunities to say that  and he didn't!

A rather revealing exchange came later, when Newsmax correspondent Rosen began, 'I'd like to raise a delicate subject but with utmost respect for your life accomplishments and the high office you hold: A poll released, this morning, by Politico/Morning Consult found 49 percent of registered voters disagreeing with the statement, "Joe Biden is mentally fit." Not even a majority of Democrats who responded strongly affirmed that statement.'

Biden laughed and said, 'Well, I'll let you all make the judgment whether they're correct.'

But Rosen wasn't finished, continuing, 'Why do you suppose such large segments of the American electorate have come to harbor such profound concerns about your cognitive fitness?'

Biden offered a four-word response: 'I have no idea.'

And then the president moved on to the next question.

Even when grading on the curve of a 79-year-old man who was never known for verbal discipline, Biden's press conference Wednesday afternoon was deeply troubling, and further evidence that his thinking and speaking habits are fundamentally mismatched with the duties of his office.

It's an opinion now shared by nearly half of American adults, according to a new AP-NORC Center Poll, which found that 47% are not confident that Biden has the mental capacity to serve as president. 46% doubt that he is healthy enough to fulfill his duties.

Now, no one likes answering a question like that, but facing tough questions about your performance is part of the job of being president.

Biden is the oldest man to ever serve in the Oval Office. In the 1980's he had surgery for not one, but two brain aneurysms.

We've watched him for decades, and we know the Biden before us is not as sharp, not as quick, not as energetic as the vice president and senator we remember.

Back in July, John Ellis astutely analyzed how it was acceptable within media circles to acknowledge Biden's age and mental condition if you used certain euphemisms: 'He's lost a step or two.' Or: 'he's lost something off his fastball.'

Unfortunately, Biden the president retained the worst habits of Biden the senator and vice president  a tendency to bluster and ramble, utterly oblivious to how he's coming across and the consequences of what he's saying, wildly stretching the truth in places and in other spots just outright lying.

Yesterday was just the second formal White House press conference of Biden's presidency  and it's easy to see why chief of staff Ron Klain and the rest of Biden's team want him to avoid these, and rarely have him sit down for one-on-one interviews.

The president of the United States cannot go before the cameras and speak for very long without hurting himself and his agenda, which is bad enough.

But Biden's lack of mental and verbal discipline (or even control) could have even worse consequences for the country and the world.

Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent of National Review and the author of five books, most recently, Hunting Four Horsemen.
Democrats accused Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of racism for remarks he made about black Americans voting at just as high a percentage as 'Americans' after their voting rights package failed to make it through the Senate.

The Kentucky Republican was asked by a reporter what his message is to voters of color who are 'concerned' that they won't be able to vote in the midterm election.

'Well, the concern is misplaced because you if you look at the statistics, African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans,' McConnell said in response.

'A recent survey, 94 percent of Americans thought it was easier to vote,' he continued. 'This is not a problem. Turnout is up, biggest turnout since 1900. It's simply  they're being sold a bill of goods.'

McConnell's phrasing was poorly received by Democrats, who insisted that he meant to 'other' black people as non-American.

Democrats accused Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of racism for remarks he made about 'black Americans voting at just as high a percentage as 'Americans'

African Americans vote at lower rates than whites in most elections, but at the same rates as Americans overall

He presumably meant that African Americans vote at the same rates as Americans overall, which is true.

In 2008 and 2012, the years Barack Obama was running for president, black turnout actually exceeded turnout for all Americans. In 2016 and 2020, black turnout was consistent with the U.S. average.

The 2020 election had some of the highest turnout of all time for all demographics. In that election, 72.6% of non-Hispanic whites cast their vote, 65.6% of non-Hispanic blacks cast their vote. Voting was much lower for Hispanics, of whom 52.6% participated in the election. Among other races (Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, etc.) 59.9% cast a vote, according to figures from the United States Election Project.

In both 2008 and 2012, more black Americans turned out to vote than white Americans - 65.2% of white voters turned out in 2008 versus 69.1% black, and 61.8% white in 2012 vs. 67.4%

'The othering of Americans who arent White was never a quiet part, it has always been loud and painful for everyone who has experienced it,' Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. wrote on Twitter, quoting the clip of McConnell's remarks.

'Please take 19 seconds to watch this video to understand why we have to fight for voting rights for ALL Americans, and why we have to stop the xenophobia, bigotry, racism, and partisanship that assumes only some people are American,' Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., wrote on Twitter.

'This is modern-day racism in full view. Being American isn't synonymous with being white. #MitchPlease,' wrote Rep. Donald McEachin, D.-Va.

'THIS IS DISGUSTING: To defend his stance against voting rights, Mitch McConnell is citing 'statistics' that 'African-American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.' African-American voters ARE AMERICANS & to suggest otherwise is about as racist as it gets!' said Rep. Diana DeGettem D-Colo.

McConnell told DailyMail.com his comment were consistent with previous Americans that voter turnout was high in the 2020 election for all Americans.

'I have consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African-Americans.'

The voting rights package failed to pass Wednesday night with 50 Democrats voting for it and 50 Republicans voting against it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer - who knew the legislation would fail but forced a vote anyways - then put up a vote on a rules change that would have instituted a 'talking filibuster' on the package, allowing a simple majority vote to move it forward after senators stood at their desks and exhausted the debate.

That vote failed too, as expected, with Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema siding with Republicans to uphold the 60-vote hurdle to most legislation.

The voting rights package combined two separate legislative items that were already passed by the House  the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bills would make Election Day a holiday, adjust the redistricting process and crack down on money in politics.

Despite a day of piercing debate and speeches that often carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed by opponents of civil rights legislation, Democrats could not persuade holdout senators Sinema and Manchin to change the Senate procedures on this one bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.

'The President does NOT think midterms will be illegitimate': Psaki attempts to clear up Joe's second press conference gaffe after he suggested 2022 elections would be corrupt if his voting rights bill didn't pass

The White House on Thursday denied President Joe Biden thinks the 2022 midterm election will be illegitimate - their second clean up from his press conference the previous day.

But the messaging got mixed when a prominent black Democratic lawmaker said he was 'absolutely concerned' this year's election won't be legitimate.

Biden, in his nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday, was asked if the 2022 election would be legitimate if Democrats' voting rights package didn't pass in the Senate.

'Im not going to say its going to be legit,' he said in response. 'The increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.'

Critics immediately lashed out, asking how Biden could question the legitimacy of the election after slamming Donald Trump for his false claim he won in the 2020 contest.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki took to Twitter Thursday morning to clarify.

'Lets be clear: @POTUS was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election. He was making the opposite point: In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials made sure they could vote and have those votes counted,' she wrote.

'He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. Were fighting to protect it,' she added.

But some Democrats are concerned the 2022 midterm won't be a legitimate election, citing a slew of new voting laws passed in GOP-led states.

'I'm absolutely concerned about that,' Rep. James Clyburn told CNN. He cited concerns that black voters have a history of being disenfranchised and the Supreme Court striking down portions of the Voting Rights Act.

Between January 1 and December 7, 2021, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting, the nonpartisan Brennan Center found. More than 440 bills with provisions that restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states in the 2021 legislative sessions, the center said.

The Democrats' massive federal voting law package would address those Democratic concerns. But that legislation died in the Senate Wednesday night when Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refused to join their fellow Democrats in killing the Republicans' filibuster.

Republicans objected to the legislation, saying elections are state issues and should not be run on the federal level.

It was the second incident the White House had to clear up after Biden took questions from more than 20 reporters on Wednesday. The first involved a major verbal flub on Russia and the Ukraine.

Republicans and Democrats' alike criticized Biden for seeming to indicate he would be okay if Russia made a 'minor incursion' of the Ukraine.

The White House quickly put out a statement on Wednesday night clarifying the U.S. would accept no military action by Russia. And Biden himself clarified his comments on Thursday morning, saying 'if any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.'

But Biden left it to his subordinates to clean up his comments on the legitimacy of this November's election - as Republicans called him hypocritical.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who heavily criticized Donald Trump for falsely claiming he lost the 2020 election, also slammed Biden's remarks

'It's the same path that Donald Trump went down, which is attempting to delegitimize an election*, which in my opinion, is a unfortunate and potentially dangerous course to take for the leader of democracy,' Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday night.

Psaki bluntly said Biden was not calling 2022 'illegitimate.'

'He is not predicting that the 2022 elections would be illegitimate,' she said on Fox News on Thursday.

The issue also came up in her daily press briefing on Thursday. She said what Biden was concerned about was a repeat of efforts on behalf of Trump supporters to try and overturn election results.

'The point he was making is that, as recently as 2020, as we know, the former president was trying to work with local officials to overturn the vote count and not have ballots counted,' Psaki said.

Vice President Kamala Harris was also grilled about Biden's comments in a series of interviews she did on the morning news shows to mark her and Biden's one-year in the White House.

'Is [Biden] really concerned that we may not have fair and free elections?' NBC's Today host Savannah Guthrie asked her.

'The president has been consistent on this issue,' Harris said. 'And the issue is that there are two bills  the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act  that have been the solution that has been offered to address the fact that around our country, states have put in place laws that are purposely making it more difficult for the American people to vote,' Harris explained.

She said the laws failing would be felt by 55 million Americans from all political parties and of all socioeconomic persuasions.

Guthrie and Harris then got into a cross-talk match where the vice president asked to be able to finish her statement before the host was able to push her on the matter.

'The specific question, if you don't mind  does he think, now that these bills haven't been passed, that the '22 midterms won't be legitimate or fair or free?' Guthrie pressed.

'Let's not conflate issues,' Harris responded before trying to walk back on suggesting there may be concerns over the fairness of the midterm elections.
YouTube personality and former Olympic snowboarder Trevor Jacob has found himself at the center of a federal investigation after posting a video online that shows him jumping out of a small plane with a parachute and letting the aircraft crash into a California hillside.

Aviation enthusiasts who have viewed the video were quick to question whether the adventurer and daredevil may have ditched his second-hand plane, which appeared to be poorly maintained, on purpose in pursuit of viral fame.

Jacob, 28, who competed in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, uploaded the video, titled, 'I Crashed My Plane,' on his popular YouTube channel on Christmas Eve.

As of Thursday, the edited 13-minute recording, which follows Jacob's brief flight, parachute jump and hours-long trek through a rugged terrain, has drawn more than a million views.

Olympic snowboarder Trevor Jacob, 28, is the subject of an FAA investigation after crashing his single-engine plane in the California mountains on November 24

In a viral video posted by Jacob last month, the athlete and adventurer takes off from Lompoc City Airport to fly to Mammoth Lakes, California

Jacob says in the video his plan was to spread the ashes of his friend, Johnny Strange (pictured), who died in a BASE jumping accident in 2015

But the clip also has attracted much negative attention from the aviation community, where many experts and enthusiasts were left wondering whether the daredevil athlete had staged the crash and parachute jump to get more 'clicks' and make the video go viral.

The speculation around the incident, which took place in late November, reached a fever pitch when the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into Jacob's actions, reported the Santa Barbara Independent.

DailyMail.com on Thursday reached out to both agencies. A spokesperson for the FAA responded, saying that the investigation is being led by the NTSB, and any comments must come from NTSB.

The incident began unfolding on November 24, when Jacob took off in his recently purchased Taylocraft BL64 single-engine plane from Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara, California.

Used Taylorcraft planes - such as Jacobs, which dates back to the 1940s - can range in price from about $5,000 to $20,000, depending on their condition. It unknown how much Jacob paid for his aircraft, although it appeared to be in poor shape, with duct tape on its dashboard and brown water marks on its exterior metal.

It is also unclear at this time if the plane was insured, and if Jacob has made any insurance claim since the crash.

November 24 marked the 50th anniversary of the unsolved DB Cooper hijacking, where a mystery man parachuted out of a Boeing 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom.

About 20 minutes into the flight, the TaylorcraftBL64 appears to lose power and the engine stalls over a mountainous, rugged terrain

Jacob appears to struggling with the door as he attempts to exit the plane mid-flight

With a parachute strapped to his back, the adventurer leaps head first out of the plane, leaving it hanging in the air

Video shows Jacob landing in a thicket and complaining of cuts and scrapes

This image, shot by one of the many cameras mounted on the plane, captures the aircraft moments before is smashes nose-first into a hill

The aircraft, circled in red, is seen resting in hills of the Los Padres National Forest

Jacob trekked to the wreckage and took a picture of the crumpled plane, which he posted on his Instagram page a month later to promote the video of the crash

Jacob says in the video that his plan was to travel to Mammoth Lakes to spread the ashes of his late friend, adventurer Johnny Strange, who died in a BASE jumping accident in 2015.

In the first few minutes of a video, everything seems to be going well, with Jacob smiling into one of the many cameras aboard his plane and giving a thumbs up.

But about 20 minutes into the flight, the Taylorcraft plane's sole engine appears to lose power and stall, and its propeller stops rotating.

Jacob lets out a string of expletives as he struggles to open the door. Eventually, he manages to scramble out of the plane and open his parachute.

Jacob's ditched aircraft hangs in the air before smashing nose-first into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest. The crash is captured from multiple angles by all the various cameras mounted on the aircraft.

In September, Jacob posted a selfie of himself in the same parachute harness as the one seen in the video, sitting at the controls of a plane

The crash coincided with the 50th anniversary of the DB Cooper hijacking, when a mystery man parachuted out of a plane with a $200,000 ransom. The image above shows FBI composite sketches of the perpetrator, who was never identified

Meanwhile, the former snowboarder successfully lands in some brush, appearing frustrated and complaining of scrapes in cuts, but is thankful for his lucky escape.

'This is why I always fly with a parachute,' he exclaims.

Jacob explains in the video that his plane experienced 'engine failure' and he made the decision to exit mid-flight and let it crash because there was 'no safe place to land.'

The rest of the video shows Jacob hiking to the site of the crash to view the wreckage, then wandering in the wilderness in gathering darkness until he runs into a farmer and asks for help.

Trevor Jacob competes in the Men's Snowboard Cross 1/8 Finals on day eleven of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on February 18, 2014 in Sochi, Russia

In 2018, Jacob performed a stunt in which he skated off a roof and into a friend's swimming pool. The video of the stunt went viral online

The Santa Barbara Independent reported that unnamed sources at Lompoc City Airport have raised red flags about Jacob's airplane, saying that it appeared to be in a state of disrepair and required maintenance before the November 24 flight.

A few days after the crash, the sources said that Jacob returned to the airport and relayed to them the tale of his ill-fated plane. After he was informed that the incident would have to be reported to the FAA, Jacob allegedly chartered a helicopter and removed the wreckage of his Taylorcraft.

Jacob, a native of California, has gained Internet fame by performing acts of derring-do, including jumping his snowboard over a moving train in 2011.

In 2018, Jacob made a splash online when he skated off a friend's roof on a skateboard and landed in a pool.
Homicide detectives are yet to identify a motive behind the alleged murder of nine-year-old Charlise Mutten - as it's revealed the girl and her mother were staying at a remote caravan park in the lead-up to the child's death.

Three days since the body of the little girl was discovered inside a barrel on the banks of the Colo River in the New South Wales Blue Mountains, police have no idea why her stepfather Justin Stein, 31, allegedly killed her.

Stein, who was educated at the prestigious Cranbrook School in Sydney's eastern suburbs and is engaged to Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten, has been charged with her murder.

NSW Police homicide squad detectives are still trying to establish why Charlise was in the care of Stein between January 11 and January 12, when she died.

The girl and her mother had been staying at the Riviera Ski caravan park at Lower Portland on the Hawkesbury River, about a 90 minute drive from where Stein lived at Mount Wilson.

Homicide detectives are pursuing three key lines of inquiry surrounding the alleged murder of nine-year-old schoolgirl Charlise Mutten

Antiques dealer Annemie Stein (above) defended her accused son Justin Stein and said she didn't approve of his relationship with Charlise's mother Kallista Mutten which she called 'a headache'

The girl and her mother had been staying at the Riviera Ski caravan park at Lower Portland on the Hawkesbury River, about a 90 minute drive from where Stein lived at Mount Wilson (pictured, a cabin at the caravan park)

It's understood Charlise and Ms Mutten had been spending time at the caravan park and at Stein's luxurious property Wildenstein (pictured, boats and a jetski at the caravan park)

It's understood Charlise and Ms Mutten had been spending time at the caravan park and at Stein's luxurious property Wildenstein.

Detectives hope Ms Mutten can shed light on why her daughter was alone in Stein's care the night she was allegedly murdered.

However, they have been unable to interview her due to her mental state, and she remains in hospital under close medical supervision.

Ms Mutten - who is pregnant with Stein's baby - suffered a 'medical episode' about the time she contacted police on January 14 to say her daughter was missing.

Police allege Charlise Mutten, 9, was murdered and her body encased in a barrel which was towed for hours in a boat before being dumped on a lonely riverbank in dense bushland

Entrance gates to the caravan park along the Hawkesbury River Ms Mutten had been living in

A cabin at the Riviera Ski Garden caravan park Ms Mutten had been staying at on Hawkesbury River

A view of several cabins set up along the waterfront of the Hawkesbury River at the caravan park

The mother is understood to have been staying at the Riviera Ski Park, at Lower Portland, when her nine-year-old daughter was allegedly murdered 80 kilometres away at a lavish wedding venue in Wildenstein

As police continue to build a picture of what happened, residents claimed they saw Stein with Charlise and Ms Mutten at the park in the days before she was reported missing.

'The daughter was there for a couple of days, she was playing around with the daughter of a friend of mine,' one person told The Daily Telegraph.

Detectives were seen taping off a an area of the caravan park earlier this week, before leaving the scene carrying evidence bags.

It comes after Stein's mother defended her son and made extraordinary comments aimed at the nine-year-old's biological mum, calling the situation 'a headache'.

Annemie Stein revealed she didn't approve of the whirlwind relationship between her son - who went to Cranbrook, one of Sydney's most elite private schools - and the girl's mother Ms Mutten.

Social media posts show the pair shared a rapid romance, announcing they were in a relationship about a year after Ms Mutten, a former ice addict who has served jail time, walked free from prison.

'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink, or choose their partners, and sometimes it ends up in a headache like this one,' Ms Stein told the Telegraph.

Detectives have yet to identify a motive behind the alleged murder after charging the girl's stepfather Justin Stein, 31, over her grisly death on Wednesday

The area next to the Colo River (pictured) where Justin Stein allegedly dumped Charlise's body in a barrel five days before the nine-year-old's decomposed remains were found

Kallista Mutten and Justin Stein (pictured) had a whirlwind romance before becoming engaged and inviting her daughter on the tragic trip to Mount Wilson

The 56-year-old said it would be painful for any parent to have a child go through what her son was experiencing because 'parents know their children'.

Mrs Stein defended her privately-educated son revealing he had a 'tortured life' despite his wealthy upbringing.

On Wednesday, the alleged killer appeared in Central Local Court where he did not apply for bail and it was formally refused.

His barrister told magistrate Robert Williams that while on remand in prison, Stein needed supplies of medication which he had been taking in high dosage for many years to treat 'mental health problems'.

The antipsychotic medications are used to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.

Justin Stein, 31 (pictured), has been charged over the grisly death after Charlise's body was discovered in a barrel near the Colo River near Sydney's Blue Mountains on Tuesday, following a five day search

Social media posts show the pair shared a rapid romance, announcing they were in a relationship about a year after Ms Mutten (pictured), a former ice addict who has served jail time, walked free from prison.

Mrs Stein described what would have been her step-granddaughter as a 'lovely' and 'beautiful' little girl who didn't deserve to die.

Mr Stein revealed he had not seen his son for 'some time' and was shocked by the tragedy.

Ms Mutten left her daughter in Stein's care last Tuesday, and court documents show detectives allege Stein killed her in the following 15 hours.

The wealthy antique dealer Stein family have owned the Wildenstein property for two decades.

Ms Stein described what would have been her step-granddaughter (pictured) as a 'lovely' and 'beautiful' little girl who didn't deserve to die

Detectives haven't had the opportunity to ask Ms Mutten (pictured) key questions about the alleged events after she suffered a 'medical episode' at the Wildenstein estate

The sprawling estate is currently being operated as a wedding venue by Justin's older brother James and his husband Keegan Buzza with the younger Stein brother staying in a shack on the five-hectare property in past years.

Charlise normally lived fulltime with her grandparents, Deborah and Clint Mutten in the Queensland border town of Coolangatta, but arrived in the Blue Mountains during the Christmas-New Year school holidays.

Kallista Mutten had relinquished guardianship of Charlise after developing a methamphetamine addiction, failed attempts to undergo rehabilitation and a two year prison stretch for killing a female friend she drove into a river while high on ice.

As police continue to investigate the case, they allege Stein drove approximately 200km towing a boat loaded with a plastic barrel carrying the remains of the nine-year-old over a circuitous five-hour trek.

Stein stayed a shack on the five-hectare Wildenstein property (pictured) in past years

Charlise (pictured) had been staying at the Wildenstein property with Stein and her biological mother over the New Years-Christmas holidays when she first went missing

The barrel allegedly lay under a blue tarpaulin in the boat towed by Stein's red Holden ute from the Blue Mountains to Bunnings at Marsden Park, a nearby BP petrol station, and then on to two Sydney boat ramps.

Attempts to dispose of the schoolgirl's remains in the water are said by police to have been thwarted by Stein's inability to launch the motor boat taken from his family's luxury Blue Mountains property.

In the end, after failing to start the boat and take the barrel now also weighted down with sand to sink into deeper water, Stein allegedly took off for the Colo River.

On the afternoon of Thursday, January 13, on a river bank around 80km northwest of Sydney, police say the 31-year-old pulled up his ute in bushland.

Stein then allegedly tried to drag the heavy barrel to the river's edge and roll it in, but the weight of the sand prevented him doing so and finally he was forced to abandon it in the scrub.

Rescue teams worked tirelessly to find Charlise in thick bushland at Mount Wilson (pictured on January 17) - before a body was eventually discovered

Charlise's remains lay in the barrel for five days as emergency workers searched fruitlessly for the missing girl around Mount Wilson, 65km further west.

That was until the afternoon of Tuesday, January 18 when police, acting on GPS data, located the barrel in the bush and made the gruesome discovery of Charlise's decomposing remains.

Police allege that between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am on Wednesday January 12 - when Ms Mutten is said to have been absent from Wildenstein - Stein murdered Charlise.

On Thursday, January 13, Stein left the Wildenstein property at Mount Wilson in his Holden Colorado, police say, towing a boat carrying the barrel with Charlise's body inside.

A blue tarpaulin is believed to have been draped over the barrel in the boat.

According to GPS data detectives later obtained from Stein's mobile phone and his ute, he allegedly made the one hour 20 minute journey to Marsden Park Bunnings.

Charlise (above) with her grandmother Deborah Mutten who learnt the tragic news this week that the adored granddaughter for whom she was full-time carer had died

Emergency services volunteers gathered for another futile day looking to find Charlise alive when in fact her body lay inside a barrel on a river bank 65km away

At Bunnings, Stein bought five 20kg bags of sand and made a phone call, police allege, emptying the bags of sand into the barrel to weigh it down.

At the Five Dock boat ramp on the Parramatta River in inner western Sydney, where he is said to have failed to launch the motor boat, because it was 'inoperable'.

The boat was still unable to be started and from the Windsor ramp, on the Hawkesbury River, it is a 24km drive north to the Colo River via the Putty Road.

It is alleged Stein tried to drag the barrel from the boat and dispose of it in the river, but due to its weight didn't get very far and dumped it in scrub near the bank.

Almost four hours later a person, believed to be Ms Mutten, dialled Triple-0 to report that Charlise was missing from the Wildenstein property.

When police arrived, Ms Mutten was present at the estate without the company of her fiance and during an informal round of police questions she had 'a medical episode' and was taken to Blue Mountains Hospital at Katoomba.

The court heard on Wednesday that Justin Stein (above, depicted by a court artist) is on a heavy dosage of antipsychotic drugs which he has been taking for years

After allegedly dumping his stepdaughter's body Justin Stein travelled to Sydney and stayed at a housing commission apartment block in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills (pictured)

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken back to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder

On Friday afternoon, Stein drove his ute to High Street, Penrith and entered Penrith Police station and spoke with detectives.

Police seized his parked ute and impounded it, towing it away to a location for forensic examination; officers also seized the motor boat from Wildenstein estate.

For five days, emergency services workers searched steep terrain around Mount Wilson looking for Charlise, with police warning by day five - the morning of Tuesday, January 18 - that the girl would by now be 'lethargic' and immobile.

While Ms Mutten was in hospital, Stein travelled to Sydney and stayed at a housing commission apartment block in the inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

Sometime between 3pm and 5pm, police are believed to have set off for the Colo River using GPS tracking co-ordinates, locating the barrel and its grisly contents.

Police seized a boat from the Wildenstein property (above) where Charlise was staying with her mother and Justin Stein on holiday before she was allegedly murdered

Young girl leave tributes for Charlise after a candlelit vigil was held outside the front gates of the Tweed Heads Public School on Wednesday evening

Around 8.30pm, detectives went to Surry Hills and arrested Stein, who was taken to the Surry Hills Police Centre and charged with Charlise's murder.

A court on Wednesday heard that Stein wanted to be placed in a protection wing in prison for his own safety as he awaited his next appearance, in Penrith Local Court in March.

Meanwhile, detectives have been frustrated in their attempts to speak to Charlise's pregnant mother in recent days as she remains in hospital.

She is said to be in the care of doctors and 'difficult to approach', meaning police still had no conducted a formal interview with her.

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for the schoolgirl - leaving tributes outside

On Wednesday evening, devastated mourners held a candlelit vigil for schoolgirl Charlise Mutten outside the front gates of Tweed Heads Public School.

The nine-year-old had been a student at the school on the NSW coast with her fellow classmates commemorating their friend with colourful balloons, notes and flowers.

A message on the school's notice board read 'don't count the days, make the days count' with the school releasing a statement on Wednesday morning.

'Charlise was a much loved member of our school who brightened all our days, every day,' the statement read, adding the school was 'absolutely devastated' by the news.

It was accompanied by a touching photo of the nine-year-old holding a literacy award she had received at the end-of-year presentation day.

'Charlise was a much loved member of our school who brightened all our days, every day,' a statement from the school read (pictured, mourners outside her school on Wednesday)

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' the schoolgirl's biological father shared (pictured, a woman lights a candle at a vigil outside Charlise's school on Wednesday)

Charliese's biological father has also shared an emotional tribute to his daughter and vowed to 'get answers' about her tragic death.

'Goodbye beautiful girl... We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,' the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said.

'You have captured the hearts of the nation and the world, and now those hearts are breaking with mine.'

Her father vowed this 'would not be the end of [her] or [her] story' in his statement.

'This doesn't happen. Kids need to be safe. What is wrong with people?'
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg most likely knew he had run over and killed a man on the night of the fatal 2020 crash before telling a 911 dispatcher that 'it could be' a deer, out-of-state criminal investigators told a committee considering bringing impeachment charges.

Investigators said Wednesday they doubted Ravnsborg's insistence, both in public and in law enforcement interviews, that after the fatal hit-and-run of 55-year-old Joseph Boever near the town of Highmore in September 2020, the AG initially thought he had hit an animal.

They pointed to what they believed were two slips in Ravnsborg's account as he was being interviewed by law enforcement officers 18 days after the crash.

'He said he saw him. The only other person out there was Joe Boever,' North Dakota Special Agent Joe Arenz said, referring to a point in the Republican AG's interview where he said that as he was surveying the accident scene, he turned around and saw 'him.'

'So I know exactly where I turn around and saw him,' Ravnsborg, 45, said during the recorded interview with investigators, before quickly correcting himself: 'I didn't see him. I did not see him.'

Detectives also told Ravnsborg during the 2020 interview that Boever's glasses had been found inside his car after the accident - and 'the only way for them to get there is through the windshield.'

A South Dakota House committee is weighing whether Ravnsborg should face impeachment charges for his conduct.

He pleaded no contest to careless driving, driving out of his lane and operating a motor vehicle while on his phone misdemeanor charges last year. In an August 2021 ruling, he was spared jail time and was ordered to pay $500 each of his two charges and $3,742.38 in restitution.

'So I know exactly where I turn around and saw him,' South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, 45, said during a recorded September 30 interview with investigators, before quickly correcting himself: 'I didn't see him. I did not see him'

Investigators said they doubted Jason Rvnsborg's insistence, both in public and in law enforcement interviews, that he thought he had hit a deer in the night of a fatal crash in 2020

Joe Arenz, an agent with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, testifies to a South Dakota House committee on Wednesday, January 19, 2022

South Dakota House lawmakers began impeachment proceedings in February 2021, but South Dakotas House of Representatives agreed in March to hold off on the proceedings until the court case reached its conclusion.

No further hearings have been scheduled by the committee. For the impeachment to proceed, the committee must recommend it to the full House, which would in turn have to vote to impeach Ravnsborg in order for the proceeding to reach the state Senate.

A two-thirds vote in favor of impeaching Ravnsborg at the state Senate level would then remove him from office.

'His face was in your windshield, Jason. Think about that,' one of the agents interviewing Ravnsborg said.

'I did not know it was a man until the next day,' he argued. 'I just believed it was a deer.'

The night of the incident, Ravnsborg called 911 and told a dispatcher that he hit 'something' and that 'it was in the middle of the road.'

When the dispatcher asked if it could have been a deer, Ravnsborg initially said, 'I have no idea' before adding, 'It could be.'

Investigators determined that Ravnsborg would have walked right past Boever's body and the flashlight Boever had been carrying as Ravnsborg looked around the scene the night of the crash. The flashlight was still illuminated the next morning.

'I believe he would have had to see him,' North Dakota Special Agent Arnie Rummel told lawmakers.

The investigators, who were called in from out of state to avoid a conflict of interest, also testified that Ravnsborg said in the interview that he didn't see what he hit 'until impact.'

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents were brought to assist South Dakota authorities because the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation reports to Ravnsborg.

To detectives, that was another slip that became 'a piece of evidence' leading them to doubt Ravnsborg's claims.

'When the story changes, in my opinion, they are not being straightforward and telling the truth,' Rummel said, referring to Ravnsborg initially telling them he had not been scrolling through his cellphone, then later acknowledging he had in the minutes before the crash.

Fifty-five-year-old Joseph Boever was struck by the AG near the town of Highmore in September 2020

As a House impeachment investigative committee has sifted through the crash investigation, some Republican lawmakers' inquiries have called into question the crash investigators.

The Republican committee spent hours Tuesday drilling into South Dakota officials and raising questions about the governor's involvement in the investigation.

Earlier Wednesday, Governor Kristi Noem jumped into the impeachment investigation, slamming how fellow Republicans have so far focused on questioning crash investigators rather than Ravnsborgs conduct.

'It grieves me that because of a political agenda, some legislators on the committee are attacking the integrity of our law enforcement officers,' the Republican governor told The Associated Press, adding that it was an 'inappropriate' and 'tragic' turn of the committees' attention.

The committee's investigation is happening amid an election-year split between the governor and a right wing of House Republicans.

Noem, who is seeking reelection this year while positioning for a potential White House bid in 2024, invoked support for law enforcement officers and the grief of a dead man's family as she pushed for 'some justice' in the situation.

Noem has made it clear that she believes the misdemeanor charges, which carried a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail or a $500 fine, were not enough, and wants him removed from office.

In August, Stanley County Courthouse Judge John Brown ordered the first-term attorney general to pay $500 fines for each of the two charges and pay $3,742.38 in restitution.

He had initially been charged with careless driving, driving out of his lane and operating a motor vehicle while on his phone.

Prosecutors dropped a third careless driving charge as part of the plea deal.

Earlier Wednesday, Governor Kristi Noem jumped into the impeachment investigation, slamming how fellow Republicans have so far focused on questioning crash investigators rather than Ravnsborgs conduct

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg's car after the crash

Jane Boever, the victim's sister, said after the sentencing that although her family waited a long time for justice, they never got it.

'As you can imagine this ordeal has been deeply upsetting for us,' she said in a statement released to DailyMial.com. '349 days ago, our brother and son Joe was struck and killed by Ravnsborg. We waited 349 days to face his killer. But Ravnsborg didnt have the courage to appear in court today. We waited 349 days for this nightmare to be over, to find closure.

'But Ravnsborg is walking away with a slap on the wrist, minimal fines, no jail time.'

Agents from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation sat down with Ravnsborg for two interviews after the September 12 accident - once on September 12 and again on September 30.

In the first interview, they can be heard asking him about glasses that were found inside the vehicle, and whether he ever wore glasses himself.

'There was like a black-framed glass, part of them was laying on the front passenger floorboard, and part of them were laying in the back seat, broke in half. Do you know [about them]?'

'No,' Ravnsborg replies.

During the next interview, the issue of glasses came up again. 'Theyre Joe's glasses,' the agent says, 'so that means his face came through your windshield.'

Ravnsborg can be heard sighing deeply. 'I was thinking that his face did not come through because I thought there would have been blood...' he says.

'The glasses are right there, Jason. They're Joe's. The only was for them to get there is through the windshield,' the agent adds. 'Did you see anything?'

'I did not see anything,' Ravnsborg insists. 'I mean... it was just... Again, I was looking to get to the side. I did not. See. Anything.'

Ravnsborg has said he is confident he did not commit a crime, and that he was not drinking before the crash. He provided a blood sample and handed over his electronic devices to investigators. A toxicology report from a sample taken roughly 15 hours after the crash showed no alcohol in Ravnsborg's system.

Noem would get to name the attorney general's replacement if Ravsnborg is removed.

In addition to calling for his resignation and supporting the impeachment inquiry, she has used the public release of video of Ravnsborg being interviewed by investigators to pressure him to step down.

The attorney general has refused, and several political allies on the House investigative committee posed questions about the governor's role in the crash investigation.

Noem said she was not involved in the investigation but stayed informed 'at certain points when it was appropriate.'

House Speaker Spencer Gosch, a Republican, questioned why North Dakotas Highway Patrol had not taken over the investigation 'given the political nature of the situation' between the governor and attorney general.

Other Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Steve Haugaard, who is challenging Noem in the GOP primary, delved into how Noem had used the investigative materials.

Ravnsborg initially said he thought he had hit a deer or a large animal and was unable to explain why his car had swerved. Pictured: The scene of the incident

Gosch said the governor had been told 'not to intervene, interlude or try to influence in any way' the impeachment investigation process, adding 'it's our responsibility to do our job.'

Noem suggested they should focus on Ravnsborg's conduct.

'This process is just to determine if the attorney general should still be the attorney general. That's the only question in front of them,' Noem said. She said lawmakers should examine whether Ravnsborg still has the support of law enforcement officers.

Three of the state's largest law enforcement groups last year called for Ravnsborg to resign.

Although Ravnsborg has stayed mostly silent on the crash investigation and impeachment inquiry, he is positioning for a reelection bid despite a challenge for the Republican nomination from former Attorney General Marty Jackley.

After his trial last year, Ravnsborg accused 'partisan opportunists' of exploiting the situation.

Amid the political falling out with the governor, Ravnsborg has also pushed a pair of inquiries into whether Noem abused the powers of her office.
Holly Thomas was confirmed as a judge for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday with a Senate vote of 48 to 40.

Thomas' ascension to the bench marks only the second time a black woman has served on the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit.

Thomas currently serves as a judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court. She was an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Thomas also served as a special counsel to the New York solicitor general and in California's housing and employment agency as a deputy director.

During her October confirmation hearings, Republicans attacked her previous civil rights work, especially defending trans people.

'I haven't been an advocate for three years. I've been a judge,' Thomas said to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, who called the Biden administration nominee an 'activist advocate.'

Holly Thomas was confirmed as a judge for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday with a Senate vote of 48 to 40

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, called Holly Thomas an 'activist advocate' during her confirmation hearings in October

Cruz responded: 'Three years is not very long.'

Senate judiciary Democrats heralded Thomas's long career in the law and how the federal judiciary would benefit from her professional experiences.

'For too long corporate lawyers and former prosecutors have been overrepresented on the federal bench,' Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California said. 'But we also need the knowledge of legal professionals who have taken other paths.'

Republicans focused many questions on Thomas's litigation advocacy for transgender rights.

She was a lead New York state lawyer on an amicus brief filed in 2016 in North Carolina federal court challenging a state law that would have prohibited transgender people from using a restroom based on their gender identity.

'I understand well, being a judge now, the difference between being an advocate, advocating for your clients, and being a judge who is duty bound, who takes an oath - one that I take very seriously to apply the law to the facts and the record and to review each matter individually,' Thomas said.

Her nomination was tied 11-11 along party lines during the Senate Judiciary Committee vote, but as Democrats have the majority that was enough for her nomination to be sent to the full Senate.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain applauded the party-line vote.

'More history made: with today's confirmation of Holly Thomas to the Court of Appeals, @POTUS has now named more appellate court judges his first year in office than any President,' Klain tweeted Thursday.
The weapons were not needed since the group was able to breach the Capitol without them

Vallejo allegedly texted someone: 'QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word'

They're part of a request to keep Edward Vallejo, 63, jailed as he awaits trial

Prosecutors released photos of the far-right militia handling bins allegedly full of ammunition and weapons right before the riot

Federal prosecutors have released photos of a member of the Oath Keepers wheeling in bins of weapons, ammunitions and supplies to a hotel just outside of Washington, DC, the day before the January 6 riot.

Edward Vallejo, 63, helped coordinate the far-right militia's 'quick reaction forces,' which were ready to show up to the Capitol fully armed at a moment's notice if directed to do so by their colleagues on the ground, prosecutors say.

Vallejo is one of 11 people who were arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy last week for their role in the riot.

He and others waited at the Comfort Inn Ballston in Arlington, Virginia - about seven miles from the Capitol - with 'weapons, ammunition, and essential supplies to last 30 days,' prosecutors said in a Tuesday filing in US District Court in Arizona as they urged a judge to keep Vallejo detained before trial.

The judge detained him Thursday afternoon per the government's request.

Edward Vallejo, 63, wheels bins with weapons, ammunition, and a month of supplies into a Comfort Inn just miles from the Capitol the day before the January 6 riot

Prosecutors say members of the Oath Keepers far-right militia waited at the hotel on January 6 and were ready to show up to the Capitol fully armed at a moment's notice

The 'quick reaction forces' never had to go to the riot because the Oath Keepers on the ground got in just fine, prosecutors say. Above, Oath Keepers at the January 6 protest

The day of the riot, Vallejo texted someone: 'Vallejo back at hotel and outfitted. Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist,' he wrote. Minutes later, he added, 'QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word'

Supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered near the Capitol for a rally the morning of January 6, in which Trump claimed that the 2020 election had been stolen from him and told his supporters to 'fight like hell.'

The ensuing riot resulted in the death of five people, including law enforcement officers and protester Ashli Babbitt.

Prosecutors said that days before the riot, Vallejo texted Florida lead team Kelly Meggs: 'Requesting coordinates to Allied encampment outside DC boundaries to rendezvous. Please respond ASAP. For the Republic.'

Meggs was arrested last week and charged along with his wife, Connie. They are accused of conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of government property, and other crimes.

The day before the riot, 'Meggs and his Florida team dropped off at least three luggage carts' worth of gun boxes, rifle cases, and suitcases filled with ammunition with their QRF (quick reaction force) team.

'A second QRF team from North Carolina consisted of four men who kept their rifles ready to go in a vehicle parked in the hotel lot,' prosecutors say.

Surveillance video shows Vallejo and other members wheeling the large black bins through the hotel.

On January 6 at 2.24pm, Vallejo messaged a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

'Vallejo back at hotel and outfitted. Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist,' he wrote. Minutes later, he added, 'QRF standing by at hotel. Just say the word'

Vallejo and his team ultimately didn't have to bring the weapons to the Capitol since the group was able to breach the building without them.

Stewart Rhodes, shown in his booking photo on Thursday, appeared in court in Plano, Texas, on Friday to plead not guilty to seditious conspiracy

Oath Keepers founder Elemer Stewart Rhodes is believed to be the first person who did not actually go inside the building to be criminally charged over the riot.

'I think Congress will screw him [Trump] over. The only chance we/he has is if we scare the shit out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks time [if] they dont do the right thing,' Rhodes allegedly told other Oath Keepers while planning for the Capitol riot, according to an indictment.

Prosecutors say Rhodes commanded his followers from outside, and that he'd spent months plotting the invasion over texts and encrypted messaging services. If convicted, he faces 20 years behind bars.

'The breach succeeded in delaying the Certification proceeding for several hours, and the proceeding ultimately concluded in the early morning hours of January 7,' prosecutors say.

'That same morning, Vallejo performed "Recon" in the area near the Capitol to see if he and his co-conspirators could "probe their defense line." In the days that followed, Vallejo's team reached out to Rhodes for next steps while his co-conspirators continued to make plans to stop the presidential power transfer, amass additional weaponry and tactical gear, and prepare themselves to deploy their arms, if necessary, to stop the inauguration of a new president.'

The Oath Keepers were founded in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2009.

The Capitol riot resulted in the deaths of five people. Supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered near the Capitol for a rally the morning of January 6, in which Trump claimed that the 2020 election had been stolen from him and told his supporters to 'fight like hell'

Several accused Oath Keeper rioters are seen in this picture released by the Department of Justice taken on January 6

The group 'claims to defend the Constitution' and is 'based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy Americans liberties,' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Members of the Oath Keepers believe that the government may at one point plan to seize all Americans' guns.

In all, 19 members or associates of the Oath Keepers face charges of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding by traveling to Washington intent on stopping lawmakers from declaring Biden the election winner.

Those include Thomas Caldwell, 67, of Berryville, Virginia; Joseph Hackett, 51, of Sarasota, Florida; Kenneth Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida; Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama; Kelly Meggs, 52, of Dunnellon, Florida; Roberto Minuta, 37, of Prosper, Texas; David Moerschel, 44, of Punta Gorda, Florida; Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia and Jessica Watkins, 39, of Woodstock, Ohio.

Two men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction last year, Graydon Young and Jason Dolan, admitted to coordinating with the Oath Keepers and to using military formation to push into the Capitol, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One admitted to depositing an M4 rifle at the Comfort Inn hotel.

At least 20 current members of the US military signed up for the Oath Keepers at some point since its founding in 2009 - with 14 of them using their official military emails - despite Defense Department rules against participating in 'extremist activities.'

Overall, 81 people signed up for the Oath Keepers while in uniform, according to a USA Today analysis of a list released last fall by the nonprofit whistleblower collective DDoSecrets.

At least 20 current members of the military have signed up for the anti-government Oath Keepers militia since its inception, according to a USA Today analysis of leaked data

Anthony Guadagnino (left), a recruiter for the New York Army National Guard, said that joining was a mistake. US Marine William Potting (right) said he thought the Oath Keepers were a pro-Constitution veterans' group and that he unsubscribed after getting too many emails

Some members, like Coast Guard veteran Matthew Rupp (left) signed up with their official military email addresses. Others, like Army veteran Jeremiah Pulaski (right) touted their skills gained in the military

The Defense Department has known of members' involvement in extremist groups for decades, but it has relied on a policy that only banned them from actively advocating for them.

The rules were beefed up in December in response to the January 6 Capitol riot.

Some say they signed up for the group at gun shows or other events without knowing what it stood for. Others touted their military training, such as shooting and recruiting, in case the group had to defend the Constitution against an attack.

A Defense Department spokesman said the department doesn't 'tolerate extremists in our ranks' and that individual supervisors can use 'the full range of administrative and disciplinary actions, including administrative separation or appropriate criminal action' to deal with any such links.

Sgt. Anthony Guadagnino, a recruiter for the New York Army National Guard in Troy, New York, said it was a mistake.

'I thought it was patriotic,' he told USA Today. 'It's not.'

William Potting, a Marine, said he saw a post about the Oath Keepers on Facebook in 2013 in a group for supporters of former Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign.

'It looked like a veterans' group that was pro-Constitution,' he said. 'After awhile, the emails were just junk mail. They were constantly sending me emails, so I unsubscribed.'
Peter Dutton has lashed out at China and Russia as he called for Australia to join forces with its allies and 'deter bullies'.

The defence minister spoke out against the two global powers ahead of a strategic meeting with officials from the UK later on Friday.

'If we can bring strong friends together, I think we can deter bullies and people who might seek to do harm to a country,' he told Sunrise.

His comments came as China steps up its military activity in the Indo-Pacific region and concerns grow that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine.

A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea on January 18. The US said this week it believes a Russian invasion of Ukraine could come at any time

'The UK are family as we know, and they are a reliable partner,' he said. We have fought alongside them for generations.'

Mr Dutton said 'thousands will die' unless European nations prevent a Russian 'incursion into the Ukraine'.

The US said this week it believes a Russian invasion of Ukraine could come at any time, with Moscow significantly bolstering the number of troops in the region.

'It impacts the whole world when you see Russia act the way they do, it encourages other dictatorships to do the same,' he said.

'Particularly if there is no pushback from the rest of the world.

'Thousands of people will die [if Russia invades Ukraine], and that is not a circumstance anybody wants to see prevail.'

Mr Dutton took aim a week after Australia announced it would spend more than $3.5billion to purchase 120 tanks and other armoured vehicles from the US.

The vehicles are set to enter service in 2025.

Peter Dutton labelled China and Russia 'bully' nations ahead of a key strategic meeting between officials from Australia and UK

Australia was also forced to pursue nuclear submarines because of China's military build-up in the South China Sea and nearby Papua New Guinea, sparking fears of war.

In recent years, Communist China has built military bases in the South China Sea and terrorised smaller Asian nations like the Philippines and Vietnam with a series of naval exercises.

University of Sydney Associate Professor of Northeast Asian Politics, James Reilly, said the arms race between China on one side and Australia and the US on the other in this part of the Pacific could lead to war.

Chinese soldiers march next to the entrance to the Forbidden City on May 21. China has stepped up its military activity in the Indo-Pacific region

'I personally am deeply concerned about, what we call in international relations, security dilemmas where each two sides to a dispute keep taking more and more measures that they believe are reasonable and defensive but the other side responds in kind,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'We end up with spirals of increasing army, military build-ups, mistrust and increasing risk of war.

'The risk of war increases the more the countries are arming each other.'

In November, Mr Dutton said it would be 'disastrous' for Australia if it did not support the US in a potential conflict with China.

China's growing military might 355 ships and submarines Coast Guard of 130 1,000-tonne ships 2,000 ground-launch ballistic missiles with a range of up to 5,500km Expected to reach between 700 and 1,000 nuclear warheads Source: Peter Dutton's speech

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China has inflamed tensions in the South China Sea in recent years by expanding its claimed territory, to the objection of its neighbours in the Asia-Pacific

'I would say to those parents that we stand up for the values that their forebears have stood up for and that we, as a country, have always stood up for,' he told the National Press Club.

'And we'll do it with a capacity, capability and might that's respected around the world and that makes us a valuable partner with those great friends.

'And if we're a weak and unreliable and untrustworthy friend, then we won't expect the support of those countries and, in particular the United States, into the future,' he added.

'And I think that would be disastrous for not just this generation but for generations of mums and dads and members of the ADF and we should be very honest about that.'
Ministers were accused of cowardice last night after plans emerged to conceal the number of migrants arriving each day.

The Home Office currently issues the data after arrivals have been processed by the UK Border Force, typically on the following day, but this could stop when the Ministry of Defence (MoD) takes over operations to intercept migrants, it has emerged.

Instead, a running total will be published just four times a year.

It comes after the statistics watchdog raised concerns about the daily totals currently issued by the Government.

The Home Office is now set to release the figures every three months, but the move has drawn criticism from Tory MPs - with one saying it 'seems more like burying bad news than being transparent about crossings.

Another anonymous Conservative said: 'It just looks like covering up, and no doubt journalists will come up with their own figures based on people arriving at Tughaven [the migrant processing centre in Dover] and Freedom of Information requests.'

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK which campaigns for tougher border controls, added: This is a cowardly act. It just shows the Government is running scared.

Im very surprised at Priti Patel, and the British people deserve better from her.

It would be a failure of responsibility if they stop issuing daily data. Its an appalling idea and the sooner the Government ditch it, the better.

Do they really think they can hide the figures from the electorate when all this takes place in the open on our beaches and at our ports? He added: This proposal reminds me of little children holding their hands in front of their faces and saying Im not here. Its totally crazy.

The Home Office cant simply pretend this problem is not happening, and hope it will go away.

Former UKIP leader and MEP Nigel Farage also described the proposal as 'disgraceful', saying it 'must not be allowed to happen' as people are 'seething'.

On Twitter, he added: 'This is a disgrace. The Home Office do not want us to know the truth.'

Priti Patel has been accused of 'burying bad news' Government plans to scrap the publication of daily Channel migrant figures

A group of people thought to be migrants being brought in to Dungeness, Kent, in November last year

Official figures show more than three times as many migrants have arrived in Britain so far this month than in the whole of January last year. UK authorities have intercepted more than 950 migrants so far this year  more than three times the 223 in January 2021. Last year, 28,381 people were intercepted in the Channel, compared to just 8,410 in 2020

Border Force officials bring migrants ashore at Dover Harbour after arriving in Speedwell, January 19

What happens when someone arrives in the UK after crossing the Channel? By Rory Tingle The vast majority of people crossing the Channel in small boats claim asylum, according to the Refugee Council. At this point the process for what happens varies depending on whether they are an adult, unaccompanied minor or a family unit. ADULT 1 - Immediately transferred to a short-term holding facility dotted around the country, generally in southern England. Fingerprints are taken and they have a screening interview where they provide their name, date of birth and nationality. This registers them into the asylum system. 2 - One or two days later the asylum seekers would usually be sent to a hostel run by the Home Office, but in the last few years these have become full so officials are using hotels. 3 - Two to three weeks later they are dispersed to a town or city anywhere in the UK into 'housing in the community' - although these time scales have stretched recent years. In addition, dispersal accommodation has often been full so the Home Office has relied on rented accomodation from three private providers. The asylum seekers receive housing and 39.63 a week as a cash allowance. 4 - The asylum seekers are issued with a form called a preliminary information questionnaire (PIC) where they are asked why they have a fear of persecution. At some point they are invited to the Home Office for substantive interview where they will be asked questions based on information from their screening interview and PIC form. 4 - If the initial decision is a refusal, the applicant can appeal to an independent tribunal. Their accommodation and support would continue. 5 - If they get an initial refusal and they don't appeal or their appeal is refused they become what's known in official jargon as 'appeal rights exhausted'. The Home Office will send them a letter saying they will be evicted and the weekly support will stop. 6 - They have the option of signing up to the Voluntary Return Scheme, under which the Home Office will pay for their flights. If they don't sign up they are liable to being picked up and detained by immigration officers and perhaps forcibly removed. But they are not enough detention spaces for people in that situation so they often become homeless and destitute, the Refugee Council said. CHILD Children (under 18) are sent to a short term holding facility for a much shorter amount of time and then transferred into the care of a local authority. They are allocated a social worker and accomodation. The Home Office cannot remove minors if they have been separated from their parents. However, if their asylum claim is unsuccessful they could be given a form of leave to remain until they are 17 and a half. FAMILY The only slight difference is that if a family become an 'appeal rights exhausted' case the Home Office wouldn't evict them from the accommodation or stop their financial support. Advertisement

Last year saw more than 28,300 migrants reach the UK in dinghies and small boats  three times the total for 2020.

Internal Home Office documents show officials are planning for a worst case scenario of up to 65,000 arrivals this year.

Dovers Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke said: We need to continue with daily updates.

'To start reporting them on any other basis I dont think will be acceptable, particularly for such an important and immediate issue.

Not having accurate daily figures risks misinformation being spread about the number of arrivals, and that would be highly damaging to the attempts to try to solve this long-standing crisis.

Philip Hollobone, another Tory backbencher who is MP for Kettering, said: Any attempt to hide the scale of the problem will raise alarm bells among everyone who is concerned about this.

'Maximum transparency is demanded here. The public wants to know the daily arrivals figures.

Until the daily figure goes down to zero, they will not be satisfied.

Trying to cover up the scale of the problem is helping no-one but the Government.

Mr Hollobone said he would raise his concerns formally with the Home Office.

Its strategy to stop people trafficking across the Channel isnt working. Until we can take people back to France the numbers will keep on going up, he added.

Another Tory backbencher warned the move could risk giving political advantage to Nigel Farage, honorary president of the Reform UK political party.

Mr Farage, who also presents a show on GB News, has made a series of social media posts about the Channel crisis, often filmed on board a boat in the Dover Strait.

If our ministers arent giving the facts to the public, Im sure thats an area Nigel Farage would attempt to step in.

'I think it would potentially be very damaging to the Conservative party, one Tory MP said.

An Office for Statistics Regulation spokesman said: We understand that migrant English Channel crossings are currently an area of strong public interest and we also understand that the department is of the view that a quarterly publication will ensure the statistics are put into the longer-term and wider immigration and asylum context and so better support the public debate and understanding.

We have urged the department to take account of user need for a more frequent publication, which would include information on the strengths and limitations of these statistics and how this impacts use.

It comes following revelations that the Army will start building camps to house up to 30,000 Channel migrants from next month.

Plans are being drawn up for soldiers to construct temporary housing on Ministry of Defence land across the UK.

The project is likely to cost tens of millions of pounds. Home Secretary Priti Patel has privately told Tory MPs that work on the first phase is due to start within weeks.

Government sources insist the scheme will be cheaper than the current accommodation provided for migrants, which has seen thousands placed in three and four-star hotels on full board.

Ministers hope the move towards temporary hostel-style housing on military bases will also act as a deterrent to migrants planning to cross the Channel.

On the network of new camps, a Whitehall insider said: 'There will be accommodation built at a number of bases around the country.

'We think it will be a deterrent. People will be housed in temporary, pre-fab buildings and not in mid-market hotels once the project had been rolled out.'

Exact locations have not been disclosed, but a new secure site for initial processing of Channel migrants opened in the last few days at an MoD site at Manston, Kent.

It is understood it is due to house illegal immigrants for up to five days after they arrive in the UK, but its role will now be expanded to provide longer-term accommodation.

Separately, the Government has hired planning consultants to handle applications for the ongoing use of Napier barracks in Folkestone.

It has housed up to 350 asylum seekers since September 2020 and ministers plan to keep the site in use until at least 2025. Sources confirmed Napier's capacity will be extended under the new project.

Billeting migrants at MoD sites will be controversial because Napier has drawn criticism.

A report by an all-party parliamentary group last month described 'appalling conditions' at the base and likened it to 'quasi-detention', even though occupants are free to come and go as they please.

A Government source said: 'The MoD will be responsible for sorting out housing for migrants as they arrive. This is likely to involve the use of more barracks or other spaces similar to Napier.

'We want to dial down the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, which is currently higher than we would like.'

It comes after reports the Home Office is planning for a worst-case scenario of up to 65,000 arrivals across the Channel this year.

Nearly 28,400 migrants reached Britain last year compared with 8,410 in 2020. More than 940 have been intercepted by UK authorities so far this month  more than four times the figure in January last year.

It does not include arrivals yesterday  which are thought to number around 25.
Commentary: Slander against China's anti-pandemic approach exposes West's arrogance, bias

Xinhua) 16:27, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Western media's smear campaigns against China's approach of clearing COVID-19 infections in a timely manner have only exposed their arrogance and bias.

In a recent article, the Frankfurter Rundschau, a German newspaper, claimed that China's epidemiological success has actually only increased fear of the virus.

As COVID-19 infections and deaths are skyrocketing in most Western countries, such remarks are undoubtedly inopportune and preposterous.

In fact, China has proved the feasibility of its anti-pandemic approach with its own success in coordinating disease control efforts with economic and social development. The country's swift control of the virus has been a source of its people's sense of safety.

The virus has so far infected more than 330 million people and taken about 5 million lives globally.

After the outbreak of the pandemic, China immediately mobilized its national resources to save lives and make people's daily lives return to normal as soon as possible. To safeguard its hard-won results, China has adopted the approach of quenching any COVID-19 flare-up before it grows into another large-scale spread.

In sharp contrast to the Western media's slander, China's approach has enjoyed strong, widespread support from the Chinese people, who have actively taken part in volunteer activities against the virus and strictly abided by preventive measures.

"Achieving China's exceptional coverage with and adherence to these containment measures has only been possible due to the deep commitment of the Chinese people to collective action in the face of this common threat. At a community level this is reflected in the remarkable solidarity of provinces and cities in support of the most vulnerable populations and communities," said a report released in 2020 by the China-World Health Organization joint mission on COVID-19.

With the approach of timely eliminating COVID-19 infections, China, home to more than 1.4 billion people, has scored maximum prevention achievements with minimal costs, avoiding an unaffordable burden on the medical system and minimizing the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

If China were to follow the model of those Western countries, it would be reporting "hundreds of thousands" of daily new cases "even in a highly underestimated outbreak scenario and under the most optimistic assumptions," according to an article published in China CDC Weekly, the official platform of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for international academic exchanges on public health.

Meanwhile, by putting people first, China has also been improving its anti-pandemic approach in accordance with diverse domestic conditions and the changing circumstances in the world.

However, the Western media have turned a blind eye to all the facts. When reporting China, they seem to be inflicted by "cognitive disorder," allowing their imagination to override the truth.

Such "cognitive disorder" results from the arrogance of those Western media, which have boasted the political systems and governance models in Western countries as superior to those in other countries, as well as from their entrenched bias towards others.

For a world where solidarity is much needed amid the still-ravaging pandemic, it is time the Western media do some soul-searching to make real contributions to the global pandemic fight.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
A church-going wife who banned a gay man and his ITV producer partner from buying her 650,000 Surrey home has hit back in the row and insisted they are just sticking to their beliefs.

Luke Whitehouse and Lachlan Mantell were stunned when they were told that they could not buy the three-bedroom home because the Christian owners didn't want to sell to 'two men in a partnership.'

When they tried to arrange a viewing through internet estate agents Purplebricks, they were refused and sent astonishing references to fire and brimstone Bible passages by the couple.

The vendors, builder Luke Main, 33, and his wife, former Cambridge University medical physicist Dr Joanna Main, 34, refused to let Luke and his partner even view the house, let alone buy it, because they were gay.

They cited passages from the Bible and said they could not sell the house to 'two men in a partnership.'

But Dr Main hit back today, saying: 'We would not sell our home to two men in a partnership. We're practising Christians and are sticking to our beliefs and haven't done anything wrong.'

Her husband added: 'We're not ashamed of what we said in any way'.

Luke Whitehouse and his partner Lachlan Mantell (pictured) were told they couldn't view a property that they had seen because the owners didn't want to sell to a gay couple

Luke Main (left), 33, a builder, and his wife, ex-Cambridge University medical physicist Dr Joanna Main (right) said they were against selling their home to 'two men in a partnership'

The Christian couple's property (pictured) was advertised with a guide price of 650,000

Purplebricks has removed the ad from their site, telling the Mains that their message to Luke and his partner was 'completely opposed' to the firm's values.

Recalling how the row unfolded, fuming Luke, 34, told MailOnline: 'Initially for the first 10 seconds I laughed. I thought it was a joke.

'But then I was upset and angry and I had a cry on the phone to my mum. Homophobia still exists, it is still out there. I did not see it coming. I was blindsided by it.'

Luke and Lachlan, 37 - who have been together for eight years - planned to view the house in Surrey last week.

When they asked for a viewing, the Mains messaged them back saying: 'Would you mind telling us a bit about your position and circumstances when you have a moment please?'.

Lachlan happily replied telling them a little about why they liked the area, adding: 'I'm a 37-year-old TV producer for ITV and Luke is a 33-year-old business owner in education.'

But the Christian couple's response stunned them: It read: 'Dear Lachlan and Luke, thank you for sharing your circumstances with us.

'We're sorry if we seem intrusive, but we just want to make clear that we would be unwilling for two men in a partnership to view or buy our house.

'As it is contrary to the gracious teaching in God's Word, the Holy Bible, e.g Romans 1:24-28 and Jude 7 (King James Version). With regards'

Luke, 34, and his partner Lachlan, 37 - who have been together for eight years - told MailOnline that they were stunned that they had been prevented from viewing the property

The gay couple spotted the ad for the three bedroom semi detached property on Rightmove

Messages sent between Luke and Lachlan to the Christian couple sent through the Purplebricks website show how they had tried to set up a date and time to visit the property

The Christians asked Luke and Lachlan to explain their circumstances. But when it became clear that they are in a same-sex relationship, the booking was cancelled by the homeowners

The first Bible passage cited reads: 'Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

'They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creatorwho is forever praised. Amen.

'Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.

'In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

'Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.'

Purplebricks informed Mr Main and his wife of their decision to no longer list the property

The second reads: 'Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.'

Luke reported it to the online estate agents who were selling it via Rightmove.

They have now decided to cease selling the property saying the comments from the owners are against its 'views and values.'

A Purplebricks spokesperson told them: 'Thanks for sharing this message Lachlan and we're so sorry you've had this experience.

'This stance is completely opposed to our views and values. We'll refund this seller's fee as Purplebricks no longer wish to list it.'

Luke and Lachlan - originally from Adelaide, Australia are desperate to get their own place after being kept apart during the pandemic,

He said: 'We were separated during Covid, he was in America while I was here, we were forced apart. Buying a house was something that we wanted to do for a long time. But this was the only house we planned for a viewing. We were looking forward to going this weekend.'

He added: 'Since I came out eight years ago I have not come across descrimation. I probably have been discriminated against but was just not aware of it.'

When contacted by MailOnline, Mr Main (left) said that he would have to discuss the matter with his wife Dr Main (right) - but added that they were 'not ashamed' of their stance

Luke expressed his anger at the situation on Facebook saying it was 'shocking and disgusting'

Purplebricks responded by saying that the stance is 'completely opposed to our views'

Business owner Luke, of Putney, south west London said they wouldn't buy or even view the house even if the owners apologised and changed their mind.

He added: 'We will look for something else now

'We are not going to let it affect us trying to buy a house.'

Purplebricks said it was not aware of the message the sellers sent to Luke and Lachlan until it was reported to them.

The estate agent said as soon as it saw it, staff responded immediately and insisted as a company it celebrates diversity.

A Purplebricks spokesperson said: 'The sentiments expressed in this message are completely opposed to Purplebricks' views and values.

'We have contacted the seller to return their fee and request that they sell their property with a different agent.'

The incident has echoes of the 2014 'gay cake row' in Belfast when a bakery refused to supply a cake decorated with the words 'support gay marriage'.

Ashers Bakers won their case in the Supreme Court in 2018 on the grounds that no-one could be forced to promote a belief they profoundly disagreed with.

Stonewall campaigners condemned the couple's action.

Sasha Misra, Associate Director of Communications and Campaigns at Stonewall said: 'It is shocking to hear that a gay couple were turned away from buying a property because of their sexuality. Gay people should be able to rent or buy property wherever they choose and should not expect to be treated differently because of who they love. Instances like this hark back to an era when it was commonplace to treat lesbian, gay, bi or trans people unfairly, refuse their custom or turn them away from accommodation - and it simply has no place in Britain today.'

The Mains have expressed their views on gay relationships before, and both of them wrote to a House of Lords Committee in 2019 outlining their views on how the subject should be handled in schools' 'relationship education'.

Mr Main wrote: 'Thank-you for granting parents and others the opportunity to share their views on the above proposed Statutory Instrument.

This case echoes that of Christian bakers Daniel McArthur and his wife Amy (pictured) who refused to make a cake by an activist in support of gay marriage

The Belfast bakers refused to make a cake decorated with the words 'Support Gay Marriage' (pictured: A cake with a similar design, made by another bakery)

In 2018, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Northern Ireland gay rights activist Gareth Lee was not discriminated against by the Christian bakers' stance

'I am a single 30-year-old, who has 13 siblings, and I am very concerned that they and others, are not taught things which will be harmful to them, and society at large. Secular, liberal views which seem to dominate society today, to the complete exclusion of God and His Word, the Holy Bible, are damaging to us and our posterity. Therefore I am saddened that the State should want to indoctrinate children with ideas of relationships which should never be mentioned or countenanced, let alone taught and encouraged. And then to imply that the parents would have no right to withdraw their children from these lessons is bordering on draconian.

'I would be glad if you would kindly consider my proposal, which would be to diligently compare proposed teaching content with the Holy Bible, on which our very Constitution is based, and then please consider that it violates the rights of parents in the upbringing of their children, to enforce teaching on those children which is not only unnecessary, but dangerous and harmful.

'I hope you will be given help and wisdom from God to discuss this matter, and bring it to an issue which is pleasing in His sight, before Whom we will all give an account of our deeds after we die: Romans 14:12' Dr Main wrote: 'I am very concerned about the above law that is proposed.

In particular, I am extremely uncomfortable about forcing children aged 4 to 11 to learn about non-traditional families, relationships and sexual identities. This overrides the rights of parents to bring up their children within certain belief systems. At the very least parents should have the right to exclude their children from this Relationships Education.

'Please vote against this Statutory Instrument to save our children from being stolen from their parents and sold to state-decreed way of thinking. Variety of opinions and beliefs is what makes us a diverse and healthy society, and we cannot afford to stifle freedom of thought and belief.

I would be very grateful if you could carefully consider my concerns. '

Mr Main is listed as a director of LM Buildscapes Ltd, a company which was dissolved in 2011, but his Transit van still carries the name of LM Buildscapes.

Dr Bunker, who obtained her PhD at University College, London, appeared on a 2017 YouTube video as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge.

She is currently listed as staff on the website of Cambridge University's Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Centre, but MailOnline understands that she has left that role.
Boris Johnson faces a fierce battle with union leaders after they frustrated his drive to get Britain back to work.

In a bid to return the country to complete normality, the Prime Minister this week scrapped official guidance instructing people to work from home.

He said he wanted civil servants to set an example by returning to the office  and yesterday ordered Cabinet ministers to ensure their Whitehall staff resumed normal working patterns as soon as possible. But the unions resisted, branding Mr Johnsons demands insulting and saying the move to get workers back at their desks was reckless.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents civil servants and other public sector workers, warned against a headlong rush back to the workplace.

Boris Johnson faces a fierce battle with union leaders after they frustrated his drive to get Britain back to work

In a bid to return the country to complete normality, the Prime Minister this week scrapped official guidance instructing people to work from home

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents civil servants and other public sector workers, warned against a headlong rush back to the workplace

The FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, also reacted angrily, saying the world of work had changed for good  despite the easing of the Covid threat.

The Cabinet Office has refused to put a target date on when ministers want to see a full return of Whitehall staff  leading to fears that many could stay working from home for weeks.

One source at the Ministry of Justice suggested workers would return only in phases rather than en masse.

Tory MPs and business leaders demanded that Mr Johnson face down the unions  saying failure to act would be disastrous for the economy, and particularly city centres.

In a string of developments yesterday:

Business giants began calling staff back to offices, with a string of banks, advertising firms and insurers announcing plans to get workers back at their desks.

Commuters poured back on to public transport, with figures showing that congestion levels during morning rush hour in London were up 72 per cent.

Dozens of schools across the country angered parents by defying ministers calls to ditch masks in classrooms.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan sparked a row by warning that face coverings will remain a condition of carriage on all TfL services, including Tubes, buses, overground trains, trams and river boats.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Britain should not shut down the economy again to deal with Covid even if it continues to claim thousands of lives a year.

Figures showed that almost two-thirds of London hospital patients with Covid  and 70 per cent in one part of the country  were actually admitted for another reason and the virus was incidental.

Following a row over official modelling, the Governments advisers Sage admitted the high levels of Omicron hospitalisations forecast last month had not occurred.

Mr Johnson continued to face claims over the Partygate row, as a Tory MP made extraordinary allegations of blackmail by Conservative whips.

Mr Johnson continued to face claims over the Partygate row, as a Tory MP made extraordinary allegations of blackmail by Conservative whips

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said it was selfish of the unions to back continued home working because town centre businesses such as sandwich shops and pubs would close if staff did not return to their desks.

ENGLAND'S COVID RULE CHANGES AT A GLANCE Immediately: The Prime Minister said that 'from now' No10's work from home guidance will no longer apply. From tomorrow: Face masks will no longer be compulsory in secondary school classrooms. Mr Johnson confirmed masks also won't be needed in communal areas like corridors over the coming weeks. From next Thursday (January 27): Covid passes that show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will not be required to gain entry to venues and events. Face masks will no longer be compulsory in any public spaces - including shops and public transport. But Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has confirmed that they will remain mandatory on Tfl services including the Tube, meaning passengers not wearing one can be turned away. Restrictions on visits to care homes will be eased, which are due to be announced in the coming days. From March 24: Compulsory self-isolation for people who test positive for Covid will be scrapped. Mr Johnson said he could bring this rule change forward; Other laws, like the requirement to give your address to NHS Test and Trace if you have Covid, could also go. Advertisement

When they eventually go back to their office there wont be anywhere to get a sandwich from or sit down in a pub  theyll all close, he said. Its selfish and self-centred just to stay with hybrid working. If unions had their way youd get paid for doing no work, but the reality is that we should be back at our offices.

Tory former minister David Jones said: Its time to return to a more normal way of living. That includes returning to the office, which is significantly healthier than being holed up at home.

People benefit hugely from interaction with colleagues. Its better for mental health and also helps professional development. We also need to restore vibrancy to our urban centres, thereby helping our economy to grow.

Lord Rose, former chairman of Marks & Spencer, told LBC Radio he had been calling for a return to the office for months, adding: I cannot believe that weve got a nation sitting at home now cowed by this Government, because theyre fearful of this virus  which has been unpleasant, it has killed a lot of people  but it is something we now have to live with.

Last night, Mr Johnsons official spokesman said ministers had been told to get their offices ready for the full return of staff. However, when contacted by the Daily Mail, individual departments refused to say when all staff would be expected to return to the office. They also refused to say what proportion of officials were working in the office at the moment.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, said it was insulting to force officials back to the office. The idea that forcing civil servants back into the office will somehow show a lead to the rest of the economy is frankly insulting to all those businesses who have made decisions that enhance their efficiency and profitability.

The PCS union said: There should not be a reckless, headlong rush to increase numbers at workplaces. Instead, there needs to be a properly planned approach, which allows the employer and the union to negotiate safe arrangements.

An aide to one minister said: There are still not as many officials in the office as there should be. Mr Javid admitted his department could not get all the staff in because there was not enough space.
The conservative-leaning Supreme Court dealt another blow on Thursday to opponents of a Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The court, in a 6-3 decision, rejected a request by abortion providers to have the case sent to a district judge who had previously moved to block the Texas law.

Instead, the case will remain with the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The conservative-leaning Supreme Court dealt another blow on Thursday to opponents of a Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion supporters and protestors gather outside the US Supreme Court as the high court hears arguments in two challenges to a Texas law that bans most abortions

The majority did not provide any comment on their decision but the three liberal justices on the nation's highest court penned a scathing dissent.

'Today, for the fourth time, this Court declines to protect pregnant Texans from egregious violations of their constitutional rights,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

'This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women in Texas, who have a right to control their own bodies,' Sotomayor said. 'I will not stand by silently as a State continues to nullify this constitutional guarantee.'

The Texas law, which went into force on September 1, bans abortion after six weeks, when some say a heartbeat in the womb can be detected but before many women even know they are pregnant.

It is the most restrictive abortion law passed in the United States since the procedure was guaranteed as a constitutional right nearly five decades ago.

Laws severely restricting abortion have been passed in multiple Republican-led states, but have been struck down by the courts for violating Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, typically around 22 to 24 weeks.

Texas Senate Bill 8 differs from other efforts in that it attempts to insulate the state from claims of rights violations by giving members of the public the ability to sue doctors who perform abortions - or anyone who helps facilitate them - once a heartbeat in the womb is detected.

They can be rewarded with $10,000 for initiating civil suits that land in court, prompting criticism that the state is encouraging people to take the law into their own hands.

Many clinics in Texas --fearful of potentially ruinous lawsuits - have closed their doors.

The Supreme Court has declined to rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law but indicated in another abortion case that it may be inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 1 about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, and the court's conservative wing - which includes three justices nominated by former President Donald Trump - appeared ready to uphold the law and perhaps even go further and overturn Roe.

The court is to render a decision in the Mississippi case by June.

Public opinion polls have found most Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

But a segment of the population, particularly on the religious right, has never accepted the Roe v. Wade ruling and has campaigned to have it overturned.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has apologized for 'confusion' over his new policies downgrading many felony charges, but is not backing down from his stance despite weeks of criticism.

In remarks on Thursday at an NYU School of Law virtual conference, Bragg blamed poor 'messaging' and communication for the backlash over his stance downgrading many charges and declining to seek prison terms for all but the most serious crimes.

'I take full accountability for that confusion caused by the memo,' he said of his January 3 policy memo, which drew harsh criticism from NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, among others.

'[It] left many New Yorkers justifiably concerned for how we will keep them safe,' he added, claiming the public was just confused by the dense legalistic language of the memo.

'I've got a lot to learn about comms and messaging,' Bragg conceded. 'Lesson learned.'

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has apologized for 'confusion' over his new policies downgrading many felony charges, but is not backing down

An eleven-month-old baby sitting in a car was left in critical condition Wednesday after being shot in the face by a stray bullet in the Bronx

New York City is currently experiencing soaring crime rates and an increase in shooting incidents not seen since the mid-2000s

Bragg's controversial 'Day One' policy memo instructed his office to stop prosecuting low-level offenses including marijuana misdemeanors, prostitution, resisting arrest and fare dodging.

He also instructed prosecutors to stop seeking prison sentences for all crimes except for homicides, assaults resulting in serious injury, domestic violence felonies, sex offenses, public corruption, and 'major economic crimes'.

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, burglary and drug dealing.

Bragg confirmed in his remarks on Thursday that his office would not downgrade armed robbery cases in which a firearm is used.

'Let me be clear,' he said, 'any use of a gun to rob a store by definition is and must be and will be treated seriously.'

This clarified language in the memo which called for downgrading robbery cases in which 'the force or threat of force consists of displaying a dangerous instrument or similar behavior but does not create a genuine risk of physical harm.'

The new policies fulfilled Bragg's campaign promise to reduce incarceration and pursue progressive prosecutorial policies, but drew sharp backlash from critics who argued that the lenient approach would only encourage crime.

Surveillance video shows a violent altercation in a Bronx bodega. Bragg says that he will not go easy on gun crimes, and that the public is confused about his policies

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

Earlier this month, Sewell, the city's first black female commissioner, sent an email to NYPD officers 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.'

On Thursday, Bragg faced tough grilling from New York attorneys and the media over his new policies.

'First, the purpose of the memo is to provide prosecutors with a framework for how to approach cases in the best interest of safety and justice. Each case is fact specific,' he said.

'We will be prosecuting all robberies of a gun as a felon. Let me be clear. Any use of a gun to rob a store by definition is and must be and will be treated seriously,' he insisted.

'Violence against police officers will not be tolerated,' Bragg said.

'If you push or hit an officer or attempt to do so or attempt to harm an officer in another way, you will be prosecuted, held accountable,' he said. 'Public safety will be paramount and will always have primacy in my office.'

Meanwhile, Bragg also rolled out an op-ed on Thursday attempting to assuage the public's fears, insisting that his progressive policies are consistent with public safety.

'So let me be clear: safety is paramount. My mission as district attorney is keeping every single person in Manhattan safe,' he wrote in the Amsterdam News.

'Let me also be crystal clear that there is a lot more to keeping us safe than incarceration. Every person who breaks the law must be held accountable, but accountability does not always mean incarceration,' he added, defending his progressive approach.

'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,' wrote Bragg.
I'm stuck in my leasehold flat due to cladding issues in the block. I can't sell due to the prospect of a bill for remediation works, which include 'unsafe cladding, flammable balconies and missing cavity barriers'.

Will Michael Gove's new proposals help me? LB

Leaseholders face fire safety bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds following the cladding scandal (pictured: Cladding victim and campaigner Sophie Bichener)

MailOnline Property expert Myra Butterworth replies: Cladding issues have made life a misery for leaseholders across the country.

Many are facing the real prospect of bankruptcy due to fire safety repair bills that can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds per flat.

The issue is that the owners are unable to sell the properties until the buildings are proved to be safe, leaving those who would like to move them stuck in their homes and also seeing monthly bills rise, as they are potentially unable to remortgage.

Leaseholders have cautiously welcomed the housing secretary's recent statement that they were 'trapped' and that it was time to protect them and make 'industry pay'.

At the same time, Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, announced: 'We will scrap proposals for loans and long-term debt for leaseholders in medium-rise buildings and give a guarantee that no leaseholder living in their own flat will pay a penny to fix dangerous cladding.'

However, the current reality for many of these flat owners is that they still face massive bills to cover interim fire measures running into thousands of pounds.

Tom Beak, a solicitor at law firm Kingsley Napley, replies: The short answer is maybe. However, I'm afraid there are 'ifs' and 'buts'.

First, Michael Gove's announcement did not introduce new legislation, it merely set out an intention to negotiate with developers and invite them to contribute to the latest remediation fund, specifically for 'medium rise' buildings.

Mr Gove hopes to have agreed a fully-funded plan of action by March, but if negotiations stall it is currently not clear what measures will be taken to force a solution on the developers concerned or indeed how long this will take.

Second, the focus of the new proposals is to cover the outstanding cost of remediation of unsafe cladding to buildings 11 to 18 metres tall. So if your building falls in that range you may benefit in due course. If it is over 18 metres, you must continue to rely on pre-existing policies.

If your building is less than 11 metres, I'm afraid you remain outside the scope of Government-led financial support. In fact, at present, there are no solutions proposed for buildings that are declared unsafe but are less than 11 metres tall, hence such buildings are likely to remain unmortgageable making it impossible for leaseholders to sell.

Unfortunately, if your building falls within this category, the new proposals only offer the hope that the Government's change in advice on building safety assessments encourages lenders to relax their position and return to lending on such properties.

It may also not be plain sailing if your block is 'medium rise'. We await details of the precise eligibility criteria as to how the fund will be allocated. Despite the suggestion that 'all leaseholders' will be protected, previous policies have contained strict eligibility criteria for access to funds, so it is possible that not all buildings between 11 and 18 metres tall will qualify.

Of course, until we know that Mr Gove's negotiations with developers are successful, there is no guarantee that the proposed remediation fund of 4billion will be available at all.

Other fire defects, such as flammable balconies, missing cavity barriers and replacing faulty fire doors are not covered

Finally, the proposed remediation fund is designed to remove 'unsafe cladding' only.

So, while you may well benefit from assistance with the cost of remedying the cladding issues on your building, other fire defects, such as flammable balconies, missing cavity barriers and replacing faulty fire doors are not covered.

This is in keeping with previous policies, which have been criticised for providing partial solutions and making buildings 'half safe', with innocent leaseholders footing the remainder of the bill to remedy safety defects.

On the plus side, however, it is worth noting that the Government has scrapped its previous solution for 11 to 18 metres tall buildings that consisted of a long-term, low-interest loan for leaseholders. This would have added to leaseholders' debt, rather ensuring that the 'polluter' pays.

In addition, Mr Gove's announcement introduced fresh funds to cover common alarm systems on buildings that continue to use a waking watch.

This will be on top of the existing Waking Watch Relief Fund. Mr Gove also intends to enter discussions with the insurance sector to reduce insurance premiums that have soared in the wake of this safety crisis and to issue new proportionate guidance on building safety assessments. T

he hope is that this encourages the market and changes the 'cautious approach' adopted by buyers and lenders - which according to Mr Gove often 'goes beyond' what is necessary. Whether this is effective remains to be seen.

So while Mr Gove's new proposals are a step in the right direction, much uncertainty remains. Provided that the proposed remediation fund can be realised swiftly and applied without unduly onerous eligibility criteria, it is surely a better solution than the previously proposed loan scheme.

However, it is likely that many leaseholders will continue to foot the bill for interim safety measures and struggle to sell their homes, until the practical effect of the changes are realised.

Without further, targeted policy or an extension of the remediation fund to cover fire safety defects beyond cladding, these defects will likely continue to be funded by leaseholders.
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It has been 80 years since the first Japanese warship was sunk by the Australian navy during World War Two.

The I-124 had been on a secret mission laying mines off the coast of Darwin when it suffered irreparable damage from dozens of depth charges detonated by the HMAS Deloraine.

All 80 crew members died in the dramatic battle on January 20, 1942, just one month before the Japanese bombing of Darwin, and the wreck has lain on the sea bed ever since.

Exploring the site as a member of the public is impossible because of its protected status and shared heritage between Australia and Japan  until now that is.

That's because a new virtual reality experience is offering unprecedented access to the World War Two submarine, enabling people to use YouTube to 'dive' down and get a closer look.

All they need is a VR headset, smartphone or tablet and I-124's remains can be explored in extraordinary detail thanks to maritime archaeologists.

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Exploring: A new virtual reality experience is offering unprecedented access to the Japanese World War Two submarine I-124 (pictured), which was sunk off the coast of Australia on January 20, 1942

It allows people to use YouTube to 'dive' down and get a closer look at the wreck 40 miles off the coast of Darwin Harbour

The wreck of the I-124 submarine was mapped (pictured) using state-of-the-art remote sensing equipment in October 2021

All 80 crew members onboard I-124 (pictured) died when the submarine was sunk on January 20, 1942, just one month before the Japanese bombing of Darwin, and the wreck has lain on the sea bed ever since

KEY FACTS ABOUT THE I-124 SUBMARINE Who built the I-124 submarine? Kawasaki Corporation, Kobe, Japan When was she launched? 12 December 1927 How many crew members were there? 80 Top speed 14.9 knots surfaced; 6.5 submerged Range 10,500 nautical miles Length 279ft (85m) Armament 12 torpedoes

1 naval gun

42 naval mines When did she first enter service? Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 What was her first action in WWII? Laying mines off Manilla Bay in the Philippines during her first patrol on 7 December 1941. When was she lost? I-124 was sunk by the Australian navy's HMAS Deloraine on January 20, 1942. She was on her third patrol during World War Two, laying mines off the coast of Darwin. I-124 fired a torpedo at HMAS Deloraine, which in turn detonated dozens of depth charges in a sustained attack that irreparably damaged the submarine. All 80 crew members on I-124 died. Advertisement

In anticipation of the 80th anniversary, the Northern Territory Government Heritage Branch undertook a joint project with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) from the AIMS research vessel Solander to map the wreck using state-of-the-art remote sensing equipment in October 2021.

Dr John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Flinders University, was then commissioned to create a virtual dive experience to show how this data is being used to understand and monitor this site, one of Australia's most important wrecks.

'Drawing on our data, and historic ship plans and photographs, we've created a virtual dive experience in which the video takes the viewer through the data gathering process, and then takes you down into the deep, to experience the wreck firsthand,' said Dr McCarthy.

'The archaeological survey shows that the wreck is in good condition, but with some signs of degradation of the outer hull that require further investigation.

'Our aim was to create a realistic virtual experience with an accurate digital reconstruction of the submarine given the historical significance of the wreck in Australia and Japan.'

The wreck can be found 40 miles (65km) off the coast of Darwin Harbour.

It is considered a highly significant site of shared heritage between Australia and Japan, with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attending a 2018 memorial service in Darwin honouring the Japanese soldiers who died.

Dr McCarthy said developments in virtual technology are making it possible to finally explore wrecks and submerged landscapes previously hidden to the wider public.

The I-124 was built by the Kawasaki Corporation in Kobe, Japan in 1926 and launched a year later on December 12, 1927.

She carried an armament that included 12 torpedoes, one naval gun and 42 naval mines.

Having first entered service during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, I-124 was later used for three patrols during World War Two.

The first saw the submarine lay mines off Manilla Bay in the Philippines in December 1941.

A second followed before I-124 was lost on her third patrol while laying mines off the coast of Darwin in northern Australia.

An unsuccessful attack on a US oil tanker in the region by a sister submarine prompted the Australian navy to send three corvettes to the scene between Darwin and Bathurst Island.

First there was HMAS Deloraine. I-124 fired a torpedo at the warship, which prompted the Australian navy to retaliate by detonating dozens of depth charges in a sustained attack.

This led to I-124 suffering irreparable damage and sinking to the sea bed in January 1942.

All 80 crew members were killed in the battle.

Dr John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Flinders University, was commissioned to create a virtual dive experience to show how this data is being used to understand and monitor this site, one of Australia's most important wrecks

'We've created a virtual dive experience in which the video takes the viewer through the data gathering process, and then takes you down into the deep, to experience the wreck firsthand,' said Dr McCarthy

Dr McCarthy said the archaeological survey shows that the wreck is in good condition, but with some signs of degradation of the outer hull that require further investigation

The wreck off the coast of Darwin is considered a highly significant site of shared heritage between Australia and Japan

Dr McCarthy said developments in virtual technology are making it possible to finally explore wrecks and submerged landscapes previously hidden to the wider public

the Northern Territory Government Heritage Branch undertook a joint project with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) from the AIMS research vessel Solander (pictured) to map the wreck

I-124 suffered irreparable damage and sank to the sea bed during a battle 40 miles (65km) off the coast of Darwin in 1942

During World War Two, Japan was Australia's most ferocious enemy, dropping bombs on Darwin during 64 air raids between February 1942 and November 1943 that killed 252 Allied soldiers and civilians.

On February 19, 1942, 188 Japanese planes attacked Darwin in two air raids, killing 235 people, wounding 400 and drawing Australia into the war.

It was the largest and most destructive single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia and led to the worst death toll in the nation's history.

Thirty aircraft were destroyed, 11 ships were sunk, and many civil and military facilities were also heavily damaged.

Nearly 2000 women and children had already been evacuated before the bombings started, but there was widespread panic and about half of Darwin's remaining civilian population fled in the immediate aftermath.

The raids were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor ten weeks earlier, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

One Japanese plane crash-landed on Melville Island to Darwin's north, and its pilot was captured by a local Aboriginal man. He was the first prisoner of war taken on Australian soil.

The assaults on northern Australia continued for the next two years, with more than 200 raids from Exmouth in the west to Townsville in Queensland.

The 'virtual dive experience' is available in both English and Japanese on YouTube here.
It's known as the best medicine, but laughter really can help our health - as long as we're laughing with friends, a new study suggests.

Sharing a laugh with a good mate reduces the risk of cognitive or physical disability by over 30 per cent for people aged 65 and over, researchers have found.

This was in comparison to people of the same age who laughed alone, such as when they were watching TV with no-one for company.

While the reason for the findings remains unclear, researchers suggest that laughing with friends may improve our immune functions, which in turn can reduce the risk of disability.

Laughter is the best medicine: Sharing a joke with friends reduces the risk of disability by over 30 per cent, according to the study (stock image)

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL DISABILITY? Functional disability has been defined as acquired difficulty in performing basic everyday tasks or more complex tasks needed for independent living, either due to cognitive or physical impairment. Disabilities in old age are common occurrences affecting the functionality and thus compromising the ability to carry out the activities of daily living. According to a 2022 study, laughing with friends can reduce the risk of functional disability developing. Laughing with friends reduced the risk of functional disability by more than 30 per cent in people 65 and over. Advertisement

'Laughter with friends brings health benefits such as stress release, improvement of immune functions, and a sense of social connectedness,' said lead author Yudai Tamada at Nagoya University in Aichi, Japan.

The study, published in Preventive Medicine, aimed to examine the link between laughter in daily life and the onset of 'functional disability' among people in Japan.

So far, the potential health benefits of laughing in daily life have rarely been explored.

To learn more, Tamada and colleagues turned to the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JGES), which was established in 2010 with the aim of examining the factors associated with the health and well-being in adults aged 65 and above.

The researchers used data from 12,571 'physically and cognitively independent' participants  46.1 per cent male  from JGES, who all returned completed surveys on their laughter habits.

'We evaluated their laughter in daily life from three perspectives  the types of situations in which people laugh, the number of situations in which people laugh with others, and the persons with whom people laugh,' the researchers say.

Functional disability has been defined as acquired difficulty in performing basic everyday tasks or more complex tasks needed for independent living, either due to cognitive or physical impairment (stock image)

BABIES LAUGH LIKE CHIMPS BEFORE LEARNING TO LAUGH LIKE ADULTS Babies laugh like chimps before learning to laugh like adults, a 2021 study found. That's because both babies and chimps chuckle while inhaling and exhaling, unlike adult humans who laugh mainly during exhalation, researchers have discovered. The breathy, squeaky sound may happen because, like apes, babies do not have great control of their vocal tracts, so laugh as they inhale. But as we age, our laughter becomes less chimp-like and more human. Advertisement

During an average follow-up period of 6.3 years, 1,420 (11.3 per cent) of participants developed functional disability.

After adjusting for potential confounders such as alcohol intake, participants who laughed with others reduced their risk of functional disability by 30 per cent, the team found.

Similarly, the number of situations to laugh with others was inversely associated with the risk of functional disability.

'Having more situations to laugh with others or at least the situation to laugh with friends might contribute to reducing the risk of functional disability later in life,' the team say in their paper.

Interestingly, those who laughed in conversation with friends had a lower risk of functional disability than those who laughed with their partners or with their children or grandchildren.

How exactly laughter helps improve our health is still unknown, although the suspected mechanisms underlying the health benefits of laughter are thought to be stress relief and improvement of immune functions.

The team admit that their study cannot clearly conclude that laughter itself can prevent the onset of functional disability, and so further research is needed to accurately identify causality.

In recent years, a growing number of studies have focused on the link between laughter in daily life and several health outcomes.

For example, in 2016, Japanese researchers established a link between more laughter and prevalence of heart disease.

While in 2020, incidence of cardiovascular disease were found to be significantly higher among subjects with a low frequency of laughter.

And in 2021, infrequent laughter was linked with long-term blood pressure increases among middle-aged men.
The Doomsday clock will remain at 100 seconds to midnight for the third year in a row because the 'world is no safer than it was last year at this time.'

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists unveiled the clock on Thursday, which keeps track of the likelihood of humanity's annihilation, for the 75th time since it first debuted in 1947.

Since then, the group has annually announced if the Doomsday Clock's minute hand has moved closer to or away from midnight - the marker for disaster.

'The Doomsday clock continues to hoover dangerously, reminding us just how much work is needed to ensure a safer and healthier planet,' Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said during the live unveiling of the Doomsday clock.

'We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.'

The board's decision was based on several events including nuclear war risks, a lack of action toward climate change, the spread of misinformation and conflict in space.

Although the clock holds steady, the bulletin of Atomic Scientists say the announcement means we are 'stuck in a moment that brings neither stability nor security.'

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The Doomsday clock will remain at 100 seconds to midnight for the third year in a row because the 'world is no safer than it was last year at this time.' The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists unveiled the clock for the 75th time since it first debuted in 1947

The clock was founded by US scientists involved in the Manhattan Project that led to the first nuclear weapons during World War II and is a symbolic countdown to represent how close humanity is to complete global catastrophe.

Artist Martyl Langsdorf was commissioned to make the clock and told to to create an image that would 'frighten men into rationality,' according to Eugene Rabinowitch, the first editor of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

The time is determined by the group of scientists who look at events throughout the year.

This can include politics, energy, weapons, diplomacy and climate science, along with potential sources of threat like nuclear threats, climate change, bioterrorism and artificial intelligence.

The clock was founded by US scientists involved in the Manhattan Project that led to the first nuclear weapons during World War II and is a symbolic countdown to represent how close humanity is to complete global catastrophe. Pictured is the first unveiling in 1947

Thursday's decision was based on a new nuclear arms race involving North Korea (pictured) that continues to expand its arsenal, unsuccessful attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal and the looming war between Russia and Ukraine

And It has been set backward and forward 24 times since 1947.

Thursday's decision was based on a new nuclear arms race involving North Korea that continues to expand its arsenal, unsuccessful attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal and the looming war between Russia and Ukraine.

The group of scientists also point fingers at Russia, China and the US for their push to develop hypersonic missiles.

The lack of action toward ending climate change was also included in Thursday's decision, as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists say governments are only providing the world with empty promises.

The lack of action toward ending climate change was also included in Thursday's decision, as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists say governments are only providing the world with empty promises. The graph shows global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, 1990-2021

'There was only partial progress toward defined accounting rules to allow international markets for greenhouse gas emissions and removals to develop,' reads the scientists' 2022 statement.

'Developed countries again failed to follow through on treaty commitments to provide necessary financial and technological support.'

Raymond Pierrehumbert, PhD, Halley Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, said in a statement: 'The experience of a deepening crisis has animated protests and other civil society expressions of alarm this year.

The spread of misinformation is also listed, which the board notes is a major issue in the US. Misinformation about the coronavirus is also spreading like wildfire worldwide, which is 'crippling the ability of public health authorities and medical science to achieve higher vaccination rates

Finally, tensions over military space activity have increased in the past few years. One of the biggest threats was Russia's anti-missile satellite test in November that created a debris cloud that orbited dangerously close to the International Space Station

'These actions focus public attention on climate change and raise its political salience, but whether they will transform policies, investments, and behaviors remains among the most important questions facing global society.'

The spread of misinformation is also listed, which the board notes is a major issue in the US.

This, according to the board, includes a large portion of Congress and the public denying Joe Biden legitimately won the presidential election.

Misinformation about the coronavirus is also spreading like wildfire worldwide, which is 'crippling the ability of public health authorities and medical science to achieve higher vaccination rates,' reads the statement.

Sharon Squassoni, co-chair of the Science and Security Board (SASB), Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: 'One hundred seconds to midnight reflects the Board's judgment that we are stuck in a perilous momentone that brings neither stability nor security. Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends.'

Finally, tensions over military space activity have increased in the past few years.

One of the biggest threats was Russia's anti-missile satellite test in November that created a debris cloud that orbited dangerously close to the International Space Station.
Elon Musk has demonstrated the Neuralink brain chip in a pig, a monkey and new job listing from the company suggests we could soon see it preform in a human brain.

The firm is now hiring a clinical trial director, which says the right candidate will 'work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink's first Clinical Trial participants.'

The position is based in Fremont, California and provides the candidate with commuter benefits, meals and 'an opportunity to change the world.'

The listing also suggests the candidate will lead and build 'the team responsible for enabling Neuralink's clinical research activities,' as well as follow regulations.

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Neuralink posted a new job listing, first spotted by Bloomberg, for a clinical trial director, which says the right candidate will 'work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink's first Clinical Trial participants

Although the posting does not say when the trials will begin, Musk revealed last month that they are less than a year away - meaning human trials could start this year.

Neuralink's working well in monkeys and we're actually doing just a lot of testing and just confirming that it's very safe and reliable and the Neuralink device can be removed safely, Musk said during a live-streamed interview with The Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit.

'We hope to have this in our first humans  which will be people that have severe spinal cord injuries like tetraplegics, quadriplegics  next year, pending FDA approval.

I think we have a chance of being able to allow someone who cannot walk or use their arms be able to walk again  but not naturally.

The position is based in Fremont, California and provides the candidate with commuter benefits, meals and 'an opportunity to change the world.' The listing also suggests the candidate will lead and build 'the team responsible for enabling Neuralink's clinical research activities,' as well as follow regulations

Neuralink's system is comprised of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads that are stitched into the brain by a 'sewing-machine-like' robot

Musk first unveiled his Neuralink startup in 2016, touting the technology as the key to helping paraplegics walk, the cure for depression and a way to merge humans with computers.

Neuralink's system is comprised of a computer chip attached to tiny flexible threads that are stitched into the brain by a 'sewing-machine-like' robot.

The device pickups signals in the brain, which are then translated into motor controls.

Musk says that the technology has proven to be safe in the brain and can be easily removed, so the only thing holding Neuralink back from human trials is FDA approval.

Our standards for implanting the device are higher than what the FDA approves, just like our standards for safety are much higher than what the US government requires.

The companys first demonstration took place on August 28, 2020, an event Musk hyped up by saying Neuralink will show neurons firing in real-time. Although that is what was presented during the live demonstration, those tuning in were disappointed when the neurons were that of a pig named Gertrude and not a human

Neuralink went quiet for a few months after until April 9, 2021 when the implant was demonstrated in a monkey, allowing it to play the videogame Pong with its mind

However, the billionaire has promised to start human trials before  in 2019, he was eyeing testing at the end of 2020.

Musk also has the reputation of building up anticipation for his companys technologies, just to under deliver and disappoint.

The companys first demonstration took place on August 28, 2020, an event Musk hyped up by saying Neuralink will show neurons firing in real-time.

Musk says that the technology has proven to be safe in the brain and can be easily removed, so the only thing holding Neuralink back from human trials is FDA approval

Although that is what was presented during the live demonstration, those tuning in were disappointed when the neurons were that of a pig named Gertrude and not a human.

Neuralink went quiet for a few months after until April 9, 2021 when the implant was demonstrated in a monkey, allowing it to play the videogame Pong with its mind.

Musk is more focused on using the technology to help people suffering with mobility issues regain control of their lives, he also wants to use it to merge humans with computer.

The move would provide the average person with super-human intelligence that hooks their brain up to the cloud where memories can be stored, thoughts can be exchanged and experiences can be had.
Harry Kane hailed an unforgettable victory for Tottenham as substitute Steven Bergwijn struck twice in stoppage time to seal a 3-2 win at Leicester.

Spurs had missed a number of chances and were 2-1 down in the fourth of five added minutes when Bergwijn, who was lucky only to be booked moments earlier for shoving Caglar Soyuncu, equalised before adding the winner 80 seconds later.

The England captain said: What a rollercoaster of emotions that was. To get two goals like that - these are games you will never forget in a career.

Tottenham's Harry Kane was in jubilant spirits after his side's last gasp win at Leicester

Kane celebrated wildly with Spurs fans after two stoppage time strikes from Steven Bergwijn

Overall we deserved the victory. We were the better side. We were disappointed to go 2-1 down but we were creating the chances. We never gave up and Stevie came on and made the difference.

Bergwijn had been thrown on after 79 minutes, shortly after James Maddison had given Leicester the lead for the second time in the match, following Patson Dakas 24th minute strike

Manager Antonio Conte celebrated wildly as supporters chanted his name long after the final whistle. Kane scored Spurs opener and deserved to be on the winning side after an outstanding individual display.

Bergwijn has been linked with a move away from Spurs this month but his dramatic intervention lifted them to fifth, above Arsenal.

That will taste particularly sweet for Conte, who was furious that the Gunners persuaded the Premier League to postpone last Sundays north London derby despite having only one confirmed case of Covid-19 in their squad.

Bergwijn's two stoppage time goals snatched a monumental three points for Tottenham

The Dutchman said: If I come on I want to show myself and I am really happy I scored two goals. We showed we are a team and we came back.

The manager told me to score goals, make difficulties for the defenders and stay close to Harry. It is fantastic. We have a lot of important games coming up and we need to build on this.

Tottenham will now approach Sundays London derby at Chelsea with confidence, despite being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Contes former club earlier this month.

The Italian insisted Bergwijn remained part of his plans while also calling for additions in the transfer market.

Brendan Rodgers bemoaned his side's late capitulation after holding a 2-1 advantage

Steven is an important player and we need to try to improve and become stronger, not to lose players. I think he is happy to stay with us. If he is in good physical condition he can start a game or come in and change it.

It was amazing game. We didnt deserve to lose or even to draw. We created many chances and were unlucky many times.

If there is the chance to improve the squad in this transfer market it will be important. We are in a good position but we know it will be difficult to keep it for the whole season.

Meanwhile, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers bemoaned his sides indiscipline after they saw victory snatched from them.

He added: The third goal was really naive from Youri Tielemans. We presented Tottenham with the points.
Not much screaming this time, just wincing. And each time Emma Raducanu looked gingerly at her right hand, a nation felt her pain, too.

Not literally, of course. Weve all had blisters, but not the way a tennis player has blisters. Marin Cilic broke down and cried in the middle of the 2017 mens final at Wimbledon, over blisters.

It isnt as simple as putting a plaster on, when your whole job is about whiplash-fast, athletic movement. Raducanu was very gutsy with it, actually, but ultimately the blister defeated her. So did the world No 98, Danka Kovinic from Montenegro, who enters round three of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Emma Raducanu is out of the Australian Open after losing in the second round on Thursday

The US Open champion was hampered from early on with a finger blister on her right hand

It is hard to imagine how that might have happened with Raducanu at full strength. But the US Open champion was greatly diminished by the biggest of the little things. A crease in her right hand, hard to get to, was open and raw.

Some in her team thought she should pull out prior to the match. Raducanu wanted to soldier on. This was her first Australian Open and she was not going to wimp out. Within five games, though, she was plainly in trouble.

The blister was on her serving hand, her forehand. So while the plaster covering it was little, the blister itself was big. Huge, really, in the way it threw Raducanu off-kilter. She raced to a 3-0 first-set lead, as she had against Sloane Stephens in the first round, gave two games back and called a medical time-out. Thats never a good sign so early in a match but when it became obvious what the ailment was, there were immediate fears.

Andy Murray has spoken of playing with the pain of blisters and how most professionals will have to deal with them at some time over a career. The issue becomes as much mental as physical. How to compartmentalise the pain. How to prevent it from overwhelming your game.

Yet Murray is a veteran. Raducanu is in her teens. This is her first full season on tour. She will never have been forced to cope with such a slight injury that feels so completely impairing. Its only a blister? Try telling that to someone whose whole job relies on touch, feel, subtlety and power and now cannot grip the tool properly.

World No 98 Danka Kovinic eventually came through 6-4 4-6 6-3 to reach the third round

The British No 1 played with just a slice on the forehand-side for the majority of the contest

For that is what happened to Raducanu. She stopped playing her game, stopped holding the racket firmly, became limited in the shots she could play. She stopped playing power forehands and instead leant heavily, repeatedly, almost exclusively into a tricky forehand slice. And as Kovinic is a player who likes to rally at length from the baseline, there was an awful lot of painful back and forth.

We knew it was painful because every now and then, between points, Raducanu would look at her right hand as if trying to think of a solution that was not grimacing her way through it. Still she stayed out there for 22 minutes shy of three hours, fighting.

And still celebrated fiercely when she won points. Still screamed in elation if she came out on top in a tight one, still fought with all her warrior heart for a place in the next round. And she came close, too.

She won the second set without a forehand, which was remarkable no matter the opponent, and started promisingly in the decider, too. Kovinic saved one break point in her first service game, and two in the next, and perhaps that resilience ultimately wore Raducanu down. She couldnt keep going to the well of reserve, physical and mental. Couldnt keep surmounting this mountainous molehill of her injury.

The loss marks the first time the 19-year-old has lost a completed match at a Grand Slam

As the match slipped away from her, there were a couple of games in which the spirit seemed to have left, too. It was a great pity to watch. Cynics will read all manner of negativity into a second-round exit in her first Grand Slam after the US Open triumph, yet there was a lot more right about Raducanu here than wrong.

She showed adaptability, courage and game intelligence. She did her damnedest in the face of adversity. And if she has demonstrated signs of struggle since that momentous day in New York, yesterdays defeat must be set against the debilitating mitigation of an injured hand and a pre-tournament spell of Covid that kept her out for three weeks.

Those who argue a blister is nothing have probably never had to deal with anything remotely like it in an elite, athletic context. They dont understand.

It was puzzling for Kovinic, too, and she admitted as much. Every now and then, Raducanu would tear into a forehand, because the point was there to be won. Then she would go back to nursing her injury. I got confused, Kovinic admitted. Could she play, could she not play?

Undoubtedly in the second set that Raducanu won 6-4, her opponent failed to take advantage of the situation. Too often she would play to the Raducanu backhand, which seemed largely unaffected. When I started focusing on my game and not worrying about her, it got better, Kovinic said. That was in the final set, won 6-3.

Radcanu called for a medical time-out early in the first set as she got her finger strapped up

Kovinic took the first set after winning six games in a row to take the opener in Melbourne

Raducanu somehow won the second set despite her injury and couldn't help but laugh at times

Later, Raducanu explained the gory details. Its just the position of it, she said. Its right in the crease of the palm, its so deep. I just cant grip the racket. Like every time I hit, every time I make contact with the ball, it creates an impact. If I hit one slightly off centre and the racket moves a bit in my hand, its even more friction and it rips again. So its very painful, every single shot I hit.

I have been struggling with blisters since I started playing in Australia because 21 days with no tennis, my hands got pretty soft. From day one, I was getting blisters. This particular one has been with me for about five days, and I have been trying to tape it for every practice. It would harden and dry out, but then once I played again, another layer would just rip off. Its just in a very awkward position thats difficult to tape.

We have tried so many different alternatives, and they all end up falling off or leaving me with no feel of my racket. I fought so hard just to come out and play here, I didnt want to go out like that.

The teenager battled through the contest by hitting mostly slices on the forehand side

So she struggled on, even if the end was maybe even a blessed relief. Next up, it transpires, would have been former world No 1 Simona Halep.

Yeah, I dont think youre getting very far against Simona with only a slice forehand, Raducanu added. Im not going to lie.

It was not what she hoped Australia was going to be, but it was not the rude awakening it may appear on paper. New York was no fluke. We have one here. We have a player. She will get harder in time; like her shell, like her skin.

It marks the first time Raducanu has lost a completed Grand Slam match in her career

RE-LIVE ALL THE ACTION WITH SPORTSMAIL'S KIERAN JACKSON
Emma Raducanu has revealed that there were people in her team who didn't want the British No 1 to play as she crashed out of the Australian Open on Thursday.

The US Open champion suffered a shock three-set defeat to lowly-ranked Montenegrin Danka Kovinic in the second round.

Raducanu battled through the pain of blisters on her hand and remarkably managed to win the second set despite not being able to strike a proper forehand.

Emma Raducanu crashed out of the Australian Open in three sets to Danka Kovinic

The young Brit was in considerable pain with blisters on her right hand, and needed treatment

The 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 loss marks the first time the 19-year-old has been defeated in a completed match at a grand slam, with her only previous loss coming when she pulled out with breathing difficulties against Ajla Tomljanovic in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

After her defeat, the 19-year-old said: 'Before the match there were people in my team who didnt want me to play.

'I fought so hard just to come out to Australia and play here, so I just left it all out there on the court.'

Raducanu revealed that members of her team didn't want her to play the match on Thursday

Raducanu battled through the pain during the contest but could not overcome her opponent

Raducanu also revealed that she wasn't hitting any forehands or serves to preserve herself for the match with Kovinic.

She added that the focus for the next few weeks will be 'catching up' on fitness and pre-season that she missed due to a positive Covid-19 test.

After rattling through the first three games, Kovinic fought back and soon it became clear that all was not well with Raducanu.

She called the trainer after five games and took a lengthy medical time-out for treatment to her right hand.

Raducanu congratulates Kovinic after the world number 98 advanced to the third round

The 19-year-old winces in pain as she receives medical attention at the side of the court

With the 17th seed clearly hampered on her forehand side, Kovinic made it five games in a row to lead 5-3 and, although Raducanu broke serve in the next game, the Montenegrin took the set.

The Montenegrin looked like she had got a grip on proceedings in the second set when she broke for 4-4 but Raducanu, who seemed to be enjoying the challenge despite the pain, broke for the second time and managed to serve out the set.

But it was clear the blister was bothering her and Kovinic was able to get the better of her during the third and final set.
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Every week, our Holiday Hero Neil Simpson takes an in-depth look at a brilliant holiday topic, doing all the legwork so you dont have to. This week: Train trips across Europe.

Nervous about crowded airports and planes? Then try the train for your next holiday.

Specialist tour companies are busy booking a mix of small-group tours and independent train trips to the most colourful corners of Europe, with travellers enjoying plenty of room on board and the chance to stretch their legs with a trip to the buffet car.

A flight-free trip to the Netherlands in April arranged by Railtrail Tours includes a visit to the bulbfields of Keukenhof

The Railtrail trip starts in style with refreshments at Art Deco Searcys restaurant (pictured) in Londons St Pancras Station

Amsterdam is on the itinerary of a fully escorted, flight-free trip to the Netherlands in April. It includes a perfectly timed visit to the bulbfields of Keukenhof, where 1,000 varieties of tulips, crocuses and daffodils will be in bloom.

The five-night break starts in style with refreshments at Art Deco Searcys restaurant in Londons St Pancras Station. It also includes heritage steam train trips, a canal ride in Amsterdam and a visit to the home of Delft Blue pottery. From 1,209pp (railtrail.co.uk).

The South of France and the sunflowers of Van Gogh await independent rail travellers on a self-guided train trip with tickets, accommodation and a full itinerary organised by Inn Travel.

With tickets, accommodation and a full itinerary organised by Inn Travel, passengers leave London on the Eurostar (pictured in Ashford, Kent) to Paris Gare du Nord

Once they arrive in the French capital, Inntravel's tour boards a TGV train to travel down to the south. Pictured is a TGV in Moisenay, just outside Paris

Inntravel's rail journey focuses on the Roman temples, arenas and aqueducts in the South of France. Pictured is the region's Pont du Gard

A historic site in Nimes. Along with Narbonne and Arles, the French city features on the itinerary of Inntravel's rail tour

High life: One blockbuster Italian itinerary from Tailor Made Rail sees travellers pass through the Swiss Alps on the panoramic Bernina Express train (pictured)

Pictured is the Bernina Express crossing a spectacular viaduct as it heads through the Swiss Alps

After leaving London on Eurostar, travellers join a TGV train in Paris to spend time in Narbonne, Nimes and Arles, where Van Gogh painted some of his most famous works.

The six-night itinerary also focuses on the regions Roman temples, arenas and aqueducts. From 975pp (inntravel.co.uk).

Another bespoke travel organiser, Tailor Made Rail, can build train tours to cities from Scandinavia to Greece. Journeys can be upgraded to First Class and include sleeping cars on night trains.

One blockbuster Italian itinerary sees travellers cross France and stay in a hotel in Chur, in the Swiss Alps. From there you pass St Moritz on the panoramic Bernina Express train before heading to the shores of Lake Como, where guests are taken to their hotel by boat.

The seven-night Lake Como Via The Bernina Express itinerary is from 899pp (tailormaderail.com).

Barcelona and the sunny cities of Seville and Madrid are in reach on a luxurious, fully independent train trip organised by Great Rail Journeys. After leaving London on Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord, a nine-night itinerary includes a private transfer to Paris Gare de Lyon for the fast train to Spain.

Another private transfer takes you from Barcelona station to your hotel, where you will be met next morning by a private, English-speaking driver for a city tour.

Transfers, train tickets and city tours are arranged in Madrid and Seville. From 1,695pp.

Tailor Made Rail's journey brings travellers to the shores of Lake Como, pictured, where guests are taken to their hotel by boat

Barcelona and the sunny cities of Seville (pictured) and Madrid are in reach on a luxurious, fully independent train trip organised by Great Rail Journeys

In Barcelona, pictured, tour-goers with Great Rail Journeys will be met by a private, English-speaking driver for a city tour

The company also offers dozens of small-group tours if you prefer to travel with others. Its nine-night Highlights Of Tuscany tour includes Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena and the Chianti region. From 1,595pp (greatrail.com).

Proving that distance is no object on trains, Responsible Travel can arrange tickets right across Europe to Split in Croatia. The six-night journey has overnight stops in Munich and Zagreb and you can return by train or air. From 950pp (responsibletravel.com).

Prefer to plan your own tour? Theres advice, timetables and help making reservations at seat61.com, thetrainline.com and raileurope.com.
The Australian cast member of Netflix's Too Hot To Handle may be the most outrageous contestant in the show's history.

During the premiere of season three, Georgia Hassarati kissed three different men during a challenge, before locking lips with female co-star Jaz Holloway in the bedroom.

The 26-year-old held nothing back during the episode, boasting about her sexual prowess during her intro package.

Wild thing! Georgia Hassarati (pictured) kissed three different men during a challenge on Too Hot To Handle's first episode, before locking lips with female co-star Jaz Holloway

'I flirt with anything and anyone,' she boldly declared.

'I am extremely sexual,' she continued. 'Guys like that, and I think that's why they get super in love with me.'

She later put her seductive powers to good use by consecutively snogging Stevan Ditter, Patrick Mullen and Harry Johnson in front of the entire group.

'The world is my oyster tonight,' she gushed, before going in for the kill.

'I didn't get in with G first, but can I get in with her last?' Stevan said as he waited for his turn.

'I flirt with anything and anyone!' The 26-year-old covered herself in lipstick before enjoying herself with the male contestants

Once she was done with the boys, Georgia made her way to the bedroom with American model Jaz.

One of the rules of Too Hot To Handle is that contestants have a cash prize that is continuously slashed every time they hook up with each other.

But Georgia told Jaz she didn't care about the money, boasting that she wanted to make things 'so hard for everyone' by being a flirt.

'The world is my oyster tonight!' She put her seductive powers to good use by consecutively kissing Stevan Ditter, Patrick Mullen and Harry Johnson in front of the entire group

'I didn't get in with G first, but can I get in with her last?' Stevan said as he waited for his turn, before finally snogging the stunner

At that moment, Jaz and Georgia shared a passionate kiss, which earned them a $3000 fine.

The 26-year-old student midwife and social media influencer, who stars in the third and current season, told The Sun on Tuesday that her season is the 'naughtiest' yet.

'It's 100 per cent the naughtiest ever. When I watched the previous seasons I actually admire how long they held out [for],' the brunette bombshell said.

Lady love: Once she was done with the boys, Georgia made her way to the bedroom with American model Jaz, where they shared a passionate moment

The racy reality series revolves around 10 sexy singles who are known for engaging in meaningless flings and one-night stands, and are unable to form long-lasting relationships.

The group are isolated together in stunning Turks and Caicos, where they are banned from kissing, sexual contact and even self-gratification.

They begin with a massive prize pool of $100,000, but deductions are made whenever the chastity rule is broken.

Confident: 'I am extremely sexual,' Georgia said. 'Guys like that, and I think that's why they get super in love with me'

Georgia told The Sun that she arrived with the mindset of 'having fun'.

'So much thought went into if they wanted to break the rules or not,' Georgia said of the previous seasons.

'Whereas we didn't really do that. We were like, "You know what? Everyone's doing it, let's do it".'
Jensen Ackles has revealed his Dark Angel co-star Jessica Alba was 'in a relationship that caused her undue stress' as he detailed their strained working relationship on the show.

The Supernatural star, 43, appearing on the podcast, Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, explained he began working on the show in its second season in 2001, and said he didn't get along with Jessica, 40, from the start.

At the time Jessica, then 19, was engaged to her co-star Michael Weatherley, then 31, after they met while filming Dark Angel together, before splitting in 2003.

Outspoken: Jensen Ackles has revealed his Dark Angel co-star Jessica Alba was 'in a relationship that caused her undue stress' as he detailed their strained working relationship

Jenson said: 'I was the new kid on the block, and I was picked on by the lead, comparing their conflict to 'the worst kind of bickering a brother and sister could do.'

The actor explained the dynamics behind his interactions with the A-list actress two decades back, saying it was more professional than personal.

'It wasn't that she didn't like me,' she said. 'She just was like, ''Oh, here's the pretty boy that network brought in for some more window dressing because that's what we all need.''

Ackles said he felt bullied and was confounded by the frosty reception he received from the lead actress and wondered, 'What the f***? What did I do?'

Open: The actor hinted that Jessica was under an 'immense amount of pressure' at the time (Jessica is pictured with ex Michael Weatherley, who she was engaged to from 2001 to 2003)

At odds: Jenson explained he began working on the show in its second season in 2001, and from the star he and Jessica would 'bicker'

Drama: Ackles said he felt bullied and was confounded by the frosty reception he received from the lead actress and wondered, 'What the f***? What did I do?'

Ackles said he eventually returned the hostility to Alba in fighting 'fire with fire,' and the actors eventually got to a place of 'mutual respect' with one another.

'So I was just like, 'Oh, looks like we're getting b**** Alba today, everybody hang onto your n***.''

Ackles said he has no hard feelings for Alba more than two decades later, saying, 'I love Jess, which I know kind of contradicts what I just said.

Progress: Ackles said he eventually returned the hostility to Alba in fighting 'fire with fire,' and the actors eventually got to a place of 'mutual respect' with one another

'She was under an immense amount of pressure on that show. She was young, she was in a relationship and that was causing some undue stress, I believe.'

Ackles recalled an instance in which Alba was comforting to him after he lost his grandfather.

'My grandfather died while I was shooting it and she literally just walked into my trailer and held me for a half an hour,' the actor said.

'So it was that kind of a relationship. If she walked in, we'd be all hugs, but she didn't make it easy on me.'

Friendly: Ackles said he has no hard feelings for Alba more than two decades later, saying, 'I love Jess, which I know kind of contradicts what I just said'

Jessica previously discussed her engagement to Michael in an interview with Cosmopolitan in 2005.

She said: 'Relationships can be tough... I've only had two boyfriends. In the first one, with Michael [Weatherly], I didn't have a voice yet, and he was so much older... I was so young, 18, when I started dating him.

'I was a virgin. I knew I wanted to be in love with the first person I slept with, because for almost everyone I knew, the first experience made them feel like s**t... I wanted to be careful that he was going to be in love with me, and wasn't just going to leave me.'

Alba has past talked about the growing pains she dealt with earlier in her career: Speaking with Marie Claire in May of 2012, the actress said she felt 'objectified' and 'uncomfortable' during the timeframe she appeared on the series.

'I had a show that premiered when I was 19,' she said. 'And right away, everyone formed a strong opinion about me because of the way I was marketed.

'I was supposed to be sexy, this tough action girl. That's what people expected... I wanted to be chic and elegant!'

Dailymail.com has reached out to Alba's reps for comment.
Australian actor Vince Colosimo has become the victim of an opportunistic conwoman who threatened to ruin his career if he didn't hand over $50,000.

Colosimo, who is best known for his portrayal of Alphonse Gangitano in the first Underbelly TV series, and as Neville Bartos in the movie Chopper, was allegedly targetted by the woman in October after being announced as a contestant on the reality hit Celebrity Apprentice Australia.

Sources have told Daily Mail Australia the woman made the alleged threat to Colosimo's long-time partner Sabella Sugar, who was told to hand over the cash or face the consequences.

Actor Vince Colosimo has returned to the spotlight on Celebrity Apprentice Australia and a new movie about to be released

Sources have told Daily Mail Australia Colosimo's partner Sabella Sugar, pictured above, was bombarded with messages from the stalker

Comeback: The cast of the upcoming series of Celebrity Apprentice Australia

Sugar appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Wednesday where she was granted an intervention order against the woman lasting two years.

Both Sugar and Colosimo refused to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.

Sources have confirmed police were notified about the alleged extortion attempt but did not carry out an investigation under request by those within the Colosimo camp.

The 55-year old actor had been thrust back into the public eye after a series of off-screen scandals threatened to destroy the award-winning actor's career.

Colosimo had been fresh off the set from filming a new chapter in The Wog Boys film franchise and shooting the movie The Girl In The Window, which is due for a big screen worldwide release this year, when the woman first made contact.

It was his appearance in a Melbourne newspaper that seemingly prompted the woman to approach Sugar.

Daily Mail Australia has been told the woman sent Sugar dozens of text messages from numerous phones over the following months.

Sugar was allegedly told if the couple did not cough-up $50,000 she would go to media outlets with a tale alleging Colosimo had been unfaithful to her.

A source told Daily Mail Australia that Sugar was concerned the threat to derail Colosimo's career was serious enough to contact police.

Vince Colosimo starred as Alphonse Gangitano in the first, and best, Underbelly TV series

Colosimo is set to appear in the latest Wog Boy movie alongside Nick Giannopoulos (pictured)

The Aussie star has been linked to a swag of women over his long career.

He had met his first wife Jane Hall in 1994 on the set of A Country Practice but separated in 2007 after 11 years together and one child.

Things turned nasty between the two after a bitter property dispute over their Inner-North Sydney home which they shared and renovated and was eventually taken to the Supreme Court.

He then went on to date her one time Neighbours colleague Kym Valentine, before striking up a romance with actress Diana Glenn, with whom he had a son.

Colosimo had been at the end of a string of bad news stories that began in 2016 when he was pulled over with a small amount of the drug ice in his car.

Later that year, the actor was handed a $3,500 fine for driving under the influence of the same drug while on a suspended licence.

He was threatened with jail time by a magistrate who warned, 'If youre back here for a fourth time, it wont be pretty.'

Colosimo had been at an all-time low at the time, with his lawyer telling the court the actor had been cleaning building sites in between acting roles to make ends meet.

Colosimo is pictured in psychological thriller The Second, a Stan original film

Vince Colosimo attends opening night of Shrek The Musical at Her Majesty's Theatre on February 19, 2020 in Melbourne

In November 2017, Colosimo was convicted and fined for driving through Melbourne's CBD while suspended and under the influence of ice. Pictured leaving Melbourne Magistrates' Court on November 3, 2017

It had been a spectacular fall from grace for the beloved star, who had starred alongside Hollywood heavyweight Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2008 movie Body of Lies before hitting hard times.

Colosimo fought hard to rebuild his career over the following years with recent roles in the 2018 film The Second and the hugely popular drama Doctor, Doctor.

He will hit television screens again later this year alongside Lord Alan Sugar, the billionaire boss and business magnate, in Celebrity Apprentice Australia.

Colosimo's fans are also looking forward to his appearance in The Girl at The Window, a new psychological thriller helmed by Mark Hartley and starring Radha Mitchell and Ella Newton.

Shot in Melbourne, the film is based on a mother and daughter who deal with an uncertain threat that brings them closer together.
Hugh Jackman has well and truly recovered from his bout of Covid, as he stepped out to perform in his latest Broadway show in New York on Wednesday.

The 53-year-old actor looked fit and healthy as he headed to his matinee of The Music Man.

He rugged up from the chill in grey trousers. a tight-fitting sweat shirt and a puffer jacket.

The show must go on! Hugh Jackman has well and truly recovered from his bout of Covid, as he stepped out to perform in his latest Broadway show in New York on Wednesday

The Wolverine star also donned a black mask and matching coloured beanie.

He accessorised his look with a pair of multi-coloured trainers and carried a large black tote.

Hugh's sighting comes after he was sidelined for more than a week after testing positive for Covid-19 at the end of last year.

Upon his return to the show, he shared a positive message with fans on Instagram.

'All right, I cant tell you how good this moment feels - yes, were back, were back,' said Hugh, who plays the role of Harold Hill in the famed musical.

Fit: The 53-year-old actor looked fit and healthy as he headed to his matinee of The Music Man

Sidelined: as sidelined for more than a week after testing positive for Covid-19 at the end of last year

'It is Thursday, January 6th and we are back, going to work,' he added.

The Aussie star, who tested positive for Covid-19 on December 28, apologised to fans who had tickets to see the show when he was sidelined.

'To all those people who had tickets for the last 10 days Im so sorry, I hope and pray that you have a chance to reschedule,' he said

'Im so excited to be back and to bring the show - which is pure joy and full of hope and belief and faith - back to Broadway.'

Apologies: The Aussie star, who tested positive for Covid-19 on December 28, apologised to fans who had tickets to see the show when he was sidelined

The Greatest Showman actor also had kind words for his colleagues as the Broadway community suffers during the Omicron wave.

He said: 'To all the shows on Broadway, Im thinking of you all, and everybody stay safe, be kind to each other and Im looking forward to seeing you soon.'

The Music Man was among the shows that had to cancel performances due to the spike in Covid-19 cases as previews kicked off December 20.
A Triple M radio host has claimed he was asked to leave a luxury Queensland resort after an awkward situation with George and Amal Clooney.

Speaking on his Gold Coast radio show, Ben 'Dobbo' Dobbin told listeners that he was forced to cut his honeymoon short while staying at the award-winning Qualia resort on Hamilton Island, after marrying his wife Amity in early November.

He explained that his wife spotted Amal, 43, after visiting the resort's spa and decided to take a sneaky photo, which was later leaked to Channel Nine news.

Oh no! Triple M radio host Ben Dobbin (left) has claimed he was asked to leave a luxury Queensland resort after an awkward situation with George and Amal Clooney in November. Pictured with his wife Amity

'Unbeknowst to us, Amal and George and Julia Roberts were staying at Qualia at the same time we were there. We didn't know the laws. I don't know the laws of Hamilton Island. I love Hamilton Island and hope to one day go back to Qualia,' he said on his radio show.

'Amity being a good wife took a sneaky photo and sent it to me. Well I happened to pass this onto somebody I know  low and behold it ended up on the 6pm news on Channel 9 that night.'

Ben went on to say that he and his wife 'thought nothing of it', but were forced to cut their holiday short by two days after being instructed to leave the resort the next day.

He explained that his wife spotted Amal, 43, after visiting the resort's spa and decided to take a sneaky photo, which was later leaked to Channel Nine news. Amal and George pictured

A Hamilton Island spokesman has since issued a statement about the incident, writing: 'As a premium resort destination, Hamilton Island's primary responsibility is to protect the privacy and comfort of all our guests.

'For the privacy of all guests, unauthorised photography and filming of guests is unwelcome.

'Ben was given a warning and was deeply apologetic. Ben was never asked to leave and is more than welcome to return to the Island.'

'You have to stay in one place for 14 days until you're finally allowed to go out and breathe': Despite spending their mandatory 14-day quarantine period at a sprawling NSW Southern Highlands estate rather than the usual hotel, George still complained about the conditions

Julia Roberts and George started filming Ticket to Paradise last month on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, and then moved to The Whitsundays shortly afterwards.

The high-profile actors play a divorced couple who travel to Bali in a desperate bid to stop their daughter, played by Kaitlyn Dever, from getting married.

The movie also stars Billie Lourd as Dever's best friend, who travels with her to Bali, where she decides to marry a local.

It was revealed in March that George and Julia were heading to Australia to film the hotly anticipated project.

George relocated to Australia in October with Amal and the couple's five-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella.

Despite spending their mandatory 14-day quarantine period at a sprawling NSW Southern Highlands estate rather than the usual hotel, George still had an issue with the conditions.

'You have to stay in one place for 14 days until you're finally allowed to go out and breathe,' he told WTF podcast host Marc Maron.

Julia also jetted into Australia in October, spending her quarantine period at a $56.9million mansion in Sydney's Vaucluse.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Qualia for comment.
Andrew Garfield has paid tribute to his late friend and co-star Heath Ledger on the 14th anniversary of his death.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Andrew recalled how the Australian actor died at the age of 28 halfway through production of their film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in 2008.

The Spider-Man star, 38, described Heath as 'an incredible artist and a gift to the world'.

Remembering Heath: Andrew Garfield has paid tribute to his late friend and co-star Heath Ledger on the 14th anniversary of his death. The pair worked together on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (pictured)

Andrew made the comments while talking about the late composer Jonathan Larson, whom he plays in the new musical drama Tick, Tick... Boom!

He stressed the importance of telling stories about people who have died, adding: 'It keeps their spirit here with us no matter if they die at 35 or 80.'

In reference to Heath, he said: 'He died in the middle of a film that we were making together. And also he was just obviously such an incredible artist and a gift to the world and I think the same goes for Jonathan.'

Memory: 'He died in the middle of a film that we were making together. And also he was just obviously such an incredible artist and a gift to the world,' Andrew told Vanity Fair

Andrew told Vulture shortly after Heath's death how much the actor had taught him on set of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and called his presence 'electrifying'.

'The amount of stuff he left me with was astonishing. I will never ever lose hold of what he had to offer. He just had this total spontaneity and the ability to do anything at any point: fly off the handle or joke,' he said.

Heath's life was tragically cut short in January 2008 after a fatal prescription drug overdose at his New York apartment. He was just 28 years old.

Tragic: Heath's life was tragically cut short in January 2008 after a fatal prescription drug overdose at his New York apartment. He was just 28 years old

He was said to be struggling with insomnia and anxiety before his death.

Heath is survived by his daughter Matilda Ledger, now 16, who was two years old when he died. Matilda's mother is the actress Michelle Williams.

Known for his films 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight's Tale, Heath won an Oscar posthumously in 2009 for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight.
Gigi Hadid couldn't have looked any happier spending time with her family on Tuesday.

The runway model, 26, was spotted with her mother Yolanda Hadid and daughter Khai in New York City.

Gigi flashed a wide smile as she popped her head out of the doorway, chatting with someone outside.

Smile! Gigi Hadid couldn't have looked any happier spending time with her family in New York City on Tuesday

The star looked lovely with her blonde hair scraped back into a no-fuss bun with an array of colorful butterfly pins clipped into her tresses.

She stayed warm wearing a thick knitted grey cardigan over her white T-shirt.

The beauty enjoyed some time off from mommy duties as Yolanda took her granddaughter out for a stroll.

The former model was joined by her long-time boyfriend, Joseph Jingoli.

Aww! The beauty enjoyed some time off from mommy duties as Yolanda took her granddaughter out for a stroll

Yolanda could not contain her happiness as she enjoyed some quality time with her stylish granddaughter.

She even enjoyed a spot of shopping at Louis Vuitton, where she emerged with some new designer goodies.

The former model held hands with the tot as she strolled down the sidewalk with her shopping bag in hand.

Retail therapy! The former model held hands with the tot as she strolled down the sidewalk with her shopping bag in hand

Yolanda braved the cold in a midnight blue fur coat, leggings, and leather shoes while her granddaughter sported a fluffy 'Paris' onesie.

The outing comes just a day before her aunt Ghada Hadid passed away on Wednesday morning in Washington, DC.

Ghada's brother Mohamed Hadid, 73 - who is the father of Gigi, Bella, and Anwar Hadid - shared the news of her death on social media.

A sad loss for the family: Bella and Gigi Hadid's aunt Ghada Hadid passed away on Wednesday morning in Washington, DC

The native of Palestine had suffered a heart attack this week after coming down with COVID-19 and pneumonia, which put her in Intensive Care unit.

Ghada's brother Mohamed Hadid, 73 - whom shares his three children with his ex-wife, reality TV star Yolanda Hadid - shared the news of her death on social media.

'My beautiful eldest sister passed,' the businessman who lives in Los Angeles posted on social media.

A look alike: Bella closely resembles her aunt when she was young; seen this month

'My sister may God open the Gates of Heaven wide open and give Ghada an easy entry you will be among the most beautiful Palestinians in heaven Momma baba Magida Maha our beloved cousin Zuhair.'

The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills guest star added, 'You have been a voice for peace. You left legacy @linahadid to fight for us all. We love you.'

Mohamed and Bella had traveled to Washington DC before her death to say a last goodbye.

Before her passing Bella, 25, Gigi and Mohamed all asked their fans for prayers.

Too much to take: The native of Palestine had suffered a heart attack this week after coming down with COVID-19 and pneumonia which put her in Intensive Care unit

A big hole in his heart: Ghada's brother Mohamed Hadid - who is the father of Bella and Gigi as well as son Anwar whom he had with Yolanda Hadid - shared the news of her death

Gone too soon: 'My beautiful eldest sister passed,' the businessman who lives in Los Angeles posted on social media. 'My sister may God open the Gates of Heaven wide open and give Ghada an easy entry'

'Please pray for our Auntie Ghada,' said Bella on Instagram Stories as she shared images with the woman. 'I love you,' she added.

One saw Bella hugging Ghada in front of a birthday cake.

And another shot showed Ghada with Mohamed and two other sisters in formal clothing for a black and white shot.

A shot with Mohamed and Ghada was also shared as Bella wrote over the post, 'My baba and His big sister Ghada.' She added a red heart emoji.

So much love: 'Please pray for our Auntie Ghada,' said Bella on Instagram Stories as she shared images with the woman. 'I love you,' she added

On his way to say goodbye: Then there was a photo of Mohamed in a private jet as he looked out the window. 'Flying my Baba to my birthplace in Washington DC to see his sister for the last time,' she wrote over the sad image. 'I can't wait to see our big, beautiful, Palestinian family,' she added as she linked to her dad

In a photo on her wedding day, Bella called the lady a 'Palestinian Queen' and added two crown emojis.

Then there was a photo of Mohamed in a private jet as he looked out the window.

'Flying my Baba to my birthplace in Washington DC to see his sister for the last time,' Bella wrote over the sad image.

'I can't wait to see our big, beautiful, Palestinian family,' the Versace model, who used to date The Weeknd, added as she linked to her dad.

Gigi also took to Instagram Stories to share her pain.

Way back: And another shot showed Ghada with Mohamed and two other sisters in formal clothing for a black and white shot

So close: Gigi Hadid also took to Instagram Stories to share her pain. Gigi added a bikini shot of Ghada with a swim cap on as she lay on a beach towel.

Happier days: One image was of Ghada when she was a young woman. 'May our auntie Ghada Rest In Peace,' she wrote. 'I will never forget her sparkling eyes and smile'

Family time for fun: The second shot saw Ghada with her family in the early 2000s

Last year: Gigi walks the runway at the Alberta Ferretti fashion show during the Milan Fashion Week - Spring / Summer 2021 in September

One image was of Ghada when she was a young woman. 'May our auntie Ghada Rest In Peace,' she wrote. 'I will never forget her sparkling eyes and smile.'

The second shot saw Ghada with her family.

And Gigi added a bikini shot of Ghada with a swim cap on as she lay on a beach towel.

Mohamed Hadid shared a touching post this week before his sister's passing.

The businessman shared several throwback photos of his sister from their childhood as well as images from her wedding and when she was older.

'Not So happy news my eldest sister and the Family matriarch Ghada H HADID, COVID Pneumonia hospitalization and a heart attack I ask you for a prayer for this wonderful woman,' he began his note.

Before she passed: 'Not So happy news my eldest sister and the Family matriarch Ghada H HADID, COVID Pneumonia hospitalization and a heart attack I ask you for a prayer for this wonderful woman,' it was shared

The RHOBH guest star - who used to be married to Gigi and Bella's mother Yolanda Hadid - added: 'She and I and our mother Khairiah and two other sister were born in our great grand father palace the prince of Nazareth Daher Al Omer alzydani in Nazareth Palestine.

'The last picture in this photo album in the same room our mothers quarters that was build in 1730 over looking the grounds that Where Jesus of Nazareth was conceived.

'We were refugees Ghada was 6 years old and I was just few days old when were not let in by our guest Im Safad Palestine.'

In a sharp blazer: Here she is seen in the 1980s with a black and white jacket with pearl earrings

She was proud of her nieces: Gigi and Bella at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2019

He then said: 'At that moment of time Our journey Begone to Syria Lebanon Tunisia then Washington DC before arriving to DC Ghada Set sail to Ohio for university.'

Mohamed continued: 'Age of 16 With amazing careers and degrees and beauty pageants in Ohio She got married in Tunisia and her legacy today is by her side @linahadid at ICU in the hospital.'

Hadid then said: 'Look at some her pictures in this note. I hope you would hear a happier story from me tomorrow.'

He also said he had tears in his eyes and was praying to God that he would see her sky blue shining eyes again.

'May we wake tomorrow she is being watched by her momma and babba above in heaven,' he ended his note.

Ghada's last Instagram post was from September 2021: 'Life will be more difficult without him, especially for Sana, Reema. Waseem and the grandkids. We will miss him. Zuhair was a pillar of the Hadid family. He was so responsible and forthcoming in his support and generosity. A true Palestinian man. May God bless his soul, and help his immediate and extended family deal with life without Zuhair. '
In a new interview Dakota Johnson revealed that Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who starred in The Social Network, didn't acknowledge her while the two were on set.

Johnson, 32, had a small role in the 2010 drama, which was based on the true story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook.

In a video shared by Vanity Fair the actress sat down with costar Andrew Garfield, 38, to reminisce on their time working on the film.

Revelation: In a new interview Dakota Johnson revealed that Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who starred in The Social Network, didn't acknowledge her while the two were on set

'You and Jesse were so busy on that movie, and I was obviously in it for four seconds, but I spent a few days on set just watching,' Dakota recalled in the segment.

The nine-minute-long conversation was shared via the publication's YouTube channel on Tuesday.

'I remember sitting down with you guys when you were having lunch one day, and you asked me loads of questions,' the star, who's dating Chris Martin, mused.

Seeing from his perspective: 'He was probably in character,' Dakota added, giving the actor - who wasn't in the video - a generous out

'You were really nice, and Jesse didnt acknowledge me,' she stated to Garfield.

The entertainer was dressed in a mostly black outfit, except for a lavender blouse which had a tie neck collar.

She slipped on a pair of black leather loafers and her long dark hair was in loose ringlets and framed by her signature bangs.

'He was probably in character,' the Texas-born performer said, giving the actor - who wasn't in the video - a generous out.

Early career: Johnson had a small role in the 2010 drama, which was based on the true story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook

Andrew didn't stir the pot as he noted, 'Oh boy, I dont know. I feel like I need to defend him in some way.

'There was maybe some of the Zuckerberg coming through in that moment.'

In the 11-year-old movie Dakota played a Stanford University student was also the love interest of Justin Timberlake's character, Napster co-creator Sean Parker.

Both Dakota and her colleague went on to have notable careers - Garfield took on eventually took on the role of Spider-Man, and Johnson currently can be seen in the Maggie Gynllehaal-directed film The Lost Daughter.

Small part: Looking back on her role in the film, Dakota said, 'I was in it for four seconds'
Simon Cowell was reportedly left cringing after a couple married on stage during a Britain's Got Talent audition.

According to The Mirror, newly-engaged Simon, 62, was left baffled when contestants Ben and Kerry from Ashford, Kent tied the knot in a surprise wedding.

An onlooker claimed fellow judge David Walliams then teased Simon about his own upcoming nuptials to fiancee Lauren Silverman, 44, who he recently proposed to.

Awkward: Simon Cowell was reportedly left cringing after a couple married on stage during a Britain's Got Talent audition

The onlooker said: 'I think Simon might have thought it was a joke at his expense at first, but as the ceremony took place he was fidgeting in his seat.

'He looked uncomfortable and David was clearly taking the mickey out of him as he has done throughout the auditions regarding his engagement.

'Simon was making hand gestures to the audience which looked like he wasn't that interested and wanted to get it over with.'

Co-judge Alesha Dixon, 43, then said: 'Just when you think this show cant get any crazier, we have an actual wedding.'

The TV judge was reported to have said he didn't know what was happening anymore as the wedding played out.

Show: Simon, 62, was left baffled when contestants Ben and Kerry from Ashford, Kent tied the knot in a surprise wedding despite his recent engagement to fiancee Lauren Silverman (pictured together in November 2021)

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Simon Cowell and Britain's Got Talent for comment.

It comes after Simon reportedly made a cheeky dig at his friend David about his short five-year marriage to supermodel Lara Stone.

The music mogul got his own back after the comedian poked fun at the length of time it took him to get engaged.

The Daily Star reported that during another day of filming the latest series of Britain's Got Talent, the topic of Simon's wedding news came up.

One of the first acts to perform for the judges was a dance troupe, whose routine included a segment where a dancer wearing a mask of David's face sitting on a fake Simon's knee and proposing.

Pals: An onlooker claimed fellow judge David Walliams then teased Simon about his own upcoming nuptials to fiancee Lauren

David took the opportunity to make a quip about Simon taking his time to pop the question.

Giving his feedback on their performance, he told the auditionees: 'It was good you brought it up to date with the engagement.'

He then added: 'I mean, they only had a kid seven years go. He took his time.'

But Simon got in the last laugh, after he shot back: 'Hopefully mine will last longer than yours David!'

David was previously married to Lara, but their marriage sadly only lasted for five years, until their split in 2015.

Fun: It comes after Simon was said to have poked fun at pal David Walliams' short marriage to supermodel Lara Stone

The Little Britain star and Dutch model, 37, met in 2009, and got engaged only months after they began dating.

They tied the knot at London's Claridge's Hotel in May 2010 and welcomed a baby boy Alfred, in May 2013.

However, the couple soon 'drifted apart' and embarked on a trial separation in March 2015, which led to their subsequent divorce in September of the same year.

Meanwhile, Simon's proposal to Lauren came after her learnt 'what was precious' over the past two years.

Despite his previous staunch vows to never walk up the aisle, the insider claimed the past two years - in which the global pandemic hit and the star broke his back - have made him change his stance.

The source told People: 'They have fun together, as well as being each other's rock. They are both passionate but really do bring out the very best in each other. As a family, they all have such an incredible bond...

Breakup: David was previously married to supermodel Lara Stone, but their marriage sadly only lasted for five years, until their split in 2015

'A lot of things have happened in the last few years and just like for everyone else in the world, these things have all been a reminder about what is precious to them'.

Simon may have once branded marriage 'boring', but according to a new report, it was during lockdown that something shifted with Lauren.

The brunette beauty is said to have urged him to commit to their family life and 'prioritise the present' instead of spending time with his famous exes.

A friend told The Sun that 'no one is more shocked about the change in Simon these past few years than Simon', yet was told by Lauren that she needed a 'commitment to family life'.

They explained: 'Not surprisingly, she didnt appreciate Simon hanging out and holidaying with his harem of exes, particularly Sinitta who was forever lurking in the shadows.

'Simon was told in no uncertain terms that it was him or his exes  Sinitta, Terri Seymour and Jackie St Clair  and, wisely, chose to prioritise his present and future, not his past.'

Simon, whose net worth is estimated to be approximately $600m, (436m), certainly means business with the ring he presented Lauren with.

Alexandra Michell Gemologist Prestige Pawnbrokers of Channel 4s Posh Pawn told MailOnline: 'I would estimate this ring is a 15ct oval cut diamond, the stone is a colour D and internally flawless the best grade on the market.

'Id estimate the retail value at $3.4million or 2.5 million. This is very classic in style; a single stone on a white gold or platinum band, to really show off the star of the show- the diamond.'

Jewellery experts at Steven Stone claim it's worth a little less at $2.5m or (1,820,000). Managing Director, Zack Stone, said: 'Lauren's ring looks to be oval shaped, which was the most popular shape of 2021 for celebrities.

'The centre diamond is huge, approximately 20ct. It looks like its D colour, which makes it an incredibly high value stone. A ring like this would be worth $2,500,000 (1,820,000) which is the highest value celebrity ring weve seen in the last 12 months.'

The story behind the $3.4m 'flawless' ring Alexandra Michell Gemologist Prestige Pawnbrokers of Channel 4s Posh Pawn told MailOnline: I would estimate this ring is a 15ct oval cut diamond, the stone is a colour D and internally flawless the best grade on the market. Id estimate the retail value at $3.4million or 2.5 million. This is very classic in style; a single stone on a white gold or platinum band, to really show off the star of the show- the diamond. https://www.prestigepawnbrokers.co.uk/ Moreover, jewellery experts at Steven Stone claim it's worth a little less at $2.5m or (1,820,000). Managing Director, Zack Stone, said: 'Lauren's ring looks to be oval shaped, which was the most popular shape of 2021 for celebrities. 'The centre diamond is huge, approximately 20ct. It looks like its D colour, which makes it an incredibly high value stone. A ring like this would be worth $2,500,000 (1,820,000) which is the highest value celebrity ring weve seen in the last 12 months.' Advertisement

Eight years ago, Simon declared that he would always love his exes, saying: 'The love I have for my ex-girlfriends will always be there, so I think thats true love. People confuse ego, lust, insecurity with true love.

'But for me, whether its Jackie, Mezhgan, Sinitta or Terri, they will be in my life forever. I genuinely love them.'

The music mogul popped the question to Lauren on the couple's Barbados getaway over the new year in front of their son Eric, seven, and Lauren's son Adam, 16.

Despite previously insisting that he 'didn't believe' in marriage, the father-of-one reassessed his views after falling in love with Lauren - who was left 'stunned' by the shock proposal.

A source told The Sun: 'Lauren was absolutely stunned and never in a million years expected Simon to pop the question. She burst into tears - happy tears - and obviously said yes straight away.

'Lauren has been Simons rock over these past few years - supporting him when he broke his back, and through thick and thin generally. They make a wonderful couple.

'Whilst Simon never thought he was the marrying type, hes realised hes met the woman of his dreams - and couldnt be happier. In the words of Beyonce, it was time to put a ring on it.'

A friend of the pair's added to People magazine: 'They are both super happy. They've been together a long time now and adore each other so it's not a huge surprise to their close friends.'

Simon met Lauren when she was still married to millionaire property developer Andrew Silverman.

Their affair became public  and Simon's life changed  at the end of July 2013 when news broke of Lauren's pregnancy.

In 2015, Simon told Mail on Sunday Event magazine: 'I'm not proud of the circumstances, I can't hold my head up about it.' Of the pregnancy, he admitted: 'This was not something I planned. But I remember going to the first scan with Lauren.

'I called him Tad because he looked like a tadpole. Something just kicked in. I felt unbelievably protective of both of them. I just absolutely wanted him. I just hadn't known that before.'

Simon had previously stated that he 'didn't believe in marriage' and worried about what would happen to his fortune if he tied the knot.

The X Factor creator said in 2008: 'I don't believe in marriage, certainly not in this business. The truth is that you get married and in a year or two they clean you out! It's just not going to work.'

The father-of-one has previously enjoyed high profile relationships with the likes of Sinitta, Jackie St. Clair and Terri Seymour.

He was rumoured to have been secretly engaged to Page Three girl Louise Payne, after she split from husband and Right Said Fred star Fred Fairbrass, yet never confirmed the reports.

The pair met at a function in London in in 1995 yet split three years later.
Teresa Palmer is selling her home in Los Angeles after owning it for nine years.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom property is nestled under the Hollywood sign in the Hollywoodland section of Beachwood Canyon.

The 35-year-old actress has listed the house with a price guide of $3.7million.

On the market: Australian actress Teresa Palmer (pictured with her husband Mark Webber in 2019) is selling her home in Los Angeles after owning it for nine years

The property also includes an office, a pool house, a two-car garage and a space for outdoor entertaining.

Teresa spent a decade in America but returned to Australia with her husband Mark Webber and their children in June last year.

After quarantining in Sydney, the family moved to Adelaide, where they own a home.

Location: The four-bedroom, four-bathroom property is nestled under the Hollywood sign in the Hollywoodland section of Beachwood Canyon

In August, Teresa and film director Mark announced the birth of their fourth child.

The Discovery of Witches star shared the news on Instagram, revealing she had welcomed daughter Prairie Moon Palmer three days earlier.

She said her baby girl was 'a little magic moon for our family'.

Cosy: The property also includes an office, a pool house, a two-car garage and a space for outdoor entertaining

'Introducing our daughter, Prairie Moon Palmer, who was born just as the sun rose on Tuesday morning, 17th August. Surrounded by her siblings who are absolutely enamoured with her,' she wrote.

She added: 'A little magic moon for our family.'

Teresa and Mark share four children: sons Bodhi Rain, seven, and Forest Sage, four, and daughters Poet Lake, one, and baby Prairie Moon.

Mark is also father to 13-year-old son Isaac Love, from a previous relationship.
A lawyer for actor Jesse Williams says that a woman's effort to sue him over a 2020 car accident amounts to a 'blatant attempt to extort' the Grey's Anatomy actor.

The 40-year-old actor was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles in January of 2020 with a woman named Paula Bruce, according to TMZ.

Bruce said that Williams fled the scene in the wake of the accident, and that she was physically hurt and suffered emotional distress as a result, the outlet reported.

The latest: A lawyer for actor Jesse Williams, 40, says that a woman's effort to sue him over a 2020 car accident amount to a 'blatant attempt to extort' the Grey's Anatomy actor. Williams was snapped in March of 2020 in NYC

William Briggs, a lawyer for the Chicago-born actor, told the outlet that while Williams did rear end Bruce's vehicle, he didn't flee the scene of the incident.

Bruce told Williams that she was OK in the wake of the incident and Williams contacted the police to report the matter, Briggs told the outlet.

Police told Williams and Bruce to trade insurance details, as no one was hurt in the accident, Briggs said.

Briggs said Williams and Bruce exchanged insurance and license details, and Williams photographed the damage in the accident.

Williams was seen at the premiere of Dolemite Is My Name in LA in 2019

Williams was seen at a Hollywood club in September of 2019

Briggs said Williams departed the scene after the information was traded, and that the actor's assistant arrived at the scene to oversee the arrival of a tow truck, as Williams left before the incident garnered publicity.

Williams followed up with Bruce days after the incident, and she said she was fine, according to his attorney. Williams was under the impression insurance would take care of all the details, his lawyer said.

Briggs said there was no further communication between the parties for years, when weeks back, a lawyer for Bruce asked for $1.6 million from the actor's insurance claiming the incident was a hit and run.

Briggs told the outlet that Bruce's lawyer said that she was going to file a lawsuit against the actor, which he called a 'blatant attempt to extort' Williams.

Williams will legally fight the claims, according to Briggs.
Dakota Johnson made a funny quip about her raunchy screen past as she wore a red mini-dress for an appearance of Wednesday's edition of The Late Late Show with James Corden.

The actress, 32, appeared a little self-conscious as she arrived on set wearing the sizzling scarlet number, crossing her legs and attempting to cover her thighs with her hands while sitting down opposite the British talk-show host, 43.

Corden graciously offered the screen star his jacket to protect her modesty, asking: 'Are you okay? Are you alright? Do you want my jacket?'

To which Dakota hilariously replied: 'I'm okay. It's nothing nobody hasn't already seen.'

Cheeky: Dakota Johnson made a funny quip about her raunchy screen past as she wore a red mini-dress for an appearance of Wednesday's edition of The Late Late Show

The actress was presumably referring to her breakthrough role in the racy Fifty Shades erotic drama franchise, in which she portrayed Anastasia Steele opposite Jamie Dornan's Christian Grey from 2015 to 2018.

Dakota also stripped off while filming semi-nude scenes for her 2021 drama The Lost Daughter, which is now on Netflix.

'It is difficult. Some days, I don't want to take off my clothes on set,' she said in an interview with W Magazine this month.

'Just because I look a certain way doesn't mean I don't have feelings. And my character, Nina, is almost bored by her appearance. She has reached a point in her life where her hotness doesn't match who she is anymore.'

Legs crossed: The actress, 32, appeared a little self-conscious as she arrived on set wearing the sizzling scarlet number as she chatted to host James Corden

Oops! Dakota crossed her legs and attempted to cover her thighs with her hands while sitting down with Corden, 43

Chivalrous: Corden graciously offered the screen star his jacket to protect her modesty, asking: 'Are you okay? Are you alright? Do you want my jacket?'

Dakota appeared naked in many of the Fifty Shades trilogy's racy sex scenes, and refused to use a body double because she finds nudity 'beautiful'.

'No, because it would have felt like a cop-out if I did,' she explained in 2017. 'If I was going to do this job, I was going to do it 100 per cent and give it everything.

'I wanted to be true and honest to the role, and the character. I don't have a problem with nudity. I think it is beautiful and so I was OK with that.'

Dakota is the daughter of longtime Hollywood stars Don Johnson, 72, and Melanie Griffith, 64, and the granddaughter of Alfred Hitchcock heroine Tippi Hedren, 94.

Racy: The actress was presumably referring to her breakthrough role in the racy Fifty Shades erotic drama franchise, in which she portrayed Anastasia Steele from 2015 to 2018

Erotic romance: Dakota appeared naked in many of the Fifty Shades trilogy's racy sex scenes, and refused to use a body double because she finds nudity 'beautiful'

New project: Dakota also stripped off while filming semi-nude scenes for her 2021 drama The Lost Daughter, which is now on Netflix

Speaking on Wednesday's The Late Late Show, she admitted she's never happy when her famous parents put her childhood pictures on social media.

The actress said that by the time she finds out about her childhood pictures on social media that they are already 'baked into the Internet.'

Dakota said she then reverts back to a 12-year-old child when that happens to yell at her parents.

'Mom, you can't do that,' Dakota said in a shrill voice. 'We have had this conversation so many times.'

Lady in red: The screen star looked incredible in a red mini-dress, which she teamed with towering heels

Famous family: Dakota is the daughter of longtime Hollywood stars Don Johnson, 72, and Melanie Griffith, 64, and the granddaughter of Alfred Hitchcock heroine Tippi Hedren, 94

Dakota said her mother Melanie is 'the most amazing person but she embarrasses me in front of a lot of people'.

Host Corden asked her if it was true that she embarrassed her in front of one of her crushes growing up and she confirmed an incident with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, 40.

Dakota said she was around age eight when she saw the actor at the airport. She told her mother and she called him over. Dakota said she remembered hiding behind a plant and just staying there.

Corden then spoke to her about her new film The Lost Daughter on Netflix. Dakota told him the movie is about a mother who gets obsessed with a young mother while on vacation in Greece.

The chat show host asked her whether it was also true that she gave her co-star actress Olivia Colman, 47, a tattoo while filming.

'I have a stick and poke tattoo kit and I brought it to Greece because I thought it would be fun, but they confiscated it at customs,' Dakota said. 'And rightfully so because we did a lot of wine tasting when we were in Greece.'

She said that later when they were in New York and were doing press that she had a friend come over with her tattoo kit and tattooed Olivia.

'She really wanted a tattoo,' she said.

Dakota also shared that she had been regularly texting with Mel C, aka Sporty Spice. She said when she met her that she played it 'really cool.'

'She left the room and I was shaking and sweating,' said Dakota. 'I still love the Spice Girls, apparently, a lot.'

James told her that if she texted Mel C that along with his other guest Josh Gad, 40, that he would do an ABBA tribute band with them four times a year.

'I would do that,' said Dakota and Josh said he was in.
Dame Judi Dench revealed how her grandson got her to do TikTok dance challenges on Wednesday during a remote appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers on NBC.

The 87-year-old English actress said her grandson Sam Williams came to where she lived during the beginning of the pandemic lockdown and said, 'I think we ought to do a bit of TikTok.'

Judi said she told him that she was 'absolutely hopeless at all those things', but he told her not to worry and that they would rehearse.

TikTok star: Dame Judi Dench revealed how her grandson got her to do TikTok dance challenges on Wednesday during a remote appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers

She said after they rehearsed and filmed it that she asked him if he was going to put it out and he told her, 'No, more rehearsal'.

'He was a tyrant,' she said.

Judi said she had never seen the finished result and Seth then showed the video of Judi and her grandson doing the Juice, Sauce, little bit of dressing Tik Tok dance to Yung Gravy's song. Judi and Sam then went on to do other TikTok dancing challenges.

Seth then informed her that her grandson Sam had also taken to doing reviews of her films.

Grandson fun: Judi said she told her grandson Sam Williams that she was 'absolutely hopeless at all those things', but he told her not to worry and that they would rehearse

He showed Sam's TikTok review of her film Skyfall where he said 'hands down this film is her best.' Sam wasn't as kind in his review of Judi's film Run For Your Wife where she had a cameo as a homeless woman. He gave that film a '1 out of 10 at best.'

'Well, I'll take it up with him later,' said Judi.

Seth started the interview by asking her if she requires everyone to address her as a Dame. She laughed and said no.

Film reviews: Seth also showed Sam's TikTok review of his grandmother's film Skyfall where he said 'hands down this film is her best'

'It's a curious thing to get used to when you get made a Dame,' said Judi.

Seth asked her about her new film Belfast directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, 62, that was based loosely on his childhood. He asked her about working with Kenneth and said that he heard she had directed him once in a stage play and that they had worked together 12 times.

'We met a long long time ago behaving rather badly on television once and we were both sent out of the studio,' she said. 'That kind of sealed it straight away for us.'

Belfast movie: Seth asked her about her new film Belfast directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, 62, that was based loosely on his childhood

Seth asked what kind of bad behavior got them sent out of the studio. She said they were doing the play Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen. She said you don't laugh in the play but that for some reason they 'completely fell apart and went to pieces.' She said that the production said, 'Mr Branagh and Ms. Dench you can leave the studio, the two of you.'

Seth asked her if she enjoyed directing Branagh. She said that she did but that she didn't really enjoy directing because the company of actors gang up against you.

'They all go to the pub and don't tell you which pub they are going to,' she said. 'They don't want notes after hours.'

Director's life: 'They all go to the pub and don't tell you which pub they are going to,' she said. 'They don't want notes after hours'

She said when Kenneth asked her to be in Belfast that he told her that he wanted to play his grandmother.

'I said I'm not nearly old enough to play your grandmother,' Judi recalled.

Judi then said she realized that she played his grandmother in a flashback scene with him as a child.

Belfast was released in theaters in the US in November by Focus Features and will be released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Friday by Universal Pictures.
Jack Whitehall has revealed he was given 'stern' words by his agent after he stripped off for an upcoming film.

The actor, 33, told how he has no problem baring all for the camera but his agent was apparently less than impressed with his look.

Speaking on the Manatomy podcast, Jack said: 'I'm very willing to get naked for a laugh, and make myself look quite vulgar.

Advice: Jack Whitehall has revealed he was given 'stern' words by his agent after he stripped off for an upcoming film

'I'm not ashamed of my body. It's funny to shove yourself down into the dirt and humiliate yourself for a laugh.'

'I watched the first cut of a movie I did this year, and there's a sequence where I'm stripped and my clothes are ripped from me.

'My agent said, "The movie's great  but you have really got to hit the gym. To be a really successful actor in this town, you've got to hit the gym."

'He had been watching through gritted teeth thinking, "Oh my God, why does my client look like that? Why is he so unashamedly willing to present that body to the world?"'

Fitness: The actor, 33, told how he has no problem baring all for the camera but his agent was apparently less than impressed with his look

Jack added: 'It hadn't crossed my mind. I'd watched my pallid, flappy body lolloping around and thought, yeah that's funny.'

The comedian did not say which film it was but he has roles in the upcoming projects Robots and Silent Retreat.

It comes after Jack expressed fear that he could be cancelled by Hollywood if some of his past jokes ever came back to haunt him.

Speaking with fellow comedian Jarlath Regan on the An Irishman Abroad podcast, Jack said: 'I feel like I've definitely said jokes in the past that would be worthy of cancellation'

Interview: Speaking on the Manatomy podcast, Jack said: 'I'm very willing to get naked for a laugh, and make myself look quite vulgar'

Jack, who recently starred on Netflix's Jonas Brothers Family Roast, added: 'I guess it's how you weather that storm if it does ever come up.'

He explained that as a comedian, he feels historic jokes are easier to get away with, as opposed to tweets or 'comments in interviews', as the public know that it was a joke.

He said: 'I've had it, sort of, occur a few times and I think, maybe, people are a little better now.

'We've had a few of these ridiculous cancellations of people because of historic jokes that  especially with a comedian because it was told in jest and the context of it was only ever intended as a joke  that you do tend to get away with it a little bit more.'
She's well known for showcasing her catwalk credentials in incredible outfits.

And Tina Kunakey put on a edgy display as she attended the Y/Project Fall/Winter 2022/2023 show during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old model wife of Vincent Cassel, 55, donned a tailored grey floor-length coat with padded shoulders as she posed up a storm.

Wow: Tina Kunakey put on a edgy display as she attended the Y/Project Fall/Winter 2022/2023 show during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday

The garment was worn over a white blouse and cinched in at the star's toned waist.

She paired this with flared trousers and nude heels.

Tina wore her curly raven tresses in a chic ponytail and sported a radiant palette of make-up.

Pose: The 24-year-old model wife of Vincent Cassel, 55, donned a tailored grey floor-length coat with padded shoulders as she posed up a storm

Tina and Vincent welcomed their daughter Amazonie in April 2019, less than a year after their fairytale wedding.

Cassel also shares daughters Deva, 16, and Leonie, 10 with his ex-wife Monica Bellucci.

Vincent and Tina married in a private ceremony at the city hall in Bidart, south-west France, in August 2018.

They were first linked back in July 2016 when Tina, then 19, shared a social media snap of herself cuddling up to the then 49-year-old actor while smoking a cigarette.

Previously, he was married Italian actress Monica, 56, for 14 years, after first meeting on the set of their 1996 film The Apartment.
Gwyneth Paltrow revealed to him back in 2020 that it was his wife Sheryl Berkoff who first taught her how to 'give a blowjob.'

And Rob Lowe lightheartedly discussed the revelation during an appearance on Tuesday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The 57-year-old actor joked that Paltrow's ex Chris Martin and current husband Brad Falchuk have Berkoff, 60, to thank for their pleasure.

TMI: Rob Lowe lightheartedly discussed the revelation that his wife Sheryl Berkoff was the one to teach teenage Gwyneth Paltrow how to 'give a blowjob' during an appearance on Tuesday night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

'Here's the thing: The good news is my wife doesn't watch anything I do so she won't be watching this, so I can say it,' began Lowe, who'd originally been told the story by Gwyneth during an appearance on his podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe.

'When Gwyneth was a little, precocious 18 year old, my wife was still a makeup artist on a movie that Gwyneth's mother Blythe Danner was working on.

'Gwyneth came to visit and Sheryl would give her cigarettes and they'd go out and smoke behind the trailers. She was like a big sister to Gwyneth, still is,' he explained.

'And, apparently, Gwyneth told me on the podcast, I had no idea but I must thank her, that my wife taught Gwyneth how to how should we say this on network television? It's your show,' teased Lowe as he looked to Kimmel for guidance.

Safe space: 'Here's the thing: The good news is my wife doesn't watch anything I do so she won't be watching this, so I can say it,' began Lowe, who'd originally been told the story by Gwyneth during an appearance on his podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe

Keeping it PG: 'And, apparently, Gwyneth told me on the podcast, I had no idea but I must thank her, that my wife taught Gwyneth how to how should we say this on network television? It's your show,' teased Lowe as he looked to Kimmel for guidance

'I think 'perform oral sex' would be the way to go. Which is a very nice thing for her to do,' Kimmel suggested with a chuckle.

'Or, as I like to say, Chris Martin and Brad Falchuk, you're welcome!' joked the St. Elmo's Fire actor as he stared into the camera.

Gwyneth was married to Martin, 44, from 2003 until their finalized divorce in 2016. They share daughter Apple, 17, and son Moses, 15.

The Shallow Hal actress, 49, went on to marry writer/producer Brad Flachuk, 50, in 2018 after meeting on the set of Glee, which he co-created with American Horror Story's Ryan Murphy.

Go ahead: 'I think 'perform oral sex' would be the way to go. Which is a very nice thing for her to do,' Kimmel suggested with a chuckle

During her 2020 stint on Lowe's podcast, Gwyneth credited Sheryl for her teaching her the proper oral sex 'technique' but didn't provide any specifics beyond that.

Paltrow had met Berkoff, now 60, when she 'was 15 or 16' and that she was 'immediately obsessed with her.'

She continued: 'First of all, she was dating Keanu Reeves, who was my celebrity crush. And she was so cool.'

While visiting the Florida set of one of her mom's films, Gwyneth spent plenty of quality time with Sheryl which came in the form of smoke breaks 'behind the trailer.'

It was during one of those hangouts where the makeup artist 'taught [Gwyneth] how to give a blow job, and you know, all the classic Sheryl stuff.'

You're welcome! 'Or, as I like to say, Chris Martin and Brad Falchuk, you're welcome!' joked the St. Elmo's Fire actor as he stared into the camera; Gwyneth and ex Chris Martin pictured in 2014

Finding love again: After splitting from Martin in 2016, The Shallow Hal actress went on to marry writer/producer Brad Flachuk, 50, in 2018; Brad and Gwyneth pictured in 2019

Without going into detail Gwyneth explained to Rob that 'it was less about remembering the technique -- although I'm sure that I implemented it the first chance I got.

'It was so cool to have someone treat me like an adult and see me as like a young woman and someone who is sexual. She just made me feel so free.'

The Goop founder reiterated that she just 'worshipped' Sheryl and 'thought she was literally the coolest chick of all time.

'She was so awesome to me. And I was a high school kid. Like, the fact that she's loved me that much before I was anyone or anything, you know?'

Rob and Sheryl, who share sons Matthew, 29, and John, 27, have been married since 1991.
Stalkers (BBC1)

Rating:

Inside The Factory (BBC2)

Rating:

More than half the murders of women in the UK begin with stalking. The killers, often former partners, bombard their victims with intimidating messages before the crimes escalate.

As she followed the work of a helpline in Portsmouth and a specialist police unit in Stalkers (BBC1), Stacey Dooley learned that one in five women have been subjected to stalking  as have one in ten men.

Katie dated a personal trainer from her gym for five months before she dumped him when she discovered he was being unfaithful. His twisted revenge included beating himself up and reporting her to the police for assault.

He was eventually sentenced to two years in prison, but was able to apply for parole after serving less than half his sentence. Though his request was denied, the police could offer Katie no assurances.

They advised her to pack a suitcase with essentials, in case she needed to flee her home. They also asked her to keep a log of every time her abuser made contact  which sounds as though she was expected to assist in the investigation of her own future murder.

Stacey could have pressed the police harder to find out why forces don't take the crime more seriously. She set up no difficult questions, let alone confrontations with chief constables or other senior officers.

As she followed the work of a helpline in Portsmouth and a specialist police unit in Stalkers (BBC1), Stacey Dooley (pictured in Stalkers) learned that one in five women have been subjected to stalking  as have one in ten men

One woman after another came forward to say she and her family had suffered endless psychological torment and manipulation. Yet the offenders were able to continue with their campaigns of fear for years before the police finally intervened.

'People say love makes you do crazy things and in my case it definitely does,' declared one deranged man, his face hidden by his hoodie.

Recruitment consultant Sabrina was bombarded with abusive messages and pictures from a disguised phone number for three years. Her stalker photographed her house and claimed to know where her daughter went to school.

Eventually, by obtaining CCTV footage from a local pub, Sabrina was able to discover the creep was a former boyfriend.

But she had to turn detective herself before the police began taking the case seriously.

The intimidation was driving her to despair. 'Is it actually ever going to end?' she wept.

This was grim viewing, with a bleak conclusion. Once a stalker targets you, Stacey warned: 'You are never truly free.'

Last week I worried that Wednesday telly was getting so bleak that I'd be forced to watch Gregg Wallace on Inside The Factory (BBC2). My fears came true . . . and it really wasn't as bad as I'd expected.

Gregg was inspecting the Doc Martens factory in the Northamptonshire village of Wollaston.

'We Brits are mad for boots,' he yelled, bobbing along with his arms spread wide and his head wobbling, like a toy on a car dashboard.

As he trundled around the shop floor, he got an education not only in boot-making but in the fascinating origin of cobblers' slang.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Last week I worried that Wednesday telly was getting so bleak that I'd be forced to watch Gregg Wallace on Inside The Factory (BBC2). My fears came true . . . and it really wasn't as bad as I'd expected

Take 'skiving', to describe the work-shy. Skiving, Gregg learned, means shaving down the edges of leather, to make it easier to stitch.

Most boot-making is done standing up, but skivers have to sit down at their machine. It's a cushy job.

The 'vamp' is the front of a boot, which gets scuffed. When that piece of leather is replaced, the boot is 'revamped'! Fancy that.

And when the footwear is shaped around a wooden foot or 'last' (because this is the last stage), it should be so tight that the bootmaker can 'knock on wood'.

Apologies to Gregg for all previous sarkiness, because I enjoyed this. As it turns out, he's most interesting when he's talking cobblers.
Porsha Williams took to Instagram on Wednesday with a series of photos showing off a Rolls-Royce Ghost her fiance Simon Guobadia purchased her.

'The only way you win is if I quit!' the 40-year-old reality star said in a caption to the post.

She added the hashtags #ThankYouHubby, #PhotoDump, #LivingLife, #ThePursuitOfPorsha and #RRGhost.

The latest: Porsha Williams, 40, took to Instagram on Wednesday with a series of photos showing off a Rolls-Royce Ghost her fiance Simon Guobadia purchased her

In a series of photos, the vehicle, which has an orange interior, was seen with a large red bow on the hood, as The Real Housewives of Atlanta beauty was seen celebrating the new acquisition with Guobadia.

The Atlanta native in the photos donned a black bodysuit with a designer black jacket and black and white sneakers.

She wore her black locks down and parted to the side, and donned silver hoop earrings.

Guobadia on his Instagram page shared a shot of side by side Rolls-Royce vehicles, captioning the shot 'His and Hers,' and calling Williams a 'Queen.'

Williams was seen hugging the vehicle with an assist from fiance Simon Guobadia

The silver luxury vehicle has an orange interior and deluxe rims

Williams smiled as she posed alongside her new acquisition

The Bravo beauty posed in front of the automobile in a driveway

Guobadia, who proposed to Williams last year, opened up with Bravo Insider Tuesday about his career as 'an entrepreneur.

'I own a petroleum and logistics business,' he told the outlet. 'And I have various investments, restaurants and nightclubs, barbershops. Actually, that's a joke. I don't own any barbershops. I own several businesses, a restaurant, nightclubs.'

Guobadia said he has five children and has been married three prior times, including to Williams' former Bravo co-star Falynn Guobadia.

'This is gonna be my fourth marriage,' he said of his romance with Williams. 'Kids are typically involved with each divorce. Co-parenting is not an easy thing to do.'

Earlier this month, Guobadia had Porsha's name tattooed on his upper back as the pair vacationed in Costa Rica.

Guobadia on his Instagram page shared a shot of side by side Rolls-Royce vehicles, captioning the shot 'His and Hers,' and calling Williams a 'Queen'

The Atlanta native in the photos donned a black bodysuit with a designer black jacket and black and white sneakers
She has reached the hallway mark in her pregnancy.

And Tammy Hembrow was simply glowing as she posed for an impromptu photo shoot to promote her Saski Collection swimwear line.

The 27-year-old Instagram star showed off her baby bump in a emerald halterneck bikini top with matching bottoms.

Blooming beautiful! Tammy Hembrow showed off her baby bump in a green bikini on Wednesday as she promoted her own Saski Collection swimwear

She also wrapped a white cloth sarong around her waist and fastened under her bump and accessorised with a matching green Jacquemus handbag.

The blonde bombshell wore minimal makeup on her complexion and had her platinum locks out.

Tammy spent the day by a hotel pool with her children and feasted on caviar, cooked prawns and fresh fruit.

Chic: She also wrapped a white cloth sarong around her waist and fastened under her bump and accessorised with a matching green Jacquemus handbag

The sun-kissed blonde also shared a video of her dipping her legs in a pool, while her daughter Saskia, five, spoke to the baby bump.

One hot mama! The blonde bombshell wore minimal makeup on her complexion and had her platinum locks out

'Always talking to her sister,' Tammy captioned the footage.

On the same day, Tammy showed off her growing stomach in a white crop-top and a pair of figure-hugging jeans.

She slipped on an oversized shirt for the occasion, as she posed and pouted at the camera.

Stunner: The blonde bombshell showed off her ample cleavage in the slinky number

Cute! The sun-kissed blonde also shared a video of her dipping her legs in a pool, while her daughter Saskia, five, spoke to the baby bump

Finally, Tammy shared a third clip of herself rubbing her stomach while in a figure-hugging lime green dress, as she spent time with her family on the Gold Coast.

The social media sensation has already reached the halfway point of her third pregnancy.

She also recently shared that her baby girl is quite the active bub.

'Baby girl has been kicking so much, more and more every day... it gets me so excited because she's definitely getting into a pattern,' she began.

Stunner: On the same day, Tammy showed off her growing stomach in a white crop-top and a pair of figure-hugging jeans

Style: She slipped on an oversized shirt for the occasion, as she posed and pouted at the camera

Gorgeous: Finally, the social media star shared a third clip of herself rubbing her stomach while in a figure-hugging lime green dress, as she spent time with her family on the Gold Coast

The fitness influencer continued: 'She's starting from 4pm, then all night, and sleeping all day, so I guess I'm going to have a little night time baby, which will be fun.'

'I'll probably be even more tired, but it's my favourite feeling, I love feeling the kicks,' she added.

Tammy revealed last month that she was expecting her first child with fiance Matt Poole.

She shares two older children - son Wolf, six, and daughter Saskia, five - with her ex-partner Reece Hawkins.
Aaron Paul got to indulge in some quality family time during a lunch date with his three-year-old daughter Story Annabelle on Wednesday.

During their afternoon excursion, the Breaking Bad star caved in to their sweet cravings, likely with the help of his little girl, and stopped to get a couple of ice cream cones in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

While on daddy duty, Paul got to experience some simple, but priceless, moments only a proud parent can truly understand at its core.

Quality family time: Aaron Paul, 42, took his daughter Story Annabelle, three, out to lunch, which was capped off with a couple of ice cream cones

Paul, 42, was first seen walking along the sidewalk with his baby girl on his shoulders, as they scanned into the various shoppes along the busy street.

Once they reached their destination the doting dad brought Story down and their went in to pick out their favorite ice cream and combine it with a cone.

Not long later, they were seen holding hands while continuing their casual stroll on another sunny Southern California day.

Community cone: Story even got to learn the concept of sharing when she handed over her cone to her dad so he could have a taste

Hand it back! But apparently, dad took a little too long to give Story her cone back in a timely manner, and she was quick to let him know that he had taken one too many licks

At one point, the actor appeared to ask Story if he could have a taste of her frozen treat, which she promptly agreed.

But apparently, dad took a little too long to give the cone back, and Story let him know that he had taken one too many licks.

With chocolate all around her mouth, and bits on her nose and chin, Story looked up at her father and tugged at his shirt when asking for her ice cream cone.

And with that adorable face splattered with ice cream, the three-time Primetime Emmy Award-winner was quick to hand it back.

Baby No. 2: The Pauls went public in early December and announced they are expecting their second child together: 'Love you so much already little one. Can't wait to meet you number 2'

Paul and wife Lauren Parsekian, who will celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary in May, went public in December that they are expecting another child together.

'Love you so much already little one. Can't wait to meet you number 2,' the actor wrote in the caption of a photo showing Story touching her mother's growing baby bump.

Parsekian, 34, who's a director and actress, also shared the pregnancy news with her Instagram followers: 'We can't wait to meet you baby! We love you so much already,' she wrote, alongside the photo that shows wearing sweatpants and a beanie cap by a fireplace.

In his next film role, Paul stars with Karen Gillan in the science fiction thriller film Dual, which is slated to makes it world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 22.

During his downtime since last year, the Idaho native has been teaming up with his Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston for in-house stops to promote their Mezcal brand, Dos Hombres, which is now available in Mexico.

Business partners: Paul and Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston have been out promoting their mezcal brand, Dos Hombres, in person whenever they get a chance; the duo are pictured during an in-erson promotional stop this past week
Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is recalling the very steamy audition of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart for her 2008 blockbuster hit movie, and why it got her worried.

Catherine, 66, said she became concerned when witnessing the intense chemistry between Robert, who was 21 at the time, and Kristen, who was 17.

'I could tell they had a lot of chemistry, and I'm like, "Oh my God." I thought, Kristen was 17. I don't want to get in some illegal things,' the director told The Big Hit Show podcast.

Chemistry: Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recalls worrying over Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart having an 'illegal' sexual encounter after their steamy audition kiss

The legal age of consent in California is 18-years-old, and Hardwicke felt inclined to remind Pattinson of this, after the actor fell off a bed during the audition when the two actors kissed.

'So I remember I told Rob, "By the way, Kristen is 17. In our country, it's illegal to have a sexual "And he's like, "Oh, OK, whatever,"' she explained.

Kristen and Robert ended up later falling in love on set, a nearly four-year romance that the actress recently referred to as 'young and stupid.'

The anecdote came up on the podcast, which was recorded in Hardwicke's home, as she gave a tour of her house including her bedroom where the two young actors locked lips.

Director: 'I could tell they had a lot of chemistry, and I'm like, "Oh my God." I thought, Kristen was 17. I don't want to get in some illegal things', she said (pictured 2019)

Stars: Catherine, 66, said she became concerned when witnessing the intense chemistry between Robert, who was 21 at the time, and Kristen, who was 17

The audition was held in 2007, a year before the movie came out.

'Rob and Kristen did the audition right here on the bed. They did the kissing scene and he fell off and landed right there on this floor,' she said on the podcast.

Talking about how the British actor looked back then, she remembered: 'He walked in and he had his hair was dyed black for some play, with these wacky bangs. He was a bit out of shape.'

'His shirt was just all messy, and I'm like, "Oh, OK. OK, let's see how this goes.'"

She went on, 'Rob and Kristen auditioned on my bed, the kissing scene, Rob was so into it he fell off the bed. I'm like, "Dude, calm down." And I'm in there filming with my little video camera, whatever.'

'And at the end [of the audition] Kristen was like, "It has to be Rob," Hardwicke remembered.

The rest was history, though Hardwicke reportedly had to convince Twilight author Stephenie Meyer who had apparently had Henry Cavill as her first choice.

But Cavill was deemed too old looking at 24 to play the immortal 17-year-old vampire Edward Cullen.

The movie became a cultural phenomenon and turned into a series of films that have grossed over $3.4 billion worldwide.

After falling for each other onset, Kristen and Robert would go on to date for almost four years - from 2009 to 2012 - before they split.

Racy: In Breaking Dawn the pair acted out a raunchy sex scene where Robert's character Cullen ripped through pillows with his fangs. The actor later joked he 'broke the bed'

In Breaking Dawn they filmed a racy sex scene, with Robert's character ripping through pillows.

The actor recalled at the time: 'I bit through all the pillows. Every. Single. One. And then hed start crying.'

'By the way, thats what he should be ashamed of in the morning.

'All those beautiful pillows! Egyptian cotton! [Laughs] I ruined this bed!'

The end of their romance was blamed on the actress cheating with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.
Former Bachelorette star Angie Kent has been left fuming after her elective surgery was cancelled due to Covid.

Speaking on her podcast Two Girls, One Pod this week, the 30-year-old vented her frustration at her surgery being postponed as Australia's health care system becomes more and more overwhelmed with rising Covid cases.

Angie, who splits her time between hometown of Queensland and Sydney, has endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and explained she recently discovered she had a fibroid (a non-cancerous growth).

Angie Kent has vented her frustrations after her elective surgery for a fibroid was cancelled due to Covid

In NSW, non-urgent elective surgery has been suspended until mid-February, while Queensland has cancelled elective surgeries until March 1 because the health care system is under a lot of strain.

'I was in a lot of pain and I was waiting to get home to (QLD) to see my gynecologist and surgeon because I do need surgery you know? They say it's elective, but I didn't elect for myself to have this body did I?' Angie said.

'But there's so many women I've heard some absolute horror stories where elective surgery is getting [cancelled] like their insides are literally falling out of their vaginas and they're like, "oh no, that's elective". It's like, I sometimes feel like we're living in Handmaid's Tale.'

'And I'm like, why are women we're less than and you see it more when you're in a global pandemic because you just see what actually is classified elective. And it's just it shouldn't be.'

Angie, who splits her time between hometown of Queensland and Sydney, has endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and explained she recently discovered she had a fibroid (a non-cancerous growth)

'I was in a lot of pain and I was waiting to get home to my gynecologist and surgeon because I do need surgery you know? They say it's elective, but I didn't elect for myself to have this body did I?' Angie said. She is pictured during another hospital stay

Angie said she had two surgeries in a public hospital and got 'absolutely butchered'.

'I am booked in now for Valentine's Day to get my my laparoscopy and other things. Valentine's Day, how fitting! What way to celebrate a better way love for yourself than having an old man shove something up your noonka,' she added.

Last month, Angie spoke about her pain due to her conditions in a candid social media post.

She told fans her 'pain' was getting 'worse by the day'.

'I haven't had my period since I left Queensland (for Sydney) in mid-August,' she said at the time.

In another post, Angie went on to reveal, 'After yet another terribly painful ultrasound yesterday we have found out I am riddled with [polycystic] ovaries. It has got so bad since the last time he saw me he couldn't believe it.'

Later she added, 'I also have Pudendal neuralgia which means I will be getting pelvic floor Botox for the often debilitating pain and nerve damage.'

'I am extremely overwhelmed by what I saw spreading on my ovaries and growing in my uterus since my last appointment 4 or so months ago (it looked like a damn beehive in there) but I am hopeful for this next laparoscopy and treatment plan'.
Australian influencer Jade Tuncdoruk has been slammed for 'demanding' that a small business give her a refund for a deposit on her honeymoon - after she ignored the company's terms and conditions.

The 26-year-old raised eyebrows this week by whingeing to her online fans about the financial woes of cancelling her lavish Hunter Valley honeymoon with fiance Lachie Brycki due to Covid.

In her now-deleted post, Jade, who is frequently gifted with luxury designer handbags and clothing, explained that she'd booked her stay with premium holiday rental company Weekenda last year, putting down a $2,000 deposit.

Cash clash: Australian influencer Jade Tuncdoruk, 26, (pictured) raised eyebrows this week by whingeing to her online fans about the financial woes of cancelling her lavish Hunter Valley honeymoon with fiance Lachie Brycki due to Covid

She however decided to cancel her booking with Weekenda in August, after postponing her wedding due to Covid.

It's unclear why Jade opted to cancel altogether rather than simply postponing the trip, just like her wedding.

She demanded that the company refund her deposit - even though Weekenda's terms and conditions clearly states that customers aren't entitled to a refund of their deposit if they cancel.

'Incredibly poor form': In her now-deleted post, Jade star explained that she'd booked her stay with premium holiday rental company Weekenda last year, putting down a $2,000 deposit. After cancelling the booking due to Covid, she demanded that the company refund her deposit. Weekenda denied their request

Refund request: Jade included a link to Weekenda's Instagram page, and it didn't take long for her supporters to lash out at the company

'We requested a refund due to the pandemic, but they said the best they could do was put it back up on line to be booked by someone else,' Jade explained.

'Six weeks out of [sic] the booking and we've asked again for a refund which they've denied. They've had months to refund us for a booking that we don't need. They're taking our money just because they can,' she raged.

She added: 'It's just incredibly poor form and so disappointing that businesses are taking advantage of people in the middle of a pandemic.'

In black and white: Weekenda's terms and conditions (pictured) clearly states that customers aren't entitled to a refund of their deposit if they cancel

Success: Not long after, a smug-looking Jade shared another post announcing that Weekenda had agreed to refund her deposit

Jade included a link to Weekenda's Instagram page, and it didn't take long for her supporters to lash out at the company.

She later claimed she was surprised that her followers had begun contacting the company directly and demanding they refund her money.

'Not y'all following them,' she wrote, rolling her eyes.

Appreciation: In her caption, she thanked her followers for rallying around her: 'They've agreed to refund us for our stay! Thank you guys for your help [ [love heart emoji]'

Not long after, a smug-looking Jade shared another post announcing that Weekenda had agreed to refund her deposit.

In her caption, she thanked her followers for rallying around her: 'They've agreed to refund us for our stay! Thank you guys for your help [ [love heart emoji].'

Jade has since been blasted by Instagram influencer watchdog account Celeb Spellcheck, who criticised her for demanding a refund after ignoring the terms and conditions.

'Congratulations on not reading the terms and conditions': Jade has since been blasted by Instagram influencer watchdog account Celeb Spellcheck, who criticised her for demanding a refund after ignoring the terms and conditions

The anonymous account re-shared Jade's posts along with a scathing caption on Thursday.

'Congratulations on not reading the terms and conditions,' the anonymous admin wrote.

'Were almost two years into the pandemic, 99% of us have had travel plans f**ked by Covid. It sounds like it was her call to cancel, not due to lockdowns or government restrictions out of her control,' they continued.

Hitting back: Jade subsequently hit back at her critics on Thursday afternoon, insisting that she's 'every bit entitled to request a refund from a business that's charging $2K for accommodation I don't need'

'If a small business was willing to list the accommodation and refund me if it got booked, Id say THANK YOU!'

Jade subsequently hit back at her critics on Thursday afternoon, insisting that she's 'every bit entitled to request a refund from a business that's charging $2K for accommodation I don't need.'

'I gave them 8 months notice. 8 months!! Lots of people have had to reschedule their weddings in the middle of the pandemic and have rightfully requested and received refunds,' she raged.

Annoyed: 'I gave them 8 months notice. 8 months!! Lots of people have had to reschedule their weddings in the middle of the pandemic and have rightfully requested and received refunds,' she raged

'This has nothing to do with supporting small businesses. If you guys want to go around throwing $2K at businesses for services you don't need and won't use that's amazing! I can't wait to see all your receipts! They're not a charity though so I'm not doing that.'

'Stay safe y'all it's wild out there,' she wrote, before accusing Celeb Spellcheck of 'encouraging bullying and harassment towards influencers'.

Jade makes a living spruiking products to her 4862,000 followers and earns between $800 and $3,000 per sponsored post, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Cashing in! Jade makes a living spruiking products to her 4862,000 followers and earns between $800 and $3,000 per sponsored post, according to The Daily Telegraph

She sparked controversy last year after announcing that the global pandemic had affected her business as an influencer, but that she refused to take a pay cut.

'I've collaborated / worked with a few brands over time (a long time) who as of late have asked me to work for much, much less... due to budget cuts  which I understand,' she wrote on Instagram.

She added: 'However when I've said no  which is in my opinion completely warranted  [they] have completely written off the relationship.

'These are brands I've travelled with and promoted for years who just throw the relationship away because I've refused to work for free.'
She's set to face court in March over alleged driving offences that could land her in jail or with a large fine.

And on Thursday, Nadia Bartel, 36, appeared to be having a somewhat tense phone conversation as she stepped out in Melbourne.

The former WAG was spotted roaming the street and growing increasingly agitated throughout the conversation.

Is everything okay? Nadia Bartel had a tense phone call while out in Melbourne on Thursday... as she prepares to face court over alleged driving offences that could see her jailed

The mother-of-two held her phone as she waited outside a local coffee shop.

Nadia was dressed in tiny white shorts, a grey singlet and a pair of black sandals.

She left her long blonde locks out and kept a low profile with dark sunglasses as she roamed the street.

After collecting her order, Nadia held the coffees in one hand while speaking on the phone and walking to her car.

Unimpressed: The former WAG was spotted roaming the street and growing increasingly agitated throughout the conversation

Nadia's outing coincided with media outlets reporting she had been charged with allegedly driving while her licence was suspended and failing to update her address.

She was intercepted by Prahran Highway Patrol officers on Dandenong Road in the Melbourne suburb of Windsor at about 12.30pm on August 25, 2021.

This was just a week before she was filmed snorting white powder from a Kmart plate at an illegal party during Melbourne's lockdown.

Bad news? The mother-of-two held her phone as she waited outside a local coffee shop

Casual: Nadia was dressed in tiny white shorts, a grey singlet and a pair of black sandals

She will appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on March 24 and could face up to four months' jail or a fine of up to $4,500 for a first offence.

Nadia said she 'not aware' her driving licence had been suspended.

'In August I was pulled over by the police who advised me that I was driving on a suspended licence,' she told the Herald Sun on Tuesday.

Low profile: She left her long blonde locks out and kept a low profile with dark sunglasses as she roamed the street

She explained the suspension was because she'd exceeded her demerit point balance.

'I was not aware of the suspension as communication had been sent to my previous residential address which I didn't receive,' she added.

'I would never have driven had I been aware of the suspension and my residential details have now been updated.'

Back home: After collecting her order, Nadia held the coffees in one hand while speaking on the phone and walking to her car

Bad day: Nadia's outing coincided with media outlets reporting she'd been charged with allegedly driving while her licence was suspended and failing to update her address

It comes after the now-infamous video of Nadia breaching Covid restrictions was posted to social media by her friend Ellie Pearson during Victoria's sixth Covid-19 lockdown.

In the video, recorded on September 1, Nadia was surrounded by other women who laughed as she leaned over a cheap plate and snorted a line of white powder.

Nadia, Ellie and two other women were fined $5,452 each for breaching lockdown rules.

Police: She was intercepted by Prahran Highway Patrol officers on Dandenong Road in the Melbourne suburb of Windsor at about 12.30pm on August 25, 2021

Response: Nadia said she was 'not aware' her driving licence had been suspended

After the incident was widely reported, Nadia lost well-paid sponsorship deals.

At the time, she said she was 'embarrassed and remorseful'.

'I have let you all down by my actions,' she said. 'I take full responsibility and I am committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure I make better choices in future.'

Nadia did not face criminal charges over the white-powder incident.

Busted: It comes after the now-infamous video of Nadia breaching Covid restrictions was posted to social media by her friend Ellie Pearson during Victoria's sixth Covid-19 lockdown
Kelly Rizzo was overcome by emotion while speaking about her late husband Bob Saget in her first televised interview since his shocking death on January 9.

On Wednesday, Today posted an excerpt of Rizzo's conversation with Hoda Kotb, which will be broadcast on Thursday morning.

The 42-year-old journalist was overcome by emotion as she described her late husband as 'the best man I've ever known.'

Overcome with emotion: Kelly Rizzo, 42, paid tribute to her late husband Bob Saget in an emotional excerpt from her Today interview that was released a day early on Wednesday

Kotb opened up the clip by inquiring what Saget was like off the stage when he was around friends and family.

According to Rizzo, his warm public persona wasn't an act at all, and he was 'still the same' no matter whom he was with.

'He was there to just enjoy life, and he just wanted to make people feel good,' she said. 'I mean, if we went to a restaurant, he would talk to all of the waiters, the waitresses, he knew all the hosts. Everybody knew him and loved him.

'And his constant message was, "Just treat everybody with kindness." Because he had gone through so much in his life and he knew how hard life could be, and so he always was just so kind and loving to everybody,' she continued.

Loving: 'He was there to just enjoy life, and he just wanted to make people feel good,' Rizzo said of her husband, who died in his Orlando, Florida, hotel room on January 9 at age 65

Selfless: 'His constant message was, "Just treat everybody with kindness." Because he had gone through so much in his life and he knew how hard life could be, and so he always was just so kind and loving to everybody,' she continued

Heartbreaking: Rizzo's voice began to crack and she reached up to dab her wet eyes as she struggled to finish her thought. 'He was just the best man Ive ever known in my life'

Rizzo's voice began to crack and she reached up to dab her wet eyes as she struggled to finish her thought.

'He was just the best man Ive ever known in my life. He was just so kind and so wonderful, and everybody that was in his life knew it,' she said tearfully. 'And even anybody that would just casually meet him was like, "Wow, this is a special guy."'

'And he was yours,' Kotb concluded the excerpt while seeming to tear up as well.

Days after her husband's unexpected death in an Orlando, Florida, hotel room, Rizzo shared a moving Instagram post in which she wrote that she was struggling 'not think I was robbed of time' with her husband.

Missing him: Days after her husband's unexpected death in an Orlando, Florida, hotel room, Rizzo shared a moving Instagram post in which she wrote that she was struggling 'not think I was robbed of time' with her husband

'But instead to think: How lucky was I that I got to be the one to be married to THE MOST INCREDIBLE MAN ON EARTH. I was the one who got to go on this crazy ride with him and be in his life these last 6 years,' she wrote.

'We had that time to make each other the happiest wed ever been and change each others lives forever. I got to be the one to love him and cherish him. He deserves all the love. Every ounce of it. Because thats how amazing Bob was. He was love. If you were in his life you KNEW he loved you. He never missed an opportunity to tell you.

'He deserves all the love. Every ounce of it. Because thats how amazing Bob was. He was love. If you were in his life you KNEW he loved you. He never missed an opportunity to tell you,' she continued.

'Most importantly. I have no regrets. We loved each other so damn much and told each other 500 times every day. Constantly. I know how much he loved me until the very last moment and he knew the same. Im so grateful for that. Not everyone gets that.'

Paying their respects: Saget was laid to rest with funeral services on Saturday that were attended by his Full House costars and a bevy of his fellow standup comedians; seen in 1993 with (LR) Dave Coulier, Andrea Barber, Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit, John Stamos, Lori Loughlin, Jodie Sweetin, Mary-Kate Olsen, Blake Tuomy-Wilhoit, Candace Cameron and Scott Weinger

Saget was laid to rest with funeral services on Saturday that were attended by his Full House costars and a bevy of his fellow standup comedians.

The comic, who was 65, had reportedly spoken with Rizzo on the phone the night before he was found dead.

After she had trouble getting in touch with him the following death, staff entered his hotel room and found him dead in his bed.

Law enforcement sources speculated that he may have died of a heart attack or stroke in his sleep, as all the lights were out in the room, though a cause of death won't be released for weeks to come.
Beyonce was among the stars to honor the late Mac Miller Wednesday, as he would have turned 30.

Beyonce, 40, posted an image of the late rapper when he was a child on her website, writing, 'Happy Heavenly Birthday Mac Miller.'

In the shot, a young Miller was wearing sunglasses and a white T-shirt with jeans and cowboy boots.

The latest: Beyonce was among the stars to honor the late Mac Miller Wednesday, as he would have turned 30-years-old

Rolling Stone put together a digital birthday card for the late Self Care artist, as a number of friends expressed their thoughts on the somber day.

Wiz Khalifa, who past worked on the 2011 song Keep Floatin' wrote, 'Mac, I miss you, man. Today would have been your 30th birthday, you were gone too soon.

'I remember our early days back at ID Labs in Pixburgh with E. Dan making legendary music. You were the young homie coming up so fast and representing the Burgh. Well never forget you, man. Love you, bro, happy birthday.'

Thundercat, Miller's friend and collaborator, wrote, 'I hope that on your birthday, the clarity, and places and spaces that youve always wanted to go to, see and feel - I hope that you feel that infinitely. I hope that you can see further than youve ever seen before.'

Beyonce, 40, posted an image of the late rapper when he was a child on her website, writing, 'Happy Heavenly Birthday Mac Miller'

Wiz Khalifa said, 'Mac, I miss you, man. Today would have been your 30th birthday, you were gone too soon'

Thundercat said he's been taking advice Miller gave him of 'sitting down and letting it happen, extremely sitting down and letting it happen,' and that he was grateful to have known Miller, who changed his life

He added that he's been taking advice Miller gave him of 'sitting down and letting it happen, extremely sitting down and letting it happen,' and that he was grateful to have known Miller, who changed his life.

'I really wish I could hear the soundtrack to where youre at that you would create because Im pretty sure thats intense, extreme,' Thundercat said. 'On this birthday, I hope that you get everything that you want, everything that you think you want, everything you didnt want or didnt ask forI hope you get all of that.

'I hope its as extreme as it was here.'

Rapper Rapsody said he misses Miller's 'light, heart, energy, gift, and love of fruit snacks, and that his experiences with Miller were 'always a good time and adventure.'

He added: 'I know you wouldve had the illest "Dirty Thirty" celebration ever! I love you forever, Malcolm!'

The dance group Jabbawockeez shared a tribute to the late rapper on his birthday

An account in memory of the late rap phenom shared multiple pictures of the late artist

Miller's one-time publicist and friend Nick Dierl wrote, 'You impacted the people you touched on this planet, whether they knew you personally or through your art, in 26 years more than most can muster in a lifetime.

'Yet the most impressive part of who you were was your relentless pursuit of bettering yourself - as an artist, friend, and human - and no matter the circumstances smiling through it all.'

Dierl said that 'anyone that had the fortune to know [Miller] carries that with us now.'

Fans of the late rapper paid tribute to him more than three years after his death

Eric 'E. Dan' Dan, a producer/engineer said of Miller, 'Though your presence is dearly missed, your spirit, essence, and light continue to resonate just like your music.'

Miller's friend, producer/engineer Jeremy 'Big Jerm' Kulousek, said that Miller remains 'a shining light for anyone who was lucky enough to' him, and that he's still with him everyday.

Miller, whose real name was Malcolm James Myers McCormick, died September 7, 2018, as result of an accidental overdose of cocaine, alcohol, and fentanyl. His last album, Circles, was released after his death in January of 2020.
Nicole Martin showed off her new engagement ring while stepping out for the first time since accepting Anthony Lopez's proposal in New York City.

Two weeks after her longtime love got down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage after seven years of dating, the anesthesiologist, 37, was seen heading to a taping of her first Real Housewives Of Miami reunion.

During her outing, she rocked an all-black ensemble, quilted Chanel purse and a stunning ten-carat engagement ring from her husband-to-be.

Out and about: Nicole Martin showed off her new engagement ring while stepping out for the first time since accepting Anthony Lopez's proposal in New York City

Last week, the newly-engaged reality star announced her engagement to longtime beau Anthony Lopez after seven years of dating.

At the time, the Real Housewives Of Miami newcomer said the proposal was a 'total surprise' on New Year's Eve.

'We've talked about marriage before. I think we both knew it would happen one day. I just didn't know that day was coming so soon,' the mom-of-one said in an interview with People.

Blissful: Two weeks after her longtime love got down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage after seven years of dating, the anesthesiologist, 37, was seen heading to a taping of her first Real Housewives Of Miami reunion

Newly-engaged: As she walked around, all eyes were on her ten-carat engagement ring

The trial lawyer popped the question while the couple was on a family vacation with their two-year-old son, Greyson, in Aspen.

'It was simple and private, and nothing short of perfect. It was early morning on New Year's Eve and we just woke up. We were cuddling in bed, watching the sun start to rise and glisten on the snow,' Nicole shared.

Nicole and Anthony have been together for seven years, when fate brought them together when they were separately visiting Las Vegas in 2015.

Last week, the reality star announced her engagement to longtime beau Anthony Lopez after seven years of dating

'We've talked about marriage before. I think we both knew it would happen one day. I just didn't know that day was coming so soon,' the 37-year-old anesthesiologist said in an interview with People .

Love in the air: The trial lawyer popped the question while the couple was on a family vacation with their two-year-old son, Greyson, in Aspen

'Anthony isn't the most emotional person, but out of nowhere he started sharing some really beautiful sentiments about our lives and relationship,' she went on in her interview.

'Honestly he kind of lost me at this point, because my heart started racing as I realized what was coming, and all I could think was, "Oh my god, oh my God  is this really happening right now?!"'

As far as wedding planning, the doctor is not jumping into anything too quickly.

Going strong: Nicole and Anthony have been together for seven years, when fate brought them together when they were separately visiting Las Vegas in 2015

'Anthony isn't the most emotional person, but out of nowhere he started sharing some really beautiful sentiments about our lives and relationship,' she went on in her interview

'I'm just getting used to the sparkle on my hand,' she said.

'I'm loving every moment of my life with Anthony and Greyson. We are not rushing anything. We are focused on enjoying our engagement right now, but if I know us, it will probably be something very impromptu and spontaneous.'

Nicole is one of three newcomers in season four of the reality show. She will be joined by Guerdy Abraira and Julia Lemigova.

Congratulations: Last week, the reality star announced her engagement to longtime beau Anthony Lopez after seven years of dating

Family of three: 'We've talked about marriage before. I think we both knew it would happen one day. I just didn't know that day was coming so soon,' the anesthesiologist said in an interview with People

The former Bravo series is finally making its return after eight years off the air. However, instead of returning to Bravo, the reality series will be making the move to the streaming service Peacock.

A few veterans of RHOM will be making the return, including Alexia Echevarria, Larsa Pippen, and Lisa Hochstein.

Nicole won't be the first doctor in the Real Housewives franchise as she joins Tiffany Moon, who is also an anesthesiologist, and Real Housewives of Orange County newcomer Jennifer Armstrong.

Stream brand new The Real Housewives of Miami in Australia only on hayu.
Nicole Kidman has shared an emotional tribute to Vogue fashion icon Andre Leon Talley following his shock death.

The actress, 54, shared a photo alongside Talley to Instagram and said he will 'be missed so much'.

'So much love for you Andre. From the moment I stepped into America, you embraced and supported me,' Nicole wrote.

Tribute: Nicole Kidman (pictured) shared an emotional tribute to Vogue fashion icon Andre Leon Talley following his death aged 72

'Eternally grateful. You will be missed by all of us so much,' she added.

Talley, a fashion icon, died from a heart attack at a White Plains, New York hospital on Tuesday aged 73.

But a friend of Talley's for 45 years, Texas anesthesiologist Dr. Yvonne Cormier told the Houston Chronicle that he had passed away from complications from coronavirus. She added he had underlying health issues related to his weight.

Tragic: Talley, a fashion icon, died from a heart attack at a White Plains, New York hospital on Tuesday aged 73

COVID has been known to cause lasting heart conditions in patients, and small blood clots can form in the heart, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Talley is remembered as a driving force in Vogue's success, serving as the magazine's long-acclaimed creative director and American editor-at-large through the 1980s and '90s.

Hours after the tragic news broke, Kerry Washington, Paris Hilton and Cardi B paid tribute to the trailblazing fashion journalist across social media.

'So much love for you Andre. From the moment I stepped into America, you embraced and supported me,' Nicole wrote

'Oh Andre! Heaven is not ready for you darling!!!!!! The whole afterlife is going to be just too fabulous now,' the Scandal actress, 44, captioned a sweet throwback of them hugging.

She continued: 'Ugh! You blessed us! Sir! You blessed us with your charm and wit and your taste for the exceptional. You will shine so brightly from the heavens that we will know what true stardom looks like.'

'We will gaze up at you always. In awe. And with gratitude. Rest In Peace #AndreLeonTalley,' the mother-of-two concluded.

Hilton, 40, reacted to the former creative director and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine's death by sharing a photo of them on her Instagram Story.
She took a weeks-long break from social media before returning just days ago.

And Emily Ratajkowski made a departure from her usual posts on Wednesday when she shared some sweet childhood photos with her 28.8 million Instagram followers.

The 30-year-old model and writer looked adorable in a photo snapped aboard a carousel as she showed off her winning smile for the camera.

Old school: Emily Ratajkowski, 30, continued her return to Instagram after a weeks-long absence on Wednesday with some sweet photos of herself from when she was just a child

Emily was beaming ear-to-ear while sitting atop a horse and wearing a yellow dress decorated with floral designs.

She followed her post up with a moodier throwback in which she sat by a window while turning her head toward the shadows.

The future runway star had her brow furrowed as she gazed toward the camera.

She didn't bother captioning either of her vintage photographs and let the sweet images do the talking.

Those were the days: Emily beamed ear-to-ear while riding a carousel in one photo, but she looked moodier in a shadowy follow-up

Present day: She followed up her throwbacks with a present-day photo of herself in her swimwear brand Inamorata's Las Olas bikini top, which sells for $75 on its website

It was a short-lived journey through the past, as Emily followed up her posts with a present-day photo of herself in a black string halter bikini top.

She tagged her swimwear label Inamorata, and she appeared to be wearing the brand's Las Olas bikini top, which sells on its website for $75 dollars.

The look tied behind her neck and featured wraparound strings covering her midriff.

Her posts came amid her trip to France to walk the runway at the AMI show as part of Paris Fashion Week.

Around the world: Earlier on Wednesday, Emily walked the runway at the AMI show in Paris as part of Paris Fashion Week

Business casual: She looked effortlessly chic in a black stain slip dress with a lacy collar and a black blazer, along with pointy black platform heels to increase her 5ft7in stature

Heading home: The essayist didn't appear to have stayed in Paris long after the show, as she posted a short clip to Instagram of a video screen aboard what appeared to be a private jet

Emily looked sleek and elegant in a black satin slip with lace decorating the collar, which she covered up with a black blazer.

The 5ft7in beauty showcased her toned legs and elevated her stature with pointy black platform heels.

She accessorized with a chic black handbag and wore her brunette tresses swept back and with an impeccable middle part.

The essayist didn't appear to have stayed in Paris long after the show, as she posted a short clip to Instagram of a video screen aboard what appeared to be a private jet.

The route took her past her home in New York City and toward the West Coast, suggesting she and husband Sebastian Bear-McClard might be spending some time back in Los Angeles with their 10-month-old son Sylvester.
Zac Efron's ex Vanessa Valladares recently debuted her romance with artist beau, Todd Clare.

And the stunning Byron Bay beauty unveiled a new look on Instagram on Wednesday showing her own artistic side.

Vanessa, who for years has favoured a skimpy bikini babe look, opted for a more unconventionally cool look.

Zac Efron's ex doesn't look like this anymore! Vanessa Valladares (pictured) unveiled her stunning transformation on Thursday, after going public with artist beau

The brunette bombshell wore a long-sleeve black and white top along with a matching floor-length skirt.

She finished her look with a blunted bob hairstyle under a cap.

It comes after it was revealed that Vanessa is dating Byron Bay-based artist Todd Clare.

Bikini babe: Vanessa, who for years has favoured a skimpy bikini babe look, opted for a more unconventionally cool look. Here: in a bikini

Vanessa packed on the PDA with her new man during a steamy beachside date last week.

In September, Vanessa posted a photo of the shirtless hunk painting what appeared to be her living room.

The post came several months after the model's split from Baywatch star Zac.

Wowsers: Vanessa is a fashion star but the brunette took a step back from the spotlight after dating Hollywood star, Zac Efron

According to various reports, Zac, 34, was introduced to Vanessa by her boss at Byron Bay's General Store cafe in June 2020, and the pair hit it off straight away.

Two months later, in August, Daily Mail Australia revealed Zac had cancelled his scheduled return flight to Los Angeles because he 'didn't really want to go back'.

Within weeks, the genetically blessed couple had moved in together in Byron Bay.

Love: Vanessa accompanied her famous boyfriend as he travelled around Australia for various work projects from late 2020 to early 2021, but it was confirmed in April they had called it quits

Zac confirmed their relationship in September 2020 when they were spotted holding hands in public.

But it was revealed in April last year they had called it quits, with Zac's friend Kyle Sandilands announcing on his KIIS FM radio show: 'I can confirm [the break-up], after speaking with him yesterday.'

He also stated Zac had been dating Vanessa for much longer than reported.

There was speculation at the time Zac and Vanessa had known each other three years before their 'official' first meeting at Byron Bay's General Store cafe.

First clue: In September, Vanessa posted this photo on Instagram of a shirtless Todd painting in what appeared to be her living room. Which was a first clue they were together

Kyle, who is good pals with Zac, revealed on live radio it wasn't just a rumour.

'They've been together for a lot longer than people realise,' he said.

'I don't know where they met, but it wasn't recent. It's been going for a little while, but I don't know exactly how long.'
She called time on her eight-year stint as Sunrise host in March last year, in favour of a quieter life in the NSW Southern Highlands with husband Richard Lavender.

And on Thursday, Samantha Armytage, 45, re-shared a post to her Instagram Stories that discussed whether it's possible to 'build a lovely life' without 'building an empire' or 'dominating an industry'.

The detailed passage of text was written by Jamie Varon and originally posted on fellow author Kathleen Hart's Instagram page.

'Feeling this today': Samantha Armytage, 45, re-shared a detailed quote about 'building a lovely life' and 'not dominating an industry' on her Instagram Stories on Thursday - after quitting Sunrise and moving to the farm with husband Richard Lavender (both pictured)

'How about you don't have to build an empire? Or dominate an industry? Or be the number one at anything?' the passage began.

'What if you simply built a lovely life that makes you feel happy, that brings you joy, that is generative and supportive?'

The passage went on to encourage the reader to 'redefine what success means' and feeling 'satisfied in the right here, the right now'.

Inspiring words: The detailed passage of text was written by Jamie Varon and originally posted on fellow author Kathleen Hart's Instagram page. 'How about you don't have to build an empire? Or dominate an industry? Or be the number one at anything?' the passage began

Happiness: The passage went on to encourage the reader to 'redefine what success means' and feeling 'satisfied in the right here, the right now'

Samantha wed her doting partner Richard on New Years' Eve in 2020 at his home in Bowral in the Southern Highlands.

After signing off on Sunrise in March last year, she was replaced by newsreader Natalie Barr, and has been enjoying a quieter life in the countryside.

In July 2020, Samantha sold her North Bondi home in Sydney for $2.8million, which suggested she was planning to move to the country full time.

New look: After signing off on Sunrise in March last year, Samantha was replaced by newsreader Natalie Barr (pictured), and has been enjoying a quieter life in the countryside

Husband Richard owns a 40-hectare property in Bowral, while Samantha sold her Southern Highlands cottage for $3.1million in September 2020.

In April last year, Samantha told The Daily Telegraph that she hasn't turned her back on television and is looking for the 'right' job at the 'right time'.

'I don't think I am done with TV. I am for now but I may some day get back in but it has to be the right role and it has to be at the right time,' she said.

Country living: Husband Richard owns a 40-hectare property in Bowral, while Samantha sold her Southern Highlands cottage (pictured) for $3.1million in September 2020

However she's since been dipping her toes back into the world of presenting, announcing in October that she's joining Seven's Farmer Wants a Wife in 2022 as a guest judge.

Samantha will assist with the matchmaking process on the hit dating show alongside host Natalie Gruzlewski.

'I'm thrilled to be joining Farmer Wants a Wife in 2022,' she said at the time.

'I've always been a huge fan of the show and of country people, and I know first-hand that falling in love with a farmer is just about the most wonderful thing you can do.'

Her guest role will involve hosting a segment called Sam's Choice, in which she introduces the farmers to a 'new lady based on her own expertise and experience'.
Tiffany Haddish opened up Wednesday about previously-mentioned plans to adopt a child while chatting with E! News' Daily Pop.

Haddish, 42, said she recently returned from a trip to Eritrea and said people were trying to hand her their children during the trip.

'I was like, "Hold up, I gotta get the paperwork right! I can't just be taking kids with me!"' the Los Angeles native said.

The latest: Tiffany Haddish, 42, opened up Wednesday about previously-mentioned plans to adopt a child while chatting with E! News' Daily Pop

The Like a Boss star said that she might explore adoption options 'maybe at the end of the year' or 'beginning of next year.'

Haddish, who headlines the new series The Afterparty, had previously appeared on the program in May of 2021, saying that she was taking parenting classes in preparation for adoption.

'I want them to know that I put in the work and I wanted them,' Haddish said, adding that she was focused on adopting a child between the age of five and seven.

She added, 'I want them to be able to know how to use the restroom on their own and talk. I want them to know that I put in the work and I wanted them.'

The Like a Boss star said that she might explore adoption options 'maybe at the end of the year' or 'beginning of next year'

Haddish said last year she was focused on adopting a child between the age of five and seven

Haddish was arrested in Peachtree City, Georgia last week in connection with driving under the influence, authorities said

The actress last week was arrested in Peachtree City, Georgia in connection with driving under the influence, authorities said.

Peachtree City Police Assistant Police Chief Matt Myers said in a news release that authorities were contacted around 2:30 a.m. about a driver on a highway sleeping at the wheel. Haddish was pulled over as she stopped in the yard of a home and taken into custody.

The Girls Trip star subsequently was taken to the Fayette County Jail and let out after she posted bond of $1,666, according to Myers.

The Afterparty premieres on Apple TV+ January 28.
Snezana Wood announced she was expecting her fourth child - her third with husband Sam Wood - at the end of November.

And on Wednesday, the doting mum, 41, was positively glowing as she enjoyed a day in Melbourne alongside Sam, their children Willow, three, Charlie, two, and Snezana's 16-year-old daughter Eve.

For the occasion, Snezana wrapped her growing baby bump in a stunning skin-tight white dress, which showed off her curves to perfection.

Bumping along nicely! On Wednesday, heavily pregnant Snezana Wood, 41, was positively glowing as she enjoyed a day out in Melbourne with her husband and their children

She opted for comfort in her footwear with a pair of flat sandals, and draped a blue-and-white striped shirt over the top of her outfit.

The influencer opted for a dewy makeup look, enhancing her striking features with a flash of bronzer and some mascara.

She left her long, brunette locks in a gentle wavy style.

Happy family: The Bachelor beauty was out with her husband Sam, 41, their children Willow, three, Charlie, two, and Snezana's 16-year-old lookalike daughter Eve - and the family even stopped to take a cute photo on the street

For the occasion, Snezana wrapped her growing baby bump in a stunning skin-tight white dress which showed off her curves to perfection

Chic: She opted for comfort in her footwear with a pair of flat sandals, and draped a blue-and-white striped shirt over the top of her outfit

Snezana was beaming as she posed for a quick photo alongside her daughter Eve, who looked pretty in a pink jumper teamed with a beige skirt.

Fitness guru Sam, 41, kept things cool in a blue T-shirt and black jeans as he walked down the street holding hands with one of his little girls.

At one stage, the entire group stopped to take a sweet family photo on the pavement.

Lookalike: Snezana was beaming as she posed alongside her daughter Eve, who looked pretty in a pink jumper teamed with a beige skirt

All smiles: The mother-daughter duo beamed as they took a solo picture together

Cute: Fitness guru Sam, meanwhile, kept things cool in a blue T-shirt and black jeans, as he walked down the street holding hands with one of his little girls

Snezana shared the news she was pregnant in November during The Bachelorette finale, proudly showcasing her growing baby bump on Instagram.

'Filled with joy to share that we are expecting another little girl,' Snezana wrote, before adding, 'Baby number four'.

Followers of the former reality TV bride were quick to post their congratulations on the pregnancy news in the comment section of the post.

Getting ready: The family then leaned in together for a photo

Love story: Snezana and Sam met on the third season of The Bachelor in 2015

Journey: The couple got engaged just six months later and wed at a ravishing ceremony in Byron Bay in 2018

'Ohhhhhh amazing news!!! Yayyyyyy congrats!!!!' wrote fellow Bachelor star Tara Pavlovic.

Sally Obermeder, the former host of The Daily Edition, added: 'Congratulations!!!!!! What beautiful news.'

While Big Brother star Krystal Hipwell wrote, 'Oh my gosh Im so happy for you guys!!! CONGRATULATIONS.'

Snezana and Sam met on the third season of The Bachelor in 2015.

The couple got engaged just six months later and wed at a ravishing ceremony in Byron Bay in 2018.
Christine Quinn turned heads in a typically eye-catching ensemble as she stepped out in West Hollywood on Wednesday.

The Selling Sunset star, 33, showcased her kooky flair for fashion in a purple gem-encrusted parka jacket with faux fur trim around the collar and cuffs as she headed out to buy a juice.

The outspoken TV personality teamed her zany outerwear with a pair of spray-on skinny jeans and towering silver embellished skyscraper heels from her collaboration with ShoeDazzle.

Stepping out in style: Christine Quinn turned heads in an eye-catching coat and skinny jeans as she stepped out in West Hollywood on Wednesday

Christine completed her daytime ensemble with a pair of purple sunglasses and a delicate silver necklace, while wearing her platinum blonde locks teased into a retro-inspired short curled style.

The mother-of-one has been married to her husband, retired multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur Christian Dumontet, 43, since 2019, tying the knot in an extravagant televised ceremony within a year of meeting each other.

The couple welcomed their first child, a baby son who is named after his father, in May 2021.

Christine noted that filming season four was of Selling Sunset was particularly traumatic because she had to relive her son's 'extremely dramatic' birth where she almost 'flatlined' during an emergency C-section.

Flair for fashion: The Selling Sunset star, 33, looked kooky in a purple gem-encrusted parka jacket with faux fur trim around the collar and cuffs as she headed out to buy a juice

'Reliving the trauma on Selling Sunset about my birth experience, was one of the most difficult things I have ever done; let alone allowing these very raw, personal moments of my life captured on camera,' she wrote in a lengthy Instagram caption to honor her son's two-month birthday in July 2021.

It's unclear the premise of the next season of Selling Sunset, but it will likely include Christine's co-star Heather Rae Young's wedding to home renovation expert Tarek El Moussa.

Christine recently opened up about experiencing postpartum depression and PTSD while filming the last season of Selling Sunset.

The television personality spoke about her difficulties during an interview with ET Canada in December, where she noted that her problems started after giving birth to her son.

Turning heads: The outspoken TV personality accessorised with a delicate silver necklace, while wearing her platinum blonde locks teased into a retro-inspired short curled style

Christine expressed that the issues regarding her pregnancy were exacerbated by the editing of the Netflix show, and said her co-stars were less than understanding of her issues related to childbirth.

'I was pregnant on top of dealing with postpartum depression this season was really difficult for me.

'I did the best that I could with the emotions that I was dealing with at the time and that I'm still dealing with now,' she said.

'The problem that I was facing [was] everyone was saying, "Oh, well, you know, she's so thin. She's so this. She's so that." But inside you know, I was dealing with PTSD.'

Christine claimed her co-workers were openly hostile to her during the period, which she felt was especially hurtful.

'They make fun of the fact of me being late in the show. "Oh, Christine's late. Oh, Christine's late." And it's because I was literally having panic attacks and I was worried about my pregnancy,' she said.

'It was a lion's den and these girls were pitted against me. And it was really, really difficult. It was extremely hurtful considering the process that I went through.'

'My process was not easy by any means and on TV, they make it look easy. But I was I was struggling in real life. I really was.'
Amber Gill has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority for breaking advertising rules on Instagram.

The Love Island star, 24, who boasts 2.5million followers, has been placed on the watchlist this week and will be carefully monitored over the next three months to see if she declares when she is doing a sponsored post.

Influencers who are paid to promote products on their pages are supposed to declare when it is an advertisement with #ad, to ensure consumers are not being misled.

Warning: Amber Gill has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority for breaking advertising rules on Instagram

If Amber fails to stick to the rules she could be reported to Trading Standards and have her Instagram page shut down.

The ASA said: 'Our rules are clear: it must be obvious to consumers before they read, 'like' or otherwise interact with a social media post if what they are engaging with is advertising.

'Amber Rose Gill has been added to our non-disclosure webpage for routinely failing to flag ads on her Instagram profile and will remain on there for a minimum of three months. She will be subject to enhanced monitoring and, if she continues to fail to disclose ads, we will consider further sanctions.'

Caution: If Amber fails to stick to the rules she could be reported to Trading Standards and have her Instagram page shut down

'This includes working with social media platforms to have content removed or refer influencers to statutory bodies such as Trading Standards for consideration of statutory action including possible fines.'

Love Island's Anna Vakili and twins Jess and Eve Gale are among six reality stars who have been named and shamed for breaking Instagram advertising rules.

The Advertising Standards Authority revealed Belle Hassan, Jodie Marsh and Francesca Allen have also been reprimanded after ignoring 'repeated warnings and help and guidance on sticking to the rules'.

Caught: Love Island's Anna Vakili (pictured) and twins Jess and Eve Gale are among six reality stars who have been named and shamed for breaking Instagram advertising rules

In a new approach, the ASA is now taking out their own ads against these influencers on Instagram, alerting consumers to their failure to follow the rules.

Naming and shaming each celeb, the Instagram post reads: 'NAME has been sanctioned by the UKs ad regulator for not declaring ads on this platform.

'Be aware that products and services recommended or featured by this influencer may have been paid for by those brands.

Watchdog: Twins Jess and Eve Gale have also been named for not declaring advertisements on social media posts

'Our non-compliant social media influencer page at asa.org.uk is regularly updated to inform consumers of those who break these rules.'

Vicky Pattison, Geordie Shore's Scott Timlin and Tyne-Lexy Clarkson are also on the watchlist and will remain there for at least three months.

MailOnline has contacted the stars' representatives for comment.

If celebrities have been sponsored for a post they must use #ad (or similar) to communicate the commercial nature of social media content.

Named and shamed: The Advertising Standards Authority revealed Francesca Allen has also been reprimanded after ignoring 'repeated warnings'

Alert: In a new approach, the ASA is now taking out ads against these influencers on Instagram, alerting consumers to their failure to follow the rules

Rule breaker: Belle Hassan has also been named as one of the celebrities who have broken strict advertising rules

Alternatively a platforms own disclosure tools, such as Instagrams Paid Partnership tool, can also help to distinguish advertising from other content.

Shahriar Coupal, Director of Advertising Policy & Practice at the ASA, said: 'For the minority of influencers that repeatedly fail to disclose their paid-for posts, its important their social media followers are told.

'In a new front of enforcement activity, were using targeted ads to highlight the breaches of six social media personalities to the very same audience theyre seeking to influence.

'When we see the necessary changes to their disclosure practices, well call off the ads. But, where non-compliance persists, well look to more direct forms of enforcement.'
Bill Murray put on an animated display when he recited a poem while promoting his upcoming documentary, New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization, in New York on Wednesday.

The iconic actor, 71, looked to the skies and threw his hands in the air as he performed in Washington Square Park alongside a small band.

Keeping the January chill at bay, the star wore a warm black beanie and layered a bright blue jumper beneath a dark green coat.

Fun: Bill Murray, 71, put on an animated display when he recited a poem while promoting his upcoming documentary, New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization, in New York on Wednesday

Cosy: Keeping the January chill at bay, the star wore a warm black beanie and layered a bright blue jumper beneath a dark green coat

Directed by Andrew Muscato, New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in July.

Filmed during Murray and cellist Jan Vogle's New Worlds European tour date in Athens in 2018, the film captures the final date of their tour on a hot summer night.

Bill and Jan first released music from their New Worlds classical album in the summer of 2017 with an LP following shortly after in September.

Elsewhere, Bill recently hinted that he might be involved in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania.

Hands up: The iconic actor looked to the skies and threw his hands in the air as he performed in Washington Square Park alongside a small band

Speaking to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine in October, he pointed at a potential appearance in the works for the MCU..

In the interview, via Google Translate, Murray was asked about collaborations with directors as he was speaking about The French Dispatch, which marks the ninth time he's worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson.

He said, 'You know, recently I made a Marvel movie. I got to know the director - and really liked him very much. He was funny, humble, everything you want from a director.'

New project: Directed by Andrew Muscato, New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in July

Album: Bill and Jan first released music from their New Worlds classical album in the summer of 2017 with an LP following shortly after in September

He made an allusion toward filmmaker Ant-Man director Peyton Reed, saying, 'And with the cheerleader story Bring It On made a movie years ago, which I think is damn good.

'So I agreed, although I'm not interested in these huge comic book adaptations as an actor otherwise.'

Murray said, according to the paper, 'Now I've at least tried out what it's like to shoot a Marvel movie. But I don't think I need that experience a second time.'

Murray, who has also had multiple collaborations with Sofia Coppola and Jim Jarmusch, said he's been finicky about who he works with in his career.

'I have mostly had a pretty good knack for avoiding the nasties of this industry,' he said. 'Fortunately, most good artists are also good people. At least that's how I experience it with my friends.'

The latest: Bill hinted that he might be involved in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania
She's known for playing Heather Trott on EastEnders between 2007 and 2012.

And Cheryl Fergison shared an 'emotional' snap with her lookalike brother on Wednesday and revealed they only met 11 years ago.

Taking to Instagram, the actor, 56, posted a picture with her younger brother Graeme who came into her life a decade ago - along with two other siblings.

She didn't reveal why they had been apart or how they met but thanked him for being in her life.

Reunited: Cheryl Fergison shared an 'emotional' Instagram snap with her lookalike brother Graeme on Wednesday and revealed they only met 11 years ago

In the caption, she wrote: 'So my brother is coming up for a visit today. We are like two peas in a pod. There is always laughs and fun times when we get together'

Cheryl opened up about their relationship with her 24.7K followers in the candid post.

In the caption, she wrote: 'So my brother is coming up for a visit today. We are like two peas in a pod. There is always laughs and fun times when we get together.'

The actor then explained that the siblings had connected in around 2011 and she said the story of how they found each other is 'amazing' and 'emotional.'

Talented actress: Cheryl on the EastEnders set as as Heather Trott in 2011

She wrote: 'Our story of how we found each other is simply amazing, emotional and one you couldn't even write in a soap. 11 years ago Graeme and two other siblings came into mine and our family's life.'

'Since then even when times are tough, we are there for each other. Thank you little bro for being there.'

Many of her fans wished the siblings well and hoped they had a great time together.

With one writing: 'Hope you both enjoy being reunited brilliant picture.'

While another said: 'Have a lovely time together, nothing better than time with family.'

Sweet: Many of her fans wished the siblings well and hoped they had a great time together

It comes after Cheryl recently landed her first TV role in six years with the actress teasing that her new project featured David Walliams and Sheridan Smith.

Alongside a selfie, she told her fans on Instagram: 'Where am I off to today?? Well only back down to the smoke for a press release tomorrow with @dwalliams @sheridansmithster.'

Cheryl continued: 'Are you ready press? Yes it's gonna be another must see family watch...

Making moves: It comes after Cheryl recently landed her first TV role in six years with the actress teasing that her new project would feature David Walliams and Sheridan Smith

'Back down to the smoke for a press release tomorrow with @dwalliams @sheridansmithster,' the former soap star excitedly told her fans on Instagram

'It's a fantastic cast...and I'm so humbled and blessed to be in this. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.'

The actress joined the cast for the Sky TV Christmas show Hansel & Gretel: After Ever After.

At the time Cheryl's management told the MailOnline: 'Cheryl is a significant box-office draw the length & breadth of the UK & recently has accepted offers too good to refuse in order to return to her roots in the Theatre. However, during this period she has still found time to appear on Screen.

'The pandemic sadly meant that UK Theatres were no longer open & so Cheryl was once again able to consider approaches for Screen work.

After Ever After is certainly amongst her personal favourites & she also has Dodger with Chris Eccleston, an alternative Sketch Show + an exciting major new Netflix series in the can for screening next year.'

Back to work: The actress joined the cast for the Sky TV Christmas show Hansel & Gretel: After Ever After

New show: The actress's new project featured David Walliams and Sheridan Smith (pictured in 2013)

'
She revealed heartbreaking details about her acrimonious split with fellow swimmer Mitch Larkin on an episode of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! last week.

And on Thursday, Olympian Emily Seebohm, 29, looked smitten with her new boyfriend, who she debuted on Instagram in May, at an event on the Gold Coast.

Emily showed off her toned figure in a red and white crop top and pant ensemble, as she mingled with her beau and her fellow I'm a Celeb campmate, 'The David'.

Going strong: Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm, 29, showed off her toned figure as she stepped out with her new boyfriend at an event on the Gold Coast on Thursday (both pictured) - after detailing her bitter split with ex Mitch Larkin amid allegations of cheating on I'm A Celeb

The athlete looked glamorous for the occasion with blonde locks styled out and straight, and opted for minimal yet elegant makeup, showing off her natural beauty.

Her businessman beau cut a polished figure, donning a crisp white dress shirt, a tailored navy suit jacket and dark blue jeans.

Emily is yet to reveal her partner's name, but did go 'Instagram Official' back in May.

In great shape: The athlete showed off her toned figure in a red and white crop top and pant ensemble as she kept close to her businessman beau

The look of love: Emily cut an effortless glamorous figure on the outing, and the pair looked to be going strong with her beau seen gazing adoringly at her

The sportswoman posted a photo of herself and her handsome beau while on a date night, and the pair looked smitten as they smiled from ear to ear.

'A piece of my heart in Sydney,' Emily wrote in the caption, suggesting either that her new partner is from Sydney or they recently visited the Harbour City together.

Her mother, Karen Seebohm, also gave her tick of approval, commenting with a red-heart emoji.

Sharp: Her beau cut a polished figure, donning a crisp white dress shirt, a tailored navy suit jacket and dark blue jeans

Pals: Emily mingled with her fellow I'm a Celeb campmate, 'The David' (pictured)

Daily Mail Australia contacted Emily for comment at the time.

The swimmer's new romance came after her split from Brisbane radio host David 'Luttsy' Lutteral in early 2021.

According to a report by The Courier Mail in March, the couple's 'differing lifestyles' were to blame for the split.

The pair first confirmed their relationship in late 2019, and are believed to have split sometime in February 2021.

New flame: Emily went 'Instagram Official' with her new beau in May last year. She posted this photo of herself and her beau while on a date night to Instagram, adding the caption: 'A piece of my heart in Sydney'

Family approval: Emily's mother, Karen Seebohm, also gave her tick of approval, commenting with a red-heart emoji below the post

Over: Emily's new romance comes after her split from Brisbane radio host David 'Luttsy' Lutteral (left) in early 2021

They were last seen together in December 2020, and Emily quickly removed all photos of her ex from her Instagram page.

Before dating Luttsy, Emily was in a long-term relationship with fellow Olympic swimmer Mitch Larkin, 28.

The high-profile couple dated for nearly three years before their acrimonious split in 2018.

Split: Emily and Luttsy are believed to have split sometime in February last year

Emily revealed heartbreaking details about their split on an episode of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! last week, during a chat with fellow camper Davina Rankin.

Emily claimed she 'worked out he was cheating' with 'another swimmer', something Mitch has always vehemently denied.

'He denied it hardcore. Hardcore denied it. And, I mean, I was stupid. Like, I probably made it public because I posted stuff,' she admitted of the bitter breakup.

Former flame: Before dating Luttsy, Emily was in a long-term relationship with fellow Olympic swimmer Mitch Larkin (pictured), 28. The high-profile couple split in 2018

The Olympic gold medallist added that she was 'so angry', and said their highly publicised breakup 'sucked'.

The pair's two-year romance ended back in 2018 amid unproven allegations Mitch had been unfaithful - something he has always strongly denied.

In 2018, he told The Courier Mail: 'I did not cheat. I absolutely did not cheat. Breaking up with her was one of the hardest things I could do, because I adored her.'

Emotional: Emily revealed heartbreaking details about their split on an episode of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! last week, during a chat with fellow camper Davina Rankin (pictured)

Different stories: Emily claimed she 'worked out he was cheating' with 'another swimmer', something Mitch has always vehemently denied

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Mitch for additional comment.

Emily said she had a 'gut feeling' Mitch was cheating, and 'saw messages' on his phone, which 'blew' her mind.

'And then, like, 'cause we had a house, it was like going through a divorce. We had to have mediation and it was awful,' she continued.

'Two lawyers. We both had a lawyer. Like, it was terrible. And we're on the same [swim] team as each other.'

Denial: 'He denied it hardcore. Hardcore denied it. And, I mean, I was stupid. Like, I probably made it public because I posted stuff,' she admitted of the bitter breakup. Pictured together at a gala in Melbourne in October 2017

She added: 'I don't talk to him anymore.'

Davina, 30, then asked Emily if she finds it hard having to frequently see Mitch following their breakup.

'Not anymore. It was. It used to make me really anxious. I'd get scared of seeing him,' she confessed.

Emily added that she's now 'in a much better place' in her life, and said: 'I feel happy at where I am.'
She recently revealed she'd been suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, following a diagnosis three years ago.

And Bianca Wallace, 29, has shared a further insight into her battle with the condition, detailing how one particular relapse had left her unable to use her legs for five days, with the actress admitting: 'I thought for sure that was it for me'.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the girlfriend of actor Ioan Gruffudd, 48, shared a throwback wheelchair snap as she prepared for spinal surgery as she told how she was previously too scared to share her health battle.

Opening up: Bianca Wallace, 29, has shared a further insight into her battle with MS, detailing how one particular relapse had left her unable to use her legs for five days, with the actress admitting: 'I thought for sure that was it for me'

Health woes: Bianca then explained how just days before the anniversary, she had a relapse which left her struggling to walk as she shared a throwback picture of herself in a wheelchair

The throwback image from August 20 2021 marked three years since Bianca's spinal operation due to her degenerative spine disease - which is prevalent in people with multiple sclerosis.

The captions on the images saw Bianca state that she wanted to reveal what had happened to her and how it all began, but she had 'deleted it all'.

She told how long-term followers would have remembered her talking a little about her health woes but then she 'suddenly stopped and deleted all evidence', with the beauty adding that one day she would talk about it, but 'today is not that day!'

And writing over the snap on Wednesday, Bianca then explained how just days before the anniversary, she had a relapse which left her struggling to walk, with the star then changing her mind about sharing her journey.

Candid: Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the girlfriend of actor Ioan Gruffudd, 48, shared a throwback wheelchair snap as she prepared for spinal surgery as she told how she was previously too scared to share her health battle (pictured in December)

She wrote: 'I have always been open about my degenerative spine disease and surgery. Back in August in this post on my story I was slowly starting to gear myself up to talk about the MS.

'I had just lost both my legs for 5 days between August 13th and 18th, By day 3 I couldn't walk even using my walking stick anymore. I thought for sure that was it for me. A few days after this relapse it happened to be my 3 year spine surgery anniversary and I felt like I might have finally been ready to talk about it. Something spooked me and I changed my mind.'

Sharing what had made her finally open up, she went on: 'Fast forward from October through to December and the MS had been discovered and was being discussed openly on social media.

'Although this absolutely ruined me, it ended up being the much needed kick up the butt for me to finally have the courage to talk about it. Who knows when I would have decided on my own when the right time would be, if ever?

'I'm so grateful for the push, I finally did it and it feels so freeing.'

It comes after Bianca shared a lengthy video on Saturday and revealed she'd been suffering from MS following a diagnosis three years ago, explaining she didn't know if she would ever walk again.

Wallace revealed that she first went to doctors after being unable to pick up a pen to write, and that after that 'everything changed'.

The actress detailed how she now suffers with occasionally going blind in her left eye, has a tremor and that the whole right side of her body has nerve damage.

She went on to say that the diagnosis has actually been her 'lucky charm' and pushed her to get into acting and 'appreciate life for what it is'.

Common symptoms include tiredness, vision problems and problems with walking or balance. Multiple sclerosis cannot be cured, but medicines and other treatments can help ease some of the symptoms.

Wallace added: 'I haven't always had the same outlook on life. I haven't always been about following your heart and living your life to the best of your ability. That's actually come with a diagnosis of aggressive multiple sclerosis.

Tough: It comes after Bianca shared a lengthy video on Saturday and revealed she'd been suffering from MS following a diagnosis three years ago, explaining she didn't know if she would ever walk again

'In October 2018 I was diagnosed with MS, I was diagnosed with an aggressive from, it was very aggressive in nature, it came on hard and fast. I was at work in accounting and I tried to pick up a pen and I couldn't.

'There was an initial shock, I can't really describe how I felt, I've never been able to put it into words, this is why I haven't spoken about it in the last three years as I don't quite know what to say.'

She continued: 'It has been the most confronting this to be dealt in life. It's not something a 25 year old would have ever expected. I then put the pen in my other hand to try to write and I just couldn't.

'I was sent to the emergency room and from there everything changed. Within the next few weeks I couldn't walk anymore, the entire right side of my body was completed whacked out. I had to start a journey I wasn't ready for. You're never ready for a diagnosis like this.

Struggle: 'In October 2018 I was diagnosed with MS, I was diagnosed with an aggressive from, it was very aggressive in nature, it came on hard and fast. I was at work in accounting and I tried to pick up a pen and I couldn't 9pictured last year)

'I've always been a bubbly positive person but when you are faced with aggressive MS something changes. It put a question mark over my head but now I think it's the luckiest thing that could have happened to me as I was able to ask the hard, heavy questions in life.

Will I ever walk again? I had my new. The neurologist answered that with 'I don't know'. At 25 I didn't know if I was going to walk again. I realised I had to make some changes in my life. I realised that starts with me. I was miserable, unhappy, I didn't know if I would walk again.'

She added: 'I was living with regret. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. I still don't. It was hardship that has made me who I am. That's why I always tell people to just follow their heart as I know how how debilitating regret can be.

New couple: Bianca has recently hit headlines for her new relationship with Ioan, 48, with the pair both frequently coming under fire from Ioan's estrange ex Alice Evans (Bianca and Ioan are pictured going Instagram official in October)

'I deal with a lot of drama because of the diagnosis. I go blind in my left eye, I have botox to lift it up. My entire right side has nerve damage, this is my tremor look. When I'm stressed I lose my walk. So I had to learn how to control my emotions.

'I know how it feels to lie in bed and regret everything and I don't want to do that again ever. Without MS I would never have become an actress, it's the big question mark that did that. I don't know how it will progress I don't know what's going to happen.'

She signed off by saying: 'That knocked all the fear off me. It taught me to appreciate life for what it is. I hope this has cleared up some questions you may have of me. So now you know!'
One of Molly-Mae Hague's fans has credited the Love Island star with 'saving their life'.

Young mother Hannah Bolton, 31, was inspired to check her breasts after watching 22-year-old Molly's candid videos about having lumps removed from her body last year.

After finding a small lump, a doctor diagnosed Hannah with triple negative breast cancer and she has admitted without Molly's videos 'she would have never checked her breasts'.

Inspiration: Hannah Bolton, 31, has credited Molly-Mae Hague, 22, (pictured) with 'saving her life' after being inspired to get her breasts checked by the Love Island star

Diagnosis: After finding a small lump, a doctor diagnosed Hannah (pictured) with triple negative breast cancer and she has admitted without Molly's videos 'she would have never checked her breasts'

Bristol native Hannah, who is now undergoing chemotherapy, explained: 'Molly-Mae's decision to share that post saved my life.'

She went on: 'If she hadn't, I would never have checked my breasts to this very day.

'That lump would still be growing now. It could be really bad by this point if I hadn't found it.'

Hannah was scrolling through Instagram in September 2021 after putting three-year-old son Jaxon Bolton to bed when she came across Molly's account.

Hannah added: 'Molly-Mae's decision to share that post saved my life. That lump would still be growing now. It could be really bad by this point if I hadn't found it'

Candid: Molly revealed in September that she had surgery to remove a 'benign' lump in her breast and a separate mass in her finger

After seeing Molly's post, Hannah was horrified to find a solid, grape-sized lump on her left breast.

After a trip to her GP and a hospital breast care centre Hannah, then 30, was stunned to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.

Despite only being at the beginning of her chemo journey, Hannah, a district nurse, has had good feedback from doctors.

In light of her diagnosis, the doting mother encourages other young women to insist on getting mammograms.

Scrolling: Hannah was scrolling through Instagram in September 2021 after putting three-year-old son Jaxon Bolton (pictured) to bed when she came across Molly's account

Describing her ordeal in detail, Hannah revealed: 'I was in Portugal on the first night of my holiday with my son.

'We'd just had a nice little meal and then went back to the room to put the little one to sleep. I got him down and went on social media and I saw a post by Molly-Mae, an influencer who was on Love Island.

'She'd put up a post about having just had surgery after they biopsied her and removed a benign tumour and she was raising awareness to check for breast abnormalities.'

She went on: 'So, off the back of that post I felt my boob and I found a lump in the left lower quadrant of my left breast on the outside of the nipple.

'It was bobbly, rock solid and about the size of a grape. I hadn't noticed it at all - hadn't seen it, felt it, nothing, until that very moment.

Horrified: After seeing Molly's post, Hannah was horrified to find a solid, grape-sized lump on her left breast

'I was worried straight away and I instantly messaged my mum.'

Hannah booked an appointment with her GP when she got home a week later and was referred to Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

On October 25 she underwent a physical examination, ultrasound and biopsy - but wasn't offered a mammogram.

While waiting for the results Hannah said her hormones were 'going crazy' and she broke out in severe acne across her face, something she doesn't normally suffer with, and that the lump doubled in size.

Hannah said: 'The GP checked me out and said she could feel it and that it was about 3cm. [Within six weeks] the tumour had almost doubled in size.

'I also had really bad acne all over my face, and I don't usually suffer with that, my hormones were just going crazy.'

On November 4 Hannah was told the devastating news that she had breast cancer.

Hannah shared: 'When I went back [for my results] the doctor came out and he called me, I saw him in his scrubs and I knew straight away.

'As soon as he got me in the room I said ''I know you're giving me bad news'' and he said he was sorry to see me here as young as I am but that it was triple-negative breast cancer'.

Hannah added: 'When he said that I just thought about my little boy. I just thought ''I don't want to die, my little boy hasn't got a dad, what's he going to do without a mum?''.'

Shocking: After a trip to her GP and a hospital breast care centre Hannah, then 30, was stunned to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer

Then Hannah was sent for a mammogram and it was recommended she undergo chemotherapy before having surgery and radiotherapy.

On November 25 Hannah underwent the first of 16 rounds of chemo - declining the offer of fertility treatment and cold cap treatment so she could start chemotherapy as soon as possible.

Hannah continued: 'Once I was told I had cancer all I kept thinking was that I was going to die. My first chemo was relatively fast because I declined fertility treatment and cold cap treatment.

'I was told each might delay treatment by up to a month and I just wasn't willing to hang around.

'My main priority was Jaxon. I remember thinking ''it's sad that I'm going to go into early menopause and not have more children at 30 but at least I've got my son, he needs me''.'

Treatment: Then Hannah was sent for a mammogram and it was recommended she undergo chemotherapy before having surgery and radiotherapy

'I was like ''get the picc line in and get the chemo started''. Within three weeks to the day of my diagnosis I started treatment.'

Hannah has since undergone four rounds of chemo and has another 12 to go, hoping to complete it by April 21, before having a lumpectomy and radiotherapy treatment.

Now Hannah is urging people to undertake regular self-examinations so if they experience any changes they can get medical treatment straight away.

Hannah said: 'I didn't think I would be diagnosed with breast cancer at 30. I hadn't known anybody at this age to be diagnosed and the doctor told me I was the youngest on the caseload, so that says it all really.

'It was just such a shock and the fact that I was so unaware of the fact that you should check your breasts every month.'

She added: 'This Molly-Mae post was what brought it to light and off the back of that, finding the lump, it was like a sign.

'It was like a sign telling me - she did that post for you to see so you find this lump so you can then share it with the world in the hope that people have early detections to save lives.'

Molly revealed in September that she had surgery to remove a 'benign' lump in her breast and a separate mass in her finger.

Update: Further updating her fans, Molly-Mae said: 'Also had a lump removed from my finger that I've spoken about a few times too'

The former Love Island contestant shared pictures from her hospital bed as he revealed she had undergone the procedure.

Molly-Mae had previously spoken about discovering a non-cancerous lump in her breast and had been referred for a biopsy.

Posing for a picture with her beloved cuddly toy Elly Belly, Molly-Mae smiled as she revealed she has had the lump successfully removed.

Alongside the snap, she wrote: 'I spoke about a lump I found in my boob on a recent vlog of mine, well I had it removed today. Check your bodies people!!'

Further updating her fans, Molly-Mae said: 'Also had a lump removed from my finger that I've spoken about a few times too.'

'Also having a canula put in my hand has always been without a doubt my BIGGEST fear... so that in itself today is a HUGE achievement for me.'

Molly-Mae previously told YouTube channel she'd been referred for a biopsy after discovering a benign lump in her breast had grown, but reassured her followers that it's 'not serious.'

The star explained she previously had the lump checked by doctors, who reassured her that it was benign and non-harmful.

Struggles: Molly-Mae told fans that doctors had referred her for a biopsy after discovering a benign lump in her breast had grown

She told her fans: 'I basically noticed a little lump in my boob, went to get it checked and it was completely fine, completely benign.

'It's a little thing called a fibroadenoma and it's a normal thing to get at this age, small lumps can happen all the time it doesn't mean they're sinister.'

Molly-Mae then told fans she'd begun to notice the lump was growing as it became more noticeable on her clothes.

She continued: 'I went back today to get it checked and it had grown a little bit, again, it doesn't mean it's sinister, it doesn't mean it's dramatic, so the doctor recommended that we did a biopsy.

Worrying: Molly-Mae then told fans she'd begun to notice the lump was growing as it became more noticeable on her clothes, and is awaiting the results of further tests

'It was not very nice actually considering I'm afraid of needles, but I thought there's not really a way around this.

'I promise it's nothing serious, I don't want it to be a massive thing. I think it's important that I share this with you guys.

'It's an important subject and we should all be checking our boobs and checking for lumps so we can do things like this.'

Molly-Mae went onto tell her fans she would provide them with an update as soon as she gets the results.

Shock: Molly-Mae was previously given the devastating diagnosis that a mole of her leg was a malignant melanoma - a type of skin cancer

In November 2020, Molly-Mae was given the devastating diagnosis that a mole of her leg was a malignant melanoma - a type of skin cancer.

The influencer filmed herself being given the diagnosis for her YouTube channel.

In the video, she opened up about what she's been going through following her 'shock' diagnosis, telling her fans: 'I was walking around with skin cancer on my leg.'

Molly-Mae revealed that she learned her mole was a malignant melanoma during a work trip to Italy, when a doctor phoned her to deliver the diagnosis following a recent biopsy.

The social media star initially got the mole on her leg checked out by two dermatologists but was told it was nothing to worry about.

Molly-Mae eventually sought third professional opinion during a routine check-up because she 'felt something wasn't quite right'.

Speaking on her YouTube video, after the phone call from her doctor played out, she told fans: 'I got the call today and he's told me it is malignant melanoma - which is skin cancer basically.

'It's obviously petrifying, shocking and scary. I don't even know what to think or say. I cannot believe I was told by others doctors it was OK. I am so upset and angry.

'I just briefly asked this doctor when I was walking out. I was walking around with skin cancer on my leg!'

'If I hadn't have asked, I'd still have that mole on my leg now and I'd be none the wiser. It could be spreading through my body, you just never know.'

Molly-Mae continued, explaining how she was trying to be strong, despite breaking down, so that her loved ones didn't freak out.

She said: 'I've already shed tears about it. I've already cried down the phone to every family member.'

Molly-Mae concluded the video by urging her fans to have their moles checked out.
Kate Langbroek appeared to take a swipe at The Project's dwindling ratings on Thursday evening, during a lively debate with comedian Nazeem Hussain.

During a discussion about toilet etiquette, the 56-year-old radio veteran shared her disbelief that her co-host refused to use office loos over fears 'people could hear' what was happening in the cubicle.

In a fiery response, Langbroek seemed to address the show's plummeting ratings when she replied: 'Who do you think is listening in? People aren't even watching this show, mate, let alone watching you on the pooper!'

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Out of the blue: Kate Langbroek appeared to take a savage swipe at The Project's dwindling ratings on Thursday night, during a lively debate about toilets etiquette with co-host Nazeem Hussain

After an audible off-screen groan, perhaps from one of the show's crew, Langbroek's co-host Carrie Bickmore began to awkwardly laugh.

'I said listening, not watching!' Hussain responded, to which Langbroek said: 'It was a test,' before pointing outwardly in front of her.

The camera then cut to host Lisa Wilkinson, who smiled awkwardly and said: 'OK, that just took a seriously weird turn.'

Shocked: The 56-year-old comedian had shared her disbelief that Nazeem Hussain (pictured) refused to use office toilets over fears that 'people could hear' what he was doing

After throwing her head back in laughter, Kate said: 'You didn't think it took a weird turn in the meeting, Lis?'

'That was actually a much cleaner version than what I heard in the meeting, so let's move on before we go down that path,' Lisa bluntly responded.

Channel 10's flagship current affairs show The Project has lost almost a third of its audience since 2011, OzTAM ratings revealed in November.

The program saw its metro ratings plummet to an all-time low of just 367,000 in 2021.

Awkward: The camera then cut to host Lisa Wilkinson (pictured) who smiled awkwardly and said: 'OK, that just took a seriously weird turn'

That's a 30 per cent decline from its five-city audience of 538,000 a decade ago.

The national audience, which includes regional viewers, has also seen a similar percentage drop from 725,000 in 2011 to 490,000 in 2021.

These figures have made The Project commercial TV's worst-performing nightly premium program.

The biggest losses have been on the east coast, which is considered the most important market from an advertising perspective.

In Sydney, it's fallen to just 96,000 viewers per night from a high of 130,000 in 2011.

The show's celebrated home of Melbourne has also been tuning out, with ratings down to 133,000 from a 2011 high of 180,000.

Numbers game: Channel 10's flagship current affairs show The Project has lost almost a third of its audience since 2011, OzTAM ratings revealed in November.Pictured L-R hosts Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson and Peter Helliar

Brisbane has seen the worst decline of all, shedding almost half its audience from 120,000 in 2011 to just 68,000 in 2021.

These grim numbers are despite the fact Channel 10 is reportedly paying Lisa Wilkinson more than a million dollars as a panellist and host of the Sunday edition.

Despite disappointing ratings, a Channel 10 spokesperson denied rumours late last year that The Project would soon be facing the axe.

'The Project has just celebrated its 12th birthday and is here to stay,' they said.

'At a time when information, context and understanding is more important than ever, The Project will continue to provide Australians with their dose of news delivered differently.'
Amanda Holden has paid tribute to her 'beautiful Lexi' to mark her eldest daughter's 16th birthday.

The TV and radio personality, 50, posted a striking image of her lookalike teenager to her Instagram page on Thursday, alongside the caption: 'Happy sweet 16 to our beautiful Lexi from Mama and Dada who love you so much!'

The Britain's Got Talent judge also added an adorable baby picture of Lexi to her Instagram Story and was clearly finding the milestone birthday an emotional experience.

Sweet 16: Amanda Holden has paid tribute to her 'beautiful Lexi' to mark her eldest daughter's 16th birthday, posting a striking image of her lookalike teenager to her Instagram on Thursday

Amanda wrote: 'Our baby Lexi turns 16 today. Just can't believe it. Love you sooo much.'

The Heart FM presenter raises Lexi with her husband of 14 years, record producer Chris Hughes.

The couple are also parents to daughter Hollie, who turns 10 later this week.

Lexi's birthday comes as she prepares to launch a modelling career after receiving interest from a host of top London agencies, including MiLK, Source and Select.

'Just can't believe it': The TV and radio personality, 50, also added an adorable baby picture of Lexi to her Instagram Story and was clearly finding the milestone birthday emotional

Lookalike: Lexi's (right) birthday comes as she prepares to launch a modelling career after receiving interest from a host of top London agencies, including MiLK, Source and Select

However, Amanda and Chris are said to be insistent their eldest daughter finishes her studies before embarking on a fashion career.

A source told The Sun: 'Amanda was adamant she complete her studies first. The family is excited and proud.'

Amanda has previously spoken of her heartache after she and Chris tragically lost their baby son Theo when he was stillborn at seven months.

In an interview with MailOnline last year, she said: 'I've talked about it often, but I truly believe my stillbirth, my little boy, picked me. Because he wasn't destined to come to earth.

Happy family: The Heart FM presenter raises Lexi with her husband of 14 years, record producer Chris Hughes (pictured last month)

Model in the making: Amanda and Chris are said to be insistent their eldest daughter (pictured on holiday in Antigua last month) finishes her studies before embarking on a fashion career

'I think you can get through most things if you've got a rock solid marriage and family around you.

'Someone said to us, "Hold on to each other because this is going to be a bumpy ride" basically. It was an understatement.'

Amanda said both she and Chris were diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) in the wake of the tragedy, and sought therapy to deal with the loss of their child.

She told The Sun: 'After we first lost him, Chris and I were diagnosed with PTSD so we went and had some therapy about that, as anyone would.

'I just felt like everything was my fault, and I felt so responsible - what did I do wrong?' There is not a day that goes by when I don't think about Theo, especially when a new school year begins.'
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And Just Like That... was all about the sex factor on this week's episode of the Sex And The City spin-off.

In the show's 94 episode, six series and two movie history, nudity has been mostly restricted to the ladies - yet the eighth episode of the reboot, named Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered, saw two men bare all - with Evan Handler's character Harry Goldenblatt and an unnamed hunk both exposing themselves entirely.

Harry's nudity came in the lead-up to his wife - Kristen Davis' character Charlotte York Goldenblatt - performing a sexual act in their bathroom, before being interrupted by their daughter.

Aside from the eye-popping scenes, viewers also see Miranda. depicted by Cynthia Nixon, finally tackle her marriage to find love with non-binary Che Diaz, played by Sara Ramirez, while Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is seen negotiating life as 'the old lady' neighbour of her hip and trendy new building-mate.

Ahem! And Just Like That... was all about the sex factor on this week's episode of the Sex And The City spin-off as Harry and an unnamed hunk are seen baring all in shock scenes

The episode opens at an equality march with Che on-stage, being watched by Miranda, whose main storyline thus far has followed her heated dalliances with the star - who is Carrie's boss - and her inward battle to end her marriage while exploring her sexuality.

Speaking to the crown, Che says: 'If you're living your truth then you're part of the revolution. You're a part of the evolution. We know that visibility isn't justice but visibility can be the key that unlocks it all...

'I want to thank you all for living in your truth today and saying: "F**k this rain s**t... I mean y'all are making me wet! And I wanna thank our LGBTQ allies' - after which Miranda spots her son Brady in the crowd.

Clearly horrified she begins to hide behind a fellow marcher, which Che spots and pointedly says on stage: 'Live your truth you have nothing to hide, that's right you know what, hiding is like so five years ago, hiding isn't the key to anything. Hiding takes away the bright light that you own. So f**k that shade and shine.'

Pained: Miranda finally tells Steve she is done with their marriage, in heartbreaking scenes

Fighting: The episode opens at an equality march with Che on-stage, being watched by Miranda, whose main storyline thus far has followed her heated dalliances with the star - who is Carrie's boss - and her inward battle to end her marriage while exploring her sexuality

Oh no! Miranda spots her son Brady in the crowd and begins to hide

From the stage, Miranda can be seen fleeing the march in a panic before she returns with iced coffees.

As she is grilled over why she ran away like 'a Looney Tunes character' - 'what, was Yosemite Sam chasing you down or some s**t?' - Miranda reveals: 'No, I saw my son and I didn't want him to see me here with you'.

A stunned Che asks: 'He doesn't know about me?' before Miranda explosively announces: 'He doesn't know about me! Or you! Or me with you!' - Che replies: 'He doesn't know you're in an open marriage? You are in an open marriage aren't you?'

Uh oh: As she is grilled over why she ran away like 'a Looney Tunes character' - 'what, was Yosemite Sam chasing you down or some s**t?' - Miranda reveals: 'No, I saw my son and I didn't want him to see me here with you'

Shock: A stunned Che asks: 'He doesn't know about me?' before Miranda explosively announces: 'He doesn't know about me! Or you! Or me with you!' - Che replies: 'He doesn't know you're in an open marriage? You are in an open marriage aren't you?'

Clearly uncomfortable, Miranda says: 'I wasn't until you', Che asks: 'Are you f**king kidding me? I'm on stage telling people not to hide and then I find out the person I've been f**king for three weeks is skulking away'.

Miranda begins to squirm, telling her enraged lover: 'I know, but I didn't want to bring up something...'

While Miranda details being 'married forever' and not knowing how to handle the situation, Che - clearly hurt - responds: 'Jesus Christ Miranda why did you put yourself out there if you weren't available?... I don't sneak around, I don't lie, I'm not a homewrecker. This is over until you sort out your life.'

Wow: After watching Miranda's personal woes play out, we shoot to Carrie in her apartment, which is jam-packed with rails of clothes, ahead of the arrival of her real estate pal Seema Patel, played by Sarita Choudhury, who she warns: 'Enter at your own risk!'

Epic: Carrie showed Seema through her iconic ensembles

After watching Miranda's personal woes play out, we shoot to Carrie in her apartment, which is jam-packed with rails of clothes, ahead of the arrival of her real estate pal Seema Patel, played by Sarita Choudhury, who she warns: 'Enter at your own risk!'

Seema replies: 'Oh my God it's like the Barney's Warehouse Sale... I used to get my assistant to camp out on 17th Street to get in the queue so I'd be the first one in, that was quite a scene.'

Eagle-eyed fans will notice Carrie was clutching the dirndl she famously sported in Season Two, Episode 14 - entitled The F**k Buddy. The traditional German dress caused quite the stir.

Carrie reveals to Seema that she has been 'sitting in her 20s, 30s and 40s' all week, while sorting through her clothes before she unveils the Versace Couture Mille Feuille gown worn when she was in Paris in Season Six, Episode Two An American Girl in Paris, Part Deux.

Nice: Carrie shows Seema her new neighbour from her window

She explains to Seema that she has worn the dress twice, once in Paris and once in her apartment.

Carrie reveals that Charlotte's daughter Lily has been helping her archive her clothes and has been betrothing 'the vintage pieces that sadly were not vintage when I bought them' on to her friend's child.

As Seema goes to light up a cigarette, Carrie asks her not to smoke, as she explains that she has been allowing herself one cigarette a day and when she smoked in the apartment 'everything smelt like smoke'. She reveals her one cigarette a day has seen her wrapping her hair up and walking around the block with rubber gloves on.

Glam: As the scene turns to Carrie's shrieking neighbour sitting with a bevy of friends on her stoop, the writer is seen in her home calling her podcast co-star Jackie Nee, played by Bobby Lee. She asks him if there was any 'cool way' to ask her to be quiet - to which he suggests bringing a gun

She says: 'I'll come and sit with you on the stoop - if my new neighbour's not out there again!', before peering out the window only to be greeted with the sight of a 20-something on a date: 'She's so cool. Always very one shoulder naked with a gorgeous rope jewellery or something special around her neck'.

Her neighbour then locks lips with her date. Carrie says: 'What I want to know is how she can afford the good apartment under me?' - as Seema questions: 'Russian hooker?'

As the scene turns to Carrie's shrieking neighbour sitting with a bevy of friends on her stoop, the writer is seen in her home calling her podcast co-star Jackie Nee, played by Bobby Lee. She asks him if there was any 'cool way' to ask her to be quiet - to which he suggests bringing a gun.

Any advice? As the scene turns to Carrie's shrieking neighbour sitting with a bevy of friends on her stoop, the writer is seen in her home calling her podcast co-star Jackie Nee, played by Bobby Lee. She asks him if there was any 'cool way' to ask her to be quiet - to which he suggests bringing a gun

After asking if she has closed her window, Carrie reveals one of the girls has a laugh that 'defies the sound barrier'. Carrie is seen in bed begging the group to stop before sticking her head out the window and uttering: 'Come on!' - ahead of getting a very hollow apology followed by further noise.

We are then transported to the Upper East Side, where Charlotte scolds her husband Harry for not wearing his new Oura Ring - which 'tracks Heart Rate, Temperature, Movement and Sleep'.

He replies: 'Yeah I feel silly wearing a fitness ring babe', with Charlotte responds: 'Well I don't know if you've noticed but men your age have started developing heart problems' - as Harry responds: 'Is this about that baked brie I ordered last weekend?'

Ahem: We are then transported to the Upper East Side, where Charlotte scolds her husband Harry for not wearing his new Oura Ring - which 'tracks Heart Rate, Temperature, Movement and Sleep'

Sweet: The fitness ring means one thing leads to another

The reference to heart problems seems to be a nod to Carrie's late husband Big, who passed away in the first episode from a heart attack. His character has since been omitted after actor Chris Noth was hit with allegations of historic sexual assault - which led the three leading ladies to state: 'We stand with the women'.

After again telling him off - this time for eating Hershey's Kisses she found in the cupboard - Harry agrees to wear the ring, so long as Charlotte 'proposes'. He then says: 'So long as you're down there', while a kneeling, giggling Charlotte states: 'Do you think we have time?!' and begins to unbutton his trousers and perform a sexual favour.

In this moment - fans see a full frontal image of Harry's penis - in possibly one of Sex And The City's most graphic scenes to date.

Cheeky! After again telling him off - this time for eating Hershey's Kisses she found in the cupboard - Harry agrees to wear the ring, so long as Charlotte 'proposes'. He then says: 'So long as you're down there'

Aghh! Their daughter Lily arrives and Charlotte slams the door in her face and says: 'I was checking your dad's penis for cancer' - much to Lily's disgust and upset

Their daughter Lily arrives and Charlotte slams the door in her face and says: 'I was checking your dad's penis for cancer' - much to Lily's disgust and upset.

Carrie is then the focus, as she continues to archive her clothes with a face mask and heels on. As her door knocks we reveal she is awaiting Lily's arrival: 'Hope you're ready for some heavy lifting Lily' - yet the other side of the door voices: 'It's your downstairs neighbour' - to which Carrie utters 'S**t'.

The ab-flashing neighbour offers Carrie a gushing apology for her behaviour about the night before.

Hello... Carrie is then the focus, as she continues to archive her clothes with a face mask and heels on. As her door knocks we reveal she is awaiting Lily's arrival: 'Hope you're ready for some heavy lifting Lily' - yet the other side of the door voices: 'It's your downstairs neighbour' - to which Carrie utters 'S**t'

Carrie lies about not being asleep before revealing she was 'up writing - because I write books'.

The main trio begin dinner at a lobster restaurant where Miranda announces: 'So, tonight during our dessert ritual I'm going to ask Steve for a divorce. I mean I have to I can't sneak around anymore, it's not fair to Che or to Steve.'

Charlotte insists she is 'not throwing shade': 'Miranda, what do I know about how you handle your life. I can't even handle my own life right now... No [this isn't about my daughter Roc]. It's Lily, she came into the bathroom this morning when I was about to blow Harry.'

Dinner date: The main trio begin dinner at a lobster restaurant where Miranda announces: 'So, tonight during our dessert ritual I'm going to ask Steve for a divorce. I mean I have to I can't sneak around anymore, it's not fair to Che or to Steve'

Looking utterly bewildered, Carrie and Miranda look up while the former says: 'Back up, back up', before the latter states: 'You still blow Harry?' while Carrie asks: 'Was it his birthday or something?'

Charlotte exclaims: 'Do you guys have that out of your system so I can talk about my problem? I panicked when Lily saw me holding his penis, so I told her that I was checking it for cancer...

'You guys this isn't funny! I have this whole parenting philosophy where I want to normalise sex so they won't be weird about it growing up like me and in this one violent impulse I've ruined everything. I slammed the door and it hit her in the head. I didn't want her to see me that way.'

Carrie suggests she discusses the situation with Lily and 'reframes' the situation. Miranda continues in her shock at the fact that she 'still blows Harry'.

Uh oh! Charlotte insists she is 'not throwing shade': 'Miranda, what do I know about how you handle your life. I can't even handle my own life right now... No [this isn't about my daughter Roc]. It's Lily, she came into the bathroom this morning when I was about to blow Harry'

Yum! While walking away from dinner, Carrie and Miranda stop at a brownie shop, where Carrie reveals she is buying a brownie for her neighbour to apologise for demanding she be quiet

While walking away from dinner, Carrie and Miranda stop at a brownie shop, where Carrie reveals she is buying a brownie for her neighbour to apologise for demanding she be quiet.

She then suggests: 'Maybe you could bring Steve a brownie for your dessert ritual. You're exploding his world - spend a couple of bucks' - yet Miranda insists: 'I'm not exploding his world. I'm telling himself something we both already know - that we're dead in the water, that I want out'.

Carrie asks if she will tell Steve about Che yet Miranda insists she won't as she believes 'she would have got to this place' even if Che was not in her life: 'This is something I have to do', yet Carrie warns of loneliness.

Wah! As Carrie arrives home, she knocks on her neighbour's door - where a naked man wearing only a towel opens the door and tells Carrie she's still asleep: 'Could you give this to her? It's from the writer upstairs'

Agh! He tells Carrie they don't eat sugar - before dropping his towel in another full frontal moment: 'Sorry about that m'aam'

I love you: Miranda is seen waiting outside work for Che, who tries to shirk her yet Miranda begs to know if the situation is worth it - leading to Che professing she 'is in love' with a delighted Miranda

As Carrie arrives home, she knocks on her neighbour's door - where a naked man wearing only a towel opens the door and tells Carrie she's still asleep: 'Could you give this to her? It's from the writer upstairs'.

He tells Carrie they don't eat sugar - before dropping his towel in another full frontal moment: 'Sorry about that m'aam'.

Miranda is seen waiting outside work for Che, who tries to shirk her yet Miranda begs to know if the situation is worth it - leading to Che professing she 'is in love' with a delighted Miranda, who insists she will 'change the circumstance' as she is in love with her too and 'just wants to be with her' and will take care of her marriage.

Shocked: Charlotte and Lily are seen at lunch, where they sit on their phones yet Charlotte asks to drop their phones in the middle of the table: 'I wanted to talk to you about me and daddy the other morning'

Ahem! As Lily's phone pings, Charlotte spots an Instagram notification which she opens and discovers Lily's secret Instagram account. The image in question depicts her in a crop top and 'sexy workout wear'

Charlotte and Lily are seen at lunch, where they sit on their phones yet Charlotte asks to drop their phones in the middle of the table: 'I wanted to talk to you about me and daddy the other morning'.

As Lily's phone pings, Charlotte spots an Instagram notification which she opens and discovers Lily's secret Instagram account. The image in question depicts her in a crop top and 'sexy workout wear'. Charlotte begins an alarmed outburst, in which she voices worries that a 55-year-old may be commenting on the shot.

Lily storms out of the restaurant and is then seen at Carrie's house, where Charlotte calls. Getting caught in the middle, Carrie says she will take the call in the bathroom, after Lily said she doesn't want to go home and asks if she can stay at Carrie's house.

Designer diva: She picks up a package and learns her name is Lisette Alee and she is a jewellery designer from California

Charlotte sends Carrie the images, to which Carrie says: 'Yes but sweetie you went out with me in the 90s, when I was wearing far less... I can see her wheels spinning, she's trying to figure herself out. Charlotte's it's just clothes'.

After agreeing to the sleepover, Carrie is seen awake next to a sleeping Lily at 4.10am, where music is thumping from downstairs. 'That is not cool', Carrie utters before jumping out of bed and running out of her apartment to head downstairs where she heads into her neighbour's apartment and finds her asleep on the sofa with a wine in hand.

She picks up a package and learns her name is Lisette Alee and she is a jewellery designer from California.

Help: After scenes of Carrie's bizarre 'Granny' ensemble hit the press last year, we now see her in the ensemble walking along the street to enjoy her cigarette and avoid smelling of smoke

After scenes of Carrie's bizarre 'Granny' ensemble hit the press last year, we now see her in the ensemble walking along the street to enjoy her cigarette and avoid smelling of smoke, while filling Seema in on the fact that she is 'not a hooker' - but is in fact a designer: 'Her stuff is cooler than you can imagine'.

Carrie vows to make friends with Lisette so as not to be seen as 'the crazy neighbour lady' - but is then confronted with the stunner, who is clad in a sexy sheer dress, while Carrie is rocking her bizarre grandma look.

Charlotte heads into Lily's room where she discovers they are still at loggerheads over their row: 'Look I love that you feel comfortable in your body and I am not trying to shame you but I'm just surprised you're expressing yourself that way' yet Lily comforts her by revealing just a handful of pals follow the account.

As Charlotte then goes to explain her intimate moment with Harry - she learns that Lily believed her story about looking for cancer.

Sad: Tension rises in Brooklyn as Miranda sits with Steve and asks if he has his hearing aids in for the chat. Once they are in, Miranda states: 'Steve I love you... give me your hands, please'

Tension rises in Brooklyn as Miranda sits with Steve and asks if he has his hearing aids in for the chat. Once they are in, Miranda states: 'Steve I love you... give me your hands, please'.

Steve asks: 'Why? You wanna ask me for a divorce or something?', Miranda then states: 'I'm not happy... I can't do this anymore, I'm not happy. This isn't enough for me. This is about me...

'Are you happy? Are you happy? If you have to ask [what's happy]. I want more. I want more everything, morte connection, more energy, more sex, more me. What about you?..

'Do you want more? Really? This is enough for you? TV, little dessert bowls, sitting on this couch until we're old? We're 55. That's not old. You want 30 more years of this. This is really happening.

Worries: Steve asks: 'Why? You wanna ask me for a divorce or something?', Miranda then states: 'I'm not happy... I can't do this anymore, I'm not happy. This isn't enough for me. This is about me'

Her speech is littered with protestations from Steve, who says: 'You and me we've been together a long time and it's always like this. You don't think I'm enough, then I'm kind of enough, then I'm not enough again...

'I'm always there. Hanging in there for us. In the last couple of years we've got to a place where it's got so f**king up and down everyday. Where it's kind of the same. We get up - we come back here to each other. We sit on the couch, we talk about Brady, we watch TV. That's married life Miranda, that's life.

She replies: 'I don't know if that's life or the life that I want anymore or even ever', as Steve says: 'Well this is about you, I'm fine with this life, in fact I'm good with it but if you're not, you're not. I'm too old to rally for us again, I don't want to. I want you to be happy. I don't know what else you think is out there'.

Happiness: Miranda then drops the bombshell that she's met someone, before the camera shoots to her on the phone to Carrie revealing the news and that 'the headline is that he wants me to be happy'

Miranda then drops the bombshell that she's met someone, before the camera shoots to her on the phone to Carrie revealing the news and that 'the headline is that he wants me to be happy'. She tells Carrie she's in a cab on her way to Cleveland to surprise Che and tell her they can be together: 'I'm in a romcom Carrie'.

As Carrie leaves her building, she walks into Lisette in argument with her boyfriend who throws him out and says to Carrie: 'I am mortified' yet states that Carrie is 'cool', when she comforts her in the row.

The protagonist is then seen sitting in her window, wearing her Versace gown and eating sweet treats, while the voiceover states: 'And just like that there are some things that should never be put into storage'.
The latest episode of Sex And The City's reboot And Just Like That... left fans in shock, due to a duo of full-frontal naked scenes featuring men.

Viewers flooded Twitter after the show hit screens on Thursday, after Kristen Davis' character Charlotte York Goldenblatt's husband Harry exposed his penis while she prepares to pleasure him and later an unnamed male hunk showing his genitals.

Despite the focal point of the series and movies being - unsurprisingly - sex, nudity has been widely limited to just the women of the show, save for a full-frontal scene in 2010's first movie featuring Gilles Marini, who played bit-part Dante.

After many observed that And Just Like That... is dedicated to atoning the sins of the earlier iterations in their lack of political correctness, it could prove that the male nudity is an attempt to even the playing field following years of female nakedness.

Ahem! The latest episode of Sex And The City's reboot And Just Like That... left fans in shock, due to a duo of full-frontal naked scenes featuring men

In Episode Eight, Harry, played by Evan Handler, and Charlotte are sharing an intimate moment, in which he asks her for oral sex.

As she unzips his trousers, viewers see a full-frontal shot of Harry's penis, although viewers observed that the body part was undoubtedly CGI or prosthetic.

Later in the episode, we also see Carrie knock on her new neighbour's door to be greeted by a man in a towel, whose cover-up falls and exposes his penis.

Stunned fans flooded Twitter to write: 'Just having my morning coffee watching And just like that. And my coffee went everywhere Harry's got a pretty impressive prosthetic... DOES HARRY HAVE A CGI PENIS IN THE NEW EPISODE...

Shock: Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda Hobbes, stripped off in both the series and the movies (pictured in 2010's first film)

Shock: Kristin Davis also bared all in the show (pictured in series three)

Ahem! Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones on the show, also went nude on a number of occasions

'Theres a lot a d**k in this weeks episode of #AndJustLikeThat... Full frontal. Y'all giving full frontal now.. I am all here for it.. lawd that man #AndJustLikeThat... Harrys schlong tho... we saw Harrys gift...

'#AndJustLikeThat the amount of penis HBO have been showing lately is Exploding head. I mean, Im not complaining or against it but I guess I just wanna let it out...

'Chile theres so many d*cks in this episode that I thought I was watching a #Euphoria crossover episode! #AndJustLikeThat... Also that was like a fake peen right? It didnt look real... Prosthetic peen #AndJustLikeThat...

'Is that REALLY HARRYs meat or was that edited? Holy cow lmao #AndJustLikeThat... They use prosthetics when showing meat. But I was impressed...

Shock! Fans were astounded at the steamy scenes

'Peen count: 2 #AndJustLikeThat... GODDAMN HARRY!!!!!!! Act like you know, yall! ACT LIKE YOU KNOWWWW!!! #AndJustLikeThat... Crikey- the full frontal!'.

Leading ladies Kristin, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall all stripped off in the original series to expose their breasts, but Sarah Jessica Parker famously had a no nudity clause in her contract, so was only ever seen in as little as lingerie.

Last year, she said: ''Some people have a perks list and they are legendary. They have to have white candles in their room. I don't have a crazy list like that. I've just always had a no-nudity clause. I'm a modest person...

Ahem: The scene in question saw Charlotte preparing to pleasure Harry

Cheeky! She unzips his trousers and exposes his penis

You couldn't pay me enough to have someone pretend they were me doing a nude scene. No body doubles  that's part of my contract...

'There was so much pressure for me to take my clothes off. They were like, "Sarah's going to be nude tomorrow", and I was like, "I'm not going to be nude"...

''My agent sent a car and a plane ticket to the film set and said, "If anybody makes you do anything that you are not comfortable doing, you don't". I know how lucky I am that there was someone  in this case, a man  who stepped in.'
Their performances in Belfast, Kenneth Branaghs Troubles-era drama, have been tipped for awards glory.

And Jamie Dornan, 39, and Caitriona Balfe, 42, have reflected on growing up in Ireland for British Vogue's February issue.

Posing in a striking covershoot, the Hollywood stars talked about their childhood, the real meaning of the film and their hopes for what it can teach the younger generation.

The Troubles: Jamie Dornan, 39, and Caitriona Balfe, 42, have reflected on growing up in Ireland for British Vogue's February issue

Of his experience growing up in Belfast in the 1980s and 1990s, Jamie said: 'If you're born there, and you're raised there, you're very cognisant of the fact that you are from a very complicated place.

'From the day I was born, until the day I left, people pretty much were fighting a civil war.

'I always think back to stuff that became normal, that was not normal. Like trying to meet your mates on Saturday afternoons in town and there'd been a bomb scare.'

Tough: Of his experience growing up in Belfast in the 1980s and 1990s, Jamie said: 'If you're raised there, you're very cognisant of the fact that you are from a very complicated place'

The Troubles conflict lasted around 30 years from the late 1960s to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic.

A key issue was the status of Northern Ireland. Unionists wanted to remain within the United Kingdom while Irish nationalists and republicans wanted Northern Ireland to leave the UK and join a united Ireland.

Caitriona lived in the Republic of Ireland, right on the border in Monaghan. She said: 'It was a very IRA-leaning area. But my dad was a police sergeant  that's why we were there  so we were brought up very apolitical.'

Tense: The film is billed as 'chronicling the life of a working class family and their young son's childhood during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the late 1960s

The actress said the idea of 'sides', of division, did not much figure in their day-to-day, perhaps because they weren't as aware of it because they were children:

She said: 'I remember we used to go weekly shopping in the north, and you would go through checkpoints at least once a week.

'We didn't even really think about it until our cousins came up from the south and they would be terrified going through, because you'd have British soldiers with machine guns pointed at the car asking for your papers.'

On taking the film to Belfast, the actress said: 'There's a young generation who are coming up, who didn't live through the Troubles, and there is again that kind of romanticism to having a cause and fighting for a cause.

Life at home: Captured mostly in black-and-white and lasting just over two minutes and twenty seconds, the trailer follows a family enjoying domestic life on their Belfast street

'Maybe it's too much to ask for a film to change people's minds, but I think it's important that people see it.'

Read: The February issue of British Vogue is on sale now

To which Jamie added: 'Anything that can prove that there are no winners at the end of all that is good for the next generation to see.'

The film is billed as 'chronicling the life of a working class family and their young son's childhood during The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the late 1960s.

Belfast is 60-year-old acclaimed director Kenneth's semi-autobiographical story of growing up in Northern Ireland in the late 60s.

The film is not a straightforward biography of Kenneth's childhood, and sees Hill take on the lead role under the name of Buddy.

War: The Troubles conflict lasted around 30 years from the late 1960s to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic

Dornan plays Buddy's father in the new film, with Outlander star Balfe taking on the role of mother.

Hollywood heavyweight Judi Dench, 86, portrays his grandmother, with Hinds, 68, starring as Kenneth's grandfather.

Belfast will be released in the United States on November 21 and in the UK on February 25.

The February issue of British Vogue is on sale now.

Semi-autobiographical: Belfast is 60-year-old acclaimed director Kenneth's (pictured) semi-autobiographical story of growing up in Northern Ireland in the late 60s
Kathy Hilton was seen outside her Beverly Hills mansion this week.

The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star was dressed casually for a change - often the socialite has on designer dresses - as she wore a floral blouse and blue jeans with kitten heels.

The 62-year-old mother of Paris and Nicky Hilton also had on sunglasses with a light pink frame as she held a beverage.

On the go mama: Kathy Hilton was seen outside her Beverly Hills mansion this week

Cute in purple: The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star was dressed casually for a change - often the socialite has on designer dresses - as she wore a floral blouse and blue jeans with kitten heels

Kathy wore her blonde hair down over her shoulders as she had on light makeup.

She was also carrying in her hand a can of Poppi Prebiotic soda.

Hilton has been shooting The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills with sister Kyle Richards this week.

This comes after Hilton said watching This Is Paris put her into 'depression'.

Style setter: The 62-year-old mother of Paris and Nicky Hilton also had on sunglasses with a light pink frame

The reality star only recently watched her daughter Paris Hilton's YouTube documentary after putting it off for months because she thought it would be too painful to hear about Paris' time at the controversial Provo Canyon School.

And after finally watching the film  which premiered back in September  she admitted she felt 'depressed' after hearing the alleged abuse Paris suffered while attending the school.

She said: 'It put me in such a depression. It was too much after watching just the clips and promos  because you could imagine me just finding out [about the abuse].

Healthy and happy: Kathy wore her blonde hair down over her shoulders as she had on light makeup. She was also carrying in her hand a can of Poppi Prebiotic soda

You glow girl: Hilton has been shooting The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills with sister Kyle Richards this week

'I'm not one of those people [that's like], 'Oh this is about me' - it's not about me. But yeah, it really was so devastating. For her to keep that in for 20 years '

Kathy sat down to watch the documentary a few weeks ago with her 40-year-old daughter, after the 'Simple Life' star told her how 'important' it was to her.

She added: 'I said to her finally a few weeks ago, and then when I went to Washington with her, I said, 'I'm just not ready to watch it.' So, when we got back, I did watch it, and we held hands.

Hard to see her daughter's pain: This comes after Hilton said watching This Is Paris put her into 'depression'

'We held hands for an hour watching this thing, and just the energy that I was feeling from her and how relieved and happy that she was that I was watching.'

The 'Real Housewives' star explained she had only sent Paris to the boarding school so that her daughter, who was 17 at the time, would stop sneaking off to clubs.

She told Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM radio show: 'A lot of people understood that [we were] trying to help our daughter. We were trying to save Paris. I'm not that strict  we were worried.

'She was living in New York. She was sneaking out and sometimes didn't come back home for three days, not going to school. So, we put her in this boarding school, in this one, in this one. Gotta keep her away from the city and all these predators and people that wanted her to model.'
The self-proclaimed 'world's first supermodel' Janice Dickinson made a rare public appearance at the opening of the 27th Annual LA Art Show at the LA Convention Center on Wednesday night.

The Brooklyn-born, Florida-raised beauty - turning 67 next month - rocked black leather pants, matching boots, and turtleneck beneath a purple teddy coat.

Cindy Crawford's 20-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber hosted the bash benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for the contemporary art exhibit, which runs through Sunday.

Rare public appearance: The self-proclaimed 'world's first supermodel' Janice Dickinson attended the opening of the 27th Annual LA Art Show at the LA Convention Center on Wednesday night

Turning 67 next month! The Brooklyn-born, Florida-raised beauty rocked black leather pants, matching boots, and turtleneck beneath a purple teddy coat

Missing from Janice's side was her fourth husband Robert 'Rocky' Gerner, who surrendered his medical license in 2016 for alleged sexual misconduct with two patients.

Dickinson and the 72-year-old ex-psychiatrist - whom she met at the Chateau Marmont in 2012 - celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on December 10.

The Bill Cosby accuser has two children - daughter Savannah, 27; and son Nathan, 34 - from previous relationships with ex-boyfriend Michael Birnbaum and ex-husband #2 Simon Fields.

Next generation: Cindy Crawford's 20-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber hosted the bash benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for the contemporary art exhibit, which runs through Sunday

Five years strong: Missing from Janice's side was her fourth husband Robert 'Rocky' Gerner (R, pictured November 26), who surrendered his medical license in 2016 for alleged sexual misconduct with two patients

Pride and joy: Dickinson has two children - daughter Savannah, 27; and son Nathan, 34 - from previous relationships with ex-boyfriend Michael Birnbaum and ex-husband #2 Simon Fields

Queen of throwbacks! The Bill Cosby accuser - who graced the cover of Vogue 37 times - frequently posts vintage footage from her hey-day like a Polaroid of herself with pop art icon Andy Warhol (R)

Janice - who graced the cover of Vogue 37 times - frequently posts vintage footage from her hey-day like a Polaroid of herself with pop art icon Andy Warhol.

Dickinson's last onscreen gig was appearing in the May 6 episode of Andy Cohen's seven-episode docuseries For Real: The Story of Reality TV on E!

The former ANTM judge also portrayed the psychiatrist Dr. Janice opposite Tom Sizemore in the eight-episode Celebrity Rehab-style comedy series Barbee Rehab, which has yet to get distribution.

Discussing America's Next Top Model: Janice's last onscreen gig was appearing in the May 6 episode of Andy Cohen's seven-episode docuseries For Real: The Story of Reality TV on E!
Jeannie Mai shared the name of her first child on Thursday.

The beauty said during her show The Real that she and husband Jeezy have given their little one the moniker of Monaco. Monaco is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera.

But the 43-year-old talk show host did not reveal the gender of the child as she wants to share that at a later date.

Oh la la: Jeannie Mai shared the name of her first child on Thursday. The beauty said during her show The Real that she and husband Jeezy have given their little one the moniker of Monaco

And in a new video shared with People, Mai shared that the nursery for the baby is neither pink nor blue but rather neutral.

On Thursday's episode of The Real, Adrienne Bailon said, 'Today is an extra exciting day because, guess what ... we have a Baby J update.' Guest co-host Kathy Hilton smiled.

Bailon then opened an envelope and read: 'Three years ago, Jeezy and Jeannie were talking on a bridge in France, talking about what it meant to do life together.

Boy or girl? The 43-year-old talk show host did not reveal the gender of the child as she wants to share that at a later date

The name at last! She has the child's name Monaco in cursive in the nursery

At ease: Here she was seen in a pink dress as she relaxes in an off white chair

'Here they decided to grow and raise a family together. Hence, they named their child after the city that changed their lives forever: Monaco Mai Jenkins.'

In the clip on her Hello Hunnay YouTube channel Mai said that Monaco holds a special place for the lovebirds as it is the place where they discussed their life goals.

'I thought Baby J's name should be a J name because obviously Jeannie and Jeezy, makes sense, but that wasn't the name that came to us,' Mai Jenkins shared.

'What really came to us was how baby J came to fruition for us when we were dating.'

The star shows off the child's nursery in the video and at one point she reveals a sign on the wall that says Monaco.

The baby is here: Mai, 43, took to Instagram to make the special announcement over a week ago

So Real: On Thursday's episode of The Real, Adrienne Bailon said, 'Today is an extra exciting day because, guess what ... we have a Baby J update.' Guest co-host Kathy Hilton smiled. Seen with Jeezy in 2020

'That's really the theme of the nursery: what Monaco is about. Family, moments, traveling, discussions, important key points in my life and Jeezy's life that brought Monaco here,' she also said.

They welcomed the child on January 11.

'I asked God for a life of love and happiness,' Mai said in a post alongside a baby crib from the maternity ward. 'He sent me my family. Baby Jenkins is here.'

Mai and Jeezy, 44, wed last March in Georgia and she revealed they were expecting last September on The Real.

She opened up at the time about her changing stance on parenthood.

She showed fans a lot: The TV star has chronicled her stages of her pregnancy on social media and on her show

'You know, I was like, I know exactly what I want, I know exactly what kind of woman I want to be, and I always said, 'I'd never be a mom,'' she said. 'And there's so many reasons now that are coming to fruition as to why I would have said that then, but I do know that you never say never, and that love can really change you.'

She said that her husband made her realize that she's 'never really truly felt safe.

'And of course, it has to do with things that happened when I was younger, but when you know what feeling unsafe is like, that becomes your world. And falling in love with Jeezy, meeting someone who also didn't feel safe in their life, we began to really create a place where our happiness spelled out what safe looked like around us.

She continued: 'So, as soon as you feel safe, in a healthy relationship, all of a sudden you start having visions and dreams and for both of us at the same time, it would be becoming parents, having kids.'

Mai said that she and Jeezy - who has three children from prior relationships, Jadarius, Shyheim and Amra - had tried to have a child after they wed last March.

Fun party: Mai last month celebrated a baby shower with friends and loved ones at her home

Not saying: And in a new video shared with People , Mai shared that the nursery for the baby is neither pink nor blue but rather neutral. Mai was snapped in November at the Baby2Baby 10-Year Gala in Los Angeles

She said that following a pregnancy loss, the couple thought about in vitro fertilization, but later conceived the child naturally.

Mai opened up about the turn of events to Women's Health last September, saying, 'It was the most beautiful sign that anything's possible, that you're not in control and God has a plan.'

She said that 'being a mom is hands down the hardest role in the entire world,' and that 'now that we're bringing another Jenkins into the picture, [she has] no idea what to expect.'

So happy: She began dating Jeezy in 2018. Seen on their wedding day in 2021

Mai last month held a Winter Wonderland-themed 'shower of love' at the home she shares with her spouse.

'How am I falling in love againbut this time with someone I've never met?' she said in a clip on Instagram. 'Baby J isn't even here yet- yet bringing together our friends and family in a way only God can do. Thank you, thank you to all our friends who threw this shower of love.'

Among those in attendance included Adrienne Bailon Houghton, Elaine Welteroth, Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson.

Mai was previously wed to actor Freddy Harteis from 2007 to 2017; She began dating Jeezy in 2018.
Megan Fox posted more snaps of her loved-up adventures with fiance Machine Gun Kelly in Italy.

The beauty, 35, documented their trip to Lake Como in a slideshow posted Wednesday morning.

The A-listers looked every inch the glamorous tourists in snaps capturing their explorations.

That's amore! Megan Fox posted more snaps from her loved-up adventures in Italy with fiance Machine Gun Kelly on Wednesday

Megan looked stunning in a taupe Edikted crop top which showcased her defined abs and hint of underboob as she leaned against her beau.

She wore a velvet bucket hat atop her flowing raven locks and beamed towards the camera with a tint of blush on her cheeks and coordinating shade on her lips.

MGK, 31, who recently walked the Dolce & Gabbana Fall Winter 2022 Men's Fashion Show in Milan, wore a striped D&G turtleneck and a chain necklace.

Other images showed the couple exploring the sights hand in hand and enjoying a boat ride in each other's arms.

Say cheese! The A-listers beamed with happiness as they took a selfie together

Ciao bella! Fox enjoyed a boat ride along the glamorous site in her fiance's arms

Megan beamed with joy as she cuddled her fiance and as they sat at the back of the boat, where MGK flashed a peace sign and stuck out his tongue.

'Lake Como,' Megan captioned the slideshow.

She also shared a brief video of their ride along the water where MGK panned the camera about to show off their vehicle.

Sightseeing! The couple explored the town hand in hand

Megan announced her engagement to Machine Gun Kelly last week by sharing a video of their intimate proposal with her Instagram following, citing that it took place on Tuesday, January 11.

Fox noted in her post's lengthy caption that she and the musician 'drank each other's blood' to celebrate the occasion, which took place outside of the Spa Botanico at the Ritz-Carlton Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico.

The footage shows Kelly getting down on one knee in a location special to the couple as Fox stood in shock with her hands over her mouth.

All aboard the love boat! The couple sat near the back of the boat where MGK flashed a peace sign and stuck out his tongue

Making a splash! Fox shared video of MGK showing off their boat

She, eventually, dropped to her knees and allowed MGK, born Colson Baker, to place the engagement ring on her finger. The lovebirds then wrapped their arms around one another and shared a kiss.

'In July of 2020 we sat under this banyan tree. We asked for magic. We were oblivious to the pain we would face together in such a short, frenetic period of time,' began Megan, who first became romantically linked to MGK in May of 2020.

She continued: 'Unaware of the work and sacrifices the relationship would require from us but intoxicated off of the love. And the karma.

Newly engaged bliss! A week after announcing their betrothal, the lovebirds couldn't have looked any happier

'Somehow a year and a half later, having walked through hell together, and having laughed more than I ever imagined possible, he asked me to marry him.

'And just as in every lifetime before this one, and as in every lifetime that will follow it, I said yes.

'....and then we drank each other's blood 1.11.22,' concluded the actress.
Cynthia Nixon posed with her onscreen love interest Sara Ramirez and real-life wife Christine Marinoni in BTS snaps from episode eight of And Just Like That, which started streaming Thursday on HBO Max.

The 55-year-old native New Yorker - who's only an Oscar away from elite EGOT status - surveyed footage of the Mexican-born 46-year-old performing at a gay pride parade as non-binary comedian Che Diaz.

Cynthia's married character Miranda Hobbes attempts to date Che three months after their marijuana and tequila-fueled kitchen tryst, but Che is not interested in being a 'homewrecker.'

'Behind the camera!' Cynthia Nixon posed with her onscreen love interest Sara Ramirez (L) and real-life wife Christine Marinoni (R) in BTS snaps from episode eight of And Just Like That, which started streaming Thursday on HBO Max

Nixon - who directed episode six - could also be seen standing in the middle of a crowd surrounded by extras for a gay pride parade scene.

The Sex and the City alum also shared a sneak peek of Miranda asking to separate from her husband Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) after 16 years of marriage.

The episode - titled 'Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered' - features full-frontal nudity from two male characters, and it was directed by Anu Valia.

On the set, Cynthia was visited by her beloved wife of nine years, whom she met in 2001 at one of the education activist's Alliance for Quality Education fundraisers.

Checking the monitors: The 55-year-old native New Yorker - who's only an Oscar away from elite EGOT status - surveyed footage of the Mexican-born 46-year-old performing at a gay pride parade as non-binary comedian Che Diaz

Not an open marriage: Cynthia's married character Miranda Hobbes attempts to date Che three months after their marijuana and tequila-fueled kitchen tryst, but Che is not interested in being a 'homewrecker'

'Equality for all': Nixon - who directed episode six - could also be seen standing in the middle of a crowd surrounded by extras for the gay pride parade scene

Poor Steve! The Sex and the City alum also shared a sneak peek of Miranda asking to separate from her husband Steve Brady (David Eigenberg) after 16 years of marriage

'The #AndJustLikeThat team was blessed to have her!' The episode - titled 'Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered' - features full-frontal nudity from two male characters, and it was directed by Anu Valia (L)

Nixon and Marinoni will celebrate the 11th birthday of their son Max Ellington on February 7.

The former New York gubernatorial candidate is also mother to two adult sons - Samuel aka Seph, 25; and Charles, 19 - from her 15-year relationship with photographer Danny Mozes, which ended in 2003.

In 2018, Cynthia announced her eldest Seph's (born Samantha) gender affirmation after he graduated from The University of Chicago.

Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kristin Davis all scored $10M to reprise their SATC roles and executive produce the 10-episode continuation - according to Variety.

Still going strong! On the set, Cynthia was visited by her beloved wife of nine years (L), whom she met in 2001 at one of the education activist's Alliance for Quality Education fundraisers

Posing with her family and trophies: Nixon and Marinoni will celebrate the 11th birthday of their son Max Ellington (M, pictured February 28) on February 7

And Just Like That currently holds a 59% critic approval rating (out of 64 reviews) and an even more dismal 29% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Earlier on Thursday, the Barnard College grad confirmed Chris Noth's scenes in Paris were cut from the finale after he was accused of sexual assault by four women.

'I think we were very lucky that those changes were able to be made and I think we are very proud of our show,' Cynthia told ET.

Yikes! And Just Like That currently holds a 59% critic approval rating (out of 64 reviews) and an even more dismal 29% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes

Earlier on Thursday, The former New York gubernatorial candidate confirmed Chris Noth's (L, pictured December 9) scenes in Paris were cut from the finale after he was accused of sexual assault by four women

Cynthia told ET: 'I think we were very lucky that those changes were able to be made and I think we are very proud of our show'

'We just wanted, you know, people to not be distracted or already feel, certainly with the death of Willie Garson, [which is] such a painful thing and already [something] viewers had to contend with. We didn't want them to be distracted from the fictional characters.'

Nixon will next portray aristocrat Ada Brook in creator Julian Fellowes' nine-episode 1880s New York drama, The Gilded Age, which premieres Monday on HBO.

The 72-year-old Downton Abbey creator's long-gestating series also stars Christine Baranski, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Thomas Cocquerel, Taissa Farmiga, Morgan Spector, and Carrie Coon.
Eamonn Holmes has claimed that ITV are 'heavily' advertising Good Morning Britain for the first time in response to his GB News programme 'impacting their viewers'.

The presenter, 62, left ITV and his This Morning hosting gig late last year and is now fronting a breakfast show on GB News with Isabel Webster.

On Wednesday Eamonn responded to a tweet from a viewer who wrote: 'Just seen @BBCBreakfast being advertised for the first time ever on the BBC. @EamonnHolmes & Isobel Webster on @GBNEWS breakfast must be having one hell of an impact on their viewing figures.'

Awkward: Eamonn Holmes has claimed that ITV are 'heavily' advertising Good Morning Britain for the first time in response to his GB News programme 'impacting their viewers'

Eamonn replied: 'Not the first to say this... GMB advertising heavily as well . Whatever you do stay strong folks and stay with @GBNEWS.'

ITV, BBC and Eamonn have been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

Eamonn and Isabel fronted their first show at the start of January and the broadcaster admitted he 'didn't sleep a wink' beforehand.

Big move: The presenter, 62, left ITV and his This Morning hosting gig late last year and is now fronting a breakfast show on GB News with Isabel Webster

Opinions: On Wednesday Eamonn responded to a tweet from a viewer who wrote: 'Just seen @BBCBreakfast being advertised for the first time ever on the BBC. @EamonnHolmes & Isobel Webster on @GBNEWS breakfast must be having one hell of an impact on their viewing figures'

He said: 'I need to make a long-term plan about how to get up in the morning. I didn't sleep a wink last night.

'My kids brought me a fancy alarm clock. It went off and I couldn't turn it off.'

Eamonn also admitted his and Isabel's breakfast show will aim to 'do lots of things differently'.

Speaking on the show, he added: 'I'm having some lovely messages from people all around the country who are looking forward to whatever we're going to do differently.

Career: It was announced in November that Holmes would be leaving ITV after 15 years hosting This Morning alongside his wife Ruth

'Hopefully we are going to do lots of things differently. We're going to do news, but we're going to do news with views. We're going to do your news, because if it is important to you, it is important to us.'

It comes after ITV were forced to release a statement confirming his wife Ruth Langsford would be remaining with the channel after Eamonn's departure.

A spokesperson said: 'We would like to wish Eamonn all of the very best in his new role.

'As a duo, Eamonn and Ruth have been part of the This Morning presenting team for the last 15 years and we thank Eamonn for all of his hard work and contribution to the show.

'Ruth remains an important part of ITV Daytime both as a continuing member of the This Morning family and as an anchor presenter on Loose Women.'

It was announced in November that Holmes would be leaving ITV after 15 years hosting This Morning alongside his wife Ruth.

Nerves: Eamonn and Isabel fronted their first show at the start of January and the broadcaster admitted he 'didn't sleep a wink' beforehand

In announcing his departure from ITV, Holmes said: 'I've spent my career on broadcasting firsts and start-ups and GB News is one of the most exciting yet. It's just the kind of shake-up the industry needs.

'I've admired GB News from the beginning for its clever mix of punchy debate but delivered with warmth and even some fun.

'To me the greatest honour in journalism is to give a voice and respect to the unheard, and that's exactly what GB News is all about.'

Holmes, from Belfast, is the latest signing to the fledgling channel.

He joins on-air talent including former Sky anchor Colin Brazier, ITV News journalist Alastair Stewart and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero.

Before This Morning, Holmes presented GMTV and has also worked across radio, with slots on stations including Radio 5 Live, Magic, BBC Radio 2, and talkRadio.
Gwyneth Paltrow has announced a new candle benefitting the ACLU in honor of the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

The new, limited-edition 'Hands Off My Vagina' candle is now available for $75, and Goop will be donating $25 from the sale of each candle to the ACLU Foundation's Reproductive Freedom Project.

Paltrow, 49, announced the new product on her Instagram account where she posted a video of the candle burning upon a sleek white table top.

'Your reproductive organs; your choice': Gwyneth Paltrow has announced a new candle benefitting the ACLU in honor of the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade

'The word "vagina" holds a lot of power. And yet, there is a recurring need to say: Hands off. Hands off our vaginas in any context where theyre not invited. Your reproductive organs; your choice,' she captioned the post.

'In honor of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22, goop will donate $25 from the sale of each limited-edition candle sold on goop.com and in our retail stores to the ACLU Foundations Reproductive Freedom Project.* Head to the link in my bio for more information on ways to aid in the ACLUs urgent and critical fight to protect our rights and basic freedoms.'

She added, 'Donations will be made on each candle sold until the candle sells out or July 1, 2022, whichever occurs first, and are not deductible to purchasers.'

On the Goop website, the product is seen sitting inside its edgy white-and-red packaging.

Making a statement: The new, limited-edition 'Hands Off My Vagina' candle is now available for $75, and Goop will be donating $25 from the sale of each candle to the ACLU Foundation's Reproductive Freedom Project

'Clean perfumer and Heretic founder Douglas Little worked with GP to create the alluring, intoxicating, deeply feminine scent of this candle: Coconut milk and Damascena roses are balanced with raw vanilla, clean notes of hinoki cypress, and hints of toasted cacao for added depth and sensuality,' reads the product description.

In an article outlining their decision to honor Roe v. Wade, which passed on January 22, 1973, Goop wrote: 'While Little was perfecting the scent with GP, we were also learning from the ACLU Foundations team.

'The stakes, as they outline them, are high, and this moment is critical: The Supreme Court gave states a path to ban abortion as politicians have done in Texas and could gut or overturn Roe v. Wade this summer.

Not her first: The Shakespeare In Love actress caused a stir a few years ago when it launched it's $75 candle, the similarly titled 'This Smells Like My Vagina'

'A country without Roe v. Wade would affect us alland like most unjust systems, it would disproportionately harm people of color, people who are poor, and individuals and groups who are marginalized. If this fundamental right is taken away, much more is at risk than the ability to protect people from forced pregnancies.'

Should the Supreme Court allow a Mississippi law 'banning abortions after 15 weeks to stand,' that would permit other states to enforce 'more stringent limits on the procedure,' according to CBS. The court is 'expected to at least weaken' Roe v Wade.

Goop caused a stir a few years ago when it launched it's $75 candle, the similarly titled 'This Smells Like My Vagina.' It sold out immediately even though the name shocked the country.

'So, if you just light a candle that says This Smells Like My Vagina, and put it on the coffee table, it's kind of a punk rock statement,' she previously said of the product during an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

She also released the equally buzzworthy candle, This Smells Like My Orgasm.

It's a hit! Despite it's shocking name, the candle sold out immediately
No Time to Die action star Ana de Armas 'is so excited' about her new Estee Lauder 'Revitalizing Supreme+' campaign, which was unveiled on Thursday.

In the commercial, the Cuban 33-year-old took the plunge in a silk brown gown featuring a hip-high slit, which was selected by her stylist Karla Welch.

De Armas (born Caso) wrote on Instagram that she was 'obsessed' with the most expensive product of the nine-piece collection - the $115 Moisturizer Youth Power Creme.

'#supremeskingoals': No Time to Die action star Ana de Armas 'is so excited' about her new Estee Lauder 'Revitalizing Supreme+' campaign, which was unveiled on Thursday

The Bond girl gave her 5.4M Instagram followers a close-up look at her glowing complexion as part of her paid partnership with the 76-year-old Manhattan cosmetics company.

Joining Ana for the Estee Lauder campaign were Carolyn Murphy and Adut Akech Bior, who were clad in similar silky gowns selected by Welch.

Carolyn - who's fronted Estee Lauder for 20 years - is a 47-year-old Florida-born model repped by IMG Models.

Adut is a 22-year-old South Sudanese-Australian model repped by The Society Management.

Leggy: In the commercial, the Cuban 33-year-old took the plunge in a silk brown gown featuring a hip-high slit, which was selected by her stylist Karla Welch

De Armas (born Caso) wrote on Instagram that she was 'obsessed' with the most expensive product of the nine-piece collection: the $115 Moisturizer Youth Power Creme

Ready for her close-up! The Bond girl gave her 5.4M Instagram followers a look at her glowing complexion as part of her paid partnership with the 76-year-old Manhattan cosmetics company

De Armas and her ex-boyfriend Ben Affleck are both 'relieved' Adrian Lyne's erotic thriller Deep Water will stream on Hulu later this year after the January 14 theatrical release was canceled.

'They play a married couple, so would probably face questions about their relationship,' an insider told OK! last Saturday.

'They won't have to hobnob on the red carpet or worry about bringing their current partners with them!'

The Only Natural Diamonds global ambassador famously dumped the 49-year-old Oscar winner over the phone in mid-January 2021 following a year-long fling.

Trio: Joining Ana for the Estee Lauder campaign were Carolyn Murphy (M) and Adut Akech Bior (L), who were clad in similar silky gowns selected by Welch

Evergreen: Carolyn (L) - who's fronted Estee Lauder for 20 years - is a 47-year-old Florida-born model repped by IMG Models

Luminous: Adut (R) is a 22-year-old South Sudanese-Australian model repped by The Society Management

On February 9, Ana will celebrate the 38th birthday of her boyfriend since June, Tinder exec Paul Boukadakis.

De Armas - who only learned English in 2015 a year after moving to LA - divorced Spanish actor Marc Clotet in 2013 after three years of marriage.

Meanwhile, Ben and ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez - who first dated between 2002-2004 - began texting each other again in February and made their rekindled romance public in late April.

'They won't have to hobnob on the red carpet': De Armas and her ex-boyfriend Ben Affleck are both 'relieved' Adrian Lyne's erotic thriller Deep Water will stream on Hulu later this year after the January 14 theatrical release was canceled (pictured on set in 2019)

'They would probably have faced questions about their relationship': The Only Natural Diamonds global ambassador famously dumped the 49-year-old Oscar winner over the phone in mid-January 2021 following a year-long fling (pictured in 2020)

Moved on! On February 9, Ana will celebrate the 38th birthday of her boyfriend since June, Tinder exec Paul Boukadakis (pictured in 2017)
Elle Fanning appeared as the spitting image of Michelle Carter, the woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter over the suicide of her then-boyfriend, in a first photo from The Girl from Plainville.

Fanning, 23, stars in the upcoming true crime series for Hulu about the gripping and tragic 2014 death by suicide of Conrad Henri Roy III who was encouraged to end his life via text by Carter.

The Girl From Plainville co-stars Chloe Sevigny as Roy's mother and Stranger Things and Mad Men actress Cara Buono as Carter's mother and Colton Ryan as Conrad Roy.

Art imitating life: Elle Fanning appeared as the spitting image of Michelle Carter, the woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter over the suicide of her then-boyfriend, in a first photo from The Girl from Plainville

In an image released by Hulu, Elle is spotted in character from a courtroom scene alongside her lawyer Joseph Cataldo, played by actor Michael Mosley.

Wearing the same deep plum toned printed blouse that the real life Michelle Carter wore to one court appearance, the actress looks forlorn.

Just as Michelle was seen on that day in court, Elle is makeup free with tanned skin and blonde hair with stark, thick eyebrows.

The series, The Girl from Plainville, is based on an Esquire article of the same name about the 2017 conviction of Michelle Carter for her role in Roy's death and their romantic relationship leading up to the tragedy.

Perfect casting: In an image released by Hulu, Elle is spotted in character from a courtroom scene wearing the same deep plum toned printed blouse that the real life Michelle Carter wore to one court appearance

'The first time that I met [Fanning], I was really struck by how eerily similar they actually looked just naturally. It was something that around the table when we all met, we all talked about,' showrunner Patrick Macmanus told EW of her casting.

Conrad Henri Roy III, a Massachusetts-born 18-year-old, was found dead in his car by carbon monoxide poisoning in Massachusetts on July 13, 2014.

One year later, his girlfriend Michelle Carter, then 17, was officially charged with manslaughter after police uncovered a series of shocking text messages appearing to 'coerce' him into taking his own life.

Her controversial court case was the subject of a 2019 two-part HBO documentary, I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs. Michelle Carter.

As part of her process, Elle reportedly studied various courtroom tapes as well as the doc, to learn Carters mannerisms.

Tragic: Fanning, 23, stars in the upcoming true crime series for Hulu about the gripping and tragic 2014 death by suicide of Conrad Henri Roy III who was encouraged to end his life via text by Carter

'[Elle] did not want this to feel sensational,' Macmanus said. 'She wanted it to be an honest portrayal of not just these families and what they went through, but from what people are going through in general on a day-to-day basis when it comes to their mental health.'

Although he and Carter lived just over 30 miles apart near Boston, the two met while both were visiting Florida in 2012.

The two carried on a relationship via text from that point on despite rarely seeing each other, even though they lived within an hour's drive.

After Roy began sharing his suicidal thoughts with Carter later in 2012, she initially tried to convince him that he 'so much to live for,' according to the New York Times.

'[Elle] did not want this to feel sensational,' the showrunner told EW. 'She wanted it to be an honest portrayal of not just these families and what they went through, but from what people are going through in general on a day-to-day basis when it comes to their mental health.'

She urged him to seek professional help in June 2014, when he again told Carter that he was thinking of killing himself.

But just a month later, she began sending him text messages urging him to kill himself and trying to convince him that his family and friends would eventually accept his death.

'Everyone will be sad for a while but they will get over it and move on,' she wrote in a text message shared in court.

Although Carter's defense blamed her text messages on mental changes brought about by a new anti-depressant she had begun taking for, she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentence to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Carter was released three months early in January 2020 due to good conduct.

The Girl From Plainville is available exclusively on Stan in Australia.
The White Lotus creator Mike White will reportedly set the second season of his hit HBO series in Sicily, Italy.

Variety reported Thursday that the cast and crew will be moving into the Four Seasons Hotel San Domenico Palace in the Sicilian hilltop town of Taormina.

The luxurious hotel - which is conveniently closed to guests through April 1 - is a former 14th-century convent beside the Ionian Sea and below an active volcano called Mount Etna.

Europe bound! The White Lotus creator Mike White will reportedly set the second season of his hit HBO series in Sicily, Italy

Could it be? Jennifer Coolidge is widely rumored to be reprising her scene-stealing role as Tanya McQuoid in season two

The Four Seasons is located near vineyards, an ancient Greek theatre, medieval villages, and it will make a beautiful setting for the fictional White Lotus hotel and spa.

The update came two days after Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham signed on to The White Lotus to portray Bert Di Grasso, an elderly man traveling with his son and grandson.

The Order alum Adam DiMarco will portray Bert Di Grasso's recent college grad grandson, Albie, traveling with him.

The King's Man star Tom Hollander will take on the role of Quentin, an English expat vacationing with his friends and his nephew.

Bellisimo! Variety reported Thursday that the cast and crew will be moving into the Four Seasons Hotel San Domenico Palace in the Sicilian hilltop town of Taormina

Brava! The luxurious hotel - which is conveniently closed to guests through April 1 - is a former 14th-century convent beside the Ionian Sea and below an active volcano called Mount Etna

Picture it: The Four Seasons is located near vineyards, an ancient Greek theatre, medieval villages, and it will make a beautiful setting for the fictional White Lotus hotel and spa

Unpregnant actress Haley Lu Richardson was cast as Portia, a young woman who is traveling with her boss.

The growing ensemble joins Best Sellers star Aubrey Plaza, who was cast last week as Harper Spiller, a woman on vacation with her husband and friends.

'I was a fan of season one, but more importantly, I was a big Mike White fan. So I'm very excited to work with him,' the 37-year-old deadpan funnywoman told Variety on Wednesday.

'I'm very honored to be on this television series, and I hope I don't let everybody down. It seems like everyone watched this show.'

Amadeus alum: The update came two days after Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham signed on to The White Lotus to portray Bert Di Grasso, an elderly man traveling with his son and grandson (pictured in 2020)

New to the cast! The Order alum Adam DiMarco will portray Bert Di Grasso's recent college grad grandson, Albie, traveling with him (pictured in 2019)

Englishman: The King's Man star Tom Hollander will take on the role of Quentin, an English expat vacationing with his friends and his nephew (pictured December 6)

Starlet: Unpregnant actress Haley Lu Richardson was cast as Portia, a young woman who is traveling with her boss (pictured in 2020)

When Michael Imperioli was cast as Dominic Di Grasso, Albie's father and Bert's son on January 5, he gushed: 'Very excited to be joining Mike White and team!'

Interestingly, the 55-year-old Sopranos alum tagged Jennifer Coolidge in his Instagram post as she is rumored to be reprising her scene-stealing role as Tanya McQuoid in season two.

The 60-year-old funnywoman and Murray Bartlett are nominated for best female actor and male actor in a TV movie/limited series at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards, which air February 27 on TNT/TBS.

The six-episode first season - set in Maui - received a 'certified fresh' 89% critic approval rating (out of 90 reviews) and 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

'I hope I don't let everybody down': The growing ensemble joins Best Sellers star Aubrey Plaza, who was cast last week as Harper Spiller, a woman on vacation with her husband and friends (pictured Wednesday)

When Michael Imperioli was cast as Dominic Di Grasso, Albies father and Bert's son on January 5, he gushed: 'Very excited to be joining Mike White and team!'

Who will win? Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett are nominated for best female actor and male actor in a TV movie/limited series at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards, which air February 27 on TNT/TBS
Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader have gone from being costars to romantic partners.

The 36-year-old Pitch Perfect star and the 43-year-old Saturday Night Live legend have been 'quietly' dating for more than a year, a source revealed to People on Thursday.

The surprise relationship appears to have developed sometime after the two comic actors costarred in the Disney Christmas film Noelle, in which they played the children of Santa Claus.

New couple: Anna Kendrick, 36, and Bill Hader, 43, have been 'quietly' dating 'for over a year,' a source told People on Thursday. They starred together in Disney's 2019 comedy Noelle

'Anna has been dating Bill quietly for over a year,' the insider shared.

The two have been in each others orbits for years, though things seem to have heated up for them amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

'They met years ago. She's hosted Saturday Night Live and they've done a movie together, but they got together well after the movie,' the source continued.

'They are both very private people, and with the pandemic it was easy to keep it quiet,' they added. 'They're both hysterical so they must keep each other laughing all of the time. She's really, really happy.'

Representatives for the actors didn't return DailyMail.com's requests for comment.

Old acquaintances: 'They met years ago. She's hosted Saturday Night Live and they've done a movie together, but they got together well after the movie,' the source continued; seen together in Noelle

Anna and Bill helped launch the Disney+ streaming service with their Christmas comedy Noelle.

The film was set for a theatrical release in November 2019, but in February 2018 Disney announced that the movie would be among the initial offerings on its Disney+ streaming service when it launched on November 12, 2019.

Noelle features plenty of the new couple's comedic banter, but doesn't give many hints to their future relationship, as they play brother and sister in the movie.

Bill was previously married to the director, writer and occasional actress Maggie Carey from 2006 until they announced their separation in late 2017, with their divorce being finalized the following year.

On top of the world: 'They are both very private people, and with the pandemic it was easy to keep it quiet,' they added. 'They're both hysterical so they must keep each other laughing all of the time. She's really, really happy'; publicity image for Noelle

The former spouses share three daughters: Hannah, 12, Harper, nine, and Hayley, seven.

The comedian was subsequently linked to The OC star Rachel Bilson in December 2019, and the two made their relationship red carpet official at the Golden Globes in January 2020.

The two had previously appeared together in 2013 The To Do List, which was directed by Hader's then-wife Maggie.

The coupling was short-lived, though, and Bill and Rachel were reported to have ended things just six months later in July 2020.

Exes: Bill shares three daughters with his filmmaker ex-wife Maggie Carey. He later dated Rachel Bilson from December 2019 to July 2020; seen together in January 2020

Anna has been more low-key about her relationships over the years.

She previously dated the cinematographer Ben Richardson starting in 2014, but it's unclear when their relationship was dissolved.

Prior to that relationship, she dated Last Night In Soho director Edgar Wright from 2009 to 2013.

The actress sounded excited about her dating life in a May 2020 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald about her HBO Max show Love Life, in which she gushed that she was 'just so happy that I'm clearer now about what I will accept from people in my life.'

'The real arc that we wanted was to show how we learn from each relationship. Even though our relationships end, it doesn't mean they are complete failures,' she continued. 'People come into your life and you grow and they change you, and what you learn from them might be really positive or it might be negative.'
Cardi B was called an 'angel' by one of the family members of the 17 victims of a deadly apartment fire in the Bronx.

Haji Dukuray, who lost five family members in the tragic blaze on January 9, recently spoke to TMZ and expressed his gratitude for the 29-year-old performer's charitable actions.

The rapper, who is a native of the New York City borough, previously announced that she would be covering both funeral and burial costs for the victims of the fire.

Grateful: Cardi B, 29, was called an 'angel' by one of the family members of the 17 victims of the deadly apartment fire in The Bronx; she is seen in November of 2021 in NYC

Although Dukuray said he wasn't aware of who Cardi was prior to the blaze, he said he was indebted to her for her kindness and willingness to offer her help after the tragedy.

'Cardi B, you are an angel. I can't thank you, you know, my family cannot thank you enough for what you've done,' he told the publication. 'I don't know you, I'm sure you've never heard of my family.... All I could do is pray to Allah for you. May Allah give you all your wishes and grant you everything in this world and in the hereafter for all that you're asking for.'

He went on to express that her charitable actions took a considerable burden off of the shoulders of both himself and the rest of his loved ones.

'I have five family members that I'm planning to bury, and the financial aspect. We all know how expensive that can be. And for me not to worry about the cost at all, it was just a huge, huge help and a huge relief for my family,' he said.

High praise: Although Dukuray said he wasn't aware of who Cardi was prior to the blaze, he said he was indebted to her for her kindness and willingness to offer her help after the tragedy; firefighters seen after a blaze on January 18 in the Bronx

He concluded with pledges to pray for the hitmaker after her charitable deed

'I didn't know it was Cardi B that's responsible for that. I mean, knowing now that she is the one responsible, I just have to pray for her and thank her for being that angel that really stepped up to help my family,' he said.

The Bodak Yellow rapper previously made an announcement regarding her actions and noted that she was more than happy to offer assistance to the residents of her native borough.

Weight off their shoulders: He concluded that, after he discovered that the rapper would be taking care of the victims' funeral and burial costs, he was relieved of much of the stress that he and his loved ones had been experiencing; Cardi B is seen in 2021

Doing her part: 'When I heard about the fire and all of the victims, I knew I needed to do something to help,' Cardi said in a statment; seen at the American Music Awards in November

'Im extremely proud to be from the Bronx and I have lots of family and friends who live and work there still. So, when I heard about the fire and all of the victims, I knew I needed to do something to help,' said the Grammy-winning recording artist in a statement released Wednesday through the New York City mayor's office.

'I cannot begin to imagine the pain and anguish that the families of the victims are experiencing, but I hope that not having to worry about the costs associated with burying their loved ones will help as they move forward and heal,' she continued. 'I send my prayers and condolences to everyone affected by this horrific tragedy.'

The city says the 'partnership' with Cardi (real name: Belcalis Almanzar) will include the costs of 'repatriation expenses for some victims buried in The Gambia,' where many of the 19-story building's residents are from.

Tragic: The January 9 fire killed 17 people, including eight children, all from smoke inhalation; a firefighter is seen entering the Bronx building amid the blaze

Helping hand: Cardi's contributions will help cover repatriation costs for residents who will be buried in The Gambia; Above, a makeshift memorial outside the Bronx building on January 13

Mayor Eric Adams said: 'We are grateful for Cardi B, a real superstar on and off the mic, for granting some critical financial relief to families of the victims'

The average funeral in the US costs $7,848 per person, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, meaning Cardi is on the hook for at least $133,416.

The 17 victims ranged in age from two to 50 and died from smoke inhalation caused by a faulty space heater in a third-floor unit that investigators believe was left running uninterrupted for days.

Mayor Eric Adams said: 'We are grateful for Cardi B, a real superstar on and off the mic, for granting some critical financial relief to families of the victims.

'The city will be forever thankful to her and also to the grassroots donors and corporate partners who have been able to offer immediate support for our neighbors in need, to reestablish themselves during this difficult time.'

It is unclear how much money she donated to the city's fund, which has already raised more than $2.5 million. The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.

Cardi, 29, was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood and attended Herbert H. Lehman High School in the Bronx

Cardi was raised in the Highbridge neighborhood and attended Herbert H. Lehman High School in the Bronx.

She often references the borough in her music, like in the 2017 song Bronx Season.

The rapper is known for her extravagant giving. She presented her husband, rapper Offset of Migos, with a $2 million check at his birthday party last month, TMZ reports.

On Sunday, New York Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin announced that the state of New York would be granting $2 million to a fund for the victims.

The fund 'will provide tenants with case management services, personal property replacement, and relocation and rental assistance to help address critical household needs,' according to a press release from Governor Kathy Hochul's office.

Investigators believe the fire began in the Wague family's third-story unit after a space heater was left running for days. Above, the apartment is seen completely destroyed

'I cannot begin to imagine the pain and anguish that the families of the victims are experiencing, but I hope that not having to worry about the costs associated with burying their loved ones will help as they move forward and heal,' Cardi said in a statement

Fat Joe, a Bronx native, also started a relief fund for those affected by the fire, and has received contributions from Jay-Z and DJ Khaled.

'I need all my people world wide to come together for the families devastated by the fire in the Bronx,' he wrote on Instagram last week. 'I'm donating and I'm asking everyone that has a Heart to donate. these people are mostly immigrants that have no where to go they lost everything. it's 10 degrees in the Bronx today!'

Officials blamed a faulty space heater in a third-floor apartment for the blaze, which spewed plumes of suffocating smoke that quickly rose through the stairwell of the 19-story building.

Fire officials also found that the entry door to the unit where the flames ignited failed to automatically close  as it is designed to do  when the family residing inside fled.

The fire at the 19-story Twin Parks North West Building was New York City's deadliest since 1990

Fire experts found several faulty self-closing doors in a Bronx apartment complex where a fire left 17 dead on Sunday. Investigators also believe the building's older fire safety measures contributed to the spread of the fire

Some residents said space heaters were sometimes needed to supplement the building's heat and that repairs weren't always timely.

The fire at the 19-story Twin Parks North West Building was New York City's deadliest since 1990.

All 17 victims of the horrific January 9 fire have since been named.

The deceased are: Fatoumata Drammeh, 50; Foutmala Drammeh, 21; Muhammed Drammeh, 12; Nyumaaisha Drammeh, 19; Haji Dukary, 49; Fatoumata Dukureh, five; Haja Dukureh, 37; Mariam Dukureh, 11; Mustapha Dukureh, 12; Omar Jambang, six; Sera Janneh, 27; Haouwa Mahamadou, five; Seydou Toure, 12; Fatoumata Tunkara, 43; Isatou Jabbie, 31; Hagi Jawara, 47; Ousmane Konteh, two.

Parents Haja Dukureh, 37, and Haji Dukary, 49 and their children were killed in the fire

Mariam Dukureh, 11, Mustapha Dukyhreh, 12 and Mariam Dukureh, 5, also died in the fire

Fatoumata Drammeh (pictured), 50, was killed in the fire, her sister Koumba told DailyMail.com, who said that she and her family were 'such lovely people'. Her daughter Fatoumata, 21, pictured on the right, also died

Fatoumata's 12-year-old son Muhammad was the youngest member of the family to lose his life in the Bronx apartment building fire. Her daughter Aisha, 19, (pictured right) also died

Isatou Jabbie, 31, and husband Hagi Jawara, 41, were confirmed dead Monday after the Bronx apartment building fire by Jawara's brother Yusupha

In addition, the fire also left 32 people hospitalized and 63 people in total were injured.

In the wake of the deaths, a coalition of officials, including federal, state and city lawmakers announced a legislative agenda they hoped would stiffen fire codes and building standards to prevent similar tragedies from happening.

On Sunday, more than two dozen men came together to push 15 caskets down Bronx streets, as the close-knit Gambian community came together to mourn those who died in the fire.

A long line of black hearses began lining up outside the Islamic Cultural Center in Fordham Heights just after 10 am, according to the New York Times , and the men soon gathered around the caskets to transport the remains of their friends and family into the front of the prayer hall.

Hundreds of mourners were gathered inside to pay their final respects to 15 of the 17 victims of a Bronx apartment building fire, with women on the second floor consoling each other as the men prayed below.

Many hundreds more sat in tents lining East 166th Street in the Concourse section of the Bronx where they peeked through windows or watched the funeral service via livestream.

Toure Seydou, 12, (left) and Mustafa Dukureh, 12, (right) died in the fire

Forty-three year old Fatoumata Tunkara (left) and her son Omar Jambang, 6, (not pictured) were killed, as well as Sarah Janneh, 27 (right)

The services were beamed onto jumbo screens outside and in other rooms of the mosque.

At one point, two ambulances were arrived outside of the Islamic Center, with security officials telling crowds to disperse as EMS personnel carried an apparently unconscious woman from the building.

Fire officials told DailyMail.com they received reports of an ill person at the service at around 11.50am and two people were transported to a local hospital. Their identities and the condition they are in have not yet been released.

Mourners in the Gambian community of the Bronx wheeled the casket of Ousmane Konteh, 2, to the hearse following the funeral service for 15 of the 17 victims of an apartment building fire

One woman was seen crying as the 15 caskets were carried into the Islamic Cultural Center on Sunday

The mass funeral capped a week of prayers and mourning within a close-knit community hailing from West Africa, most with connections to the tiny country of Gambia.

'This is a sad situation. But everything comes from God. Tragedies always happen, we just thank Allah that we can all come together,' said Haji Dukuray, the uncle of Haja Dukuray, who died with three of her children and her husband.

'One week they were with us ... now they're gone,' said Musa Kabba, the imam at the Masjid-Ur-Rahmah mosque, where many of the deceased had prayed.

Bronx fire victim Felix Martinez is currently clinging to life on a ventilator. A class action lawsuit filed on his behalf seeks $3 billion from the building's owners

Meanwhile, the owners of the Bronx apartment building are being sued for $3 billion by at least 22 people who suffered 'pain, shock and mental anguish' in the horrific fire, according to a new filing.

Rosa Reyes and Felix Martinez, who are married, were first to be represented in a class-action suit against the owners of 333 East 181 Street, where a space heater sparked the city's deadliest fire in decades on Sunday.

Martinez is currently clinging to life on a ventilator after getting lost in a darkened stairwell and being overcome by smoke, his lawyer said.

As of last week, 20 others had joined the lawsuit after a preliminary investigation revealed a 'maintenance issue' might have prevented the fire from being contained to the original third-floor unit.

City inspectors cited the Bronx high-rise at least six times for failing to maintain self-closing doors in the complex.

Residents of 333 East 181st Street have complained of lack of heat and malfunctions with their self-closing doors, which fire investigators said contributed to the spread of toxic smoke throughout the complex.

City inspectors cited the Bronx high-rise at least six times between 2013 and 2019 for failing to maintain self-closing doors in the complex. There was also a self-closing door complaint issued on Dec. 6, 2021

Mamadou Wague (pictured), who rushed to flee with his wife and eight kids after a fire broke out in his duplex apartment on Sunday, said the doors in his unit - which are designed to close automatically - get stuck if pushed open too far

Building management was issued door-related citations between 2013 and 2019, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) records obtained by the New York Post revealed.

Mamadou Wague, who rushed to flee with his wife and eight kids after a fire broke out in his third-floor duplex apartment on Sunday, said the doors in his unit - which are designed to close automatically - get stuck if pushed open too far.

'When you push the door all the way to the edge, it didn't close by itself,' the West African immigrant father-of-eight told the Post. 'I actually thought later that the door had shut, but the fire department people told me it had stayed open.'

One list of complaints against the property from the last month detailed how residents complained about not having any heat.

Although building officials state the complex was heated, the minimum temperature requirement in NYC is only 68 degrees Fahrenheit, which some residents claim is too cold.
Farrah Abraham is considering suing the venue where a security guard pinned her to the ground and performed a citizen's arrest following an altercation.

Kia Feyzjou, Farrah's lawyer, told TMZ she and her team were, at the bare minimum, considering a civil suit against the venue as the reality star, 30, should never have been placed under a citizen's arrest to begin with.

Feyzjou claims the citizen's arrest performed on Farrah was unlawful, and therefore she should never have been taken into police custody.

Legal action: Farrah Abraham is considering suing the venue where a security guard pinned her to the ground and performed a citizen's arrest on her following an altercation; pictured January 2022

Feyzjou also claims the security guards used excessive force when restraining Farrah, who is allegedly now in a lot of pain and distress.

Feyzjou believes this gives Farrah another reason to sue.

Farrah was taken into custody on Saturday night for slapping a security guard at the club Grandmaster Records in Los Angeles, law enforcement sources told TMZ. She was was booked on a charge of misdemeanor assault and freed from custody two hours later.

The security guard whom Farrah allegedly struck, Megan Armstrong, claims to have sustained injuries from the incident in a photo she posted to her Instagram account on Tuesday.

Rough night: Abraham, 30, was arrested for allegedly slapping a security guard following a confrontation in an LA club on Saturday, law enforcement sources told TMZ

Never should have been done: Kia Feyzjou, Farrah's lawyer, told TMZ she and her team were, at the bare minimum, considering a civil suit against the venue as the reality star should never have been placed under a citizen's arrest to begin with; Farrah pictured October 2021

Armstrong appeared to have a bruise over her left eye in a selfie she posted on her account. She has been weighing in on the incident with various posts on Instagram.

TMZ notes there's 'no word' on whether or not Armstrong plans to take legal action as well.

Abraham was recently seen with multiple injuries following the incident including bruising on her arms and elbows, cuts on her lower back, shoulders and elbows.

She is due back in court in May, and said she will be suing the restaurant and the security guard who caused the injuries.

In distress: Feyzjou also claims the security guards used excessive force when restraining Farrah, who is allegedly now in a lot of pain and distress

The reality star later posted silent video that showed her being held to the ground by a masked man, who appeared to be a security guard.

The confrontation began when someone described as a 'hater' of Farrah assaulted her and her friends at the venue, an eyewitness claimed.

Following the confrontation, Farrah allegedly became 'belligerent,' so staff asked her to leave, but she refused.

The security guard whom Farrah allegedly struck, Megan Armstrong, claims to have sustained injuries from the incident in a photo she posted to her Instagram account on Tuesday

Rather than calling for the police to assist, paramedics were reportedly called.

However, the reality star apparently was so agitated that police were subsequently called to the club.

In video obtained by the outlet, Farrah was seen been restrained on the ground by a masked man, though it wasn't clear if he was a security guard.

She can be heard apparently shouting at the man restraining her in the clip.

'You know why people fight hard in jail. Sickos like you,' she shouted. 'It's on camera! Harassers like you!'

Held down: In video posted to her Instagram, Farrah was seen been restrained on the ground by a masked man, though it wasn't clear if he was a security guard

After the man asked her to remain calm, she replied, 'I've already been calm. I've already will be calm [sic].

'I will be more calm than anyone has ever been,' she continued, adding in something unintelligible about the 'United States of America.'

The man seems to say, 'You were trying to bite me. You were trying to hit me.'

Later, Farrah is seen being cuffed by police officers as she shouts, 'I didn't hit anyone! I would never hit anyone.'

Dramatic: She can be heard apparently shouting at the man restraining her in the clip. 'You know why people fight hard in jail. Sickos like you,' she shouted. 'It's on camera! Harassers like you!'

As she was led into a police vehicle, she continued: 'Thank you for putting me in cuffs, against the law.'

Farrah addressed her arrest later in a statement to TMZ.

'Im tired of being maliciously battered, attacked, conspired against while having dinner at Grand Master Records, this was a private person's arrest my lawyer is handling from here,' she said.

'It is terrifying and traumatizing that people attack me and I can not even enjoy dinner as Im the only person out of 3 attacked and harassed when. I look forward to court as always, warning this place is a danger to public figures [sic].'

Agitated: After the man asked her to remain calm, she replied, 'I've already been calm. I've already will be calm [sic]. I will be more calm than anyone has ever been'

According to the publication, the 16 And Pregnant star said that staff members of Grandmaster Records assault her.

She also claims that they had filmed the incident intending to leak it to new organizations.

Later on Sunday, Farrah posted video of the altercation to her Instagram Stories, though she left it without audio.

The man held her leg and back down, and she appeared to have something tied around her wrists that kept them behind her back.

Sarcastic: As she was led into a police vehicle, she continued: 'Thank you for putting me in cuffs, against the law.'

'Never again,' she captioned the first clip.

'What a horrible dining experience being battered and assaulted by your staff. Such an unsafe, disturbing environment,' she continued in the next video, which also tagged Grandmaster Records.

'The staff yet again attack a paying customer and hold me against my will and hurt me,' she continued. 'The only 1 out of 3, woman abuse must stop. The staff @grandmasterrecords should be in jail.'

Farrah continued her quest to get the employee who had held her down fired in a subsequent video filmed before police arrived.

'Why is a male on top of me holding me down when I was walking. This is scary and he should be fired and in jail for batterment [sic].'

She claimed that the events leading up to her arrest were part of a pattern.

'I'm tired of people harassing me, holding me down, hurting me and lieing about me and selling things to tmz it's scary, it effects mothers, it is traumatizing and I'm hurt [sic],' she wrote.

Farrah has previously had physical altercations with staff.

In 2018, she was arrested for allegedly hitting an employee of the Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge, which resulted in her being banned as punishment.
The rose-shaped corals were found to be healthy

Scientists have discovered a vast reef of "pristine" rose-shaped corals apparently unharmed by climate change in deep water off the coast of Tahiti, UNESCO announced Thursday.

Mapping approximately three kilometres (two miles) long and up to 65 metres (213 feet) wide, UNESCO said it was "one of the most extensive healthy coral reefs on record".

The UN heritage agency said it was "highly unusual" to find healthy coral in cooler waters between 30 and 65 metres deep and that it could suggest that there are more reefs in the ocean depth that are safer from the impacts of warming waters.

The discovery was made in November by divers with special equipment that allowed them to go deeper and spend 200 hours at the reef.

"It was magical to witness giant, beautiful rose corals which stretch for as far as the eye can see. It was like a work of art," said Alexis Rosenfeld, a French photographer and founder of the UNESCO partner 1 Ocean campaign.

The giant rose-shaped corals are each up to two metres in diameter.

"To date, we know the surface of the moon better than the deep ocean," said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, adding that only 20 percent of the world's seabed has been mapped.

- 'Inspire' -

"The discovery of this reef in such a pristine condition is good news and can inspire future conservation," said Laetitia Hedouin, a marine biologist at French research agency (CNRS).

"We think that deeper reefs may be better protected from global warming."

Most of the world's known reefs have been found at depths of up to 25 metres and the UN heritage body said the Tahiti reef could suggest there are more areas of healthy coral in the ocean's unmapped "twilight zone".

"This remarkable discovery in Tahiti demonstrates the incredible work of scientists who, with the support of UNESCO, further the extent of our knowledge about what lies beneath," said Azoulay.

French Polynesia suffered a significant bleaching event back in 2019, but this newly discovered reef does not appear to have been significantly affected.

"These corals do not show signs of stress or disease," Hedouin told AFP.

Bleaching occurs when healthy corals become stressed by spikes in ocean temperatures, causing them to expel algae living in their tissues, leaving graveyards of bleached skeletons where vibrant ecosystems once thrived.

- Warming threat -

Starfish can also ravage corals by eating them.

Temperature sensors have been placed in the area as part of a programme to analyse why the corals appear to be unaffected by climate change and to monitor its population dynamics.

Coral reefs cover only a tiny fraction of the ocean floor, but they are home to at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants.

In October, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network said dynamite fishing, pollution, but mostly global warming had wiped out 14 percent of the world's coral reefs between 2009 to 2018.

Hardest hit were corals in South Asia and the Pacific, around the Arabian Peninsula, and off the coast of Australia.

Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding land surfaces but generating huge, long-lasting marine heatwaves that are pushing many species of corals past their limits of tolerance.

A single bleaching event in 1998 caused by warming waters wiped out eight percent of all corals.
The world has not seen or heard of any full-blown war between countries in quite some time, though long-drawn conflicts are underway. However, there seems to be a very serious war-like conflict brewing in Eastern Europe.

The West  meaning the US, UK, NATO and their allies are worried about Russia invading Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe, anytime now. The EU, UK and the US are closely monitoring a large-scale military build-up on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine.

?: @Maxar NEW satellite images show Russia's military buildup & what US believes is an invasion force has continued apace in recent days with additional troops & ground forces equipment deployed. Here's Klimovo ~13km north of Ukraine on 1/19. Storage facility (1-2); railyard (3) pic.twitter.com/FW2ZHsS0ZC  Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 20, 2022

The matter is so serious that nordic countries Finland, Denmark and Sweden have also strengthened their military presence in strategic areas, fearing Russian conflict leaking inside their countries.

Russia has denied accusations that it is planning to invade Ukraine.

WHAT IS THE UKRAINE-RUSSIA CONFLICT?

For the unversed, Ukraine was part of the former Soviet Union Russia, and became an independent country in 1991 after its collapse. It borders Russia on one side and EU on the other. In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and continues to pump separatist activity in Eastern Ukraine. There are fears that Russia may do the same now.

Here are 5 points explaining the conflict in Eastern Europe:

1. US SAYS INVASION POSSIBLE ANYTIME NOW

US President Joe Biden in a press conference that lasted for nearly two hours on January 19 said Russian President Vladimir Putin may move in on Ukraine.

"My guess is he will move in, he has to do something, Biden responded when asked about a possible Russian invasion.

However, Biden also said that if Russia does decide to invade, then it will face repercussions like never before.

Its not just Biden, but several US officials have warned over the past few weeks of a possible invasion by Russia.

2. BIDEN EXPOSES CRACKS IN ANTI-RUSSIA UNITY

Biden on Russia invading Ukraine: "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion..." pic.twitter.com/BFp5jnJYPI  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 19, 2022

During the January 19 press conference, Biden also said a problematic thing about the Ukraine-Russia conflict. His remark that the Western action against Russia will depend on what it does, did not sit well with many, not in the least with the opposition in the US.

"It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, he said during the presser.

Republicans hit out at Biden claiming that he was essentially giving Russia a green signal to chomp away at Ukraine, but to only keep it a small bite at a time.

Rep. Gallagher's statement after President Biden opened the door to a Russian minor incursion into Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/tPqDmvU4rU  Rep. Gallagher Press Office (@RepGallagher) January 19, 2022

The White House soon released a clarification on Bidens statement.

Biden also revealed that not all NATO countries are on the same page and that there are differences on how one should act against Russia and under what circumstances. His comment invited criticism over having displayed crack in their unity to fight Russia.

On Ukraine, this press conference is a disaster. In the follow up question, Biden just affirmed that there will not be crippling sanctions unless its a full invasion. Then he acknowledged that NATO is divided on the response, after saying that Putin seeks to divide NATO.  Eli Lake (@EliLake) January 19, 2022

3. RUSSIA MAY USE A FALSE-FLAG OPERATION TO INVADE

The US Pentagon has warned that Russia may use a false-flag operation to invade Ukraine.

"It has pre-positioned a group of operatives to conduct what we call a false-flag operation, an operation designed to look like an attack on them or Russian speaking people in Ukraine as an excuse to go in," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby had said last week.

4. WHAT HAPPENED IN 2014?

In the 2014 buildup to Crimeas annexation, over 1,00,000 Russian soldiers had trooped near Ukraines eastern border, a region where separatists were fighting the Ukraine government. Something similar is being observed now.

We have information that indicates Russia has already pre-positioned a group of operatives to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine @PressSec Jen Psaki pic.twitter.com/O9UgMUQeAK  U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) January 15, 2022

Russia is feared to use the narrative of ethnic Russians in Ukraine being targeted by extremist entities with US support to justify an invasion.

5. WHAT DOES RUSSIA WANT?

Russia has a set of demands to not invade Ukraine. Kremlin doesnt want Ukraine or any other former Soviet country in Eastern Europe to join NATO. It wants NATO to ban any former soviet country from joining the organisation.

Already, 14 former soviet nations are part of NATO. It would mean that they would have to exit the group. Essentially, Russia wants NATO to go back to its pre-1997 border. Agreeing to the demands would also mean that NATO allies will need to cease their military activity in Eastern Europe, including pulling out combat units from Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and not deploying missiles in any such countries. Moreover, it would mean that NATO countries will not be able to supply the US with nuclear weapons.

NATO says it cant go back on its open-door policy. It has also been asking Ukraine to join the group.

Russia fears that the former soviet nations joining NATO would mean US influence on its doorsteps. Besides, Vladimir Putin has made it very clear that he is unhappy with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the current status quo, and calls Ukrainians and Russians as one people.

Already, the West is providing military support to Ukraine. US has promised a $200 million military aid, while it has already okayed weapons transfers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. UK is also sending military aid to Ukraine. But Germany is still standing its ground on denying arms to Ukraine.
Well, the downside is that consumerism itself is inherently unsustainable  regardless of how green its advertised to be.
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The Thriving Youth Task Force in Darien will present a virtual program on Vaping, Edibles and the New Marijuana: What Every Parent Needs to Know, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25, via Zoom.

Local experts will discuss Connecticuts new marijuana laws as well as marijuanas effect on youth. The panel will include Darien Chief of Police Don Anderson; John Hamilton, president and CEO of Liberation Programs, an addiction treatment center; Susannah Lewis, director of community relations at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan.

The program will provide parents with information about how marijuana impacts the brain of a teenager, according to Thriving Youth program director Emily Larkin. The program will also provide parents with strategies for keeping open lines of communication with their teens about marijuana and substance use.

The Thriving Youth Task Force is a volunteer coalition that convenes local community organizations to promote and empower positive youth development, with the goal of reducing teen substance use.

For survey results or more information, visit The Community Funds website at communityfunddarien.org/thriving-youth-task-force.html.

To register for the program, which is required, visit communityfunddarien.org/tytf-programs-and-events.html.

Meteorologist to take on Mighty Storms

The Darien Library and the Barrett Bookstore will welcome Eric Fisher, chief meteorologist for CBS Bostons WBZ-TV, to discuss his book, Mighty Storms of New England.

The virtual program will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 25.

Fisher will talk about the most intense storms that have touched down in New England, including hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards, that have brought major cities to standstills and changed the regions landscape.

To register, visit darienlibrary.org/event/5506.

Darien steps into House of Dior

The Darien Library will present a preview of the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, via a virtual program called Step Inside The House of Dior at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24.

Art historian Page Knox will offer a close look at the legendary fashion designer Christian Dior and the House of Dior, examining their constantly innovative yet classic designs that reflect the changing nature of contemporary fashion.

An adjunct professor in the Art History Department at Columbia University, Knox also works in a variety of capacities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

To register, visit the librarys website at darienlibrary.org/event/5487.

Arctic lecture series continues

The Darien Community Associations 2022 lecture series on The Arctic: From Deep Freeze to Hot Spot will continue with three more talks.

The virtual lectures  which will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, and Thursday, Jan. 27, and at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3  are focused on the climate, politics and geopolitical tensions in the Arctic region. Two lectures have already been held

The third lecture of the series, scheduled for Jan. 20, will be feature Rebecca Pincus, an assistant professor in the Strategic and Operational Research Department at the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the U.S. Naval War College. She will speak on the great powers and geopolitics in the Arctic region.

The fourth lecture of the series, set for Jan. 27, will feature Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director and senior fellow at the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Ellehuus will speak about the National Treaty Organization in the Arctic region.

The fifth lecture, scheduled for Feb. 3, will feature Anne-Marie Brady of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, who will speak on Chinas Arctic interests.

Tickets are available by visiting dariendca.org or calling 203-655-9050, Ext. 10. Single lectures cost $20 for DCA members and $30 for nonmembers.

Registrants will receive an email with Zoom access information the day before each lecture. Participants are asked to purchase a ticket for each member of their household who will be viewing the lectures.

Mather to host in-person events

The Mather Homestead in Darien is hosting an in-person book club talk and a scholars lecture.

Gordon Hastings, a Mather Homestead docent, will lead a discussion on the book, The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents 1773-1793, by Joseph Ellis at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20 at the Mather Homestead. The talk is part of the Mather Homestead Book Club series.

Thomas Wickman, associate professor of history and American studies at Trinity College and author of Snowshoe Country: An Environmental and Cultural History of Winter in the Early American Northeast, will speak on the topic of Winters Past and Winters Future at 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Mather Homestead.

For more information, visit matherhomestead.org. The Mather Homestead is located at 19 Stephen Mather Road in Darien.

Photo contest welcomes entries

Pic Darien, the seventh annual smartphone photo contest sponsored by the Darien Arts Center, has returned for 2022.

The contest is open for submissions at darienarts.org through March 18. The 2021 contest had over 400 entries.

The contest is open to residents and nonresidents. Photos can be taken anywhere in the following categories: landscapes; seascapes; nature and floral; food and drink; abstract and architecture; pets; travel; and family and friends. Entries will be divided into two groups: students under age 17 and adults over age 18.

The 2022 winners will be picked by eight local judges: Ben Larrabee, Terrie Wood, Jeffrey Wyant, Tom and Anne Geary, Megan Dey, David Wagner, Kris Barker and Peter Saverine.

The fee to enter is $10 per photo. Participants may enter multiple times.

First place $100 cash prizes will be awarded to students and adults in all categories. Winners will be announced April 8 at darienarts.org.

For more information, visit darienarts.org or call 203-655-8683.

Scouts hold online auction fundraisers

The first auction of 2022 for the Darien Scouts is now posted at the Auction Ninja website.

Check out the auction at auctionninja.com/darien-scouts and bid on unique items, furniture, jewelry, artwork, collectibles, sporting equipment, housewares and more. Most bidding begins at $1. The sale will begin to close at 7:55 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20.

More auctions will be held throughout the year to benefit the Darien Scouting program, which has canceled its annual tag sale for two years due to COVID-19.

Visit darienscouts.org for information or to make a donation to the Darien Scouts.
A sign in front of The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach in March 2020 notes a halt in services.
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HYDERABAD: The Banjara Hills police officials, who booked cases of criminal intimidation, threat and trespassing against businessman Pothluri Vara Prasad, are gathering evidence to make an arrest following the complaint from politician D.K. Arunas daughter.

The police inspector of Banjara Hills, P. Shiva Chandra said the complaint was received from BJP senior leader D.K. Arunas daughter Shruthi Reddy and evidence were being gathered in the case, following which appropriate actions would be taken against the accused named in the case, including P.V. Prasad, also known as PVP, and his men.

Earlier, cases were booked against PVP under Sections 452, 427, 504, 506, 147 r/w 149 of the IPC as per the complaint from Vikram Kailash, who alleged that Prasad had illegally trespassed with criminal intimidation and threatened him with about 15 goons, attacked them and vandalised the premises. When the Banjara Hills police staff went to Prasads house in Jubilee Hills to inquire, his workers let loose dogs to prevent the cops from entering the residence.

As per the FIR, a copy of which is in the possession of Deccan Chronicle, Kailash has attached all the pictures and videos of the incident showing PVP and his goons violently causing trauma and shock to his family members, which includes, his mother, who is a senior citizen and his child who is 6-years-old. They pose danger to our lives and property. Anything that happens to my family, his agents and men are responsible, Kailash mentioned in the FIR.

However, the Telangana High Court later directed the city police not to take coercive steps, including arrest, against PVP till August 18, 2020.

Speaking about the present status of that case, the present IO, sub inspector G. Vasavi, said that a charge sheet was filed and the case was awaiting trial in the court. Following the completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was filed and submitted in the court. The trial is supposed to be taking place this year, said the SI. Banjara Hills SHO Shiva Chandra said that the previous case and the High Court order would not be tampering with the current investigation and that a probe was underway as per the rules.
The protesters led by MLC Lakshmana Rao tried to gherao the collectorate in Guntur but the police foiled the attempt and arrested them. (Photo: Twitter)

VIJAYAWADA: Government teachers led by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Organisations (FAPTO) staged protests on Thursday against the PRC implementation, under which they had gheraoed collectorates in districts on Thursday.

The leaders of FAPTO and teachers in large numbers staged protests in Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Kakinada, Nellore, Kurnool, Vizianagaram, Kadapa, Srikakulam, Ongole, Chittoor, Anantapur etc., terming the 11th PRC as reverse PRC, seeking cancellation of the same and announcing a better PRC.

The protesters led by MLC Lakshmana Rao tried to gherao the collectorate in Guntur but the police foiled the attempt and arrested them. The MLC alleged that the YSRC government deceived the government employees as the 11 PRC brought down the salaries of the employees. The government, during talks with the employees associations and unions, promised a better PRC but announced only a 23 per cent fitment.

FAPTO chairman Joseph Sudheer Babu, general secretary Saratchandra and other leaders said teachers were in a shock over the unacceptable 11 PRC, which is decreasing their salaries. The government decreased the quantum of pension indices, which would decrease pension amounts.

AP Congress Committee coordination committee member and woman leader Sunaka Padmasri condemned the arrests of FAPTO leaders in 13 districts, effectively preventing them from holding the protests. She alleged that chief minister Jagan earlier forced teachers to sell liquor and now he used the police force to beat them up during the protests.

Recalling that the earlier government gave a 43 per cent fitment, she claimed that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, while in the Opposition, promised to give more than 43 per cent fitment but as Chief Minister, he deceived government employees. She demanded that the Chief Minister resolve the PRC and other issues of teachers with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, APJAC, APJAC Amaravati, APNGOs and other associations announced their support to FAPTO protests. They conducted meetings with employees unions and associations to chalk out an action plan seeking suspension of PRC implementation, and about the proposed strike.
The Lankan Navy personnel also cut the nets of the Indian fishermen and chased them away, the Fisheries department official said and alleged that they (Lankan Navy men) did not even bother to try and rescue the fishers who fell into the water. (Representational Image - ANI)

Rameswaram: A group of Indian fishermen were allegedly attacked by Sri Lankan Navy personnel when they were fishing near the island nation's waters and a boat was sunk following a collision, a senior Fisheries department official said here.

As many as seven fishermen who were in the boat fell into the water following the collision with the Lankan Navy vessel near Katchatheevu, the official said.

The Lankan Navy personnel also cut the nets of the Indian fishermen and chased them away, the Fisheries department official said and alleged that they (Lankan Navy men) did not even bother to try and rescue the fishers who fell into the water.

"Apart from sinking the boat, the Lankan navy did not evince any interest to check the plight of the fishermen on board. They not only cut our fishing nets but also chased us away," a fisherman, belonging to the All Mechanised Fishermen Association, said.

The fishermen had set out to the sea from Rameswaram in 569 trawlers on Wednesday evening. However, they returned to the Rameswaram coast in the wee hours of today after being chased away by the Lankan naval personnel and complained to the fisheries department officials.

Ramanathapuram MP K Navas Kani, urged the Centre to take up the issue of attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen with the Sri Lanka government and also sought compensation for the loss of the fishing equipment.
Amritsar: Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann will contest from Dhuri assembly constituency in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections, informed sources on Thursday.

Dhuri assembly constituency comes in Sangrur Lok Sabha and Bhagwant Mann is the MP from Sangrur.

As per the sources, he is going to contest from the assembly coming under this Lok Sabha constituency.

The party will officially announce the constituency from where Bhagwant Mann will contest the elections in a press conference held by the party at 3 pm in Mohali today.

"We will announce the Assembly Constituency of AAP's chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann in a press conference at 3 pm in Mohali. Stay tuned!" tweeted AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha.

Earlier on Tuesday, AAP MP from Sangrur, Bhagwant Mann, was named as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls.

"Aam Aadmi Party Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur constituency in Punjab Bhagwant Mann will be the party's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections," said the party's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal while addressing a press conference.

The polls to elect 117 members of the Legislative Assembly in Punjab will be held on February 20. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.
New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday released its second list of 41 candidates, which includes 16 women, for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections starting February 10.

The list includes Poonam Pandit, who has been fielded from the Syana Assembly constituency.

She is an international shooter and rose to limelight during the farmers agitation against the three farm laws, which were later repealed.

The Congress had promised to reserve 40 per cent seats for women candidates in Uttar Pradesh, which is reflected in the second list.

The list also includes Sikander Valmiki from Agra Cantt (SC) seat. Valmiki is the District President the Akhil Bhartiya Valmiki Mahasabha and also the State president of Karmchari Sangh of Uttar Pradesh Nagar Nigam water department.

The Congress had earlier released a list of 125 candidates in its first list which had included 50 women.

With today's list, the Congress has so far announced 166 candidates for Uttar Pradesh polls

Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will be held in seven phases starting from February 10 and will end on March 7. The results will be out on March 10.
In 1947, when India attained Independence, the British left the subcontinent but the French and the Portuguese stayed on in their possessions in parts of India in the south and west. While France gave up

Pondicherry (now Puducherry) in 1954, the Portuguese hung on to Goa and some other nearby smaller territories occupied by them  Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In July 1954, a group of 1,000-odd activists from Mumbai (then Bombay) marched into Dadra and seized it, followed soon after by Nagar Haveli, which offered no resistance. But their attempt to similarly occupy Daman, which had a garrison of 1,500 Portuguese soldiers, did not succeed. A few months later, a group of satyagrahis led by N.G. Goray of the Socialist Party forcibly entered Goa but were attacked by the Portuguese police and incarcerated at the Fort Aguada prison, where they were kept for 20 months before being freed. The number of people arrested in 1954-55 was more than 2,000, most of them belonging to Bombay.

In 1956, then US secretary of state John Foster Dulles issued a statement saying that Goa is an integral part of Portugal, but clarified that he was in favour of a peaceful solution of the whole controversy. His statement infuriated Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who told a delegation on the eve of its visit to the United States: Dulles statement about Goa has angered everybody here. Indo-American relations are much more affected by this kind of thing than by the aid they may give. By the end of 1956, the Indian government had reached an impasse on Goa. Nehru was, however, determined that India, though very angry, should act with responsibility and wisdom. But what such action should be was not clear, and the whole policy had obviously to be reconsidered after the elections that were due in the beginning of 1957. But till 1959, there was hardly any advance on this front, except the Prime Minister asserting time and again that Goa was a part of India and bound to come to India, but he did not spell out how this would be made possible. Though he counselled patience and pointed out the unwisdom of any resort to force, Nehru never ruled out the possibility of circumstances arising which might compel armed intervention. A few days later, he moved even closer to the possible use of force by stating that the Portuguese were pushing the Government of India into thinking afresh and adopting other than peaceful methods to solve the problem.

As the 1960s dawned, while new US President John F. Kennedy believed that India had a legitimate case in Goa and the American government was totally opposed to colonialism, he was against the use of force by the Indian government. Sensing this, Nehru tactfully avoided discussing Goa with Kennedy on his visit to United States in November 1961. He even sidestepped the issue with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and declined to promise him that India wouldnt in any circumstances resort to the use of force. US ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith, who was in regular touch with Nehru after the latters return from Washington, got the impression that the Prime Minister appeared to have changed his mind and was preparing for military intervention. He warned Kennedy, who wrote to Nehru expressing his general concern at the use of force in Goa. The letter reached the Prime Ministers office on December 16. Later in the day, the US government came up with a fresh proposal, conveyed through Ambassador Galbraith, that India should postpone any action for six months to enable the government of the United States, and perhaps other countries, to help solve this problem.

But it was too late. Nehru had made up his mind, and on December 17 Indian troops moved into Goa and, within 26 hours, made it a part of India, after 400 years of colonialism. As expected, there was widespread condemnation in the United States and Britain, but Nehru was unmoved. He wrote to Kennedy on December 29: An aspect of this question which has troubled me greatly is the vast difference between the reaction in India, in Africa and generally in Asia on the one side, and the contrary reaction, chiefly in the United States and the United Kingdom. Why is it that something that thrills our people should be condemned in the strongest possible language in the United States and some other places... politics has a different face looked at from different points of view.

The point was not lost on the young and charismatic American President who was wise enough to realise what Nehru had succeeded in doing with the willing cooperation and goodwill of the people of Goa, almost bloodlessly.

Notwithstanding the widespread rejoicing in the country over the action, there was criticism in a few quarters, the most prominent being from Swantatra Party leader C. Rajagopalachari and finance minister Morarji Desai. In less than three months from then, however, Morarji Desai would be defending Krishna Menon, the defence minister who presided over the Goa action, while Rajaji would be on the other side batting for Acharya Kripalani in the prestigious North Bombay seat in the 1962 Lok Sabha election. That Menon won by over one lakh votes was primarily due to Nehrus hectic canvassing for him and the action in Goa for which he, as defence minister, had shared the credit with his PM.
Global business leaders attending the virtual meeting of the Davos-based World Economic Forum on January 17 must have heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping with curiosity, if not with rapt attention. The two Asian biggies hold great interest for the world, and the West in particular. They tend to see democratic India as an ideological ally against Communist China. Mr Modi, in his opening remarks on Monday, emphasised the virtues of Indian democracy. While the critics of Mr Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at home consider the Prime Minister and his party as undermining the democratic institutions and processes in the country, the Prime Minister often flaunts Indian democracy as a trophy to the West.

Perhaps he realises that the preferential treatment for India will depend largely on the democracy label. Mr Modi is keen about attracting foreign investments to India, something that he has been assiduously canvassing in Davos ever since he became Prime Minister, and he has done the job diligently. He said the temperament of Indias youth is entrepreneurial, and as proof he cited the fact that there are now over 7,000 start-ups, of which 70 are unicorns, with 40 of them emerging in 2021. He said these young Indian entrepreneurs are waiting to work with global investors. He also said key sectors have been thrown open to private investment, including defence, aerospace and telecom. There seems to be the nagging feeling that FDI inflows are not enough, and that foreign manufacturing must base itself in India. He said that the Atma Nirbhar Bharat policy was to make in India for the world. He cited the improved ease of doing business index of India. It is not clear, though, whether it would help. Mr Modi struck a sober, and even a modest note, compared to his expansive speech at Davos in 2018.

In contrast, President Xi Xinping of China expounded the philosophy of contradiction, taking a leaf from Mao Zedongs celebrated thesis. He said: The world is always developing through the movement of contradictions; without contradictions, nothing would exist. He criticised the Cold War mentality and the moves to erect protectionist walls, and decried hegemony and bullying, the two things that China has no hesitation in using! He declared: China will stay committed to reforms and opening up. And he went on to add that China welcomes foreign investments if they comply with national laws. Speaking of the tussle between economic growth and ecological preservation, he said: We should never grow the economy at the cost of resource depletion and environmental degradation, which is like draining a pond to get fish; nor should we sacrifice growth to protect the environment, which is like climbing a tree to catch fish. There is little doubt that Mr Xi is imitating Mao and Deng Xiaoping and hopes to get into the canon with his homilies!

The India-China duel, which spans the political, economic and strategic spheres, is not something that will be settled in a single forum, whether it be at the United Nations or the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Despite the strained relations, Brics (the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) seems to be surviving, and the New Development Bank (NDB) is making quiet progress. Egypt has been admitted as a member in December 2021. At the same time, there is attrition in Ladakh and along other segments of the undemarcated 3,500-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), with the June 15, 2020, flareup resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and many more on the Chinese side, and the continuing rounds of talks between the military commanders in the field. Unsurprisingly, Mr Modi and his party are remaining quiet about the India-China stalemate because they realise that it is a tough situation.

Despite the glimmer of hope about the economy turning around quickly, the momentum has not yet picked up. That should be a matter of real worry for the Prime Minister and the government. The challenge on the economic front now seems to be to place India as a strategic part of the global supply chain, a position China now occupies. Though Mr Modi has declared India as the pharmacy of the world, it is evident that even while India dominates the generic drugs and vaccine market in the developing economies, it is not yet the leader in terms of research and development. That position is still occupied by the multinational pharmaceutical giants with their cutting-edge research. The Indian government is still looking for shortcuts and quick fixes to make the economy strong. It seems that the Narendra Modi government hasnt realised that there are no short-cuts to the top.

Global businesses still look to India with a lot of expectation, but they may have to continue to transact with China more than ever. The hope that the Modi government entertained after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 that foreign businesses would shift out of China and that India will be the natural alternative has not played out according to this script.

What Indian economic strategists will have to review now is the reason for the lukewarm attitude of global businesses to rush towards India. Infrastructure is a key hurdle, and so is the issue of a skilled and cheap workforce. India has neither. Mr Modi must be aware that after seven and more years in power, it would not help to blame the Congress for the countrys economic sloth. At home too, the private sector is also not too enthusiastic about investing and spending. The start-ups and unicorns are good signs, but they are too weak to revitalise the economy.

The rasping chorus of right-wing Hindutva groups are harming Indias image more than many in the government may imagine, and sending out negative signals. This seriously impacts Indias economic prospects. The idea that vigilantism can have free play and the market will operate in its own sphere is simply not working. A Hindutva-dominated polity cannot be a market-friendly place. This is the inconvenient fact staring Mr Modi, Yogi Adityanath and Union home minister Amit Shah in the face.

Hindutva majoritarianism blocks economic growth. Hate speeches and acts deter economic prospects. It is not enough for Mr Modi to play lip service to the countrys social diversity. He has to acknowledge the fact that India is a multi-religious society, and not just a multi-cultural and multi-lingual one.
South Africa: Smooth start for thousands of KZN learners

Learning and teaching began in earnest on the first day of the 2022 academic year for provincial schools, as thousands of learners in KwaZulu-Natal went back to school on Wednesday.

As part of the provincial governments commitment to ensure a smooth start to the new school year, KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala, was out in full force to monitor functionality of schools in uMkhanyakude District.

Accompanied by the local leadership and Director-General of KwaZulu-Natal Education, Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize, Zikalala visited Inkosikayingangathi Secondary School, Welani Primary School and Umtubatuba High School in the UMkhanyakude District Municipality, where he expressed his satisfaction that learning and teaching got off to a good start.

During the visits, Zikalala was armed with a checklist to evaluate educator attendance, learner attendance, delivery of learner support material, school nutrition, start of lessons, and involvement of the school governing body.

Speaking during the functionality visits, Zikalala said the provincial government is encouraged by the active citizenry demonstrated by the community surrounding some of the schools they visited.

We also commend the dedication shown by educators. As government, we have had tremendous success in ensuring access to education, but it is critical that we start providing quality teaching and learning from day one, Zikalala said.

The Premier reiterated that quality education is an apex priority for the provincial government.

We need to focus on producing top-quality learners by teaching subjects such as Science, Technology and Mathematics, which will empower and equip learners with the requisite skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

He encouraged parents to inspire all learners going back to school, from Grade R to Matric, to raise the bar by starting the school year with vigour and remaining committed until the end of the year.

More than 2.6 million learners, who have enrolled in over 6 000 schools in the province, were expected to report for the start of the 2022 academic year.

The provincial Department of Education said plans are in place to assist about 600 learners, who have not yet been admitted to class.

The department said it also expects walk-ins because of a variety of factors, such as movement of parents or guardians from one location to another.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Guangdong ranks first in China in number of 5G facilities

Xinhua) 16:33, January 20, 2022

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangdong Province has built a total of 170,000 5G base stations, ranking first in China, according to the numbers disclosed at the ongoing fifth session of the 13th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress on Thursday.

In 2021, 46,700 5G base stations were set up in Guangdong, thanks to continuous investment and efforts to expand the 5G coverage by local authorities.

Guangdong will further promote the coverage of the 5G network in Pearl River Delta, and enhance support for research and development of 6G technology, according to the provincial government work report.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
In this image from Senate Television, Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks on the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Senate Television via AP)

WASHINGTON: US senators dealt a death blow Wednesday to President Joe Biden's push to defend voting rights against what Democrats frame as an all-out assault by conservative states targeting racial minorities.

Faced with a blockade from Republicans complaining of federal overreach, the ruling Democrats were unable to push through the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed by the House of Representatives last week.

"I am profoundly disappointed that the Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy. I am disappointed -- but I am not deterred," Biden said in a statement posted to social media immediately after the vote.

"We will continue to advance necessary legislation and push for Senate procedural changes that will protect the fundamental right to vote."

Democrats and voting rights activists have championed the measures as a necessary response to Republican efforts to restrict voting, especially among Black and Latino Americans.

"I know this is not 1965. That's what makes me so outraged. It's 2022, and they're blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented," New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker said on the floor of the Senate.

"I'm not making that up. That is a fact."

Conservative states spent the last year leveraging ex-president Donald Trump's false claims of widespread election fraud to introduce a slate of regulations that make voting more difficult.

The legislation would have guaranteed the right to mail-in voting, ballot drop boxes and at least two weeks of early voting -- as well as making Election Day a national holiday.

It also addressed "gerrymandering" -- the partisan trick of redrawing congressional districts in the ruling party's favor -- and would have required states with a history of discrimination to get federal clearance before changing election law.

But all 50 Republicans voted against the reforms, arguing that restrictions such as limiting mail-in voting and insisting on voter identification were simply common sense.

Misplaced concern

"The concern is misplaced. If you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high percentage as America," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters ahead of the vote.

"In a recent survey 94 percent of Americans thought it was easy to vote. This is not a problem. Turnout is up, the biggest turnout since 1900."

Democrats hold a technical majority of one in the evenly split Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to act as a tiebreaker on 50-50 votes.

With no Republicans breaking ranks, Democrats were unable to overcome the so-called "filibuster" -- the 60-vote threshold required to take proposed legislation to a vote in the Senate.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to lower the bar to break filibusters specifically for voting rights, a gambit known as the "nuclear option."

Schumer proposed re-instating the "talking filibuster," forcing Republicans to speak on the floor to sustain their opposition, and introducing a limited carve-out exemption from the 60-vote threshold.

But that maneuver also fell short, as moderate Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema sided with Republicans to vote no.

With the broad push to strengthen voting rights now in limbo, Democrats have the option of pursuing a narrower, cross-party effort to safeguard elections.

This would likely include funding to help protect election officials from threats and tightening the process Congress uses to certify presidential elections every four years.
Indias agriculture exports are likely to cross $50 billion for the first time, which is the highest ever in history.

Our rice exports are likely to touch 21-22 million MT this year, which is around half of the world export market (48%), the commerce ministry data showed.

Exports of non-basmati rice have increased by over 46% during the year. Export of sugar has increased by 62% and the export of other cereals has increased by 79%. An increase in exports of these products has benefitted farmers in states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra.

Also Read | India's apple exports up 82% since 2014: Commerce ministry data

Export of marine products is likely to cross $8 billion for the first time, the highest ever in history, which has benefitted farmers in the coastal states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Spices exports are also likely to touch record levels of around $4.8 billion.

Despite facing tremendous supply-side issues, coffee exports have registered a healthy growth of around 35%, which has improved realisations for coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Also Read | Indian exports up 33% to $7.63 billion during Jan 1-7 period

In order to ensure that the farmers benefit from exports, the Department of Commerce has made special efforts to provide export market linkage directly to farmers. A Farmer Connect Portal has been set up for providing a platform for farmers, FPOs/FPCs, cooperatives to interact with exporters.

This approach has resulted in agriculture exports taking place from hitherto unexplored areas. Exports have taken place from clusters like Varanasi (fresh vegetables, mangoes), Ananthpur (banana), Nagpur (orange), Lucknow (mango), Theni (banana), Solapur (pomegranate).

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Seven members nominated to Bangalore Universitys syndicate by the governor and the state government attended the decision-making bodys meeting on Wednesday by sitting on the floor in protest.

The members filed into the syndicate hall located on the Jnanabharathi campus as soon as the meeting began. Their grouse? They wanted the Vice-Chancellor, Prof K R Venugopal, to withdraw the decisions taken at the special syndicate meeting on Tuesday. They suggested that the special meeting didnt have a quorum and, therefore, any decision taken during it was illegal.

In particular, the members objected to the decision of releasing Rs 90 crore for the construction of a mechanical block at the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE).

Dr Sudhakara H, a nominated member, said the V-C had considered ex officio members as fulfilling the quorum at Tuesdays meeting and passed a resolution on the fund release. Ex officio members have no voting powers, he said.

Ex officio members include the registrar, registrar (evaluation), commissioners of collegiate education, public instruction, and directors of medical, technical and pre-university education. The syndicate has 22 members.

Including the V-C, whos the chairman of the syndicate, there were only six members present at the meeting. The V-C is misguiding all by including ex officio members in the quorum. We will continue the protest until the decisions taken during the special meeting are withdrawn, said another syndicate member who took part in the protest.

The protest was successful.

The V-C announced that all decisions taken on Tuesday would be kept in abeyance and placed before the next syndicate meeting.

The protesting members also objected to funds released for the UVCE.

We had raised our objections earlier, too, because the UVCE has been given the university status by the government and the law has been passed in this regard. University status means the government will assist the UVCE financially and it will no longer be a constituent college of BU. When this is the case, what is the need to release funds from the university, a member said.

The Bangalore University Non-teaching Staff Association also raised objections. In a letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, its president, Shivaram, said the V-C had already spent around Rs 200 crore of BU funds on UVCE projects. All this money was raised from internal resources, especially from exam and admission fees. How can it be spent on developing an institute which has been given the university status, he asked.

Another member of the association said the university should instead spend its resources on improving infrastructure in its over 50 departments.

Prof Venugopal could not be reached for comment.

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Days after AAP chose comedian-turned-politician Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate for the state of Punjab, the BJP took a dig at the party by calling Mann an "addict who cracked dirty jokes in public functions as a profession in the past."

"By drinking himself and making dirty jokes among people in public functions one can imagine what would Mann do with the people of Punjab. It is comic that those who are addicted to liquor are now talking about prohibition," BJP Delhi president Adesh Gupta told IANS.

Also Read -- Bhagwant Mann, the leader who gave AAP wings in Punjab

He also refuted that over 22 lakh calls were received by the Kejriwal party in favour of Mann. "Kejriwal is saying maximum calls in three days came for Bhagwat Mann. While full three days have 2,59,200 seconds Kejriwal is claiming over 22 lakh calls for Mann in this period which is a white lie," he said, adding that it is a laughable joke if one were to believe there were 10 calls per second.

Last week, Aam Aadmi Party asked the people of Punjab to dial, WhatsApp or SMS on 7074870748 to name their choice for Chief Minister and by doing so it has become the first party to have announced its chief ministerial candidate in Punjab which will go to vote on February 20 and results for which will be declared on March 10.

Leader of Opposition (LOP) Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said during a press conference on Wednesday that Kejriwal himself had once said about Mann that he is always drunk. "Then he said Mann assured him that he would give it up. So the foremost thing is both Kejriwal and Mann should tell people whether Mann has actually given it up or not," he said.

Also Read | In Punjab, AAP bets on mass leader Bhagwant Mann to claim the CM throne

He alleged Punjab AAP CM candidate of being involved in the opening of thousands of liquor shops in Delhi and facilitating the exchange of money between AAP leaders and the liquor mafia.

The saffron party has been opposing the Delhi government's new excise policy, alleging that it encourages the opening of liquor shops across the city, citing that it is in violation of the New Delhi master plan.

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Congress's experiment with the selection of candidates in the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh continued as, like its first list, many ordinary faces again made their way into the second list of the party released on Thursday.

The second list of 41 candidates, mainly from the western region in the state, contained 16 women nominees keeping in tune with the party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's announcement that 40 per cent tickets would be reserved for the women candidates in the polls. With this, the Congress has so far declared 166 candidates for the UP polls.

Poonam Pandit, who had taken active part in the protests against the now scrapped farm laws, has been fielded from Syana seat, while Tukki Mal Khatik, a youth leader, who had helped hundreds of migrant laborers when they were returning home on foot after the first lockdown, was made a candidate from Khurja seat.

Also Read -- In Gorakhpur, Bhim army chief Chandrashekhar Azad to take on Yogi Adityanath

From Agra Cantonment seat, the party has fielded Sikander Valmiki, who had resigned from his government job to take up the issues facing his community.

Sangita Tyagi, the wife of Congress spokesman Rajiv Tyagi, who died following a cardiac arrest during a TV debate, has been fielded from Sahibabad seat in Ghaziabad.

The first list of the party had also included Unnao rape survivor's mother Asha Singh, anti-CAA activist Sadaf Zafar, Tribal leader Ramraj Gond and Asha worker Poonam Pandey. As promised by Priyanka, the first list also contained 50 women, which formed 40 per cent of the total candidates figuring in the list of the party for the state.

Priyanka had then said that her party had given preference to those who had raised their voice against injustice and fought for restoration of the rights of the weaker sections. ''We want to usher in a new kind of politics in UP....our campaign will be positive and we will be focusing on the real issues facing the common people,'' Priyanka said.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that when he meets with his Russian counterpart Friday, he would not provide the written response to Russias demands on Eastern European security that the Kremlin says it expects.

At the same time, Blinken warned that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was poised to strike quickly against Ukraine. We know that there are plans in place to increase that force even more on very short notice, he said, and that gives President Putin the capacity, also on very short notice, to take further aggressive action against Ukraine.

The written response has been one of Moscows central requests, and the failure to provide one Friday could frustrate Russia as Blinken sits down in Geneva with Russias foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. The meeting may be one of the last chances for a diplomatic path to averting what US officials fear is an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.

Also Read  Blinken in Ukraine as tensions with Russia soar

Moscow has said repeatedly that it would not let the US drag out negotiations without providing responses to Russias demands.

Hours before Blinken spoke, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said that Russia was awaiting a written response to its proposals, according to the Tass news service. It is still possible the US will provide written responses to Russias demands in the days after the meeting Friday.

Russia is already supporting separatists in a conflict in eastern Ukraine, but US officials fear that Putin may seek to invade and occupy more of the country if his demands are not met. Those demands include a halt on further NATO expansion into Eastern Europe and a legally binding pledge from NATO that it would never admit Ukraine as a member. The United States has called those positions unacceptable.

Blinken seemed to suggest that, by taking positions the West considers absolute nonstarters, Russia was making it hard to discern what it actually thinks it can achieve through diplomacy. Its not clear what Russias central demand is, Blinken said. I think well have a better idea, maybe, after Friday.

Blinken made the remarks at Ukraines foreign ministry after a meeting with his counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba. He met earlier in the day with the countrys president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the latest show of support by the Biden administration.

Both Russian and US officials sounded a pessimistic note after three rounds of talks last week, with one Russian diplomat saying that talks with the West were approaching a dead end, and Blinken offered little reason for optimism.

Also Read  'Marry me or Ill kill you: Putin to Ukraine

Blinken said the United States did not make any formal proposals last week but merely talked about areas for reciprocal cooperation, including arms control and the conduct of military exercises in Europe. He said it was unclear whether Russia was prepared to negotiate in good faith on those fronts, or at all.

Russia has positioned around 100,000 troops along its western border with Ukraine, although precise estimates vary. On Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that Russia could at any point launch an attack in Ukraine.

In a news conference on Wednesday, President Joe Biden echoed that message, saying he expected Putin to invade. Do I think hell test the West, test the United States and NATO, as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will, Biden told reporters, adding: But I think he will pay a serious and dear price for it that he doesnt think now will cost him what its going to cost him. And I think he will regret having done it.

Speaking at a forum in Moscow earlier on Wednesday, Russias deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, repeated his governments previous denial that Moscow has any plans to move its forces into Ukraine.

We will not attack, strike, invade, quote unquote, whatever, Ukraine, Ryabkov said. He said the Russian troops near Ukraines border were conducting training exercises.

After meeting with Blinken in the morning, Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, appeared to flout Putins warnings that Ukraine must not be allowed to join NATO. During brief remarks alongside Blinken, Zelenskyy said that US military support for his country affirms our strategic plans for Ukraines accession to the alliance.

In 2008, NATO declared in a statement that Ukraine would someday join the 30-member security pact, infuriating Putin. Western officials say that it would be impractical for Ukraine to become a member in the foreseeable future but that they will not adjust their position in response to Russian threats.

It was unclear whether Blinken promised Zelenskyy and Kuleba any specific new measures of support to deter Moscow or to fight Russias military in the event of a full-scale invasion. But a State Department official on Wednesday confirmed reports that the Biden administration last month approved an additional $200 million in defensive security aid for Ukraine. That money comes in addition to $450 million the United States provided Ukraine in the last fiscal year.

The Biden administration has warned that Russia will suffer massive economic sanctions imposed by Washington and its European allies if Putin moves militarily against Ukraine, though many analysts doubt that he can be deterred by such measures.

During his visit to the US Embassy, Blinken discussed contingency plans to ensure the safety of its staff and families, according to the State Department. But he would not say, in response to a later question, when Biden might announce a nominee for the still-vacant post of US ambassador to Ukraine.

Also Read  Ukraine claims Russia behind cyberattack in 'hybrid war'

Blinken welcomed the US' search for a diplomatic solution but described it as walking a perilous diplomatic line. Offering nothing to Russia poses risks, while offering too much does as well, he said.

He summed up Russias negotiating position as, Hand over Ukraine to our sphere of influence, or we will end Ukraine as it is. Those are the stakes.

Gen Ben Hodges, the former commander of the US Army in Europe, said he had not seen such a flurry of US diplomatic activity since the war in the Balkans. Ive never seen such an intensive and comprehensive US diplomatic effort, at least not since 1995 and the Dayton Peace Accords, he said in an interview. I dont agree with everything the administration is doing, but theyve made the effort necessary to bring along allies and keep them there.

Even so, he said, he is more pessimistic about the prospect of military escalation than he has been in months.

I think Putin has put himself in a corner; hes going to have to show something for this, he said.

Kuleba also spoke by phone Wednesday with Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Unions top diplomat, about economic sanctions the bloc could impose on Russia and additional financial support for Ukraine, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said. Every country in the European Union should understand that, though the price of deterring Russia is high, the cost of stopping a new war will be higher if it starts, Kuleba said after the call, local media reported.

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China, Russia and Iran will hold joint naval drills on Friday, a public relations official from Iran's armed forces told semi-official ISNA news agency on Thursday.

The "2022 Marine Security Belt" exercise will take place in the north of the Indian Ocean and is the third joint naval drill between the three countries, Mostafa Tajoldin added.

Since coming to office last June, Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi has pursued a "look east" policy to deepen ties with China and Russia. Tehran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in September, a central Asian security body led by Beijing and Moscow.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian visited China last week and Iran's president was meeting his Russian counterpart in Moscow on Thursday.

China, Russia and Iran started joint naval drills in 2019, and will continue them in the future, Tajoldin said.

"The purpose of this drill is to strengthen security and its foundations in the region, and to expand multilateral cooperation between the three countries to jointly support world peace, maritime security and create a maritime community with a common future," the Iranian official told ISNA.

Both navies from Iran's armed forces and Revolutionary Guards will take part in the drills, which include various tactical exercises such as rescuing a burning vessel, releasing a hijacked vessel, and shooting at air targets at night.

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Strongly condemning the drone strikes in Abu Dhabi in which two Indians were killed, India has termed the attacks on innocent civilians and infrastructure as a "blatant violation of international law", stressing that the Security Council should stand united in sending a clear signal against such heinous acts of terror.

At a Security Council open debate on the Middle East on Wednesday, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti expressed strong condemnation of the recent terror attack in Abu Dhabi, in which three people, including two Indians, were killed.

Such an attack on innocent civilians and civilian infrastructure is completely unacceptable. It is a blatant violation of international law. It is also against all civilised norms, he said.

Emphasising that India stands in solidarity with the UAE, Tirumurti said New Delhi extends its full support for an unequivocal condemnation by the Council of this terrorist attack. It is important that the Council stands united in sending a clear signal against such heinous acts of terror, he said.

Also Read  Two Indians killed in drone attack in UAE; Centre trying to rescue its citizens held hostage by Houthis

On the morning of January 17, the Houthis targeted the Musaffah ICAD 3 area and the new construction area at Abu Dhabi International Airport, both of which are civilian infrastructure.

The attacks, which led to the explosion of three petroleum tankers, killed two Indian civilians and one Pakistani civilian and injured six other civilians, including two Indians. The Houthis confirmed responsibility for the attacks, a statement from the UAE mission said.

The United Arab Emirates had requested a meeting of the UN Security Council to address the Houthi terrorist attacks in Abu Dhabi.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Tuesday had a telephonic conversation with the Foreign Minister of UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan during which the two discussed the terror attack.

Jaishankar condemned the terror attack in the strongest terms and emphasised that in this day and age, such an attack on innocent civilians was completely unacceptable and against all civilised norms.

Tirumurti also voiced deep concern by recent developments in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. Violent attacks on civilians have increased in recent weeks. Acts of destruction and provocation are continuing. New settlement units have been announced. We call upon the parties to immediately make concrete efforts to reverse these actions, he said.

India underlined that such unilateral measures unduly alter the status quo on the ground, undercut the viability of the two-state solution and pose serious challenges to the resumption of peace talks. They must be eschewed."

Tirumurti highlighted the urgent necessity for reversing the negative trends on the ground and the need for a roadmap for the resumption of direct political negotiations.

Also Read  Four killed in shooting at Palestinian camp in Lebanon, Hamas officials say

He said the international community must also send a strong signal against any step that will prevent the possibility of durable peace between Israel and Palestine in the near future. It is extremely important to prevent actions that undermine Confidence Building Measures, the parties must focus on constructive measures."

India noted that it is encouraged by direct contacts between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership.

Tirumurti termed as welcome developments the recent meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and the subsequent Israeli announcement to continue the advancement of socio-economic measures along with those determined in the previous meetings, such as the advancing of the transfer of tax payments and status approvals.

Such initiatives which are in the interest of both parties help maintain stability and discourage possible recurrence of terror and violence, he said.

Full and immediate implementation of these measures and continued high-level interactions must be accompanied by a clear roadmap for early resumption of direct negotiations and all final status issues, which we believe is the best path towards achieving the goal of a two-state solution, he said.

Also Read  Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian in West Bank: Army

Tirumurti reiterated India's firm and unwavering commitment to the peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue and said New Delhi has supported a negotiated two-state solution leading to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine, living within secure and recognized borders side by side at peace with Israel.

He said India has consistently called for direct peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine, based on the internationally agreed framework, taking into account legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for statehood, and Israel's legitimate security concerns. The absence of these direct talks on key political issues has asymmetrical costs for both Israelis and Palestinians and does not augur well for long term peace in the region, he said.

India called upon the UN and the international community, the Middle East Quartet in particular, to prioritise the revival of these negotiations. As a friend of Israel and Palestine, India will continue to support all efforts towards achieving a comprehensive and lasting two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

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Generic drug manufacturers will make a more affordable version of Merck's anti-Covid pill for 105 of the world's poorer nations, in deals announced Thursday by a UN-backed organisation.

The global Medicines Patent Pool signed agreements with 27 manufacturers to produce the oral antiviral medicine molnupiravir, for supply in low- and-middle-income countries.

"This is a critical step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed Covid-19 treatment and we are confident that... the anticipated treatments will be rapidly available in LMICs," said MPP executive director Charles Gore.

Also Read: World breaks daily Covid case record

Merck granted a licence to the MPP in an agreement announced in October. The MPP, in turn, issued sub-licences to the generic drugs makers, in agreements announced Thursday.

The sub-licences allow manufacturers to produce the raw ingredients for molnupiravir, and/or the finished drug itself.

The companies involved are spread across Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Jordan, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam.

Five manufacturers will focus on producing the raw ingredients; 13 will produce both raw ingredients and molnupiravir itself; while nine will simply produce the finished drug.

In December, the US Food and Drug Administration regulator authorised molnupiravir for high-risk adults, a day after giving the go-ahead to a similar but more effective drug made by Pfizer.

Antivirals like molnupiravir and Pfizer's Paxlovid pill work by decreasing the ability of a virus to replicate, thereby slowing down the disease.

Merck's pill is taken within five days of symptom onset and was shown in a trial of 1,400 participants to reduce Covid hospitalisations and deaths by 30 per cent among at-risk people.

Pfizer's pill reduced the same outcomes by almost 90 per cent.

Merck, also called MSD outside the United States, jointly developed molnupiravir with the Miami-based company Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

Also Read: US should have done more Covid testing earlier, says Biden

"Accelerating broad, affordable access to molnupiravir has been a priority for MSD from the start," said MSD's director for policy and government relations, Paul Schaper.

"We are pleased to see this vision come to life."

Molnupiravir's creators will not receive sales royalties while Covid-19 remains classified as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization.

A PHEIC is the highest alarm the WHO can sound and its emergency committee last week reconfirmed the pandemic's top-alert status.

After the PHEIC ends, the royalties will be five per cent of net sales for public sector purchases, and 10 per cent of net sales for commercial entities.

The 105 countries covered include some of the world's most heavily populated nations like India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Egypt.

The Geneva-based MPP is a United Nations-backed international organisation that works to facilitate the development of medicines for low- and middle-income nations.

While the search for vaccines has resulted in multiple products being approved for emergency use in the pandemic, the hunt for treatments for those who have already caught the disease has not been as fruitful.

Until now, the main treatments have been synthetic antibodies or Gilead's antiviral remdesivir, which are administered by infusion.

Pills are easier to make than vaccines, do not require a cold chain for delivery and can be self-administered by the patient.

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Pakistan's National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has cancelled his planned visit to Afghanistan in view of a planned anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul, according to a media report on Wednesday.

Yusuf was scheduled to lead an inter-ministerial Pakistani delegation to Afghanistan on Tuesday (January 18) to discuss the issue of border-fencing and take stock of the humanitarian needs of the war-torn country with the Taliban regime.

However, NSA Yusuf scrapped his two-day visit as a massive protest against Pakistan was planned at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan's Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

Quoting a diplomatic source, the news outlet said Yusuf decided against the visit to avoid "certain embarrassment".

Pakistani officials said Yusufs visit was postponed due to inclement weather.

Hundreds of Afghans held anti-Pakistan placards and marched to the airport on Tuesday, calling Islamabad's policy "two-faced", the source said.

Tensions have been rising between the two neighbours over fencing of the British-era Durand Line, which Kabul does not recognise as a formal international border.

Border-fencing was among the key topics of discussion during Yusuf's visit.

Pakistan has completed almost 90 per cent fencing work along the 2,670-km international border to stop an easy passage for militants.

Last month, videos began to circulate on social media, purportedly showing members of the Afghan Taliban uprooting a portion of the fence along the border, claiming that they were erected inside Afghan territory.

Pakistani officials earlier said Yusuf's visit would help extend humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Concerns over Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis have been discussed at the United Nations.

On January 13, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of Afghans were on the verge of death, urging the international community to fund the UN's USD 5 billion humanitarian appeal, release the country's frozen assets and reignite its banking system to avert a major economic and social collapse.

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60 proprietors/residents residing at Gandhi Road and Union Vale road have signed a protest letter concerning the Excavation and Pipe laying works along Union Vale Road using the 2 metres reserved land

Letters have been sent to the Prime Minister and Ministers, and PPS concerned, MPs pf the constituency no 12 Grand Port Savane District Council, Omnicane Ltd, Lux consult ltd, Beersingh construction Ltd, CWA, and others.

We have learn that a mise en demeure will be served to the Grand Port District Council to stop the said work.

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A Pakistani court on Wednesday sentenced to death a woman for sending 'blasphemous messages' to her estranged friend.

Anika Attique was convicted by a court in Rawalpindi on the complaint of Farooq Hassanat, who had filed a case against her in 2020. She was charged with committing blasphemy against the prophet, insulting Islam and violating the cybercrime laws.

As per the details of the case, Anika and Farooq were friends but differences erupted between the two and an extremely angry Anika Whatsapped him blasphemous messages.

He asked her to delete the messages and say sorry for her action, but she refused.

Consequently, Farooq filed a complaint against her with the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which after an initial probe, filed the case and arrested her for probe and prosecution.

Pakistans blasphemy laws were enacted by former military dictator Ziaul Haq in the 1980s. Nobody has been executed under these laws but several people have been killed on mere suspicion of committing blasphemy.

Last year, a Sri Lankan man working as a manager in a factory in Sialkot city was lynched by a mob after he was accused of blasphemy.

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An elephant in Kenya has given birth to twins, an extremely rare event, conservationists said Thursday.

Conservation group Save the Elephants said the twins -- one male and one female -- were born to a mother named Bora.

They were first spotted by lucky tourist guides on a safari drive at the weekend in Samburu reserve in northern Kenya.

Videos show the days-old newborns getting accustomed to their savannah surroundings with their doting mother and an older sibling, Bora's first calf, born in 2017.

African elephants have the largest gestation period of any living mammal, carrying their young for nearly 22 months, and gives birth roughly every four years.

"Twins are rarely encountered in elephant populations and form about only one per cent of births," Save the Elephants' founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton said in a statement.

However, elephant twins do not often fare so well. The last pair of twins born in Samburu, in 2006, failed to survive more than a few days.

"Quite often the mothers don't have enough milk to support two calves," Douglas-Hamilton said.

"The next few days will be touch-and-go for the new twins, but we all have our fingers crossed for their survival."

There are an estimated 36,280 elephants in Kenya, according to the country's first-ever national wildlife census conducted last year.

That figure represented a 12-per cent increase in population numbers recorded in 2014, when killing for ivory was higher.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned last year that poaching and habitat destruction, particularly due to land conversion for agriculture, had had a devastating effect on elephant numbers in Africa as a whole.

The population of African savanna elephants plunged by at least 60 per cent in the last half century, prompting their reclassification as "endangered" in the latest update to the IUCN's "Red List" of threatened species.

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Air India said it has resumed six India-US flights on Boeing B777 aircraft on Thursday after the plane manufacturer gave the clearance to operate them.

Air India had cancelled eight flights on India-US routes on Wednesday due to deployment of 5G internet in North America which could interfere with aircraft's radio altimeters.

US aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in a fresh directive on Thursday, said radio altimeters fitted in certain types of aircraft, including B777, will not be affected by 5G services.

Also Read: 5G scare: Air India cancels 8 US flights; DGCA working to overcome situation

Subsequently, an Air India spokesperson told PTI that Boeing has cleared the carrier to operate to the US on B777 aircraft.

"Accordingly, first flight left this morning to JFK (New York). Other flights leaving in the day are to Chicago and SFO (San Francisco). Arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out. Matter regarding B777 flying into the USA has been sorted," the spokesperson said on Thursday.

The Air India flights that have resumed their operations from Thursday are Delhi-New York, New York-Delhi, Delhi-Chicago, Chicago-Delhi, Delhi- San Francisco and San Francisco-Delhi.

Along with these six flights, two other flights -- Mumbai-Newark and Newark-Mumbai -- were cancelled by Air India on Wednesday.

Boeing did not respond to PTI's request for a statement on this matter.

Also Read: Vikram Dev Dutt appointed Air India chief

The US aviation regulator had on January 14 said that "5G interference with the aircraft's radio altimeter could prevent engine and braking systems from transitioning to landing mode, which could prevent an aircraft from stopping on the runway".

Radio altimeter measures height of the aircraft above the ground, allowing it to do low-visibility landings. The frequency band on which altimeter works is close to that on which 5G system works.

FAA stated on Thursday that it has made progress during the last two weeks to safely reduce the risk of delays and cancellations as altimeter manufacturers evaluate data from wireless companies to determine how robust each model is.

"This work has shown some altimeters are reliable and accurate in certain 5G areas; others must be retrofitted or replaced," the FAA noted.

It stated that five altimeters have been given the clearance. Aircraft models with one of five cleared altimeters include Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777.

Total three carriers -- American Airlines, United Airlines and Air India -- currently operate direct flights between India and the US.

American Airlines and United Airlines have not issued any statement on how their US-India flights have been specifically impacted by the deployment of 5G services in North America.

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The Union Health Ministry on Thursday asked 6.5 crore Indians who missed their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to come forward for the shot with top health officials claiming a significant drop in Covid mortality in the third wave as against the second surge due to protection offered by the vaccine.

The number of people who missed their second doses was 12 crore at one point of time but the number came down to 6.5 crore partially vaccinated individuals who didn't turn up despite repeated reminders, said Vinod Paul, NITI Ayog member and the government's principal adviser on Covid-19.

The Covid-19 vaccine offers a protective shield by lowering the mortality. But the shield is getting weakened (in the absence of their second dose) as they can spread the infections in the society, Paul said at a press conference here.

Also Read | Deaths significantly less in third Covid wave in comparison to second wave: Govt

The Union Health Ministry also released data showing a drop of Covid mortality by one-tenth in the Omicron-powered third wave as against the Delta-driven second wave.

The ferocious second wave swept through India in April last year, steadily pushing the Covid-19 mortality. On April 30th, more than 3.86 lakh new cases were reported (previous 24 hours) while the number of active cases and deaths stood at 31.7 lakh and 3059 respectively.

Only 2% of India's 94.47 crore adult population had received the vaccine by then.

Also Read: World breaks daily Covid case record

In comparison, on January 20, this year, there have been over 3.17 lakh fresh cases and more than 19 lakh active cases. But only 380 deaths have been reported as the number of fully vaccinated individuals rose to 72%. Hospitalisation in Delhi is also significantly lower.

The current surge in India is not witnessing an increase in severe cases and deaths following high vaccine uptake, said Balram Bhargava, ICMR director-general.

While vaccination played a key role in lowering the death count, experts, however, pointed out that the Health Ministry comparison did not take a crucial fact  Omicron's lower virulence as against Delta  into account.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in the last 10 days, more than 63% of the eligible health workers, 58% of eligible front line workers and 39% senior citizens took the third shot while 52% of the adolescents in the 15-18 years age group received their first jab.

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A BJP MP and a Congress MLA in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday said a 17-year-old boy was allegedly abducted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China from near the McMahon Line separating India from the neighbouring country on Tuesday evening when two youths had gone out for hunting.

Lok Sabha member of BJP from Arunachal Pradesh, Tapir Gao in a tweet said that Miram Taron, a resident of Zido village in Upper Siang district was allegedly abducted by PLA troops at around 6.30 pm on Tuesday from Bishing village, which is the last Indian village towards China.

"Chinese #PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido vill. yesterday 18th Jan 2022 from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China built 3-4 kms road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bishing village) of Upper Siang dist, Arunachal Pradesh, Gao said in the tweet while urging the ministry of external affairs for steps for his release.

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Chinese #PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido vill. yesterday 18th Jan 2022 from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China built 3-4 kms road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bishing village) of Upper Siang dist, Arunachal Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/ecKzGfgjB7  Tapir Gao (@TapirGao) January 19, 2022

The village is around 260 km from Yingkiong, the headquarters of the Upper Siang district.

Sources said Johnny Yaying, another youth was with Miram but he managed to flee and informed other villagers about the alleged abduction.

Ninong Ering, Congress MLA from Pasighat West Assembly constituency also tweeted about the alleged abduction. "The MEA India and the government of India should help in safe return of the boy and Chinese intrusion into our land must be checked," he tweeted.

In September 2020, five youths from the Upper Subansiri district had gone missing similarly and were captured by the Chinese PLA after they allegedly strayed into Chinese territory. They had gone hunting. The five were, however, handed over to Indian authorities 10 days later after New Delhi had raised the matter with China.

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The Indian army on Thursday reached out to People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China and sought help for safe return of a teenager from Arunachal Pradesh, who was reportedly missing since he went out for hunting near the McMahon Line in Upper Siang district.

This comes a day after BJP MP, Tapir Gao and Congress MLA, Ninong Ering in their tweets claimed that the 17-year-old boy, Miram Taron, a resident of Zido village was abducted by PLA troops at around 6.30 pm on Tuesday from Bishing village, which is the last Indian village towards China.

"The ministry of defence in co-ordination with ministry of external affairs has already contacted the Chinese authorities through diplomatic channel after the news about disappearance of the youth came to light. I hope the youth will come back safely soon," Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said in Itanagar after being asked by reporters about the incident.

Gao on Wednesday said that Johnny Yaying, another youth was with Miram but he managed to flee and informed other villagers about the alleged abduction.

Gao, a Lok Sabha member and Ering, an MLA from Pasighat West Constituency on Wednesday sought the Centre's intervention for safe return of the youth and called for action to stop alleged intrusion of Chinese forces into Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.

In September 2020, five youths from Upper Subansiri district had gone missing similarly and were captured by Chinese PLA after they allegedly strayed into Chinese territory. They had gone for hunting. The five were, however, handed over to Indian authorities 10 days after New Delhi had raised the matter with China.

Golden jubilee of statehood:

The report about the boy's alleged abduction created a flutter on a day Arunachal Pradesh kicked off the month-long celebration of golden jubilee of statehood, on Thursday. Several programmes were inaugurated by Khandu while Bollywood star, Sanjay Dutt, who was recently roped in as a brand ambassador for promotion of the state's tourism, shared a video showcasing the breathtaking views of the frontier state.

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Priyanka Maurya, the face of Congress 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' poster in Uttar Pradesh, may join the BJP soon.

BJP sources said that she visited the party headquarters in Lucknow on Wednesday, triggering speculation of her joining the saffron party.

Maurya said, 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' has been rendered as a mere slogan because "as a 'ladki' (woman), I was not allowed to contest elections because I could not pay bribe."

She claimed that instead of giving her a ticket, one was given to a person who joined the party just a month ago. "I completed all formalities but the ticket was pre-planned and was given to a person who came just a month back. I want to send this message to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi that such things are happening on the ground," said Maurya.

Also Read  Under pressure, RLD changes candidate in Chaprauli

Maurya said she has been relentlessly working in the Sarojini Nagar Vidhan Sabha constituency for over a year, but was denied a ticket. "We were used as a pawn to woo women and people from the backward community. Very soon you will see me and members of my community with the BJP," she said.

Maurya's social media profile, categorically describes her as Mahila Congress vice-president, doctor and social worker. It also refers to 170, Sarojini Nagar Vidhan Sabha, an Assembly seat in Lucknow.

In a 'pinned' tweet posted on January 14, Maurya alleged Congress' 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' campaign was nothing, but a hoax. "People will say if you do not get the ticket, then you are bound to say this. Investigate and find out yourself. We were told to prepare for 2024. Congress has not been able to beat the 'jumlas' of BJP," she said in the tweet.

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Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday hit out at the TMC, alleging that the party was trying to divide anti-BJP votes in states, and its claims of organising a united front against the saffron camp was nothing short of a well-scripted drama.

Chowdhury also said that the Bengal's ruling party, in a tacit understanding with the BJP, was trying to "finish off" the Congress.

The TMC recently announced its first list of candidates for Goa Assembly polls, scheduled next month.

Also Read: BJP MLA stirs row with 'police encounter' remark, TMC condemns statement

The Mamata Banerjee-led camp is fighting the elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly in alliance with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). "The TMC's main role is to fracture non-BJP votes in Goa. The TMC, using money power, has bought a few leaders. In a tacit understanding with the BJP, it is trying to hurt the prospects of the Congress and that is a proven fact.

"The party is venturing into states where the Congress is the main opposition of the BJP. It is giving states such as Uttar Pradesh a miss as there are other regional forces," Chowdhury stated.

If you go through TMC's political history, you will see that the party "always tried to bite the hand that helped", the senior Congress leader noted. "Staring at a humiliating defeat, it is now staging a drama of trying to organise a united fight against the BJP. The TMC is not a trustworthy ally. As it did in Bengal, the party is trying to finish off the Congress in other states, too," he contended.

Responding to Chowdhury's remarks, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the Congress should not blame the TMC for its losses in Bengal.

"If the Congress can't fight the BJP, it isn't our fault. Nationally, the Congress has failed to counter the BJP. People are now looking up to the TMC to fight the saffron party," he said.

The TMC, which is trying to make inroads in the political landscapes of other states, has been up in arms against the grand-old party over its alleged failure to confront the BJP. The ties between the Congress and the TMC got strained after the Bengals ruling party, in its mouthpiece Jago Bangla, asserted that Banerjee, and not Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is said to have seized 60 kg of hydroponic weed, considered to be more potent than naturally grown, at Mundra port in Kutch district. The officials confirmed that the substance found in a container turned out to be cannabis, which was concealed in car scrap that arrived from Canada and was to be dispatched to Punjab.

"We have recovered 60 kg of hydroponic weed. We are in the process of initiating criminal action against the importer and receivers. This substance is in huge demand in foreign countries and the demand is escalating in India as well. There have been a number of cases of smuggling reported at airports in several Indian cities. But, this is the first time Mundra port was used for this purpose," a senior officer in know of operation told DH on the condition of anonymity.

He said that this is the first time that a smuggling attempt was made from a "risk-free" country like Canada. Normally, he said, goods imported from Canada, USA and European countries are considered "risk free" and the shipments are allowed to pass without much suspicion. On January 19, DH had reported a team of NCB officers from Delhi had foiled the smuggling bid based on specific input.

"Since consignments are being caught at airports regularly, we believe that the smugglers tried to import from Canada, it being a risk-free country, for speedy Customs clearance, using Mundra port to avoid suspicion," the officer said.

Hydroponic or hydro cannabis are grown without soil, using sand, gravel or water-added nutrients. They are grown mostly indoors or in a controlled environment. This variety is considered to be more potent than the naturally grown.

Two more arrested in 3000 kg heroin haul

Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the seizure of 3000 kg heroin worth over Rs 21,000 crore at Mundra port in September, arrested two more suspects and produced them before a special court in Ahmedabad. The court has sent them into NIA custody for five days for questioning.

NIA special prosecutor Amit Nair said that the suspects - Murtuza Hakimi and Alokozai Mohammed - were taken into custody from UP central jail where they were lodged in a case probed by DRI in a separate narcotics case in Noida. During the NIA probe, names of these two Afghan nationals also figured. They are alleged to have planned to procure the heroin and store it, besides paying to customs house agents. With these two fresh arrests, a total of 10 accused have been arrested in the case, including a couple from Chennai and several Afghan nationals.

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There is an ever-increasing number of ways for consumers to pay for goods and services. With 2021 coming to a close, Clinton Leask, Business Development Lead at [email protected], one of Southern Africas leading payment solutions providers, reflects on the trends that took shape in the payments space over the past year and what can be expected in 2022:

Of course, there has been an uptick in digital transactions as businesses adjust to changing consumer behaviour. This has been enhanced by the emergence of super apps over the course of 2021. A super-app is a mobile app that provides multiple services including payment and financial transaction processing, effectively becoming an all-encompassing self-contained e-commerce platform. The challenge, however, is that South Africa is still quite a cash-reliant society, and these apps leave out the unbanked and underbanked. Considering this, we believe cash payments via retailers will remain a strong trend in 2022 and years to come which means that bill issuers and merchants will need to continue providing a broad range of payment channels, both digital and physical.

In terms of tapping into the underbanked market, 2022 will see wallets from telcos such as VodaPay, MTN MOMO and Telkom Pay Digital Wallet going head-to-head with those offered by retailers like Shoprite Money, with a strong focus on digitising cash. These organisations are attempting to provide wallets that act like reduced capability bank accounts, but which one consumers will trust and use remains to be seen. Next year will either make or break some of these wallets.

Looking at some of the other technologies that are gaining momentum, we have seen payments via QR codes becoming increasingly popular in the past year, with the banks now finally incorporating QR code scanners within their apps that are able to scan QR codes from Zapper, SnapScan or Masterpass wherever they are presented. We believe that the uptake will continue next year with further innovation from Visa and MasterCard looking to address card-not-present costs for QR code transactions and, consequently, wider use of QR codes. It has been a lengthy journey for QR codes to finally break into the South African payments landscape, but we are now witnessing exponential growth in their use.

Another technology that has been accelerating and become the norm is contactless payments. People are becoming comfortable with tapping their cards, phones and smartwatches. Going forward, banks and other players in the industry will be coming out with apps for merchants which will enable them to turn their phones or tablets into point-of-sale (POS) tools, negating the need for pin-pad devices. Already we are seeing this type of tech with the likes of Nedbanks PocketPOS and this is set to explode in 2022. We foresee this replacing POS machines used by smaller to medium businesses, much like the map apps on cell phones took the place of GPS navigation devices.

Banks have also been developing open payment Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These are software intermediaries that allow two applications to talk to each other. The bank-developed open payment APIs allow users to pay directly out of their bank accounts while on a website without needing to go into their account and set up a predefined beneficiary or use their card. 2021 was the first year that banks put these APIs to test in the market and the use of this payment method will accelerate in the new year. While it will be used predominantly for e-commerce transactions, it will also start filtering into retail environments.

Linked to this is the development of a new and faster payment method called Rapid Payments by the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA), BankservAfrica and the banks which will be piloted in 2022, with market adoption expected in 2023. This will allow for money to be moved instantly from ones account to anothers account or to that of a retailer. The vision for Rapid Payments is for users to be able to transfer money just by using the recipients cell phone number and for the money to be deposited into their account within as little as 10 seconds. Rapid Payments is expected to be a cost-effective payment method that banks will leverage as a tool to assist in digitising cash.

In the new year, we are hoping to see even more innovation arising from the establishment of a new Payments Industry Body (PIB) comprised of banks, payment solutions providers like [email protected], fintechs and other payment space participants.

Leask concludes by saying,

With these and other technologies coming to the fore, bill issuers and merchants are going to see money moving quicker and more cheaply. At the same time, its going to be safer and more convenient for the end consumer.

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The Banaras Hindu University has started a postgraduate programme in Hindu Dharma and according to the varsity, the course is the first of its kind in the country.

Professor VK Shukla, who is the varsity's rector, said that this programme will help in making the world aware of many unknown aspects of Hindu Dharma and take its teachings to more and more people.

He said that this would be the first such course in the country.

The course will be conducted in collaboration with the departments of philosophy and religion, Sanskrit and ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology of the faculty of arts of the Bharat Adhyayan Kendra.

Forty-five students, including a foreign student, have taken admission in the first session of the course, Shukla said after inaugurating the postgraduate programme on Tuesday.

Sadashiv Kumar Divedi, the coordinator of the 'Bharat Adhyayan Kendra', said that this two-year course will have four semesters and 16 papers.

Director of the Varanasi Center of the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts Vijay Shankar Shukla said that the idea of starting such a course was first given by scholars Pandit Ganganath Jha and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya.

But due to some reasons this course could not be started at that time, he said.

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The estimated project cost of the new Parliament building may increase by more than Rs 200 crore due to higher expenditure on steel, electronics and other works, and the CPWD is expected to get the Lok Sabha Secretariat's approval for the enhancement, sources said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the nodal agency for the construction of new parliament building, had sought in-principal approval of the LS Secretariat for the cost enhancement, the sources told PTI.

They said that after the enhancement, the project is expected to cost around Rs 1200 crore.

Also Read: Delhi government, CESL sign pact for installation of EV charging stations

The new Parliament building project was awarded to the Tata Projects in 2020 for Rs 971 crore. The government had set October 2022 deadline for the building and aimed to hold the winter session this year in the new building.

The sources said the CPWD have given the reasons behind the expected rise in the cost which include higher cost of steel as building is now constructed as per the norms of seismic zone 5.

The cost on electronics is also expected rise as provisions are being made also for a modern audio-visual system, including tablets on the tables of MPs in both Houses of Parliament, the CPWD has said, according to the sources.

Similarly, high-end technology devices are being considered for using in meeting rooms and chambers of ministers, the sources said.

Another reason is the fact that the project developer has to comply with several directives of the Supreme Court such as all the earth excavated from the project site needed to be transported to the proposed Eco Park in Badarpur and not sold.

"The Lok Sabha Secretariat received request from CPWD seeking in-principal approval proposal for enhancement in cost of construction of new parliament building earlier this month and it is likely to get approval," a source said.

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With the "motivated rejections" of Opposition states' tableaux for the Republic Day parade, the CPI(M) has said that the government favoured an 8th-century religious figure "who restored Brahmanical order" over a 20th century anti-caste social reformer and a central department over a state to depict Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's contributions, showcasing its "deep anti-federal attitude".

Targeting the Narendra Modi government, an editorial in the latest edition of the CPI(M) mouthpiece 'People's Democracy' said that the rejection of tableaux of Kerala and Tamil Nadu has practically led to the non-representation of southern states at the national day celebrations. West Bengal's tableaux depicting Bose was also rejected while Defence Minister Rajanth Singh defended it saying CPWD would be honouring the freedom fighter in its tableau.

Also Read | R-Day parade: Rejected tableaux to be displayed across TN, says Stalin

Claiming that the action "reveals a lot about the mindset of the BJP rulers", it said the "most shocking" rejection was that of the tableau of Kerala, which had a statue of anti-caste fighter and renaissance figure Sree Narayana Guru. The expert committee wanted a statue of Adi Shankaracharya but the Kerala government stuck to the 20th-century social reformer's statue leading to its rejection.

The editorial said they wanted to know who were the experts who consider Adi Sankaracharya as more relevant to the theme of 75 years of independence in this Republic Day parade.

"How an 8th century AD religious figure, who restored the Brahmanical order, is more relevant than an early 20th-century social reformer, who contributed to the renaissance and freedom movement, can only be explained by the Hindutva outlook of the ruling establishment," it said.

Also Read | Centre won't reconsider West Bengal, Tamil Nadu tableaux for Republic Day parade

"The insistence by the expert committee to impose Adi Sankaracharya on the Kerala tableau is an insult not only to Sree Narayana Guru but to the entire progressive socio-cultural traditions of Kerala," it said.

West Bengal had submitted a tableau depicting the role of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (INA) in the freedom struggle while Tamil Nadu had portrayed the prominent freedom fighters from the state like V O Chidambaram, the national poet of the freedom struggle, Subramania Bharathiyar and others, it said adding these too were not found acceptable.

Referring to the Defence Minister's assertion that Bose's contribution is being depicted in the CPWD tableau, the editorial said, "as if, a department of the central ministry should get precedence over the state of West Bengal, which can be proud of having produced a preeminent leader of the independence struggle, like Netaji."

Also Read | 4 poll-bound states' tableaux in Republic Day parade

To Singh's assertion that the selection was done by eminent persons in the field of art, culture, music, architecture and so on, the editorial said one would like to know who these experts are, who consider Adi Sankaracharya as more relevant to the theme of 75 years of independence in this Republic Day parade.

"The partisan and sectarian outlook of the Modi government has led to practically the entire south Indian states being non-represented in the tableaus at the Republic Day parade. The motivated rejection of the tableaus of three opposition state governments shows the deep anti-federal attitude of the government. January 26 marks the advent of the Indian Republic and the Constitution which defines India as a Union of States. The Modi government is violating this basic precept of the Constitution," it said.

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The Hyderabad police have arrested an international drug peddler and supplier of narcotics to the affluent in the city, Chukwu Ogbonna David alias Tony Abia Marsha.

Tony, a Nigerian staying illegally in India for about a decade now, has established a network across the country by engaging agents Imran Babu Shaik, Noor Mohd Khan, Aftab, Parwaz, Rahamath, Irfan and Firdos.

Tony, as he is familiar in Mumbai drug circles, had migrated to India in 2013 on a temporary visa. Initially, he was in the garments and wigs exporting business with African countries.

According to the police, Tony lived with a Nigerian lady Loveth Yusuf, with their daughter in Mumbai. He was acquainted with the Africans living in the Mira Bhayandar, Vasai Virar areas of Mumbai. After taking to drugs, he was introduced to the Africans organizing drug business in metropolitan cities and earning good money. He too entered the illegal enterprise and developed contacts with drug consumers in Mumbai, Goa and Hyderabad.

Tony was running the show with the help of his agents, paying them large sums of money for drug transport, deliveries. Tony does not deal directly with the customers to protect his identity,

He used to purchase drugs from international drug peddler Star Boy (an African national) which are sent through the sea route. He uses international SIM numbers to communicate with his agents on WhatsApp and Voice Over Internet Protocol calls. Tony has several customers in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad police commissioner CV Anand said that the kingpin was apprehended by the north zone task force team and based on his inputs, nine drug consumers  businessmen in real estate, contracts etc  were also apprehended from the city on Thursday.

The seized material includes 10 grams of Cocaine, one Maharashtra registration SUV, two mobile phones belonging to Tony and nine mobile phones of the drug consumers.

With drugs, ganja use on the rise in the city and the state, even chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had earlier expressed concern and asked the enforcement agencies to act sternly to curb the menace.

Several Tollywood celebrities  some famous actors, directors included  were also questioned earlier for their alleged drug consumption and dealings with the drug peddlers.

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Archaeological excavations at four existing sites, including Keeladi and Sivagalai whose findings date back to 2,600 and 3,200 years respectively, in Tamil Nadu will resume in February with the Central Advisory Board for Archaeology (CABA) giving its seal of approval for the proposal and granting permission for digging in three new locations.

As part of its plans to conduct offshore explorations in the sea off the coast of Korkai, the much-celebrated port of the glorious Sangam Era, a Reconnaissance Survey will also be taken up in association with the Indian Maritime University and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) to identify and assess the archaeological potentiality of the then port city.

Four old sites and three new locations

Chief Minister M K Stalin said that permission has been granted for the eighth phase of archaeological excavations to be carried out by the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology (TNSDA) in Keeladi and its cluster sites of Agaram, Manalur, and Konthagai, while Sivagalai will enter the third phase, and Gangaikondacholapuram, and Mayiladumparai (second phase).

He added that nod has also been granted for digging for the first time in Vembakkottai (Virudhunagar district), Thulukkarpatti (Tirunelveli district), and Perumbalai (Dharmapuri district).

The digging will begin in seven sites in 2022 in a bid to dig the past of the ancient Tamils and add to their glory and rich past. These excavations will help us scientifically prove that the history of the Indian sub-continent is written from the Tamil landscape, Stalin said in a statement.

B Chandra Mohan, Principal Secretary (Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department) told DH that archaeological excavations at all seven sites will begin in February and go on till September. He added that a fund of Rs 5 crore has been allotted for archaeological excavations to be taken up in the state.

Significance of Keeladi and Sivagalai

The senior bureaucrat said CABA has also given its nod for undertaking two archaeological explorations to identify Neolithic sites in Vellore, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, and Salem districts and to identify potential archaeological sites on the banks of Thamiraparani river in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi.

DH had on December 15 reported that Tamil Nadu has approached the CABA seeking permission for excavations in the above-mentioned seven sites.

Carbon dating of artefacts unearthed from Keeladi and Sivagalai have found that they date back to 2,600 and 3,200 years old, pushing the Sangam Literature further behind a few centuries.

These findings have created a huge buzz with researchers in Tamil Nadu calling them significant as they narrow down the gap between the Tamil urban settlements and the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC). However, many experts outside Tamil Nadu have rejected the Keeladi-IVC link theory, calling it too pre-mature.

People are custodians of history

Indology expert and retired Odisha-cadre bureaucrat R Balakrishnan told DH that public interest and awareness about archaeology has increased significantly after the Keeladi excavations while welcoming the move to continue digging there and in new sites.

History is not only essential but also inescapable. Any fresh narrative of history must be evidence-based. People are the ultimate custodians of history. Let us dig more and more till we unravel the true facts about our past, Balakrishnan, author of critically-acclaimed Journey of a Civilization: Indus to Vaigai, said.

He stressed that the use of scientific tools and state of art methods during excavations and evaluation of evidence is essential. It is heartening to note that recent excavations in TN are guided by not mere passion but a huge scientific temperament. The broad basing of international collaborations is evident. More than anything, I am very happy about the fact that there are no delays in bringing the findings to the public, Balakrishnan, chief advisor to the Odisha chief minister, added.

How TNSDA took over Keeladi excavation from ASI?

TNSDA took over the Keeladi excavation in 2017 (from the fourth phase) following a surprise announcement by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that there was no significant finding from the site during the third phase after unearthing over 5,000 artefacts in the first two phases.

The report of the fourth phase, first under TNSDA, released under the then AIADMK government found that artefacts that were analysed date back to 2,600 years old. To facilitate analysis of the findings, the government has established a DNA analysis lab at the Madurai Kamaraj University at a cost of Rs 3 crore.

During the second phase of excavation at Sivagalai in Thoothukudi district in 2021, carbon dating of rice husks found in a burial urn established that date back to 3,200 years old. The new DMK government gave much-needed impetus to the TNSDA by allotting over Rs 5 crore for the excavations in the state to dig deep into the past glory of Tamils.

The Keeladi cluster includes Agaram and Konthagai, a habitation and burial site respectively. Sediments scrapped from the burial urns and skeletons found from the site have been sent for carbon dating and DNA analysis for further studies.

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The Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi is in touch with the local authorities after a drone attack by the Houthi rebels of Yemen killed two Indians on Monday.

Even as New Delhi has been trying to secure release of the seven Indians held hostage on a United Arab Emirates (UAE) ship seized by the Houthis on January 2 last, the drone attack by the same group of Zaydi Shia rebels of Yemen killed two other citizens of India on Monday.

The deceased Indians were employees of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). They were at the companys fuel depot at Mussafah near the airport in the capital city of the UAE, when the Yemeni Houthi rebels carried out the drone attack.

The Mission @IndembAbuDhabi is in close touch with concerned UAE authorities for further details, the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi posted on Twitter.

The priority for the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi is to ascertain the identity of the deceased citizens of the country, Sanjay Sudhir, New Delhis envoy to the capital of the UAE, told a TV channel. He also urged the Indians in UAE to remain calm.

New Delhi has already been trying to ensure the release of seven Indians, who are among the 11 sailors held hostage by the Houthis on board the UAE-flagged cargo vessel Rawabee seized by the rebels on the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on January 2.

We urge the Houthis to immediately release the crew members and the vessel. The Houthis also bear the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the crew members till their release, T S Tirumurti, New Delhis envoy to the United Nations, told the Security Council, during a briefing on the conflict in Yemen on January 12 last. He said that New Delhi was deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of Indian citizens on-board the ship.

New Delhi said that the seizure and detention of vessel Rawabee off the coast of Hudaydah in Yemen earlier this month had further exacerbated the ongoing tension in the West Asian nation. We express our grave concern at this act, which has the potential to deeply compromise the maritime security in the region, said Tirumurti.

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In a latest update in the Bulli Bai app controversy, the Mumbai Police has arrested the fourth accused in the case from Odisha.

The accused has been identified as Neeraj Singh.

"Neeraj was involved in the planning and execution of the plot through Bulli Bai app. We will produce him before the concern court and will seek his custodial remand," a Mumbai Police official said.

Also Read: 'Bulli Bai' case accused used Sikh names in social media for animosity, says cops

Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawal were earlier arrested by the Mumbai Police from different states.

The Delhi Police has also arrested a few persons in connection with the Bulli Bai matter.

Both the Mumbai and the Delhi Police are probing the matter.

On January 4, the police arrested Shweta Singh, a resident of Uttrakhand. She was the second and Mayank Rawal was the third person arrested in connection with the controversy.

Apart from the Mumbai Police, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police which was conducting a parallel probe, has also made two arrests.

The special cell arrested Neeraj Bishnoi, the main accused in the case and Aumkareshwar Thakur the main accused behind Sulli Deal.

Also Read: Young, educated and hatemongers: Why apps like 'Bulli Bai/ Sulli Deals' get created

On January 1, the Bulli Bai app posted photos of several women of a particular religion including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities. It happened six months after the controversy of Sulli Deals.

Jha was one of the followers of Bulli Bai which led the police to team.

Github which provided space to Sulli Deals, hosted the Bulli Bai app too. However, Github had later removed the user from its hosting platform.

But by then Bulli Bai had sparked a controversy nationwide.

The Bulli Bai app was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture of a Khalistani supporter.

This Twitter handle claimed that women can be booked from the app and was also promoting Khalistani content.

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At least 10 workers were rescued after a three-storey textile dyeing and printing mill, located near Bardoli town in Gujarat's Surat district, caught fire early on Thursday, officials said.

"As the fire is still raging, nearly 100 firemen from Bardoli, Surat city and other nearby places are involved in the firefighting operation, but the blaze has gutted the entire building," Bardoli's chief fire officer PB Gadhvi said.

"The fire broke out at the dyeing and printing mill located in Palsana area around 3.30 am and it is still raging. It has engulfed all the three floors of the unit. While majority of the workers came out safely with the help of locals after the fire started spreading, firemen rescued around 10 workers who had got stuck in the rear part of the mill. But no one was injured in the incident," he said.

Since it is a major fire, nearly 15 firefighting vehicles, 100 firemen from Bardoli, Surat, Sachin, Vyara, Gandevi, Navsari, Bilimora and two private firms were pressed into service since early morning, he said.

"Locals claimed that a short circuit followed by blasts of gas cylinders were responsible for the fire at the mill. Fire spread quickly because of the highly flammable chemicals, dyes and yarns.

A large quantity of the ready-made garments and raw material was also gutted in the fire," Gadhvi said, adding that efforts are on to douse the flames.

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Police have registered a case against BJP's Mumbai unit chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha and 31 others for staging a protest near the Mantralaya, an official said on Thursday. The protest was organised by the BJP on Wednesday against Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole's remarks referring to 'Modi.'

During the protest, police took Lodha and others into custody and they were taken to the Marine Drive police station later, he said, adding they were booked under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Also Read  BJP seeks proof in Modi remark row in Maharashtra

Patole, who had a brief stint with the BJP as an MP earlier, has kicked up a controversy with his purported remark that he could "beat up, badmouth Modi". He has, however, denied that he was speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the BJP has been targeting Patole over the remarks, with several leaders terming his clarification as false.

The saffron party has been demanding strict police action against Patole and seeking his arrest.

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The Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals episodes of online auctioning of more than a hundred Muslim women from across the spectrum  human rights advocacy, law and journalism  reflect how a womans body and image are seen as the most common and attractive targets of violence and oppression even in the 21st century. In April 2019, World Banks report titled Gender-Based Violence (GBV) described violence against women and girls as a global pandemic.

Prima facie, such mobile applications could be easily categorised as extremely sexist and misogynistic. But the major challenge is to argue that individual acts of creation and operation of mobile applications on which women are being advertised and sold constitute GBV and call for criminal sanctions under the law.

At the core of GBV lies the three-fold question: What is the impulse that triggers the creation and operation of such applications? How can these cause violence? What are the implications on Muslim women, their self-image and dignity?

One way to view such applications is through feminist author Jacqueline Roses unique conception of insidious form of violence that cannot easily be seen, detected and defined. The rising penetration of the internet among citizens, greater individual access to information technology and an ever-increasing number of mobile applications have given rise to the phenomenon of violence in quiet conditions whereby it is very difficult for law enforcement machinery to locate the actual victim, clearly identify the harm caused to her, classify the so-called remote act as an offence, and pin criminal responsibility on a single perpetrator.

The world wide web has created a range of possibilities especially when it comes to identifying real victims and attributing individual culpability within the realm of criminal law. The provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 are under-inclusive to the extent they do not encompass and outlaw such activities. The Indecent Representation of Women Act, 1986, on the one hand, reinforces the stereotypical image of a woman as a daughter, sister, wife and mother and on the other hand, proposes a subjective, vague, overbroad definition of the term indecent. This also fails to curb such applications.

Thus, there exists a deep abyss between the newer forms of GBV and indignities hurled at women and the language of the law which curbs only a given set of violations.

Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals scandals display intersectional oppression in terms of both gender and religion. There is no rationality behind the creation of these applications except for the religion of the victims. This GBV is another species of communal hatred. This time around it is levelled against Muslim women  not men or the community as a whole.

When it comes to measuring the actual harm caused, the violence does not just mean overt acts of physical annihilation but includes even covert acts having emotional or psychological effects. It is appropriate to view these individual acts as a continuum of violence and women victims as a community of potential targets. After all, it cannot be forgotten that all women are subjects of violence because all of them live in a violent social media world.

GBV exists as a form of entitlement, deeply embedded in the dominant culture and psyche of the people belonging to the majoritarian religion and the ruling political establishment such that the violators enjoy complete impunity for their individual acts under the pretext of political speech and online freedom. Calling Muslim women Bulli and Sulli and auctioning them online has received tacit political approval which in turn cultivates a discourse of GBV as a valid and accepted reality.

Consequently, Muslim women end up suffering because both society and online culture typecast them as inferior beings and as objects of violence. Unfortunately, the law neither sees through their pain nor classifies the violence and abuse they suffer as a criminal offence. The lesson imparted to Muslim women is that if they speak out against this cultural dehumanisation, bullying and violence, they would be auctioned online. Because of these risks to their reputation and life, Muslim women continue to ache in silence.

Detesting, shunning and repudiating such applications is not the standalone or effective remedy. There is an urgent need to expose this newest avatar of GBV and call for immediate reforms in the law followed by stringent action by law enforcement agencies.

(Prerna is an Assistant

Professor at NLSIU,

Bengaluru; Vandana is an

independent research

consultant based in Kolkata.)
A specialty dog food company is moving some of its operations to Lehigh County, creating nearly 100 jobs, state and local officials say.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that Spot & Tango plans to open a manufacturing facility in Upper Macungie Township.

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Spot & Tango has leased a 66,700-square-foot facility at 7520 Morris Court, near Route 100. The company said the move will allow it to insource manufacturing, instead of relying on outside contractors. The company anticipates the facility will be operational in the summer.

The company received a funding proposal from the state Department of Community and Economic Development for nearly $440,000 in grants, including $150,000 toward work force training. In return, the company pledges to invest about $20 million and create at least 96 full-time jobs during the next three years.

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Don Cunningham, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., said Spot & Tango is the latest entry in food, beverage and pet food production in the region. For example, Freshpet, among the largest food-and-beverage producers in the Valley, in October 2020 christened a $100 mission expansion of its refrigerated pet food manufacturing facility off Route 512 in Hanover Township, Northampton County.

Founded in 2018, Spot & Tango is a personalized pet health and wellness company that is focused on providing dogs with high-quality, human-grade meals excluding artificial additives, fillers and inexpensive preservatives. The company delivers its products throughout the continental U.S.
When Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav held his first rally in western Uttar Pradesh, he made it a point to drop in at the residence of Harinder Malik in Muzaffarnagar. The former MP and Jat leader had quit Congress to join the SP, and Yadav's visit was seen as part of the messaging to non-Muslim intermediate caste groups in a polarised polity.

Two months later, Malik's son and former MLA, Pankaj Malik, was named the joint candidate of the SP-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance from Charthawal, a rural constituency in Muzaffarnagar's cane belt. It has both Muslims and Jats in large numbers, and the two communities together form a robust electoral combination.

But the very next day, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati queered the pitch by naming Salman Sayeed as her party's nominee from Charthawal. Sayeed is the son of former state home minister in UP's last Congress government (1985-89), veteran Congress leader, Saiduzzaman. The father and son face charges for giving incendiary speeches during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

Also Read -- OBC upsurge: BJP hopes Mayawati impedes Akhilesh Yadav's run

Not just Charthawal, the BSP, in its first list of 53 candidates, has fielded 14 Muslims, including four in the communally sensitive Muzaffarnagar. In comparison, the SP-RLD alliance has rooted for 11 Muslim candidates in the 40-odd seats of the region for which it has finalised its nominees. The BSP strategy for western UP is an attempt to recreate its traditional Jatav-Muslim combination.

The space has become more cluttered on seats where the SP-RLD alliance and the BSP have fielded Muslim candidates. Aligarh, for one, is being billed as an exciting contest where the BSP has fielded a woman candidate, Razia Khan. She is up against the SP's Zafar Alam. Then there is Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittahadul Musalmeen (AIMIM). Owaisi has announced his party's intent to field candidates on a hundred seats.

Also Read | Battle for UP: Trouble in RLD as SP candidates get RLD symbol

Three Muslim candidates compete in constituencies like Dhaulana in the Hapur district, an hour's drive from Delhi. The SP has given the ticket to Aslam Chaudhary, who won the seat on the BSP ticket in 2017 by a margin of fewer than four thousand votes. The BSP has fielded Wasid Pradhan from Dhaulana. Owaisi's party, too, has given its ticket to a Muslim candidate, Haji Arif.

The electoral logic of the SP-RLD alliance in western UP hinges on the SP's ability not just to mop up minority votes for itself but to limit division of anti-BJP votes and ensure the transfer of Muslim and backward castes votes to ally RLD's candidates. For the SP, this task becomes challenging in constituencies where the BSP has fielded Muslim candidates.

Take the case of both Charthawal and Budhana in the Muzaffarnagar district. Hoping to capitalise on the farmers' agitation in the sugarcane belt, the SP-RLD alliance has fielded Jat candidates on both seats. The BSP has given tickets to Muslims while the BJP has nominated one OBC and one Jat candidate.

A more complex situation prevails in Kol in Aligarh, where the BSP and the SP have fielded Muslim candidates. Here the RLD's ability to add Jat votes to the alliance kitty will be tested. The call for support for alliance candidates by the Bhartiya Kisan Union and the Tikaits of Sisauli could have helped the RLD's prospects. But the statement was withdrawn, perhaps after a realisation that such calls may engender counter mobilisation in a polity where vote preferences can be influenced by khap or clan affiliations, especially against the dominant communities.

The demography of western UP suits the BJP. Registering its best strike rate of almost 87 per cent in the region, the party got off to a blazing start in the 2017 Assembly polls. The ruling party is again relying on the consolidation of backward classes and traditional upper caste voters. And on the division of the anti-BJP votes too. Hence, 46 of the 109 tickets announced in its first two lists of candidates have gone to the OBCs.

As the election moves east, the SP will be buffeted by its core constituency among the Yadavs and OBCs. In western UP, though, its chances would depend on what the RLD brings to the table.

(Sumit Pande is a journalist)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.
The political leaderships at the Centre and in Bengal are in a constant tug-of-war. With the BJP at the helm of affairs at the Centre, and the Trinamool firmly holding on to power in Bengal, every decision involving the two governments generates enough heat to keep politics on the boil.

The most recent point of contention is the exclusion of the state governments proposed tableau for the Republic Day parade, featuring Subhas Chandra Bose  this being his 125th birth anniversary year  and the Indian National Army. The presentation, according to the letter Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would have also carried portraits of other prominent figures from the region who made contributions to the freedom struggle. Netajis grandnephew Chandra Bose (a former vice president of the BJP in the state) told Deccan Herald that while the Centre (Central Public Works Departments tableau) is also expected to feature Bose, Bengals tableau should still have been given a chance.

On January 7, after a long time, Mamata and Modi attended a programme together, though the medium was virtual. The occasion was the inauguration of a new campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute. The facility was built with the Centre and state sharing the Rs 530-crore cost in the ratio of 75:25. Mamata told the PM that while he was formally inaugurating the medical facility that day, the campus had already been inaugurated by the state as it had come in handy in handling the Covid pandemic.

While mentioning the scarcity of doctors and the need to have more seats in medical colleges, She publicly complained to the Prime Minister about West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar questioning her decisions to strengthen the states health infrastructure by adding people from outside, pointing out that she had done so following the PMs suggestions. She said that despite differences in political outlook between TMC and BJP, her government follows and executes Centres directives.

While participating in virtual meetings with Modi, Mamata has, on at least two occasions in the past, expressed unhappiness at not being allowed to speak.

Besides the administrative friction, there is a long list of allegations that has been raised in the political domain in recent weeks. In September, the Centre denied Mamata permission for a trip to Rome. A proposed visit to Nepal last month was also not permitted, allegedly due to political differences.

In December, the Trinamool chief was vocal against the Centre for freezing the bank accounts of the Missionaries of Charity (MoC). It was said that this would leave a considerable number of poor without treatment and food. Later, it was discovered that MoC had itself written to its branches not to operate its bank accounts while it resolved the FCRA issue with the government.

Besides administrative affairs, the state-Centre fight is visible in the states cultural affairs, too. A national tag for Gangasagar Mela that takes place on Sagar Island in southern Bengal and hosts lakhs of pilgrims annually has not been given by the Centre, despite repeated requests, it is alleged. The UNESCOs inclusion of Durga Puja to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity also saw statements by political leaders, but more to settle political claims surrounding the festival.

A few weeks after returning to power last year, Mamata had skipped a review meeting with the Prime Minister on Cyclone Yaas. The political stand-off has continued since then.

Two major points on which Bengal came close to putting its foot down on issues that are in the domain of the Centre were the extension of the BSFs jurisdiction along the international border, from an earlier 15 km to 50 km in Bengal, and the Pegasus snooping allegations. In November, the state Assembly passed a resolution against the Centres move to extend the jurisdiction. When the Pegasus controversy erupted, the state went ahead and announced a two-member commission in July to investigate the matter.

While the strains in state-Centre relations resurface occasionally, its evident that the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata and the state administration are never on the same plane. While a section of Trinamool leaders believe that the Bengal Governor has been playing a wider role than the Constitution bestows on the post, Governor Dhankhar continues to question most decisions of the state that involve him.

The appointment of vice-chancellors to the state universities, instructing state officials for availing details and attending meetings on certain occasions, recruitment of consultants by the state government, challenging the states appointments to several bodies, holding up assent on an amendment bill for bifurcating a local municipal corporation  Governor Dhankhar has tweeted on most issues where he differs or has reservations over state governments decisions.

A constant state of confrontation between the two major political parties has become a political necessity in the region. The Trinamool leadership has often blamed the Centre for non-cooperation. Mamata had in November charged the Centre with bulldozing down the countrys federal structure. BJP leaders, meanwhile, have maintained a steady flow of tweets to claim that Trinamool doesnt care for the laws of the land.

Like the rest of the country, Bengal too fought the surge in covid infections. Allegations and counter-allegations infected politics in the region in the absence of a coordinated political effort. Could Covid have been tackled better if the two sides had cooperated? Its important to ponder.

After the last two elections  the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 state Assembly elections, the Trinamool and the BJP could both have played a more helpful role for the state. Confrontational politics has, however, dominated over everything else.

The political and administrative domains overlap. The constitutional boundaries of the countrys federal structure are being challenged frequently by both parties in power. This should be of concern, given the need for the development and growth of the state.

DHNS
Senior Karnataka BJP legislators Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and MP Renukacharya held a closed-door meeting Thursday where they decided to mount pressure for an early Cabinet rejig, which they said can hit the brakes on the speed of the D K Shivakumar-led Congress.

Yatnal and Renukacharya, seen as ministerial aspirants themselves, have been demanding a Gujarat-style overhaul of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommais Cabinet by dropping incumbent ministers to bring in fresh faces.

If the time comes, we will even go to Delhi to hold talks with top leaders, Renukacharya, the chief ministers political secretary, told reporters.

Also read: Nalapad keeps distance from Karnataka Youth Congress brawl

There's no rebellion. Cabinet expansion is getting delayed. The Congress, especially D K Shivakumar, is under the illusion that theyre winning. To stop their speed, some changes must be made, he said.

Asked why only he and Yatnal are clamouring for changes in the Cabinet, Renukacharya said: This is the opinion of many MLAs who are going through pain and unable to speak out. They support what we are saying.

Bommai has four vacant positions in the 34-member Cabinet. Party sources say that Cabinet expansion or reshuffle is unlikely until after the Uttar Pradesh polls in March.

To know a persons potential, it needs time. If you make someone a minister in or after March, will that person have enough time to spend in the constituency? Renukacharya asked, referring to how Karnataka will change gears for the 2023 Assembly elections after the UP poll results.

We have no angst against incumbent ministers. Were saying that those who do good work and are accessible to people should continue. Those who are there just for the sake of power should be dropped, Renukacharya said.

Yatnal, a former Union minister, said there is confusion on when the Cabinet exercise will take place - before the UP polls or after. We still hope something good will happen, he said.

That the Congress managed to make enough noise with its 4-day Mekedatu foot march coupled with the recent results of the MLC and urban local body polls seem to have rung some alarm bells. Im not saying that the governments sphere of influence has reduced. It is intact. But, we need to break the Congresss illusion, Renukacharya said.

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Ahead of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's crucial meeting on Friday, Revenue Minister R Ashoka dropped a broad hint that the government may consider relaxing Covid-19 curbs in districts where the pandemic situation is under control.

Bommai is scheduled to hold the meeting at 1 pm along with ministers and health experts in which a decision will be taken on the daily night curfew, weekend curfew and other curbs.

"Many people, including political leaders, have opined that curbs can be lifted in districts where cases are under control. There are some 15-20 districts like that," Ashoka told reporters.

Read: Karnataka BJP MLAs want Cabinet rejig to counter Congress

Ashoka pointed that cases are rising daily in Bengaluru. "Even Omicron cases are increasing," he said. "Cases may go up in Bengaluru Rural and Mysuru districts as well."

The government must weigh between life and livelihood, the minister said. "To protect lives, we need to make a strong decision. At the same time, we must allow livelihood, especially of daily wagers, vegetable vendors and so on," he said.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar attacked the government for dragging its feet on deciding the curbs. "Theyre killing people. What will happen to trade and business? Overseas governments have decided not to impose curbs. I went to Hyderabad where there are no curbs," he said.

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The states 108 Arogya Kavacha ambulance service which has been around for 13 years may soon be heading to the proverbial junkyard in its current form.

State health officials said they are in the process of revamping the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to provide better aid by April.

In the next two months, in my opinion, by the first week of April, there will be a new 108 service, according to Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar.

A 2020 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had highlighted the failings of the service.

From 2014-15 to 2018-19, the ambulances were not able to reach 50% of trauma cases in the critical golden hour period that would have saved lives.

There were a lot of gaps in accountability and loopholes. Especially, in taluks, we had no means to assess the performance of the service or correct it, said Sudhakar, attributing the problem to the service provider.

We are now planning to implement a state-of-the-art ambulance service for which we have taken all preparatory steps. The objective is to dispatch ambulances to locations within 15 minutes of being summoned and the turnaround time will be one hour. The first golden hour is very crucial for the survivability of patients, he added.

Health Commissioner D Randeep said the government will seek to have about 1,000 new ambulances in service, a yet-to-be-determined percentage of which will be advanced life system ambulances.

The plan is to initially procure 750 ambulances, plus another 200 to replace 300 current ambulances, which are approaching the end stage, he added.

Under the existing system, decisions to take a patient to a particular hospital are being taken by ambulance drivers (pilots), which is leading to poor patient outcomes.

Hospitals in the state had not been mapped properly. We are now mapping them. In the new system, if a person has an orthopedic issue, a directive will be sent from our command centre to the ambulance to take the patient to the nearest orthopedic treatment hospital. The pilot will then have to take the patient to that centre alone, Sudhakar said.

He noted that these new procedures are the result of extensive studies by the Indian Institute of Science, the Indian Institute of Management and two separate additional chief secretary-level committees.

The health department had already outsourced the task of preparing a request for proposal (RFP) to the Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Limited (iDeCK).

The document is now ready. In the next one week to 15 days, it may come before the cabinet. After it is passed by the cabinet, it will go for tendering, the health minister said.

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Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has approved the upgradation of the existing two-lane Shiradi Ghat stretch from Maranahalli to Addahole into a four-lane path at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Thursday.

Bommai said this section of Shiradi Ghat is in need of urgent upgradation as the road becomes unusable in the monsoon season.

This work will be executed by NHAI and completed in two years. The state government has assured to give all support and clearances quickly, Bommai said in a statement.

The Bengaluru-Mangaluru stretch will have the same four-lane configuration, Bommai said. It would be the fastest way out to develop NH-75 to four-lane standards commensurate with the adjoining stretches in the most economical and environmentally sustainable manner, he said.

Also, Bommai said Gadkari has directed the NHAI to study the construction of a six-lane tunnel through the Shiradi Ghat.

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Derry, NH (03038)

Today

Periods of rain. High 52F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early with clearing later at night. Low 47F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The artist behind a thought-provoking new art exhibition in County Derry has revealed how the work provides an insight into her journey through lockdown.

Rikki-Louise van den Berg's 'Songs of the Sea' exhibition is currently on display at Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre in Limavady.

The exhibition is split into two parts, the second of which being her 'Sketchbook Series' work, which the Dutch-born artists says allows those viewing it a window into her lockdown experience.

Everything was shut, cancelled, so there was this time when we didn't know what we were looking at; a time of anxiety and obviously no work, she told the County Derry Post.

I couldn't find the motivation to get into the studio, but because painting was my way of processing, I needed to find a way to get into the studio to stay connected to the art.

I made a promise that every day, I'd go in  even just for ten minutes  and do a quick sketch, and this is what happened.

These are 10-20 minute sketches, very much based on memories and experiences of being in the water, by the water and out for hikes and walks.

I never intended to make a hundred of them, but I picked it up again during the second and third lockdown and ended up with around a hundred sketches.

It's not that people wanted a keepsake of the dark times, but it was more a keepsake of hope, which comes out through the exhibition as well.

Causeway Coast and Glens Mayor Richard Holmes pictured at the exhbition.

Van den Berg has settled in Inishowen, along the north Donegal coast from which she draws inspiration for her work.

The sea has always formed an integral part of her life.

Half of Holland is below sea level, but we would have lived close enough and I was always passionate about water sports. It's part of who I am, she said.

When I moved back to Ireland 25 years ago, my vision was to live by the sea, possibly because my parents would have taken us on camping trips to the coast.

They purchased a very old cottage near Westport, so we spent all our summers practically on the coast. You can never foretell what you get attached to, but that's where my love for the sea came from.

My aim was to go back to Westport, Achill Island, but I landed in Cavan and stayed there for just over 20 years.

I only moved to Donegal in 2019. I'd one son who was about to start secondary school, so if there was any time to move, it's now, before he starts secondary school.

So I took the plunge, left Cavan behind me and moved to Donegal. I'm finally living by the coast. I swim in it a couple of times a week.

I'm an active body boarder with the kids, and even when we lived in Cavan, we did that, we used to go to Sligo. So I've spent a lot of time in and around the sea. I just love it.

A piece from the Songs of the Sea exhibition.

Exploring the north coast along County Derry is something to which Rikki-Louise has given some thought.

I haven't explored enough of it, but it's definitely on my to-do list because that whole coastline is very, very inviting.

It's quite unique, so I need to explore that a bit more. I was chatting to my son the other day and he said he'd never been on a train.

That's something that we need to do  a day trip from Derry along the coast.

Despite the dearth of opportunities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Van den Berg feels the arts will emerge from this period in a stronger position.

Art in general has maybe become stronger, if you look at the music that has been created through the pandemic, she said.

I think the next few years are going to be very exciting and the Irish government are putting a lot of money towards the recovery of the art scene.

It's not just the artists, but the general public have been trying their best to shop locally, support small businesses with home made food.

There has been a great general change in attitude everywhere in the world, so I'm really looking forward to the next couple of years, she added.

'Songs of the Sea' can be viewed at Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre until February 5.
The owners of a blossoming Thai-French fusion restaurant in the Easton area are cooking up another tasty venture in Northampton County.

Nakkarawoot Krueawong, Ratchaphol Rojratana and Visanu Kiewkajee, who opened La Kang Thai-French Cuisine in April 2020 at 190 S. Greenwood Ave. in Palmer Township, are planning to open La Kang Thai Noodles Bar today, Jan. 20, at 620 Main St. in Hellertown, Krueawong said.

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La Kang Thai Noodles Bar opens Jan. 20 at 620 Main St. in Hellertown. (RYAN KNELLER / The Morning Call)

The borough space previously housed Sagra Bistro, which closed in 2019 after 11 years of business.

La Kang Thai Noodles Bar, with seating for around 50 guests, will serve authentic Thai cuisine with a focus on noodle dishes, including sukhothai pork noodle soup, duck confit leg noodle soup, drunken noodle, pad Thai and pad see ew (latter three available with choice of chicken, vegetable/tofu, shrimp, flank steak or crispy duck leg).

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The full-service restaurant will utilize various types of noodles, including handmade egg noodles, thin rice noodles and clear glass noodles, Krueawong said. Most noodle dishes will be priced between $16 and $19.

La Kang Thai Noodles Bar opens Jan. 20 at 620 Main St. in Hellertown. (RYAN KNELLER / The Morning Call)

Guests also will be able to customize dishes with certain ingredients as well as their spice preference.

This will all be authentic Thai cuisine, including food that we had when we were growing up, said Krueawong, who moved to the United States from Thailand in 2014. We are using family recipes as well as making dishes from restaurants that we liked from our time spent in Thailand.

Triple mushroom spring rolls, tom yum soup, chicken or tofu sate, jumbo lump crab fried rice, pan-seared duck breast (with red curry, basil and pineapple) and other popular dishes from the Palmer restaurant will carry over to the Hellertown eatery, Krueawong said.

La Kang Thai Noodles Bar in Hellertown offers a variety of Thai dishes, including La Kang dumpling (seasoned ground shrimp, chicken, lump crab, cilantro, sesame oil and red bell pepper ginger soy reduction). (La Kang Thai Noodles Bar/Contributed photo)

There also will be several new menu items, including La Kang dumpling (seasoned ground shrimp, chicken, lump crab, cilantro, sesame oil and red bell pepper ginger soy reduction), moo yang (grilled coconut marinated pork sirloin with spicy tamarind sauce), pad krapow ground chicken (onion, basil, garlic and chili atop fried egg, crispy basil and jasmine rice) and several noodle dishes such as short ribs khao soi (coconut braised short ribs, Chiang May-style yellow curry, egg noodles, pickled cabbage, red onion and cilantro with crispy egg noodles).

Other menu highlights include roasted brussel sprouts, green papaya salad with smoked shrimp and pineapple fried rice (with choice of chicken, vegetable/tofu, shrimp, flank steak or duck leg).

The Hellertown restaurant, a couple of doors down from Hellertown Bakery, was renovated to include new benches, wall paint, kitchen equipment and more.

La Kang Thai Noodles Bar opens Jan. 20 at 620 Main St. in Hellertown. The restaurant will feature an open kitchen where customers will be able to watch the chefs prepare their noodle dishes. (RYAN KNELLER / The Morning Call)

Additionally, the bar that Sagra used to serve beer, wine and cocktails has been converted into a noodle bar, with a stovetop and other equipment, where customers will be able to dine while watching their food being prepared behind Plexiglass panels.

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People love to see how their food is made up-close, and we cant wait to show them, Krueawong said.

Rojratana, who studied culinary arts at Northampton Community College, previously worked as a chef at other Lehigh Valley restaurants such as House & Barn in Emmaus and the former Roar Social House in Allentown.

Krueawong credits his culinary skills to his mother, Pattharaporn Wasilewski, who also works at La Kang and has more than 30 years of experience cooking Thai food.

Visanu is following in the footsteps of his father, Charlie Kiewkajee, who operates the 13-year-old Thai Thai II restaurant on Main Street in Bethlehem.

La Kang Thai Noodles Bar opens Jan. 20 at 620 Main St. in Hellertown. (RYAN KNELLER / The Morning Call)

The Hellertown location of La Kang, which means bell in Thai, also will feature a second-floor space for private parties and overflow dining sometime down the line, Krueawong said.

Were focused on opening the main floor first, he said.

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La Kang Thai Noodles Bar will be open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. To stay up-to-date on restaurant happenings, follow La Kang Thai Noodles Bars social media page, facebook.com/LaKangThaiNoodlesBar. Info: 484-851-3232.

La Kang Thai Noodles Bar in Hellertown offers a wide array of noodle dishes. (La Kang Thai Noodles Bar/Contributed photo)
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Some airlines said they received warnings from the FAA or Boeing that the plane maker's 777 was particularly affected.



By JON GAMBRELL

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Major international airlines canceled flights heading to the U.S. or changed the planes they're using Wednesday, the latest complication in a dispute over concerns that new 5G mobile phone service could interfere with aircraft technology.

Carriers took widely different approaches to the brewing crisis affecting international travel, from Middle Eastern airline Emirates drastically reducing its U.S.-bound flights to Air France saying it would fly as normal.





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By SYLVIA HUI

Associated Press

LONDON  Face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped for large events as infections level off in most parts of the country, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.

Johnson told lawmakers that the restrictions were being eased because government scientists think it is likely that the surge of infections prompted by the highly contagious omicron variant has now peaked nationally.





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PORTLAND  The City Council in Portland on Wednesday approved paying $22,500 to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman who said police used excessive force against her during the 2020 protests that wracked the city.

The settlement is the latest in a string of payouts  totaling at least $357,500 since January 2021  stemming from police actions during protests dating back to 2016.





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SEATTLE (AP)  Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a policy it announced earlier this month.

In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last week's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the Biden administration's plan to require vaccines or regular COVID testing at companies with more than 100 workers.





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OLYMPIA (AP)  Health officials in Washington state said Wednesday that residents will soon be able to order free at-home COVID-19 tests through a new state website.

The Seattle Times reported that the site is expected to launch within a few days, and the same week that the federal government launched its own test-ordering tool for households across the country.





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Photo courtesy of Greenbridge Investment Partners [enlarge] Seattle Design Center was given a face lift in 2015. JPC Architects was the designer and Venture General Contracting the general contractor.





As first reported in the Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle Design Center, at 5701 Sixth Ave. S., welcomed four new tenants this month. The new leases mean that the center's 25 showrooms and stores are now nearly all rented.





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SEATTLE  A midblock development site at 3835 Woodlawn Ave. N. sold for almost $2.7 million, according to King County records.

The sellers were homeowners who had owned the property for decades.





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Education

Mooreville teacher, principal named Lee County's Teacher, Administrator of the Year

MOOREVILLE  A Mooreville teacher and principal have been given Lee County School District's highest honors.

The Lee County school board and LCSD Superintendent Coke Magee named Jonathan Chaney, a special education teacher at Mooreville High School, and Dr. Meghan Cates, principal of Mooreville Elementary School, as the 2021-22 Teacher of the Year and Administrator of the Year, respectively.

The two honorees were announced at Lee County's monthly school board meeting, Tuesday evening.

'The moment that we live for'

This is Chaney's first year teaching in a self-contained special education classroom designed to offer specialized support and intervention to students. He also coaches boys and girls track and cross country, and drives a school bus for the district.

Chaney has worked in education for nine years, five of which he spent as an inclusion teacher at Mooreville High, working with special education students in general education classes.

Chaney said being named Lee County's 2021-22 Teacher of the Year was a shock, and that it wouldn't have been possible without community support in Lee County and in Mooreville.

Last year, while considering whether to accept the self-contained teaching position, Chaney consulted with McKinley Holland, a self-contained teacher at Tupelo High School.

Holland told Chaney that once he took that position, he didn't want to go back to doing anything else. So Chaney took the job.

Adam Robison | DAILY JOURNAL Jonathan Chaney, a self-contained special education teacher at Mooreville High School, teaches his class on Tuesday morning. Chaney was named 2021-22 Teacher of the Year for the Lee County School District.

In the class, Chaney teaches his students hands-on life skills  everything from grocery shopping and hygiene to doing laundry and money management.

The class makes chicken biscuits and sweet tea to sell to other students and teachers on Tuesday mornings, using many of the skills they've learned throughout the year.

Chaney's teaching philosophy comes from a professor he had at Mississippi State University: "No matter what level you get to academically, if you're not able to maintain healthy relationships, you'll never make it far."

The most basic part of his class is helping students build and maintain healthy relationships with others.

Chaney's proudest moment so far was having his entire class volunteer with the October 2021 Celebration Village fundraiser in Tupelo.

"In the past, there had been some kids that may not have been able to go just because of the physical nature," Chaney said. "I wanted each of those kids to have the opportunity to create an experience that they haven't had before."

The first day, Chaney's students received lots of guidance. By the second day, it was more hands off. And by the third day, there were four students excelling on their own, he said.

"Those are the moments that we strive for," Chaney said.

Adam Robison | DAILY JOURNAL Jonathan Chaney, a self-contained special education teacher at Mooreville High School, helps Libby Cheney, a tenth grader in his classroom, with her assignment on Tuesday morning. Chaney was named 2021-22 Teacher of the Year for the Lee County School District.

Chaney received a commemorative plaque, a bouquet of flowers from Bishop's Flower Shop and a $100 check from ExPECT, a nonprofit that supports Lee County Schools.

He also received an award and $1,000 check from the Toyota Wellspring Education Fund and the CREATE Foundation.

'I've got to set that example'

Cates has served as Mooreville Elementary' s principal for two years now. The entirety of her 20-year career in education has been at the school.

She started as a first grade teacher, moved on to second grade and after several years in the classroom, became an academic coach. From there, she moved up to the role of assistant principal and principal.

Being named Lee County's Administrator of the Year is humbling, Cates said.

"I don't feel like I would be as successful as I have been in this position had it not been for having a great staff and great students," Cates said.

"We're all in" is a motto for the school, Cates said. And in order to have buy-in from staff and students, Cates said, she had to show them that she's all in.

From the moment she arrives, she insures things are functioning flawlessly  sending out morning notes, making sure kids are in line and every little detail is taken care of.

Adam Robison | DAILY JOURNAL Dr. Meghan Cates, principal at Mooreville Elementary School, walks down the hall with a group of fourth graders on Tuesday morning. Cates was named the 2021-22 Administrator of the Year for the Lee County School District.

Cates exemplified the school's motto during the first few weeks of the 2021-22 school year. When Mooreville Elementary' s cafeteria staff was shorthanded, Cates and assistant principal Baden Honeycutt helped serve lunch to students and teachers.

"If that's going to be our brand, if that's what we're going to live by, then I've got to set that example," Cates said.

The most rewarding parts of her job are simple: seeing a child learn to read, hugging a child in the hallway or having a child share with her that they had a good day in the classroom.

"Little things like that, to me, make my job worthwhile," Cates said. "Because I can see them growing and progressing."

Adam Robison | DAILY JOURNAL Dr. Meghan Cates, principal at Mooreville Elementary School, greets her students on Tuesday morning as she walks the halls at Mooreville Elementary. Cates was named the 2021-22 Administrator of the Year for the Lee County School District.

Cates received a commemorative plaque, a bouquet of flowers from Bishop's Flower Shop, a LCSD-branded portable charger and a $100 check from ExPECT.

Both Chaney and Cates are now in the running to receive the same recognition at the state level. The Mississippi teacher and administrator of the year will be announced in April.
A New York woman suffered facial and hand abrasions when an ice missile soared over the median barrier on Interstate 78 near Hamburg and broke her windshield, state police said Thursday.

Sherri D. Doty, 41, of Garnersville was treated at the scene by Hamburg EMS following the incident about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday in Windsor Township, troopers at the Hamburg station said.

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They provided the following account:

Doty was driving a small SUV westbound when she saw ice or frozen snow fly off an eastbound tractor-trailer. Doty told troopers she saw the ice missile soar over the median barrier and was hoping it would not hit her vehicle.

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The driver of the unidentified rig did not stop.

The flying ice struck the drivers side of the windshield, breaking it. Doty was treated for abrasions to her hands and face. Her passenger wasnt injured.

In Pennsylvania, drivers who do not clear snow or ice from their vehicles risk staff fines. Under the state vehicle code, the operator of a moving vehicle from which snow and ice dislodges and falls and damages another vehicle or injures a motorist or pedestrian is subject to a fine of $200 to $1,000.
Man sentenced to jail in Yellowstone assaults

CODY (WNE)  A California man was sentenced to nine months in jail on Jan. 5 for breaking out of restraints and assaulting and injuring two law enforcement officers at Yellowstone National Park.

Benjamin Bagala, 27, pleaded guilty to misdemeanors for assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees and one count of depredation against property of the United States, for actions he took last September. Bagala also must pay $2,865.42 in restitution for damages he caused at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, one year supervised probation, during which time he will serve a ban from Yellowstone.

According to evidence provided by Yellowstone, Bagala was highly intoxicated, harassing guests, breaking things and approached a security guard in a threatening manner on Sept. 25. Bagala broke plexiglass shields, plates, doors and frames, damaged light fixtures, and caused blood splatter throughout the halls and lobby.

A law enforcement officer was called in, who Bagala ended up attacking. The officer had to deploy his taser to gain control of Bagala.

Bagala was determined to be injured and so intoxicated that an ambulance had to be called.

Two additional officers were called in, who started transporting Bagala to a hospital in Livingston, Mont. While in route, Bagala broke out of his restraints and started assaulting the officer who was in the back of the vehicle with him. The officer driving had to pull over to assist. Bagala injured both officers before the event was over.

This story was published on Jan. 20.



Man detained after two hours on church roof

LARAMIE (WNE)  Laramie first responders negotiated with a man who climbed the outside of St. Matthews Cathedral in Laramie on Wednesday afternoon for about two hours before the man was brought down from his perch on the churchs roof.

Police, the Laramie Fire Department and Wyoming Highway Patrol responded to the church at Ivinson Avenue and 3rd Street in downtown at about 3:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a man climbing the outside of the church. There were about six police cars, three fire trucks and an ambulance staged at the scene.

Police responded to the incident first and trained weapons at the man while commanding him to get down from the roof. The man, who did not appear to be armed, did not follow their commands and wrapped what appeared to be a rope or cable around his waist.

The man pushed away a ladder that was placed against the church to reach him multiple times. At another point, he threw phones off the roof that responders had placed there and smashed one of them.

The main downtown north-south corridor through Laramie, 3rd Street between University Avenue and Grand Avenue was closed for about two hours as the afternoon turned to dusk and temperatures dipped into the teens.

Its not clear why the man, who appeared upset at times yelled at police, climbed the church. He was eventually coaxed into a fire department ladder truck bucket and brought down in restraints a little after 5:30 p.m. and loaded into the ambulance.

This story was published on Jan. 20.



Almost $1M subsidy needed for air service between Cody, Denver

POWELL (WNE)  The federal government is being asked to pay nearly $1 million per year to keep United Airlines flying between Cody and Denver in Yellowstone Regional Airports slower months.

From June through September, United flies at its own risk to Cody, but for years, its required a subsidy to serve the airport from October through May. Starting next fall, the airline says it will need $996,968 a year to keep offering twice-a-day flights to and from Denver. Thats up more than 18% from the current $841,000 subsidy offered through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Ankit Gupta, a senior vice president at United, said in a letter to the DOT that the higher subsidy was necessary to operate sustainably between October and May in the face of a higher-cost environment going forward.

Resource constraints at United, in part caused by the COVID-19 pandemic but expected to persist into the intermediate future, contribute to the increase in operating and structural costs, Gupta wrote, saying the increased subsidy recognizes the economic reality of serving Yellowstone Regional Airports off-peak months; its not unusual for passenger boardings to shrink to about a third of summer traffic.

The subsidies are offered through the DOTs Essential Air Service program, which guarantees smaller airports like Cody a connection to a larger hub, like Denver.

On Tuesday, Park County commissioners agreed to sign a letter backing Uniteds request for the $996,968 annual subsidy.

I dont think we have a choice  we need to support this, we desperately need the essential air service here in Cody, said Commissioner Joe Tilden.

This story was published on Jan. 20.



Dispute over county commissioner heads to court

NEWCASTLE (WNE)  Weston County Commissioner Tony Barton and concerned citizen Garrett Borton will have their day in court at a hearing on March 31.

Judge James Micheal Causey, will consider a motion by Bartons lawyers to dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted.

As previously reported, the suit against Barton was filed on Oct. 26 by Borton.

According to court documents, Borton is seeking injunctive and declaratory relief concerning Bartons qualification to function as a county commissioner.

Borton did not ask that Barton be removed from his seat on the commission, as previously reported by the News Letter Journal. He asked the judge for a temporary injunction, which per statute would be a command to refrain from a particular act.

In Bartons case, this would mean that Barton would have to refrain from voting as an elected official and that he no longer would receive financial compensation from the county. The petition further asks for a permanent injunction in which the court grants the requested relief.

According to the documents filed on Nov. 18, Barton was elected on Nov. 6, 2018, by the voters of Weston County to serve a four-year term as commissioner and that the time to contest these results has lapsed. It further states that Barton took residency in Crook County on or about Oct. 29, 2020, and has continued to serve on the commission. His term ends on Jan. 2, 2023.

This story was published on Jan. 20.
Duncan, OK (73533)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low near 55F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low near 55F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Louth is to get 175,161 in funding as part of the 2022 Creative Ireland Programme Creative Communities initiative, it was announced yesterday by Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD.

The funding is aimed at offering opportunities in Louth for people of all ages to engage with creative projects in the local area. It includes planning for an enhanced Cruinniu na nOg - Irelands national day celebrating young peoples creativity in June 2022. There will be projects around Creativity in Older Age with opportunities for older people to participate in creative activities.

There are also plans for Creative Climate Action projects, in partnership with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, to use the talents of artists and the wider creative industries to connect people with the profound changes happening in our environment, society and economy arising from climate change.

The ambition of the Creative Ireland Programme is to mainstream creativity in the life of the nation. Participation in cultural and creative activity promotes individual, community and national wellbeing.

With the Creative Ireland programme centred around the themes of identity, culture and citizenship, Louths part in the initiatives five-year journey began with its plans for 2017. A host of projects and initiatives have taken place in Louth since 2017, from a Midsummers Artisan Market in Drogheda to the annual harp festival An Chuirt Chruitireachta, a visual arts residency and new school of music at An Tain Arts Centre, Dundalk, and storytelling initiatives and workshops at local libraries too.

Welcoming the funding announcement, Louth Senator, Erin McGreehan said, "local authorities have extensive expertise across heritage, arts, libraries as well as vital local relationships. I firmly believe that culture plays a key role in local governments work in creating great places to live and work."

"Creative Communities takes this a step further", she added. "Culture and creativity can be part of responses to social isolation, to creating a sense of place and to integrating new communities.
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TV personality Mehmet Oz, a Republican running for an open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, did not show up as expected for the monthly meeting of the Wyoming County Republican Committee on Tuesday night.

Time was allotted for Dave White, a Delaware County resident running for governor; Clarice Schillinger, a Montgomery County resident running for lieutenant governor, and Oz, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat of Sen. Pat Toomey, who will retire.

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About 45 minutes into the program, county Republican Chair Davis Haire said the former host of The Dr. Oz Show had not arrived.

The event attracted about 100 people. Haire told them, I will extract a reason before next months meeting ... as to why (Oz) did not come to Wyoming County.

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We are booked with candidates for all three statewide races up to the May 17 election, and I dont see how we can fit him in looking forward, he said.

Oz was scheduled to attend a Republican meet-and-greet in Lackawanna County on Wednesday night.
Louth councillors passed a motion brought forward by Cllr Declan Power, at the Louth County Council January meeting, seeking the Government to fast track first hospital appointments for Orthopaedics.

In his motion, Cllr Power calls on Louth County Council to write to the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman, to fast track first hospital appointments for orthopaedics that includes consultations for tests or scans to access musculoskeletal problems affecting their bones, joints and muscles.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Power said that there are currently over 4,000 in the country awaiting outpatient appointments at Paediatric Orthopaedics. Over 900 children have been waiting for over 18 months for operations and in many cases if appointments and surgeries are not conducted and fast tracked, these conditions will become inoperable.

He added that Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus need to be fast tracked the most because these conditions deteriorate quicker than most.

Cllr Power shared the story of one parent he has been working with who has a six year old son called Cillian, a wheelchair user who uses a frame to stand up, and who has been waiting for almost four years for urgent surgery. Cillian had to be brought by his mother Adele, to Temple Street Hospital because her son was in so much pain, where he was placed on an emergency list for surgery. Cllr Power added that following several cancellations, the surgery was finally taking place that very day.

Cllr Power went on to inform the meeting that on 10 November, well known orthopaedic surgeon, Connor Green, met with the Joint Committee for Health and explained just how dire the situation for Orthopaedic care is in Ireland. A submission for funding was presented for 5.1 million to expand Cappagh Hospital, that would increase treatment by 400% and ultimately take pressure off childrens hospitals and reduce the backlog of orthopaedic surgeries. This submission was turned down however.

The lack of Orthopaedic care in this country is abysmal and as councillors and as a council, we can create a bit of a noise and continue to lobby, we can liaise with our colleagues across the country but we must do something, said the councillor. Children are being denied the adequate care for their orthopaedic conditions and an opportunity to improve their quality of life.

Cllr Maeve Yore welcomed Cllr Power's motion, and said, it's absolutely scandalous that this has been going on for decades. It's 18 years since SNAP (Special Needs Active Parents) and other disabilities groups highlighted this and other lack of therapy services.

She continued, I absolutely support Declan's motion. It makes me so mad. There's millions spent on HSE managers who are managing nobody.

It just shows the priorities of successive governments, that they've turned down 5 million for Cappagh. Cormac Green is transforming lives across Ireland. We have to as elected reps, stand up and be the voice for these people and demand change.
Cllr Antoin Watters brought up the issue of water pressure in the Cooley area, at the Louth County Council January meeting, telling the meeting that some people were saying that they were getting very little water pressure to their properties.

They had looked into the possibility of getting a grant to sink a well, Cllr Watters told the members, but because the mains water runs by the front of their property however, they do not qualify for a grant.

So we have a case where they can't get a grant for a well and they can't get enough pressure off the mains supply to run their property, so their kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place", said Cllr Watters.

Cllr Watters asked if there is something the local authority could look to do for these people. He added that it was an essential service that people need and asked if the Council could look at writing to Irish Water. "In 2022 it's not good enough that people aren't getting enough water to their premises", he added.

In response, the meeting heard from Head of Finance and Water Services, Bernie Woods, who asked Cllr Watters send her in the details, as well as logging it with Irish Water and they could look at it from there. She added that unfortunately, because the water mains goes by the properties, they are not entitled to a well grant.
Local Fianna Fail Senator Erin McGreehan has welcomed the news that from 2023 there will be a new annual public holiday at the start of February to mark St. Brigids Day.

Senator McGreehan commented: St. Brigid was a Louth woman born near my home in Faughart.

"A formidable woman who ran her own church in Kildare, she is an inspiring lady.

"As Erin Brigid who has been celebrating St. Brigids day here in Louth all my life with the procession of light at the St Brigids Shrine every February 1st - I am very proud and delighted that the entire country will now celebrate the life of a spiritual and inspiring woman.

Its also about time we celebrate the Louth womans life.

"We have three holidays dedicated to men in Ireland, Christmas Day, St Stephens Day and St Patricks Day, none of whom were Irish. As someone who loves our history, who respects our past and the women of our history, I am very glad that this is finally going to happen.
Claremont, NH (03743)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Showers in the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
In his first campaign visit to Northeast Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz spoke about how he feels the government has failed in its handling of COVID-19, the economy, supply chain disruptions and border protection.

Oz, the TV personality known as Dr. Oz and a Republican running for an open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, voiced his concerns about the long-term effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

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I like the vaccine, but I dont think its working that well anymore, he said in Old Forge, Lackawanna County. I think it ran its course. It bought us time, but no doctor plans their entire treatment strategy around preventing illness. You have to treat the problem.

Oz also worries about ongoing supply chain issues and labor shortages.

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I visited a lot of third-party logistics companies and the turnover of employees is 100%, he said. They cant keep people hired. I also talked to a trucking group that had 20 truck drivers and 10 quit because they didnt want to do the job anymore. The ones that were left had to do twice as more work and they quit.

Oz believes the government is also failing to keep Americans safe.

We have a covenant, he said. As citizens, we follow the rules, pay our taxes and try to raise healthy families. The governments responsibility is to protect us, domestically and at our borders, and theyre not doing it.

When Oz opened up interactions with the audience, Jennifer Kreig, 32, of Pittston, who works as a general manager at Long John Silvers in Moosic, called on politicians to take a more active role in the community. She added she feared for the safety of her family, including her three children between the ages of 6 and 12, when she was interacting with customers.

Breaking News Alerts As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

I worked during the entire pandemic and I dont vote because I feel like (politicians) dont care about the general public, she said.

Oz sympathized with Kreigs plight and called for more people to return to work.

Ive always treasured people in the service industry, he said. You matter more than you imagine. The biggest disappointment out on the campaign trail is how many times people tell me theyre risking everything they have because other people arent working with them. Weve paid people to stay home and pajama time is addictive.

Oz gained fame for hosting a nationally syndicated talk show, The Dr. Oz Show. The series final episode aired on Jan. 14.

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The Senate candidate did not show up as expected for the monthly meeting of the nearby Wyoming County Republican Committee on Tuesday night.

Brittany Yanick, communications director for Dr. Oz for Senate, provided clarification on his absence on Wednesday.

We have a text exchange from Dec. 8 about Tuesdays event between my colleague Anna Chapman who spoke with Wyoming County GOP Chair Davis Haire and she never confirmed Dr. Ozs attendance for the event, Yanick said. We think there might have been a miscommunication in the text thread and were working with them on a future date.
North Andover, MA (01845)

Today

Rain likely. High 53F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Light rain early. Decreasing clouds late. Low 47F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Ali Houpt and son Lincoln, 7, support the Hellertown Library on Wednesday during a Lower Saucon Township Council meeting. Some residents are concerned the township will stop paying for access to the Hellertown Area Library and they will lose its services. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call )

Lower Saucon Township Council voted Wednesday night to spend $100,000 in library services.

But residents didnt like learning the details.

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Council plans to donate $50,000 to the Hellertown Area Library, about half its typical annual allocation, to cover approximately the first half of 2022.

But council members also approved $50,000 for neighboring Southern Lehigh Public Library, in an effort to provide residents with expanded services, they said.

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Council voted 4-1 on each proposal. Newly installed member Jennifer Zavacky, councils liaison to the library who introduced the motion for the Hellertown library donation, was joined in both yes votes by council President Jason Banonis and members Thomas Carocci and Sandra Yerger. Council member Priscilla deLeon dissented both times, and argued the township should continue its usual arrangement with the Hellertown library. Banonis presented the Southern Lehigh motion.

Council also told residents that no final decision about the library has been made, and that councils attorney and library liaison will continue discussing future funding with Hellertown library representatives.

Dozens of Hellertown library supporters who crowded the township meeting room urged council to provide its usual, approximately $106,000 in funding, arguing the small library offers a variety of services and programs that benefit adults and children.

They used terms such as a community resource and hub about the library on Constitution Avenue in arguing to keep the same level of funding. And they worried council members want to axe them completely from Hellertowns library.

[ Lower Saucon Township residents worry they could be axed from Hellertown library system ]

At issue, according to Lower Saucon officials, is a lack of communication over a 2022 agreement that Hellertown and library board officials approved in November but drew questions that township representatives said have gone unanswered.

I asked the library today for a more detailed budget of their revenues and expenditures, township attorney B. Lincoln Treadwell Jr. said. By detail, I mean sometimes you have a category, say fundraising expenses. What are they? What is the [money] used for? Who are you writing checks to?

Residents disagreed, at times vehemently, with the boards moves. One woman, upon hearing councils proposal to contribute money to the Southern Lehigh library, shouted Despicable.

First Call Daily Leading local stories delivered on weekday mornings >

The meeting grew heated at times. Banonis, who gave a 25-minute presentation with background about the library since its inception last decade, had to use his gavel several times to keep residents in order.

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No one from Hellertowns library staff or board spoke during the three-hour meeting, which drew a standing-room-only crowd of about 150.

Jessica King, vice president of the Friends of the Hellertown Area Library, said she understood Zavacky and some on council are looking at the library critically.

However, she just made a motion to take away $56,000 from our library with no promise that she will replace it, King said. She added that she would have liked to have heard council provide a timeline on reevaulating its funding to the library.

The Southern Lehigh library serves Coopersburg and Lower Milford and Upper Saucon townships, according to its website. Hellertown serves the borough and Lower Saucon, but Zavacky said Southern Lehigh could potentially provide more services and a first step toward regionalization and collaboration among libraries. Council did not say what additional services the Southern Lehigh library would provide.

Lower Saucon Township was formerly a part of the Bethlehem Area Public Library system, but left it to join the Hellertown library about eight years ago, following debate among residentswho wanted a library closer to home and others who felt the Bethlehem library system provided better value.

Morning Call journalist Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.
A Forks Township man wanted on charges of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old in 2012 was arrested Wednesday after arriving at Philadelphia International Airport on a flight from Qatar, authorities said.

Michael Boumal, 65, was arrested shortly after 4 p.m. by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on charges of attempted aggravated indecent assault on a child, corrupting a minor and indecently assaulting a child under age 13, according to a CBP news release.

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CBP officers confirmed with Forks Township police that the warrant was still active, met Boumal as he arrived and confirmed he was the subject of the warrant, the release states. He was then turned over to Forks police, who were waiting at the airport for Boumal.

Forks police asked for the publics help in finding Boumal in 2016, charging him with the alleged crimes from four years earlier.

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Morning Call reporter Andrew Scott can be reached at 610-820-6508 or ascott@mcall.com.
Cars filled with high school seniors and their parents rolled into the Mesa Convention center parking lot last week as the students got some help to fill out the initial forms needed to seek tuition help for higher education.
CITESTE IN ROMANA

EBRD, EU provide fresh funds to support MSMEs in Moldova via EXIMBANK

Borrowers to benefit from EU grants following successful investment

Boost for firms competitiveness and sustainability

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a 5 million loan to EXIMBANK to boost the competitiveness of Moldovan micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The loan agreement was signed today by EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso on her first official visit to Moldova.

The new financing will allow borrowers to invest in more modern equipment and align their processes with European Union (EU) standards. Higher product quality and more efficient production in a safer and healthier working environment will help businesses to operate successfully both locally and in the European market.

Ms Renaud-Basso said: Fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can help economies to recover from the ongoing pandemic by creating new jobs and introducing innovations. I am delighted to consolidate cooperation with EXIMBANK  part of Intesa Sanpaolo, our strong partner in so many countries  to channel funds to companies across Moldova, with support from the European Union. Better access to finance will help them grow, innovate and become greener.

At least 70 per cent of the new funds will be used to finance green technologies and a third will be dedicated to improving access to finance for women-led companies.

Borrowers will be eligible for a cashback grant of up to 15 per cent of the loan amount upon successful completion of their respective investments. The financial incentives are funded by the EU under the EU4Business initiative.

Janis Mazeiks, EU Ambassador to Moldova, added: With the support of the European Union and in partnership with the EBRD, under the Team Europe approach, Moldovan SMEs will be able to take advantage of this flagship programme which offers SMEs the opportunity to invest in upgrading their production, increasing their competitiveness and boosting growth. The EU4Business-EBRD credit line programme provides investment grants that are a strong financial incentive for productive investments. The signing of the new loan agreement with EXIMBANK is another step towards better access to finance and we encourage SMEs from Moldova to take advantage of the new opportunities.

The EBRD loan is part of the EU4Business-EBRD credit line available in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Vitalie Bucataru, First Deputy General Manager of EXIMBANK, commented: This project strengthens EXIMBANKs commitment to supporting local business, especially ESG-oriented and women-led businesses, and to bringing our own contribution to increasing their quality standards and competitiveness on the market. EXIMBANK has a significant impact on the social and environmental context in which it carries out its business. For this reason, it aims to create long-term value for the organisation, its employees, customers, community and the environment. We are therefore delighted that this project, with EU support for the grant component, marks the beginning of what will surely be a fruitful and long-lasting collaboration with the EBRD for EXIMBANK, as part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group.

Based in Chisinau and fully owned by Intesa Sanpaolo since 2018, EXIMBANK serves about 36,000 retail and corporate clients through a network of 17 branches.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Moldova and, to date, has invested more than 1.54 billion in the country through 151 projects. It has also provided advisory services to more than 1,500 Moldovan firms to help them improve performance and grow.
CITESTE IN ROMANA

EBRD President visits Chisinau for talks with the Moldovan government and businesses

President Odile Renaud-Basso expects a high level of engagement in Moldova in 2022

Investment and policy programme to build on 300 million in business in the past three years

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) President Odile Renaud-Basso expects the Bank to undertake a robust investment programme in Moldova in 2022, combined with support for key economic policies to help the country advance on its reformist path. The President was on her first official visit to the country from 18 to 20 January 2022.

The Moldovan economy is set to rebound despite uncertainties and the EBRD expects gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 4.0 per cent in 2022. The Bank is committed to a high level of engagement with the country, as in 2021, when its investment in various sectors stood at over 100 million, bringing the Banks three-year investment in Moldova to 300 million.

The overwhelming majority of the 2021 financing was channelled to projects promoting sustainability, and a third was dedicated to small and medium sized-enterprises and provided through local banks.

There was encouraging progress on the implementation of complex infrastructure projects and the EBRD was able to disburse new tranches of previously signed loans to support road-building, energy efficiency in public buildings in the capital, Chisinau, and the acquisition of new trolleybuses for the second-largest city of Balti.

EBRD President Renaud-Basso was encouraged by Moldovas fresh start. She welcomed the new governments commitment to reform, a better business environment, sound banking sector and greener future for the country.

She recognised the many challenges Moldova is facing and pledged the Banks full support in tackling them. The Bank is prepared to provide financing and technical assistance to strengthen energy security and help diversify gas supplies. The President reiterated the importance of energy efficiency and the development of renewable sources of energy as key ways to reduce the countrys dependence on energy imports.

In her meetings with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, ministers and the Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, Octavian Armasu, Ms Renaud-Basso also discussed the business environment, structural reforms and ways to finance local companies growth to create jobs, support the development of infrastructure and attract foreign investment to the country.

She signed a new credit line with EXIMBANK, the Moldovan subsidiary of Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, to channel funds to companies across the country to help them grow, innovate and become greener. EXIMBANKs loans to Moldovan businesses will be backed by European Union grants of up to 15 per cent.

In addition, the President held talks with representatives of the business community, key banks, international financial institutions, diplomatic missions and civil society. She visited the Glass Container Company, Moldovas largest glass bottle producer, where the EBRD has financed a new melting furnace and two new production lines.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Moldova and, to date, has invested more than 1.54 billion in the country through 151 projects. It has also provided advisory services to more than 1,500 Moldovan firms to help them improve their performance and grow.
A WEST Cork bar owner is on a mission to stamp out so-called catfish incidents at his restaurant with a new initiative designed to protect the safety of female customers.

James Casey, owner of Caseys Bar and Restaurant in Clonakilty, felt compelled to act after noticing a customers distress when a man she met through an online dating site didnt match his profile picture.

Mr Casey recalled how he had maintained a subtle presence around their table to ensure the woman didnt run into any danger.

The encounter sparked a clever idea thats now receiving much praise from the public.

He explained that customers can order the angel shot to alert their server to an uncomfortable situation.

An order of a neat angel shot prompts a staff member to escort the customer to their car while a dressed angel shot is code for someone to call a taxi.

Requesting a lime with the angel shot gives permission for staff to immediately call the gardai.

He recalled how the idea began.

I came up with it after seeing a womans shock when the guy she had met on a dating site was a completely different person to his picture, he said.

It was unnerving when she told him that he was completely different from his profile picture. She didnt raise her voice but you could tell she was serious. I knew she wasnt happy or comfortable so I stayed around with the brush and pan to make it look like I was cleaning around that area. I could tell by her body language that she was extremely uncomfortable. Even her legs were pointed in the direction of the exit which indicated to me that she didnt want to be there.

He added: They had a drinks order, but the date didnt last five minutes. She got up and left and we saw her return to her car safely.

However, he said that just the idea of presenting a false identity was sinister enough in nature.

I dont know why someone would pretend to be someone theyre not when theyre inevitably going to be caught. The last thing I want is to see is someone at the other end of this getting into trouble.

Mr Caseys initiative comes four years after the nationwide roll-out of the Ask for Angela campaign which was designed as a safety mechanism for those feeling unsafe on a night out. The codeword was similar in that it alerted bar staff to safety concerns from a customer.

Initially introduced in Waterford by the city council in November of 2017, Ask for Angela was widely referred to nationwide.

Before someone could go to the bar and ask for Angela," James said.

However, with Covid its all table service now so these things have gotten harder to do. The only time you really meet the staff now is when they come over to your table to ask if youre OK.

Working in security and, as a retained firefighter, opened James eyes to the dangers all around us.

I used to work in security in Havana Browns and Reardens in Cork which helped me a lot when it came to judging peoples body language. Sometimes its not just about the fright you get when you find yourself in a situation like this. It can also affect a persons self-confidence and self-esteem. Its not a nice thing to be tricked like that. Most just sit it out and wait for the date to be over.

James said he finds helping people very rewarding.

When someone is at their worst and you can help them then thats a good feeling.
Irish Water says it is working tirelessly to resolve issues affecting a water plant in east Cork in order to be able to lift a boil water notice impacting 9,500 people.

The boil water notice, which affects customers supplied by the Whitegate Regional Public Water Supply, was put in place on Christmas Day and remains in place until further notice. This includes people in Whitegate, Aghada, Churchtown, Ballycotton, Saleen, Shanagarry, Ballinacura and areas of Cloyne.

Precautionary measure

The notice was initially put in place as a precautionary measure following issues with the treatment process at the water treatment plant due to heavy rainfall.

The utility said that as a result, this may have compromised the disinfection process which makes the water safe to drink.

In a statement, Irish Water said that the utility and Cork County Council continue to work to rectify the issues at Whitegate Water Treatment Plant with a view to lifting the notice as quickly and as safely as possible.

In the meantime, all customers on this supply are advised to boil their water before use until further notice, it added.

Irish Waters Pat Britton said that they appreciate the impact the notice is having on the community.

Public health is Irish Waters number one priority and we appreciate the impact that this notice is having on the community in East Cork. However, the restriction has been put in place as a precaution in order to protect our consumers.

Long-term solution

Mr Britton said that a long-term solution to the issue is being implemented, but that further boil water notices may have to be put in place in the coming months if the raw water source is adversely impacted by weather conditions.

As part of our 25 year strategy under the National Water Resources Plan, we have identified that the preferred approach for the Whitegate supply includes the construction of a new water treatment plant to adequately treat the raw water. Due to the nature of the project, land acquisition, planning approvals and other legal consents may be required. We are currently completing the detailed scoping of the project which should be finished within the next month. Timelines for the completion of the project will be clearer then, however, all projects where some level of land acquisition, planning etc. are involved can be difficult to predict."

Further notices

Mr Britton added: We in Irish Water completely understand the community's frustration and can ensure everyone that we working tirelessly to resolve the issues affecting the plant, both in the short and long term, and to lift the boil water notice as early as it is safe to do so. Sampling, in consultation with the HSE, has begun and we will aim to lift the notice as soon as it is safe to do so. However, until a long term solution has been implemented, there is a possibility that further boil water notices may be imposed on the Whitegate Regional Water Supply in the coming months if the raw water source is adversely affected by weather conditions. We again apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.

In line with HSE Covid-19 advice and the requirement for frequent hand washing, Irish Water advises that the water remains suitable for this purpose and boiling the water is not required.

Irish Water said if any customer is unsure on whether or not the Boil Water Notice applies to their area, please visit www.water.ie or alternatively, customers can contact the Irish Water customer care helpline on 1800 278 278.
A local advocate of the elderly has welcomed a recruitment campaign by Cork Kerry Community Healthcare for 200 new Health Care Support Assistants, formerly known as home helps, in Cork.

Working in partnership with service users and their families, the seven-day personalised service provides people with support at home for activities of daily living.

Welcoming the news, Paddy OBrien said that there has been a great demand for this for many many years.

The situation was deplorable. To me, the situation was a scandal that you could not get home help, there were waiting lists for home help.

Many elderly people did move into nursing homes in the last two years as a direct result of being unable to get home help.

All the surveys that have been carried out, not just in Ireland but in every country in Europe, find that the elderly want to finish their own days at home, in their own community, the place they are familiar with and the home helps do that, they keep the people in the community and keep the people at home in their own environment.

I welcome it, it is a great boost for the care services. They do wonderful work and go beyond the call of duty and that has always been the situation, he said.

He said that the service improves the quality of life for so many elderly but called on the HSE to now look in a very serious way at the situation in relation to the number of visits per week made by Health Care Support Assistants and allocation of time.

Some elderly people are only getting 30 minutes per week. That is totally unacceptable because any person going into an elderly person would find it impossible to do anything in a half an hour.

We must be realistic in offering people home help because they cant do anything in a half an hour. The big advantage of having a home help on elderly people is that home help is probably the only person they speak to for days and if they are rushing in and out theres no time for a chat and I would say to the HSE be realistic in the allocation of times that they would spend, he said.

Speaking about the role, HCSA Recruitment Co-ordinator Noreen Cremin said: The service that Health Care Support Assistants provides to people in their own communities is a hugely valued service.

I think now more than ever the general public and the health services itself really appreciate the service that Health Care Support Assistants can provide by enabling people to live at home, safely and for as long as is reasonably possible.

The closing date for the applications is Friday, January 21 at midday.

Job details are available here.
Top Chinese legislator pledges enhanced exchanges with El Salvador

Xinhua) 17:20, January 20, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks Thursday with Ernesto Castro, the president of El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, via video link.

Calling El Salvador a valued partner of China in Latin America and the Caribbean region, Li mentioned joint efforts of the two sides in fighting COVID-19 and expressed China's readiness to work with El Salvador to implement the consensus between the two heads of state and deepen bilateral ties.

Noting that the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries accords with a global trend and serves the fundamental interests of El Salvador and its people, Li expressed the hope for closer high-level exchanges between the two sides, deepening mutual political trust and expanding pragmatic cooperation to bring more achievements for the two peoples. He also said that China is willing to further COVID-19 response cooperation with El Salvador.

Li said the NPC is ready to deepen communications with El Salvador's Legislative Assembly to provide legal guarantees for high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation in various fields. The NPC will also expand exchanges in social governance, improvement of livelihoods, and other areas, he added.

For his part, Castro thanked China for the assistance and support provided to El Salvador in pandemic response and promotion of development, adding that its Legislative Assembly is willing to enhance exchanges with the NPC for deepening bilateral relations and promoting friendship between the two peoples.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Nearly three decades later, a lesson from one of my favorite college professors still rings true nearly every day.

A project never gets finished. It becomes due.

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I could tinker with the wording of my columns forever. But I dont have that luxury. I have a deadline. At some point, I have to consider my work complete.

I hope Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republicans running the Pennsylvania Legislature learned that lesson, too. The clock is ticking toward their due date for a new map of congressional districts, based on the latest census data.

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If they dont agree on a map, the courts will impose one. That would be disgraceful, the ultimate sign of government failing to perform its constitutional obligations.

Neither lawmakers nor the governor are going to create a perfect map that appeases everyone. They could go back and forth with competing proposals forever. But they can come up with a compromise that is satisfactory enough by the deadline.

That deadline is looming.

Shortly before Christmas, Commonwealth Court set Jan. 30 as the date for the Legislature to approve a map and for Wolf to sign it into law. If they blow that deadline, the court will select a map. It has invited Wolf, lawmakers and others to submit proposals that it would choose from.

The court is involved because concerned citizens, including two from Northampton County, sued state election officials last month. The lawsuit says the court must step in because, otherwise, the state would not be able to hold its primary as scheduled in May.

I initially considered the lawsuit to be premature, an attempt to preempt the authority of the Legislature and governor.

Now, it seems the lawsuit may serve a purpose.

Im hopeful our elected officials will do their job. Its just sad that weve reached this point.

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[ How Gov. Wolf fired a warning shot to Pennsylvania lawmakers on congressional redistricting ]

The Census Bureau in August released the data needed for redistricting. Five months later, Pennsylvanias lawmakers still are hacking away at it.

Thirty-two other states have finished their congressional maps. They took their job seriously and made the task a priority.

The priority of Pennsylvanias overpaid lawmakers, meanwhile, is to spend as little time legislating as possible. They raced out of Harrisburg for their not-so-well-earned Christmas break in mid-December, leaving the redistricting process idle for weeks.

From November through Wednesday, the House was in session only 12 days and the Senate only 10.

Now, they are racing the clock.

Id hate to see a repeat of what happened in 2018. The state Supreme Court ruled the congressional map in use then was illegally gerrymandered. It ordered the Legislature and governor to redo it.

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Wolf and Republican lawmakers couldnt agree. So the justices drew their own map. That made lawmakers look foolish.

Pennsylvania is losing one seat in the U.S. House because other states grew faster since the last census. So this years redistricting process is a challenge  but not impossible.

Corners already are being cut.

The House has approved a map. The Senate had planned to approve one, too, then negotiate with the House on a final version to send to Wolf. Now, theres likely not time for that. So the Senate plans to revise the House map.

Wolf has said he is not satisfied with the House map, which was based on a map submitted by former Lehigh County Commissioner Amanda Holt, a Republican. It was amended by the House, and Wolf said the amended version tilted in favor of Republicans.

Wolf has released his own map.

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Spotlight PA reported that Wolfs map reflects the partisan makeup of the state, while the Republican legislative map does not.

Thats why a lot of people, including me, believe redistricting should be done outside of politics, by an independent commission.

But that movement has failed. Were stuck with this system.

And the Legislatures work is coming due, regardless of whether it is finished.

Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com
Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath has said the extension of the pandemic bonus to other workers is "simply not possible" as it would cost more than 500 million.

The 1,000 bonus was announced on Wednesday along with a new public holiday to recognise the efforts of the country during the Covid-19 pandemic and to remember those who lost their lives.

As reported in the Irish Examiner, Mr McGrath told the Dail that the Government decided to prioritise frontline healthcare workers for the bonus payment because extending it to others would be too costly for the State.

"The truth is that if the Government were to seek to meet all the legitimate calls that have been made to extend this pandemic payment, the cost of it would become very large. One could potentially be talking about 500 million or more," Mr McGrath said.

"Unfortunately, that is simply not possible. We would all love to extend this payment to a wide range of workers and volunteers, without whom our experience of Covid would have been much worse".

According to Mr McGrath, public service health and ambulance workers who were working on-site in Covid-19 exposed environments are among those set to receive the pandemic bonus.

Defence Forces staff who were assigned to testing centres, students who were required to perform training in clinical sites, and staff working on-site in private-sector nursing homes and hospices that were affected by Covid-19, are also set to receive the bonus.

"In arriving at a conclusion on this issue, we felt the need to prioritise the front-line public health workers, in particular, who left their home and went to work in a high-risk environment at a time, particularly at the start of the pandemic, when the risks were unknown and thought to be significant.

"That is why we singled out that group for this recognition payment."

Exclusion of groups

As reported in The Irish Times, a spokesperson for the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the 1,000 pandemic bonus will not be paid to GPs despite their role throughout the pandemic.

This comes as the Government is facing calls from home carers, pharmacy workers, frontline staff in private hospitals and other groups to be included in the scheme.

Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell called on Mr McGrath to extend bonus to carers as they will not benefit from an extra bank holiday.

This morning I raised the fact that Family Carers were excluded in the pandemic recognition payment or frontline bonus @sinnfeinireland pic.twitter.com/RGve3qAIr1  Mairead Farrell TD (@Farrell_Mairead) January 20, 2022

Responding, Mr McGrath said that the carer's support grant had been increased to 1,850 last year.

He added that Minister Heather Humphreys is examining the issue of pension rights and pension access for carers.

When asked on Thursday about the pandemic bonus and who would receive it, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that a panel would be created to determine the categories who will receive the bonus.

We're going to look at certain categories - those who were on the frontline - engaging with patients, clearly there was a higher risk in the health arena, so they have to be a priority.

The Taoiseach said there had to be some demarcation lines to give true recognition to those on the front line, those who had suffered trauma.
DID you ever have a model boat that sailed away and got lost? Noel Dillon has shared his story of just such a childhood event, in our Throwback Thursday.

Long ago, my small brother Aidan had a toy yacht about three feet long. While young in age, Aidan was very skilful with his hands. He made a lovely sail for the yacht and painted it with great care. He kept this yacht in his bedroom until it was time to go on holidays.

When July came, the yacht was carefully brought to Crosshaven with the rest of the family.

"At high tide, Aidan would sail the yacht off the rocks, tethered with a long line, and this gave him many hours of amusement.

One evening, as I was standing with him on the rocks, the line became limp. It had become detached from the yacht, which then careered on its merry way out to sea.

I, the elder brother, felt that if I dived in quickly, I could recover the wayward yacht so I made a quick decision to slip out of my trousers and go for it.

However, my brave decision was quickly reversed when I saw two middle-aged ladies strolling on the beach in our direction. Modesty prevailed, so I quickly zipped up my trousers again.

All the while, the yacht was going further and further away. Some of our friends began to gather on the rock to share in our grief and sense of loss.

About then, two beautiful teenage girls, Joan Archer and Mary McCullen, passed by. All our (male) heads were turned in their direction. Suddenly a lightbulb flashed in Aidans head. Hasnt Joan Archers brother got a boat?

Joans family had a summer house in a beautiful location at Weavers Point facing out to Roches Point lighthouse. Her brother Jim had a small rowing boat which he kept on the beach just above the high water mark for ease of launching.

Off darted our bright spark, who raced to the Archers house and quickly alerted Jim to the plight.

With all due haste, the boat was launched and Aidan and Jim set out to pursue the errant yacht. The audience on the rock held their breaths and just gazed after the boat.

As time went by, the boat disappeared from view over the horizon, and the anxious silence continued. As time dragged on, there was still no sign of the boat appearing, and heartbeats began to quicken. At certain tides, the water in the channel between Crosshaven and White Bay gets quite rough, and this increased our cause for alarm.

A scene from the Crosshaven Regatta held in June, 1977

After a long, anxious wait, however, a speck appeared on the horizon and eventually the shape of the small rowing boat came into view. Our blood pressures began to return to normal. Eventually the two boys came ashore with the little yacht carefully resting on the back of the boat.

The reason for the long delay was that the two boys were rightly afraid to encounter the rough waters of the channel (neither having life jackets) and decided to row into the calm waters of White Bay and only return when the channel had calmed down. Now that shows good common sense and knowledge of the sea if anything does.

One wag described the boys as intrepid seafarers when the story broke in the village the following day. But the line on the yacht never broke off again!

A wonderful recollection of a traumatic occasion in young lives, Noel. Thank-you for sharing it.

And it is fascinating how the stories we share in this page every week are read all over the world, and even bring people together who had known each other in childhood but lost touch in the years between.

Breeda OConnor (nee Galvin), who coincidentally lives in Crosshaven, wrote to say that the Throwback Thursday of January 6, where John Brennan told us of his life growing up in Passage and coming up to the city by bus for school every day, aroused great interest in her household.

My husband, Austin OConnor, enjoyed it immensely, as he lived at Victoria Terrace in Glenbrook, and knew the Brennan family very well. He actually does not remember John for some reason but remembers the rest of the family. He would love to know more about them as he hasnt heard anything for many a long year.

Austin was born in December, 1945, and is the eldest of 12. He was wondering if there was any chance that John could get in touch with him or email him.

No sooner said than done, Breeda. We contacted John, and he immediately replied to both Breeda and this writer.

John stated: I am the oldest of six and lived in the Garda barracks where my father was the Sergeant until he retired in 1963. I left Passage for New York in 1953, which was probably before Austin lived in Victoria Terrace.

Only my youngest sister Margaret continued to live there and moved to Canning Place when my father retired.

My mother died in December, 1981, my father in January, 1982. Margaret moved to Carriganaline and died in October, 2013. These were probably the Brennan family members that Austin knew.

Passage back then, remembers John, had long seen better days, but there was plenty of adventure growing up during the Emergency.

Its greatest asset was the proximity to Cork city. Over the years, John has made several visits home, and remained in contact with friends there.

In fact, I wrote articles about life in Passage for the Holly Bough. The first one, in December, 1984, concerned the efforts of a group trying to get home from the city during the great fog of December, 1946. I believe that Holly Bough articles can be retrieved online.

To paraphrase an old saying, John adds: You can take the man out of Passage but you cant take Passage out of the man. That is a reason I enjoy Jo Kerrigans column. She brings to life another era long since forgotten.

Well, thank you for that compliment, John!

But Breeda had yet another coincidence to mention. In the very same Throwback Thursday (January 6), you shared Dan Scanlans stories about living over the Sextant pub.

I knew all the Scanlans. I was born in Jewtown in 1953 and and was very friendly with Sarah and the boys. They lived in a fabulous place over the Sextant, a huge space.

I loved going up there. They were a lovely family. Its always the same: we grow up, start working, then get married and our whole world changes. I havent come across any of them in years.

It would be interesting if Dan remembers me. Definitely Sarah and Sean would. Could you please pass on my regards to the family?

It was great to read both stories in the Echo. Congratulations and well done to you. Many thanks for the articles and the coincidence involved!

Well, weve contacted Dan Scanlan too, Breeda, and well be delighted if we can bring another set of old friends together again.

END OF AN ERA: The removal of the Savoy Cinema organ in Cork in December, 1970, which featured in a Throwback Thursday article almost a year ago, and on an episode of Nationwide last week

Meanwhile, did anybody see that Nationwide programme last week, which showed what had become of our beloved Savoy Cinema organ, played in all our yesterdays by the legendary Fred Bridgeman?

It is now happily in full working order at the University of Limerick Concert Hall. They have had it for well over a decade, but the restoration took a long time before it could be seen once more in its former glory.

Even finding enough space for all the organs 1,200 pipes necessitated quite a bit of building work.

The Nationwide programme covered many of the main points of the organs life, from its purchase by Russell Wynn of Kilbrittain Castle through its move to Limerick and the work done on it since. What it didnt mention, however, was the part played by Corks own Con Healy, as highlighted in this page almost a year ago. Here is what Con told us then:

To let your readership know, I was one of the people to dismantle and remove the organ from the Savoy.

"It was bought by Russell Winn. He had a R&D facility in Kilbrittain and he lived in Kilbrittain Castle, which he restored. He had a trove of items, which included some lovely old cars, he collected from all over.

We began the work in the early summer 1975, I remember the first day we arrived to start to dismantle the organ. We werent allowed to begin as there was a film being shown in the afternoon, Magnificent Chivalry. So we watched the film as we had to wait around.

It was the intention of Mr Winn to install the organ in the tower of his castle home. It took us several weeks to dismantle and remove the organ.

The console was the piece the public saw, but there were rooms full of pipes and air ducts and cables and brackets. It was all stored in a shed at Kilbrittain Castle, another project on the to-do list.

Sadly, Russell Winn died in a plane crash in 1980. His effects were auctioned off and the legendary Savoy organ was purchased by Limerick University. Now it is in full splendour, and will be heard in many a future concert, we trust. Wouldnt it be worth going up there to hear it?

Con was also delighted to see the wonderful picture we managed to unearth from our archives to accompany his memories last year, and was even able to identify some of the people in the photograph.

Don Hurley is the man putting the platform in place to move the main console off of the stage. He is being watched by Russell Winn on the left. The other people in the picture I dont recognise. The man in the suit could be the manager of the Savoy?

But where was Con himself when that photo was taken?

Well, as it happens, I was organising for a forklift from the Examiner/Echo warehouse, which of course was only just around the corner in Faulkners Lane (now alas disappeared forever, replaced by Opera Lane), to lift the console onto our truck. So I missed the photo opportunity.

So De Paper didnt just get the picture, it got right into the actual logistics of moving De Monster? Doubtcha boy!

Well, Nationwide may not have realised what a major (and heavy) part you played back then, Con, but we Corkonians dont forget our own. Great memories!

Who knows what stories and friends from the past your own memories may uncover? Email jokerrigan1@gmail.com. Or leave a comment on our Facebook page: (https://www.facebook.com/echolivecork)
In an annual letter, Larry Fink, the CEO of multinational investment corporation BlackRock, said planning for a carbon-free global economy is the biggest investment opportunity of this generation, but climate activists say he wasnt willing enough to move away from the oil and gas industry. Environmental activists believe BlackRock should stop doing business with fossil fuel companies that dont lower their emissions, The Washington Post reported.

Fink argued that climate policies were about long-term gains, according to The Guardian.

Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics. It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not woke, Fink wrote, The Guardian reported. We focus on sustainability not because were environmentalists, but because we are capitalists and fiduciaries to our clients.

Fink said that the global infrastructures of traditional fossil fuel companies are needed to achieve a carbon-free future, CNBC reported.

To ensure continuity of affordable energy supplies during the transition, traditional fossil fuels like natural gas will play an important role both for power generation and heating in certain regions, as well as for the production of hydrogen, Fink wrote in the annual letter, as reported by CNBC.

BlackRock manages more than $10 trillion in assets, but Fink stated in the letter that BlackRock does not have a policy of fossil fuel divestment. He said that not addressing the demand for hydrocarbons would lead to increased energy costs for those who can least afford it, CNBC reported.

Environmental organizations like the Sierra Club believe that the time has come to move completely away from fossil fuels and stop trying to fit them into the transition to cleaner energy.

Fink is insisting on continuing to prop up dirty fuels like fracked gas and peddling the outdated and dangerous view that gas has a place in the energy transition, despite the scientific consensus that we need to stop expanding fossil fuels immediately, Sierra Club Fossil-Free Finance campaign manager Ben Cushing said in a statement.

Duke University law professor Lawrence G. Baxter said that regulatory intervention may be needed to avoid a financial crisis, since climate change presents a threat to the financial system.

Businesses should understand the risks they face and be honest about the material impacts climate change will have on them, Baxter said, as The Washington Post reported.

Moira Birss, the climate and finance director of Amazon Watch, said its clear that Fink is prioritizing companies over clean energy.

Fink apparently wants to be above the political fray, but by playing nice with those profiting off of the causes of climate change, hes making the political choice to reject climate science, which makes absolutely clear that a rapid transition from all fossil fuels is unquestionably urgent and necessary, Birss said, as reported by CNBC.

Lara Cuvelier, a campaigner with Reclaim Finance  a nonprofit based in Paris that exposes financial institutions whose practices are bad for the environment  also said that Finks reasoning for trying to fit fossil fuels into the transition to greener energy went against climate science.

Fink is thus providing cover for the building of dozens of new gas plants, which would lock us into fossil fuels for years to come. Moreover, his simplistic attack on divestment obscures a vital lesson: to succeed, engagement must be paired with a clear demand to stop fossil fuel expansion, Cuvelier said in a statement, as CNBC reported.

Given BlackRocks enormous fossil fuel interests, perhaps this truth is just too inconvenient to stomach, added Cuvelier.
Scientists have discovered a new coral reef in the oceans mysterious twilight zone.

The reef, which stretches for around two miles off Tahiti and thrives at a depth of around 230 feet, appears untouched by the climate crisis and offers hope that there is more biodiversity to be discovered in unexplored parts of the ocean.

For once, its a positive story about coral reefs in the news, which is quite rare these days, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) head of marine policy Julian Barbiere told CNN.

The new reef exists in the oceans twilight zone, a transitional part of the ocean that still receives enough light to sustain life. It is one of the largest reefs discovered at a depth of more than 30 meters (approximately 98 feet), The Guardian reported. It was first found in November as part of a UNESCO-led mission to French Polynesia. Researchers spent 200 hours diving and exploring the coral and even watched it spawn.

It was magical to witness giant, beautiful rose corals which stretch for as far as the eye can see, Alexis Rosenfeld, a French underwater photographer and member of the expedition team, told The Guardian. It was like a work of art.

The discovery comes at a perilous time for the worlds coral reefs. A 2020 study found that the amount of living coral had been halved since 1950 because of overfishing, pollution and the climate crisis, CNN reported. Climate change puts corals at risk because warmer marine temperatures encourage coral bleaching and the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to ocean acidification. Scientists predict that 70 to 90 percent of the worlds remaining coral will disappear in the next 20 years.

However, the fact that this new reef appears so healthy offers hope. Intact reefs take 25 to 30 years to develop and thrive, so the new reef has been around for decades at least. Scientists think it may offer clues for how to protect other vulnerable reefs.

We think that deeper reefs may be better protected from global warming, Laetitia Hedouin, a marine biologist with the French National Centre of Scientific Research and the environmental research center CRIOBE, told CNN. So the discovery of this reef in such a pristine condition is good news and can inspire future conservation.

It also highlights the importance of understanding and protecting deeper parts of the ocean. It was found as part of a project to map the seabed known as the Seabed2030 Project, BBC News reported.

Barbiere said there may be many other unique ecosystems hiding in the shadowy parts of the ocean.

We should be working to map them and to protect them, he said.
Peru has demanded compensation for an oil spill that has been dubbed an ecological disaster by the Peruvian government, Reuters reported. A tanker owned by the Spanish oil company Repsol was unloading oil at La Pampilla refinery when unusually high waves from the volcanic explosion near Tonga caused the spill.

More than 6,000 barrels of oil have been leaked by the refinery, many animals covered in oil have perished and three beaches affected by the spill have been sealed off by authorities, BBC News reported. Environmental group Oceana Peru said in a tweet that the oil along the Pacific coast of Peru was affecting species of birds, sea lions, otters and dolphins. Among the birds killed by the oil spill was a rare species: the Humboldt penguin, reported The Guardian. The foreign ministry said animal and plant life had been harmed in a combined area of nearly 7,000 square miles of protected zones, as Reuters reported.

An artisanal fishermen from a community affected by an oil spill on the beaches of the Peruvian province of Callao caused during the unloading process of the Italian-flagged tanker Mare Doricum, holds a death oiled bird in a protest on January 19, 2022 in front of the Pampilla Oil Refinery, responsible for the accident due to abnormal waves recorded after the volcanic eruption in Tonga. Cris Bouroncle / AFP / Getty Images

The attorney generals office said in a tweet that the spill is the worst ecological disaster in Lima in recent times, and has caused serious damage to hundreds of fishing families. Repsol must immediately compensate for this damage, The Guardian reported.

The oil spill was initially described as limited by refinery officials and Tine Van Den Wall Bake, a Repsol spokesperson, denied responsibility for the spill. Mirtha Vasquez, the prime minister of Peru, said that the refinery apparently had no contingency plan for an oil spill.

We did not cause this ecological disaster and we cannot say who is responsible, Van Den Wall Bake said on national radio, reported BBC News.

Aerial view showing cleaning crews work to remove oil from a beach in the Peruvian province of Callao on January 17, 2022, after a spill which occurred during the unloading process of the Italian-flagged tanker Mare Doricum at La Pampilla refinery caused by the abnormal waves recorded after the volcanic eruption in Tonga. Cris Bouroncle / AFP / Getty Images

The response by Repsol and authorities in Peru has been criticized by environmental organizations.

The environmental and social impacts of the Repsol oil spill in the short and long term are devastating, and the companys response has been weak, said conservation specialist from the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, Christel Scheske, as The Guardian reported.

The environment ministry of Peru said La Pampilla refinery could face up to a $34.5 million fine, while prosecutors opened an investigation for environmental contamination by the company. The refinerys operations have been suspended by Osinergmin, the Supervisory Agency for Investment in Energy and Mining, until the causes of the spill are investigated.

Heavy metals from the crude oil will remain in the ecosystem for many years, rendering fish, molluscs and other marine species dangerous for human consumption, and affecting the entire marine food web, added Scheske, reported The Guardian.
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Vom 15.-17.06.2022 findet die embedded world China in Shanghai statt.

What is the technical development status of embedded companies in China and what are they up to? Insights into industry trends that you don't get from the regular news.

This article is the result of the cooperation between WEKA and NurnbergMesse with local partners in China for embedded world China. The author, Prof. Allan He, is Deputy Director of the China Software Industry Embedded System Associations (SIA) and a member of the embedded world Conference China program committee. He was also one of the panelists at the China panel of embedded world DIGITAL 2021. Here he gives an overview of China's embedded system industry trends.

It's time to summarize the year and look forward to the new year. Looking back at 2021, in the environment of repeated COVID-19 and the ups and downs of the international situation, China's embedded system industry has handed in a satisfied answer. Especially in the field of industrial-based chips and software, there have been important breakthroughs. For example, at the beginning of the year, Loongson released a completely independent instruction set architecture, LoongArch, to build an independent and controllable information technology system and industrial ecology. In the middle of the year, T-head of Alibaba Group announced the open source of 4 RISC-V series processors, the RT-Thread Smart micro-kernel embedded operating system was released, and continued to open source. At the end of the year, Huawei increased its investment in basic software. Following the open source of Harmony OS, it has opened up Euler operating system, in addition to the server market, the target is also edge computing and embedded systems.

In 2021, the global chip shortage will continue, and MCU chips will be the major field of serious shortages. This situation accelerates the replacement process of domestic MCU chips. At the end of 2021, Khai-Long Electronics is listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board and become the first listed company in the domestic EDA field. EDA software is the crown of the chip design field, and China's EDA industry urgently needs to master the initiative to make up for its shortcomings.

Looking forward to 2022, the embedded system industry will continue to make efforts in three aspects: technology research and development, product services and ecology. It is generally predicted that the shortage of chips will be relieved in the second half of the year, and China's embedded system industry will continue to develop.



Technology Trends

The technology research and development of embedded system companies is developing towards high-end; for example, the research of basic core technologies such as high-performance multi-core processors, edge computing AI processors and algorithms has been stuck in the industrial electronics hardware and software research and development layout. End-side artificial intelligence is becoming a new round of industry hotspots. Realizing machine learning on MCUs has become a new technology for analyzing and understanding IoT-generated data.

The application of top embedded system companies is transforming to higher end. In order to break the long-term monopoly of overseas key-players in automotive chips, the chip company ChipOn obtained a new round of financing at the end of the year, and domestic chips have joined the automotive electronics track. AIoT applications represented by robots and smart cars are becoming a hot spot in the industry, and the research on robots and smart car operating systems and chips has become a new round of autonomous and controllable new track.



Service Trends

While seizing the opportunity of domestic substitution, embedded system companies are also facing problems such as fewer product hardware and software indicators, imperfect documentation, single product varieties, and technical support. Improving product functions, documentation and service details is an important task for enterprises in 2022. Functional safety certification in the automotive, medical and industrial markets is a required course for embedded system companies that are entering these fields.

Ecological Trends

Comparing overseas embedded system leading companies, Chinese companies have always been in a backward position in ecological construction. Some people always think about why the ecology of STM32 is so good, and only ST itself can truly understand the behind-the-scenes efforts. It is what entrepreneurs are doing to fully cultivate all links of the industrial ecological chain in 2022. The development of an open source ecosystem of win-win cooperation is the vision of the industry. RT-Thread has already taken the lead. At the end of the year, Huawei announced that it will increase its investment in "Harmony + Euler" to build the roots of basic software in the digital world. Alibaba T-head not only open sourced 4 RISC-V series processors, but also opened supporting basic software, which will benefit the RISC-V global ecosystem. We have reason to believe that the open source and open Chinese embedded system ecology can be expected in the future!
It baffles my mind to realize Trump supporters overlook his behavior during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

After inciting his loyalists to fight like hell and take your country back (take it back from whom?), they proceeded to the Capitol to create havoc while he retired to the White House to watch the spectacle on TV.

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He watched and did nothing while Capitol police were assaulted and injured. He did nothing while a gallows was erected and the crowd cried, Hang Mike Pence, his own vice president.

He did nothing as rioters breached the Capitol and held Congress hostage. He did nothing despite many admonitions to say something to call off his fanatic followers. His own daughter was among those who urged his intervening, but he did nothing.

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For some, this behavior of ignoring a terrorist insurrection against his own legislative branch of government and failing to act while the Capitol is under siege may be considered normal for the leader of our country.

Personally, I find his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021 a betrayal of our trust and a cowardly act bordering on, if not, outright treasonable.

William Merkle

Longswamp Township
When I was growing up, if the Peru Tigers lost to the Marion Giants or the Logansport Berries, we accepted the verdict on the court. Those who didnt were labeled poor sports or bad losers.
It's a re-run of the script from the case of Catalan president Quim Torra. This Thursday, at its meeting, Spain's Central Electoral Commission (JEC) has agreed to withdraw the parliamentary credentials of Pau Juvilla, Catalan parliamentary deputy for the pro-independence CUP party and member of the parliament's procedural Bureau, convicted of disobedience although still awaiting a final sentence from the Catalan High Court. The electoral administrative body rejected the arguments put by the Catalan Parliament and declared the seat vacant, in order for the Catalan chamber to cover it by replacing Juvilla with the next name on the party list. Thus, the electoral arbitrator rules in favour of the three parties of the Spanish right, the PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, whose complaint led to the decision. The pressure us now passed to the speaker of the chamber, Laura Borras, who must decide whether to abide by the resolution or disobey it.

A month ago, after the conviction and the appeal from the triple right, the electoral body demanded that the Catalan speaker report on the situation of the CUP parliamentarian due to his "unexpected ineligibility", and the twenty page submission arrived last week. Now, the JEC has once again taken upon itself the role of executing sentences.

After studying the arguments, the electoral board concludes that Juvilla indeed "incurs" in the unexpected ineligibility referred to in Article 6.2 of the Spanish electoral law for having been found guilty and given a non-final sentence that bans home from holding "elective public office and functions of government and administration". In this scenario, the body agrees, according to its resolution, to "annul [his] credentials as an elected member of the Parliament of Catalonia", "declare his seat vacant" and it orders that "credentials be issued to the next candidate" from the CUP list in the constituency of Lleida, for which he was elected.

The JEC has forwarded the resolution to the deputy Pau Juvilla, the Parliament of Catalonia and the parties that filed the complaint. The agreement can now be appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court. The case is very similar to that in which the then-president of the Catalan government, Quim Torra, had his parliamentary seat removed, also after being convicted of disobeying the electoral board, and over the same issue: a refusal to remove symbolic elements - yellow ribbons and banners - showing solidarity with the pro-independence political prisoners. The electoral board even cites the Torra case as a precedent in its argument.

Processed in a month

Just over a month ago, on December 14th, 2021, Juvilla was banned from holding office for six months by the High Court (TSJC) for disobedience - of the JEC, the same body now tasked with deciding on his seat - for failing to remove the yellow ribbons from the window of the anti-capitalist party's office in the Paeria, city council building in Lleida, during an election campaign period in 2019. Juvilla argued that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression. After the conviction, both the parliamentary committee on the rights of MPs and the full session of the Catalan Parliament - with the votes of the three pro-independence parties, ERC, Junts and the CUP, and also the Socialists (PSC) and the left-wing Comuns - agreed to protect Juvilla's seat until the sentence was final. But the PP, Ciudadanos and far-right Vox laid a complaint with the electoral commission, which on December 22nd gave Borras a period of ten days to report on the situation of the deputy.

The arguments of the Parliament of Catalonia arrived last week on the JEC's desk. The Catalan chamber asserted that Juvilla had the right to retain his seat and place on the Bureau because his situation did not imply any "case of incompatibility", did not constitute any the cases given for the loss of the status of MP, and nor was he in any situation which the rules of Parliament decree would modify his condition as an MP. But these arguments were not accepted.

The right celebrates

If hours before, they were keeping their heads low after the Supreme Court overturned their appeals against the pardons issued to the pro-independence political prisoners, Spain's triple right were quick to celebrate the decision of the Central Electoral Commission. This was the case of the spokesperson for Ciudadanos in the Catalan chamber, Carlos Carrizosa, who awarded himself a medal on Twitter: "Just like Torra in the past, the CUP deputy Juvilla must leave his seat and Borras has nothing left up her sleeve to stop it. The JEC, at the request of Cs, has made it clear. Once again, the democratic rule of law is stopping the totalitarians in their tracks."
555.55-carat black diamond that is "likely from outer space" lands in Dubai
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  The publisher of a new and controversial work about Anne Frank
Daniel Martinez hops out of his black Cadillac SRX and nods towards me, chatting enthusiastically on his cellphone. Around San Jose, hes known to many as the gregarious, insult-slinging battle-rapper and shit-talking podcast host Dirtbag Dan, but theres no trace of that character now. Instead, he is passionately proselytizing to whomever is on the line about his new dog rescue program, Adopt My Block. It seems to be going well.

I wait for him, standing by my Ford Focus with my three-legged German shepherd, Nisa, who my wife and I adopted seven years ago from the German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California. Nisa sniffs the nearby dirt and weeds.

Were in Gilroy, just a hop and a jump away from the outlet malls off highway 101, yet you would think youre far away from any sign of civilization were it not for the occasional noise of traffic zipping by.

Currently, the property operates as a walnut farm. Soon, it will be the site of Adopt My Block.

Martinez hangs up, immediately ready to talk about his plans.

Were ready to park a trailer here, set up a fenced-off area, and start bringing some dogs around, he says. That plan, he explains, likely wont unfold until sometime this summer. Hes working out the details with the property owner, Dr. Puneet Sandhu, a dentist who runs Milpitas Smile Design. A believer in Martinezs mission to save dogs, she offered it to him. She knows what its like to want to help. In her spare time, she donates dental services to homeless veterans out of a van thats parked on the property.

I want to put some turf down, Martinez continues. Fence it off on all sides, and have a dog run here. But thats just an idea at this point. Theres a lot of work that needs to happen first.

Adopt My Block has been an official nonprofit for two years, with Martinez and his wife, Rachel LaRoux, running operations out of their house. His plans might seem ambitious, but he has already shown that he can move mountains when he wants to.

Just over a decade ago, Martinez was one of the most traveled battle-rappers in the world. Hed competed in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and all over the US, shouting, The Zae, baby! wherever he went, in honor of his hometown. He still ranks in the top 50 most viewed battle-rappersand his last battle was seven years ago.

Later, he created the successful Dirtbag Dan Show, one of the first battle rap podcasts, which ran for eight years. They did their final episode in November of 2019. After that, he stepped away from all things Dirtbag Dan related to save dogs.

Theres an unlimited amount of dogs that need to be rehomed. Every shelter is packed full of them, he says. What we do is super important. Theres so many little dogs around the north side. How are there not ten other rescues?

We peek inside a semi-circle-shaped building that looks plucked from The Grapes of Wrath. Behind us, Nisa on her three legs. Martinez drops down to pet her. They become instant best friends.

Martinez points out the van and speaks proudly of Sandhus mission to help veterans. Not all veterans who receive medical care from the VA qualify for dental benefits. So, Sandhu brings the dentist to them.

Were all on this help people shit, he says. We want to make this like a nonprofit hub. Thats what were doing.

Setting up shop on the property promises to make a huge difference for Adopt My Block.

We can only work with the amount of dogs we have time and space for, he says. Having a fenced-off area, and a trailer, on the property means we can bring in more volunteers and help more dogs.

PAW PATROL

In the fall of 2019, Martinez and LaRoux, were walking their dog, Lily, around their neighborhood in San Jose. It was a cold evening, and they saw one of their neighbors dogs alone, shivering inside their fenced-off front yard. It wasnt the first time theyd seen this dog shivering outside or standing in the rain. But suddenly it struck them that they should do something about it.

They drove to Lowes and bought a doghouse with materials to insulate it and weather guards to keep the rain out. They gave it to their neighbor, no strings attached. After that, they noticed many other dogs trapped outside in their freezing cold yards. They set up a fundraiser to pay for more insulated doghouses and sweaters. People were happy to donate, and when they delivered these goods to the dog owners, they did so in the least judgmental way possible.

We would say, We had extra supply. We saw you had an outside dog, so we just wanted to drop off some extra stuff, LaRoux says. That way, the owner wasnt, like, offended.

In November, they got a call from a friend in Fresno, who said that her neighbors dog, a shepherd pit mix, was stuck outside, trapped in a small three-foot fenced side yard, hopping around like a kangaroo. The owners never brought her inside.

It was raining when Martinez showed up. He shouted at the neighbor that he was coming over to give their dog shelter, but no one came out. He carefully climbed over and set up the doghouse for her.

The dogs sweet. I fell in love with her, Martinez says.

A month later, a huge storm hit Fresno. Their friends neighbors skipped town and abandoned their dog in the yard, which was now flooded. When the friend noticed her, she was standing on top of her doghouse. She grabbed the dog, brought her into her garage, fed her, and called Martinez. He and LaRoux took her home.

She was really underweight and was limping when we got her. We nursed her back to health, La Roux says.

Initially, the plan was for a friends mom to adopt her, but because of the negligence she lived in, she proved a challenging dog. They kept her and renamed her Penny.

They posted about the whole experience online, and soon other people were contacting them about other dogs that needed to be rehomed. As Martinez and LaRoux saw the scope of their project grow, they changed its name to Adopt My Block. Along the way, one of LaRouxs best friends, a lawyer, suggested they become a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit and make what theyre doing an official endeavor. In January 2020, Adopt My Block became official.

BARK VS. BITE

Martinez first hopped on stage at the age of 14, after watching local crew LSP perform at Java Stop in San Jose. After the show, they invited audience members on stage to freestyle. Martinez took them up on the offer. He loved it. In 2003, he joined San Jose/Santa Cruz collective Thunderhut. Two years after that, he released his debut solo album, Dirt 4 $ale, and formed the crew Counter Productive with his high school friends Able Abilities, Skylar and, later, DJ Ichy The Killer.

Dirtbag Dan performed his first battle on Grind Time in August 2008 in Oakland against Coroner. Within a couple of years, he was one of the top names in the growing global YouTube rap battle movement. He was a natural fit.

Dirtbag Dan always had a comedic style, but would balance it well, by being very technically sound, says musician and King of the Dot lead broadcaster Nick Lush One Hyams. He could do a double-time, then bring it back to comedy. Hilarious punchlines that make fun of people but not in a mean-spirited way. He might hurt your feelings, though.

In 2011, Martinez created the Counter Productive YouTube channel to promote his music and battle career. A year later, it became host for The Dirtbag Dan Show, initially with Skylar and Able Abilities, though his co-hosts would periodically change. The show brought on some big guests, including Del the Funky Homosapien of Hieroglyphics, Cadalack Ron and Mac Mall.

But his battle career wasnt always good for other aspects of his life. Even with songs like Concentrate, hitting a million views on YouTube, people most often associated him with clever insults. A song like Suburbanites might discuss his troubled childhood and rocky relationship with his dad, but anything called Dirtbag Dan always led back to his battle persona.

Fools knew me for battle rap 100% more than anything, Martinez says. People would see 9-15 minute increments of me being super aggressively mean to people. It wasnt necessarily the best judge of my character.

3RTYS, the last Dirtbag Dan album, was released in 2018. After that, he shifted gears and worked on Death Dealers Anonymous, a lo-fi trap project with Reverse Live. As if to further distance himself from the Dirtbag Dan character, in all their videos, the bands faces are blocked out.

By the time he shot his final episode of the Dirtbag Dan show in November 2019, hed already been giving out doghouses for months. Though he continued to host Battle of the Zae events and oversee operations on his YouTube channel, he was anxious to stop. His work with Adopt My Block felt more meaningful to him, and he was spread thin.

And then there was the global pandemic. With live events no longer an option, he stopped trying to juggle both worlds. LaRoux, a hairstylist, was no longer able to work either, so the both of them devoted their entire lives to rescuing dogs. He passed his YouTube duties on to battle-rapper Ryne Watkins. When battles were able to happen again, they would go to Patreon first. All proceeds to Adopt My Block.

SOCIAL ANIMALS

As a kid, Martinez desperately wanted a dog, but his parents said no. There was no room at home. LaRoux, on the other hand, grew up around horses and dogs. Her mom fostered golden retrievers.

Martinez and LaRoux adopted their first dog together in 2016, a dachshund pit bill from Pet Harbor who they named Lily. They saw her picture online and fell in love. One trip to Lodi later and she was a part of the family.

Up until late 2019, it had just been Lily at the home. Now, she shares the space with a whole pack.

Martinez says working with dogs has been extremely rewarding.

[Professionally], Ive been a dick for X amount of years, he says. Being on tour and you talk to someone, Oh man, that podcast helped me get through a tough time, or whatever. Thats super cool. It does not compare to placing a dog in a home and knowing that Ive made that dogs life infinitely better.

Fortunately, starting a dog rescue on the back of a decade-long battle-rap/hip-hop career gave Adopt My Block some energy. It helped that LaRoux also had a big presence online via her salonmore followers than Dirtbag Dan. A hairstylist for 15 years, LaRoux specializes in balayage and vivid color. And she is in high demand. After taking to Instagram, the two reached a lot of people very quickly.

90% of the adoptions we do [are] through Instagram, Martinez says, noting that people become connected when they see an animals transformation from troubled to healthy, confident dog. Its cool for people to be able to follow the story and then get to be the end of it.

Adopt My Block got a lot of engagement in 2019 and early 2020. At first, they were reaching out to people to help with fundraisers and find homes, but that no longer became necessary as their social media presence grew.

I was blown away by how quickly we were able to develop a support base, Martinez says. One thing that made it similar to music is you got to show the work. As a rapper, I had to constantly find ways for me to be out there. And the more work you do, the more people see it, the more work you can do.

And then of course, once the pandemic started, more people were at home on their phones, which brought more eyeballs to Adopt My Blocks Instagram feed.

When they realized people were responding to their posts and that they could make a difference, Martinez and LaRoux looked for more dogs in need. They approached homeless encampments, looked for strays and went on Craigslist to find people dumping their dogs.

Cookie, a chihuahua mix, was one they pulled out of a homeless encampment. Martinez had been going over there and working with the owners to let them rehome the dogs. Eventually, they agreed

I approached and offered food, sweaters, Martinez says. It took me a while, but after she had seen that we were able to place all of her puppies in good homes she decided the best thing for Cookie was to give her to us.

They found a new owner with Kayla Resue Anderson, one of LaRouxs clients and friends. Anderson is a pet groomer who donates her services to Adopt My Block.

[Cookie] was in a really shitty situation and there was a lot of aggression going on between some of the people in her encampment, LaRoux says. That dog was going to die. We got her out. Now shes the most pampered, amazingly treated dog, laying in a bed with a bunch of cats.

Later, Martinez ran into Cookies original owner and showed her Andersons Instagram feed.

She was super happy to see how well she was doing. [And it] made my day to see that she was also off the street, Martinez says.

Anderson says that after dogs have been rescued, a simple act of grooming can be therapeutic.

Theyre scared with all of this weight because the matting is so heavy when its attached to their skin, Anderson says. This weight is lifted off of them and you can tell like theyre so thankful.

MAKING FETCH HAPPEN

Though Adopt My Block has grown a lot in its first two years, its still currently being run out of Martinez and LaRouxs house.

He does the heavy lifting. I do the appointments, driving and adoption interviews, LaRoux says. He does the hardcore stuff where he actually goes in and rescues dogs from shitty situations, but I am there to support.

At times, things get overwhelming. There are several dogs in the home. Some will be adopted. Others, like Lily and Penny, are there to stay.

Another dog there to stay is Joey, a 9-year-old English bulldog, American Staffordshire terrier mix that lives in the garage. Hes sweet but anxious, and has extreme joint issues and advanced periodontal disease. At this point, Martinez and LaRoux are managing his pain for the remainder of his life. So, they take turns sleeping in the garage next to him.

Feels like some days I need to schedule trips to the bathroom. There is always something that needs to be done for these dogs, Martinez says.

Adopt My Block has become more than a rescue. Martinez still has a fanbase and is comfortable in front of the camera. He wants to share the view that the practice of dog breeding creates many problems. Though California has banned pet stores from buying dogs from breeders, Martinez says the breeding process itself remains under-regulated, increases genetic defects and creates the idea that dogs have a financial value, which has even led to an uptick in thefts.

You dont buy a dog, you adopt a dog because its going to be part of your family forever, Martinez says. Anytime people are making money off of living creatures, the living creatures are pretty much in a bad shape.

As it turns out, there are breed-specific rescues out there for just about every breed of dog, something my wife and I discovered when we adopted Nisa. We wanted a German shepherd and assumed we would have to comb through the Humane Society kennels to find one. Then we found the German Shepherd Rescue of Northern California. The dogs were well taken care of by the fosters, the organization did home inspections and the dogs were fixed. It gave us a good feeling to adopt from them.

If you do rescue a dog like that, youre a special person, but that doesnt encompass the whole of rescue, Martinez says. You never imagine what someone will leave in a backyard or tied to a fence at a park.

Recently, Martinez has brought his two worlds together, placing ads and even an infomercial with battle-rap network King of the Dot. He not only promotes the program, but educates the viewers.

We would stream Dan talking about Adopt My Block for a good four to five minutes when theres 20-30,000 people watching. Its been pretty awesome for him, says Dot host Nick Hyams.

As he continues to grow Adopt My Block and help more dogs, Martinez is hoping that more people will take the problem seriously.

The most important thing I can get across to anybody interested in adding a dog to their family is adopt dont shop. The homeless pet population is out of control, Martinez says. I dont know how many dogs I walked by for 30-35 years and didnt chase down or follow home. It seems fucking crazy. No one would do that with a child, right? I kick myself in the ass that I didnt start this shit sooner.
An effort to do away with partisan primaries in Missouri and replace them with a ranked cho
In this Feb. 4, 2007, file photo, Prince performs during the halftime show at the Super Bowl XLI football game in Miami. The six-year legal battle over pop superstar Princes estate has ended, meaning the process of distributing the artist's wealth could begin in February 2022. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
NEW YORK (AP)  Sen. Tim Scott has a memoir out this summer that he says will explain the tw
Vice President Kamala Harris pauses as she fills bags with produce, to answer a reporter's question about voting rights, at Martha's Table, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita poses for a group photograph during the G5 Sahel summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania, June 30, 2020. Mali's former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has died nearly 18 months after he was ousted in a military coup. Keita's death was announced Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022 in Bamako, where the 76-year-old had been battling health problems in recent years. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP, File)
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)  Two days after the election on Nov. 3, 2020, the Oath Keepers were already convinced that victory had been stolen from
Parents invited to register their child for COVID-19 vaccine

Parents and guardians of clinically vulnerable children aged 5  11 are now able to register their child for the vaccine.

Last month, following advice from the UKs Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the Islands vaccination programme announced that young children aged 5  11 with the following conditions should be offered two doses of the vaccine:

severe neurodisabilities

immunosuppression  those whose immune systems dont work as well

profound and multiple or severe learning disabilities

being on the learning disability register

those with Downs syndrome

those with long term serious conditions affecting their body.

In addition, the vaccine is also being offered to children in this age group who arent themselves vulnerable but who live with someone who is immunosuppressed and therefore for whom continued and prolonged close contact is unavoidable.
Cherry Lee Ward Yeager age 87 of Athens died Monday at Athens Limestone Hospital. Mrs. Yeager was born October 21, 1934 in Giles County Tennessee. She was a longtime member of First Baptist Church Athens where she sang in the chrior, and was active in the WMU. Mrs. Yeager was a Red Cross vol
Burley, ID (83318)

Today

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 37F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 37F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Rollouts of new wireless technologies and standards have not always gone well. When the GSM system debuted, it caused hearing aids to buzz and pop with static while early cell phone signals would occasionally disrupt pacemakers. Today, as carriers expand their 5G networks across the country, they are faced with an equally dangerous prospect: that one of 5Gs spectrum bands may interfere with the radio altimeters aboard commercial aircraft below 2,500 feet, potentially causing their automated landing controls to misjudge the distance from the ground and crash.

Sticking the landing is generally considered one of the more important parts of a flight  which is, in part, why you never hear people applaud during takeoff. As such, the FAA, which regulates American air travel, and the FCC, which controls the use of our telecommunications spectrum, have found themselves at loggerheads over how, when and where 5G might be safely deployed.

5G is shorthand for 5th generation, referring to the latest standard for cellular service. First deployed in 2019, 5G operates on the same basis as its 4G predecessor  accessing the internet and telephone network via radio waves beamed at local cell antennas  but does so at broadband speeds up to 10Gb/s. However, because 5G can operate on the C band spectrum, theres a chance that it can interfere with radio altimeters if within close proximity to airports, especially the older models lacking sufficient RF shielding.

The fundamental emissions may lead to blocking interference in the radar altimeter receiver, a 2020 study by aeronautics technical group RTCA, observed. The spurious emissions, on the other hand, fall within the normal receive bandwidth of the radar altimeter, and may produce undesirable effects such as desensitization due to reduced signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), or false altitude determination due to the erroneous detection of the interference signal as a radar return.

So when the FCC sold a range of C band in the 3.7 GHz to 3.98 GHz frequency range last February for a cool $81 billion, the airline industry under the umbrella of Airlines for America (which represents American Airlines, Delta, FedEx and UPS) took umbrage. These concerns prompted the FAA to issue a warning about the issue last November and led Verizon/AT&T to push back their plans to launch 5G service on C Band by a month.

This warning, in turn, prompted the CTIA (the wireless industrys main lobbying arm) to file its counterargument shortly thereafter, asserting that aircraft already safely fly into and out of more than 40 countries that have broadly deployed 5G networks, such as Denmark and Japan. If interference were possible, we would have seen it long before now, CTIA President, Meredith Attwell Baker, insisted in a November Morning Consult op-ed.

However, those countries have also taken steps necessary to mitigate much of the potential issues, such as lowering the power of 5G cell towers, moving towers or simply pointing their receivers away from landing approaches.

FAA

Whats more, a causal relationship between the 5G rollout and misbehaving altimeters has yet to be established.

"The C-band is closer to the frequencies used by airplane altimeters than previous 5G deployments," Avi Greengart, lead analyst at Techsponentia, told Toms Guide. "In the US, the 5G weve been using has either been used before for prior wireless networks, or it is on really high frequencies with no ability to penetrate a piece of paper, let alone an airplane."

"There is a 200MHz buffer zone between C-band and altimeter frequencies, and the part of C-band that is opening up this week is even farther from that point, he continued. Additionally, similar frequencies are already in use in Europe with no problems observed. If the airplanes altimeter filters are working properly, there should be no interference whatsoever."

Despite the CTIAs efforts, the FAA (along with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg) in late December requested Verizon and AT&T delay their primary rollout by two weeks, starting on January 5th and extending to January 17th, to give the government time to further investigate the issue. Unsurprisingly, those complex issues were not resolved within the given time frame, causing the airline industry to look towards the supposedly falling heavens and Chicken Little even harder.

In a letter obtained by Reuters, Airlines for America argued the skies would be beset by utter chaos amid catastrophic failures if 5G were deployed, potentially stranding thousands of passengers overseas. "Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded. This means that on a day like yesterday, more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions or delays."

"We are writing with urgency to request that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate two miles of airport runways as defined by the FAA on January 19, 2022," the airline CEOs leaders argued. "To be blunt, the nation's commerce will grind to a halt." The airlines also objected to potential incurred costs related to better shielding their avionics (which helped alleviate the previous issues with hearing aids).

For its part, United Airlines told Reuters that it faces "significant restrictions on 787s, 777s, 737s and regional aircraft in major cities like Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago." Thats about 4 percent of the carriers daily traffic. These restrictions would apply to cargo aircraft as well as passenger planes, which will likely further exacerbate the nations current supply chain woes.

The FAA has conceded that 5G cellular technology could potentially cause issues but stopped short of the airline industrys apocalyptic predictions. Aircraft with untested altimeters or that need retrofitting or replacement will be unable to perform low-visibility landings where 5G is deployed, the agency said in a statement, directing airlines that operate Boeing 787s, for example, to take extra precautions when landing on wet or snowy runways as 5G interference could prevent the massive airfcrafts thrust reversers to fail, leaving it to stop using brake power alone.

AT&T is none too happy with the FAAs course of action either. "We are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it to do so in a timely manner," an AT&T spokesperson said in a statement.

The FAA is already considering the airlines request for buffer zones and, on January 8th, released a list of 50 airports across the country where it plans to implement them. The agency also notes that it has cleared five models of radio altimeter to operate within low-visibility areas where 5G systems operate. These models are installed in more than 60 percent of aircraft flying in the US including the Boeing 737 - 777, Airbus A310 - A380, and the MD-10/-11.

"We recognize the economic importance of expanding 5G, and we appreciate the wireless companies working with us to protect the flying public and the countrys supply chain. The complex U.S. airspace leads the world in safety because of our high standards for aviation, and we will maintain this commitment as wireless companies deploy 5G," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, said in a statement on Tuesday.

This leaves the FAA in a tight spot. With the two week delay having already expired, Verizon is moving ahead with its 1,700-city, 100 million-customer rollout. AT&T is doing so as well, though on a more limited basis in select parts of eight metro areas including Detroit, Chicago, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. The agency has pledged to continue to investigate the issue and regulate based on its findings though it has not yet disclosed what steps it plans to take next for doing so.
Airbnb knows you might be reluctant to book a stay while the COVID-19 pandemic makes trips risky, so it's planning to offer some protection of its own. The rental service has revealed it will introduce custom travel insurance for guests sometime this spring. While the terms aren't available, Airbnb will team with a "reputable" insurer to offer coverage.

The company has also launched a Guest COVID Support Program that partly compensates travellers if border closures, quarantine periods or other government policies make existing reservations impractical. If a host won't provide a full refund, Airbnb will offer a travel coupon worth 50 percent of whatever hasn't been refunded so far. The program applies to all stays with a check-in date of December 1st, 2021 or later, so you might want to talk to Airbnb if your holiday plans fell apart.

There's no mystery behind the strategy. Airbnb's business has been hit hard by the pandemic as a whole, and COVID-19's Omicron variant is only increasing the worry for hosts and guests who were hoping the worst was behind them. First-party insurance and coupons might persuade some would-be adventurers to book stays when they would have otherwise stayed home.
This content is made possible by our sponsor; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Engadget's editorial staff.

Whether youre setting fitness goals or traveling more frequently, the right piece of tech can help you stick to your New Years resolutions. However, when it comes to setting goals, you arent necessarily tied down to a physical gadget. Apps can also make a positive impact on your health, productivity and financial ambitions in 2022.

If youve resolved to be safer online, better organized or more productive, here are 10 apps that you should consider. All of them are an extra 15 percent off with code JAN15.

FastestVPN: Lifetime Subscription

Want to protect your browsing habits in 2022? FastestVPN provides comprehensive coverage thanks to 350 high-speed servers spread across the globe, as well as a NAT firewall, an ad blocker, anti-malware and strict no-logging policy.

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Give yourself the extra peace of mind by securing a space to backup your important files. This Degoo Premium plan provides more storage capacity than Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox combined, and it features automatic file change detection that keeps your files up to date.

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12min Micro Book Library: Lifetime Premium Subscription

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As seen in HuffPost, Steamed, Aripaev and other websites, Speaklys science-based approach to language learning is designed for those who value their time. The company claims its algorithms will teach you the 4,000 most statistically relevant words in your selected language, allowing you to get a beginners grasp within 100 hours of study.

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Building a website in 2022 requires a reliable hosting service. iBrave offers a global Content Delivery Network supported by fast servers to ensure that your webpage remains up and running at all times of the day. With this subscription, you can add unlimited websites and subdomains with no bandwidth or storage limits.

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A virtual green screen and production studio for streamers, presenters and gamers, XSplit Broadcaster lets you incorporate interesting elements to your live videos. This includes animations, custom transitions, broadcast effects, looped videos in your background and much more.

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Dollar Flight Club: Lifetime Subscription

COVID-related travel restrictions are gradually loosening worldwide, so if youve been itching for an adventure, Dollar Flight Club will help you make up for lost time. This service finds deals on flights from your local airport to destinations worldwide, and alerts are sent straight straight to your email.

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Prices subject to change.
A major tech reform bill that would prevent the industry's biggest players  Apple, Amazon, Google, and their ilk  from discriminating against smaller businesses that rely on the big platforms' services is one step closer to passage on Thursday after passing from committee on a bipartisan 16-6 vote. Senators Mike Lee, John Cornyn, Ben Sasse, Tom Cotton, Thom Tillis, and Marsha Blackburn all voted against it.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, which was sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar, would prohibit Amazon from promoting its own Amazon Basics gear over similar products in search results. Similarly, Apple and Google would be barred from pushing their in-house apps over those from third-party developers in their respective app stores. The bill passed out of both the antitrust subcommittee and the primary judiciary committee with the support of that vote and will now be put forth on the Senate floor.

Unsurprisingly, the platforms impacted by these proposed regulations are none too pleased with the recent proceedings. Apple's Tim Cook has reportedly been personally lobbying against the bill while Amazon has released the following statement:

Theres a reason why small businesses who sell on Amazon are asking Congress to take a look at the collateral damage that will fall on them and their customers, should the American Innovation and Choice Online Act become law. This bill is being rushed through the legislative process without any acknowledgment by its authors of its unintended consequences. As drafted, the bills vague prohibitions and unreasonable financial penaltiesup to 15% of U.S. revenue, not incomewould jeopardize our ability to allow small businesses to sell on Amazon. The bill would also make it difficult for us to guarantee one or two-day shipping for those small businesses' productskey benefits of Amazon Prime for sellers and customers alike. The bills authors are targeting common retail practices and, troublingly, appear to single out Amazon while giving preferential treatment to other large retailers that engage in the same practices. We urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Senator Klobuchar and Senator Grassleys bill and refuse to rush through an ambiguously worded bill with significant unintended consequences.

A similar bill has already passed the judiciary committee's counterpart in the House though the President has not yet weighed in regarding his support of these proposals.
Security-focused smartphone maker Sikur is back with its latest handset. The Android 11-powered Sikur One, which was developed with the help of Brazilian manufacturer Multilaser, follows the Zero Trust approach to security.

The Zero Trust concept is, in a nutshell, self explanatory. It assumes that no one can fully be trusted from a security perspective. A company or organization typically has control over a Zero Trust setup, which requires users to be authorized, authenticated and continuously validated for them to retain access to apps and data.

The Sikur One is designed primarily for corporate and government use, with organizations having the ability to control each device in line with their policies. Sikur says the device is compliant with European GDPR and Brazilian LGPD data privacy standards.

Using a system called Sikur ID, the Sikur One can carry out a password-less authentication token function. The company says that will prevent malware and phishing attacks. The phone can be locked or wiped remotely if it's lost or stolen. Users can restore data from the cloud on another device.

Sikur

Data is encrypted at the source Users won't be able to install apps from unsecured third-party stores and Sikur One will switch off location services by default. The company will strip out unneeded system applications, while the Sikur One will be up to date with over-the-air patches. The company says that won't leave "any room for commonly exploited vulnerabilities." There's no USB file transfer support either.

The Sikur One uses Sikur Messenger as the standard communication platform, encompassing messaging, file storage, file sharing and voice and video calls. All data is stored in a private cloud.

Despite the security measures, Sikur CEO Fabio Fischer says the smartphone has "the same usability as a regular device." The Sikur One has access to all apps on the Google Play Store, but the organization in charge of the device can determine what kinds of apps can be downloaded or whether users can install their own apps at all.

On the hardware side, the Sikur One has a 6.5-inch screen, an octo-core processor, 4GB of memory and 128GB of onboard storage (which is expandable by up to 512GB using a memory card). It has a 4,000 mAh battery and dual SIM support, as well as 4G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The device has a triple camera array on the rear and a 3MP front-facing lens. In addition, there's a fingerprint sensor and support for facial recognition.

Sikur One builds on the company's previous handsets, GranitePhone and SikurPhone, which it released in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Although those were also intended for organizations, consumers were still buying the GranitePhone.

Sikur will offer its latest model to the public as well via its sales channel partners. Pricing varies by country, but the Sikur One costs around $274. That covers the cost of the device as well as a one-year license for Sikur Messenger and mobile device management. After the first 12 months, organization will need to pay $145 per user per year for those features.
Apple has finally closed a loophole in the US that allowed most buyers to claim education pricing, even if they weren't actually a student or a teacher. First noted on Reddit, the US Apple Store now requires buyers to verify their status via UNiDAYS to be able to purchase MacBooks, iPads and other devices from its education portal. The change appears to have happened over the past few days.

Im based in the UK, where Apple has long required proof through the UNiDAYS platform to nab that often substantial discount on some of the companys priciest devices. For legitimate students and teachers, youll have to click through to the UNiDAYS' partner page for Apple first and sign in before you get to those discounts. Not that anyone can go too crazy: shoppers are limited to one desktop, one Mac mini, one laptop, two iPads and two accessories per year. Still, thats a lot of Macs.

 Mat Smith

In space, your body destroys more blood cells than it makes.

NASA

A new study has found that "space anemia" caused by weightlessness in space is not a temporary issue as once thought, the CBC has reported. "As long as you are in space, you are destroying more blood cells than you are making," said the University of Ottawa's Guy Trudel, who led a 14-astronaut study carried out by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The researchers said anemia could even be an issue for space tourism. The study also noted that "current exercise and nutritional countermeasures of modern space travel did not prevent hemolysis and post-flight anemia" in the astronauts tested.

Continue reading.

Autopilot was apparently engaged at the time of the crash.

A Tesla owner is facing the first felony charges filed against someone using a partially automated driving system in the US. The defendant, Kevin George Aziz Riad, was driving a Model S when he crashed into a Honda Civic at a California intersection in 2019. It ended up killing the Civic's two passengers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently confirmed the vehicles Autopilot mode was switched on at the time of the crash. The NHTSA formally opened a probe into Tesla's driver assistance system in August last year following a string of 17 people killed in 11 crashes involving parked first responder vehicles.

Continue reading.

Verizon expects to hit over 1,700 cities this month, but AT&T's rollout is more limited.

After a six-week delay  and no availability near many airports for the time being  people in some areas of the US will have access to C-Band services starting today.

AT&T is taking a relatively cautious approach to its rollout, with its C-Band 5G services going live in "limited parts" of eight metro areas, including Detroit and Chicago. Folks in three regions in Florida also use AT&T's C-Band network. Verizon (Engadget's former parent company) says 100 million more people will gain access to its 5G Ultra Wideband network this month.

Continue reading.

Affected users will need to move to a paid Workspace plan.

First, it was Google Apps, then G Suite and now its Workspace. During all those name changes, Google offered new subscription plans while doing away with older ones. It now plans to sunset a tier that had survived the suites most recent rebranding.

In an email spotted by 9to5Google, the company told Workspace administrators it wont offer G Suite legacy free edition as of July 1st, 2022. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to start paying for GDocs. If you're using Gmail, Docs, Sheets and the rest through a free Google account, you won't be affected by the move. Google will continue to offer free Workspace plans to nonprofits and schools that qualify for its Fundamentals tier.

Continue reading.

The eStream helps tow itself.

Airstream

According to Autoblog, Airstreams Thor brand has revealed an eStream concept self-propelling camper. The dual-motor trailer not only reduces the burden on the towing vehicle but can be remote-controlled from your phone to help you hitch up, reverse or simply move camp site. You can even use the motors to shift the weight distribution, so you might not need a special hitch.

Continue reading.

Play some big-name Android titles on your PC.

You can now play Google Play Games on Windows  if you live in the right country. Google has launched registration-based beta access to "popular" Play Games titles on Windows PCs in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Google said it would offer details of later betas and expansions "soon." It previously committed to a generic 2022 rollout.

Continue reading.

It's an expensive controller, though.

Engadget

Whether its Xbox Cloud gaming, Stadia, PlayStation Remote Play or just a very severe addiction to Apple Arcade , gamepads are a better way to play many games on your smartphone. Normally that means using some kind of smartphone clip, but there are several options now that snap directly to your phone. The $100 Backbone One is a single-piece controller that extends to fit your iPhone and plugs directly into it.

Continue reading.

The biggest news stories you might have missed

Amazon gives its 'Lord of the Rings' series a redundant name

Microsoft's Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2 controller is $40 off again

I tried Silk's dairy-inspired Nextmilk and wasn't fooled

Apple's WeWork drama 'WeCrashed' premieres March 18th

President Biden signs memo to help improve military cybersecurity

iRobot's Roomba 694 is back down to a record low of $179
Weather Alert

...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING... * WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is possible. * WHERE...Portions of Oklahoma and northern Texas, including the following counties, in Oklahoma, Alfalfa, Atoka, Blaine, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche, Cotton, Garfield, Garvin, Grady, Grant, Hughes, Jefferson, Johnston, Kay, Kingfisher, Lincoln, Logan, Love, Major, Marshall, McClain, Murray, Noble, Oklahoma, Payne, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Seminole, Stephens and Tillman. In northern Texas, Archer, Clay, Wichita and Wilbarger. * WHEN...From Wednesday morning through Thursday morning. * IMPACTS...Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - Showers and thunderstorms will develop Wednesday morning over a broad swath of the watch area. Another round of rain and thunderstorms is expected later in the afternoon and lasting much of Wednesday night before ending Thursday morning. Storm total amounts of 2 to 4 inches are expected. Given recent rainfall, these additional amounts may cause flooding. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood
Since the tragic passing of actor Chadwick Boseman, the fan gossip has been going full speed surrounding the in-production sequel to the worldwide phenomenon Black Panther, titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

One actor in particular has been at the forefront of these predictions, Erik Killmonger, himself, Michael B. Jordan, who has been asked about the possible return of his conflicted villain character who was killed in the first film.

While talking with MTV News this week, the idea of the character's return was broached,

I think it's a character and a world that I love so much, who knows? But as we all know Marvel has their plans and their things, who knows how things are going to shake out.

And the question didn't stop there. Movies with Ali Plumb brought up the return of Killmonger as well. Jordan continued to keep tight lipped,

I don't know what Marvel has up their sleeves, so I can't let [fans] down nor get them excited with any information that may or may not come out of my mouth, that I may or may not have said....and that's all I can say if I said anything at all.

Also!



In the UK? Watch my full 'Story So Far' interview with Michael B. Jordan in honour of #WithoutRemorse on @BBCiPlayer: https://t.co/kdOlvI4gmP



We talk The Wire, Chronicle, Creed 3 and more 



Not in the UK? Check out the highlights on YouTube: https://t.co/wIIFq4SW7F pic.twitter.com/4QoVelg27a  Ali Plumb (@AliPlumb) April 30, 2021

Whatever the final decision is about Jordan's return to the franchise, Lupita Nyong'o had this to say to Yahoo! about the paradigm shift to the script that director Ryan Coogler took after Boseman's passing,

And (Coogler's) idea, the way which he has reshaped the second movie is so respectful of the loss we've all experienced as a cast and as a world. So it feels spiritually and emotionally correct to do this. And hopefully, what I do look forward to, is getting back together and honoring what he started with us and holding his light through it. Because he left us a lot of light that we're still going to be bathing in. I know that for sure.

Either way, one thing is for sure, with the love and respect the creatives have for Black Panther and its fallen star, Wakanda Forever is sure to thrill audiences when it is released on November 11th.
In 2022, EU foreign policy looks towards some fire fighting to salvage what is left of the once-dominant dream of building a ring of friends from the Caucasus to the Sahara. Over the past year, Europe has woken up to the return of geopolitics, whether in Belarus, an increasingly revisionist Russia, or Chinas coercive trade threats towards Lithuania and others. Geopolitical changes have intensified with power politics repeatedly challenging the EU and its values, EUs chief diplomat Josep Borrell said in his end of the year blog post, adding the bloc must respond with all the determination we can muster. But 13 years on from the launch of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Mediterranean Union, the ring of fire in the EUs troubled neighborhood has not been put out on its eastern and southern flanks just yet.

The flare-up of tensions between Russia and the West over its military build-up around Ukraine will likely become a litmus test for EU foreign policy in early 2022. However, this is big game, and Putins interlocutor is no other but Joe Biden. We do not want to and must not be an uninvolved spectator, with decisions being made over our heads, Borrell said in a recent interview, where he added US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shares a similar view. Russia has made bold ultimatums to NATO and the West, while it appears they were aware the answer would most likely be no. EU diplomats believe the proposals are intended to distract from the situation around Ukraine and, with the demands going to the maximum possible betting, are not designed to be accepted, but rather restore Russia as being treated as an equal negotiation partner.

Moscow also clearly does not count on an EU role in the upcoming talks with US and NATO over Europes security architecture. Russias veteran foreign minister Sergey Lavrov only deepened the notion by declaring countries of Central and Eastern Europe as territories orphaned by the collapse of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and the Soviet Union. Not sovereign, independent or free, but unowned. The Russian salami-tactics to sideline the EU are something Putin has been trying with us since forever, according to an EU official.

However, the EU official pointed out, that with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy gone  both having been perceived by Putin as leaders he could do business with  and his domestic track record stretched over the Navalny poisoning and the Memorial crackdown, the EU could push back, aided by Washington.

Next to Ukraine, the two other Associated Trio partners and EU hopefuls, Georgia and Moldova, face the presence of Russian troops against the will of their legitimate governments. Although asking for more commitments, they are unlikely to join the bloc any time soon. Although the majority of EU member states publicly reject the idea of a Russian veto or sphere of influence over the former Soviet republics, insisting they should be free to choose their own strategic alignments, several EU diplomats and senior government officials admit that no one in Brussels currently can envisage Ukraine or Georgia joining the bloc.

Belaruss long-serving strongman Alexander Lukashenko is still in power, having added an escalating border crisis with migrants trapped at Europes doorstep to the EUs headaches. Existing EU sanctions on his regime would need to be better coordinated with Europes allies to fill the existing loopholes.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war in 2020 over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, with occasional flare-ups and repeated deadly border skirmishes reoccurring.

For the Western Balkans, Borrell pointed out that increasing divisive rhetoric and actions in the region, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have hampered efforts to bring the six countries closer to their European future. In fact, despite the Western Balkans having been brought back to the EUs agenda, brokered by the Slovenian EU presidency, enlargement remains on life support. Strangely, it is among the EU neighbors who do not nurture ambitions to join the EU, namely in Central Asia, that the EU soft power appears to work adequately.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Neighborhood, the EU has still not found a solution to migrants dying in the Mediterranean, and relations with Turkey can not be described as anything other than frozen. Beyond, lies the aftermath of Afghanistan and several conflicts in Africa raise concerns in Brussels, with the Sahel deteriorating and the Ethiopian civil war escalating.

Any need to manage the influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East, Asia and Africa could likely take precedence over investing more into its near neighborhood, EU diplomats fear.

STRATEGIC AUTONOMY AND FRENCH AMBITIONS  Many EU officials and diplomats agree that the EUs challenges need to be addressed jointly, but member states different domestic priorities have so far hampered the push for a common EU foreign policy.

The main challenge for next year will be to provide clarity on the EUs objectives on the one hand and how to make member states buy-in. The EUs upcoming Strategic Compass, the closest the bloc can come to a military strategy, is meant to cover security risks and trends across the bloc and worldwide and serve as an operational guide on decision-making on security and defense issues. The final version is set to be approved in March, during Frances EU Council presidency, with the first-ever European Defense Summit to follow.

But with French President Emmanuel Macron focused on his reelection campaign, some in Brussels fear the process could become trapped in a push for more French security objectives. Several member states have reservations about its cost, to the fact it doesnt adequately address Russias assertive behavior in Europes backyard, or that it could potentially duplicate NATO efforts. Some EU diplomats have said theyre worried about adding more new tools, while not using the potential of existing ones. Establishing the trust that this document is not yet another paper tiger or power grab from the Commission in the interest of the bigger over, the smaller member states cannot be done by March, one EU diplomat bluntly said. It needs more visible actions on the crisis we are currently facing, only that can convince member states of the EU is serious about actually addressing its burning surroundings, the diplomat added.

2022: Europes Ring of Fire Keeps Smoldering  Article by Alexandra Brzozowski  Euroactiv.

The Article can be downloaded here
Thursday, January 20, 2022

Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Author of the Award- Winning Book Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies (Nicholas Brealey)

The Great Resignation appears to be getting greater as employers continue to seek ways to reverseor at least neutralizethe number of their departing workers.

According to the latest Jobs Openings And Labor Turnover report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the trend picked up momentum again in Novembera record 4.53 million Americans quit their jobs.

Statista, a market and consumer data website, reported that, "The number of Americans quitting has now exceeded pre-pandemic highs for eight straight months, as employers, especially in low-wage sectors, are struggling to fill open positions.

"The reasons for this trend are of course manifold, but one major driver appears to be that many workers are no longer willing to put up with the pay and/or working conditions they (perhaps grudgingly) accepted prior to the pandemic."

"I certainly think that the pandemic has led many people to reevaluate their work and their priorities and what they want to do," Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute said in a statement to Business Insider.

Many employers appear to be trying almost anything they can think of to encourage workers to stayincluding providing free food and gym memberships, gift cards and letting them bring their dogs to work. But the fact that employees are leaving for new and different reasons means that companies should consider new and different incentives.

There is a powerful financial incentive to keep current employees in place. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that on average it costs six to nine months of an employee's salary to replace him or her. For an employee making $60,000 per year, that comes out to $30,000 - $45,000 in recruiting and training costs.

Different Perks Needed

Stephanie Gray is the founder and president of SGA Communications, a Chicago-based communications agency. She observed that, "Many of the perks that helped attract talent before the pandemic no longer carry the same weight with workers, or even apply to a hybrid or remote workplace.

"Employers looking to combat The Great Resignation must adjust their workplace to reflect a new social contract at work and a significant shift away from the 'culture of family' that ruled the early aughts to a more traditional culture of business, which relies on the transactional employer-employee relationship," Gray advised.

Rewarding Productivity

She advised that, "One way to do so is to reward productivity instead of hours. Workers enjoy greater work-life balance when they have autonomy over their work schedule. Employers can (and should) offer more flexibility without sacrificing productivity by setting clear expectations about what work an employee is responsible for completingnot when they are responsible for reporting to work."

High Value Incentives

Kira La Forgia is an organizational leadership and HR consultant. She said that throwing money at the problem has no place in the current marketplace. "When recruiting new talent or retaining current team members, the most high value incentives address time and schedule freedom.

"Having a flex schedule offered but still adding countless meetings at the drop of a hat is not going to work and breeds a culture of 'bait and switch.' In conjunction with the opportunity for flex scheduling, your company must be willing and able to create a framework of availability.

"We have seen this work well in multi-time zone remote positions when meetings are recurring and planned ahead, and when a company has a policy that meetings only can occur amongst team members and cross functional projects between certain blocks of the day. Not only does this create an environment of equity across the board, but also a sense of time management that encourages cohesion for team members," she noted.

Flexibility Has Taken Center Stage

Abakar Saidov is the cofounder and CEO of Beamery, a talent management platform. He said that, "Returning to work in 2022 looks very different than it did last year. Gone are the days of a rigid, 9-5 schedule and in-office environment. Flexibility and addressing employee concerns have now taken center stage to become, arguably, the most effective ways to both retain employees and attract new talent.

He said their recent Talent Index survey "revealed exactly what employees hope to see from employers this year. Top of the wish lists for 2022 were flextime and a four-day work week. It's increasingly important for employers to consider the asynchronous work week, empowering employees to balance priorities like childcare and appointments, with work commitments."

'A Must-Have Resource For Employees'

The mental stress and strain created by the pandemic has made mental health benefits an important incentive for many workers.

In Mercer's 2021 Health on Demand report, 42% of employees with access to mental health benefits reported that they're more likely to stay at their current organization than if they didn't have those resources. They also found that 44% of those without access to mental health benefits did not feel supported by their employers.

Sherry Benton, a psychologist and founder/CSO of digital behavioral health platform TAO Connect, said that "mental health support at work is no longer a company perk, it's a 'must-have resource' for employees."

"Mental health benefits show employees that you value them and have understanding and sympathy for things they might be experiencing outside of work. Mental health benefits should be treated with the same importance and availability as physical health benefits," Benton noted.

"Many organizations don't realize that if you equip employees with what they need to resolve certain issues they are going through, you get a more effective and productive employee, which can benefit your company simultaneously," she advised.

Empathy

Leni Rivera is a workplace experience specialist. She said that, "The single best thing that organizations of all industries can offer workers in this time of the War for Talent to attract and keep them is empathy.

"Taking the time to understandand empathize with a worker's conditions within your organization, with their individual struggles, desires and values will be the key to your success.

"Don't underestimate the value of a clean, quiet, comfortable break room; improve the focus on physical, mental and psychological health while in the workplace; invest in workers' childcare and/or parent care needs; and invest in their education and personal growth. Work with workers to achieve their personal priorities, and you will find their loyalty in return," she concluded.

###
Monday was MLK Day in the US--honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

It's been nearly 54 years since Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. Since then, there has been movement forward and back on civil rights. Voting rights acts passed--followed by restrictive voting laws in many states. American electing a Black president--followed by one who was blatantly racist.

King told us not to judge a man by the color of his skin--yet that still happens on an ongoing basis. He told us the time is always right to do what's right, and darkness can't drive out darkness: only light can do that.

I wonder what MLK would have to say about the current state of things if he were still alive. What commentary would he have about our polarized world--a place where people fight over mask mandates and refuse to be vaccinated against a disease that has already killed over 5 million people globally? Would he chastise us for forgetting what he saw as the path forward to justice and equality?

Maybe he'd just repeat what he already told us:

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."

It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Subscribe to this newsletter.

Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise--even in a crisis situation.
New York, NYScott Shay, author of Conspiracy U: A Case Study, was interviewed by Russell F. Robinson, CEO of Jewish National Fund-USA, on his show, Conversations on Zionism. JNF is a nonprofit organization and United Nations NGO that gives all generations of Jews a unique voice in building a prosperous future for the land of Israel and its people.

Robinson kicked off the 30-minute interview by asking why Shay, a successful banker and businessman, was prepared to tackle the highly charged issue of Zionism? Shay explained that, as the only son of a Holocaust Survivor, his father imbued upon him the "importance of the Jewish people; it was so important that people were historically willing to sacrifice their lives for it. He didn't believe Jews should continue on just because Jews should continue on, but because we have an important message for the world."

Watch the entire 30-minute interview of Scott Shay with ZTV with Russell F. Robinson at https://bit.ly/ScottShay_RussellRobinson_JNF

In Conspiracy U, Scott Shay uses his experience attending Northwestern University, in the 1970s, and subsequent events at NU which form a complex narrative about two professors, one far-left and one far-right. Their philosophies are employed as touchstones to explore the ancient and modern variations of Jewish hatred and Anti-Zionism. Focus is mainly on fairly recent Anti-Zionist Conspiracy Theories and the baggage of falsehoods which are now burrowing ever deeper into the minds of youth and those ill-informed about the truth.

Shay points this out in response to those who degrade the significance of Zionism and Jewish history: "Like it or not, Zionism has been around for three thousand years and has not been recently invented."

Shay sheds further light on conspiracy theories by noting this: "To say something is a conspiracy theory should not be some general rhetorical charge. Rather, conspiracy theories have definable parameters. They claim to be explanations of political or social phenomena that are the result of a covert conspiracy by powerful and secret actors."

"Conspiracy U is a devastating and clear-minded deep dive into the phenomenon of conspiracy theoriesIt's a Masterclass in identifying and weeding out conspiracy theories wherever they exist." John Kelly, Detroit Free Press, 5-Stars



"Conspiracy U is at once moving and maddening while inviting thinking and motivating actionThis is a must-read not just for those interested in Israel but for anyone trying tounderstand the broad cross currents that are buffeting society." Mark Mellman, President and CEO, Democratic Majority for Israel



"Powerful, well researched and documented, CONSPIRACY U is a call to actionwe all should read, absorb and commit to the changes Shay suggests. Highly recommended." Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Top 50 Reviewer, 5-Stars

Conspiracy U: A Case Study, 288 pgs, Wicked Son Publishing, October 2021, ISBN 1637580924 available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and quality independent bookstores.

About Scott Shay: Scott A. Shay is a leading businessman, thought leader, and author of two widely read books. Scott is the co-founder and Chairman of Signature Bank, well known as one of the best banks in New York for private business owners and as a leader in the emerging digital currency ecosystem. Scott earned a BA in Economics and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University, a valuable experience due to the commitment of his professors to high academic standards and the ideals of the university's motto. He is a distinguished leader in the Jewish community and an avid student of religion and its application to the world outside of the synagogue, church, or mosque. These interests are reflected in Conspiracy U, as well as his previous two books, In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism and Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry. Scott lives in New York City, NY.

Learn more about Scott and Conspiracy U: A Case Study at scottshay.com

Media Contact: For a review copy of Conspiracy U: A Case Study or to arrange an interview with Scott Shay, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Reach Lorenz on twitter @abookpublicist
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A bomb threat caused Alamo Heights High School to be evacuated Wednesday.

About 2:30 p.m. Alamo Heights ISD announced that the high school was under evacuation due to an alleged bomb threat that was phoned in a short time ago. The students were moved to a holding site in the school stadium before being dismissed at 3:30 p.m., according to a message that AHISD parents received at the end of the day.

Law enforcement have now fully assessed the situation in all AHHS buildings and have cleared them according to their safety protocols at 5 pm this afternoon, the message read. AHHS is safe and secure for the return of students when classes resume.

Just after 5 p.m., the city announced the all-clear on social media and said that traffic might continue to be heavy in the area due to remaining police presence.

The bomb threat was made to the school by an anonymous caller, so law enforcement was notified, AHISD parents were told at the end of the day.

Multiple K9 units from the SA airport, Comal County, Via Transit Police, and ATF were deployed to assist in the effort, as well as support from San Antonio traffic units, the message that was sent after 5 p.m. said.

The city initially said that people should stay away from 6900 Broadway and wait for an all-clear notification from authorities.

In a 3 p.m. announcement on Twitter, the city said that Alamo Heights High School would be releasing students from East Castano Avenue at Vanderhoeven and that bus pickup would continue regularly at the 100 block of West Castano at Broadway.

Alamo Heights ISD said that law enforcement is continuing the investigation. Anyone with information that may help is asked to call Alamo Heights Police Department non-emergency number at 210-822-3321.

Terroristic threats are a serious violation of the law and result in serious consequences for those involved, the schools message continued. Parents, we ask that you remind your students about the serious nature of this kind of crime.

megan.rodriguez@express-news.net
A construction crew working at the Fig Tree Restaurant in La Villita Historic Arts District last year uncovered various artifacts from the 1800s.

Now, a chef who was part of the restaurants team says in a lawsuit that he was fired for refusing to dispose of the findings so construction could continue. They included about 500 human or animal bones, says John McCormack, the former chef.

In his suit, filed this month in state District Court in San Antonio, McCormack alleges Fig Tree owner Sam Panchevre, whos best known for the eponymous Sams Burger Joint, directed him to gather and destroy all the bones.

McCormack says he refused to engage in what his suit calls the illegal activity, resulting in his termination. Hes seeking damages ranging from $200,000 to $1 million.

Panchevre called the allegations complete lies.

McCormack, a disgruntled ex-employee, is making false accusations for his financial benefit, Panchevre said in a text message last week.

Courtesy / Courtesy / John McCormack photographed items recovered from the Fig Tree Restaurant site. He wants to turn them over to the University of Texas at San Antonios Center for Archaeology Research. (Byline Josie Norris /Staff photographer) John McCormack photographed items recovered from the Fig Tree Restaurant site. He wants to turn them over to the University of Texas at San Antonios Center for Archaeology Research. (Byline Josie Norris /Staff photographer)

No human bones were seen among the artifacts when they were reviewed by City Archaeologist Matthew Elverson, whom McCormack met with last summer to go over the findings.

The artifacts Matt saw consisted of glass, ceramics, metal, lithics (stone tools and flakes) and animal bone. No human remains were observed, city spokeswoman Ximena Copa-Wiggins said in an email. No artifacts were received or retained by the Office of Historic Preservation.

On ExpressNews.com: Conservation Society of San Antonio selling King William HQ for nearly $4 million

Employment law

Josie Norris /Staff photographer

Texas is an at-will employment state, meaning an employer can fire an employee for just about any reason.

However, an employer cant terminate an employee for refusing to engage in an illegal activity. Its known as the Sabine Pilot doctrine, which stems from a 1985 Texas Supreme Court case and provides legal protections for employees who are fired for refusing to commit an illegal act.

McCormack cites the case in his complaint, alleging Panchevres RiverDog LLC violated Sabine Pilots public policy.

Panchevre hired McCormack, 58, in March as chef of Rockys Patio Bar, another Panchevre establishment, located next to Fig Tree on the River Walk.

The plan called for McCormack to get Rockys up and running, then do the same at Fig Tree, serving as the chef, the suit says. Fig Tree closed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Its slated to reopen in two or three months, Panchevre said.

La Villita was San Antonios first neighborhood, originally serving as a settlement of primitive huts for the Spanish soldiers stationed at the Mission San Antonio de Valero  the Alamo, the citys website says.

Its possible the second site of the mission was at La Villita, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Alleged findings

Courtesy /

In May, the construction crew working in back of the Fig Tree found a large quantity of items from the 1800s, including medical bottles from 1840 to 1865, McCormacks suit says. The construction foreman showed Panchevre bottles from the back terrace that reached the River Walks edge.

The crew also uncovered an assortment of organic material that appeared to be either animal or human bones, the complaint adds. There were approximately 500 bones that Mr. Panchevre requested Mr. McCormack gather and destroy in order to prevent anyone from finding out about them.

Alfonso Kennard Jr., McCormacks Houston lawyer, said Panchevre made the request to discard human remains and historical artifacts so that he could quickly develop this property. Native American arrowheads, pottery and different types of ironwork also were found.

McCormack refused to destroy the bones and artifacts.

He is a native American man, and the act of destroying bones goes against all his beliefs, his lawsuit says.

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On July 2, the suit says, Panchevre informed McCormack that he was not going to have the chef develop the Fig Tree restaurant.

The close timing between McCormacks refusal to destroy the items and his firing supports his contentions, the suit says.

Stolen artifacts?

I dont know how seven little pharmacy bottles we found and turned over to the Conversation Society (of San Antonio) to make some display for the Fig Tree has emerged as 500 bones and artifacts, Panchevre said. Vincent Michael, the Conversation Societys executive director, had no comment.

Panchevre texted a photo of a bottle he kept, which has the word Poison embossed on the side. He wants to replicate the bottle and come up with a drink for it.

Panchevre had not seen the complaint before receiving a copy from the San Antonio Express-News and indicated he was unaware McCormack had artifacts from the La Villita site.

He must have taken them I would guess and if he did in fact, then it is stolen, Panchevre wrote in a text.

Kennard said McCormack turned over the artifacts to the University of Texas at San Antonio and they are now in possession of these items.

A spokeswoman for UTSAs Center for Archaeological Research said that wasnt the case. The centers director is Raymond Mauldin.

Since Dr. Mauldin has not seen the material and CAR has not agreed to take  or not take  the material, it would be premature for him to speak on this, spokeswoman Courtney Clevenger said in an email.

Kennards office subsequently said the artifacts and bones were taken to UTSA but that it asked McCormack to keep them until they could be returned to the university.

pdanner@express-news.net
Claire Goodman / Staff writer

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be working from home until he recovers, according to a statement from the office Wednesday.

The office did not respond to questions about when he tested positive, whether Paxton is vaccinated, the severity of symptoms or potential exposures at public events.
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Theater artist Rick Malones sound designs helped give San Antonio theatergoers a sense of what it might be like to hide from the Nazis in a cramped annex or get caught in the middle of an inferno.

A co-founder of San Antonios Classic Theatre, Malone died Tuesday evening of complications from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease. He was 81.

Malone, who retired from theater when the pandemic forced Classic Theatre to end a staging of Brighton Beach Memoirs in 2020, has been on oxygen for the past year.

His wife, Diane Malone, said he had told his pulmonologist earlier in the day that he felt much better than he had in a long time. But something changed that evening, and she ended up calling EMS.

I just dont know what happened, she said. I was with him. It was hard to tell why he wasnt getting the oxygen he needed.

The couple met when they were students at Texas Tech University and dated for two years before they married. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last year.

On ExpressNews.com: Magik Theatre founding member Richard Solis dies at 51

For 62 years, we shared our lives, she said. I keep wanting to talk to him about this. I want him to be here with me while we go through his death and everything connected with it.

Theater was woven into their relationship from the start.

She caught his eye in a trigonometry class, and he wanted to ask her out. So he tracked her down one evening in the theater, where she spent much of her time, and was quickly drafted into helping to build sets.

Soon he was hooked and changed his major to theater.

After college, he joined the Army and spent 25 years touring the world with Diane and their daughters. They did theater on the side, too. He frequently designed sound and lights for shows that she directed.

When he retired from the Army, the Malones moved first to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and then to San Antonio, her hometown.

The couple worked for nearly every theater company in town in some capacity over the years. He did lights and sound, giving up the former when climbing up ladders became a challenge.

By that point, he preferred sound, he said in an interview with the Express-News.

It exercises my mind, he said. It's like putting a puzzle together.

In 2008, the Malones co-founded Classic Theatre with Chris Cheever and two other couples  Allan S. and Terri Pena Ross and Tony and Asia Ciaravino.

Known to many in the theater community as Papa Rick, Malone was a steadying voice when disagreements arose, Asia Ciaravino said

He always was the heart of Classic, she said. He could bring things back to the why. Papa had the wisdom and the heart that brought us all back to the mission. He was such a grounding force.

He set a high bar for quality, she said, and his soundscapes were featured in several international expos. His design for the now-shuttered Sheldon Vexler Theatres staging of The Diary of Anne Frank was in the 2003 Prague Quadrennial, and his design for the Vexs production of Female Transport was included in the 2009 World Stage Design festival in Seoul, South Korea.

His design for Classics 2012 production of Swiss playwright Max Frischs The Firebugs, which his wife directed, was included in the 2013 World Stage Design exhibition in Wales. The story deals with arson as a metaphor for the rise of fascism. As the buildings in the town caught fire, the theater filled with the roaring, crackling sounds of an inferno.

Malone frequently designed sound for shows that Allan S. Ross acted in and directed. The thing that distinguished his work, Ross said, was its naturalism.

Sometimes, in plays the sound really is intrusive or its incongruous, and that was never the case with Rick, he said. Whatever he did fit the script, fit the message of the play and the ambiance of the piece.

His soundscapes were wonderful, so I loved working with him.

On ExpressNews.com: Greg Hinojosa, influential SA actor and director, dies at 57

Actress and director Eva Laporte knew Malone for 20 years. She appeared in at least a dozen shows for which he designed the sound, and she admired his skill. He and his wife also supported The Surround Project, a socially driven theater company that Laporte founded with her husband, Zach Lewis.

Malone wasnt stingy with praise, she said, and told jokes well. He was a good friend.

Just the night before he passed, he sent me kind words about the passing of my 17-year-old dog, she said via Messenger. Because at the root of it, Rick was a really big softie underneath a sometimes curmudgeonly exterior. (Im) totally indebted to him for passing the knowledge that he had, and I was very honored that he shared his passion with me.

Diane Malone said that as word of her husbands death spread, she heard from all sorts of people whose lives he touched.

He was a loving husband and father and mentor to so many folks in the theater, she said. Im getting messages from all over the world about how much Papa Rick meant to them.

Malone is survived by his wife and their daughters, Erin Malone and Sheila Malone.

Services are pending.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
The University of Montanas removal of the mask mandate in February was seen by many as a symbolic end to the COVID-19 pandemic thats ravaged campus for the last two years. But the struggle  and the resilience  weve seen at UM over these years wasnt for nothing. Weve learned what it me
The San Antonio area is home to five drive-thru restaurants that are among the best in the country, according to readers of a transportation and automotive website named Jalopnik.

The website asked its readers last week for their best places for a quick meal while traveling. The list of 10 restaurants is based off of popularity and rarely mentions the drive-thru experience at each spot. Instead, it focuses on readers' opinions of each eatery's food options.

San Antonio-based Whataburger and Taco Cabana made the list as did Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out and Jack in The Box, three fast food joints with multiple locations in the area.

On ExpressNews.com: Roaches and raw meat: The 10 worst San Antonio restaurant inspections of 2021

While the list is not a ranking, Jalopnik said Whataburger was the most popular response when it posed the questions to readers, who praised Whataburger for its thousands upon thousands of burger combinations.

"Whataburger, hands down. If its on the menu, it can be put on your burger," one reader said.

Whataburger has over 700 locations across Texas and in several locations in Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma. Last year, it announced a slew of locations in the Kansas City area.

On ExpressNews.com: 10 great restaurants, bars and coffee shops in Government Hill by San Antonios Pearl

Taco Cabana, known for its fast food Mexican cuisine, was lauded by readers for its fresh store-made flour tortillas, different salsa styles and their alcoholic beverages to-go. Taco Cabana began selling to-go margaritas during the pandemic.

Readers also mentioned Taco Cabana's 24-hour drive-thru service. "Nothing, I mean nothing, beats a couple of barbacoa tacos at 3 a.m.," according to one reader. There are over 166 Taco Cabana locations across Texas and New Mexico.

In-N-Out was applauded for its simple menu and "consistent quality."

Chick-fil-A's drive-thru experience was the only one mentioned on the list. Readers said the restaurant knows how to move the lines along quickly.

"If I ever saw a line as long as I see at a Chick-fil-a at a McDonalds Id just leave, because what might take 2 minutes at Chick-Fil-A would take 30 at McDonalds," one reader wrote.

Jack in The Box was credited for offering breakfast all day and its variety.

Below are the other six locations to make the list:

Wyoming-based Taco Johns

California native Bakers Burgers

Chicago's Portillos

Culvers

Runza, which is found in states like Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
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Some area school districts announced cancellations of classes Thursday with freezing weather conditions expected throughout San Antonio.

Due to predicted winter weather and the safety of all staff and students ... all schools and offices will be closed Thursday, San Antonio Independent School District officials announced Wednesday afternoon.

Northside, North East, Harlandale, Southwest, Somerset, East Central, Judson, Alamo Heights, Edgewood and Lackland ISDs also announced closures, as did charter networks that included the School of Science and Technology, IDEA Public Schools and New Frontiers Public Schools.

Late Wednesday night, Southside ISD said schools and district offices will be closed Thursday.

Alamo Heights ISD also said it would postpone its winter pep rally to Jan. 28.

Private schools San Antonio Academy and Keystone School also announced they would close on Thursday.

Texas A&M-San Antonio announced classes would be online Thursday. The campus will be open, but staff members should check with supervisors for information on work arrangments.

Others, including South San and Boerne ISDs, said they would continue to monitor conditions. Comal ISD said it would follow its normal schedule Thursday but would monitor conditions early Friday.

If severe weather conditions occur (rain, flooding, snow, ice, etc.) the South San Antonio ISD Website will be updated as quickly as possible, an email alert will be sent to parents subscribed to the district list, and an alert will be sent through South San ISDs social media network, South San said.

danya.perez@express-news.net | @DanyaPH
Democrat Beto ORourke had a big fundraising start to his campaign for governor, but Gov. Greg Abbott still has a sizable financial advantage over him.

The latest campaign finance reports made public this week show ORourkes raised $7.2 million in just about six weeks for his campaign for governor. While a big haul, it is still well behind Abbott, who reported raising another $18 million in the second half of 2021 and now has over $65 million in his campaign account.

Still ORourke on Wednesday said that hes confident he can beat Abbott this year. He said his close race in 2018 for the U.S. Senate, coupled with missteps by Abbott over the last year, give him a real chance. He said Abbotts mismanagement of the electricity grid and the extreme right agenda he pushed through the Legislature are reasons for his optimism.

There is a very very big opening that the governor has created, ORourke said at a meeting with the San Antonio Express-News editorial board.

Meanwhile in Austin on Wednesday, Abbott was making a strong economic case as to why he should be re-elected to a third term in office. At a meeting of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Abbott touted the states strong economy under his watch.

Now Playing: Beto O'Rourke visited the Friendly Spot to talk to locals about key issues such as the winter freeze of 2021 and covid-19. Video: Abigail Im Multimedia Producer

He said Texas leads the nation in attracting corporate headquarters, and that has created jobs.

More Texans have jobs than ever before in the history of our great state, Abbott said.

But before Abbott and ORourke can face each other, they have to first get through primary battles. ORourke faces four other Democrats in the March 1 Democratic primaries. None of those Democrats have raised more than $7,000 so far.

Abbott faces seven primary opponents including former State Sen. Don Huffines, who announced Monday that he had raised $12 million since entering the race last spring. Former Republican Party of Texas chairman Allen West has raised just short of $2 million for his campaign. Arlington comedian Chad Prather has raised just over $150,000 for his campaign. None of the other candidates have reported raising more than a few thousand dollars.

Taylor Goldenstein contributed to this report.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
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Even among San Antonians whod heeded plumbers warnings  trickling faucets overnight to prevent pipes from freezing  the record-shattering cold meant that many residents still awoke to frozen pipes.

It was a first for many San Antonians: Low temperatures in the single digits, a blanket of ankle-deep snow, icy and impassable roads. Residents filled social media with rare photographs of snow covering trees, homes and cars  then flooded those same online forums with questions about plumbing problems that arose overnight.

Anyone else have this problem? This has never happened to us, wrote San Antonio native Rebecca Stanford in her neighborhood Nextdoor group.

Like many other San Antonians, shed insulated the outdoor spigots and dripped the faucet farthest from the water main of her 1959 ranch-style home in the MacArthur Park neighborhood, only to find water wouldnt run when she woke up. The shower wouldnt turn on. The toilet wouldnt fill up after flushing, either. Had pipes burst? Or was the pipe just frozen?

Same thing happened to me! a neighbor replied.

Thank goodness I bought drinking water a few days ago, wrote another.

Her neighbors tried to give their best guesses. But many of them shared the same message: There probably wont be a way to know until temperatures rise and pipes begin to thaw.

A San Antonio plumber backed up that advice.

Its got to get up above freezing, said Dano Pagel, whos worked as a plumber for 35 years. Right now, if (pipes are) cracked, they're frozen.

Pagel said a lot of people will try to heat pipes with a blow dryer or electric heater. Some might find that water does begin to flow.

But in some cases, when you see theres no water, (the pipe) is just ripped open  like someone got a fillet knife and cut it, he said. Even if you do turn on water, it's going to start shooting out of there.

Until the pipes thaw, an untold number of San Antonians currently without running water may have no way of knowing whether their pipes have cracked  and where the leaks may have occurred, Pagel said. He anticipates that may not begin to happen until Tuesday or Wednesday, when temperatures stay above freezing for a prolonged period of time.

On Monday, he was among San Antonio plumbers who wouldnt venture out on the citys icy roads with his heavy-duty plumbing truck. All of his clients will have to wait until the ice melts and its safe to travel  which is when Pagel is bracing for a deluge of calls about sudden leaks as the water in pipes begins to thaw and leak through cracks.

In the meantime, he said residents can try to find the main valve to shut off water to their home, although that might be difficult if the valve is outside and covered in snow.

If San Antonians water is still running in their homes, Pagel recommends turning on all faucets that connect to pipes that connect through the outer walls of the home. There should be a steady stream of water running through the faucet, he said, because running water requires much lower temperatures to freeze.

Insulated covers for outdoor spigots may protect the spigot itself, but they wont prevent pipes from freezing inside the wall if theres no or inadequate insulation, he said.

When you run your water two or three days, it may run your water bill up $5 or $10, Pagel said. If you need a plumber, its going to be at least $500 or $600.

The San Antonio Water System also recommends letting faucets drip to keep water moving through the pipes. It also advises that residents open up cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks to allow warmer air to reach the plumbing. And if there are rooms without heating ducts, doors should be left open so heat from other areas of the home can flow in.

As of Monday afternoon, SAWS hadnt experienced any water or sewer line breaks, a spokesman said. Theres no way of knowing how many residents are dealing with plumbing problems because of the deep freeze, he said.

If residents are without water, its because of problems within their own homes.

My friend thinks the pipes in the garage froze  I dont know what to do about it, said Jenny Schubert, a retired school teacher whos lived in her MacArthur Park neighborhood home for 32 years.

Schubert woke up about 1 a.m. Monday to the sound of her carbon monoxide alarm blaring. It turned out to be an error message, but she soon discovered another problem when she went to wash her hands while making a cup of tea: no running water.

She went back to sleep. Later, still no water. She tried to thaw the pipes in her garage, to no avail.

My kind neighbor brought over some bottled water for me, Schubert said, and that is where I am right now.

marina.riker@express-news.net
Community Labs, a provider of rapid COVID-19 testing services, will suspend testing on Thursday at public collection sites in response to a strong cold front headed for San Antonio, according to a news release.

The San Antonio-based nonprofit organization said Wednesday it consulted with the Metropolitan Health District, the San Antonio Fire Department and Bexar County before making its decision. Testing is expected to resume at 8 a.m. Friday at all Community Lab locations.

On ExpressNews.com: Here is what San Antonians should know and do as the frigid temps roll in

According to the National Weather Service, the arctic blast has the potential to produce a wintry mix of freezing rain and sleet and icy road conditions on Thursday and into the early morning hours of Friday. The weather agency has issued a Winter Storm Watch from 6 a.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday.

Community Labs said it does not want its customers to drive in dangerous conditions or have to line up outdoors in daytime temperatures forecasted to be in the 30s.

The organization provides free COVID-19 PCR tests at the following six Metro Health sites and two Bexar County locations:

Alamo Colleges District Support Operations Building, 2222 N. Alamo St.

Palo Alto College Building 20, 1400 W. Villaret Blvd.

St. Philips College, 1801 Martin Luther King Dr.

Yates Community Center, 568 Rasa Dr.

Melendrez Community Center, 5919 W. Commerce St.

Copernicus Community Center, 5003 Lord Rd.

Wonderland Mall of the Americas, 4522 Fredericksburg Rd.

Converse Old City Hall, 407 South Seguin

SAWS said two payment centers will be closed Thursday but payments still can be made online or by calling.

CPS Energy said walk-in centers will be closed Thursday, but should be returning to normal operating on Friday.

Also, The Arc of San Antonio said its West Avenue and Wurzbach Road locations will be closed.

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
The city is considering cracking down on nighttime disruptions near residents homes and wants feedback on its Goodnight, Construction Site initiative.

In a fast-growing city, hundreds of construction projects are underway as new housing starts have been on the rise, showing no signs of abating during the pandemic. District 9 Councilman John Courage, who represents a booming part of the North Side, has been working on the issue since 2018.

Courage proposed changes in hours of construction activity within 300 feet of residences in 2019, but the pandemic delayed the initiative.

Some late-night activities, such as pouring concrete, would still be allowed under the proposal, but it would need to be approved by city staff on a case-by-case basis, according to Michael Shannon, development services director.

Also, residents would be notified at least three days in advance of approved nighttime activity.

What we heard from residents was, Ive got to have a heads up. I cant go to bed thinking that Im going to have a quiet, restful sleep and then at 5 in the morning, Im surprised by something, Shannon said.

On ExpressNews.com: Councilman proposes limiting construction hours near homes

City Council heard an update on the issue in December, but the staff was asked to get more input on notifying residents of approved construction  a part of the process thats crucial, Shannon said. Hed like to have input to present Monday to the councils Planning and Community Development Committee.

Notification options include: through a neighborhood organization that might use email or an app such as Nextdoor; through a property management company; with a door hanger or flyer; and posted signage at construction sites.

The citys existing code allows construction near homes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. It does not include special consideration issues and is vague about weekend activities. The proposed amendment would limit those hours to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. It would apply to commercial contractors and do-it-yourself weekend warriors who take on home projects, Shannon said.

The city could revoke the construction permits of repeat violators.

This is not in the code today. A contractor or builder or property owner, someone could violate the code a hundred times, and I dont have this ability today as the building official, Shannon said.

At a virtual community meeting this week, Leticia Mejia, who lives in a small subdivision in District 8, said shes familiar with the problem of nighttime construction noise as shes literally living it, with work occurring nearby at all hours. She asked the city to consider requiring notification as early as possible and through multiple means, particularly for people who arent computer-savvy. She also was concerned about the challenges of maintaining a current contact list of property managers and neighborhood associations to use for notifications.

I firmly believe that notification should come more than once. I dont think a 72-hour advance notice is enough, especially if the homeowner for some reason or another does not get it time to prepare or make the necessary arrangements, Mejia said.

On ExpressNews.com: Construction trade group, homeowners agree on keeping noise down

Another virtual community meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, and an online survey that will remain active for the next few weeks gives residents a chance to weigh in on how they want to be notified about approved late-night construction.

Residents are asked to fill out a survey on the citys SASpeakUp website. The city staff will continue gathering input through the survey before presenting its final proposal to the council as scheduled Feb. 17. A Webex link has been posted on the citys website, sanantonio.gov, for a community meeting starting at 6 p.m. Thursday.

shuddleston@express-news.net
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San Antonio Independent School District employees who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 will have to wait longer to see whether the district can require it.

The Texas Attorney General's Office and SAISD lawyers agreed to postpone for six to eight months a trial that had been set for Wednesday on the states effort to kill the vaccine mandate.

As the omicron variant of the virus has spread rapidly, the areas largest school district, Northside ISD, on Wednesday announced it would reimpose a mask requirement it had relaxed in the fall.

The state says the Texas Disaster Act gives the governor the authority to override local health protocols, while the city of San Antonio, Bexar County and some school districts have argued that Gov. Greg Abbotts use of that authority is an overreach. Most of the arguments have taken place in the early stages of lawsuits, during attempts to get injunctions preventing defendants from enforcing their rules.

The city and county sued Abbott last summer to get an injunction allowing local governments, including school districts, to implement mask-wearing mandates. The states high court has issued contradictory rulings on school mask mandates and a few districts still require masks  or, like Northside, implement the mandate on an as-needed basis. That lawsuit is set for a trial in July.

Northside Suprintendent Brian Woods issued a statement thanking teachers and nurses for covering for each other through high rates of student and staff absences and announcing, We will be returning to a temporary, indoor mask mandate.

The members of our Board and I do not make this decision lightly, but feel that we must use this tool given the current disruption to in-person learning. The mandate is driven by concerns for student and staff safety and is not motivated by the current legal battles on this issue, he wrote.

Last summer, SAISD ordered its 7,000 employees to get their shots and set a deadline of Oct. 15 to submit proof of it. The state filed suit Sept. 9, saying the mandate violated an emergency order by Abbott forbidding local governments from imposing mask or vaccination requirements.

SAISD officials reported at a board meeting last week that about 87 percent of its teachers, 2,700 out of a total of 3,097, have been vaccinated. Some 85 percent of all staff have reported being vaccinated, about 6,614 employees out of 7,714.

Among those receiving shots, the districts central office staff had the lowest proportion of vaccinated, 79 percent, with 1,441 vaccinated out of 1,835 total.

State District Judge Mary Lou Alvarez denied the states request for an injunction against the district last fall, and the Fourth Court of Appeals later rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtons appeal of the lower courts ruling.

Paxton then appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which stayed enforcement of the mandate while it continues to consider the states petition for an injunction, saying it sought to preserve the status quo while expressing no views on the merits of the states case.

The agreement to delay the trial will allow that process to finish, the parties said.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863

danya.perez@express-news.net| Twitter: @DanyaPH
Bexar County school districts again saw record or near-record numbers of students and staff test positive for the coronavirus last week, as its omicron variant surged through the community.

The North East Independent School District saw its number of new cases nearly double, to 2,636 students and 745 staff infected, compared with the first week of school after the winter break. The numbers this week could be even higher, but they wont be released until Monday.

Northside ISD, the largest school system in the area, saw 678 more students and 43 more staff test positive, bringing its confirmed, active cases for the week to 2,773 students and 436 staff.

San Antonio ISD was one of the few local districts that didnt start classes until Jan. 10. In partnership with the nonprofit Community Labs, the district operated almost 100 COVID-19 testing sites between Jan. 3 and Jan. 7, reaching 6,316 people, including 2,376 of its employees and 3,322 students.

Out of those, 309 staff and 602 student tests came back positive, which skyrocketed the districts test positivity rate to 16 percent, up from less than 1 percent between October and December.

For Bexar County as a whole, the test positivity rate has reached as high as 38 percent.

Josie Norris /San Antonio Express-News

We, of course, wish the numbers were lower  but we arent surprised, said Aubrey Chancellor, the districts spokeswoman. School districts are microcosms of the community. When numbers rise throughout the city, they will rise within our schools.

School district officials hope the spread of new cases will decrease soon, as pandemic experts have predicted, but until then teachers and staff continue to work overtime to fill vacancies caused by sickness and quarantines.

We are taking it day to day at this point, Chancellor said. Staff is doing a tremendous job of filling in wherever needed and covering classes. They are extremely exhausted, but they continue to take the challenges as they come.

With the surge of omicron, the demand for testing increased for families and staff, straining testing resources. Many districts have opened their testing sites to parents and siblings of students to provide more information for families.

The Burnet testing (site) had a tremendous turnout, Toni Thompson, the SAISD associate superintendent of human resources, told the districts board on Jan. 10. In the past when weve been testing weekly  we might have a dozen folks test. But to go from a dozen to 750 on Friday and 800-plus (Monday), its certainly showing there is great interest and a remarkable increase.

The district plans to continue offering testing for a surge officials estimate will last at least another month. This includes weekly testing done at campuses for students and staff that sign up for it.

We want to use this as an opportunity to promote testing with parents, Thompson told trustees. We have the best testing opportunity available anywhere  and we just want them to feel like they can take full advantage of it.

SAISD this month entered a new partnership with Accu Reference for a mobile unit that will be available Monday through Friday at the Alamo Convocation Center.

Community Labs partners with 13 of the 16 school districts in Bexar County to provide regular testing. The first to work with the nonprofit was Somerset ISD, one of the smaller districts in the area, which has been testing students regularly on campuses since early in the pandemic.

The arrival of the omicron variant has pushed Somersets caseload to its highest point ever. It saw an additional 130 students and 10 staff test positive last week.

Yes, we were surprised, said Saul Hinojosa, the Somerset superintendent. We did anticipate a rise in cases coming back from the winter break. However, not this amount. This year the district has added an extra layer of protection by providing onsite vaccination clinics, he said.

Another small district, Edgewood ISD, reported 673 students 203 staff were positive for the virus last week.

South San Antonio ISD said its tests administered on Jan. 12 took more than a week to come back with results, leaving families and school employees uncertain.

Due to the high volume of testing Community Labs is doing at schools and elsewhere, as well as logistics issues and staffing shortages, it has seen delays in test results of about 72 hours, said Mary Japhet, a spokeswoman for Community Labs.

Japhet said the Community Labs results from Jan. 12 at South San ISD have been cleared, but the district still had not reported the numbers as of Thursday.

claire.bryan@express-news.net

danya.perez@express-news.net
A North Texas woman was arrested this week after police allegedly found that she and her daughter had been living with a decomposing corpse for weeks.

Susan Que Smith, of Electra, near the Texas-Oklahoma border, was charged with endangering a child and tampering with evidence. She was arrested Tuesday.

On Dec. 1, officers were called to the Electra Village Apartments, at 100 S. Prairie Circle, after callers reported flies and a foul odor coming from one of the units open windows, Police Chief Terry Wooten told KAUZ in nearby Wichita Falls.

Officers knocked on the door, and after getting no response, they entered the apartment where they found the decomposing body of Michael Wiest, the TV station reported.

On ExpressNews.com: Man charged with murder after body found in Comal County confirmed to be girlfriends

Smith arrived at the apartment with her young daughter and told officers that the man was the girls father.

The two had been living with the decomposing body for at least three or four weeks. Officers said the water was shut off and that there were several open buckets with human waste being used as toilets. Rotting food and trash also littered the apartment.

Smith told police she didnt report the death out of fear of being evicted because Wiest wasnt supposed to be in the apartment, Wooten said.

She was booked into the Wichita County jail on $7,500 bail.

taylor.pettaway@express-news.net
As cold temperatures and a wind chill continued Thursday in San Antonio, city officials said precipitation that could bring ice and sleet to the Alamo City had largely not appeared yet, but they were prepared in case the weather should turn.

We all know how unpredictable the weather can be, Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez said.

The four warming centers San Antonio opened Thursday afternoon may close at noon Friday, but the city will monitor conditions to determine if that needs to change. The city is mostly looking out for the combination of cold temperatures and precipitation to make that decision, said Villagomez.

The citys overnight warming centers are open at:

Garza Community Center, 1450 Mira Vista, 78228 Harlandale Community Center, 7227 Briar place, 78221 Hamilton Community Center, 10700 Nacogdoches Road, 78217 Denver Heights Community Center, 300 Porter Street, 78210

In addition, Bexar County opened six warming sites Thursday and extended them their hours to noon Friday. Theres one in each of the countys precincts. They are located at:

ESD 2 - 2096 Talley Road, San Antonio, TX 78251 ESD 3 - 23103 Bulverde Road, San Antonio, TX 78260 ESD 8 - 20825 Babcock Road, San Antonio, TX 78255 China Grove - 2456 FM 1516 S, China Grove, TX 78263 Leon Valley Convention Center - 6427 Evers Road, San Antonio, TX 78238 Bexar County Fire Marshals Office - 9810 Southton Road, San Antonio, TX 78223

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, no one was at the countys warming centers, said Michael Morlan, deputy chief with Bexar Countys Office of Emergency Management.

Five nonprofits have also opened temporary shelters for people experiencing homelessness during the cold front. Haven for Hope, Church Under the Bridge, Corazon Ministries, Life Restore Church and City Church San Antonio have all partnered with the city for those shelters.

San Antonio pivoted on how it provided warming centers because of lessons officials learned during last years Winter Storm Uri, said Villagomez. Last February, San Antonio opened its downtown convention center to keep the public warm overnight  but not many people used it, she said.

The new strategy involved shifting warming centers to neighborhood locations where residents may access them more easily and facilitating transportation there for people who otherwise cant get to the sites. You can call the citys 311 line to get free transportation to the warming centers through VIA.

Officials stressed that, so far, concerns such as blackouts or loss of water have not appeared. Robert Puente, president of the San Antonio Water System, described the cold temperatures as a run-of-the-mill weather event that isnt cold enough to cause issues.

As far as were concerned, the public has no danger of not having water, he said.

CPS Energys power plants are all up and running and in good shape, said interim CEO Rudy Garza. The utility did not experience any major outages last night.

Its been pretty quiet, and weve got plenty of resources, Garza said. Our crews are ready to go, and our vehicles are fueled up.

megan.stringer@express-news.net
Its tough for Texas Democrats to be hopeful about winning the governorship.

It has been more than 27 years since a Democrat held the office, and its hard to see when or how the Republican grip on power ends.

Republicans have drawn the boundaries of legislative districts in their favor, and theyve made voting more difficult, especially for those theyve sized up as unlikely to support them.

The latter are overwhelming young, brown, black, poor and reside in cities. All of those categories are growing in population, but not necessarily in electoral influence because of gerrymandering and voting restrictions.

Gov. Greg Abbott, who is up for re-election this year, has raised money that will take him far beyond the March primary. By the end of December, he had collected close to $19 million in donations and now has about $65 million.

Still, there may be grounds for Democrats to hope. For one thing, Beto ORourke is running for governor. For another, the weather will be very cold today, and that cant help but remind voters how utterly Abbott and the Republican leadership failed Texas during and after the deadly February freeze of 2021.

Eric Gay /Associated Press

Formidable incumbent, charismatic challenger

ORourke, a Democrat from El Paso, is a formidable candidate who can motivate voters and donors from one coast to the other and in Texas.

The former congressman and presidential candidate surprised Republicans and Democrats alike in 2018, when he raised $79 million for his nearly successful effort to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz  who, in case youd forgotten, snuck off to Cancun during the February freeze.

ORourkes campaign for governor is just getting started, and in six weeks it raised more than $7.2 million. That sum came from more than 115,600 individual donations. None was from a political action committee, and ORourke isnt shy about pointing out the distinction between his fundraising and Abbotts.

He said that while Abbott is taking million-dollar checks from the CEOs who profited off the grid collapse, were receiving support from people all over Texas who want to ensure that our state finally leads in great jobs, world class schools and the ability to see a doctor.

In trying to define his opponent, the heart of any successful campaign, ORourke has focused on the governors dismal handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

He faults Abbotts for lack of trust  in women to manage their own reproductive health; in businesses to do what they must to stay afloat in the time of COVID; in school districts to decide how best to secure the safety of students and teachers; and in local leaders to lead.

ORourke has lit into Operation Lone Star, Abbotts border security initiative. The governor has sent Texas National Guard troops to the border to put up fencing, support local sheriffs and arrest migrants on state trespassing charges  itself a form of trespass on the federal governments exclusive authority over border enforcement.

The initiative has hurt morale: Some guardsmen feel theyre props in a political stunt, and some have had trouble getting paid, as my colleague Sig Christenson reported recently.

Recalling the February freeze

ORourke also has hammered the governor over what he calls the Abbott tax, the higher utility bills that ratepayers must pay because of last Februarys grid failure in the energy capital of North America.

The price of natural gas and other fuel on the spot market went through the roof during the freeze. Consumers will be paying for those inflated charges for years.

But that wasnt the highest cost exacted by the winter storm. Hundreds died. Some literally froze to death.

During a virtual campaign event with nine Texas mayors last week, ORourke commended them for stepping up during the pandemic.

This is where the real leadership in Texas is right now, he said, joined by Mayors Steve Adler of Austin and Juan Trey Mendez of Brownsville.

Their biggest hope is to have a partner in Austin, Republican or Democrat, wholl meet them halfway, ORourke said.

They want a governor who will take their calls, or reach out to them ahead of time, he said. I will be that partner.

ORourkes campaign spent the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend helping people register to vote in what he called the hardest state in the nation in which to vote.

Democrats can only hope his campaign themes resonate. Given the GOPs decades-long dominance in Texas, its hard for them to summon much optimism about 2022.

But then again ... todays temperatures will be as low as 29 degrees, which may stir up memories of that chilly, deadly week in February.

It might help Texans reconsider their vote and recall that a Republican governor and a Republican legislature did nothing to address the states real problems.

The last day to register to vote in the primary election is Jan. 31.

eayala@express-news.net
Lets pause a beat and consider the Defense Departments comments last week on how the Russians are poised to stage a fake attack to ignite war with Ukraine.

The statement is a bombshell piece of intelligence, and if Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirbys words are any indication, the situation is perilous.

With a touch of Hollywood production, the footage could be part of a Tom Clancy thriller. With luck, a conflict between Ukraine and Russia will remain in the fictional realm.

The topic came up in DODs press conference when Kirby said, Without getting into too much detail, we do have information that indicates that Russia is already working actively to create a pretext for a  for a potential invasion, for  you know, a move on Ukraine.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: In purging archive, DOD transparency takes a step back

Translation: What Im about to tell you is or was extremely classified, but Ill strip out the super-secret specifics; the when, where, who, how and, importantly, how we got the info.

In fact, we have information that they (the Russians) pre-positioned a group of operatives to conduct what we call a false flag operation, an operation designed to look like an attack on them or their  or Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, again, as an excuse to go in (to Ukraine), Kirby continued.

Heres a story about a vague and ominous threat of violence in a region thats been flashing red warnings about its stability and security for years.

And we already have, in addition, indications that Russian influence actors are already starting, he said. Theyre already starting to fabricate Ukrainian provocations that  in both state and social media to, again, try to justify in advance some sort of pretext for incursion.

Interestingly, Kirbys words came the day of widespread cyberattacks against Ukrainian government systems and servers. What a coincidence.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: How DOD shaped Americans view of war in Afghanistan

Im not at liberty to go into a whole lot more detail than that, he said.

Yes, Kirby invoked a cliche in another nod toward the topics sensitivity.

He continued, But I  I hope that, by the fact that we can say this as confidently as we can, you  you can take away that theres a fidelity here to the information that we have that we believe is  is very credible.

Red flag words  fact, confidently, fidelity and credible  stand out like exclamation points. They point to DODs confidence in the information.

Then Kirby grounds the DOD assessment in Russias past behavior.

On ExpressNews.com: Lingle: Public was indifferent to a war made abstract

And again, weve seen this kind of thing before out of Russia, he said. When there isnt an actual crisis to suit their needs, theyll make one up.

Moments later, after a reporter paraphrased Kirbys characterization of the intelligence as so good, the spokesman responded, What I said was that we are able to share with you this finding and this belief.

He continued, I would hope you would take away from the fact that there is enough supporting evidence underneath that that we would not be willing and able to talk to publicly. Thats what I meant. I  I dont think I said its so good. I just want to make sure I make that clear.

Tyler Hicks /New York Times

Imagine the diplomatic calculus that went into the decision to declassify and discuss this clandestine Russian operation thats potentially underway.

But dont consider this DOD candor a new era in transparency. There are likely very specific reasons this information is coming out now.

Views & Voices: Editorials, columns and commentary, delivered to your inbox

Consider the countless intelligence analysts, experts, military leaders and politicians who were likely part of the conversation. More than a few might be in San Antonio with the 16th Air Force, the services cyber and information warfare headquarters, and the National Security Agencys Texas Cryptologic Center.

Its worth asking: Why tell everyone what we know? Think about the risks of letting your adversaries know that you know about one of their most classified projects.

Then consider timing. Why now? Whats the risk of not saying anything now? The risks must be worse than the risks of divulging the information.

One of the simplest and best explanations of information warfare says to work backward from your desired end state. Identify the behavior you want from your adversaries and partners, and use information to influence them to do what you want.

Lets hope DODs revelations are giving the Kremlin pause as Russia continues to mobilize on Ukraines borders.

brandon.lingle@express-news.net
Express-News /File photo

The FBI on Wednesday searched the home of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. Here are some facts about the congressman:

 Often maligned by progressives, hes a conservative free trader who supports gun rights, opposes abortion, and was known as the favorite Democrat of President George W. Bush, whom he supported in the 2000 election.
When Gov. Greg Abbott deployed thousands of Texas National Guard troops and state police to arrest migrants along the southern border, he pitched it as a way to deter them from crossing into the country illegally, out of fear they could be jailed for months on state misdemeanor charges.

But in some cases, Operation Lone Star is having the opposite effect, according to defense attorneys and a county official who handle the states criminal cases against the migrants.

Instead of sitting in jail for six months to a year on trespassing charges, as Abbott suggested, some immigrants are resolving their cases in far less time or being released from jail on bail. They are then free to stay in the U.S. as they make their claims for asylum.

For these migrants, Abbotts Operation Lone Star is a way around Trump-era border policies that call for the expulsion of most migrants from the country before they can submit asylum claims and that allow federal authorities to expel them to Mexico as they await their immigration hearings.s

Operation Lone Star has allowed our clients to avoid federal programs where they would have not only been expelled, but would have had to remain in Mexico (amid) pending asylum proceedings, said Kristin Etter, an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid who has represented more than 700 of the migrants. Furthermore, even if our clients are convicted of criminal trespass under Operation Lone Star, that has no impact on their immigration status and does not make them ineligible for asylum or other forms of immigration relief.

In most cases, Etter said, our clients who are asylum-seekers and express a fear of return are being released back into the United States while their asylum claims are pending.

Since ordering state authorities to jail migrants on the trespassing charges last July, Abbott has repeatedly slammed President Joe Biden for diverging from former President Donald Trumps immigration policies.

But defense attorneys say Abbotts border operation has allowed thousands of migrants to bypass two of Trumps signature immigration policies: Title 42, which allows federal authorities to immediately turn back migrants before they can make an asylum claim, and the Migrant Protection Protocols, which require some asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. immigration hearings.

BACKGROUND: Chaotic rollout of Gov. Abbotts migrant arrest plan fuels confusion, claims of violated rights

The Biden administration ended the latter program, also known as Remain in Mexico, before reinstating it in December under court order, accompanied by federal guidance that made migrants eligible to wait in Mexico only if they had crossed the border within the last 96 hours and lacked any criminal history.

By the time those arrested under Abbotts border initiative are turned over to federal authorities, they have been in state custody for well over four days and have picked up a criminal record from their trespass arrest, Etter noted.

Abbotts office did not respond to a request for comment.

Val Verde County Attorney David Martinez, the local misdemeanor prosecutor responsible for handling the migrant arrests in his county, also said the states border operation appears to be empowering asylum-seekers to work around federal policy.

By last October, Martinez had rejected or dropped trespassing charges against more than 40 percent of the migrants arrested in Val Verde County. Many of those cases involved migrants who appeared to have a credible asylum claim, Martinez said, adding that he opted not to proceed with those cases based on a statement from DPS Director Steve McCraw that the arrests were aimed at criminals instead of those seeking asylum.

We dont base any of our decisions on the federal immigration practices. Were focused only on enforcing Texas law, said Martinez, a Democrat. But I think anybody whos paying attention understands that through Operation Lone Star, some of these immigrants have been afforded an opportunity that perhaps would not have existed but for Operation Lone Star.

Gordon Quan, a longtime Houston immigration attorney, said he is not aware of any federal immigration laws or policies that would contradict Etters statements regarding Title 42 and the Remain in Mexico policy.

I think its a very clever argument, and I think it passes the smell test. If the policy says persons without a criminal history, and now they have a criminal history, then it seems like they should be allowed to stay, Quan said, adding that he would expect the guidance to apply to migrants even if they had been charged but not yet convicted.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it does not partner with the state or play any role in Operation Lone Star. The agency did not address questions about how the operation affects federal immigration policy.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, the state agency tasked with enforcing much of Abbotts border initiative, did not respond to a request for comment.

Just 1 border county participating

For much of the operation, state troopers have focused their efforts on Val Verde County, which includes the border city of Del Rio, and neighboring Kinney County. State troopers have also been deployed to other parts of the border, including the heavily trafficked Rio Grande Valley sector, though local officials there have declined to participate in Abbotts migrant arrest initiative.

In recent months, state authorities have stopped arresting migrants in Val Verde County, with just two trespassing arrests recorded there since Nov. 5, according to Martinez. He noted that DPS has still maintained an outsized presence in Val Verde County and made some 20 arrests for human smuggling there since early November.

The trespassing arrests are now centered almost entirely in the small, conservative community of Kinney County, which borders Mexico for 13 miles southeast of Del Rio. The Republican-controlled county has enthusiastically welcomed Operation Lone Star, taking a sharply different approach to the migrant arrests than Martinez.

By Tuesday, 954 migrants arrested under Operation Lone Star were being held at a pair of state prisons outfitted into jails, according to a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Of that total, 889 were arrested in Kinney County, while just 39 had been picked up in Val Verde County, many of their cases apparently stemming from arrests made in October or earlier.

Last month, Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan  a Republican who has said Texas is under siege as thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens invade the state  replaced the three state-appointed judges handling most of the countys trespassing cases, each of whom had been releasing migrants on no-cost bail as they awaited trial.

Shahan, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has been presiding over cases himself and declining to release migrants on no-cash bail. He has since hired new judges who are expected to adopt the same approach, likely keeping migrants behind bars for months if they do not plead guilty or post bail, as the Texas Tribune first reported.

Last week, however, a judge in Travis County dismissed a case against a migrant arrested on criminal trespassing charges in Kinney County, ruling that Abbotts arrest plan runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution by obstructing the federal governments enforcement of immigration laws.

Defense attorneys cast the ruling as a road map for dismissing hundreds of similar cases, though Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to challenge the decision.

Angelica Cogliano, an attorney representing the migrant, Jesus Alberto Guzman Curipoma, said its ironic that Operation Lone Star has led to some migrants avoiding removal. Guzman Curipoma, who is from Ecuador, a country that would make him eligible for expulsion under Title 42, has filed an asylum claim and is awaiting trial.

Cogliano said the intervention of state and local law enforcement does not always inadvertently help migrants avoid deportation, however.

The flip side is some of our clients are getting deported who otherwise wouldnt have been, according to federal policy, Cogliano said. And then theyre getting kidnapped by the cartel and held for ransom.

Meanwhile, Martinez said a DPS official told him last month that the agency had stopped making arrests in Val Verde County because it was looking to refocus their attention on Maverick County and some other counties further down in South Texas. He said he was skeptical the change was unrelated to his handling of the trespassing cases, many of which he dismissed for lacking evidence of probable cause or because the migrant appeared to have a credible asylum claim.

I suspect, because theyre still going gangbusters in Kinney County, that perhaps they like their approach more than they like my approach, Martinez said.

Elizabeth Trovall contributed to this report.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
WASHINGTON  The new Texas voting law was front and center Wednesday as Senate Democrats made what may amount to their final push to pass sweeping federal election reforms.

A monthslong campaign by President Joe Biden and Democrats to pass new voting rights laws aimed at states like Texas ran aground in a failed bid to change the Senates rules to get the bills past GOP resistance.

Moderate Democratic U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona opposed the rules change, which Manchin argued would be a perilous course  effectively closing the door on the elections reforms passing an evenly split Senate where Republicans have repeatedly blocked them.

Biden said his administration would never stop fighting and vowed to explore every measure and use every tool at our disposal to stand up for democracy. He said Democrats will have to take the case to the American people that Republicans are attempting to suppress the vote in states including Texas, where GOP lawmakers have passed dozens of voting laws in the last year.

I think the most important thing to do is try to inform  not educate  inform the public of whats at stake, in stark terms. And let them make judgments and let them know whos for them and whos against them, whos there and whos not there, and make that the case, Biden said. And thats what Im going to be spending my time doing in this off-year election.

THE NEW LAWS EFFECTS: Texas Secretary of State scrambles to address mail ballot application problems as deadline looms

Voting laws in Texas were central to Democrats effort to make their case in the Senate on Wednesday. They pointed to the states new law as evidence of the voter suppression they say their new voting bills are designed to prevent. The new Republican-backed election law is causing confusion in Texas, where hundreds of requests for mail ballots have been rejected because of new ID requirements that have caused confusion, less than six weeks before the March 1 primaries.

If theres no effort to suppress the vote, why have 19 states passed 33 new laws making it harder for Americans to participate in our elections? Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. In the aftermath of one of the safest elections in American recent history, where theres virtually no evidence of any material fraud?

Republican senators, including John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas, have argued the bills amount to a partisan power grab by Democrats, who they say have whipped up a fake panic with claims the legislation is calculated to suppress the vote, especially in minority communities. Republicans say the new state laws are intended to boost election integrity, even as there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Cruz has argued the federal law would be used to undermine every reasonable common sense law that states have adopted to try to protect the integrity of elections.

The so-called voting rights crisis is nothing more than manufactured hysteria to justify our colleagues long-standing attempts to take over Americas elections, Cornyn said.

Democrats say the crisis is real and is playing out now in Republican-controlled states like Texas.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, noted that officials in some Texas counties, including Travis, have reported rejecting more than a quarter of mail ballot applications so far.

The new Texas law also mandated the creation of an online system for voters to track and correct ballots, which might have resolved those problems, but it is not fully up and running yet.

Making matters worse, Durbin argued, the law ties officials hands by making it a felony to send unsolicited mail ballot applications to voters.

BACKGROUND: Texas Sen. Cornyn leads GOP pushback as Democrats tout federal voting bills

The legislation, meanwhile, has also led to more than 11,000 voters being flagged by the state as potential noncitizens, leaving counties with the task of attempting to verify the lists themselves before sending out last-ditch letters to voters asking for proof of citizenship before purging them from the rolls.

The Texas law, Durbin said, is an example of those enacted by Republicans in nearly 20 states making it harder to vote in the year since former President Donald Trump pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election as he refused to admit his loss to President Joe Biden.

The 2020 election had incredible turnout  And the majority clearly voted for President Joe Biden, Durbin said. So now Republican lawmakers are using the Big Lie to pass partisan election laws in order to reduce voter turnout and control outcomes of the elections this year and in 2024.

Call for talking filibuster

The federal voting bills would prohibit states from imposing conditions or requirements to vote by mail, strengthen protections for voters who need assistance, including those with disabilities or with limited English proficiency, and limit what partisan poll watchers are able to do, including setting an 8-foot buffer zone between the watchers and voters.

The bills would also require states to get approval from the U.S. Justice Department for such election changes in the future  something states with a history of discrimination were required to do under the Voting Rights Act until the Supreme Court ended so-called preclearance in 2013.

The Senate push comes as the Biden administration sues Texas over the voting laws and redrawn political maps passed by the GOP-led Legislature in 2021, claiming they are calculated to discriminate against Black and Latino voters and individuals with disabilities.

The current filibuster rule essentially requires 60 votes to pass most legislation, which has blocked its path through the Senate.

After the bills failed to gain 60 votes Wednesday night, Schumer attempted to impose a talking filibuster for the legislation. That would require Republicans to hold the floor and talk continuously to block the bills. After GOP senators stopped talking, Schumer said, the debate will have run its course and the Senate will move to vote on final passage at a majority threshold.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Centrist Democratic Sens. Manchin and Sinema opposed the move, arguing it could backfire on Democrats when theyre back in the minority by setting precedent for Republicans to make similar changes.

Were going to break the rules to change the rules, Manchin said in a speech Wednesday. Well make up new rules as we go along, invite ourselves and future majorities to disregard the rule book at will.

That has played out in the past. Democrats in 2013 eliminated the 60-vote threshold to confirm most judicial nominees. In 2017, Republicans lowered the vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court nominees before confirming three Trump appointees to the high court.

Cornyn argued that would happen again, warning Senate Republicans could change the rules to pass laws restricting abortion, establishing a right to carry concealed firearms and cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities, among other things.

Theyll soon find themselves ruing the day their party broke the Senate, Cornyn said. A future Republican-controlled Senate would be able to accomplish a lot, all thanks to a precedent that our Democratic colleagues seek to establish today.

ben.wermund@chron.com
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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.  The Westchester District Attorney on Wednesday released a comprehensive report into the murder case against recently deceased New York real estate tycoon Robert Durst in the decades-old disappearance of his first wife, Kathie Durst.

The report provides the first in-depth look into law enforcements 40-year investigation into Kathie Dursts disappearance. Robert Durst, who divorced Kathie while she was still missing, has long been suspected of killing her and hiding her remains. But much of the evidence remains shrouded in secrecy because it was part of a grand jury investigation.

Among the evidence highlighted in the report was references to notes that Kathie Dursts friends found in the garbage of the South Salem home. One of which, referred to as the dig note in the report, contained the words: town dump, bridge, dig, boat, other, shovel, car or truck rental, records show.

Kathie Durst, a Western Connecticut State University graduate, disappeared in 1982. She was later declared legally dead.

Robert Durst, 78, died earlier this month while serving a life sentence for another murder, the killing of his friend and confidant Susan Berman. During the Los Angeles trial, prosecutors claimed Berman helped cover up Dursts role in Kathies disappearance. He was indicted in November in connection with Kathie Dursts death.

District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah said the report, which summarizes law enforcement's investigation into Kathie Durst's disappearance, was being released in "an effort to provide as much transparency as possible," because "a public trial is no longer possible due to Mr. Durst's death.

The 12-page report does not include material subject to grand jury secrecy.

As for why the report was being released at this time, Rocah said her office has a "window" now that Durst has died to issue it before the case is dismissed and sealed once the office receives Durst's death certificate.

Dursts alleged crimes garnered widespread notoriety in 2015 when he was the central focus of The Jinx, an HBO documentary series. During an interview for the series, Durst was caught on a live mic seemingly admitting to the killings when he got up to go to the bathroom.

He was arrested by law enforcement before the final episode of the special aired.

Dursts conviction in Bermans murder provided Westchester authorities with a legal theory to get statements made by Durst into evidence and charge him in Kathies killing, Rocah said.

She cited two key pieces of evidence namely, that he had directed her to make that ruse phone call to the medical school shortly after her disappearance to misdirect the investigation; and that Durst had in fact admitted to Susan Berman that he had killed Kathleen, Rocah said.

To date, Kathie Dursts remains have never been located, though officials said Wednesday they have ideas as to where her body may be located.

We have theories based on some of the evidence, Laura Murphy, bureau chief of the district attorneys cold case unit said during the press conference. We cant really comment on what the evidence is, because of the grand jury investigation, she added.

Despite Durst dying before he could be brought to trial in Kathie Dursts death, Rocah said she hoped the fact that he was charged brought them some closure.

Joseph Beccera, a retired New York State Police investigator who reopened the case in 1999, said he got to know Kathies family during that time.

You could tell the heartbreak they had after all those years not knowing what happened to Kathie, he said, adding that he made the family a promise that he would see the case through.

Im a little disappointed in the end that we couldnt bring him to trial, and the fact that we dont know where Kathie is, but Im hoping they appreciate all the work that went into this case and it will bring them some closure, he added.

An attorney for the surviving members of Kathies family said they were not informed of Rocahs press conference ahead of time.

Had the McCormack family been invited to todays press conference, they would have explained not only the impact that Kathies murder has had on their lives, but also the damage that has resulted from law enforcement's failure to treat the victims of this crime as equal before the law, Attorney Robert Abrams, the familys lawyer, said in a statement.

Abrams has claimed members of the Durst family were involved in a criminal conspiracy to keep Durst from facing charges in connection with Kathies disappearance.

Today, the Westchester County District Attorney has sanctioned those illegal acts and attempted to explain away how money, power, and influence allowed a killer to escape justice, he said, calling for her resignation.

Rocah said Wednesday her office had no evidence to start an investigation into members of the Durst organization.

The vanishing of Kathie Durst

Kathleen Durst disappeared the night of Jan. 31, 1982.

Five days later, Robert Durst reported his wife as missing to the New York City Police Department, claiming he had driven her from their home in South Salem to the train station in Katonah, where she boarded a train bound for the city.

Durst, the scion of an immensely wealthy New York real estate family, also told investigators that he called his wife from a pay phone to confirm she had arrived at their Riverside Drive apartment.

Rocah said the day Kathie Durst disappeared, Robert Durst made "a number of statements" that were contradicted by evidence. This evidence included multiple reports of domestic violence by Durst against Kathleen, including with a gun, Rocah said.

A neighbor to the couples Riverside Drive apartment told investigators that Kathie Durst had at one point climbed across to her neighbors balcony scared and hysterical, knocking on the window to get in, according to the report. She told the neighbor Durst had beaten her, that he had a gun, and that she was afraid that he would shoot her, the report reads.

Police also located "physical evidence" in the Durst's South Salem, N.Y., home and collected statements by witnesses, which Rocah said cast doubt on Durst's supposed whereabouts after his wife's disappearance.

A cleaning woman at the Dursts South Salem home showed police what she described as a small amount of blood on the dishwasher, when police visited the home in the days after Kathie went missing, the report reads.

The cleaning woman also recalled telling police that she noticed a wood panel askew in the dining room, as well as the presence of grimy fingerprints in that area, the report reads. She also recalled telling police that Durst instructed her to dispose of many of Kathleen's belongings soon after her disappearance.

A worker at another of the Dursts apartments on East 86th street also encountered a clogged trash compactor that contained Kathie Dursts personal items, including medical books marked with Kathleen Durst's name, the report states.

Despite that evidence, investigators efforts focused on the possibility that Kathie Durst was in New York City, because workers at the Riverside Drive building claimed to have seen her in the building the night she disappeared. The report also references a phone call to the medical school in the Bronx allegedly made by Kathie after she disappeared.

But prosecutors now claim that phone call after Kathie disappeared was made by Berman. Berman, Robert Dursts close friend and unofficial spokesperson, was a well-known author who issued statements suggesting Kathie Durst had run off with another man, the report states.

After the Manhattan-centric investigation failed to locate Kathleen or her body, the investigation went cold, the report states.

1999: The investigation reopened

Becerra, the New York State Police investigator, reopened the case in 1999 after a tip came in from a person facing charges in another case about the location of Kathie Dursts remains.

The tip led investigators nowhere, but it did inspire Becerra to go back and re-interview witnesses who spoke to police around the time of Kathies disappearance nearly 20 years earlier. The renewed investigation included a search of the couples former home, by then no longer owned by Robert Durst.

The new investigation was reported in the media in October 2000.

Shortly thereafter, Robert Durst fled to Galveston, Texas, where he disguised himself as a mute woman, the report read.

Becerra planned to interview Berman, but before he could do so, Berman was shot and killed in her Los Angeles home, records show.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles said Durst carried out that killing to preserve Bermans silence in Kathies murder.

Durst was also implicated in a third killing  the shooting death of a neighbor, Morris Black. Durst admitted to killing Black during a fight at an apartment in Galveston, Texas, before chopping up Blacks body and throwing him in the bay. He was later acquitted of the killing after pleading self defense.
Fairfield, MT (59436)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low around 40F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low around 40F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
(The Center Square)  The Laredo, Texas, home and campaign office of Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a vocal critic of the president, was raided by the FBI on Wednesday.

More than a dozen federal agents were seen entering and leaving Cuellars Laredo residence removing bags, bins and at least one computer, The Monitor of McAllen first reported. Local news reports also show agents at his campaign office.

"The FBI was present in the vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity," FBI spokesperson Rosanne Hughes said in a statement. "The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation."

The congressman is fully cooperating, his office said.

Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld, his spokesperson said.

Cuellar has represented Texass 28th Congressional District since 2005. His district includes communities located along the border with Mexico, spanning as far south as Reynosa along the Rio Grande River, stretching northwest to Laredo and northeast to San Antonio.

Cuellar hasnt been shy about criticizing the Biden administration or asking it for help. Hes called on President Joe Biden to halt his administrations open border policies, which Cuellar argues has burdened local law enforcement, endangered local communities, led to increased crime, drug and human trafficking, cartel and gang violence, and the spread of the coronavirus.

Last year, Laredos Democratic mayor sued the Biden administration for busing illegal immigrants from other areas of the border to Laredo, and straining its local health-care resources. Laredo officials learned after the fact that a large percentage of those being bused in were sick with the coronavirus.

A small border town, Laredo doesnt have the financial or health-care resources to meet such a burden, its mayor said. The Biden administration responded by agreeing to not bus illegal immigrants reportedly sick with the coronavirus to Laredo, instead busing them to Houston, Dallas and other larger cities.

Cuellar also individually and as a leader of a Democratic congressional delegation called on the president to restore Medicaid funding to Texas, which the administration halted last year. Halting the funding has hurt some of the poorest communities in Texas, he and the delegation argued. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued over the halted funding, which has yet to be restored.

Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported the greatest number of encounters of illegal immigrants in the agencys recorded history after the Biden administration reversed a range of immigration policies. In addition to no longer enforcing immigration laws passed by Congress, the administration halted construction of the border wall, halted the Remain in Mexico program, reduced Title-42 expulsions, and introduced sweeping changes to arresting, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants. While Paxton has sued the administration seven times over immigration and won, the Remain in Mexico program, in which immigrants were returned to their home country while the asylum process played out, is still not being fully implemented, and Title 42s fate remains tenuous.

Cuellar is facing two challengers in the March 1 Democratic primary election: attorney Jessica Cisneros and educator Tannya Benavides.

In the last primary election, Cueller beat Cisneros by roughly 2,700 votes. Shes referred to him as Trumps favorite Democrat and criticized his willingness to work with Republicans in the spirit of bipartisanship.

Benavides has argued the district needs a more progressive Democrat.
Our recent snap in cold weather has me reminiscing about trips to the beach. One balmy beach day, I looked over at my husband and declared, I think theres a Pacific islander trapped in this pale body.

I love warm weather. Humidity doesnt even slow me down. The warmer the better is my unwritten rule. However, my ancestry absolutely does not include Hawaiian lineage.

My great-grandma was born in Switzerland. My other relatives came from Germany and Wales. Withstanding cold weather should be in my blood, but I still shiver through every winter.

Like everyone else in the midwest, I have to choose between being cooped up all winter or being cold. Staying inside makes me restless. Since I love hiking so much, I have developed a clothing routine for staying warm during inclement weather.

During our most recent hike to Raccoon Creek State Park in Pennsylvania, some members of my family were very cold. I wont mention any names, but she was shivering and couldnt feel her toes. I know this is true because she told me several times with increasing tenacity.

Dressing lesson

It was evident that the onset of cold weather meant that my crew needed a reminder of how to dress in order to enjoy the outdoors during winter.

I rely on layering to keep warm and dry  specifically three layers. The first layer is a base layer. The purpose of the base layer is to wick away moisture.

Instead of cotton, which holds moisture against the skin, synthetic fibers like nylon, rayon or spandex are a good choice. Natural fibers in wool or silk are also good choices for a base layer.

The base layer also includes warm, moisture-wicking socks. I have several pairs of wool socks that I love to wear with my waterproof hiking boots.

The next layer provides warmth by trapping heat. Fleece jackets or puffy coats made with down or synthetic down fibers are perfect for trapping heat above the base layer. Merino wool is another great option for staying warm.

The purpose of the final top layer is to act as a shell to protect against wind and rain. I like my third layer coat to have a hood. When it is really cold, I like to pull the hood up over my hat as well. Insulated gloves and hand warmers are my last defense against getting cold. I was gifted reusable hand warmers that have been a game-changer.

It sounds like a lot of layers but it makes all the difference in making winter enjoyable. Now we just need the first big winter snowstorm.

My kids are wearing their pajamas inside out and putting spoons under their pillows in hopes of enticing a school-canceling snowstorm. I doubt the validity of their superstitious behavior, but I agree that it doesnt seem like winter without a white-out snowstorm.

Hiking challenge

We have the perfect opportunity to test out my layering system during a hiking challenge this winter. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has issued a challenge to hikers during the winter months of January, February and March.

The Ohio State Park 2022 Winter Hike Challenge encourages participants to take a winter hike in a state park in three different regions of Ohio. There is a list of guided hikes on the ODNR website, but the hikes can also be self-guided. The length of the hike doesnt matter. Hikers of all abilities are encouraged to hit the trails and make some winter memories.

New views

Bare trees, having shed their leaves weeks ago, create an entirely different landscape in the winter. It is much easier to spot birds and their nests without leaves to hide them.

Even if the wildlife remains hidden, we can see the trails they take and discern ridgelines that mark changes in elevation.

We have already narrowed down our options for the challenge. Hiking at Hocking Hills is a yearly tradition. I also enjoy seeing Lake Erie when it is frozen over  fingers crossed that we might get to see another Snowy owl along the lakeshore.

The five regions, along with more registration information can be found on the ODNR website, ohiodnr.gov.

We will keep up our ritualistic superstitions to bring a giant snowstorm. Stay warm and dry and enjoy all the amazing trails.
We have turned the page to a new year. While 2022 has begun, we are still dealing with many of the same challenges that have been with us longer than we care to remember. It is my hope this article will provide you with management recommendations to help your dairy be successful this year.

Inputs

Availability and cost of inputs, especially chemicals, fertilizer and parts, continues to be a concern in agriculture. A recent Ohio State University Extension Precision U webinar included a panel of industry experts discussing parts and technology amid the supply chain issues impacting the agricultural industry.

While it is impossible to say when issues will ease, each panelist agreed that patience and proactive planning (including back-up plans) is critical.

Arrange time to talk with input suppliers. Discuss your anticipated needs and their thoughts on price and availability of crop inputs. Think about plans B, C and D if your first plans do not materialize.

If you havent already, now is the time to assess parts you will need for planting and harvesting equipment. Dont assume the parts you need will be sitting on the shelf. Inspect equipment and get your name on the list for parts that are presently not in stock.

Fertilizer availability and pricing continues to receive much attention. Having recent soil tests is critical to making fertilizer application decisions. What fields are high in nutrients and could get by with limited fertilizer applications this year? Which fields can you not afford to not apply fertilizer?

While you may decide to reduce the amount of fertilizer you apply, its not recommended you skimp on lime applications where needed. Lime is critical to maintaining soil pH and allowing plants to utilize nutrients most efficiently.

Milk pricing

In the December 2021 U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook, milk prices for 2022 were projected.

Price forecasts for 2022 are provided in the table. Keep in mind these are projections and many factors can influence price.

Financial Planning

Can you be profitable with the projected milk prices? Its difficult to answer this question without first knowing your cost of production.

One way to determine your cost of production is to enroll in the OSU Extension Farm Business Analysis and Benchmarking Program. This program utilizes beginning and ending balance sheets, and input forms to determine production costs. In addition to a whole farm analysis, the program can also evaluate the financial performance of individual enterprises.

To view the most recent dairy analysis of enrolled farms, contact your OSU extension educator, or visit farmprofitability.osu.edu/sites/fprofit/files/imce/2020%20Dairy%20Summary_0.pdf.

The FINPACK program at the University of Minnesota is another great resource for financial management information. FINBIN is part of the FINPACK program and provides comprehensive financial and production benchmarks from hundreds of dairy farms. Additional information is available here at finbin.umn.edu/.

Budgeting

The 2022 crop will likely be the most expensive ever planted. To assist in planning, OSU Extension has released 2022 Enterprise Budgets. These are available at farmoffice.osu.edu/farm-management/enterprise-budgets#2022 or by contacting your local extension office.

The table summarizes expected total costs for corn, corn silage, alfalfa hay, and alfalfa haylage, based on assumed yields. Keep in mind, your costs may vary.

Summary

Attention to detail, pushing the pencil, and developing plans (with alternatives) will be important in 2022.

I encourage you to meet regularly with your extension educator, lender, input suppliers and other trusted advisors. Talk to these professionals, read, and attend educational programs to get answers to your questions to make well-informed decisions.
AVON, Ind.  Continuing our fourteen years of tradition, Co-Alliance Cooperative will open the Co Alliance Scholarship program to the class of 2022 offering thirty $1000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors planning to pursue an agricultural degree in college.

A key part of the Co-Alliance mission is giving back to our communities, said Kevin Still, Co-Alliance Cooperative, CEO. The Co-Alliance Scholarship program allows us to reward a wide range of outstanding students in our trade territory. Over the past decade weve had the privilege of helping many deserving young people continue their education as well as supporting the future of the ag industry.

Applicants will be decided on several factors such as academic performance, leadership experience, involvement in agriculture in their local community, volunteerism and extracurriculars, and a short statement regarding their future career in the agricultural field.

Applicants must be the child or grandchild of a member of Co-Alliance Cooperative. More information, as well as the application packet, can be found on the Co-Alliance website. The application deadline is March 1, 2022.
LISBON, Ohio  Just Rite 4-H Club had a meeting Jan. 9. Club members discussed their family guide and Christmas cards for nursing homes.

Junior leaders will begin meeting Jan. 24. The royal court is set for Feb. 1. The turkey and hog quality assurance session is coming up soon, and the test outs are Feb. 16 and Feb. 21. Officer training will be Feb. 28, 6 p.m., at the extension office.

The club also voted in its officers. Ryan Irwin is the president. Sami Tubbs is the vice president. Bailey Campbell is the treasurer. Camryn Cody is the secretary. Angelina Fabiano is the news reporter.
CHARLESTON, W.Va.  Gov. Jim Justice announced that GreenPower Motor Company Inc. has signed an agreement with the state to lease/purchase a 9.5-acre manufacturing facility in South Charleston, including an 80,000-square-foot building, where the company will manufacture zero-emission, all-electric school buses, bringing hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in economic impact to West Virginia.

The operation will bring up to 200 new jobs to the state when manufacturing begins later this year, with the potential workforce to eventually reach up to 900 new jobs when full production is reached in 24 months.

Officials with GreenPower say, once the facility reaches full production, the total economic impact could reach nearly $500 million per year.

GreenPower will partner with West Virginias Workforce Development Board and BridgeValley Community & Technical College for employee recruitment and training. Additional details on this aspect of the project will be provided in the future.
MPs and rural groups have warned that the proposed 'animal sentience committee' could be used to 'attack' farming, pest control and wildlife management.

Concern has been raised over the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, with one MP this week referring to it as a bad bill and an unnecessary one, during its second reading in the Commons.

The bill, which is only six clauses long, recognises that animals are sentient beings and creates a body to oversee UK ministers efforts to take account of their welfare needs when drawing up and implementing policy.

However, much of the controversary to date has centred on the proposed creation of an animal sentience committee.

This will report to parliament as to whether, in the process of making and formulating policy, all due regard had been paid to the welfare of animals as sentient beings.

The government has described the committee as an accountability mechanism, but it remains unclear who will sit on it, as does the extent and details of its powers and functions.

Rural campaigners, peers and MPs have warned that without sufficient safeguards, the committee risks being hijacked by animal rights extremists who could use it to attack against farming and pest control.

During its initial passage through the Lords, numerous amendments were put down by peers in an attempt to protect the composition of the committee to only include genuine experts on animal welfare.

Every amendment was rejected by the government, however recognition of sentience was extended to include cephalopods and decapod crustacea, in addition to vertebrates.

Speaking on Tuesday in the Commons, Conservative MP Richard Drax said: This is a bad bill, an unnecessary bill, and a Trojan horse for those who have no understanding and sadly in some cases despise the countryside and all that goes on in it.

He continued: I and many others fear that those with different agendas, often partisan and politically motivated, will hijack this committee and its role to attack activities like shooting and fishing.

His concerns were echoed by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who was concerned that the bill could give animal rights groups another weapon to damage both government and those who live and work with animals.

MP Jonathan Djanogly, a former Tory minister, saw the bill as fraught with problems and could be used against minority religious practices, as well as enabling more judicial review challenges against game shooting.

Sir Bill Wiggin MP also questioned the bill, noting that taking account of sentience and animal welfare did not need yet another quango at tax payers expense.

Responding to the bill's second reading, the Countryside Alliance said 'safeguards' were needed to ensure that the committee "cannot be weaponised and used to attack proper wildlife management and farming".

James Legge, director of public affairs at the rural group, said: We share the widespread concerns... in relation to the proposed Animal Sentience Committee this bill would create.

The bill lacks the necessary detail to ensure the Sentience Committee cannot be hijacked or extend its reach beyond its legally defined role.

"We would also suggest that the objectives of this bill could have been achieved without the need for yet another committee and the additional expense to the taxpayer.

The bill will now go to a committee for more detailed scrutiny. The Committee Stage is due to conclude by 10 February.
Sheep producers have urged ministers to take advantage of current legislation passing through parliament by introducing tougher new measures to stop the rising problem of dog attacks on livestock.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill currently progressing through its various parliamentary stages offers a prime opportunity to bring much needed action, sheep sector groups say.

Livestock worrying by dogs is a serious issue for farmers, often resulting in severe injuries and even death of affected animals.

During the months of January and February and moving into spring, ewes are likely to be carrying lambs, meaning the consequences can be felt even more keenly with heavily pregnant ewes then at risk of miscarriage due to stress.

A surge in lockdown pets and countryside visits, along with a lack of awareness about how dogs will behave around farm animals, are believed to be driving the rise in incidents.

The National Sheep Association (NSA) said it had recently received a spate of reports, highlighting a rise in the number of attacks causing "untold stress and significant animal welfare concerns".

Cases reported recently include sheep killed by a train after a dog chased them onto a railway line and a case of the RSPCA being alerted when a sheep was chased off of a cliff by a dog.

The industry body said it was 'ludicrous' for the government to 'continually ignore' the impact of sheep worrying, given its post-Brexit drive to boost animal welfare standards.

Simply including the instruction for dogs to be on a lead when in the proximity of, or likely to come into contact with grazing livestock, would reduce these terrible incidents," said NSA chief executive Phil Stocker.

"Increasing the fines would act as a deterrent for irresponsible dog owners who do not keep their dogs under control.

The sector has welcomed actions being taken in Scotland, with the recent strengthening of legislation to increase penalties for owners who let their dogs attack livestock to a maximum fine of 40,000 and/or 12 months imprisonment.

A new campaign from Police Scotland and other rural bodies titled Your Dog  Your Responsibility is highlighting the increased penalties for those found guilty of letting their pets worry, kill or injure farmed animals.

Grace Reid, NSA Scottish Region Coordinator, said farmers were 'extremely pleased' to see the strengthening of Scottish legislation, urging ministers in the UK's other nations to adopt an 'equal approach'.

"However, it is clear much more education and responsibility is required when accessing the countryside to prevent the use of strengthened powers.

"In its simplest form, each dog owner should have complete and total control over their dog at all times and this sadly is not the case.

According to the latest figures by NFU Mutual, the cost of dog attacks on livestock increased by over 10% to 1.3 million in 2020.

During that year, the worst affected region by cost was the North East, where farm animals worth an estimated 240,000 were savaged by dogs, with the Midlands, South West and Wales being the next most seriously affected.

One farmer who has been impacted by the problem is South Devon sheep producer Rich Rossiter, whose flock graze the cliff fields of one of the south coast's most popular areas.

We are frequently faced with sheep having been chased off of cliffs, into roads, pushed into cattle grids and physically attacked by dogs whose owners dont believe their animals are capable of such things," he said.

"This is easy to stop  Keep dogs on leads. It is not difficult, and it is what a responsible dog owner would do.
Northern Ireland's farming minister Edwin Poots has urged farmers to respond to one of the most significant agricultural consultations in the last 50 years.

NI's Department of Agriculture (DAERA) launched the Future Agricultural Policy proposals for public consultation last month.

According to DAERA, they seek to create a "profitable, productive, environmentally sustainable and resilient agri-food sector".

It sets out 14 measures and initiatives that are being developed to address the four key outcomes of increased productivity, improved resilience, environmental sustainability and a responsive supply chain.

Speaking about the consultation, Mr Poots said: This is a pivotal moment in our agricultural history and we have a once in a generation opportunity to forge our own path.

"It is the first time in around 50 years that we have had the freedom to draft policies that take into account Northern Irelands unique landscape, history and industry.

We can only make this transition by working together in the co-development and design of new measures and interventions which better address the needs of Northern Ireland agriculture.

Consideration of the main issues, policy proposals and design principles is provided in consultation document, which can be viewed online.

DAERA officials are also hosting a number of information sessions during this 8 week consultation period.

The next information sessions will be: 20 January, 7pm-8pm; 28 January, 2pm-3pm; 2 February, 10am-11am

Mr Poots urged people to respond to the consultation: The public consultation is open until 15 February 2022. Views are welcome from all sectors, age-groups, organisations and individuals.

"We want to hear from people with an interest in agriculture, the environment, rural affairs or food production.

"Consultation responses will be used to inform the development of agricultural policy to develop a future sustainable agricultural industry.
Since the start of the semester, the Student Advocacy Resource Center has received five times as many reports of roofies, or drug-facilitated assaults, than usual. The druggings happened at four different bars, and beg an important question: what should I do if a friend or I get roofied wh
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 80F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear early, then a few clouds later on. Low 52F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
The purpose of the legislative session is for priority bills to become law. Thousands of bills are introduced; this year, 293 bills became law. Its hard to keep up with them all, so heres a brief rundown of major bills that became lawand bills that did not.
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Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 19, 2022) - GOLO Mobile Inc. (TSXV: WLTR) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jay Campbell, Mr. Scott McGregor, and Mr. Marshall Mewha to, as well as the resignations of Mr. Brian Kreisman, Mr. Rory Olson, Mr. Brahm Gelfand and Mr. Peter Mazoff from, the Board of Directors of the Company. The Company wishes to thank Messrs. Kreisman, Olson, Gelfand and Mazoff for their services as directors and wishes them all the best in future endeavors.

The Board of Directors of the Company is now comprised of Messrs. Campbell, McGregor and Mewha and Mr. Robert McCue.

Change of Officers

The Company further announces that Mr. Gelfand has resigned as Chairman and Interim Corporate Secretary of the Company, and that Mr. Mazoff has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company. Mr. McGregor has been appointed as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Mr. Mewha has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of the Company. The Board of Directors thanks Messrs. Gelfand and Mazoff for their efforts on behalf of the Company.

Acquisition of Common Shares by Directors

On January 19, 2022 Messrs. Campbell, McGregor, Mewha and McCue entered into a share purchase agreement (the "Share Purchase Agreement") with UK GOLO Holdco Limited (the "Vendor") pursuant to which the Vendor has agreed to sell an aggregate of 101,307,188 Common Shares in the capital of the Company at a price of CAD$0.0007006 per Common Share. In accordance with the terms of the Share Purchase Agreement, and pursuant to Section 2.5 of National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions, Mr. McCue will acquire 32,186,528 Common Shares and Messrs. Campbell, McGregor and Mewha will acquire 23,040,220 Common Shares each from the Vendor.

For Further Information:

Scott McGregor

Chief Executive Officer

403-669-6065

scott@mcgregorcorp.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) is responsible for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110787
After a decade of clinical use* and more than 50,000 devices sold globally, the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder continues a trusted legacy of safely advancing care.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced that the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder has achieved 10 years of clinical use, treating patients through clinical studies and commercially in approved indications globally.*, With more than 50,000 devices sold and zero reported cardiac erosions, (Data on file. July 2011-November 2021; W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.) this innovative technology from Gore offers physicians a safe option to treat patients with atrial septal defects (ASD) and patent foramen ovale (PFO).

The device is backed by the Gore REDUCE Clinical Study, a groundbreaking study in which 664 patients were enrolled to evaluate whether PFO closure with the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder or the GORE HELEX Septal Occluder plus antiplatelet therapy significantly reduces the risk of stroke compared to antiplatelet therapy alone. The REDUCE Study is the only U.S. Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study that achieved its primary endpoint and over five years showed a significant reduction in recurrent ischemic stroke across all PFO anatomies compared to medical therapy alone. The study also demonstrated Gore's legacy of safety.,1,2 At a median follow-up of 3.2 years, the study showed only 0.5 percent device- or procedure-related serious atrial fibrillation (AFib), and at a median follow-up of five years, no new serious AFib cases were reported.,1,2 No new cases of AFib were associated with the device or procedure.,2 Furthermore, the extended follow-up demonstrated no issues related to frame fractures, thrombosis, embolization or erosion.,1,2

Now, after 10 years of clinical use, with zero reported cases of cardiac erosion, and clinical data published in more than 250 publications,II the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder has continued to demonstrate its well-established safety profile and exceptional clinical performance.

"The impact and longevity of the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder illustrate Gore's ongoing commitment to helping patients," said Jens Erik Nielsen-Kudsk, cardiology department clinical professor at Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark, investigator for the Gore REDUCE Clinical Study and consultant for Gore. "Gore engineers worked closely with health care professionals to understand what patients need and created a device that conforms to the individual anatomy."

"This major milestone shows that the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder is meeting a recognized unmet need. We continue to see health care providers around the globe trusting and choosing this device for their patients," said Jake Goble, Innovation Leader, Medical Products Division at Gore. "We are grateful to see how our unique design has played an impactful role in the improvement of patients' lives. We remain excited about future opportunities to extend the reach of this technology benefitting underserved patient populations."

The GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder is a permanently implanted device approved in the United States and European Union for the percutaneous, transcatheter closure of ostium secundum atrial septal defects up to 17 mm. The device received U.S. Food and Drug Administration premarket approval for the percutaneous closure of PFO in 2018. It is also approved in the European Union for percutaneous closure of PFO. For more information about the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder, please visit https://www.goremedical.com/products/cardioform/septal-occluder.

* Beginning in June 2011.

 For complete indications and other important safety information for Gore commercial products referenced herein, refer to the applicable Instructions for Use (IFU).

 Reported incidence rate of device-related cardiac erosions for GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder and GORE CARDIOFORM ASD Occluder. Data from CATSWeb Product Surveillance Tracking System (PSTS).

 The REDUCE Study determined safety and efficacy of PFO closure with the GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder or GORE HELEX Septal Occluder plus antiplatelet medical management compared to antiplatelet medical management alone in patients with a PFO and history of cryptogenic stroke. All PFO anatomies were incorporated into this study within indicated sizing parameters of the Instructions for Use.

II W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder Complete Bibliography. Flagstaff, AZ: W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.; 2020. [Bibliography].

1. Sondergaard L, Kasner SE, Rhodes JF, et al.; Gore REDUCE Study investigators. Patent foramen ovale closure or antiplatelet therapy for cryptogenic stroke. New England Journal of Medicine 2017;377(11):1033-1042.

2. Kasner SE, Rhodes JF, Andersen G; Gore REDUCE Study investigators. Five-year outcomes of PFO closure or antiplatelet therapy for cryptogenic stroke. New England Journal of Medicine 2021;384(10):970-971.

Gore engineers medical devices that treat a range of cardiovascular and other health conditions. With more than 50 million medical devices implanted over the course of more than 45 years, Gore builds on its legacy of improving patient outcomes through research, education and quality initiatives. Product performance, ease of use and quality of service provide sustainable cost savings for physicians, hospitals and insurers. Gore is joined in service with clinicians, and through this collaboration, we are improving lives.

About Gore

W. L. Gore & Associates is a global materials science company dedicated to transforming industries and improving lives. Since 1958, Gore has solved complex technical challenges in demanding environments - from outer space to the world's highest peaks to the inner workings of the human body. With more than 11,000 associates and a strong, team-oriented culture, Gore generates annual revenues of $3.8 billion. For more information, visit gore.com.

Products listed may not be available in all markets.

GORE, Together, improving life, CARDIOFORM and HELEX are trademarks of W. L. Gore & Associates.

21384814-EN JANUARY 2022

Media contact

Lisa Henry

W. L. Gore & Associates

+1 480 338 4540

lihenry@wlgore.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1729298/gore_logo_color_positive_rgb_Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1729299/GORE_CARDIOFORM_Septal_Occluder.jpg


VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 19, 2022 / SNOWLINE GOLD CORP. (CSE:SGD)(OTCQB:SNWGF) (the "Company" or "Snowline") is pleased to announce the strengthening of its technical management team in preparation for a highly active 2022 field season.

Thomas Branson, P.Geo., joins the Company as its Exploration Manager. Mr. Branson brings over 15 years' industry experience to the Snowline team, having helped to organize and manage more than $55M in exploration expenditures and over 180,000 metres of drilling. His experience spans several continents but is focused in BC and the Yukon. A registered professional geologist with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia, Mr. Branson holds a B.Sc. in Earth and Ocean Science from the University of British Columbia and an M.Sc. in Exploration Geology from Rhodes University in South Africa.

Steve Rennalls joins the Company as its Operations Manager. Mr. Rennalls' has worked on the Einarson project in various capacities during four exploration seasons, including most recently with Snowline Gold in 2021 as Camp Manager and logistics manager for the Einarson, Rogue, Ursa, Rainbow and Tosh projects. Mr. Rennalls' background is in marketing, and his acumen, enthusiasm, and lateral thinking in logistics demonstrated during the 2021 field program reinforce his promise in this essential management role. Mr. Rennalls holds a B.Com. from McMaster University and an M.Sc. Admin. from Concordia University.

STOCK OPTIONS

In addition, the Company announces that the Board of Directors of the Company has granted a total of 1,190,00 incentive stock options to various employees, consultants, directors, and officers of the Company. The options are exercisable for one share each at $0.55 per share for a period of five years and are subject to the terms of the Company's Stock Option Plan. Options to certain management, consultants and insiders are subject to vesting provisions of 20% every six months from the date of the grant.

FORTHCOMING RESULTS

The Company still awaits drill core assay results for its four drill holes drilled on the Rogue Project's Valley Zone in 2021. All four holes at Valley intersected trace amounts of visible gold in drill core.

In hole V-21-001, the first hole drilled at Valley, sheeted quartz veins were observed across its entire 161 m length. Thirty-one of the many veins observed in this hole contained trace amounts of visible gold, with up to five gold grains observed in a given vein. Visible-gold bearing veins were distributed roughly evenly across the length of the hole.

Valley is a reduced intrusion-related gold target that presents a bulk-tonnage gold exploration model where gold is hosted in widespread arrays of centimetre-scale sheeted quartz veins within and around a felsic intrusion. Valley is a new discovery, and the 2021 drill program represents the first ever drill testing of the target.

QA/QC AND QUALIFIED PERSON

Information in this release has been prepared and approved by Scott Berdahl, P. Geo., Chief Executive Officer of Snowline and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

ABOUT SNOWLINE GOLD CORP.

Snowline Gold Corp. is a Yukon Territory focused gold exploration company with a seven-project portfolio covering >100,000 ha. The Company is exploring its flagship 72,000 ha Einarson and Rogue gold projects in the highly prospective yet underexplored Selwyn Basin. Snowline's project portfolio sits within the prolific Tintina Gold Province, host to multiple million-ounce-plus gold mines and deposits including Kinross' Fort Knox mine, Newmont's Coffee deposit, and Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine. Snowline's first-mover land position provides a unique opportunity for investors to be part of multiple discoveries and the creation of a new gold district.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Scott Berdahl, MSc, MBA, PGeo

CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Snowline Gold Corp.

+1 778 650 5485

info@snowlinegold.com

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements about the Company reviewing its newly acquired project portfolio to maximize value, reviewing options for its non-core assets, including targeted exploration and joint venture arrangements, conducting follow-up prospecting and mapping this summer and plans for exploring and expanding a new greenfield, district-scale gold system. Wherever possible, words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict" or "potential" or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.

Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Company's plans and intentions. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Snowline Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684721/Snowline-Gold-Strengthens-Technical-Team-and-Issues-Incentive-Stock-Options
TOKYO, Jan 20, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced that, in December 2021, the company invested in U.S. (California)-based Helm.ai to strengthen its software technology development in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision(1) technologies. Helm.ai has key strengths in the area of AI-based image recognition technologies advanced through unsupervised learning(2).Helm.ai is an AI software startup established in November 2016, and Honda and Helm.ai have been working in collaboration since 2019 through Honda Xcelerator(3), a global open innovation program of Honda. Honda invested in Helm.ai to strengthen value creation in the efforts to make mobility products more intelligent and to generate greater achievements more quickly. The financing will further strengthen the relationship between the two companies and accelerate development of original solutions for Honda that combine Honda technologies and AI technologies of Helm.ai.Honda will continue offering highly-competitive and highly-attractive products and services to its customers by establishing relationships through the Honda Xcelerator program with companies which have cutting-edge technologies in various areas.(1) Technology to recognize specific elements from computer-based visual information and provide necessary information based on the results of such recognition.(2) Unsupervised learning is one of the methods of machine learning, which supports AI. Unlike supervised learning through which AI learns the correct answers to derive from labeled input data, unsupervised learning lets AI learn without being provided with the correct answers and derives the patterns and unique characteristics of the unlabeled data on its own.(3) Honda Xcelerator is a global open innovation program designed to facilitate collaboration between startups and Honda. The program is led by Honda Innovations Inc., a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. based in Silicon Valley in the U.S.Source: HondaCopyright 2022 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Idorsia receives Japanese PMDA approval of PIVLAZ (clazosentan sodium) 150 mg

Allschwil, Switzerland - January20, 2022

Idorsia Ltd (SIX: IDIA) and Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Japan today announce that the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) has approved PIVLAZ (clazosentan sodium) 150 mg, a selective endothelin A (ETA) receptor antagonist, for the prevention of cerebral vasospasm, vasospasm-related cerebral infarction and cerebral ischemic symptoms after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). The PMDA approval of PIVLAZ is based on a dedicated Japanese Phase 3 program.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is a condition involving sudden life-threatening bleeding occurring in the subarachnoid space. It is caused by the rupture of an aneurysm - a weak, bulging spot on the wall of a cerebral artery. Emergency procedure (endovascular coiling or microsurgical clipping) is required to stop the hemorrhage. The bleeding and the release of endothelin, a potent vasoconstrictor produced by the neighboring vascular endothelium, can lead to cerebral vasospasm (constriction of arteries in the brain), usually occurring between 4 and 14 days after aneurysm securing. This diminishes blood flow to the brain, and about one third of patients consequently experience worsening of their neurological condition. Cerebral vasospasm is one of the leading secondary causes of disability and death in patients with aSAH.

The incidence of aSAH is estimated to be between 6 and 9 per 100,000 per year worldwide. Notably, aSAH is a significant problem in Japan, with an incidence at least twice as high as in many other countries of the world. The peak incidence in Japanese people occurs in adults in their 50s but can also occur in young people in their 20s and 30s.

PIVLAZ was evaluated in placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind studies in adult Japanese patients post-aSAH treated by endovascular coiling or microsurgical clipping. PIVLAZ was shown to reduce the occurrence of cerebral vasospasm-related morbidity and all-cause mortality within 6 weeks post-aSAH with statistical significance (p<0.01 for both studies). The studies confirmed the well documented safety profile of clazosentan which has now been administered to over 2000 patients around the globe. In the registration studies in Japanese patients post-aSAH there were no unexpected safety findings.

Teiji Tominaga, M.D., Ph.D., Professor & Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine commented:

"Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a relatively common disease in Japanese people. It is a disease that has a profound effect on patients, their families and workplaces when it occurs in working generations. As a result, there is a great need for new drugs that help with the consequences of this life-changing condition. PIVLAZ is the only drug to demonstrate the prevention of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage treatment and the associated new cerebral infarctions and ischemic symptoms. Providing PIVLAZ to Japanese healthcare professionals - the first in the world - is of great significance and I believe we can change the lives of many patients."

Satoshi Tanaka, Dr Med Sci. and President of Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Japan, commented:

"We are very pleased to bring this landmark drug, PIVLAZ, to patients for the serious consequences of subarachnoid hemorrhage, the first innovation in 25 years. We are grateful to the investigators and skilled staff who have cooperated in conducting pivotal studies and to the patients and their families who have participated in the trials. In anticipation of this approval, my team has advanced the preparation for bringing PIVLAZ to the treating community. Specialized experts are engaging with physicians to support continuity of treatment across Japan, and they are ready to ensure PIVLAZ is utilized effectively. Our distribution network is already established, and our salesforce is in place. I am confident that we will be in an excellent position to make PIVLAZ available to physicians to start treating patients in April 2022."

Jean-Paul Clozel MD and Chief Executive Officer of Idorsia commented:

"I am so thankful for the perseverance shown by the clazosentan team, particularly the Japanese team led by Satoshi Tanaka. We've long believed that Inhibiting the detrimental effects of endothelin during the brain hemorrhage was the key to helping patients avoid the devastating consequences of cerebral vasospasm, and now we have the evidence for Japanese patients. I am grateful to everyone who contributed their expertise to the program that has resulted in the approval of PIVLAZ. After more than 25 years of research, I am relieved and proud that we have prevailed, and that patients can now start to benefit from PIVLAZ."

About the JapanesePhase 3 program

The Phase 3 program consisted of two double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies assessing the efficacy and safety of clazosentan in reducing vasospasm and vasospasm-related morbidity and mortality events in adult Japanese patients post-aSAH. Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive continuous infusion of either 10 mg/hr of clazosentan or placebo for up to a cumulative maximum of 15 days following the onset of aSAH. The two studies followed the same study design, with one enrolling 221 patients whose aneurysm was secured by surgical clipping and the other enrolling 221 patients whose aneurysm was secured by endovascular coiling.

Both studies showed that clazosentan reduced the occurrence of cerebral vasospasm-related morbidity and all-cause mortality within 6 weeks post-aSAH with statistical significance (p<0.01 for both studies). The composite endpoint was defined by at least one of the following: All death / New cerebral infarction due to cerebral vasospasm / Delayed ischemic neurologic deficit due to cerebral vasospasm and adjudicated blindly by an independent committee. The effect of clazosentan on all-cause morbidity and mortality was also significant (p<0.05) in a pre-planned analysis of the pooled studies whereas a numerical trend was observed in each study on this endpoint.

In these Phase 3 studies in Japanese patients post-aSAH, there were no unexpected safety findings. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurring in >5% of the clazosentan group (with a difference of >2% compared to placebo) were vomiting and signs of hemodilution or fluid retention (i.e., hyponatremia, hypoalbuminemia, anemia, pleural effusion, brain and pulmonary edema).

Notes to the editor

About PIVLAZ I.V. Infusion liquid 150 mg (clazosentan sodium)

PIVLAZ is an endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA). Endothelin receptors include the endothelin A receptor (ETA) and the endothelin B receptor (ETB), but PIVLAZ is 1000 times more selective for ETA than ETB. It has been reported that both oxidized-hemoglobin-induced endothelin production and endothelin release from red blood cells after the onset of aSAH increase the concentration of endothelin, a potent and sustained vasoconstrictor, and cause cerebral vasospasm via ETA. Therefore, we set out to develop ETA selective antagonist PIVLAZ as a potential drug to prevent cerebral vasospasm.

In the PIVLAZ clinical trial, it was assessed for the first time using not only prevention of cerebral vasospasm but also vasospasm related new infarction and delayed ischemic neurological deficit (Morbidity) and all-cause death (Mortality) as the clinical endpoint, which was the incidence of clinical events. As a result, PIVLAZ showed a significant reduction in the incidence of Morbidity/Mortality events in terms of efficacy, and in terms of safety, there were no adverse events such as hemorrhage that occurred with preexisting aSAH drugs.

About the global registration program "REACT"

In February 2019, Idorsia initiated REACT, a prospective, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, phase 3 study to investigate the efficacy and safety of clazosentan for the prevention of clinical deterioration due to vasospasm-related delayed cerebral ischemia in adult patients following aSAH. The phase 3 study builds upon the learnings from the previous clazosentan studies to identify patients at high risk of vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia, the optimal dose, the best measure to demonstrate efficacy and an optimized patient management guideline to ensure patient safety.

Approximately 400 patients - treated either with microsurgical clipping or endovascular coiling - are being enrolled at approximately 95 sites across 15 countries. Patients are randomized to receive continuous infusion of either clazosentan (15 mg/hr) or placebo prophylactically, on top of local standard of care, for a period of up to 14 days. REACT is enrolling aSAH patients identified as being at high risk of developing vasospasm and subsequent delayed cerebral ischemia because of high-volume hemorrhage, as assessed by CT scan on hospital admission. Patients experiencing asymptomatic cerebral vasospasm, as measured by angiography, within 14 days of aSAH may also be included. The study is expected to conclude around the end of 2022.

Key literature

Fujimura M, et al. Cerebrovasc Dis 2017; 44:59-67

Macdonald R L, et al. Stroke. 2012; 43(6):1463-9.

Macdonald R L, et al. The Lancet. Neurology, 2011; 10(7):618-625.

Macdonald R L, et al. Stroke 2008; 39:3015-3021.

Vajkoczy P, et al. Journal of Neurosurgery 2005; 103:9-17.

Roux S. et al. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1997; 283:1110-1118.

Clozel M, Watanabe H, Life Sciences 1993; 52(9):825-834.





About Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Japan

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Japan was established, under the leadership of Dr Satoshi Tanaka, in 2018 to conduct clinical development and prepare the commercialization of Idorsia's innovative and promising compounds for patients in Japan.

About Idorsia

Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more - We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core.

Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland - a European biotech-hub - Idorsia is specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecules to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team of professionals covering all disciplines from bench to bedside, state-of-the-art facilities, and a strong balance sheet - the ideal constellation to translate R&D efforts into business success.

Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 900 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets.

For further information, please contact

Andrew C. Weiss

Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil

+41 58 844 10 10

investor.relations@idorsia.com

media.relations@idorsia.com

www.idorsia.com (http://www.idorsia.com)

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Anhang
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China reduced its benchmark lending rate for the second straight month as the economic growth weakened at the end of 2021. The one-year loan prime rate was reduced to 3.70 percent from 3.80 percent. This was the second consecutive reduction after a 5 basis point cut in December. The five-year LPR, the benchmark for mortgage rates, was lowered to 4.60 percent from 4.65 percent, which was the first cut since April 2020. Mortgages will now be slightly cheaper which should help shore up housing demand, Julian Evans-Pritchard and Sheana Yue, economists at Capital Economics, said. Economists expect additional easing to follow in the coming months, including measures to push down deposit rates. But policymakers still appear reluctant to engineer a sharp pick-up in credit growth, they added. The loan prime rate is fixed monthly based on the submission of 18 banks, though Beijing has influence over the rate-setting. This lending rate replaced the central bank's traditional benchmark lending rate in August 2019. Early this week, the People's Bank of China had cut the one-year medium lending facility rate to 2.85 percent from 2.95 percent and the 7-day reverse repo rate to 2.10 percent from 2.20 percent. Iris Pang, an economist at ING said all these actions are proactive to support economic growth. The question remains whether banks will respond by increasing lending The current credit environment is not improving. She said the uncertainty of credit from real estate developers has led to a general atmosphere that credit quality is worse now than in 2020. Banks will be picky about who they lend to and may require more collateral, Pang noted. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Boehringer Ingelheim advances to one of eleven global top employers worldwide

Awards in 29 countries and in Europe, the Latin America, and Asia-Pacific regions

High scores in values, ethics and integrity serve as a driver for a strong corporate innovation culture

The Top Employers Institute awarded Boehringer Ingelheim for the second year in succession a "Global Top Employer", one of the world's eleven best employers. The award shows that the research-driven pharmaceutical company is strongly oriented to the needs and well-being of its employees. Boehringer Ingelheim has been listed among the top employers in many countries and regions for the past eight years. This year, Boehringer Ingelheim will receive the award in 29 countries, as well as in Europe and the Latin America, and Asia-Pacific regions. The independent Top Employers Institute certifies employers worldwide who wish to offer their employees excellent working conditions and support their development. Certification is based on a multi-level program to examine human resources management with detailed final feedback.

Boehringer Ingelheim continued to thrive in the area of employee engagement where it particularly stands out with regards to rewards and recognition, compared to its competitors. The Top Employers Institute also highlighted the agile work environment as well as the company's values, ethics and integrity that result in the strong, inclusive corporate culture.

"The human dimension is a central part of Boehringer Ingelheim. This includes the feeling of belonging and an ongoing attention on everyone's wellbeing at work. The certification as Global Top Employer recognizes once again that our work environment makes the company stand out as an employer", says Dr Sven Sommerlatte, Global Head of Human Resources at Boehringer Ingelheim. "We are committed to empowering all people and foster diverse teams that deliver inclusive solutions. This forms the basis for our corporate innovation culture."

An example of employee orientation is the well-established mobile working. It helps, among other, to ensure that during the COVID pandemic, employees are empowered to actively adapt their work to health protection requirements and to ensure business continuity. This also applies for virtual onboarding processes for which the company established concepts for new employees working from home. Another point highlighted by the jury refers to the ethical, inclusive approach to corporate decisions and a clear focus on the transfer and application of company values. The family business also takes care of individual development opportunities through tailor-made education and training programs throughout the employee's working life.

As a research-driven pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to create value in areas of unmet medical need and engage with communities and society to change lives for the better. This has recently been exemplified through the extension of Boehringer Ingelheim's initiative Making More Health (MMH) called "Boehringer Ingelheim Social Engagements" with a funding of EUR 50 million.

Intended audiences:

This press release is issued from our Corporate Headquarters in Ingelheim, Germany and is intended to provide information about our global business. Please be aware that information relating to the approval status and labels of approved products may vary from country to country, and a country-specific press release on this topic may have been issued in the countries where we do business.

Please click on the following link for 'Notes to Editors':

https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/about-us/corporate-profile/award-boehringer-ingelheim-global-top-employer-2022

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220119006191/en/

Contacts:

Boehringer Ingelheim

Corporate Communications

Sarah Soetbeer

Telefon: 06132 77 183874

Email: press@boehringer-ingelheim.com


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar traded higher against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday, as the nation's job growth exceeded forecasts in December, while the jobless rate fell, fueling hopes for an early rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia.



Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia's jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent in December - beating handily expectations for 4.5 percent and down from 4.6 percent in November.



The Australian economy added 64,800 jobs last month, blowing away forecasts for an increase of 43,300 following the addition of 366,100 in November.



China's move to lower borrowing costs helped lift sentiment.



The People's Bank of China reduced the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points to 3.70 percent.



The five-year LPR was slashed by 5 basis points to 4.6 percent.



The aussie spiked up to 6-day highs of 0.7257 against the greenback and 0.9067 against the loonie, rising from its prior lows of 0.7207 and 0.9013, respectively. The aussie is seen finding resistance around 0.75 against the greenback and 1.54 against the loonie.



The aussie climbed to a fresh 2-week high of 1.5652 against the euro and a 2-day high of 82.85 against the yen, up from its previous lows of 1.5736 and 82.39, respectively. The next key resistance for the aussie is likely seen around 1.54 against the euro and 84.00 against the yen.



The aussie touched 1.0704 against the kiwi for the first time since July 14. On the upside, 1.09 is likely seen as the next resistance level for the aussie.



Looking ahead, Eurozone final CPI for December is set for release in the European session.



The European Central Bank publishes the account of the monetary policy meeting of the Governing Council held on December 15-16 at 7:30 am ET.



U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended January 15 and existing home sales for December will be published in the New York session.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the export of the products to the US surged 22.4 percent in 2021 to 8.8 billion USD, nearly 88 percent of which came from wooden furniture.

Industry insiders attributed the results to efforts of businesses in maintaining production and effective support from the Government amid difficulties caused by the COVID-19, holding that this expansion trend will continue in 2022.

However, they pointed out that the sector will still face many challenges, including trade remedies and the shortage of containers as well as high logistics cost.

On average, the cost for each container to be transported to the US is 20,000-30,000 USD, four times that in previous years./.

VNA
VIENTIANE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 108 people were reported as victims of human trafficking in Laos in 2021, marking a significant drop from the 142 figure recorded in 2020.

Laos is vulnerable to human trafficking and is both a source of and transit country of human trafficking due to the country's many shared borders, which provides traffickers with easy access and travel routes, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Thursday.

A report on the issue was presented at a meeting held on Wednesday between officials from the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and Xaysomboun province.

Statistics show that in 2017 a total of 83 women fell prey to traffickers, while in 2018 the number of incidents was 61, including 57 women, and in 2019 a total of 146 people were trafficked, of whom 142 were female.

Most of the victims are tricked into forced labor, with figures for 2016-2018 showing they were illegally employed in tourism, the sale of goods, serving food, marrying foreigners, and other illicit activities, while figures from 2019-2020 record cases of trafficking in persons by pregnancy, otherwise known as employment pregnancy.

The meeting outlined the current anti-trafficking activities in Laos and the region, especially in relation to tourism.

Participants also discussed ways to protect the rights and interests of migrant workers. 
Dutch hosting provider HOSTKEY has significantly expanded its capacity by leasing server racks in the Dutch Tier III euNetworks Data Center in Amsterdam. HOSTKEY will use these new capacities to house client servers (colocation), develop private and hybrid cloud solutions, as well as to expand its own IT infrastructure, including the deployment of dedicated servers available for rent to clients.

Under the terms of the agreement with euNetworks, HOSTKEY customers now can opt for colocation services in one of the best European data centers, regardless of the size of their business: from single server housing for small businesses or even individuals to renting whole racks with an extended package of IT infrastructure support services for large projects.

As part of a long-term contract, HOSTKEY has leased a complete colocation suite for server racks in the euNetworks Data Center in Amsterdam. The infrastructure of the data center complies with the Tier III reliability class rating according to the Uptime Institute's international classification system, which guarantees a fault tolerance of 99.982%.

The euNetworks data center is located in the south of Amsterdam with excellent transport accessibility a 30-minute drive to the airport and a mere 15 minutes to the city center. All of the cooling and power supply systems in the data center racks boast N 1 redundancy. Each rack is supplied with 2 independent protected links via a 32A PDU. The data center guarantees the physical protection of the housed equipment and strict control of access to the server rooms. Fire safety is provided by gaseous fire suppression and early smoke detection systems. A duty shift of tech personnel and data center security is constantly present on site. The servers are protected from DDoS attacks with the ability to expand the range of protection to meet the needs of the customer.

HOSTKEY's facilities are directly linked to euNetworks' fiber-based bandwidth infrastructure networks, connecting leading telecom operators and traffic exchange points through high-capacity fiber networks. The presence of one of the central communication and traffic exchange nodes directly inside the data center guarantees HOSTKEY's customers uninterrupted service availability and high access speeds.

HOSTKEY's clients who engage in colocation services in euNetworks' data center can also receive an extended service package as part of our comprehensive remote Smart Hands. HOSTKEY's engineers provide a complete range of IT infrastructure support. We provide consultation on the selection, configuration and purchase of equipment in the European market, deployment of network infrastructure, logistics and warehouse services, technical support, modernization of servers, resolution of emergency situations, repair and dismantling of equipment with its subsequent disposal or re-sale. HOSTKEY's extensive experience in the European and Russian markets provides the company's clients with significant savings in the purchase of equipment, tight project launch deadlines and saved costs on technical personnel.

"Leasing server space in the Amsterdam data center is just the beginning of our growing relationship with euNetworks," comments HOSTKEY's CEO Jeroen de Bie. "Cooperation with a reliable bandwidth infrastructure provider, which owns one of the largest footprints of data center connected networks in Europe, gives HOSTKEY the opportunity to continue active growth, development of new products and services, and it will allow us to scale our business not only in the Netherlands, but also in other European IT hubs."

HOSTKEY B.V. is an international hosting provider headquartered in the Netherlands that has been providing server rental services, colocation, and a range of consulting services in data centers in the Netherlands, USA and Russia for more than 10 years. The company also provides server infrastructure to run private cloud solutions. All HOSTKEY's technological sites are interconnected by communication channels with a high bandwidth, making it possible to build geo-distributed solutions and projects.

euNetworks is a bandwidth infrastructure company, owning and operating 17 fibre based metropolitan networks connected with a high capacity intercity backbone covering 53 cities in 17 countries across Europe. The company leads the market in data centre connectivity, directly connecting over 465 today. euNetworks is also a leading cloud connectivity provider and offers a targeted portfolio of metropolitan and long haul services including Dark Fibre, Wavelengths, and Ethernet. Wholesale, finance, content, media, mobile, data centre and enterprise customers benefit from euNetworks' unique inventory of fibre and duct based assets that are tailored to fulfil their high bandwidth needs.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005234/en/

Contacts:

Name: Hannah Britt, Senior Director of Marketing IR, euNetworks

Email: hannah.britt@eunetworks.com

Phone: +44 7717896446
MADRID, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 20th, world-leading intelligent home appliance brand Dreame, and Goboo, a local European e-commerce platform, launched the latest cleaning robot Dreame Bot W10. Goboo is launching an exciting new model with exclusive offers, which can be found on Goboo's official website.

The Dreame Bot W10 is an all-in-one sweeping and mopping bot with four main features: 4000Pa suction power, LDS laser navigation, automatic backwashing of the mop, and hot air drying. The suction power effectively gets rid of the dust in all areas of your home, leaving users with sparkly clean floors. With the 180 times/minute double-disc rotating booster wipe and ultrasonic carpet identification, even sticky stains are easily removed. Once the cleaning is done, 40C hot air blows on the cleaned surface, allowing it to dry quickly. The W10 can be easily managed through the Mi Home app. The app can connect with the W10 automatically by simply being close to user's phone.

The Dreame Bot W10 is the first sweeping bot sold on the Goboo platform as a new brand focusing on the smart home appliance industry. It is priced at 889.99, with additional benefits such as 30 off the 100 deposit and the possibility to pay in installments. Stay up to date on the latest deals on Goboo's website and social media channels. Participate in comment discussions for a chance to get your hands on a limited number of T20 wireless handheld vacuum cleaners.

Pre-sale exclusive benefits: 30 off 100 deposit + installment payment

Pre-sale period: January 20th 9:00 - February 11th 8:59 (UTC+1)

Sale period: February 11th 9:00 - March 11th 8:59 (UTC+2)

Founded in 2020, Goboo is committed to building an efficient, accurate, and professional e-commerce platform to provide the best quality innovative technology products to consumers in the European market. Goboo's efficient pan-European logistics network covers 21 countries, delivering the next day to Spain. Goboo also supports the Klarna installment payment function, providing users with 3-4 interest-free payments and 14-30 days post-delivery payments. In addition, Goboo offers free delivery, unconditional returns within 14 days, and a 2-year warranty on all products sold.

For more details, please click https://bit.ly/3I7PwIb

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1726747/photo.jpg
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022Corporation, provider of a next generation computing architectural extension to Intel technology for high performance, massively scalable graph analytics processing, today announced continued strong momentum for 2021. Major accomplishments included raising a Series B funding round, naming highly respected members to Lucata's Boards, launching the Lucata Pathfinder graph analytics processing server and demonstrating its tremendous performance advantages over conventional computing, and receiving recognition for Lucata's products based on the company's patented Migratory Thread technology.



"2021 was a remarkable year for Lucata as we increased our funding, continued building our organization, introduced our technology to the market, and successfully demonstrated its power to transform graph analytics," said Michael Maulick, Lucata CEO. "From deadly diseases and ever-rising threat of cyberattacks, to rampant financial fraud, our society is faced with challenges that only a major advance in computing hardware technology can address. Lucata Pathfinder enables organizations to use existing software to uncover much deeper connections within much larger graphs than possible today using conventional computing technology. This allows them to reimagine the potential of graph analytics. Beyond analytics, Lucata will also greatly reduce failures in AI and ML by eliminating the bias introduced from the pruning and sharding of data. 2022 promises to be a very exciting year as we deliver our technology at scale into the hands of customers."

Corporate Milestones

Raised $11.9 Million in Series B Funding to Introduce Next-Generation Computing Platform (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-series-b-funding-announcement/)

Awarded National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Grant to Revolutionize Graph Database Technology (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-nsf-sbir-award-announcement/)

Named John Donovan to Board of Directors (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-names-john-donovan-to-board-of-directors-press-release/)

Named Michael D. Moore to Board of Advisors (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-names-michael-d-moore-to-board-of-advisors-press-release/)

Products Milestones

Announced Next Generation Computing Platform That Shatters the Performance Limits of Conventional Computers for Graph Analytics (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-pathfinder-performance-announcement/)

Demonstrated Breakthrough Graph Analytics Processing Efficiency by Ranking #46 on the Green Graph500 Benchmark (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-pathfinder-demonstrates-breakthrough-graph-analytics-processing-efficiency-by-ranking-46-on-green-graph500-benchmark/)

Delivered First Commercially Available System to Enable Banks to Detect Fraud in Real-Time (https://lucata.com/about/news/lucata-delivers-first-commercially-available-system-to-enable-banks-to-detect-fraud-in-real-time-press-release/)



Awards

Named Best Thread Technology Computing Platform (https://www.thenewworldreport.com/issues/software-and-tech-2021/16/) in New World Report 2021 Software and Technology Awards



Lucata Pathfinderenables organizations to leverage massive pools of physical memory to accelerate and scale graph analytics and AI and ML model training by orders of magnitude beyond the capabilities of conventional computing approaches. The solution enables high-performance exascale graph analytics, including exhaustive breadth-first search (BFS), on unpruned, unsharded massive graph databases. Lucata can be used with open source, commercial graph software or with custom-written graph solutions that leverage LAGraph, GraphBLAS, or the Lucata library of algorithms, enabling organizations to use their existing software to uncover much deeper connections within much larger graphs than possible today. These unique capabilities allow organizations to reimagine the potential of graph analytics, AI and ML and address intractable challenges in fraud detection, cybersecurity, blockchain, risk assessment, healthcare and many other fields. Lucata delivers extreme, high performance for a broad range of common Big Data computing use cases which cannot be cost-effectively addressed with conventional computer architectures.

Learn More

More information about the next generation Lucata architecture is available on the Lucatawebsite including:

Lucata Pathfinder description (https://lucata.com/solutions/pathfinder/)

Lucata Pathfinder datasheet (https://lucata.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Lucata-Pathfinder-S-Datasheet-070921.pdf)

Lucata Tech Brief (https://lucata.com/resources/tech-briefs/) on next generation computing

Lucata performance benchmarks (https://lucata.com/resources/benchmarks/)

Lucata use cases (https://lucata.com/use-cases/)



About Lucata

The Lucata next generation Context Flow Architecture leverages Intel technology to enable organizations to accelerate and scale graph analytics orders of magnitude beyond the capabilities of conventional computing approaches. Lucata leverages patented Migrating Thread technology to massively scale unified memory and conduct high-performance graph analytics, including exhaustive breadth-first search.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

CONTACTS:

Brigit Valencia

brigit@compel-pr.com

(360) 609-3775
HELSINKI, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caverion Corporation's Financial Statement Release for 2021 will be published on Thursday, 10 February 2022, at approximately 8:00 a.m. (Finnish Time, EET). The stock exchange release and presentation materials in Finnish and in English will be published at that time on the company's website at www.caverion.com/investors.

Webcast news conference for investors and media

Caverion will hold a news conference on the Financial Statement Release as a live webcast at www.caverion.com/investors on Thursday, 10 February 2022, at 10.00 a.m. Finnish time (EET). Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the news conference cannot be attended in person.

The presenters at the event are President and CEO Jacob Gotzsche and Chief Financial Officer Martti Ala-Harkonen. A recording of the webcast will be available at the same address at approximately 12.00 noon (EET).

Conference call

It is also possible to participate in the event through a conference call. Participants are requested to call one of the assigned numbers at least five minutes before the conference call begins, at 9.55 a.m. (EET) at the latest:

Finland: +358 981710310

Sweden: +46 856642651

United Kingdom: +44 3333000804

United States: +1 6319131422

Participant code for the conference call is 21251507#. During the webcast and conference call, all questions should be presented in English.

Schedule in different time zones



Financial Statement Release published Webcast news conference and conference call Recorded webcast available EET (Helsinki) 08.00 10.00 12.00 CET (Paris, Stockholm) 07.00 09.00 11.00 GMT (London) 06.00 08.00 10.00 EST (New York) 01.00 03.00 05.00

For additional information, please contact: Milena Hggstrom, Head of Investor Relations and External Communications, tel. +358 40 5581 328, milena.haeggstrom@caverion.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/caverion/r/publishing-of-caverion-corporation-s-financial-statement-release-for-2021-on-10-february-2022,c3488991

The following files are available for download:
Firm Continues to Attract Industry's Best Talent

LONDON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Colmore, the leading service and technology provider for private market Limited Partners (LPs) and allocators, has appointed three new senior hires to fuel its rapid expansion and innovation agenda.

On the back of its Aug. 2021 merger with Preqin, the global leader in alternative assets data, tools and insights, Colmore has continued to go through a strong growth phase. Today, Colmore has more than 200 professionals working across its four offices globally. Colmore, which was formerly a middle and back-office technology function of a global asset manager, strives to source talent from within the industry. Its hiring thesis ensures the team provides differentiated solutions built for LPs, by LPs.

To continue its track record of success, Colmore is proud to announce the following key hires:

Dominic Critchley has joined as Co-Head of Fund Accounting (EU) and brings more than 25 years of fund accounting and investment operations experience. He joins Colmore after his previous role as Head of Investment Accounting for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world's largest Limited Partners. Prior to this, Dominic was a Director at BlackRock, responsible for the Fund Administration of the UK, Irish and Luxembourg retail and institutional fund ranges.

Dominic will work closely with Veronica Harris, who has also been recently promoted to Co-Head of Fund Accounting (US), after many years of showing strong leadership within Colmore's US accounting team. Dominic and Veronica will work closely together to support Colmore's growing allocator fund administration client base.

Jordan Heetland has joined Colmore as a Senior Vice President and Head of North American Sales. He joins from an alternatives software provider, where he worked closely with the LP and fund of funds community. Jordan has extensive industry experience, with prior roles at wealth management platforms and within investment management. He will be instrumental in further supporting Colmore's North American clients in getting the best insights and consolidated analysis of their investment portfolios.

Henry Tran has joined Colmore as a Senior Solution Architect to support Colmore's continued innovations with data and analytics, bringing over 20 years of experience in application development and data platform solutions. Prior to joining Colmore, Henry worked at MUFG Capital Analytics and JP Morgan Chase, working on private markets technology for LPs and GPs.

Commenting on the appointments, Ben Cook, CEO of Colmore, said: "The best clients deserve the best people. We work hard to develop our people and augment them with exceptional hires from across the industry. I am delighted that people like Dominic, Jordan and Henry have joined us. I am equally delighted that Veronica is being recognised for her hard work. We have an exciting and ambitious year ahead of us. This is a great way to start."

The new hires are part of Colmore's and Preqin's endeavour to offer clients the best solutions across the private markets lifecycle. By continuing to attract top talent from within the industry, Colmore will strengthen its innovative technology solutions, as well as superior accounting and administration services to an ever-growing number of LPs. This is particularly crucial in the current environment, in which investors are increasingly in need of cutting-edge monitoring and analytics capabilities to navigate new complexities - such as a heightened focus on ESG, potential regulation and the desire for increased transparency and returns.

About Colmore

Colmore, a Preqin company, is a market-leading, technology-driven private markets investor services business focused on the Limited Partner and Allocator market. The business operates from four offices located in New York and Dallas in the US, and London and Birmingham in the UK. Colmore employs more than 200 professionals, with the business monitoring over 4,000 private market funds and 40,000+ holdings. For more information, visit www.colmore.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1728889/Colmore_hires.jpg
EQS-News: Nordea Bank Abp / Key word(s): Personnel

Nordea Bank Abp: Nordea appoints new Chief Risk Officer



20.01.2022 / 09:40





Nordea appoints new Chief Risk Officer

Nordea Bank Abp

Stock exchange release - Changes board/management/auditors

Mark Kandborg, current Deputy Head of Nordea's Large Corporates & Institutions business area, is appointed Chief Risk Officer and a member of the Group Leadership Team as of 1 April 2022.

Nordea's current Chief Risk Officer has decided to return to the United Kingdom after more than five years at Nordea and will be succeeded by Mark Kandborg, 50, who today is Deputy Head of Nordea's Large Corporates & Institutions business area.

Mark Kandborg has worked at Nordea for 26 years and held several senior roles, including acting Chief Financial Officer and Head of Group Finance as well as Head of Treasury & Asset and Liability Management. He has broad experience from all Nordic markets and holds a master's degree in Economics from the University of Copenhagen.

"I am very pleased to announce Mark Kandborg as new Chief Risk Officer. He has extensive experience from different senior roles, strong leadership skills and in-depth knowledge of Nordea's business. I look forward to working with Mark in our Group Leadership Team. I want to thank our current Chief Risk Officer, Matthew Elderfield, for excellent work during his years with us - it has been a true pleasure to work with him", says President and Group CEO Frank Vang-Jensen.

"I am excited about this great opportunity to lead our Group Risk organisation and to be part of the Group Leadership Team as we continue to develop the bank", says Mark Kandborg.

The appointment is subject to regulatory approval and the change will take effect on 1 April 2022.

For further information:

Ulrika Romantschuk, Head of Group Brand, Communication and Marketing, +358 9 5300 6784

Group Communication, +358 10 416 8023 or press@nordea.com

The information provided in this stock exchange release was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 09.30 EET on 20 January 2022.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

End of Media Release


Malta Iberia Pumped Heat Electricity Storage S.L.U. (Malta Iberia), a European affiliate of Malta Inc., has been granted a Project Development Assistance Agreement from the European Union and the European Investment Bank to pursue a 100MW energy storage facility in Spain. Malta Iberia was selected among hundreds of applicants by the European Innovation Fund for its Sun2Store project.

The Sun2Store project in Spain will provide 100MW of thermal energy storage at a ten-hour duration, providing 1,000MWh of clean energy. The storage solution would be the first of its kind in Europe, combining pumped heat technology with molten salt to provide efficient, reliable and dispatchable renewable energy. Malta is partnering with industry-leading manufacturer Alfa Laval on the heat exchangers and Siemens Energy on the project's turbomachinery.

The Project Development Assistance Agreement will provide Malta Iberia with tailor-made technical assistance by the European Investment Bank and will include an independent technology assessment to verify key technical parameters of the storage facility. Malta was selected as a viable breakthrough technology that is easily scaled and capable of providing timely, high-impact reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

"We are thrilled that the Innovation Fund has selected Malta's Sun2Store proposal as a high-quality project that has the potential to aid significantly in our global fight against climate change," said Malta Iberia Managing Director Michael Geyer. "While Malta has created an innovative, breakthrough solution, the award of project development assistance also demonstrates that our product is viable from a financial and technological perspective."

Out of over 300 applications, only 15 projects were selected by the Innovation Fund for Project Development Assistance granted by the European Union and executed by the European Investment Bank.

Malta's progress in Europe comes as the company continues to make progress toward commercialization globally. Malta recently announced a global partnership with Bechtel, a world-leading engineering, construction, and project management company, to identify and seize opportunities to deploy long-duration energy storage plants. In October, Malta and NB Power announced plans to pursue the first long-duration energy storage facility in New Brunswick, Canada.

About Malta

Malta represents the future of energy storage. With its grid-scale solutions that can store energy up to 50 times longer than typical battery technology, Malta is enabling renewable energy to be used more efficiently and effectively, enhancing grid reliability and resilience, and expediting the transition to a clean energy future. Incubated at X, the Moonshot Factory (formerly Google [X]), the company is backed by energy industry leaders Alfa Laval, Proman, and Chevron Technology Ventures, as well as investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Piva Capital.

Malta Iberia is supporting the clean energy transition in the Iberian Peninsula with an active project pipeline that continues to grow. For more information visit www.maltainc.com

About European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is the lending arm of the European Union. EIB is the biggest multilateral financial institution in the world and one of the largest providers of climate finance.

In 2019 the EIB Board of Directors approved a new set of ambitious targets for climate action and environmental sustainability. The EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 will guide our ambition. It is the result of various rounds of engagement with civil society and other stakeholders.

The Roadmap outlines our bold ambitions for climate finance to back the European Green Deal and make Europe carbon-neutral. It maps the next stages in the journey to sustainable investment and provides a framework to counter climate change and protect the environment during the critical decade ahead.

https://www.eib.org/en/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220117005019/en/

Contacts:

Scott Coriell

scott@peakpublicaffairs.com
ITC Secure forms new partnership with Omada to simplify identity lifecycle management for customers with modern identity governance

ITC Secure (ITC) a leading advisory-led cyber security services company, announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership with Omada, a leader in modern identity governance.

ITC is a Microsoft Gold Partner in Security, member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA) and has recently achieved two Microsoft Security Advanced Specialisations for Threat Protection and Cloud Security. These credentials reflect the deep expertise of ITC's in-house identity and security practice capabilities which currently extend to deliver end to end security and access management for both internal and external users.

Due to accelerated digital transformation, multi-cloud hybrid IT environments and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions further complicate the identity landscape. Organisations need to be assured that their entire workforce are equipped with the right access to do their jobs.

Arno Robbertse, Chief Executive, ITC Secure said: "Hybrid working remains a primary concern for business leaders and a challenge to solve. This partnership enables ITC to extend its identity and security capabilities and help customers address identity as the new perimeter and navigate their journey towards Zero Trust.

This announcement formalises the partnership with Omada and enables ITC to simplify identity lifecycle management for its customers by automating the provisioning, deprovisioning, and access management of all users (and groups) across the enterprise whether it be on-premises applications or identity directories such as Microsoft Azure AD.

Michael Garrett, CEO, Omada added: "With today's distributed workforce, modern Identity Governance and Administration is a critical aspect of the security landscape. Partnerships that can both deliver on our customers' needs and help grow our offering are a top priority. Together, ITC Secure and Omada will help more customers benefit from Omada Identity in combination with the knowledge, care, services and support that ITC Secure provides to customers."

If you would like to find out more about the future of hybrid work or the outlook for identity and access management, join us at ITC's annual Cyber Summit BEYOND on Thursday 27th January 2022 and be inspired by real examples of how to address these trends by making the most of the latest developments in cyber security. Register here

-ENDS-

About ITC Secure

ITC Secure is an advisory-led cyber security services company.

We have a 25+ year track record of delivering business-critical services to over 300 blue-chip organisations bringing together the best minds in security, a relentless focus on customer service and advanced technological expertise to help businesses succeed.

With our integrated delivery model, proprietary platform and customer-first mindset, we work as an extension of your team throughout your cyber journey and always think not only about you, but also your customers and the reputation of your brand.

ITC Secure a certified Great Place to Work and is headquartered in London, UK. With a dynamic balance of the best in people, technology and governance, we make cyber resilience your competitive advantage.

To learn more about ITC Secure, please visit www.itcsecure.com or email us at enquiries@itcsecure.com.

About Omada

Omada, a global market leader in Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), offers a full-featured, enterprise-grade, cloud native IGA solution that enables organizations to achieve compliance, reduce risk, and maximize efficiency. Founded in 2000, Omada delivers innovative identity management to complex hybrid environments based on our proven best practice process framework and deployment approach. For more information, go to omadaidentity.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005041/en/

Contacts:

All enquiries to

Sophia Casimir at

sophia.casimir@itcsecure.com
ROAMING AND PROFITABILITY KEY PAIN POINTS FOR IoT CONNECTIVITY PROVIDERS: KALEIDO INTELLIGENCE

Kaleido Intelligence announces the findings of its global IoT connectivity survey, which saw over 230 MNOs, MVNOs and IoT service providers across the globe offer their views on the current market for cellular IoT connectivity.

The results are striking:

Over 70% of MNOs and MVNOs view permanent roaming as a significant challenge.

48% of MNOs and MVNOs turn to IoT connectivity enablers to circumvent the cost and complexity surrounding bilateral roaming agreements.

Less than 10% of IoT customers mandate eSIM for their projects due to costs.

56% of operators view high pricing for IoT as a major pain point.

90% of IoT service providers see integrations for IoT support as costly and time-consuming.

56% of MNOs and MVNOs perceive their current infrastructure as impacting IoT profitability.

Register for our webinar on February 1st for details of the survey findings and access to a free copy of the survey findings.

Neither Roaming nor eSIM are Catch-all Solutions to Global IoT

The survey results highlight that simply relying on roaming partnerships to support global IoT operations is not feasible for most players in the connectivity market. Permanent roaming where connected devices operate on a visited international network over a period longer than 90 days is presently subject to intense scrutiny from both regulators and MNOs alike.

The survey found that 48% of MNOs and MVNOs turn to connectivity enablers to circumvent their limited market power and gain multi-network access through a single integration, often with permanent roaming agreements in place. These enablers, having negotiated wholesale connectivity deals operators around the globe, allow customers centralized access to multiple networks worldwide without the issue of having to negotiate with each player.

Tellingly, the survey revealed that eSIM does not meet requirements for large-scale IoT in its present state. Respondents reported that the technology is mandated by customers in less than 10% of cases, with over 80% of customers unwilling to opt for eSIM due to high deployment costs, or high costs involved when switching to a new provider.

Steffen Sorrell, Chief of Research at Kaleido Intelligence commented: "These results underline the need for a highly flexible solution to minimize complexity and maximize cost efficiency. In practice, this means combining the power of multi-network roaming agreements with over-the-air multi-IMSI capabilities; this can be combined with eSIM, if required, to ensure local compliance and a future-proof solution."

56% of Operators see High Pricing as a Challenge in Supporting IoT

Pain points surrounding cost was a key theme among survey respondents: 56% of operators see high pricing as a challenge in supporting global IoT Meanwhile, over 90% of IoT service providers state that integrations are both costly and time-consuming, with 36% of MNOs and MVNOs ranking this as their number one challenge in providing IoT connectivity services.

Due to the rapidly growing base of low-traffic, low ARPU connections, high costs mean an even greater squeeze on margins. 57% of MNO and MVNO survey respondents reported that Business Support Systems (BSS) are not always compatible with newer Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) business models, while 56% reported that existing infrastructure impacts profitability.

Combined, integration costs and BSS upgrades are putting tremendous pressure on potential IoT connectivity profitability.

Addressing IoT Connectivity Pain Points

The survey results highlighted here, in addition to several others, will be discussed in an upcoming webinar on the 1st of February. Join Rony Cohen, co-founder and head of business development at floLIVE, and Steffen Sorrell, Chief of Research at Kaleido, as they showcase the survey findings and discuss how the industry can navigate around these challenges.

Register here.

All participants will receive a complimentary copy of the survey report findings. There will also be a chance to get your questions answered during a live Q&A session during the webinar.

About Kaleido Intelligence

Kaleido Intelligence is a specialist consulting and market research firm with a proven track record delivering telecom research at the highest level. Kaleido Intelligence is the only research company addressing mobile roaming in its entirety, covering:

Data Forecasts by Market

Historical Forecast Viewpoints

Competitive Intelligence

Strategic Insight

Trend Analysis

Research is led by expert analysts, each with significant experience delivering telco research and insights that matter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005062/en/

Contacts:

Contact our Press Team for interviews and research access:

Jon King, Chief Commercial Officer

roaming@kaleidointelligence.com

+44 (0) 2039839843


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Premier Foods Plc (PFD.L), British food manufacturer, in a trading update on Thursday, reported a decline in its sales for the third quarter. However, it posted a rise in revenue for the same three-month period when compared with the pre-pandemic period.



In addition, owing to a rise in sales when compared with the two-year ago period, the UK-based company has raised its earnings projection for the current fiscal.



For the third quarter ended on January 1, Premier reported its total sales at 280.6 million pounds, compared with 285.8 million pounds reported a year ago period, and 262.2 million pounds, registered for the third quarter of FY19-20.



Sales of the branded products of the company recorded at 229.8 million pounds for the quarter, compared with 231.5 million pounds, reported for the same period last year, and 206.4 million pounds, posted for the two year ago quarter.



Sales of the non-branded products of the company recorded at 50.8 million pounds for the quarter, compared with 54.3 million pounds, reported for the same period last year, and 55.8 million pounds, reported for the two year ago quarter.



Following positive market sentiments, the company said it is raising guidance for the current fiscal. Trading profit for the current fiscal is now expected to be at least 145 million pounds, and adjusted profit before tax at least 125 million pounds.



Alex Whitehouse, Chief Executive Officer, commented: 'The strong momentum from the first half of the year continued into the key Q3 trading period, with our brands growing by 11.3% compared to two years ago. This was well ahead of the market across all our categories and resulted in very encouraging share gains.'







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BEIRUT, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Wednesday launched a special appeal to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon suffering rising hardship and vulnerability.

The Special Appeal 2022 asks donors to support increased and regular cash assistance for food and other basic needs to the vulnerable Palestine refugees, as well as emergency funding for hospitalization, education, and camp services, including fuel for water supply and solid waste disposal, according to a statement released by the UNRWA.

The appeal also calls for support to the agency's protection activities amid mounting abuse and violence in families and communities.

The current crisis affects everyone in Lebanon, and Palestine refugees are "enduring particular hardship given their already marginalized status in the country," said Claudio Cordone, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon.

"They are struggling to survive and their needs have increased dramatically, with poverty rates reaching 87 percent among the Palestinian refugees from Syria in Lebanon," he said, noting that the appeal today "outlines the need for an enhanced and sustained program of assistance to ensure a dignified life for all Palestine refugees."

According to the statement, the appeal is part of the overall budget of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars for 2022 that the agency needs to fulfill its mandate to provide millions of Palestine refugees' vital services, including education, health, and food assistance. The humanitarian needs are expected to cover Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. 
An official ceremony to present and launch the 2021-2027 Joint Multiyear Programming Document (DCP) was held in Lome on January12 at the 2022,headquarters of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Cooperation. Adopted on December 16 2021, the Joint Programming Document was developed in an inclusive approach with the European Union, Germany and France. It defines the framework for the interventions of the European partners in support of the efforts of the Government of the Togolese Republic for the next seven years.

Mr. Payadowa Boukpessi, Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Development of Territories co-chaired this presentation ceremony alongside the Ambassador of the European Union to Togo, Mr. Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga. Mrs. Sandra Ablamba Johnson, Minister, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Mr. Gilbert Bawara, Minister of Public Service, Mr. Sani Yaya, Minister of Economy and Finance, for the Government of the Togolese Republic, as well as Mrs. Jocelyne Caballero, Ambassador of France and Mr. Matthias Veltin, Ambassador of Germany, took part in this event.

The DCP is in synergy with the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Government Roadmap Togo 2020-2025. Through this strategic document, the European Union and its Member States are committed to strengthening their support to the Togolese Republic in three priority areas

Human development, particularly in terms of socio-economic inclusion and access to basic public services;

Sustainable agribusiness and natural resource management to contribute to job creation and the fight against climate change;

The consolidation of a peaceful and resilient society in Togo through the promotion of security, good governance and decentralization.

The adoption of this document is an important step in strengthening and concretizing cooperation between Togo and its European partners. The Joint Programming Document specifies the approach of the "Team Europe", composed of the European Union, France and Germany, as well as their respective financial and development institutions, namely the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW). The aim is for the European partners to identify synergies and pool their tools in order to increase efficiency in the framework of this joint programming. An approach welcomed during the visit to Togo, November 24, 2021, high-level officials of "Team Europe".

The resulting EU actions will be financed by the new instrument entitled "Europe in the World", which replaces the European Development Fund (EDF). The adoption of the Joint Programming Document 2021-2027 and the implementation of this new financial instrument coincide with the entry into force of the Post-Cotonou Agreement, which strengthens the partnership between Togo and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) on the one hand, and the European Union and its Member States on the other. As part of the first year of implementation of this document, "Team Europe" is committing more than millions 243 of euros, or nearly 160 billion CFA francs, for new projects in the three priority areas mentioned above.

Ambassador Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga, Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Togo, welcomed the relevance of the axes contained in this Document, which will further strengthen the partnership between the EU and Togo: "The document we have today, after the high-level visit of the "Team Europe" in Lome only a few weeks ago, is the concrete materialization of this commitment of the European Union especially in the field of cooperation and European solidarity with Togo.

The Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Development of Territories thanked the European partners for their support in the development of this document, which is aligned with the priorities of the government.

I would like to reiterate the government's sincere thanks to the European Commission, Germany and France in particular, for the quality of their cooperation and for their support in implementing development projects and programs for the well-being of the people. The Minister of State stressed on this occasion "the enlightened vision and leadership in the piloting of development actions" of the President of the Republic, H.E. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe. He concluded by inviting all actors involved in the implementation of this document to take the necessary steps for the rapid implementation of the projects.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220117005112/en/

Contacts:

Communication Unit Togolese Presidency

Canelle Raberahina

Communication@presidence.gouv.tg
Awarded Top Employer Certification in 22 Countries, Ranked among Top 3 Employers in Asia Pacific, Middle East, and North America for Best-in-Class People Practices

BENGALURU, India, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, has been recognized by Top Employers Institute among the Global Top Employers for the second consecutive year. Infosys was ranked #1 Top Employer in India, in recognition of its best-in-class people practices and consistency in delivering employee experience globally. Infosys is one of 11 companies worldwide to receive this recognition.

Infosys has been named Top Employer across the following regions and top-ranked in 16 of the 22 countries:

Asia Pacific - India , Australia , New Zealand , Singapore , Japan , and China

- , , , , , and North America - USA , Canada and Mexico

- , and Middle East - UAE, Oman and Bahrain

- UAE, and Europe - U.K, Ireland , France , Belgium , Netherlands , Germany , Switzerland , Sweden , Romania , and Poland

Krish Shankar, Executive Vice President and Group Head of Human Resource Development, Infosys, said, "We are delighted to be awarded Global Top Employer again this year. This comes at a time when we have strengthened our approach to employee engagement, making it more purposeful and morale-boosting. We continue to significantly invest in digital learning for our workforce creating new avenues for their growth. Infosys' internal talent marketplace also helps them move continuously upward in the value chain, delivering on our promise of 'careers that never stand still'. This recognition by the Top Employers Institute is a testimony to our concerted efforts to make it possible for every Infosys employee to navigate further, sustained by our culture and values."

The Top Employers Institute program certifies organizations based on their HR Best Practices across 6 HR domains consisting of 20 areas such as People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being, Diversity & Inclusion, and more. For the evaluation, Top Employers Institute conducted a detailed assessment of Infosys' people practices through the HR Best Practices assessment in 22 countries. The Top Employer Certification highlighted Infosys' focus on supporting their employee's well-being and experience, especially during the pandemic. It also reflects the Company's Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) vision and commitment to its workforce.

David Plink, CEO, Top Employers Institute said, "Reflecting on the demanding year that has, like the year before it, impacted organizations across the world, our Global Top Employers have continued to prioritize going above and beyond the norm to maintain their excellent people practices in the workplace. As a global Top Employer, Infosys has proven its unwavering commitment to employees on a global scale, joining a niche group of companies that have achieved a certification through the Top Employers Program. We are excited to celebrate and applaud them for their achievement in 2022."

About Top Employers Institute

Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognizing excellence in People Practices. We help accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work. Through the Top Employers Institute Certification Program, participating companies can be validated, certified, and recognized as an employer of choice. Established over 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified over 1857 organizations in 123 countries/regions. These certified Top Employers positively impact the lives of over 8 million employees globally. Top Employers Institute. For a better world of work.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations, and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients, and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg
SODANKYLA, FINLAND / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / FireFox Gold Corp. (TSXV:FFOX)(OTCQB:FFOXF) ("FireFox" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the winter drilling program is progressing as planned with approximately 3,800 metres drilled to date on three separate projects. The Company is now set to begin its first drilling at the Sarvi Project, which adjoins Rupert Resources' Area 1 property. The first phase of diamond drilling at Sarvi is slated to start before the end of January and will include up to 500m in the northwestern portion of the project, where trenching and base-of-till (BOT) sampling have identified several gold and multielement anomalies. There is an ongoing BOT sampling program at Sarvi and results are not yet available for the southern and eastern portions of the property (see Figure 1: https://bit.ly/357FBo0). The Company expects to bring the drill rig back to Sarvi during the second quarter for an estimated 2,000 metres of additional drilling.

Carl Lofberg, President and CEO of FireFox, commented, "Our winter drill program is going very well so far. In fact, for the first time in FireFox's history we have a core rig operating at the same time as two base-of-till drilling rigs. We have already drilled three of our four permitted projects and are now advancing towards the first drilling on our Sarvi Project. Our integrated interpretation of geophysics, mapping, BOT sampling, and new trenching data has dramatically improved our understanding of the geology and targets at Sarvi. Our team believes that the southern portion of the Sarvi Project occupies a similar geologic setting to Rupert's Area 1 Project, so this is a very exciting time in the company's short history."

The Sarvi Project is part of the Company's large land package covering part of the Kittila Suite of volcanic rocks in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt. The project is centred on the Sarvi exploration permit, and also includes the Sarvi-2 tenement to the north and Keulakko to the west. The Company was recently granted exploration permits for the latter two properties, expanding its ability to conduct mechanized exploration and drilling across all three properties, a total of 21 km2.

Sarvi Work Program and Results to Date

FireFox conducted an airborne magnetic survey covering the Sarvi area in 2020. The processing and interpretation of these data identified several possible NW-SE trending structures that intersect E-W and NE-SE trending major structures that appear to be earlier. These structures define some major lithologic contacts and also crosscut the dominantly mafic volcanic terrane. The later crosscutting structures may be part of the so called D3 event, or third stage of deformation, which has been linked to major gold mineralizing events in Lapland. Comparable structural settings have been reported at Rupert Resources' Area 1 target to the south, where several significant gold occurrences have been discovered recently (See Figure 1 on Rupert Resources' news release dated January 18th, 2022).

FireFox cautions that proximity to a discovery or mineral resource, does not ensure that mineralization will occur on FireFox's property, and if mineralization does occur, that it will occur in sufficient quantity or grade that would result in an economic extraction scenario.

In early 2021, Firefox followed up with a more detailed ground magnetic survey to better delineate these structural targets. In addition, exploration trenching and an ongoing BOT sampling program have identified anomalies that are often coincident with key structural features and may be related to the D3 event.

During reconnaissance geologic mapping and rock sampling, the Firefox team identified an area in the northwest of the Sarvi permit with thin overburden and anomalous results from rock chip and till sampling. A total of eight trenches spanning 475m were excavated, mapped, and sampled on this target. The trenching campaign exposed a volcano-sedimentary unit including significant thicknesses of graphite schist. FireFox geologists collected 169 channel/chip samples and 73 grab samples from the trenches. Most anomalous gold samples were hosted within graphitic schist, with the highest interval averaging 0.23 g/t gold over 18m (including 10m averaging 0.31 g/t gold). The anomalous gold was correlated with elevated arsenic, silver, copper, molybdenum, and other elements. The team recorded detailed information on the geology, alteration, veining, and structures from the trenches that will guide future drill targeting on these gold anomalies.

Firefox has also completed roughly one third of the planned stage 1 BOT sampling program at Sarvi. To date, the Company has collected approximately 1,200 BOT samples, of which 769 analytical results have been received, mostly in the northwest portion of the project. The program will continue across the property and with infill BOT sampling on closer spacing around the emerging targets in the northwest. So far, the BOT results have returned potentially significant anomalies in gold, silver, arsenic, antimony, copper, molybdenum, bismuth, tellurium, and other elements. The team continues to receive results from the lab on a regular basis, so analysis and interpretation remains preliminary. However, the anomalous results occur in clusters, often associated with interpreted structures and geologic contacts from the geophysics.

Winter Drill Program Update

As announced on November 11, 2021, FireFox completed the first pass of the phase 5 drilling program at its 100%-held Mustajarvi Gold Project, including 1,694 metres in four holes. Since then, an additional two holes have been completed, totaling 624 metres.

In November and December, FireFox drilled 1,113 metres in 5 drill holes at the Utsamo Prospect, northern Jeesio Project. The Utsamo drilling was based primarily on the gold and multielement BOT anomalies reported in the October 26, 2021 news release. FireFox plans to continue BOT sampling at Utsamo to delineate additional drill targets associated with the complex structural setting there.

Less than 10 kilometres to the southwest of Utsamo, FireFox also completed two additional scout drill holes totaling 400m at the Saittavaara Prospect, also within the large Jeesio Project. This target was drilled for the first time earlier in 2021 and yielded gold mineralization of more than 0.9 g/t in two of three holes, as reported on August 3rd.

Assays and interpretation are pending for all drill holes.

Methodology & Quality Assurance

BOT sampling targets the basal till and bedrock interface using a percussion drill mounted on a tracked vehicle. FireFox geologists supervised sampling procedures and maintained chain of custody according to best industry practice and with due attention to quality assurance and quality control. The BOT program includes collection of field duplicates and insertion of certified reference materials and blank samples into the laboratory submittals. FireFox team members transported the rock samples to an ALS sample prep lab in Sodankyla and BOT samples to the ALS sample prep lab in Outokumpu.

The lab dried (60 C) and screened the till samples to -180 m and analyzed them by the AuME-TL43 method, utilizing an aqua regia digestion with an ICP-MS finish. Bedrock samples, including grab samples, channel samples and chip samples were dried and crushed to -2 mm, split and pulverized into 1kg pulps, before being shipped to a facility in Ireland for gold by fire assay of 50 gm aliquots with AAS finish (method Au-AA24). Other elements, altogether 48, were measured after four-acid digestion by ICP-AES and ICP-MS (method ME-MS61). ALS Laboratories is a leading international provider of assay and analytical data to the mining industry. All ALS geochemical hub laboratories, including the Irish facility, are accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for specific analytical procedures.

No QA/QC issues were identified from a review of the analytical data discussed herein.

Patrick Highsmith, Certified Professional Geologist (AIPG CPG # 11702) and director of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Highsmith has helped prepare, review and approve the technical information in this news release.

About FireFox Gold Corp.

FireFox Gold Corp is listed on the TSX Venture Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FFOX. FireFox also trades on the OTCQB Venture Market Exchange in the US under the ticker symbol FFOXF. The Company has been exploring for gold in Finland since 2017 where it holds a huge portfolio of prospective ground.

Finland is one of the top mining investment jurisdictions in the world as indicated by its multiple top-10 rankings in recent Fraser Institute Surveys of Mining Companies. Having a strong mining law and long mining tradition, Finland remains underexplored for gold. Recent exploration results in the country have highlighted its prospectivity, and FireFox is proud to have a Finland based CEO and technical team.

For more information, please refer to the Company's website and profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Carl Lofberg"

Chief Executive Officer

CONTACT:

FireFox Gold Corp.

Email: info@firefoxgold.com

Telephone: +1-778-938-1994

Forward Looking Statements

The information herein contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, the extent of work stoppage and economic impacts that may result from the COVID 19 virus, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry.

Forward-looking statements in this release may include statements regarding: the intent to conduct additional drilling; the belief as to the location of the most prospective gold targets; the location of targets for future drill programs; and the current and future work program, including the extent and nature of exploration to be conducted in 2022. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary.

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the expectations of FireFox as of the date of dissemination and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking statements and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. FireFox does not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

SOURCE: FireFox Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684724/FireFox-Gold-Moves-Drill-to-Next-Promising-Target-Sarvi-Project-Finland
20 January 2022



Acron Announces Extraordinary General Meeting

Acron's Board of Directors resolved to convene an extraordinary general meeting as an absentee vote on 25 February 2022 to consider distribution of Acron's retained earnings for previous years (including declaration/payment of dividends).

The record date for attending the general meeting is 31 January 2022 (close of business).

All information to be provided to persons entitled to attend the general meeting, including the Board of Directors' recommendations on dividend amount, will be made available on the corporate website, submitted to the central depositary, and posted to shareholders' personal accounts on the Registrar's website at https://lk.rrost.ru no later than 4 February 2022. The information will also be available at the Company's domicile address.

Media contacts:

Sergey Dorofeev

Anastasia Gromova

Tatiana Smirnova

Public Relations

Phone: +7 (495) 777-08-65 (ext. 5196)

Investor contacts:

Ilya Popov

Investor Relations

Phone: +7 (495) 745-77-45 (ext. 5252)

Background Information

Acron Group is a leading vertically integrated mineral fertiliser producer in Russia and globally, with chemical production facilities in Veliky Novgorod (Acron) and Smolensk region (Dorogobuzh). The Group owns and operates a phosphate mine in Murmansk region (North-Western Phosphorous Company, NWPC) and is implementing a potash development project in Perm Krai (Verkhnekamsk Potash Company, VPC). It owns transportation and logistics infrastructure, including three Baltic seaport terminals and distribution networks in Russia and China. Acron subsidiary North Atlantic Potash Inc. (NAP) holds mining leases and an exploration permit for ten parcels of the potassium salt deposit at Prairie Evaporite, Saskatchewan, Canada. Acron also holds a minority stake (19.8%) in Polish Grupa Azoty S.A., one of the largest chemical producers in Europe.

In 2020, the Group sold 7.8 million tonnes of its main products to 74 countries, with Russia, Brazil, Europe, and the United States as key markets.

In 2020, the Group posted consolidated IFRS revenue of RUB 119,864 million (USD 1,661 million), with EBITDA of RUB 35,311 million (USD 489 million). Acron's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and its global depositary receipts are traded at the London Stock Exchange (ticker AKRN). Acron employs over 11,000 people.

For more information about Acron Group, please visit www.acron.ru/en.
The Company is now producing Cannabis in industrial scale bioreactors and has entered the final stage of its Cannabis commercialization program

Vancouver, British Columbia, and Rehovot, Israel--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) ("BioHarvest" or the "Company") has announced its plan to build a production facility in Canada, as part of the next phase in the global expansion of its Cannabis vertical. To that end, the Company is exploring opportunities to acquire an existing licensed facility or a Licensed Producer (LP), which would enable the Company to use its BioFarming technology to produce and then sell unique cannabis products into the Canadian market.

The Company is pleased to announce that it has also moved its production of full-spectrum Cannabis biomass to industrial scale bioreactors, which is a critical final step in ensuring adequate production levels for commercialization. This full spectrum, pesticide free, non-genetically modified biomass is based on the Company's proprietary BioFarming technology that produces Cannabis without growing the plant itself.

Following the news release on December 8, 2021, where the Company announced that it was the first to produce a significant amount of full spectrum, non GMO Cannabis biomass without growing the Cannabis plant itself, the Company has moved swiftly towards the final stage of the development program by now growing the Trichome cells in industrial scale bioreactors. The Trichome cells contain Cannabinoids such as CBD, THC, as well as other compounds that grow naturally in the Cannabis plant. This stage successfully tested the resilience of BioHarvest's proprietary "amalgamated Trichome cells" against the shear forces generated by the large bioreactor's liquid media motion. These amalgamated Trichomes have a coral shaped structure and have a density of up to 200 times greater than the conventional agriculture case. To view the first video footage of our Cannabis biomass, visit www.bioharvest.com/investors.

Ilan Sobel, CEO of BioHarvest, said, "Our BioFarming technology not only enables the production of full-spectrum Cannabis without growing the plant but also creates unique new patentable and consistent compositions that will have corresponding human utility value. I am excited about the opportunity to bring such unique Cannabis solutions to the Canadian market by building a local production facility in Canada. To that end, we have started the engagement for finding an adequate facility and/or acquiring an existing LP who has the appropriate licenses."

BioHarvest is asking those LP's who are interested in a collaborative agreement regarding this announcement to send requests to partnership@bioharvest.com.

All interested media and investors are invited to attend an 'Introduction to BioHarvest' webinar on January 26, at 11 am PST. The event will include a live Question and Answer session. Please register here: https://app.livestorm.co/st-financial/introduction-to-bioharvest?type=detailed

About BioHarvest Sciences Inc.

BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) is a fast-growing Biotech firm listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. BioHarvest has developed a patented bio-cell growth platform technology capable of growing the active and beneficial ingredients in fruit and plants, at industrial scale, without the need to grow the plant itself. This technology is economical, ensures consistency, and avoids the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional agriculture. BioHarvest is currently focused on nutraceuticals and the medicinal cannabis markets. Visit: www.bioharvest.com.

BioHarvest Sciences Inc.

Ilan Sobel, Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Dave Ryan, VP Investor Relations & Director

Phone: 1 (604) 622-1186

Email: dave@bioharvest.com

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

YouTube

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release might include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. There is no assurance that we will achieve our objective of making our products available in multiple markets including bio-space and exposing our technology to different verticals. There is no assurance that the ability to produce a commercial sized biomass will result in the Company entering into commercial production of Cannabis. Clinical trials are subject to risks of significant cost overruns and lengthy delays with no assurance they will confirm desired results. Even where desired results are obtained government approvals for treatments take considerable time and cannot be guaranteed. There is no assurance that we will achieve our objective of being a leading supplier of Cannabis. Delays and cost overruns may result in delays achieving our objectives obtaining market acceptance and regulatory approvals for geographic expansion is subject to risk and cannot be guaranteed. Projected sales of Cannabis will require the company to obtain production and / or export licensing which cannot be assured. There is no assurance that the Company will be successful in acquiring a licensed facility in Canada. Health Canada approvals are required for transfers of production licenses which may take considerable time and cannot be assured. There is also no assurance that Health Canada will accept the Company's unique bioreactor production method. Production requirements in Canada are strict and require adherence to many requirements regarding safety, security and production methods and standards. Although the company is confident that its production methods will meet or exceed all standards there can be no assurance that Heath Canada will accept the Company data within a reasonable time or at all.

All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and actual results may be affected by a number of material factors beyond our control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BHSC does not intend to update forward-looking statement disclosures other than through our regular management discussion and analysis disclosures.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accept 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/110952
Nord Anglia school commended for developing children's creativity and entrepreneurial skills

LONDON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nord Anglia International School Dubai was awarded with this year's 'Innovation and Creativity in Learning Award' at the prestigious 2022 International School Awards.

Nord Anglia's Dubai school was recognised by an independent judging panel of 12 international education experts for its "bespoke curriculum that allows students to approach real-world problems in a fun and supported learning environment, whilst developing innovative, entrepreneurial and enterprise skills."

Matthew Farthing, Principal at Nord Anglia International School Dubai, said: "Very well done to all the winning and finalist schools celebrating this year and I'm proud of how these awards profile the importance of innovation and creativity in learning. Congratulations go out to all our NAS Dubai teachers who help students develop these key skills and embed them in our curriculum planning. This is part of the difference that is a Nord Anglia education."



Creativity is a cornerstone of Nord Anglia's education strategy, where teachers inspire children to develop lateral thinking and find innovative ways to approach challenges. Creativity is also fostered through incomparable learning experiences in and out of school, including the performing arts, STEAM, social outreach programmes, and global expeditions. Read more about these outstanding experiences here.

Hosted by ISC Research, the International School Awards recognise outstanding initiatives delivered in international schools around the world across various award categories.

Nord Anglia Education also celebrated having four other schools shortlisted as finalists this year, chosen out of almost 250 total nominations:

Nord Anglia International School Shanghai Pudong - Community Building Award

British International School of Houston - Teaching and Learning Award

- Teaching and Learning Award British International School Abu Dhabi - Safeguarding Award

- Safeguarding Award British International School Bratislava - Community Wellbeing Award

For enquiries:

David Bates

Communications Manager

david.bates@nordanglia.com

+44 7787 135223

About Nord Anglia Education

As the world's leading premium international schools organisation, we're shaping a generation of creative and resilient global citizens who graduate from our schools with everything they need for success, whatever they choose to be or do in life.

Our strong academic foundations combine world-class teaching and curricula with cutting-edge technology and facilities, creating learning experiences like no other. Inside and outside of the classroom, we inspire our students to achieve more than they ever thought possible.



No two children learn the same way, which is why our 76 schools in 31 countries around the world personalise learning to what works best for every student. Inspired by our high-quality teachers, our students achieve outstanding academic results and go on to study at the world's top universities.

To learn more or apply for a place for your child, go to nordangliaeducation.com.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1503193/Nord_Anglia_Education_Logo.jpg
The system delivered by French energy giant TotalEnergies will power Kulara Water's bottling facility in Siem Reap Province.Cambodian natural mineral water producer Kulara Water has commissioned France's TotalEnergies to design, install and operate a solar array coupled with on-site energy storage for its bottling facility in Siem Reap Province. The system combines a 650kWp ground-mounted solar array and an 896kWh battery. With the installation completed early this month, TotalEnergies will remain in partnership with Kulara Water for the next 15 years to ensure the safe operation of the system. ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global dentures market size is expected to reach USD 2.3 billion by 2028, based on a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2021 to 2028. The advancements in dental prosthetics and rising demand for dentures by the geriatric population are expected to drive the market growth over the forecast period.

Key Insights & Findings from the report:

Based on type, the complete dentures segment dominated the market with a revenue share of around 73.0% in 2020. The conventional complete dentures replicate gum tissues and are preferred by the geriatric population with no teeth. In addition, the adoption of CAD/CAM techniques has facilitated accuracy in the designing and manufacturing of complete dentures

Based on usage, the removable dentures segment held a majority of the market share in terms of revenue in 2020 as they are a popular and conventionally preferred prosthetic option. They cost less as compared to fixed dentures and are less invasive

Based on end-use, the dental clinics and hospitals segment held a majority of the market in terms of revenue share in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% over the forecast period from 2021 to 2028. This is owing to the availability of specialist dentists, cost-effective services, and technologically advanced infrastructure

In 2020, North America dominated the market in terms of revenue share pertaining to the advanced healthcare infrastructure, widespread independent dental clinics, and growing disposable incomes.

In Asia Pacific , the market is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 10.4% over the forecast period due to the increasing awareness about oral care, growth in the number of independent dental practices, and rising dental tourism in the region

Read 80 page market research report, "Dentures Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Complete, Partial), By Usage (Removable, Fixed), By End-Use (Dental Clinics & Hospitals), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028", by Grand View Research

According to FDI World Dental Federation, dental diseases affect over 3.9 billion people across the world, with untreated tooth decay affecting over 40% of the world's population. According to the U.S. CDC, around 25% of adults have one or more untreated dental problems.

In emerging economies such as India and China, tooth loss, dental caries, periodontal diseases, xerostomia, and potentially malignant disorders are more frequently observed in elderly people with poor oral hygiene. According to World Dental Federation, globally, about 30% of people aged 65 to 74 years have no natural tooth, and this burden is expected to increase with the aging of the population. The growing incidence of oral diseases in the older age group is likely to drive demand for dentures in the coming years.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the dental care industry in the initial phase. Due to the imposed social distancing guidelines, the dental practices were not allowed to operate. The dentists were only allowed emergency cases. According to the ADA, the non-emergency dental procedures were needed to be postponed. However, the market has been recovering at a steady speed.

Market Segmentation:

Grand View Research has segmented the global dentures market based on type, usage, end-use, and region:

Dentures Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Complete



Partial

Dentures Usage Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Removable



Fixed

Dentures End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Dental Clinics & Hospitals



Others

Dentures Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



U.K.





Germany





France





Italy





Spain



Asia Pacific



Japan





China





India



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa

List of Key Players of Dentures Market

DENTSPLY SIRONA Inc.

COLTENE Holding AG

IvoclarVivadent AG

Modern Dental Group Ltd.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.

Thommen Medical AG

GC dental

Amann Girrbach AG

Check out more studies related to dental and oral care, published by Grand View Research:

Dental Services Market - The global dental services market size was valued at USD 302.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028. The diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of dental disorders are covered under dental services that are provided by dentists and dental professionals.

- The global dental services market size was valued at in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028. The diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of dental disorders are covered under dental services that are provided by dentists and dental professionals. Dental Lasers Market - The global dental lasers market size was valued at USD 931.8 million in 2018 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% by 2026. The rising number of dental disorders among a large population coupled with increasing awareness regarding oral hygiene are majorly driving the growth.

- The global dental lasers market size was valued at in 2018 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.5% by 2026. The rising number of dental disorders among a large population coupled with increasing awareness regarding oral hygiene are majorly driving the growth. Oral Care Market - The global oral care market size was valued at USD 31.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9% from 2021 to 2028. The rising prevalence of dental caries both among children and adults is expected to drive the market.

Browse Through Grand View Research's coverage of the Global Medical Devices Industry.

Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Evolution Petroleum (NYSE American:EPM) ("Evolution" or the "Company") announced today the closing of an acquisition of oil-weighted, non-operated oil and natural gas assets in the Williston Basin (the "Transaction"). The Company acquired 50% of certain interests held by privately-owned Foundation Energy Management ("Foundation") in North Dakota in Billings, Golden Valley, and McKenzie counties. The purchase price at closing was $25.9 million, net of preliminary purchase price adjustments. The Transaction had an effective date of June 1, 2021 and closed on January 14, 2022.

Transaction Highlights

Addition of approximately 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent ("MMBOE") (80% oil, 9% natural gas liquids) of long-life producing reserves in a premier U.S. oil-producing basin, using January 14, 2022 strip pricing;

Includes an average working interest of approximately 39% in 73 producing wells along with approximately 47,500 net acres (85% held by production) with associated interest in over 400 gross potential drilling opportunities;

Incremental cash flow is expected to further support the Company's quarterly dividend;

Increased Evolution's net daily production by approximately 10% or 596barrels of oil equivalent per day ("BOEPD"), based on the three months ended September 30, 2021;

Acquisition funded from cash on hand and borrowings under the Company's existing senior credit facility;

Requires minimal incremental overhead for the Company; and

Establishes a strategic operational relationship with Foundation in which Evolution may propose and fund drilling locations within the asset footprint.

Management Comments

Jason Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to announce this strategic transaction with Foundation, an organization that shares a similar primary goal of generating steady, long-term cash flow for its investors. The Transaction provides Evolution with immediate incremental free cash flow that will be used to further support our current dividend policy. The Transaction also provides direct collaboration and involvement with our operating partner, Foundation, regarding the pace of asset development, including the ability to propose and execute targeted drilling and completion of potential drilling opportunities. This represents a significant increase in potential undeveloped reserves that we anticipate will be supportive of our dividend for many years to come."

Brown continued, "With a purchase price based on oil prices much lower than current levels, this acquisition complements our low decline, long-life portfolio and provides a presence in the prolific Williston Basin. We expect to quickly integrate the Transaction with a minimal increase in overhead, similar to our purchase of interests in the Barnett Shale in 2021. We look forward to executing on additional targeted acquisition opportunities that provide immediate benefit to our shareholders and support our long-term strategy of driving increased and sustainable long term dividend payouts."

Asset Details

The acquired assets consist of 50% of Foundation's interest, an approximately 39% working interest net to Evolution, in 73 producing wells in the Williston Basin in Billings, Golden Valley, and McKenzie counties, North Dakota, which was acquired by Foundation from a private seller in October 2021. The acquisition also included approximately 47,500 net acres with associated 400 potential drilling opportunities. The acquired assets consist of producing reserves of approximately 2.0 million barrels ("MMBls") of liquids and 1,600 million cubic feet of natural gas ("MMcf"), using January 14, 2022 strip pricing. The commodity mix of the assets is 80% oil, 11% natural gas, and 9% natural gas liquids.

Evolution anticipates a number of the infill upside locations will be designated proved undeveloped ("PUD") during the Company's year-end reserves evaluation, as limited by the SEC's five-year PUD rule. Evolution expects the acquired drilling locations, of which more than 40 are already permitted and located on existing pads with infrastructure, will be funded out of future cash flow to support production and the Company's dividend. A limited drilling program is not expected to begin until 2023.

Foundation, an established operator in the geographic region, will be the operator of the assets. As part of the Purchase and Sale Agreement, Evolution and Foundation have entered into a Joint Development Understanding whereby a working relationship has been established to develop the asset area prudently and in both owners' financial interest. As part of the agreement, Evolution has the ability to both propose and execute drilling locations within the asset footprint.

Transaction Consideration and Capital Available

Evolution funded the transaction from cash on hand and borrowings from the Company's senior credit facility with MidFirst Bank. Effective November 9, 2021, the Company's borrowing base was increased to $50 million, with an elected commitment amount of $40 million. As of December 31, 2021 and prior to the transaction, the Company had approximately $13 million in cash on hand and had $4million drawn under the credit facility. The Company estimates that net debt after giving effect to the Transaction will be well below the Company's targeted maximum of one times pro forma Adjusted EBITDA*. The credit facility agreement requires the Company to enter into hedges covering 25% of oil and natural gas production on a rolling twelve-month basis. In order to retain upside with commodity prices, the Company expects to utilize primarily costless collars.

*Adjusted EBITDA is Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization and is a non-GAAP financial measure. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) plus interest expense, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation, depletion and amortization (DD&A), stock-based compensation, other amortization and accretion, ceiling test impairment and other impairments, unrealized loss (gain) on change in fair value of derivatives, and other non-cash expense (income) items.

About Evolution Petroleum

Evolution Petroleum Corporation is an oil and natural gas company focused on delivering a sustainable dividend yield to its shareholders through the ownership, management, and development of producing oil and natural gas properties onshore in the United States. The Company's long-term goal is to build a diversified portfolio of oil and natural gas assets primarily through acquisition, while seeking opportunities to maintain and increase production through selective development, production enhancement, and other exploitation efforts on its properties. Our assets include our non-operated interests in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, a CO2 enhanced oil recovery project in Louisiana's Delhi field, a secondary recovery project in Wyoming's Hamilton Dome field, and our interest in newly acquired properties in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. Additional information, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, is available on its website at http://www.evolutionpetroleum.com.

Cautionary Statement

All forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding current expectations, potential results and future plans and objectives of the Company involve a wide range of risks and uncertainties. Statements herein using words such as "believe," "expect," "plans," "outlook," "should," "will," and words of similar meaning are forward-looking statements. Although our expectations are based on business, engineering, geological, financial, and operating assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and we can give no assurance that our goals will be achieved. These factors and others are detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our periodic documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Company Contacts

Jason Brown, President & CEO

Ryan Stash, SVP & CFO

(713) 935-0122

JBrown@evolutionpetroleum.com

RStash@evolutionpetroleum.com

SOURCE: Evolution Petroleum Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684723/Evolution-Petroleum-Announces-Acquisition-of-Non-Operated-Assets-in-the-Williston-Basin
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bearing Lithium Corp. ("Bearing" or the "Company") (TSX Venture:BRZ) (OTCQB:BLILF) the Company is pleased to release the results of its updated Definitive Feasibility Study for the Stage One Maricunga Lithium Brine project. The Maricunga project is managed by Minera Salar Blanco (MSB), which is owned by Lithium Power InternationaI Limited ("LPI") (51.55%), Borda Group in Chile (31.31%) and Bearing Lithium Corp. ("BRZ") (17.14%).

Maricunga Stage One DFS delivers US$1.4B NPV (after tax) at an 8% discount rate





An IRR of 39.6% and a 2-year payback period





OPEX of US$3,718 per tonne of LCE produced





Annual EBITDA of US$324M





Direct development cost US$419M, Indirect cost US$145M and Contingency US$62M for a total project CAPEX of US$626M





15,200 tonnes of LCE per annum over 20 years

Highlights

The updated Maricunga Stage One Lithium Brine project's Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) supports 15,200 tonnes per annum production of lithium carbonate (LCE) for 20 years.





Project NPV1 (leveraged basis) of US$1.425B (after tax) at 8% discount rate, providing an IRR of 39.6% and a 2-year payback. Estimated steady-state annual EBITDA of US$324M.

1 Assumes a 50% leverage. On a "100% Equity Basis", the NPV (after tax) is US$1.412B, providing an IRR of 29.3 % and a 2 years and 8 months Payback.

Project operating cost places Maricunga among the most efficient producers with an OPEX of US$3,718 per tonne not including credit from potassium chloride (KCl) by-product. KCI production was not considered in the DFS.





Project direct development cost estimated at US$419M, indirect costs at US$145M and contingency costs at US$62M to provide a total project CAPEX of US$626M.





Exceptional ESG profile aims to achieve carbon neutrality once operation beds down, setting new standards for social relationships. Certification process led by Deloitte will continue during upcoming years as the project advances.





Project infrastructure including water rights have been secured by long term contracts during project construction and operation. Access to the National Power Grid has been granted, ensuring future power supply including an important component of renewable energy.





Revised DFS completed by Tier-1 engineering consultancy Worley to international standards, with cost inputs from EPC contractors to provide greater certainty on cost estimates. The Resource and Reserve estimates were prepared by Atacama Water.





Preliminary indications of interest received from international and Chilean financial institutions and private funds for debt financing and future equity financing of the project. Finance process will continue in coming months.





Updating of the EPC proposals will commence during Q1. Final Investment Decision expected for 2022, with construction to start immediately after.

Bearing Lithium Corp (TSXV: BRZ) ("BRZ" or the "Company") through its Joint Venture ("JV") Company, Minera Salar Blanco S.A. ("MSB"), is pleased to provide details of the updated Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for its Maricunga Stage One lithium brine project in northern Chile. The study confirms that Maricunga Stage One could be one of the world's lowest-cost producers of lithium carbonate, with a solid ESG strategy to support a sustainable future.

NPV Discount Rate

Leveraged (50%) Pure Equity Pre-Tax After-Tax Pre-Tax After-Tax US$M US$M US$M US$M NPV 8% 1,984 1,425 1,971 1,412 IRR 44.5 39.6 33.4 29.3 Project Payback (Years) 2 2 2.8 2.8

Summary of key economic parameters of the Stage One project

Access to the full DFS report prepared by Worley, is available on the Bearing Lithium website https://www.bearinglithium.com/ (https://www.bearinglithium.com/) and www.SEDAR.com (http://www.SEDAR.com)

Minera Salar Blanco's Chief Executive Officer, Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro, commented:

"We are extremely pleased with the results of the updated DFS for the Maricunga Stage One lithium brine project. The strong economics, as well as the exceptional sustainability profile, confirms the high standard and attractiveness of the project.

The priority for 2022 is to finalise project finance for the Stage One project. We are actively working with both international and Chilean financial institutions on different structures for debt financing, as well as with potential strategic partners for equity investments. Update of the EPC proposals will soon commence, with the expectation of a Final Investment Decision (FID) by the end of the year. Construction should start immediately after the FID.

We are continuing to work on the development of a subsequent Stage Two at Maricunga, considering the current significant forecast growth in lithium demand and Stage One being in its final phase of pre-production. This will also benefit from the maturation of new production technologies in the lithium industry, realising the significant value of all our assets."

The following information is drawn from the executive summary of the DFS of the Maricunga "Stage One Project". More detail is provided in that NI 43-101 report on the DFS for the project by consultants Worley and Atacama Water

Maricunga Stage One Project - Terms of Reference

The Stage One Project (herein the "Project") is owned and operated by Minera Salar Blanco S.A. ("Minera Salar Blanco or MSB"). MSB is in turn owned by Lithium Power International (ASX:LPI) 51.55%; Minera Salar Blanco SpA (previously BBL) 31.31%; and Bearing Lithium Corp. (TSXV: BRZ) 17.14%. The associated report prepared by Worley and Atacama Water for MSB is to provide a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") of its "Stage One Project" located in Salar de Maricunga in the Atacama Region of northern Chile. The report provides an independent updated Mineral Reserve estimate and a technical appraisal of the economic viability of the production of an average of 15,200 t/a of battery grade lithium carbonate over a 20-year mine-life from the lithium contained on the 'Old Code' mining concessions (OCC) owned by MSB, based on additional exploration work carried out to 400 m depth during 2021. The OCC are constituted under the 1932 Chilean Mining Code and do not require a special license from the Chilean Government (Contrato Especial de Operacion del Litio - CEOL) for the production and sale of lithium products. Resource estimates are for lithium and potassium contained in brine. The DFS report was prepared under the guidelines of NI 43-101 and in conformity with its standards.

All items related to geology, hydrogeology, mineral resources and reserves were prepared by Atacama Water. Peter Ehren was responsible for preparing all technical items related to brine chemistry and mineral processing. Capital and Operating expenditures mentioned in the associated NI 43-101 report were estimated by Worley, relying on quotations requested from equipment, chemicals and other suppliers, as well as from its project data base. Worley relied extensively on Minera Salar Blanco and its consultants, as cited in the text of the study and the references, for information on future prices of lithium carbonate, legislation and tax in Chile, as well as for general project data and information. The report was reviewed by Mr. Marek Dworzanowski, CEng., BSc (Hons), HonFSAIMM, FIMMM of Worley, Mr. Peter Ehren, MSc, MAusIMM and Mr. Frits Reidel, CPG. Mr. Marek Dworzanowski, Mr. Peter Ehren and Mr. Frits Reidel are "qualified persons" (QP) and are independent of MSB as such terms are defined by NI 43-101.

Bearing Lithium Corporation's Chairman, Gil Playford commented:

"Today's announcement of the Maricunga Stage One 15,200 tonnes pa production Definitive Feasibility Study is a major step forward for the Bearing Lithium shareholders. Achieving this important milestone facilitates the financing required for the commencement of construction and paves the way for further development of Stage Two for longer term growth at Maricunga."

About Bearing Lithium Corp.

Bearing Lithium Corp (BRZ) is a pure-play lithium company focused on the development of Chile's next high-grade lithium mine. The Maricunga JV, in which LPI holds a 17% interest, is the highest quality pre-production lithium brine project in South America and has one of the world's highest-grade lithium resources at 1,167 mg/l lithium and 8,500 mg/l potassium. The September 2021 NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the deposit totals 2.9 Mt LCE now all classified as Measured and Indicated. Over $US 67 million has been invested in the Maricunga Project to date.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Gil Playford"

Gil Playford, Chairman

gplayford@bearinglithium.com (mailto:gplayford@bearinglithium.com)

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of the Company, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Qualified person Frederik Reidel

I, Frederik Reidel, CPG, as author of this report entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report: Definitive Feasibility Study Update Minera Salar Blanco Lithium Project Stage One, Atacama Region Chile", prepared for Minera Salar Blanco S.A., dated January 07, 2022 do hereby certify that:

I am employed as Principal Hydrogeologist and General Manager by Atacama Water-Chile, residing at Badajoz 45, OF 1701, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile. I am a graduate of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Geophysics, 1986 I am registered a Certified Professional Geologist (#11454) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists I have worked as hydrogeologist for more than 30 years since my graduation. My relevant experience for the purpose of the Technical Report is: Qualified Person for the Sal de los Angeles Project, Salta Argentina for LiX Energy Corp (2016 - to date).

Qualified Person and Member of the technical committees of Li3 Energy Ltd and Minera Salar Blanco for the development of the Maricunga Lithium Project in Chile (2011 - to date).

Co-author of the NI 43-101 Technical Report on the lithium and potash resources in Salar de Maricunga for Li3 Energy Ltd (2012).

Evaluation of lithium and potash resources in Salar de Olaroz for Orocobre Ltd. in support of the project's DFS and NI 43-101 Technical Report (2010-2011).

Evaluation of lithium and potash resources in Salar de Cauchari for Lithium Americas Corporation; NI 43-101 Technical Report preparation; member of the company's Technical Advisory Panel (20092010).

Evaluation of brine resources in Salar de Hombre Muerto for FMC (1992-1993)

Consulting hydrogeologist in the evaluation and development of groundwater resources for international mining companies in North- and South America (1989-2012). I have read the definition of "qualified person" set out in National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) and certify that by reason of my education, affiliation with a professional association (as defined in NI 43-101) and past relevant work experience, I fulfil the requirements to be a "qualified person" for the purposes of NI 43-101. I have visited the Salar de Maricunga and the Project area numerous times between August 2011 and to date. I was present on site on a regular basis during the 2011 - 2021 drilling and testing programs. I have been involved as a QP with the property since 2011. I am responsible for the overall preparation of this report. I am independent of the Issuer applying the test set out in Section 1.4 of NI 43-101. I have read NI 43-101, and the Technical Report has been prepared in compliance with NI 43-101 and Form 43-101F1. To the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, the Technical Report contains all scientific and technical information that is required to be disclosed to make the technical report not misleading.

Dated this 7th of January of 2022.

Frederik Reidel, CP
MONROVIA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 29 people have been confirmed dead in a stampede during an open-air church service in Liberia's Kru Town, a suburb of the capital Monrovia, said police on Thursday.

The incident occurred late Wednesday when a "gang of thugs" carrying knives attacked hundreds of participants at the religious activity at a beach area, Moses Carter, national police spokesman, told reporters at a press briefing in Monrovia.

Carter said 11 children and a pregnant woman were among the victims that have been so far confirmed dead, expressing fear that there might be more dead casualties among the injured.

One suspect has so far been arrested, the police spokesman said.

While according to reports by local media, at least 30 people were killed in the deadly stampede.

In a statement by the Executive Mansion on Thursday, Liberian President George Weah said he was "extremely disheartened by the reports of the heavy loss of lives" in the stampede.

According to the statement, full details of the incident were yet to emerge but the police have, however, been mandated by Weah to conduct a full-scale investigation to ascertain whether or not there is criminal culpability.

The Liberian leader also urged the police authorities to ensure the investigation is speedy and thorough, saying that anyone found liable will be dealt with by the law, the statement added. 
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / HIRE Technologies Inc. (TSXV:HIRE.V)(OTCQB:HIRRF) ("HIRE" or the "Company"), a company focused on modernizing and digitizing human resources solutions, in collaboration with its portfolio companies, released its inaugural Human Resources (HR) Industry Outlook for 2022, outlining eight key priorities HR leaders should implement to address the complex challenges talent management executives are facing.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the business world, and its influence will continue to impact companies well into the future," said Simon Dealy, CEO of HIRE. "Now is the moment to embrace change and be ahead of the human capital trends that will impact 2022. It's not just about compensation when it comes to attracting great talent; it's also about focusing on what employees want in this new employment landscape and investing in their development and retention. As we strive to provide value to all our stakeholders in 2022 and beyond, we at HIRE are well positioned for these trends."

HIRE's Top 5 Predictions for In-Demand Skill Sets for 2022:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Cloud Computing

Data Science

Software Engineering

Sales and Digital Marketing

Highlights:

1. Talent Shortage

Recruiting and keeping employees has become more difficult in a variety of sectors because of talent shortages. Companies and recruitment agencies will continue to face challenges in the war for talent as the market becomes increasingly competitive. HIRE continues to observe that companies are seeking the best candidate regardless of location, which in turn provides new opportunities to candidates. HIRE believes employers need to be more creative in their approach to employee recruitment and retention, concentrating not only on compensation but also health benefits, hybrid work arrangements, and enhanced employee engagement initiatives.

2. Hybrid Work Model

Working from home has gone from an accommodative perk to being standard practice for many businesses. As a result, measures of job satisfaction have evolved, with a far greater weight on work/life balance. Employers have learned that remote/hybrid strategies come with several efficiencies and cost savings; and they work just as well, if not better, remotely. Remote work is here to stay, as companies continue to create systems and processes that accommodate this new paradigm.

3. People Analytics

Prior to the pandemic, 85 percent of HR professionals cited people analytics as crucial to the future of recruitment (see LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends 2020 study). The present climate of increased employee turnover and scarcity of resources prioritizes this topic. People analytics refers to data-driven and goal-oriented methods for analyzing processes and roles, and their relationship with delivering long-term outcomes. Decision making is improved by using statistics and other data interpretation approaches to collect and evaluate the alignment of objectives and key results relative to employee performance. With these analytical tools, companies may notice gains in several areas, including talent recruiting, employee retention, and performance; and they will better detect possible skill shortages.

4. Diversity and Inclusion

Employers are increasingly understanding the importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion; whether because of ESG commitments, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls-to-Action, or shareholder activism. Diversity and inclusion, especially at the senior management level, has been found to boost productivity, profitability, and stability. When evaluating career opportunities, employees are increasingly seeking an inclusive environment. Companies must assess their recruiting methods and seek support in attracting and retaining senior-level talent from diverse backgrounds.

5. Training and Development

Given the scarcity of resources and the fact that many organizations reduced their workforce during the pandemic, talent development and retention will be a major concern in 2022. With the continually changing competitive environment, employee skills and capability development is a critical component of any corporate strategy. HIRE recognizes that, although training and development are not new concepts, recruiting and keeping a more diverse and geographically dispersed workforce presents new challenges. Modern metric-based performance and productivity monitoring tools, as well as an emphasis on long-term rewards, may aid in employee retention while also identifying and nurturing future company leaders.

6. Employee Wellness

There have been numerous advances in the workplace when it comes to addressing mental health, and businesses are taking on new obligations in terms of employee care. The initial enthusiasm surrounding work-from-home has, in some cases, led to employee burn-out. HIRE believes employees want to work for employers who truly care for their wellbeing, so companies must evolve wellness programs if they wish to attract and retain high quality talent.

7. Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Continued advancements in AI are expected to push the limits of what is feasible during recruitment. Further adoption of AI has the potential to promote higher efficiency across the recruiting process and allow better alignment between applicant career goals and employer resource requirements. For recruiters, automating key administrative duties may save time spent on repeated work and help ensure the recruiting and onboarding procedures for all job prospects and new employees are consistent.

8. Business Growth in Specific Categories

HIRE believes job opportunities in the healthcare and information technology sectors are expected to grow in 2022. The demand for qualified healthcare employees continues to rise. Information technology has long been a high-growth industry, so given the shift to a hybrid workforce and growing dependence on remote infrastructure, this trend is projected to continue.

About HIRE Technologies Inc.

HIRE is investing in and shaping the future of human resource management with a technology-first focus, by consolidating and modernizing the staffing marketplace. The Company owns and operates staffing firms as well as platform technology that it uses to help those firms become more technologically advanced. The Company is a disciplined capital allocator due to its technology DNA and extensive experience in building and growing staffing companies of all types. HIRE has a large recurring revenue base and helps clients manage change in the workplace in order to achieve success. For more information, visit hire.company.

Contacts

Simon Dealy

Chief Executive Officer

(647) 264-9196

sdealy@hire.company

Caroline Sawamoto

Investor Relations

(647) 556-4498

investors@hire.company

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE: HIRE Technologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684676/HIRE-Technologies-Provides-2022-Human-Resources-Industry-Outlook
Brings Three Decades of Industry Advisory and Operational Experience

Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, today announced that Dr. Julian Feneley has joined the firm's London office as Managing Director, Healthcare Life Sciences (HCLS). Dr. Feneley brings close to 30 years of healthcare and life sciences industry experience to Harris Williams, and will lead HCLS's European efforts, building on the firm's expertise across the group's key verticals, including pharma services, medical devices, and numerous healthcare provider segments.

"We are excited to welcome Julian to Harris Williams as we continue to expand our global platform," said Bob Baltimore and John Neuner, co-heads of M&A at Harris Williams. "As a seasoned and trusted advisor and proven industry executive, Julian brings an extensive understanding of the healthcare landscape and universe of sponsors and corporates globally that is critical to navigating an increasingly active and dynamic sector. Moreover, Julian values our firm's culture of collaboration and integrity, and we look forward to his many contributions as we further strengthen our ability to meet increasing client demand across Europe."

"Harris Williams has an outstanding reputation of unlocking value for its clients, and I'm delighted to join its insightful and dedicated team at this exciting time in the firm's growth," said Dr. Feneley. "I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues as the firm continues to build its global presence."

Cheairs Porter and Geoff Smith, co-heads of Harris Williams' Healthcare Life Sciences Group, added, "The sustained, robust expansion of healthcare and life sciences globally demands the deep industry relationships, expertise, and execution capabilities that Julian brings to our growing European business. We believe our unrivalled sector knowledge and unwavering commitment to client service uniquely positions us to guide our corporate and financial sponsor clients as they seek to capitalize on attractive opportunities around the world."

Dr. Feneley was most recently Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Europe at Macquarie Capital (investment banking division of Macquarie Group). Previous experience includes serving as Head of Healthcare Investment Banking Europe at Canaccord Genuity Inc. after leading healthcare investment banking in Europe at JP Morgan. He also served as CEO of BriteSmile Inc, a leading US dental technology company that served more than 7,000 dental practice clients worldwide. Dr. Feneley earned MBBS (medical) and B.Sc (science) degrees from the University of London (Guy's Hospital).

Harris Williams' HCLS Group is dedicated to understanding the complex industry dynamics and providing superior merger and acquisition advisory services to companies that operate within it. The HCLS Group has deep experience across a broad range of sectors, including healthcare providers, payors and payor services, outsourced pharmaceutical services, medical device supply chain, healthcare IT, and pharmacy.

For more information on Harris Williams' HCLS Group, please visit: https://www.harriswilliams.com/industries/healthcare-and-life-sciences.

About Harris Williams

Harris Williams, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advocates for sellers and buyers of companies worldwide through critical milestones and provides thoughtful advice during the lives of their businesses. By collaborating as one firm across Industry Groups and geographies, the firm helps its clients achieve outcomes that support their objectives and strategically create value. Harris Williams is committed to execution excellence and to building enduring, valued relationships that are based on mutual trust. Harris Williams is a subsidiary of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC).

Harris Williams LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Harris Williams Co. Ltd is a private limited company incorporated under English law with its registered office at 8th Floor, 20 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB, UK, registered with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (registration number 07078852). Harris Williams Co. Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Harris Williams Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH is registered in the commercial register of the local court of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under HRB 107540. The registered address is Bockenheimer Landstrasse 33-35, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (email address: hwgermany@harriswilliams.com). Geschaftsfuhrer/Directors: Jeffery H. Perkins, Paul Poggi. (VAT No. DE321666994). Harris Williams is a trade name under which Harris Williams LLC, Harris Williams Co. Ltd and Harris Williams Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH conduct business.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005320/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Julia Moore

media@harriswilliams.com

Nathaniel Garnick/Mark Semer/Kevin FitzGerald

Gasthalter Co.

(212) 257-4170

HarrisWilliams@gasthalter.com
Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX:CS) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an 18-month access agreement to conduct drill and metallurgical test work at BHP Copper Inc.'s ("BHP") Copper Cities project ("Copper Cities") located 10 km east of the Pinto Valley Mine ("Pinto Valley").

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005417/en/

Figure 1 Pinto Valley District Map, Pinto Valley and Carlota are the only producing mines in the District (Photo: Business Wire)

Darren Pylot, Capstone's CEO commented, "I am excited that we have started test work on a property neighbouring our flagship Pinto Valley operation." Mr. Pylot added, "Historic drill data from over 300 holes suggest a shallow copper target and a potentially low strip ratio pointing to a significant development opportunity."

Brad Mercer, Capstone's SVP Strategic Projects and Exploration said, "We believe Copper Cities is geologically a mirror image of Pinto Valley with the same host rocks and age. Our plan currently underway calls for a $6.7 million two phase drill program aimed at twinning historical drill holes and to select a portion of these for metallurgical testing. Discussions between Capstone and BHP are at an early stage."

About Copper Cities Project

Copper Cities was developed in the 1950s as a part of America's national effort to increase copper production to support the war effort in Korea. The operations included open pit mining, concentrating and leaching of copper ores. The mining and milling concluded in 1978 while leaching continued until 1982 when the site closed. Over the mine life according to USGS records, a total of 68.7 million tonnes of ore was milled at an estimated feed grade of approximately 0.66% with production of 895 million pounds of copper including 75 million pounds of copper cathode.

ABOUT CAPSTONE MINING CORP.

On November 30, 2021, Capstone Mining and Mantos Copper announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine pursuant to a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). Upon completion of the Transaction, the new Company would be renamed Capstone Copper Corp. (Capstone Copper).

Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our two producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US and the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. In addition, Capstone owns 100% of Santo Domingo, a large scale, fully permitted, copper-iron-gold project in Region III, Chile, as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CS.

Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This document may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation.

Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events and the impacts of the ongoing and evolving COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, the timing and success of our use of the Jetti Technology, the expected timing of a purchase agreement and 43-101 report for Copper Cities, the anticipated low strip ratio, the development potential of Copper Cities including the expected geological make-up, the timing and success of exploration under the Copper Cities Access Agreement, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production and capital expenditures and reclamation, the success of our mining operations, the success of mineral exploration, the estimations for potential quantities and grade of inferred resources and exploration targets, Capstone's ability to fund future exploration activities, Capstone's ability to finance the Santo Domingo project, Capstone's ability to find a strategic partner, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses and title disputes. The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations are unknown at this time, including Capstone's ability to manage challenges and restrictions arising from COVID-19 in the communities in which Capstone operates and our ability to continue to safely operate and to safely return our business to normal operations. The impact of COVID-19 to Capstone is dependent on a number of factors outside of our control and knowledge, including the effectiveness of the measures taken by public health and governmental authorities to combat the spread of the disease, global economic uncertainties and outlook due to the disease, and the evolving restrictions relating to mining activities and to travel in certain jurisdictions in which we operate.

In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipates", "approximately", "believes", "budget", "estimates", expects", "forecasts", "guidance", intends", "plans", "scheduled", "target", or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "be achieved", "could", "may", "might", "occur", "should", "will be taken" or "would" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "anticipated", "expected", "guidance" and "plan". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations and closure of mining projects, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital, Capstone's ability to acquire properties for growth, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, market access restrictions or tariffs, changes in general economic conditions, availability of water, accuracy of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licenses and permits from governmental authorities and potential legal challenges to permit applications, contractual risks including but not limited to, our ability to meet the completion test requirements under the Cozamin Silver Stream Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals, our ability to meet certain closing conditions under the Santo Domingo Gold Stream Agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals, acting as Indemnitor for Minto Exploration Ltd.'s surety bond obligations post divestiture, impact of climate change and changes to climatic conditions at our Pinto Valley and Cozamin operations and Santo Domingo project, changes in regulatory requirements and policy related to climate change and greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and impacts on employee productivity, the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of Capstone relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Santo Domingo project, increased operating and capital costs, increased cost of reclamation, challenges to title to our mineral properties, increased taxes in jurisdictions the Company operates or is subject to tax, changes in tax regimes we are subject to and any changes in law or interpretation of law may be difficult to react to in an efficient manner, maintaining ongoing social license to operate, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry including but not limited to competition for skilled labour, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions and new technology into our operations, cybersecurity threats, legal proceedings, the volatility of the price of the Common Shares, the uncertainty of maintaining a liquid trading market for the Common Shares, risks related to dilution to existing shareholders if stock options or other convertible securities are exercised, the history of Capstone with respect to not paying dividends and anticipation of not paying dividends in the foreseeable future, and sales of Common Shares by existing shareholders can reduce trading prices, and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and MD&A of those statements and Annual Information Form, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

CAUTIONARY NOTE TO UNITED STATES INVESTORS REGARDING PRESENTATION OF MINERAL RESERVE AND MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATES

As a British Columbia corporation and a "reporting issuer" under Canadian securities laws, we are required to provide disclosure regarding our mineral properties in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. In accordance with NI 43-101, we use the terms mineral reserves and resources as they are defined in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards on mineral reserves and resources (the "CIM Definition Standards") adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. In particular, the terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve", "probable mineral reserve", "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" used in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, are Canadian mining terms defined in accordance with CIM Definition Standards. These definitions differ from the definitions in the disclosure requirements promulgated by the SEC. Accordingly, information contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies reporting pursuant to SEC disclosure requirements.

United States investors are also cautioned that while the SEC will now recognize "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources", investors should not assume that any part or all of the mineralization in these categories will ever be converted into a higher category of mineral resources or into mineral reserves. Mineralization described using these terms has a greater amount of uncertainty as to their existence and feasibility than mineralization that has been characterized as reserves. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to assume that any "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", or "inferred mineral resources" that we report are or will be economically or legally mineable. Further, "inferred resources" have a greater amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. Therefore, United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of the inferred resources exist. In accordance with Canadian rules, estimates of "inferred mineral resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances where permitted under NI 43-101.

NATIONAL INSTRUMENT 43-101 COMPLIANCE

Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, Annual Information Form and news releases (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by or under the supervision of a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents.

Disclosure Documents include the National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical reports titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Cozamin Mine, Zacatecas, Mexico" effective October 23, 2020, "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Pinto Valley Mine, Arizona, USA" effective March 31, 2021 and "Santo Domingo Project, Region III, Chile, NI 43-101 Technical Report" effective February 19, 2020.

The disclosure of Scientific and Technical Information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Brad Mercer, P. Geol., SVP Strategic Projects and Exploration (technical information related to mineral exploration activities and to Mineral Resources at Cozamin), Clay Craig, P.Eng, Manager, Mining Evaluations (technical information related to Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources at Pinto Valley), Tucker Jensen, Superintendent Mine Operations, P.Eng (technical information related to Mineral Reserves at Cozamin) and Albert Garcia III, PE, Vice President, Projects (technical information related to project updates at Santo Domingo) all Qualified Persons under NI 43-101.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005417/en/

Contacts:

Jerrold Annett, SVP, Strategy and Capital Markets

647-273-7351

jannett@capstonemining.com

Kettina Cordero, Director, Investor Relations and Communications

604-262-9794

kcordero@capstonemining.com


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - International Game Technology PLC (IGT) announced Thursday that on January 14, 2022 its board of directors implemented a number of changes to the Company's executive team and board.



IGT said Lorenzo Pellicioli will retire as chairperson of the IGT Board of Directors and will remain a non-executive director. Marco Sala, currently CEO of IGT, will become executive chair of the board. Meanwhile, Vincent Sadusky will become CEO and executive director of the board. These changes will be effective January 24, 2022.



In a separate release today, B&D Holding S.p.A., the controlling shareholder of De Agostini S.p.A., announced that Marco Sala will be proposed at the June 2022 meeting of the corporate bodies of De Agostini as the next CEO of De Agostini, succeeding Lorenzo Pellicioli, who is retiring from the position.



The board of directors also appointed Maria Pinelli and Ashley Hunter as non-executive directors of the board. Hunter was also appointed to the Company's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Pinelli was appointed chair of the Company's Audit Committee, replacing Vincent Sadusky. These changes were effective January 14, 2022.







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Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - Beauce Gold Fields (TSXV: BGF) (Champs D'Or en Beauce) ("BGF"): is pleased to announce preliminary gravimetric results of glacial till sampling from sand and gravel pits on the Chesham & Ditton sections of the Company's Megantic placer to hard rock exploration property located in southern Quebec. All ten Ditton samples contained coarse gold grains. The sampling was to further investigate gold in till anomalies along the southern section of the Bella Fault. (see BGF press releases November 9, 2021).

Patrick Levasseur, President and CEO of Beauce Gold Fields said, "Recovering gold out of every point sampled from an operating quarry is just outstanding." Mr. Levasseur added: "The delicate angular shapes of the gold recovered from both localities suggests little transportation and a proximal source making these high priority targets to explore for lode gold deposits."





Image 1: Gold samples from Ditton quarry sand pit

To view an enhanced version of Image 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6198/110872_2dc4429da4d939d6_001full.jpg

Ditton Sector

All 10 till samples taken from an operating gravel pit located near the town of La Patrie in Ditton Township returned coarse gold grains as well as one nugget. The quarry occupies approximately an area of 0.5 hectares. A series of 10 sand and gravel samples were taken along the walls and floor of the pit. The sand and gravel deposit trends SW to NE is approximately 600m wide by 2km long with an estimated thickness that varies from 2m to more than 13m. (BGF press release November 9, 20211)

Sample Gold Size Sample Gold Size SB-01 DL0 L=522.477um SB-10 DL2 L=82.968um SB-02-B DL0 L=75.307um SB-14 DL0 L=201.198um SB-04-A DL0 L=437.842um SB-16 DL0 L=4mm SB-04-A DL1 L=67.618um SB-18-A DL0 L=293.840um SB-04-A Dl2 L=99.510um SB-18-B DL0 L=227.951um SB-06-B DL1 L=88.263um SB-18-B DL1 L=174.722um SB-08-A DL0 L=106.618um SB-18-B DL2 L=131.496um SB-10-DL0 L=109.482um SB-18-B DL3 L=97.588um SB-10-DL1 L=110.344um

Sample SB16 showed the presence of a very coarse gold grain that measured more than 4mm.

In 1985, Cache Explorations undertook a series of overburden drill holes in the vicinity of the Ditton and Mining Brook areas. A churn drill hole (Hole 85-7 GM42843) 400m west of the quarry returned important gold values. Hole 85-7 intercepted a gold zone at 11.4m to 20.2m deep. A sample taken at 11.85 to 12.38m showed up to 65 fine gold grains (-1mg).

Chesham Sector

3 of the 29 sand and gravel samples of glaciofluvial material collected returned gold particles. The samples were collected from a sand pit quarry, which was active in the 1980s. The sand & gravel deposit covers an area of more than 6 hectares. It is located approximately 100m west of Chesham Creek and to the south of Mont-Megantic. BGF returned to this area to further explore around the site where a fine sand sample taken in 2020 returned more than 10 g / t Au (BGF press releases of April 23, 2021 and November 9, 2021)

Sample Gold Size MC-01 DL0 74.717um MC-11 DL0 32.779um MC-28-DL0 82.252um MC-51 (Fuchsite) 254.423um

Microscopic observations at 90x magnification of three gold particles showed delicate angular shapes suggesting little transportation and a proximal source. Of interest, a Fuchsite mineral crystal was also observed. The mineral fuchsite is often associated with orogenic gold mineralization.

Sampling was undertaken using a medium-sized excavator (approximately 30 tons). The thickness of the deposit varies between 1m to more than 8 meters deep. The maximum extension of the excavator's boom could not exceed 7m in depth therefore in some places, it could measure more than 8m. The sedimentary sequence of the entire deposit consists mainly of medium to fine sand from the top down to gravel at its base. The 2021 excavations at times reached, after having crossed the layers of sand-gravel, beds of clay, bedrock or a water table that would fill the trenches. In October 2021, a stratigraphic cut of approximately 2.0m in height was sampled down an escarpment of the quarry. It intersected the section where the 10g/ton Au #798541 2020 sample was collected.

All 39 samples were collected in 50 lbs buckets and sent to ExploLab in Val D'Or Quebec for gravimetric methods of gold separation and analysis. The samples were concentrated by spiral wheel and by Wilfley table. Coarse native gold grains were removed from the sample concentrate for microscopic observations and measurements. The table concentrates sent to a lab for analysis.

Jean Bernard, B,Sc. Geo., is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 who supervised the sampling program and has reviewed and approved the technical information presented in this release.

About the Megantic Property

The Megantic property extends southwest to the USA border of New Hampshire and to the northeast to Lac Megantic. The property extends for at least 30 km along the axis of the Bella Fault line which is the median point between the Compton Sedimentary Rock and the Frontenac Volcanic bedrock formations. The area is mostly covered with an important bed of Tertiary sedimentary weathering and of Quaternary glacial till overburden. The property is divided into four sectors of past placer gold mines & of historical gold showings: the Ditton, the Mining Brook, the Chesham and Bergeron rivers. As a result of past gold Patent rights, exploration in this area of Quebec has been sparse thereby providing exciting new opportunities for important lode gold discoveries.

About Beauce Gold Fields

Beauce Gold Fields is a gold exploration company focused on placer to hard rock exploration in the Beauce region of Southern Quebec. The Company's flagship property is the St-Simon-les-Mines Gold project site of Canada's first gold rush that pre-dates the Yukon Klondike. The Beauce region hosted some of the largest historical placer gold mines in Eastern North America that were active from 1860s to the 1960s It produced some of the largest gold nuggets in Canadian mining history (50oz to 71oz). The intent of Beauce Gold Fields is to trace the placer gold workings back to the bedrock source and uncover economic bedrock gold mineralization.

Comprising 152 contiguous claims and 7 real estate lots, the project area contains a six-kilometer long placer gold channel consisting of unconsolidated gold-bearing auriferous units of a lower saprolite and an upper brown diamictite.

The Company has identified a major Fault Line in bedrock that coincides with geophysical findings of an interpreted fault structure across the property, referred to herein as the AMT Shear. Evidence suggests the erosion of the AMT Fault or related splay fractures as a probable source of the historical placer gold channel, and has conducted bedrock sampling and geophysics outside the expression of the placer gold channel. This is the target of the current drill program.

Beauce Gold Fields website www.beaucegold.com

Disclaimers:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation and assumptions, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding mineral exploration. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's on-going filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

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.

For further information contact

Patrick Levasseur, President and CEO Tel: (514) 262-9239

Bernard J. Tourillon, Chairman and COO Tel (514) 907-1011

www.beaucegold.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110872
LONDON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Huma has bought iPLATO Healthcare, whose patient engagement software covers a network of 26.6m patients across nearly 3,000 NHS primary care organisations and whose myGP app is one of the most downloaded medical apps in the UK. The two companies will continue to operate independently but will combine their expertise to enable more proactive, predictive and personalised care for patients in a joined-up service across primary and secondary care.

Huma's technology has almost doubled clinical capacity through virtual wards1 and helped clinicians spot and reprioritise nearly 10% of their cardiac surgery patients on waiting lists who were deteriorating2. However, remote patient monitoring is still not used widely in primary care. Huma, whose technology is used across the UK, Europe, US, Asia and the Middle East to power 'hospitals at home' and decentralised clinical trials, is planning to change that.

Dan Vahdat, CEO & Founder of Huma, said: "We are part of the movement using remote patient monitoring and digital biomarkers to transform healthcare. We've already shown how we can help clinicians care for more people whilst offering greater reassurance and oversight from monitoring even when patients are away from the clinic. But there is still so much more we can do. We want to introduce digital screening and our peer-reviewed cardiovascular and depression risk scores to give patients even more insight into their own health. Adding these capabilities to iPLATO's patient engagement expertise gives us a fantastic opportunity to make a significant difference in primary care and help more patients to live longer, fuller lives."

iPLATO has over 10 years of experience in primary care engagement and has a strong user base. Almost 2.4m people in England use the myGP app to manage their health - reducing unnecessary appointments, administrative tasks, and pressure on primary care; including medication reminders, tracking of vital signs and ordering of prescriptions. iPLATO has also been instrumental in increasing uptake of NHS services, including IAPT services, cancer screenings and health checks, resulting in up to 65% higher uptake of services communicated through the myGP platform.3

Tobias Alpsten, CEO of iPLATO Healthcare, said: "We are excited to offer leading remote patient monitoring capability from Huma to our primary care partners. We recently launched patient questionnaires on the myGP platform to enable patient data to be coded directly into the patients' medical records. Combining tools like this with digital biomarkers can help create a world where we can tackle the biggest killers of our time - cancer, heart disease and now, Covid-19. We see a time when data collection highlights people at high risk, so those individuals can be offered personalised screening, treatment, advice, support and continual follow-up remotely - even alerting clinicians when patients need to be seen in-person. Bringing our patient questionnaires together with Huma's remote patient monitoring capability means that this future is not too far away."

References:

nhsx.nhs.uk/covid-19-response/technology-nhs/huma-medopad-evaluation-remote-digital-care-platform/ The full report is available on request. Obika, BD et al. (2021) Implementation of a mHealth solution to remotely monitor patients on a cardiac surgical waiting list: service evaluation JAMIA Open 4(3) doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooab053 https://www.iplato.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Case-Study-NHS-Health-Checks.pdf

About Huma

Huma Therapeutics Limited is a global digital health technology company that exists to help people live longer, fuller lives. Our modular platform supports digital 'hospital at home' for a range of use cases across different disease areas and in life sciences we power some of the world's largest decentralized clinical trials and studies. We are developing digital biomarkers, predictive algorithms and real-world data from continuous patient monitoring to advance proactive, predictive care.

Our 'hospitals at home' help care for patients across the England NHS, Wales, Germany, and the UAE - evidence shows our technology can help almost double clinical capacity, reduce readmission rates by a third, and reduce costs whilst providing safe, high-quality care.

As part of our work to help countries hit by Covid-19, we offer digital services, not-for-profit, to national governments and have shipped over a million devices that complement our 'hospitals at home' to help power them. We are using the same technology platform to support decentralized clinical trials. www.huma.com



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Based in Madrid with the support of the Government of Spain, Mastercard will help drive a global sustainable and inclusive recovery for tourism

The Tourism Innovation Hub will carry out research, leverage data insights and co-design technology solutions for the sector, utilizing Mastercard tools and network

Being located in Spain leverages the expertise of a country intrinsically linked to tourism and the second most visited destination in the world

Mastercard announced today the establishment of a new Tourism Innovation Hub in Spain, with the support of the Spanish Government. The Hub, based in Madrid and which will open in the second quarter of 2022, will develop solutions to support a sustainable and inclusive recovery for the global tourism sector through innovation, research and collaboration across the ecosystem. The initiative was ratified today, at the FITUR International Tourism Fair, between Reyes Maroto, Spain's Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, and Mark Barnett, President of Mastercard Europe.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005584/en/

From left to right: Mark Barnett, President of Mastercard Europe and Reyes Maroto, Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism. (Photo: Business Wire)

In 2019, travel and tourism represented 10.4% of global GDP but nearly halved to 5.5% in 2020 similarly international visitors spent US$1,691.5 billion in 2019 and the amount dropped to US$517.6 billion in 20201. And according to its latest forecast, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that international tourist arrivals remained 70 to 75 percent below 2019 levels last year2. The impact also goes beyond GDP figures, with the industry playing a vital role in generating jobs and creating opportunities for micro and small businesses around the world.

But despite the clear challenges, Mastercard data shows that there are opportunities for a robust recovery in the relatively near future. Many consumers are looking at how to spend their share of the extra US$5 trillion saved since the onset of COVID-193, and travel ranks second only to eating out as the out-of-home activity most missed during lockdowns4. There has been a clear willingness to travel that has been determined by pandemic-related restrictions.

"There has been a multi-trillion dollar impact on the global tourism industry over the past couple of years, but Mastercard is committed to enabling innovation and ensuring that technology is harnessed for a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable recovery," said Mark Barnett, President of Mastercard Europe. "The Tourism Innovation Hub will foster programs and build partnerships which will help the industry recover and drive more inclusive and sustainable tourism growth. Being located in Spain will allow us to leverage the expertise of a country intrinsically linked to tourism and the second most visited destination in the world."

According to the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto: "The Spanish Government believes that now is the time for us to work together to build the future of our post-pandemic tourism model. We are going to stop measuring the success of the Spanish tourism model exclusively by the increase in the number of tourists we must now go beyond this and focus on quality, profitability, innovation and sustainability, as well as social inclusion and territorial cohesion. There is no time to lose in taking up this challenge. And we all need to work together the institutions and the private sector strengthening our alliances and bringing other partners on board so that the Spanish tourism sector maintains its international leadership."

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili added: "Tourism's future will be driven by new ideas, new business methods and through joined-up solutions to overcome challenges and fulfil our sector's enormous potential. UNWTO warmly welcomed the creation of a new Tourism Innovation Hub and looks forward to working closely with Mastercard to harness the power of data and creativity to build a more inclusive and sustainable sector."

The Tourism Innovation Hub will act as a global platform for industry research, tourism strategy development and the co-creation of tailored products and solutions, through partnerships and initiatives such as:

Thought Leadership: leveraging data insights and capturing target consumer insights to identify trends and inform policy decision-making.

leveraging data insights and capturing target consumer insights to identify trends and inform policy decision-making. Development Center : co-creating new products and services, codifying best practices and serving as a platform to bring together public and private sector partners to innovate together.

: co-creating new products and services, codifying best practices and serving as a platform to bring together public and private sector partners to innovate together. Labs As A Service: designing, developing and testing new products and platforms that deliver digital first, sustainable and inclusive solutions for the industry, which address common business and consumer priorities.

Supporting the Global Tourism Industry

Mastercard's trusted network and leading technology stands at the heart of the global tourism industry:

Facilitating payments so tourists can spend safely, securely and easily when they travel abroad

Enabling digital payments acceptance for small businesses to allow them to benefit from the tourism economy

Working with travel agents, airlines, hospitality providers and many others across the ecosystem

Building loyalty through engagement programs and Priceless Experiences, giving tourists tailored access to the best and most exciting opportunities when they explore or return to preferred destinations

Partnering with tourism agencies to supporting businesses in the tourism industry and encouraging inbound tourism through digital vouchers and incentive schemes

Providing data insights to governments and tourism agencies to identify trends and inform strategies, including through the Mastercard Economics Institute Insights Reports, as well as executing inbound tourism campaigns.

Sustainable tourism will be a key focus, and there will be close collaboration between the Tourism Innovation Hub and Mastercard's Sustainability Innovation Lab, to help empower governments, businesses and consumers to transform how they adapt and create new sustainable tourism innovations in destination, travel, accommodation, experience, rewards and incentives and other services.

Alongside this, Mastercard is working with the UNWTO, headquartered in Madrid, across a range of initiatives. For example, last year the company supported the UNWTO SDGs Global Startup Competition, providing mentorship to innovative small businesses that are enabling sustainable and responsible tourism around the world.

In Spain, Mastercard has a well-established track record of supporting the tourism industry, as part of the broader work with governments and cities around the world adapt their tourism strategies. In 2020, Mastercard's data intelligence tools helped the City Councils of Madrid and Barcelona identify how the flow of tourists were being impacted, helping them draw a roadmap to recover post-pandemic tourism. Additionally, in May last year, together with Turespana, Mastercard announced the first Security Perception Index, which measures the level of confidence shown by visitors in Spain's health-measures.

The Tourism Innovation Hub becomes part of Mastercard's network of global centers of excellence around the world, including the Intelligence and Cyber Centre in Canada, the Fintech-Cyber Innovation Lab in Israel, the Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion in Kenya, and the Sustainability Innovation Lab in Sweden, as well as Tech Hubs in Dublin and New York City.

About Mastercard

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. www.mastercard.com

1 "Travel Tourism Economic Impact 2021." World Travel Tourism Council, June 2021.

2 "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer." UNWTO, November 2021

3 "Recovery Insights: Ready for Takeoff?" Mastercard Economics Institute, June 2021.

4 "Recovery Insights: The Shift to Digital." Mastercard Economics Institute, June 2020.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005584/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Jim Issokson

Europe Communications

james.issokson@mastercard.com

Ana Diaz Sacristan

Spain Communications

ana.diazsacristan@mastercard.com


MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - U.S. President Joe Biden said he thinks Putin does not want any full-blown war on Ukraine, but that 'he will move in'. He was responding to a question during a White House news conference on Wednesday



If his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin tests the West, the United States and NATO significantly, he will pay 'a serious and dear price for it,' Biden said.



The United Sates will impose sanctions on Russia that it has never seen before if Russian troops move in, he added.



'But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine, and that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy,' Biden told reporters.



'There'll be severe economic consequences. For example, if they invade, they're going to pay; their banks will not be able to deal in dollars'.



Biden addressed the media after a virtual meeting with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss Russia's military build-up on Ukraine's borders. The group included senators who returned Tuesday from a Congressional delegation to Ukraine. They met with Ukrainian leadership and affirmed the United States' longstanding bipartisan support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.



Putin has sought guarantees from the West on a number of demands, including that Ukraine will never be part of NATO, there will not be strategic weapons stationed in Ukraine, and that the US-led defensive alliance abandons military activity in Eastern Europe.



Washington has already shipped more than $600 million worth of sophisticated equipment, defensive equipment to the Ukrainians.



Biden admitted that militarily, Russia has 'overwhelming superiority, as it relates to Ukraine.'



Russia has deployed around 100,000 troops near the border with its western neighbor. However, Kremlin denies reports that it is planning a cross-border attack.



US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier in the day he thought Russia could invade Ukraine at any moment.



In a statement issued later, the White House stressed that President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: 'If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies'.



'President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response,' Press Secretary Jen Psaki added.







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BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 7:30 am ET Thursday, the European Central Bank releases the account of the monetary policy meeting of the Governing Council held on December 15 and 16. Ahead of the release, the euro traded mixed against its major rivals. While it recovered against the pound, it fell against the rest of major rivals. The euro was worth 129.56 against the yen, 1.1334 against the greenback, 0.8331 against the pound and 1.0381 against the franc as of 7:25 am ET. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Surge Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Surge") (TSXV:NILI)(OTC PINK:NILIF)(FRA:DJ5C) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Letter of Intent dated January 11, 2022 (the "Agreement") to earn an undivided 80% interest in 16 Lithium Mining Claims comprised of 640 acres and located within Nevada's San Emidio Desert (the "Transaction"). These lithium exploration claims, referred to as the "Galt Claim Group", adjoin the Company's existing San Emidio Desert lithium claims. If this interest is successfully acquired by the Company, it will significantly add to Surge's lithium assets in the area.

This Agreement is subject to a standstill clause and an additional due diligence period by both parties ending January 31, 2022 followed by the signing of a Definitive Agreement by February 28, 2022, to be approved by the Vendors (Paul Lechler and John Vandesand) and the Company's Board of Directors.

Terms of the Transaction:

The proposed consideration for the undivided 80% interest in the Galt Claim Group is as follows:

CAD$20,000 to be paid upon the closing of the Transaction; 1,000,000 restricted Company Shares to be issued upon the closing of the Transaction, which shares shall vest and be released as follows: 25% released on the closing of the Transaction, 25% released each three-month period thereafter; 4,000,000 warrants with at an exercise price of CAD$0.30 per Share with a five-year term and vesting on the same schedule as the shares in b) above; and CAD$10,000 each year on the anniversary of the closing of the Transaction for five years.

The Transaction will be subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. All securities issued in connection with the Transaction are subject to a four month and a day hold period in accordance with Canadian Securities Laws.

Past Mineral Exploration Activity on the Galt Claim Group

Recent mineral exploration on the Galt Claim Group includes 51 playa sediment samples collected for chemical analysis at ALS Geochemistry in Vancouver, B.C. Results of aqua regia leaching of the samples show 68 - 852 ppm Lithium (mean 365 ppm), 5.3 - 201 ppm Cesium (mean 72 ppm), and 35 - 377 ppm Rubidium (mean 180 ppm). Results from two 7-foot-deep auger holes show Lithium, Cesium, and Rubidium concentrations in the range of 143.5 - 773 ppm Li, 56.8 - 102.5 ppm Cs, and 155 - 272 Rb.

Mr. Greg Reimer, Surge President & CEO, comments "The San Emidio Desert holds great lithium exploration potential due to the geothermal activity in the region. It is the Company's intention to determine the lithium brine and lithium clay potential for all its properties within the San Emidio Desert. Adding the Galt Claim Group to our holdings in the area will significantly add to our overall lithium assets, and we look forward to the conclusion of the review of these lithium claims by our accomplished geological team and Mr. Alan Morris, acting as QP. Alan is an experienced lithium exploration geologist, and is designing a program to explore the set of lithium claims for Surge's shareholders."

The San Emidio Desert Region and Summary of Prior Work Completed

Mr. Alan Morris, CPG states "The geologic setting combined with the presence of lithium in both active geothermal fluids and surface salts within the San Emidio Property match characteristics of lithium brine and clay deposits at Clayton Valley, Nevada and in South America. There has been considerable geological, geophysical, and geochemical work done on the eastern margin of the playa here for geothermal energy, however only preliminary work has been done further to the west on the playa proper to fully evaluate the lithium-in-brine, and/or lithium clay potential of the area."

Prior to staking the property in 2011, the vendor of the northern block of the San Emido property, Lithium Corporation, had performed preliminary geological, geochemical, studies on the area. The original geochemical work was comprised of both lithium and lithium associated pathfinder elements in brine and sediment samples. These early campaigns illustrated that lithium mineralization is present in sediments locally often in concentrations of up to several hundred parts per million (ppm), which is in line with that seen in the vicinity of Albemarle's currently producing Clayton Valley lithium brine mine, and Lithium Corporation's Fish Lake Valley lithium-in-brine prospect. Although only limited near surface brine sampling was done at this time, several anomalous lithium samples were recovered. The strongest mineralized sample being in the order of 80 milligrams per litre (mg/L) lithium. These anomalous samples appeared to be aligned in a NW/SE orientation possibly indicating that there may be some structural (fault) control. All were proximal to the loosely defined paleobasinal basement low, as is the case in Clayton Valley. In order to map the basement in greater detail a moderate resolution gravity geophysical survey was then undertaken to better define and understand subsurface geological conditions.

The gravity survey was successful in outlining the basinal low and shed some light on the location, and orientation of some of the bounding faults that have given rise to the subsurface basinal feature. Armed with this information, an application for a permit was made to allow probing of a number of additional shallow targets. The initial probing program was commenced in early February 2012, keying in on an interpreted linear feature (fault) that might be roughly coincident with the gravel road that travels NW-SE from Empire Farms to the US Geothermal plant. The information from this program led to a realignment of the claim block in mid-2012 with a focus on the northern claim blocks.

Qualified Person: The technical contents of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Alan Morris CPG, Elko, Nevada

About Surge Battery Metals Inc. surgebatterymetals.com

The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company active in the exploration for nickel-iron alloy and Copper in British Columbia and lithium in Nevada whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Nevada Lithium Claims

The Company owns a 100% interest in 95 mineral claims located in Elko County, Nevada. The Northern Nevada Lithium Project is located in the Granite Range about 34 line- km southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 line-km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a Thacker Pass or Clayton Valley type lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Jarbidge Rhyolite package. The project area was first identified in public domain stream sediment geochemical data with follow up sediment sampling and geologic reconnaissance.

The Company has entered into a Property Option Agreement to earn an undivided 80% interest in the San Emidio Desert Lithium Project, subject to a 2% NSR, located 60 miles Northeast of Reno, Nevada from Lithium Corporation (LTUM). The San Emidio Desert Lithium Project consists of 60 mineral claims comprising a total of 4,800 acres and is located in the San Emidio Desert.

Nickel Projects, Northern BC

The Company has entered into a Property Option Agreement to earn an undivided 80% interest in certain mineral claims from Nickel Rock Resources Inc.

The Surge Nickel Project consists of two non-contiguous mineral claims groups consisting of 6 mineral claims in the Mount Sidney Williams area (HN4) covering 1863 hectares immediately south of and adjacent to the Decar Project and the Mitchell Range area (N100) covering 8659 hectares, located in Northern British Columbia. Three of the claims are subject to 2% NSR, including the (HN4 claim and the two southernmost claims of the N100 claims).

The exploration stage project is in the Trembleur Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s Decar Nickel Project, which is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit.

Caledonia Project, Vancouver Island, BC

The Company has entered into a Property Option Agreement to acquire a 100% interest in 7 mineral claims including the Caledonia, Cascade and Bluebell claims, subject to a NSR between 1-2%. Located in the Nanaimo Mining Division on northern Vancouver Island. The claims are 7 km north-west of BHP's past producing Island Copper mine. During its prime operating period the Island Copper mine was Canada's third-largest copper producer. The Caledonia Project claims area lies within a 50-kilometer-long copper belt northwest of the Island Copper mine.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Greg Reimer"

Greg Reimer, President & CEO

604-428-5690

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guaranteeing future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Surge Battery Metals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684712/Surge-Battery-Metals-Signs-A-Letter-of-Intent-on-16-Lithium-Mining-Claims-in-the-Nevada-San-Emidio-Desert
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland resolutely opposes any form of official contact between the United States and Taiwan, a mainland spokesperson said on Thursday.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press conference that no trick or pretext will ever change the fact that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of China.

Using the "transit" excuse, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority sought a chance to engage in official contact with the United States, Zhu said.

It is an old trick of the DPP's "Taiwan independence" manipulations and an attempt to solicit U.S. support, Zhu added.

Zhu also noted that those who support "Taiwan independence" will only cause further damage to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and those who play with fire will only get burnt. 
CAROL STREAM, IL / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / FIELD + FARMER (a Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. (CSE:FRSH)(FRA:Q4Z) ("The Fresh Factory") company), is excited to announce the launch of its produce-forward refrigerated snack bars. The clean-label, low-sugar, plant-based bars mark a move by FIELD + FARMER to expand its offerings beyond its popular dressings, dips, and juices.

"We are excited to launch our delicious refrigerated snack bars in Whole Foods under the FIELD + FARMER brand. This launch allows FIELD + FARMER to add value to the category through a produce-first bar and bring its promise of fresh, delectable flavors into a fast-growing refrigerated snack-bar category. The USD $95M1 refrigerated snack-bar category is expected to grow as consumers continue to express a preference toward natural and fresh food," said Isabella Chia, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the FIELD + FARMER brand.

FIELD + FARMER Refrigerated Snack Bar - produce in a bar

Clean, delicious bars using fresh fruit or vegetables as the first ingredient

5 flavors that taste like your favorite sweet treat: Apple Cinnamon, Cocoa Brownie, Carrot Cake, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Peanut Butter Cookie

6g of plant-based protein

No preservatives, no vegetable powders, no chemicals

Non-GMO Project verified, gluten-free

The refrigerated bars are now available in participating Whole Foods Markets in the United States. The launch of the FIELD + FARMER bars completes the integration of Phyter Bars, which was acquired late last year by The Fresh Factory.

"We entered the refrigerated 'better for you' snack bar market last year with the acquisition of Phyter Bars and see a significant opportunity for The Fresh Factory to grow in this category," said Bill Besenhofer, CEO and co-founder of The Fresh Factory. "With our flexible manufacturing facility and expertise in clean-label, plant-based food and beverage products, we believe we are well positioned with these expanded capabilities. In addition to FIELD + FARMER's bar launch, we've launched other bar products with a number of our existing customers since the acquisition. We are now routinely doing multiples of the volume each month compared to before the acquisition, which validates the strength of our model."

The Fresh Factory's capabilities include:

In-house innovation team specializing in fresh clean-label, plant-based formulation, allowing The Fresh Factory to launch products in months, not years.

Direct relationships with farmers across the United States and a robust network of packaging and ingredient vendors providing a high-quality, transparent supply chain.

A manufacturing facility that is SQF Level III certified and a leader in food safety. The facility was built to be flexible and to accommodate variable minimum runs.

Sales and marketing capabilities to guide and scale brands as they go to market with new products.

About The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.

The Fresh Factory has built a vertically integrated platform from the farm to the shelf. Their focus is on the future of food-fresh ingredients, clean-labels, and plant-based products. The Fresh Factory owns or partners with brands of all sizes to develop, manufacture, and sell products made from fresh produce and recognizable ingredients. It operates from its centrally located manufacturing facility near Chicago, serving customers across the United States. As a public-benefits corporation, The Fresh Factory is ESG-focused, driven to make a lighter, greener impact on the environment and a stronger, positive impact on local communities and the food supply system as a whole. Learn more about The Fresh Factory at www.thefreshfactory.co and find The Fresh Factory on social media at: Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. To receive news and updates about The Fresh Factory, sign up for the newsletter at www.thefreshfactory.co.

About FIELD + FARMER

Founded in 2017, FIELD + FARMER (wholly owned by The Fresh Factory) partners with small farms to deliver plant-based dressings, dips, bars, and juices made with fresh, clean ingredients. Their mission is to re-create crave-worthy mainstream flavors with real ingredients and no junk (no chemicals, no preservatives)-what they call big flavor from small farms. Not only do they source from farmers they know and trust, they routinely donate to organizations that support small farmers. Learn more about FIELD + FARMER at www.fieldandfarmer.co or follow them on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter.

Contacts

Bill Besenhofer

CEO and Co-Founder

1-877-495-1638

info@thefreshfactory.co

Alyssa Barry

Media and Investor Relations

1-877-495-1638

healthyinvestors@thefreshfactory.co

1 Source: Nielsen Total USxAOC, L52W ending May 21, 2021

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. ("Company") expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including statements about Company's new product offerings, its ability to execute on its goals, the timing pertaining to these goals and receipt of applicable consents and approvals, and Company's business prospects, future trends, plans and strategies. In some cases, forward looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "intends", "proposes", "anticipates", "targeted", "continues", "forecasts", "designed", "goal", "anticipate" or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry can be found in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated November 10, 2021, and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684616/FIELD-FARMER-a-Fresh-Factory-Company-Launches-Refrigerated-Snack-Bars
Nikolay Dmitriev appointed Regional Executive Officer for Central Region; Christian Graber assumes new role as Commercial Lines Regional Executive Officer - Central

ZURICH, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb today announced the appointment of Nathalie Meyer as Country President for Switzerland.

In this role, Nathalie will be responsible for Chubb's property and casualty, accident and health, and consumer lines operations across Switzerland.

Previously the country's Middle Market, SME and Industry Practices Segment Leader, Nathalie replaces Dawn Miller, outgoing Regional Executive Officer [REO] for Central Region and Country President for Switzerland, who is leaving the business. Nathalie joined Chubb in 2008 and has held a variety of senior roles in Switzerland, including Financial Lines Manager. Nathalie will begin transitioning into her new role from 1 February and will work with Dawn to ensure a smooth handover. Subject to regulatory approval, Nathalie will assume full responsibilities as Country President in due course.

In a related move, Nikolay Dmitriev is appointed Regional Executive Officer for Chubb's Central Region of CEMENA, which covers Switzerland; Turkey; Bahrain; United Arab Emirates; Egypt; Pakistan; Tunisia and Chubb's joint venture in Saudi Arabia.

In this role, Nikolay will be responsible for executing the underwriting and sales strategies of Chubb's business units, staff management, production, profit and loss, and distribution management in the Central Region, which is one of the insurer's five CEMENA regions. In addition to his REO duties, Nikolay will continue in his current role as Country President for Russia and will remain based there for the time being.

In a further regional change, Christian Graber is promoted to Commercial Lines Regional Executive Officer - Central. Christian joined Chubb in 2003 and was most recently in charge of Commercial Lines for Switzerland.

The appointments of Nikolay and Christian are also effective 1 February.

Nikolay Dmitriev will report to Sara Mitchell, Division President Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa. Nathalie and Christian will report to Nikolay.

Sara Mitchell said: "Switzerland is a hugely important part of our business both strategically and also from a market perspective and I am delighted that we have been able to appoint Nathalie as our new Country President. She is well-known and highly respected within and outside of Chubb for her expertise and insights which will help her bring a dynamic approach to better serve our broker partners and customers.

"Nikolay and Christian are seasoned professionals with a demonstrable track record of success in their previous roles which makes them perfectly placed to take on their new leadership positions in our Central Region, which is a very diverse market covering eight countries with many different languages and cultures. All three promotions are testament to the talent and experience we have across the Chubb business. I look forward to working with them as we focus on continued growth in both Switzerland and across the wider Central Region."

About Chubb



Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/324916/Chubb_Logo.jpg
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Cannabis Global, Inc. (OTC PINK:CBGL), an innovation-oriented company investing in disruptive cannabis technologies, today releases its latest update for investors and information on soon to be released new cannabis products.

Earlier this week, the Company filed its latest report for the fiscal period ended November 30, 2021. Revenues for the period totaled $569,562, which were up significantly from the year-ago quarter of November 30, 2021, which produced just $4,530. The increase in revenues was attributable to the introduction of new products, including cannabis flower, prerolls, and edibles, and significantly increased distribution revenues. Cannabis Global reported total assets at the end of the November quarter of $11.5 million compared to assets of $3.2 million at the end of the year-ago quarter.

The Company is experiencing continued firm orders from its major customers even as industry-wide cannabis sales growth within the regulated market is constrained. As a result, the Company expects revenue from the current quarter, which ends February 28, 2022, to grow from the levels reported during the November quarter.

"We are pleased with the revenue growth we reported during the November quarter and believe the growth trend is continuing into the current quarter," commented Arman Tabatabaei, CEO of Cannabis Global. "Cannabis industry-wide issues of regulation, taxes, and black-market competition are affecting our growth, but we have taken important steps to mitigate these issues to the greatest extent possible by directing our business opportunities into areas where competition is less intense and where we have competitive advantages. We expect to maintain our focus on unique cannabis edibles, strategic distribution for a few selected highly successful customers, and on products based on solventless extracts, which we are now making inhouse, thus reducing dependence on outside partners while allowing us to capture more gross margin dollars through vertical integration."

Cannabis Global has taken important steps to increase vertical integration of product inputs via the installation of an on-premises solventless extraction function that allows the Company to produce its own ice water hash, which Company personnel press into high-quality cannabis rosin extracts for use in the Company's products. This vertical integration has reduced the cost of rosin extracts by more than 70%. With recently upgraded equipment, Cannabis Global has established a goal to begin marketing excess solventless extracts to other manufacturers of cannabis vape cartridges, pre-rolls, and edibles.

Cannabis Global is expecting to further increase its sales of cannabis edibles during the February quarter via the launch of several new product lines. The first of which will be marketed under the Company's Northern Lights brand name, with the second to be produced for mass distribution throughout California for an established brand. These edibles will be based on the Company's "No Cannabis Taste" technology, which is produced via a unique formulation developed internally by the Company. Additionally, during the current quarter, the Company plans to begin distributing cannabis-infused beverages based on all-natural, cannabis resin and rosin infusions.

Mr. Tabatabaei continued, "Over the past two years, we have invested heavily in R&D, which we believe is now paying off in the release of several unique products. Considering the mature California market in which we compete, we believe it is vital to approach the markets with new and innovative products. We are especially excited about our "No Cannabis Taste" edibles technology, which will soon be coming to market. This is the first set of products we have seen on the marketplace that exhibits zero cannabis taste. Additionally, we plan to market our beverages based on all-natural cannabis emulsions technologies developed by our research partners. We believe these products will set the bar relative to taste, quality and the list of ingredients while enabling us to yield strong ongoing margins."

About Cannabis Global, Inc.

Cannabis Global, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based, fully audited and reporting Company with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, trading under the stock symbol CBGL. We are an emerging force in the cannabis marketplace with a growing product and proprietary intellectual property portfolio. We are marketing and producing Comply Bag, an innovative solution for cannabis storage, transport and tracking. Our subsidiary, Natural Plant Extract (NPE), is a Southern California licensed cannabis manufacturer and distributor which licenses our technologies to produce edibles for the cannabis marketplace. Cannabis Global has filed three non-provisional and multiple provisional patents for cannabis infusion and nanoparticle technologies and continues an active research & development program.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate," "seek," intend," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov.

Contact:

Arman Tabatabaei

IR@CannabisGlobalInc.com

+1 (310) 986-4929

IR Contact:

John Grosso

http://www.iconiconsulting.com/

+1 (424) 239-9521

SOURCE: Cannabis Global, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684728/Cannabis-Global-Provides-Investor-Update--Expects-Current-Revenue-Growth-Trends-to-Continue--Prepares-Launch-of-New-Cannabis-Edible-and-Beverage-Line
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - MAS Gold Corp. (TSXV: MAS) ("MAS Gold") and Comstock Metals Ltd. (TSXV: CSL) ("Comstock") are pleased to announce the commencement of a drill program on MAS Gold's Preview-North Property and Comstock's Preview SW Property in the La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan (Figure 1). The 8,000-meter (m) program was initiated on the North Lake Deposit and will also include drilling at both the Preview SW Deposit and the Point Deposit later in the program.

Drilling on the Preview SW Property is subject to a proposed agreement to which Comstock has agreed to sell 100% of its interest in its Preview SW gold deposit and property ("Preview SW Property") to MAS Gold in consideration of the issuance of 30,000,000 common shares in MAS Gold (see MAS Gold Corp news release dated January 17, 2022). The agreement was subject to a number of conditions, including the execution of a binding definitive agreement relating to the Proposed Transaction (complete) and Final TSX Venture Exchange acceptance and shareholder approval (pending).

Comstock has also been able to obtain the signed support agreements in favour of this sale transaction from its shareholders representing an aggregate of 69.2% of Comstock's outstanding shares.

Winter Drilling Program Summary

North Lake Deposit (MAS Gold)

The 4,500 meter (m) drill program at the North Lake deposit is designed to:

Follow up on promising near surface mineralization intersected in NL21-064 (850 m).

Extend mineralization to the Northeast with aggressive drill strategy (550 m).

Infill drilling with a 50 m x 25 m spacing targeting near surface gaps in the resource (2,400 m).

Twin up to four historic drill holes with robust QAQC protocols to upgrade the resource (700 m).

Preview SW Property (Comstock)

The drill program at the Preview SW Property is anticipated to complete 2,700 meters which will include expenditures from Comstock. The program is designed to:

Further define the resource at the Preview SW Deposit.

Extend mineralization at the North Zone.

Test historical mineralization at the C Zone.

Test mineralization at the A Zone.

Point Deposit (MAS Gold)

The 800 meter drill program at the Point Deposit is designed to:

Test three high-priority targets identified during 2019 drilling program.

Test high priority anomaly identified in the 2021 summer field program.

Extend mineralization to the south with strategically planned drill holes.





Figure 1: MAS Gold Corp. and Comstock Metals Ltd. claim holdings, La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7078/110781_67d9e7d684c3d84c_001full.jpg.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by David Tupper, P.Geo. (British Columbia), MAS Gold's VP Exploration and Darren Slugoski, P.Geo. (Saskatchewan and Ontario), of Axiom Exploration Group Ltd., and Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo.(British Columbia) Principal and Consultant of APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, AB, each a Qualified Person within the context of Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101; Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

About MAS Gold Corp.

MAS Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold exploration projects in the prospective La Ronge Gold Belt of Saskatchewan. MAS Gold operates four properties in the belt, including the Preview-North, Greywacke Lake, Elizabeth Lake and Henry Lake Properties that extend along segments totaling roughly 60 kilometres of the geologically prospective La Ronge, Kisseynew and Glennie Domains that make up the La Ronge Gold Belt.

MAS Gold's current projects include the North Lake, Greywacke North, Bakos (Contact Lake) and Point gold deposits and the historically defined Elizabeth Lake copper-gold volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposit within four properties totalling 34,703.4 hectares (85,753.8 acres).

The North Lake deposit located at the Preview-North Property is estimated to contain an Inferred Mineral Resource of 18,100,000 t grading 0.85 g/t Au, hence 494,000 contained ounces of gold (Godden, S, Thomas, D. Tupper, D. Technical Report on the Mineral Resource Updates, North Lake and Greywacke North Gold Projects, La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan, Canada.; effective date December 1, 2021)*. The Technical Report about the updated Mineral Resource estimate was filed on SEDAR January, 12, 2022.

The Greywacke North deposit, which hosts multiple known stratabound, high-grade gold-bearing zones, has an updated, combined open pit and underground Indicated Mineral Resource of 645,000 t averaging 4.90 g/t Au for 101,000 insitu ounces of gold (600,000 t at 4.89 g/t Au, and 45,000t at 5.03 g/t Au, respectively), plus a combined open pit and underground Inferred Mineral Resource of 410,000 t averaging 4.12 g/t Au for 55,000 insitu ounces of gold (35,000 t at 1.97 g/t Au, and 375,000 t at 4.33 g/t Au, respectively). The Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources were estimated using open pit and underground cut-off grades of 0.65 g/t Au and 1.75 g/t Au, respectively (Godden, S, Thomas, D. Tupper, D. Technical Report on the Mineral Resource Updates, North Lake and Greywacke North Gold Projects, La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan, Canada.; effective date December 1, 2021)*. The Technical Report about the updated Mineral Resource estimate was filed on SEDAR January 12, 2022.

About Comstock Metals Ltd.

Comstock Metals has been advancing the Preview SW Gold Project, a resource-stage gold project in the La Ronge district of Saskatchewan (see Figure 1). The Preview SW deposit hosts a historical Indicated Mineral Resource containing 158,300 ounces of gold (2.61 million tonnes grading 1.89 g/t Au) and a historical Inferred Mineral Resource containing 270,800 ounces of gold (5.70 million tonnes grading 1.48 g/t Au), both based on a 0.50 g/t Au cut-off grade (see Comstock news release dated December 14, 2021). During 2017 and 2018, Comstock completed diamond drilling campaigns targeting the Preview-North zone and the Preview SW deposit comprising 24 holes totaling 4,700 metres. Several additional, relatively untested targets remain on the Property, including the A, B, C, and Clearwater zones.

Comstock has filed on SEDAR the 43-101 Technical Report, Preview SW Gold Project, La Ronge, Saskatchewan, prepared for Comstock Metals Ltd. by Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo., Geosim Services Inc., Effective Date September 27, 2016.

MAS Gold Corp.

Jim Engdahl

President & CEO

For further information about MAS Gold please visit www.masgoldcorp.com or contact: Lubica Keighery, (778) 889-5476, lubica@masgoldcorp.com.

Comstock Metals Ltd.

Steven H. Goldman

President, CEO & Director

For further information about Comstock Metals please visit www.comstock-metals.com or contact Steve Goldman, (416)-917-1533, s.goldman@goldmanhine.com.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements:

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. MAS Gold cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond their respective control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to MAS Gold's limited operating history, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations, results of exploration programs on their projects and those risks and uncertainties identified in each of their annual and interim financial statements and management discussion and analysis. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, MAS Gold undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110781
MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Star8 Corp. (OTC PINK:STRH), a publicly traded technology and eCommerce holding company, is pleased to announce it has appointed Dr. Steven Siegel, Ph.D., as an additional Strategic Advisor to the company.

Dr. Siegel is the founder of BioTrackTHC, a comprehensive cannabis software and business solution that ensures all requirements are being met for compliant, seed-to-sale tracking and data reporting. BioTrackTHC is now a part of Forian Inc. Dr. Siegel has experience working in government, private sectors, and has a proven track record obtaining six statewide government business contracts.

"I'd like to offer a warm welcome to Steven as he joins our company," said Mario Diez, Chief Executive Officer of Star8 Corp. "His background as a serial tech entrepreneur will bring added perspective to the senior executive team at Star8 Corp."

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded people, while also striving to innovate and grow the business," said Dr. Siegel.

For more information about Star8 Corp. and its subsidiary businesses, please visit Star8Corp.com.

About Star8 Corporation

Star8 Corporation (OTC PINK:STRH) is a publicly traded company with expertise in technology and eCommerce driven solutions. Additionally, Star8 Corp. provides sustainable marketing, technology, sales, and distribution consulting for clients. Its subsidiary companies are TempuCheck, Media Hawk, and RARI Nutrition. To learn more about Star8 Corp. please visit Star8Corp.com.

For inquiries please contact: info@star8corp.com | 1-866-316-0808

Investor Inquiries:

Star8 Corp.

1-866-316-0808

Safe Harbor

Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. The above information contains information relating to the Company that is based on the beliefs of the Company and/or its management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company or its management. When used in this document, the words "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plans," "projects," and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company or its management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current view of the Company regarding future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties noted. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or projected. In each instance, forward-looking information should be considered in light of the accompanying meaningful cautionary statements herein. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, successful performance of internal plans, the impact of competitive services and pricing and general economic risks and uncertainties. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Star8 Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684710/Steven-Siegel-Prominent-Floridian-Entrepreneur-Named-Strategic-Advisor-to-Star8-Corp
As Process Mining and Execution Management Define the Future of Business, the Market Leader Announces Vaishnavi Sashikanth as Chief Engineering Officer, Chris Donato as President of Global Sales, and Gene Reznik as SVP, Ecosystem Industries

Celonis, the global leader in execution management and creator of process mining, today announced the appointments of three of the technology industry's most experienced and innovative executives to essential leadership positions. As organizations pursue greater data execution to increase performance, efficiency, and sustainability, Celonis continues to build an unrivaled team to rapidly meet the global demand for their technology and products.

Vaishnavi Sashikanth, Chief Engineering Officer (former Vice President of Engineering at Google YouTube)

Vaishnavi Sashikanth, VP of Engineering at YouTube and instrumental leader in the platform's meteoric growth, joins Celonis as Chief Engineering Officer. Sashikanth will be responsible for driving Celonis' innovation and technology leadership and building a world-class team of engineering experts in process and business execution.

As Celonis continues to build product and engineering designed to serve and engage its customers, Sashikanth brings unparalleled experience and insight in blending the best of the best innovations from both enterprise and consumer technology. She started leading engineering teams for B2B SaaS innovators including Oracle and Hyperion and then spent the last six years leading engineering infrastructure at YouTube, one of the most ubiquitous and consumer friendly products in technology.

"Celonis is building for a future where process data is strengthening and empowering execution for every part of an organization and this requires a very different approach for product engineering," said Alex Rinke, Celonis co-founder and co-CEO. "Vaish is a rare innovator who understands how to build a unique engineering team that will apply the UX, UI and scale of a B2C platform to the complex, sophisticated B2B SaaS world. We are incredibly excited about Vaish joining our leadership team and recruiting and leading the best of the best innovators that will change how companies run their businesses on process data."

"Celonis is on a timeless mission to help companies innovate through the breakthrough process mining technology that has unleashed the hidden potential in the backbone of every enterprise, big or small, across the globe," said Sashikanth. "The technology industry is at an inflection point, and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity, now, to wholly transform the way businesses are run.

Sashikanth added, "Unravelling massive enterprise data created by the many interconnected business systems, bringing the power of machine learning to drive the right outcomes in real time, and making it so easy to leverage Celonis with every process in the world are all exciting capabilities at the heart of the Celonis Execution Management System. I am looking forward to helping companies accelerate their execution innovation with Celonis."

Chris Donato, President of Global Sales (former Executive Vice President, North America Applications and Consulting at Oracle)

Chris Donato is one of the technology industry's most experienced and successful sales leaders. He joins Celonis from Oracle where he was the EVP of North America Applications and Consulting, a multibillion dollar organization with 4,500 employees. Donato will focus on continuing the acceleration of Celonis' growth and momentum.

"We are in the early innings of helping our customers realize the full impact of putting process data to work across every facet of their business," said Rinke. "Chris is one of the most respected go-to-market leaders in business software and has the perfect mix of executive leadership and industry know-how to help our customers transform the way they run their companies by embedding Celonis into their most important business initiatives."

"It's an exciting time to join Celonis, as I have seen firsthand how companies struggle to redesign their processes, use data to trigger intelligent actions, and modernize their business execution," Donato said. "The old approach of taking legacy systems and recreating them in the cloud won't get organizations the benefits they're looking for, nor allow them to be disruptors in their industries. Celonis is the first company that actually addresses these process transformation problems, by giving organizations a view into how their business is running at the process level and bringing real-time data into business execution. I am thrilled to help customers make this generational shift to a new way to run their business with Celonis."

Gene Reznik, Senior Vice President, Ecosystem Industries (former Chief Strategy Officer at Accenture)

Gene Reznik will oversee the development of Celonis' Ecosystem, responsible for Celonis' industry strength and execution. This includes supervision of the company's consulting and system integration providers, business process outsourcers and independent software vendors. He will also deepen academic alliances to drive innovation and rapidly scale the global Celonis community.

Reznik spent over 26 years at Accenture including serving as the company's Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Managing Director of Ecosystem Ventures. He has worked with leading global organizations on process excellence, analytics and AI.

"It's a full team effort across the entire ecosystem to help Celonis customers achieve all of their core business execution and process excellence initiatives," said Miguel Milano, co-owner and Chief Revenue Officer at Celonis. "Gene's deep experience is a perfect fit to help Celonis' GSI, BPO, digital consultant, and technology partners fully adopt our execution management products and technology into their offerings."

"Over the course of my career, I have worked closely with leading enterprises, technology providers and professional services organizations to realize the value from business transformation," said Reznik. "Today, winning companies demand pinpoint accuracy, backed by data, to streamline their business processes as well as find new areas of competitive differentiation. This makes the ability to scan, identify and understand how to use process data to solve execution problems the new table stakes for consulting and technology providers."

Celonis continues to hire the best talent, and was recently recognized by Built In as a best company to work for across New York City and San Francisco.

About Celonis

Celonis helps organizations to execute on their data. Powered by its market-leading process mining core, the Celonis Execution Management System provides a set of applications, a developer studio and platform capabilities for business executives and users to eliminate billions in corporate inefficiencies, provide better customer experience and reduce carbon emissions. Celonis has thousands of global customers and is headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York City, USA with 16 offices worldwide.

2021 Celonis SE. All rights reserved. Celonis and the Celonis "droplet" logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Celonis SE in Germany and other jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005305/en/

Contacts:

Sarah Voigt

Director of Communications

press@celonis.com
The landmark round, one of the largest global funding rounds in the global quantum space, underpins Terra Quantum's pioneering market position in the development of revolutionary quantum computing applications

The fresh injection of capital will be invested in research and the acceleration of Terra Quantum's international expansion

Multiple international investors participated in the round, including existing investor Lakestar who joined the Seed round

Quantum has become the most important global technology frontier. Terra Quantum AG, one of Europe's leading quantum technology companies focused on providing an end-to-end technology platform delivering real quantum advantage to its customers already today, Terra Quantum not only supports its industrial clients developing solutions for intractable problems. Its platform is also expected to help corporates and institutions in their fight against climate change by supporting the development of more efficient fertilizers, batteries, electricity grids and much more.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005596/en/

Markus Pflitsch, Terra Quantum Founder and CEO (Photo: Business Wire)

Today's announcement of a $60m Series A funding, marks one of the largest global funding rounds achieved in the quantum tech space globally, and underscores Terra Quantum's unique position as a leader of the quantum revolution. Having assembled one of the biggest quantum tech teams globally and focused on algorithms, software, quantum compute and quantum safety, Terra Quantum targets a global customer base.

Most companies will have to adopt quantum to remain competitive and Terra Quantum's customers can benefit from Terra Quantum's market leading position as a solution provider with the ability to provide quantum advantage on a commercial scale already today. Through its proprietary quantum cloud, Terra Quantum is able to offer a unique end-to-end Quantum-as-a-Service technology platform to its customers.

The new shareholders include two of the largest and globally renowned German family offices and one of the most influential cryptocurrency investors globally. The new investors have deep roots and an entrepreneurial background in the pharmaceutical, logistics and blockchain spaces. With their individual investments, they are seeking to ensure faster drug development more important than ever against the backdrop of the global COVID pandemic, more efficient logistics and quantum security. Lakestar, which backed the company from its Seed round in 2019, has reaffirmed its commitment in this landmark round underlining its firm belief in the potential of Terra Quantum's pioneering approach focused on revolutionary quantum applications.

Markus Pflitsch, founder and CEO of Terra Quantum says: "The Series A funding round enables us to drive forward our leading position in the field of quantum computing as we have evolved from a DeepTech start-up into a global quantum business. I am extremely proud of our recent milestones having launched the first hybrid quantum cloud data center (QMware) and a super-secure global quantum protocol based on quantum key distribution (QKD), and grateful for the support of all of our partners who have and will support us on our path. Our new investors share my strong conviction with me that quantum will play a pivotal role in all major industries. The new funding will help us to strengthen our research capabilities, accelerate our industrial roll-out, and further extend our "Quantum-as-a-Service" product offering.

In addition, the appointment of industry veterans Prof. Valerii Vinokur as Co-CTO, one of the world's leading physicists, and Dr Florian Neukart as CPO, quantum expert and former director of Volkswagen's Data Lab, have been strategically aligned with Terra Quantum's growth strategy. We have an experienced, talented, and global team with whom we will achieve our ambitious mission to lead the international quantum revolution. We plan to expand our operations globally by opening a new office in Silicon Valley (US) and in the Munich Quantum Valley (Germany). We can't wait for it."

Stephen Nundy, partner and CTO at Lakestar says: "We strongly believe in partnering with exceptional technology founders. We have trusted the incredible potential of Terra Quantum's quantum technology from day one. Terra Quantum has consistently proven its leading role in driving the second quantum revolution. Its pioneering quantum applications have tremendous potential, for example to solve the imminent quantum cryptography challenges. We are incredibly excited to further support Terra Quantum in its continued growth on a global scale."

About Terra Quantum

Terra Quantum is a leading quantum technology company based in Switzerland and is organized as a "Quantum as a Service" company with three core focus areas. The first is Quantum Algorithms as a Service where an extensive library of algorithms are available to customers, such as quantum-based optimization and quantum-based neural networks which can for example be used for pattern recognition. Terra Quantum also develops new algorithms for customers or adapt existing algorithms to their specific needs. The second is Quantum Computing as a Service providing customers with access to its high performing logical qubits to equip them with real quantum advantages already today. The third is Quantum Security as a Service offering quantum security worldwide via its unique quantum secure communication and QKD solutions. Visit Terra Quantum on LinkedIn and at https://terraquantum.swiss

- Ends -

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005596/en/

Contacts:

Press contact

Victoria Jodl

Email:Victoria.jodl@kekstcnc.com

Tel.: +49 152 52423959
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The new 5-year plan for the robotics industry in China, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in Beijing, focuses on promoting innovation making China a global leader for robot technology and industrial advancement. The statistical department of the International Federation of Robotics reports about the domestic and foreign engagement on the world's largest market.

"China is by far the biggest robot market in the world regarding annual sales and the operational stock," says Milton Guerry, President of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). "IFR's robot density statistics is a useful indicator of China's dynamic developments, counting the number of industrial robots per 10,000 employees: China's robot density in the manufacturing industry currently ranks 9th globally (246 units) compared to 25th (49 units) just five years ago."

Automation Race in China

The automation race in China today is mainly catered by foreign robot manufacturers with a combined market share of 73%. With some volatility in the past 8 years, this share has been constant. In 2020, installations of robots from abroad mainly imported from Japan, Korea and Europe grew strongly by 24% to 123,030 units. This number also includes units produced in China by non-Chinese suppliers. Chinese robot manufacturers mainly deliver to their domestic market, where they held a market share of 27% in 2020 with 45,347 units shipped.

Second robotics development plan

"China released the second five-year development plan for the robotics industry following 2016-2020," says Song Xiaogang, Executive Director and Secretary-General of the China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA). "The plan has great guiding significance for promoting the high-quality development of China's robotics industry during the 14th period. Robots are the key equipment of modern industry. The new 5-year plan leads the digital development and intelligent upgrading in China and also helps to promote the global robot technology progress."

IFR China data overview

Sales

168,377 new robots installed (thereof, 45,347 units from Chinese suppliers),

20% higher than in 2019

20% higher than in 2019 Global ranking 2020: No.1

Stock of operational robots

About 943,200 units, 21% higher than in 2019

Global ranking 2020: No. 1

Downloads: https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/china-aims-for-global-leadership-in-robotics

IFR Video: FACTS about INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS worldwide 2021 YouTube

About IFR

www.ifr.org

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220119005918/en/

Contacts:

IFR Press contact

Carsten Heer

Phone +49 (0) 40 822 44 284

E-Mail: press@ifr.org
HONG KONG (dpa-AFX) - Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (CLWT) announced David YL Leung, currently a Director of the company, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2022. TC Leung, current CEO, will continue to serve as the Chairman of the Board. David YL Leung has been the General Manager of Yixing Pact Environmental Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai since 2011. Before joining Yixing Pact, he was the Business Development Manager of Euro Tech (Far East) Limited, the parent company of Yixing Pact in Hong Kong. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CANBERRA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's medical regulator has approved the Novavax vaccine and two oral treatments for COVID-19.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Thursday announced Novavax's Nuvaxovid has been given the green light as a two-dose vaccine for the primary course of inoculation in Australia, meaning it has not yet been approved as a booster.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) will make a final decision on which age groups will be eligible to receive Nuvaxovid.

The federal government has ordered 51 million doses of the vaccine.

Recipients will receive their first and second doses three weeks apart.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was hopeful that the minority of Australians who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 will come forward for Nuvaxovid when it is made available "over the coming weeks."

"We have a first dose national vaccination rate of 95.2 percent, and we know that some people have waited for Novavax, and although we have encouraged everyone to proceed, we recognize that that's a fact. So hopefully this will encourage those people in the less than last 5 percent to come forward," he told reporters.

The TGA also announced approval for Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck Sharp and Dohme's Lagevrio, making them the first oral medicines for COVID-19 approved for use in Australia.

Australia has ordered 800,000 courses of the medications, which Hunt said would be made available through prescriptions for people with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms.

Patients who are prescribed the antiviral pills will take two a day for five days, reducing their chances of developing severe symptoms and requiring hospitalization.

"A course of them will help the most vulnerable, particularly some of our older Australians who have always been at more risk from COVID," Hunt said.

"They will help people who are at risk of going from mild to moderate symptoms and deemed by medical professionals to have the risk of progression to more serious conditions," he said.

Australia on Thursday reported more than 70,000 locally-acquired coronavirus infections and 60 deaths, 25 in New South Wales, 15 in Victoria, 11 in South Australia and nine in Queensland.

According to the Department of Health, there were 5,307 cases being treated in Australian hospitals on Wednesday, including 424 in intensive care units. 
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - High Fusion Inc. (CSE: FUZN) ("High Fusion" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its financial results for the first quarter ended October 31, 2021.

First Quarter Financial Highlights

On August 31, 2021 the Company closed the acquisition of the business of OutCo Labs Inc. ("OutCo") through the purchase of substantially all the assets associated with the business including: control and management of all licenced entities; intellectual property; equipment and land. Based in San Diego California, the acquired business specializes in manufacturing and retailing premium quality cannabis flower and extract products under the OutCo name with 2019 and 2020 annual revenues of approximately US $8.6 million and US $8.2 million, respectively. Refer to the press release dated January 4, 2022 and Business Acquisition Report filed on December 1, 2021 including the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2020 with comparative qualified statements for the year ended December 31, 2019.

On August 27, 2021 the Company announced that in accordance with the previously approved shareholder resolution, its common shares will consolidate on a twenty (20) for one (1) basis with a record and effective date of September 3, 2021. All references to share amounts and share prices herein are on the post-consolidation basis.

On September 29, 2021 the Company obtained approval from its shareholders to establish a class of multiple voting shares and to change the Common Shares of the Corporation to Subordinate Voting Shares ("Shares"). In addition, approval was obtained to change the name of the Company to "High Fusion Inc.". The Company name change took effect November 15, 2021 and on November 16, 2021 the Shares commenced trading on the CSE under the High Fusion name.

On November 22, 2021 the Company announced that it intends to complete a financing into a subsidiary of the Company, Neural Therapeutics Inc. The financing will be by way of a non-brokered private placement. It is anticipated that Neural Therapeutics will subsequently undertake a spin-off as a stand-alone business with High Fusion maintaining a minority stake.

On November 24, 2021 the Company announced that it received recreational licenses for both of the retail dispensaries acquired from OutCo.

"We are very pleased to report our first quarter where we are including the results from our acquisition of the business of OutCo which closed on August 31, 2021," stated John Durfy, CEO of High Fusion. "These reported numbers only include two months of results from OutCo and do not reflect the potential significant upside we expect from the recent county approval for expansion and receipt of recreational licences in November of last year. We believe the Company is poised for significant growth this year in California as well as Colorado and Oregon."

Summary Income Statement

Three months ended

October 31, 2021 Three months ended

October 31, 2020 Total sales 1,329,847 - Cost of goods sold ("COGS") 936,106 - Gross Profit 393,741 - Interest income - 49,904 Operating expenses 1,904,509 1,136,816 Other items 158,726 (28,999) Net loss before tax (1,669,494) (1,057,913) Net income (loss) from discontinued operations - (819,241) Net comprehensive loss (1,469,440) (1,877,154) Income/(Loss) per share (basic) (0.03) (0.08) Income/(Loss) per share (diluted) (0.03) (0.08)

During the three months ended October 31, 2021 the Company's revenues were $1.3 million representing two months of the OutCo business acquired in August 31, 2021;

Revenues and cost of goods sold for the quarter ended October 31, 2021 also includes Palo Verde which was acquired on March 12, 2021. Due to a change in management and equipment maintenance the results from Palo Verde have been lower than anticipated. As more working capital is invested into the Palo Verde business, management expects revenues and margins to improve; and

Operating expenses increased to $1.9 million during the quarter ended October 31, 2021 compared with $1.1 million during the corresponding period of the prior year. This increase was primarily due the inclusion of general, administrative expenses and depreciation expenses associated with the business of OutCo as well as transaction costs associated with the acquisition.

Summary Balance Sheet

31-Oct-21 31-Jul-21 Current Assets 9,392,886 1,713,508 Total Assets 22,801,174 7,279,397 Total Liabilities 23,227,302 13,442,017 Shareholder's Equity/(Deficit) (426,128) (6,162,620)

The most significant changes to the balance sheet during the first quarter were as follows:

Increase in current assets and liabilities associated with payables, receivables and inventory acquired with the business of OutCo;

The addition of leasehold improvements, land and goodwill added to non-current assets as a result of the acquisition of the business of OutCo; and

Inclusion of a $3.7 million note payable to current liabilities associated with the land acquired as part of the acquisition of the business of OutCo.

Update on Management Cease Trade Order

As a result of the complications of including the business of OutCo acquired during the quarter, the Company experienced a delay in the completion of its first quarter financial statements for the period ending October 31, 2021. On December 16, 2021, the Company applied for and was granted on December 31, 2021 a temporary management cease trade order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203")

With the completion and filing of the first quarter financial statements, the Company has met the deadline under the MCTO. The Company will advise if and when the MCTO has been revoked.

About High Fusion Inc.

High Fusion Inc. (formerly Nutritional High International Inc.) is focused on developing and manufacturing branded products in the cannabis industry with a specific focus on flower, pro-rolls, vapes, edibles and oil extracts for medical and adult recreational use. The Company operates and controls licenses in California, Colorado and Oregon.

High Fusion has manufacturing, retail and grow operations in California through its acquisition of the business of OutCo and owns and operates oil extraction and edible manufacturing facilities in Colorado and Oregon. The Company's brand portfolio includes its award winning FLI edibles and vape product, along with a number of new brands including Red Octopus and Dubbi Brothers in addition to the OutCo and Thrive brands recently acquired.

Neural Therapeutics Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of High Fusion focused on ethnobotanical drug-discovery and development company. Neural Therapeutics is focused on developing products and conducting research on the psychoactive cacti plants with the primary objective to find where the historical use in traditional medicine has proven to be effective and capitalize on the opportunities that can be applied in modern medical and natural health product markets.

For updates on the Company's activities and highlights of the Company's press releases and other media coverage, please visit www.high-fusion.com.

For further information, please contact:

High Fusion Inc.

Robert Wilson, Chief Financial Officer

416-666-4005

Email: rwilson@nutritionalhigh.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information:

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC., NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements include statements regarding: the upside to the Company from the recent county approval for expansion and receipt of recreational licences in November of last year; the anticipated growth of the Company; the improvement in revenues and margins the timing and ability to complete the Neural Therapeutics financing and spin-out. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. This forward-looking information reflects the Company's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to the Company and on assumptions the Company believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: the ability of the Company to successfully execute its business plans; legal changes relating to the cannabis and psychedelic industries proceeding as anticipated; and the Company's continued response and ability to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic being consistent with, or better than, its ability and response to date.

The Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market prices for securities; the actual results of the Company's future operations; competition; changes in legislation affecting the Company; obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals including acquiring and renewing U.S. state, local or other licenses, the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution, regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, market and general economic conditions of the cannabis sector or otherwise; the timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals; risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic including various recommendations, orders and measures of governmental authorities to try to limit the pandemic, including travel restrictions, border closures, non-essential business closures, service disruptions, quarantines, self-isolations, shelters-in-place and social distancing, disruptions to markets, economic activity, financing, supply chains and sales channels, and a deterioration of general economic conditions including a possible national or global recession; and a deterioration of financial markets that could limit the Company's ability to obtain external financing.

A description of additional risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this press release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. However, the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110972
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / CopperBank Resources Corp. ("CopperBank" or the "Company") (CSE:CBK) is pleased to provide a corporate update and an outline on key deliverables for 2022.

Paul Harbidge, President and CEO stated: "It has been an extremely busy four months since I stepped into the leadership role at CopperBank. The senior leadership team is now in place and I am excited to be working with this team of exceptionally talented individuals to transition the Company from an accumulator of copper projects, to one that aims to move the Copper Creek and Contact Copper projects up the value-chain through further exploration and technical work. Both projects have significant historical data with which to work and further optimize, and both projects benefit from excellent infrastructure, logistics and top-tier mining jurisdictions in Arizona and Nevada, respectively.

The rebranding of the Company is designed to better reflect the technical advancement of our assets and the future electrification and decarbonization of the world in which we live. This is the start of a new journey, and we look forward to providing further updates as we deliver on our strategic goals and advance these two exciting copper projects in low-risk political jurisdictions."

Highlights:

Experienced Leadership Team with a proven track record of delivery and value creation

Operations plan supported by an Environmental, Social, and Governance framework

Two advanced copper projects with development optionality in Tier 1 mining jurisdictions Copper Creek, Arizona, offers open pit as well as bulk underground mining potential Contact Copper, Nevada, offers low-cost heap leach SX-EW method of extraction

Significant exploration upside at both projects

Equity financing of $5.0 million completed in September 2021

Technical team mobilized to Copper Creek project

Diamond drill rig mobilizing to Copper Creek in February 2022 5,000m program to test both high-grade breccia and porphyry copper mineralization

Renaming of Company to Faraday Copper Corp[1] and applying to list on TSX.V[2]

The drilling program is designed to test previously undrilled areas between zones of known high-grade mineralization, confirm historic results, and obtain geotechnical information needed to advance mine design and planning. Additional work completed and commenced includes:

Data consolidation completed and digitization underway to enhance knowledge base integrity

Copper Creek Mineral Resource Estimate (" MRE ") scope of work awarded

") scope of work awarded Copper Creek geotechnical program scope finalization and contract awarded

Copper Creek and Contact Copper metallurgical data review commenced

Copper Creek survey program commenced in January 2022 including update of survey controls and high-resolution topographic data collection

Key Milestones

Q1 2022 - Drill rig mobilized to Copper Creek to commence 5,000-metre drill program

Q1 2022 - Company applies to list its common shares on the TSX.V

Q2 2022 - Company rebrands to Faraday Copper Corp 1

Q2 2022 - Subject to the approval of the TSX.V, expects to conclude the listing process 2

Q2 2022 - Completion of a geological model for Copper Creek

Q3 2022 - Updated MRE for Copper Creek and mobilize Phase I drill program on Contact Copper

Q4 2022 - Phase II drill program for Copper Creek

Q2 2023 - Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (" PEA ") for Copper Creek

") for Copper Creek Q3 2023 - Updated MRE for Contact Copper

Q2 2024 - Updated technical study for Contact Copper

Projects

Copper Creek Project (Arizona, USA)

The project is a 100% owned, large copper deposit, located ~120 road kilometres northeast of Tucson and ~24 kilometres northeast of San Manuel. The current resource area is ~4 kilometres in length and open in all directions. The property consists of ~41 square kilometres of contiguous patented and un-patented mining claims and state prospecting permits. The area is in a mining friendly and politically secure location with excellent infrastructure including power, rail, water, roads, and access to skilled personnel.

The property is in the prolific southwest porphyry copper belt at the projected intersection of a major northwest belt of porphyry copper deposits (Ray, Miami/Globe, Superior/Resolution, Johnson Camp) and a major east-northeast belt of porphyry deposits (San Manuel/Kalamazoo, Silver Bell, Lakeshore, Safford, Morenci). The property is within 50 kilometres of an operating copper mill and smelter.

The property hosts an "Early Halo-type" porphyry copper deposit with high-grade near-surface breccia-hosted mineralization. Both mineralization types include current copper/molybdenum resources prepared in accordance with CIM standards. Gold, and silver are also present in varying amounts associated with both types of mineralization.

The most recent MRE was published in a technical report titled "Copper Creek 2012 Mineral Resource Update, Pinal County, Arizona, USA, Technical Report" prepared for Redhawk Resources Inc. ("Redhawk") by Independent Mining Consultants Inc., dated and filed by Redhawk on SEDAR on June 25, 2012.

The most recent technical study work completed on the project was published in a technical report titled "Preliminary Economic Assessment 25,000 TPD Mill with an Underground Mine for Development of the Copper Creek Resource" prepared for Redhawk by SGS Metcon/KD Engineering, Tucson Arizona, dated and filed by Redhawk on SEDAR on October 28, 2013.

Despite extensive historic exploration, with over 200,000 metres of drilling and modest past production, significant exploration upside remains. There are over 400 known breccia pipes mapped of which only about 35 were drilled and 8 are included in the MRE published in 2012.

Contact Copper Project (Nevada, USA)

The project is a 100% owned, pre-feasibility stage copper oxide project located on private land in Elko County, Nevada. The project is located west of the town of Contact, U.S. Highway 93 traverses the east side of the project along with a 138 KV transmission line, between the towns of Wells and Jackpot, Nevada. The property consists of approximately 2,650 acres in 156 patented claims and 3,285 acres in 219 unpatented claims.

Copper mineralization occurs as an intrusive-related deposit within a granodiorite batholith and is observed in quartz veins within structural zones and in the surrounding intrusion. The copper content is highest in the quartz veins, particularly where chalcocite is present, but grades outward into granodiorite where copper minerals occur in quartz veinlets, fracture coatings and disseminations. Mineralization is in the form of tenorite, chrysocolla and cuprite, and lesser chalcocite and covellite.

The most recent mineral resource estimate and technical study work completed was published in a technical report titled "NI 43-101 Pre-Feasibility Study on the Contact Copper Project" was prepared for Enexco International Ltd. by Hard Rock Consultants LLC, published October 1, 2013.

There is expected to be significant exploration upside with several targets that have not been drill tested including Copper Ridge. The Copper Ridge zone features oxide copper mineralization with grab samples containing up to 12.4% copper.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by CopperBank's Vice President of Exploration, Dr. Thomas Bissig, P.Geo and Vice President of Projects and Evaluations, Zach Allwright, P.Eng, both of whom are deemed a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About CopperBank

CopperBank is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing two copper projects in The United States of America. The Company trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "CBK".

For additional information please contact:

Paul Harbidge, President and Chief Executive Officer

CopperBank Resources Corp.

Suite 250, 200 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3L6 Phone: 778-987-2761 E-mail: pharbidge@copperbankcorp.com Website: www.copperbankcorp.com

Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking statements" and are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of CopperBank to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the intention of the Company to apply to list its common shares on the TSX.V, the potential timing for the listing of CopperBank's common shares on the TSX.V, the intention to change CopperBank's name to Faraday Copper Corp., the timelines for the key milestones, the ability of CopperBank to complete an MRA and PEA, the exploration prospects and projected resources of the properties of CopperBank, future capitalization and market capitalization of CopperBank, development of and future drilling on the Copper Creek and Contact properties.

Although CopperBank believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include without limitation: market prices for metals; the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses; lower than expected grades and quantities of resources; receipt of regulatory approval; receipt of shareholder approval; mining rates and recovery rates; significant capital requirements; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; fluctuations in rates of exchange; taxation; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which CopperBank does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, competition; loss of key employees; rising costs of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of Indigenous peoples and other groups; risks, uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements, including those associated with the Contact and Copper Creek properties; and uncertainties with respect to any future acquisitions by CopperBank. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks as well as "Risk Factors" included in CopperBank's disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedar.com.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. This press release is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, a prospectus, an offering memorandum, an advertisement or a public offering of securities in CopperBank in Canada, the United States or any other jurisdiction. No securities commission or similar authority in Canada or in the United States has reviewed or in any way passed upon this press release, and any representation to the contrary is an offence.

All of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. CopperBank does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. For more information on the CopperBank, readers should refer to www.sedar.com for the CopperBank's filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

[1] The renaming of the Company is subject to shareholder approval at the Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders expected to be held on April 19, 2022

[2] Listing of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX.V") will be subject to the approval of the TSX.V in accordance with its listing requirements and there is no assurance that the TSX.V will approve the listing application.

SOURCE: CopperBank Resources Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684695/CopperBank-Provides-Corporate-Update-and-Outlines-2022-Deliverables
Wipro secured certifications in five markets, ranking in the top five in each with an average score of 96% across Europe

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced that it has been recognised by the Top Employers Institute as a top employer in Europe. This was Wipro's first year applying for certification in Europe, which saw it placed fifth out of over 1,800 companies from around the world.

Additionally, Wipro secured the certification in France (ranked 2nd in market), Switzerland (3rd), the Netherlands (4th), Germany (5th), and the UK (5th), with scores of over 95% in each region. Wipro performed well in most categories but significantly outperformed the benchmark in the Career, Work Environment, Diversity Inclusion and Digital HR categories.

The Top Employers Institute, established 30 years ago reviews submissions across several key HR practices including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Wellbeing and Diversity and Inclusion. The process is extensive, making the certification one of the most prestigious in the field of human resources.

David Plink, CEO, Top Employers Institute said, "Despite another challenging year for businesses and people around the world, Wipro has shown that across Europe it is consistently focused on supporting its teams. This was the first year we had the opportunity to assess Wipro's European markets, and it is a real testament to their commitment to putting people first that they have received such high rankings across each of the five markets."

A number of new initiatives contributed to Wipro's successful inclusion in this year's list of certified companies. One of the most significant was Wipro's use of technology to streamline processes, facilitate online learning and training, enable employees to work with greater autonomy throughout the pandemic, and offer empathy and support throughout the pandemic. At the heart of Wipro's strategy is wellbeing and care of people.

Deepak Parija, CHRO, Europe, Wipro Limited commented, "Being certified by the Top Employers Institute is a moment of pride and an important milestone for Wipro. As we embrace the future, it reaffirms our commitment to build a value-driven, best-in-class, diverse and inclusive organisation. A culture where our teams can be themselves, and where they have the flexibility and support to pursue their career ambitions, learning and most importantly, a place where they feel they can belong."

Pierre Bruno, CEO, Europe, Wipro Limited said, "We are a company that takes pride in the experience of its people and it's great to see that this has now been recognised. We want to empower our employees and support them as they build their careers, and this certification is recognition that we are on the right track."

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 220,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

About The Top Employers Institute Certification Program

Founded 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified more than 1,600 organizations in 120 countries/regions, positively impacting the lives of seven million employees worldwide. The Institute certifies excellence in HR practices and is helping to accelerate the impact of these practices to improve the world of work. The Top Employers Institute certification program allows participating organizations to be validated, certified and recognized as leading employers. The 'HR Best Practices Survey' is an analysis conducted periodically, comprised of 100+ questions on 600 staff development practices covering the topics of: talent strategy, workforce planning, talent acquisition, on-boarding, learning and skills development, performance management, leadership development, career and succession management, compensation and benefits and culture.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipro's beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipro's control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipro's growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, complete proposed corporate actions, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. The conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could decrease technology spending, adversely affect demand for our products, affect the rate of customer spending and could adversely affect our customers' ability or willingness to purchase our offerings, delay prospective customers' purchasing decisions, adversely impact our ability to provide on-site consulting services and our inability to deliver our customers or delay the provisioning of our offerings, all of which could adversely affect our future sales, operating results and overall financial performance. Our operations may also be negatively affected by a range of external factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005032/en/

Contacts:

Wipro Media Contact:

Purnima Burman

Wipro Limited

purnima.burman@wipro.com

Callum Finch

Wipro Limited

callum.finch1@wipro.com
VANCOUER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Ximen Mining Corp. (TSXV:XIM)(FRA:1XMA)(OTCQB:XXMMF) (the "Company" or "Ximen") is pleased to announce it has arranged a non-brokered private placement of 8,893,635 charity flow-through shares are priced at $0.285 per share with total gross proceeds of $2,534,686, a 42.5% premium to Ximen's current share price.

Each Flow-Through share consists of one common share that qualifies as a "flow-through share" as defined in subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act. The closing of the Financing is expected to occur on or about February 2nd, 2022 and is subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company will use the net proceeds from the Offering for exploration expenses on the Company's British Columbia mineral properties. The Shares are being issued as part of a charity flow-through arrangement. The Company will pay no commission or finders' fee in connection with this Offering.

Ximen is prepared for an active precious metal's exploration season in 2022 with several drill permits in place. Recently added to the Permitted properties for drilling include the Amelia Gold Mine, Wild Horse Gold Belt, and The Bud-Elk Gold Copper Property. Previously and in addition too, in the pipeline for drilling are the Providence Silver and Gold project, The California Gold Mine, The Star Gold Property and Venus & Juno Gold Mine and The Brett Epithermal Gold property. This is of course outside the ongoing work that is being conducted currently at the Kenville Gold Mine. For a complete list of properties and further permitted assets please visit the company's website XimenMiningCorp.com

257 Portal Reconstruction Completed - The Kenville Gold Mine

The Brett Epithermal Gold property (near Vernon, BC) is an epithermal gold deposit (low-sulphidation type) with several gold drill intercepts including bonanza high grades over meter-scale widths and low-grade gold over tens of meters (see company website for details). Follow-up drilling of newly identified zones and in-fill drilling of the Main zone is planned.

Ximen's Nelson BC properties are being targeted for gold-quartz veins, silver-gold veins and bulk mineable gold-copper mineralization. The gold vein system that extends south from the Kenville gold mine goes through a gradual change in mineralization style from gold in discreet veins to a disseminated style with gold, copper and silver in sheeted veinlets, collectively regarded as a bulk mineable gold target.

Drilling at the Amelia property (Camp McKinney east of Oliver, BC) is planned to test for extensions of the historic Caribou-Amelia gold mine.

At the Wild Horse (near Cranbrook, BC) drilling will continue and is being planned to test a new area of visible gold in soil samples.

The Brett Epithermal Gold Project

Photos: Left picture shows narrow-high grade style quartz breccia vein characterized by colloform-banded quartz containing gold. Right picture shows gold in quartz vein from Greenwood area high-grade gold-quartz mineralization, typical of gold-quartz veins found at Amelia and Nelson. The famous Wild Horse River placer gold deposits may have been derived from similar gold-quartz veins.

Readers are cautioned that historical information including grades and assay results referred to in this News Release have been examined but not verified by a Qualified Person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this News Release are accurate.

Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Ximen Mining Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, approved the technical information contained in this News Release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Christopher R. Anderson"

Christopher R. Anderson,

President, CEO and Director

604 488-3900

Investor Relations:

Sophy Cesar,

604-488-3900,

ir@XimenMiningCorp.com

About Ximen Mining Corp.

Ximen Mining Corp. is focused on acquiring high-grade gold assets in southern BC, with easy access and solid infrastructure. Ximen aims to build a gold mining company with the blue-sky potential of a land package with multi-million ounces of gold targeting over 10,000,000 OZ. Ximen strives to always to take a 100% interest in all its projects and assets. The Company has bought out all the possible NSR's on its key mineral precious metal assets and several other assets in the vicinity of its holdings. Simultaneously, Ximen is advancing the Kenville Gold Mine forward and on the path towards production. The focus remains on meeting all the established targets while at the same time maintaining aversion towards debt and dilution. All while moving forward with responsible development and sustainable mining and exploration practices building Ethical and Sustainable Value.

Ximen is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol XIM, in the USA under the symbol XXMMF, and in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin Stock Exchanges in Germany under the symbol 1XMA and WKN with the number as A2JBKL.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities. This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval and the exercise of the Option by Ximen. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange may not accept the proposed transaction in a timely manner, if at all. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Ximen Mining Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684708/Ximen-Mining-Arranges-Strategic-Investment-2500000-Private-Placement-at-a-40-Premium
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / (CSE:ROO)(OTC PINK:JNCCF)(Frankfurt:5VHA) - Further to its October 4, 2021 news release, RooGold Inc. (" RooGold " or the " Issuer ") announces that it has closed a second tranche of its previously announced Non-Brokered Unit Private Placement, on a post-Consolidation basis, by issuing 2,399,500 Units at $0.25 per Unit and raising $599,875.00. Each Unit consists of a Common Share and a half (1/2) a Common Share Purchase Warrant, each whole Warrant entitling the holder to purchase an additional Common Share at $0.40 per Share for a two year period from Closing. The term of the Warrants is subject to an Accelerator Clause that the Issuer can elect to trigger if the Issuer's Share price trades above $0.50 for 30 consecutive trading days.

The net proceeds from the Private Placement, together with the net proceeds from the first tranche closing of $2,632,500, will be used for phase 1 exploration of RooGold's Australian properties acquired from Southern Precious Metals Ltd. (see Aug. 19, 2021 news release), investor relations & marketing, as a reserve for exploration of its conditionally acquired Australian properties from 1267248 B.C. Ltd. (formerly, RooGold Inc.), and Aussie Precious Metals Corp, and for working capital.

In connection with the Private Placement, Foundation Markets Inc. received Finder's Fees of $28,390 and 69,760 Finders' Warrants, each Finder's Warrant entitling the holder to purchase a Common Share at $0.32 for a two year period. The term of the Finder's Warrants is subject to an Accelerator Clause that the Issuer can elect to trigger if RooGold's shares trade above $0.50 for 30 consecutive trading days.

The Units are subject to a statutory restricted trading period expiring on May 21, 2022.

Market Awareness Engagement

RooGold also would like to announce that it has engaged Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. (" Stockhouse "), which owns a streaming platform with one of the largest communities of retail investors in North America, to provide investor awareness and digital media communication services to the Company. Under the terms of the engagement, Stockhouse has been retained for a 12-month period at $120,000.00. Stockhouse records on average over 1 million unique investors per month, with over 400,000 registered members.

About ROOGOLD

ROOGOLD is a Canadian based junior venture mineral exploration issuer which is uniquely positioned to be a dominant player in New South Wales, Australia, through a growth strategy focused on the consolidation and exploration of highly mineralized precious metals properties in this prolific region of Australia. Through its acquisition of Southern Precious Metals Ltd., 1267248 B.C. Ltd. (formerly, RooGold Inc.) and Aussie Precious Metals Corp. properties, RooGold commands a portfolio of 13 high-grade potential gold (9) and silver (4) concessions covering 1,380 km2 which is home to 137 historic mines and prospects.

For further information please contact:

Michael Mulberry

T: 778-855-5001

info@roogoldinc.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur.

Although the Issuer believes that the expectations reflected in applicable forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in such statements.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: RooGold Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684755/RooGold-Closes-Second-Tranche-of-Private-Placement
BOCA RATON, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / MediXall Group Inc. (OTCQB:MDXL), an innovative healthcare solutions provider, announced today its wholly-owned subsidiary, Health Karma has expanded the Company's Partner Program with the addition of Gem State Financial, a leading Idaho-based General Agency. Gem State Financial selected Health Karma to help clients drive engagement, education and savings through a modern all-in-one consumer healthcare experience.

With over 60 agents, Gem State will now be able to offer virtual health benefits to their client's employees, regardless of if they are full time, part time or 1099. This will allow employees of all industries and pay grades to manage their health through access to a $0 copay virtual primary, urgent, and behavioral care. In addition, Health Karma provides its members significant discounts to prescriptions, dental care, eye care, hearing and medical equipment.

Serving employers in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, & Washington. Gem State Financial Group's mission is to provide clients with the products & services to help meet their situational needs and to develop a long-lasting relationship. Gem State Financial Group offers a wide spectrum of products and services, including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as final expense policies, disability income insurance, long term care insurance, estate planning, retirement strategies, and financial strategies.

"We are excited to be able to be able to offer another great solution to our product portfolio that will solve our clients needs" said Gem State Financial Group President Scott Leavitt, "Health Karma provides an affordable solution that was missing for part-time & temporary employees as well as a companion to those with a high deductible health insurance plan" Leavitt said.

"By partnering with Gem State Financial Group, Health Karma gains the extensive network and trust that Scott Leavitt and Gem State have built in multiple states and across all sizes of employer groups" said Health Karma CEO Travis Jackson.

For more information on Health Karma, visit their official website: www.healthkarma.org and follow @HealthKarmaApp on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. For more information on Gem State Financial Group, visitwww.gemstatefg.com.

About Health Karma, Inc.

Health Karma, a wholly owned subsidiary of MediXall Group, is a data-driven healthcare technology company whose mission is to continually raise the bar of the healthcare experience by empowering people to understand and manage their entire health care journey anywhere, anytime, whether they have insurance or not. For more information, please visit www.healthkarma.org.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. Specifically, the company's ability to raise additional capital, execute its business plan and strategy, sustain, or increase gross margins, achieve profitability, and build shareholder value are forward-looking statements. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether from new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact: Investor Relations, (954) 653-8216

Media Contact: Karla Hernandez, karlahernandez.transmediagroup@gmail.com, 561-750-9800

SOURCE: MediXall Group, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684754/Health-Karma-Expands-Its-Partner-Program-With-The-Addition-Of-Leading-General-Agency-Gem-State-Financial
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - Lions Bay Capital Inc. (TSXV: LBI) ("Lions Bay" or the "Company"), a Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listed company, announces they have received the accompanying technical report from SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd. ("SRK") on the results from the recent drilling program on the exploration licences (ELs) held by Savic Minerals Pty Ltd (Savic) within western Victoria, Australia. The Savic EL lies immediately adjacent to the recently announced Yellow Tail and Red Tail ionic rare earth elements (REE) discoveries of by Australian Rare Earths.

Lions Bay holds an option to enter into a joint venture agreement under which it can earn a 50 per cent interest in the Savic ELs by spending AUD $5 million (CAD $4.50 million) over 3 years. As part of the Company's due diligence, Lions Bay undertook a widely spaced aircore drilling program targeting extensions to AR3's Yellow Tail and Red Tail prospects within the Savic EL. The results of the drilling campaign confirm the REE mineralisation within the AR3 tenure extends into the Savic ELs. While full results are presented below, a highlight was a 1 metre intercept from 1 metre downhole depth in hole PD 11, which returned a grade of 2140 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide directly on strike from AR3's Red Tail deposit.

The Executive Chairman of LBI, Mr. John Byrne commented: "These latest results are very encouraging for both ourselves and our partners, Savic Pty Ltd. which is a private Australian company."

LBI is an investment company and while the board remains open to changing the company status from an investment company to a mining company, it remains focused on delivering on its original plan of creating shareholder value through strategic investments in the mineral resource arena. A part of our business is to seed investments in companies that wish to go public and hopefully realise on profits enjoyed by founders of such enterprises.

The following is the full report received from SRK.

Introduction

In October 2021, SRK undertook an initial, scout phase of aircore exploration drilling in Savic'sEL6968 within western Victoria, Australia. This work was conducted on behalf of Savic's joint venture partner, Pan Andean Capital Pty Ltd, an Australian subsidiary of Lion's Bay. The focus of this exploration work was targeting ion absorption clay hosted (REE mineralisation interpreted to be continuous eastward from AR3's immediately adjacent Koppamurra Project prospects (Yellow Tail and Red Tail) (Morgan, 2021) (Figure 1).

Aircore drilling was conducted by Indicator Drilling (Indicator) with a total of 18 holes completed on a spacing of approximately 1km. A total of 130 samples were submitted to assay to the Bureau Veritas Laboratory (Bureau Veritas) in Perth, Western Australia in November 2021.

Assay results from this drilling program were received on the 18th of January 2022 from Bureau Veritas. These results successfully confirmed the continuity of REE mineralisation within the Savic EL.

Summary of Results

The EL6968 drill program was designed to investigate the continuity of REE mineralisation hosted within clays of the Bookpurnong Formation immediately above the Gambier Limestone within the Murray Basin. Mineralisation was interpreted by Savic to be continuous along a southeastwardly trend from the AR3's Koppamurra Project, parallel to the trend of the Kanowinka Fault (Figure 1).

A preliminary, wide spaced (approximately 1km) scout program of 18 holes carried out along the western margin of EL6968 to test this potential extension of REE mineralisation from the adjacent Koppamurra Project (Figure 1). A total of 342m were drilled during this program with drilling terminating at or within the Gambier Limestone, which is interpreted as the geological sequence onto which the clay hosted REE mineralisation has deposited. All holes were sampled on 1m intervals and analysed using an Olympus Vanta portable x-ray fluorescence device (pXRF). Based on pXRF results a total of 130 samples were selected for assay at Bureau Veritas laboratory in Perth.

Assay results from the program have confirmed the presence of REE mineralisation hosted within clays immediately above the Gambier Limestone, interpreted to correlate with the mineralised clays observed within ARE's Koppamurra Project. Preliminary interpretations correlate these clays as equivalents of the Bookpurnong Formation. A summary of the REE assay results converted to oxide values are presented in Table 1 below. Results show elevated Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) contents above 700ppm from seven holes and TREO values above 1,000ppm within four holes (holes PD003, PD004, PD007 and PD011). The highest results recorded were within hole PD011 which returned 2,140ppm from 1 to 2m depth and 1,021ppm from 2 to 3m depth highlighting shallow levels of this mineralisation and a thickness of 2m greater than 1000ppm TREO with an average of 1,580ppm across this interval.

Best results were found directly along strike of AR3's Yellow Tail and Red Tail prospect areas, particularly west of Yellow Tail (Figure 1). These results are encouraging especially given the wide spaced nature of the drilling completed to date. SRK recommends further drilling to delineate the extents of the mineralisation within EL6968, as well as infilling the known mineralised areas to fully understand the continuity and thickness of this mineralisation.

Figure 1: Drill hole locations with best TREO assay results from the preliminary scout drill program within EL6968

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1691/110977_bcb5c378c472da22_002full.jpg

Table 1: Results from assayed samples within EL6968

Hole ID Sample ID From To Lithology CeO2 ppm Dy2O3 ppm Er2O3 ppm Eu2O3 ppm Gd2O3 ppm HO2O3 ppm La2O3 ppm Lu2O3 ppm Nd2O3 ppm Pr2O3 ppm Sc2O3 ppm Sm2O3 ppm Tb2O3 ppm Tm2O3 ppm Y2O3 ppm Yb2O3 ppm TREO ppm PD001 PD111 10 11 Clay 299.73 20.66 11.24 6.09 24.67 4.01 105.43 1.25 120.14 28.79 11.04 25.28 3.66 1.54 120.51 8.81 792.86 PD001 PD112 11 12 Clay 103.68 7.87 4.43 2.33 10.00 1.68 41.75 0.48 46.19 10.80 7.21 9.66 1.47 0.61 52.57 3.45 304.18 PD001 PD113 12 13 Limestone 45.21 4.41 2.50 1.12 4.97 0.93 20.29 0.30 22.16 5.24 5.06 4.71 0.74 0.35 30.35 2.08 150.42 PD001 PD114 13 14 Limestone 25.18 2.27 1.23 0.53 2.60 0.46 12.20 0.16 12.60 3.02 4.14 2.64 0.41 0.18 16.38 1.06 85.08 PD002 PD216 15 16 Clay 286.22 29.50 16.01 7.16 34.81 6.06 145.43 1.60 144.63 35.69 10.89 28.76 5.12 2.06 217.15 11.50 982.58 PD002 PD217 16 17 Limestone 22.85 2.36 1.35 0.60 2.62 0.49 12.43 0.16 11.90 2.77 3.07 2.42 0.40 0.18 19.94 1.01 84.56 PD002 PD218 17 18 Limestone 49.26 4.38 2.49 1.22 4.58 0.96 22.99 0.32 24.03 6.07 7.21 4.39 0.84 0.34 31.62 1.92 162.63 PD003 PD314 13 14 Clay 297.27 31.10 17.04 8.83 37.69 6.29 216.97 1.89 201.79 49.97 15.95 38.27 5.42 2.36 203.18 13.66 1,147.69 PD003 PD316 15 16 Clay 283.76 16.18 7.58 5.97 23.05 2.89 131.35 0.86 146.97 36.75 12.27 27.71 3.04 1.06 85.85 6.18 791.48 PD003 PD317 16 17 Limestone 48.64 3.75 1.96 1.00 4.50 0.71 24.98 0.25 25.19 6.35 6.14 5.00 0.61 0.29 27.05 1.73 158.14 PD004 PD401 0 1 Clay 40.41 3.12 1.99 0.80 3.25 0.69 18.18 0.32 19.25 4.82 18.87 3.88 0.56 0.31 19.05 2.03 137.52 PD004 PD402 1 2 Clay 62.77 3.39 2.30 0.82 3.16 0.72 19.82 0.40 18.08 4.70 22.09 3.70 0.58 0.38 20.57 2.62 166.09 PD004 PD411 10 11 Sand 156.01 7.40 3.66 2.78 9.60 1.39 45.27 0.48 59.95 14.75 4.45 12.41 1.45 0.56 30.48 3.64 354.27 PD004 PD412 11 12 Sand 79.72 7.32 4.60 1.74 8.08 1.65 35.77 0.51 34.99 9.00 8.59 7.39 1.24 0.64 54.99 3.75 259.97 PD004 PD413 12 13 Limestone 14.37 1.30 0.89 0.32 1.58 0.30 8.28 0.09 7.81 1.91 2.45 1.65 0.28 0.11 12.83 0.60 54.78 PD004 PD414 13 14 Limestone 16.83 1.73 0.83 0.49 1.94 0.34 9.07 0.11 8.42 2.13 3.37 1.67 0.25 0.13 13.71 0.73 61.76 PD004 PD415 14 15 Limestone 18.30 1.68 0.88 0.43 1.74 0.36 9.02 0.11 8.64 2.18 2.45 1.58 0.28 0.14 11.94 0.87 60.58 PD005 PD501 0 1 Clay 57.37 3.93 2.29 0.96 4.02 0.71 22.87 0.28 22.51 5.50 13.96 4.45 0.67 0.37 21.97 2.38 164.23 PD005 PD506 5 6 Sand 136.35 4.38 2.38 1.32 4.92 0.87 32.60 0.34 30.09 8.67 14.88 6.25 0.78 0.38 23.11 2.48 269.82 PD005 PD507 6 7 Clay 330.44 26.97 15.32 7.33 30.08 5.49 155.98 1.72 155.13 38.74 20.40 30.73 4.78 2.12 166.36 12.30 1,003.89 PD005 PD508 7 8 Limestone 24.94 7.87 4.80 1.45 7.84 1.73 27.80 0.44 24.96 5.42 5.68 5.28 1.27 0.63 68.57 3.45 192.12 PD006 PD601 0 1 Clay 66.21 7.13 4.15 1.54 7.48 1.51 32.84 0.48 32.78 7.68 13.19 6.81 1.12 0.61 49.40 3.67 236.58 PD006 PD623 22 23 Clay 175.66 14.81 9.18 3.66 17.29 3.25 79.87 1.14 79.20 19.66 13.50 15.07 2.57 1.28 121.28 7.42 564.83 PD006 PD624 23 24 Clay 54.54 3.70 2.20 1.04 4.32 0.77 23.57 0.26 24.61 6.07 8.13 4.89 0.67 0.31 26.16 1.84 163.09 PD006 PD625 24 25 Clay 49.01 3.21 1.68 1.05 3.98 0.66 20.52 0.26 23.33 5.66 9.51 4.48 0.62 0.25 20.19 1.54 145.97 PD006 PD626 25 26 Clay 185.49 11.71 5.17 3.96 14.87 2.06 67.20 0.67 86.08 21.07 9.97 16.93 2.13 0.77 65.53 4.70 498.30 PD006 PD627 26 27 Clay 146.18 9.18 4.63 3.15 12.10 1.72 52.54 0.53 69.40 17.55 7.36 14.15 1.71 0.59 53.84 3.85 398.50 PD006 PD628 27 28 Clay 124.07 7.01 3.53 2.54 9.62 1.36 45.86 0.41 57.97 14.39 8.44 11.46 1.37 0.49 41.27 2.86 332.65 PD006 PD629 28 29 Clay 114.49 7.82 4.19 2.40 9.42 1.55 45.86 0.50 56.45 13.69 9.66 10.77 1.40 0.59 48.13 3.55 330.47 PD006 PD630 29 30 Clay 83.53 5.00 2.48 1.76 6.83 1.00 31.55 0.30 40.47 9.88 7.67 7.97 0.98 0.35 29.46 2.07 231.31 PD007 PD701 0 1 Clay 51.96 4.19 2.62 0.98 4.26 0.84 22.87 0.39 22.98 6.13 15.34 4.59 0.69 0.40 24.13 2.51 164.87 PD007 PD702 1 2 Clay 59.45 4.26 2.53 1.12 4.61 0.86 32.25 0.38 27.53 6.92 21.63 5.26 0.71 0.40 27.05 2.71 197.67 PD007 PD703 2 3 Clay 54.66 4.34 2.47 0.97 4.13 0.84 32.13 0.40 24.38 6.68 26.53 4.81 0.66 0.40 25.14 2.66 191.21 PD007 PD704 3 4 Sand 137.58 6.71 3.84 2.01 6.89 1.34 35.18 0.59 38.61 10.03 13.34 9.22 1.17 0.62 30.22 4.18 301.55 PD007 PD705 4 5 Clay 388.17 28.58 15.55 9.08 37.11 5.70 189.99 1.73 202.95 51.73 12.12 40.24 5.19 2.04 182.87 12.07 1,185.13 PD007 PD706 5 6 Limestone 124.07 8.55 4.97 2.76 10.75 1.81 56.29 0.57 59.14 14.63 5.83 11.54 1.59 0.67 60.19 3.79 367.15 PD007 PD707 6 7 Limestone 65.11 4.79 2.70 1.24 5.29 0.97 31.67 0.35 32.89 7.89 4.91 6.41 0.78 0.34 34.03 1.82 201.19 PD007 PD708 7 8 Limestone 34.27 2.56 1.22 0.80 3.14 0.50 17.12 0.17 17.73 4.32 3.07 3.37 0.45 0.17 18.79 1.02 108.72 PD008 PD801 0 1 Clay 38.69 3.05 1.91 0.78 3.33 0.66 20.41 0.28 19.83 4.79 9.05 3.68 0.58 0.30 21.97 1.86 131.16 PD008 PD802 1 2 Clay 62.03 4.75 2.97 1.42 5.94 1.01 26.39 0.34 31.73 7.79 13.96 6.22 0.81 0.43 29.33 2.63 197.75 PD008 PD803 2 3 Clay 49.26 3.31 1.91 0.79 3.08 0.63 22.75 0.27 20.88 5.45 19.17 3.84 0.45 0.29 20.45 1.75 154.27 PD008 PD804 3 4 Clay 48.28 4.35 2.97 0.76 4.05 0.95 26.97 0.50 22.74 5.92 20.09 4.45 0.66 0.47 28.70 3.10 174.97 PD008 PD805 4 5 Clay 62.28 4.09 2.71 0.68 3.75 0.85 28.97 0.43 22.16 6.00 17.95 4.74 0.63 0.43 25.40 2.92 183.99 PD008 PD815 14 15 Clay 135.12 10.33 6.17 2.80 12.33 2.37 73.65 0.78 60.30 16.97 9.82 13.22 1.90 0.85 55.11 4.83 406.56 PD008 PD816 15 16 Clay 99.75 8.56 4.92 2.21 9.69 1.84 49.14 0.59 46.31 11.47 15.18 9.21 1.44 0.70 62.61 4.05 327.67 PD008 PD817 16 17 Clay 91.15 7.41 4.16 1.85 8.69 1.51 40.81 0.48 40.36 9.97 14.26 8.62 1.22 0.61 57.27 3.68 292.05 PD008 PD818 17 18 Limestone 33.17 2.66 1.50 0.71 3.10 0.63 15.36 0.16 16.33 3.80 6.14 3.12 0.47 0.23 20.32 1.46 109.15 PD008 PD819 18 19 Limestone 12.06 1.18 0.58 0.35 1.18 0.23 6.72 0.07 6.51 1.56 2.30 1.24 0.18 0.08 8.99 0.49 43.72 PD009 PD905 4 5 Clay 41.52 4.01 2.39 0.91 3.92 0.78 22.75 0.33 21.58 5.25 14.72 4.45 0.64 0.34 22.86 2.06 148.53 PD009 PD906 5 6 Clay 73.95 6.69 3.38 1.78 6.79 1.19 39.17 0.42 38.72 9.75 22.09 7.87 1.17 0.51 36.07 3.19 252.76 PD009 PD907 6 7 Clay 90.16 8.33 4.70 2.35 8.99 1.67 47.85 0.63 46.89 11.94 30.37 10.68 1.46 0.69 44.57 4.11 315.39 PD009 PD908 7 8 Clay 137.58 17.45 9.39 4.84 18.33 3.40 51.72 1.22 81.76 18.72 35.89 21.10 3.00 1.38 83.05 8.53 497.37 PD009 PD909 8 9 Clay 254.28 12.28 6.80 3.57 13.83 2.42 53.60 0.78 73.25 17.79 35.74 15.42 2.12 0.97 68.07 5.83 566.74 PD009 PD910 9 10 Clay 219.88 11.16 6.09 3.46 14.18 2.30 83.39 0.66 81.41 20.71 24.54 15.31 2.05 0.87 75.05 5.09 566.16 PD009 PD911 10 11 Limestone 49.14 3.70 1.94 1.17 4.26 0.78 23.93 0.22 25.43 6.31 9.51 4.96 0.64 0.27 22.10 1.65 156.00 PD009 PD912 11 12 Limestone 37.34 2.48 1.40 0.82 3.23 0.52 18.41 0.14 19.71 4.97 8.28 3.66 0.49 0.19 15.11 1.12 117.88 PD009 PD913 12 13 Limestone 30.83 2.00 1.01 0.63 2.36 0.39 14.07 0.11 15.16 3.82 5.98 2.92 0.35 0.14 11.56 0.87 92.19 PD009 PD914 13 14 Limestone 31.20 1.96 0.98 0.71 2.27 0.40 14.07 0.09 15.28 3.97 5.98 2.75 0.36 0.14 11.56 0.76 92.48 PD009 PD915 14 15 Limestone 30.34 1.82 1.07 0.71 2.46 0.33 14.19 0.09 15.51 3.92 6.14 3.27 0.36 0.14 11.58 0.73 92.66 PD009 PD916 15 16 Limestone 32.55 2.04 1.06 0.65 2.52 0.37 14.31 0.14 15.51 4.24 5.83 3.15 0.39 0.15 11.99 0.81 95.71 PD009 PD917 16 17 Limestone 31.08 1.91 0.88 0.74 2.10 0.36 13.25 0.10 15.28 3.76 5.68 2.96 0.33 0.13 10.79 0.73 90.06 PD010 PD1001 0 1 Other 63.88 8.56 4.63 2.67 10.70 1.74 72.01 0.48 64.50 15.80 11.04 11.83 1.51 0.63 69.21 3.55 342.74 PD010 PD1002 1 2 Clay 100.61 6.75 3.64 1.92 8.10 1.36 37.30 0.41 39.42 9.54 16.41 8.26 1.23 0.54 42.92 3.33 281.73 PD010 PD1003 2 3 Clay 83.04 5.78 3.14 1.66 6.64 1.20 34.48 0.39 35.69 9.14 14.72 7.29 1.08 0.46 36.32 2.71 243.75 PD010 PD1004 3 4 Limestone 14.99 1.39 0.65 0.44 1.67 0.26 8.78 0.09 9.38 2.18 3.99 2.01 0.25 0.10 9.73 0.61 56.52 PD010 PD1005 4 5 Limestone 17.20 1.65 0.96 0.51 1.86 0.32 9.08 0.10 10.00 2.39 4.14 2.05 0.29 0.13 11.12 0.74 62.53 PD010 PD1006 5 6 Limestone 18.67 1.66 0.87 0.53 2.10 0.36 10.66 0.09 11.90 2.95 3.99 2.20 0.30 0.11 10.41 0.66 67.47 PD010 PD1007 6 7 Limestone 16.71 1.43 0.64 0.54 1.73 0.27 9.12 0.09 10.36 2.52 4.29 1.86 0.25 0.10 8.36 0.69 58.97 PD010 PD1008 7 8 Limestone 22.23 1.63 0.85 0.51 1.82 0.33 10.34 0.11 11.90 2.94 5.52 2.40 0.31 0.13 8.99 0.72 70.73 PD011 PD1101 0 1 Clay 55.89 4.06 2.42 1.02 4.24 0.84 20.88 0.32 21.23 5.37 26.23 4.58 0.64 0.38 21.08 2.38 171.56 PD011 PD1102 1 2 Clay 719.84 60.60 32.13 18.29 71.12 11.80 294.37 3.46 398.91 97.02 32.06 81.40 10.68 4.56 276.84 26.99 2,140.06 PD011 PD1103 2 3 Clay 228.48 28.23 14.52 9.08 36.88 5.62 193.51 1.51 213.45 52.55 24.69 39.54 5.10 1.92 156.20 10.54 1,021.84 PD011 PD1104 3 4 Limestone 71.00 9.77 4.72 2.48 11.09 1.91 46.09 0.45 52.49 12.05 10.28 10.92 1.73 0.63 64.13 3.46 303.20 PD012 PD1210 9 10 Clay 77.63 4.33 2.31 1.35 5.12 0.95 34.25 0.30 31.38 8.36 11.81 5.79 0.81 0.38 27.30 2.49 214.54 PD012 PD1211 10 11 Limestone 32.68 2.87 1.67 0.74 2.97 0.64 19.47 0.16 18.66 4.63 5.83 3.84 0.46 0.23 21.59 1.36 117.79 PD012 PD1212 11 12 Limestone 37.10 3.04 1.19 0.86 3.62 0.56 19.47 0.19 21.35 5.22 7.82 4.26 0.54 0.18 19.18 1.16 125.73 PD012 PD1213 12 13 Limestone 31.20 2.24 1.25 0.73 2.48 0.45 14.31 0.13 16.91 4.14 6.90 3.14 0.44 0.17 13.46 0.93 98.88 PD012 PD1214 13 14 Limestone 38.08 2.71 1.52 0.80 3.04 0.56 16.18 0.17 18.66 4.55 10.12 3.57 0.48 0.22 13.71 1.29 115.68 PD012 PD1215 14 15 Limestone 40.78 3.14 1.56 0.86 3.46 0.61 18.65 0.22 21.35 5.22 9.05 4.43 0.54 0.23 16.00 1.38 127.46 PD012 PD1216 15 16 Limestone 35.26 2.63 1.46 0.78 2.69 0.52 15.83 0.16 18.31 4.38 7.52 3.33 0.45 0.21 14.60 1.16 109.27 PD013 PD1303 2 3 Clay 318.16 25.13 13.15 6.72 26.74 4.96 86.32 1.59 121.31 28.67 32.98 28.76 4.22 1.93 140.96 11.84 853.44 PD013 PD1304 3 4 Limestone 85.50 9.30 5.15 3.25 13.25 2.05 75.76 0.56 78.62 18.61 9.66 14.73 1.65 0.70 90.29 3.88 412.95 PD013 PD1305 4 5 Limestone 32.31 3.76 2.04 1.20 4.46 0.71 25.22 0.25 28.93 6.79 5.68 5.16 0.63 0.27 31.87 1.54 150.82 PD013 PD1306 5 6 Limestone 27.88 2.72 1.48 0.89 3.35 0.53 17.47 0.17 19.48 4.65 5.06 3.73 0.41 0.21 23.49 1.24 112.77 PD013 PD1307 6 7 Limestone 24.94 2.67 1.54 0.76 3.04 0.61 14.54 0.19 16.80 3.97 4.45 3.15 0.46 0.22 25.78 1.23 104.36 PD013 PD1308 7 8 Limestone 29.36 2.79 1.70 0.74 3.27 0.61 16.18 0.20 17.96 4.38 5.21 3.61 0.48 0.24 26.54 1.40 114.69 PD013 PD1309 8 9 Limestone 29.60 2.61 1.37 0.83 3.30 0.50 16.30 0.17 18.66 4.40 5.37 3.68 0.45 0.19 21.72 1.20 110.35 PD013 PD1310 9 10 Limestone 28.38 2.41 1.32 0.79 2.88 0.45 15.01 0.15 17.15 3.97 4.75 3.20 0.38 0.18 17.65 1.08 99.74 PD013 PD1311 10 11 Limestone 34.03 2.46 1.38 0.76 3.38 0.54 16.54 0.17 18.20 4.38 5.68 3.70 0.48 0.18 18.67 0.99 111.52 PD014 PD1401 0 1 Clay 86.85 6.03 3.59 1.90 7.62 1.33 33.19 0.47 40.12 9.68 10.74 8.09 1.07 0.49 41.78 2.74 255.69 PD014 PD1425 24 25 Clay 131.44 10.21 5.48 2.47 12.45 2.02 68.26 0.78 69.98 17.20 9.20 14.03 1.86 0.82 52.95 5.20 404.37 PD014 PD1426 25 26 Clay 76.28 6.46 3.97 1.46 7.27 1.32 37.88 0.49 38.37 9.30 5.21 8.05 1.04 0.59 40.13 3.67 241.50 PD014 PD1428 27 28 Clay 51.96 4.37 2.16 1.20 4.48 0.82 24.04 0.30 24.14 5.92 7.21 4.85 0.73 0.33 25.91 2.12 160.55 PD014 PD1429 28 29 Mudstone 41.03 2.71 1.48 0.75 3.20 0.52 17.71 0.20 17.96 4.46 7.36 3.68 0.46 0.22 16.00 1.34 119.08 PD014 PD1430 29 30 Mudstone 36.61 2.56 1.38 0.69 2.94 0.54 16.42 0.18 16.91 4.35 6.44 3.46 0.45 0.19 15.87 1.25 110.26 PD014 PD1431 30 31 Mudstone 38.94 2.51 1.50 0.71 2.89 0.50 16.89 0.18 17.03 4.22 7.98 3.48 0.43 0.22 15.37 1.29 114.13 PD014 PD1432 31 32 Mudstone 38.08 2.51 1.41 0.72 2.95 0.49 16.89 0.18 16.80 4.49 7.82 3.54 0.45 0.19 14.48 1.13 112.13 PD015 PD1501 0 1 Sand 12.65 1.08 0.64 0.21 0.98 0.23 5.76 0.10 5.61 1.43 0.77 1.03 0.15 0.10 6.53 0.68 37.95 PD015 PD1502 1 2 Sand 8.55 0.75 0.37 0.09 0.60 0.13 4.37 0.08 3.53 0.91 0.46 0.70 0.13 0.07 4.57 0.52 25.83 PD015 PD1525 24 25 Limestone 35.99 3.39 2.05 0.89 3.94 0.74 16.54 0.28 18.08 4.40 3.37 4.02 0.59 0.31 23.37 1.92 119.89 PD015 PD1526 25 26 Limestone 32.80 3.14 1.77 0.81 3.43 0.66 14.89 0.20 16.56 4.04 2.61 3.75 0.54 0.25 19.30 1.55 106.32 PD016 PD1627 26 27 Sand 95.32 9.98 5.31 2.67 11.76 1.97 40.46 0.61 54.00 12.29 9.51 11.51 1.73 0.73 64.64 4.26 326.76 PD016 PD1628 27 28 Clay 66.82 6.94 3.61 1.81 7.98 1.31 28.50 0.41 36.16 8.36 5.98 7.42 1.24 0.54 43.43 3.29 223.80 PD016 PD1629 28 29 Clay 39.55 3.65 2.10 1.02 4.37 0.73 17.59 0.23 20.18 4.77 4.29 3.97 0.64 0.31 22.60 1.87 127.89 PD016 PD1632 31 32 Clay 49.38 4.42 2.81 1.04 5.04 0.93 22.17 0.39 23.56 5.93 7.82 4.72 0.67 0.42 37.72 2.69 169.70 PD016 PD1633 32 33 Clay 39.68 2.78 1.54 0.86 3.19 0.54 17.12 0.23 16.56 4.55 8.59 3.35 0.45 0.23 17.40 1.38 118.45 PD016 PD1635 34 35 Clay 35.26 2.38 1.38 0.61 2.58 0.42 14.89 0.16 14.00 3.77 8.13 2.64 0.36 0.18 12.95 1.04 100.75 PD016 PD1636 35 36 Limestone 38.69 2.24 1.33 0.79 2.43 0.46 16.42 0.18 15.28 4.13 10.58 3.32 0.40 0.19 13.46 1.13 111.03 PD016 PD1637 36 37 Limestone 41.40 2.34 1.25 0.81 2.84 0.52 17.36 0.17 16.56 4.52 10.58 3.65 0.38 0.19 14.10 1.30 117.96 PD017 PD1701 0 1 Sand 29.36 2.07 1.51 0.56 2.41 0.47 12.67 0.25 13.88 3.56 6.75 2.75 0.37 0.23 14.22 1.50 92.54 PD017 PD1723 22 23 Clay 101.22 7.15 4.47 2.15 7.94 1.47 45.27 0.57 41.99 10.65 16.26 8.67 1.27 0.63 46.22 3.71 299.64 PD017 PD1724 23 24 Clay 39.06 2.51 1.44 0.75 2.88 0.53 16.89 0.18 16.91 4.34 4.45 3.48 0.44 0.22 14.98 1.33 110.40 PD017 PD1725 24 25 Clay 38.33 2.40 1.46 0.81 2.95 0.47 16.07 0.17 16.91 4.39 4.91 3.40 0.44 0.21 14.48 1.21 108.59 PD017 PD1726 25 26 Clay 83.16 5.99 3.51 1.53 6.55 1.16 36.71 0.49 37.09 9.25 12.88 7.44 1.02 0.48 36.19 2.80 246.26 PD018 PD1820 19 20 Clay 162.15 11.43 6.43 2.94 13.02 2.35 66.26 0.92 73.83 18.26 17.79 15.89 2.04 0.99 56.89 6.41 457.61 PD018 PD1823 22 23 Clay 158.46 13.20 7.63 3.54 14.98 2.75 62.86 0.94 72.08 17.91 22.70 15.42 2.39 1.07 80.51 6.32 482.78 PD018 PD1826 25 26 Clay 51.96 3.72 2.24 0.91 4.14 0.73 20.76 0.23 22.74 5.52 6.60 4.88 0.68 0.30 22.60 1.63 149.65 PD018 PD1827 26 27 Clay 45.57 3.44 2.17 0.82 3.34 0.68 18.88 0.24 20.06 4.90 8.44 4.16 0.59 0.27 20.19 1.46 135.23 PD018 PD1828 27 28 Clay 45.21 3.01 1.62 0.87 3.53 0.62 19.23 0.20 19.48 4.72 9.66 4.09 0.55 0.23 18.29 1.31 132.62 PD018 PD1829 28 29 Clay 40.54 2.73 1.66 0.79 2.58 0.56 17.59 0.23 16.45 4.40 9.36 3.63 0.44 0.24 15.87 1.41 118.47 PD018 PD1830 29 30 Clay 40.91 2.66 1.65 0.71 2.47 0.53 18.06 0.18 16.68 4.45 11.20 3.18 0.41 0.24 15.75 1.40 120.46 PD018 PD1831 30 31 Clay 41.03 2.50 1.51 0.75 3.01 0.48 17.71 0.17 17.15 4.47 8.74 3.34 0.48 0.22 15.49 1.37 118.42 PD018 PD1832 31 32 Clay 41.27 2.40 1.51 0.73 2.77 0.56 18.06 0.22 17.61 4.55 11.04 3.55 0.43 0.23 16.00 1.43 122.36 PD018 PD1833 32 33 Clay 36.97 2.43 1.41 0.66 2.62 0.50 15.95 0.22 14.81 4.08 10.58 2.75 0.46 0.21 14.35 1.26 109.27 PD018 PD1834 33 34 Clay 39.55 2.16 1.56 0.65 2.70 0.50 17.59 0.20 15.86 4.17 9.66 3.63 0.41 0.22 14.35 1.29 114.50 PD018 PD1835 34 35 Clay 36.24 2.22 1.48 0.76 2.69 0.45 16.07 0.15 15.16 3.90 8.59 3.01 0.35 0.19 13.71 1.07 106.03 PD018 PD1836 35 36 Clay 36.73 2.46 1.53 0.60 2.77 0.47 15.95 0.17 16.68 4.05 9.82 2.68 0.40 0.19 13.33 1.01 108.84 PD018 PD1837 36 37 Clay 39.06 2.41 1.43 0.67 2.90 0.47 17.12 0.18 15.51 4.05 9.20 3.25 0.43 0.19 14.60 1.09 112.58 PD018 PD1838 37 38 Clay 38.57 2.33 1.40 0.79 2.51 0.47 16.65 0.19 15.86 4.12 8.90 3.13 0.38 0.21 13.59 1.21 110.30

Conclusions

Results from Savic's preliminary drilling program within EL6968 have successfully confirmed the presence of REE mineralisation within the interpreted Bookpurnong Formation of the Murray Basin. This mineralisation is interpreted to represent a continuation of the mineralised clays observed within AR3's Koppamurra Project located immediately adjacent and to the west of EL6968. Whilst Savic's exploration work is early-stage, scout drilling, these results provide encouragement for the delineation of REE mineralisation within the licence area. Additional exploration drilling is recommended to define the extents of this mineralisation.

SRK's geologist, Ben Jupp B.Sc.(Hons), MAIG, is a Qualified Person in the context of National Instrument 43-101, and has read and approved the technical content of this News Release.

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For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.lionsbaycapital.com or contact the above.

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Disclaimer & Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future events or future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of terminology such as "may", "should", "intend", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "project", "predict", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. This news release may also contain inferences to future oriented financial information ("FOFI") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The information in this news release has been prepared by our management to provide readers with an outlook for our future activities.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110977
Four new PV developments have been announced this week, adding to a growing list of renewable energy projects in the coal-dependent Eastern European country.Poland is seeing an increasing number of unsubsidized solar projects as it moves in leaps and bounds towards a target of 7.8GW of solar capacity this decade, as outlined in its National Plan for Energy and Climate. With the country backing solar through an auction scheme and incentives for rooftop PV, this week also brought a few new subsidy-free announcements. Swiss energy company Axpo has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the electricity ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Egyptian President Abdel Fatah ElSisi attended the main session titled 'From Glasgow to Sharm El Sheikh: Combating Climate Change' during the second-day activities of the World Youth Forum, which was held last week in the resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, under the slogan 'Back Together'. The session was attended by a host of speakers, topped by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Director of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Nasr, Strategic Advisor on Climate Change and Head of the Climate Promise at the UN Development Programme Cassie Flynn, Director of Climate Change and Environment at the C12 Consultants Akeel Hajat, and CEO and Co-Founder of Hawa Dawa Karim Tarraf.

Also taking part in the session as speakers, via the forum's interactive platform, were First US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and former secretary of state John Kerry, the UK government's COP26 Envoy John Murton, Global Director Child Poverty, Climate and Urban at the Save the Children International Yolande Wright, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program Inger Andersen, the ICRC's Near and Middle East Regional Director Fabrizio Carboni, and CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir.

Speaking at the session, Madbouly reviewed Egypt's efforts in combating the negative impacts of climate change. He started his speech by praising the fourth edition of the forum, describing it as a platform for discussing critical human issues. The premier went on to say that climate change has undoubtedly become the world's most critical issue on all levels, and the entire world needs to deal with it decisively and speedily to be able to overcome this challenge in the coming period. He pointed out that this issue should have been dealt with seriously when experts warned of its hazards 15 to 20 years ago. At that time, many considered such warnings as speculative or pessimistic, while the optimists thought that the effects of climate change would not be an issue during their lifetimes.

"During my 10-second speech at the session, more than 10,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere, which are equivalent to the weight of 170,000 people," the PM said, adding that the excessive carbon dioxide emissions have caused a rise in sea level and an increase in the average temperature of the Earth, in addition to other climatic phenomena. He added that 10 major disasters took place globally in 2021, causing losses of over $70 billion. He affirmed that the issue of climate change threatens the lives of all humans.

The PM noted that there are other issues affecting climate change, such as adaptation and insufficient funding. Therefore, he affirmed the importance of developing a follow-up and evaluation mechanism. Madbouly pointed out that the world incurred $3.6 trillion in losses in recent years as a result of climate change, and that the funds spent on addressing climate change will reach $500 billion annually.

Madbouly warned that nearly 352 million people are expected to suffer from extreme poverty as a result of climate change, and 216 million others will be forced to migrate domestically because of climate change, desertification and other issues that may be exacerbated due to climate change. Therefore, the PM called for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement, pointing out that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stressed the importance of applying this agreement as well. However, the premier indicated that the Paris Agreement alone is not enough, so the COP27 conference, to be hosted by Egypt later this year, will be of great importance because it will tackle ways to develop legal frameworks to reduce emissions.

The prime minister went on to say that global disasters took place in 2021, causing losses worth $170 billion. He added that the death toll from high temperature has recently increased to 300,000 deaths annually, and it is expected to increase to 1 million deaths in the near future.

Speaking about efforts taken by Egypt to combat climate change, the prime minister made it clear that Egypt is one of the countries most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, although its responsibility for this issue is very limited. He affirmed that Egypt has the largest resources of new and renewable energy, and it will soon be one of the five largest countries producing renewable energy in the Middle East and Africa.

The PM talked about a project to develop Egypt's lakes, which had been neglected for hundreds of years, causing their sizes to shrink. He also spoke of a project to revamp Lake Manzala at a cost of $2 billion, as well as the Benban Solar Park, which is one of the best projects globally. The premier reviewed another project to deliver natural gas to all homes across the nation to replace traditional energy."During the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP27, which will be held at the end of this year in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt will focus on the impact of climate change on the African continent," the PM pointed out, adding that African countries will make their requests at the conference to keep pace with the latest developments in this field. He indicated that Egypt also aims to develop its research centers, distribute specialized awards for green projects, and support the role of youth in facing climate change. He stressed that all change comes from unconventional ideas, and Egypt encourages young people to develop and implement innovative solutions.

About WYF

The World Youth Forum (WYF) is an annual event that takes place in the City of Sharm El-Sheikh in South Sinai, under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah AlSisi. Three editions of WYF were launched over the three years 2017, 2018, and 2019. WYF aims to bring together young people from across the world, enabling them to engage in discussions on development issues, and send a message of peace from Egypt to the world. The UN Committee on Social Development has adopted WYF, with its past three editions, as an international platform to discuss youth issues and causes.

For more information about the World Youth Forum, please contact communication@wyfegypt.com

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TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / GlobeX Data Ltd. (OTCQB:SWISF)(CSE:SWIS)(FRA:GDT) ("GlobeX" or the "Company"), the leader in Swiss hosted secure communications and secure data management, is pleased to announce that, as part of its US mass marketing strategy to bring awareness to GlobeX Data's Sekur solution, it is sponsoring over 160 YouTube episodes of The Epoch Times with hosts Roman Balmakov, and Joshua Philipp, in addition to sponsorships of the Spanish language episodes of "China En Foco" hosted by Julian Bertone. The sponsorship is part of a blended branding and marketing budget of US$2,200,000 (CA$2,750,000) for the fiscal year 2022.

The sponsored ads describe Sekur 's attributes as the leading Swiss hosted Privacy and Security communications application, such as encrypted email and secure messaging, without any data mining, including Sekur 's unique proprietary feature called Chats-by-invites, letting a Sekur user message a non-Sekur user, without the recipient having to download Sekur, and Sekur's SekurSend and SekurReply technology, letting a Sekur user email a non Sekur users round trip without the recipient having to register for Sekur, and without the recipient's ISP being able to read the email received.

The sponsored programs continuing are, Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov, Crossroads with Joshua Philipp and China En Foco with Julian Bertone. Additionally, followers will benefit from a 25% discount Promo code for the first 5 years of subscription to Sekur at the time of signup.

About the programs, according to The Epoch Times:

Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov

As America moves into uncharted waters, it's incredibly important for people to have an honest source of news because right now, what this republic needs more than anything else, are informed citizens who are grounded in facts. Facts Matter investigates complex issues, and then presents the findings in a way that is easy to understand. Facts Matter has 737K subscribers and has gained over 26,143,192 video views since the channel being established on YouTube Nov 2020.

Crossroads with Joshua Philipp

Crossroads is a channel from The Epoch Times. Joshua Philipp is an award-winning investigative reporter, and an expert on issues including ideological subversion, front operations, disinformation, unrestricted warfare, cyber security and the historical roots of issues seen on the surface of today's politics and culture. Crossroads has 616K subscribers and has gained over 74,716,420 video views since the channel being established on YouTube in Mar 2019.

According to The Epoch Times , The Epoch Times has received numerous awards for our reporting and design, including from the New York Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society for News Design. The Epoch Times national print readership is over 1 million, and theepochtimes.com website monthly pageviews is 110 million. The Epoch Times' media network currently covers 21 languages and 33 countries.

Alain Ghiai, CEO of GlobeX Data said: "We are excited to continue the sponsored YouTube episodes on The Epoch Times as we continue our marketing awareness program in the United States. The Epoch Times' target audience is a perfect match for Sekur and we look forward to gaining traction in subscribers from this media push. The results received in 2021 were very satisfactory, and we have decided to continue and increase the sponsorship program, as we believe that once we launch our new SekurMail application in late March, we anticipate a higher retention rate than what we have today. The Epoch Times' audience will come to know the many unique and critical features provided by Sekur , such as, Swiss hosted data privacy and security, and the right for consumers and businesses not to have their data mined by third party service providers or Big Tech companies. As we are not connected, and never have been connected, to AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud platforms, commonly referred to as "Big Tech", we can offer a truly independent, private and secure means of communications such as secure and private emails and instant messaging. We are looking forward to offer true data privacy and no data mining to all Americans and we look forward to tell our story on The Epoch Times network."

Sekur , which includes SekurMessenger as part of a bundle of email, messaging and file transfer into one app solutions, includes the Company's latest SekurMail technology, which includes proprietary anti-phishing and privacy feature called SekurSend. SekurSend lets a user send an email to any other recipient, whether they have Sekur or not, in full privacy and security as the email never leaves Sekur 's encrypted email servers based in Switzerland. The recipient can then click on the notification and reply in the same manner using SekurReply, without the recipient having to register for a Sekur account. The sender can also decide to protect any email sent by adding a password to open it, a read-limit and a self-destruct timer as well. Sending an email with the SekurSend feature allows the senders and recipients to add limitless size attachments to the emails without crowding the recipients' email box. This also eliminates BEC attacks for businesses and email phishing attacks. Additionally, SekurMail includes full control of email delivery, automatic data export for large Enterprises and an automatic Data Loss Prevention technology ("DLP") with real time continuous archiving.

Recent data breaches in messaging applications and in particular in the WhatsApp application have created a certain urgency for businesses and data privacy advocates to protect their communications form cyber-attacks and identity theft via mobile and desktop devices.

SekurMessenger eliminates many of the privacy and security risks by not only not requiring a phone number, which would divulge a user's phone device ID, but also by not social engineering a user's phone or computer contact list and infecting the contacts by default as well, eliminating a huge loophole in security and privacy. SekurMessenger issues each user a username and a SM number. The SM number is the contact ID a user would disclose in order for other SM users to be added. The service comes with a self-destruct timer and other features as well, including GlobeX's proprietary VirtualVaults and HeliX technologies with all data stored in Swiss hosted encrypted servers.

Additionally, SekurMessenger now comes with a proprietary feature and technology called Chat by Invites. This feature allows a SekurMessenger user ("SM user") invite a non-SM user, or a group of non-SM users, to chat in a fully private and secure way, without the recipient ever having to register to SekurMessenger or download the app. At the end of the chat, the initiator of the conversation can remotely terminate the conversation and all traces of the conversation are deleted from all users, including the recipient. This unique feature is now fully deployed and functional on all iOS and Android devices and web platforms. The target sectors are numerous, including but not limited to real estate, legal, financial, government, energy, mining, manufacturing, trade and medical sectors.

GlobeX's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

About GlobeX Data Ltd.

GlobeX Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers, secure communication tools, and secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery, document management, . GlobeX Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. GlobeX Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

On behalf of Management

GLOBEX DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@globexdatagroup.com

For more information, please contact GlobeX Data at corporate@globexdatagroup.com or visit us at https://globexdata.com .

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com .

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. GlobeX cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond GlobeX's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in GlobeX's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, GlobeX undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: GlobeX Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684768/GlobeX-Data-Extends-Sponsorship-of-The-Epoch-Times-YouTube-Programs--theeopchtimescom--Reaching-Over-135-million-Followers-of-Roman-Balmakov-and-Joshua-Philipp
SUVA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Samoa reported on Thursday 10 new COVID-19 cases.

According to Samoa Observer on Thursday, Samoa's National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) said that the 10 passengers returning on a Qantas charter flight from Australia's Brisbane to Samoa on Wednesday have tested positive for COVID-19.

Of the 10 positive cases in Samoa, the youngest is 11 months old with the oldest aged 63.

All 10 passengers, who are asymptomatic and are fully vaccinated, have been placed in an isolation unit at the National Hospital at Moto'otua and will be closely monitored.

The NEOC also confirmed that the incoming flight from New Zealand which was scheduled to arrive on Saturday has been cancelled until further notice.

This is the third time Samoa has recorded cases of people returning to the island nation returning positive tests for the virus, though this is the first time 10 travelers have returned positive test results.

Last month, Samoa recorded it's second positive case of COVID-19 when a 24-year-old who flew in on a flight from Fiji in December tested positive. He was discharged a few weeks ago.

In February last year, a young man on a repatriation flight from California, the United States and transiting via Auckland, New Zealand, tested positive for the virus, resulting in the first instance of the virus in the island nation. 


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The United States on Wednesday reported the highest single-day Covid death toll - 3810 - in nearly a year, taking the national total to 857,778.



The last time a higher number of Covid casualties reported in a day was on February 12, as per records maintained by the New York Times.



The rate of rise in Covid deaths in the country has increased to 42 percent in a fortnight.



As the delta and omicron variants continue to spread across the country, there is no let-up in the whopping number of new infections.



With 979920 new cases, the total number of people infected with coronavirus in the U.S. has risen to 68,569,958, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.



California reported the most number of cases - 1,09000 - on Wednesday, while Michigan led in casualties, 565.



Covid-related hospitalizations increased by 42 percent in two weeks, to 158,638.



43,892,277 people in the country have recovered from the disease so far.



As per the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 209,509,297 Americans, or 63.1 percent of the eligible population, have been administered both doses of Covid vaccine so far. This includes 88 percent of people above 65.



249,702,939 people, or more than 75 percent of the eligible population, have received the first dose.



More than 81 million people, or 39 percent of the eligible population, have already received a booster dose that is recommended to provide additional protection.



Addressing a news conference on the eve of the first anniversary of assuming presidency, President Joe Biden said his administration has no plans to go back to lockdowns. 'We're not going back to closing schools. Schools should stay open,' he told reporters.



Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said international travel bans that were introduced to stem the surge of the omicron variant proved ineffective.







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Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Global water technology company, Xylem (NYSE:XYL), announced today that almost 80 percent of its 16,000 employees volunteered their time to help solve urgent water challenges in 2021. Xylem's global team collectively donated 113,000 hours in their communities, across 55 countries.

The commitment of volunteer hours doubled from 2020 to 2021, despite the challenges of COVID-19. Xylem employees stepped up both in person, in their own communities, and virtually, finding new ways to make a difference. Initiatives included cleaning up waterways, supporting disaster response teams, and providing water education.

"Volunteering is one way we invest in our mission to solve the world's biggest water challenges," said Austin Alexander, Vice President of Sustainability and Social Impact at Xylem. "Our colleagues, customers and NGO partners showed real passion, last year doubling the number of hours they volunteered, compared with 2020. It was particularly encouraging to see this uplift in the face of COVID-19. They found so many creative ways to help communities become more resilient mentoring young people online, championing the efforts of our NGO partners, and supporting humanitarian relief efforts. It's just so inspiring to see the impact they've had."

Xylem's volunteering initiatives are part of its corporate social responsibility program, Xylem Watermark. Xylem provides 10 hours of time off annually for employees to volunteer, with some of the volunteers' efforts also contributing to Xylem's 2025 Sustainability Goals, which include: providing access to clean water and sanitation for at least 20 million people living at the base of the global economic pyramid; providing water and WASH (Water and Sanitation Hygiene) education for 15 million people; and giving 1% company profits to water-related causes and education around the world.

In 2021, Xylem Watermark volunteering included:

Xylem China's team supported communities in Henan and Shanxi Province affected by record-breaking floods, which affected millions of people and left many without access to safe or clean drinking water. The team set up a 24-hour contact center to support affected customers and assisted in the donation of pumps across the province to help discharge floodwater. In addition, Xylem's China team donated food and water to the affected communities.

Xylem employees joined relief efforts in western Germany last summer, when almost a quarter of people living on the River Ahr experienced severe flooding, and more than 3,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. Xylem employees took part in clean-up efforts, raised funds to support the evacuation of affected families, and distributed food and hygiene kits to emergency shelters.

Over 800 Xylem employees, customers and community members participated in "Aquaton," a month-long mileage challenge which raised funds for clean water access projects spanning seven countries in Latin America.

A diverse team of colleagues from South Africa, Europe and North America donated their engineering skills to support the work of Engineers Without Borders, rehabilitating WASH facilities at rural health clinics in Malawi.

About Xylem

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to solving critical water and infrastructure challenges with innovation. Our more than 16,000 diverse employees delivered revenue of $4.88 billion in 2020. We are creating a more sustainable world by enabling our customers to optimize water and resource management, and helping communities in more than 150 countries become water-secure. Join us at www.xylem.com.

About Xylem Watermark

Xylem Watermark, the Company's corporate citizenship program, was initiated in 2008, with a focus on protecting and providing safe water resources around the world and also educating people on water-related issues. The global initiative, which encompasses employee and stakeholder engagement, provides access to clean drinking water and sanitation, and humanitarian emergency response to help communities become more water-secure and sustainable.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005690/en/

Contacts:

Houston Spencer, Xylem

+1.914.240.3046

Houston.Spencer@xylem.com

Gill Curran, Edelman

+(353) 87 176 8124

Gill.Curran@edelman.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - StrategX Elements Corp. (CSE: STGX) ("StrategX" or the "Company"), is pleased to introduce the first of its properties located on the East Arm of the Great Slave Lake, 235km east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The 939 Cobalt project is a grassroots discovery made in 2018 through StrategX's generative efforts in the region. The Company is currently prioritizing targets to complete a 1st phase discovery drill program which will commence upon receiving permits.

Highlights

StrategX successfully listed on January 10th, 2022, and its shares are now trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol "STGX."

The 939 Cobalt property is a new and exciting discovery for the Company and the region. Link to Location & Infrastructure Map. https://www.strategxcorp.com/projects/project-939/location-infrastructure

The lake sediment samples up to 4,900 ppm cobalt are some of the highest results discovered in a freshwater environment in Canada.

Cobalt anomalies in lakes occur in an area covering approximately 25 km 2 .

The Company is focused on exploration discovery of energy transition metals critical to the development of a 'greener' economy. Cobalt continues to be in high demand and is an important element to the global supply chain related to the production of electric vehicles and other advanced technologies.

Discoveries of cobalt are rare and cobalt as a critical mineral is strategically important to the natural resources industry in Canada.

The 939 Cobalt property comprises 6,700 hectares of claims and includes a much larger prospecting permit area. Permits are different from claims in that they are less expensive to maintain and allow the operator several years to reduce and select the areas of interest. The Company's focus to date has been on its claims which center in an area known as Misty Lake located 18 km north of the East Arm of the Great Slave Lake.

StrategX completed a regional-scale surface sampling program including lake sediment, till and rock samples. Previous surface sampling programs were carried out by Kennecott during the 1990's and by the Geological Survey of Canada showing the presence of anomalous cobalt in lake sediment and till samples. StrategX's generative team focused on determining the source of these elevated cobalt values by prospecting up-ice from where the high cobalt samples were found. One of StrategX's initial lake sediment samples returned a very high value of 939 ppm cobalt (hence the project name). This led to identifying a large, km-scale target area in Misty Lake located approximately 5 km to the northeast of the 939 ppm cobalt anomaly. A property scale map of the cobalt anomalies can be viewed at this link: https://www.strategxcorp.com/projects/project-939/#939-property-maps

Assay results greater than 200 ppm cobalt in lake sediments is considered anomalous by industry standards, while >1,000 ppm is considered extremely high and not common. Exploration programs to date have returned numerous samples with values over 200 ppm cobalt. Sampling in Misty Lake returned numerous elevated values greater than 400 ppm up to 4,900 ppm cobalt defining a northeast-trending trench-like feature. Table 1 below shows the highest cobalt values in lake sediment samples returned to date. A detailed map of the Misty Lake cobalt target anomaly can be viewed at this link: https://www.strategxcorp.com/projects/project-939/misty-lake

Table 1 : 20 highest cobalt values from 122 lake sediment samples collected by StrategX on the 939 project

Claim Coordinates - NAD83 UTM ZONE 12 Cobalt ppm Northing Easting ML1 6993586 561121 4,900 ML1 6993620 561257 3,140 ML1 6993875 561479 2,520 ML1 6993539 561113 1,885 ML1 6993439 561141 1,850 ML1 6993779 561411 1,820 ML2 6993964 561823 1,640 ML1 6993699 561359 1,480 ML1 6993586 561253 1,095 ML3 6989164 560019 939 ML3 6990227 561528 941 ML1 6995276 560796 882 ML3 6990557 561815 850 ML1 6993654 561200 824 ML5 6988956 560184 806 ML1 6993439 561141 638 ML1 6993699 561359 610 ML4 6988926 557005 600 ML1 6993654 561200 534 ML2 6994115 562383 527

Rock sampling along the northwest shore of Misty Lake identified brecciated quartz-flooded boulders with trace amounts of pyrite returning assays up to 367 ppm cobalt. Bedrock showings on the shores of Misty Lake suggest a potential mineralized source northeast trending in Misty Lake, named the Trench Zone. Coarse rock chips anomalous in cobalt were pulled up from the bottom of the lake in this area; photos of this material can be viewed on the Company's project gallery site: https://www.strategxcorp.com/projects/project-939/gallery

Exploration plans

StrategX plans to expand on its previous exploration over the next few months at Misty Lake. This work will include utilizing innovative technologies to prioritize the location of drill holes for the first phase of discovery drilling. The Company has applied for a Land Use Permit for drilling in 2022.

Qualified Person & QA/QC

Lake sediment samples were initially taken from central areas in each lake on the project using a 1976 model GSC Lake Sampling Torpedo. Once Misty Lake and the Trench Zone were determined to be an area of interest, the Company used a larger sampling device called an Idaho Claw. In 2021 StrategX attempted to conduct a lake sediment sampling survey through the ice however the samples were too small for analysis.

Sediment samples from the 2018-2021 exploration programs on the 939 Cobalt project were flown directly from site to ALS Canada Ltd.'s preparatory laboratory in Yellowknife, NT. ALS Yellowknife prepares a pulp from each sample and sends the pulps directly to its analytical laboratory in North Vancouver, Canada for analysis. A QA/QC program was implemented at the laboratory by ALS by inserting standards and blanks into the sample stream. ALS Global is accredited in accordance with the recognized International Standard ISO/IEC 17025.

Lake sediment samples from 2018 were screened to -180um and both fractions saved. The samples were then analyzed using ALS's ME-MS41 Ultra Trace Aqua Regia ICP-MS for 71 elements. The sample preparation in 2019 included pulverizing up to 250g 85% < 75um and then split using a riffle splitter. Pulverizing QC Test were performed on every 20 samples. The pulverized material was then analyzed using ALS's ME-MS61 48 Element four acid ICP-MS.

The geological and technical data contained in this news release pertaining to the 939 Cobalt project was reviewed and approved by Freeman Smith, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration for StrategX, a "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About StrategX

StrategX, under the stock symbol "STGX," is a new Canadian-based exploration company poised to be a significant contributor in the natural resources sector and emerging low carbon economy. The Company is currently focused on the discovery of cobalt and other energy transition metals in northern Canada. The Company's property portfolio includes two new regional plays: Project 939 & EA South situated near the shores of the East Arm of the Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, and Project M on the Melville Peninsula, Nunavut, located close to tidewater.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Signature



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8512/110985_e767f95c649dc8ff_001full.jpg

Darren G. Bahre

CEO, President & Director

For further information, please contact:

StrategX Elements Corp.

Email: info@strategXcorp.com

Phone: 1-604-379-5515

For further information about the Company, please visit our website at www.strategXcorp.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulations services accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are not composed of historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. There are a number of important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. When relying on the Company's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include, among others, availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, delays in the development of projects, and ability to predict or counteract potential impact of COVID-19 coronavirus on factors relevant to the Company's business. Although the Company has tried to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110985
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / With the start of the new year, the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) welcomed credit unions from across British Columbia as participating firms, joining Alberta and Saskatchewan credit unions who have offered OBSI services to their members since the mid-2000s.

"We are pleased to have this opportunity to work with BC credit unions and their members, and to play an important role in helping them to resolve issues and move constructively past any disputes that may arise," said Sarah Bradley, Ombudsman and CEO, OBSI. "We have a strong history of working with the credit unions of Alberta and Saskatchewan and see the addition of BC credit unions as a very positive step towards our goal of offering fair effective and trusted dispute resolution services to consumers and firms across Canada."

With the addition of more than 35 BC credit unions, OBSI now offers services to approximately 100 credit unions from across Canada.

BC credit unions are joining OBSI in part to demonstrate their commitment to the important consumer protection provisions of the voluntary national market code of conduct for credit unions and new provisions in BC's Financial Institutions Act, that require BC's credit unions to be members of a prescribed organization that resolves disputes.

"We would like to thank the Canadian Credit Union Association (CCUA) for its leadership and support in helping to move this process forward and the BC credit unions who have entrusted OBSI with providing these vital services to their members," said Ms. Bradley. "We look forward to working more closely with them, the CCUA and British Columbia's Financial Services Authority, as we resolve disputes and ensure fair outcomes for both credit unions and their members in the province."

Most BC credit unions have joined OBSI effective January 2022, and all are expected to become participating firms no later than June 2022.

-30-

Canada's Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is a national, independent and not-for-profit organization that helps resolve and reduce disputes between consumers and financial services firms in both official languages. OBSI is responsive to consumer inquiries, conducts fair and accessible investigations of unresolved disputes, and shares its knowledge and expertise with the stakeholders and the public. If a consumer has a complaint against an OBSI participating bank or investment firm that they are not able to resolve with the bank or firm, OBSI will investigate at no cost to the consumer. Where a complaint has merit, OBSI may recommend compensation up to a maximum of $350,000.

For more information, contact:

Mark Wright, Director, Communications and Stakeholder Relations

416-287-2877 ext.2225

publicaffairs@obsi.ca

SOURCE: Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684770/BC-Credit-Unions-and-Their-Members-Gain-Access-to-OBSIs-Services
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - Bluesky Digital Assets Corp., (CSE: BTC), (CSE: BTC.PR.A), (OTCQB: BTCWF), ("Bluesky" or the "Corporation") announced today that it had closed the second and final tranche of its non-brokered private placement financing. The Corporation raised $1,231,250.00 CAD via the sale of 4,925,000 Units in the second tranche. Combined, the Corporation raised a grand total of $2,860,750.00 CAD in gross proceeds via the sale of 11,443,000 Units between the two tranches.

As previously stated in the Corporation's December 20, 2021 press release, all Units were offered at a price of $0.25 CAD per Unit. Each Unit consisted of one Common Share (a "Share") in the capital of the Corporation and one Common Share Purchase Warrant ("Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one additional Common Share of the Corporation at an exercise price of $0.40 CDN per Common Share for a period of 36 months from the closing of the financing. The Warrants in this offering will be subjected to an accelerated expiry date if certain market conditions occur which are outlined in the Corporation's subscription document. All Common Shares issued in connection with this placement are subject to a four month plus one day hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws. No securities from this offering were sold in the United States.

In connection with the closing, the Corporation also paid a combined total of $115,900.00 CAD in finders fees and issued 463,600 Broker Warrants. The Broker Warrants were issued on the same terms as the Warrants contained in the Units of this offering.

All proceeds from the financing will be primarily used for the purchasing of additional mining equipment with the purpose of expanding the corporation's existing digital asset mining operations and for general working capital purposes.

About Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.

Bluesky Digital Assets Corp, is building a high value digital currency enterprise. Bluesky mines digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ether, and is developing value-added technology services for the digital currency market, such as proprietary technology solutions. Offering a complete ecosystem of value-creation, Bluesky is targeting reinvesting appropriate portions of its digital currency mining profits back into its operations. A percentage of the profit will be invested in the development of a proprietary Artificial Intelligence ("AI") based technology. Overall, Bluesky takes an approach that enables the Corporation to scale, and respond to changing conditions, within the still-emerging Blockchain industry. The Corporation is poised to capture value in successive phases as this industry continues to scale.

For more information please visit Bluesky at: https://www.blueskydigitalassets.com

For further information please contact:



Mr. Ben Gelfand

CEO & Director

Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.

T: (416) 363-3833

E: ben.gelfand@blueskydigitalassets.com



Mr. Frank Kordy

Secretary & Director

Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.

T: (647) 466-4037

E: frank.kordy@blueskydigitalassets.com



Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward- looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe harbor.

- 30 -

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110991
THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. NEWS AGENCIES

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V:BAY; OTCQB:ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") announces that the Company has been granted an extension by the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") to complete the previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of aggregate gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000 by no later than February 11, 2022.

The Offering consists of Units at a price of $0.06 per Unit, as announced in the Company's news release dated November 29, 2021. Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company and one full warrant (a "Warrant") entitling the holder thereof to acquire an additional common share (the "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $0.12 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance. The Warrants will be subject to acceleration provisions when the volume weighted average trading price is greater than $0.25 for 10 consecutive trading days.

As announced in its news release dated December 21, 2021, the Company closed the first tranche of the Offering, issuing 13,473,500 Units for aggregate gross proceeds of $808,410. There can be no assurances that the Company will be able to complete the Offering. The Offering is subject to the final approval of the TSX-V and all regulatory approvals.

About Aston Bay Holdings

Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for gold and base metal deposits in Virginia, USA, and Nunavut, Canada. The Company is led by CEO Thomas Ullrich with exploration in Virginia directed by the Company's advisor, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayer Lindsley Award winner for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit in Arizona.

The Company has the exclusive option to lease the mineral rights to over 10,000 acres of prospective private land located in central Virginia. These lands are located within a gold-copper-lead-zinc mineralized belt prospective for mesothermal gold deposits and Virginia gold-pyrite belt deposits, as well as sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX), Broken Hill (BHT) and volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) type base metal deposits. Don Taylor, who led the predecessor company to Blue Ridge and assembled the dataset, has joined the Company's Advisory Board and will be directing the Company's exploration activities for the Blue Ridge Project. The Company is actively exploring the Mountain Base Metals Project Buckingham Gold Project in Virginia and is in advanced stages of negotiation on other lands in the area.

The Company is also 100% owner of the property Storm Project, which hosts the Storm Copper Project and the Seal Zinc Deposit and has been optioned to American West Metals Limited.

The Company's public disclosure documents are available on www.sedar.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements made in this press release, including those regarding the closing and the use of proceeds of the private placement, management objectives, forecasts, estimates, expectations, or predictions of the future may constitute "forward-looking statement", which can be identified by the use of conditional or future tenses or by the use of such verbs as "believe", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "anticipate", "project", "plan", and words of similar import, including variations thereof and negative forms. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect, as of the date of this press release, Aston Bay's expectations, estimates and projections about its operations, the mining industry and the economic environment in which it operates. Statements in this press release that are not supported by historical fact are forward-looking statements, meaning they involve risk, uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Aston Bay believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which apply only at the time of writing of this press release. Aston Bay disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by securities legislation. We seek safe harbour.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

THIS PRESS RELEASE, REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE CANADIAN LAWS, IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO SELL ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN IN THE UNITED STATES. THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS UNLESS REGISTERED OR EXEMPT THEREFROM.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer

thomas.ullrich@astonbayholdings.com

(416) 456-3516

SOURCE: Aston Bay Holdings Ltd

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684828/Aston-Bay-Holdings-Announces-Extension-of-Private-Placement
STRONG GROWTH OF H1 2021/2022 REVENUE: 4.6M (UP 64%)

HYDROGEN STATIONS REVENUE: UP 183%

ORDER BACKLOG: 70M

Signing of 45 new stations under large-scale partnerships with major sector players;

Potential pipeline of 224.9m: up 81%

Intensive recruitment plan and integration of AEI: 79 employees to date (up 108%);

Confirmation of bold year-on-year revenue growth targets in Hydrogen Stations.

Grenoble, January 20, 2022 - HRS , a leading European designer and manufacturer of hydrogen refueling stations, presents its revenue for the first half of the 2021/2022 financial year (from July 1 to December 31, 2021).

000 H1 2020/2021 H1 2021/2022 Change Revenue (unaudited) 2,790 4,569 +64% Hydrogen Stations* 1,352 3,824 +183% Industrial Piping and others 1,438 745 -46%

* Recognition of revenue using the percentage-of-completion method

CONTINUED COMMERCIAL SUCCESS OF NEW GENERATION HYDROGEN STATIONS

The first half saw a major upswing for HRS, as illustrated by the sharp ramp-up in business development. During the period, HRS was selected to build 45 new generation hydrogen stations, including 36 for Gaussin, pioneer in clean and smart freight transport (see press release) and 8 for Hype, operator of the first fleet of hydrogen taxis (see press release), under major structuring partnership agreements targeting the gradual mass extension of hydrogen mobility.

HRS has started building the first stations, which contributed 2.7 million to first-half revenue. Together with the 1.1 million generated from the construction of stations ordered during the previous financial year, first-half revenue from Hydrogen Stations totaled 3.8 million, representing stellar growth of 183%.

This figure is in line with the Company's roadmap, which aims to double Hydrogen Stations revenue over the full year. As in the previous financial year, seasonal trends will have a significant impact again this year with a second half considerably stronger than the first half.

Meanwhile, the historical Industrial Piping business contracted as expected to 0.7 million due to the concentration of operational resources in the Hydrogen Stations business. Total first half revenue amounted to 4.6 million, up 64%.

2021-2025 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN WELL UNDERWAY

The new partnerships signed with Hype and Gaussin are fully in line with HRS's bold development plan to build 100 stations over the 2021-2025 period. As a result, less than a year after its IPO, the Group has already signed contracts for stations to be deployed or already deployed covering nearly half of this target.

First half 2021/2022 order intake amounted to 71.4 million, bringing total order intake since the February 2021 IPO to 82.2 million. Then, after deducting revenue already recognized in FY 2020/2021 and H1 2021/2022, the order backlog amounted to 70.1 million at January 1, 2022, and the corresponding revenue will be recognized between 2022 and 2026.

The Group continues to proactively drive business development, which is expected to further fuel the order portfolio over the coming weeks. The pipeline of identified projects increased sharply in six months, reaching 224.9 million (up 81%) of potential orders (versus 124 million at July 1, 2021). In detail, the pipeline comprises:

several stations at the final negotiation or selection stage in calls for tenders representing potential revenue of 39.2 million (up 70% in six months) with deliveries staggered over the 2022-2025?period. Some of these deals with key accounts have now reached the final stages and are expected to be closed soon;

stage in calls for tenders representing potential revenue of 39.2 million (up 70% in six months) with deliveries staggered over the 2022-2025?period. Some of these deals with key accounts have now reached the final stages and are expected to be closed soon; alls for projects answered by HRS for additional stations to be delivered between 2022 and 2027, representing potential revenue of over 185.7 million (up 84% in six months).

CONFIDENCE IN ACHIEVING FY 2021/2022 AND MEDIUM-TERM TARGETS

Based on its strong order book and rapid accumulation of new projects, HRS confirms its ambition of doubling Hydrogen Stations revenue by June 30, 2022.

This objective is based on progress with building stations currently at the assembly stage and the start of construction work on new stations before the end of the financial year.

The Group is pursuing its business plan aimed at turning it into a European leader in the design and construction of hydrogen refueling stations, with a focus on heavy transport. In particular, HRS has installed the first three new generation stations delivering three kinds of pressure (350, 350 HF and 700 bars) for TotalEnergies, Plug Power and the Vendee energy federation (SyDev). Group's Management is pursuing its industrial and commercial deployment plan, particularly in the following areas:

construction of a new production and R&D center in Champagnier, in the Grenoble area (see press release in French). This unique facility, which will make it possible to respond to the significant step-up in demand by increasing production capacity to 180 stations a year, will boast a testing area unrivaled in Europe as well as a wide range of hydrogen equipment and devices. As announced work began in late 2021, with delivery of the production center and laboratories scheduled for October 2022 followed by the offices in February 2023.

(see press release in French). This unique facility, which will make it possible to respond to the significant step-up in demand by increasing production capacity to 180 stations a year, will boast a testing area unrivaled in Europe as well as a wide range of hydrogen equipment and devices. As announced work began in late 2021, with delivery of the production center and laboratories scheduled for October 2022 followed by the offices in February 2023. intensive recruitment plan to support robust business growth in France and Europe. In order to expand HRS ' commercial presence in Europe and bolster its cutting-edge status, a large-scale recruitment plan has been launched targeting the recruitment of over 130 people between 2020 and 2025. In this context, HRS has accelerated the structuring of its teams since July 1, 2021 by hiring 24 additional employees, including operating chain managers, a Technical Director, a Chief Operating Officer, and several specialist engineers. The Company currently has 79 employees including 18 AEI (Automatisme et Electricite Industrielle specialist in automation, electricity and monitoring and historical partner of HRS ) employees following the acquisition of this company (see press release).

In order to expand ' commercial presence in Europe and bolster its cutting-edge status, a large-scale recruitment plan has been launched targeting the recruitment of over 130 people between 2020 and 2025. In this context, has accelerated the structuring of its teams since July 1, 2021 by hiring 24 additional employees, including operating chain managers, a Technical Director, a Chief Operating Officer, and several specialist engineers. The Company currently has 79 employees including 18 AEI (Automatisme et Electricite Industrielle specialist in automation, electricity and monitoring and historical partner of HRS ) employees following the acquisition of this company (see press release). Active participations in key organizations within the sector committed to the mass rollout of hydrogen mobility, such as France Hydrogene, European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and Hydrogen Europe, where HRS chairs of Europe Hydrogen working group on hydrogen mobility working on Europe-wide infrastructure deployment, among others.

HRS reaffirms its target of generating revenue of 85 million by June 30, 2025, aiming to deliver 100 new stations until then. The Group also confirms its target of achieving a current EBIT margin (current EBIT/revenue) of around 20% by June 30, 2025 thanks to the leverage effect of growth on profitability.

Next financial press release:

H1 2021/2022 results, April 29, 2022

ABOUT HRS

Founded in 2004, Hydrogen-Refueling-Solutions (HRS), formerly TSM, is pioneer in hydrogen mobility. European designer and manufacturer of hydrogen refueling stations, for over ten years, the Company has been committed to reducing transport emissions.

Thanks to its unique experience and know-how, HRS has developed a complete range of hydrogen refueling stations for all types of fuel cell vehicles that is perfectly suited to the needs of a fast-growing European market. At its Champ-sur-Drac site, HRS has mass production capacities that enable it to assemble up to 60 units per year in record time, in as little as 8 weeks. A new 14,300m2 production unit, planned for the fall of 2022, in the Grenoble metropolitan area in Champagnier (Isere), will increase HRS's production capacity to 180 stations per year.

The Company posted 2020/2021 revenue of 10.5 million. As of December 31, 2021, the company had 79 employees. (ISIN code: FR0014001PM5 - ticker symbol: ALHRS).

CONTACTS

Investor Relations

ACTUS finance & communication

Gregoire SAINT-MARC

hrs@actus.fr

Tel. +33 1 53 67 36 94 Press Relations

ACTUS finance & communication

Anne Catherine BONJOUR

acbonjour@actus.fr

Tel. +33 1 53 67 36 93

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Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-72850-2022_01_20-chiffre-d_affaires-semestriel-2021_2022-finale-uk.pdf
LONDON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Media Group has today appointed Alamy Managing Director and former PA Media graduate, Emily Shelley, to its board following more than 20 years with the business.

Shelley, who became MD of Alamy following PA Media Group's acquisition of the content platform in March 2020, began her career at PA Media (then Press Association) as a graduate news trainee in 1999.

She worked in several editorial roles before launching a digital showbiz news service in 2006 as Showbiz Editor. She became Features Editor in 2007, before moving into various commercial and management positions within PA.

In 2013, Shelley was instrumental in launching a new bespoke content service for corporate clients, and played an integral role in the acquisition of content agency Sticky, then becoming its Managing Director.

After six years at Sticky, Shelley was appointed MD at Alamy to lead the expanding global platform, post-acquisition.

"It's an honour to have been asked to join the PA Media Group board, both for me, and for Alamy as it continues to grow and deliver for the Group," said Shelley.

"PA Media Group and the innovative businesses within it have shaped my career for two decades now and I'm excited to be part of the team that steers it into the future.

"I also look forward to representing my colleagues from across the PA Media Group brands - including PA Media - as we continue to evolve and diversify."

Clive Marshall, PA Media Group CEO, added: "Emily's wealth of experience at PA Media Group, as well as her innovative thinking, proactive approach to every challenge and impressive leadership has made her a standout employee of our Group for many years.

"From starting out as a PA graduate to reaching the leadership positions that she has - it's a pleasure to welcome her to the Board."

PA Media Group Chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: "I'm delighted to welcome Emily to the board. It's a testament to PA Media Group and its rich history that Emily's career has evolved across multiple businesses and disciplines. She will bring that considerable experience and knowledge to help drive the future development and progress of our business."

Notes to Editors

The full PA Media Group board can be viewed HERE.

About PA Media Group

PA Media Group comprises a diverse portfolio of specialist media companies, spanning news and information, technology and communications services.

Its flagship brand, PA Media, is the UK and Ireland's leading news agency. Alongside PA Media, the Group is also the parent company of content platform Alamy, broadcast tech firm Globelynx, content agency Sticky, video streaming business StreamAMG, PA Betting Services, PA Training and PA TV Metadata.

PA Media Group has 20 shareholders, made up primarily of UK news, media and intelligence businesses. The largest shareholders include DMGT plc, Informa plc, News UK plc and Reach plc.

http://www.pamediagroup.com

For further information, please contact:

Tom Lloyd

Head of Communications - PA Media Group

tom.lloyd@pamediagroup.com

07824 807 743

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1730783/PA_Media_Group.jpg
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / Great Tang Bid Technology, Inc. ("OTCPink:ESPI") CEO Zhuang Rong Cheng announced today that the Company has entered into a firm Letter of Intent to acquire 100 percent ownership in Great Tang Digital Limited of Hong Kong ("GT Digital").

"We at Great Tang Bid are pleased to have found an acquisition in GT Digital that will fill out our operations in an exciting and fast-moving industry," Mr. Zhuang said. "We look forward to completing a definitive Share Exchange Agreement and Closing as quickly as possible," he concluded.

ESPI, a Nevada corporation, is currently in the process of completing a name change and other actions with FINRA from its prior Nevada name of ESP Resources, Inc. Having successfully emerged from bankruptcy in 2021 (United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas on April 28, 2021; Case No.: 16-60021), ESPI is currently an SEC reporting Pink Sheet company on the OTC Markets, Inc. platform.

"All of the actions we have been taking in the past few months have just been a lead-in to this important step for the Company," Zhuang concluded.

In responding to Mr. Zhuang's announcement, GT Digital CEO Ms. Joanne Chong responded that "GT Digital is creating a leading edge operating company in the digital art space. GT Digital's digital art service platform is designed to integrate NFT auctions, digital art exhibitions, traditional art digital solutions, and digital art. It is based on blockchain and NFT technology."

Ms. Chong further explained that "GT Digital is uniquely positioned to combine on-line and on-site integrated auction platforms, decentralized digital art service frameworks, and NFT technology to build a platform that serves the art industry. It is in the process of building a service platform that combines digital art work, digitization of traditional art via NFT, and a digital art fund for young artists. With the Great Tang auction platform as the anchor point, GT Digital's ecosystem can extend before, during, and after the auction."

Great Tang Bid's CEO Mr. Zhuang added that "On March 11, 2021, at an auction held by the British auction house Christie's, the NFT artwork 'Everydays: The First 5000 Days,' created by the surreal artist Beepe, was sold at $69.35 million. This convinced us at ESPI that this is an industry that we very much wanted to enter. We believed that as a result of this kind of auction sale demonstration of price to product, NFT artworks has the capacity to profoundly impact the art industry. We want to be in the forefront of this new art community."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Ms. Joanne Chong

PH: 852-9184-4885

Email: greattangdigital@gmail.com

Background on GTD HK

The business model of Great Tang Digital Hong Kong is based on what is called a "Non-Fungible Token" (NFT), which is a digital token, each of which is unique and non-reproducible. Each NFT is permanently linked to a digital asset such as a piece of art, music, video or other digitally produced object. Great Tang Digital is planning to develop its own NFT collections, and has applied for the "SunMonkey" trademark under Hong Kong trademark law for this NFT collection. GT Digital is prepared to use Ethereum or Polygon to mint its "Sunmonkey" collection. GT Digital's current focus for its development work is to utilize existing public blockchain. As its business progresses, it will evaluate its need for developing proprietary blockchain technology.

Based on the on-line NFT, GT Digital is focused on four business profit centers:

On-line Auction . The foundation of the newly combined Great Tang company is intended to be an on-line auction platform that integrates NFT auctions, digital art exhibitions, traditional art digital solutions, and digital art. GT Digital expects upon completion of the acquisition to build a service platform that combines digital art work, digitization of traditional art via NFT, and a digital art fund for young artists. Users would display, trade, and auction various digital assets on the Great Tang NFT secondary trading platform. This would lower the threshold of use, improve ease of use, and provide transaction security with on-chain contracts.

Derivative Sales . A second profit center is designed to license digital art, commercial IP, and its derivatives to art space. The intention is to include selectively building an art exhibition in a Metaverse platform, such as Decentraland/Sandbox/Haina Nebula. Additionally, the Company will have the ability to regularly hold Great Tang Digital Metaverse Art Exhibitions to provide a showcase, trading, and community for digital arts and their derivatives.

An Artist Incubation . By partnering with digital artists to create digital artwork with commercial IP, the Company would like to initiate a "Digital Ullens" incubation program to select future top digital artists from around the world to ensure the quality of future auction works.

Art Investment Fund . Finally, the Company is prepared to establish a digital art investment fund to allow Great Tang to introduce high-quality resources; and thereby, become a GP, complete LP capital injections through collector clubs, and make value investments in high-quality digital artists and digital artworks.

With these four profit centers in place and operational, Great Tang should be well positioned to be a global leader in the NFT art industry.

Forward-Looking Statements

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are based on current facts and analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determined, and assumptions of management. Forward looking statements are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "aims", "potential", "goal", "objective", "prospective", and similar expressions or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "can", "could" or "should" occur.

Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors beyond the reasonable control of the Company. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include misinterpretation of data, the Company's ability to raise financing for operations, breach by parties with whom we have contracted, and the possible inability to maintain qualified employees or consultants.

SOURCE: ESP Resources, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684839/Great-Tang-Bid-Technology-Inc-Announces-Letter-of-Intent-to-Acquire-Great-Tang-Digital-Limited-of-Hong-Kong
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China, Iran and Russia held a second maritime exercise from Tuesday to Thursday at the waters of the Gulf of Oman, according to China's Ministry of National Defense.

The Chinese side sent a missile destroyer, a supply ship and helicopters, as well as 40 members of the Chinese navy marine corps, to participate in the exercise, the ministry said.

The joint exercise aimed to deepen practical cooperation among the three navies, and show the willingness and capabilities of the three countries to jointly safeguard maritime security and build a maritime community with a shared future, the ministry said. 
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / FALCON GOLD CORP. (TSXV:FG)(GR:3FA)(OTCQB:FGLDF); ("Falcon" or the "Company") is pleased to report it has received final TSX Venture approval to move ahead on the option to purchase the Viernes project located 122km SE of Antofagasta City in Northern Chile. The claims encompass 13 claim blocks covering 3,300 Ha. The western portion of the project offers prospectivity for epithermal gold veins as evidenced by outcrops of the Chile-Alemania Paleocene volcano-stratigraphic sequence, which is the same host rock at the El-Penon Gold Deposit owned by Yamana Gold. Additionally, Barrick Gold in 2015 sold a 50% stake in Zaldivar Mine for a $1.005 Billion in cash forming a partnership with Antofagasta PLC one of the worlds leading copper companies. Antofagasta has an outstanding track record of building and operating mines in Chile, the Zaldivar project is approximately 35kms NE of our claims.

The Viernes project is located at moderate elevation of approximately 2000 meters above sea-level and is 5km east of Yamana Gold's highly profitable El-Penon low sulfidation gold and silver mine, and 35kms southeast of the world class Escondida-Zaldivar copper hub. The project has year-round access via paved and gravel roads from the mining capital of Chile, known as Region II, Antofagasta.

The Viernes claim block presents Falcon a tremendous opportunity to explore for potential bonanza-grade with epithermal low to intermediate sulfidation gold-silver, and porphyry copper-moly mineralization in one of south Americas greatest mineral endowed Paleocene-Eocene belts. The project is located within a world class cluster with extensive development by Yamana, BHP-Rio Tinto, Antofagasta Minerals amongst others. The property is highly prospective and is adjacent to the epithermal vein-hosted Gold-Silver producing El-Penon mine in which Viernes may host similar geochemical and structural features. Yamana's latest 43-101 complaint resources and reserves estimates published in March 2021 states total proven and probable mineral reserves of 921,000 ounces of gold and 29.2 million ounces of silver.

Since the 1990's this area has produced 30.6 million tons of copper - 57 times the annual Canadian production, 9.2 million Ounces of Gold - 1.5 Times the Canadian production, 129.3 million ounces of Silver - 8.6 times the Canadian annual silver production and has generated multiple discoveries.

The Definitive Agreement

On October 20, 2021, the Company announced it had signed an MOU to acquire the Viernes project, this allowed the Company enough time to complete the necessary due diligence to move forward on the acquisition. The Company has agreed to make share payments over a 4-year period totaling 500,000 shares and issue 500,000 share purchase warrants. Each warrant will entitle the vendor to purchase one Falcon common share for a period of 24 months for a purchase price set on each date of issuance at 125% of the closing with a weighted average -with a minimum 10 cent price. During the 4-year option period Falcon is to make minimum expenditures on the property amounting to US $250,000.

Upon completion of share payments and expenditures Falcon will hold an 80% interest and the vendors will retain 20% ownership in the property. Following which for a period of 30 months, Falcon will have the exclusive right to purchase the Vendors 20% ownership in the property (Falcon's total Ownership of 100% in the property) for a further payment of US. 1.5 million which includes a 1% NSR buy back with the Vendors retaining a 1%.

Qualified Person

Dr. Daniel Rubiolo, P. Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

The QP has not completed sufficient work to verify the historical information on the Viernes property, particularly regarding historical exploration, neighbouring companies, and government geological work. The news indicates the exploration potential of the property but may not be representative of expected results.

About Falcon Gold Corp.

Falcon is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on generating, acquiring, and exploring opportunities in the Americas. Falcon's flagship project, the Central Canada Gold Mine, is approximately 20 km southeast of Agnico Eagle's Hammond Reef Gold Deposit which has currently estimated 3.32 million ounces of gold (123.5 million tonnes grading 0.84 g/t gold) mineral reserves, and 2.3 million ounces of measured and indicated mineral resources (133.4 million tonnes grading 0.54 g/t gold). The Hammond Reef gold property lies on the Hammond shear zone, which is a northeast-trending splay off the Quetico Fault Zone ("QFZ") and may be the control for the gold deposit. The Central Gold property lies on a similar major northeast-trending splay of the QFZ.

The Company holds 8 additional projects. The Esperanza Gold/Silver/Copper mineral concessions located in La Rioja Province, Argentina. The Springpole West Property in the world-renowned Red Lake mining camp; a 49% interest in the Burton Gold property with Iamgold near Sudbury Ontario; and in B.C., the Spitfire-Sunny Boy, Gaspard Gold claims; and most recently the Great Burnt, Hope Brook, and Baie Verte acquisitions adjacent to First Mining, Benton-Sokoman's JV, and Marvel Discovery in Central Newfoundland.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Falcon Gold Corp.

"Karim Rayani"

Karim Rayani

Chief Executive Officer, Director

Telephone: (604) 716-0551

Email: info@falcongold.ca

Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, etc. Forward looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

This news release may contain forward looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, etc. Forward looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Falcon Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684852/Falcon-Receives-Final-TSXV-Approval-on-Viernes-Adjacent-to-Yamanas-El-Pen-GoldSilver-Deposit-Antofagasta-City-Chile
On the heels of announcing its new leadership team, Tony Roma's plans for future growth as it reaches its milestone anniversary and has a mission to continue providing customers with a world-class dining experience

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022, the world's largest casual dining concept and widely-recognized restaurant brand that specializes in ribs, celebrates its 50th anniversary. On January 20, 1972, the company's founder Tony Roma opened his flagship restaurant, Tony Roma's, in North Miami, Florida. The restaurant quickly became one of the most popular eateries in Miami and established its niche in the market.



Over the years, loyal customers, families and friends continued to flock to the restaurant for its popular Baby Back Ribs. These special ribs emerged as a house specialty that are now enjoyed by guests across the globe. Now, after 50 years of successful growth and world-wide expansion, the company is celebrating being one of the most recognizable names in the restaurant industry.

"What better way to kick off 2022 than to be celebrating this monumental moment for our 50 years old brand," said Ramon Bourgeois, CEO (Acting) & COO of Romacorp, Inc. "As we look to the next 50 plus years, we are focused on growth, a fresh new concept, family-friendly dining experiences and continuing to serve up our saucy and flavorful ribs. We look forward to bringing families together around the table for many more years to come."

Tony Roma's is delighted and honored that dignitaries including U.S. Representative Val Demings have shared congratulatory wishes to the brand, which has been serving families and communities for five decades, locally in Florida and around the world.

Tony Roma's is a full-service, family-friendly dining destination with locations spanning 5 continents that serves up its World-Famous Baby Back Ribs and beloved menu classics, such as Kicking shrimp, Onion Loaf, Miami Burger, Sizzling Ribeye & Romaritas. Recently, the brand announced its new visionary leadership team, who are paving the way for the brand's next chapter of growth to expand the brand and Tony Roma's portfolio of dining experiences.

Later this year, the brand plans to launch a 3,000+ square foot dining prototype along with its 500 square foot fast-casual concept Bones & Burgers, which will cater to on-the-go guests, while still providing the same quality ingredients and fresh preparations in an authentic quick-service space.

The company plans to open 200 Tony Roma's locations over the next decade, primarily focusing on markets in the Middle East, Asia and the United States. The newest Tony Roma's locations are set to open in North Carolina this summer and Montana before the end of the year.

For more information about Tony Roma's, please visit TonyRomas.com for more details and dining reservations.

About Romacorp, Inc.

Romacorp, Inc., is the parent company of Tony Roma's restaurants, the world's largest casual dining concept specializing in ribs. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Tony Roma's is present in 20 countries and is one of the most globally recognizable names in the industry. The first Tony Roma's restaurant opened 50 years ago in North Miami, Florida. For more information about Romacorp, Inc. and Tony Roma's, visit www.tonyromas.com.

Media Contact:

Chloe Blair

Uproar PR for Romacorp

615-517-5116

cblair@uproarpr.com
CHEYENNE, WY / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / CADUCEUS SOFTWARE SYSTEMS, CORP. (OTC PINK:CSOC) ("Caduceus" or the "Company"), a consumer goods focused holding company and owner of McLovin's Pet Food, Inc., is pleased to announce key hires and the appointment of Chairman of the Board.

The Company proudly welcomes to its team two new key hires and appoints an executive chairman of the board.

 Mr. David Ji will assume the position of Executive Chairman of the Board.

 Mr. Corley Heiserman who joins McLovin's as the Vice-President of Sales.

 Ms. Miao Kang who joins McLovin's as the Chief Revenue Officer of e-Commerce Sales.

Mr. David Ji, founder, and CEO of McLovin's is joining the Company as Executive Chairman of the board. A serial entrepreneur with multiple successes under his belt, Mr. Ji founded in 1997 Apex Digital, Inc., a company that specialized in the manufacturing and distribution of DVD Players, TVs & Cameras. By 2001, the Apex DVD player were sold at all major retailers in the US, became #2 in ranking after Sony by popularity and by unit volume sold in the US market. In 2002 Apex had beaten all major TV brands, became the # 1 best seller TV in the US market and by 2003 Apex reached $2b USD in annual sales for the first time.

"Mr. Ji was featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine and Times Magazine for his accomplishments with Apex's sales. Mr. Ji's skills, experience with manufacturing and distribution, knowledge of supply chain and network of logistics are a valuable resource and a major asset to McLovin's and to the Company." Said Alex Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Caduceus Software Systems, Corp.

Mr. Corley Heiserman, joining McLovin's as the Vice-President of Sales, is an accomplished C-Level executive and a career sales professional, having worked at well-known companies with proven track records. Prior to joining McLovin's, Corley worked as the VP Sales for Philip's Pet, the #1 distributor in the US pet sector (an important partner to McLovin's).

During his 4-year tenure at Philip's, Corley played an instrumental leadership role where he grew the revenue base from $185 Million to $540 Million. Previously, Corley served as a Regional Sales Manager with Napoleon, the market leader in BBQ grills serving stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart. At Precise Design Group, as the National Director of Sales, Corley provided design and project management services to large commercial customers such as supermarkets, shopping centers and retail stores. Before that, Corley acted as a director of sales for Electrolux, a home appliance manufacturer whose brand is well known and respected in the market, with annual sales of around $12 Billion.

"We are excited to have Corley joining us. The timing is perfect. Having spent much of 2020 and 2021 on product development and team building, 2022 is the year we intend to have McLovin's even more focused on growing sales. Corley's deep understanding of the pet food and care industry, his leadership, effective management of sales team and his expertise with national accounts are crucial and key components to our sales growth strategy." - David Ji, Chairman of the Company and Founder of McLovin's.

Ms. Miao Kang, a digital marketing expert, joins the McLovin's marketing team as the Chief Revenue Officer of e-Commerce sales. Before joining us, Ms. Miao worked at P3 Media in New York, an e-commerce and media agency. Ms. Miao honed her skills in the fast moving, constantly changing digital advertising industry and became a guru in e-commerce with in-depth understanding of the industry, acute awareness of the trends and expert knowledge of social media platforms, paid media management, email marketing & analytics.

"We are happy to have Ms. Miao on board and sharing the vision we have for McLovin's future. Ms. Miao will initially start with managing the big event for the McLovin's online launch in 2022. She is a battle proven marketer with multiple successful online sales campaigns under belt. Ms. Miao will lead, plan and manage McLovin's online marketing and sales campaigns and help increase McLovin's online sales as well as help create for our customers a quality online experience that is worthy of the brand". - David Ji, Chairman of the Company and Founder of McLovin's.

About Caduceus Software Systems, Corp.

Caduceus Software Systems Corp is a Wyoming-based holding company with its wholly owned subsidiary McLovin's, a Pet Food and Pet Care company. The Pet Food and Pet Care market size was USD 207 Billion in 2020 with a stellar growth of 28.11%. The industry is expected to grow to USD 325 Billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 5.6%. The Pet Food and Pet Care products include food, hygiene, toys, and other accessories. The Company is traded on the OTC Markets under the trading symbol" CSOC".

For more information:

OTC Markets: ( OTC Pink: CSOC )

Website: https://caduceuscorp.co

Email: info@caduceuscorp.co

Discord: https://discord.gg/apolloassets

Twitter: https://twitter.com/caduceuscorp

About McLovin's Pet Food, Inc

McLovin's, Inc. is a California company specialized in the manufacturing and distribution of quality pet foods. We believe in real food. What you'll find in McLovin's is similar to what you'll find in your own grocery cart. In the case of our premium treats, it starts (and ends) with real beef, chicken and salmon. Our products are developed using responsible sourcing and quality is a key part of every single part of our manufacturing process.

Corporate Website: https://mclovinspetfood.com/

Forward-Looking Statements:

Safe Harbour Statement - In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse developments with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this press release can also be found on the Company's website. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Caduceus Software Systems, Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684846/Caduceus-Announces-Key-Hires-Appointment-of-Chairman
Canadian dog treat company posts record year

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - As The Crump Group, one of Canada's fastest growing pet treat manufacturers, closes out a record year, Paul Sproule is promoted to President. Sproule, who joined the company in February 2021 as VP of Strategy, will helm the company's $40 million transformational growth agenda. This investment readies the makers of Crumps Naturals, Caledon Farms, and Dog Delights to expand, addressing growing demand in its Canadian and US markets. Two new manufacturing facilities will quadruple production capacity; 250 jobs will be created; and in-house expertise increases with the addition of industry-leading marketing, R&D, supply chain and sales expertise. With Sproule's promotion, company founders, Margot Crump and Joe Crump, will assume broader leadership roles on the company's board of directors while continuing to play an active role in the daily operations.





Paul Sproule named President of The Crump Group, one of Canada's fastest growing pet treat manufacturers and the maker of Crumps' Naturals, Caledon Farms and Dog Delights dog treats.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8534/111029_thecrumpgroup.jpg





"We've worked extremely hard to earn the trust of our retailers and consumers over the past 16 years," says Joe Crump, co-founder and director of The Crump Group. "Paul's strong leadership will ensure continued excellence in quality and service while executing our aggressive growth agenda."

"Paul Sproule is instrumental in helping our business transform into a bigger player on the global stage," adds Margot Crump, co-founder and CEO, The Crump Group. "In the past year The Crump Group has seen sales increase by 70 per cent, distribution increase by 140 per cent, and an outpacing of overall market growth by five times. We're excited to have Paul keep the momentum going."

For the love of treats, The Crump Group expands

To satisfy the demand for premium, innovative pet treats in Canada and beyond, Sproule will lead the organization's transformational growth agenda focusing on talent acquisition, branded and private label product innovation, sales growth and market penetration.

"The sheer size and scale of the US makes it an important market for The Crump group," says Paul Sproule, President, The Crump Group. "With a continued focus on naturally made, single or limited ingredient dog treats, we know product innovation and capacity are key to growth. We're adding 250,000 square feet of manufacturing with new facilities in Mississauga, Ontario and Nashville, North Carolina, which will be up and running in the coming months. We will continue to differentiate ourselves amongst our competition as we can execute relevant, on trend innovation to the market faster. Driving a culture of innovation and agility is key to our success. We want our people to truly have the freedom and autonomy to make a real difference to our business."

About The Crump Group



The Crump Group is a family run, Canadian company producing naturally made, single or limited ingredient dog treats since 2006. The Ontario-based company's core brands are Crumps' Naturals, Caledon Farms and Dog Delights dog treats. It also produces many private brands which are sold and distributed across North America. The Crump Group products are currently available at major retailers such as Costco, PetSmart, Pet Valu, Walmart, Loblaw and Publix to name a few.

For more information, please contact:

TMccarthy@thecommunity.ca

1.647.224.2806

Instagram:

@crumpsnaturals

@caledonfarms

Facebook:

@crumpsNaturals

@caledonfarms

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/111029
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Mobi724, Datametrex, Prophecy DeFi, good natured Products, and Star Navigation discussing their latest press releases.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Mobi724 (TSXV:MOS) announces agreement with Ingenico

Mobi724 (MOS) has entered into an agreement to provide its services to Ingenico's Payments Platform as a Service (PPaaS). Ingenico is a brand of Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. Marcel Vienneau, CEO of Mobi724 sat down with Dave Jackson to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Marcel Vienneau and to learn more about Mobi724's agreement with Ingenico, click here.

Datametrex AI (TSXV:DM) plans to roll up the AI industry

Datametrex AI (DM) announced plans to implement a roll up strategy focused on Artificial Intelligence companies in 2022. As artificial intelligence is becoming a growing influence in business, Datametrex is poised to leverage its AI experience to help reshape the entire industry. Datametrex CEO Marshall Gunter sat down with Caroline Egan to highlight the company's plans.

For the full interview with Marshall Gunter and to learn more about Datametrex AI's roll up strategy, click here.

Prophecy DeFi (CSE:PDFI) provides operational update for Layer2 Blockchain Inc.

Prophecy DeFi (PDFI) has provided an operational update on its wholly-owned subsidiary, Layer2 Blockchain Inc. Prophecy DeFi is seeking to strengthen its operations in 2022 by acquiring additional businesses and assets that complement Layer2. John McMahon, CEO of Prophecy DeFi sat down with Caroline Egan to highlight the update.

For the full interview with John McMahon and to learn more about Prophecy DeFi's operational update, click here.

good natured Products Inc. (TSXV:GDNP) announces preliminary Q4 & full-year financial results

good natured Products (GDNP) has announced preliminary revenue and gross margin estimates for Q4 2021 and the year ending December 31, 2021. Preliminary revenue for Q4 2021 is anticipated at $21.0 million to $23.0 million, an increase of approximately 300 per cent compared to $5.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020. Paul Antoniadis, CEO of good natured sat down with Dave Jackson to discuss the results.

For the full interview with Paul Antoniadis and to learn more about good natured Products' preliminary Q4 results, click here.

Star Navigation (CSE:SNA) signs agreement with FlightPath International

Star Navigation Systems Group (SNA) has signed a partnership agreement with FlightPath International SA Ltd. The agreement allows FlightPath International to train airline operators, including pilots, engineers and other flight crew members on Star's flight sciences services and technologies. Star Navigation Systems CEO Amir Bhatti and FlightPath International President & CEO Andrew Lucas sat down with Dave Jackson to discuss the agreement.

For the full interview with Amir Bhatti and Andrew Lucas and to learn more about Star Navigation's agreement, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

CONTACT:

The Market Herald

Brianna Anthony

brianna.anthony@themarketherald.ca

themarketherald.ca

SOURCE: The Market Herald

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/684857/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Releases-New-Interviews-With-Mobi724-Datametrex-Prophecy-DeFi-good-natured-Products-and-Star-Navigation
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Storytel Group today announced that Stefan Blom has decided to step down as Chairman of the Board. The Nomination Committee proposes Hans-Holger Albrecht as new Chairman. An Extra General Meeting will be held promptly. An invitation will be sent out in a separate press release.

Lars Bergkvist, Chairman of the Nomination Committee:

"The Nomination Committee has sought the right candidate for the next phase of development and growth for Storytel. We are glad to be able to propose Hans-Holger Albrecht, as he will bring highly relevant experience and competence to the company. Hans-Holger Albrecht has a strong track record in the media industry as well as proven experience from international expansion."



Hans-Holger Albrecht has a solid background as CEO, Chairman and Board Member of listed and private companies on an international basis. Most recently, he was CEO of Deezer, one of the largest music streaming services worldwide. Prior to that, he was President and CEO of the international telecom and media group Millicom International, operating in more than 15 countries in Latin America and Africa. Albrecht also served as President and CEO at Modern Times Group, MTG AB. During his years as CEO, MTG's broadcasting operations expanded strongly, from having the Nordic and Baltic regions as its core geographical markets, to becoming one of the leading commercial broadcasters in Europe.



Hans-Holger Albrecht was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1963. He holds a Ph.D in Law from the Ruhr University Bochum.

Stefan Blom, Chairman of the Board of the Storytel Group:

"It is a pride and a joy to have been a Director, and eventually Chair, of the Board during the past two years of strong growth, milestone events and strategic investments. With Storytel's recent acquisition of the major U.S. audiobook service Audiobooks.com, a new chapter with significant potential for Storytel begins. After considering my overall portfolio, I have decided to step down from this role to leave more room for my other engagements. Hans-Holger is a legendary entrepreneur and industry leader and a great choice for the next phase. I will follow Storytel and its fine organization with heartfelt interest in the company's future growth journey."



Upon request from the Nomination Committee, the Extra General Meeting will take place promptly.

An invitation will be sent out separately.

FNCA Sweden AB is the company's certified adviser. FNCA can be reached at info@fnca.se or +46 8 528 00 399.

For further information, please contact:



Dan Panas, Head of Global Communications & PR

Tel: +46 70 186 52 90

Email: dan.panas@storytel.comv

About Storytel

Storytel is one of the world's largest subscribed audiobook and e-book streaming services and offers listening and reading of more than 700,000 titles on a global scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime. Storytel's streaming business is conducted under the brands Storytel and Mofibo. Storytel's publishing business area is carried out through the audiobook publisher StorySide and acclaimed Nordic publishing houses such as Norstedts, Lind & Co, People's and Gummerus. Storytel operates in over 25 markets around the globe and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/storytel/r/stefan-blom-steps-down-as-chairman-of-the-board-of-storytel---hans-holger-albrecht-proposed-as-new-c,c3489880
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - Golden Independence Mining Corp. (CSE: IGLD) (OTCQB: GIDMF) (FSE: 6NN) (the "Company" or "Golden Independence") announces that Christos Doulis has resigned as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company effective January 20, 2022 to pursue other endeavours. Jeremy Poirier, a director of the Company, has been appointed as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a suitable permanent replacement is located.

"Christos has been instrumental in the advancement of Independence Project and, specifically, in the recent formation of the joint venture with America's Gold Exploration Inc. to develop the project. The board would like to sincerely thank Christos for his significant contributions to the Company and wish him well in his future endeavours," commented Jeremy Poirier, Interim Chief Executive Officer.

About Golden Independence Mining Corp.

Golden Independence Mining Corp. is a development company currently focused on the advanced-stage Independence project located adjacent to Nevada Gold Mine's Phoenix-Fortitude mine in the Battle Mountain-Cortez Trend of Nevada. The Independence project hosts an M&I resource of 334,300 ounces of gold and an Inferred resource of 847,000 ounces of gold with a substantial silver credit. A 2021 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlined a low-cost heap leach operation focusing on the near-surface resource with total production of 195,443 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,078 per ounce of gold.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Jeremy Poirier, Interim Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 1.604.722.9842 Email: info@goldenindependence.co

This press release contains forward-looking information (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation) that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information includes statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance of the Company, and include, without limitation, statements regarding timing of the filing of the PEA and the development potential of the Independence Project. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information in this news release, including without limitation, risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of PEAs, drill results and the estimation of mineral resources, including changes in the economic parameters, risks relating to not securing agreements with third parties or not receiving required permits, risks associated with executing the Company's objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion & analysis. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. This forward-looking information is based on estimates and opinions of management on the date hereof and is expressly qualified by this notice. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada at www.sedar.com. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/111050
Vancouver, British Columbia and Johannesburg, South Africa--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (TSX: PTM) (NYSE American: PLG) ("Platinum Group", "PTM" or the "Company") has entered into privately negotiated agreements with the beneficial owners of US $20 million of the Company's 6 7/8% Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes (the "Notes") due July 1, 2022 under which the Company will purchase and cancel the Notes. The Notes were originally sold to institutional investors on June 30, 2017. On the purchase of the Notes, the Company will issue to the holders, on a private placement basis, an aggregate of 11,793,509 Common Shares of the Company in consideration for the principal outstanding balance of the Notes, being a price of approximately US $1.695 per share and the Company will pay accrued and unpaid interest on the Notes in cash. US $12.0 million of the Notes will be purchased from an affiliate of Kopernik Global Investors, LLC. and US $8.0 million of the Notes will be purchased from affiliates of Franklin Templeton Investments ("Franklin"). After giving effect to the purchase and cancellation of the Notes, as of today's date, the Company's debt would be reduced to US $3.0 million.

Franklin is a "related party" of the Company (as defined by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101")) and the Company is relying on the exemptions from both the formal valuation requirement and the minority shareholder approval requirement under sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a), respectively, of MI 61-101, on the basis that neither the fair market value of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transaction, insofar as it involves Franklin, exceeds 25 per cent of the Company's market capitalization calculated in accordance with MI 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing date of the above transactions as it has negotiated the above transactions on an expedited basis.

Closing of the above transactions will be subject to customary closing conditions, including Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and NYSE American approvals and compliance with the terms of the Note indenture. The Common Shares issuable upon the purchase of the Notes have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act, and in Canada will be subject to a four month restricted period from the issue date of the Common Shares. The Company may rely on the exemption for "Eligible Interlisted Issuers" under Section 602.1 of the TSX Company Manual in connection with the listing of the common shares on the TSX.

About Platinum Group Metals Ltd. and Waterberg Project

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. is the operator of the Waterberg Project, a bulk underground palladium and platinum deposit located in South Africa. The Waterberg Project was discovered by Platinum Group and is being jointly developed with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., Mnombo Wethu Consultants (Pty) Ltd., Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation and Hanwa Co. Ltd.

On behalf of the Board of

Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

Frank R. Hallam

President, CEO and Director

For further information contact:

Kris Begic, VP, Corporate Development

Platinum Group Metals Ltd., Vancouver

Tel: (604) 899-5450 / Toll Free: (866) 899-5450

www.platinumgroupmetals.net

Disclosure

The TSX and the NYSE American have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws (collectively "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements regarding the proposed note and common share purchase transactions, including statements regarding their terms, satisfaction of closing conditions, completion and implications for the Company. Although the Company believes any forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct.

The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including the potential inability to obtain required regulatory approvals and satisfy other applicable closing conditions; possible adverse impacts due the global outbreak of COVID-19 (as described above); the Company's inability to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient additional capital to make payment on its indebtedness, and to comply with the terms of such indebtedness; additional financing requirements; the senior secured facility with the Sprott Private Resource Lending II (Collector), LP ("Sprott") entered into August 21, 2019 is, and any new indebtedness may be, secured and the Company has pledged its shares of Platinum Group Metals (RSA) Proprietary Limited, the Company's wholly owned subsidiary located in South Africa ("PTM RSA"), and PTM RSA has pledged its shares of Waterberg JV Resources Proprietary Limited ("Waterberg JV Co.") to Sprott, under the 2019 Sprott Facility, which potentially could result in the loss of the Company's interest in PTM RSA and the Waterberg Project in the event of a default under the 2019 Sprott Facility or any new secured indebtedness; the Company's history of losses and negative cash flow; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's properties may not be brought into a state of commercial production; uncertainty of estimated production, development plans and cost estimates for the Waterberg Project; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, between actual and estimated development and operating costs, between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries and between estimated and actual production; fluctuations in the relative values of the U.S. Dollar, the Rand and the Canadian Dollar; volatility in metals prices; the uncertainty of alternative funding sources for Waterberg JV Co.; the Company may become subject to the U.S. Investment Company Act; the failure of the Company or the other shareholders to fund their pro rata share of funding obligations for the Waterberg Project; any disputes or disagreements with the other shareholders of Waterberg JV Co. or Mnombo; the ability of the Company to retain its key management employees and skilled and experienced personnel; conflicts of interest; litigation or other administrative proceedings brought against the Company; actual or alleged breaches of governance processes or instances of fraud, bribery or corruption; exploration, development and mining risks and the inherently dangerous nature of the mining industry, and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks and other risks and uncertainties; property and mineral title risks including defective title to mineral claims or property; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and South Africa; equipment shortages and the ability of the Company to acquire necessary access rights and infrastructure for its mineral properties; environmental regulations and the ability to obtain and maintain necessary permits, including environmental authorizations and water use licences; extreme competition in the mineral exploration industry; delays in obtaining, or a failure to obtain, permits necessary for current or future operations or failures to comply with the terms of such permits; risks of doing business in South Africa, including but not limited to, labour, economic and political instability and potential changes to and failures to comply with legislation; the Company's common shares may be delisted from the NYSE American or the Toronto Stock Exchange if it cannot maintain compliance with the applicable listing requirements; and other risk factors described in the Company's most recent Form 20-F annual report, annual information form and other filings with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively. Proposed changes in the mineral law in South Africa if implemented as proposed would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business and potential interest in projects. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110863
Sierra Metals Inc. (TSX: SMT) (BVL: SMT) (NYSE AMERICAN: SMTS) ("Sierra Metals" or "the Company") is pleased to report the results of the updated Preliminary Economic Analysis ("PEA") for the expansion at its Yauricocha Mine operation, located in Yauyos Province in Peru. This updated PEA is based on the last reported resource, prepared by SRK and dated March 31st, 2021, and includes revised PFS level CAPEX and opex estimations.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005956/en/

Image 1: Yauricocha Mine, Chumpe Plant Flotation Cells (Photo: Business Wire)

This PEA report was prepared as a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report for Sierra Metals Inc. ("Sierra Metals") by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. ("SRK") and Redco Global Peru S.A.C. ("Redco"). The full technical report will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release.

Highlights of the updated PEA include:

Updated Mine plan based on the last reported resource, prepared by SRK and dated March 31st, 2021

PFS level CAPEX and OPEX estimation for expansion

Mine plan includes updated mineral resources, including inferred resources

Expansion Development Capital (Years 1-3): US$102.2 Million

Life of Mine (LOM) after-tax Net Present Value (NPV): US$273.1 Million at an 8% discount rate

LOM Net After-tax Cash Flow: US$407.7 Million

LOM Sustaining Capital Cost: US$312.1 Million

Average LOM Operating Unit Cost: US$44.01/tonne and US$1.30/lb copper equivalent

Mine Life: 11 years based on existing Mineralized material estimate of 17.4 Mt.

Average LOM Grades of Copper 1.2%, Zinc 1.4% Silver 31.12 g/t (1.00 oz/t), Lead 0.4% and Gold 0.398 g/t (0.013 oz/t)

LOM Payable Production: Copper 332.9 million pounds, Zinc 399.9 million pounds, Silver 10.9 million troy ounces, Lead 131.2 million pounds and Gold 19.9 thousand troy ounces

Metal Price Assumptions: Copper US$3.39/lb, Zinc US$1.10/lb, Silver US$21.02/oz, Lead US$0.91/lb, Gold US$1,598/oz.

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that inferred resources can be converted to indicated or measured resources or mineral reserves and, as such, there is no certainty that the results of the PEA will be realised.

Instances of the word 'economic' are intended to be conceptual only, and prospects for economic extraction have not been demonstrated.

Luis Marchese, CEO of Sierra Metals commented: "I am pleased with the results of this updated PEA which continues to support the Company's organic growth strategy to profitably develop and grow the Yauricocha Mine production rate to 5,500 TPD in 2024 from today's permitted capacity of 3,600 TPD."

He continued, "The updated positive PEA study demonstrates an economical expansion that supports the goal of maximizing shareholder returns. This result underpins the strategy of incremental organic expansions at our operations, supported by their resource endowment, and our focus on base metals going forward. With the consistent addition of resources through our highly successful exploration initiatives, as well as added efficiencies on the productivity of the mine due to our focus on continuous improvement, Yauricocha confirms itself as a sustainable mine with a profitable and valuable outlook for many years to come.

Updated PEA Highlights

Mining Methodology

The Yauricocha Mine is a producing underground mining operation with a long production history using well-established, proven mining methods. The majority of the mining is executed through mechanized sub-level caving with a relatively small portion of the mining using overhand cut and fill.

PEA Production Profile

Developed mine plan for Yauricocha is based on the last reported resource, prepared by SRK and dated March 31st, 2021. Many of the assumptions used in the PEA mine plan are based on actual production figures. The economic envelope used to develop the mine plan is based on current operating costs. The economic envelope blocks by Net Smelter Return (NSR) value; blocks with an NSR value greater than US$ 32.48/t are considered marginal and blocks with an NSR value greater than US$ 42.94/t are considered potentially economic. Marginal blocks are only included in the mine plan when they are adjacent to potentially economic blocks and their recovery does not require additional mine development. NSR values considered planned and unplanned dilution (variable dilution between 10% and 25% respectively) and historical performance achieving mine recoveries of 80%.

The mine schedule includes measured, indicated and inferred resources. Inferred resources to be mined in the LOM production plan include 7.6 M tonnes or 43.7% of total tonnes. The schedule establishes a LOM at Yauricocha of 11 years, with a maximum production rate of 5,500 tpd. This LOM considers mine development between 2022-2023, ramping up to 5,500 tpd in 2024 until 2029, where production would reduce until the end of the LOM.

Item Total 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 Tonnage (kt) 17,428 1,033 1,405 1,360 2,062 1,918 2,033 1,939 1,889 1,872 1,550 365 Cu (%) 1.16 0.93 0.92 1.11 1.11 0.96 0.94 1.02 1.43 1.69 1.41 1.16 Pb (%) 0.41 0.86 1.01 0.52 0.57 0.53 0.49 0.14 0.12 0.11 0.12 0.07 Zn (%) 1.41 2.23 2.69 1.82 2.24 2.14 1.79 0.52 0.40 0.44 0.57 0.57 Ag (g/t) 31.12 54.62 53.29 41.04 38.84 35.97 33.23 20.95 18.40 17.62 15.86 15.55 Au (g/t) 0.40 0.51 0.45 0.40 0.34 0.36 0.40 0.37 0.40 0.45 0.38 0.35 NSR (USD/t) 74.2 84.5 88.2 79.9 82.8 74.5 69.8 55.3 69.9 80.1 69.3 58.5

Mineral Processing

The Chumpe plant is located approximately one kilometer from the Yauricocha Mine and mineralized material is transported from the mine to the plant by rail. Mineralized material is processed using conventional two-stage crushing followed by grinding-classification and differential flotation circuit to produce commercial quality lead/silver and copper.

SRK is of the opinion that Yauricocha's operations are reasonably well operated and shows flexibility to treat multiple mineralized material sources. The metallurgical performance, i.e., metal recovery and concentrate grade have been consistent throughout the period evaluated allowing them to produce commercial quality copper concentrate, copper concentrate, and zinc concentrate.

Mineral processing and the recovery of the mineral are demonstrated, and copper, silver, gold, lead and zinc recoveries are established at 75.0%, 68.4%, 19.5%, 88.5% and 88.0%, respectively.

The Chumpe Plant's current throughput capacity is 3,600 TPD. In 2020, the average daily production was 3,038 tonnes per day and in Q1 2021, the average increased to 3,532 tonnes per day. In line with proposed increases in mine output, the processing capacity at Chumpe would increase to 5,500 TPD in 2024.

The overall supporting infrastructure exists already and is functioning and adequate to support the mine and mill.

Economic Analysis

This PEA indicates an after-tax NPV of US$273.1 million (using a discount rate of 8%) at 5,500 TPD (in 2024). The total operating cost for the LOM is US$766.9 million, equating to a total operating cost of US$44.01 per tonne milled and US$1.30 per pound copper equivalent. Highlights of the PEA are provided below.

PEA Highlights Base case of US$1,598/oz Gold, US$21.02/oz Silver, US$3.39/lb Copper, US$0.91/lb Lead and US$1.10/lb Zinc. Unit Value Net Present Value (After Tax 8% Discount Rate) US$ M 273.1 LOM Mill Feed (ROM mineralized material) Tonnes (Mt) 17.4 Mining Production Rate (360 days per annum) t/year 1,980,000 LOM Project Operating Period Years 11.0 Total LOM Capital Costs US$ M 312.1 Net After Tax Cashflow US$ M 407.7 EBITDA US$ M 1,007.4 Average LOM total Operating Unit Costs US$/t 44.01 LOM Copper Production (Payable in copper conc) M Lb 320.3 LOM Copper Production (Payable in lead conc) M Lb 12.6 LOM Gold Production (Payable) koz 19.9 LOM Silver Production (Payable) Moz 10.9 LOM Lead Production (Payable) M Lb 131.2 LOM Zinc Production (Payable) M Lb 399.9

Capital and Operating Costs Breakdown

The total initial development capital for the Yauricocha Mine Expansion is estimated to be approximately US$102.0 million, which includes a contingency of US$10.8 million. A break down of costs is shown in the table below.

Total Initial Development and Expansion Capital Years 1-3) US$ Millions Direct Costs Mining 16.4 Processing Plant 48.6 Infrastructure 2.1 Ancillaries 6.9 Total Direct Costs 74.0 Indirect Costs Indirect Costs 13.3 Owners Costs 3.9 Total Indirect Costs 17.2 Subtotal 91.2 Contingency 10.8 Total Project 102.0

Total Operating Unit Costs from 2021 to 2023 are expected to average US$ 47.61/t, declining to an LOM average of US$ 43.00/t starting in 2024 based on the effect of increasing the production rate from the current 3,780 tpd to 5,500 tpd in 2024. A breakdown of unit operating costs is presented below:

Unit Operating Cost US$ per

tonne milled 2021 2023 2024+ Mining 33.32 28.97 Processing 8.45 8.78 G&A 5.84 5.25 Total 47.61 43.00

OPEX and CAPEX Breakdown by Year

Item Total 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 OPEX (USD/t) 44.0 50.2 47.5 45.8 43.2 44.4 45.2 44.4 41.7 38.1 40.6 56.2 CAPEX (M USD)* 312.1 42.1 50.3 61.4 24.7 33.4 26.9 19.7 16.3 20.5 5.6 11.2 *Includes Closure Costs

Mineral Resource Statement

The Yauricocha Mine is located in the Allis district, Yauyos province, department of Lima, approximately 12 kilometers west of the Continental Divide and 60 kilometers south of the Pachacayo railway station. Polymetallic mineralization has been mined at Yauricocha for more than 50 years. Mineralization is genetically and spatially related to the Yauricocha stock; six skarn bodies host mineral resources around the margins of the stock. Near surface mineral is exhausted but significant mineral resources are reported at depth.

The PEA is based upon the following updated Mineral Resource Statement.

Consolidated Yauricocha Mine Mineral Resource Statement as of 31 March 2021 SRK Consulting (Canada), Inc. (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Classification Volume Tonnes Density Ag Au Cu Pb Zn As Fe NSR Ag Au Cu Pb Zn As Fe (m3) '000 (Kt) (t/m3) (g/t) (g/t) (USD/t) (Moz) (Koz) (Mlb) (Mlb) (Mlb) (Kt) (Mt) Measured 1,262 4,241 3.36 59.41 0.58 1.08 0.92 2.62 0.19 25.02 131 8.1 79.3 100.8 86.2 245.3 7.9 1.1 Indicated 2,929 10,069 3.44 37.07 0.50 1.17 0.51 1.88 0.13 25.89 109 12.0 161.1 259.9 113.0 417.2 12.9 2.6 Measured Indicated 4,191 14,310 3.41 43.69 0.52 1.14 0.63 2.10 0.15 25.86 116 20.1 240.4 360.7 199.2 662.5 20.8 3.7 Inferred 3,337 11,566 3.47 29.04 0.44 1.40 0.32 1.03 0.07 26.38 103 10.8 161.8 358.1 82.7 261.9 8.3 3.1 Notes (1) Mineral Resources have been classified in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineralized material, whose definitions are incorporated by reference into NI 43-101. (2) Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineralized material. Mineral Resources are not Mineralized material and do not have demonstrated economic viability. All ?gures are rounded to re?ect the relative accuracy of the estimates.

Silver, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, arsenic (deleterious) and iron assays were capped cut where appropriate. (3) The consolidated Yauricocha Resource Estimate is comprised of Measured, Indicated and inferred material in the Mina Central, Cuerpos Pequenos, Cuye, Mascota, Esperanza and Cachi-Cachi mining areas. (4) Polymetallic Mineral Resources are reported at Cut-Off values (COV) based on estimated 5500 tpd operating costs, Net Smelter Returns (NSR) based on estimated 5500 tpd metallurgical recoveries and 2021 smelter contracts. (5) Metal price assumptions used for polymetallic feed considered CIBC November 2021 long term consensus pricing (Gold (US$1,598.21/oz), Silver (US$21.02/oz), Copper (US$3.39/lb), Lead (US$0.91/lb), and Zinc (US$1.10/lb). (6) Lead Oxide Mineral Resources are reported at COV's based on 2016 actual metallurgical recoveries and 2021 smelter contracts. No mining of Lead Oxide materials has occurred since 2016. (7) Metal price assumptions used for lead oxide feed considered CIBC November 2021 long term consensus pricing (Gold (US$1,598.21/oz), Silver (US$21.02/oz) and Lead (US$0.91/lb). (8) The mining costs are based on estimated 5500 tpd costs and are variable by mining method. (9) The unit value COV's are variable by mining area and proposed mining method. The marginal (incremental) COV ranges from US$31.7 to US$36.7 for a 5,500t/d operation.

Quality Control

All technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by:

Americo Zuzunaga, FAusIMM CP (Mining Engineer) and Vice President of Corporate Planning is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Sierra Metals

Sierra Metals Inc. is a diversified Canadian mining company focused on the production and development of precious and base metals from its polymetallic Yauricocha Mine in Peru, and Bolivar and Cusi Mines in Mexico. The Company is focused on increasing production volume and growing mineral resources. Sierra Metals has recently had several new key discoveries and still has many more exciting brownfield exploration opportunities at all three Mines in Peru and Mexico that are within close proximity to the existing mines. Additionally, the Company also has large land packages at all three mines with several prospective regional targets providing longer-term exploration upside and mineral resource growth potential.

The Company's Common Shares trade on the Bolsa de Valores de Lima and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "SMT" and on the NYSE American Exchange under the symbol "SMTS".

For further information regarding Sierra Metals, please visit www.sierrametals.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian and U.S. securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the date of the 2020 Shareholders' Meeting and the anticipated filing of the Compensation Disclosure. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", "potential" or variations thereof, or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the risks described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated March 18, 2021 for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 and other risks identified in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which filings are available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively.

The risk factors referred to above are not an exhaustive list of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking information. Forward-looking information includes statements about the future and is inherently uncertain, and the Company's actual achievements or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking information due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors. The Company's statements containing forward-looking information are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking information if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, other than as required by applicable law. For the reasons set forth above, one should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005956/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Sierra Metals Inc.

Tel: +1 (416) 366-7777

Email: info@sierrametals.com

Americo Zuzunaga

Vice President of

Corporate Planning

Sierra Metals Inc.

Tel: +1 (416) 366-7777

Luis Marchese

CEO

Sierra Metals Inc.

Tel: +1 (416) 366-7777
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A bomb blast ripped through a busy market in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday afternoon, leaving at least three people dead and 23 others injured, a local police officer said.

Mohammad Abid Khan, deputy inspector of General Operations of Lahore police, told the media that the blast took place in the New Anarkali market of Lahore, the provincial capital of eastern Punjab province.

Police, security forces and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and the injured to the Mayo Hospital of Lahore.

The medical superintendent of the hospital told the media that the death toll might rise further as four of the injured were in critical condition.

The police officer said that the bomb was planted in a motorcycle parked near a money exchanger's shop.

The blast destroyed several vehicles, damaged nearby shops and smashed windowpanes of nearby buildings.

The blast also left a deep crater on the ground, local media reported. Security forces and police have cordoned off the area and launched an investigation and search operation.

No group or individual has claimed the blast yet. 
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 20, 2022) - CARLYLE COMMODITIES CORP. (CSE: CCC) (FSE:1OZA) (OTC Pink: DLRYF) ("Carlyle" or the "Company") announces that it has filed a petition and supporting affidavits with the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the "Petition") in connection with the Company's Notice of Work and Reclamation Program permit application (the "Permit Application") for a 5-year, area-based permit to conduct exploration activities on its 100% Newton Project located in the Clinton Mining Division of the Province of British Columbia (the "Newton Project") held through its wholly-owned subsidiary Isaac Newton Mining Corp.

The Newton Project Petition

The Newton project has been the subject of at least seven previous exploration permits, comprising more than 30,000 m of exploration drilling costing more than $12,000,000. Yet following its acquisition by Carlyle and the filing of the Permit Application on February 10, 2021, the Company has experienced significant delays with the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation (the "Ministry"). The Ministry has tied these delays to a Strategic Engagement Agreement (the "SEA") entered into between the Province of BC and the Tsilhqot'in Nation. Neither Carlyle nor the prior owners of the Newton Project are party to the SEA.

The Petition seeks declarations from the Court that the SEA does not affect the existing law regarding the Crown's duty to consult Indigenous groups, it does not displace obligations of procedural fairness owed to Carlyle and that Carlyle's rights have been violated. It also seeks a declaration that the SEA improperly interferes with the exercise of discretion by the Chief Permitting Officer (or delegate) and it asks the Court to order the Chief Permitting Officer (or delegate) to make a decision on the Permit Application without further delay.

Morgan Good, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carlyle, commented: "It is deeply concerning that after nearly a year this permit has still not yet been issued, and the ministry can't point to any substantive issue that is causing the delay. We believe Carlyle has made all reasonable efforts to work constructively with both the Ministry and the Tsilhqot'in Nation, and that it has been left with no choice but to seek the Court's assistance. While we fully respect the Crown's duty to consult Indigenous groups, the Crown must still follow the law and it must not lose sight of the legal rights and interests of third parties."

Change to Board of Directors

The Company also announces the resignation of Mike Blady from its board of directors (the "Board"). The Company thanks Mr. Blady for his many efforts and support over the years and wishes him all the best with his future endeavours.

In turn, Carlyle would like to announce and welcome Mr. Jeremy Hanson as its newest member of the Board. Mr. Hanson is a professional geoscientist and has over a decade of experience in mineral exploration throughout Canada. He is the founder of Hardline Exploration Corp, a geological consulting firm focused out of Western Canada. Mr. Hanson is a Director and VP Exploration for Garibaldi Resources Corp, Technical Advisor for Nickel Rock Resources Inc, as well as a director of the Smithers Exploration Group. He graduated with a B.Sc. Hons with distinction from Simon Fraser University and brings a strategic mindset to every project.

Amendment to Sunset Property Agreement

Carlyle also announces that it has entered into an amending agreement (the "Amending Agreement") to amend the terms of its option agreement dated November 7, 2018, as amended on May 9, 2018, May 25, 2018, June 25, 2018, April 24, 2020 and July 29, 2021 (collectively, the "Option Agreement"), whereby the Company has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Sunset mineral property, located in the Vancouver Mining Division of the Province of British Columbia (the "Sunset Property"). Under the terms of the Amending Agreement, the Company has extended the second and third scheduled payments of exploration expenditures respectively on the Sunset Property to December 31, 2022 (as to $200,000) and December 31, 2023 (as to $700,000). A copy of the Amending Agreement has been filed under Carlyle's profile on SEDAR.

Carlyle Completes Consultant Issuances

Further to the Company's news release dated July 30, 2021, the Company announces that it has completed the respective share issuances owing to a certain consultant of Carlyle (the "Consultant") under the terms of an independent consultant agreement (the "Consultant Agreement") dated July 5, 2021 between the Company and the Consultant. Accordingly, an aggregate of 842,647 common shares (each, a "Share") in the capital of the Company were issued in accordance with the terms of the Consultant Agreement. For additional information on the Consultant Agreement, see the Company's news release dated July 30, 2021, filed under Carlyle's profile on SEDAR . For more information on the Share issuances please see the Company's Form 9 dated January 5, 2022, filed on the CSE website.

All of the Shares were issued pursuant to the prospectus exemption contained in section 2.24 of National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions and are not subject to trading restrictions pursuant to the provisions of National Instrument 45-102 - Resale of Securities ("NI 45-102") since the criteria contained in section 2.6(3) of NI 45-102 were met and since the Company received written approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") to issue the Shares without the hold period pursuant to section 1.4(a) of CSE Policy 6.

About Carlyle

Carlyle is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral resource properties. Carlyle owns 100% of the Newton Gold Project in the Clinton Mining Division of B.C. The Company has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Cecilia Gold-Silver Project located in the State of Sonora, Mexico. The Company also holds an option to earn a 100% interest in the promising Sunset property located in the Vancouver Mining Division near Pemberton, B.C. Carlyle is based in Vancouver, B.C., and is listed on the CSE under the symbol "CCC".

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF

CARLYLE COMMODITIES CORP.

"Morgan Good"

Morgan Good

President and Chief Executive Officer

For more information regarding this news release, please contact:

Morgan Good, CEO and Director

T: 604-715-4751

E: morgan@carlylecommodities.com

W: www.carlylecommodities.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian legislation. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future including, without limitation, the approval, timely or otherwise, of the Permit Application and any plans for further exploration at the Newton Project. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable and reflect expectations of future developments and other factors which management believes to be reasonable and relevant, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements involve many known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include the inability of the Company to obtain approval by the Ministry of its Permit Application, execute its proposed business plans, and carry out planned future activities, including, but not limited to, those relating to the further exploration of the Newton Project. Other factors may also adversely affect the future results or performance of the Company, including general economic, market or business conditions, future prices of gold or other precious metals, changes in the financial markets and in the demand for gold or other precious metals, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting the mineral exploration industry, and risks related to the Company's investments and operations in the mineral exploration sector, as well as the risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis and other filings made by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, also poses new risks that are currently indescribable and immeasurable. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly, are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/111056
Stronger commodity prices and higher sales volumes helped Santos post record quarterly revenue and annual profit results, boosted by a $21 billion merger with Oil Search that was completed last year. Shares are trading 0.1 per cent lower at $7.19.Meanwhile, Northern Stardefied the skills shortage and posted a rise in gold output in the December quarter from the prior quarter. The gold miner said its local operations performed in line with expectations in the period, but its Pogo mine in Alaska lagged again. The company is on track to meet its financial year guidance this year. Shares are trading 7.8 per cent higher at $9.43.Funds under administration at Netwealthwere propelled higher by 9 per cent to $56.6 billion in the December quarter. The company has raised its target for inflows to $13.5 billion for funds under administration as they continue to experience favourable conditions. Shares are trading 0.8 per cent higher at $16.56.
186 Ventures, a Boston MA-based venture capital firm that provides pre-seed and seed stage funding to impact-obsessed founders, raised $37M in funding.

Limited partners of the fund include tech founders and executives, institutional investors, fund of funds, and endowments.

Founded in August 2021 by Giuseppe Stuto and Julian Fialkow, 186 Ventures plans to fund data driven founders who focus on disruption and innovation, with an emphasis on fintech, web3, future of work, and media.

Julian Fialkow and Giuseppe Stuto funded 30 early-stage companies together as angel investors before starting 186 Ventures. They met at DraftKings, Inc., where Fialkow was an instrumental figure in standing up Drive, by DraftKings, the companys first VC fund. Following an exit to DraftKings, Stuto was there overseeing product integration. They worked together on several strategic initiatives.

186 Ventures brings to founders a network across industry leaders, founders, and prominent investors, both on the East and West Coasts. Their investors include downstream VCs who provide invaluable insight and future funding support for 186 portfolio companies. The firm rapidly identifies and introduces potential co-investors, advisors, specialized support functions, or informal mentors as needed and help early-stage companies rapidly scale both operationally and financially.

FinSMEs

20/01/2021
1Password Executive Team

1Password, a Toronto, Canada-based human-centric security company, closed a $620m (USD) Series C funding round that valued it at $6.8 billion.

The round was led by ICONIQ Growth, with participation including Tiger Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Backbone Angels, Salesforce Ventures, Accel, Slack Fund, Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Chris Evans, Rita Wilson, Ashton Kutcher, Trevor Noah, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Jeff Weiner, Executive Chairman at LinkedIn, Robert Iger, Former CEO & Chairman at The Walt Disney Company, Mary Barra, CEO at General Motors, George Kurtz, Co-founder and CEO of CrowdStrike, Frank Slootman  CEO at Snowflake Computing, Lucy Suros  CEO at Articulate, and Therese Tucker, Founder and Executive Chair at BlackLine. Will Griffith, a founding partner at ICONIQ Growth, will join 1Passwords board as part of this investment.

The company intends to use the capital to develop and scale human-centric security solutions for all, focusing on helping people protect their most sensitive data and information while integrating between their work and personal lives.

Led by Jeff Shiner, CEO, 1Password provides a password management and credentials security platform used by over 100,000 businesses, including IBM, Slack, Snowflake, Shopify, and Under Armour.

Over the last 24 months, the company has achieved significant growth milestones including:

Accelerating expansion  especially in its B2B business.

Growing its business customer base to more than 100,000 companies, adding notable new customers include Datadog, Intercom, PGA, Snowflake, and Wealthsimple.

Building an executive team, including CFO, CRO, CTO, CMO, and Chief Product Officer.

Growing its team by over 300% to 570 employees.

Launching new product offerings, including 1Password 8 for Windows, 1Password Events, Psst! password sharing, and Secrets Automation.

Launching partnerships with innovators like Fastmail, Privacy.com, and Ramp to make it easier to stay secure with virtual credit cards and unique logins. For businesses, an integration with Splunk uses our Events API to help customers detect security threats.

Launching a global GTM channel partnership program, allowing other companies to promote and sell 1Password to their customers.

FinSMEs

20/01/2022
6sense, a San Francisco, CA-based platform for B2B organizations generating predictable revenue, closed $200m in Series E funding, valuing it at $5.2 billion.

The round, which brought total funding to $426m, was co-led by new investors Blue Owl and MSD Partners with participation from new investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2, B Capital Group, Franklin Templeton, and Harmony Partners and existing investors Insight Partners, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, and Sapphire Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds for:

Further expansion in EMEA, Australia, and other international markets to support market demand

Investing in people and technology to continue building against its product strategy

Addressing demand from financial services, manufacturing, and health and life services verticals

Led by Jason Zintak, CEO, 6sense provides an Account Engagement Platform that helps B2B organizations achieve predictable revenue growth by leveraging AI, big data, and machine learning behind every member of the revenue team. 6sense uncovers anonymous buying behavior, prioritizes accounts for sales and marketing, and enables them to engage resistant buying teams with personalized, multi-channel, multi-touch campaigns.

The companys acquisition of Saleswhale, an AI-driven email marketing platform, extends the native engagement channels available in the 6sense platform.

FinSMEs

20/01/2022
Atom Computings second-generation quantum computer (conceptual rendering). Berkeley, CA  January 2022. (PRNewsfoto/Atom Computing)

Atom Computing, a Berkeley, Calif.,-based creator of a quantum computer, closed a $60M Series B funding round.

The round was led by Third Point Ventures, followed by Primer Movers Lab and insiders including Innovation Endeavors, Venrock and Prelude Ventures. Curtis McKee, Partner at Third Point Ventures, will join the Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to build their second-generation quantum computing systems and commercialize the technology.

Led by Rob Hays, CEO and President, Atom Computing is advancing scalable and reliable quantum computers using nuclear-spin qubits formed from neutral atoms, which will impact billions of lives, revolutionizing everything from drug discovery and financial modeling, to predicting climate change and the development of new, life-changing materials.

FinSMEs

20/01/2022
Dovetail, a Sydney, Australia- and San Francisco CA-based customer research platform provider, raised $63M in Series A funding at a post-money valuation north of $700m USD.

The round, which brings total funding to $71m USD, was led by Accel, with participation from Blackbird, Felicis Ventures, Grok Ventures, Didier Elzinga (CEO of Culture Amp), Stewart Butterfield (CEO of Slack), Vlad Magdalin (CEO of Webflow) and Daniel Yanisse (CEO of Checkr).

The company intends to use the funds to continue expand its operations and development efforts.

Founded in 2017 by Benjamin Humphrey and Bradley Ayers, Dovetail provides a customer research platform to 2,600+ customers including Affirm, Arm, Atlassian, Canva, Deloitte, PwC, Porsche, Shopify, Starbucks, and Workday, which use the systems data analysis, insight reporting, and search capabilities to enable everything from product development to digital transformation. The company, which has pioneered the research repository category, brings teams together to discover customer insights from data ranging from user interview recordings to satisfaction survey responses. The platform enables teams to collaborate on customer research and make decisions faster with rapid access to relevant customer insights.

Dovetail has 65+ employees across offices in Sydney and San Francisco.

FinSMEs

20/01/2022
Tampa, FL (33646)

Today

Sunny skies during the morning hours will give way to occasional showers in the afternoon. Thunder possible. High near 90F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
ZIPRA Veterans Association has said it is disappointed that its several requests made to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the return of their properties have not been responded to.

It has been two years since the veterans first met with President Mnangagwa, after which follow up meetings were expected to pave way for the hand over of the properties.

The first meeting took place at the State House in Harare in July 2019, where a delegation of ex-ZPRA members engaged President Mnangagwa who was in the company of his then Vice President Kembo Mohadi.

The ex-ZPRA freedom fighters lost their properties when the government seized them under the Unlawful Organisation Act in 1982 (Caveat No. 15 of 82) and transferred to the President of Zimbabwe in January 1987 (under Caveat No. 56 of 87).

In an interview with CITE, ZPRA Veterans Association spokesperson, Buster Magwizi lamented that their requests to engage with the President had been ignored.

There are outstanding requests that we have presented to the Head of State. We presented to the President Mnangagwa, the request for a meeting between the ZPRA veterans and him regarding the issue of the return of ZPRA and ZAPU properties. Up to now they have been mum, everything is quiet, he said.

No one is saying anything, we dont know whether we are coming or going.

After independence, the former veterans had contributed $50 each from their demobilisation payout to purchase 52 properties through their investment vehicle, Nitram Investments Private Limited.

The properties, now estimated to be worth billions of United States Dollars, were confiscated by the late former president Robert Mugabes administration under the Unlawful Organisation Act in 1982 (Caveat No. 15 of 82).

They were later transferred to the President of Zimbabwe in January 1987 (under Caveat No. 56 of 87).

Ever since then the former fighters, including ZAPU have been trying to win these back with no success.

The ZPRA Veterans Association spokesperson pleaded with the Office of the President to come forward and respond to their requests.

May the Head of State please come forward and answer this. We request an explanation, we have written letters to his office and it would appear that he is ignoring (us.) I dont know whether he is no longer a listening President, Magwizi said.

Reached for comment, Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (presidential Communications) George Charamba, said the government met with all the war veterans as a group last year and the ZPRA cadres were under that classification as well.

We focus on war veterans as a whole and the government meets with them. When the government meets war veterans, then their various concerns and grievances specific to ZPRA and their properties can be dealt with, he said.

The presidential spokesperson noted that meeting President Mnangagwa also meant accommodating his schedule.

The meeting will come where there is time and availability of the President, as you know he has a busy schedule. It doesnt mean he cant meet them in 2022, Charamba said. Cite.org.zw
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THE High Court has granted the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe (AFM) led by Amon Madawo permission to evict its rival faction led by Cossam Chiangwa from a property in Westgate, Harare.

This was after Chiangwa defied a High Court ruling of November 10, 2021, which ordered him to vacate the churchs property in Westgate after losing the battle for control of the church.

Madawo, through his lawyers Mtetwa and Nyambirai Legal Practitioners, then filed an application seeking services of the Sheriff of the High Court to evict Chiangwa and his AFM faction from the property.

The eviction order, dated January 19, 2022, read: Whereas Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe obtained an order in the High Court of Zimbabwe on November 10, 2021 against Cossam Chiangwa of No 6 Kremio Drive, Marlborough, Harare, ordering him and those claiming possession through him to be ejected from and out of 696 New Ardlyn, Westgate, Harare, at present occupied by the said Cossam Chiangwa and those claiming possession through him, the High Court order read.

Now, therefore, you are required and directed to eject the said Cossam Chiangwa and all persons claiming (possession) through him, his goods and possessions from and out of all occupation and possession whatsoever of the said ground or premises, and to leave the same, to the end that the said may peacefully enter into and possess the same, and for so doing this shall be your warrant.

Several cases have been filed at the court as the battle between the two AFM factions rages on.

On May 28, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that Chiangwa was not the legitimate leader of AFM. Chiangwa accepted the judgment and went on to form a splinter faction and named it AFM of Zimbabwe, with symbols slightly different from the main church. Newsday
Corvallis resident Geoff Hollinger doesnt want a jail in his neighborhood.

While he supports the notion of a new justice system campus for Benton County, he believes the proposed site at 5700 SW Reservoir Road is the wrong place for it. Hes petitioning the county to look elsewhere.

Hollinger's voice and those he's rallied add to the not-in-my-backyard choir that started with the now-defunct southern Corvallis proposal and may extend to residents on the northern side of town when the county hosts a virtual public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20.

Then, county commissioners are expected to pick one of two finalist sites as part of the Justice System Improvement Plan during a special meeting at 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 21. The choice is between the west site on Reservoir Road near the Benton County Fairgrounds and a north site on Second Street near HP Inc., McFadden Ranch.

Hollingers petition has garnered nearly 500 signatures against the westernmost site. He worries the new jail being would be too close to neighborhoods and recreational areas. He also says it will impact traffic and affect nearby wetlands and natural areas.

He also has public safety concerns. He said petition signers arent only those near the site  they come from around the city and the county.

Theres really strong opposition to this site, Hollinger said. Its really inappropriate. We definitely would like to see them make a better selection.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Hollinger got the idea from a petition to remove another possible justice campus site in south Corvallis. That petition garnered a little more than 200 signatures before the site was dropped from consideration.

Although the siting is contentious, Hollinger said there is a lot of support in the petition for the proposed facilities and revamping the local justice system, coupled with some hesitancy regarding the cost. He said people are just pushing back against the process and the location, adding that some would prefer renovating to replacement.

Personally, I would go for that over building this whole $100 million facility, he said.

The county is banking on a bond measure of up to $100 million for new facilities, which include a new jail, courthouse, crisis center, sheriffs office and emergency operations center. The bond would cost property owners around 80 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

The crisis center funding is largely secured and the courthouse will draw on general fund reserves and loans, plus $20 million in state matching funds. Even if a bond measure fails, those pieces of the JSIP are moving into place.

If the county goes with the west site, Hollinger isnt going to surrender the fight. He said there will be a campaign to save Bald Hill including T-shirts, bumper stickers and signs asking the public to vote down a bond measure needed to finance the new jail and other facilities.

Were going to go at them with everything we have, Hollinger said.

Another issue at the west site is property abuts the Dunawi Creek riparian corridor and wetland. Hollinger said there is an ongoing process of reclaiming the buried segment of north Dunawi Creek in the Bald Hill Natural Area pasture and reconnecting it to the Marys River.

This will improve water flow through the west site property, making it inappropriate and impractical for any infrastructure there, he said. Paving over and developing that land would greatly impact the integrity and function of the wetland and riparian zone in its current state and will compromise the long-term recovery efforts.

During a Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, JSIP project manager Nick Kurth raised a number of problems with the west site, including proximity to existing and future homes, releasing jail inmates in the area, property value impacts, 53rd Street flooding, transportation impacts and environmental challenges.

In an interview, Kurth said the west site also had benefits pushing it to the top of a selection process that included more than 40 potential locations.

The west site is only bordered on one side by a residential area, its the right size and sits in city limits, has utilities, and its zoned general industrial, which allows the proposed justice campus usage without changes. And its more centrally located in terms of the county, giving better accessibility to the sheriffs office.

If the west site is selected, a letter of intent is already in place and the next step would be a purchase and sale agreement.

If the county goes north instead, where negotiations have not produced any agreement, commissioners will have to consider using eminent domain to get the property.

According to the county, the west site is 35 acres and could cost the county $1.5 million ($42,857 per acre) to acquire, and the north site could be 20 or 28 acres and could cost an estimated $5.6 million to $7.9 million ($283,140 per acre) to acquire.

Kurth said the steeper cost for the north site is driven by the asking price for the property, which could fall to condemnation if its selected and the owner rejects the countys offer.

The Thursday meeting can be viewed online at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_352kEB2WQPuHRxvmhqfPZg or at http://facebook.com/BentonCoGov

Cody Mann covers Benton County and the cities of Corvallis and Philomath. He can be contacted at 541-812-6113 or Cody.Mann@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter via @News_Mann_.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to King of Tonga Tupou VI over the grave disaster caused by the recent volcanic eruption in the South Pacific island country.

In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn about the volcanic eruption and the resulting tsunami and other grave disasters, which have caused heavy losses.

Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in his own name, extended sincere sympathies to the Tongan government and people.

China and Tonga are comprehensive strategic partners who support and help each other, Xi said, adding that China stands ready to provide as much support as its capacity allows for Tonga to help the Tongan people prevail over the disasters and rebuild their homes.

Also on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message of sympathy to Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni.




Zimbabwe can now export fruits to China after the two countries signed the citrus phytosanitary protocol, in a development expected to broaden export destinations for the fruits and remove over reliance on South Africa and the European market.

The phytosanitary protocol requires that a cold chain system for the export of fresh citrus fruits to China be put in place like any other country including the European Union (EU) for the management of False Codling Moth and other pests.

This cold chain is required to begin at the port as opposed to the initial requirement for cooling to begin on the farm.

China was represented by the General Administration of Customs of China, Minister Ni Yuefeng while Zimbabwe was represented by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Anxious Masuka.

Varieties of fresh citrus to be exported to China from Zimbabwe include sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata), grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), lemon (Citrus limon and Citrus aurantifolia) and sour orange (Citrus aurantium).

Acting chief director for Department of Research and Specialist Services Dr Dumisani Kutywayo confirmed the developments.

The General Administration of Customs of the Peoples Republic of China signed first and we followed suit.

We are now educating stakeholders on the requirements to export fresh fruits to China. Local stakeholders from the citrus industry have accepted the favourable terms, he said.

In a post on micro-blogging site, Twitter, the Chinese embassy in Harare said: The sweet & juicy Zimbabwean citrus will join the Chinese market as the citrus export protocol have just been signed. We are implementing President Xis pledge that China will open a green channel for the export of African agricultural products. Itll benefit more Zimbabwean farmers.

The finalisation of the protocol will provide an impetus towards the conclusion of partnerships and out grower arrangements with Chinese companies that are eager to export the products to China.

The signing of the trade protocol will also cement trade relations between the two nations and will open the door for other products some that we were not exporting hence will lead to an increase in agriculture contribution to the export basket.

China imports the grade b and c citrus as well and this will help Zimbabwe export those grades that are deemed inferior by traditional markets.

The request for the citrus fruits export protocol between Zimbabwe and China started 2015 when Zimbabwe was seeking a market for Shashi Citrus smallholder farmers. Herald
Roger DeHoog has been elevated from the Oregon Court of Appeals to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Gov. Kate Brown announced DeHoog's appointment, along with three new judges on the Oregon Court of Appeals, on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

DeHoog will succeed Lynn Nakamoto, who retired Dec. 31 after six years in Position 6 on the state's highest court. Like Nakamoto, DeHoog is Asian American, and will be only the second in the history of Oregon's appellate courts.

Judge Ramon Pagan of Washington County Circuit Court was named to DeHoog's Position 8 on the Court of Appeals.

Kristina Hellman, a lawyer with the federal public defender in Portland, was named to Position 10. The seat was vacated Dec. 31 upon the retirement of Judge Rex Armstrong, who served a record 27 years on the Court of Appeals.

Anna Joyce, a lawyer with the Portland firm of Markowitz Herbold and a former state solicitor general, was named to Position 11. The seat was vacated Dec. 31 upon the retirement of Judge Joel DeVore, who retired after having served since 2013. DeVore was one of three new judges appointed when the court expanded from 10 to 13 judges in 2013.

The appointments take effect immediately. All the appointees will have to run this year for full six-year terms in the nonpartisan positions.

"Each of these highly qualified individuals brings a skill set and perspective informed by years of legal experience," Brown said in her announcement. "I am grateful to this talented, diverse group of judges and lawyers, for stepping up to serve our state and administering justice on behalf of the people of Oregon."

Backgrounds on the new appointees:

Roger DeHoog

Before he was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2015, he was a Deschutes Court circuit judge for three years. He spent much of career in Bend, where he was a deputy public defender in Deschutes County from 1993 to 2000, and in private practice from 2000 to 2007, handling criminal and domestic relations cases. In 2008 he joined the Oregon Department of Justice in its special litigation unit, and dealt with major cases in environmental, constitutional and consumer protection laws.

He earned a bachelor's degree in 1987 from Dartmouth College and his law degree in 1992 from the University of Oregon. He is the only current member of the appellate courts from outside the Willamette Valley.

Ramon Pagan

He has been a Washington County circuit judge since 2016 and led the family-law bench since 2018. He was in private practice as a criminal defense lawyer, and was an associate at the Portland firm of Janet Hoffman & Associates, from 2004 to 2016. As a law student, Pagan was a law clerk for Sonia Sotomayor, then a judge of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, and today a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pagan earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1997 from Arizona State University and his law degree in 2000 from Fordham University in New York. He has taught trial advocacy at Lewis & Clark College law school and Fordham University.

Kristina Hellman

She has been with the federal public defender in Portland since 2002, and is a supervising attorney. She represents clients in federal cases where they are challenging their Oregon criminal convictions on federal constitutional grounds.

Hellman earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree in 2000 from Georgetown University. She was a law clerk for Judge Edward Reed in U.S. District Court in Nevada before she came to Oregon.

Anna Joyce

She is regarded as one of Oregon's top appellate lawyers. She worked in the appellate division of the Oregon Department of Justice from 2003 to 2015  and from 2012 to 2015, she was solicitor general, the official who represents the state in state and federal appellate court proceedings. She joined the Portland firm of Markowitz Herbold in 2015; in one of her most recent cases, she argued to the Oregon Supreme Court on behalf of the Legislature, which sought (and won) more time to prepare legislative and congressional redistricting maps after the delayed release of federal census block data required to draw the maps.

Joyce earned a bachelor's degree in 1996 and her law degree in 2001, both from the University of Oregon. She was a law clerk for then Judge Rives Kistler, later elevated to the Supreme Court, on the Oregon Court of Appeals. She completed a certificate in public management in 1998 from Willamette University.

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A trusted COVID-19 testing site could backfill Janesville pop-up site that shuttered amid complaints

By Neil Johnson A pop-up COVID-19 testing site run by Chicago-based Center for COVID Control remains shuttered a week after the company closed shop after nationwide complaints that it wasnt providing test results on timely basis.

JANESVILLE

Still shuttered is the Center for COVID Control testing site that abruptly closed last week near downtown Janesville. The national chain of pop-up testing sites drew complaints and probes by state governments over slow test results and privacy concerns.

Meanwhile, local public health officials say theyre working with a trusted private contractor to set up a new COVID-19 testing site in Janesville.

Rock County Public Health Department Director Katrina Harwood said Wisconsin-based Summit Clinical Labs is a known quantity that is registered and regulated under state and local law.

Harwood said the county plans to partner with Summit to host a COVID-19 testing site at the Rock County Health Center on County F starting sometime next week.

That move should allay some concerns by residents who want to avoid COVID-19 testing sites whose practices have come under question. Accessible and reliable testing options are becoming more vital amid a steady uptick in infections as the Omicron variant of the virus spreads rapidly throughout Wisconsin.

Health officials encourage use of COVID-19 testing kits Rock County residents are being encouraged to use the free COVID-19 test kits being offered by the federal government as local testing facilities are strained.

A residents concerns

The Center for COVID Control, which had been running a test site in a vacant former hot dog restaurant on North Parker Drive in Janesville, was blacklisted this month by the Chicago Better Business Bureau. The BBB said the Center for COVID Control shirked its duties to provide COVID test results in a timely manner.

Attorneys General in other states where the Center for COVID Control operates say the company also is suspected of seeking or possibly sharing personal identifying information of the people they test.

The company last week closed its sites in Janesville and elsewhere saying they would reopen once the company hires more staff and provides them with additional training.

Janesville resident Keith Kapp said he got tested at the Center for COVID Controls pop-up site a few days after Christmas.

The 79-year-old, retired attorney said he wanted a test before he spent the holidays with relatives. Kapp said he got his test results, which were negative, texted to his phone about three hours after he gave a sample at the Center for COVID Controls Janesville location.

He said he hasnt yet received paperwork from his health insurance provider which would indicate his December COVID-19 test was officially processed.

After seeing news stories last week about the center, he said he started to worry that other local residents were being referred there for testing by health care providers or public health officials.

Kapp said his health clinic suggested he get tested there because Kapp wasnt exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms that would trigger testing in a hospital setting.

Kapp said it made him uncomfortable that the Center for COVID Control wouldnt test him without first making photocopies of his drivers license and health insurance documents. Kapp provided the information because he wanted to get tested before spending time with family.

Harwood said some COVID-19 testing companies are required to collect some personal information so test results can be verified and later recorded by state and local health departments tracking daily COVID infection data.

Some of the companies who run pop-up COVID-19 sites offer free testing, although the companies can and often do process billing for tests through peoples insurance, Medicare or Medicaid plans, Harwood said.

The Center for COVID Control alone has cashed in on more than $120 million in federal COVID reimbursements for PCR tests administered to people who lack appropriate health insurance coverage, according to a report by USA Today.

Harwood said she has not heard anyone here implicate a local pop-up site in an identity theft.

She said she has heard local residents complain about lab techs at such sites sites not wearing personal protective equipment or not supplying the state with the results of their tests.

Some local pop-up testing sites have come and gone, but Harwood said two or three sites continue to operate in Rock County alongside testing sites at hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

No direct oversight

Harwood said the countys health department has no direct oversight of some private pop-up sites here, in part because state regulations of human tissue testing were not written to handle a sprawling, global COVID-19 testing campaign.

Harwood said private sites such as the Center for COVID Control are often, but not always, run by out-of-state labs not required to register with health officials in Rock County.

She said county health officials typically first learn that such sites have opened from residents who wonder if the operations are legitimate.

State and county health authorities can and do respond to concerns or complaints over COVID-19 testing sites that are run through private companies with labs based within Wisconsin.

But Harwood said Wisconsin law doesnt give county health departments authority to do investigations or compliance checks on companies who operate COVID-19 sample collection sites here but operate labs outside of Wisconsin.

Its a loophole in the law that Harwood said limits local authorities ability to respond to complaints.

Harwood said she believes serious complaints over an out-of-state COVID-19 testing contractor would get funneled to a states top health department, then possibly to the attorney general of the state that licensed the testing companys lab.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt, in an email to The Gazette, said the state wouldnt comment on specific allegations, complaints or investigations of private testing groups such as the Center for COVID Control, but she said the department researches each inquiry or complaint regarding COVID-19 provider testing or billing practices that do not align with current policies.

We conduct outreach to providers to investigate each situation as appropriate. That includes education about current policies and regulations, and any next steps required by the provider and/or DHS, Goodsitt said.

One new COVID-19 testing site that appeared recently in Janesville popped up in a Hemp and CBD shop space at 1521 Milton Avenue in Janesvilles east side retail district. The site is run by Variant COVID Testing, a group that lab technicians on site on Wednesday said is a contractor through Chicago-based health testing firm Western Labs.

Variant COVID Testing lab tech Muhammed Tayyab showed The Gazette that he and his three coworkers at the Janesville pop-up site are registered through the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

Tayyab said Western Labs is licensed to operate in Illinois under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, a set of laws which apply to any firm that analyzes collected human tissue samples.

Tayyab and coworker Subull Khan said they work under federal rules, which require that testers ask people getting COVID-19 tests to supply drivers license or another photo ID, proof of insurance or Medicare or Medicaid information.

The people dont get billed for the tests, Tayyab said, however the tests are processed through individuals insuranceor, if they dont have insurance, the testing costs are covered by the federal government.

Tayyabs test site in Janesville isnt responsible for delivering test results to customers or the state. He said hes only required to send the samples to Western Labs Chicago headquarters.

Tayyabs co-worker, lab tech Tenzin Phuljung, said Western Labs is not affiliated with the Center for COVID Control.

But Western is among several licensed labs that in recent days has has its lab locations and pop-up sites inspected by the federal officials amid questions over the Center for COVID Controls operations, Phuljung said.

The (federal) investigations were because of the news everybody is talking about with the Center for COVID Control. But Western (Labs) passed that (federal) inspection. They were cleared, Phuljung said.
Austria made history Thursday as the first European country to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all adult residents.

The new rule will be in effect from Feb. 1 until the end of January 2024, according to parliaments 137-33 vote. Austrias the vaccination rate continues to lag with just about 72% of residents fully inoculated.  a low number compared to other Western European nations.

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The mandate is intended to keep Austrian hospitals from buckling under a wave of COVID patients.

Lawmakers vote on compulsory COVID-19 vaccination in the parliament in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday. (Lisa Leutner /AP)

While exemptions will be made for some, like those who are medically unable to receive the shot or who have recovered from the virus in the past six months, people who flout the mandate after multiple reminders could face fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,000).

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This is how we can manage to escape the cycle of opening and closing, of lockdowns, Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein said Thursday in Parliament, of the big, and, for the first time, also lasting step in the countrys COVID battle.

Lawmakers vote on compulsory COVID-19 vaccination in the Parliament in Vienna. (AP Photo/Lisa Leutner) (Lisa Leutner /AP)

This law is so urgently needed right now, said Mueckstein, pointing to the highly contagious omicron variant as well as future variants.

Every three months, an expert commission will report on vaccination progress.

Talk of a nationwide vaccine mandate began in November as the country implemented a lockdown that has since ended. The possibility of the mandate  which was initially intended for all residents 14 and up  has resulted in prominent protests by vaccine skeptics and right-wing extremists.

Im appalled, Im stunned, Im shaken and Im shocked, Herbert Kickl, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, said of the mandate, which he views as a huge blow to the freedoms of Austrians.

Neighboring Germany is also weighing the possibility of a vaccine mandate for all, while Greece has already mandated inoculations for everyone 60 and up. That age group makes up the majority of the countrys deaths and ICU hospitalizations.

With News Wire Services
Braden Manning, Gettysburg baseball: Braden went 9-for-13 with 2 doubles, 2 triples and 7 RBI over 4 games. He also struck out 11 batters in a win over South Western.

Amy Anderson, Delone Catholic softball: Amy went 5-for-12 with 6 RBI, 3 runs scored and a triple over 3 games. She also struck out 17 batters and went 2-1 in those games.

Parker Sanders, Bermudian Springs Tennis: Parker won 3 matches on his way to a fourth-place finish in the YAIAA Class 2A Singles Tournament.

Andrew Koons, Fairfield baseball: Andrew went 5-for-11 with 8 RBI, 4 runs scored and 2 home runs over 3 games, including a grand slam. He was also the winning pitcher against Biglerville.

Ben Angstadt, Biglerville baseball: Ben went 8-for-17 with 7 RBI, 4 runs scored, a double and a home run over 4 games for the Canners.

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CAMPTON, Ky. & ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nature's Health Connection (Nature's Health) and Sombra Wellness Products (Sombra) have today announced that they have entered into an exclusive manufacture and supply agreement for the Australian Dream topical pain relief products.

Australian Dream is a leading topical pain relief brand with broad US retail and eCommerce distribution.

"Australian Dream has enjoyed tremendous success and customer loyalty by focusing on delivering the highest standards of quality of efficacy. Our partnership with Sombra is a key relationship as we enter the next phase of growing our brand as a leader and innovator in the category," said Mr. Phil Maddox, CEO of Nature's Health.

"Sombra and Nature's Health have worked closely together to navigate the rapidly changing market conditions," added Will Stephens, Director, Supply Chain Management of Nature's health. "We are excited to move forward with an exclusive partnership to ensure the highest quality and continual innovation of Australian Dream."

Under the terms of the agreement, Sombra has agreed to exclusively formulate and manufacture Australian Dream through at least the year 2026. Sombra will be responsible for providing high-quality formulations to expand and enhance the product line, as well as filling, testing, packaging, and manufacturing services.

"We have enjoyed a very strong 5-year relationship with Nature's Health. We are excited to formalize and grow that relationship as the exclusive partner for Australian Dream to produce their top-selling products," said Mr. Alfredo Cortazar, Owner and CEO of Sombra.

"The partnership with Nature's Health has been successfully built on a foundation of shared values and goals. Extending that relationship and aligning our growth strategies was a natural progression for all parties," stated Brian Riley, COO of Sombra.

About Nature's Health Connection

Nature's Health Connection offers its Australian Dream pain relief products in CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Kroger, Amazon, and many other retailers.

About Sombra Wellness Products

Sombra Wellness Products is an FDA registered, cGMP compliant formulation laboratory and manufacturing company specializing in personal care products for topical use (OTC drugs, natural products, CBD, and health & beauty).

Contact

The Creative Spot

Mitch Greenwald

mitchg@creativespot.com

614-638-8079

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Image 1: Australian Dream





Arthritis Pain Relief Cream and Back Pain Cream









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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Traverse City, Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Traverse City, Michigan -

Traverse City-based Grand Traverse Dock & Hoist has gone through a complete brand overhaul while working with Traverse City-based marketing company, MasterMind. The owner of GT Dock & Hoist had reached out to Stephen Twomey owner of MasterMind after the dock and hoist company did an excellent job installing Stephen's personal boat hoist and dock. After seeing that this was a well-run dock and hoist company, Stephen offered to redo their website and he and Allan the owner of Grand Traverse Dock and Hoist, worked out a deal to help grow their online presence.

Starting with a whole brand refresh, the team based the redesign on a water style inspiration that is apparent throughout the website, from the shape of the header images to the rest of the images on the site. Grand Traverse Dock & Hoist expects the site redesign to help with their goal of expanding their services beyond Grand Traverse County and growing the company into a major player in Leelanau County, serving Big and Little Glen Lake, Lake Leelanau, and including Torch Lake. They have already gained recognition as a preferred ShoreStation dock & hoist dealer and they have the experience and crew required to design the ideal lake life outdoor docking system. From new dock sales to removing and installing boat lifts, the team at Grand Traverse Dock & Hoist has the experience to safely install and remove your boating and dock set up. Offering on the water design and consultation, getting the ideal Lake Life set up has never been easier for beachfront homeowners in Northern Michigan.

With regards to Grand Traverse Dock & Hoist's new website, the owner said, We are super excited about our website and we are looking forward to the upcoming season. We expect to serve more customers in the days to come as we have improved our online presence. And to our customers, we say, Expect solid, safe dock and hoist installation and leave the back-breaking work to the pros.

Recently, Grand Traverse Dock & Hoist moved to a new showroom to better help their customers. This move was done in anticipation of growth from digital search as well as referrals. Allan's team of professional dock & hoist installers is available to do on-the-water consultations for designing an ideal swim platform or lounging area. Grand Traverse Dock and hoist also offers Personal Water Craft (PWC) Hoists for jetskis. When trying to protect one's boat, having a solid canopy over the top is advised. Also, ShoreStation dealers can help boat owners acquire side screens known as "Power Curtains" which are a roll-down screen option that keep debris like leaves and other animals out as well. Grand Traverse Dock and Hoist also offers docking guides like Tritoon log racks as well as spring-loaded centering devices to help boaters get into the lift safely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw3TaH_kI3Y

Meanwhile, Grand Traverse Dock & Hoist is a dock and hoist retail store that specializes in the installation of a dock and hoist in Northern Michigan, particularly in the Grand Traverse/ Leelanau County area. They also work with a number of other boat hoist and dock supply companies to ensure that they are able to give the customer the best possible option. Those who want to check out their exact location can visit their Google Maps page at https://www.google.com/maps?cid=3263736889866892375.

###

For more information about MasterMindSEO, contact the company here:



MasterMindSEO

Stephen Twomey

855-983-0303

827 W Front St Suite 101

Traverse City, MI 49684
Fort Lauderdale, Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fort Lauderdale, Florida -

Fort Lauderdale, FL - BrokerCalls, a leading Pay Per Call (PPC) lead generation company, welcomes a new affiliate account manager Zach Harrison. Zachs role is to work with affiliates to acquire vetted, qualified calls from various networks and publishers within the affiliate networking field.

Zach, a recent graduate from Florida State University, worked through a locum agency as a physician consultant before joining the BrokerCalls team.

His drive has always been to help others in life and in business and he believes that the work that he can do as an affiliate account manager will help to bridge the gap between client and business, helping the business to thrive and clients to have their needs met.

After growing up in Toronto, Canada, Zach seized the opportunity to study at Florida State University. Upon completion of his degree, Zach moved to Fort Lauderdale where he felt his career path would flourish.

Zach specializes in financial verticals where his industrious work ethic will be a benefit to BrokerCalls and their clientele. He prides himself on his ability to build strong business relationships through stellar communication and hard work. Zachs goal is always to meet and exceed clients expectations.

I am so thrilled to be part of such a quality team here at BrokerCalls with such genuine colleagues to work with, Zach said. My time here so far has been outstanding, and I truly feel that I have established quality relationships with everyone here. I am very excited about this new role, and I am eager to help the company exceed previous goals and continue its success

BrokerCalls welcomed Zachs enthusiasm and feels strongly that his role in the company will lead to continued success and growth for not only BrokerCalls but their clients, too.

The thriving model that BrokerCalls has mastered is the ideal business solution for B2B and B2C campaigns. The quality calls and leads they provide filter only the best leads so that their clients deal with only qualified motivated prospects in the insurance, financial, travel, and home services industries.

BrokerCalls affiliate network provides a stream of quality leads for the companys clients in several competitive fields. With the addition of Zach Harrison to the already thriving affiliate management team, BrokerCalls is looking forward to another year of unprecedented growth.

BrokerCalls success is founded upon their reach as well as their performance-based affiliate marketing and Pay Per Call marketing campaigns. Essentially, BrokerCalls provides a gold mine of motivated leads that are paid for based on performance instead of just volume, leading to a positive return on investments time after time and placing the control in the hands of the businesses they serve.

The addition of Zach to the expanding team at BrokerCalls has set the stage for another year of growth for the company, the affiliate marketers, and customers alike.

###

For more information about Broker Calls, contact the company here:



Broker Calls

Bianca Toyos

855.268.3773

3323 West Commercial Blvd, Suite 260, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
Single Drunk Female opens with its title character at rock bottom.

The Freeform series, premiering Thursday, finds the 20-something Sam Fink fired from her job at a Manhattan blog and living back home with her mother after running out of options.

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It was really important that it didnt feel like an Afterschool Special from the 80s and that it felt like what a lot of people really go through, which is two to 10 steps too far, Sofia Black-DElia, the New Jersey native who stars as Sam, told the Daily News.

Its the inability to control yourself.

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Sofia Black-D-Elia is seen in "Single Drunk Female."(Freeform/Elizabeth Sisson) (Elizabeth Sisson/Freeform)

Sam goes to rehab, then AA. Then she relapses and starts all over. She fails again and again, but she also keeps trying.

But as a half-hour comedy, Single Drunk Female doesnt just keep Sam in the battle between alcoholism and sobriety. She fights with her mom, parties with her best friend, crushes on a new guy. Theres more to her than just drinking or not drinking, and the show is determined to prove that.

[ Wolf Like Me comes with a whole lot of baggage in genre-bending Peacock series ]

I dont think people move through one or the other; its often all of it at once, especially when youre doing something as brave and life-altering as getting sober in your late 20s, Black-DElia, 30, said.

A lot of people that are about to get sober, or should be about to get sober, are masking a lot of s--t underneath, and I think one of the ways to do that is to be a really loud, extroverted person.

Ally Sheedy plays the mother of the lead character in "Single Drunk Female." (Freeform/Danny Delgado) (Danny Delgado/Freeform)

Ally Sheedy, in her first TV regular role, was drawn to the complicated relationship between Sam and her mom. Carol thought she had done her job: raised her, given her the life lessons to succeed, shipped her out. Now, with Sam suddenly back in her childhood bedroom, Carols life has been turned upside down, too.

Carol makes sense to me  my relationship with my mother, my relationship with my son. I enjoyed the sharp edges, the friction of the relationship, Sheedy, 59, told The News.

[ Grief heals with a dash of humor in Foxs Pivoting ]

For Carol, Sams reappearance is almost more of a hindrance, not just with her sponsor and her laundry, but because Carol is now forced to look at her own drinking.

Its something that is more relatable, to say Im a problem drinker or Im a binge drinker. We have this idea in our head of this romanticized falling-down drunk, the Breakfast Club star said. This, because it starts right after rehab, is all about the incredibly painful, awkward, boring, almost unendurable daily life that (Sam) has to figure out how to do without this buffer of drinking.

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Sofia Black D'Elia and Lily Mae Harrington in "Single Drunk Female." (Freeform/Elizabeth Sisson) (Elizabeth Sisson/Freeform)

Single Drunk Female doesnt exonerate Sam in showing Carols messiness, but rather uses it as another piece of the puzzle, along with a dead dad, an engaged ex-boyfriend and just the general malaise of a 20-something.

The show offers neither comfort nor answers. Sam doesnt get fixed. Her drinking problems, her relationship with her mother, her self-esteem issues will never be solved. Some days she has the strength to get up, brush her hair, go to work at the grocery store. Some days she doesnt.

Its hard to work on yourself. Its hard to change. Its hard to grow up, Black-DElia told The News.

Failing is part of the process. You just have to hope you fail upward.
New Albany, United States, Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Making waves and raising eyeballs, DexioProtocol is making headlines as an ecosystem quietly disrupting the crypto arena worldwide with the incoming announcement in CMCs Crypto Weekly of the beta release of the DexiHunter whitelisted version utilizing top influencers and promoters at the end of January. DexioProtocol is a primary player, and Crypto Weekly is one of the largest subscribed to weekly periodicals of the Internets cryptosphere. The online weekly crypto magazine will soon be printed in the United States and Great Britain and made available at major retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and many others. There were progress reports on the other primary projects of the DexioProtocol ecosystem, which are all covered in the following paragraphs.

To learn more, visit:

Website: https://dexioprotocol.com

For Questions:

Go to the Telegram Community Chatroom: https://t.me/dexiochat

More about the DexiHunter Upgrade Reported in Crypto weekly

Greg Gould Chief Operations officer of Dexio Protocol described the Dexi Hunter upgrade to Crypto Weekly. Consider going into the Dexi Hunter app and being directed to a local coffee shop or bakery bounty. Businesses can attract customers by distributing coupons as bounties within the Dexiverse. Imagine a new NFT artist looking for a unique way to advertise among all the options available? Artists can drop NFTs around the Dexiverse for consumers to collect, introducing themselves to an entirely new group of consumers they may never have been exposed to otherwise. The vision of DexioProtocol, a world in which blockchain technology is mainstream and infinitely more people are connected by it. DexioProtocol is committed to this vision, and Dexi Hunter embodies it perfectly. With Dexi Hunter, Blockchain is brought to the masses through an app that drives consumers to search for it, introduces businesses to alternative advertising in a medium outside of their expertise, and encourages greater adoption and education around the technology. DixiHunter is like a greatly upgraded Pokemon Go which was launched in 2016 with a lot of hype and enthusiasm. The community is most enthusiastic about Dexi Hunter, an augmented reality bounty hunting game where players enter the Dexiverse and collect tokens, NFTs, game coins, QR codes there is no end to the possibilities. Think of Dexi Hunter as Pokemon Go for crypto, but on a whole new level of technological sophistication. The Dexio Hunter app, now being released at the end of January in whitelisted beta, will open to select cities for additional testing in Q1 of 2022 and will be fully available in Q2 of 2022.

In addition to the Dexi Hunter upgrade Greg added a but more about the other upgrades occurring alongside Dexio Hunter in the Dexio Protocol ecosystem. DexiKnights is the first of DexioProtocolss play-to-earn games currently in open beta. Full mechanics and player versus player technology are also being added to DexiKnights very soon. Greg added this about the upcoming transition, Knights was released as a beta, and hence, much of the P2E (play to earn) and PVP (player versus player) mechanics were held back. We wanted to get it out and let people play it. So we are using upgradable NFTs, and now we will be adding loot drops and other ways to earn. Additionally, we added many in-game items for people to pick up and purchase. Some of those things will be non-blockchain-based items, and others will be NFTs. So the current version is about to be upgraded to make it fully P2E.

Greg continued, So the implementation of PVP will perhaps be in early February. Once the other parts are added, this will allow players to combat against one another in arenas and win pots set up as an aspect of entering the tournaments. There is a lot more to that. But thats a general idea. It is DexioProtocols private network. It is a proof of authority network, and currently, tons of tests are being run on it. Once it does what is wanted, there will be a month of testing to attempt to break it, hack it, slow it down, make it do weird stuff. Those things will be addressed on the test net before launch. Once the test net is launched, we will begin migrating Dexi and Dexigas (DXG, the gas token for the project for in-game transactions) over to the network, its hard to explain here, but Dexi will be the native token of the network like ETH on Ethereum. So it wont have a contract address per se, but you get the idea. The NFTs will also be migrated onto an entirely new NFT platform. We will launch new tokens (paired with Dexi) on the Smart Dexio Network (SDN) for new projects, businesses we partner with, and more. There will be shared liquidity pools there as well. Super duper cool stuff added Greg.

Authored By: Robert Stone

@Shake_the_web on Twitter

Website: https://Dexioprotocol.com
English German

The Lancet Neurology reports impact of daridorexant on both nighttime symptoms and daytime functioning in adults with insomnia

As reported in the Lancet Neurology, daridorexant is the first insomnia medication to demonstrate an effect of a drug therapy to improve both nighttime symptoms and daytime functioning 1

Daridorexant 50 mg, showed significant improvement versus placebo on sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and total sleep time

Daridorexant 50 mg, which was evaluated in one of the two pivotal Phase 3 trials, in addition significantly reduced patient-reported daytime sleepiness, assessed through a new tool validated per FDA guidelines

The overall incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups

Idorsia to host an investor webcast about the Lancet Neurology publication today at 14:00hrs CET

Allschwil, Switzerland  January 20, 2022

Idorsia Ltd (SIX: IDIA) today announced the publication of "Safety and efficacy of daridorexant in patients with insomnia disorder: results from two multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trials" in The Lancet Neurology. Daridorexant 25 mg and 50 mg improved sleep outcomes, and daridorexant 50 mg also improved daytime functioning, in people with insomnia disorder, with a favorable safety profile.1 The overall incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups in adults and older adults (aged 65 and over) with insomnia.1 As reported, daridorexant 50 mg demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the primary endpoints of sleep onset and maintenance as well as the secondary endpoints of total sleep time and daytime sleepiness.1

Importantly, the trials were the first to investigate the effect of an insomnia treatment on daytime functioning, using a validated patient-reported outcomes tool, which includes three different domains (alert/cognition, mood, and sleepiness).1 Daridorexant 50 mg, which was evaluated in one of the two trials, demonstrated improvements compared to baseline across all daytime functioning domains with a high level of consistency.1

Emmanuel Mignot, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and lead author, commented:

People with insomnia often complain of impaired daytime functioning. This is a major issue often ignored in treating insomnia and in fact many sleep promoting drugs can impair daytime functioning when they have residual effects. In this program, not only did we see efficacy of daridorexant on sleep induction, maintenance and patient-reported sleep quantity and quality, but importantly, at the dose of 50 mg, on daytime functioning, notably in the sleepiness domain as measured with a new scale, the IDSIQ. Participants in the daridorexant 50 mg group reported improvements in multiple aspects of daytime functioning, as assessed by this newly developed and validated instrument that assessed mood, alert/cognition, and sleepiness. It is exciting to see that insomnia is finally not solely viewed as a nighttime problem but as a cause of daytime suffering.

Efficacy and Safety Outcomes

Daridorexant 50 mg significantly improved sleep onset, sleep maintenance and self-reported total sleep time at months one and three compared to placebo.1 The largest effect was observed with the highest dose (50 mg), followed by 25 mg, while the 10 mg dose did not have a significant effect.1 In all treatment groups the proportions of sleep stages were preserved, in contrast to findings reported with benzodiazepine receptor agonists.1

A major focus of the trials was to evaluate the impact of daridorexant on daytime functioning in patients with insomnia, as assessed by the Insomnia Daytime Symptoms and Impacts Questionnaire (IDSIQ). IDSIQ is a validated patient-reported outcomes instrument specifically developed according to FDA guidelines, including patient input, to measure daytime functioning in patients with insomnia.1,2 The sleepiness domain score of the IDSIQ was evaluated as a key secondary endpoint in both pivotal studies and comparisons to placebo included control for multiplicity. Daridorexant 50 mg demonstrated highly statistically significant improvement in daytime sleepiness at month one and month 3.1 The sleepiness domain score was not significantly improved on 25 mg in either study at either timepoint.1 Daridorexant 50 mg also improved the additional IDSIQ domain scores (alert/cognition domain, mood domain) and total score (p-values < 0.0005 versus placebo not adjusted for multiplicity).1 Improvements in daytime functioning by daridorexant 50 mg progressively increased over the three months of the study.1

The overall incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups.1 Adverse events occurring in more than 5% of participants were nasopharyngitis and headache.1 There were no dose-dependent increases in adverse events across the dosing range, including somnolence and falls.1 Further, no dependence, rebound insomnia or withdrawal effects were observed upon abrupt discontinuation of treatment.1 Across treatment groups, adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation were numerically more frequent with placebo than daridorexant.1

Martine Clozel, MD, and Chief Scientific Officer of Idorsia, commented:

These data published in The Lancet Neurology highlight the depth of evidence generated in the daridorexant development program and the properties of the drug that I believe explain the results. The drug was designed to have efficacy for sleep onset and maintenance at optimally efficacious doses while avoiding residual morning sleepiness. This profile, together with the equal blockade of both orexin receptors  which may lead to an inhibition of the chronic sympathetic hyperactivity characteristic of insomnia  may explain the improvement we see in daytime functioning with 50 mg of daridorexant.

Daridorexant in insomnia

Insomnia disorder is characterized by difficulties initiating or maintaining sleep and is associated with distress or impairment in daytime functioning.1 A wide range of daytime complaints, from fatigue and reduced energy to mood alteration and cognitive difficulties, are reported by people with insomnia.1

Insomnia is associated with an overactive wake system.3

Daridorexant, a novel dual orexin receptor antagonist, was designed and developed by Idorsia for the treatment of insomnia. Daridorexant targets the excessive wakefulness characteristic of insomnia by blocking the activity of orexin.1,4 Daridorexant specifically targets the orexin system by competitively binding with both receptors, thereby reversibly blocking the activity of orexin.5

Notes to the editor

About insomnia

Insomnia is defined as a combination of dissatisfaction with sleep and a significant negative impact on daytime functioning.6 Dissatisfaction with sleep refers to the difficulty to initiate and/or maintain sleep on at least three nights per week for at least three months, despite adequate opportunity to sleep.6

Insomnia is a condition of overactive wake signaling and studies have shown that areas of the brain associated with wakefulness remain more active during sleep in patients with insomnia.7,8

Insomnia is a common problem with a prevalence of approximately 10% of the adult population.9 On this basis, and assuming a US adult population of around 250 million, there are approximately 25 million adults in the US who suffer from insomnia. In Europe, the estimated prevalence of insomnia is 6-12%10 and in Canada, insomnia affects an estimated 10%.11

Insomnia as a disorder is quite different from a brief period of poor sleep, and it can take its toll on both physical and mental health.12 It is a persistent condition with a negative impact on daytime functioning.6 Idorsias research has shown that poor quality sleep can affect many aspects of daily life, including the ability to concentrate, mood, and energy levels.

The goal of treatments for insomnia is to improve sleep quality and quantity, as well as daytime functioning, while avoiding adverse events and next-morning residual effects. Current recommended treatment of insomnia includes sleep hygiene recommendations, cognitive behavioral therapy, and pharmacotherapy.13

About the orexin system

Wake and sleep signaling is regulated by intricate neural circuitry in the brain. One key component of this process is the orexin system, which helps promote wakefulness.13,14,15 There are two forms of orexin neuropeptides  small protein-like molecules used by nerve cells (neurons) to communicate with each other in the brain  orexin A and orexin B.14 Orexin promotes wakefulness through its receptors OX1R and OX2R. Together, these neuropeptides and receptors make up the orexin system. The orexin system stimulates targeted neurons in the wake system  leading to the release of several chemicals (serotonin, histamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine)  to promote wakefulness.16 Under normal circumstances, orexin levels rise throughout the day as wakefulness is promoted and then fall at night.13 Overactivity of the wake system is an important driver of insomnia.7,8

About Emmanuel Mignot, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University

He is a former student of the Ecole Normale Superieure (Ulm, Paris, France) and received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Paris V and VI University in France. He practiced medicine in France for several years before joining Stanford as a faculty member in 1991 and was named Director of the Stanford Center for Narcolepsy in 1993. Dr. Mignot was named the Craig Reynolds Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 2001. He served as the Director of the Stanford Center of Sleep Sciences and Medicine from 2009 to 2019.

Dr. Mignot is internationally recognized for discovering the cause of narcolepsy. His findings led to the development of new hypnotics that block the hypocretin (orexin) receptor and is likely to have other therapeutic applications as well. His research also demonstrated that narcolepsy is a selective autoimmune disease of the hypocretin system showing the involvement of molecular mimicry in humans with influenza A.

He has received numerous research grants and honors including National Sleep Foundation and National Institute of Health Research Awards, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and McKnight Neuroscience awards, the Narcolepsy Network professional service award, the Drs. C. and F. Demuth 11th Award for Young Investigators in the Neurosciences, the WC Dement Academic Achievement Award in sleep disorders medicine, the CINP and ACNP awards in neuropharmacology and the Jacobaeus prize.

Dr. Mignot is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine, and of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He is the co-author of more than 200 original scientific publications, and he serves on the editorial board of scientific journals in the field of sleep and biology research. Dr. Mignot is an active member of several professional and governmental organizations. He has served as President of the Sleep Research Society, Chair of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research Advisory board of the National institutes of Health, and Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Most of Dr. Mignot's current research focuses on the neurobiology, genetics and immunology of narcolepsy, a disorder caused by hypocretin (orexin) cell loss, with indirect interest in the neuroimmunology of other brain disorders. His laboratory uses state of the art human genetics techniques, such as genome wide association, exome or whole genome sequencing in the study of human sleep and sleep disorders, with parallel studies in animal models. His laboratory is also interested in web-based assessments of sleep disorders, computer-based processing of polysomnography (PSG), and outcomes research. Dr. Mignot serves as a consultant to Idorsia.



Investor webcast

An investor conference call and webcast will be held to discuss the data published in The Lancet Neurology. The call will start with presentations by senior management, followed by a Q&A session (live access to the speakers).

Date: Thursday January 20, 2022

Time: 14:00 CET | 13:00 GMT | 08:00 EST

Webcast participants should visit Idorsias website www.idorsia.com 10-15 minutes before the webcast is due to start.

Conference call participants should start calling the number below 10-15 minutes before the conference is due to start.

Dial-in: CH: +41 44 580 7145 | UK: +44 (0) 2071 928338 | US: +1 646 7413167

PIN: 3373233#

References

Mignot E, et al. Lancet Neurol. 2022; 21: 12539 Hudgens S, et al. Patient. 2021 14, 249268. doi:10.1007/s40271-020-00474-z. Nofzinger EA, et al. Am J Psychiatry. 2004;161(11):2126-2128 Wang C, et al. Front Mol Neurosci. 2018;11:220. Muehlan, C., et al. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2018;104(5): 1022-1029. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Levenson JC, et al. Chest. 2015;147(4):1179-1192. Buysse DJ, et al. Drug Discov Today Dis Models. 2011;8(4):129-137. Schlack R, et al. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2013;56(5-6):740-748. Riemann D, et al. Sleep. 2017;26(6):675-700. Chaput, Statistics Canada; 2018 Dec 19;29(12):16-20. Wardle-Pinkston S, et al. Sleep Med Rev.2019;48:101205. Muehlan C, et al. Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology. 2020 16(11), pp.10631078. Muehlan, C., et al. J Psychopharmacol. 2020;34(3): 326-335. Boof, M. L., et al. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2019;75(2): 195-205. The sleep switch: hypothalamic control of sleep and wakefulness. Clifford B. Saper, Thomas C. Chou and Thomas E. Scammell. TRENDS in Neurosciences Vol.24 No.12 December 2001

About Idorsia

Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more  We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core.

Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland  a European biotech-hub  Idorsia is specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecules to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team of professionals covering all disciplines from bench to bedside, state-of-the-art facilities, and a strong balance sheet  the ideal constellation to translate R&D efforts into business success.

Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 900 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets.

For further information, please contact

Andrew C. Weiss

Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil

+41 58 844 10 10

investor.relations@idorsia.com

media.relations@idorsia.com

www.idorsia.com

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Attachment
Kirkland, Washington, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziply Fiber announced today that after an initial rollout in Kirkland, Washington last month and outstanding customer feedback, it has begun offering ultra-high-speed 5-gig and 2-gig residential fiber internet service to nearly 170,000 residential customer addresses in 60 cities and towns across Washington, Oregon and Idaho beginning today. By mid-year, these multi-gig residential services will be available in most of the companys four-state fiber footprint.

Ziply Fiber is the first company to introduce a 5-gig speed for residential services, making the company the fastest home internet service provider in the Northwest. This launch is also a defining step in the companys mission to build the regions fastest, most reliable fiber network. Ziply Fiber is bridging the digital divide that exists between large metro areas and many smaller suburbs and rural communities.

While gig-speed connections work great for the majority of families, todays announcement is about building for the future and our commitment to build the fastest, most reliable network ever constructed in the Northwest, said Harold Zeitz, CEO of Ziply Fiber. The cities we are announcing today are no longer just Gig-speed cities, they are now Ziply Fiber Multi-Gig cities, with the fastest home internet weve been able to find in any city in the Northwest or elsewhere in the United States.

Ziply Fibers announcement comes at a time when more and more people who depend on fast, reliable, high-capacity internet to support multi-media applications, uploading large files, and working from home, especially in bandwidth-intensive industries like banking and insurance, cloud and IT services, telecommunications, securities and trading, medical services, content, digital media, as well as for people who just want to have the best and fastest connection.

Ziply Fibers commitment to the Northwest is unmatched. Ziply Fiber began building out fiber in markets throughout the Northwest in 2020 and has announced 57 fiber construction projects since then. During that time, the company was planning and preparing additional technology in its Central Offices, which would quickly enable entire markets to be capable of delivering both 5-gig and 2-gig service, making it easy for customers to upgrade when the multi-gig fiber internet service was eventually introduced. Now it is here, still with no data caps or annual contracts for residential users.

One of the 60 cities where 5-gig and 2-gig service launched today is Everett, Washington, a city about 30 miles north of Seattle.

Technology infrastructure is essential for growth and innovation. Fast internet is critical for our modern lives in Everett, both at home and at work, said Mayor Cassie Franklin. We are proud to have Ziply Fiber as a civic partner and we cant wait to see what Everett residents and businesses do with its lightning fast service.

Some of the other cities in which Ziply Fibers multi-gig fiber service is now available include:

Washington  Albion, Bothell, Brier, Camas, Edmonds, Everett, Garfield, Kenmore, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Marysville, Oakesdale, Palouse, Pullman, Redmond, Rosalia, Sedro-Woolley, Snohomish, Sultan, Tekoa and Woodland

Oregon  Beaverton, Cornelius, Dayton, Dundee, Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Lafayette, Lake Oswego, McMinnville, Newberg, Portland, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville

Idaho  Blanchard, Bonners Ferry, Coeur dAlene, Hayden and Weippe

The company plans to introduce its 5-gig and 2-gig service in Montana later in Q1 of 2022. People interested in finding out if multi-gig plans are available at their home currently can check their address at https://ziplyfiber.com/multigig

As the company continues to expand its fiber presence, Ziply Fibers expansion into new fiber markets will be built with multi-gig services enabled. New advances like these are examples of how Ziply Fiber is future-proofing its network, ensuring that customers will always have access to the best possible connection and technology.

Just like we manage our network to ensure theres enough capacity to meet the needs of all of our customers, were also always looking to the future when it comes to bandwidth and capacity needs at home, added Zeitz. We absolutely believe that peoples use of the internet should not be constrained by what is simply the most popular technology or speed today, which is why were excited to bring these advancements forward across our entire fiber footprint in the months and years to come.

Ziply Fiber is local in the Northwest, headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, and has major offices in Everett, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Hayden, Idaho. Most of Ziply Fibers executive team, which consists of former executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, and Wave Broadband, either grew up in the Northwest or have spent the better part of 30 years living here. That local ownership and market familiarity is an important part of the company mindset and culture.

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Dublin, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "China Community E-commerce Market: Size, Trends & Forecast with Impact Analysis of COVID 19 (2021-2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The report provides an in-depth analysis of the China community e-commerce market by value, by product, by business model, etc. The report provides a segment analysis of the community e-commerce market. The report also provides a detailed analysis of the COVID-19 impact on the community e-commerce market.

Community e-commerce connects online traffic to neighbourhood infrastructure (retail stores/pick-up points/mini-warehouses) with better fulfilment efficiency than existing e-commerce and increases online supply at lower prices through supply chain restructuring. The concept of Community e-commerce is quite connected to community group buying.

Community group buying, also known as collective buying, provides products and services at significantly discounted costs in exchange for a minimum number of consumers making the purchase. Community e-commerce has many benefits for both its consumers as well as for the platforms, which makes it more popular in the Chinese economy.



While most of the industries worldwide suffered a negative impact of COVID-19, the community e-commerce market experienced a positive impact of COVID-19. As the online grocery market rose, the concept of community e-commerce suited many households and even companies. Community e-commerce helps in the availability of cheaper products and lessen the burden of logistic cost. In addition to this, it was due to community e-commerce that products (both grocery and non-grocery) were easily delivered to the lower-tier cities.



The China community e-commerce market has performed significantly well until 2020 and projections are made that the market would rise in the next four years i.e. 2021-2025 tremendously. China community e-commerce Market is expected to increase due to the growing internet penetration, increasing mobile payment penetration, increasing use of smartphones, growing lower-tier population, its unique features, lack of retail infrastructure in lower-tier cities, and vast logistic support.

Yet the market faces some challenges such as stringent government regulatory policies, difficulty in Converting shoppers into paying customers, involvement of a lot of cash, issue of readdress of products, etc.

The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall community e-commerce market has also been forecasted for the period 2021-2025, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.



The China community e-commerce market is concentrated with a few major market players operating within China. The key players of the China community e-commerce market are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., JD.com Inc., Pinduoduo Inc., and Xingsheng Youxuan are also profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction

2.1 Community E-commerce: An Overview

2.1.1 Working of Community Group Buying

2.1.2 Comparison Of Community E-commerce Models

2.1.3 Importance Of Community E-commerce

2.2 Community E-commerce Segmentation: An Overview

2.2.1 Community E-commerce Segmentation by Product

2.2.2 Community E-commerce Segmentation by Business Model



3. China Market Analysis

3.1 China Community E-commerce Market: An Analysis

3.1.1 China Community E-commerce Market by Value

3.1.2 China Community E-commerce Market by Product Type (Grocery, and Non-Grocery)

3.1.3 China Community E-commerce Market by Business Model (O2O Platforms, Community Group Purchase, and Mini Warehouse)

3.2 China Community E-commerce Market: Product Type Analysis

3.2.1 China Grocery Community E-commerce Market by Value

3.2.2 China Non-Grocery Community E-commerce Market by Value

3.3 China Community E-commerce Market: Business Model Analysis

3.3.1 China Community Group Purchase Market by Value

3.3.2 China Community Group Purchase Market by Product Type (Grocery, and Non-Grocery)

3.3.3 China Grocery Community Group Purchase Market by Value

3.3.4 China Grocery Community Group Purchase Market Value by Region

3.3.5 China Non-Grocery Community Group Purchase Market by Value

3.3.6 China Community O2O Platforms Market by Value

3.3.7 China Community O2O Platforms Market by Product Type (Grocery, and Non-Grocery)

3.3.8 China Grocery Community O2O Platforms Market by Value

3.3.9 China Grocery Community O2O Platforms Market Value by Region

3.3.10 China Non-Grocery Community O2O Platforms Market by Value

3.3.11 China Community Mini Warehouse Market by Value

3.3.12 China Community Mini Warehouse Market Value by Region



4. Impact of COVID-19

4.1 Impact of COVID-19 on the China Community E-commerce Market



5. Market Dynamics

5.1 Growth Driver

5.1.1 Growing Internet Penetration

5.1.2 Increasing Mobile Payment Penetration

5.1.3 Increasing Use of Smartphones

5.1.4 Growing Lower Tier Population

5.1.5 Unique Features

5.1.6 Lack of Retail Infrastructure in Lower Tier Cities

5.1.7 Vast Logistic Support

5.2 Challenges

5.2.1 Stringent Government Regulatory Policies

5.2.2 Difficulty in Converting Shoppers into Paying Customers

5.2.3 Involvement of Lot of Cash

5.2.4 Issue of Readdress of Products

5.3 Market Trends

5.3.1 Reigning in Power of Big Tech-Giants

5.3.2 Social Media Marketing

5.3.3 Advent of Online Screen Tags

5.3.4 High Adoption of Community E-commerce among Women

5.3.5 Growing Adoption of Membership-based Community E-commerce Models



6. Competitive Landscape

6.1 China Community E-commerce Market Players: A Financial Comparison

6.2 China Community E-commerce Market Players: Research & Development Expenses Comparison

6.3 China Community E-commerce Market Players by Branding and Market Positioning

6.4 China Community Group Purchase Players by Market Share

6.5 China On-Demand Platform Players by Market Share

6.6 China Mini Warehouse Players by Market Share



7. Company Profiles

7.1 Business Overview

7.2 Financial Overview

7.3 Business Strategy

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

JD.com Inc.

Pinduoduo Inc.

Xingsheng Youxuan

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lrkk2h
Pune, India, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Energy and Environmental Science journal published a research paper wherein scientists state that changes in the solar cell designs and latest manufacturing techniques may substantially reduce the overall cost of implementing solar panels and thus stimulate the rate of solar module manufacturing. This information is likely to help increase the global solar panel market size, predicts Fortune Business Insights in their recently published report. The report is titled,  Solar Panel Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Monocrystalline, Polycrystalline, Thin Film), By Application (Photovoltaic Concentrated Solar Power), By End-User (Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Utilities, Space & Defence, Others) and Regional Forecasts, 2019-2026.

Report Highlights

A qualitative and quantitative approach to the solar panel market

Growth trajectories such as drivers, restraints, and challenges of the market

Major industrial developments and key industry insights to the solar panel market

List of significant players and the key strategies adopted by them to hold the lions share

Detailed segmentation of the market and competitive landscape

Other solar panel market trends and opportunities





Get Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/solar-panel-market-101650





Increasing Demand for Alternate Energy Will Promote Growth

An important factor promoting the solar panel market growth is the rising demand for solar energy, especially in residential applications. Since electricity is a basic need, there is an increasing demand for electricity in all parts of the world. Therefore, there arises the need for an alternative source of energy to suffice the increasing demand for electricity. Besides this, governments are also supporting the use of solar panels with the help of various initiatives and policies.

However, the high cost of installation, storage and power conversion devices may cause hindrance to the overall solar panel market size. This, coupled with the unavailability of operational land, may challenge the solar panel market growth.

Nevertheless, increasing the price of fossil fuels and a decline in the cost of solar systems and energy storage devices are likely to create lucrative solar panel market growth opportunities in the long run.





Ask For Customization: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/solar-panel-market-101650





Asia Pacific to Dominate Market with Presence of Largest Solar Panel in the World

Asia Pacific is holding a dominant solar panel market share owing to the presence of the largest solar energy installation in the region. China is the largest producer of photovoltaic energy and solar panels in the world. Besides this, governments of China and India are promoting the utilization of solar energy and this has had a positive influence on the overall solar panel market growth. Apart from this, Germany is the largest producer of solar energy in Europe, followed by others such as Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain and others.

Heavy Investments in Solar Panels to Intensify Competition Among Players

Major solar panels market manufacturers are emphasizing on constructing solar panels with better performance for earning a promising amount of share. Companies are competing for the best quality of the solar panels and thus investing huge sums into research and development for the same.

Major Industry Developments of the solar panels market include:

September 2019  World leaders, along with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared open the Gandhi Solar Park with 193 solar panels at the UN Headquarters in New York. The inauguration was held during the Gandhi@ 150 commemorative event with each solar panel representing a member of the multilateral body.

September 2019  A solar project with 70- megawatt utility-scale was announced at the groundbreaking ceremony joined by Thomas Westerman Wolf, the 47th governor of Pennsylvania. This project is a joint partnership between Lightsource BP, and Penn State and is anticipated to provide purchased electricity upto 25% of the entire Penn States for the next 25 years.

October 2019  670 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels were installed after an investment of 210,000 in the Camphill Water Treatment Works located near Kilbirnie, Scotland.





Inquire Before Buying: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/queries/solar-panel-market-101650





Key Players of the Solar Panel Market include:

HT Solar

Urja Global Limited

Waaree Group

Sunpro Power

PHOTONIX Solar Private Limited

Jiangsu Runda PV

AE Solar

Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd.

Vikram Solar Limited

JS Solar

Mysolar USA

GSA

AcuTech Solar Pvt. Ltd.

Einnova Solarline





Pre Book - Solar Panel Market: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/101650





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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

UAB researchers have achieved several worlds firsts with pig-to-human kidney transplant:

First peer-reviewed/published study of a genetically modified pig kidney transplanted into the body of a brain-dead human recipient

First such study on a pig-to-human kidney transplant using genetically modified kidneys with 10 key gene edits that may make the kidneys suitable for direct clinical-grade therapeutic use in humans

First validation of a UAB-developed test for compatibility before xenotransplant

First peer-reviewed/published study to establish brain death as a viable preclinical human model

Notably, the study was designed and conducted to meet standards directly comparable to those that would apply to a Phase I clinical trial and mirrored  as much as possible  every step of a conventional transplant between humans. Importantly, this study included removing the human brain-dead recipients native kidneys before replacing them with genetically modified pig kidneys.

UAB announces first clinical-grade transplant of gene-edited pig kidneys into brain-dead human

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine announces today the first peer-reviewed research outlining the successful transplant of genetically modified, clinical-grade pig kidneys into a brain-dead human individual, replacing the recipients native kidneys. These positive results demonstrate how xenotransplantation could address the worldwide organ shortage crisis.

In the study published in the American Journal of Transplantation, UAB researchers tested the first human preclinical model for transplanting genetically modified pig kidneys into humans. The study recipient had two genetically modified pig kidneys transplanted in his abdomen after his native kidneys were removed. The organs were procured from a genetically modified pig at a pathogen-free facility.

Along with our partners, we have made significant investments in xenotransplantation for almost a decade hoping for the kinds of results published today, said Selwyn Vickers, M.D., dean of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and CEO of the UAB Health System and UAB/Ascension St. Vincents Alliance. Todays results are a remarkable achievement for humanity and advance xenotransplant into the clinical realm. With this study, our research teams have also demonstrated that the decedent model has significant potential to propel the xenotransplantation field forward.

For the first time, the pig kidneys transplanted were taken from pigs that had been genetically modified with 10 key gene edits that may make the kidneys suitable for transplant into humans. This process demonstrates the long-term viability of the procedure and how such a transplant might work in the real world. The transplanted kidneys filtered blood, produced urine and, importantly, were not immediately rejected. The kidneys remained viable until the study was ended, 77 hours after transplant.

This game-changing moment in the history of medicine represents a paradigm shift and a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis, said Jayme Locke, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute in UABs Department of Surgery and lead surgeon for the study. We have bridged critical knowledge gaps and obtained the safety and feasibility data necessary to begin a clinical trial in living humans with end-stage kidney failure disease.

Gene editing in pigs to reduce immune rejection has made organ transplants from pigs to humans possible, which could offer help to thousands of people who face organ failure, disease or injury. The natural lifespan of a pig is 30 years, they are easily bred and can have organs of similar size to humans.

Genetically modified pig kidneys have been extensively tested in non-human primates. In addition to testing in non-human primates, evaluating genetically modified pig kidneys in a human preclinical model research may provide important information about the potential safety and efficacy of kidneys in human transplant recipients, including in clinical trials.

This human preclinical model is a way to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the pig-to-non-human primate model, without risk to a living human, Locke added. Our study demonstrates that major barriers to human xenotransplantation have been surmounted, identifies where new knowledge is needed to optimize xenotransplantation outcomes in humans, and lays the foundation for the establishment of a novel preclinical human model for further study.

This effort is supported by biotechnology pioneer United Therapeutics Corporation, which awarded a grant to UAB to launch the innovative xenotransplantation program. Revivicor, Inc., a subsidiary of United Therapeutics, provided the genetically modified pig that was the source of the investigational xenotransplant kidneys called UKidney.

All of us at Revivicor are in awe of the historic achievements at UAB with our investigational 10-gene xenokidney, or UKidney, said David Ayares, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Revivicor and a trailblazing genetic engineer since his early work cloning the worlds first pigs and the first alpha-Gal knockout pigs. We feel confident that this UKidney may turn out to be a life-saving solution for thousands of people on dialysis, subject to successful completion of our clinical trials and achievement of FDA approval in the next several years.

About the study

The peer-reviewed research is a study of ambitious scope and great significance, given that more than 800,000 Americans are living with kidney failure. Most never make it to the waiting list, and far too few human organs are available to put a dent in that number. Although dialysis can sustain life for some time, transplantation offers a better quality of life and a longer life for the few individuals who can gain access to transplantation. Each stage of this decedent xenotransplant study approximated the steps that might be taken in a Phase I xenotransplant clinical trial:

The kidneys were removed from a donor pig housed at a pathogen-free, surgically clean facility. The kidneys were then stored, transported and processed for implantation, just as human kidneys are.

Before surgery, the brain-dead recipient and donor animal underwent a crossmatch compatibility test to determine whether the genetically modified pig kidney and its intended recipient were a good tissue match. A crossmatch is done for every human-to-human kidney transplant; however, this pig-to-human tissue-match test was developed at UAB and marked the first time a prospective crossmatch has been validated between the two species.

The pig kidneys were placed in the exact anatomic locations used for human donor kidneys, with the same attachments to the renal artery, renal vein and the ureter that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder.

The brain-dead recipient received standard immune-suppression therapy used in human-to-human kidney allotransplantation.

The study was conducted to meet the standards directly comparable to those that would apply to a Phase I human clinical trial, mirroring every step of a standard transplant between humans. It included Institutional Review Board and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval, a tissue compatibility confirmation before starting the operations, using the standard procedures of human-to-human transplants to remove, preserve, transport and transplant the kidneys into a human, and giving the standard immunosuppression therapy to the recipient.

Transplant recipient Jim Parsons helps open doors to the future of organ transplantation

This scientific and medical breakthrough would not have been possible without Jim Parsons, the recipient, or his family.

Parsons, 57, was a registered organ donor through Legacy of Hope, Alabamas organ procurement organization, and he had longed to have his organs help others upon his death; but his organs were not suitable for donation. His family permitted UAB to maintain Parsons on a ventilator to keep his body functioning during the study. His native kidneys were removed, and two genetically modified pig kidneys were transplanted.

Mr. Parsons and his family allowed us to replicate precisely how we would perform this transplant in a living human. Their powerful contribution will save thousands of lives, and that could begin in the very near future, Locke said. Mr. Parsons gift honors his legacy and firmly establishes the viability, safety and feasibility of this preclinical model. Because of his gift, we have proposed this to be known as The Parsons Model.

Parsons ex-wife, Julie OHara, and their children, Ally, David and Cole, made the decision (along with Jims sisters and mother) to take part in the study after they were approached by Alan Spriggs with Legacy of Hope and Locke.

Jim was a never-met-a-stranger kind of guy who would talk to anyone and had no enemies  none, OHara said. Jim would have wanted to save as many people as he could with his death, and if he knew he could potentially save thousands and thousands of people by doing this, he would have had no hesitation. Our dream is that no other person dies waiting for a kidney, and we know that Jim is very proud that his death could potentially bring so much hope to others.

The critical need for other organ donation options

Kidney disease kills more people each year than breast or prostate cancer, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Although transplantation is the gold standard treatment for end-stage kidney disease, fewer than 25,000 kidney transplants are performed each year in the United States and 240 Americans on dialysis die every day. Many of these deaths could be prevented if an unlimited supply of kidneys were available for transplant.

The wait for a deceased donor kidney can be as long as five years, and in many states, it is closer to 10 years. Almost 5,000 people per year die waiting on a kidney transplant.

About UAB transplant and the xenotransplant team

UAB Medicine is a world leader in organ transplantation and has performed 9,055 kidney transplants from Jan. 1, 1988, to Dec. 31, 2021  the second-most kidney transplants in the United States during that time. The focus of UABs xenotransplantation program is to address the organ shortage by safely transplanting genetically modified pig kidneys into humans with kidney failure. Learn more.

About UAB

Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a part of the University of Alabama System, is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center. UAB consistently exceeds $600 million in annual research awards and totaled almost $850 million last year, including one-time COVID-related funding. UAB is Alabamas largest single employer, with more than 26,000 employees, and was named Americas Best Large Employer by Forbes in 2021. The institutions annual economic impact on the state exceeds $7 billion each year. The pillars of UABs mission include education, research, innovation and economic development, community engagement, and patient care. Learn more at www.uab.edu.

EDITORS NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of three doctoral research universities in the University of Alabama System. In your first reference to our institution, please use University of Alabama at Birmingham and UAB on subsequent references.

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/UAB.edu TEXT: www.uab.edu/news

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Media Contacts:

Tyler Greer, 205-934-2041

Nicolas Kressmann, 732-532-5318

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Government support measures for Chinese pork producers are expected to increase the number of livestock and reduce imports this year.



LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- China, the worlds largest pork market, imported 2.8M tonnes of pig meat worth $8B from January to August 2021, a recent report from IndexBox states. Compared to the same period a year earlier, the volume of imports remained nearly unchanged, while in value terms purchases grew by 3%.

Pork supplies from the U.S. dropped by 36% to 340K tonnes, while Spain and Brazil sharply boosted their exports to China. Against the same period of 2020, purchases from Spain increased by 70% to 900K tonnes or by 76% to $2.6B in value terms. Supplies from Brazil rose by 25% to 360K tonnes or 21% to $1.2B in monetary terms.

In 2022, Chinas pork imports are projected to drop by 5% due to rising domestic pork production. The Chinese government is expected to support large pig farming companies to keep expanding their herds.

Chinas Pork Imports Statistics

Pork imports into China soared from 2.0M tonnes in 2019 to 4.3M tonnes in 2020. In value terms, purchases skyrocketed from $4.5B to $11.9B.

Spain (934K tonnes), the U.S. (696K tonnes), and Brazil (481K tonnes) were the leading suppliers of pork to China, with a combined 49% share of total imports.

In value terms, the largest pork suppliers to China were Spain ($2.7B), the U.S. ($1.6B) and Brazil ($1.6B), with a combined 49% share of total supplies.

In 2020, the U.S. recorded the highest shipment growth rate among the leading suppliers. Pork imports from America rose threefold in value terms.

The average pork import price amounted to $2,761 per tonne in 2020, jumping by 22% against the previous year. Average prices varied somewhat amongst the major supplying countries. In 2020, the highest prices were recorded for prices from Brazil ($3,254 per tonne) and Denmark ($3,009 per tonne), while the costs for the U.S. ($2,351 per tonne) and Canada ($2,369 per tonne) were amongst the lowest.

About IndexBox

IndexBox is a market research firm developing an AI-driven market intelligence platform that helps business analysts find actionable insights and make data-driven decisions. The platform provides data on consumption, production, trade, and prices for more than 10K+ different products across 200 countries.

For more information, please visit

Website https://www.indexbox.io

Twitter https://twitter.com/indexbox

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/IndexBox



LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/indexbox-marketing/

Companies Mentioned in the Report

Muyuan Foodstuff Co., Wens Group, Smithfield Foods/WH Group, Zhengbang Group, New Hope Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Techbank Food Co., Triumph Foods, Sichuan Dekon Group, BRF S.A., Pipestone System, Seaboard Foods, Twins Group, Yangxiang, Cooperl, Iowa Select Farms, DaBeiNong, COFCO, Vall Companys Group, Seara Foods, Aonong Group, The Maschhoffs, Miratorg, Aurora Alimentos COOP, Prestage Farms, JBS, Prestage Farms, Carthage System, AMVC Management Services, Maxwell Foods, Tyson Foods, TriOak Foods, Schwartz Farms, Country View Family Farms, Holden Farms

Sources

China - Pork (Meat Of Swine) - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights

World - Pork (Meat Of Swine) - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights

World - Meat - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights

World - Meat and Poultry - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights

Spain - Pork (Meat Of Swine) - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights
MIAMI, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The present-day conditions of Brazil's logistics market raise major concerns due to the complexity and inefficiency of its current state. Federico Vega, founder of frete.com, recognized the need for advancement in Latin America's freight market, with immediate attention pulling towards safety, distribution effectiveness, and extreme bureaucracy. The improvements introduced by frete.com impact more than just the immediate population; the agricultural industry is no stranger to Brazil's contribution, as the world's top coffee and grain producers, contributing to over 1 billion people across the globe. Furthermore, Brazil lands as one of the world's top 10 contributors in steel and mining production, enough reason for immediate attention towards the Brazilian freight and cargo industry. Brazil's contributions alone give enough reason for the importance of developing a systematic and effective logistics market. By combining modernized operations and software development, frete.com determined solutions for the market's current state of ineffectiveness.

While freight robberies declined by 23% in 2021, financial impacts are still seen at almost 200 million USD for both cargo shippers and carriers, in Latin America's largest country. With these considerable statistics, a team of entrusted software engineers from frete.com helped to materialize a revolutionary technology, pioneering advancements within the industry. These systems were developed by studying the patterns and whereabouts of security violations, investigating the aftereffects, and concluded efforts by establishing innovative strategies to streamline the process from transpiration to destination. By studying theft patterns and report history, frete.com's technology determines which routes, travel times, areas, and cargo types represent the highest risk. By screening new drivers and new clients alike through thorough filtering systems, faulty registrations are limited, establishing a safety index of 99.58%, with less than 0.5% of advertised freights used on the platform as fraudulent. Truck owners are registered contingent upon passing a comprehensive background check and profiling. Extensive consideration includes personal, financial, and professional history along with trucking experience. New technologies also include a freight risk bot, a system which further evaluates cargo entries published on the platform, considering the type of cargo, origin, destination, and value, noting all registered cargo stops and categorizing the freight as very low risk, low risk, high risk, and very high risk. Those flagged as high risk and very high risk are pulled for further review, investigating the cargo owner, registrations, history, and more. Frete.com's developmental technologies already ensured low breach probabilities, and since the development of the risk bot, fraudulent freight threats have been reduced further by 43%.

The unstructured systems previously seen in Brazil's cargo transport sector gave way to bureaucracy, which continues to increase costs within the industry. Additional to those costs, inefficiencies are presented through high inactivity with truck capacities; in previous market history, Brazilian truckers ran at 40-60% idle capacity. Frete.com developed a freight matching system that allows for carriers to find truckers within minutes, increasing overall efficiency and limiting the impact of bureaucracy. This process was developed by observing the driver's interaction with the platform, using the collected data to determine compatibility, improving freight matching. Machine learning ensures freight matching services are possible by determining specific loads to the most compatible trucks, guaranteeing optimal filtering features. For more generalized cargos, digital locations and routing are used to offer the best options available. With the previous systems in play, the unstructured documentation process caused delays in shipping, causing a domino effect within the chain of production within the industry. By applying technology, updates are digitally sent in real-time, optimizing routes and accelerating fulfillment times between deliveries.

Funding gaps are a major problem in the road freight transportation industry due to limited capital access, where shippers pay 120 notice (D+120) while transport costs are immediate (D+1), causing shipping delays, operational hindrances, and gaps in working capital from lack of monetary support. With frete.com, their technology innovates the funding process by screening risk factors for users looking to run operations, offering affordable loans to clients to subsidize costs of production. In addition to the accredited investors, frete.com uses credit systems that update through the number of freights completed via platform use, related to type and value of merchandise, usage frequency, etc. These supports provide proper fluidity for shippers and carriers, resulting in movement and result towards the mismanagement of the current freight crisis in South America.

Frete.com recognizes the fundamental systems necessary for smooth operations. Their research attempts to better understand safety requirements for shippers and carriers provide streamlined delivery rounds and effective freight matching, limiting bureaucratic leadership. With the use of technology, frete.com offers accessible fundings to clients, closing the pay gap previously seen in South America's outdated systems. We can expect to see continued development in South America's road freight industry as companies recognize these innovations implemented through the use of these technologies developed by frete.com.

For inquiries, contact: acamejo@3aw.com

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HENDERSON, Nev., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Running a digital business is one of the most practical ways to operate a company, but it is not simple. There are several phases to getting started, such as creating a website or establishing a social media presence, and devising marketing campaigns and plans. It is necessary to invest time and money in learning the ropes; thus, it is acceptable for businesses to seek outside assistance from consulting companies such as Web Finance Team. To ease the job of business owners and starting entrepreneurs, Web Finance Team launched new comprehensive program to assist with every aspect of digital business. And here are the details.

Web Finance Team understands how difficult it is for clients to find all services relevant to their business under one roof. The company has transformed its practical service delivery to provide its clients with cutting-edge business solutions and other functional services necessary to run a successful digital business.

So, how does Web Finance Team's new program facilitate business needs? How many services does it come with? And how are its services superior to other businesses offering the same services? Here's how.

Digitizing Business Functionalities

Digital marketing is an excellent technique to attract new clients while retaining existing ones. It has become critical for the majority of internet enterprises throughout the world.

So, when working with Web Finance Team, their clients can expect to receive all the benefits of their knowledge and access to various services tailored to their specific company goals.

Web Finance Team provides SEO, SEM, Website Strategy, Social Media Marketing, and other necessary components that make a successful online business.

However, the global marketplace has shifted drastically in the last two years. And businesses that are quick to adjust are those who will be successful and stand out in the marketplace.

While it is true that at least some of one's products/services may be comparable to those of another company, there is one slight characteristic that should distinguish one brand from the rest. Web Finance Team assists in identifying a product's or service's unique selling point (USP) and finding ways to communicate it. They assist in conducting surveys on existing consumers and target audience to understand better what they are seeking and identify which demands one's brand can meet in the future.

Writing Engaging Web Content

Content development is all about drafting engaging content for a website or social media platform from start to completion. Web Finance Team emphasizes that web content is the heart of digital marketing.

It is not enough to have a website. The website content must be both appealing to customers and search engines. So, who else can do it besides the Web Finance Team? They ensure that one's website and social media platforms have the appropriate content, resulting in a better user experience.

One of the critical reasons why companies use a content management system is to de-centralize content governance and eliminate bottlenecks associated with web content posting. As a result of this technique, there is no central control to assure the quality and accuracy of the copy generated. This can result in inconsistencies and disparities in writing styles across the site.

Although many content management systems have capabilities for central editorial control, they are not always utilized and need the expertise of someone with editing experience.

Unfortunately, technology cannot fix this situation. What is necessary is a content editor, which Web Finance Team also provides as part of their services. A content editor's responsibility is to review what is being produced and ensure that it expresses a consistent message in a consistent tone.

Many websites are devoid of personality. They either follow the marketing trends or are singularly bland. This is primarily because they were produced by individuals who were more interested in delivering information or selling products rather than engaging with users.

The only way to solve this issue is to define one's brand voice. Web Finance Team offers an incredible consultation for their clientele and they work engagingly from the development stage to its completion, ensuring that one's brand identity is defined via their content.

Optimizing Website UI and UX

Website optimization is the act of refining the performance of a brand's website by employing tools, sophisticated methods, and tests to generate more visitors, enhance conversions, and grow income.

The options in today's era are limitless. Investing time and resources up front can help in creating a fantastic user experience to increase conversion rates. Likewise, ignoring the User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) of a website can result in a mediocre end result.

While overhauling many aspects of the website, such as technical performance and search engine optimization (SEO), might be overwhelming, a business owner should truly focus on what counts most - the audience and consumers. This is where Web Finance Team comes in; when employing them, their customers receive everything they need!

The team of professionals at Web Finance not only ensures that every element of web design is as per their customers' requisitions but also makes sure to incorporate the industry's best practices to give the website an edge over its competitors.

From properly aligning the site's information architecture to ensure a robust information structure to maintaining the user-friendliness across the website, Web Finance Team makes certain that every website that they produce is state of the art.

Web Finance Team Helps with Sales Funnel Development

A sales funnel is a series of processes that leads to a sale. These include lead generating, website credits, and even hiring additional sales experts.

Web Finance Team guarantees that all of these operations are running well to boost the profits.

Web Finance Team provides exceptional business mentoring services and business solutions that make a significant difference in their clients' business. One may benefit much from using the services of Web Finance Team as they have combined top professionals at a singular place who are industry experts. They are always willing to help their clients, and their customer service is accessible anytime.

The marketing and sales funnel is referred to as a "funnel" due to its imaginary form as if it were a tangible item. It's a funnel because that the contacts one starts with at the very top are immense in numbers. However, the numbers will naturally decrease as these contacts are fostered into leads and certified via each funnel level.

Unfortunately, if a business has a problem with marketing or sales operations, it might lead to the funnel being distorted. For example, suppose the center of the funnel is too narrow. In that case, it indicates that the visitors aren't converting into leads or that the leads aren't becoming more qualified and moving closer to being a sale-suitable opportunity.

Identifying whether a lead is ready to move on to the next stage is critical to nurturing it to the bottom of the funnel properly. Inadequate qualifying abilities might lead to a slew of inefficiencies across the funnel. To guarantee that one can adequately qualify leads, one must interlink the marketing and sales teams.

Web Finance Team focuses on targeting the correct audience by creating compelling copies and make sure to manage each funnel-level according to their clients' business needs.

About Web Finance Team

Web Finance Team is one of the fastest-growing online business service providers in the United States. The organization is well-known for providing digital marketing, web development, content generation, and sales funnel building to help its clients expand quicker. For its stellar performances in the digital landscape, the company has won a series of accolades.

Visit Web Finance Team's official website to learn more about their excellent solutions for businesses or contact their team by sending an email to help@webfinanceteam.com.

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A New York City construction honcho who in recent years donated thousands to former Gov. Andrew Cuomos election campaigns received signoff from state lawmakers to become the newest member of the MTA board.

A joint Senate committee approved Gov. Hochuls nomination of Bronx resident Elizabeth Velez to the seat, which has been unfilled since August when Linda Lacewell, a top Cuomos aide, was implicated in the ex-governors sexual harassment scandals.

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Velez, who lives on City Island, runs Velez Organization, a construction firm founded by her father. Shes also the chairwoman of the New York Building Congress, a lobbying group that represents construction trade interests.

I live in a section of the Bronx thats kind of at the end of every line, it seems, said Velez. We need a strong transportation system and a safe transportation system.

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New York Building Congress chair Elizabeth Velez (Twitter)

Velez is Hochuls first appointment to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, which oversees the agencys massive budgets, contracts, fare policies and service changes. Larry Schwartz, another Cuomo appointee, last year announced he would resign once Hochul fills his seat.

Velez also has a connection to Cuomo. She donated $12,000 to the former governors reelection over the last four years, state campaign finance records show. That includes a $5,000 donation last June, when Cuomo was embroiled with sexual harassment allegations that ultimately led to his resignation.

Velez this fall redirected some of her money to Hochul, donating $2,000 to the governors campaign fund in two separate payments in October and November, records show.

Lawmakers also signed off on Hochuls nomination for Acting MTA Chairman Janno Lieber to take up the agencys top job permanently. Cuomo in July appointed Lieber to the role on a temporary basis.

Liebers and Velezs nominations will be voted on Thursday by the full Senate.
DENVER, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Project Canary solidifies its market-leading position by adding two senior hires to their C-suite team as they continue to drive a real-time, data-driven approach to environmental performance. The appointments of Tim Romer as Chief Financial Officer and Miles Tolbert as General Counsel underscore the company's commitment to strategic growth and expanding its footprint across emission-intensive industries.

Tim Romer, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Strategy, will be responsible for driving the company's financial and strategic expansion.

Miles Tolbert, General Counsel, represents an important step in advancing Project Canary's organizational growth and policy strategies.

The team's expansion comes after a strong year of growth in 2021.

"We're working to bring data-driven truth to the growing decarbonization technology market," said Will Foiles, Chief Operating Officer. "Driving change and leading a market requires the right team, and Tim and Miles will help Project Canary solidify its role as the market leader with their considerable experience."

Tim Romer, Chief Financial Officer, brings over 35 years of experience working in finance and infrastructure markets to drive sustainable economic growth. With deep experience in ESG, Mr. Romer has worked at the intersection of the public and private sectors to drive market-leading solutions to complex problems. Before joining Project Canary, Mr. Romer served as the Chief Executive Officer of Foundation Infrastructure Opportunities, driving impact investing of essential assets that underpin economic growth. He worked at Goldman Sachs for 15 years running the Western Region Public Sector and Infrastructure groups, where he financed various water, power, renewables, and other sustainable infrastructure sectors. He also served as CFO of Adexa, a B2B enterprise software company focused on sustainable supply chain management.

"The measurement economy is here to stay," said Mr. Romer. "Changing the way we approach ESG and sustainability isn't just the right thing to do for the future of our planet; it also represents key opportunities for economic growth and cross-industry collaboration."

Miles Tolbert, General Counsel, brings deep legal experience from the energy and environmental sectors. Before joining Project Canary, he served as head of the environmental practice group at Crowe & Dunlevy in Oklahoma City and Vice-President and Associate General Counsel at Chesapeake Energy. In addition to his private-sector roles, Miles also brings extensive public-sector experience, including service as the Secretary of the Environment for the State of Oklahoma.

"Project Canary is working to transform the future of emissions-intensive industries and, in turn, the planet," said Mr. Tolbert. "I'm proud to be joining a company with such a strong commitment to driving purpose-driven climate solutions."

"Tim and Miles are proven leaders with impressive track records in finance, energy, and sustainability," said Mr. Foiles. "The growth of our team is keeping pace with the growth of this market, and we're excited to continue on this trajectory."

About Project Canary

Project Canary is a climate tech company that provides trusted, independent, and verified environmental data to track, measure, and score the "E" in ESG across an enterprise's operational value chain. They are the leaders in providing dynamic environmental ratings using real-time monitoring data at the facility level to assess and improve operating practices and provide a science-based and technology-enabled measurement of emission profiles, including methane. Formed as a Public Benefit Corporation, Project Canary's team of scientists, engineers, and seasoned industry operators have earned recognition for their uncompromising standards, including being named "Best for the World" B Corp. projectcanary.com.

PR Contact

Rachael Shayne, CMO--rachael.shayne@projectcanary.com

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SAN DIEGO, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blindsgalore, a company offering high-quality window coverings at affordable prices, was recently certified as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

Chelle Walters founded Blindsgalore as she struggled to find quality, affordable window treatments that fit her needs. Walters started Blindsgalore to offer custom window treatments that anyone at home could design. Her daughter, Alissa Walters, joined the company in 2008 as the CEO. The pair maintains their family ideals dedicated to quality, beauty and approachability with all Blindsgalore products.

"We want to be transparent about exactly who is behind the scenes at Blindsgalore so that our community can know who they are working with and so that we can hopefully become less behind the scenes," Alissa Walters said. "Being supported by the WBENC is an honor for my mom and I as owners. We like to know who we're working with and we know our customers do, too."

The WBENC standard of certification is a meticulous process, including an in-depth review of the business and site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women. Blindsgalore is 100% owned and operated by Chelle and Alissa Walters. By including women-owned businesses among their suppliers, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier diversity programs.

"There are 13 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., representing 42% of all businesses. Yet there is still a significant disparity in revenue and capital between these businesses and others," said a spokesperson for WBENC). "WBENC is helping bridge that gap  through access to opportunities, programs that accelerate growth, and campaigns to influence consumer buying behaviors."

For more information about Blindsgalore, visit blindsgalore.com.

About Blindsgalore:

Based in San Diego, CA, Blindsgalore is a web-based retailer that specializes in custom window treatments. For over 20 years, the Blindsgalore team has been helping customers simplify the online ordering process and has sold over two million window treatments across the country. For more information, visit www.blindsgalore.com.

About WBENC:

Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nation's leader in women's business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 17,000 certified Women's Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and more than 350 Corporate Members. More than 1,000 corporations representing America's most prestigious brands, as well as many states, cities, and other entities, accept WBENC Certification. For more information, visit www.wbenc.org.

###

Media Contacts:

Jocelyn Bishop

jbishop@blindsgalore.com

Blindsgalore, 5744 Pacific Center Boulevard, Suite 306, San Diego, CA 92121

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NEW YORK, NY, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ILUS International Inc (OTC: ILUS) is a Mergers and Acquisitions company focused on acquiring and developing public safety technology-based companies across the globe. The company completed 4 acquisitions in 2021, including its first US acquisition of Tennessee based Bull Head Products. Prior to its first Annual Shareholders Meeting on the 28thof January, ILUS is aiming to complete several further acquisitions which the company has already reached pre-contract agreement on. The company also confirmed today that it is going to proceed with an in-person Annual Shareholders Meeting in Las Vegas and offer online access to the meeting for those who are not attending it in person.



Having previously agreed and signed the pre-contract agreements for three US acquisitions, ILUS completed the first of these US acquisitions at the end of 2021 when it took over Bull Head Products. ILUS Shareholders can expect the company to complete at least one more of its previously agreed US acquisitions within days, with the third following soon after, delivering on the companys strategy of acquiring the necessary manufacturing and distribution capability for a successful expansion in the US market. Together, the previously agreed US acquisitions which ILUS is in the process of completing are currently delivering approximately $12 million in profitable annual revenue.

In line with the companys strategy of acquiring disruptive technology advancement companies which possess the ability to achieve extraordinarily high valuations and transform the public safety sector, ILUS is in the final stages of two very exciting technology company acquisitions which it is aiming to complete before its Annual Shareholders Meeting.

Firstly, ILUS will be entering the $500 billion Metaverse market through the upcoming acquisition of an invaluable public safety Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) training software company. ILUS has agreed the acquisition of the company which develops and delivers VR and AR training solutions for public safety, including fire safety, emergency response, community safety, security, and corporate onboarding. The agreed acquisition already has seven training modules and twenty-two tutorials with a further thirty modules in development. It also has existing customers in seven countries. As a company that began its life through the development of disruptive firefighting technology, ILUS is excited to continue this trend by now becoming the first company to offer fire safety training in the Metaverse.

Secondly, ILUS has agreed the acquisition of a pioneering Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) company which is based in Germany. The company has developed and manufactures UAVs or Industrial Drones which are a world first in that they deliver the unmanned capability of light helicopters. The companys revolutionary UAVs are developed for the rescue and logistic sectors, given that they can carry up to 1000 kg/2204 lbs with a flight time of up to 2 hours. The company has already successfully developed prototypes, is currently undergoing a proof of concept for a project with an international aid organisation and has obtained serious interest from several international aviation companies. Competitors of the upcoming acquisition which do not yet have products in production have achieved valuations of over $1.2 billion.

ILUS confirms that its Annual Shareholders Meeting on Friday the 28thof January 2022 will take place both in-person and online. Given the difficulties of confirming travel under the current circumstances, ILUS chose to give its Shareholders as much time as possible to confirm their attendance. The company has also been working with the venue to ensure that the event can take place safely and effectively for all in attendance. Now that numbers are finally confirmed, ILUS will soon email the venue details and agenda to all confirmed attendees. The company will also send out a notification via Twitter requesting confirmation from those who wish to attend the online format of the event. Confirmed online attendees will receive login details for the event in advance.

ILUS Managing Director, John-Paul Backwell, commented: The work going on behind the scenes is phenomenal and the results are beyond exciting for the future of ILUS. We are delivering on the strategy which we have been communicating to our Shareholders for some time now. The US strategy is coming together nicely and the valuation of these tech acquisitions that we are busy with will be mind-blowing. In terms of the bigger picture, they will put us on track to deliver even more than we had originally planned for this year. We are looking forward to announcing further details on this and more in the coming days and weeks.

For further information on the companies, please see their communication channels:

Website: https://ilus-group.com

Twitter: OTC_ILUS

Contact:

Email:IR@Ilus-Group.com

Source: ILUS

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SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Creatopy's study of over 1,000 U.S. consumer shoppers has revealed the factors and experiences that will shape shopping habits in 2022from online vs. in-store shopping to sustainable action to how businesses obtain and use data.

The complete study can be found here: 10 Consumer Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2022

Online Shopping Is Here to Stay

As the pandemic accelerates the shift to e-commerce, digital shopping experiences are set to remain a priority for U.S. consumers. When asked how they did their shopping in the past month, 30% of respondents reported shopping primarily online, and nearly 8% said they'd shopped online only. Another 36% made purchases equally online and in-store.

Shoppers have high expectations from these online experiences, especially regarding delivery and availability. 55% of consumers stated that fast and reliable delivery is their biggest concern, with 44% wanting delivery to be free. In comparison, 46% of respondents said in-stock availability of products was their main reason for shopping online.

In-Store Experiences Still Matter

The study showed that against a backdrop of vaccine uptake, in-person shopping experiences are still important to consumers. 64% of respondents said this is because in-store shopping provides the ability to see, touch, and try the products, 51% said it gives a sense of instant gratification, and 43% of consumers said it makes local products available.

In addition, the in-store experience itself is still something that customers view as important. The ability to quickly navigate the aisles (41%), helpful sales personnel (21%) and the product displays, the way the products are showcased (16%) were among the top three choices.

Today's Consumer Is Mobile-First

And as digital adoption increases as a result of the pandemic, mobile experiences will be crucial for businesses to get right. When asked which device they use the most to browse products online, mobile was the number one choice among our respondents, with a whopping 65%. PC came in second with 23%, followed by tablet with 8%.

Consumers Are Divided Over Data Access

As third-party cookies are phased out, we asked the participants whether they would be comfortable giving their personal data directly to companies as an alternative to allowing third-party cookie tracking. 52% of respondents said that they would not be comfortable sharing data directly with companies. In comparison, 48% would be comfortable, emphasizing the growing importance of building direct relationships with customers and collecting first-party data instead of relying on intermediaries. It also presents a challenge for businesses to make the case to consumers that sharing their data has the right benefits for the end-user to justify it.

Social Media Drives Consumer Interest

With more consumers discovering products on social media nowadays, the survey confirms that people purchase based on what they see on social media. When asked about it, 50% of respondents reported doing so in the past three months. Advertising is also an essential part of this discovery process, as 28% of respondents who purchased something they saw on social media did so after seeing an advert or sponsored post.

Sustainability Brought to the Fore

In the uncertainty brought on by the Covid crisis, people started worrying more about the future. When asked what matters most to them regarding brand when considering making a purchase, most of our respondents (38%) picked sustainability even ahead of brand popularity (30%). However, only 9% of consumers said that a brand's involvement in social issues matters most to them.

Bernadett Kovacs-Dioszegi, Head of Marketing at Creatopy, said: "While online shopping is the norm for today's consumer, it's clear that the experience is what matters most, both in-store and online. But experience can encompass so muchfrom the obvious omnichannel offering and seamless consumer journey to the less obvious emotions felt by consumers when interacting with a brand. The emotional connection a brand creates with its consumers can be facilitated by the brand's approach to sustainability, its visual identity and more. This research makes it clear that expectations are high for businesses today, with brands being measured across every single possible touchpoint, from UX to ethics."

For more information, please get in touch with Ioana Ciobanu at ioana.ciobanu@creatopy.com.

About Creatopy:

Creatopy is an ad design platform that helps businesses customize, automate and scale up their ad production and delivery.

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Antwerp, Belgium. January 20, 2022: The VGP Foundation, a registered Belgian private foundation founded by VGP announces the appointment of Ann Demeulemeester as a new member to its Board of Directors. In her role, Mrs Demeulemeester will hold the post of a representative for the projects around the protection of the European cultural heritage, one of the three main focus areas of the VGP Foundation.

Ann Demeulemeester graduated as fashion designer at the royal Academy of Fine Arts, Belgium in 1981, she launched her own brand together with her creative partner Patrick Robyn in 1985. Present in Paris during fashion-week for 30 years, her shows and work gained international appreciation with a world-wide distribution.

She received the rst Culture Award from the Belgian Government and later the Henry Van De Velde life-time achievement gold award. The lUniversite libre de Bruxelles awarded her with the title doctor honoris causa. In recent years, she moved into new design territories such as tableware, lighting and furniture.

Ann Demeulemeester said: What I nd particularly fascinating is that the board of VGP-Foundation is composed of members with very different backgrounds, active in a variety of elds but still sharing the same concerns and desire to contribute to projects that help to make our world more beautiful. That is nice to see and to be part of it.

About the VGP Foundation

The VGP Foundation was founded in 2019 by VGP NV, a pan-European developer, manager and owner of high-quality logistics and semi-industrial real estate and is a registered Belgian private foundation under number 0735.540.607. VGP has committed to contribute circa 1-2% of its annual profit to the VGP Foundation. The foundation focuses on three main areas: supporting the education for children and young people in need, the preservation and creation of biospheres and nature conservation zones and the protection of European cultural assets and heritage sites.

For more information: www.vgp-foundation.eu

Contact

Aneta Vysehradova

VGP Foundation Director

tel.: +420 608 972 509

aneta.vysehradova@vgpparks.eu

info@vgp-foundation.eu

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MILWAUKEE, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beacon Confidential LLC (https://beaconconfidential.com/) announces that David B. Bohl, with editorial insight of Dr. Jamie Marich, has published a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive monograph on the topic of developmental trauma, relinquishment, and addiction. The monograph is intended to serve as a guide for individuals experiencing adoption and addiction, as well as a guidebook for their loved ones. Healthcare professionals will find the information contained immensely valuable. Mental-health professionals and attorneys whose clients include relinquishee/ adoption populations are encouraged to include the pamphlet as part of their resources toolkits.

By describing such controversial topics as developmental trauma, the language of adoption vs. relinquishment, how trauma affects adopted individuals, and how the prevalence of any lifetime substance use disorder is 43% higher among adoptees (50.5%) compared to non-adoptees (35.4%), the authors hope to bring to the forefront the interests of often misunderstood clients. They discuss the reasons for addictive behaviors, how addiction can be arrested and healed, and how clients should go about talking to others about difficult issues. Finally, they provide a set of practical suggestions intended to help their readers find the right resources and professionals.

"There remains a chasm in awareness both within and outside the adoption community about the special, unspoken, and unmet needs of relinquished persons and their families. We, therefore, provide an overview of the complex issues involved in relinquishment and adoption, and in particular as they relate to susceptibility to addiction."

Bohl and Marich see their monograph as an open discussion about the topic of adoption and addiction that will, most importantly, fill the gap where resources were previously lacking. This is their first publication talking about these topics specifically.

"Healing begins with understanding what happened and understanding the mechanisms behind developing addiction."

Bios:

David B. Bohl, MA, CSAC, MAC (he/him) is a Clinical Substance and Recovery Consultat at Beacon Confidential LLC, and the author of the award-winning memoir Parallel UniversesThe Story of Rebirth. He is a member of the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC), and a Director and Addiction and Recovery Consultant to the National Association of Adoptees and Parents (NAAP). https://davidbbohl.com/

Jamie Marich, Ph.D., LPCC-S, LICDC-CS, REAT, RYT-500, RMT (she/they) travels internationally speaking on topics related to EMDR therapy, trauma, addiction, expressive arts and mindfulness Marich is the author of numerous books, including the popular EMDR Made Simple, Trauma Made Simple, and Process Not Perfection. http://www.jamiemarich.com

For more information, please contact:

David B. Bohl

DavidBBohl.com

David@DavidBBohl.com

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WESTMINSTER, Col., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Niman Ranch, the natural meat leader that has grown one farm and ranch at a time to a network of 750 farm families today, has released its first impact report. The new publication highlights the companys leadership in environmental sustainability, humane animal care, farmer support and community impact.

The new impact report clearly illustrates how unique Niman Ranch is in the meat sector, shared Chris Oliviero, Niman Ranch General Manager. Our founding farmers and ranchers broke the mold when creating this company, aiming to build a new business model that worked for the producers, animals, environment and rural communities. Im incredibly proud of all that weve achieved over the years and the path we have charted for the future.

Regenerative Leadership

The report includes findings from an independent analysis of Niman Ranchs farming practices (page 7) by The Sustainable Food Lab, a leading organization helping scale sustainable agriculture in the U.S. and around the globe. Through comprehensive surveys, in-depth qualitative interviews and data reviews, the analysis shows that Niman Ranch farms are successfully implementing regenerative practices that build healthy soil, support biodiversity, sequester carbon and reduce runoff.

The analysis also showed that the companys model helps spur use of sustainable techniques and approaches including broad adoption of no-till and crop rotation and managing pollinator habitats. Additionally, Niman Ranch farms are using more cover crops than other farms in their area  ten times more than the regional average.

What we found is a farmer network that already leads in many aspects of regenerative agriculture, shared Elizabeth Reaves, Senior Program Director at the Sustainable Food Lab. Reaves continued, One key difference that stood out in our conversations was the premium pay and stability the program provides farmers, creating a different risk management strategy. Without financial sustainability, it is unlikely that farmers will experiment with new sustainable practices.

Outsized Economic Impact

The report includes a new analysis of the economic impact Niman Ranch farmers have within their community (page 30). Conducted by Iowa State University economist Dave Swenson, the data shows Niman Ranchs significant contributions to the Iowa economy in jobs and labor income. Niman Ranch was found to produce over 150 percent more jobs across the state than its conventional counterparts and generate more than 50 percent more economic value for the local economy, per 100,000 hogs.

Local economies would prosper if more adopted Niman Ranchs approach, concluded Swenson.

A Community of Leaders

The inaugural impact report showcases many of the leaders and changemakers from both Niman Ranchs past and today.

In a piece authored by award-winning journalist Marilyn Noble, four women trailblazersPhyllis Willis, Dr. Temple Grandin and Diane and Marlene Halversonare highlighted for their core role in helping Niman Ranch set the highest standards for animal care in the industry (page 22).

The legacy of the late Dave Serfling of Southeast Minnesota, an early Niman Ranch hog farmer, is celebrated (page 10) for his vision and initial draft of what became the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). CSP is the largest federal conservation program in the country and considered a gold standard for a working land conservation program that takes a whole-farm approach.

Other partners highlighted include Dawn Sherman of Native American Natural Foods (page 15), Adrian Lipscombe of 40 Acres & a Mule (page 29) and numerous farmers and ranchers supplying Niman Ranch today.

Looking Forward

The impact report shares new Niman Ranch partnerships and initiatives to support a more sustainable and equitable food system. From advocacy on important animal welfare policies, like Californias Proposition 12 (page 19), to developing programs and partnerships that support opportunities for BIPOC farmers and culinary leaders (page 32), Niman Ranch continues to use its voice and resources for progress.

Looking at the path ahead for Niman Ranch, Chris Oliviero is optimistic. When Paul Willis first started the pork program, he didnt set out to check boxes on some set of protocols that somebody else had come up with. He wrote his own playbook and then made it available for others to follow. Having the willingness to do that is why the Niman model has excelled, and it will inform our course well into the future.

The impact report can be viewed and downloaded here. Niman Ranch is also offering print copies of the impact report for free home delivery.

# # #

About Niman Ranch

Niman Ranch is a community of more than 750 independent family farmers and ranchers who raise pork, beef and lamb traditionally, humanely and sustainably to deliver the Finest-Tasting Meat in the World. Niman Ranch is the largest farmer and rancher network in North America to be Certified Humane. The protein of choice for Americas most celebrated chefs, Niman Ranch is also the premier option for discerning home cooks looking for meats Raised with Care, with no antibiotics or added hormonesever. Follow Niman Ranch on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA ALERT





Global Summit To Examine Ways to Bring Peace to the Korean Peninsula





The Universal Peace Federation and the Royal Government of Cambodia are pleased to announce the upcoming World Summit 2022 (Summit for Peace on the Korean Peninsula), which brings together Keynote Speakers and participants from 157 nations to explore the prospects for peaceful reconciliation of the Korean Peninsula.



WHAT: World Summit 2022 will be held in Seoul, South Korea, both in-person and virtually with a high-tech hybrid format. More than one thousand are expected to gather in Seoul and millions of participants will attend through virtual media.



WHO: The Universal Peace Federation (UPF), an NGO with General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, together with the Royal Government of Cambodia are co-sponsoring the World Summit 2022. UPF Co-Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is the host, and H.E. Prime Minister Hun Sen and H.E. Ban Ki-moon, the 8th UN Secretary-General, are co-chairs of World Summit 2022.



WHEN: The program opens Thursday Feb. 10, 2022 and ends with a virtual One Million Person Rally on Sunday February 13, 2022 (KST).



WHY: The Korean Peninsula remains the starting point for world peace despite its nearly 70 years as a divided nation. It stands as a microcosm of the world's struggles, and its peaceful reconciliation will have a positive impact throughout Northeast Asia and the world. Last year, UPF launched Think Tank 2022 to tap into the wisdom of more than 2,000 world leaders in order to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula. The World Summit 2022 seeks to open the way to world peace by envisioning the Korean peninsula as an economic, cultural, educational, environmental and interfaith hub in the East; and a gateway to a world in which all of humanity can enjoy lives of mutual prosperity, interdependence and shared universal values.

For media inquiries, please contact:

https://www.upf.org



UPF - Communications Director

wselig@upf.org

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WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Predica Group, a global expert in Microsoft Azure consulting and development, has announced that after going through a full, independent audit, it has been recognized as Azure Expert MSP.

Microsoft created the Azure Expert MSP program to help customers select a managed service partner who demonstrates real-life experience in managing solutions on Azure. The designation reaffirms Predica's commitment to enabling customers' cloud journey and providing top-notch expertise with the Microsoft tech stack by verifying their capabilities in hyper-scaled transformations with an independent auditor.

"We are excited and honored by achieving Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Service Provider status. This badge proves that we have demonstrated the ability to deliver repeatable, automated managed services on Azure, and innovation in monitoring and operations of complex customer environments. Our Managed Azure Cloud services enable customers to reach the next level in terms of agility and business value. It's a flexible offering, adapting to the current needs of clients, giving them more time for the work that matters, and the assurance that their environment is in the hands of highly skilled experts," says Andrzej Lipka, CEO of Predica Group.

This recognition from Microsoft gives Predica's current and future clients assurance that the company is equipped with the right processes, tools, and human potential to make sure that cloud operations are handled in the proper way. Tomasz Onyszko, CTO of Predica Group, adds: "The technology landscape is changing as we speak. It is becoming ever harder to find the right skills and knowledge to take advantage of all the possibilities given by the cloud. We completed the Azure Expert MSP program to show that we have the complete set of processes, tools, and people with expertise ready to take this burden off of our clients, so they can focus on their core business. We are privileged to already be a part of the digital journey for hundreds of businesses and are very proud of this achievement, which could not have happened without our clients' support."

"As more businesses move to the cloud, we want them to be confident they're working with the right partner, and Microsoft Azure Expert MSP program offers them the most capable and qualified MSPs," states Rodney Clark, Corporate Vice President, Global Channel Sales and Channel Chief at Microsoft. "Predica has made a strong investment in its capabilities and knowledge around Azure, and has certainly earned the expert designation."

Predica's consultants can help with cloud cost optimization, ongoing IT support and maintenance, and 24/7 security monitoring. For more information on Predica Managed Service, visit predicagroup.com.

About Predica

Predica delivers advanced capabilities in the areas of cloud security, analytics, applications, managed services, and more. The company has been operating since 2009 and now has over 380 certified IT experts, including 5 Microsoft MVPs.

Press contact

Phone: +48 796 683 575

Email: pr@predicagroup.com

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CHICAGO, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (CHICAGO, January 20, 2022)  The Alzheimers Association and The Joint Commission today announced a collaboration to help improve quality and safety in dementia care in nursing, skilled nursing, and assisted living facilities. The organizations will partner to evaluate ongoing scientific issues, standards and performance measures, and quality improvement initiatives, as well as to provide education programs and presentations, and share data with the public.

An estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older lived with Alzheimers dementia in 2021. Overall, 48% of nursing home residents have Alzheimers or other dementias,[1] while 37% of short-stay (less than 100 days) nursing home residents have Alzheimers or other dementias, and 59% of long-stay (more than 100 days) residents have these conditions. Furthermore, Alzheimers and dementia deaths have increased 16% during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important for The Joint Commission to collaborate with the Alzheimers Association, the nations leading voice on dementia and other memory-related issues, to help improve care for patients and residents in nursing care centers and assisted living communities, said Gina Zimmermann, executive director, Nursing Care Centers and Assisted Living Community Services, The Joint Commission. Initially, our collaboration provides a unique opportunity to recognize nursing care centers that are meeting state-of-the-art standards and implementing best practices for dementia care. I look forward to expanding this collaboration to assisted living communities that provide memory care.

The first part of the collaboration is an update to The Joint Commissions Memory Care Certification (MCC) requirements, effective July 1, 2022. MCC is an add-on certification program available to nursing care centers (NCC) accredited by The Joint Commission. The program recognizes NCCs that focus on the care of patients and residents with memory-impacting conditions such as Alzheimers disease or other dementias  enabling these residents to remain engaged in their environment and to function at the highest cognitive level possible.

The update includes 10 new and four revised requirements that reflect current scientific evidence and best practices in long-term care and memory care. The requirements align with the Alzheimers Association Dementia Care Practice Recommendations[2] and were finalized after analyzing the results of a Standards Review Panel (SRP) and Public Field Reviews. Participants included clinicians, administrators, and advocate organizations.

These new and revised certification requirements provide an evidence-based approach toward ensuring the highest quality care for people living with Alzheimers and other dementia in nursing care centers, said Beth Kallmyer, MSW, vice president of care and support, Alzheimers Association. The Alzheimers Association is pleased The Joint Commission recognizes the value and importance of incorporating our Dementia Care Practice Recommendations into this updated certification. We believe certification will not only enhance dementia care but also will be an important consideration for families seeking nursing care.

The MCC requirements are available on the Prepublication Standards page of The Joint Commission website. They also will be included in the July 1, 2022 version of E-dition and hard copy update of the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Nursing Care Centers. NCCs may promote their MCC achievement throughout their community, using a co-branded logo.

Additionally, as part of the collaboration, The Joint Commission will provide accreditation and certification information for inclusion in the Alzheimers Association Community Resource Finder (CRF), a database of dementia and aging-related resources for individuals, families and caregivers seeking programs and services targeted by zip code.

###

About the Alzheimers Association

The Alzheimers Association leads the way to end Alzheimers and all other dementia  by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support. Our vision is a world without Alzheimers and all other dementia. For more information, visit alz.org or call the 24/7 Helpline at 800.272.3900.

About The Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 22,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission is the nations oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

[1]Harris-Kojetin L, Sengupta M, Lendon JP, Rome V, Valverde R, Caffrey C. Long-term care providers and services users in the United States, 20152016. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 2019;3(43).

[2]Alzheimers Association Dementia Care Practice Recommendations (2018). Gerontologist, 58: S1, S1S9. doi:10.1093/geront/gnx182
The MTA must do a delicate dance with freight railroad companies to build a new passenger rail service between Brooklyn and Queens, according to a feasibility study released by Gov. Hochul Thursday.

The new line  dubbed the Interborough Express  would run along a 14-mile stretch of tracks between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights that until the 1920s were used for passenger trains, but are now only used for freight rail. Transit officials estimate it would serve up to 88,000 riders per day, and would only take 40 minutes to run from end to end.

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This is a once-in-a-generational opportunity, Hochul said during a news conference. If you can shave 30 or 40 minutes off somebodys commute every single day, that is a gift.

Renderings and schematics of the MTA's proposed Interborough Express line. (MTA)

Most of the tracks are owned by the MTA, but used for freight by the New York & Atlantic Railway. Theyre a key piece of the citys freight infrastructure that keeps shelves stocked across the city and Long Island.

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There are extra tracks where passenger trains could run alongside freight on most of the line  but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would need to build new tracks adjacent to or above the existing freight rails in two sections of Brooklyn, according to the feasibility study.

Current freight service would not be disrupted by any of the proposals.

Governor Kathy Hochul speaking at a press conference regarding new transportation plan for Queens and Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, January 20. (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)

Meanwhile, the existing railroad may soon start moving more freight.

Renderings and schematics of the MTA's proposed Interborough Express line. (MTA)

The Port Authority has launched an environmental review to build a new tunnel for freight trains beneath New York Harbor, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced during the news conference.

The cross-harbor rail freight project is designed to remedy the fact that New York City is the only major city in the world that is not directly connected to its countrys national freight rail system, said Nadler. It costs as much to move goods from New Jersey to Manhattan, as it does to move them 500 miles or more in some areas of the United States.

Rep. Jerry Nadler speaks at a press conference regarding a new transportation plan for Queens and Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, January 20. (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)

The MTA will begin a federal environmental impact study to build the Interborough Express. MTA chairman Janno Lieber did not know how long the study would take, but said construction would take three to five years once the project gets approved by the feds.

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

The cost is also unclear. Lieber said it would be in the single-digit billions, and is less expensive to build than other major projects because much of the railroad is already there.

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Here we have a right of way and we have a way to connect Brooklyn and Queens, said Lieber. Were talking about some of the driest transit deserts in the city.

Renderings and schematics of the MTA's proposed Interborough Express line. (MTA)

Hochul proposed the Interborough Express idea in her State of the State address earlier this month. Its a pared down version of another pitch called the Triboro Rx that has circulated among urban planners for decades, which would run the same line an additional 10 miles over the Hell Gate Bridge and into the Bronx.

The governor said Thursday the less ambitious plan is more realistic  and said Bronx riders were already getting a transit boost through the MTAs Penn Access plan, which aims to bring Metro-North trains into Penn Station via four new stations in the Bronx in the next five years.

Governor Kathy Hochul speaking at a press conference regarding new transportation plan for Queens and Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, January 20. (Shawn Inglima/for New York Daily News)

The Penn Access project will run Metro-North trains over the Hell Gate Bridge between the Bronx and Queens  a crossing thats already used by Amtrak and freight operators  and through East River tunnels into Manhattan.

But unlike the Triboro Rx proposal, Penn Access will not stop in Queens. Thats miffed some riders and advocates, including Queens Sen. Jessica Ramos, who on Wednesday chided Lieber over cutting the route short during a hearing to confirm him as MTA chairman.

The MTA could eventually extend the Interborough Express to the Bronx, the feasibility study shows. But that proposal would require the agency to seize private property and build an additional track over the bridge to fit the new service.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The eighth annual Charlotte UNCF (United Negro College Fund) Mayors Masked Ball will take place Saturday, March 19 at the Westin Hotel in uptown Charlotte. This highly anticipated event will be in person and will celebrate Charlotte Legends Harvey and Lucinda Gantt, former mayor and first lady, city of Charlotte; and Hugh and Jane McColl, retired chairman and CEO and his wife, Bank of America. These two couples are trailblazers in business and civic engagement, and both will be presented with the distinguished UNCF Masked Award during the two-hour program. COVID-19 health protocols will be in place to help ensure the safety of all those attending.

Event presenting sponsors are: Bank of America, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Falfurrias Capital Partners and Lowes. Truist is the marquis sponsor. Other top sponsors include Accenture, Atrium Health, Equitable, Red Ventures, Wells Fargo, along with many other new and returning sponsors. The 2022 event co-chairs are Kieth and Serena Cockrell and James and Nina Jackson. The event host committee includes the Honorable Vi Lyles, mayor, city of Charlotte; Milton H. Jones Jr., chairman, board of directors, UNCF; and Tiffany L. Jones, area development director, UNCF. This exciting, must-attend event will be full of glitz, glamour, fun andmost importantfundraising. Proceeds from this party with a purpose will benefit deserving students across the state of North Carolina and the United States who lack the financial support to get to and through college. It is so easy to get behind an organization that is dedicated to the education and development of our youth, explained Lyles. They really are our future, and thanks to UNCF, we are providing them with the resources needed to thrive and grow into our leaders of tomorrow.

The Mayors Masked Ball continues to serve as a platform to raise urgently needed funds so that we can continue to invest in the lives of students across the state of North Carolina. Because of the pandemic, our students need us now more than ever, so this year our goal is to raise more than $1 million. Without support from UNCF, many of our most promising future leaders would not have the opportunity to get a quality education, said Tiffany Jones.

For more than 77 years, UNCF has fueled HBCUs with vital resources to educate generations of African American and other minority students, added Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO, UNCF. During an unprecedented time in our history compounded by COVID-19 and racial disparities, our students and institutions are faced with enormous challenges now more than ever. We are at risk of washing away a generation of talented and deserving African American and minority students. We need as many donations as possible right now because the students we help now will be our next generation of doctors, nurses, biologists, virologists, epidemiologiststhe pandemic frontliners of the future. We invite everyone in North Carolina to join our Mayors Masked Ball to help ensure better futures for us all.

Since its founding, UNCF has empowered more than half a million students to earn college degrees. As the largest and most effective minority education organization in the United States, UNCF also actively supports 37 private historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and advocates for minority higher education. We are truly humbled by the growth of the Charlotte Mayors Masked Ball and the overwhelming support from the Charlotte community, Tiffany Jones added. We are gearing up for a festive evening of excitement and an evening that will be safely orchestrated for all guests amid the uncertainty around COVID-19. Expect changes to this years event such as face masks being required for all guests, socially distanced tables and proof of full vaccination. Other guidlelines will be announced closer to the event date to ensure the safety of everyone in attendance.



To register for the event or donate, please visit UNCF.org/CharlotteMMB. For more information, contact Tiffany Jones at TJones@uncf.org. Follow this event on social media @UNCF #UNCFCharlotte #UNCF #CharlotteMMB.



###







About UNCF



UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nation's largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students' education and development through scholarships and other programs, supports and strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically Black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding nearly 20% of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students at over 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized trademark, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."  Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous updates and news, follow UNCF on Twitter at @UNCF.
Santa Clarita, California, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wax Dynasty is drawing attention to a newly launched feature recently announced by the Kling Metaverse, a platform currently being developed by Kling.Finance, that is trying to empower unemployed and underpaid people around the world.



Wax Dynasty is an online publication that regularly publishes informative news, analysis, and tutorial articles on a variety of topics related to cutting-edge blockchain technologies such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and metaverses. One of the latest articles on the website shines a light on the new play-to-earn feature included in the Kling metaverse which it says is a great opportunity for stay-at-home moms as well as unsalaried individuals to bring in an extra income in their free time. The aforementioned blog post can be read by heading over to the link: https://waxdynasty.com/kling-metaverse-trying-to-bring-active-income-for-the-underpaid/.

The blog begins by acknowledging the devastating effect that the pandemic has had on the global economy over the last couple of years starting in early 2020. A lot of traditional industries were disrupted due to a lack of mobility and the ceasing of common activities such as traveling for leisure, eating out, commuting, construction, and many more. As a result, millions of people around the world found themselves out of work and without a source of income to take care of themselves and their families. In times such as these when people are scrambling to make ends meet, the innovation in blockchain technologies is opening up brand new avenues for creating value and earning money, that were considered impossible just a couple of years ago.

One such opportunity is the rise of play-to-earn (P2E) gaming, a popular way to earn income in the crypto space. One such P2E project, Kling.Finance was launched with the motive of helping unemployed and underpaid individuals meet their financial demands without much hassle. The Kling metaverse is still under development and currently allows players to be rewarded in KLING, the native cryptocurrency of the ecosystem. Aside from the KLING token being used to reward gamers for playing the P2E games, the company has also envisioned other use cases for it such as giving holders the right to vote for important decisions relating to the project. Though not yet launched, users can get whitelisted as early supporters by subscribing with their email addresses to win free airdrops of up to 100,000 KLING.

Users of the Kling metaverse are required to spend from 90 to 120 minutes daily by participating in human-based activities such as walking, driving, thumb-inking to increase their earnings. The more idle time a player spends on the platform, the more rewards they earn. The team intends to be among the first of its kind to digitize human activities on the blockchain through Gamefi. As the company puts it, it is a part of its mission to bring forth a new age of Optionality to Human Digital Acts.

To achieve its vision of efficiently and effectively digitizing human activities on the blockchain, the project is also developing Idlemine, a Gamefi play-to-earn platform thats designed to allow users to participate and earn through games that revolve around human-based activities such as the ones mentioned above. Initially, there will be two activities  walking and thumb-inking, and they will help users gain more tokens by completing some challenges that revolve around them.

Kling is an Indian Web 3.0 startup company with offices in Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan, and GIFT City (Offshore Jurisdiction of India) that offers a range of crypto-related services to both institutional and retail investors. Some of the core services of Kling Group include OTC liquidity aggregation, electronic communication networking, web 3.0, non-custodial blockchain wallets, GameFi, metaverse solutions, and so forth.





Readers can also keep track of more interesting developments in the NFT, cryptocurrency, and metaverse space by following Wax Dynastys blog at the link: https://sites.google.com/view/waxp. Readers can also head over to the Wax Dynasty website to sign up to receive a free training guide titled A Beginners Guide to CryptoCurrency & Decentralized Finance.

###

For more information about WaxDynasty.com, contact the company here:



WaxDynasty.com

Raul Meza

8554243007

info@waxdynasty.com

Santa Clarita, Ca
HAMPSTEAD, Md., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Farmers and Merchants Bancshares, Inc. and Farmers and Merchants Bank (collectively, Farmers) announce that James R. Bosley, Jr. intends to retire as Farmers President & Chief Executive Officer effective at the close of business on December 31, 2022. Mr. Bosley recently informed the Board of Directors of his retirement plans in order to allow for an orderly transition. Mr. Bosley, age 60, joined the organization in 1983 and became its President & Chief Executive Officer in 1995.



Jim Bosley has led Farmers for the past 27 years. During this time, he has helped to build the company into a high-performing, community-centric bank that is relationship-focused and aligned to the needs of all stakeholders stated Bruce Schindler, Chairman of Farmers boards of directors. It has been a pleasure to work with Jim over the years and having the privilege to observe his tireless work ethic and commitment to our bank and the community. We wish him well as he looks forward to retirement.

In alignment with the long-term executive management succession plans for Farmers, Kaplan Partners, an executive search and board advisory firm headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, has been retained to initiate a formal comprehensive search to identify a successor for Mr. Bosleys position as President & Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Bosley will continue to serve in his position with Farmers through the search process, as well as assist during the subsequent transition. Mr. Bosley is currently a Class II director of Farmers, with a term expiring in 2024, and he will continue to serve on Farmers boards of directors following his retirement.

Farmers and Merchants Bank has remained locally owned, operated and headquartered in Hampstead, Maryland, with retail banking offices in Baltimore and Carroll Counties. A public banking institution founded in 1919, our independence has allowed us to provide customers with a team of local bank professionals that care deeply about our customers and their personal and business success. The Board and staff look forward to continuing this longstanding tradition.
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Several well-known insurance industry executives have joined forces to launch Swiftly, a global technology company, with operations in Bermuda and the U.S., focused on driving down insurance costs while improving customer experience through an innovative technology ecosystem.

Swiftly is led by Michael Lyons, founder and former CEO of Weston Insurance, with 25+ years' experience in re/insurance. He has partnered with Dmitry Mnushkin, Swiftly's Chief Technology Officer, a successful re/insurance technology entrepreneur and winner of Bermuda's 2019 Technology Innovation Award; Heather Kitson, Swiftly's Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel, former Deputy CEO of Convex Re, with 23 years of executive, financial and legal experience; and Joelle Turner, Swiftly's VP & Controller, formerly of Sompo International, with 17 years' experience in insurance finance and accounting.

Lyons, Swiftly's CEO, said, "We're thrilled to announce the launch of our new technology company, Swiftly, providing cost-efficient and customer-friendly support for both Life & Annuity and Property & Casualty insurance. Our team has created an ecosystem of secure, cloud-based proprietary technologies that support our clients in seamlessly operating and administering their insurance business with next-generation service efficiencies."

End-to-end technologies include:

 Policy administration

 Pricing and rating systems

 Enterprise Risk Management

 Call-center operations

 Claims tracking and administration software

 Transaction-level reconciliation

 Clearinghouse technology

"The inspiration for Swiftly came after repeatedly seeing gaps in insurance industry infrastructure," said Lyons. "My previous business mantra was, 'Don't build it if you can buy it, and don't buy it if you can rent it.' However, it's increasingly clear to insurance operators that for several critical and highly technical operational areas of insurance, there are no good rentable nor purchasable options available."

Lyons noted that Level 3 conversational AI is a very recent innovation, while certain middleware utilized by Swiftly to operationalize its proprietary technology didn't exist commercially until as recently as early 2021.

According to Mnushkin, what distinguishes Swiftly from competing insurtech platforms is its numerous interoperable technologies and advanced processes. "We offer full operational support behind our technologies, which means if a client wishes to access our entire technology ecosystem plus support, they have what's akin to an 'MGA-in-a-box'. This gives insurers and MGAs the ability to launch or expand at a significantly reduced headcount, while maintaining the highest service levels."

Kitson explained, "Our clients are able to greatly improve annualized ROI and net operating margins, while achieving higher customer service levels as a result of extensive real-time management tools, customer self-help tools, and repetitive process automations. Our clients also have the option to execute underwriting submission binds, all the way through secure payment, without the necessity of underwriter intervention." Additionally, "our clients achieve greater control of and insights into their customer data."

Mnushkin concluded, "Our company presents a strong value proposition to existing insurers looking to expand or new entrants looking to launch more swiftly and efficiently."

To learn more, visit https://swiftly.com.co or email info@swiftly.com.co.

Related Images











Image 1: Michael Lyons





Swiftly CEO, Michael Lyons









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LONDON, England, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Lithium Association (ILiA), a new not-for-profit trade body representing the global lithium industry, is delighted to welcome Piedmont Lithium Inc. as a founding Associate Member. Piedmont is developing a diversified portfolio of assets and mineral resources to support an integrated lithium business in the United States, enabling the transition to a net-zero world and the creation of a clean energy economy in America.

The Association is based in London, UK, and was established in late 2021 by the leading global lithium producers. Faced with rapid growth, change and attention, lithium producers saw an urgent need for the industry to form an association that could efficiently and effectively address common challenges, such as promoting a sustainable lithium supply chain. Membership of ILiA is open to the entire lithium supply chain, from producers, refiners, and battery materials producers to OEMs and recyclers.

ILiA's Secretary General, Roland Chavasse, stated, "On behalf of the membership we welcome Piedmont to our international community. The world is going to need a lot more lithium as demand for clean and affordable energy increases going forward. Piedmont adds value to the global voice of the lithium industry."

Austin Devaney, Piedmont's Chief Commercial Officer and delegate to ILiA, stated, "At Piedmont, our location in the renowned Carolina Tin Spodumene Belt of North Carolina, the cradle of the lithium industry, positions us to be one of the world's lowest cost producers of lithium hydroxide, and the most strategically located to serve the fast-growing U.S. electric vehicle supply chain. The unique geographic proximity of our resources and production operations to favorable transportation routes, prospective customers, and a skilled workforce base, should allow us to play a pivotal role in supporting America's move to the electrification of transportation and energy storage."

ILiA was formed earlier this year by leading lithium producers to support the industry during a time of unprecedented market growth. Driven by growth in electric vehicle production, demand for lithium is forecast to increase by almost six times in the period to 2040 according to Wood Mackenzie.

Anand Sheth, Founding Chairman of ILiA, explained that the Association represents more than 70% of global lithium production. The six founding Core Members of ILiA are Albemarle, SQM, Ganfeng Lithium, AMG Brazil, Allkem and Pilbara Minerals. The Association also currently has 15 founding Associate Members including representatives from new lithium mining projects (Rio Tinto), battery materials companies (BASF), battery manufacturers (SVOLT), and engineering companies (Hatch). Further details are available at www.lithium.org.

Further information

For further information please visit www.lithium.org, email info@lithium.org or contact:

Roland Chavasse, Secretary General, on roland.chavasse@lithium.org or +44 7855 772448

Anand Sheth, Chairman, on anand@lithium.org or +61 407 441 691

Related Images











Image 1: International Lithium Association (ILiA)





The International Lithium Association is the global trade body for the lithium industry.









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French English

TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Children, families, and classrooms across the country are invited to join the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society of Canadas annual MS Read-a-Thon, taking place virtually from Jan. 27 to Feb. 28, 2022. This years event will kick-off with Bookworm Buddies, a virtual book club event on Jan. 22 at 11 a.m. ET on the MS Societys YouTube channel, featuring MS Read-a-Thon ambassadors, current participants and last years top fundraisers.



The event will be hosted by MS Read-a-Thon Junior Ambassador Ainara Alleyne of the popular Instagram account @ainarasbookshelf, which celebrates childrens books with characters who are Black and people of colour. The Hamilton, Ontario-based 12-year-old will interview best-selling Indigenous childrens author and MS Read-a-Thon Ambassador, David Bouchard, of Victoria, B.C., during the kick-off event. He will read from his latest book We Learn from the Sun, which is based on the seven sacred teachings that are universal to most First Nations people.

Ainara will also join the MS Society on social media throughout the month of February to host interviews with other MS Read-a-Thon Ambassadors  childrens authors Ashley Spires and Mireille Messier  as well as share her book recommendations that feature diverse stories for the MS Read-a-Thon Bookworm Buddies to add to their reading lists.

Ive participated in MS Read-a-Thon so many times through school, and now I am so excited and honoured to be a part of it as their junior ambassador. Id encourage you to register your child for MS Read-a-Thon, too and come along for the adventure, says Ainara.

For more than 40 years, MS Read-a-Thon has helped kids across Canada discover the joy of reading, all while helping create a world free of MS. To make MS Read-a-Thon more fun than ever before, the MS Society reimagined the program last year with a modern and digital approach. Todays MS Read-a-Thon features an interactive website that allows kids to track the books they read, customize cool avatars, earn badges as they reach fundraising milestones, and much more. The rules are simple  read whatever you like, as much as you can, during the month of February while raising funds to support people in their community who are impacted by MS. Registration for MS Read-a-Thon is free, and children can register as part of their school or individually.

I have fond memories of taking part in this iconic event as a kid back in the late 1970s so Im incredibly excited that a new generation of Canadians are embarking on reading adventures and embracing the MS Read-a-Thon challenge through our interactive website, says Kyla Arsenault, Senior Director, Community Fundraising, for the MS Society of Canada. This year, we have a goal of raising $150,000 through this event. By participating, youre joining hundreds of children and families who are raising much-needed funds and making a difference in the lives of people impacted by MS, one book at a time.

While making fun memories and building awareness for MS, participants will raise critical funds to support programming for the MS community and mobilize research into finding a cure and improving the quality of life for the more than 90,000 Canadians who live with MS. Whether you are participating as an individual, in your classroom or within your school, you will be joining hundreds of other children and families on reading adventures that encourage discussions around giving back to others.

To learn more about Read-a-Thon and register for free, visit msreadathon.ca.

About multiple sclerosis and the MS Society of Canada

Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world. On average, 12 Canadians are diagnosed every day. MS is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord). It is considered an episodic disability meaning that the severity and duration of illness and disability can vary and are often followed by periods of wellness. It can also be progressive. Most people are diagnosed with MS between the ages of 20 and 49 and the unpredictable effects of the disease will last for the rest of their lives. The MS Society provides information, support and advocacy to people affected by MS, and funds research to find the cause and cure for the disease, bringing us closer to a world free of MS. Please visit mssociety.ca or call 1-800-268-7582 for more information, to get involved, or to support Canadians affected by MS by making a donation.

Join the conversation and connect with the MS community online. Find the MS Society on Twitter, Instagram or like our page on Facebook.

CONTACT:

Ian Royer

MS Society of Canada

437-290-8810

ian.royer@mssociety.ca
Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PIMCO Canada Corp. (PIMCO Canada) is pleased to announce today that it has declared monthly distributions on its Class A Units (the Units) of the PIMCO Canada closed end funds (the Funds). The distributions will be paid on February 14, 2022 to the holders of record at the close of business on January 31, 2022.

Details of the distribution amounts are as follow:

Fund Name Ticker Cash Distribution

per Unit Change from

Previous

Month Percentage

Change from

Previous Month PIMCO Global Income Opportunities Fund PGI.UN $0.05688 - - PIMCO Tactical Income Fund PTI.UN $0.05208 - - PIMCO Tactical Income Opportunities Fund PTO.UN $0.05000 - -

Unitholders are reminded that each Fund offers a distribution reinvestment plan (DRIP) which will provide unitholders with the ability to automatically reinvest their distributions. Eligible unitholders are encouraged to contact the institution through which they hold their Units to confirm enrollment procedures and timelines. A copy of the DRIP is available at www.pimco.ca.

The Manager, PIMCO Canada, retains Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (PIMCO), to provide investment management services to the Funds.

About PIMCO

PIMCO was founded in 1971 in Newport Beach, California and is one of the worlds premier fixed income investment managers. Today we have offices across the globe and 3,000+ professionals united by a single purpose: creating opportunities for investors in every environment. PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a leading global diversified financial services provider.

This is not an offer to sell Units and not a solicitation of an offer to buy Units in any region where the offer or sale is not permitted. Before you invest, you should carefully read the Funds disclosure documents and consider carefully the risks you assume when you invest in the Units. There can be no assurance that a Fund will achieve its investment objectives or be able to structure its investment portfolio as anticipated. Copies of the Funds disclosure documents may be obtained from your financial advisor.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions expect, intend, will and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Funds. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect each Fund, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCOs current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, market factors. Although the Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell Units on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the TSX). If the Units are purchased or sold on the TSX, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying Units and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. There are ongoing fees and expenses associated with owning Units. An investment fund must prepare disclosure documents that contain key information about the fund. You can find more detailed information about the Funds in these documents. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

Each Fund is a closed end exchange traded investment fund. Closed end funds, unlike open end funds, are not continuously offered. After the initial public offering, shares of closed end funds are sold on the open market through a stock exchange. For additional information, contact your financial advisor.

For a summary of the risks of an investment in each Fund, please see the Principal Risks of the Fund section of the prospectus. Units of closed end funds frequently trade at a discount to their net asset value, which may increase risk of loss. Distributions are not guaranteed and are subject to change and/or elimination.

PIMCO as a general matter provides services to qualified institutions, financial intermediaries and institutional investors. Individual investors should contact their own financial professional to determine the most appropriate investment options for their financial situation. This material contains the current opinions of the manager and such opinions are subject to change without notice. This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission. PIMCO is a trademark of Allianz Asset Management of America L.P. in the United States and throughout the world. 2022, PIMCO

The products and services provided by PIMCO Canada Corp. may only be available in certain provinces or territories of Canada and only through dealers authorized for that purpose.

PIMCO Canada has retained PIMCO as sub-adviser. PIMCO Canada will remain responsible for any loss that arises out of the failure of its sub-adviser.

PIMCO Canada Corp. 199 Bay Street, Suite 2050, Commerce Court Station, P.O. Box 363, Toronto, ON, M5L 1G2, 416-368-3350

Contact:

Agnes Crane

PIMCO  Media Relations Phone: +212 597.1054
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms (KFEA) is using Simulations & Deep Learning Algorithms with neural networks & advanced disruption controls to increase the efficiency of Fusion Energy Reactors. This makes Fusion Energy Generation price-competitive with carbon-burning power plants much earlier than had been anticipated. This effort is immense, pushing the limits of material science, fluid dynamics, and mechanical design.

"Using the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER's) formula, we estimate that one of our Power Plants will have the same output as 60 square miles of Solar Panels or 2,500 giant wind power turbines and ultimately be cleaner as well as cheaper," said Priyanca Ford, the founder at Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms. "We are developing Algorithms & Simulations with advanced Virtual Reality as well as Blockchain Security Infrastructure to build Micro Fusion Energy with Q40 Mechanical Gain for a Clean & Limitless Energy Future."

KFEA has consolidated the world's top Fusion Energy research to eight major technical problems that can be simulated in order to build Micro Fusion Energy Generators with Q40 Mechanical Gain. This is a 40% efficiency rate while all the currently planned generators top out at a Q25 Mechanical Gain or 25% efficiency. These innovations, ongoing contracts & patents put KFEA's current valuation at $530m with $1.2B in projected earnings over the next two years.

Set to be the world's largest Fusion Energy reactor and the product of collaboration between 35 countries  including every state in the European Union, the UK, China, India and the U.S.  ITER contains the world's most powerful magnet, making it capable of producing a magnetic field 280,000 times as strong as the one around the Earth, Live Science previously reported. The fusion reactor is expected to come online in 2025, and it will provide scientists with even more insights into the practicalities of harnessing star power on Earth.

The work at Kronos Fusion is in line with the latest research at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and other National Laboratories Globally. (2021 Research Breakthroughs st PPPL) Our mission at Kronos Fusion is to improve the efficiency of Fusion Energy through large scale simulations of the eight major technical problem areas with the goal of creating commercially viable Fusion Energy Reactors by the mid-2030s with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Fusion Energy is the only clean energy alternative that will not require a large investment to build electrical transmission lines that will run from the source of the wind or solar energy to the end users, as Fusion Energy reactors can be placed into existing power plants to leverage their distribution line network. Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms has studied the operating models of the most efficient electrical power plants in California, so our simulations focus on designing Fusion Energy reactors to be more economical than carbon-burning power plants.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Michael Pierce Hoban

Founder / Chief Executive Officer

m.hoban@KFEA-Q40.com

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Image 1: KFEA-Q40





Kronos Fusion Energy Algorithms









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Mississauga, ON, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Tire Canada is delighted to announce that they have renewed their broadcast partnership with The Raceline Radio Network, Canadas National Radio Motorsport Authority, and Canadas only nationally syndicated motorsport radio program, for the 2022 racing season.

This marks the fifth racing season General Tire and The Raceline Radio Network have worked together in a focused national radio marketing campaign.

Along with a full marketing presence in each nationally syndicated Raceline Radio Network program, General Tire will continue to present Racelines weekly NASCAR Pintys Series and NASCAR ARCA Series Report as an in-show feature, promoting General Tire as The Official Racing Tire of both sanctions.

General Tire, the official racing tire of the NASCAR Pintys Series, is excited to renew their partnership with Erik Tomas and The Raceline Radio Network across Canada in its 30th year, stated Continental Tire Canada Inc.s National Marketing Manager, Okan Sen. The Raceline Radio Network, with its long established and extremely loyal listener base over their 30 years on the air will continue to help promote General Tire brand awareness, adding even greater racing exposure and value across Canada, Sen continued.

Our 30 years on the air includes five prosperous seasons with General Tire Canada, the renowned tire brand, as theyre back on board with us as broadcast partners for a very important 2022 season, commented Raceline Radio Network anchor, producer and Canadian Motorsport Hall of Famer Erik Tomas. General Tire has always understood the value of the sport as a test and research platform to build better, safer, stronger and longer-last tires for consumers. We will continue extensive coverage of the NASCAR Pintys and ARCA Series in our 30th season on the air across Canada with race results, stories and feature interviews to sustain and spotlight General Tires involvement in our sport, ensuring their message is heard loud and clear across Canada, Tomas continued.

The Raceline Radio Network is distributed and marketed by Rogers Communications.

For more information on The Raceline Radio Network:

Erik Tomas: Anchor/Producer/Affiliate and Media Relations.

Erik@racelineradio.ca/tomaserik@aol.com

O: 905-892-0411

C: 289-407-4410

###

About The Raceline Radio Network

Marking 30 consecutive seasons on the air, The Raceline Radio Network, Canadas National Radio Motorsport Authority, comprises 11 major and medium market broadcast affiliates from Halifax to Vancouver, scheduling 14 airings of the program weekly, year-round. Raceline Radio is broadcast from the studios of Global News Radio 900 CHML Hamilton Ontario, and linked to Sportsnet 590 The FAN Toronto Ontario for airing and distribution. It is also available via Podcast and Social Media.

About Continental AG

Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. In 2020, Continental generated sales of 37.7 billion and currently employs more than 192,000 people in 58 countries and markets. On October 8, 2021, the company celebrated its 150th anniversary.

About General Tire Canada

For over 100 years General Tire, a brand of Continental AG, has offered a complete quality line of ultra-high performance, passenger, light truck, off-road and commercial tires to meet all your needs. General Tire Canada is a proud supporter and partner of the NASCAR Pintys Series, The Edmonton Motor Show, Formula Drift Racer Tommy Lemaire, Raceline Radio, Circuit ICAR, and Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) resulting from allegations that Lockheed Martin may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Lockheed Martin securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2189.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.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On October 26, 2021, Lockheed Martin announced its third quarter 2021 financial results. In its report, Lockheed Martin indicated that it would incur a $1.7 billion non-cash pension settlement charge, which would decrease the companys net income by $4.72 per share. Following this news, Lockheed Martins stock fell $44.42 per share, or 11.8%, and closed at $331.91 per share that same day.

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.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Lockheed Martin: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

lrosen@rosenlegal.com

pkim@rosenlegal.com

cases@rosenlegal.com

www.rosenlegal.com
A baby girl just two days shy of her first birthday was shot in the head and critically injured by a stray bullet on a Bronx street Wednesday night, police sources said.

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The 11-month-old baby  who turns 1 on Friday  was sitting in the backseat of a car parked on Valentine Ave. near E. 198th St. in Bedford Park about 6:45 p.m., accompanied by her mother, when a gunman started shooting at someone nearby, police said.

NYPD cops investigate the scene on Valentine Ave. at E. 198th St. where a baby was shot Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

The tot, who was shot in the left cheek, was intubated and rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, then diverted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where she was in critical but stable condition. Police sources described the wound as life-threatening.

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Cops arrived on the scene to find the girls terrified mother holding the bleeding baby, said NYPD Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack, the commanding officer of Detective Borough Bronx.

Her father was in a nearby grocery store when the shots rang out, he said.

A bloodied piece of the baby's clothing at Valentine Ave. at E. 198th St. where the child was shot Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

Surveillance video shows a man running along E. 198th St. before cutting right onto Valentine Ave. A few seconds later, a second man can be seen chasing him right before he lifts his gun and aims down Valentine Ave.

The gunman let loose two shots, one of which hit the girl. Her pink, baby-sized jacket remained at the scene, stained with blood.

NYPD investigate the scene on Valentine Ave. at E. 198 St. where a baby was shot on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

This is completely unacceptable in our city, McCormack said. [The babys] birthday is going to be in a few days. ... This is unacceptable, and it needs to stop.

Mayor Adams visited the girls family at the hospital before heading to the scene of the shooting.

Mayor Adams addresses the media at the scene of a shooting on Valentine Ave. at E. 198th St. where a baby was shot Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

Eleven months old. We are praying for that family, Adams said. These are good parents, with three children.

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Adams recounted the shooters disregard for the public and the fathers terror as he stepped back outside to see his baby shot, and urged lawmakers and prosecutors to crack down on gun trafficking.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

We have to be honest about whats happening in the Bronx, he said. This is not the city our children should grow up in.

Less than 24 hours earlier, a teenage gunman shot and wounded himself and an NYPD officer with a stolen gun during a struggle outside Lorillard Place near Third Ave. in Belmont, according to police.

The Bronx has seen 18 shootings, with 18 victims, between Jan. 1 and Jan. 16, compared with 15 shootings involving 18 victims in the same timeframe last year.

The shooter, described as an Hispanic man wearing all-black clothing, remained at large.

Police were searching sewer catch basins at the corner and investigated a nearby building courtyard as horrified onlookers gathered.

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Its ... sad, man. Doesnt make no sense, said one neighbor who wouldnt give his name. They just shoot to shoot.

Cops are asking anyone with information about the shooter to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (PSG) will host a webcast for Center Coast Brookfield MLP & Energy Infrastructure Fund (NYSE: CEN) (the Fund) on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 2:00pm ET. PSG will provide an update on the Fund and on general market conditions.



There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Fund during the call. Questions may also be submitted ahead of the call by sending an e-mail to publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com.

Registration and Webcast Link: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1524344&tp_key=30c8849a0f

Audio Only Dial-In: 800-289-0720 (toll free) / 323-701-0160 (toll)

Event Code: 6820108

A replay will be available via this link shortly following the webcast. A transcript of the call will also be available by calling 855-777-8001 or by sending an e-mail request to the Fund at publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com .

Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (PSG) is an SEC-registered investment adviser that represents the Public Securities platform of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, energy infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. With over $21 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021, PSG manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and individual investors. PSG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $650 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2021. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. is managed by Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material information about the Fund. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at www.brookfield.com.

COMPANY CONTACT

Center Coast Brookfield MLP & Energy Infrastructure Fund

Brookfield Place

250 Vesey Street, 15th Floor

New York, NY 10281-1023

(855) 777-8001

publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com

Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Foreside Fund Services, LLC; distributor.




-- Single-cell proteomics can elucidate kinase activity in prostate cancer models --



-- Kinase activity in bone metastases and epithelial circulating tumor cells is elevated --

BEVERLY, Mass., Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TellBio, Inc., a development stage biotechnology company focused on revolutionizing the detection of cancer through its unique and proprietary circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology, TellDx, and treatment through its complementary therapeutics platform, TellRx, announces publication of data from the scientific founders that provide insights into mechanisms of PI3K/mTOR signaling in preclinical models of prostate cancer. The results were published online yesterday in Cancer Research (DOI 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-2609).

Circulating tumor cells (CTC) isolation is an emerging minimally invasive liquid biopsy approach that provides the basis for a multitude of downstream studies including genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses. This less invasive approach of isolating viable and intact CTCs with the TellDx platform and subsequent single-cell analyses have been applied to elucidate dynamic adaptations of metastatic cancer cells.

Patients with advanced solid tumors have variable response to therapy because of differences in biology of primary and metastatic tumor sites. Isolation of the spectrum of CTCs with TellDx and subsequent single-cell proteomic analyses could shed light into mechanisms of drug sensitivity and inform delivery of tailored therapies to potentially optimize patient outcomes, said Pritesh J. Gandhi, PharmD, CEO, TellBio.

Cancer progression and selection pressures due to cancer pharmacotherapy result in evolution of the cancer microenvironment. Single-cell proteomics provides critical insights into inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity and mechanisms of differential therapeutic response across the primary tumor, CTCs, and distal tumor growth.

In this paper, the authors, including TellBio scientific founders, Drs David Ting, Daniel A. Haber, Mehmet Toner, and Shyamala Maheswaran of Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Cancer Research, describe, for the first-time, inter- and intra-tumoral differences in kinase activity (PI3K/mTOR) in mouse models of prostate cancer. Single cell proteomics to assess the differences in PI3K/mTOR signaling across different tumor deposits/metastatic sites and CTC populations was employed using enriched CTCs isolated via the TellDx platform.

Single cell cytometry focused on the proteome demonstrated that PI3K/mTOR signaling differed across tumor sites and lineage of tumor cells explaining the heterogenous response to kinase therapy. Specifically, in prostate cancer models, PI3K/mTOR signaling activity was enhanced in bone metastases compared to lung and liver metastases suggesting that the tumor microenvironment in different distal sites may modulate PI3K/mTOR activity. Furthermore, the authors noted EpCAMhigh primary tumor cells and CTCs harbored higher PI3K/mTOR activity, and these cells co-existed with EpCAMlow mesenchymal populations with attenuated kinase activity.

The differences that kinase activity in various tumor compartments and across cell states has on the heterogeneous response to targeted therapies has been underappreciated until now. These data are an important step in better understanding metastatic disease and our potential approach to treatment selection, said Dr. Maheswaran. In the setting of suboptimal response to PI3K/mTOR, combination therapies targeting different tissue compartments and cell populations may result in superior antitumor activity.

About TellBio

The Company is a development stage biotechnology company based in Beverly, Massachusetts, with the goal to revolutionize the detection and treatment of cancer through its unique and proprietary circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology and complementary therapeutics platform, TellDx and TellRx, respectively. TellBios vision is to free patients and their families from the tyranny of cancer via both its TellDx and TellRx platforms.

TellDx is a fully functional diagnostics solution aimed at detecting viable CTCs from patient liquid biopsies. TellRx is the therapeutics platform that generates novel anti-cancer medicines by specifically targeting CTCs. The synergy of these platforms offers TellBio a unique opportunity to detect CTCs via a first-in-class, best-in-class microfluidic diagnostic platform and target CTCs with novel therapeutics to optimize outcomes of patients with cancer.

Contacts:

Company: Annie Partisano | apartisano@tellbio.com
Jining, China, Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --





(CommPro.biz)

Confucius' hometown, Jining, in East China's Shandong Province, has rich traditional cultural resources and its contribution to Chinese history is shown in various aspects.





It is the birthplace and origin of Chinese ethics and culture. It is the starting point of Confucianism and the breeding ground of great philosophers, from Confucius to Mencius, among others. Jining is the most important transit hub between China's northern and southern cultures as it sits in the middle of the significant Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

With a cultural treasure passed down through thousands of years, nowadays, the city has promoted its cultural and creative industries as a way to perpetuate the life and spirit of ancient culture and showcase the city's unique charms.

In recent years, Jining has continuously been improving the layout of cultural and creative industries, actively expanding the industrial supply chain and creating an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that integrates technology business incubators, accelerators, and industrial parks.

Kong Kai, 35, is Confucius' 76th generation of descendants. Today, he has a special role as the Executive Director and host of the annual Confucius Memorial Ceremony.

In the past decade, during the ceremony held at the Temple of Confucius every September 28 on Confucius' birthday, Kong has read the tribute in a considered tone and cadence.

The annual ceremony is a grand festival for regions deeply influenced by Confucianism that is broadcasted on TV to the world. But what people see today is the result of Kong and his colleagues' cumulative efforts and sweat.

The Confucius Ceremony, passed down through generations in history, was halted in 1955 and was not performed again until more than 40 years later. It was in 2010, when Kong took over the job of hosting the ceremony, that the revamp of the thousand-year ceremony fully started.

Kong said that at the time, he and his team read a lot of documents and asked for advice from musicians that played ancient instruments and performers who had participated in ceremonies before the moratorium.



They have also added some new creations to make the aesthetics and form more acceptable to modern society. For instance, after "translating" the ancient traditional music scores and introducing modern touches, the team adapted some notes to make the melody "playable."

"The memorial to Confucius has been performed since ancient times and the present ceremony imitates the rituals, props and costumes, and combines modern etiquette," Kong told the Global Times.

"It is like preparing an annual report for our ancestors," Kong said, "but it is also necessary for people today to understand that we should remember and show respect to and be in awe of certain things."



Nowadays, the Confucius ceremony is the most important event in the Confucius scenic spot in Jining. Meanwhile, many products have been created and promoted around the city's biggest cultural icon.

Although impacted by the pandemic, the income from selling Confucius-related products reached 7 million yuan in 2020 ($1.1 million). Du Cheng, who is in charge of sales at the Sankong Cultural and Creative Company in Qufu, told the Global Times.

These cultural and creative industries could boost the local economy while shouldering some social responsibility. This has been illustrated by some cultural companies in Jining.

More than 70 percent of the employees at the Meiyuantao Art Porcelain Company in Jining are persons with disabilities. They are hired as artists in the company to draw and paint Confucius, pandas, and flowers onto porcelain and papers in the unique style and skill only used in Jining.



Kong Dongqing, 21, was one of the "most experienced" artists in the company. She is talented in coloring and often helps newcomers hone their skills.

"I had never thought I could do a job that I truly enjoy," she said. "Here I have made many friends and shared my knowhow with them."



Nowadays, the delicate porcelain painted with stories of the life of Confucius or other elements loved by people, such as pandas, flowers and ancient beauties, are displayed and sold in China and in other countries like Italy.

In the past decades, cultural and creative industries in Jining have also been exploring international exposure and have gradually become a calling card for the city.

Recently, a grand acrobatic show inspired in Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, debuted in Jining after two years of preparation with great success.

The story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is familiar to every Chinese and is known in the world by the name of "The Butterfly Lovers." People call it "the oriental Romeo and Juliet." The melody of Liang and Zhu has become one of the most iconic pieces of Chinese music.

The touching love story also happens in today's Jining as well. That is why the Jining Acrobatic Troupe decided to go ahead with the project.



Rehearsal of the acrobatic show Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai by the Jining Acrobatic Troupe. Photo: Shan Jie/GT



The performance is designed in a more international style and incorporates modern aesthetics combined with a traditional Chinese images," the director said. It is a mixture of beauty, romance, youth and moving emotion.



"After the pandemic, we would like to perform this show in other countries to spread this classic Chinese story in the world," Zhao Jiangang, Manager of the Jining Acrobatic Troupe, told the Global Times. "A life of a good and qualified show could last very long. We are patient enough and believe our show will shine in the world one day," Zhang remarked.









Shandong Meiyuan Ceramics Culture Co., Ltd.

18136299337




Malvern, Pennsylvania (USA), Jan. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rajant Corporation, the exclusive provider of Kinetic Mesh wireless networks, and its technology partners Australian Droid and Robot (ADR) and PBE Group, have completed the deepest remote underground mine inspection in history. Using ten ADR Explora XL unmanned robots and a wireless below-ground communication network, a mobile infrastructure depth of 1.7 kilometers was achieved to enable the reestablishment of operations at a collapsed limestone mine and restore jobs.

A significant, unexpected mine collapse occurred in August 2021 causing an expulsion of air carrying dirt and rocks that flew out of all portals and ventilation raises. The air was estimated to be moving around 120 mph. It was determined that this collapse was caused by the failure of very old pillars (40 to 70 years old) thus creating a substantive surface subsidence. The surface subsidence measured approximately 800 (ft) across and over 100 (ft) deep. No one was injured in the incident, as the mine had been evacuated well prior to the incident. Working with the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the operator and MSHA determined no one should enter the mine until some type of unmanned survey could be conducted to assess the conditions of the mine safely. The solution to achieve this came through the collaboration of ADR, PBE, and Rajant.

Prior to the collapse, the mine had a two-way radio system running over a leaky feeder, shared Rajant Sales Director Todd Rigby. The leaky feeder was not functional following the collapse, nor did it have sufficient bandwidth to support unmanned robots or drones. Rajant BreadCrumbs were installed by Rajants channel partner PBE mostly at the surface of the mine to provide a reliable high bandwidth link from the portal to an emergency operations center overseeing the remote surveying done by ADR and its fleet of all-terrain ground robots equipped with BreadCrumbs. The robots initially dragged three network infrastructure points into the mine and then staggered along various routes up to 1.7 Kilometers deep. During the longest mission, the robots were transmitting 80 Mbps, and included high-definition video and Lidar to create a virtual 3D model of the mine.

ADR keeps a small fleet of robots ready to go for emergencies, but this was going to require more units with different sensors and capability, said Dr. Joe Cronin, Operations Manager and one of the founders of Australian Droid & Robot. We quickly built more robots and undertook a thorough testing regime to imitate the conditions and distances we would experience in the US. We had teams all over Brisbane, and at one stage, we had robots strung across more than one suburb, controlled from a central location. The robots were shipped to the US less than a month later and were accompanied by Andre Preller, Head Electronics Engineer and Callum MacDermid, Senior Robotics Engineer. After a days testing on the surface, the robots entered the mine, each robot relaying the communications signal to the next, creating a high bandwidth, daisy-chain network into the mine. A week later, the team had acquired enough data for the mining team to be able to restart operations  the only company globally who could assist with the right equipment in the right timeframe.

Before the collapse, PBE was the mines communications infrastructure provider. When we learned about the need for unmanned inspection after the collapse, we focused on finding the best solution for fast, flexible deployment and high performance, added Rob Koch, Director of Technology, PBE Group. The mine needed a high throughput, flexible data network to support a broad and changing set of inspection deployments. The Rajant mesh technology was the clear choice for this need. In execution, the challenge was to design network elements deployed into the mine by the robots themselves. We moved quickly to source the best antenna technology for the robots and backhaul nodes. Then we went onsite to build the robot deployable nodes and surface network to move data to the inspection operation center. The network and antenna elements provided plenty of time to facilitate the inspection event. We are glad the mine chose PBE on this groundbreaking project to safely bring the mine back into production using the best technology available.

A video case study documenting the achievement is available. The mine intends to implement a mine-wide Kinetic Mesh network. In the future, if they were ever to have an issue of instability, they can simply run a single ADR robot into the mine using the preexisting network infrastructure, protecting the sanctity of worker safety and uninterrupted productivity.

####

About Australian Droid and Robot

Queensland technology company Australian Droid and Robot (ADR) deliver cutting-edge technology to companies right across Australia and across the world. Taking the worlds best technology and innovation and adapting and modifying it to meet the needs of Australian companies and Government agencies, ADR is changing the way businesses operate. ADR supplies a range of products and services including:

Industrial Robotics and Automation;

Drone and Robot Services; and

Custom Robot Solutions.

ADRs approach is Safety by Separation - Mining utilises the Hierarchy of Controls to mitigate risks. If the two most powerful controls; Elimination and Substitution cannot be relied on and Engineering and PPE are not relevant, automation and robotics allow personnel to conduct hazardous tasks remotely. Therefore, Separation is a control where personnel and the hazard are disconnected  they are not in the same place. When this control fails, no personnel are exposed to a hazard.

About PBE Group

PBE Group is an international manufacturer and systems integrator in the communications, safety, and power verticals. We serve the public safety, cellular, tunneling, construction, data center, and mining sectors, celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2021. PBE Group provides customized adaptive solutions when reliance on safety and productivity is essential. We integrate our industry-specific manufactured products and best in class 3rd party products delivering robust and commercially viable solutions. Our international growth comes from three main verticals: Power, Communications & Data, and Safety Products, the essentials of any industrial project. Our experienced sales, engineering and production teams have delivered 800 projects in more than 60 countries worldwide. We have a global install base of certified and warranted power and communications infrastructure, service centers and highly skilled engineering capabilities. PBE offers hire/lease as well as direct sales. To learn more, visit PBEgrp.com.

About Rajant Corporation

Rajant Corporation is the broadband communications technology company that invented Kinetic Mesh networking, BreadCrumb wireless nodes, and InstaMesh networking software. With Rajant, customers can rapidly deploy a highly adaptable and scalable network that leverages the power of real-time data to deliver on-demand, mission-critical business intelligence. A low-latency, high-throughput, and secure solution for a variety of data, voice, video, and autonomous applications, Rajants Kinetic Mesh networks provide industrial customers with full mobility, allowing them to take their private network applications and data anywhere. With successful deployments in more than 70 countries for customers in military, mining, ports, rail, oil & gas, petrochemical plants, municipalities, and agriculture. Rajant is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with additional facilities and offices in Arizona and Kentucky. For more information, visit Rajant.com or follow Rajant on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Gloucester, MA (01930)

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Rain. High near 50F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early with clearing later at night. Low 46F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Bronx prosecutors withdrew charges in 133 felony cases linked to a detective who was previously indicted for lying under oath about drug busts in Manhattan, officials said Thursday.

The cases tied to former Detective Joseph Franco were formally dismissed by Bronx Supreme Court Judge David Lewis following a review by the Bronx District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Bureau. The DAs office had previously dismissed 123 cases tied to Franco.

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His compromised credibility suggests a lack of due process in the prosecution of these defendants, and we cannot stand behind these convictions, said Bronx DA Darcel Clark.

Former NYPD Detective Joseph Franco (Alec Tabak/for New York Daily News)

Most of the dismissed cases involved low level drug buys in which Franco, working undercover, provided the key information that led to the arrests.

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Franco was indicted by the Manhattan DAs office in 2019 on multiple counts of perjury, filing false statements and official misconduct while working in Manhattan narcotics in 2017 and 2018.

At the time, prosecutors said he put outright lies in official records. In one case, he claimed he saw a man selling drugs in a Lower East Side lobby, but security video showed the testimony was false.

In April, Brooklyn prosecutors moved to dismiss 90 more cases involving Francos work in that borough between 2004 and 2011. In May, the citys special narcotics prosecutor dismissed an additional two dozen cases involving the disgraced detective.

April 25, 2019: Dirty Narc -- Joseph Franco, a 19-year veteran assigned to the Manhattan South Narcotics Division, allegedly falsified information on three arrests over the past two years. (New York Daily News)

More than 250 other Bronx cases involving Franco remain under review. Ultimately, more than 500 cases in the Bronx will be dismissed, officials said.

The Bronx cases, which span 2011 to 2015, all depended on Francos sworn statements and grand jury testimony. He was involved in roughly 600 Bronx arrests in that period.

Clark said her offices conviction integrity unit launched an exhaustive review after Francos indictment in Manhattan. The charges in the Manhattan case, she said, utterly tainted the Bronx cases.

But the office still checked each case individually, Clark said.

We did not want to dismiss or vacate out of hand all cases he was involved in, Clark said. We investigated those that hinged on his testimony and sworn statements.

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Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

Some of those Franco accused spent years in prison, said Ruth Hamilton, senior attorney for the Bronx Defenders.

While the dismissal of their cases is absolutely the right thing to do, it cannot possibly erase the damage done by their incarceration, community supervision, and the civil punishments followed by these convictions, Hamilton said.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Hamilton noted that some of the defendants pleaded guilty just to get away from Rikers Island. The people accused very well may have chosen to go to trial and test the veracity of the allegations against them were they not sitting in jail awaiting their day in court, she said.

Lawyers with the Legal Aid Society lauded the cases dismissal.

This unconscionable and inexcusable behavior corrodes the publics trust in law enforcement, and it has also caused harm and hardship to real New Yorkers, particularly Black and Latinx New Yorkers, said Elizabeth Felber, director of the societys Wrongful Conviction Unit.

Of the 133 cases dismissed, seventeen defendants had failed to appear and were being sought on bench warrants.

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Joseph Franco after his arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court in 2019. (Alec Tabak/for New York Daily News)

In July, prosecutors separately dismissed 39 misdemeanor cases involving Franco. In September, 84 felony Bronx cases were dismissed.

Franco was fired by the NYPD in April 2020 after he was found guilty at a department trial. His perjury case in Manhattan Supreme Court is still pending.

Francos lawyer Howard Tanner did not return a call for comment.
MANSFIELD [mdash] Patricia Ann Thursby-Daniels, 77, of Mansfield, Texas, formerly of Elkhart, Indiana, died Sunday April 10, at Mansfield Hospital in Mansfield, Texas. She was born May 30, 1944, in Elkhart, Indiana, to Robert James and Opal Mae (Allison) Thursby. On Feb. 14, 1965, she marrie
Thomas Day is a senior consultant with Intueor Consulting, managing the company's research and communications. His commentaries have appeared in The Washington Post, on CNN.com and in Mass Transit and Passenger Transport magazines.

Day holds degrees from Penn State University, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Harris School. He can be reached at day@intueor.com.
NYPD officers and detectives investigate a police-involved shooting in Shoelace Park Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Bronx. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

A Bronx man died in a hail of police bullets Thursday after he opened fire on cops whod found him burglarizing the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, who had accused him of rape.

The officers were responding to an apartment building on Bronx Blvd. at E. 224th St. in Wakefield just after 1:30 p.m. when they encountered 27-year-old Yoskar Feliz inside his exs first-floor apartment, police sources said.

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Police shot and killed Yoskar Feliz, 27, as he fled from the burglary of an ex-girlfriend he had allegedly sexually assaulted. (Facebook)

Feliz broke into the same apartment on Jan. 9 and raped his ex, chillingly telling her, I deserve this. I am going to die anyway, according to a court filing.

On Thursday, that prediction came true.

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The building super saw Feliz enter on a security camera, and when cops arrived, they found the ex-girlfriend outside, sources said.

Hes inside, said Felizs ex.

NYPD officers and detectives watch as a firearm is recovered from the Bronx River as they investigate a police involved shooting in Shoelace Park Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Bronx. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

Officers entered the apartment, and the suspect refused demands that he drop his gun, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey told reporters.

One of the officers then fired a Taser at the suspect, Corey said. The male ran into a bedroom, fired two shots, broke a window and fled out of the window, said Corey.

Feliz then dashed into the street and across a park, while the officers gave chase and backup arrived, Corey said.

Feliz turned toward the officers, gun in hand, as he stood next to the Bronx River, and three cops opened fire, hitting him in the torso and leg, Corey said.

The gun recovered by NYPD after Police shot and killed Yoskar Feliz, 27. (DCPI)

Feliz then ran into a shallow part of the Bronx River before he was taken into custody, Corey said. Police pulled what they believe to be his gun from the river.

Cops rendered first aid, but Feliz later succumbed to his wounds at Jacobi Medical Center, police said.

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None of the officers were shot or injured, though they went to an area hospital for evaluation, possibly for ringing in the ears after firing a gun, sources said.

NYPD officers and detectives investigate a police-involved shooting in Shoelace Park Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Bronx. (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

Corey said the suspect has a criminal record, with two prior felony arrests and one misdemeanor bust.

When Feliz was busted in August on charges he stuck up a Bronx Verizon store, his ex bailed him out, sources said. That case was still pending on Thursday, court records show. He was accused of pulling a gun inside the Riverdale store on Aug. 9, forcing the staff to take him into a safe room, and stealing $30,000 worth of phones and electronics.

On Jan. 9, Feliz broke into her apartment, waking her up, according to a criminal complaint.

I am here to show you I changed. I am not the same person, he allegedly said.

But when the woman tried to flee, Feliz  who was 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds  pulled her into the bedroom, threatened to kill her and took her phone, court papers say.

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He clapped his hands on her nose and mouth, demanded her phone password, then put a box-cutter to his own neck and threatened to kill himself.

The only way Ill leave is if I get what I want. Pull down your underwear. I am going to kill you, and your son will be without a mother, he told her, according to the complaint.

He forced himself on her, telling her, I deserve this. I am going to die anyway, prosecutors allege.

He then told her, I want to die, and I want to die next to you, holding your hand, and You deserve this. You put me through hell. Im not going to live anyway.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

The victims child was home at the time.

Police arrested Feliz on Jan. 13 on more than two dozen charges, including rape and burglary. But his friends helped him make his $50,000 cash bail, said law enforcement sources. Records show Feliz was released Tuesday.

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Feliz broke into his exs Bronx apartment Thursday just as she arrived home from testifying to a grand jury about the sex assault case, said law enforcement sources.

About a dozen relatives gathered in Felizs Mt. Eden apartment Thursday night to mourn him.

The police killed him. They shot my brother illegally, said one man, who identified himself as Felizs sibling. He didnt comment further.

The shooting came just hours after a narcotics detective was injured in a wild gunfight while trying to execute a search warrant on Staten Island. Three NYPD officers have been hit by gunfire in the first 20 days of 2022.

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Police on Thursday released surveillance images of the gunman who sparked a wild Bronx shooting that left an 11-month-old baby wounded by a stray bullet.

The shooter, dressed in a black hoodie with a Nike logo across the front, fired two shots at a man he was chasing past the corner of E. 198th St. and Valentine Ave. in Bedford Park about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, cops said.

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Cops released surveillance video of the shooter as well as images of a grey four-door sedan they say he fled the scene in. The NYPD is asking the publics help identifying the suspect and tracking him down.

One of the shots fired went wild, striking the baby  who turns 1 on Friday  in the left cheek. The baby was sitting in the back seat of a parked car with her 32-year-old mother.

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Police release surveillance video of gunman involved in Bronx shooting that led to a baby being struck in the face by a stray bullet. (NYPD)

The childs father had run into a corner deli to buy groceries, police said.

Medics rushed the child to St. Barnabas Hospital before transferring the tot to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where she was in critical but stable condition Thursday.

This is completely unacceptable in our city, NYPD Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack, the commanding officer of Detective Borough Bronx said during a Wednesday night press conference. [The babys] birthday is going to be in a few days. ... This is unacceptable and it needs to stop.

Police release surveillance video of the gunman's getaway car in shooting that led to a baby being wounded in the face in the Bronx. (NYPD)

We have to be honest about whats happening in the Bronx, Mayor Adams said during the presser. This is not the city our children should grow up in.

NYPD cops investigate the scene on Valentine Ave. at E. 198th St. where a baby was shot Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL), a Minnesota-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing understanding on the benefits of electrification through education, announced a new initiative to accelerate the deployment of electric school buses (ESBs) in electric cooperative service territories throughout the country.

BEL launches this coalition effort in advance of federal funds targeted to electric school buses in the Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IIJA) passed by Congress in 2021.

In the nations 13,185 unified school districts, rural electric co-ops serve more than 50% of the territory in 5,881 of those districts. Of these, 3,177 districts have 15% or more of the student population below the poverty line.

The effort brings together cooperative organizations representing more than 300 local utilities more than 20 states with the aim of facilitating coordination between utilities and school districts on electric school bus programs.

The aim of this program is straightforward: no school district or utility should miss out on that opportunity simply because they lack access to information or resources to participate in this valuable federal program. Keith Dennis, president of the Beneficial Electrification League

Cooperatives participating in the electric school bus initiative include:

Generation and Transmission Cooperatives

Dairyland Power Cooperative (representing 24 electric cooperatives)

Golden Spread Electric Cooperative (representing 16 electric cooperatives)

Great River Energy (representing 28 electric cooperatives)

Hoosier Energy (representing 18 electric cooperatives)

Northwest Iowa Power Corporation (representing 7 electric cooperatives)

Oglethorpe Power Corporation (representing 38 electric cooperatives)

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (representing 11 electric cooperatives)

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (representing 42 electric cooperatives)

Western Farmers (representing 21 electric cooperatives and an air force base)

Statewide Organizations

Colorado Rural Electric Association (representing 22 electric cooperatives)

Minnesota Rural Electric Association (representing 50 electric cooperatives)

North Carolinas Electric Cooperatives (representing 26 electric cooperatives)

Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association (representing 25 electric cooperatives)

Distribution Cooperatives
Ford and ADT Inc. will invest in a new joint venture called Canopy that combines ADTs professional security monitoring and Fords AI-driven video camera technology to help customers strengthen security of new and existing vehicles across automotive brands.

The combination of our technologies and our deep security experience creates a new category of protection for work and personal vehicles. Vehicles represent the second-most-valuable asset for consumers, and helping to protect them extends ADTs safe, smart, and sustainable solutions far beyond the home. Elliot Cohen, ADT chief business development officer

Canopy plans to launch industry-first, multi-sensor security systems with available professional monitoring early next year. The first products to be manufactured and sold will be available in the US and the UK for the industrys highest-volume commercial and retail pickups and vansincluding the Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, Transit vans and E-Transitand will be easily installable by customers to protect expensive work and recreational equipment.

The FBI estimates that stolen work equipment cost more than $7.4 billion in 2020 in the US, and theft of valuable work equipment is believed to be underestimated in stolen vehicle reports. Small business owners face even greater opportunity costs with the deferral or loss of jobs while replacing stolen items.

Canopy also plans to begin integrating camera security solutions in Ford vehicles next year for seamless protection inside and outside vehicles. Canopy will seek factory-vehicle integrations with other automakers over time.

Canopys first smart vehicle security system accessory offering will make use of acoustic sensors for vans, onboard cameras, radar, LTE, and GPS. The initial product will have a camera that can be mounted in either a vans cargo area or on a pickup facing the bed. The platform will use AI technology to identify and report credible threats while reducing false alarm signals.

Customers will be connected to the system via the Canopy app to livestream video from the vehicle, get notified of suspicious activity, or review past events. The system will trigger a smartphone alert of any indicators of potential criminal activity, such as breaking glass, metal cutting, or suspicious motion or sound near the vehicle.

Customers can warn potential thieves they are being monitored by speaking through the smartphone app, enabled by a two-way audio feature that will be available by next year.

The systems AI is designed to distinguish true threats from benign actssuch as a cat jumping into a pickup bed or construction sounds near a vehiclebefore alerting the owner or ADT monitoring agents of potential theft.

The system will alert ADT monitoring professionals if it detects a person loitering around or breaching the vehicle. ADT monitoring agents can then contact customers, fleet managers, or police to take additional measures to help prevent theft. Credible threats will trigger additional responses, including audible alerts and programmable voice recordings and two-way audio in future updates.

The first-of-its-kind Canopy products will be sold through vehicle dealerships, major retailers, and online. Ford Pro will be an important launch partner delivering these solutions to commercial and government customers of all sizes, helping drive business forward and accelerate productivity at a global scale.

The Canopy team has been developing and testing its first technologies for two years as part of Fords New Business Platform innovation incubation group. They will now be headquartered in Detroit and London and led by Interim CEO Christian Moran.

Canopy also will seek relationships with other automotive, insurance, and technology companies to expand offerings, explore insurance benefits for use of the technology, and co-create new innovations.

Ford and ADTs investment in Canopy is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, and initial funding is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. The partners expect to invest approximately $100 million during the next three years.
Honda is partnering with the V2X Suisse consortium to demonstrate the role of electric vehicles (EVs) and bi-directional charging technology in the future of energy management. Honda will supply 50 Honda e electric vehicles (earlier post) to Switzerlands car-sharing operator, Mobility. The Honda e units will be used as part of a car-sharing fleet in a trial which uses the Honda es bi-directional charging function to feed energy back to the grid when the vehicles are not in use for sharing.

To allow bi-directional charging, Honda is also providing 35 Honda Power Manager units. (Earlier post.) These will deliver vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy recovery capability at various urban and suburban sites across Switzerland.





Honda Power Manager and Honda e

The V2X Suisse trial includes the first mass-deployment of the COMBO-CCS (Combined Charging System) configuration with bi-directional functionality. Currently Honda e is the only electric vehicle in the European market to allow both charging and discharging, as standard, for the European charging system CCS, making the Honda e the perfect vehicle to join the fleet.

Honda Power Manager is a bi-directional system that connects EVs to a power grid, enabling the collection and distribution of electricity between the two. This allows for intelligent balancing of the supply and demand of energy, including the better use of renewable sources and supports the stabilisation of the grid.

In this project, the 50 Honda e units will be allocated to 40 stations across Switzerland. A single Honda e can feed up to 20 kW of power back into the grid when plugged into a bi-directional charging station. This not only regulates power to stabilize the grid during periods of high demand and minimize bottlenecks in the distribution of energy, but also reduces the need for expensive grid expansions as demand for EV charging increases.

Using a cloud-to-cloud IT platform developed by fellow consortium member sun2wheel, the Honda Power Manager units can manage the available power for each EV in 15 minute cycles to assess and regulate the flow of electricity. The scheme will enable Honda to verify the relationship between vehicle usage frequency and V2G operation, actual V2G operation time and frequency, and how this impacts on customer convenience.





The actual demonstration of this project will start from September 2022, and will run until the end of 2023, and includes consortium members Mobility, EVTEC, sun2wheel, tiko, Novatlantis and ETH Zurich. The project is supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.
A Brooklyn man has been busted on charges he shot another man dead in the courtyard of his apartment building, police said Wednesday.

Cobbie Williams, 40, is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the Dec. 12 killing of Tyrece Carroll, 31, outside Carrolls building on Rockaway Ave. near Broadway in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

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Tyrece Carroll, 31, who was shot in December in Bedford-Stuyvesant. (Obtained by Daily News)

One neighbor, who didnt give his name, said his relatives heard an argument shortly before the shooting, and a moment before the shots rang out, someone called out Hey, man, to get Carrolls attention.

The building is one of two in The Henry Apartments, a development for low-income and underserved populations. A gate surrounds the buildings courtyard and a key card is needed to get in.

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An NYPD spokesman had no information on a motive for the slaying.
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.
A Stamford nonprofit that supports the efforts of businesses owned by women announced Tuesday the organization has received a $300,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase for one of its programs.

The money from the New York City-based investment will go toward the Womens Business Development Councils Equity Match Grant Program, The program offers grants between $2,500 and $10,000 to fund projects that will have a measurable impact on the business, its growth and profitability.

Laura Davis, managing director of J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said in a statement that unlocking the potential of women-led businesses is a direct path forward to creating greater economic equity, especially during this time of recovery from the COVID pandemic and given the critical role small businesses play in Connecticuts economy.

The Womens Business Development Council is a true partner in helping women, specifically women of color, access the resources and support needed to launch and grow their ventures, Davis said.

JPMorgan Chase invested is designed to increase the capacity of the organization to empower Connecticuts women entrepreneurs, especially disenfranchised populations and those in distressed communities. Fran Pastore, chief executive officer of the WBDC, said the investment by JP Morgan Chase brings the organization back to its roots.

WBDC is celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2022, Pastore said. Our first business checking account was opened at the Chase branch on Prospect Street in Stamford  with a $60 deposit. This is a meaningful way to celebrate this milestone with an organization that has been with us from the beginning.

The Equity Match Grant program was launched in August 2020 and since then, 98 grants worth $924,000 have been awarded to small businesses throughout the state. The grant recipients from the programs third funding round were announced last month and the organization began accepting applications for the fourth round this week.

Hosting Connecticut, a Windsor-based web design and hosting company, was one of the grant recipients and owner Paula Pierce said the money has allowed her to put in place systems that have streamlined and optimized our sales process.

Without the extra push of preparing to apply for this grant, I would have less specific financial data and fewer strategic plans to use to grow the business, Pierce said. I'm grateful for WBDC, not just for the funds, but for the extra motivation.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
An attendant walks past EU and China flags ahead of the EU-China High-level Economic Dialogue at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, on June 25, 2018. [Photo/Agencies]

Lithuania's relations with China are in deep trouble due to the Baltic country allowing Taiwan to open a representative office under its own name in the capital, Vilnius, last year. As a result, it has had to bear the consequences, both political and economic. Sino-Lithuanian diplomatic relations have since been downgraded to the level of charge d'affaires, and their business activities including rail freight have been brought to a standstill.

Yet instead of reflecting on its own mistakes and mending its ways to repair its ruptured ties with China, Lithuania, a European Union member, is trying to hold Sino-EU relations hostage by seeking to drag the bloc into its row with China.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has described retaliatory measures taken by China against his country as "an attack, a kind of pressure on one of the EU countries", a scenario that Vilnius has to "signal very clearly to the EU". Its Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has also called for unity among the 27 EU member states when it comes to relations with China. "The EU is strongest when all 27 member states act together along with EU institutions," he said.

China is the EU's largest trade partner, with their trade volume reaching more than $710 billion in 2020. The two sides have benefited tremendously from their ever-deepening economic and trade ties, and seen eye to eye with each other on such issues as multilateralism and economic globalization. It is noteworthy that throughout the years of increasing cooperation, the upholding of the one-China principle has always been an important political foundation for Sino-EU relations.

All this has served as a guarantee that smooth development of China-EU relations will not be easily derailed as a result of divisive gimmicks played by some anti-China politicians in certain EU member states. Thus despite repeated calls by Vilnius for the EU to take "concrete actions" against China, there were no new measures announced after a recent two-day session of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers in France. Rather, the foreign ministers expressed the hope to "de-escalate" Lithuania's dispute with China ahead of a summit meeting with Beijing scheduled before the end of March.

Differences do exist, of course, between China and the EU. For instance, their Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, reached in December 2020, is still waiting to be ratified by the European Parliament because of alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. But so long as the two sides uphold the principle of equality and mutual respect, they will eventually find a solution because their common interests far outweigh their differences.

Lithuania must stop its attempt to pit the EU against China, because it will only invite more troubles for itself.
The heartbroken mother of an 11-month-old Bronx girl shot in the face by a gunmans stray bullet wept Thursday after spending the night sitting by her daughters hospital bed.

Shes stable. She will be OK, Miraide Gomez, her voice quaking, told the Daily News as she entered the familys apartment building. [Im] going to leave it to God.

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A moment later, the 32-year-old mom went into her apartment and began sobbing, no longer able to hold back the pain and pressure of the last 18 hours.

Police on Thursday released surveillance images of the gunman as well as images of a grey four-door sedan they say he fled the scene in. The NYPD is asking the publics help identifying the suspect and tracking him down.

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Police are pictured Wednesday night on Valentine Ave. at E. 198th St., near the bloodied pink coat of the infant who was shot. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

Gomez was seated in the back seat of the black SUV with baby Catherine, the tot dressed in a little pink DKNY winter coat, about 6:45 p.m. Wednesday when a gunman fired off two shots as he pursued a man near the corner of E. 198th St. and Valentine Ave.

One of the bullets went wild, striking Catherine in the left cheek. The tot is going to turn 1 on Friday, relatives said.

Catherines father was in a nearby deli buying groceries when the shooting erupted.

NYPD investigate the scene on Valentine Ave. at E. 198 St. where a baby was shot on Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

Arriving officers pulled off Catherines coat looking for the bullet wound, discarding the bloody garment on the street. They then rushed the child in their squad car to St. Barnabas Hospital.

Catherine was later transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where she is in critical but stable condition, according to cops.

The bullet was later recovered embedded in the back seat, a police source said.

Police release surveillance video of gunman involved in shooting incident that led to a baby being shot in the face in the Bronx. (NYPD)

William Rivera, the super in Gomezs building, said Catherine was a happy child, the youngest of three sisters.

Its a beautiful baby. [She] just started walking, Rivera, 54, said. Its bad. Because they got two more girls. I cant believe that.

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Catherines older sisters are grade-school age, Rivera said.

Shes a wonderful baby, shes healthy. Its a good family, Gomezs aunt said, wringing her hands anxiously. I have no idea whats going on.

A bloodied piece of the baby's clothing at Valentine Ave. at E. 198th St. where the child was shot Wednesday. (Sam Costanza/for New York Daily News)

When she heard what happened the aunt called Gomez, but the anguished mother couldnt speak on the phone, she recalled.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

She said, Titi, Ill talk to you when I get there, Ill talk to you face to face, the aunt said.

Police on Thursday released surveillance images of the gunman as well as images of a grey four-door sedan they say he fled the scene in. The NYPD is asking the publics help identifying the suspect and tracking him down. (NYPD)

The shooter had followed his intended victim from Grand Concourse, police sources said. When the gunmans target realized he was being followed he ran off down the street, turning onto Valentine Ave. before doubling back and peering around the corner to check if he was still being tailed.

The gunman, dressed all in black and wearing a Nike hooded sweatshirt, saw his target at the corner and started running toward him, firing wildly, cops said.

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It does not appear that the gunmans target was hit. Neither he nor the shooter have been located by cops.

This is completely unacceptable in our city, NYPD Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack, the commanding officer of Detective Borough Bronx said during a Wednesday night press conference. [The babys] birthday is going to be in a few days. ... This is unacceptable and it needs to stop.

We have to be honest about whats happening in the Bronx, Mayor Adams said during the presser. This is not the city our children should grow up in.

Anyone with information on the shooter is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
GREENWICH  A new chicken rotisserie shop could be coming to a prominent location in Cos Cob  the former Starbucks coffee shop at 147 E. Putnam Ave.

If approved by the town Planning & Zoning Commission, Bens Rotisserie Chicken would join a host of dining options along a busy stretch in Cos Cob. The Starbucks at the site closed in 2020.

The operation would commence as a retail-food sales location specializing in fresh rotisserie-based meals with 12 seats, according to Christopher Bristol, the attorney representing the project.

Eventually, according to Bristol, the operator would expand his menu and seating capacity to 20 seats and obtain a liquor permit, thereby requiring a change from retail food sales to restaurant.

The property is owned by Markos Drakotos and Penelope Kassaris, through a limited liability company, according to the application file. Bens Gourmet Rotisserie is a business owned by Ben Pote of Wilton, who has an extensive background in the dining and food-service sector, according to his social media profile. He could not be reached for comment.

The Starbucks operation opened in 2005, and due to a shortage of parking in the area, employees were required to park at a commercial lot behind the shopping center across the street. That parking condition would continue with the rotisserie operation, Bristol said. The site has eight parking spaces, and there is additional public parking along Strickland Road, but it is often full.

The traffic conditions along East Putnam Avenue has been a source of concern for the Planning & Zoning Commission.

Most the business operations of the rotisserie chicken eatery would be outside of peak traffic conditions, Bristol said.

Peak business times for the applicants restaurant will be early afternoons for lunch and evenings for dinner. In this way, peak traffic for the restaurant would not occur at the same time as peak traffic for other businesses and schools in the vicinity, according to Bristol.

The stretch of East Putnam Avenue is home to a number of other food-service businesses, offering seafood, specaialty cheeses, pizza and Indian cuisine. A new Thai restaurant is also preparing to open on Strickland Road, at the site of a former window-treatment store.

The building at 147 East Putnam was once an auto service station in addition to serving as the location of a Starbucks.

The application for Bens Rotisserie has not yet been scheduled for review by the planning commission.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.com
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After two years of being able to cast absentee ballots for any reason in the COVID pandemic, voters in three upcoming special elections are limited to traditional reasons for mailing-in their choices for the state House of Representatives.

During its June 2021 special session, the General Assembly approved the extension for no-excuse absentee voting until Nov. 3, the day after the municipal elections. So now, voters can only claim illness, physical disability, active duty in the U.S. military, religious restrictions, absence from the town throughout the day of election or that they are poll workers.

During a virtual training session in December, town clerks throughout the state were informed by Secretary of the State Denise Merrill of the return to the old rules.

For local officials such as Stamford Town Clerk Lyda Ruijter, it means reminding voters that they can only obtain absentee ballots for the limited reasons that no longer include fear of COVID. Those sick with COVID can still vote by mail.

Ive been getting phone calls and emails all day about this, Ruijter said Wednesday.

She and other city officials are preparing for the Jan. 25 special election to fill the vacancy in the 144th House District, including the Turn of River and Belltown neighborhoods, after Mayor Caroline Simmons resigned from the General Assembly following her election victory.

House districts cover about 23,000 residents, and special elections usually attract a small percentage of voters. As of Wednesday afternoon, Ruijter had sent out 398 absentee ballots, with 115 returned. In the 2020 presidential election, during which the secretary of the state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters, Stamford led the state with more than 24,000 cast.

Berlin Town Clerk Kate Wall, president of the Connecticut Town Clerks Association, said Wednesday its expected that voters will have questions, after two years of no-excuse absentee balloting.

I havent heard of any problems though, she said.

This is another example of why we need no-excuse absentee voting, said Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, the voter-advocacy and elections watchdog organization.

Another special House election will be held Feb. 22 in the 71st House District, covering Middlebury and part of Waterbury, to replace veteran Republican state Rep. Tony DAmelio, who cited family and business reasons for his recent resignation.

A third upcoming special election will occur March 1 in the 5th House District of Windsor and part of Hartford, after Rep. Brandon McGee Jr. recently left to take a job with Gov. Ned Lamonts reelection campaign.

On Dec. 14, Democrat Trenee McGee won a special election in West Haven and part of New Haven to replace Michael DiMassa, who resigned after his arrest for alleged municipal corruption.

Quickmire said Wednesday that last year, the state had a chance to put a constitutional amendment supporting universal mail-in balloting on the 2022 ballot, but it did not get enough Republican support to reach the 75-percent super majority.

Since it passed with only a simple majority, the issue has to be approved again by the 2023-24 legislature, for possible inclusion on the 2024 statewide ballot.

A related amendment, to allow early voting, will, however, come before Connecticut voters this November, because it was initially approved during the previous legislatures biennial term.
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Local schools may soon see some relief from supply chain shortages that have plagued meal times for most of this academic year.

On Wednesday, the state Board of Education provided an update on school meal programs, which have struggled with supply problems for many months.

To tackle those challenges, the United States Department of Agriculture last month announced billions of dollars in federal assistance, including $9.4 million for Connecticut schools.

If youve been in a grocery store recently, youll notice that some of your favorite items are very often not there, said John Frassinelli, who oversees health and nutrition at the state Department of Education. Maybe even your second-choice items are not there. Even though there is a specific market for school products based on the requirements for meals, they are facing some of the same issues.

Throughout the fall, food and labor shortages felt across the nation have squeezed mealtime operations and led to a lack of ingredients and paper goods in Connecticut schools. Districts have also run up against inflated prices for the same items, without adequate funds to meet the increase.

Some of those issues are certainly not just related to food production or food availability, Frassinelli said. The shortage in truck drivers certainly is impacting their ability to get food, also impacting their ability to get parts for equipment that they need to create some of the food.

Under the program, each school district will get a base amount of $5,000 to help them deal with supply chain issues brought on by the pandemic, with additional funds available based on enrollment.

The allotment is part of a $1.5 billion federal program designed to address supply chain challenges and encourage schools to work with local suppliers.

USDAs school meal programs have a wide-reaching impact on the health and well-being of our nations children, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. Now, more than ever, Americas children need access to healthy and nutritious foods and our school nutrition professionals play a huge role in making that happen.

The Department of Agriculture also boosted reimbursements for school meals earlier this month by an additional 25 cents per lunch  an estimated $750 million more to school meal programs nationally this year. The agency previously waived certain federal nutritional requirements so schools could offer food substitutions when items arent available.

Topline data at the state board on Wednesday showed that many school food-service workers in Connecticut have delivered, despite the many challenges.

Frassinelli, from the education department, reported 16.8 million lunches and 7.7 million breakfasts were served this school year to date, for a total of $92 million in reimbursements so far. November meals were on par with those in October, which he suggested was notable due to fewer school days in the former month.

The health and nutrition director called school staffs efforts heroic and referenced a phone call with an employee from Hartford earlier that morning.

Shes already ordering until May, just to make sure that shes got enough of what she needs, he said.

Frassinelli noted that some schools districts have made food substitutions, while others have stopped posting menus until all items are in inventory, so they dont have to change their plans if an ingredient falls through.

Theyre being very creative with what they have, he said.
File / Hearst Connecticut Media

GREENWICH  Police said they are seeing a new twist in the ongoing trend of motor-vehicle thefts in town: Thieves are targeting motorists who shop and dine in central Greenwich and leave their keys inside their cars.

We have had an uptick of stolen vehicles from the central Greenwich business and restaurant area recently, Greenwich police Lt. Martin OReilly said.
Samsungs Galaxy Tab S8 series is expected to come in at least three versions  a vanilla Tab S8, a Tab S8+ and the top-end Tab S8 Ultra. The middle ground model Plus model is the subject of a series of detailed renders brought to life by @Technizo Concept showing out the design and two of its colors.

Galaxy Tab S8+ will succeed the current Tab S7+ and will build upon its design with few alterations. There are two colors shown here - gray and bronze. The dimensions are said to remain at 285 x 185 x 5.7mm.

Tab S8+ will come with a Super AMOLED panel with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate and a 2,800 x 1,752 px resolution. The outgoing Tab S7+ had a 12.4-inch diagonal but the most recent spec leak suggest Tab S8+ will offer a slightly larger 12.7-inch screen area. Theres no notch here  thats reserved for the Ultra model. The fingerprint sensor is said to be integrated under the screen.

The back will offer a dual cam setup which is expected to be shared by all three Tab S8 tablets. It will consist of a 13MP main cam and a 6MP ultrawide snapper. The selfie shooter is said to come in at 12MP. The rear camera cutout will be extended by a black magnetic strip which will snap on the S Pen stylus.

All three Tab S8 models will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and will ship with One UI 4 on top of Android 12.

The baseline 8GB RAM and 128GB storage Wi-Fi only model is expected to start at 900 while an extra 50 should net you 256GB storage. The 5G models start at 1,050 for the 8/128GB trim and 1,100 for the 8/256GB version.

Were expecting an announcement on February 9 according to the latest reports which should coincide with the Galaxy S22 series introduction.

Source (in Dutch)
A gutsy NYPD narcotics detective cheated death while protecting his colleagues lives when a hulking gunman opened fire on cops taking down a major Staten Island drug operation in the Thursday morning darkness.

Detective Dominick Libretti, bleeding badly from a gunshot wound to his leg, spared his brothers in blue from harm by holding his ballistic shield in place as ex-con Nelson Pizarro squeezed off at least a dozen bullets at them from inside his second-floor bedroom at the end of a long hallway, police said.

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The decorated 10-year police veteran, married just four months ago, was taken into surgery for what NYPD Surgeon Eli Kleinman described as a possibly career-ending injury and certainly a life-threatening injury that the hero officer was expected to survive.

Accused shooter Nelson Pizarro

I have to highlight and emphasize the heroics of the detective who was shot and the extraordinary team of officers who were in a fight for their lives, said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

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The 33-year-old cop became the second NYPD officer shot this week  and the third hit by gunfire in the first 20 days of 2022.

His fellow cops returned his lifesaving favor, first using a towel to staunch the blood from Librettis wound on the scene before rushing him in an NYPD squad car to Staten Island University Hospital North.

The gun recovered by the NYPD after a police-involved shooting in Staten Island on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (NYPD / DCPI)

A police source described him as conscious and alert when he reached the facility.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Pizarro carries a rap sheet of seven prior New York arrests but was not the target of the drug investigation. The 39-year-old peered out of his second-floor room as the cops arrived around 6 a.m. and grabbed his gun, with four officers returning fire once he shooting started, authorities said.

He sees them on the stairs, said a police source. Everything theyre wearing says police and theyre shouting Police, police, search warrant! He retreats back into the room, closes the door, gets the gun, opens fire through the door  sustained fire.

A hulking ex-con blasted an NYPD narcotics detective in the leg during a wild pre-dawn gunfight Thursday as police raided a suspected drug operation inside his Staten Island home. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

Pizarro, who was in the last of three bedrooms in the hallway, was wounded in his leg during the gunfight on a tree-lined residential street. His weapon was recovered at the scene.

Police also arrested the target of the warrant, suspected drug dealer Anthony Marshall, 40, a recidivist with a pair of previous arrests for criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Police said Marshall, targeted in a long-term investigation, was dealing in felony weight crack and cocaine out of the Staten Island home.

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A ballistics shield used by police during a drug raid where authorities said an officer was shot in the leg.

The wounded detective was part of a narcotics team executing a search warrant at the residence on Rockne St. near Elwood Ave. around 6 a.m. When cops went inside, Pizarro began blasting with a 9-mm. Beretta pistol that can hold up to 15 bullets, hitting the detective in the leg, officials said.

Im just standing here drinking coffee, and I see a bunch of cops, said a 43-year-old neighborhood eyewitness, who would only identify himself as Chris. And then I hear bam, bam, bam, bam!

A few moments later he heard a cop screaming, Officer down! Officer down!

The wounded cop was part of a narcotics team executing a search warrant at the residence on Rockne St. near Elwood Ave. around 6 a.m. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

A 12-year-old girl who typically sleeps in one of the second-floor bedrooms was instead staying on a first-floor couch when the bullets started flying and avoided any injury, a police source said.

But one of two dogs inside Pizarros bedroom took a bullet in the fray, cops said

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Pizarro was taken to Richmond University Medical Center. Hes charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault on a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon, cops said late Thursday.

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Cops put the wounded detective in their squad car and rushed him to Staten Island University Hospital North, where he was being treated Thursday. He was conscious and alert when he was taken to the hospital, a police source said. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

Paul DiGiacomo, the president of the Detectives Endowment Association union, blamed the states bail reform legislation for the citys recent increases in crime.

It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that ... there is a direct connection to shootings, drug dealing and violent crime, he said. Its clearly not working. People are dying at an alarming rate.

Unless we get the help we need to get the guns off our streets, and keep repeat offenders in jail, gunmen will continue to rule our city.

A crime scene detective brings out a box marked as evidence from the house Thursday morning. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

Neighbors said they were long suspicious of the business operating from the second-floor apartment. Visitors driving flashy high-end cars and riding dirt bikes would often roll up to the home and head inside, emerging a short time later with large duffel bags.

There were always people coming in and out, said one leery local. We knew something had to be going on.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell pauses during a media briefing on the shooting Thursday morning in Staten Island. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

In this years two prior shootings, a cop was grazed in the leg Tuesday night while scuffling with a teen gunman in the Bronx. And on Jan. 1, an off-duty cop was shot in the temple by a stray bullet as he slept in his car in between shifts in the parking lot of the 25th Precinct stationhouse in Harlem.
Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S22 any moment now. Reports from South Korea suggested a February 8 launch date, and now new info surfaced, pointing to a new date - February 9.

The information comes from Ice Universe, a known Samsung leakster, but theres a possibility the date is different for the Chinese market, and February 8 could still be when we see the global launch.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 series is expected to include three devices at launch. The mightiest of them all will be the Galaxy S22 Ultra and will be the first S series flagship with a built-in stylus - something that was exclusive to the Galaxy Note series so far.



Definitely not a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra

The Ultra should bring some features to the global audience such as the new LTPO AMOLED that supports a dynamic refresh rate from 1 Hz to 120 Hz with a yet unannounced Gorilla Glass Victus+ on top for protection. Other fancy specs include 45W fast wired charging and 15W wireless for the 5,000 mAh power cell.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 tablets are also expected to arrive at the same event.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
Daniel Bernardo gives advice to those who are wanting to start their own Star Wars collection.
The Office of the Attorney General is alleging that the owner and contractor of the Mangilao Solar Project knew about the dangers of flooding weeks before the disaster that left the historic Marbo Cave covered in a layer of sludge.

Runoff caused by a failure to implement proper erosion and sediment control measures at the Mangilao Solar Project also polluted the ocean and damaged cultural sites and human remains in Sasayan Valley, where the solar farm is located, the Attorney Generals Office stated.

The Attorney Generals Office asked on Wednesday for the courts permission to include newly unearthed information in their lawsuit against defendants KEPCO Mangilao Solar, LLC and Samsung E & C America, Inc., the owner and contractor of the solar project.

According to the motion filed by the AGs office, neighboring landowners had informed the defendants of runoff from the solar farm, which caused flooding and damage to nearby roadways on July 5, 2021. The Marbo Cave disaster occurred on July 22. An email to a Samsung representative from an unnamed landowner referencing the July 5 discussion is attached to the motion.

On July 22nd at approximately 3 p.m., I and two other landowners, attempted to visit our Sasayan properties. We observed that the access road leading downhill to our property was seriously gutted by the runoff from the solar farm. Additionally, we observed flooding that made our lots inaccessible by vehicles. This situation deprives us of the ability to do maintenance, ranching/farming and for natures enjoyment, the email stated.

Also attached to the motion is an image of what appears to be a cloud of brown sediment in the ocean nearby the Sasayan Valley.

The runoff created by defendants intentional actions also resulted in sediment being deposited into the ocean on at least one occasion, the motion states.

Additionally, the motion states that the defendants had unearthed human skeletal remains at the solar farm site in early to mid-July. A week after the discovery, the runoff caused by the failed erosion control measures damaged the remains and cultural deposits.

According to the motion, the defendant was aware that the Sasayan Valley was historically and culturally significant. Permitting for the construction of the project required approval from the Guam Historic Preservation Office, the motion states, and an Archeological Monitoring and Discovery Plan submitted by the defendants shows that they were aware of at least six archeological sites identified in the Mangilao Solar Project Area.

Earthwork began without an archeological monitor present, the motion states.

After-the-fact mitigation should not be calculated as a cost-of-doing-business when what you are mitigating is significant damage done to Guams cultural and natural resources, Attorney General Leevin Taitano Camacho stated in a release.

The AG is seeking actual and punitive damages, along with attorneys fees and costs. Jury selection and trial is currently scheduled for Nov. 30.
The Guam Power Authority plans to install monitors in different parts of Piti, including at Jose Rios Middle School, to regularly measure air quality in connection with the proposed construction of a new reserve power plant, according to GPA General Manager John Benavente.

Ive already started the task to make that happen, Benavente said during a legislative public hearing Thursday for Bill 213, which would allow the power plant to be built at Cabras Island next to existing power plants.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Joe San Agustin, would exempt the 41-megawatt diesel-burning power plant from a 1993 law that prohibits large fuel-burning generators from operating within 1,500 feet of a school.

The reserve power plant is part of a larger project by GPA contractor Korean Electric Power Company to build and operate a new 198-megawatt power plant in Ukkudu, Dededo.

Several residents testified against the bill, telling lawmakers they don't trust KEPCO and object to GPA continuing to burn fossil fuel for several more decades. KEPCO in 2019 signed a contract with GPA to build and operate the new power plant and sell the power to GPA for 25 years before handing over the facility.

Agreement

The power plant project, along with the addition of solar power to the grid, is part of a court-approved agreement for GPA to comply with federal clean air regulations, otherwise GPA faces millions of dollars in fines because of its current non-compliant oil-burning generators.

The establishment of this power plant is not in the best interests of the people of Guam, and we need to be thinking about paving the way for a sustainable present and future, with a focus on real, genuine security, said Maria Hernandez May, of local activist group Prutehi Litekyan. Being dependent on dirty energy for the next three decades goes against that goal.

Sen. Joanne Brown, who once was administrator of the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, said she understands the communitys concerns about the environmental impact and the need to use more renewable energy, but said it wont happen overnight and there will be a transition process. Brown said her vote on the bill depends on GPAs commitment to monitoring the air quality in Piti.

Benavente said the new Ukkudu power plant, unlike the existing power plants, is designed to incorporate the use of renewable energy and will allow GPA to meet the goal of getting at least 50% of its power from renewable sources by 2035. He said GPA is on track to meet that goal by 2030, with more contracted solar farms coming online. According to local law, Guam must get all of its electrical power from renewable sources by 2045.

After the new Ukkudu power plant starts operating, in April 2024, and some of the existing power plants are decommissioned, all of GPAs fuel-burning generators will burn ultra-low-sulfur diesel, beginning in October 2024.

Cleaner fuel

Its a much cleaner fuel  the same burned by vehicles with diesel engines  and will greatly reduce sulfur emissions, according to GPA. The sulfur content is almost negligible, Benavente said.

This is the plan which will achieve what theyre asking for, Benavente said in response to residents who want GPA to use more renewable energy. This is the cornerstone to the delivery of their dreams.

Guams power plants will burn less fuel, more efficiently and cleanly, cutting the price of power by about 25%, Benavente said.

If we do nothing, if we fail to commission the new power plant, Guam will not have sufficient energy to meet the demand, Benavente said.

Fred Horecky, administrative law judge for the Public Utilities Commission, told lawmakers the reserve power plant cant be built at Ukkudu because the U.S. EPA objected to the lengthy permitting process that would be required.

If built at Ukkudu instead of Piti, the reserve plant would be allowed to run only about 500 hours per year, Horecky said, making it, of little or no use to GPA.

If you dont approve the 41-megawatt plant, there is certainly a possibility that the entire project will fall through, Horecky said. Thus placing Guam in jeopardy of violating the consent decree, and also (not having) sufficient power in the system to prevent outages.

The PUC really carefully examined this issue and determined that the 41-megawatt plant was advantageous to GPA and ratepayers, he said.
Texner Luther was prepared to be sentenced for charges connected to purchasing and eating a dead sea turtle, but a federal judge decided there was no factual basis for committing a crime.

Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood at the District Court of Guam decided to not sentence Luther for the charges being brought against him, and instead gave the prosecuting attorney two weeks to figure out how to proceed in the case.

Luther had previously entered a plea of guilty for eating a turtle, but Tydingco-Gatewood found there was no factual basis for the plea.

Defendant clearly does not realize that his conduct does not fall within the charge of taking a threatened species, or he would not have pled guilty to an information that charges him with it, said Tydingco-Gatewood as she set aside the guilty plea.

In 2019, Luther was accused of purchasing a dead sea turtle for $75, cleaning it and later cooking it to eat, according to court documents.

Tydingco-Gatewood in a previous hearing had expressed concerns about Luthers sentencing, as he had no criminal record and was being prosecuted in the same manner as people with more serious offenses.
The Guam Department of Education is working on getting pay increases for teachers, similar to the increase recently granted to law enforcement officers.

Superintendent Jon Fernandez said that the department is working on a proposal and discussing with the governors office and Department of Administration to determine how much the pay adjustment will be.

We have been asked to provide a recommendation for the educator pay adjustment, we will be working with the Department of Administration over the next week and a half to prepare an estimate that we can factor into our budget, Fernandez said.

Last week, under the executive order signed by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, it was announced law enforcement officers across government of Guam agencies will receive an 18% base pay increase Jan. 30.

Though the Guam Department of Education currently doesnt have a specific percentage or any financial details about an educator pay adjustment, this is a response to the teachers shortage, and officials hope it will improve retention.

We know our educators have worked hard over the last two years through this pandemic. Many of them have had to adjust to distance learning to try and to ensure that theyre implementing the safety protocols at the same time. Many of their colleagues are choosing retirement, or resigning completely due to the anxiety and stress, Fernandez said. We do need that support and recognizing their hard work, and also retaining those who continue to work hard and also recruiting teachers who can fill those vacancies.

In the meantime, the department is trying to ensure there is enough funding to get through the current fiscal year.

Guam DOEs fiscal year budget will be reviewed and submitted to the Legislature by the end of January.
Intel Ireland marked a significant milestone in its $7 billion Fab 34 development project last week with the arrival of the plant's first massive chipmaking tool. The machine, a lithography resist track, arrived by truck at Intel's Leixlip, Ireland, facility following a flight from an Intel Oregon facility across the Atlantic Ocean.

Ireland's new lithography tool runs in conjunction with an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scanner, a crown jewel in Intel's manufacturing capability. The new tool provides precision coating of silicon wafers before alignment and exposure inside the EUV scanner. The wafer then returns to the lithography tool for a series of precision oven bakes, photo development and rinsing. A typical Intel fab contains about 1,200 advanced tools, many of them costing millions of dollars a piece.

Work on Fab 34 started in 2019, with the facility set to go online in 2023. The factory will double Intel Ireland's manufacturing space and pave the way for production of the Intel 4 process technology.

Intel's expansion in Ireland is part of the company's global factory build-out to meet burgeoning worldwide chip demand. Intel has tens of billions of dollars of new manufacturing infrastructure in the works in Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Malaysia. The company has also said it will soon announce additional plant sites in the U.S. and Europe. Intel's current manufacturing investments are the largest in the company's 54-year history.






A club promoter shot in the head as he tried to calm an angry gunman during a Brooklyn hip hop party last week has died of his wounds, police said Thursday.

Shawn Jeffrey, a local DJ who goes by the handle Shawn J, was one of four victims wounded at the weekly Dream Wednesdays party inside the E&R Rental Hall on E. 92nd St. near Remsen Ave. in Canarsie on Jan. 13.

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Jeffrey died of his injuries at Brookdale University Hospital on Saturday, cops said. The shooter has not been caught.

An argument over a woman broke out about 3:45 a.m., witnesses said. When one of the men involved in the fight pulled a gun, Jeffrey, 46, and two other men ran over and tried to calm the shooter down, witnesses told the Daily News. But moments later the gunman started blasting away.

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Cops at the scene of a shooting at E&R Rental Hall on E. 92nd St. in Brooklyn on Thursday, Jan. 13. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

I was there, I saw the whole thing, said one witness, who wished not to be named.

The witness injured her ankle as she and everyone else scrambled to the door.

It was chaotic, people running everywhere laying down and ducking down on the floor, she added. It was like a movie scene.

Jeffrey fell to the ground as the crowd fled the building, police said.

The other two men, ages 40 and 24, were each shot in the leg and took themselves to Brookdale University Hospital.

Cops at the scene of a shooting at E&R Rental Hall on E. 92nd St. in Brooklyn on Thursday, Jan. 13. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

A third victim, a 33-year-old woman who was shot in the calf, went to her home in East Flatbush before calling police. EMS took her to Kings County Hospital.




Haiti - FLASH : Scholarships in Romania (2022-2023) call for applications





The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that Romania has launched the registration procedure for the scholarship program for foreign citizens for the academic year 2022-2023.



Note that these scholarships will be awarded on the basis of file competitions. The fields of study are : political and administrative sciences, educational sciences, Romanian culture and civilization, journalism, technical studies, oil and gas, agricultural sciences, veterinary medicine. architecture and visual arts.



Note that no scholarships will be awarded for medicine, dentistry or pharmacy.



For more details on the eligibility conditions, please Download: https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/information_on_the_scholarship_programme-1.pdf



Applications are only sent through the Study in Romania platform.



To apply for Ministry of Foreign Affairs scholarships for non-EU citizens, you need to create an account: https://scholarships.studyinromania.gov.ro/scholarship-create-account



To apply online please visit : B> https://scholarships.studyinromania.gov.ro/index.php



Or on: https://studyinromania.gov.ro (via the "Apply for MFA scholarships" button)



Deadline for submitting applications is March 15, 2022.



The results of the selection will be announced on July 15, 2022. During the selection, additional formalities, such as obtaining a visa, will be required.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : Rodolphe Jaar, suspect in the assassination of President Moise, extradited to the USA





Haitian businessman Rodolphe Jaar (ex-drug trafficker turned DEA informant), one of the key suspects in the case of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, arrested in the Dominican Republic on Friday January 7, 2022, at the request of the American authorities (FBI) on the basis of statements by Mario Antonio Palacios https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35696-haiti-flash-palacios-confessed-that-the-final-plan-was-to-assassinate-the-president-of-haiti.html has been extradited Wednesday, January 19, 2022 to the United States



Jaar is expected to appear this Thursday, January 20, before a federal judge in Miami after affidavit accusing him of conspiracy against the Haitian president, the content of which have not been made public and which should lead to his indictment.



Jaar will be the second person to face US justice in the investigation into the assassination of the President of Haiti after ex-military Mario Antonio Palacios, suspect number 1 was indicted on January 4 by the US Department of Justice for his alleged participation in a conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States in connection with Haitian President Jovenel Moise https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35640-haiti-flash-palacio-extradited-to-the-usa-first-official-indictment-in-the-assassination-of-president-moise.html



In view of his previous statements, Jarr seems to have a lot of information on the people involved in this conspiracy https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35696-haiti-flash-palacios-confessed-that-the-final-plan-was-to-assassinate-the-president-of-haiti.html



Read also about the assassination of President Moise:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35696-haiti-flash-palacios-confessed-that-the-final-plan-was-to-assassinate-the-president-of-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35664-haiti-flash-lawyer-of-colombian-soldiers-detained-in-haiti-says-they-confessed-under-torture.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35618-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-2nd-request-for-extradition-from-haiti-rejected-jamaica-will-deport-palacio-to-colombia.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35588-haiti-flash-haiti-tries-a-second-time-to-extradite-palacios.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35587-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35293-haiti-justice-martine-moise-requests-the-autopsy-of-gilbert-dragon.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35290-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35275-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35247-haiti-flash-the-suspect-1-of-the-murder-of-jovenel-moise-cannot-be-extradited-to-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35121-haiti-flash-haiti-requests-the-extradition-of-one-of-the-presumed-murderers-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35093-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35054-haiti-flash-a-key-suspect-in-the-assassination-of-jovenel-moise-arrested.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34928-haiti-flash-martine-moise-heard-by-examining-magistrate-garry-orelien-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34835-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34739-haiti-flash-the-pm-dismisses-the-minister-of-justice-the-government-commissioner-and-the-sg-of-the-council-of-ministers.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34714-haiti-flash-the-prosecution-wants-to-hear-pm-henry-in-connection-with-the-assassination-of-the-president.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34567-haiti-flash-new-investigating-judge-in-the-assassination-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34351-haiti-flash-all-the-arrested-colombian-ex-soldiers-were-aware-of-a-plan-to-kill-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34339-haiti-flash-official-report-by-dimitri-herard-on-the-assassination-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34331-haiti-flash-arrest-of-the-presidential-security-coordinator-jean-laguel-civil.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34299-haiti-flash-7-of-the-colombians-arrested-had-received-american-military-training.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34296-haiti-flash-the-company-which-participated-in-the-financing-of-the-operation-knew-nothing-about-the-assassination-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34283-haiti-flash-follow-up-of-investigations-into-the-assassination-of-president-moise-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34278-haiti-national-funeral-note-from-the-first-lady-martine-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34265-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34250-haiti-flash-according-to-colombia-in-the-commando-only-a-few-knew-about-the-assassination-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34238-haiti-flash-monitoring-of-investigations-into-the-assassination-of-president-jovenel-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34225-haiti-notice-the-pnh-is-looking-for-3-dangerous-and-armed-individuals-including-a-former-senator.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34223-haiti-justice-the-dg-of-the-colombian-police-wonders-about-the-role-of-the-chief-of-security-of-president-moise.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34220-haiti-politic-creation-of-the-organizing-committee-for-the-national-funeral-of-president-moise-text-of-the-decree.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34218-haiti-flash-wanted-notice-for-a-very-dangerous-colombian-mercenary.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34217-haiti-flash-the-white-house-does-not-rule-out-sending-troops-to-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34214-haiti-assassination-of-president-a-colombian-team-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34212-haiti-politic-a-large-american-delegation-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34210-haiti-flash-arrest-of-one-of-the-intellectual-authors-of-the-assassination-of-president-moise-and-an-attempted-coup.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34205-haiti-flash-statements-and-testimony-from-colombia-about-the-commando.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34203-haiti-usa-no-american-military-assistance-for-the-moment.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34201-haiti-flash-authenticated-message-from-the-first-lady-martine-moise-audio.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34199-haiti-assassination-of-the-president-names-of-the-20-members-of-the-commando-arrested-5-others-still-on-the-run.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34193-haiti-flash-the-government-requests-the-sending-of-american-soldiers-to-the-country.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34188-icihaiti-flash-11-mercenaries-arrested-in-the-taiwanese-embassy.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34193-haiti-flash-the-government-requests-the-sending-of-american-soldiers-to-the-country.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34188-icihaiti-flash-11-mercenaries-arrested-in-the-taiwanese-embassy.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34183-haiti-flash-the-commando-that-killed-the-president-included-26-colombians-and-2-haitian-americans-official-video.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34182-icihaiti-assassination-of-president-moise-15-days-of-national-mourning-text-of-the-decree.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34178-haiti-politic-what-measures-contains-the-state-of-siege-text-of-the-decree.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34177-icihaiti-usa-the-pm-met-with-secretary-of-state-anthony-blinken.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34176-haiti-un-the-security-council-condemns-the-assassination-of-president-jovenel-moise.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-34174-icihaiti-diplomacythe-assassins-of-moise-were-professional-mercenaries-dixit-bocchit-edmond.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34173-haiti-flash-the-police-intercepts-the-presumed-assassins-of-president-moise-official-video.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34172-haiti-flash-martine-moise-in-florida-for-treatment.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34170-haiti-flash-the-first-lady-martine-moise-would-still-be-alive-but.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34168-haiti-flash-the-state-of-siege-is-declared-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34165-haiti-assassination-of-jovenel-moise-what-says-the-constitution.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





EDH : Discovery of flaws in the Prepaid service

"Discovery of flaws in EDH's implementation of the prepaid service. There is a need to quickly correct, reinforce and regularize this service of the future by coordinating all our human and material resources for these purposes," said Jean Errol Morose, Director General of EDH.



The RNDDH accuses Judge Garry Orelien of corruption

The National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) accuses Judge Garry Orelien who was responsible for investigating the investigation into the assassination of Jovenel Moise https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35753-haiti-news-zapping.html , to have received bribes relating to this instruction and asks the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ) to open an investigation.



Passing of Dr. Rene Charles

On January 16, Dr. Rene Charles, a pioneer in the fight against diabetes, died in Florida at the age of 91. Dr. Charles founded the Haitian Diabetes Association in 1987, which in 1993 became the Haitian Foundation for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases (FHADIMAC). His funeral will be sung on Saturday January 22 in Miami. His family informs that another ceremony will be held later in Port-au-Prince to salute the memory of Dr. Charles.



Kidnapping of Cuban Dr. Alabedra, RN#2 blocked

Second consecutive day of protest this Wednesday in Petit-Goave where the national road #2 was again blocked to demand the release of the Cuban doctor Daymara Helen Perez Alabedra, kidnapped on January 13 in Martissant. The victim worked at Notre Dame Hospital in Petit-Goave. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35746-haiti-insecurity-the-cuban-government-evacuates-from-haiti-78-of-its-doctors.html



Accord Montana : already 3 PM candidates

Dr. Jean Enold Buteau, Me Iswick Theophin and former senator Steven Benoit are applying for the post of Prime Minister. Steven Benoit says he is confident of being elected by the 44 delegates of the National Transitional Council (CNT) to lead the Transitional Government.



101.6 Gourdes for US$1

The BRH reference rate for this Thursday, January 20, 2022 is 101.6336 gourdes for one US dollar.



HL/HaitiLibre


















Published on 2022/01/19 | Source

Actor Heo Joon-ho's pictorial has been released.

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Harper's Bazaar magazine met Heo Joon-ho ahead of the airing of the anticipated drama "Why Her?", who swept the acting award with the movie "Escape from Mogadishu". It is his first fashion pictorial shoot since the hiatus, but it is rumored that he finished the shoot skillfully by taking advantage of his consistently managed muscular body and dance and musical actor's career in the past university dance department.

In an interview, regarding the perilla leaf debate, which is a scene from "Escape from Mogadishu" and has become a hot topic these days, he said, "I will remove the perilla leaf without worrying about it, whether for a friend or a lover". He answered.

He then mentioned the two works being filmed. About the role of Choi Tae-gook, chairman of the law firm in "Why Her?", he said he is the 'worst guy in the world', signaling the birth of a villain. "I set it as rated R within me. We are making characters by thinking about the keyword 'greed'", he said.

Regarding the drama "Bloodhounds" based on an original webtoon, "I didn't read it because the director didn't want me to read the webtoon". He said, "I trust the senses of the director and the writer and follow them".

Heo Joon-ho's pictorials and interviews can be found on the website and social media of the February issue of Harper's Bazaar.
Published on 2022/01/19 | Source

New still added for the upcoming Korean movie "Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" (2020)

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Directed by Nah Hyeon

With Sol Kyung-gu, Park Hae-soo, Yang Dong-geun, Lee El, Song Jae-rim, Jinyoung,...

Synopsis

"Yaksha: Ruthless Operations" is a story about the leader of a spy agency's secret operation team in Shenyang, China, and the prosecutor who was demoted to the spy agency as he searched for a missing high-ranking North Korean official.

Release date in Korea : 2022
An airman with the United States Airforce has been sentenced to life behind bars for kidnapping a 27-year-old Mennonite woman and then fatally shooting her in 2020.

Mark Gooch was convicted by a jury in October on one count each of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of Sasha Krause. His sentencing hearing Wednesday in Coconino County Superior Court came almost two years exactly after 27-year-old Krause vanished from her religious community in New Mexico.

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She was last seen preparing to teach a Sunday school class in January 2020, not far from the city of Farmington.

Mark Gooch looks back to the gallery Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in Flagstaff, Ariz., after being sentenced to life in prison. (Jake Bacon/AP)

Police said Gooch, now 22, abducted Krause and then drove her across state lines into Arizona. He finally stopped in a forest clearing outside the city of Flagstaff, where he fatally shot her. It took investigators more than a month to find her remains at Sunset Crater National Monument, hundreds of miles from her home.

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Her hands were bound with duct tape and she suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

There is no indication Krause knew her killer, though they were both raised in the Mennonite faith.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Gooch has repeatedly denied murdering Krause, but police said they obtained cellphone and financial records that tie him to the slaying. They also recovered damming surveillance video in connection with the case.

The evidence, presented during his trial, revealed that Gooch left Luke Air Force Base where he was stationed in metropolitan Phoenix, drove north past Flagstaff and through the Navajo Nation to Farmington in New Mexico  where Krause worked in the publishing ministry.

This undated photo provided by Robert Krause shows his daughter, Sasha Krause, center, reading a book to children. Krause was killed in early 2019. (AP)

Gooch confessed to taking the trip but emphasized that his motives were not nefarious. He said he was searching for the fellowship of Mennonites but he denied taking and killing the woman.

Authorities also noted that he attempted to cover up the crime by passing off the murder weapon, a .22 caliber gun, to his friend. He also got his car detailed and deleted the location history on his phone following the slaying.

Now, instead of honorably serving his nation, he is going to serve a humiliating life term in prison, Coconino County Attorney William Ring said in a statement after the sentencing hearing.

The victims faith was important to her, so as guided by Proverbs, we all do right by caring that justice gets done for the vulnerable ones.

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This came during a meeting held by ANHA' agency co-chair of Civil Council in western countryside of Deir al-Zor, Jassem Al-Rayash, regarding the "Settlements" carried out by Damascus government in Deir al-Zor. He said "The settlements made by Damascus government are an affront to the Syrian people, more than 10 years after Syrian revolution."

Al-Rayash added, "The people of Deir al-Zor, with all their spectrum, including administrators, social activists, clan elders, reject these settlements carried out by Damascus government, and the evidence of this is anti-settlement marches."

On another topic, he also touched on international silence regarding the crimes of Turkish occupation in north and east Syria, "the attacks it is carrying out in Kobani, Abu Rasain and Tal Tmer, which caused the death of many citizens and the destruction of homes, with the silence of Damascus government and the whole world."

Al-Rayash noted that "international human rights platforms and United Nations do not show any clear position regarding what Syrian people have been subjected to over 10 years of destruction, killing and displacement."

Sh-S

ANHA
IDPs of Afrin have been fighting for 4 years the fiercest battles alongside, traditional war machine, the special war, which has become known as the bloodiest and most beneficial war for the dominant powers.

The displaced of Afrin are resisting face to face policy of the hostile forces which called "politics of surrender" through dismantling of society from within. However, the popular resistance has become a lethal weapon to combat these machinations.

As the green light from Russia, International Community indifference and complicity of Damascus government, Turkey backed by thousands of mercenaries, launched the most violent aggression against Afrin canton from 8 main axes on January 20, 2018.

From eight axes Turkish state managed to occupy Afrin, and tried once again, with participation of the same parties which had the most prominent role in occupying Afrin, to eliminate inhabitants of Afrin during the second phase of age resistance.

First fronts was policy of starvation in which the colonial powers opened fire on IDPs of Afrin, in addition to promotion of drugs and immoral acts within the society, especially in the camps, whereas the second one was intimidation of the displaced, within framework of special war intrigues.

While the third was UNICEF which reduced amounts of water to the people after three and a half years, under pretext that the allocated amounts to help them had been lowered.

Basically, the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries insist on committing the most heinous crimes and spilling blood of the displaced, especially children and women as in massacres of Tal Rifat and Aqbia in sherawa district.

We have no choice but resistance. with these words, Uncle Muhammad Sheikh Qanbar, who lives in Sardam camp, expressed their determination to counter all conspiracies being hatched against them to drive them away from the homes after four years of the forced displacement.

At the beginning of his talk, Sheikh Qanbar refers to the living reality and the special war machine, especially in the period of forced displacement of the people, Qanbar explained the occupation plots and the hostile forces against the displaced in Al-Shahba canton within the framework of the special war policies, saying: "In addition to the unjust siege on Al-Shahba canton, the hostile forces are waging a massive war against us, starting with starvation policy to intimidate the people and spread panic through the continuous bombing, massacres, to forcibly displace the people from their homes.

In his speech, Sheikh Qanbar believes that objectives of the occupation and hostile forces with their malicious policies is emptying Al-Shahba canton from its residents .

Qanbar affirmed that theTurkish occupation failed in obliteration the people of Afrin during the first stage of its aggression, while tries to exterminate them via the special war.

Qanbar stated that many of the displaced lost their lives as they didn't reach hospitals of Aleppo due to closure of the crossings and roads by the Damascus government.

Muhammad Sheikh Qanbar concluded by saying "In every Afrinian heart, an olive tree and mountains of Afrin, so it is not possible to obtain this will and determination.

As for the citizen, Arin Ali, in her speech, she referred to difficulties which women suffer after being displaced from her city of Afrin to Al-Shahba, and said, "When we talk about a woman's life after her displacement from her homes, we can refer to abuses that practiced against humanity."

Through their colonial policies, Arin emphasized that enemies of the Kurdish people always target character of the free woman, as women are basis of societies.

Arin added that despite all attempts and intrigues against the people, the Afrinian woman is still fighting in the al-Shahba canton.

At the end of her speech, Arin noted that the Turkish state is trying to achieve what it could not do in Afrin during the barbaric aggression.

For her part, citizen Nisreen Shaabo indicated that they are in the Al-Shahba canton in a massive war, face to face with the Turkish occupation and its gangs at all levels militarily politically.

Nasrin said that " We determine to stay and resist until liberation of Afrin, no matter how the enemies try to drive us away from our homes, noting that for four years the people have been saying, "We want nothing but Afrin."

Nasrin concluded that the Afrinian woman proved herself although hardships and difficult circumstances, they created an atmosphere at her tent, a beautiful nature with flowers and trees, to relieve herself and her family in the hope of returning to Afrin.
Co-chair of Executive Council of Afrin, Sheraz Hammo, spoke to ANHA' agency on the fourth anniversary of Turkey aggression and its mercenaries against Afrin Canton on January 20, 2018.

Turkish state and its mercenaries launched the largest external aggression during the war in Syria, targeting Afrin Canton along 165 km northwest of Syria, after the Russian forces withdrawal from several locations.

People's Protection Units and Women's Protection Units in Afrin faced Turkish army and its allies for 58 consecutive days, along with people resistance that stunned the world.

Turkish state has expelled more than 350,000 citizens from their homes after the occupation of Afrin, in addition to more than half a million displaced Syrians who had been displaced to Afrin before that.

On the situation of the displaced in Shahba Canton and the continuous Turkish aggression, in addition to the Damascus government forces siege on Afrin, ANHA' agency held a dialogue with Sheraz Hammo, co-chair of Executive Council of Afrin.

The text of the conversation:

Turkey and mercenary groups were displaced in 2018, Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people from Afrin Canton to Shahba Canton; 4 years in the camps what this survival means; What are the hopes of the displaced people there?

In the beginning, as much as we condemn Turkish state and its brutal attack, we condemn the silence of international community and human rights organizations regarding what Afrin was subjected to.

The history of Middle East and the world recorded a historic resistance that the whole world witnessed in the face of barbaric Turkish aggression, 58 days of heroic epics against the strength of North Atlantic Treaty power and its advanced technologies, the people clinging to their land and rejected the occupation.

The components of Afrin experienced a great stage of struggle with the start Rojava revolution. This developed into the highest democratic stages, a new successful experience, and a free and secure life, and whoever tasted the freedom did not and will not accept submission.

From that, Turkey and its allies wanted to destroy this experience. Turkey and its mercenary groups expelled the original residents of Afrin from their homes. Today, the displaced still live that reality they lived in Afrin in their souls, thoughts and actions, they showed more insistent that free life is what worthy of them.

Our people are determined to reveal the truth to the whole world, that they have a cause and do not accept the occupation, The presence of the displaced in Shahba has a clear message to the world that we are on the borders of Afrin and we will return to it.

The aggression of Turkey and its mercenaries against Shahba Canton is still ongoing. In addition to the military war, there is a special war, what is the nature of this war and what is its impact on society?

transferring democratic experience from Afrin to Shahba, and hundreds of thousands of displaced residents living on the borders of Afrin Canton, has become a fear for Turkish occupation, and if there is still resistance, there are also military attacks, using different methods that target the will of the people, and seek to divide the society.

The high morale of society constitutes the military and political resistance. Therefore, the special war that Turkish state is practicing it against the displaced in Shahba seeks to eliminate the roots of this resistance and destroy the cohesive society.

Through money, encouraging emigration, spreading narcotics, creating strife between Arabs and Kurds, and even military threats, all of these methods fall under the framework of special war against our people, They target the youth and women, and the goal is to destroy the unity of the people and to dismantle the spirit of resistance in Shahba.

However, with the intensification of special and military war, the cohesion of the people and their insistence on ending the occupation in Afrin increased.

The district suffers from a stifling siege imposed by Damascus government. What are the aims of this siege?

What Damascus government doing is not different from what Turkish state is doing. Both seek to subdue the resistant people, Damascus government is working on a policy of starving the displaced, and through stifling siege they impose, they are trying to destroy the morale of the society, They cut off basic needs to make the people acquiesce to their conditions.

But the most important of all of this, that they are besieging the democratic and free thought that was adopted by the society in Afrin and worked to develop it and now maintains it in Shahba, despite the presence of global and regional forces and great threats.

But we have repeatedly emphasized that the people who have tasted freedom can't accept submission, rather they have a great determination to return and live in freedom and dignity in their land in Afrin, if we ask any child or any person here in the camps about his goal; He will say that he can bear the difficulties and nothing is important to him than to return to Afrin.

What is the purpose of the siege imposed by Damascus government?

What Syrian government is doing is wrong. It increases the suffering of the displaced. Basic needs do not enter the area as required. we are in the winter and Syrian government prevents this area from the heating fuel, in addition to the patients it prevents from going out and receiving treatment. The same as which Turkish state aims, which is the policy of starvation and acquiescence.

From here, we call on the international community and human rights organizations; They have to realize that hundreds of thousands are siege here in this area, not only the people of Afrin Canton, they are from all Syrian regions who had been displaced to Afrin before it was occupied by Turkey and its mercenaries, besides that, there are the people of Shahba Canton are also suffering from this siege.

On the fourth anniversary of the start of Turkey's aggression against Afrin Canton from here, from the camps of Afrin people, what is your word to the world?

The attack that targeted Afrin, targeted the entire history of region. It targeted the blessed revolution that the peoples of Syria began with. Living in the harsh conditions and enduring pain at every moment is a clear message to Turkey and all the countries that support it, that they have not and will not be able to break the will of the people.

Once again, we pledge that in the new year, we will work to reveal Erdogan truth to the whole world, and we will expose the practices of this enemy.

We will raise the pace of the resistance and take steps that will achieve political gains, and our word and message will remain our goal to return to Afrin.

Sh-S

ANHA
A Virginia man already convicted of murder has confessed to a pair of decades-old slayings, sparking speculation that he could be a serial killer.

Charles Helem has been serving a life sentence at Red Onion State Prison ever since a jury convicted him of murder in the strangling death of his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Bentley. The 37-year-old was discovered dead inside her townhome in Chantilly back in 2002.

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Fairfax County Police announced they have charged Helem in the 35-year-old slaying of Eige Sober-Adler. Her badly beaten body was discovered on Sept. 9, 1987, in a field behind a Days Inn shortly after her car was found abandoned in Herndon. She was 37.

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis described her murder as one of the most notable cold cases the department has ever faced. He said investigators are now working backwards to see if Helem could be behind other unsolved killings.

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Charles Helem could be a serial killer, cops say. (Prince George's County Police Dept.)

In Maryland, police in Prince Georges County similarly announced their intentions to charge Helem in connection with an unsolved murder that occurred in Mount Rainier. Police said Helem picked up the Jennifer Landry in the District of Columbia and killed her a short time later. The 19-year-old victim was found dead in a wooded area on Aug. 15, 2002.

Prince George County Prosecutor Aisha Braveboy confirmed her office is reviewing the case, but has not yet formally filed charges.

Helem first contacted Mount Rainier Police about Landrys death in 2010, but he ultimately declined to talk to detectives. He sent a second letter to investigators in 2017 but again refused to be interviewed.

Police said they were finally able to persuade him into talking in September. Its remains unclear why he reached out to authorities with the confession.

With News Wire Services
ANHAs correspondent said that the bombing targeted the demonstrators in the village of Deir Jamal, and the bombing is still continuing on tens of thousands of demonstrators against the occupation.

T/S

ANHA
WHO Says Worst of Pandemic Could Ease This Year if Vaccine Inequities Erased
Officials with the Kentucky State Police Post 13 said that the search for a missing Perry County man has ended with the man being found dead, while the search for his daughter continues.

At 3:07 p.m., Jan. 13, officials with the Kentucky State Police Post 13 in Hazard received a call advising that volunteers with Vicco and Lotts Creek Fire and Rescue located human remains close to the creek bank in the Rowdy community of Perry County. Troopers responded to the scene, along with the Perry County Coroners Office, and made a positive identification, said officials.

The remains located were identified as Dale Williams, 69, of Ary. Williams was entered missing on Jan. 4, along with his daughter Misty Williams, 43, also of Ary.

Trooper Matt Gayheart said evidence located at the scene indicated no foul play at this time, and that Williams was taken to the state Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy.

As of right now there are not really a whole lot of new updates after discovering the fathers body. Weve sent him off for autopsy and once we get those results back itll lead us in a little better direction as far as maybe what happened, said Gayheart.

Rescue crews continue the search to locate Misty Williams, said KSP officials.

We are still searching for Misty Williams. As of right now were trying to stay close and control the waterways trying to locate her, said Gayheart.

Misty Williams is described as a female with brown hair and hazel eyes. She is 54 inches tall and weighs approximately 210 pounds. She was last seen wearing a white shirt with blue jeans and she has been diagnosed with autism.

From what Im told shes a really kind person but if somebody approaches her Im not sure how she would respond, said Gayheart. Everybody that Ive talked to said she was a really kind, outgoing person; a really friendly person.

If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Misty Williams, please call the Kentucky State Police Post 13 at, (606) 435-6069. This incident remains under investigation by Trooper Josh Neace and Trooper Steve Davidson.
Next month, Dr. Syamala Reddy, a local ophthalmologist, is retiring after more than 40 years of service to the community.

Reddys practice, which is located on Medical Center Drive in Hazard, provides various types of eye care and has been open for nearly 42 years. Reddy said when he first came to Hazard, he did not intend to stay for as long as he has, but he is grateful he did.

When I came I didnt know what to expect. I came in with zero expectations of this town and I wanted to start ophthalmology care, which was not available in this town before I came here and I wanted to demonstrate to the community and physicians what ophthalmology can contribute to the community, said Reddy. At that time I had no intention to stay more than one year. I was going to come here for one year to show everybody what an eye doctor can contribute to the healthcare of the community.

After a while, he said, he decided to stay for several reasons.

Then all the patients and the physicians said they wished I would stay here, said Reddy. I decided to stay where Im wanted so I made Hazard my home. This is the longest Ive ever lived in any place in my life even in my native place in India.

Reddy said once he was in Hazard he got involved in other aspects of the community to ensure that Perry County had a better quality of life.

When it comes to the community I made it my home and I did not rest looking only after my practice. I got involved into many of the community activities to make this a better place, said Reddy, stating that he serves on several boards and has organized and planned for things to be brought here.

Looking back I have zero regrets for coming and being part of this community, said Reddy. I am extremely happy with the support and trust this community has given to me all these many years.

Reddy said the family bonds shown by the regions people and people coming together when times are hard are some of his favorite parts of the area.

Which I dont see many places, he said, explaining that the people here are different than other areas. The people may not be sophisticated and not be articulated but they are honest, good people.

Upon retiring, Reddy said he plans on spending more time with his family.

I will probably hang around for some time then will eventually move closer to my children, said Reddy. My grandkids were jumping with joy when they heard Im retiring.

Reddy said his last day will be Feb. 12.
Jessica Adams, Peterson Health Patient Access Specialist, coordinates testing among patients arriving for the new Self-Swab Testing Center, opened to accommodate high demand among current residents during the COVID-19 surge.
Henderson, NC (27536)

Today

Mostly cloudy in the morning with scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 83F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
Police investigate arson fire downtown

Hendersonville police detectives are investigating a downtown arson fire that endangered the life of a resident who leapt to safety from a second floor apartment.

Police received a call at 3:15 a.m. Thursday to assist the Hendersonville Fire Department at a fire at 104 First Ave. E. in a building that contains offices and an apartment. The apartment was occupied at the time and the individual was able to escape the building unharmed. WLOS reported that the occupant escaped by jumping from a second story window.

Two suspects wearing dark clothing were captured on video in the area at the time of the fire. The incident is being investigated as an arson and detectives are asking residents and merchants in the downtown area to submit security camera footage to Detective Zeff Childress to assist in the investigation. Footage showing overnight activity in the downtown vicinity can be provided to Detective Childress at zchildress@hvlnc.gov.



Any other information on the incident may be provided to Childress by calling (828) 697-3071. Tips may also be submitted through the Hendersonville Police Department app which can be downloaded in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store by searching Hendersonville PD.
A HORSE rider suffered serious spinal injuries after coming off her horse during a showjumping competition.

Charlotte Snowden, from Checkendon, was competing at an indoor showjumping day at Checkendon Equestrian Centre on Saturday when the accident happened.

Ms Snowden, who is a professional photographer, cleared the final jump at speed but then came off her horse Prince and hit a wall.

She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford by ambulance and had a nine-hour operation on her spine, which finished at 3am on Sunday.

Ms Snowden, who has two children, is still in intensive care and the full extent of her injuries is not yet known.

Her mother Lavinia Bolton said: She was showjumping at the equestrian centre and she came off the last jump very fast, quite close to the wall. The pony went right and she went left.

Im still trying to find out exactly what happened. Shed cleared all the other jumps and if shed stayed on the horse she would have actually won the competition.

She has been riding since she was a little girl. I first taught her when she was about two. Shes a very experienced rider and this was just a freak accident.

Prince was my granddaughters horse but shes now more interested in other things as a teenager so Charlotte took over riding Prince.

Prince is fine. Some of the very kind people from the equestrian centre led him home for me. Mrs Bolton said Ms Snowdens former husband was looking after the children and she was looking after the familys animals. Everyones being very kind and neighbours have brought cakes and biscuits, she said.

Charlotte cant use her telephone at the moment but she has been awake since Sunday and doctors have been reading her the nice messages she has received. Its a serious injury shes had and shell need help for a little while but we dont know the full extent of it yet.

Its so difficult with lockdown and covid because youre only allowed one person to visit for one hour per day. Shes very close with her dad so he has been in a lot and her brother has been.

Jennifer Greenbury, a director of the equestrian centre said: This is very upsetting for all involved and we are very concerned for Charlotte.

Checkendon Equestrian Centre has been running indoor jumping competitions for more than 10 years and this is the first hospitalisation we have had in all that time.

Charlotte was riding her own horse in the showjumping competition with 60cm jumps. Multiple riders had already jumped the course, as indeed had Charlotte.

All of us at Checkendon are really hoping Charlotte makes a full recovery.

A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service said it sent an ambulance and the air ambulance to the centre in Lovegroves Lane at 11.02am. The air ambulance was hampered by fog.
A Georgia pastor was arrested on charges of false imprisonment after police discovered eight people, all of them either mentally or physically disabled, locked in the basement of his home.

Curtis Bankston and his 54-year-old wife Sophie are accused of operating an unlicensed group home or personal care facility under the guise of a church known as One Step of Faith Second Chance, according to a press release from the Griffin City police department.

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Authorities discovered the imprisoned group early the morning of Jan. 13, after firefighters were called to a home along Valley Road to help paramedics treat a resident having a seizure.

When they arrived on the scene around 7 a.m., first responders discovered a door leading down to the basement was dead-bolted. They had to force their way in through a window to gain access to the suffering patient, according to authorities.

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Curtis Bankston is behind bars. (Spalding County Sheriff's Office)

Officers with the Griffin City police department were also called to the scene. A preliminary investigation revealed as many as eight people resided in the basement of this residence and they were locked in at certain times by the caretakers.

Police said the couple had been leasing the house for 14 months, using the basement as a care facility for individuals, and essentially imprisoned them against their will. In an event of an emergency, the victims would not have been able to escape the home, according to authorities.

The pair also took control of their victims finances and medication as well as public benefits.

It is both frightening and disgusting to see the degree to which these individuals have been taken advantage of by people who were in a position of trust, authorities said in the press release.

All the individuals affected have been placed by the Georgia Department of Human Services into suitable care and housing.

Bankston remained in behind bars on Thursday in the Spalding County Jail. Officers said charges against his wife are forthcoming, with additional charges expected for both.
A Georgia dad serving a life sentence for his 22-month-old sons hot-car murder case was wrongly convicted and should get a new trial, according to his lawyer.

Lawyer Mitch Durham told the Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday that there is an avalanche of evidence that Justin Ross Harris sexual behavior, which included patronizing prostitutes and sexting with underage women, affected the jurys decision more than the manner of his sons death, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

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The sexual messaging acts did not make it more probable that Mr. Harris would intentionally kill his child, argued Durham, according to the paper.

In this Oct. 3, 2016, file photo, Justin Ross Harris listens during his trial at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga. (Stephen B. Morton/AP)

Harris went to drop his son Cooper off at day care in June 2014 before heading to work at Home Depot, where the tot was left in his car seat in the parking lot for hours. Prosecutors said the fatal move was not a mistake as Harris claimed, but wholly intentional as a means of unburdening himself from his wife and child to pursue his slew of sexual relationships.

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Harris claimed that he didnt realize what hed done until he was leaving work and saw Cooper in his car seat, having died of heatstroke.

In this Oct. 31, 2016, file photo, defense attorney Maddox Kilgore holds a photo of Cooper Harris during a murder trial for his father Justin Ross Harris who is accused of intentionally killing him in June 2014 by leaving him in the car in suburban Atlanta, in Brunswick, Ga (John Bazemore/AP)

Harris was found guilty of murder in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, The AJC reports.

Though Justice Nels Peterson agreed that the sexting and history of sleeping with prostitutes could have proved part of Harris alleged motive, he said that Cobb County prosecutor Linda Dunikoski did a remarkable job of proving [Harris is] a terrible person. But proving he is a terrible person isnt the same as proving he murdered his child.

Maybe messages with underage people, evidence of prostitutes and all of that was so much more prejudicial than it was probative, said Peterson.

A decision on a new trial is expected in the coming months.
Recently recovered from COVID-19 and surrounded by tokens of appreciation for School Board Appreciation Month, Greenville ISD School Board President Trena Stafford presides over a discussion about possibly imposing a five-day mask requirement for students and staff after returning from quarantine due to testing positive for the virus. The vote over the proposed measure was tied Tuesday, so GISD will continue to keep masks optional.
The man accused of fatally stabbing a UCLA graduate student while she worked a shift alone at a Los Angeles furniture store has been arrested.

Shawn Laval Smith, 31, was taken into custody just before noon local time on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he was identified by authorities as a suspect in the slaying of Brianna Kupfer. He was found sitting on a park bench in the area of Fair Oaks and Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

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We would like to thank the public, the media and our partners at Pasadena PD for their support in apprehending the suspect, the LAPD said in a tweet announcing his arrest.

Smith is accused of walking into the Croft House on La Brea Ave. and fatally stabbing Kupfer with a knife the afternoon of Jan. 13. He then fled out the back door, triggering an intense, days-long manhunt.

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On Tuesday, police released video from a 7-Eleven store showing the suspect purchase a vape pen some 30 minutes after Kupfer was killed. They also offered a reward totaling more than $250,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Another customer discovered Kupfers bloody and lifeless body on the floor of the shop around 2 p.m. Just 15 minutes earlier, she texted a friend, saying a man in the store had been making her uncomfortable.

Kupfer, a graduate of both Brentwood High School in Los Angeles and the University of Miami, had been working toward a degree in architectural design at The University of California, Los Angeles when she was killed.

Police said there is no known motive for the stabbing and they suspect it was a random attack.
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
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we've all known individuals who have done more than their share to help their neighbors and communities with food, comfort, care, companionship and dozens of other needs. If you know of such a person, you can nominate them to be featured in our upcoming H
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Adam Montgomery, who seemingly either cant or wont tell people where his daughter, 7-year-old Harmony, has been for two years, has been linked to an unsolved 2008 murder.

Montgomery is a suspect in the shooting death of Darlin Guzman in Lynn, Mass. in the parking lot of the former White Hen Convenience store, Fox 25 reported Wednesday.

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Montgomery, who was 18 at the time, allegedly agreed to meet up with Guzman at the White Hen on the day of his death, Feb. 10, 2008, along with two family members.

Guzman was found fatally shot in the parking lot.

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An online obituary described Guzman as a 28-year-old computer repairman from the Dominican Republic. He was survived by three children.

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

No arrests were ever made but law enforcement sources told Fox 25 that Montgomery remains a suspect.

A spokesperson for the Lynn Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily News Thursday.

[ New charges filed against stepmother of missing New Hampshire 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery ]

Harmony Montgomery, left, and father Adam Montgomery. (Manchester Police Department)

Montgomery, now 31, has been charged with one charge of felony second-degree assault for a 2019 incident, one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child, all tied to the disappearance of Harmony, who was last seen in October 2019.

According to the arrest affidavit, Montgomery allegedly admitted to his uncle that he bashed (Harmony) around this house.

Montgomerys wife, Harmonys stepmother, has also been charged for allegedly collecting food stamps and other benefits on behalf of Harmony while she was missing.

Harmony is listed at 4 feet tall, weighing about 50 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. She is blind in her right eye and should be wearing glasses.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Manchester Police Department at 603-668-8711, Detective Jack Dunleavy at 603-792-5561 or the anonymous CrimeLine tip line at 603-624-4040.
(JTA) - A team of researchers said they have identified the person who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis 80 years ago: a Jewish notary forced to work for the Nazis.

The man identified by a cold-case team that has been working for six years to identify the persons responsible for the discovery of the Franks by Nazi authorities in occupied Amsterdam was Arnold van den Bergh, a notary and a member of the Jewish Council, which the Nazis established to better control Dutch Jews.

The accusation is outlined in "The Betrayal of Anne Frank," a book published Monday by the Canadian auth...
When Federation CEO Keith Dvorchik went to Israel last October, one of the places he visited was Hebron, the beautiful city where the Jewish patriarch Abraham and matriarch Sarah, as well as Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah and Joseph are buried. As Dvorchik relaxed with others in the group, he learned that the soldiers who guard the tomb have no place to relax when they are off duty.

The IDF soldiers, known as the Golani Brigade, serve a 3-month rotation at Hebron, guarding not just the tomb but also the city. Their base is built out of shipping containers!

Dvorchik came home with a...
I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted ...

For many years I've been told that we look alike. Also for many years I've been told that we sound alike. I do know we are both funny ... but she was a comedian and I was a dancer and now (still) a vocalist. Also, she is deceased and I am (at least for now) still alive!

Have you guessed who I'm referring to?

Joan Molinsky is her name and she (like me) was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Now do you know? Of course you do! Joan Rivers was her performing name.

I sincerely miss her and her sometimes insult comedy. She wasn't afraid to tackle anyone...
(JNS) - Every age has its own narrative myth about those who acquire great wealth. In the 21st century, the prevailing story is that of the nerd who parlays technological genius into billions. The Big Tech oligarchs who make their way onto the Forbes' billionaire list are envied and feared. But with only a few conspicuous exceptions, their posh lifestyles, liberal politics and donations to fashionable and politically correct charities generally protect them from the worst abuse that pop culture can inflict on the famous. The nerd billionaires may sometimes be mocked, but the chattering cl...
Woodstock Music Festival co-producer Michael Lang attends a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock at the at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC in New York CIty, Aug. 13, 2009.

(New York Jewish Week via JTA) - Michael Lang, the Jewish co-creator of 1969's legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair, died on Saturday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital in Manhattan. He was 77.

The cause, according to a family spokesperson, was a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

A concert promoter who was just 24 at the time, he was one of several Jewish collaborators who made the generation-defining festival, billed as "Three Days of Peace and Music," happen. Other key players included music executive and promoter Artie Kornfeld - another Brooklyn-born Jew - and businessman Joel Ro...
(JTA)  A marketing firm that has worked extensively with Jewish nonprofits has declined to work with one because of growing concerns among its staff members about groups with significant programming in Israel.

The Shalom Hartman Institute, a leading Jewish educational think tank, reached out to Big Duck, a Brooklyn-based worker-owned cooperative, because of Big Ducks history of working with Jewish organizations in the past.

But Farra Trompeter, Big Ducks co-director, told Dorit Rabbani, Hartmans North America communications director, last week that the firm would not work...
(JTA)  Charitable foundations with ties to Jewish federations and Jewish families feature prominently in a new report about the flow of tax-deductible donations to organizations that a leading Muslim civil rights lobby has identified as anti-Muslim groups.

Titled Islamophobia in the Mainstream, the report was published Tuesday by CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group and political lobby that is harshly critical of Israel.

It follows a different report from 2019 that identified some 1,100 groups CAIR identified as funding anti-Muslim activity...
(New York Jewish Week via JTA)  In a boon for scholars and amateur researchers, records from Yad Vashem, Israels Holocaust authority, are now publicly available through JewishGen, the largest online Jewish genealogy resource of its kind.

The agreement announced Tuesday by Yad Vashem and New Yorks Museum of Jewish Heritage/A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, an affiliate of JewishGen, provides easy access to millions of names commemorated in Yad Vashems database.

Pages of Testimony, documents collected by Yad Vashem since the 1950s, include the names, biographical details...
Chris Daughtrys 25-year-old stepdaughter, Hannah Price, died by suicide, the rocker revealed late Wednesday, two months after she was found dead in her Tennessee home.

From a young age, Hannah struggled with mental illness and was in and out of therapy and treatment centers. As Hannah got older, she struggled to find her footing and began using drugs and often found herself in abusive relationships, the American Idol alum said in a joint statement with his wife, Deanna Daughtry, Prices mother.

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Just months after losing her biological father to suicide, Hannah was the victim of a crime and was shot in the face. We did everything we could to support her and get her the help she needed to recover from these tragedies and get her life back on track.

Price, whose biological father died by suicide in March 2018, was shot in the face about six months later when she was trying to save a 15-year-old boy from Crip gang members in Humboldt, Tenn., she wrote on Facebook at the time.

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In the near future, she was planning on moving closer to family to seek further treatment, her parents said.

[ Chris Daughtrys wife slams rumors about daughters death ]

Chris Daughtry and Hannah Price (Getty Images / Instagram)

But on the morning of her death, Nov. 12, she reached out to say she was in fear for her life from her boyfriend who allegedly physically abused her and had taken her car.

The Fentress County Police Department performed a welfare check that day and determined that Price was OK, Daughtry said.

That afternoon, Prices boyfriend came home and found her dead.

Hannah was a generous and loving person who wanted more for herself and others. She will forever be in the hearts and minds of those of us who love her, her family said in the statement.

If you or a loved one is experiencing mental health, abuse, or addiction problems, please seek help immediately.

Days after Prices death, dispelling rumors, the District Attorney for Tennessees 8th District told the Daily News that any attempt to rule it a homicide was premature and irresponsible. Deanna Daughtry, her mother, had also publicly begged people to stop speculating about her death.
(JNS)  A dozen major Jewish organizations spanning the religious and political spectrum are urging the U.S. Senate to quickly approve funding for the replenishment of Israels Iron Dome air-defense system.

The House of Representatives overwhelming approved (420-9) legislation last September to provide $1 billion in funds, but the legislation has since stalled in the Senate.

The letter, which was spearheaded by the American Jewish Congress and Jewish Council for Public Affairs, calls on Senate leaders Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to move the measure forward.

As...
(Israel Hayom via JNS)  A record-breaking number of Israelis tested positive for the coronavirus in the current infection wave, according to Health Ministry data published on Tuesday morning. Of the 197,402 Israelis screened for the virus in the past 24 hours, 10,644 (5.39 percent) tested positive.

It is the second-highest number of daily cases since Sept. 2, when 11,345 Israelis were reported to have been infected  the highest caseload since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

The reproduction rate, which refers to the number of people each confirmed carrier infects, stands at 1.9...
(JNS) - "I'm grateful to be alive," wrote Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker on Facebook shortly after he emerged unscathed from his synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where he was held hostage for nearly 11 hours, along with three congregants. "I am grateful that we made it out."

The world watched in shock on Saturday as yet another antisemitic incident threatened to take the lives of innocent people - their only crime praying in their synagogue.

On Sunday, the FBI named Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, as the perpetrator. Akram was shot dead by an FBI...
(JTA)  Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker has publicly described for the first time the moment he and two other hostages escaped a gunman in his synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday

The last hour or so of the standoff, he wasnt getting what he wanted, Cytron-Walker told CBS in an interview posted on Monday morning. It didnt look good. It didnt sound good. We were very, we were terrified.

And when I saw an opportunity where he wasnt in a good position, I made sure that the two gentlemen who were still with me that they were ready to go. The exit wasnt too far a...
Ohio GOP Congressman posts Nazi health card in attack on DC vaccine mandate

By Ron Kampeas

WASHINGTON (JTA)  Warren Davidson, a Republican Congressman from Ohio, posted a photo of a Nazi-era health pass and compared Washington, D.C.s vaccine mandate to the Nazis dehumanization of Jews in urging local residents not to comply.

Jewish groups and Jewish Democrats blasted Davidson for the comparison, which appeared in a tweet commenting on new vaccine instructions shared by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.

This has been done before, Davidson said Wednesday on Twitter, posting a Na...
(JNS) When COVID-19 struck the United States, I thought that it would become a unifying force. I naively reasoned that the coronavirus pandemic would bring people together. I believed that the bitter polarization that began with the crash of the stock market in 2007-08 would finally end.

I was wrong. COVID has caused a greater rupture. It has brought health-care workers closer together, but few others. It has socially distanced society even further. The political divide that used to be a significant crack has become a huge chasm. It has also sparked violence. And the children have suffered...
(JNS)  Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz must have known that hosting Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at his home in Rosh Haayin would arouse the ire of the right. Otherwise, he wouldnt have cloaked the outcome of his tete-a-tete last Tuesday night with the octogenarian honcho in Ramallah in typically euphemistic language.

Following the meeting, Gantz tweeted that he and Abbas had discussed the implementation of economic and civilian measures, and emphasized the importance of deepening security coordination and preventing terror and violencefor the well-bei...
This letter from ZOA was sent to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Deputy Prime Minister Benjamin Gantz, Justice Minister Gideon Saar, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, State of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel

Re: URGENT Request to stop Minhal Ezrahis immoral and discriminatory planned destruction of terror victim Ezra Schwartz vineyard and Jewish families livelihoods at Arugot Farms

Dear Prime Minister Bennett, Deputy Prime Minister Gantz and Justice Minister Saar:

The Zionist Organization of America urges you to use your good offices to stop the Minhal Ezrahi (Israeli Civil administra...
BEIJING, Jan. 20 -- On January 20, the US guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold trespassed into China's territorial waters off Xisha Islands without Chinese governments permission. The naval and air forces of the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command conducted tracking and whole-process monitoring on the US destroyer and warned it off, said Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesperson for the PLA Southern Theater Command.

The spokesperson pointed out that the US move has seriously violated Chinas national sovereignty and security, constituting another ironclad proof of US attempt to seek maritime hegemony and militarization in the South China Sea. Facts have fully proven that the US is nothing but a "trouble-maker" and the "biggest destroyer" of the peace and stability in the South China Sea.

We solemnly demand the US side to immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of all possible contingencies. The troops of the PLA Southern Theater Command always stay on high alert and will take resolute actions to safeguard Chinas sovereignty and security as well as the peace and stability in the South China Sea, reaffirmed the spokesperson.
Two men were arrested by British police Thursday morning in connection with the investigation into Saturdays synagogue standoff in Colleyville, Texas.

One of the men was taken into custody in Birmingham and the other in Manchester, the Greater Manchester Police announced. Both remain in custody for questioning.

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No other information was provided, including their identities or how they are tied to Malik Faisal Akram, the 44-year-old British national who took four people hostage at Congregation Beth Israel.

Two teenagers were previously arrested in south Manchester, but have since been released. They were also not publicly identified.

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Malik Faisal Akram stayed at a Dallas homeless shelter before taking four people hostage at a Colleyville synagogue Saturday. (AP)

The FBI has said that Akram acted alone when he held the four hostages, including a rabbi, at gunpoint inside the synagogue.

The British man reportedly landed at Kennedy Airport in late December, then made his way to Texas, where he stayed at a motel and a homeless shelter.

[ Synagogue hostage-taker had been kicked out of Texas mosque days earlier: report ]

On Saturday, he knocked on the door of the synagogue, then held Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants hostage while he called for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist and suspected Al Qaeda associate serving 86 years in a Fort Worth prison for shooting at U.S. military officers while in custody in Afghanistan.

Police stand in front of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue. (Brandon Wade/AP)

Siddiquis legal counsel told the Daily News Sunday that Akram has no connection with the family whatsoever and he has also no connection to the Free Aafia movement inside the US.

The first hostage was released around 5 p.m. and the other three fled when Cytron-Walker threw a chair at Akram to distract him.

FBI agents then stormed the synagogue, threw a stun grenade at Akram and fatally shot him, The Washington Post reported.

In late 2020, British counterintelligence agency MI5 investigated Akram as a possible terrorist, but cleared him after determining he did not pose a threat, according to The Guardian. He was never added to a no-fly list.
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Hall monitors just got a lot more serious.

New Mexico is calling on the National Guard and state employees to serve as substitute teachers in an effort to combat staffing shortages caused by COVID.

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At least 800 subs and day care workers are needed across the state, according to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

New Mexico Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus announced an initiative to shore up public school substitute teaching on a voluntary basis with National Guard troops and state bureaucrats, at Sante Fe High School in Santa Fe, N.M., on Tuesday. (Morgan Lee/AP)

The omicron wave has forced around 60 districts to go remote and 75 child care centers to close after school resumed in January, the governors office said in a press release.

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Weve heard from multiple districts that a lack of substitute teachers is among the most critical staffing issues right now, and theyve asked for the states support, Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said.

Enter the New Mexico National Guard. Already, 50 members are prepared to volunteer, Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT reported. Guard higher-ups expect that number to grow. The new substitute teachers can be qualified in as few as two days, with a short training session and a background check.

Guard teachers will be paid as they usually are for active duty assignments. State bureaucrats who work as subs will be paid their normal salary.

The National Guard personnel will not be armed and may wear their military uniform or civilian garb, depending on each schools preference, according to KOAT.

New Mexico is the first state to call in the National Guard as teachers. Massachusetts activated the Guard in September 2021 to drive school buses.

There are 16,000 state workers and 4,000 National Guard members in New Mexico.

With News Wire Services
A West Virginia reporter said she was OK after being struck by a car during a live TV broadcast.

The incident occurred Wednesday in Dunbar, W.V., where WSAZ journalist Tori Yorgey was standing along a road at the scene of a water main break.

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Toward the beginning of her on-air appearance, Yorgey was knocked over by a car in a moment that was caught on camera.

I just got hit by a car but Im OK! Yorgey said.

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Wow, this reporter gets hit by a car, and rebounds to finish the live shot!  pic.twitter.com/dbwKt5N1xc  Lee K. Howard (@HowardWKYT) January 20, 2022

Yorgey could later be heard telling the concerned driver involved in the incident that she wasnt injured.

You know, thats live TV for you, Yorgey said. Its all good. I actually got hit by a car in college, too, just like that. I am so glad Im OK.

Yorgey also mentioned that this is her final week with WSAZ, which is licensed to Huntington, W.V. She is set to begin a new job at a Pittsburgh news station, according to Cleveland.com.

The journalist, who completed her report following the collision, said she wasnt sure if the car hit her high or low.

My whole life just flashed before my eyes, Yorgey said.
A San Diego woman who fell to her death along with her 2-year-old son at Petco Park in September did so intentionally, according to police.

Officials have ruled the deaths of Raquel Wilkins, 40, and son Denzel Browning-Wilkins a murder-suicide, a spokesperson for the San Diego Police Department confirmed to the Daily News Thursday.

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The detectives conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation that included dozens of interviews, reviewing of available video footage and collecting background information to determine what led to the deaths, police said in a statement.

Wilkins and Denzel fell from the sixth-floor concession area to the sidewalk below at the Padres stadium on Sept. 25. First responders attempted CPR but both were pronounced dead at the scene.

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[ Woman, toddler dead after suspicious fall at San Diego Padres Petco Park ]

Raquel Wilkins and her 2-year-old son fell to their deaths at Petco Park in September. (Gregory Bull/AP)

An attorney representing Wilkins family told the Daily News that the city of San Diego, which owns 70 percent of Petco Park, is acting like any other defendant in a lawsuit: blame the victim, especially if she cant defend herself.

Within hours of Raquels and Denzels deaths, the citys mayor, Todd Gloria, went to the press and blamed it all on Raquel while plugging his political accomplishments, Daniel Gilleon told The News in a statement. Four months later, the citys police went to the press and basically said, the Mayor was right. But they didnt have the decency to explain why a mother would kill her own baby. Welcome to San Diego.

Gilleon said he has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that names the city of San Diego as the primary defendant.

At the time of Wilkins and Denzels deaths, police initially said they appeared to be suspicious. Days later, Gloria called it horrifically tragic and began talking about mental health crises.

I hope that folks who find themselves in this position  and there is no shame in admitting that youre having challenges  to avail themselves to the many services that are out there. You are not alone in this regard, he told Fox 5. Many people are suffering with depression, anxiety  either because that was the way that theyve been for a while or because the pandemic has exacerbated it. Whatever it is, seek out help. There is no need to harm a child, to traumatize others in our community. Theres help thats out there if you need it.

He later publicly apologized after being accused of jumping to conclusions but Gilleon told The News that Wilkins family never heard from the mayor directly.
Blood drawn from patients shortly after they were infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may indicate who is most likely to land in the hospital, according to a new study.

Researchers at Stanford Medicine (Stanford, CA, USA) looking at antibodies in patients soon after they were infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 found key differences between those whose cases remained mild and those who later developed severe symptoms. For the study, the researchers collected blood samples from 178 adults who had tested positive for COVID-19. At the time of testing, these individuals symptoms were universally mild. As time passed, 15 participants developed symptoms bad enough to land them in the emergency department. Analyzing the antibodies in blood samples taken from study participants on the day of their coronavirus test and 28 days later, the researchers ferreted out some notable differences between those who developed severe symptoms and those who didnt.

Antibodies are proteins shaped, roughly speaking, like two-branched trees. Theyre produced by immune cells and secreted in response to things the body perceives as foreign, such as microbial pathogens. An amazing feature of antibodies is that their branches can assume a multitude of shapes. The resulting spatial and electrochemical diversity of the areas defined by antibodies branches and their intersection is so great that, in the aggregate, antibodies take on all comers. When an antibodys shape and electrochemistry is complementary to a feature of a pathogen, it gloms on tightly. Sometimes the adherence isnt in the right spot to prevent the pathogen from doing its nefarious business. Antibodies that bind pathogens in just the right places, preventing infection, are called neutralizing antibodies. In either case, the resulting adhesion generates whats called an immune complex, drawing immune cells to the site.

The researchers found that while many participants whose symptoms remained mild had healthy levels of neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 from the get-go, participants who wound up hospitalized had initially minimal or undetectable levels of neutralizing antibodies, although their immune cells started pumping them out later in the infections course. A second finding involved an often-neglected structural aspect of antibodies trunks: They are decorated with chains of various kinds of sugar molecules linked together. The makeup of these sugar chains has an effect on how inflammatory an immune complex will be.

Many types of immune cells have receptors for this sugar-coated antibody trunk. These receptors distinguish among antibodies sugar molecules, helping to determine how fiercely the immune cells respond. A key finding of the new study was that in participants who progressed to severe COVID-19, sugar chains on certain antibodies targeting SARS-CoV2 were deficient in a variety of sugar called fucose. This deficiency was evident on the day these progressors first tested positive. So, it wasnt a result of severe infection but preceded it. Furthermore, immune cells in these patients featured inordinately high levels of receptors for these fucose-lacking types of antibodies. Such receptors, called CD16a, are known to boost immune cells inflammatory activity.

The researchers also studied the antibodies elicited in 29 adults after they received the first and second doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine. They compared these antibodies with those of adults who didnt progress to severe disease about a month after either being vaccinated or infected; they also compared them with antibodies from individuals hospitalized with COVID-19. Two vaccine doses led to overall high neutralizing-antibody levels. In addition, antibody fucose content was high in the vaccinated and mildly symptomatic groups but low in the hospitalized individuals.

The researchers tested their findings in mice that had been bioengineered so their immune cells featured human receptors for antibodies on their surfaces. They applied immune complexes - extracted, variously, from patients with high levels of fucose-deficient antibodies, patients with normal levels or vaccinated adults - to the mices windpipes. The investigators observed four hours later that the fucose-deficient immune-complex extracts generated a massive inflammatory reaction in the mices lungs. Neither normal-fucose extracts nor extracts from vaccinated individuals had this effect. When the experiment was repeated in similar mice that had been bioengineered to lack CD16a, there was no such hyperinflammatory response in their lungs.

The immunological factors the researchers have identified - a sluggish neutralizing-antibody response, deficient fucose levels on antibody-attached sugar chains, and hyperabundant receptors for fucose-deficient antibodies - were each, on their own, modestly predictive of COVID-19 severity. But taken together, they allowed the researchers to guess the diseases course with an accuracy of about 80%. The researchers speculate that the abundance of CD16a on immune cells and the relative absence of fucose on antibodies sugar chains may not be entirely unrelated phenomena in some people, and that while neither alone is enough to consistently induce severe inflammatory symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection, the combination leads to a devastating inflammatory overdrive.

Weve identified an early biomarker of risk for progression to severe symptoms, said Taia Wang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of infectious diseases and of microbiology and immunology. And we found that antibodies elicited by an mRNA vaccine - in this case, Pfizers - differ in important, beneficial ways from those in people infected with SARS-CoV-2 who later progress to severe symptoms. The upshot could eventually be a test that, given soon after a positive COVID-19 result, would help clinicians focus attention on those likely to need it most.

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Stanford Medicine
The opening of Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Azabu Tokyo on 14 January 2022 represents the brand's 13th property in the land of the rising sun, fortifying its presence in the Japanese market. Designed to cater to diverse lifestyle preferences of leisure and business travellers, each of the 171 elegant apartments, ranging from studio to three-bedroom configurations, is well-appointed with a private balcony, fully-equipped kitchen and all the essential amenities to recreate the comforts of home enhanced by distinctive Japanese hospitality.

Anchored in Tokyo's prestigious Azabu-Juban embassy district, its chic location offers an enviable base for exploration by foot to discover stylish neighbours, such as quirky cafes, restaurants and bars, boutiques that are as fashionable as the area's residents as well as a famous traditional shopping street lined with ancient architecture and shops. For more cosmopolitan lifestyle options, a short 15-minute stroll or two-minute train ride will bring guests to the world-renowned Roppongi, Japan's epicentre for nightlife and the arts.

Hotel website
Karin van den Berg has been appointed by Hilton as senior director of operations for its full-service hotels in the UAE. She will oversee operations at 17 hotels across the emirates.

These 17 hotels fall under the Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Curio Collection by Hilton and Canopy by Hilton brands. van den Berg will be based in Hilton's regional Dubai office and report to William Costley, the SVP for the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey.

With a Hilton career spanning more than 20 years, van den Berg has extensive hospitality operations experience. She joined Hilton's revenue management team in Europe in 2001, quickly progressing to become senior director of revenue management for Europe in 2006. Three years later, she took on her first hotel manager position at Hilton Royal Parc Soestduinen, before opening Hilton the Hague as general manager. This was followed by general manager roles at DoubleTree by Hilton Zagreb and Hilton Rotterdam. Most recently, van den Berg was area general manager for Hilton in South and West Germany.
The Gehr Group announced the promotion of Ms. Molly Caccamo to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at its subsidiary, Gehr Hospitality, focusing on acquisitions, financing, and lending activities for hospitality and multifamily assets.

"Molly joined our team at Gehr Hospitality in early 2017, and shortly thereafter she was appointed as Vice President Acquisitions," said David Lifschitz, President and CEO of The Gehr Group. "Over the past four years, Molly has become an invaluable member of the executive team at The Gehr Group, as she earned the respect and trust of our top management," he added. "In her new role, she will oversee all business activities for Gehr Hospitality as we continue to broaden our portfolio."

Prior to joining Gehr, Molly was a Director with Cushman & Wakefield's Global Equity, Debt & Structured Finance team and, previously, a Director with Ackman Ziff's Hospitality Group, where she completed approximately $1.5 billion in hotel transactions. Prior to that, Molly served as a Senior Associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Hospitality and Leisure Practice, where she provided consulting services including market studies, feasibility analyses, acquisition due diligence, REIT lease structuring, and valuation of hospitality and commercial real estate investments. Molly holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Commonwealth Hotels announced today that Jennifer Ruiz has been appointed the general manager of the Embassy Suites by Hilton Akron Canton Airport. Ms. Ruiz brings over 10 years of hospitality experience to her new role as general manager having previously served as the regional general manager at the Courtyard Columbus Dublin in Columbus Ohio.

"Jennifer's career path with our company is a true reflection of dedication and growth from within." said Jennifer Porter, chief operations officer of Commonwealth Hotels. "She will be integral in ensuring the Embassy Suites continues to remain on the forefront of hospitality in the Canton market."

Jennifer began her career at Commonwealth as the opening general manager for the Fairfield Inn and Suites Canton South and was promoted in 2019 to the regional general manager role where she transitioned two Columbus based hotels in to the Commonwealth organization; leading both in culture, performance, and service. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Jenn served as the general manager with Pillar Hotels & Resorts and Alliance Hospitality. In addition to her hotel responsibilities, Jennifer serves on the OHLA Women in Lodging advisory council and the executive board of Visit Dublin. Ruiz is a graduate of Youngstown State University.
The City Council ratified dozens of leadership posts Thursday, including the assignment of several key roles that will almost certainly have a bearing on the future of Mayor Adams policy goals.

The legislative bodys vote laid out which Council members will head which committees, with 49 of 51 Council members voting in favor of the appointments and two abstaining.

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New York City Councilmember Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) (Theodore Parisienne for New York/New York Daily News)

Among the most important leadership spots are Finance Committee head, which went to Councilman Justin Brannan; chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee, which went to Councilwoman Gale Brewer, and the head of the Public Safety Committee, which went to Kamillah Hanks.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said that the appointments today are heavily focused on ensuring the Council provides strong oversight as a co-equal branch of city government.

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It is our responsibility to be a check on the administration. That is the responsibility of the City Council, but we want to make sure we are also in partnership with the administration as well, she said on the steps of City Hall. Were looking at the greater good of all New Yorkers.

The behind-the-scenes leadup to Brewers appointment proved to be contentious though, given the investigation committees ability to probe the Adams administration and the city agencies it oversees.

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

After Mayor Adams failed in his push to make Queens Councilman Francisco Moya the next Council Speaker, he took another gamble by privately pushing for Manhattan Councilwoman Julie Menin to chair the Investigations Committee, sources familiar with the matter said.

Before Thursdays vote, as support solidified behind Brewer, the mayor put out a private call to Speaker Adams asking her to save some face for Menin, according to a Council member who only spoke on condition of anonymity.

That call, said the Council member, resulted in Menin getting picked to chair the Small Business Committee.

When asked about the mayors support of Menin for the investigations job, Brewer downplayed it as not that important.

New York City Council Member Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) (Barry Williams/for New York Daily News)

I just do the work. You know how I am, she said. If people have ideas for the committee, Ill take them.

Asked about outreach from the mayors team on behalf of Menin, Fabian Levy, a spokesman for the mayor, said that it is not our practice to comment on internal conversations other than to say the mayor and the speaker have a productive partnership that respects the independent leadership of the City Council.

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Adrienne Adams defended Hizzoner when asked if it was appropriate for his team to involve itself in the selection of Brewer  but also offered him a slight warning.

The mayor is one of the stakeholders involved in this process, as are many stakeholders involved in this process, so the answer to your question would be yes, it is appropriate, but the bottom line is that it is still our decision who is appointed to these committees, she said. That is our decision, and the buck stops here.

Some other key leadership appointments include Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who will head the Criminal Justice Committee; Amanda Farias, the new chair of the Economic Development Committee; and Councilman Rafael Salamanca, the Land Use Committee chairman.

Before the full Council vote, the bodys Rules, Privileges and Elections Committee approved those and other picks. And in a strange turn of events, the committee got input over Zoom during its public comment period from a man opposed to a new city law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.

The man, who didnt clearly identify himself, went on a bizarre rant about ordering a mail-order bride, apparently to make his case against the new law.
LONDON - The Set Collection is delighted to announce that one of Asias most lauded luxury hospitality brands, The House Collective will comprise the next four properties to become a part of its leading edge hotel representation company. The House Collectives four hotels join The Set Collections four founding member hotels: Hotel Cafe Royal in London, Conservatorium in Amsterdam, Lutetia in Paris and Mamilla hotel in Jerusalem.

As Dean Winter, Managing Director for Swire Hotels states, We believe this exciting partnership will further elevate The House Collective reputation in the ultra-luxury hospitality space and help our brands stand out and appeal to the growing number of luxury consumers outside of Asia.

Jean-Luc Naret, Executive Director of The Set Collection also comments, I cannot think of a better group of hotels to be our first new members than The House Collective. Like our founding members in Europe and Israel, The House Collectives properties have made an impact on their market and the luxury travellers collective consciousness that is far greater than their relatively small footprint would suggest. It is a privilege to work with these expert hoteliers, not only to offer them the myriad benefits that being a part of The Set Collection offers but also to learn and grow together in new and exciting markets during these unique times.

The Set Collection is a new luxury brand representation company of like-minded independent hotels, run by hoteliers for hoteliers. It has been designed for owners, investors and management teams seeking an alternative to the traditional representation and distribution service. With an agile and flexible business model, The Set Collection provides a tailored solution to supply only the services that hoteliers need, designed to adapt quickly to continually evolving markets conditions and business needs of its member hotels whilst providing a competitive fee structure. Under The Set Collection, owners and management teams retain their hotel brand and identity alongside the day-to-day running of their property, whilst taking advantage of tailored services to support their operation and existing teams.

The Set Collection is building a portfolio of non-competing hotels whilst providing a platform that will encourage them to work together to achieve their business objectives and the addition of The House Collective is an important milestone in this development. One of the tenets of The Set Collection is to work only with exceptional and like-minded organisations that truly embody the spirit of their locations, a determination that is exemplified in its properties in four of the worlds great cities; Amsterdam, London, Paris and Jerusalem. Those hotels harness the artistry, combined talent, skills, expertise and flair of their teams to create inspiring environments and individual experiences that feel beautifully composed and the four hotels of The House Collective are similarly uniquely imagined to reflect the soul and aesthetics of their locales.

Whether in the neon cityscape of Hong Kong and Londons vibrant thoroughfares, the fashionable streets in Shanghai and Paris majestic boulevards, Beijings thriving art scene and Amsterdams museums or Chengdus monumental past and Jerusalems unparalleled history - the hotels of The House Collective and The Set Collections could not be better matched. This exciting marriage of East and West is the first chapter in an organisation that looks set to disrupt the traditional models of what went before while doing justice to the reputation and success of these iconic properties present at its start.

About The House Collective

The House Collective by Swire Hotels is a group of refined, highly individual properties that defy

comparison. Each uniquely imagined, The Opposite House in Beijing, The Upper House in Hong Kong, The Temple House in Chengdu and The Middle House in Shanghai were designed for seasoned travellers who seek a different, intimate and personalised experience in luxury travel. Each House is a sophisticated, singular piece of design, created by talented architects and designers, that reflect the unique qualities of their surroundings.

About The Set Collection

A carefully curated luxury hotel collection, comprising of some of the world's most exceptional, likeminded, independent hotels and resorts worldwide. Being flexible, agile and at the forefront of innovation, we are the primary choice for hotel owners, who seek a market-leading brand affiliation partner that elevates their own hotel brand and identity. Capturing the hearts and minds of guests is a value that is shared amongst all of our member hotels and is what drives us to create memorable experiences that leave you with the desire to return.

Headquartered in London, a core team of experienced hospitality professionals with decades of experience across the luxury hospitality sector lead The Set Collection. The leadership team consists of Jean-Luc Naret - Executive Director, Brian Gore - VP Marketing, Brand & Digital; Robin Stangroom - VP Revenue, Reservations & Distribution, Ruurd Hooijer - Senior Director of Sales & Marketing & Eliot Sandiford  Director of Public Relations.
Alexandria, VA  New variant developments, government restrictions, and international policy inconsistencies are currently hindering a more accelerated return for global business travel. However, the industry continues to reflect progress and optimism in its long-view expectations for 2022, according to the latest poll from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the worlds largest business travel association and leader in education, research, networking and advocacy.

Here at the start of a new year, the business travel industry and business travelers continue to face a dynamically changing landscape due to Omicron. One comment received from a poll respondent readily sums it up: Uncertainty is a huge wet blanket on [business] travel, said Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA. Despite the wave of Omicron and the ripple of challenges it has created, there are positive signs, and industry professionals continue to be optimistic for the long-term outlook of global business travel.

This poll is the 25th in GBTAs COVID-19 Recovery series tracking the pulse of global travel buyers, supplier members and other stakeholders as the industry navigates business travel during pandemic times. Here are some of the January poll highlights:

OPTIMISM FOR THE LONG HAUL . Three in four travel managers expect business travel volume at their company will be much (17%) or somewhat (58%) higher in 2022 than it was in 2021. Another one in ten (12%) expect business travel to remain about the same as 2021, but few (5%) expect it to be lower. Among travel suppliers and travel management companies (TMCs), three in four expect their companys revenue in 2022 from business travel to be much (25%) or somewhat (51%) higher compared to 2021. An additional one in ten (13%) suppliers and TMCs expect company revenue to remain about the same as 2021.

. Three in four travel managers expect business travel volume at their company will be much (17%) or somewhat (58%) higher in 2022 than it was in 2021. Another one in ten (12%) expect business travel to remain about the same as 2021, but few (5%) expect it to be lower. COMPANY TRAVEL CANCELLATION DECREASES. Poll results show a decline in the percentage of companies who continue to suspend or cancel business travel. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of GBTA member companies have not yet opened international travel, compared to 79% in the October 2021 GBTA poll, and 29% have not opened domestic business travel versus 38% in October. Less than four in ten (38% versus 48% in October) of respondents report their company has suspended or canceled all or most business travel regardless of location.

Poll results show a decline in the percentage of companies who continue to suspend or cancel business travel. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of GBTA member companies have not yet opened international travel, compared to 79% in the October 2021 GBTA poll, and 29% have not opened domestic business travel versus 38% in October. Less than four in ten (38% versus 48% in October) of respondents report their company has suspended or canceled all or most business travel regardless of location. CURRENT BUSINESS IMPACTS . Six in ten (60%) suppliers/TMCs report their bookings from corporate clients decreased from the month prior. One in five (21%) characterize their bookings from corporate customers as having increased, but another one in five (19%) report their bookings remained the same. A majority of suppliers and TMCs surveyed are concerned about the impact of Omicron on their companys revenue. Seven in ten report Omicron will likely have a very negative (32%) or moderately negative (38%) impact on their companys revenue derived from business travel. An additional one in four feel Omicron will have either a slightly negative (20%) or no impact (3%) on business revenue.

. Six in ten (60%) report their bookings from corporate clients decreased from the month prior. One in five (21%) characterize their bookings from corporate customers as having increased, but another one in five (19%) report their bookings remained the same. A majority of suppliers and TMCs surveyed are concerned about the impact of Omicron on their companys revenue. Seven in ten report Omicron will likely have a very negative (32%) or moderately negative (38%) impact on their companys revenue derived from business travel. An additional one in four feel Omicron will have either a slightly negative (20%) or no impact (3%) on business revenue. COMPARING VARIANTS . When asked to compare Omicron and Delta variant concerns, respondents were more positive but still divided. Two in five report they are either less worried (43%) about Omicron compared to Delta or are equally concerned (45%). Only one in ten (13%) say they are more worried about Omicron versus Delta.

. When asked to compare Omicron and Delta variant concerns, respondents were more positive but still divided. Two in five report they are either less worried (43%) about Omicron compared to Delta or are equally concerned (45%). Only one in ten (13%) say they are more worried about Omicron versus Delta. COMPANY GUIDANCE LARGELY UNCHANGED . Relatively few companies have introduced new travel restrictions due to the Omicron variant. Only one in four (27%) travel managers/procurement officers report their company has introduced new travel restrictions or requirements, whereas two-thirds (67%) report their company has not. More than half (52%) reported their company is unlikely to do so.

. Relatively few companies have introduced new travel restrictions due to the Omicron variant. Only one in four (27%) travel managers/procurement officers report their company has introduced new travel restrictions or requirements, whereas two-thirds (67%) report their company has not. More than half (52%) reported their company is unlikely to do so. BIGGEST BARRIERS . When asked to name the single greatest barrier to business travel, 43% of survey respondents cited government policies that restrict travel or make it difficult (such as entry restrictions or mandatory quarantines). Travel managers based in the UK (66%) and Europe (62%) were more likely than those in North America (33%) to cite government policies as being the single greatest barrier to business travel. Conversely, North American travel managers (27%) were more likely than those in Europe (15%) to say company policies restricting employees from traveling is the biggest barrier. Other business travel barriers included company policies restricting employees from traveling (24%), employee unwillingness/reluctance to travel (9%), offices not being fully open (9%), and travel budget freeze/cost savings (6%).

. When asked to name the single greatest barrier to business travel, 43% of survey respondents cited government policies that restrict travel or make it difficult (such as entry restrictions or mandatory quarantines). HURDLES CONTINUE FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL . When asked to name barriers specifically to international business travel, respondents said policy uncertainty (72%), strict requirements on international visitors (69%), policy inconsistencies across different countries (64%), and required documentation and paperwork (45%).

. When asked to name barriers specifically to international business travel, respondents said policy uncertainty (72%), strict requirements on international visitors (69%), policy inconsistencies across different countries (64%), and required documentation and paperwork (45%). GETTING BACK OUT THERE. Despite Omicron, most travel managers feel employees are willing to travel. Two in three (64%) feel their employees are willing or very willing to travel for business in the current environment. This was down, however, from 78% in the October GBTA poll. A majority of seven in ten (72%) GBTA members and stakeholders report they would definitely or probably would travel for business. However, respondents based in Europe (49%) are more likely than those based in North America (35%) to report their company has canceled all or most business trips.

Methodology

GBTA conducted this poll among its members and other business travel industry professionals across the globe from January 4-13, 2022. A total of 832 responses were received. You can view the full GBTA poll results here.

About the Global Business Travel Association

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world"s largest business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations across four continents. GBTA"s members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA delivers world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, visit www.gbta.org.

Nikki Stimson

+44(0) 7764 618199

GBTA
Toronto, Canada - In late 2021, leading luxury hospitality company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts announced its first Private Jet journeys taking flight in 2023. Today, Four Seasons unveils more opportunities to enjoy a five-star experience in the sky, launching three more journeys in 2023 - a record-breaking year for departures as travellers look to resume plans to explore the world.

Our Private Jet offering consistently attracts global interest from travellers looking to make their next adventure truly extraordinary, says Christian Clerc, President, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. We have grown our journey schedule to accommodate seven trips in 2023  the most weve ever offered in one year  to best serve our guests as they navigate the changing travel environment. Regardless of the chosen itinerary, the expertise and personalised service of our dedicated Four Seasons Private Jet team offers travellers the opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy every moment to its fullest.

The seven expertly curated itineraries set to take flight in 2023 will allow Four Seasons passengers to seamlessly explore a collection of remarkable destinations while enjoying the benefits of private travel. Newly added journeys include:

Timeless Encounters March 2023  March 26  April 18, 2023

Kona, USA  Bora Bora, French Polynesia  Sydney, Australia  Bali, Indonesia  Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, Thailand  Taj Mahal, India (day trip)  Dubai, UAE  Prague, Czech Republic  London, England

The longest-running Private Jet journey, this 24-day voyage offers inspiring urban experiences, astonishing natural beauty and a stop at one of the worlds iconic wonders. Explore Sydney Harbour on a privately chartered yacht before jetting off to Bali, home to idyllic beaches, rolling rice fields and lush jungles. In Northern Thailand, discover enduring traditions. On the way to Dubai, stop in Agra for a special day trip to the fabled Taj Mahal. A final stop in London offers a chance to explore eclectic neighbourhoods, historic sites and an exciting culinary scene.

Ancient Explorer 2023 August 16  September 8, 2023

Miami, USA  Mexico City, Mexico  Easter Island, Chile  Bora Bora, French Polynesia  Great Barrier Reef, Australia  Bangkok, Thailand  Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan  The Pyramids, Egypt (day trip)  Taormina, Italy  Madrid, Spain

From the Great Barrier Reef and the Pyramids to remote Easter Island and the Lost City of Petra, ten captivating destinations make up this remarkable journey of discovery. In Mexico City, soar over the Aztec city of Teotihuacan on a hot air balloon ride before venturing to remote Easter Island, dotted with massive moai statues. Enjoy the blissful island of Bora Bora as well as Australias Great Barrier Reef. In Jordan, spend the day at the world-famous archaeological site of Petra and enjoy a traditional Bedouin dinner under the stars. Marvel at the Pyramids of Giza and the Temple of the Sphinx in Egypt before concluding in Europe, exploring Sicily and Spain with stops in Taormina and Madrid.

Uncharted Discovery 2023  November 30  December 20, 2023

New Orleans, USA  Peninsula Papagayo, Costa Rica  Machu Picchu, Peru  Buenos Aires, Argentina  Antarctica  Bogota, Colombia  Paradise Island, Bahamas

Enjoy seven destinations over 24 days commencing in the Big Easy before embracing Costa Ricas pura vida lifestyle on the serene Papagayo Peninsula. In Peru, travel through the Sacred Valley of the Incas aboard a train to Machu Picchu, chartered exclusively for Four Seasons Private Jet passengers. Get swept up in the rhythms of Argentinian dance during a private tango lesson in Buenos Aires or take a day trip to UNESCO World Heritage site Iguazu Falls. Board a luxurious polar ship in Antarctica for an unforgettable expedition to the seventh continent. In Colombia, hear the masterful sounds of the Bogota Philharmonic, one of South Americas most prestigious orchestras. A final stop in Bahamas offers rest and relaxation.

As previously announced, two family-friendly journeys through Africa will also take flight in 2023 to captivate travellers of all ages. Ring in the New Year with African Wonders 2023 (wait list only) or enjoy a summer escape with African Wonders August 2023. Other itineraries include the longest running Four Seasons Private Jet journey Timeless Encounters departing April 2023 as well as International Intrigue, departing March 2023 (wait list only).

For those looking to embark on the adventure of a lifetime in 2022, limited availability remains on the September 2022 and October 2022 departures of Ancient Explorer as well as Uncharted Discovery 2022, an all-new captivating expedition through the southern hemisphere.

Booking Information

Visit fourseasons.com/privatejet for more information on how to book a one-of-a-kind global adventure aboard the custom-designed Four Seasons Private Jet. Guests who book a Four Seasons Private Jet journey can take advantage of flexible cancellation options. * Conditions apply  for details, inquire at [email protected].

The Reimagined Four Seasons Private Jet

All 2023 itineraries will take place aboard the new Four Seasons Private Jet. Fully customised to Four Seasons exacting specifications, with input from previous journey passengers, the Airbus A321neo-LR aircraft offers the widest and tallest cabin in its class, featuring a 48-seat interior configured for even greater comfort.

Anticipating every detail, the Guest Relations team works closely with each passenger from initial inquiry until their safe return home. On board the Four Seasons Private Jet, an experienced flight crew includes a dedicated Concierge, Executive Chef and Journey Physician. While visiting remote destinations, guests will stay at luxury accommodations selected by the Four Seasons team.

Safety First

Guests can take comfort in the peace of mind that comes with travelling with Four Seasons. In partnership with TCS World Travel and in adherence with Four Seasons on-the-ground enhanced global health and safety program Lead With Care, in place at all hotels, resorts and residences worldwide, Four Seasons works closely with leading global experts and local authorities to protect the health and safety of every Four Seasons guest and employee. This will include medical pre-screening of each passenger, Four Seasons employee and flight crew member prior to embarking on each itinerary, with a Journey Physician accompanying guests throughout the trip.

About the Four Seasons Private Jet Experience

Learn more about the Four Seasons Private Jet Experience and follow the #FSJet hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and to continue exploring the Four Seasons Private Jet.

The Four Seasons Private Jet is operated by TCS World Travel, dedicated to delivering immersive, worry-free travel experiences for the globally curious and modern luxury traveller. For more information from the industry leader in private jet journeys, click here.
New findings suggest that after two years of enduring the global pandemic, people value travel and personal time more than ever.* Travelers rank flex travel at the top of their priorities and are focusing on more responsible and mindful travel. This report underscores the resilience of the industry and reveals how travel companies can adapt to achieve a competitive advantage in this rapidly evolving environment.

2022 Predictions

1. Most people will travel in the next six months  and frequent, quick trips are trending.

More than three quarters (78%) are interested in taking frequent short trips. As people head back into the office and kids remain in school, individuals and families may be looking for more quick adventures.

More than eight in ten (81%) plan to take at least one vacation with family and friends in the next six months.

2. People will invest more in travel compared to pre-COVID-19.

More than half (54%) say they plan to spend more on trips than they did prior to the pandemic.

3. Travelers will use loyalty points accumulated during the pandemic to help fund trips.

Two in five (40%) plan to use loyalty points for at least part of a trip in 2022. Gen Z conserved the most loyalty points that could be used for travel.

4. International travel will start to make a comeback.

Approximately half of millennials and Gen Z say theyre likely to travel internationally or already have an international trip booked, while older generations are more reluctant.

5. Great deals and flexibility remain top priorities.

More than eight in ten say flexible fare options make a world of difference.

6. People will travel more responsibly and consciously.

Nearly half (43%) will add in extra time for services and transit, helping to minimize long lines, stress on workers, and missed flights.

Almost all (93%) say they will adapt travel plans because of current lack of workers in the tourism industry.

7. Sustainable trips will rise in popularity.

Nearly two-thirds (59%) are willing to pay more fees to make a trip sustainable.

About half (49%) will choose a less crowded destination to reduce effects of overtourism.

8. There will be a surge in travel for personal wellness.

More than a third (36%) are searching for a sense of contentment and mental wellbeing. The healing effect of travel is important for many.

9. Workers will use personal days for travel like never before.

Nearly two-thirds (59%) say they are more likely to take a two-week vacation

10. Travel companies must continuously adapt to remain competitive in 10 uncertain times.

Some considerations:

Offer refunds or credits if plans change. Clearly communicate cancellation and change policies. Provide a range of options and pricing to capture demand across all types of travelers and trips. Proactively share COVID-19 updates and guidance with customers, from travel restrictions in the area to on-property updates such as cleanliness protocols and staffing levels. Strive to be a companion for travelers every step of the way. Deliver on promises, collect customer feedback, respond to reviews, and adapt accordingly. Offer new incentives to attract travelers to differentiate in a recovering market. Consider introducing new deals specifically for quick trips to achieve a competitive edge. Factor in the impending redemption of loyalty points. Ramp up marketing, particularly in the markets where people are most keen to travel domestically and internationally. Integrate wellness and wellbeing messages into your marketing and package promotions. Increase your commitment to sustainability and expand eco-friendly trip options to attract travelers.

* Study conducted in November 2021, in collaboration with Wakefield Research among 5,500 adults across Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the U.K., and U.S. Findings were also sourced from the Expedia 2022 Travel Trends Report and the 2022 Vrbo Trend Report.

About Expedia Group

Expedia is one of the world's leading full-service travel brands, with a mission of helping travelers get the most out of every trip they take by providing everything they need all in one place, ensuring they are getting the most out of every trip they take, and above all else, feel supported every step of the way.

Our commitment to insights matched with our unprecedented scale allows us to understand our travelers better than anyone else, delivering exactly what they need, when they need it. Our personalized experiences backed by incredible technology, enables us to deliver the widest selection of product offerings across accommodations, transportation, activities and experiences, that help you get the most out of your journey.

Use our mobile app or visit expedia.com to plan your journey with us.

 2022 Expedia, Inc., an Expedia Group company. All rights reserved. Expedia and the Airplane logo are trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. CST# 2029030-50.

Notes to Editor:

Traveler wellbeing is our priority. Expedia understands how the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect travelers everywhere, as well as the importance of abiding by government restrictions and practicing social distancing. Travelers can visit the Expedia COVID-19 travel resource page for information to make informed travel decisions.
I love a surprise. Think about the last time you received a surprise from a friend or loved one. It doesnt even have to be a big surprise. It could be something small  just something that proves the other person was thinking about you.

Has this ever happened to you in business? I receive surprise appreciation gifts from clients. Im enjoying a box of chocolates a client sent as I create this post. And of course, I love surprising others. But what I want to share now is the example of a surprise that came from a most unlikely source, the TSA, as in Transportation Security Administration.

My friend and fellow professional speaker George Walther was returning from an event where he received an incredible award, Legend of the Speaking Profession. This is given to professional speakers who have contributed to the industry. As with many of these types of awards, they are represented in the form of a plaque.

The plaque was beautiful, and George was very careful to wrap it well as he placed it in his luggage. At the airport, George checked the suitcase and then after his flight went to the baggage carousel to retrieve it.

You may or may not know this, but checked luggage is X-rayed and sometimes even opened by TSA personnel doing random inspections to ensure the safety of the passengers. If you have experienced randomly searched luggage, then youll know that the TSA leaves a card stating Notice of Baggage Inspection. On this particular trip, Georges luggage was opened, inspected and the obligatory notice was placed on top of his clothes.

But there was something special about this particular notice.

The TSA officer who inspected the contents of Georges suitcase noticed the reward and wrote, Congratulations! IAD. IAD, by the way, is the airport code for Dulles Airport in the Washington, D.C., area.

George not only smiled at the surprise message on the notice, but he also saved it. Years later he shared it with me. He was still talking about this surprise, which is why I was compelled to share his story.

Heres the lesson. How much effort did it take to surprise George? Not much. It took literally seconds for the TSA employee to write one word followed by the initials of the airport. It showed that the employee was paying attention and looking for the opportunity to surprise a customer. I know, customer is an interesting way to describe a passenger who undergoes a random TSA search, but I think you get the point.

If a TSA employee inspecting luggage can surprise a passenger, it shouldnt be hard for you to find ways to deliver small surprises to your customers.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times, bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright  MMXXI, Shep Hyken)

Shep Hyken

Shepard Presentations, LLC.

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Houstonians are lucky that there is competition for home internet service in most parts of the city. It has long been a battle between traditional providers such as Comcast and AT&T, but now there are newcomers offering wireless residential internet, including Verizon and T-Mobile.

Cable companies, which for some time have been the top dog in terms of speed, are challenged by providers touting fiber-optic cable technology or 5G wireless. AT&Ts fiber service offers speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, as does Verizons 5G Home product - where they are available, anyway.

In Houston, Comcasts mainstream residential service maxes out at 1.2-Gbps download speed. But late this year or early next, cable providers will begin to sell a much faster service thanks to a new cable-modem standard called DOCSIS 4.0. In theory, it will allow for download and upload speeds of up to 10-Gbps.

To put that in perspective, thats 74 times the median download speed for fixed broadband service in the United States at 135.53 Mbps, according to the latest Speedtest Global Index survey from Ookla.

DOCSIS stands for Data Over Cable Services Interface Specification, and the version in use by Comcast and most other cable companies is 3.1. The standard is overseen by CableLabs, of which Comcast and other major cable providers are members. CableLabs has dubbed the technology 10G for its top speed of 10 Gbps, not to be confused with the wireless industrys 5G, which stands for Fifth Generation.

While the 3.1 standard can provide excellent bandwidth for common residential usage - web surfing, streaming video, teleconferencing, gaming, file downloads - it may be inadequate for whats coming next.

Thats because DOCSIS 3.1 has serious limitations, not the least of which is that upload speeds that are much slower than downloads. If you have a Comcast Xfinity internet plan of 300 megabits per second or less, your upload speeds are a measly 5 Mbps. For 600 Mbps plans, uploads are 10 Mbps; for 900 Mbps plans, uploads are 15 Mbps.

On HoustonChronicle.com: AT&T, Verizon 5G is about to get much faster in more places - if you have the right phone

You dont get a substantial jump in uploads until you have Comcasts 1.2-Gbps service, and even then uploads are a fraction of downloads, at 35 Mbps. (Comcast does sell in Houston a 3-Gbps service that has symmetrical upload and download speeds, but its $300 a month and uses a fiber-optic, rather than coaxial, connection.)

Distinct disadvantage

This puts cable operators at a distinct disadvantage to fiber and high-speed wireless providers who can offer symmetrical download and upload speeds. For example, on its website, AT&T lists its Internet 1000 fiber service as having actual speeds of 998.2 Mbps down and 911.3 Mbps up. Verizons 5G Home service, while it doesnt have symmetrical download and upload speeds, does beat Comcasts maximum uploads at 50 Mbps.

DOCSIS 4.0 is still in the testing phase. Earlier this month, Comcast announced it had completed a test using prototype 4.0 equipment and achieved 4-Gbps speeds for both downloads and uploads. In an interview, Elad Nafshi, Comcasts executive vice president and chief network officer, called the test a massive technical and product milestone.

Nafshi said one of the benefits to DOCSIS 4.0 is that it works over much of cable operators existing network. It can be delivered into the home via cable coax, so we dont need to rip up streets and set up towers, we can use our existing digital plant, he said.

The new standard may not cause Comcast to tear up the street outside your house, but you will need to replace your in-home equipment. DOCSIS 4.0 will require a new cable modem, and Comcast will happily rent to you a modem-and-router combo when that time comes. Fortunately, as you can do now with the cable companys current setup, youll still be able to avoid that rental fee by buying your own modem, Nafshi said.

But while DOCSIS 4.0 is an industry standard, it has already forked into two different technologies, said Alan Breznick an analyst and cable/video practice leader at Light Reading, a publication that covers the telecommunications industry. Comcast is using an approach called full duplex to achieve the symmetrical speeds, while other cable companies are using a technology known as extended spectrum.

And while Comcast is relying on some of its existing network and coaxial lines for DOCSIS 4.0, it also has been using fiber on its network, and pulling it closer and closer to peoples homes, Breznick said.

They may not have to dig new trenches (as do fiber operators), but they will have to go into the existing trenches and exchange the coax for fiber, he added.

Indeed, one downside for fiber-based internet is that its availability can be spotty. AT&T has been aggressive about expanding its fiber service in Houston, but its not everywhere. Older neighborhoods, apartment and condominium complexes and sparsely populated areas are less apt to have fiber service.

Coming soon?

So, when will Houston cable customers get a shot at DOCSIS 4.0? Breznick said the current timeline for the standard is that it should begin to become available at the end of 2022, with a bigger rollout coming next year. But Comcasts Nafshi would not commit to a timeline in our conversation.

We are not quite ready to talk about when it might go live, he said.

Breznick said many cable customers with existing, higher-tier connections dont necessarily need all the speed theyre paying for. But that may be about to change, particularly for those jonesing for faster upload speeds as they work and learn from home in the pandemic.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Time's running out for a beloved Houston electronics shop

Between videoconferencing and gaming and some other uses coming down the pike, upstream is more important than it used to be, he said.

Those uses coming down the pike include technologies such as 360-degree spherical cameras, holographic video and virtual/augmented reality, Breznick said.

Hype-du-jour

These are the building blocks of what has come to be known as the metaverse, in which virtual reality is used to build a simulation of real life, including potentially lucrative e-commerce. It is the latest hype-du-jour and a sci-fi-inspired fever dream of Silicon Valley denizens, but whether it ultimately springs to life or dies a fads death is the subject of fierce debate between evangelists and skeptics.

But if the metaverse does come to pass, the ongoing competition between internet providers will ensure the speeds it will require.

dsilverman@outlook.com

twitter.com/dsilverman
Five foundations, including three local philanthropies, are investing more than $20 million to launch an independent nonprofit news outlet in Houston, entering the citys competitive media landscape.

The Houston Endowment, the Kinder Foundation and Arnold Ventures on Wednesday said the yet-to-be-named news operation will be one of the largest of its kind nationally when it launches late this year or early next year on multiple platforms. The philanthropies, joined by journalism foundations American Journalism Project and Knight Foundation, said they seek to elevate the voices of Houstonians and answer the communitys calls for additional news coverage.

All Houstonians deserve to be informed about the issues that impact their lives, said Ann Stern, CEO of the Houston Endowment. We are thrilled to support the expansion of local reporting in Greater Houston - combining the highest standards of journalism with an innovative community-focused reporting model.

News organizations are increasingly expanding their footprint in Houston, ramping up competition for advertising dollars and journalism consumers in one of the nations largest media markets long served by the Houston Chronicle. Founded in 1901, the Chronicle is one of the nations largest regional media companies with the largest newsroom staff in Texas and more than 1 million print readers weekly. The Chronicles digital platforms, including its premium news website HoustonChronicle.com and its advertising-supported news website Chron.com, receive 30 million monthly visits.

The Houston Chronicle and its talented journalists have provided distinguished coverage of our community for more than 120 years, said Maria Reeve, the Chronicles executive editor. We plan to continue being a leader in newsgathering as we evolve to meet the needs of our readers in this constantly changing media landscape.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston power couples

Community Impact, an Austin-based hyperlocal newspaper, last month announced plans to break ground on its Houston regional headquarters this quarter. When completed later this year, more than 55 journalists and media employees are expected to work out of the new 16,000-square-foot office in Jersey Village. Over the past 15 years, several news outlets, including CultureMap and Houstonia, also have started operating in the city.

The new Houston nonprofit news outlet was born from a two-year research effort led by the American Journalism Project, a local journalism philanthropy that conducted local focus groups, community listening sessions and surveys to analyze Houstons media landscape and identify gaps in news coverage. The new media outlet will follow in the footsteps of the Texas Tribune, which launched 13 years ago as a statewide nonprofit, nonpartisan online news outlet covering state politics and policy.

The Houston nonprofit will be funded by philanthropic dollars, memberships and sponsorship revenue. The Houston Endowment and the Kinder Foundation each contributed $7.5 million to the nonprofit newsroom. Arnold Ventures contributed $4 million, the American Journalism Project $1.5 million and the Knight Foundation $250,000.

The three local philanthropic foundations behind the new outlet said they will not have editorial control, review, oversight or influence over the journalism created and distributed.

The Houston Endowment, a private foundation committed to public education and civic engagement, owned the Houston Chronicle for more than three decades before selling the newspaper in 1987 to New York-based Hearst Corp. The Kinder Foundation, which has focused on enhancing Houstons parks and education, was created by Rich and Nancy Kinder of Houston pipeline giant Kinder Morgan. Arnold Ventures, which has donated to several journalism organizations, oversees the philanthropic efforts of Laura and John Arnold, the Houston energy trader and hedge fund manager.

The three philanthropies created a committee to conduct an open search for the management team, including a chief executive and editor-in-chief, who will determine the media outlets name, news coverage and office location.

The search committee includes Ann Stern of the Houston Endowment, Jeff Cohen, the executive vice president of Arnold Ventures and Rich Kinder, chairman of the Kinder Foundation and executive chairman of Kinder Morgan. Rice University President Reginald DesRosches, Dr. Anne Chao, manager of Rices Houston Asian American Archive, and Armado Perez, executive vice president of H-E-B Houston and chairman of the United Way of Greater Houston, are also members of the search committee.

paul.takahashi@chron.com

twitter.com/paultakahashi
A Taiwanese electric vehicle charging company is relocating its U.S. headquarters to Houston from California.

Noodoe EV, an EV charging technology company with products in 110 countries, announced Wednesday its plans to move to Houston from Irvine, Calif.

The company is setting up its headquarters at 9896 Bissonnet in southwest Houston, although the size of its office and the timing of its move wasn't immediately clear.

Current and anticipated demand for our EV charging stations necessitates Noodoe scaling up and expanding right now, said Jennifer Chang, Noodoe EV's CEO, in a statement. Logistically, we need our U.S. headquarters to be centrally located. Houston has the port and airport capacity we need to efficiently meet the unprecedented demand for EV charging stations."

The company is relocating its U.S. headquarters nearly two years after moving to Irvine from Walnut, Calif. in April 2020, according to earlier media reports.

RELATED: Battery costs slow growth of electric vehicles, says Dallas Fed

Noodoe plans to maintain its Irvine office as a base to provide operations, support and installation services on the West Coast.

"The Irvine office is a vital part of our operations. California and the West Coast represent a big share of our current EV installations," Chang added.

Noodoe is coming to Texas at a time of expanding interest in electric vehicle industry in the Lone Star State in the wake of Tesla's corporate relocation to Austin last year, where it plans to build a 4 to 5 million square foot electric vehicle car factory. Tesla competitor Lucid Motors was also expected to start expanding its retail footprint in Houston and Dallas at the end of 2021.

"Houston has long been the Energy Capital of the World, mostly because of oil and gas extraction," Chang said. "Noodoe will help the city continue its energy legacy, only this time without fossil fuels.
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The Houston Womens Hiking Group invites you to get off on the right foot in 2022  literally.

Start with a hike, founder Bridgette Mongeon advises.

First Day Hikes are part of a national initiative led by the state parks in an effort to up the ante on enjoying the great outdoors.

And thats just the beginning. Theres also the 52 hike challenge  daring participants to take on weekly hikes throughout the year, Mongeon explained.

Houston Womens Hiking Group members are busy committing to the task  and the organization makes it easy to rack up the miles. There are numerous hikes scheduled throughout the week, all around the city, for all ages and skill levels  from the woods in Montgomery County to the beaches in Galveston.

Hikes are listed on Facebook by location, difficulty and date  and you have to sign up to get in on the conversation. There are also camping trips and volunteer opportunities.

While the group is for women only, events may be listed as kid friendly, pet friendly and family friendly.

How to join Visit the group's Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/houstonwomenshiking. See More Collapse

Members can sign up for tranquil, silent hikes or join an adventure on the Lone Star Trail. Some events cover 12 miles; others are closer to 1 mile.

Mongeon even leads recovery hikes, designed to accommodate those with an injury, health issue or mobility limitations. For the event, she takes laps around the Houston Arboretum. If a member needs to sit down and rest, the group will circle back later to rejoin them.

Women should not feel intimidated about joining, Mongeon added. Instead of standing on the sidelines, simply sign up, she said. No special skills or abilities are needed.

A hike can be just a stroll in the woods, Mongeon explained. It doesnt have to be backpacking up a mountain.

Of course, there are plenty of members who prefer trekking difficult terrains. All options are available, Mongeon said. Its just a matter of finding a group on your level.

If you join a hike and you dont jive with your group, just join another one, Mongeon said. Everyone is different when it comes to hiking. You have to find a group that meshes with you.

She has formed a number of friendships in the group since its launch in 2016.

I just wanted to go out into the woods, she recalled.

Mongeon explained, People would say, You cant go hiking by yourself. You cant go camping. I said, Just watch me.

She had an idea to start a Facebook group. When she wanted to go on a hike, she posted it and watched to see if anyone wanted to join her.

Before long, other women arrived.

One day, a member told Mongeon, I want to lead a hike.

Mongeon was thrilled. She thought, I wont have to do this alone.

She opened it up to others who wanted to lead hikes.

Stephanie King, a resident of the Heights, joined the first year. At the time, there were about 200 members, and hikes were more sporadic, usually weekly or every other week.

King had just taken a tour of U.S. national parks. . When she moved to Houston to be closer to family, she worried about being away from the natural beauty she had discovered.

She was also concerned about having to make new friends in the city.

I was starting from scratch on the friend level, King said. I was looking to meet like-minded people.

Then, at a business leadership event, she met Mongeon, who pointed her to the hiking group.

Life sometimes takes you where you need to be, King said.

Not only did she meet people, but she also gained an appreciation for Houstons outdoorsy side.

It has led to great friendships and allowed me to fall in love with Houston as a city, King said.

In the past couple of years, membership has blossomed. Currently, there are 9,400 members of all ages. Mongeon, her daughter and granddaughter are all involved.

King believes the pandemic has helped drive the groups growth.

Weve grown so much during COVID because we were outside, she said. It mushroomed.

King recalled the first time she returned to the group after months of isolation.

I was just happy to be around people again, she said. Hiking definitely became the main outlet for me during COVID.

King introduced the group to Blanka Molnar about a year ago. Both women work as professional organizers and met through the business.

We were very much on the same wavelength, Molnar said. And nature bonds people together.

King and Molnar, a Sugar Land resident, both journal and are interested in moonology, the belief that lunar cycles can be used to gain clarity and make clearer decisions.

As professional organizers, we facilitate a lot of letting go, Molnar said.

Why not add letting go of negative energy to the list, she asked.

Molnar and King started hosting hikes that also included spiritual practices of release and gratitude.

Last month, Pascale Atallah, a resident of The Woodlands, joined one of Molnar and Kings hikes and fell in love with the practice. Together, the trio joined forces to co-host a New Moon, New Intentions Hike and Workshop on Jan. 2 at Memorial Park.

About 30 members of the Houston Womens Hiking Group attended that windy day for a meditative walk and to set their goals for the new year.

Atallah guided the group in selecting a few items, like leaves or sticks, each representing something in the past year that did not serve them. As they walked, she encouraged hikers to toss the objects back into the forest, as a symbol of letting go.

Hiking is a great way to center yourself, Atallah said.

Then, the hikers moved nearby to Black Walnut Cafe, to set their intentions for the new year.

I dont believe in resolutions, said Molnar, who believes the beginning of the year is an ideal time to reflect and start anew. Resolutions are usually broken by Feb. 1. But I do believe in intentions and goals.

She said that the beginning of the year is an ideal time to reflect and start anew.

Atallah hopes to host more hikes with King in the future. The two fast friends are already planning a trip together to trails in New Mexico and the Guadalupe Mountains  and are bringing other hikers along.

Whatever you are looking for, you can find it in this group, King said. If not, we encourage you to create it.

She added that the organization helps women feel supported and safe.

If you enjoy hiking, you should join, she said. But its more than that. Its a safe, social network. If lifts you up and makes you feel good.

And thats what Mongeon wanted all along.

A lot of women have told me that this group changed their lives, she said. I know it has for me. It saved my life.

Lindsay Peyton is a Houston-based freelance writer.
Goldfish Swim School has one mission: to teach children to be safe and confident around water.

The franchise opened its Webster location Jan. 18, as the companys fourth in the Houston region and 126th in the United States and Canada.

The curriculum is built around the Goldfish Science of SwimPlay method, which incorporates guided play and fun surroundings to provide instruction.

The tropical-themed chain of facilities, which feature changing huts, restrooms, snack bars and gift shops, offers comprehensive swimming education for children from age 4 months to 12 years old, including varying degrees of specialized training.

Annual membership fees range from $30 to $1,140. Monthly costs for lessons are $95 for group lessons for ages 4 months to 12 years and $126 for ages 24-35 months.

Goldfish lessons are taught in a 25-yard long, three-lane pool that stays at 90 degrees.

The curriculum includes a set of mini classes for the youngest or beginner students in which a parent participates. These classes teach students how to get in the water, float, kick and get out of the pool. It sounds basic, but these skills teach the rudimentary skills that develop students confidence in the water, said Caitlin Keller, manager at the Webster school..

Goldfish Swim School Address: 20251 Gulf Freeway, Unit E, Webster Website:https://bit.ly/3rAzGiG Phone: 281-509-9611 Membership fees:https://bit.ly/3AfeAdM Registration information:https://bit.ly/3Ku0Znt See More Collapse

From there, students can take the next step into a series of junior and glider classes classes and two pro levels, which are a continuation of swim technique and practices.

For students wanting to take their skills to a competitive level, Goldfish Swim School provides training courses through its Swim Force, which includes groups that competes quarterly against each other.

Once they go through all the four levels, they are ready for Swim Force, Keller said.,

Once students turn 13, they age out of all the Goldfish programs, and the goal of Swim Force, said Keller, is to prepare those students who wish to continue at a competitive level.

The Michigan-based franchise started in 2006 with the premise that swimming is a life skill, according to Keller.

These are skills they will have for a lifetime, she said.

I think swimming builds confidence in children, Keller said. It also gives them the socialization skills they need as they grow up.

Keller, who fell in love with the water after becoming a lifeguard at age 17, said Goldfish wanted to establish a swim school in the Bay Area after seeing a gap in available for comprehensive swimming education.

There is not much in this area as far as swim schools, and I feel we have a big outreach here, she said.

Science of SwimPlay differs from the average community pool lessons in that groups are smaller, averaging about three students to an instructor, and because it combines education and play, Keller said.

(At a public pool), they will typically have lesson, lesson and then maybe the last five minutes, they get to play, Keller said. (Science of SwimPlay) have skills built into play.

The children get to play and actually learning something and theyre not necessarily knowing that theyre learning something, she said. Learning how to be safe around water is huge, because you never know when youre going to be in a body of water.

yorozco@hcnonline.com
Wed like a word, please.

The House committee investigating the breach at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has asked Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Trump, to voluntarily testify as the bipartisan lawmakers make their first public attempt to arrange an interview with a Trump family member.

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The former first daughter was sent a letter on Thursday asking to submit to grilling about what she knows about the violent attack and what her father did or didnt do about it.

[ One killed, 13 arrests as Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building in MAGA riot ]

[We are] inviting some people to come and talk to us ... Ivanka Trump, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committees chairman, told reporters on Capitol Hill.

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In this Nov. 2, 2020 photo, Ivanka Trump (right) speaks at a campaign event while her father, then-President Donald Trump (left) watches in Kenosha, Wis. (Morry Gash/AP)

Ivanka Trump just learned that the Jan. 6 committee issued a public letter asking her to appear, her spokesman said. As the committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the Jan. 6 rally.

The statement also repeated a public message she issued on the afternoon of the attack saying the violence must stop.

The congressional panel has deemed Trumps daughter a crucial witness because she reportedly visited her father several times in the White House on Jan. 6 as the mob of his supporters marauded unchecked through the Capitol, hunting for perceived enemies.

You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation, the letter to Ivanka Trump said, adding that the committee wishes to discuss the part of the conversation you observed between the then-president and Vice President Mike Pence.

Violent protesters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (John Minchillo/AP)

One of the key issues: could Trumps inaction as the attack unfolded, combined with his incitement of the attack at a speech just before the riot, be construed as possible grounds for a criminal referral against him to the Department of Justice.

We are particularly interested in this question, asked the Jan. 6 committee in the letter to Ms. Trump. Why didnt White House staff simply ask the President to walk to the briefing room and appear on live television  to ask the crowd to leave the Capitol?

Earlier this week, the panel issued subpoenas to lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other members of Trumps legal team who filed court challenges to the election that fueled the lie that the race had been stolen from Trump.

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The committee says the extraordinary trove of material it has collected  35,000 pages of records so far, including texts, emails and phone records from people close to Trump  is fleshing out critical details of the worst attack on the Capitol in two centuries.

The next phase of the investigation will include a series of public hearings in the coming months.

With News Wire Services
Students at Mayde Creek High School were evacuated about 10 a.m. Thursday following an unfounded bomb threat. The children have since returned to class.

The Katy ISD Police Department responded immediately to investigate, and students were temporarily evacuated, an official letter to parents stated. Following a thorough investigation of the alleged threat and campus, the police have determined the threat to be unfounded.

More by Claire Goodman: Katy city council approves $23M transportation improvement bond

Dawn Flores, mother of ninth- and 10th-grade students at Mayde Creek, said she received a text from her 14-year-old just after 10 a.m. informing her that he was standing outside following a swift evacuation from class.

He said, Theres some kind of an alarm going off, and we were sent outside, and the teachers just kept saying over and over, This is not a drill. This is not a drill, Flores said. He didnt have any information other than knowing it was a bomb threat.

About 10:45 a.m, Flores said, her son texted her again saying they were returning to class. Around the same time, Katy ISD sent the official district statement regarding the incident, she added.

While Flores was frightened for her childrens safety, knowing that the district evacuated helped ease her mind.

My heart was in my throat for a bit, but I also kind of felt that if the kids were outside, they were safe, she said.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Forecasters monitoring 'wintry weather' in southeast Texas

The district encourages students and parents to help school administration identify and resolve potential safety concerns, the district statement said.

Per the statement, In addition to reporting information to someone at school or a law enforcement official, students and parents can utilize our Katy ISD SpeakUp mobile app to anonymously report tips. Parents are also encouraged to help their child understand the serious implications that can result from engaging in or encouraging jokes or misinformation that can be interpreted as a threat or safety hazard.

claire.goodman@chron.com
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A special piece of art created in 1949 by contemporary artist Joan Miro now has a home at the Woodlands Art League.

An anonymous local art patron has donated a piece of artwork by Miro to the Woodlands Art League (WAL). The donated untitled piece was painted in 1949 using tempera and gouache (opaque watercolor) on paper.

Miro, was a Spanish artist who worked with Picasso in the 1920s, and was part of the Surrealist group of that era. Miro died on Christmas Day 1983 in Spain at age 90.

According to a statement from the Woodlands Art League, art patrons may have seen the famous, colorful and controversial Miro sculpture, Parsonage and Birds (some call it Tinker Toy) that resides on the plaza of the JP Morgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston. Other Miro paintings have become highly collectable in recent years with one piece, Peinture - Etoile Bleue, recently selling for $37 million.

This is an extraordinary gift which will inspire people in many ways. We are very grateful to have this unique, original painting at our studio, said Sara Saravo, President of WAL. We hope this gift will encourage others to follow the example of this generous donor by giving art or monetary donations to WAL in order to help us continue to inspire the people of our community.

According to Tom La Rock, VP Studio, Classes & Workshops for the Woodlands Art League plans are to display the painting at the WAL studio.

We hope to use it to raise funds to further expand our organization and serve the art community in the greater Woodlands area, he said.

Over the past year, WAL has grown from 140 to 240 members. Its studio, classroom and gallery space is located in the Epic Creative Co-op at 701 Sawdust Road to the right/back of the Hobby Lobby shopping center. The Woodlands Art League also has ongoing art exhibits at the South County Community Center at 2235 Lake Robbins in The Woodlands.

The Woodlands Art League is a non-profit organization and is supported by donations and volunteers. Visit their website at www.woodlandsartleague.org to learn more.

shernandez@hcnonline.com
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A man has been arrested and charged with murder in a fatal shooting Tuesday near Missouri City, authorities said.

Houston police identified the man as 38-year-old Joeslin Arencibya; he is also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in a separate incident that happened hours later.
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The bodies of three teens who died following an apparent murder-suicide Tuesday at a Crosby home were found throughout the rural residence, according to authorities.

Police found the body of 15-year-old Hayden Burns in a bedroom. Authorities suspect he shot the others then took his own life. In another bedroom was his 17-year-old sister Haley Burns, Harris County Sheriff's Office officials said in an email identifying the teens.
Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Two South Texas gang members pleaded guilty and were sentenced by a federal judge Wednesday in connection to a racketeering conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of Texas.

Mike 'Mocho' Bueno, 50, of Edinburg was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months, while Octavio 'Tavo' Muniz, 45, of McAllen was sentenced to 12 years and six months by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake.
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Each week, Chronicle health reporters field questions about the latest on COVID-19, vaccines and pandemic living. In this weeks COVID Help Desk: What you should know about masks and a new stealth variant detected in Houston.

Many Americans are upgrading their masks in response to the highly transmissible omicron variant, which has infected more than 90,000 Houston residents since it became the nations dominant strain last month.

Scientists say everyone  not just medical professionals  should consider wearing respirators, the N95 or KN95 masks used in high-risk health care settings. But increased demand for these medical-grade masks has led to a barrage of falsely marketed products that may not provide adequate protection.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Omicron is sending vaccinated people to the hospital, but unvaccinated are more likely to end up in ICU

You can avoid counterfeits by looking for masks with a stamp of approval from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that operates a specialized laboratory to test and approve protective gear.

Authentic respirators are made of specialized fibers that filter out about 95 percent of virus particles when worn properly, said Megan Casey, a nurse epidemiologist with NIOSH.

The NIOSH approval number and approval label are key to identifying NIOSH-approved respirators, Casey said. Counterfeit respirators may not be capable of providing respiratory protection as advertised or claimed.

Federally approved respirators are required to print the NIOSH name, the approval number, filter designations, lot number and model number on the packaging or on the respirator itself. Before buying a respirator, you can verify whether it is approved by checking the NIOSH Certified Equipment List, or by viewing the Buyer Beware section of the CDCs Respirator Trusted-Source Information website.

Counterfeit masks may lack the proper markings and approval numbers, spell NIOSH incorrectly or include decorative add-ons that are banned by the regulatory body, Casey said. They may also falsely claim to be approved for use on children. (NIOSH does not regulate masks for children.)

What is "stealth omicron"?

The Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at Houston Methodist is one of the few laboratories nationwide with the resources to identify and track COVID variants as they emerge in the general population.

This week, Methodist scientists announced they had identified two patients infected with a "stealth" sub-lineage of omicron.

The stealth version of omicron has most, but not all, of the viral mutations that typify the highly contagious strain. It lacks a tell-tale mutation that scientists use to quickly distinguish omicron from other variants.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston hospitals mandating COVID boosters for employees, amid omicron surge

While ominously named, stealth omicron does not appear to be more dangerous than its viral sibling.

What are monoclonal antibodies and why are they scarce?

Monoclonal antibodies are artificial versions of naturally-produced antibodies that doctors inject directly into the veins of potentially high-risk patients in order to stave off severe COVID.

Omicron has mutations that make it resistant to most monoclonal antibodies that proved effective against previous strains. Texas, like other states, is rationing its supply of these life-saving medicines. They remain in very limited quantities at Houston-area hospitals and are being reserved for recent organ transplant recipients and people with congenital illnesses.

Monoclonal antibodies are not like aspirin, said Dr. Linda Yancey, an infectious disease specialist at Memorial Hermann. They are very difficult to produce.

Manufacturers are ramping up production, Yancey said, but the specialized, advanced nature of the production process means omicron-specific monoclonal antibodies will likely not be widely available to battle the current omicron surge.

Talk to your doctor if you think you may qualify to receive intravenous antibodies following a COVID diagnosis. The treatment is most effective when given in the earliest stages of infection.

nora.mishanec@chron.com
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A Cypress woman whose head was forcibly held for a mugshot last weekend says a Precinct 4 deputy targeted her in a parking lot, refused to tell her why she was being arrested and became violent when she demanded an answer.

Jashira Clivens described rough tactics used by two local law enforcement agencies, including threats by some deputies to harm her and leave her in custody unattended.

Officials said Clivens, 22, was stopped for a traffic violation Sunday evening and booked for failing to identify herself to a police officer. Clivens said she had no idea why she was being arrested and deputies declined to answer her questions about it.

Instead, she said, the deputy from Precinct 4 repeatedly told her to shut up.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Teen out on bond after being charged with murder of Houston girl walking family dog

Clivens said she had been parked and waiting for her mother in a Sonic lot on Jones Road for nearly 10 minutes when a Precinct 4 deputy pulled up behind her in a patrol car. He approached her vehicle and told her he had seen her speeding  about a mile and a half away  on FM 1960, she said.

Clivens told the deputy she had not driven on FM 1960 at all that night, although she briefly passed through the intersection with that highway while on Jones. She suggested maybe he had mistaken her vehicle for someone elses. Thats when the deputy asked whether she had been smoking anything and demanded she get out of the car, saying he was going to search the vehicle, Clivens recalled.

Clivens, who said she had not been smoking, obliged, but refused to give the officer her name unless he told her why he was searching. Clivens twin sister later arrived on the scene, and they both were taken into custody for causing a disturbance, according to the constables office.

Clivens said no one told her why she was being arrested before she and her sister were forced into a squad car. None of the deputies searched her car during the stop, she said.

Precinct 4 Constable Mark Hermans office declined to comment on the specifics of the arrest, saying it was an open case. But officials confirmed that Clivens was arrested for failing to identify herself to the officer and for having open misdemeanor warrants. Pct. 4 officials did not explain the details of the warrants that prompted the arrest.

She broke the law, she was arrested, she was booked, said Chief Deputy Donald Steward. He said her sister also had outstanding warrants.

Clivens says no one mentioned the outstanding warrants or mentioned that she was being detained for failing to identify herself until after she arrived at the county jail. It was there she said Harris County sheriffs deputies grabbed her neck and pulled her hair in an attempt to make her pose for a mugshot.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Three teens found dead in home near Crosby

I told them they were hurting me and they said they didnt care. They said to take the picture and it would stop, Clivens said.

The unusual photo, which the constables office published on its social media platforms Tuesday, appears to show one jail official forcing Clivens head upward with a gloved hand gripping her chin while another appears to be holding her in place, with hands on her shoulder and back.

When officials tried to take her fingerprints, Clivens said she resisted opening her hand until deputies threatened to break it and shock her with a Taser.

I said, I have the right to know why Im being put in the system. I have the right to know why Im here, Clivens recalled.

Afterward, Clivens and her sister Jasmine were booked and placed in detention, and the person who processed them told them the guards could just forget about them for a few days, according to Clivens. They were released on bond nearly a day after their arrest.

The Precinct 4 Constables Office said that booking at the jail happens under the jurisdiction of the Harris County Sheriffs Office. Sheriffs office spokesman Thomas Gilliland said that the on-duty supervisor made an official note that Clivens was being uncooperative, and that Clivens can submit any complaints to the sheriffs office for investigation.

Clivens says she still doesnt know why the deputy originally approached her car in the Sonic parking lot.

He probably thought I was waiting on drugs, Clivens said. When he got to the car, he realized there was nothing in there so he looked for something else to send me to jail for.

When you put that badge on, youre supposed to leave your feelings at the door, Clivens said. You cant just wake up and say I feel like being mean today.

Clivens, a nursing student who works at a gas station, said shes always been careful to stay out of jail because she plans to become a nurse. Court records indicate she doesnt have any criminal history in Harris County.

Cliven worried that the arrest would affect her grade  she was planning to do homework Sunday night but was unable to complete the assignment because she was in jail. She said she hoped her professor would give her an extension.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gave an impassioned defense of the Democratic push to enact voting rights reforms, which collapsed when two moderates joined Republicans to block a needed change in the filibuster rule.

Invoking the travails of bygone civil rights heroes, the powerful Senate majority leader said it was morally right to bring the doomed measure up for a vote even if it meant stoking outrage against Republicans and the Democrats who sided with them.

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Imagine telling Dr. [Martin Luther] King not to march from Selma to Montgomery because he could not be sure what obstacles awaited him, Schumer said. Sometimes, the only right option is to move forward.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP)

The Senate majority leader shot down the conventional wisdom that Democrats should have cut their losses and avoided a final vote that amounted to a major political black eye for President Biden.

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The bromides of the Beltway class hold we should not have held a vote on voting rights if the outcome was not certain, he said. They are wrong.

Schumer said Democratic voters and activists, who overwhelmingly back voting rights reforms, deserve to know that the party will put itself on the line for the cause, even if it means baring messy splits within its ranks.

We lost the vote. But to have not voted would have been a far greater loss, a loss for our Democratic Party, which for generations has stood for voting rights, he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also heaped praise on her fellow Democrats for not backing down even in the face of inevitable defeat.

Advancing the sanctity of the vote .. (gave) it visibility that it would never have had without having a vote in the Senate, she said. He had to have a vote.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks during her weekly press conference, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Rod Lamkey - Pool via CNP/AP)

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was arrested on Thursday for civil disobedience at a voting rights protest near the Capitol, spokesman Marcus Frias said.

Police said they arrested Bowman and about two dozen activists after they blocked an entrance to police barricades near the building and ignored warnings to disperse.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that Democrats are open to talks with Republicans about reforms to the Electoral Count Act to limit shenanigans like former President Donald Trump tried to pull on Jan. 6, 2021.

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But she stressed it wouldnt mean that measures to protect voting rights are not needed.

It (is) not a substitute for voting rights legislation, Psaki said.

All Democrats in the narrowly split House of Representatives and all 50 Democratic senators support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, eventually combined into one sprawling package.

But Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) steadfastly refused to change their filibuster defense, which requires most laws to have 60 votes to pass.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) speaks on the phone at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP)

I am profoundly disappointed, Biden said in a statement after the vote.

However, the president said he is not deterred and vowed to explore every measure and use every tool at our disposal to stand up for democracy.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said a bipartisan coalition should work on legislation to ensure voter access, particularly in far-flung areas like her state, and to shore up Americans faith in democracy.

We dont need, we do not need a repeat of 2020 when by all accounts our last president, having lost the election, sought to change the results, said Murkowski.

With News Wire Services
Prospective jurors for Harris County trials are expected to return to the criminal justice complex in downtown Houston in February  ending more than a year of remote jury selection at NRG Arena in time for the Houston Rodeo.

Harris County District Clerk Marilyn Burgess said Wednesday jury service will end Feb. 1 at NRG, where hundreds of residents with summons were asked to gather to accommodate social distancing during voir dire proceedings. Jury duty will resume the following Monday at the newly-renovated Jury Assembly Plaza at 1201 Congress  across from the civil and criminal courthouses.

Reconstruction on the predominantly underground jury facility, which filled with 13 feet of water during Hurricane Harvey, started in February 2020. The flooding from the 2017 storm forced jurors to later gather in a cramped basement of the county administrative building at 1001 Preston.

The county finished the $11.3 million reconstruction in the fall.

The updated building allows for social distancing amid continued concerns over the coronavirus, but if a juror is picked to be questioned by a lawyer or judge  they will be moved to another county facility, with officials eyeing the Family Law Center and other buildings in the complex. Some facilities will undergo expedited renovations to accommodate the jurors.

The county has considered knocking down walls in some facilities to make room for jury pools to social distance, said Scott Spiegel, spokesman for Commissioner Adrian Garcia.

Burgess office cites the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo  slated to kick off Feb. 28  as the reason for moving out of the county-run facility. The countys lease that allowed jury assembly at NRG Arena would have expired next month regardless, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said.

We had to find another space to make sure the wheels of justice can keep turning, that we can adjudicate the backlog of criminal court cases weve had since Harvey, Hidalgo said Wednesday during a news conference on voter rights.

The county dispatched prospective jurors to the arena in 2020 as the pandemic brought the courts to a crawl. Judges and lawyers at times commuted to and from the arena from the downtown courthouse. Jury selection was expanded as a backlog in cases grew during the pandemic.

But low jury turnout predated the pandemic and continued throughout it. When NRG first opened to jurors in July 2020  only 50 people out of the 1,000 summoned for jury duty showed up, according to district clerk officials. Dane Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office, thanked the residents who made good on their summons.

Trials are crucial for crime victims, the accused and the entire justice system, Schiller said in a statement. They each must have their day in court and we support holding trials as safely as possible. We especially thank jurors for showing up and serving our community during these challenging times.

County officials worry a return to NRG could always happen should another COVID-19 variant outbreak happens. The countys virus threat level is set to severe following a surge in omicron cases, meaning authorities have urged residents to stay home unless fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated people should minimize contact with others wherever possible and avoid leaving home except for the most essential needs, according to the countys website.

It's possible but its in no one's desires to do that, Spiegel said. In the interest of having a backup plan to this new plan, we don't want to completely rule out going back to NRG.

Burgess said anyone who receives a jury summons is asked to register on the district clerks website or call 713-755-6392 to be given the date, time and location of where to be. Jury calls will be held at 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to accommodate up to 522 jurors daily.

Remote jury proceedings are currently allowed. But a state emergency order set to expire next month prohibits those proceedings from taking place remotely if the defendant or prosecutors objects.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
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The number of COVID-19 cases at Houston area immigrant detention centers has more than tripled in the last week, according to data provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Jointly, the five detention centers overseen by the Houston ICE field office have tracked 309 active cases. Infected people in the Houston region account for about a quarter of the active cases in immigrant detention statewide.

Across Texas, 1,197 people are in isolation after testing positive in ICE facilities, which is double the number of COVID cases detected last week.

At the Houston Contract Detention Facility near George Bush Intercontinental Airport, 97 people have tested positive and are in isolation. Another 125 people tested positive at the IAH Polk Adult Detention Facility in Livingston, which could represent a large portion of the centers population based on prior occupancy rates. In fiscal year 2022, the Livingston facility has had an average daily population of 393 individuals, but ICE officials declined to provide the current population.

Sixty detainees at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe tested positive along with 15 others detained at the nearby Joe Corley Detention Center, where one person in ICE custody died from the virus in 2020. Another person died that year at the Joe Corley facility in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

In addition, 12 people have tested positive at the Limestone County Detention Center near Waco.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) has conducted more than 12,000 COVID-19 tests at the Houston Contract Detention Facility and more than 14,000 tests at the IAH Secure Adult Detention Facility, said an ICE spokesperson.

Those infected with the virus could have been sick before they were moved into ICE custody, including some people who were recently taken into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Coronavirus in Detention: First immigrant died in ICE custody in Texas from COVID

In the five local detention centers, 3,512 people have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, although based on anecdotal evidence from detainees, thats likely an undercount.

In May 2020, a Cuban migrant at the Joe Corley facility wrote an op-ed blasting immigration officials for failing to follow CDC protocol saying, Detention center staff members do not have PPE, nor do the kitchen workers. Testing and widespread checks for fevers are nonexistent.

Advocacy groups such as the ACLU and Physicians for Human Rights denounced ICEs response to the health crisis  particularly in the early days of the pandemic.

Criticisms have included the agencys failure to follow its own pandemic protocols, prevent the spread of COVID in facilities and adequately test detainees.

The number of people infected in these facilities nationwide is also high compared with the larger population. ICE has reported more than 16,000 total COVID-19 cases in its Texas facilities since the start of the pandemic.
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!Gary Lynn, 28, lives in Spring and has cerebral palsy severe enough that he has limited mobility and needs a wheelchair to get around. When the deep freeze descended on Texas in early 2021, he and hundreds of thousands of other Texans lost power.

For Lynn and other disabled Texans, the extreme weather was more than an inconvenience. It was life-threatening. A law passed later in 2021 was supposed to help ensure that disabled Texans got help in times of emergency.

But as winter again descends on Texas, a Chronicle investigation found that city officials are confused about how to implement the new law and that disabled Texans are just as vulnerable as they were last year.

Medically fragile Texans like Lynn are particularly exposed during disasters. During the deep freeze, for example, the Chronicle investigated the storms toll, finding that many people died when they ran out of supplemental oxygen, or when their breathing machines failed, or when they were unable to receive needed medical treatments like dialysis.

For Lynn, the cold temperatures were especially perilous because his medical condition meant he couldnt move around easily and had a harder time staying warm. As the hours passed, the temperature in his home plunged to below 40 degrees. His feet swelled, then turned purple, and he was worried for a time that doctors might have to amputate them. Lynn and scores of other disabled Texans said they were essentially on their own during the crisis.

And while the state has registries that disabled residents can use to alert emergency planners of their needs and conditions  which could theoretically be shared with first responders  that information received little use during the deep freeze.

After the freeze, lawmakers passed SB 968, which required municipalities to check on their disabled residents in times of emergencies. The law requires cities and counties to check on certain residents  suffering from Alzheimers disease or debilitating chronic illnesses, dialysis patients, those dependent on oxygen treatment or who have medical conditions that require 24-hour medical supervision  who register on the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry.

State Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, proposed the legislation after learning a constituent who lived a few streets over from him died, alone, because he failed to get critical dialysis treatment during the storm.

But as Texas cities attempt to comply with the law, the Chronicle found that disabled Texans remain vulnerable.

I dont think that SB 968 improved our readiness posture, said Gabriel Cazares, director of Houstons Office for People with Disabilities.

Disability Rights Texas attorney Stephanie Duke said that state officials have provided very little clarity on how their plans will actually work, or information to municipalities about how to follow the new law.

Local emergency planners need top down guidance, she said.

TDEM has failed to prioritize disability related needs or hire subject matter experts, she said. Combine that with a volunteer registry, no mandate and no support, our most vulnerable get left behind.

She also wondered whether emergency planners would review other information that could help their disaster response plans, such as looking at transit rosters or other lists to make sure there are enough vehicles to evacuate medically fragile Texans during emergencies.

Its not one-and-done solution, she said. There needs to be knowledge of a communitys needs and inclusive planning such as bringing the right people to the table and then planning for those needs to ensure community lifelines are sustained.

State officials bristled at criticism and said they were continuing to work through the rule making process.

A Texas Department of Emergency Management spokesman said the agency has updated its questionnaire and website, which should give local officials access to more detailed information about the needs of their communities. In an emailed statement, a spokesman batted back questions about whether the new law amounted to an unfunded mandate, saying anyone who is critical of helping the most vulnerable in our communities during disasters may need to reconsider their role in the process.

Bucy, the original sponsor of the legislation, also pushed back, saying that because the law deals with emergency management, cities would be able to get reimbursed for some of the expenses it would entail.

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There is money already allocated for emergency management, he said, so in the event a wellness check is needed, counties can pull from state emergency funds.

Cazares noted that because lawmakers did not provide any financial resources to help implement the requirements of the law, some municipalities might be even less likely to try to use the program in the future.

What was needed, he said, was a dramatic overhaul to how cities think about emergency preparedness.

Cazares colleagues within the citys office of emergency management declined interview requests, saying they were still working out details on how they plan to apply the requirements of the new law.

But critics pointed to potential concerns such as a lack of visibility, questions about whether emergency planners would look at other data, such as paratransit rosters, to help identify a wider population of disabled or medically fragile residents in their communities. Some states, such as Colorado and Washington, have hired disability access functional needs specialists to work in their state emergency management departments, said Duke, the disability rights attorney.

That knowledge (at the top) helps bring in the right groups at the local level to have that inclusive planning, Duke said. Advocates for the disabled and medically fragile have repeatedly urged Texas Department of Emergency Management to hire a disability integration specialist over the past few years but the agency has refused to make such a hire.

Houston Councilmember Abbie Kamin said the current situation points to a disconnect at the state level and was part of a broader pattern of state officials passing rules down to local municipalities without guidance or funding.

Houston is making a good faith effort to meet the requirements of the law, she said. But once again were seeing an unfunded mandate by the state with no support.

She noted that the states updated information pamphlets about the STEAR registry stress different municipalities use the information different ways, meaning disabled residents still have no assurance theyll actually get help if they submit their info to the database.

Its just like, great, heres this registry, she said.

Austin city officials said they were still waiting for directions from state emergency management officials. Absent those instructions, emergency management officials are planning to use the STEAR registry to contact people through the citys regional emergency notification system, said Austin Office of Emergency Management spokesman Bryce Bryce Bencivengo.

The system allows residents to receive a phone call, text message or email, he said. It also allows city officials to ask residents questions about needed services.

Like Cazares, Bencivengo noted that the registry would only help residents who had added their information to the database.

This is incumbent upon people registering in the STEAR system, he said.

Officials in San Antonio and Dallas have not yet responded to questions from the Chronicle.

st.john.smith@chron.com

st.john.smith@chron.com
The deeply disturbing hostage incident at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in the Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville Saturday illustrated in agonizing real time the dilemma that most houses of worship face these days.

A stranger knocks at the synagogue door on an unusually cold Saturday morning. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker welcomes him into the warmth of the building. A passage from the 19th chapter of Leviticus is no doubt second nature to the man who goes about preparing a cup of hot tea for the visitor he has invited in: The stranger who sojourns with you shall be a native from among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The rabbi is also wise in the ways of the world. He is aware that not every beseeching stranger has angelic intentions. We know that some people just dont like us, he preached a few weeks ago.

That awareness prompted Cytron-Walker and several of his congregants to participate in at least four active-shooter and security-training courses in recent years  from the Colleyville Police Department, the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League and the Secure Community Network, a group that provides security plans to Jewish institutions nationally. Their training, combined with a calm demeanor and watchful vigilance during the ordeal, likely saved their lives.

The stranger at the door turned out to be Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British national of Pakistani descent who had made his way to the Dallas-Fort Worth area after flying into New York two weeks earlier. Armed with a gun and perhaps an explosive device, he held the rabbi and his congregants hostage for 11 hours, growing more agitated as the day wore on. His intention, he said, was to force the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman held in a federal prison in Fort Worth for trying to kill American soldiers. Widely known as Lady al-Qaida, Siddiqui is serving an 86-year term.

Akram had a history of mental illness and at some point had been under law enforcement scrutiny in England. In Colleyville, police shot and killed him shortly after Cytron-Walker and his fellow hostages fled through a side door.

The choice is not between naivete and reality, the Rev. Kyle Childress, a Baptist minister in Nacogdoches told the editorial board in response to reports of Congregation Beth Israels preparedness.

Childress congregation, like faith communities around the world, has spent long hours in discussion and debate in recent years about the proper balance between safety and openness. Armed security guards in the vestibule or the sanctuary made church members uneasy; the threat of violence, however unlikely, made them even more uneasy. Concerned about nurturing what they called a culture of fear, they quickly discovered that finding the right balance between the ideal and the real is difficult.

Childress and Cytron-Walker would doubtless agree that houses of worship are not meant to be fortresses. They are sanctuaries in the literal sense of the word, places of safety designed to welcome and shelter people who gather to share their spiritual beliefs in peace and harmony. They are open, as well, to those who suffer, who are needy in all manner of ways.

Their access is both a vulnerability and essential to the institution, former Homeland Security assistant secretary Juliette Kayyem wrote on The Atlantic website this week. Kayyems husband and children are members of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where on Oct. 27, 2018, a raging anti-Semite burst into Shabbat morning services and murdered 11 congregants.

Statistically, the threat of an active shooter attack is rare, and yet hate crimes and religiously motivated incidents of violence have increased in recent years. Disputes and divisiveness in an unraveling America, to borrow columnist Bari Weiss description, likely encourage the fanatics among us, the unstable. We also are a nation awash in finely tooled machines designed to kill human beings. We know that guns can be an accelerant in a dispute, that they can end up in the wrong hands, and yet we tolerate their ubiquity. Akram, citizen of a country where firearms are difficult to acquire, reportedly bought his gun off the street after he arrived in this country.

Colleyville synagogue members held hostage at the point of an ill-acquired gun could easily have been the latest addition to a grim list that includes not only Pittsburgh but also a small South Texas town where, in November 2017, a man armed with a military-style weapon shot and killed 26 worshipers at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. Congregation Beth Israel could have been another Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where, in 2015, a young white supremacist took advantage of the historic African-American churchs openness and hospitality and killed nine members in a Bible-study class.

All religious groups are potential targets, and yet Jews, historically scapegoated and persecuted, remain atop the FBIs list of religious groups most frequently targeted for hate crimes. The Anti-Defamation League records almost daily threats, and synagogues around the country  indeed, around the world  are reviewing their security regime in response to Colleyville. Police are wary of copy-cat attacks.

The need for vigilance is not the only lesson that Congregation Beth Israel and the larger Colleyville community have for their fellow Americans, religious and otherwise. As the ordeal continued last Saturday, the congregations neighbors  Christian, Jew, Muslim and Hindu  came together in support. They prayed together, consoled one another. Three Muslim women, friends of Adena Cytron-Walker, the rabbis wife, brought her a favorite dish, South Asian pastries called samosas. They stayed with her until her husband was safe.

Colleyvilles response was a poignant reminder of the power of connectedness, friendship and the Biblical sense of hospitality. Its tangible expression of community showed us why all Americans need to turn away from politicians and public officials whose intemperate language and belittling insults continue to roil a dangerously Balkanized nation. Colleyville reminded us that we have more important things to do than tune in to TV personalities who stoke fear and outrage.

Neighbors who might otherwise be considered strangers came together last weekend. Surely, the rest of us can, as well.
Regarding Study finds benefits of deep conversation, (Jan. 13): This opinion piece is so true. The authors didnt mention a few things about conversations, though. First, there needs to be an understanding that all opinions are to be respected (that means political correctness is off the table). Second, when you engage in a conversation, talk with your mouth and listen with your ears. Some overly opinionated people will listen with their mouth, trying to drown out things they dont agree with. We dont have to agree with someone in order to engage in a conversation about politics, religion or other significant topics. Although my views are conservative, I can read, and respect, the views of opinion columnists such as Leonard Pitts. We can also have good face-to-face conversations with people outside of our individual shells.

Alan Nicholson, Pasadena

COVID

Regarding Editorial: Clowns like Sen. Rand Paul should stop trolling the adults determined to get us through the pandemic. (Jan. 16): Your editorial demonizing Sen. Rand Paul for challenging Dr. Anthony Fauci was a petty complaint about a very serious problem concerning the credibility of medical leadership in this ongoing pandemic. It was Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins who wanted to undermine the Great Barrington Declaration of Oct. 4, 2020. Rather than debate the merits of the declaration, which emphasized the need to treat the most vulnerable and avoid any shutdowns of the economy and schools, Fauci and Collins published a devastating takedown of three fringe epidemiologists from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford, who were instrumental in developing the declaration. The Chronicles editorial defended Fauci, who was far more culpable of malfeasance than the legitimate questions posed by Paul.

Jim Lloyd, Lakewood, Colo.

I appreciate your editorial for both its unfortunate need and accuracy. Sen. Rand Paul indeed showed himself to be overmatched and despicable in his poor face-off against Dr. Anthony Fauci. After noting that over 840,000 Americans have died from COVID, you ask the important questions: What happened to the greater good? What happened to common sense? Heck, what happened to personal responsibility?

I believe it is necessary to answer these questions before we can hope to overcome this slow-motion train wreck. The answers are self-evident but we must name the beast. Politics. More precisely, the politicization of issues that are simply not political. This pandemic is not right or left. The malaise, harm and destruction wrought by the virus are not Democrat or Republican. It is a virus plain and simple. Its creation was not political nor will be its control.

Tanner Garth, Houston

Excellent editorial. My wife is a teacher and definitely suffering the professional burnout you describe. Youre right on target about the never ending question, Will this be the day COVID catches up to us?

David Kelly, Spring

Corruption

Regarding She pleaded guilty to corruption in government job, then worked for Harris County for 2 more months, (Jan. 13): It would seem that the Harris County judge and commissioners should take a closer look at the standards to which they hold their employees. Rhonda Skillern-Jones pleaded guilty in a federal public corruption case on Oct. 28, 2021 yet was not fired until Dec. 16, 2021, nearly two months later when the guilty pleas were announced. While Commissioners Court recently decided to not require applicants for employment to indicate whether or not they had a criminal record on the first step in the job application process for a county position, they might want to consider requiring current county employees to immediately inform their employer if they have pleaded guilty in a public corruption case.

Jim Robertson, Houston

Filibuster

Regarding Editorial: Dont kill the filibuster. Do it like a Texan, (Jan. 9): Common sense says if it isnt broken, dont fix it. In this case the corollary applies, if it clearly is broken then fix it. The filibuster is broken. I was born in 1960, during the 86th (1959-1960) Congress when there was one motion filed to end a filibuster. In the 116th (2019-2020) Congress, there were 328 motions filed to end a filibuster. That is not a count of the number of filibusters, just the number of times that someone tried to end one!

The American people are not well served by more than 300 filibusters per year. Changes over the years have broken the process and we need to fix it. You can see the historical trend at: https://www.senate.gov/legislative/cloture/clotureCounts.htm.

Michael Dougherty, Houston

As former President Barack Obama said, the filibuster is a Jim Crow relic. The filibuster has a sordid history of protecting racist laws and obstructing anti-racist legislation beginning in the early days of America. Early filibusters delayed legislation over statehood for California and Kansas and, after the Civil War, protecting Southern Black peoples voting rights. Its been used to stop measures to authorize federal investigation and prosecution of lynchings, to ban the imposition of poll taxes and to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race in housing sales and rentals. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was delayed and obstructed until filibusters by segregationist senators were defeated.

Now the entire Republican Party, and two Democratic senators, use the filibuster to again block legislation to support civil rights of people of color and voting rights of all people.

Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema need to clear their heads out of the coal mines and disorienting desert heat to support a minor change in the Senate filibuster rule to save American democracy from the GOPs big lie and hyper-focus on passing state laws to stop voters from voting.

Doug Peterson, Clear Lake
Defense attorneys have asked a Travis County judge to toss the misdemeanor trespassing cases of nearly 450 migrants arrested near the southern border, the most sweeping legal challenge yet to Gov. Greg Abbotts Operation Lone Star initiative.

The case is modeled after a recent lawsuit, also filed in Travis County, that led to the dismissal of state charges last week against an asylum-seeker from Ecuador who had argued Abbotts border program runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

The latest court filing, using the same argument, asks state District Judge Lora Livingston, a Democrat, to throw out the cases of 444 migrants arrested on criminal trespassing charges in Kinney County, a conservative rural community southeast of Del Rio that is the epicenter of Operation Lone Star.

Kristin Etter, an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid who is representing the migrants, said after last weeks ruling that she viewed the case as a blueprint for handling other trespassing charges.

The Texas government is restraining the liberty of thousands of individuals under the guise of criminal trespass prosecutions in an attempt to usurp federal immigration legislation and strong arm the federal government into enacting policies that Governor Abbott would prefer, Etter and co-attorney Robert Doggett wrote in an application for a writ of habeas corpus.

LAST WEEK: Austin judge tosses migrants trespassing charge, as blow to Gov. Abbotts border enforcement plan

The attorneys, as in the case last week, argue that Abbotts migrant arrest plan violates a clause of the Constitution that forbids states from enacting policies that conflict with federal laws or otherwise interfere with the federal governments work. Immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government.

Abbott has said Operation Lone Star is necessary to handle the surge in border crossings under President Joe Biden, who the governor has slammed for rolling back some of the immigration policies enacted under former president Donald Trump. Both Abbott and Paxton have said they expect last weeks ruling to be overturned, with Paxton tweeting that Texas officials have the right to defend our border if the feds refuse.

All but 54 of the 444 migrants in the latest filing had been released on bond as of last week, according to court records. The rest have all been jailed for more than three months, some since early September.

One of the cases involves a migrant who was jailed on state trespassing charges on July 31, shortly after Abbott ordered state police to begin making the arrests.

While all of the migrants were arrested in Kinney County, Etter and Doggett argue the case should be taken up in Travis County due to a backlog that has ensued in the overburdened court system of Kinney County, home to roughly 3,700 residents. They wrote that habeas corpus applications are taking a minimum of six weeks to be heard there.

During last weeks hearing, David Schulman, an attorney representing Kinney County, pushed unsuccessfully to relocate the case of the Ecuadorian man, Jesus Alberto Guzman Curipoma, back to the small border county.

Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith, the local misdemeanor prosecutor, said in a court filing earlier this week he would appeal the ruling on the behalf of the state. It was unclear how the case would proceed, however, as the state was represented in the case by Travis County Attorney Jose Garza, a Democrat who sided with Guzman Curipoma.

The dismissal of Guzman Curipomas case is the latest in a series of setbacks faced by Abbotts border crackdown since state authorities began making trespassing arrests in July.

The arrests, centered for months in Kinney and Val Verde counties, are now occurring almost exclusively in GOP-controlled Kinney County, after the local prosecutor in neighboring Val Verde County dismissed dozens of cases over concerns about probable cause, or because the case involved someone who was expected to seek asylum.

Early in the operation, Kinney County officials also came under scrutiny for jailing migrants without appointing attorneys to represent them. A state district judge in September ordered the release of more than 240 migrants on cashless personal bonds after local prosecutors, overwhelmed by the influx of arrests, failed to bring charges for weeks in an apparent violation of state law.

The operation has more recently begun drawing scrutiny from Abbotts Republican primary opponents, who bashed the governor after reports emerged of suicides, pay issues and low morale among members of the Texas National Guard who had been deployed to the border under Operation Lone Star. Abbott dismissed the criticism last week, saying the pay issues had been resolved.

Additionally, defense attorneys have said the trespassing arrests are inadvertently shielding migrants from Trump-era immigration policies that could have otherwise been used to expel them from the country before they could submit asylum claims, or forced them to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings in the U.S.

jasper.scherer@chron.com
Andrea Peterson

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and was experiencing "mild symptoms, she announced on Twitter.

Fletcher, a Houston Democrat, said she is fully vaccinated and had received a booster shot. She said she was quarantining and following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as she recovers.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russia on Thursday to count on a swift, severe response from the United States if it invades Ukraine, no matter how widespread an attack might be.

In an effort to clean up President Bidens suggestion that a minor incursion might be tolerable, the nations top diplomat said at a briefing in Berlin that any Russian military move across the border with its neighbor would incur a heavy price.

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If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe, united response from the United States and our allies and partners, Blinken told reporters in Berlin.

He warned President Vladimir Putin that Russia would pay a dear price in lives lost and a possible cutoff from the global banking system if it invaded its neighbor to the West.

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a joint press conference with the German Foreign Minister at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin on January 20, 2022, in Berlin. (ALEX BRANDON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. and European diplomats are seeking to project a united front as Russia masses 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and loudly demands concessions.

Russia denies any invasion plans and counters that the West is guilty of provocations by rushing weaponry to Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said talk of an imminent attack was a cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character.

Blinken held talks Thursday with diplomats from Germany, France, and Britain  a so-called Quad meeting  as both sides talk tough. Earlier, he met Ukraines president in Kyiv to discuss the threat.

The U.S. and its NATO allies face a difficult task in the Ukraine crisis. Biden has said he is not planning to send combat troops in the case of a further Russian invasion. But he could pursue a range of less dramatic yet still risky military options, including supporting a post-invasion Ukrainian resistance.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a joint press conference with the German Foreign Minister at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 20, 2022 in Berlin. (ALEX BRANDON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The difficulties of staying on the same page were on full display Wednesday when Biden warned Russia against any invasion and said a minor incursion would elicit a lesser response from the West.

The president also prompted consternation among allies after saying that the response to a Russian invasion depends on what it does.

Its one thing if its a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, he said.

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Blinken was at pains Thursday to walk back that gaffe and stress that the U.S. and its partners are united in the face of Moscows threats.

That unity gives us strength, a strength I might add that Russia does not and cannot match, he said.

With News Wire Services
Brandi Carlile, Lil Nas X, Arlo Parks top GLAAD Media Awards 2022 music nominees

GLAAD has named the 2022 nominees in both Breakthrough and established music artist categories.



The GLAAD Media Awards honor the fair and inclusive representation of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect their lives.

Although bisexuals  who make up the majority of the LGBTQ community according to GLAAD  are underrepresented in the media, this years music nominees defy the trend.

Bisexual artists Halsey and St. Vincent and pansexual artist Demi Lovato are nominated for Outstanding Music Artist. In the Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist category, bisexual artists Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast, and Lauren Jauregui are all nominated.

GLAAD Media Awards 2022 Music Nominees

Outstanding Music Artist

Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days (Low Country Sound/Elektra Records)

BROCKHAMPTON, ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE (RCA Records/Question Everything)

Demi Lovato, Dancing with the Devil the Art of Starting Over (Island Records)

Elton John, The Lockdown Sessions (Interscope Records)

Halsey, If I Cant Have Love, I Want Power (Capitol Records)

Kaytranada, Intimidated (RCA Records)

Lil Nas X, MONTERO (Columbia Records)

Melissa Etheridge, One Way Out (BMG)

Mykki Blanco, Broken Hearts and Beauty Sleep (Transgressive Records)

St. Vincent, Daddys Home (Loma Vista Recordings)

Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist

Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams (Transgressive Records)

Asiahn, The Interlude (Third&Hayden/Motown)

girl in red, if i could make it go quiet (AWAL)

Jake Wesley Rogers, Pluto (Facet/Warner Records)

Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee (Dead Oceans)

Joy Oladokun, in defense of my own happiness (Amigo Records/Verve Forecast/Republic Records)

Lauren Jauregui, Prelude (Attunement Records/AWAL)

Lily Rose, Stronger Than I Am (Big Loud Records/Back Blocks Music/Republic Records)

Lucy Dacus, Home Video (Matador Records)

VINCINT, There Will Be Tears (Vincint Cannady)

See the full list of GLAAD nominees across all categories here.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.

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Take the challenge: Produce an album this February

As we crawl out of the holiday fog to greet the new year, why not sign up for the RPM Challenge or February Album Writing Month and produce an entire album of new music in 28 days?

By Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan from the Disc Makers Blog

Its cold outside and were not quite back to our regularly scheduled gigging routine, so why not take this time to finish up your song ideas, boot up your DAW (or or head to your local recording studio), and produce an album?

Maybe you need a bit of motivation, so hows this: Starting this February 1st, challenge yourself to record an entire albums worth of new, original music by March 1st.

Sound impossible? Its not  and one of the most motivating things in life is a deadline. But even more motivating is having other musicians you can lean on who are trying to achieve the same musical goal. Pushing yourself to be creative in such a compressed time frame is good for your musical output  and weve got tips to help you achieve it.

Sign up now and commit to this creative challenge. How? By joining one of two free February music challenges:

Record Production Month Challenge (RPM)

February Album Writing Month (FAWM)

Each year, we push our musician friends and all our students to attempt one of these two challenges. Both RPM and FAWM are modeled after the highly successful National Novel Writing Month, which challenges authors to commit to writing a 50,000-word manuscript during the month of November. Both RPM and FAWM challenge you to record an albums worth of material during the month of February. RPM challenges you to finish 10 songs or 35 minutes of music, while FAWM sets your goal at 14 songs. Either way, they both achieve the same result: you produce an album in 28 days! These are both motivational challenges, not contests or battle-of-the-bands. You win by finishing and creating new, original music.

So, how does an album challenge work?

Why does an album challenge work to spark creativity for so many musicians? Because of a little thing called Parkinsons Law, which states that work expands to fill the time available to complete it. This means that if you give yourself three months to come up with 10 songs, it will end up taking you three months to complete the task. However, that extra time probably wont improve the quality of what you create. Studies have shown that most of the time spent on a given project is usually wasted on procrastination, distractions, over-planning, and stress. In fact, other studies have shown that imposing a constraint on creativity  whether you limit the technology, tools, or the time you take (deadlines!)  can actually enhance what you create and the quality of ideas.

Because the 28-day deadline is much shorter than what it usually takes to create an album, it forces you to push off the distractions and procrastination and focus on the key essentials  songwriting, recording, and mixing  since you have such limited time.

Here are three additional reasons why you should take on an album challenge this month:

Create new material. The idea with any music challenge isnt to make something perfect! Get that idea out of your head and use the 28 days to complete a first draft. Once you complete the challenge, that can be the start of a process you can finalize once the draft is done. Although you can share it with the other musicians you connected with at the challenge sites, you dont have to release it to the greater public as is. Instead, you can put more production time into it afterward. Once you have 10-14 new songs, youll be in a great position to pick which tracks to continue to work on, revise, add to, and then release into the world throughout the year. Network with other musicians. One of the best things about these challenges is knowing youre not alone. Throughout February, the RPM and FAWM websites and forums are buzzing with musicians talking gear, exchanging recording and songwriting tips, and keeping each other motivated as the clock ticks to midnight on March 1st. Its a great place to network and generate new opportunities for one another. And then, once its done, the connection continues with listening parties online and in cities around the world. Generate exposure. Participating in the challenge can also generate publicity and exposure. The music you create can get included in jukeboxes showcasing RPM and FAWM artists, which can get you new fans. Plus, RPM and FAWM often work with the media to highlight the musicians taking part. For instance, the RPM organization usually promotes the event to radio and media outlets, including National Public Radio (NPR), which chooses its favorite songs and plays them on the air.

A few years ago, our own attempt at the RPM Challenge ended up getting NPR coverage. And, once we put the finishing touches on our album, Sham Rock, it was even nominated for a couple of different Best Irish Album awards. Not bad for just rolling up our sleeves, diving into the challenge, and seeing what might come out of it.

Schedule your four weeks and block out your work

Seriously, why not channel your frustrations from these past two years into something positive, like bringing some new music into the world? Focusing on a four-week project like this can not only get you out of any funk you may be in as we round the corner on another year of social distancing, but itll keep your mind focused on something positive: creating new music. You only have four weeks, so one way to make the best use of your time is to break up the weeks by album production tasks. For example, week one could be reserved for songwriting  song topics, lyrics, initial demos, etc. You may even want to pick a theme for the album to help structure and guide what youre creating.

The goal would be that, by the end of week one, youll have rough demos for all the songs youll be recording and mixing during the rest of the month. Weeks two and three should target recording, with week four focused on mixing. Of course, thats the plan, but youll want to be flexible. When we took on the RPM Challenge, we came up with songs late in the month that were perfect for the album, and we found a way to fit them in.

One note: the rules of both contests state you need to submit an album cover along with the music, so youll either want to work on that bit by bit through the month or reserve the last few days to create the image.

Are you ready to dive in? If so, here are some tips for songwriting and music production to make the best of the 28-day challenge.

Produce activities and tasks in batches

This tip will help your music production as well as your efficiency throughout the month as you focus on album creation. Batching is the act of lumping related tasks together so you can finish them all at once. Think about how you do your laundry: you dont wash each article one at a time; you do a whole batch based on color or fabric type. For our band, which includes a horn section, we set aside time to record all the bass parts or all the horn parts on one weekend day. By doing this, the band members didnt have to come into the studio 10 times. They came in once and powered through all 10 songs, saving a ton of time.

A second way to use the batching technique as youre working on your album is to bundle up non-album-production activities, like answering emails, posting on social media, or hitting the RPM or FAWM boards. Otherwise, you can scatter your time, lose focus, and kill your creative flow and production output.

Shut up your inner critic

As we said in You arent qualified to judge your music, you need to ignore your internal critic when songwriting  especially when working within a tight deadline like RPM and FAWM. Critiquing yourself during the creative process is like driving with the parking brake on. Stay in the flow and run with what you come up with. You can always edit and refine what you created later. Remember, what youre creating is a first draft to build on and release to the greater public later in the year. Your job now is simply to create new music and produce a solid album for the RPM or FAWM audience.

  

Are you up for the challenge? You can start coming up with ideas for a theme for your album and a plan now so youre ready to go once the clock strikes midnight on February 1st.

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North Adams Reconstitutes New Committee for School Project

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The School Building Committee was re-established on Tuesday as the panel prepares to undertake a feasibility study for Brayton and Greylock schools that may mean reconsidering how the city's elementary schools are configured.

The original committee for the Greylock School project dissolved in April after abandoning pursuit of a renovation of the 70-year-old school. The recommendation had come from the Massachusetts School Building Authority based on enrollment projects that show the city's school population dwindling over the next decade. The MSBA encouraged and accepted the city's application to change its project to include Brayton Elementary with the understanding that this would likely mean the closure of Greylock.

The committee had reorganized enough to begin the process of hiring an owner's project manager but changes leadership after the November election lead to Tuesday's reorganization.

Taking the lead now will be Mayor Jennifer Macksey, also chairman of the School Committee, who is being joined by a few new faces as well as holdovers from the original committee.

The committee is comprised of: Nancy Rauscher, former assistant to the superintendent and now business administrator, Superintendent Barbara Malkas, Brayton Principal Carrie Wallace, Greylock Principal Sandra Cote, North Adams Administrative Officer Angela Lopes, school Director of Facilities Robert Flaherty, Building Inspector William Meranti, School Committee members Richard Alcombright and Tara Jacobs, City Council President Lisa Blackmer, Head Start Director of Child Support Services Donna Hedding, Brayton teacher and parent William Chapman, Assistant Superintendent Kimberly Roberts-Morandi, Benjamin Lamb, early childhood educator Constance Tatro, contractor David Moresi, and Brandon Rousseau, representing the Berkshire Family YMCA.

Many of the members fulfill specific requirements for the committee, such as knowledge of finances, construction, architecture and codes, educational needs, functioning of the buildings, and as parents or interested community members. After some discussion, the group considered that both Greylock and Colegrove Park schools might also have a parent and or teacher involved since any decision would affect both schools.

Not all members will be voting members, however. Malkas said she and Rauscher had had conversations about whether administrators should also vote and noted that she had been a voting member on one past school project and a non-voting member on another.

"There's something to be said for not necessarily having school district staff be considered voting members ... We really feel very strongly that you know, we serve this School Committee and we serve the school building committee," she said. "Also, by category, we should have a consideration then is it one or both? So for example, in the School Committee member category, we have two representatives, should it be one or both?"

Malkas said she didn't think there was a role for her as a voting member but Rauscher disagreed. "I would say given the breadth of your responsibility that  I don't know who else from the district is going to be a voting member  but I don't think it's crazy for you to be a voting member," she said. "That's my personal opinion. ... I think it would be value added to have you be a voting member."

Rauscher, who is expected to regain her designation as a "Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Official" in a few months, would also be the chair of the OPM selection committee, said Malkas, and so should be a voting member.

Macksey said she felt that Lopes should remain a member, considering what role she may play in procurement, but not as a voting member. Alcombright, who served on the original school building committee prior to his election in November, said he would be fine as an observor and defer to Jacobs as the voting member. The committee, however, voted to have both School Committee members with voting authority.

The final tally so far is 12 voting members: Macksey, Malkas, Rauscher, Wallace, Cote, Alcombright, Jacobs, Blackmer, Moresi, Lamb, Tatro, Chapman.

Malkas also reported that there has been a lot of interest in the request for services for an owner's project manager, with about 16 inquiries. Seven potential applicants with experience toured both the Brayton and Greylock schools last week, she said. The deadline for applications is this Friday afternoon and packets will be developed to go out to the OPM selection committee for review this weekend.

The selection committee will be provided a score sheet to rank the candidates based on criteria already approved by it and the school building committee. Malkas anticipated meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 25, to evaluate the applications and identify the top three candidates. Both Jan. 31 and Feb. 3 have been scheduled for possible interviews, but more can be done if needed.

"Our goal is to be able to submit our OPM finalist to MSBA by Feb. 4," she said. "So the next two weeks, very short timeline, but we're very close and we have some very highly qualified OPM services interested in this project."

Two enrollment studies by the MSBA and the New England School Development Council had projected an enrollment 10 years out off about 625 students in Grades kindergarten through 6. Brayton and Colegrove Park currently have a capacity for 716. But it may not be as easy as closing a school, Malkas said.

The superintendent also provided a look at how classroom size might be affected based on project numbers. The district saw a sharp decline in 2021, dropping from 1,358 students to 1,223, but this year has rebounded slightly to 1,257. While this drop seemed to caused in part by the pandemic, it is in line with the expected decline over the coming years.

"I really wanted to present this as informational to the committee because it really speaks to some of the concerns we're hearing in the community, but also some of the considerations that we will need to have as we move forward into feasibility," she said. "Prior to COVID, we really looked at a classroom size of 24 as being really a maximum capacity classroom. With COVID, some of those maximum capacities are less on average, it's 22 students but in some classrooms it's actually lower than that."

Using enrollment data from Dec. 1, she showed that the average classroom size across six sections (two sections per grade per school with three schools), average class sizes have tended to be lower than the maxium capacity (with the caveat that there has been "volatility" in enrollment because of the pandemic) though some are "bumping up" to the max.

Reducing the number of sections to five would still keep the average below 22 students but dropping to four (two sections per grade with two schools) would exceed that.

"So closing a school in our current grade configuration, in our current model, just saying all right, we're just going to close Greylock and assume all of those students can be then brought into Brayton, that isn't going to actually work because we're going to have increased class sizes at Brayton that would exceed our classroom capacities," Malkas said. "That means that as we move forward, we're going to have to really think outside the box a little bit."

One option is to reconfigure so that the grades are not split between schools. Malkas put forth the idea of six sections of early childhood (prekindergarten and kindergarten), five sections of lower elementary (1-3) and four sections of upper elementary (4-6). MSBA and New England School Development Council, which did an enrollment study several years ago, both suggested the idea of grade spans.

"I think when we start to talk about equity across the school district this is actually a really interesting model tackling that issue," said Lamb. "I know the conversations when you have like, oh, they came from this school or that school. Instead, they're coming from a central school. ... I really I do like that component of it. I actually am looking forward to digging into a bunch of research on this now because I think it's an interesting model."

Thomas Simon, director of student support services, said grade spans could allow for programs to be housed with specific grades and would eliminate the need for some children to be transported between schools to meet their needs.

Jacobs thought the ability to service students by age and where their needs were developmentally in one place was an exciting possibility but she was concerned at how other elements of the schools, such as playgrounds, would be addressed based on ages. If the project was at Brayton, would there be money to meet the changed needs at Colegrove, she asked.

"That's the challenge of feasibility, right?" responded Malkas. "Because we have to start to consider different options. And while we have this view from the MSBA that we can currently house all of our students in two schools, unless we're willing to reconfigure the entire district and really think about what we might be doing there ... we can't jump into a design process until we've actually done this kind of work of what are the possibilities and what are the considerations ....

"This is going to really require great visioning of what we see education in the city of North Adams like as we go forward into the next 50 years."
A stampede during an open-air church service in Liberia has left several people injured and nearly 30 dead  including 11 children and one pregnant woman  officials said.

The incident happened Wednesday night after a group of armed robbers stormed into a Pentecostal service in New Kru Town, outside the capital Monrovia.

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People gathering at redemption hospital Thursday where victims of a stampede at a Christian crusade in New Kru Town, outside Monrovia, Liberia, Wednesday night were taken to. (Augustine D Wallace/AP)

The doctors said 29 persons died and some are on the critical list, Liberias deputy information minister, Jalawah Tonpo, said in a radio address Thursday.

This is a sad day for the country, he added.

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While a police spokesperson has declined to comment on what exactly led to the deadly chaos, a man who was at the service told Reuters about the moment when a group of men allegedly rushed into the crowd.

We saw a group of men with cutlasses and other weapons coming toward the crowd, Exodus Morias said. While running, some people dropped and others fell on the ground and walked over them.

A woman searches through shoes Thursday at the entrance of a field where 29 people, including 11 children and a pregnant woman have been confirmed killed after they were trampled upon in a stampede outside Monrovia, Liberia, Wednesday night. (Augustine D Wallace/AP)

The meeting, known as a crusade, was organized by a well-known pastor known as Apostle Abraham Kromah, who runs the Word of Life Outreach International church, the BBC reported. Hundreds of worshipers were at the scene.

Kromah is said to be cooperating with the police in the investigation.

President George Weah declared a three-day period of national mourning.

He visited the area on Thursday and said that regulations need to be enacted to ensure that similar services are held in a safe environment.
Customers joined in for a ribbon cutting at the new Taco Bell on Dalton Avenue. The eatery is across from the entrance to Berkshire Crossing. The new restaurant has upgraded technology for easy ordering. PreviousNext

Pittsfield Taco Bell Holds Grand Opening



Some Wahconah students say they skipped out for some Taco Bell.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Crunch Wrap Supreme lovers can rejoice.

Taco Bell celebrated the grand opening of a new restaurant on Wednesday after two years of planning and building.



The new structure on Dalton Avenue is a far cry from the franchise's original 1980s building in Berkshire Crossing. It includes various technology improvements designed to provide a more efficient employee and customer experience.



"Obviously the biggest difference is we went from a 1980s building to a brand-new one, a lot of differences you can't see out here, it's in the back of the house, the technology, everything is his newest technologies we have for Taco Bell as far as the ovens and grills, the computer systems and headsets, and the drive-thru technology has been 100 percent updated," said Jessica Woodburn, marketing director for franchise owner Hospitality Restaurant Group, headquartered in New York State.



"So for our team members, it's a much better experience, everything flows easier, it makes sense to them, and then we're out here, our kiosk, the drive-thru mobile ordering, the DoorDash, we had all that before, but it should be much easier now."



The construction of the new restaurant started in September with a projected end date of late 2021. Because of COVID-19 delays such as supply chain shortages, the date was pushed out by about a month.



The former location shut down at the end of its business day on Sunday. Another fast-food franchise, Chipotle, will be occupying that property in the future.


SVHC COVID-19 Resource Center Schedule Change

BENNINGTON, Vt.  Because temperatures on Friday, Jan. 21 are forecasted to be in the single digits with a negative wind chill, the Southwestern Vermont Health Care's (SVHC) COVID-19 Resource Center in Bennington, will close its outdoor testing operations for the day.

Testing will resume as scheduled at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.

Vaccination/booster hours remain unchanged for Friday. The center is open for vaccinations and boosters 8 a.m.  noon.
Medical Matters Weekly Welcomes Lorna Mattern

BENNINGTON, Vt.  Southwestern Vermont Health Care's (SVHC) Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson welcomes Lorna Mattern at noon on Jan. 26.

Mattern is the executive director of United Counseling Service (UCS) in Bennington.

The show is produced with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Viewers can see Medical Matters Weekly on facebook.com/svmedicalcenter and facebook.com/CATTVBennington . The show is also available to view or download a podcast on www.svhealthcare.org/medicalmatters

Mattern directs program planning and development, staff supervision, financial planning, resource development, policy development, and contract negotiations for United Counseling Service. She joined UCS in 1990 in a role to expand the intensive and wrap-around services for children, youth, and families. In 2004 she became the director of the Youth and Family Services Division and was responsible for the clinical and administrative oversight of the agency's system of care for children and families. In 2016, Mattern was appointed executive director. She holds a bachelor's degree in Rehabilitation and Counseling and a M.Ed. in Rehabilitation and Counseling with a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Psychology. In addition to being a member of the Vermont Care Partners Centers of Excellence Committee and Project Catalyst, she serves as a member of the United Health Alliance Board.

After the program, the video will be available on area public access television stations. On CAT-TV, viewers will find the show on channel 1075 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 1:30 p.m. Monday, 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Friday, and 7 p.m. Saturday. GNAT-TV's Comcast channel 1074 airs the program at 8 a.m. Monday, 9 p.m. Wednesday, and 1 p.m. Saturday.

Medical Matters Weekly is an interactive, multiplatform, guest-driven, medical-themed talk show hosted by Dr. Trey Dobson. It provides a behind-the-scenes perspective on health care and the interesting personalities that drive positive change within the industry and its surrounding professions. Topics include behavioral health, food insecurity, equitable care, and the opioid crisis. The show is produced in partnership with Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV) and is broadcast on CAT-TV, Greater Northshire Access Television, Facebook Live, YouTube, and podcast platforms.
Great Barrington Taxes Due, Census Mailed

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  Property tax payments for the third quarter of FY22 are due Feb. 1.

Residents also have the option of making their fourth-quarter payment now or by May 1.

Tax bills were mailed in late December and early January.

This year's property tax rate is $14.86 per $1,000 of property valuation, down from $15.99 last year. The average tax bill rose $230 this year, over FY21.

The FY22 tax bills are sent twice during the fiscal year, in July and December/January.

The July bills reflected estimated taxes, since the town's tax-setting process was not complete until later in 2021. The current bills reflect final property values for FY22.

Anyone with a concern or question regarding their property assessment may contact the Assessor's office at (413) 528-1619 ext. 2302. Residents can also file a tax abatement application deadline by Feb. 1, at 4 p.m., and the abatement application can be found on the Assessors page of the town website, here

Payments can be made online on the Town Hall website, or by check or by cash. Cash payments must be made in person at Town Hall.

Also, the 2022 Annual Street Listing/Census has been mailed.

The Annual Street Listing/Census is a requirement of Massachusetts General Law (MGL) and is a helpful tool when gathering data for grants and vital reports that benefit the Town and its residents.

Residents are asked update information, sign and return even if no changes are made. Forms can be mailed using the return envelope provided or can dropped off in the Municipal Drop Box. Forms can also be emailed to census@townoflenox.com

Please remember, this form does not register you to vote but failure to respond may result in your removal from the active voting list and could result in removal from the voter registration rolls.
Louison House Executive Director Kathy Keeser speaks about the need for housing and emergency shelter on Thursday at the Flood House in North Adams with state Rep. John Barrett III, left, Mayor Jennifer Macksey and state Sen. Adam Hinds. The shelter received $75,000 in ARPA funds thanks to Hinds and Barrett.

Louison Emergency Shelter Program Gets Boost From ARPA Funds



The shelter program has now received $135,000 in ARPA funds through the state, North Adams and Williamstown that with $100,000 from the Massachusetts Housing and Service Alliance will support a program for emergency shelter in local motels this winter. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  When the temperatures drop in the Berkshires, some people literally get left out in the cold.

Louison House is working to solve that problem by finding emergency shelter for people in Northern Berkshire who find themselves homeless as well as creating pathways to permanent housing.

The family shelter has gotten a boost for its motel emergency housing program of $135,000 in state and local funding recently, including $75,000 allotted from the state's American Rescue Plan Act funds through the efforts of state Sen. Adam Hinds and state Rep. John Barrett III. The city of North Adams is kicking in $50,000 from its ARPA funds and the Williamstown Select Board authorized $10,000.

Kathy Keeser, the family shelter's executive director, said the people they serve come from a wide range of situations. Maybe they've been living in tents or garages, or with a friend who's now in trouble with their landlord because of it. There's the lady whose pipes froze, the tenant whose apartment is a hazard, the individual who has a health condition and the person who just can't find a place to live in the current rental market.

"We have a lot of people for various reasons," she said at Thursday's funding announcement at Flood House. "And yes, we do have people with mental health and substance. We don't hide that. That is part of what is with the people we have there. And I sometimes we get comments from people saying as if they're not deserving because they happen to be addicts of alcohol or other substances. They still deserve housing."

Hinds had filed the amendment after speaking with Keeser about the shortage of housing and the lack of emergency shelter.

"Imagine a week like this, with zero or sub-zero wind chill for temperatures and not having a place to stay," said Hinds. "As you pointed out, maybe you think you might be in a tent or in somebody's garage, or then you come to a winter shelter or to a shelter in general and find that there's a waitlist, and what do you do then? So having the ability to pay for hotel rooms and emergency instances is just been critical to our current strategy."

Hinds, who is running for lieutenant governor, said it was hard not to make a bigger statement about the housing problem and the need to move from a right to shelter state to a right to housing state and the proven implications for stable access to health and services.

"S it feels like this is the stop gap to a bigger strategy that we need to undertake," he said.

The shelter is working with motels outside of North Adams to provide emergency housing, including the Mount Royal Inn in Adams. The program is anticipated to cost about $200,000 with $100,000 in funding coming from the Massachusetts Housing and Service Alliance's Emergency Solutions Grants Program.

Keeser said they had planned for 15 beds but that was filled up almost immediately and the shelter began working with other motels to address the shortage in beds, especially for youth.

"And it can sound like we're getting tons of money, but most of is going to the motels. But [Administrative Assistant] Betty [Hakes] will tell you it's around $30,000 a month right now, and that's probably going to go up per month," she said. The program is expected to go through April at least.

Louison House Family Support Center includes both the original house in Adams, now called Terry's House, and the Flood House in North Adams. The shelter's budget has gone up from about $500,000 to about $850,000 a year, largely from the increased use of the motel program the last few years. But Keeser pointed out that the shelter's federal funding for transitional housing hasn't changed since 1994.

"Our transitional house is very unusual, because it is a shelter but they can stay longer," she said. "It's not funded as an emergency shelter, but to serve our community, we do put people up there and we do put them up in emergency and fast as we can we get them into there. But right now we can't get them out of there."

That means there's a shortage of beds and decision to turn to local motels for emergency shelter. Keeser said they are looking at the potential of using one motel as a permanent shelter and a house on Bracewell Avenue as a youth shelter. The only other option is for people to go to Pittsfield, which can be a long trek by bus and takes people away from the services and support circles they may already have established in North County.

The goal is to help people find situations that best address their need. For some, it may be a ticket back to their hometown, for others, getting them into permanent or transitional house, finding resources, getting them in touch with necessary services and finding landlords who are willing to give them a chance. Keeser estimated Louison House has contacts with 300 to 500 people a year.

"The housing situation is really, really hard. Even if we have somebody with a voucher, there are folks who don't have the best credit history or the best income or just lousy housing history or no housing history and the get to the back of the list with landlords," Keeser said. "So we have to work really hard with landlords to try to make them succeed when they get into housing."

Barrett recalled how the community had come together to raise money to buy the original Louison House, named for founder Theresa Louison, and the support it had received from the city, particularly former City Councilor Alan Marden.

"This isn't the greatest thing where we have to talk about the homeless, but it's a problem that we faced in this community for many years," he said. "But it's a good day in the sense that we're doing something to address a problem not only in our community, but the entire community."

Mayor Jennifer Macksey also spoke on the contribution, through the former Thomas Bernard administration, of $50,000 from the city's $2 million in ARPA funds; Michael Goodwin of shelter's board, thanked the Williamstown Select Board for its contribution.

But Keeser noted that the need for shelter won't disappear in the spring when the weather gets warmer.

"It is a community issue and Louison House is funneling through this money that's going to help for now, but we have got to worry about the rest of the year and the rest of the time and finding housing for these people," she said.
Retired Pope Benedict XVI was aware clergy had been abusing children while he served as archbishop of Munich in the 1970s and 80s but did not do anything to address it, according to a long-awaited report out Thursday.

The report on sexual abuse was commissioned by the Catholic Church in a bid to uncover any misconduct or mishandling of allegations within the German diocese between 1945 and 2019. It was compiled over the course of two years by law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl.

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In a total of four cases, we came to the conclusion that the then-archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger, can be accused of misconduct, one of the authors, Martin Pusch, wrote.

Pope Benedict, then known by his given name Josef Ratzinger, acted as archbishop for the Diocese of Munich from 1977 to 1981. He went on to lead the Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before ultimately being elected pope in 2005. Now 94, he became the first person in nearly six centuries to resign when he stepped down from Catholic Churchs top role in 2013.

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During his tenure in Munich, at least two priests committed abuse and were later punished in court, but they remained active in their church roles afterward. No further action was ordered under canon law.

Breaking News As it happens Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts. >

In a third case, Benedict was allegedly aware that a priest recently transferred to his diocese previously committed abuse, but he still allowed him to serve in a pastoral role in Munich. The offending cleric was also convicted on abuse allegations outside of Germany.

Benedict, who submitted dozens of pages of written testimony for the report, has previously denied allegations of misconduct. His former spokesman declined to comment, deferring any response to the Munich archdiocese.

According to the same report, the current archbishop  Reinhard Cardinal Marx, a well-known ally to Pope Francis  was faulted in two cases. Benedicts successor, Friedrich Cardinal Wetter, who was Munichs archbishop from 1982 until Marx took over in 2008, allegedly mishandled 21 cases.

Both have denied wrongdoing.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Holy See would not comment until it could give the contents of the report careful and detailed examination.

In reiterating shame and remorse for abuses committed by clerics against minors, the Holy See expresses its closeness to all victims and reaffirms the efforts undertaken to protect minors and ensure safe environments for them, he said.

With News Wire Services
By Zhang Jiwei

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently said the EU should have a real defense alliance to cope with new threats in the future and must speed up its common defense construction.

Over the years EU members have been relying on the US-led NATO for defense protection, but there has been a rising call for the EUs strategic independence as the US-EU relations strain.

The EUs efforts for building its own defense cooperation regime have yielded satisfactory results in recent years. It has launched the European Defense Fund (EDF) to economically coordinate and sponsor the military technology R&D of its members; it has formed the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) to coordinate the member states annual defense plans and avoid wastes resulting from repetition. The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PeSCo) that aims at regular defense cooperation among EU members is another important means to the unions defense development.

However, what with Americas obstruction and what with EUs own limited defense budget, plus the marked divergence among the members, its strategic independence in the defense domain wont be realized overnight.

For one thing, the US is a barrier on the EUs way to defense independence thats hard to surmount. Rejecting a Europe that excludes America from its security affairs, Washington has frequently underscored how important NATO is in guaranteeing Europes security. After Biden took office, he has emphasized cooperation with allies multiple times with a view to mending the US-EU relations damaged by Trumps America first policy. Washington has also strengthened consultation with the European Defence Agency for a new cooperation agreement in order to expand Americas and NATOs influence over European affairs.

For another, a limited defense budget has tied the EUs hands in pursuing strategic independence. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted its strategic plan by squeezing the defense budget and exposed more than 40 PeSCo defense projects to a capital shortfall, lending a heavy blow to the EUs endeavors for defense independence.

Moreover, the EU members dont see eyes to eyes on defense independence given their different development history and geographical location, making it hard to reach a unified strategic perception. Old members represented by France insist on defense independence while new members represented by East European countries tend to continue depending on NATO. How the divergence will affect Europes defense integration is to be watched.
An absurd debate is underway in Albany over whether New Yorkers should have the right to see, test drive and buy electric vehicles (EV) in their own state. Sales are currently restricted thanks to a decade-long effort from New Yorks franchised auto dealers to protect an enviable legal position as guaranteed middlemen in virtually all new vehicle sales in the state. It is ridiculous and ironic that this is happening as the Legislature purports to be doing everything in its power to rise to the challenge of climate change.

To understand the current dilemma, imagine you are a resident of my hometown of Buffalo and were looking to buy an EV. Whether motivated by gasoline prices, driving performance or climate change, you  like 93% of prospective EV owners  feel that actually seeing the vehicle and taking a test drive is important.

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If you call your local franchised dealers, good luck. A 2021 survey of New York dealerships revealed only 16% had an EV available for test drives and only 30% had an EV available for sale. If you do find a franchised dealership with EVs available, beware of price gouging. Car dealers nationwide are exploiting demand by adding up to $30,000 to the price of some popular EVs.

Frustrated, you turn your attention to EV-only manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian (disclosure: I used to work for Tesla, and now I work for Rivian), which offer transparent pricing through a direct-to-consumer sales model. Rivian vehicles can be ordered online, but you will need to travel to see one; Rivian is blocked from having retail locations in this state. Meanwhile, Tesla has been artificially restricted to only five locations  all located downstate.

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The Tesla Car Dealership in Brooklyn on April 25, 2021. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

This frustrating scenario works well for one and only one interest: New Yorks car dealerships. They prefer not to invite competition, and have an aggressive lobbying presence in the state.

This was not always the case in New York. When Tesla first established a retail location in Manhattan in 2009, direct-to-consumer sales was legal. In 2012, the Greater New York Auto Dealers Association sued the DMV for granting a dealer license to a manufacturer. New York courts ruled in 2013 that Tesla was within its rights. The dealers turned to the legislators, and in 2014 the state and Tesla struck an agreement that capped Tesla at five locations and blocked any other manufacturers from opening any store.

Car dealers argue they are the key to bringing EVs to New York. The data tells a different story. In 2020, 1,896 EVs were sold from the states 848 franchised dealerships. That represents only 0.2% of vehicles, with an average of two EVs sold per dealer. By comparison, the five New York Tesla locations sold more than 10,000 EVs that year, and more locations are needed to meet demand. New Yorkers want to buy EVs, but are physically impeded from purchasing them in state.

There is sweeping support within the Legislature for a bill that would restore sanity to New Yorks EV market. We know what happens in the many states where direct-to-consumer EV sales coexist with the dealership model. The EV penetration rate is five times higher than in closed states, with no negative impact to existing dealerships.

However, the powerful dealer lobby remains opposed to competition, despite record profits in 2020 and 2021 and even greater profits expected in 2022 as lean inventories create opportunities to squeeze buyers.

Changing the dealership monopoly will require our states leaders to stand up to the auto dealer lobby and support consumer choice. The status quo is simply unacceptable. In September 2021, Gov. Hochul signed legislation to phase out sales of new internal combustion cars by 2035. But with policies that put dealer greed over consumer access, New York will never stay stuck in the intersection.

Chen is vice president of public policy and chief regulatory counsel at Rivian Automotive.
Last weekend, a young woman named Michelle Go was murdered in the Times Square subway station after being shoved in front of a moving train by a person experiencing severe mental illness.

This was horrifying. It was also preventable.

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The issue of mental health is personally significant to me. When I was 15 years old, following a series of suicide attempts, I was involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital for a month. The treatment I received at Four Winds Hospital saved my life. Unfortunately, that level of treatment is unavailable to many Americans, especially if theyre poor, or persons of color.

Simon Martial, charged with murder, is escorted by detectives from the Midtown South Precinct, Saturday, Jan.15, 2022. (Jeff Bachner/for New York Daily News)

I ran for City Council in no small part to address this issue, and released a plan to do so. Below are common-sense steps we need to immediately take:

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Reverse the closure of inpatient psychiatric beds. According to the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the number of certified inpatient psychiatric beds statewide dropped 12% between 2000 and 2018, at the same time as the population and the need have grown. New York City alone accounts for 72% of that decline. This loss of clinical space hasnt been replaced by community-based services as promised.

Instead, patients have been funneled into the carceral system  our jails and prisons  and homeless shelters. New York State needs to reverse the decertification of inpatient psychiatric beds. Any closures of beds must be accompanied by an increase in quality services elsewhere that can serve this vulnerable population. Additionally, there must be an infusion of funding for comprehensive hospital discharge planning, which is currently inadequate.

Expand mobile mental health crisis response teams. Last year, Mayor de Blasio initiated a pilot program in Northern Manhattan in which crisis response teams with social workers and psychiatric professionals, instead of just NYPD officers, are dispatched to respond to mental health crises. We do not have time to wait for a lengthy pilot program to be completed before expanding this program. It must grow quickly to reach neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. People experiencing mental health emergencies need to be stabilized and connected to appropriate wrap-around services.

Increase crisis stabilization centers. When unhoused New Yorkers experiencing mental health crises are brought to the hospital, they are typically released after they are medically stabilized. Frequently, while they may not be sick enough to stay in the hospital, they are too sick  meaning psychologically sick  to return to shelter or the streets. Crisis stabilization centers, also known as medical respite beds, can fill this critical need, giving people time and space to recuperate. The four crisis respite centers in all of New York City serve only a fraction of the demand.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Build more supportive housing with mental health services. Supportive housing is the best way for people with mental health challenges to lead full lives outside of hospital settings, the shelter system, or the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, the city has only constructed a fraction of the supportive housing that is needed. We must create quality supportive housing across the city. Its not cheap, but its essential. New York City currently has more than 32,000 units and advocates have said we need nearly double that number to meet the need.

Embrace and expand the clubhouse model of rehabilitation. Clubhouses, like Fountain House in Hells Kitchen, are community centers where people with mental illness can find opportunities for friendship, employment, housing, education and access to medical and psychiatric services in a caring and safe environment. These are great resources that are proven to help get people back on the right track. New York City should immediately begin facilitating the creation of at least 10 more such locations, distributed across the five boroughs.

Revamp discharge planning for formerly incarcerated New Yorkers. Upon release from prison or jail, people are frequently cut loose without adequate planning and support services. Those without homes to go to are often released directly into the shelter system, with inadequate case management and few prospects for housing, employment, substance use treatment and mental health care. We need a quality statewide program that connects the formerly incarcerated, especially those with mental illness, with the housing and services they need to re-enter society.

Increase school-based behavioral health. Serious mental illness often begins to take shape in adolescence. Schools must have more nurses, counselors and social workers on site who are trained to identify warning signs of behavioral health issues and make referrals to behavioral health professionals.

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Redirect ThriveNYC funds to address serious mental illness. As of 2019, only 10% of ThriveNYCs $250 million annual budget was spent on serving those with serious mental illness. This was a big missed opportunity.

We cannot allow the status quo to continue. We must stem this crisis and get our fellow New Yorkers the help they need.

Bottcher represents Greenwich Village, Chelsea and other neighborhoods in the City Council.
Networking challenges are growing, and IT is under pressure to do more with less. Organisations need a solution that will help them overcome fragmented operations, constrained control and visibility, and aging infrastructure. For many, this means embracing ethernet switches and the capabilities they can offer. However, choosing the right solution is difficult and there are many options to choose from.

Over 540,000 professionals have used Peerspot research to inform their purchasing decisions. Their latest paper looks at the highest rated ethernet switch vendors, profiling each and examining what they can offer enterprise.

Heres a breakdown of the key players currently active in the market:

Aruba Switches

Average Rating: 8.6

Top Comparison: Meraki MS Switches

Overview: Brings performance and reliability to the mobile-first campus. These industry-leading switches are scalable, secure, and feature HPE Smart Rate multi-gigabit ports for high-speed connectivity.

Cisco Ethernet Switches

Average Rating: 8.5

Top Comparison: NETGEAR Switches

Overview: Scales to meet the needs of networks of all sizes. They are secure, reliable and seamless switches.

Cisco Linksys Ethernet Switches

Average Rating: 7.8

Top Comparison: NETGEAR Switches

Overview: Brings greater reliability and coverage to home networks.

Fortinet FortiSwitch  Secure Access

Average Rating: 8.6

Top Comparison: Cisco Ethernet Switches

Overview: Delivers superior security, performance, and manageability. In addition, switches help increase productivity for next generation applications through faster network access speeds.

HPE Ethernet Switches

Average Rating: 8.1

Top Comparison: Cisco Ethernet Switches

Overview: Extends the momentum of software-defined networking everywherefrom the mobile edge to the heart of data centres.

Juniper Ethernet Switches

Average Rating: 8.5

Top Comparison: Cisco Ethernet Switches

Overview: Provides branch, campus and data centre networks with access, aggregation and core layer switching solutions.

Meraki MS Switches

Average Rating: 8.7

Top Comparison: Aruba Switches

Overview: Brings the benefits of the cloud to networks of all sizes: simplified management, reduced complexity, network wide visibility and control, with lower operational cost for campus and branch deployments.

MikroTik Routers and Switches

Average Rating: 7.5

Top Comparison: Cisco Enterprise Routers

Overview: The Made for Mikrotik program consists of two parts: "Mikrotik certified Integrators" and "Mikrotik certified Accessories.

NETGEAR Switches

Average Rating: 8.7

Top Comparison: Cisco Ethernet Switches

Overview: Delivered in all shapes and sizes, so businesses are sure to find the right solution to fit their specific requirements.

Ubiquiti UniFi Switches

Average Rating: 8.5

Top Comparison: NETGEAR Switches

Overview: N/A
Over 80 complaints later, Stevens Pass ski resort now under scrutiny by Washingtons Attorney General
The Kashmir Press Club (KPC), the largest independent media body in Indian-administered Kashmir, has been forcibly closed following a raid by armed police. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliate, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU), condemn the undemocratic closure of the organisation and the Indian administrations continued stifling of press freedom in the region.

On January 15,a small group of journalists supportive of Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party stormed the KPC offices in Srinagar, with the assistance of armed police and paramilitary. The group assumed interim control of the organisation, locking the building to prevent journalists from entering.

Following the raid, the regional administration declared on January 17 that the press club had failed to register itself under the Societies Registration Act and now ceased to exist, with its premises handed back to the government.

KPC management had previously begun the re-registration process in May 2021, but due to long government processing delays the registration was not granted until December 29. However, on January 14, the re-registration of the club was suspended by the Registrar of Societies, citing a report from the Jammu and Kashmir Polices Criminal Investigation Department.

The KPC had attracted scrutiny from the government for its members reportage of alleged human rights abuses by authorities in the Jammu and Kashmir region.

A joint statement from a collective of journalist associations in Kashmir denounced the shutdown which they termed highly condemnable and completely illegal. All journalist bodies are unanimous in the view that this unfortunate move by a disgruntled lot has set a dangerous precedent by forcing their way into the club office in violation of the KPC constitution and bylaws. The Press bodies have decided to take legal recourse against the perpetrators, the statement said.

The Indian government has been accused of stifling critical journalism in Kashmir, with over 40 journalists detained or questioned by police in the region since 2020. On January 5, Sajad Gul, a journalist affiliated with the Kashmir Walla, was arrested for disseminating information that promoted anti-government sentiment.

The IJU said: The Indian Journalists Union condemns the J&K Registrar of Society for putting in abeyance the Kashmir Press Clubs registration and the forcible takeover of the Club by a group of journalists, aided by the J&K administration and the police. The KPC, said the Union has been vocal on media issues, sustained harassment and intimidation of journalists in the Valley and the twin actions smack of vendetta and brazen attempt to silence dissenting voices. The Union demands immediate restoration of the Clubs registration as a society and that elections be held at the earliest.

The IFJ said: The unconstitutional closure of the Kashmir Press Club violates the democratic principles of the organisation and is a blatant attempt by the Indian Government to silence critical journalism in the Jammu and Kashmir region. The IFJ urges authorities to immediately reinstate the KPC and allow its members to elect a new managing body unhindered.
Companies located in Ohio find it easy to do business internationally. The state offers strong resources that can support todays growing global opportunities. In fact, Ohio ranks fourth in the U.S. for construction projects with direct investments from foreign-based firms, according to Site Selection, and the publications staff chose Ohio for a variety of reasons.

"One is our location, says J. Michael Geringer, director of research at Ohio Universitys College of Business and professor of international strategy. Were located in the middle of the country along major logistics routes, which is increasingly important today. In fact, Ohio is within one days drive of 60 percent of populations in the U.S. and Canada.

Ohio also has a business-friendly climate. The cost of doing business and the cost of living here is more affordable than areas like San Diego and Seattle, which is another reason international companies are coming to Ohio, says Geringer.

For example, according to NerdWallet.com, the cost of living is 58 percent higher in San Diego than Columbus, and its 76 percent higher in Seattle.

Ohio has the know-how

Another big draw for Ohio is its knowledge base, which can support traditional and emerging sectors. A strong educational infrastructure includes universities and hospitals that are on the cutting edge of research in fields like medicine and technology. Ohio has four of the top 100 universities in the world for U.S. patents, including The Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University, and University of Akron.

Throughout the state, Innovation Districts are creating sustainable ecosystems of ideas, infrastructure, and talent. One example is the Cleveland Innovation District, which is transforming the area into a center of health care innovation and community healthIn the 1980s, Ford was our biggest employer. Today, its Cleveland Clinic, says Michael Goldberg, executive director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University. Innovation Districts are also thriving in Columbus and Cincinnati.

Ranked among the country's top-five hospitals for the past 20 consecutive years, Cleveland Clinic was also ranked second in 2020-2021 as a top recipient of NIH funding. The influx of money has generated several new innovations in medical equipment, medical supplies, and medical diagnostic machines from the Cleveland medical cluster, says Geringer.

For example, NeuroWave Systems, located near Cleveland, created a drug delivery medical device for brain function monitoring and automation in anesthesia. TecTraum offers hypothermic therapy devices to mitigate concussion symptoms. And Athersys is biotechnology company focused on the field of regenerative medicine.

The states workforce also is steeped with experience in areas like advanced manufacturing. The U.S. still is the second largest manufacturing country in the world behind China, and Ohio has a long history and a strong infrastructure of firms to support that, says Geringer. Weve got the skills and experience in our businesses and in our workforce for manufacturing activities. And weve got people doing leading-edge materials here, like advanced plastics and electrical systems for vehicles.

In January, Intel announced that it was building a $20 billion manufacturing facility in Ohio to help address the worldwide semiconductor shortage. And in 2020, Saica Group, manufacturers of recycled corrugated packaging headquartered in Spain, announced plans to open its first North American facility in the Cincinnati region. Company leaders cited Ohios talented workforce as a reason for the site selection.

Businesses have access to resources to thrive

Ohios business-friendly climate provides the resources businesses need to be successful. In addition to the states vast venture capital system, a variety of state and private programs and resources are available to help businesses find the support they need to grow.

People are finding access to funding from concept and seed stage through becoming an independent entity that's viable, Geringer says. Many are being acquired and some by foreign firms. Were not as sexy Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas, but the workers and the cost of business that makes us an attractive place for many companies to come.

Ohios future is global

Ohio really is the center of the universe when it comes to cross-border business opportunities. To stay relevant, companies must adopt an international mindset, says Goldberg. Todays markets are complicated and challenging, he says. You have to think globally.
Immersive sound can transport a worker sitting at their desk to the beach or other relaxing landscapes. Made Music Studio/Spatial

The pandemic almost killed the open office plan. Immersive sound wants to save it.

In an attempt to make open offices more attractive--once employees do come back--some office design companies are toying with immersive sound. Certain sounds, or tonalities, that incorporate a range of biophilic notes (which may stem from nature, like gentle ocean waves or the rhythm of soft rain drops) can evoke emotions, warm feelings, and may even drive productivity. They're betting both companies and employees will like the sound of their pitch.

One immersive sound offering, dubbed Made Music Journey, is the product of a partnership between Made Music Studio, a global sound studio based in New York City, and Spatial, an Emeryville, California, audio software platform. The duo announced the partnership last November, and have since been signing up unknown numbers of companies--which means some office workers will be greeted with immersive sonic experiences upon their return to the workplace. (Neither MMS nor Spatial would share names of current clients.)

Here's how it works: Spatial's software platform allows customers to tailor their audio environment in real time that scales to whatever space they're in. Made Music Studio, meanwhile, offers a library of original music and custom sound. These immersive sound experiences aim to help emotionally move or connect people to that same space, says Spatial's CEO and co-founder Calin Pacurariu. And if you'd like to hear a snippet of something similar, consider checking out the 10-minute meditative sonic journey MMS recently created.

And they're customizable. The soundscape is scalable once you fine-tune your workforce's preferences. A welcome ambience might incorporate wind-related sound along with synthesizer pads/arpeggios, which may be geared toward lobbies as they can spark warmth and feelings of connection.

A more focus-oriented ambience, rather, may be heavy with acoustic instruments, while also tying in the sounds of running water, wind, and bird song, and human-generated sounds as well. The focus ambience may boost productivity, and is built for use in quieter working spaces.

Science backs that up. An April 2015 study from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests that natural sounds can enhance cognitive function and improve the ability to concentrate. Prior studies conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois show that the right level of ambient noise can aid work performance.

Spending time in nature or looking at nature has a calming effect on the brain, reducing stress responses and increasing immune function, according to David Rock, a neuroscientist and CEO of the NYC-based consulting firm NeuroLeadership Institute.

And overall sound definitely has an impact on the brain, though a large chunk of that is mostly unconscious, he added. For example, the sound of a big city tends to activate a mild threat response with low levels of stress while sounds of nature can activate a milder reward state.

But Rock pointed out that if the immersive sound is too obvious, some employees might feel annoyed. And others may not like that kind of sound at all, which could even have a negative impact on their productivity, he said.

He recommends giving people the choice to be in the soundscape or not. Rock says even having a choice turns out to be a strong motivator. "Feeling like you've been given choices activates reward networks, whereas when you feel like you've had choices taken away from you feels like activated threat networks," Rock said. "It's a primary driver in the brain."

Whatever employers land on for reconfiguring their offices, one thing is clear: It must be different from the office of the past. Research shows that open office plans can negatively affect collaboration and wellness among employees, so whether the open office plan sticks around remains to be seen.
Colleyville was the scene of the latest attack on Jews in the U.S., motivated by the perpetrators belief in conspiracy theories. While Jewish people represent just 2% of the American population, more than 50% of hate crimes committed in America are against Jews, according to the FBI. One point deserves more attention than it has received: the role of conspiracy theories. The attacker targeted Jews in a synagogue (and forced the rabbi to call a well-known New York rabbi) because he clearly thought that Jews controlled or could control the fate of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist. The attacker believed in the conspiracy theory that Jews control the U.S., and he was far from alone.

Conspiracy theories are distant, disowned cousins of real theory. Unlike a theory about a suspected conspiracy, which should then be investigated, conspiracy theories dont require facts or evidence, just bias. Any proof to the contrary is simply evidence of a cover-up by the imagined evil cabal. The cabal is histrionically presented as comic book super-evil, which, for believers, justifies extreme measures against them.

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This Jan. 2, 2022 photo provided by OurCalling, LLC shows Malik Faisal Akram, at a Dallas homeless shelter. (AP)

Most other recent high-profile attacks on Jews were committed by conspiracy theorists. Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life assailant, was active online with white supremacist groups posting Holocaust denial conspiracy theories. In California, the Poway synagogue attacker had a similar background. The main Jersey City attacker, David Anderson, posted conspiracy theories advanced by some Black Hebrew Israelites who claim that Jews are devilish imposters. Saddiqi, the murderer whose release the Colleyville hostage-taker was demanding, claims that Jews were behind 9/11.

In all these cases, though perpetrated by attackers with very different ideologies and backgrounds, Jews are a central focus and accused of acts that are demonstrably untrue. Yet the assailants were not only convinced of these theories but also of the overwhelming evil and linkage of all Jews, such that they felt justified in attacking Jews just for being Jewish.

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A common hatred towards Jews across ideological lines is not new. It is well-documented that both Nazi Fascists and Soviet Communists propagated conspiracy theories about Jews. The Nazi conspiracies claimed that Jews were out to destroy Germany and were working to help the Soviets. Soviet conspiracy theories claimed that Israel was the center of world imperialism and the primary enemy of the USSR and all national liberation movements. Postwar neo-Nazi conspiracy theories shifted to Israel as well, touting the United States as the Zionist Occupation Government.

This common hatred also has structural similarities. Jews are fascists for the communists, communists for the fascists, whites for the Black Israelites, fake whites for white supremacists, western degenerates for Islamists and on and on. Indeed  with and without Jews  conspiracy theories are the narrative that justified major crimes against humanity of the 20th century. This was true of educated leaders as well as illiterate followers, whether in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Turkey or Rwanda by both educated and illiterate believers. Educational backgrounds and accomplishments sadly are no impediment to believing in conspiracy theories and acting violently on them. Bowers had little education; Saddiqui is a neuroscientist.

If there is a takeaway from these hate crimes, it is that we must teach people how to distinguish real conspiracies from conspiracy theories. Real conspiracies do exist; political parties (such as the Nazis or police agents, e.g., NKVD or the Hutu Power Movement), have conspired to murder and commit crimes on a societal scale. The difference between these conspiracies and conspiracy theories is that we can prove them.

In contrast, it was never provable that Armenians were out to destroy the Turks or that Jews control the U.S. government, are behind 9/11 or conspire with police departments to oppress people of color, for the simple reason that none of this is true. Yet clearly many people cannot tell the difference since we live in a society awash with the aforementioned anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The web is full of them and some are even taught by professors in accredited universities courses or narrated in newspapers by journalists who should certainly know better than to slant in this way.

The proliferation of conspiracy theories is a bad sign for societyas is anti-Semitism, which is typically an early indication of societal disintegration. As the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote, what starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews.

Shay is chairman and co-founder of Signature Bank and is the author of Conspiracy U: A Case Study (Wicked Son, 2021) and In Good Faith (Post Hill Press, 2018).
Update: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the American Innovation and Choice Online Act on Thursday, 16-6, with five Republicans joining Democrats to vote in favor.

To hear its Senate sponsors talk about it, years of effort to get traction in limiting the marketplace power of the big-tech platforms is seeing its first milestone.

A bill that would restrict America's biggest tech companies from downplaying rivals' products and services, or promoting their own, is currently slotted for a committee vote in the Senate on Thursday. The committee approving the bill, dubbed the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, would pave the way for the bill to be voted on by the full Senate, and reconciled with a similar bill that passed the House.

"They control dominant positions in the search markets, whether it is retail for Amazon, whether it is search for Google, whether it is Apple's dominance, we're talking 90 percent in some cases," Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the bill's co-sponsor, tells Inc., adding that among the chief goals for the bill, "we're simply saying they cannot self-preference."

While the text of the now 18-page bill makes no specific mention of tech giants, including Google, Apple, and Amazon, it is structured precisely to target them, and companies that amass similarly sized businesses in the future. The bill specifically limits the ability of what it calls "covered platforms"--defined as platform companies with more than $550 billion in market capitalization or annual sales, with a user base above a high threshold--from privileging their own products and services, in what advocates of the bill refer to as "self-preferencing." The only companies that match those numbers today are those big three and Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, with Microsoft potentially facing some future restrictions if any of its products are defined as a platform of sufficient size. Twitter would need to grow its market cap by nearly 20 times to be considered, and TikTok's last funding round valued it at less than one-quarter the size of the threshold.

Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), a former venture capitalist and a bill co-sponsor, calls it a win for startups today. He cites big-tech firms' power to influence which companies succeed and which fizzle. "If you're a startup in America today--in platforms, in many of the IT services--your only exit is to these large enterprises," he said, noting that the lack of options creates an uncomfortable tension among startups. "That's not gonna have the kind of free market entrepreneurial atmosphere and ecosystem that we need."

The kinds of companies that could benefit from the legislation are indicated by the group of smaller-but-still-quite-large companies lining up to back the bill. Endorsements of the bill have been published by Yelp, Spotify, Roku, Match Group, Sonos, and startup incubator Y Combinator, among others.

Apple and Google have been vocal in their opposition, and pushed lobbying efforts against the bill. The firms assert that customers will be worse off, and that products will be less secure, if the bill becomes law. For example, if Apple is required to allow apps to be installed on phones through "side-loading" instead of the app store, Apple would no longer be able to screen those apps before they get to users. And that might amount to a security risk, the iPhone maker notes.

While the bill's future is still uncertain, the legislation does enjoy heavy bipartisan support, with six Democrats and six Republicans as sponsors and co-sponsors in the Senate. A counterpart bill in the House is similarly bipartisan, with 14 Democrats and eight Republican co-sponsors.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a sponsor of the Senate bill, notes, "We've reached a consensus on the economic platform to get a bipartisan approach to curtail big tech's power." Grassley even went on to praise President Joe Biden for instructing agencies to examine issues of competition, asserting "one of the places that I agree with Biden is on this competition approach that he has ... the president just brings emphasis to it."

As the bill moves forward, it brings into focus a question about exactly when growing a business becomes anti-competitive. Apple and Google are rivals in devices and software, and Amazon competes with both--and every retailer in the world--in various ways. But seeing all three platforms together as one anti-competitive tier of companies that needs to be regulated is a change for Washington.

The definition of anti-competitive and anti-trust practices has been shifting inside the Beltway in recent years. While conventional wisdom posited that the most important factor in competition is price--that is, if customers aren't paying too much, things are working smoothly--Warner suggests that the thinking today should change. In the trajectory of big-tech firms, he says, "You may have some price efficiencies at the beginning, but as these companies come to dominate, as they have, their ability to then change the pricing structure because they have no competition is something we've got to be concerned about." So, in other words, you may not be paying much now, but what about later?

Unlike Klobuchar and Warner, Grassley prefers not to use terms like "monopoly" and "trust" in describing his support of the bill, but mentions the same themes: "I want the marketplace to work, and the government should only interfere when markets aren't working," adding that his starting point for defining markets as not working is, "when I hear about people having their products more difficult to sell because of self-preferencing ... that my constituents don't feel the playing field's level."
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Indias securities regulator SEBI has mandated the top 500 listed companies in the country to split the position of chairman and managing director before April 1, 2022 to ensure better corporate governance. The deadline for compliance is March 31, 2022. However, industry stakeholders have expressed apprehensions and demanded more time for compliance. We discuss the compliance requirements as per SEBIs Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR)) Regulations.

Based on the recommendations of the Uday Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has amended the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR)) Regulations, 2015. The amendment splits the positions of the chairman and managing director (MD) or chief executive officer (CEO). Additionally, the chairman and MD/CEO must not be related to each other. At the same time, the amendment requires that the position of chairman be held by a non-executive member. This regulation will be applicable to the top 500 listed entities by market capitalization and will be effective from April 1, 2022.

Indias private sector has, however, requested the deferment of this rule by another two years. It has also demanded that this provision be made recommendatory, in case their deferment request is not accepted.

What is the legal position of this separation provision?

Section 203 of the Companies Act, 2013 provides that an individual shall not be appointed as the chairperson of a company as well as the MD/CEO at the same time unless the articles of such company provide otherwise or the company does not undertake multiple businesses. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also recommends that the two posts should be separated as a good corporate governance practice.

In 2017, the Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance made a similar recommendation to SEBI to amend provisions under its LODR Regulations. Complying with the suggestion, SEBI issued a notification in May 2018 introducing specific norms to split the post with effect from April 1, 2020. However, by the end of December 2020, only 53 percent of the top 500 listed entities had complied with this provision. Therefore, responding to industry demand, this requirement was deferred for another two years, to April 1, 2022, to give ample time for compliance.

Why does SEBI want to separate the role of chairman and MD/CEO?

The rationale behind the move to separate the roles of chairman and MD/CEO is to improve corporate governance. Currently, there are many companies that have merged the two posts as CMD (chairman-cum-managing director), leading to an overlap of the board and management, and giving rise to conflict of interests.

The idea behind this separation is to provide a better and more balanced governance structure by enabling more effective supervision of the companys management by reducing excessive concentration of authority in a single individual. SEBI has clarified that this provision does not aim to weaken the position of promoters.

International practice

Globally, too, many countries like the UK, large parts of Europe, Japan, Australia, and South Africa, etc. support the practice of separating the two roles. However, some countries like the US and France continue to contest it. In Europe, more than 90 percent of the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 companies have distinct roles defined. The US, too, has also witnessed an increasing trend of organizations favoring this split. Germany and Netherlands have a two-tier board structure that separates the roles of the board and management.

Where does corporate India stand on this provision?

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in its recent letter to SEBI, has reiterated its opposition to this amendment, citing concerns of over-regulation. Various industry stakeholders have expressed apprehensions that such a move might weaken entrepreneurial spirit and hamper the business environment of the country. They have also requested SEBI to scrap the requirement of having the chairman be a non-executive member.

Family businesses among entities most impacted by SEBIs proposed MD/chairman split

It must be noted that the companies most impacted by this proposed split are family-run businesses. This move will affect succession planning in India as the MDs position is often a preparatory one for the next generation family member before the person becomes the chairman. Certain public sector undertakings (PSUs) are also likely to be impacted with this amended provision.

Many business entities too have shown reservations against this provision, as reported in The Economic Times. According to Bajaj Finserv chairman and MD, Sanjiv Bajaj, these new guidelines will weaken Indias competitiveness, especially during the pandemic. He has stated that most businesses in India are family owned, where knowledge and experience is passed from one generation to another. On the other hand, Apollo Hospitals joint MD, Sangita Reddy, opines that such a move can act as counterbalance where independent directors will be more inclined towards choosing the best candidate, much in line with the company promoters interest.
The Indian MSME sector contributes about 29% to the GDP and employs around 110 million people across the country. However, the sudden outbreak of pandemic turned everything upside down leading to an economic unrest across the country. The pandemic has been especially brutal for the MSME sector owing to the severe liquidity crunch. As the MSME sector struggled hard to stay afloat, financial turmoil seemed to be an impediment too difficult to overcome.The government subsequently came up with a slew of measures to aid financially stressed sectors. Measures such as increased emergency credit line guarantee to businesses, subordinate debt schemes, and Funds of Fund schemes came as a huge relief as the sector stared at what seemed to be a never-ending crisis. The country also witnessed a growth in finance startups that came forward to lend financial support to MSMEs with unsecured loans. Financial institutions lending unsecured loans have emerged a savior for MSME companies in times of distress.Listed below are some of the ways in which informal lending institutions can contribute to the revival of the MSME sector.Though small businesses are the engines driving economic growth, business financing problems keep them from unlocking their full potential. And with the pandemic coming as a sudden blow, the MSME companies only found themselves drowning into bigger debts. Securing a loan is especially difficult for small businesses as they have no valuable asset to offer as a collateral. This is where finance companies offering unsecured loans can be a major relief. With flexible terms that dont mandate MSMEs to submit a collateral, finance companies can inject liquidity into the sector and save MSME companies from going through the ordeal of procuring expensive assets amidst a crisis.An urgent need for funds often remains unfulfilled owing to long-drawn loan application processes. By the time the loan application gets approved, companies may have lost a crucial opportunity to expand or scale their operations. A fast tracked process that prioritizes customer experience can help MSMEs get going with least hassles. Access to quick capital is absolutely critical for MSME growth and newly emerging finance companies can revive the sector with speedy disbursement of loans. Minimal paperwork and speedy document verification will encourage small businesses to apply for loans and get their business up and running quickly.Finance companies offering unsecured loans can offer customized plans to suit small business needs. Such customized loans will be a savior for businesses in need of funds for planned or emergency purposes. Customized loans are those tailored to meet the specific needs of a borrower. Finance companies offering unsecured loans can tailor their loan products after analyzing specific borrower demands so small businesses can enjoy greater flexibility. This will prove to be a firm step towards addressing the credit gaps in the MSME sector.The RBI has urged digitisation of MSMEs so the sector stays competitive and relevant. Subsequently, digital lending by finance companies can provide a major filip to the MSME sector. Online loan application, digital exchange and verification of documents would be a game changer for small and medium enterprises as businesses across geographies would be in a position to avail quick loans. The MSME sector is in dire need of some easy and affordable financing solutions and finance companies with digital lending facilities can ensure access to a wide range of financing options to choose from under one roof.Traditional lenders usually need to be convinced of a good credit history before they can sanction loans. But small businesses usually dont have an impressive credit history to display owing to numerous reasons. Finance companies with less stringent loan eligibility terms can save MSMEs starved of opportunities to finance their business. There are numerous finance companies offering small business loans for working capital requirements, asset purchase or expansion plans despite average credit history. Seeking financial aid from such companies can resolve a host of financial problems crippling the MSME sector.As MSME earnings got severely impacted by the pandemic, easy financing options are undoubtedly the need of the hour. Finance companies offering unsecured loans can enable seamless capital flow for MSMEs, thereby strengthening MSMEs reeling under the pressure of adverse cash flows. MSMEs must explore and leverage lending options by informal lenders so they emerge stronger in the future. With India becoming a hotbed of finance startups offering flexible lending terms, the road ahead for MSMEs definitely looks promising.
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Convicted conman Barry Minkows life has been one big lie, but he swears hes telling the truth this time.

The docuseries King of the Con, which hit streamer discovery+ last Friday, tells the story of a whiz kid-turned-grifter who at 16 founded a successful California carpet-cleaning company as a way to make big headlines and bigger bucks.

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But what started with a bogus money order to make payroll four decades ago quickly became a life of swindling  leading to multiple prison sentences, an addiction to drugs and the loss of his family.

Claiming that he agreed to tell his side of things in the three-part series to let fellow former convicts know they, too, can get out of their own way, a recently released  and supposedly reformed  Minkow told the Daily News, Theres hope. And its one step at a time and one meal at a time and one workout at a time.

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ZZZZ Best founder and former con-man Barry Minkow filming, "The King of the Con." (Discovery+)

The San Fernando Valley native, now 55, gained national fame after founding ZZZZ Best cleaning company in 1982. At 20, he became a Wall Street star as the youngest person then to take a company public. He even made an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1987.

By 21 Minkow was a fraudulent millionaire, his company basically a Ponzi scheme controlled by mobsters. He was convicted of 57 fraud counts in federal court by age 22. The former star entrepreneur was sentenced to 25 years, served eight and was out by age 30.

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A few years later he was back behind bars, this time convicted for shorting homebuilder Lennars stocks. While in custody Minkow was sentenced to an additional five years for defrauding the church where he was pastor.

Theres little that Minkow isnt willing to discuss on screen, from trading in his pride for piety via converting to Christianity in prison and his addiction to both attention and drugs.

Minkow also reflects on the affair he had with his church secretary, letting down congregants, and his return to prison, in turn abandoning wife Lisa, who went on to divorce him, and their twin sons when the kids were just 8.

But there are some things about Minkow that the series doesnt show: the personal toll his actions took on his family.

Lisa Minkow, wife of former con man Barry Minkow, filming "The King of the Con." (Discovery+)

I think it was the relationship with the boys in just how difficult it was initially ... when I came out of prison and [my son] Dylan looked at me and said, I dont know you. And that was devastating, Minkow told The News. I started thinking, how many of my friends in prison had a similar experience, and how many people are out there today with drug addiction and betrayed their kids and let them down?

Minkow was released from prison in 2018 and has since mended his relationship with his sons, who are now seniors in high school, and remarried Lisa. But for a guy who masterminded multiple schemes, Minkow admitted to The News that he never used to give much thought to the consequences his actions would have on his family.

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When youre counting the cost before you commit a crime, you need to factor that in, he said. And when I found out it just killed me.
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Jeff Darr, parent of a Prince William County middle schooler, alleges that his daughter was sexually assaulted during the school day. He says he was told because the touching occurred over the clothes that it is not sexual assault. Join Our Schools PWCS on Facebook to discuss Prince William 
Elliot Page has signed on as executive producer for an Italian documentary about a group of transgender friends and their gender transition journey.

Directed by Italian filmmaker Nicolo Bassetti, Nel Mio Nome (Into My Name) is the coming-of-age story of four young friends  Nic, 33, Leo, 30, Andrea, 25, and Raff, 23  who share important turning points in their lives and in their gender transitions, according to an IMDb synopsis.

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What stands out to me about Nel Mio Nome is the way it so artfully and intentionally presents all the different pieces that make up a persons identity, Page said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Its a meditation on trans humanity, and Ive never seen another film like it, the 34-year-old actor and longtime LGBTQ activist added.

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Elliot Page attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sept. 13, 2021. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

The film, which will premiere at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival next month, was rooted in the directors experiences as the father of a trans son.

Knowing that Bassetti consulted closely with his trans son throughout production is so beautiful to me, and I think that lived experience and input is clear in the films perspective, Page added. Im honored to be on board and cant wait for everyone to see it.

Bassetti said that he was truly grateful to Elliot for adding his lived perspective to help our film find its way in the world.

Page came out as transgender in a heartfelt Instagram post in December 2020. I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot, he wrote. I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer, he added.

The director also noted that his personal experience as a parent has allowed him to find the necessary self-assurance to approach the protagonists of this story, to delve into their emotions, and establish an intimate relationship built on trust and complicity.
Today Voice of America begins re-broadcasting Sesame Sheeko Sheeko, the Somali language radio edition of the childrens educational television series, Sesame Street. Under an agreement between VOA and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit education organization behind Sesame Street, Sesame Sheeko Sheeko will now reach audiences on VOA platforms with critical early education for young children and their families. Backed by research, the program addresses the specific needs of Somali-speaking children promoting pro-social behavior, mutual respect and understanding, and cognitive skills development.

The Sesame Sheeko Sheeko radio programs will be delivered weekly through existing VOA FM stations throughout Somalia and Djibouti, as well as stations in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. This initiative underscores VOAs continued commitment to refugee populations in Africa and elsewhere around the globe.

In 2020, VOA launched a new FM station (99.9 MHz) in Kakuma, Kenya, site of one of the worlds oldest refugee camps. This FM frequency provides both refugees and the local host community with news, music, and educational content in English, Swahili, and Somali. VOA also launched a new FM station (106.7 MHz) for the Dadaab refugee complex near Kenyas border with Somalia, offering local residents and refugees a mix of VOA English and Somali language content.

This new licensing agreement is another example of VOAs commitment to reaching at-risk and refugee populations in the regions where we broadcast, said Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lpez. In many of these regions, VOA serves as a critical lifeline for individuals that dont have access to other reliable media resources.

VOA produces content in many languages spoken by forcibly displaced persons. Initiatives like the Sesame Workshop agreement, the transmitter projects, and radio distribution campaigns, as well as innovative techniques and partnerships to reach refugee populations, broaden the potential audience of existing VOA content to audiences with few other news and information options.
A Congers, New York, contractor has been arrested after he was indicted on insurance fraud charges for allegedly underreporting his payroll by 89 workers.

Anthony Frascone, 51, owner of Alpha-Omega, told his workers compensation insurance provider that his company had only one employee and a payroll of just $40,000, authorities said, according to a local news report. In reality, the firm had more than 90 workers and an $8 million payroll, the Rockland County district attorney said.

That meant that Frascone had avoided paying almost $1.5 million in comp insurance premiums to Travelers Insurance Co., prosecutors said. Travelers declined to renew his policy in 2017 and the man then purchased coverage through the Hartford, according to Patch.com news outlet.

The Hartford canceled the policy three months later.

Frascone was arraigned in Rockland County Court last week and bail was set at $10,000 cash on a $100,000 bond.

Topics New York Contractors
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law a bill that proponents have said makes the auto insurance claims process fairer for policyholders and businesses have warned will raise premiums.

The New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act gives motorists who are injured in car accidents the right to file civil lawsuits against auto insurers, without first waiting for the state insurance regulator to act. The law establishes a private cause of action for motorists against insurers for unreasonably denying or delaying claims for uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits.

Motorists may obtain verdicts up to three times the amount of their coverage plus attorneys fees and litigation expenses.

Proponents argued that the law would motivate insurers to avoid litigation by accelerating estimates and repair negotiations and also paying more heed to a current state law mandating that damaged vehicles be inspected within seven business days.

The legislation was sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chair Nicholas Scutari.

With this bill, we are trying to give consumers the protection they deserve from the unfair business practices of insurance companies, said Senator Scutari. Too often people are taken advantage of and cant fight back. Our bill allows for consumers to have the ability to fight back.

There is an inherent conflict of interest between profit motives of insurers and the interests of the insured, said Senator Vin Gopal. We need to install safeguards in our insurance system so the insured receive what they are owed in a prompt and fair manner.

But industry interests have a different view.

While this bill was portrayed as an effort to ensure that auto insurance companies act in good faith, there are already legal mechanisms in place to do so. Instead, this law will now open the floodgates for lawsuits that tip the balance of negotiating power into the hands of plaintiff attorneys, no matter the merits or frivolity of the case, New Jersey Business and Industry Association President and CEO Michele Siekerka said in a statement.

NJBIZ said the costs to insurers to contest these cases will now result in the inevitable rise in auto insurance rates for New Jersey residents and businesses.

Other states, including neighboring Pennsylvania, have similar bad faith laws allowing insureds to take legal action against insurers. Pennsylvanias law allows multimillion-dollar punitive damages awards in certain cases.

Topics Auto New Jersey
Insurtech Reask, an Australian science and technology company that focuses on natural hazard modeling, announced it has closed its seed funding round, led by Tencent, the global technology giant headquartered in China.

The funding will support the next stage of Reasks product development, operational expansion and business development worldwide, including the London market.

The amount of the funding was not disclosed by the Sydney-based company.

Reask said it aims to take on legacy natural catastrophe modeling firms by fundamentally rethinking how catastrophe models are created  offering real-time, post event, and longer-term probabilistic risk forecasting solutions for global weather-related catastrophes, which leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI).

At present, nat cat risk modeling is based on historical data, which risks being outdated, incomplete or inaccurate. Instead, insurers need to leverage modeling solutions that incorporate current and potential future changes to the climate, which increases the accuracy of risk modeling and pricing, said Reask.

Reask is on a mission to be the leading provider of next-generation nat cat modeling, worldwide. We are already gaining great traction in the market with our unique AI-based solutions, and are thrilled that our high-profile investors have recognized this with their investments supporting the next stage of our growth strategy, said Thomas Loridan, CEO and co-founder of Reask.

There are three key purposes for the funding: technical  building out our science and AI teams to continue to expand our model range; sales and marketing  enhancing our business development and account management team; and operations  strengthening our internal capabilities to help build our business, he added.

The funding round was also supported by SV Angel, a major San Francisco-based seed fund and early investor in Google, Twitter, and Airbnb, and by Hawktail, an early-stage U.S.-based venture fund. It follows increasing traction by Reask with leading clients such as Swiss Re, AXA and insurance linked security (ILS) firms including Twelve Capital and Securis Investment Partners.

Artificial intelligence will be a critical tool to help humanity more accurately predict climate patterns and risks in the near future. In a dynamically changing world, our forecasting tools must become more sophisticated. Reask has built a suite of products leveraging their climate forecasting engine for the insurance industry that are helping insurance companies accelerate the development of their climate-related offerings, commented David Wallerstein, chief exploration officer, Tencent.

The insurance industry will play an increasingly critical role in helping economies adjust and mitigate risks from climate-driven catastrophic events. We believe Reask is well positioned to partner and grow with the global insurance industry, Wallerstein continued.

Reasks suite of modeling solutions that use AI are detailed as follows:

DeepCyc : Global probabilistic hazard model that provides a high-resolution probabilistic view of tropical cyclone risk everywhere in the world.

: Global probabilistic hazard model that provides a high-resolution probabilistic view of tropical cyclone risk everywhere in the world. ForeCyc : Climate-adjusted probabilistic hazard model that enables a forward-looking approach, leveraging alternative climate forcing conditions to adjust the view of risk.

: Climate-adjusted probabilistic hazard model that enables a forward-looking approach, leveraging alternative climate forcing conditions to adjust the view of risk. HindCyc : Tropical cyclone hazard event response model that leverages Reasks machine learning wind model, the latest official forecasting agency reports and an on-the-fly event simulation engine. HindCyc provides high-resolution probabilistic gust footprints immediately at landfall, worldwide.

: Tropical cyclone hazard event response model that leverages Reasks machine learning wind model, the latest official forecasting agency reports and an on-the-fly event simulation engine. HindCyc provides high-resolution probabilistic gust footprints immediately at landfall, worldwide. Metryc: Tropical cyclone calculation agent model that targets the specific requirements of the parametric insurance industry. Delivering high-resolution wind hazard intensity metrics days after an event occurs, Metryc provides a reliable calculation agent with consistent global coverage.

Source: Reask

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Natural Disasters InsurTech Tech
Zurich Insurance Group has worked hard to turn around its financial results over the past five years by bringing underwriting back to the organization, with a greater focus on selecting the right risks, pricing them accordingly, properly structuring programs and applying the right terms and conditions, according to Sierra Signorelli, Zurichs CEO Commercial Insurance.

Zurich improved its combined ratio in the commercial insurance business by 14 points compared to 2017 to 92% in the first half of 2021, which she attributed to keeping a laser focus on underwriting actions. (Combined ratios below 100% indicate underwriting profit).

Weve managed steady improvement of the combined ratio with all lines of business and regions contributing, she continued. Through our actions, we have strengthened our position relative to peers with higher growth, improved profitability in 2020, and a loss ratio that is almost six points lower than the peer group average.

She emphasized, however, that Zurichs improved results are not simply the effect of the rate increases flowing through the portfolio over the past several years. These results come from hard work and discipline across the team over the past five years. I would also stress that it is difficult to grow, reduce volatility, and improve profitability all at the same time, she said during a virtual investor presentation in November.

Signorelli attributed the improvement in financials to underwriting discipline. We have demonstrated underwriting discipline and focus over the past several years to deliver an outstanding result.

While large commercial insurance premiums can be tempting in the near term, price alone is never sufficient for a lack of underwriting and can leave insurers with a horrible hangover in future years, she added.

She indicated it is critical that both Zurich and the industry continue to maintain this underwriting discipline, through all phases of the cycle. As we think about today, its a very interesting time for commercial insurance. We have the positive impact of the current rate environment, and were generally seeing discipline across the market.

During the investor day presentation and a recent interview, she dived into how the company has been working to re-underwrite its portfolio.

Shifting Product Mix

We have successfully shifted the product mix over the past years, reducing our casualty exposure while selectively growing property and specialty lines to better balance our portfolio, she said, noting that the company was able to grow net earned premium by 10% in the first half of 2021 while continuing to focus on risk selection and risk quality to maintain the sustainably profitable portfolio through the cycle.

While pulling back on some lines of insurance, the company generally seeks to avoid completely exiting lines of insurance because of its customer relationships, including some that have bought insurance from Zurich for more than 100 years. We are quite proud of the fact that we maintain these long-term relationships and we want to continue to do that, she said.

Improving Terms & Conditions

Further, Signorelli noted, the quality of the portfolio has been improved by tightening terms and conditions, which will strengthen our portfolio now and in the future.

For example, COVID reinforced the importance of clarity in policy wording, both for us and for our customers. Such precision is particularly important in the area of systemic risks, which is why weve had an intense focus over the past several years on removing unintentional silent cyber in our wordings, Signorelli said, noting that the insurer has been able to reduce cyber in property wordings by 90%.

Reducing Volatility

To reduce volatility, Zurich has cut the maximum limit deployed on any one risk and the average limit deployed across the portfolio, particularly in cyber, D&O, liability and catastrophe-exposed risks. Through this, our goal is to build a portfolio that is profitable in any cycle, she confirmed.

For example, in the cyber area, Zurich previously deployed up to $25 million in capacity, but has lowered that average limit to between $5 million and $7 million.

Catastrophe-Exposed Risks

In this environment where rates might seem tempting on the surface for cat exposed risks, its worth noting that as we grew our property portfolio, we did not accelerate our cat exposure, she said.

She said Zurich has been actively managing its cat exposure in three ways: through modeling, underwriting and risk engineering.

In the area of modeling, Signorelli said that Zurich continuously enhances its models using recent claims data and external scientific data sets.

In underwriting cat exposures, Zurich has strengthened risk assessment, tightened terms and conditions and enhanced portfolio management with actionable insights. This has allowed us to reduce critical flood exposure, rebalance U.S. windstorm and reduce our exposure to wildfire.

And finally, in the area of risk engineering, she said, Zurich has engaged with customers to help them mitigate their exposures, with an increasing interest from customers to understand their flood, wind and other natural hazard exposures. Zurichs website describes risk engineering as solutions that help businesses build resilience to todays evolving, interconnected risk landscape by helping them manage loss control, mitigate risk, improve safety and reduce claims.

Customer Focus

Signorelli joined Zurich as chief underwriting officer in July 2017, following Mario Grecos appointment as the new CEO of Zurich Group in March 2016, who already had been taking steps to refresh the companys approach in a number of areas.

What was appealing about the role was that he was really looking to change the business, make a difference and think differently about our approach, she said.

As a result of feedback from customers, Signorelli and her team worked hard to create consistency in the products offered, clearly communicating where were willing to play and where were probably not the carrier to go with.

When I first joined the organization, there were a lot of questions with regard to what was Zurichs appetite [for certain risks].

She emphasized that profitable growth can be pursued at the same time as Zurich leverages all of its capabilities to support our customers in managing their risks at a time when we see a changing risk landscape.

Business as usual will not be enough for what is coming. We are seeing the pressure that companies are facing today. We see a risk environment getting more complex and more unpredictable, whether it be natural catastrophes, emerging technologies, the digital economy, or new legal challenges that come with the ESG urgency to name a few, she said. Opportunity comes with risk, and we want to help our customers navigate these evolving risks.

Zurichs emphasis on building its data and analytics capabilities not only provides underwriters with the information they need to make better decisions about risk, but these capabilities also help them have more robust conversations with brokers and with customers about the trends they are seeing and why a risk might be priced or structured in a certain way, as well as helping customers understand how to reduce their exposure to certain risks, she explained.

Remembering the Basics

During her tenure, Signorelli has been focused on what customers need and staying relevant. Ive driven this with our teams in a number of ways. Ive been constantly messaging that it is always better to deliver bad news early. So we have a challenging situation, lets have a conversation early, lets make sure we work through multiple options for our customers, so they can decide what tradeoffs that they want to make.

During a hard market, this is a much better way to engage with customers, she emphasized. Nobody wants a rate increase or to have a program restructured, but its even more important to have those conversations and to support them with some facts and be able to talk through [underwriting decisions].

Further, Signorelli said, its important to avoid losing sight of the basics  the other customer touch points. We must issue policies correctly and on time. We need to pick up the phone when customers call, and we must deliver a fair and prompt claim service. This may sound overly simple, but often we win new business because another company has failed to service the customer.

Topics Underwriting
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Lloyds, Chubb and Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Lloyds Names Chubbs Miller as Commercial Director

Lloyds announced the appointment of Dawn Miller as its Commercial Director, reporting to Lloyds Chief of Markets Patrick Tiernan.

Miller joins from Chubb where she currently holds the position of regional executive officer for Chubb Central Region (Switzerland, Turkey and MENA), and is also the country president for Switzerland. She will take up the new position at Lloyds in Q2 2022 and will be based in London. (See related announcement from Chubb in the second People Moves item in this article).

In her new role, Miller will oversee Lloyds global network across the Americas, Europe, APAC and MEA and will be responsible for distribution, market development, global engagement with brokers and new entrants. She will also be responsible for innovation at Lloyds, including the Lloyds Lab.

Miller has more than 20 years of experience working in the global insurance industry with oversight of underwriting, distribution, clients, and strategy, including leadership positions at AXA, AIG and Willis. Having started her career in Washington D.C., Miller has since taken on senior positions in London, New York, Paris, Dubai, San Francisco and Zurich.

I am delighted to welcome Dawn to Lloyds and my senior management team. Dawn has exceptional international experience and knowledge across a wide range of business areas which will be critical in leading the commercial team at Lloyds, commented Tiernan. She has a deep understanding of how a true global ecosystem operates and will play an invaluable role in driving the Lloyds market forward to deliver our strategic priorities.

***

Chubb Promotes Meyer to Switzerland Country President, Makes Central Region Leadership Changes

Chubb announced the appointment of Nathalie Meyer as country president for Switzerland.

In this role, Meyer will be responsible for Chubbs property and casualty, accident and health, and consumer lines operations across Switzerland.

Previously the countrys Middle Market, SME and Industry Practices Segment leader, Meyer replaces Dawn Miller, outgoing regional executive officer [REO] for Central Region and country president for Switzerland, who is becoming commercial director at Lloyds. (See previous appointment).

Meyer joined Chubb in 2008 and has held a variety of senior roles in Switzerland, including financial lines manager. She will begin transitioning into her new role from Feb. 1 and will work with Miller to ensure a smooth handover.

Subject to regulatory approval, Meyer will assume full responsibilities as country president in due course.

In a related move, Nikolay Dmitriev is appointed regional executive officer for Chubbs Central Region of CEMENA, which covers Switzerland, Turkey, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Pakistan, Tunisia and Chubbs joint venture in Saudi Arabia.

In this role, Dmitriev will be responsible for executing the underwriting and sales strategies of Chubbs business units, staff management, production, profit and loss, and distribution management in the Central Region, which is one of the insurers five CEMENA regions. In addition to his REO duties, Dmitriev will continue in his current role as Country President for Russia and will remain based there for the time being.

In a further regional change, Christian Graber is promoted to Commercial Lines regional executive officer  Central. Graber joined Chubb in 2003 and was most recently in charge of Commercial Lines for Switzerland.

The appointments of Dmitriev and Graber are also effective Feb. 1.

Dmitriev will report to Sara Mitchell, division president Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa. Meyer and Graber will report to Dmitriev.

Switzerland is a hugely important part of our business both strategically and also from a market perspective, and I am delighted that we have been able to appoint Nathalie as our new country president. She is well-known and highly respected within and outside of Chubb for her expertise and insights which will help her bring a dynamic approach to better serve our broker partners and customers, said Mitchell.

Nikolay and Christian are seasoned professionals with a demonstrable track record of success in their previous roles which makes them perfectly placed to take on their new leadership positions in our Central Region, which is a very diverse market covering eight countries with many different languages and cultures, she added.

***

WTW Hires Aons Weda as Benelux Head of Corporate Risk & Broking

Insurance broker WTW announced Stefan Weda as the leader of its Corporate Risk & Broking (CRB) business for the Benelux countries.

Weda starts his new role on May 1 and will be responsible for accelerating growth in the CRB markets across Benelux, and for leading the overall Benelux CRB business strategy and operational transformation.

He joins from Aon, where he has held a series of senior leadership positions across a 23-year career there, including his most recent post as chief commercial officer for Aons Commercial Risk, Health & Wealth business in the Netherlands. His previous roles include chief broking officer and managing director of Global Accounts.

Weda will also take up the role of head of CRB for WTW Netherlands. Catherine Lesourd will add the role of head of CRB for WTW Belgium to her current role as head of CRB for WTW Luxembourg.

Topics Commercial Lines Excess Surplus Aon Willis Towers Watson Lloyd's Chubb
An advocacy group working to end clergy abuse in Wisconsin has delivered thousands of documents from Wisconsins five Catholic dioceses to the state attorney general, documents it says show a systemic coverup of abuse.

The documents were provided to Nates Mission by whistleblowers within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of Madison, La Crosse, Green Bay and Superior, the group said.

The group handed boxes of documents to state Attorney General Josh Kaul on Tuesday to further the investigation launched last year into clergy abuse, the Journal Sentine l reported.

This is criminal evidence that were looking at right here. Evidence of sexual abuse of children over the past decades, evidence of sexual abuse over the past decades, said Peter Isely, a Nates Mission member.

Kaul said the investigation continues, but no further information was available.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice continues to encourage anyone with information about clergy and faith leader abuse to report, Kaul said in a statement. The goals of this independent review are to make sure that victim services are accessible to survivors, to stop future cases of abuse, and to get accountability where possible, and we are committed to following the facts wherever they lead.

According the lists released by the dioceses, about 160 priests have been named as having substantiated claims against them in Wisconsin. The Superior Diocese has not yet released a list of credibly accused abusers.

Nates Mission is named for Nate Lindstrom who accused multiple priests at St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere of sexually abusing him in the 1980s. He died by suicide in 2020, nearly one year after the abbey stopped sending secret payments he received for 10 years.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Wisconsin
U.S. airlines said on Wednesday the rollout of new 5G services was having only a minor impact on air travel as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it has issued new approvals to allow more low-visibility landings.

The increased approvals for Boeing and Airbus planes meant an estimated 62% of U.S. commercial planes could perform bad-weather landings at some airports, up from 45% previously, the FAA said.

Many international carriers had canceled flights to the United States or switched aircraft on concerns that powerful signals from the 5G rollout, which began on Wednesday, could interfere with airplane systems.

AT&T and Verizon Communications agreed late Tuesday to delay switching on new telecom towers near key airports even as they turned on the new 5G C-Band service.

The FAA early Wednesday cleared aircraft using another three radio altimeters, which are used to give data on height above grounds for bad-weather landings. It approved two others earlier.

American Airlines said it had seen a minor operational impact including some delays and four cancellations as a result of the new 5G service and some additional impact to its regional fleets.

It expected the FAA to soon issue additional approvals for our Airbus and regional fleets.

United Airlines said it anticipated minor disruptions at some airports due to the remaining 5G restrictions.

Southwest Airlines said that initially because of favorable weather conditions, we anticipate very minimal impact on our operation.

Airplane models with one of the five cleared altimeters include some Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, MD-10/-11 and Airbus A300, A310, A319, A320, A330, A340, A350 and A380 models, the FAA said.

Even with these approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected, it cautioned.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he had pushed as hard I can to have the 5G folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines.

Verizon will temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, sources told Reuters, or less than 10% of their planned deployment, while the carriers and the administration work on a permanent solution.

Verizon Chief Executive Hans Vestberg told CNBC Wednesday he was confident a review of the aviation concerns around those towers near airports will go fast.

(Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Pullin)

Topics USA Tech Aviation
The surprise rejection of Purdue Pharma LPs sweeping opioid settlement is already reverberating through the rest of the bankruptcy system.

Ascena Retail Group, the former owner of womens fashion brands including Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant, is the latest company to see a bankruptcy deal fall apart over its use of so-called third-party releases. The federal judge who struck down the deal last week called back to Purdue in his decision, citing U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahons rejection of the opioid makers proposed settlement.

The latest ruling shows how third-party releases, a long-controversial legal tool that can protect a bankrupt companys executives and owners from lawsuits, are coming under increased scrutiny. Federal courts are split on whether the releases are legal, and now once-permissive jurisdictions are increasingly questioning such maneuvers. Other large companies including opioid maker Mallinckrodt Plc are also seeing their use of releases come under fire.

Judges have been holding their noses on this issue for a while, David Skeel, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said in an interview. It seems like the Purdue decision, at least in the short run, has opened the floodgates  courts feel like theyve been given an invitation to be skeptical.

The fresh scrutiny of releases, which are a part of virtually every large insolvency case, threatens to alter the way big-time corporate bankruptcies work in the U.S., and could strengthen the hand of individual investors by protecting their right to sue insiders and others liable for a companys failure.

Ascena Question

Ascenas bankruptcy was essentially wrapped up. The company, which was among the largest to seek court protection in 2020, sold off its brands for about $650 million and got approval for a plan to divvy up the proceeds to creditors in early 2021.

The deal contained liability releases for almost everyone involved with the company, including consultants and low-level employees, and was approved despite objections from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission. That was a mistake, according to U.S. District Judge David Novak, who handled an appeal of the plan.

The sheer breadth of the releases can only be described as shocking, Novak wrote in a decision last week that struck down the plan. They release the claims of at least hundreds of thousands of potential plaintiffs not involved in the bankruptcy, shielding an incalculable number of individuals associated with the Debtors in some form, from every conceivable claim  both federal and state claims  for an unspecified period stretching back to time immemorial.

Lawyers for Ascena, now called Mahwah Bergen Retail Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Novak sent the plan back to bankruptcy court for revision. Like Purdues Judge McMahon, he also ruled that bankruptcy judges dont have authority to force certain kinds releases on unwilling parties.

There are non-silly arguments that judges do not have the power to be granting these releases, Skeel said. If third-party releases become unacceptable or are drastically diminished, it could make it more difficult for some companies to reorganize, he said. They may have to more narrowly tailor releases for parties related to a bankruptcy, or otherwise find some kind of workaround.

The bankruptcy worlds attention is now on Mallinckrodt, which had the legality of the releases in its Chapter 11 exit plan openly questioned by its bankruptcy judge. After a lengthy trial, he has yet to rule on whether to approve the deal.

Purdue Aflame

Releases, a typically esoteric aspect of bankruptcy law, drew widespread scrutiny last year when it became clear that members of the billionaire Sackler family that own Purdue Pharma would get sweeping legal protections as part of the companys opioid settlement.

After the deal won approval, a handful of states and an arm of the Justice Department appealed the decision. The states wanted to continue pressing civil suits against the Sacklers, with or without a bankruptcy plan.

McMahon, a relative outsider to bankruptcy law, questioned whether Purdues owners abused the court protection system and whether the companys bankruptcy judge had authority to grant the releases at all. While finding that he doesnt, she warned that the conflict was far from over.

This issue has hovered over bankruptcy law for thirty-five years, McMahon said in her ruling. This opinion will not be the last word on the subject, nor should it be.

With assistance from Eliza Ronalds-Hannon and Steven Church.

Photo: Ann Taylor store on Madison Avenue in New York. Photographer: Ron Antonelli/Bloomberg

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Two-thirds of executives say their companies are very concerned about climate change, and 79% believe the world is at a climate change tipping point, according to the recently released Deloitte 2022 CxO Sustainability Report.

Deloitte polled more than 2,000 C-suite executives across 21 countries to gauge business

concerns and actions when it comes to climate change and environmental sustainability.

The tipping point sentiment was up markedly from 2021, when 59% of executives polled agreed with that assessment.

The poll shows that 97% of companies have already felt negative impacts of climate change. The nations where the greatest operational impacts were reported were: Australia, China, Japan, U.K., U.S., and Canada.

Respondents were asked to what degree they expect climate change to impact their companys strategy and operations over the next three years: 4% answered Little/no, 34% answered Moderate/some, and 62% answered Very high/high.

It wasnt all negative. Most (88%) polled believe that with immediate action, the worst impacts of climate change can be limited, up from 63% previously.

And it appears the majority of respondents say their companies are taking action: 67% say they are using more sustainable materials; 66% say they are increasing the efficiency of energy use; 57% are using energy-efficient or climate friendly machinery, technologies, and equipment.

Brazil Drilling

Global insurers Chubb, MAPFRE, and Tokio Marine insure the majority of Brazils offshore oil and gas drilling, according to a report from activists.

The report, Fueling Climate Change: The Insurers Behind Brazils Offshore Oil Expansion, from Insure Our Future, a network of non-govermental organizations and social movements that attempt to hold the insurance industry accountable for its role in the climate crisis, is reportedly based on previously undisclosed documents.

Insurance Journal International Editor Lisa Howard is working on a more extensive article on this matter, so stay tuned for an update to this column with a link to her reporting in coming days.

The report finds these three companies insure Brazils national oil company Petrobras, which extracts nearly 93% of all Brazils oil and gas. Chubb and Tokio Marine, along with AXA, Liberty Mutual, Fairfax, Argo, and several Brazilian insurers, also insure exploratory oil and gas operations by international companies, the report alleges.

Brazil has said it plans to expand offshore oil and gas operations.

Scientists and the United Nations have called for decreasing oil and gas production by 4% and 3% respectively every year.

Elana Sulakshana, Senior Energy Finance Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network, called out Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg, and said that any company that claims to care about the climate, biodiversity, and human rights cannot insure exploration and expansion of Brazils offshore oil reserves.

The report notes that much of the countrys offshore oil reserves are in fragile ecosystems like the Great Amazon Reef.

Petrobras, which is insured by Chubb, MAPFRE, and Tokio Marine, owns numerous concessions in the still-untouched area near the reef.

Net-Zero

A group of the worlds biggest insurers and reinsurers jointly pledging to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from their underwriting activities have run into an unexpected opponent of their planet-friendly mission, according to a Bloomberg article on Insurance Journal this week.

The Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, whose members include AXA SA, Allianz SE and Swiss Re AG, has purposely limited the scope of its collaboration to avoid potential violations of antitrust rules, people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information, told Bloomberg.

A proposal to include a commitment to exit coal insurance as part of the terms of group membership was scrapped following advice from attorneys at Norton Rose Fulbright, one of the people said.

Antitrust rules that exist to protect consumers from monopolies are at odds with a world where cutting emissions is a top priority, and until the rules are changed, they serve as a potential impediment to climate action, the article notes.

Members of the alliance have committed reaching net-zero emissions from their insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios by 2050.

The insurance coalition is part of the larger Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which includes 450-plus companies with more than $130 trillion of assets committing to zero net financed emissions.

Attorneys at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright advised the insurance group that its members might be liable to anti-competition litigation if they act together against specific industries, the people told Bloomberg.

Colorado Wildfires

Colorado is seeking to expand building codes as climate change increases the risk of wildfires.

There are new calls for stronger building codes in Colorado after devastating suburban wildfires, including the early January Colorado wildfire that caused at least $513 million in damage and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and structures, in which officials say is the most destructive wildfire in state history.

A National Public Radio report covers the developments in a broadcast, including a recent change in which the National Fire Protection Association is now pushing for states like Colorado to adopt at least minimum statewide building codes. Michele Steinberg, the wildfire division director, told NPR more homes are burning down today than they were 30 years ago.

And we know that wildfires and their increasing frequency, intensity, the fire service cant do this alone, she said. Volunteer activity cant do this alone. We were missing the government responsibility, the enforcers, the codes and standards.

In another matter, the Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled a 10-year plan to treat and maintain millions of additional acres of forests in the western United States to reduce the severity of seasonal wildfires.

Past columns:

Topics Climate Change
Call them the thorn birds!

Engagement to someone with the name Machine Gun Kelly could end up being a bloody affair.

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Ask actress Megan Fox, who knows this firsthand with the engagement ring he designed for her.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly attend the American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on Nov. 22, 2020 in Los Angeles. (Emma McIntyre /AMA2020/Getty Images for dcp)

The alternative hip hop rock artist (also known as The Blonde Don) came up with a unique concept for his betrotheds bling, one that will cause pain when taken off.

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The thoroughbred Colombian emerald and diamond engagement ring he had Stephen Webster design, he revealed, made with an emerald just carved into the teardrop, straight out of the mine.

But thats not the only distinctive aspect to the jewelry.

Megan Fox shows off her engagement ring from Machine Gun Kelly. (Machine Gun Kelly via Instagram)

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

The concept is that the ring can come apart to make two rings, the Bloody Valentine rapper told Vogue during a joint interview. When its together, its held in place by a magnet. So you see how it snaps together? And then it forms an obscure heart. And you see this right here? The bands are actually thorns. So if she tries to take it off, it hurts...

The interviewer Luke Leitch shot back, Thats very nice..

Love is pain! the 31-year-old Houston native retorted.

Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, posted an Instagram video of Fox showing off her ring after he popped the question on Jan. 12.

He captioned the video yes, in this life and every life. beneath the same branches we fell in love under, i brought her back to ask her to marry me. i know tradition is one ring, but i designed it with Stephen Webster to be two: the emerald (her birth stone) and the diamond (my birth stone) set on two magnetic bands of thorns that draw together as two halves of the same soul forming the obscure heart that is our love.

The couple has been a hot Hollywood item since the summer of 2020.

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Fox, 35, was previously married to actor Brian Austin Green with whom she shares three sons.
Two oil and gas exploration companies  Vantage Energy Services, Inc. and Vantage International Management Company Pte. Ltd.  will pay $54,500 and provide training to its managers and human resources staff to resolve a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

According to the EEOCs lawsuit, an employee suffered a heart attack while working aboard one of the defendants drill ships off the coast of West Africa. Just days before his scheduled return to work from leave, he was discharged.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employers from discharging employees because of their disability. The EEOC filed its lawsuit on Jan. 26, 2018 after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

The district court approved the two-year consent decree settling the suit on Dec. 20, 2021, awarding $54,500 in monetary damages to the employee. The decree also requires the Vantage entities to train their employees and human resources staff on the requirements of the ADA.

Source: EEOC

Topics Energy Oil Gas
A food preparer and retailer in Scott and Carencro, Louisiana, has agreed to pay a former employee $67,500 to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit was resolved through a consent decree, which U.S. District Judge Michael J. Juneau approved on January 14, 2022.

According to the EEOCs lawsuit, the general manager at Dons Specialty Meats routinely referred to the employee as Black boy, the Black boy and little Black guy, and he regularly used the n word in the employees presence. When the workers supervisor repeatedly called the worker a bitch ass [nr] in front of managers and other employees, Dons Specialty Meats, Inc. dismissed the employee  but not the supervisor  for the rest of the day. The employee found the conditions so intolerable that he resigned, the EEOC said.

The EEOC filed its suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in 2021 after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its pre-litigation conciliation process. Under the three-year consent decree settling the suit, Dons Specialty Meats will not only pay the former employee $67,500 in back pay and damages, but also conduct training, revise policies, provide regular reports to the EEOC, and post a notice that affirms its obligations under Title VII and states that employees can report violations to the EEOC.

Source: EEOC

Topics Lawsuits Louisiana
Navigators Insurance, part of The Hartford, does not have to cover most medical and injury claims from 2,000 workers who cleaned beaches after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a federal appeals court decided Wednesday.

In a case that centered on a new type of legal claim for latent injuries, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found that BP was, in fact, an additional insured that could be covered by policies held by a cleanup company. But two insurance policies could not be combined to satisfy the minimum amount specified in a contract between BP and OBriens Response Management, the court said.

That means that Navigators may have to cover only about $2 million, not the $100 million that BP had demanded.

Also, the cleanup subcontractor is not required to fully indemnify BP because BP materially breached its indemnification provision on what the courts have called back-end litigation option claims. The 5th Circuit noted that BP had broken its contract with OBriens by creating the BELO claims without its consent as part of a 2012 settlement after the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling accident.

The appeals courts three-judge panel also affirmed the dismissal of a subset of BPs claims against OBriens, and remanded others to the lower court, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, for further proceedings.

After BPs Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in 2010, millions of barrels of crude oil gushed into the Gulf. Much of it ended up on beaches and waterways across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Cleanup workers who were hired to clean the gunk from coastal areas months later reported a variety of chronic and acute illnesses. Some workers said that they were not given adequate safety gear or warnings about the toxicity of the oil.

The BELO procedure was created for the cleanup workers whose injuries were diagnosed after the initial BP settlement, and who chose not to pursue workers compensation claims, or for which the statutes of limitations had expired.

Another Crude Awakening: Oil Spill Caused by Massive Waves From Tonga Is Ecological Disaster for Peru

Attorneys for Navigators in the case referred calls to The Hartford. Officials there could not be reached Thursday morning.

The majority opinion was written by U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones. Judge James Graves dissented.

In my view, OBriens is not required to indemnify BP on any claims because BP failed to give reasonably practicable prompt notice to OBriens, Graves wrote. I would therefore affirm the district court on this issue as well.

Top photo: Florida beaches were soiled after the accident.

Topics Claims Energy Oil Gas
Alyannah Buhman is a senior in criminal justice.

Being a woman of color, I understand being in a space and feeling like it was not created for me, Buhman told the Daily in an email response. I hope to break down some of those barriers and create a comfortable atmosphere for others.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has called on the public not to comment on social media about the Ashling Murphy murder case.

We need to be careful what we say. The process has started, it is important to be allowed to take its course, she said.

Ms McEntee said there needed to be faith in the criminal justice system.

She said that the public "all have a responsibility here" and that people had to trust the gardai and the system and not do anything to jeopardise the process.

Ms McEntee defended her departments role in the provision of domestic violence services and said it would be implanting a national plan including 52 actions.

She said various Government departments involved had listened to the sector about the manner in which services are coordinated.

To date, they had been too diffuse and needed to be better coordinated.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

This would require a whole of Government coordinated approach, involving every single department playing their part, she told RTE Radios Today with Claire Byrne show.

Ms McEntee said she was very clear about what needed to be done.

All the departments involved would report to a specific sub-committee which would be chaired by the Taoiseach.

Funding would not be an issue, she said, echoing comments by the Taoiseach on Morning Ireland .

Its about putting in place a much clearer and quicker process, she said.

The Justice Minister said zero tolerance of violence against women was her goal and that she wanted to strengthen the law and make sure that it was enforced.

Its about societal change. We all have a part to play.

The Government had committed to a new national strategy to bring about an improved system that would ensure victims were treated with the dignity they deserved, she said.

While she had not received threatening calls as had some of her female political colleagues had, Ms McEntee said she did receive abuse on social media, which she had ignored.

But she also said she was now going to take a stand and not ignore it.

I will call it out, she added.

Rape Crisis Network Ireland welcomes new commitments

Cliona Saidlear, executive director of Rape Crisis Network Ireland. File Picture

Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) welcomed Ms McEntees announcement of a coordinated approach to policy around domestic, sexual and gender-based violence (DSGB) and the delivery of domestic violence services.

The group said this approach "joins up the dots at an infrastructure level for the first time and gives us the chance of a systemic response to a systemic problem."

"The transformation in the past week is that the issue of mens violence against women has been articulated, almost unanimously, as part of a system of misogyny," said RCNI Executive Director Cliona Saidlear

"RCNI particularly welcomes that the work, in one Department, under one Ministry, in service provision and prevention on DSGBV, will be accountable to a cabinet committee chaired by An Taoiseach."

Ms Saidlear said the move would meet "the level of political engagement and accountability" that RCNI has been calling for.

"We look forward to working with the lead DSGBV Minister, political leaders and the department to advance the scale of action and reform needed for the cultural change Micheal Martin has committed Ireland to," she added.
The Association of Catholic Priests has described the treatment of a priest in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore as "inappropriate, unreasonable and unacceptable".

It alleges that Richard Geoghegan, who served in Carrick-on-Suir and South Tipperary, "reluctantly signed" his laicisation papers confirming his departure as he "felt unsupported" by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan.

This has left the 54-year-old "without an income, accommodation and dependent on a derisory financial settlement", the association said.

The group alleges that Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan withdrew Mr Geoghegan's documentation which allowed him to officiate Mass without informing him, and later asked him to move out of his diocese house.

Controversy arose earlier this week after Dungarvan native Mr Geoghegan had confirmed his departure from the priesthood.

He tweeted that he had been "officially dismissed by Rome", bringing an end to 28 years of service. He further alleged that Bishop Cullinan "was happy to dispense" with him.

I entered seminary in 1987 at the age of 19.

I was ordained in 1993 at the age of 25:

On 7/1/22 I was officially dismissed by ROME.

On Friday 14/01/22 my Bishop was happy to dispense me.

Im a good man.

And he talks about the shortage of vocations.   Richard Quinn Geoghegan  (@RichardGeogheg9) January 16, 2022

However, Bishop Cullinan told the Irish Examiner Mr Geoghegan left the priesthood "of his own accord", and petitioned Pope Francis for laicisation from the priesthood last March.

"At the meeting last March, Richard attended the diocesan offices, in the company of a chosen colleague, to sign the request to the Holy Father for laicisation. On December 15, 2021, Pope Francis granted Richard Geoghegans petition, meaning that he is no longer a priest."

This has been disputed by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) which says it accompanied him to a meeting with Bishop Cullinan, as it had been contacted by a different priest in the diocese who was concerned Mr Geoghegan was being "pushed out of the priesthood".

This was "even though there was no allegation or official complaint against" Mr Geoghegan.

The group said it read the news of Mr Geoghegan's departure with "dismay and sadness" and said it had supported him previously in the diocese.

A statement from the ACP said: "During the meeting, Richard expressed his wish to remain a priest of the diocese. Bishop Cullinan responded that he knew that Richard did not want that. The Bishop added that he felt it best for Richard if he left the priesthood. In response, Richard said that he never felt supported by the bishop since he came into the diocese."

According to the ACP, Bishop Cullinan "outlined all the reasons why he felt Richard should leave.

It further claims that, subsequently, Mr Geoghegan discovered the minutes of their meeting "were completely distorted" and only included some of what the bishop had said and nothing of what he or the ACP member had said.

It added: "During 2021, Bishop Cullinan withdrew Richard's 'celebret'  a card that acknowledges a priest is in good standing with his bishop  which meant that Richard could no longer say Mass publicly or officiate as a priest.

Richard was not informed of this nor did any formal process take place to alert him to it. He was then asked to leave the house provided for him by the diocese.

"Because he felt unsupported and not wanted by Bishop Cullinan, Richard reluctantly signed the laicisation papers."

Now, the ACP contends that "Fr Richard Geoghegans treatment is inappropriate, unreasonable and unacceptable".

Mr Geoghegan declined to comment when contacted earlier this week. Bishop Cullinan has been contacted for a response to the ACP statement.
The Government's bottle deposit scheme has been criticised for excluding glass containers.

The criticism comes from two senators, both within and outside the government. Fianna Fail Senator Erin McGreehan and Sinn Feins Paul Gavan have urged Environment Minister Eamon Ryan to learn from what they call best practice examples of existing schemes in Scandinavia.

Ireland is set to introduce a deposit return scheme for aluminium cans and plastic bottles after regulations were signed in November. However, glass bottles are set to be excluded from the scheme.

Mr Gavan and Ms McGreehan believe consumers should pay a smaller deposit like 0.10 on containers under a litre. Drinks of more than a litre should be subject to a proportionally higher deposit, like 0.20, the senators say. They believe a variable deposit fee will incentivise consumers to avoid purchasing the two-litre plastic bottles "that have plagued Irelands beaches for decades".

Scandinavian model

"The most successful deposit return schemes are implemented in Scandinavian countries, who boast redemption and recycling rates upwards of 92%," a joint statement from the pair reads.

Countries such as Norway, Finland, and Denmark have adopted a deposit variable by container size, and its value reflects the true sorting and recycling costs of each material.

The senators also criticised the exclusion of glass from Irelands deposit return scheme, saying that the recycling rates of these containers has dropped to around 78%.

However, a spokesperson for the Department of Environment said that the scheme's aim was to cut down on single-use plastic. However, the spokesperson added that the minister could expand the scheme if needed.

"The introduction of a DRS scheme will assist in reducing single-use plastics, help Ireland meet EU targets and promote a wider circular economy.

It will incentivise consumers to return their empty beverage containers for recycling or reuse.

This DRS will be focused on plastic bottles and aluminium cans, to ensure that more of these are captured for recycling and to avoid these being discarded as litter. Specifically, the intent of this DRS here in Ireland, at this time, is primarily to increase the capture rate of single-use Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and aluminium beverage containers.

"The next step is the appointment, by the minister, of an approved body to operate the scheme. Further engagement is also required with stakeholders, to determine the rate of the deposit to be paid on in-scope bottles and cans. The scheme is expected to become operational across the country in Quarter 3 of this year (2022).

"Because recycling rates for glass are already comparatively high, it has not been included at this point in this scheme. However, the regulations provide the flexibility for the future expansion of the scheme to other materials, including glass, if required."
The Taliban stormed an apartment in Kabul, smashing the door in and arresting a female rights activist and her three sisters, a witness said on Thursday.

A Taliban statement appeared to blame the incident on a recent womens protest, saying insulting Afghan values will no longer be tolerated.

The activist, Tamana Zaryabi Paryani, was among about 25 women who took part in an anti-Taliban protest on Sunday against the compulsory Islamic headscarf, or hijab, for women.

A person from the neighbourhood who witnessed the arrest said about 10 armed men, claiming to be from the Taliban intelligence department, carried out the raid on Wednesday night.

They took four females away, all of them were sisters

Shortly before she and her sisters were taken away, footage of Paryani was posted on social media, showing her frightened and breathless and screaming for help, saying the Taliban were banging on her door.

Help please, the Taliban have come to our home. Only my sisters are home, she is heard saying in the footage. There are other female voices in the background, crying. I cant open the door. Please, help!

Associated Press footage from the scene on Thursday showed the apartments front door, made of metal and painted reddish brown, dented and left slightly ajar.

The occupants of a neighbouring apartment ran inside their home, not wanting to talk to reporters. An outer security door of steel slats was shut and padlocked, making it impossible to enter Paryanis apartment.

The witness said the raid took place at around 8pm. The armed men went up to the third floor of the Kabul apartment complex where Paryani lives and began pounding on the front door ordering her to open the door.

When she refused, they kicked the door repeatedly until it opened, the witness said.

They took four females away, all of them were sisters, the witness said, adding that one of the four was Paryani, the activist.

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing Taliban reprisal.

The spokesman for the Taliban-appointed police in Kabul, General Mobin Khan, tweeted that Paryanis social video post was a manufactured drama. A spokesman for the Taliban intelligence, Khalid Hamraz, would neither confirm nor deny the arrest.

However, he tweeted that insulting the religious and national values of the Afghan people is not tolerated anymore  a reference to Sundays protest during which the protesters appeared to burn a white burqa, the all-encompassing traditional head-to-toe female garment that only leaves a mesh opening for the eyes.

Hamraz accused rights activists of maligning Afghanistans new Taliban rulers and their security forces to gain asylum in the West.

Since sweeping to power in mid-August, the Taliban have imposed widespread restrictions, many of them directed at women. Women have been banned from many jobs, outside the health and education field, their access to education has been restricted beyond sixth grade and they have been ordered to wear the hijab.

The Taliban have, however, stopped short of imposing the burqa, which was compulsory when they previously ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s.

At Sundays demonstration in Kabul, women carried placards demanding equal rights and shouted: Justice!

They burned a white burqa and said they cannot be forced to wear the hijab. Organisers of the demonstration said Paryani attended the protest, which was dispersed after the Taliban fired tear gas into the crowd of women.
Tom Hanks latest project could be called Saving President Biden.

The Academy Award-winning actor narrated a video that premiered Thursday in support of Bidens efforts to revive a country thats two years into a pandemic and deeply divided. It begins with words of inspiration from poet Amanda Gorman, who spoke at the presidents inauguration.

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With the Lincoln Memorial in the background, actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks speaks during a ceremony in honor of former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., at the National World War II Memorial, on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

For there is always light if only were brave enough to see it, if were brave enough to be it, Gorman recites as those words are printed across the screen.

Hanks can then be heard saying, If were only were brave enough..., before touting the nations resilience and calling the past two years the most difficult many of us can remember.

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Axios reports that Hanks address was produced by Bidens Presidential Inaugural Committee to mark the end of the 46th presidents first year in office. Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner whose films include Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia, and Big, appears in the video, which features working class people from across the country including New York nurse Sandra Lindsay touting vaccines and record job growth.

I can feel the change, Lindsay says.

The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the days top five stories every weekday afternoon. >

Bidens pitch to the nation ends with the president appearing on screen.

Ive never been more optimistic about Americas future, he says.

[ Chrisette Michele will join Donald Trump's talent starved inauguration ]

The video will reportedly blanket airwaves throughout the day Thursday before being making the rounds digitally over the next week.

Bidens message to the nation generated plenty of buzz on the internet, in no small part because it somewhat mirrored a scene from the 2007 animated movie The Simpsons, featuring Hanks doing a public relations spot for the U.S. government.

Hello. Im Tom Hanks. The U.S. government has lost its credibility, so its borrowing some of mine, a cartoon Hanks says, trying to explain that a newly created giant crater is actually a new Grand Canyon. This is Tom Hanks saying, if youre going to pick a government to trust, why not this one?

The Biden administration passed an historic trillion dollar infrastructure deal in late 2021 thats expected to send billions of dollars to New York to strengthen roads and tunnels.

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Hanks last appeared on Bidens behalf a year ago when he hosted a star-studded Celebrating America extravaganza, marking the inauguration of the newly elected president. That included performances by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and the Foo Fighters.
Burma Karen Armed Group Commander Sacked Over Execution of Alleged Myanmar Junta Spies

Karen National Defense Organization commander Major General Saw Nerdah Mya in 2015. / Karen National Media

Myanmars longest-running revolutionary group, the Karen National Union, has dismissed Major General Saw Nerdah Mya as the head of its Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO), regarding the killing of 25 people, who were alleged spies for Myanmars junta, in May last year.

There were heavy clashes between the KNDO and junta forces in Waw Lay in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, close to the border with Thailand, from May 31 to early June.

The KNDO was one of the first groups to fight the junta following the regimes indiscriminate killing of unarmed civilians and peaceful protesters after the February 1 coup.

During the fighting on May 31, the KNDO took 47 people  31 men, six women and 10 children  from a bridge construction site. It released six men and all the women and children by June 9 but 25 men, aged between 18 and 52, were later found dead.

Saw Nerdah Mya said the victims were not civilians but personnel from infantry and engineering units, sent to collect intelligence about the armed group.

The regime on June 13 accused the KNDO of killing civilians and urged the KNU to explain the deaths.

A KNDO spokesman told the media at the time that some of the group were executed and others were killed by junta shelling. He said there was proof those executed were not road workers, as they had military uniforms, badges and military equipment, which the KNDO seized.

On July 5, the KNU temporarily suspended Saw Nerdah Mya and another officer, Captain Saw Bar Wah, while the incident was investigated.

On Monday, the KNUs defense department announced that the two officers were being permanently dismissed and Major General Saw Shee Lay would be appointed as the KNDOs commander.

The KNUs vice-chairman Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win told The Irrawaddy that a commission had completed its investigation and the decision had been taken under the KNUs laws.

Saw Nerdah Mya, son of late KNU chairman General Bo Mya, was unavailable for comment.

In July he condemned his suspension, saying it appeared the KNU was trying to appease the regime.

The KNUs armed wings, the Karen National Liberation Army and KNDO, have been fighting the junta in Myawaddy and nearby Kawkareik since mid-December.



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Burma Myanmar Junta Reports 118 Omicron Cases

Precautions in April 2020 in Yangon following the first COVID-19 cases in Myanmar. / The Irrawaddy

More than 100 cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant have been recorded in Myanmar since late December, according to the junta-controlled Ministry of Health.

Four citizens who returned from Dubai tested positive with Omicron on Dec. 28 and 114 more cases were recorded by Thursday, the regime said.

Dr. Than Soe Naing of the ministrys health promotion department told The Irrawaddy: Most of the cases were imported. It is very unlikely that it will spread domestically. Only two family members [of a returnee] have the virus. It is very unlikely they transmitted it to others. The situation is under control.

Omicron infections were mostly in returning citizens and a few foreigners who arrived from Malaysia, India, the UAE, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore plus two family members of an infected returnee, he said.

There have been widespread Omicron infections internationally. But in Myanmar, most of the cases detected are the Delta variant. We cant underestimate [its impact] but severe illness and increased hospitalization is mostly reported with Delta infections, said Dr. Than Soe Naing.

He dismissed social media reports that over 100 trainees at the Central Institute of the Civil Service in Phaunggyi, Yangon, were infected with Omicron.

He told The Irrawaddy that there was no Omicron outbreak at the training school but 45 trainees had tested positive for Delta.

A charity worker in Mandalay said: There have been patients who struggle breathing with low-blood oxygen levels. Patients have died of coronavirus but the deaths and hospital cases are lower than in June to September last year. We are sending at least seven to eight patients to hospital a day.

No Omicron cases have been reported in Mandalay and passengers are being tested at the airport and bus terminals in Mandalay although infection rates have fallen since last year, according to the junta.

A charity worker from Pyigyitagon Township in Mandalay said: We have worked tirelessly. Should Omicron lead to another health emergency in Myanmar, we are prepared to face it.

The regimes health ministry said 533,604 cases of COVID-19 were recorded between March 2020 and Wednesday, with 19,306 deaths and 511,630 recoveries. COVID-19 cases are still being reported daily and the infection rate is estimated at around 1.5 percent.



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Dr. Akar Moe Thu / University of Yangon Students Union

A Yangon University professor who led a strike by university staff in response to the military takeover last year was sentenced to three years in prison by a junta court Wednesday, according to the Yangon University Students Union.

Dr. Akar Moe Thu, an oriental studies professor at Yangon University, was arrested at gunpoint by two men in civilian clothes on March 2 last year while organizing an anti-coup demonstration by university teachers at MICT Park in Yangons Hline Township.

He was charged under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code for incitement and sentenced to three years imprisonment after 11 months in detention.

Among university academics the professor was one of the leaders of the Civil Disobedience Movement against the military coup. He is also the founder of the University Teachers Association.

The military regime has suspended more than 120,000 striking teachers from their positions and issued arrest warrants for 14 professors, associate professors and lecturers from six universities, including Yangon University, who allegedly led the university teachers strike.

The regime has also jailed a number of striking teachers alleging they have links to the parallel National Unity Government and its armed wing, the Peoples Defense Force, both of which the military has labeled as terrorist organizations.



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Burma Myanmar Regime Forces Tortured and Massacred Ethnic Chin Journalist and Civilians

The ten civilians massacred by regime forces in Matupi Township, Chin State in January. / Matupi Cele

An ethnic Chin journalist was tortured by Myanmar junta forces, before being killed along with nine other civilians, including a child, in Matupi Township, Chin State, according to resistance group Chinland Defense Force-Matupi (CDF-Matupi) and local media.

Amid intensifying clashes between CDF-Matupi and military regime forces since the New Year, 11 civilians were detained on January 6 and 7 near Kihlun and Longhlaw villages on the Matupi-Hakha road.

The civilians were then used as human shields while the junta soldiers were travelling from one village to another.

On January 7, local residents discovered eight corpses including a 13-year-old boy named Pa Le Naing near Longhlaw Village. Two more bodies were discovered at a location between Kihlun and Kace villages on the same day, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO).

Among those massacred was Pu Tui Dim, 55, a co-founder and editor-in-chief of local news agency Khonumthung Media Group. He previously worked for the CHRO for many years.

From witness and photographic evidence, a CDF-Matupi official told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Pu Tui Dim had suffered the worst torture of all those murdered. His tongue, lower lip, chin and fingers had been cut off by junta soldiers. Both the journalists arms were found to be broken.

According to sources and photos, eight of the victims. including Pu Tui Dim and Pa Le Naing, the teenage boy, had had their throats slashed. All had been blindfolded and tied up.

CDF-Matupi said also that the bodies had bruises and injuries consistent with them being struck with rifle butts, as well as gunshots to their bodies.

A photo reveals that one of the victims was stabbed in his stomach and chest many times.

The Khonumthung Media Group has condemned the juntas atrocities against innocent civilians and asked the regime to stop its extra-judicial killings and inhuman acts.

The Chin Human Rights Organization claimed that the massacre of the civilians was committed by junta soldiers from infantry battalion 140 based in Matupi. It said that it will seek accountability and pursue justice for the victims.

CDF-Matupi said that it is compiling a list of murders committed by junta forces and collecting evidence so that the perpetrators can be brought to trial at the International Criminal Court.

Arresting, torturing and murdering innocent civilians is totally unacceptable. We, the whole Chin national community, condemn such inhuman acts by the junta, said the CDF-Matupi official.

He added: We dont want the international community to neglect such crimes in our country. We want effective investigations and action against those responsible for the crimes.

In mid-December, a freelance photojournalist was reportedly tortured to death by regime forces after he was detained while covering the nationwide Silent Day Strike in Yangon. Over 100 journalists have been arrested by the junta since last years February 1 coup. At least 46 are still being held by the military regime.

The Myanmar military is currently facing increasingly intense daily attacks from Peoples Defense Forces and ethnic armed groups across the country.

Regime forces are also continuing their atrocities including arrests, torture, massacres, arbitrary killings, using civilians as human shields, shelling residential areas, looting and burning houses and committing acts of sexual violence, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin, Shan, Kayah and Karen States.



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A Myanmar military aircraft is seen bombing Monglon and other wards in Loikaw, Kayah State in the second week of January. / Free Burma Rangers-Karenni

Since December last year, Myanmars military junta has increased its air strikes against civilians, especially in Karen and Kayah states in the countrys southeast and Sagaing and Magwe in the northwest. All are anti-regime resistance strongholds where freshly trained Peoples Defense Force fighters and local peasants with automatic rifles and homemade guns have been inflicting huge casualties on the juntas ground troops for several months.

For all the regimes air raids, its far from overcoming the enemy. Clashes have expanded to capitals like Loikaw in Kayah State. Amid the increasing air strikes, the greatest sufferers are civilians, whose villages are being hit. At the same time, the juntas heavy reliance on air power reveals that it is struggling.

The militarys overt use of air and going after the villages, that tells you they can no longer win on the ground, said Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd, a professor at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, US.

The Burmese-American and former US Army lieutenant colonel also pointed out that using aircraft imposed a significant burden on the regime as it was very expensive, especially for the already cash-strapped junta, which has been sanctioned internationally and faces popular boycotts at home of its companies products, from beer to SIM cards, over its coup last year.

Over time, this is not sustainable. When you use an aircraft, you need a huge logistical chain behind it. It requires a lot of money, she said.

You would have to replace the aircraft. My understanding based on interviewing defected soldiers from the air forces, they say they are cannibalizing  parts. They dont have those supplies ready, she explained.

Based on the results of the airstrikes, Dr. Byrd told The Irrawaddy that the juntas use of air power has turned out to be largely ineffective, killing civilians instead of resistance forces.

When you are doing the airstrikes or artillery strikes, it is not precision. Also PDFs are on the move because they are using guerrilla tactics. So they cant find them. When they are using artillery and air attacks, they are killing innocent civilians. They are not really killing PDFs, she said, referring to the Peoples Defense Force.

The former army officer with 28 years experience explained that one of the problems the juntas soldiers are facing on the ground is that they are outsmarted by the resistance fighters, who are local and able to make the most of the geography, with which they are familiar. Unfortunately for the regime, most of the stronghold areas are hilly and fairly forested, among other geographical blessings. As a result, the PDFs know best where to hide and attack the juntas convoys to inflict huge casualties on them.

She said the local resistance fighters were able to blend in and utilize the geography as advantages, whereas the military have to bring in people from outside, leaving them with no idea about the area they were moving in and simply unable to find the PDFs.

If you cant find people on the ground, you cant find them from the air. So the only thing they can do is they are bombing the villages. Combat to combat, they are not able to fight, so what they do is they are going after the innocent civilians, she remarked.

Dr. Byrd said the rise of the PDFs in Myanmar and their significant growth in less than 12 months was attributable to the military regimes brutality against the people. The majority of the resistance fighters are young people who took part in peaceful protests in February and early March to oppose the regime and its coup, which many saw as having stolen their future.

When the regime brutally cracked down on the protests and anyone involved, many of them ventured out into ethnic armed group-controlled areas on the border to seek military training to take up arms against the junta because they felt like they had a responsibility to provide local protection, she explained.

These PDFs can be considered as  fulfilling the mission of responsibility to protect their people and their community, said Dr. Byrd.

She also noted that the PDFs were coming of age as a fighting force while the regimes army was no longer a professional military, committing brutal killings and bombing villages, far from adhering to its code of conduct.

She pointed out that when the PDFs, and some ethnic armed groups working with them, captured soldiers on the battlefield, they treated them like humans. She cited the example of the humane treatment shown by the PDFs and Karen National Liberation Army to eight soldiers captured during fighting near the Thai border in mid-December. When pictures emerged of the detainees wolfing down meals at a table, it sparked some debate online over whether those who brutally killed protesters deserved such decent treatment.

They are living by a code of conduct. That is exactly what you are supposed to do, because they dont want to become just like their enemy.

Editors Note: The opinion presented in this article is Dr. Miemie Winn Byrds own assessment as an expert on the subject matter. Her opinions do not represent the positions and policies of the U.S. government or any other agencies.



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An AA soldier in 2020. / The Irrawaddy

While heavy fighting has been raging in Myanmars ethnic minority areas, and clashes between local resistance groups called Peoples Defense Forces and the Myanmar military have occurred almost daily since last years coup, Rakhine State in the west of the country has been largely peaceful. The Arakan Army (AA), the states main rebel force, entered into an informal ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar military several months before the February 1 coup and, so far, the truce seems to be holding. But much to the militarys chagrin the AA, or more specifically its political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), has used the peace to build up a separate administration in the state with its own judicial bodies, revenue department, public security branches and other governmental institutions. The military, on the other hand, is stretched on many fronts across Myanmar and can hardly afford to send the number of troops that would be required to re-establish control over Rakhine State. But it is a fragile ceasefire agreement and it is still a question of who would attack whom first and when.

If the generals decide to open a new front in Rakhine State, they would be up against a formidable adversary. From humble beginnings in 2009, the AA has grown into one of Myanmars most potent rebel armies. It was originally formed by a group of youngish nationalists led by Twan Mrat Naing, then only 31, and recruits from the many ethnic Rakhine who work in the Hpakant jade mines in Kachin State. Initially trained by the Kachin Independence Army, they first saw combat in 2012 when the military launched a massive offensive against rebel bases along the Chinese border. Three years later, AA troops fought alongside soldiers from the Palaung militia, the Taang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in the Kokang area of Shan State in 2015. From then on, the AA grew rapidly and moved most of its operations to its home state of Rakhine. Thousands of young male as well as female nationalists flocked to join the AA, and bitter battles were fought with the Myanmar military.

Twan Mrat Naing, now 43 and a Major-General, was born in the Rakhine capital Sittwe and studied law at university but left without getting a degree. In a recent interview with this correspondent, he emphasized the pride that many Rakhine feel for their state and its long and often turbulent history. Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, was an independent Buddhist kingdom until it was invaded by the Burmese in late 1784 and then, the following year, annexed into the realm ruled by King Bodawpaya of the Konbaung Dynasty. Resistance against the occupation continued until the first Anglo-Burmese War in 1824-1826. The Arakan region, along with Tenasserim [now part of Tanintharyi Region] in the southeast, became British possessions.

Peace prevailed until World War II, when Myanmar was occupied by the Japanese  and that caused serious divisions within Arakan. Most Buddhist Arakanese sided with the Burma Independence Army  and hence the Japanese  while large segments of the Muslim population in northern Arakan remained loyal to Britain, the colonial power. Immense atrocities were committed by both sides, and those wounds have never completely healed.

The departure of the British in 1948 led to a virtual civil war in Arakan. Muslim mujaheed guerrillas  they were then not yet called Rohingya  established bases along the border with East Pakistan and, originally wanted to join independent Pakistan. The Communist Party (Red Flag) (CP[RF]), led by Bonbauk, or bomb thrower Tha Gyaw, also battled government forces and so did U Sein Da, a former monk known as the King of Arakan. The main Communist Party of Burma (CPB) also established strongholds in Arakan, while breakaway militants from CP[RF] formed a separate Communist Party of Arakan (CPA) and wanted to establish their own peoples republic.

Over the years, most of the insurgencies fizzled out. In 1961, the last 500 mujaheeds surrendered as the then U Nu government agreed to set up an autonomous area known as the Mayu Frontier Administration encompassing Maungdaw, Buthidaung and western Rathedaung townships, where Muslims are in a clear majority. General Ne Wins coup detat in 1962 put an end to those efforts and some Muslims formed new groups, notably the Rohingya Independence Force which in 1975 became the Rohingya Patriotic Front. But those groups were small and their activities limited to publishing leaflets and newsletters from their offices in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Bonbauk Tha Gyaw had surrendered in 1955 and U Sein Da in 1958. The main CP(RF) leader Thakin Soe was captured in 1970 at his Than Chaung camp near the Arakan Yoma mountains. The CPBs local leader Kyaw Mya left Arakan in 1979 and went to Bangladesh, where the Chinese embassy helped him to continue on to China and then down to the partys main headquarters at Panghsang in the Wa Hills in Shan State. His successor as local leader of the CPB, Ye Tun, surrendered during a general amnesty in 1980, and so did CPA leader Kyaw Zan Rhee. On the Thai border, a small group called the Arakan Liberation Organization and Army had been formed in 1972, but it had only a handful of soldiers who were based at Kawmoorah, a Karen National Union stronghold north of Mae Sot.

Peace seemed to prevail in Arakan, which was renamed Rakhine State in 1974, but then came the 1988 nationwide democracy uprising. Some of the old fighters, among them Kyaw Zan Rhee and Bonbauk Tha Gyaw, resurfaced, took part in the pro-democracy movement and formed an overground, legal party called the Arakan Peoples United Organization. Another, and stronger, legal political party called the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) also emerged, and was led by Dr U Saw Mra Aung and the historian U Oo Tha Tun. The ALD took part in the 1990 general election but its MPs elect, like all the other elected politicians, were not allowed to take up their seats in Yangon. The elected National Assembly was never convened and instead a mainly military-appointed National Convention was convened to draft a new constitution. U Oo Tha Tun died in prison in 1991 and, in 1992, the ALD was banned.

Against that backdrop  and given Arakan/Rakhines long history of resistance  it is hardly surprising that the new AA and the ULA have grown so fast and become what they are today. Or, as Myanmar specialist Martin Smith wrote in Arakan (Rakhine State): A Land in Conflict on Myanmars Western Frontier, which was published by the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute in December 2019: Among [the many Rakhine groups] only the ULA could be considered as new. But, as its supporters point out, the ULA includes members from other organizations and is the latest in a long line of armed Rakhine movements that date back to independence in 1948. As such, the ULA has quickly become the most powerful force in Rakhine nationalism in many decades.

But the armed wing, the AA, is also facing formidable challenges. The most obvious one is logistical: how to get guns and ammunition from rebel-held areas in Kachin and Shan State  where the main source of military supplies are  to Rakhine? During the fighting before the ceasefire agreement was struck, the AA showed that it had remarkable firepower and the Myanmar military suffered heavy casualties. But if fighting resumes, how can the AAs troops be resupplied? The other issue would be how to relate to the states Muslim population. In recent years, an extremely militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has emerged. It launched several attacks on military and police outposts in 2016 and 2017 which, in turn, led to a massive counteroffensive and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Bangladesh.

ARSA should not be considered an indigenous group  it was formed by Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, a second-generation Rohingya. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Saudi-Arabia, where he was groomed by Islamic fundamentalists. Ataullah has unleashed his fury even on what are supposed to be his own countrymen, among them Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya moderate and human rights activist, who was killed by ARSA in a refugee camp in Bangladesh on September 29, 2021. In a recent video, a visibly angry and agitated Ataullah exhorts his followers to burn down the dwellings of Rakhine Buddhists and strike hard against them.

It may be easy for the AA to distance itself from ARSA, but the Rohingya question is bound to create controversies. While the AA and other Rakhine nationalists accept the fact that Muslims have been living in the area for centuries, and that many more settled in Arakan during the colonial era, they argue that most Rakhine consider the very name Rohingya offensive and refuse to use it. According to their line of argument, it gives the impression that the Muslims are not a religious community but a distinct ethnic group, and, as some of the Rohingya claim, that they are the original inhabitants of the land. Rather offensively, nearly all political movements among the Rohingya also have a map of the entire Rakhine State in their emblems. Rakhine nationalists also argue that the name Rohingya was not used by anyone until the 1950s.

Those who argue that there is separate Rohingya identity based in history usually quote a 1799 study by Scottish physician and geographer Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, who never went to Arakan but met some Muslims in the then capital Amarapura. He mentions that they referred to themselves as Rooinga, or natives of Arakan and then said little more. But, as Martin Smith points out: After annexation [in 1826], the British do not appear to have used this name again. Muslims in Arakan were instead referred to by such terms as Arakanese Mohammedan, Bengali Muslim, Chittagonian, Kaman and Zerbadi[and] it would be difficult to imagine a situation in modern-day Europe where discussions of citizenship or identity become based around the writings of an Asian traveler two centuries ago.

Be that as it may, but there are few questions in Myanmar today which are more than contested  and often heated  than disputes over the origin of the name Rohingya, and who and what they are. Internationally, the name Rohingya and their identity as such is almost universally accepted. But its an entirely different story in Myanmar, and then not only among the Rakhine. On this issue, most Burmans would be on the same side as the Rakhine nationalists.

This year and next may reveal what the future holds for the new nationalist movement in Rakhine State. A lot depends on what happens in the rest of the country. On the one hand, the junta has not managed to consolidate its grip on the country and its coup last year may go down in history as the most unsuccessful attempt to seize power in modern Asian history. That works to the advantage of the ULA and its parallel administration as well as the resistance elsewhere in Myanmar. But, on the other hand, future developments depend on the extent to which the countrys abundance of resistance forces can coordinate their movements  and despite some alliances being forged  there is so far little evidence of that happening.



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Ithaca, NY (14850)

Today

Showers early becoming a steady light rain later in the day. High 66F. S winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later at night. Low 44F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Ithaca, NY (14850)

Today

Rain showers in the morning becoming a steady light rain in the afternoon. High around 65F. S winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later at night. Low 44F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Buying a condo in an older South Florida high-rise? For people who want to finance their deal, itll be getting tougher to take out a loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that make mortgages available to low- to moderate-income borrowers.

Reacting to last years tragic collapse of the Champlain Tower South in Surfside, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two companies that back a majority of residential mortgages in the U.S., are scrutinizing deferred condo maintenance issues before approving loans generated by banks and other lenders.

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Generally, they will not back loans for condo and co-op units if their buildings have put off major repairs, industry experts say.

Both companies have issued temporary requirements for condo and co-op projects to ensure that buildings are structurally sound, and that associations that govern them have the money to pay for repairs.

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The upshot, legal and real estate analysts say, is that some condo buyers around the nation may need to find other sources if they want to finance their purchases. The rules could make it harder for some owners to sell, and place more pressure on condo inventories already tightened by heavy demand.

[ RELATED: Condo safety: Of the older buildings due for checkups last year, only one in five certified safe ]

It is without a doubt a more heightened scrutiny than what was previously being requested, said attorney Roberto C. Blanch, who specializes in community association law at the Siegfried Rivera firm in Coral Gables. The focus is on ensuring the safety and structural soundness and viability of buildings.

Blanch said that caution is now a byword in the lending community.

I do believe there is a trickle down effect in the industry, he said. There is this heightened sense of caution among most lenders. The total universe of available lenders has been impacted as a result of this collapse as well as by the resulting oversight.

But thus far, the ripple effect on condo transactions has been minimal around the state, said Christina Pappas, the new president of the Florida Realtors, an industry trade group. She said residential units in 400 buildings in Florida have been deemed ineligible by Fannie Mae for loans. Information about their locations and identities was not immediately available.

I think ultimately what were seeing is if the condo is following their maintenance requirements, we havent seen any problem, Pappas said. If they are in the middle of a 40-year re-certification, that is where we run into some more digging by the lender.

Bess Freedman, CEO of the New York-based Brown Harris Stevens brokerage, which maintains a substantial South Florida presence, said the requirements could slow things down, but shed rather the industry err on the side of safety.

Id rather have slow and safe versus fast and collapse any day, Freedman said, I think these requirements do a very good service.

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On January 1, Fannie Mae stopped backing loans for condo units in buildings where significant repairs have been deferred or are under directives from a local government agency to make repairs due to unsafe conditions. The Freddie Mac measures go into effect for loans settling starting Feb. 28,

Neither company will green-light loans until the necessary repairs have been completed and documented. Their new policies are in place until further notice.

Onlookers gaze at rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside after part of the building collapsed last June. The disaster helped prompt Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to impose new requirements for building repairs as a condition for backing loans that finance condo purchases in older buildings. (David Santiago/Miami Herald/TNS)

Freddie Macs requirements exclude from eligibility for acquisition by investors any loans for units in communities considered to have critical repair needs, Blanch wrote in a blog for his firms website.

Subsequently, properties that have already identified elements requiring attention and begun their construction and remediation efforts may become ineligible until such repairs and renovations are completed, he said.

After the Surfside collapse, questions about the structural integrity of older condo buildings in Florida and elsewhere surged to the forefront of the public discussion of why and how a decades-old building could suddenly plunge to the ground.

Analysts, experts and critics focused on deferred maintenance, the sheer expense of major repairs and and scant attention paid to red flags in inspection reports.

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Last December, a Miami-Dade County grand jury issued a lengthy list of recommendations aimed at preventing another high-rise condominium collapse, including earlier and more frequent inspections and better waterproofing.

In its report, the panel called on state and local officials to require condominium tower managements to arrange an initial recertification inspection by an engineer between 10 and 15 years after construction and every 10 years thereafter. Currently, Miami-Dade and Broward counties require inspections at 40 years. Other Florida counties have no requirement.

[ RELATED: Despite Surfside disaster, condo owners wont get tax relief this year ]

In Broward County, a task force spent weeks studying safety issues. Among proposals sent to the Legislature: condos would be inspected every 30 years, with re-inspections every 10 years.

Boca Raton created an ordinance requiring safety and structural inspections for every building older than 30 years and taller than three stories or 50 feet. Priority for inspections will be given to buildings near the ocean, which are most susceptible to saltwater corrosion.

Nationwide concern

In an emailed response to questions from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Fannie Mae suggested that the Surfside disaster was emblematic of a national problem.

While the temporary requirements were put in place in the wake of the tragic collapse of the Champlain South Tower in Surfside, residential buildings with aging infrastructure and significant deferred maintenance are a growing concern across the nation, Fannie Mae said.

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This concern is expected to increase over the next decade, as the majority of residential condo and co-op buildings were built more than 20 years ago.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drafted and made public their requirements last October, but did not move to activate them until this year.

[ RELATED: Calls for better safety measures came after the Surfside tragedy. Here are the changes so far. ]

Created years ago by Congress, Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., are government-sponsored companies designed to support borrowers by providing liquidity to lenders. The main difference between the two is that Fannie Mae buys mortgages from larger commercial banks, while Freddie Mac buys them from smaller institutions.

The onus is on lenders

Their new requirements call for banks and other lenders to collect detailed information about a buildings structural integrity, special assessments for condo association members and reserve funding maintained by the associations for major special projects.

View of the land that once housed the Champlain Tower South in Surfside, which partially collapsed last summer and was cleared out in August. The disaster, which killed 98 people, helped trigger tighter loan underwriting rules by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for condo and co-op unit financings nationwide. (Pedro Portal/TNS)

Lenders are responsible for confirming that condo and co-op projects meet Fannie Maes eligibility requirements, Fannie Mae told the Sun Sentinel.

Frank Simone, general counsel, KW Property Management & Consulting, which represents 225 associations that oversee 90,000 units in Florida, said the additional scrutiny was expected.

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Any time there is a huge tragedy, every lender, every insurance company, and anyone who has any risk vis-a-vis these properties are going to tighten their underwriting requirements, he said.

The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac requirements apply to condominiums and co-ops with five or more attached units. Townhomes and traditional single-family home associations are not subject to them.

Both companies will disqualify buildings for financed unit purchases under a variety of circumstances. They include:

The full or partial evacuation of a building.

Deferred repairs or damage that affects a buildings structural integrity.

A building is in need of substantial repairs in structural or mechanical categories such as the foundation, roof, electrical system, air conditioning system or plumbing.

[ RELATED: Condo living could be more costly in the post-collapse world ]

The companies will also rule out loans in units of buildings that failed to pass local inspections or meet recertification requirements.

A closer look at association finances

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are both requiring reviews of any current or planned special assessments for a buildings condo owners, the financial stability of the condo associations, and the existence of financial reserves, which many owners are reluctant to pay.

They will want to know why assessments were imposed, how much they cost and when and how they should be paid.

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In its statement, Fannie Mae said its focus on building association finances isnt new.

Fannie Maes longstanding project eligibility requirements are designed to support the ongoing viability of condo and co-op projects, the company said. To maintain homeownership sustainability, we have long required scrutiny of project reserves on loans delivered to us, as well as disclosure of any special assessments and review of a number of other important project characteristics that would impact mortgage borrowers.

Our latest guidelines reinforce our project reserve requirements in response to emerging concerns about aging condo infrastructure.
The Digital Skills Organisation partners with digital platform Year13 to promote digital career prospects for young people in the light of new research that reveals nearly one in two Gen Zs are not well-informed about digital careers in school.

As part of Year13s online-learning platform Academy, the new short course called DigiSkills will equip Gen Z with the know-how needed to navigate a digital technology career path in jobs like cyber security, product management, software engineering, and data analysis.

Year13 and DSO researched and surveyed 404 young Australians aged 15 to 24. They found that 8% want to work in the digital sector, 19% are likely to, 32% are neutral, 34% are unlikely and 7% say definitely not.

A gender breakdown found 10% of males definitely want to work in the digital industry while 27% are likely to, compared to 7% of females who definitely want to work in the digital industry and 15% who said they are likely to.

When asked what barriers they had to encounter in the digital industry, 49% of Gen Zs said they were not sure where to start. Forty-five percent said they never taught about digital careers in school while 36% said they were leaning to a creative career and are unsure while 12% said they lack talent.

As the demand for people with digital skills continues to grow, there is a pressing need to open up pathways for entry level digital talent for a broad range of school leavers. By normalising digital, digital skills pathways and shedding a light on what digital careers look like through DigiSkills Academy, we have a huge opportunity to empower young Australians to be the change makers of our future, says DSO CEO Patrick Kidd.

With unclear pathways, poorly informed educational guidance, or the belief that a geeky disposition is essential for a successful career in digital, young Australians are often quick to dismiss a career in this in-demand industry before knowing what it actually entails, notes Year13 co-founder and CEO Will Stubley.
Force Technology International is the company that distributes EFM, OtterBox, Belkin and mophie products in Australia, and there's a new range of durable and modern power products, including the EFM Flux Power Range which means flat batteries can go flux themselves.

Fluxibility. It could be a new tagline for EFM, although I've just made the name up on the spot. EFM is among the top brands for power accessories, cases and more, but with EFM, OtterBox, Mophie and Belkin launching powerful new products, it's clear the Force is with them.

Despite Omicron, people across Australia and the world are adjusting to life with COVID check-ins and digital vaccination passports, including more national and international travel, with our reliance on more powerful mobile devices greater than ever bore.

Force notes that mobile charging dilemmas such as sudden battery loss, damaged cables or painfully slow charging speeds can fast become the reason you need to "pull the plug" on your day, but solutions to dampen the dark side of the dead battery and infuse it with the light side of fast charging are here, with Force Technology CEO Carl Bonham noting release of these elevated power products could not be better timed with restrictions easing and Australians across the country needing their phone all day, every day.

With cheerful bonhomie, Bonham said: These products are designed to enhance the battery life of peoples smart phone devices wherever and whenever they need to stay connected to the people, places and moments which matter most.

With industry leading technology, the products by EFM and OtterBox give smartphone owners that peace of mind knowing they will always be connected when on-the-go.

So, let's start with the EFM Flux Power Range.

It features MagSafe compatible technology in a modern, contemporary design which complements all environments, with this new four-in-one charging dock allowing up to four devices to be charged simultaneously, on the one dock, providing efficiency in charging for multiple products.

Then there's the new OtterBox Power Range which features 3.6 times faster charging wall charger and cables. Every cable, power bank and wireless charger is designed to work flawlessly with device owners favourite OtterBox cases and screen protectors.

Mophies new Snap+ wireless range is integrated with innovative magnetic array that makes mounting and charging a snap by offering simple one-handed operation and a "perfect charge" every time. This exciting ecosystem of accessories is designed to not only be compatible with MagSafe smartphones but also bring the magnetic mounting and wireless charging experience to any Qi-enabled smartphone.

Meanwhile, Belkins range of wireless chargers for MagSafe gives you the most effortless charging experience with MagSafe technology and up to 15W faster wireless charging for MagSafe smartphones.

Here's some added detail on the EFM and OtterBox products.

EFM Flux Power Range:

Flux 4-in-1 Charging Dock - $149.95

Whatever your charging requirements, the EFM FLUX 4-in-1 Charging Dock is the ultimate charging solution for all your wireless MagSafe Apple products. Integrated magnets in the main charging pad seamlessly align your iPhone with the charging coil, optimising up to 7.5W of power transfer in either portrait or landscape orientations. The second and third pads provide charging for an Apple Watch, AirPods or even another handset, while a USB type-A port outputs up to 10W of wired power.

15W Wireless Charging Pad - $69.95

Providing up to 15W of power, this light compact form factor enables use of your device while charging

Flux 15W Car Charger Mount - $99.95

The integrated magnet array of the Mount precisely aligns the charging coils for a simple set-and-charge experience, no matter the road conditions

Flux 5000mAh Wireless Power Bank - $64.95

The Power Banks integrated magnet effortlessly snaps to the back of the phone for carefree charging on the go

OtterBox Power Products:

Lightning to USB-C Fast Charge Cable (see below)

Made to last, this cable is made from braided nylon which combats fraying and tangles. The reinforced strain relief of the cable protects notorious weak spots for remarkable strength and longevity

Fast Charge Qi Wireless Power Banks (see below)

This portable wireless charger is engineered to charge with battery capacities ranging in size to give you more hours of battery power. USB-A and Fast Charge USB-C ports allow for multi-device charging and secure wireless charging through 10W Qi Wireless output

Premium Wall Charger $54.95

Fast and built to last, these chargers have been rigorously tested, are drop resistant and wrapped in a tough exterior so theyre durable with 3.6 times faster charging

USB-C and USB-A Fast Charge Dual Port Car Charger, 30W $64.95

These chargers power up devices fast, are drop and vibration tested and wrapped in a tough exterior. They feature a smart and compact design with USB-C and USB-A ports

OtterBox Premium Cables

Lightning to USB- A Cable  Premium (1 Metre) - $34.95

Waste no time and experience zero hassle keeping your devices charged. These cables are thoughtfully designed with industry- leading mobile expertise and proven quality that is ultra-rugged and super tough for remarkable strength and longevity.

Lightning to USB- A Cable  Premium (2 Metre) - $39.95

Waste no time and experience zero hassle keeping your devices charged. These cables are thoughtfully designed with industry- leading mobile expertise and proven quality that is ultra-rugged and super tough for remarkable strength and longevity.

Lightning to USB- C Fast Charge Cable  Premium (1 Metre) - $39.95

Proven rugged, dependable and made to last. Braided nylon combats fray and tangles while reinforced strain relief protects notorious weak spots for remarkable strength and longevity.

Lightning to USB- C Fast Charge Cable  Premium (2 Metre) - $44.95

Proven rugged, dependable and made to last. Braided nylon combats fray and tangles while reinforced strain relief protects notorious weak spots for remarkable strength and longevity.

USB-C to USB-A Cable  Premium (1 Metre) - $29.95

USB-C to USB-A Cable  Premium (2 Metre) - $34.95

These cables are thoughtfully designed with industry-leading mobile expertise and proven quality that is ultra-rugged and super tough for remarkable strength and longevity.

USB-C to USB-C Fast Charge Cable  Premium (1 Metre) - $34.95

Proven rugged, dependable and made to last. Braided nylon combats fray and tangles while reinforced strain relief protects notorious weak spots for remarkable strength and longevity.

USB-C to USB-C Fast Charge Cable  Premium (1 Metre) - $39.95

Proven rugged, dependable and made to last. Braided nylon combats fray and tangles while reinforced strain relief protects notorious weak spots for remarkable strength and longevity.

3-in-1 Cable - $39.95

3-in-1 charging cable features nearly limitless compatibility to satisfy every devices charging needs. Standard 3-in-1 cables are thoughtfully designed with industry-leading mobile expertise and proven quality that is durable and dependable.

USB-C and USB-A Fast Charge Dual Port Car Charger, 30W - $44.95

Power up devices  FAST. Durably designed for the journey ahead, these chargers are drop and vibration tested and wrapped in a tough exterior. Featuring a smart and compact design with USB-C and USB-A ports.

Fast Charge Qi Wireless Power Bank (10,000 mAh) - $79.95

Engineered to charge and empower your day. Battery capacities range in size to give you more hours of battery power. USB-A and Fast Charge USB-C ports allow for multi-device charging and secure wireless charging through 10W Qi Wireless output.

Fast Charge Qi Wireless Power Bank (15,000 mAh) - $99.95

Engineered to charge and empower your day. Battery capacities range in size to give you more hours of battery power. USB-A and Fast Charge USB-C ports allow for multi-device charging, and secure wireless charging through 10W Qi Wireless output.

Fast Charge Power Bank (20,000 mAh) - $89.95

Sleek, durable battery pack charges devices  FAST. Designed with industry-leading mobile expertise and quality that is uniquely durable, to build trust, foster connections and instil confidence for whatever the day brings.

Mobile Charging Kit - $69.95

Whether its getting that epic group shot or sending that last-minute text, you can rely on this kit to provide portable power for the moments that matter most. Its convenient and slim design slips into pockets, and you can trust the 3-in-1 cable to power any device.
Comcast announced the successful test of a prototype 10G modem using the core technology that will deliver multigigabit speeds to tens of millions of homes.

In a lab test, a Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0 system-on-chip (SoC) cable modem built by Broadcom delivered upload and download speeds faster than 4 gigabits per second (Gbps) powered by 10G network technology.

Comcast says the announcement is the latest in a series of 10G milestones from Comcast. In October 2021, the company announced a successful test of a complete 10G connection using a virtualised cable modem termination system (vCMTS) powered by DOCSIS 4.0 technology. That announcement followed major 10G milestone announcements in April 2021, of the first-ever live lab test of a 10G system-on-chip (SOC) and October 2020, of a trial delivering 1.25 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) upload and download speeds over a live production network using Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) combined with the latest DOCSIS technology.

A key component of 10G, DOCSIS 4.0 is an evolutionary leap forward in the ability to deliver multigigabit upload and download speeds over the connections already installed in hundreds of millions of homes worldwide, the company commented.

The great strength of our smart network design is that we are able to exceed our customers demands today, even as we continuously evolve to meet the needs of the future, said Comcast Cable president of technology product experience Charlie Herrin. As our 10G journey continues to accelerate, customers will reap the benefits of ever-increasing security, reliability, and speed.

Comcast said that 10G technology builds on the work it has done over the past several years to build a smarter, more virtualised network. In addition to providing a path to multigigabit upload and download speeds at scale, 10G updates will deliver near-term benefits to customers in the form of increased reliability, performance, and lower latency, Comcast says.

Connected by Broadcom 10G technology, the modem test utilised the DOCSIS 4.0 FDX SoC device, which Comcast demonstrated in April 2021, to pair with two cable modem chips to deliver the breakthrough performance. These were successfully connected over a lab-based hybrid fibre-coaxial network to the vCMTS operating in DOCSIS 4.0 mode. This represents the first complete network connection of all-DOCSIS 4.0 components that are required for deployment, the company stated.

Comcast says the demonstrated speeds  which were faster than 4 Gbps upload and download  are expected to increase significantly as developers refine technology at every level of the 10G architecture.

With each new milestone, we get a clearer picture of how 10G technologies will unlock the next generation of speed and performance for millions of people worldwide, said Comcast Cable EVP & chief network officer Elad Nafshi.

In Australia, NBN acquired Telstra's HFC network, as part of the Coalition Government's Multi-technology network plan. Initially NBN had issues staying ahead of demand for capacity on this network, which led to a stop-sell for a period while it developed capabilities to do various types of node splits to augment capacity. A second stop-sell occurred when issues around the supply of modems occurred due to a global issue around ASIC supply. DOCSIS 4.0 and 10G technology represent an opportunity for NBN to increase speeds on HFC and also augment overall network capacity.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
For many Central Florida families, the option to get tested during regular business hours is just not a possibility, but that doesnt mean they dont want to get tested, said Father Jose Rodriguez from Christ the King Episcopal Church.

During the testing and vaccination initiatives held at the church, Rodriguez said many community members reached out asking if they knew of after-work testing, something that has not been the norm since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

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People have to line up since very early in the morning hours, Rodriguez lamented, saying some had to get out of line because they had to take the kids to school or had to go to work. By the time they got out, testing sites were already closed.

Father Jose Rodriguez has been promoting COVID-19 vaccination and testing since the beginning of the pandemic. (Fotocaptura)

This is the unfortunate reality for most Floridians who sometimes rely on having two and three jobs to be able to afford rent.

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Wasting hours in line for testing is just not a possibility, he said.

The Episcopal Church Health Initiative led by the church working with the Coalition of 100 Black Women - Central Florida has partnered with the Hispanic Federation Florida & Southeast to offer late afternoon and evening testing to provide relief and comfort to a community that is already struggling enough, he said.

The group behind this effort stated it will at least provide the testing until Saturday, in hopes that eventually people will be able to get the testing kits at home and this wont be as needed, said the Rev. Hoower Cajica from Renacer Foundation, a project of Renacer en Vida Nueva, Inc., a Florida nonprofit corporation established to promote health among vulnerable faith-based communities.

Cajica recalled how after the Sunday service people would ask about testing availability and vaccination.

Our community is doing everything they can to stay safe and healthy, Cajica said. We can only help them by providing testing options in the hours they can actually take them.

Hispanic Federation Florida & Southeast director Laudi Campo said, We have enough testing for our community needs, and if more are needed, we will find them.

Federation efforts have already vaccinated more than 13,000. The surge in COVID-19 has led to increased demand for testing, but appointments are limited and unavailable at times that are convenient to working families, the group stated in a press release.

We continue doing testing at church and you are all invited to go before or after your work schedule. We dont have long waiting lines, according to the statement.

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Testing is available directly at the Episcopal Church Jesus of Nazareth at 26 Willow Dr. in Orlando from 6:30-10 p.m. and at the Bravo Supermarkets located at 999 N. Semoran Blvd. in Orlando from 5:30-9 p.m.

Tests are provided by the Florida Department of Health and are administered by trained and experienced healthcare professionals.

I encourage everyone to please take the time and get tested if needed, Rodriguez said. We are here to be a guide and help you navigate these confusing times we are living in.

He also thanked the work done by Dr. Raul Pino who has been recently placed on a leave of absence for criticizing the lack of vaccination rates in the Department of Health in Orange County he oversees.

Dr. Pino has always been a pillar to our community. He looks like us, he speaks like us and has been a huge advocate, Rodriguez said. We thank him for the work hes done in helping our community to be safe, stay healthy.




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A Central Florida jogger was attacked Monday by a man trying to choke him, kill him with plans to hide the body in a bedroom closet, according to the Brevard County Sheriffs Office.

But using his martial arts skills, the jogger was able to fight back, and keep the suspect at bay until authorities arrived, according to a BCSO arrest affidavit.

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Logan Smith, 18 of Cocoa, was arrested Monday by deputies and faces a felony charge of attempted murder, according to Brevard County Jail records.

Logan Smith, 18, was arrested Monday and faces a felony charge of attempted murder. (Brevard County Sheriff's Office)

The man was getting ready to start a run through a Port St. John neighborhood when Smith reportedly jumped the man and tried to choke him with a waist belt from a robe, according to the arrest report. The man was able to free himself using martial arts training and detained Smith on the ground until deputies arrived.

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Ive got him detained on the ground right now. I need the cops here immediately, the man said to dispatch, according to a 911 call released by BCSO. The man told dispatch he had Smith subdued with a grip on his throat and his hands.

You made a dumb decision today, the man told Smith during the 911 call.

The man told dispatch that he had never seen Smith before. However, Smith admitted to deputies he had been watching the victim for six weeks to get a sense of his daily patterns because he wanted the mans body, according to the Associated Press.

On Monday, he hid behind a light pole and waited for the jogger to pass by, BCSO said. Deputies learned Smith had brought a rubber mallet, an aerosol deodorant can, and a bedsheet. Smith told deputies he laid the bed sheet out on his driveway, walked across the street, hid behind a light pole, and waited for the man to jog by. Smith placed the aerosol and mallet on the ground until the jogger arrived. Then he threw the robe belt around the victims neck.

He further planned to place the victims body into his closet where the defendant stated no one would know and the defendant could have the victims body all to himself, the AP reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Johnson City, TN (37604)

Today

Cloudy and damp with rain in the morning...then becoming partly cloudy. High around 75F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 52F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
BEIJING, Jan. 20 -- The US guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold trespassed into China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands without Chinese governments permission on January 20. The naval and air forces of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command conducted tracking and monitoring on the US destroyer and warned it off. The Chinese military expresses strong dissatisfaction with and resolute opposition to the behavior of the US side, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) today.

Wu pointed out that the Xisha Islands are China's inherent territory. According to the Law of the People s Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, the Chinese government announced the baselines of the territorial waters of the Xisha Islands in 1996 , and also made clear stipulations on matters related to the entry of foreign warships into China's territorial waters.

The US warships trespassing into China's territorial waters is not the "freedom of navigation" at all as it claims, but a serious provocation that violates China's sovereignty and endangers peace and stability in the South China Sea, Wu stressed.

The defense spokesperson urged the US side to correctly understand the situation and immediately stop such provocative actions. Chinas territorial waters are by no means where the US warships can run amok, and the Chinese military will take all necessary measures to deal with all threats and provocations, resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security, and firmly protect regional peace and stability, Wu reaffirmed.
A Palm Bay man convicted of fraudulently collecting more than $1.3 million in COVID-19 relief funds has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Johnson Eustache was sentenced Tuesday in Orlando federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud and aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. He must also forfeit approximately $700,000 seized from several bank accounts, as well as real properties in Palm Bay and Poinciana.

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According to court documents, Eustache submitted 13 different fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Paycheck Protection Program applications to the Small Business Administration and other lenders from March 2020 to April 2021. In total, he sought more than $2.1 million in pandemic-related emergency benefits, according to the documents.

Eustache included false statements in the applications regarding criminal history, number of employees and total payroll, prosecutors said.

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Lenders approved four PPP loans and four EIDL loans, totaling more than $1.3 million, officials said. Eustache used the money to make personal financial investments, to purchase real estate and to build residential properties.

Beside the pandemic-relief fraud, Eustache, while working as a tax return preparer, filed 28 returns for taxpayers from 2017 to 2021 containing false adjustments, false income amounts or false deductions, investigators said. Eustache included these false items fraudulently to inflate the amount of the taxpayers refunds, and the total loss to the IRS was $87,044, officials said.

The Paycheck Protection Program represents billions of dollars in forgivable small-business loans for Americans struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its part of the coronavirus relief package that became federal law in 2020.
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 46F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 46F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
David Michael Debono is accused of putting cocaine in a preschoolers drink and sexually abusing her. (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office)

A 60-year-old Florida man is accused of putting cocaine in a preschoolers drink and sexually abusing her.

David Michael Debono, who doesnt have a permanent address, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and remained jailed as of Thursday afternoon on charges of child abuse and sexual battery of a child younger than 12, Pinellas County jail records show.

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Last week, the victim told St. Petersburg police Debono, who had been allowed to stay at her house, gave her a drink that she thought had sleeping pills at the bottom. The girl was taken to a hospital and tested positive for cocaine, the Tampa Bay Times reported, citing arrest reports.

The girl also told officers he sexually abused her.

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Police say Debono admitted using cocaine and giving the girl a beverage.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  A former criminal defense attorney who founded a Messianic synagogue in Florida was sentenced Thursday to two months of home confinement for joining the mob that stormed the Capitol last year.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras also sentenced Michael Stepakoff, 56, to one year of probation and ordered him to perform 60 hours of community service. Federal prosecutors had recommended 14 days imprisonment for Stepakoff.

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Stepakoff entered and exited the Capitol through the same door, spending roughly five minutes in the building during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Later that day, he posted a message on social media that said he felt privileged to have participated in an historic demonstration against one of the greatest frauds in history.

Contreras said Stepakoff has tried to portray himself as a Mr. Magoo-like character that stumbled into and through the Capitol, oblivious to the mayhem around him.

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The government has presented persuasive evidence indicating that this characterization is highly suspect, the judge added. The defendant is a highly educated individual who the court finds is highly unlikely to be so oblivious.

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Stepakoff said the violence and chaos that erupted at the Capitol totally contradicted and undermined the whole point of the gathering.

I had no part in any of that, nor did I witness it, he said. I do feel that I failed to properly assess and understand the situation.

Stepakoff pleaded guilty in September to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor publishable by a maximum of six months imprisonment.

Stepakoffs lawyer, Marina Medvin, argued that a $50 fine would be an appropriate sentence for him.

Stepakoff founded Temple New Jerusalem, a Messianic synagogue in Palm Harbor, Florida, and has been its senior rabbi for the past 20 years. Messianic Jews follow Jewish law but believe that Jesus is the Messiah. The major denominations of Judaism reject Messianic Judaism as a form of Judaism.

Stepakoff was an attorney but stopped practicing law in 2006. He told a court official that he had agreed to a six-month suspension of his law license stemming from a complaint from a former client, according to prosecutors.

More than 720 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 190 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors, and more than 80 of them have been sentenced.
During the reading of the verdict, the defendant stares into space. Anwar Raslan shows no sign of emotion, when the judge convicts him to life imprisonment for complicity in a crime against humanity. He is being watched by a courtroom filled to the brim with Syrian activists and survivors, as well as journalists. After the sentence has been announced and everybody sits back down, Raslan grabs his pen and starts taking notes as he always does. The 58-year-old ex-intelligence officer from Syria will spend at least the next 15 years of his life in prison.

On the 13th of January, after almost two years of trial, the so-called al-Khatib trial in the German city of Koblenz has come to an end. After the conviction of secret service defector Eyad al-Gharib in February 2021, Raslan was the second Syrian intelligence officer to be held accountable for his role in the Assad regimes crimes. As head of investigations in the general secret services branch 251 in Damascus, he has been found responsible for 27 killings, 4.000 cases of torture and serious unlawful detention, one case of rape and two of sexual assault. As they were committed in the framework of a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population, the court considered the combination of these acts as a crime against humanity.

In their reasoning that lasted from ten o clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, the judges depicted again the attack against civilians. These events had already been defined as crimes against humanity in the first verdict against al-Gharib. Back then, head judge Anne Kerber described in detail how the secret services had been terrorizing the population to uphold the Assad familys rule, and how the situation became worse when the revolution began in 2011  with mass arrests, systematic torture, and violent attacks on civilians all over Syria. In the verdict against Raslan, Kerber referred to that first ruling, but still took some time to summarize the situation once again.

Raslan maintained power

All that being said, Kerber underlined that it is not the Syrian regime on trial here, but only the behaviour the defendant is accused of individually  that is, Raslans work in branch 251, where he was head of investigations until he defected in September 2012.

He had been the one who coordinated the staff in the so-called Al-Khatib branch, stated the judges. He had interrogated prisoners, and evaluated his colleagues interrogations. Then, he had sent recommendations to his boss on how to proceed with prisoners. He did not need to order torture, because its use had been common within the secret services for decades, said Kerber.

She then described how prisoners were abused from the moment of arrival at the branch, how they were tortured during interrogation, beaten at every step, and held in prison conditions so inhumane they amounted to torture. The fact that Raslan was the head of the investigations in the al-Khatib branch during the time of the crimes had never been questioned throughout the trial. Documents, testimonies as well as the defendants own statements had left no doubt about that. But Raslan had claimed that he had lost his authority in the branch in mid-2011, after releasing too many prisoners and being seen as disloyal by his superiors.

The judges, however, did not believe him. It does not seem plausible that the Syrian regime would leave a high-ranking officer in a central position of the secret services, if they doubted his loyalty, they said. The court cited a witness who had been released thanks to the defendants intervention, and took this as proof that he maintained his power in the branch. They cited witnesses who had been interrogated by Raslan as late as 2012, a witness who said he had privileges like a company car until his defection, and another who said he participated in a meeting with high-ranking generals in November 2012. To this, the judges added a few minor contradictions between the defendants initial statement and credible witness testimonies to argue that his statement is untrue and has been adapted to his line of defence.

A reliable, intelligent and eager technocrat

It became clear in the judges reasoning that they did not buy the image that Raslan had tried to convey of himself: the righteous investigator who tried to defect as soon as things started turning violent, and who had to wait for one and a half years to defect safely with his family. Instead, Kerber described the defendant as a reliable, intelligent and eager technocrat. He was not just a small cog in the machinery, she argued, but a colonel who contributed substantially to the regimes crimes.

It was also thanks to his work that the regime succeeded in oppressing the opposition and preventing its own fall, said Kerber, adding that Raslan had a high personal interest in preserving the regimes position. He is a careerist who worked his way up in a totalitarian system with which he identified himself. If the regime had fallen, he would have lost his privileges and highly paid position and would surely have faced reprisals. According to the judges, this was not contradicted by the fact that Raslan might have disagreed with the regimes exaggerated violence and the mass arrests.

As the prosecution had done before, the judges calculated the number of killings and torture based on witness testimonies they considered credible, reaching the total number of 27 killings and 4.000 cases of torture. For the latter, they estimated the total number of detainees in the branch during the 16-month indictment period. Due to the terrible prison conditions, the lack of oxygen and daylight, the lack of nutrition, hygiene and medical care, and the psychological torment caused by the constant screams in the prison, the court considered the detention in the branch itself a form of torture.

The judges did not find a particular severity in Raslans guilt, which means that he can benefit from an early release after having spent 15 years in jail. One of the aspects they assessed in his favour was the fact that he eventually defected  albeit late and in their opinion, not for ethical, but pragmatic reasons: The court is convinced that he wanted to hold on to his position until the moment he defected. Only when war was at the gates of Damascus, when the situation became difficult and there was shooting everywhere, that is when he decided to defect.

Focus remains on the release of political prisoners

As the news about Raslans life sentence spread out of the courtroom and around the world, dozens of Syrians were celebrating the verdict outside the court building on the banks of the river Rhine. Despite temperatures below zero, visitors had been queueing up as early as 3.30 in the morning to secure one of the 37 seats in the courtroom, but not all had succeeded. The predominant feeling among the Syrian diaspora crowd was relief and happiness about the verdict, but the immediate afterthought was: This was just a very small, first step.

Yasmin Mashaan, from the Caesar Families Association demonstrated with pictures of the five brothers she had lost in Syria outside the court building, alongside other family members of the dead and disappeared. For me, justice means that my brothers dreams from the beginning of the Syrian uprising would come true: a just, democratic and equal state. She expressed her worry that this first ruling might cloud the international communitys view, making them think that justice had been done. For her, the focus remains on the release of all political prisoners in Syria and on an investigation into the whereabouts of her loved ones.

This is just the beginning of a wider struggle, said Ameenah Sawwan from The Syria Campaign, pointing out that a more comprehensive form of justice was needed. It is difficult to see justice without senior figures of the Syrian regime being held accountable. She added that it had been hard for her to hear the crimes described in the verdict, knowing that this is not history. This is happening right now in Syria, thousands of kilometres away.

That defectors like al-Gharib and Raslan are put on trial, while the Syrian regime is still in place, has been a controversial aspect of this trial. It was discussed more widely after the first verdict, because defendant al-Gharib had been of very low rank, had defected early and had shared all his knowledge with the German police. The sentiments about Raslan were a little clearer due to his stellar career in the secret services, his late defection, and his reluctance to share inside knowledge with German officials or through his statements in court.

Defence did not see individual guilt

In a press conference after the verdict, Raslans lawyer Yorck Fratzky announced that they would appeal the judgement. Even though the court came to a different conclusion, Mr. Raslan was ultimately convicted as a representative of the regime, he said. The defence did not see that individual guilt or imputation. In his final plea a week before the verdict, Fratzky had argued that most Syrian survivors and activists following the trial were not interested in Raslan personally, but cared about what was happening in Syria as a whole.

The al-Khatib trial may have built a foundation for future trials, but it has also shown the difficulties and flaws of trials under the principle of universal jurisdiction. One of them was the lack of protection for witnesses families in Syria, potentially endangered by their testimonies. Another issue that civil society organisations, journalists and academics, as well as victims representatives criticized time and again was that this historic trial was not recorded and that there was no translation for Arabic speakers in the public gallery.

As a Syrian, I felt excluded from the process, said Sawwan, disillusioned after almost two years of trial. Even though she was happy about Raslans conviction, she no longer believed that this trial was about Syrians. It is a German trial taking place in Germany. Raslan is being tried, because he is here, because he is endangering German peace, and because its a political win.

With the first trial on Syrian state torture coming to an end, the next one has already started. On Wednesday, before the higher regional court of Frankfurt, Germany, the trial of a Syrian doctor, Alaa Moussa, has started. He is accused of crimes against humanity for torturing detainees and killing one of them in the military hospitals of Homs and Damascus.
The lower house of Frances parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday that denounced genocide by China against its Uyghur population, a minority Muslim group in the Xinjiang region.

The non-binding resolution, proposed by the opposition Socialists but also backed by President Emmanuel Macrons Republic on the Move party, was adopted almost unanimously just a few days before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

It reads that the National Assembly officially recognises the violence perpetrated by the Peoples Republic of China against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide.

It also calls on the French government to undertake the necessary measures within the international community and in its foreign policy towards the Peoples Republic of China to stop Beijings actions.

China is a great power. We love Chinese people. But we refuse to submit to propaganda from a regime that is banking on our cowardice and our avarice to perpetrate a genocide in plain sight, Socialist party chief Olivier Faure said.

He recounted testimony to parliament from Uyghur survivors who told of conditions inside internment camps where men and women were unable to lie down in cells, subjected to rape and torture, as well as forced organ transplants.

China denies genocide in Xinjiang and has accused Uyghurs testifying overseas about conditions inside Xinjiang of being liars.

Beijing has turned down repeated requests from the UN High Commission for Human Rights to visit the region to investigate.

The United States has slapped sanctions on a growing list of Chinese politicians and companies over the treatment of the Uyghurs, as well as a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Frances parliament on Thursday became the latest to condemn a genocide by China against its Uyghur population, a minority Muslim group in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

Rights groups believe at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are incarcerated in Xinjiang.

China denies genocide or the existence of forced labour camps and has accused Uyghurs testifying overseas of being paid liars.

The issue has strained ties between the West and China in the run-up to next months Beijing Winter Olympics, with several countries announcing diplomatic boycotts.

 United States 

On his last full day in office in January 2021, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared that China was carrying out genocide against the Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities.

His successor Antony Blinken took the same stance at his Senate confirmation hearing.

 Canada 

Canadian MPs voted on February 22, 2021 to label Beijings treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide, calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to officially label it as such.

 Netherlands 

The Dutch parliament became the first in the European Union to accuse China of genocide three days later.

 Britain 

The UKs House of Commons adopted a non-binding motion describing Chinas treatment of Uyghurs and other minorities as genocide on April 22, 2021.

 Belgium 

Belgian parliamentarians approved in mid-June 2021 a resolution warning of serious risk of genocide against the minority.

 France 

Frances parliament on Thursday denounced a genocide by China against the Uyghur population.

The non-binding resolution also calls on the French government to undertake the necessary measures to protect the group.
Florida health care providers and insurers will use the states own out-of-network billing dispute resolution process, rather than the controversial method in the federal No Accidents Act.

When the new federal balance billing ban passed, about 30 states, including Florida, had enacted their own laws to govern balance billing. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is now determining whether these state laws can supersede the No Surprise Act when it comes to issues such as payment dispute resolution.

This week, the agency disclose its findings The Florida approach will determine payment solutions in most cases. This comes after about a dozen other states were found to have so-called state-specific laws, meaning their own laws would supersede at least some aspects of federal balance billing laws.

This is good news for health care providers in Florida, because the states dispute resolution process is much friendlier to them than the federal one, which will follow the health plans if providers and insurers cant reach an agreement. Median rate for web services.Hospital and doctor lobby groups are Sue to block that part of the law, which they say unfairly benefits insurers.

In Florida, insurance companies must reimburse out-of-network emergency service providers to the lesser of the providers fee, the usual and customary charges for similar services in the area, or a mutually agreed upon fee. That often results in higher reimbursement than federal regulations, said Jack Hodley, a research professor emeritus at Georgetown Universitys Center for Health Insurance Reform.

Usually and customary is still based on what the provider charges, he said. Its not based on the amount paid by the insurer, which is why its probably more beneficial to the provider than if they were operating under the federal system.

Whats really usual and customary is usually decided in court by a judge or jury, said Becky Greenfield, a partner at the Florida-based law firm Wolfe Pincavage. She said she believes it is preferable to the federal dispute resolution process, which relies on arbitrators and does not allow courts to review their decisions.

It may take longer, but we believe this is the fairest way to get the right answer and reimburse providers fairly, Greenfield said.

Florida offers a voluntary arbitration program for suppliers and insurance companies, but it appears to be rarely used.it evaluates 68 claims disputes in 2020. The related claims ranged from $1,256 to $669,019.

Providers and payers in Florida will use federal dispute resolution procedures to process claims for services to health maintenance organization members below a certain threshold, such as a $10,000 inpatient claim from a non-contracted provider. All states, including Florida, will use federal procedures for air ambulance services that cannot be regulated by those states.

Not all specific state laws are in the providers favor. In California and Maryland, out-of-network payments are based on a percentage of Medicare, which is generally lower than usual and customary rates, Hodley said. In Texas, the approach is similar to that in Florida in that dispute resolution relies on billing fees and usual and customary rates.

What we found in Texas is that these decisions are much higher than network rates, Hodley said. Its a different mechanism than Florida, but the end result is similar.

According to Hodleys interpretation, the laws of another seven states could constitute specific state laws, although CMS has yet to release its findings. These states are Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Ohio and Arizona.

Its important to remember that patients will have the same protections under the No Accidents Act regardless of whether dispute resolution follows state or federal law, Hodley said.

Consumers pay for in-network cost-sharing anyway, he said, but from a provider and payer perspective, it does matter.
After getting a wave of backlash from netizens, Kim Hyun Joong revealed why he unfollowed his fellow cast Song Ji Ah, a.k.a Freezia, on Instagram.

In an exclusive interview with Maeil Business Newspaper Star Today, the 27-year-old fitness model explained what truly happened after the Netflix reality dating show ended.

Moreover, he also cleared the rumors regarding cutting his connection with the beauty content creator.

Why did Kim Hyun Joong Unfollow Song Ji Ah on Instagram?

During the interview, he said that he and the 25-year-old Youtuber "remained good friends" and "kept in touch during the broadcast." In addition, he also pointed out that there is "no bad feelings" between him and Song Ji Ah.

As for the unfollowing issue, Kim Hyun Joong said that he had no clue regarding the controversy surrounding his fellow "Single's Inferno" co-star and explained that he unfollowed her because he had to refrain from detailing his "personal story" with her due to broadcasting regulations.

"People are focusing on our relationship too much. Ji-a wasn't originally following me, and I unfollowed her since I didn't want to share many stories regarding us." Seemingly, he has all the good words to describe the Youtuber turned reality star. "Even at this moment I'm talking, I'm cautious and difficult, but what I can tell you is that Jia, who I've been through, was a good friend, bright and really hard-living friend."

Song Ji Ah Accused of Using fake Branded Items + Issues Handwritten Apology on Instagram

To recall, Song Ji Ah was embroiled in a controversy after netizens pointed out in various online communities that she uses fake branded items on Netflix's "Single's Inferno." The said luxury items were the Chanel crew neck knitted top that she wore in the earlier episodes and a pink Dior bandeau with the iconic oblique pattern.

Due to criticisms, the Youtuber issued an apology and confessed that the allegations are "partly true." Over Song Ji Ah's Instagram, she posted a handwritten note, apologizing to fans, viewers and brands regarding her action.

"I apologize to everyone who has been disappointed and hurt by my actions. ... There has been a controversy over clothes that I wore on social media and 'Single's Inferno.' And it is true that some of the items were knockoffs," she wrote.

Moreover, she added that as someone who "dreams of launching her own brand" in the future, this will be a lesson to her and expresses that she will take the issue seriously and reflect on herself. Lastly, she revealed that she has "deleted all the videos that contain fake luxury goods."

After the post spread like wildfire on social media, others noticed that Kim Hyun Joong unfollowed Song Ji Ah on Instagram and believed it was connected to her issue to which he denied.

IN CASE YOU MISSED: 'Single's Inferno' Star Song Ji Ah Reportedly Offered to Appear in Upcoming Film

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
In a report released by SBS, Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin had their first media interview together as drama co-stars and shared their experiences of working for the first time in "Rookie Cops."

Disney+ Korea Gives Sneak Peek of Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin's Characters in 'Rookie Cops'

As the viewers are already hype for Kang Daniel's drama debut, the now idol-actor revealed his struggles of acting for the first time. He also highlighted his perfect chemistry with Chae Soo Bin.

On January 20, Disney+ Korea dropped a few snaps and character stills of the two lead stars on Instagram, where they displayed a playful yet innocent vibe as an onscreen couple.

Kang Daniel plays the character of an elite freshman university student, Wi Seung Hyun, while Chae Soo Bin takes the role of Go Eun Gang.

In the stills provided by Disney+, Wi Seung Hyun and Go Eun Gang were entangled in different chaotic situations, which give the viewers hints about the personalities of their upcoming characters. In the drama, Seung Hyun and Eun Gang will unravel different stages of their youth years, starting from being friends who support each other to developing special feelings for each other without even realizing it.

Previously On January 18, Disney+ dropped a new drama trailer consisting of the slow burn romance between Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin. Netizens were enticed to finally watch the drama after seeing the sweet and strong chemistry of the new drama couple.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin Give Viewers Glimpse of Their Upcoming Romance in New 'Rookie Cops' Poster and Trailer

Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin Thankful to Work Together For the First Time

Meanwhile, during the interview, the K-pop star confessed that his partner, Chae Soo Bin has lots of consideration for him which became a driving force behind their chemistry. Kang Daniel added that Soo Bin took everything well and led him on what to do in every scene.

He continued, "It was my first time acting, so I lacked a lot, but I was lucky to work with Chae Soo Bin. I am thankful for her."

Chae Soo Bin on the other hand said that Kang Daniel is always lively and energetic. Due to his positive vibe, the "I Am Not A Robot" actress was able to enjoy filming with him from start until the end.

The romance-comedy series "Rookie Cops" is scheduled to premiere on January 26 on Disney+ Korea.

Are you excited for Kang Daniel and Chae Soo Bin's first drama team up in "Rookie Cops"? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written by Shai Collins.
Broadcast media JTBC's on-going romance drama "Snowdrop" starring BLACKPINK Jisoo and Jung Hae In released a new behind-the-scenes video, featuring the chemistry-filled moments of the two actors' buzzworthy kissing scene!

'Snowdrop' Behind-the-Scenes Video Highlights Jung Hae In and Jisoo's Romantic Kissing Scene

JTBC's "Snowdrop," set in Seoul in 1987, depicts the forbidden love story between North Korean spy Im Su Ho (Jung Hae In) and a South Korean young woman Eun Young Ro (BLACKPINK Jisoo), who struggle in circumstances that test their deep feelings for one another.

The newly released behind-the-scenes video begins with a nighttime shoot outside, with BLACKPINK Jisoo and Jung Hae In.

They rehearse their scene several times, where Jisoo leads Hae In inside the dormitory. Hae In jokingly protests, pretending he won't follow Jisoo.

In between filming, Jisoo playfully practices her Taekwondo skills and makes up funny catch phrases to entertain Hae In amid the cold night.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Snowdrop' Episode 11: Jung Hae In and Jisoo Share First Sweet Kiss Amid the Chaos

Later, the two lead stars then moved inside the attic, where Jisoo brews coffee for Hae In. In the same scene, the two share their first romantic kiss in the drama.

With the help of the director, the two discuss the coffee's brewing process, where to perfectly place their mugs and even how to initiate the kiss.

Jisoo's character brews coffee to help Hae In erase all of his unwanted memories, and Hae In shows his attention to detail by mentioning how only Young Ro should take a sip because Hae In's character never wants to forget their shared kiss.

As they finally perfected the scene, Hae In makes sure to take care of Jisoo by applying a cold compress on her back, which gives fans butterflies.

Interestingly, the two actors naturally exude chemistry when filming together, which makes it understandable how big their fandom is.

BLACKPINK Jisoo Bags Best New Actress Award

Despite being a rookie in terms of acting, BLACKPINK Jisoo gave a promising performance in her first terrestrial drama "Snowdrop." She is almost at par with her fellow actors who have seven and more acting experiences.

Because of her immersive acting, she received the Best New Actress Award at the 2nd DDU Awards in Thailand.

The results were measured by a combined votation of 30% fan votes and 70% team score.

BLACKPINK Jisoo's acting is expected to improve as she takes on new projects, diversifying her career.

Moreover, "Snowdrop" episode 12 is slated to air on Saturday, January 22, on JTBC and Disney+ at 10:30 p.m. KST.

Just in case you missed it, watch the heart-fluttering behind-the-scenes of BLACKPINK Jisoo and Jung Hae In's first kiss here:

Follow KDramaStars for more KMovie, KDrama, and celebrity updates!



KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
A Florida woman has pleaded guilty in a murder-for-hire scheme using Bitcoin as payment, according to the Department of Justice.

DeAnna Marie Stinson, 50, of Tampa, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison after the plea to charges of soliciting a crime of violence and murder-for-hire, according to United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg.

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A sentencing date has not been set.

Charges were brought in September 2021 after FBI agents said Stinson, an accountant, used the dark web in June to try to hire someone to kill her exs spouse, providing the victims name, address and photo, according to the Department of Justice.

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Stinson is accused of paying $12,000 in Bitcoin between June and July. She made repeated attempts to hire someone and offered a bonus if the victim was killed by a specific date, according to the DOJ.

Stinson went as far as messaging administrators of the dark web, and when she hadnt heard from them on July 31, she asked them to reassign the job to someone who has a history of getting jobs done, prosecutors allege.

Law enforcement officials said they found financial evidence from her account. An agent, pretending to be a hitman, contacted her.

In a call she didnt know was being recorded, Stinson confirmed she wanted the victim killed and agreed to pay for the hit in Bitcoin so it couldnt be traced, according to authorities.

She allegedly paid the agent $350 in Bitcoin on Sept. 13 so that the undercover agent posing as a hitman could buy a gun to commit the murder.
The Biden administration will be in court defending the use of a controversial Trump-era policy that's resulted in more than 1 million expulsions of migrants arrested at the US-Mexico border, pictured here, on June 21, 2021 in La Joya, Texas.
More than two years after the killing of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors, Rashaun Weaver, who was 14 when Majors was killed, and pleaded guilty in her case will learn his fate on January 19.
This is part of letter, said to have been signed by many employees of Central Okanagan Public Schools, that was sent this week to Kelowna-area school trustees.
Police ID those who died

KENOSHA NEWS STAFF

The Kenosha Police Department has released the names of the three residents who died in the Saxony Manor apartment complex fire on Monday night.

The deceased are Jeanine Black, age 68; Paul Neil, 72; and Diane Wood, 80.

Authorities have said the blaze claimed the lives of two of the residents, while the third died as a result of a medical-related cause.

Kenosha Police Lt. Joseph Nosalik said detectives with specialized training in fire investigations examined the incident at 1870 22nd Ave. and neither crime or foul play are suspected.

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ATLANTA  The Georgia prosecutor looking into possible attempts to interfere in the 2020 general election by former President Donald Trump and others has asked for a special grand jury to aid the investigation.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury. She wrote in the letter that her office has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgias administration of elections in 2020, including the States election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.

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Willis has declined to speak about the specifics of her investigation, but in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month she confirmed that its scope includes  but is not limited to  a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.

A Trump spokesman has previously dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt. Graham has also denied any wrongdoing.

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Willis office has tried to interview multiple witnesses and gather evidence, but some witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate without a subpoena, she wrote in the letter to Brasher. For example, Willis wrote in the letter that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom she calls an essential witness, has indicated that he will not participate in an interview or otherwise offer evidence until he is presented with a subpoena by my office. A special grand jury would have the power to subpoena witnesses.

Breaking News As it happens Be the first to know with email alerts on important breaking stories from the Orlando Sentinel newsroom. >

Raffenspergers office did not immediately respond to an email Thursday asking whether he would decline to participate without a subpoena.

Special grand juries, which are not used often in Georgia, can help in the investigation of complex matters. They do not have the power to return an indictment but can make recommendations to prosecutors on criminal prosecutions.

Willis said the special grand jury is needed because it can serve a term longer than a normal grand jury term. It would also be able to focus on this investigation alone, allowing it to focus on the complex facts and circumstances. And having a special grand jury would mean that the regular seated grand jury wouldnt have to deal with this investigation in addition to their regular duties, Willis wrote.

She also asked that a superior court judge be appointed to assist and supervise the special grand jury in its investigation.

Willis, who took office in January 2021, sent letters to top elected officials in Georgia in February instructing them to preserve any records related to the general election, particularly any evidence of attempts to influence election officials. The probe includes potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the elections administration, the letters said.

Willis, a longtime prosecutor, has repeatedly said that shes aware of the intense public interest in her investigation, but shes said she wont be rushed. She told the AP that a decision on whether to seek charges in the case could come in the first half of this year.

In her letter to Brasher, Willis said her office has learned that people who may have tried to influence Georgias election have had contact with the secretary of state, the state attorney general and the U.S. attorneys office in Atlanta. That means her office is the only one with the authority to investigate these matters that is not also a potential witness.
Sen. Jimmy Higdon introduced a measure that would have misdemeanors removed from the record five years after the crime.
A lawsuit filed by Franklin County residents and the Kentucky Democratic Party was filed Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the General Assembly's redistricting plan.
President Joe Biden is right in ruling out unilateral military action in Ukraine. His choice of sanctions rather than war, however preferable, is less promising than working toward a complete de-escalation of the new Cold War. Biden would do well in negotiations to adopt the attitude that President John F. Kennedy articulated in perhaps the most profound speech of his life.

The potential threat of war over the arms buildup in Ukraine presents the danger of a U.S. involvement in war with Russia; it should end in a resolve to work for peace as diligently  even more diligently, in light of all the death and destruction from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Jerome Donnelly served three terms on the Winter Park City Commission and is a retired UCF English professor.

Kennedy chose this direction after being goaded toward and coming very close to war early in his presidency. He had also reconsidered the wisdom of sending military advisers to Vietnam and planned to end the U.S. military presence there in 1964.

He had realized, having stepped back from the precipice of a nuclear war over Cuba, that such a course could only end in a total disaster for all. In a 1963 commencement speech delivered at the American University in Washington, he presented a new stance toward Russia and the Cold War.

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After some preliminary remarks, Kennedy turned to what then, and perhaps even now, is a controversial and even dangerous idea to support  the most important topic on earth: peace, adding, a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth too rarely perceived.

In spite of the anti-communist hysteria that gripped so much of the country, Kennedy courageously chose to counter the bellicose mood of the time.

He spoke some of what should be his most memorable words, though unheeded by subsequent presidents: What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on Earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and build a better life for their children. Not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women  not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

I realize, he said, that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war  and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

Calling for a practical ... attainable peace, he enjoined Americans, So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable.

The entrenched Washington establishment, the CIA and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had called for attacking Cuba. One top military official wanted nuclear war with Russia. An exasperated Kennedy remarked to an aide after a meeting with them, These people are crazy.

Biden faces the same warmongering; for example, Mississippis Sen. Roger Wicker has advocated the same view regarding Ukraine: I would not rule out American troops on the ground. We dont rule out first-use nuclear action.

Biden would do well to bring Kennedys peace stance to talks with Putins Russia, and maybe even invite Russia to join NATO, just as Putin once suggested.

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Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiated their way past this dangerous confrontation that might have resulted in the end of world civilizations. Yet, here we are, reading or viewing the latest news about the possibility of a war between superpowers. And, then as now, an attitude of get tough with Russia can easily intimidate peace advocates.

Another president might have followed the generals bad advice, but Kennedy had the courage to uphold peace and negotiate a Test Ban Treaty with Khrushchev later that year. Biden should take his cue from Kennedy and become our next peace president.

Jerome Donnelly is a retired UCF professor and a former Winter Park City Commissioner.
Ketchikan, AK (99901)

Today

Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low around 40F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low around 40F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
I have been writing of late about recent developments in the opioid saga. My first piece talked about a fresh decision in Californias seven-year-old The People vs. opioid pharma case. The next one focused on how the middle-man, distributors, contributed to the epidemics picture.

Now, I wanted to write an overarching piece hitting some astounding highlights that summarize the opioid crisis through its decades-long lifespan. It just so happens that some of these highlights involve numbers and dollar signs.

FDA approval: 1996

In 1996, FDA director Curtis Wright led the approval of Oxycontin for pain, including moderate pain and non-cancer pain. The FDA allowed the Oxycontin label to say Oxycontin was believed to reduce the drugs abuse liability. The FDA allowed the manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, to include a misleading chart that made it appear Oxycontin was less addictive than it was. The next year, the manufacturer hired Curtis Wright for $400,000 a year.

Number of prescriptions anticipated: In 1996, Richard Sackler of Purdue heralded oxycontins launch by saying there would be a blizzard of prescriptions for it that would bury the competition. A blizzard might not be an exact number, but the thing thats not fuzzy about that is that the company expected the sales number to be high.

Number of deaths from prescription drug overdoses in 2000: 3,785

Fines: In 2007, Purdue Pharma pled guilty to a felony of misbranding Oxycontin. The company paid $634.5 million in fines for the felony. This included the tenets that they falsely represented its risk of addiction & abuse potential and used these distortions in their marketing.

Number of Purdue Pharma executives facing felony charges in 2007: 3

Three company executives faced potential felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States for continuing to market oxycontin as less prone to abuse and less addictive in the face of knowledge otherwise. The charges ended with a settlement. The execs pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, paid fines, and performed community service.

Matthew Murphy, a former DEA official, remembered a meeting with the president of a drug company who put his hands up and said, You got us. What can we do to make this right?' Murphy had heard the same thing from another kind of drug dealers in his work with the DEA. But, he said, the heroin and cocaine traffickers didnt wear class rings on their fingers from prestigious universities.

Number of deaths from opioid drug overdoses according to the CDC in 2007: 10,000+

Other fines: Over a ten-year span, a total of 14 drug firms accumulated $425 million in fines.

For example, some of them (e.g., one for $32 million in 2008) involved filling blatantly suspicious orders from online drugstores. A DEA investigator called this the cost of doing business for the profitable drug firms.

Lobbying costs: The drug industry spent $102 million lobbying Congress between 2014-2016. Over a quarter of a million dollars went to just two U.S. Congressmen (one Senator and one U.S. Representative) who aided and sponsored the bill that weakened the DEAs power over the opioid drug industry (The bill that became the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act.)

Number of no votes in Congress (includes U.S. House and Senate) on this bill that weakened the DEA: Zero. The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

Number of opioid overdose deaths in 2016: 42,000+

The number of DEA officials as of 2017 that left the DEA to go to work for the addictive pain drug industry: 42

These included lawyers and diversion officials. Two U.S. deputy attorney generals joined the drug industrys ranks. Most of these former DEA employees went to work for the pharmaceutical industry and their related law firms within weeks of leaving the DEA.

These former DEA officials knew all the weak spots of the DEA. This helped the industry time after time. Jonathon Novak, a former DEA lawyer, summed up the milieu of the DEA in the face of the opioid biz hiring machine. He said sometimes some of his DEA colleagues appeared more concerned with pleasing the opioid industry than in doing their DEA jobs. He explained they seemed to focus on campaigning for a career for themselves with these companies.

He said, It was not just one person who left the office; everyone started to leave. Thats your payout. You do your time, and more and more people were auditioning for the industry. It stopped us from doing our jobs.

Cost to society: According to the CDC, during the year 2017, the cost of the opioid epidemic to U.S. society equaled $1,021 billion dollars.

That is over a trillion dollars, a.k.a., 12 zeros. On top of that, the DEA has been deluged with excessive administrative costs (i.e., taxpayer dollars) over the years due to higher and higher restrictions placed on the DEA when trying to sanction drug companies.

Number of opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2018: 47,000+

A founding familys worth: As of May of 2021, the Sackler family was still worth over $10 billion.

In August 2021, under oath, Richard Sackler denied that his company or family was in any way responsible for the epidemic. His son said the family would not agree to a bankruptcy settlement without guaranteed immunity. This is so even though the Sacklers Purdue Pharma company pled guilty multiple times to federal crimes in regards to opioids. The companys bankruptcy money, still up in the air, is largely slated for use to abate the crisis and aid the affected communities.

The number of high-profile philanthropies that told the family keep your name and your money to yourself: More than a handful to date

Londons National Portrait Gallery & Tate Museums, The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Louvre, Tufts University, South London Gallery.

Deaths due to opioid overdose: 500,000 between 1999-2019 according to the CDC. All the money in the world cant repeal that number.

Rebecca Thaxton is a family physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Spoken word performer Gil Scott-Heron famously said: Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. This truism came to mind recently as I was thinking about the conundrum Democrats face on voting rights.

Two key Democratic holdouts in the Senate  Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona  are the focus of the national conversation on the stalled voting rights legislation, but there is something other Democrats can do without them to remove barriers to voting: treat election day as a holiday. If many employers shut their doors, many employees could make it to the voting booth.

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LZ Granderson is an op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times. - Original Source: Los Angeles Times (Courtesy photo)

Right now there are 14 states where Democrats control the legislature and governorship. Yet of those 14, only three have made election day a state holiday: Hawaii, Illinois and New York. Thats right, not even California, where Democrats have held the legislature and the governorship since 2011, has made election day a state holiday.

Its an unexpected wrinkle in the conversation when you consider that some red-leaning states, including Louisiana and West Virginia, have election day holidays. Blue states have often been willing to get ahead of the federal government  on issues like the legalization of marijuana, marriage equality and recognizing a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. But most arent making election day a priority.

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There seems to be a disconnect. Nationally, Democrats say voting access is important. In the states, Democrats mostly arent making it happen. Perhaps they are comfortable with mail-in or early voting options, as some states have allowed especially during the pandemic. But still thats not a holiday.

By comparison, the policies of state Republicans reflect national rhetoric  whether its reproductive rights, gun ownership or critical race theory, theres not a whole lot of daylight between the national party and the state Republican parties. So while Senate Democrats weigh addressing the filibuster, I wonder what Democrats in Oregon and Washington are waiting on. Especially given that 65% of Americans support making election day a national holiday and 43% of voters already live in one of the 19 states with some form of voting holiday.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

If I had my way, and I think it is really important, every election day would be a day off, President Biden said last June.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United States ranks 26th out of 32 nations for voter turnout. Not exactly a good look for the self-proclaimed greatest democracy on Earth.

But beyond that, there is another practical reason state Democrats should be flexing their muscles: A federal holiday may not cover everyone who wants to vote. Federal holidays do not require private employers to give employees a paid day off. So low-income workers, those who cant afford to miss a payday, wouldnt necessarily benefit from an election holiday. Not to mention our tendency to turn every holiday into a reason to go shopping. Who do you think would be working in the stores then?

However, while a blanket piece of legislation from the feds might not protect low-income workers, a state law could have more flexibility. For example, in Arizona the state law created two three-hour blocks to allow people to vote during normal work hours. So if someone normally works before 9 a.m., they can show up at 9 on election day. Whats stopping Democrats from finding more creative ways to create a holiday in as many states as possible that accommodates the fiscal concerns of employers while still expanding the window for people to vote?

If the goal is to reflect the importance of voting, even a symbolic gesture of trying to create a holiday is more on message with the White House than simply waving an angry finger at two U.S. senators who have blocked voting rights legislation. Take the battle to the states. Thats one page Democrats need to tear from the Republican handbook.

The left has been so focused on national elections it didnt notice it was being outmaneuvered on the state level, until Democrats were gerrymandered out of power. Republicans did that by enacting policies promoted by national figures in their party. There is nothing stopping governors and legislatures from making election day a state holiday. It wont pay to wait for federal action.

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LZ Granderson is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
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Florida has been forced to declare states of emergency because of toxic green algae blooms. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Florida is poised to spend $2.2 billion on the environment next year.

This state and nation are already spending $23 billion cleaning up the Everglades.

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If you could solve problems simply by throwing money at them, we would be fine. Unfortunately, thats not how it works.

A much better way  cheaper and more effective  is to stop people from damaging our natural resources in the first place. And on that front, Florida is pretty pathetic.

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Environmental enforcement is a fraction of what it was two decades ago. Were talking less than half the number of state-initiated crackdowns.

And heres a starker fact: Floridas Environmental Regulation Commission hasnt met a single time in the past five years.

You tell me how much regulating of the environment you think this group is doing.

The commission hasnt met since Gov. Ron DeSantis took office, nor for almost all Rick Scotts final two years in office. Not since February of 2017.

Bonnie Malloy, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, called the group of gubernatorial appointees a shell commission that has been gutted over time and is underutilized.

Shes right. This group isnt even pretending to care  even as the state has made one nasty environmental headline after another about toxic algae, radioactive sinkholes, dying manatees and polluted waterways.

Last year, DeSantis made a show of appointing the states chief science officer, Tom Frazer, to the commission. A news release from the University of South Florida, where Fraser works, talked about all the important things Fraser could do with the commission to protect Floridians, tackling pollution and setting air and water quality standards.

The board obviously hasnt tackled any of those issues, since it hasnt even met. Taxpayers will spend money cleaning up the messes they werent watching.

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Admittedly the commissions authority is pretty nebulous. State statutes say it should exist. But they dont speak to how much power it should have. That should change. Legislators should give the environmental commission as much authority over environmental matters as the State Board of Education has over educational ones. They should also insist the board is stocked with environmental watchdogs instead of representatives from the agricultural and development communities.

We should also beef up enforcement efforts. Right now, Florida often looks the other way.

While Floridas environmental regulators opened nearly 1,600 enforcement cases in 2007, they launched just 742 last year, according to the watchdogs with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Thats less than half.

So we ignore problems, and then spend big to clean them up. Would you run your own life like that?

It would be like budgeting $5,000 for repairs to your cars engine because you knew you werent going to spend $500 to keep it in good shape to begin with. Its stupid math.

Whats more, Florida politicians keep granting permission for even more destruction. One bill currently advancing in the GOP-controlled Legislature would allow further destruction of seagrass. You know how this story ends  with taxpayers being asked to restore grass we let people destroy. More stupid math.

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Floridas neglect for its natural resources certainly predates this governor and Legislature. In fact, it is sadly engrained in the Sunshine States history.

During most of the states boom years during the 20th century, the philosophy was basically pave first and deal with the consequences later. Finally in the 1970s, politicians and business leaders realized that if they kept polluting and chopping down everything, they wouldnt have much left to promote. So conservation efforts were beefed up and enforced by everyone from Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles to Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist.

But then came Rick Scott, who turned neglect of the environment into an all-out assault.

During Scotts eight years, the state shut down water-quality monitoring stations, slashed staff at the agencies that check for pollution, cut back on land-preservation programs, abolished Floridas growth-planning agency and curbed enforcement actions that Scott viewed as unfriendly to business.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

DeSantis vowed to be something different, a Teddy Roosevelt-styled conservationist  a vow that earned him fawning press early in his tenure.

But Earthjustices Malloy said: Its all headlines. Theres no actual action.

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Thats certainly the case for the environmental commission which DeSantis appointees have never once convened. If this administration was serious about wanting to do something about toxic algae for example, they would be serious about having this board meet, Malloy said.

The scientists at PEER credit the DeSantis administration with beefing up enforcement from the nearly non-existent days of Rick Scott  from 371 cases during Scotts final year to 742 cases last year. But thats still a shell of what it was under Charlie Crist, when the state launched 1,587 cases.

In PEERs most recent annual report, the group concluded Floridas Department of Environmental Protection continues to be an agency that essentially exists to please industry, while leaving Floridas residents and tourists to deal with the decaying environment that is left behind.

Thats the problem. Because when were left cleaning up messes, taxpayers spend way more than they ever would if the state had just prevented the messes in the first place.

smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis completed her final round of chemotherapy Wednesday in her fight against breast cancer, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

She ran that gauntlet, DeSantis said at an event Thursday in Bowling Green, about 60 miles southeast of Tampa, announcing a new workforce funding program.  ... Shes doing well, and we look forward to continue to have good news over the ensuing weeks and months.

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Its not the most fun thing to see someone go through, DeSantis said. But at the end of the day, shes fought really hard. We think shes responded very well. I mean, shes still got more stuff to do. But thats a big milestone because its nasty stuff when theyre doing that.

The first ladys breast cancer diagnosis was announced by the governors office in October. DeSantis said earlier this month he expected her to be cancer-free sometime this year.

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Since then, Casey DeSantis, 41, has had a reduced public presence but has still appeared at several events, including her husbands State of the State address last week at the state Capitol.

Later in the day, the first lady posted her own update on Twitter.

Thank you for being by my side from the beginning, but especially yesterday as we celebrated my FINAL Chemo Treatment together. Im grateful, very humbled and blessed, she tweeted.

The governor took no questions at the news conference in the small Hardee County town.
Jasper, TX (75951)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
TALLAHASSEE  Amid a national worker shortage, state agencies are struggling to fill vacant positions and retain employees, including those who care for some of Floridas most vulnerable citizens.

Many employees are leaving state government jobs because theyre overworked and underpaid, according to a recent presentation to a Senate committee.

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A flood of better-paying positions in the private sector that have opened up following widespread shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic has compounded hiring problems, officials from several state agencies told the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday.

Applicants responding to state-government job advertisements dropped by nearly 35% over the past three years, while the number of job postings increased by 7%, Department of Management Services Secretary J. Todd Inman said.

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The state is receiving 11.6 applications on average for each job posting, compared with an average of 37 applications per advertisement in September 2020, Inman said.

Meanwhile, searches for employees continue to skyrocket, with advertisements for state jobs jumping by more than 62% over the past six months, Inman said.

The secretary said his agency, which handles many human-resources issues for the state, is among the departments scrambling to fill vacant posts.

I know we are trying everything we can. ... We are recruiting actively on LinkedIn. Were trying to make referrals within our own people and agencies. But were trying to use every tool in our toolbox, he told the panel.

Florida has the countrys leanest state employee workforce, with a ratio of 85 full-time employees for every 10,000 residents

Among the agencies being hit hardest are those that care for the states most-dangerous or vulnerable people.

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities has vacancy rates between 20% and 46% at its four facilities in North Florida, Rose Salinas, the agencys deputy director for budget and planning, told the Senate panel.

The agency has been forced to sign contracts with private companies as it struggles to hire and retain direct-care workers, Salinas said. Wages are the main problem, but job retention and recruitment have become even more challenging as demands on existing employees balloon.

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As an example, Salinas said that, before the pandemic, the agencys Sunland Center in Marianna had 15 vacant positions. As of Friday, the facility had 131 vacancies, she said.

Direct-care employees working for the state make about $14 per hour, but the agency is paying between $47 and $67 an hour to private contractors to fill vacant slots, Salinas said.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

Were offering the job for $14 an hour and yet were paying potentially $65 an hour, so theyre probably making $40, $45 an hour? committee Chairman Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, asked.

Salinas said she did not know how much the contractors are paying employees but that nurse assistants in hospitals generally earn at least $16 per hour.

The Department of Children and Families is experiencing similar challenges, agency Secretary Shevaun Harris told the Senate committee.

Front-line jobs at the agency are some of the hardest jobs in state government, she said.

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So it may not be hard to fathom why, coming out of the pandemic as most industries are having recruitment challenges, weve seen increased vacancies and turnover and a shortage of qualified or willing candidates for many of our critical class positions, Harris said.

The pandemic also has increased the workload for DCF employees, Harris explained.

As you can imagine, declining workforce numbers combined with an increase in workload only exacerbates the turnover rate. I want to assure you that enhancing recruitment and retention strategies is at the forefront of our strategic plan, she said.
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Prominent Hong Kong independence activist Edward Leung was released from jail Wednesday after serving a four year sentence for taking part in a 2016 protest.

The 30-year-old activist posted a message on his Facebook page that he was released from Shek Pik Prison before dawn and was home with his family. "After four years, I want to cherish this precious time to reunite with my family and resume a normal life with them," he wrote while also expressing his thanks to his supporters for their concern and love.

Leung first came to prominence in 2016 as the spokesman of Hong Kong Indigenous, a group that called for maintaining a distinct identity for Hong Kong and a total break from mainland China. He took part in the so-called Fishball Revolution protest against a police crackdown on unlicensed street food vendors in the city's Mong Kok district that turned violent.


Florida Sen. Travis Hutson speaks during a legislative session, Friday, April 30, 2021, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (Wilfredo Lee/AP)

TALLAHASSEE  The state Senate has moved forward with two controversial local-government measures that critics contend are tilted too far to businesses.

The Appropriations Committee voted 11-7 on Thursday to back a proposal (SB 620) that would allow businesses to file lawsuits if local ordinances cause at least a 15% loss of profits.

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And the Rules Committee voted 14-2 to approve a revised bill (SB 280) that would require municipal and county governments to craft economic impact statements for certain ordinances that could be paused by legal challenges.

Both bills are now positioned to go to the full Senate

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Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, made changes to SB 620, the more contentious of the proposals. They included limiting the liability of counties or municipalities for business damages to seven years of lost profits and removing a provision that would have allowed businesses to sue if ordinances cause at least a 15% loss of revenue instead of profits.

The measure would apply to businesses that have been operating for at least three years.

Joining Democrats in voting against the measure, Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, said the proposal could bankrupt some small cities and counties.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

This is a Luddite bill, Brandes said. This bill holds us in stasis.

Rebecca OHara, senior legislative advocate for the Florida League of Cities, said that if the bill was in place 20 years ago, local governments would have not been able to address the explosion of pill mills.

Human trafficking, internet cafes, liquor stores, puppy mills, panhandling, short term rentals, medical marijuana treatment centers, all of these things will be fair game for business-damages claims if local governments are trying to address those activities, even in circumstances where you have specifically authorized local governments to act, she said.

Hutson said local officials have the ability to factor in the economic impacts of addressing establishments that cause nuisances.

There may be times where doing something to the business is a greater public interest and its worth making that decision even if it does cost them some of their revenue dollars to make that business whole, Hutson said.

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When asked why the bill doesnt impose the restrictions on state government, Huston replied hed support such a proposal.

The bill is modeled after a longstanding state law known as the Bert J. Harris Private Property Rights Protection Act, which allows property owners to file lawsuits if government decisions have inordinately burdened property use.
TALLAHASSEE  The Florida Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved maps in the once-a-decade redistricting process, despite concerns from Democrats that a surge in Hispanic population doesnt appear to be fully represented with the changes.

A few Democrats heaped praise on the Senates proposed congressional map, which doesnt include controversial lines suggested Sunday by Gov. Ron DeSantis general counsel. The Senate and House ultimately will have to reach an agreement on congressional districts, which then would go to DeSantis for approval.

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The Senate voted 31-4 to approve its congressional plan (SB 102), which could slightly add to the Republican majority in Floridas congressional delegation. Senators also voted 34-3 in favor of new state Senate lines (SJR 100), which could put a few incumbent South Florida Democrats into the same districts.

Sen. Victor Torres, D-Kissimmee, said he expects the congressional map to be legally challenged over the failure to increase from four the number of Hispanic districts, particularly in Central Florida.

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Im not looking at myself, my district, Im looking at the broader picture as to how this state has grown with my community, my culture, Torres said.

Torres was joined in voting against the congressional map by Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, Sen. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, and Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Lighthouse Point. Torres, Farmer and Gibson voted against the new Senate lines.

In voting for the congressional map, Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat running for governor this year, said she was concerned about having enough votes to override a veto if DeSantis continues to push his plan, which would be more favorable to Republicans.

She alluded to the widespread belief that DeSantis is seeking to become the Republican candidate for president in 2024 and to the Fair Districts constitutional amendments, which voters approved in 2010 to set redistricting standards.

He drew those maps for the voters in Iowa, not for the voters in Florida, Taddeo said. Keep in mind the voters in Florida, they overwhelmingly approved the constitutional amendment to keep politics out of drawing it, and Im curious to see if he vetoes our map.

Senate Reapportionment Chairman Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, said the goal of his committee was to avoid mistakes from the last redistricting effort when the state Supreme Court tossed initial congressional and Senate maps.

Political Pulse Weekly Get latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. >

I am not saying today that this is the only map that can be drawn to be compliant, Rodrigues said during a discussion on the Senate floor. But what I am saying is that the map before us today fulfills the charge that (Senate President Wilton Simpson) delivered to the Reapportionment Committee to deliver a map designed to be compliant with our Florida Constitution, with all federal and state statutes.

So-called tier one redistricting requirements, in part, include a prohibition on drawing lines with the intent of favoring or disfavoring a political party or an incumbent. Tier two includes standards such as districts being nearly equal in population, remaining compact and, where possible, following boundaries of such things as counties and cities.

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Floridas U.S. House delegation will increase from 27 to 28 members because of population growth over the past decade. The Senates congressional map would result in an increase from 16 to 17 in the number of districts won in 2020 by former Republican President Donald Trump.

The DeSantis proposal seeks to create 18 districts that went for Trump in 2020. In part, the proposal would make vast changes to historically Black districts held by Democrats Al Lawson in North Florida and Val Demings in the Orlando area.

The House has moved slower than the Senate on new maps. It is drawing state House districts and a congressional plan.

Before Thursdays Senate floor session, a group known as the Fair Districts Coalition urged Rodrigues and House Redistricting Chairman Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, to remove the governors proposal from a redistricting website and from consideration until everyone who was involved in crafting the map is disclosed.

In this specific instance, the governors choice to insert his office into the legislative process, at a minimum, creates an appearance of partisan intent, the coalition said in a letter. And his failure to disclose the identity of every person involved in drawing the map underscores that appearance of improper intent.
JEFFERSON CITY  In his State of the State address Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Mike Parson focused on budget priorities and spending goals for the American Rescue Plan Act.

Gov. Parson's priorities and goals include Missouri's workforce and education, infrastructure, agriculture, community development, health care and public safety.

The governor recognized multiple guests in attendance Wednesday, including Fulton Middle School Principal Beth Houf, who was named the 2022 National Principal of the Year, Nichols Career Center welding student Cody Elliot and Paris' FFA chapter members.

Gov. Parson ended his address by recognizing U.S. Martine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz. Cpl. Schmitz, a Wentzville native, was killed in the August 2021 Kabul airport attack.

"He did his duty with honor and without question to protect freedom for his family, his community, his state, and his nation," Gov. Parson said.

Workforce and education

Gov. Parson said he wants to permanently establish the Missouri Fast Track program, which is currently a grant that addresses workforce needs. It helps adults pursue a certificate, degree or industry-recognized credential in an area recognized as high need.

He also proposed setting aside $31 million for colleges and universities through MoExcels and $20 million for the state's career centers.

The governor said he wants to raise starting pay for teachers to $38,000 a year and proposed fully funding the Foundation Formula, which is the state's primary method of distributing money to public schools.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade said raising pay for teachers and state employees are among her party's priorities, but also said Republicans have been hesitant on those issues in the past. Representative Quade said her party will work to keep their priorities in the budget.

"The Democrats will be fighting every step of the way to make sure those things like the pay raises get implemented."

He recommended setting aside $470 million to fund capital improvement projects at state community colleges and four-year institutions.

The governor also again, proposed a 5.5% cost of living adjustment for all state employees.

He also stressed the importance behind the state's move to end federal unemployment benefits. In his speech, he said our unemployment rate sits at 3.5 percent, and that this call was "the right thing to do."

State Representative Sara Walsh, a Republican, said she agreed with the governor's call on this.

"It's very important that we don't just continue those events into infinity and that we get back to work," Rep. Walsh said. "Employers are still looking for folks to fill jobs and there are vacancies right and left."

Infrastructure

Gov. Parson called for a major infrastructure investments, including the following:

$75 million for the Transportation Cost-Share program

$100 million for low-volume roads

$400 million for drinking water, wastewater and storm water systems

$400 million toward broadband expansion projects

Parson noted that the broadband expansion project would provide access to rural and underserved urban areas. It would be the largest broadband investment in the state's history, affecting more than 75,000 households, according to a news release.

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Agriculture

Gov. Parson said agriculture is the state's number one economic driver. He recommended expanding agriculture innovation and workforce programs with a $10 million investment.

Community Development

The governor proposed creating a statewide revitalization program so the state can make long-term investments in Missouri's communities.

By allocating $250 million, Gov. Parson said the grant program could encourage investments with local matching.

He also proposed investing $69 million toward the construction of the Rock Island Trail. It will become the largest circular rail-to-trail network in the nation, Gov. Parson said.

Health care

Gov. Parson said health care networks across the state need to be strengthened. He recommended giving $34 million to increase telehealth and telemedicine services in rural communities.

He also said the construction of a new multi-agency health lab could increase cross-collaboration.

He called for doubling the capacity of Missouri's six autism centers. He said it could help families with the diagnosis and treatment of autism, and help reduce wait times.

The governor also addressed the Missouri's status on COVID-19. He said nearly 75% of Missourians 18 and older have received a vaccine.

He also said he does not support COVID-19 mandates. Sen. Caleb Rowden, a Republican, said he agrees a mandate is not an effective way to stop the spread of Covid-19.

"You can be pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine mandate," Sen. Rowden said. "If we've learned anything about COVID-19, there's not a lot you can do to keep people from getting it."

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat, said she does not think state's response to COVID-19 has been as effective as some Republican's think. She said her children are in the Springfield School District, which does not have classes this week.

"Our school is closed because we had to stop masking because the Attorney General is suing our school," Rep. Quade said. "For the Governor to have an attitude that mission is accomplished... it's not."

Rep. Quade said she would have liked for Gov. Parson to talk about Medicaid, which he did not mention by name in his speech.

Public safety

Gov. Parson proposed upgrading the state's Peace Officer Standards and Training academies by investing $11 million and providing more scholarships. He said the investment will help recruitment and retention efforts for law enforcement officers.

He also asked the General Assembly to invest nearly $140 million to certain community health centers for capital improvements. This will help meet the increased demand for mental health and substance use disorder services, he said.

Legislative priorities

Gov. Parson asked the General Assembly to establish a Cash Operating Expense Fund, which would set aside 2.5% of general revenue to mitigate budget cuts and provide greater flexibility during emergencies.

He said it was the "responsible thing to do" in order to "achieve financial stability when the rainy days come."
KB Kookmin Bank's head branch on Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank



By Kim Bo-eun



Private companies have been on alert since the National Assembly passed a bill to introduce a system at state-run firms, via which unions will be able to be represented by a member at the board level.



The pro-labor policy has not yet been extended to the private sector, but businesses are keenly observing movements that could possibly lead to that possibility.



One such move is taking place at KB Financial Group. The financial firm's union has been suggesting for several years that the company's board make room for a union-backed member.



In its fifth year, KB's union proposed former Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) Vice President Kim Young-soo to be a member of the company's board.



The union has failed so far in getting its demand accepted, but financial firms are watching closely as this year's recommendation comes after the introduction of the union-backed board member system earlier this month.



The union held a conference in front of KB Kookmin Bank's head office on Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday, stating that the financial group needs Kim to offer expertise on overseas businesses. The union said that KB currently does not have an expert in overseas business among the outside directors on its board.



The financial firm's union is taking issue with the poor performance of the foreign banks that KB has acquired in recent years. KB Kookmin Bank acquired Indonesia's Bank Bukopin for 1 trillion won ($839 million) in 2020. But the bank's deficit stood at 118 billion won in the third quarter of last year.



The union's earlier attempts to include a union-backed member on KB's board were frustrated by opposition from the global proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Service, as well as from Korea's National Pension Service (NPS). The NPS is KB Financial's largest shareholder, holding 9.77 percent of its shares.



The pro-union policy at state-run firms will go into effect in July. They will be required to have one non-permanent director on their board who is recommended by the union.



The policy is expected to expand to state-run banks. Eximbank in September became the first lender to appoint a union-backed board member.



A KB official explained that the union's stance is based on an existing regulation, under which investors holding 0.1 percent of the financial firm's shares are able to propose figures for the board.



"This is different from a union-backed board member system," he said.



But in the case that the union's proposal is accepted, with shareholders supporting the appointment of the figure they back, it will essentially be seen as the same as introducing a union-backed board member system.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Wednesday, in this photo provided by the North's Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap



Pyongyang hints at resuming nuclear, ICBM tests



By Kang Seung-woo



North Korea is dusting off the old playbook of provocations to capture the attention of the U.S. and gain the upper hand in future talks by hinting at lifting a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, according to diplomatic observers.



Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) reported, Thursday, that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un decided to reconsider resuming "all temporarily-suspended activities" at a political bureau meeting held the previous day.



"We should make more thorough preparations for a long-term confrontation with the U.S. imperialists," it said, criticizing the U.S.' hostile policy of reaching a dangerous level.



The North Korean leader declared a halt to all nuclear and ICBM tests in April 2018, while engaging in talks with former U.S. President Donald Trump. However, the nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea have been stalled since a bilateral summit held in Hanoi, Vietnam in February 2019 ended without a deal. Instead, the regime has been committed to testing short-range missiles that Washington has played down.



"Kim voluntarily placed the moratorium as an enticement to spur progress in negotiations with the U.S. When it became clear that he would not get his way in the negotiations, Kim had alluded to the possibility of lifting the moratorium," said Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst now with the Rand Corporation.



"So it was a matter of when  not if  that the DPRK would lift its nuclear and missile moratorium," she said.



The DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.






President Moon Jae-in speaks while his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi listens during a press conference after their summit at the latter's presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday (local time). Yonhap



Seoul, Cairo to work together to export K-9 howitzers to Egyptian military



By Nam Hyun-woo



CAIRO  President Moon Jae-in and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi held a summit, Thursday (local time), and exchanged their views on future-oriented and sustainable bilateral cooperation.



The summit drew keen attention on whether the two countries would reach a deal on Korea's exports of K-9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers to Egypt. Although there was no announcement of a deal, Moon kept a positive note on K-9 exports, citing the two countries' recognition of the benefits of the pact.



Moon arrived in Cairo a day earlier, marking the first Korean presidential visit to Egypt in 16 years. The official visit was scheduled in March last year, but had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The two countries formed a comprehensive cooperative partnership when the Egyptian president visited Korea in 2016.



"Egypt and Korea have been cooperating in economy, diplomacy, culture and various other fields," Moon said during a joint press briefing after the summit at the presidential palace in Cairo. "We, the leaders of the two countries, have recognized that the two countries' comprehensive cooperative partnership has brought reciprocal benefits to both countries and agreed to strengthen sustainable and future-oriented cooperation."



Moon noted that the two countries will strengthen reciprocal economic cooperation by pursuing a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). During the summit, Korean and Egyptian trade ministers signed an MOU to conduct joint research on a trade and economic partnership, to study the feasibility of a potential FTA between the two countries.



Egypt is the first African country with which Korea is seeking to forge an FTA. Cheong Wa Dae expects the deal with Cairo to open the gateway for Korean companies to enter markets in Africa and the Middle East. Egypt also has no FTA with an Asian country.



Moon said the two countries will enhance their sustainable development partnership, which includes Korea's increased official development assistance to Egypt's infrastructure projects.





President Moon Jae-in and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi pose before their summit at the latter's presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday. Yonhap
By James M. Dorsey





Russian civilizationalism is proving handy as President Vladimir Putin seeks to expand the imaginary boundaries of his Russian World, whose frontiers are defined by Russian speakers and adherents of Russian culture rather than international law and/or ethnicity.







Putin's disruptive and expansive nationalist ideology has underpinned his aggressive approach to Ukraine since 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the stoking of insurgencies in the east of the country. It also underwrites this month's brief intervention in Kazakhstan, even if it was in contrast to Ukraine at the invitation of the Kazakh government.







Putin's nationalist push in territories that were once part of the Soviet Union may be par for the course even if it threatens to rupture relations between Russia and the West and potentially spark a war. It helps Russia compensate for the strategic depth it lost with the demise of communism in Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union.







However, equally alarmingly, Putin appears to be putting building blocks in place that would justify expanding his Russian World in one form or another beyond the boundaries of the erstwhile Soviet Union.







In doing so, he demonstrates the utility of employing plausibly deniable mercenaries not only for military and geopolitical but also ideological purposes.







Standing first in line is the Central African Republic. A resource-rich but failed state that has seen its share of genocidal violence and is situated far from even the most expansive historical borders of the Russian empire, the republic could eventually qualify to be part of the Russian world, according to Mr. Putin's linguistic and cultural criteria.







Small units of the Wagner Group, a private military company owned by one of Mr. Putin's close associates, entered the Central African Republic after French troops departed in 2016 handing over peacekeeping operations to the United Nations. Five years later, Wagner has the rights to mine the country's gold and diamond deposits.







Perhaps surprisingly, the Russian mercenary presence persuaded President Faustin-Archange Touadera that the African republic should embrace Russian culture.







As a result, university students have been obliged to follow Russian-language classes starting as undergraduates in their first year until their second year of post-graduate studies. The mandate followed the introduction of Russian in the republic's secondary school curriculum in 2019.







Touadera is expected to ask Mr. Putin for Russian-language instructors during a forthcoming visit to Moscow to assist in the rollout.







Neighboring Mali could be next in line to follow in Touadera's footsteps.







Last month, units of the Wagner Group moved into the Sahel nation at the request of a government led by army generals who have engineered two coups in nine months. The generals face African and Western sanctions that could make incorporating what bits of the country they control into the Russian world an attractive proposition.







While it is unlikely that Putin would want to formally welcome sub-Saharan and Sahel states into his Russian world, it illustrates the pitfalls of a redefinition of internationally recognized borders as civilizational and fluid rather than national, fixed, and legally enshrined.







For now, African states do not fit Putin's bill of one nation as applied to Ukraine or Belarus. However, using linguistics as a monkey wrench, he could, over time or whenever convenient, claim them as part of the Russian world based on an acquired language and cultural affinity.







Mr. Putin's definition of a Russian sphere further opens the door to a world in which the principle of might is right runs even more rampant with the removal of whatever flimsy guard rails existed.



To accommodate the notion of a Russian world, Russian leaders, going back more than a decade, have redefined Russian civilization as multi-ethnic rather than ethnically Russia.







The Central African Republic's stress on Russian-language education constitutes the first indication in more than a decade that Putin and some of his foreign allies may expand the Russian world's civilizational aspects beyond the erstwhile Soviet Union.







Some critics of Mr. Putin's concept of a Russian world note that Western wars allegedly waged out of self-defense and concern for human rights were also about power and geopolitical advantage.







For example, pundit Peter Beinart notes that NATO-led wars in Serbia, Afghanistan, and Libya "also extended American power and smashed Russian allies at the point of a gun."







The criticism doesn't weaken the legitimacy of the U.S. and Western rejection of Russian civilizationalism. However, it does undermine the United States' ability to claim the moral high ground.







It further constrains Western efforts to prevent the emergence of a world in which violation rather than the inviolability of national borders becomes the accepted norm.







If Russian interventionism aims to change borders, U.S. interventionism often sought to change regimes. That is one driver of vastly different perceptions of the U.S. role in the world, including Russian distrust of the post-Soviet NATO drive into Eastern Europe and independent former Soviet states such as Ukraine.







"People with more experience of the dark side of American power  people whose families hail from Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Haiti, or Mexico, where U.S. guns have sabotaged democracy rather than defended it  might find it easier to understand Russian suspicions. But those Americans tend not to shape U.S. policy towards places like Ukraine," Beinart said.









Dr. James M. Dorsey (

) is an award-winning journalist and scholar and a senior fellow at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute.




(The Center Square)  The Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee heard several hours of testimony Wednesday on a constitutional carry bill, but Chairwoman Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, denied amendments to be offered and closed the hearing without a vote.

Senate Bill 14 was authored by Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, with Brown and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, listed as co-authors.

Like the constitutional carry bill that just passed the House this week, House Bill 1077, it would allow citizens who are not prohibited from owning a handgun to carry one, loaded, concealed or open, on their person or in a bag or in a vehicle, without having to have a license. The handgun licensing system, which is administered by the Indiana State Police, would remain in place for those handgun owners wanting a license for reciprocity with other states or to prove theyre not prohibited from carrying a handgun.

SB 14 would only allow people 21 and over to carry a handgun, while HB 1077 applies to anyone 18 and over. In the Senate version, a person 18-20 found to be carrying a handgun would be committing a misdemeanor.

The Senate bill also contains an extensive list of those who would be considered prohibited persons and not allowed to carry a handgun, including a person who has a record of being an alcohol abuser or a drug abuser.

Hoosier Gun Rights and other gun rights groups worked with Tomes on amendments addressing these sections, but Tomes explained from the podium he was told no amendments would be allowed.

I had three amendments to help improve this bill we worked on for quite some time with LSA [the Legislative Services Agency] to get this bill in a form that it should be in, he said at the hearing, but I was informed were not going to hear any amendments today.

Giving testimony at the hearing was a man Newsweek magazine once called the guns crowds guru, economist, author and Second Amendment researcher John Lott, who came from Montana at the invitation of one of the senators to share his findings on what has happened in the other 21 states that have passed constitutional carry laws.

One thing to note with these 21 states that have constitutional carry, not one of those states has even had a hearing, let alone any vote to try to rescind the constitutional carry laws that they have, he told the committee. And thats despite the fact that youve had changes in political parties from the governor in the state or state legislature going from Democrat to Republican or reverse, and yet there still has not even been a single hearing on this.

Ohio was the most recent state to pass constitutional carry, while Kentucky passed it in 2019.

You know, if you do a news search on any of these states, including Kentucky, what youll find is that a few months after these laws get passed, it basically becomes a non-issue, said Lott.

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter testified in opposition to the bill, saying he didnt care what has happened in other states and is only concerned with Indiana, and said passing constitutional carry will add a layer of danger to what we do.

In Indiana there are now 1.2 million people who have a handgun license, Carter said  amounting to about 20% of the states adult population.

Will Fite, legislative director of Hoosier Gun Rights, says his group doesnt support the bill in its current form, as the language prohibiting handgun ownership by many categories of people is more restrictive than current law.

Fite said they would only support the bill with the amendments that were to be offered by Tomes.

Everybody was on board to try to get it fixed, he said.

He says Hoosier Gun Rights is still supporting the House bill and lobbying for it to be referred to the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law. Theyre not holding out hope for SB 14 and doubt Browns support for it.

I think her entire intent today was to give a hearing so everyone would get off her back, and then ultimately kill her own constitutional carry bill, he said.
Resolution season is fading, but its not too late to add behaviors that enhance theme park experiences throughout the year. Ive collected seven pointers to make a day go more smoothly for you and for total strangers.

And they dont have to cost a cent.

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They can be as simple as just getting out of the way, mister. But some require  I hate to admit  advance planning. The days of spontaneously popping into theme parks and seeing what unfolds also are fading, especially for vacationers. Be prepared worked for the scouts for decades, and its sound theme parks advice too.

You see folks enter the attractions, grab a map, spread it out and gather the family around to see whats there. You can do it that way, but it hurts your bang-for-buck score.

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Here are seven gentle suggestions for easing your theme park day, helping traffic flow and being kind to one another.

7.

Know where you are (duh)

Recently at Disneys Hollywood Studios, I heard a dad complaining that they hadnt done the Transformers ride yet. That attraction is, of course, at Universal Studios. But its easy for folks who dont follow theme park news and developments to get turned around. Thats where the dreaded advance planning comes in. Before venturing out, have everyone in your traveling party look at the lineup for the targeted theme park and list their priorities and must-do activities.

6.

Meet the app

All parks have smartphone apps to guide guests. Some of them are organized in ways not necessarily logical to everyone. So, before you go, poke around and see where show schedules, eating options, ticket info and other tidbits are tucked away.

Set up an account and attach the payment method before arriving. Its better than standing in the park and punching in credit card numbers in the glaring sun while hungry.

5.

Meal appeal

If a sit-down restaurant is preferred, making reservations as soon as possible is a good way to go. They can be weeks in advance, super-planners. (Read the fine print about cancellations.) Lunch can be a good foundation for building a plan for the day.

4.

Whats new

Theme Park Rangers Weekly The latest happenings at Disney, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld and other Central Florida attractions. >

They may look like the theme parks of yore, but there have been developments. If youre automatically resistant to (or ignorant of) things like virtual queues, digital ticketing, mobile ordering for food and merchandise or planning options, its still worth a moment to read up on how they work.

Trust me. Disney Genie, the planning service, cannot be explained in two sentences. Plus, individuals must do some math to decide if thats a worthy option for the group. The same is true for other front-of-line, express passes.

3.

Look up

Yep, we are increasingly dependent on our personal devices, and the parks have bought into that. But instead of walking through the park with heads down, digging for info, pull over to the side and be less of a hazard. The advice also applies to life at malls, public parks, the grocery parking lot and anywhere else folks are gathered and ambling.

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Also under the general heading of be aware, dont exit a store or attraction and immediately stop dead in tracks, blocking the doorway, while deciding to turn left or right. And dont sit down in the middle of the sidewalk, a weird new trend that started with kids and has moved into grown-up territory with adults who just cant go another step, apparently.

2.

Food fight

Nothing earns the Theme Park Rangers Audible Sigh than when people stand in line a long time for food, then when its their time to order, theyre not sure what they or their children want to eat. Questions are fine; finally glancing at the menu at this point is not.

1.

First and last

Even non-planners can avoid one hassle: The ticket office. Although youre likely to see dozens of park patrons lined up near the entrance to buy admission tickets, it doesnt have to be this way. This is where to draw the line on standing in line. Online purchasing alternatives from the parks are your friend.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Want more theme park news? Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters or the Theme Park Rangers podcast at orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-podcast.
Stephan Koch of Daleville sculpts an ice block into a butterfly during a 2020 First Friday event. The ice sculptures will return this year on Feb. 4 at the James Cultural Plaza as Auburn Main Street kicks off WinterFest. There will also be carriage rides on Feb. 4.
Law enforcement agencies across the state of Idaho are reporting an increase in drug and drug trafficking cases, particularly when it comes to cases involving fentanyl. Read more
FILE - This 2016 photo made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a strain of Candida auris cultured in a petri dish at a CDC laboratory. A hospital in New Orleans says, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, it has identified two patients infected with a rare, drug-resistant fungus  the first time it's been found in Louisiana. Candida auris has already been found in Washington, D.C., and at least 20 other states including Georgia, Florida and Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fungus is a harmful form of yeast that can be resistant to the most common antifungal drugs. (Shawn Lockhart/CDC via AP)
State Treasurer John Schroder prepares to address reporters, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, on the completion of the $275 million Main Street Recovery Grant Program. (Photo by Will Sentell, The Advocate)
Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Mauritian health authorities said on Thursday that 88 new positive cases of COVID-19 were registered in the last 24 hours
UPDATE JAN. 19 AT 4:09 PM

The Billings Police Department (BPD) has shared more information on a shooting involving an off-duty officer over the weekend.

According to the update, the suspect with the firearm who was later involved in a crash on Grand Ave. has been identified as a 24-year-old man from Billings.

He is expected to survive the injuries he sustained in the crash.

The off-duty officer involved in the incident has been identified as Matt Frank, a 9-year veteran of the department.

At this time Frank has been placed on administrative leave pending internal review, per standard procedure following a critical incident.

The investigation is being turned over to the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation for follow-up and further investigation.

In regards to the firearm, BPD says investigators have yet to confirm if the gun was ever fired during the incident as well as all of the circumstances surrounding the disturbance from beginning to end.

No arrests or charges have been made as of 4:00 pm Wednesday.

BILLINGS, Mont. - An off-duty Yellowstone County Deputy was injured in a shooting at the Grandstand Casino in Billings early Saturday morning.

During a press conference Saturday, Billings Police Chief, Rich St. John, said a group of off-duty officers were socializing at the casino.

Around 12:45 am, an officer with the Billings Police Department and a Yellowstone County Deputy, along with a civilian, left the casino and were talking in the parking lot.

Shortly after, a maroon Chevy Malibu with two people inside entered the parking lot, stopped near the group and exchanged words before the driver brandished a handgun.

Chief St. John says the officer and deputy reached into the car to try and get the weapon, while the civilian went to the passenger side of the car and got the second person out before trying to control the gun from the other side.

During the struggle, it was reported the driver fired one shot, and that the deputy was hit in the face with what is currently believed to be a bullet fragment.

The deputy reeled back, and believing he was shot, the officer and civilian continued to struggle with the driver for the gun.

A few seconds later, the driver accelerated the car, dragging the officer on the drivers side and the civilian who was partially in the passenger side

Both were able to free themselves before the vehicle left the parking lot.

After seeing the incident, one officer called 9-1-1 to report a deputy had been shot, and the officers inside left the building to give aid to those involved.

While aid was being rendered, the suspect came back and drove through the parking lot.

Chief St. John reported officers thought they would be fired at, and retreated back inside the casino.

As the suspect left the parking lot and onto Grand Ave., responding on-duty officers arrived.

Officers tried to stop the suspect, however, he then fled west on Grand Ave. and drove at speeds over 60 miles per hour.

The suspect eventually lost control of the vehicle at the 1200 block of Grand Ave., slid sideways, rolled and struck a light pole in front of Albertsons.

The driver suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital for care.

The handgun was also recovered from the wreckage near the suspect.

At this time, the shooting is being investigated by the Billings Police Departments Detective Divison along with the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, who will assume the lead on this case.

Chief St. John says the agencies will conduct very thorough investigations, and that when complete, all parties involved will consult with the Yellowstone County Attorneys Office for any possible charges.

The off-duty officer was uninjured, and the civilian involved suffered minor injures. No on-duty officers were injured.

Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder says he spoke with the deputy involved, and that he is doing well and is expected to return to work right away.

This is a critical incident for both of our departments, and administrative review is pending, Chief St. John said. If anything changes, media will be notified.

More details on the incident are expected to be released in the coming days.

Previous coverage:

BILLINGS, Mont. - An investigation was launched after an early morning shooting at the Grandstand Casino that left a man injured.

Officers on scene tried to apprehend a suspect who fled in a vehicle and crashed in the 1200 block of Grand Ave.

The victim, a man in his 40s, sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital.

Billings Police will be holding a press conference Saturday afternoon to release more information on this incident.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
Biden predicts Russian invasion of Ukraine, but says 'minor incursion' may prompt discussion over consequences
New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday said he was delighted to learn that a demonstrable effort to make peace in Ethiopia is finally underway, according to information relayed to him by the African Union High Representative for the Horn of Africa
The State Department reportedly told Congress that it has approved export licenses for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which will allow the countries to transfer US-origin weapons to Ukraine, and pictured, the U.S. Department of State seal, in Washington, D.C., on February 21, 2021.
The Northern New England Red Cross is installing smoke detectors this weekend. Do you have a fire evacuation plan for your home? How about when you are traveling?
Lake Geneva officials have approved to hire a company to conduct a forensic audit on the Business Improvement Districts finances from previous years, but representatives from the district are being told they will have to pay for it.

Members of the Lake Geneva City Council approved, Jan. 10, to accept a bid from Bergankdv, Ltd. of St. Cloud, Minnesota to conduct forensic audit on the Business Improvement Districts finances from 2017 to 2019, but to have the Business Improvement District pay for the audit.

The motion to accept Bergankdv Ltd.s bid and to have the Business Improvement District pay for the audit was approved by a 6-1 vote with Alderwoman Mary Jo Fesenmaier voting no.

Bergankdv Ltd.s bid was for $22,000.

Other companies that submitted a bid to conduct the audit include:

Sikich, LLP Partner, Forensic and Valuation Services of Milwaukee for $16,500.

BKD, LLP of Chicago for $60,000

Cotton & Company LLP of Alexandria, Virginia for $114,210.

Spyro Condos, president of the Business Improvement District Board, has requested that a forensic audit be conducted on the districts finances for several months.

Condos said when he became president of the board in the summer of 2020, he had inherited a $150,000 debt that had occurred during the previous three years and wants to know what happened to the misappropriated funds.

He said a forensic audit should be conducted on the Business Improvement Districts finances, but the city should pay for it since city staff makes payments on the districts behalf.

The City of Lake Geneva holds the purse strings for the Business Improvement District. We do not write any checks. We do not handle any money, Condos said. The checks and balances are with the City of Lake Geneva.

Condos said the Business Improvement District had a $85,000 surplus at the end of 2021.

We did everything prior boards did for the community, and weve done more, Condos said. So we have an extra $85,000. My question is where did all the money go all these years when there were all these shortfalls.

Fesenmaier said a forensic audit should be conducted on the Business Improvement Districts finances, but the city should pay for it. She said she recently had an auditing firm review the Business Improvement Districts finances from the past few years, and they recommended that a forensic audit be conducted.

I have an independent source thats saying there are questionable things, enough to look at it to make sure we have answers to where the money went, Fesenmaier said. We need to know why there was a shortfall, and thats what a forensic audit will do.

Alderman Ken Howell said he is in favor of an audit being conducted, but he feels the Business Improvement District should pay for it.

I feel an audit should be done, Howell said. I cant sit here and obligate the city for it at this point.

Alderman John Halverson also said he feels the audit should be paid for by the Business Improvement District.

I think the responsibility although murky is still in the BIDs hands, Halverson said. If they have $85,000, they have enough money for an audit.

The city council members also unanimously approved to issue a complaint and have the Lake Geneva Police Department investigate the Business Improvement Districts financial documents from 2017 to 2019.

Howell asked whether the city should wait until the audit is completed before issuing the complaint.

I believe its premature to do anything until we do the audit that we just approved, Howell said.

Alderwoman Cindy Flower said she does not feel there would be any problem with the police investigating the issue before an audit is completed.

I dont think it hurts to ask, Flower said. If they say they dont have the information, let them say that, too. If not, maybe they will provide some additional documentation that helps us.

Condos said he hopes the audit will help determine what happened with the Business Improvement Districts finances during the previous years.

Were not going to give up until this thing is settled, because we dont want to take the blame for whats going on, Condos said. To tell you the truth, I hope nothing is going on, but we cant answer that unless we have a forensic audit.

The Business Improvement District is a tax-supported business organization, which was established in 1991 to help improve the appearance of Downtown Lake Geneva.

Downtown property owners fund the district through property taxes. The city collects the taxes and distributes the money to the Business Improvement District.

The Business Improvement District hosts several events throughout the year including Cocoa Crawl, Wine Walk, First Fridays, Maxwell Street Days, Oktoberfest and the lighting of the citys Christmas tree.

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Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - A technical team from the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Wednesday discussed with Parliament's Roadmap Committee the technical support it may need in its work
Local government, business and educational leaders reacted to the news of Bryan Albrechts announcement Thursday that he plans to retire after serving as president and CEO of Gateway Technical College for the past 16 years. Here is a sampling of some of the comments received:

Todd Battle, President, Kenosha Area Business Alliance

Bryan has set the bar, and then consistently raised it, in terms of his leadership at Gateway, throughout the community, and around our country. He has been a phenomenal partner in so many ways. Whether putting Gateway on the map as a top tier technical college, building new facilities and programs to meet the needs of local industry, or serving on a community nonprofit board  Bryan has continually left his mark on Kenosha County and Southeastern Wisconsin. We would like to congratulate him on his impactful career and wish him well in his next chapter.

Matt Montemurro, president/CEO, of Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce

Bryan has had a tremendous impact, a tremendously positive impact on our community ... A great partner to RAMAC and the business community, a great partner to the school district ... He helped in many ways with our youth apprenticeship.

What hes been able to do on the manufacturing side, out at Gateway and the iMET center through the partnership with The REAL School, helped those learning manufacturing, not to mention the expansion thats been able to be accomplished at the iMET center under his watch. Hes been a tremendous partner to the business community.

Kenosha Unified School District Superintendent Bethany Ormseth:

Bryan Albrecht is a visionary leader whose work has transformed the partnership between K-12 and higher education in our community. Under his direction, Gateways expanded support of Kenosha Unified has afforded the children of our community a more robust educational experience. He is attuned to the community and has worked to remove barriers to college through efforts like the Gateway Promise program, which grants students the opportunity to attend college when they may not have been able to afford it otherwise. He has been an amazing community partner, stellar supporter of Kenosha Unified, and magnificent proponent of all children in our community. I wish him nothing but the best in his next chapter in life.

Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser

Bryan has done a tremendous job guiding Gateway Technical College, advocating for students and making a difference as a strong partner for all three counties. His leadership and innovation will be missed. I wish him all the best in his next adventures.

Carthage College President John Swallow

I know no educational leader who is held in higher respect than Bryan Albrecht. It has been a wonderful privilege to learn from him and to serve alongside him. I have enjoyed working with Dr. Albrecht, who received a masters degree from Carthage, to find ways for Carthage and Gateway to collaborate.

Snap-on Inc. Chairman/CEO Nick Pinchuk

For the people of Snap-on, Bryan Albrecht has been an inspiring visionary, a clear-eyed counselor, and a cherished friend. Hes one of the most influential voices in guiding the way forward for upskilling the American workforce and ensuring ongoing prosperity for our Nation. As the future unfolds, Im confident hell continue to serve as a beacon of progress for Kenosha, Wisconsin, and indeed, all of America. I cant wait to hear of his next chapter.

UW-Parkside Chancellor

Deborah Ford

I, along with our entire UW-Parkside community, congratulate Dr. Albrecht on his retirement and thank him for his continuous partnership and support throughout his tenure. Bryan was one of the first to welcome me to UW-Parkside when I became chancellor, and since the very beginning he has been a critical partner in our collaborative efforts to improve student success and enhance both our campus communities. A good example of the positive outcomes of that partnership is the new associate degree pathway between our two institutions.

Racine Unified Supt.

Eric Gallien

Under Dr. Albrechts leadership, Gateway Technical College has been a tremendous partner with RUSD. Through our collaborative work, weve been able to advance the Academies of Racine and access to post-secondary opportunities for our high school students ensuring they graduate college or career ready. Dr. Albrecht is a truly genuine collaborator who is always focused on improving opportunities for young people in Racine. I wish him a long and healthy, well-deserved retirement.

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A Dane County jury found Chandler Halderson guilty Thursday of the murder and dismemberment of his parents last summer.

After deliberating just over two hours, the jury found 23-year-old Halderson guilty of killing, cutting up and hiding the remains of Bart and Krista Halderson, as well as lying to law enforcement when he initially claimed his parents were missing after they left the Windsor house the family shared for a Fourth of July weekend trip in northern Wisconsin and never returned.

Chandler showed no apparent reaction when the verdicts were read, convicting him of two counts each of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, hiding a corpse and falsifying information about a missing person.

A first-degree intentional homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. Attorneys will be able to argue whether Chandler can ever be eligible for parole at a sentencing hearing scheduled in March.

I hope that it brings some satisfaction, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who did not prosecute the case, told reporters after the verdicts. We know that we cannot bring Bart and Krista back, but this is the first step to hopefully some finality.

After prosecutors spent a week and a half arguing the case, which has drawn national media attention, the defense rested Thursday morning without calling any witnesses or Chandler testifying.

In a closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Andrea Raymond walked jurors through events from July 1, when Chandler is said to have killed Bart, 50, and Krista, 53, through his arrest on July 8.

She reminded jurors of evidence and testimony seen throughout the trial, such as human bone fragments found in the familys fireplace, cutting tools with DNA matching Bart and Kristas, phone location data showing Chandler near where his parents remains were later found, and neighbors security cameras capturing what vehicles came and went from the house during that time.

We know that Bart and Krista went into that home and never came out, at least as whole people, Raymond said.

She compared solving a criminal case to putting together a puzzle, contending Chandler had eight days to spread pieces of that puzzle all over Wisconsin, at least southern Wisconsin.

They were normal folks just trying to live a normal life. They dont even get to be buried next to each other, Raymond said. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Im asking that you give justice to Krista and Bart Halderson and that you treat them with the dignity and respect that their own son hasnt given them.

Defense attorney Crystal Vera urged the jurors to consider what they dont know with regard to the two first-degree intentional homicide charges, but she seemingly conceded Chandler was guilty of other charges.

Do you know if it was an awful accident, do you know if it was intentional, do you know if there was someone else involved? Vera asked the jurors. You dont, and thats a problem.

She admitted Chandler is a liar and even goes to extreme lengths, if you will, to keep those lies going or to perhaps cover up those lies.

But Vera argued the prosecutions focus on Chandlers lies about attending Madison Area Technical College, working for American Family Insurance or being part of a scuba dive team for Madison police  regardless of how much of the truth was known to his parents  was more about tainting his credibility if he testified rather than a reasonable motive.

You were never told that they were going to kick him out of the house. You were never told that they were going to disown him. You were never told anything about why it matters, Vera said. If this is going to be motive, if this is the reason youre intentionally killing someone, it better matter.

In a rebuttal, Deputy District Attorney William Brown said: He had two options: Own up to his lies, stand up and finally tell the truth for once. Or like a coward, shoot your father in the back, and thats exactly what happened.

Questions remain

The Dane County Medical Examiners Office was unable to determine the precise cause of death for Krista, whose only remains found were her legs. Ozanne said Chandlers motive may never become clear.

The one thing that our traditional criminal justice system never really may get to is the why, he said. It may not. We cannot reach into somebody and figure out the why unless theyre willing to somehow give that information to us. We may never know.

Chandler reported his parents missing to the Dane County Sheriffs Office on July 7, claiming they left for a trip to the family cabin in Langlade County with an unknown couple and hadnt returned. Law enforcement quickly saw that story fall apart and arrested Chandler the following day.

In reality, prosecutors say, Chandler killed them after his father began catching on to his claims of attending MATC, and he spent the following days first trying to burn Bart and Krista in the fireplace before disposing of body parts at various locations.

Hours before Chandlers arrest, investigators discovered Barts gunshot torso in a rural Cottage Grove property. It wasnt until July 14  nearly two weeks after the murders were believed to have happened  that Kristas remains were found on state land in northwestern Dane County.

Given the scope of the investigation, which required searching multiple locations and involved several agencies, Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said it came down to time and resources to put together the case, which he called historical.

He credited the professionalism and outstanding work of the Sheriffs Office detectives, deputies and staff in the first high-profile murder of Barretts tenure.

Despite a weeklong pause in the trial because Chandler tested positive for COVID-19 in the Dane County Jail, it concluded more than a week earlier than originally scheduled.
Leah Penniman says the U.S. farming system is designed to domineer the land  and the people of color who live there.
For farmers, the biggest barrier to making their own repairs might be the digital lock that prevents access to the machines software without a code provided by the manufacturer.
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 20 (ANI): 'Bulli Bai' app case accused Niraj Bishnoi and 'Sulli Deals' app creator Omkareshwar Thakur were remanded to police custody till January 27 by a Bandra court on Thursday.

They were produced before Bandra Court by the Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police today.

Also Read | Republic Day 2022: Amar Jawan Jyoti Flame at India Gate to Be Merged with National War Memorial Flame Tomorrow.

Neeraj Bishnoi (20) was arrested last week by the Delhi Police Special Cell's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit (IFSO) team from Assam for alleged involvement in the Bulli Bai case.

Neeraj Bishnoi is a resident of the Digambar area of Assam's Jorhat. He is a B.Tech student of the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal.

Also Read | Inherited Property of Female Hindu Dying Intestate To Go Back To Source, Observes Supreme Court.

Delhi Police had said that during interrogation, Neeraj Bishnoi disclosed that the app was developed in November 2021 and updated in December 2021. He also created one more Twitter account to talk about the app.

Several complaints were received by police stations in the country regarding the listing of Muslim women for "auction" on the 'Bulli Bai' mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored.

It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year.

An engineering student from Bengaluru, a young girl from Uttarakhand, and one of her friends have also been arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case.

Earlier on January 9, the IFSO unit of Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested the mastermind of the Sulli Deals app from Indore on Sunday after receiving information about him from Bulli Bai app case mastermind Neeraj Bishnoi during the investigation, said Delhi Police DCP (IFSO), KPS Malhotra

In July 2021, the Sulli Deal app was made on the Github platform to auction Muslim women. The matter came to light when Delhi Police took suo moto cognizance of this matter.

The matter came to light when Delhi Police took suo moto cognizance of this matter. The Delhi Police were investigating the case for the last six months but the first arrest in the case came after Bulli Bai app case mastermind Niraj Bishnoi was apprehended from Assam's Jorhat.

The Delhi police, during the investigation, found out that the Bulli Bai mastermind Niraj Bishnoi and Aumkareshwar Thakur were virtually connected over the internet. "They never met in person. They were connected virtually through chat rooms," KPS Malhotra said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu, Jan 20 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday announced 64-hour-long restrictions on weekends on non-essential movement to arrest the worrying spike in coronavirus cases, officials said.

Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 5,992 fresh coronavirus cases, its biggest single-day spike in infections so far, pushing the tally to 3,78,661. Seven people also died in the past 24 hours.

Also Read | UP Election 2022: Agra Man Hasanuram Ambedkari All Set To Contest 94th Elections, Wishes To Set Record of Losing 100 Times.

Announcing the decision of the State Executive Committee (SEC), which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, the officials said there will be a complete halt on non-essential movement in the union territory every Friday from 2 pm to Monday 6 am.

An order issued by the chief secretary said pregnant women employees will be exempted from physical attendance and shall be allowed to work from home on workdays.

Also Read | Andhra Pradesh Horror: Woman Kills Husband, Carries Severed Head to Police Station in Chittoor.

As per an earlier order, the night curfew and online mode of teaching in schools and colleges will continue, it added.

"There shall be a complete restriction on non-essential movement during weekends in the entire Jammu and Kashmir," Mehta said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Panaji (Goa) [India], January 20 (ANI): Ahead of the Goa Assembly polls, Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday alleged that Congress leader P Chidambaram has been spreading misunderstanding against TMC.

Briefing media persons here, Banerjee said, "We are fighting this battle against BJP with our might. Our president Mamata Banerjee visited Goa twice and people showered immense support. There is a big difference between saying about defeating the BJP and fighting against them. But lies are being spread against us. Some of the parties are alleging that TMC is splitting anti-BJP votes"

Also Read | Republic Day 2022: Jammu and Kashmir Govt Employees Told To Attend R-Day Function As 'Official Duty'.

"Congress' Chidambaram is misleading and misguiding the people. He failed to rise above his petty political interest. If we are lying, then he can send us a notice since he is a lawyer. If we are spreading misunderstanding among people, then send notice to us. Chidambaram Ji should resign if Congress loses against BJP," he added.

Abhishek Banerjee said TMC walked an extra mile to form a unified alliance against BJP.

Also Read | Delhi: Youth Held for Committing Theft To Marry His Girlfriend on Valentines Day.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) Goa In-Charge Mahua Moitra on Friday had hit out at Congress leader P Chidambaram saying that her party made a "formal and definitive" offer to Congress in Goa to defeat BJP.

Moitra, who was responding to Chidambaram's statements about the lack of clarity about TMC's proposal said that if he is not aware of details, he should speak to his party leadership rather than making such statements.

"All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) already made formal and definitive offer to INC on Goa to defeat BJP. INC leadership asked for time to revert. This was almost two weeks ago. If Chidambaram was not aware of details, he should talk to his leadership rather than making these statements," said the TMC MP.

Earlier, the Congress senior leader had said that his party will accept the support of any party that has a common task of defeating the BJP in the upcoming Goa assembly elections.

Trinamool Congress, which is keen to leave a mark in its outing in Goa, had suggested a broad alliance but not much has moved on the proposal due to competing interests and apparent lack of faith between the opposition parties. Congress is peeved at the Trinamool Congress "poaching" its leaders.

Notably, TMC has announced only 11 candidates so far out of the 40 seats of Goa Assembly keeping room open for any possible alliance partner to be accommodated.

Goa will go to the Assembly polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place 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)
New Delhi, January 20: Use of antivirals or monoclonal antibodies is not recommended for those less than 18 years of age, irrespective of severity of Covid infection, and if steroids are used, they should be tapered over 10 to 14 days, subject to clinical improvement, the government said on Thursday. In the 'Revised Comprehensive Guidelines for Management of COVID-19 in Children and Adolescents (below 18 years)', the health ministry also said that masks are not recommended for children aged five years and below.

Those aged 6-11 years may wear it depending on the ability of the child to use a mask safely and appropriately under direct supervision of parents, it said. Those aged 12 and above should wear a mask under the same conditions as adults, the ministry said.

The guidelines were reviewed by a group of experts in view of the current surge that is mainly attributed to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is also a variant of concern. The available data from other countries suggests that the disease caused by the Omicron variant is less severe. However, there is a need for a careful watch, as the current wave evolves, the ministry said. It categorised cases as asymptomatic, mild, moderate and severe. COVID-19 Vaccination for Children Below 15 Years to Begin After Scientific Evidence, Says Health Ministry.

According to the guidelines, COVID-19 is a viral infection and antimicrobials have no role in the management of uncomplicated COVID-19 infection. In asymptomatic and mild cases, antimicrobials are not recommended for therapy or prophylaxis, the ministry said.

In moderate and severe cases, antimicrobials should not be prescribed unless there is clinical suspicion of a superadded infection, the ministry said. In case of septic shock, empirical antimicrobials, according to body weight, are frequently added to cover all likely pathogens based on clinical judgement, patient host factors, local epidemiology and antimicrobial policy of the hospital, it said.

The guidelines stated that steroids are not indicated and are harmful in asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19. They are indicated only in hospitalised severe and critically ill COVID-19 cases under strict supervision, the guidelines said. Steroids should be used at the right time, in right dose and for the right duration, they stated.

Corticosteroids may be used in rapidly progressive moderate and all severe cases, such as dexamethasone 0.15 mg/kg, maximum dose six mg once a day or methylprednisolone 0.75 mg/kg, maximum dose 30 mg once a day, the guidelines stated. They can be continued for five to seven days and tapered up to 10-14 days, depending on clinical assessment on daily basis, they stated.

Steroids should be avoided in the first three to five days since onset of symptoms as it prolongs viral shedding, the guidelines stated.

Anticoagulants are not indicated routinely and all hospitalized children should be evaluated for risk of developing thrombosis and monitored for development of thrombosis, the ministry said. As far post-COVID-19 care is concerned, the guidelines stated that children with asymptomatic infection or mild disease should receive routine childcare, appropriate vaccination (if eligible), nutrition counselling, and psychological support on follow up. COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dose Provides Good Antibody Protection Against Omicron Variant: Lancet.

In addition to the above, parents or caregivers of children, who suffered moderate to severe Covid, during discharge from hospital should be counselled regarding monitoring for persistence or worsening respiratory difficulty and explained the indications for bringing the child back to the facility, the guidelines stated.

Children who develop any organ specific dysfunction during hospital stay or subsequently, should receive appropriate care, they said. These guidelines are dynamic, and will be reviewed and updated, on availability of new evidence, the ministry stated.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Satara, January 20: A man and his wife have been arrested in Palsavade village of Maharashtra's Satara for allegedly thrashing a pregnant forest ranger over a forest labourer transfer dispute. The man, an ex-village headman, is a member of the local forest committee.

The victim Sindhu Sanap, a forest guard in Khadgaon forest, alleged that since she joined duty, the accused would threaten her and demand money, but she would refuse. "While returning from work yesterday (January 19), they assaulted me, beat my husband with slippers," she added.

Sanap is three months pregnant. Following a complaint lodged in the Satara Taluka Police Station against the accused, identified as village headman Ramchandra Jankar and his wife Pratibha Jankar, the two were arrested by the police. Maharashtra Shocker: 24-Year-Old Woman Kills Her Minor Son and Daughter in Pune; Arrested.

A case has been registered under sections 352, 353, 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused. Further investigation is underway.Maharashtra State Women Commission has also taken cognizance of the incident and has taken a detailed report from Satara Superintendent of Police (SP), further instructing him for strict action against the accused.

Satara SP Ajay Kumar Bansal said, "We are checking if any harm was caused to the foetus. If it is found to be the case, a relevant section will be added. Prima facie no damage found."

Meanwhile, condemning the incident, Maharashtra Tourism and Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray tweeted, "the accused has been arrested this morning and will face the law at its strictest. Such acts will not be tolerated."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhubaneswar, Jan 20 (PTI) Family members of Neeraj Kumar Singh, arrested in connection with the Bulli Bai app case, claimed on Thursday that the 28-year-old MBA graduate has been taken to Mumbai to aid the investigation.

Also Read | Haryana, Himachal Pradesh to Sign MoU on Plan to Revive Saraswati River.

The Bulli Bai app targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for "auction".

Also Read | Darjeeling Zoo Restocks Two Pairs of Endangered Red Pandas in Singalila National Park (See Pics).

According to an official in Mumbai, Singh was allegedly involved in the planning of the app.

The cyber cell of the Mumbai Police, during the day, arrested Singh from Brajraj Nagar of Jharsuguda and took him in transit remand after producing him in a local court, district SP Bikas Chandra Dash told reporters.

According to Singh's advocate P Rammohan Rao, the police suspect that Singh might be involved in the planning process and launching of the app.

Mukesh Kumar Singh, the brother of the accused, however, claimed that he came to know from the Mumbai Police that the 28-year-old has been taken to the Maharashtra capital to aid the investigation into the case.

"The Mumbai Police told us that Neeraj was a subscriber on the Bulli Bai app. They said that he wasn't involved in the launching of the app. The police came here to take him to Mumbai so that he could help with the investigation," Mukesh told a local TV channel.

Earlier, the Mumbai Police had arrested four others in the case.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
The East Carolinian has created a forum that centers around topics within the community where readers can express their experiences and concerns. With Valentine's Day coming up, do you think the ECU community and the City of Greenville is doing all they can to make people feel loved and supported?

Survey
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI): Police apprehended three Children in Conflict With Law (CCLs) for allegedly murdering a person in the Jahangirpuri region of the national capital.

As per information provided by the police, the accused were inspired by gangster movies like 'Pushpa' and 'Bhaukaal' and took inspiration from the films in committing the murder. They also recorded the entire incident on a mobile phone in order to upload it on social media and become famous.

Also Read | UP Election 2022: Agra Man Hasanuram Ambedkari All Set To Contest 94th Elections, Wishes To Set Record of Losing 100 Times.

The police said that on reaching K Block, Jahangirpuri, one of the accused started shooting a video while the other two CCLs obstructed the path of the victim, who was beaten by the trio while the incident was being shot on mobile.

The victim was taken to BJRM Hospital, Jahangirpuri, where he died due to stab injuries.

Also Read | Andhra Pradesh Horror: Woman Kills Husband, Carries Severed Head to Police Station in Chittoor.

On the basis of CCTV footage and local intelligence, police started searching for the CCLs, who were constantly changing their location in order to avoid arrest. However, they were arrested on Thursday.

The mobile on which the incident was shot and the dagger used in the murder have been recovered by the police. Swift action by the police prevented those errant children from uploading the videos on social media. (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 20 (ANI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Mainpuri's Karhal constituency, informed sources on Thursday.

However, the SP chief on Wednesday said that he will contest Assembly elections after taking permission from Azamgarh residents. Yadav is currently a Lok Sabha MP from Azamgarh.

Also Read | Mumbai Shocker: Man Uploads Nude Video of Wife on Social Media; Booked.

Elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10.

The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)

Also Read | Vivo Y75 5G India Launch & Key Specifications Leaked Online: Report.

(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 20 (PTI) Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will on Friday release the party's youth manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Both leaders will address a special press conference at the party's headquarters.

Also Read | Darjeeling Zoo Restocks Two Pairs of Endangered Red Pandas in Singalila National Park (See Pics).

This is one of the rare occasions when both leaders of the Congress Party will be jointly addressing the media.

The party is going to the polls with youth and women in focus and has announced that it will reserve 40 per cent of tickets for women in Uttar Pradesh.

Also Read | Breathtaking! Snow Leopard, 2 Cubs Caught on Camera in High Mountains of Himachal Pradeshs Kaza (See Pic).

(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 20 (PTI) Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp on Thursday said it has started accepting online bookings for the second batch of its latest motorcycle XPulse 200 4 Valve.

The company has started accepting bookings for the second batch after the first lot was completely sold out.

Also Read | Vivo Y75 5G India Launch & Key Specifications Leaked Online: Report.

Priced at Rs 1,30,150 (ex-showroom  Delhi), the motorcycle can be booked on the company's online sales platform -- eSHOP -- by making an advance payment of Rs 10,000, Hero MotoCorp said in a statement.

"The first batch being instantly sold out demonstrates the growth of premium-motorcycle demand as well as customer confidence in the Hero brand. With the start of another batch of online bookings, we expect to meet the ever-increasing demand for XPulse 200 4 Valve in the country," Naveen Chauhan, Head  Sales and Aftersales, Hero MotoCorp, said.

Also Read | Assembly Elections 2022: AAP, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena Fared Poorly in Previous Goa Polls, Says Election Data.

The XPulse 200 range comes equipped with a BS-VI 200cc oil cooled engine, which produces a power output of 19.1 PS.

(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 20 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Thursday virtually inaugurated a social housing units project and participated in the foundation stone laying ceremony of a civil service college and a solar project being developed in Mauritius with India's development support.

PM Modi and PM Jugnauth took part in a virtual foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and an 8 MW Solar PV Farm, undertaken as part of India's development support.

Also Read | US Researchers Test Pig-to-Human Kidney Transplant in Donated Body.

The projects have been implemented as part of the vibrant development partnership between India and Mauritius, said Prime Minister's Office in a press release on Thursday.

The event was held via video conference and in Mauritius, it was held in the Mauritian PMO premises in presence of dignitaries including Cabinet Ministers and senior officials of the Government of Mauritius.

Also Read | Pakistan Blast: IED Explosion in Busy Lahore Market Leaves Two Dead, Several Injured; Baloch National Army Claim Responsibility.

Speaking at the occasion, Prime Minister Modi highlighted the vision of powering India's development assistance defined by the needs and priorities of its friends and respectful of sovereignty, and at the same time enhancing the well-being of the people and bolstering the capacities of the country.

PM Modi acknowledged the importance of the Civil Service College project in nation-building and offered to share the learnings of Mission Karmayogi. Prime Minister recalled the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative that he put forth at the First Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2018 and said that the 8 MW Solar PV Farm project will help mitigate the climate challenges that Mauritius faces through avoidance of 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth thanked India for wide-ranging assistance including financial assistance to Mauritius. He noted that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi the relations between India and Mauritius have attained newer heights.

The Government of India in May 2016 had extended a grant of USD 353 mn to the Government of Mauritius as Special Economic Package (SEP) to execute five priority projects identified by the Government of Mauritius, among others. These were: the Metro Express Project, Supreme Court Building, New ENT Hospital, Supply of Digital Tablets to Primary School Children, and the Social Housing Project. With the inauguration of the Social Housing Project today, all the high profile projects under the SEP have been implemented.

The Civil Service College project, located in Reduit, is being financed through grant support of USD 4.74 million, under an MoU signed in 2017 during the visit of Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth to India. Once constructed, this will provide a fully equipped and functional facility for the civil servants of Mauritius to undertake various training and skill development programmes. It will further strengthen institutional linkages with India.

The 8 MW Solar PV Farm project involves the installation of 25,000 PV cells to generate approximately 14 GWh of green energy annually, to electrify approximately 10,000 Mauritian households with an estimated avoidance of 13,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year, helping Mauritius mitigate the effects of climate change.

The ceremony included the exchange of two key bilateral agreements: Agreement for the extension of USD 190 million Line of Credit from the Government of India to the Government of Mauritius for the Metro Express and other infrastructure projects and MoU on the Implementation of Small Development Projects, according to the release. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Warsaw, Jan 20 (AP) LOT Polish Airlines says one of its planes was struck by lightning shortly after takeoff on Thursday, prompting the plane to return to Warsaw, where it landed safely.

Airline spokesman Krzysztof Moczulski said the lighting hit a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that was en route to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.

Also Read | Pakistan Blast: IED Explosion in Busy Lahore Market Leaves Two Dead, Several Injured; Baloch National Army Claim Responsibility.

He said passengers left the plane and were transferred to an airport terminal, and the flight was set to continue with another aircraft in the early afternoon.

Polish news channel TVN24 quoted a passenger as saying the travelers experienced a terrifying moment aboard the plane.

Also Read | Drug Overdose Killed 650 People in San Francisco in 2021, 9% Drop from 2020.

LOT planes are struck by lightning around 10 times a year, Moczulski said that . (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kiev [Ukraine], January 20 (ANI/Xinhua): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met here on Wednesday to discuss the security situation around Ukraine, Zelensky's press service said.

In particular, the two sides exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement.

Also Read | Sarah Gill Becomes Pakistans First Transgender Doctor After Clearing MBBS Exam.

"We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," Zelensky said.

He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict-hit region of Donbas is observed and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week.

Also Read | Face Masks No Longer Mandatory in England, COVID-19 Plan B Restrictions to End as Omicron Peak Hits Britain.

The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs US assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the United States would support Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Madrid.

After talks with Zelensky, Blinken said on Twitter that he had informed the Ukrainian president on the U.S. engagements with Russia last week and stressed that "there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine."

On January 10, the United States and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues.

Recently, Ukraine, the United States and some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine.

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014.

Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. Later this week, he will meet German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (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)
Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's hit dark comedy 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' will be adapted for an Apple TV Plus series. Actress Gina Rodriguez is attached to star as Pepa Marcos, Carmen Maura's original role in the 1988 film, and Almodovar is slated to executive produce the show via his El Deseo banner, reports variety.com. Cate Blanchett to Produce, Star in Pedro Almodovar's First English-language Feature.

Rodriguez, in addition to being cast as a lead, will also executive produce via her I Can and I Will Productions banner alongside partner Molly Breeskin. The Hollywood Reporter was told by sources that the movie's adaptation will be bilingual - a mix of English and Spanish, reports variety.com. Currently, Almodovar's first English-language movie, 'A Manual for Cleaning Women' starring Cate Blanchett, is in the early stages of development. Pedro Almodovar Talks About Reuniting With Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz for His Latest Academy Award Nominated Spanish Drama Pain and Glory.

'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' ('Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios') is what elevated the Spanish film director to internationally recognized superstar after it earned five Goya Awards and a New York Film Awards win, as well as Academy Award, Golden Globes and BAFTA nominations.

The feature also starred Antonio Banderas and Julieta Serrano. Lately, Almodovar has been dipping his toes in the TV landscape for the first time in his career - not just with this Apple TV Plus series, but also with the forthcoming docuseries 'Not a Bride' for Paramount Plus, which he is producing with Penelope Cruz.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 20, 2022 02:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Itanagar, January 20: The Indian Army through hotline has contacted the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and sought return of abducted Arunachal Pradesh teenager Miram Taron, defence sources said on Thursday.

A defence PRO tweeted: "17-yr-old youth Miram Tarom of Zido, Arunachal Pradesh, was reportedly captured by the PLA across the LAC. On receipt of info, Indian Army imdtly contacted PLA through a hotline. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate and return him as per protocol."

An Arunachal Pradesh government official said here that the state government had also sought the Defence Ministry' intervention to ensure the safe return of the youth. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that the Defence Ministry through diplomatic channels took up the matter with the Chinese authority. India-China Border Tensions: Sh Miram Taron, 17-Year-Old Arunachal Pradesh Boy, Abducted by Chinese PLA, Says MP Tapir Gao.

"I am hopeful that the youth would be released and return to his village soon," the Chief Minister told the media on Thursday. Arunachal Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Alo Libang, also a local BJP MLA, said that he is optimistic that the youth would be returned very soon.

The Chinese Army reportedly abducted Tarom from the Indian territory where China had constructed 3-4 km road in 2018. The incident was reported from Upper Siang district on January 18.

His friend, who managed to escape, reported the matter to the authorities and brought it to the notice of Tapir Gao, an MP from the Arunachal East parliamentary constituency.

17 yr old youth Miram Tarom of Zido, Arunachal Pradesh was reportedly captured by Chinese PLA across the LAC. Indian Army immediately contacted PLA through hotline, assistance from PLA has been sought to locate & return him as per protocol: PRO Defence Tezpur pic.twitter.com/1u79nE0FUo  ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2022

"Chinese #PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido village on Tuesday from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China built 3-4 kms road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bishing village) of Upper Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh. His friend escaped from the PLA and reported to the authorities. All the agencies of the Central government are requested to step up for his early release," Tapir Gao had tweeted on Wednesday. In September 2020, the Chines PLA had kidnapped five boys from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri district before releasing them after about a week.

The villagers in the region are always forced to trek through the remote mountainous areas of Arunachal Pradesh due to the lack of proper roads. Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,080-km border with China.

Recently, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs had altered names of 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which was rejected by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs that said that such a move by Beijing cannot alter the fact that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 20, 2022 04:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Samsung Galaxy S22 series has been spotted with Exynos processors, suggesting that the company's upcoming flagship smartphones will sport the newly announced chipset under the hood.
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Visual shows a person attacking bulls with a stick in Tamil Nadu's Palamedu Jallikattu, a case has been registered under 'Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Madurai Police conducted an investigation and arrested him.

Tamil Nadu | A case has been registered under 'Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act' against a person for attacking bulls with a stick in Palamedu Jallikattu. Following this, Madurai Police conducted an investigation & arrested him: V. Baskaran, Madurai SP (Video from Jan 15) pic.twitter.com/VIVgZwecaS  ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
New Zealanders call their seat of power the Beehive, a sparkle of Kiwi humor for a spiraling concrete building that looks exactly as it sounds. On the ninth floor, the countrys leader greets visitors in an unassuming office with posters of women in wartime and a view of the Wellington harbor.

Im Jacinda, she says, extending her hand.

The calm belies a movie-worthy first 100 days for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who in October, at 37, became the worlds youngest female leader.

Ardern took control after jumping into the race seven weeks before the vote. She formed a coalition government of rivals, akin to Bernie Sanders sharing power with Ted Cruz. Then, in January, Ardern announced her pregnancy  which means later this year shell become the only elected world leader besides the late Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to give birth in office.

She rose to power on a platform of positivity and optimism, more in line with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than President Trump. Its not just her age or pregnancy that has sparked the rush of adulation known as Jacindamania. Its her message. Ardern offers a vision of hope for liberal democracy in a region where those values face a resurgent threat and Americas role is shrinking.

Its about us ultimately being responsive, said she in an interview with The Times. Seeing what change is bringing and acknowledging the needs there are and doing something about it.

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Ardern begins her tenure at a precarious time for the Asia Pacific region, and the world. China  New Zealands largest trading partner  just announced it would abolish term limits, setting up President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely and wield greater control. Strongman leaders in the Philippines and Cambodia threaten to unravel fledgling democracies. Trump has pulled the U.S. out of a global climate change agreement and the massive trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

When Trump met Ardern at a summit in Vietnam last November, he noted that her surprise win caused a lot of upset in her country.

She chuckled and replied: No one marched when I was elected.

Ardern has helped craft a new version of the trade deal. She trumpets the need to combat climate change and is reinforcing the countrys commitment to reduce nuclear weapons internationally, even as Trump calls for the U.S. to build more. (New Zealand is a nuclear-free zone by law and Ardern recently reinstated a Cabinet post focused on disarmament.)

We feel quite proud that she is leading us, in comparison to the rest of the world, said Ruby Topzand, 22, a communications student at Massey Universitys Wellington campus. Shes the rebellion.

Ardern wasnt even supposed to be in the election  at least not this one.

Last March, she took over as deputy leader of the Labor Party. By July, its head, Andrew Little, announced his resignation amid record-low poll ratings. That left Ardern to dive in mid-race and duke out a victory for Labor against the conservative, longtime incumbent National Party. Arderns slogan sprang from one of her social media sign-offs: Lets do this.

Neither side won enough seats for a majority government, so the decision about the countrys future came down to the grouchy, anti-immigration leader of the New Zealand First Party, Winston Peters. (He became deputy prime minister and foreign minister as part of the deal.) Ardern told reporters she celebrated her win by heading back to her Wellington studio apartment and eating a pot of noodles.

Ardern, whose partner is fishing show host Clarke Gayford, discovered she was pregnant six days before learning she would become New Zealands third female prime minister.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford announce her pregnancy to reporters on Jan. 19, 2018, in Auckland, New Zealand. (Hannah Peters / Getty Images )

I certainly didnt set out to necessarily do any of these things in this order, said Ardern, flashing one of her wide, trademark smiles. But Im determined that people see that the trade-offs that women have been asked to make in the past dont have to be.

Her new role has drawn global attention to this former British colony: a congratulatory letter from Hillary Clinton, a Vogue photo shoot, an Australian interviewer who wanted to discuss her babys conception. (She had said earlier that the pregnancy was unexpected; the couple thought they would need medical help to conceive.)

In one way, Im lucky because I didnt have a choice, Ardern told The Times. We didnt sit at home and say, Who is going to quit their job?

Ardern announced her condition on Twitter, saying Gayford would be the first man of fishing & stay at home dad.

A Scotch lover, Ardern used to have a nose piercing and occasionally DJs. She won fans worldwide when, during the campaign, a radio show host asked if she planned on having children. Ardern said she could respond, but pointed a finger at him. For other women, it is totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace, she said.

People started crafting tote bags and internet memes. Jacindamania had begun.

Shes captured the imagination of a lot of women out there who might have political ambitions, said Jennifer Curtin, a University of Auckland professor who researches women in politics. I wouldnt like to say Trump and Brexit gave her a halo, but her relentless positivity was able to give her more traction.

New Zealand  with a population under 5 million and incredible natural beauty  is often cast as paradise at the bottom of the world. The post office conducts a national Secret Santa gift exchange. Airport signs tell travelers to relax. Even the sheep look happy.

But Ardern faces a less serene reality. Housing prices rank among the highest in the world. Homelessness is the worst among developed countries. Signs on farmhouses warn against child abuse.

Ardern named inequality and child poverty as priorities for her administration. Last month, she became the countrys first prime minister to march in a gay pride parade. But she must also find common ground with a coalition diametrically opposed to her on many issues. As one of her first dealmaking moves, Ardern outlined a plan to ban foreign homebuyers.

Peters, her right-leaning deputy, said it meant New Zealand was no longer for sale. She said it followed through on a promise to lower spiking property prices and equalize opportunity.

We have a real duty and responsibility to make sure that everyone has their basic needs met, she said in an interview. Because when you have your basic needs met, thats when you can really find your own path and fulfill your potential.

Not all embrace her progressive politics  even in Morrinsville, the North Island dairy farm town where Ardern spent much of her childhood. The main street is filled with cow sculptures and old timey shops like the Golden Kiwi, a fish and chips takeaway where Ardern worked as a teenager.

Cow sculptures fill the main street of Morrinsville, the dairy farm town where New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spent much of her childhood. (Jeff Kearns / For The Times )

Some people have asked me if Im a radical, Ardern said in her 2008 introductory speech to Parliament. My answer to that is simple. Im from Morrinsville.

Arderns father worked as a police officer, her mother as a school cafeteria employee. She grew up in the Mormon church, although, vexed by its conservative beliefs on sexuality and feminism, she left it in her early 20s.

She was very socially aware of the plight of many New Zealanders and also people around the world, said John Inger, the principal of Arderns high school. She still visits.

Ardern founded an Amnesty International group there, he said, and led a successful campaign to allow women to wear pants instead of skirts. She rocked public speaking competitions. In 1998, Arderns high school classmates voted her most likely to become prime minister.

She studied politics and public relations at a nearby college and spent a semester at Arizona State University, where she watched America grapple with the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Arderns path to politics went through New York; she volunteered for a workers rights campaign and assisted in a soup kitchen. She served as a researcher for former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and a policy advisor for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair before entering the New Zealand Parliament in 2008. She was 28.

My passion for social justice came from what I saw, she said in her introductory speech. My love of politics came when I realized that it was key to changing what I saw.

Conservatives label her allure stardust. Ardern, to some, is not a refreshing breath of sincerity and openness  Ive probably been an over-sharer  but an untested, dangerously naive social democrat driven by idealism.

She ignores them.

Its just for us to do our bit, regardless of what anyone else is doing, she said, before returning to her desk and the day that awaited. I hope all the international community finds the path to make its contribution. That doesnt change our duty.

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Meyers is a special correspondent.

Twitter: @jessicameyers

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A look at Chinas pervasive attempt to exert its influence around the world

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In an unsuccessful attempt to enter the United States from Mexico, a seven-year-old Venezuelan girl drowned in the Rio Grande after a rip current separated her from her mother.

U.S. authorities had requested assistance locating a missing girl dressed in a red jacket, pants, and white socks. Mexican migration officials found the girl's body in a stretch of river in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, about 10 a.m. on Monday.

Mexico's migration institute said in a statement it mourned the girl's death. It released a photo showing two officials in orange life vests removing a child's body from the water by the shoulders and ankles, Reuters reported.

Many migrants have died attempting to reach Mexico's northern border with the United States, including adults and children who drowned while trying to cross the river that separates the two countries.

The girl, identified as Victoria Lugo, and her mother, Mayerling Fuenmayor, 36, was among a large group of Venezuelan migrants traveling over a stretch of the river. Fuenmayor lost her daughter's hand as the tide took her down the river, according to the Val Verde County Sheriff's Office.

A family member told DailyMail, Fuenmayor's journey to the United States began after she left her work as a school teacher in the Venezuelan state of Falcon. In July or August of 2021, she sold her house.

The single mother returned to her mother's home in the state of Zulia with Lugo and began securing passports in preparation for a trip to Mexico in February or March.

ALSO READ: Leader of Notorious Gasoline Siphoning Gang in Mexico Faces 60-Year Prison Sentence

Mexico to Require Visa for Venezuelans

Fuenmayor changed her travel plans after discovering that the Mexican government would begin requiring travel visas from Venezuelan nationals wishing to enter the country as of January 21 - at the demand of the U.S. government to reduce migration at the southern border.

Last Thursday, she flew to Colombia, where she and Lugo boarded a connecting flight to Mexico. They had spent the weekend at the home of a childhood friend of Fuenmayor's and were on their way to the U.S. border on Monday when tragedy struck.

Carlos Vecchio, the U.S. ambassador under Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, said he reached out to Fuenmayor and pledged the government's complete support.

Vecchio also blamed President Nicolas Maduro's communist regime for causing a humanitarian crisis that has displaced more than 6 million Venezuelans.

"Thousands of Venezuelans are risking everything to flee the Maduro dictatorship's disaster, hoping for a better present and future," Vecchio stated, according to Univision.

"There are currently about 6 million exiles. To end the international migrant crisis involving Venezuelans, we must address the source of the problem," he added.

According to data released by the Customs and Border Protection in December 2021, the U.S. has reported 33,762 encounters with Venezuelan migrants during the first two months of the fiscal year 2022.

READ MORE: 21 People Killed in Mexico in Just 24 Hours Amid Bloody Turf War Between Mexican Drug Cartels

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Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: CNN witnesses dozens of migrants trying to cross Rio Grande - from CNN
The California man believed to have killed UCLA student Brianna Kupfer in a Los Angeles furniture store was arrested by the Pasadena police on Wednesday.

Identified as Shawn Laval Smith, the 31-year-old was arrested by the authorities a day after he was named as the prime suspect in the unprovoked, and random stabbing of Kupfer last week, The Daily Mail reported.

The arrest was also confirmed by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in a statement, claiming that he was discovered by the law enforcement officers from Pasadena.

We can confirm, Shawn Laval Smith, the suspect responsible for the murder of Brianna Kupfer is in custody, after being located and detained by Pasadena PD around 11:50am this morning in the area of Fair Oaks and Colorado Blvd.  LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) January 19, 2022

"We can confirm, Shawn Laval Smith, the suspect responsible for the murder of Brianna Kupfer is in custody," LAPD said in a statement.

The department furthered that Smith was located at around 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday, in the area around Fair Oaks and Colorado boulevard. Lieutenant William Grisafe from Pasadena police noted that they were notified about Smith's whereabouts by a community member, believing that Smith was at the bus bench in the area where he was arrested.

Fox News mentioned that aerial images showed the police putting Smith into the back of a police SUV. He was later transferred under the custody of the LAPD.

Authorities have not yet released any details on the possible charges to be issued against Smith in connection to Kupfer's death.

READ NEXT: Los Angeles Police Identified Suspect They're Looking for in Fatal Stabbing of UCLA Student Brianna Kupfer

Other Arrests of California Man Suspected of Killing UCLA Student

According to reports, the California man suspected of killing Brianna Kupfer had a series of previous arrests dating back to 2010.

In 2020, Los Angeles County Jail records revealed that Smith was arrested on a misdemeanor charge, but he was released on $1,000 bail.

In San Mateo, California, a law enforcement source noted that Smith was accused of shoplifting. Smith was ended up in jail when he assaulted a police officer. The date for the incident was not made clear.

Smith was also arrested and charged with the discharge of a firearm into a vehicle while occupied, in Charleston, South Carolina. According to reports. Smith posted a $50,000 bond and was released on November 23, 2019.

Also in 2019, Smith was arrested and charged for entering premises after a warning. He was then released the same day after posting a $470 bond.

In 2016, the 31-year-old was also arrested on a charge of trespassing after notice but he also posted a $470 bond that released the same day.

According to reports, Smith's other charges on the East Coast include assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle, and misdemeanors for larceny and carrying of stolen goods.

Smith was also reported to have a history of failing to appear in court and was repeatedly arrested on bench warrants.

UCLA Student Texted Friend Before Getting Stabbed

Brianna Kupfer was a UCLA student who works for Croft House, a furniture store in Los Angeles.

According to LAPD Lieutenant John Radtke, Kupfer texted a friend on January 13 to say that someone came into the store that was giving her a "bad vibe." However, Radtke noted that the person the UCLA student texted did not see the text immediately.

Smith allegedly stabbed Kupfer to death moments after the UCLA student sent the text message. A customer discovered Kupfer dead in the store.

READ NEXT: Nearly 4,000 People at California Hospital May Have Been Given Incorrect COVID Vaccine Dosage

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Suspect Accused of Killing Brianna Kupfer Taken Into Custody - From FOX 11 Los Angeles
Spanish oil company Repsol denies its responsibility for the oil spill in Peru. The country's foreign ministry demands "compensation" for the disaster that occurred following the Tonga underwater volcanic eruption.

According to Associated Press, the said company manages the La Pampilla refinery, where the oil spill stemmed out. According to reports, strong waves on Saturday disturbed an Italian flagged ship that loads oil in the refinery, causing the spill.

On Wednesday, Peru's foreign ministry called on Repsol to "immediately compensate" for the damage caused by the oil spill, The Guardian reported.

The country's foreign ministry argued that the disaster caused "serious harm to hundreds of fishermen's families." The ministry also argued that the oil spill endangered two of the country's protected natural areas.

However, Repsol spokesperson Tine Van Den Wall Bake denied their company's responsibility for the disaster that plagued the beaches in Peru.

"We did not cause this ecological disaster and we cannot say who is responsible," the Repsol spokesperson said in a radio interview.

READ NEXT: Peru: Huge Waves From Tonga Volcanic Eruption Causes Oil Spill That Affects 2 Beaches, Central Coast

Peru Official, Groups Criticize Repsol's Response

Officials and Environmental groups in Peru have retaliated on the response given by the Spanish oil company.

Mirtha Vasquez, Peru's Prime Minister, said on Wednesday that the Spanish oil company "apparently" did not have any contingency plan for an oil spill.

According to Christel Scheske, a conservation specialist from the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law said the Repsol oil spill's environmental and social impacts in the "short and long term" are devastating, pointing out that the response of the Spanish oil company "had been weak."

On Tuesday, dozens of Peru's fishermen gathered outside the country's main refinery in Callao, Lima to protest over the aftermath of the oil spill.

Police noted that the fishermen carried signs that read "no to ecological crime," economically affected families," and "Repsol killer of marine fauna." The fishermen were also reported to carry a large Peruvian flag and fishing nets in their demonstrations.

Peru Calls Oil Spill an 'Ecological Disaster'

Peru's government called the oil spill that occurred in their beaches an "ecological disaster," as it affected the biodiversity in the country's protected zones, Reuters reported.

Officials noted that the oil spill harmed the animal and plant life in a combined area measuring up to 18,000 square kilometers around the island's fishing regions.

"Heavy metals from the crude oil will remain in the ecosystem for many years, rendering fish, mollusks, and other marine species dangerous for human consumption," Scheske said, adding that the oil spill will also impact the "entire" marine food web.

The oil spill prompted Peru's authorities to seal off three beaches after at least 6,000 barrels of oil were spilled during an offloading of a tanker at the La Pampilla refinery off the coast of Lima, France 24 noted.

La Pampilla is known to be Peru's largest refinery which supplies more than half of the local fuel market.

Peru's Supervisory Agency for Investment Energy and Mining ordered the refinery's four terminals to be closed until the causes of the oil spill are determined by the authorities.

Prosecutors from Peru opened an investigation into the incident. Reports noted that the refinery could face fines up to $34.5 million.

READ NEXT: 2 People Drown in Peru as Abnormally Big Waves Hit Coast After Massive Volcanic Eruption in Tonga

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Peruvian Coastline Polluted by Oil Spill After Tonga Volcanic Eruption - From CGTN
The Supreme Court has blocked former U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to stop the National Archives from giving the January 6 House select committee hundreds of pages of documents during his time in the White House.

The National Archives can hand the documents over now with the Supreme Court's decision, according to an NBC News report.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear Trump's appeal of a lower court ruling that said he could not stop the material from being produced through claiming executive privilege.

Only Justice Clarence Thomas said that the court should have granted the motion from the former president to block National Archives from handing the documents over while the case is pending.

The House select committee asked for a trove of documents connected to the events surrounding the Capitol riot, which included records of communication between the White House and the Justice Department.

Trump objected and asserted executive privilege, which U.S. President Joe Biden declined to back up that claim.

Biden then directed the National Archives to submit the material to the select committee leading the probe on the January 6 insurrection.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Avoided Naming Donald Trump in Speech Marking Capitol Riot Anniversary, Here's Why

Trump Blocking Release of Documents

Trump failed late last year in his legal efforts in Washington, D.C.'s federal district and appeals court to block the panel from getting the trove of documents.

Since then, he asked the Supreme Court to take the case, according to a CNBC report.

The lower courts ruled that the former president did not have the power to override Biden's decision to waive executive privilege.

The Supreme Court said in its decisions that the question of whether and when a former president can obtain a court order blocking the release of records despite an incumbent president saying they can be released is "unprecedented."

The Supreme Court noted that the case also raises serious and substantial concerns.

The decision noted that the appeals court concluded that Trump's claims would have failed even if he were the current president.

Meanwhile, Trump appointee Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that he respectfully disagreed with the appeals court's opinion on whether a former president can invoke executive privilege.

Kavanaugh said in a statement that a former president must be able to successfully invoke that privilege that occurred during his presidency, despite the current president's decision not to support the claim.

National Archives on Trump Documents

The National Archives said it intends to release a group of disputed White House documents to the select committee.

However, the documents stated were not specifically identified in the ongoing lawsuit, according to a CBS News report.

The National Archivist wrote to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Archivist intends to release records from the fourth tranche to the committee.

The handout covers just four pages of documents from the Office of Records management, which are records the former president has tried to protect from reaching the hands of the select committee.

Trump's lawyers said there will be forthcoming tranches over which Trump plans to assert privilege.

READ MORE: January 6 Select Committee Subpoenas Rudy Giuliani and Others Tied to False Election Claims

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: In 'Overwhelming' Decision, SCOTUS Rejects Trump Effort To Hide Docs From Jan. 6 Committee - from MSNBC






We're certainly talking about Bruno now, as "Encanto's" catchy soundtrack "We Don't Talk About Bruno" has reached fourth place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week, surpassing the previous No. 5 smash "Let It Go" from Frozen as Disney's highest hit.

The new hit from "Encanto" has become the highest-charting Disney animated film song in 26 years.

The song, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been streamed 29 million times as of writing.

With 29 million streams and 8,000 downloads, the song - credited to Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz, and the "Encanto" cast - has climbed to No. 4 on this week's chart.

These figures helped it surpass Idina Menzel's cover of "Let It Go," which peaked at No. 5 in April 2014.

Before dropping to No. 3 on this week's chart, "Encanto's" accompanying soundtrack album had become only the sixth animated soundtrack in history to top the Billboard 200 chart.

"Encanto," directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush, has been one of the most successful animated films of the pandemic era, grossing $93.1 million locally and $222.6 million internationally to date.

"Encanto" Stars Reveal Challenges in Filming

Many actors have spoken out about what it's like to work on an animated film over the years and how odd it is to meet your co-stars for the first time when promotional tours begin.

Everyone working on Disney's latest feature movie, "Encanto," was also dealing with the COVID-19 situation, which meant the cast and crew were even more isolated than usual.

"We've all been working on the voiceover stuff for this for the previous two years," Stephanie Beatriz, who plays protagonist Mirabel Madrigal, told Digital Spy, "so a lot of it really did start getting recorded when the pandemic occurred."

"Encanto" is set in a small, enchanted town in Colombia's highlands, and it follows the Madrigals, a family whose members have all been given a special gift, ranging from super strength and healing to the ability to manipulate the weather. With the exception of Mirabel, that is.

ALSO READ: Leader of Notorious Gasoline Siphoning Gang in Mexico Faces 60-Year Prison Sentence

Mirabel, however, finds herself on a journey to defend her loved ones when an invisible force threatens their magic, after years of feeling inferior to her ancestors and fighting to discover her purpose.

Featuring original songs from Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda, it includes a number of large, ensemble-driven musical numbers that the voice actors had to record separately.

"On this day, I'd go in and just hear one voice, and everything else was Lin; on another day, I'd hear a lot more voices," Beatriz remembered. "At times, it was just us performing with ourselves or our directors," says the actress.

Beatriz added that everyone on the film got really creative and worked really hard.

The soundtrack to "Encanto," the computer-animated Disney film about the magical Family Madrigal, debuted in late November and was released on the Disney+ streaming network over the holidays, becoming one of the first significant chart success stories of early 2022.

READ MORE: 21 People Killed in Mexico in Just 24 Hours Amid Bloody Turf War Between Mexican Drug Cartels

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: We Don't Talk About Bruno (From "Encanto") - from DisneyMusicVEVO
Former Colombian Senator Ingrid Betancourt has announced that she will be running for president again in Colombia after being held captive for over six years by left-wing rebels Farc.

Betancourt was campaigning in the 2002 presidential election when she was abducted by Farc rebels and was held hostage for years, according to a BBC News report.

The former Colombian senator has promised to address corruption and poverty if she wins the presidential election in Colombia.

She told her supporters in Bogota that she will finish what she started, adding that she will claim the rights of 51 million Colombians who are not finding justice as the people live in a system "designed to reward criminals."

Sergio Guzman, an analyst in Bogota, described Betancourt as the country's "reconciliation candidate."

Betancourt called the peace deal "a window" to leave behind the violence that was experienced by all during an interview with The Times last year.

Guzman said that the question is whether that is what Colombians want, according to The New York Times report.

READ NEXT: Colombia's Defense Minister Calls on Colombian Gangs to Surrender or Be Hunted Down

Ingrid Betancourt Presidential Candidate in Colombia

Guzman said that elections in Colombia have been "fear and hope and hate," noting that no election has really been fought on compassion and reconciliation.

Guzman rhetorically asked if Betancourt can be "a balm" to those continuing negative emotions that people are feeling right now. He said that Betancourt needs to sell the idea that reconciliation is better than populism.

In Colombia, there are currently more than 20 candidates for the president's seat. Most of the best-known candidates are grouped into three coalitions, which are a coalition on the left, a coalition in the center, and a coalition on the right.

The left is led by Gustavo Petro, who was a member of the revolutionary guerilla group M-19 in the 1980s.

Betancourt will be leading the center, while the coalition on the right is led by those members of the current government.

Meanwhile, the most prominent female presidential candidate has been Francia Marquez, a young Afro-Colombian politician and environmental activist who is also a victim of the war.

Marquez was known for her outspoken embrace of feminist politics while openly criticizing Petro.

Ingrid Betancourt's Kidnapping

Betancourt spent six years in guerilla camps in the Amazon jungle, where sometimes rebel fighters would tie her to a tree with metal chains to prevent her from escaping, according to The Guardian report.

She asked officials to investigate the events that led to her own kidnapping, as shown in her proof of life videos.

In those videos, she also pleaded with the government to resume peace talks with the Farc rebels. Those were aired widely in Colombia and abroad.

The former Colombian senator withdrew from public life after she was freed and spent much of her time with family in France. She returned to the political scene last year as the country nears elections that will be held in May.

She was treated brutally during her six years of captivity before Colombian army spies inside the Farc rebels and organized her rescue in July 2008.

READ MORE: Colombia's Most-Wanted Drug Lord Dairo Antonio Usuga Arrested; Pres. Ivan Duque Likened It to Capture of Pablo Escobar

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Colombia's Ingrid Betancourt announces presidential bid - from Al Jazeera English






A Florida bill pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis would bar public schools and private establishments from making White people feel "discomfort" or "guilt" about the country's racist past.

According to CBS News, the Florida bill has received its first approval on Tuesday. The state Senate Education Committee approved the bill that focuses on critical race theory in a 6-3 vote along party lines. However, it does not mention it explicitly.

Republicans were in favor, while Democrats opposed the Florida bill. Democrats had argued that the Florida bill is unnecessary and would lead to frivolous lawsuits, adding that it would amount to censorship in schools.

The Democratic lawmakers also asked for real-life examples of teachers or businesses telling students or employees that they are "racist because of their race."

State Senator Shevrin Jones, who is Black, said the bill is not for Blacks or any other race. Jones noted that the Florida bill was made to make Whites not feel bad about what happened years ago.

The state senator also said that at no point did anyone say that White people should be held responsible for what happened.

However, Jones noted that he would ask their White counterparts if they are enablers of what happened or "are you going to say we must talk about history?"

READ NEXT: Midwest Hospital Chain SSM Health Halts Practice of Determining COVID Treatment Priority Based on Race

Florida Bill on Critical Race Theory

According to Newsweek, the bill would allow teachers to conduct discussions on topics, including sexism, slavery, racial oppression, and racial segregation in an "age-appropriate manner."

However, it also states that classroom instruction and curriculum may not be used to "indoctrinate or persuade students" to a specific view inconsistent with principles of this "subsection or state academic standards."

The Florida bill also prohibits employers from subjecting "any individual, as a condition of employment, membership, certification, licensing, credentialing or passing an examination, to training, instruction, or any other required activity" that promotes concepts related to race and racism.

It also prohibits making people feel "discomfort, guilt, anguish" or any other form of psychological distress based on their race, color, sex, or national origin.

Florida Lawmakers on Bill Banning Critical Race Theory From Schools, Workplaces

Senate sponsor Manny Diaz Jr. said the bill intends to ensure that these training that occurs are objective, not finding a person guilty of something just because of their ethnic background or the color of their skin, according to Orlando Weekly.

Diaz added that he thinks people have to go back to the premise that all are created equal and should be judged on individual merits or deeds.

Democrat Sen. Tina Polsky said that part of the bill that deals with employer training is "awful for the business community," while criticizing what she called "vague language" in the measure.

"We're telling a company if they want to teach anti-discrimination, they want to teach diversity, they want to teach unconscious bias... that they will potentially be creating the cause of action from a disgruntled employee," Polsky noted.

The senator, who is an attorney, said she does it all the time, with people filing lawsuits because they got terminated and "they're really upset." She added that they try to find reasons as "to why they were terminated."

The Florida bill also effectively seeks to cement into law a ban on critical race theory as part of Florida's curriculum standards. The State Board of Education has passed such a ban during the summer.

READ MORE: Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis Feud Fueled by Sen. Mitch McConnell, Trump Advisers Say

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: State Senate Committee Approves Bill Banning Critical Race Theory - From CBS Miami






A Texas gay couple was tortured and shot dead before their bodies were dismembered and left in trash bags along a road in Mexico.

According to the Chihuahua State Office of the Attorney General, the women identified as Nohemi Medina Martinez and Yulizsa Ramirez, both 28, of El Paso, were found murdered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on Sunday.

The Daily Mail reported that the lesbian couple was visiting their families in the city before their deaths. They were last seen on Saturday before their families reported them missing.

According to El Diario, the trash bags were found scattered along the Juarez-El Porvenir road. New York Post reported that the couple, who got married last summer, left behind three children - two girls and a boy.

The discovery of the severed bodies was made prior to a security meeting held by authorities in Ciudad Juarez to define a new strategy in the face of the wave of violence that plagues the city.

READ NEXT: Texas Teen Shot 15-Year-Old Ex-Girlfriend 22 Times in the Back After She Confronted Him About Cheating

Texas Gay Couple Shot Dead Before Their Bodies Were Dismembered in Mexico

According to reports, Nohemi Medina Martinez and Yulizsa Ramirez were shot dead before their bodies were dismembered and left in two trash bags. The garbage bags were found about 17 miles apart from each other along the stretch of the Juarez-El Porvenir highway.

One of the bags was found in the San Agustin neighborhood, and the other was at the entrance of the Jesus Carranza village.

On Monday, the relatives of the Texas couple went to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office to identify and claim the victims' remains in order to bury them.

Authorities are now investigating the circumstances of the women's deaths, People reported. It was not clear when exactly did the Texas couple arrived in Mexico. The two Mexican citizens were originally from Ciudad Juarez but lived in Texas.

According to multiple reports, the couple was among the four women who have been killed in the city since Sunday.

On Monday, authorities in Ciudad Juarez found the bodies of two other women at an intersection in the Patria-Zaragoza neighborhood. One woman was declared dead at the scene, while the other died in a hospital. They have yet to be identified.

Mexico Committee Decries the Murder of the Texas Couple

The Chihuahua Committee for Sexual Diversity in Mexico condemned the killings of the Texas gay couple. The committee urged the Mexican government to thoroughly investigate the murders of the lesbian couple.

EXHORTA SECRETARIA DE GOBERNACION A @MaruCampos_G A ACABAR CON LESBOFOBIA@SEGOB_mx a traves de @CONAPRED y @CONAVIM_MX pidio al Gob del Estado que esclarezca el asesinato de Yulizsa y Nohemi...#JusticiaParaYulizsaYNohemi (1/3) pic.twitter.com/kLC7UNIoV2  Comite de la Diversidad Sexual de Chihuahua (@DiversidadChih) January 19, 2022

The committee feared that the case might go unsolved like many hate crimes in Mexico.

"We cannot continue allowing Chihuahua to continue to be the second state in the country with the most hate crimes, and that each year there are more," the committee noted.

No podemos seguir permitiendo que Chihuahua siga siendo el segundo estado a nivel nacional con mas crimenes de odio, y que cada ano sean mas @MaruCampos_G



ALTO A LOS CRIMENES DE ODIO!



ALTO A LOS FEMINICIDIOS!



ALTO A LA LESBOFOBIA!#JusticiaParaYulizsaYNohemi pic.twitter.com/WIrVeLm5IV  Comite de la Diversidad Sexual de Chihuahua (@DiversidadChih) January 19, 2022

The state of Chihuahua in Mexico is notorious for its drug violence, public killings, and gruesome murders against women. According to reports, at least 65 homicides were recorded in Ciudad Juarez this year. Eleven of the victims were women.

Local reports said Ciudad Juarez is the most violent of Chihuahua's 67 municipalities.

READ MORE: Dead Baby Allegedly Stuffed With Illegal Drugs Found in Trash Dumpster at Mexico Prison

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: What is Happening To The Women Of Ciudad Juarez? - From BuzzFeedVideo


Artificial Paintings announces the winner of the Scholarship Contest, where the contestants were to share their opinions on what impact technology and artificial intelligence have on the art industry. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT



Dozens of students and soon-to-be-students from different parts of the world submitted their short essays, and the Artificial Paintings team thoroughly read each and every one of them. Choosing the best essay was tough, but the winners name is finally revealed.



If you are not familiar with Artificial Paintings, its an online art gallery exhibiting and selling AI-created artwork. It was founded by a group of enthusiasts who have been able to implement modern technology into art by creating paintings with the help of artificial intelligence. If you think that art and science dont go together, you should definitely look at all these masterpieces generated by an AI algorithm. Art by AI keeps gaining more and more recognition, attracting art connoisseurs, and becoming more valuable with time.



Returning to the subject of the contest, Artificial Paintings has received applications from all over the US: from New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, to Arizona, Utah, and California, with the largest number of essays received from Pennsylvania.



All essays were sent from different universities. The list of schools whose students decided to participate in the competition includes Columbia University, University of Oklahoma, Texas State University, UCCS, and many others. One of the contestants from Maine will even be attending a university in Scotland. The rules of the Scholarship Contest did not limit the participants by their place of residence, so a few essays were submitted from Kenya and Uganda as well.



And the winner is Lauren Cicillian from Purdue University, Indiana, US! Without a doubt, this was a very well-deserved victory. The annual scholarship of $500 has been successfully transferred and received by Ms. Cicillian, and the winners essay will be posted on the Artificial Paintings website soon.



Helen Solonsky, Artificial Paintings co-founder: Many thanks to all the participants who took part in our first scholarship contest! Well be launching more exciting events and competitions with bigger contest prizes  stay tuned and follow us on social media: Instagram ( Artificial_Paintings) or Twitter ( ArtificialNFT). We would also like to thank every school that has shared the information about the Artificial Paintings Scholarship Contest on its website, giving an even greater number of students a chance to participate in the competition.
A woman dressed as Spider-Man in a children's party helped keep the kids safe during a shootout that suddenly erupted in a town in Mexico on Tuesday.

According to Periodico AM, the children's party in the Residencial Palmas neighborhood in Apodaca, Nuevo Leon was interrupted by a nearby gunfight that sparked during the arrest of Mexican drug cartel's members.

Dozens of law enforcement officers reportedly arrived on Palmillas Street in Residencial Palmas past 8 p.m. to carry a raid on the drug cartel's safe house.

A recorded video that circulated on social media showed that the Mexican woman dressed in the costume of Spider-Man was enlivening the children's party.

In the 16-second video, the woman can be seen holding a microphone and can be heard speaking to the children when an officer on a loudspeaker warned residents to take shelter and get the guests to safety.

"Get into your house please. Get into your house. Go ahead please," the police in a patrol car said as gunfire broke out. At this time, the woman dressed in Spider-Man ordered the children to go into the house.

"Get in, get in, get in," the woman can be heard saying to the children as she accompanied them going to the house.

Like a superhero in charge of protecting them, the woman protected the children first before herself. Her act received recognition and praise from social media users for following the values of Spider-Man by protecting the kids first before herself.

The shootout resulted in the deaths of two alleged Sinaloa Cartel members and one injured officer. The raid happened after the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel leader Alan Ervey Juarez Castillo, alias "El Cano," who provided authorities with information about their safe house in Residencial Palmas.

El Cano was arrested while eating with his family at a restaurant in Monterrey city on Tuesday afternoon. El Cano is allegedly the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Nuevo Leon.

READ NEXT: Brazilian 'Superman' Hit by a Bus He Was Trying to Stop to Show Off His Strength

Spider-Man Makes Sick Children in Hospitals Happy

It was not the first time that a person dressed as Spider-Man did a good deed. In Italy, a man named Matteo Villardita dressed himself up as Spider-Man to brighten up and make sick children in hospitals happy.

The 28-year-old Italian made it his mission to help hospitalized and ailing children find some joy and smile. Villardita's devotion came from his experience as he was also a former pediatric patient. He was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and underwent several surgeries to treat the condition.

Because of this, he leads an association for other hospital volunteers who dress up as superheroes. His efforts were recognized as the Vatican described him as a "really good superhero."

The man, who got his inspiration from a 1962 comic published by Marvel, was also awarded an "honorary knighthood" by Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

Just like Peter Parker, who is the fictional character behind the mask of Spider-Man, Villardita also had a different life behind his mask.

Aside from being Spider-Man to make the kids happy, he also works in a terminal shipping firm in the northwestern Liguria region of Italy.

Marvel's Spider-Man

Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes of the Marvel franchise. Spider-Man came to life after Peter Parker was bitten by a spider, giving the abilities of the arachnid. Instead of using his powers for personal gain, Parker decided to use them in helping others.

The Spider-Man film series launched different movies based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name under Marvel Studios. The most recent one was the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" released in cinemas last December.

In Mexico, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" became the biggest opening day in the market ever as it took home $9 million when it hit the theaters, exceeding "Avengers: Endgame."

READ MORE: 'Blue Beetle' Will Be the First Latino Superhero Movie From DC Films

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Top 10 Spider Man Facts - From WatchMojo.com
A top public health official in Florida was suspended for urging staffers to get COVID-19 shots while criticizing their "pathetic" vaccination rate.

According to officials, Dr. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, was put on paid administrative leave amid an investigation of whether he violated a state ban when he emailed the employees about their low COVID vaccination rate and urged them to get shots.

The Florida Department of Health is also reportedly looking if "any laws were broken" with the unsanctioned message.

Florida Health Official Calls Out Low Vaccination Rate Among Public Health Practitioners

Agency officials said Raul Pino, 58, sent the email to staffers on January 4, blasting their lackluster efforts to get protected against COVID.

"I am sorry. But at this point in the absence of reasonable and real reasons, it is irresponsible [not] to be vaccinated," Pino wrote. "We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000, and we are not even at 50%, pathetic."

Pino noted that only 77 of the 568 active Orange County department employees had been fully vaccinated, including booster shots. Pino said this equates to a vaccination rate of 13.55 percent, which is "super low."

Pino added that another 219 employees had two doses, while 34 had only received one dose. With the low vaccination rates, Pino said employees should expect many in the agency to get sick and potentially infect their clients or families.

"I have a hard time understanding how we can be in public health and not practice it!" Pino noted.

On Tuesday, sources told the Orlando Sentinel that another staff complained about receiving the email, prompting an investigation into Pino, who refuses to comment on the matter.

Since the pandemic began, Pino had been appearing at over 150 press briefings in Central Florida. He last appeared on December 28, when he advised the public to get vaccinated against the COVID, Sentinel reported.

Latest Johns Hopkins University data showed that more than 13.7 million Floridians are fully vaccinated, accounting for nearly 66 percent of the state's population.

READ NEXT: Leader of Notorious Gasoline Siphoning Gang in Mexico Faces 60-Year Prison Sentence

Florida Department of Health Says Getting Vaccinated is a Choice

In a statement, the Florida Department of Health said getting vaccinated is a personal medical choice that should be made free from coercion and mandates from employers.

"The employee in question has been placed on administrative leave," the department said, adding that it is committed to upholding all laws and will take appropriate action once "additional information is known."

Last November, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a law banning schools, businesses, and government entities from requiring COVID vaccination. It drew criticisms from Democratic leaders and health experts.

Florida is one of several conservative states that sued the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to stop it from enforcing a now-defunct vaccine mandate for large businesses placed by President Joe Biden.

READ MORE: 21 People Killed in Mexico in Just 24 Hours Amid Bloody Turf War Between Mexican Drug Cartels

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Florida Governor Threatens To Fine Cities That Impose Vaccine Mandates - From NBC News
Portland, TN (37148)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 55F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 55F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Telephone service between Tonga and other countries was partially restored Wednesday, according to mobile phone network provider Digicel, but the company that provides cable service said full internet connectivity will probably take at least one month.

Communications with the island nation of about 100,000 people were cut off Saturday when an underwater volcano exploded, releasing what New Zealands National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said was a supersonic pressure wave that apparently severed an undersea cable that connects Tonga with the rest of the world.

While Digicel announced "international call service is back up," Tonga Cable Ltd. Chairman Samiuela Fonua said network services would not be fully restored until the undersea cable is repaired.

Fonua said a repair ship plans to depart Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, this weekend. Fonua warned the company and those affected would be "lucky" if repairs are completed within a month, noting it would take up to nine days to sail to Samoa for equipment before embarking on an uncertain trip to the eruption area. He also said it was unclear when the repair ship could safely venture near the undersea volcano to begin the work.

Tonga's government and its Tonga Communications Corp. did not immediately comment on the country's communications status.


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A residential square in a Laois town is to have some of its private parking spaces shared with the public, to boost local businesses.

Jessop Court in Portlaoise with 15 homes opens onto the shopping area of Hynds Square.

Four of its parking spaces are to be now allocated to the public, but only at certain times.

Shoppers will be able to use the spaces between 9am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, so that people who live there can have their spaces back in the evenings and at weekends.

Portlaoise Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald has welcomed the decision by Laois County Council, but she wants more public spaces to be provided.

"I see this as a good start. I sincerely believe there could be more. The fact that we will have the warden going in now, could they do a monthly survey and take photos and judge it then? This is a central area in Portlaoise," she said.

She spoke at the January meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District, where she tabled a motion asking for an update on Jessop Court and Hynds Square.

The council gave the following reply.

"Revised arrangements for car parking in Jessop Court have been developed whereby, from Monday to Friday (9am to 4.30pm), four car parking spaces will be made available for general public use subject to parking charges and time restrictions applicable in Portlaoise Town Centre. Outside of these hours parking is to be reserved for residents only."

Portlaoise Town Manager Simon Walton said that the decision was based on surveys by traffic wardens and four spaces was "very conservative".

He said there may be more spaces made available but the aim is not to disrupt residents while supporting local businesses.

Meanwhile Hynds Square is getting an outdoor canopy for seating, with Director of Services Simon Walton explaining further.

"We received a grant of 140,000 from Failte Ireland for outdoor furniture. Hynds Square was identified for the provision of a tensile canopy and supplemented lighting. It is now being procured. It will be similar to the canopy at Abbeyleix library.

"We are at the mercy of contractors but it will be completed for sure in the first half of this year," he said.

Cllr Fitzgerald asking him about extending the new paving on Main Street into Hynds Square. Mr Walton said that "optimistically it would be at the end of 2022".

"Hynds Square is a really lovely spot in Portlaoise, a central area. If people can sit and have their coffee or ice cream it will be very good for the town centre," she said.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley has in the past flagged the concerns of the residents.

"They are caught between a commercial and residential areas. If you live in that square you could be paying 1200 a month in rent and can't park," she said.

Parking problems are ongoing for the past 20 years since Jessop Court and Hynds Square were built. Residents had complained about shoppers parking in their private spaces or blocking them in, but shoppers had complained about getting parking fines and wanted some spaces for public use. Laois County Council took Jessop Court in charge in January 2020, undertaking to review parking.
Funding to open domestic violence refuges in Laois and Offaly could finally be delivered, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has indicated.

The counties are among nine in Ireland that do not have such facilities. While public representatives and domestic violence support services have campaigned locally for years, no money was available.

Now, however in the wake of Ashling Murphy's death in Tullamore, it appears that there could be movement.

The Taoiseach committed to providing for such services, while speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland on January 20.

"I can understand people's cynicism, and scepticism about whether this will be done. I can assure people it will be done. It will be followed through," he said of funding for services.

"The death of Ashling Murphy has shocked the nation. We saw in the Dail yesterday that all parties are resolved to work together... to create a cross-party mechanism to ensure that we can fulfill these timelines and ensure that we're not back in a year's time asking why these timelines weren't met," An Taoiseach said.

Women seeking protection in both counties have had to be housed in emergency homes in other counties which has an impact on the education of children.

Speaking in the Dail yesterday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said: "We must all work together to achieve a shared goal of zero tolerance of violence and abuse against women".

Several domestic violence support groups gave evidence to the Joint Justice Committee recently, she said.

"As the Taoiseach has said, I am leading the development of the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender based violence," Minister McEntee outlined.

"We have been working on this strategy for a year, and we listened to those in the sector who work on the frontline. And I am so grateful for their work, their support and their contributions.

"We listened to victims and survivors," she said.



"It will be underpinned by clear actions, timelines for reform and robust accountability mechanisms. It will be resourced as it should be," Ms McEntee said.
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins is to deliver a specially recorded message to the Bloody Sunday families and the people of Derry to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

The Presidents message will be shown publicly for the first time during Beyond the Silence  a commemorative event which will take place before a limited in-person audience in Guildhall Square on Sunday, January 30.

The message will be broadcast on a large screen and the occasion will be livestreamed to an online audience.

Beyond the Silence is one of a number of events organised for this years anniversary by the Bloody Sunday Trust.

Beginning at 4pm sharp on the day of the anniversary, it will be hosted by actor, Adrian Dunbar, and will feature tributes to the victims, as well as music and public performances.

Guildhall Square will fall silent at the precise time when, on January 30, 1972, British paratroopers opened fire on civil rights marchers in the Bogside.

The attendance in the Square will be restricted, in accordance with public health guidance during the pandemic. People will be asked to assemble from 3.30pm. Five hundred places will be reserved for family members and one thousand will be available online on a first come, first served basis.

The Trust is inviting members of the Bloody Sunday families to take part in a Family Walk of Remembrance on the morning of the anniversary. It will set out from Creggan Shops at 9.15am and make its way to the Bloody Sunday Monument in Rossville Street for the annual Memorial Service and wreath-laying ceremony at 11.00am.

Members of the public are being asked to show their support for the families by lining the route in a responsible, socially distanced way.

The Trust has chosen One World One Struggle as the theme for its 50th anniversary commemorative programme.

Other highlights include the delivery of the prestigious Bloody Sunday Memorial Lecture by the former British Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn. The Islington North MP has been a long-standing supporter of Bloody Sunday justice issues, including the campaign for a new inquiry to overturn the discredited Widgery Tribunal findings and the call for British soldiers to be made accountable for Troubles-related incidents.

All events in this years programme are risk-assessed to ensure they comply with public health regulations and guidance. The full programme can be seen at https://bloodysunday50.com
Irish Water has mobilised crews to quickly restore water supply for customers in Leixlip, Shinkeen Road, Celbridge and surrounding areas following a burst water main, reports the company.

It said it is working with Kildare County Council to restore water as quickly as possible to impacted customers following a burst water main in Leixlip.

Whilst every effort is being made to maintain supply to as many customers as possible, it said the burst is impacting the water supply to homes and businesses in those areas.

Dedicated water service crews have mobilised and repairs are underway and are expected to continue until 10pm tonight. Typically, it takes two to three hours following repairs for normal supply to restore to all customers affected by an unplanned outage.

To ensure the safety of the public and crews carrying out the repairs to the burst, traffic management is in place and clearly signposted.

Peter Thornton, Irish Water, commented: The repairs are being conducted as quickly and efficiently as possible to minimise disruption to the area and restore water for all customers. We understand the inconvenience bursts can have on customers and we appreciate your patience as we work to return the water supply to homes and businesses as quickly as possible.

"Vulnerable customers who have registered with Irish Water receive direct communications from us for planned and unplanned outages lasting more than four hours.

"Irish Water understands the inconvenience when a burst occurs and thanks customers for their patience while we work to restore normal supply to impacted customers. The Irish Water customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please visit the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website."
The transfer of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) from RTE to the National Concert Hall (NCH) is due to take place this week.

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, announced the government's agreement to the transfer today (January 20).

The idea behind the transfer - which is due to take effect from January 24 - is to secure a more sustainable future for the orchestra.

In a statement, Minister Martin said, "I am delighted to oversee the transition of the National Symphony Orchestra and Choirs to the National Concert Hall. It is fitting that the National Symphony Orchestra be brought under the stewardship of Irelands national centre for music, forty years after performing at the National Concert Halls opening concert.

She called it "a significant red letter day" for everyone with an interest in music in Ireland.

Minister @cathmartingreen has announced the Governments agreement to the transfer of the @RTE_NSO & Choirs from @rte to @NCH_Music



It aims to secure a more sustainable future for our premier orchestra as part of the national venue for music

 https://t.co/LBESp3mqNH #NSONCH pic.twitter.com/OHivpRxmCD  Tourism-Culture-Arts-Gaeltacht-Sport-Media (@DeptCulturelRL) January 19, 2022

However, the Director-General of RTE, Dee Forbes, called it "a day of mixed emotions".

She said, "On the one hand we are delighted that the NSO and Choirs will now be on a firm financial footing within the NCH allowing them to plan with confidence into the future, but on the other, we say goodbye today not just to wonderful musicians and support staff, but to colleagues and friends, many of whom have a long history in RTE.

"I have no doubt they will continue in their mission to make great orchestral music and entertain audiences everywhere, and we will of course continue to have a strong broadcasting relationship with them in their new role at the heart of Ireland's National Concert Hall. We wish them all the very best and thank them for the music."

A major capital redevelopment plan for the NCH is currently being prepared, and the transfer of the NSO and choirs will be part of its vision of being known as a world-renowned music destination.

The three RTE choirs - the RTE Philharmonic Choir, RTE Cor Linn and RTE Cor na nOg - will also transfer to the National Concert Hall on January 24.

A total of 8million was provided as part of Budget 2022 to facilitate the transfers.
A new online platform that provides free access to education and training courses for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds in County Leitrim has been launched. SaorEd is a collaborative initiative between three Irish non-profit organisations; Doras, New Horizon, and Dignity Partnership. It is built on the Kiron online learning platform which has been designed specifically for refugees and underserved communities and is already widely used in the Middle East and Europe.

SaorEd, available at www.saored.com, aims to provide free access to a range of entry-level and advanced courses. Initial offerings include English language courses, information technology (IT) skills, healthcare, and career preparation courses. The courses on offer are mostly in English, with some in Arabic. Navigation interfaces are available in Arabic and Farsi and those behind the venture hope to expand the range of courses and languages on offer.

SaorEd is intended to fill the gaps in existing education and training programmes. While free English language classes are provided by the 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and others, for example, places on these are often difficult to obtain. Yet, language skills are essential for the integration and wellbeing of protection applicants and refugees.

Initial language courses provided on SaorEd include an introduction to the English language, intermediate English for University, English for Arabic speakers, and advanced English for the workplace. The IT Skills study track will cover basic digital skills (in English and Arabic), intermediate IT skills (including a course on Living in a Digital World), as well as more advanced courses like web design with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

SaorEd provides study programs using open online courses (MOOCs) from reputable education providers. The initial offerings are based on a survey of over 100 people who are in or have transitioned out of Direct Provision. Over the coming months, the platform will be extended to include courses in other areas that will help open pathways to employment and further education.

John Lannon, Doras CEO said It is difficult for people living in remote areas, particularly Direct Provision centres, to access regular transport to attend in-person training. SaorEd can provide pathways to further education and employment for them.The platform is also of value to parents of young children who may not be able to access mainstream education during the day. It is also accessible to people who face financial barriers to education, who may not be entitled to the Back to Education Allowance, for example.

Many of the SaorEd study programmes are offered exclusively to international protection applicants, with certificates provided to learners on completion. By providing open access to online learning opportunities, it ensures that free education is available at any time, in any place to underserved communities.

For more see www.saored.com
An exhibition of almost 150 paintings of the late Benny Clancy, McDermott Terrace will open at 8pm on Friday night, January 21 in Manorhamilton's Leitrim Sculpture Centre and it will run there until Saturday, February 12.

The exhibition is entitled Benny Clancy Paintings 1996  2012: A Retrospective Exhibition. Regarding this exhibition, Leitrim Sculpture Centre manager, Sean O'Reilly says local man Benny Clancys exhibition is the culmination of 16 years of work completed in 2012.

This self-portrait is an oil on canvas painting of Manorhamilton artist, the late Benny Clancy, whose Painting Exhibition opens in the Leitrim Sculpture Centre on Friday night at 8pm.

Consisting of around 150 paintings, mostly in oils on canvas or board, the exhibition captures the moods and atmospheres of North Leitrim and Sligo at the turn of the millennium as well depicting important events and scenes typical of earlier periods in Irish rural life.

Although critical of the hierarchies of institutional, religious or classical art Clancy took great inspiration from modern masters notably Cezanne, whom he saw in Paris and London, and especially Paul Henry from Ireland. Like these artists Clancy was a loner and a rebel who sought inspiration from the everyday events that surrounded him and especially the people who populated his daily travels.

The works on show include portraiture, landscapes, still-life, domestic scenes, animal studies as well as many views of Manorhamilton that were aided by the use of photographic images as well as works made directly from the subject.

Benny Clancy was born in Manorhamilton in 1948. He was largely a self-trained artist, who always took a keen interest in the work of Irish and world artists. Benny attended the local De La Salle Brothers School. He worked in Coyles Bakery, Gilmurrays Electrical (on New Line), the Great Northern Hotel Bundoran and in London from from 1967 to 1969.

When he returned to Ireland in 1969, he worked in Dun Laoghaire and it was there he met his wife, Phil. Benny and Phil returned to Manorhamilton in 1972, where they raised their three children Jesamine, Amanda and Jason. It was on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 that Benny passed onto his eternal reward.

About his excellent paintings Sean O'Reilly explains Benny left all his work in the care of his wife Phil, who, with the help of family and friends, brought his work to the attention of the (Leitrim Sculpture) Centre. Phils family and the Leitrim Sculpture Centre would like to thank Vincent Sheehan, Andy Roche, Jackie McKenna for all their help in making this exhibition possible.
Judge Sandra Murphy said there was a clear background of an acrimonious family feud that led an incident involving two sisters-in-law that ended up in Manorhamilton District Court.

Judge Murphy listened to the evidence but said she could only deal with the facts before her and she must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt in relation to the specific incident.

Judge Murphy said she had a doubt and the defendant was entitled to that doubt and she was not going to convict her under Section 6 of the Public Order Act.

Appearing before the court was Joan Rogan, Letter, Drumkeerin, Co Leitrim, on a plea of not guilty to threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour on August 10, 2020 at Litter, Drumkeerin.

Anita Rogan, also of Litter, Drumkeerin, a sister-in-law of the defendant, said she was on her phone in her garden on the above date, seated about 20 metres from the road when she heard voices approaching up the road. She said Joan Rogan and her three-year-old grandchild walked past and the child asked who she (Anita) was and Joan Rogan replied twice, that's the witch.

Anita Rogan said a short time later Joan Rogan passed on her way back and shouted up to her get those f***ing sheep off that land, that's Mary Rogan's land.

Anita Rogan said she replied to her that the sheep had nothing to do with her (Anita).

She said Joan Rogan then said to her she was nothing but a f***ing c*** like your husband.

Anita Rogan said she felt upset and intimidated and was afraid Joan Rogan was going to come to her house and she called her husband. She said she and her children don't go for walks on that road and is afraid to meet Joan Rogan. Anita Rogan said she suffered from depression and anxiety and had to take time off work.

Colm Conway, solicitor, on behalf of Joan Rogan, put it to Anita Rogan that she was lying about what was said, there was no verbal conversation with his client, and that it was all part of a vexatious campaign to bully and intimidate Joan Rogan.

Anita Rogan said she called her husband Michael who was up the road at the farm separating cattle. He told her to go into the house and lock the door.

Mr Conway said there is an ongoing issue between Joan Rogan and Anita Rogan and her husband Michael. She said there is a dispute but it had nothing to do with her.

Mr Conway said the Gardai had been dragged into a family dispute and effectively used as a tool to push civil matters.

Michael Rogan said he was at the farm when he heard roaring about 70 yards away. Anita rang him and was upset and said Joan was roaring at her.

He told her he would be up as soon as he could and to go into the house and lock the door. Michael Rogan said it was three or four weeks later that he got to make a statement to the Gardai about it.

Mr Conway put it to him there was no mention of any roaring in his statement and that he had added it in court to put weight to the story.

He said Mr Rogan didn't immediately go to his wife's assistance because he was happy there was no threat against his wife or his house.

Mr Conway suggested the entire allegation was merely a furtherance of a greater objective by him in a campaign against Joan Rogan to poke and prod and goad her into a response to use as a stick to beat her with.

Mr Rogan said he took what his wife said to him very seriously as he knew what she (Joan Rogan) was capable of doing.

Joan Rogan said to the court the land is under dispute and Mary Rogan had asked her to keep an eye on it.

She said there were 11 sheep in the field and she told Anita Rogan you might tell your husband to move those sheep off Mary Rogan's land and Anita replied to her, they're not my sheep, tell him yourself.

Joan Rogan said the whole incident was to bring me down, to flatten me and said there was more going on.

It is what it is, it's unfortunate, but this is the way it's going. Nobody wants it, she said.

Joan Rogan said the comment about the witch didn't happen. She said the only comment was about moving the sheep and there was no language used.

Mr Conway contended his client did not have a case to meet regarding the charge before the court and the only credible evidence before the court was that Joan Rogan did communicate to Anita Rogan to get the sheep off the land. He said that comes nowhere near the threshold of a criminal conviction for a Section 6 offence.

Inspector Michael Collins said the evidence regarding the first interaction and the witch comment was very credible and the second interaction of Joan Rogan roaring up at Anita Rogan caused her to ring her husband in alarm.

He said there are obviously civil matters going on between the parties and the comment was made to Anita Rogan as she was seen as the softer person to speak to as they would have previously had a good relationship.

Inspector Collins said if it (the evidence) was manufactured they did a very bad job of it if they were going manufacture it and tell lies. He said that what was before the court is what happened, supported by her phone call to her husband.

He said Joan Rogan was obviously annoyed at the time and people use language when they are annoyed. He suggested it was certainly credible that she used language when she was shouting up to Anita Rogan.

Judge Murphy, as stated, said she must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt and she had a doubt and Joan Rogan must benefit from that.
BUSINESS people from across Limerick are being called to enter the landmark 25th annual Entrepreneur of the Year contest.

Nominations for the EY-sponsored scheme are now open, with entrepreneurs from emerging to businesses to established and international groups are invited to submit their nominations between now and February 28 next.

Leanne Storan, the head of tax at EY Limerick said: "The 25th anniversary of the programme is a fantastic milestone and its an excellent opportunity to pause, reflect on and celebrate the truly meaningful impact that a generation of entrepreneurs have made to business and life across the island of Ireland. What we have seen over the last two years in particular has cemented our belief that entrepreneurs are special. Our alumni of over 560 entrepreneurs represent the very best of innovation, bravery and leadership, building world class businesses, creating employment and inspiring others to become change makers in their own right. We start this 25th year of the programme with optimism and a strong belief that the health of Irish entrepreneurship is stronger than ever."

New to the contest this year is a special award for sustainability, recognising somebody who is making the biggest contribution towards environmental sustainability through their business.

Ms Storan said: "This award will recognise those entrepreneurs that are making a material difference in the critical area of environmental sustainability. Entrepreneurs have always found solutions to our most pressing challenges and the award will acclaim those whose core business ambition is to provide answers to our critically important environmental questions. I am delighted that the EOY programme now has an opportunity to shine a light on those who are innovating to protect our future."

The 24 finalists will be selected by an independent judging panel, comprising of former winners and chaired by Anne Heraty of CPL Resources plc.

Ms Heraty has also been a judge at the annual Limerick Chamber business awards.

Anyone interested can find out more or complete an online nomination form at www.eoy.ie
GARDAI are advising members of the public to protect their property and not to leave it unattended following a number of recent incidents in the city.

In one incident, last Sunday afternoon, a lady in her early twenties was sitting in Arthurs Quay Park enjoying her lunch when she was targeted by a thief.

"She had placed her rucksack beside her on the path, a minute later she discovered that it had been taken. The lady was

very shocked as she believed that she had been keeping an eye on her bag," said divisional Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Ber Leetch.

"The park was very busy and a criminal saw their chance and took her bag," she added.

In another incident, a student who attending college in Limerick put his bag containing his laptop into his locker and went to a class. According to gardai, when he returned a short time later, the locker was empty.

"He did not lock his locker and again a thief saw their chance. Criminals can fit into any situation so it is better to keep anything of value on your person if you cannot secure it properly," advised Sgt Leetch.
FOUR serving gardai and a retired superintendent who are accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice are to be tried before Limerick Circuit Court after a judge refused to transfer the case to Dublin.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had sought to have the case moved to the capital as she feared it may not be possible to select an impartial jury in Limerick.

Making the application, Michael Delaney SC said there has been some media coverage and comments made in the Dail about the prosecution, which the DPP believes, were highly prejudicial.

Referencing three specific articles, published in the Irish Examiner last year, he said there were concerns that potential jurors in Limerick may be strongly sympathetic towards the accused or hostile towards the garda investigation.

He said the Irish Examiner articles had suggested the prosecution was disproportionate and oppressive and that there was an improper purpose behind the prosecution.

The five accused, who all have served in the Limerick garda division, are retired superintendent Eamon O'Neill, aged 55, who has an address in County Clare; Sergeant Anne Marie Hassett, aged 37, who has an address in County Clare; Sergeant Michelle Leahy, aged 46, who has an address in County Limerick; Garda Tom McGlinchey, aged 49, who has an address in County Tipperary and Garda Colm Geary, aged 35, who has an address in County Clare.

The DPP, Mr Delaney said, is concerned that some of the commentary in the three articles may reflect the view on the ground and that potential jurors in Limerick may be influenced by an active or perceived bias.

The allegations against the five defendants relate to the alleged squaring of penalty point offences over a three-year period and Mr Delaney said a number of those who allegedly benefited are celebrity figures while others are current or former members of the Limerick Senior Hurling panel.

He added that Mr ONeill, who retired last year, was a member of the backroom team in 2018 when Limerick won the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time in more than 40 years - bringing so much joy to thousands of GAA supporters across the city and county.

Counsel said comments made by two sitting members of the Dail - Limerick TD Richard ODonoghue and Clare TD Cathal Crowe - last September were inflammatory and involved the pre-judgment of issues that are a matter for a jury to decide.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told Deputy Crowe had likened the investigation to the Salem Witch Trial while Deputy ODonoghue had claimed that gardai were being prosecuted for doing their job.

Resisting the State application on behalf of all five defendants, James Dwyer SC said there would be a very considerable fade factor given that any trial is not likely to take place for at least 12 months.

He said the articles in the Irish Examiner, which were opened to the court, were balanced and carefully-worded and could not be considered to be sensational. He further submitted that they highlighted issues and raised questions about matters that will not be before a jury.

He added there was no evidence as to how many people in Limerick had actually read the articles or were aware of the comments made in the Dail by the two TDs.

There was also, he noted, no reference to local media or comments on social media about the case in the DPP's application.

Mr Dwyer said it is appropriate that justice is administered locally and he suggested there was no evidence, if any to support the DPPs application to transfer the case to Dublin.

Delivering his judgement, Judge ODonnell said the issue of media coverage is extremely difficult for the courts and he commented that the trial, given the nature of the allegations, will attract a certain amount of media attention and comment, wherever it takes place.

He added that he is satisfied it will be possible to select an impartial jury in Limerick as, from his experience, jurors in Limerick are robust and well able to grasp the issues and take direction.

The judge said he was not satisfied the DPP had met the required threshold to support its application which he formally refused.

While the case has been listed for the next callover in February, it is highly unlikely that any trial will take place this year.
CAROLINE O'Connor set up a Facebook page for her son called DJ's Bucket List and just two weeks later he was talking to David Walliams live on air!

It's been a whirlwind and fun journey for Caroline and DJ from Bruff. Caroline set up the Facebook page as DJ, aged 11, has a rare condition called Bardet Beidl and it is only a matter of time before his full sight could possibly go.

She and DJ decided, on top of advice from doctors, that he should do a bucket list of things before he loses his sight.

And last week they found themselves live on Radio 1 with Ray D'Arcy. DJ and Caroline were naturals on air and especially as Ray had some surprises up his sleeve. DJ revealed he wants to write a book in braille. Ray asked him who his favourite author is and quick as a flash DJ said David Walliams.

No sooner had he said it than the comedian and author was on the line saying hello. David advised DJ, Write what you would love to read. David also sent DJ presents in the post.

Another surprise guest was Donncha O'Callaghan who was on DJ's original bucket list. Aer Lingus also offered DJ a tour of a cockpit and fly him and his family to London.

Thus far, DJ has visited a fire station, seen an ambulance, boxed with Lee Reeves, gone on spins in a tractor and lorry, got a video message from Tadhg Fleming, was special guest at a Munster match, has taken swimming and karate lessons and received a medal from Little Blue Heroes.

Most recently DJ received a Limerick jersey from fellow Bruff man Sean Finn, attended the Limerick match, met captain on Sunday, Barry Nash, along with John Kiely and Paul Kinnerk afterwards.

He also visited Deputy Richard ODonoghues constituency office. Caroline wants to say a massive thank you to everyone in getting DJs Bucket List out there.

Especially for the interaction by likes and kind words to DJ. He really enjoys seeing so much love coming through the page to put a massive smile on his face. It really is amazing to see, even through hard times and the pandemic how much people can come together to support. We are forever grateful," said Caroline.

Some have even offered money and while Caroline is very appreciative she asks them to donate to the National Council for the Blind in Ireland.
THERE is sadness in Limerick following the closure of what's been described as an "iconic" fashion boutique after almost 70 years.

Amee's in Lower Cecil Street announced its closure on Facebook, with proprietor Mary McMahon opting to retire.

She said: "I want to thank everyone who called in to wish us well and shared lovely memories of shopping with us over the years. Thanks for the cards, chocolates, cakes, and flowers. Were overwhelmed by your kindness and good wishes. Thank you all once again for your absolutely amazing support for our business - 67 wonderful years."

Trading in Limerick since 1954, the boutique specialised in knitwear and separates, catering for stock sizes 10 to 20.

Local model agent and Limerick Leader columnist Celia Holman-Lee described Amee's as "one of the most popular and most treasured" stores in the city.

"It's sad they are closing. They have given service for more than 60 years. They've been thinking about retiring for quite a while. But they will be sadly sadly missed. They were one of the most popular, most treasured in the city as a fashion store by all ages, by all generations who had shopped there," she said.

She added: "These stores can never be replaced. The individuality of shopping is so important to a city or town, because they sell stocks that you don't get in the chain stores. It's very sad to see such an iconic, one of our dearest and loved stores in the city closing."

Mary confirmed the news she was to retire in a video posted to Facebook just before Christmas.

She said: "I think the time is right to retire. We've had two very stressful years as you have all had. You don't survive in business without having the respect and confidence of your customers. We had that in spades, and I thank you for that. All our customers both new and old have been the lifeblood of our business. We couldn't have done any of this without you. We appreciate every single customer we have. We've never taken you for granted. We've been through it all in Amee's."

She also paid tribute to the "fabulous" staff her boutique employed through the years.

"We could not have done what we did without our amazing, dedicated wonderful staff. Each and every one of you, I thank you most sincerely. Everything you ever did for us, we truly appreciate," added Mary.

Amee's is the second local independent boutique to announce its closure in a short period of time, following the sad news late last year that Gretta Gibbs in Catherine Street would also cease trading.
A FORMER bank and post office on the northside could be turned into an amusement arcade.

Amusement Equipment is seeking planning permission to convert the former Bank of Ireland and post office branch at the Caherdavin Shopping Centre into a gaming arcade and an internet cafe.

However, locals have expressed their opposition to the project, which the developer says will deliver five jobs to the area.

Mags Brown, the vice-chairperson of the Caherdavin Residents Association pointed out there is another amusement arcade a short walk away at the Funzone bowling alley in the Ennis Road.

She said what is proposed is not appropriate for this area.

It's a residential area. We already have an arcade down the road, and we have ample coffee shops. We don't want to encourage our children or adults to spend their time in an arcade and gaming centre, Ms Brown said, A lot of children would pass this area in the morning and night. We don't want to glamourise gaming and arcades.

Pat ONeill, who chairs the neighbouring Clonmacken Residents Group said the project would not support the primary function of the area.

Arcades target vulnerable and poor people and this is something we will not support, he added.

In a design statement, agents for Amusement Equipment point out the property will act as a community and social area for adults of all ages to meet and network together.

The gaming side of the proposed business will involve interactive gaming whereby customers will pay to use the gaming computers provided and will play interactive and E-games. The internet cafe will allow customers to use Wi-Fi and computers will be provided for web access, the statement said, adding that the site will be covered by CCTV.

But local Fine Gael councillor Olivia OSullivan feels the site would be better served by another business.

The idea of an arcade, gaming and internet cafe is completely unsuitable for that area. It would be perfect for a neighbourhood cafe as it has a big outdoor seating area. Something which benefits the neighbourhood. An arcade works well in a city centre, but is completely unsuitable in a neighbourhood centre, she added.

Ms Brown says she has also secured support from the other five northside councillors, Na Piarsaigh and Caherdavin Celtic FC.

Amusement Equipment has been approached for further comment.
Funding will be provided to tackle domestic violence and violence against women, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has promised.

In the wake of the Ashling Murphy murder, it has emerged that a number of counties do not have centres available for victims of domestic violence.

In light of this, the Taoiseach gave an assurance that funding will be provided for services, while speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland earlier today.

"I can understand people's cynicism, and scepticism about whether this will be done. I can assure people it will be done. It will be followed through," he said of funding for services.

"The death of Ashling Murphy has shocked the nation. We saw in the Dail yesterday that all parties are resolved to work together... to create a cross-party mechanism to ensure that we can fulfill these timelines and ensure that we're not back in a year's time asking why these timelines weren't met," An Taoiseach said.

In recent months, it emerged nine counties do not have refuges.

Speaking in the Dail yesterday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said "we must all work together to achieve a shared goal of zero tolerance of violence and abuse against women".

Several domestic violence support groups gave evidence to the Joint Justice Committee recently, she said.

"As the Taoiseach has said, I am leading the development of the third national strategy on domestic, sexual and gender based violence," Minister McEntee outlined.

"We have been working on this strategy for a year, and we listened to those in the sector who work on the frontline. And I am so grateful for their work, their support and their contributions.

"We listened to victims and survivors," she said.



"It will be underpinned by clear actions, timelines for reform and robust accountability mechanisms. It will be resourced as it should be," Ms McEntee said.
An Indian-origin chief executive of an online mortgage company, who faced criticism after firing about 900 employees over Zoom last month, is returning to his position.

Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better.com, had fired almost 900 employees over a Zoom call just weeks before Christmas last year.

A search is underway for new executives at the company, including a chairman, a president and a chief human resources officer, the companys board said in a message to employees Tuesday. Gargs return and the search for new leadership followed a thorough, independent review of Betters culture," according to the memo.

Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ryan will serve as president on an interim basis, while Activant Capital partner Richard Benson-Armer will be interim chief human resources officer. The company will also form an ethics and compliance committee led by Paula Tuffin, Betters general counsel and chief compliance officer.

In a separate email to employees Tuesday night, Garg apologized for the angst, distraction and embarrassment" his actions have caused. The CEO also pledged to be more thoughtful" in how he communicates with employees and to place more trust" in other leaders at the company.

Garg took a hiatus from the company last month after a video showing him dismissing about 15% of the companys staff surfaced on social-media platform TikTok. Garg apologized for how he handled the firing in a letter. Ensuing media coverage described Garg insulting his workforce via email and in meetings.

I will be returning to work full-time at Better this week after taking a break from my day-to-day duties to reflect and refocus," Garg wrote in his email Tuesday. I look forward to working with senior leadership and the board to ensure that we have an inclusive and respectful culture in place that is always consistent with our values."

Gargs planned return was first reported by TechCrunch on Tuesday.

With inputs from agencies

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Mining firm Vedanta Resources Ltd plans to create a $10 billion fund to bid for assets including the Indian government's stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), its chairman told Reuters on Thursday.

The Indian government is seeking to privatise state-run refiner BPCL https://www.reuters.com/article/india-bpcl-privatisation-idINKBN27Y165 by selling its near 53% stake in the firm, worth just over $6 billion, to private entities.

"We are in the process of creating a fund of $10 billion," Anil Agarwal said in an interview in Dubai. "It will not only look at (BPCL) but there are other companies being privatised. It will look at the potential of those companies also."

Also read: Vedanta plans investments in mineral sector in Saudi Arabia

The fund will be made up of its own resources and outside investment, Agarwal said, adding that it may also finance the BPCL acquisition through debt.

"We will work out a structure, we are doing the due diligence," he said. "As soon as the date comes, we will firm up and work out on how we take the money and go about it."

"There is no large fund which does not want to associate with us in general. Money will never be a problem," he added.

London-headquartered Vedanta Resources, founded by Agarwal in 2003, has grown its annual revenues from $1 million to over $15 billion in the past decade.

As well as its operations in India, the group has mining interests in South Africa and a precious metal refinery and copper rod plant in the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah Free Zone.

It is also exploring opportunities for new zinc, gold and magnesium mines in Saudi Arabia. Agarwal said $2 billion worth of investment will be required to tap opportunities in the kingdom.

"They (Saudi Arabia) are coming out in March with full details," he said. "They are inviting very serious, interested people to come and participate and look at joint ventures."

Agarwal also said the company aims to become zero-carbon by 2050, and will invest $5 billion in the medium term to reduce its carbon footprint.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
President Joe Biden said that hes not ready to lift tariffs his predecessor imposed on Chinese imports, despite calls from U.S. businesses to relieve the duties.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is working on that right now," Biden said at a news conference Wednesday marking his first year in office. But the answer is uncertain," he added.

Id like to be able to be in a position where I could say theyre meeting their commitments -- more than their commitments -- and be able to lift some of it, but were not there yet," he said.

Data point to China having posted a record trade surplus with the U.S. in 2021, thanks in large part to Americans pandemic-stoked appetite for Chinese-made goods, from home electronics to bicycles.

But Bidens promised new China strategy, set to be unveiled late last year, has been delayed, and so far hes largely kept in place policies from the Trump administration while calling out Chinese leaders over abuses in Hong Kong and against ethnic Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
Posted by Jay on at 09:01 AM CST

Marvel has sent out solicitations for their April 2022 titles, including 7comics and 2 Trade Paperbacks!(of 5)CHARLES SOULE (W)  STEVEN CUMMINGS (A) Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YUVariant cover by DAVID NAKAYAMAConnecting Variant Cover by ARIO ANINDITOWarriors of Dawn Variant Cover by VALERIO GIANGIORDANOSabacc Card Variant Cover by DAVID LOPEZSyndicate Variant Cover by KHOI PHAMKnights of Dawn Variant Cover by RAHZZAHEnemies of Dawn Variant Cover by CLAYTON CRAINTRAITOR OF DAWN VARIANT COVER BY PAUL RENAUDTHE KNIGHTS! THE KNIGHTS OF REN have their role to play in QIRAS grand scheme to destabilize THE EMPIRE, and their task is arguably the most important Something crucial is locked away in FORTRESS VADER, and the Knights must steal it. 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SPOILER: Han breaks into his targets safe, but you wont believe whats inside!40 PGS./Rated T $4.99CHARLES SOULE (W)  RAMON ROSANAS (A)  Cover by CARLO PAGULAYANACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHERTRAITOR OF DAWN VARIANT COVER BY PAUL RENAUD  VARIANT COVER BY KEN LASHLEYTHE DAWN ALLIANCE  PART 2 OF 3 "The Last Division" The fate of THE REBEL ALLIANCE FLEET is at stake, as its last remaining divisions face off in battle against the brutal tactics of COMMANDER ELLIAN ZAHRA and her crew on the TARKINS WILL. For Zahra, this fight is personal; her revenge will not be complete until every life lost on THE DEATH STAR is avenged. Epic space warfare in the true STAR WARS manner!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99GREG PAK (W)  RAFFAELE IENCO (A)Cover by PAUL RENAUDVARIANT COVER BY RAFFAELE IENCOTRIATOR OF DAWN VARIANT COVER BY PAUL RENAUDCRIMSON HAVOC! With all secrets smashed and all traitors revealed, DARTH VADER unleashes his endgame! But is his target CRIMSON DAWN  or the EMPIRE itself? 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On Wednesday evening, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials were at the home of Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28) in Laredo.

According to the statement released by the FBI, they were "conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity" at the home of the congressman.

The FBI was present in the vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity, said Rosanne Hughes, a public affairs officer out of the FBIs San Antonio Division. The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation.

The Monitors Valerie Gonzalez was outside of Cuellars residence as agents were at the residence.

LMT later confirmed the news with the FBI.

Prior to the confirmation, citizen journalist Priscilla La Gordiloca Trevino was also transmitting a live video from the downtown offices of Cuellar, located at 1519 Washington St.

She stated in a live video that the FBI was present at the offices of the congressman, as she received a tip from someone who happened to be walking by.

The downtown building is also home to other various local lawyers and businesses renting the building for their services, according to a Google search of the building.

The congressman did not respond to any questions throughout the day concerning the situation, but his office did provide a statement.

His campaign office also did not issue anything regarding the matter.

The statement released by Cuellars office read: Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld.

The home of Cuellar that was being searched by the FBI is located in a gated community in the City of Laredo.

Texas' 28th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives covers a strip in deep South Texas starting in the eastern outskirts of San Antonio, and ending at the U.S.-Mexico border. Towns entirely or partially within this district include Converse, Laredo, Rio Grande City and Universal City.

Cuellar, an eight-term incumbent, is running for office once again this year. The Democratic primary will be held March 1. The general election will be Nov. 8.

This is a developing story.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com

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Laredo police seized several firearms following a report of a man down, authorities said.

On Jan. 17, an officer responded to the China Express on 4202 McPherson Road for a report of a man down. The officer encountered a white Dodge Charger that appeared to be on. Inside was a man holding a plate who appeared to be asleep, according to court documents.

When the officer opened the driver side door, the driver looked at the officer dazed and confused. He appeared to be under the influence of some alcoholic beverage or drug. The officer asked him to put down his food and exit the vehicle, states an arrest affidavit.

He allegedly stated, This is bull---- before refusing to exit the vehicle. Instead, he stated he would contact his family. He kept refusing to step out of the vehicle and claimed he was not under the influence of any narcotics. He claimed he was tired from work, but he could not provide information about his workplace, the affidavit states.

The man then ignored multiple commands to turn off his vehicle. To keep him from driving off, the officer reached for the keys. Thats when the driver hit the cop and left him with a small cut on his left hand. The driver also kicked the officer on his left knee saying, Leave me the f--- alone, states the affidavit.

During the struggle with the cop, the man began yelling that he had a broken rib. He was eventually detained and placed inside the patrol unit. Authorities identified him as Alfonso Melendez, 41.

A search of his vehicle yielded a Kel-tec Model PMR-30 with a loaded magazine. Further inspection of the trunk led to the seizure of an Olympic Arms MFR AR-15, a Century Arms C39v2 AK pistol and a Glock 27 Gen4. A records check revealed Melendez was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2006.

In a post-arrest interview, Melendez stated he had taken 2 mg of Alprazolam. He also stated that his ribs hurt from when his wife stood on him about two weeks ago, according to court documents.

Melendez was arrested and charged with assault on a public servant, resisting arrest with a deadly weapon and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
The omicron variant is continuing to worsen the Laredo COVID-19 situation as the new variants higher transmissibility has seen the highest spike in overall cases and its increased infection rate among pediatric cases.

Within the first 18 days of 2022, approximately 12,578 cases have been reported, confirmed and probable, making up 17.44% of the cumulative cases that the city has reported.

Laredo Health Authority Dr. Victor Trevino said that the biggest concern of the current surge lies in the pediatric population and how the omicron variant infects more children under 18, while the city still lacks a pediatric ICU. He said that a 6-week-old baby tested positive for a COVID-19 infection on Monday and was showing symptoms; the baby was being treated at an emergency room.

And while the omicron variant is a milder variant, its increased infection rate will have dire consequences for hospitals.

If only a small percentage of these people get complicated, especially with people with underlying conditions, this would overwhelm the hospitals. And that is the reason we are requesting more state staff, Trevino said.

Compounding the issue is the lack of staff available. Trevino said that while state staff requests have been filed, without additional staff, the hospitals may be over capacity.

We will not be able to handle another week of this without additional staff, he said.

While Trevino believes that this weeks school districts remote learning change was a good mitigation strategy, it may not be enough to flatten the curve. Trevino added that this combined with Nuevo Laredos similar situation both exacerbate the cities situations.

According to Dr. Richard Chamberlain, Laredo Health Department Director, the citys positivity rate currently sits at approximately 47.8% and has seen a cumulative 2,469 cases within the last two weeks. Despite it resulting in more mild symptoms as compared to the delta variant, the increased number of cases puts hospitals at risk of reaching capacity.

He explained in his presentation that the current spike is the most significant spike throughout the past two years. According to Chamberlains epidemic curve graph showing the citys four spikes, the first saw 573 reported cases in 2020, the second spike had 712, the third spike had 218 and the current one has 1,007, based on the specimen date of collection.

Chamberlain explained that an epidemic curve shows progression of illnesses in an outbreak over time. Epi curves depict when people became ill by day, week or month. The epi curve shared during the council meeting presents the date of when specimens (confirmed and probable) were collected cataloging the date a patient accessed testing because they were symptomatic, exposed or participating in routine surveillance.

Chamberlain continued stating the information is recorded via laboratory reports submitted to Laredo Healths Epidemiology Division, therefore, the data point - 1007 - means 1007 persons on Dec. 30, 2021 resulted in a confirmed or probable result.

As of Tuesday, the hospitalization rate is 23.33%, Chamberlain said, adding that there are more persons being admitted to the hospital, but not to critical ICU areas. So far there have been 19 deaths from the omicron variant versus the 98 from the delta. As for total cases, there have been 7,811 delta cases reported versus the 6,472 omicron cases.

This data was recorded based on the span between July 2021 to September 2021 for the delta, and December 2021 to the present date. Chamberlain said that he believes that the total number of cases for omicron will soon overtake the delta variant.

However, in regard to vaccinations, Laredo currently has a 94.14% fully vaccinated rate and is currently one of the top three in the state of Texas and in the top 5 of the United States, Chamberlain said. He noted that despite the high number, as of Tuesday, only 46,512 residents have received their booster shot and said that 124,790 residents are currently eligible for boosters under the five-month rule since August.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
Board members and spectators take their seats as the Town of Lockport Planning Board convene to decide whether a 45-acre solar farm will be sited on Maverick Farms. (Photograph by Benjamin Joe)
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
New York Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, R-Niagara County, speaks about the Republican Take Back New York agenda during a news conference before Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers her first State of the State address at the state Capitol on Jan. 5 in Albany. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, Pool)
Community, Charity & Cause

By Ls Cohen Published: January 20 2022

More than 50 co-workers laid wreaths at National Cemetery gravesites to honor fallen veterans.

A group of PSEG Long Island employees recently participated in a nationwide campaign to honor fallen service members by laying wreaths at their gravesites for the holidays. This year, more than 50 co-workers supported the Wreaths Across America movement at both Calverton National Cemetery and Long Island National Cemetery at Pinelawn.

Volunteers lay wreaths each December  on National Wreaths Across America Day  at more than 2,500 locations across all 50 states and many U.S. territories, including Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., Long Islands two national cemeteries, and on working military vessels. The movement is an effort to remember our fallen U.S. veterans; honor those who serve; and teach children the value of our freedom.

Here is some of what the volunteers said about their experience:

I have been participating in Wreaths Across America for many years, and I recall one year when it snowed. The image of the footpaths of the volunteers between the graves lined with wreaths was an overwhelming sight, said Dave Maul of Eastport. I support our veterans through this event and other similar activities because I feel its the least I can do to honor those who have fought and also died protecting our lives and our freedom.

France Marquez. Photo: PSEG Long Island.

It is a small token of appreciation for all the military personnel who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, said France Marquez of Elmont, who participated in this years event.

Sean OBrien. Photo: PSEG Long Island.

It was great to spend a few hours with colleagues outside of work on a rainy Saturday to honor our fallen heroes, said Sean OBrien of Medford. Everyone is capable of doing good, and Im glad PSEG Long Island gives us opportunities to give back and do good for others and to help our community. Im grateful I could be part of something this big and important.

Ed Petrocelli. Photo:PSEG Long Island.

Our great country has been independent for 246 years, said Ed Petrocelli of Mount Sinai. We honor fallen brave Americans by placing wreaths on their graves because they are the patriots who ensured our country is free and strong. Its not an exaggeration to say that I am humbled to pay tribute to them.

Taking a few minutes to honor these veterans who have served in the armed forces is not too much to ask of ourselves, said Dan Gutiw of Riverhead, who added, Im happy to do my part.

Pictured from left to right: Norbertos children, Liam and Mila, at the grave of their great grandfather, Pfc. Ivan P Tardif, U.S. Army. Photo: PSEG Long Island.

It is of utmost importance for me, as an American, to teach my children to honor the veterans who have served our country selflessly. That is why I volunteered with my children, Liam, who is a cadet with the Lt. Michael Murphy Naval Sea Cadet Division, and Mila, said Norberto Gutierrez of Mastic. Wreaths Across America is just one way to partake in the celebration of our heroes during this holiday season, and it was an honor for all of us to do it.

Raymond Homburger. Photo: PSEG Long Island.

I have been supporting Wreaths Across America, as well as other veteran-related causes, for as long as I can recall, as both a PSEG Long Island employee and as vice president of The Moonjumpers organization that supports local veterans and children in need, said Raymond Homburger of Wading River. I enjoy the camaraderie of getting together with PSEG Long Island colleagues on this day to honor our veterans. I come from a family of veterans, and I strongly believe that all Americans owe a debt of gratitude to those who served our country and fought for the freedom we all enjoy today.
Leesburg, VA (20175)

Today

A few showers in the morning, then clouds lingering in the afternoon. High 79F. SSW winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low around 55F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
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(Alliance News) - UK Communities Secretary Michael Gove is meeting with developers on Thursday to discuss how to pay for works to rectify cladding and building safety issues, the Home Builders Federation said.

Gove is expected to discuss how developers can work with the government to help fix safety issues, including dangerous cladding on buildings, the PA news agency understands.

It comes after ministers pledged to amend legislation to better protect thousands of leaseholders from being hit with hefty bills for safety work.

Speaking before the meeting, Stewart Baseley, executive chair of the HBF, said the industry body would urge the government to "provide clear leadership".

He said: "Whilst absolutely agreeing that leaseholders should not have to pay, we firmly believe that any further solutions must be proportionate, take into account the significant commitments made by industry so far, and involve other companies, sectors and organisations who are outside the scope of the Residential Property Developers Tax.

"The largest builders, who only built a minority of the affected buildings, have already spent or committed approaching GBP1 billion to remediate affected buildings and the new Residential Developers Tax & Building Safety Levy will raise billions more."

Baseley said the HBF believes the government is now "asking for further contributions" from developers to help rectify buildings constructed by other companies.

"We do not believe it should fall to responsible house-builders to fund the remediation of buildings built by foreign companies, developers no longer trading, or other parties," he said.

Baseley said the HBF will ask the government for talks to be broadened to include other bodies, including freeholders and the firms which designed, tested and sold materials that developers bought in good faith.

He added: "We will also be urging [the] government [to] provide clear leadership, to define guidance, and work with lenders, insurers, surveyors and the construction industry to understand what remediation work must be undertaken to resolve issues for residents quickly and simply."

Meanwhile, Giles Grover from the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign said it welcomed Gove's attempts to pressure developers to "properly engage and provide real help to innocent leaseholders".

"However, as always we need to see this actually lead to firm action on the ground to make buildings safe quickly," he added in a statement.

"We remain concerned that the development community will only do the right thing if they are forced to do so."

The Building Safety Bill, which is due to undergo further scrutiny in the Lords before potentially becoming law, would give a new regulator the power to prosecute rule-breaking developers and take their properties off the market.

It forms part of the government's plans to avert a repeat of the Grenfell Tower blaze in London, which killed 72 people in 2017.

A developers' tax could also be introduced to hit those responsible for dangerous cladding if firms do not voluntarily fix safety defects.

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Premier Foods PLC on Thursday has boosted its annual profit expectations as it heads into its final quarter with "strong momentum".

The St Albans, England-based food manufacturer now expects adjusted pretax profit to be around GBP125 million for the year ending in April, which would top the current company-compiled consensus estimate of GBP119.3 million. The new figure would represent an 8.4% increase year-on-year from financial 2021's 52-week figure of GBP115.3 million.

It expects trading profit to be GBP145 million, above consensus of GBP140.7 million. This would be a 2.2% decrease from financial 2021's 52-week trading profit of GBP148.3 million, however.

The manufacturer reported a drop in sales of 1.8% year-on-year in its third-quarter ending January 1, but growth of 7.0% on a two-year comparative. The Christmas period drove its brand to its best performance to date, with its branded Sweet Treats division being the only one to report growth from the previous year of 6.3%.

The drop in year-on-year sales is largely due to "pandemic-related elevated volumes and stock buy in ahead of EU exit in Ireland," the company said.

Premier Foods outperformed the market by 3.5%, gaining 90 basis points of market share in the 12 weeks to Christmas day.

Chief Executive Officer Alex Whitehouse commented: "The strong momentum from the first half of the year continued into the key Q3 trading period, with our brands growing by 11% compared to two years ago. This was well ahead of the market across all our categories and resulted in very encouraging share gains. This performance continues to underline the popularity of our brands but also demonstrates the strength of our established branded growth model, with many of our brands supported by advertising campaigns and new product innovation during the quarter."

It expects to continue deleveraging, and the ratio of net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is moving towards medium-term targets of 1.5 times.

The company's share price rose by 6.4% to 117.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Serbian authorities have abandoned plans to build a controversial lithium mine, the country's prime minister said Thursday, following weeks of protests against the project set to be built by Rio Tinto PLC.A

The surprise U-turn from the government comes months ahead of likely parliamentary elections with President Aleksandar Vucic's administration looking to shore up support from voters following weeks of protests that gained traction across the Balkan country.A

"We have fulfilled all the demands from the environmental protests and have put an end to Rio Tinto in the Republic of Serbia," said premier Ana Brnabic during a televised address.A

"Everything about the Jadar project is finished," she added, referring to the mine that was set to be built in western Serbian.

Vast deposits of lithium a a key component for electric car batteries a are found around the western town of Loznica, where the Anglo-Australian company had bought up land and was awaiting a final green light from the state to begin mining.

Rio Tinto discovered lithium reserves in the Loznica region in 2006.

The company had intended to invest USD2.4 billion in the project.

Critics of the project, however, accused Vucic's government of paving the way for illegal land appropriations and brushing aside environmental concerns.

source: AFP

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - BHP Group PLC on Thursday said shareholders backed its planned unification under its Australian parent company, edging the miner ever closer to exiting the FTSE 100.

Roughly 98% of voters backed the unification plans, BHP said. In December, BHP said it received regulatory and competition approvals for the unification.

Back in August, BHP announced plans to unify its corporate structure under its Australian parent company. The changes move its primary listing to Sydney's Australian Securities Exchange. The move will see one of the largest components in the FTSE 100 leave the index, as London will no longer be its primary listing.

BHP also will keep a secondary listing in Johannesburg and have American Depositary Shares traded in New York.

The unification plan followed an agreement by BHP to merge its oil and gas portfolio with Sydney-listed Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

The oil and gas unit's tie-up with Perth, Australia-based Woodside will create one of the 10 largest independent energy producers in the world.

Terms for the merger, which will see Woodside absorb BHP's oil and gas assets, were agreed in November. The all-stock deal will see Woodside shareholders have 52% of the new company and BHP shareholders 48%.

BHP shares closed 0.5% higher at 2,486.38 pence each in London on Thursday. The stock fell 0.4% to ZAR515.40 in Johannesburg.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Hollywood star Andrew Garfield opens up about the death of his former co-star Heath Ledger, just days before the anniversary of his fatal drug overdose.

The 38-year-old actor was discussing the topic of mourning when he mentioned Ledger, who died of a drugs overdose in 2008 while the pair were in the middle of filming 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' together, and is determined to "keep his spirit alive."

He said: "When anyone dies, we want the beauty of keeping their memory alive by talking about them and by repeating stories over and over again. I think especially with someone who died so young - I remember feeling it with Heath. He died in the middle of a film that we were making together. And also he was just obviously such an incredible artiste and a gift to the world."

Garfield played Anton in the Terry Gilliam-directed film alongside Ledger as Tony Shepard and following Heath's death other stars such as Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell joined the cast to film Heath's remaining scenes, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Garfield then went on to claim that the same notion applies to late 'Rent' composer Jonathan Larson, who suffered a fatal aneurysm aged 35 in 1996 and was played by Andrew in the 2021 musical biopic 'Tick, Tick,...Boom!'.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, he added: "I think the same goes for Jonathan. It was like the amount of people that want to keep his spirit alive enabled us to get all of the information and all of the subjective experiences that people had with him and I love that."
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Duke Royalty Ltd - royalty finance company - Makes GBP2.5 million follow-on investment into existing royalty partner InTec Business Solutions Ltd to fund its two latest acquisitions. InTec is an investment holding company focused synergistic companies within the IT Managed Services sector in the UK and Ireland. Financing increases company's total investment in InTec to GBP12.4 million. The terms are the same as Duke's previous follow-on investment into InTec including a starting yield of 13.5% and the normal 6% annual adjustment factor. InTec recently buys Provident Technology Ltd, an IT Managed Services business, as well as Firefly Enterprises Ltd, a provider of fixed line data and telecom services.

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Marlowe PLC - London-based safety and regulatory compliance services and software firm - Raises GBP130 million from "significantly oversubscribed" placing. Places 13.1 million shares, priced at 1,000 pence each, which was a 4.3% discount to Wednesday's closing price. As part of the placing, Chief Executive Alex Dacre subscribed for 20,000 shares. Will use proceeds to acquire Optima Health Group Ltd, a provider of technology-enabled Occupational Health services in the UK. Says Optima deal is "consistent with its strategy to become the leader in the Occupational Health sector". Dacre adds: "The acquisition of Optima significantly strengthens our Governance, Risk & Compliance division and builds further confidence in the delivery of our 2024 strategy, which is materially ahead of schedule."

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GSTechnologies Ltd - Milton Keynes, England-based fintech and information technology company - Enters legally binding sale & purchase agreement to buy UAB Glindala, a holder of a crypto currency exchange licence registered in Lithuania, for a total cash of EUR27,500. Plans to launch full-service cryptoasset exchange, hoping to open it in the second quarter. Glindala's crypto licence is supervised by the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service and it covers two types of crypto activities, cryptoasset exchange services, both crypto-fiat and crypto-crypto, and cryptoasset depository wallet services, including generating and storing encrypted client keys. Notes deal will only complete if the licence is approved by the FCIS.

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Open Orphan PLC - pharmaceutical services provider - Says subsidiary hVIVO inoculates first cohort of volunteers with a GMP-manufactured malaria challenge agent as part of its first controlled human malaria infection challenge study. "This study will assess CHMI using existing standard of care antimalarial drugs against Plasmodium malaria," company says. Study expected to complete in first quarter, with results due in second quarter. Executive Chair Cathal Friel says: "This study also ensures that Open Orphan is both strengthening and further diversifying the company's world leading portfolio of viral challenge models. We look forward to updating the market in due course."

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Zenova Group PLC - Brentwood, England-based fire safety and thermal insulation products provider - Signs "partners in health" contract with the Epsom & St Hellier University Hospitals NHS Trust in Surrey, UK. "The signing of the contract and Zenova achieving NHS trusted partner status followed the evaluation of its fire safety and insulation products by the Trust's EME Technical Support Services division. It paves the way for Zenova's products to be used to improve fire safety and insulation throughout the Trust's estate," company says. Chief Executive Tony Crawley says deal is "considerable development" for company.

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Altus Strategies PLC - Didcot, England-based mining royalty company - Amends joint venture and earn-in agreement with Marvel Gold over the Tabakorole gold project and two contiguous gold licences for a total of 292 square kilometres in southern Mali. Marvel now holds a 70% equity interest in the licences and retains the right to increase their holding to 80% following a definitive feasibility study. Altus retains a 30% equity interest and holds a 2.5% net smelter return royalty on these licences. Exploration activities are being sole funded by Marvel. As part of the deal, Altus now holds a 100% interest in the highly prospective Lakanfla gold project in western Mali.

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Good Energy Group PLC - Chippenham-based renewable energy utility - Sells 47.5 megawatt renewable generation asset portfolio for up to GBP24.5 million to Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd. Good Energy notes sale part of its ongoing strategic shift to energy and mobility services. Will receive GBP16.4 million up front, with GBP8.1 million deferred based on operational, technical, real estate and financial position of the projects. "Proceeds from the transaction will be used to accelerate and support further investments across both transport and decentralised energy to deliver Good Energy's strategic plan. These investments will not occur all at once and in the meantime, proceeds have further strengthened the company's balance sheet," company adds. Notes it will take part in subsidiary Zap-Map's current funding round.

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Rockfire Resources PLC - gold and base metal exploration company - Reports highest-grade hole drilled so far at diamond drilling programme at 100%-owned Copperhead porphyry project in North Queensland, Australia. Says hole BCH003 returns 370 metres at 0.20% copper equivalent from 57 metres, with copper veins observed throughout the entire 429 metres long drill hole. The drill hole finished in copper-bearing veins. Notes higher-grade interval of 50 metres at 0.35% copper equivalent occurs from 259 metres downhole depth, and a more intensely veined interval of 22 metres at 0.41% copper equivalent has been intersected from 271 metres downhole depth. Chief Executive David Price says results are "encouraging," as it "significantly expands the volume, and therefore tonnage, of the deposit."

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GreenX Metals Ltd - Arctic Rift copper project in Greenland - Finds new "walk-up" native copper and copper sulphide targets for the upcoming field program at Arctic Rift copper project. Notes two additional exposures of native copper mineralisation identified from recently unearthed historical documentation at Neergaard Dal, as well as new priority, walk-up, at-surface target identified along the Knuth Fault which is a discovery zone "lookalike" feature. Company says results are "very exciting". Adding: "This true first-mover opportunity has tremendous potential for multiple major new copper discoveries."

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Bradda Head Lithium Ltd - North America-focused lithium development - Starts trading on the US OTCQB Market, and notes it will have no impact on its existing shares trading on AIM. No new shares will be issued. Chief Executive Charles FitzRoy says: "Bradda finished 2021 in a great position with USD9.9 million in the treasury from the royalty transaction with LRC as well as our 2021 IPO funds and has started 2022 strongly. Cross-listing on the OTCQB will enable North American investors to trade our AIM listed shares gaining exposure to this North American lithium opportunity."

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Tirupati Graphite PLC - graphite mining and processing company - Hits technological milestone for its column flotation system which it believes will "significantly improve" its performance of its primary graphite and downstream specialty graphite production processes. "After concluding successful trials, Tirupati will be shipping the first commercial scale CFS with a 1.5 million tonnes per hour capacity, for installation and operation at its 9,000 tonnes per annum Vatomina graphite production plant in Madagascar," company says. Also says this "increases its confidence" of its strategy of "rapidly increasing production capacity."

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African Pioneer PLC - Isle of Man-based natural resources company - Enters option agreement with Toronto-listed First Quantum Minerals Ltd for 4 of the 5 Zambian exploration licences held by by its 80%-owned subsidiary in Zambia. "The four exploration licences the subject of the option agreement are in the highly prospective Central Africa Copperbelt in northwest Zambia which is the largest and most prolific mineralized sediment- hosted copper province in the world and are located less than 100 kilometres from First Quantum's giant Sentinel copper mine," company says. As part of deal, First Quantum has the right to be issued shares equal to a 51% shareholding in African Pioneer Zambia during first earn-in period in first 2 years of deal. After which, in the second earn-in period, Quantum will have right to up its 51% shareholding in African Pioneer Zambia to 75%.

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Aura Energy Ltd - Tiris uranium project in Mauritania - Seeking to expand the current uranium resource through further exploration and commence production at Tiris. A 2022 resource upgrade program will include further drilling, seeking to upgrade more of its 56 million pounds resource from inferred to measured & indicated. "The program is designed to expand what is already one of the lowest capex and lowest operating cost uranium projects in the world, and we aspire to expand the resource so that it supports expansion of Tiris to ultimately operate at 3 to 5 Mlbs U3O8 production per year," company adds.

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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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To remember those lost to COVID-19, and to honor healthcare and frontline workers in their diligent efforts to battle the virus, Lets End COVID!, Lycoming College, and the Lycoming Tri-County NAACP are partnering to host a Candlelight Vigil. The event will take place Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 5:15 p.m. on Lycoming Colleges Fultz Quad. Attendees are required to wear masks.

Going into the third year of the pandemic, members of the Williamsport community have experienced heartache, loss, and long-term health effects as a result of COVID-19. The vigil will provide attendees an opportunity for reflection, as well as for appreciation of the healthcare and frontline workers who continue to care for families. Charles Kiessling, Jr., RN, BSN, Lycoming County Coroner; Lisa E. Williams, president of Lycoming Tri-County NAACP, and the Rev. Roy Weeden, district pastor, Seventh Day Adventist Church of Williamsport, Milton, and Lock Haven, will provide remarks, followed by a candle-lighting ceremony.

Lets End COVID! is a group of concerned people in Northcentral Pennsylvania working to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic through education, outreach, and mitigation. Membership includes leaders in the fields of medicine, public health, the faith community, education, business, and public policy. Although from a variety of perspectives, the group shares a non-partisan desire to implement solutions to this public health crisis that has devastated the lives of so many families in Lycoming County.

The NAACP is a multi-racial civil rights organization founded 112 years ago. Part of the Pennsylvania Conference of the national organization serving Lycoming, Clinton, and Northumberland Counties, the Lycoming Tri-County Branch seeks to educate, raise up Black voices, and cultivate the community energy of residents in the region to make changes here.

A map of parking and the vigil location is available at https://letsendcovid.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/LycomingCampusMap.pdf.
Madison, IN (47250)

Today

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 50F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 50F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
The National Court orders the expulsion, from the national territory for ten years, of a Moroccan citizen who formed a jihadist cell in the prison of Palma to recruit fighters for the jihad and to organise attacks in Morocco and Spain. The prisoner is a Moroccan citizen who arrived in Spain at the age of twelve and resided in Manacor. In 2019 he was serving a sentence for a crime of robbery with force and had previously been in the penitentiary centre on two other occasions.

As confirmed by two other inmates, in prison he offered significant amounts of money to people to travel to Syria to make jihad. He was looking, in collaboration with people who were at liberty, for predisposed inmates who were about to serve their sentences. They were offered about five thousand euros, military training, a comfortable economic future and a Muslim woman as a wife.

According to the police report, the network began operating in 2014 and maintained its activity for almost five years. In addition, in prison he was classified as a dangerous prisoner, with a "top dog position" from which he attempted to convert other prisoners.

Based on the complaint, a criminal proceeding was initiated by the Nacional Court, this was dismissed. However, in application of the Immigration Law, a very serious sanction was imposed on him, revoking his long-term residence permit as he posed a threat to national security.

Appeal

The expelled filed an appeal that is now dismissed by the Court. He denied that he posed a risk to national security and appealed to his roots in Mallorca, where his parents, three siblings, his partner and a son born in 2015 are. These arguments are rejected: "Given the radicalisation that has been exposed, there are undoubtedly compelling reasons of public safety for his expulsion". It was also alleged in the appeal that the criminal investigation of the Central Court of Instruction had failed, so there was no firm conviction for jihadism. The Litigation Chamber answered that "the absence of a criminal proceeding or conviction cannot prevent the processing and resolution of an administrative proceeding for the commission of an infraction".
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High near 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Showers in the evening, then cloudy overnight. Low around 45F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated on Jan. 20 to reflect the correct estimated market value for the donated property.

FILER TWP.  Manistee County Habitat for Humanity recently announced the acquisition of 5.5-acres of vacant land that was owned by Morton Salt in Filer Township.

The property was donated by Morton Salt for the purposes of creating a quality affordable housing development, according to Vanessa Buhs, Manistee County Habitat for Humanity executive director.

Officials say that when completed, this project could be the largest undertaking made by Habitat for Humanity in its nearly 30-years of operation in the county.

The gifting of land from Morton Salt to Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful example of why Habitat for Humanity works and inspires others to partner with Habitat for Humanity, said Sandra Pearson, Michigan Habitat for Humanity president in a statement to the News Advocate.

The property had been owned by Morton Salt for over 90 years, but had long since run its course as a viable location for the extraction of minerals, according to Jacob Bialik, evaporation operation director at the Manistee site.

There's been a salt factory down here since the late 1800s, but Morton bought the property or bought the facility in 1930. So we've been a long-standing member of the community, and we're always looking for opportunities to encourage folks to come to Manistee and be a part of our manufacturing location, Bialik said.

Habitat plans to construct up to nine single family homes at the site, although a timeline has not yet been set for their construction, according to president Randy Zakrajsek.

We build homes as we match families (and) we don't have anybody in our queue right now that we're building for, Zakrajsek said.

Our process is first we find the partner family and make sure that their credit and qualifications are available for what we're doing for our national charter, and then we build a home that suits their needs, he continued.

Habitat-built homes are designed with energy efficiency and other cost saving measures in mind. The estimated market value for the Filer Township lots is between $25,000 to $35,000, according to Zakrajsek.

Well-planned affordable housing has a significant positive impact on whole communities, Zakrajsek said. ... Our Manistee Habitat intends to build quality homes that are characteristic of the existing neighborhood. By using cutting edge construction and energy efficiency techniques we can lower impact utility costs for the owners and that is a huge factor in affordability for years to come.

Partner families are also expected to contribute 250 hours of sweat equity toward the build.

Currently, there are no structures on the property, located in two sections  one on 15th Street near Mack Park and the second with frontage on Merkey Road.

Buhs said the property was ideally situated for partner families in a residential neighborhood. Its centralized location in Filer Township she said is within 12 blocks of Manistee Area Public Schools and Manistee Catholic Central, and has nearby access to a grocery store, gas station and pharmacy.

The lots are planted with a dense grove of mature trees and situated with a backdrop of nearby Lake Winnogene.

Habitat counts the Manistee County Community Foundation among its list of allied organizations. Community foundation President and CEO Laura Heintzelman thanked Morton Salt Company for its contributions to the community in a statement to the News Advocate.

Thanks to the generosity of Morton Salt company and the expertise and drive of Manistee County Habitat for Humanity, our community is taking action toward ensuring that all of our residents have a safe, quality home that they can afford, Heintzelman stated. This is an exceptional piece of vacant property in Filer Township. This project will provide needed workforce housing and serve as a promising model for future housing developments.

The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development defines an affordable dwelling as one that a household can obtain for 30% or less of its income.

Workforce housing is a key term according to Heintzelman, as it considers affordability by income range and is generally defined as housing that is affordable to households earning between 60% and 120% of area median income.

In 2019, the area median income for Manistee County was $50,055, so workforce housing is considered affordable to households earning between $30,033 and $60,066 annually, Heintzelman stated.

Over the past decade, the availability of affordable workforce housing has plummeted both locally and nationwide, according to Pearson.

Households with two wage earners are really struggling to find quality housing they can afford according to their budget, stated Pearson. This land will be developed and sold at price points working households and those with limited incomes can buy.



As homeowners, they will experience all of the benefits of quality housing such as better health, less stress, space to study and work. All of this leads to better lives and stronger neighborhoods, schools, employment and communities. We all win when we join together to meet the needs of our people and communities in ways that make sense, Pearsons statement continued.



Recent Habitat builds in the county include development of properties in places like Eastlake that had been donated by the Manistee County Land Bank.

Land Bank Chair, Rachel Nelson said that Habitat projects are an asset for a community in need of housing.

Workforce housing is desperately needed in Manistee County, Nelson said in an emailed statement to the News Advocate. Habitat does a great job of collaborating to get things done and making the most out of opportunities that present themselves.

With rising costs to both rent or purchase a home, Buhs said that affordable housing projects like those done by Habitat can have positive benefits on peoples well-being by freeing up financial resources for healthcare and nutritious food, providing residential security, relieving stress and improving mental health.



A house is not just a building, Buhs said. It is a home  a place that shelters, protects and nurtures the people who reside there. Affordable housing is not a handout, it is a necessity.



Habitat is currently accepting applications for potential partner families and volunteer workers. More information on how to apply is available at habitatmanistee.org/applications.
All government employees and those of public sector undertakings in J&K were asked on Thursday to attend the main R epublic Day function in Jammu city as part of their official duty.

An order issued by the General Administration Department said: "The main function of the Republic Day 2022 is being held at Maulana Azad Stadium Jammu, where the Hon'ble Lt Governor will preside over the function and take the salute.

"All officers/officials of the government and public sector undertakings stationed in Jammu are called upon to attend the function as part of their official duty," it said, adding that all heads of the departments and chief executives of public sector undertakings shall ensure their own participation and also of the employees subordinate to them in the function.
Amanda Radke, a cattle rancher and professional speaker from Mitchell, South Dakota, signs one of her books during the MN Ag Expo Wednesday. Radke gave the keynote address, encouraging producers to spread the word to consumers about what they do to protect their farms, ranches and livestock.
Better known as SSI, the Supplemental Security Income is a federal benefit program that is managed by the Social Security Administration. It's main purpose is to provide a safety net financial support for all citizens or residents in need. There are a few key elements that make people qualify for the SSI and we are about to discuss them. In the year 2022, the SSI standard for limited income goes up to $841 per month for a single person or $1,261 monthly per couple where both people are legal beneficiaries. As far as income concerns, that's a bit more maleable by definition.

Social Security harbors a huge list of what constitutes as earnings, payments and non-monetary assistance. They categorize it as countable income with the end goal of determining SSI eligibility and that helps them calculate all payments. So, if you receive Social Security Benefits, they also count. Always keep clear that Supplemental Security Income benefits get paid out of general U.S. Treasury funds, not from Social Security Taxes. But if you wonder who is eligible for these benefits, take a look at the many individuals who qualify for Supplemental Security Income.

How do you qualify for the Supplemental Security Income?

In order to become eligible for this benefit, there are three major aspects you need to cover as an individual living in the United States of America. First of all, you need to either be a senior citizen of 65 years or older. However, blind or disabled people also qualify with the same benefits. Second, you need to be either a legal United States citizen or a lawful resident of the country, regardless of the state you live in. Finally, you need to have a very limited income and fainancial resources. This means that only the people who qualify for the first two points and also has a very limited income can apply for this benefit.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma on Thursday met Union Home minister Amit Shah in Delhi and apprised him about the efforts being made to resolve six of the 12 inter-state border disputes between the two northeastern states.

After the meeting, Sangma said that Shah expressed his happiness on the initiatives being taken to resolve the border disputes and the Union Home Ministry would examine the reports submitted by the two Chief Ministers.

The two CMs would again meet the Home Minister on the issue after January 26.

After the meeting, Assam Chief Minister Sarma: "I along with HCM Meghalaya Sri Conrad K. Sangma met Adarniya Griha Mantri Sri Amit Shah ji in New Delhi. We apprised Hon HM on the outcomes of discussions held between Assam & Meghalaya governments to resolve the border disputes amicably. We're grateful for his guidance."

Taking to twitter, Meghalaya CM Sangma said, "Called on HM Amit Shah with Assam CM Himanta Sharma & appraised him of Regional Committee reports. He expressed happiness on the initiative taken by the both states. MHA to examine the reports and we'll meet HM again after Jan26."

Sarma and Sangma submitted the recommendations of the ministerial committees constituted in August last year to resolve the six of the 12 inter-state border disputes.

The Cabinets of the two states in their meetings separately on Wednesday approved the recommendations of the ministerial committees.

The ministerial committees before finalising the recommendations of the two states had visited 36 villages in six of the 12 disputed areas during the past four months.

Sangma said that the boundary demarcation would be conducted after the due procedure in the Parliament.

"The officials of the Survey of India along with the officials of the two states have to undertake joint inspections before a possible Bill can be moved in the Parliament," he said.

Meanwhile, the Assam Chief Minister said that a roadmap for amicable settlement has been prepared based on the recommendations of three regional (ministerial) committees with representatives from both the states.

On January 12, Assam and Meghalaya had in principle reached an agreement on at least six of the 12 border disputes.

The Opposition Congress in Assam has threatened to move the court if Assam's land is parted away with.

Assam has border disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Assam's border dispute cases with Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are before the Supreme Court but there are no cases on the inter-state disputes with Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Recently, Assam and Nagaland had signed an agreement to remove state forces from the disputed locations.

Sarma recently discussed an out-of-court settlement of the boundary disputes with his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu.

The worst-ever violence along the Assam-Mizoram border on July 26 last year left six Assam Police personnel dead and nearly 100 civilians and security personnel of the two neighbouring states injured.
PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy) is the very first laser vision correction technique. The first time this technology was applied in Berlin in 1985. PRK eye surgery has a non-contact effect on the upper layers of the cornea, without affecting the internal structure of the eye. When using laser correction in this way, notching is not required, although the cornea is exposed. Its shape changes under the influence of a laser, which evaporates the tissue from the surface. Today, this surgical technique is chosen when other methods of laser correction are not possible. For example, if the patient has a very flat or thin cornea. During the operation itself, only 5-10 percent of the cornea is removed if a person has mild or moderate myopia. With a strong degree of myopia, up to 30% of the cornea can be removed. At the moment, this technique has already been perfectly developed, because it has been used for more than a decade. Ever since its inception, the high accuracy of such laser correction has made it possible to predict the result and significantly reduce the likelihood of side effects. But nevertheless, the recovery period for the patient was quite painful and unpleasant. Especially, in the first few days, when the surface layer of the cornea is restored. Complete adaptation was completed in 3-4 weeks. Also, PRK could not be done on both eyes at once. First, the operation was performed on one eye, and after a while on the other. Today, vision correction by the PRK method has already been modified and these unpleasant moments are excluded. For example, now a protective lens is used after laser exposure. This reduces the recovery period and makes it possible to correct both eyes at once.

Indications for PRK surgery:

Myopia: up to -6D

Hyperopia up to +3D

Astigmatism: -0.5D to -3D

It should be noted that there are certain contraindications in which PRK should not be done:

Cataract

Glaucoma

Pregnancy

Autoimmune diseases

Immunodeficiency state

Diabetes

Dystrophy or degeneration of the cornea

Progressive myopia

Certain infectious diseases

The period up to 18 years, when the tissues of the eyes are not yet fully formed

Despite the fact that PRK is a safe and gentle method of laser correction, the operation still involves a surgical intervention in one of the most important organs of our body. Therefore, before the procedure, it is necessary to undergo a thorough diagnostic examination. This will help reduce risks and increase the likelihood of a better outcome. The doctor will definitely ask you about your diseases and about the condition of the eyes in the past and present. After that, he will determine the degree of visual impairment. Also, with the help of special devices, the doctor will receive all the necessary parameters of the curvature and thickness of the cornea. Plus, the doctor can measure eye pressure and examine the anterior segment of the eye and the fundus. After the diagnosis, you will be assigned a list of tests that you will need to pass. The doctor will also give you all the necessary recommendations to prepare for the operation.

For example, it will not be possible to drink alcohol three days before the operation or use cosmetics on the day of the procedure itself. The doctor will also give a list of drugs that cannot be taken before and after laser correction. One of the most important points is not to use hard contact lenses 3 weeks before the operation, and soft contact lenses 2 weeks before.

How is the operation going?

The duration of the procedure is approximately 15 minutes. PRK itself lasts about a minute in each eye. Therefore, you will not have to stay in the operating room for long. Before the intervention, the patient may be offered a sedative. After that, he lies down on the operating table in consciousness, in which he remains until the end of the operation. At the beginning of the procedure, the eye is covered with an eyelid speculum to keep it open until the end of the operation and to prevent blinking. Immediately before the start of the correction, an anesthetic is dripped into the eyes. Usually, patients do not experience any pain during laser exposure to the eye, because this effect does not last long. However, the higher the visual anomaly, the longer the laser exposure will last. Before turning on the laser, the patient will be asked to focus on a special mark and keep their eyes on it. Due to this, the cornea is centered and the accuracy of the impact is increased. After that, the laser beam is activated. Its power and duration of stay at each point are strictly defined. Thanks to the beam, surgeons act on the upper layer of the cornea and form its new appearance. If the patient looks away from the mark, the laser will immediately turn off or the point of application of the beam will be automatically corrected. The doctor monitors the entire process in a special microscope and controls the progress of the procedure.

After the operation is completed, the doctor will examine you again and give further recommendations. It is good if someone will accompany you after the procedure. So it will be easier for you to get home and not forget anything in the hospital. After the end of the laser correction, it will be necessary to follow all the instructions of the ophthalmologist. The first few days you will experience some discomfort, but they will pass quickly. During this period, you can not touch your eyes and it is not recommended to resort to physical activity. Full recovery will be over in a few weeks. After this time, you can fully return to your rhythm of everyday life.

PRK Advantages:

Minimal eye trauma, as microsurgical instruments are not used

Lack of restriction on physical activity and return to a normal lifestyle after the recovery period

High predictability of results

Most often, the effect after surgery lasts until the end of life

The operation is performed quite quickly, only 10-15 minutes

As a rule, the body copes with tissue regeneration without complications

The strength of the eyeball remains virtually unchanged as a very thin layer of tissue is removed

The PRK method can be used for thin corneas

Flaws:

There is a small chance of clouding of the cornea

The functions of the eye will be fully restored only after a month, during which certain restrictions will need to be observed

It is required to instill special drops up to 30 days

Discomfort may be felt in the first 2-4 days after surgery

Today, PRK treatment is not used as often as other modern options for laser vision correction, such as LASIK eye surgery. However, this method is still relevant, effective and safe, and in some situations is best suited for surgery. If your cornea is too thin or your pupil is too wide, this type of surgery suits you best. Keep this in mind as you consider options to improve your vision.
Hong Kong: Govt condemns intimidation

The Government today strongly condemned those who sent intimidating messages to members of its anti-epidemic expert advisory group.

A pet shop worker had earlier been confirmed infected with COVID-19 and the samples collected from the hamsters at the pet shop and environmental swabs collected from its warehouse in Tai Po tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The Government then humanely dispatched the animals concerned to minimise the potential risks of virus transmission in Hong Kong as soon as possible.

Some expert advisory group members received intimidating messages after they explained the situation to the public.

The Chief Executive's Office issued a statement today, saying that the decision and the Governments operation were based on scientific principles and Hong Kong's actual circumstances to safeguard public safety.

It explained that Hong Kong is now facing a challenging epidemic situation, with the imminent threat of both the Delta and Omicron mutant strains spreading in the community, adding that it is of paramount importance to take decisive action to prevent the virus from further spreading in the community.

Regarding the intimidating remarks made against the experts by a minority of people, the Government strongly condemned such an irrational attitude adopted towards the anti-epidemic effort and called on all sectors of society to unite to fight the epidemic.

The office emphasised that Hong Kong is a society that observes the rule of law and it will not tolerate such illegal acts as violence and intimidation.

The Government said it is extremely grateful for the advisory group's contributions and if anyone attempts to influence the experts' words and efforts by illegal means, it will not tolerate such acts and will take stringent follow-up action.

Over the past two years, the group's members have been providing the Government with professional advice in such areas as public health, epidemiology and clinical experience with science and theories as the basis amid the fight against the virus.

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The U.S. has condemned a series of North Korea's recent missile "attacks" and asked for a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss fresh sanctions.

In an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, "We will continue to ramp up the pressure on the North Koreans. Their attacks are a violation of Security Council resolutions." The term is much stronger than the usual "provocations" the North is accused of.

"We had an intense discussion about this in the Security Council [last week], and we're likely to have another such discussion over the course of this week," she added.

The spokesperson for the U.S. permanent representative to the UN told Voice of America that the U.S., along with Albania, France, Ireland and the U.K., asked for UNSC meeting about North Korea on Thursday afternoon.


Both husband and wife in this case,can revamp each of their identities. It is well worth all the pain, struggle and suffering in a marriage, as whatever will be seen in this relationship could swell like a crest of a wave of both love and marriage.

by Victor Cherubim

Nothing murders love faster than marriage. The secret of happiness is to keep loving as long as it remains and then move on, instead of getting into jail called Marriage, said Indian Film Director/Producer, Ram Gopal Varma, RGV,known predominantly in Telegu and Hindi Film industry, in a recent Zoomin Tweet.

Is it any surprise to us mortals, that Film Stars all over the world, have a party time and change their married partners, like changing pants, or changing weather?

The above Tweet came after Indias Film Stars, Danush and AishwaryaaRajinkanth announced their separation after 18 years of marriage and have two sons Yatra and Ling.

According to Hindustan Times Star divorces are good trend setters to warn young people about the dangers of marriage. RGV made his point by advocating: Smart people love, and dumb marry?

If this was the truth and nothing but the truth, the world population would have reduced or controlled in size eons ago. People now would not have COVID-19 as excuse for the cull in population stats,

Crafted Marriage

Let us at the same not underestimate the importance of a well-crafted union in marriage. Say, why is it that many Indians and perhaps, others cast what is called porutham, or astrological compatibility charts, drawn up of couples by Astrologists, in advance of marriage? We know that this is a very lucrative trade,for not only the rich but also, the less well to do. It is an absolute requirement, better than a COVID Passport, for a girls parents to surrender the daughtersBirth Data, for scrutiny, as if it was a formal ritual, even in this Digital Age.

If that is the case, many would like to know in England, whether Rishi Sunak, 41 years, would become the next Prime Minister of Britain,as his wife Akshata, the multimillionaire in her own right, daughter of Narayan Murthy, 71, co-founder of Infosys and Indian (Bangalore Billionaire) referred often as the Steve Jobs of India. Should we know or would the Bookmakers assess the odds on whether it was a love marriage at Stanford University, USA in August 2009 or an arranged marriage according to the stars.

Both husband and wife in this case,can revamp each of their identities. It is well worth all the pain, struggle and suffering in a marriage, as whatever will be seen in this relationship could swell like a crest of a wave of both love and marriage.

Of course, Rishi Sunak was born at Southampton, Hants in UK, and so is British, but it will be a great honour to India, to have both the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the next President of the United States, both of Indian parentage. With no disrespect to either, could it be in the stars, for the Golden Age of India as predicted in years ahead?

Virtual Connections are near over

Virtual connections which were a way of life in Britain and around the world over two years, may also usher in a New Age for Britain in the months ahead.

The sudden abatementof hospital admissions being witnessed over the last weeks of the COVID 19 variant, Omicron in Britain, is indeed a great relief. State Governments are ready within days, to release social distancing and isolation rules and restrictions for the benefit of both, nationals as well as tourists.

Family holidays, and marriages delayed are being planned once again. Whether you are looking for partnerships at the Gym, or at the beach, a joint idea of relationships is being prepared?

Sentiments and romance kept on hold will be in sight soon for many young people. Will

we see a Baby Boomlike the Millennials, is not clear as yet?

The expectation is, it will make relationships in marriage suddenly free wired with promise. No matter how hard we tried to console ourselves during the agony days of the pandemic, could or may be considered a passing cloud.

Humanity hardly changes?

Humans cannot seem to learn lessons from history. Life goes on, Omicron or no other variant in sight. The only striking similarity of COVID 19 and the three major pandemics: the Black Death of 1347, the Smallpox outbreak of 1520 and the 1918 Spanish Flu over the course of some 700 years, is the disease duration, transmissibility and containment strategy through vaccination as well as disruption of life worldwide. Unlike the present pandemic, past pandemics were largely uncontrolled and unexplained, attributed as Acts of God.

The scientific advancement of mitigation Vaccination during COVID-19 is largelythe result of modern technology. No doubt, marriages and population explosion got controlled, rather delayed.

Humans by nature want to marry and procreate. No one, or no government can stop love and marriage. As the lyric coupling states: it is like a horse and carriage. Of course, we wish to preserve our individuality in our togetherness.

As Philosophers and Thinkers would state: To understand Man and his World and to understand Love and Marriage, we need to first understand ourselves.
A classic blunder and smear against an outspoken activist.

by Sut Jhally and Roger Waters

Anyone who has ever been critical of Israeli actions toward the Palestinian people knows what to expect nextan avalanche of pit-bull attacks and smears that their criticisms of Israel are motivated by racism and anti-Semitism. The latest example is the response to actress Emma Watsons pro-Palestinian Instagram post, which led (predictably) to Israeli officials and supporters accusing her of anti-Semitism. Among many others, former Israeli UN Representative Danny Danonin a tone-deaf postwrote, 10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite.

The purpose of such false accusations is of course to deflect attention away from what is happening on the groundthe real (war) crimes that Israel is perpetrating against the Palestinian peopleto the supposed motivations of the critics. Unable to defend its criminal actions, all that Israels increasingly desperate defenders have left is smear and innuendo, as the attacks on Emma Watson make clear.

But the accusations may also have some other unintended consequencesthey make real anti-Semitism (the right-wing fascist variety that really does hate Jews as Jews) more respectable and legitimateand thus even more deadly. In that sense, the Zionist defenders of Israel are among the most dangerous purveyors of contemporary anti-Semitismthe hatred of Jews as a collective.

There are two steps to how these unintended consequences are blundered into.

First, there is the claim that Israel and Jewishness are the same thingthat Israel is not the state of all its citizens but is the state of the Jewish people alone. The nation-state law, passed in 2018which gives Jews alone the right of self-determination in Israel, recognizing Hebrew as the sole official national language, and establishing Jewish settlement as a national valuemakes the link between the Israeli state and Jewishness formal and official. Similarly, the widely adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism cites one example as the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity and has a similar thrustIsrael equals Jews.

The second step is the increasing visibility of Israeli violence toward Palestinians. Although Israeli propaganda had succeeded for decades in deflecting mainstream attention away from Israels crimes, the cloak of invisibility created by its public relations effortsits hasbarais disintegrating before the force of reality, its own increasingly cruel and vicious actions, as well as the work of the growing number of pro-Palestinian activists around the world who are using the power of social media to bypass the normal media gatekeepers. While anyone with a passing knowledge of the situation has long known about the brutal matrix of violence and controlfrom the river to the seaexerted by Israel over the Palestinian population, that understanding is now increasingly visible and mainstream. (As evidence of this, Emma Watsons post quickly drew over 1 million likes.)

The problem for all of us, not just Israel, is when these two things are put togetherthe equation of Israel with Jews and the visibility of Israeli atrocitiesthen Jews as a whole become tarred with the crimes of the Israeli state. As the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy wrote in 2015, Some of the hatred toward Jews elsewhere in the worldemphatically, only some and not all of itis fed by the policies of the state of Israel and especially by its continuing occupation and abuse, decade after decade, of the Palestinian people.

In this process, the danger is that actually existing anti-Semitism is being made more respectable as there seems to be some rational basis for itIsraeli atrocities. At a time when the real and dangerous anti-Semitism of the fascist right is on the riseremember the white supremacist Charlottesville thugs were chanting Jews will not replace usthe last thing that is needed is to give it any sheen of respectability, as, albeit unwittingly, do those who insist on the indissoluble link between the brutal violence of the Zionist project and Jewishness.

Such a link is of course nonsense. Jews of all political stripes have long been on the front lines of the fight against the racist Zionist enterprise, insisting that it has no part in their own Jewish values based on a belief in universalnot particularhuman rights. It is why groups such as Rabbis for Human Rights act as human shields against the attacks on Palestinians by settlers and the Israel Defense Forces. The fight against Israeli policies and Zionist violence is driven by the concerns of social justice and solidarity, not racism toward Jews.

Emma Watson is part of an exponentially fast-growing choir of decent like-minded men and women of good faith all over the world, united in their belief that all people, irrespective of their ethnicity or their religion or their nationality, must have inalienable human rights, including the right to life and liberty and self-determination, from every river to every sea everywhere. That includes the long-suffering people of Palestine. The attempted weaponization of anti-Semitism against this movement not only weakens the term as a description of real fascist racism, but in fact serves to legitimate it. If criticizing cruel Israeli policies toward the Palestinians is anti-Semitic, then what is so wrong with anti-Semitism, so this misguided line of thinking goes. As Robert Fisk once noted, if this continued campaign of abuse against decent people, trying to shut them up by falsely accusing them of anti-Semitism, continues, the word anti-Semitism will begin to become respectable. And that is a great danger.

The solution to this is clear: break the erroneous link between Israel and all Jews (between Israel and Judaism) and concentrate on the reality that the Zionist enterprise is an old-fashioned settler-colonial projectdriven in large part by the geopolitical interests of its principal sponsor, the United States. Once we eliminate the obfuscation and confusion that result from the lazy (but calculated) accusation of anti-Semitism, the building of an unstoppable international movement of justice for the Palestinians can continue. Lets get to it!

This article was produced by Globetrotter.

Sut Jhally is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and founder and executive director of the Media Education Foundation.

Roger Waters is a musician.
Superstar Akshay Kumar is currently one of the busiest actors in Bollywood with several interesting projects in his kitty. With the huge success of Rohit Shetty's Sooryavanshi even amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the actor once again proved his craze and stardom. Reportedly, Akshay will start work on six projects this year and his lineup includes biggies like Prithviraj, Bachchan Pandey, Ram Setu, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Gorkhaa among others. The Atrangi Re star will also start work on his debut series The End, depending on the COVID-19 scenario.

According to the latest reports, the pre-production will start from March/April and the makers are on the verge of locking the script and screenplay for Akshay's debut series. The End is expected to be India's biggest show and the actor will be returning to his action avatar. Speaking about the development, a source informed Pinkvilla, "The team has taken a long time on the script front because its a complex premise set in the futuristic timeline. The series is an action packed apocalyptic thriller, with Akshay racing against time to save the human race. The writing work is on the verge of completion and the things are fast moving to take the series on floors".

It is being said that three directors are in the race to helm The End. "As the date of shooting is nearing, the makers have started discussions with multiple directors to come at the helm of affairs. Ram Setu fame, Abhishek Sharma, the director of Family Man 2, Suparn Varma and Anurag Singh, who directed Kesari, are the frontrunners to direct The End for Akshay, the source added.

The makers are expected to finalise a director by the end of February post which an official announcement will be made according to the shooting schedule. For the unversed, the series is slated to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in mid-2023.

The series was announced in 2019 at a grand event where Akshay made a (literal) fiery appearance. Check it out here:

Ever since the New Year, the actor has been making regular announcements. At first, he confirmed Selifee with Emraan Hashmi. Backed by Karan Johars Dharma Productions, it is the official Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Driving Licence and will be helmed by Good Newwz fame Raj Mehta.

Most recently, he announced the release date of Bachchan Pandey. Sharing two new posters, the actor revealed that the much-hyped movie will hit the theatres this year during the Holi weekend, on March 18. Kriti Sanon will be seen playing Akshays love interest in the film.

Source: Pinkvilla
Ahan Shetty, who entered Bollywood last year with Milan Luthria's Tadap opposite Tara Sutaria, is happy with the positive response his debut film received from the audience. His family members, including father Suniel Shetty, too are elated with his success. In a recent interview, Ahan talked about father Suniel and shared that the Dhadkan actor gave him "all the support" he needed.

During a conversation with ETimes, Ahan revealed that he walked out of Main Hoon Na featuring his father Suniel Shetty in an important role. Yes, you read that right! But, it was not like he didn't enjoy the superhit film which set numerous box-office records after its release in 2004.

Ahan walked out of Main Hoon Na as he didn't like his father's villainous role in it. Revealing the same, he said, "I don't think I've walked out of a film, any of his films being like. 'I don't like this.' I think, when I walked out of 'Main Hoon Na being so young, I was very young then. I was like, 'Why did he do this? I looked at him very differently. But when it comes to a film as a whole and his character, it was fantastic and I thought his performance was brilliant".

For the unversed, Main Hoon Na featured Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan, and Amrita Rao in pivotal roles along with Suniel who played the antagonist named Raghavan. Directed by Farah Khan, the film was among the biggest hits of 2004 and Shetty received a positive response for his performance.

Coming back to Ahan, there is a buzz that the actor currently has several interesting offers in his kitty and one of them is Aashiqui 3. Well, he neither confirmed it nor denied the speculations.

He said, "Well I'm actually not allowed to speak about that. But there are some really interesting things now in the pipeline. We'll be announcing a few things within the next one or two months. All I can say is that I have a four-film contract with Sajid Nadiadwala. So Sajid sir and I will definitely be working together again soon. But in terms of 'Aashiqui', I can't really say right now".

Are you excited for Ahans upcoming projects? Do share your views below in the comment section.
Nagis Fakhri, the beautiful actress who ventured into Bollywood in 2011 with Rockstar has lately not been in the news for movies, but mostly her social media presence and personal life.



After years of denying her relationship with fellow actor and YRF heir Uday Chopra, Nargis later confessed that they were together for over five years and she regretted not opening up about their relationship earlier.

 TOI

The actress then dated American director Matt Alonzo and chef Justin Santos, who she broke up with last October. Now as per a Hindustan Times report, it is being rumoured that the actress has found love in a US-based, Kashmiri entrepreneur named Tony Beig. They met in social circles and apparently hit it off instantly. The two have been dating since December.



Tony happens to be the CEO of a conglomerate called the Dioz Group, and he has also produced a Hollywood film in the past.

 Instagram

 Forbes

As per Forbes, he grew up in Melbourne and later moved to Beverley Hills. He owns several companies in industries like fashion, real estate and medical products.



He travels in fancy cars and big planes and lives life king size. The two have not confirmed anything as of now, but since Nargis is pretty open about her life, she will eventually share with her fans, if theres anything brewing here.
Everyone talks about the toxic boyfriend that Kabir Singh was or how we hate the ruthless Khilji in Padmaavat. However, no one really talks about the morally and, sometimes criminally wrong characters who were passed off as the hero or protagonists in the film.



 Yash Raj Films

We all are guilty of swooning over the bad guy in movies which is highly problematic, BTW. However, sometimes, the low-key criminals, terrorists and morally wrong people are disguised as charming and heroic characters which we end up loving because they are portrayed that way.



Well, heres a different outlook on these problematic protagonists.

 Tips Industries

Here are 5 characters who were loved by fans and cheered for despite doing wrongful and hateful things in movies:



1. Rehaan Khan (Fanaa)

 Yash Raj Films

We remember Rehaan as a flirty, lover boy who falls for Zooni but we forget that it was a terrorist who was posing as the charming tour guide.



Because the character was played by a hero, we fail to see him in a negative light. He even kills Zoonis father while we wish they end up together as a happy family.

2. Vijay Salgaonkar (Drishyam)

 Panorama Studios

Vijay is a middle-class man and a helpless father whos just trying to protect his family. However, he is morally and legally wrong for hiding the body of a boy his daughter killed.



Despite being a part of the crime and a mastermind who brilliantly gets away, he is passed off as the hero and we buy it.

3. Virendra Pratap Singh (Lamhe)

 Yash Raj Films

Viren is a predator who marries a woman much younger and someone he practically raised.



Plus she is the daughter of his former crush who he couldnt get because she married someone else. So, no one found this cringey?

4. Prem Mehra (Biwi No. 1)

 Tips Industries

Does anyone hate Prem from this popular comedy-drama from the 90s? I bet not since we were naive kids who didnt know better.



An extramarital affair isnt a legal offence but at least one should end their marriage like an adult. Plus, he cheats on his wife with a model he works with, lies to her face, leaves home and still thinks Pooja, his wife, is his property.

But I guess he releases his mistake when his girlfriend dumped him so that makes him a hero somehow? Sure!

5. Mahabir Bhati (Highway)

 Window Seat Films

Not just Veera, we all developed Stockholm's Syndrome for Mahabir, completely ignoring the fact that he is a kidnapper who abducted her.



He is a criminal that we all start to feel for and empathise with as he warms up to Veera. That is really problematic.
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
Bangladesh Amateur Radio League founder Saif Shahid, S21A (SK)

Saif D. Shahid, S21A/KF6WJZ/G1NWJ, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died on January 10. He was 73. Shahid was the founder and President of the Bangladesh Amateur Radio League (BARL), which was established after more than 12 years of hard lobbying and negotiating with government officials by Shahid and others. Until then, amateur radio

operation from Bangladesh had been sporadic and of questionable legality.



The BARL became an International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member-society in 1988. Shahid, whose background was in mechanical engineering and information technology, was the first Bangladeshi national to be licensed. He had been living in the US since 1999 with his family, which includes his wife Mamtaz, S21J/KF6WJY - the

first woman to be licensed in Bangladesh - and daughter Maria Ashna, S21JA/ex-KF6WJX.

ARRL
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered courthouses and canceled court proceedings. As a result, the number of criminal indictments issued by the Daviess Grand Jury fell sharply, compared to the number issued in 2019 and 2018.

In 2021, although the pandemic continued, courts reopened, and the number of felony indictments in Daviess County went back to near pre-pandemic levels.

Commonwealths Attorney Bruce Kuegel said grand jurors issued 1,122 indictments last year, compared to 760 during 2020.

In 2019, there were 1,408 indictments issued by the grand jury. In 2018, 1,394 felony indictments were issued.

Kuegel said the grand jury session didnt meet each month in 2021. The March session was canceled due to COVID-19.

We may have lost three to four days of grand jury; you could easily be talking about 200 cases the grand jury didnt hear, Kuegel said.

If the grand jury had met that month, the total for 2021 would have been closer to the average, he said.

We are looking at 1,300 to 1,400 cases a year, Kuegel said.

In July, a new state law raised the threshold for felony theft from $500 to $1,000. Now, any theft under $1,000 is a class A misdemeanor.

Kuegel said the new law has had no impact on the number of theft indictments being issued by the grand jury.

He didnt know what impact any future criminal justice reforms would have on the number of indictments, but said, I dont think the theft cases slowed down much when they took (the threshold) from $500 to $1,000.

Kuegel said changing the threshold for when theft becomes a felony didnt impact the number of thefts.

You still have the same problems out there, Kuegel said. You are just reporting them differently.

The way to address the number of people charged with felony theft is to work on the underlying problems, he said.

We still have a drug issue; that hasnt subsided, Kuegel said. We are still going be dealing with people breaking in, stealing, doing whatever they have to do to support their addictions.

Youre not addressing the problem by changing the law in the hope of reducing felony cases, Kuegel said.

Also, the change in the felony threshold only changes where a person is incarcerated.

Its whether youre going to the penitentiary or whether youre going to the overloaded ... jail system in Kentucky, he said.

During the pandemic, law enforcement began citing people to court rather than arresting them for certain violations. Sheriff Barry Smith said the sheriffs office is back to arresting people who would have been cited during the pandemic, for violations such as failure to appear in court.

Weve always had the leeway to cite rather than arrest, Smith said. When COVID started, we had court orders from the District courts to not arrest people on certain warrants.

Those orders were lifted in early 2021, Smith said, and deputies have resumed arresting people on outstanding warrants for failure to appear and other court violations.

The warrants say we shall arrest, Smith said.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse
Sue Napper insists she is just one of the many volunteers who work together so that Girls Inc. of Owensboro-Daviess County can continue to be a resource for girls in the local community. Others, however, insist the veteran volunteers contributions cannot be minimized.

It is hard to, for me even emotionally, to really capture the essence of Sue as a person, as a volunteer, as somebody who is one with the board in so many different ways, Girls Inc. CEO Tish Correa Osborne said.

An Owensboro native, Napper began volunteering with Girls Inc. more than 20 years ago. Since then, she has served on both the organizations national and local board, as well as overseeing the annual ATHENA Awards.

Their mission and their values line up to mine, Napper said while in a Girls Inc. classroom. It is not just a daycare, it is not just an after-school program. There is effective programming that makes a difference in the lives of girls.

A national nonprofit, Girls Inc. provides evidence-based programming for girls, aimed at supporting, mentoring and guiding girls in an affirming environment. The program is available to girls after school during the school year and during the summer months.

I think the tagline that you see everywhere is building girls to be strong, smart and bold, and that is what it really truly is, Napper said.

No stranger to volunteering with community organizations, Napper said she first met Osborne during Leadership Owensboro several years ago. That helped her learn about the organization and the services it provided to girls in the community. She was soon serving on the board of directors.

As 2022 begins, Napper is preparing to rejoin the organizations local board after her latest stint on the Girls Inc. national board of directors.

One of the things that I so enjoy about board meetings, both local and national, is typically at the beginning of our meetings we have a Mission Moment, and that is just that reminder again of why we do what we are doing, Napper said. Sometimes it is a girl doing a presentation.

Napper said that seeing girls that are part of Girls Inc. share their stories confidently, in front of so many people, is a reminder of how important the nonprofits work really is.

It gives them the spotlight, and it just makes you proud, she said.

Napper recalled a young girl who was active with Girls Inc. of Owensboro-Daviess County that worked her way up from a member of the nonprofit to a teen volunteer and then, finally, a staff member.

She got her doctorate two years ago, Napper said. Society probably would not have expected that to happen, but she broke those barriers, and she lived the Girls Inc. mission. Those things, they touch your heart.

Osborne said that while Napper is the last person to want any recognition for her work, her contributions are more than worthy of recognition.

Her integrity, her understanding and belief of Girls Inc. and of the value that it brings to the community and to the girls lives, it just blows us all away, Osborne said. Girls Inc. runs through her veins, and it is kind of like she helps feed it, a lifeblood for the rest of us as we struggle through pandemics and all the issues.

Napper said one of her favorite memories of her volunteer work with Girls Inc. is when a young girl that moved to Owensboro from Guatemala shared her story during a national board meeting, and her story reached the ears of White House staffers.

This young girl, who had not been attending very long, she had a segment on the tape, and she told about her Girls Inc. experience, and it was one of those things, she just blew you away, she said.

The video was shared with the national CEO of Girls Inc., and her story caught the attention of the White House, which was working on putting together a panel of Black girls for a video conference to share their personal stories.

At about 8 years old, the girl ended up being too young to participate in the video conference, but the experience had an impact on her nonetheless.

Here is a young girl from Guatemala who came to Owensboro, Kentucky, who is being told by the White House that her voice is important, Napper said.

Napper, also a volunteer with the Kiwanis Club and Gods Littlest Angels, said she would like to encourage people to get out in their community to see what kind of difference they can make.

I think just find your passion, she said. Find something that you like, and get involved.

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837
Shannon Meyer, an assistant county attorney with the Davies County Attorneys office and an attorney in private practice, has been appointed as the countys newest district judge.

Gov. Andy Beshear made the appointment Tuesday. Meyer will preside over District Court Division III. She is replacing former District Judge Daniel Nick Burlew II, who retired last year.

Meyer has been a prosecutor for County Attorney Claud Porters office for more than 20 years. She has also been a private attorney focused on family law and adoptions, including international adoptions.

Meyer was one of three finalists sent to Beshear for consideration. Because Burlew retired before the end of his term, Meyer will serve by appointment until she runs for the office in the November election.

I was in Frankfort yesterday meeting with the governor, Meyer said Wednesday afternoon.

Meyer said she was thrilled with the appointment and is running for the office in the fall.

District Court handles misdemeanor crimes, traffic violations, small claims, probate and juvenile court. Felony crimes are first heard in District Court, with judges hearing evidence and deciding whether to move the case to Circuit Court.

Meyer said her work as a prosecutor in the county attorneys office convinced her I wanted to be part of the District Court system.

With District Court, theres an opportunity for Daviess Countians to ... make changes in their lives and be the best person they can be, Meyer said. If they choose that opportunity, Im happy to be a part of that.

Meyer said she has worked with people who became better people because officials in District Court intervened in their lives. Meyer recalled the case of a defendant who received substance abuse treatment through the court and rebuilt his life and relationships.

He thanked us, and I thought, if I can be a small part of that, Im all in,  Meyer said. My main responsibility is to run a fair and efficient courtroom. I owe a high level of respect for anyone who comes into my courtroom.

Porter, who was Meyers boss, said: I think she can do the things a judge needs to do, which is look at things fairly, remain even-tempered and control a courtroom. If you can do those things, the rest will come right along.

Meyer is scheduled to be sworn in next Thursday.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse
My Bluegrass Story, the 13-episode series of bluegrass shows that the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum produced in July, will debut on RFD-TV at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Hall of Fame will have a free viewing party in its Woodward Theatre.

A bluegrass jam session will be in the Halls lobby starting at 6 p.m.

Chris Joslin, the Halls executive director, told the Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau on Tuesday that people can see the show on the theaters big screen that night.

Each 30-minute episode, he said, is a big infomercial for the Hall of Fame and the community. Its intended to get people to come to Owensboro.

In 2012, when The Cumberland Highlanders had a show on RFD-TV that taped on Jerusalem Ridge in Ohio County, Campbell Mercer, who was executive director of the Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Music Foundation, estimated that 84% of the people who attended the Jerusalem Ridge festival came because of the television show.

My Bluegrass Story will promote ROMP with clips in several shows.

Joslin said RFD-TV is available in 50 million homes.

Its on Channel 345 on DIRECTV, Channel 555 on Spectrum and 231 on DISH Network, he said.

Its also available on apps and many streaming services.

Joslin said the show will air at 7 and 11 p.m. every Friday for 13 weeks and then repeat three more cycles so that it is showing weekly all year.

The shows were filmed inside the museum, with artists interacting with artifacts and talking about their careers.

They also perform songs there.

Joslin said Fridays episode features Rhonda Vincent.

Other episodes feature Del McCoury, Doyle Lawson, Dan Tyminski, Tammy Rogers of The Steeldrivers, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, Russell Moore, Becky Buller, Joe Mullins, Noah Wall of The Barefoot Movement, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley and Tony Kamel.

Joslin said Kentucky Tourism, American Patriotic Getaways and the city all have commercial spots on the show.

We are storytellers, and this show is an opportunity to tell the story of each bluegrass artist and to learn more about their creative process, influences, challenges and career highlights, he said. Each episode is packed with great performances by each artist.

 My Bluegrass Story provides viewers a taste of what they will experience when they visit the Hall of Fame in person, both the exhibits and the music behind the exhibits.

Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com.
Michigan's forest partnership with Finland and the state of Maine continues with four new hourlong webinars beginning Thursday, Jan. 27. Michigan, Maine and Finland all are heavily wooded and share long traditions in the forest industry. The partnership aims for cooperation in the transition toward a modern, sustainable bioeconomy that supports growth while protecting long-term forest health. The webinars, all starting at 9 a.m. EST, include: Jan. 27: "Institutions, policy and actors" examines different influences on the forest sector, as well as law and regulation policy for forestry and wood-based products. Speakers are Leena Leskinen of the Finnish Forest Centre, Mike Smalligan of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Patrick Strauch of the Maine Forest Products Council. Register by Jan. 23.

examines different influences on the forest sector, as well as law and regulation policy for forestry and wood-based products. Speakers are Leena Leskinen of the Finnish Forest Centre, Mike Smalligan of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Patrick Strauch of the Maine Forest Products Council. Register by Jan. 23. Feb. 24: "Ecology and management" looks at which species and forest types are most important to each location and what forest management practices are in use at each one. Speakers include Kari T. Korhonen of the Natural Resources Institute, Finland; Mike Walters, associate professor of forest ecology at Michigan State University, and Ian Prior, analyst with Seven Island Land Company in Maine. Register by Feb. 20.

looks at which species and forest types are most important to each location and what forest management practices are in use at each one. Speakers include Kari T. Korhonen of the Natural Resources Institute, Finland; Mike Walters, associate professor of forest ecology at Michigan State University, and Ian Prior, analyst with Seven Island Land Company in Maine. Register by Feb. 20. March 24: "Economics, forest operations and technology" features speakers Kalle Karha of the University of Eastern Finland, Charlie Becker of Lyme Great Lakes Timberlands and Dana Doran of the Maine Loggers Association discussing the journey from logging to value products via mechanization. Register by March 20.

features speakers Kalle Karha of the University of Eastern Finland, Charlie Becker of Lyme Great Lakes Timberlands and Dana Doran of the Maine Loggers Association discussing the journey from logging to value products via mechanization. Register by March 20. April 28: "Current issues and opportunities: a look towards the future" focuses on research, development and innovation. Topics will include climate change and maintaining biodiversity. Speakers are Jyrki Kangas of the University of Eastern Finland, Raju Pokharel of MSU and Bri Borman of FOR/Maine. Register by April 24.
Residents can now fill out one job application for 13 positions at Michigan Secretary of State offices in Detroit and surrounding areas.



"We continue to simplify our operations to make them more convenient and efficient for residents, and now that includes the process to apply to work with us," said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. "I encourage everyone who is interested to visit an office to see how smooth our operations are now that we got rid of the take-a-number-and-wait system, and then apply to join our friendly and service-driven team."



The application posted is for Department of State Aides, with duties including serving residents at offices, processing transactions, and educating residents on the department's improved operating model. Starting pay is $18.73 for full time employment, and Aides are eligible for paid vacation time, health and dental insurance, parental leave, and retirement accounts. The department offers opportunities for advancement and relocation to other offices when available.



After submitting the single application, candidates will be considered for all 13 positions at the following Secretary of State offices:

Dearborn



5094 Schaefer Rd





Detroit



17500 Livernois 14634 Mack Ave. 20220 W. 7 Mile Road 3044 W. Grand Blvd





Redford



25700 Joy Road





Hazel Park



20809 Dequindre Road





Hamtramck



9001 Joseph Campau Ave Southfield 25263 Telegraph Road



Applications will be accepted through Feb. 1. The application can be found here.

# # #
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 20, 2022

Contact: press@michigan.gov

Believe in Michigan: Focus on Infrastructure

Michiganders celebrate why they believe in Michigan through video series leading up to Governor Whitmer's State of the State address

LANSING, Mich. - Leading up to the Governor's State of the State address, Gov. Whitmer's team set out to hear from Michiganders across the state on why they believe in Michigan. We'll share their thoughts each day leading up to the address in a video series.

"Continuing Michigan's partnership around critical infrastructure projects like the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a key trade corridor between Michigan and Canada that has already supported 2,500 good-paying jobs for Michiganders, is key to our state's economic success," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "I am proud of the work being done by Nickolai and all of the men and women in the trades who are working hard to build safe, reliable roads and bridges with the right mix and materials. Since I took office, Michigan has invested $6.4 billion to repair, rehabilitate, or replace 13,198 lane miles of road and 903 bridges, supporting nearly 82,000 jobs, and we will keep going together."

Meet Nickolai Miotto, Operating Engineer with Local 324, working on the Gordie Howe Bridge and I-75 interchange for Bridging North America.

"We have an infrastructure bill that's going to provide funding for roads, bridges, airports, and clean energy," said Nickolai Miotto, Operating Engineer with Local 324, working on the Gordie Howe Bridge and I-75 interchange for Bridging North America. "My brothers and sisters in the trades will have prominent work in the near future and beyond.

When asked why he believes in Michigan, Miottoa added, "We have the great lakes, freighters, the biggest trucks in the county. And we do everything great in MI, we're the state who put the world on wheels. I'm standing here on the biggest infrastructure project in North America and Michiganders are going to build it. I love Michigan. That's all there is to it."

Governor Whitmer's Focus on Infrastructure

Governor Whitmer is rebuilding Michigan's roads and bridges and creating tens of thousands of good-paying construction jobs. She launched the Rebuilding Michigan Plan, a five-year, $3.5 billion investment in our highways and bridges without an increase at the pump. Over 20 projects supporting 22,800 good-paying construction jobs are already underway. She secured funding to repair or replace nearly 100 local bridges in the latest bipartisan budget.

The cones and barrels at hundreds of sites statewide demonstrate that Governor Whitmer is fixing our crumbling roads and bridges so that people can go to work and get home safely, parents can drive their kids to school without blowing an axle, and businesses can get their goods where they need to go.

Governor Whitmer has invested nearly $6.4 billion to repair, replace, or rehabilitate 13,198 lane miles of road and 903 bridges.

In this year's bipartisan budget, she invested $196 million to repair or replace nearly 100 local bridges in serious or critical condition, creating 2,500 jobs.

Governor Whitmer's five-year, $3.5 billion Rebuilding Michigan bond plan to build up state highways and bridges without an increase at the pump is underway is underway, with construction underway on I-496 , I-94 , and other projects. These projects are supporting approximately 22,800 construction jobs and an additional 21,700 jobs in other industries.

Additional highlights of Whitmer's efforts to improve infrastructure can be found online.

Visit the 2022 State of the State page for videos and more.

###
HOLLYWOOD  In a sad series of photos, forlorn puppy eyes peer out of cages that are small, hot and filthy. Dogs are left alone tethered to trees with no access to food or water.

The photos, presented to Hollywood commissioners Wednesday, were taken by code officers investigating animal cruelty complaints.

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Cases of animal abuse and neglect have been on the rise in Hollywood, nearly doubling in the past few years, code officers say. That alarming spike is spurring Hollywood to crack down on negligent pet owners.

A lot of times these animals are being kept outside and tethered for long periods of time, Code Compliance Supervisor Roy Robinson said as photos of caged animals flicked across the screen. Some animals are left outside day and night even in extreme cold or, more often, extreme heat, he told commissioners.

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Within minutes, the Hollywood commission gave unanimous approval to a slew of changes in the citys animal protection laws. The changes will take effect after a final vote expected in February.

Hollywood is planning a crackdown on bad pet owners after complaint cases nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. (Dreamstime)

Code officials suggested the changes after noticing more and more pet owners not taking proper care of their pets, both dogs and cats.

Robinson pointed to the numbers: Hollywood had 689 animal violation cases in 2021 compared to 363 in 2018  an increase of 89.8 percent. Cases have continued to increase, with 551 in 2019 and 636 in 2020.

These animals are kept in cages for long periods of time with no protection from the rain or sun, Robinson said. These animals are kept in very small cages with no bedding. Sometimes they are left on cold concrete floors or wooden floors. Wed like to change that.

Hollywood officials say better code enforcement might be one reason for the dramatic increase in violations. The city does not track the number of complaints related to animal abuse or neglect, so its unclear whether more complaints are coming in.

We think some of the increase we are seeing is due to a more proactive approach by code, city spokeswoman Joann Hussey said. There was a different code officer in 2018 than there is now, and the department is taking a much more aggressive approach.

[ RELATED: Animals left in the dark for hours  thats just one of the problems at Browards animal shelter. ]

Robinsons slide show included a photo of two large dogs riding in the back of a pickup with nothing to keep them from jumping or falling out.

Under the new rules, pet owners would need to safely and humanely restrain any animal traveling in a car on a public road.

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Hollywood is planning a crackdown on bad pet owners after complaint cases nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021. Commissioners approved a slew of changes to the citys animal protection laws after seeing photos taken by code officers of dogs in crammed cages or left alone tethered to a tree. (City of Hollywood/Courtesy)

The other rules require pet owners to:

Bring cats and dogs inside or provide adequate heating when temps fall below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. When temps rise above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, pets must be provided air conditioning, a fan or another cooling device.

Provide a solid floor that is sanitary and weatherproof if the animal is left outside, whether caged or not.

Separate animals with a known history of fighting. They should not be confined together in the same cage or space.

Provide sufficient space for each dog to comfortably stand up, sit down, lie down, turn around in the cage or shelter. If the shelter is used for more than one dog or cat at the same time, it must be large enough for both animals to comfortably stand up, sit down, lie down and turn around.

Pet owners will be prohibited from keeping an animal tethered without supervision.

Dogs weighing 20 pounds or less kept in an enclosed area outdoors for all or part of the day must have access to a minimum of 100 square feet of open space. Dogs weighing more than 20 pounds kept outdoors for all or part of the day must have access to a minimum of 200 square feet of open space. An additional 40 square feet of space is required for each additional dog kept in the same enclosed area.

Cages and other enclosed areas must be kept free of objects that might injure the dog.

Pet owners caught violating the new rules would get a warning first, Hussey said. Those who ignore the warning and fail to comply with the animal safety rules could see fines starting at $50 to $75 for each violation. Fines would increase with each repeat violation.

Pet owners facing charges of animal abuse or cruelty can face arrest.

In some cases, they would be given a notice to appear before a special magistrate, Hussey said. In addition, their pets would be removed from the home.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan
Raul Pino, the former Connecticut Department of Public Health commissioner, has been suspended from his role in a Florida county where he is accused of compelling employees to get vaccination in violation of state law.

Pino, director of the Florida Department of Public Health in Orange County, was placed on leave after sending an email to staff that was critical of its vaccination rate, according to a report from WFTV in Orlando, Fla.

Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis had previously signed a law that barred government agencies from implementing vaccine requirements, and limited such mandates for private businesses.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Public Health told the Associated Press that an investigation was opened to determine if any laws were broken in this case.

The department is committed to upholding all laws, including the ban on vaccine mandates for government employees and will take appropriate action once additional information is known," Florida Department of Health press secretary Jeremy Redfern said in the email to the Associated Press.

In the email to staff, Pino wrote: I am sorry but in the absence of reasonable and real reasons it is irresponsible not to be vaccinated. We have been at this for two years, we were the first to give vaccines to the masses, we have done more than 300,000 and we are not even at 50 (percent) pathetic.

According to Pinos biography on the Florida Department of Public Health website, he was appointed the director in Orange County in May 2019 after leaving Connecticuts DPH.

Pino became a fixture in public health in Connecticut for years first as the city health director in Hartford before moving to the state DPH.

Pino served as a deputy commissioner in Connecticuts DPH before he was appointed to lead the agency by then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Earlier in his career, he was an epidemiologist for the agency.

An Associated Press report is included in this story.
The Frontier Communications unionized workers have reached a tentative three-year contract agreement with the Norwalk telecommunications company.

The tentative deal was reached late Monday, according to Dave Weidlich, president of the Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America.

Weidlich said he hopes to have the contract ratfied by the end of February.

I think this is a nice agreement for both parties, Weidlich said. Our employees are ready to continue building out the fiber optic network for the company.

Frontier officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

The union represents more than 1,600 Frontier employees, Weidlich said. The tentative contract calls for a 9 percent general wage increase over the life of the deal, he said.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
LEXINGTON, Va.  Thomas Williams, a native of Haddam, was recently initiated into the Bryant University Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society. The society welcomed more than 1,100 new initiates from 41 universities during November 2021.

Students initiated must be sophomores, juniors, seniors, or graduate/professional students in the top 35 percent of their class, demonstrate leadership experience in at least one of the five pillars, and embrace the ODK ideals. Fewer than 5 percent of students on a campus are invited to join each year.

Pro Bono Honor Society

NORTH HAVEN  Students from the area have been recognized as a members of the Physical Therapy Pro Bono National Honor Society.

Founded in 2014, the society recognizes outstanding physical therapy students who provide pro bono service as a part of their education.

The doctoral students recognized by the society were required to maintain a 3.4 grade point average and volunteer three consecutive semesters at the EQUIP Rehabilitation Clinic. The clinic is a student-led and empowered pro bono clinic that provides physical therapy service to the greater New Haven area through direct treatment, telemedicine services, health and wellness exercise classes and health screenings.

Brittany Kearney of East Hampton and Janelle Berry of Middlefield were among those honored.

Elmira College

ELMIRA, N.Y.  Elmira College released its deans list for academic achievement for the fall 2021 term, which recognizes full-time undergraduate students who were registered for at least 12 computable credit hours and who earned a term grade-point average of 3.6 or higher.

They are: Gabrielle Caporossi and Gabriella Prifitera, both of Durham.

Lasell University

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  The Lasell University womens track and field team competed in its first indoor meet since 2019 recently. The Springfield College season opener featured five Division III collegiate programs and one Division II collegiate program.

In all, 12 Lasers competed in the event, led by sophomore Sinclair Samuels of Springfield and freshman Hannah Babek of Deep River, who finished 15th in the 60 meter dash with a time of 8.55 seconds. Babek also competed in the 200 meter dash placing 23rd with a time of 28.89 seconds.

Eastern CT State University

WILLIMANTIC  The Student Activities Office at Eastern Connecticut State University recently concluded its fall session of the LEAP leadership program. Standing for Learn, Explore, Achieve, Perform, it is designed to help students develop their leadership skills through a variety of workshops. This semesters session trained 13 students.

Among the participants was Alex Karalus of East Hampton, who majors in environmental earth science. Karalus was a council member.

Students who complete the eight-week cohort training and wish to continue with the program can transition to become LEAP council members.
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The New Haven Museum is celebrating Black History Month in February with a virtual program about one of Connecticuts most well-known Black governors, William Lanson.

The lecture is called An Upside-Down World: The Reign of Black Governors in Connecticut.

Black governors, also called African Kings, were leaders of the Black community in early American history elected by the African American community, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Lanson was elected Black governor of New Haven in 1825 and was responsible for major infrastructure initiatives that still exist today. He helped build an addition to the Long Wharf and build the stone walls of the New Haven section of the Farmington Canal, according to Professor Kerima Lewis of Emerson College and Massasoit Community College.

In 2020, the City of New Haven issued a post-humous apology to Lanson for the "'humiliations, discrimination, and false accusations' against the freed slave who helped lay the foundation for economic success in 19th century New Haven." The same day the city also unveiled a bronze statue of Lanson which sits along the Farmington Canal.

The New Haven Museum invited Dr. Lewis to speak about Lansons life and legacy.

He bought property and ran businesses in the Black communities of New Haven where he employed hundreds of African Americans who were relegated to menial low paying jobs during that time, Lewis said via email. Having been enslaved himself, he helped runaways to find freedom along the Underground Railroad. There is so much that is admirable about the life of the esteemed African Governor William Lanson. Although his success made him a target of racist whites, he [persevered].

Museum Director Margaret Anne Tockarshewsky said Lewiss presentation is part of the museums effort to tell the diverse stories of early New Haven.

In particular, topics that have historically been underrepresented, we'd like to bring those to the forefront and make that ever-evolving history relevant to all people, Tockarshewsky said. I just think that the topic of Black governors is something that the public doesn't really know very much about.

Dr. Lewis agrees with Tockarshewsky. While the topic of Black governors is lesser known to the general public, she hopes that expanding topic of education from as early as elementary school could make these parts of history known to a wider audience.

When we discover these long-lost heroes and heroines, we must tell their stories whether it is in schools, churches, in the community, and to our families, Lewis said via email. African American history needs to be a required social studies course for all children.

In her presentation, Lewis will discuss the election of Black governors in New Haven, Norwich and Hartford. Shell also present an overview of Black coronation ceremonies, which included feasts, drumming and dancing.

The elections of Black governors were not imitations of white elections but a cultural tradition that combined the African tradition of celebrating kings and chiefs with a European-influenced electoral process already in place in New England, Lewis said in a news release.

Enslaved Africans in New England celebrated the election of their own rulers the same way they would have celebrated them in West Africa, according to Lewis.

The biggest reason to attend this presentation and learn about Lanson is simple, according to Lewis. Its a story of resilience, hope and the evolution of the human spirit.

Come hear about this formerly enslaved man elected the African Governor of New Haven in 1825 who after securing his freedom used that freedom to build a commercial and construction dynasty to benefit his people, Lewis said via email.

An Upside-Down World: The Reign of Black Governors in Connecticut takes place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10. Registration is free on Eventbrite.com. For more information, visit newhavenmuseum.org.
Miami Beachs building official has issued a demolition order for the historic Deauville Beach Resort following an inspection of the deteriorating hotel complex last week.

In a memo Thursday, city commissioners were informed that Building Official Ana Salgueiro had declared the demolition order for the unsafe structure of the Deauville Hotel.

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The historic Miami Beach Deauville Beach Resort is photographed on January 12, 2022. The building at 6701 Collins Ave. will be demolished after an engineering report found structural damage. In a memo, City Manager Alina Hudak wrote that the citys building official had declared a demolition order for the hotel complex. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald)

The 1957 building famously hosted The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy.

Read more at Miami Herald.
When a lieutenant colonel in the West Virginia National Guard reported her rape at the hands of a superior officer years after the attack, she was retaliated against by others in her state, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., recounted Wednesday during a hearing about sexual assault in the National Guard.

The lieutenant colonel's only recourse was through civilian law enforcement, where prosecutors faced issues with an expired statute of limitations. She tried getting help from Army investigators, but their hands were tied because she was on orders under the command of her governor, not the Pentagon, at the time of the attack.

But in a sign of the limited oversight the Guard has over sexual assault in its ranks, Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told lawmakers at the House Armed Services Committee subpanel hearing when asked about the case that he didn't know whether the woman's alleged assailant still serves in the military.

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Reports of sexual assault in the Guard have skyrocketed over the past decade, with 188 alleged incidents on state duty in 2010 and 634 in 2020, according to Defense Department data. While some experts point to the treatment of women in the military being taken more seriously in recent years, support that might play a role in increased reporting of attacks, the data paints a damning picture of the Guard.

Guardsmen have dueling obligations to both the president and the governors of the states they serve. Troops spend the bulk of their time under state orders, with federal Title 10 orders -- when governors relinquish their control of their forces, generally serving as the mechanism to send troops abroad. The U.S. government provides $26 billion a year to fund National Guard troops in states across the country, but that money brings only limited authority for Pentagon officials.

The West Virginia Guard lieutenant colonel was identified in the hearing, but Military.com is not doing so as the publication has a policy of not publishing the names of sexual assault survivors without their consent. The officer was on state orders when she was attacked, meaning the incident fell outside the jurisdiction of Army investigators.

Unless a Guardsman is working on federal orders, a situation that is fairly rare in most Guard careers, the National Guard Bureau and Pentagon are virtually powerless, lawmakers fear.

While on state orders, where all issues ultimately fall under governors, Guard units have little oversight. In practice, most decisions are ultimately made by state adjutant generals, the senior officers of their states -- giving those commanders broad power that isn't seen in any other parts of the military. In the lieutenant colonel's case, if the state decides against punishing the alleged assailants, there aren't currently a lot of options.

"No longer can the National Guard hide behind their unique status," Speier said as part of her questioning of the Guards efforts to combat sexual assault.

Lawmakers took issue with the Guard's seemingly confusing bureaucracy and muddy authority to take action against soldiers who commit crimes within the ranks. Hokanson told lawmakers he believes he has everything he needs to work with states on sexual assault issues, but he gave no details on what tangible authorities he has -- prompting concerns from House members.

"My understanding is your authority is one of encouragement, subtly hoping [states] will do the right thing," Speier said. "But outside of giving them money, we don't have any hook to get them to do what they should do. At what point do we freeze the money? We have no control, no authority to protect those National Guard service members if the state chooses not to."

Confusion over what federal authority the Pentagon or National Guard Bureau can flex culminated in lawsuits from both Texas and Oklahoma against the Biden administration over COVID-19 vaccine mandates ahead of a June 2022 deadline, ordered by the Defense Department, for troops to get the shot. Oklahoma's case was thrown out of court, and senior leaders in Texas are encouraging their troops to get inoculated despite Gov. Greg Abbott's suit, according to a recording of a call between senior leaders obtained by Military.com.

"The [ability for the] National Guard to exert control over the state in a non-federalized status is an ongoing issue of debate," Brig. Gen. Charles Walker, director of the Guard's Office of Complex Investigations, testified during the hearing. "It's the subject of actual litigation as to what the National Guard's authorities are."

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

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Two Marines are dead and 17 more are injured after the tactical vehicle they were driving rolled over Wednesday in Jacksonville, N.C., the service announced late in the evening.

The Marine Corps said the deceased were pronounced dead at the scene while two Marines were transported to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C., where they were in critical condition. The remaining 15 Marines were taken to the Naval Medical Center at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where they were listed in stable condition.

All the casualties were active-duty Marines with 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, the statement said.

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The Marines were driving a medium tactical vehicle replacement (MTVR)  often called a 7-ton  when it rolled near the intersection of North Carolina Highway 210 and U.S. Highway 17.

The driver of the vehicle, a 19-year-old Marine, was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and exceeding a safe speed, according to NBC News.

Sgt. Devin Rich, a spokesman for the North Carolina Highway Patrol, told reporters that the vehicle was traveling a little too fast for the right turn that they were attempting to make.

2nd Marine Logistics Group said that they were grateful to all first responders that provided aid to our service members.

Vehicle rollovers and, more broadly, vehicle accidents outside of combat zones, have claimed the lives of dozens of service members in recent years.

A report from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, released in July 2021, found 123 soldiers and Marines died in 3,753 non-combat tactical vehicle incidents between 2010 and 2019. The report blamed overconfidence, complacency and driver error for tactical vehicle mishaps that largely occurred in relatively safe conditions during the day.

The report found that rollovers were by far the deadliest kind of accident. Despite being responsible for one-quarter of the accidents, they accounted for 63% of the deaths reviewed in the study.

Brig. Gen. Andrew Hilmes, commander of the Army's Combat Readiness Center and director of Army safety, told Military.com in an interview in November that "ground vehicle mishaps are the number one killer of our soldiers."

The annual defense policy bill signed into law last month seeks to reduce vehicle training accidents by requiring the Army and Marine Corps to implement the recommendations of the July GAO report.

The Army and Marine Corps have 180 days from the date the defense bill became law in December to deliver Congress a plan on implementing the recommendations, which included more clearly defined roles for vehicle commanders, procedures to help supervisors enhance tactical vehicle safety, and performance criteria and measurable standards for driver training programs. The services have 18 months to actually implement the changes.

The serious deficiencies and failures in tactical vehicle training required immediate action, Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who sponsored the vehicle training safety provision in the defense bill, said in a December statement after it was passed by the House. The loss of a single American soldier is tragic, and the continued loss of service members in training accidents is completely unacceptable.

The defense bill also creates a joint council of all the military departments to update safety regulations and calls on the Army to report to Congress on the feasibility of using data recording devices on combat vehicles, similar to black boxes on airplanes.

The Marine Corps said that it is not releasing any of the names of the injured victims, citing privacy regulations, but the names of the deceased will be released 24 hours after notification of next of kin.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Army and Marines Aren't Doing Enough to Prevent Deadly Vehicle Accidents, Watchdog Says
The Army conducted about 7,000 fewer military funeral honors in 2021 than in 2020, according to data obtained by Military.com.

Last year, the service conducted 129,774 funeral honors nationwide and at international locations, according to data provided by Army Human Resources Command.

That's compared with 136,874 military funeral honors conducted in 2020, according to the data.

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It's unclear exactly why there was a dip last year. A spokesperson for the command suggested that it's not unusual for the numbers to fluctuate year-over-year, but did not have data from before 2020 readily available.

A Massachusetts National Guardsman who helps provide funeral honors in that state similarly said it's common for the totals to seesaw year-by-year, but offered up some possible explanations for 2021's numbers, including families waiting to hold funerals for various reasons.

"It's always an honor and a privilege for us to provide honors to our deceased Army veterans," Staff Sgt. Steven Armstrong said in an interview with Military.com.

Under a law passed in 2000, military funeral honors are available for service members who died on active duty or veterans who left military service with a discharge status that was anything other than dishonorable.

At a minimum, military funeral honors are performed by two uniformed service members, at least one of whom has to be from the deceased's military branch.

The ceremony consists of folding and presenting the U.S. flag and playing "Taps," either by a high-quality recording or by a bugler.

National Guardsmen perform about 80% of all military funeral honors for the Army, while active-duty soldiers and reservists each conduct about 10%, according to Army Human Resources Command.

While the number of military funeral honors for the Army overall was down last year, Armstrong told Military.com they were up in Massachusetts: 3,871 in 2021 compared with 3,376 in 2020. The New York National Guard also said in December it was on track to perform about 1,300 more funeral honors in 2021 than 2020.

Still, Armstrong said he's heard from some families who are holding off on having funeral services for their loved ones.

In some cases, he said, the delays are weather-related, with families waiting for warmer temperatures. He also said it's common for families to wait on services when they cremate their relatives, either because of weather or because they want to hold off until more family members are available to come to the service.

Asked whether families may be waiting because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Armstrong said he couldn't speculate on that. While 2021 saw COVID-19 vaccines become widely available, with lockdowns largely lifted and people more willing to gather, coronavirus cases and deaths were higher in 2021 than 2020.

Armstrong stressed that the Massachusetts National Guard has accepted all the requests for funeral honors it has received despite the pandemic, though some mitigation measures are in place.

"When COVID happened, the Department of Defense gave the Army the option to cease conducting honors, but the Army decided as a whole to continue with honors," he said. "And basically with that, we were given different protocols to follow, which included wearing masks."

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: Arlington Cemetery Eases COVID Restrictions on Burial Honors
Eligible veterans would be automatically enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system under a bill passed by the House on Thursday.

The House voted 265-163 to approve the Ensuring Veterans' Smooth Transition, or EVEST, Act. The vote fell largely along party lines, though 44 Republicans joined Democrats to support the bill.

Right now, veterans must proactively apply for health care benefits at the VA. The bill approved Thursday would require the department to instead automatically enroll veterans who meet existing eligibility criteria for VA health care. The VA would also have to provide a way for veterans to opt out of coverage.

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The bill, which does not change who is eligible for VA health benefits, would apply retroactively to veterans discharged 90 days before it becomes law. The bill must still be voted on by the Senate before being sent to the president to be signed into law.

Supporters of the bill touted it as a common sense measure that will help ease the transition from the military to civilian life.

"We know that the months following transition out of the military can be very stressful and particularly risky for new veterans in terms of mental health," House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., who sponsored the bill, said Thursday on the House floor. "This helps simplify the process and prevents veterans from potentially missing out on lifesaving care. It also keeps veterans from having to opt-in to VA care later and attempt to navigate a new bureaucracy on their own."

The bill could affect about 58,000 veterans annually who might otherwise not enroll in VA health care, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO.

The bill could cost about $3.1 billion over the next five years, the CBO estimated.

In a statement last week, the White House said it supports the "goal" of the bill of "seamless enrollment in health care coverage." But the White House also expressed concern that "there may be challenges implementing this bill as drafted," adding that the administration "looks forward" to working out the issues with Congress.

Republican opponents of the bill pointed to the White House statement as they argued automatic enrollment could exacerbate existing issues with VA health care, such as long wait times and staffing shortages.

"Leaving the military wasn't easy," Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and a Marine veteran, said on the House floor. "It can leave new veterans feeling adrift and alone. I've been there."

Bost said he wants troops to get the services they need in a "seamless manner" when they end military service. "I am not at all confident that this bill will accomplish that goal without harming services to other veterans and adding to the national debt," he said.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

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House lawmakers are urging the Pentagon to expand access to contraception for military family members and retirees by waiving Tricare copayment charges on appointments for such care and services.

On Thursday, 141 House Democrats sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asking him to eliminate the copayments for counseling and services related to birth control and long-acting, reversible contraceptives such as implants and shots. They argue it would improve the health and well-being of beneficiaries as well as the military.

The move would bring the Tricare contraception benefit more in line with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." That law requires private insurance plans to cover preventive services, including all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration, for their patients, the lawmakers say.

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"These protections do not apply to coverage through Tricare. As a result, military families have fewer rights than those they serve to protect," wrote the lawmakers, who were led by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., the chair of the House Armed Services personnel panel.

Under current law, spouses and children of an active-duty service member or a retiree enrolled in Tricare Select must make copayments for prescriptions obtained outside a military pharmacy as well as appointments for birth control counseling and for insertion and removal of long-acting contraceptives.

Retirees and family members of retirees enrolled in Tricare Prime face the same charges when they see a Tricare-authorized provider.

By law, Austin cannot waive the copayments for birth control prescriptions for those who obtain their medication via a location other than a military pharmacy. But he does have the ability to waive the copayments for appointments, they say.

"We encourage you to waive contraceptive copays that fall under your authority and continue working with Congress to eliminate all cost sharing for contraception for servicemembers and military families, as gaps will still remain in statute for certain Tricare beneficiaries," they wrote.

Eliminating copayments for prescriptions filled at Tricare retail pharmacies would require legislation, which has been introduced in the House and Senate but has failed in the past to make it into the final defense policy bill, including in fiscal 2022.

The lawmakers noted that the Defense Department itself has supported the proposal.

"The estimated $56 million in avoided pregnancy costs suggests that removing these financial barriers to contraception may mean more freedom of choice with respect to family planning for our beneficiaries," DoD officials wrote in an assessment, according to the letter sent to Austin.

The move would expand patient access to more effective long-term birth control options, the lawmakers said.

A study looking at the Navy's approach at boot camp to sex education and contraception, which includes offering walk-in clinics and access to long-acting reversible contraception methods such as intrauterine devices and hormonal implants, found that the program reduced the service's childbirth rates slightly, related leave by one day and non-deployable time related to birth and recovery by nearly eight days.

More than 470,000 women of child-bearing age are married to active-duty service members, and there are more than 120,000 dependents of troops who are over age 12. While many receive their medical care at military treatment facilities, some choose to use Tricare Select, a program that allows them to see non-military providers.

Roughly 3.1 million retirees under age 65 and their family members use the Tricare health program, roughly half of whom are women, some of child-bearing age.

Lawmakers said the change would improve the lives of women by giving them better control of their family planning decisions and their medical treatment, given that birth control is also used to address conditions like endometriosis, an overgrowth of tissue outside the uterus.

"Prioritizing access to contraception for servicemembers and their dependents is an investment in their health and wellbeing and an investment in the stability of our Armed Forces," they wrote.

A Defense Department official declined to comment on the letter, telling Military.com that the department would respond directly to the lawmakers.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime

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Lawmakers and advocates want to help troops and veterans who have been exposed to environmental pollutants during their military service.

But while many support a comprehensive $282 billion package that could expand Department of Veterans Affairs benefits and services to roughly 3.5 million veterans, some are questioning an approach that would be the largest piece of military exposure legislation since the Agent Orange Act of 1991 was approved.

During a roundtable Wednesday on the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, Illinois Rep. Mike Bost, the House Veterans Affairs Committee's ranking Republican, said he supports providing health care to ill veterans while deciding how to proceed to expand benefits.

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"We need to focus on taking action steps now to expand care to those who need it most before it's too late. Additionally, we still need to identify a way to pay for toxic exposure legislation. We don't have hundreds of billions of dollars laying around. I remain committed to finding a way to support toxic-exposed veterans in a way that is fiscally responsible for future generations," Bost said.

The bills sponsor and Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., was adamant that lawmakers need to support the legislation, despite the price tag.

"We know the true cost of our promise, but we cannot renege on our responsibility to toxic-exposed veterans because of any preconceived sticker shock," he said.

The bill includes a provision that would recognize that all troops who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other specified locations in the last 20 years were exposed to toxic emissions from burn pits and other airborne hazards during deployments.

It would establish a list of 23 diseases as presumed linked to exposure to airborne pollutants, a designation that would allow veterans who develop them to get access to health care and expedited disability benefits.

And it would add hypertension to the list of diseases considered linked to exposure to defoliants used in Vietnam -- a provision that would expand access to health care and expedited disability benefits to more than 150,000 Vietnam War veterans.

Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., called the proposal the "cost of doing what is so obviously the right thing."

"Everybody here wants to do the right thing, but only some want to pay for it," Levin said.

Lawmakers heard from representatives of more than a dozen veterans service organizations and advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart, who took up the cause of veterans exposed to toxic pollutants after successfully advocating for the extension of benefits to first responders and their families affected by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Stewart called the idea of dividing up the bill "unacceptable."

"The only conversation we should be having is a collaborative effort to bring the VA together and create first-rate toxic exposure health care. And not health care first and benefits later, because if you're sick with pancreatic cancer and not receiving your benefits, what are you living on?" Stewart said.

Whether the bill will receive a vote this year remains to be seen. The Senate and House have both been preoccupied with passing a voting rights bill and salvaging portions of the $1.75 billion social spending package known as Build Back Better.

A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Military.com in November that she "looks forward to working with [the] House Veterans' Affairs Committee and the Biden administration to find a path forward for comprehensive toxic exposure legislation in this Congress."

Takano said Wednesday that Pelosi has "committed to bringing this bill to the floor very soon" for a vote by the full chamber.

In August, the VA created a list of illnesses eligible for expedited disability compensation for veterans exposed to burn pits during overseas deployments, beginning with three conditions: asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis.

The department announced in November that it is examining whether more conditions, including some types of cancer and constrictive bronchiolitis, a rare lung disease that decreases the flow of oxygen into the bloodstream, should be added to the list.

Decisions are expected later this year.

Advocates praised the effort but said more needs to be done and done faster.

"We estimate there are as many as 750,000, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans currently ineligible for VA health care enrollment due to the fact that they've been unable to establish a service-connected disability within five years of a discharge. That's 750,000 veterans who served in areas of known exposure who are now operating without a safety net," Wounded Warrior Project Government Affairs Specialist Aleks Morosky said.

"At the end of the day, [veterans are] losing their homes, losing their vehicles or losing their jobs. The injustice behind all of this continues on. It's not OK to treat the veterans the way they're being treated," said Rosie Torres, cofounder of Burn Pits 360.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

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SANTA FE, N.M.  New Mexico is the first state in the nation to ask National Guard troops to serve as substitute teachers as preschools and K-12 public schools struggle to keep classrooms open amid surging COVID-19 infections.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday the unprecedented effort to reopen classrooms in the capital city of Santa Fe and shore up staffing across the state.

New Mexico has been struggling for years to recruit and retain educators, leaving teaching routinely to long-term substitutes who do not have full teaching credentials.

Her administration says school districts and preschools are seeking at least 800 substitute teachers and day care workers for shifts ranging from one classroom period to the entire day. They're also asking state bureaucrats to volunteer to serve.

Other states have worked to mobilize state workers and National Guard soldiers to support schools. Last year Massachusetts mobilized its National Guard, first to support COVID-19 testing on school campuses, then to drive school buses. On Tuesday, Oklahoma allowed state workers to volunteer as school substitutes while continuing to receive their salaries.

But New Mexico is the first state to report recruiting troops into the classroom in response to COVID-19 staffing shortages.

Members of the Guard will serve on active duty, drawing their usual pay. State workers who teach in classrooms will get marked as paid leave that doesnt subtract from individual vacation allotments.

The governor said state workers are encouraged to participate in a spirit of public service and that no one is being drafted. The state hopes to quickly deploy 500 new substitute teachers and day care workers.

We've determined that we have enough state employees, with the volunteer support with the Guard, to get to that 500 fairly readily, and that's just looking at key departments like the education department and veterans department, Lujan Grisham said at a news conference on the steps of a vacant high school in Santa Fe.

A surge in infections linked to the omicron variant among school staff and teachers prompted a weeklong switch to remote classes at Santa Fe Public Schools that could end as soon as Monday.

State public education officials say volunteers from the National Guard and state agencies can qualify for substitute teaching with as little as two hours of training and a two-step background check. School districts will decide whether military personnel appear in uniform or casual dress.

The recruiting program seeks volunteers from a pool of 16,000 state workers and 4,000 troops.

Republican House Minority Leader Jim Townsend of Artesia said the governor is calling in the wrong people to resolve a crisis of her own making.

She wants to be a hero when her administration does something unusual ... just to cover up her failure to put together a plan that works," Townsend said. They're not teachers. That's not what they were trained to do.

Amid longstanding teacher shortages, the Democrat-led Legislature is weighing proposals to recruit and retain teachers with a minimum 7% pay increase for all public school staff, increased minimum teacher salaries at various career stages and spending to pay off teachers' student debts.

Even before COVID, I had a big need for substitute teachers," said state Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus, formerly a school district superintendent at Los Alamos. "Now weve got the omicron variant."
Shugart Lafleur's spouse came home with an announcement: We're PCSing.

Permanent change of station. About every three years, married service members pick up and move to a new unit and a new job. But beyond the stress of changing homes, states, schools, and, sometimes, countries, the move often means that people like Lafleur see their careers take the back seat until they can find a new job in a new town.

For Lafleur, that's complicated further by her chosen career.

"By education, I'm an attorney," Lafleur tells The War Horse. "Part of the difficulty in being a military spouse is the licensure. So, bouncing around state to state, I'm not exactly going to take the bar every time I turn around."

She now works as a paralegal near her husband's base, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany in Georgia.

Not every military town -- think Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina; Fort Drum near Watertown, New York; or Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas -- has the capacity to support the careers of all spouses. Start adding in master's degrees, professional licenses, or management experience, and the pickings grow even slimmer.

And not every employer will risk hiring someone who could leave with little notice and who isn't likely to stick around for the long term, in any case.

But during COVID, Lafleur's office shut down briefly and her employer outfitted her and her coworkers to work remotely.

"Without COVID, that's not anything that would have been on their radar probably ever," Lafleur says.

While the pandemic stressed the nation beyond capacity in several ways, it also caused many to celebrate the possibility of attending a meeting in pajamas. But for military spouses, employers' acknowledgment that workers can be just as productive, if not more so, from home could put an end to giving up one's career for a husband or wife's military service.

"Military spouses emerged as the premier remote workforce during the pandemic," says Meredith Lozar, a military spouse and executive director of programs and events for Hiring Our Heroes. "We said, We've done this, let us tell you how to do it, we know how to manage great amounts of stress, we're highly organized, we can help everyone get through this.' Now we have to keep that momentum."

For years, working from home was the exception, not the rule. But as the COVID pandemic brought broad change for everyone, it brought hope for military spouses -- who face high rates of unemployment, stalled careers, and few networking opportunities. With the increase in remote work, they found stability and opportunities they hadn't seen before. And while it's not a cure-all solution -- it's still hard to manage a store, work in a restaurant, or see patients from home, and many bosses have required their employees to return to the office -- it's still a sign of the potential of an untapped worker pool.

It's been this unwavering, staggering number'

Military spouses have historically faced high rates of unemployment.

"When you look at the active-duty component [military spouses] only, it's about 24% unemployment, and it has been for the past decade," Lozar says. "So, it's been this unwavering, staggering number. And that is typically, in a non-COVID environment, about six to seven times higher than their civilian counterparts."

Meredith Lozar, then director of the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society, Camp Pendleton, Calif., speaks to Marines during a dodgeball fundraising tournament to increase awareness for the organization, March 3, 2014. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Shaltiel Dominguez)

While some estimates of military spouse unemployment rates are lower than those Lozar cites, they may not filter statistics by active-duty status versus reservist or retiree spouses, which may affect spouse employment opportunities: Reservists and retirees tend to stay in one place. Still, even conservative estimates from the Labor Department show military spouses with an unemployment rate of at least 13% as of 2017 -- around three times the national rate at the time.

"One of the biggest challenges -- is the reason for their unemployment -- is that they move 10 times more frequently than their civilian counterparts," Lozar says. "Every two to three years, we are living in a new state, with a new address, with new rules if it comes to licensure or certification, and new challenges if we've become an entrepreneur in developing a portable business model. That, coupled with the operational tempo of the service members that we stand beside, often makes it near impossible for us to be gainfully employed and then maintain that employment."

That means the spouses miss out, but so do employers: Military spouses often have access to better education opportunities because of military benefits and degree programs geared toward transient students. They've often seen more of the world than their counterparts. And they've had to learn to be flexible, not only with moves and deployments, but with making new friends and encountering new people on a near-constant basis.

The Department of Defense held its first-ever career symposium tailored to DoD spouses in Washington at George Washington University in the Marvin Center, Dec. 2, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by Damien Salas)

And, "Eighty percent of them are willing to or already have upskilled and reskilled into another industry," Lozar says. "Forty percent have bachelor's degrees. Nearly 40% of them have master's degrees."

But even with skills and degrees, many of the spouses face roadblocks finding mentors, networking opportunities, business leads -- another area where Zoom meetings and virtual cocktail hours could help.

Mallory Boutin's family is stationed in Newport, Rhode Island, and she works remotely as a financial services consultant.

"The difficulties around building a career as a military spouse are not just leaving and finding jobs every couple of years, which is certainly a burden," Boutin says. "The big thing for me is the difficulty in building and capitalizing on a professional network."

I Think It's Ideal'

It's hard to overstate how much things have changed since the beginning of the pandemic:

Fast Company reported that the completely remote workforce in the United States was about 3.4% at the beginning of 2020. Then a once-in-a-century pandemic swept the globe, and employers sent workers home, forcing companies to pivot to accommodate, in some cases, to a fully remote workforce. Fully remote employees had increased to 42% of the workforce by April of this year.

Some spouses suddenly saw remote job opportunities appear. Carolyn Bonaventura works as a civil engineer in water-wastewater management in Orlando, Florida. She was recently hired in a fully remote role.

"During COVID, this company obviously sent people home, and they found that it was working so well and really wasn't impacting their business as much as they thought," Bonaventura says. So far, she enjoys the option to work remotely and says it can be easier to review designs in a Microsoft Teams meeting using screen-share rather than in a conference room.

"I think it's ideal," Lafleur says of working remotely. "It's almost like you can concentrate more."

Celeste Beaupre, workshop instructor, gives Scott Proctor, a military spouse, advice about his attribute worksheet during the Career Prep Rally at the Career Resources Training Center at Camp Lejeune in 2013. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Charles Clark)

Research backs them up. One 2020 survey conducted by Mercer found 94% of employers reported productivity had remained the same or improved during the shift to remote work, and 83% of employers plan to provide increased workplace flexibility post-pandemic.

And many employees prefer to work from home. In an April survey on Blind, an anonymous professional network, 35% of respondents said they would leave their jobs if forced to return to the office.

That isn't an empty threat: Nearly four million employees quit their jobs in June of 2021 alone -- another four million quit in July, 4.2 million in August, and 4.4 million in September -- according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in what's being called "The Great Resignation." While it's impossible to say the exact causes for resignations, employers requiring people to return to their desks at the main office may be part of the problem.

We Don't Have to Do That Anymore'

Many companies plan to keep their remote workforces, at least in part, moving forward, and have even hired fully remote employees in positions that otherwise would not have been eligible to be remote. In June, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that full-time employees whose jobs can be done remotely will be allowed to continue to telework. Twitter officials have said the same.

And it's not just tech. Positions in marketing, administration, and human resources have all had success in telework, according to Lozar.

Even so, there have been drawbacks.

"We have started to see corporations pull back on their remote work and their telework and say that was temporary, we don't have to do that anymore, we're going to go ahead and return to the office," Lozar says.

Beyond the oft-cited need for social interaction, offices without toddlers or needy dogs, and one-on-one client engagement, traditional management culture may be the toughest hurdle for remote workers.

The three spouses selected to attend Pickens Technical College to obtain nurse aide certification receive a tour of the facilities, Oct. 19, 2017, in Aurora, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Luke W. Nowakowski)

"It's easy to forget how capable people are when you want them to be where you want them to be," says Jill New, a military spouse and remote worker, about a boss's need to see employees doing their work.

Still, a Gartner survey of 317 CEOs found that 74% plan to maintain at least some remote workers.

Lozar says she is hopeful that remote options will continue and that spouses will benefit.

"If we go back to the office and we forget how successful we've been at remote work, military spouses are going to find themselves back at square one," she says. "The good is that we have shown that we can do it when everyone said we couldn't do it, and we can't lose sight of that."

For spouses who found work or are able to keep work because of COVID, there's a noticeable sense of relief.

"This will be the first time in almost 13 years that I will be able to take my job with me when I move," Boutin says. "That makes planning for our move so much easier."

Lafleur says she feels less stress since learning she could take her job with her during the next change of duty station. She has returned to the office but says her employer is now open to her continuing to work remotely -- something that would not have been an option pre-COVID.

"Because military life is fun, I have personally had, Oh, your husband's deploying. Oh, no he's not. Oh, you're PCSing. Oh, no you're not,'" she says. "So, every time we've had one of those scares, my boss has been like, Don't worry about it. You're just going to work from home wherever you go.'"

This War Horse investigation was reported by Julie Zack, edited by Kelly Kennedy, fact-checked by Ben Kalin, and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar.
This article by Jeff Stein and Peter Eisner first appeared on Spytalk.co.

The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.

The diplomatic game of chicken between Russia and the U.S. appears to be rolling toward a violent climax, with a U.S. official warning Tuesday that the situation is "extremely dangerous," and that Russia could invade Ukraine "at any moment." The U.S.-Russia talks appear to be "at a dead end," as one Kremlin diplomat put it last week, even as they intend to give it one more try on Friday in Vienna.

President Biden warned Russia in his press conference Wednesday that a Russian invasion would have serious consequences, "So this is not all just a cakewalk for the Russia military."

"My guess is he will move in," Biden also said of Vladimir Putin. "He has to do something."

Washington has taken pains to appear girding Ukraine for battle, with CIA Director Bill Burns and Secretary of State Antony Blinken flying off to Kyiv for urgent meetings, all the while expediting intelligence support and defensive arms shipments. On Tuesday a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators visiting Kyiv vowed solidarity and weapons for the Ukrainian government and people, including possibly deadly Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The CIA and U.S. Green Berets have been preparing Ukraine troops for unconventional warfare -- a defense-only move, they say. But the training, which has included "tactical stuff," is "going to start looking pretty offensive if Russians invade Ukraine," a former senior intelligence official told Yahoo News' Zach Dorfman.

"I think Vladimir Putin has made the biggest mistake of his career in underestimating how courageously the people of Ukraine will fight him if he invades," Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters.

No one imagines that Ukraine can imperil, much less rout, a Russian invasion, but Washington's part in the darkening drama has been to warn Putin that an attempt at a permanent occupation will be plagued by a bloody, U.S.-backed insurgency that will make its experience in Afghanistan seem mild in comparison.

And Washington could well be tempted to stir up trouble elsewhere.

"U.S. Special Forces Are Training for Full-Blown War with Russia," a headline in The National Interest, a bipartisan conservative magazine, trumpeted last May. Green Berets and other American spec ops teams have been conducting joint training exercises in a Russia-ringing arc from northern Scandinavia through the Baltics to the Balkans and beyond, involving nearly two dozen foreign counterparts (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Spain and, of course, Ukraine). Albania was just added to the mix. U.S. Special Forces have also been welcomed in some of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.

"If Putin invades Ukraine with a major military force, U.S. and NATO military assistance -- intelligence, cyber, anti-armor and anti-air weapons, offensive naval missiles -- would ratchet up significantly," James Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral who was the supreme allied commander at NATO, told the New York Times last week. "And if it turned into a Ukrainian insurgency, Putin should realize that after fighting insurgencies ourselves for two decades, we know how to arm, train and energize them."

Stavridis may have misspoken. "Fighting insurgencies," we haven't been so good at, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. efforts were undermined by their tethers to corrupt, inefficient regimes and officials.Supporting insurgencies, we've been better at.

But CNN reports that some Biden officials, "wary of getting bogged down in an anti-occupation support effort," are not so gung-ho to green light an unconventional warfare campaign that could go on for years. Afghanistan is a not distant memory, it's not even over.

"We can exact some pain, but there is a big difference between exacting pain and actually having leverage," a senior US official said.

Optimists look back to the U.S.-backed Muslim uprising against the Soviet Red Army during the 1980s, especially after the CIA deployed game-changing Stingers, which neutralized Russian warplanes and gunships. But other CIA-backed insurgencies -- Nicaragua in the 1980s, Iraq in the 1990s and Syria over the past decade -- have fallen far short of that mark. With one major exception -- covertly backing Poland's Solidarity movement in the 1980s -- the CIA's Cold War record of clandestine operations aimed at the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites was mostly a bust.

History Lessons

In the summer of 1948, President Harry S Truman's White House National Security Council drew up "perhaps one of the most important documents in the CIA's history," as an agency planning document described it. NCS Directive 10/2 was a plan for all-out "covert operations" and "activities" against the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites.

Frank Wisner, the leader of Its psychological warfare component, thought the U.S. could exploit Russia's "internal strains" and "psychological fission" to crack the Soviet Union. The project had some psywar successes, publicizing Soviet repression and economic failures, mainly through such CIA-backed propaganda vehicles as Radio Free Europe. But its efforts to subvert the USSR and its satellites by supporting or inventing anti-communist organizations inside Russia and the Warsaw Pact were a spectacular failure. The KGB was always one step ahead.

"There were hundreds of these operations. And, yes, they ranged all the way from Bulgaria in the southeast of Europe all the way up to Poland, even in the Baltic states that were under Soviet control -- or were part of the Soviet Union," Scott Anderson, author of The Quiet Americans, told NPR in 2020. "They were uniformly disastrous. Virtually everybody who was parachuted in either disappeared or were captured and executed."

In the 1960s, the CIA was busy at war elsewhere with the Soviets or their putative proxies, in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. Covert action aimed directly at Mother Russia was pretty much abandoned over the next two decades.

Ronald Reagan would reverse that.

On May 20, 1982, Reagan signed into law National Security Decision Directive 32, authorizing diplomatic, propaganda, political, and military action to "contain and reverse the expansion of Soviet control and military presence through the world," as Seth Jones, vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies put it in a 2018 paper. Reagan followed up months later with an even more aggressive Top Secret directive, one which declared "it was U.S. policy to unhinge Moscow's grip on Eastern Europe and to reunite it -- eventually -- with Western Europe." Its most lauded success, code-named QRHelpful, funneled $20 million worth of covert support to the Solidarity labor movement. Before the end of the decade, Eastern Europe cracked open, the Berlin Wall came down, and the Soviet Union, long sagging under its own economic weight and military adventurism, was well on the way to dissolution.

Tremors in Kazakhstan

It's easy to understand why Vladimir Putin might've been rattled by the popular protests that swept across Kazakhstan early this month. His hands were already full with the crisis he'd manufactured in Ukraine. He blamed foreign interests, and people "apparently trained in terrorist camps abroad" for the unrest, which reportedly included well organized attacks on police stations.

Analysts awarded Putin a victory for his quick military intervention (officially, an action by Moscow's version of NATO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization). But now he's saddled with propping up yet another deeply unpopular and corrupt regime -- which makes Kazakhstan a tempting target for the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies, especially should Putin go ahead and invade Ukraine. The former KGB agent appears deeply concerned that Kazakhstan, even Belarus, could be ripe for another wave of Western backed "color revolutions," which shattered Moscow's influence over Eastern Europe beginning 20 years ago.

"Of course, there is definitely polarity in Kazakhstan between the rich and very poor, which has never been seriously challenged before now, and that is an important upshot from these protests," says Michael Frachetti, a professor of anthropology at Washington University, St. Louis, who specializes in Central Europe.

"The future of Kazakhstan will be ultimately be decided by approaches the government takes going forward -- whether they want to bolster a representative relationship with the populace or double down on the path toward greater autocracy," Frachetti said.

"I suspect Putin is finding out that they don't make spheres of influence like they used to, and that in this populist era he may be sitting over powder kegs more than client states," Robert Manning, a former State Department official at the Atlantic Council, wrote earlier this month.

That's a message Washington wants Moscow to hear in the Kabuki shadow war over Ukraine. And it's understood that some in Washington are indeed serious about setting fires in Kazakhstan and elsewhere -- not just Ukraine -- should Russian troops and tanks cross the Dnieper in the coming days. But the theater of veiled and unveiled threats is coming to a close.

The real thing starts soon.
Dalvin, left, and his brother Eric Gaines sit on the porch of their flooded home in Melrose Park in Fort Lauderdale, Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Flooding from Tropical Storm Eta has not yet drained away in the area. (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

More than two dozen canals across South Florida face a mounting risk of spilling over during heavy rains as sea level rise looms in the coming years.

Now, officials are renewing calls to improve canal systems to help reduce the threat of flooded homes and streets as state legislators push for millions of dollars in state funding, and local officials spend millions more on studies. The improvements would entail adding new pumps as well as widening and deepening canals.

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In Broward County, seven canals of concern run through parts of Oakland Park, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Lauderhill and unincorporated Broward. In Miami-Dade, 18 canals of extra concern are in places such as Coral Gables, Miami and Hialeah.

But its not necessarily the people who live closest to the canals who face the greatest flood risk. Rather, it is residents who live farther away from them who could be most in harms way, because it takes longer for the water in their neighborhoods to reach canals.

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Southwest Ranches is among the communities worried about flooding. Were at their mercy, Southwest Ranches Mayor Steve Breitkreuz said of the canals. The canals must be lower than the water on the ground and if thats not the case, the water will stay right where it is, it wont go anywhere.

His town has a dedicated 10-acre tract of elevated land already set aside for residents horses during a hurricane  free from trees that can topple and buildings that can crumble, and land that is high enough to keep them from standing in a flood.

The immediate impact is on our animals because they cant stand in the water for an extended period of time, along with mosquitoes.

Breitkreuz said he worries about peoples homes, too. Its only going to get worse, its not going to get better.

[ RELATED: Rising Seas. Inching Toward Disaster ]

Because Palm Beach Countys elevation is higher, its canals are not considered problematic or in urgent need of rehabilitation, officials say. Palm Beach County has an average elevation of about 15 feet, but most of the southern two-thirds of Broward County, except for a few ridges and high spots, stands just 2 feet to 6 feet above sea level or lower.

Miami-Dade needs the overhaul the fastest, said Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District, because the way they are positioned, the elevation, and projection of sea level rise, they are the most vulnerable and need immediate attention.

A decades-old design

South Floridas canal system dates to 1948. That gravity-driven design that once benefitted a farming and low-density region is part of the reason experts now say they face a crisis. The canals face a higher flood risk from rain because their flood-control systems depend on gravity and the downhill flow of water to the ocean. But when the ocean gets so high that the water level is the same on both sides of a canal gate, the drainage system cant function. And that means flooding for communities.

Because inland flooding water is directed into the ocean, once sea level rise reaches above the canal gates, the water cannot be moved.

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In this file photo, Lemay Acosta and his daughter, Layla, take a boat ride in his flooded neighborhood in Plantation a day after Tropical Storm Eta flooded parts of South Florida. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

If the water cannot be let out, youre going to see inland flooding because theres no place to put the water, said state Rep. Robin Bartleman from Broward, who is pushing for Floridas Legislature to help solve the issue with a $2 million bill and not wait for the federal government.

Time is of the essence right now to get this done, she said. Otherwise, it will impact homes, businesses and the water supply if there is saltwater intrusion, she said.

Planning improvements

State and federal officials are eager to make the improvements. It means the preservation of South Florida and Broward County, said Broward Mayor Michael Udine.

The flooding concerns didnt happen overnight.

In 2009, the South Florida Water Management District sounded the alarms when it said there were 18 canals in Miami-Dade and Broward that were within 6 inches of their design capacity and the gates would no longer perform as intended to let the water out. Experts said sea level would have risen 8 inches by 2030.

Jennifer Jurado, the deputy director and chief resilience officer for Browards Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department, called that 2009 study revealing.

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In past years, Broward County has urged the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which built the canal system and is responsible for the upgrade, to do something.

But each plan of action has failed because there is no money to pay for studies and the work, and no authorization to even start it, Jurado said.

When Tropical Storm Eta struck in 2020, several inches of floodwater remained for weeks and raised concern in Broward County. Those types of events give insights to the overall exposure, she said. If you cant move that water, its sitting on top of the community.

[ RELATED: Sea-level rise becoming a hazard for suburban South Florida neighborhoods far from ocean ]

Weve tried to be patient partners and prod, Jurado said. But the money is not coming together. Its been 13 years now, five of that very aggressive conversations and strategy and were barely any further.

The time frame is getting shorter and shorter and now its desperate. Weve lost so much time in the dialogue.

Canal failures

Standing in the way of the actual canal improvements is $2 billion.

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@RepDemi and I are grateful to have received unanimous support for HB 513 at its first committee. It creates a system of accountability to ensure that the infrastructure needs of this 70 year old, failing flood control system, that protects 11 million Floridians, are addressed. pic.twitter.com/cUvbvX5PKY  Robin Bartleman (@Robin_Bartleman) January 12, 2022

Only now is there the first glimmer of hope: a $500,000 line item in President Joe Bidens federal budget that becomes available in February. It is supposed to kick-start a $3 million study run by the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Also, on Jan. 12, the Florida Legislature gave its first nod to Bartlemans House Bill 513, which is an accountability bill, by passing it in committee. It requires the South Florida Water Management District to get the Legislature annual reports showing the infrastructure deficiencies, what needs to be done, and how much money is needed.

Theyve known about this since 2009 and theres been no movement, she said. We need the information to hold everyone accountable.

Shes also calling for $2 million of state money to become available in July for a resiliency study for both Central and South Florida. The money were getting from the federal government is not adequate.

Of the canal system in place, theyre going to fail, Bartleman said. The study needs to be done yesterday. We dont have time for it to be done incrementally.

Instilling a sense of urgency

Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller said from start to finish  from the onset of the studies till the actual work is done  could take 15 years. And he said he feels the clock ticking.

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Its going to get worse, he said. Its already too late to prevent it but we can try to do now is minimize it until we can get it fixed.

Separate from the federal and state efforts, Broward County already set aside $3 million in 2020 to do its own study of its own canals. A contract with a firm to get started could be signed by March.

Jurado said the federal aid money will be spent eventually  but she said she hopes its on prevention and not disaster relief cleanup.

The goal is to be done in advance of a massive failure, she said.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at @sunsentinel.com or 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash
A Marine Corps spouse and mother of five was 28 weeks pregnant when she caught a "mild case" of COVID-19 in June 2021.

Ashley Savidge Hernandez felt tired but wasn't too concerned until she began to have trouble catching her breath. Alarmed for their baby, retired U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hernandez drove his wife to Brooke Army Medical Center's emergency room just to be safe.

Ashley had no idea she and her baby were about to embark on a month-long battle for their survival.

"It all seems surreal to me now," she said on a phone interview, her voice still raspy from the ventilator. "I had no idea at the time how dire the situation was for me and my baby."

Rapid Decline

Ashley had received the positive COVID-19 results on a Friday and by Monday, her condition had grown much worse.

"When I went in the room to check on her, I instantly knew something was wrong," her husband said. "Her breathing was labored, and she could hardly get a full sentence out because she seemed out of breath with each word."

Hernandez quickly loaded their five young children into the van and rushed Ashley to BAMC.

"I placed her in the wheelchair (and) took her into the ER, but I had to go get the kids and move the van, so I told her, 'I'll be right back,'" he said. "Those were the last words I said to her, and they haunted me for weeks because at several points I thought God might be calling her home."

Ashley's oxygen levels began to quickly dip. Her health care team tried low-flow, then high-flow oxygen, but to no avail. In the intensive care unit, Ashley was told she needed to be intubated, which is when a tube is placed in the throat to help air move in and out of the lungs.

"I remember asking them what that meant, but things got hazy after that," she said.

Ashley was in and out of consciousness, but vaguely recalls the tubes being removed and the loud hiss of the high-flow oxygen drowning out the concerned voices in the room.

U.S. Air Force Col. Phillip Mason was familiar with Ashley's case, but thought she was improving until that point -- until he got an urgent call.

"Ashley was deteriorating quickly," said Mason, medical director, BAMC Adult Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program. "For some people, COVID-19 is a very rapidly progressing disease."

After consulting with her husband, Mason and his team made the difficult call to put Ashley, now 29-weeks pregnant, on ECMO. "Ashley was on the brink of cardiac arrest without intervention," Mason said. "We needed to stabilize her to allow for a better delivery and the best outcome for both patient and baby."

"It was really the last-ditch effort to try and save her life," Hernandez said. Knowing that felt "like a freight train just smashed into my own chest."

ECMO Explained

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, more commonly known as ECMO, is a heart-lung bypass system used when other lifesaving interventions, such as oxygen therapy or a ventilator, have been exhausted. It removes blood from central vessels, oxygenates it and delivers it back into the bloodstream. In essence, it replaces the natural functions of the heart and lungs while treatments and natural healing of the affected organs take place.

Established in 2012, BAMC has the only adult ECMO center in the Department of Defense and remains one of the few centers in the world with global air transport capability. In July 2013, the ECMO team completed the military's first trans-Atlantic movement of an adult on external lung support -- a 5,000 mile, nonstop flight from Germany to San Antonio.

"We have a tremendous and unique capability to deploy to a combat zone, initiate ECMO and transport the service member back to a medical center," Mason said.

While it's been used for severe cases of influenza and other pulmonary diseases, in more recent years, ECMO has proven lifesaving for some patients with COVID-19-related respiratory failure. COVID-19 patients on ECMO typically have a 50-60 percent survivability rate, Mason noted, which offers an avenue of hope for patients and their families.

"In Ashley's case, we were running out of options, and were concerned for her baby," he said. "ECMO was the best course of action for her."

Ashley's husband vividly remembers the the call from BAMC, asking for his consent to place her on ECMO.

"I asked if they could wait for one hour so I could get my kids settled with someone, get to the hospital before the procedure and at least tell her I loved her before she was sedated, but they said there was just no time, they had to move forward, so I agreed," he said. "I knew what that acknowledgment could mean for her, the baby and us as a family. It was in God's hands at that point."

The Delivery

As a specialized team inserted the ECMO tubes, obstetric and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) teams were poised to deliver and care for the baby as soon as the team gave the all clear. "Once we got Ashley on ECMO, things began to move very quickly," Mason recalled.

After the cesarean section, the NICU team rushed the baby to the next room for treatment. Aside from needing a ventilator to aid his 29-week-old lungs, Ashley's newborn son was otherwise healthy. At the time, the staff didn't think about the historic nature of the moment, which marked BAMC's first patient to give birth while on ECMO.

Ashley has no memory of her delivery and the days after were "extremely foggy," she said. It all "snapped back to reality" when her nurses came in with a poster with her son's updated height, weight and hand and foot prints, and she became intent on getting well enough to hold her son.

Due to a 30-day isolation, Ashley was able to see her baby via video chat but didn't meet him in person until weeks later. "It was heartbreaking," she said. "I wanted to be with him, to hold him and feed him."

On July 17, Ashley was finally able to visit with her son in the NICU. Still on ECMO and fighting exhaustion, she sat in a room, donned in a gown and mask and held her baby for the first time. "He felt very heavy and very small," she said. "But I was so relieved to hold him."

Ashley was on ECMO for 30 days, mostly while awake to help build her strength and stamina. But like many ECMO patients, she felt "horrible anxiety" and leaned heavily on her health care team for comfort. She especially relied on her nurses, Roxann Naud and U.S. Army Capt. E.J. Rauch, she said.

"She felt very overwhelmed," Naud said. "She was very concerned about her baby in the NICU and her other children. We did our best to reassure her and let her know her feelings were very normal and okay; that she will get through this."

Fortified by seeing her baby, Ashley's condition began to improve. She was removed from ECMO on July 26 and cleared to return home a few weeks later. "I couldn't wait to get home to see my husband and children," she said.

Homecoming

Ashley's husband drove her home from the hospital. As she slowly walked into her house with an oxygen tank, her normally rambunctious children -- ages 7, 6, 4, 3 and 1-- were surprisingly calm. "I sat down and they didn't leave my side for several days," she said.

A few weeks later, Ashley and her husband welcomed their new baby, Kyzon, home. Now 5 months old, "he's doing great -- eating and sleeping and laughing," she said.

About a month ago, Ashley had a checkup and received a clean bill of health. "I'm very grateful that God saw fit that I needed to still be here for some reason," she said, holding Kyzon tightly on her lap. "I'm also extremely grateful to BAMC for the compassionate care."

"It was an experience unlike we have ever faced, together or apart, but truly a miracle," her husband added. "Only by God's grace and both the skill and care of the BAMC staff that my family is whole today."

While ECMO was key, Mason also credits Ashley's positive attitude and the hard-working team members who sat by her side, rubbing her temples and feet or brushing her hair when she felt anxious.

"We are absolutely thrilled to see Ashley doing so well," he said. "It's been a tough few years filled with heartbreaking loss and amazing survival stories. Ashley's outcome is energizing for all of us."

With COVID-19 transmission on the rise, Mason continues to encourage people to get the vaccine. "We have not had a fully vaccinated patient on ECMO or close to being on ECMO at BAMC," he said. "It's not too late; please get vaccinated."

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Film and television legend Alan Alda is most famous for his role as Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce on the long-running TV sitcom "M*A*S*H." But before this breakout role, he led very different civilian and military lives, complete with seemingly insurmountable obstacles of their own.

Alda, born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo, was raised in a performing family. His father, Robert Alda, was working in burlesque when Alan was a boy and would bring the family along with his traveling troupe of strippers, showgirls and comedians.

The elder Alda later became a film and theater actor and even appeared in two episodes of "M*A*S*H." His mother suffered from schizophrenia, which led to a complicated childhood. Notable incidents include an episode where his mother tried to stab his father over an alleged affair.

That's not all. Alan was also diagnosed with polio as a boy, which forced him to undergo painful, recurring treatments for years, confined to a bed to overcome the affliction. When he did, he attended school like most young kids, but unlike most kids, he didn't see school the same way; he was a performer, and he saw his fellow students as a "large audience."

As his education continued, Alda still considered himself a performer. He attended Fordham University, where he studied English under a Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship. His father wanted him to become a doctor, but had to settle for his son portraying one on television. Alda joined the Army Reserve after graduating and would not return for medical school.

The actor rarely discusses his military service, because during much of his early career there was heavy fighting in Korea and Vietnam, which he did not directly experience.

"I was in the Reserves," Alda told NPR in 2019. "I don't know if you call that being in the military. They put me in charge of a mess hall at one point, and we had to feed 200 people three meals a day. And I had six guys who sort of stared blankly at the wall and played with the liver. They were  I don't know how we fed those people. But I wouldn't call that being in the military."

According to the Army, Alda was an artillery officer. He spent a year at Fort Benning, Georgia, after graduating from college in 1956 and was deployed to South Korea as an artillery officer, training American soldiers how to use mortars effectively. Despite downplaying his Army service, the experience later shaped the development of the series "M*A*S*H" and his character.

"That was one of my jobs, to teach people how to kill the greatest number of people with a mortar shell. And I would keep them interested and, you know, I wanted to be a good teacher," Alda said. "But the interesting thing about it is, I understood just from doing that that when you're in a war, it's real. It's the real thing. People are going to get killed or lose their arms and legs. And when we did M*A*S*H, I wanted to make sure that at least that understanding that I had came out  that that's what we dealt with, and that we didn't gloss over that."

Hawkeye Pierce was Alda's breakout role, one he would play for 11 years, garnering 21 Emmy nominations and winning five. He also directed, produced and wrote episodes of the show, including its famous last episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen."

Alda's physical challenges continue but does not stop his acting or producing career. In 2016, he founded Alda Communication Training, a company that offers communication workshops to scientists, doctors and technologists to help them better relate to their audiences. He also continues his film and television appearances, despite a 2018 Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. He hosts a weekly interview podcast, "Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda."

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Keokuk, IA (52632)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 43F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 43F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
No doubt, the Upper East Region of Ghana is a wonderful place to live in, especially with people from rich cultural practices and traditions, a region blessed with tremendous tourist sites all over.

However, in the Upper East Region, one of the unfortunate canker or if you like, a defunct micro-finance I have seen hitting the region back to back apart from defunct Diamond Winners, God is Love, Power Ground and the almighty DKM micro-finance is the lack of zeal for development from the elites and those who are supposed to know better, I mean those elites from the Upper East Region. No wonder in my last article in October 2021, one of my resource persons from the region strongly holds the views that the region main canker is caused by the elites,

I see our number one problem as the elite who are educated, they are the problem of the Upper East Region, not the uneducated people, Alhaji Awal Ahmed Kariama, Executive Director at RISE-Ghana maintained.

Fortunately, Upper East Region has produced very notable individuals and personalities who should have turned things around. But sadly, the reality is that these notable, brilliant and worthy personalities mostly based outside the region, fear coming back home to help develop their own region where they are created as individual gifts and blessings from the most high.

Another interesting point bedeviling development in our communities and region is the trending attitude of our chiefs allowing themselves used by politicians by way of offering them appointments and positions in their government. To me, I have strong view that chiefs should not engage in any government activity but must use their office to lobby for development for their people and region. Chiefs must be respected by politicians for the role they play towards development.

It is the job of traditional rulers to mediate between the people and the government. It is also their role to fight for the rightful development for their people and region through their office such as the Regional House of Chiefs. Is that really the case in the Upper East Region? I guess you already know the answer?

There is a saying that: One does not learn how to use the left hand in old age

Yes, that is a fact. A man who decides to divert his or her children's minds away from their own region isnt patriotic to his region. A man who does not care about the welfare of his people back home isnt worthy to be called a native. A man who is given a good opportunity in a high office that is expected to bring development to his or her people and he or she misused the opportunity, there is no guarantee such a person will be able to bring development if given another opportunity. This is one of the predicaments bedeviling the people of the Upper East Region.

In the Upper East Region, with some allocated time,13w one could easily count around the number of storey buildings within the region compared to other regions and majority of these top buildings belong to strangers who on their own are struggling to make the region a better place for everyone.

However, mostly when you traveled to Accra or Kumasi, most modern buildings you see across are owned by someone from the Upper East region. Then, you asked yourself what could be the problem? Well, I think is our mentality.

I was so surprised and shocked in 2021 when one of the region's prominent personalities informed me during one of our phone conversations that he hasnt visited home for 33 years and this prominent figure has children and none of them had visited home as well and I mean their fathers compound. During that conversation he was able to inform me that her daughter is due for marriage anytime she wishes because she is of age. So, you see? How will such children have their region at heart, especially when their father is careless about the region? Meanwhile, the mans only reason was that his siblings died all as a result of family issues.

So, the parent had to travel down south for greener pastures with few of them left. So, in this case, it will definitely be a hard thing to learn how to use a left hand as an old man isnt it? His 33 years old decision is today affecting the innocent people of his family, community, district, constituency and the region developmentally. He is the only one who was able to share that with me but I knew, there are many more with such a tough decision.

No wonder, the people of the Upper East Region are not moved by the non-availability of the Passport Office Application Center for a whole region. Because, after all those who normally travel and understand the importance of a traveling passport are living outside the region. Isnt that regrettable as a region?

No wonder, they are not moved by the continuously failed promises by politicians. In December 2021, we were told by the Upper East Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu that the signing of a concessional loan facility of $20 million between the governments of Ghana and Saudi Arabia in 2019 for the completion of Bolgatanga Regional Hospital has been truncated and the people of Upper East are quiet and pleased with such a piece of disturbing news after years of battling on local radio stations across the region between communicators of NDC and NPP claiming who should take glory for the hospital renovation project.

Meanwhile, when I reached out to the BONABOTO Regional chairman Dr. Esmond Agurgo Balfour to know their plans following the announcement made by the regional Minister about the cancellation of the initial Bolgatanga Regional Hospital concessional loan facility of $20 million between the Ghana government and Saudi Arabia, he confirmed that they have received the information as a group.

He described the information as a piece of disappointing news. According to Dr. Agurgo, he is hoping that as an organization, they will be following up for updates locally through the Regional Minister by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

However, in this current Akufo-Addo led government, a notable number of persons from the Upper East Region are occupying some interesting hidden positions in various sectors and some are even about to be constituted as Board Members, CEOs and Deputy CEOs

But the question is, what are the contributions of these personalities given and yet to be given the opportunity to serve in various Boards on behalf of the region, do they really mean well for the region? As for CEOs, the only one so far that could easily be pointed out as very productive, caring and outstanding CEO representing the region is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana's Buffer Stock Company, Alhaji Hanan Abdul-Wahab whose contribution is not hidden as far as the region is concerned. As for others, your guess is as white as snow.

Ironically, most of these personalities, that sees the region as nothing, mostly develop an appetite for political power each of every election year and starts tracing their root when they decide to contest the parliamentary seat especially on the ticket of any of the two main political parties NDC/NPP. Should that really be the case as development-oriented people?

Recommendations

1. I suggest, if we want to see more development in our various communities and even regions, then our Chiefs should stop accepting government appointments and portfolios to enable them freely hold government accountable on developmental issues. There is a saying that, you cant bite the hand that feeds you. So in this case, any chief that is appointed by a particular governing party will never fight for his people's development when it matters most because the chief hands are in the government's mouth. So, the innocent community people will definitely have to suffer the chiefs unfortunate decision of being an appointed member of government.

2. Irrespective of the various tribes and ethnic groups in the region, the people of the Upper East Region could design a regional programme that can bring those outside the region back home and such programme will symbolize peace and unity for the region and issues of development for the region must be paramount. With these moves, their children will be happy to visit home for at least each year for the regional programme to make friends regionally for better future development.

If those interested in this movement will be able to remove the cloth of pride and pomposity, they can contact me for more ideas after all what is an in-law for?

Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
US biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday opened a plant in Cape Town that will be the first in Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccines from start to finish.

The factory should churn out its first vials of second-generation coronavirus vaccine "within the year" and produce a billion doses annually by 2025, Soon-Shiong said.

The plant will be South Africa's third Covid vaccine-manufacturing facility but the first in the continent to make the formula across every stage, rather than producing it from semi-finished batches.

With just 10.9 percent of the 1.3 billion people fully vaccinated, Africa is the least vaccinated continent in the world. This compares with approximately 63 percent in the US and around 70 percent in Europe.

Africa currently manufactures less than one percent of all vaccines administered on the continent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking at the inaugural event, hailed the plant as a sign of African self-reliance.

"Africa should no longer be the last in line to access vaccines against pandemics, Africa should no longer go cap in hand to the Western world begging and begging for vaccines," Ramaphosa said.

"We will stand on our own," he vowed, "without the shackles of colonial thinking."

He thanked Soon-Shiong, a South African-born and now United States-based doctor-turned-entrepreneur -- for returning "home" to invest in vaccine production.

Born in South Africa to Chinese parents and now a US citizen, the billionaire said the launch was "one of the momentous moments of my life -- this is a homecoming."

T-cell vaccine

After making a fortune by inventing a cancer drug, he founded NantWorks, a California-based startup in healthcare, biotech and artificial intelligence, in 2007.

Production at the state-of-the-art vaccine-manufacturing campus in Cape Town's Brackengate industrial area will be a collaborative effort between NantWorks, South African research institutions and four local universities.

"We have now developed this SN (spike nucleic) T-cell vaccine, a second-generation vaccine, and we want to manufacture this in Africa, for Africa, and export it to the world," Soon-Shiong said.

The vaccine is being developed "all the way from scratch", with self-amplifying RNA (ribonucleic acid) drug substance, to "full finish", the doctor said.

Johnson & Johnson has an operational "fill-and-finish" plant in South Africa, and Pfizer/BioNTech have partnered with Biovac to bottle their mRNA vaccine starting this year.

"We want to migrate from just doing 'fill and finish', to wanting to manufacture the drug substance ourselves," Ramaphosa said.

Meantime, a South African biotech consortium is working on a pilot project to tweak Moderna's mRNA formula, and prototype shots could be available for trial this year.

South Africa and India have been lobbying the World Trade Organization to temporarily suspend intellectual property rights so that Covid-19 vaccines are accessible to poorer countries.

The billionaire's family foundation, along with the Rockefeller Foundation, the US National Institutes of Health, the European Commission and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have raised more than one billion rand ($65 million, 57 million euros) to fund the project.

Soon-Shiong says that another $195 million will need to be raised to develop the new plant, which will also produce cancer vaccines.

The NantWorks project will also work on cell-based immunotherapies that could lead to new cancer vaccines and treatments.
The Forum for Former Members of Parliament has described the withdrawal of four soldiers attached to Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, as ill-timed.

In a statement, the forum urged calm amid discussions on the impact of the decision by the Military High Command.

It is the belief of the Forum that the action of the Military High Command is ill-timed, particularly following feuding in Parliament between the Majority and Minority on budgetary issues, which seems to point to bad blood between the Legislature and Executive.

It also cautioned against using the matter to score political points.

The pathway now should be consensus building so as to achieve peace and harmony. The Forum hopes that security issues of this nature are never put in the court of public opinion.

Moving forward, the forum urged the government to as a matter of urgency look into the possible regularisation of the reposting of the withdrawn personnel.

The Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces wrote to Parliament said the four officers were attached without proper procedure.

The officers, WO1 Jafaru Bunwura, WOII Apugiba Awine David, S/Sgt Agbley Prosper and Sgt. Bonney Prince, have been serving Bagbin's office since he became Speaker in January 2021.

The Majority further rubbished claims that the withdrawal of the military personnel was an attempt to gag Mr. Bagbin.

---citinewsroom
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to choose the "peaceful path" on Ukraine, as he visited Kyiv to show support before crunch talks with Russia later this week.

But he will first travel to Berlin, where he will meet with German Foreign MInister Annalena Baerbock and their French collegue Jean Yves Le Drian. He will also meet British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Blinken, who is due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, said he would not present a formal response to Russian proposals at the talks, despite Moscow's demands.

He said the onus was on Putin to dispel fears that Moscow is planning an invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.

"I strongly, strongly hope that we can keep this on a diplomatic and peaceful path, but ultimately, that's going to be President Putin's decision," Blinken said on a day-long visit to Ukraine.

With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border, tensions between Moscow and the West have reached a post-Cold War high and there are growing fears of a major conflict in Eastern Europe.

Moscow insists it has no plans to invade, but is demanding wide-ranging security guarantees - including a ban on Ukraine ever joining NATO - in exchange for deescalation.

Little headway

Days of talks between Western and Russian officials in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna last week made no headway in resolving the crisis.

Days before Blinken travelled to Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron argued in a speech before the European Parliament that Europeans needed to build their own "collective security framework" and rearm themselves.

He appeared to be suggesting that Europe needs to work outside of the US-led NATO alliance that guarantees security for most EU states.

"Security on our continent requires strategic rearmament," he added, saying that "frank and demanding" talks with Russia were also needed.

"As Europeans, we need to collectively make our own demands and put ourselves in a position to enforce them," he said.

The European Union was not involved in the direct talks with Moscow last week.

(With wires)
Broward County School Board interim superintendent Vickie Cartwright listens to public comment during a meeting about mask wearing in schools on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021 in Fort Lauderdale. Cartwright is now one of eight candidates being considered by the Broward County School Board for the permanent superintendent job. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

In October, the Broward County School Board decided to take more time in its search for a superintendent. After recent events nearby, that decision looks even better.

Three months ago, the teachers union urged the board to name Interim Superintendent Vicky Cartwright. Union President Anna Fusco argued that Cartwright had been more transparent and accessible than Robert Runcie.

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Fusco was correct in her point but wrong in her argument. Cartwright had had the job for just two months. The vote to hire her had been just 5-4. She had agreed not to seek the permanent job. Choosing her at that time would have made it appear that Cartwright was a rushed, insider choice at best and a sycophant for the union at worst.

This week, a search committee chose eight finalists to succeed Runcie. One is Cartwright, whom the board had allowed to apply in October. Two are from Palm Beach County. Two others also applied for the superintendent job in Miami-Dade County.

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Lets talk about that search for a moment.

The Miami-Dade School Board must replace Alberto Carvalho, who is leaving after 14 years to run the schools in Los Angeles. By all accounts, he has raised standards and test scores. In 2014, he was national superintendent of the year. Replacing him will be more than challenging.

Yet the school board voted against conducting a national search. Board members allowed just one week for applications. The only requirements were experience as a classroom teacher, principal and administrator and a masters degree. Applicants also had to understand South Floridas student diversity.

T. Willard Fair is president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami. In an interview with the Miami Herald, Fair called the search the greatest miscarriage of responsibility Ive seen in a long time.

This week, the board chose three finalists to succeed Carvalho. One has drawn particular attention.

That would be Jacob Oliva, senior chancellor of the Division of Public Schools for the Florida Department of Education. Oliva is a Miami-Dade native and attended the countys public schools.

But he works for Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, who last year clashed with superintendents  especially Carvalho  on mask mandates. Corcoran forced Carvalho and others to appear before the Board of Education in a show trial to accept their punishment.

[ RELATED: Board of Educations pathetic show trial harms kids, teachers | Editorial ]

That background would make the hiring suspect because of Corcorans preference for charter schools over traditional public schools. In addition, Oliva and two other Department of Education officials formed a company that made a bid to run the Jefferson County School District in Floridas Panhandle.

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When that news broke, the other two officials resigned. Oliva kept his job after claiming that he didnt know his name had been on the application.

Contrast that approach with the one in Broward, which actually has been a search.

As we noted last fall, allowing Cartwright to seek the job gave her an advantage. She has had several months to impress teachers, parents, board members and the public. She held up well during the Board of Educations absurd inquisition, defending Browards mask mandate on science and the law.

But now Cartwright has competition, which she didnt have before. She will have to argue not just for herself but also against the other finalists. Given the challenge, all of them will need good answers.

The next superintendent must show that the district can build and repair schools on time and on budget. Under Runcie, the construction department did neither.

The next superintendent will have to reverse declining enrollment in Browards schools or recommend closing and/or consolidating several campuses. None of those would be popular decisions.

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The next superintendent will have to address learning loss from the pandemic. Florida was the last state to apply for federal money to deal with this problem.

The next superintendent will have to deal with repeated attacks from Tallahassee. Without evidence, Republicans have accused school districts of teaching critical race theory.

Finally, the next superintendent will have to shake up a communications team that tried to cover up the districts failures before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting. Kathy Koch, who runs the department, secretly organized a rally on behalf of Runcie last year after a grand jury indicted him for perjury.

There is no assurance that the Broward board will make the right choice even after a credible search. Done right, however, a credible search will allow the next superintendent to start without public suspicion. These days, that matters.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
Sudanese security forces shot dead an anti-coup protester on Wednesday as American diplomats visited Khartoum seeking to help end a crisis which has claimed dozens of lives and derailed the country's democratic transition.

For two days shops have shuttered and protesters have blockaded streets in a civil disobedience campaign to protest the killing of seven people during a demonstration on Monday, one of the bloodiest days since the coup.

The latest killing took place in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman where protesters opposed to the October 25 coup had set up barricades.

Pro-democracy medics from the Doctors' Committee said the protester was shot in the torso "by live bullets of the (security) forces".

Witnesses also reported the use of tear gas in the eastern Khartoum area.

The death brings to 72 the number of people killed in a security crackdown against protesters who regularly take to the street calling for a return to the country's democratic transition and opposing the country's latest military putsch.

Many protesters have been shot by live rounds and hundreds wounded, according to the Doctors' Committee.

Protesters -- sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands -- have also been regularly met by tear gas.

'Systematic violence'

Before the latest fatality, US Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, held meetings with the bereaved families of people killed during the protests, the US embassy said.

They also met with members of the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), an umbrella of unions which were instrumental in protests which ousted president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, as well as the mainstream faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the leading civilian pro-democracy group.

Its spokesman Wagdy Saleh said they pleaded for "an end to the systematic violence towards civilians" and a "credible political process".

The diplomats are scheduled to meet with others including military leaders and political figures.

"Their message will be clear: the United States is committed to freedom, peace, and justice for the Sudanese people," the US State Department said ahead of the visit.

The diplomats held earlier talks in Saudi Arabia with the "Friends of Sudan" -- a group of Western and Arab countries favouring transition to civilian rule.

'Reestablish public trust'

In a statement, the group backed a United Nations initiative announced last week to hold intra-Sudanese consultations to break the political impasse.

"We urge all to engage in good faith and reestablish public trust in the inevitable transition to democracy," the group said.

"Ideally this political process will be time-bound and culminate in the formation of a civilian-led government which will prepare for democratic elections."

While the US diplomats visited, coup leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced that vice-ministers -- some of whom served before the coup and some appointed after -- would now become ministers.

A statement from his office called it a "cabinet in charge of current affairs".

But it has no prime minister, since the civilian premier Abdalla Hamdok resigned in early January after trying to cooperate with the military.

As part of the civil disobedience campaign, judicial workers including prosecutors and judges said they would not work for a state committing "crimes against humanity".

University professors, corporations and doctors also joined the movement, according to separate statements.

Sudan's authorities have repeatedly denied using live ammunition against demonstrators, and insist scores of security personnel have been wounded during protests. A police general was stabbed to death last week.
Two more suspects are in the grips of the police over their alleged role in the sporadic shooting incident at Nima, a suburb of Accra on January 18, 2022.

This brings to nine, the total number of suspects arrested in connection with the clashes at Nima.

Seven persons were earlier arrested over the shoot-out, which occurred during a clash between the two gangs on Tuesday.

Five persons were in police custody, while two were hospitalised under police guard.

Giving an update about the incident on Wednesday, ACP Kwesi Ofori, Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, disclosed that the extra two suspects were arrested at a hideout with weapons on them.

So far, we have arrested nine people. Today, two people were arrested at a place where they decided to go but thanks to the effective intel of the police service in collaboration with the good people of this country, we arrested two of them with weapons and unregistered motorbikes. As I speak to you, they are in custody assisting with investigations.

The arrested persons are Abdul Aziz Sulewa, Imoro Ibrahim, Bashir Ganiu, Mohammed Bariu and Akaruwa Bassa.

Others include Gariba Abdul Mohammed, Abdul Gafaru Mohammed, Issah Seidu and Eliasu Salim.

One more person from the gang has been hospitalised, bringing those receiving medical attention to three.

Per the polices update, no deaths were recorded during the shoot-out.

Items retrieved include a pump-action gun, security uniform, ammunition, and pistols, among others.

In the meantime, the police are still on a manhunt for the leaders of the two gangs known as Kumordzi and Bombon.

A video released on the Ghana Police Facebook page showed some men holding machetes moving along a street in the community.

Gunfire is also heard in the video, with one man appearing to be firing a gun.

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Madam Josephine Selasie Aku-Sika Ohene-Boateng, a Deputy Managing Director of Presta Sankofa Gold Limited who doubled as the funder of Josephine and Jesus (J&J) fund award has inaugurated educational support fund for brilliant but needy students of Keta Senior High School on Wednesday January 19,2022.

According to her, as a past student of Ketasco she also passed through a lot of difficulties and challenges during her days in school hence the support for the students.

"I faced a lot of challenges during my school days here in this school and l don't want my younger brothers and sisters to experience the same hardship.

"This is the more reason am initiating this foundation to alleviate such occurrences," she noted.

Madam Josephine stated that the foundation is for both sexes from first year to third year.

She indicated that the award will be given in every term to needy but brilliant student to boost their learning abilities.

According to her, the support is in form of a reasonable amount of money that will be given to students every term to help them get their basic needs for studies.

She urged the Headmaster of the school, Mr Isaac K.Dzidzienyo to form a committee to spearhead the selection of the students on merit.

Mr Emmanuel Gemegah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Keta who was present at the ceremony encouraged the students to make good use of the fund to study hard.

He applauded Madam Josephine for her kind gesture and promised to role out his own support soon for the school since he was also a past student of Ketasco.

"I don't understand why Ketasco is now in category 'B' schools instead of 'A' and we need to investigate this very well," he fumed.

Mr Isaac K. Dzidzienyo, the headmaster of the school in his turn praised Madam Josephine for her works and urged other past student to emulate her gestures for the progress of the school.

"Ketasco is one of the best secondary schools in Ghana now, with our recent performance in the NMSQ last year pushing our level higher," he added.

He challenged student to learn harder to benefit from the award.

Abayateye Gabriel Ngmlotey, a technical 2 student and Adokpa Dameris also of General arts 2, on behalf of the student body pledged to make good use of the fund by studying hard.

The ceremony which was held at Ketasco Staff Hall was attended by Agbotadua Kumassa, former Ketasco geography teacher who doubled as the spokesperson for Togbe Sri lll (over Lord of Anlo state), Mama Ketor lV of Anlogah, teachers, students and many others.
20.01.2022 LISTEN

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), says it is resolved to continue its ongoing strike.

Following the ruling by the National Labour Commission (NLC) on 13th January, 2022 against UTAG members in respect of the processes leading to the partial withdrawal of one (1) of three (3) core mandates, teaching and related activities, as illegal, the National Executive Council (NEC) of UTAG informed the general membership of UTAG about the directive of the NLC.

Consequently, the fifteen (15) member branches held independent emergency meetings to that effect, and the general membership expressed their dissatisfaction with the directive and were of contrary view.

The association in a statement said the members have unanimously resolved to continue with the withdrawal of teaching and related services until further notice. By this cover note, all members are entreated to remain calm.

UTAG members on all campuses are on strike to force the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012.

The 2012 conditions of service pegged the Basic plus Market Premium of a lecturer at $2,084.42.

UTAG has complained that the current arrangement has reduced its members' basic premiums to $997.84. Read the full statement below;

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20.01.2022 LISTEN

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), will from today, Thursday, January 20 begin an indefinite strike across the country to demand better conditions of Service.

According to the Association, over a year after their proposed salary structure was sent to the Finance Ministry to deal with it, they are yet to communicate anything to them despite persistent reminders.

Members of the association in all ministries, government agencies and departments, have been charged by their leadership to boycott work until further notice.

A statement from CLOGSAG ahead of the strike noted that the association has followed due process as it had served all relevant stakeholders with notice of the action since December 22, 2021.

This is to confirm National Executive Council (NEC) decision that from 20 January, 2022, the Civil and Local Government Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) will embark on nationwide strike to press home their demand for better conditions of service. By this letter, all CLOGSAG members in the Ministries Departments, and Agencies as well as the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies are informed to stay at home from Thursday 20, January 2022 until further notice.

In similar vein, by this letter, all Chief Directors, Heads of Departments, Regional Coordinating Directors, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Coordinating Directors are duly informed, he added.

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The Coalition of Concerned University Students (CoCUS), has called on government to immediately resolve the disagreement with the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) for academic work to resume.

The union says the indefinite strike by UTAG is having a negative impact on the academic calendar, and that if the government refuses to address their concerns it will affect them in the long run.

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) on Monday January 10, 2022 declared an indefinite strike demanding better working conditions. An order by the National Labour Commission to call it off have fallen on deaf ears.

Students are feeling the negative impact already since academic activities have stalled.

Addressing the media, the Lead Convener of the Coalition of Concerned University Students (CoCUS), Kofi George Abuah, said the ongoing strike will force students to demonstrate if the government fails to meet lecturers demand

Government must within the next few working days engage the University Teachers Association of Ghana with the aim of addressing the issues in a manner that UTAG will be satisfied. Currently, most students are preparing for their mid-semester assessments and end-of-semester examinations, and we believe this strike will have a negative toll on them psychologically and academically.

It is on the backdrop of this that we plead with the government to act right. We will be forced to demonstrate if the government does not meet the demands of the lecturers.

He further indicated that, already, COVID-19 has been an albatross on students' neck and disrupted the learning and academic procedures, thus it is unfair for university students to pay exorbitant tuition and hostel fees at this early stage of the academic calendar just to see lecturers embark on an indefinite industrial action.

citinewsroom
20.01.2022 LISTEN

Minority in Parliament is demanding the presentation of the policy document on the changes to the educational calendar to Parliament for scrutiny.

They have already made their intention known to summon the Minister for Education to the House when Parliament resumes from recess next week to provide the document to detail the motive behind the switch from a trimester-based academic calendar to a semester-based one.

The decision to switch to a semester system for the academic year has been met with opposition from teacher unions and some civil society groups for various reasons.

Speaking to Citi News, Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Peter Nortsu Kotoe maintained that the Minister must provide answers on the policy directive before Parliament.

We find it expedient in the sense that this semester calendar thing is being rolled out is a major national policy on education and a policy of this nature, there should be a document on it. We want the minister to present the policy document to us and the rationale for rolling out the semester programme. We have the responsibility to ask the minister to explain so that if we have a number of questions we can put to him to answer, he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the Minority called on the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to withdraw the new academic calendar because it lacks professional touch for a more academic friendly and healthy one to be considered.

The Minority feels the semester is an importation which does not suit our Ghanaian educational environment.

As a Minority, we fully support the teacher unions in whatever democratic means they will take to stop this semester system being imposed on them, it added.

Teacher Unions in the basic education sector have also kicked against the government's change of the trimester-based academic calendar to a semester-based one.

The unions; GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, and CCT-GH in a joint statement said they are disappointed that for such a major decision, the government did not consult or engage them.

We state emphatically that at no point in time were the Unions in Education consulted on such a major policy decisionPer our Collective Agreement with regard to our working conditions, major policies such as this should come for discussion and negotiation, they said in the statement.

The unions said, among other things, that, such a move will lead to a long school calendar and will have a negative effect on the health of pupils and education workers.

citinewsroom
French tourist, Benjamin Briere, is to appear before a Revolutionary Court in Iran on Thursday on spying charges, more than a year after he was arrested while operating a remote-controlled mini helicopter in a desert area of the country.

Briere's trial takes place days after authorities in Tehran put French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah back in jail for breaking house arrest restrictions.

"Benjamin will attend the court to be tried for spying and acting against national security," one of Briere's lawyers, Saeid Dehghan, told Reuters.

Briere has been held since May 2020, when he was arrested after flying a helicam - a remote-controlled mini helicopter used to obtain aerial or motion images - in the desert near the Turkmenistan-Iran border. He was charged with espionage and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic".

His trial comes as the United States and parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal, including France, are trying to revive the pact, which was abandoned in 2018 by then-US president Donald Trump.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.

Rights activists have accused Iran of using the arrests to try to win concessions from other countries. Tehran denies holding people for political reasons.

Breaking house arrest?

Adelkhah was put back in jail for breaking house arrest restrictions, an official from the Islamic republic's judiciary authority said Sunday.

Her Paris-based support group on Wednesday announced the news "with great shock and indignation".

"Ms Adelkhah... has unfortunately knowingly violated the limits of house arrest dozens of times," Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy head of the judiciary, was quoted as saying by Mizan Online, the authority's news agency.

"She has insisted on doing so despite repeated warnings from judicial authorities. So now, like any other prisoner who has violated the same rules... she has been returned to prison," he added.

Adelkhah, 62, an expert on Iran and Shiite Islam at France's prestigious Sciences Po university, was arrested on 5 June 2019, at Tehran airport.

She was sentenced in May 2020 to five years' in prison for conspiring against national security, accusations that her supporters have always denounced as absurd. In October of that year, she was placed under house arrest with an electronic bracelet.

Adelkhah's support group on Sunday rejected the judiciary's accusations and said she had followed the rules.

(With wires)
Gaspard Ulliel, who won two French Cesar awards and had a top role in a new Marvel TV series, died on Wednesday following a ski accident in the Alps. President Emmanuel Macron and other ministers have expressed sadness for the loss of a talented actor.

Macron expressed his regrets for the abrupt loss of this talented actor, whose blue gaze was a signature of French cinema in a statement Wednesday detailing Ulliel's life.

The 37-year-old actor was left unconscious Tuesday afternoon after a collision with another skier at the meeting of two slopes in the Rosiere ski resort in eastern France, according to the prosecutor of Alberville.

He was taken by helicopter to the university hospital in Grenoble, where he died on Wednesday. The other skier was unharmed.

"His sensitivity and intensity of his acting made Gaspard Ulliel an exceptional actor, said Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot on Twitter.

Ulliel had an eclectic career that started when he was 11 years old.

Born outside Paris on 25 November 1984 he started acting in television, and soon moved onto the big screen.

He was nominated for two Cesar newcomer awards in 2003 and 2004 before finally winning the following year after appearing in the World War I drama "A Very Long Engagement" alongside Audrey Tautou.

He won a French Cesar award in 2017 for best actor for his role in "It's Only the End of the World," a film he starred alongside Marion Cotillard and Lea Seydoux, had a leading role as Midnight Man in the new Marvel TV series "Moon Knight" starring Oscar Isaac, which launches on Disney+ in March.

Ulliel also had some major modelling gigs, including a contract as the face of the Bleu de Chanel men's fragrance.

He starred in "Saint Laurent", one of two biopics about the legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent released in 2014.

Pierre Niney, who also portrayed Saint Laurent said on Twitter that the news of Ulliel's death left him with a broken heart" and that the actor was benevolence and kindness. Beauty and talent."

(with wires)
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, says Ghana's performance on the international capital market is being undermined by some lapses in our democratic governance.

He said the brawl in parliament at the end of last year over the debate on the 2022 Budget and its Electronic-Levy component had lowered investor confidence and made going to the international market very expensive.

Spreads have widened on the international market such that if one was going to the market, if there was space, you will be paying about 500 basis points, he said.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, he said it was important for citizens to manage altercations in a hung Parliament, feel remorseful for the unfortunate incidences that had characterised the adoption of the budget and build consensus towards growing the country.

We look forward to joining hands with our honourable Members of Parliament to approve the E-Levy on a consensus basis so we can collectively address the big issue of unemployment, debt sustainability and infrastructure build-up, he said.

Following the Bloomberg report of Ghana's debt situation and Fitch downgrade of Ghana's long term foreign-currency issuer default rating from B to B- with a negative outlook, the E-Levy, he said, was a well thought out mechanism to rope almost everyone to share the burden of contributing toward making standards of living much better for all.

To highlight the imbalance with burden-sharing, he noted that Greater Accra was responsible for 90 per cent of the revenue mobilised.

However, where some 60,000 professionals did not pay direct taxes, while property tax was almost non-existent.

The most efficient way must take into consideration technology and the structural changes in the tax handles. The fact that we have over 40.5 million mobile phone subscribers and over 17.1 million active mobile money subscribers, it is instructive to note that the total value of transactions on mobile money grew by a CAGR of 65% between 2016 and 2021; rising from GHS 78.5 billion in 2016 to an estimated GHS953.2 billion in 2021, he said.

He observed that the inability to share the burden and generate enough revenue had negatively affected the growth of the country compared to its neighbours within the sub-region.

We have invested less in infrastructure. Between 1961 to 2020, Ghana's average Gross Fixed Capital Formation Ratio was 17 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, between 2017 and now our tax to GDP has hovered between 11 per cent to 13 per cent compared to our peers who are between 16 per cent to 20 per cent."

Mr Ofori-Atta reiterated the government's commitment to implementing a coherent strategy that would provide opportunities for all Ghanaians through increased resource mobilisation, prudent expenditure management, job creation and skills training.

GNA
TALLAHASSEE  As rents skyrocket, startup companies are touting what they consider to be a helpful solution to hefty security deposits pricing Floridians out of apartments.

Instead of forking over an upfront security deposit, tenants can agree to pay a monthly fee  typically about $25.

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But theres a catch: The money isnt refundable at the end of the lease like a traditional security deposit, and renters are still on the hook for damage beyond ordinary wear and tear.

State lawmakers are considering legislation that would create regulations for such agreements that offer security deposit insurance instead of a traditional lump-sum deposit.

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But advocates for Florida tenants have concerns. They say the proposed regulations lack important safeguards to protect renters from predatory practices.

[ RELATED: After skyrocketing in 2021, Orlando rents expected to increase more slowly in new year ]

State Sen. Jim Boyd, who is sponsoring the measure, said paying a monthly fee is optional for tenants and landlords. It helps renters who cant come up with the money for a security deposit and will be clearly explained in rental documents, he said.

It allows people to get into a home they otherwise might not be able to get into, the Bradenton Republican said.

Ida Eskamani, a lobbyist representing the Florida Housing Justice Alliance, isnt convinced such fees will help Florida renters.

The legislation doesnt cap what renters can be charged or stipulate that landlords purchase the insurance, instead of just pocketing a monthly nonrefundable fee from renters, she said.

Instead, the Legislature should focus on combating price gouging or creating a monthly installment plan for security deposits that would be refundable, Eskamani said.

Tenants that are living paycheck-to-paycheck who are seeing 20% to 30% rent hikes dont have options, she said. A fee that they will never get back that could actually be ultimately larger than their actual deposit is not an equitable way to address the housing crisis in Florida.

[ RELATED: Low pay, soaring rents, pro-landlord laws set up Florida renters for eviction once COVID hit ]

Renters face thousands of dollars of upfront costs in a market that has already reached unheard-of heights. The average apartment in the Orlando metro area is renting for $1,650 a month, according to CoStar, a commercial real estate information company. Landlords can ask for application fees, a security deposit and first and last months rent at the beginning of the lease.

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State Sen. Audrey Gibson told Boyd during a Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she has concerns. The committee advanced the legislation on a 7-2 vote.

Its almost like a poor tax in my mind. I know thats not something you want to do, the Jacksonville Democrat said.

LeaseLock and Rhino are two leading companies offering alternatives to security deposits. Jon Potter, a company representative of LeaseLock, said the service is helping renters, and tenants can opt out of the monthly fee at any time and pay the deposit.

Move-in costs are the single biggest barrier to housing, Potter said. Its not: Can I afford the rent? Its: Can I afford to move in?

As rents soar, Democrats want Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a housing emergency and impose price-gouging protections to control hikes.

State Rep. Carlos Smith, D-Orlando, has called the situation a crisis that should be at the top of the legislative agenda.

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Floridians cant afford Florida, he said.

sswisher@orlandosentinel.com
20.01.2022 LISTEN

The Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Mohammed Awal has disclosed that the outfit will invest over $20 million to improve tourism and arts attractions.

To this end, Dr Awal said the Ejisu Museum, Yaa Asantewaas tomb, Lake Bosomtwe and some six handicraft centers in the Ashanti Region will be improved so that 250,000 jobs could be generated annually and also contribute to the nations GDP.

Dr Awal said this when he paid a courtesy call on Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.

He said the pandemic has affected the number of tourists coming in, therefore, the ministry is seeking the Asantehenes support to shift focus on domestic tourism where Ghanaians will be encouraged to travel across the country.

The Asantehene noted that the tourism industry could generate income more than Cocoa if managed well, therefore, the high cost of hotels should be resolved to attract visitors in the country.

Otumfuo also encouraged art and tourism lessons for commercial drivers who make first contact with visitors for further advancement in the sector.

 Classfmonline.com
Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah, acting through his solicitor, has implored the Criminal Investigative Department of the Ghana Police Service to expedite action in the prosecution of Captain Smart for making an allegation of corruption against him (the Minister).

In a letter signed by Francis K. Yeboah of Amicus Legal Consult and addressed to the Director-General of the Criminal Investigative Department of the Ghana Police Service, the Solicitor of the Minister said: Our instructions are for us to implore you to expedite action in the prosecution of the suspect and assure you that our Client would make himself available whenever he is required in the course of the prosecution.

The action of the Minister comes on the back of the release of an investigative report by the Criminal Investigations Department, CID, of the Ghana Police Service, which exonerated him of corruption claims levelled against him by Captain Smart.

Following the release of the report, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah indicated his readiness to proceed to court to press charges against all persons who made the allegations against him.

There is evidence against suspect Captain Smart for the offences of Defrauding by False Pretences and Accepting and Giving Bribe to corrupt a Public Officer, the report indicated, adding that the investigation is being finalized for prosecution.


The Co-founder of iValley Ghana, Prince Nabil Mahama has said his outfit intends to take technology and innovation to the doorsteps of the people of the Savannah Region.

Addressing a crop of young leaders at the first-ever Startup Summit for young entrepreneurs in the Savannah Region held at Damongo, the regional capital, he said there was the need for young people to identify problems confronting their communities and devise solutions to address them with the help of technology.

According to him, the goal is to reduce business failures in the Savannah Region and equip the youth with capacity building and entrepreneurial skills towards reducing youth unemployment in the region and Ghana at large.

He said the summit was in partnership with the GhanaTechLab after six weeks of intensive training in Mobile Application Development for 13 young people in the Savannah Region. "we started this program with 23 people,10 dropped out because of numerous reasons leaving these 13."

The trainees after the six weeks were given the opportunity to identify problems within their communities and develop a mobile application to address them.

Four groups namely: Smart Farms,Gyeeda, Savannah tours and delivery hub came up with various solutions to challenges in farming, culture, tourism and food delivery in the Savannah Region for pitching.

At the end, Gyeeda was adjudged winners and selected alongside Savannah tours and delivery hub for the incubation stage of the competition. A seed capital of Ghc200 was given to each of the winning groups to assist register their businesses.

Dr. Abdul Fatahi Kambala, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies and a Business Development Consultant commended iValley and its partners for the initiative.

He said despite the enthusiasm of the youth of today, there was a gap in knowledge between their frustrations and solutions available to address those frustrations.

According to him, the youth of society in this modern era need to change their attitude towards progress and be agents of change instead of victims of this change.

"We have to do something to change our attitude here and now. We all have to come together to make that change. The world is changing on a daily basis. We should be agents of change,but not victims of this change that is happening.We have moved from green revolution to industrial revolution. Now, information is what is bringing us the needed change and if we do not look for information and knowledge,we will be where we are. Progress is at the corner," he stressed.

The headmistress of the Damongo Senior High School, Madam Aluguba Mercy, who was recognized with a citation for her outstanding contribution towards women empowerment in the Savannah Region expressed joy that she was being recognized for the change she impacted in society.

She said, looking round, she sees many of her products through the Campaign for Female Education and School For Life doing marvellously in various fields of endeavours.

The gender advocate was however, not happy with the inferiority complex, lack of self confidence and stage fright exhibited by most young girls of today and launched a passionate appeal for change.

Madam Amida Sibenlira, the CEO of Gyeeda and winners of the pitch competition was grateful to the Almighty God for the victory success.

She thanked her other team members for the collaborative effort that led to the victory.

She assures that her team will double up efforts to connect to more investors to nature more ideas and convert them into reality.

Some groups of investors also expressed interest in partnering with Smart Farms in realizing their innovative idea of changing the face of farming in the Savannah Region.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the Savannah Region is calling on the general public to embrace the Girls' Iron Folic Tablets Supplementation (Gifts) program as an important step to eradicating anaemia among adolescent girls in Ghana.

At a media and stakeholder engagement on Girls' Iron Folic Tablets Supplementation (GIFTS) program held at Damongo, the Savannah Regional capital, the Regional Nutrition Officer, Brian Kamara noted that anaemia remains a problem of public health in Ghana with a prevalence rate of 26% among young adults aged 15-19 years in 2017.

He said the GIFTS program was being implemented as an inter-sectorial intervention between the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) with their partners to promote health and nutrition education and enhance behaviour change to control and prevent anaemia.

According to him, due to the inadequate cross-sectorial communication and poor institutional commitment, there were a lot of misconceptions around the GIFTs program with some misconceiving the IFA Supplements as family planning pills, adding that," we need the strong partnership and support of the media to correct some of these misconceptions".

The Savannah Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Chrystantus Kubio, used the opportunity to dispel rumors of meningitis outbreak in the region.

He calls for a collaborative effort to address issues of anaemia among adolescent girls.

He said there was the need to incorporate health and nutrition education among adolescent girls both in school and out of school to promote healthy behaviours and eradicate misconceptions surrounding Iron Folic Acid Supplementation.

On CoVid-19, he noted that there were gaps in the vaccination as the country enter the fourth wave of the pandemic with a lot of people resisting the jab.

According to him, the service has received enough stock of the Covid-19 vaccines for the region.

He called on the media to help address the public misconceptions and hesitancy to the Covid-19 jab in order to reduce the spread of the virus.
Angolan authorities should ensure the safety of journalists covering protests and investigate recent incidents of assault, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On January 10, six reporters working for news outlets TV Zimbo and TV Palanca were assaulted by unidentified people and forced to flee to safety while reporting on a nationwide strike by taxi drivers in the capital Luanda, according to media reports and the journalists, who spoke to CPJ by telephone.

The nationwide strike was in protest of COVID-19 restrictions, poor state of roads, demands for social security benefits, and a call for the end to alleged extortion by police, according to media reports.

TV Zimbo reporter Telmo Gama and his cameraman Justino Campos, and TV Palanca reporters Anselmo Nhati and Orlando Luis and cameramen Antonio Luamba and Daniel Lutaka, were covering the protest when some people among the protestors turned on the journalists and called the TV Zimbo crew sellouts, the journalists told CPJ. The protest quickly turned violent, and they were forced to leave.

The secretary general of the Journalists Syndicate, Teixeira Candido, told CPJ over a phone call that public media journalists are increasingly becoming the targets of peoples anger because of the perceived bias toward the government and ruling party. TV Zimbo and TV Palanca were nationalized by the Angolan government in mid-2020, as documented by CPJ.

As shown by the recent attack on the TV Zimbo and TV Palanca news crews, reporters appear to be scapegoats for some citizens perceived anger toward the state, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator. CPJ is increasingly concerned that the environment for media freedom in Angola is deteriorating as the country approaches elections later this year. The press should be allowed to do its work free from intimidation and risk of assault, so that all Angolans can enjoy their right to a diversity and plurality of news and information.

Around 7 a.m. on January 10, Campos was first to arrive at the main taxi rank in Luandas suburb of Benfica, as the drivers began preparations to block roads, he told CPJ. Initially, demonstrators welcomed the media attention, saying they should report on what was happening, however, attitudes changed when he began filming the vandalism and arson attack on a building owned by the ruling Peoples Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party.

Someone started to shout that we were sellouts, Campos said, adding that he and Gama left the scene to try and find a safe spot to do their reporting. Gama told CPJ that he was holding a microphone with the Zimbo TV logo while Campos held the camera when they were again confronted by protesters and street vendors who joined them in pushing the journalists and yelling insults.

Protestors set documents and equipment from the trashed office on fire; Campos was punched at least four times on his left shoulder and a burning MPLA T-shirt was thrown at him, according to Campos.

I wasnt seriously harmed physically, but I feared for our lives when I realized petrol was thrown at our backs, as we were rushing towards the nearby police station, Gama said.

About five protestors tried to protect them by escorting Campos and Gama to the police station, just a few meters away, while telling the other protestors that the journalists were merely doing their jobs, the journalists told CPJ. Campos and Gama said there were no police at the scene of the protest.

Around 9 a.m., Luis and his Palanca TV crew arrived at the scene and positioned themselves to film the burning office and vandalism, Luis told CPJ. People in the crowd of protestors began throwing rocks at a Ministry of Health bus before setting it on fire, forcing passengers to flee for their lives, he said.

Luis and his crew were punched by people who tried to take their equipment, Luis said, adding that someone soaked him with petrol and when he turned around, he saw someone lighting a match. I was lucky the match fell to the floor when someone bumped into him, and before he could throw it at me, Luis told CPJ.

Nhati told CPJ that he was grabbed from the back, had an arm wrapped tight around his neck for about 30 seconds, and was kicked in the legs by an unidentified man who tried to take him to the ground. Nhati tried to flee but became entangled in his microphones long cable. Luis grabbed the mic while Nhati tried to pull free, and when one of the attackers tripped and fell, Nhati was able to escape, he told CPJ.

Luis said he was saved by a transit policeman who put his arms around the reporters head, as seen on video footage reviewed by CPJ. The policeman escorted him and Nhati to the police station as bottles and other debris were thrown at them.

Luamba and Lutaka told CPJ they saw their colleagues pelted with bottles and petrol, so they ran for safety to a nearby petrol station with private security guards, in the opposite direction, adding that they were unharmed.

Luamba and Lutaka joined Nhati and Luis at the police station, where they for around two hours before returning to their office to work on their reports, according to Nhati.

Luis said he covered the taxi drivers strike the week before, interviewed the organizers, and did not believe the taxi drivers were to blame for the violence, but instead politically motivated people who were taking advantage of the protest. Manuel Faustino, president of the Luandas Taxis Association, agreed on a phone call with CPJ, adding that the strike was about workers rights, and the association vehemently condemned the violence.

The National Police said the moral instigator of the vandalism and assault of a Palanca TV journalist is in detention, according to a news report. None of the journalists laid charges with the police, who have arrested at least 29 protesters accused of vandalism and damage to property, according to news reports.

Contacted by telephone, Nestor Goubel, spokesperson for the national police in Luanda, declined to comment on CPJs request for information on the demonstrators who attacked the journalists, instead referring CPJ to his earlier interviews on the subject before hanging up.
The Ghana Armed Forces Central Command Staff College has paid a courtesy call on the Tano North Municipal Assembly and Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Council.

The delegation was made up of a combined team of forty-three (43) members of Directive Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces and Senior Officers Course Students comprises Navy, Army and Air force.

The meeting was aimed at acquainting themselves with the activities of the Assembly, their sources of revenue generation and how well the assembly could collaborate with the traditional council to bring total socio-economic development to their people.

The Armed Forces were drawn from Nigeria, Togo, Guinea, South Africa, Ghana and La Cote DIvoire. The move form part of their annual regional environmental study tour of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College.

The tour is under the theme: "Traditional Leadership and the Local System of Governance; Optimising Progressive Co-existence for the Socio-economic Development of Ghana." They met the Heads of Departments in the Tano North Municipal Assembly.

In his welcome address, the Tano North Municipal Co-ordinating Director Mr. Eric Anarfi said having both traditional and state authorities joint forces will help bring total development at the local level.

The Tano North Municipal Co-ordinating Director Mr. Eric Anarfi addressing the gathering

Mr. Anarfi reiterated that to live in harmony as peaceful collaborators between local governments for socio-economic benefit of the citizenry, identify challenges and unexplored areas in collaboration with local government and traditional authorities would expedite development.

He said the MCE who is head of Tano North Municipal Assembly see the traditional leadership as a vital institution working with local government to promote socio-economic development in their respective assemblies.

The Municipal Finance Officer, Mr. Kofi Anane, told the soldiers how the Assembly generate their Internal Generated Fund (IGF), District Common Fund (DCF) and District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT) at the Assembly hall.

Mr. Kofi Anane explained to the soldiers that auditors do not have guidelines as to how the money of the Assembly should be used at the Assembly level but they rather advise the Assembly on how to apply accounting principles to avoid any accounting breach.

Tano North Municipal Planning Officer Mr. Essando in his presentation said the relationship between traditional leaders and the Assembly is cordial and peaceful.

He advised that the Municipal Assembly exercise deliberative, legislative and executive functions to take steps and measures that are necessary to initiate and encourage joint participation with traditional leadership to execute approved development plans.

The Sub Chief of Akwamu, Nana Boakye Bonsu, said the traditional leaders function as custodians of the natural resource including land, fighting for social development for their people, dispute resolution in the communities and ensuring traditional heritage such as norms, values and principles are preserved.

According to him, they also champion developmental activities in their locality. He however reiterated that part of their powers and functions are being taken by politicians and administrative authority in the district which renders them powerless.

Col. Kwaku Parbey presenting plaques to the MCE and to Nana Boakye Tromo III

The leader of the staff and the students, Col. Kwaku Parbey said they will factor the concerns of the traditional leaders and the Municipal Assembly in their annual reports.

Col. Kwaku Parbey presented plaques to the MCE and Nana Boakye Tromo III respectively from the Armed Force Staff College and also wished the 95-year-old chief long life to continue to be a point of reference for them to continue to tape his enormous wisdom.
The trial of the 20 men suspected of complicity in the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris has been suspended once again after a second suspect tested positive for Covid-19. Hearings are now expected to resume on 25 January.

Ali El Haddad Asufi, accused of helping prepare the massacres which cost the lives of 131 people, began showing symptoms at last Friday's court session.

He tested positive on Saturday.

Tribunal president Jean-Louis Peries has thus decided that this entire week will be lost, since a new test will not be carried out until Friday.

Provided there are no other health problems among the accused, the trial will resume on Tuesday with the hearing of testimony from Muhammad Usman on the period covering his voyage from his native Pakistan, through the Syrian warzone and the ranks of Islamic State, to his eventual arrest in Austria..

Evidence from Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the 10 assailants who targeted the Stade de France, the Bataclan concert hall and several bars and restaurants in the capital in November 2015, will now begin on 9 February, according to a new calendar issued by the court..

Abdeslam himself tested positive for Covid at the end of December, delaying the hearings for several days.
Ghanas drive towards digitization has taken an innovative turn with the setting up of an online portal for the sale and distribution of newspapers.

Touted as the first of its kind on the African continent and certainly one of the very few in the whole world, www.ghananewsstand.com has the capacity to host hundreds of newspapers and to deliver these newspapers into the personal emails of customers of the portal.

The website will bring a great deal of comfort to patrons of newspapers, who can now sit at home and access actual copies of newspapers at a fraction of the price.

www.ghananewsstand.com proposes to sell each copy of every newspaper it vends for GHc1.00 in Ghana and $1.00 anywhere else in the world. Newspapers in Ghana currently sell anywhere GHc2.00 to GHc3.00.

www.ghananewsstand.com is the concept and brainchild of Swift Media Ventures. The website, which has been undergoing weeks of testing since November 2021, began officially streaming on Monday 17th January, 2022.

So far, about eight Ghanaian newspapers have signed to distribute on the website, with more showing interest.

The introduction of www.ghananewsstand.com means that consumers of various newspapers in Ghana do not have to walk to newsstands to buy hard copies of newspapers, if they do not feel like it. Rather, they can sit in the comfort of their offices, homes or cars and have the newspapers actually delivered into their emails in portable document format (pdf).

It allows patrons of newspapers to access actual full digital copies of Ghanaian newspapers on their android phones, laptops, tablets and personal computers anywhere in the world, and to view their content, without walking to a news stand.

Newspapers that sign on would have the unique advantage of reaching potentially millions of potential customers every day, with each publication, thus making them infinitely more attractive to advertisers.

Mr. Kenneth Kuranchie, the CEO of Swift Media Ventures, further explained, In the past, newspaper influence was limited to the number of people who could be attracted to see actual copies on the newsstands. These newsstands are quickly disappearing and becoming more and more unattractive to the potential customers of newspapers, anyway. By distributing and selling online, this narrowing window has been infinitely opened to potentially billions of customers. The whole world is a potential customer, instead of a few hundred newsstands in Ghana.

This means that publishers can set up international newspapers and magazines in Ghana, with a realistic chance of distributing worldwide. Our distribution as newspapers are no longer circumscribed by geographical boundaries. The whole world is a customer.

Newspapers, by their nature, are highly perishable. Their time on the shelf is highly limited to the few hours after they appear every morning. That means that they have to be taken off the newsstands every twenty-four hours, in the case of dailies, and weekly, in the case of weeklies. With www.ghananewsstand.com , however, the product is on sale permanently, since customers looking for back copies can easily access them and pay for them as well. The advantages are only pluses and pluses. Now, you sell for only a few hours. With www.ghananewsstand.com , you sell forever.

He explained further, Newspapers that sign on would have the unique advantage of attracting advertisers even more than radio and television. This is because each advert assumes a permanent record in digital format for each customer of the newspaper, which the customer can easily refer to in comfort, anytime the customer is minded to do so. Indeed this is a great innovation that all newspapers in Ghana, Africa and the rest of the world should take advantage off.

www.ghananewsstand.com can be reached on 0599494339 or 0554094799.
The Chief of Oblieman in the Ga West Municipality Nii Ayitey Anumle Oyanka I has appealed to the mobile telecommunication companies to consider house to house re-registration of SIM cards to avoid the long disturbing queues.

He said failure to do so would have their telecom masts on his lands pulled down.

Nii Oyanka I who also serves as the World Human Rights Council noted that it is time the telcos treat their customers and by extension Ghanaians with respect.

According to him, Ghanaians should be able to register their SIM in their comfort zone and not forced to travel miles to join queues to register.

"Telcos should adapt the house to house SIM re-registration to show respect to Ghanaians. It doesn't make sense if we can't sit in our comfort zones to register our SIM cards when we keep on preaching about digitization. This is a clear disgrace to our Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia".

He noted that the SIM registration exercise is truly a laudable exercise that will help reduce the scam in the country.

"Let me charge those concerning the exercise to sit down and analyse the problems. There is a saying that education is different from wisdom. We cannot leave our homes and offices to join a long queue for SIM card re-registration when these telcos companies can easily build up applications to help Ghanaians register at the comfort of their homes. Telcos are making lot of money from Ghanaians and they have all to lose if Ghanaians refuse to register and their sim cards blocked.

"The telcos together with their agents can go house to house to sell SIM cards and do marketing but can't do house to house, office to office re-registration", King Oyanka added.

He urged individuals and groups kicking against the exercise to reconsider their thoughts.

"Even though the registration is an important exercise and those condemning the exercise have not sat down to know what the real problem is.

"Is it news to you that sometimes, people go to purchase new SIM cards and they are told the SIM is already registered. The question you have ask is whose name was used to register. So people buy such SIM cards and can do all dubious acts with them so we need to get a proper registration of cards to avoid those problems.

"These long queues at registration centres is all nonsense, senseless and useless. I have telecom companies and their network masts on my lands and they pay royalties to me and the government also deducts taxes from my royalties," King Oyanka emphasised.
20.01.2022 LISTEN

Lawyer Eric Delanyo Alifo, a private legal practitioner says he wonders if the Majority in Parliament wants the Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin's life to be in danger.

His worry stems from the statement issued a couple of days ago by the Majority Caucus regarding the security of the Speaker.

A letter dated 11 January and signed by the Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Major General N. P. Andoh withdrew the four military guards attached to the Office of the Speaker of Parliament.

The letter indicated that four military guards had been deployed as part of the security of the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin without proper procedure.

In a reaction to the assertion that the executive arm of government was involved in the recent withdrawal of four soldiers, the Majority side said the move by GAF was not politically motivated as speculated by the Minority Caucus.

In a statement issued Monday [January 17, 2021] the Majority side said Mr Alban Bagbin has benefited from the largest number of security personnel for his protection that none of the previous Speakers had.

But the NDC big wig in the Volta Region questions the posture of the Majority group in Parliament in one of his latest statements.

He stated, "In fact, if no ill-motive is behind their public statement, and no malice is intended, are they also not smart enough to envisage that a dangerous consequence may result from their unguarded and unfortunate public statement?"

Read his statement below:

Does the NPP Majority Group in Parliament Want the Speaker of Parliament to be Killed?

If not, why did they put out in the public domain, to all of us, including the criminals that may be in our midst, in out-and-out details, information on the Speaker's security arrangements including information on how many police officers are stationed at particular locations around him, including his home, office, in his escort, etc to ensure that he is effectively protected, and all his family and properties shall be safe?

This is Ghana, where 'contract killing' is rampant, and when they occur against high profile public officials, the police are never able to unravel the facts at all, or for many years. Our police service is just not able to be bold enough to investigate these incidents. They shall tell you they are investigating forever and they shall continue to ask for information from the general public as though they mean well.

When criminals want to plan their dastardly acts, they first do thorough intelligence gathering around their targets to facilitate their eventual operations. It would appear that the NPP Majority Group in Parliament has provided every security information about the Speaker of Parliament, which any criminally minded person may need to plan an effective attack on the Speaker.

In fact, if no ill-motive is behind their public statement, and no malice is intended, are they also not smart enough to envisage that a dangerous consequence may result from their unguarded and unfortunate public statement?

I can't think far.

Eric ELANYO Alio
At least 27 journalists were killed due to their work in 2021, with India and Mexico topping the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists final data for the year. Of the total  which has risen by three since the publication of CPJs December 9 report on attacks on the press  21 were singled out for murder in retaliation for their reporting. Four more were killed while reporting from conflict zones, and two others were killed covering protests or street clashes that turned deadly.

CPJ is still investigating the deaths of 18 other journalists  including six from Mexico to determine whether their killings were work-related.

While the overall total of journalist deaths dropped from 2020s number of 32, the number of confirmed retaliatory murders remained roughly the same, suggesting that journalists continue to be seen as targets. The two countries with the highest number of murders  India and Mexico, which registered four and three confirmed murders, respectively  both feature on CPJs Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where members of the press are singled out for murder and the perpetrators go free.

At least two journalists were killed in Myanmar, amid the military juntas brutal crackdown on the press that also saw at least 26 journalists imprisoned for their reporting as of December 1, 2021. The two deaths, both in December, represented CPJs highest yearly recorded tally for journalist killings in Myanmar since 1999, and the country emerged as the worlds second-worst jailer of journalists after China in CPJs 2021 prison census.

Other findings from CPJs research on journalist killings include:

Political groups, such as anti-government parties or combatants, were the most frequently suspected killers of journalists in 2021, while politics was the most dangerous beat.

Afghan television anchor Mina Khairi  who was killed in June in Kabul when unidentified attackers detonated an improvised explosive device attached to a van she was riding in  was the only female journalist confirmed to have been targeted for murder in 2021. Another reporter, Yemeni photojournalist Rasha Abdullah al-Harazi  who was pregnant at the time  was killed by a car bomb on November 9, 2021, but its believed that the attack was aimed at her husband, Mahmoud al-Atmi. Al-Atmi, also a journalist, was seriously injured in the explosion.

The vast majority of killed journalists were locals covering the news in their home countries. Three foreign journalists were killed in 2021: Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who died in Afghanistan from injuries sustained while covering clashes between Afghan forces and the Taliban in July; and Spanish documentary film crew David Beriain and Roberto Fraile, who were kidnapped and killed in Burkina Faso in April.

Lebanese journalist Lokman Slim  who was murdered in February  was the only confirmed killing in the Middle East and North Africa in 2021, a sharp decrease after record-high levels of journalist deaths in the region over the last decade.

Learn more about CPJs 2021 data on killed and imprisoned journalists from our interactive map and annual prison census.

Methodology

CPJ began compiling detailed records on all journalist deaths in 1992. CPJ staff members independently investigate and verify the circumstances behind each death. CPJ considers a case work-related only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in combat-related crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.

If the motives in a killing are unclear, but it is possible that a journalist died in relation to his or her work, CPJ classifies the case as unconfirmed and continues to investigate.

CPJs list does not include journalists who died of illness or were killed in car or plane accidents unless the crash was caused by hostile action. Other press organizations using different criteria cite different numbers of deaths.

CPJs database of journalists killed in 2021 includes capsule reports on each victim and filters for examining trends in the data. CPJ maintains a database of all journalists killed since 1992 and those who have gone missing or are imprisoned for their work.

Jennifer Dunham is CPJs deputy editorial director. Prior to joining CPJ, she was research director for Freedom Houses Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press reports.
The St. Dominic Hospital has issued a press release to clarify allegations levelled against the hospital by Madam Lydia Dagadu in the media related to her baby.

Contrary to claims, the management of the hospital has denied neglecting the baby but insists that the mother refused to listen to medical advise when it was recommended to treat her baby of an illness.

The hospital explains that the baby (second twin), together with his brother, a set of twins delivered pre-term at the hospital in August 2020 was admitted to the Neo Natal Intensive-Care Unit (NICU) for medical reasons.

Upon recovery from the NICU, the baby was sent to Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) to gain weight and was fully discharged after about two months.

The mother of the baby returned him to the hospital in May 2021 with a complaint of a medical condition and upon examination, the mother was advised that the baby needed to be admitted to the hospital for proper and better medical care but the mother rejected the advice and returned home with the baby.

After about 5 months later when the father and grandmother sent the twins to the hospital for assessment, no marked improvement was detected in the condition of both babies; and the said persons who brought them to the hospital this time attributed their conditions to causes that cannot be related in this release for good reasons.

The hospital notes that while performing routine protocol in the administration of medical care to the baby in December 2021, it became necessary to undertake an ultrasound scan on his hand which resulted in the detection of another medical condition for which the hospital prescribed a treatment.

However, the mother, Madam Lydia Dagadu once again rejected the advice.

The hospital nonetheless continued to manage the babys condition and upon his discharge, the mother was to bring the baby for weekly review until she together with a number of family members and a journalist stormed the hospital and demanded a meeting.

While the hospital expected the subject for the meeting to be that of the best medical care for the baby which had been paramount to the hospital, the family rather sought and demanded compensation for what reasons the hospital says it still do not understand.

The hospital as expected declined to accede to this demand for compensation.

The hospital notes that it has finally succeeded in securing the consent of the babys parents to undertake the recommended medical procedure on him and cannot but deploy its best efforts for the purpose for the baby to enjoy his normal health by the grace of God.

Amid the controversy that matter has caused, the hospital through its press release has assured all stakeholders that it shall not deviate from its core mandate as a not-for-profit Catholic medical facility established to provide the best medical care for all its patients within its capacity and ability with exceptional compassion within the best professional standards as it has been doing since 1960.
Teacher Yaw

20.01.2022 LISTEN

Ever since NUGS was established in the 1960s, there has never been a student from the universities/tertiaries in the Northern part of Ghana declaring his intent in NUGS Presidency, let alone winning.

Surprisingly, a student by name, Charles Oppong in an attempt to challenge the status quo has taken the bold step of declaring his intent to contest for no other position other than the National NUGS President.

The 30-year-old BSc Mathematics student of the UDS Navrongo campus, now C.K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, is the current President of the Mathematics Students Association in the university, and the Technical and Vocational Committee Member of the current NUGS administration.

He is popularly known as Teacher Yaw, having been a teacher since 2015, and held other positions like Assistant Headteacher, staff secretary etc while serving the Ghana Education Service.

He was a judicial board member for the UDS Navrongo campus for 2019/2020, and the PRO for Mathematics Students Association 2020/2021.

Teacher Yaw, who was born and bred in Sekyere Jamasi resides in Bepoase in the Sekyere South District but hails from Asante Mampong.

He was the steward for Walewale Methodist Church from 2018 to 2021, and the former Circuit Coordinator for Ghana Methodist Students Union, whiles pursuing his Diploma at the Wesley College of Education, Kumasi.

He is noted and recognized by Ghana Education Service as one of the 3-Member Committee that established Girl's Model JHS for West Mamprusi Municipal in Walewale in 2016.
The residents of Sanuori, a rural community in the Wa West District, have appealed to the government to provide classrooms for the primary school at the community.

The residents said the school children at the community currently endured the harsh weather conditions to learn under trees due to the lack of classrooms for them.

Mr Kunsusula Gyatuli, the Chairman of the Sanuori Basic School Management Committee (SMC), told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the school had classrooms for only the Kindergarten children.

He acknowledged the importance of education to the development of every community and said the harsh conditions under which children at Sanuori learned discouraged the children from attending school.

Since we started the school here, we have been struggling with it, we put up mud structures and they collapsed. We informed the authorities to help us, but they are not doing anything for us.

We built the classrooms ourselves three times, but they all collapsed. During the rainy season the school closes. The school is progressing and we now have from KG to primary six, but the infrastructure is not there, Mr Gyatuli explained.

He therefore appealed to the Wa West District Assembly and benevolent individuals and organisations to support them by providing the school with classroom a block to alleviate the plight of the school children.

He also indicated that the children had to trek several kilometers to nearby communities for Junior High School education, which he said was a challenge to the school children.

Mr Bamba Dong-yiri, a Unit Committee Member of the Sanuori Electoral Area, said enrollment in the school was appreciating and stressed the need for classrooms for the school.

He expressed worry that some of the school children were losing interest in schooling due to the lack of classrooms for them, and said the school might collapse if the necessary steps were not taken to build classrooms to salvage the situation.

GNA
Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, has cut the sod for the commencement of work on a high standard Rice Mill factory in the region.

The factory, which is located at Mafi-Adidome is expected to produce over 50 tons of rice per hour.

Dr Letsa, in an official visit to the Central Tongu District, has given the green light for construction works to commence on the facility which would ready in six months.

He said the project which is supported by 'Spring Agro' an Indian Company, would help boost Agri-business activities in the region.

"This is a testament to our recent Volta Trade and Investment Fair event where the Indian Ambassador reaffirmed his commitment to partner the region in growing the Agricultural sector."

Dr Letsa also indicated the facility would be one of the best in Volta and Ghana at large due to advanced technological facilities to be attached.

Mr Thomas More Zonyra, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area added that other facilities such as Maize seed processor would also be fixed after the first phase.

He said the presence of the facilities would provide jobs to the teeming unemployed youth in the area and beyond.

He also said local farmers would be engaged on commercial basis for providing the raw materials to the facility for processing.

The facility which would cover a four acre land according to the DCE in the interim, would bring relief to rice farmers in the area since they struggle to get their agro products processed for the final market consumption.

Mr Harman Randhaha, the Managing Director of Spring Agro, said agriculture played an important role in every economic activity "so this factory would contribute to the financial growth of the District."

The event was part of the regional Minister's tour to the various Municipal and District Assemblies in the region.

The tour also took the Minister and his enterouge to some business farms in the District.

GNA
Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Mr. Isaac Adongo has blasted the Akufo-Addo government and the Ministry of Finance over attempts to constantly create the impressive that the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) will solve the economic woes of the country.

In justifying the E-Levy, the Finance Minister Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta argued that it will help government raise more revenue to embark on developmental projects to better the lives of the citizenry.

Ahead of the resubmission of the levy to Parliament next week, Isaac Adongo has rubbished all attributions of the country's economic dependency on the electronic transaction levy.

According to him, government is to blame for constantly overspending.

The issues around the Ghanaian economy has nothing to do with E-Levy. The issues surrounding the Ghanaian economy is that we are spending much more than we can raise. It is a two way process. Cut back on the frivolous, profligate expenditures so that you are able to live within your means, Mr. Adongo who is a member on the Finance Committee in Parliament told Citi News in an interview.

The Bolgatanga Central MP continued, You are not willing to cut the expenditure and you keep creating the impression that some 6.9 billion that may not even be realized is the reason you are in the mess. When within the period of two years you have expanded your expenditures by over GHS80 billion, you have doubled the size of your budget in just two and a half years. That is the bottom line.

The Minister for Finance and his team will hope that when Parliament resumes sitting on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, the Minority and the Majority will reach a consensus that will lead to the approval of the controversial E-Levy.
Member of Parliament for Yilo Krobo, Albert Nyarkotey, says the Minority Caucus in Parliament is still opposed to the passage of the controversial 1.75% Electronic Transaction Levy (e-Levy).

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, at a press conference on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, indicated that the government is set to resubmit the controversial levy before Parliament, following the conclusion of extensive consultations.

As government officials are set to begin public sensitization on e-levy today, Mr. Nyarkotey told Citi News, the Minority Caucus stance on e-levy remains the same.

I have prepared for the next sitting. I have a lot of questions and will continue to do so. Most of the questions will benefit my constituency. As a caucus, we are ready and whatever we have to do to reduce the suffering of Ghanaians, we will do.

I am passionate about e-levy because I believe it is the poorer section of the society who will suffer more when it is approved, so we have to fight it. We are opposed to e-levy, we will not let it happen.

On December 21, 2021, Parliament adjourned its sitting to January 25, 2022, without passing the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy of 1.75%.

It came after the house reconvened that day following the abrupt suspension of sittings by the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrews Asiamah, after a fight broke out during the voting on the levy.

The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, prayed the sit-in Speaker, First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu, to adjourn the house for cooler heads to prevail.

---citinewsroom
20.01.2022 LISTEN

KIGALI, RWANDA, JANUARY 20th , 2022, - The Government of Rwanda through its Ministry of Environment, this morning unveiled three former African Heads of State as patrons for the upcoming inaugural IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC). The three former heads of state include H.E Hailemariam Desalegn  former Prime Minister for Ethiopia; H.E Issoufou Mahamadou  former President Niger and H.E Festus Mogae  former President for Botswana.

The APAC Congress, which is set to be the first ever continent-wide gathering of African leaders, citizens, and interest groups, aims to discuss the role of protected areas in conserving nature, safeguarding Africas iconic wildlife, delivering vital life-supporting ecosystem services, promoting sustainable development, while conserving Africas cultural heritage and traditions.

In his acceptance speech during the unveiling, H.E Hailemariam Desalegn said: APAC presents an unparalleled opportunity to chart a path that balances economic growth with conservation of Africas natural capital. This will need to be done through strategic choices and investments driven by the best available knowledge and long-term thinking. I am therefore very pleased and honored to be joining my peers in leading this conversation through our patronage. Africas potential is enormous, and we believe that this Congress will be a stepping stone towards achieving our 2063 goals as a continent.

The IUCN-APAC is convened by the IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas in partnership with government agencies and conservation organizations with the support of development partners, corporate business, communities, and the media.

In an acceptance video, H.E Issoufou Mahamadou said: The ability of leadership at all levels to be discerning and empowered is critical in shaping decisions that will affect Africas future. APAC seeks to deliberately foster dialogues that build and empower the current and the next generation of leaders to realize an African future where biodiversity is valued as an asset that contributes to development. This is why I am very happy and excited to accept this honorary position as a Patron of the inaugural congress that is intended to change the face of conservation and spearhead climate change mitigation efforts on a large scale.

H.E Festus Mogae in his acceptance video reaffirmed that: APAC must be a turning point for the relationship between the global community and African institutions. As Africans, we recognize the pivotal role the global community and international organizations have played over the last 60 years. It is necessary for African communities and institutions to be actively involved in the conservation agenda for ownership and integration within the aspirations and vision for the Africa we want. I am thrilled to accept my role as one of the patrons at the upcoming Africa Protected Areas Congress to ensure the representation of African communities at this crucial time in our African history.

An IUCN Member since 2016, Rwanda is proud to take up the global conservation leadership mantle and become the first African country to host the IUCN African Protected Area Congress. Rwanda has over the years demonstrated leadership and vision in defining a vision for growth in Rwanda that sustains people and nature.

Speaking at the unveiling of the APAC Patrons, Minister of Environment, Rwanda, Dr Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya said that, It is critical that all African nations and leaders walk this journey together. The Africa Protected Areas Congress comes at a time when there is growing global attention on our strained relationship with nature. We are not investing enough in the natural systems we depend on. US$700 billion more is needed for biodiversity each year, less than 1% of global GDP. Africa spends less than 10% of what is needed to protect and restore nature. Protected areas must have access to the financing required for effective management and thus fulfill their role in providing essential biodiversity protection and ecosystem services for people and development.

The congress is anchored on three key themes Protected Areas, People and Biodiversity as it seeks to deliberately foster dialogues that build and empower the current and the next generation of leaders to realize an African future where wildlife and wildlands are valued as an asset that contributes to development.

Also speaking at the launch, AWF CEO Kaddu Sebunya said: Under the leadership of President Paul Kagame alongside the three Patrons and former Heads of State, we are confident that APAC will provide the best opportunity for elevating the plight of conservation and protected areas across the continents leaders. This is why at AWF, we have made it our primary responsibility to support African governments and people willing to chart futures that embrace wildlife and wild lands, hence our partnership with the Government of Rwanda and numerous governments across the continent. We believe that with our rich biological diversity, Africa plays a critical role in global conservation efforts and biodiversity conservation is most effective when we maintain healthy, functioning, and intact ecosystems.

Through the congress, there is renewed hope to achieve African leadership commitment towards creating a unified African voice in conservation that will value African people and nature through effective protected areas.

In his address, IUCN Regional Director  Eastern and Southern Africa, Luther Anukur said: Building on the IUCN World Conservation Congress Marseille manifesto, the Glasgow COP 26 outcomes - Positioning nature and climate as two sides of the same coin, Protected and Conserved Areas play an important role in securing the resilience of ecosystems for which Africas economies and people depend upon. APAC is a joint effort of African leaders and multiple partners seeking to contribute to African Unions Agenda 2063 of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena. With the commitment from the government of Rwanda to host the event and the leadership of His Excellency Paul Kagame alongside other Africa leaders, there is no doubt that the inaugural African Protected Area Congress will be a success.

The overarching objective of the IUCN Africa Protected Areas Congress (APAC) is to position Africa protected and conserved areas within the broader goals of economic development and community well-being and to increase the understanding of the vital role parks play in conserving biodiversity and delivering the ecosystem services that underpin human welfare and livelihoods. The APAC congress organised jointly by Rwanda government, AWF and IUCN will be held at the Kigali Conference Centre in Kigali, Rwanda from 7th to 12th March 2022.

About IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas

IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise, administered by IUCN's Global Programme on Protected Areas. WCPA works by helping governments and others plan protected areas and integrate them into all sectors; by providing strategic advice to policy makers; by strengthening capacity and investment in protected areas; and by convening the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues.

About African Wildlife Foundation

African Wildlife Foundation launched a series of events in October 2021 celebrating its 60th Anniversary. Founded in 1961 to focus on Africas conservation needs, AWF articulates a uniquely African vision, bridge science and public policy, and demonstrate the benefits of conservation to ensure the survival of the continents wildlife and wild lands. AWF is the primary advocate for the protection of wildlife and wild lands as an essential part of a modern and prosperous Africa.
Ambassador Alhaji Salamu Amadu, Ambassador for Africa Youth Assembly Peace has condemned the recent bloody attack between the youth of Nima and Mamobi, Accra Ghana.

Ambassador Alhaji Salamu who also doubles as the Ambassador for the youth in the Zongos expressed his disappointment in the youth groups over the violence that happened in front of the Afro Arab Microfinance branch in Mamobi where he serves as the Board Chairman.

"I was saddened when I heard the news and saw the videos going viral on social media. We are doing everything to make the zongos proud but some thugs in the communities want the hard labour to be in vain. Instead of us coming together to build our communities we are here in this 21st-century fighting and killing ourselves," he stated.

He seized the opportunity to thank the Inspector General of Police Dr George Akuffo Dampare, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander Alhaji DCOP Iddi Lansah Seidu and Alhaji Suraji for their swift intervention to prevent further escalation of the violence.

"I want to take this opportunity to also thank the police from the Inspector General of Police Dr Dampare and my brothers Alhaji Suraj and the Greater Accra Regional Commander DCOP Alhaji Iddi Lansah Seidu for their swift intervention and also want my friends from the media to also spread the good job that our youth are doing for Mother Ghana.

He further urged the media to extend the speed with which they carry the negative news about the Zongos to other important initiatives undertaken to develop the area.

"Just recently Mahmoud Jahjah launched his Zongo-Vation Hub Project. I didn't see the media coverage on that initiative. Afro Arab Microfinance celebrated its 10th anniversary but media coverage was very meagre. I invested over 5 million Ghana cedis to do Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the East Ayawaso Municipal Assembly to do Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit(KVIP) toilet no media courage. I wonder why some media outlets are quick to carry reportage on negative news about us but overlook the positive job we do. My advice to my people is to let us come together and develop our communities," he emphasised.
Shanghai Municipal People's Congress opens annual session

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2022-01-20 16:46

The sixth plenary session of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress was held at the Shanghai Expo Center on the morning of January 20.

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng delivered the government work report to the assembly on behalf of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.

GDP of Shanghai in 2021 surpassed RMB 4 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increasing rate of 8.1% to RMB 4.32 trillion yuan, according to the government work report delivered by Gong Zheng, the city's mayor.
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Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, says the approved 2022 budget will include up to a 20 per cent cut in expenditure commitments across the board within the first quarter for covered entities benefitting from the budget.

The decision, which is in accordance with Section 25 of the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA) law and subject to revenue performance, was to strengthen expenditure management by ensuring that all expenditure commitments in 2022 will be adjusted to match revenue collection.

This means that our fiscal consolidation agenda is not going to be only revenue-led but also expenditure focused, he said at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday.

The Government he said was also keen on cutting down expenditure, adding that the ministry has, for instance, started examining the financing of roads to ascertain how over lapses occurred in cost per kilometre among other variables, leading to high expenditure.

He, therefore, encouraged citizens to brace themselves up as the government explore other mechanisms of burden-sharing and to raise additional revenue for the betterment of all citizens through the Electronic- Levy.

Mr Ofori-Atta said that the government in addition to the E-Levy was committed to the implementation of other revenue measures, including exemption bill and property taxes, internally generated funds.

He indicated that restoring fiscal discipline and putting the public debt on a sustainable downward trajectory is a priority for Government to achieve fiscal consolidation.

The continent, he said, was under duress due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and I think if you look at this covid period, literally all of Africa moved up by 10 percentage point from some average of 63 per cent to 73 per cent in their revenue to GDP ratio.

Similar to most economies, we are emerging from the devastating impact of the CoVID-19 pandemic. In spite of this, we do not face any imminent external imbalances, he said.

GNA
Two persons traveling from Tema to Accra died on the Tema-Accra Motorway opposite Samara Company Limited (SASSO GH) on January 19.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Divisional Officer III, Mr Richmond Vanderpuye, the District Commander of the Tema-Ashaiman Motorway Fire Station said the Motorway Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) received a distress accident call at 0531 hours.

He said on arrival at the accident scene at 0552 hours it was realized that the accident involved three vehicles-Honda CRV with registration number GR 3730-10; Sino Tipper Truck with registration number GN 6708-21 and Opel Astra with registration number GW 5819-10.

He explained that the first impact was between the Sino Tipper Truck and the Honda CRV both heading towards Accra as a result the Tipper Truck loaded with sand veered off its lane.

The truck then collided with the Opel Astra which was heading towards Tema from Accra and fell on the engine compartment and near the side leaving all two onboard dead on the spot.

The District Commander confirmed that two other persons who suffered injuries were sent to the Tema General Hospital by men of the Ghana Police Service before personnel of the Fire Service arrived.

He explained that the two trapped lifeless persons in the Opel Astra were however extricated by the Fire Service Personnel and handed them over to the Tema Regional Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.

He said the Honda CRV suffered some partial damage on the near side, the Sino Tipper truck suffered some partial damage on its head compartment and bucket, while the Opel Astra suffered total damage on its near side and the engine compartment.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, adding that "as it stands now, the cause of the accident is not readily known".

DO III Vanderpuye beseeched the public to drive with extra care on the Motorway and call the Service in time of crisis.

"We urge the public to drive cautiously on our roads and do well to call on the Fire Service via 112 / 192 in case of accidents," he advised.

GNA
20.01.2022 LISTEN

The Medical Superintendent of the Axim Government Hospital, Dr. Jerry James Abobrah, has retracted his earlier witness statement to the Takoradi Harbour Circuit Court A that he did not give Josephine Panyin Mensah, the alleged fake pregnant and kidnapped woman, any injection when she was brought to his facility.

Dr. Ablobrah, who appeared for the second time before the Takoradi court on Thursday, during his cross-examination, said he actually gave Josephine Panyin Mensah more than one injection, a position he had earlier denied.

Josephines lawyer, Philip Fiifi Buckman, who cross-examined Dr. Abobrah, told Citi News that, he is on track to unravel the truth in the case.

Philip Fiifi Buckman, the lawyer for the accused fake kidnapped pregnant woman

Dr. Ablobrah told us his story of the experience he had with her (accused person) as the first port of call. I needed to probe further, and so I probed further with a question of whether he gave her some injections, and he said no. I probed further and he said yes. I went further again, he said more than once. For me, my duty is to ensure that whatever that he has told the court is the truth and the truth in the minds of the public, so we are on it, he said.

Dr. Ablobrah told the court, presided over by His worship, Michael Kwodjoe Ampadu, that, he was called to take care of the accused person by a Medical Officer because he [the doctor] wouldn't want to appear before a court.

One of my Medical Officers in charge of clinical duties called me to inform me about the accused when she was brought to the hospital. He said he didn't want to appear before a court, so he called me, but made sure her vitals were okay before calling me. Maybe he was afraid of the about 25 police personnel who brought her (Josephine Panyin Mensah) to the hospital, he told the court.

The Medical Superintendent of the Axim Government Hospital also told the Takoradi Habour Circuit Court A that it is not true that Josephine was not in a position to talk when she was brought to the hospital.

Josephine Panyin Mensah has been charged on two counts of deceiving a public officer contrary to section 251 (B) of the Criminal Offences Act and Publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic contrary to section 208 subsection 1 of the Criminal Offences act.

So far, five persons have testified as witnesses in the matter, and three more are yet to appear before the court on Thursday, January 27th.

---citinewsroom
One person has been confirmed dead after he was allegedly shot by highway robbers at Nweneso No.1 in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti region.

The victim, Samuel who was riding a motorbike was shot when he arrived at the robbery scene on Monday, January 17, 2022.

He was rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital but gave up the ghost on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, while receiving treatment.

The Unit Committee Chairman for Nweneso No.1, Fatawu Seidu who confirmed the incident to Class News Elisha Adarkwah, said another victim is also battling for his life at the hospital.

Mr. Seidu noted that this was not the first time a highway robbery incident had occurred in the area.

He appealed to the authorities to intervene to help avert the robbery incidents, especially their Member of Parliament, Kofi Amankwa Manu, who doubles as the deputy minister for Defense.

---Classfmonline.com
Authorities in the Burkina Faso capital on Thursday banned two planned weekend protests at lack of security in the troubled West African nation, where a November 2021 rally turned bloody.

One demo, called for Saturday by a civil society movement called Sauvons le Burkina (Save Burkina), was prohibited for "security reasons", municipal secretary Christian Charles Rouamba said in a letter.

The same group staged a protest on November 27 against the failure of President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to quell jihadist violence that has engulfed the former French colony.

That demonstration, which drew hundreds of protestors, was also banned, and around a dozen were injured in clashes with security forces.

A separate demonstration also planned for Saturday in support of neighbouring Mali -- whose ruling junta is under sanctions imposed by the regional Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) -- was also banned.

Two officials of the Coalition of African Patriots-Burkina Faso, which had called the demo, were detained on Thursday, the group said.

Groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State group have plagued the landlocked Sahel nation since 2015, killing about 2,000 people, according to an AFP tally.

Around 1.5 million people are internally displaced, according to the latest figures released by the national emergency agency CONASUR.
The Paris appeals court has ruled that Twitter must disclose details on what it is doing to fight hate speech, confirming a decision in favour of advocacy groups who say the social media network does not do enough to moderate posts.

Ireland-based Twitter International had appealed a French court decision in July that had ordered the company to share documents and details about its French moderation team and data on their activities against hate speech.

That case had been brought by six anti-discrimination groups over what they said was the company's longterm failure to properly moderate harmful content on its site.

The appeals court on Thursday upheld the first ruling that Twitter must provide details on the number, nationality, location and spoken language of the people it employs to moderate content on the French version of the platform.

Twitter must also provide a record of what it has provided to authorities, in particular investigating magistrates.

It was also ordered to disclose all all administrative, contractual, technical or commercial documents related to the material and human means put in place to fight against the dissemination of hate speech, including denial of crimes against humanity, inciting racial or gender hatred.

The appeals court ordered Twitter to pay 1,500 euros to each of the six plaintiffs in the case.

"A nice victory," Tweeted SOS Racisme, one of the groups that brought the case in the first place.

Tech companies "can no longer impose their own rules. It's now time for the the platforms to take responsibliity," said another group, the International league against racism and anti-Semitism (Licra).

Twitter in France

This is one of several cases against the American company in the French justice system.

In another case, three victims of terrorist attacks who have suffered online harassment are suing Twitter France, arguing that their cases against their harassers failed because the company did not provide identifying information requested by investigators.

Twitter France chief Damien Viel told a court that providing such information was not his job, and his lawyer Karim Beylouni said it was "up to the good will of Twitter International, which is outside French jurisdiction and can decide whether to cooperate or not".

In another case, involving a police request for information on people who sent insults and threats to a public official, Twitter France has said the local office does not store any information, as all data is handled by the group's European headquarters in Ireland.

(with wires)
20.01.2022 LISTEN

Several victims of the gas explosion at Bogoso in the Western Region have been admitted at various hospitals and clinics within the Bogoso Municipality, Modernghana News can report.

This has been confirmed by the Ghana Police Service helping the National Fire Service and the National Disaster Management organisation (NADMO) to bring Thursday afternoons exposition under control.

Preliminary investigation by the Police has established that a vehicle with mining explosives from Tarkwa to Chirano mines collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion.

The public has been advised to move out of the area to nearby towns for their safety while recovery efforts are underway.

An appeal is also being made to nearby towns to open up their classrooms, churches, among others to accommodate surviving victims.

Meanwhile, reinforcement of personnel have been deployed to handle the incident.

Find more in the Police statement below:

Public Emergency Alert Update!

Reference to our earlier emergency public notice, the Police have taken charge of the situation providing security to enable the emergency workers including the Ghana National Fire Service, NADMO and the Ambulance Service to manage the situation.

The public has been advised to move out of the area to nearby towns for their safety while recovery efforts are underway.

An appeal is also being made to nearby towns to open up their classrooms, churches etc to accommodate surviving victims.

Meanwhile, preliminary investigation has established that a mining explosive vehicle moving from Tarkwa to Chirano mines collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion.

Most of the victims have been rescued and are on admission at various hospitals and clinics within the Bogoso Municipality.

Reinforcement of resources and personnel have been deployed to effectively handle the incident.

We continue to urge the public to remain calm as we manage the situation.

Further updates regarding the emergency evacuation of the injured will be communicated in due course.
Health authorities in the Western Region say stringent measures have been put in place to control the outbreak of Avian influenza in the region commonly known as Bird Flu.

This comes after over 10,000 infected birds were destroyed.

There has been a spread of the bird flu in some parts of the country, including the Bono Region, where farms with over 9,000 birds were depopulated.

Officials in the Western Region say, they are not taking any chances, and have assured that the Regional Minister, together with the appropriate authorities, are working to contain the spread of the virus.

Western Regional Veterinary Director, Dr. Simon Gbene says: We have depopulated all the farms and also disinfected the farms. We have put the farms under observation for three months, and then we will see if we will allow the farmers to go back to business because we do not want the existing birds to get onto the market. So far, 10, 000 birds have been destroyed.

In 2021, seven regions reported cases of the flu; namely the Upper West, Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti, Volta, Western, and Western North Regions.

During the last outbreak , the Ministry of Food and Agriculture announced a total ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products from neighbouring countries where the prevalence of the disease was confirmed.

There was also a ban on the movement of poultry and poultry products within and from the affected regions and districts to other parts of the country, and strict inspection and issuance of permits to cover the movement of all poultry and poultry products from unaffected parts of the country.

---citinewsroom
The Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) for Prestea Huni-Valley, Francis Abeiku Yankah, has said the community, Apiati near Bogoso in the Western Region where the explosion occurred, is a dead community.

He told TV3 in an interview that the community can no longer be inhabited by anyone due to the devastation.

I was returning from Prestea when I heard an explosion on my way. I started moving towards the scene after a journalist had called me on phone informing me about what had happened.

Upon reaching the area, I saw a complete devastation of the community called Apeati, as we speak the community is dead, it cannot be inhabited by anyone.

Ten lifeless bodies were lying down as a result of the explosion. The MCE who was also informed about the news quickly dispatched excavators to the scene to rescue trapped bodies after some buildings collapsed, he told TV3s Geogre Kwening on Thursday January 20.

Meanwhile, the Police has said preliminary investigation established that a mining explosive vehicle moving from Tarkwa to Chirano mines collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion.

The Police appealed to nearby towns to open up their classrooms, churches etc to accommodate surviving victims.

Reference to our earlier emergency public notice, the Police have taken charge of the situation providing security to enable the emergency workers including the Ghana National Fire Service , NADMO and the Ambulance Service to manage the situation.

The public has been advised to move out of the area to nearby towns for their safety while recovery efforts are underway. An appeal is also being made to nearby towns to open up their classrooms, churches etc to accommodate surviving victims.

Meanwhile, preliminary investigation has established that a mining explosive vehicle moving from Tarkwa to Chirano mines collided with a motorcycle resulting in the explosion. Most of the victims have been rescued and are on admission at various hospitals and clinics within the Bogoso Municipality.

Reinforcement of resources and personnel have been deployed to effectively handle the incident. We continue to urge the public to remain calm as we manage the situation. Further updates regarding the emergency evacuation of the injured will be communicated in due course, a statement said.

The Police had assured that it was managing the situation.

An earlier statement by the Police on Thursday January 20 said Emergency Public Notice!A huge explosion occurred this afternoon, Thursday, January 20, 2022, at Apiate between Bogoso and Bawdie in the Western Region.

The Police and other emergency service providers have activated a full emergency recovery exercise. We urge all to remain calm as we manage this unfortunate situation.
MANZINI - Scholarship dilemma!

This is what the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students are facing as they are supposed to begin their 2021/22 academic year. The dilemma attracted the attention of other students as they feared that government could be in a move to removed more courses from the list of priority programmes it sponsored, following the fact that in 2011, it removed some courses, including Law. In fact, the students alleged that word they got from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security on Tuesday, when their list for scholarships was submitted by the university, was that they would have to pay tuition fees from their own pockets.

These claims were confirmed by UNESWA Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Thabani Mabuza, who said after getting the alleged developments, they approached the office of the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA) and they learnt that indeed there was a challenge. Thereafter, he said they held a student body meeting where the scholars raised a concern that maybe government was in a move to remove PGCE from its priority programmes, which it sponsored. Other students were of the view that if government removed PGCE this year, it might remove more courses from the list of programmes which it sponsored, in the coming years.

Boycott

Therefore, the students decided to boycott classes today (yesterday) and that today (tomorrow) we march to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to demand scholarships for all students who have been admitted to tertiary institutions, including those who are doing courses like Law, which were scrapped out from the list of programmes sponsored by government, the CEO said. On the other hand, Mabuza said the semester was almost halfway through, but they had not received their book allowances from government. He said when they engaged government recently; it promised that it would pay their personal allowances first - at the end of January 2022. He said according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, after paying allowances at the end of this month, it would then pay book allowances.

Therefore, as things stand, it seems students are self-sponsored because some of the things they need in order to learn, they pay for them from their own pockets, the CEO said.

In that regard, he said at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security today, they would also demand the immediate release of their book allowances. It is worth noting that government is supposed to pay the students book allowances directly into their bank accounts, not to the university as it used to do. This follows a complaint by the students that the prices at the university book shop were higher than those of other stationery shops.

Regarding the proposed march, the Municipal Council of Mbabane Information and Public Relations Officer, Lucky Tsabedze, said the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Prince Simelane, issued a directive to all local governments in the country regarding marches. He said the directive of the minister still stood. Worth noting is that the ministers directive was that local governments should stop issuing permits for marches. On the other hand, Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said law enforcers would be working today and if there would be people who wanted to march, they would demand to see a permit. She said if they did not have it, they would work according to the law.
20.01.2022 LISTEN

Civil and Local Government Service Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG), has called off its strike action.

CLOGSAG has therefore ordered its members to return to work on Monday January 24, 2022.

A press release issued Thursday January 20, 2022 by CLOGSAG signed by Isaac Bampoe Addo, Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG stated that The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Civil and Local Government Service Staff Association of Ghana at its meeting held Thursday January 20, 2022 has reviewed it Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and CLOGSAG.

The National Executive Council (NEC) of CLOSGAG, has therefore, decided to call off the strike.

Earlier, CLOGSAG agreed with government to call off its ongoing nationwide strike with immediate effect, an official communication from the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) on Thursday said.

Yesterday the government reached an agreement with the leadership of the Civil and Local Government Service Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) which culminated in the signing of an MOU.

The agreement granted some aspects of demands concerning their conditions of service with others being work in progress, it continued.

The statement concludes that In that same MoU, CLOGSAG, on the basis of the agreement committed to calling off the nationwide strike with immediate effect.

CLOGSAG is protesting poor conditions of service, insisting that they deserve better conditions of service now.

Last year, the Association threatened to embark on industrial strike action because the conditions of its members have been overlooked while other services had an enhanced salary structure.

According to the CLOGSAG, a year after its proposed salary structure was sent to the Ministry of Finance to address their concerns, the Ministry is yet to respond despite persistent reminders.

The Association noted that it feels sidelined, hence, the need to withdraw its services.

---DGN online
Eyram Botwe, age 20, has been nabbed by the Akatsi Police after he attempted to rob an Okada rider of his Haojue Motorbike at Agorve after "peppering" the rider's eye and blunting him.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mrs Effia Tenge, Volta Regional Public Affairs Officer of Police, who briefed the Ghana News Agency in Ho said suspect, a pillion, was arrested on Wednesday by members of the Agorve Community after suspect poured pepper-powder into the eyes of the rider causing both suspect (pillion) and the rider to fall down.

She said just then, the suspect whose plan was to rob the motorbike from its rider then attempted to escape with the machine abandoning the rider to his fate.

She said the suspect had earlier engaged the services of the rider to convey him from Akatsi to Agorve, but on reaching a section of the road near Agorve township, he carried out the planned act.

DSP Tenge said community members, who were attracted to shouts of help by the victim, came to his rescue and assisted in arresting Botwe.

Meanwhile these attacks per similar modus operandi had become a trend in the region and commercial motor riders must guard against such situations.

Suspect is currently in Police custody assisting the investigation and will be put before court Thursday.

GNA
A 21-year-old plumber who caused damage to hospital equipment at the Apatrapa health centre in the Kwadaso Municipality, has been sentenced to a one-year imprisonment by the Nkawie circuit court.

Issah Mahamah was also ordered to pay GHc 10,640.00 to defray the cost of the damaged equipment.

Police Detective Chief Inspector Francis Opoku told the court presided by Nana Brew that the complainant was a nurse at the Apatrapa health centre.

He said on December 31, last year at about 1140 hours, Mahamah brought his brother to the facility for treatment.

The prosecution said while the nurse on duty was preparing an OPD card for the patient, the convict who claimed the process was slow, became angry.

In a fit of anger, the convict damaged the thermometer gun, weighing scale, a monitor, a hospital bed, two plastic chairs, 15 yards of nurses' clothes, four doors and some other items.

A report was made to the Tanoso police who arrested the convict and in his caution statement admitted the offence.

He was charged and brought before the court.

GNA
The Central Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has assured of swift investigations into the cause of the fire that wiped out a family of seven at Big Apple, a suburb of Buduburam in the Gomoa East District on Saturday.

mThe Central Regional Command is optimistic about unveiling the cause of the fire to incorporate it into its fire safety education to avoid such incidents in future, it said.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) John Amarlai Amartey, the Regional Commander of GNFS disclosed this when he visited the scene on Thursday.

The deceased are Mr Robert Assan, a 56-year-old headteacher, his wife and five children including a nine-month old baby.

He was accompanied by ACFO Ofori Ajei, Deputy Director of Operations and a team from the Regional Investigation Department.

ACFO Amartey observed from the scene that the fire might have started from the hall which was the only way out of the building and spread into the bedroom and therefore it became difficult for the family to escape.

He encouraged all home owners to have more than one home exit, to help avoid entrapment during emergency fires.

ACFO Amartey extended his condolences to the bereaved families and also praised the personnel of the Service at Buduburam Fire Station for responding swiftly and preventing the fire from spreading to the adjoining apartments.

Some co-tenants narrated their ordeal and pledged to support the Service carry out its investigations.

GNA
Prospective registrants of MTN formed long queues as early as 0500 hours of Thursday hoping to have their SIM cards verified after an earlier registration on their phones.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) visit to the centre sighted how young and old were struggling to be attended to amidst misunderstandings over who came first and who was receiving protocol treatment.

The GNA gathered that some registrants had even traveled from the hinterlands to be in Dambai, the Oti Regional capital for SIM reregistration.

Mr Joseph Mensah, appealed to the National Communications Authority (NCA) and other network operators to recruit young men and women to help speed up the process.

Madam Rose Babijome, a businesswoman, said the Ghana card was enough to avoid the stress people had to endure.

Information gathered by the GNA indicated that the MTN officials could only reregister 100 people in a day, when the service was available and 50 people if the network was slow.

GNA
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA REGARDING MUTUAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IN CUSTOMS MATTERS was signed today at Chisinau by Mr. KATAYAMA Yoshihiro, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Moldova and H.E. Mr. Igor TALMAZAN, Director of the Customs Service under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova.

This Agreement will enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date of the receipt of the latter of the notifications by the Contracting Parties, in writing, through diplomatic channels, that their respective internal procedures necessary for the entry into force of this Agreement have been completed.

TEXTAGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA REGARDING MUTUAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IN CUSTOMS MATTERS(English)(PDF:194KB)
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has contended before the Bombay High Court that a trial court can pass an order extending remand of an accused in the absence of cognisance of the charge sheet.

The argument was made by Hiten Venegaonkar, counsel for the SFIO, while replying to a plea filed by Hari Sankaran, former vice-chairman of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and an accused in the scam seeking bail stating that the special court has not taken cognisance of the case since two years.

The SFIO had filed the charge sheet in the case in 2019.

Sankaran has sought that the HC set aside all orders passed by the trial court and also be released from prison after holding the detention illegal. He has been in custody since April 2019.

Opposing the plea, Venegaonkar argued that the law cannot be read out with a break, it has to be a continuous process.

Besides, according to the Criminal Procedure Code, the trial court has the power to pass remand orders even in the absence of cognisance of the charge sheet, he further argued.

Justifying the delay, the prosecution has said some accused, other than Sankaran, had filed an application seeking that the cognisance of the charge sheet should not be taken on the ground that the sanction granted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for the prosecution was not proper.

Sankaran and other accused have opposed the sanction granted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to SFIO to prosecute the accused.

They have contended that MCA did not apply its mind while granting a sanction based on a 32,000-page report in 24 hours of receipt which the High Court accepted.

Also, the charge sheet filed is voluminous and there had been five transfers of judges since 2019.

Justice Revati Dere has reserved Sankarans plea for order.
HELENA, Mont. - Officers with the Helena Police Department have administered Narcan to four people in roughly the last two days

HPD Lieutenant Randy Ranalli sent an email at 7:01 pm Wednesday, saying that in the last 48 hours at the time, officers administered Narcan to two individuals which helped save their lives.

In the hour before that, Lieutenant Ranalli says an officer again administered Narcan to another individual.

Shortly after at 7:13 pm, Lieutenant Ranalli sent another message, saying officers had administered Narcan to another individual within the last 15 minutes. No further information on the incidents was released.

Lieutenant Ranalli said that this is unprecedented, a huge safety concern for the community and that he hopes there are no more.
MBABANE  Former Mr Swaziland Linda Sithembiso Dlamini has been admitted to E50 000 bail by the High Court.

Dlamini who is also a karate artist, is facing two charges under the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act 15/2018. It is alleged that on October 14, 2021, he unlawfully had sexual intercourse with a 13- year-old girl, who is incapable of appreciating the nature of the sexual act. According to the charge sheet, the accused further intentionally maintained a sexual relationship with the complainant.

The court was informed that the aforementioned charge was accompanied by aggravating factors in that the complainant was below the age of 18 years at the time of the commission of the offence and thus could not appreciate the nature of the sexual act performed on her. It was the Crowns contention that the complainant was also incapable of appreciating the nature of the relationship. Dlamini was admitted to bail by Judge John Magagula after his lawyer Noncedo Ndlangamandla moved an urgent bail application. The court directed Dlamini to pay E3 000 cash and provide surety for the balance.

In his bail application, Dlamini narrated to the court that on January 18, 2022, he was arrested by members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), and subsequently charged with two charges of contravening the SODV Act of 2018. I am innocent of the charges against me and I will plead not guilty to same. Pending the hearing of my trial, I am desirous of being admitted to bail as I have great prospects of success. I have a good defence to the charges, he argued. He alleged that on the day in question, the complainant had reportedly disappeared from her homestead and a search for her ensued. She arrived at my house in the morning of the following day and asked to hide while her mother was preparing to leave for work, so that she could sneak back into the house, alleged Dlamini.

The accused brought it to the attention of the court that at the time, the complainant was his neighbour as he was renting a house in the same compound and her mother was the landlady.

Dlamini claimed that he left the complainant in his room and went to the shops to buy some food and upon return, he found that she had left. In the evening and upon return of her mother, she confronted me and said she was going to report me to the police for engaging in sexual intercourse with her daughter. She also told me that she had been informed that her daughter spent the whole night in my house, alleged the accused.

He said he was surprised because ever since he began living in their compound, the complainant had always been a wayward child who would disappear time and again. Dlamini told the court that every time the complainant disappeared from home, he would assist in the search for her in the area. I deny that I had sexual intercourse with the complainant at any point and especially that she spent a night in my house, contended Dlamini. The Crown in this matter was represented by Nomkhosi Dlamini from the chamber of the director of public prosecutions (DPP).
Temperatures were quite varied across Montana as an arctic cold front is stalled along the divide.

Temperatures ranged from 5 below zero in Glasgow to around 10 above in Billings and Great Falls to the 30s west of the divide in Missoula and Kalispell.

A winter weather advisory late tonight and Thursday for northwest Montana, including the Flathead and Mission Valleys.

Snowfall up to an inch with light freezing rain.

Snowfall up to 6 inches at Lookout Pass.

A winter weather advisory late Thursday and early Friday for Belt and Kings Hill Pass in central Montana with snowfall of 2 to 5 inches.

A wind chill advisory until noon Thursday for north central and northeast Montana, including Glasgow where wind chills will be down to 35 below zero.

A wind advisory late tonight and tomorrow for the Livingston area with gusts up to 60 mph.

An arctic front is stalled along the divide.

It will move back to the northeast as a warm front, bringing much milder air to central and eastern Montana on Thursday.

However, it will also bring gusty winds to northeast Montana along with sub-zero wind chills.

Wind chills will improve by Thursday afternoon.

A robust storm system will move into western Montana early Thursday, moving into central Montana during the afternoon and the east by evening.

Rain, freezing rain and snow west with a mix elsewhere as it moves east into Friday.

High pressure will build into the state this weekend.

Milder temperatures and pleasant weather are expected statewide.

Lows tonight in the 10s below zero northeast, the single digits below central, single digits above south-central to the 20s west of the divide.

Highs in the 30s and 40s statewide tomorrow and remaining there through the weekend.

Lows will warm into the 10s and 20s.
Marriage and family therapist Noralyn Jackson, pictured in her private office in Salinas. Jackson also works through online platform BetterHelp, now her main source of income, and with the Equine Healing Collaborative in Carmel Valley, where she does in-person therapy with children.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!
MANZINI  The office of the Auditor General (AG) has launched an investigation into the renting of vehicles by government.

This happened at a time when our sister publication  Eswatini News  reported that the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) rented a car for the minister, Princess Sikhanyiso, at E1 100 per day. The rented vehicle was a luxurious Toyota Lexus sedan and has since been returned to Capital Car Hire. Princess Sikhanyiso is one of Cabinet ministers who were allocated brand new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 3.0D VX cars that cost the taxpayer about E38 million in May last year.

The arrival of the new cars found her using a Toyota Lexus rented at a cost of about E1 100 per day, according to tender No. 132 of 2021/22. She did not accept the delivery of the Prado and it collected dust at the Central Transport Administration (CTA) until it was nearly burnt during the arson attack of January 4, 2022. It was only two days after the fire that officials from the ICT ministry went to collect the vehicle. On the same day, the ministry also returned the Lexus to the car rental company.

Audit

Following this, the office of the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, was sought for comment on whether this was viewed as an audit query. He was also sought to establish if this was wastage of taxpayers money and if his office would launch an investigation into the matter. In response, Matsebula said the procurement of the fleet for ministers was to ensure that government saved money. He said what needed to be determined was whether the security threat was there. The AG acknowledged that so much happened last year. Matsebula clarified that the issue was not yet an audit query, as he had not raised it. In fact, he said the probe was instituted well before the issue of the minister was brought to light. On the Minister of ICT issue, the AG said he could not commit to a comment because it was not yet an audit query.

He said: I assigned officers to look at the issue of car rentals. They are auditing the car rentals and they are not done yet. He was referring to all recent instances where cars had been rented by government. He further said once the audit was completed and a report was available, it would be assessed and evaluated based on the responses from the Ministry of ICT, given the questions that were sent to him. This, he said, would guide them in establishing if it had to happen. It is worth noting that at the height of the political unrest, a month after the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 3.0D VX vehicles were delivered, some ministers opted to use their personal cars, while those that were being chauffeured in the official automobiles, had a police officer assigned to them.

Touring

Also, last year November, when the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Themba Masuku, was touring some areas where homesteads had been destroyed by the hailstorm on November 5, 2021, he was chauffeured in a Toyota Fortuner. Officially, he is assigned two Mercedes-Benz vehicles which include a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and a sedan. Worth noting is that, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of ICT, Maxwell Masuku, informed this publication that he was the one who made the recommendation that the minister should continue using the rented vehicle, taking into account her safety in the mist of the political turmoil. The Inkhosatanas car did not arrive with the first batch but the second one. By the time it arrived, I considered that it was risky to use that car for her own safety since there were prevalent protests around June/July, he said.

While explaining to our sister publication, Masuku said the minister had already collected her allocation of the Prado and returned the Lexus back to Capital Car Hire. He confirmed that this was done two days after the fire that gutted over E3 million worth of government property at the government garage. Our sister publication had also asked how much government had spent on the hired car and his response was why is it necessary for us to say how much we have spent on it? Masuku was quoted as having explained that the fuel consumption of the Prado and the Lexus sedan could not have differed significantly. The PS said in light of this, using the sedan may have saved government some costs.

Masuku also said government made savings in respect of the costs of servicing the hired vehicle, in that, when it was due for service, it was taken back to its owners who were responsible for the service and not the state. He supposed that during the same period, if the minister had been using the Toyota Prado allocated,the servicing costs would have been incurred by the State. Had she been using the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 3.0D VX, it would have been serviced at a cost to the State, he said. In the wake of a dispute between government and the CTA over the parastatals trading account, ministries had been given a mandate to hire cars, instead of relying on the Central Pool, a division of CTA, to hire on their behalf.

leave

Princess Sikhanyiso is not new to controversy as she went on a prolonged sick leave between 2019 and 2021, which was said to have allegedly cost the taxpayer about E500 000. When tax payers complained that paying her a salary while she was away on a prolonged leave was wrong, she said she had paid back the money. She revealed that the maternity leave had been prolonged because of complications during child birth.
MATSAMO  Criminals are now said to be walking in and out of Eswatini from South Africa, right under the noses of soldiers meant to prevent this.

At least 500 emaSwati and South Africans allegedly walk in and out of the country through an illegal opening next to the Matsamo Border Gate daily. The illegal crossing is not to be confused with informal crossings normally manned by soldiers. Army-manned informal crossings are also not supposed to be right next to the border. The illegal crossing operates side-by-side with the Matsamo Border Gate. Residents around Matsamo are now furious that criminals are entering the country, despite the presence of soldiers. They are also accusing the soldiers of being the ones controlling the flow of people who cross into the country illegally.

Crossing

Residents alleged that the informal crossing was being used to enter or leave the country with contraband and criminals were allegedly paying to cross or enter the country. They alleged that on the Eswatini side of the illegal crossing, the soldiers allegedly charged E10 while on the South African side, they charged E20. *Dumo, who is one of the unhappy residents, said people even crossed with stolen goats. He said goat meat was in high demand in South Africa. Under normal circumstances, one cannot cross the border with livestock such as goats without a permit. Dumo said this was now happening at the illegal crossing in the presence of the soldiers. He lamented that criminals were entering the country and then committing crimes. He said in the past seven days, at least three robberies were said to have been committed near the border. They are now fearless, he said.

Dumo alleged that the criminals also entered the country and stole from homesteads near the border. He alleged that many residents had reported their household items as missing, such as television sets. He alleged that once the items were stolen, the criminals then crossed with them into SA. Yesterday, an investigation carried out by this publication uncovered how emaSwati and South Africans were entering the country with ease through the illegal crossing. Some of the people said they used the illegal crossing because they were avoiding testing for COVID-19, which came at a cost of about E500.

A woman who was found crossing also said she used the crossing regularly because it was cheaper for her. She said she normally entered SA to buy some items. The residents of Matsamo now want the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) to close the illegal crossing. They said they had been to Nsingizini Barracks on several occasions to report the matter but they were not assisted. They also revealed that even yesterday, they had gone to the informal crossing where they approached the commanding officer there. We were not assisted, said the resident.

Dumo said the residents even resorted to phoning the army head office at Nokwane but they could not get through to anyone there. He warned that the people were angry and that the UEDF should act quickly. He also revealed that the residents recently attacked a man who had used the illegal crossing after he was suspected of committing a string of burglaries. This is said to have happened about two weeks ago. Communications Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs Mlandvo Dlamini could not be reached for comment as his phone rang unanswered.

Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said the army would be more appropriate to respond.

Smuggle

The residents said their main worry was that it was now easy to smuggle a firearm into the country from SA. *Moses, who is a South African, said people from his country entered to buy fuel because it was cheaper. He said they bought it at a local filling station and then crossed with it. He said despite the presence of soldiers, border jumpers moved freely. He said this was because soldiers benefitted by charging at least E10 per person. Moses said depending on what you were transporting, they were able to charge between E10 to E500. He further revealed that he knew people who crossed with a firearm after paying just E10. It was also gathered that guns were also being smuggled into the country alongside dagga. The residents said soldiers did not search the bags of people who crossed through the illegal crossing but that instead, they allowed them to enter as long as they paid.

The residents blamed the recent robberies near Piggs Peak and Matsamo on the easy smuggling of guns into the country. *Thulani, who is also one of the residents said the number of criminals using guns in northern Hhohho had increased because they were easily accessible through the illegal crossing, in the presence of soldiers. We are no longer safe, he said.

He said gun-carrying criminals were now targeting shops, mainly those owned by businesspeople of Asian origin, because they were known to keep a lot of cash. This publication had also reported about a shop operated by an Asian that was targeted by criminals.
A wildfire in a central Texas state park is no longer growing and no injuries were reported after the blaze, suspected to have been caused by a prescribed burn, charred 1.2 square miles (3.2 square kilometers) in the city of Bastrop, officials said Wednesday.

Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Kari Hines said no homes have been reported destroyed and some families were allowed to return home after an evacuation order was partially lifted. She said warmer conditions with lower winds and higher humidity expected Wednesday will help firefighters fully extinguish the fire.

The precise cause of the fire that began Tuesday has not been determined, but a prescribed burn in Bastrop State Park is suspected.

We absolutely believe there were embers from the prescribed fire that undoubtedly caused the fire ... what we don't know is how that happened, said Carter Smith, director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Smith said a full investigation will determine the cause, but added that the current focus is on making sure the fire is fully extinguished and all residents and property are protected.

According to the National Park Service, a prescribed fire is a planned fire used for resource benefits or research. The conditions taken into account include the safety of the public and fire staff, weather and the likelihood that the desired outcome will be obtained.

Prescribed fire is a critically, critically important tool in our state. We have to manage fuel loads and fire risks with the strategic, judicious application of prescribed fire, Smith said.

As of Tuesday morning, Smith said, Bastrop County was under weather conditions considered OK for a prescribed burn.

I'm unequivocally convinced that our burn boss thought it was safe to carry out that fire, Smith said.

The fire rekindled memories of a 2011 wildfire that killed two people and destroyed 1,600 homes in Bastrop, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Austin. The blaze scorched more than 50 square miles (1,630 square kilometers), including 96% of the state park.
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Dinosaur exhibit at library

Midland County is opening a dinosaur exhibit at the Midland County Public Library Centennial branch this Saturday.

The free exhibit is intended for ages 5 and up. Library staff will host a Dinosaur-themed day during the MISD intercession week beginning Feb. 7. The day will feature activities to challenge student creativity and problem-solving skills that relate to dinosaurs and fossils. Registration is required. All inquiries for registration can be made by calling the Centennial Library at 432- 742-7400.

Out of Many, One: Portraits of Americas Immigrants

This Saturday, join the Museum of the Southwest for a preview of the new exhibition, Out of Many, One: Portraits of Americas Immigrants by President George W. Bush. Tickets are $50 each. Cocktails and hors doeuvres provided. Attire will be cocktails. Visit https://www.museumsw.org/events for more information.

Two Midlanders -- Bob Fu and Javaid Anwar -- were featured in the book.

Midland Arts Association exhibition

The Midland Arts Association (MAA) will collaborate with the Museum of the Southwest to host this years a Spring Juried Art Exhibition. The show is open to residents of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Submissions and payment deadline is midnight on March 14. The show will be up from April 29 to June 19.

Prizes include $1,000 for best of show, $700 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place.

Permian Basin Juried Art Exhibition

Submissions open April 1 for the 64th Annual Permian Basin Juried Art Exhibition, hosted by the Ellen Noel Art Museum in partnership with the Odessa Arts Associations.

The exhibition aims to highlight the talent of artists in and around the West Texas region. For 2022s exhibit, artists are encouraged to explore the theme From Nature, according to the museums website.

Awards available include $450 for best of show (juror selected) with the winner also receiving a solo show as part of the 65th Annual Permian Basin Juried Art Exhibition curated by ENAM curator Daniel Zies. The second-place award will win $350, the third-place award will win $250, three honorable mention winners will receive $150 and three college student awards will receive $100. The peoples choice award winners for first ($100), second ($75) and third ($50) will be voted on by the public and awarded at the end of the exhibit.

Submissions and payment deadlines will be 5 p.m. on April 18.

Event schedule

Valentine Heart Make and Take Class, 10:30 a.m. to noon Thursday, Miss Cayces.

Third Thursday Reading Program, 4:30 p.m. Thursday, George W. Bush Childhood Home.

Morning Mama Coffee and Tea, 9:30 a.m. Friday, Anthus.

OReilly Extreme Arenacross Nationals, 7 p.m. Friday, Ector County Coliseum.

Gerardo Ortiz, La Fiera de Ojinaga, Los Vendavales y los Anchondo, 8 p.m. Friday, La Hacienda Event Center.

Paw Patrol Meet and Greet, Friday through Sunday, Pollys Restaurant in MCM Grande Fundome.

Midland Downtown Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Museum of the Southwest.

Opening Preview Celebration for Out of Many, One: Portraits of Americas Immigrants, 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Museum of the Southwest.

Ruin Your Resolution Party, 6 p.m. Saturday, Tall City Brewing Co.

Dinosaur Revolution the Exhibit, 10 a.m. Saturday, Centennial Library.

Understanding Poverty Training, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24, 502 East Noble Ave.

NRHA Candidate Meet and Greet, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24, Bush Convention Center. Tickets www.eventbrite.com/e/240688524857.

NRHA Meet the Candidates Day 2, 11:30 a.m. Jan. 25, Bush Convention Center.

2022 State of Oil and Gas, 11 a.m. Jan. 26, Horseshoe.

Tom Segura Im Coming Everywhere, 7 p.m. Jan. 26, Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center.

Generations Luncheon, 11 a.m. Jan. 27, First Baptist Church of Midland.

Wagner Noel 10 Year Mini Birthday Party, 4 p.m. Jan. 27, Bird Box Gifts.

LWV Candidates Forum, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 27, Wagner and Brown Auditorium at Midland College.

Wild for Wildlife Family Science Night, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27, Petroleum Museum.

Motown Experience, 6-9 p.m. Jan. 27-28, 3211 W Wadley Ave.

7th Annual Permian Basin Mental Health Conference, 8 a.m. Jan. 28, Midland ISD.

Playdate, 9 to 11 a.m. Jan. 28, Museum of the Southwest.

Tween Video Games, 4:30 p.m. Jan. 28, Centennial Library.

Chocolate Decadence, 6-10 p.m. Jan. 28, Odessa Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.

Cody Jinks, 7 p.m. Jan. 28, Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center.

Orientation for LETMN 2022 Class, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 29, Sibley Nature Center.

Create a Bowl with Mike Richardson, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 29, Arts Council of Midland.

West Texas Wedding Expo, noon Jan. 30, Horseshoe Arena.
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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 33F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
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MBABANE - Prophet Vusi Major V Dlamini claims to have been carrying a gun to church to protect himself from Christians.

The prophet was speaking in light of a viral picture of him carrying a gun and walking to church for a service. Major V said he carried the gun to church because he no longer trusted Christians. He explained that the gun was for protecting himself from people, including Christians, who would want to hurt him. He said the picture was taken as he was about to enter his church for the Sunday service. I no longer feel safe even in my church. One cannot even trust the congregants now as Christians have proven themselves time and again that they are capable of being spiteful, he said.

Threatened

He further alleged that he had showed grace to the Christians who were now turning against him and making fun of him on social media. In addition, he mentioned that Christians were among those who threatened his life. He said such people were only in the Christian faith, which was concerning to him. I cannot trust anyone anymore because of the traits that Christians have. They have been threatening to kill me or burn my church because I have been vocal about my opinion on how people were going about searching for democracy, he said. He said it was biblically wrong to disrespect people ordained to head the country. We have a problem of people who do not want to be told the truth. The Bible emphasises the importance of respecting the King. People should stop calling the King names and start respecting him, he said.

When questioned if the gun he had been carrying was licensed, he opted not to comment as, according to him, the matter was being handled by the police. Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni stated that the police had called Major V to assist them with information following complaints from people about the gun.

We called Major V on matters pertaining to the gun. We did not take the gun from him though, she said. Meanwhile, Eswatini Firearm Licensing Board Chairperson Rodgers Mamba could not comment on the specifics of Major Vs case as, according to him, the police needed to address it. He said the licensing Board ensured that they issued licences after doing proper research, which included consulting with the applicants chief. He said when considering someones application for owning a firearm, they took a lot into consideration, which included criminal records and character.

Licensing

Mamba said the main mandate of the licensing Board was to ensure control on the number of firearms in the kingdom. He said the process of their firearms licensing was put in place to ensure that a gun would not be in the hands of a person who would misuse it. We have put in place a process to try and select only those whose reputation is good, to be eligible to qualify for a firearm. It is unfortunate that no matter the process, people find a way through it and get a gun, he said. He then encouraged people to hand over firearms if they felt they could be a threat to others. He urged emaSwati to report people owning firearms illegally and those who were unstable while possessing legal firearms. Major Vs picture angered a number of people on social media. They stated that he was being careless and would eventually hurt someone if not monitored.
Reverend Terry Garrett, in his 64th year, Surrendered his Soul Tuesday from Tulsa. His Sacred Farewell, 10:00 AM, April 30, 2022, Worship Community Center, and until then, he will rest in Oak Hill Cemetery, Talladega, Alabama. biglowfunerals.com
Outside the Boys and Girls Club of the Grand Strand facility on Dunbar Street in Myrtle Beach, there now sits a small, wooden Little Free Library filled with books.

The Little Free Library outside of the Boys and Girls Club was dedicated to Dr. Tracy Bailey, the clubs CEO, on Wednesday as part of the Leadership Grand Strand (LGS) program from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

For Bailey, this particular Little Free Library is incredibly significant to her.

Physically, parts of the Little Free Library itself were built by my dad, who was a big proponent of reading and taught me to love words, Bailey said.

Parts of the inside were made of her fathers toolbox while the rest of the wood that made the library was from Baileys hometown of Santee, South Carolina. That extra special touch made Bailey even more excited about the latest amenity added to the Boys and Girls Club of the Grand Strand.

This was a man that had to leave school when he was in eighth grade so I think he never would have imagined that his legacy would be honored in this way, Bailey said.

The symbolism of her late fathers toolbox certainly echoes in the overall goal of the Little Free Library  the promotion of literacy.

Literacy is so important because its one of those essential tools that you need in order to be successful later in life, Bailey said. You have to build those blocks when youre young. And this toolbox being inside Little Free Library represents that work that you do when youre young that will help you be successful when youre older.

The Little Free Library is a public bookcase that allows community members to exchange books at no cost.

Weve got a place where we can exchange books and kids can come and grab something and you know, escape inside the pages of the book when the weather isnt great or when they just cant get out, Bailey said.

The Little Free Library was already packed with books, from young adult novels by P.C. and Kristin Cast to the works of Kristin Hannah, something that excites Bailey.
On Wednesday, Jan. 26, Jacksonville Memorial Hospital and the Morgan County Health Department will host a community vaccination and booster clinic at the hospital.

The clinic will offer first, second and booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. A parent or guardian must be available in person or by phone to provide consent for children under 18 years old to receive a vaccine.

The clinic is designed for those 12 years and older and will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in meeting rooms 2 and 3 off of the hospital's main lobby. Jacksonville Memorial Hospital is at 1600 W. Walnut St.

Walk-ins will be accepted, the hospital said, but online registration is encouraged for a faster, more efficient experience. Visit morganhd.com for more information.

To be eligible to receive a booster dose of vaccine, an individual must have completed the first two series of doses at least five months ago. Proof of vaccination is required to receive a booster dose of the vaccine.

The public is asked to adhere to the following restrictions:

 Do not attend if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the 10 days prior to the clinic.

 Do not attend if you are sick; have any cold- or flu-like symptoms, including a fever over 100.4 degrees, vomiting or diarrhea within 24 hours of the clinic.

Participants should arrive at the clinic dressed in clothing that provides easy access to the upper arm and should be prepared to stay 15 to 30 minutes for monitoring after they receive the vaccine.

For more information about COVID-19 vaccination, testing and hospital visitor restrictions, visit memorial.health. For more information about vaccine availability in Morgan County or to request an appointment to receive vaccine, visit morganhd.com.
VIRGINIA  With more than two decades of experience as a sworn police officer, Daniel Smith is taking the lead at Virginia Police Department.

Smith is replacing Martin Fanning, who held the position on an interim basis before becoming the Ashland police chief.

"I was looking to get away from the big city and go to a calmer country setting," Smith said. "All my family is from Mississippi and Alabama, so this is more attractive to me. ... It brings back those old-school values of people looking out for each other and helping each other."

Smith got involved in law enforcement long before he became a sworn officer, participating in a police Explorer program starting when he was 13.

He has worked in multiple sheriff's departments as a correctional officer and patrol deputy, as well as several security management positions.

He has an associate's degree in law enforcement from Morton College, a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in public safety administration from Lewis University.

Smith said he looks forward to putting his training to good use in Virginia in any way he can, whether it be through law enforcement or work in the community.

Though he still is in transition from the Chicago area, Smith has moved to Virginia, where he said he has big plans for the department.

"I want to increase patrols in the community, build a better rapport with city residents," Smith said. "I want to keep the city safe and work side by side with the residents and help grow the city for the future."

Smith plans to expand the department by hiring more part-time officers. Some are set to start in February and he hopes to find money in the budget to hire more to start in March, he said.

He also is looking at grants and other financial avenues to upgrade equipment for the department, he said.

Traffic enforcement also will be an area of focus, along with community programs.

"I want to bring back or start programs for the children, seniors and community members," Smith said. "I definitely want to keep our children safe and want to help our children take the right path growing up. I look at children as our future."

Smith said he already has reached out to the school district and is working to reestablish the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for next school year. He also plans to work with other organizations to provide ID kits that will allow families to be prepared if anything were to happen to a family member, he said.

Smith said he has been thankful for the support of other agencies in the area as he settles in and works to improve the department.

"Cass County is a great help and I appreciate the help of the sheriff's department and neighboring agencies," Smith said. "That's something I like about this area ... we are working as a team to keep the county and its residents safe."

Smith still is learning his way around the area and Virginia's needs, but said he wants to work on his relationship with the community.

"If any residents have any questions or concerns, I don't want them to hesitate to call the department, so we can have a better community," Smith said.
Reportage Properties, a leading UAE real estate developer, said its sales shot up nearly 100% to AED1.6 billion in 2021, compared to AED812 million in 2020.

Reportage Properties is currently developing 12 projects in the UAE, providing about 6,000 housing units within the most important investment sites in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in addition to a project that has been completed and delivered in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.

Islam Ahmed Suleiman, CEO, said that the company's performance during 2021 was distinguished, as is reflected in the doubling of the company's sales, which confirm their ability to keep pace with market changes, and its flexibility in adapting to challenges, while continuing to launch new projects that meet the requirements of clients.

The increase in sales confirms the improvement of activity in the real estate market in the UAE, and its ability to overcome challenges, especially with the continued launch of many initiatives stimulating economic activity in various sectors, particularly the real estate sector, and the launch of 50 projects initiative, in addition to the great event of Dubai Expo 2020,he said.

Suleiman explained that Reportage Properties continued to launch new projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai during the past year, as well as making many attractive offers.

He added that during the year 2021, Reportage Properties started developing its "Diva" project on Yas Island, which will provide 736 new housing units, as well as the "Al Maryah Vista 2" , which will provide 588 new housing units on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi.

The company announced, during the past year as well, the addition of new units in the "Rukan Lofts" project, which the company is developing in the "Dubailand" area in cooperation with the "Continental Investment Company".

The addition came after the company finished selling all the units of the project, which is scheduled to be handed over this year.

The "Rukan Lofts" project includes about 654 residential villas, while the "Rukan" tower provides about 488 housing units, comprising studios, one-bedroom, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

On the other hand, Sulieman said that the year 2021 witnessed the launch of the first Reportage Properties projects outside the UAE, the "Monte napoleone" project in "Mostaqbal City" in New Cairo, Egypt, which will be developed in cooperation with Al Ahly Sabbour Company in Egypt.

The project will be built on an area of 465,000 square metres and will include 5,500 housing units. It also provides an innovative fully-finished townhouse, in addition to apartments of distinct areas, starting from one to four rooms, with the highest standards of luxurious finishing.

Suleiman indicated that Reportage's continued implementation of all its projects according to the specified time plans, enhances investors' confidence in the company's projects, which is reflected in the continuous increase in sales.

The list of Reportage Properties projects in Abu Dhabi includes "Al Raha Lofts 1", which provides 164 housing units, and "Al Raha Lofts 2", which adds 110 housing units, within the Al Raha Beach area.

In Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, the Oasis Residence 1 project is under development and provides 612 apartments, and Oasis Residence 2 includes about 304 housing units, as well as the The Gate project, which adds 463 apartments. There is also Leonardo Residence, which was delivered about two years ago, and included 177 apartments in Masdar City.

On Al Maryah Island, Reportage is developing the Al Maryah Vista project, which provides 786 housing units, next to Al Maryah Vista 2, which will include 588 new housing units, as well as the Diva project on Yas Island, which will provide 736 housing units.

In Dubai, the "Alexis Tower" is being developed on Sheikh Zayed Road in the Downtown Jebel Ali area of Dubai, and provides 378 luxury housing units. The "Rukan" tower, in the "Dubailand" area, which is being developed in cooperation with the "Continental Investment Company", provides about 488 housing units, and "Rukan Lofts 1" includes about 349 residential villas, while "Rukan Lofts 2" provides about 755 villas.

In Egypt, "Reportage Properties" recently launched the "Montenapoleone" project, which will be built on an area of 465,000 sq m, and will include 5,500 housing units.-- TradeArabia News Service
Mike Stewart /Associated Press

If you're looking for an excuse to turn into the Chick-fil-A drive-thru, all local San Antonio-area Chick-fil-A restaurants are planning on giving away free eats this week.

Beginning, Monday, January 24, Chick-fil-A will offer guests a free eight-count nugget entree to guests via the Chick-fil-A app through Saturday, January 29.
La Boulangerie, a downtown San Antonio staple for French fare, was vandalized last week. Owners of the restaurant arrived at the 207 Broadway storefront on Friday, January 14 and found their windows shattered. Now the downtown community is rallying to support the restaurant.

Owners Sylvain and Sylvie Nykiel were "very upset" when they saw their shop vandalized, Sarah Esserlieu, economic development director at Centro San Antonio, tells MySA. The downtown group works to make the area a welcoming and prosperous destination while supporting surrounding businesses.

The Main Street Team, which Esserlieu oversees, was recently developed to provide an extra resource to downtown businesses. Throughout the pandemic, the Main Street arm of Centro has provided PPE and grants to help owners stay afloat. Esserlieu's team sprang into action when they were alerted to the vandalism at La Boulangerie Friday morning. The group launched a online GoFundMe fundraiser with a $1,000 goal to pay the owners' deductible.

"We wanted to know how we could help and it just made sense," she adds. "We wanted to help make it cost neutral for them."

The authentic Parisian bakery opened in 2015 and has been favored in the food scene for menu items like croque monsieur and croque madame sandwiches and breakfast pastries. The husband-wife owners were not immediately available to comment, but Esserlieu, who has been working closely with the couple, says nothing was stolen from inside the restaurant.

"It seems like a real straight case of vandalism, which was fortunate that nothing was stolen, but still jarring for them," she says, adding that the case seems "isolated."

Mike Sutter /Staff

The GoFundMe campaign was launched by Centro Wednesday morning. So far $245 of the $1,000 goal has been pitched in as of this write.

Esserlieu says Centro is proud to be in the position to help their downtown neighbors, especially throughout the pandemic. The group wants business owners to know the Main Street team is ready to help where they can.

"It's an extra help to have a place-based organization that is constantly there looking out and helping," she says. "In our team's case, (businesses) will feel that they have support when they need it."

Mike Sutter /Staff

Esserlieu encourages other downtown businesses in need of help or those interested in extending extra help for La Boulangerie to reach out to her team by calling 210-890-4486 or emailing mainstreet@centrosa.org.

Though boarded up as the Nykiels await the delivery and installation of the windows, La Boulangerie is open for business. Hours of operation are Wednesday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Joe Holley/Houston Chronicle

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has removed hundreds of invasive fish from the San Marcos River over the past several weeks, according to its Instagram page. The population surge was likely caused by aquarium fish released into the wild.

Researchers from Texas Rivers & Streams removed 406 suckermouth armored catfish from the river at Rio Vista Park in San Marcos, according to the Express-News. The removal will help researchers better understand how to control invasive populations.
Gulf Craft, one of the worlds premier boat and yacht manufacturers, is marking 20 years of its operation in the Maldives which has played a pivotal role in developing the marine transportation network of the island nation.

With a strong and established presence in the country, Gulf Craft is now developing a new production facility dedicated to the manufacturing of vessels for use in the Indian Ocean which will see its operations and production capacity double within 16 months, a company statement said.

Gulf Craft provides almost 80% of the Maldivess water transportation services which includes public transport, coast guard, emergency & ambulance services, resorts, and leisure boats.

In early 2021 the shipyard was awarded a government contract, through MTCC, to manufacture a fleet of specially designed high-quality speed boats for use across the Integrated National Public Ferry Network. The new speed boats will offer a convenient and efficient transportation system to all administrative islands of the Maldives, with capabilities to transport up to 53 passengers at a time and will connect the capital city to nearby islands. The vessels will be equipped with special packages for passengers travelling in emergency situations and will include access for stretchers and people with disabilities. The public transportation project is one of the largest government initiatives and will contribute to connecting the various islands of the Maldives upon completion.

Gulf Crafts Chairman, Mohammed Hussein Alshaali, said: The Government of the Maldives and its people have constantly been a beacon of support since the establishment of our operations without whom this remarkable feat would not be possible. We are grateful to the Maldives for entrusting Gulf Craft with projects that have played a part in the growth of the nation over these twenty years. The Maldives is our first international destination, where we have built in-country competencies by leveraging the opportunities that the country provides for the marine and tourism sector. With the doubling of our production capacity and the new training facility we hope to serve the local community even better through the creation of new job opportunities and in further boosting tourism.

Gulf Craft established its operations in the Maldives with a 100,000 sq ft manufacturing facility that has produced top-quality pleasure boats and rapid transport vessels. Gulf Craft is now focusing on further expansion of its operations in the Maldives to support the governments strategy to strengthen the tourism sector. This will be driven by doubling its production capacity in the country and by giving back to the community through the new training facility for captains and crew.

Last year Gulf Craft announced that it will invest in a strategic development in the Maldives named Gulf Lagoon. The project will feature a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, a marina for seafarers and live-aboards, a maritime school offering captain/crew training for young Maldivians, and a resort, among others.

Founded in the UAE in 1982, Gulf Craft has over 1000 employees across its three facilities in the UAE and the Maldives and has a manufacturing capacity of 200 boats per year. The company has built more than 10,000 boats already, serving clients around the world. TradeArabia Arabia News Service
UPDATE: AHISD spokesperson Patti Pawlik-Perales says in an emailed statement that Alamo Heights High School students were evacuated this afternoon after a bomb threat was made by an anonymous caller.

The city pushed out an alert through its emergency notifications services this afternoon around 3 p.m. warning residents to stay away and from the high school located at 6900 Broadway and "shelter in place."

Pawlik-Perales says in ultiple K9 units from the San Antonio International Airport, Comal County, VIA Transit police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were deployed to assist in the effort. Students were moved to a safe holding site in the stadium.

Students were dismissed at 3:30 p.m. from the stadium after parents were notified.

Law enforcement will continue to investigate the bomb threat. AHISD says anyone with credible information should call the Alamo Heights Police Department non-emergency number at 210-822-3321.

Original story follows below.

An alert from the City of Alamo Heights today reported a bomb made at Alamo Heights High School.

Alamo Heights later tweeted that students were being released from the high school at E Castano Avenue and Vanderhoeven, near the stadium parking lot. Bus pickup resumed at its regular hours at W Castano Avenue and Broadway.

Alamo Heights ISD tweeted around 4:10 p.m. that its High School Ahead event for eighth graders was canceled tonight and would be rescheduled.

Pawlik-Perales says in ultiple K9 units from the San Antonio International Airport, Comal County, VIA Transit police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were deployed to assist in the effort.

Law enforcement fully assessed the situation in all AHHS buildings and have cleared them at 5 p.m.
ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The newest high school in San Antonio's Northside Independent School District (NISD)  named after Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor  has just announced its mascot.

The Sotomayor Wildcats will soon be tearing up the courts, according to a Facebook post.
Ken Branca

The San Antonio Police Department is offering a reward for information that will lead to the arrest of the person who shot an employee at the Heat nightclub on December 19. The employee was caught in the crossfire and struck by the bullet after a fight broke out between patrons, according to officials.

Authorities said the victim was not involved in the disturbance. He was transported to University Hospital with a possibly life-threatening gunshot wound at the time. It's unclear what the victim's condition is as of this date.
Texas leaders are reacting to the major defeat Senate Democrats suffered after trying to advance a voting rights bill on Wednesday evening. The vote ended 52-48, with every Republican and two Democrats voting against moving the bill to the Senate floor.

A separate vote took place hours later to change the filibuster rules to help the voting rights bill pass with 51 votes, but it also failed.

The new legislation combined two previously blocked bills, the Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Act. Among the provisions was an expansion of early and mail-in voting and making Election Day a national holiday, according to the New York Times.

It was also an attempt from Democrats to try to push back on GOP-sponsored state laws that will likely suppress turnout by minority voters, including bills that passed last year in Texas. Senate Bill 1 in Texas limits voting hours and empowers partisan poll watchers. Texas Democrats tried to halt the bill from being passed and fled the state to temporarily block it. Enough political leaders returned in August, which allowed the bill to eventually reach Gov. Greg Abbott.

After the vote ended, Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX 18th District) tweeted "we will not give up," writing the Senate must do its job and get voting rights passed. She stated everyone deserves equal access to "our most sacred right and that is the right to vote."

San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX 20th District) also tweeted he will not give up on protecting every American's right to vote. He wrote, "In Texas, Gov. Abbott and Republicans are actively making it harder to vote  particularly for Latino, Black, and other minority communities." His brother and former mayor of San Antonio Julian Castro also tweeted it was a "disappointing loss."

Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX 2nd District)) tweeted there is "zero threat" to the right to vote. He wrote the Democrats have false heroism by trying to protect the right to vote. "This is a fake crusade meant to justify the Democrats' plan to undermine elections," he wrote.

Senator John Cornyn also tweeted the Democrats tried to pass the measure for political gain by effectively eliminating the filibuster. He stated, "This important rule was designed to help Senators from both parties do something that doesn't always come naturally: work together."

President Joe Biden said in a statement following the defeat that he's "profoundly disappointed that the Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy."

"I am disappointed, but I am not deterred," he said. "We will continue to advance necessary legislation and push for Senate procedural changes that will protect the fundamental right to vote."
This post is published in partnership with SA2020.

Throughout 2020, nearly 12,300 San Antonians reaffirmed and strengthened a shared vision for the next decade. Having done this once before in 2010, they set the precedent that a growing number of San Antonians will envision a better future together every 10 years (even during a pandemic). In fact, San Antonio remains the only large city in the country to articulate shared community goals that then guide the accountability of institutions.

San Antonios Community Vision for 2030 establishes shared goals for every aspect of the city: from education to economic development, neighborhoods to transportation, health and the arts.

Achieving this vision requires leadership, engagement, collaboration, and accountability. We know this because for the last decade SA2020 has been responsible for driving progress toward the community vision. We do this by broadly sharing data and research and holding institutions accountable to shared goals.

At SA2020, we celebrate the start of each new year by sharing the progress  however incremental  and elevating awareness of the work that remains. From January 26-28, SA2020 will host The Collective, three days of community-driven learning to inspire community-driven action.

SA 2020

Now in its second year, The Collective calls on San Antonios thinkers-doers-creatives to learn and engage with each other through intimate one-on-one conversations, real-talk roundtables, workshops, and performances. Every session will offer ways to deepen learning and action.

The virtual event will coincide with SA2020s online release of the newest community data showing where San Antonio stands on reaching the shared vision. The Collective kicks off with Team SA2020 breaking down what the data tells us and what we need to do about it.

SA2020

While rooted in San Antonio, the speakers youll hear from during The Collective are national experts in their fields, tackling racial equity, reproductive health, housing, higher education, and more.

Patricia S. Castillo, LMSW, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative, will share her experience working to end domestic violence for more than 40 years.

Tune in virtually from your nearest green space, and Professors Courtney Crim and Laura Allen will show you what forest therapy can do for your well-being.

Rachell Hathaway, a St. Philip's College alumna, will interview Dr. Mike Flores, Chancellor of Alamo Colleges, to better understand how Alamo Colleges is making higher education more affordable and accessible.

Mother and daughter, Brenda and Araceli Garcia, will reflect on their familys intergenerational movement building. Brenda is a Fox Tech High School alumna and Araceli, the first in her family to attend college, is a first-year student at the University of Texas School of Law.

Anel I. Flores-Casasola, owner and Realtor at A&N Realty, will join her daughter Jessica R. Gonzalez-Casasola and their partner Lorenzo Marcel Beas Alvarez to talk about the experience of buying a home against the weight of systemic racism, classism, homophobia, and xenophobia.

Aimee Arrambide (Avow), Evelyn Delgado (Healthy Futures of Texas), and Mara E. Posada (Planned Parenthood South Texas) will help us make sense of the federal and state policies affecting reproductive health care.

The session title for the one-on-one conversation between Naomi Hendrix Oyegoke of Rooted Vegan Cuisine and Kate Jaceldo of Compost Queens says it all: Running an Ethical & Sustainable Small Business: Expectation v. Reality.

In a candid conversation with Molly Cox (former President & CEO of SA2020), Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Marisa Bono (Every Texan), and Kiran Kaur Bains (SA2020), will close The Collective by discussing the effect of Texas state policies (and politics) on San Antonians.

SA2020

To make our events as accessible as possible, SA2020 offers three ticket options. Each level provides the same access (including a Favor credit to enjoy lunch on SA2020!).

 The Connector level ticket is discounted for folks who are covering the ticket cost out of their own limited funds, including students, underemployed individuals, or those living on a fixed income.

 The Sustainer level ticket covers the actual cost per attendee. This ticket is for folks who have the resources to cover this level, or their organization is purchasing or contributing to the cost of their registration.

 The Multiplier level ticket makes the event more affordable for folks who need it by allowing SA2020 to offer the Connector-level ticket option.



ASL interpretation will be provided throughout The Collective, thanks to a partnership with Alamo Colleges. If you cant make every session live, no sweat. Ticket holders will have access to recorded sessions through February.

We started The Collective in 2021, bringing together San Antonians who showed their understanding of a powerful sentence in the shared Community Vision: We are all responsible for our collective well-being. As we continue to survive and grieve the COVID-19 crisis, we offer this space again. To view the schedule, learn more about speakers, and buy tickets, head to SA2020.org/thecollective.

Kiran is the President and CEO of SA2020, a nonprofit organization that drives progress toward a shared Community Vision for San Antonio through research, storytelling, and practice.
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If you grew up with Pokemon and are now looking to become a first-time home buyer, San Antonio might be for you. The Alamo City landed in the No. 4 spot on real estate website Knock's top millennial markets for 2022, or metros where millennials "spread their wings" for a shot at homeownership. San Antonio's housing is already expected to be hot this year.

The millennial generation spans 15 years with the youngest being 25 years old and the oldest having celebrated their 40th birthday in 2021. (If you're not sure if you're a millennial, ask yourself if you complained about Kate McKinnon's Ms. Frizzle. If so, then you're probably a millennial.)
It appears the rule of law is not entirely dead in the US. In a 3-0 ruling, the Second Circuit reversed Southern District of New York judge and Obama appointee Jesse M. Furman on a suit by Jay Alix, founder and major shareholder of the bankruptcy boutique Jay Alix & Co, against McKinsey and a gaggle of its affiliates for perjury and fraud on the bankruptcy court that Alix said hurt it commercially.1

Weve embedded the Second Circuit ruling at the end of this post and strongly suggest you read it in full. Aside from being unusually well drafted, it will help educate readers on why filing civil RICO suits is not such a hot idea and therefore not often done despite the prospect of treble damages. Weve mentioned before that they have a high bar for proof and the filing goes a bit into how courts evaluate civil RICO claims.

While the decision also provides a tidy recap of Alixs allegations, we thought wed turn the mike over to always-lively Dealbreaker, which wrote up the original case:

Being a fiduciary is a real drag, Just ask the asset management industry, which tried like hell to avoid such a designation but who now labor under its onerous terms. At least money managers only have to balance their own pecuniary interests against those of their clients! Consultants have to do that, too, but also balance the competing interests of their clients, also known as conflicts of interest. Its really, really hard to be a gigantic consultancy and not have these. And yet, if a consultancy wishes to do some lucrative bankruptcy consulting, boom! Its a fiduciary. Which is why the average Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing includes hundreds of pages of disclosures about potential conflicts of interest on the part of the professional firms working on those restructurings. By contrast, McKinsey & Co., one of the very largest such firms, averages all of five disclosures per filing. Five! he average is 117; one firm disclosed more than a thousand potential conflicts in American Airlines 2011 filing. This didnt sound right to one person. Or rather, it did. Because that person is Jay Alix, founder and namesake of consulting firm AlixPartners, which has been losing ground the McKinsey for years. Jay Alix suspected the precious few McKinsey disclosures were not the result of McKinseys near-total lack of potential conflicts, but the result of McKinsey just deciding not to disclose the universe of potential conflicts that come with being McKinsey. Among other improprieties, even! And now, Jay Alix is saying so in lawsuit form.

Mr. Alix, the founder of the consulting firm AlixPartners, filed suit under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, saying McKinsey knowingly and intentionally submitted false and materially misleading declarations under oath in cases where it had been hired as a bankruptcy consultant.

The declarations allowed McKinsey to unlawfully conceal its many significant connections to interested parties in the bankruptcies, according to the complaint. Had the connections been known, it said, McKinsey would have been precluded from working on those cases.

The complaint also accused McKinsey of offering pay to play deals to various bankruptcy lawyers, in which McKinsey would offer to refer its vast network of consulting clients to them if in exchange they would refer their bankruptcy clients to McKinseys restructuring business.

It gets even better. Alix met with McKinsey managing partner Dominic Barton. The second time, Barton told Alix he was shocked, shocked, that hed found out the bankruptcy team was playing naughty, and volunteered that McKinsey was also engaging in pay to play with bankruptcy law firms, and McKinseys own lawyers told him that was illegal.

Barton then told Alix to be patient, the managing director elections were nigh, and once Barton was (presumably) reinstalled, hed deal with it. When Alix didnt hear from Barton and asked for another meeting. Barton temporized and offered Alix a bribe in the form of referrals for bankruptcy work.

This ruling comes in a thorny area of law, but even so, some experts decried the trial court decision. For instance, an Emory Law Journal article argues that the courts needed to clean up the standards for what it took to be disinterested for the purpose of representation of parties in the bankruptcy process, and who was subject to those tests. Even so, in a departure from normal law journal practice, one of its four recommendations was the court shouldrule for Jay Alix in his case against McKinsey & Co.

Note that Elizabeth Warren has also cleared her throat about yet more McKinsey bankruptcy shenanigans, where it engaged in clear self-dealing in acting at the lead bankruptcy advisor for Puerto Rico when its fund management arm held Puerto Rico bondswhich benefitted handsomely from the deals McKinsey cut. Please find her letter embedded at the end of the post.

Alix had initially had his case dismissed for not showing a connection between McKinseys alleged misconduct and Alix loss of revenues. The appeals court disagreed:

The district court held that Alix failed to meet RICOs proximate cause requirement. We disagree. We hold that the amended complaint plausibly alleges proximate cause with respect to all 13 bankruptcies in which McKinsey filed false statements as well as the pay-to-play scheme. Accordingly, we VACATE and REMAND for further proceedings.

Despite the Emory Law Journal article correctly fingering the rather murky standards for who is subject to conflict of interest reporting and how stringent those tests should be, that was not why the Alix case was initially tossed out. It was because the lower court deemed he hadnt made a case that met the standards for a civil RICO filing.

The appeals court reversed for two reasons. One was that they found the lower court had not applied the required standard of interpreting the plaintiffs factual claims in the most favorable light, as in if he could prove they were true in discovery, would he prevail? But the second, and far more interesting leg of their analysis was that because McKinsey was charged with perpetrating what sure sounded like an egregious and systematic fraud on the court, the RICO damage analysis also had to allow for what amounted to denial of due process (lawyers feel free to correct me on nomenclature here). From the ruling:

McKinsey moved to dismiss the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) and the district court granted the motion, while nevertheless noting that Alixs allegations were indeed concerning. Still, the district court, in a careful opinion navigating a body of case law that, charitably speaking, is less than pellucid, found the allegations insufficient to satisfy RICOs proximate cause requirement The court concluded that independent intervening decisions of the trustees and the bankruptcy court rendered the causal connection between the alleged misconduct and injury too remote, contingent, and indirect to sustain a RICO claim. As to the pay-to-play allegations, the court concluded that they too failed to meet the pleading standards and suffered from the same defects as the allegations concerning fraudulent disclosures because they did not sufficiently narrow the gap between the alleged fraud and the alleged resulting injury. To establish a RICO claim, a plaintiff must prove: (1) a violation of the RICO statute, (2) an injury to business or property, and (3) that the injury was caused by the RICO violation. Cruz v. FXDirectDealer, LLC, 720 F.3d 115, 120 (2d Cir. 2013); 18 U.S.C.  1962. This appeal implicates the causation element, pursuant to which a plaintiff must plausibly allege that the RICO violations were (1) the proximate cause of his injury, meaning there was a direct relationship between the plaintiffs injury and the defendants injurious conduct; and that they were (2) the but-for (or transactional) cause of his injury, meaning that but for the RICO violation, he would not have been injured. UFCW Loc. 1776 v. Eli Lilly & Co., 620 F.3d 121, 132 (2d Cir. 2010). The dispositive issue here is whether Alix plausibly alleges proximate cause. The district court concluded that Alix failed to allege proximate cause for three reasons. First, the alleged harm to AlixPartners, it concluded, was directly caused by the decisions of the various debtors trustees not to hire AlixPartners rather than by McKinseys misconduct. Second and relatedly, the court concluded that the existence of several intervening factors rendered the relationship between the alleged fraud and injury too indirect and remote. Lastly, the court believed that there was at least one better situated party, such as the U.S. Trustee, who can seek appropriate remedies for the most direct consequences of McKinseys alleged misconduct. We disagree with the district courts analysis and conclusions as to the thirteen engagements. In general, we conclude that its analysis conflated proof of causation and proof of damages and that it did not draw all reasonable inferences in Alixs favor. More specifically (and more importantly) we believe the district court gave insufficient consideration to the fact that McKinseys alleged misconduct targeted the federal judiciary. As a consequence, this case requires us to focus on the responsibilities that Article III courts must shoulder to ensure the integrity of the Bankruptcy Court and its processes. Litigants in all of our courts are entitled to expect that the rules will be followed, the required disclosures will be made, and that the courts decisions will be based on a record that contains all the information applicable law and regulations require. If McKinseys conduct has corrupted the process of engaging bankruptcy advisors, as Alix plausibly alleges, then the unsuccessful participants in that process are directly harmed. The fact that this case invokes our supervisory responsibilities makes our resolution of it sui generis and of little, if any, application to ordinary RICO cases where these responsibilities are not front and center. But

in light of these special considerations, we hold that Alix has plausibly alleged proximate cause with respect to all thirteen engagements.

With a ruling underscoring that McKinsey looks to have violated the integrity of bankruptcy processes on a broad basis, and that courts have a duty to stomp on that behavior, it looks like Alix will get to root around in the firms file cabinets and depose the firms on the receiving end of those pay to play arrangements. Pass the popcorn.

_____

1 Barrington Parker, a Bush appointee, wrote the Second Circuit decision.

00 Alix v. McKinsey appeal ruling


Yves here. The issues of food insecurity and the high cost of resource-depleting Big Ag practices are much more acute in developing countries than the US. This post discusses an important and oft-neglected piece of this puzzle: the role of captured public finance entities in promoting pro-corporate agendas.

By Lorena Cotza, the communications lead at the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, a global coalition that works to ensure development finance respects human rights and is community-led, and Ouafa Haddioui, a programe coordinator at Arab Watch Coalition, a regional coalition of civil society organizations from the Middle East and North Africa, working together to ensure just development in the region. Originally published at openDemocracy

In 2017, the people of Zagora, Morocco, took to the streets in what became known as the thirst revolution. They were demanding safe drinking water and an end to the excessive use of water by big agricultural companies. In an already arid area, experiencing frequent droughts and heatwaves due to climate change, much of the available water supply was being used to grow watermelons for export to Europe. Residents had been left with an insufficient, unreliable and undrinkable supply. Twenty-three of the demonstrators were arrested.

In Morocco, irrigation for agriculture consumes almost 90% of the annual available fresh water. This intense extraction dates back to the colonial period, when the French authorities replaced the khettara  a traditional irrigation system developed and managed by local communities  with water-intensive structures that allow production to fulfil the demand of European markets.

Agriculture now constitutes almost 15% of Moroccos GDP. The industry receives substantial support from public development banks such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank. Both banks supported the 2008 Green Morocco Plan, which aimed to fully exploit the agricultural potential of the country. The plan favoured export-oriented crops with high water requirements, such as watermelons, tomatoes and citrus fruits.

Moroccos water crisis is not an isolated case. All around the world, water scarcity and food crises are being caused by the man-made disasters of climate change, colonialism, and an extractive economic model  pushed by governments, private companies and development finance institutions  that boosts productivity at any cost and disregards the rights of local communities.

Escalated by the pandemic and the subsequent global economic crisis, water and food shortages have reached unprecedented levels in dozens of countries, with small-scale producers  especially women  disproportionately affected. The situation is particularly concerning in conflict-affected countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria.

In November 2021, the World Food Programmes executive director, David Beasley, warned that conflict, climate change and COVID-19 [are] driving up the numbers of the acutely hungry, and the latest data show there are now more than 45 million people marching towards the brink of starvation.

Urgent action is needed. Yet governments and public development banks (PDBs) continue to let big multinationals set the same failing agenda.

Public Development Banks

PDBs are key players when it comes to food systems. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, they invest about $1.4tn per year in the agriculture and food sector.

The Inter-American Development Bank, for example, is currently considering a $43m loan to Marfrig Global Foods, the worlds second-largest beef company. Marfrig and its suppliers have been linked to illegal deforestation in Brazils Amazon region, corruption and human rights abuses.

If the project is approved, public funds will be used to further expand industrial livestock production  a sector that dramatically increases methane emissions, deforestation, and other forms of air and water pollution. According to the Divest Factory Farming campaign, animal industrial agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. Propping up the industrial meat industry undermines the Paris Climate Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals on climate action and responsible production.

Many public development banks also provide advice and shape state laws. In 2020, India approved three controversial farm bills following the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In a surprise move in November 2021, the Indian parliament voted to scrap these laws, after more than a year of mass protests, in which hundreds of thousands of small farmers held tractor rallies, blocked highways and camped in the capital, Delhi. According to local farmers organisations, these policies would have ended protective regulated markets and forced local farmers to negotiate prices with big agribusiness corporations such as the Adani Group.

International summits addressing world hunger are also dictated by PDBs and corporate interests.

In October 2021, representatives from 500 PDBs gathered at the second Finance in Common (FIC) Summit, to strengthen [the banks] commitment to post-pandemic recovery, sustainable development and agriculture. Despite the banks touting their focus on inclusivity and sustainability, indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, herders, women and others from local communities  who are the real experts on these issues  were largely excluded from the summit.

Following another high-level international forum last year, the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), hundreds of civil society organisations, grassroots groups, academics and UN experts criticised the meeting for allowing big agribusiness and corporations to set the agenda. Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, tweeted that the UNFSS had turned its back on those most impacted by failed food systems. The summit, which included the private sector  represented by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, whose members include Nestle, Bayer and Tyson Foods  failed to address urgent problems like the overuse of pesticides, land concentration, or environmental and labour abuses by companies.

We Need Food Sovereignty

Sustainable solutions to the food crisis already exist, but they need more support. According to a report by the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group), Who Will Feed Us?, small-scale producers provide food to 70% of the world, while using only 25% of the resources.

Instead of fuelling the food crisis by serving the interests of agribusiness corporations, governments and public development banks should support projects based on the agroecology model. According to a network of grassroots groups that mobilised around the UNFSS, agroecology encourages diversity  of crops, people, farming methods, and knowledges  to allow for locally-adapted food systems that are responsive to environmental conditions and community needs. This includes practices such as permaculture, agroforestry, organic farming and biodynamic farming.

Farmers across Asia, many of whom are suffering some of the worst impacts of climate change, offer a model for agroecology methods that minimise greenhouse gas emissions and are more resistant to climate disasters. These methods include using traditional and more resistant seeds, and less pollutant biofertilisers and biopesticides, more efficient irrigation systems, cleaner energy sources, and avoiding monoculture plantations.

We can no longer afford to pour billions in public money into projects that exacerbate debt, inequalities, poverty and climate change. Those who have the power and resources to shape food systems and address food crises should listen and learn from local communities and small-scale food producers who have the solutions to sustainably feed the world.
Gulfood 2022 will power considerable trends and techniques currently disrupting the international food industry agenda with its stated mandate of connecting, creating, and changing the future for the better.

The 27th edition of the worlds largest annual F&B sourcing event, which will span 21 Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) halls, will underscore UAEs status at the forefront of sector change and leading role in tackling global issues with the launch of Gulfood Zero Waste, a global campaign in partnership with restaurants and hotels driving the zero waste initiative globally.

Running from February 13 to 17, the show will be the global sectors undisputed transformation powerbroker, where major global challenges, trends and change drivers will be examined, including e-commerce; technology, sustainability and disruptive cellular agriculture bio-innovation  the production of animal sourced foods from cell culture methods; emerging slow and plant-based food trends. The show will be a precursor to the Food For Future Summit and Global Agtech Innovation Expo taking place from February 23 to 24 at Expo 2020s Dubai Exhibitions Center - part of the Expo 2020 Food, Agriculture and Livelihoods Week.

INSPIRING GLOBAL CHANGE

Latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN-FAO) indicates that one third of the worlds food is wasted, equating to 1.3 billion tonnes annually at a cost of $1 trillion. Beyond the detrimental environmental impact, wastage also translates to the loss of nutrients and resources (water, land, labour, energy, and cost) invested in food production.

Gulfood Zero Waste will light the way in addressing this major global issue, with chefs from 30 UAE restaurants, cafes, and dark kitchens focusing on sustainable practices using local produce via off-site workshops and masterclasses.

The initiative also provides a platform for impact-driven, homegrown companies, including a partnership with The Waste Lab, which is implementing solutions to repurpose food, such as compost, with societal and economic benefits. The Gulfood 2022 onsite Zero Waste Mega Impact will aim to collect 1,000kg of food wastage to produce 400kg of compost, equating to a CO2e emissions saving of 1,000kg.

The innovative campaign will culminate in an award ceremony recognising zero waste-leading restaurants.

Gulfood 2022 will underscore UAEs pivotal role in driving global F&B sector change for the better with a deep-dive into the trends and techniques set to transform the industry for good. The Gulfood Zero Waste is a global initiative with the goal of sparking dialogue and movement among policy-makers, industry leaders and communities to take a pro-active approach to adopting zero-waste initiatives, which can help end the discrepancies between food waste and hunger while playing a part in addressing climate change, said Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President, Exhibitions & Events,

DWTC.

The campaign is yet another example of UAEs desire and leadership to power industry development for the good of all. In addition, this influential gathering will host over 4,000 exhibiting companies, a host of high-calibre speakers from 120 countries, and more than 100 award-winning chefs, including Michelin Star and Worlds Best winners, business leaders and government policy-makers under one roof.

AN ALL-ACTION POWERBROKER

Gulfood 2022 will propel sector conversations from agenda to action and facilitate innovative start-ups, spark the emergence of food tech solutions, empower young industry professionals and women within the sectors research and development, and spur e-commerce.

Gulfood 2022 will build on the events unequivocal reputation as an industry trend springboard and a global sourcing powerhouse to inspire industry-wide transformation for the good of the entire eco-system, from raw material producers to policy-makers and consumers, explained LohMirmand.

This is a time when Dubai is, via Expo 2020, presenting to the world, a whole new future with the grandstanding of epoch-making transformations. Gulfood 2022 takes its cue from this inspiring vision with a more profound concept to provoke a stronger collective impact on the industrys future.

TOMORROWS FOOD FUTURE TODAY

Driving creativity and change, Gulfood 2022 will shape the future of food. In another industry first, this years event will feature the Gulfood E-commerce Platform, an exclusive networking and conference agenda powering the increasingly growing role of the digital marketplace in the food supply chain.

SMEs will pitch to leading e-commerce and food delivery partners on ways retailers can boost their digital presence and hear from sector leaders, including Sebastian Wussler, the German entrepreneur behind Hoodly, an online store building application that helps with their set-up and e-commerce business process monitoring in less than five minutes. Other sector pioneers who will be providing invaluable insight include Nikola Cabarkapa, VP of Brand Partnerships and MFC of grocery delivery app Instashop and Yesuprabhakar Yarlagadda, Vice President  Grocery, of the Middle East's homegrown online marketplace, Noon.

Also new for 2022, the Gulfood Top Table will take culinary experiences to new heights with a live, star-studded line-up of award-winning chefs and food influencers. Industry media personnel, disruptors and global trendsetters will be coming together in a masterclass extravaganza. More than 70 chefs from 50 restaurants will create in excess of 1,000 creative dishes across the five days. Featured chefs include: Antonio Bachour, the 2018 Worlds Best Pastry Chef, often described as a confection master; 2-star Michellin chef Tom Aikens; Nick Alvis, from renowned homegrown restaurant, Folly; top Emirati chefs Khaled Al Saadi, co-founder of FAE Cafe, and Faisal Naser, founder of Lento; and Dubai-based Syrian culinary ace Mohamad Orfali.

Gulfood Inspire, meanwhile, a host of speakers take to the stage, including F&B business leaders, ministers, policy-makers, retail heads, technologists, agriculturists, analysts and futurists providing unmissable insights, industry knowledge and industry pathways.

Gulfood Global Changemakers, the future-focused start-up programme will see 30-40 embryo ventures pitch innovative ideas and food tech solutions to renowned venture capitalists and investors. The contenders will also hear from Dennis Levine, the controversial author, corporate consultant, and former managing director at the iconic Wall Street investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, who was a major player in mergers and acquisitions throughout the 1980s.

MORE POWER TO THE YOUTH

Gulfood YouthX in partnership Hilton and Dubai College of Tourism is a first-of-its-kind platform to empower the most promising aspiring chefs, featuring a massive mentorship & scholarship programme.

With the first edition focusing on aspiring Emirati chefs, participants will get to interact with Kasdi Dahari, Executive Chef, Hilton Palm Jumeirah and a team of young chefs that went on to win seven Gold Medals in the 2021 Chefs Table Competition.

The winning chefs in the YouthX contest will land a career-changing hands-on learning experience in one of Hilton Europes dining destinations, while the runner-up will secure a 25% scholarship for Dubai College of Tourisms Culinary Arts Programme.

MARKET RESPONSE

The new Gulfood approach has won an enthusiastic response from exhibitors who have praised its forward-thinking strategy. Among the expanded 2022 exhibitor line-up are new pavilions from the Norwegian seafood industry, Uruguay, Panama, and Uzbekistan who will be joined by newcomers including: Australias ABW Foods, Invest NSW and Austrade; Colombias Cartagena Chamber of Commerce; Uruguays Cooperativa Nacional De Productores De Leche, Estancias del Lago S.R.L. and Instituto Nacional De Carnes; Switzerlands Fenaco and MK Merchants SA; Panamas ProPanama, South Africas RFG Foods Pty Ltd., and Hong Kongs Vitasoy.

Jean-Philip Habib, Business Development Manager, Arrow Juice Factory, is eagerly anticipating the insights from Gulfood Inspire. Our industry is increasingly subject to regulation, impacting everything from packaging to waste disposal and the chance to hear first-hand from the policy-makers of what we may face in the future will be incredibly useful and aid the industry in planning, he said.TradeArabia News Service
My Nashville Post role has evolved since 2000 when I joined the now-defunct The City Paper. TCP became a Post sister publication in 2008 (when I began doing some Post work) and folded in 2013. I have been managing editor of the Post since late 2011.

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Tennessee Rep. Glen Casada shares his memories of Richard 'Rick' Buerger at the June 14 meeting of the Williamson County Commission.
If youve been in Nashville a while, you know that country music is far from the only kind of music made here. But it remains our biggest cultural product. We at the Scene are very pleased to bring you the inaugural installment of our Country Music Almanac, a look at where country music is now and where it might go in the year to come.

One thing thats been made abundantly clear in the past 12 months is that artists who dont fit the mainstream stereotypes for country hitmakers  Black, brown and queer artists, for example  are doing some incredible work. And theyre doing it with precious little support from major players. With that in mind, weve sought perspective about what kinds of changes can make this system work better for more people; musicians, critics, activists and historians are among the folks at the table for those discussions. Weve also got a look at some artists youll want to keep an eye on throughout the year, as well as a survey in which journalists weigh in on the ups and downs of the industry. Pull up a chair and dive in.

+5 Country Music Almanac 2022: Our Journalists Survey Writers and broadcasters weigh in on the present and future of country music

+4 Country Music Almanac 2022: Organizing Principles Talking with Karen Pittelman, Ellen Angelico and Kym Register about advocating for queer and nonwhite people in and around country music

+13 Country Music Almanac 2022: 12 Artists to Watch in 2022 Check out our recommendations  from Aaron Vance to Morgan Wade and beyond

+3 Country Music Almanac 2022: Escaping the Bear Trap Looking at the work that remains to truly support POC and queer professionals in country music
(Natural News) Employees at Apple have less than a month to show the company proof of getting boosted for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) or else face potential termination. One of the only large corporations to do so thus far, Apple has decided that getting just the first two Fauci Flu shots is no longer enough for workers to stay protected. They must also now get the government-approved boosters or else risk losing their livelihoods. An internal email seen by The Verge reveals that both Apple Store employees and corporate employees have four weeks to comply once they become eligible for a booster.

If they refuse, they will have to take frequent tests to enter a retail store, partner store, or Apple store starting on February 15th. Unvaccinated Apple employees must also now provide negative rapid antigen test results for the Wuhan Flu every time they enter the workplace, reports explain. Due to waning efficacy of the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines and the emergence of highly transmissible variants such as Omicron, a booster shot is now part of staying up to date with your COVID-19 vaccination to protect against severe disease, an Apple internal memo reportedly reads.

Last year, Apple launched a new requirement for unvaccinated corporate workers that forces them to take daily tests before entering the office. Unvaccinated retail workers were forced to take the tests twice a week.

Meta (Facebook) also forcing boosters on employees

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, also recently announced that its employees will need to get boosted before returning back to in-person work come March. It will likely be the case that many other tech corporations follow suit in the coming days, even though booster shots have never been shown to provide any real protection against SARS-CoV-2.

Meta, by the way, continues to censor the truth about the shots and other elements associated with the plandemic. Facebook actually censored a peer-reviewed paper published in the esteemed British Medical Journal (BMJ) because it calls into question the safety and effectiveness of the injections. BMJ editor Fiona Godlee blasted Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for stamping a fact check on the article, demonstrating that the social media platform is engaged in an inaccurate, incompetent and irresponsible manipulation campaign against the truth.

So in addition to silencing the truth every chance they get, Apple, Facebook, and likely many other tech giants, are also forcing their employees to either get injected with experimental gene therapy chemicals or face constant and burdensome testing.

Get a booster that doesnt work, and will probably kill you, for a cold that isnt hurting anyone, wrote one commenter at Zero Hedge about how ridiculous this whole thing is.

Sounds like a great plan and another reason to hate Apple.

Is Apple liable if employees start dropping dead from the clot shot? asked another.

Many others wrote that they are done with Apple products forever due to this tyranny, though the alternative, Android, is not much better since it is a Google product.

They lost my business forever last summer by turning me away from one of their stores in Texas for not wearing a face diaper, wrote another.

The antigen test is $12 a pop! wrote yet another about how Apple is punishing its unvaccinated employees with the testing requirement. So that would be 22 days a month on average at $12 per day, translating to $264 per month or $3,168 per year.

May ALL of these people completely face the full wrath of God when they pass on and also the full wrath of justice while still in (sub) human form here now.

The latest news about Fauci Flu shot tyranny can be found at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Cheryl Rosenfeld, a professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri, and her colleagues proposed that more attention should be given to the temporary organ that affects fetal brain development. This is due to the study that found direct transmission of bisphenol A (BPA) through the placenta could negatively impact the brain development of babies.

While it only aids in the exchange of nutrients and waste between mother and child during pregnancy, the placentas response to toxins like BPA during pregnancy can lead to long-term health consequences. Rosenfeld also noted that scientists focused on the role of microRNAs within the placenta, which are known to be key mediators in regulating cellular functions, including neural development and the identification of markers for cancer.

Rosenfeld suspects that microRNAs are now playing a role in how BPA effects can lead to neurological disorders later on. With the microRNAs packaged inside extracellular vesicles and transported to distant organs within the body, Rosenfeld says that scientists are assuming that changing the patterns of microRNAs can affect the brain and have harmful consequences. (Related: BPA replacement chemicals found to disrupt hormones much like BPA.)

She further stated that even before the brains neurons are developed, microRNA packages may already be guiding fetal brain development, and the changes can be different in male or female fetuses.

BPA is used in many household items, such as plastic water bottles and food containers, and exposure to these chemicals can occur at any daily activities, such as consuming microwaved food in polycarbonate plastic food containers.

There had been plenty of efforts toward making products BPA free, but the debate surrounding whats considered safe in BPA exposure levels continue. Numerous studies have already looked into possible related health consequences such as neurobehavioral disorders, diabetes, obesity, and other reproductive deficiencies.

Further, Rosenfeld believes that the microRNA changes in the placenta could be used as an early diagnostic biomarker for BPA exposure. She shared that by identifying the relationship between microRNAs and fetal brain development through BPA exposure, targeted therapies could be developed to prevent the harmful effects of BPA exposure.

Continuing with the work will include examining the relationship between the placenta and the brain using cell culture systems.

This latest discovery is a continuation of Rosenfelds interest in the effects of BPA exposure, with her most recent focus being on the relationship between the placenta and the brain, and how this could help scientists develop a foundation for an early step in translational medicine, or research that aims to improve human health by determining the relevance of animal science discoveries and applying them to humans.

European regulators propose new regulations for BPAs

Because of its dangers to human health, European countries are now proposing tighter regulations for its use. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) proposed new safety standards for BPA in December, radically scaling the recommended exposure limit by a factor of 100,000 or 0.018 nanograms per pound of body weight per day.

This new standard is based on scientific evidence of harm to peoples immune systems and bodily development, but it is so low, it essentially bars the use of BPA in any products that come into contact with food.

Terry Collins, a chemist from Carnegie Mellon University, said that its an incredibly dramatic number.

If approved, the EFSAs guidelines for BPA will be among the strictest in the world: It is certainly far more stringent than in the U.S., where the recommended exposure has not been updated since 1988 and maintains its threshold of 22.7 micrograms per pound of body weight.

Denmark and Belgium have an outright ban on BPA in food contact materials for children, while France banned the chemical in all non-industrial uses since 2015.

While scientists have framed EFSAs proposed rule as necessary in protecting public health, many also raised concerns that it does not apply to paper products, such as receipts, which are often lined with BPA coating. Further, it does not regulate potentially dangerous replacement chemicals. (Related: Beware BPA vs. BPA free: the plastics industry is trading one toxin for another.)

Laura Vandenberg, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, said that the industry may likely comply with the new rule by shifting to other chemicals. However, she did note that the new guidelines highlight the growing recognition for more stringent regulations in using toxic chemicals. We can no longer accept the industrys statement that exposures are too low to hurt,' she said.

Watch the video below to learn more about BPAs.

This video is from the Energy Matters, LLC channel on Brighteon.com.

Read similar stories at HealthScience.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Grist.org
(Natural News) Dr. Robert Malone, the celebrated scientist and inventor of mRNA technology, believes mass Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination campaigns are a violation of bioethics principles.

Malone, an expert in bioethics, recently penned a short essay reflecting on the bioethics of the mass vaccination campaigns around the world. He is very concerned about the safety of distributing these experimental and dangerous medications.

Due to the emergence of mass vaccination policies, Malone has recently refreshed his knowledge of the history of modern bioethics  from the Nuremberg Trials to the Nuremberg Code, the Helsinki Accord, the Belmont Report in the United States and the common rule that exists in the code of federal regulations.

Malone has also brushed up on the already extensive knowledge he has of the legislation and the Food and Drug Administration policies pertaining to the issuance of emergency use authorizations for experimental treatments.

COVID-19 vaccine recipients not given proper informed consent

In his study, Malone concluded that the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaigns violate three core principles of bioethics.

Firstly, the distributors of the vaccines never provided people with full disclosure of their risk of causing adverse events.

The COVID-19 vaccines are experimental medications. This means every single person who accepts a vaccine is a participant in an experimental medical trial. Participants of such trials must be given all the information regarding its potential side effects. Based on this disclosure, people then have the right to decide whether they still want to get vaccinated.

This process has never been adhered to, as most vaccinated individuals are not aware of the potential adverse effects that they can experience from taking the dangerous vaccines. Furthermore, people who do want to learn more about the effects of the vaccine are unable to find any easily accessible and accurate information about the vaccines, either at the vaccination sites or online. (Related: Dr. Robert Malone warns that Big Tech censorship and Big Pharma malfeasance has unleashed a mass casualty event qualifying as a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.)

Secondly, not only must the adverse event risks of the vaccines be easily accessible, they must be communicated in a way that people who want to get vaccinated can comprehend the actual risks of getting the experimental product. According to Malone, this means the disclosure of information must be written in such a way that a teenager can understand it.

In proper clinical trials, researchers are actually required to verify if trial participants comprehend the risks. This is not a requirement for vaccinations.

Lastly, the only way people can ethically take an experimental product like the COVID-19 vaccines is if they do so fully voluntarily and without coercion or enticement. This means that vaccine mandates are, at their core, unethical.

Furthermore, Malone argues that all of the public messaging governments and mainstream media outlets have pushed regarding how the vaccines are supposedly safe constitutes coercion.

This is the way theyre going to handle things, said Malone. And theyre going to handle it with the noble lie of saying, No, there are no risks and what were doing is fully justified.'

No end in sight for US mass vaccination campaign

As of Sunday morning, Jan. 9, the United States has administered over 519 million doses of the experimental and dangerous COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is responsible for how many vaccine doses have gone into the arms of Americans, the figures from Sunday are up from the 518 million total vaccine doses administered by Saturday, Jan. 8. This means more than a million doses a day are being distributed to Americans.

According to the CDC, this accounts for nearly 250 million Americans who have received at least one dose, while nearly 210 million are already considered fully vaccinated.

These statistics show that there is no end in sight for Americas coercive campaign to get all Americans to take the dangerous vaccine.

Watch this video and hear Dr. Robert Malone talk about how the COVID-19 vaccines will lead to the deaths of millions of people.

This video can be found on the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

Learn more about the ethical concerns surrounding COVID-19 vaccines at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced other states who fired unvaccinated health workers, only to hire fully vaccinated yet infected replacements. He called the move to rehire staffers infected with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), which was meant to mitigate staffing shortages, as absolutely insane.

The Republican governor said during a Jan. 13 press conference: The medical mandate for the nurses and the doctors, what theyre trying to do is actually insane. In other states, they have fired nurses for not having [the vaccine], even though most of them have natural immunity. So they fire them, but now theyre short-handed. So what are they doing? They are bringing back on the job vaccinated nurses who are currently COVID-positive.

If youre unvaccinated, naturally immune and uninfected  they fire you. But if youre COVID-positive and [vaccinated], which we know most of the people that are COVID-positive now are, they are going back on the job. It just shows you that the CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] mandate is absolutely insane, especially given the ineffectiveness of these shots to actually stop transmission.

DeSantis referenced moves by health officials and hospitals in three states  California, Arizona and Rhode Island  to allow health workers with COVID-19 to return to work if they show either mild symptoms or none at all. The decision followed labor shortages largely caused by the termination of health workers who refused the COVID-19 vaccines. (Related: Nurse fired for not getting COVID-19 vaccine speaks about REAL situation in hospitals.)

Following the GOP governors statement, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health workers at CMS-funded facilities. Taryn Fenske, the spokeswoman for DeSantis, lamented the decision.

We are disappointed about the CMS ruling and what it could mean for the livelihoods of doctors, nurses and health professionals in our state. As Floridas prohibition on vaccine mandates remains in effect for all industries, we will be evaluating next steps for enforcement in the coming days, she said.

DeSantis: Ardent opponent of medical tyranny

Ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., DeSantis has made a name for himself by eschewing medical tyranny in Florida. Instead of overarching lockdowns, he focused more on protecting the states elderly residents. His strategy paid off  as Florida was spared massive losses of life, economy and society.

Writing for Blaze Media, attorney Daniel Horowitz lauded the Florida governors pro-health freedom stance. He wrote in a May 2020 op-ed: He had everything to lose and nothing to gain by standing for liberty, balance and prudence, the Constitution and long-standing epidemiological science in the third-largest state in the nation. It also happens to be the state with the most senior citizens at risk.

Horowitz pointed out that DeSantis received criticism for his refusal to lock down Florida at the soonest. The governor was also slammed for prematurely lifting the mandate on May 4, 2020. (Related: DeSantis terminates all local Covid-19 restrictions, including mask mandates, in Florida.)

What are the results? Despite the fact that Florida is the haven for those most susceptible to the virus  the elderly  the states numbers beat almost every comparable state. Daily fatalities also plunged after he ended the stay-at-home order. The data are so compelling that the media are trying to insinuate that DeSantis is cooking the books.

Horowitz also compared DeSantis to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ordered COVID-19 patients to be sent to nursing homes  where they infected vulnerable elderly residents. DeSantis quietly barred hospitals from sending COVID-positive patients to nursing homes, the exact opposite of what Cuomo and many Democratic governors did. He also used the [Florida] National Guard to secure nursing homes rather than to spy on people, the lawyer wrote.

Consider that Cuomo is a hero to the media even after the nursing home scandal  while DeSantis is treated like dirt. Rather than violate peoples rights and shut down the entire state, DeSantis used his head and struck the right balance, Horowitz concluded.

Watch the video below of DeSantis during his Jan. 13 press conference.

This video is from the channel on Brighteon.com.

Pandemic.news has more stories about the struggles of health workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

MSN.com

TheBlaze.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) We are pleased to announce that Dr. Jane Ruby, author of A Sea of New Media: Transformation of the American Press, has joined the Brighteon.TV family of presenters.

Every Monday from 7-8pm EST, you can watch Live with Dr. Jane Ruby at Brighteon.TV, along with many other shows such as The Sheriff Mack Show with Sheriff Richard Mack and Lets Talk America with Alan Keyes.

Dr. Ruby, in case you are unfamiliar with her, is a medical professional and pharmaceutical drug development expert with more than 20 years of experience in regulatory processes for drug approval with both the European Medicines Authority (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dr. Ruby is also a published international health economist who has worked on human research studies to launch some of the most famous compounds in the world for depression, Alzheimers disease, addiction and cardiopulmonary diseases.

In the following episode of Live with Dr. Jane Ruby, Dr. Ruby talks with Christopher Key about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), mask mandates, the vaccines, and other plandemic subjects:

Just the other day, Dr. Ruby issued a warning about how some batches of covid vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) are extra deadly.

Theres evidence that these companies are intentionally deploying toxic batches [of Covid-19 vaccine], Dr. Ruby said on The Stew Peters Show on January 3.

What they do is they determine the lethal amount to test half the population. Its one of the means to assess acute toxicity prior to going into human studies. It has been largely phased out. They are conducting it without informed consent. Its against all ethical and regulatory rules. These companies are just proceeding with impunity because there is nothing stopping them.

More related news about the plandemic can be found at Pandemic.news.

Dont miss Dr. Rubys daily program at Brighteon.TV from 7-8pm EST

In her book, Dr. Ruby talks all about the new generation of citizen journalists, whom she calls truth tellers, who are replacing many in the legacy media that have been lying to the public for many years.

As a former television host herself, Dr. Ruby has witnessed the dramatic transformation of the American press from the usual mainstream conglomerates like ABC and NBC to a more citizen-based press format.

This new format, by the way, is why Brighteon.TV exists. It gives a platform to people like Dr. Ruby who have important things to say that are systematically censored by the large, corporate-backed media outlets that only seem to know how to peddle spin and deception.

Your camera, your smartphone, your social media capability makes you just as powerful in breaking a story as ABC, NBC, Fox News or The New York Times, Dr. Ruby says.

At his 2010 Tax Day Tea Party speech, Andrew Breitbart told the crowd to hold their cellphones up and said, We have a sea of New Media here to capture the lies!'

These words by the late Andrew Breitbart would lay a strong foundation for the following decade, which has seen explosive growth all across the new media.

Our own Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, also hosts his Health Ranger Report program on Brighteon.TV from 3-3:30pm EST every day, by the way.

We are truly excited to have Dr. Ruby on board and look forward to everything she has to say, just as we do for all of our featured hosts.

All of them, from Dr. Eric Nepute of Real Talk with Dr. Eric Nepute (4-5pm EST) to Pete Santillis The Pete Santilli Show (6-7pm EST), have an important role to play in delivering messages of truth to our valued listeners and viewers.

You will also find a full lineup of all available programs at Brighteon.TV.

Sources for this article include:

DrJaneRuby.com

Brighteon.TV

Brighteon.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Thousands of protesters in the Netherlands marched on the streets of Amsterdam on Sunday, Jan. 16, to oppose the Dutch governments Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

Anti-lockdown demonstrators packed the streets of the capital carrying banners and yellow umbrellas. They played music, chanted slogans and marched along major thoroughfares. Dutch farmers also joined the Jan. 16 protests, driving to Amsterdam and parking their tractors along the Museumplein public square.

According to Al Jazeera correspondent Step Vassen, the protests were peaceful despite the mood being quite heated. She said: Theres a wide range of people against government measures and a general distrust of politics. A lot of people are now not obeying rules and are violating many of the rules that are still in place.

Prior to the rally, Dutch authorities were granted stop and search powers at several locations across the city. Riot police vans patrolled Amsterdam neighborhoods where the demonstrators marched. Law enforcement separated a small group of anti-fascist protesters and transported them to a different location to avoid any scuffles.

The Jan. 16 demonstration came amid the Netherlands month-long lockdown, one of the toughest in Europe. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte initially ordered the lockdown back in mid-December 2021 following the spread of the B16172 delta variant.

He announced on Jan. 14 that non-essential stores, hairdressers and gyms would be allowed to open  albeit under strict conditions. Bars, restaurants and cultural venues have been instructed to remain closed until at least Jan. 25 due to uncertainty about how the B11529 omicron variant will impact Dutch hospitals.

According to data published by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the country reported a record high of more than 36,000 COVID-19 infections on Jan. 16. Figures from Johns Hopkins University showed the Netherlands having more than 3.6 million COVID-19 cases and more than 21,000 COVID-19 deaths.

KMar officers, police dogs disperse Amsterdam protesters

Two weeks earlier, officers from the Royal Marechaussee (KMar) military police dispersed protesters disagreeing with COVID-19 measures at the Museumplein. They also used trained police dogs to attack demonstrators congregating at the public square last Jan. 2.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema reportedly ordered the KMar officers to disperse the protesters. She also issued an emergency order prohibiting assemblies at the Museumplein. But it did not dissuade protesters from airing out their grievances and expressing their disagreement toward Ruttes tyrannical mandates.

Footage circulating on social media showed law enforcement severely beating demonstrators and even releasing trained police dogs to attack them. (Related: Anti-vaccine protesters in Amsterdam brutalized by law enforcement, police dogs.)

Several protesters who joined the Jan. 2 assembly confirmed that great numbers of KMar officers were present at the Museumplein. They added that potential participants were being searched extensively in order to intimidate them into backing out of the protest.

Dutch lawmaker Pepijn van Houwelingen of the Forum for Democracy (FvD) Party posted pictures of a busload of protesters being pulled over by KMar officers. He added that an officer yelled at the bus to turn around, warning that they will be stopped if they go into Amsterdam.

This is what a dictatorship looks like where fundamental rights are worth nothing. If you challenge the totalitarian regime and start demonstrating for freedom, suddenly everyone is arrested, the FvD legislator said of the violent Jan. 2 dispersal. (Related: Thousands storm streets of New York City to protest covid medical fascism.)

Political reporter Paso Dagori said: The fact that is now normal to carry out preventive searches on demonstrators says something about the decline of this country. Lawyer Bart Maes, meanwhile, announced he would file a report based on the instances of police violence seen on social media footage. He zeroed in on a KMar officer who hit a protester on the head during the Jan. 2 dispersal.

Watch the video below of the Jan. 2 protests in Amsterdam.

This video is from the Dutchyboy channel on Brighteon.com.

Resist.news has more about protests against COVID-19 mandates in Amsterdam and other parts of the world.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

AlJazeera.com

Coronavirus.JHU.edu

FreeWestMedia.com

Brighteon.com
by Marja Vogric

LJUBLJANA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian politicians on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Janez Jansa for his remarks on Taiwan, saying Jansa's words are "not in line with (Slovenia's) foreign policy."

Referring to Jansa's statements, former Prime Minister Miro Cerar told Xinhua in an earlier interview that "it is disturbing that the government is not seeking a wider political and social consensus on it."

He pointed out that Slovenia has not renounced its support to the one-China policy, adding that the parliament should clarify its position on this issue.

Nik Prebil, a parliamentary member of the center-left party Lista Marjana Sarca, said in a statement that the party was appalled by the inappropriate statements and actions of Jansa.

"These actions are destroying good relations, good diplomatic ties that we have with China," Prebil said, noting that they could bring severe consequences to Slovenia.

Matjaz Nemec, vice president of Slovenian political party the Social Democrats and member of the Committee on Foreign Policy of the National Assembly of Slovenia, said the prime minister's conduct "is not in line with (Slovenia's) foreign policy."

The party has also demanded a session of the parliamentary committee on the prime minister's statements.

Minister of Economic Development and Technology Zdravko Pocivalsek posted on his Facebook that China is one of Slovenia's largest economic partners outside the European Union, with economic cooperation between the two sides deepening. 
Emirates President Tim Clark said the airline was not aware of some of the potential 5G rollout issues until Tuesday morning, calling the situation "one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible" he has seen in his aviation career.



Major international airlines are scrambling to modify or cancel flights to the US amid uncertainty about potential interference between new 5G cell phone services and critical airplane technologies. Emirates cancelled flights to nine US destinations on Wednesday.



In an exclusive interview on CNNs Quest Means Business with Richard Quest, Clark said: "I need to be as candid as I normally am, and say this is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issue subjects, call it what you like, I've seen in my aviation career because it involves organs of government, manufacturers, science, etc.



And you know, the notion that, for instance, the United States government should sell its franchise for all the frequencies for a large amount of money. Somebody should have told them at the time - that the risks and the dangers they placed in certain frequency uses around field, airfields, metropolitan fields that should have been done at the time."



The Emirates president added that they were not aware of the issues until Tuesday morning "to the extent that it was going to compromise the safety of operation of our aircraft and just about every other 777 operator to and from the United States and within the United States."



Transportation regulators had already been concerned that the version of 5G that was scheduled to be switched on could interfere with some airplane instruments, and many aviation industry groups shared those fears  despite reassurances from federal telecom regulators and wireless carriers.



"We were aware of a 5G issue. Okay. We are aware that everybody is trying to get 5G rolled out after all it's the super cool future of whatever it may be communication and information flow. We were not aware that the power of the antennas in the United States have been doubled compared to what's going on elsewhere, Clark said.



We were not aware that the antenna themselves have been put into a vertical position rather than a slight slanting position, which then taken together compromise not only the radio altimeter systems but the flight control systems on the fly by wire aircraft. So on that basis we took that decision late last night to suspend all our services until we had clarity," he added, telling Quest the airline wouldn't take any risks.  TradeArabia News Service
(Natural News) The New York Times has published a piece arguing that privilege and inequality are not just human issues but also animal issues.

Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) say that because of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), they decided to probe deeper into health disparities and other inequalities around the world, which led them to focus on squirrels.

Apparently the furry rodents suffer from many of the same societal problems that leftists say plague humans. Things like intergenerational wealth and white privilege are endemic across so many different species, says Dr. Jennifer Smith, one of the scientists involved with the research.

Smith says it was quite surprising to see how animals supposedly face discrimination on the basis of fur color, for instance  and yes, she is dead serious in making this claim.

Were just touching the surface, Smith told the Times, arguing that animals survival instincts somehow equate to things like transphobia and police abuse against blacks.

Smith explained that some species share resources such as territory, tools, and shelter between generations, which in her mind means that they are hoarding generational wealth and depriving animals of color of their fair share.

In the case of the baby red grouses, Smith says that those who are not abandoned by their fathers are more likely to succeed in establishing their own territories, while baby squirrels whose mothers hoard food for the winter are much more likely to survive until the spring.

Those young, pine-cone-rich squirrels, the scientists say, are children of privilege, wrote the Times about these natural phenomena.

The foolish hearts of leftists have been darkened, which is how they come up with this nonsense

Smith and her colleagues say they are eager to expand their research into this subject by looking into thousands of other species across the animal kingdom to look for similar patterns.

Upon doing this, they will likely try to force other made-up concepts like whiteness, rape culture, and voter suppression into their observations.

Anything they can find to denigrate people with light skin (mainly Europeans) and blast Caucasian civilization as problematic will probably end up in another study that gets reported on by the Times as evidence of inequality.

The Bible warned about all this, by the way. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul the Apostle wrote that in the end times people would become vain in their imaginations because their foolish heart was darkened.

The way that leftists are constantly trying to read perversion into the animal kingdom  they do this with LGBTQ issues as well, claiming that animals are gay and transgender to try to normalize these concepts  is one prominent example of this in the modern world.

Remember when liberals tried to claim that calling the police on a black person committing a crime is racist and a form of white privilege? Yeah, that, too, is an example of foolish, darkened hearts coming up with vain and outlandish ideas.

Dont these people have something better to do with their spare time? asked a commenter at TownHall.

Napping comes to mind immediately. The main takeaways from all of this are the early bird gets the worm and only the strong survive  without government help.'

If your life revolves around trying to prove that an entire race of people is racist, then you are the racist you are looking for, wrote another.

The racist most angry minorities see is looking right back at them in their mirror, said yet another.

More related news about how leftists are destroying society with their vain imaginations can be found at Libtards.news.

Sources for this article include:

FreeBeacon.com

BlueLetterBible.org

NaturalNews.com

TownHall.com
(Natural News) A Rhodes Scholarship recipient who previously insisted that she grew up poor, abused, and underprivileged is said to have lost her scholarship after it was discovered she lied about her background.

(Article by Sarah Taylor republished from TheBlaze.com)

A Wednesday report from the Daily Mail stated that 24-year-old Mackenzie Fierceton grew up in a $750,000 home in Missouri with her mother  a doctor  and attended a $30,000/year private high school.

What are the details?

Fierceton claimed in her application essay to Philadelphias University of Pennsylvania that she survived abuse and foster care and overcame adversity by putting her education at the forefront of her priorities.

In the essay, the outlet reported, Fierceton  a self-described queer, first-generation, low income student  claimed that her radiologist mother tried to kill her and that she eventually ended up in foster care.

According to the report, Fierceton was in foster care  but reportedly only for one year and only after she told police that her mother Carrie Morrison struck her and threw her down a flight of stairs.

Police arrested Morrison in 2014 in connection with the allegation, but she denied all culpability and said that her daughter  a difficult child who suffered from anxiety  was being dishonest.

The case was later dropped because prosecutors found no evidence to support Fiercetons claims.

Fierceton, who won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in 2020, previously told the Rhodes Trust that she was deserving of the scholarship because she overcame welfare, an abusive mother, and the foster care system.

Following a complementary report about Fiercetons bravery and her Rhodes award  a story that was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer  an anonymous tipster contacted the Rhodes Trust and UPenn to report her alleged dishonesty.

The anonymous tipster told the trust and the school that Fierceton  whose previous name was Mackenzie Morrison  attended a posh St. Louis private school and enjoyed white-collar hobbies including horseback riding and skydiving.

Following the allegations, Fierceton withdrew from the Rhodes program.

UPenn, according to the report, is withholding her masters degree following an investigation into the alleged fraud  and Fierceton now says that the Rhodes Trust and UPenn are victimizing her.

A deeper look

An investigation by the Chronicle of Higher Education determined that the only truth to Fiercetons story was that she spent time in foster care.

In the 2014 incident  when Fierceton would have been approximately 16 years old  Morrison said that her daughter asked her to pull some gum out of her hair while she was standing at the top of the staircase.

Morrison said that she made an attempt but that Fierceton jerked away and stumbled down two steps before sitting down.

In her essay, however, Fierceton told an entirely different story and said that she woke up after the attack, drove herself to school, and collapsed in front of a teacher. She insisted that she was transported to a local hospital, where she woke up caked in blood, her facial features so distorted and swollen that she couldnt tell them apart.

Braces, she insisted, stabilized most of her body, and even tasks as simple as going to the bathroom required the assistance of an army of nurses.

According to the report, Fierceton spent the next 22 days in a hospital and was discharged to a foster home.

It remains unknown at the time of this reporting why  or where  Fierceton was hospitalized, but an investigation later launched by the Rhodes committee found that her allegations were inconsistent with the hospital records.

Diary entries obtained by police following the incident reportedly detailed how Fierceton disliked her mothers boyfriend and wanted to move out of the family home.

According to the report, Fierceton weighed pros and cons of reporting her mother for abuse. Among the cons were problems such as having no money for college and no vehicle.

Anything else?

Morrison told the Chronicle that she deeply loves her daughter and only wants the best for her.

Our greatest desire is that Mackenzie chooses to live a happy, healthy, honest, and productive life, using her extraordinary gifts for the highest good, Morrison said.

In a December lawsuit, Fierceton accused the Rhodes Trust of attacking her and victimizing her all over again.

In the suit, the outlet reported, Fierceton said that she never lied about her background and insisted that she was considered low-income when she applied to college.

She added that the university made up the existence of an anonymous tipster and is simply retaliating against her because she filed a health and safety complaint against the school following a seizure she claimed to have had in a basement classroom.

The university has insisted that there is no merit to her claim.

Penn and the Rhodes Trust received credible information that called into question statements Ms. Fierceton made in her applications for admission, financial assistance, and scholarships, a statement from the school said. The Rhodes Trust conducted its own investigation, during which it considered evidence and arguments provided by Ms. Fierceton and her attorney. It prepared a comprehensive report which was provided to Ms. Fierceton in April 2020. The Trust then gave Ms. Fierceton the opportunity to withdraw her candidacy if she chose to do so. Ms. Fierceton accepted that offer and withdrew her candidacy.

Read more at: TheBlaze.com
(Natural News) Doctors Peter Breggin and Peter McCullough warned that vaccines are more dangerous than the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) itself.

Were giving vaccines to children. Everything Ive seen and talked about with my colleagues indicates that the vaccine is much, much more dangerous for a five-year-old. COVIDs danger of death approaches zero in a five or 10 or 15-year-old, and is pretty low even for an 18-year-old, said Breggin during the January 12 episode of his ReFounding America show on Brighteon.TV.

McCullough agreed. So we know with children that the chances of dying of COVID are way, way less than one percent. We know the chances of being hospitalized with COVID are way, way less than one percent. In fact, they can be expressed in less than one per million.

Citing new data, McCullough said there is a 100-fold greater chance of being injured by the vaccines and getting myocarditis than getting severe COVID-19, especially with the more contagious but much milder omicron variant.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 21,000 vaccine deaths, whistleblowers estimated 45,000 Americans had died because of the vaccine last summer. Thats catastrophic, said McCullough, thats worse than a war with COVID-19 itself.

Proof of rising deaths due to vaccines

As proof of rising deaths, McCullough noted that the insurance industry is seeing an actuarial increase of 40 percent in mortality in whats called the prime years of life group, attributing the cataclysmic rise to COVID-19 vaccine exposure.

Breggin, a respected psychiatrist and book author, said that based on his experience with interpreting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC reports, 10 reports could represent 100 actual events easily. In fact, one or two reports could represent 100 events. 

So when I heard that we were up to 10,000 reports with the CDC, it was clear to me that it could easily be 100,000, and much more. And this is from scientific data. Its not the best we can have, but scientific data on what are the reporting rates.

McCullough, a renowned cardiologist, said: Its very obviously going to be a very big number. Everything is pointing to the fact that the vaccine is leading to large amounts of excess mortality. And theres just going to be an issue of how precise will that realization should be and when does the realization comes in? Where, you know, globally, its said that the vaccines have to stop.

Vaccines have become much less effective with the emergence of variants, particularly the deadly delta and the widespread omicron.

Politicization of healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic

Last November, McCullough testified to the Senate against what he termed as the politicization of healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic by the federal government, which restrained the supply of cheap treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. (Related: Prominent doctor and researcher calls for COVID-19 vaccines to be pulled from the market.)

In an op-ed on WSJ.com, French virologist and Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier and American novelist Jed Rubenfeld basically stated that omicron has mutated to the point where the vaccines are obsolete. A recent study from Denmark and data from the U.K. Health Security Agency corroborate their views as both show that the vaccines have zero efficacy against omicron.

And so the bottom line is the vaccines are now obsolete, said McCullough. The Supreme Court is trying to decide on mandates that would invoke the use of basically a useless vaccine on the population, with all the dangers and caveats that weve already gone over.

In a separate interview with WND News Centers Art Moore and posted by ClarkCountyToday.com, McCullough advised that vaccines should be pulled off the market because they arent solving the problem.

The government, he said, should instead be focused on providing early treatment for high-risk patients who develop symptoms. Unless, of course, the grand plan is to starve the population of early treatment in order to still railroad the vaccines.

Watch the full January 12 episode of ReFounding America with Dr. Peter Breggin below. Catch new episodes of the program every Wednesday at 6-7 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

ClarkCountyToday.com
(Natural News) The Austrian government has approved a proposal to fine unvaccinated citizens who continue to refuse vaccination. Vienna announced details of the new proposal back in December 2021.

Citizens turning down the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine will face fines of up to 3,600 ($4,110) every three months. This equates to a monthly penalty of 1,200 ($1,370). However, Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein said officials can impose a smaller 600 fine ($685) as an alternative.

Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Sunday, Jan. 16, that this proposal would be implemented as planned beginning February 2022.

He explained that February 2022 would serve as a transition period in order to give unvaccinated Austrians more time to be persuaded to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The chancellor added that more information will be made available to them for this purpose.

According to Nehammer, the measure will be carried out in three phases following the transition period. In the first phase, which is set to start in mid-March 2022, health authorities in the country will start checking the vaccination status of all Austrians 18 years old and up.

The measure will then proceed to the second phase if the progress of the vaccination rate is still not sufficient. Unvaccinated Austrians will be sent a reminder letter to get injected with the COVID-19 vaccine, with the 3,600 ($4,110) fine to be imposed every three months. (Related: Austrians who refuse COVID vaccines to face MONTHLY fines under new law.)

In the third phase, Austrians who remain adamant in turning down the shot would receive a letter with a vaccination appointment. Non-compliance and refusal to attend to the vaccination appointment will merit additional fines. [In the] best case scenario, we wont even need this third phase, Nehammer told reporters.

The measure will apply to all adults living in Austria, but those granted a medical exemption to vaccination will be exempt. Any fines or legal action against Austrians notified by the authorities would be dropped upon showing proof of vaccination within two weeks of being informed.

Plan to fine unvaccinated Austrians faces opposition

However, Viennas proposal to penalize unvaccinated Austrians faced opposition from the citizens themselves. More than 20,000 people marched on the streets of the capital on Jan. 15, a day before Nehammer announced the plans approval. The Austrian government also received more than 100,000 comments from citizens opposing the plan during a public consultation.

Members of Austrian law enforcement also expressed disagreement with the plan to punish the unvaccinated through a letter signed by more than 600 police officers. The letter sent to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said a significant part of the Austrian Federal Police sides with the health freedom protesters against compulsory vaccination.

Nehammer defended his decision to approve the proposal in spite of the opposition.

Austrian Minister for the European Union and the Constitution Karoline Edtstadler also defended the measure.

There are still well over a million Austrians who arent vaccinated, [and] that is too many. We sill have an obligation and a need to increase vaccination coverage so that we dont go from lockdown to lockdown, she said.

I say very clearly that we dont want to punish the people who arent vaccinated. We want to bring them along  [and] convince them of this vaccination. We want them to show solidarity with everyone so that we can regain our freedom. (Related: Austria has practically made it ILLEGAL for people to exist without getting COVID-19 vaccines.)

Watch the video below of Leah and Michelle Svensson, the Resistance Chicks, talking about Austrias plan to punish unvaccinated citizens.

This video is from the BrighteonTV channel on Brighteon.com.

MedicalTyranny.com has more stories about governments waging war against the unvaccinated.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

DailyMail.co.uk

Bloomberg.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Dr. James Thorp, a maternal fetal medicine specialist, told host Pastor David Scarlett during the January 14 episode of His Glory on Brighteon.TV that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines are causing massive pregnancy loss.

Thorp noted that there has been a massive spike in the number of deaths and pregnancy losses associated with the COVID injections compared with the other vaccines. He presented six slides, including data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

You look at the massive disparity in the deaths per month from all of these various vaccines. The COVID vaccine has much higher [deaths per month] than all other vaccines, Thorp said. The doctor presently living in Florida also took note of the high number of fetal malformations associated with COVID vaccination, which he said is also massive compared to all other vaccinations.

Thorpe also presented a slide showing pregnancy loss associated with the COVID vaccine, which includes miscarriage, stillbirth and fetal death. He said that the data showing the massive number of pregnancy losses from the COVID vaccination and pregnancy compared to all other vaccinations is stunning. (Related: STUDY: Covid vaccines kill nine out of 10 babies in first trimester of pregnancy.)

Permanent lifelong damages for babies

The maternal fetal medicine specialist also pointed out that aside from fetal death and fetal malformation, babies exposed to vaccines before birth will have permanent lifelong damages, including cognitive brain disability, permanent immunological disability and a variety of autoimmune diseases.

Its horrible, disastrous. And if that werent bad enough, the vaccine appears to suppress some of the normal immune surveillance. So it has unleashed a large number of very rare cancers in newborns and infants in the first year of life, Thorp said.

Preliminary data would suggest that there could be permanent consequences in the babies that actually survive this poisonous jab. I dont call it a vaccine. And those babies that survive may have lifelong mental disability, CNS [central nervous system] cognitive disability, lifelong immunological disability resulting in an increase in number of infections and increase in rare cancers. It is also associated with lifelong autoimmune disease.

Thorp: Never trust physicians, nurses

Thorp, who is focused on getting back healthcare freedom, said Americans should never trust medical and healthcare personnel in America.

Your listeners should never trust any physician, including myself. Dont ever trust a physician anywhere or a nurse anywhere in the United States of America because they wont tell you the truth. Theyre under a gag order, Thorp pointed out.

If they tell you the truth theyll lose their livelihood. So you dont trust them. Dont trust anybody. They have destroyed the healthcare system. Nobody trusts these crooks, and nobody should.

And if that werent bad enough, the whole issue of the Hippocratic Oath of informed consent  its all null and void. We cant give fair informed consent to anybody. Were under a gag order. You should not believe your physician, do not believe any healthcare worker.

Thorp added that he wants to destroy the cartel that has taken away all of our freedom and healthcare freedom in the United States of America.

According to the Florida doctor, the cartel that he is talking about are the corrupt pharmaceutical companies and healthcare system that are getting massive federal kickbacks for poisoning and killing patients. He also included the insurance companies and medical journals that have become fraudulent.

Its a horrible, dirty mess and it all comes down to money, Thorp lamented.

Spike in pregnant women dying of COVID

Meanwhile, newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown a spike in pregnant women dying of COVID in recent months.

The CDC said that about 40 percent of COVID-related deaths among pregnant women happened in the last four months of last year. It came after the delta variant became a dominant strain of the disease in the summer and the omicron variant presently spreading around the world.

Based on the CDCs findings, which was gathered from 151,354 women dating back to January 2020, the total number of deaths among pregnant women is 249. The data shows more than 40 percent of the deaths happened since August 2021.

The number of hospitalized cases among pregnant women during the same period rose to 25,578. The number of ICU admissions among pregnant women also rose in the summer  41 in July, 60 in August and 29 in September.

Watch the full Jan. 14 episode of His Glory below. His Glory airs every Friday from 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

Follow VaccineDeaths.com to know more about vaccine-related deaths.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

The-Sun.com
(Natural News) Sarah Jessica Blattner, a 14-year-old Israeli American girl with an underlying health condition, died in her sleep on October 12th reportedly from a heart attack after receiving one dose of the Pfizer vaccine five months earlier.

(Article by Jim Hoft republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)

Her parents decided to finally speak out three months after her death and urged the public not to vaccinate their kids. In their case, it was a big mistake.

Blattner was diagnosed with cancer when she was nine months old. She survived and has been living cancer-free for 11 years according to her Twitter post way back in 2020.

Hi @ColleenB123 my name is Sarah Jessica and I was diagnosed with cancer when I was nine months old and I survived now I am 11 years cancer free (I am 13 years old now) I donated $10.09 and would love to have one of the zoom calls or the merch or the iPad #cancerbackoff pic.twitter.com/MxoB1zpvie  Sara Jessica Blattner (@ThisisSJB) November 29, 2020

According to a Facebook post, Blattners mom, Ilana, shared that they need to give her the COVID vaccine because she is at risk due to her underlying health condition. It was important for us to give her the vaccine due to low lung capacity due to scoliosis (spinal curvature) that developed from a young age (because of an oncological disease from which she suffered up to two years old).

Before Blattner received the vaccine, she underwent surgery that was supposed to improve her leg rest and her posture. A day after the surgery, she was able to walk.

Suddenly she couldnt stand or walk one week after receiving the vaccine. Her doctor admitted it was a neurological phenomenon related to the vaccine and it would pass. Also, a few days before her death, she complained about her strong heartbeats. Her doctors assumed she probably had a heart attack.

Read the full excerpt from the Facebook post:

Sarah Jessica Baltner 14.5-year-old Israeli American girl, went to sleep on October 12 and didnt wake up. This happened 5 months after receiving one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Alex brother lives in Israel and he contacted us. Ilana, mother of Alex and Sarah Jessica RIP, is a former Israeli and lives in Miami. Oshri Shamir from the documentaries team spoke to the mother and brings her testimony. Our hearts are with the family and our sincere condolences.

Ilana, mother of Sarah-Jessica, 14 years old, tells: At 14.5 my daughter received the Pfizer vaccine for Corona.

It was important for us to give her the vaccine due to low lung capacity due to scoliosis (spinal curvature) that developed from a young age (because of an oncological disease from which she suffered up to two years old).

Ten days before the vaccination she underwent surgery that was supposed to improve her leg rest and her posture. It is important to understand that immediately after the same surgery she went and everything was fine. A week after the vaccine she suddenly couldnt stand or walk and the doctors who tested her said it was a neurological phenomenon related to the vaccine and it would pass. And yet, she worked and restored great within two months.

On October 12th she came back from school, I was shopping with her and she went to sleep. At 4am I walked into her room, she couldnt fall asleep so I covered her in a blanket and stayed with her until she fell asleep. At 8:30 am I walked into her room and she was no longer alive.

Only then did I remember that a few days ago she complained about strong heartbeats and I thought she was probably stressed because of school. I didnt think for a moment that there was a problem with her heart. There never was.

Doctors said she probably had a heart attack or something electrical in her heart. We didnt agree on the post-death opening.

4 and 9 months old was in her death. A beautiful and talented girl, she had a YouTube channel and Tik Tok and Instagram.

5 days before she died she recorded a video of her telling her immune story. Im sure this isnt a case and thats also why its important for me to hear her story. I dont want it to be for nothing, I dont wish it to happen to other kids. This material should not be given to children in any way. This is simply a mistake. Please listen to me and my daughters story. Please. 

Blattners dad commented on the video she made five days before she died and said not to vaccinate anyone under the age of 24,

She was our beautiful angel. Full of ambition, drive, passion and love. Her life was in front the pain is unbearable. Make sure not to vaccinate anyone under the age of 24. There is no medical advantage and, in our case, total loss

Jessica Blattners passing was publicly announced by Riverside Gordon Memorial Chapels in Miami, FL.

Heres a 3-minute short clip from her 14-minute testimony posted on her Youtube account in December:

Watch the full video:

Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com
(Natural News) The Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns in the Netherlands have triggered a spike in serious mental health concerns, including a surge in suicides among children and teenagers. The Dutch Psychiatric Association (DPA) reported that suicide rates among Dutch youth skyrocketed in 2021.

Many of the nations leading psychiatrists have concluded that lockdowns may be causing permanent mental health issues in the countrys younger populations.

In its latest report, the DPA said that the closure of schools caused by the lockdowns has had a serious and possibly permanent psychological side effect among young people. DPA Chairman Elnathan Prinsen said the countrys educational institutions should open as soon as possible.

The lockdown is intended to prevent illness, but it is the lockdown that is making people sick, said Prinsen. He noted that child and youth psychiatrists in the Netherlands have become busier than ever since the lockdowns began, with many new clients reporting mental health problems like stress, loneliness, anxiety and depression.

Every time the restrictive lockdown measures are put back in place, Prinsen noted that more problems among Dutch youth continue to pile up. He added that these are serious problems that can lead to permanent mental health disorders.

Prinsen pointed out that most adults in the Netherlands were able to recover mentally from the effects of the first lockdown. This was not the case for the countrys young adult population.

After the first lockdown, they reported 1.5 times as many mental complaints as before, said Prinsen. If you then enter the next lockdown with more problems, they will pile up.

According to a different report, in 2021 the Netherlands had as many as 300 suicides in people under 30. This represents a massive 15 percent increase in the number of suicides of people under 30 in 2020.

Dutch educational organizations, youth councils and student unions are in agreement that there is a need for schools to reopen as soon as possible.

That is of great importance for the quality of education and the well-being of students, they wrote in a letter to the Outbreak Management Team, a government-formed council that advises the prime minister on measures required to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The daily contact between students and with lecturers is of great importance for the quality of education and the well-being of students.

Young people all over the world suffering due to lockdowns

The mental health of young people all over the world is deteriorating due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. (Related: Lockdowns could cause mental health issues, Australian police commissioner warns but they are proceeding anyway.)

In Canada, McMaster Childrens Hospital in Ontario reported a tripling of the number of young people admitted to the hospital after a suicide attempt over a span of four months. The hospital further warned that as many as 17 percent of all Canadians aged 17 to 24 are seriously contemplating suicide.

In the United States, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said the countrys surge in suicides among young people has caused an epidemic of mental health challenges.

Im so concerned about our children because there is an epidemic, if you will, of mental health challenges that theyve been facing, and its partly because of the pandemic, said Murthy.

He added that the cause of all of these mental health concerns is almost certainly the children and teenagers being denied the chance to see their friends due to the lockdowns and school closures. Murthy noted that bereavement over the loss of loved ones due to COVID-19 may also play a role.

Weve seen certainly that many children have lost loved ones during this pandemic, 140,000 kids lost a caregiver, said Murthy. We know that their lives have been turned upside down. They havent been able to see friends as often as they would. And thats taken a toll. Thats why weve seen anxiety and depression where its going up among kids.

Between March and Oct. 2020, mental health-related emergency room visits spiked by 24 percent among children aged five to 11 and 31 percent among adolescents aged 12 to 17 compared to the same period in 2019.

According to the latest available data from UNICEF, at least one in every seven children in the world has been directly affected by the COVID-19 lockdowns, and more than 1.6 billion children have suffered some loss of education.

This disruption, the agency noted, has left many young people feeling afraid, angry and concerned for their future.

Watch this video of a Dutch member of parliament strongly criticizing the countrys prime minister over the countrys COVID-19 restrictions.

This video is from the Red Pilled channel on Brighteon.com.

Learn more about how lockdowns and other COVID restrictions affect mental health at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

NLTimes.nl

DailyMail.co.uk

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Most natural health advocates already realize that the entire Covid scamdemic, including wearing masks and taking countless vaccines is a population reduction agenda. It is first aimed at killing off senior citizens and people with co-morbidities, like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and dementia. Using nano-technology and blood-clotting protein prions, vaccine technology is the Trojan horse of terrorism, now being used for eugenics purposes, like some bad sci-fi horror flick. Lets dial it back several decades for some fitting examples that predicted this medical-fear-driven dystopian world were experiencing right now.

1987: Innerspace sci-fi comedy starring Dennis Quaid and Martin Short depicts nanotechnology-type vaccine experimentation on humans

Inspired by a 1966 film called Fantastic Voyage, the 1987 film Innerspace involved a secret government experiment where a submersible pod was miniaturized so small it could travel through animal or human blood, after being injected through a syringe, and take control of bodily functions, including sensory organs, immune system reactions, digestive components, and even kill other cells and antibodies that might try to stop it. Of course, being a science fiction film, a man was also miniaturized to travel in this pod inside the body and cause major disturbances, or save the person from evil forces.

This is a near-exact prediction for what is happening with vaccine nanotechnology taking over someones systems, controlling emotion, nerves, even genetically modifying the physical shell (face and body). This is why were seeing Covid-vaccinated humans dropping dead like flies, suffering heart attacks, neurological disorders, and blood clots from the nano-bots that are ruining the vascular and nervous systems. How many boosters will it take to kill off everyone whos already sick, not to mention healthy children, babies, fetuses? Are all the vaccinated sheeple being MK-Ultrad in a grand sci-fi experiment that is now a reality?

Innerspace official trailer (think mRNA nano-technology injections here):

Innerspace nano protein prion bad guy scene  like virus-mimicking particles with magnetic nano-technology that replicates in your blood and takes over body systems.

1976: Logans Run TV series based on a world where nobody is allowed to live past age 30, so theyre exterminated euthanasia style with toxic gas

Dial it back another decade to 1976, and its Logans Run, the TV series where young adults were gassed to death once they had their 30th birthday, allowing only the youth to live on planet Earth in the 23rd century. Everyone could indulge in all their greatest fantasies, but at age 30, it was time to take your permanent dirt nap, by law, at the sleepshop. Until then, virtual sex was available at the touch of a button (sound familiar?). Life was all about perversions and immediate gratification.

The government plan was to preserve resources by killing off all humans who reach age 30 (think fake climate change propaganda now). Plus, this age limit was strictly legislated, but a few rebels were on the run after turning 30 and trying to continue living their lives, against the eugenicist agenda of the new world order government. Everyone was required to have a tiny crystal (think mRNA nanotechnology and Covid vaccine passport chips) embedded in the palm of their hand, and when that crystal flashed its warning, life was over. Expired. Your time was up.

The protagonist, Logan, was a headhunter trained to track down runners who tried to defy the extermination orders, until he became a runner himself (think unvaccinated humans right now).

Logans Run official trailer

Today, in Italy (and many nations and countries are soon to follow), no person is allowed to leave their home for work or food if they are over 50 and not already injected with deadly gene-therapy jabs. Italy has declared war on its aging anti-vaccine citizens, just like Logans Run. Soon, inhabitants who dont have nano-crystals in their blood will be hunted down, jailed and most likely exterminated via vaccine technology or in gas chambers, like the actual Holocaust. Police in Italy are searching for violators right now. Run. Run for your life. And its happening in Quebec also!

Be sure to bookmark Vaccines.news for updates on experimental vaccines and boosters that can cause blood clots, ADE, and other horrific side effects.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

TruthWiki.org

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A massive, deadly tsunami swept over the Pacific island nation of Tonga earlier this week that was created by a volcanic eruption that was 500 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.

Pictures of the devastation flooded social media in the aftermath of the tsunami showing some parts of the island completely destroyed.

Also, a video of one tsunami wave was also captured as seawater flooded coastal regions and reached far inland.



(Courtesy: Daily Mail)



(Credit: Facebook)

The Daily Mail adds:

The South Pacific archipelago was rocked by the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai underwater volcano on Saturday, which resulted in a tsunami striking minutes later.

The death toll from the disaster has climbed to three with every house on Mango Island completely destroyed.

Images show locals in the Kanokupolu village on the island of Tongatapu staring at the remains of their homes, many of which had been crushed by trees, while cars were seen buried under piles of branches.

According to researchers at NASA, the volcanos blast was estimated to be 10 megatons of TNT equivalent, which is roughly 500 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945.

That said, the chief scientist at the space agencys Goddard Space Flight Center, James Garvin, told NPR it isnt likely that there will be another eruption that big for quite some time.

If the past precedent for volcanic eruptions in this kind of setting has any meaning at all then we wont have another one of these explosions for a while, he said.

NPR noted that the blast, which obliterated the island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai, according to satellite imagery, was so loud it was actually heard as far away as Alaska and is one of the loudest explosions heard on earth in more than a century, according to Michael Poland, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

This might be the loudest eruption since [the Indonesian volcano] Krakatau in 1883, he told NPR.

Days after the eruption, the island nation of Tonga remains largely isolated from the outside world. Undersea cables appear to have been cut, meaning communications are spotty at best. Also, much of the landscape remains covered in ash.

NASA officials said that the space agency has been studying the region for many years because of the potential for a very large amount of volcanic activity.

In this particular case, we dont know when, a kind of volcano with a big summit ring of hills and things formed, Garvin explained.

Dan Slayback, a research scientist for NASAs Goddard, as well as Science Systems and Applications Inc., confirmed that the island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai, which was formed of volcanic ash and rock in late 2014 and early 2015, was completely destroyed. He also said that the blast was so big that it appears to have also removed hunks of other, older islands nearby.

They werent ash  they were solid rock, blown to bits, he says. It was quite amazing to see that happen.

A NASA satellite captured images of the volcano exploding.

#NASAWorldview Image of the Week: Explosive Eruption of #HungaTonga  Hunga Haapai Volcano as observed on Jan. 15, 2022 by the ABI instrument aboard the @NOAA GOES-West satellite. Learn more: https://t.co/1qBhuelg3J GeoColor Imagery provided by NOAA/NESDIS/STAR pic.twitter.com/yRkR0bfg9U  NASAEarthdata (@NASAEarthData) January 18, 2022



Despite the size of the explosion, however, the volcanic activity only lasted around 60 minutes, NASA officials said, whereas the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo spewed ash and smoke for several hours.

Indeed, Poland was baffled as to how a relatively small eruption created such a loud explosion and resultant tsunami.

It had an outsized impact, well beyond the area that you would have expected if this had been completely above water, he says. Thats the thing thats just a head-scratcher.

Sources include:

NPR.org

DailyMail.co.uk
(Natural News) World Alternative Media (WAM) CEO Josh Sigurdson has denounced Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandates. According to the journalist, the proof of vaccination requirement only serves as a self-inflicted wound for businesses.

Sigurdson used the example of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico to illustrate his point. He said that the governor of the state of Jalisco  where Puerto Vallarta is located  implemented a vaccine mandate. However, both the city mayor and the Mexican president are against this mandate.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said back in August 2021 that his country will not require both residents and tourists to show vaccine passports. There are currently some protests in Europe because [proof of] vaccination is being required to move around or visit [establishments], and people are opposing that. As for Mexico, we wont require such types of proof whatsoever. I want to be very clear about that, he said in a press conference that time.

Sigurdson noted that there are actually very few businesses in Puerto Vallarta enforcing the vaccine mandate. The vast majority of businesses, in fact, are not supporting it. Businesses are [already] having a very hard time. Many of the businesses are seeing 50 percent or less of their customers [at] a time where they need the money. And when [the] tourist season ends, its [going to] be very bad for them, he said.

The WAM CEO and founder also mentioned that businesses banning patrons over their vaccination status was in violation of Article 149 of the Mexican Federal Penal Code, which outlawed discrimination. The statute mandated penalties for those denying a person a service or a benefit to which they are entitled.

Sigurdson said he has been visiting more than 70 businesses around Puerto Vallarta to educate them about Article 149 and the difference between mandates and laws. Article 149 shows that it is absolutely against the law to enforce such things  in this case, denying people a service or a benefit based solely on their COVID-19 vaccination status. (Related: Mayor Bill de Blasio sued by business owners over New York Citys vaccine mandate.)

Whats really frustrating to me is that its a self-inflicted wound by business owners. I know countless businesses are not enforcing this absurdity, [and] the ones that do are suffering seriously. Tourist season ends soon. Whats going to happen, then? These businesses are going to collapse.

Foreigners bringing medical tyranny down south

According to Sigurdson, businesses in Puerto Vallarta owned by foreigners are the ones responsible for promoting discrimination against unvaccinated customers by making customers show proof of vaccination. Most of the businesses that are enforcing this  the vast majority  are foreign-owned; Canadian- [and] American-owned businesses. Most of the Mexican-owned businesses arent doing this.

He mentioned one instance of a Canadian national trying to impose medical tyranny from her native land down in Mexico. A woman thats really well-known here in Puerto Vallarta is going around and trying to get businesses to shut down for not wearing masks, even though there are no actual mandates. But nonetheless, this Canadian woman decided to come here and start talking down the Mexicans and trying to get their businesses shut down.

You have these Canadians coming out and trying to enforce this insanity. They want to make Mexico like Canada. So we put efforts together to go to these businesses and fill them with customers.

Sigurdson also told the story of a restaurant in the city he used to frequent  until it imposed a vaccine passport mandate. He explained that the vaccine passport rule violated Article 149 and, with the new rule in place, said he will no longer patronize the establishment.

The restaurant owner then flew into a rage, arguing that their establishment is doing what it can in order to please everyone. Sigurdson replied: We are boycotting businesses that discriminate against medical choices. Its pretty obvious who is attacking who.

The restaurant eventually suffered the consequences of its vaccine passport rule. People were walking by after getting turned away, and the place was mostly empty. They took down the sign saying that you need [to be vaccinated] to enter. (Related: NYC restaurants REFUSE to enforce vaccine passport mandate and become vaccination police.)

Watch the video below of Sigurdson talking about businesses imposing vaccine mandates for customers.

This video is from the World Alternative Media channel on Brighteon.com.

Pandemic.news has more articles about COVID-19 vaccine mandates for businesses.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

TravelPulse.com

Global-Regulation.com
New Delhi, Jan 20 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced its first list of 34 candidates from Goa.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will fight from Sanquelim.

Deputy Chief Minister Manohar Azgaonkar will contest from Margao seat, cabinet minister Vishwajit Rane will be the candidate from Valpoi.

Vishwajit Rane's wife Dvya Rane will take on the opponent from former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane's seat Poriem.

Announcing the list, former Maharashtra chief minister and election in charge for Goa Devedra Fadnavis said the BJP has given a stable government to Goa, and expressed confidence over winning the state again.

He also attacked opposition parties, and said the Congress rule in the state was corrupt. Targeting Trinamool Congress, the former Maharashtra CM said they came to Goa with a "suitcase" and thought it was a market to buy MLAs. He also accused the TMC of being an "anti-Hindu" party.

Sitting MLA Atanasio Monserrate is the candidate from Panaji.

Former Goa chief minister and defence minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar had asked for the seat which had been Manohar Parrikar's seat since 1994.

Fadnavis said Utpal was offered two other seats, he rejected one, and talks are on about the second.

"I hope he will agree. BJP respects the Parrikar family," he said.

BJP General Secretary Arun Singh said in the first list, there are nine minority candidates. Three Scheduled Tribe and one Scheduled Caste candidates are fighting on general seats, while another SC candidate will fight from a reserved seat. There are two women candidates also.

UNI AO SY 1444
(Natural News) Greeks 60 years old and above are set to face fines starting Jan. 17 if they do not get injected with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. The mandate comes amid the Hellenic nation only having fully vaccinated more than two-thirds of its population.

According to the Associated Press (AP), elderly individuals who remain unvaccinated will be fined 50 ($57) on the first instance. If they insist on turning down the vaccine, they will be fined 100 ($113) every month moving forward.

Health Minister Thanos Plevris said the countrys tax service will be in charge of collecting the penalties. The collected fines will then be directed to helping state-run hospitals. The age factor is important because of its impact on the public health service, he told Open TV on Jan. 16.

Giannis Oikonomou, spokesman for the Greek government, reiterated that the law will be fully enforced. However, he mentioned that those with valid health concerns are exempt from the new mandate. Greeks who recovered from a recent COVID-19 infection and those who had delayed home vaccination appointments are exempted likewise, Oikonomou added.

AP reported that 41.5 percent of the 530,000 elderly Greeks the measure targets have now been fully vaccinated  based on government data. Last year, Greece announced that all health care workers must receive the COVID-19 vaccine. (Related: EU countries set to begin fining and jailing citizens who refuse COVID-19 vaccine.)

About 69 percent of the nations population is fully vaccinated  trailing behind the European Union average of 70.3 percent. The B11529 omicron variant caused a spike in COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations in Greece, but those arising from the earlier B16172 delta variant formed the overwhelming majority.

Aside from the fines on the unvaccinated, Greece also implemented a new measure  this time for people who are already vaccinated. Starting Feb. 1, adult vaccine passports seven months old will be deemed expired if the holder does not get a COVID-19 booster dose.

Austria also plans to fine unvaccinated citizens

Greece is not the only nation that announced plans to fine unvaccinated citizens. Earlier, Austria also announced it will fine citizens who continue to turn down the COVID-19 vaccine on a monthly basis.

Vienna announced details of the measure  which applies to all Austrians aged 14 and up  on Dec. 9, 2021. Unvaccinated individuals can face fines of of up to 3,600 ($4,082) every three months  amounting to 1,200 ($1,360) per month. These fines can be waived if they present proof of vaccination. (Related: Austria mandates COVID-19 vaccines for ALL residents; those who refuse will pay steep fines.)

According to Austrian Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein, officials can impose a smaller fine to violators. In regular proceedings, the amount of the fine is 3,600 ($4,082). As an alternative, the authorities have the option to impose a fine in shorter proceedings. Here, the amount is 600 ($681), he said.

The Austrian government approved this proposal, with Austrian Prime Minister Karl Nehammer announcing the approval on Jan. 16. He explained that the plan to fine unvaccinated Austrians would proceed as planned  in three phases. Nehammer added that the entirety of February 2022 would serve as a transition period to convince unvaccinated to get the shot.

The first phase to start in mid-March 2022 would involve authorities checking the vaccination status of all Austrians 18 years old and above. The second phase would be implemented if the progress of the vaccination rate is still not sufficient, with unvaccinated people being sent reminder letters to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Non-compliance with these letters will merit the aforementioned fines.

Under the third phase, unvaccinated Austrians would receive a letter with a vaccination appointment date  with additional fines awaiting those who fail to show up. Nehammer said: In the best case scenario, we wont even need this third phase.

Watch the video below of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis claiming that Greeces fine on the unvaccinated is not a punishment.

This video is from the Iynikas World channel on Brighteon.com.

MedicalMartialLaw.com has more on countries around the world imposing fines on the unvaccinated.

Sources include:

TheHill.com

APNews.com

DailyMail.co.uk

LifeSiteNews.com

Brighteon.com
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 10: A pet rabbit undergoes acupuncture treatment for a variety of illnesses at the Animal Medical Center on December 10, 2012 in New York City. The non-profit Animal Medical Center, established in 1910, has 80 veterinarians in 17 specialty services that treat up to 40,000 animal visits annually. Clients bring in their pets from around the country and world to the teaching hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side for specialized high tech treatment. The American Pet Products Association estimates that Americans would spend more than $50 billion on their pets in 2012, $14 billion of that in veterinary care alone. (Photo : Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A deadly hemorrhagic disease had killed 80 per cent of rabbits in the U.S., and had spread across Florida. The strain of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease was known as RHDV2, a virus with fatality rate of between 80 and 100 per cent.

Although not contagious to humans, the disease outbreak highly infects both wild and domestic rabbits, and puts them over a three to nine-day incubation period. Symptoms include lethargy, weight loss and hemorrhages from various orifices such as the nose or eyes.

Infection can come from direct contact with live or dead infected rabbits, or by contaminated surfaces such as their bedding. It can also be spread orally and through skin trauma. Rabbits typically die within one to three days after infection.

RHDV-2 strain discovered in multiple states

The disease outbreak started off last year, and continued spread in the U.S. states, including New York and Florida.

According to Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), two cases of the disease have been confirmed-one in Lake County and another, more recent case, in St John's County. Meanwhile, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets (NASDA) said on December 15 that a case of the virus had been confirmed in a domestic rabbit in Montgomery County, and an investigation is currently ongoing as to what was the source of the infection.

"This is the second occurrence of RHDV2 in New York," the NASDA statement said. "The first cluster of cases was in New York City in March 2020. The virus was quickly identified, isolated and eradicated."

Authorities suggest that pet owners reach out to their vets about the use of a vaccine that has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA.)

Also read: Sri Lanka's Hungry Elephants Die After Eating Plastic Waste in Open Landfill

Vaccinating animals against RHDV-2

The use of vaccine against the disease had already been approved by FDACS. "FDACS is approving the use of the USDA experimentally approved Medgene vaccine which targets the U.S. strain of RHDV-2," it said in a statement released January 7. "In addition, importation approval of the European RHDV vaccines by licensed, accredited veterinarians began in July. Rabbit producers should contact their veterinarian regarding vaccinating their rabbits for RHDV-2."

FDACS had confirmed cases in 17 states. Along with Florida, these include Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming.

Vets had already started vaccination in Florida, including Susan Kelleher of the Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital in Deerfield Beach, Florida, who had held a vaccine clinic for Floridians to get their rabbits inoculated against the disease.

"They die suddenly from a high fever and bleeding from the nose and mouth," she told WPTV news. "We were able to get special permitting for the vaccine. The fact that it has gone all the way across the United States in two years demonstrates how contagious that is."

Advice published by the USDA in 2020 said the disease can spread rapidly and was highly resistant to extreme temperatures: "It can be spread through direct contact or exposure to an infected rabbit's excretions or blood. The virus can also survive and spread from carcasses, food, water, and any contaminated materials. People can spread the virus indirectly by carrying it on their clothing and shoes."

Also read: Worsening Air Pollution Severely Impairs Pollinators' Ability to Find Plants
In November, scientists discovered an astounding find deep in the ocean off the coast of Tahiti: acres of massive, immaculate, rose-shaped corals blooming from the sea bottom in what's known as the ocean's "twilight zone."

Untouched by Climate Change

According to experts, the fact that such a big and gorgeous coral reef has yet to be discovered highlights how little we know about the world's seas. And, with no proof that the reef has been affected due to the climate problem, it underscores the necessity for immediate action to conserve the ocean's remaining healthy reefs.

The reef, which spread "as far as the eye can see," was "wonderful to watch," according to Alexis Rosenfeld, the photojournalist who led the team of international divers.

He described it as "like a work of art."

Area

According to the UNESCO-led study team, the reef spans approximately two kilometers and may be found at depths of 70 meters (230 feet). This is near the "twilight zone" of the ocean, where there is just enough light to maintain life, but the water transitions into a black abyss below.

"For the first time in a long time, there's a positive narrative about coral reefs in the press," Julian Barbiere, UNESCO's head of marine policy, told CNN.

Related Article: Most of Indian Ocean's Coral Reefs May be Destroyed in Next 50 Years



Climate Change Driven Coral Destruction

The climate problem has caused extensive coral bleaching due to warming waters and acidity. According to experts, climate change, overfishing, and pollution have reduced the worldwide spread of surviving coral by half since 1950, according to experts.

The forecast is similarly bleak, with experts projecting that 70% to 90% of all surviving coral would perish over the next 20 years.

Mapping the Ocean Floor

According to UNESCO, only around 20% of the ocean floor has been mapped thus far. And, until today, the great majority of the planet's known coral ecosystems were thought to stretch only to a depth of 25 meters, indicating how much of the ocean, which covers more than 70% of the Earth's surface, remains unexplored.

"This finding implies that there are many more huge reefs out there in our ocean at depths of more than 30 meters that have yet to be documented," Barbiere added. "It's a perplexing discovery."

"While there is a lot of money going into space travel, there isn't enough money going into studying our backyard, particularly the ocean," Barbiere added. "And I believe that in the next ten years, we should focus on creating the knowledge we need to put the globe on a sustainable path through marine protected zones."

Healthy System

According to researchers, the newly found reef receives adequate sunshine for corals to thrive and breed despite its depth. The corals were even seen reproducing by some of the divers.

Visiting the Reef

Researchers went on the trip in November of last year knowing very little about the reefs in the area but came away with an incredible grasp of how vast, distinctive, and pure the coral is in the area.

The dive crew spent roughly 200 hours researching the coral thanks to scuba rebreathers, which filter carbon dioxide out of exhaled air and recycle much of the wasted oxygen. Rebreathers allow divers to descend deeper and stay on the ocean floor for longer periods. The rebreathers are filled with a unique helium-based gas combination that prevents narcosis or sleepiness.

Left in Awe

Researchers were startled to see that the coral was completely intact and robust, indicating that it had lasted decades, considering that huge reefs require around 25 to 30 years to spread and prosper, according to Barbiere.

The UNESCO team intends to learn more about the coral and how it has survived for so long in the face of increasingly hostile ocean conditions in the hopes of unlocking the key to protecting threatened reefs.

"We believe that deeper reefs will be better protected from global warming," said Laetitia Hedouin of the French National Centre of Scientific Research and the environmental research organization CRIOBE. "As a result, the finding of this reef in such outstanding shape is fantastic news and can encourage future conservation," says the researcher.

Also Read: How are Coral Reefs Adapting to Survive the Changes in the Climate

For more news update about Environmental News, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Two new studies led by a North Carolina State University researcher provide a glimpse into what electricity consumers on the West Coast might face in two future scenarios: one in which excessive heat due to climate change puts a strain on power supplies, and another in which the grid shifts to renewable energy while the climate follows historical patterns.

They discovered that electricity prices and dependability are still subject to harsh weather in both instances.

"The effects of climate change and extreme weather events on the grid, most notably drought and heat waves," said Jordan Kern, an associate professor of forestry and environmental resources at NC State. "Even as the West Coast grid transitions from fossil fuels to wind and solar, extreme weather events will continue to influence system resilience and electricity prices."

The two assessments published in the journal Earth's Future forecast future electricity supply and demand under different scenarios.

First Study

In the first study, researchers utilized computer models to evaluate the effects of climate change on California's and the Pacific Northwest's present electricity grids. They examined the grid's pricing and dependability under 11 various climate scenarios from 2030 to 2060, using multiple scientific models to see how the climate would change under a "worst-case scenario" of fossil fuel emissions and a less severe scenario.

High Likelihood

The researchers discovered a higher likelihood of power outages in the summer and early fall, owing to excessive heat in California, which generates a surge in demand for electricity as people try to cool their houses. They predicted shortfalls in all but one scenario, in which climate change impaired electricity output in both regions at the same time.

They did say, though, that these power outages would be unusual. The worst-case scenario included 72 hours of West Coast-wide power outages spread out over 31 years.

The price and supply of power in the Pacific Northwest would be affected by the extreme heat in California. The regions have always shared power.

Climate Change

They also discovered that climate change might directly influence the Pacific Northwest by restricting hydropower supply, which is energy generated by water. Because snow acts as a storage medium, variations in snow or snowmelt time affect the amount of electricity access in the summer.

Climate change would greatly impact the Pacific Northwest in the late summer or early fall when the grid is already stressed. Even slight reductions in streamflow induced by climate change in September, along with increased summer power consumption, would be enough to produce additional power shortages in the Pacific Northwest. However, they predicted that West Coast-wide shortfalls owing to climate impacts on the Pacific Northwest alone would be uncommon.

In addition to dependability concerns, the researchers discovered that climate change would raise the cost of electricity. They projected more hours in which the wholesale price of energy hits the ceiling of $1,000 megawatts per hour in California, especially in late summer, under the worst-case scenario when climate change affects power supply and demand in California and the Pacific Northwest. Climate change in California would have a huge influence on Pacific Northwest pricing.

Related Article: China Reveals How their 5G Networks will Help in Attaining Net-Zero



Second Study

In the second study, researchers looked at the cost of electricity in 2050 with more renewable energy sources added to the system, assuming that natural gas power plants would still be available as a backup. They analyzed five scenarios for each market: two that altered the mix of solar and wind by cost; one with additional batteries installed to store electricity; one in which more people are adopting electric vehicles; and the status quo trend. They assessed the cost of electricity in these different systems under 100 representative years of both standard and extreme weather events that could occur under historical climate conditions - without additional climate warming.

With Renewables

Even with renewables, they discovered that excessive heat and drought would drive price extremes - with "good" years having the lowest costs due to moderate temperatures and abundant streamflow and "bad" years having the highest prices due to extreme heat or drought.

The future scenario with more wind energy has the lowest prices in California, followed by solar. The scenarios with the most wind and solar power had the lowest pricing in the Pacific Northwest. Shortages in supply would be more common along the line with the highest demand for electric cars.

Also Read: Making Cement Green: How Decarbonizing Cement Will Help Achieve Climate Goals

For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano which is situated about 8-mile off the coast of the island of Fonufo'ou in Tonga erupted the previous weekend. Many countries throughout the world were forced to issue tsunami warnings as a result of the enormous blow.

A previous eruption in 2015 of the same volcano created minor land formations, which garnered headlines as well. Approximately 50% additional landmass has been added to the volcano-made islets as a result of the last eruption. A tremendous explosion, however, wiped off most of the surrounding landforms.

How Powerful was the Explosion?

Four days after the volcanic eruption, Tonga remains isolated from the rest of the world, with its airport buried in ash and undersea communication lines broken, according to Interesting Engineering.

An investigation by NASA on this volcano had been ongoing for some time before its most recent eruption. According to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center head scientist James Garvin in an interview with NPR, the islands that make up Tonga are located along a subduction zone, where one part of the Earth's crust dips under a second.

Garvin estimated the eruption's power at roughly 10 megatons of TNT, according to his calculations. 10 megatons of TNT is 500 times more powerful than Hiroshima's nuclear bomb at the end of World War II, if that doesn't sound like a lot.

NPR quotes geophysicist Michael Poland, of the U.S. Geological Survey, as saying that the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption, despite its force, was relatively brief, lasting less than 60 minutes.

An explosion so small that it triggered a massive tsunami has baffled scientists for more than a century, claims Poland, but the real question is how such a small eruption could produce such a massive bang and tsunami.

Also Read: Images Reveal Complete Devastation of Tonga After Underwater Volcanic Eruption

Impacts of the Eruption

"The first explosion ... our ears were ringing and we couldn't even hear each other, so all we do is pointing to our families to get up, get ready to run," local journalist Marian Kupu said.

"We evacuated and then we, all our families, were just running away from the Kolovai area, because Kolovai is right beside the seashore," Kupu said, explaining the chaotic scenes just outside the capital Nuku'alofa on Saturday evening.

At least three people were killed and dozens of homes and businesses were damaged by the 15-meter-high tsunami that was produced by the eruption of a volcano.

As a result of the thick ash plume that was transported throughout the country, residents were advised to wear masks and only drink bottled water, and relief from Australia and New Zealand was delayed.

"The dust is on rooftops, trees, everywhere," Kupu said.

Currently, agencies are most concerned about providing safe drinking water to the citizens.

Clean Up Efforts

Outlying islands, including one where all dwellings were destroyed and another where just two remained, have been visited by rescue crews.

A British woman and two other nationals have been killed in the accident. As the volcano's ash continues to fall, aid attempts have been hampered.

Planes carrying drinking water and other essentials have been allowed into the airport's main runway thanks to the efforts of volunteers.

Flights were anticipated to resume in the region on Wednesday morning, according to a UN representative in Tonga, despite the fact that cleaning the ash had proved more difficult than planned.

Related Article: Tonga Volcano's Eruption is so Loud Thundering Sound Waves Were Heard in Alaska

For more news, updates about volcanic eruption and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Denmark Queen Margrethe II hosts dinner for PM Modi 04 May 2022 | 12:44 AM Copenhagen/New Delhi, May 3 (UNI) Queen Margrethe II of Denmark received Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night at the historic Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. see more..

India's achievements in every sphere benefit the world: PM Modi at Indian community event 03 May 2022 | 11:54 PM Copenhagen/New Delhi, May 3 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Indias achievements in every sphere  whether it be welfare measures for its people, its vaccination drive, free healthcare, housing and sanitation  are achievements not just for the country but for one fifth of humanity, which impact the world positively. see more..

PM invites Danish companies to invest in green technologies 03 May 2022 | 11:08 PM New Delhi, May 3 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday invited Danish companies to take advantage of India's enormous opportunities in areas like "green technologies, cold chains, waste to wealth, shipping and ports, among others."

He jointly participated with Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen, and Crown Prince Frederik in the India-Denmark Business Forum at the Confederation of Danish Industry. see more..

TB Alliance lauds Pretomanid's inclusion in WHO's new treatment guidelines for DR-TB 03 May 2022 | 10:30 PM New Delhi, India, May 3 (UNI) TB Alliance on Tuesday applauded the World Health Organization for releasing a new guidelines for treating the drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). see more..
Opinion column

Why we need the water of life

Regular columnist James Knight explains why water is so important in our lives, especially the spiritual variety.

The human body needs water to survive, and we have an inbuilt cognitive mechanism that triggers the sensation of thirst to tell us our body needs to take on more fluid. According to scripture, this thirst mechanism has a spiritual analogue too, because weve been created with an inner thirst for a relationship with God, our Creator.



Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God has set eternity in our hearts; and when Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well, He tells her that whoever drinks the water that comes from Him will never thirst, and that in us it will be a fount of water springing up to eternal life (John 4: 1-13).



Most people dont consume enough water in a day, which is why health professionals are always reminding us to drink several glasses of water each day on top of our food and drink intake. Similarly, most of us probably dont consume enough spiritual water each day, which is why the Bible is full of instruction about how to keep our well replete by living a full life in Christ.



Given that every single person has an inbuilt mechanism for the desire of both physical water and spiritual water, I have an analogy that I think explains the dynamic between believers and unbelievers in the world. Water is such a blessing to us, but we rarely acknowledge the full extent of its benefits in things that arent served to us as plain water.



Similarly, Christianity is the biggest blessing the world has ever known, but we rarely acknowledge the full extent of its benefits in qualities that are not nowadays seen as formally Christian qualities. Consequently, there is a kind of cheat being propagated, where the benefits of water are being repackaged into something else, as society (in Europe anyway) gradually seems to be becoming less Christian.



You see, in our daily food and drink consumption, many of the things we enjoy consuming instead of plain water are giving us the water we desire at the same time. Most fruits and vegetables have between 80-90% water content; cows milk is about 90% water, even coconut milk is about 50% water, and most bread is about 60% water. Water is in great quantity in most of the food and drink we consume each day  so much so that if we didnt drink any glasses of plain water each day but ate and drank enough of other foods and drinks, wed receive much of our required daily intake.



But it would be an error to eat and drink all these products and then claim that the body no longer needs water, because itd be a denial of the most important property contained within the nourishments.



See how that works with Christianity, and Christs encouragement to come to Him to quench our eternal thirst. The plain water available to us is like the spiritual water we can consume for our betterment, but there are also healthy fruits and vegetables and drinks we can consume that give us some of our daily water intake, but also other benefits too. In the analogy, these fruits, vegetables, and drinks are the human qualities like love, grace, generosity, charity, kindness, etc that benefit primarily because they come from God (the water content) but also benefit because they are intrinsically good human qualities in themselves (the other beneficial ingredients).



That is to say, a glass of milk, a bowl of pineapple, a portion of mashed potato or a piece of bread do much of their good first by the value of their water content before they do anything else good. Similarly, the good we do in the world with all those beneficial qualities are good first because they are from God, and good second because God is working through us (whether we realise it or not). Society is being influenced by Christ in immeasurable ways many are unable to acknowledge.



Now here is what UK society is like  it is full of these good qualities (and bad too, of course) but there has been a systematic effort by unbelievers to influence people in their masses, away from understanding the benefits of water, by making them believe that the thirst is being quenched from other ingredients.



At first these proclamations were radical, and they took time to penetrate even the periphery; but as time went on they became more easily absorbed into public discourse, where nowadays they are taken for granted in a widespread fashion.



But a time is coming when we will all find out just how present God has been in all the goodness in the world. His well spring will erupt through the ground like a burst pipe, flooding the globe with understanding of the power of His love and grace. Then the whole world will know one of the profoundest truths, conveyed by St. James, that Every good and perfect gift is from above.



Its a remarkable truth to ponder that everything thats good finds its source in God; it means something very unusual and wonderful; that we are borrowing our equity from Him and yet He is going to pay us even more with interest. What a stupendous arrangement that is for us - and how amazing that all we have to do is accept it as a gift.

The image is courtesy of pixabay.com



James Knight is a local government officer based in Norwich, and is a regular columnist for Christian community websites Network Norfolk and Network Ipswich. He also blogs regularly as The Philosophical Muser, and contributes articles to UK think tanks The Adam Smith Institute and The Institute of Economic Affairs, as well as the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC).

The views carried here are those of the author, not necessarily those of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.

j.knight423@btinternet.com


Pandemic drove Norfolk church community online Pandemic drove Norfolk church community online

Newly-released figures show that across the height of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, churches across the Diocese of Norwich saw their in-person congregations halve but they retained 94% of their worshippers with the help of online and church-at-home services. Keith Morris reports.
Cisco is expanding its Catalyst family of switches for enterprises that need to blend industrial and operational technology (OT) systems

The the ruggedized Catalyst Industrial Ethernet 9300 1RU rack-mountable switch is based on the same programmable Unified Access Data Plane (UADP) ASIC found in other Catalyst 9000 and features 28 Gigabit Ethernet ports. Up to eight of the units can be stacked together and managed as one system.

The 9300 runs the same IOS XE operating system as other Catalyst boxes and can be centrally controlled via DNA Center, Ciscos principal networking-control platform that features myriad services from analytics, network management, and automation capabilities to assurance setting, fabric provisioning, and policy-based segmentation.

The switch's software includes Ciscos core security, identity, and access-control policy platform, Identity Services Engine (ISE). The switch also includes an embedded Cisco Cyber Vision sensor and works with Cisco Endpoint Analytics to gain system insights from industrial-control systems and connected endpoints.

The idea with the IE9300 is to bring more advanced corporate networking features such as automation, segmentation, and management to OT environments that typically dont support those features, according to Vikas Butaney, vice president and general manager of Cisco IoT.

Operational networks are often less secure, unsegmented, and manually managed with fewer capabilities to proactivity resolve issues, Butaney wrote in a blog about the announcement. Rapid growth in industrial IoT demands a new type of network with enterprise-grade security, automation, and performance combined with industrial features to meet compliance and use-case requirements.

Without enterprise-grade network infrastructure features, IT/OT resources are increasingly strained, putting deployments at risk, Butaney wrote. IT and OT are collaborating more than ever and need common tools to scale and secure the network, Butaney wrote.

Cisco pointed to a Gartner note that stated: Most CIOs have responsibility for OT systems decisions: Eighty-two percent report their CIO responsibility for OT systems has increased in the last three years, and 89% say it will increase in the next three years.

The IE9300 is the vendors latest move toward bulking up industrial network operations. Last summer, Cisco added routers designed to integrate remote, industrial-edge network resources. The Catalyst 5G Industrial Router family includes three modular routers and a gateway that run IOS XE and support network-access technologies such as SD-WAN, Wi-Fi 6, 5G, 4G, Private LTE, FirstNet and Wi-SUN. The goal is to tie together enterprise networks and SD-WANs with remote operations so IT can build, secure, and manage a unified edge, Cisco stated.

The the routers plus the new IE9300 extend Cisco's ruggedized industrial-networking portfolio, which includes the Catalyst IE3x00 series of Gigabit Ethernet switches and IR1101 Integrated Services Routers that Cisco says were purpose-built for IoT environments.

Positioning the IE9300, Butaney said the Catalyst IE9300 is an extension of the companys very popular Catalyst 9000 series used in the enterprise.

This switch shares the same technology, but is ruggedized for industrial and outdoor use cases. Unlike the Catalyst IE3x00, the Catalyst IE9300 is a rackmount switch (not din rail mountable) designed for fiber access and aggregation, Butaney said.

The IE9300 complements the 5G industrial router to connect industrial and outdoor networking environments, he said. In the utility market, the new switch along with the existing Catalyst IR8300 ruggedized router is used in substation upgrades to meet the new IEC61850 networking standard that defines communication protocols for intelligent electronic devices at electrical substations, he said.
Newburyport, MA (01950)

Today

Rain likely. High 51F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early with clearing later at night. Low 46F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Samsung, Voda deploy first 5G open RAN site in UK

Bath (UK), Jan 20 (UNI) Samsung Electronics and Vodafone have announced they have deployed the UKs first 5G Open Radio Access Network (RAN) site carrying live customer traffic.

The site in Bath marks the start of Vodafones scaled Open RAN architecture in Europe, with more than 2,500 additional sites to follow.



The companies, to commemorate the deployment on Wednesday, successfully completed a 5G live video call using Samsungs 5G virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) between Vodafone UK Chief Network Officer Andrea Dona, and UK Minister of State for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure Julia Lopez.

This was UK's first call on a commercial 5G Open RAN.

The companies in the first half of the year will also test other advanced network technologies that leverage both LTE and 5G to help enhance mobile user experiences.

They will be testing Samsung vRANs telco-grade performance metrics and features, such as security, inter-Radio Access Technology (inter-RAT) mobility and inter-frequency handover, as well as ensuring compliance with Open RAN specifications.

Samsungs fully virtualized, software-based RAN runs on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers, offering features and performance that are equivalent to traditional hardware-based equipment.

Using a cloud-native and container-based architecture, the companys vRAN enables more flexible deployments and network management efficiencies for mobile operators, while helping them meet the demands of deploying new and existing services.

Open RAN can radically evolve the telecoms industry, and we are excited to champion the technology in the UK, said Dona.

This is an ecosystem which is only a few years old but the progress we have made so far is quite remarkable. Not only have we begun the first scaled deployment in the UK, but we have also installed the first 5G Open RAN site. Open RAN is now a real-world technology and it is truly exciting to see this technology flourish.

Thomas Riedel, Head of Samsung Networks Europe at Samsung Electronics said, Samsung is proud to collaborate with Vodafone UK to switch on the UKs first 5G Open RAN site.

This will help deliver the benefits of our carrier-grade 5G vRAN solutions to millions of Vodafone UK customers. Through our accumulated commercial 5G vRAN experience with leading operators across major markets globally, we look forward to pushing the boundaries of technological innovation and supporting the 5G journey across Europe, he added.

UNI XC ING
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New Delhi, Jan 20 (UNI) Supreme Court will hear on Friday the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by former Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal challenging the order of the Bombay High Court which has rejected his application for in-camera hearing in the 2013 sexual assault case.

A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao and also comprising Justice BR Gavai will hear the case tomorrow, as per the Supreme court cause list.



Tejpal had moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Bombay High Court which had rejected his application for in-camera hearing in the 2013 sexual assault case.

Tejpal in his petition filed before the Supreme Court said that the hearing at the Bombay High Court should be "in Camera and not at all open to third parties.

He sought in-camera hearing of the appeal filed by the State of Goa against his acquittal in the sexual assault case at the Bombay High Court.

A Trial court in Goa on May 21, 2021 had acquitted Tejpal of all charges levelled against him including wrongful confinement, assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty, sexual harassment and rape against his female colleague.

After the trial court acquitted Tejpal, the Goa police filed an appeal against the trial court order before the Bombay High Court.

Tejpal also moved the High Court with an application seeking in-camera hearing of the matter. High Court, which had rejected his plea, forcing him to knock the doors of the Supreme Court for relief.

According to the prosecution, Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting a former colleague in an elevator of a hotel in Goa on November 7, 2013 and November 8, 2013.

UNI XC SHK1843
Pikeville, KY (41501)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 73F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening with more clouds for later at night. Low near 55F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
Santiago is in her sixth year at Countryside where, as one student describes it, she has a penchant for breaking down concepts that seem complicated at first glance, and she has the patience to work with students until they understand.
Jo Lee Ferguson wishes she kept her maiden name - Hammer - because it was perfect for a reporter. Shes a local girl who loves writing about her hometown. She and LNJ Managing Editor Randy Ferguson have two children and a crazy husky.

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Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 6:1
The connection between homelessness and aging has been largely neglected in literature. Increasingly, in countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, the population of the aging homeless is growing.

Image Credit: Eduard Goricev/Shutterstock.com

Indeed, aging is considered to be related or correlated with home; home is a multidimensional term that has a symbolic meaning. It can be described abstractly as the extension of the self through place. This view of a home may be true for older people with meaningful life experiences in their homes.such, older people tend to express a preference to remain in their homes despite illness, functional decline, and a shrinking social circle.

There is a range of theories that attempts to study aging and later life. Among the factors that are considered, social, economic, cultural, and political factors unknown to influence aging and can constrain the lives of older people.

Homelessness among older populations is becoming increasingly widespread across the world. It is associated with an aging population, and other compounding factors such as poverty, rising inequality, and housing costs.

What Is homelessness?

Homelessness can be described as the absence of staple, permanent, and appropriate housing, or the prospect, ability, and means for an individual to acquire it. There are several categories of people that fall under the umbrella of homelessness. Those who want one shouted or living in emergency or provisional shelters, are included, along with those who have homes, but whose housing is precarious, and must face the risk of losing their homes.

The majority of research at present focuses on younger populations; however, evidence suggests that people over the age of 50 are experiencing homelessness in countries such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Literature has determined two trajectories for older people; (1) older people are either homeless throughout their lives and continue this pattern as they age (this is referred to chronic or episodic homelessness) or (2) older people become homeless for the first time in later life (referred to as late-life homelessness).

The majority of the research into this phenomenon has focused on chronic or episodic homelessness. However, more recent literature has shown that the second trajectory is becoming increasingly common. There is growing concern that greater numbers of homeless older people and the rising proportional representation of older people in the homeless population will present a need for long term solutions and new approaches to the homelessness epidemic.

The relationship between homelessness and health

Those who are homeless have been identified to be at greater risk of arthritis, edema, bone, and joint disorders, heart disease, eye and ear complications, skin problems, as well as the risk of injury from accidents and assaults.

In another study, 98% of people surveyed were found to need dental treatment, suggesting this is particularly difficult to access for people who are homeless. These findings corroborate more recent findings of studies that found that 56% of respondents in 2010 versus 65% of respondents in 2011 had been diagnosed with at least one physical health condition.

The effects of homelessness on the aging process and mortality

The homeless are considered to be a population of the general population who are disproportionately affected by adverse atmospheric conditions which, even in temperate climate zones, can result in overexposure to both cold and heat stress. This subsequently increases the risk of mortality. Environmental conditions are considered to be a significant independent risk factor for health and mortality. These conditions arise from specific causes, including effects on the circulatory or respiratory systems.

Moreover, the homeless population is particularly prone to exacerbating lifestyle choices, such as addictions, causing its members at large to die of different causes at a higher rate than those of the general population. All of this compounds the increased vulnerability to the influence of weather conditions.

Among the homeless population, older housed people with past experiences of homelessness are at an increased risk of mortality. This concurs with the general homeless population, who experience extremely poor health with excessive mobility and mortality relative to the population. With regards to morbidity, homeless people have multiple and tend to be complex.

The most frequently reported presentations include alcohol and drug dependence as well as mental illness. Moreover, geriatric conditions such as functional, cognitive, and sensory impairments and frailty are common in the aging homeless population.

Generally, anyone above the age of 50 with a prolonged experience of homelessness is considered to be vulnerable to many of the physical and psychological health problems associated with older age.

Image Credit: wjarek/Shutterstock.com

A study conducted in San Francisco examined homeless adults for early signs of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative brain disorders have better revealed the interplay between these conditions and homelessness. This study followed 350 people who were homeless and aged 50, with a median age of participants of 58 years.

Research has found that this population experienced greater difficulty bathing, dressing, and eating, compared to 80-year-olds who were housed. Moreover, the aging homeless were more prone to facing difficulty adhering to medication, managing money, using transport, applying for benefits and jobs, and sourcing a lawyer. Moreover, this group had increased rates of cognitive and visual impairment as well as urinary incontinence and were more likely to experience depression.

This demonstrates that older homeless adults living in shelters have higher rates of geriatric conditions which may subsequently increase their risk for acute care. These findings are consistent with earlier research not demonstrating that geriatric conditions are common in an aging homeless population.

Conclusion

In general, an aging homeless experienced adult population tends to experience a high prevalence of symptoms across several dimensions carriage easing create physical, psychological, social, and existential symptoms.

To better inform interventions among homeless adults, particularly those who are aging, the prevalence and severity of symptoms will need to be described in greater detail through further studies, and their associations between sociodemographic characteristics, life and health conditions, health-related behaviors, and other symptom domains elucidated.

References:

Patanwala M, Tieu L, Ponath Cet al. (2018) Physical, Psychological, Social, and Existential Symptoms in Older Homeless-Experienced Adults: An Observational Study of the Hope Home Cohort. J Gen Intern Med. doi:10.1007/s11606-017-4229-1.

Hurstak E, Johnson JK, Tieu L, et al. (2017) Factors associated with cognitive impairment in a cohort of older homeless adults: Results from the HOPE HOME study. Drug Alcohol Depend. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.06.002.

Brown RT, Hemati K, Riley ED, et al. (2017) Geriatric Conditions in a Population-Based Sample of Older Homeless Adults. Gerontologist. doi:10.1093/geront/gnw011.

Further Reading
A recent report published in the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Emerging Infectious Diseases explores the dynamics of viral interference between various respiratory viruses in light of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Study: Viral Interference between Respiratory Viruses. Image Credit: Rost9 / Shutterstock.com

Background

Virus-virus interactions occur when different respiratory viruses concurrently infect the respiratory tract and subsequently lead to either a synergistic or antagonistic effect on replication or infection of the viruses. Many studies have evaluated the mechanisms of viral interferences in animal models susceptible to the respiratory viruses of interest and differentiated airway epithelial cells. One such mechanism is interferon (IFN)-mediated temporary non-specific immunity in the host.

An increase in disease severity or pathogenesis of viruses is associated with a positive virus-virus interaction. Negative virus interactions depend upon whether the viruses belong to the same or different family.

In the case of homologous virus interactions, cross-reactivity from the first virus inhibits the growth of the second. In heterologous interactions, the induction of non-specific innate immunity by the first virus prevents or reduces the infection associated with the second virus.

Viral interference

In the 1960s, a research group described the concept of viral interference by developing live enterovirus vaccines (LEVs) to prevent various enteric diseases, such as polioviruses. Apart from the protection these vaccines offer against pathogenic enteroviruses, oral administration of LEVs in children lowered the detection of several unrelated viruses such as human adenovirus, influenza virus, and parainfluenza, which may be due to viral interference caused by LEV-induced IFN.

Similarly, a study conducted between 19681971 demonstrated possible LEV-associated protection against acute viral respiratory infections. However, these findings received backlash due to some rare incidences of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis and vaccine-derived poliovirus during that period.

Diagram showing how components of RNA viruses are recognized by TLRs located at the plasma membrane (TLR4, viral glycoprotein sensing) and in the endosomal compartment (TLR3, double-stranded RNA sensing; TLR7 and TLR8, both single-stranded RNA sensing). Virus replication intermediates and replicated genomes are also recognized by cytosolic RNA sensors, RIG-I, and MDA5. Downstream adaptor proteins, MyD88 for TLR4, TLR7, and TLR8; TRIF for TLR3 and TLR4, and MAVS (for MDA5 and RIG-I) are activated. These activations trigger signaling cascades through TRAF3 and TRAF6; TBK1; and IKK, IKK, and IKK, which leads to phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of NF-B, IRF3, and IRF7. These changes result in the production of proinflammatory cytokines and type I and type III IFNs. Secreted IFN-/ and IFN- bind to their specific receptors (IFNAR and IFNLR) in infected and neighboring cells. Activation of JAK-1 and TYK-2 leads to phosphorylation of STAT1 and STAT2. After translocation in the nucleus, phosphorylated STAT1 and STAT2 form a complex with IRF9 to induce expression of ISGs, such as OAS-RNase L and PKR, and establishment of an antiviral program. IFN, interferon; IFNAR, IFN-/ receptor; IFNLR, interferon- receptor; IKK, an inhibitor of nuclear factor-B kinase; ISGs, IFN-stimulated genes; IRF, IFN regulatory factor; JAK-1, Janus kinase 1; MAVS, mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein; MDA5, melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5; MyD88, myeloid differentiation factor 88; NF-B, nuclear factor-B; OAS, 2-5 oligoadenylate synthetase; P, phosphorylated protein; PKR, protein kinase receptor; RNase L, latent endoribonuclease; RIG-I, a retinoic acid-inducible gene I; STAT, signal transducer and activator of transcription; TBK 1, TANK binding kinase 1; TLRs, Toll-like receptors; TRAF, tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor; TRIF, TIR-domain-containing adapter-inducing IFN-; TYK-2, tyrosine kinase 2.

Interferences between respiratory viruses

Several epidemiologic studies have demonstrated potential viral interferences at the host level.

The types and subtypes of influenza virus include influenza A(H1N1), seasonal influenza A(H3N2), and influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic virus (pH1N1). During the sequential and mixed outbreak of the influenza virus in Japan in the 197778 winter season, it was observed that antibody generation in the sequential and viral interference in the mixed outbreaks was responsible for the cross-subtype protection.

One study conducted in ferrets investigating the potential viral interference between influenza virus types pH1N1 and influenza B virus (IBV) subtypes pH1N1 and H3N2 indicated a viral interference when the primary and secondary infections occur within three to seven days. Further, pH1N1 virus infection in ferrets prevented a subsequent infection with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for about seven days.

Following a primary RSV infection, low morbidity was associated with secondary pH1N1 viral infection, though all ferrets were co-infected. Although pH1N1 viral infection generated more chemokines, cytokines, and immune mediators as compared to RSV in the respiratory tract, both infections generated a low amount of cross-reactive IFN--producing cells. These findings suggested an innate immunity-based interference between IAV and RSV.

The differentiated human lung epithelial cells pre-infected with RSV reduced the likelihood of a subsequent human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infection, whereas the reverse effect was not observed. This viral interference was associated with IFN-, IFN-, IFN-I, and IFN-III.

The differentiated human airway epithelial cells pre-infected with human rhinovirus (HRV) conferred significant protection against successive pH1N1 or IAV infections for about three days by inducing interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) and inhibiting IFN signaling pathways with BX795. In mouse models, HRV was less potent in preventing IAV infection concomitantly; however, two days before the HRV inoculation, lowered morbidity and mortality was associated with IAV through an early controlled pulmonary inflammatory response.

Children with prior exposure to RSV had a lower incidence of HRV than those without a previous RSV infection. However, those who were co-infected showed an increase in disease severity as compared to a single RSV infection. Furthermore, infants who received palivizumab for immunoprophylaxis against RSV had a higher incidence of HRV as compared to those without this medication history.

Influenza virus, HRV, and SARS-CoV-2

Although the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) generates a broader range of ISGs, chemokines, and cytokines in the human nasal mucosa than the pH1N1 virus, an early IFN-I and IFN-III response in human lung tissues were not associated with SARS-CoV-2 as compared to the influenza virus. Thus, the virus-virus interaction depends upon the initial virus causing the infection.

Studies with golden Syrian hamsters have indicated that an initial pH1N1 infection reduced the lower pulmonary SARS-CoV-2 load if the SARS-CoV-2 infection occurs after a day. However, prior SARS-CoV-2 infection did not affect the pH1N1 load in the lungs as compared to a single pH1N1 infection. Co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 and pH1N1 viruses led to an increase in disease severity and lung inflammatory damage when compared to the effect of single infections.

One limitation of this study was the insufficient time between viral infections to develop an interference. During the influenza viral infection in ferrets, a non-specific innate immunity was elicited by them after two to three days, during which the second virus was inoculated also. Hence, more studies are required to understand SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus interactions.

Despite the mitigation measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, HRV remained prevalent throughout the period. Since HRV is a nonenveloped virus, it is resistant to sanitizing, and the use of face masks does not prevent transmission of HRV.

Studies have demonstrated that human bronchial epithelial cells previously infected with HRV impaired SARS-CoV-2 replication by inducing several ISGs, whereas the opposite is not true. However, BX795-mediated inhibition of ISG induction will overcome HRV interference and lead to a higher SARS-CoV-2 replication rate.

Defective viral genomes

Defective viral genomes (DVGs) synthesized during the replication of ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses play a significant role in viral adaptation, host immune escape, and persistence. DVGs can inhibit cytopathic effects produced by a wild-type virus.

Moreover, by competing with viral genomes for packaging or replication, DVGs mediate homologous viral interference and, through the production of IFN-I and IFN-III, heterologous interference. Hence, DVGs have been used as therapeutic agents against respiratory virus infections.

Conclusions

Once the sanitary restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic are lifted, other respiratory virus interactions with SARS-CoV-2 can be estimated. In the case of closely spaced co-exposures of viruses sharing similar ecological conditions, the initial viral infection might induce a refractory period. During this time, there are lower chances of subsequent respiratory virus infection in the host.

Factors influencing viral interferences include the rapid induction of IFN by the interfering virus, the extent of susceptibility of the second virus towards immune mediators and different viruses' ability to counteract IFN induction, as well as the degree of innate immunity activated in the respiratory tract by each virus. Viral interference at the population level is difficult to demonstrate since there are differences in the transmission dynamics of the respiratory viruses according to social behaviors and the time of year among various age groups.

Prospective epidemiologic studies can demonstrate viral interference by assessing multiple respiratory viruses in serial nasopharyngeal swab specimens of subjects from various epidemic periods. The interaction between respiratory viruses causing different epidemic peaks should be evaluated for their chances of co-detection and mechanisms using in vivo and ex vivo models.
The government has today announced that England will fully return to Plan A on Thursday 27 January thanks to the success of the booster program, with ministers urging anyone who has still not had a top-up jab to come forward and Get Boosted Now.

On 8 December, the Prime Minister announced a move to Plan B following the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The measures introduced helped to control the spread of COVID-19, bought time to assess the variant and allowed the NHS to rapidly expand the booster program to strengthen defenses.

While vaccinations remain a priority, the success of the vaccination program so far means we are now able to cautiously return to Plan A in England.

This means from now (Wednesday 19 January):

The government is no longer asking people to work from home if they can. People should speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office, and should follow the Working Safely guidance.

From tomorrow (Thursday 20 January):

Face coverings will no longer be advised in classrooms for both staff and pupils.

From Thursday 27 January:

Venues and events will no longer be required by law to use the NHS Covid Pass. The NHS Covid Pass can still be used on a voluntary basis as was previously the case in Plan A.

Face coverings are no longer required by law in any setting. Public health guidance will remain in place, suggesting individuals should continue to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces, where you may come into contact with people you do not normally meet.

The Department for Education will remove national guidance on the use of face coverings in communal areas, with local Directors of Public Health able to recommend the use of face coverings in education settings across their area only where the department and public health experts judge the measure to be proportionate due to specific health concerns. This is a temporary measure and Directors of Public Health continue to advise individual settings experiencing outbreaks.

Any local introduction of face coverings must be subject to routine review and removed at the earliest opportunity.

Throughout the pandemic, the government has maintained a balanced approach to COVID-19 measures, considering the freedoms of individuals together with the public health concerns of COVID-19. Although the government is able to remove blanket restrictions, prevalence of COVID-19 is still high with over 16,000 people in hospital in England with the infection. As such individuals, employers and local leaders are urged to act cautiously and consider the risk of COVID-19 when moving back to Plan A. The guidance on gov.uk will be updated accordingly.

Due to the success of the booster program, with over 30.5 million boosters given in England, the situation continues to improve.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that getting a booster is 89% effective in preventing hospitalization from COVID-19 from two weeks after it is administered and is 65 to 75% effective against symptomatic infection from Omicron.

Vaccinations remain our best defense against COVID-19 and in December the Prime Minister launched a national appeal to Get Boosted Now. The government met its target of offering every eligible adult a booster jab by Christmas and now more than 4 in 5 (81%) of eligible adults in England have had their booster.

Over 90% of people aged 12 and above have had their first dose and over 83% have had their second. The government recently provided an extra 22.5 million to councils for Community Vaccine Champions to help drive uptake in harder-to-reach communities.

Today marks the start of the next chapter in this country's fight against COVID-19. Our plan was to use the time that Plan B gave us to give ourselves extra power in our fight against Omicron. That plan has worked, and the data shows that Omicron is in retreat. But it's not the end of the road and we shouldn't see this as the finish line. The best step that we can all take is to get vaccinated. It was the jabs that have got us this far, and the jabs can keep us here too". Sajid Javid, Health and Social Care Secretary

The vaccine programme is being bolstered by the development of world-leading antiviral treatments. In December, the Prime Minister confirmed a new national PANORAMIC study where 10,000 UK patients at risk of serious illness from COVID-19 will be given molnupiravir to treat their symptoms at home.

Testing also remains a vital tool in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and has allowed the government to take a proportionate approach to restoring individual freedoms.

Thanks to the accessibility of lateral flow tests (LFT), people self-isolating with COVID-19 can now end their isolation after five full days, provided they test negative on day 5 and 6. Contacts who are fully vaccinated can also avoid isolation by testing daily with LFTs and most of those who test positive on a LFT no longer have to confirm their case with a PCR test.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said:

"Face-to-face education for all students has consistently been my priority, and that is why I am removing face coverings from classrooms - as promised - on the earliest possible date, making sure there is as little disruption to students' learning as possible.

"National guidance to wear face coverings in communal areas will also be removed in line with the national move out of Plan B.

"Although we can take this action because we know the risk from Omicron is lower, the virus is still with us and proportionate protective measures remain vital to protect education. My message remains the same as ever - testing and vaccinations are our best weapons against the virus - keep testing, and get your vaccination as soon as possible."

Chief Medical Advisor for the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Susan Hopkins said:

"The recent decline in community case rates and individuals requiring hospitalization is encouraging and it's thanks to the public, who have taken up vaccination and followed the Plan B measures closely, that we've got to this point.

"However we should not be complacent. The pandemic is not over yet and we will need to remain cautious to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our communities.

"I encourage everyone to get the vaccine as soon as they can, to continue testing regularly with LFTs - particularly before periods of high risk and before seeing anyone who is vulnerable - and to take a PCR test if they have symptoms."

Government will set out a long term strategy for living with COVID-19 in due course.
In a recent study published in the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, researchers investigate the cross-reactivity of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with pre-pandemic malaria-exposed sera samples collected from Cambodia.

Study: SARS-CoV-2 Cross-Reactivity in Prepandemic Serum from Rural Malaria-Infected Persons, Cambodia. Image Credit: Lubo Ivanko / Shutterstock.com

Background

Apart from the SARS-CoV-2 screening of healthcare workers in two urban hospital-based settings, no other SARS-CoV-2 serosurveys from the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) of Cambodia are available. Serosurveys of SARS-CoV-2 provide valuable insights about high-risk populations or disease management measures against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

However, the results of these serological assays showed variations that may be due to differences in assay methodologies and hypothesized cross-reactivity of previous common cold-type respiratory coronaviruses, uncharacterized beta coronaviruses, or Plasmodium infections in rural GMS populations with SARS-CoV-2.

Since the inhabitants of GMS are exposed to a diverse number of pathogens, the estimation of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in this population is significant.

About the study

In this retrospective study, the researchers analyzed 528 malaria-infected serum samples for IgG reactivity towards the SARS-CoV-2 spike and receptor-binding domain (RBD) proteins using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The anonymized serum or plasma samples from the residents of Cambodia, who were infected with malaria between 2005-2011, stored in a biobank after malaria research studies were used for the study.

Since six other coronaviruses including 229E, HKU1, OC43, NL63, SARS-CoV-1, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), are able to infect humans, highly-specific ELISA was used to analyze SARS-CoV-2 in the current study.

A positive ELISA test with 100% sensitivity and specificity was expected once the seroreactivity towards the SARS-CoV-2 spike and RBD proteins were above the cutoff values.

Mean antibody intensity in arbitrary ELISA units to spike and RBD in serum samples from pre-pandemic, malaria-positive rural persons in Cambodia, 20052011. A) Provinces indicated by color: Preah Vihear (pink), Pursat (green), Ratanakiri (black). B) Years indicated by color: 2005 (purple), 2009 (turquoise), 2010 (orange), and 2011 (pink). RBD, receptor-binding domain.

A subset of the study population was analyzed to confirm the higher-than-expected seropositivity of samples towards SARS-CoV-2 using a commercially validated SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1-RBD IgG ELISA Detection Kit. The seroreactivity of a subset of samples towards coronaviruses OC43 and HKU1 was also determined.

The serum antibodies relationship between Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA-1) and P. falciparum Pfs25 protein (Pfs25) with SARS-CoV-2 spike, RBD, and nucleocapsid proteins were assessed in 289 samples.

The neutralizing capacities of the detected SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were determined using neutralization and surrogate virus neutralization assays.

Study findings

The results of the ELISA experiments showed that as compared to the six other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 had varying levels of spike protein sequence homology. The highest and lowest levels were observed in SARS-CoV-1 and the common cold coronavirus HKU1, respectively.

The pre-pandemic malaria-positive samples had seropositivity ranging from 4.4% to 13.8% to both SARS-CoV-2 spike and RBD antigens.

Out of the 24 SARS-CoV-2-seronegative and 11 seropositive individuals by the in-house ELISA, 18 and nine tested seronegative and seropositive, respectively, using the commercial ELISA kit. The in-house and commercial ELISAs had an overall concordance of 77.1% and a higher-than-expected positivity rate.

Mean antibody levels in prepandemic serum samples from malaria-positive rural persons in Cambodia, 20052011, to A) common cold OC43 and HKU1 viruses, B) Plasmodium falciparum AMA-1 and C) P. falciparum Pfs25 protein by SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey statuses. DE) Correlation of mean IgG levels of AMA-1 and Pfs25 against Spike (blue triangles), RBD (red circles) and NC (open circles) IgG levels in pre pandemic serum samples from malaria-positive rural persons in Cambodia. F) OD levels of RBD protein after preincubation of serum samples with 10mg/mL of AMA-1 or BSA. AMA-1, apical membrane antigen 1; BSA, bovine serum albumin; NC, nucleocapsid; OD, optical density; RBD, receptor-binding domain; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

The cohort subgroups had comparable IgG levels against coronaviruses HKU1 and OC43, regardless of the SARS-CoV-2 serostatus.

Interestingly, SARS-CoV-2 seropositive individuals had a higher level of AMA-1 antibodies than the seronegative subjects. However, Pfs25 antibodies did not vary in association with the SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. Although feeble, a statistically significant positive correlation was observed between the SARS-CoV-2 spike and RBD with AMA-1 IgG.

The IgG levels of AMA-1 and the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein positively correlated in the samples. In contrast, the IgG levels of Pfs25 and SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein had a weak correlation.

Preincubated serum samples with 10 mg/mL of AMA-1 or bovine serum albumin (BSA) did not show any significant change in reactivity towards SARS-CoV-2 spike S1-RBD.

The neutralization assay of the 21 samples with high reactivity to SARS-CoV-2 total IgG indicated no neutralizing activity, despite high levels of antibodies against the spike and RBD proteins. An identical result was seen with the surrogate virus neutralization test targeting RBD-angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) interaction.

Conclusions

The current study summarized that approximately 4-14% of pre-pandemic serum samples from malaria-infected individuals had non-neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike and RBD antigens. The current findings were in line with a recent study from Africa addressing the correlation between antimalarial humoral immunity and higher SARS-CoV-2 seroreactivity.

The higher SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactivity might be associated with exposure to uncharacterized beta coronaviruses or regular spillover events and cannot be neglected in the case of Cambodia, since 50-80% of GMS residents are from rural areas. Therefore, careful calibrations of serologic testing are required in the national and subnational SARS-CoV-2 serosurveys.

Moreover, economically feasible competitive ELISAs such as surrogate virus neutralization assays are recommended in large-scale serosurveys as compared to costly neutralization assays with live viruses.
In a study published in the open-access journal Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses, researchers investigated if severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can be detected in exhaled aerosol samples obtained from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients during many different types of breathing and coughing. They also analyzed how SARS-CoV-2 infection may affect the size and number of exhaled aerosol particles.

Although SARS-CoV-2 is mainly transmitted via respiratory droplets, potential aerosol transmission has been reported under some conditions. However, comprehensive information regarding SARS-CoV-2 viral load in exhaled breath samples, the size and concentration of the exhaled droplets, and the relation between the aerosol samples and viral load in upper airway diagnostic samples are limited.

Study: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 can be detected in exhaled aerosol sampled during a few minutes of breathing or coughing. Image Credit: Gustavo Tabosa / Shutterstock

About the study

In the current study, the researchers counted and gathered endogenous particles in exhaled breath in COVID-19 patients during 10 airway opening breaths, 20 normal breaths, and three coughs. Breath samples obtained from the subjects were analyzed using reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

The researchers used two impaction-based methods: 1) the particles in exhaled air (PExA) method and 2) the Breath Explor (BE) aerosol-collection device. They compared the SARS-CoV-2 viral load in aerosol exhaled during various types of breathing and coughing and analyzed how SARS-CoV-2 infection influences the size and number of exhaled particles less than 5 m.

This study comprised two substudies - the first during SeptemberOctober 2020 and the second from April to May 2021. While the first substudy included mild COVID-19 cases, the second one included SARS-CoV-2-positive health care workers at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. The diagnosis was confirmed using RT-PCR analysis of a combined oro/nasopharyngeal swab sample in the first substudy, while a positive rapid COVID-19 antigen test in nasopharyngeal swab samples was used to confirm the diagnosis in the second substudy.

Schematic illustration of the particles in exhaled air (PExA) instrument set-up at collection. Subject breaths through a mouthpiece, connected to a two-way, non-re-breathing valve, where inhalation goes through a high-efficiency particle arresting (HEPA) filter, and exhalation go into the instrument. An optical particle counter samples a fraction of the exhaled air with a constant flow of 20 ml/s. The two-stage inertial impactor collects particles according to size by the control of a rotary vane (RV) pump with a constant flow of 230 ml/s. A reservoir handles exhalations that exceed the flow rate through the impactor

Results

Combined PExA and BE results showed that the SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in aerosols of 10 (40%) out of the 25 subjects, which indicates that SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected in exhaled particles from all subjects with early COVID-19 disease. The presence of viral RNA in aerosol was found in eight cough samples, three airway opening breaths, and four normal breaths, without any overlap between the methods.

There was no association between the number of exhaled particles less than 5 m and the viral load in aerosols. Study participants with COVID-19 exhaled fewer particles than healthy controls during airway opening breaths and normal breathing (P < 0.05), although this was not true during cough.

Number of exhaled particles/breath collected at (A) normal breathing, (B) airway opening and at (C) cough, in comparison with viral load in oro/nasopharyngeal swab samples, in subjects with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (n = 25). Number of exhaled particles is expressed as n * 1,000 (kn) per breath. Subjects with COVID-19 and with a positive aerosol sample but with a negative reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from oro/nasopharyngeal swab samples are here presented with a cycle threshold (Ct) value above 40. Particle data are missing in one case in (A)

There was no overlap between SARS-CoV-2-positive aerosols during normal breathing and airway opening maneuver using the PExA method or between BE and PExA samples from 20 normal breaths. According to the authors, the low amounts of sampled aerosol particles during normal breathing could explain the low detection rate.

The presence of viral RNA in aerosol detected with PExA was mostly found on the impactor stage sampling particles of size less than 5 m which is in line with previous findings and was also supported by the recent findings showing SARS-CoV-2 RNA is abundant in aerosols with particle sizes less than 5 m.

The researchers found that although SARS-CoV-2 was present in lower, upper, and central airways, most of its deleterious effects may be exerted in the terminal bronchioles and alveoli. Thus, positive aerosols in airway opening maneuver samples may highlight SARS-CoV-2 dissemination to the distal airways early in the course of the disease. However, contamination from the upper airways during the airway opening maneuver cannot be fully ruled out.

Conclusion

The study findings show that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be detected in exhaled aerosol samples during breathing and coughing early in the COVID-19 disease course. Furthermore, the viral RNA detection in aerosols seemed to be independent of the exhaled number of particles and the viral load in the upper airway swab.

The results show that only a minimal amount of aerosol is needed to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA under some conditions. The possibility of detecting the virus in exhaled breath depends on the sampling method, the breathing pattern, and the amount of virus present on the surface where the aerosol particles are formed.

According to the authors, more studies need to explore further the infectious potential of the viral load detected in aerosols of subjects with COVID-19.
Waiting more than 5 hours in emergency care before admission to hospital is linked to a heightened risk of death from any cause within the next 30 days, reveals a study of more than 5 million patients in England and published online in the Emergency Medicine Journal.

This can be measured and represented as a 'number needed to harm metric', of 1 extra death for every 82 patients delayed after 6-8 hours, conclude the researchers.

The 4-hour waiting time target before hospital discharge, admission, or transfer was introduced in 2004 in England, and shortly afterward in the other devolved nations of the UK, in a bid to tackle emergency department overcrowding.

Several other countries, including Canada and Australia, followed suit with similar measures. But in recent years, performance against this target has steadily declined amid rising patient demand.

Delays to timely admission from emergency departments have been linked to patient harm, and the researchers wanted to quantify the increased risk of death resulting from these delays.

They drew on Hospital Episode Statistics and Office of National Statistics data for England, covering every patient admitted to hospital from each major (type 1) emergency department in England between April 2016 and March 2018.

They compared recorded deaths from any cause within 30 days of admission with those that would be expected, allowing for a wide range of potentially influential factors.

These included sex, age, deprivation level, concurrent conditions, time of the day and month, previous attendances/emergency admissions, and crowding in the emergency department at the time.

Between April 2016 and March 2018, 26,738,514 people attended an emergency department in England: 5,249,891 of them were admitted to hospital.

In all, 433,962 people died within 30 days during the study period. The overall unadjusted 30-day death rate was just under 9%.

The average age of patients admitted was 55; the number of concurrent conditions rose in tandem with increasing age. Nearly twice as many patients came from areas of greatest deprivation as came from areas of least deprivation.

The most frequent time of arrival was between 12:00 and 17:59 hours, with the first 3 months of the year accounting for the biggest proportion of patients. The average wait in the emergency department was just under 5 hours; the breach rate of the 4-hour waiting time target averaged around 38%.

A statistically significant linear increase in the death rate emerged for waits longer than 5 hours in the emergency department.

After accounting for potentially influential risk factors, the death rate was 8% higher than expected among those patients waiting between 6-8 hours before admission to hospital, and 10% higher than expected for those waiting 8-12 hours, compared with patients moving on within 6 hours.

This can be measured and represented as a 'number needed to harm metric', of 1 extra death for every 82 patients delayed for 6-8 hours, say the researchers.

"The results from this study show that there is a 'dose-dependent' association between time in excess of 5 hours in the [emergency department] for admitted patients and their all-cause 30-day mortality," they write.

"Moreover, 30-day mortality is a relatively crude metric that does not account for either increases in patient morbidity or for the inevitably worse patient experiences," they add.

This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause and effect. But, say the researchers: "Despite limited supporting evidence, there are a number of clinically plausible reasons to accept that there is a temporal association between delayed admission to a hospital inpatient bed and poorer patient outcomes."

Long stays in the emergency department are associated with exit block and crowding, which can delay access to vital treatments. And they are associated with an increase in subsequent hospital length of stay, especially for older patients, note the researchers.

This, in turn, increases the risk of hospital-acquired infection and physiological and psychological deconditioning, they say.

Exit block is usually also related to bed occupancy levels, which are highest in the late afternoon and usually lower around midnight. A disproportionate number of delayed patients are therefore likely to be moved to a ward during the night when staffing levels are lowest, they add.

And they conclude: "This study confirms that healthcare policy makers should continue to mandate timely admission from the [emergency department] in order to protect patients from hospital-associated harm."

Let nobody be in doubt any longer, the NHS 4-hour operational target is, as many of us have always known, of key importance to patient safety." Derek Prentice, lay member, Royal College of Emergency Medicine

With sufficient funding for NHS beds and staff and social care provision, and prioritization from NHS leaders, hospitals should be able to meet this target, he says. But these have been in short supply in recent years, he suggests.

"Could there be better measures? Possibly, but until there are, and crucially, ones that have the support and trust of patients, the 4-hour target or one very close to this, must remain the gold standard. Those in doubt need look no further than the evidence provided by this excellent paper," he asserts.
Scientists have named a newly discovered species of worm that kills tarantulas after American actor, musician and producer Jeff Daniels, a distinction no other entertainer can claim.

There are more than 25,000 described species of these worms, called nematodes, and they are one of the most abundant animals on Earth. However, this is only the second time one has ever been found to infect tarantulas.

They named it Tarantobelus jeffdanielsi, because Daniels' character in the 1990 film Arachnophobia saves a town from a deadly infestation of spiders.

"His character in the film is a spider killer, which is exactly what these nematodes are," said UC Riverside parasitologist Adler Dillman, who led a team that discovered the nematode.

"When I first heard a new species of nematode had been named after me, I thought, 'Why? Is there a resemblance?' joked Daniels, in remarks to UCR. "Honestly, I was honored by their homage to me and Arachnophobia. Made me smile. And of course, in Hollywood, you haven't really made it until you've been recognized by those in the field of parasitology."

The team's work describing jeffdanielsi has recently been published in the Journal of Parasitology.

In September 2019, a wholesale tarantula breeder contacted Dillman for help identifying a mysterious infection in some of their tarantulas. Specimens sent for inspection had an odd white mass around the mouth area. Dillman, who teaches the only parasitology class at UCR, recognized the white areas immediately as nematodes.

Previously, scientists in Europe identified the first nematodes found on tarantulas. However, that research examined only the worms themselves; not the worms as found on the spiders.

Once infected, tarantulas begin to exhibit strange behaviors like walking around on tiptoe and not eating. The appendages that control the tarantula's fangs also stop working.

It may take months because tarantulas don't have to eat particularly often. However, if they get this infection, they will die of starvation." Adler Dillman, Parasitologist, University of California - Riverside

In addition to confirming that jeffdanielsi infection is lethal, Dillman's team learned how the worms reproduce, and where on the spiders they reside.

Jeffdanielsi are mostly self-fertilizing hermaphrodites that produce their own sperm and eggs. On average, Dillman said a single hermaphrodite can produce 160 babies in its lifespan. In the laboratory, that lifespan is 11 days. It isn't clear how long they can live on a tarantula.

The research team also found that the nematodes only inhabited the mouth area -; none were in the stomach, nor did they appear to cause damage to the exterior of the tarantulas.

"It isn't clear that the nematodes feed on the spider itself. It's possible that they feed on bacteria that live on the tarantulas," Dillman said. When the researchers grew the worms in the laboratory, they ate e. coli, making a stronger case that they are generally bacteria eaters.

One mystery that remains to be solved is how the nematodes are able to change the tarantulas' behavior and paralyze their pedipalps, the organs that control their fangs.

Dillman is planning additional studies to understand this, as well as how breeders can treat or even prevent jeffdanielsi infections.

Though identifying a tarantula parasite is rare, Dillman believes this says more about the number of people that study tarantulas rather than the likely uniqueness of nematodes infecting them.

"Nematodes have been around for hundreds of millions of years. They've evolved to infect every kind of host on the planet including humans," he said. "Any animal you know of on planet Earth, there's a nematode that can infect it."
Thought Leaders Dr. Yume Imahori Aging Research Center Karolinska Institutet

In this interview, we speak to Dr. Yume Imahori about her latest research which looks at whether heart rate could be used as an early risk factor for dementia.

Please could you introduce yourself and tell us what inspired your latest research into dementia?

My name is Yume Imahori, a postdoctoral researcher working at the Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. I was originally a physician in Japan and obtained a Masters degree in Public Health and a Ph.D. degree in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Now I work as an epidemiologist. My main research interest focuses on cardiovascular health and brain aging.

The burden of dementia has been increasing worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This is a huge problem because access to the hospital, good diagnosis, and good management can be difficult in these countries. To delay the onset of dementia, it is important to have an affordable and accessible way to find people with high dementia risk and intervene earlier. Resting heart rate is simple, easily measured, and inexpensive. I was interested in whether this simple marker was associated with brain aging disorders like dementia, and this motivated me to carry out this research.

Dementia is continuing to increase globally and is expected to reach 139 million by 2050, yet there is still no cure. Why is this and why is it, therefore, critical to keep researching risk factors for dementia that could lead to earlier intervention?

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find effective drugs to cure dementia. Dementia is a very complicated health condition, and we are still not 100% sure about its underlying biological mechanisms. Besides, not many drugs can reach the brain because the brain is protected by a barrier. As a result, many potential dementia drugs have shown disappointing effects.

However, the good news is that we know much more about risk factors for dementia now, which we can modify. For example, a very rigorous study showed that good control of high blood pressure could slow down cognitive decline. So it is extremely important to find risk factors for dementia so that we can take actions to delay it.

Image Credit: Motortion Films/Shutterstock.com

Can you describe how you carried out your latest research into dementia? What did you discover?

We followed 2147 dementia-free elderly people in Stockholm for 12 years and regularly assessed their dementia status and cognitive function. We found that elderly people with a faster heart rate (more than 80 beats per minute) at the beginning were more likely to experience faster cognitive decline and dementia compared to people with a slower heart rate (60-69 beats per minute).

We thought that the reason might be because people with faster heart rates have heart diseases and are unhealthier. But even after we excluded people with heart diseases, a faster heart rate was still associated with a high risk for dementia and cognitive decline.

Were there any limitations to your research? If so, what were they?

Our study is an observational study, which means that our study cannot give clear evidence of a causal relationship between heart rate and risk of dementia. So future research is necessary to confirm our research. Besides, the people in our study were mainly white and relatively well-off. So what we found in our study might not be applicable for people with different backgrounds and ethnicity.

What further research needs to be carried out to further validate your initial findings?

There are only a couple of good studies showing the association between faster heart rate and dementia. We will be more confident if our findings can be replicated among different populations in the future.

Ideally, an experimental study, which is called a randomized controlled trial, will be able to show whether a decrease of fast heart rate through medication or exercise slows down cognitive decline and reduces the risk of dementia, then we will feel confident to conclude whether heart rate might be a target of intervention to prevent dementia.

Image Credit: 89stocker/Shutterstock.com

As heart rate is easily measured, do you hope that this will help to identify more people that are at risk of developing dementia leading to earlier intervention?

I think that heart rate can be a simple marker for doctors and patients to think about brain health and pay more attention to their heart rate and risk of brain aging. I think that awareness is very important. Recently more people are aware of the risk factors for heart attacks and pay more attention to their heart health. This has helped prevent many heart attacks in high-income countries.

On the other hand, I feel that people pay less attention to healthy brain aging. According to the medical journal Lancet, if 12 dementia risk factors are modified, 40% of dementia can be delayed. So if both physicians and patients are careful about brain aging, we can do more to delay dementia, which matters a lot to peoples quality of life.

How will early intervention of dementia impact a patient's quality of life?

Dementia is a major cause of disability and institutionalization in older people, which leads to poor quality of life. Recent studies suggest that prevention measures to adopt healthy lifestyles, manage vascular risk factors, and engage mental and social activities may help maintain good brain function and delay dementia onset. This may help achieve living a longer, healthier life.

What does the future of dementia research look like to you?

Many modifiable risk factors for dementia have been identified. Now it would be important to know to what extent we can reduce the risk or delay the onset of dementia by interventions targeting multiple modifying risk factors in a rigorous experimental study. If we could demonstrate the effectiveness, we can implement a good strategy to prevent dementia.

What are the next steps for your research?

Heart attacks are the number one killer worldwide. But the treatment has improved dramatically, and many elderly people live with a heart attack history now. We plan to research to see the effect of heart attacks on brain aging and dementia.

Where can readers find more information?

You may find the research article from the web at https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.12495. You may more information about the SNAC-K project on which this study is based from https://www.snac-k.se/.

About Dr. Yume Imahori

Yume Imahori is a medical doctor from Japan. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Aging Research Center. Her research focuses on the topic of cardiovascular disease and cognitive aging outcomes using the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen population study (SNAC-K).

She completed her Ph.D. in Epidemiology in 2019 at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She also holds an MSc degree in Public Health.

About Chengxuan Qiu

Chengxuan Qiu is Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He is an epidemiologist. His research has focused on epidemiology of aging and dementia, especially with regard to cardiovascular health, briain aging, and multimodal interventions of dementia.
The outbreak of a novel coronavirus, namely, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 was first reported in a pneumonia-infected patient in Wuhan, China in 2019. Scientists have determined SARS-CoV-2 to be an RNA virus belonging to the genus Betacoronavirus of the family Coronaviridae.

Background

To date, SARS-CoV-2 has claimed more than 5.5 million lives worldwide. Countries such as the United States of America, India, South Africa, and Brazil have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to some reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), 50.87% of total COVID-19 cases in Africa are from South Africa. In 2020, the B.1.351 strain of SARS-CoV-2, which is commonly known as the Beta variant, was first reported in South Africa. This variant became the dominant circulating variant throughout the world and was classified as a variant of concern by WHO.

The Beta variant has been characterized as a highly virulent and transmissible strain. Another concerning factor of this strain is that it cannot be neutralized effectively by convalescent plasma and the sera of people who have been inoculated with different vaccines.

In a new study published in Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, scientists focused on the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant because it is one of the first variants of concern(VOC). Additionally, scientists are concerned about the continual emergence of new variants in South Africa.

To combat this threat, researchers have used computational methods to design and develop effective glycoprotein multi-epitope subunit vaccine candidates, based on the old and the new Beta virus strains that emerged in South Africa. In this study, scientists focused on the genomic sequence data between 2020 and early 2021.

This new study offers a viable platform to develop country-specific COVID-19 vaccines. In this study, researchers have focused on developing vaccine candidates specifically against the South African SARS-CoV-2 variants. Scientists selected spike-like glycoprotein as a potential component for vaccine design because of its ability to produce efficient and effective vaccine candidates without any allergic reactions.

A new study

In many instances, scientists have used computational genomics and immunoinformatic methods to develop solutions to combat various diseases. Several studies have focused on the computational design of glycoprotein multi-epitope subunit vaccine candidates.

However, no documents on the computational design of vaccine candidates, efficient against the old and new South African SARS-CoV-2 variants existing between 2020 are 2021, have been found.

In this study, researchers used computational methods to develop a glycoprotein multi-epitope vaccine for all the SARS-CoV 2 variants found in South Africa. They have especially focused on the Beta variant, which is within the GH clades.

All the sequences were obtained from the GISAID database. Scientists explained that variation in a lineage occurs due to mutation, i.e., deletion or insertion of amino acids in the genomic RNA. Continual mutations occur in the SARS-CoV-2 genome because of the absence of the proofreading capacity of its open reading frame. Most of the isolates associated with this study belonged to clade GH and GR, whereas C2 and S are the lowest reported lineages.

Although the spike glycoprotein is considered to be a conserved sequence, it undergoes mutation. As an example, one could consider the mutation at the D614G position on the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Epitopes are the antigenic determinants that are used in vaccine design as they can elicit a cell-mediated immune response. Scientists have stated that cell-mediated immune response (CMI) can destroy virus-infected cells most efficiently. The determinants of adaptive and humoral responses are B-cells. Characteristic features of a good vaccine are its robust safety profile, anti-antigen, anti-allergen, and ability to elicit a strong immune response. The molecule size of an epitope is important because it determines the route of administration.

This epitope structure was validated by Ramachandran plot analysis, which revealed that 88.6% of the residue was in favorable regions. The grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY) score of the newly constructed epitope was estimated to be 0.129, denoting a hydrophilic protein. Researchers used a molecular dynamics simulation study to determine the stability, mobility, atoms, and molecules movements of the vaccine candidate. They also used molecular docking using ClusPro 2 to determine the binding efficiency and the interaction between the refined model and the toll-like receptor (TLR). TLR detects the structural and non-structural viral proteins, which induce the production of inflammatory cytokines. Researchers found that the increase in the memory cells was steady over time. Additionally, B-cells remained active over a longer period. In silico immune analysis showed that all the immune secretions were consistent with the characteristic features of established immunity.

Conclusion

The authors stated that these findings will be beneficial for biologists, governments, and pharmaceutical companies to effectively manage the newly emerging COVID-19 variants in South Africa.

The vaccine candidate could efficiently reduce the transmission of the virus within a country and, therefore, protect individuals from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In the future, the authors aim to determine and analyze the new SARS-CoV-2 variants from South Africa to design effective vaccine candidates.
As covid-19 cases rise again in nursing homes, a few states have begun requiring visitors to present proof that they're not infected before entering facilities, stoking frustration and dismay among family members.

Officials in California, New York, and Rhode Island say new covid testing requirements are necessary to protect residents  an enormously vulnerable population  from exposure to the highly contagious omicron variant. But many family members say they can't secure tests amid enormous demand and scarce supplies, leaving them unable to see loved ones. And being shut out of facilities feels unbearable, like a nightmare recurring without end.

Severe staff shortages are complicating the effort to ensure safety while keeping facilities open; these shortages also jeopardize care at long-term care facilities  a concern of many family members.

Andrea DuBrow's 75-year-old mother, who has severe Alzheimer's disease, has lived for almost four years in a nursing home in Danville, California. When DuBrow wasn't able to see her for months earlier in the pandemic, she said, her mother forgot who she was.

"This latest restriction is essentially another lockdown," DuBrow said at a meeting last week about California's new regulations. "The time that my mom has left when she can recognize in some small locked-away part of her that it is me, her daughter, cleaning her, feeding her, holding her hand, singing her favorite songs  that time is being stolen from us."

"This is a huge inconvenience, but what's most upsetting is that no one seems to have any kind of long-term plan for families and residents," said Ozzie Rohm, whose 94-year-old father lives in a San Francisco nursing home.

Why are family members subject to testing requirements that aren't applied to staffers, Rohm wondered. If family members are vaccinated and boosted, wear good masks, stay in a resident's room, and practice rigorous hand hygiene, do they pose more of a risk than staffers who follow these procedures?

California was the first state to announce new policies for visitors to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities on Dec. 31. Those took effect on Jan. 7 and remain in place for at least 30 days. To see a resident, a person must show evidence of a negative covid rapid test taken within 24 hours or a PCR test taken within 48 hours. Also, covid vaccinations are required.

In a statement announcing the new policy, the California Department of Public Health cited "the greater transmissibility" of the omicron variant and the need to "protect the particularly vulnerable populations in long-term care settings." Throughout the pandemic, nursing home residents have suffered disproportionately high rates of illness and death.

New York followed California with a Jan. 7 announcement that nursing home visitors would need to show proof of a negative rapid test taken no more than a day before. And on Jan. 10, Rhode Island announced a new rule requiring proof of vaccination or a negative covid test.

Patient advocates are worried other states might adopt similar measures. "We are concerned that omicron will be used as an excuse to shut down visitation again," said Sam Brooks, program and policy manager for the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy group for people living in these facilities.

"We do not want to go back to the past two years of lockdowns in nursing homes and resident isolation and neglect," he continued.

That's also a priority for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which has emphasized since Nov. 12 residents right to receive visitors without restriction as long as safety protocols are followed. Nursing homes could encourage but not require visitors to take tests in advance or provide proof of covid vaccination, guidance from CMS explained. Safety protocols included wearing masks, rigorous hand hygiene, and maintaining adequate physical distance from other residents.

With the rise of omicron, however, facilities pushed back. On Dec. 17, an organization representing nursing home medical directors and two national long-term care associations sent a letter to CMS' administrator asking for more flexibility to "protect resident safety" and "place temporary visitation restrictions in nursing homes." On Jan. 6, CMS affirmed residents' right to visitation but said states could "take additional measures to make visitation safer."

Asked for comment about the states' recent actions, the federal agency said in a statement to KHN that "a state may require nursing homes to test visitors as long as the facility provides the rapid antigen tests, and there are enough testing supplies.  However, if there are not enough rapid testing supplies, the visits must be allowed to occur without a test (while still adhering to other practices, such as masking and physical distancing)."

Some relief from test shortages may be at hand under the Biden administration's new plan to distribute four free tests per household. But for family members who visit nursing home residents several times a week, that supply won't go very far.

Since the start of the year, tension over the balance between safety and residents' rights to visitation has intensified. In the week ended Jan. 9, 57,243 nursing home staffers reported covid infections, almost 10 times as many as three weeks before. During the same period, resident infections rose to 32,061, almost eight times as many as three weeks earlier.

But outbreaks are occurring against a different backdrop today. More than 87% of nursing home residents have been fully vaccinated, according to CMS, and 63% have also received boosters, reducing the risk that covid poses. Also, nursing homes have gained experience handling outbreaks. And the toll of nursing home lockdowns  loneliness, despair, neglect, and physical deterioration  is now far better understood.

"We have all seen the negative effects of restricting visitation on residents' health and well-being," said Joseph Gaugler, a professor who studies long-term care at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health. "For nursing homes to go back into a bunker mentality and shut everything down, that's not a solution."

Amid egregious staffing shortages, "we need people in these buildings who can take care of residents, and often those are visitors who are basically functioning as unpaid certified nursing assistants: grooming and toileting residents, turning and repositioning them, feeding them, stretching, and exercising them," said Tony Chicotel, a staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.

Nearly 420,000 staffers have left nursing homes since February 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, worsening existing shortages.

When DuBrow learned of California's new testing requirement for visitors, she arranged to get a PCR test at a testing site on Jan. 6, expecting results within 48 hours. Instead, she waited 104 hours before getting a response. (Her test was negative.) Eager to visit her mother, DuBrow called every CVS, Walgreens, and Target in a 25-mile radius of her home asking for a test but came up empty.

In a statement, the California Department of Public Health said the state had established 6,288 covid testing sites and sent millions of at-home tests to counties and local jurisdictions.

In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has pledged to deliver nearly 1 million covid tests to nursing homes, where visitors can take them on the spot, but that presents its own problems. "We don't want to test visitors who are lining up at the door. We don't have the clinical staff to do that, and we need to focus all our staff on the care of residents," said Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association, an industry organization.

With current staff shortages, trying to ensure that visitors are wearing masks, physical distancing, and adhering to infection control practices is "taxing on the staff," said Janine Finck-Boyle, vice president of regulatory affairs at Leading Age, which represents not-for-profit long-term care providers.

"Really, the challenges are enormous," said Gaugler, of the University of Minnesota, "and I wish there were easy answers."
Cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure are the two leading trauma-focused cognitive behavioral psychotherapies used for Veterans Affairs patients with PTSD.

Research has shown that both treatments are effective with Veterans and non-Veterans. However, researchers had never compared the two treatments head-to-head in a military Veteran population to learn which one is more effective.

Until now.

In the first paper to compare the two psychotherapies among Veterans, a VA study of more than 900 Veterans with PTSD found prolonged exposure to be statistically more effective than cognitive processing therapy in easing PTSD symptoms. But the difference was not clinically significant, with most of the Veterans showing meaningful improvement from both treatments. The researchers recommended shared decision-making between clinicians and patients to help patients understand the evidence and select their preferred treatment.

Dr. Paula Schnurr, executive director of VA's National Center for PTSD, was the lead author of the study, which was also the largest PTSD psychotherapy study to date in any population in the total number of participants: 916. The findings appeared in JAMA Network Open on Jan. 19, 2022.

Schnurr explains that deciding which psychotherapy to use should occur as part of a provider-patient consultation. "Shared decision-making is a process of collaboration between a patient and provider aimed at helping the patient choose a preferred treatment," she says. "It involves giving a patient evidence-based information about treatment options, effectiveness, and benefits and risks, and helping them clarify their goals and preferences in order to select their preferred treatment."

Dr. Kate Chard of VA Cincinnati and Dr. Joe Ruzek, former head of the National Center for PTSD's Dissemination and Training Division, co-led the study, which was supported by the VA Cooperative Studies Program.

The two psychotherapies at the center of the study take different approaches.

Prolonged exposure helps people with PTSD gradually approach trauma-related memories, feelings, and situations that they have been avoiding since their trauma. Patients are asked to repeatedly recall and describe out loud the details of their traumatic experience. By confronting these challenges, patients can decrease their PTSD symptoms. Between sessions, they listen to a recording of themselves describing their traumatic moments.

Cognitive processing therapy helps people with PTSD evaluate the upsetting thoughts that have existed since the trauma, with a focus on changing the way they look at themselves and the world. Therapists teach skills that help patients decide whether there are better ways to think about trauma. Patients are taught to challenge their trauma-related beliefs through critical thinking and the use of daily worksheets.

Unlike much of the mainstream health care sector, prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy are widely available in VA because the agency launched a national training program in 2006 requiring all VA medical centers to offer them to patients. The two therapies are included in a broader training that covers 17 evidence-based psychotherapies for mental disorders.

Understanding the complex nature of posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is one of VA's most pressing challenges. The agency says many Veterans who fought in Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have had that mental health condition sometime in their lives.

PTSD symptoms are well documented: re-experiencing of trauma through flashbacks and nightmares; avoidance of reminders of a traumatic event; changes in thoughts and feelings, such as guilt and emotional numbing; and hyperarousal.

In the study, 916 Veterans from 17 VA medical centers were evenly randomized to receive prolonged exposure or cognitive processing therapy. Both groups took part in 12 one-hour weekly sessions. Therapists trained in the psychotherapies were assigned to each site. The participants who improved more rapidly could attend fewer sessions, and those who improved more slowly were offered extra sessions. More than 70% of the Veterans in both groups reported combat exposure, just over one-third reported military sexual trauma, and more than 90% had experienced a psychiatric disorder other than PTSD.

The participants did not know ahead of time which treatment they were getting but found out once the sessions began. That was by design, says Schnurr, who is also a professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth College. Blinding was important during the randomization phase of the study, but once treatment started it was essential that the participants understood the treatment they were getting.

"Part of what makes psychotherapy helpful is in showing that the patients have adequate knowledge and understanding of why they're doing the treatment and what it entails," Schnurr says. "They need to understand they're not just getting prolonged exposure, but what it is and what they're going to be doing in the treatment sessions. It's different from a medication study where the standard is to blind patients to the treatment they're receiving, whether it's an active drug or a placebo. In psychotherapy studies, it's important that the patients understand the rationale for the treatment."

The average age of the participants was 45. Eighty percent were men, and 58% served Iraq and Afghanistan. The dropout rates--56% in the prolonged exposure cohort and 47% in the cognitive processing therapy group--were comparable to dropout rates in other recent studies of psychotherapy for PTSD in Veterans and to real-world psychotherapy practice.

The primary outcome was changes in PTSD symptom severity based on the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5), considered the benchmark for assessing PTSD symptoms. CAPS-5 is a 30-item structured interview that assesses the presence and severity of all PTSD symptoms and can be used to diagnose the condition.

The investigators measured improvement in PTSD symptoms at the end of treatment and in follow-up consultations at three and six months.

Regarding the findings, Schnurr says she was surprised that prolonged exposure was more effective than cognitive processing therapy because, as she points out, there was no strong indication in prior literature to support that. But she emphasized that the difference between the treatments was not clinically significant. The findings, she says, buttress VA's decision to train providers in both psychotherapies in order to enhance Veteran access to effective treatments for PTSD.

"The findings of this randomized clinical trial support VA's strategy of promoting prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy and reinforce guideline recommendations for these treatments as front-line therapies," the researchers write. "Given that the difference in the primary outcome was not clinically significant, the lack of differences between treatments on outcomes other than PTSD, and higher attrition in prolonged exposure, we do not believe our findings support a recommendation for prolonged exposure over cognitive processing therapy."

The study had limitations, including the fact that the participants were Veterans with co-existing health conditions and functional impairment. Therefore, the results may not apply to non-Veterans or patients with less complex conditions. The results also may not generalize to women, since 80% of the participants were men. Plus, the high dropout rate in the study may have reduced the potential benefits of the treatments.

Currently, Schnurr and her colleagues are analyzing the data to help Veterans understand which of the two treatments might work best for them based on their personal characteristics, experiences, and clinical needs. The researchers already have educational materials on the psychotherapies and the decisions that are made to facilitate patient choice.

I and other members of the study team will continue to study these treatments, especially to find ways to make them more effective, efficient, and available. I'm also interested in studying shared decision-making for PTSD because it's such an essential part of delivering Veteran-centered care." Dr Paula Schnurr, Study Lead Author and Executive Director of National Center for PTSD, Veterans Affairs Research Communications
There is no evidence of recently infected mothers transmitting infectious SARS-CoV-2 through breastmilk to their baby, reports a study published in the journal Pediatric Research. The authors found that, whilst a low proportion of breastmilk contained COVID-19 genetic material, this did not translate into the presence of infectious replicating viral particles or lead to evidence of clinical infection with SARS-CoV-2 in breastfeeding infants.

Authors from the University of California (California, USA) analysed breastmilk samples from 110 lactating women who donated to the Mommy's Milk Human Milk Biorepository at the University of California, San Diego between March and September 2020. Of the 110 women included, 65 had a positive COVID-19 test, while 9 had symptoms but tested negative, and 36 were symptomatic but were not tested.

Paul Krogstad and colleagues found SARS-CoV-2 genetic material (RNA) in the breastmilk of 7 women (6%) with either confirmed infection or who reported being symptomatic. A second breastmilk sample taken from these 7 women between one and 97 days later did not contain any SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The authors did not find any infectious SARS-CoV-2 genetic material known as SgRNA, which is an indicator of virus replication, in the 7 breastmilk samples and when culturing other samples. There was no clinical evidence of infection in the infants who were breastfed by the 7 mothers with SARS-CoV-2 RNA in their milk.

The authors caution that the sample size is low in this study and may not capture all the potential factors that predict the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in breastmilk. However, it is the largest study at this time to analyse breastmilk and provides evidence that breastfeeding from women proven or suspected to have had SARS-CoV-2 infection does not lead to COVID-19 infection in their infants.

Breastmilk is an invaluable source of nutrition to infants. In our study, we found no evidence that breastmilk from mothers infected with COVID-19 contained infectious genetic material and no clinical evidence was found to suggest the infants got infected, which suggests breastfeeding is not likely to be a hazard." Paul Krogstad, Study Lead Author

The authors conclude that their study adds to the evidence that women who are infected with COVID-19 and are breastfeeding their child have no risk of transmitting the virus through their breastmilk.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine announces today the first peer-reviewed research outlining the successful transplant of genetically modified, clinical-grade pig kidneys into a brain-dead human individual, replacing the recipient's native kidneys. These positive results demonstrate how xenotransplantation could address the worldwide organ shortage crisis.

In the study published in the American Journal of Transplantation, UAB researchers tested the first human preclinical model for transplanting genetically modified pig kidneys into humans. The study recipient had two genetically modified pig kidneys transplanted in his abdomen after his native kidneys were removed. The organs were procured from a genetically modified pig at a pathogen-free facility.

Along with our partners, we have made significant investments in xenotransplantation for almost a decade hoping for the kinds of results published today. Today's results are a remarkable achievement for humanity and advance xenotransplant into the clinical realm. With this study, our research teams have also demonstrated that the decedent model has significant potential to propel the xenotransplantation field forward." Selwyn Vickers, M.D., Dean of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and CEO of the UAB Health System and UAB/Ascension St. Vincent's Alliance

For the first time, the pig kidneys transplanted were taken from pigs that had been genetically modified with 10 key gene edits that may make the kidneys suitable for transplant into humans. This process demonstrates the long-term viability of the procedure and how such a transplant might work in the real world. The transplanted kidneys filtered blood, produced urine and, importantly, were not immediately rejected. The kidneys remained viable until the study was ended, 77 hours after transplant.

"This game-changing moment in the history of medicine represents a paradigm shift and a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis," said Jayme Locke, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Transplant Institute in UAB's Department of Surgery and lead surgeon for the study. "We have bridged critical knowledge gaps and obtained the safety and feasibility data necessary to begin a clinical trial in living humans with end-stage kidney failure disease."

Gene editing in pigs to reduce immune rejection has made organ transplants from pigs to humans possible, which could offer help to thousands of people who face organ failure, disease or injury. The natural lifespan of a pig is 30 years, they are easily bred and can have organs of similar size to humans.

Genetically modified pig kidneys have been extensively tested in non-human primates. In addition to testing in non-human primates, evaluating genetically modified pig kidneys in a human preclinical model research may provide important information about the potential safety and efficacy of kidneys in human transplant recipients, including in clinical trials.

"This human preclinical model is a way to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the pig-to-non-human primate model, without risk to a living human," Locke added. "Our study demonstrates that major barriers to human xenotransplantation have been surmounted, identifies where new knowledge is needed to optimize xenotransplantation outcomes in humans, and lays the foundation for the establishment of a novel preclinical human model for further study."

This effort is supported by biotechnology pioneer United Therapeutics Corporation, which awarded a grant to UAB to launch the innovative xenotransplantation program. Revivicor, Inc., a subsidiary of United Therapeutics, provided the genetically modified pig that was the source of the investigational xenotransplant kidneys called UKidney.

"All of us at Revivicor are in awe of the historic achievements at UAB with our investigational 10-gene xenokidney, or UKidney," said David Ayares, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Revivicor and a trailblazing genetic engineer since his early work cloning the world's first pigs and the first alpha-Gal knockout pigs. "We feel confident that this UKidney may turn out to be a life-saving solution for thousands of people on dialysis, subject to successful completion of our clinical trials and achievement of FDA approval in the next several years."

About the study

The peer-reviewed research is a study of ambitious scope and great significance, given that more than 800,000 Americans are living with kidney failure. Most never make it to the waiting list, and far too few human organs are available to put a dent in that number. Although dialysis can sustain life for some time, transplantation offers a better quality of life and a longer life for the few individuals who can gain access to transplantation. Each stage of this decedent xenotransplant study approximated the steps that might be taken in a Phase I xenotransplant clinical trial:

The kidneys were removed from a donor pig housed at a pathogen-free, surgically clean facility. The kidneys were then stored, transported and processed for implantation, just as human kidneys are.

Before surgery, the brain-dead recipient and donor animal underwent a crossmatch compatibility test to determine whether the genetically modified pig kidney and its intended recipient were a good tissue match. A crossmatch is done for every human-to-human kidney transplant; however, this pig-to-human tissue-match test was developed at UAB and marked the first time a prospective crossmatch has been validated between the two species.

The pig kidneys were placed in the exact anatomic locations used for human donor kidneys, with the same attachments to the renal artery, renal vein and the ureter that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder.

The brain-dead recipient received standard immune-suppression therapy used in human-to-human kidney allotransplantation.

The study was conducted to meet the standards directly comparable to those that would apply to a Phase I human clinical trial, mirroring every step of a standard transplant between humans. It included Institutional Review Board and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval, a tissue compatibility confirmation before starting the operations, using the standard procedures of human-to-human transplants to remove, preserve, transport and transplant the kidneys into a human, and giving the standard immunosuppression therapy to the recipient.

Transplant recipient Jim Parsons helps open doors to the future of organ transplantation

This scientific and medical breakthrough would not have been possible without Jim Parsons, the recipient, or his family.

Parsons, 57, was a registered organ donor through Legacy of Hope, Alabama's organ procurement organization, and he had longed to have his organs help others upon his death; but his organs were not suitable for donation. His family permitted UAB to maintain Parsons on a ventilator to keep his body functioning during the study. His native kidneys were removed, and two genetically modified pig kidneys were transplanted.

"Mr. Parsons and his family allowed us to replicate precisely how we would perform this transplant in a living human. Their powerful contribution will save thousands of lives, and that could begin in the very near future," Locke said. "Mr. Parsons' gift honors his legacy and firmly establishes the viability, safety and feasibility of this preclinical model. Because of his gift, we have proposed this to be known as 'The Parsons Model.'"

Parsons' ex-wife, Julie O'Hara, and their children, Ally, David and Cole, made the decision (along with Jim's sisters and mother) to take part in the study after they were approached by Alan Spriggs with Legacy of Hope and Locke.

"Jim was a never-met-a-stranger kind of guy who would talk to anyone and had no enemies -; none," O'Hara said. "Jim would have wanted to save as many people as he could with his death, and if he knew he could potentially save thousands and thousands of people by doing this, he would have had no hesitation. Our dream is that no other person dies waiting for a kidney, and we know that Jim is very proud that his death could potentially bring so much hope to others."

The critical need for other organ donation options

Kidney disease kills more people each year than breast or prostate cancer, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Although transplantation is the gold standard treatment for end-stage kidney disease, fewer than 25,000 kidney transplants are performed each year in the United States and 240 Americans on dialysis die every day. Many of these deaths could be prevented if an unlimited supply of kidneys were available for transplant.

The wait for a deceased donor kidney can be as long as five years, and in many states, it is closer to 10 years. Almost 5,000 people per year die waiting on a kidney transplant.
The poll workers volunteered to help with the local primary elections on Tuesday.
Caralis Rotisserie Chicken is slated to open on Lewis and Clark Parkway this winter, right outside Green Tree Mall, as some businesses leave the area while others make plans to come in.
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(Newser)  Update: An Australian man has admitted to murdering an American mathematician who fell to his death from a cliff in Sydney in 1988, reports the AP. Scott White admitted in court that he killed Scott Johnson, whose death was initially ruled a suicide. The 27-year-old Johnson was gay, and prosecutors belatedly took up the case as a homophobic hate crime. White faces a life sentence. Our original story from May 2020 follows:

Police in Australia have made an arrest in a high-profile cold case that has strong ties to the US. In 1988, a young American mathematician named Scott Johnson died after a plunge from a cliff in Sydney. Now, police in New South Wales have arrested a 49-year-old man in Johnson's death, which is believed to be a gay hate crime, reports the BBC. Coverage:

The victim: Johnson, 27, was found at the base of a cliff 32 years ago, and police initially brushed it off as a suicide. A second inquest in 2012 raised doubts about that, and another inquest in 2017 concluded that Johnson was killed as the result of a homophobic attack, reports the AP and the Washington Post. Johnson, who studied at the California Institute of Technology and Britain's University of Cambridge, was close to completing his PhD when he was killed.

Brother's perseverance: Johnson's case may have been forgotten if not for his brother in Boston, Steve Johnson, a former AOL executive. He has hounded police over the years and paid for his own independent investigation. In March, Johnson matched the Australian reward of $1 million (about $650,000 American) for information about his brother's death. Business Insider recently had an in-depth look at Steve Johnson's role, as well as the killing itself.

Johnson's case may have been forgotten if not for his brother in Boston, Steve Johnson, a former AOL executive. He has hounded police over the years and paid for his own independent investigation. In March, Johnson matched the Australian reward of $1 million (about $650,000 American) for information about his brother's death. Business Insider recently had an in-depth look at Steve Johnson's role, as well as the killing itself. Big call: New South Wales police chief Mick Fuller called Steve Johnson to let him know about the arrest Tuesday. "Making that phone call this morning is a career highlight," he said. "Steve has fought so hard for so many years, and it has been an honor [to] be part of his fight for justice." Johnson, for his part, said in a statement: "It's emotional for me, emotional for my family, my two sisters and brother who loved Scott dearly, my wife and three kids who never got to know their uncle."

New South Wales police chief Mick Fuller called Steve Johnson to let him know about the arrest Tuesday. "Making that phone call this morning is a career highlight," he said. "Steve has fought so hard for so many years, and it has been an honor [to] be part of his fight for justice." Johnson, for his part, said in a statement: "It's emotional for me, emotional for my family, my two sisters and brother who loved Scott dearly, my wife and three kids who never got to know their uncle." Suspect: Scott Phillip White, 49, is charged with murder and is being held without bail, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Though police downplayed the notion of homophobic attacks when the 1988 slaying took place, subsequent investigations revealed that anti-gay gangs roamed the area looking for victims. A 2018 police review of 88 deaths from 1976 to 2000 concluded that 27 men were likely murdered because they were gay. Most of the killings took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Scott Phillip White, 49, is charged with murder and is being held without bail, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Though police downplayed the notion of homophobic attacks when the 1988 slaying took place, subsequent investigations revealed that anti-gay gangs roamed the area looking for victims. A 2018 police review of 88 deaths from 1976 to 2000 concluded that 27 men were likely murdered because they were gay. Most of the killings took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bad days: "It was pretty horrendous at that time," Nicolas Parkhill, chief executive of a gay advocacy group in Australia, tells the Post. "You had the HIV epidemic and certain politicians were calling for gay men to be quarantined. Australian culture was still very homophobic."

(Read more cold cases stories.)
(Newser)  Update: The upper half of the bronze Theodore Roosevelt outside a New York museum was removed by crane early Wednesday, after years of public debate. The rest of the monument, which is now surrounded by a tarp, will be taken away a bit at a time throughout the week before it goes to North Dakota, the New York Times reports. The work began just after midnight. The statue will be moved to the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora; Roosevelt was a cattle rancher in North Dakota in the 1880s, per the National Park Service. Our original story from June follows:

Visitors about to enter the American Museum of Natural History in New York will no longer be greeted by Theodore Roosevelt atop a horse with a Native American and African man by his side. In a unanimous Monday vote, the New York City Public Design Commission decided the controversial statue would be given on long-term loan to a to-be-decided institution that is "publicly accessible" and has a "relevant connection" to Roosevelt. What to do with it has been the subject of formal debate since 2017, reports the New York Times, with the commission stating in a 2018 report that "height is power in public art, and Roosevelt's stature on his noble steed visibly expresses dominance and superiority over the Native American and African figures." But a number of panel members requested that more historical research be done before a decision was made.

As that research was conducted, the effort to remove it gained steam: The museum itself came out on the "remove" side last June, and both New York City (the statue is on city-owned land) and Mayor Bill de Blasio backed up that position. The AP reports the bronze statue of Roosevelt, a founding member of the museum, has been at the entrance since 1940, and Hyperallegic notes one argument of those who wanted the statue to stay is that sculptor James Earle Fraser at the time said his goal was to present "Roosevelt's friendliness to all races." But at Monday's meeting, a museum official stated that the various heights of the figures "[appear] to depict the superiority of the white race," and its position at the entrance conveys "endorsement of this content and perceived content, undermining the museum's mission." (Read more Theodore Roosevelt stories.)
(Newser)  A Florida bill pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel "discomfort" when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation's past received its first approval Tuesday. The Senate Education Committee backed the bill that takes aim at critical race theorythough it's not mentioned explicitlyon party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed, the AP reports. Democrats argued the bill isn't needed, would lead to frivolous lawsuits, and would amount to censorship in schools. They asked, without success, for real-life examples of teachers or businesses telling students or employees that they are racist because of their race.

"This bill's not for Blacks, this bill was not for any other race. This was directed to make whites not feel bad about what happened years ago," said state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is Black. "At no point did anyone say white people should be held responsible for what happened, but what I would ask my white counterparts is, are you an enabler of what happened or are you going to say we must talk about history?" DeSantis held a news conference last month in which he called critical race theory "crap" and said he would seek legislation that would allow parents to sue schools and employees to sue employers if they were subject to such teachings.

Critical race theory is a way of thinking about US history through the lens of racism. The bill reads in part: "An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex. An individual should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race." Republican Sen. Manny Diaz, the bill's sponsor, said it is not about ignoring the "dark" parts of American history, but rather ensuring that people are not blamed for sins of the past. The bill now heads to Senate debate, per ABC News. (DeSantis won a statewide ban on teaching critical race theory in June.)
(Newser)  The Supreme Court has blocked the administration's COVID vaccine requirement for large companiesbut it's staying in place at Carhartt, despite objections from some of the workwear firm's customers. Conservative commentators called for a boycott of the Michigan-based company after a memo explaining the policy was shared on social media, CBS reports. "We put workplace safety at the very top of our priority list and the Supreme Courts recent ruling doesnt impact that core value," CEO Mark Valade wrote to employees, per MarketWatch.

"An unvaccinated workforce is both a people and business risk that our company is unwilling to take," said Valade. The email said the deadline for employees at two locations to be vaccinated had been extended until Feb. 15. Last year, Carhartt announced that workers who weren't vaccinated by Jan. 4 could face dismissal, which led to protests from some employees, reports the Washington Post. Carhartt says it has granted some religious and medical exemptions.

After the CEO's letter was leaked and Carhartt started trending on Twitter, some critics vowed to start avoiding the company's products, with saying the stance was "medical abuse" and "insane given their target market." Others said they were impressed by the move. "I will be purchasing from a company that cares about protecting all its workers," one Twitter user wrote. The Post reports that comedian Roy Wood Jr. joked that conservatives must be "MAD mad" to ditch the company's gear at this time of year. "They throwing out the Carhartt in the dead of winter?!" he tweeted. (Read more vaccine mandate stories.)
(Newser)  Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor say that while they don't always agree on the law, they're not feuding over mask-wearing. The Donald Trump appointee and the Barack Obama appointee issued an unusual joint statement Wednesday in response to an NPR story that said Sotomayor had not been on the bench because Gorsuch had rejected requests to wear a mask. "Reporting that Justice Sotomayor asked Justice Gorsuch to wear a mask surprised us. It is false," the two justices said, per the AP. "While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends."

Sotomayor, who has diabetes, usually sits next to Gorsuch on the bench but has been joining arguments remotely during the pandemic. The conservative justice was the only justice without a mask during arguments Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. NPR said Wednesday that it stands by the reporting of Nina Totenberg. Her story didn't say Sotomayor had directly asked Gorsuch to wear a mask, though it did say Chief Justice John Roberts had asked justices to mask up. "I did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other Justice to wear a mask on the bench," Roberts said in a statement Wednesday.

Roberts added that he would have no further comment on the issue. Fox reports that its sources cast doubt on the NPR report before the justices spoke out. "A source at the Supreme Court says there have been no blanket admonition or request from (the) chief justice that the other justices begin wearing masks to arguments," Fox anchor Shannon Bream said Tuesday night. (Read more US Supreme Court stories.)
(Newser)  An Air Force airman has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole in the murder of a Mennonite woman whom he kidnapped from northwestern New Mexico, fatally shot, and left in the freezing cold outside Flagstaff, Ariz. Mark Gooch, 22, was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in October. The body of Sasha Krause, 27, was found face-down in a forest clearing with her hands bound with duct tape on Feb. 21, 2020. She had been shot in the head. Krause had not been seen since Jan. 18. Her vehicle was found abandoned the next day outside the church where she taught Sunday school. Gooch expressed no emotion when he was sentenced Wednesday in Coconino County Superior Court.

Prosecutors argued Gooch was driven by a disdain for the Mennonite faith that he grew up with in Wisconsin, exhibited by text message exchanges with his brothers. Goochs attorney tried to raise doubt with jurors that Gooch was responsible. Gooch and Krause didnt know each other but both grew up in big families and in the Mennonite church, the AP reports. Gooch rejected the faith and enlisted in the Air Force, where he worked as a mechanic. Authorities used cellphone and financial records and surveillance video to tie Gooch to the crimes. "Why was she kidnapped and murdered? I will never understand that in this life," Krause's family said in a statement, per KRQE. "But God in his ultimate wisdom and goodness allowed the devils evil plan to proceed. So he in his goodness will not allow her efforts to be wasted."

(Read more murder stories.)
(Newser)  Update: The Supreme Court has formally rejected Donald Trump's attempt to block the House committee investigating the Capitol riot from receiving records from his presidency. The court declined to review a lower court's decision on the records Tuesday, allowing it to stand and bringing Trump's legal battle over the records to an end, reports Reuters. CNN explains the documents Trump wanted withheld are already in the House Select Committee's possession: Last month, the committee received records from the National Archives and Records Administration after the top court declined Trump's emergency request to block the transfer as it considered whether to hear the case. Our original story from Jan. 19 follows:

Former President Donald Trump is out of appeals in his effort to keep White House records from his presidency from being turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The Supreme Court dispensed with Trump's argument that executive privilege protects the confidentiality of the records with an unsigned, one-paragraph order on Wednesday, the Hill reports. The decision means a ruling by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which the Supreme Court says "analyzed and rejected President Trump's privilege claims under any of the tests [he] advocated,'" will stand.

Because of that, the Supreme Court said it didn't decide the question of whether former presidents can invoke privilege. "Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trump's claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the court's decision, the court wrote. Only Justice Clarence Thomas indicated he'd have granted Trump's request, but he didn't say why. Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted with the majority but wrote that he disagreed with part of the lower court's opinion, per CNBC, saying a former president should be able to prevail when exerting executive privilege though the right isn't absolute.

President Biden had declined to claim executive privilege on Trump's behalf, and the administration supports the release of the documents. The National Archives is now clear to send more than 700 pages of Trump records to the House committee. The files include activity logs, schedules, and notes by Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, per CNN. Trump's aides did not immediately issue a comment on the decision. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Update: Alec Baldwin has asked that a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the family of a fallen Marine be dismissed. Baldwin's lawyer said in the filing, per the AP, that "reposting a photo Roice (McCollum) herself publicly posted and then expressing a political opinion about it cannot be the basis for an intentional infliction claim." As for the other plaintiffs named in the suit, the attorney says they cannot be included since Baldwin made no statements about them. Our original story from Jan. 20, 2022, follows:

The family of a US Marine killed in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport amid the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last year is now suing Alec Baldwin for $25 million, Fox News reports. They say Baldwin defamed and invaded the privacy of Roice McCollum, a sister of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, by calling her an "insurrectionist" on his Instagram feed. Roice McCollum attended former President Trump's Jan. 6 rally last year, but she did not breach the US Capitol with other protesters that day, the family says, and after Baldwin's post, they were hit with "hundreds upon hundreds" of hateful and threatening messages. Rylee McCollum's widow and his other sister were similarly hit with vitriolic messages and even death threats, the lawsuit says; they have joined Roice McCollum in suing the actor, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.

As for Baldwin's link to Roice McCollum, he'd given her $5,000 last year to help her brother's widow, who gave birth to a daughter shortly after his death. Then, in January of this year, Roice McCollum posted a year-old photo of the Trump rally, and Baldwin saw it and sent her a private message. When she confirmed she'd been at the rally, the suit says, Baldwin told her "her activities resulted in the unlawful destruction of government property, the death of a law enforcement officer, an assault on the certification of the presidential election," and he reposted her photo to his own Instagram followers calling her an insurrectionist. "Baldwin plainly ignored Roice's denial of rioting and the assertion that she was cleared by the FBI for participating in any of the conduct Baldwin chose to falsely attribute to her via his massive following," the lawsuit says, noting that Roice McCollum "was never detained, arrested, accused of or charged with any crime."

(Read more Alec Baldwin stories.)
(Newser)  FBI agents searched the home of longtime congressman Rep. Henry Cuellar in Laredo, Texas, on Wednesday. The bureau confirmed it was "conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity" at the residence of the moderate Democrat, but said it "cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation," per CNN. A rep for Cuellarwho has represented Texas' deep-south 28th Congressional District, which includes a section of the US-Mexico border, since 2005said he "will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld." The (McAllen) Monitor first reported that more than two dozen agents were seen going in and out of the home and searching a truck parked out front.

"By around 7:30pm, a group of agents loaded large bags, plastic bins, and a computer into a federal vehicle. Others appeared to be logging the items," tweeted reporter Valerie Gonzalez. Her report notes agents were also seen at Cuellar's campaign office. Webb County-Zapata County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said he didn't know what prompted the search and described Cuellar as "revered" in his community, per the Texas Tribune. A former state legislator and Texas secretary of state, Cuellar is "one of the more powerful Texas Democrats in Washington," owing to his position on the House Appropriations Committee, per the outlet, which adds he's "earned the ire of the left" as "he will sometimes join Republicans to vote against Democratic priorities, particularly on abortion." (Read more FBI stories.)
(Newser)  British police say they have arrested two people in connection with Saturday's hostage-taking at a synagogue in Texas. Counter Terrorism Police North West said one man was arrested Thursday in Birmingham, central England, and another in the city of Manchester, the AP reports. They were being held for questioning and have not yet been charged. Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue in a 10-hour standoff that ended in his death. Law enforcement officials tell the Washington Post that he was shot by FBI agents after they disoriented him with a stun grenade. Akram entered the United States as a tourist about two weeks earlier and spent time in Dallas-area homeless shelters before Saturday's attack at Congregation Beth Israel, in the suburb of Colleyville.

Two British teenagers were arrested as part of the investigation on Sunday and later released without charge. Akram was checked against law enforcement databases before entering the US but raised no red flags, the White House said Wednesday. Akram was not believed to be included in the Terrorist Screening Database, a listing of known or suspected terrorists maintained by the FBI and shared with a variety of federal agencies, two law enforcement officials told the AP. Had he been included, it would have been extremely difficult for him to get into the country. The BBC reports that Akram was investigated by Britain's MI5 security service in late 2020 but was removed from the watchlist in 2021 because he was no longer considered a threat. (The synagogue's rabbi says he escaped with two other hostages after throwing a chair at Akram.)
(Newser)  The CIA has issued the interim findings of its Havana syndrome investigationand victims of the mysterious syndrome are far from happy with what has been disclosed. Officials tell the New York Times that the task force concluded that the vast majority of around 1,000 reported cases can be explained by existing medical conditions, stress, or environmental factors, and there is no evidence that the symptoms affecting diplomats and CIA personnel are the result of a "sustained worldwide campaign" from Russia or any other foreign power. Officials say the investigation is now focusing on around two dozen unexplained cases where they have "not ruled out the involvement of a foreign actor."

"In this extensive investigation we have so far not found evidence of state-actor involvement in any incident," a CIA official tells CBS. The investigation looked into what the government calls "anomalous health incidents," experienced by US personnel in cities including Havana and Vienna, with symptoms including headaches, nausea, vertigo, and, in some cases, brain injuries. The group Advocacy for Victims of Havana Syndrome strongly criticized the report Wednesday, saying that while it was labeled interim, "to scores of dedicated public servants, their families and their colleagues, it has a ring of finality and repudiation."

Critics of the report said a government effort to get more people to report symptoms had led to thousands of extra reports, weakening the investigation's focus. "We have reason to believe the interim report does not even represent the consensus of the full CIA, instead reflecting the views of a subset of officials most interested in resolution and closure," the victims' group said. Sources tell CNN that upcoming reports may offer a different view of the syndrome, including one from experts investigating what kind of technology could have caused the symptoms. (Read more Havana syndrome stories.)
(Newser)  Update: Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal, but there's been a shift in at least one story. Per the Catholic News Agency and CNN, the pontiff had originally told investigators he hadn't attended a January 1980 meeting of archdiocesan officials in which they discussed, among other topics, a priest accused of sexually abusing at least 23 boys. Now, after minutes from that meeting showed that Benedict, then the archbishop of Munich, was at the meeting, the pope is admitting he was. As for why he didn't say so in the first place, a statement from Benedict's private secretary notes that the pope "would like to emphasize that this was not done out of bad faith, but was the result of an error in the editing of his statement." The statement adds Benedict is filled "with shame and pain at the suffering inflicted on the victims," and that he'll speak more on the matter in a future statement. Our original story from Thursday follows:

Before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger was the archbishop of Munich, a post he held from 1977 to 1982. And, according to a new investigation by a German law firm into the Catholic Church, a number of sex-abuse cases took place in the archdiocese there and were revealed to Ratzinger, who did nothing about it, reports the BBC. "He was informed about the facts," attorney Martin Pusch, of Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, said Thursday, per CNN. Pusch notes the probe found four cases in which the pope emeritus could be accused of "misconduct," including two that happened under his tenure and were "sanctioned by the state."

Pusch adds: "In both cases, the perpetrators remained active in pastoral care." The report was commissioned almost two years ago by the archdiocese itself, with a mandate to look into abuse allegations spanning from 1945 to 2019, reports the AP. The report also faulted the current Munich archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, in two of the cases. The law firm and archdiocese said top church officials were told of the report's findings before it went public, and that Marx turned down an invite to attend its presentation.

Benedict has long refuted the allegations that he knew anything about such sex-abuse cases, including in a September 2013 statement, when he wrote: "As far as ... the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with profound consternation. But I never tried to cover up these things." The former pontiff, now 94 and retired since 2013, continues to deny the accusations today, the law firm noted Thursday. (Read more Pope Benedict XVI stories.)
(Newser)  It's the second big success story this month in regard to a potentially huge shift in the field of organ transplants. Doctors in Alabama transplanted the kidneys of a genetically altered pig to a brain-dead recipient, reports the New York Times. The surgeries took place in September, and the kidneys survived over the course of the 77-hour experiment, per New Scientist. The recipient is a 57-year-old man who had been kept alive on ventilator since a dirt-bike accident last year and whose family donated his body to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for medical research. The kidneys were altered genetically to reduce the risk of rejection, and the experiment worked.

This game-changing moment [is] a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis, says surgeon Jayme Locke in a statement. "What a wonderful day it will be when I can walk into clinic and know I have a kidney for everyone waiting to see me." Xenotransplantation refers to animal-to-human transplants. The next step is to perform similar transplants in a small-scale study of living patients, and Locke hopes that can happen by the end of the year. The successthough one kidney performed better than the other, perhaps because the latter was damaged during removal from the pigcomes after surgeons in Maryland transplanted a heart from a gene-edited pig to a man earlier in January.

The breakthroughs are part of the revolution brought about by the CRSPR gene-editing method. Typically, a pig organ would be quickly rejected by a human recipient. But as New Scientist explains, researchers essentially switched off four genes in the pigs and added six human genes, the result being that the organs were accepted. The brain-dead recipient is Alabama's Jim Parsons. When his family learned that this research had "the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives, we knew without a doubt that that was something that Jim would have definitely put his seal of approval on, says his ex-wife, Julie OHara, per the AP. (Read more organ transplants stories.)
(Newser)  The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot wants Ivanka Trump to answer questions about what she saw and heard at the White House. The special committee sent Ivanka Trump a letter inviting her to sit for an interview in early February, reports the Hill. The Committee would like to discuss any ... conversations you may have witnessed or participated in regarding the Presidents plan to obstruct or impede the counting of electoral votes, wrote chair panel Bennie Thompson. That includes a phone call the morning of Jan. 6 between her father and Vice President Mike Pence, notes the Washington Post.

You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation, says the letter, which cites testimony from former national security adviser Keith Kellogg. Kellogg told the panel that former President Trumpwho wanted Pence to refuse to certify the election resultstold the vice president something along the lines of "You don't have the courage to make a hard decision." Kellogg also said Ivanka Trump turned to him after the call and said, Mike Pence is a good man.

The panel also wants to know if Ivanka Trump tried to convince her father to tell the rioters to stop their assault on the Capitol. Testimony obtained by the Select Committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence, the committee wrote. We are particularly interested in this question: Why didn't the White House staff simply ask the president to walk to the briefing room and appear on live television to ask the crowd to leave the Capitol?" (Read more Ivanka Trump stories.)
(Newser)  With demand no longer on an incline, Peloton plans to stop making its bike and treadmill equipment for a while. The company overestimated its market, CNBC reports, and now has thousands of unsold treadmills and cycles on its handson cargo ships or in warehouses. A company memo attributed the drop in demand to consumers' price sensitivity and increased competition. Shares closed Thursday at $24.22, off 24%. That puts the stocks market value at $7.9 billion. The company's production halt will affect its:

Bikes : None will be made for two months, February and March.

: None will be made for two months, February and March. Bike+ : Production of the more expensive cycle was stopped last month and won't resume until June.

: Production of the more expensive cycle was stopped last month and won't resume until June. Tread : Starting next month, this treadmill machine won't be manufactured for six weeks.

: Starting next month, this treadmill machine won't be manufactured for six weeks. Tread+: After a safety recall in 2021, production of this model was shut down. The memo shows the company doesn't plan to resume making it in fiscal 2022.

The company had already told investors it was looking for ways to cut costs, per the Wall Street Journal. It was only a year or so ago that Peloton couldn't meet demand, per CNBC, and added production capacity by buying Precor, another maker of exercise equipment. But that was when more people were staying home because of the pandemic; many are going to gyms again to work out. Peloton also is signing up fewer connected fitness subscribers now. The company issued no comment Thursday about the production changes. (The company cut prices on its basic bike last year when demand eased.)
Shamokin, PA (17872)

Today

Rain showers in the morning becoming more intermittent in the afternoon. High 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 48F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 32F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 32F. Winds light and variable.
Bahrain King and Egyptian President vow to work together to help preserve Arab national security

Bahrain King and Egyptian President vow to work together to help preserve Arab national security

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain and Egypt have agreed to step up concerted efforts to confront the challenges the region is witnessing to preserve Arab national security.

This came as His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa yesterday held a telephone call with Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

They discussed the latest regional, Arab and global developments, and exchanged points of view regarding them.

The two leaders reviewed the solid Bahraini-Egyptian relations, and ways to further bolster bilateral cooperation to serve the interests and meet the aspirations of the two brotherly peoples.

HM the King expressed his pride in the long-standing solid fraternal relations between the two countries, and the advanced level reached by cooperation between them.

He affirmed Bahrains constant keenness to expand the frameworks of coordination and consultation with Egypt on various issues of mutual interest.

HM King Hamad commended the role played by President Al Sisi in strengthening his countrys relations with Bahrain, citing Egypts firm supportive stances towards the kingdom, and wishing Egypt and its dear people further progress and prosperity, under his leadership.

President Al Sisi expressed thanks and appreciation to HM the King for his efforts to further strengthen the distinguished Bahraini-Egyptian relations.

He affirmed the pride of Egypts leadership and people in the deep-rooted Bahraini-Egyptian relations, confirming the fundamentals of his countrys policy that considers the security of the Arabian Gulf as an integral part of Egypts security.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

New Zealand Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Ambassador-Designate to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Barney Riley, along with Elizabeth OBrien, Second Secretary at New Zealand Embassy, visited the UniGrad Education Center, Bahrain.

They discussed with the Chairman of the Center, JP Menon, ways to bolster ties in the educational sector and the prospects of partnerships with various New Zealand-based universities, colleges and vocational training institutes.

UniGrad is highly committed to playing its part in the Economics Vision 2030 for Bahrain, under the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, by empowering the youth with the most modern and updated educational, professional courses and programmes to lead the Kingdom in the path of development.

For many years, New Zealand has been a major contender, offering state-of-the-art, internationally recognised education to foreign students from all over the world.

The possibilities of offering through UniGrad Education Center and its branch Coral Training Center, the courses of New Zealand Education in Bahrain and other Gulf countries were discussed during the meeting with Ambassador Riley.

UniGrad and Coral Centers look forward to announcing the list of various courses for the 2022-2023 academic year, in partnership with various New Zealand-based educational institutes and universities.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The number of individuals newly infected with COVID-19 jumped to 3,020 on Tuesday, taking the total number of active cases to 22,860.

This is nearly a 670 per cent increase in the number of virus infections, compared to the data on January 19 last year, which saw 2,934 active cases along with 333 new cases.

The past year also saw a huge rise in COVID death numbers from 360 to 1,398.

But Bahrains battle against the virus is marked by its huge success on the vaccination front.

On January 19 last year, only 142,831 had been vaccinated, but now the number has jumped to 11,89,959. Moreover, 914,663 have received the booster dose.

The Kingdom has already approved the fourth dose of Sinopharm, serving as an impetus in its vaccination/booster efforts.

The Kingdom has also achieved a milestone in terms of PCR tests, which stand at 84,55,703.

And now, the country is all set to repeat its success in vaccinating children.

The Ministry of Health announced the opening of registration for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, starting from yesterday.

This coincides with the arrival of the first shipment of vaccines specified for this age group.

The ministry stressed the importance of vaccination, particularly for children, to protect them, their families and the community.

The Ministry of Health urged all parents who wish to vaccinate their children to register them via the BeAware app, or the ministrys website: healthalert.gov.bh. The ministry noted that the vaccine will be administered at the vaccination centre at Sitra Mall.

According to the ministry, registration for the vaccine requires the consent of a legal guardian.

The children must also be accompanied by an adult when receiving their vaccination, it said.

On the treatment front, the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) has approved the emergency use of the oral COVID-19 antiviral, Paxlovid.

The medication has been authorised for individuals 18-year-old and above who suffer from mild to moderate symptoms and are at an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 that may lead to mortality.

The decision follows the evaluation of data provided by the manufacturer Pfizer, carried out by the NHRAs Pharmaceutical Products Regulation Department (PPR).

The NHRA noted that the Ministry of Health has begun importing procedures following the relevant standards and requirements, with the medication expected to arrive this month.

Paxlovid consists of two, co-packaged antiviral medicines (PF-07321332 and Ritonavir) that are designed to stop the virus causing COVID-19 from multiplying in the body and therefore help those infected to overcome the viral infection.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain and Egypts deep-rooted bilateral relations and cooperation across major fields are a model to emulate.

This was emphasised by Representatives Council Speaker Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal who received yesterday Egyptian Ambassador to Bahrain, Yasser Shaban.

The meeting was held in the presence of First Deputy Speaker Abdulnabi Salman.

Speaker Zainal hailed the strong and growing fraternal relations and cooperation between both countries, thanks to the care of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Egyptian President Abdelfattah El-Sisi.

She stressed the Representatives Councils keenness to further enhance parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

The Speaker praised the positive outcome of her recent visit to Egypt which culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Representatives Councils in both countries.

She commended Egypts strategic and pivotal role in promoting security and stability in the region and the world.

The Egyptian Ambassador commended the meeting, thanking Speaker Zainal for her recent successful visit to Egypt.

He lauded the advanced level of bilateral relations, stressing the key role played by Bahrain in fostering security and stability in the Arabian Gulf region and the whole world.
BROOKFIELD  The towns finance board is looking to fill a vacant seat.

A notice was posted on the town website on Jan. 14 that the board is currently seeking candidates. The position is open to all registered Republicans who live in Brookfield and have an interest in being on the finance board.

First Selectman Tara Carr said that a newly elected member had to vacate their seat due to a conflict with the persons personal career.

The board is currently made up of four Republican members and two Democrats. The announcement comes as towns are beginning to deliberate municipal and school budgets for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

The application, including a resume and statement of interest, has to be turned in to the finance board by Jan. 28. Interviews will take place on Feb. 1 and 2. Interested candidates can email their application to BOF@brookfieldct.gov.
H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media

Schools throughout the Danbury area closed Thursday as wintry weather hit the region overnight and was expected to persist throughout the day. The snowfall was not quite as much as initially expected.

Many of the school districts did not make an initial decision on school Wednesday night ot planned for a two-hour delay. But as conditions changed, many waking up Thursday morning learned that schools would indeed be canceled.
NEW MILFORD  First responders and critical town employees in the newly formed Housatonic Valley Health District soon can receive free rapid PCR COVID-19 tests, reducing for many a stressful testing burden.

For essential and critical workers who are required to show a negative PCR test to get back to work, finding a test and getting the results in less than five days has been a challenge. This new plan aims to give people the tests and results they need in 30 minutes or less.

On Feb. 1, Lisa Morrissey, incoming director of the new health district, hopes to have about 350 PCR tests available, with a steady supply coming in after that. She sent a letter on Jan. 14 to the health districts first selectmen and mayor letting them know about the plan.

This will decrease the amount of time spent waiting for test results, provide peace of mind to your employees and return your critical workforce back to work sooner, the letter reads.

Tests will be administered starting Feb. 1 in the health districts offices in New Milford and Southbury.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said the town is still seeing tremendous demand at its testing site. Morrissey added relief is available with the at-home antigen testing. However, some employers require proof of negative PCR test, rather than antigen tests, to return to work. This can vary by employer and town.

I think this will be a really good tool in our toolbox  especially for our critical workers and our first responders, Bass said, citing the tests and quicker results.

New Milford plans to make this testing available to first responders and critical town employees  police, fire and public works teams who are essential to road safety and maintenance during the winter. Non-critical employees are set up to work from home if necessary and would not get this testing, Bass explained.

Testing details

The tests will be free for qualifying workers, and the town will pay the bill.

Towns who contract with the health district for the service will be charged $100 per test, but Morrissey said most leaders have told her they plan to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover the cost. New Milford has not made a final decision on funding, but may use its COVID fund that was created with a prior budget surplus.

At least three towns outside the health district have asked to get in on the deal, Morrissey said. The cost for non-member towns who sign a testing contract after Feb. 28 will increase to $135. She could not release the names of the other towns because details are still being finalized.

The health department is not profiting from the tests, Morrissey said. The $100 cost covers the test, staffing, equipment and the reagent solution. Private market rapid PCR options werent going to be financially sustainable for towns, she said.

Our piece here is we just cant run in the red, Morrissey said.

By March, Morrissey hopes to offer the test to the general public.

The major limiting factor in getting tests for everyone in February was supply of the reagent, which is essential for testing, according to McKesson, who provides the test.

We just dont think that well be able to get the reagent to keep up with the demand, Morrissey said of offering rapid PCR tests to everyone at the moment.

When these tests become available to residents, the health district will bill residents health insurance companies which Morrissey called a whole other logistical piece.

We dont want to saddle people with additional costs, she said.

Community health care

Since Morrissey took over as New Milfords health director a year ago, the town has become a regional hub for COVID-19 vaccinations and testing, thanks to expanded offerings and efforts to obtain special licenses allowing for additional services. Formation of the new health district is an example of the expanding health care in New Milford.

The new health district is expected to incorporate Feb. 1, the same date the testing is set to begin. One of the main goals of forming a health district from smaller local health departments was to pool resources and staffing to create a stronger health base for towns. Morrissey has said community health does not stop at a towns border.

This new rapid PCR testing option for critical workers will be the districts first big health initiative.

This is one shining example of things we can do as we work together, Bass said. This is just the start some of the other things Lisa [Morrissey] and the district are thinking about.

After two years of a pandemic, towns have looked for ways to address the virus after everyone was caught by Decembers massive surge in cases.

Before we were kind of in the triage stage where we didnt know much about the disease. We were just trying to do what we could as we learned from it, Bass said. We have to know that this is going to be here, and now we have to manage through it.
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WEST HARTFORD  Capital Classics Theatre Company is offering a unique take on theater with its conversation-filled presentation of Sweat.

The group, best known for their summertime Greater Hartford Shakespeare Festival, will present their take on the the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by American playwright Lynn Nottage from Jan. 27 to Jan. 30 at the University of Saint Joseph.

But whats different, said Capital Classics co-founder and director Geoffrey Sheehan, is how theyre breaking up the play with a community conversation before, during and after the performance.

The intention is using contemporary theater as a springboard for community conversations about issues that our community feels are very important, Sheehan said.

The theme this year, he said, is power and poverty.

Its a Pulitzer Prize-winning play that examines what happens to a group of friends that live in Reading, Pennsylvania when the industrial economy suddenly picks up and moves out of the country, Sheehan said.

The play, he said, stood out from the others they read for a few reasons.

One of the themes most important to our community is this idea of economic power and equity and peoples opportunity to have a good life by working, Sheehan said. The idea of power and poverty and how they work together and across purposes. Sweat did what we felt was the most effective job of doing that through an American lens, in a very diverse way. Race is at play, class is at play and education and opportunity are at play.

All of that, and much more, will be discussed through the unique format Capital Classics is presenting its audience.

Before each performance, a conversation will be led by a different moderator. Sheehan will do that the first night, followed by criminal defense attorney Tiana Victoria Hercules, Housatonic Community College professor Saulo Colon and University of Saint Joseph professor Madeline Perez De Jesus.

The idea is that its really about the conversation, Sheehan said.Its not just about the play being great and the characters being interesting. Its about us as a community. By watching this play, what does it make us think about, how does it show us ourselves, how does it show us our neighbors and how does it show us our America today, and what can we do about it?

Most importantly, Sheehan doesnt want the conversation about doing the play. It needs to be about the content of the play.

Theres a message there that we hope resonates about making our communities healthier and more connected, he said. I hope we give the community an opportunity to see this topic of power and poverty through a very American lens and maybe see each other with a bit more compassion than we have been exercising lately. We are hoping our audience will walk out with these thoughts knowing they participated in a conversation about their world.

Tickets are available online. Seating is limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic and masks are required inside per the towns mask mandate.

Connecticut Media Group
CALGARY, AB, Jan. 20, 2022 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) is forecasting a 22 per cent increase in natural gas and oil investment in 2022. Capital spending in the sector is expected to grow by $6.0 billion to reach $32.8 billion, compared to an estimated total investment of $26.9 billion in 2021. (All figures in Canadian dollars.)

The expected growth in spending for 2022 would mark the second straight year of significant increases in investment as Canadian producers look to capitalize on stronger commodity prices due to rapidly growing global demand for natural gas and oil.

Conventional oil and natural gas capital investment for 2022 is forecast at $21.2 billion, up from an estimated $18.1 billion last year, while growth in oil sands investment is expected to increase 33 per cent to $11.6 billion compared to $8.7 billion last year.

While this is great news for the struggling Canadian economy, within the context of total global investment Canada is continuing to lose market share to other jurisdictions. In 2014, Canada was viewed as a top tier international investment jurisdiction for resource development and attracted $81 billion or more than 10 per cent of total global upstream natural gas and oil investment. International energy research firm Wood Mackenzie is forecasting global spending on upstream natural gas and oil production will reach $525 billion in 2022. Based on that forecast Canada has fallen to just six per cent of total market share, a four per centage point drop which represents over $21 billion in potential investment.

REGIONAL REVIEW

Alberta

Alberta is expected to lead all provinces with upstream investment expected to increase 24 per cent to total $24.5 billion in 2022. Over 80 per cent of the new spending this year is focused in Alberta, representing an additional $4.8 billion of investment into the province compared to 2021. The growth in investment is being driven both in the conventional and oil sands sectors.

British Columbia

With rapidly growing global demand for natural gas translating into multi-year highs in natural gas prices, producers in British Columbia are showing interest in growing their investment in the province. However, the ongoing review on royalties paired with the current moratorium on issuing development permits stalled investment in 2021. Investment in the province fell approximately $600 million short of last year's anticipated $3.9 billion, only reaching $3.4 billion in 2021. In 2022, upstream investment in B.C. is forecast to grow to $4.1 billion. Rig counts in B.C. currently sit at half of the historical average for mid-January indicating producers are potentially holding off some investment until later in 2022.

Saskatchewan

In 2022, producers expect to invest $2.7 billion in the province, a 16 per cent increase over 2021. Similar to British Columbia, Saskatchewan's 2021 upstream investment was forecast to reach $2.8 billion but updated estimates show producers spent $2.3 billion last year, a shortfall of approximately $500 million. Increasing municipal costs in some rural jurisdictions have significantly raised concerns which are likely contributing to a slowing of investment in the province.

Offshore

In Newfoundland and Labrador, offshore investment is expected to remain relatively flat at $1.6 billion in 2022 compared to $1.5 billion last year. Globally, the offshore sector is attracting significant new investment with expected spending in the sector to grow by seven per cent to approximately $195 billion in 2022. For comparison, the Gulf of Mexico is expected to grow investment by 21 per cent to $13.1 billion this year. Canada's offshore development offers some of the world's lowest emission oil. The natural gas and oil industry along with the provincial government are seeking to work with the federal government to improve the region's global competitiveness to help realize the value in Canada's offshore sector.

CAPP quotes Tim McMillan, President and CEO:

" Canada's natural gas and oil industry is continuing its path towards recovery. The growth in upstream investment will support jobs across the country and provide a positive boost to Canada's economic recovery. Improving commodity prices and increased investment in natural gas and oil production will also deliver billions more dollars of much-needed government revenues to support Canadians as we work our way through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic."

natural gas and oil industry is continuing its path towards recovery. The growth in upstream investment will support jobs across the country and provide a positive boost to economic recovery. Improving commodity prices and increased investment in natural gas and oil production will also deliver billions more dollars of much-needed government revenues to support Canadians as we work our way through the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic." "Rapid demand growth for oil and natural gas globally and strengthening commodity prices mean there is opportunity for Canada's industry for decades to come. To ensure a true recovery takes hold in Canada , government at all levels along with the industry must work together to create an environment where the natural gas and oil industry can thrive and attract investment back to Canada ."

industry for decades to come. To ensure a true recovery takes hold in , government at all levels along with the industry must work together to create an environment where the natural gas and oil industry can thrive and attract investment back to ." "Demand for oil and natural gas is expected to rise and remain strong for decades. Every barrel of oil and molecule of natural gas not produced in Canada will be produced by other countries that likely do not match our high environmental and social standards. As one of the most innovative and responsible energy producers in the world, Canada needs to take on a larger role in meeting the growing global demand for energy."

Supporting information:

Credible projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA), OPEC and IHS Markit indicate oil demand will top 100 million barrels per day within the next two to three years and remain at or above that level until 2040 and beyond.

Natural gas is expected to be one of the fastest growing sources of energy in the world, with demand projected to increase 14% by 2030, and 28% by 2050 (IEA World Energy Outlook 2021).

The natural gas and oil industry is one of the largest employers of Indigenous people in Canada with a supply chain that includes approximately 275 Indigenous-owned businesses from which producing companies procure about $2.5 billion annually in products and services.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) represents companies, large and small, that explore for, develop and produce natural gas and oil throughout Canada. CAPP's member companies produce about 80 per cent of Canada's natural gas and oil. CAPP's associate members provide a wide range of services that support the upstream oil and natural gas industry. Together CAPP's members and associate members are an important part of a national industry with revenues from oil and natural gas production of about $116 billion a year. CAPP's mission, on behalf of the Canadian upstream oil and natural gas industry, is to advocate for and enable economic competitiveness and safe, environmentally and socially responsible performance.

SOURCE Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

For further information: Jay Averill, Manager of Media Relations, (P) 403-267-1151, (C) 587-225-4534, [email protected]
The Drugs Controller General of Indias (DCGI) subject expert committee (SEC) has recommended the regular market approval to Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for their COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield with conditions for the adult population. According to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), SEC of CDSCO has recommended for the upgrade of Covishield and Covaxin status from restricted use in emergency situations to grant of new drug permission with conditions in the adult population, DCGI will evaluate the recommendations and give its decision.

The subject expert committee during the meeting that was held last week asked both the companies to submit more data before granting market approval. Serum Institute of India had applied for market approval for Covishield in December 2021 and Bharat Biotech has also applied for the same. The market authorisation for vaccine means that it can be authorized for use without reservation and conditions.

Further, Bharat Biotech has informed that Covaxin is now a universal vaccine for adults and children. However, both Covaxin and Covishield are currently authorised for emergency use only. The subject expert committee of the CDSCO sat on January 1-2 and made recommendations in respect of the proposal for restricted emergency approval of COVID-19 vaccines of Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.

The subject expert committee consists of domain knowledge experts from the fields of pulmonology, immunology, microbiology, pharmacology, paediatrics and internal medicine. It had reviewed the data on the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccines and recommended for grant of permission for restricted use in an emergency situation in the public interest as an abundant precaution in clinical trial mode to have more options for vaccination especially in case of infection by mutant strains. The clinical trial ongoing within the country by the firm will continue. The Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech vaccines have to be administered in two doses. These vaccines have to be stored at 2-8 degrees celsius.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) said that Russia will be held accountable if it invades Ukraine amid rising tensions between the two countries. Russia will be held accountable if it invades Ukraine. It is going to be a disaster for Russia if it invades Ukraine. Our partner and allies are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm to Russia and its economy, said the US President. He warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of significant economic consequences when such an incursion occurs. He (Russian President Vladimir Putin) has never seen sanctions like the ones I have promised will be imposed if Russia further advances into Ukraine, said Biden.

But he suggested a minor incursion would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country. Biden said that the level of punishment would depend on what Russias invasion looks like. Its one thing if its a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, said Biden. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine. And that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy, he said.

I have already shipped over USD 600 million worth of sophisticated defence equipment to the Ukrainians. The cost of going into Ukraine in terms of physical loss of life for Russians is going to be heavy, real and consequential, Biden added The US expects that Putin will be moving his 100,000 troops after amassing them along the Ukraine border.

Im not so sure he is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something, Biden said, describing a leader searching for relevance in a post-Soviet world. He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West. Biden made the remarks at the formal news conference marking his first year in office.
HAMDEN  A local man will spend more than two years behind bars for his role in selling cocaine and crack to his own network of drug dealers and users, according to federal prosecutors.

Judge Kari A. Dooley sentenced 63-year-old Frank Biggs to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, during a court appearance in Bridgeport on Tuesday.

Biggs, who is free on bond, was told to report to prison on March 18 to begin his sentence.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base  crack  on Sept. 22, 2021.

The charges against Biggs stemmed from a joint investigation led by the FBI and the Norwich, New London and Hartford police departments. The investigation focused on a narcotics distribution network that stretched from southeastern Connecticut to the Hartford, New Britain and Waterbury areas.

During the probe, investigators used court-authorized wiretaps, surveillance and search warrants. Investigators learned that Biggs would buy cocaine and crack from a supplier  identified by prosecutors as Aaron Clayton, of New Britain  and then sold the drugs to his own network of dealers and users.

Law enforcement officers searched Claytons home and two other residences tied to this drug trafficking organization on March 17, 2020. Prosecutors said about three kilograms of cocaine and almost $100,000 in cash were seized.

A grand jury returned an indictment on June 30, 2020, charging Biggs, Clayton and seven others with offenses related to their involvement in the drug ring.

Biggs was arrested on July 6, 2020.

Clayton, who pleaded guilty to his related charges, awaits sentencing.
A Hartford man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal gun possession and drug distribution charges, according to federal prosecutors.

In February 2021, 33-year-old Michael Davis of Hartford allegedly had crack cocaine and ecstasy that he intended to distribute, according to an indictment filed by a grand jury in October. At the time, Davis also possessed a Remington Arms 9mm handgun, the indictment read.

A federal grand jury indicted Davis in October with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, or crack, and MDMA, or ecstasy, which has a maximum prison term of 20 years; possession of a firearm by a felon, which has a maximum prison term of 10 years; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, which has a mandatory minimum prison term of five years that could go up to a life sentence, according to Leonard Boyle, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

The indictment also seeks forfeiture of the handgun and more than $1,000 seized from Davis when he was arrested, according to court documents, Boyles office said.

Davis has been in state custody since April 2021.

liz.hardaway@hearst.com
ASMARA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met with Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh here on Wednesday.

Wang Yi said that it has been 32 years in a row for Chinese foreign ministers to visit Africa for the first time. 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 African tour. China cherishes its traditional friendship with Eritrea and is willing to open up new prospects for the development of bilateral relations.

The biggest outcome of this visit is that the two sides reached a consensus and the top leaders of the two countries 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 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 that 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 will continue to promote democracy in international relations and safeguard international fairness and justice," said Wang.

China will always stand by our African brothers, and China's vote in the United Nations always belongs to developing countries.

On his part, Osman said the establishment of the Strategic Partnership between Eritrea and China will push bilateral relations to a new height.

Eritrea fully agrees with Chinese President Xi Jinping's "nine programs" initiative and is ready to work with China to align and implement the cooperation framework plan, strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, ports, industrial parks, and translate the willingness of cooperation into tangible results.

Eritrea and China share common ideals on issues such as peace and stability, sovereignty and independence, mutually beneficial development, 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 foreign ministers signed a joint statement. Enditem
NEW HAVEN  The city will receive federal money for two large projects in and around New Haven Harbor, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, announced.

The largest amount, $160.3 million, will help to protect Long Wharf from flooding because of large storms and climate change. The city also will receive $63 million to complete the project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge and widen the harbors shipping channel to make it more navigable by large ships.

Mayor Justin Elicker said both projects require a lot of planning and work and one of the reasons we were successful is because New Haven was already planning to respond to sea level rise and coastal events and was ready when the funding became available.

The Long Wharf protection plan is a resilience project, city Engineer Giovanni Zinn said. The project will protect the assets in the Long Wharf, the highway and the rail yard. I-95 and the Northeast Corridor are of national importance and I think this is a recognition on the part of the Army Corps and the federal government of their importance.

Interstate 95 is the primary barrier to flooding from the harbor, but the project will add a flood wall from the nature preserve in the southwest to beyond the Canal Dock Boathouse. There also will be five floodgates at the three I-95 underpasses and the exit and entrance ramps, Zinn said. The project also adds a pump station to deal with any water that gets behind the wall.

If you have an event where you have a storm surge in the harbor, the rain cant get out because its a gravity system and the water level in the harbor is too high, Zinn said. Long Wharf can see storm surges of 10 to 12 feet, he said.

Over the last decade, the catastrophic flooding in Connecticuts coastal areas have upended lives, destroyed homes and businesses, and completely reshaped the shoreline, DeLauro, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a release.

There is very little we can do to prevent natural disasters from occurring, but we can  and must  be proactive about preparing for them and minimizing the damage, she said. She said the project will create construction jobs and save on cleanup costs and losses from water damage.

The New Haven Harbor project will deepen the channel 5 feet to a total of 40 feet, and widen the channel and turning basin so larger ships can dock at the New Haven Terminal without having to lighten their load outside the breakwater.

The channel is 500 feet wide in the outer harbor, 400 feet wide in the inner harbor and 800 feet wide along the terminals, according to the Army Corps. The dredge material is going to be used to create a tidal marsh of the West Haven coast. There will be environmental benefits to that, Elicker said.

The Army Corps proposal included using the dredge material to fill a borrow pit off the citys East Shore that was created when fill was needed to build I-95 in the 1950s, as well as one near the West River.

This federal funding is a game-changer, DeLauro said in a release. This project will increase the navigation efficiency and safety of the New Haven Harbor. It will create good-paying jobs for longshoremen, truck drivers, warehousemen and construction workers and strengthen Connecticuts supply chain.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382
WEST HAVEN  Money may not grow on trees, but sometimes its hidden just barely out of sight. Now, West Haven High School seniors may stand to benefit.

The state treasurers office created the CT Big List, an online database of uncollected property, including people and entities who have property  such as old checking and savings accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten utility deposits, unclaimed life insurance proceeds or inactive stocks and bonds  they are owed but have not collected.

According to calculations by the New Haven Register, the city of West Haven  including several city departments such as its police and tax collector  has at least $3,950 in uncollected property. The school district also has at least $1,700 in uncollected property.

My thought is that if we can claim some of the funds, since its found money, we could put it towards scholarships for our high school seniors, said Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro.

He said that, after being alerted of the uncollected property  including at least $100 from by Boston Mutual Life Insurance that belongs to the school district dating back to 2004  he would alert the districts business office to initiate the process of collecting the money.

It is not possible to figure the exact amount owed from browsing the CT Big List database, with any money owed between $50 and $100 being noted as under $100 and anything in excess of that being noted as over $100. The exact amount of an item is not revealed until a claim is made.

City Council members said they were unaware of the unclaimed property. Council Chairman Peter Massaro said a request for comment from the Register Thursday was his first time hearing about it, and Finance Committee Chairwoman Bridgette Hoskie said she had no knowledge of the program.

Mayor Nancy Rossi and Finance Director Frank Cieplinski did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

According to the database, the city and several departments within the city can collect from multiple companies and governmental agencies such as United Illuminating, Coca Cola Refreshments, Southern Connecticut Gas, the University of New Haven and the Connecticut District Superior Court.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
Niagara Falls, NY (14301)

Today

Cloudy. Periods of rain early. High near 60F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

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Partly cloudy. Low near 40F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
The house of representatives has passed the electoral act amendment bill after revising the compulsory direct primary clause. The bill...

The house of representatives has passed the electoral act amendment bill after revising the compulsory direct primary clause.

The bill was read for the third time and passed during the plenary session on Thursday.

The house at its sitting on Wednesday removed the clause (84) requiring political parties to only select candidates through direct primaries.

The amended clause read: The procedure for nomination of candidates by political parties for various elective positions shall be by direct and indirect primaries.

The national assembly will send the bill back to the president after it has agreed with the house of representatives on it.

President Muhammadu Buhari had declined assent to the bill, citing his reservations with the direct primary clause.

The senate and lower legislative chamber had passed the bill in July 2021 and adopted compulsory primary poll for all political parties.
A Corps member attached to the Asamabiri Community Primary School in Asamabiri community of Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, ...









A Corps member attached to the Asamabiri Community Primary School in Asamabiri community of Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Jonathan Ogbe, has absconded from his one-year compulsory national service over his alleged involvement in the defilement of a 12-year-old pupil in the state.





It was reported that Jonathan Ogbe, 31 years and indigene of Kogi State, with NYSC call up number, NYSC/ABU/2020/113131, abandoned service and has since refused to pick up his discharge certificate having been on the run from the law.





Following the incident which allegedly occurred in September 2021, the Civil Society Group, Gender-based advocacy groups and indigenes of the community have accused the gender unit of the Bayelsa Police Command of foot-dragging in arresting and prosecuting the corps member.





The NYSC through the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mathew Ngobua, however, denied claims of footdragging but revealed that the corps member had already absconded following the allegations.





He said,  The accused has abandoned service and all his numbers and that of his next of kin are not reachable. He has not even picked up his discharge certificate for service.





Ngobua also said the disappearance of the accused corps member was noticed when he was invited for the usual practice of the NYSC disciplinary measure of bringing the accused to camp, de-kitting them and handing them over to the police for investigation.





We discovered that he has abandoned service.





It was also gathered yesterday that the accused Corps member, reportedly lured the 12 years old girl, names withheld, who is a pupil in the community primary school to his house and defiled her repeatedly.





According to the father of the victim, Nelson Gbaranbiri, his wife brought his attention to some strange discharge found in the panties of his 12-years-old daughter while doing her laundry. My wife brought my attention to the stains and discharges she usually finds in the panties of my daughter. When I asked about what happened to her private part, she told me that uncle will beat her.





Gbaranbiri also confirmed that when he reported to the Divisional Police, they did nothing concerning the incident, they asked me to arrest the accused and bring him to the station. They even demanded that I pay them before they can drive down to arrest the suspect. I also met with the NYSC, they also showed signs of indifference. I have protested now to the GRIT and hoping actions would be taken to arrest and prosecute this paedophile.





In the petition forwarded to the State Police Commissioner and dated 3rd of September, 2021, the counsel to the victims family, A.O.Aniso Esq, said When the accused corps member was confronted with the victims claim, he admitted being responsible and pleaded for forgiveness. And seeing that the minor was physically distressed and needed medical attention, the parents took her to the community medical centre and their worst fears were confirmed.





After the medical confirmation, the family again confronted the corps member over his wrongdoing and he apologize profusely even offering N50, 000 to cover medical treatment. This is a criminal act and he has brought great shame to my clients family.





Also reacting to the copy of the petition made available to the State Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT), the Chairperson, Barr. Dise Ogbise confirmed that the GRIT has just received the petition and assured that GRIT will reach out to the State Police Command for more update.





We anticipate a prompt response by the Police to the petition already served them. As GRIT, Bayelsa State, we will not relax and we will give the child all the necessary legal and psychological support needed.
People visit a photo exhibition, which showcases more than 50 photographs depicting important events for China and Ukraine, in the Chinese Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

KIEV, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal sent a congratulatory letter to the Chinese embassy, in which he praised the progress made in the development of China-Ukraine relations, expressing the hope that Beijing and Kiev will use the occasion of the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to achieve even greater and better results.

Shmyhal wished the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games a success.

While addressing the reception, Chinese Ambassador Fan Xianrong said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Ukraine 30 years ago, the relations between the two countries have continuously developed, and their cooperation has expanded and deepened.

China and Ukraine have become important strategic partners, Fan said, adding that China is Ukraine's largest trading partner, while Ukraine is the biggest supplier of corn, sunflower oil and meal to the Chinese market.

Noting that Ukraine is China's friend and partner, Fan stressed that the peoples of the two countries have long been friendly towards each other, and China will always promote friendly relations and cooperation with Ukraine.

The reception also featured a photo exhibition, which showcased more than 50 photographs depicting important events for the two countries. 

Chinese students sing at a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

Chinese Ambassador Fan Xianrong speaks at a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)
Bola Tinubu, presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), visited Ibrahim Babangida, former military head of state, in Mi...

Bola Tinubu, presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), visited Ibrahim Babangida, former military head of state, in Minna, Niger state on Thursday.

The visit was part of his nationwide consultation on his 2023 presidential aspiration.

After meeting with Babangida, Tinubu was also hosted by Abubakar Sani Bello, governor of Niger state.

Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state, had recently expressed his interest in vying for the highest office in the country.

According to the APC chieftain, becoming Nigerias president is his lifelong ambition.

See below photos from Tinubus visit to Niger.












Shehu Sani, socio-political activist, has reacted to the Abia State High Court judgment in favour of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indige...

Shehu Sani, socio-political activist, has reacted to the Abia State High Court judgment in favour of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Sani declared that no appeal against the judgment would stand.

Justice Ben Anya yesterday ordered the Federal Government to pay one billion naira compensation to Kanu over the violation of his fundamental human rights.

In his ruling, the judge declared Kanus arrest as illegal, and ordered the Federal Government to issue a public apology to him.

The IPOB leader had filed a fundamental right suit against the Federal Government before Justice Anya.

Kanu filed the suit through his Special Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor on the grounds of military invasion of his residence in 2017, his rearrest and torture in Kenya, his repatriation to Nigeria, amongst others.

However, the judge further ruled that the government should pursue a political solution in resolving Kanus trial.

Reacting, Sani congratulated the IPOB leader for the victory.

In a tweet, the former Kaduna Central Senator, wrote: Brother Nnamdi, congratulations for your one billion Naira victory.

No appeal against this judgment shall succeed. Remember those of us who are not insulting you. Relax Bro.
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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- The Red Cross Society of China has provided emergency humanitarian cash assistance of 100,000 U.S. dollars to Tonga.

- China will continue to assist Tonga with a batch of emergency supplies such as drinking water, food, personal protective equipments, and disaster relief equipments, which will arrive as soon as the flight conditions permit.

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Aid from China, which included cash assistance and emergency supplies, has arrived in tsunami-hit Tonga to help the South Pacific island country out of crisis.

"The Chinese side pays close attention to the situation in Tonga, and has taken urgent action to help Tonga in disaster relief to the best of its ability," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a press briefing on Thursday.

The Red Cross Society of China has provided emergency humanitarian cash assistance of 100,000 U.S. dollars to Tonga, Zhao said, adding that the Chinese government, through the Chinese Embassy in Tonga, has managed to put together in the shortest time possible some emergency supplies including drinking water and food and delivered them to Tonga on Wednesday.

Photo taken on Jan. 19, 2022 shows a beach resort hit by tsunami on the outskirts of Nuku'alofa, capital of Tonga. (Ha'atafu Beach Resort/Handout via Xinhua)

Tonga has been battered by the worst natural disasters in history resulting from a massive volcano eruption which occurred on Saturday and its ensuing tsunami and volcanic ash.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to King of Tonga Tupou VI and Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni respectively.

Residents clear ashes and rubbles from a road in Nuku'alofa, capital of Tonga. (Photo by Marian Kupu/Xinhua)

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese government will continue to assist the Tongan side with a batch of emergency supplies such as drinking water, food, personal protective equipments, and disaster relief equipments, which will arrive as soon as the flight conditions permit.

During the crisis in Tonga, President Xi sent a message of sympathy and the Chinese government immediately extended a helping hand, said Tupou VI, adding that the Tongan government and people were moved by China's act of kindness and are deeply grateful. 
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 57F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

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Partly cloudy. Low 39F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
JERUSALEM, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli imports from China jumped by 39.6 percent in 2021, said a report released by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

In 2021, Israeli imports from China, excluding diamonds, amounted to 13.19 billion U.S. dollars, compared to 9.45 billion dollars in 2020.

With the latest figure, China kept its position as Israel's largest source of imports, after passing the United States in 2020 on the list of Israeli imports.

Israeli imports from the United States totaled 7.89 billion in 2021, almost unchanged from 2020.

Meanwhile, Israeli exports to China increased by 4.4 percent in 2021, totaling 4.93 billion dollars, compared to 4.72 billion dollars in 2020.

Total Israeli imports rose by 30.3 percent in 2021, reaching 90.28 billion dollars, while Israeli exports totaled 60.07 billion dollars, an increase of 19.8 percent. 
The opening menu at Lisa Queen Trini Nelsons new Mid-City restaurant is short, but it bears close attention from diners. Even people well-versed in the cooking of Nelson's native Trinidad and Tobago will find some unfamiliar and singular dishes here.

That's because Nelson's cooking is a reflection of her roots and also her journey, and the new restaurant Queen Trini Lisa represents a big step on that path.

It all plays out on the plate or, in some delicious examples, wrapped up tightly in wax paper.

One prime example is the barbecue jerk chicken, a dish that starts with the earthy, peppery spice of classic jerk preparations and then layers on barbecue sauce thats dark as molasses, just a tad sweeter, a bit smoky and lip-smacking good.

Jerk chicken is a Jamaican staple. While growing up on Trinidad, the Caribbean island just off Venezuela and the one most distant from Jamaica, Nelson had never seen jerk chicken.

The first time I ever had it was in New York, Nelson said, after her family immigrated to the United States.

Her own version came together when she entered the jerk chicken contest at the Marley Gras festival in Central City in 2019.

All these guys there were from Jamaica, and thats their dish, so I knew I wanted to do something different, she said.

To her amazement, and initial disbelief, the festival judges gave her barbecue jerk chicken the first place award.

Barbecue is big back home in Trinidad and Tobago, the two islands that form a single nation, and African, Indian and Chinese influences play foundational roles in the countrys Trinbagonian food culture.

Nelson finds harmony in connecting the cooking of the Caribbean's southernmost island to its northern most port, New Orleans.

"There is so much here that feels like home," she said.

Nelson got her start in her adopted home running a pop-up out of a small grocery store in the Bywater. Later, she moved her operation to a Central City lounge.

When the pandemic hit, she was part of the Feed the Front Line initiative, supplying handmade meals to medical personnel then contending with the early throes of the coronavirus crisis.

It kept her cooking, and it introduced many more people to her style.

To start 2022, she opened the doors to her own restaurant, a corner spot down a Mid-City side street, just off busy South Carrollton Avenue. The address was home to the Cuban restaurant Garces for decades before Hurricane Katrina, and later became a market called Regla Store. Most recently it was a Latin American restaurant called Union Market, which closed last year.

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When Nelson first walked in and saw the pressed tin ceiling, the Spanish-style tile floor and the broad, sunny windows, she thought heres a restaurant fit for a queen.

Certainly, so is her cooking.

Another creation that has sprung from her journey is the coco bread fish sandwich. She jokes that its the United Nations sandwich, blending elements from different cultures.

Coco bread is another Jamaican staple which has a milky-sweet inner texture and firm outer crust. The finished loaf looks like its folded over onto itself. Nelson splits that open and fills it with catfish crusted in Louisiana-style fish fry, sliced pineapple, sweet fried plantains, cucumber and tomato.

She recommends a dose of the tangy-thick tamarind chutney. I like it with the fiery mango habanero sauce, too.

When it comes to the doubles, this is all Trinbagonian tradition.

Doubles start with a distinctive puffy flatbread that is tinged yellow and flavorfully suffused with turmeric. These are folded around (or doubled over) a curried chickpea chana and a cooling cucumber chutney.

Each of these taco-like bundles are wrapped in wax paper, and Nelson has developed some flair in preparing them. Look into her kitchen and you can see her whipping the paper into twists with one rapid swipe of her wrists.

This kitchen is another thing Nelson loves about the new location. Compared with her earlier stops, its large, modern and well-equipped. And its also open to the dining room

Its so big and open, she said. I can see everyone and interact with them now.

Queen Trini Lisa

4200 D'Hemecourt St., (504) 345-2058

Initial hours Tue.-Sat. noon to 8 p.m.

+56 Ian McNulty: A year of New Orleans dining in 52 dishes, and a few drinks There are many ways to sum up a year in the New Orleans dining scene. Below, I'm giving you 52 of them, snapshot style, with tastes that contr

+47 Where to eat next in New Orleans, the comfort food restaurant picks we all need right now Hows 2022 treating you so far? Im guessing a big serving of comfort food could be in order, so thats the theme for this latest edition of o

+13 Le Chat Noir, new restaurant in a former New Orleans cabaret, makes thrilling debut The look around the dining room is spare, with smooth gray walls catching the patterns of artful light fixtures. Then a flash of flames from t
A century and a half ago, Lewis J. Salomon, wearing a borrowed costume and sporting a crown atop his bewigged head, climbed onto a horse as the first Rex, king of Carnival, and led a parade through the French Quarter and Central Business District.

The fact that the Feb. 13, 1872, procession happened at all was remarkable because the Rex organization had been formed only a few weeks beforehand by a group of young men who came up with the idea in the St. Charles Hotel. It was such a last-minute production that the founders had to rely on costumes from a visiting theatrical troupe; Salomons costume was designed for the actor portraying Richard III.

Rex: The 150th Anniversary of the School of Design WHERE: The Presbytere, 751 Chartres St. WHEN: Through Dec. 11, 2022. ADMISSION: $10 for adults; $8 for students, seniors and active-duty military; free for children under 6. MORE INFO: Visit louisianastatemuseum.org

Even so, that first parade marked the debut of an organization that, through a combination of tradition and innovation, would forever transform the celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Dr. Stephen W. Hales, a former Rex, wrote in Rex: 150 Years of the School of Design.

The krewes history, artistry and emphasis on public service  its motto is Pro Bono Publico (For the Public Good)  are celebrated in Rex: The 150th Anniversary of the School of Design, an exhibit in the Presbytere that will open to the public on Feb. 1. The show will be on view through Dec. 11.

To be sure, there will be a history of the krewe, along with galleries devoted to the kings and queens of Carnival, parades and all the glittering rhinestone regalia that you can squeeze into one room, said Wayne Phillips, the exhibits lead curator, who has been working on this project for five years.

But, he said, we didnt want it to be a rehash of what has been written about for decades and decades.  Youre not going to see everything you ever heard about Rex, but Im hoping visitors will see things they didnt know.

To accomplish that goal, Phillips said he went online and Googled every kings and queens name to see what popped up. That put him in touch with families who shared their stories and, in some cases, their heirlooms, including Frances Isabel Morris crown and scepter from 1882 that her family had cared for in Rhode Island.

Making such connections, Phillips said, has been what allowed this exhibition to be what it has become.

One prize of this widespread hunt  and probably the oldest piece on display  is a beribboned pin called a ducal medal that Salomon, a bond and investment broker, was given the year after his reign. He didnt get one in 1872 because, Hales said, everything was borrowed for that celebration.

The pin was lent for the exhibition by Colgate Salomon, the first Rexs great-great-grandson. He grew up with it  it was in a shadow box on the living-room wall in his familys home  and he inherited it from his father, who, Salomon said, was very proud of it.

Although he lives in Virginia, Salomon, 63, is no stranger to Mardi Gras. While he was on the Naval ROTC faculty at Tulane University in the 1980s, he marched with midshipmen in three Rex parades.

The quest for descendants of the make-believe monarchs took Phillips and Hales across the United States and to Europe. In Italy, Phillips found Idanna Pucci, whose great-grandmother, Cora Slocomb, was Rexs consort in 1881.

Her reign was only the beginning of a remarkable life. After Slocomb doffed her crown and royal robe, she moved to Italy, married Count Detalmo di Brazza and founded a lace-making school so local women could learn how to make a living. The countess, who shuttled between Italy and the United States, became involved in progressive activities, including working successfully to save a woman sentenced to die in New York States electric chair because she had killed her lover.

Pucci wrote this book about her ancestor: The Lady of Sing Sing: An American Countess, an Italian Immigrant, and Their Epic Battle for Justice in New York's Gilded Age.

Whenever I speak about (her life), eyes open wide to reveal a look of disbelief tinged with admiration and wonder! Pucci wrote in an email. No matter what, everyone is very impressed.

Lace from the countess school will be on display. Pucci plans to view the exhibit, which, she said, should be lots of fun and filled with curiosities and beauty.

By telling stories in the exhibit about people who may have been overlooked in Carnival histories, weve been able to shine a light on these women, Hales said.

Despite their dogged sleuthing, there was one mystery that Hales and Phillips couldnt solve: Why the Rex organization is known as the School of Design.

That was the name they chose under which to incorporate this organization, Hales said, adding that the reason for that choice is lost to history.

+7 From floats to feathers, 'Making Mardi Gras' explores every corner of Carnival culture After last years Mardi Gras hiatus, a pent-up New Orleans is ready to cut loose and get crazy as the city observes its signature celebration.
Sarah Manowitz, general manager at Oz, had to postpone a Barmans Fund event scheduled for Monday for two reasons. The first was the Omicron variant, which has been spreading rapidly in the city.

The second, however, is potentially far more unsettling for barflies and editors across the city: She was out of Jameson. And so was her distributor.

If there is no Jameson and Im hosting 400 New Orleans bartenders, there would be a riot, Manowitz said.

Over at The Phoenix bar on Elysian Fields, owner Tracey Deroche has been out of Jameson for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Bailey Smith, co-owner of R Bar and Bud Rips, said his bars switched to Tully Irish whiskey back in October due to the low availability of Jameson, but even that appears to be a fix with an expiration date.

We still have Jameson but dont rely on it for volume any longer, Smith said. As I understand it, Tully is about to get scarce for a moment, too.

With Mardi Gras approaching, being out of one of the most popular whiskeys in the country would be nerve wracking enough for bartenders and drinkers alike. But its not just Jameson thats running low.

Trying to get any type of tequila, Crown Royal and Makers Mark (whiskey) has been a feat, Manowitz said.

And though some customers have recently begun noticing the shortage because its hit their favorite drink, there have been supply chain shortages affecting the bar industry throughout the pandemic  hitting everything from liquor to glasses and pour spouts.

In addition to running out of some liquors, Manowitz said she hasnt been able to get canned 7 Up or three-ounce shot glasses in weeks. And even when she is able to place an order, she never knows if it will arrive in full.

Republic National Distributing Co., who distributes Jameson locally, did not respond to Gambits request for comment. The New Orleans office referred the paper to the national media hotline, which did not return a voicemail.

Like in many industries, the supply chain and shipping issues stem from the closures of some factories and manufacturing plants early in the pandemic, as well as a lack of workers in some places due to poor working conditions, low wages and a virus that has killed many workers. When bars reopened after being shut down earlier in the pandemic, that created a demand the supply chains couldnt meet.

This has made a nearly impossible situation for bars and others in the alcohol industry even harder. Because of the shortages, local distributors are having to tell long-time clients that theyre currently unable to provide them with certain products and may not have a timeframe on when that will change.

Everyones understaffed, Manowitz said. The reps have been driving trucks.

Jordan Dauterive, a French Quarter account manager for beer distributor Southern Eagle Sales & Service, said the beer industry was facing a similar shortage about a year ago, but that things have turned around in the last six months.

With all of our vendors, we're really stocked up, which is great going into Carnival season and busy times like this, he said. For us in the beer world, I mean there's still some hiccups  one week turnover time as opposed to seamless  but really all the issues that we were really having have cleared themselves up.

As the city gears up for its first Carnival season since 2020, bar owners and managers plan to just make do with whatever they have and can manage to acquire by then.

Manowitz said she expects Carnival to be a shitshow as usual  though more so this year with all of the shortages. Still, nearly two years into the pandemic, her mentality at this point is: Its gonna be what its gonna be.

For now, she takes some consolation in the fact that all local bars are in the same boat, so if customers are upset about her bar being out of a product, they likely wont be able to go to another bar without running into the same problem.

Dauterive predicts that, like he saw with the beer industry last year, people will start trying out other brands of their go-to liquors.

When we were out of Stella (Artois), we sold other pilsners and people started trying other pilsners, and now the pilsners that we weren't selling as much of have gained a little popularity, he said. I know there's a Jameson shortage right now  that's not to say that these other Irish whiskey brands that are in the market aren't gonna see an uptick because people who like drinking Irish whiskey will drink Irish whiskey.
The New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute is now accepting applications and nominations for its newest program, Pathways for Upward Mobility Program.

PUMP is an 8-week, grant-based curriculum course for hospitality professionals who

identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color seeking career advancement, leadership roles, and entrepreneurial skills. The program aims to create a more equitable hospitality industry.

Employers are encouraged to nominate employees, and individuals may apply.

The deadline to apply is February, 17 at NOCHI.org/pump.

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The next cohort kicks off March 7.

PUMP focuses on a curriculum that helps BIPOC students advance to upper-level positions in the hospitality industry, thus creating opportunities for more lucrative, stable, and equitable careers. The training includes courses from business financial viability, operations, and company culture to leadership and relationship-building. It also incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion training to build better workplaces with higher staff retention. Students can expect a hands-on curriculum that includes field trips, networking with industry professionals and certifications.

We developed PUMP in order to educate, empower, and build confidence among BIPOC service industry workers, Marquita White, workforce training and development manager and program lead said. Currently, only three percent of management positions in New Orleans hospitality community are held by BIPOC. We created PUMP to change this paradigm and promote positive hospitality culture.

NOCHI recently celebrated its inaugural PUMP class in December, graduating six students, including valedictorian Martin Narcisse of SoBou.

For information or to apply, visit Nochi.org/pump or contact White at marquita.white@nochi.org.
A man was shot dead Wednesday afternoon in a Bayou St. John home, New Orleans police said.

Update: Arrest made in Bayou St. John killing

Officers said they were summoned to the 800 block of Hagan Avenue at 3:47 p.m., and found the man with multiple gunshot wounds. He was declared dead there.

The Police Department did not release more details.

Neighbor Schirra Simmons described the victim as a cool guy who could often be seen drinking beer on his front porch. A frequent guest at Simmons' cookouts, he was friendly and easygoing but had a troubled domestic situation, he said.

It was the third killing of the day in New Orleans, after a fatal stabbing at a Treme apartment building in the 2100 block of Ursulines Avenue and a fatal shooting in the 1300 block of Flanders Street in Algiers.

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"There is absolutely a surge of violent crime in this community," Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said, amid handwringing among city officials over an increase in crime. "We need to be surging back with strategies."

The spate of violence has Simmons considering getting a gun.

"I want to protect my block and my neighborhood," Simmons said. "You've got to do what you've got to do to survive. Ain't nothing free out here. People be shot for no reason at all."

Anyone with information on the Hagan Avenue killing may call homicide detective Jamaane Roy at (504) 658-5300 or Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans Inc. at (504) 822-1111.
A Jefferson Parish grand jury charged three men with second-degree murder in the execution of a motorcyclist who was shot and killed while riding near Westwego.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office investigators suspect James White, a 34-year-old father of three from Algiers, was shot from behind while riding his motorcycle on Wayne Avenue near the intersection with the West Bank Expressway on July 31, 2020.

Vincent Goffner, 25, Jacorey Davis, 20, and Malik Rodrigue, 24, were charged Jan. 15 in White's death, Jefferson Parish court records show. The trio and a fourth defendant, Tyran Simpson, 27, face several other charges in the three-page bill of indictment handed up by the grand jury.

Detectives say Goffner and the victim were involved in a fight, possibly over a woman, on the day of the shooting. Goffner is accused of targeting White as White drove away from the neighborhood where the altercation occurred, according to authorities.

Witnesses reported seeing a white sport utility vehicle with several people inside flee the scene of the shooting. Detectives linked Goffner, Davis and Rodrigue to the killing, the Sheriff's Office said.

+3 3rd suspect arrested in slaying of man shot while riding motorcycle near Westwego Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives have arrested a third suspect in the slaying of an Algiers man who was fatally shot while he rode

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Goffner is also charged with two counts of drug possession, two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly disposing the gun used to kill White. He's also accused of asking a relative to erase videos and other potential evidence from a social media account after his arrest in connection with the case, court records said.

Davis and Simpson were charged with illegally firing guns in an incident that occurred on July 30, 2021, according to court records. No other details were immediately available about those charges, including why prosecutors included them with the indictment connected to White's killing.

Davis also faces one count of terrorizing, accused of threatening to shoot the manager of a Gretna convenience store on Sept. 6.

Goffner and Davis pleaded not guilty in the case. Rodrigue is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 24.

No arraignment date has been set for Simpson, who was released from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna Aug. 27 on a $75,000 bond, court records said.

Goffner, Davis and Rodrigue were being held Wednesday at the Gretna jail. Goffner's bond is $1.2 million. Bond for Davis was set at $825,000, while Rodrigue's bond was $750,000.
A man has been arrested and accused of fatally shooting another man inside a Bayou St. John home, New Orleans police said Thursday.

Enrique J. Garcia, 23, was booked late Wednesday into the Orleans Parish Justice Center on a count of second-degree murder, according to online jail records.

He is accused of fatally shooting a man Wednesday inside a home in the 800 block of Hagan Avenue (map), police said. Authorities were called to the shooting at 3:47 p.m., and they found that the victim had been shot multiple times. He died at the scene.

Authorities have not released the victim's name or age.

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In a news release, police said the investigation led to Garcia and that he was located and arrested later in the day without incident. No more details were immediately available, including a possible motive or what led investigators to identify Garcia as a suspect.

It was the third killing of the day in New Orleans, after a fatal stabbing at a Treme apartment building in the 2100 block of Ursulines Avenue and a fatal shooting in the 1300 block of Flanders Street in Algiers.
Citing potentially hazardous road conditions due to winter weather, some schools across the New Orleans area say they are closing or switching to virtual classes Friday. Check NOLA.com for updates.

Here's the list:

Orleans Parish

Roman Catholic schools - De La Salle High, St. Andrew the Apostle and St. Alphonsus shift to virtual learning. St. Benedict the Moor and Mount Carmel Academy closed.

St. John the Baptist Parish

Public school - K-8 students will be sent home Thursday with work packets; teachers available Friday via TEAMS. High school students attend virtual classes Friday via TEAMS.

K-8 students will be sent home Thursday with work packets; teachers available Friday via TEAMS. High school students attend virtual classes Friday via TEAMS. Roman Catholic schools - Ascension of Our Lord, St. Charles Catholic High and St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace and St. Peter in Reserve shift to virtual learning. Parents and students may check with schools for further instructions.

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St. Tammany Parish

Public schools - Shift to virtual. Attendance mandatory via Google Classroom

Shift to virtual. Attendance mandatory via Google Classroom Roman Catholic schools - Closed.

Washington Parish

Roman Catholic schools - Annunciation in Bogalusa will start later than usual; students may arrive beginning at 9:30 a.m. in "warm free dress," with classes starting at 10 a.m.

The National Weather Service said bridges and elevated roadways could become icy late Thursday night into Friday morning across the north shore and in the River Parishes, most likely between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.
With the federal government poised to spend billions of dollars on green infrastructure, New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno rolled out a new climate committee Wednesday.

The panel asked the municipal government to switch to 100% renewable energy within three years and recommended that City Hall stop buying gasoline-guzzling vehicles.

Moreno also has bigger plans. Like Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who announced a task force aimed at identifying shovel-ready projects on Tuesday, she hopes the local government can tap the huge pots of federal money directed at hardening the electrical grid and protecting against climate change, under last years $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. Hurricane Ida was a stark reminder of how much New Orleans needs to prepare for climate change, Moreno said.

Storms are coming at us so much faster, and they're stronger, she said. We can't afford to make excuses of why we can't meet clean energy and climate goals, but instead we need to find a way to get to yes.

The infrastructure law that President Joe Biden signed in November includes a $5 billion U.S. Department of Energy grant program for power grid upgrades. The City Council could play a central role in obtaining some of that money as the regulator for Entergy New Orleans, which saw its distribution system collapse after Ida, with deadly results for some senior citizens.

As an unwilling poster child for climate change, New Orleans has a leg up in obtaining federal money. It also has friends in high places: former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans is serving as an adviser to Biden, and former Mayor Mitch Landrieu was recently tapped as the White Houses infrastructure czar.

In November, the City Council launched a planning process for electrical system resiliency and storm hardening. It is supposed to produce a list of priorities by March 1. Moreno said she hopes it will include ideas for propping up Entergys utility poles and wires but also for creating microgrids that can operate independent from Entergy.

We have a plan for moving forward with a better power grid and stronger power grid, and as we put this plan together, we brought all stakeholders to the table, she said. That is going to, at the end of the day, hopefully put us at the top of the list as far as receiving federal dollars.

+6 In Florida, some see a model for Louisiana's ailing electric grid after devastating hurricanes Two consecutive hurricane seasons brought hellish storms that battered the electrical grid and left millions languishing in the summer heat, w

The newly created climate committee cleaves off some functions previously assigned to the Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology Committee, which is chaired by council Vice President JP Morrell. The utility committee will still be tasked with overseeing the creation of a new Entergy substation to power New Orleans' drainage system. In an interview, Morrell said there is plenty of work to go around.

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Honestly, Im very appreciative that we spun off climate, because its such a massive issue, he said. Unless you have a robust plan with everybody aligned, you basically dont get the money.

Separately, Moreno sponsored two measures that received committee approval Wednesday.

The first is a resolution that urges City Hall and the Sewerage and Water Board to switch to all-renewable energy for their internal operations by 2025. More than 40 cities ranging from Houston to Orlando, Florida, have already set similar goals, according to a presentation given to the council.

Municipal operations, which dont include residences and businesses, consumed 94,000 megawatt hours in 2020 at a cost of $9 million, according to the resolution, making the local government a major purchaser in its own right. The non-binding resolution doesnt estimate how much the switch would cost.

A separate ordinance, aimed at gradually remaking the government's auto fleet, would direct the administration to buy only plug-in hybrid or electric cars starting in 2025. But the ordinance includes a significant carve-out: Departments could request a public safety exemption, which means that big motor pools at the Police Department, Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services could keep buying internal combustion engines that run on gasoline or diesel.

+9 After Ida left millions in the dark, advocates turn to solar power. How much can it help? When Hurricane Ida knocked out all eight of the transmission lines that bring power to New Orleans, it highlighted a vulnerability in the way 

Both proposals now head to the full council. Cantrell's office expressed some caution about the clean energy resolution.

"While the city agrees with the council's objective of moving toward 100% renewable power reliability, the city must balance this objective, in particular, with the immediate need to bring more durable power to the Sewerage and Water Board," administration spokesperson Beau Tidwell said.

In the address kicking off her second term earlier this month, the mayor said she wants New Orleans to compete for billions, rather than millions" in federal infrastructure dollars. On Wednesday, the mayor stressed the importance of unity between state and local agencies in a statement announcing her new infrastructure task force.

"The work of the ... task force will ensure the agencies within this city and region speak with one voice on the most critical existential issues we face," she said. "Our best chance of successfully competing for these federal dollars is to do this in a holistic and coordinated way.
Louisiana will get $2.7 billion for several dozen levee, flood control and other infrastructure projects, including major funding to help complete the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee system around Houma and to elevate several hundred homes in southwest Louisiana, federal officials said Wednesday.

The money comes from two recent funding bills approved by Congress, the Hurricane Ida Disaster Supplemental Appropriations bill approved in September and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act approved in November, both of which initially received mostly lukewarm receptions from Louisiana's majority Republican congressional delegation.

The disaster funding bill was eventually supported by U.S. Reps. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, and Julia Letlow, R-Monroe, as well as Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, the lone Democrat in the state delegation, in the House and by both U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy in the Senate. That bill was opposed by Reps. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, and Mike Johnson, R-Bossier City, in the House.

On the infrastructure bill, the lone Republican supporter from Louisiana was Cassidy, who helped broker its passage as a bipartisan bill in the Senate. In the House, only Carter supported the bill on final passage.

But all those "no" votes didn't stop many of of those same members of Congress from hailing the influx of cash. Scalise, who as the No. 2 Republican in the House helped whip GOP members to vote against both bills, touted the federal spending in a news release Wednesday.

After Louisiana suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Ida, I am pleased to see the Corps include over $1 billion for projects in Louisianas First Congressional District," he said. "As our states recovery continues, I am committed to pushing the Corps to ensure South Louisiana has the resources necessary to restore and improve protection for our citizens and communities.

Scalise's news release did not mention he helped line up opposition to the vote.

When asked why Scalise issued a release praising the funding that resulted from the bill he opposed last year, his spokesman Hunter Lovell pointed out that the Louisiana money was only a small part of a vastly larger bill that Scalise voted against because of its potential effects on the budget.

"The federal funding released today builds on years of work by Congressman Scalise on these flood protection projects," Lovell said in an email response. "Congressman Scalise, along with Congressman Garret Graves, secured the language in a House bill that allowed the Morganza-to-the-Gulf project to receive federal construction funding for the first time in its history."

Infrastructure money released and praised by congress people who didn't vote for the bill The federal government released another tranche of infrastructure money  $2 billion for Louisiana  that Republican Congressmen Steve Scalise

The announcement of the new money streams came on the same day that the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority unveiled its 2023 annual budget, which calls for spending $1.3 billion over 12 months beginning July 1. The plan includes work on 144 projects statewide, including $1 billion to be spent on construction of 76 projects.

Authority chairman Chip Kline said during Wednesdays meeting that the state plans totals would likely rise because of the federal funds announcement, since many of the projects will require state matching funds. But the matching money for several larger projects was already built into the plan, he said.

We're going to be spending the rest of the afternoon trying to get our head around exactly what this means, Kline said.

The $378.5 million from the infrastructure bill for the Morganza levee system follows much smaller appropriations of $12.5 million in 2020 and $19 million in 2021. It represents the largest federal contribution thus far towards completing the $3 billion, 92-mile levee system.

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The state and Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes already have contributed more than $1 billion towards the levee systems construction, and their contributions will be used to meet the states required 35% match for federal dollars for the project, officials said.

This new money will pay for the revamp of several floodgates, as officials continue to build out a system designed to protect interior areas from hurricane storm surges that have a 1% chance of occurring in any year. Those include the Minors Canal Floodgate, Humble Canal Floodgate, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway East and West floodgates. The Lockport to Larose levee reach and the Reach A South levee will also be redone.

Early view of areas eligible for building elevation This map shows areas that are likely to be eligible for a share of $125 million that will be used to elevate structures in low-lying areas of 

Meanwhile, the Southwest Coastal Louisiana Hurricane Protection project will get $125 million to elevate structures in the current 25-year floodplain in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion parishes. This is the first federal contribution to the Southwest Coastal program, which is aimed at reducing flooding problems and restoring wetlands in areas south of Lake Charles.

The Corps will get $783 million to elevate hurricane levees in Plaquemines Parish to levels able to withstand overtopping from storm surges with a 2% chance of occurring in any year, a so-called 50-year storm. Hurricane levees to the north of this stretch of levees are built to the 100-year level of protection.

The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee system will receive an additional $453 million from the disaster relief bill to apply lessons learned from Hurricane Idas flooding of St. John the Baptist and other parishes to upgrade its design. The levee project, barely under way, already has received $760 million in federal funds that was supposed to cover completing its construction by the end of 2025.

Once the Corps completes a general reevaluation report on the levees design, the additional money is expected to be used for additional armoring and improving pump stations that are part of the project, a Corps spokesman said.

Construction of the levee has been delayed by a legal challenge to the Pontchartrain Levee Districts expropriation of 364 acres of land owned by Nature Land Co. LLC, a company owned by a former judge and a prominent New Orleans developer. The landowner company dropped its final challenge to the expropriation on Tuesday, state officials said, clearing the way for the Corps to enter the property.

Im dancing in my seat! exclaimed Monica Salins Gorman, executive director of the levee district, during Wednesdays meeting of the coastal authority, as authority chairman Chip Kline notified authority members of both the additional money for the levee and the legal settlement.

Other funded projects include:

$162.6 million for improvements to the Atchafalaya Basin floodway

$9.9 million to repair levee slides at two Atchafalaya Basin locations, and for dredging of a shoaling area in the basin near Morgan City.

$10 million to build the Bayou Sale East-West tie-in.

$94.3 million to design and partially build drainage projects in Algiers

$402 million for repairs to Mississippi River levees and channels throughout the state

Some disaster money could help elevate New Orleans-area levees, according to corps officials, but it's unclear yet how much. Officials are waiting to learn just how much those elevations will cost, according to a list of projects released Wednesday. The Corps has proposed spending $3 billion over 50 years to keep the levees elevated to the 100-year surge protection level, with the first construction lifts to begin in 2028.

The Corps list also includes $798,000 in disaster funds to begin work repairing levees on Grand Isle damaged during Hurricane Zeta in 2020. It also includes a separate entry for undetermined funds for additional repairs to the islands levees resulting from damage during Hurricane Ida in August.

The list also includes $3 million to conduct a study of the islands levee system, something the CPRA has requested in the aftermath of Ida to determine better ways of dealing with hurricane surge damage.

Editor's note: This story was updated Wednesday night to include a comment from Rep. Steve Scalise's spokesman on Scalise's past actions in support of more funding for Louisiana.
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.
Scranton, Pa.  A former federal prison chaplain was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to bribery of a public official.

Ericion Thomas, 46, of Hermitage, Pa., received money in exchange for smuggling items of contraband into the penitentiary when he worked for the United States Penitentiary at Canaan in Waymart, according to a release from the United States Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The contraband items included, among other things, cigarettes, a G-shock watch, a pair of Gucci sunglasses, and pornographic magazines. His illegal conduct spanned a period of approximately 11 months.

Thomas resigned his position as a Bureau of Prisons chaplain on April 26, 2017. Thomas also forfeited $15,000 to the U.S. Marshal Forfeiture Fund prior to sentencing, according to the release.

United States District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani handled the sentencing on Jan. 13 at the federal courthouse in Scranton.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussing the security situation around Ukraine in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 19, 2022. In particular, the two sides exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement. (Ukrainian Presidential Office/Handout via Xinhua)

KIEV, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met here on Wednesday to discuss the security situation around Ukraine, Zelensky's press service said.

In particular, the two sides exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement.

"We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," Zelensky said.

He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in Ukraine's conflict-hit region of Donbas is observed and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week.

The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs U.S. assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the United States would support Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Madrid.

After talks with Zelensky, Blinken said on Twitter that he had informed the Ukrainian president on the U.S. engagements with Russia last week and stressed that "there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine."

On Jan. 10, the United States and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues.

Recently, Ukraine, the United States and some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine.

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014.

Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. Later this week, he will meet German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet to discuss the security situation around Ukraine in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 19, 2022. In particular, the two sides exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement. (Ukrainian Presidential Office/Handout via Xinhua)
According to the latest leaks, Xiaomi may defy expectations by replacing a successor for the Mi 11 Ultra with the Mix 5 Pro. However, a new Weibo post from an executive with the company suggests that this is not the case and there will be a top-end 12-series variant after all. The device might be released soon in order to honor the OEM's CEO.

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Xiaomi's main premium smartphone series has undergone a slight name change in 2022, yet was projected to have a Mi 11 Ultra successor in any case. Those top-end variants are often referred to as the "Super Cup" versions of their respective generations. However, those pre-12/12 Pro launch rumors have since been countermanded by rumors that it would be called the Mix 5 Pro instead.

Now, however, those leaks have been contradicted yet again by a rather enthusiastic leak from Wang Teng, the head of a Xiaomi branch in Henan, China. The executive claims to be able to fulfil Weibo user demand for confirmation that there would indeed be a new Super Cup in 2022.

The first of these flagships (the Mi 10 Ultra) was developed for release in 2020 to commemorate Xiaomi's 10th anniversary in the electronics market. Now, Wang Teng asserts that the putative 12 Ultra will have a similar significance: it will mark the latest anniversary of Lei Jun's tenure with the company.

The potentially re-confirmed device will apparently debut "soon", and has been said to have a particularly extensive camera hump with Leica branding.

Buy a Xiaomi Mi 10T on Amazon
James R. Poplar III, of Quicksburg, proudly served with the U.S. government for over 40 years. He specialized in national security affairs at both Vanderbilt and the National Defense University.
The spread of COVID-19 officially is out of control throughout the Hoosier State.

On Wednesday, the Indiana Department of Health classified all 92 counties in the state, including Northwest Indiana, at its highest-possible "red" designation, signaling high community spread of COVID-19 in every single county.

Two factors trigger the red designation: 200 or more weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and a seven-day COVID-19 testing positivity rate of 15% or greater.

According to the Indiana Department of Health, Lake County currently has 905 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and a 31.27% seven-day testing positivity rate  one of the highest positivity rates of any county in the state.

That's an improvement, however, from last week when Lake County tallied 1,315 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and a 34.91% seven-day testing positivity rate.

Porter County recorded 876 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and 27.26% testing positivity rate. LaPorte County is at 1,122 cases and a positivity rate of 28.88%, records show.

Both also were improvements compared to last week but still well in excess of the factors needed to qualify for the red designation.

Statewide, a total of 16,502 Hoosiers tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, not including the results of at-home COVID-19 tests, according to the Indiana Department of Health.

That's the second-highest daily number of positive COVID-19 tests behind only the 16,474 COVID-19 cases confirmed Jan. 12.

Indiana also set a new second-highest total of COVID-19 hospitalizations Tuesday with 3,492 Hoosiers hospitalized because of COVID-19.

The previous daily hospitalization peak of 3,519 COVID-19 patients was set Jan. 13, data show.

Across the state, just 10.7% of the 2,022 total intensive care unit hospital beds remain available. That translates to 18 empty ICU beds at Northwest Indiana hospitals, according to the Indiana Department of Health.

Altogether, COVID-19 has now killed 20,500 Hoosiers when both confirmed COVID-19 deaths (19,761) and probable COVID-19 deaths (739) are added together. That includes the 118 Indiana COVID-19 deaths added to the mortality tally Wednesday.

State and local health officials continue to recommend Hoosiers age 5 and older get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible to minimize their risk of contracting, getting seriously ill or dying because of the virus.

The free vaccine is available at more than 1,400 retail pharmacies, health clinics and hospitals across the state  often without an appointment. A full list of vaccine sites is online at ourshot.in.gov.

According to the Indiana Department of Health, unvaccinated individuals have accounted for 95.6% of Indiana's nearly 1.5 million total COVID-19 infections, 99.93% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 99.96% of the state's COVID-19 deaths since the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the state on March 6, 2020.

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A Grammy-nominated composer will create music for Duo Sequenza, a Valparaiso-based classical flute and guitar chamber music ensemble that tours nationally.

Flutist Debra Silvert and classical guitarist Paul Bowman landed funding from the Walder Charitable Fund to commission a piece by Jonathan Leshnoff. The gift from the donor-advised fund is the single largest project grant in Duo Sequenzas history.

I have been waiting to write a work for Debra and Paul for some time, as their talent and passion inspires me," Leshnoff said. "This work in particular is dear to my heart as I am able to set a passage of the Talmud to musica first for me and a long-awaited step in my musical and spiritual growth. We are grateful for the generous support that has made this work possible. Without it, the work would have remained a dream.

Leshnoff is the composer in residence with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Fairfax and Harrisburg symphony orchestras. He is a professor of music at Towson University and has been acclaimed by The New York Times as a leader of contemporary American lyricism.

His work has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras in Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville and Pittsburgh.

Duo Sequenza has toured across the United States, Asia and Europe and released the album "Yes... It's a Thing!" in 2019. They work to foster new listeners for modern classical music and often perform the works of living composers, including 20 pieces they were specifically commissioned for them.

We could not be more excited, honored, or grateful to receive this award and move forward with Jonathans commission, Silvert said. Jonathans music is exquisite and inspired, and we cant wait to bring it to life.

Leshnoffs commission for flute and guitar was inspired by the Babylonian Talmud, Gemara Brachot 3A: A lyre hung over the bed of David and when midnight came, a northern wind would blow upon it, and it would play of its own accord.

Duo Sequenza will premiere the work in late 2022 and tour it throughout the United States. Through June 2024, it will perform the concert programs American Made! Our Commissions by Leshnoff, Blackwood, Muniz, Owen, and Schocker and Yes, Its a (Jewish) Thing! Works by Leshnoff, Clearfield, Hand, Schocker, Dorff, and Dimow across the country.

This is a major milestone not only for us, but for all concert artist ensembles of our pairing, to add a work by a composer of this prominence to our repertoire, Bowman said.

For more information, visit duosequenza.com.

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The Republican-controlled House voted 68-25 nearly along party lines Thursday to approve a substantial tax cut for Indiana businesses that also provides limited tax relief to Hoosier workers.

But no one in the state, whether business or individual, probably should start spending their tax cut money now.

House Bill 1002 faces strong opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate where lawmakers are inclined to wait until 2023 to consider tax cut legislation on the chance that Indiana's record-breaking revenue is a mirage created by record-breaking federal spending.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb likewise only has endorsed a minor change in how a tax paid by businesses on their manufacturing and production equipment is calculated. He so far has declined to say whether he supports the other components of the House tax cut plan.

None of that mattered in the House chamber where Republicans celebrated the opportunity to return to taxpayers a meaningful chunk of the estimated $5.1 billion in revenue the state expects to collect over and above what it's due to spend through June 2023.

"This is extra money we've taken from the taxpayers. So our job is to give it back if we don't need it," said state Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, the sponsor of the measure.

House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, even briefly departed his rostrum position presiding over the chamber to speak from the floor about what he considers "a great bill" and a "reasonable down payment on tax relief for Hoosiers."

"Who do you believe is a better steward of their money? Is it us or the people we represent?" Huston asked.

"We'll continue to make smart, strategic investments in government programs. But if you think government spending is going to attract people, I'll show you Illinois."

The legislation reduces the property taxes Indiana companies pay on manufacturing and other business equipment, exempts more production inputs from the 7% state sales tax, and eliminates the utility receipts tax paid by both businesses and consumers on their electric bills.

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimates the legislation, when fully implemented, will reduce state revenue by approximately $1.2 billion a year, with about two-thirds of the tax benefits going to businesses.

The initial cost of the tax cuts will be covered by rescinding a provision of the 2022-23 state budget that would have deposited $2.3 billion in excess budget reserves in a teacher pension account and instead keep that money in the state's general fund.

Records show Indiana already is due to deposit $545.5 million in the Teachers Retirement Fund, on top of the state's statutorily required contribution, as part of the automatic taxpayer refund triggered by excess state reserves at the June 30 end of the 2021 budget year.

Under Indiana law, another $545.5 million will be returned to Hoosiers as a one-time payment of $125 per person that's scheduled to be distributed in late April or early May.

The legislation also would return additional funds to Hoosiers in future years by gradually reducing the state's personal income tax rate to 3% in 2026 from the current 3.23%.

Under the plan, the rate would drop to 3.15% in 2023, 3.10% in 2024, 3.05% in 2025, and ultimately to 3%.

That means a Hoosier earning $50,000 a year would see their current, unadjusted annual state income tax burden of $1,615 drop to $1,575 in 2023, $1,550 in 2024, $1,525 in 2025, and $1,500 in 2026.

House Democrats argued that money could be put to far better use by the state compared to giving Hoosier workers an extra $25 a year, or about a buck a paycheck, that probably won't make a meaningful difference in their lives.

For example, state Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, said using the state's excess revenue to fund accessible, affordable child care would enable more Hoosiers, particularly women, to return to the workforce  alleviating the inability of Indiana businesses to find sufficient employees for all their available positions and getting more money flowing through the economy to help everyone else.

"This is one of the most fiscally irresponsible bills I've seen as a member of this Legislature," Hamilton said.

Similarly, state Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, said using the tax cut money to instead reduce college tuition rates, eliminate school textbook rental payments, zero out the sales tax on diapers and feminine hygiene products, or combat drug abuse would do far more good for Hoosiers than boosting the already bulging bottom lines of most Indiana companies.

"This bill is about what we value and what we don't value. And apparently we value tax cuts above all," Delaney said.

"We're going to lower the tax on augers, but not the tax on diapers. I will not refer to the fact that an auger also could be called a screw."

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Lakeshore Public Radio, Northwest Indiana's National Public Radio affiliate, is making upgrades that will boost its signal so it can reach far more people across the Region.

The Merrillville-based radio station, which broadcasts as WLPR-FM 89.1, received Federal Communications Commission approval to raise its operational capacity from 1,100 watts to 4,900 watts.

Lakeshore Public Media, which runs the radio station and the television station Lakeshore PBS, will make upgrades this year that will expand its population coverage by an estimated 75%

The upgrades will not only extend the range of our signal, but also allow us to broadcast with far fewer shadows and dead spots, Lakeshore Public Media President and CEO James Muhammad said. This means more residents will have access to reliable news and information, which further serves our mission to enhance our community by creating a more informed and engaged citizenry.

The nonprofit radio station currently broadcasts across Northwest Indiana, reaching listeners in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties.

Now on the air for 13 years, Lakeshore Public Radio also is broadcast online and through streaming services like Spotify and iTunes.

The signal expansion is intended to ensure the station's future viability.

Weve seen a drastic increase in the number of donors in communities like Valparaiso, Munster and Crown Point, but also in some of the more rural communities throughout Northwest Indiana, Vice President of Radio Operations Tom Maloney said. This confirms that theres a growing need for the type of quality programs we broadcast from all corners of the Region, so were evolving to ensure we can better serve these areas and beyond.

For more information, visit LakeshorePublicRadio.org.

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GARY  It appears House Bill 1187 will not become law after the sponsor of the bill and chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, did not hold a scheduled hearing for it Thursday.

The bill would have continued state control of Gary Community School Corp. and would have ended bargaining rights for teachers.

Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said he is glad the bill appears dead. However, he said he is still concerned with the lack of a plan to transition Gary Community School Corp. back to local control.

Smith said the Gary legislative delegation will create an amendment concerning the issue they hope can be added to another education bill in the future.

Gary Mayor Jerome Prince wrote in a column for The Times that the Gary takeover has been a failure.

Garys schools are performing worse than ever before, despite our teachers and staff following the directives and guidelines mandated by the states emergency management team, Prince wrote.

The Gary Common Council held an emergency meeting Jan. 13 concerning the bill, during which it passed a resolution opposing the bill.

Browns bill came after the Gary Community School Corp. saw its deficit reduction program on the verge of succeeding in October. The school corporation recorded an annual deficit of $1.7 million, with $73.5 million of debt total as of Dec. 31, 2020.

That debt is down from $104 million in June 2017, and the costs of operating Gary schools were expected to be fully covered by ongoing revenues in the near future.

Gary Community School Corp. regained local control of its special education services in September after nearly a decade of oversight by the Indiana Department of Education.

The district saw higher enrollment in the 2020-2021 academic year, bringing the total number of students to 4,445 as of February 2021. For the 10 years prior to state control, GCSC lost 699 students a year, on average.

However, the Indiana Department of Educations fall 2020-2021 transfer report shows that 6,990 students in Gary attended a school outside of GCSC that school year. Of the 11,370 students who live in the district boundaries, 61% are at either a charter school or separate private school.

Gary Community School Corp. was originally taken over by the state in 2017, following severe financial issues in the district. This was an unprecedented effort by the state to attempt to save the school corporation.

Brown was the author of the original takeover bills in 2017 and 2018. Senate Bill 567 designated Gary as a distressed political subdivision, allowing the Distressed Unit Appeal Board to govern the schools.

The of emergency manager was created to manage the school corporation. Currently, Paige McNulty serves in that position.

Gary can shed the classification of distressed political subdivision if the school corporation maintains financial solvency for a period of at least two years, institutes a five-year fiscal plan that will maintain financial solvency and meet any other conditions defined by DUAB.

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ST. JOHN  Lake Central School Corp. leaders declined a request to make masks optional and approved substitute teacher raises at Tuesday's school board meeting, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause debate among patrons and shortages among staff.

The School Board and administrators also discussed expansion to Bibich Elementary School.

Superintendent Larry Veracco provided a legislative update on Indiana House Bill 1040, which mainly concerns school curriculum but also requires the Department of Education to develop a notice form that may be used by parents to allow for them or their student to opt out of face mask requirements in districts that have a mandate.

Veracco said if the bill becomes law, he would recommend the district go mask optional, as the amount of opt-out forms would become cumbersome.

Keeping track of who has completed the opt-out form and who hasnt will likely make most schools (mask) optional, Veracco said.

During the public comment portion, several audience members pleaded with the school district to end its mask mandate now.

During the summer of 2021, the district surveyed parents regarding whether they would want masks optional or required. About half of the 4,200 possible respondents completed the survey, and just above 70% of them said to make masks optional.

The board voted to make masks optional Aug. 2 and revoked the policy four days later, making masks required.

One audience member showed a poster in which athletes and celebrities are depicted unmasked, while elementary school students are depicted with face coverings.

What we are doing to these kids is ridiculous, the audience member said.

Board member Janice Malchow said she understood their frustrations.

If I had the power to change it, I would change it, Malchow said. Audience members pleaded for her to make a motion to end the mask mandate, but she did not.

As of Jan. 12, the district saw 236 COVID-19 cases in students for the week of Jan. 5 through Jan. 11. As of Jan. 17, Lake County has a 34.9% positivity rate among people taking a virus test.

The district is also facing a federal lawsuit concerning the legality of its mask mandate. Three families representing nine Lake Central students filed suit Nov. 24 in a state court, demanding a judge declare the school corporations mask requirements unconstitutional.

The suit would forbid school officials from issuing blanket mask regulations, declaring only parents can determine whether their children wear a mask to school.

The suit alleges that Lake Centrals requirement that all of its 10,600 students wear masks at their schools to stop the spread of COVID-19 is unreasonable.

It alleges that of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died of the pandemic only a few hundred of them are of school age.

U.S. District Court Judge Theresa L Springmann has taken over the case, but had yet to issue any rulings as of Dec. 23, 2021.

Subsitute teacher pay raise

The School Board approved $10 pay raises for substitute teachers at Thursday's meeting.

Prior to the raise, substitutes in the district with an Indiana substitute permit were paid $100 a day. Substitutes with an Indiana teaching license were paid $110 per day and permanent substitutes or retired Lake Central teachers were paid $120 a day.

During 2021, more than 75% of school principals and district leaders said they had trouble finding enough substitute teachers, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey published in October.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly wage for substitute teachers is $14.12. The median annual pay is $29,370.

Lake Centrals website currently has postings for substitute teachers, custodians, food service workers, bus drivers and nurses.

During the 2019-20 financial year, the average teacher salary in Indiana was $51,745, according to the National Education Association. The state ranked 42nd in the country in terms of teacher salary.

The School Town of Munster and School City of Hammond are among other districts that have increased substitute teacher pay this year.

In Munster, substitute teachers with only the required state permit are paid $95 a day. Substitutes with a bachelor of science are paid $100 a day, and those with an Indiana teaching license are paid $110 a day. Retired School Town of Munster teachers receive $120 a day.

School City of Hammond increased its daily substitute teacher rates in September in the face of a shortage. Substitutes with less than a bachelors degree earn $100 a day, while those with bachelor's degree or higher earn $125 a day.

Previous reporting from The Times analyzed data on issued sub permits within the last three years. For 24 districts throughout Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties, 16 of them saw fewer sub permits issued for the 2020-21 school year than the 2017-18 school year. There were permits issued during the two school years between that, but in some cases, the number of permits was cut by half or more over the past four school years.

To get a substitute permit from Indiana Department of Education, a person needs to be 18 or older and have a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. There is a $15 fee for the permit, and they are valid for three years.

Bibich Elementary expansion

Veracco introduced a presentation regarding an expansion of Bibich Elementary School, as the district is nearing capacity for the younger grade levels.

The project has an estimated cost of $17.4 million and would add approximately $0.0251 to the tax rate for parents in the school district.

Currently, Lake Central has six empty classrooms across all of its elementary schools in the district. Kolling Elementary School is in its second year of operating at full capacity.

The expansion of Bibich Elementary would add 12 total classrooms, as well as expand the cafeteria and renovate the HVAC system and ceilings.

The project is expected to be completed in June 2024.

Veracco said the district has considered other options, but the 12-room addition to Bibich would be less than half of the cost of a new elementary school.

We felt we could not wait any longer given that we are down to just a few classrooms across the district, Veracco said.

Renderings of the expansion can be found online, through the school boards streamed Youtube channel.

The project will be discussed at the next board meeting, Feb. 7.

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CROWN POINT  A 42-year-old man was charged Wednesday in a nightclub shooting last week that left a Gary businessman dead and wounded a second man.

Dariel E. Dodd, of Gary, was arrested in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, on unrelated charges and was awaiting extradition to Lake County, Gary officials said.

Norman Bailey, 60, of Gary, was gunned down about 3 a.m. Friday inside the Blue Room Lounge at 224 E. 16th Ave.

A 28-year-old Gary man was wounded in the shooting and survived, Gary Police Department Cmdr. Jack Hamady said.

Investigators with the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit identified Dodd as a suspect after talking to witnesses and reviewing surveillance video, Hamady said.

Investigators subsequently learned that Dodd had fled to Tippecanoe County, he said.

Dodd was charged in Lake Criminal Court with murder, attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, aggravated battery and a firearm enhancement.

Homicide unit detectives thanked community members for their cooperation during the investigation, Hamady said.

Bailey owned several businesses in the city and served on the Gary Community School Corp. advisory board.

Mayor Jerome Prince called Bailey a "hands-on leader who showed the best our Gary community has to offer."

"Nothing we can say or do will erase the pain of losing Norman, but I hope this information will give his family and our community some immediate relief, Prince said. "The Metro Homicide squad, especially under the work of our Gary Police Department, did exceptional work on this case, and I thank them all."

Police Chief Brian Evans also thanked the investigators.

"I'm very thankful we caught this individual who took the life of one of the pillars of our community," Evans said. "I commend the hard work of the ocers and investigators who worked around the clock to bring this case to a close."

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MERRILLVILLE  An arrest has been made after a good Samaritan's vehicle was carjacked at gunpoint after stopping to help in a five-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 65.

On Jan. 13, Randy T. Brown-Watkins, 27, of Lafayette, was arrested in connection to separate charges in Decatur, Illinois.

Brown-Watkins is being held at Macon County Jail and will be extradited to Lake County, according to Indiana State Police.

He faces charges in Lake County Criminal Court of felony kidnapping, armed robbery, auto theft and pointing a firearm and misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident.

Brown-Watkins got out of a red Chrysler 300 that had rolled over during the crash at 12:10 a.m. Jan. 11 in the I-65 northbound lanes at the 254 mile-marker, north of U.S. 30, in Merrillville.

He then approached another driver, who had stopped to help, while holding an AR-15-style rifle, court records state.

The other driver, who had parked his white Dodge cargo van on the shoulder of I-65, told police that Brown-Watkins said, "Bro, you got to get me the (expletive) up out of here."

Brown-Watkins pointed the rifle at the man, forcing him into the driver's seat of his white van as Brown-Watkins got in the passenger seat, according to Lake Criminal Court records.

The man told police Brown-Watkins told him to drive to Chicago as fast as he could.

Brown-Watkins is accused of continually pointing the rifle at the man, pushing the barrel up against the man's head and "cocking" the rifle at one point.

During the ride, a friend of the van driver remained on a FaceTime call that had started before the carjacking, records state. The friend called 911 and continued to track the van driver's location.

Indiana State Police began chasing the van shortly afterwards on Interstate 80/94 in Hammond, but troopers were unaware the carjacking victim was in the driver's seat and the suspect was a passenger, Sgt. Glen Fifield said.

The man told police Brown-Watkins was on the phone calling people to meet up with and told him to exit the interstate at 115th Street in Chicago. The van made a sudden stop on I-94 at 115th Street, and the driver got out to lie on the ground, Fifield said.

As officers learned the suspect was still inside the van, its driver's side door suddenly closed and the van sped off, he said.

The pursuit ended when police lost sight of the van, which was later found abandoned two miles away from the 115th Street exit, Fifield said.

At the scene of the crash, police found a receipt in the red Chrysler, which showed the car had been purchased by Brown-Watkins, records state. Police also found a .22-caliber Sterling Arms handgun inside the wrecked Chrysler, Fifield said.

When Watkins-Brown was at large, state police warned the public that he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Court records show Brown-Watkins has been charged three times in Tippecanoe Superior Court with misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident. One of those cases, which also includes a misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated, remains pending.

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Sarah Reese Lake County Courts and Social Justice Reporter Sarah covers crime, courts and public safety. She began her career at The Times in 2004. Contact her at sarah.reese@nwi.com or 219-933-3351. Follow Sarah Reese 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
VALPARAISO  Two men charged in connection with two separate homicides last year in Lake County robbed a man outside a Portage motel Oct. 10 after the man arrived to sell one of them marijuana, Porter Superior Court records allege.

Robert E. Simms III, 33, and Isaih Darnell-Lenburg, 24, both of Gary, each were arrested in the days after the alleged robbery and subsequently charged in the homicides.

Darnell-Lenburg has pleaded not guilty to charges he and Simms robbed and murdered Lyft driver Glynon Nelson, 38, of Crown Point, in late September in Gary. The vehicle Nelson was driving was later found burned in Gary, records show.

Simms also is facing a murder charge in the shooting death of 29-year-old Nicholas Kowalski, of Park Forest, Illinois, whose body was found Oct. 10 in a shallow grave in Gary's Miller section.

A van Kowalski had been driving before his homicide was found burned in a cornfield near Lowell.

Simms, who is being held in Porter County on charges he fired a shot during his arrest Oct. 11 by Portage police, has not yet made an initial appearance in his two murder cases in Lake Criminal Court.

Darnell-Lenburg has pleaded not guilty in Kowalski's homicide to charges of assisting a criminal and arson and a misdemeanor count of unlawful disposition of a dead human body.

Co-defendant Thomas Foster, 40, of St. Charles, Missouri, has pleaded not guilty in Kowalski's homicide to charges of felony assisting a criminal and arson.

Foster and Simms were arrested Oct. 11 by Portage police, who were investigating a robbery at the Super 8 hotel, 6118 U.S. 20, a day earlier. Foster was not charged in connection with the alleged robbery.

According to Porter Superior Court records, a man drove to the Super 8 to sell Darnell-Lenburg an ounce of marijuana.

The man told police he texted Darnell-Lenburg upon arrival and was waiting in a vehicle when a suspect, whom he later identified as Simms, reached in the car, grabbed his cellphone out of his hand and demanded the marijuana and other items.

Simms is accused of pointing a .380 or 9mm pistol at the man and taking his wallet, cellphone with a Chicago Bears case and Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle from the backseat.

Police executed a search warrant the next day for the room at the Super 8 where Simms was known to be staying and recovered the cellphone in a Bears case, records state.

Darnell-Lenburg was arrested Oct. 13 outside the Country Market grocery store at 2550 Arthur St. in Gary by the Lake County sheriff's Drug Task Force, Lake Criminal Court records show.

Officers obtained consent to search a vehicle in which Darnell-Lenburg was riding and found a Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 semi-automatic rifle disassembled in a blue backpack in the backseat, records state. Its serial number had been obliterated.

Police also recovered a 9mm semiautomatic handgun from the rear pocket of the front passenger's seat, near where Darnell-Lenburg had been seated, according to court documents.

During a search at the jail, police found about 0.5 grams of suspected methamphetamine in Darnell-Lenburg's front right pocket, records state.

Darnell-Lenburg was charged Dec. 15 with felony possession of methamphetamine and possession of an altered firearm. Court records did not indicate he's made an initial appearance yet on the charges.

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School boards across Indiana may lose the ability to individually decide whether to permit public comments during their meetings under legislation pending at the Indiana House.

House Bill 1130, which won unanimous committee approval Wednesday, mandates the governing body of school corporations allow any person physically present at a school board meeting to address the board for at least three minutes.

Under the plan, a school board "may adopt reasonable rules to govern the taking of oral public comment." Though "each member of the public may not be allotted less than three minutes to comment on each topic."

State Rep. Tim O'Brien, R-Evansville, did not say whether each audience member would repeatedly be entitled to speak for three minutes on every issue listed on the school board agenda.

He did note, however, the board would not be required to interact with the speaker or answer any questions posed by the speaker, but every person in the audience who wishes to speak must be given time to do so at some point during the meeting.

The legislation also provides that school boards retain the right to take "reasonable steps to maintain order in a meeting," including "removal of any person who is willfully disruptive of the meeting."

"Public input is vital and Hoosiers must be able to have themselves heard on issues in their communities," O'Brien said.

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With snowfall totals in some areas expected to keep growing, the highest accumulation recorded in the Region stands at 10 inches, data shows.

"It was what we expected, with LaPorte County getting the most snow," said Matt Holiner, chief meteorologist in the Midwest for Lee Enterprises. "The heaviest snowfall is over. There will be light to moderate snow continuing overnight with flurries into the morning."

As of 6 p.m. Thursday, Westville is reporting the most snowfall so far at 10 inches, followed by 8 inches in Trail Creek and 7 inches in Michigan City, he said.

The LaPorte County Sheriff's Office reports the heaviest snowfall in the northern half of the county, specifically between Range Road and County Line Road.

In Porter County, the highest snowfall totals were reported to be 3 inches in Valparaiso and Town of Pines. Lake County did not have any recorded accumulative totals listed on weather sites as of Thursday evening.

Travel was the most hazardous during the early morning hours Thursday with low visibility and rapidly changing conditions. Michigan City-area resident Julina Adams, who posted a photo of a snow-covered section of Wozniak Road just south of County Road 400, said road conditions were poor east of U.S. 421.

"County roads have snow on them up past my bumper and the road is totally invisible," she said.

Ivy Tech in Michigan City and LaPorte; Michigan City Area Schools and Purdue University Northwest's Westville campus closed their buildings Thursday due to the heavy snowfall in LaPorte County.

The last of the flurries are expected to end by mid-morning Friday as the snow band gets wider and shifts west, losing intensity.

"Biggest impacts are still expected to the north and east of Portage and Valparaiso in Porter County and across LaPorte County," he said. "An additional 2 to 4 inches of snow will fall in this area. Lake, Newton, and Jasper County will see far less snow and travel impacts are not expected."

Lake County may see some snow on and off overnight but accumulation is expected to be less than an inch. Official totals for accumulations will not be available until Friday morning.

Holiner said in LaPorte and Porter County, drivers should still be cautious and avoid traveling if possible, as roads will take time to be cleared.

Michigan City Area Schools announced Thursday night that in-person classes were canceled in favor of online classes,due to the weather.

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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
Snowfall overnight Wednesday into Thursday is expected to cause travel hazards and several inches of accumulation throughout Northwest Indiana, according to the weather forecast.

Meteorologists warned of snow covered roads and hazardous travel on Thursday morning.

The snowfall began Wednesday evening and was expected to continue throughout the night leaving several inches on the ground by Thursday morning for parts of Northwest Indiana, the National Weather Service was predicting.

Because of the lake effect snow, accumulations will vary greatly by location. LaPorte County and Porter County are expected to see the most snowfall.

Lake effect snow is expected to continue falling Thursday evening in Porter County with the accumulation of several additional inches.

Matt Holiner, chief meteorologist in the Midwest for Lee Enterprises, said, "The general rule will be the farther north and east you live in the Region, the more snow you're going to see."

"Most of the snow will fall (Wednesday night) and during the day Thursday, but a few flurries could linger into early Friday morning," he said.

"While northeastern LaPorte County could see up to 10 inches of snow, snow totals will fall significantly as you go to the south and west," Holiner said. "Some in Newton and Lake County could see nothing more than a quick dusting. For northern Porter County and LaPorte County, 2 to 6 inches of snow looks most common."

In addition to the snow, temperatures are predicted to fall through the day Wednesday with wind chills overnight reaching 5 to 15 degrees below zero, according to the NWS.

The cold temperatures are predicted to continue throughout Thursday and into Friday morning.

"Additional cold is likely during the latter half of the weekend into next week," the prediction reads. "This cold will likely be accompanied by several chances for light snow accumulation."

In-person classes at Michigan City Area Schools and the Purdue University Northwest Westville campus have been canceled Thursday in favor of online classes due to the weather. The PNW Hammond campus will have in-person classes and activities per its regular schedule.

Times Staff writer Anna Ortiz contributed to this report.

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Staff members deliver daily necessities ordered by residents in quarantine at a community under close-off management where a locally transmitted COVID-19 case was found in Haidian District of Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Beijing has added two medium-risk areas for COVID-19 as five more locally-transmitted confirmed cases were reported from midnight to 4 p.m. on Thursday, local health authorities said at a press conference.

One of the areas is a residential compound in Beijing's Fengtai District and the other a company dormitory in Fangshan District, said Pang Xinghuo, deputy head of the Beijing municipal center for disease control and prevention.

Three of the five new cases were among the five who tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. Of the other two new cases, one is a close contact of the positive cases, and the other had dined with some of them. All five cases work at cold storage facilities.

Pang said COVID-19 prevention and control in Beijing is challenging and complicated with sporadic cases emerging in various districts, urging departments in charge of cold-chain food storage and logistics to strengthen testing and disinfection. 
GARY  A wedding and banquet center is coming to Gary's West Side.

During a Tuesday night meeting, the Gary Common Council approved plans for a wedding venue in the former Budd Co. Union Hall building in the 3100 block of 11th Avenue. The council approved an ordinance rezoning the property from R-2 residential to B3-2 business. Petitioner Matthew Jackson received unanimous approval from the plan commission in December.

The project was presented at a Jan. 11 Plan Commission meeting where Jackson said the venue would be able to host up to 300 people and currently has 25 parking spaces. Jackson has entered into a deal with nearby Peace Baptist Church to provide an additional 25 parking spaces during events.

Council members shared concerns about the venue's impact on residential parking. Signage will designate the neighboring side streets as residential parking only.

I just think it is too many people, in too few places," Councilman Clorius Lay said, adding that if parking does become an issue, the council could look at giving residents parking stickers.

I am very supportive of this project, and one of the reasons why is I can remember when 11th Avenue was one of our main business districts," Councilman Cozey Weatherspoon, D-2, said. "If you look at it [11th Avenue] now, that is not the case.

The council also approved a resolution to oppose NIPSCOs proposed price increase. Merrillville-based NiSource, the parent company of NIPSCO, is asking state regulators to allow it to increase base natural gas rates. NIPSCO wants to raise rates in two phases, starting Sept. 1, 2022. The electric and natural gas utility said the rate hike would result in less volatility in monthly bills and potentially lower bills in the winter for high-use customers.

A residential customer using 70 therms per month who is paying $55 currently would see a projected increase of $9 per month, or 17%. The monthly customer charge would jump from $14 to an estimated $24.50 under NIPSCO's proposal. The actual monthly changes will vary per customer depending on usage and future market prices for natural gas.

Gary Corporation Counsel Angela Lockett said the rate hike would impact both residential and small business consumers. In light of the pandemic's continued economic impact, the city's older, hard-to-heat homes and the fact that many Gary residents are low income and "energy insecure," Lockett said, the proposed increase is too high. The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor is expected to rule on the requested increase in July.

In other business, the council sent four ordinances allocating American Rescue Plan Act funds, back to committee. The ordinances included hiring an ARPA manager for a one-year contract not to exceed $60,000, a $5 million joint venture broadband project, $1.5 million leadership and job training program and $100,000 for broadband updates to the Common Council Chambers.

There will be a Ways and Means Committee hearing for the ordinances on Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m.

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CROWN POINT  The Lake County Board of Commissioners appears to be preparing for the possibility there will be a new county sheriff next year by dialing back requests from the sheriff's office for various contracts to extend beyond 2022.

The commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to reject a proposal by Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. for the county to ink a three-year contract at $9,504 a month, or $114,048 a year, to rent storage space in Crown Point to house vehicles and other equipment, including jet skis and all-terrain vehicles, recently acquired by the sheriff's department  often over the objection of the county commissioners.

Commissioner Jerry Tippy, R-Schererville, said that he might be open to approving a one-year lease but that it doesn't make sense to lock a potential future sheriff into a three-year storage space deal.

Tippy's motion to reject the three-year lease agreement was backed by Commissioner Mike Repay, D-Hammond. Commissioner Kyle Allen Sr., D-Gary, supported the lease.

Vincent Balbo, chief of the sheriff's police, said following the vote that he will try to obtain a one-year lease agreement and return with it next month for the commissioners' approval.

The commissioners did approve a one-year consulting contract with former Lake County Police Chief William Paterson, instead of the two-year agreement at $75,000 per year requested by the sheriff.

But they nixed a proposed one-year contract with Correctional Health Indiana Inc. (CHI) for jail inmate health care in favor of continuing on a month-to-month basis the 2021 agreement, which featured a 5% lower rate.

The commissioners repeatedly have told Martinez a new jail medical contract will not be signed until the sheriff permits representatives from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), a nonprofit organization that evaluates health services available to jail and prison inmates, to visit the Lake County Jail and determine whether the level of medical services are appropriate for the facility.

The commissioners said CHI's costs have increased exponentially over the past 10 years and an outside entity is needed to assess the services the county is receiving for the amount of money it is spending  roughly a quarter-million dollars every two weeks.

Martinez said the evaluators initially were kept out because nearly everyone was kept out of the jail amid the COVID-19 pandemic due to the potential for increased spread of the coronavirus.

The Democratic sheriff's four-year term expires at the end of the year. Though Martinez could automatically lose his office sooner if he's convicted on the felony charge of resisting law enforcement for which he was indicted this month by a Lake County grand jury.

Separately, the commissioners voted 2-1, with Tippy opposed, to extend the face mask mandate in all Lake County government buildings until at least Feb. 18 to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

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WINFIELD  The main goal of Project Lifesaver is "bringing loved ones home."

The program, if in place three years ago, could have brought about a different outcome in a high-profile, four-month search for a missing Winfield man whose body was found in a church pond, Winfield Town Marshal Dan Ball said.

"This is the type of tragedy we want to avoid by using this program. That's our goal that people who have a need for this service are involved with it," Ball said.

The deceased man, Terry Fodemski, 64, was found in an icy retention pond on 109th Avenue near Winfield's Holy Spirit Church by church volunteers.

Fodemski, who was reportedly having some mental health issues, fits the profile of the type of individual Winfield police hope to help with Project Lifesaver, Ball said.

"He was having some cognitive issues, and he was known to wander. When found, he was only a few blocks away from his home," Ball said.

Fodemski was one of three cases in the last seven years of people who have come up missing in the Winfield area and is the impetus for the town joining Project Lifesaver.

Project Lifesaver, a program already launched in several communities in Northwest Indiana, helps police, fire departments and other public safety agencies locate individuals of all ages who have cognitive disorders and tend to wander.

"We initiated the program last spring or about a year ago. We had three clients in Winfield. We have one right now and two are waiting for registrations," Ball said.

Search times reduced

Winfield Deputy Marshal Ryan Helmecy, who heads up the Project Lifesaver program and training for Winfield, said the program helps greatly reduce the time spent searching for a missing loved one.

Individuals who sign up for the program with a caretaker who must be with them on a 24-hour a day basis wear a personalized wristband that emits a tracking signal.

The caregiver can then notify the local Project Lifesaver agency that the person is missing and a search and rescue team then responds and begins an immediate search.

"Each individual is assigned their own number," Helmecy said.

The wristband is water-resistant and utilizes batteries that are checked monthly by police.

Missing persons who wear the wristbands can be tracked by use of radio technology, Helmecy said.

The tracking system works with a beeping sound emitted that gets stronger the closer it is to the wristband device.

Although the individuals who wandered off in Winfield were primarily senior citizens, the program isn't just for the elderly, Helmecy said.

Helmecy said he is in the process of signing up a 17-year-old teen who is autistic.

Others who will soon be part of the Winfield program include a 67-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease.

One of the good outcomes for Winfield Police was finding a 92-year-old man alive after he had gotten lost and spent the night in the woods behind WiseWay Market, Helmecy said.

"He was missing for 25 hours and just walked out of the woods. That was a good-case scenario," Helmecy said.

With the Project Lifesaver, the man could have been found much quicker, Helmecy said.

The program is geared toward anyone, in any age category, who has cognitive disorders including those with Alzheimer's and dementia or have been diagnosed with autism or Down syndrome.

Winfield police already have certified individuals who are trained to use the technology and they are working with nearby Lakes of the Four Seasons security to get their personnel on board with the new program, Helmecy said.

Helmecy notes the Lakes of the Four Seasons, Winfield and Winfield Township area, with its many lakes and ponds, is ripe with places for tragic outcomes to occur like that of Fodemski.

Many of those individuals who wander have a propensity to be drawn to water, Helmecy said.

The Project Lifesaver program, which was started in 1999 in Chesapeake, Virginia, by a nonprofit international organization, has been implemented in a number of area jurisdictions such as Crown Point, Schererville, Lowell, Lake Station, Hobart and Porter County Police.

Many of the programs, like that in Crown Point, are managed through the fire department, said Crown Point Fire Department Capt. Ryan Cusack.

The Crown Point program, like the one in Winfield, is free of charge due to donations by area organizations.

The Crown Point Fire Department started its program in 2008 following the death of an Alzheimer's patient who walked away from a care facility.

Crown Point partners with the Lake County Sheriff's Department utilizing that department's helicopter for searches, Cusack said.

"We have members who train with the aviation department. They (county police) will fly us to the area where the missing person was last seen," Cusack said.

Initial adoption

One of the first areas in the state of Indiana to begin Project Lifesaver was in Hendricks County.

Julia Lewis, a coordinator for Project Lifesaver for Hendricks County, said the program was initiated there in 2008, stayed rather stagnant and now has 99 clients.

The program increased its numbers in 2018 due to a tragedy involving an 8-year-old boy with autism who wandered into a pond in Brownsburg and drowned.

Shalom Lawson, who was diagnosed on the autism spectrum disorder, couldn't speak and wasn't able to get help, Lewis said.

"He had autism and drowned in a retention pond. His mom became a huge advocate," Lewis said.

Lewis foresees Project Lifesaver continuing to expand in a growing community such as Winfield.

Connections with other agencies and getting to know those who live in the area have all played a part in spreading the word about Project Lifesaver.

"It's been a great joint effort by everyone," Lewis said.

For more information about the Winfield Police Department Project Lifesaver program, call 219-779-9326 and ask for Winfield Deputy Marshal Ryan Helmecy,

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LAPORTE  There were no buses picking up students on two LaPorte Community School Corp. routes Wednesday as a driver shortage became worse as a result of COVID-19.

Superintendent Mark Francesconi said there could be more route cancellations in the coming days until infected drivers return to work.

Its the first time we had to do that, he said.

Francesconi issued a notice to parents about the possibility Tuesday to allow them to try and find other ways for their children to get to school if their route for the day is canceled.

Students unable to get to school will switch to virtual learning.

Were in a pinch, and were doing the best we can to hold on to in-person instruction, Francesconi said.

Bus driver shortages are a problem nationwide, with drivers contracting the virus and fewer people applying for job openings.

Francesconi said the school year in LaPorte began with 56 full-time drivers and three substitute drivers.

A shortage was later created when 16 full-time drivers were placed on extended leave for surgeries and other medical purposes.

Since then, many of the remaining drivers have been completing their routes, then running a second route to make sure all children have a ride to and from school.

Some students have been late as a result, but at least theyre getting in-person instruction, Francesconi said.

He said the route cancellations resulted from a lack of substitute drivers to fill scheduling gaps after eight full-time drivers contracted the virus or had to stay home after having close contact with an infected person.

Having staff members drive school corporation-owned transport vans to pick up children were among the ideas considered until the sick drivers return.

During this setback, we will continue to look for ways to avoid cancellations in the future and do everything possible to maintain in-person instruction for our students, Francesconi said.

He said route cancellations will be communicated through email and text messaging as far in advance as possible for parents to make alternative plans to get their children to school.

Parents were also asked to take other children from the same neighborhood to school if their route winds up getting temporarily canceled.

"We acknowledge the additional strain that these ongoing challenges present to everyone in our school community and appreciate your support and understanding as we work together to persevere," Francesconi said.

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Altimeters are a key part of the 787s landing system, turning on the reverse thrusters that slow the plane once it has landed. Mr. Lemme said a Boeing patent suggested that the function was totally automated, meaning that even a pilot landing a 787 manually would not be able to reverse the planes thrusters if the altimeter malfunctioned. The 787s landing gear brakes, which are triggered by weight, would still function, as would its wing spoilers, which are only partly controlled by altimeter readings. But Mr. Lemme said a lack of reverse thrusters would make it difficult for pilots to stop planes before they reached the end of the runway.

You absolutely could have some planes running through runways, he said.

Boeing did not respond to a request for comment.

The F.A.A. on Friday issued a notification that it had detected anomalies that regardless of weather or approach could cause 5G interference to affect a number of the 787s automated systems. The presence of 5G C-band interference can result in degraded deceleration performance, increased landing distance and runway excursion, the agency said. The notification covers 137 787s in the United States and more than 1,010 worldwide.

Why werent these concerns addressed earlier?

AT&T and Verizons decision to temporarily limit their new 5G network within two miles of airports should address many of these safety concerns  at least for now. But the start of 5G has been years in the making, raising questions about why airlines, the F.A.A., the wireless companies and the F.C.C. did not resolve them earlier.

Ms. Furchtgott-Roth said previous warnings from aviation experts had been ignored. She said that in December 2020, the Transportation Department sent a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration warning that allowing 5G to operate in its proposed frequency band would cause problems for flight safety systems. She said that letter was never passed along to the F.C.C. and to wireless companies.

Instead, the F.C.C., relying on its own research that cleared 5G of safety concerns, went ahead with a planned auction. In February, carriers bid more than $80 billion to use that portion of the wireless spectrum for 5G.

Wireless carriers have a right to expect a return on their investment, Ms. Furchtgott-Roth said. But you should be very happy that the F.A.A. is taking a strong stance to ensure peoples safety.
WASHINGTON  Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Americans who have had a hard time getting their hands on masks and at-home tests are suddenly being showered with offers of freebies  courtesy of taxpayers and the Biden administration, which had come under sharp criticism for not acting sooner.

On Wednesday, the administration announced that it would make 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks available free of charge at community health centers and retail pharmacies across the United States. The White House said that to ensure broad access for all Americans, there would be a limit of three masks per person.

The news came a day after the administration rolled out covidtests.gov, its new website where Americans can order at-home coronavirus tests at no cost.

Taken together, the moves represent a stepped-up effort by the White House to combat Omicron, the fast-moving coronavirus variant that first appeared in November and has fueled a spike in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the country. But some public health experts said that while the efforts were welcome, they were too late.
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, on Thursday exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Belarus diplomatic relations.

In his message, Xi pointed out that over the past 30 years, China-Belarus relations have been forging ahead, with the traditional friendship between the two countries growing stronger over time.

He noted that jointly guided by him and Lukashenko, China and Belarus have successively established a comprehensive strategic partnership and a comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual trust and win-win cooperation.

The two sides have built unbreakable political mutual trust, and carried out fruitful cooperation in various fields, Xi said, adding that they have also been firmly supporting each other on issues concerning their core interest, and coordinating closely and effectively in international and regional affairs.

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have been helping each other and fighting shoulder to shoulder, which has demonstrated the close bond between two brothers sharing weal and woe, he said.

In recent years, Xi stressed, he and Lukashenko have maintained communication in various ways, and reached important consensuses on developing China-Belarus relations under the new circumstances.

Xi said that he attaches great importance to the development of bilateral ties, and is willing to work with Lukashenko to take the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to lead the two countries to more results in their comprehensive strategic partnership and Belt and Road cooperation, so as to create benefits for both countries and their people.

For his part, Lukashenko said that over the past 30 years, Belarus-China ties have been lifted from a friendly cooperative relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual trust and win-win cooperation, with bilateral cooperation bearing rich fruit in various fields.

He said he is confident that the people of the two countries will pass on the spirit of sincere friendship and mutual support from generation to generation. 
It is sad, depressing and enraging to watch as the Senate refuses to defend voting rights, largely those of Black and brown people.

This rue-the-day moment is also a deja vu moment. As a country, we have been here before, and it ended in about 70 years of brutally effective suppression of Black voters during the Jim Crow era. There was a democracy in America, a white one. African Americans and some other nonwhite Americans simply werent part of it.

It didnt have to be this way. The courts could have stopped Southern states from implementing Jim Crow, but they didnt. Congress could have stepped in, but it, too, failed to act, refusing to protect Black people and their access to the ballot.

As Michael Waldman, president of Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, writes in his brilliant book The Fight to Vote, Republicans  the liberal party at that time  took control of the presidency and Congress, still committed to securing the right to vote for all citizens, including Black ones.
Two U.S. Marines were killed and 17 others were injured on Wednesday when their seven-ton military vehicle rolled over while going too fast around a turn near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the authorities said.

The driver of the tactical vehicle was trying to make a right turn onto U.S. Highway 17 from North Carolina Highway 210 in Onslow County, when it rolled over into the median just after 1 p.m., according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

Seventeen Marines who were in the back of the vehicle were ejected, the Highway Patrol said. Another military vehicle that was behind the tactical vehicle was unable to stop and struck one of the ejected Marines, the Highway Patrol said.

Two Marines were pronounced dead at the scene, and two who were critically injured were taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C. The 15 other Marines who were injured were taken to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, where they were listed as in stable condition, the Second Marine Logistics Group said in a statement.
Republicans leapt on Mr. Bidens description of a NATO that could be easily divided on how to react, depending on whether Russia conducts a full-scale invasion or a more subtle undermining of the Ukrainian government.

President Bidens remarks on Russias buildup near Ukraine tonight were nothing short of a disaster, said Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, adding that the president shared the potential disunity of Western nations on tough sanctions and clearly gave Vladimir Putin the green light to launch a minor incursion.

The presidents comments came as Russia has marshaled roughly 100,000 troops, backed by tanks and heavy armor, on three sides of Ukraine. Mr. Biden has vowed to impose extensive sanctions if an invasion happens, but he acknowledged that responses could differ depending on the extent of the attack. For example, he noted that even crippling cyberattacks, of the kind Russia used to take out the power grids in parts of Ukraine in 2015 and 2016, might bring about a different response.

Its one thing to determine that if they continue to use cyberefforts, we will respond the same way, with cyber, he said. But the president cut himself off, so it was unclear if he was suggesting that a cyberattack on Ukraine would result in a U.S.-led or NATO-led cyberretaliation against Russia. While the United States has quietly conducted tabletop war games to simulate such an exchange, there are concerns that it could quickly escalate and lead to more Russian cyberattacks on American targets.

The president appeared at one point to offer an off-ramp to the Russian leader, saying aloud what his negotiators have said in private to the Russians about Mr. Putins demands that Ukraine never be allowed into NATO and that the United States not base nuclear weapons there. Ukraine would not be accepted into the NATO alliance for years, Mr. Biden said. He added that he could assure Mr. Putin  as he did in a phone call several weeks ago  that the United States had no intention of basing nuclear weapons in there.
WASHINGTON  Senate Democrats made an impassioned case on Wednesday for legislation to counter an onslaught of new voting restrictions around the country, but they failed to overcome a Republican blockade or unite their own members behind a change in filibuster rules to pass it.

Though the twin defeats were never in doubt, Democrats pushed forward in an effort to highlight what they called a crisis in voting rights and to underscore the refusal of Republicans to confront it. They did succeed in forcing the Senate for the first time to debate the bill, leading to hours of raw and emotional arguments on the floor over civil rights, racism and how elections are conducted.

The people of this country will not tolerate silencing, said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota and a chief author of the voting bill. I think by voting this down, by not allowing us even to debate this, to get to the conclusion of a vote, that is silencing the people of America, all in the name of an archaic Senate rule that isnt even in the Constitution. Thats just wrong.

After Republicans stymied action on the legislation on Wednesday night, Democrats made a last-ditch bid to alter the Senates filibuster rules and allow the voting rights measure to move forward with a simple majority. But that effort also fell flat because they lacked the support in their own ranks to change the rules.
Sara McLanahan, a Princeton sociologist whose landmark studies of households led by one parent  much of which suggested poorer outcomes for children born to single mothers  laid the groundwork for research into the changing structure of the American family, died on Dec. 31 at her home in Manhattan. She was 81.

The cause was lung cancer, her husband and research partner, Irwin Garfinkel, said.

Dr. McLanahans research grew in part out of her personal experience as a single mother to three children, but it was also driven by her disappointment at the limited data available on single motherhood at the time. She was further prodded into action by an article she read.

While completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. McLanahan came across The Underclass, a 60,000-word article by Ken Auletta that appeared in three consecutive issues of The New Yorker in 1981. (It was later expanded into a book.) In it Mr. Auletta argued that the weakened family structure of the poor was a major reason for poverty in the country.

She set out to design her own studies, hoping to contradict the thesis of The Underclass. But her research consistently found that single motherhood came with increased risk of income loss, conflict and poorer overall outcomes.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the administrator of James (Whitey) Bulgers estate, who had argued that prison officials placed the notorious Boston mob boss in harms way when they transferred him to a violent federal prison in West Virginia where he was beaten to death in 2018.

In dismissing the lawsuit brought by Mr. Bulgers nephew, the judge, John Preston Bailey of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, ruled that Congress had given courts little power to intervene in prison housing decisions or to allow prisoners to sue prison officers for damages.

The federal Bureau of Prisons must provide for the protection, safekeeping, and care of inmates, but this does not guarantee a risk-free environment, Judge Bailey wrote in the decision, dated Jan. 12. Decisions about how to safeguard prisoners are generally discretionary.

Mr. Bulger, who terrorized South Boston for decades, had been serving two life terms for his role in 11 murders when he was killed on Oct. 30, 2018, less than 12 hours after he had been transferred to the Hazelton prison in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., from a prison in Florida.
Drawing is really the best of all art mediums. Its history is long and encompassing, truly global, virtually unbounded. It facilitates many other art forms, among them painting, sculpture and architecture. But the mark-making basic to drawing is the starting point of so much else: the development of written language, numbers, musical scores. And, contrasting with this macrocosmic scale, there is the microcosmic: the stripped-down vulnerability of individual drawings, which are often not much larger than the faces that lean in to absorb them. This is about as naked as art gets.

Just as drawings bring us close to an artists thoughts, feelings and touch with an intimacy that sometimes seems metabolic, they provoke spontaneous responses that can show us new sides of ourselves. On the practical side, drawings are relatively inexpensive to make, transport, exhibit and buy, which benefits artists, as well as curators, art dealers, starting-out collectors. And if you are merely interested, drawings are the great teachers; they educate the eye and make us more conscious of seeing. They present visual power, relatively unbuffered by materials or size. In my darker moments (OK, most of the time), I think that collectors who dont buy drawings are actually not worthy of the name. As they say on Twitter, Ill just leave this here.
3. The Tabqa Dam in Syria was on a no-strike list, and a military report warned that striking it could cause thousands of deaths. The U.S. bombed it anyway.

At the time of the bombing in 2017, the U.S. denied responsibility for the attack. In fact, members of a top secret U.S. Special Operations unit struck the Islamic-State-controlled dam using some of the largest conventional bombs in the U.S. arsenal.

One of the bombs proved to be a dud; if it had exploded, experts say the whole dam might have failed, sending floods that might have killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Russia and Irans show of unity against the U.S.

At a meeting in Moscow yesterday, Vladimir Putin and Ebrahim Raisi, the leaders of Russia and Iran, sought to showcase tightening bonds between two countries with a common adversary: the U.S. Now is the time to take on the power of the Americans with an increased synergy between our two countries, Raisi told Putin.

The meeting comes as the U.S. prepares for a potential invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Speaking at the White House, President Biden said that he expected Putin to act imminently, even if it did not amount to a full-scale invasion of the country. My guess is he will move in, he said. He has to do something. This map shows how Russian troops are threatening Ukraine.

Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, will meet with Russias foreign minister on Friday. He warned that Russia could attack Ukraine on very short notice and warned of confrontation and consequences for Russia if it were to do so. Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, disputed the assertion. We will not attack, strike, invade, quote unquote, whatever, Ukraine, he said.

Aid for Ukraine: It was not clear if Blinken had offered concrete measures to help Ukraine, but the Biden administration has approved an additional $200 million in defensive security aid. That money comes in addition to $450 million in such aid that the U.S. provided Ukraine in the last fiscal year.
The Federal Reserve took its first step toward more seriously examining issuing a central bank digital currency, releasing a report on Thursday that examines the ideas potential costs and benefits and opening the door for public comment.

In a long-awaited report, the Fed avoided taking sides and set out a list of arguments for and against a digital currency, and posed questions that will shape the debate.

We look forward to engaging with the public, elected representatives and a broad range of stakeholders as we examine the positives and negatives of a central bank digital currency in the United States, Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said in a statement. Mr. Powell had previewed that a report would be forthcoming in May 2021.

Central banks from the Bahamas to Sweden and China are experimenting with digital currency offerings, fueling concerns on Capitol Hill that the Fed might fall behind the competition. Breakneck innovation in the private sector has suggested that the Fed, a key financial regulator, needs to understand budding private digital payment technologies.
A video screenshot shows the handover ceremony of the first batch of emergency supplies from China to Tonga in Nuku'alofa, capital of Tonga, Jan. 19, 2022. China has provided Tonga with 100,000 U.S. dollars in emergency humanitarian cash assistance and a batch of emergency supplies after the recent tsunami, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Thursday. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China has provided Tonga with 100,000 U.S. dollars in emergency humanitarian cash assistance and a batch of emergency supplies in the wake of the recent tsunami there, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.

"The Chinese side is paying close attention to the situation in Tonga, and has taken urgent action to help Tonga with disaster relief to the best of its ability," Zhao said at a press briefing.

The Red Cross Society of China has provided Tonga with 100,000 U.S. dollars in emergency humanitarian cash assistance, Zhao said, adding that the Chinese government, through the Chinese Embassy in Tonga, has managed to quickly assemble some emergency supplies, including drinking water and food, delivering them to Tonga on January 19.

Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga Poasi Tei, speaking at a ceremony marking the occasion, thanked the Chinese government for the swift assistance, which is the first batch of emergency supplies the Tongan government has received since the disaster struck, and embodies the special friendship between the two countries.

Many Tongan people expressed heartfelt thanks to the Chinese embassy, calling China a true friend in need, Tei said.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese government will assist the Tongan side with a batch of emergency supplies such as drinking water, food, personal protective equipment, and disaster-relief equipment, which will arrive as soon as the flight conditions permit.

The China-Pacific Island Countries reserve of emergency supplies, located in South China's Guangdong Province, has started the emergency allocation of materials and is ready to ship them as soon as possible.

"Going forward, China will continue to provide assistance in cash and supplies, based on the situation and Tongas needs, and will strive to overcome unfavorable meteorological conditions, such as the volcanic ash, to deliver the supplies as soon as possible," Zhao said.

The Pacific island nation of Tonga was hit on Saturday by a tsunami following a series of violent eruptions from the underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, 65 km north of Tongatapu. 
The Fox News host Sean Hannity had some blunt advice for President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 7, 2021: No more stolen election talk.

His guidance did not take. But documents disclosed on Thursday showed in vivid detail just how closely Mr. Hannity had worked with White House aides in a fervent, if brief, effort to persuade Mr. Trump to abandon his false claims about voter fraud after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

One day after the attack, Mr. Hannity sent a text message to Kayleigh McEnany, then the White House press secretary, describing a five-point plan for approaching conversations with the president, according to documents released by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot.

After urging Ms. McEnany to avoid discussion of a stolen election, Mr. Hannity proffered another talking point to use with Mr. Trump: Yes, impeachment and 25th amendment are real, and many people will quit 
Last month, Donald J. Trumps fledgling social media company announced that it had lined up $1 billion from 36 investors. The size of the deal, the former president said in the announcement, signaled that his start-ups plan to end the tyranny of Big Tech had significant support.

Getting there was no slam dunk.

Beginning in the fall, bankers for the company, Trump Media & Technology Group, approached dozens of investors pitching the $1 billion deal, which offered them lucrative financial terms. By then, the start-up  intended partly as a conservative alternative to Twitter  had separately raised roughly $300 million through its planned merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

Those willing to put up at least $100 million, Trump Medias bankers told potential investors, would get a call from Mr. Trump, said five people who were briefed about the pitches but were not authorized to speak publicly. Despite the opportunity to invest in a deal whose terms were structured to make a profit for investors, many of Wall Streets big names passed.

More than a dozen well-known hedge funds and investment firms were hesitant to go into business with Mr. Trump, people briefed on the matter said, because any association with him could risk alienating their investors, which often include public pension funds and foundations. Others were wary of Mr. Trumps history of corporate bankruptcies and disputes with lenders and partners, and concerned that details about his media company were scant.
Hindsight is a series from the Headway team looking back at predictions and promises from the past.

Robert C. Seamans, the man President Gerald Ford had entrusted to deal with the energy crisis of the 1970s, didnt think wind power had much of a future. In 1975, at the dedication of an experimental turbine in Ohio, Seamans opined that wind would never account for more than 1 percent of the U.S. energy supply.

Solar power, on the other hand, was one of Seamans great hopes for energy independence. It had been two long years since the OPEC oil embargo, and gas prices were still high. Six months into his term as president, Ford formed Seamans agency  the Energy Research and Development Administration  to galvanize homegrown fuel industries and end reliance on foreign oil.

The same year that Seamans scoffed at wind energy, his agency issued a report asserting that the suns virtually inexhaustible potential supply of energy could represent a quarter of the nations energy use by 2020.
According to the surgical team, the pig kidneys started functioning and making urine after about 23 minutes and continued to do so for three days, though one kidney made more urine than the other.

The patientss own kidneys were removed, and there were no signs indicating rejection of the pig organs.

Dr. Jayme Locke, the lead surgeon, said that the procedure had closely followed all of the steps of a regular human-to-human transplant operation and that critical safety questions had been addressed, laying the groundwork for a small clinical trial with live patients that she hoped to begin by the end of the year.

Many of the previous operations have been unique experiments, not part of ongoing trials.

Our goal is not to have a one-off, but to advance the field to help our patients, said Dr. Locke, who is director of U.A.B.s Incompatible Kidney Transplant Program. What a wonderful day it will be when I can walk into clinic and know I have a kidney for everyone waiting to see me.

Alabama has one of the highest rates of chronic kidney disease in the nation: 2,348 cases per million residents. Often a result of diabetes or high blood pressure, kidney disease is most common in older adults, but it disproportionately affects people of color, women, and those with less education and lower incomes.
Written and directed by Aimee Long, A Shot Through the Wall considers the modern dilemma about race and policing in the United States from the perspective of a Chinese American police officer in New York. When a rookie, Mike Tan (Kenny Leu), chases a teenager through an apartment building in Brooklyn, Mike accidentally fires his gun, killing a Black man.

After the shooting, Mike is seen agonizing over his actions, though his immigrant parents, Chow and May (Tzi Ma and Fiona Fu), are supportive. At work, his superiors assure him everything will blow over  until a video revealing Mikes identity goes viral, prompting widespread demands for justice and the possibility of a sentence that includes jail time. Mike then seeks the help of a high-powered attorney who encourages him to flaunt his Black girlfriend, Candace (Ciara Renee), to blunt any accusations of racism.
Its going on seven years since Mona (Agam Darshi), a failed Punjabi Canadian writer in her mid-30s, moved back to her childhood home to care for her father (Marvin Ishmael), who has cancer. When his health deteriorates and he lapses into a coma, Mona begins to unravel as she realizes his death would remove her only meaningful purpose in life.

Written and directed by Darshi, Donkeyhead is a kind of coming-of-age film, only its heroine is an extremely late bloomer. When her accomplished siblings  Rup (Huse Madhavji), Sandy (Sandy Sidhu), and Parm (Stephen Lobo), Monas twin brother  come home, the aimlessness of Monas existence is thrown into sharp relief.
Jean-Luc Godard famously said that every movie needed a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order. The South Korean director Hong Sangsoo, at least as prolific in recent years as Godard was in the late 1960s  and in his own sly way, at least as radical  puts this axiom into practice, and pushes even further.

Introduction, Hongs slender 25th feature, is divided into three parts, each one concerning the same young man. These vignettes show him dealing with various other people, including (separately) his parents, his girlfriend and a movie star. Whether we are watching three parts of the same story, and whether they are arranged chronologically or according to some other principle, arent questions that are easily answered.

Science-fiction and fantasy franchises make narrative hay out of multiverses and competing time lines, but Hong is a realist, zooming in on the myriad ethical and emotional possibilities that dwell in ordinary experience. Things happen, but they could happen differently, though in the end that might not make much of a difference at all. His characters often seem caught in an endless loop of slight variation, repeating patterns of behavior that include eating, drinking, taking long walks and making small talk.
Shortly after Munich: The Edge of War opens, a young couple have an anniversary lunch at a restaurant. Its 1938, and the husband, who works in the British Foreign Service, tells his wife that Hitler is threatening to invade Czechoslovakia, and if that happens Britain and France will be obliged to respond militarily. Just as the husband delivers this sober news, the wife  wearing an indulgent smile and the openly bored look of someone listening to the weather report  perks up. The waiter has brought their Chablis finally.

Unlike that wife, Hitler at least gets some grudging respect and decent dialogue in this potboiler about the diplomatic efforts to stop Germany. Based on the best seller by the British novelist Robert Harris, the movie weds fact with fiction for a story about estranged friends, Hugh (George MacKay) and Paul (Jannis Niewohner), occupying opposite sides of the geopolitical divide. Hugh works at 10 Downing Street and is married to the aforementioned cliche, Pamela (Jessica Brown Findley). Paul serves in the foreign ministry in Berlin and has a tart, politically astute lover, Helen (Sandra Huller).

For the most part, this movie comes across as a feature-length attempt to glorify Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who engaged in the much-debated diplomatic strategy of appeasement in the run-up to World War II. Played by a sadly juiceless Jeremy Irons in funereal mode, the Chamberlain here is a quietly heroic figure who perceptively negotiates with Hitler to avoid another war. Yet while Chamberlain is the storys champion  a noble defender, historical bone of contention and revisionist argument rolled into one phlegmatic figure  the movies more energetic and visually engaging heroic duties have been relegated to Hugh, Paul and the supporting players in their orbits.

The movie opens with a glimpse of the good old days at Oxford when Hugh and Paul were in love with the same Jewish free spirit, Lena (Liv Lisa Fries). Years later, Hugh is in obsequious functionary mode at Downing Street and hovering attentively over Chamberlain (well navigated, sir) while Paul is busily conspiring to boot out Hitler (a spidery and strange Ulrich Matthes). For much of what follows, Hugh and Paul occupy their respective narrative territories. As the plot thickens, the filmmakers  the movie was written by Ben Power and directed by Christian Schwochow  try to build tension by cutting back and forth between the two lines of action that eventually, predictably converge.
The makers of The Janes hope those with differing views will allow themselves a look at life before Roe v. Wade. This is a glimpse at history; I dont think its an advocacy film, said Tia Lessin, who directed with Emma Pildes, whose father used to be married to Arcana. Arcanas son, Daniel, and Pildes are producers on the film. Lessin added, Its a real life story about what happened and the lengths that women went to to have abortions and to enable other women to have abortions.

Do I hope that peoples takeaway will be lets not go back there? Sure. But I really hope it moves people to engage in conversation. Love the film, hate the film, she said before Pildes jumped in: Talk about the issue.

And there is plenty to discuss.

The Jane Collective was formed when a college student, Heather Booth, now 76, received a desperate call from a friend looking for an abortion. Booth, active in the civil rights movement, found a doctor willing to help and passed along the information. I made what I thought was a one-time arrangement, she said in an interview. Soon another woman called. Then another. Booth found herself negotiating fees and learning the intricacies of the procedure so she could counsel women. After a few years, Booth, by then a mother working on her graduate degree at the University of Chicago, recruited others to fulfill the growing need.
About 240 cases in Manhattan reached conclusions with resisting arrest as the top remaining charge in 2020, data from the states Division of Criminal Justice Services shows, compared to 643 cases four years earlier. Many of those defendants likely faced more serious charges initially, and Mr. Bragg has not planned to stop prosecuting those cases.

Mr. Braggs memo touched off a battle in Manhattan that has already played out in cities around the country. Prosecutors who have taken a more lenient approach with defendants have been vocally opposed by victims rights advocates and traditional law enforcement organizations.

The prosecutors opponents often argue that they have made cities less safe and encouraged criminals, though data does not appear to support such an argument. As gun crime and some other offenses have risen sharply in many cities over the last two years, including those led by more traditional prosecutors, the policy arguments have become explosive.

Jennifer Harrison, the founder of Victims Rights N.Y., a victims advocacy group, said that she was concerned that Mr. Braggs policies could encourage crime, and that his instruction to ask prosecutors not to request a prison sentence of 20 years for any crime absent exceptional circumstances was disrespectful to victims.

I dont think there should be an announcement of leniency on severely violent crimes, she said.

Supporters of such prosecutors say that the backlash comes from those who are invested in and benefit from an unjust system.

The police dont like changes that reduce their power, said Rachel E. Barkow, a professor at the New York University School of Law who was on Mr. Braggs transition team. And when they dont like it, they go running to the press and say things like insert new law here is why we have crime.

Rachael Rollins, the former district attorney in Suffolk County, Mass., adopted a similar approach to Mr. Bragg in 2019, when she declined to prosecute 15 low-level crimes, including in resisting arrest policies identical to those in Manhattan. Police unions in Boston criticized the move as ignoring state laws, and said officers would encounter more aggressive pushback on patrols.
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the international community to give new impetus to the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The question of Palestine has been on the UN agenda for 75 years. The new year should bring new hope to the Palestinian people, and the international community should act with a stronger sense of urgency by taking vigorous actions to promote the comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue, said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

Violence and hostilities must be stopped and tensions eased, he told a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Last year saw continued unrest in the occupied Palestinian territory. Since the beginning of this year, the situation on the ground has continued to be tense and worrying, said Geng. "We call on all parties concerned to keep calm, exercise restraint, refrain from hostilities and violence, and consolidate the cease-fire in Gaza."

As the occupying power, Israel must fulfill its obligations under international law, guarantee the safety of the people in the occupied territory, investigate violence against Palestinian civilians, and maintain the historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israel's legitimate security concerns must be respected, he said.

Relevant Security Council resolutions must be implemented and settlement activities must stop, said Geng.

In 2021, Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank continued to expand, and the number of demolished Palestinian homes was the highest since 2016. Settlement activities violate international law. China urges Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes, stop evicting Palestinians and expanding settlements, and create conditions for the development of Palestinian communities in the West Bank, he said.

China is equally concerned about Israel's recent announcement that it will invest more than 300 million U.S. dollars in settlement construction in the Golan. The international community recognizes Syria's sovereignty over the Golan. China urges Israel to stop settlement activities that could lead to tensions, he said.

The economy and people's livelihoods should receive enough attention and humanitarian assistance should be scaled up, he said.

At present, Palestine is in deep economic and financial crisis. The humanitarian situation is worrying and people are living a difficult life. The international community should step up its support, enhance the authority of the Palestinian National Authority, empower it to exercise its sovereign functions in the fields of security and finance, and provide basic public services, he said.

China appreciates the efforts by Egypt, Qatar and other regional countries for the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, and calls on all parties to strengthen financial support to the UN agency for Palestine refugees. China has taken note of the measures recently taken by Israel, such as the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian side. China hopes this will help restore Palestinian-Israeli coordination in economic and civil fields. China once again calls on Israel to lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip, said Geng.

All efforts should be mobilized to promote peace and implement the two-state solution. History and reality have repeatedly proved that the two-state solution is the only viable way to resolve the Palestinian issue. The international community should uphold an objective and fair approach, advocate tolerance and mutual understanding, and do more for the resumption of dialogue between the two sides based on the two-state solution, he said.

"We hope that the two sides will take the recent high-level contacts as an opportunity to gradually build mutual trust and continue to build momentum. We expect Palestinian factions to strengthen solidarity, achieve internal reconciliation through consultations and dialogue, and form a unified negotiating position," he said.

China supports the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent state of Palestine and supports the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel and the common development of the Arab and Jewish peoples. China will continue to work relentlessly with the international community toward the early settlement of the Palestinian issue, he said. 
In November, Eric Adams made an announcement that galvanized the cryptocurrency world: Once he became mayor of New York City, he would take his first three paychecks in Bitcoin.

Mr. Adams has now followed through on that promise, to the extent that he could.

Because federal labor laws require the city to pay base wages to its employees, including Mr. Adams, in government-issued currency, the mayor has arranged to use Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, to convert his paycheck on Friday into Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Mr. Adamss eagerness to honor his pledge and his desire to broadcast it to the world point to one of his most frequent economic development arguments: New York City should become the global capital for cryptocurrency.

New York is the center of the world, and we want it to be the center of cryptocurrency and other financial innovations, Mr. Adams said in a statement. Being on the forefront of such innovation will help us create jobs, improve our economy, and continue to be a magnet for talent from all over the globe.
More than 95 percent of the funds she collected came from donors who gave $1,000 or more, according to a review of publicly available campaign filings, despite the Hochul campaigns claims of success in pulling in small donations. Dozens of people wrote the governor checks for the legal maximum.

Jerrel Harvey, a spokesman for Ms. Hochuls campaign, pointed to contributions from every county in the state and said that the campaign was proud that her agenda has resonated with a diverse coalition of supporters.

In keeping with the governors commitment to maintain high ethical standards, campaign contributions have no influence on government decisions, he said.

Many of her donors are fixtures in New York politics and were stalwart supporters of her predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, who collected tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions by often using the same tactics Ms. Hochul is employing. But where Mr. Cuomo had years to build those relationships and fill his campaign coffers, Ms. Hochul has done so in a matter on months.

Few industries gave more  and frequently in large amounts  than real estate, where large developers are keenly watching how Ms. Hochul will not only approach large, state-funded capital projects but the future of the states affordable housing law.

Douglas Durst, who oversees a multibillion dollar real estate empire and chairs the influential Real Estate Board of New York, gave her $55,000. The family of Scott Rechler, a top donor to Mr. Cuomo whose RXR Realty controls millions of square feet of commercial real estate, gave $60,000. Members of the Rudin, Tishman and Speyer families  whose names dot buildings across the city  collectively contributed more than $400,000. Top executives at Related Companies, the group behind Hudson Yards, maxed out.

The new governor, who has cast herself as pro-business and greenlighted a rash of expensive capital projects amid an influx of federal funds, also quickly began collecting funds from the states construction industry. Hundreds of thousands of dollars came from unions, trade groups and executives representing bricklayers, sheet metal workers, engineers, elevator constructors, machine operators, construction companies and even a law firm that specializes in construction accidents.
United States prosecutors in Manhattan have charged four officials of the government of Belarus with conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy in the 2021 forced landing of a European airliner in Minsk, where a prominent opposition journalist aboard the plane was seized.

The charge was contained in an indictment filed on Thursday in Federal District Court.

In response to a purported bomb threat, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Belaruss authoritarian president, sent a fighter jet on May 23 to intercept the Ryanair Boeing 737-800 carrying some 170 passengers from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania  among them the journalist, Roman Protasevich. The forcing down of the plane and his seizure led to international outrage.

Image Roman Protasevich, a Belarusian journalist, was detained after the flight was grounded. Credit... Reuters TV

The bomb threat was a fake, orchestrated by senior Belarus officials who were seeking to detain Mr. Protasevich in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, the indictment says.
Its told like this: Amanda Gorman performed at the inauguration, and the rest is history.

The truth is I almost declined to be the inaugural poet. Why?

I was terrified.

I was scared of failing my people, my poetry. But I was also terrified on a physical level. Covid was still raging, and my age group couldnt get vaccinated yet. Just a few weeks before, domestic terrorists assaulted the U.S. Capitol, the very steps where I would recite. I didnt know then that Id become famous, but I did know at the inauguration I was going to become highly visible  which is a very dangerous thing to be in America, especially if youre Black and outspoken and have no Secret Service.

It didnt help that I was getting DMs from friends telling me not so jokingly to buy a bulletproof vest. My mom had us crouch in our living room so that she could practice shielding my body from bullets. A loved one warned me to be ready to die if I went to the Capitol, telling me, Its just not worth it. I had insomnia and nightmares, barely ate or drank for days. I finally wrote to some close friends and family, telling them that I was most likely going to pull out of the ceremony.

I got some texts praising the Lord. I got called pathologically insane. But I knew only I could answer the question for myself: Was this poem worth it?
Dismayingly few Republican leaders stand foursquare against the bases insistence that any election Mr. Trump and his followers might lose is rigged. The result is that Republicans are shattering faith in the integrity of our elections and abandoning their commitment to the peaceful transfer of power  the minimum commitment required for democracy to work. This is an unforgivable civic sin, but it hardly exhausts the lists of concerns.

Many Republicans are now openly hostile to the processes Americans rely on to separate fact from fiction. Theres also the deepening cult of despair that has led some on the right to believe that all means of resistance are appropriate. In fact, catastrophism is quite fashionable on the American right these days. Every election is a Flight 93 confrontation against an apocalyptic enemy; every effort, no matter how extreme, is justified. That attitude is not merely at odds with reality; it is incompatible with liberal democracys foundational requirement that Americans compromise and coexist civilly in order to share the country.

Partly as a result, the MAGA movement is drifting toward authoritarianism. The most important media personality on the right, Tucker Carlson of Fox News, released a disingenuous three-part documentary in November suggesting that the Jan. 6 insurrection was a false flag operation. He and others in MAGA World, including Mr. Trump, also promote Hungary, which Freedom House said in its 2018 report is sliding into authoritarian rule, as a model for the United States. The Republican Party is also drifting ever closer to the open embrace of political violence and martyrdom, not merely excusing but defending actions like Ashli Babbitts effort to break into the Houses inner sanctum on Jan. 6  actions that came within seconds of succeeding.

In a recent survey, nearly 40 percent of Republicans agreed that if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions. Around the country, Republican officials who defend the election and count votes honestly have been threatened and have needed to leave their homes or live under guard. Josh Mandel, a Republican running for the open Senate seat in Ohio and leading in the polls, said in the aftermath of President Bidens vaccine mandate: Do not comply with the tyranny. When the Gestapo show up at your front door, you know what to do.

Intimidating election officials, lying about elections and storming the Capitol are not actions promoted among mainstream Democrats. And while the progressive left undoubtedly has influence in the Democratic Party, if it exercised the near-total dominance that Republicans claim, Joe Biden would not have won the Democratic nomination. Conservatives certainly have their disagreements with President Biden, but he has not defunded the police, attempted to pack the Supreme Court or promoted the Green New Deal or Medicare for All.

But assume that your threat assessment is different from ours; that as a conservative Republican you believe the danger to the nation is greater from the far left than from the MAGA right. You should still speak out against what is happening to your movement and your party for two reasons: The sins of the left do not excuse the sins of the right; and what is happening on the right is wrecking authentic conservatism in ways the left never could.

In his new book, We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy, a Wheaton College historian, Robert Tracy McKenzie, shows that the founders took a deeply conservative view of human nature. They believed that humankind is flawed and fallen, distracted by passions and swayed by parochial interests. Americans, the founders believed, were no exception. Yet they also believed that what John Adams called a well-ordered Constitution could go a long way to compensate for human flaws.
Balko believes this can help explain why murder  which tends to be fueled by domestic violence, gang conflicts and drug trading  increased while other crimes more dependent on public interactions fell. Officials in cities that saw some of the largest murder surges in 2020 and 2021  including Albuquerque, Indianapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles and others  all have said much of the spike could be attributed to drug- and gang-related murders, he writes. So the events of 2020 produced conditions that both encouraged turf wars and gang rivalries, and at the same time undermined the single biggest deterrent to public violence  the presence of witnesses, whether they were police or bystanders.

General anomie. Another theory about the rise in murders contends that the pandemic accelerated (but did not necessarily initiate) an unraveling of the social contract. Murder is on the rise, but so too are other, less extreme manifestations of antisocial behavior, like reckless driving, aggression from airplane passengers and disruptive conduct in schools.

Aside from the pandemic, the proposed causes for anomie are legion, including the decline in church and union membership, the rise of social media and deepening socioeconomic inequality in a diminished welfare state. Whatever the reason, the Times columnist David Brooks concludes that over the past several years, and over a wide range of different behaviors, Americans have been acting in fewer pro-social and relational ways and in more antisocial and self-destructive ways.

Whats to be done?

If pandemic-related factors are to blame, the problem may partly resolve itself as the pandemic wanes and employment levels rise, Anthony Barr and Kristen Broady of the Brookings Institution write. Similarly, if the decline of sentinels in public space was a major contributor to the murder spike, we should see the numbers come down as the country returns to normal, Balko predicts. And indeed, the homicide surge appears to be slowing, and even reversing in some cities that have opened up, such as New York and Boston.

But if changes or deficiencies in policing are to blame, the solutions are less obvious. One idea, which President Biden himself has embraced, is to invest more money in police departments and to hire more officers. While the relationship between police staffing levels and crime is still debated, there is a fairly robust body of research that shows a salutary effect.

One recent working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, for example, estimated that each additional police officer abates approximately 0.1 homicides. (The researches noted, though, that the reduction was much less pronounced in cities with large Black populations.)

Another widely cited study found that every $1 spent on extra policing generates about $1.63 in social benefits, primarily through fewer murders. (When conducting cost-benefit analyses of public safety investments, many federal and state agencies value the average life at around $7 million.)

Im as much a reformer as anybody, but the short-term solutions around high violence are mainly punitive, John Roman, a researcher at the University of Chicago, told Lopez. Theres no getting around that.

[The case for hiring more police officers]

But many disagree with an exclusively police-intensive approach. In a recent survey of criminal justice experts, about two-thirds said that increasing police budgets would improve public safety. But 85 percent said  and with greater confidence  that increasing spending on housing, health and education would also do so.
BOSTON  Federal prosecutors on Thursday dropped the governments charges against Gang Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an embarrassing setback to the governments drive to crack down on economic and scientific espionage by China.

The case against Dr. Chen was among the most visible of the China Initiative, an effort started in 2018 under the Trump administration. China has made aggressive efforts to steal American technology, through methods including the recruiting of overseas scientists as non-traditional collectors.

But many of the prosecutions of researchers that resulted, like the case against Dr. Chen, did not allege espionage or theft of intellectual property, but something narrower and highly technical: failing to disclose Chinese affiliations in grant proposals to U.S. funding agencies.

The prosecutions have come under criticism for singling out scientists based on their ethnicity, and for overreach, blurring the line between disclosure violations and more serious crimes like espionage. Critics in academia say it has instilled a pervasive atmosphere of fear among scientists of Chinese descent.
Just a bit too late for New Year celebrations, astronomers have discovered that the Milky Way galaxy, our home, is, like champagne, full of bubbles.

As it happens, our solar system is passing through the center of one of these bubbles. Fourteen million years ago, according to the astronomers, a firecracker chain of supernova explosions drove off all the gas and dust from a region roughly 1,000 light-years wide, leaving it bereft of the material needed to produce new generations of stars.

As a result, all the baby stars in our neighborhood can be found stuck on the edges of this bubble. There, the staccato force of a previous generation of exploding stars has pushed gas clouds together into forms dense enough to collapse under their own ponderous if diffuse gravity and condense enough to ignite, as baby stars. Our sun, 4.5 billion years old, drifts through the middle of this space in a coterie of aged stars.

This is really an origin story, Catherine Zucker said in a news release from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. For the first time, we can explain how all nearby star formation began.
Founded in 2020 by Emily Morrison, after a formative trip to Turkey in 2019, the New Orleans-based fashion and lifestyle brand Elysian aims to combine centuries-old artisan techniques with a modern bohemian flair. While the line has mostly focused on textiles, offering everything from vibrantly patterned silk caftans to hand-woven pillow covers and blankets made and sourced from such far-flung places as Istanbul and Kashmir, their recently launched tabletop collection marks Elysians first foray into ceramics. Coming in four soft shades of blush, sage, tangerine and cornflower, the dinner plates, dessert plates and bowls  sold either individually or as a set  are hand-painted in Kutahya, Turkey, by a female artisan from her in-home workshop. The design is a playful take on a traditional Turkish ikat with a blooming dahlia, a favorite flower of Morrisons, placed in the center. Paired with any of Elysians cotton-silk napkins, which are made in Uzbekistan by a family of weavers and depict a Central Asian motif of rams horns (believed to have protective powers), these dishes make for a sunny tablescape even in these dreary months. From $60, elysianbyem.com. Bespoke orders can be placed through Elysians website, or at their brick and mortar location at 3701 Magazine Street, New Orleans, La., 70115.

buy This

Fruits of an Egyptian Idyll
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's outbound direct investment (ODI) saw stable growth last year, rising by 2.2 percent year on year to 936.69 billion yuan, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

In U.S. dollar terms, the ODI during this period rose 9.2 percent from a year ago to 145.19 billion dollars, said MOC spokesperson Shu Jueting.

Non-financial investment into countries along the Belt and Road increased 14.1 percent year on year to 20.3 billion U.S. dollars during the period, the data showed.

In 2021, China saw 560 newly-signed foreign contracted projects with a value of more than 100 million U.S. dollars, 46 more from the previous year, said the ministry. The projects are mainly in the infrastructure sector, such as transportation.

"We also saw fruitful achievements in the building of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones," Shu said.

By the end of 2021, investment into overseas economic and trade cooperation zones totaled 50.7 billion U.S. dollars, contributing a combined 6.6 billion U.S. dollars in taxes and fees to investment destinations and creating 392,000 local jobs, according to MOC data. 
This is a problem that has been brewing for a long time, and its become pretty obvious to everyone, said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, who has led the push for tougher laws on the tech companies. But when you get to the fall, it will be very difficult to get things done because everything is about the election.

Congress has unified around a growing concern about the technology giants over the last several years. Still, dozens of bills have failed to pass, even as many other countries have beefed up their regulations for the industry.

When Mr. Biden took office last year, he promised to inject more competition into the economy, particularly in the tech sector. He appointed vocal tech critics to lead antitrust agencies, and this month, his press secretary said the president was encouraged to see bipartisan interest in Congress in passing legislation to address the power of tech platforms through antitrust legislation.

Bruce Reed, the White House deputy chief of staff, and Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, met on Wednesday with executives from companies including Yelp and Sonos, which have lobbied for antitrust action against the tech giants. They discussed the difficulties that entrepreneurs, brick-and-mortar retailers, and other businesses face competing in sectors dominated by a few large platforms, White House officials said. The administration said it anticipated working with Congress, but has not endorsed any of the specific legislation aimed at the companies.

Complicating matters is that even though the two parties widely agree that Congress should do something, they often disagree on what that should be.
Today, first-time home buyers in once-affordable markets have competition from all kinds of sources that didnt exist a generation ago: from global capital, from all-cash iBuyers that size up homes by algorithm, from institutional investors renting single-family homes, from smaller-scale investors running Airbnbs.

Its really hard for an owner-occupier to compete with the amount of money thats flowing into this region, said Dan Immergluck, a professor at Georgia State in Atlanta. There, even in a Sun Belt market with robust new housing construction, supply still cant keep up with demand.

Perhaps at some point in the medium term, the geographic reshuffling of remote workers will settle down, calming price growth in places like Boise, Idaho, and Denver that have been most jolted by it. But the investor purchasers arent going away. Nor are new technologies that enable homes to sell at a much faster pace.

Rising mortgage rates should help slow the growth in home prices. But they wont affect anyone paying cash. And higher rates will make home owning even less affordable.

For first-time home buyers, theyre going to find it very, very difficult to get a home in the next two, three years, said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moodys Analytics. And in the meantime theyll be paying higher rents, cutting into their ability to save for a down payment.

Working-class households on the cusp of homeownership before the pandemic may now need another five to 10 years to play catch-up, said Ralph McLaughlin, the chief economist at Kukun, a company that tracks real estate investment activity. The days of one-earner households buying a decent-quality starter home anywhere in the U.S. may be over, he said  unless that one earner is a high earner.

As a housing economist, its kind of depressing to think that there may not be an undoing of the hardships that have been brought upon young households trying to get their foot in the door of the housing market during the pandemic, Mr. McLaughlin said.
But in the days after the strike, officers working for the coalition air war saw Islamic State images of the unexploded bunker buster and tried to figure out what had really happened, one official said. Every U.S. airstrike is supposed to be immediately reported to the operations center, but Task Force 9 had not reported the dam strikes. That made them hard to trace, said one former official who searched for the records. He said a team was only able to piece together what the task force had done by reviewing logs from the B-52.

At the air operations center, senior officials were shocked to learn how the top secret operators had bypassed safeguards and used heavy weapons, according to one of the former officials, who reviewed the operation.

No disciplinary action was taken against the task force, the officials said. The secret unit continued to strike targets using the same types of self-defense justifications it had used on the dam.

While the dam was still being repaired, the task force sent a drone over the community next to the dam. As the drone circled, three of the civilian workers who had rushed to save the dam finished their work and piled into a small van and headed back toward their homes.

More than a mile away from the dam, the van was hit by a coalition airstrike, according to workers. A mechanical engineer, a technician and a Syrian Red Crescent worker were killed. The deaths were reported widely in Syrian media sources online, but because the reports got the location of the attack wrong, the U.S. military searched for strikes near the dam and determined the allegation was noncredible. The civilian deaths have never been officially acknowledged.

The United States continued to strike targets and its allies soon took control of the region.
DALLAS  The F.B.I. is treating the attack on a suburban Fort Worth synagogue on Saturday as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community, Christopher A. Wray, the bureaus director, said on Thursday.

This was not some random occurrence, Mr. Wray told viewers of a webinar hosted by the Anti-Defamation League. It was intentional, it was symbolic and were not going to tolerate antisemitism in this country.

The bureau initially said that the attacker, a British citizen named Malik Faisal Akram, was not driven by antisemitism when he held four people at the synagogue hostage for 11 hours. At a news conference on Saturday night after all four hostages were free, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.s Dallas field office, Matthew DeSarno, said Mr. Akram was motivated by an issue not specifically related to the Jewish community.

During the attack at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, which was partly livestreamed, Mr. Akram was heard referring to Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who is serving an 86-year prison sentence in nearby Fort Worth. Ms. Siddiqui was convicted in a federal court in 2010 for terroristic events in Afghanistan, including trying to kill American soldiers and plotting to blow up the Statue of Liberty.
WASHINGTON  President Biden entered the White House promising to engage with Congress in a way that few presidents ever had, thanks to his three decades as a senator. A year in, with much of his agenda mired in congressional gridlock, Mr. Biden is changing his approach  a stark admission that his approach to governing so far has fallen short.

Mr. Biden will retreat from the tangle of day-to-day negotiations with members of his own party that have made him seem powerless to advance key priorities, according to senior White House advisers. The change is part of an intentional reset in how he spends his time, aimed at emphasizing his power to govern as president, rather than getting trapped in a series of congressional battles.

Four internal strategy memos drafted by White House advisers this week lay out the shift ahead of Mr. Bidens first State of the Union address to Congress on March 1: The president will ramp up his attacks on Republicans ahead of the midterm election campaigns to help Democratic candidates. He will travel the nation more and engage with voters. And he will focus more on what he has already accomplished than on legislative victories he hopes to achieve.

The president is also planning to use his executive power to help former inmates return to society and reform police departments, after legislation on the latter issue failed to pass last year, according to several White House aides and a person familiar with the plans, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss strategy.
WASHINGTON  Congressional Democrats on Thursday urged President Biden to overhaul his counterterrorism strategy and targeting criteria for drone strikes, citing grave concerns about repeated civilian casualties arising from secretive and unaccountable lethal operations.

The letter came a day after The New York Times published newly declassified surveillance footage providing additional details about the final minutes and aftermath of a botched drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August that killed 10 innocent civilians, including seven children. Eleven senators and 39 members of the House, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, cited that strike as emblematic of this systemic failure that has persisted across decades and administrations.

When there is little policy change or accountability for repeated mistakes this grave and this costly, the senators wrote, it sends a message throughout the U.S. armed forces and the entire U.S. government that civilian deaths  including deaths where there was no military target  are the inevitable consequence of modern conflict, rather than avoidable and damaging failures of policy.

The letter, which was also led by Representative Ro Khanna of California, was a stinging rebuke of the administrations current policies amid growing evidence of recurring episodes over multiple administrations in which civilian bystanders have been killed during drone strikes. And it came as top officials in Mr. Bidens administration were working on a new policy governing drone warfare away from traditional battlefields.
We already have cooperated, Mr. Raffensperger said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. Any information that theyve requested, we sent it to them. And if were compelled to come before a grand jury, obviously, we will follow the law and come before a grand jury and testify.

Representatives for Mr. Trump did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday, but the former president did release a statement characterizing his phone call with Mr. Raffensperger as perfect. He has cast other investigations, including one being conducted by New Yorks attorney general, Letitia James, as politically motivated. Fulton is the most populous county in Georgia and a Democratic stronghold, and Ms. Willis is a Democrat.

The Georgia inquiry is one of several criminal, civil and congressional investigations focused on Mr. Trump. He and his allies have been sparring in court with the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The committee won a major victory on Wednesday when the Supreme Court refused a request from Mr. Trump to block the release of White House records, and on Thursday, the panel asked Ivanka Trump to cooperate in the inquiry.

In addition to the criminal inquiry being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney, Ms. James is leading a civil fraud investigation into Mr. Trumps business empire. She has issued subpoenas seeking interviews with two of his adult children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and her office previously interviewed a third, Eric Trump.

In Atlanta, Ms. Willis said last year that she would consider racketeering charges, among others. An analysis released last year by the Brookings Institution that has been studied by Ms. Williss office concluded that Mr. Trumps postelection conduct in Georgia had put him at substantial risk of possible state charges, including racketeering, election fraud solicitation, intentional interference with performance of election duties and conspiracy to commit election fraud.

Anything that is relevant to attempts to interfere with the Georgia election will be subject to review, Ms. Willis told The New York Times last year.

Ms. Willis has experience in complex racketeering cases. In 2014, as an assistant district attorney, she helped lead a racketeering case against a group of educators involved in a cheating scandal in the Atlanta public schools.
The agency has never accused Russia or another power of being responsible, but some officials, particularly in the Pentagon, said they believed there was evidence of the involvement of Moscows spy agencies, and many victims concurred. When Mr. Burns traveled to Moscow in December to warn Russia against invading Ukraine, he raised the issue of the health incidents and said if Russia was found responsible, there would be consequences.

Marc Polymeropoulos, a former C.I.A. officer who suffered Havana syndrome symptoms on a trip to Moscow in 2017, said it was critical to continue to investigate the cases that remain unexplained. Praising Mr. Burnss efforts to improve care for injured officers, he added that the C.I.A. should not revert to a culture where victims were denigrated and dismissed.

It took us 10 years to find Osama bin Laden, Mr. Polymeropoulos said. I would just urge patience and continued investigation by the intelligence community and the Department of Defense.

Another victim, who asked that his name not be used because of his work for the agency, said the government had erred by pushing for more people to report ill health or unexplained symptoms. That brought in thousands of extraneous cases, the victim said, making it harder for the agencys analysts to focus on the real cases.

The government official briefed on the findings said the effort to bring in large numbers of reports was not a mistake because it allowed the United States to speed up treatment for people suffering from symptoms. The effort also helped provide needed treatment to people with previously undiagnosed conditions, officials said.

C.I.A. officials said there was agreement within the intelligence community about the finding that the majority of Havana syndrome incidents were not the work of an adversarial power conducting a sustained campaign around the globe. Still, confidence in that assessment ranged from low to high across various intelligence agencies.

In addition to the C.I.A., an expert panel has been looking at classified information about the incidents. The panel, which has provided its findings to the government but is still finishing its report, explored technologies that could result, at least theoretically, in the symptoms being reported.
WASHINGTON  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on Thursday requested cooperation from Ivanka Trump, as it revealed pieces of what it has learned about a scramble inside the White House that day to get President Donald J. Trump to denounce and call off the mob that was laying siege to the Capitol.

In a letter to Ms. Trump, the former presidents eldest daughter who served as one of his senior advisers, the committee said it had obtained evidence that multiple White House officials  including Ms. Trump, at least twice  had implored Mr. Trump to call off the violence, only to be rebuffed. But aides at the time were also worried about Mr. Trump issuing anything other than a scripted statement during the mayhem.

Apparently, certain White House staff believed that a live, unscripted press appearance by the president in the midst of the Capitol Hill violence could have made the situation worse, wrote Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the panels chairman.

The summoning of Ms. Trump suggested that the committee was delving deeper into the question of what Mr. Trump was doing and saying while the attack unfolded, as it seeks to determine his intentions and state of mind during the assault. The letter also made clear that the panel has already uncovered substantial evidence about those critical hours inside the White House from key players who were present that day.
Maura Healey, the Democratic attorney general of Massachusetts, jumped into the governors race Thursday, becoming the best-known candidate running to replace Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who is not seeking re-election.

Mr. Bakers decision to retire, which he announced late last year, makes the race one of the best opportunities in the country for Democrats to flip a governors seat. Ms. Healey has high approval ratings as attorney general.

Ive stood with you as the peoples lawyer, and now Im running to be your governor to bring us together and come back stronger than ever, Ms. Healey said in her announcement video, suggesting that she would focus on the economy, schools, climate change and affordable child care.

During Ms. Healeys tenure as attorney general, Massachusetts has participated in several major lawsuits, including one against Purdue Pharma for its role in the opioid addiction crisis. The state also filed a lawsuit accusing Uber and Lyft of misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors and investigated Exxon in relation to climate change. It sued the Trump administration dozens of times, with varying degrees of success.
TAIPEI, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan reported 37 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, 13 of which are locally-transmitted confirmed cases, while the other 24 are imported, the island's disease-monitoring agency said.

Six transmission chains among local infections have been identified since the outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in Taoyuan International Airport in early January, the agency added.

To date, Taiwan has reported 18,041 COVID-19 cases, of which 14,749 were local infections. 
Divers enlisted by a Texas sheriff to help search a lake for the remains of a man who has been missing since 2009 recently made a different kind of eye-opening discovery, the authorities said  more than a dozen sunken vehicles.

The discovery came after a three-day search of Lake Whitney, a flood-control reservoir and popular fishing spot about halfway between Fort Worth and Waco, the Bosque County sheriff said in a Facebook post on Monday.

But the missing man, John Creech, who was last seen near his home in Meridian, Texas, still has not been accounted for by county and state investigators.

The Bosque County Sheriffs Office reopened a missing person case in November in the disappearance of Mr. Creech, who would now be 53. As part of the cold case investigation, the Texas Rangers, the states elite law enforcement unit, were also enlisted.
The images surfacing on my social media feeds in recent days look as if they belong to a post-apocalyptic film rather than present-day Los Angeles.

Train tracks in Lincoln Heights, a neighborhood on the citys Eastside, are covered with thousands of discarded packages apparently left behind by thieves. Among the detritus are rapid coronavirus tests, torn Amazon boxes and family photos.

My colleagues recently published an article explaining how the problem got so bad, which you can read in full here.

To me, the thefts are further evidence of Southern Californias key role in the movement of goods around the world, made especially relevant by the ongoing supply chain crisis.
I would really like to see the industry cut back on the number of one-man-band-type of live shots because it is hard to be situationally aware, but I just dont know whether it would have made a difference in this case, he said.

Professor Tuggle, who did one-man band shots in the 1980s, said that if someone had been with Ms. Yorgey, she still could have been hit by the car because it came from outside the shot.

Whoever assigned the story could have decided the water main break was not a significant enough story to warrant sending out a young reporter on her own late at night, he said. The newsroom could also have provided a reflective jacket or told her to stand farther from the road than she might have thought necessary, he said.

Representatives for WSAZ and the company that owns the station, Gray Television Broadcasting, did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Ms. Yorgey, who is starting a job at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh next month, also did not respond to interview requests.

The controversy was all too familiar to Alanna Autler, 31, who worked as a multimedia journalist for another news station in Charleston years ago. Ms. Autler said she would sometimes enlist help from friends, colleagues and even strangers to feel more secure as she reported from the scene of a crime or natural disaster.

Ms. Autler said managers had on occasion acknowledged that she was being sent to an unsafe location, but there was no one else around to go with or instead of her. If youre the lead story, or the only story, because you are the only reporter, then you feel pressure that the entire newscast falls because of you, she said.

Once, after being asked to cover a rape for an 11 p.m. broadcast, Ms. Autler told her managers she was scared to go by herself, but they did not provide support. She asked her then-boyfriends cousin to ride with her in the news van.
I used to have conversations about how to hide your tampon or pad up in your sleeve or in your shorts or in your pants, said Dr. Cara Natterson, who is a pediatrician; the author of American Girls best-selling The Care and Keeping of You series; and founder of Oomla, a gender- and size-inclusive line of bras and puberty products. I do not have that conversation anymore because the kids go, Why should I hide my tampon and my pad? They are 100 percent right.

Dr. Nattersons 18-year-old daughter has educated her about new products in the marketplace, some of which she discovers from Instagram influencers or #PeriodTok videos. Teens are looking for conversations around peoples experiences, not five-star Amazon reviews, she said. Dr. Natterson recently considered using cloth pads again after a failed experiment with them years ago, at her teenagers behest. They didnt work super well when they were first being invented and iterated, she said. My daughter said, You got to try them again.

Environmental sustainability and menstruation may be having a moment, but its not the first time, said Lara Freidenfelds, a historian of health, reproduction and parenting, and author of The Modern Period: Menstruation in Twentieth-Century America. Homemade menstrual rags were the norm through the turn of the 20th century, up until Kotex became the first successfully mass-marketed pad in 1921. Modernity equaled disposability, and the brand was aspirational, she said.

The first robust discussions of sustainability in menstrual care started in the 1970s as people experimented with cloth pads and sponges. There have always been young people who were idealistic and thought about these things but did not find the products available to be practical, she said. Sustainability has historically been sacrificed for the sake of convenience, she added.

Today, parents of Gen Zers benefit from improvements in menstrual technology: The cloth pads of yore are not the cloth pads of today; and period underwear, for example, is made of highly absorbent fabric without being bulky. New menstruators often turn to a parent for products and advice  now parents can hand over more than a disposable pad or tampon, potentially rerouting some of the more than 15 billion disposable products that end up in landfills every year in America.

The world were going to have when these progressive Gen Zers become parents in 20 years  thats going to be fascinating, said Nadya Okamoto, a former executive director of Period Inc. and co-founder of the sustainable menstrual products brand August.
He is the second suspect to be charged by U.S. prosecutors in connection with the assassination of Mr. Moise, who was gunned down in his bedroom on July 7. Mario Palacios, a retired Colombian commando accused of taking part in the assault on the presidential residence, was charged with the same crime in the same U.S. District Court in Miami earlier this month.

After promising to bring the killers to justice, Mr. Moises successor as head of the government, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, has made little progress in advancing the investigation. None of the more than 40 suspects detained in Haiti have been formally charged, and local court officials and police officers involved in the investigation have denounced threats and widespread irregularities that have paralyzed the investigation.

In contrast, U.S. law enforcement agencies are beginning to unseal criminal complaints months after their officers traveled to Haiti to assist in the initial evidence gathering following Mr. Moises death. The Haitian police have accused at least six American citizens and residents of participating in the plot, which appears to have been partially conceived and financed in South Florida.

None of the U.S. citizens and residents have been charged yet.

Mr. Palacios, the Colombian ex-soldier, began cooperating with U.S. officials while he was held in detention in Jamaica, where he traveled after Mr. Moises death, according to the unsealed U.S. court documents. The charges in Miami were swiftly followed by Mr. Jaars arrest in the Dominican Republic and the arrest of another suspect, former Senator John Joel Joseph, in Jamaica.

Mr. Jaars testimony could help prosecutors move closer to the masterminds of the crime. In an interview with The New York Times before his arrest, Mr. Jaar implicated two senior Haitian officials currently in office in the plot to depose Mrweir. Moise.
The United Nations on Thursday adopted an Israeli resolution that condemns denial and distortion of the Holocaust, the Nazi genocide that killed nearly six million Jews and millions of others.

Adoption of the resolution by the 193-member General Assembly, co-sponsored by Germany and supported by the United States and Russia among many others, took place against the backdrop of rising antisemitism globally, punctuated by an attack on a Texas synagogue less than a week ago.

Israel and other sponsors called the resolution necessary because of the profusion of misinformation and ignorance about the Holocaust and events surrounding it, especially among the young.

The General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus  meaning it was approved without a country-by-country vote. Only Iran, Israels most ardent adversary, objected.
When Zhao Xiaoqing first met Zhao Fei on a blind date, the sparks didnt really fly.

When they met for a second time at his home in northwest China in December, it lasted longer than they both expected.

Facing a new outbreak of coronavirus cases, the health authorities announced a lockdown so sudden and severe that she didnt have time to scurry home.

So for nearly four weeks, Zhao Xiaoqing has lived in the city of Xianyang, in Shaanxi Province, with the family of Zhao Fei, a man she had barely known. (They share a last name but are not related.)

Initially, I was quite worried about things being awkward, said Ms. Zhao, who is from Baoji, about 93 miles away, or a two-hour drive by car. But I got along well with his family.
Hindsight is a series from the Headway team looking back at predictions and promises from the past.

Within eight years, Delhi is expected to surpass Tokyo to become the largest megalopolis in the world, making it the epicenter of a global phenomenon: Fifteen years ago, most of the worlds population lived in the countryside, and today, most live in cities. The U.N. says two-thirds of people will live in urban areas by 2050. Delhi is one of the most extreme barometers of this transformation.

Every two decades or so since 1962, the official planning organization of Delhi has developed a master plan intended to guide the future development of the city. Last year marked the end of Delhis Master Plan for 2021, which was adopted in 2007 with hopes of obliterating the slums, taming the traffic and importing a Manhattan-like skyline. But architects, urban planners and other experts say Delhis plan has remained mostly on paper. Understanding Delhis present and future requires looking beyond the city proper, toward the complex ecosystem growing around it.

While the city of Delhi grew half as much as its planners were expecting  from 15 million to 19 million people  the megalopolis that has Delhi at its center, known as the National Capital Region (N.C.R.), has ballooned. This amorphous tangle of cities and districts is so sprawling that no canonical count of its population exists; estimates range from 30 million to 60 million. Neelanjan Sircar, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research and co-editor of the book Colossus: An Anatomy of Delhi, said it took him and his colleagues a year to even define the N.C.R.s limits.
SEOUL  Jeong Mi-hee, a South Korean businesswoman, used to buy a lot of whisky in airports. When the coronavirus pandemic brought her travels to halt, she started paying more attention to local booze she had overlooked.

The best drink she found was makgeolli, a cloudy Korean rice wine with a slightly sour taste. Ms. Jeong liked it so much that, after studying ancient fermentation techniques with a master brewer, she decided to start her own label.

My makgeolli life started with corona! Ms. Jeong, 41, said recently at a Seoul liquor store dedicated to traditional Korean alcohol.
An American Airlines flight to London from Miami turned around about an hour into its journey on Wednesday night because of a passenger who refused to wear a mask, the airline said.

Police officers met Flight AAL38 at Miami International Airport when it returned, and escorted a woman in her 40s off the plane, said Lea Gonzalez, a public information officer for the Miami-Dade Police Department. She was not arrested, Ms. Gonzalez said.

The Boeing 777, carrying 129 passengers and 14 crew members, was about 500 miles into its 4,400-mile flight when it reversed course off the coast of North Carolina, flight trackers show.

American Airlines said in a statement that the flight had been diverted because of a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement.
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, holds talks with Ernesto Castro, the president of El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks Thursday with Ernesto Castro, the president of El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, via video link.

Calling El Salvador a valued partner of China in Latin America and the Caribbean region, Li mentioned joint efforts of the two sides in fighting COVID-19 and expressed China's readiness to work with El Salvador to implement the consensus between the two heads of state and deepen bilateral ties.

Noting that the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries accords with a global trend and serves the fundamental interests of El Salvador and its people, Li expressed the hope for closer high-level exchanges between the two sides, deepening mutual political trust and expanding pragmatic cooperation to bring more achievements for the two peoples. He also said that China is willing to further COVID-19 response cooperation with El Salvador.

Li said the NPC is ready to deepen communications with El Salvador's Legislative Assembly to provide legal guarantees for high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation in various fields. The NPC will also expand exchanges in social governance, improvement of livelihoods, and other areas, he added.

For his part, Castro thanked China for the assistance and support provided to El Salvador in pandemic response and promotion of development, adding that its Legislative Assembly is willing to enhance exchanges with the NPC for deepening bilateral relations and promoting friendship between the two peoples. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, holds talks with Ernesto Castro, the president of El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, via video link in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
ROME  A report commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church in Munich and released on Thursday accused the retired Pope Benedict XVI of mishandling at least four cases of sexual abuse by priests when he was the archbishop there. Members of the law firm that conducted the investigation also said Benedict had attended a meeting about a pedophile priest that he claimed he didnt go to, or know the details of.

The accusations, most of them new, reach to the very top of the hierarchy of a Catholic Church devastated by a sexual abuse crisis over the last 20 years. They are all the more explosive, and damaging, as they are directed at a living, if retired, pope.

The accusations, which Benedict has rejected, threaten to tarnish the legacy of a soft-spoken, if doctrinaire, pontiff revered by many conservatives, but also to cast a longer shadow over a global institution that has struggled to address, and move on from, the scourge of sex abuse.

The investigation, two years in the making, goes to the heart of the culture of cover-up and underscores the tacit policy of protecting church leaders ahead of children and other vulnerable people. Both were pervasive during the years when Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was archbishop of Munich and Freising. He held the position from 1977 to 1982 and had oversight over the clerics in the archdiocese. And, according to the report, he failed to act against some abusive priests.
The French government set a timeline on Thursday to lift the countrys Covid-19 restrictions over the next few weeks, as pandemic indicators in France show tentative signs of improvement and a presidential election looms in April.

Jean Castex, the French prime minister, said at a news conference that there was a clear ebbing of the wave of coronavirus cases attributable to the Delta variant, as well as preliminary indications that another surge of cases linked to the Omicron variant was slowing down in the areas where it struck first, like the region around Paris.

This exceptional wave is not over, but the situation is starting to evolve more favorably, Mr. Castex said.

France has averaged more than 300,000 new cases a day over the past week, and reported 525,000 cases on Monday, the most known cases in a single day since the pandemic began. There are more than 27,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals around the country, but the number in intensive care units has declined in the past few days, from a peak of nearly 4,000 patients last week.
But the European view has always been divided about what to do and in what circumstances to do it. As one senior European official said, the punishment must fit the crime. He noted that even after Russia had annexed Crimea, it took nearly a year for the European Union to respond with serious sanctions against Moscow.

In the current Ukraine crisis, the leaders of Germanys new governing coalition have stopped short of a commitment to halt the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, a joint Russian-German project that U.S. officials fear will enrich Mr. Putin and give him further leverage over European energy supplies.

And on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron of France surprised and irritated many European Union colleagues with an address to the E.U. Parliament in Strasbourg in which he called on Europeans to come up with their own proposal on European security. We must build it between Europeans, then share it with our allies within the framework of NATO, he said. And then propose it for negotiation to Russia.

French officials said Thursday that Mr. Macron was not seeking to undermine NATOs unity. But the net effect of the words by Mr. Biden and Mr. Macron accentuated the frictions within the Western alliance, analysts said, a potential advantage for Russia.

Bidens comments coinciding with Macrons speech looks uncoordinated, and given all the effort U.S. officials have spent traveling around Europe to keep people solid, it seems odd and didnt need saying, said Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, a London-based research organization. Musings about gradations of response opened up the can to put question marks back into the allied part of the debate.

Mr. Biden was asked on Wednesday whether the United States and its European allies could agree on what sanctions to impose on Russia should it further assault Ukraine, where it has supported a separatist war for nearly seven years.

Europeans and NATO are united with the United States in opposing any further Russian incursion into Ukraine, in pledging support of varying kinds for Ukraine, and in promising massive costs to Russia. But neither the United States nor Europe have detailed the exact steps they intend to take.
She could have started college. Instead, she spent five months flying more than 32,000 miles across five continents.

My name is Zara Rutherford, a teenager, she told the internet after leaving Belgium in August. Im attempting to fly solo around the world, she said, aiming to be the youngest woman ever to do so.

Ms. Rutherford, 19, dodged giant clouds in Colombia and lightning flashes in Mexico. In Alaska, her tiny plane was grounded for weeks by bad weather and a visa delay.

That was all before the British and Belgian aviator crossed a frozen, desolate patch of Siberia. Before China barred her from its airspace. And before smog scrambled her route across India.
JILJILYA, West Bank  By the time dozens of Israeli soldiers hurriedly withdrew from the village, witnesses said, the face of the 78-year-old man they had detained for an hour was ashen blue from lack of oxygen.

Hours earlier the man, Omar Abdelmajed Assad, had been in high spirits, his family said, playing cards and drinking coffee, and optimistic that he would soon be able to travel freely between his birthplace in the West Bank and his adopted home in the United States, where his children and grandchildren live.

Many questions remain about what happened to Mr. Assad from the time he was detained by Israeli forces around 3 a.m. last Wednesday in what they described as a routine check to the time he was found dead an hour later, face down on the cold ground, apparently of a heart attack.

The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military are conducting investigations. The United States has asked Israel for clarification of what happened to Mr. Assad, who was a U.S. citizen.
In laying out the sedition charge against Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keeper militia, and 10 others, federal prosecutors have built a timeline of events as evidence of a conspiracy to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year.

The 11 Charged With Sedition Founder and leader of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes Accused of participating in the first Oath Keeper group to enter the Capitol Joseph Hackett David Moerschel Kenneth Harrelson Kelly Meggs Jessica Watkins Accused of participating in a second Oath Keeper group to enter the Capitol Accused of coordinating a weapons arsenal Joshua James Roberto Minuta Brian Ulrich Thomas Caldwell Edward Vallejo Founder and leader of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes Accused of participating in the first Oath Keeper group to enter the Capitol Accused of participating in a second Oath Keeper group to enter the Capitol Accused of coordinating a weapons arsenal Joshua James Roberto Minuta Brian Ulrich Thomas Caldwell Edward Vallejo Kenneth Harrelson Joseph Hackett David Moerschel Kelly Meggs Jessica Watkins Founder and leader of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes Accused of participating in the first Oath Keeper group to enter the Capitol Kenneth Harrelson Kelly Meggs Jessica Watkins Joseph Hackett David Moerschel Accused of participating in a second Oath Keeper group to enter the Capitol Joshua James Roberto Minuta Brian Ulrich Accused of coordinating a weapons arsenal Thomas Caldwell Edward Vallejo Note: Those charged include both Oath Keeper members and others who may not be members but are affiliated with members of the militia.

Seditious conspiracy can be a difficult charge to prove, and it requires prosecutors to show that at least two people conspired to overthrow the government or delay the execution of a U.S. law. The charge is the most serious yet to be filed in connection with the riot. So far, more than 700 people have been accused of crimes related to the Jan. 6 assault.

The case is ongoing, but the charging documents released last week provide a detailed look at activities of Mr. Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, beginning as early as two days after Election Day in 2020.

Mr. Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers and affiliates are accused of recruiting participants, organizing trainings in paramilitary combat, coordinating travel, teams and logistics and bringing weapons to the Washington, D.C., area in order to carry out the conspiracy.

Activities of Oath Keepers and Affiliates Detailed in the Charging Documents rhodes meggs harrelson watkins hackett moerschel james minuta ulrich caldwell vallejo 62 days before Jan. 6 recruitment Two days after the 2020 presidential election, Mr. Rhodes sent a message to an invitation-only, encrypted chat group called Leadership intel sharing secured. In his message, Mr. Rhodes urged his followers to refuse to accept the election results. The chat group included Kelly Meggs  the head of the Florida chapter of Oath Keepers  and others. rhodes We aren't getting through this without a civil war. Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body, spirit. 60 days before Jan. 6 recruitment On the day that President Donald J. Trump was projected to have lost the election, Mr. Rhodes outlined plans in the group chat to stop the transfer of presidential power. He later published the plan of action on the Oath Keepers website. rhodes [W]e must now do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election. - Refuse to accept it and march en-mass on the nation's Capitol. 58 days before Jan. 6 recruitment Mr. Rhodes hosted a private online meeting in which he urged attendees to participate in a plan to stop the transfer of the presidency. He told his followers to be prepared to fight Antifa. After Mr. Rhodess speech, other members of the group discussed the types of weapons that were legal in Washington. rhodes [...] I do want some Oath Keepers to stay on the outside, and to stay fully armed and prepared to go in armed, if they have to [...] We hope [the President] will give us the orders. We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia. recruitment Immediately following Mr. Rhodess call to action, Mr. Meggs contacted a different group chat to pass along Mr. Rhodess message. The group chat included Kenneth Harrelson, a former Army sergeant, and others. meggs Anybody not on the call tonight. We have been issued a call to action for DC. This is the moment we signed up for [...] training Jessica Watkins, a bartender and former Army infantry soldier who deployed to Afghanistan, contacted several people she called recruits to organize their military style training in Ohio. watkins I need you fighting fit by innaugeration. coordination Thomas Caldwell, a retired Navy lieutenant commander and former F.B.I. section chief, contacted Mr. Rhodes to coordinate on an upcoming op and to provide details of a reconnaissance trip he took to Washington. 45 days before Jan. 6 training The Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers held a training on unconventional warfare. 26 days before Jan. 6 recruitment Mr. Rhodes sent a message to an invitation-only chat group and described potential violence if President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. assumed the presidency. The group chat included Joshua James, who earned a Purple Heart in the Army; Roberto Minuta, an owner of a New York tattoo parlor; and others. rhodes It will be a bloody and desperate fight. We are going to have a fight. That can't be avoided. 25 days before Jan. 6 training Unspecified members of the North Carolina Oath Keepers held a training session on skills including setting up hasty ambushes and convoy operations. Ms. Watkins had planned to but did not attend the training. 23 days before Jan. 6 Mr. Rhodes published an open letter to Mr. Trump on the Oath Keeper website calling for forceful action. rhodes [...] If you fail to act while you are still in office, we the people will have to fight a bloody civil war and revolution [...] recruitment Mr. Rhodes sent a similar message to an invitation-only chat group titled Oath Keepers of Georgia, which included Brian Ulrich, a resident of Guyton, Ga. 18 days before Jan. 6 coordination Joseph Hackett, a resident of Sarasota, Fla., sent an email to another group member, outlining efforts to secure their communication and avoid digital detection of important info like locations, identities and operations planning. 15 days before Jan. 6 recruitment In an interview with a regional Oath Keepers leader, Mr. Rhodes said that violence would be inevitable if Mr. Biden assumed the presidency. He also urged Mr. Trump to use military force. rhodes We will have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. Thats whats going to have to happen. 14 days before Jan. 6 Mr. Rhodes published another open letter to Mr. Trump on the Oath Keeper website calling for forceful action. rhodes [...] If you fail to do your duty, you will leave We the People no choice but to walk in the Founders footsteps [...] And, like the Founding generation, we will take to arms in defense of our God given liberty [...] 7 days before Jan. 6 coordination Mr. Rhodes invited several of his followers to an encrypted group chat called DC OP: Jan 6 21. Many also joined another chat group for the Florida chapter for which Mr. Meggs and Mr. Harrelson were administrators. The group members used these chat groups throughout the next days to plan for Jan. 6. rhodes There is no standard political or legal way out of this. weapons Mr. Rhodes purchased about $7,000 worth of firearm-related equipment and night-vision devices and shipped the items to Virginia. 6 days before Jan. 6 coordination Members coordinated plans to supply and store weapons in the Washington area. The plan included arranging a Quick Reaction Force of members with weapons, stationed just outside the city on standby with an arsenal. Late December coordination Mr. Caldwell identified a hotel in Arlington, Va., as the base of operations for the Quick Reaction Force weapons arsenal. Group members reserved rooms at the hotel and used the rooms to store and guard firearms. 5 days before Jan. 6 weapons In the five days leading up to the riot, members transported firearms, ammunition, and related supplies to the Washington area. weapons In the first two days of January, Mr. Rhodes purchased approximately $5,000 worth of firearm equipment, including a shotgun, scope, magazine, sights and a case of ammunition. 4 days before Jan. 6 coordination Mr. Caldwell sent a message to his contacts seeking boats to support the Quick Reaction Force in transporting weapons. caldwell [...] If we had someone standing by at a dock ramp (one near the Pentagon for sure) we could have our Quick Response Team with the heavy weapons standing by, quickly load them and ferry them across the river to our waiting arms [...] 3 days before Jan. 6 coordination Ms. Watkins exchanged messages with her team about uniforms and weapons. watkins Pack Khaki/Tan pants. Weapons are ok now as well. Sorry for the confusion. We are packing the car and heading your way shortly coordination Mr. Meggs added Mr. Harrelson to the encrypted group chat, writing that Mr. Harrelson would be the Ground Team lead. weapons Mr. Rhodes left Texas and began traveling to the Washington area. During two days of travel, he spent about $6,000 in Texas on an AR-platform rifle and firearms equipment and $4,500 in Mississippi on additional firearms equipment. 2 days before Jan. 6 coordination Mr. Caldwell emailed several maps to a member of the Quick Reaction Force. caldwell These maps walk you from the hotel into D.C. and east toward the target area on multiple roads [...] weapons In the two days before Jan. 6, as members of the group arrived in the Washington area, they coordinated with each other to drop off weapons and ammunition with the Quick Reaction Force. The members coordinating together included Edward Vallejo, who previously served in the United States Army. watkins Where can we drop off weapons to the QRF team? I'd like to have the weapons secured prior to the Op tomorrow. 1 day before Jan. 6 coordination Mr. Caldwell and others drove into Washington on a reconnaissance mission, traveling around the Capitol building and returning to their hotel in Virginia. Jan. 6 Most defendants entered the restricted Capitol grounds or the Capitol itself, actions that were later included as part of their sedition charges. Mr. Vallejo and others remained at the hotel, awaiting a call to bring the weapons.

As part of their sedition charge, the documents also accuse the Oath Keepers and affiliates of bringing paramilitary equipment, such as tactical gear and chemical spray into the Capitol; assaulting police officers; and trying to take control of the Capitol building. All of the defendants are charged with several other crimes in addition to sedition.

The members are also accused of continuing to plot after the Jan. 6 attack with actions like continuing to purchase firearm parts and equipment and spreading messages against the Biden presidency.

Several other people associated with the Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the investigation, but those charged with sedition are not among them. Lawyers for several of the defendants have said that their clients deny having planned to storm the Capitol or overthrow the government.
A 79-year-old man who underwent a series of cosmetic procedures to make himself look young found himself unable to fully close his eyes, and having to tape them shut at night.

Pete Broadhurst decided to go under the knife in 2019, after the mother of his two children allegedly broke up with him over his looks. A dental procedure he had done earlier had left him with puffy hamster cheeks, so he decided to get those fixed and smooth out some of the wrinkles on his face as well. He ended up paying 11,000 for a neck lift, under-eye blepharoplasty and a rhinoplasty, but despite being discharged from the hospital soon after the nine-hour procedure, he immediately knew something was wrong.

Photo: Jafar Ahmed/Unsplash

I looked like Id been beaten up. It was horrendous, and I couldnt close my eyes, Pete said. I was being sick all through the night and in my sleep. The day after the surgery I wished Id never gone.

When he went to the hospital two weeks after the surgery to get his stitches removed and told the doctors there that his eyes were very irritated and watering, the English pensioned was told that these were normal side effects that would pass by themselves. But when he went to another hospital to have a routine prostate exam, doctors there noticed that his eyes werent closing properly.

Petes surgeon at BMI hospital in Birmingham, England, where he had his cosmetic procedure done, arranged for a free corrective surgery at another hospital for a skin graft to help the skin in his cheeks meet his eyelids. This operation took another four hours, but two years on, he is still unable to close his eyes completely.

The 79-year-old had been prescribed eye drops to take eight times a day, and was also advised to microwave a towel to wrap around his eyes when he sleeps. His vision problems have gotten so bad that he cant drive a car or make out peoples facial expressions. His self-confidence is at an all-time low as well.

Getting on the bus one day a man said, my God, whats happened to your face? Pete complained. I was already feeling down it just made it worse. Now Im only worried about getting my eyes comfortable. Its gone beyond how I look. I just want relief. I want to tell others to be careful because it can ruin your life.

Unfortunately, all private hospitals and clinics in the UK have refused to operate on Pete Broadhurst again, as further surgery could cause his vision problems to worsen. he has had to look for help elsewhere, so he had a procedure done in Turkey, and is due back there for a follow-up.

My left eye is still open today. Whoever you trust, even a top surgeon, please be careful because it can ruin your life, Pete warned.

A couple of years ago, recovered the similar case of a Chinese woman who was left unable to close her eyes following a botched double eyelid procedure.
Offaly saw a 30% rise in the number of job opportunities offered 2021 and further growth is expected in the coming year, according to new figures released by leading Irish recruitment company, FRS Recruitment.

The recovery in employment was felt throughout the economy last year and Offaly was one of the counties to experience a strong increase. Nationally FRS Recruitment saw the total number of job postings handled grow by 12%, reaching 81,528 in total for 2021.

Across the economy, the rise in openings was cross sectoral with significant growth experienced in the commercial, IT, healthcare, construction, life sciences and engineering, agricultural sectors as well as temporary industrial and commercial positions.

Among the career areas where FRS Recruitment recorded the largest rises in activity during 2021 were retail (up 117%), transport and logistics (up 82%), pharmacy  retail (up 69%), professional services (up 68%) and banking and financial services (up 58%).

While nationally there was a broad increase in the number of roles handled, there were some significant regional variations experienced. In total 20 of the Republics 26 counties saw the number of job postings rise with the most significant increases coming in Longford (up 158%), Carlow (up 117%), Kilkenny (up 79%), Meath (up 76%), Louth (up 72%) and Cork (up 60%). Dublin also experienced strong growth (up 39%) and accounted for by the largest number of postings, 21% of the national total.

Six counties also experienced a decline in opportunities, with the largest drops coming in Roscommon (down 45%) and Donegal (down 30%).

FRS Recruitment is also forecasting further employment growth in 2022, with opportunities expected to rise by 10% over the next 12 months. This will be buoyed by the ongoing recovery of the economy across most sectors, leading to the majority of employers seeking additional staff as they look to grow their businesses and address skills shortages. In particular FRS Recruitment is forecasting strong demand in manufacturing and engineering, construction and IT roles this year.

The information was published in FRS Recruitments end of year report, Job Opportunities Abound.

Speaking about the report Lynne McCormack, General Manager of FRS Recruitment said, Last year was a very strong year for recruitment in Offaly. We recorded a 30% jump in the number of roles handled locally, which is well above the national average.

FRS Recruitment also expects to see further growth in job opportunities in Offaly over the coming year. We are projecting a further 10% rise in the total number of roles handled nationally and we would anticipate Offaly will share in that growth. There should be significant movement across the economy with employers looking very closely at their resourcing needs as they seek to grow and expand their organisations and address any current and projected staff shortages.

While in 2021 it was a few months into the year and post the lockdown before the recovery in employment began in earnest, this year FRS Recruitment anticipates demand will be strong right from the outset. This will be particularly apparent in the manufacturing and engineering, construction and IT sectors, but increased demand is likely to be shared across most sections of the economy.

In some sectors the need for experienced, skilled personnel is also becoming challenging, with employers finding it difficult to attract suitable candidates. This is likely to lead to pressure on salary packages as employers compete to attract the best personnel and retain their current teams. We also believe there is likely to be an increased focus on attracting foreign based qualified candidates to meet shortfalls in some sectors. However the trend is looking very positive in terms of job openings for the coming year and we believe that will be the experience in Offaly and most other parts of the country, Ms. McCormack concluded.

FRS Recruitment is one of the leading recruitment businesses operating in Ireland. They have 10 offices nationwide, with locations in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry, Kilkenny, Offaly, Cavan and Roscommon. A 100% Irish business, FRS Recruitment is part of the FRS Network  the social enterprise co-operative. Further information is available on www.frsrecruitment.com
UNICEF Ireland has revealed that people in Offaly donated over 8,000 COVID-19 vaccines to the worlds poorest countries at Christmas. The festive surge in donations brings the countys total donations to UNICEF Irelands Get a Vaccine, Give a Vaccine campaign to 20,000 vaccine deliveries.

UNICEF is leading the procurement and delivery of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, as part of the global COVAX initiative. This is the only worldwide effort working to ensure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines. Since March, UNICEF has delivered more than one billion vaccine doses to over 140 countries. The international rollout began in March 2021, and continues to gather pace, with UNICEF now delivering an average of 10 million COVID-19 vaccines a day.

Heralding the support of people in Offaly, UNICEF Ireland Executive Director Peter Power said the issue of fair global access to vaccines had connected with people in Ireland.

It has been a privilege to witness the generosity from people across Ireland. This Christmas we saw donations from every single county, including Offaly, and they keep coming. It started out with a simple idea. When you get a vaccine, you can give one to people in some of the worlds poorest countries. The response has been incredible. People in Ireland understand that we are all in this together, and that there should be fair access to these life-saving vaccines. Irelands nationwide total for donations to UNICEF is now over three million vaccine deliveries. It is remarkable and we are so grateful, he said.

According to UNICEF, the global vaccine rollout reached the significant milestone of one billion doses delivered on January 17th, but the UN childrens agency said they would not stop there, with vaccination rates in low-income countries still as low as 9%. UNICEF is proud to be playing such a critical role in this historic achievement. As the largest purchaser and distributor of vaccines in the world for many years, our systems were made for this operation. Before the pandemic, UNICEF procured and delivered over 2 billion vaccines for children throughout the world each year, and we have now doubled that capacity for the COVID-19 response.

Our efforts mean that millions of healthcare workers and vulnerable people in some of the worlds least developed countries have received the protection they need. However, we all know there are so many more people we need to reach. This is a global effort, and it is not right that in low-income countries just 9% of people have received their first dose. Everyone should have access to vaccines, no matter where they live. Our aim for 2022 is to reach 3 billion vaccines. Thats why we asked people in Offaly to help us make a difference this Christmas, and why we are now encouraging everyone to stay with us on this historic mission to end the pandemic and ensure everyone, everywhere is vaccinated against COVID-19, said Mr Power.

UNICEF Ireland is urging people and companies in Offaly to continue their support for UNICEFs COVID-19 vaccine campaign by donating today at www.unicef.ie
Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan has called on the Government to address the freezing cold conditions in classrooms across the country with windows being left open for ventilation due to Covid-19 fears.

Deputy Nolan, who is also a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Further and Higher Education, was speaking during Leaders Questions in the Dail this week, and challenged the Tanaiste on the urgent need to address ongoing issues around the inappropriately cold temperatures in primary and post-primary schools.

What I am hearing from parents and indeed from schools is that the current situation regarding the freezing cold conditions in which staff, very young children and Leaving Certificate students are expected to learn is simply intolerable," she said.

"Indeed, as I put it to the Tanaiste, parents are telling me that their children are returning home with headaches or muscle pain from constant clenching of their teeth and from shivering.

"This is a totally ludicrous and absurd situation.

"It borders on negligence to expect pupils as young as 5 years of age to begin their formative years of education in conditions more suited to a penguin than to a child.

"I accept that there is a balance to be met and the need for ventilation is clear with respect to Covid prevention measures, but it is obvious that the guidelines issued by the department last May are in urgent need of revision."

Deputy Nolan also called on Tanaiste Leo Varadkar to ensure that Government and the Department of Education provide absolute clarity on the format of this years Leaving Certificate examinations.

She said: "The cold classrooms are also making it very difficult for students to concentrate and that is having a direct impact on the preparedness for the Junior and Leaving Certificate.

"This is why we must allow for a more flexible, hybrid-model of examinations where accredited grades, ongoing assessments and traditional written exams all have a role to play.

"The Tanaiste assured me that the State Exams Advisory Group which is meeting today will be addressing the issues I have raised.

"I can only hope that they will listen to common sense and support the wishes of parents and students alike for the hybrid-model of exams for 2022, concluded Deputy Nolan.
-- South China's Guangdong Province recorded 8-percent GDP growth in 2021, rising to 12.4 trillion yuan (about 1.95 trillion U.S. dollars).

-- The province's foreign trade surpassed 8 trillion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 16.7 percent.

-- Guangdong, a manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in the country, has strengthened its strategy of science and technology and reinforced the foundation of high-quality economic development.

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangdong Province recorded 8-percent GDP growth in 2021, rising to 12.4 trillion yuan (about 1.95 trillion U.S. dollars).

The province's foreign trade surpassed 8 trillion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 16.7 percent, according to a government work report delivered by Wang Weizhong, acting governor of the province, at the annual session of the provincial legislature on Thursday.

Guangdong, a manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in the country, has strengthened its strategy of science and technology and reinforced the foundation of high-quality economic development, according to the government report.

The province is targeting economic growth of about 5.5 percent this year, according to Wang.

Italian designer Laura Minmini (L) talks with an exhibitor during the 130th session of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Oct. 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

BUCKING THE PANDEMIC

Guangdong's foreign trade performance has remained robust thanks to effective COVID-19 pandemic control in the country.

Jiangmen Foreign Trade Group Co., Ltd., established more than two decades ago, exports appliances, stainless steel and hardware to customers across the world.

"The company faced unprecedented challenges in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic," said Xu Xiyan, board chairman of the company. "However, with China's effective curbing of the pandemic, many overseas orders have shifted to China, and our company has seen mounting orders."

Home appliance manufacturer Top Electric Appliances Industrial Ltd., which saw its revenue surge by over 30 percent in 2021, echoed the view.

"Thanks to the effective pandemic control, production and supply chains have remained relatively stable, creating a favorable environment for our company's development," said Li Weizhong, board chairman of the group.

People visit the Huaqiangbei Museum in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 7, 2021. Huaqiangbei is a renowned commercial area in Shenzhen for electronics markets. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

Statistics show that the value-added industrial output of enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan in the province was 3.75 trillion yuan in 2021, up 9 percent year on year, with a two-year average growth rate of 5.2 percent. The figures basically recovered to the pre-epidemic level.

The province's actual utilization of foreign investment amounted to 184 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 13.6 percent year on year.

In the city of Huizhou, ExxonMobil invested about 10 billion U.S. dollars in building an ethylene project. Construction of the plant started in November.

"Demand for performance polymers will continue to increase in China, and we are well positioned to meet the needs of that growing market," said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company.





PACKING POWER FORWARD



In its government work report, Guangdong noted that it will put its policy focus on further enhancing the core competitiveness of its manufacturing industry and modernizing its industrial chain.

In 2021, the province channeled over 380 billion yuan, or 3.14 percent of its GDP, to research and development expenditure.

The provincial capital Guangzhou, where over 2.96 million cars were produced in 2021, is China's top city in terms of cars manufactured.

Visitors view cars from XPeng Motors during China (Tianjin) Auto Show 2021 in north China's Tianjin, Sept. 29, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Ran)

XPeng Motors, based in Guangzhou, has become a major player in the new energy vehicle (NEV) market in the country, with over 98,000 cars sold in 2021, up 263 percent year on year.

"The open and inclusive policy and solid industry foundation has fueled the company's rapid growth," said Xia Heng, cofounder of XPeng Motors.

Statistics show that, in 2021, the NEV industry in the province grew by 155.6 percent year on year.

In addition to the NEV market, the province has also seen strong momentum in the growth of other strategically emerging industries, such as industrial robots and integrated circuits, which increased by 56.5 percent and 30.3 percent, respectively, year on year.

(Video reporters: Qiang Lijing, Zhou Ying, Hu Nayun; video editors: Zhou Sa'ang, Luo Hui) 
OFFALY History will host a lecture next Monday on zoom on the fortunes of a Catholic owned estate in the 18th century.

The lecture, entitled Morristown Lattin: the estate and its tenants in the 18th century will be given by Dr Emma Lyons and it commences at 7.30pm on Monday, January 24.

To register contact Offaly History.

Emma Lyons holds a PhD from the School of History in University College Dublin, where she has lectured in early modern History. Emma held the Research Studentship in Irish History at the National Library of Ireland, cataloguing the Castle Leslie estate papers, and was researcher for the National Library of Ireland's World War Ireland exhibition. Her research focuses on the impact of the Penal Laws on Irish Catholic landowning families, specifically the education of Irish Catholic children on the Continent in the eighteenth-century, and Catholic landownership during the period.

Emma's book, Morristown Lattin, 1630-1800: the estate and its tenants, based on research for her PhD thesis, was published by Four Courts Press in September 2020, and her article 'To 'Elude the Design and Intention' of the Penal Laws: Collusion and Discovery in eighteenth-century Ireland - A Case Study' in Law and Religion in Ireland, 1700-1920 has just been published.

Through an examination of the estate records, this case study provides an insight into the adaption and survival of a Catholic-owned estate during two tumultuous periods in Irish history.

The analysis of leases, rent rolls, correspondence and legal documents, permits the tracing of patterns of land ownership and inheritance across the generations, in addition to the tenants and their links with the estate over generations.

This analysis of family and estate papers also sheds light on many other areas of social history that has largely been obscured. This includes the role of women in seventeenth and eighteenth society and estate management.
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Airlines including Emirates and Air India canceled flights over 5G safety concerns, though Verizon and AT&T later delayed the rollout near airports.
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New York State's attorney accused Trump's real estate business of seeking to obtain economic benefits with lenders and tax authorities, by manipulating the value of his properties.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a plenary meeting of the State Council in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 19, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council on Wednesday convened a plenary meeting to discuss a draft government work report.

The document will be deliberated at the top legislature's annual session in March.

The meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, decided to distribute the draft report to local governments and relevant departments of the central government to solicit opinions.

Despite multiple risks and challenges, China has overcome difficulties and made a series of major achievements, with its economic growth last year in the leading positions among major economies, Li said.

The premier highlighted the hard-won achievements made over the past year as China met the main goals and tasks of economic and social development, calling for efforts to develop a better understanding of the problems and challenges faced by the country.

Noting that the Chinese economy is facing new downward pressure and increasing uncertainties, Li stressed giving higher priority to stabilizing growth and sticking to the basic tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability.

The premier called for coordinating epidemic control and socio-economic development, strengthening cross-cyclical adjustments, stepping up the implementation of macro-policies markedly, and introducing more measures that are conducive to boosting effective demand, securing supplies and stabilizing market expectations.

Solid work should be carried out in the first quarter to ensure a good start for the year, according to Li.

He urged authorities at all levels to enhance support for enterprises, especially the medium, small and micro firms and individual businesses, to provide policy support for sectors that create lots of jobs but are hit hard by the epidemic, and to advance the progress of major projects.

Efforts should also be made to expand effective demand and employment, as well as to improve the market adjustments and guarantee the transportation of coal, electricity, oil and gas, said the premier. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a plenary meeting of the State Council in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 19, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a plenary meeting of the State Council in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 19, 2022. Vice Premier Han Zheng attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)
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Prosecutors in Norway have said far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people in 2011, should not be released from prison.
The Southern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army said the USS Benfold "illegally" sailed into Chinese territorial waters without permission, violating the country's sovereignty.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he thinks Putin does not want any full-blown war on Ukraine, but that "he will move in". He was responding to a question during a White House news conference on Wednesday If his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin tests the West, the United States and NATO significantly, he will pay "a serious and dear price for it," Biden said. The United Sates will impose sanctio
Bury South MP Christian Wakeford's defection from the Conservative Party to Labour has left voters questioning whether there will now be a by-election in his constituency.
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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

Swedish private equity firm EQT is looking to raise at least 20 billion (around $23 billion) for its 10th flagship buyout fund, as it seeks to expand its US footprint.

If EQT meets its target, the new fund, EQT X, would be more than 28% larger than its predecessor. It raised 15.6 billion for EQT IX, its ninth main buyout pool, less than a year ago.

According to a press release from the Stockholm investment firm, the EQT X fund's investment strategy and commercial terms are expected to be materially in line with predecessor fund EQT IX.

"The actual fund size of EQT X is dependent on the outcome of the fundraising process and may ultimately be higher or lower than the target size," it added.

The new fund is currently the largest European-managed fund on the market. At 20 billion, it would be the second-largest vehicle to come out of the region after CVC Capital Partners' Fund VIII, which reached a 21.3 billion close in 2020.

"To ensure continuity between two fund generations, EQT's capital raisings usually follow a cycle with successor funds generally targeted to be in a position to commence investment activities when the predecessor fund is close to being fully invested. This means that the commitment period of the predecessor fund typically ends when approximately 80 to 90 percent of its total commitments are invested, with remaining commitments used primarily for add-on acquisitions and strategic capital injections......................

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Opalesque Industry Update - Managed Funds Association (MFA), the leading organization representing the global alternative investment industry, announced that the Southeastern Alternative Funds Association (SEAFA) and the MidSouth Alternative Investment Association (MSAIA) joined the MFA Partnership Program. The Partnership Program currently features members from Canada, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, and California. "The addition of MSAIA and SEAFA is reflective of the geographic reach of the alternative investment and private capital industry," said MFA Chief Commercial Officer Brooke Harlow. "The MFA Partnership program will act as a force-multiplier for their members across the southern states and the investors they serve-including pensions, foundations, and endowments." The MidSouth Alternative Investment Association (MSAIA) is an education and networking organization that connects alternative investment professionals, raising the quality of discussion and deliberation in the region, through informal gatherings, panel discussions and fund-raising for worthwhile local charities. The MSAIA has been active in Nashville since March 2008 and has grown to over 700 members. "We look forward to partnering with MFA and formalizing our long-standing relationships with other members of the Partnership Program to provide our members across the MidSouth with an expanded roster of events, educational resources, and networking capabilities," said Greg Dyra, Co-Founder and Chairman of MSAIA. The Southeastern Alternative Funds Association (SEAFA) is organized for professionals in the alternative investment community in the Southeast to meet, network, and create business opportunities. SEAFA's mission is centered on providing effective forums for the education, interaction, and advancement of both its members and the broader southeastern alternative investment community. SEAFA is active in Atlanta, GA, and Charlotte, NC. "Joining the MFA Partnership Program will enable us to better support our members across our three key objectives-education, interaction, and advancement-and ensure the continued growth of the southeastern alternative investment community," said Gilbert Davis, President of SEAFA. The MFA Partnership Program enhances the collective power of national, regional, and state alternative investment industry networks. The program works to increase collaboration, promote information sharing, build key allocator relationships, and create a more efficient and effective network to support, educate, and connect in markets in the U.S. and around the world. Current members of the MFA Partnership program include the Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies and Assets, California Alternative Investments Association, Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, New York Alternative Investment Roundtable, Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association, and Texas Alternative Investments Association.
Dorothy Denney, 98, of Oskaloosa, passed away Sunday morning, May 1, 2022, at the Mahaska Hospice Serenity House in Oskaloosa. Dorothy Ione Denney, daughter of Elmer and Mary (Passalia) Shipley, was born September 26, 1923, in Sigourney, Iowa. She attended Tioga Country School and then Delta
JERUSALEM, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Defense Ministry and Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems signed a deal for the development and production of three advanced submarines for the Israeli Navy, the ministry said.

Under the agreement, Israel will purchase three submarines from a new series called "Dakar" for about 3 billion euros (3.41 billion U.S. dollars), the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The German government will fund part of the purchase in accordance with an agreement signed between the two countries in 2017.

The first submarine will be delivered to Israel within nine years, according to the agreement, which includes the construction of a training simulator in Israel and the supply of spare parts. The two sides also signed a strategic cooperation agreement that amounts to over 850 million euros.

"I would like to thank the German government for its assistance in advancing the agreement and for its commitment to Israel's security," Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter. He said the new submarines "will upgrade the capabilities of the Israeli Navy, and will contribute to Israel's security superiority in the region." 
ELDON [mdash] A graveside memorial service, with military honors, will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the Eldon Cemetery in Eldon, IA for Charles and Irene Stribling. Family and friends are welcome to attend.
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MANISTEE  The League of Women Voters of Manistee County and the Manistee News Advocate will host a voter information session via Zoom and Facebook on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

According to league president Nancy Behring, the main purpose of the event entitled Your Voter Rights is to get accurate information out to Manistee County voters as to what their voter rights are.

The town hall will feature Manistee County Clerk Jill Nowak, Manistee League of Women Voters board member Sandra Nelson and Pamela Tompke, a past president of the Manistee County Clerks Association.

Behring notes that "there is so much misinformation and disinformation out there, and not just locally but across the nation." She said that the voter rights town hall is designed to clear up misconceptions.

"One vital role of a newspaper is to provide facts to the community about what's going on in the world around them," said Michelle Graves, News Advocate managing editor. "In the past the News Advocate also has partnered with the Manistee league to inform voters of their options. We felt partnering with the group again for this event was a no-brainer."

The newspaper and the league also partnered in December 2020 to host a live coronavirus forum featuring Dr. Brian McComb, chief medical officer of the Munson Healtcare Manistee Hospital.

Behring said the League of the Woman Voters started after women got the right to vote 102 years ago with the 19th amendment of the U.S Constitution. She notes the organization is not partisan, often runs voter registration drives for seniors as well as those turning 18, and has a goal of encouraging all eligible voters to go to the polls.

The league also holds town halls and debates for candidates during local elections that have more than a single candidate or only an incumbent running.

The group also publishes a voter guide called Vote411.org. The information in the guide has side-by-side answers from candidates who are asked the same questions as well as other information, such as where a voter can find their closest voting location, and where they can register to vote.

To attend the town hall live, visit the leagues website, lwvmanisteecounty.org, and click on Events at the top of the page. Then select Your Voting Rights Town Hall to join either on the Zoom link there or on the leagues Facebook page where it will be live-streamed. The Zoom meeting ID is 87960744116 and the passcode is 252465.

The town hall will be recorded and available later on the leagues website, Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as the Manistee News Advocates website.

This event is free and open to the public.
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.




HAVANA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Building a community with a shared future for mankind is a vision proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In a world affected by combined major changes and a pandemic unseen in a century, a Cuban expert said the notion of building a community with a shared future for mankind, where cooperation works to every country's benefits, is essential.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service












Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on Wednesday launched the Police Strategic Plan 20222025 to combat drug trafficking, internal and external threats, transnational and organised crimes, money laundering and cybercrimes
Photo: (Photo : Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

"Scream" actress Drew Barrymore got very emotional while talking about the challenges of dating after having been single for the last six years.

In an interview on CBS This Morning, the actress revealed that she is not yet ready to see someone again because she does not know how to introduce him to his daughters, Olive, nine years old, and Frankie, seven years old.

Barrymore was surprised when she cried in the interview, adding that she doesn't want to add pressure on herself just because she forgot how it's like to be on dates. She relayed that she's being careful around her daughters as one of the hosts reflected that she's a good mother by thinking about her girls.

I had never realized, and said out loud, that I dont know how to date with kids: @DrewBarrymore opens up about stepping back into dating as a single mother  and finding her bravery with the help of the @QueerEye co-hosts. pic.twitter.com/BMaLpXxieV  CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 12, 2022

Read Also: Mom Defends Hiring an Overnight Doula for New Baby After Her Viral Video Angered Followers

The Pandemic Made Dating Worst

The Hollywood star has been single for six years following her divorce from ex-husband Will Kopelman. He has since remarried Ali Michler, whom Barrymore described as "the most wonderful woman" who has made co-parenting the girls so "functional."

Barrymore revealed that she started dipping her foot in the dating scene again in the last two years. However, the pandemic happened, so she's left with options like having Zoom dates, which she finds pretty unromantic.

The actress said she doesn't talk about her daughters with her dates because she feels very protective of Olive and Frankie. She is in the getting-to-know-you stage of the dating phase, but she admits she wonders how the guys feel about children.

Barrymore also reflected on getting married again and told the hosts of CBS This Morning that she has no more reason to take the plunge anymore.

"I would maybe live with someone again, maybe," the actress said. "But I've had kids, and there's no way I will never, ever, ever, ever get married again."

Barrymore has been married three times to Jeremy Thomas from 1994 to 1995, Tom Green from 2001 to 2002, and Kopelman from 2012 to 2016. In October 2021, Barrymore had Green on her talk show to share stories of his road trip. The ex-couple talked about their past and said the reunion felt a bit weird but in a good way.

Reunion With "Scream" Stars

Barrymore also recently had a sweet reunion with the stars of the rebooted "Scream" movies, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell. The actress was in the very first film, released in 1994, and her scene was short but significant to the franchise.

She shared that she was in her early 20s at that time and recalled confiding in Cox about a very personal dilemma. She just started dating someone new and worried that she might be pregnant.

Barrymore felt that she was in a safe space with Cox, a very mature person. Cox recalled this encounter and said that she was the right person to ask as she was a decade older.

Related Article: Hollywood Wild Child Drew Barrymore Admits Being 'Really Broken' After Her Divorce to Will Kopelman
Photo: (Photo : Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Ginnifer Goodwin has been candid about offering a sperm donation for her best friend, who wanted to be a single mother. The actress suggested that she could have the sperm of her husband, Josh Dallas.

In an interview on "Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw," Goodwin expressed that her husband and best friend were completely weirded out by her suggestion because it would complicate their friendship. However, Goodwin insisted that her best friend needed to procreate, and she was happy at the thought of "more little Joshes in the world."

She also explained the IVF process to her best friend and Dallas, who looked at her in disbelief because it sounded like turkey basting. Goodwin also told Dallas he doesn't need to be in the child's life, but he will be in her best friend's life.

Read Also: Tokyo Mom Gives up Baby for Adoption Because Sperm Donor Lied About His Ethnicity

A Fairy Tale Romance

Goodwin and Dallas met on the set of the fairy tale supernatural series "Once Upon a Time" on ABC. Her role was the beautiful Snow White, and he played the handsome Prince Charming. He said in 2012 that it was love at first sight for him, and their on-screen chemistry was also sizzling off the screen.

While Goodwin and Dallas denied their romance in public, both agreed that they had an instant connection. Goodwin was coming off a broken engagement with Justin Long when she met Dallas while he was also recovering from his divorce with Lara Pulver.

However, a year after working together, Goodwin and Dallas decided to move in and officially made their relationship public at a White House Correspondents Dinner in 2012. Sources close to the couple said that the pair were serious with each other when they agreed to be together.

In 2013, Dallas asked to marry Goodwin, and they tied the knot by April 2014 while she was eight months pregnant with their first child, Oliver. Their second baby, Hugo, followed in 2016.

Goodwin relishes being a mother to her kids and wife to Dallas, whom she praised as someone who makes her laugh a lot. He still sends her flowers and jams because it's what his wife loves years into their relationship. She also appreciates how much her husband takes care of their babies when she's tired, describing him as her "knight in shining armor."

On the other hand, Dallas praises his wife as "the greatest human I know." He said she makes life easy and he loves growing together with her.

Missing His Wife at Work

Meanwhile, Goodwin had a few other TV projects after "Once Upon a Time" wrapped up while Dallas landed a hit with "Manifest." He said, however, that he misses working next to his wife because she is an "exceptional actress."

"To be on set with her every day is like going to school," Dallas said. "So I miss that, and I will always miss that, and to work with her is the best."

Fans have always wondered if Goodwin will ever cameo on "Manifest," which was renewed on Netflix. But Goodwin is currently busy filming her new mom comedy series, "Pivoting," for Fox.

Related Article: Surrogate Mom Carole Horlock Gave Away Baby Who Turned Out To Be Her Own Son
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The Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), a UNESCO Category II Centre for West Africa, located at the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast - Ghana, joins other UNESCO Educational Centres to celebrate the International Day of Education 2022.



This years celebrations, the fourth to be celebrated since the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution for its celebration on 3rd December 2018, is being observed under the theme, Changing Course, Transforming Education.

The theme is aptly chosen to drive home the commitment of UN member countries when it adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015 and pledged to recognize the essential role of education for the success of all the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.



At IEPA, the SDG 4, which is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, is at the heart of its operations. The Director-General of IEPA, Dr. Michael Boakye-Yiadom noted that, IEPAs key mandate is to train educational leaders, planners and administrators as well as provide policy advice, backed by research, to governments in the West African sub-region on educational sector planning.



We, therefore, see the celebration of the International Day of Education as a very important day to discuss opportunities and challenges facing West African nations in meeting the implementation of the SDG4. Education in a COVID era has taken on a new dimension and it behooves all leaders in education to deliver inclusive and quality education as we live with COVID.



It is important to note that the right to education is enshrined in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration calls for free and compulsory elementary education. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, further goes to stipulate that, countries shall make higher education accessible to all.



Speaking to the Head of Communications and Public Relations at IEPA Ms. Nana Efua Rockson, she explains that IEPA is celebrating the day by sensitizing their immediate communities, through the power of media, on the role of education to transform lives. It also plans to hold a forum at the Imam Khomeini Islamic School at Amamoma (a community around the University of Cape Coast) to empower and sensitize the Junior High Students on the need to take their studies seriously as education is the key to changing the course of their future.



It is instructive to note that, aside IEPA providing educational research and technically advising governments in West Africa on educational sector planning, it also mounts Masters and PHD programmes in Educational Leadership, Planning and Administration to build excellent leaders at all levels of the educational ladder towards the attainment of SDG 4.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has scheduled February 2-6 to start a nationwide intensive campaign and vaccination against the COVID-19.



Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, who announced this at a media briefing in Accra on Wednesday, said the five-day national vaccination would ensure a mass inoculation of Ghanaians.



The decision, he said, formed part of the Government's revised policy and strategy on the pandemic to improve the mass vaccination drive, access to vaccines, as well as achieve herd immunity.



Mr Agyeman-Manu said about 34.8 per cent of the 20 million target population had at least received a single dose of the vaccine with about 16.1 per cent having taken the full dose.



The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said more than 25 million doses of vaccines had been received with COVAX contributing about 68.2 per cent.



The African Union and other multilateral organisations supplied 21.3 per cent and 10.5 per cent, respectively.



Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the country had administered 9,499,019 doses of vaccines including AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Pfizer and Moderna.



So far about 155,242 confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been recorded out of 2.2 million people tested, with more than 149,693 recoveries.



A total of 1,364 deaths had been recorded with the current active cases standing at 4,185, out of which 40 were severe and 11 critical, he said.



Dr Kuma-Aboagye said even though the country was experiencing the fourth wave of the pandemic, the proportion of critical and severe cases were relatively low.



Similarly, there had been a significant reduction in the active cases over the last few weeks with a downward trend in international arrivals.



The GHS Boss said as part of the revised vaccine policy, the Government had approved for booster doses to be administered to all frontline health workers, security personnel, persons with underlying health conditions, persons 60 years and above and members of the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary.



Also, the Service had recommended the Pfizer and Modena vaccines to be administered to pregnant women and children between ages 15 and 17 years.





Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh speaks in an interview with Xinhua in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 18, 2022.(Xinhua)

by Xinhua writer Gao Wencheng

TEHRAN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States, which unilaterally quit the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018, can "gain a ticket to the negotiating room" to revive the landmark pact "only if they change their behavior," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Khatibzadeh said Washington, if it wants to rejoin the 2015 agreement and be accepted around the table, has to show enough will and do what is needed in terms of the removal of sanctions, so as to convince other parties involved that the United States can actually be accepted as "part of the deal."

Since April 2021, Iran and the other five remaining signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), namely Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany, have been holding talks in Vienna to restore the nuclear deal. The United States has been indirectly taking part in the Vienna talks as it is no longer a party to this deal.

The United States has not only pulled out of the JCPOA, but also violated the United Nations Resolution 2231, which is obligatory to everybody, the spokesperson said.

Though they campaigned partially based on returning to this international accord, the Democratic administration under U.S. President Joe Biden has continued Donald Trump's so-called maximum pressure campaign, which resulted in a "maximum failure policy," Khatibzadeh pointed out.

According to the spokesperson, Americans "are doing whatever they can to sabotage Iran's relations with other countries, especially to prevent Iran from normalizing its foreign economic relations with other countries."

Noting Iran's painful memories with U.S. sanctions, he said, "the United States is very much addicted to using sanctions, and the only language they are trying to use against independent countries such as Iran and China is coercive language, or the naked language of force."

However, such an approach is "very much doomed to failure," because it is impossible for the United States to impose its will on other nations "which have shown to a great extent that they are independent, and they are resilient to these pressures and coercive measures," he said.

The United States tries to inflict pain on the Iranian nation, unfortunately even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic when the United States is widely expected to change its policy on the countries it has sanctioned, Khatibzadeh added.

"But they didn't change anything and in fact, they even tried to sabotage Iran's efforts to transfer money to buy vaccines," he said, denouncing such an action as "a shame for the United States and a shame for humanity."

Regarding the ongoing diplomatic endeavors in Vienna, he said the Iranian side wants to make sure that "there are enough mechanisms embedded in the new understanding that the United States can get to the deal while there is a reliable and stable new agreement."

Iran demands "objective guarantees that the United States is not going to mock international law" by violating the deal again, Khatibzadeh said, adding that Iran wants to "verify that this time they are not going to cheat as previously they did their best to actually make enough obstacles for Iran's economic, trade, and business relations with other counties."

On the sanctions-lifting aspect of the deal, negotiators in Vienna "are not advancing a lot because Americans are yet to make the needed political decisions in their capital," he said.

"It is too soon to jump to a conclusion whether we are going to finish an agreement soon. But we have all the reasons to work out a Plan A, which is a stable and reliable agreement in Vienna," Khatibzadeh emphasized. 
The Minister for Health Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has announced a revised de-isolation and discharged guidelines for international arrivals at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).



The Minister, who was speaking at the Ministers Press Briefing in Accra on Wednesday, said under the revised guidelines, Ghanaians and Resident Foreigners who were partially vaccinated or unvaccinated on arrival would be exempted from full vaccinations before traveling to Ghana.



As part of the implementation challenges of the testing and isolation policy at the KIA, it was recommended that Ghanaians who were partially vaccinated or unvaccinated be exempted from the directive requiring full vaccination of passengers travelling to Ghana and be vaccinated on or quarantined mandatorily on arrival, he said.



Mr Agyeman-Manu said the exempted persons would, however, be offered vaccination on arrival and passengers who failed to receive a jab on arrival would undergo mandatory quarantine for seven days at their own cost.



This means that the issue of an unvaccinated Ghanaian being denied entry and a resident unvaccinated foreigner allowed in will change and all unvaccinated persons would have to be vaccinated on arrival.



He said under the updated policy for international arrivals, all other cases would be considered on a case-by-case basis, thus those who were sick and could not be vaccinated would still be exempted.



He said similarly, home care management teams would be strengthened to ensure strict compliance with the COVID-19 home management protocols by eligible persons.



 We are currently doing a checklist to ensure that those who test positive at the Airport and can self-isolate be allowed to do so, he said.



The Minister stated that for all patients on home isolation, de-isolation would be seven days after testing positive and all hospitalised patients without symptoms will de-isolate ten days after testing positive.



In cases of high or moderate risk exposure to someone infected with COVID-19; the affected person will stay at home or self-quarantine until five days and if symptoms develop, the person will be tested for COVID-19.



Mr Agyeman- Manu said passengers who arrived with negative test result could resume normal activities on the fifth day of arrival and those who tested positive would be isolated for seven days.



He said Ghana was experiencing a fourth wave with the detection of the Omicron variant but there had been a significant reduction in active cases in the last two weeks with a relatively low proportion in severe and critical cases.



As a country, we encountered a lot of challenges in managing COVID-19 but despite all these challenges, we achieved much and bring the situation under control.





Source: GNA









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Historically, cervical cancer plagued women for a long time. A breakthrough came in the mid-20th century when screening measures started being implemented.



The healthcare industry was hopeful that screening would drastically reduce cervical cancer incidence globally. Unfortunately, the disease is still prevalent worldwide, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing the burden of the disease. In Ghana, cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer seen in women. Every year 2,797 women in Ghana are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 1,699 die from the disease.



In many cervical cancer cases, there are no early-stage signs and symptoms. Cancer develops in the cells lining woman's cervix (the entrance to the uterus from the vagina) and is almost always linked to infection with high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV) - an extremely common virus transmitted through sexual contact.



Advanced-stage cervical cancer may have symptoms like vaginal bleeding and unusual discharge, which women often dismiss as normal menstrual cycle-related events, or self-diagnose as another infection.



Women are recommended to always look out for bleeding during or after sex, or in between menstrual periods, pain during or after sex, changes in vaginal discharge, or pain in the lower back or pelvis. These may be signs of more advanced-stage cervical cancer. It is important to note that having these symptoms does not necessarily mean you have cervical cancer; you should however get them checked out by your doctor.



The good news is that cervical cancer does not have to advance to this late stage. It can be detected early through regular screening, and successfully treated.



Screening for cervical cancer involves a pap smear or an HPV test, or both. A pap smear, also known as a pap test checks for the presence of pre-cancerous cervical cells. An HPV test checks for infection with certain high-risk variants of the human papillomavirus, which cause cervical cells to become pre-cancerous and develop into cervical cancer. If an HPV test determines that a woman is at high risk for cervical cancer, additional screening, like a pap smear, and a colposcopy ( visual examination of cervix) are recommended.



The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that women 26 years and above should get screened for high-risk HPV at least once every 5 years.



Thanks to Yemaachi Biotech, an African cancer research company based in Ghana, there is an affordable, accessible and easy-to-use test that will detail womens level of risk for HPV-mediated cervical cancer. The Sheba HPV Testenables women to collect their own samples discretely at home, and drop them off at a conveniently located collection point for HPV testing at Yemaachis advanced molecular diagnostic laboratory.



Detailed results are returned via email within 72 hours of drop-off.

Women are recommended to share their HPV test results with their physicians or other healthcare workers, especially in the event that a high-risk variant is detected, for further guidance on further testing or treatment.



When diagnosed early, cervical cancer is one of the most successfully treatable forms of cancer. Early detection saves lives.

Source: Dr. Emmanuella Amoako, Head of Clinical Affairs, Yemaachi Biotech









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta has been explaining how he made a complaint in August 2021 to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and it has led to a revelation that, radio talk host, Blessed Godsbrain Smart, commonly referred to as Captain Smart, allegedly "accepted a bribe," according to the police, to influence a public officer [Kwasi Amoako-Atta].



Captain Smart, the host of Onua TVs breakfast show, has been cited in the CID report dated January 13, 2022, on an investigation into allegations of corruption for the offences of defrauding by false pretense and accepting or giving bribe to corrupt a public officer.



In a radio interview on Accra based Oman FM Wednesday morning [Jan 19, 2022], monitored by Graphic Online, Mr Amoako-Atta said he made the complaint to the CID after he was informed about the allegation on radio, that, a certain woman was alleging she paid some money through Captain Smart for him [Amoako-Atta].



He said he requested for a recording of the allegation which was aired on Net2 and followed it up with a complaint to the CID.



He said it is following the CID investigation and the intention to follow it up with a prosecution that has interested him to comment on it following a revelation that he [Amoako-Atta] has not received any money from Captain Smart.



He said he was looking forward to the CID prosecution.





Attempts by Graphic Online to reach Captain Smart for a reaction has not been successful as of now.



Below is a copy of the CID report on the issue



RE: INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION



BRIEF FACTS:



On 24th August, 2021, a petition signed by Lawyer Francis K. Yeboah of Amicus Legal Consult, solicitors for Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah, Minister for Roads and Highways was received and referred to the Financial Forensics Unit (FFU) for investigation and report.



The lawyer on behalf of the petitioner stated among other things that, about a week earlier in the month of August, 2021, it was brought to the attention of the Hon. Minister that his name had been mentioned in connection with an allegation of bribery and corruption of GH25,080.00 which was aired on both Net2 TV and Oman FM by Kwaku Annan the host.



3. POLICE ACTION TAKEN: During investigation, the Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah the Minister for Roads and Highways was invited and interviewed on 25th August, 2021, and statement obtained from him.



The Minister in his statement to the Police indicated that his attention was drawn by some friends that his name was mentioned in an alleged bribery of GH25,000.00 on Net 2 TV and Oman FM which Blessed Godsbrain Smart alias Captain Smart, a journalist collected the said amount from a woman to be given to him to intervene on

a reserved land at Achimato Mile 7 to enable her possess same.



4. On 26th August, 2021, investigation was extended to Achimota Mile 7 where the reserved land is located to have a first-hand information of the place. The police met Gifty Twumasi who granted the interview to Kwaku Annan of Net2 TV.



She was interviewed and statement collected from her. She indicated in her statement that she decided to extend the fence wall in front of her three-storey building situated at Miles 7.



In the process of constructing the fence wall, the Ga North Municipal Assembly wrote "stop work" on the wall and indicated that the space is a reserved land.



Gifty Twumasi added that in 2018, one Robert Taylor who claimed the reserved land belongs to him reported her to the Property Fraud Unit at the CID Headquarters for constructing a fence wall on his land.



Gifty Twumasi stated that after the Police had investigated the matter, they were advised to go and possess their respective lands.



Gifty Twumasi further stated that in 2019, she received a call from one Yaw Adu Rockson inviting her to rush to the taxi station where she met the Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon. Amoako-Attah granting interview to the media and waring that the construction on the reserved land should stop immediately.



She found out later from the taxi drivers that they went to see Captain Smart about the reserved land and Captain Smart also informed the Minister that was why the Minister came there. Gifty Twumasi indicated that she arranged with Yaw du Rockson, Kwabena Anani and Fred Boamah, who are taxi drivers to accompany her to go and thank Captain Smart.



On reaching Captain Smart's residence at Tantra Hills, she told Captain Smart that she has heard of his efforts leading to the Hon. Minister visiting the site and that was why she had come to thank him and gave him GH10,000.00.



5. On 27" August 2021, witness Fred Boamah, Chairman of the Achimota Mile 7 Cooperative Taxi Drivers Association was interviewed and statement collected from him. He

corroborated the assertion made by Gifty Twumasi.



Fred Boamah stated that one Robert Taylor came to sack them from the land where they were operating as the taxi rank and as a result, he led some of his colleague drivers to Captain Smart who contacted the Roads and Highways Minister, Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah.



In their presence Captain Smart informed the Hon. Minister of a construction taking place on the reserved land at Mile 7, Achimota.



6. On 2nd September 2021, suspect Blessed Godsbrain Smart alias Captain Smart was invited to the CID Headquarters. During interrogation he confirmed that the taxi drivers contacted him for assistance leading to the Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah coming to stop the building project at the taxi rank.



He confirmed that Fred Boamah, who is known to him as the chairman of the drivers' association and two other drivers together with Gifty Twumasi visited his residence to thank him for his assistance and gave him an envelope containing GH10,000.00.



Again, he confirmed their going to the Minister's office but met his absence.



He refuted the allegation that Fred Boamah and Gifty Twumasi when returning from the Ministry sat in his car where he requested for monies to be given to the Minister.



He again confirmed that the drivers and Gifty Twumasi came to his residence to thank him for the second time and handing over an amount of GH10,890.00 to him.



He added that out of the GH10,000.00, GH5,000.00 was for himself and the remaining GH5,000.00 was for his assistants.



He denied ever receiving GH25,000.00 from Gifty Twumasi in company of the drivers to be given to the Minister.



7. FINDINGS: Investigation has disclosed that Gifty Twumasi had interest in a parcel of land located in front of her property which taxi drivers at Achimota Mile 7 were using as a taxi rank.



They knew that parcel of land is a reserve and as such decided to litigate with the developer.



After several attempts to prevent the developer from developing the land had failed, the taxi drivers went to see suspect Captain Smart to assist them. Because he is influential and had access to the airwaves, he was able to broadcast the information about the developing of a reserved land which came to the attention of the Minister, who in turn went to stop the project.



8. Investigation established that Gifty Twumasi and three taxi drivers, Fred Boarah, Yaw Adu Rockson and Kwabena Anane went to the residence of suspect Captain Smart to thank him with an amount of GH10,000.00 for his assistance in halting the project.



Again it was revealed that suspect Captain Smart led the four people to the Ministry of Roads and Highways to see the Minister without success.



9. Further investigation has also established that after visiting the office of the Minister, the same taxi drivers and Gifty Twumasi for the second time visited the residence of suspect Captain Smart to hand over GH25,000.00, to him for the Minister which the suspect confirmed receipt but insisted the amount was GH10,000.00 not GH25,000.00.



Two witnesses corroborated that suspect Captain Smart requested for the money to be given to the Minister and they were present when the amount of GH25,000.00 was handed over to the suspect.



10. Investigation also revealed that in January 2019, Hon. Kwai Amoako-Attah visited the reserved land at Achimato Mile 7 due to agitation by some taxis drivers concerning a private developer and halted the developer from further works. Investigation disclosed that somewhere in 2018, Hon. Kwasi Amoako -Attah participated in a radio discussion hosted by suspect Blessed Godsbrain Smart alias Captain Smart and through that the suspect became close to the Minister.



Suspect Blessed Godsbrain Smart alias Captain Smart took an advantage and subsequently visited the offices of the Minister at the Ministries and Parliament House but

could not meet the Minister in any of his visit. The suspect could not produce evidence to suggest that he had monetary dealings with the Minister as described in the recording of Net 2 TV and Oman FM.



11. Further investigation has also established that after visiting the office of the Minister, the same taxi drivers and Gifty Twumasi for the second time visited the residence of suspect Captain Smart to hand over GH25,000.00, to him for the Minister which the suspect confirmed receipt but insisted the amount was GH&10,000.00 not GH25,000.00.



Two witnesses corroborated that suspect Captain Smart requested for the money to be given to the Minister and they were present when the amount of GH25,000.00 was handed over to the suspect.



12. Investigation could not adduce evidence that Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah had knowledge of the money taken from the victim by suspect Captain Smart. Again, there is no

evidence to suggest that suspect Captain Smart after extorting the GH25,000.00 from the victims gave same to Hon. Kwasi Amoako-Attah.



13. There is evidence against suspect Captain Smart for the offences of Defrauding by False Pretences and Accepting or Giving Bribe to Corrupt a Public Officer.



14. STATUS OF CASE: The investigation is being finalized for prosecution.



FK AGYEI (ACP)

D/DIRECTOR/CID

For: Director-General/CID

Source: graphiconline.com









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The Concerned Youth of Asanteman has expressed indignation at a statement issued by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) headed, GJA Urges Extreme Caution in Coverage of Asantehene/Dormaahene Conflict.



According to the group, the statement, dated 19th January 2022 and signed by the President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney, sought to equate the Asantehene with the Dormaahene in terms of status.



Apologize



This is sacrilegious and we demand an unqualified apology from Mr Affail Monney to the occupant of the Golden Stool, His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. There are 65 Paramount Chiefs from the Ashanti, Bono, Bono East and Oti regions who owe allegiance to him. Again, the Asantehene is clothed with the law to elevate stools to paramount status. A portion of the statement read



The group argued that The GJA President if he was well versed with tradition, as well as the constitution and the Chieftaincy Act, should have known that the Asantehene is above the Dormaahene in status.



It is, therefore, preposterous for anyone to put them at the same level, the group claimed.



Media cautioned against inflaming conflict between Otumfuo and Dormaahene



The Ghana Journalist Association has implored the media to be circumspect in its report of the ongoing rift between the Asantehene, Nana Otumfuo Osei Tutu IIand the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Agyeman Badu II.



In a statement dated Wednesday, January 19, 2022, and signed by its President, Affail Monney, the GJA said the conflict between the two traditional leaders owing to its sensitivity, can degenerate into a conflict of unthinkable proportion.



"It is needless to state that the hyper-sensitive issue involving the two prominent chiefs can degenerate into a conflict of unthinkable proportions, if it is not handled with the highest degree of circumspection, especially by the media.



The sensational tilt and explosive angles which have characterized the coverage of the verbal exchanges should, therefore, give way to conflict-sensitive reporting which will allow tempers to cool down and the issue to be contained or resolved in the long run, GJA said.



No conflict



But the Concerned Youth of Asanteman, however, disagrees with the head of the media fraternity.



Again, we disagree with the GJA President that there is a conflict between His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II.



Man of peace



The group maintained that Otumfuo has been a man of peace, something that is recognised the world over.



His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II is credited for leading the charge to bring peace to Dagbon after 17 years of mediation between the feuding parties. In the instant matter, we believe that the Asantehene while addressing the first meeting of the Asanteman Council, only sought to discredit some assertions made by the Dormaahene with respect to history. This is our view, does not constitute conflict.



Advise



We also want to advise the GJA to endeavour move with the changing times where the Internet has taken over the dissemination of news/stories as against traditional media, which the GJA overlook. The statement said



Adding that The unfounded history being told by the Dormaahene in recent times, has been carried on the Internet, and not by traditional media, which the GJA overlook.



Therefore, Otumfuos response to Dormaahenes distorted history went viral long before the GJA issued its statement, making the GJA statement moot. Traditional media does not trend, but the Internet does.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A delegation from UN Agencies in Ghana paid a courtesy call on the Executive Director and Management of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on Tuesday 18th January, 2022.



The Delegation was led by Charles Abani, UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana. He affirmed the preparedness of the UN resident and non-resident agencies to support EOCO under the leadership of COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah (Mrs.) to achieve its mandate.



COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah (Mrs.) welcomed the members of the delegation and assured them of EOCOs readiness to partner them in creating a strong institution that will effectively deliver on its mandate.



The Executive Director acknowledged support that has been received in the past especially from the UNODC, and called for bespoke training for the staff of the office, going forward.



Anne-Claire Dufay, UNICEF Representative in Ghana in her remarks stated that the priority of the UN is to strengthen systems and institutions and the resilience of young people. She added that the UN would support a strong framework to combat money laundering, cybercrime and human trafficking and other issues within EOCOs mandate.



The delegation commended the Office for all its efforts in the fight against economic and financial crimes in concert with sister agencies.









Source: Daily Guide









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 Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly has locked up the main abattoir in the Municipality after butchers declined to relocate to a newly constructed modern one at Yorogo, a suburb of Bolgatanga.



The newly constructed abattoir, valued at Gh1.2 million, started in July 2017 with funding from the World Bank, and was commissioned for use in 2018.



It has modern slaughtering and animal processing facilities, lavatories, offices and a pavilion.



The Ghana News Agency (GNA) observed that the abattoir, which had been locked for two days, had affected the operations of food vendors, restaurants and chops bars among other stakeholders who now resort to chicken and fish to complement their protein needs.



When the Agency visited the old abattoir in Bolgatanga, the butchers were seated in groups around the locked facility chatting with one another.



The action, the public fear, would affect the quality of meat as it may not be properly examined by Veterinary officers to ensure safety.



Mr Tindaazok Koldo, the Chief Butcher at the old Abattoir, who expressed displeasure at the situation, explained that prior to the construction of the new abattoir at Yorogo, the leadership of the Bolgatanga Butchers Association was not consulted.



He said for the past three years there had not been any discussion on the matter and so after completion, he and his colleagues declined to relocate.



Also, the new facility could not accommodate the about 400 butchers, saying: A lot of our members depend on the Abattoir to earn a living, and so if we move there, a good number will be laid off for lack of space. This will add up to the unemployment among the youth in the Region.



Mr Koldo said there was no livestock market near the new abattoir, which would affect their business.



If the Assembly can move the livestock market to Yorogo, we will relocate. But as it stands, we cannot move there without the livestock market, he said.



Mr Rex Asanga, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, in an interview with the GNA, confirmed that the Assembly locked up the abattoir after several negotiations to have the butchers relocate.



He said upon completion of the facility, the Assembly held series of meetings with their leadership and they raised concerns about the need for a meat van to transport the meat to town for sale, and also requested for a platform outside the abattoir where they could slaughter some animals as they all could not slaughter in the Abattoir.



The MCE said following the butchers' requests, the Assembly signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them to address those concerns, adding that The Assembly at its own cost, constructed a platform so that some of the animals could be slaughtered on it.



These were the main things they asked for, and the Assembly has met its side of the bargain, but the butchers refused to relocate. Healthwise, the old abattoir is not in the best of conditions, he said.



The MCE said after the December 15, 2021, deadline to relocate, the Assembly further engaged their leadership and extended the date to the first week of January, 2022.







Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A medical worker wearing protective suit works at a COVID-19 testing site in Hedong District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in a residential community of Nankai District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in a residential community of Nankai District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Residents and volunteers queue up for nucleic acid tests at a residential community in Nankai District of north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Hedong District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in a residential community of Nankai District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Medical workers head for a COVID-19 testing site at dawn in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Hedong District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

A resident arrives to receive nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in a residential community of Nankai District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

Staff members prepare medical materials for nucleic acid tests at a COVID-19 testing site in a residential community of Nankai District in north China's Tianjin, Jan. 20, 2022.

The city launched its fourth citywide nucleic acid testing at 6 a.m. Thursday, aiming to curb the further spread of the virus. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)
A wolverine is shown in this camera trap photo in Alberta from 2012, in the same location where a coyotes was also photographed a week apart, supplied by lead researcher Gillian Chow-Fraser of the University of Victoria. New research suggests industrial development is helping coyotes move into wolverine country and edge out the rare carnivore despite its fierce reputation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
The Chinese flag flies on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Wednesday June 1, 2016. A Chinese state-owned telecom firm is pressing for disclosure of federal information to help the company fight Ottawa's order that its Canadian affiliate be sold or shut down on national security grounds. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Dr. Kieran Moore, left, Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health speaks at a press conference at Queens Park regarding the easing of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Thursday, January 20, 2022. Ontarios top doctor has taken issue with a local public health leaders decision to introduce stronger COVID-19 measures in schools around virus-related dismissals, masks and air filtration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
FILE - Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sits in St. Peter's Basilica as he attends the ceremony marking the start of the Holy Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. A long-awaited report on the church's handling of cases of sexual abuse by clergy and others in Germany's Munich archdiocese and which was once led by retired Pope Benedict XVI from 1977 until 1982, is being released on Thursday Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
President Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, right, speaks as he meets with members of the Infrastructure Implementation Task Force to discuss the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the international community to give new impetus to the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The question of Palestine has been on the UN agenda for 75 years. The new year should bring new hope to the Palestinian people, and the international community should act with a stronger sense of urgency by taking vigorous actions to promote the comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue, said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

Violence and hostilities must be stopped and tensions eased, he told a Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

Last year saw continued unrest in the occupied Palestinian territory. Since the beginning of this year, the situation on the ground has continued to be tense and worrying, said Geng. "We call on all parties concerned to keep calm, exercise restraint, refrain from hostilities and violence, and consolidate the cease-fire in Gaza."

As the occupying power, Israel must fulfill its obligations under international law, guarantee the safety of the people in the occupied territory, investigate violence against Palestinian civilians, and maintain the historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israel's legitimate security concerns must be respected, he said.

Relevant Security Council resolutions must be implemented and settlement activities must stop, said Geng.

In 2021, Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank continued to expand, and the number of demolished Palestinian homes was the highest since 2016. Settlement activities violate international law. China urges Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes, stop evicting Palestinians and expanding settlements, and create conditions for the development of Palestinian communities in the West Bank, he said.

China is equally concerned about Israel's recent announcement that it will invest more than 300 million U.S. dollars in settlement construction in the Golan. The international community recognizes Syria's sovereignty over the Golan. China urges Israel to stop settlement activities that could lead to tensions, he said. 
A woman eats lunch inside a restaurant in downtown Vancouver, on Monday, March 29, 2021. More financial help is on the way for British Columbia businesses forced to stay closed for at least another month as the province tries to contain the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Gov. Doug Ducey gave his eighth and final State of the State address to the West Valley at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale on Jan. 12.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  Political parties have no right to be gatekeepers to the ballot, an attorney argued Tuesday in urging the Alaska Supreme Court to uphold a voter-approved electoral system that would end party primaries in the state and institute ranked-choice voting in general elections.

Scott Kendall, who helped write the ballot measure, argued on behalf of the group behind the initiative, which narrowly passed in 2020. Laura Fox, an attorney for the state, joined Kendall in asking that the court uphold a lower court ruling in favor of the new system.

The system is unique...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The former head of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. claims her firing was political retribution by board members appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Dunleavy, a Republican seeking reelection, denied any involvement in Angela Rodells removal last month, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The corporations board has provided no explanation for Rodells Dec. 9 dismissal. The vote was 5-1, with the lone dissenting vote cast by the only board member not appointed or reappointed by Dunleavy.

Rodell was a commissioner of the state Department of Revenue under...
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BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China has stepped up its pace of 5G development, adding 654,000 base stations in 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Thursday.

So far, nearly 1.43 million 5G base stations have been launched, Tian Yulong, chief engineer of the MIIT, told a press conference.

The 5G network now covers all prefecture-level cities, more than 98 percent of county-level urban areas and 80 percent of township-level urban areas across the country, said Zhao Zhiguo, a spokesperson for the MIIT.

Shipments of 5G phones in 2021 skyrocketed by 63.5 percent year on year to reach 266 million units, demonstrating a steady growth momentum, Zhao added.

China's "5G + industrial internet" strategy has formed 20 application scenarios involving remote equipment control and quality inspection system using machine vision in 10 key fields including mining, steel and power industries, Zhao said, adding that it has provided an impetus for the transformation and upgrading of other sectors.

This year, the ministry is committed to continuing the consolidation of 5G industrial foundations while advancing 5G network construction and promoting the development of 5G applications. 
Improvements brought to our world by plastics have also brought a few challenges, like how to more sustainably create them and how to more efficiently recycle them.

To that end, a team of researchers in the Kansas Polymer Research Center at Pittsburg State University are joining forces with a team of researchers at the University of Delaware and the University of Kansas in hopes of finding a solution.

The project is being funded by a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation. UD will develop processes to transform biomass  agricultural byproducts  into commercially viable plastics, and to find ways to break them down efficiently.

KU, home to the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, will be the lead entity on the project.

At PSU, KPRC Director Tim Dawsey will lead senior research personnel. That team will include Associate Professor of Chemistry Ram Gupta, who will mentor a masters level student each year in the synthesis, characterization, and performance of biobased polymers; that student will collaborate with students at UD and KU.

Gupta also will develop research projects for undergraduates and high school students that create experiential learning opportunities, disseminate knowledge of a circular bioeconomy, and ideally generate interest in STEM careers.

As it is only a two and a half-hour drive between Lawrence, Kansas, and Pittsburg, there will be ample opportunities for faculty and student interactions and hands-on cross-training sessions, Dawsey said.

Their focus: one of the highest volume commercial polymers, polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which is a versatile and broadly used polymer used in commodity packaging films, engineering resins, fibers, and soft-drink bottles.

"Given its enormous usage, substituting even small amounts with bioderived products can significantly impact the transition to renewable polymers, Dawsey said.

This research will establish the foundations for a sustained partnership between KU, UD, and PSU to implement sustainable manufacturing in a circular economy.

The specific goals are to develop novel catalysts and advanced manufacturing concepts, and deconstruct recycled plastics into precursors for reuse, Gupta explained. We will also develop and evaluate public policies that simultaneously drive rural economic growth and market penetration of the new materials.

The project is supported by the National Science Foundation for four years.

[Photo taken prior to mask mandate.]

Learn more:

KPRC

PSU POLYMER CHEMISTRY INITIATIVE
On January 17, Sudans Ministry of Culture and Information issued a statement about the license of Al Jazeera Mubasher, Al Jazeeras Arabic public affairs television network. Two days earlier, the government withdrew the license and revoked the accreditation of two Al Jazeera journalists.

The statement came on the same day that thousands of protesters marched to the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to demand a return of civilian rule after the military took power in October. Security forces used gunfire and tear gas, killing seven people.

The Ministry of Culture and Information claimed that Al Jazeera had broadcast scenes from the Sudan protests that included nudity, indecent language and scenes of out-of-control people behaving abnormally.

The decision to withdraw Al Jazeera Mubashers license  came after many calls to its team to act professional, consider the public interest and stop broadcasting harmful content to the youth that violates the values and ethics of the Sudanese nation, the ministry said.

But that is misleading. The move against Al Jazeera is part of pattern of suppression and censorship under Sudans military leadership.

The Sudanese Journalists Network (SJNet) said authorities have used verbal and physical violence against journalists, arrested some and destroyed equipment in media raids. The ongoing suppression of journalists and media confirms the coup authority is trying to turn our country into a dark dot, SJNet said on its Facebook page.

In November 2021, Sudanese security forces arrested the Al Jazeeras bureau chief, El Musalmi El Kabbashi, after raiding his home. El Kabbashis arrest came a day after protesters took to the streets in Khartoum and the city of Omdurman. He was released after two days in custody.

On January 16, El Hadatha, an independent Sudanese newspaper, said it was forced to halt operations because of the increasing suppression of the media. The newspaper had paused its work in October to protest the military coup.

On January 13, Sudanese authorities raided the office of al-Araby TV, a UK-based independent broadcaster, and arrested its team, including journalist Wael Alhassan, supervisor Islam Saleh, cameraman Mazen Oono and his assistant Abu Baker Ali.

The channels management said the raid took place while the team was covering the anti-coup protests. Journalist Alhassan said tear gas was shot at them as they filmed the protests from the atop their office building. When they retreated, Sudanese soldiers were waiting for them.

We were taken from the office, beaten and dragged to one of the army cars. They took us to one of the intelligence centers in the capital. We were beaten again, they covered our heads and broke our cameras, Alhassan said in a televised interview.

Al-Araby issued a statement holding the Sudanese authorities responsible for its crews safety.

The TVs reporting is based on professional standards, and the entire team hold valid accreditation to perform their jobs without any issues, al-Araby TV said.

Al-Arabys team was released after few hours, and the security forces apologized.

On December 31, 2021, security forces in Khartoum raided the offices of Saudi-owned al-Arabiya and its sister channel al-Hadath, confiscating equipment.

Sudanese security forces assault and beat the reporters of al-Arabiya, Lina Yacoub and Nizar Biqdawi, and assault and beat photojournalists and producers, al-Arabiya tweeted.

The attack coincided with another major anti-coup rally calling for civilian-led rule. Sudanese security forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least four. Al-Arabiya team said earlier that day they were prevented from reporting on the protests.

Also in December, military authorities ordered Sally Othman of Saudi Arabias Asharq News to stop reporting live from the protests. While she was on-air, she paused and told viewers: Pardon, I will not be able to continue this reporting, the authorities just prevented me.

Security forces held and questioned Othman and her colleague, Maha al-Talb, for hours at the channels office in Khartoum, where they cut the channels internet and phone lines.

The channels management expressed concern for the safety of its journalists and held the authorities the responsible for their safety. The two were freed the following day.

Security forces also attacked RT (formerly Russia Today) photographer Mutawakel Issa while he covered the protests. Issa was beaten unconscious, and his camera and phone were taken.

In November 2021, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Sudans military authorities were continuing to target journalists who criticized the military. Now controlled by the military, the state-owned media are carrying propaganda praising the armed forces and attacking the coups opponents, RSF said.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed, a London-based pan-Arab media outlet, reported in October 2021 that following Sudans military coup, local media outlets received orders to stop any independent broadcasting and to bring programs in line with the army-controlled state media.

RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index ranked Sudan 159 out of 180 countries. The country scored a "not free" 17 out of 100 on Freedom Houses 2021 global freedom index.

Pro-democracy protests erupted in Sudan during an economic crisis in December 2018. Protesters called for the resignation of Sudans then president, Omar al-Bashir, a former military officer who ruled Sudan for three decades.

Amid escalating unrest, the military removed al-Bashir in 2019 and declared a state of emergency. The pro-democracy movement continued to demand a civilian-led government. A transitional government was formed under the joint leadership of Sudans top military official, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

But in October 2021, the military wing seized power, dissolved the transitional government and arrested Burhans rivals in the government, including Hamdok. The militarys power grab came just before it was set to hand over power to civilians.

Hamdok was later released, and he reached a new power sharing agreement with Burhan, but the pro-democracy movement has resisted the arrangement. On January 3, Hamdok resigned, leaving the army in full control of the country.
A company dedicated to data centers will construct its newest footprint next to Fort Gordon, a sign of the cyber industrys growth and interest in the Savannah River region.

T5 Data Centers on Tuesday announced its plans to capitalize on the Armys cyber center of excellence and develop a 140-acre data campus in Augusta, what it dubbed the Southeasts cybersecurity hub.

The location, the company explained in its announcement, affords superior telecommunications infrastructure as well as an abundant and unique pool of highly trained, certified IT and cybersecurity personnel with secret and top-secret federal credentials.

Data centers, in general, use storage systems, servers and other tech to keep and protect a clients important information. T5 said its prospective facility is ideal for government contractors and that it can meet commercial or federal specifications, including physical security.

Steven Kendrick, the chairman of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, in a statement this week said Augusta has made a name for itself as a hub for the cybersecurity industry. T5s move, he suggested, will spur further investment and development.

T5 has locations across the U.S., from California to Minnesota to North Carolina. The company said the Augusta area is fast becoming known as a top-tier cybersecurity destination, joining the ranks of northern Virginia; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas; and Huntsville, Alabama.

We are pleased to support new projects in the area, Kendrick said, that will cement our citys cybersecurity stronghold.

South Carolina is getting in on the action, too. A S.C. National Guard cyber complex is planned for the USC Aiken campus, and the governor, Henry McMaster, in December recommended spending millions of dollars to foster a cluster of cyber infrastructure and businesses in North Augusta.

The U.S. Army Cyber Command and Cyber Center of Excellence is located at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, McMaster wrote in a letter to state lawmakers. The location of this facility across the Savannah River from North Augusta, and the Armys continued expansion and investment in the Cyber Center, provides South Carolina with a unique opportunity to capitalize on the growing demand for cyber defense contractors and highly secure office space and facilities.
An Aiken County man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a coveted horse and possession of child pornography Wednesday afternoon and will spend three years in prison.

Damian Alexander Connor, 33, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor in relation to a 2019 investigation, and one count of buggery in connection to the sexual assault of a horse in the custody of late dressage trainer Martijn Stuurman and breeder Abigail Ronco.

Judge Courtney Clyburn Pope sentenced Connor to five years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections that will be suspended to a three-year active sentence, followed by a four-year probationary term for the buggery charge.

Connor was sentenced to eight years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections for the second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor charge. That sentence also will be suspended to a three-year active sentence and will be followed by a four-year probationary term.

The two sentences will run concurrently. Connor will receive credit for four days of pretrial incarceration. As a part of both offenses, Connor is required to register with the South Carolina Sex Offender Registry.

While on probation, Connor will be subject to random drug and alcohol testing and is to have no contact with the victim in the buggery case. He will also be required to continue with mental health counseling once he is on probation.

How the investigation began

The South Carolina Attorney General's Office said the case arose from a private investigation involving a digital file sharing network that began on Sept. 1, 2019.

During the investigation, an IP address used to download files of child sexual abuse was traced back to Aiken County and a search warrant was produced for Connors residence, according to Assistant Attorney General Quentin Gaddy.

During the execution of that warrant, a number of electronic devices containing child pornography were seized. One of the devices contained a number of videos depicting [a man and woman sexually assaulting a horse], Deputy Solicitor David Miller said during the hearing Wednesday.

Although no faces were in the videos, Ronco told police the male in the videos was Connor and admitted she was in the video along with Connor; Connor confessed to everything Ronco told police, Miller said.

He stated that there were two incidents that occurred with the particular horse, and that his wife, Abigail, had consented to the incidents, Miller said. [Connor] said that they were very drunk and giggling about having sex with the horse, and then it happened. The second incident he described as probably more planned.

Multiple horses in Stuurmans care were assaulted in May 2019, June 2019 and September 2019, according to arrest warrants obtained from the Aiken County Sheriffs Office.

On May 19, 2020, the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office charged Connor with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor; police stated Connor distributed videos of minors, 8 to 14 years of age, engaging in sexual activity or appearing in a state of sexually explicit nudity, according to the arrest warrants.

Connor was also charged with three counts of buggery (rape of an animal) and Ronco was charged with two counts of buggery in connection to the assault of Stuurmans horses, according to the arrest warrants.

Sentencing

Prior to sentencing Wednesday, Connors defense attorney told Pope that Connors military service and education is a testament to his character.

Connor served in the Marines and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2015 before being honorably discharged. Connor also recently completed two semesters at Aiken Technical College while out on bond for the buggery and child pornography charges and is taking part in a sex offender treatment group.

"Firstly, I need to apologize for the betrayal and dishonor my actions have had on the people I hurt, my family and myself, Connor said at Wednesdays hearing. I now understand that my actions were selfish, and I take full responsibility. I've come to understand that my actions don't just affect me. I've struggled as a husband, as a father and as a man. With the support and perspective I have now, Im continuing to change that  I'll continue to better myself after this, and I will be that better father and husband to my family.

The defense asked the judge for the minimum sentence so Connor could continue treatment.

Ronco was not present at her husbands hearing because her charges are still pending.

Horse owners speak out

Diana Swift and her husband, Christopher L. Sherman, are owners of the purebred Lipizzan stallion at the center of the buggery case.

The couple submitted a written statement to the court explaining their experience and pleading with the court for the maximum sentence.

Swift, who has been breeding Lipizzans since 1983, was getting out of breeding when she was approached by Ronco and her ex-boyfriend, Stuurman, who were hoping to start a stud farm with established breeding horses.

Lipizzans are rare, with only about two dozen publicly breeding stallions in the United States, one of which belonged to Swift.

In August 2017, Swift and her husband entered into a contract with Ronco and Stuurman whereby they were provided with a colt and a filly in exchange for Stuurman training the stallion.

Ronco and Stuurman were also given a mare who was supposed to be bred to the stallion twice, and then could be bred to any other stallion or breed, as part of a verbal agreement.

When Swift was informed Ronco had been charged in 2020 with buggery of her stallion, she said she spoke on the phone with Stuurman who told her Ronco was now married to Connor.

I understand there are videos showing Abigail Ronco having sexual intercourse with my stallion , Swift said in the statement. My interactions with Abigail throughout our partnership before and after the contract and my entrusting my horses to her and Martjin were based on her level of professionalism and experience as a breeder and Martijns reputation as a horse trainer.

After Swift was informed that her stallion had been mishandled, she brought the horse back to her farm in California.

I have slowly made progress bringing him back to his old self, hes not quite back to normal yet in a year of positive, appropriate handling, she said.

She added from a financial aspect, the horse has lost almost all of his value as a breeding stallion because he could become dangerous in breeding situations.

At the end of her written statement, she asked the judge to give Connor the maximum sentence, to be served consecutively to any other crimes in which be may be found guilty. She also asked Connor be required to register as a sex offender.

Stuurman murdered in 2021

On June 13, 2021, Stuurman was found murdered in his Chesnee home.

Stuurman initiated a child custody battle with Ronco and Connor following the buggery and child pornography charges in 2020 and was in legal proceedings at the time of his murder, according to court records obtained by the Aiken Standard.

Following the charges of child pornography against Connor, Stuurman filed a motion for sole temporary custody of the child in Aiken County family court on Sept. 29, 2020, according to court records.

In his request, Stuurman also asked the court prohibit Connor from being around the minor at any time in light of the child pornography charges filed and pending against him, and asked the court to restrain [Ronco and Connor] from threatening, harassing, or bothering the Plaintiff in any way or manner whatsoever, directly or indirectly, during the pendency of this action, according to court records.

Stuurman also asked the court for a permanent restraining order against Connor on Sept. 29, 2020, according to court records.

Weeks before Stuurmans murder, a court hearing was held pursuant to the custody case, according to court records. The judge ruled Connor, shall be and is hereby restrained, enjoined, and prohibited from having any contact whatsoever, directly or indirectly, with the minor.

On Aug. 30, 2021, after Stuurman's death, the court ordered that the case not be dismissed and custody and visitation remain as previously ordered, according to emergency hearing court records; however, shortly after, the case was dismissed due to Stuurman being deceased.

After almost four months of investigation in Chesnee and no findings, the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office distributed a press release stating there is a potential person(s) of interest in the Aiken, S.C. area, on Sept. 16, 2021.

No suspects can [be] named at this time, said Lt. Kevin Bobo with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office during a phone call with the Aiken Standard on Sept. 21, 2021.

A reward of $25,000 has been offered for any information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the person or persons responsible for Stuurmans death, according to the release.

To date, there still have not been any arrests in the case.
Moncks Corner, SC (29461)

Today

Mostly cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 87F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Partly cloudy skies overnight. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The number of travelers passing through Charleston International climbed above 4 million in 2021 for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the new year could bring the airport closer to the record set in 2019.

The Charleston terminal saw nearly 4.2 million passengers coming and going last year. That's more than 2.2 million more than in 2020, the first year of the coronavirus outbreak.

It's also just under 700,000 fewer than the 4.87 million reported for 2019.

About 20,000 fewer passengers landed and took off from Charleston in December, compared to the same month in 2019.

The omicron variant of the coronavirus affected some travel plans, but its effect on the airline industry's staffing levels played a bigger role in curtailing air travel during the holidays.

"Airlines were canceling flights, and they still are," said David McMahon, the Charleston-based security director for South Carolina with the Transportation Security Administration. "January is always a slow month, so maybe it's a good thing that it's peaking now."

Barring a virus-related dip, Charleston's airport is poised to boost its passenger numbers in 2022.

"From the data I'm seeing, right now Charleston could see a 5 to 10 percent increase in passengers over last year, especially over the summer," McMahon said.

A 10 percent increase would translate into about 420,000 additional passengers compared to 2021. That won't bring the total at year's end to the record levels from 2019, but it will boost the bottom line to about 4.6 million.

Several airlines have announced new flights in the new year.

Dallas-based Southwest will offer seasonal flights on Saturday only starting June 11 to Kansas City and St. Louis, while JetBlue Airways will begin service up to three times a day starting June 9 to LaGuardia Airport in its home base of New York City.

Southwest will be the second airline to offer flights to the St. Louis area.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant will bring back seasonal flights twice a week, starting April 14, to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport near Belleville, Ill., about 18 miles east of downtown St. Louis. Southwest will fly into St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Other carriers also will tack on new flights this year.

Breeze Airways is adding new East Coast service twice a week to Long Island, N.Y., and on Saturday only to Palm Beach, Fla., in February.

Delta Air Lines will add a daily route to Minneapolis in April along with Charleston's newest carrier, Sun Country Airlines, and its twice-weekly flights to the Twin Cities area starting that same month.

Southwest also will offer daily flights to Austin, Texas, in March.
A downtown property off upper King Street that, for a century, housed Hughes Lumber, has been sold and will be redeveloped as a mixed-use project anchored by a 50-room hotel.

Charleston developer Michael Bennett's Bennett Hospitality bought 82 Mary St. for $12.25 million, according to David Ingle of the commercial real estate firm NAI Charleston, which represented the seller, Mary Stuart LLC.

The 1.09-acre lot will eventually house residential units, meeting space, retail and a restaurant, along with a hotel.

According to plans presented to the Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals in October, the lodging would be four stories tall, while a section of the complex with apartments would rise to the full eight stories that's allowed at the site. The retail, restaurant and hotel lobby would all be on the first floor.

Plans also included incorporating the future Lowcountry Lowline park that will directly back up to the site.

The zoning board voted unanimously in favor of the request for a 50-room hotel at the property.

A proposal from a different developer for a much larger hotel project that would have had 215 rooms was rejected for the same site in early 2020.

When that denial was challenged, the BZA doubled down on its decision and voted against a request to reconsider.

Before that, a nine-story office building had been planned for the property. The city had granted final approval for that building's design, but the project ultimately didn't work out.

The parcel between King and Meeting streets was once the site of one of Charleston's oldest locally owned businesses, Hughes Lumber & Building Supplies. After 128 years in business, the store closed in late 2016.

Co-owner John Burn, a third generation partner in the business, told The Post and Courier at the time that customers and employees at the store were "like family and friends."

Bennett has multiple development projects in the works in the Charleston area, including one at 411 Meeting St.  a parcel adjacent to the old Hughes Lumber site  where his firm plans to build an apartment building, condominiums and a 300-room hotel.

Bennett Hospitality also purchased a property earlier this month on Ben Sawyer Boulevard in Mount Pleasant formerly occupied by the second-hand furnishings store Page's Thieves Market, with intent to develop it as an about 90-unit hotel.
A long-running dispute over the value of property in the way of a rail yard planned for the Port of Charleston is coming to an end, with the State Ports Authority agreeing to pay a $4.15 million settlement.

The maritime agency's board of directors voted to pay $2.35 million to Gateway Properties, the owner of a building at 1799 Meeting Street Road. That will be added to the $1.8 million Palmetto Railways already put up when it condemned the site in 2017. It's the last piece of property needed for construction of the nearly $400 million rail yard linked to the new Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston.

The $4.15 million total is about $500,000 less than a jury awarded property owner Fred Fabian, Gateway's managing member, in 2019 once court-ordered interest is factored in. Palmetto Railways, a division of the state Commerce Department, had appealed that award to the S.C. Court of Appeals.

The SPA's board unanimously approved the settlement on Jan. 18 without public discussion. A settlement payment is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 2, ending the appeal.

Trenholm Walker, a lawyer representing Gateway Properties, said the former property owner "is pleased at the actions taken by the SPA board to finally honor the verdict of the jury and resolve this matter after four years of litigation."

Palmetto Railways, which has turned the rail yard project over to the SPA, initially offered $1.8 million to Gateway Properties for its 0.55-acre parcel that includes a two-story structure built for Fabian's electronics contracting business eLifespaces.

Gateway declined the offer, saying its location isn't typical office space because it was custom-made to showcase the technological and electronic systems that eLifespaces sells and installs. Items like a 3-foot concrete slab foundation, miles of electrical and data cabling, a soundproof room and acoustical millwork increased the value, the landowner said. Thomas Hartnett, an appraiser who testified for Gateway in the condemnation hearing, put the value at nearly $4.6 million.

A Charleston County jury split the difference with its $3.75 million award, setting up the railroad's appeal, which was scheduled to be heard this spring.

The SPA has been settling several condemnation lawsuits in recent months as it prepares to start construction of the rail yard at the former Navy base site in North Charleston. In December, the agency's board approved a $1.86 million payment to Chevron USA for two parcels totaling about 3.34 acres along Milford Street. That is about $600,000 above the original offer from Palmetto Railways.

That settlement followed a $4.75 million payment in September to the Charleston County School District over a 3.74-acre parcel and $730,000 in July to a homeowner who alleged adjacent rail construction had devalued his property.

While all of the condemnation cases initiated by Palmetto Railways have now been settled, there are still two property owners adjacent to the rail yard site who have filed lawsuits claiming the construction has damaged their land values. Those cases are pending.

The General Assembly included $200 million in this year's budget for the rail yard and a barge project the SPA wants to build at its Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant. The rest of the money for both projects, with a total price tag of about $600 million, is expected to come from federal COVID-19 aid South Carolina has received.

The rail yard  officially known as the Navy Base Intermodal Facility  will be linked to the new Leatherman Terminal by a private road and will give Norfolk Southern and CSX Corp. a place to load and unload cargo containers moved to and from the port by rail cars. It is expected to open by 2025.

The barge system will send containers by water to the Leatherman site, where the cargo will be loaded onto trains.

Jim Newsome, the SPAs CEO, has said the projects "are crucial for the continued competitiveness of the Port of Charleston," which seeks on-site rail service like that offered at the Port of Savannah.
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, on Thursday exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Belarus diplomatic relations.

In his message, Xi pointed out that over the past 30 years, China-Belarus relations have been forging ahead, with the traditional friendship between the two countries growing stronger over time.

He noted that jointly guided by him and Lukashenko, China and Belarus have successively established a comprehensive strategic partnership and a comprehensive strategic partnership of mutual trust and win-win cooperation.

The two sides have built unbreakable political mutual trust, and carried out fruitful cooperation in various fields, Xi said, adding that they have also been firmly supporting each other on issues concerning their core interest, and coordinating closely and effectively in international and regional affairs.

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have been helping each other and fighting shoulder to shoulder, which has demonstrated the close bond between two brothers sharing weal and woe, he said.

In recent years, Xi stressed, he and Lukashenko have maintained communication in various ways, and reached important consensuses on developing China-Belarus relations under the new circumstances.

Xi said that he attaches great importance to the development of bilateral ties, and is willing to work with Lukashenko to take the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to lead the two countries to more results in their comprehensive strategic partnership and Belt and Road cooperation, so as to create benefits for both countries and their people. 
A 55-acre private island near Johns Island now has a new owner.

Hoopstick Island on Bohicket Creek off Bohicket Road changed hands in early January for $7.5 million, according to the residential firm William Means Real Estate of Charleston, which handled the sale for the seller.

The buyer's name is SFG Hoopstick Island LLC, an affiliate of real estate developer Stonemont Financial Group of Atlanta, according to Charleston County land records. The Cassina Group represented the buyer.

"Stonemont Residential is excited to own this special piece of Johns Island," Stonemont CEO and managing principal Zack Markwell said Jan. 21. "I fell in love with it the fist time I stepped onto the island. We are currently finalizing our plans for the property."

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The previous owner is Hoopstick Island Associates LLC, an affiliate of Branch Properties of Atlanta. It paid $5 million for the property in 2004, county records show.

A William Means representative said the private island can be developed with 10 large lots on deep water.
COLUMBIA  The city of Cayce will look at ways its museum can better tell the area's Black history and update rules to better define how the museum is overseen.

Cayce City Council unanimously agreed on the recommendations Jan. 19 in what policymakers said they hoped is a positive step in the wake of a museum commissioner's alleged racist comments in November related to the Columbia mayor's race.

An investigation by City Attorney Danny Crowe presented to city officials in the wake of the commissioner's comments found the museum could better tell the city's Black history and that some on the museum commission felt they had power beyond their advisory role.

Cayce administrators recommended city officials and commissioners look at ways to include the city's "racial and cultural diversity and history" in the museum and its programs, and to update the commission's 35-year-old bylaws to better define its role, a process leaders say already began with strategic planning before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think we just need an opportunity now to turn things positive and get to work," museum commissioner David Brinkman told council members.

While museum commission chairman Archie Moore, a former Cayce mayor, said early during the Jan. 19 meeting that he supported the city's recommendations, Mayor Elise Partin took aim at Moore later in the meeting for comments she said he made to commission members resistant to the city's investigation and dismissive of the proposed changes.

Moore said publicly during the meeting the fact the museum doesn't have an exhibit dedicated to the eastern Lexington County city's African American history disturbed him and was not intentional.

"We want to work on that matter, it's foremost in our minds," said Moore, who is White. "I think we can do something that would make everybody proud moving forward."

But Partin, while applauding administrators' steps meant to improve the museum, later read aloud an email from Moore to museum commissioners sent a few days before the Jan. 19 council meeting. She said Moore asked commissioners to resist the changes proposed in the investigation's findings and that city staff had a history of micromanaging the museum commission and mistreating museum staff.

Moore did not publicly respond to Partin's comments during the meeting, which was held virtually amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. An attempt to reach Moore by phone after the meeting was unsuccessful.

Partin asked city leaders to explore Moore's claims, saying his email contained numerous false statements about the history of the museum and the formation of the commission, and past efforts to include Black community leaders in museum planning.

Longtime council member Skip Jenkins, who is Black, said he has long tried to get museum commissioners to help with locating and preserving a local African American cemetery with no success.

"This is nothing new," Jenkins said. "We need to recognize everybody that had a little part.  It dont cost nobody a thing."

Councilman Tim James said he understood Jenkins' frustration and vowed to work with him to see the cemetery project through.
COLUMBIA  A state appeals court has upheld that Richland County Sheriff's deputies wrongfully arrested a security guard outside a Columbia nightclub almost 15 years ago.

The case stemmed from a 2008 encounter where Richland County Sheriff's deputies arrested a contracted private security guard for a club on Two Notch Road and charged him with misdemeanor assault after they said he had overstepped his duties in chasing and arresting someone who had been causing problems at the club.

The security guard, Demetrius Mack, sued the Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Leon Lott in 2010 after he was cleared of the charge, alleging he was falsely arrested and jailed. Richland County Circuit Court Judge DeAndrea Benjamin ruled in Mack's favor in 2012, awarding him $7,500 in damages.

Lott appealed, with aspects of the case being heard by the state Supreme Court and state Court of Appeals before being sent back to circuit court where a judge affirmed the initial ruling. The S.C. Court of Appeals in an opinion Jan. 19 agreed with the lower court ruling, saying officers didn't have probable cause to charge Mack with a crime.

Lott had argued in court filings that a reasonable officer could have concluded that Mack had tackled the man in the public road and committed assault.

Efforts to reach Lott and a sheriff's office spokesperson were not successful Jan. 19.

On that night in December 2008, the club's security had repeatedly turned away a man who tried to enter without paying a cover charge, with the man eventually becoming belligerent and making threatening gestures to the guards from the road near the club, according to court documents.

Mack, working security that night, told the man he would arrest him if he was seen on the property again. When the man returned to the club, Mack gave chase.

While running away, the man slipped and fell between two parked cars, where Mack handcuffed him, court documents say. Richland County Sheriff's deputies responding to an unrelated call nearby saw the commotion and came over.

Mack told the officers he wanted to issue the man a trespass notice so that he could be arrested the next time he stepped foot on club property. Deputies instead told Mack he had exceeded his authority in chasing the man off of private property into a public road and, noting blood on the man's hands and clothes, charged Mack with simple assault.

Mack was found not guilty on the assault charge after the man he chased didn't show up to testify in court, records show.

In siding with Mack, the the circuit court noted a deputy had initially testified that he saw Mack tackle the man in the road but that other evidence contradicted the officer's statement.

Another deputy wrote in an incident report that the man being chased was found in the grass near a parked car, and a judge determined after reviewing still photos and grainy dashcam footage that the man was more likely to have been on private property than the public road.

The appeals court agreed.
The Charleston County School Board will not vote on the controversial Reimagine Schools proposal at its Jan. 24 meeting.

The board removed the Coastal Community Foundation's $31.6-million proposal from the agenda at its Jan. 10 meeting to give more time for community input.

If approved, the proposal would have the school board create three community-led commissions in North Charleston, downtown Charleston, Johns Island, Hollywood and Ravenel. The commissions would be tasked with creating improvement plans for 21 low-performing schools located in their areas with the ultimate goal of closing achievement gaps.

On Jan. 13, the foundation requested that the board consider the proposal at its next meeting, which is Jan. 24.

"We believe it is time for a decision to be reached, given the timeline provided in the proposal for adequate community engagement to occur," foundation President and CEO Darrin Goss wrote in an email to board members.

The meeting's agenda, which was released on Jan. 19, did not include the proposal. Board Chairman Eric Mack said the board will have to agree to add the item to the agenda during one of its future meetings. The board typically reviews the upcoming agendas at the end of meetings.

Since the proposal was first presented to the board on Dec. 13, members of the public have voiced their opposition to Reimagine Schools. Many people feel that it encourages privatization because the proposal creates a framework for schools to use the S.C. Schools of Innovation law, which opens the doors for public-private partnerships like the Meeting Street Schools at Brentwood and Burns.

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Over 2,200 people signed a petition against the proposal created by Stand As One, a local community activist group. The group has changed its Facebook photos to show the message "I reject the Reimagine Schools proposal."

The proposal also received backlash from state Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, D-North Charleston, who promised to file legislation to remove the city's schools from the district if the proposal were approved by the board.

More Coverage To read more in-depth stories from The Post and Courier's Education Lab, go to postandcourier.com/education-lab.

Members of the board felt it was important for the public to learn more about the proposal and become more comfortable with it before it's voted on again. Mack said the district is in the process of scheduling public input meetings about federal COVID-19 relief funds, which will give members of the public time to ask about Reimagine Schools.

Goss' email was not an attempt to circumvent the public or quickly adopt the proposal, foundation spokeswoman Abigail Darlington said in a Jan. 18 email to members of the media. Rather, the goal of the email was to receive clarification on the status of the proposal.

"No matter what happens with Reimagine Schools, Coastal Community Foundation looks forward to supporting any solutions that align with our goal to create communities rich in equity, opportunity, and well-being, as we have for nearly fifty years," Darlington said.

The Jan. 24 meeting will be the first with new interim Superintendent Don Kennedy. He will be discussing the district's COVID-19 cases, district strategies and priorities, use of federal COVID-19 funds and stakeholder engagement during his superintendent's report.

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The number of positive COVID-19 cases among South Carolina students doubled last week, according to new data from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

From Jan. 10 to Jan. 14, 15,439 South Carolina students tested positive for the virus. This is approximately a 106 percent increase from the 7,449 cases reported the week prior.

DHEC also reported 54,042 students were in quarantine last week  a 124.5 percent increase from the week of Jan. 3.

While all of the reported cases occurred among students and staff at South Carolina public schools, that doesn't mean the positives were all contracted within the classroom setting. At a news conference Jan. 19, DHEC Director Dr. Brannon Traxler said health officials believe most COVID-19 spread among school-age children happens outside the classroom.

The case report comes just days after DHEC revised its school COVID-19 guidance for the third time. The new guidance, which was published Jan. 16, shortens the length of time staff members have to quarantine after being exposed to the virus and relaxes testing requirements for students in quarantine.

Under the new guidance, unvaccinated staff members do not have to quarantine when exposed as long as they don't show symptoms. They are required to wear a mask for at least 10 days after exposure and receive a negative test result on the fifth day.

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Previously, the guidance only allowed fully vaccinated staff to skip quarantine when exposed. The hope is that the new guidance will combat staffing shortages, as school districts across the state struggle to keep doors open. In some schools, custodians and cafeteria workers are covering classes while teachers remain out because they're sick.

"This approach to the teacher and school or childcare staff quarantine needs to be used only when a school or childcare facility is so short staffed that they would otherwise be unable to maintain their essential operations," Traxler said.

The Jan. 19 report showed that 3,327 staff members tested positive for the virus last week, up 65 percent from the first week of January. Another 2,253 staff members were placed in quarantine last week, which is a 64 percent increase from the week prior.

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Students who are exposed to the virus no longer have to have a negative test at the end of their five-day quarantine. The test is now just a recommendation rather than a requirement to account for testing delays, Traxler said.

"If a timely test result is feasible then a negative test should be needed to return to school," she said.

The new guidance also changed rules around the department's test-to-stay program. The program initially allowed students to remain in person if they test negative twice after exposure: once when they learn they've been exposed and again five to seven days after exposure. The new guidance took one of those testing requirements away, allowing students to remain in class as long as they test five to seven days after exposure.

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Traxler said the updated program accounts for testing shortages across the state, while giving the opportunity for students to remain in the classroom.

The Charleston County School District will be adopting the new guidance, spokesman Andrew Pruitt said. Berkeley County School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dorchester School District Two said it would be following the guidance.

Even with the rapid spread of cases, DHEC does not plan to implement a mask requirement for schools statewide. Only three of the state's 10 largest districts require masks, which is a decision the districts can make individually. DHEC guidance strongly recommends the use of masks rather than requiring them.

"The best way to keep students in the classroom continues to be having our staff, teachers and children who are 5 and older vaccinated and boosted as they're eligible and consistently wearing masks that fit well," Traxler said.
GEORGETOWN  A Georgetown County man blew in the direction of a school nurse on Jan. 12 while protesting COVID-19 quarantine protocols that sent his daughter home but not other students, according to police.

Patrick Newton, 28, of Andrews was charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. Newton was booked and later released without posting bond on Jan. 13, according to Georgetown County jail records.

A man confronted an Andrews Elementary School nurse over his child being sent home to quarantine due to close contact with another student, according to an incident report from the Georgetown County Sheriffs Department.

The man asked why his child was being sent home and others were not, eventually calling the nurse crazy and telling her she didnt know what she was doing, authorities reported.

The nurse told police the man stood up, stepped closer to her and "blew with his mouth in front of her, according to the incident report.

Now you go quarantine! the man reportedly said, but the nurse said it wasnt necessary for her to do so because she was wearing a mask.

Attempts to reach Newton were not successful.

In an interview with online news site Georgetown and Beyond, Newton denied the allegation and said he wasnt aware that a third-degree assault and battery charge was filed against him until several hours later.

As of Jan. 20, 723 of the Georgetown County School Districts 9,205 students  or almost 8 percent  are in quarantine protocol, including 49 at Andrews Elementary on County Line Road in Andrews.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
MYRTLE BEACH  Myrtle Beach International Airport had a record 3.2 million passengers in 2021 despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and a historically slow fall tourism season.

The airport posted some of the states highest passenger tallies over the summer, topping Charleston for the first time. The surge continued in the holiday season, as some airlines extended service to seasonal markets to keep up with demand  putting the Myrtle Beach area in play as a year-round destination.

The latest yearly total passenger traffic, which includes both arriving and departing passengers, was up nearly three times over 2020 and bested the airports previous record of 2.6 million in 2019.

With the arrival of Southwest Airlines in May and future expansion plans already in the works, airport officials said they hope to build on the numbers this year.

As we look toward the future, the airport team is committed to continually improving both the customer experience and operational efficiency, and will always strive to make (the Myrtle Beach airport) the gold standard for airports around the nation, said Scott Van Moppes, director of airports.

The Myrtle Beach area itself had a strong tourism season, with the reopening of the Canadian border and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

Hotels continued to have steady visitor growth in 2021, compared to the previous two years. In August, the biggest month of the year for tourism, the Myrtle Beach area saw more than 90 percent occupancy rates.

Myrtle Beach was beat out by only Las Vegas, New York City and Orlando in Tripadvisors 2021 Fall Travel Index, and attractions in both Horry and Georgetown counties saw themselves ranked among the best in the United States.

Our transition from the challenges and uncertainty of 2020 to the significant recovery of 2021 is a testament to the resilience of the Grand Strand and Horry County, Moppes said.
CONWAY  An unusually powerful ice storm that could be the most dangerous in eight years is expected to sweep across the Myrtle Beach area Jan. 21 and leave thousands without power for days and make roads impassable.

States of emergency have been declared in Horry County, North Myrtle Beach and Conway, while schools around the region, including Coastal Carolina University, are going virtual Jan. 21. Georgetown County and the city of Georgetown have closed offices Jan. 21, joining a host of other local governments.

The storm could be the most damaging of its kind in the Myrtle Beach-area since February 2014 when icy winter weather knocked out power to thousands for four days and and left 2,000 tons of debris in its wake, said David Webster, Horry Countys emergency management director.

The impact could be compared to a Category Three hurricane, Conway emergency management director Le Hendrick said Jan. 20 as crews prepared for up to a half inch of ice cover.

Thats more than enough to take down power lines and trees, and with temperatures staying around freezing into Jan. 22, authorities are asking residents to avoid traveling or calling 911 for non-emergencies.

Winter weather will move through the region starting before sunrise on Jan. 21.

The greatest potential for heavy ice accumulation is expected inland in Horry County.

Crews had spent the day salting roads and clearing storm drains, said Webster, the countys emergency management director, during a Jan. 20 news conference.

We just dont have the resources or capabilities to handle big icing events in our area, so were going to do the best we can, Webster said.

Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner said by declaring a state of emergency, it authorizes officials to ask FEMA for reimbursement related to storm damages.

Our countys been through these before. Normally, its hurricanes. We always come through them because were paying attention and were using good, common sense, Gardner said.

Meanwhile, Myrtle Beach is taking precautions. City offices are closed Jan. 21 and Jan. 22, with extra staff on stand-by for public works, parks, police and fire, spokesman Mark Kruea said.

The city has pre-positioned ice-melting materials at city buildings with a supply of sand for roads.

But any travel around the region should be limited or avoided, Horry County Fire Rescue Chief Joseph Tanner said.

The more people on the highways, the more dangerous its going to be for everyone. Please stay inside. That is paramount for us to be able to respond, he said.
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- "A volcanic mushroom plume rapidly built up and sprawled across the sky seconds after an extraordinary blast rumbled our ears to deaf," a Chinese employee working in Tonga told Xinhua on Tuesday via a satellite phone as he recalled the colossal volcanic eruption that hit the island nation three days earlier.

Zhao Yongming, an employee at China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, has been working in Tonga for five years. The 32-year-old, together with his 37 colleagues, was operating near the country's airport -- luckily on higher ground -- when the eruption occurred.

"The sky turned dark in minutes. Particles kept falling from the sky like hailstones, rattling on the window-panes and blocking our sight," said Zhao. "There was nothing we can do. We were panicking."

On Saturday, an undersea volcano -- about 65 km north of capital city Nuku'alofa on the north coast of Tonga's main island Tangotapu, where Zhao's project is located -- belched ash, gas and steam more than 20 km into the air and set off a tsunami that pummeled the country of around 100,000 people with 15-meter-high waves.

"Since the Chinese embassy has warned us of the eruption days earlier, we have moved the important supplies to safety in advance. The incident has done no harm to our lives or property so far," Zhao said.

"What's more, our company has taken into account the emergency situation, for example, a lockdown amid the pandemic, and equipped us with sufficient food and water in advance," he said. "Now we have supplies for our 38 employees to live on for three months, face masks and generators for emergency use."

After the eruption, which is believed to be the largest in the past three decades, authorities on Tuesday reported at least three deaths. The submarine internet cable has been knocked off, leaving the nation largely cut off from the rest of the world, with only domestic phone calls possible.

"Except for the little connection with the outside, our life remain largely the same," Zhao said. "And since the embassy has informed our families in China of our safety, we are now feeling calm and relieved."

However, problems of food shortages and volcanic ash are among his primary concerns.

The lingering ash cloud continued to shroud the country and has proven more difficult to clear than expected, which forced people to limit outdoor activities and wreaked havoc on crops and vegetables.

"Fresh food is increasingly hard to get, and the plight might linger if not worsen in the foreseeable future," he said.

Nevertheless, the ash cloud did not dim the glitter of kindness and mutual support.

"During our retreat to our base at a higher altitude shortly after the eruption, we could not see anything even with our high beams on. After we arrived, we found that we were joined by unexpected 'guests' -- four Tongans from two families," Zhao recalled.

"They found themselves at lost after escaping from the coastal area, as the volcanic ash engulfed the island. The lights of our vehicles lit up their way in the dark, so they joined our cars and followed us here," he said.

"We invited them to our simple dinner and provided them with water to clean the ash on their skin," Zhao said. "They left the next morning with gratitude, saying they were grateful for our kindness and help in that night of panic, fear and uncertainty." 
SURFSIDE BEACH  Hurricane Matthew ravaged the Surfside Pier in October 2016, destroying enough of it to require complete demolition.

Five years later, construction crews were busy rebuilding the south Strand landmark  a sight that has become familiar over the course of more than a year that will continue until the projected completion this fall.

The town of Surfside Beach hoped to finish the pier July 4th, but that date will likely be pushed back because of design changes.

Im not saying that we cant make it (by July 4th), but were still looking at opening in 2022, Surfside Beach Mayor Bob Hellyer said. Well be there to fish by the end of the year.

The pier will be roughly the same length as the old one, 800 feet, but will be nine feet taller at 25 feet.

The long route to rebuilding the Surfside Beach attraction is firmly rooted in finances, Hellyer said.

We had to figure out where we were going to get the money to rebuild it and how we were going to rebuild it, Hellyer said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said they would help the town finance the project if it was built according to its regulations, including raising it higher and buildings on the same footprint, Hellyer said.

Much of the delay, the mayor said, was 2 years to get everything worked out  including protocols, environmental designs and evaluations.

Based on that, FEMA decided to give us $9.5 million to build our $16 million pier, he said. The town has covered the rest of the cost.

This shortfall is due to the fact that FEMA is paying to rebuild the pier itself  not the structures that will be built on top.

Thats what the difference is, he said. We (the Town of Surfside Beach) had to pay for the retail space that we (will) have on top of the pier  for our restaurant and our bait shop  the buildings that are going to go on the pier.

The new Surfside Pier is being built on concrete pylons  making it the only oceanfront concrete pier in South Carolina, the town says. The old pier was made of wood.

Wood bends and sways and takes a beating when subjected to high winds and storm surges. The switch to concrete should be a game changer.

We could have rebuilt immediately if we wanted to rebuild in wood, but we finally figured out that instead of building a pier thats going to last us 20 years, were building a pier is going to last us 50 years," Hellyer said. "That concrete will not be destroyed by the storms."

The concrete pylons will be wider apart, lessening the pressure on the pier itself  and because the pier will be taller, the storm surge wont pound the pier as much as it would if it were a smaller, wooden pier, the mayor said.

The popular Surf Diner has a contract to come back on to the pier.

"They ought to be opening as soon as the pier gets done, Hellyer said.

Bill Howard, a Horry County Councilman who is the co-owner of Surf Diner, said they plan to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Were looking forward to getting back open. We had a heck of a business there," he said. "We really have no input  no involvement in building the buildings or the pier until they get them finished. All our involvement is on the upfit inside."

As for other buildings on the pier, Surfside Beach Town Manager Bill Shanahan said he wants to put together a pier committee made up of Surfside Beach residents to determine what the community wants to see done.

Then the town will put out requests for proposals, he said.
MOUNT PLEASANT  Sixteen men were charged with various internet-based sex counts against children stemming from a weeklong task force operation detailed by more than a dozen state and local officials.

Operation X-Posed, which took place in early November, sought those on the internet who were soliciting children between ages 12 and 14 for sex, Tyrone Simmons, deputy chief of the Mount Pleasant Police Department, said during a Jan. 18 news conference.

The police department hosted 12 local, state and federal agencies belonging to South Carolinas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Authorities from each of the partner agencies gathered in Mount Pleasant, putting in an 80-hour work week.

The department was responsible for investing its personnel, time and financial resources throughout the operation, providing everything from cars and food to hotel rooms, said Kevin Atkins, an investigator with the S.C. Attorney Generals Office.

When you can go out and arrest people that aim to do our children harm  I mean, what better way to spend your time, he said.

The authorities received special training to conduct the investigations, which involve posing as minors and engaging with potential suspects on social media sites and chat rooms.

Prosecutors were present throughout the operation to ensure each investigation is legally sound and doesnt raise the issue of entrapment, or when law enforcement officers coerce someone into committing a crime.

Much of the work had to be done after the one-week operation when investigators identified and arrested suspects who may not have traveled to the Mount Pleasant area during the actual operation, Atkins said.

Those arrested as part of X-Posed included: John Edgar Arnold; Daryall Lamour Clark; Dylan James Dioguardi; Todd Eric Emery; Kevin R. Gerzema; Paul Andrew Guerry; Charles Alan Hamilton II; David Matthew Hulette; Matthew George Johnson; Andrew Morton Patla Kramer; Michael D. Munib; Brian Frank Murphree; Sabas Morales-Rodriguez; Brandon Lazarus Pelphrey; Devante Jamal Reardon-Williams; and James Davis Wray.

The defendants range in age from 20 to 58. Some were arrested during the weeklong sting while others were identified then but taken into custody as recently as Jan. 17, according to Charleston County jail records.

At least nine of the men have since posted bail and were released from custody.

Hamilton is in Aiken County and awaiting transport to Charleston County, according to a Mount Pleasant police news release.

The defendants face an array of charges, including second-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor; criminal solicitation of a minor; first-, second- and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor; and attempting to disseminate obscene material to someone under 18.

Twelve of the 16 men face multiple counts or multiple charges of sex crimes. Half of the defendants traveled to the Mount Pleasant area either during or after the operation.

At least one defendant  Johnson  has faced similar charges before. Mount Pleasant police officers arrested him in November 2020 on one count of second-degree sexual conduct with a minor under 16 and one count of criminal solicitation of a minor, according to jail records.

Johnson was released from the Charleston County jail the following month on personal recognizance bonds, meaning he did not have to pay any money. Both court cases remain pending.

One of the men  Emery  also faces a drug-related charge, according to the news release.

The Mount Pleasant Police Department will continue to conduct these operations, Simmons said. Authorities will keep following leads from X-Posed, and more arrests will be made as a result, he said.

Any arrests made by a task force member which relate to internet crimes against children will be prosecuted by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilsons office.
NORTH CHARLESTON  The police department identified the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man over the weekend as the victims family members, along with local activists, demanded transparency.

As family members of Junnie Williams gathered outside the North Charleston Police Department on Jan. 19 for a news conference, reporters informed them the officers' names were released.

Patrolman First Class Juan P. Recinos Estrada, 32, and Patrol Officer Justin Lamar Whittaker, 22, were involved in the shooting in the early morning hours of Jan. 16.

The two officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, police spokesman Harve Jacobs said. This is standard procedure as the State Law Enforcement Division conducts its investigation into the shooting. The officers could not be reached for comment.

Both SLED and the police department have provided scant details on the circumstances leading to Williams death.

The department released on Jan. 18 an incident report prepared by Deputy Chief Karen Cordray. It states officers were checking the parking lot at 7950 Crossroads Drive around 4 a.m., regarding a car break-in.

They located a man matching the suspects description and attempted to get out with him for further investigation, according to the report.

The man, later identified as Williams, ran toward nearby Melville Drive, ducking between two houses, where officers caught up with him.

While resisting the officers, the male was armed with a firearm and shots were fired during the struggle, the report states.

Williams, 35, was transported to a hospital where he later died, according to the report. It is unclear whose weapon was fired, or if Estrada and Whittaker suffered injuries.

Police reported the shooting to SLED, which is investigating the case.

Several family members expressed frustration, hurt and anger with what they said was a lack of transparency from the police department.

Yall have info that I cant even get, Williams mother told the media, referring to the officers identities. That is so low.

The police department publicly identified Estrada and Whittaker just before 4 p.m. on Jan. 19.

Williams family members had gathered in the presence of authorities earlier that morning to view his body. It wouldve been nice to know the officers names then, said Channcy Baker, Williams cousin.

His family members were eager to know whether any ballistics tests came back in the shooting, or if gunpowder residue was found on Williams hands, Baker added.

Yet again, we know nothing, she said. So now we are dependent on news coverage.

Questions about the officers ethnicities also swirled, particularly amid the backdrop of a recently completed racial bias audit of the police department.

Williams and Whittaker are both Black, and Estrada is Hispanic, according to the incident report.

Williams death could be about more than race or racism, local activist Justin Hunt told The Post and Courier after the news conference.

Hunt wants to hold the entire law enforcement system accountable, he said, posing questions like, How do police officers treat people of color?

Both of the officers are of color, Hunt said. We want the same justice. Theres no difference  Law enforcements job is not to take peoples lives.

Estrada has served with the North Charleston Police Department since August 2017, according to his file with the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy. He has not been employed by any other law enforcement agency in the state.

Whittaker became a sworn officer in June 2021 after previously serving as a community service officer since 2020, Jacobs said.

As a community service officer, Whittaker wouldve assisted with directing traffic, limited roadside assistance for residents and answering phones.

Williams, who lived with his mother in a house on Melville Road, was released from prison in May 2021, according to court records. In 2016, he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of felon in possession of a firearm with ammunition.

Williams previously pleaded guilty in 2011 to second-degree burglary and was sentenced to six years in state prison, according to court records.

Hunt was not interested in debating yet whether Estrada and Whittaker were justified in their decision to fire their weapons at Williams, if that is what happened.

We dont know what happened, Hunt said, echoing the familys cries for transparency.

Hunt wants to see the officers body-worn camera footage  assuming it exists.

SLED would handle the release of such footage, Jacobs said.
COLUMBIA  Earlier this month, South Carolinas top judge made waves when he rolled back protections that ensure lawyers who also serve as state legislators cant be compelled to appear in court while the General Assembly is in session.

Prosecutors and victims advocates praised the move, having complained bitterly in recent years that defendants and corporations who hire lawyer-legislators can use them to stall their cases indefinitely. The new order from Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty appeared tailored to quickly resolve cases that had dragged on for years.

But then, a day after issuing his ruling, Beatty quietly backtracked.

In an email obtained by The Post and Courier, one of Beattys deputies on Jan. 12 advised the states judges not to act on the order he had just publicly announced.

The Chief Justice has now asked me to reach out to you and advise you that you should refrain from calling these cases for trial for the immediate future and until further notice, read the email, which appeared in the inboxes of more than 40 judges. If you have any questions concerning this, feel free to reach out to the Chief Justice directly.

The U-turn has become a source of consternation and confusion in legal circles over the past week, including among advocates who have long pushed to limit the broad protections that lawyer-legislators now enjoy.

That seems like a direct contradiction, said Laura Hudson, executive director of the S.C. Victim Assistance Network. Gosh, thats really unsettling.

In a Jan. 19 statement to The Post and Courier, Judicial Branch spokeswoman Ginny Jones said Beatty still believes those long-lingering legal cases should be resolved. But, Jones said, he issued his follow-up directive in response to a flood of concerns from lawyers and court officials about trying to hold trials during an omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge.

This operational directive does not diminish the urgency with which all attorneys and courts in our state should approach their collective responsibility to resolve all pending cases, Jones wrote in a statement.

Beatty, a former lawyer-legislator himself, and his predecessors at the Supreme Court have long excused lawyers who serve in the General Assembly from appearing for depositions, trials and court hearings while the Legislature is in session. That gives those lawyers a get-out-of-court-free card from January through July 31, a month after the General Assembly typically finishes most of its work for the year.

Lawyer-legislators also cant be called into court during special offseason sessions, such as the redistricting hearings held late last year.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, a Columbia Democrat and trial attorney, on Jan. 19 defended those protections.

I think its a recognition of the fact that while were in session, its virtually impossible to try a case, Rutherford said.

Still, the protections have delayed everything from criminal trials to divorce proceedings. Prosecutors say it has also made it extremely difficult to get bail revoked for some defendants who commit new crimes while out on bond awaiting trial.

First Solicitor David Pascoe, who led the Statehouse corruption probe, took direct aim at the practice on Jan. 6 during a wide-ranging speech before the Greenville County GOP.

Pascoe, a Democrat who serves as the top prosecutor for Dorchester, Orangeburg and Calhoun counties, told the crowd he had a domestic violence case delayed indefinitely after a lawyer-lawmaker was added to the case a week before it was to go to trial. More recently, he said, a complex drunken-driving case was delayed just before trial in Charleston County after a lawyer-lawmaker joined the legal team as the legislative session was about to begin. In another case, a defendant dodged a January hearing to revoke his bond by hiring a lawyer-legislator who was protected from having to appear in court, Pascoe said.

Yet the same legislator can come and go as they please from court and choose whatever cases they want to handle, Pascoe said. So, in essence, they control their docket for most of the year.  Its unfair.

Beatty issued his order five days after Pascoes speech, surprising many in the legal community. The Jan. 11 order still held that lawyer-legislators are generally immune from being called into court during the Legislative session. But it allowed for exceptions, such as bond revocation hearings, cases that are more than three years old and emergency family court hearings involving children.

But those changes barely had time to take effect before the courts issued the follow-up directive the next day, telling judges to disregard Beattys order until further notice.

In a Jan. 19 interview, Pascoe said he had been pleased to learn of Beattys order curbing the protections and had praised the chief justice to other members of the bar. They told him he was naive, Pascoe said, and that it was only a matter of time before the order was rescinded.

Unfortunately, they turned out to be right and I was wrong, Pascoe said. Its very disappointing.

Hudson, who leads the victim advocacy group, similarly said Beattys previous order had been encouraging.

Defendants have a right to a speedy trial, but so do victims, Hudson said.

Its difficult for them to understand why somebody else has the right to delay and delay and delay, Hudson said. There are a lot of advantages (to defendants) to delaying. Witnesses die. People move out of state. Law enforcement officers are transferred.

Hudson said she wasnt sold on Beattys stated reasoning for backtracking.

That sounds like a flimsy excuse.
Aiken County Public School District held the first of two town halls on a proposed modified academic calendar for next year, opening the floor at North Augusta High School on Wednesday to some 50 people, many of whom questioned why the district would pursue such a change while coming off two years of upheaval due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Our kids have been through enough right now with two years of COVID and now all of a sudden you want to (throw) this change at them? Why are we rushing this though? asked one resident.

Lets not use this crisis as an opportunity to make some drastic change quickly. Lets be rational, lets slow it down, lets think about it, another parent agreed.

The board had discussed the potential change to the calendar at its meeting Jan. 11, at which time board members also raised the question as to why the district was pursuing a change at this time.

Aiken County Public Schools Superintendent King Laurence said the push was on to make up, in part, for the lost year of education that occurred during the pandemic and that pushing a schedule change out another year would only delay recouping that loss.

Laurence had opened the town hall by reiterating what he had cited a week before, that teacher and student burnout as early as mid-fall was a real problem and that two-week breaks during the year could afford those students needing more one-on-one intervention the opportunity to get it. Shortening the summer break to just six weeks, he added, could also mitigate some of the summer slide that can make for a slow start come fall.

Everything we do is in an effort to try to improve student achievement, to try to improve conditions in our schools  not only for our students but for our teachers and our staff  and hopefully create an atmosphere that will encourage more teachers to want to come to Aiken and encourage the teachers who are in Aiken to stay, said Laurence, adding that there were no silver bullets to improved student outcomes that a modified calendar could be effective as part of a larger plan.

Both options  traditional or modified  would meet the state requirement that students received 180 days of instruction. Both calendars would also have teachers working 190 days. The proposed modified calendar has the first day of school sometime between mid-July and early August and the year ending during the first week of June. Traditional holidays as well as a spring break that coincides with Masters Week would remain unchanged.

But beyond rescheduling vacations and other summer activities, those parents who spoke Wednesday also pointed to the burden that would be placed on them for securing childcare when many childcare facilities are already overwhelmed.

Parents also questioned what additional intervention and teacher supports would be made available  or what the district would do to improve existing academic and mental health resources  to ensure that the two-week breaks would be put to the best use.

Laurence said he didnt have exact information on childcare staffing plans or immediate boosts to mental health supports currently offered, answering one resident that the focus of the town hall was on the proposed schedule change and not on these supports directly.

There is not yet long-term data available from districts in South Carolina that have moved to a modified schedule. Both Greenwood School District 50 and the McCormick County School District are currently operating under modified calendars, but only began doing so within the past couple of years. Edgefield County School District in November unanimously approved a modified calendar for the 2022-2023 year.

The district is holding a second town hall at 6 p.m. Thursday at Aiken High School for attendance areas 1, 4 and 5; and is scheduled to meet again for a regular meeting Jan. 25. A vote on the next years academic calendar is expected at either that meeting or one in February.
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.
We know that kids need to be in the classroom: for their education, for their emotional well-being, for their physical safety and, yes, for the sake of parents who otherwise would have to stay home with them  possibly losing their jobs as a result  and businesses that would face further strains with those parents absences.

And yet, we cant all seem to agree at the same time to do what it takes to keep them in school.

Early on, the problem was on the left, as many teachers and school boards were unwilling to acknowledge mounting evidence that we could safely bring children back into the classroom as long as they were masked and distanced. As a result, too many South Carolina school districts kept kids away from classrooms for months, in some cases close to a year, after Gov. Henry McMaster closed all our schools for what we all thought was going to be a brief interruption as COVID-19 first spread across the state.

Then the vaccines came, and teachers lined up to get vaccinated. The virus started to recede, and districts made plans to keep kids in class despite the Legislatures efforts to keep them from using one of the most effective tools  mask requirements  to limit classroom spread.

But then the delta variant, and now the omicron, sent infections and quarantines soaring ever higher and forced classrooms, schools and whole districts to retreat to online learning, if that.

As The Post and Couriers Libby Stanford reports, 32,000 S.C. students had to quarantine during the first week of this year alone after infection or exposure to the virus. And the number of teachers who were sick or had to quarantine already had forced 12 S.C. school districts to switch to temporary virtual classes by Friday, along with many more individual schools and classrooms. More districts followed this week. In schools that remained open, classrooms were combined, and some resorted to calling on cafeteria staff and custodians just to keep a warm adult body in the room. Babysitting, essentially.

Through it all, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control has worked overtime to find ways to make it safe to keep classrooms open, scouring the latest research as our understanding of the evolving virus shifted and turned.

In October, when delta brought us the first wave of quarantine-catalyzed shutdowns, the agency announced that students who were within 3 feet of an infected student for 15 minutes or longer over the course of a day didnt have to quarantine if they didnt develop symptoms  assuming they were wearing masks. The departure from CDC recommendations for quarantines of up to 14 days unless both children were masked was based on early real-world data and the hope of encouraging more children to wear masks.

In December, DHEC endorsed the test-to-stay option that allows more students and teachers to stay in the classroom after exposure to the virus as long as they dont develop symptoms, although thats been next-to-impossible to implement so far, as schools, like the rest of us, struggle to get their hands on enough tests to meet demand.

Then early Sunday morning, the agency followed up with new guidelines allowing more exposed teachers to remain in the classroom when the school is in a crisis staffing condition. Now all teachers in such schools who are exposed to the virus but have no symptoms may continue working, assuming they wear a mask and have a negative test on the fifth day after exposure. Normally, those exemptions apply only to teachers who are fully vaccinated and boosted.

This change, the agency said, was designed specifically to allow more schools to continue providing in-person education for students when they otherwise could not maintain operations due to staffing and would have to close.

Yes, we know that COVID isnt deadly or even dangerous for the vast majority of kids. And we know that kids and their vulnerable parents and grandparents have the option  and, we would argue, the responsibility  to get vaccinated to protect themselves from other peoples infections. But we also know that schools have no choice but to send kids home when so many teachers are sick or quarantined and so few people are willing to serve as substitutes while transmissions are so high and the workload is so intense.

Its time for parents and school officials to meet DHEC halfway. They need to make sure that as long as community spread remains at record highs, students and staff are doing the one thing we know they can do to reduce classroom spread: wear masks at school.

That shouldnt require any mandates, particularly since in many cases the parents who refuse to let their children wear masks are the very ones who have been the loudest about demanding schools remain open. But since it does, school boards need to step up and adopt those requirements. Now.

They dont have to keep them in place forever, but they do need to keep them in place as long as our COVID spread is so high that its forcing students back to virtual classes. That was a poor substitute for in-person learning even when we thought we had no choice. Now that we know better, it is absolutely unacceptable.
The decision by the board of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to allow the homeowners on DeBordieu to blatantly flaunt environmental law is a travesty.

These homeowners should not be above the law.

Coastal Carolina University also should be embarrassed that one of its professors is part of this fiasco.

JOE MCFALLS

Charleston

Kings protest lessons

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I couldnt help but wonder how our nation would fare if black Americans were the ones organizing groups such as Proud Boys or Oath Keepers.

Maybe our black fellow citizens know better. Dr. King taught nonviolent protest. He meant the lesson for all of us.

DOC ARDREY

Summerville

Cut SC income taxes

It was a pleasure to read the Jan. 11 Post and Courier article about our rock-solid conservative Gov. Henry McMaster calling for a small but important reduction in our relatively high state income taxes.

We are paying higher tax rates than surrounding states.

And I am paying higher taxes than when I lived in New York state because of the taxes on my retirement annuity. New York does not tax those funds.

The article stated the tax cut, when fully implemented, eventually would reduce revenue by $1 billion annually. Its as if those dollars will simply evaporate into thin air.

It will take five years to reach this dollar amount.

Now what are South Carolinians going to do with an extra billion dollars burning a hole in their pockets?

They are going to spend it, of course. This will provide a shot in the arm to our economy.

The remainder will be deposited in various savings or investment accounts.

I hope our legislators will do the right thing this year.

JOHN BROWER

Summerville

SC tax rankings

An internet search indicates that South Carolina ranks 43rd or 44th in income.

So a 39th ranking in income taxes paid would suggest:

1. The tax rates are too high, or,

2. The progressive tax rates are very steep, or,

3. All of the above.

Thus, a 39th ranking in taxes paid might be justifiable if an even better ranking in effective utilization of tax money could be demonstrated.

Unfortunately, such a measurement might not be readily available.

JOHNSON CHUA

Mount Pleasant

Sen. Scott wrong on bill

I cannot help but offer a rebuttal to the Jan. 18 article in which U.S. Sen. Tim Scott stated that President Joe Biden is fibbing to us about the need for a voting rights bill.

All you have to do is know the facts, and you realize that the president wasnt misleading us only, he was actually fibbing to us, in order to amass political power  basically lying to us.

In reality, between Jan. 1 and Sept. 27, at least 19 states enacted 33 laws that make it harder for Americans to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Add to that the outrageous gerrymandering going on in many states, including our own, and it seems a voting rights bill to correct these undemocratic actions is desperately needed.

Since the Supreme Court in 2013 reduced the protections offered in the last Voting Rights Act that provided a check on states likely to encumber the votes of certain citizens, the situation has gotten much worse.

Many Republicans seem unwilling to promote, or even accept the need for, passage of a voting rights bill.

It may take a special limited filibuster removal to accomplish.

STEVE GILBERT

James Island
COLUMBIA  Gov. Henry McMaster used his fifth State of the State address to again tout South Carolina's economic highs despite the pandemic and asked legislators to spend the state's largest-ever surplus on bold investments that drive prosperity for future generations.

The Republican governor played it safe in his Jan. 19 speech before a joint assembly of a GOP-dominated House and Senate. Looking out at a mostly maskless crowd, he largely echoed the budget recommendations he laid out last week.

He gave no big surprises in a year he's seeking to become South Carolina's longest-serving governor. And  while noting many of his requests are repeats  he never admonished legislators for not already passing them, as his predecessor Nikki Haley was known to do.

Instead, he thanked them for making good decisions: "I'm proud of you," he said in an unscripted moment.

"This is the fifth (address) I've been to. I hope to come to some more," said McMaster, who ascended to the office in 2017 after Haley became President Trump's U.N. ambassador and is seeking his second full term.

Mental health 'crisis'

One new initiative in McMaster's hour-long speech was his call to re-evaluate how the state provides mental health services to children in K-12 public schools.

"A mental health crisis exists in South Carolina, especially among our young people who have weathered two years now of disruptions, virtual instruction, isolation, and constant changes to normal routines. They cannot handle it," he said. "This crisis is here, right now."

Last week, he directed the head of the state's Medicaid agency to review all state-paid mental health services, to include availability and barriers to access them. Director Robbie Kerr was given the task since 60 percent of South Carolina's children get health care through the government-paid insurance program. The executive order gave Kerr no specific timeline for reporting back to his boss.

But "time is of the essence," the governor told legislators. "We must do better. The cost of doing nothing is unimaginable. And the damage, well, the damage will likely be immeasurable."

McMaster said it's also time for the Legislature to consider privatizing services offered by the Department of Mental Health.

K-12 schools

Moments later, he restated the need to simplify the confusing, archaic way the state funds K-12 schools that dates to 1977  pointing to a proposal in his budget that would give school districts more flexibility while also requiring them to "disclose how they spend every dollar."

He also reiterated his support for helping parents pay for private K-12 schools, which critics argue aren't subject to any accountability laws.

The state Supreme Court blocked McMaster's attempt in 2020 to use federal aid to unilaterally create a one-year voucher program after years of failed legislative attempts. But McMaster remains hopeful the Legislature can find a workaround of the state constitution's ban on providing direct state aid to private schools, noting his budget proposal puts $20 million of lottery profits toward the effort.

In giving the Democratic response, Rep. Spencer Wetmore of Folly Beach said the latest attempt needs to be squashed too.

"I have no objection to private schools, but public money should be spent on public schools," she said. "Parents should be given more choices within the district for innovation, enrichment and wraparound services."

While he praised state Attorney General Alan Wilson for repeatedly suing the Biden administration, McMaster chastised U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for directing federal authorities last October to investigate what the nation's top prosecutor called increasing threats to and harassment of school board members and public educators.

"Parents have every right to express their concerns to a teacher, to a principal, or to members of the school board. In fact, it is their duty," McMaster said in a line that got some of loudest applause of the night.

In that vein, McMaster said parents alerted him to "sexually explicit and pornographic depictions" in a book in their school's library. By the time the governor called on the state Department of Education to investigate last November, the book had already been pulled from shelves.

Record cash

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As he did in his fourth State of the State, McMaster again trumpeted his handling of COVID-19, without mentioning lives lost to the virus.

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham of Charleston pounced, saying McMaster continues to ignore preventable deaths.

"South Carolina continues to lead the rest of the nation in COVID cases because our governor has used politics as his North Star instead of science," said Cunningham, the top Democratic fundraiser in the race to unseat McMaster. "For the governor to tout his COVID approach as anything other than a failure demonstrates how unserious he is about saving lives."

More than 15,000 South Carolinians have died with COVID. The state ranks 18th in the nation in COVID deaths and eighth highest in cases per 1 million people, according to the California-based nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

In his speech, McMaster referred to COVID only as it related to the economy, saying South Carolina's economy is booming because it didn't shut down as Democrat-run states did, noting New York and Michigan are now experiencing among the nation's highest unemployment rates.

Both states he mentioned have a higher COVID death rate per capita, and New York has a higher rate of cases than South Carolina.

"We took a better approach. We never closed. Through our reasonable steps of limited, measured and temporary actions, we have been able to combat the virus without crippling our economy," he said.

"Today, South Carolina's state government is in the strongest fiscal condition ever. We have the largest budget surplus, the largest rainy day reserve account balance and the lowest debt in our history."

Critics said that's because of federal spending opposed by South Carolina Republicans in Washington.

"The governor's agenda is funded by President Biden's American Rescue Plan," said state Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson. "We will not let Henry take any credit for this, as his party has obstructed every step of the way. It is ironic that Henry is trying to fix his failures by using money his Republican colleagues opposed."

Of the $6 billion-plus windfall available to legislators, $2.5 billion comes directly from the American Rescue Plan Act passed by Congress 10 months ago and $525 million is what's left, after attorney's fees, of the state's settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy over plutonium left buried at the Savannah River Site. The rest is the result of far-better-than-expected tax collections amid the pandemic, partly due to money Congress pumped into the economy, and unspent rainy-day reserves.

In his first budget highlight of the speech, McMaster called on legislators to again set aside $500 million in case of a downtown, doubling what state law requires.

He then pivoted to a tax cut proposal he's recommended, with no success, for the last four years. His suggested five-year phase-in would reduce revenues by $177 million in the coming fiscal year  $1 billion annually once fully implemented.

"Our work will not be done this session unless I am able to sign an income tax cut into law," he said.

His spending proposals include sending the Department of Transportation no less than $1.26 billion of the windfall, saying "there is no infrastructure more in need of big, bold and transformative one-time investments than our state's roads, bridges, highways and interstates."

Other spending suggestions he highlighted include $400 million for high-speed internet, $500 million for water and sewer upgrades in rural parts of the state, and $300 million for the state's new Office of Resilience tasked with coordinating flood control efforts.

"The Good Lord has richly blessed South Carolina, from the mountains to the sea," he said. "Our pristine coastline is a major economic driver for the state, as well as a source of beauty and happiness."

McMaster ended his speech by calling on legislators to expand the authority of the state Ethics Commission and state inspector general and said every county sheriff should go through ethics training annually.

That would tackle some of the problems exposed over the past year by Uncovered, a project in which The Post and Courier has teamed up with 17 other newspapers across the state to investigate public corruption and expose the systems of oversight that fail to hold politicians accountable.

Nick Reynolds contributed to this article from Columbia.
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Western media's smear campaigns against China's approach of clearing COVID-19 infections in a timely manner have only exposed their arrogance and bias.

In a recent article, the Frankfurter Rundschau, a German newspaper, claimed that China's epidemiological success has actually only increased fear of the virus.

As COVID-19 infections and deaths are skyrocketing in most Western countries, such remarks are undoubtedly inopportune and preposterous.

In fact, China has proved the feasibility of its anti-pandemic approach with its own success in coordinating disease control efforts with economic and social development. The country's swift control of the virus has been a source of its people's sense of safety.

The virus has so far infected more than 330 million people and taken about 5 million lives globally.

After the outbreak of the pandemic, China immediately mobilized its national resources to save lives and make people's daily lives return to normal as soon as possible. To safeguard its hard-won results, China has adopted the approach of quenching any COVID-19 flare-up before it grows into another large-scale spread.

In sharp contrast to the Western media's slander, China's approach has enjoyed strong, widespread support from the Chinese people, who have actively taken part in volunteer activities against the virus and strictly abided by preventive measures.

"Achieving China's exceptional coverage with and adherence to these containment measures has only been possible due to the deep commitment of the Chinese people to collective action in the face of this common threat. At a community level this is reflected in the remarkable solidarity of provinces and cities in support of the most vulnerable populations and communities," said a report released in 2020 by the China-World Health Organization joint mission on COVID-19.

With the approach of timely eliminating COVID-19 infections, China, home to more than 1.4 billion people, has scored maximum prevention achievements with minimal costs, avoiding an unaffordable burden on the medical system and minimizing the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

If China were to follow the model of those Western countries, it would be reporting "hundreds of thousands" of daily new cases "even in a highly underestimated outbreak scenario and under the most optimistic assumptions," according to an article published in China CDC Weekly, the official platform of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for international academic exchanges on public health.

Meanwhile, by putting people first, China has also been improving its anti-pandemic approach in accordance with diverse domestic conditions and the changing circumstances in the world.

However, the Western media have turned a blind eye to all the facts. When reporting China, they seem to be inflicted by "cognitive disorder," allowing their imagination to override the truth.

Such "cognitive disorder" results from the arrogance of those Western media, which have boasted the political systems and governance models in Western countries as superior to those in other countries, as well as from their entrenched bias towards others.

For a world where solidarity is much needed amid the still-ravaging pandemic, it is time the Western media do some soul-searching to make real contributions to the global pandemic fight. 
A scholarship established by a Spartanburg staple is in search of a recipient for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Steve Duncan, owner of The Beacon Drive-In, created The Beacon's Scholarship A-Plenty to support Spartanburg residents who are enrolled or admitted to USC Upstate. Students are required to have a 3.0 GPA and demonstrate financial need for the scholarship. Applications will open in the spring and will close the first week of May.

For the application process, students are required to write a paragraph explaining how the scholarship will help them reach educational goals. The scholarship is $2,500 for one year, with $1,250 of the amount given out each semester.

Duncan said he was inspired to start the scholarship because of a conversation with a young man who was having trouble finding money for school. The scholarship was established in May 2021.

I would like to support someone who is not getting the financial support that they need, but theyve got the ambition, Duncan said. Theyve got some challenges that they're trying to overcome, and I just want to be a part of their dream.

The Beacon was established in 1946 by John White. The family owned and operated restaurant serves items such as sandwiches, seafood, desserts, breakfast biscuits, onion rings and chill cheese burgers. In 1999, Reidville Road was renamed John B. White, Sr. Boulevard.

Tuition at USC Upstate this year was around $12,858 for a South Carolina resident, according to Erin Callicott, annual giving and donor relations officer. Before August, USC Upstate and the Beacon will choose a recipient for the 2022-2023 academic year. For now, the scholarship is given to one student.

Callicott said when choosing recipients she looks for someone with a sense of leadership, drive, who is going wok hard throughout college and who will be good candidate for employment after graduation.

It just provides us immense opportunity for these students to do what they need to do to get their education and go into a workforce well prepared, Callicott said.
Spartanburg Community College will extend its free tuition offer, announced last year, into the 2022-23 school year.

As before, students must either live or work full-time in South Carolina and enroll in a minimum of six credit hours. All students must have exhausted all other aid and scholarships, and provided appropriate paperwork to determine grant eligibility, according to SCCs website.

The college has seen 32 percent increase in enrollment since introducing the program in May 2021.

"The first year of free tuition has generated an extraordinary impact to thousands of individual students and to the thriving community at large," said SCC President Michael Mikota, "and we are now looking to sustain this momentum and use it to build out our services to help us achieve our goal of being the most affordable, accessible and relevant higher education institution in the country."

According to a release from SCC, the program is supported by federal, state and local funding, as well as partnerships with OneSpartanburg, Inc. and the Spartanburg Academic Movement.

More information can be found on the SCC website.
In a city like Charleston, where dining is a key element of its identity, how restaurants are doing is important.

We know that 2020 was a devastating year for local restaurants. 2021  year two of the COVID-19 pandemic  brought its own challenges, even when diners returned. Restaurant owners have had to contend with staff shortages, supply chain difficulties, construction delays and price increases that made operating a daily struggle.

Despite those challenges, many Charleston restaurant owners say theyre optimistic about the year ahead.

This week on the podcast, you'll hear from two of them.

Maryam Ghaznavi and Raheel Gauba are owners of Maam Saab, which will be opening soon in downtown Charleston, and Malika in Mount Pleasant.

The husband-and-wife entrepreneurs have grown their business from scratch during the pandemic.

More Ways to Listen Understand SC is available in all major podcasting apps. Search for us or use one of these links: Apple Podcasts

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After launching Pakistani pop-up Maam Saab as a meal delivery service during the pandemic, they landed a stall in the now-closed food court Workshop. Last year, they announced plans to open a Maam Saab brick-and-mortar location in downtown Charleston. Not long after, they debuted another restaurant, Malika, in Mount Pleasant Towne Centre.

They spoke with food and dining editor Parker Milner about their experiences as restaurant owners during the pandemic, the desire and appreciation for new cuisine in Charleston and hopes for the future of the city's food scene.

Sign up for The Post and Courier's Food & Dining newsletter here.

Check out Malika's website, Instagram and Facebook.

Details about Ma'am Saab can be found on its website, Instagram and Facebook.

Understand SC is a weekly podcast from The Post and Courier that draws from the reporting resources and knowledge of our newsroom to help you better understand South Carolina. This episode was hosted and edited by Emily Williams.

Are there any stories you'd like to hear on the show. Contact us at understandsc@postandcourier.com.

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Guam's ongoing omicron-variant-driven surge of more than 700 to 800 new cases a day  with low hospitalization and death rates  may be a sign that the island is closer to seeing the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials said Thursday.

"I believe the omicron variant is getting us closer and closer to that stage of becoming an endemic," Dr. Robert "Bob" Leon Guerrero, interim chief medical officer for the Department of Public Health and Social Services, said Thursday at a Department of Public Health and Social Services briefing with local reporters.

Entering the "endemic" means the number of hospitalizations will be low and the pandemic will phase out because the population has acquired enough immunity to keep the number of cases low.

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Guam had 729 new reported cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and the total was lower than Wednesday's confirmed 815 new COVID-19 infections. Wednesday's case total was the highest on record for Guam.

Guam just needs to "hang tight" a bit more by continuing to use precautions that are known to work, such as wearing masks properly, as well as continuing full vaccination and boosting, said Annette David, senior epidemiologist for the State Epidemiology Outcomes Workgroup.

"We need to use them consistently and correctly and, hopefully, with all of this coming together, and with our immunization rates going up, we are closer to that transition point toward endemicity and I think that's very important to emphasize," David said.

Hospitalization of less than 30 patients remains manageable now, even with more people testing positive for COVID-19 each day compared to the numbers during the delta surge of 2021, health officials said. Guam reported 26 hospitalized COVID-19 patients Thursday, with three in intensive care and one needing a ventilator to help the patient breathe.

There were up to 325 new cases daily and, at one point, nearly 100 hospitalizations a day during the delta surge last year. The death rate also was higher then.

But Guam, which is in its fourth surge, is in "fairly good shape" right now despite the high numbers of positive cases because of the high vaccination rate and the low hospitalization rate, Dr. Leon Guerrero said.

David said "it ain't over until it's over," but that "every cloud has a silver lining," indicating that Guam eventually will get through the pandemic.

"I'm just hoping this year will be the year well see the transition from pandemic to endemic for this virus," she said.

Thursday's briefing was the first one since DPHSS officially confirmed the presence of the omicron variant on Guam, based on the results of genome sequencing conducted on Guam specimens by the Hawaii State Laboratory.

'We are prepared for this'

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero issued a video message Thursday night about the confirmation that "omicron is here," and that the variant also appears to be mild, especially for people who are vaccinated and boosted.

"We do know that it is highly transmissible and we are seeing this in Guams new case counts. Although our caseload is on the rise and we expect more new cases in the days to come, we prepared for this," she said.

The governor said Guam prepared for the surge by ensuring the vast majority of Guam is vaccinated, by ensuring boosters are widely available and accessible, and by continuing to wear masks, wash hands and watch distance.

"The trends tell us that omicron burns fast and burns differently from delta. Although these rising case numbers may look like an uphill battle, like I have said, we are prepared and we will continue to stay the course," she said.

The governor has not changed or added restrictions as a result of the omicron surge.

Residents urged to avoid multiple tests a week

Fernando Esteves, DPHSS incident commander for COVID-19 response, said the main goal continues to be the prevention of serious illness, hospitalization and death, as well as making sure cases are managed and that the health care infrastructure is not put into a critical situation.

At this point, while the omicron surge has not overwhelmed the hospitals, it has overwhelmed the government testing sites, as well as those of private clinics.

Esteves said Guam may be a victim of its own success because more people want to protect their families and themselves, so they seek testing even if they're asymptomatic, or not showing symptoms.

"The data is very clear and the data has been clear for a while,  only (the) symptomatic are hospitalized due to COVID-19," he said.

Ideally, with limited resources, DPHSS and partner agencies would have prioritized testing for those who are showing COVID-19 symptoms before going to those who have no symptoms at all, Esteves said.

But DPHSS has been balancing the needs of the community as a whole, including those who are concerned and "just want to know," he said.

Officials, however, said people who are showing no symptoms and are fully vaccinated or boosted may want to consider the decision to line up at testing sites.

Esteves said there are actual cases of people getting tested three or more times a week at Tiyan or other sites, "just to be sure," or to get a "second opinion" after getting a positive test result from other sites.

These add to the number of unnecessary tests that could have been given to those who really need them, he said.

Appointment basis

Testing has shifted to appointment-based, but DPHSS still sees 100 to 120 drive-ups a day by those with no appointments, Esteves said.

For those with no appointments, priority testing is for those with symptoms.

The long lines at testing sites are also not unique to Guam, Esteves said.

But Guam has maintained its ability to notify those who tested positive within 24 hours to prevent infecting others and determine early on whether they need to get treatment to prevent severe illness or death, he said.

Esteves also said, as much as DPHSS and its partner agencies want to test everyone who shows up, they also need to take into account the laboratory capacity each day.

"We increased that capacity to run an average of 1,200 to 1,400 a day ... We are working to expand that capacity and testing sites to support that as well so we can process the results in an organized fashion," he said.

More than 132,000 people, or 86%, of Guam's 2020 population estimate of 153,836 have been fully vaccinated, and more than 47,000 of them have received booster shots.

David said it's important to note that previously vaccine-hesitant individuals have changed their minds.

"We can be proud of our island. We have an island, I think, where majority of our people truly care for the rest of the community," David said. "We want to know our status because we want to avoid infecting others, we wear our mask, we comply, and I think that deserves a big pat on the back. We can't stop doing that. We have to keep doing that, and just hang tight."
GUANGZHOU, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Four days after the volcanic eruptions in Tonga, Li Manni (not her real name) finally received a call from the South Pacific island country, telling her that her husband, Zhu Jianxiong, was safe and sound.

Li and Zhu met in 2007. Zhu shipped Chinese products, such as daily necessities, electrical appliances, and toys, to Tonga and sold them to locals.

Zhu's most recent trip to Tonga was in November 2019, and he planned to fly back to China in January 2020. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 postponed his flight to March, then April, and then June.

"With the pandemic intensifying globally, Tonga implemented strict border control measures. My husband has not returned to China ever since. It's more than two years now," she said.

Zhu's business was unable to continue because of transportation disruptions. Instead, he earned his living by repairing computers and mobile phones for local Chinese.

Despite the time difference between China and Tonga, whenever she sent a message, her husband responded instantly. Sometimes even at 2 or 3 a.m., Zhu was still found working.

Li later learned that Zhu had to work more than 10 hours a day so that he could earn more money for the family. Her husband sent money home every two to three months.

In early January, Zhu sent Li three short videos, showing three small volcanoes erupting across the sea.

On Jan. 15, Li received a voice message from her husband: "Volcano erupts, tsunami is coming, I am going to the airport right now." And followed by a money transfer of 3,355 yuan (about 527 U.S. dollars).

"I think this is all the money in his WeChat wallet. What he cares about most is whether I have enough money to spend in China," Li said.

Li lost contact with her husband afterward. She was so anxious that she kept watching the news, praying that Zhu could get to the airport before the tsunami came.

She said most buildings are two-story bungalows, and the airport is the highest place there to escape the tsunami. She was worried that there would be no chance of survival if the whole island was submerged.

"I was heartbroken. I didn't know how to express it. I was shaking all over," she said.

She called again and again, hoping that she would get through, that some miracle would happen, but there was no answer.

A foreigner answered her eighth call, but just kept saying "Yes." Another foreigner answered her 19th call. She wondered if her husband had died, or if the signal was connected to the wrong line.

For two days and nights, she wept while taking care of their children and doing housework.

"My heart hurt because I was not with him when he was in the most difficult time. If I was there, the two of us would be together. Even if a tsunami came, I would hold his hand, and both of us would face it together."

Just when she was desperate, she received calls from the foreign affairs office of Guangdong Province and Guangzhou City. The staff told her that they would help find Zhu's whereabouts and ask for Zhu's personal information.

Within two hours after she submitted the information, Li received an overseas phone call. At first, Li thought it was a harassing call. The same number called again, and she answered. It was from the Chinese embassy in Tonga.

She was at first suspicious because the whole of Tonga was out of signal. The other end of the line told her that it was a satellite phone and the signal could be interrupted at any time.

In the call, the embassy confirmed that her husband was safe and sound.

"And I was like, really? I didn't believe it at first, but I came to accept the good news soon after. I cried and laughed, and I cried again," she said.

She was told that it was the first satellite call out, and the staffers there didn't even have the chance to call their own families.

"In such a short period of time, it could go from getting information about someone from our home country to finding that person in another country where communications were down, and confirming that he was safe. I was very much touched," Li said.

"I personally feel that China always puts its people's lives and interests first. With my home country's strong backing, I feel protected," she said. 
During Joe Bidens lengthy press conference today, the subject of a possible Russian military action against Ukraine came up. Asked what his response to such an action would be, Biden said Russia would be held accountable, a meaningless phrase.

He added that our response will depend on the scope of a Russian invasion:

I think what youre going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does. Its one thing if its a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not to do. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.

Fight about what to do with whom? Our NATO allies.

As Biden later explained:

The serious imposition of sanctions relative to dollar transactions and other things are things that are going to have a negative impact on the United States and a negative impact on the economies of Europe as well. So Ive got to make sure everybodys on the same page as we move along. Its very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page. Thats what Im spending a lot of time doing, and there are differences. There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens.

But earlier, when the subject of Ukraine first came up, Biden said NATO is united on how to respond to a Russian military action against its neighbor.

The initial response basically tells Russia that if it limits its invasion, it wont face severe consequences. The follow-up tells Russia that NATO isnt united on how to respond to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Presidents shouldnt be telling our adversaries that limited aggression against our allies is basically okay. Nor should they be conceding the weakness of our major alliance.

One potential defense of what Biden said might be that Russia already knows NATO is divided on the matter of Ukraine and already understands that our response to a limited incursion wouldnt be severe. Maybe Biden sees a limited incursion as the best case scenario thats realistic at this point, and was encouraging Russia to limit itself to such an action.

But I dont think that defense works. Otherwise, why did the White House feel the need to clean up after Biden?

Jen Psaki handled that thankless task. She said:

President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, thats a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies.

But Psaki had to say this precisely because Biden wasnt clear  or, to be more accurate, was pretty clear that our response to a limited move of Russian forces wouldnt amount to much.

Thats certainly how Ukraine viewed Bidens statement. CNN reports:

One [Ukraine official] told CNNs Matthew Chance he was shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions. This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure, the official added, claiming hed never heard any nuance like this from the US administration before. Kyiv is stunned, he said, referring to the Ukrainian government.

Presumably, Moscow heard what Kyiv did.

Perhaps I should also note that when Biden said Russia will be held accountable, he was looking down, obviously reading. When he added the part about a minor incursion, he had looked up. Thus, Biden may well have gone off-script, as Psakis cleanup attempt suggests he did. So too, when Biden, after earlier talking up NATO unity, later talked it down.

Vladimir Putin must be pleased to know what Biden really thinks.
The Nigerian government has approved the award of a major maritime project to a company immersed in high-level corruption in two other African countries, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The company, Frabemar UK Ltd, is the technical partner to the consortiumMedTech and Rozi Internationalhandpicked by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, to handle the countrys International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN).

It is unclear if the Nigerian government conducted a background check on the technical partner awarded the security-sensitive contract and decided to ignore it, or perhaps Frabemar is being used as a front for a powerful individual or group.

Frabemar SRL, a subsidiary within the Frabemar group, is in the business of pre-shipment inspection, in Genoa Italy.

Owned by Franco Bernardini, the company was indicted in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali for corruption and embezzlement of public funds in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

According to documents and publications sourced from the two countries, Frabemars contracts were terminated and the company charged to court on matters bordering on impropriety and corruption.

The reports said that Frabemar serially under-remitted the revenue accruable to those governments, and massively bribed government officials.

In 2009, the DR Congos Office of Multimodal Freight Management (OGEFREM) signed a contract with Frabemar to represent it in various ports around the world by providing a record of all goods destined for the DRC with an electronic import information sheet (Feri).

This, like the Nigerian version of the cargo tracking note, was to be done for a fee.

OGEFREM is a public enterprise of a technical and commercial nature in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But the proceeds from the arrangement never made it to the coffers of the Congolese government, reports said, with claims that they were diverted into the pockets of a few people including a former minister and honorary CEO of Frabemar.

Coordinated by the Deputy Prosecutor, the magistrate Francesco Pinto, the investigation revealed that Mr Bernardini and his son Massimo Bernardini had paid bribes to former Congolese, Nigerien, and Beninese ministers and politicians.

These bribes were transferred from a current account opened in Liguria to Monte-Carlo, London and Mauritius, one report said.

He was also said to have offered them large-displacement cars and other tips.

An Italian newspaper, Il Secolo XIX, also reported that the duo paid bribes in exchange for contracts to former ministers and assorted politicians from Congo, Niger, and Benin.

In leaked documents dated April 18, 2012, from the Ministry of Transports and Road Communications of the DRC addressed to the DG, OGEFREM, Frabemars contract of four-year with the country was terminated.

The document which was written in French and translated to English said: By the order of the hierarchy, justified by the concern of the national interest, I instruct you to proceed with the termination of the special mandate contract which binds OGEFREM to FRABEMAR since April 22, 2008.

Indeed it is clear that Frabemar has seriously violated the provisions of this contract especially in its articles 2, 3, 4 and 7, by not allowing the Congolese State to benefit from its right.

In Mali, stakeholders were quick to raise eyebrows when the former Malian head of the Council of Chargers, Ousmane Babalaye, signed a contract for the supply of Cargo Tracking Slips with Frabemar.

Local newspapers widely reported Frabemars fate in DRC, questioning why their government would want to deal with Frabemar especially as it concerns public funds.

The procurement process in which Mr Babalaye assented to the contract was eventually faulted.

Efforts to speak with Nigerias government representatives proved abortive, as the Ministry of Transport declined to speak with this newspaper.

Similarly, email messages sent to the company, Frabemar, were not replied for weeks.

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The National Economic Council (NEC) says it has yet to take a decision on the issue of fuel subsidy removal as deliberations are still ongoing.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo fielded questions from State House correspondents after the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to the governor, NEC has been deliberating on the issue of fuel subsidy for more than a year.

There was an ad hoc committee set up by NEC and headed by Gov. Nasir El-Rufai that included members of the executive arm of government and worked on recommendations as to what we should do about the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) locally.

Because as you realise, as it has been told us, the cost of PMS in Nigeria today is about N162 for a litre whereas every other country surrounding Nigeria is selling the product at more than 100 per cent of the cost in Nigeria.

The country, as at (of) last year, spent in excess of ; we must have the exact figures  but we must have spent almost N2 trillion subsidising petroleum products.

That is money that could have gone into building roads; money that could have gone into healthcare and education.

So, for NEC, the argument has been put out; should we continue this regime of spending money that we do not have to subsidise the living standard of mostly those who have vehicles, he said.

Mr Obaseki said that when NEC looked at some of the analyses last year, it realised that less than one-third of the states of the country consumed two-third of the subsidy.

According to him, the issue of equity also comes up.

All of these findings were presented to NEC and NEC has deliberations still ongoing.

So, NEC has not come up with any decision yet and I think has also been made to the president, he said.

On his part, Govermor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State said

Nigerians ought to know about the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) as the NNPC had become a limited liability company.

According to him, the NNPC will run differently henceforth.

So, if the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning provides for six months, you probably can understand part of the reason for the provision of six months before NNPC takes off.

At that moment, that is when decision will be made. But I want to make the correction that it is not governors who are making the recommendations.

It is actually a NEC committee that is looking at this and no decision has been made; probably a decision will be made; the PIA would have taken charge and it would not require any recommendation from anybody, Mr Sule said.

(NAN)
Its name and impact reverberate in the developmental ecosystem across West Africa with the numerous success stories that have trailed its operations over the years.

The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), with the support of its partners, has implemented hundreds of development projects in West Africa, touching the lives of many and changing the fortunes and narratives of various communities.

Between 2011 and 2013 alone, OSIWA funded nearly 300 developmental projects in nine countries, including Nigeria.

The other nations include Benin, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. During this period, OSIWA spent over $37 million to fund these projects which have transformed communities.

Working with many developmental partners across the region, it also initiated groundbreaking projects with organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Network of Electoral Commissions in West Africa (ECONEC) and numerous religious, civil, and media organisations, including PREMIUM TIMES and the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Open Society Foundations

OSIWA is a part of the Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros.

The foundations are the worlds largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights.

They provide thousands of grants every year through a network of national and regional foundations and offices, funding a vast array of projectsmany of them now shaped by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Soros, chair of the Open Society Foundations, began his philanthropic work in 1979, funding scholarships for Black African university students in South Africa and for East European dissidents to study in the West. Today, his Foundations fund groups and projects in more than 120 countries.

The foundations are the largest private human rights funders in the world, working to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Since its inception, the Open Society Foundations have spent a combined $18 billion on these projects.

Impact in Nigeria

The Nigeria Country Programme is OSIWAs oldest country office, and is located in its capital city, Abuja.

OSIWA says its work in Nigeria is aimed at promoting open society values characterised by effective citizens participation, transparency and accountability in Nigerias emerging democracy.

It has in the last decade supported interventions in Nigeria aimed at strengthening constitutionalism and rule of law, electoral processes, equitable management of public revenues and promoting respect for the rights of citizens including women and other vulnerable groups that would otherwise be excluded.

Its interventions have led to the establishment of strong citizens networks as important platforms and watchdogs for monitoring and advocating good governance in Nigeria.

It has awarded multi-million-dollar grants, through calls for proposals and targeted supports. It also initiated operational interventions to support partner activities and respond to urgent development in the polity.

An OSIWA official told PREMIUM TIMES the organisation accords priority support to civil society organisations based on their role as important platforms for citizens participation and oversight on governance processes at all level.

Some of the organisations in Nigeria OSIWA has partnered with or supported over the last decade include the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Tap Initiative for Citizen Development, Centre for Community Excellence, Alliances for Africa, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, Partnership for Justice, Shehu Musa YarAdua Foundation, Connected Development Initiative and Cleen Foundation.

Others are African Centre for Leadership, Premium Times, The Initiative for Equal Rights, YouthRise, Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse, Citizen Budget Information Technology Network (Budgit), Partnership for Justice, Sub-Saharan Development Organisation, Nigeria Network of NGOs, Community Life Project, Spaces for Youth Development and Social Change, and others.

OSIWAs niche

OSIWA as a grant-making and advocacy organisation focuses on equality, justice, democratic governance, human rights and knowledge generation.

It is part of the global network of Open Society Foundations spread across 37 countries around the world which have continued to make an impact over the years through numerous projects.

OSIWA says it is fostering citizen participation towards building a region that is freer, more vibrant and more tolerant using innovative tools including grants, advocacy, litigation, partnership building, dialogue, strategic communication, research and technical assistance.

For easier implementation of its projects and synergy with partners, OSIWA has offices across 10 countries in the sub-region including Dakar (Regional office), Abuja (Country Office), and Freetown (Mano River Office).

Some of OSIWAs success stories are well documented here:

However, a few stand out of its efforts in civic engagement and inclusive participation; food security and rights; minority leadership and empowerment; free quality and independent media and other remarkable areas of intervention across Nigeria and West Africa.

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Development experts agree that OSIWAs interventions have yielded changes in Nigeria, particularly.

OSIWA has continued to support and make an impact through initiatives that promote freedom, open society, accountability, and democracy over the years, including its ongoing support for the establishment/set-up of platforms that promote dialogue, human rights, equality, and participation of women, youths, people living with disability, and minority groups in electoral processes and governance at the local, state, and national levels, says Idayat Hassan, director of Centre for Democratic Development (CDD).

What other partners are saying

For Olanrewaju Suraj, Executive Director, HEDA, OSIWA over the last couple of years has defined itself to understand the dynamics of the evolution of Nigeria and also contributed to the development of its democracy.

It has supported not just the civil society but some government institutions to balance the effectiveness of the organisations in terms of providing financial support that would impact greatly on some of the key areas of Nigerias political and economic state, he said. You will see a lot of support from OSIWA to some young groups who are expected to be the future leaders of the country. You will also see significant support in the electoral reform process and in the anti-corruption landscape.

He said OSIWA continues to financially back organisations which provide support for anti-corruption agencies to promote transparency, accountability and good governance.

From their office in the USA, the Open Society Foundation where OSIWA operates, there has been remarkable achievements that can be credited to OSIWA both in Nigeria and in some of the West African countries where OSIWA operates from.

OSIWA has made a lot of impact over the years. OSIWA has been very supportive in the areas of climate advocacy, strengthening national cohesion, and protecting the civic space, Amara Nwankpa, Director, Public Policy Initiative, Shehu Musa YarAdua Foundation, says.

We hope that our relationship even going forward will continue to be strong. We hope that OSIWAs focus and commitment to Nigerian continue and even gets stronger. We hope that its reorganisation does not in any way reduce their efforts in Africa and especially in Nigeria and that it doesnt lead to a scaling back of their interventions as well

Laudable influence

Ms Hassan of CDD also says OSIWA has influenced policy engagement, consultation, and development at various levels across Nigeria and the region, including its support for advocacy.

She said its intervention for instance led to the government/President Goodluck Jonathan signing the Electoral Reform Bill in 2015 and subsequent electoral reform processes, and legislative advocacy that led to the current electoral bill before the government/President Muhammadi Buhari.

Another example is OSIWAs support to CDD in promoting human rights values, standards, norms, and accountability in conflict zones, which resulted in the creation of local mechanisms in partnership with state and local institutions in the Lake Chad region to document over 500 cases of human rights abuses across conflict-affected communities, with over 200 of these cases resolved and victims receiving justice by holding perpetrators accountable through the traditional and criminal justice system.

OSIWA has had a significant impact in shaping policies across the region (ECOWAS). working with/funding CDD to produce a series of well-researched and analysed knowledge products on various democratic governance, security and conflict, technology and environment and climate change, human rights, and other thematic issues that promote policy reform and the design of strategic initiatives across the region (ECOWAS).

On her expectations going forward, she adds: Given that OSIWAS has effectively played in and influenced this sector for over a decade, CDD would anticipate OSIWA to expand its resources for projects that promote research, horizon scanning, and policy engagement.

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Other aspects of such expectations include funding specific issues related to systematic capacity building initiatives for civil society workers and exploring opportunities for institutional support to CSOs in the region as part of the processes of ensuring civic society space independence and sustainability. This, and other similar efforts that we expect from OSIWA, will focus on addressing the regions decreasing civic space.

Dayo Aiyetan, Executive Director, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) also gives an insight into OSIWAs impact in Nigeria.

We got a small grant (from OSIWA) once to help small newsrooms tide over the early months of COVID 19, he said. That small gesture helped save some micro newsrooms of about two to three staff members from going under during the lockdown.

With OSIWA funding, we provided resources for Internet, communication, transportation and fuel to 20 micro newsrooms across the country for three months. We also provided training on resilience.

Post-COVID Outlook

A project coordinator for OSIWA, Joseph Amenaghawon, said the outfit will soon be collapsed into the Open Society Foundation Africa along with the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and the Open Society Initiative for East Africa.

He, however, said that would not stop its development strides across West Africa. He said its impact, under the new reorganisation, will even be more felt.

He said OSIWA, which considers itself as a talent scouts for social programmes, will continue to partner with organisations carrying out developmental work in the region.
Nine oil thieves and their vessel caught with N200million worth of stolen crude oil in 2015 are going to walk free after paying N2,000 fine each.

They were in November 2021, remanded in prison by the Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, for them to pay the paltry fine and meet other conditions to be totally free.

The trial judge, Okon Abang, fumed over the scheming by the prosecution and the defence that brought about the inconsequential sentence in his judgement delivered on November 24, 2021.

Onyeka Ohakwe, the prosecutor from the Federal Ministry of Justice, had filed a questionable plea bargain agreement with the defence, after drastically watering down the charges in October.

She amended the case trading the original charges that carried life jail with the one punishable merely by the inconsequential N2,000 fine.

What manner of amendment, the judge wondered in his judgement, noting that it was not done in public interest.

He noted that charges are supposed to be amended to strengthen and enhance the case of the prosecution, but that in the case, I am seeing for the first time where a charge is amended to give the defendants soft landing.

Arrest, original case

The nine oil thieves and their vessel, which was loaded with the stolen crude oil, were arrested by the Nigerian Navy during a patrol of the offshore Forcados/Escravos, Ogulaha, Delta State, on November 11, 2015.

Altogether, 12 persons and the vessel were arrested, but three of them would later be dropped from the case by the prosecution.

The nine remaining persons prosecuted to the end by the Attorney-General of the Federations office are: Adeola Goodness Olanimiji, Olaoluwa Temitope, Kelvin Onyeka, Dare Lukman, Ibrahim Sese, Amaechi Nkwocha, Anayo Chukwu Ejiogu, Emmanuel Ekuma, and Lucky Urhie.

Their vessel, MT Camillie Mongolia (with registration number 7323473), was also charged along with them as the first defendant.

The oil thieves were aboard the vessel loaded with 4,000 metric tons of crude oil, when they were arrested by navy operatives, who were on patrol in the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta.

After the navys preliminary investigations, the case was transferred to the Nigeria Police for further investigation, which revealed that the defendants engaged in dealing in petroleum products without lawful authority, and, indeed, stole 4,000 metric tons of crude oil, valued at N200 million.

The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation subsequently took over the case and subsequently filed three charges dated April 8, 2016, against 13 suspects and proposed to call six witnesses to prove its case against them.

They were charged in two of the counts with dealing in petroleum products without and being found with a vessel loaded with 4,000 metric tons of crude oil valued at N200milllion in violation of section 1(17) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act 2004 which carries life imprisonment upon conviction.

In the third count, they were accused of stealing 4,000 metric tons of crude oil valued at N200milllion, property of the federal government of Nigeria, punishable under section 390 of the Criminal Code Act Cap C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, an offence punishable by three years imprisonment.

Prosecution somersaulted

Over five years after the charges were filed, the prosecution team led by Ms Ohakwe amended the charges preparatory to a plea bargain last year.

The amendment saw the three original counts replaced with only one which was so watered down that it was filed under section 13(2) (b)IV) of the Petroleum Act CAP 10 Laws of the Federation 2004 which prescribes a fine of not exceeding N2,000 as punishment.

Mr Abang said the Ms Ohakwe-led prosecution somersaulted when it amended the charges to replace life jail and forfeiture of seized product in the former charges with N2,000 fine as punishment in the new charge.

The prosecution that pledged to prove their case before the court beyond reasonable doubt in April 2016, rather, in October 2021, somersaulted and decided to settle the defendants as if they did not steal 4,000 metric tons of crude oil the property that belongs to everybody in this country.

A period of about four years after, the prosecution then filed further amended charge that did not only reduce the counts from three to one, but now charged the defendants under a written law where the defendants are found guilty, they will pay fine of N2,000 each, not life imprisonment or life jail, that the earlier counts in Miscellaneous Offences Act would attract.

Dirty plea bargain

Oil theft continues to be a major drain on Nigerias economy with Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, one of the oil-rich Niger Delta states, saying in 2019 that Nigeria lost at least $1.35 billion to oil theft in the first half of the year. The governor heads a federal committee to check pipeline vandalism.

Apart from the economic losses associated with the crime, the activities of the perpetrators cause serious environmental hazards detrimental to human lives, farming and aquatic lives.

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ALSO READ: EFCC grills 22 suspected oil thieves

Mr Abang, in his judgement, regretted the constraints of the plea bargain preventing him from imposing heavy punishments he would have wished to mete out to the defendants, to emphasise the seriousness of the economic adversity oil theft causes Nigeria.

He said, Even though a heavy sentence in this regard will not deter hardened criminals in the crude oil bunkering, courts judgements should assist the government in its efforts to curb the menace in the oil industry being the main source of the federal governments income as there is the prevalence of the offence of crude oil theft in the country.

The value of what the likes of the defendants stole if injected into the system would have made life more meaningful to our people that are really suffering.

Pointing out the plot orchestrated to create a soft-landing for the defendants, Mr Abang said, the original charge was amended on October 27, 2021, to pave the way for the instant plea bargain agreement, which he described as sordid, and morbid, very unpleasant and dirty.

Through the amendment, the charge and plea bargain agreement, parties were able to tie the hands of the court, Mr Abang said, as the prosecution had agreed with the defendants for them to plead guilty and be sentenced to just N2,000 fine each person.

He noted that the plea bargain agreement was such that once the defendants are convicted, they will just pay N2,000 and walk away freely, having contributed to the economic adversity of this country that led many to live in abject poverty in Nigeria in the midst of plenty.

With the amendment of the original charge, there is no option of imprisonment for the court to choose from  either to accept terms of imprisonment or option of fine, he said.

The judge also lamented that the prosecution conceded to the release of the vessel bearing the stolen crude upon the payment of N5million, whereas, according to him, the vessel ought to be forfeited to the federal government or sold by public auction if the defendants were properly charged on a proper law.

Order

In line with the plea bargain agreement, which he said he had no power to reject, Mr Abang ordered the 10 defendants to pay the total N20,000 fine.

He also ordered that the vessel pays the N5million fine stipulated in the plea bargain agreement.

But in a slight departure from the plea agreement, Mr Abang ordered that the about N17million proceeds of the sale of the stolen crude oil with accrued interest must be paid into the federation account kept by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said the rest of the defendants should not be released from prison until the evidence of the lodgment of the money in the federation account is filed before the court.

Also, he ordered them to be remanded in Sapele prison, in Delta State, pending when they meet the condition.
A judge of the Federal High Court in the Warri Division, Delta State, has questioned how N200 million worth of crude oil recovered from some oil thieves was sold for N17 million.

The judge, Okon Abang, also queried the conduct of the federal prosecutor, Onyeka Ohakwe, for filing a dirty plea bargain agreement which gave the oil thieves from whom the crude oil was recovered a soft-landing.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Ms Ohakwe, who is of the Federal Ministry of Justice, watered down the charges initially filed against the oil thieves and followed it up with a plea bargain agreement that helped the criminals to walk free after paying a paltry N2,000 fine each.

Ms Ohakwe, in the amendment she filed in October last year, traded the original charges that carried life jail with the one punishable merely by the inconsequential N2,000 fine.

Delivering judgement in the case on November 24, 2021, the trial judge described the plea bargain agreement as sordid, and morbid, very unpleasant and dirty.

He also expressed frustration of being bound by law to accept the plea bargain which he said inhibited him from imposing a heavy punishment on the defendants to emphasise the contribution of oil theft to the nations economic adversity.

Questionable sale of recovered crude

Mr Abang also found it worrisome that apart from the defendants walking free without getting the deserving punishment, the 4,000 metric tons of crude oil valued at N200 million was sold off at just N17 million.

Before Mr Abang took over the case, another judge of the Federal High Court, Emeka Nwite, had ordered the product to be disposed and the proceeds kept in an interest-yielding account by the registrar of the court pending the conclusion of the trial.

Mr Nwite, by his order issued on October 6, 2019, directed the registrar of the court along with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to carry out the order.

The prosecution reported the execution of the courts order in a six-paragraph affidavit filed in court on November 11, 2021, disclosing that the product, valued at N200 million as of 2015, was sold off in a public auction at N17 million.

Fuming over the huge disparity between the original value of the product and how much it was sold, Mr Abang said: the court did not order the sale of the crude oil by public auction.

There was also no evidence of the remittance of the N17million into the governments account placed before the court, the judge observed.

He added that that the affidavit filed by the prosecution did not disclose whether the bidding process was carried out before the sale.

Whether or not it was advertised, Mr Abang said: though, it is not clear, I think the sale was carried out by private arrangement.

The point the court is making here is that N200million worth of crude oil was sold at N17,396,936.70. Where is the balance of N172,400,000? Learned counsel for the prosecution, O.E Ohakwe, has not provided the answer. I weep for this nation, the judge said.

He also expressed worry over the prosecutions concession that the vessel caught with the stolen crude oil be released to the defendants upon payment of N5million fine stipulated in the plea bargain agreement.

Had the defendants been charged under the proper law, the vessel ought to be forfeited to the federal government, the judge said.

According to him, many heads will roll if he ordered an investigation. But this is not the case before me, he said.

In line with the plea bargain agreement, which he said he had no power to reject, Mr Abang ordered the 10 defendants, including the vessel, to pay the total N20,000 fine  N2,000 per defendant.

But in a slight departure from the plea agreement, Mr Abang ordered that the about N17 million proceeds of the sale of the stolen crude oil with accrued interest must be paid into the federation account kept by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said the rest of the defendants should not be released from prison until the evidence of the lodgment of the money in the federation account is filed before the court.

Curbing abuse of plea bargain agreement

In his concluding comments, the judge called on the National Assembly to urgently revisit the plea bargain arrangement in section 270 of ACJA.

The questionable deal in the oil theft case came just some months after the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, touted his efforts at curbing the abuse of the plea bargain agreement process.

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The plea bargain arrangement was well-intended but it has been abused by the learned counsel for prosecution, in this case, O.E, Ohakwe, Mr Abang said, concerning the conduct of the prosecutor in the oil theft case.

Background

The nine oil thieves and their vessel, which was loaded with the stolen crude oil, were arrested by the Nigerian Navy during a patrol of the offshore Forcados/Escravos, Ogulaha, Delta State, on November 11, 2015.

Altogether, 12 persons and the vessel were arrested, but three of them would later be dropped from the case by the prosecution.

The nine remaining persons prosecuted to the end by the Attorney-General of the Federations office are: Adeola Goodness Olanimiji, Olaoluwa Temitope, Kelvin Onyeka, Dare Lukman, Ibrahim Sese, Amaechi Nkwocha, Anayo Chukwu Ejiogu, Emmanuel Ekuma, and Lucky Urhie.

Their vessel, MT Camillie Mongolia (with registration number 7323473), was also charged along with them as the first defendant.

The oil thieves were aboard the vessel loaded with 4,000 metric tons of crude oil when they were arrested by navy operatives, who were on patrol in the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta.

After the navys preliminary investigations, the case was transferred to the Nigeria Police for further investigation, which revealed that the defendants engaged in dealing in petroleum products without lawful authority, and, indeed, stole 4,000 metric tons of crude oil, valued at N200 million.

The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation subsequently took over the case and filed three charges dated April 8, 2016, against 13 suspects and proposed to call six witnesses to prove its case against them.

The defendants were charged in two of the counts with dealing in petroleum products without licence and being found with a vessel loaded with 4,000 metric tons of crude oil valued at N200 million in violation of section 1(17) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act 2004 which carries life imprisonment upon conviction.

READ ALSO:

In the third count, they were accused of stealing 4,000 metric tons of crude oil valued at N200 million property of the federal government of Nigeria, an offence punishable under section 390 of the Criminal Code Act Cap C38 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, an offence punishable by three years imprisonment.

Over five years after the charges were filed, the prosecution team led by Ms Ohakwe amended the charges preparatory to a plea bargain last year.

The amendment saw the three original counts replaced with only one which was so watered down that it was filed under section 13(2) (b)IV) of the Petroleum Act CAP 10 Laws of the Federation 2004 which prescribes a fine of not exceeding N2,000 as punishment.

Mr Abang said the Ms Ohakwe-led prosecution somersaulted when it amended the charges to replace life jail and forfeiture of seized product in the former charges with N2,000 fine as punishment in the new charge.

The prosecution that pledged to prove their case before the court beyond reasonable doubt in April 2016, rather, in October 2021, somersaulted and decided to settle the defendants as if they did not steal 4,000 metric tons of crude oil the property that belongs to everybody in this country, the judge said.
The House of Representatives has mandated its Ad hoc Committee on Arms to investigate alleged 178,459 arms reported to be missing by the Auditor-General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu.

According to the 2019 audit report, the arms which include AK-47 rifles and other assorted rifles and pistols from different formations nationwide could not be accounted for by the Nigeria Police.

The House resolved to probe the missing arms following a motion moved by the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), on Thursday, during plenary.

Leading the debate, Mr Okechukwu lamented the poor record-keeping of the police on arms and ammunition.

He said the missing arms could be connected with the spike in insecurity across the country.

Quoting from the audit report, Mr Okechukwu said the value of the lost firearms could not be ascertained because no document relating to their cost of acquisition was presented for examination.

The police high command failed to keep record of unserviceable and expired firearms and ammunition owing to non-compliance to the internal control system of the Nigeria Police Force.

To highlight the poor record-keeping, Mr Okechukwu referred to the Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Abuja, where records of police and audit reports contradict themselves.

Records obtained from force armament at Force Headquarters showed 21 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Abuja, did not report a single case of missing firearm, whereas schedule of missing arms obtained from the same PMF showed a total of 46 missing arms between the year 2000 and February 2019, he said.

Speaking in support of the motion, the Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase (APC, Plateau), said the investigation will reveal a lot.

He, however, argued that there is no need to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the matter, rather an existing committee investigating arms should be charged with the probe.

Consequently, the committee investigating arms procurement chaired by Abubakar Fulata (APC, Jigawa), was charged with the investigation.

In addition, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Akali, was mandated to take urgent actions to apprehend those culpable for the depletion of the armoury of the force.
The Ekiti State Government has cautioned the residents to desist from incessant attacks on fire service personnel and other public servants in the state in the cause of performing their official duties.

The Director-General, Office of Transformation and Service Delivery, Mobolaji Aluko, gave the warning during a press briefing in Ado-Ekiti, on Wednesday.

Mr Aluko, who also oversees the the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, said the government would no longer tolerate the incessant attacks on public servants under the guise of protesting lateness during emergencies.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Aluko spoke against the backdrop of last weekends attack on officers of the State and Federal Fire Services and their equipment in Moferere area of Ado Ekiti, while attending to a fire incident.

Mr Aluko, who was in company of the Special Adviser, Governors Office and Overseer of the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, Foluso Daramola, condemned the unruly behaviours of residents of the area against the fire officers.

According to him, those arrested in connection with the act would be prosecuted.

Mr Aluko said the officials were recruited to save lives and property in times of emergency, adding that continued threats to their lives, discourage them from putting in their best as well as shunning distress calls.

He appealed to the Federal Fire Service not to see the attack by a few residents as an attack against the Federal Government.

Mr Aluko who assured the officers of adequate safety from the state government implored them to continue to provide the necessary and desired services to the people.

He said the government would step up its sensitisation of residents on fire prevention techniques to reduce incidence of fire outbreak rather than dissipate all its resources toward fighting fire outbreaks.

Mr Aluko reminded the residents that distance to the point of fire outbreaks and difficulty in locating the addresses could hamper movement to the venues; thereby causing lateness.

A fire incident occurred at about 8.00 p.m. at a house in Moferere area of Ado Ekiti and at some point or the other, both the state and federal fire services responded to the call, eventually, the house was completely conflagrated.

But what bring us here today is not just the fire itself, but what happened when Federal Fire Service appliance arrived at the site soon after the call was made.

They arrived there, ready to contain the fire, only to be confronted by hundreds of residents and hoodlums throwing stones at their vehicle and the windscreen was smashed.

The governor is extremely horrified about such act by citizens of the state against employees of state or federal governments who were sent to the site to assist the citizens of the state.

If something like that is allowed to happen without any sanction, then we can send water people to a place and then they will be attacked.

A number of arrests have been made and we want to be sure that those who were masterminds of such unnecessary attacks are brought to justice so that something like that will not continue.

We require them to continue to assist our state services, they are development partners within the state whatever it is that our state services cannot do, they will do and vice versa.

And if they now step down their activities, even our own state services may be frightened to go to where they are supposed to go if they feel threatened, he said.

Earlier, Gbenga Omoniyi, Director, Ekiti State Fire Services and and his Federal Fire Services counterpart, Adeyemi Ariyo, condemned the act.

They called on the state government to put in place measures towards curtailing such occurrences in the future. (NAN)
JERUSALEM, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 64,940 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 2,101,265.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus rose to 8,369, with 19 new fatalities added, the highest daily figure since early October, 2021.

The number of active cases rose to a new record of 409,817, while the rate of positive results from all daily COVID-19 tests in Israel reached a record of 18.38 percent.

However, the ministry announced that schoolchildren and kindergartners who have been exposed to COVID-19 patients will no longer be required to enter quarantine.

The ministry also approved the third booster vaccine shot to children aged five to 11. 
Four students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Port Harcourt, abducted on Saturday, have been rescued by the police in Rivers State.

Sam Kpenu, the spokesperson of the university, in a statement issued on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, confirmed that the students have been rescued.

According to him, the students, two Ph.D. and two undergraduate students, were abducted while they were on their way to Orashi River in the state.

He gave the names of the four students as Gbaa Nenubari, Asumbo Elizabeth, Eze Chimezie, and Onosigho Augustine.

They were on their way to Orashi River for vegetation sampling for their final-year project and post-graduate research works when they were abducted, he stated.

Mr Kpenu said the universitys Vice-Chancellor, Owunari Georgewill, received the rescued students and commended the institutions chief security officer and security agencies for their prompt intervention.

We are happy that the students are back unhurt and now reunited with their families and friends.

We sympathise with them for what they went through in the hands of their abductors, Mr Georgewill was quoted as saying.

With insecurity spreading in different parts of Nigeria, abduction-for-ransom has become commonplace in the country.

A professor of economics, Obansa Joseph at the University of Abuja was abducted alongside two of his children and other people in November by gunmen who stormed the university staff quarters.

(NAN)
A former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, has apologised for suggesting to a delegation of APC women that their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) may have expired.

Mr Tinubu, an APC presidential aspirant, gave the apology in a statement by his Media Aide, Tunde Rahman, on Thursday in Lagos.

It would be recalled that while addressing a delegation of women from Lagos at the APCs Women Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Tinubu asked them to check the status of their PVC.

He had said this was to make sure that their cards had not expired.

The statement, however, explained that Mr Tinubu used the word expire instead of saying the cards may have to be updated or revalidated .

Immediately upon being apprised of this, Tinubu apologised for the incorrect statement and felt sorry for any confusion it may have caused.

Mr Tinubu commended INEC for working toward free and fair electoral process and stressed the need for Nigerians to fully participate in elections to strengthen democracy.

He, therefore, urged the women to continue to mobilise voters to update their PVCs.

Mr Tinubu also urged them to mobilise at the grassroots levels so that elections reflected the sovereign will of all the people for a true democracy to be established.

He urged the women to review their voting details with INEC to ensure that they were updated before the forthcoming elections.

The gap between those who registered for elections and those who usually turned up to pick their PVCs is wide. Such constitutes a serious challenge, which may impede the growth of our democracy, he said.

(NAN)
The Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, has announced the appointment of pioneer management of the newly established Shehu Shagari University of Education, Sokoto.

Mr Tambuwal, during the 22nd convocation and golden jubilee celebration of the college in December 2020, had announced the governments decision to upgrade the institution to a university of education.

According to Mr Tambuwal, the decision to upgrade the 50-year old college to a university is premised on its enviable track record established in the past half a century.

The governor had said in December, The college is one of the high-ranking teachers training institutions and among the producers of the largest number of teachers in Nigeria.

Appointment

A statement by the governors special adviser on media and publicity, Muhammad Bello, listed Malami Tambuwal, a professor, as the first vice-chancellor while Muhammad Mode and Nasiru Gatawa, also professors, were announced as deputy vice-chancellors in charge of academics and administration, respectively.

The three are former staffers of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, (UDUS) Sokoto.

Amina Garba was appointed as Registrar and Sulaiman Dikko as the University Librarian.

The new VC

The appointed VC, Mr Tambuwal, was the dean of the faculty of education at UDUS.

An indigene of Tambuwal town in Tambuwal local government area of Sokoto State, the new VC was the registrar of the now upgraded college of education.

While Mr Mode was, prior to his latest appointment, the Dean, Student Affairs at UDUS, he once served as the Head, Department of Modern and European Languages.

On his part, Mr Gatawa worked at the Economics Department of UDUS, where he joined as a graduate assistant and rose to the rank of a professor.

The newly appointed registrar was until her latest appointment the immediate past registrar of Sokoto State University.

Meanwhile, the governor has directed that the remaining management positions of the new university, including bursar and director of works and physical planning, should be provided by the states ministries of finance and works, respectively.
The faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Governor Dapo Abiodun has been split into factions over a letter of suspension addressed to Adetola Kadiri, mother of the impeached Deputy Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Dare Kadiri.

The letter dated January 14 was signed by one Sesan Araba and Yetunde Adebayo, who identified themselves as the Chairperson and Secretary of Ward 9, Ijebu North Local Government Area of the state respectively.

Mrs Kadiri; Sola Jaiyeola, the incumbent Councillor; Rasaq Adesina; and S.O. Bude were all served their suspension letters through the post office on Tuesday.

According to a copy of the letter made available to reporters, the politicians were accused of engaging in various anti-party activities.

Mrs Kadiri told journalists that she has reached out to the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, over the letter.

She described the letter as a slap on her face, saying the governor through the SSG has claimed innocence of the letter.

To my surprise, on Tuesday, someone called me that I have a letter from the post office. At first, I rejected it, thinking it might be time bomb. But, later, I received it.

After reading the letter, I called the SSG, he denied any knowledge of it. He told me to scan the letter and send to him, which I did. I sent it to the governor, the party chairman, Hon. Dare and Oladunjoye.

Later in the evening, the SSG called to appeal to me, saying what they did was bad. He said those he has in Ward 9 said they didnt know anything about the letter. He called me to plead with me this (Wednesday) morning too, adding that the governor had ordered that the letter be reversed. I said it cant be reversed again; it has gone viral already.

I told him that with my position in the party, this is a big slap on me. Ive been in politics more than 50 years ago. The SSG said he would send the party chairman to my house, I said I would disgrace him. He said he would come himself, I told him not to come to my house,

Mrs Kadiri denied knowing Mr Araba as the Ward Chairperson, saying the suspended Mr Jaiyeola was the one elected in the presence of the SSG and other party leaders.

Speaking, Mr Bude said he was the duly elected Chairperson, wondering how Mr Araba could be the one announcing his suspension from the party.

I am the duly elected Chairman of this Ward. It was the SSG who formed another faction with one Sesan Araba as his own Chairman. We have gone to the Gov Abioduns office to protest this and we were attended to by three Commissioners.

The governor was not at home then, but he sent us N500,000 with a promise to get back to us, but he never did. The Local Government party chairman has intervened, telling us to take 70% and give them 30% of anything that comes to the party because they are the minority.

Suddenly, I got a call from Ijebu-Ode post office, telling me I have a letter. They brought the letter to me and I saw that someone called Sesan Araba said he suspended me from the party. Who is he? Where did he hold his congress. He doesnt have the power to suspend anybody.

I believe it is the SSG, Tokunbo Talabi who is behind this. He should warn them and let peace reign in Ward 9. I am the authentic Chairman of this Ward, he said.

We didnt write the letter

The acclaimed chairperson, Mr Araba, who signed the letter, said he was not the one who wrote same.

I didnt write the letter. It was the Ward that wrote it. I signed it because I am the Chairman of that Ward. The Ward wrote the letter and gave it to me. Yes, they (Mrs Kadiri and others) engaged in anti-party activities. I cant tell you the activities they engaged in on phone. If you want to know, come to Ward 9, the Ward will explain.

Yes, I am the Chairman, but there was a committee that wrote the letter. I am not a member of that committee. I only signed, he explained.

Also, Mr Arabas Secretary, Yetunde Adebayo, also confirmed signing the letter, but denied writing it.

I am the Secretary, the Ward told me to sign and I did. As the Secretary, I only signed, I didnt write the letter.

The Ward members were even fighting the Chairman. They said we wanted to betray them. They said all their entitlements were eluding them, saying we are like Figure 8. We didnt write the letter, we only signed.

Meanwhile, Gbenga Nuberu, who identified himself as the Assistant State Secretary of the APC, said: I am from Ward 9, the issue on ground is being attended to by leaders of the party. We are resolving the issue already and the press will be briefed.

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When contacted, Mr Talabi hung up the phone immediately our reporter introduced himself. He did not respond to subsequent phone calls and text message.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Thursday that it would activate additional 1,862 voters registration centres nation to make it easier for Nigerians to exercise their right to register as voters.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at the first regular Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting in 2022, in Abuja.

The meeting was convened with a view to activate additional centers nationwide for the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

He said INEC was aware of the constraints experienced by many citizens in reaching the 811 designated centers nationwide to register in the ongoing CVR.

I want to assure Nigerians that we are aware of the constraints experienced by many citizens in reaching the 811 designated centers nationwide to register.

Some of them are separated by considerable distance from the places where citizens reside.

We are looking forward to activating the additional 1,862 centers nationwide to make it easier for citizens to exercise their right to register as voters.

At the same time, we are mindful of the imperative of securing the process, especially the lives of registrants and our personnel. We will not put the lives of Nigerians and our registration officials at risk.

For this reason, this meeting will review the security situation with a view to achieving our ultimate goal of activating 2,673 registration centers nationwide, Mr Yakubu said.

The INEC chairman, who commended security agencies professional conduct at the Anambra governorship election, urged them to sustain it for the upcoming off cycle elections.

He said he was confident the professional conduct displayed by INEC officials and the security agencies in the Edo, Ondo and Anambra governorship elections would be maintained in all forthcoming polls, including the 2023 general elections.

Our responsibility is to protect the process to guarantee its integrity while leaving the outcome of the election for voters to determine, Mr Yakubu added.

He said that 2022 would be a very busy year for the commission as it would be conducting pending nine constituencies bye-elections.

He added that INEC would also conduct Ekiti and Osun governorship elections scheduled for June 18, and July 16 respectively as well as the FCT Area Council poll holding on February 12.

He noted that the Commissioner of Police in FCT would brief the meeting on the state of preparation with emphasis on the identified flashpoints and the security situation generally in the FCT.

Mr Yakubu added that INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner and the commission would also provide an overview of the commissions readiness for the FCT election.

In addition to these off-cycle and bye-elections, we must also continue to prepare for the 2023 general elections holding in 394 days.

Securing the nation under current circumstances is challenging enough. It is more so in an election year.

Beginning from this meeting, we shall focus mainly on the best way to secure the electoral process in the most professional manner, he said.

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, reiterated President Muhammadu Buharis commitment to ensuring free, fair and credible elections in Ekiti, Osun and the 2023 general elections.

Represented by Sanusi Galadima, Mr Monguno said that all available security and intelligence assets of government would be mobilised toward achieving the same objective.

Mr Monguno, who is also the Co-Chairman of ICCES, commended INEC chairman and staff, security personnel and other international partners that made Anambra governorship election credible and peaceful.

He said that the ICCES meeting would help members to collectively brainstorm on how to address the identified challenges with the electoral process and proffer solutions in a proactive manner.

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(NAN)
The police command in Katsina, says it recovered 109 Anti-Aircraft Ammunition (AA) and arrested 999 suspects in various operations across the state in 2021.

Gambo Isa, the spokesperson for the command, disclosed this when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Katsina.

Mr Isa said the command also recovered various arms and ammunition during the period.

He listed some of the arms to include four GPMG, 44 AK-47 rifles, one LAR rifle, one G3 rifle, 20 locally made guns and 689 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.

Mr Isa said 1,243 domestic animals including 867 cows, 352 sheep, 24 goats and one donkey were also recovered.

Some of the suspects include armed robbers, kidnappers, cattle rustlers among others, a total of 157 suspected armed robbers were arrested and 145 of the suspects were charged to court while the remaining 12 are under investigation.

Also, 65 suspected kidnappers were arrested and 63 charged to court while the remaining two are under investigation.

We succeeded in arresting 244 suspected cattle rustlers, of which 230 suspects have been charged to court while the remaining 14 are under investigation.

In the course of this campaign, 38 suspected bandits were neutralised in various gun battles while five police officers paid the supreme price, Mr Isa said.

He added that 246 suspects were arrested for rape and unnatural offence, while 63 victims were rescued in four reported cases of human trafficking and transferred to the NAPTIP office in Kano State. (NAN)
The police in Rivers State, Nigerias South-south, have narrated how their operatives clashed with the personnel of a sister security agency  the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)  over an alleged illegal oil bunkering site in the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, said police operatives who visited the illegal refining site at Ogbogoro community for an operation, were resisted by armed officials of the NSCDC.

Ms Iringe-Koko, a deputy superintendent of police, said the Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council, George Ariolu visited the site with a detachment of police operatives led by Akika Solomon, an assistant commissioner of police.

She said armed civil defence officials, about 20 of them, prevented the chairmans team from having access to the site.

They were eventually disarmed and arrested by the police before Ariolu had access into the depot, she said.

We are fully committed to fighting the war against illegal oil bunkering to a logical conclusion, she said.

In his reaction, Bature Aliyu, the NSCDC Commandant in Rivers, dismissed claims that the site was used for illegal oil activities.

The marine exhibit yard in Ogbogoro jetty is not an illegal bunkering site.

It is a holding bay used by NSCDC to detain boats, vessels, barges and drums used for illegal oil bunkering, he said.

Mr Aliyu, who spoke through an Assistant Commandant of Corps, Michael Oguntuase, said that NSCDCs Commandant-General, Ahmed Audi, visited and endorsed the site in 2021.

So, the yard is NSCDCs marine exhibits yard and not an illegal dump.

Most of the exhibits there were arrested by the Nigerian Navy and handed over to us, while some of the arrests were made by us.

The Ogbogoro jetty is a no-go area for anybody because destroying the yard means destroying the exhibits, he said.

Mr Aliyu urged members of the public to report any NSCDC personnel found culpable of oil theft, illegal bunkering and vandalism in the state.

The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has declared war on operators of illegal refineries in the state.

The governor recently accused the police and the civil defence of aiding and abetting the operation of illegal refineries in the state.

(NAN)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, quizzed the Managing Director of Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, for alleged infractions linked to some assets sold to associates, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

While sources familiar with the case told this newspaper that Mr Kuru is being questioned regarding selling assets worth billions of naira, the name of the company in question is yet to be ascertained.

Yes. He was detained, said a top source, late Wednesday evening.

According to a report by Sahara Reporters, Mr Karu is being questioned regarding selling assets worth billions of naira that belong to Atlantic, despite a pending court order.

It was, however, unclear if the embattled Managing Director spent the night at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.

EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, did not respond to calls and text messages sent to his known phone numbers when contacted for comment on Thursday.

But AMCONs spokesperson, Jude Nwauzo, in a terse message sent to our reporter, dismissed the reports of the detention of Mr Kuru. He said Mr Kuru was only invited by the commission and not arrested.

Its invitation, not arrest, Sir. I am on the ground and will update you with facts in due time, Mr Nwauzo said.

Mr Nwauzo did not respond to further enquiries if his boss had been released on administrative bail from detention.

Mr Kuru is currently spending his final term of five years as managing director of AMCON after he was reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2020.
The United Nations (UN) has commended Nigeria for being the first country in Africa to successfully secure conviction for piracy, a statement by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), has said.

Spokesperson of the NSA, Zakari Usman, made this known on Thursday in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

According to him, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi-Wali, made the remark in New York.

He said Nigerias leadership role and commitment towards curbing maritime crimes could be attributed to the successful collaboration between Nigeria and UNODC.

He added that the Global Maritime Crime Programme and the Strategic Vision for Africa launched in 2021 has encouraged the organisation to extend its partnership beyond national governments to regional organisations.

Nigerias Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act, 2019 (POMO Act) aims to prevent and supress piracy, armed robbery and any other unlawful act against a ship, aircraft and any other maritime craft, including fixed and floating platforms.

It also gives effect to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS) and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988 (SUA).

As of December, 2021, Nigeria was the only country in Africa to pass the anti-piracy law.

Following the first-ever successful prosecution of piracy in Africa by Nigeria, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi Wali, has applauded Nigeria for its leadership role and commitment towards curbing maritime crimes, the statement said.

Read the full statement:

PRESS RELEASE

UN Commends Nigeria over First-ever Successful Conviction of Piracy in Africa

ABUJA, FCT, 20 JANUARY 2022 Following the first-ever successful prosecution of piracy in Africa by Nigeria, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi Wali, has applauded Nigeria for its leadership role and commitment towards curbing maritime crimes.

Wali gave the commendation in New York and noted that the successful collaboration between Nigeria and UNODC, as evidenced by the Global Maritime Crime Programme and the Strategic Vision for Africa launched in 2021, has encouraged the organisation to extend its partnership beyond national governments to regional organisations.

Indeed, one of the gaps identified by the Federal Government of Nigeria in the fight against maritime crimes was the weak legal and institutional framework for prosecuting offenders. In response, President Muhammadu Buhari, on the 24th of June 2019, assented to the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences (POMO) Bill.

By the POMO Act, Nigeria became the first country in the West and Central African sub-regions to promulgate a stand-alone law against piracy. The Act also domesticates, as required, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982 and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA), 1988.

In July 2021, under the POMO Act, the Federal Government secured the successful prosecution of 10 pirates for the first time anywhere in Africa. But asides creating a legal and institutional framework for prosecuting maritime crimes, the Federal Government has also prioritised the provision of maritime intelligence facilities.

For instance, President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned a state-of-the-art Falcon Eye Maritime Intelligence Facility at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja last year.

The set up and operationalisation of the project was facilitated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) as part of efforts to boost Nigerias overall maritime security architecture, in accordance with the National Security Strategy (NSS, 2019), under which kidnapping of oil workers, sea robbery/piracy, incessant problems of crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, hostage-taking and maritime terrorism are classified as national security threats.

The commendation by UNODC, therefore, places enormous responsibility on Nigeria to continue to lead innovative efforts towards the fight against maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea and across the continent, especially in the areas of intelligence sharing and coordinated legal strategy.

The Office of the National Security Adviser is committed to ongoing national, regional and international collaboration to strengthen legal, administrative and operational efforts in line with national maritime security objectives. All Stakeholders are, therefore, encouraged to continue to set high standard in the prevention and prosecution of maritime crimes.

Signed: Zakari Usman, Head, Strategic Communication, Office of the National Security Adviser
Former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, has cautioned the federal government against removing fuel subsidy, saying it would throw Nigerians into more economic hardship.

Mr Abubakar spoke at the 19th Daily Trust Dialogue held in Abuja on Thursday with the theme 2023: The Politics, Economy, and Insecurity.

The federal government in November 2021 disclosed its plan to remove fuel subsidy in the second half of 2022.

If the government forges ahead with the plan, Nigerians may pay between N320 and N340 for a litre of fuel, experts say. This could be more than twice the current price.

The former Nigerian leader, who was the chairman of the occasion, asked the government to bury the idea because the current insecurity in the country had been worsened by the harsh economic situation.

Insecurity in the country is worsened by our dear economic situation. Unemployment and underemployment remain at a high level. Over 18 million Nigerians are still caught up in needless poverty. All of these tend to have negative effects on security. In fact, Nigeria now faces a full security crisis that is confounded by the COVID-19 global pandemic and the banditry in many states in Northern Nigeria.

Most of these have disrupted the final value chain across the country and negatively impacted the ability of Nigeria to produce, process, and distribute.

There is a continuous rise in the prices of food items beyond the reach of many Nigerians. On top of all these, fuel prices are expected to rise significantly in the coming months as announced last November. We all know that when this happens, it will push many millions of Nigerians into poverty, he said.

Mr Abubakar lamented the nations security challenges, saying Nigeria is once again at crossroads.

Ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria is once again at crossroads. Insecurity remains the single, most difficult challenge for the country. The Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, banditry in the North-west, violence in the South-east, kidnappings and abductions of travellers across many states all continue to fester in the land.

In addition to these, ethnic, communal and religious conflicts are rearing their head again in many parts of the country. All of these have greatly challenged and overstretched our security forces. This has caused thousands of deaths and millions of internally displaced persons in the country over the past years, he said.

Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, who was a guest speaker at the event, traced the genesis of Nigerias state to the abysmal attitude of governors to education and infrastructural deficits.

He said just as many would heap the blame on the government at the centre, the countrys security challenges are spillovers from other issues that its leaders, across party lines, are not addressing properly.

The major problem we are having in Nigeria is corruption, whether we like it or not. Most of the fundings meant to provide services to the people are channeled to the melting purse of torturous bureaucratic ministerial and departmental system. Unless we change this attitude of accumulating huge amounts of wealth, something we cant even eat or consume.

The only way we can fight insecurity is by becoming resilient enough. If we are not resilient enough, you cant provide security, Mr Zulum said.

As important as the 2023 General Election seems to the country, Mr Zulum said the selection of leaders should be based on credibility and ability irrespective of ethno-religious or political affiliations.

We need more well-meaning Nigerians in politics  Sultan of Sokoto

Meanwhile, the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, in his remarks suggested that the countrys leadership space is rusty because well-meaning Nigerians are shying away from politics.

He said the development of the nation is too important to be left at the mercy of politicians alone.

Lets close ranks and come together to see what we can do to move this country forward in peace and prosperity.

I am one of those who so much believe in dialogue and I believe there cannot be too many dialogue sessions not only in this country but across the world because people see us everywhere talking to one another. That is the best way of resolving issues, the monarch said.

Also, the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, argued that Nigeria does not need an ethnic president but a leader for all.

One of the worst things you can do is to create huge additional anger around the cost of living, the cost of fuel, cost of prices, pushing the citizen into more depression and you want to have elections just a few months after? Mr Baba-Ahmed posed during a three-member panel discussion moderated by a veteran journalist, Kadaria Ahmed.

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Other dignitaries at the dialogue which lasted for hours include the 2018 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice-President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, and a former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh.
DAMASCUS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic State (IS) on Thursday attacked a Kurdish-run prison in Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah in an attempt to free IS inmates, a war monitor reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the IS militants blew off the gate of the Sina'a prison in Hasakah with a booby-trapped car and an explosive-laden fuel tanker.

It said a number of inmates fled the prison while many Kurdish security members were wounded.

The UK-based watchdog group said helicopters with the U.S.-led coalition fired at the vicinity of the prison and dropped light bombs to help the ground troops in their hunt for the escapees.

IS militants have repeatedly tried to break free from the prison in Hasakah.

A number of IS militants have been imprisoned by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) following the defeat of IS in Hasakah and parts of Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria. 
Operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), on Wednesday, blocked a British diplomat from speaking with the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

Eno Agodo, British Vice Consul, Lagos, had attended Mr Kanus trial before Binta Nyako on Wednesday in Abuja, where the Biafran agitator is being tried on a 15-count amended charge bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism.

At the close of proceedings in the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, Ms Agodo first sought the permission of Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Mr Kanus lead counsel to speak with his client, which was granted.

But as the British diplomat made her way to the dock where Mr Kanu, who holds dual citizenship in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, was speaking with family members, she was intercepted by the Director of Legal Services of the secret police and operatives who had formed a wall around the IPOB leader.

Thereafter, PREMIUM TIMES reporter sought to speak with Ms Agodo on what transpired, but she declined.

Jonathan Bacon, a political counsellor at the British High Commission, had written a letter dated January 11, 2022 and addressed to the trial judge, Mrs Nyako, which he sought permission for Ms Agodo to attend Mr Kanus trial from January 18 to 20.

In the letter entitled, Nnamdi Kanu Trial-Access for British Consular Official to Attend Federal High Court, 18th to 20th January, 2022, the British High Commission, specifically requested that Ms Agodo attended the IPOB leaders trial as an observer.

The United Kingdom harboured Mr Kanu after he jumped bail and fled Nigeria in 2017 when soldiers invaded his home.

This stalled his trial in Nigeria for years until he was rearrested, reportedly in Kenya, and brought back to Nigeria, in June last year.

While abroad, Mr Kanu continued reaching out to his Nigerian followers through social media channels as violence linked to the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of IPOB, escalated in the South-east.

During the period, the U.K. government also resisted calls from the Nigerian government to declare IPOB a terrorist organisation as it was done in Nigeria in 2017.

Another blockade

Blocking the British representative from having access to Mr Kanu on Wednesday highlights what appears to be governments desperation to cut him off from having any contact with foreigners or their agents.

A similar scenario played out during Mr Kanus trial on Tuesday, when Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who led the IPOB leaders defence team, made frantic but unsuccessful efforts to get Bruce Fein, a United States lawyer, to attend the court session.

Mr Fein, a counsel to the secessionist group in the U.S, has not been able to have an audience with the Mr Kanu, as he claimed several attempts to visit the IPOB leader at the SSS detention facility in Abuja had been resisted.

I have not been able to meet with my client, Mr Kanu since I arrived Nigeria, Mr Fein told our reporter in an interview last December.

Officials of the State Security Service wouldnt let me meet Mr Kanu, Mr Fein added, saying, the action of the spy agency is a gross violation of Mr Kanus fundamental rights.

Mr Fein had received similar treatment during previous proceedings in the case.

However, a top official at the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, said the American lawyer had no right to represent the IPOB leader in a Nigerian court.

Bruce Fein has no right to represent either Mr Kanu or IPOB in any Nigerian law court, the official who pleaded anonymity told this reporter.

Was Mr fein called to the Nigerian Bar?, the source queried.

Last week, Mr Kanu wrote the British High Commission and the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, urging them to send representatives to observe proceedings in his ongoing trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The IPOB leader had premised his requests on the grounds that the presence of the British and American envoys might guarantee fair trial of his case.

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This newspaper could not ascertain if Ms Agodos presence in court was in response to Mr Kanus request.

But the American embassy had no representative at the proceedings last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Given the finality of a presidential instruction reported to have been directed at the minister earlier this month, a serious nation should be demanding the querying, if not outright removal of the former governor of Rivers State from office as Minister of Transportation. But this is Nigeria, where certain men feel like they own the country.

As I sit to write this piece, a wave of indignation is sweeping over me. As a stakeholder in the Nigerian project and a citizen concerned about the future of the country, I am miffed by the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration that prides itself as an anti-corruption, equity, and transparency brand to move from just barking to biting at one of the powerful ministers of the administration, Rotimi Amaechi, despite reports of his acts that fly in the face of probity.

If what one has read in the newspapers over the past couple of months is anything to go by, Amaechi has on two occasions recently misled Buhari into taking decisions that do not just rob the country of millions of dollars in revenue, but also impacted negatively on the image of the country. Apart from causing the country to lose millions of dollars and embarrassingly misleading or deliberately hoodwinking the president on key and strategic contracts, Amaechi has also serially violated his oath of office with impunity, which is suggestive of an untouchable or sacred cow. That anyone would consider himself to be a sacred cow or be treated as such by the Buhari administration is in fact an incredulous irony, but this is what Nigeria seems to be grappling.

The first indication of an Amaechigate is the multi-billion naira International Cargo Tracking Note for Nigeria (ICTN) allegedly fraudulently conceived by the minister. The International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) scheme is an electronic cargo verification system that monitors the shipment of seaborne cargo and enables a real-time generation of vital data on ship and cargo traffic in and out of Nigeria.

This contract is now a subject of litigation at an Abuja court. According to a December 22, 2021 report in PUNCH newspaper, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had restrained Amaechi, other agents and agencies of the Federal Government from taking any further step towards nominating any company or entity to be operators of the ICTN.

This is part of the details of a painfully uncomplimentary report published by Premium Times on November 1, 2021. Titled Buhari, Amaechi illegally award multi-billion maritime contract to medical company, Premium Times told the whole world that the president and his minister committed illegalities by awarding contracts without due process to a non-qualified company.

The report said: President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, have approved a huge national security-sensitive maritime contract to a medical company in a process the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) says is embarrassing and illegalThe development has unsettled the Buhari government, with senior officials sparring and trading accusations of bad faith and the BPP complaining of procedural lapses in carefully worded memos that only stopped short of directly accusing Mr Buhari and Mr Amaechi of lawlessnessThe procurement agency said the contract was awarded in clear breach of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

The report, to which the minister has not given any denial, at least not to my knowledge, suggested that he deliberately hoodwinked the president into approving this illegal deal.

The Premium Times report said further: In what kickstarted the current process that is now stuck in controversy and abuse, Mr Amaechis transport ministry, on September 11, 2020, sought the approval of the BPP to conduct a restricted/selected tendering exercise to engage agents or partners for the implementation of the cargo tracking note scheme But citing the convoluted circumstance of the initial contract, which attracted criminal investigation by the EFCC and the need to regain international confidence, the BPP rejected the selective tender request and, instead, asked the transport ministry to conduct international competitive bidding (ICB).

Premium Times reported that the BPP explained in its October 22, 2020 correspondence with Amaechi that the ICB was to ensure that reputable international firms with requisite experience and capacity to deliver on the job participate in the procurement process. Nevertheless, the Amaechi defied this advice and went ahead with his plans! The Premium Times report alleged that: But surprisingly, the BPP noted in a memo that the transport ministry on August 26, 2021, reverted to the public procurement regulator with an approval dated August 19, 2021, from the president to adopt a direct procurement in favour of MedTech Scientific Limited, a healthcare company, in partnership with Rozi International Nigeria Limited, a property development company.

Given the impunity, including wrongfully obtaining presidential assent and sidestepping laid down procedures to award the contract to a non-qualified company, the BPP was said to have expressed concern at the embarrassment that the situation would have brought to the office of the president. The Premium Times report said: Despite the arbitrariness of the procurement process, the BPP said it could not stop Mr Amaechi since he had managed to gain Mr Buharis anticipatory approval. An anticipatory approval means the granting of a procurement request before the statutory consideration and endorsement of the Federal Executive Council.Nevertheless, the BPP separately told Mr Buharis Chief of Staff, Mr Gambari, and the Ministry of Transport that it is not correct for the exalted Office of His Excellency, Mr President, to be drawn into routine administrative approvals particularly contract-related matters that are open to litigation. This procedure should be strongly discouraged

It is shocking, therefore, that the same president, whose embarrassment the BPP was trying to prevent doesnt even think anything of it. Unfortunately, this is not just about the president and Amaechi. The tragedy is that it also tells a lot about how seriously Nigerians and non-Nigerians should take the so-called anti-corruption war of the president. If a man engages in blatant acts of impunity, which rub off on the countrys image and rob it of revenues in hundreds of millions of naira and repeatedly, without even as much as a manifestable slap on the wrist, then something is wrong. It is pathetic that an example of the countrys sense of seriousness cannot be made with a man who drags the country and its leader into such situation.

Amaechis misuse of whatever privileges he might have with the president gets even more flagrant with a newspaper report last week. On January 11, ThisDay published a story with the title: Buhari Cancels Restoration of INTELS Pilotage Contract.

In this front-page report, it was alleged that the president had ordered the reversal of his earlier instructions on the restoration of some contracts to INTELS, a logistics services provider in the maritime, oil and gas sectors. It is a company reportedly co-founded by Gabriele Volpi, an Italian national, and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Nigerias former vice president. And it has continued to be in the news for the wrong reasons over the past couple of years.

On June 16, 2021, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, said the Commission was able to recover the sum of $100 million out of the Federal Governments revenue, which INTELS received on behalf of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) but withheld until the intervention of the EFCC. This intervention arose after the management of the NPA sought EFCCs assistance in the recovery of monies, which INTELS refused to remit into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and retained in its coffers. Reports indicate that this contract expired in August 2020, yet Minister Amaechi had the mind to misadvise President Buhari into restoring an expired and inexistent contract and then stall an ongoing legally instituted procurement process! Are we in a banana republic? This is the same company that is said to receive a whooping and unheard of 28 per cent commission on the boat pilotage contract it maintained with the NPA. Yet, a minister who should protect the interest of Nigerians wants the exploitation to continue!

According to the ThisDay report, The Nigerian Ports Authority insisted that the 10 years contract with INTELS expired on August 8, 2020, after which it initiated procurement processes for the contract. The NPA thereafter submitted the outcome of the procurement process, which the Authority says INTELS participated in, to the Minister who, rather than forward same to BPP, sought the approval of the President to restore the contract to INTELS. This situation has brought the boat pilotage service operations to a standstill for about 16 months, with attendant revenue losses to the nation. This indicates that the ministers failure to follow due process led the president into taking a costly decision that he has now had reversed when he got the right facts. Unfortunately, this was after the country had lost millions of dollars and reputational damage.

Quoting an advice said to have been sent to the president by the Bureau of Public Procurement, ThisDay wrote: In the same vein, the BPP denounced claims by the Ministry of Transportation and urged the president not to restore the contract to avoid further litigation. The BPP in a letter addressed to the COS to the president, with reference, BPP/DG/2021/007, dated March 9, 2021, had stated that the decision by the NPA to initiate a procurement process in anticipation of the expiration of the contract for boat pilotage operation managing agent was in order.

The BPP in the letter signed by its Director General, Mamman Ahmadu, concluded that, There is a compelling need to ensure that contractors and service providers do not take undue advantage of government agencies and do not obtain contracts from government agencies through the court rooms. The correct procedure is that contracts should be won through a proper procurement process that complies with the provisions of the PPA, 2007. Furthermore, there is need to avoid the kind of monopoly currently enjoyed by Messrs INTELS which has cascaded into entitlement mentality being demonstrated by the firm. Also, monopoly will inevitably result in charging a higher price to the consumer/client than what is obtainable from a competitive market, thereby eroding value for money. This is the situation, which Amaechi has encouraged by advising the president to approve the restoration of the INTELS contract according to approval said to have been given by the president in January 2021. Now, according to ThisDay, that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the BPP have shown Buhari the light, revenues have been lost and Nigeria has given itself away as a country of flipflops. How so?

One year after the president was misled into directing the restoration of the contract, he signed another correspondence counter-directing that the procurement process initiated by the NPA, that was submitted to, but allegedly withheld by the Ministry of Transportation, should be forwarded immediately to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for evaluation and necessary action. The minister was also directed to see that the process is concluded within 60 days of Mr Presidents directive to avoid further loss of revenue by the Federal Government. This becomes expedient as the AGF was said to have noted that the situation foisted on the country by Amaechi had created a vacuum in the provision of this critical service in the maritime sector, with its attendant loss of revenue from service boat operations to the Federal Government. Yet, Amaechi still gallivants around as a power broker in the administration. He is even said to be aspiring for Nigerias presidency next year. You can only just imagine what someone who behaves like this as minister will do as president! May God forbid that prospect.

Given the finality of a presidential instruction reported to have been directed at the minister earlier this month, a serious nation should be demanding the querying, if not outright removal of the former governor of Rivers State from office as Minister of Transportation. But this is Nigeria, where certain men feel like they own the country. But ordinary Nigerians like me, who queued up in the sun to vote for Buhari in 2015 and gave him a second term in 2019, anticipated a Nigeria where people who subject national interest to any other consideration are made to pay for it. This is not what we are seeing in these cases about Amaechi, and it is heart-breaking! One still hopes though, that the president will act.

Odunayo Ajala, a forensic marine expert, writes from Lagos.
The reasons, according to Shmerling, are the tendency by men to take bigger risks (which could be a factor of biological destiny); a higher percentage holding more dangerous jobs, not to mention life-threatening habits such as smoking, drinking and reckless driving; greater predisposition to death by heart disease at a younger age (men are 50 per cent more likely than women to die of heart disease); and even the theory of natural selection at early chromosomal stages.

My wife occasionally jokes that my stressful, high-strung lifestyle could mean Ill die before her. Ive hardly paid any attention, until recently. Three weeks ago, we both visited a friend who lost his father on New Years Day. The deceased was over 90.

We went in company with my friend and neighbour who also came along with his wife. We met two other friends at the home of the bereaved family. Before we departed, the five men  including our bereaved friend  took pictures. I didnt make anything of it until the next day when I got a call from one of those in the pictures, a jolly good fellow who holds a top job in one of Nigerias leading telecom companies.

Of all five of us in that picture, he asked, how many still have their fathers alive?

The question struck me oddly. I fetched my phone, looked at the picture again and noticed that the fathers of four of us in that picture had died. Only one had lost his mother. Our mean age was probably 55, yet four of us were fatherless. While the mothers  including the mother of my bereaved friend  are still alive and yes, well.

My telco friend then launched into a very long homily on why he has personally championed a campaign for men to live it up, instead of enduring a life (as many do) of perpetually paying bills  bills for wife, bills for children, bills for family, bills for relations  and dying bereft and miserable, while life goes on.

This is the sort of thing my wife often said could happen to me if I didnt do anything about overworking and under-caring for myself. However frequently she may have warned in the past, hearing it afresh from a man like me with sincere, evangelical zeal, made me stop and think.

He didnt stop there. He also shared the story of a potentially suicidal friend of his who snapped back to his senses after they both visited a nearby bar, where he conducted a random census which showed that 18 of the 20 men at the bar had lost their fathers. On the other hand, the mothers of most of the folks were still alive, a piece of information that struck his suicidal friend. Suddenly, he said, his friend didnt want to become the next dead father. He ordered a bottle of cold beer.

All of this may sound rather anecdotal, but since my friend had obviously invested considerable interest in this matter, I was curious to find out from him why he thought men  or fathers  often die first.

His father took his medicine like a man, worked himself to hell and back to look after his family in spite of his misery. He died just when his children were turning out well. His fathers life was a parable he would never forget. Not only had he decided that he would work hard, play hard, possibly outlive his own spouse and die happy, he had also decided that he would become a malevangelist, promoting the gospel of male spousal longevity!

He was blunt, going back to his own fathers experience. He recalled how the load of raising 10 children crushed his father in an era when male pride and ego made it a taboo for a man to share his burden. It was bad enough that his father had many children, it would have been a mortal blow to his ego to moan about it or outsource his responsibilities to anyone of his fairly successful children. He carried his own cross because tough men dont cry  or ask for help.

His father took his medicine like a man, worked himself to hell and back to look after his family in spite of his misery. He died just when his children were turning out well. His fathers life was a parable he would never forget. Not only had he decided that he would work hard, play hard, possibly outlive his own spouse and die happy, he had also decided that he would become a malevangelist, promoting the gospel of male spousal longevity!

After our conversation, I decided to go beyond the anecdotal to explore why husbands often die first. What I found surprised me: Its not only a matter of anecdotes; it is supported by statistics.

In an article in the Harvard Health Blog of June 22, 2020 entitled, Why men often die earlier than women, a medical doctor, Robert H. Shmerling, addressed the concern of his wife who wondered why he often assumed he would die first.

I answered, as matter-of-factly as I could, he said, with one word: statistics. I knew that on average, women live longer than men. In fact, 57 percent of all those aged 65 and above are female. By age 85, 67 percent are women. The average lifespan is about five years longer for women than men in the US, and about seven years longer worldwide.

The reasons, according to Shmerling, are the tendency by men to take bigger risks (which could be a factor of biological destiny); a higher percentage holding more dangerous jobs, not to mention life-threatening habits such as smoking, drinking and reckless driving; greater predisposition to death by heart disease at a younger age (men are 50 per cent more likely than women to die of heart disease); and even the theory of natural selection at early chromosomal stages.

Other reasons, according to the article, range from prevalent poor social connection among men (as illustrated in the story of my friends father) to a higher suicidal tendency and a plain, almost suicidal reluctance to see the doctor, even for routine medical checks.

Even though anecdotal evidence tends to support higher female spousal life expectancy in Africa, some factors are reloading the dice. For example, relatively high maternal death rates, especially in rural areas, is a strong factor. Rising poverty and deadly conflicts have also increased the number of women who are primary providers for their families.

Data on spousal life expectancy in Africa is scarce. Perhaps one reason for the longevity gap is the tendency, largely for cultural reasons, for African men to marry much younger spouses, sometimes with age differences of up to 10 years or more. The closest data on spousal life expectancy in Africa was a global report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019 which said men are more likely to die before women because of unequal access to health services. The report, which was disaggregated by sex for the first time, said women outlived men everywhere in the world, particularly in wealthy countries.

Again, reluctance by men in developing countries to seek or access medical advice, for certain health conditions as a result of cultural reasons, ego, irrational fear, concerns about their estate, the relatively high cost of medical care, even when the will is present, or a combination of these factors, which continue to leave most men, married or not, as endangered species.

Even though anecdotal evidence tends to support higher female spousal life expectancy in Africa, some factors are reloading the dice. For example, relatively high maternal death rates, especially in rural areas, is a strong factor. Rising poverty and deadly conflicts have also increased the number of women who are primary providers for their families. Also, better education, which now places more female professionals in dangerous frontline jobs, may alter the spousal longevity landscape in the years to come.

There is, however, a culturally peculiar factor, which my telco friend suggested could also be responsible for some women in a number of African societies living longer: The concept of omugwo. Its a form of the social bonding loop in which an increasing number of mothers (hardly ever fathers) with wealthier children abroad travel the world, either to babysit their grandchildren or just to recharge their batteries.

Yet, spousal longevity need not be an exclusive experience or something enjoyed at the expense of the other half. According to Schmerling, some of the factors are modifiable, while reducing the longevity gap for men, for example, can also help reduce the average spousal mortality rate among large numbers. Men can join the omugwo train and spouses can take health checks more seriously, be mindful of family health history, and cut individual risk factors.

In a recent study in the U.K., actuaries found that even where knowledge is present, inequalities could also significantly hinder life expectancy. If communities work to reduce inequality among sexes, that could potentially improve spousal longevity and ensure that everyone wins.

We can live longer, happier lives but until then, we may have to accept that not just anecdotes, but statistics favour the wives: Men often die first.

Azu Ishiekwene is Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP.

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday hailed Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai for the physical changes he has brought to the state.

Mr Buhari made the commendation while commissioning various projects executed in the last seven years by the administration of Governor El-Rufai.

The president had been received in Kaduna on Wednesday evening by Mr El-Rufai on a two-day visit.

During the visit, the president is scheduled to commission the Kawo bridge, dualised Kaduna city roads and many other projects in Zaria and Kafanchan.

On Thursday during the commissioning of the remodelled Murtala Mohammed Square, Mr Buhari commended the governor for transforming Kaduna.

If you had not been in Kaduna for sometime now, surely you would miss your road home just like me. El-Rufai has really changed the face of this state.

I relocated to Kaduna after serving my jail term in the 1980s from Daura. I cannot find my way home with the current development.

The president also commissioned some projects in Kafanchan in the southern part of the state.

Mr Buhari is scheduled to commission more projects in Zaria on Friday before returning to Abuja.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has ordered all the 23 local council chairmen to hire bulldozers and destroy every identified illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery sites in the state.

Mr Wike gave the order on Wednesday in a statement issued by media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, after meeting with the council chairmen, the State commissioner of police and the commandant of the civil defence in Port Harcourt.

He also asked the Commissioner of Police in the state, Eboka Friday, to provide adequate security for the council chairmen as they embark on the mass destruction of illegal refinery sites.

Mr Wike had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the chairmen on January 14 to provide him with a comprehensive list of all illegal refinery sites and their operators within their area.

The governor said with the receipt of the list of identified illegal refinery sites, the state government would provide financial support to the local government area chairmen to hire bulldozers and swamp buggies for the purpose of destroying all the sites.

I will not relent in this fight. And all of you should hire bulldozers. All those areas where the illegal refinery sites are in the bush, in the creek, clear the place. Government will give you some money to go and hire bulldozers to go and clear the sites so that they will know we are serious, he said.

Governor Wike said the government will not allow those engaged in illegitimate business to operate in Rivers.

One thing I want to say and which is very clear, and like everybody knows, I am not against anybody making money. But we cannot allow people to make money, while others are dying, he stated.

The air pollution in Rivers, especially the soot in Port Harcourt and its environs, has been attributed to the operation of illegal oil refineries in the state.

Mr Wike said since the state government intensified the fight against illegal refinery operators the air quality in parts of the state has improved remarkably.

He said he was mindful that the cartel behind these illicit businesses would make effort to compromise security agents in the state.

The governor, therefore, warned that he would personally visit the inspector general of police, the commandant general of the civil defence and the chief of army staff in Abuja, to report any of their personnel implicated in illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery activities in the state.

You know in Nigeria, we dont believe that anything can happen. We dont take government seriously, but in our own case, they have no choice, theyll take us seriously, the governor said.

(NAN)
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Wednesday handed over five Armoured Personnel Carriers to the 63 Brigade, Nigerian Army and the police in the state to strengthen their operations.

Mr Okowa presented the vehicles shortly after the State Security Council meeting held at the Government House, Asaba.

He said that three of the security vehicles were for the army, while two were for the police.

He expressed appreciation to the various security agencies in the state for the security and peace in the state.

According to Mr Okowa, the various security commands have been doing so well to keep Delta peaceful.

He expressed hope that the state governments gesture would add up to the vehicular needs that will enable them carry out their operations.

We have just risen from a Security Council Meeting where we discussed a lot of issues concerning the security of the state.

And we also expressed our appreciations to the various commands for the work that they have been doing to consolidate the peace that we have in our state.

In furtherance of the various logistic provisions for the army and the police, this afternoon, we are handing over two Armoured Personnel Carriers specially built for the army.

One had also been previously delivered to the army making it three for the 63 Brigade and two had earlier been delivered to the police, making it a total of five Armoured Personnel Carriers.

So, we are glad that at this point in time in this early part of the year, that the remaining two to the 63 Brigade have been delivered.

We do hope that in the course of the year, we will be in a position to also provide other logistic needs for the various commands.

They have been doing so well to keep Delta peaceful and we are very grateful and we hope that this will add up to the vehicular needs that will enable them carry out their operations, he said.

The highpoint of the ceremony was the handing over of keys of vehicles for the Army to the 63 Brigade Commander, Abdulrahman Idris, a brigadier general, and to the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ari.

(NAN)
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali, has said that when criticising the performance of the Nigeria Police there is need to consider what provisions have been made to create an enabling environment for the security agency.

Mr Alkali said this in Akwa Ibom State on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new operational base of the special protection unit of the police donated by the Akwa Ibom State Government.

The facility, Special Protection Unit Base 27, is located in Awa-Iman, Onna Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

It is often easy to stand behind the glass house, or stay in our comfort zones to criticise the Nigeria Police, Mr Alkali said in his remarks. The question we need to ask ourselves at this stage in our nations evolution is what have we contributed towards adding value to our policing and security of the people?

The police boss said he holds the conviction that the efficiency of the police could truly be questioned only when leaderships at all levels of governance in this country play their supportive roles in relation to the advancement of our internal security interests through the provision of (an) enabling environment for the Police.

The police and other security agencies in Nigeria have remained in the spotlight, as the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate, with indiscriminate killings by non-state actors and abduction-for-ransom soaring in the different parts of the country.

The police themselves have been the target of deadly attacks mainly in the South-east by armed men who are alleged to be part of the Biafra agitation.

Praise for Governor Emmanuel

Mr Alkali said such a police facility was the second to be inaugurated so far in the country under his leadership. The first, SPU Base 6, built by the Rivers State Government, was inaugurated in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on September 27, 2021, he said.

He said the facility would boost security in Akwa Ibom and Nigeria in several ways.

It is a legacy project which demonstrates the commitment of Governor Udom Emmanuel to the security well-being of the good people of Akwa Ibom, the police IG said.

He said Mr Emmanuel, through the project, has given a clear and loud effect to Chapter 2, Section 14 (2b) of the Nigerian Constitution which stipulates that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.

Mr Alkali said for the immediate take-off of the facility, he has approved the deployment of a commanding officer, the second-in-command, and other key officers to it, as well as a vehicle and firearms.

Governor Emmanuel, in his remarks, said the facility is a bold statement that his administration is working in partnership with the security agencies in the state.

We dont just want to sit back and ask what can the security agencies do for us.

As a people, as a government, as a state, we make a bold move to make a statement that this is one state that at each point in time we demonstrate that we are in collaboration, we are in partnership, and that we are in common purpose and common goal with all the security agencies serving in this state, the governor said.
A secondary school student of Toyon High School, Ere, in Ado-Odo local government area of Ogun state and his mother reportedly hired thugs to brutalise his teachers, witnesses have said.

Attacks on schools by students and their parents were common last year, forcing the state government to mandate students of all public schools and their parents/guardians to sign an undertaking before the resumption for the second term of the 2021/2022 academic session in January 10.

In the undertaking signed by the parents and guardians, they vouched that their wards would be well behaved and not engage in any act of violence/misdemeanor that can disrupt the smooth running of the school in any form whatsoever.

Passport photographs of both the student and the parents were attached to the duly signed forms.

In the last quarter of 2021, more than four teachers were reportedly beaten by their students and in some cases, in connivance with hoodlums, a development that attracted criticism.

How trouble started

Just like other students, witnesses said the student and his father, whose names we are withholding until we can get their reactions, also signed the undertaking.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the student had earlier been prevented from entering the class because of his hairstyle.

The school had sent the student out to cut his hair before returning to join his colleagues in the classroom.

But on his return, the student, his mother and the hired thugs reportedly descended on three teachers, inflicting injuries on them.

A staffer of the school who does not want to be named due to the civil service regulation told our reporter that, three teachers were beaten  Messrs Abel Thomas, Kabir Azeez and Adegun Adekunle.

A car belonging to Mr Jolayemi Jeromu was destroyed. One of the thugs was the one who smashed the cars windscreen.

When contacted, the Vice Principal of the school, Mariam Onilogbo, said, On Monday, we asked our student to go and cut his hair because the hair he brought to school was not acceptable in the school.

Yesterday, he came again with that same hair, we told him to go and cut the hair. I collected his bag and told him to come back after cutting the hair. Coming back to school, he came with two men and two women to accuse us that why should we ask him to go and cut his hair.

I now told them that if we cannot tell him to cut his hair, all of them should leave my office. I gave them his bag and told them to go and be teaching him at home.

They went out and I started to hear noises within the school promises. They started beating the teachers. They smashed the windscreen of a car parked within the school.

Yesterday evening, they came to our quarters again, claiming that we stole their phone. They almost attacked us. We told them their phone is not with us. They came to meet us again this morning, but we thank God no one was attacked.

Mrs Onilogbo said the students mother and one of the thugs have been arrested by the police.

Meanwhile, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the police spokesperson in the state, confirmed the incident, and added that the parents have been arrested.

The commissioner of police CP Lanre Bankole has ordered that the escaped thugs who accompanied the couple to attack the school should be hunted for and brought to justice. He also directed that the arrested couple should be charged to court without delay, Mr Oyeyemi said.
Plattsburgh, NY (12901)

Today

Periods of rain. High 54F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 42F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a resolution to reject and condemn any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event.

The draft resolution, submitted by Israel and Germany, won the approval of the General Assembly without a vote.

The resolution "rejects and condemns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part," and urges all UN member states to do so as well.

The resolution commends those member states that have actively engaged in preserving those sites that served as Nazi death camps, concentration camps, forced labor camps, killing sites and prisons during the Holocaust, as well as similar places operated by Nazi-allied regimes, their accomplices or auxiliaries.

It urges member states to develop educational programs that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help prevent future acts of genocide.

It also urges member states and social media companies to take active measures to combat anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial or distortion by means of information and communications technologies and to facilitate reporting of such content.

The resolution requests the UN Outreach Programme on the Holocaust as well as all relevant UN specialized agencies to continue to develop and implement programs aimed at countering Holocaust denial and distortion, and to advance measures to mobilize civil society, and invites all relevant stakeholders to educate their societies truthfully about the facts of the Holocaust and the importance of its lessons as a countermeasure against Holocaust denial and distortion, in order to prevent future acts of genocide. 
Southbury, CT (06488)

Today

Periods of rain. High 62F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low around 50F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Supervisor Pete Candland and his wife Robyn are well known for the two Cookies & Cream i

Whats Kratom?

Kratom is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia with leaves that can cause effects similar to both opioids and stimulants. Kratom can be taken as a pill, or dried leaves chewed or brewed as a tea.

Like other drugs with opioid-like effects, kratom might cause dependence, which means users will feel physical withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking the drug. Some users have reported becoming addicted to kratom.

Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
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The increasing focus on R&D activities to introduce products, such as Gemini linear capping machine & FLX MonoSpout, will propel the capping packing equipment market demand. To strengthen their market positioning, companies including SIG Combibloc Group Ltd., Norden Machinery AB & Graphic Packaging Holding, are expanding their product portfolios to cater to a vast set of industries. For instance, in October 2021, Advanced Tooling Systems Packaging Machinery launched a new range of capping machinery for food & drink applications. It is incorporated with a fully programmable high-precision tightening mechanism that is suitable for various types of closures such as screw caps, push-on caps, spray triggers, and dispensing pumps.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2829

Strict government regulations on the packaging of cosmetic products will boost the industry demand. To avoid illegal practices & ensure consumer safety, governing bodies are implementing stringent acts for the cosmetics & personal care industry players. In the U.S., under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration are authorized to issue regulations on all consumer commodities products. The scope of the Act includes prohibiting the marketing of misbranded or adulterated cosmetics in interstate trade.

The growing emphasis on expansion will surge the packaging equipment market revenue in the Middle East & Africa region. To increase production and supply of products, industry players, such as Al Bayader International & Gulf Printing and Packaging, are opening new facilities. For instance, in March 2021, Al Bayader International introduced its manufacturing premises in Jebel Ali Free Zone. The new facility will support the company in increasing the capacity of food packaging solutions to around 31,000 tons per annum. The project budget amounted to approximately USD 54.4 million and supports the Made in UAE to the World agenda of the government.

Some major findings of the packaging equipment market report are:

The increasing utilization of e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba, Flipkart, Instacart & Amazon.com, for ordering staples, home essentials, vegetables, food, clothing, hot & cold beverages will augment the packaging equipment market demand.

The rising demand for personal care & beauty products including lotions, deodorants, hair dyes, cosmetics, creams & lipsticks, has surged the market demand for advanced packaging equipment to avoid tampering and spillage during transport.

The pharmaceutical industry is developing to address different diseases including COVID-19, respiratory illness & cancer. This factor has boosted the export of medicines to under-developed/developing countries such as Africa, Liberia & Niger, in turn, supporting market demand.

The packaging equipment market will witness growth owing to a rising focus on integrating automation in the packaging line to improve activity efficiency. It supports organizations in increasing their product production to maintain the supply & demand ratio.

The growing emphasis on developing sustainable manufacturing practices will propel the demand for energy-efficient packaging equipment. It supports manufacturing facilities to reduce the overall operational costs.

Request for customization of this research report at https://www.gminsights.com/roc/2829

Partial chapters of report table of contents (TOC):

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

2.1 Packaging equipment industry 360 synopsis, 2017 - 2027

2.1.1 Business trends

2.1.2 Regional trends

2.1.3 Technology trends

2.1.4 End use trends

Chapter 3 Packaging equipment Industry Insights

3.1 Industry segmentation

3.2 Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

3.3 Industry ecosystem analysis

3.4 Technology & innovation landscape

3.5 Regulatory landscape

3.6 Industry impact forces

3.6.1 Growth drivers

3.6.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges

3.7 Growth potential analysis

3.8 Porter's analysis

3.9 PESTEL analysis

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Nicole Fashion Jewelry, Xuping Jewelry, Yuer Toys Firm, Xiaomifeng Towel, Zhangweichao Socks Firm, Lanfei Balloon Party Supplies Factory, Butterfly Fly Lace Firm, Meige Carpet Firm, Yiwu Aishang Daily Necessities Factory, and Bole Plush Pendant Toy won the honorary title of "Top Ten Vendors of 2021". A number of new names emerged at the ceremony, including Yuer Toys Firm, Lanfei Balloon Party Supplies Factory, Butterfly Fly Lace Firm, and Meige Carpet Firm, whose owners are all at young ages, showing a strong potential of the market. Among the winners were also established foreign trade brands including Nicole Fashion Jewelry, Xuping Jewelry, Xiaomifeng Towel, and Yiwu Aishang Daily Necessities Factory, showing remarkable strengths of these firms.

The Yiwugo Top Ten Vendors Competition has been held for ten consecutive years. Over the decade, Yiwugo has served nearly 2 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises upstream the industry chain, reached out to global buyers, cultivated brand awareness among the vendors, and helped them build their own brands. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic over the recent years, the Yiwugo Top Ten Vendors Competition has played an active role in guiding the suppliers in Yiwu to establish online trade relations with overseas buyers and provided high-quality online foreign trade services, thus still achieving remarkable results in 2021.

In addition, the 2021 competition for the first time included prizes for outstanding suppliers (among nearly 3,000) from national industry belts, providing a showcase for them and more high-quality sources of products for global buyers.

SOURCE Yiwugo
In a category new to the 2021 survey, the study also underscores the importance of identity verification software, cited by 40% of survey respondents. Identity analytics is quickly becoming must-have technology for insurers amid an alarming spike in malicious phishing scams, up 600% since the pandemic's onset.

Study finds the use of AI to fight #insurance #fraud at an all-time high. What else did it reveal?

"The shifts we've seen since the 2018 study emphasize the increasingly sophisticated technologies needed to foil insurance fraudsters' criminal exploits," said David Hartley, Director of Insurance Solutions at SAS. "Predictive modeling is up 25%. Text mining has nearly doubled, jumping from 33% to 65% in three years. These findings prove that, even as COVID has fueled rampant fraud, insurers are agilely stretching their advanced analytics and AI capabilities to counter rapidly changing threats."

The study results will be explored in an upcoming insurance fraud webinar hosted by the Coalition and SAS, The State of Insurance Fraud Technology 2022: Trends as the World Reopens, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. ET and available thereafter on demand.

Gauging insurance fraud technology trends since 2012

Insurance fraud causes more than $80 billion in losses annually in the United States alone. Fraudsters the world over are using phishing schemes, malware and even social media quizzes to steal sensitive personal information from unsuspecting consumers. The lucrative data is then sold on the dark web for nefarious purposes, such as traditional identity theft or the creation of synthetic IDs using an amalgam of stolen and fabricated data. Scammers can use the identities to file bogus claims for cash or collect commissions from insurers for selling fake policies.

Since 2012, the Coalition has used its biennial State of Insurance Fraud Technology study to track how technology is augmenting fraud fighters' abilities to thwart fraudsters and criminal rings. SAS has been a partner in the research effort since the inaugural study.

Now in its fifth iteration since 2012, the latest study is based on responses to a 20-question survey sent to 100 Coalition members in October 2021. Survey recipients are employed by insurance companies that comprised at least 80% of the estimated property and casualty premiums written in the US insurance market in 2020.

"Capturing these trends over time enables us to understand how, and to what extent, insurance companies use anti-fraud technology," said Dave Rioux, Coalition Co-Chair and Chair of the organization's Research Committee. "This research also provides important insights into emerging use cases and common challenges, helping the entire industry discern the technologies that are proving most effective against these unprecedented fraud attacks."

Additional takeaways from the latest study include:

Anti-fraud technology is flourishing. The study identified automated red flags (88%), predictive modeling (80%), text mining (65%), reporting capability (64%), case management (61%), exception reporting (51%), and data visualization/link analysis (51%) among insurers' most used anti-fraud technologies.

The study identified automated red flags (88%), predictive modeling (80%), text mining (65%), reporting capability (64%), case management (61%), exception reporting (51%), and data visualization/link analysis (51%) among insurers' most used anti-fraud technologies. Insurers are diversifying their data sources. Beyond relying on their own internal data, insurers are turning to industry fraud-watch lists (88%), public records (79%), third-party data aggregators (55%), social-media data (48%) and data from personal devices (15%). Notably, the use of unstructured data soared from just under half in 2018 to 81% in 2021.

Beyond relying on their own internal data, insurers are turning to industry fraud-watch lists (88%), public records (79%), third-party data aggregators (55%), social-media data (48%) and data from personal devices (15%). Notably, the use of unstructured data soared from just under half in 2018 to 81% in 2021. A picture is worth a thousand data points. Insurers are flocking to photo analysis technology (up from 49% in 2018 to 81% in 2021) to authenticate claim damage, identify digitally altered images, and index pictures submitted in other claims.

Insurers are flocking to photo analysis technology (up from 49% in 2018 to 81% in 2021) to authenticate claim damage, identify digitally altered images, and index pictures submitted in other claims. Investigators are clamoring for more resources. New anti-fraud technology is creating efficiencies in investigative processes, but the resources insurers are dedicating to internal and external investigative teams are insufficient to keep pace with the billions in fraud committed each year. Limited IT resources was the top anti-fraud challenge, cited by 68% of respondents.

"We know that criminals are using advanced technology at scale to steal personal information and plunder billions of dollars from insurance companies each year," said Kim Kuster, Principal Business Consultant in SAS' Global Security Intelligence Practice. "Wider adoption of emerging technologies and deeper investment in human- and machine-powered fraud fighting capabilities will help turn the tide of fraud flooding the domestic and international insurance markets."

The State of Insurance Fraud Technology study and similar Coalition research efforts are aimed at preparing fraud investigators and their leadership teams for the threats that lay ahead. Learn more at InsuranceFraud.org.

About the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud

Formed in 1993, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud is America's only anti-fraud alliance speaking for consumers, insurance companies, government agencies and others. Through its unique work, the Coalition empowers consumers to fight back, helps fraud fighters better detect this crime and deters more people from committing fraud.

About SAS

SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries.  indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright  2022 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE SAS
In the photo, taken on Nov. 21, 2021, in Khartoum, Sudan, Chairman of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan speaks after signing a political declaration with Sudan's Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and reappointing him as prime minister. (Xinhua /Mohamed Khidir)

KHARTOUM, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's ruling and military-dominated Transitional Sovereign Council on Thursday agreed to the formation of a government of national competencies led by a civilian prime minister to complete the tasks of the ongoing transitional period.

Chairman of the council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan made clear the council's stand when he received a U.S. delegation, headed by U.S. Assistant State Secretary Molly Phee and Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield, at the Republican Palace, the council said in a statement.

Photo taken on Sept. 21, 2021 shows a view of Khartoum, capital of Sudan. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir)

The council expressed readiness to make amendments to the constitution to adapt to the new developments and the conduction of free and fair elections in Sudan by the end of the transitional period.

The Sudanese and American sides stressed the inclusion of all Sudanese parties into a comprehensive round-table national dialogue involving all political and societal forces, excluding the dissolved National Congress Party, to reach a national consensus out of the current crisis, the statement said.

Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after Al-Burhan, who also serves as the general commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, declared a state of emergency on Oct. 25, 2021 and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government led by then Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. 
6 in 10 surveyed workers would leave their job if employers do not take measures to create healthier indoor environments Tweet this

As variants of COVID-19 spread, the survey shows that a significant majority of respondents (87%) are more concerned about working in an office building. Despite the broad rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, this is a 19 percentage point increase in concern compared to last year's findings. Results from the January 2021 survey, of a smaller sample size, showed 68% of workers not feeling completely safe working in their employer's buildings at the time.

of a smaller sample size, showed 68% of workers not feeling completely safe working in their employer's buildings at the time. 62% of all respondents would leave their job if their employer does not take necessary measures to create a healthier indoor environment that promotes well-being.

When asked their thoughts on what poses a bigger threat to their safety, nearly 3 in 5 (57%) of those surveyed noted co-workers not following safety guidelines, while more than 2 in 5 (43%) said outdated ventilation systems.

"Many companies have been forced to again rethink their return to office strategies given rising infection rates," said Manish Sharma, vice president, chief technology and chief product officer for Honeywell Building Technologies. "These insights imply that employers need to continue to consider how they are creating healthier and safer workspaces, in particular related to improving indoor air quality and tracking compliance to guidelines such as social distancing and mask wearing. In the long term, creating a healthier workplace can be a competitive advantage to drive employee satisfaction and retainment."

Honeywell's Healthy Buildings solutions that integrate air quality, safety, and security technologies along with advanced analytics to help building owners improve the health of their buildings, operate more cleanly and safely, comply with new guidelines, and help reassure occupants. Honeywell's advanced indoor air quality portfolio can help improve occupant well-being, meet energy efficiency goals, and importantly, change the way that occupants experience a building.

These initial survey results are a preview of a larger, forthcoming report from Honeywell Building Technologies that will be available in February.

Methodology

The Honeywell Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research ( www.wakefieldresearch.com ) among 3,000 office workers in buildings of more than 500 workers in six markets: U.S., U.K., Germany, India, Middle East and ASEAN between December 17th and January 11th, 2022, using an email invitation and an online survey.

Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 4.4 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

About Honeywell Building Technologies

Honeywell Building Technologies (HBT) is transforming the way every building operates to help improve the quality of life. We are a leading building controls company with operations in more than 75 countries supported by a global channel partner network. Commercial building owners and operators use our hardware, software and analytics to help create safe, efficient and productive facilities. Our solutions and services are used in more than 10 million buildings worldwide.

Honeywell ( www.honeywell.com ) is a Fortune 100 technology company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.

Media Contacts: Honeywell FINN Partners Megan McGovern Meagan Meldrim (470) 449-6313 (616) 970-2177 [email protected]eywell.com [email protected]

SOURCE Honeywell
PERM, Russia, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AKVIS is excited to announce the release of AKVIS Noise Buster AI 12.0, the AI-powered noise reduction software. Version 12.0 provides trained neural networks, a redesigned user interface, support for RAW files of new cameras, and other changes.

AKVIS Noise Buster AI efficiently removes digital noise and grain in images. The software reduces both luminance and color noise without spoiling other aspects of the photo. It allows users to obtain professional-quality photos in any shooting conditions.

AKVIS Noise Buster AI 12.0 Noise Reduction Software

Version 12.0 integrates innovative technologies of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The program includes three modes: Weak Noise, Strong Noise, and Strong Compression with Noise. Depending on the selected mode, the program uses the appropriate neural network. For manual refining of the result obtained by AI, there are the Post-Processing tweaks. The new version, based on cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, successfully copes with various types of defects and enhances grainy photos.

The recent version offers the redesigned user interface and the new program icon. Also, the update provides support for RAW files of new cameras and significant improvements in compatibility, performance, and stability.

AKVIS offers to download AKVIS Noise Buster AI 12.0 from akvis.com and evaluate all features during the 10-day trial period without activation.

The software runs on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 and macOS 10.12-12.0  64-bit. It can be used as a standalone application and as a plugin filter with photo editors: AliveColors by AKVIS, Adobe Photoshop, Corel PaintShop Pro, Affinity Photo, etc.

The program supports a multi-language interface. It is available in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese.

AKVIS Noise Buster AI comes in Home, Home Deluxe, and Business versions (lifetime licenses), with differing levels of functionality. The Home license sells for $ 49.00. The update is free for users who bought the software in the last 12 months. Users, whose licenses are older and are not valid for the new version, can get Noise Buster AI 12.0 for only $14.95.

For more details about the software, please visit akvis.com.

AKVIS (akvis.com) specializes in the development of image and video processing software. Since the company's launch in 2004, it has released a number of successful products for Windows and Mac. The company always keeps up with the times and updates its products with cutting-edge technologies.

About the Program: akvis.com/en/noise-buster/index.php

Contact: Kat Kharina, AKVIS LLC, 83422121661, [email protected]

SOURCE AKVIS Lab
ATLANTA, Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Cancer Society (ACS) today announced a landmark grant of $9.1 million from the Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, to establish the American Cancer Society Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation Cancer Stem Cell Consortium. This pioneering new project will be a six-year initiative supporting the peer-reviewed work of up to 15 researchers and will rapidly accelerate scientific discovery of cancer stem cell research.

"The Consortium will bring together investigators from institutions across the US working on shared, focused research questions to advance the understanding of cancer stem cells and to leverage this knowledge to design and test strategies to prevent cancer stem cells from contributing to metastasis, treatment resistance, and disease recurrence," said Dr. Lynne Elmore, American Cancer Society Senior Scientific Director of the Consortium. "Importantly, this program is designed to provide unique opportunities for early-career researchers, who will be mentored by more established scientists, as well as to strengthen and grow the cancer stem cell research field."

"The Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation's generous, multi-year gift will propel scientific discovery in the field of cancer stem cell research through a new, unparalleled collaboration model," said Dr. Karen Knudsen, American Cancer Society Chief Executive Officer. "This innovative work has the potential to lead to future groundbreaking clinical discoveries that will improve patient outcomes and, ultimately, save more lives from cancer."

A nationally recognized cancer researcher with an expertise in cancer stem cells will be selected to lead the Consortium. A request for applications will be released this month announcing the opportunities for investigators with innovative cancer stem cell concepts to apply. The Consortium Leader and all researchers will be selected through peer review, and our goal is to convene a community that is balanced in career rank, diverse in scientific disciplines, and inclusive of projects with near-term clinical impact.

"Partnering with the American Cancer Society on this innovative, long-term Cancer Stem Cell Consortium helps fulfill the Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation's mission statementto nurture key scientific research that will directly improve outcomes and save lives," said William J. Martin, the Foundation's Secretary-Treasurer. "As the world emerges from a frustrating period of time when research laboratories were forced to hit 'pause' for too long as a result of the pandemic, the Moseley Foundation is pleased to work with the ACS and foster this collaborative research model that will encourage talented and innovative scientists at all levels of their career development to create strategies and tools to fight cancer."

The Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation, a valued partner of the American Cancer Society since 2019, has previously donated $1.6 million to fund two Research Scholar Grantees, Dr. Kunal Rai at MD Anderson and Dr. Weibo Luo at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

SOURCE American Cancer Society
SHANGHAI, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Arctech, the world's leading tracking, racking, and BIPV solutions provider, reviewed the major milestones in 2021 and stepped into the new year with the expansion of its global footprint.

In 2021, Arctech has been taking a leap on expanding its global footprint and manufacturing bases close to its major markets worldwide. In Latam, the company announced its official subsidiary in Chile. With a portfolio of close to 1.6 GW in Latam, the company has now five local offices in Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, providing engineering, manufacturing and after-sales support for Arctech's local operation, with an intent to source materials for its tracking systems from within the region to shore up competitiveness and diversify supply sources.

Arctech has also officially launched the Saudi Arabian subsidy early this year after successfully developing world-class projects, including Arctech's 2.1GW Al Dhafra PV2 project in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The plant will be the largest of its kind in the Middle East when completed. The company has been awarded the "Regional Technology Provider of the Year Award" by Middle East Solar Industry Association for empowering the market with upfront technology.

The company has also been working on the consumer adoption of its champion tracker products in the US market. In 2021, Arctech witnessed a major breakthrough by successfully introducing SkySmart II, the first rigid 2P (two-in-portrait) tracker with multi-point parallel drive tracking system certified by TUV Rheinland Group, to the US market.

Arctech has been enhancing its overseas OEM production capacity to meet the logistics cost challenges brought by the high sea freight charges. Now, the company has suppliers from 14 countries worldwide including US, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Vietnam among others.

Further announced its vertically integrated production plan in India, the company is amping up 3GW tracker products to meet the demand from global markets by building an Indian manufacturing base. It is estimated to enter operation in the first half of 2022. India is one of the biggest markets for Arctech, which is proved by Wood Mackenzie's 2021 report. The report says the company has topped the ranking in the Asian Pacific region with a 35% market share, aided by the unparalleled leadership in the Indian solar market, where it maintained the No. 1 tracker supplier for three consecutive years. Arctech struck a deal with one leading Indian developer to supply 1.7 GW of 1P SkyLine trackers to two projects in Rajasthan. In particular, the 860MW AEML solar power plant is the largest bifacial tracker power generation project in India.

Besides the Indian manufacturing base, Arctech has a fully-operational manufacturing facility with a production capacity of 6.4 GW, and an additional 2.8 GW production capacity from the Fanchang manufacturing base in trial operation.

"2022 will be a year of both opportunities and challenges. We will also stay alert to the challenges and uncertainties and continuously gear up for global expansion." Remarked Allen Cao, the General Manager of International Business at Arctech.

SOURCE Arctech
GEORGETOWN, Ky., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Every day, students consult college and university rankings to find the best schools to attend. And they do so because their money, education, and future depend on making an informed college choice.

But what if those rankings are based on "facts" that aren't so factual, or worse, just the subjective opinion of someone who filled out a survey?

Can students trust college and university rankings? Even as some ranking sites come under fire, AcademicInfluence.com is pioneering new technology that yields better rankings for a better education.

Doubts about school rankings are only gaining momentum. In the past year, scrutiny of college rankings has skyrocketed, including these notable events and stories:

Malcolm Gladwell investigated and criticized the U.S. News & World Report college and university rankings in his Revisionist History podcast ("Lord of the Rankings" and "Project Dillard").

investigated and criticized the college and university rankings in his podcast ("Lord of the Rankings" and "Project Dillard"). The dean of Temple University's Fox School of Business was convicted of fraud for submitting fake data to inflate the school's U.S. News & World Report ranking.

Fox School of Business was convicted of fraud for submitting fake data to inflate the school's ranking. Bloomberg Businessweek's business school rankings were questioned by a Yale School of Management dean, Anjani Jain , when his analysis of the stated methodology used to generate the list produced different results than those published, suggesting hidden factors at work.

AcademicInfluence.com explores the controversy over college and university rankings in a series of hard-hitting interviews, as well as a timeline of associated news stories and op-eds detailing the inherent weaknesses of college rankings at well-known ranking sites:

Anjani Jain, noted above, is Yale University deputy dean for academic programs and also professor in the practice of management. He details his analysis of the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking methodology used, how he discovered discrepancies that could not explain the results, and what this means for understanding college rankings.

Jeffrey Stake, Robert A. Lucas Chair and Professor of Law at Indiana University Bloomington's Maurer School of Law, has worked to expose the distorted nature of law school rankings. In his two interviews, he discusses student misperceptions about ranking results, the impact rankings have on colleges, and the ranking game he created that allows students to play with criteria weightings to achieve differentand seemingly arbitraryresults.

"AcademicInfluence.com exists because our team saw weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the way most rankings sites operate. Too much reliance on obsolete data, too much dependence on the subjective whims of survey respondents, too many openings for gaming the numbersthese problems can taint rankings. Sadly, students make life-changing decisions based on those tainted results," says Dr. Jed Macosko, academic director of AcademicInfluence.com and Wake Forest University professor of physics. "It's why our team of academics and data scientists at AcademicInfluence.com pioneered and developed machine-learning software that diminishes the role of old, gameable, subjective data and uses a more robust measure: a school's actual real-world influence."

Why do the rankings at AcademicInfluence.com outperform those of other ranking sites? The reason is the proprietary InfluenceRanking Engineinnovative machine-learning technology that measures a school's influence through its students, faculty, staff, and alumni. By analyzing massive data sources such as Wikipedia, Crossref, and Semantic Scholar and tracking their connections, the InfluenceRanking Engine creates a map of academic influence that provides students with a better ranking for a better education. See the AcademicInfluence.com About page for further details on the unique capabilities and advantages of this ranking technology.

"Confidence in our rankingsthat's what we give students," says Macosko. "They can rest assured that our results show the true measure of a school's impact. And don't we all want to be associated with people and institutions that are making the greatest difference in the world?"

AcademicInfluence.com is the preeminent, technology-driven, academic rankings site dedicated to students, researchers, and inquirers from high school through college and beyond. AcademicInfluence.com is a part of the EducationAccess group, a family of sites dedicated to lifelong learning and personal growth.

Contact:

Jed Macosko, Ph.D.

Academic Director

AcademicInfluence.com

[email protected]

(682) 302-4945

SOURCE AcademicInfluence.com
"As more of the vehicle transaction process shifts online, our business continues to evolve toward transactional monetization opportunities. We also remain focused on growth-oriented segments of the marketfrom new vehicle acquisition offerings to electric vehicle adoptionto stay relevant with these shifts in consumer preferences," said Jared Rowe, CEO of AutoWeb. "Our relationship with Autonomy is at the core of these radical shifts in the industry, providing our car shopping audience with a completely digital and affordable way to get access to a Tesla Model 3."

As one of the largest new vehicle lead generation providers in the automotive industry, AutoWeb has a nearly 30-year history developing longstanding relationships with OEMs and auto dealers throughout the U.S. to connect them with in-market auto shoppers. AutoWeb's recently launched used vehicle acquisition business extends the organization's matchmaking capabilities to include consumers looking to dispose of their current car, in addition to those seeking to purchase or lease a new vehicle.

Today, 90 percent of consumers must finance (average six-year term) or lease (average three-year term) their vehicles in order to pay for them. Vehicle subscriptions represent a white space in the market for consumers that seek a flexible term and affordable prices.

Autonomy's first-of-its-kind vehicle subscription program for Tesla Model 3 offers consumers the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to get a Tesla Model 3

Autonomy's Tesla Model 3 Vehicle Subscription Program Details:

Available Models: At launch, low mileage Model 3 Teslas, with later expansion to other Tesla models.

At launch, low mileage Model 3 Teslas, with later expansion to other Tesla models. Subscription Pricing: All subscriptions include routine maintenance and roadside assistance. Consumers have flexibility to customize their monthly payments to as low as $550 a month (with a $5,500 start fee) up to $1,000 per month (with a start fee as low as $1,000 ). A $500 security deposit is required when the subscription is activated.

All subscriptions include routine maintenance and roadside assistance. Consumers have flexibility to customize their monthly payments to as low as a month (with a start fee) up to per month (with a start fee as low as ). A security deposit is required when the subscription is activated. Reservation: Fully refundable $100 deposit (applied to security deposit at activation).

Fully refundable deposit (applied to security deposit at activation). Term: Month-to-month with a three-month minimum.

Month-to-month with a three-month minimum. Availability: In California with new markets opening soon.

In with new markets opening soon. How to Subscribe: Program reservations can be made at Autonomy.com.

"The ease of subscribing to a Tesla Model 3 through Autonomy is in complete harmony with how modern consumers want to shop for all their goods and services," said Scott Painter, co-founder and CEO of Autonomy. "And, as the cost of vehicles price out more consumers from traditional car ownership, a vehicle subscription becomes even more logical. True to its legacy as a pioneer in the digitalization of auto retail, AutoWeb is now pioneering consumers' shift to electrification and the Car-as-a-Service."

About AutoWeb, Inc.

AutoWeb, Inc. provides high-quality consumer leads, clicks and associated marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers throughout the United States. The company also provides consumers with robust and original online automotive content to help them make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the automotive Internet in 1995 and has since helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and has helped every major automaker market its brand online.

About Autonomy

Autonomy is a technology company on a mission to make access to mobility easy and affordable through car subscriptions. The company was founded by auto retail, auto finance, and auto insurance disruptors Scott Painter and Georg Bauer, who founded Fair, the first-ever used-vehicle subscription offering, pioneering the Car-as-a-Service (CaaS) category. Building upon that experience, Autonomy has created a turnkey vehicle subscription platform for consumers and the automotive industry that enables vehicle subscriptions to scale profitably and become a mainstream alternative to traditional car buying. Autonomy is innovating through technology, finance, and insurance to power car subscriptions for the used-vehicle sector, as well as the battery electric vehicle and zero emissions vehicle sectors. Autonomy relies on partnerships with automakers and brick-and-mortar car dealerships to provide a benefit to both consumers and the industry. Autonomy represents freedom from long-term debt, freedom from long-term commitments, and even freedom from fossil fuels. It means new choices and more control over your financial well-being. Autonomy is based in Santa Monica, CA.

Autonomy Contact:

Shadee Malekafzali

Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

[email protected]

AutoWeb Contacts:

Company Contact

Beth P. Quezada

Communications & Culture Manager

AutoWeb, Inc.

949-862-1391

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact

Cody Cree or Jackie Keshner

Gateway Investor Relations

949-574-3860

[email protected]

SOURCE Autonomy; AutoWeb
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Michele Sansone, AXA XL's Chief Underwriting Officer, Property, "AXA XL's reputation and experience in handling complicated industrial risks, like those faced by energy businesses, is well known. It's underwriting experts like Scott, and his 25 years of experience helping address energy companies' property insurance needs, that has helped build that reputation. We're excited to see Scott step into this leadership role as we continue to meet the property protection needs of Energy industry leaders."

Previously Senior Underwriter, in his new role, Mr. Dalton assumes underwriting management responsibility for AXA XL's book of property insurance for energy businesses which included oil and gas, power generation, process industries, and chemical companies. Mr. Dalton joined AXA XL in 2006, helping build AXA XL's energy book and cultivate strong business relationships with brokers and energy clients. Before joining AXA XL, he held underwriting positions, all focused on serving the energy industry, with Liberty International, AIG and Zurich. Mr. Dalton is a graduate of The City University of New York - Brooklyn College.

AXA XL, a division of AXA, provides energy companies with admitted and non-admitted specialized property insurance solutions for their oil rig, oil & petrochemical, chemical, and power generation insurance needs. AXA XL rounds out its risk management approach with specialized risk engineering for energy companies and specialized claims handling capabilities to minimize risk and loss of property assets.

In October 2021, AXA announced global policy revisions limiting exposure in its investment and underwriting portfolios of unconventional Oil & Gas activities, or methods other than traditional vertical well extraction, and ceasing to underwrite new insurance coverage for new upstream oil greenfield exploration projects or projects in place where there has been minimal to no previous exploration. AXA continues to underwrite insurance for Energy "transition leaders" -- Oil & Gas companies with the most far reaching and credible transition plans to achieve net zero emissions.

Follow AXA XL on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

ABOUT AXA XL



AXA XL, the property & casualty and specialty risk division of AXA, provides insurance and risk management products and services for mid-sized companies through to large multinationals, and reinsurance solutions to insurance companies globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit www.axaxl.com



ABOUT AXA XL INSURANCE



AXA XL Insurance offers property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance solutions to mid-sized companies through to large multinationals globally. We partner with those who move the world forward. To learn more, visit www.axaxl.com



SOURCE AXA XL
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While 80% of employed U.S. adults consider an employer's professional development and training offerings an important consideration when accepting a new job, just 39% say their current employer is helping them improve their current skills or gain new skills to do their job better, according to results from the latest American Staffing Association Workforce Monitor online survey conducted by The Harris Poll in late October and early November 2021.

Job training programs put employers at a competitive advantage when recruiting job candidates from all generations. Among those employed, 84% of Millennials view an employer's professional development and training offerings as important considerations when accepting a new job, along with 79% of Baby Boomers and 79% of Generation X. Seven in 10 of those in Generation Z (70%) share this view.

Meanwhile, many employees said they were not receiving from their employers the skills training needed to maintain or grow their careers. Just 31% of Baby Boomers said their employer is helping them improve or expand their skillset, compared with 50% of Millennials, and 33% of those in Generation X. Of Generation Z employees, who comprise the newest members of the workforce, just 37% said their employer was helping them improve or expand their skills to do their job better.

"For employers looking for an edge in 2022, investing in training and development could make the difference in competing in the war for talent," said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer at the American Staffing Association. "Employees are looking to employers to provide the job training they need to elevate their careers. During the Great Resignation, if an employer is not willing to train and upskill its workforce, those employees may begin to look for an employer that will."

The study also found concern among some U.S. workers about the effects of automation on their employability, with 37% worrying that automation will cost them their jobs. Nearly half of Hispanic/Latino employees (49%) worry that automation will eliminate their jobs, compared with 35% of Black/African-American employees and 33% of White/Caucasian employees.

In addition, 52% of Millennial workers expressed worry about their job security due to automation, compared with 40% of Generation Z employees, 30% of Generation X employees, and just 20% of Baby Boomer employees.

"The acceleration of automation due to the pandemic has only increased the importance of employer investments in workforce training and development," added Wahlquist.

Method

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by The Harris Poll on behalf of ASA between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1, 2021, among a total of 2,042 U.S. adults age 18 and older of whom 1,054 were employed. Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race/ethnicity, household income, education, marital status, and size of household where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

About the American Staffing Association

The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its state affiliates advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net .

About the ASA Workforce Monitor

The ASA Workforce Monitor is a periodic survey commissioned by ASA and conducted online by The Harris Poll among 2,000 or more U.S. adults age 18 and older. The survey series focuses on current workforce trends and issues. For more information about the survey series, visit americanstaffing.net/workforcemonitor.

About The Harris Poll

The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S., tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963. It is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that delivers social intelligence for transformational times. They work with clients in three primary areas: building 21st century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Their mission is to provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best decisions possible. Learn more by visiting www.harrispoll.com and follow Harris Poll on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contact

Megan Sweeney

American Staffing Association

703-253-1151

[email protected]

SOURCE American Staffing Association
ZUG, Switzerland, Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitcoin Association, the Switzerland-based global industry organisation that works to advance business with the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain, today announces that it has appointed Marcin Rzetecki as a Technical Outreach Specialist for Central Europe. Rzetecki will be based out of Poland, where he will work to further improve understanding and uptake of BSV across Central Europe.

In this role, Rzetecki will work to build connections with enterprises and software developers across Poland and Central Europe, as well as to foster the BSV developer community and blockchain development knowledge in this region. Business outreach is a key pillar of Bitcoin Association's work, as it works to foster the development of a vibrant, regulation-friendly ecosystem for blockchain technologies and digital assets.

The move comes as interest and uptake of Bitcoin SV continues to grow globally. As the only blockchain protocol which adheres to creator Satoshi Nakamoto's original design and vision for Bitcoin - both as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system and global data ledger for enterprise - Bitcoin SV is fast becoming the distributed data network of choice for businesses and developers alike. With the ability to scale unbounded and support huge volumes of transactions, in addition to its micropayment, smart contract, tokenization and data functionalities, Bitcoin SV is the only blockchain capable of serving as the world's public data ledger for payments and enterprise data applications.

Europe is one of the many regions where the BSV blockchain is gaining significant traction as an enterprise transaction and data management infrastructure, with leading cloud accounting software solutions provider VISMA | yuki recently announcing a partnership with mintBlue to integrate their BSV-based software development kit (SDK) into their platform.

Rzetecki brings a wealth of blockchain experience to his new role with Bitcoin Association. He is a computer scientist and experienced full stack developer. He has also served as Vice President of the Polish Blockchain Association since 2018, where he works to improve the advancement of blockchain technologies in the country. He is a veteran speaker at blockchain conferences across Europe and has extensive experience as a blockchain consultant and lecturer.

Speaking on today's announcement, Bitcoin Association Managing Director Patrick Prinz commented:

'Bitcoin Association is committed to growing adoption and improving understanding of the transformational potential that the BSV blockchain represents. Central and Eastern Europe are key markets for enterprise software development houses and companies which build efficient and scalable blockchain solutions, making Marcin [Rzetecki]'s hire a timely one. His extensive blockchain-related experience will be invaluable as he connects with software developers, enterprises and decision-makers across the region and demonstrates the capabilities of BSV as the only public blockchain that can scale unbounded and meet the demands of both enterprise and government.'

Commenting on his hire, Marcin Rzetecki said:

'I am excited to join Bitcoin Association, as I see tremendous potential for blockchain technology and for BSV. I have been working as a Technical Blockchain Consultant since 2018 and I have had a huge problem finding a blockchain that works  one that is fast, cheap and secure. Having analysed BSV for many months, my conclusion is that it best fulfils these properties, making it well suited to a variety of use cases from both a technical and business perspective. I'm looking forward to working with both business and governments in my new role to demonstrate these capabilities and contribute to the development of the blockchain industry in Europe.'

About Bitcoin Association



Bitcoin Association is the Switzerland-based global industry organisation that works to advance business on the Bitcoin SV blockchain. It brings together essential components of the Bitcoin SV ecosystem  enterprises, start-up ventures, developers, merchants, exchanges, service providers, blockchain transaction processors (miners), and others  working alongside them, as well as in a representative capacity, to drive further use of the Bitcoin SV blockchain and uptake of the BSV digital currency.





The Association works to build a regulation-friendly ecosystem that fosters lawful conduct while facilitating innovation using all aspects of Bitcoin technology. More than a digital currency and blockchain, Bitcoin is also a network protocol; just like Internet protocol, it is the foundational rule set for an entire data network. The Association supports use of the original Bitcoin protocol to operate the world's single blockchain on Bitcoin SV.

SOURCE Bitcoin Association
4919 Construction Ave - OFFICE

This is a great commercial office space available on approximately 1.71 acres in Monroe's commercial /industrial park district. The building offers ample office space, a lobby, reception, 2 private bathrooms, and a break room/kitchen. The property also has approximately 0.38 acres of concrete parking and offers about 360 feet of road frontage.

4919 Construction Ave - WAREHOUSE

This is a great piece of commercial property located on approximately 3.84 acres. The property offers a warehouse that was previously used as a truck maintenance building with oil change/lube pit. The building also has approximately 783 sq ft of office space, 16 foot eaves, a locker area, restroom, a 648 sq ft truck wash bay, and fuel island.

4919 Construction Ave - LOT

This is a great 1.02 acre commercial lot zoned for I-1 in Monroe's commercial/industrial park district. The lot offers close access to I-20, Hwy 80, Kansas Ln, Millhaven Rd, and Garrett Rd. The lot measures approximately 241' x 213' and is shovel-ready with utilities available.

4919 Construction Ave - WHOLE PACKAGE

This is a great commercial office space available on approximately 6.56 total acres in Monroe's commercial /industrial park district. The building offers ample office space, a lobby, reception, 2 private bathrooms, and a break room/kitchen. The property also offers a warehouse that was previously used as a truck maintenance building with oil change/lube pit. The warehouse also has approximately 783 sq ft of office space, 16 foot eaves, a locker area, restroom, a 648 sq ft truck wash bay and an above ground fuel storage tank. There is even an extra lot measuring approximately 1.02 acres that is shovel-ready! The office building, warehouse, and extra lot can also be purchased separately.

Those seeking additional information may visit www.bonnetteauctions.com or call 318-443-6614.

Bonnette Auctions and Real Estate Group is based in Louisiana. Bonnette Auction Company is the leading real estate auction company of commercial, residential, and agricultural real estate. The company has won multiple national marketing awards. They specialize in brining buyers and sellers together.

SOURCE Bonnette Auction Company
JUBA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pupils whose schooling was disrupted by heavy flooding in South Sudan's Jonglei state have received donations of various educational materials from China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) to continue in school.

Hua Ning, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan while on Tuesday handing over 1,800 parcels donated under the Panda Pack Project to officials of Jonglei state, said the scholastic materials will help learners to continue in school.

Hua said China has always cared for the development of education in South Sudan since the establishment of diplomatic relations 11 years ago between the two countries.

"The Chinese embassy in South Sudan is very concerned about the schooling of children in the disaster-stricken areas. In September last year, we contacted the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation to implement the Panda Pack Project in Jonglei state," he said.

Hua noted that the foundation agreed to further expand the scope of the project in South Sudan according to the needs of children.

"Each Panda Pack for a student consists of 105 pieces in five categories, a school bag, basic stationary, art supplies, educational toys and daily necessities," he disclosed.

The project is the first of its kind in South Sudan. It aims to improve the basic learning conditions of primary school students in need in developing countries along the Belt and Road.

Gatwech Koak Nyuon, secretary general of Jonglei state government lauded the Chinese people for supporting the state, adding that this demonstrates strong bilateral relations between the two countries and also people-to-people relations.

"I would like to say something very brief about the relationship between China and South Sudan, we are the same people in different countries because we have a culture of hospitality, telling the truth and a culture of helping each other," said Nyuon. 
"Being included on the Franchise Business Review's list of the top 200 franchises would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of both our corporate team and, of course, our franchisees," said Caring Senior Services CEO and founder Jeff Salter. "Certainly 2021 was a difficult year for business, especially for those companies whose employees deal directly with the public during events like a pandemic. My hat is off to our entire team who found the will and determination to power through the trials associated with COVID-19, supply chain shortages, and other challenges."

Caring Senior Service was among more than 300 franchise brands, representing more than 30,000 franchise owners, that participated in Franchise Business Review's research. Caring Senior Service's franchisees were surveyed on 33 benchmark questions about their experience and satisfaction regarding critical areas of their franchise systems, including training & support, operations, franchisor/franchisee relations, and financial opportunity.

"While the pandemic impacted various business sectors differently, the last 18 months have clearly demonstrated the inherent strengths of the franchise business model. The old franchise adage of 'being in business for yourself, but not by yourself' has never been more important," said Franchise Business Review founder & CEO Eric Stites. "Thanks to fast innovations, significant support, and responsive crisis management, many franchise brands have emerged stronger from the pandemic, and that is reflected in high franchisee satisfaction."

About Caring Senior Services

Caring Senior Service is a private-duty, non-medical senior home care services company based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded by CEO Jeff Salter in 1991, the company provides assistance to seniors who need help with the tasks of everyday living such as bathing, running errands and preparing food. After adding locations throughout Texas in the 1990s, the company extended its reach through franchising in 2002. It now boasts nearly 50 locations in the United States. Its "Close the Gap" program started in 2021 to raise awareness of the overlooked and underserved aspects of senior care. This program was launched when Salter rode an electric bike more than 9,000 miles to each Caring Senior Service location nationwide. For more information on Caring Senior Services, please visit their website at https://www.caringseniorservice.com/.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

(865) 977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE Caring Senior Service
MADISON, Wis., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, CatholicVote announced the launch of the Catholic Accountability Project, a lay-run initiative aimed at holding Catholic leaders and institutions accountable to foundational Catholic moral teachings. The project comes as the Church in the United States continues to struggle with how to protect the integrity of the Faith and the sacraments from the scandal of public leaders who support lethal violence against unborn children.

"We are proud to announce the Catholic Accountability Project, an initiative to track and expose Catholic politicians, media personalities, and other public figures and institutions that fail to uphold the truths taught by the Church," said Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote.

"Many self-professed Catholics in public life not only reject Catholic teaching, they openly flaunt their opposition, with zero consequences. This phenomenon leaves many Catholics angry, confused, and disillusioned. CatholicVote is marshaling the full resources of our organization to unmask Catholic public figures who openly defy Church teaching  and hold them accountable."

Using its research, digital footprint, and large network of engaged lay activists, CatholicVote has begun building a database, accessible to CatholicVote members and the general public, to expose the records of these Catholics, starting with members of Congress.

Our congressional tracking tool has uncovered troubling results:

There are 131 self-identified Catholics in the U.S. House, comprising nearly a third of the membership, but only 44% of them consistently vote pro-life. Only one Catholic Democrat is pro-life.

There are 25 self-identified Catholics in the U.S. Senate, but only 32% of them consistently vote pro-life. 16% of them occasionally vote pro-life, and 52% of them consistently vote pro-abortion. There are two Catholic Republicans who are pro-abortion.

We will be expanding our congressional tracking tool in the coming months to publish the voting records of every Catholic public official on many other critical issues, including the sanctity of marriage, religious freedom, and the rights of parents as the primary educators of their children.

Additionally, CatholicVote plans to extend the scope of the project to include other self-identified Catholic institutions, including leading media figures, universities, charities, and more. A recent report by Students for Life of America, for example, found that nearly two dozen Catholic universities had direct ties to our nation's largest abortion business Planned Parenthood. Likewise, the left-wing media organization, the National Catholic Reporter, regularly publishes material in open opposition to Church teaching, and was ordered by the local bishop years ago to cease using the label "Catholic," yet refused to comply.

CatholicVote aims to hold these public leaders and institutions accountable with ad campaigns and educational resources, in coordination with faithful Church leaders, bishops, and grassroots lay activist efforts. Catholics everywhere deserve to know the truth.

A memo detailing the Catholic Accountability Project has been sent to the over 500,000 subscribers and members of CatholicVote. Please visit the Catholic Accountability Project at https://catholicvote.org/cap

CatholicVote is a national faith-based advocacy organization, organized by faithful Catholic laity in full communion with the teachings of the Church, yet does not claim to speak for any individual bishop or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

SOURCE CatholicVote
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blockworks and Bankless are proud to announce Coinbase as the presenting sponsor of Permissionless, a three-day conference taking over Palm Beach, FL, May 17-19, 2022. The event aims to bring together crypto community leaders, builders, and innovators from around the globe to celebrate the incredible innovation and future of DeFi, NFTs, the metaverse and more.

Blockworks, Bankless and Coinbase know that DeFi is the future of finance, NFTs have given the world a new form of cultural expression and ownership, and the metaverse is the gathering place of the future. The aforementioned are aligned in their belief that the communities that are building these industries deserve a place to gather, celebrate and ideate.

Permissionless is a culmination of the industry-wide success experienced over the past year and will bring together over 5,000 investors, technologists, traders and crypto professionals. Attendees will hear from industry experts on topics including the metaverse, NFTs and gaming, the future of finance institutional adoption, and more.

"Blockworks and Bankless are excited to have Coinbase as the presenting sponsor of Permissionless," said Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz. "Coinbase has achieved milestone after milestone and is a leader within the industry. Their voice is essential to the long term success of the future of blockchain."

To register for Permissionless, see a full list of speakers, or to keep up with conference announcements please visit permissionlessevent.co.

About Coinbase

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange that is building the cryptoeconomy  a more fair, accessible, efficient and transparent financial system enabled by crypto. Coinbase started in 2012 with the radical idea that anyone, anywhere, should be able to easily and securely send and receive Bitcoin. Today, Coinbase offers a trusted and easy-to-use platform for accessing the broader cryptoeconomy to over 73 million people.

About Bankless

Bankless is a thesis-driven media studio, focusing on educating and onboarding users into the world of decentralized finance. Bankless is the #1 crypto podcast in downloads and is #4 in business and finance podcasts in the USA. Over 160,000 people subscribe to the Bankless newsletter and Bankless is responsible for some of the leading theses and models that power the crypto industry.

About Blockworks

Blockworks is a global financial media brand that delivers breaking news and premium insights about digital assets and Web3 to millions of investors. Blockwork's editorial content, newsletters and podcasts provide expert analysis to help investors navigate DeFi markets. With Web3 and DeFi events like Permissionless and the Digital Asset Summit, Blockworks creates space for innovators to build the future of the global economy.

Media Contact:

Julie Muroff

[email protected]

SOURCE Blockworks
CoinEx dispatched support teams to the three worst-hit areas, respectively Southern Leyte, Cebu, and Negros. Sparing no effort in supporting disaster relief in the country, CoinEx also provided emergency assistance donations for local rescue organizations. Each support team consisted of 20 members. Soon after Rai hit the country, they prepared and distributed the relevant supplies to locals who need them the most.

On 6th and 8th January , the support teams visited locals in areas hit by Rai and distributed a total of 300 supply packages that included rice, noodles, sardines, water, bread, biscuits, and other daily suppliers. Apart from the provision of emergency supplies, CoinEx also gave a $10,000 emergency donation to the local government and spared no effort in supporting disaster relief in the country.

CoinEx's assistance to disaster relief in the Philippines fully reflected its mission of "Via Blockchain, Making The World A Better Place". CoinEx always committed to its social responsibilities, has been actively involved in various charitable causes and held charitable events around the world. With a loving heart, CoinEx has been doing its utmost to give back to society and extend a helping hand.

As a world-leading crypto trading platform, CoinEx will continue to perfect its products and provide users with the best services. Meanwhile, it will also keep sending a positive message and engage in more charitable events. Aiming to give back to the public and its global users, the exchange will strive to take on more social responsibilities while calling on more people to contribute to charitable causes.

SOURCE CoinEx Global Limited
The physical COMPUTEX exhibition is back after two years! COMPUTEX 2022 is set to kick off from May 24 to 27 and will revolve around six major themes: Accelerating Intelligence, Connected X-Experience, Digital Resilience, Innovative Computing, Sustainability, and Innovations & Startups. COMPUTEX DigitalGO, a virtual tradeshow platform, also organized by TAITRA, will take place from May 24 to June 6.

A star-studded COMPUTEX 2022 Hybrid

Tech giants have expressed their support for participating in COMPUTEX 2022 Hybrid. Acer, AMD, ASUS, Delta, GIGABYTE, Micron Technology, MSI, NVIDIA, NXP, Supermicro will take part in this expo.

IDC forecasted a digital-first age in the wave of transformation, where enterprises will drive innovations with sustainability goals

As Senior Vice President of IDC, Matthew Eastwood shared IDC's observation on top tech trends. It is estimated that up to 87% of organizations worldwide have begun to execute a digital-first strategy and that 2022 will be the key for digital infrastructure, driving business model changes. In addition, by 2024, 75% of the Global 2000 will have ESG targets as part of their RFPs, using them to meet their sustainability goals. Enterprises need to focus on security, cloud, software, edge, work, and short-term and long-term sustainability goals, to stand out in this transformation journey.

COMPUTEX keeps building global technology ecosystems

As the semiconductor industry thrives in Taiwan, the value of Taiwan's IC industry is expected to surpass USD 163.2 billion in 2022. COMPUTEX 2022 will present the complete semiconductor ecosystem and demonstrate related applications. In addition, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) will serve to connect the six major themes of this annual event, leading enterprises to build a sustainability perspective.

InnoVEX 2022, a dedicated exhibit exclusively for startups at COMPUTEX as well as Asia's top startup platform, will facilitate networking and matchmaking opportunities between exhibitors and buyers as we are about to witness a new future as startups transform tomorrow with innovations.

COMPUTEX is committed to creating more flexibility and building a digital platform that meets international demands. This year's exhibition will highlight Tech Insights, Hybrid Displays, Hyper-Personalized Recommendations, and Matchmaking and Networking. CEO Keynotes & Forums, seminars, and keynote speeches from global tech companies will also bring insights. The annual exhibition will feature diverse networking means, including in-person meetings or video conferencing, to establish the most effective and timely communications channels for exhibitors and buyers.

FINAL CALL to register for COMPUTEX 2022

As a leading ICT tradeshow worldwide, the highly anticipated COMPUTEX will return in physical format in 2022. For companies who cannot travel to Taiwan but wish to expand their visibility, COMPUTEX 2022 offers "Alternative Physical Exhibiting Solutions." TAITRA will provide the set-up, marketing, and other services to meet the needs of those exhibitors.

COMPUTEX 2022 Exhibitor Registration:

Last day to register for COMPUTEX 2022: March 1 Register online

Register online 20% off for exhibitors who register before January 31 for COMPUTEX DigitalGO Register online

for COMPUTEX DigitalGO Register online Last day for InnoVEX early bird registration: March 31 Register online

For more update

COMPUTEX website: https://www.computextaipei.com.tw/

InnoVEX website: https://www.innovex.com.tw/

About COMPUTEX TAIPEI (also called COMPUTEX):

Established in 1981, COMPUTEX is one of the leading global ICT, IoT, and startup tradeshows with a complete supply chain and IoT ecosystems. Co-organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Taipei Computer Association (TCA), COMPUTEX, based upon Taiwan's complete ICT clusters, covers the whole spectrum of ICT industry, from established brands to startups and from ICT supply chain to IoT ecosystems. With strong R&D and manufacturing capabilities and IPR protection, Taiwan is a strategic destination for foreign companies and investors looking for partners in global technology ecosystems. Follow COMPUTEX on its website at www.computextaipei.com.tw and Twitter @computex_taipei using the hashtag #COMPUTEX.

About TAITRA:

Founded in 1970, TAITRA is Taiwan's foremost nonprofit trade promoting organization. Sponsored by the government and industry organizations, TAITRA assists enterprises to expand their global reach. Headquartered in Taipei, TAITRA has a team of 1,300 specialists and operates 5 local offices in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung as well as 63 branches worldwide. Together with Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) and Taiwan Trade Center (TTC), TAITRA has formed a global network dedicated to promoting world trade.

SOURCE COMPUTEX
DENVER, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation (DDCOF) has awarded more than $7 million to 38 organizations across the state as the single largest funder of oral health equity in the state of Colorado. In 2021, the foundation made a fundamental decision to deepen its commitment to oral health by focusing on root-cause solutions to better support the mission of elevating the well-being of all Coloradans by advancing oral health equity.

In support of that shift, the foundation has awarded more than $4.4 million over three years to 37 organizations across the state with the aim of increasing access to oral health services and furthering preventive oral health care for young children and pregnant women. Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation's funding supports the following initiatives: 1) place-based access to quality oral health care in East Metro Denver and the San Luis Valley; 2) oral health prevention in early childhood; 3) increased diversity in the oral health care workforce.

Additionally, DDCOF has provided $2.7 million in low-interest capital loans to Tepeyac Community Health Center, Project Worthmore, and Kids First Health Carewhich serve historically underserved communitiesto renovate and build out dental clinics. As the only dedicated oral health funder in Colorado, the foundation appreciates the unique role it plays in the safety-net dental delivery system. These loans will help finance oral healthrelated capital needs to expand access to care in community-based dental providers and clinics.

"We believe every person deserves a healthy mouth regardless of life circumstances," said Adeeb Khan, executive director, Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation. "Each of these organizations will support increased access to oral health care, which demonstrates that together we can address community needs, implement activities to improve oral health, focus on preventive health care, and influence long-term change."

The newly funded organizations and their funded projects include:

1. Focus Area: Mission-related Investments (Low-interest Loans)

Tepeyac Community Health Center : Construction of a multi-purpose campus featuring integrated care, low-income housing, nutrition, and recreation. Dental operations will be expanded from one to six operatories.

: Construction of a multi-purpose campus featuring integrated care, low-income housing, nutrition, and recreation. Dental operations will be expanded from one to six operatories. Project Worthmore : Renovation of existing building to add eight dental operatories, four flexible dental/medical spaces, and a future child-care center.

: Renovation of existing building to add eight dental operatories, four flexible dental/medical spaces, and a future child-care center. Kids First Health Care: Purchase of a building and construction of a new clinic.

2. Focus Area: Place-based Access to Care

East Metro Denver

Aurora Health Alliance : To support the Aurora Smiles program, which brings together oral health advocates and providers to understand and meet the needs of the local communities.

: To support the Aurora Smiles program, which brings together oral health advocates and providers to understand and meet the needs of the local communities. Center for Immigrants and Immigration Services (CIIS) : To support CIIS to bring oral health education and care connection to an African immigrant and refugee community.

: To support CIIS to bring oral health education and care connection to an African immigrant and refugee community. Tepeyac Community Health Center: To provide general operating support to the organization as it expands oral health services through its capital improvements.

To provide general operating support to the organization as it expands oral health services through its capital improvements. CLLARO: To provide general operating support to enable the organization to continue work of the oral health coalition to increase access to oral health care in the Latino community of NE Denver.

To provide general operating support to enable the organization to continue work of the oral health coalition to increase access to oral health care in the Latino community of NE Denver. Denver Health and Hospitals Foundation : To support the Evie Dennis school-based health center to create a community dental health coordinator position.

: To support the Evie Dennis school-based health center to create a community dental health coordinator position. Kids in Need of Dentistry : To support the general operations of Kids in Need of Dentistry Access to Care Program.

: To support the general operations of Kids in Need of Dentistry Access to Care Program. Vega Collegiate Academy : To provide general operating support in recognition of their Expanding Oral Health Education and Access Initiative.

: To provide general operating support in recognition of their Expanding Oral Health Education and Access Initiative. Muslim Youth for Positive Impact : To support building organizational knowledge on oral health care and integrate this knowledge into their operational structure.

: To support building organizational knowledge on oral health care and integrate this knowledge into their operational structure. Project Worthmore : To provide general operating support for the provision of dental care as they embark on a significant clinic expansion that will double the size of the dental clinic.

: To provide general operating support for the provision of dental care as they embark on a significant clinic expansion that will double the size of the dental clinic. Servicios de La Raza : To provide patient navigation and health literacy and support to the hygienist and dentist to care for an uninsured population.

: To provide patient navigation and health literacy and support to the hygienist and dentist to care for an uninsured population. VIVE : To support building organizational knowledge on oral health care and integrate this knowledge into their operational structure.

: To support building organizational knowledge on oral health care and integrate this knowledge into their operational structure. Vuela for Health: To support the general operations.

San Luis Valley

La Puente Home , Inc. : To support La Puente in providing their clients with enrollment in Medicaid or CHP+ and help connect clients to a medical and dental home.

: To support La Puente in providing their clients with enrollment in Medicaid or CHP+ and help connect clients to a medical and dental home. Colorado Association of School-Based Health Care (CASBHC): To support CASBHC in a community assessment and engagement process to determine interest and feasibility of bringing a school-based health center to the San Luis Valley.

3. Focus Area: Prevention

A Kidz Clinic : To support provision of dental services to children aged 06. ( Delta County )

: To support provision of dental services to children aged 06. ( ) Bright by Text : To support oral health messaging across Colorado . (Statewide)

: To support oral health messaging across . (Statewide) Children's Campaign of Colorado : To support the general operations. (Statewide)

: To support the general operations. (Statewide) Children's Hospital Colorado Foundation : To support Children's Hospital Colorado Oral Health Program in N/ NW Aurora . ( Adams , Arapahoe counties)

: To support Children's Hospital Colorado Oral Health Program in N/ . ( , counties) Community Health Services : To develop proof of concept for a teleORALhealth model. ( Garfield , Eagle , Pitkin counties)

: To develop proof of concept for a teleORALhealth model. ( , , counties) Community Partnership for Child Development : To support the oral health program. ( El Paso County )

: To support the oral health program. ( ) Doctors Care : To support Healthy Pregnancy and Children Initiative Care Compact Program. ( Adams , Arapahoe , Denver , Douglas , El Paso , Elbert , Jefferson counties)

: To support Healthy Pregnancy and Children Initiative Care Compact Program. ( , , , , , , counties) Early Learning Ventures : To support the Oral Health Initiative for Early Head Start  Child Care Sites. ( Adams , Arapahoe , Garfield , Mesa , Morgan , Pueblo counties)

: To support the Oral Health Initiative for Early Head Start  Child Care Sites. ( , , , , , counties) EUREKA! McConnell Science Museum : To support the oral health expansion component of the AmiGOs! program. ( Mesa County )

: To support the oral health expansion component of the AmiGOs! program. ( ) Every Child Pediatrics : To support the Integrated Health Care Services program. ( Adams , Arapahoe , Broomfield , Denver , Jefferson counties)

: To support the Integrated Health Care Services program. ( , , , , counties) Grand Beginnings : To support Grand Beginnings Meeting Milestones Initiative. ( Grand , Jackson counties)

: To support Grand Beginnings Meeting Milestones Initiative. ( , counties) Mountain Resource Center : To support the provision of oral health services to children aged 06 and their families. ( Jefferson , Park counties)

: To support the provision of oral health services to children aged 06 and their families. ( , counties) Northwest Colorado Health : To support the Rural Oral Health Services for Women and Children program. ( Jackson , Moffat , Rio Grande, Routt counties)

: To support the Rural Oral Health Services for Women and Children program. ( , , Rio Grande, counties) Baby Bear Hugs: To support the oral health prevention initiative through home visitation. ( Elbert , Lincoln , Logan , Morgan , Phillips , Sedgwick , Washington counties)

To support the oral health prevention initiative through home visitation. ( , , , , , , counties) Soul 2 Soul: To support programming for 100200 expectant mothers/birthing people across Colorado's Black Community to receive oral health education and connection to a culturally appropriate, culturally competent, and trauma-informed dental home. (Statewide)

To support programming for 100200 expectant mothers/birthing people across Black Community to receive oral health education and connection to a culturally appropriate, culturally competent, and trauma-informed dental home. (Statewide) Special Olympics Colorado: To support the provision of an oral health initiative in the Young Athletes program. ( Adams County )

To support the provision of an oral health initiative in the Young Athletes program. ( ) Tennyson Center for Children : To support the provision of oral health education in Child First. (Statewide)

: To support the provision of oral health education in Child First. (Statewide) The Family Center/La Familia : To support the oral health programming and provision of services at The Family Center/La Familia. ( Larimer County )

: To support the oral health programming and provision of services at The Family Center/La Familia. ( ) Thriving Families: To support oral health programming for pregnant mothers. ( Adams , Arapahoe , Broomfield , Denver , Douglas , Jefferson counties)

4. Focus Area: Workforce

Colorado Community Health Network : To assess and identify gaps and opportunities of the dental workforce to broadly benefit all Community Health Centers. (Statewide)

: To assess and identify gaps and opportunities of the dental workforce to broadly benefit all Community Health Centers. (Statewide) Colorado Dental Hygiene Association : To support an enhanced focus on data collection, equity training, and policy. (Statewide)

: To support an enhanced focus on data collection, equity training, and policy. (Statewide) Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF) : Support DSF's efforts in connecting DPS students and DSF scholars to workforce exposure, exploration, and development opportunities, with special focus on providing professional development for DSF advisors focused on careers in the dental industry and oral health equity. ( Denver )

: Support DSF's efforts in connecting DPS students and DSF scholars to workforce exposure, exploration, and development opportunities, with special focus on providing professional development for DSF advisors focused on careers in the dental industry and oral health equity. ( ) University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine: To create a pipeline of diverse dental providers to serve underserved Colorado populations. (Statewide)

About Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation

Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation believes every person can have a healthy mouth regardless of life circumstances. By partnering with communities, the foundation works to re-imagine how all of our neighbors access, benefit from, and value the importance of oral health care. As a 501(c)(3) organization funded by the nonprofit Delta Dental of Colorado, the foundation intends to advance oral health equity throughout local communities across Colorado by implementing transformative programs and initiatives. To learn more about Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation, visit www.deltadentalcofoundation.org.

SOURCE Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Direxion launched the Direxion Daily FinTech Bull 2X Shares (Ticker: FNTC), Direxion Daily Oil Services Bull 2X Shares (Ticker: ONG) and Direxion Daily S&P 500 Equal Weight Bull 2X Shares (Ticker: EVEN). The Funds seek to achieve 200% of the daily performance of the Indxx US Fintech and Decentralized Finance Index, MVIS US Listed Oil Services 25 Index and S&P 500 Equal Weight Index, respectively.

The Indxx US Fintech and Decentralized Finance Index includes companies offering technology-driven financial services, and facilitating a decentralized finance infrastructure, that are disrupting existing business models in the financial services industry in the United States. Included are the following sub-themes: Digital Payments, Point-of-Sale (POS) , Personal Finance Software and Credit/Debit Card Issuers, Tax Compliance Software and Backend Payment Processing, Decentralized Finance, Financial Enterprise Solutions, and Peer-to-Peer Lending and Crowdfunding. Companies involved in business activities associated with these sub-themes will be eligible for inclusion. Eligible companies deriving a minimum of 50% of their total revenue from these sub-themes will form the selection list.

The MVIS US Listed Oil Services 25 Index tracks the performance of the largest and most liquid companies in the oil services industry that are listed in the United States. This is a modified market cap-weighted index, and only includes companies that generate 50% of their revenue from oil equipment, oil services or oil drilling. The Index tracks the 25 largest and most heavily-traded oil service companies. Companies must generate at least 50% revenues from oil services.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index is the equal-weight version of the widely-used S&P 500. The index includes the same constituents as the capitalization weighted S&P 500, but each company in the Index is allocated a fixed weight - or 0.2% of the index total at each quarterly rebalance.

"2022 continues to offer opportunities for traders to take advantage of trends by taking bold positions in the continued emergence and evolution of fintech, along with the corporate picks and shovels of the oil industry," said Dave Mazza, Managing Director at Direxion. "Equal-weighting the S&P 500 provides more balanced exposure to large caps than a market cap weighted approach."

Like all leveraged ETFs, these Direxion ETFs are intended only for investors with an in-depth understanding of the risks associated with seeking leveraged investment results, and who plan to actively monitor and manage their positions. There is no guarantee that these Fund will meet their objectives.

About Direxion:

Direxion equips investors who are driven by conviction with ETF solutions built for purpose and fine-tuned for precision. These solutions are available for a broad spectrum of investors, whether executing short-term tactical trades, or investing in thematic strategies. Direxion's reputation is founded on developing products that precisely express market perspectives and allow investors to manage their risk exposure. Founded in 1997, the company has approximately $30.8 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit www.direxion.com.

There is no guarantee that the Funds will achieve their investment objectives.

For more information on all Direxion Shares daily leveraged ETFs, go to www.direxion.com, or call us at 866.301.9214.

Leveraged ETFs are not suitable for all investors and should be utilized only by investors who understand the risks associated with seeking daily leveraged and inverse investment results, and intend to actively monitor and manage their investments. Due to the daily nature of the leveraged and inverse investment strategies employed, there is no guarantee of long-term inverse returns. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

An investor should carefully consider a Fund's investment objective, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. A Fund's prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other information about the Direxion Shares. To obtain a Fund's prospectus and summary prospectus call 866-716-0735 or visit our website at direxion.com. A Fund's prospectus and summary prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

Direxion Shares Risks - An investment in the ETFs involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. The ETFs are non-diversified and include risks associated with concentration that results from an ETF's investments in a particular industry or sector which can increase volatility. The use of derivatives such as futures contracts and swaps are subject to market risks that may cause their price to fluctuate over time. The ETFs do not attempt to, and should not be expected to, provide returns which are a multiple of the return of their respective index for periods other than a single day. For other risks including leverage, correlation, daily compounding, market volatility and risks specific to an industry or sector, please read the prospectus.

Distributor: Foreside Fund Services, LLC.

CONTACT: James Doyle

JConnelly

973.850.7308

[email protected]com

SOURCE Direxion
HONG KONG, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On 20 January 2022, DL Holdings Group Limited ("DL Holdings" or the "Company" and its subsidiaries (together, the "Group"), Stock Code: 1709) entered into a strategic investment agreement with Atlas Multi-assets Capital Holdings Limited. According to the agreement, DL Holdings intends to subscribe to the issued shares of Atlas Multi-assets. The total consideration is expected to be up to USD 6.5 million for about 38% of total issued shares of the target company on a fully-diluted basis. The preliminary post-money valuation is USD 20 million.

Atlas Multi-assets Capital Holdings, which is the parent company of Atlas Capital Asset Management (HK) Limited, is a Hong Kong based hedge fund and asset management start-up company. Atlas is operated by a veteran team, which has abundant entrepreneurial experiences in both global investment and private banking. The target firm is licensed by Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to engage in Type 4 (Advising on Securities) and Type 9 (Asset Management) regulated activities. Atlas specializes in fixed income and equities derivatives, equity long/short, convertible bonds arbitrage, quantitative and macro trading strategies as well as discretionary portfolio management. Since its establishment in June 2020, Atlas has attracted more than USD 150 million in asset under management.

With the gradual recovery of global economic activities, the asset management industry will start a new chapter in 2022. Considering the favorable policies of the government, such as the establishment of LPF fund and the establishment of Hong Kong wealth management center, it is very likely that the asset management and family office industry will experience a rapid growth. DL holdings and Atlas both hold qualified licenses to engage in asset management. The synergy will enhance DL Holdings' comprehensive strength, expand the scale of asset management as well as accelerate the development of family office and investment banking business.

About DL Holdings Group Limited

DL Holdings Group Limited is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: 1709.HK). Founded in 2011, DL Holdings' parent company is headquartered in Hong Kong with offices in Shanghai, San Francisco, Singapore and Tokyo. DL Holdings Group is a full-licensed financial services and investment group focusing on serving Hong Kong's small and medium market cap growth listed companies and founders' families. DL Holdings' total assets and investment under management exceeds USD 3 billion currently, including USD 1.4 billion under DL Family Office's management.

SOURCE DL Holdings Group Limited
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ZERO TO THREE, the leading nonprofit dedicated to ensuring babies and toddlers have a strong start in life, is pleased to announce the election of Lee Ann Savio Beers, M.D., FAAP, to the ZERO TO THREE Board of Directors. Dr. Beers brings a wealth of experience in pediatrics, infant mental health, and early childhood development to the organization.

"It is an honor and a privilege to welcome Dr. Beers to our Board of Directors," stated Dr. Brenda Jones Harden, Board President of ZERO TO THREE. "As one of our country's foremost experts on pediatrics and childhood mental health, Dr. Beers is a true leader who will lend invaluable insights to our work. Her dedication to integrating behavioral health into pediatrics and her experience galvanizing community-based organizations, researchers, and advocates to support the needs of our youngest community members amid the pandemic is inspiring."

Dr. Beers is the immediate past-President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She currently serves as the Medical Director, Community Health and Advocacy at Children's National Hospital and is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She also oversees the Child Health Advocacy Institute's Community Mental Health CORE, which serves as a catalyst to elevate the standard of mental health care for every young person in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Children's National, she was the only pediatrician assigned to the Naval Hospital in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later worked as a staff pediatrician at the National Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Medical Center.

Learn more about the ZERO TO THREE Board of Directors at zerotothree.org/bod.

About ZERO TO THREE

ZERO TO THREE works to ensure all babies and toddlers benefit from the family and community connections critical to their well-being and development. Since 1977, the organization has advanced the proven power of nurturing relationships by transforming the science of early childhood into helpful resources, practical tools, and responsive policies for millions of parents, professionals and policymakers. For more information and to learn how to become a ZERO TO THREE member, please visit zerotothree.org , facebook.com/zerotothree , or follow @zerotothree on Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACT

Danelle Robbio

[email protected]

(o) 202-857-2292

SOURCE ZERO TO THREE
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Edly, the nation's only student loan platform offering income-based repayment (IBR) loans in the private sector, today announced its acquisition of Avenify, a leader in student financing for nursing school. Through this purchase Edly will expand its social impact and provide more nursing students with access to the company's affordable, flexible and secure education financing solution. The company also announced that it is growing its executive leadership team, naming Rob Caskey as chief operating officer. These latest steps in Edly's rapid growth come at a critical moment for US student borrowing, as the federal student loan repayment moratorium is set to expire on May 1, 2022, and the nation faces a critical shortfall of more than 1.1 million nurses[i] on the front line of America's health care system.

Edly helps solve a long-time challenge for higher education in America: how to affordably close the funding gap for students whose education financing needs exceed what is available through federal programs. It does this through the unique IBR loan platforms it offerscurrently available to students pursuing degrees in nursing, STEM, accountingwhich primarily focuses underwriting on the cost of specific schools and programs by basing future loan payments on a student's actual salary, alleviating the uncertainty and risk many face in choosing how to finance their education.

"Our country is staring down a critical shortage of nurses, a crisis made worse every time a promising student fails to graduate or pursue their passion for healthcare because of an unaffordable student debt burden or inability to secure a loan," said Chris Ricciardi, CEO of Edly. "Our acquisition of Avenify helps us pursue our mission of ensure that the next generation of college-educated professionals, in this case nurses, can realize their full potential."

The acquisition of Avenify solidifies Edly's position as the income-based loan provider of choice for nursing students. Avenify, a long-time Edly partner, has been recognized[ii] as one of the best lending platforms for nursing students. By combining expertise and operations, Edly continues to bring economies of scale to its IBR lending platform, lowering the cost of loans over time and creating more accessible student financing.

The addition of Rob Caskey as chief operating officer will help Edly continue its mission and capitalize on the potential of the combined companies. A veteran operations, strategy and marketing leader who brings deep experience with early-stage companies and products, Mr. Caskey joins Edly from Capital One where he oversaw digital marketing for the Mainstreet card segment of the Fortune 100 company. With Edly, Caskey will be responsible for guiding the company's growth and helping build out its sales, marketing and operations infrastructures.

"Edly's innovative approach to education financing offers a unique solution to our nation's student debt crisis," said Caskey. "My objective is to provide greater access to Edly loans for students while also raising awareness with students and investors keen on having a positive social impact on America's higher education landscape. I'm pleased to be joining Edly at such an important time for the company and significant moment for student loans in the US."

"We're pleased to bring Rob's background and expertise to our leadership team," added Ricciardi. "Edly is focused on building the right team and the right partners to make a difference."

Caskey holds a master's degree from The George Washington University School of Business and Public Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration, finance degree from James Madison University.

For more information about Edly or to check loan terms visit student.edly.co.

About Edly

Edly is a platform that connects students looking to fund college tuition with investors looking to support social impact investments in education. Edly focuses on a type of tuition funding known as income-based repayment loans ("IBR loans"), the only regulated student lending model of its kind in the private sector. Students benefit from a repayment process that is tailored specifically to their starting salary and adjusts with their professional progress. This unique model uses historical data about student outcomes from sources such as the Department of Education, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, private databases, and Edly's proprietary data to underwrite the likely success of student borrowers without relying on traditional credit scores or co-signers. This has enabled Edly to facilitate more flexible, affordable and accessible education funding for students pursuing degrees in nursing, STEM, accounting and more. Edly has funded more than 4,000 students since its launch in 2019 and is available to provide education financing to students at more than 1,500 of the leading US colleges and universities. All student IBR loans are unsecured personal student loans originated by FinWise Bank, a Utah chartered commercial bank, member FDIC.

[i] American Nurses Association, Workforce: The Nursing Shortage

[ii] NerdWallet, 8 Best Students Loans Without a Co-Signer of January 2022 and Five Star Rating

SOURCE Edly, Inc.
LUANDA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The ministers of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Wednesday approved the Strategic Plan for Multilateral Cooperation for 2022-2026.

According to the final declaration of the 9th ministerial meeting, the state members also approved the Action Plan for Multilateral Cooperation 2022-2023 and a report on the level of compliance with the CPLP Action Plan for Multilateral Cooperation in the Field of Science, Technology and Higher Education (2014-2020).

The document also refers to the increasing efforts related to the construction of "spaces" for higher education, science, technology and innovation within the CPLP, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, for the training of human resources in science, technology and innovation.

The ministers also reiterated the need to take a more active role in mobilizing the necessary financial resources to carry out the programed activities.

The meeting also decided to promote the creation and articulation of CPLP networks for research, science, technology, innovation and mobility of academic researchers, students and technical staff within member states.

For the ministers, the pandemic context imposed by COVID-19 represents a challenge for science, technology and higher education in the member states, revealing the need to identify initiatives that promote joint action in the CPLP multilateral cooperation plan.

Angola hosted from Monday 17 to 19 the 9th meeting of ministers of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the CPLP. 
As the gallery space rotates, the exclusive exhibits will host national renowned BVI and IDD artists such as John Bramblitt, whose art has been sold in over 100 countries around the world, later this year.

"It's about something much greater than art. It's the foundation of where it all stems from," said

Sarah Kephart, program manager of Envision Arts. "Everyone has a story to tell. Whether you're sighted, or blind from birth or in an accident, we all want to tell our story. The sighted world has put perceptions and parameters around what the blind and visually impaired community wants to do and can do. Envision is expanding these limits. We help people realize their potential through self-expression."

The first Envision Arts Gallery exhibition has been designed to showcase portraits of the Envision Arts program's dedicated artists who are blind or visually impaired and/or have disabilities. Highlighting their stories and success, the Main Gallery features inspiring work from 18 different BVI artists. The Community Portrait Wall in the Patricia A. Peer Window Gallery offers an experiential photo exhibit in which the community can directly engage and participate in  giving an opportunity and dedicated space for conversations about accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Artist Roshunda Holt's piece, "Waterfall with Willow Tree," is among the first of the work exhibited. Small and shiny ceramic pieces are combined to create a mosaic landscape depicting a waterfall that flows into a river on the horizon in front of a large willow tree. While the weeping willow tree symbolizes shade over sadness, the cascading water helps purify to wash it away and bring in new life. Its tactile and colorful surface allows for people to touch and experience the artwork with multiple senses other than just vision.

"Art cannot be put into a box  that's what makes it special," said Holt, who has been recognized by the American Printing House for the Blind, Annual Insight Art Exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky. "I was diagnosed at 23 with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which is a genetic condition, so I knew I was going to lose my sight  but that did not stop me from pursuing art. And now, I hope I can inspire young artists of all abilities to never stop creating."

In addition to showcasing artwork by Envision Arts BVI artists, the Gallery demonstrates a fully accessible environment with navigational tape on the floor for white cane users, scannable QR codes with artwork descriptions for screen readers, Braille cards and booklet, and large font printed booklet of all artwork descriptions. Gallery staff are trained sighted guides that will help anyone visiting the gallery as needed.

The Gallery will also feature an Artist in Residency program designed to connect the BVI community to other artists working within the creative community of Wichita. Members of the program can showcase their work in the Gallery and will work alongside Envision Arts to help reinforce accessibility more prominently into the art world.

"This has been a dream spearheaded by Sarah for a long time," said Michael Monteferrante, president and CEO of Envision. "Envision is thrilled to bring to life this one-of-a-kind art gallery and what it represents: inclusion and accessibility to all."

All proceeds from artwork and merchandise purchased from the exhibit directly supports the artists as well as helps to fund artistic endeavors for the Envision Arts program. You can learn more about the Envision Arts Gallery and Community Engagement Center by visiting www.envisionartsgallery.com or by calling (316) 440-1699.

About Envision

Envision promotes advocacy and independence for those who are blind or have low vision. Founded in 1933, Envision is one of the largest employers of individuals with vision loss in the nation. Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Envision's mission is to improve the quality of life and provide inspiration and opportunity for people who are blind or visually impaired through employment, outreach, rehabilitation, education, and research. For more information, visit www.envisionus.com.

SOURCE Envision
"Our Private Jet offering consistently attracts global interest from travellers looking to make their next adventure truly extraordinary," says Christian Clerc , President, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. "We have grown our journey schedule to accommodate seven trips in 2023  the most we've ever offered in one year  to best serve our guests as they navigate the changing travel environment. Regardless of the chosen itinerary, the expertise and personalised service of our dedicated Four Seasons Private Jet team offers travellers the opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy every moment to its fullest."

The seven expertly curated itineraries set to take flight in 2023 will allow Four Seasons passengers to seamlessly explore a collection of remarkable destinations while enjoying the benefits of private travel. Newly added journeys include:

Timeless Encounters March 2023  March 26  April 18, 2023

Kona, USA  Bora Bora, French Polynesia  Sydney, Australia  Bali, Indonesia  Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, Thailand  Taj Mahal, India (day trip)  Dubai, UAE  Prague, Czech Republic  London, England

The longest-running Private Jet journey, this 24-day voyage offers inspiring urban experiences, astonishing natural beauty and a stop at one of the world's iconic wonders. Explore Sydney Harbour on a privately chartered yacht before jetting off to Bali, home to idyllic beaches, rolling rice fields and lush jungles. In Northern Thailand, discover enduring traditions. On the way to Dubai, stop in Agra for a special day trip to the fabled Taj Mahal. A final stop in London offers a chance to explore eclectic neighbourhoods, historic sites and an exciting culinary scene.

Ancient Explorer 2023  August 16  September 8, 2023

Miami, USA  Mexico City, Mexico  Easter Island, Chile  Bora Bora, French Polynesia  Great Barrier Reef, Australia  Bangkok, Thailand  Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan  The Pyramids, Egypt (day trip)  Taormina, Italy  Madrid, Spain

From the Great Barrier Reef and the Pyramids to remote Easter Island and the Lost City of Petra, ten captivating destinations make up this remarkable journey of discovery. In Mexico City, soar over the Aztec city of Teotihuacan on a hot air balloon ride before venturing to remote Easter Island, dotted with massive moai statues. Enjoy the blissful island of Bora Bora as well as Australia's Great Barrier Reef. In Jordan, spend the day at the world-famous archaeological site of Petra and enjoy a traditional Bedouin dinner under the stars. Marvel at the Pyramids of Giza and the Temple of the Sphinx in Egypt before concluding in Europe, exploring Sicily and Spain with stops in Taormina and Madrid.

Uncharted Discovery 2023  November 30  December 20, 2023

New Orleans, USA  Peninsula Papagayo, Costa Rica  Machu Picchu, Peru  Buenos Aires, Argentina  Antarctica  Bogota, Colombia  Paradise Island, Bahamas

Enjoy seven destinations over 24 days commencing in the Big Easy before embracing Costa Rica's pura vida lifestyle on the serene Papagayo Peninsula. In Peru, travel through the Sacred Valley of the Incas aboard a train to Machu Picchu, chartered exclusively for Four Seasons Private Jet passengers. Get swept up in the rhythms of Argentinian dance during a private tango lesson in Buenos Aires or take a day trip to UNESCO World Heritage site Iguazu Falls. Board a luxurious polar ship in Antarctica for an unforgettable expedition to the seventh continent. In Colombia, hear the masterful sounds of the Bogota Philharmonic, one of South America's most prestigious orchestras. A final stop in Bahamas offers rest and relaxation.

As previously announced, two family-friendly journeys through Africa will also take flight in 2023 to captivate travellers of all ages. Ring in the New Year with African Wonders 2023 (wait list only) or enjoy a summer escape with African Wonders August 2023. Other itineraries include the longest running Four Seasons Private Jet journey Timeless Encounters departing April 2023 as well as International Intrigue, departing March 2023 (wait list only).

For those looking to embark on the adventure of a lifetime in 2022, limited availability remains on the September 2022 and October 2022 departures of Ancient Explorer as well as Uncharted Discovery 2022, an all-new captivating expedition through the southern hemisphere.

Booking Information

Visit fourseasons.com/privatejet for more information on how to book a one-of-a-kind global adventure aboard the custom-designed Four Seasons Private Jet. Guests who book a Four Seasons Private Jet journey can take advantage of flexible cancellation options. *Conditions apply  for details, inquire at [email protected].

The Reimagined Four Seasons Private Jet

All 2023 itineraries will take place aboard the new Four Seasons Private Jet. Fully customised to Four Seasons exacting specifications, with input from previous journey passengers, the Airbus A321neo-LR aircraft offers the widest and tallest cabin in its class, featuring a 48-seat interior configured for even greater comfort.

Anticipating every detail, the Guest Relations team works closely with each passenger from initial inquiry until their safe return home. On board the Four Seasons Private Jet, an experienced flight crew includes a dedicated Concierge, Executive Chef and Journey Physician. While visiting remote destinations, guests will stay at luxury accommodations selected by the Four Seasons team.

Safety First

Guests can take comfort in the peace of mind that comes with travelling with Four Seasons. In partnership with TCS World Travel and in adherence with Four Seasons on-the-ground enhanced global health and safety program Lead With Care, in place at all hotels, resorts and residences worldwide, Four Seasons works closely with leading global experts and local authorities to protect the health and safety of every Four Seasons guest and employee. This will include medical pre-screening of each passenger, Four Seasons employee and flight crew member prior to embarking on each itinerary, with a Journey Physician accompanying guests throughout the trip.

About the Four Seasons Private Jet Experience

Learn more about the Four Seasons Private Jet Experience and follow the #FSJet hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and to continue exploring the Four Seasons Private Jet.

The Four Seasons Private Jet is operated by TCS World Travel, dedicated to delivering immersive, worry-free travel experiences for the globally curious and modern luxury traveller. For more information from the industry leader in private jet journeys, click here.

About Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts opened its first hotel in 1961, and since that time has been dedicated to perfecting the travel experience through continual innovation and the highest standards of hospitality. Currently operating 122 hotels and resorts, and 48 residential properties in major city centres and resort destinations in 47 countries, and with more than 50 projects under planning or development, Four Seasons consistently ranks among the world's best hotels and most prestigious brands in reader polls, traveller reviews and industry awards. For more information and reservations, visit fourseasons.com. For the latest news, visit press.fourseasons.com and follow @FourSeasonsPR on Twitter.

Contact:

Matthew Levison

[email protected]

SOURCE Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Key Highlights Offered in the Report:

Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices.

Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models.

Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers.

Get a free sample report for more information

Insights into buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers:

Several strategic and tactical negotiation levers are explained in the report to help buyers achieve the best prices for the Pumps market. The report also aids buyers with relevant Pumps pricing levels, pros, and cons of prevalent pricing models such as volume-based pricing, spot pricing, and cost-plus pricing and category management strategies and best practices to fulfil their category objectives.

For more insights on buyer strategies and tactical negotiation levers, www.spendedge.com/report/hydrochloric-acid-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth:

The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers.

Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 1%-4%.

Identify favorable opportunities in Pumps TCO (total cost of ownership).

Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes.

Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities.

SpendEdge presents a detailed picture of this procurement market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our Pumps market procurement report covers the following areas:

Some of the top Pumps suppliers listed in this report:

This Pumps procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Westlake Chemical Corp

Merck KGaA

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

To get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment.

Subscribe Now for Free

Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions.

Contacts

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

SOURCE SpendEdge
OLYMPIA, Wash., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gov. Inslee has proclaimed Jan. 23-29 Washington School Choice Week, recognizing the essential role K-12 school choice plays in the lives of children, parents, and teachers across the state.

Gov. Inslee's proclamation highlights the importance of Washington's diverse educational environments and dedicated teaching professionals. "Quality education is critically important to the economic vitality of Washington and the well-being of individuals and families," the proclamation states.

The governor's proclamation coincides with the twelfth annual National School Choice Week, the largest annual celebration of K-12 school choice. Washington families and schools will mark the Week with 279 events and activities, making up some of the 26,000 planned nationwide. From school fairs to rallies to at-home and virtual fun, the diverse celebrations echo the diverse learning needs of students across the state.

The goal of the Week's celebrations is to raise awareness about educational opportunities, bringing parents from every background and income level clear information about their learning options.

"As parents and teachers know well, no two children in Washington are exactly alike," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We are grateful to Gov. Inslee for recognizing that school choice plays a vital role in effective learning, and we hope Washingtonians use the Week to spread school spirit, information about learning options, and support for families navigating K-12 education."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/washington .

SOURCE National School Choice Week
COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As learning disruptions remain top of mind for many parents, Gov. Henry McMaster has issued a proclamation declaring Jan. 23-Jan. 29 South Carolina School Choice Week, recognizing the incredible role school choice can play in the lives of children, parents, and teachers across the state.

In the Palmetto State, this marks the ninth time in ten years that South Carolina School Choice Week has been officially proclaimed. Gov. McMaster's proclamation recognizes National School Choice Week, a public awareness effort that raises awareness about options and opportunity in K-12 education. More than a dozen governors and 300 city and county leaders nationwide have issued similar proclamations for the Week so far.

South Carolina parents, schools, and other organizers have planned 457 events and activities to celebrate School Choice Week. These range from in-school contests and open houses to a multi-school fair with a free school supply giveaway in Charleston. During a stressful year, these festivities aim to bring parents helpful and hopeful information about public, private, virtual, and home learning options.

More than 26,000 events have been planned nationwide for Jan. 23-Jan. 29, which will be the twelfth annual National School Choice Week.

"South Carolina families and teachers are passionate about their children's educational opportunities, and will be using this week to increase dialogue and awareness about the different school choices available," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We are thankful that Gov. McMaster has proclaimed the Week and shown his support for every child having access to an effective education."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/south-carolina .

SOURCE National School Choice Week
Hero has created the first end-to-end medication management service which significantly improves medication adherence. Tweet this

Hero's Advisory Board members have experience that reaches across medicine, science, public health, finance, commercialization, regulatory affairs, and healthcare. They will work closely with the company's leadership to advise on matters relating to Hero's growth and continuous innovation in the in-home health category.

Hero's Advisory Board members :

Roy Beveridge, M.D., is part of Avalere's Commercialization and Regulatory Strategies team as senior advisor. He is a medical oncologist who has been in practice for more than 20 years. He most recently served as chief medical officer of Humana where he led clinical policy, population health and clinical quality initiatives. Dr. Beveridge has held similar roles for US Oncology and McKesson Specialty Health. Much of his recent work is focused on social determinants of health and improving the health of the underserved population. He has also published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts.

Brad Fluegel, M.P.P., was most recently the Senior Vice President-Chief Healthcare Commercial Market Development Officer for Walgreens Co., currently Walgreens Boot Alliance. He was responsible for all commercial healthcare activities, including sales and contracting, biopharma relationships, retail clinics, clinical affairs, new service development and market planning. He joined Walgreens in October 2012 after previously serving as executive in residence at Health Evolution Partners. Before that he was executive vice president and chief strategy and external affairs officer of Wellpoint (now Anthem), among the nation's largest health benefits companies.

Barry Katz, B.S. Chem., B. Pharm., is a clinical pharmacist, serial entrepreneur, and founder and president of EnvisionRxOptions, a pharmacy benefit manager, which successfully sold to TPG and later to Rite Aid. He has experience in retail pharmacy, managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial benefits. He serves on several advisory boards in the healthcare and pharmacy space.

Ravi Thadhani, M.D., M.P.H., is the Chief Academic Officer for Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare) and Professor of Medicine and Academic Dean at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston, MA. He has 25 years of experience in executive academic medical administration, clinical and translational investigation, and clinical development and regulatory strategies for therapeutics, devices, and diagnostics.

Tim van Biesen, Ph.D., M.B.A., is the head of Bain's Global Healthcare Practice. Prior to joining Bain, he was a senior research scientist at Abbott Laboratories. Tim's areas of expertise span the full range of healthcare subsectors, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, payers, providers, and services. Tim has published more than 30 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Ira B. Wilson, M.D., M.Sc., is Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice, Professor of Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Health Services, Policy & Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. He has three broad areas of research: medication adherence, health services research related to HIV care, and physician-patient communication. He has developed new self-report adherence measures, conducted clinical trials of interventions to improve medication adherence, and worked with large commercial and Medicaid pharmacy claims databases on medication adherence.

Phyllis Yale, M.B.A, currently serves on the board of directors of Bristol Myers Squibb, BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts, DaVita Healthcare, and Aledade. Previously, she chaired the boards of Kindred Healthcare, Blue Cross, National Surgical Hospitals, and Value Options Inc. as well as NeighborCare and Pediatric Services of America. She has extensive experience in compensation, governance, compliance, and finance committees. Phyllis is an advisory partner in the Boston office of Bain & Co. She joined the company in 1982.

About Hero

Hero is a leading digital in-home care platform delivering the first end-to-end medication management service for individuals and caregivers. Hero's solution includes its award-winning smart pill dispenser, medication management app, automatic refills, and live support. Since launching in 2018, Hero has dispensed more than 70 million medications. Hero is used as a care management solution for individuals, caregivers, medical providers, payers and other healthcare stakeholders.

To stay up-to-date: visit us at Herohealth.com and follow us on Twitter and Linkedin .

SOURCE HERO
TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Tech Insights, a podcast from Info-Tech Research Group, has released an exclusive interview with special guest David Dorman, Chairman of CVS Health. Led by host Brian Jackson and research fellow Kenneth McGee, the interview discusses the future of health, corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), and vaccine delivery.

"Every industry is coming to grips with the disruption caused by the pandemic, but few are as impacted as a firm like CVS Health," says Brian Jackson, Research Director at Info-Tech Research Group. "Not only are they directly involved in vaccine distribution and mental health support, but they are thinking through how to manage a workforce in a hybrid operating environment and contemplate how to serve their customers in a digital context. David Dorman brings a unique perspective not only from the chairman's seat but also from his experience as CEO of AT&T, where he witnessed the effects of digital transformation on another industry."

Dorman is the chairman of CVS Health, a network of retail locations within a 10-minute drive of 85% of the U.S. population. The pharmacy has played a crucial role in supporting the collective health of Americans during the pandemic.

Over this period, CVS Health has accelerated its digital initiatives to push out services through mobile apps and websites. It also further integrated Aetna, a health insurance firm it acquired in 2019, and launched a new virtual care platform.

Top Discussion Points from the Interview:

The future of healthcare and the experience of delivering it virtually

Corporate Social Responsibility goals and how the pandemic has played a role in shaping strategy

David Dorman's Transform Health 2030 strategy, and how it supports the United Nation's Sustainable Development goals

Transform Health 2030 strategy, and how it supports the United Nation's Sustainable Development goals The impact of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) topics on organizations

This special interview and accompanying tech note can be found here.

All episodes can be found on the Tech Insights Anchor.fm page, as well as popular podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

To learn more about Info-Tech's research and services, visit infotech.com or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter for daily industry insights and research updates.

(This interview was recorded remotely in November 2021.)

About Info-Tech Research Group

Info-Tech Research Group is the world's fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals. The company produces unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. Info-Tech partners closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IntegriChain, delivering Life Sciences' only comprehensive data and business process platform for market access, today announced key promotions on its executive leadership team following its recent rapid growth. Joshua Halpern , previously Executive Vice President of Product and Strategy, is now President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Bradley Burget , previously Senior Vice President of Operations, has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Vickie Koshushchenko , previously Senior Vice President of People and Culture, is now Chief People Officer. In addition, following IntegriChain's acquisition of Blue Fin Group (press release), William Roth , the management consulting firm's founder, will be General Manager and Managing Partner of Blue Fin Group, an IntegriChain Company.

"With IntegriChain's rapid organic and inorganic growth over the last several years, the leadership appointments of Josh, Brad, and Vickie are necessary and well deserved," said Kevin Leininger , CEO of IntegriChain. "As co-founder of IntegriChain, Josh has been an integral part of the company's vision and success. As President and COO, he will create an operational organization that delivers a truly unified customer experience, enabling our customers to fully benefit from the power of ICyte as a unified platform for market access. With Brad's extensive engineering and product management experience, he is an exceptional choice for our technology and product visionary. Under his leadership, IntegriChain will continue to deliver innovation in its product roadmaps for the unified ICyte Platform, tapping into the latest technologies that can rapidly bring the next generation of data science innovation into ICyte products. With Brad at the helm, we will continue to be the leading innovative product and technology company for pharma market access. Vickie has done an outstanding job of building our global team, and I trust will continue to be an exceptional leader of our human capital and culture programs. Of course, we also welcome Bill to our leadership team and look forward to tackling our customers' key commercialization challenges together."

About Josh Halpern, President and Chief Operating Officer

With more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical commercialization, data, and analytics, Josh Halpern is responsible for IntegriChain's day-to-day operations including its Managed Services, Data Products, and Professional Services organizations. He focuses on driving alignment across the company's operations, its go-to-market strategy and teams, and its technology organization and roadmaps. Previously, Josh served as Executive Vice President of Product and Strategy for IntegriChain, responsible for the commercial and product strategy of the company. His full bio is available here .

About Brad Burget, Chief Technology Officer

As CTO, Brad Burget drives the technology innovation for IntegriChain with accountability for the company's Product, Engineering, PMO, and technical shared services to deliver value to customers. Brad delivers the vision and is an evangelist for IntegriChain's unified ICyte Platform for market access and commercialization to customers and key stakeholders. Brad has more than 25 years of experience in product management and engineering in the life sciences and technology industries, leading large development teams as companies scaled to the next level. Throughout his career, he has driven leading-edge analytics technology selection and integration, creating best-in-class analytics platforms. His full bio is available here .

About Vickie Kozhushchenko, Chief People Officer

Kozhushchenko is responsible for IntegriChain's global HR organization, including talent acquisition, organization and talent development, and people operations. She delivers more than 20 years of global HR experience, including senior executive roles at Clean Earth, Aramark, Turner Broadcasting System, Comcast and Coordinated Health and extensive acquisition integration experience. Her full bio is available here .

About William Roth, General Manager and Managing Partner, Blue Fin Group, an IntegriChain Company

Bill Roth, a recognized expert on business model development in healthcare, leads the Blue Fin Group consulting company under the IntegriChain umbrella. Bill founded Blue Fin in 2001 and grew the organization into a leading access and commercialization management consulting firm. For more than 25 years, he has helped both start-ups and industry leaders improve patient care, financial health, and the strategic direction of their organizations. Prior to founding Blue Fin, Bill spent nearly 10 years at Cardinal Health in management and executive roles. His full bio is available here .

About IntegriChain

IntegriChain is Life Sciences' data and application backbone for patient access and therapy commercialization. More than 250 manufacturers rely on IntegriChain's ICyte Platform to orchestrate commercial and government payer contracting, patient services, and distribution channels. ICyte is the first and only platform that unites the financial, operational, and commercial data sets required to support therapy access in the era of specialty and precision medicine. With ICyte, Life Sciences innovators are digitalizing labor-intensive processes  freeing up their best talent to identify and resolve coverage and availability hurdles and to manage pricing and forecasting complexity. IntegriChain is backed by Accel-KKR , a leading Silicon Valley technology private equity firm. The company is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, with offices in Ambler, PA; Raleigh, NC, and Pune, India. For more information, visit www.integrichain.com, or follow on Twitter @IntegriChain and LinkedIn.

About Blue Fin Group, an IntegriChain Company

Blue Fin Group develops strategies to optimize patient access, commercialization, and gross-to-net to support Life Sciences manufacturers throughout the product life cycle. Blue Fin Group is a full-service management consulting firm delivering research, strategy, and implementation to help manufacturers align all the elements of marketing, market access, field sales, pharmacy and distribution, and patient services as a seamless commercial strategy that helps optimize patient outcomes. The team of highly experienced consultants and access professionals has served more than 300 manufacturersprimarily those commercializing their first asset or large global firms with products that span cell and gene therapies, orphan/rare, specialty, primary care, vaccines, biosimilars, and generics. For more information, visit https://consultbfg.com/ or follow on Twitter @ bluefingroup and LinkedIn .

Contact

Jennifer Guinan, Sage Strategic Marketing, 610.410.8111, [email protected]

SOURCE IntegriChain
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Intelligent Artifacts, a leading provider of machine intelligence solutions for mission and safety-critical systems, has received an Air Force SBIR Phase II award to modernize the Mission Data File (MDF) build process for the F-35 Lightning II. This effort, sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), will enhance sensor fusion capabilities and allow for automatic updating to simplify the MDF process.

"Creating and managing Mission Data Files has been one of the most laborious projects attending the F-35 platform. We are eager to continue proving out our modular, flexible AI solution for sensor fusion and predictive analytics to produce MDFs with the highest accuracies", says Intelligent Artifacts' CEO, Nick Cianciolo.

"Our open-source universal data format allows our system to ingest any data type from legacy, current, or future sensors, eliminating the need to develop separate, disparate solutions per sensor and data type" adds Mark Mackowiak, Intelligent Artifacts' COO and SBIR lead. "Our deterministic solution improves predictive analysis using symbolic processing and human-like pattern matching methodologies which naturally improves efficacy and accuracy within the MDF process."

In Phase II of the project, Intelligent Artifacts will integrate their software offering to enhance the overall effectiveness of the F-35's sensor fusion capabilities by automating parts of the MDF process and transforming the static threat library into a dynamic threat knowledgebase through real-time information processing.

About Intelligent Artifacts

Based in New York City, Intelligent Artifacts, Inc. is a machine intelligence company dedicated to eliminating current AI/ML shortcomings using its Explainable, Computable, Interpretable, Traceable, Editable (ExCITE) AI framework, GAIuS. Solutions scale vertically while also scaling along the horizontal to provide an intelligence layer for any application. GAIuS helps clients in the defense, aerospace, and emergency response domains in need of modular, flexible, and scalable ExCITE AI solutions for mission and safety-critical applications. To learn more visit http://www.intelligent-artifacts.com .

SOURCE Intelligent Artifacts
JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal-Bay, the Pre-Settlement Funding Company, announced an increase in slip and fall accidents in recent weeks. Now that winter is here, the northeast area is being walloped with snowstorms and inclement weather. The freezing temperatures have created dangerous situations not only for drivers, but for pedestrians and bicyclists as well. Unshoveled streets, walkways, and parking lots in front of some businesses, homes, and apartment buildings are icy and slippery, causing injury and resulting in lawsuits.

Simultaneously, Covid cases have been skyrocketing since the holidays. Due to the shortage of workers, municipalities and businesses have been unable to thoroughly salt the sidewalks and roads, leaving some people vulnerable to black ice and slippery snow. The entire northeast including the NY metro area has been affected including Westchester County, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, and New Jersey.

Chris Janish, CEO of Legal-Bay, says, "We are cautioning pedestrians to be extremely careful this year since public thoroughfares are simply not getting the attention they deserve due to Covid-related work shortages. In the event that you've suffered a personal injury and need funding, we are here to assist you."

Legal-Bay is one of the best lawsuit funding companies for quick cash advances, and their turnaround is among the fastest in the industry with 24-hour approval on slips and falls, plus all personal injury cases

If you are a plaintiff involved in an active personal injury lawsuit and need an immediate cash advance lawsuit loan against an impending settlement, please visit Legal-Bay HERE or call toll-free 877.571.0405.

Legal-Bay's loan settlement programs are designed to provide immediate cash in advance of a plaintiff's anticipated monetary award. The non-recourse lawsuit loanssometimes referred to as loans for lawsuits or loans on settlementare risk-free, as the money doesn't need to be repaid should the recipient lose their case. Therefore, the settlement loan isn't really a law suit loan, but rather a cash advance.

To apply for a loan on lawsuit program, please visit Legal-Bay's website HERE or call toll-free: 877.571.0405 where agents are standing by to answer any questions.

SOURCE Legal-Bay, LLC
MAPUTO, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Mozambique has enough vaccines against COVID-19 for eligible population and the country expects to vaccinate another five million people in the next four months, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has announced.

Nyusi addressed the nation on television on Wednesday night in the context of restrictions over public calamity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Allow me to share that we already have enough vaccines available in the country to immunize the entire eligible population," the president said.

He said the booster dose of the vaccine is already being administered to people aged 60 and above, and soon the country will start vaccinating children under 15 years old.

The president considered the adherence to vaccination as satisfactory and urged people to join the process, recalling that among the 31 people who lost their lives to COVID-19 in the past 30 days, only one was fully vaccinated.

Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in March 2021, more than eight million people have been fully vaccinated and over 10 million people have received at least one dose, said the president.

The president decided to maintain most of the measures announced one month ago, but with some exceptions, including the reopening of beaches, the resumption of normal opening hours of all commercial establishments, and the extension of the number of visits to hospitalized patients and prisoners.

The new presidential decree will last for 30 days. 
Mantaro lists on the TSX Venture Exchange and completes a concurrent financing of $8.25 million .

. Options up to 80% interest in the Golden Hill Property located in the underexplored, orogenic, Bolivia Shield, Bolivia .

. Golden Hill is a fully-permitted mining concession with small-scale open pits and limited underground development over a 4 km contiguous strike length. Multiple untested veins are also present.

Bench scale metallurgy of underground bulk samples, show excellent gravity gold recovery at Golden Hill Property with high average head grade of 5.53 g/t gold by fire assay and 5.96 g/t gold by cyanide bottle roll.

Robust underground silver assays at Santas Gloria Silver Property of up to 10,000 g/t silver at Tembladera level 3, 7,860 g/t silver at Tembladera level 1 and up to 4,100 g/t silver at San Jorge.

Positive results from sampling program at the San Jose Silver Property, including the discovery of seven (7) new veins.

Anticipated 5000 m diamond drill program for Golden Hill Property commencing first quarter of 2022.

Golden Hill Property

In August 2021, Mantaro optioned up to an 80% interest in the highly-prospective Golden Hill Property, located in the underexplored, orogenic, Bolivia Shield. The Golden Hill Property is a fully permitted mining concession that has small scale production over the last few years. Production has been from shallow open pits focused on high grade quartz veins and from limited underground development at La Escarcha vein.

Golden Hill contains significant exploration upside as it is centered on a broadly north-south trending regional structure (see Figure 1) that hosts the La Escarcha underground mine and the Gabby, Garrapatillia and Brownfields workings. The same structure hosts numerous saprolite gold and hard rock gold deposits to the north and south of Golden Hill over a strike length of at least 25 kilometers  underpinning the significant control the structure exerts on gold mineralization.

As part of the acquisition of Golden Hill, Mantaro collected 10 tonnes of mineralized quartz vein material from two production blasts on the -55 m level of the C2 vein at La Escarcha mine for the purpose of metallurgical testing. The results were positive, provide a better understanding on gold heterogeneity and will assist future exploration programs at Golden Hill. Highlights of the metallurgical study include:

High average head grade of 5.53 g/t Au by fire assay and 5.96 g/t by cyanide bottle roll for bulk sample of primary sulphidic material taken from underground at La Escarcha.

Gold recovery of 73.6% with single pass gravity separation of primary sulphidic material from La Escarcha underground.

An average cyanide recovery of 94% was achieved for primary sulphidic mineralization taken from the underground bulk sample.

Chris Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Director, commented, "Mantaro is entering 2022 with a sturdy treasury and we are looking forward to commencing our maiden drill program at the Golden Hill Property in the first quarter. The program will focus on the high-priority La Escarcha target, where the Company conducted metallurgical testing from shallow underground development. Drilling will then expand to the regional associated vein systems, at Gabby and Brownfields prospects, located within and along trend of the La Escarcha target."

Santas Gloria Silver Property

In early 2021, Mantaro completed its acquisition of the 100% interest in the high-grade Santas Gloria Silver Property, which is comprised of seven mineral concessions totalling 3272 hectares

An extensive mapping and channel sampling program at Santas Gloria was undertaken throughout 2021. Channel samples taken in oxidized outcrop, defined a number of significant silver and gold anomalous intermediate sulphidation veins which are up to 5 metres wide, multiphase, and have strike extensions in excess of 1 km. There are over 12 strike km of untested veins at Santas Gloria. Channel sampling of sulphide material in historical adits returned robust assays of up to >10,000 g/t Ag, 56.3 g/t Au, 10.3 % Pb and 9.07 % Zn (see news release dated June 2, 2021).

Metallurgical test work of sulphide samples taken from underground adits supports both bulk flotation flow-path and sequential flotation flow-path, with the bulk flotation flow-path producing a single gold, silver, lead and zinc rougher concentrate (15 minutes of flotation and 8.6% mass pull) with 10,545 g/t silver, 5.38 g/t gold, 5.17% zinc and 13.8% lead and recovering 88.1% of the silver, 80.9% of the gold, 64.4% of the zinc and 79.3% of the lead (see news release dated August 9, 2021).

Mantaro has undertaken extensive permitting and community work at Santas Gloria Silver Property. To date, it has received its three archaeological certificates (CIRA) following various archaeology surveys completed by Geades and a site inspection by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture (Ministerio de Cultura). The CIRAs represent an important step in the exploration and drill permitting process and covers all areas that Mantaro may wish to drill test in 2022. A community access agreement is in place until 2028.

San Jose Silver Property

In fall 2021, Mantaro carried out an initial field program on the San Jose Silver Property. Field work at San Jose was designed as a first pass sampling program of the Utcas East and Utcas West targets. Reconnaissance mapping resulted in the identification of seven new veins  the two larger named Ponderosa and Peguycuta.

A total of 11 samples contained greater than 100 g/t silver, including 376 g/t silver, and 7 samples contained greater than 1 g/t gold, including 6.44 g/t gold. Mantaro is planning a more extensive field program for the first quarter 2022.

Chris Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Director, stated, "As we move forward into the new year with even more ambitious goals than 2021, we would like to thank Mantaro's dedicated team, its shareholders and supporters, and the key community groups of Mantaro. We remain steadfast in our commitment to deliver quality projects that continue to generate value for our shareholders."

Qualified Person

Dr. Christopher Wilson, Ph. D., FAusIMM (CP), FSEG, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Mantaro Precious Metals Corp.

Mantaro Precious Metals Corp. is a British Columbia company that holds a diversified portfolio of gold and silver focused mineral properties in Bolivia and Peru. The Company's holds an option to acquire up to an 80% interest in the advanced Golden Hill Property ("Golden Hill"), located in the underexplored, orogenic Bolivia Shield, Bolivia.

The Company also has an 100% interest in high-grade Santas Gloria Silver Property as well as a 100% interest in the San Jose, La Purisima, Cerro Luque and Huaranay Properties (the "Silver Properties"). The Silver Properties are all located in Peru.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Resulting Issuer undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Mantaro Precious Metals Corp.
PINELLAS PARK, Fla., Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical Technology Associates, Inc. (MTA) is pleased to announce the acquisition of GasMedix, LLC headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 2003, GasMedix is a leader in the Midwest market for medical gas services, equipment, and compliance testing with a strong, proven track record of service excellence.

"We are thrilled and honored to have GasMedix join the MTA team. GasMedix is a great strategic fit, both culturally and geographically," said Val Marks, CEO of MTA. "The management team and employees have grown an exceptional business and fostered a culture of patient life safety and outstanding customer service," Marks said. "We look forward to building an even brighter future together!"

Jim Quirk, founder and president of GasMedix, stated, "I want to thank our entire dedicated team for building GasMedix into the company that it is today. I'm incredibly excited about MTA's shared values and commitment to GasMedix employees, our engineer partners, mechanical installer partners and our medical facility clients. With MTA's robust infrastructure and support team, GasMedix, as a division of MTA, is well positioned to be unparalleled in the medical gas sales and service industry."

GasMedix will deepen MTA's Midwest presence and extend the team's ability to deliver standardized medical gas testing to the largest of Healthcare Systems. Leveraging MTA's infrastructure, GasMedix will now have access to MTA's very robust and flexible reporting software platform for the benefit of employees and customers. "Together, we will broaden Gas Medix's service offerings, expand their footprint and leverage technology to drive customer success," Marks said. "It's a real win/win for the customers and the employees."

MTA is a national leader in the Medical Gas and Controlled Environment industries providing compliance solutions for patient life safety across the U.S. As a single source provider, MTA delivers a wide range of Medical Gas, Environmental Monitoring and Controlled Environment testing and equipment solutions to healthcare facilities centered on service excellence.

GasMedix operates a world-class medical gas service organization with a laser focus on patient safety and facility compliance, serving national hospital groups, regional medical centers, and surgery centers throughout Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. The company's key management team will continue in their current roles, and founder Jim Quirk will remain active through the transition. Wes Reed and Don Baer remain the key contacts for the region.

Media Contact:

Valeri Marks

Medical Technology Associates, Inc.

727 548-8600

[email protected]

SOURCE Medical Technology Associates
PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Missile Defense System Market by Range (Less than 100Km, 101-200Km, and 201-400Km), Threat Type (Subsonic Missiles, Supersonic Missiles, and Hypersonic Missiles), and Domain (Ground and Marine): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030". As per the report, the global missile defense systems industry generated $26.16 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $40.04 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2021 to 2030.

Major determinants of the market growth

Increase in number of conflicts and surge in defense spending globally have boosted the growth of the global missile defense systems market. However, high costs associated with missile defense systems hinder the market growth. On the contrary, rise in development regarding the deployment of hypersonic missiles and rise in adoption of AI in military operation are expected to open new opportunities for the market players in the future.

Download Report (251 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/11664

Covid-19 scenario:

The Covid-19 pandemic forced governments to implement strict lockdown and ban and import-export of raw materials. This led to sudden fall in the availability of important raw materials for manufacturing.

The prolonged lockdown delayed several initiatives regarding development of modern missile defense systems.

The 201-400Km segment to manifest the highest CAGR through 2030

By range, the 201-400Km segment is expected to showcase the highest CAGR of 5.0% during the forecast period, due to increase in development of the largest range missiles. However, the 101-200Km segment held the largest share in 2020, contributing to more than half of the global missile defense systems market, owing to high demand for missile defense system that can destroy missiles as they enter 200km of its periphery.

Request for Customization at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/11664

The ground segment held the lion's share

By domain, the ground dominated the market in terms of revenue, accounting for around 90% of the global missile defense systems market in 2020, due to the majority of the missile defense system being land-based. However, the marine segment would portray the highest CAGR of 5.0% during the forecast period, due to rise in demand for extra layer of defense against missile threats.

North America held the largest share

By region, the global missile defense systems market across North America held the lion's share in 2020, contributing to more than two-fifths of the market, due to high defense budget, rise in R&D activities, and technological development by key players. However, the market across Asia-Pacific is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period, owing to rise in adoption of missile defense system, high defense spending, and increase in conflicts across developing nations.

Interested to Procure the Data? Inquire here at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/11664

Key market players

BAE Systems plc

Leonardo Spa

General Dynamics Corporation

MBDA

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Raytheon Technologies Corporation

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Thales Group

Rheinmetall AG

The Boeing Company

Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts to Find Solution for Your Business at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/11664

Similar Reports We Have on Defense Industry:

Anti-ship Missile Defense System Market by Component (Radar and Missile Interceptor), Launch Platform (Air, Surface, and Submarine), End Use (Weapon Guidance and Detection), and Application (Ballistic Missiles Defense and Conventional Missile Defense): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030.

Cruise Missile Market by Launch Platform (Air, Surface Combatants, Land and Submarine), Range (Short-range Missiles, Medium-range Missiles and Long-range Missiles), Application (Attack and Defensive) and Speed (Subsonic, Supersonic and Hypersonic): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030.

Missile Launching Systems Market by Platform (Naval Vessel-Based, Ground Vehicle-Based, and Airborne), and End-User (Army, Navy, and Air force): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20202030.

Ballistic Missile Market by Launch Mode (Surface-to-Surface, Surface-to-Air, Air-to-Air, Air-to-Surface, and Subsea-to-Air) and Range (Short-range, Medium-range, Intermediate-range, and Intercontinental): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030.

Maritime Missile Launch System Market by System (Vertical Launching System, Single Cell Launcher, and Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine), Mode (On-Surface and Submarine), and Launch Type (Hot Launch, Cold Launch, and Concentric Canister Launch): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030.

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Atmofizer Technologies Inc. (the "Company" or "Atmofizer") (CSE: ATMO) (Frankfurt: J3K) is pleased to announce that Yuming Liu is joining the Company in the capacity of Scientific Advisor. Liu is a senior researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ("MIT") and an expert in sound wave technology and water.

Yuming Liu was co-author to a study by researchers in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering that suggests coronaviruses may be vulnerable to ultrasound vibrations, within the frequencies used in medical diagnostic imaging, as reported in March 2021 by MIT News.1

"We are honoured to be working with Yuming. His expertise is a tremendous addition to our scientific team and his involvement is a testament to our technology and the opportunity it brings to the entire industry," said Olivier Centner, CEO of Atmofizer. "Yuming will help to both develop our applications for clean air but also to begin our work on applying our technology to water purification."

"I am excited to work with Atmofizer and further their development and research. The Atmofizer technology brings a fresh approach to purifying air and water," said Yuming Liu. "This is a great opportunity to work on a practical solution to the paper I wrote on ultrasonics being able to destroy COVID. The progress we are making on air purification is very exciting and I am excited to get started on adapting the same to water."

MIT News reported that the results of the study are preliminary, and based on limited data regarding the virus' physical properties. MIT News further reported that how ultrasound could be administered, and how effective it would be in damaging the virus within the complexity of the human body would require further study. Atmofizer was not a party to nor funded any of MIT or Yuming's research. The study is included in this news release for informative purposes only.

For additional information, please visit https://atmofizer.com/ .

About Atmofizer Technologies Inc.

Atmofizer's consumer and industrial solutions are based on its patent-protected and patent pending technology for ultrafine particle agglomeration and neutralization. This capability creates a revolutionary and more efficient method for addressing the wide range of dangerous nano-scale particles, viruses and bacteria that are too small to be effectively managed by conventional HEPA filters and ultraviolet lights. Atmofizer plans to disrupt the air treatment industry by improving air safety and purification efficiency while lowering customers' operational costs.

Atmofizing air refers to the process of using ultrasonic acoustic waves to agglomerate (cluster together) small particles into a larger target that is then radiated by ultraviolet light to neutralize their harmful properties, making the air you breathe less hazardous to your health. Using units that atmofize air in tandem with HEPA filters can make the HEPA filters work more efficiently, enable the use of a less-powerful filter and result in a cleaner and longer-lasting filter that reduces operating costs and is less of a health hazard to clean or replace.

Atmofizer is patent-pending and patent-protected sole source of technology to atmofize air and is applying its proprietary technology in consumer and industrial air purification products currently manufactured under the Atmofizer brand, as well as in retail and commercial devices produced by other companies that integrate Atmofizer technology into their own products under license. Atmofizer's owned and licensed product lines include wearable, portable and mobile use for personal air treatment, as well as larger systems to handle higher air volumes for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential applications.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. The forward-looking information contained herein includes, without limitation, the development of the Company's technology and the business and strategic plans of the Company.

By their nature, forward-looking information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct, and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. A variety of factors, including known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this press release including, without limitation: the Company's ability to comply with all applicable governmental regulations including all applicable laws and regulations; impacts to the business and operations of the Company due to the COVID-19 pandemic; a limited operating history, the ability of the Company to access capital to meet future financing needs; the Company's reliance on management and key personnel; competition; changes in consumer trends; foreign currency fluctuations; and general economic, market or business conditions.

Additional risk factors can also be found in the Company's continuous disclosure documents which have been filed on SEDAR and can be accessed at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties, and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this press release and is based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations and opinions of management on the date such forward-looking information is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Atmofizer Technologies Inc.
BILLINGS, Mont., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of hundreds of private school students, homeschool families, and community supporters will fill the Yellowstone County courthouse lawn at noon on Friday, Jan. 28 in what has become an annual event celebrating the impact of school choice in Montana.

While the event's location has changed over the years since the inaugural rally in 2013, families' enthusiasm for school choice has only grown. This year's celebration will feature stories about the life-changing impact of choice from parents, students, and Jeff Laszloffy, president and CEO of the Montana Family Foundation. Pizza and hot chocolate will be provided for all attendees.

The Montana School Choice Week Rally is planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week Jan. 23-29, 2022, which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states.

"We're here to celebrate choice in education: the right of every child, and their parents, to explore a wide array of educational options, and to choose the option that best fits that child's unique educational needs," said Jeff Laszloffy, president of Montana Family Foundation. "It's an idea whose time has come. It's a tsunami sweeping across the nation, and we won't stop until every child finds their perfect educational fit."

This event is organized by the Montana Family Institute, a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to supporting, protecting and strengthening Montana families.

The Billings Courthouse is located at 217 N. 27th St.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Morgan Li, a custom fabricator of fixtures, furniture, and graphics for retail and hospitality brands, has completed the purchase of a 230,000 square foot facility in Chicago Heights, Ill. This purchase comes on the heels of a strong recovery in 2021,

Morgan Li acquired the 13-acre site, located at 1001 Washington Street, after years of expanded use under lease. The company completed the purchase of this space in late 2021, nearly doubling its total square footage under ownership and providing space for expansion and investment.

"We're ecstatic to announce the opening of our third Chicago Heights, Illinois production facility," said Andy Rosenband, CEO of Morgan Li. "Since my grandfather founded Par Steel Products just down the street from this facility in 1943, we've been a part of the Chicago Heights community and remain committed to growing the local economy."

The Washington facility sits approximately a quarter mile from Morgan Li's headquarters; provides easy access to the company's central manufacturing hub, Lincoln Highway facility, and major interstates; adds ten loading docks (expanding to 13 in summer 2022); and will house a state-of-the-art paint line currently being installed and will be operational by beginning of Q2 2022.

In addition to providing clients with additional production capabilities, the purchase of this facility expects to add 25-30 jobs in 2022, with plans to add 40 jobs by the end of the year.

"As companies continue to face the burden of long, complex supply lines, we're proud to open another centrally-located facility to better serve our clients," said Jonathan Rosenband, President of Morgan Li. "Through strategic investments in facilities like this, Morgan Li can remain a leader in providing custom fixtures and furniture to customers both large and small."

For more information on Morgan Li, click here.

About Morgan Li

Headquartered in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Morgan Li combines 600,000 square feet of domestic production space with 3.2 million additional square feet of global manufacturing capabilities to combine wood, metal and graphics. To learn more about Morgan Li, head to www.morganli.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Contact: Steven David Kluber

[email protected]

630.809.2368

Morganli.com

SOURCE Morgan Li
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As NASA prepares to send astronauts further into the cosmos than ever before, the agency aims to upgrade production of a critical fuel source: food. Giving future explorers the technology to produce nutritious, tasty, and satisfying meals on long-duration space missions will give them the energy required to uncover the great unknown.

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have coordinated to open Phase 2 of the Deep Space Food Challenge, targeted at developing novel food production system technologies for long-duration deep space missions.

In coordination with the Canadian Space Agency, NASA is calling on the public to help develop innovative and sustainable food production technologies or systems that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste. Dubbed the Deep Space Food Challenge, the competition calls on teams to design, build, and demonstrate prototypes of food production technologies that provide tangible nutritional products  or food.

Over time, food loses its nutritional value. That means for a multi-year mission to Mars, bringing along pre-packaged food will not meet all the needs for maintaining astronaut health. Additionally, food insecurity is a significant, chronic problem on Earth in both urban and rural communities. Disasters that disrupt supply chains further aggravate food shortages. Developing compact and innovative advanced food system solutions through initiatives such as the Deep Space Food Challenge could have applications in home and community-based local food production, providing new solutions for humanitarian responses to floods and droughts, and new technologies for rapid deployment following disasters.

"Feeding astronauts over long periods within the constraints of space travel will require innovative solutions," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Pushing the boundaries of food technology will keep future explorers healthy and could even help feed people here at home."

In October 2021, Phase 1 of the challenge culminated as NASA awarded 18 teams a total of $450,000 for their concepts for innovative food production technology that produces safe, acceptable, palatable, nutritious food products that are stable and high quality, while minimizing necessary resource inputs. NASA and the Canadian Space Agency jointly recognized 10 international teams for their winning submissions. NASA's supporting partner of the challenge, the Methuselah Foundation, sponsored two $25,000 awards to international teams for their outstanding innovation. The Canadian Space Agency awarded 10 teams $30,000 CAD each to their winning teams.

NASA now invites both new and existing teams to enter Phase 2, which will require teams to build and demonstrate prototypes of their designs and produce food for judging. Interested participants from the United States can compete in Phase 2 for part of a prize purse up to $1 million.

"We are excited to continue collaborating with the Canadian Space Agency to conduct the next phase of this challenge and identify solutions from across the globe," said Reuter.

The Competition

The Deep Space Food Challenge asks competitors to create a food production technology, system, or approach that could potentially be integrated into a complete food system to sustain a crew of four on a three-year deep space mission. Everything needed to store, prepare and deliver food to the crew, including production, processing, transport, consumption, and disposal of waste should be considered. Proposed technologies such as plant growth systems, manufactured food products, and ready-to-eat solutions combined could provide the future crews with a variety of options that would provide the needed daily nutrition.

In Phase 1, NASA's judges grouped U.S. submissions based on the food they envisioned producing. Among the designs were a variety of systems that ranged from complex to very simple. Teams proposed technologies to produce ready-to-eat foods such as bread, as well as dehydrated powders that could be processed into food products. Other technologies involved cultivated plants and fungi or engineered food such as cultured meat cells, all of which could be grown or produced by the crew on deep space missions. Details about the winning submissions and teams can be found on the challenge website.

All teams involved in Phase 1 of the challenge met the registration requirements to enter Phase 2. New teams are welcomed and highly encouraged to participate after providing the required registration information, due by February 28. Interested participants from the United States can compete for part of a prize purse of up to $1 million from NASA. The Canadian Space Agency is hosting a parallel competition with a separate application and judging process, as well as its own prize purse, for participating Canadian teams. Qualifying teams from other countries may compete but will not be eligible for monetary prizes.

The Deep Space Food Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington and are managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Subject matter experts at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida support the competition. NASA, in partnership with the Methuselah Foundation, manages the U.S. and international Deep Space Food Challenge competition.

For more information about NASA's prizes and challenges, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/solve

SOURCE NASA
PHOENIX, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As school disruptions continue, families are calling attention to educational flexibility and opportunity at more than 700 celebrations of school choice around the state.

Arizona schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 735 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the biggest events in Arizona will be a Western extravaganza on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Rawhide Western Town & Event Center.

A student from Arizona's East Valley Institute of Technology will anchor the Week's national kick-off video, which will premiere on Monday, Jan. 24.

Nationwide, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Arizona parents have more school choice options for their children than families in most other states," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Long considered a pioneer in expanding opportunity in education, the Grand Canyon State remains an undisputed school choice leader. In just the past year, the state enhanced school choice options even more by expanding private school choice and providing transportation funding for charter schools."

In Arizona, there are a huge variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment laws, charter schools, magnet schools, homeschooling, private schools, and online schools. Arizona also offers a variety of state-run private school scholarship programs for families.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Doug Ducey has officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Arizona School Choice Week. Across the state, the cities of Avondale, Goodyear, Glendale, Page, and Cave Creek and the county of La Paz have also proclaimed School Choice Week.

To download a guide to Arizona school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/arizona.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Arizona events at schoolchoiceweek.com/arizona.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
DENVER, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message Colorado families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

Colorado schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 463 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the most prominent events in Colorado will be a Colorado Springs school fair on Saturday, Jan. 22 featuring more than 70 schools for parents to consider in their school search.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, including the McNichols Civic Center Building.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"When it comes to offering flexible policies that provide families with a diverse array of education options, specifically within the public education sector, Colorado is a national leader," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "With flexible open enrollment policies for traditional public schools, a thriving public charter school sector, and a variety of online public school optionsin addition to magnet, private, and home educationCentennial State parents have more options for their children's education than families in many other states. Within the past year, Colorado took even more steps to increase education options by expanding funding for charter schools."

Here in Colorado, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Thornton, LaSalle, Erie, and Platteville, and the county of Sedgwick.

To download a guide to Colorado school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/colorado.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Colorado events at schoolchoiceweek.com/colorado.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Pennsylvania families are bringing to more than 1,000 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Pennsylvania schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 1,054 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Pennsylvania, the Koppers Building will light up on Jan. 28.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Pennsylvania has long been a national leader in providing school choice options for families, offering everything from open enrollment programs for traditional public schools to a variety of public charter schools, public magnet schools, online public schools, private school choice programs, and the option to homeschool," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Last year, the Keystone State expanded school choice once again, making more private school scholarships available for families. Today, Pennsylvania moms and dads have more options for their children's education than families in many other states."

Here in Pennsylvania, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Pennsylvania families in low-achieving school zones or who fall below a certain income level may be eligible for state-run scholarship programs.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Clairton, Danville, Castle Shannon, Jenkins, Nanticoke, Bethel, Middlecreek, Abbotstown, and Summerhill, the townships of Union, Armstrong, Lurgan, Parks, Cherry, Blooming Grove, West Wheatfield, the boroughs of Steelton, and Montrose, and the counties of Blair and Berks.

To download a guide to Pennsylvania school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/pennsylvania.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Pennsylvania events at schoolchoiceweek.com/pennsylvania.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
KAMPALA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Wednesday urged African countries to remain united as the continent continues to push for reforms at the UN Security Council.

Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda's minister of state in charge of international affairs, made the call here while opening a meeting of senior officials from member countries of the African Union (AU) Committee of 10 in charge of promoting the common African position in the intergovernmental negotiations at the United Nations.

"I wish to reiterate that Uganda's support and commitment to reform as espoused in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration is unwavering, as it is the only viable option to redress the historical injustice done to the African continent," Oryem said at the meeting preceding a ministerial meeting scheduled for Thursday.

The AU resolved at Ezulwini Consensus in 2005 which called for a more democratic and representative UN which includes Africans.

"As such, Africa should remain cohesive and to continue to speak with one voice in unity of purpose on all aspects of the reform process," Oryem said.

Other countries attending the meeting in Kampala included Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Congo, Namibia, Zambia, Libya, Algeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal. 
MONTPELIER, Vt., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Vermont families are bringing to their events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Vermont schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 45 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable celebrations in Vermont will be an event at the Capitol featuring homeschool and private school students and educators on Thursday, Jan. 27.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Vermont, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Students in specific Vermont towns are eligible for a tuitioning program, which funds their attendance at nonreligious public or private schools outside their communities.

"Given its original history of school choice dating back to the 1800s, it's time for Vermont to keep connecting families to educational opportunity," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We hope that during this School Choice Week school spirit spreads among all K-12 communities and renews the education conversation, helping it become one of greater collaboration and positivity."

To download a guide to Vermont school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/vermont.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Vermont events at schoolchoiceweek.com/vermont.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give them choices. That's the message Nebraska families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Nebraska schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 182 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Gov. Pete Ricketts has recognized Nebraska School Choice Week with an official proclamation.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Nebraska, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Pete Ricketts officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Nebraska School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Sarpy.

"This week, Nebraska families join the nation in highlighting the importance of educational opportunity by exploring school choice," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Education starts with families; let's support all parents in finding learning environments where their child is challenged, inspired, and successful."

To download a guide to Nebraska school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/nebraska.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of Nebraska events at schoolchoiceweek.com/nebraska.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
CHEYENNE, Wyo., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Wyoming families are bringing to their events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Wyoming schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 44 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Wyoming, the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center will light up from late afternoon on Jan. 22 until the morning.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"In addition to the public and nonpublic education options currently available in Wyoming, parents in the Cowboy State are poised to see their choices grow," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Last year, the state took an important step in expanding the type of entities that can authorize the creation of public charter schools."

Here in Wyoming, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Lander.

To download a guide to Wyoming school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/wyoming.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Wyoming events at schoolchoiceweek.com/wyoming.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
BOSTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Massachusetts families are bringing to their hundreds of events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Massachusetts schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 432 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Massachusetts, the four Massachusetts Department of Transportation Bridges (Bunker Hill, Longfellow, Fore River, and Burns) will light up on Jan. 23 from dusk till dawn.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Massachusetts, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Charlie Baker officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Massachusetts School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of West Springfield.

"Supporting school choice and encouraging parental involvement in education should be common sense," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "This Week we celebrate how school choice allows families to find a great educational fit where their children are inspired, successful, and happy."

To download a guide to Massachusetts school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/massachussetts.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Massachusetts events at schoolchoiceweek.com/massachussetts.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
JEFFERSON CITY, Miss., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Families need flexible learning options. That's the message Missouri families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Missouri schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 460 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the biggest events in Missouri will be capital rally celebrations on Wednesday, Jan. 26 and Thursday, Jan. 27 highlighting private school access and virtual school options. There will also be a city-wide open house event for families in Kansas City to explore public school options on Saturday, Jan. 29.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Missouri, the Kansas City Power and Light Building will light up in yellow on Jan. 29.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Thanks to the work of parents and school leaders, school choice options in Missouri continue to expand," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In addition to strong public-sector education options including open enrollment programs for traditional public schools, full-time online public schools, public magnet schools, and a thriving public charter school sector, Missouri recently took steps towards improving access to private education through the creation of a new education savings account."

Here in Missouri, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with some limitations to open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Starting in 2022, Missouri students currently enrolled in public school or about to enter kindergarten may be eligible for the state's new education savings account program, which allows families to use their education tax dollars for private school tuition, tutoring, or other educational expenses.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Mike Parson officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Missouri School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Kansas City, Belton, Berkeley, Wentzville, and Scott City, and the counties of Schulyer and Henry.

To download a guide to Missouri school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/missouri.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Missouri events at schoolchoiceweek.com/missouri.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
BISMARCK, N.D., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Put kids first and help parents find out about their education options. That's the message North Dakota families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

North Dakota schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 45 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in North Dakota, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Doug Burgum has officially proclaimed North Dakota School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Hettinger.

"North Dakota families have fewer choices than families in other states when it comes to K-12 education, but we hope that increased opportunity is on the horizon," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Especially given last year's interrupted learning, there is no time to waste in providing families more opportunity and support to help kids learn."

To download a guide to North Dakota school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/north-dakota.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of North Dakota events at schoolchoiceweek.com/north-dakota.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
CARSON CITY, Nev., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message Nevada families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

Nevada schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 207 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the biggest events in Nevada will be the return of large school choice fairs providing support to thousands of families in Las Vegas and Reno on Saturday, Jan. 22 and Saturday, Jan. 29. Nevadans will also participate in the 1ra Feria Virtual Nacional Escolar y de Recursos en Espanol (First National Virtual School and Resource Fair in Spanish) on Friday, Jan. 28.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, including the Henderson City Hall building.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Over the past two decades, the options available to Nevada families have grown significantly," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In addition to a flexible homeschooling law and a variety of public-sector options including traditional public, charter, magnet, and online schools, the state last year expanded a scholarship program making private school more accessible for low-and middle-income families."

Here in Nevada, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Families below a certain income level qualify for a state-run scholarship program.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Henderson.

To download a guide to Nevada school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/nevada.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Nevada events at schoolchoiceweek.com/nevada.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
CONCORD, N.H., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Families need flexible learning options.That's the message New Hampshire families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

New Hampshire schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 105 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among notable events in New Hampshire will be a virtual informational event for school scholarship families on Tuesday, Jan. 25 and a state house field trip for homeschool families on Monday, Jan. 24 and Tuesday, Jan. 25.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"As each year passes, New Hampshire families continue to see their education options expand," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In addition to a variety of quality options within the public education sector, New Hampshire last year expanded access to private education for families by creating a new education savings account program."

Here in New Hampshire, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Students in certain New Hampshire towns may be eligible for the state's tuitioning program, allowing them to attend schools in other communities. New Hampshire students in families below a certain income level are eligible for publicly run scholarships. In 2021, New Hampshire passed an "Education Freedom Account" program. Through this program, students living at 300% of the poverty level can receive funds to customize their education.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Chris Sununu officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be New Hampshire School Choice Week.

To download a guide to New Hampshire school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/new-hampshire.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of New Hampshire events at schoolchoiceweek.com/new-hampshire.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give them school choice. That's the message New York families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

New York schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 1,339 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in New York will be a virtual informational event for school scholarship families on Tuesday, Jan. 25. New York school choice leaders will also participate in the 1ra Feria Virtual Nacional Escolar y de Recursos en Espanol (First National Virtual School and Resource Fair in Spanish) on Friday, Jan. 28.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In New York, Niagara Falls will light up from 10 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. on Jan. 27 and the Helmsley Building will light up on Jan. 23 from dusk until 2 a.m.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in New York, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Smithtown, Lancaster, Hornell, South Blooming Grove, Middleport, Huntington, Montour Falls, Esperance, Oyster Bay, Norwich, Manilus, Roslyn Harbor, Elmira, Phelps, Ticonderoga, Clarkstown, Elmsford, Constable, Montgomery, East Bloomfield, Massena, and North Utica, and the counties of Chautauqua, Onondaga, and Nassau.

"School choice in New York and elsewhere always has been and always will be about kids, about helping every child have a path toward a successful future," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Especially given last year's interrupted learning, there is no time to waste in providing families more opportunity and support to help kids learn."

To download a guide to New York school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/new-york.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of New York events at schoolchoiceweek.com/new-york.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
SALEM, Ore., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message Oregon families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

Oregon schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 208 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in Oregon will be a "Make a Splash for Schools!' family fun day on Saturday, Jan. 29 in Milwaukie.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Oregon, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Dundee, Medford, and Madras.

"For families in Oregon and across the U.S., the process of choosing a school is too often a stressful one," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "With clear resources and support, navigating your child's education can be a hope-filled, positive experience, and School Choice Week is a time to encourage that."

To download a guide to Oregon school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/oregon.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Oregon events at schoolchoiceweek.com/oregon.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
by Ronald Ssekandi

KAMPALA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A group of African countries representing the continent in negotiations to reform the UN Security Council, on Thursday described the talks as long and winding with some developed countries bent on maintaining the status quo.

The Committee of 10 (also known as C-10), bringing together Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia, Libya, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Uganda is meeting here to review its progress.

David John Francis, foreign affairs minister of Sierra Leone, the coordinator of the C-10, said despite all detractors, Africa is stuck to advancing its position of having two permanent representatives at the Security Council and an additional two Africans states as non-permanent representatives.

Francis told the meeting attended by host, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that over 70 percent of the issues discussed at the Security Council are about Africa and yet the continent is not represented.

"We are on the quest for justice, our resolve has been tested and we have remained resolute and resilient," Francis said, urging all African countries to speak with one voice and stay committed to the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

The two agreements are pushing for Africa's common position which is having two permanent representatives and two other non-permanent representatives at the Security Council.

Bankole Adeoye, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security said the Kampala meeting provides a window to renew the continent's push to accelerate the process of reforming the UN Security Council.

Adeoye told the meeting that the AU is pushing for a genuine partnership that demonstrates a belief in multilateralism, particularly the UN.

"Africa must stay the course, Africa must not relent in the long-drawn process of reforming this intergovernmental body," Adeoye said.

President Museveni said the world should not see Africa's push for reforms at the Security Council as a favor but a right. The Ugandan leader said Africa must have permanent members at the Security Council to ensure its interests are catered for.

Museveni said the UN in its current form does not represent the current realities but rather shortly after World War II times.

"We must be in that Security Council to ensure that it is not used negatively against Africa," he said.

He said because the Security Council went against the wishes of the African Union, Libya was invaded by foreign forces and this explains the current security lapse in the Sahel region. He said many countries in that part of Africa are facing conflicts because of the collapse of Libya. 
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebounding on 2021's school choice expansions, Florida families and educators have high hopes for the future of K-12 learning. Floridians will celebrate educational opportunity at thousands of events during National School Choice Week.

Florida schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 3,016 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the biggest events in Florida will be a capitol rally in Tallahassee on Wednesday, Jan. 26, and a family fun day in Miami on Saturday, Jan. 28.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Florida, the Cox Science Center and Aquarium will light up from 6 p.m. until midnight throughout School Choice Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Without question, parents in Florida will find more school choice options for their children than families in almost any other state," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "The Sunshine State is a national leader in providing a broad portfolio of public and non-public education options."

"Over several decades and even within the past year, the state has purposefully expanded choice across all sectors," said Campanella. "From flexible options allowing families to choose traditional public schools outside of their zones and districts, to a multitude of public charter schools and public magnet schools created by districts, to several full-time and tuition-free online schooling options, to the nation's largest scholarship program that helps low-and middle-income families access private education, to an accommodating homeschooling law, Florida has left few stones unturned in expanding options for families."

Here in Florida, there are a variety of educational options available to attend including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschooling. Florida's state-run scholarship programs extend to students in families with modest incomes, with an Individualized Education Plan, or victims of violence in public schools, in addition to a few other student groups.

Across the state, communities are celebrating these options by formally proclaiming School Choice Week, including the cities of Niceville, South Daytona, Jupiter, Hillsboro Beach, Miami Lakes, North Port, West Melbourne, Boca Raton, Lakeland, Fontana, Orlando, Mary Esther, Inglis, Oldsmar, Deerfield Beach, Lauderdale Lakes, Springfield, Aventura, Wellington, Bradenton, Fort Myers, Gainesville, Palm Bay, Dania Beach, North Lauderdale, Dade City, Malabar, Longwood, Coconut Creek, Miami Lakes, and Oakland, as well as the counties of Hernando, Escambia, and Glades.

To download a guide to Florida school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/florida.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Florida events at schoolchoiceweek.com/florida.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
MADISON, Wis., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message Wisconsin families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

Wisconsin schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 579 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable celebrations in Wisconsin will be a student showcase and dinner planned by School Choice Wisconsin at the Lambeau Stadium Atrium on Friday, Jan. 28.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Wisconsin has long been a national leader in providing school choice options for families," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In fact, Badger State parents have more options for their children's learning than moms and dads in most other states. These options include a variety of choices within the public education sector, and several programs designed to make private education more affordable for low- and middle-income families."

Here in Wisconsin, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools offers flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Any Wisconsin taxpayer can deduct the cost of private school tuition. Wisconsin students who meet certain income limits, or students with special needs, may qualify for state-run scholarship programs.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Algoma, Pembine, Kaukauna, Hobart, Farmington, Galesville, and Linn, and the county of Barron.

To download a guide to Wisconsin school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/wisconsin.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Wisconsin events at schoolchoiceweek.com/wisconsin.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
PIERRE, S.D., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message South Dakota families are bringing to 60 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

South Dakota schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 60 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in South Dakota, there are education options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, private schools, and homeschooling. South Dakota families with income below certain thresholds may qualify for a state-run scholarship program.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Kristi Noem officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be South Dakota School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Gettysburg.

"South Dakota families have fewer choices than families in other states when it comes to K-12 education, but we hope that increased opportunity is on the horizon," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Especially given last year's interrupted learning, there is no time to waste in providing families more opportunity and support to help kids learn."

To download a guide to South Dakota school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/south-dakota.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of South Dakota events at schoolchoiceweek.com/south-dakota.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
BOISE, Idaho, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Idaho families are bringing to more than 200 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Idaho schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 209 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in Idaho will be a virtual school fair for families statewide on Saturday, Jan. 22.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, including the 8th and Main Building in Boise, Idaho.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Idaho is on its way toward becoming a national leader in providing families with school choice options," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "The Gem State offers some of America's most flexible open enrollment policies for traditional public schools, a multitude of high quality public charter schools, and several full-time online schooling options for families  in addition to private schools, magnet schools, and homeschooling."

Here in Idaho, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Brad Little officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Idaho School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Chubbuck, Orofino, Rathdrum, and Meridian, and the county of Kootenai.

To download a guide to Idaho school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/idaho.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Idaho events at schoolchoiceweek.com/idaho.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
OLYMPIA, Wash., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give families choices when it comes to education. That's the message Washington families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Washington schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 279 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Washington, the Columbia Center in Seattle will light up in yellow from 12:30 pm until midnight on Jan. 22.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Washington, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Jay Inslee has officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Washington School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Deer Park, Tieton, Newport, Yacolt, and Enumclaw, and the county of Stevens.

"Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington families have been seeking out more educational opportunities for K-12 students," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We hope families, educators, and community leaders use School Choice Week to forge partnerships and foster conversations about what it looks like to truly put kids first in education."

To download a guide to Washington school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/washington.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Washington events at schoolchoiceweek.com/washington.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
She worked in several editorial roles before launching a digital showbiz news service in 2006 as Showbiz Editor. She became Features Editor in 2007, before moving into various commercial and management positions within PA.

In 2013, Shelley was instrumental in launching a new bespoke content service for corporate clients, and played an integral role in the acquisition of content agency Sticky, then becoming its Managing Director.

After six years at Sticky, Shelley was appointed MD at Alamy to lead the expanding global platform, post-acquisition.

"It's an honour to have been asked to join the PA Media Group board, both for me, and for Alamy as it continues to grow and deliver for the Group," said Shelley.

"PA Media Group and the innovative businesses within it have shaped my career for two decades now and I'm excited to be part of the team that steers it into the future.

"I also look forward to representing my colleagues from across the PA Media Group brands  including PA Media - as we continue to evolve and diversify."

Clive Marshall, PA Media Group CEO, added: "Emily's wealth of experience at PA Media Group, as well as her innovative thinking, proactive approach to every challenge and impressive leadership has made her a standout employee of our Group for many years.

"From starting out as a PA graduate to reaching the leadership positions that she has  it's a pleasure to welcome her to the Board."

PA Media Group Chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: "I'm delighted to welcome Emily to the board. It's a testament to PA Media Group and its rich history that Emily's career has evolved across multiple businesses and disciplines. She will bring that considerable experience and knowledge to help drive the future development and progress of our business."

Notes to Editors

The full PA Media Group board can be viewed HERE.

About PA Media Group

PA Media Group comprises a diverse portfolio of specialist media companies, spanning news and information, technology and communications services.

Its flagship brand, PA Media, is the UK and Ireland's leading news agency. Alongside PA Media, the Group is also the parent company of content platform Alamy, broadcast tech firm Globelynx, content agency Sticky, video streaming business StreamAMG, PA Betting Services, PA Training and PA TV Metadata.

PA Media Group has 20 shareholders, made up primarily of UK news, media and intelligence businesses. The largest shareholders include DMGT plc, Informa plc, News UK plc and Reach plc.

http://www.pamediagroup.com

For further information, please contact:

Tom Lloyd

Head of Communications - PA Media Group

[email protected]

07824 807 743

SOURCE PA Media Group
OMAHA, Neb., Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. Jeffrey Silver, Esq., Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Applied Underwriters, today issued the following statement in response to lawsuits filed by Australian insurer QBE against four Applied employees, formerly among QBE's 11,000 plus employees, and against Applied itself for hiring them:

"This lawsuit is plainly meritless and intends simply to use the actions against former employees  individuals  to try to accomplish with a nuisance suit what they could not accomplish with investment in the sector and with an effective marketing approach. The individuals named who had worked at QBE, the giant Australian insurance company, elected to move to Applied Underwriters of their own volition to fully develop their business specialty using Applied's resources.

"It should be noted that to an extent, insurance professionals depend upon commissions earned through sales. The hiring process in question happened in September 2021, more than 90 days ago, making QBE's claim of purportedly irreparable harm seem to be a litigation tactic far more than a demonstrable fact.

"When the staff members of QBE moved to join our Company and pursue their work in the aviation field with us, it was their decision as professionals. While we welcomed them with open arms and have since seen their choice translated into a successful aviation operation, how they arrived at their decision to move from QBE, what their plans were before moving, how they communicated those plans, what the covenants were that each had in place, who their prospects were specifically, if any, and their feelings about working at QBE were all the personal business of the employees who opted for change. We did not seek, did not receive, nor do we need any of QBE's confidential information.

"For our part, we acted ethically and openly to engage these interested insurance professionals, but not as any kind of specific move on our part against QBE. In fact, Applied enjoys a reputation as a great place to work, having received awards and accords in 2021 and in prior years for its employment practices which has made us an attractive option for professionals seeking growth and meaningful support. We are not sure how employees of insurance companies taking such a tactic against individuals  their peers  will feel about the institution, but it is not the kind of action that boosts morale or compensates for lost revenues readily; in fact, it might have the opposite effect.

"Our aggressive approach to new business has proved profitable for many experienced risk sector leaders across the globe, who make up the growing Applied faculty of top insurance professionals. So, while it is easy to understand the emotional impact and some of the potential financial effects of losing staff members, we believe that this matter is not lawsuit-worthy, and is waged without real merit against these men and women who are free to set their own destinies and to earn as much as possible through their talents generously rewarded when richly applied."

For full access to court documents, orders, and statements:

QBE Petition as filed in New York Supreme Court

QBE Summons as filed in New York Supreme Court

For further information contact: Jeffrey Silver Esq., at +1 (402) 342-4900 x4141 or at [email protected].

About Applied Underwriters (www.auw.com)

Applied Underwriters is a global risk services firm that helps businesses and people manage uncertainty through its business services, insurance and reinsurance solutions. As a company, Applied Underwriters has been distinguished by its innovative approaches to client care and by its strong financial strength. Applied Underwriters operates widely throughout the US, UK, EU and Middle East. Its operational headquarters is located in Omaha, Nebraska.

SOURCE Applied Underwriters
RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Small Business Association (NSBA) elected Olalah Njenga to serve on the Board of Trustees for a three-year term staring in 2022. NSBA is the nation's oldest small business advocacy organization and operates on a staunchly non-partisan basis. Njenga, a recognized leader in the small business community, joins other small business advocates from across the country working to promote small business interests to policymakers in Washington, D.C.

"Workforce, Organization, Capitalization and Compliance are the four forces of the small business economy. Each of these forces present challenges and opportunities for business owners," stated Njenga. "Overcoming those challenges and leveraging those opportunities through good policy-making is essential. I look forward to working with NSBA as we urge Congress and the Administration to ease small business burdens and support pro small business policies."

Njenga's company, YellowWood Group, based in North Carolina, is a strategy development and consulting firm founded in 2003. The firm partners with business leaders to transform ideas into objectives and objectives into outcomes.

Njenga has been active with NSBA for several years and has been an exemplary representative of national and state-level small business issues. In addition to her new leadership role with NSBA, Njenga continues to serve in other leadership roles at the state and national level where she is an outspoken advocate for the small business economy.

"I am proud to work with such an exemplary group of leaders who have made small business advocacy a top priority," stated NSBA Chair, Marc Amato. "Olalah came to us highly recommended and I look forward to her activism and leadership for years to come."

Njenga joins a diverse group of small business leaders on the NSBA 2022 Board. For more on NSBA, please visit www.nsba.biz or follow us at @NSBAAdvocate.

Photo(s):https://www.prlog.org/12901839

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE YellowWood Group
ASUNCION, Paraguay, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Republic of Paraguay (" Paraguay ") announced today the commencement of an offer to purchase for cash (the " Tender Offer ") its outstanding bonds set forth in the table below (collectively, the " Old Bonds " and each Old Bond, a "series" of Old Bonds) such that the aggregate principal amount of Old Bonds accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer is equal to a maximum purchase amount for each series to be determined by Paraguay in its sole discretion. The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer are set forth in the offer to purchase, dated Thursday, January 20, 2022 (the " Offer to Purchase ").

The Tender Offer is not conditioned upon any minimum participation of any series of Old Bonds, but is conditioned, among other things, on the pricing, but not the closing, of a new issuance of Paraguay's bonds due 2033 (the " New Bonds ") in an amount, with pricing and on terms and conditions acceptable to Paraguay in its sole discretion, with pricing terms expected to be announced at or around 4:00 p.m., New York time, on Thursday, January 20, 2022 (the " New Bonds Offering ").

The Tender Offer will commence at or around 8:00 a.m., New York time, on Thursday, January 20, 2022 and, unless extended or earlier terminated, (i) expire at 1:00 p.m., New York time that same day for non-preferred tenders (the " Non-Preferred Tender Period "), and (ii) expire at 2:00 p.m., New York time that same day for preferred tenders (the " Preferred Tender Period "). The settlement of the Tender Offer is scheduled to occur on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 (the " Tender Offer Settlement Date "). The purchase price to be paid per US$1,000 principal amount of each series of Old Bonds tendered and accepted pursuant to the Tender Offer will be an amount equal to the fixed price specified in the table below (such amount for each series, the " Purchase Price "). Holders whose Old Bonds are accepted in the Tender Offer will also receive any accrued and unpaid interest from, and including, the last interest payment date for such Old Bonds up to, but excluding, the Tender Offer Settlement Date (the " Accrued Interest "). Accrued Interest for preferred and non-preferred Tender Orders (as defined below) will be payable in cash.

Old Bonds Outstanding Principal

Amount as of Wednesday,

January 19, 2022

ISIN

CUSIP Purchase Price (per

US$1,000 Principal

Amount) 4.625% Bonds

due 2023 ("2023 Bonds") US$450,494,000 US699149AA82 USP75744AA38 699149AA8 P75744AA3 US$1,040.00 5.000% Bonds

due 2026 ("2026 Bonds") US$600,000,000 US699149AC49 USP75744AD76 699149AC4 P75744AD7 US$1,095.00

During the Non-Preferred Tender Period or Preferred Tender Period, as applicable, a holder of Old Bonds may place orders to tender Old Bonds (" Tender Orders ") only through one of the Dealer Managers (as defined below). Holders will NOT be able to submit tenders through Euroclear Bank SA/NV (" Euroclear "), Clearstream Banking, societe anonyme (" Clearstream ") or the Depository Trust Company (" DTC ") systems. If a holder does not have an account with a Dealer Manager, such holder may place a tender offer through any broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company, other financial institution or other custodian that it customarily uses that has an account with a Dealer Manager. Your broker must contact one of the Dealer Managers to submit a Tender Order on your behalf.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., as the billing and delivering bank for the Tender Offer (in such capacity, the " Billing and Delivering Bank "), will consolidate all Tender Orders and, upon instruction of Paraguay, accept Old Bonds for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer, subject to proration as described in the Offer to Purchase, at or around 8:00 a.m., New York time, on Friday, January 21, 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. Paraguay may subject each series of Old Bonds to different proration, in its sole discretion. Paraguay intends to accept Tender Orders for the 2023 Bonds, irrespective of whether such Tender Orders are preferred tenders or non-preferred tenders, before it accepts any preferred tenders and non-preferred tenders for the 2026 Bonds.

The Tender Offer is subject to Paraguay's right, at its sole discretion and subject to applicable law, to instruct the Billing and Delivering Bank to extend, terminate, withdraw, or amend the Tender Offer at any time. Each of Paraguay and the Billing and Delivering Bank reserves the right, in the sole discretion of each of them, not to accept any Tender Orders for any reason. Tender Orders by a holder of Old Bonds must be in permitted tender amounts as set forth in the Offer to Purchase. Tender Orders that are not for permitted tender amounts will not be accepted.

There is no letter of transmittal or guaranteed delivery procedure in connection with this Tender Offer. If you hold Old Bonds through DTC, they must be delivered to the Billing and Delivering Bank for settlement no later than 3:00 p.m., New York time, on the Tender Offer Settlement Date. If you hold Old Bonds through Euroclear or Clearstream, the latest process you can use to deliver your Old Bonds to the Billing and Delivering Bank is the overnight process, one day prior to the Tender Offer Settlement Date; you may not use the optional daylight process.

Failure to deliver Old Bonds on time may result (i) in the cancellation of your tender and in you becoming liable for any damages resulting from that failure, (ii) in the case of preferred tenders (a) in the cancellation of any allocation of New Bonds in the New Bonds Offering in respect of your related indication of interest and/or (b) in the cancellation of your tender and in your remaining obligation to purchase your allocation of New Bonds in respect of your related indication of interest and/or (iii) in the delivery of a buy-in notice for the purchase of such Old Bonds, executed in accordance with customary brokerage practices for corporate fixed income securities.

Any holder whose tender is cancelled will not receive the Purchase Price or Accrued Interest. Holders will not have withdrawal rights with respect to any tenders of Old Bonds in the Tender Offer. Old Bonds accepted for purchase will be settled on a delivery versus payment basis with the Billing and Delivering Bank on the Tender Offer Settlement Date in accordance with customary brokerage practices for corporate fixed income securities.

All Old Bonds that are tendered pursuant to Tender Orders placed through a Dealer Manager and accepted will be purchased by the Billing and Delivering Bank in such amounts as Paraguay shall determine and subject to the terms and conditions of the Offer to Purchase. Only the Billing and Delivering Bank will be liable for the payment of the Purchase Price and Accrued Interest for Old Bonds validly tendered and accepted as instructed by Paraguay. Paraguay will not be liable under any circumstances for any payment of the Purchase Price and Accrued Interest to the holders of Old Bonds tendered in the Tender Offer. The Billing and Delivering Bank shall not be liable for payments to any holder of Old Bonds validly tendered and accepted for purchase if such holder fails to timely deliver such Old Bonds on or prior to the settlement of the Tender Offer as described in the Offer to Purchase.

Global Bondholder Services Corporation is the information agent in connection with the Tender Offer (the " Information Agent "), and the Offer to Purchase may be downloaded from the Information Agent's website indicated below or obtained from the Information Agent at the contact below:

Contact information: Global Bondholder Services Corporation Attention: Corporate Actions 65 Broadway  Suite 404 New York, NY 10006 Banks and Brokers Call: +1 (212) 430-3774 All Others Call: +1 (855) 654-2014 website: http://www.gbsc-usa.com/paraguay

, or from any of the Dealer Managers.

The dealer managers (the " Dealer Managers ") for the Tender Offer are:

Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

388 Greenwich Street, 4th Floor Trading

New York, New York 10013 United States of America Attention: Liability Management Group Collect: +1 (212) 723-6106 Toll free: +1 (800) 558-3745

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

200 West Street,

New York, New York 10282

United States of America Attention: Liability Management Group Collect: +1 (212) 357-1452 Toll free: +1 (800) 828 3182

Questions regarding the Tender Offer may be directed to and the Offer to Purchase may be obtained from the Dealer Managers at the above contact.

Republic of Paraguay

c/o Ministerio de Hacienda

Chile 128

Asuncion 001101

Paraguay

Important Notice

The New Bonds Offering will be made solely by means of an offering memorandum relating to that offering. Before you invest, you should read the offering memorandum for more complete information about Paraguay and such offering. You may not participate in the New Bonds Offering unless you have received and reviewed the offering memorandum related to that offering, and not in reliance on, or on the basis of, this announcement. The New Bonds will be offered only to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A and to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act, and will not be registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction.

This announcement is not an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell the Old Bonds. The Tender Offer will be made only by and pursuant to the terms of the Offer to Purchase, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time.

The distribution of materials relating to the New Bonds Offering and the Tender Offer, and the transactions contemplated by the New Bonds Offering and Tender Offer, may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Each of the New Bonds Offering and the Tender Offer is made only in those jurisdictions where it is legal to do so. The New Bonds Offering and the Tender Offer are void in all jurisdictions where they are prohibited. If materials relating to the New Bonds Offering or the Tender Offer come into your possession, you are required to inform yourself of and to observe all of these restrictions. The materials relating to the New Bonds Offering and the Tender Offer do not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer or solicitation in any place where offers or solicitations are not permitted by law. If a jurisdiction requires that the New Bonds Offering or the Tender Offer be made by a licensed broker or dealer and a Dealer Manager or any affiliate of a Dealer Manager is a licensed broker or dealer in that jurisdiction, the New Bonds Offering or the Tender Offer, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be made by the Dealer Manager or such affiliate in that jurisdiction. Owners who may lawfully participate in the Tender Offer in accordance with the terms thereof are referred to as "holders."

Stabilization/FCA

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, this communication is only addressed to and directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the " Prospectus Regulation ").

This announcement is not an invitation nor is it intended to be an inducement to engage in investment activity for the purpose of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 of the United Kingdom (the " FSMA "). This announcement is only being distributed to and is only directed: at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the " Order ") or (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). Any New Bonds will only be available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such New Bonds will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents.

SOURCE Republic of Paraguay
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Restoration Builders, Inc. ("Restoration Builders" or "The Company") today announced that it has appointed Michael Iovieno as President of its residential business.

Michael "The Colonel" Iovieno joined Restoration Builders in 2017 and has served as The Company's Chief Operating Officer since 2019. He brings four decades of military leadership and business management. Mr. Iovieno previously served as Mayor of Cinco Bayou, Florida. He earned a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Psychology from Worcester State University and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from Texas Christian University. Michael's previous business experience includes brokering contracts in compliance with international laws and procedures, residential and commercial real estate development and large scale international logistical support.

"I am honored to extend a warm welcome to Mike as President of our residential business. Mike is a highly decorated retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and he has served as President of a commercial and residential real estate business, and as Vice President of an investment management firm," said John Lorenz, Chairman and CEO of Restoration Builders, Inc. "He has great leadership skills and a proven ability to build cohesive teams. He knows how to accomplish goals. I look forward to working together as we drive the company forward to the next level of growth."

About

Restoration Builders is the Nations' largest residential roofing contractor, founded in 2017 to meet explosive growth demands in the $210B+ insurance restoration industry. We are committed locally and prepared to serve wide scale for disaster response. The Company has 32 strategically located operations and is creating a multi-channel sales platform that includes a traditional in-home consultation, digital consultation, and commercial services. Our mission is to protect, restore, and build properties, strengthen families and support our communities.

For Further Information:

Janet Carnell Lorenz

Market Tactics

[email protected]

(425) 620-1800



SOURCE Restoration Builders
NAIROBI, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's international tourist arrivals increased by 53.3 percent to 870,465 in 2021 compared to 567,848 in 2020 with the sector showing recovery amid increased COVID-19 vaccinations across the globe, a government official said on Wednesday.

Najib Balala, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary, said the sector registered steady growth from June to December in 2021.

"The numbers are still low, but we are optimistic that we will eventually go back to our all-time high international visitor arrivals or even surpass it," Balala said during the launch of a report by the state-owned Tourism Research Institute in the capital, Nairobi.

"This is because the majority of our masses are vaccinated and international visitors will have faith in our destination again," he added.

Balala said the 2021 performance is an indication of a steadily growing trust for the Magical Kenya destination, which can be credited to renewed marketing efforts as well as confidence in the country's efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

He said the growth was also supported by innovative products offered to both domestic and international markets by major players, mainly hotels and domestic airlines.

The report shows the top five international arrivals by country are the United States, Uganda, Tanzania, the United Kingdom and India. 
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Third-party logistics company Rocket Shippers, the ecommerce fulfillment arm of human capital solutions firm Pride Global, has announced it will open a new West Coast Fulfillment Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 1, 2022. The North Las Vegas facility will join Rocket Shippers' existing Hebron, Kentucky-based warehouse, which expands the company's two-day ground shipping footprint to include 96% of the U.S. populationand allows it to offer faster, higher-quality shipping across the American West.

The new fulfillment center, strategically located on Speedway Boulevard in North Las Vegas, has easy access to neighboring retailers' facilities as well as the Port of Los Angeles, providing a wide range of logistical advantages. In addition to enlarging its two-day ground shipping range, Rocket Shippers' West Coast Fulfillment Center allows for one-day ground shipping across much of the Southwest, including Southern California. The company's greater reach has also eliminated Zone 7 and 8 shipping for most deliveries, further decreasing costs.

"We're thrilled for what our new West Coast Fulfillment Center will bring to our clients during this critical juncture for ecommerce in the U.S.," said Leo Russell, Jr., CEO and founder of Rocket Shippers. "Reduced transit times and optimized shipping zones, along with the cheaper freight costs through the L.A. port, will make it easier for them to get their products in their customers' hands at the speed people have come to expect today."

As with the first Rocket Shippers facility in Kentucky, the West Coast Fulfillment Center uses cutting-edge warehousing technology and standard operating procedures for secure, effective inventory management. Its cloud-based software solution keeps clients updated in real time via online dashboards, while the company's advanced order management process and picking-and-packing strategies ensure rates of 99.97% picking accuracy.

About Rocket Shippers

A technology-forward third-party logistics (3PL) company dedicated to ecommerce fulfillment excellence, Rocket Shippers provides complete end-to-end shipping, warehousing, and omnichannel fulfillment services. In addition to traditional B2B and B2C fulfillment for small- to medium-sized businesses and startups, it offers shipping preparation through all major retail fulfillment channels, including Amazon FBA and FBM, as well as subscription kitting and customized white-label packaging options. For more information, visit rocketshippers.com.

About Pride Global

Pride Global is a minority-owned integrated human capital solutions firm that helps companies solve complex human resource challenges from its headquarters in Manhattan. The Pride Global network of companies operates throughout the U.S., U.K., India, and Brazil, offering a comprehensive range of human resources solutions, including managed services, vendor management, payroll programs, business process optimization and staffing for both direct hire and contingent labor, among others. Learn more at prideglobal.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Kaltrina Riley, Chief Marketing Officer

(212) 235-5300 | [email protected]



SOURCE Rocket Shippers
SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Not far from Amazon parrots and ring-tailed lemurs, several hundred families and educators will join together to celebrate school choice at the Santa Ana Zoo on Saturday, Jan. 29. This event marks the Orange County Parent Union's seventh annual school choice fair.

More than a dozen public schools and community groups will host informational booths at this year's fair, giving families the opportunity to explore learning options, ask questions, and receive support in their school search.

The event, which runs from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., is open to all families and attendees will receive free entrance to the zoo. More than 400 community members are expected to attend.

Speakers will include Mari Barker, president of the Orange County Board of Education; Lance Izumi, senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute; former State Senator Romero; and Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network.

Besides school booths, the fair will feature face painting, a photo booth, snacks, raffle prizes, and a DJ. Throughout the event, student groups will showcase dance and talent performances, and parents will deliver testimonials on the impact of school choice for their family.

This event is planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week Jan. 23-29, 2022, which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states. Throughout School Choice Week, more than fifteen other cities across the country  including Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, and Jersey City  will hold similar fairs.

"School choice is about giving California parents access to the best K-12 education options for their children," said Cecilia "Ceci" Iglesias, founder of the Parent Union. "This school choice fair will allow parents and students to hear from all K-12 educational experts school districts, public charter schools, homeschool organizations, and more. Especially in the aftermath of school closures, parents want options more than ever."

The Santa Ana Zoo is located at 1801 E. Chestnut Ave.

This event is hosted by Parent Union, a California organization with the mission of engaging, organizing, and training parents, students and community members to defend the constitutional right to a high-quality public education for all students.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell Oil Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, has completed the sale of its interest in Deer Park Refining Limited Partnership, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company and P.M.I. Norteamerica, S.A. De C.V. (a subsidiary of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex) for $596 million, a combination of cash and debt.

The agreement covers the sale of Shell's 50.005% interest in the partnership, and therefore transfers full ownership of the refinery to Pemex. Shell Chemical L.P. will continue to operate its 100% owned Deer Park Chemicals facility located adjacent to the site.

"The completion of this sale marks the start of a new chapter of our history in Deer Park as we've worked closely with Pemex over the past few months to ensure a safe and responsible handover of operations for the refinery," said Huibert Vigeveno, Shell's Downstream Director. "The team at Deer Park has been instrumental not only in preparing the asset for Pemex operations, but also in continuing a legacy of safety and performance that dates back 92 years. We look forward to remaining a neighbour in the Deer Park community and growing our chemicals business to best meet the needs of our customers while advancing our global energy and chemicals park strategy."

As part of its Powering Progress strategy, Shell plans to consolidate its refinery footprint to five core energy and chemicals parks. These locations will maximize the integration benefits of conventional fuels and chemicals production while also offering new low carbon fuels and performance chemicals. They also offer future potential hubs for sequestration.

Notes to editors

On May 24, 2021 , Shell and Pemex announced that they had signed a sales agreement for Pemex to acquire Shell's 50.005% interest in Deer Park Refining Limited Partnership, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Pemex.

, Shell and Pemex announced that they had signed a sales agreement for Pemex to acquire Shell's 50.005% interest in Deer Park Refining Limited Partnership, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Pemex. A further amount of $325 million was received for the value attributed to the hydrocarbon inventory at the time of closing. The final amount for the hydrocarbon inventory will depend on volume measurements and average market prices for the month of January, which is expected to range between $300 to $350 million .

was received for the value attributed to the hydrocarbon inventory at the time of closing. The final amount for the hydrocarbon inventory will depend on volume measurements and average market prices for the month of January, which is expected to range between to . Employees assigned to the refinery assets were offered employment by Pemex with effect upon closing in accordance with the transaction.

Shell has entered into certain product offtake and crude supply agreements with Pemex for Deer Park Refinery.

To mark this new chapter and highlight Shell's continued support for the Deer Park community, Shell has provided approximately $2 million in funding for projects benefitting the community.

community, Shell has provided approximately in funding for projects benefitting the community. Shell is one of America's leading energy companies with interests in 50 states employing more than 12,000 people. Shell's U.S. portfolio of operated companies and interests consists of oil, natural gas, petrochemicals, gasoline, lubricants, and other refined products along with renewables such as wind, solar, and mobility options like electric vehicle charging and hydrogen. In the U.S. Shell is also investing in an integrated power business that will provide electricity to millions of homes and businesses.

Cautionary note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell Group" and "Group" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. "Subsidiaries", "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations", respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "aim", "ambition", "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goals", "intend", "may", "objectives", "outlook", "plan", "probably", "project", "risks", "schedule", "seek", "should", "target", "will" and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak; and (n) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 (available at www.shell.com/investors and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, January 20, 2022. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.

SOURCE Shell
"This is an exciting time as these leaders are among the top in the industry," said CEO of SkillGigs Kashif Aftab. Tweet this

Division President of Digital Brad Hill will provide strategic and operational oversite for the technology business. Over a 25-year career, Hill has acquired global experience in design and execution in business development, leadership, operations, and strategic consulting within the IT industry. For 19 years, Hill worked for the Allegis Group, primarily with TEKsystems, where he was an instrumental member of the team that helped scale TEKsystems to over $700mm in revenue. Hill also served as senior vice president of Experis, where he was responsible for over $300mm in revenue. Hill earned his B.S. Science in Biology from Southwest Baptist University.

VP of Marketing Amanda Betts will provide leadership for all marketing functions for the company. Most recently, Betts has served in key marketing roles for two of the world's largest staffing companies, Randstad and ManpowerGroup. At Randstad, Betts served as VP of brand providing enterprise marketing campaigns along with all brand content and digital marketing. At ManpowerGroup, Betts served as the director of North America marketing and was responsible for all marketing strategy including increasing digital marketing efficiencies. Betts earned her B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

"This is an exciting time as these leaders are among the top in the industry," commented Kashif Aftab, Founder and CEO of SkillGigs. "By adding 'Top 100 Leaders' with institutional leadership, extensive knowledge of connecting talent with opportunities, outstanding operational expertise, as well as entrepreneurial spirit, we will deliver continuous innovation," said Aftab.

Contact: Amanda Betts, [email protected]

SOURCE SkillGigs
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic is proud to announce she has been endorsed by Teamsters Local Union 200 and Teamsters Local 344.

"Milwaukee workers deserve respect and dignity. No one who works full-time should ever be in poverty," said Dimitrijevic. "As Mayor, I will fight for our organized labor, protect the right of workers to organize, and ensure every worker is paid a living wage."

"We stand by Marina in her campaign for Mayor because she shares our values and commitment to working families, fair wages and working conditions, and a better Milwaukee," said Bill Carroll, President of the Teamsters Joint Council 39 and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 344. "Marina has a consistent track record of fighting for the working class, which translates to a strong community."

"As the daughter of an immigrant, Marina knows the value of hard work and that hard work should pay. We know we can count on Marina to stand with us," said Tim Pinter, President of Teamsters Local 200.

Dimitrijevic's endorsement by Teamsters Local Union 200 and Teamsters Local Union 344 adds to her continued support from organized labor, including a previous endorsement from American Federation for Teachers 212, Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Teamsters Local 200 and 344 represent more than 3,500 working families who reside in the City of Milwaukee. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Tom Bennett, (414) 771-6363

[email protected]

SOURCE Milwaukee Teamsters
Vendor Landscape

The market structure is expected to remain fragmented during the forecast period. Vendors are deploying different organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market.

ABB Ltd., Accenture Plc, Alphabet Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., International Business Machines Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., SAP SE, Siemens AG among others are some of the few key vendors competing to maintain their market position in the market.

Various players in the market are engaging in strategic partnerships and joint ventures coupled with launching differentiated products to up their game in the smart city industry. For instance, In July 2021, ABB Ltd acquired ASTI Mobile Robotics Group to drive the next generation of flexible automation. In June 2021, the company partnered with Axpo on a project aimed at making green hydrogen more accessible and affordable.

View more about the market's vendor landscape highlights with a comprehensive list of vendors and their offerings.

Key Market Segmentation

Segmentation by Application:

Smart infrastructure:



Smart infrastructure entails the digitalization of energy systems, buildings, and industries to improve efficiency and sustainability in the way people live and work. Many interior functions, such as heating, ventilation, lighting, security, and other building systems, can be automated in smart buildings thanks to modern installation and technological systems.





The implementation of smart infrastructures will be fueled by increased industrial development, commercialization, and knowledge of efficient energy use and building optimization. Rapid technological advancements will accelerate the adoption of smart infrastructure, as systems may use the Internet of Things (IoT), analytics, and cloud computing to monitor, control, and operate buildings more effectively.



Smart Energy



Smart Mobility



Smart Security



Others

Request a FREE Sample of this report for more highlights into the market segments.

Regional Market Outlook

Europe will contribute to 37% of the market growth during the forecast period. The growth of this region can be attributed to the availability of high-speed wireless networks and increased connected devices such as smartphones and IoT penetration.

Apart from regions, if we look at the country-wise market growth, the US, UK, Germany, Spain, and Japan will contribute to the highest market growth.

Download our FREE sample report for more key highlights on the regional market share of most of the above-mentioned countries.

Latest Trends, Driving the Global Smart City Market

Market Driver:

Increase in IT consolidation and modernization:

The rising convergence of IT infrastructures in enterprises, such as data centers and networking systems, is prompting C-suite executives to deploy advanced IT service delivery models, such as shared and managed IT services. The acceptance of IT services and the deployment of smart city projects for greater connectivity and sustainability are being driven by the constant change in technology and the demand for IT modernizations in multiple industry verticals such as manufacturing, BFSI, telecom, and healthcare. Furthermore, IT services and policies are being adopted by the public sector because they assist in integrating operational procedures related to IT and business strategy while also lowering costs.

Market Trend:

The proliferation of smart city projects in emerging economies:

For more than a decade, developed economies in North America and Europe have been working to construct smart cities and have already completed several projects. In terms of smart city technologies, APAC is the fastest-growing area. India and China, for example, are still in the planning stages and are undertaking a slew of experimental projects. The increasing rate of urbanization in countries like India is a primary factor driving the implementation of smart city initiatives, as smart city infrastructure enables end-users to respond more quickly to the difficulties that urban settlements face. As a result, during the projected period, the number of smart cities in emerging economies is expected to quickly increase, which, further will boost the smart city market growth during the forecast period.

Find additional information about various other market drivers & trends mentioned in our FREE sample report .

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Smart City Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 19.43% Market growth 2021-2025 $ 151.99 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 18.40 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution Europe at 37% Key consumer countries US, UK, Germany, Spain, and Japan Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled ABB Ltd., Accenture Plc, Alphabet Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., International Business Machines Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., SAP SE, and Siemens AG Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis 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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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Technavio Research

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Media & Marketing Executive

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com

SOURCE Technavio
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiger Group is selling over 55 million pieces of brand-new hemp CBD wellness products, packaging and related accessories in a major liquidation event.

Worth a total of approximately $15 million at cost, the inventory is available for immediate purchase at SoldTiger.com.

Other items offered in Tiger's sale include a variety of plastic packaging and bags. A wide selection of plastic and glass jars are available in Tiger Group's liquidation of over 55 million pieces of brand-new CBD wellness products, packaging and related accessories surplus to the ongoing operations of Greenlane following its recent merger with KuskKo Holdings.

"As we begin 2022, we are extremely pleased to be offering one of the largest inventories of this type of product mix to hit the secondary market," noted Jonathan Holiday, Director of Business Development, Tiger Commercial & Industrial. "Below-market pricing will be made available for buyers acquiring large quantities of the packaging and accessories. The inventory is suitable for cannabis, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and other companies, to package your product as well as purchase for your retail operations."

The offering features:

glass jars

tinctures

concentrates

plastic packaging

bottles

hemp pre-rolls

tins

labels

bags

hemp CBD/wellness items

Plus much more

Due to state regulations, certain inventory will be sold only to corporations or LLCs that are authorized to engage in the sale of those products.

The items are stored in facilities in Moreno Valley and Compton, California; Hebron, Kentucky; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

"In addition to physical pickup at these locations, some shipping options will be available by our client based on the size and other relevant details of the purchase," Holiday said.

The liquidation sale will last approximately 60 days. For a complete listing of the assets, visit https://soldtiger.com/sales/over-15-million-at-cost-of-brand-surplus-inventory-from-major-cbd-distributor/

For more information, contact [email protected], (805) 497-4999.

Media Contacts: At Tiger Commercial & Industrial: Jonathan Holiday, (805) 367-3893, [email protected]. At Jaffe Communications: Elisa Krantz, [email protected], (908) 789-0700.

SOURCE Tiger Group
"We've proven the viability of our model, and we're pushing forward into high-growth mode with leaders who will use our scalable platform to innovate and increase distribution now, not five years from now," says Fifth Season's CEO, Austin Webb.

The investment in new hires will allow Fifth Season to manage its 600 percent projected sales growth of ready-to-eat salads in 2022, which will be fulfilled by the flagship farm in Braddock. The Fifth Season farm in Columbus will begin operations in 2023, will be 180,000 square feet - approximately three times the size of the Braddock farm - and, like all Fifth Season Farms, will feature best-in-class automation. "Thanks to our modular design, no software work is needed to integrate Bots into the new facility, they just start working together in their new configuration," says Fifth Season CTO, Brac Webb. "At the Braddock farm, we have just over 100 instances of our Bots in use, and at the future Columbus farm we plan to have around 250 instances." The Columbus farm will also prioritize renewable solar energy and leverage an onsite microgrid.

Along with the physical expansion of the farming operation and sales growth comes an expansion of Fifth Season's team  the company is expected to grow to more than 100 full-time employees by early 2023. To start, Fifth Season has made three new leadership hires, including CFO Brian Griffiths, a finance and tech industry veteran who has experience both as a technology banker and operator. "From my 30 years of experience in technology, it was immediately clear to me that Fifth Season is in a league of its own," says Griffiths. "We're positioned to continue being the most capital-efficient company in our sector and rapidly scale our business."

Fifth Season has also added two long-time pioneers in the food industry, VP of Food Products, Varun Khanna, and SVP of Sales, Glenn Wells, who will leverage their combined experience of more than 45 years to advance the business.

Each leader brings extensive experience:

Brian Griffiths , Chief Financial Officer Griffiths is an accomplished financial and tech executive with 30+ years of experience in the corporate, investment banking and public accounting sectors. Prior to joining Fifth Season, Brian was CFO at a leading semiconductor company, Skorpios Technologies. He also served as Managing Director at Credit Suisse, Guggenheim Partners, and Spurrier Capital Partners, where he advised leading technology companies on capital raising and M&A across the globe.

Varun Khanna , Vice President of Food Products Khanna is a CPG innovation leader with a track record for creating products that delight shoppers and achieve high velocity both in natural channel and conventional grocery. Prior to joining Fifth Season, Khanna served as the innovation leader at Sabra and Chobani, where he led high-performing teams with a consumer-first approach to achieve groundbreaking, industry-first launches.

Glenn Wells , Senior Vice President of Sales Glenn is a produce sales and marketing executive who specializes in value creation through innovation, insights, strategy, and execution. He's had success in multiple channels across North America, including food, mass, club, drug, and food service. Prior to joining Fifth Season, Wells was a leader at iconic brands like Quaker Oats, Welch's, and Dole.

Fifth Season is a sustainable food systems pioneer creating an entirely new fresh food ecosystem and category of ready-to-eat salads. Fifth Season's salads feature tender lettuces, spinach, and baby romaine, all of which are grown by the company's proprietary farming platform that's automated from end-to-end via a system of integrated software and robots. Fifth Season's technology creates the perfect environment and "grow recipe" for the optimal taste, texture and freshness of each plant. Fifth Season remains committed to both their founding community of Carnegie Mellon University and their founding city of Pittsburgh. The company supports local organizations, including 412 Food Rescue and For Good PGH. Fifth Season's recent expansion to a 180,000-square-foot farm in Columbus, Ohio, makes the company one of the largest and fastest-growing vertical farms in the world. For more information on Fifth Season, its technology and produce, visit www.fifthseasonfresh.com.

Media contact:

Ali Trachta, [email protected]

SOURCE Fifth Season
ZUG, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medison, a global pharma company focused on providing access to highly innovative therapies to patients in international markets ("Medison"), is proud to announce the joining of Victor Papamoniodis in the newly created position of VP International Markets. Victor will be based in Zug, Switzerland, Medison's international headquarters.

Victor will head Medison's markets outside of Israel and will focus on scaling up the company's presence across markets, while growing and nurturing relationships with Medison's global partners.

Victor Papamoniodis, VP International Markets, Medison Pharma

Prior to joining Medison, Victor held the position of VP International & Emerging Markets at Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to that, he spent 9 years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated as GM for Distributors & Expansion Markets, responsible for multiple regions, including CEE, LATAM, Russia & MENA.

"I am delighted to join Medison's global leadership at an exciting time of rapid growth and expansion into new markets. Medison creates a real paradigm shift in the pharma industry, positioning itself as the next-gen partner for biotech companies who wish to access international markets and serve patients in need," said Victor Papamoniodis.

"Medison is set out to change patients' lives in international markets, bridging the unbearable access gap and making the most innovative therapies accessible to patients," said Meir Jakobsohn, Founder and CEO of Medison. "The experience and capabilities that Victor brings will take our international platform to the next level."

"Adding Victor's capabilities will accelerate Medison's expansion into additional markets and regions, building a true unified platform for the benefit of partners and patients, globally," added Gil Gurfinkel, VP Corporate Development of Medison.

About Medison Pharma



Medison is a global pharma company focused on providing access to highly innovative therapies to patients in international markets. Medison is the first to create an international commercialization platform for highly innovative therapies, helping to save and improve lives by making the best available novel treatments accessible to patients in international markets. Medison has a track record of multi-territorial partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies seeking to expand their global reach. To learn more visit www.medisonpharma.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1729991/Medison_Pharma_VP.jpg

Medison Contact

Maya Nix

Corporate Communications Lead

[email protected]

+972-3-925-0260

SOURCE Medison Pharma
RABAT, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Morocco on Wednesday registered the highest surge in COVID-19 cases in the last five months, with 9,355 new cases, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,068,941.

The fatalities rose to 15,025 with 13 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, according to Moroccan Ministry of Health.

The North African country had registered 8,216 new COVID-19 cases on Aug. 21, 2021 at the peak of the delta variant. Data showed that COVID-19 cases in Morocco had since then declined sharply, before surging again at the first week of January 2022.

Meanwhile, a total of 24,626,900 people in Morocco have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while the number of fully vaccinated people (1st and 2nd doses) has reached 23,029,987, and 3,984,519 people have received the third booster shot.

Morocco launched a nationwide vaccination campaign on Jan. 28, 2021 after the arrival of the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccine. 
WILTON MANORS, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Wilton Manors is kicking off the new year with [email protected], a free outdoor concert series. Everyone is invited to bring their lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the first concert of the series, featuring Mr. Jimi, a Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page Tribute Band, on Friday, January 21, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. at Mickel Park (2675 NW 7th Ave., Wilton Manors, FL 33311).

"[email protected] is a family-friendly community event for people of all ages to enjoy," said Mayor Scott Newton. "I encourage everyone to take advantage of these events in our own backyard and to spend time with their friends and neighbors."

[email protected] concerts will take place from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. every third Friday from January through March 2022. Food trucks, beverages, and a cash bar will be available on-site. Parking is located on-site at Mickel Park and additional parking will be available at St. Clement's Church (2975 N. Andrews Ave., Wilton Manors, FL 33311) with shuttle service to Mickel Park every 10 minutes.

The [email protected] 2022 concert schedule is as follows:

Friday, January 21, 2022 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 pm.

Mr. Jimi: Jimi Hendrix & Jimmy Page Tribute Band

The [email protected] concert series will kick off by throwing it back to the 60's with Mr. Jimi, a Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page Tribute Band.

Friday, February 18, 2022 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 pm.

Caribbean Chillers: Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band

Next up, guests can travel to Margaritaville with the Caribbean Chillers Jimmy Buffett Tribute Band.

Friday, March 18, 2022 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 pm.

Still Alive: Pearl Jam Tribute Band

To close out the 2022 [email protected] series, join the Pearl Jam Tribute Band, Still Alive.

For more information regarding the [email protected] concert series, please contact the City's Leisure Services Department at (954) 390-2130 or visit www.wiltonmanors.com

ABOUT THE CITY OF WILTON MANORS

Wilton Manors was laid out in 1925 by Edward John "Ned" Willingham, a land developer from Georgia, as an upscale residential community. It was recognized as a Village in 1947 and incorporated as a City in 1953. Today, the City of Wilton Manors offers all the benefits of a big city from shopping, to hip restaurants and bars, a burgeoning arts community and tons of community events, yet still maintains a cozy, community-feeling offering miles of natural waterways perfect for kayaking, paddle boarding and other outdoor activities. In 2018, Wilton Manors was named the "Second Gayest City" in the United States, celebrating a diverse population of approximately 12,000 residents. To learn more about the live, work and play opportunities in Wilton Manors call (954) 390-2100 or visit www.wiltonmanors.com.

CONTACT: Aimee Adler (561) 302-6902 (or)

[email protected]

SOURCE The City of Wilton Manors
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LetterOne and Air Artist Agency are proud to announce the winners of the 2021/2022 'LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award' - Armenian pianist Yessai Karapetian has won the European edition of the award, while US guitarist Dan Wilson has won the North American edition.

Altogether more than 750 artists  a new record  submitted a video of their performances and soundtracks to be considered by the jury for the 'LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award'. The Jury was chaired by world-renowned bassist and two-time Grammy Award Winner Marcus Miller, who was joined by legendary producer Brian Bacchus, journalist and 'Radio France' presenter Alex Dutilh, 'The Guardian' Senior Arts Editor Imogen Tilden, journalist, author and 'NPR' contributor Michelle Mercer and investor, philanthropist and founder of the 'Leopolis Jazz Fest' in Lviv, Mikhail Fridman.

As part of their prize, Yessai Karapetian and Dan Wilson will now perform in 2022 at major jazz festivals in Europe and North America. Additionally, they will both receive a full year of PR/marketing support through the award winning Air Artist talent agency.

Yessai Karapetian was born in Armenia in 1993 and studied at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris. Upon graduation, he received a full scholarship to pursue a Master of Music Degree in Contemporary Performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which he concluded successfully.

Yessai convinced the 'LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award' jury with the romantic, ferocious and bridge-building music that he put forward. The jury said, "Yet again the level of musicianship among the finalists was incredibly high. Taking that into consideration it is even more impressive that Yessai managed to stand out with his expressive style and entrancing compositions."

Dan Wilson, guitarist, composer and winner of the North American edition of the 'LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award', spent the majority of his youth in the church community in Akron, Ohio where his musical path began.

Dan's musical identity was shaped by a variety of styles ranging from gospel and blues to traditional jazz, bossa nova and hip-hop. After graduating, Dan performed to worldwide acclaim with Christian McBride's 'Tip City' and recorded his debut album 'Vessels of Wood and Earth' for McBride's imprint 'Brother Mister' on Mack Avenue. He is a member of Joey DeFrancesco's band and played on his Grammy nominated album 'Project Freedom.'

The jury of the 'LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award' said, "Dan has the incredible ability as a musician and a composer, to give his own, modern twist to music in an immensely invigorating and respectful manner, while still paying tribute to the Jazz greats before him. Despite the tough competition it quickly became clear to us that there could only be one winner of this year's US award."

Starting his European tour in June 2022, Yessai Karapetian will perform at seven of Europe's most famous jazz festivals  Love Supreme in the United Kingdom, Kongsberg Jazz festival in Norway, Nice Jazz festival in France, Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, Leopolis Jazz Fest in the Ukraine, JazzOpen Festival in Stuttgart,Germany and Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.

In North America Dan Wilson will perform at the Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York (NY), DC Jazz Fest in Washington (DC), San Francisco Jazz Festival at the SFJazz Center (CA), Monterey Jazz Festival (CA), the Coastal Jazz & Blues Festival in Vancouver (Canada), Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (Canada), TD Ottawa Jazz Festival (Canada), Earshot Jazzfestival in Seattle (WA), Iowa City Jazz Festival (IE) and the CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival (NY).

Producing the Award is the award-winning Air Artist Agency, whose director Burkhard Hopper has long-standing experience in introducing new artists. For 9 years Hopper ran the Rising Stars concert series in Europe which introduced artists such as Diana Krall, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, David Sanchez and Esbjorn Svensson to European audiences. Hopper was also the European agent to artists such as Ray Brown, Lalo Schifrin, James Morrison, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Monty Alexander.

The 'LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award'  which is designed to help young jazz musicians realize their true potential - is a significant event in the international jazz calendar that benefits from the sponsorship and backing of Mikhail Fridman, an international businessman, philanthropist and jazz fan. A frequent visitor of Jazz festivals around the world, Fridman is the founder of the Leopolis Jazz Festival in Lviv (UA).

SOURCE LetterOne 'RISING STARS' Jazz Award
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ZielBio, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company discovering new treatments for cancer and other serious diseases through its innovative ZielFind drug discovery platform, welcomes Maria Beconi, Ph.D., as the company's chief science officer, and Ramesh Ramanathan, M.D., as vice president for clinical development.

Dr. Beconi brings more than 20 years of leadership experience to her new role, including supporting over 30 international regulatory submissions and registrations for both human and animal health drugs in multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. Dr. Ramanathan is a board-certified medical oncologist with more than 20 years of experience in new drug development.

"Maria and Ramesh's combined expertise in research and development and clinical trials will further strengthen our team as we develop transformational therapies for patients suffering from serious diseases," said Kimberly Kelly, Ph.D., founder and CEO of ZielBio. "Our expanded leadership team will provide critical guidance as we advance our lead candidate, ZB131, through the clinic."

ZB131 is a proprietary humanized monoclonal antibody against cancer specific plectin (CSP), a target that is highly expressed on the plasma membrane of multiple types of cancer cells. With its ZielFind platform, ZielBio identified and validated CSP, revealing it as an actionable disease target. ZielBio has launched a multicenter study of ZB131, titled, "A Phase 1/2, First-in-Human, Open Label, Dose Escalation Study of a Cancer-Specific Plectin (CSP)-Targeting Functional Antibody in Solid Tumors That Are Likely to Express CSP (NCT05074472)."

"I am honored to join the impressive and passionate ZielBio team to help advance the ZielFind target discovery platform and our pipeline of additional candidates in development," said Dr. Beconi.

"The next few months will be pivotal as we recruit and treat patients in our first clinical study," said Dr. Ramanathan.

Prior to joining ZielBio, Dr. Beconi was a member of the senior leadership team at Disc Medicine and Goldfinch Bio, as well as the former chief scientific officer for Retrophin (now Travere Therapeutics), where she built the research and early development infrastructure and pipeline. She also hired and managed teams that, combined, resulted in the acquisition of three marketed products, licensing of one clinical stage compound, five orphan drug designations, four investigational new drug applications, and one successful End of Phase 2 trial. Before that, Dr. Beconi held leadership roles of increasing responsibility with the CHDI Foundation, Abbott Laboratories, Merck Research Labs, and Pharmacia & Upjohn. She was a key contributor to the elucidation of the mechanisms of toxicity of a chemical class of DPP-IV inhibitors, which led to the discovery of Sitagliptin. A native of Argentina, Dr. Beconi earned her doctorate in biochemistry from Michigan State University. She has authored and coauthored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and meeting presentations.

Dr. Ramanathan most recently served as executive medical director of global medical and scientific affairs for Merck Research Labs. He also held prior academic appointments at the Phoenix campus of the Mayo Clinic, where he was professor of Medicine at the Mayo Medical School (now Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine) with a joint appointment at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN), Phoenix. Dr. Ramanathan has contributed to the development of several new drugs (PARP, PI3K inhibitors, hedgehog inhibitors, liposomal formulations, etc.) and had a pivotal role in development and approval of oxaliplatin and nab-paclitaxel.

About ZielBio

ZielBio is a clinical stage biotechnology company that identifies novel disease targets and develops therapeutic interventions to improve patient outcomes. Its proprietary drug discovery platform, ZielFind, combines the power of functional, high throughput screening with large content data analytics to identify high value targets. ZielBio has a promising pipeline of therapies and targets, including lead asset ZB131, a proprietary humanized monoclonal antibody against cancer specific plectin, a target identified through ZielFind.

SOURCE ZielBio, Inc.
REPUBLIC OF PALAU, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of the Compact of Free Association signed after Palau's independence from the United States in 1994, Palau residents enjoy access to a large number of US services, such as US postal services and zip codes, the US dollar as the official currency in the banking system, and US e-commerce such as Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers.

To democratize accessibility for individuals all around the world, Palau has joined hands with Cryptic Labs, an innovative blockchain research institute and commercial accelerator, to launch the Root Name System (RNS) , the world's first sovereign-backed digital residency program. Since the launch of the RNS waiting list mid-January, more than a quarter of a million people have already signed up for the waiting list.

The launch is a result of the Digital Residency Act, which the President of the Republic of Palau, His Excellency Surangel S. Whipps, Jr., signed into law last month after passing both the Palauan Senate and House of Delegates. The agreement signed between the government of Palau and Cryptic Labs allows individuals from around the world to apply for digital residency in Palau through the RNS platform, which is accessible at www.RNS.id .

"By pioneering digital residency on the blockchain, Palau is laying the foundation for Digital Residency powered by the security and end-to-end encryption of the Root Name System. Our Digital Residency Program will have capacity for internationally recognized standards of identity verification to ensure that Palau upholds the rule of law and our reputational integrity. We welcome all global citizens to apply to participate in Palau's digital residency program."  President Surangel S. Whipps Jr.

This launch marks the first time global citizens can claim blockchain digital residency backed by a sovereign entity, and individuals can apply for the digital residency through the RNS portal . Once approved, users receive a government-issued ID, both in the form of a physical card and digitally on the blockchain in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). As an NFT, the RNS ID forms the foundation for legal identity and verification on chain.

Because it is state-issued, the ID is valid for any identification requirement, such as KYC. The RNS platform also gives users access to future services, including address and shipping services, and digital signature verification. The RNS system is designed with user privacy and security as a top priority, using end-to-end encryption so users control their information and identity exposure.

"This partnership with The Republic of Palau will revolutionize economic development both in Palau and around the world. Palau's unique angle of entry to the digital economy will enable them to leapfrog legacy government services to meet the needs of global citizens. The world is beginning to recognize the practicality, versatility, and truly transformative power of digital identity  this is a swift step towards that future."  Bril Wang, CEO Cryptic Labs.

The application process for new digital residents is a seamless Web3 experience, enabling users from around the world to apply and get approved from the comfort of their homes, and without having to travel abroad or to visit an embassy. Approval for the ID can take as little as a few minutes once users have passed an ID verification and AML check. The platform, which is now available for registration, is accessible to citizens from most jurisdictions around the world. Interested users can apply for Palau Digital Residency at www.RNS.id .

About the Republic of Palau

The Republic of Palau is an independent nation with a global population of approximately 20,000. It is well-known as a top scuba diving destination and boasts a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a rich cultural history and treasured biodiversity, including its iconic Jellyfish Lake. The country has been a global leader in environmental conservation and climate change action. Palau has been praised by world health officials for swiftly instituting protections and mitigation measures to address the global pandemic and secured one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

About Cryptic Labs

Cryptic Labs is a leading Innovation Lab and Advisory for Blockchain, Security, Privacy, and Trust. The team is composed of a diverse group of technology experts with deep expertise in blockchain, security, and privacy including the founding CTO of IdentityMind (a world-leading KYC company and identity provider of Coinbase), the director of Stanford Federal Credit Union, two Nobel prize Laureates and professors from North America, Europe and Singapore.

SOURCE Cryptic Labs
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Key Beauty and Personal Care Market Report Highlights:

Market growth 2020-2025: USD 24.81 billion Growth momentum & CAGR: Accelerate at a CAGR of 39.48% YoY growth (%): 35.21% Performing market contribution: North America at 42% Key consumer countries: US, UK, Germany , China , Japan , and France

Regional Market Analysis

With 42% of the growth originating from North America, this region will record a fast growth rate during 2021-2025.

Over the projected period, the digital twin market in North America will benefit from rising demand for digital twins in the automotive and aerospace industries. In 2020, the region dominated the worldwide digital twin market, and this dominance is likely to continue over the forecast period. The region includes developed countries like the United States and Canada. Both countries have well-developed IT and network infrastructure, providing the door for technological advancements and deployments. Due to the rising demand for digital twins in the automotive and aerospace industries, the digital twin market in the area is expected to rise significantly over the forecast period.

For Additional Information about the regional market: Request for a free sample report.

Key Vendors and Vendor Strategies

General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., PTC Inc., SAP SE, Siemens AG, Wipro Ltd. are a few of the key vendors in the beauty and personal care market.

The vendors in the market are constantly focusing on broadening their product portfolio through expanding their product offerings. Additionally, vendors are focusing on expanding their presence in new regions.

For instance:

Microsoft Corp., in November 2020 , the company collaborated with Social Alpha to accelerate the growth of health tech startups in India .

, the company collaborated with Social Alpha to accelerate the growth of health tech startups in . Siemens AG., in November 2020 , the company partnered with Celonis to help customers by enabling them to optimize their internal processes even faster across all parts of their companies.

, the company partnered with Celonis to help customers by enabling them to optimize their internal processes even faster across all parts of their companies. SAP SE., in January 2021 , the company partnered with DNV GL to deliver an oil and gas industry cloud solution designed to combat corrosion.

Download our free sample report to get a brief understanding of various other vendors and the vendor's strategies.

Key Market Drivers

Our analysts have extensively outlined the information on the key market drivers and their impact on the digital twin market.

Industry 4.0 and industrial IoT :

: The expansion of the digital twin market will be fueled by the emergence of Industry 4.0 and industrial IoT. Industry 4.0 efforts will use sophisticated technologies including cloud, IoT, analytics, digital twin, digital scanning, AI, and cybersecurity to introduce revolutionary manufacturing techniques.



Industry 4.0 initiatives, which include automation, real-time data interchange, and smart manufacturing processes, are centered on digital twin technology. For asset and product lifecycle management, industries have been actively employing digital twins. Companies can use the technology to construct a virtual reproduction of their products and operations, allowing them to make critical decisions ahead of time.

To know about a few other market drivers, trends, and challenges.

Download our free sample report

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Digital Twin Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 39.48% Market growth 2021-2025 $ 24.81 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 35.21 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and South America Performing market contribution North America at 42% Key consumer countries US, UK, Germany, China, Japan, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., PTC Inc., SAP SE, Siemens AG, and Wipro Ltd. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis 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.

Tailor this report according to your needs. Get it done with our $1000 worth of free customization. Speak to Our Analyst Now !

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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
CHICAGO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AArete, a global management and technology consulting firm, has officially welcomed Dana Dolan as Vice President of Marketing and Communications and Priya Iragavarapu as Vice President, Center of Data Excellence (CODE).

"Dana and Priya bring with them invaluable experience in their respective fields. I am excited to bring them both on as leaders at AArete," said Loren Trimble, CEO of AArete. Trimble noted, "They fortify AArete by providing specialized subject matter expertise in marketing and data analytics, respectively."

Dana Dolan (Vice President of Marketing and Communications) brings nearly 30 years of leadership experience in marketing, serving in key roles across a variety of industries including financial services, healthcare, and enterprise solutions. Prior to joining AArete, Dolan led business development for Women Corporate Directors, a global network of public company women board directors. "I am passionate about building brands and delighting clients," said Dolan. "AArete is trusted by clients globally to address their most complex business problems and opportunities. I am excited to build global awareness of AArete consulting services that improve profitability, transform operations, and fuel innovation with technology solutions."

Priya Iragavarapu (Vice President, CODE) joins AArete with 16 years of experience working in data and technology. She's a data analytics master with deep history in the financial sector

designing and delivering analytics solutions. Before joining AArete, Iragavarapu served as director of big data technologies for American Express. Iragavarapu explained, "I've spent most of my career at the intersection of data and technology. This laid a good foundation to be the go-to person in organizations for their analytics needs. I have a track record of success helping companies make better, faster, more informed decisions by thoroughly analyzing their data and constructing custom, insightful, easy-to-understand, and highly visual analytics."

About AArete

AArete is a global management and technology consulting firm specializing in strategic profitability improvement, digital, data analytics and advisory solutions. Our solutions are powered through modern technology and market intelligence. We work across all industries and business functions to optimize profits in a compressed timeframe. AArete humanizes data by translating numbers into actionable insights, helping clients make better decisions and standing by their side to foster change with confidence, empathy, and purpose. For more information, visit www.aarete.com or follow us on Twitter @AArete.

SOURCE AArete
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Affirmed Housing recently hosted a virtual Grand Opening ceremony for Emerson, a supportive housing community for formerly homeless veterans in the City of Los Angeles. Located at 4760 Melrose Avenue, the community was partially funded by Los Angeles' historic Proposition HHH, a voter-approved measure to subsidize supportive housing. Emerson joins Aria as the second Affirmed Housing project to open in Los Angeles which has leveraged Proposition HHH funds to bring much-needed homes to those experiencing homelessness.

Proposition HHH

Approved by voters in November 2016, Proposition HHH partially subsidizes the development of up to 10,000 supportive housing units for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. At $1.2 billion, Proposition HHH is the largest local homeless housing measure ever passed in the US. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), there are approximately 67,000 people experiencing homelessness in LA County as of the last count in 2020.

Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, states, "Done right, HHH is all about enhancing a community, helping people get from tents into apartments, and making sure everybody feels safer, everybody feels stronger, and everybody feels like they have an opportunity."

Emerson

Emerson is a contemporary, five-story affordable housing community serving formerly homeless veterans. Emerson offers 38 rental apartments at 365 sq. ft. each, and one (1) manager's unit. Resident amenities include a community room with full kitchen, computer room, laundry room, and dedicated bike parking. A rooftop terrace measuring over 2,100 sq. ft. offers landscaping, fruit trees, furnishings, and fantastic views of Hollywood. Centrally located near the US 101, Emerson is within walking distance of a bus stop, Ararat Park, a pharmacy, coffee shop, and restaurants.

As a supportive housing project, Emerson provides on-site services by Homeless Health Care Los Angeles. Known for its high rate of success, supportive housing projects like Emerson pair affordable housing with wrap-around services such as case management, mental and physical health services, job or educational training, etc.

Project Partners

The development was funded by the City of Los Angeles through HHH funds, Housing and Community Development through VHHP funds, Tax Credit Allocation Committee, California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, WNC, and Banner Bank. In addition, the Department of Health Services (DHS) of Los Angeles is providing operating subsidies and the Housing Authority for the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) is providing rental subsidies. Development partners include AC Martin, Eminent Resources, Fuscoe Engineering, Walton Construction, and Las Palmas Foundation. Property management is provided by Solari Enterprises.

James Silverwood, President & CEO of Affirmed Housing, states, "I wanted to have a special shout-out to our staff at Affirmed who work so diligently to bring these projects together, to the City of Los Angeles, their Housing Department who helped us along the way, our financial partners, and of course to Mayor Eric Garcetti for coming today to help celebrate this wonderful event."

Mayor Garcetti adds, "Affirmed Housing has been a great partner When I know Affirmed is on a project, I know it's going to be a quality project, and also that they bring the partners who are the quality service providers. To me, it's not just about the walls, it's about the people inside the walls, and I think we're blessed to have an amazing partner here."

About Affirmed Housing

Headquartered in San Diego, Affirmed Housing is dedicated to improving and sustaining the viability of California through the development of affordable housing. The company aims at enhancing communities and our environment by building dynamic, professionally-managed, high-quality green multifamily housing. Areas of expertise include site selection, engineering, architecture, construction, relocation, and marketing. Affirmed also has extensive knowledge in public finance, low-income housing tax credit acquisition, and tax-exempt bond financing. The company has financed over $2 billion in affordable and supportive development, with 5,000 units developed or under development in 64 communities. For more information, visit www.affirmedhousing.com.

Contact: Beth Binger

BCIpr

(619) 987-6658

[email protected]

SOURCE Affirmed Housing
Based in Barcelona, de Jongh will drive and oversee all strategic and new business projects globally, covering both geographic expansion as well as new platform services. Amongst others, De Jongh's focus will be on leading Agro.Club's ongoing expansion into LATAM as well the launch of fintech services across the platform.

"I am thrilled Michiel decided to join the Executive Team and put all his energy and expertise into Agro.Club," says Egor Kirin, Founder and CEO of Agro.Club, "Michiel is one of the most knowledgeable executives in agriculture I have met, with a true global perspective. While Michiel stays on the Board we will now have greater opportunity to bring our transformative ideas to life."

De Jongh is not new to Agro.Club. He joined the company early 2020 as investor and Board member. He was already closely involved in kick-starting the launch of Agro.Club in Canada and Spain, amongst others.

Before joining Agro.Club, De Jongh held senior executive roles with Syngenta and Monsanto in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. He led Syngenta's global seed treatment business and at Monsanto served as president of Monsanto, Canada and before that as Business Head of Ukraine and Russia. De Jongh has a Master of Science degree in industrial engineering and management science from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

"Agriculture still has a vast, untapped digitization opportunity. Where in other B2B segments the latest digital technologies like e-commerce, payment & lending services and digital knowledge transfer have become table-stakes, commercial processes in agriculture are still often happening offline and with rudimentary, non connected IT systems. The Agro.Club team combines deep agriculture and digital knowledge. A winning combination," says de Jongh, "I am excited to take an executive role after having been closely involved with Agro.Club already for more than two years as an investor and Board member."

Apostolos Apostolakis, Partner of VentureFriends and Agro.Club Board member adds: "Agro.Club has experienced exponential growth since our investment at Series A round and expanding the Executive Team with top tier leaders like Michiel makes perfect sense!"

SOURCE Agro.Club
ZURICH, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In its continuing efforts to discover and develop innovative technologies for the packaging industry, Amcor (NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC) announced today its strategic investment in PragmatIC Semiconductor, a world leader in ultra, low-cost electronics.

Based in the United Kingdom, PragmatIC Semiconductor develops flexible, integrated circuits beyond the scope of conventional electronics. Their ConnectIC family of radio frequency identification and near-field communications (RFID/NFC) integrated chips can be embedded into packaging to store and relay information to devices such as smartphones. This technology will enable smart packaging applications across the entire product lifecycle  from manufacturing and supply chain management to consumer engagement and even material recovery.

Frank Lehmann, Vice President Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing at Amcor, said, "As the global diversified packaging leader, Amcor is well-positioned to tap into early-stage, cutting-edge innovation around sustainability and digitization. We are delighted to partner with PragmatIC Semiconductor to explore ways to leverage and integrate these flexible, integrated circuits into our portfolio of more sustainable packaging solutions."

Scott White, PragmatIC Semiconductor CEO, said, "We are pleased to partner with an industry leader like Amcor. This investment is a testament to the value Amcor continues to place on innovation and our collective vision on how packaging can be used to connect customers and consumers with the information they need."

Amcor's USD$5 million investment was part of the Series C funding round of more than USD$90 million for PragmatIC Semiconductor. This investment follows the recent investment by Amcor Corporate Venturing in ePac in April of 2021.

About Amcor

Amcor is a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home and personal-care, and other products. Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products and the people who rely on them, differentiate brands, and improve supply chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging, specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that uses less materials, is increasingly recyclable and reusable, and is made with more recycled content. Around 47,000 Amcor people generate $12.5 billion in annual sales from operations that span about 230 locations in 40-plus countries. NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC

About PragmatIC Semiconductor

PragmatIC Semiconductor is a world leader in ultra-low-cost flexible electronics. The unique technology platform enables innovators to create novel solutions to everyday problems that are beyond the scope of conventional electronics. The proprietary flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) are thinner than a human hair and extend proven applications such as RFID and NFC into mass market use cases, enabling the potential for trillions of smart objects that can engage with consumers and their environments. PragmatIC is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with manufacturing operations in the North East. Shareholders include Cambridge Innovation Capital, Arm, Avery Dennison, Amcor and a select group of individual investors with significant experience in the semiconductor industry.

SOURCE Amcor
America Moreno, a loving mother of three, has completed her new book "Bajo el mismo techo que mi verdugo": a closer look into the journey of America as she grew up with a terribly abusive father and a dying mom while taking care of her siblings. Her hellish life didn't change even when she started her own family; she suffered a lot, running back and forth in never-ending pain.

"This is the sad story of a girl who was born in a very remote place of civilization where the most essential was lacking. Most of the people were very poor, illiterate, could not read or write. Her name America Moreno Morales was the third daughter of a marriage, formed by Eliza Morales and Samuel Moreno. Eliza was a very sick woman with asthma, and Samuel was an alcoholic, abusive, selfish man who only thought about himself.

It didn't matter to him that his wife was so ill, she was dying and starving. On top of that he still mistreated, humiliated, and always acted jealous. In that home there was only bitterness and a lot of pain.

Eliza's poor health did not give for more, leaving her children completely unprotected. At the mercy of a man who didn't know what it was to be a father.

At the age of ten, America had to take care of her 3 little siblings. Being in the same hell that her mother lived, at the age of 14 an evil man fell in love with her, and since she was a child, she ignored him. He kidnapped her and did to her what he wanted. He raped her, humiliated her, beat her every day. A year later, someone murdered him and she fled. America fell in love and found her happiness. She soon woke up from that dream and would enter what would be her third hell. But it was no longer just her, but her little daughters as well.

They would accompany her to leave one hell to enter another. And this is how she spent much of her life. She came to United States to give her daughters a better lifestyle, and she met the devil himself. She couldn't believe such bad luck and after 5 years, she had to return to Mexico. Her daughters were threatened with death and only in Mexico would they be safe. She kept meeting bad people and suffering a lot. Until 1995, her first treasure arrived and with it came peace, happiness and all the good things. Thank you, my God."

Published by Page Publishing, America Moreno's stirring life story may have been a downpour of hurts and a storm of traumatic events, yet in the end of it all is a life of peace and joy as God saved her.

This book is for those people who like to read stories with heartfelt narration, where the life experiences leave a message of encouragement and learning. Readers who wish to experience this great work can purchase "Bajo el mismo techo que mi verdugo" at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors' books, including distribution in the world's largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Page's accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at www.pagepublishing.com .

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1729983/Am_rica_Moreno.jpg

SOURCE Page Publishing
ACCRA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people were killed and many others injured in an explosion at a mining community of Ghana's Western Region on Thursday.

Seji Saji, deputy director-general of the National Disaster Management Organization, told Xinhua that the explosion took place at the Apiate community after a truck conveying mining explosives collided with a motorcycle.

"The motorcycle rode into the lane of the truck and collided with it, causing sparks that resulted in the explosion," Saji said.

The official said the resultant explosion was so powerful that it destroyed around 500 shelters and led to the death of many people around.

The official added the bodies recovered had been deposited at morgues nearby and displaced families were taking temporary shelter at a church. 
TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Amp Energy ("Amp"), a global Energy Transition Platform and renewable energy developer, announced today the closing of an innovative $350 million cross-jurisdictional credit facility with a consortium of leading institutional investors including Brookfield Asset Management, a leading sovereign wealth fund, and Nomura Securities. Brookfield Asset Management and the leading sovereign wealth fund served as the main investors in this transaction. ECP will join the consortium post closing.

The facility, with structural features that potentially allow an increase up to $700 million, will be used to support the construction of Amp's robust and rapidly growing renewables and battery storage asset portfolio globally. The investment will focus initially on funding Amp's construction-stage assets in the U.S., Australia, and Japan, with the intent to add incremental investment-grade geographic markets as Amp continues to scale.

Amp retained Nomura Securities International ("Nomura") as the Sole Lead Arranger.

"Amp is very pleased to partner with such experienced and top-tier institutional investors at attractive terms to accelerate the build-out of our wholly-owned assets at scale," said Dave Rogers, Founder, CEO & President of Amp. "This landmark financing broadens our reach, optimizes our cost of capital, and enables us to accelerate the decarbonization of flexible power generation infrastructure across our core markets."

"Brookfield is delighted to support Amp's continued success in building essential renewable power and energy transition assets worldwide that advance global decarbonization," said Hadley Peer Marshall, Brookfield's Managing Partner, and co-head of Brookfield's infrastructure debt business. "We are pleased to finance Amp's portfolio of innovative and diversified renewable power infrastructure assets backed by supportive power regimes and long-term power purchase agreements."

"Amp's geographically diverse portfolio of renewable and storage assets across key markets positions the company extremely well for long-term growth and success," said Mahmud Riffat, Principal and Co-Head of Credit at ECP. "We are excited to partner with Amp to finance projects which will serve as critical resources to facilitate the global energy transition."

Vinod Mukani, head of Nomura's Infrastructure and Power Finance (IPF) group said, "Nomura is excited to provide liquidity to Amp as it builds out its asset scale in the US, Australia, Japan, and globally, and extend its relationship with a strong developer. Nomura is always pleased to develop creative solutions for its clients, particularly those like Amp who have talented teams and a compelling business strategy contributing toward the transition to a low carbon economy."

Milbank advised Amp and Norton Rose Fulbright advised the consortium.

About Amp:

Amp is a global energy transition platform.

We develop, own and operate clean energy assets throughout our core markets around the world. Alongside Amp X, our disruptive grid-edge technology platform utilizing proprietary artificial intelligence expertise, we are reimagining the grid and leading the Energy Transition. The company is headquartered in Toronto with global operations throughout North America, Australia, Japan, Spain, Czech Republic, and the UK.

Founded in 2009, Amp is a high-growth disruptor at scale, backed by major investments from institutional capital partners including most recently the Carlyle Group, which invested US$374 million into the company in late 2020.

For more information, please visit amp.energy

About Brookfield Asset Management:

Brookfield is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately US$650 billion of assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, renewable power, private equity and credit. Brookfield owns and operates long-life assets and businesses, many of which form the backbone of the global economy. Utilizing its global reach, access to large-scale capital and operational expertise, Brookfield offers a range of alternative investment products to investors around the world  including public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, insurance companies and private wealth investors. Brookfield is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the symbol BAM and BAM.A respectively. For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfield.com.

About ECP:

ECP, founded in 2005, is a leading investor across energy transition, electrification and decarbonization infrastructure assets, including power generation, renewables and storage solutions, environmental infrastructure and efficiency & reliability assets facilitating the energy transition. The ECP team, comprised of 61 people with 500 years of collective industry experience, deep expertise and extensive relationships, has consummated more than 60 transactions over the last 10 years, representing more than $45 billion of enterprise value.

About Nomura Securities:

Nomura is a global financial services group with an integrated network spanning over 30 countries and regions. By connecting markets East & West, Nomura services the needs of individuals, institutions, corporates and governments through its three business divisions: Retail, Wholesale (Global Markets and Investment Banking), and Investment Management. Founded in 1925, the firm is built on a tradition of disciplined entrepreneurship, serving clients with creative solutions and considered thought leadership. Nomura's Infrastructure and Power Finance business provides a diverse pool of financing solutions to project owners globally. For further information about Nomura, visit www.nomura.com.

Media Relations: [email protected]

SOURCE Amp Energy
BOSTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) today announced that Andrew Dreyfus will step down as president and chief executive officer at the end of 2022 after more than a decade in the role. The company's Board of Directors will begin a national search for Dreyfus' successor.

"Andrew is an exceptional and visionary leader who has always put the interests of our members and employer customers at the center of everything we do," said Dorothy Puhy, Chair of the Blue Cross Board of Directors. "Throughout his long career, Andrew has been at the heart of every major reform movement in health care, from expanding access to coverage, to pioneering new ways to pay for care that emphasized better quality and lower cost, to addressing many complex challenges like improving end-of-life care, expanding treatment for mental health and substance use disorder, and reducing long-standing health inequities."

Puhy extended the Board's heartfelt gratitude for Dreyfus' nearly 12 years of service as CEO and noted that under his leadership, Blue Cross has been consistently rated one of the nation's top health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Puhy also commended Dreyfus for building a more diverse and inclusive workforce and culture within the company, calling it a "hallmark of his tenure."

"I feel honored to have been part of an organization that cares so deeply about its members and the community," said Dreyfus. "And I feel proud to have collaborated with others to broaden coverage and improve health care quality, equity and affordability."

Dreyfus praised the company's 3700+ associates, calling them "our greatest asset" and lauded their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. "At a time of extraordinary stress and uncertainty," Dreyfus added, "our entire team has worked incredibly hard and long hours to support our members, employer customers, clinical partners and the broader community." He went on to say that the company's values as a locally based, community-focused, not-for-profit organization have been a driving motivator for his longevity in the role.

The company serves 2.9 million members and 24,000 employer customers. More than 67,000 providers are part of its clinical network, and its annual revenue is more than $8 billion.

Dreyfus (63) was named President and CEO in 2010.

He joined Blue Cross in 2005 as executive vice president of health care services where he led the creation of the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), one of the largest commercial payment reform initiatives in the country. He also served as the first president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation where he oversaw the development of the "Roadmap to Coverage." The multi-year initiative led to the passage of the state's landmark 2006 health reform law and later became the model for the Affordable Care Act.

Prior to Blue Cross, Dreyfus also served in senior roles at the Massachusetts Hospital Association and in Massachusetts state government.

He currently serves on a number of local and national boards and helped found several collaborative health care organizations such as the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care, RIZE Massachusetts, the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care, Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, and the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention for Medical Errors.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.org) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to the relentless pursuit of quality, affordable and equitable health care with an unparalleled consumer experience. Consistent with our promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
TITUSVILLE, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Apple Rush Company, Inc. (OTC PINK: APRU) (the "company") has acquired Illinois based Pursuit Hemp Farms, LLC. Tony Torgerud, CEO of Apple Rush, stated, "We are off to a good start in 2022 with our first acquisition finalized. Pursuit Hemp Farms is a proficient farming operation having 1,400 acres of cropland available, which has been growing high-quality hemp since 2018, giving us the first prong in our seed-to-sale strategy." Chad and Zach Baker, along with Justin Thomas have successfully built a hemp operation utilizing custom planting, weeding, and harvesting equipment to farm hemp. Chad Baker said, "We are excited to partner with APRU to produce quality hemp products. Our decades of farming experience and our successful growing of over 75 aces of hemp over the last couple of years, will aid in the progression of the Apple Rush Company. We intend to build a world class grow operation as the industry matures and regulations become more standardized."

Pursuit Hemp Farms is a family run farm that takes pride in hard work and producing the highest quality products. Baker stated, "We are always striving to make better products and push new technology into the farming industry any way we can, and the partnership with APRU will be extremely beneficial."

Tony added, "There is leeway for progress and R&D  having access to just under fifteen hundred acres to cultivate hemp will ultimately streamline our seed-to-sale vision for APRU. We are going to rapidly expand our capabilities through partnerships in different areas to fulfill our goals of growing, developing, manufacturing, and distributing products worldwide."

Lastly, Tony said, "APRU will be a seed-to-sale operation. We look forward to obtaining partners throughout the world as we continue to build our core brands. We will continue to close deals on the current projects we are working on to make the company stronger and vertically integrated."

About The Apple Rush Co., Inc.

The Apple Rush Company, Inc., through its subsidiary APRU, LLC, is a distributor of cpg products under the trademarked Apple Rush brand and other labels. The Apple Rush brand has more than 40 years of existence in the natural beverage industry. As a historical leader in the organic and natural beverage sector our goal is to also become the leader in the distribution of anhydrous hemp oil products nationwide. For more information, please go to www.applerush.com.



About APRU, LLC: APRU, LLC focuses on the development and sales of all natural Apple Rush sparkling juices, and research and development, of premium hemp extracts that contain a broad range of cannabinoids and natural hemp derivatives and other active ingredients such as kratom, kava, and ginseng. www.aprubrands.com, www.applerush.com, www.element-brands.com, or on Twitter @RealAPRU_News.

Safe Harbor Act: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor relations Contact:

Tony Torgerud

888-741-3777 x 2

SOURCE Apple Rush Co., Inc.
Industry report from Atradius reveals major growth drivers and constraints in the Food & Beverages industry across multiple markets worldwide

AMSTERDAM, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A number of downside risks are expected to pose major challenges to the global Food & Beverages sector this year. Sharp increases in commodity and energy prices, labour shortages, transport issues and the ongoing spread of the coronavirus pandemic could jeopardize the profitability of major industry subsectors over the coming months. In addition, consumer habits are changing as the end-client increasingly demands full transparency about their ingredients, production processes, and supply chain. All this could subsequently strain profit margins within a fiercely competitive industry, where the bargaining power of major retailers and discounters is very strong.

However, as highlighted by the global credit insurer Atradius in its latest Food & Beverages Industry Trends report, the global Food & Beverages industry has various drivers that can unlock potential growth this year. These are the non-cyclical nature of the industry, a growing number of middle-income consumers in emerging economies who are spending more money on high than low value-added goods and the increasing use of technology to engineer solutions for global food supply are all contributing to growth. However, these factors could highly likely turn the surge in demand into a snack rather than a full meal.

The overall picture that emerges from the report provides some first insight into the overall trends in the global Food & Beverages industry. Variations among the countries covered in the report, ranging from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, many European countries and the US are wide and businesses should be aware of this in their regular trade activities with the industry.

The reports can be found free for download in the Publications section of the Atradius website.

About Atradius

Atradius is a global provider of credit insurance, bond and surety, collections and information services, with a strategic presence in over 50 countries. The products offered by Atradius protect companies around the world against the default risks associated with selling goods and services on credit. Atradius is a member of Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO.MC), one of the largest insurers in Spain and one of the largest credit insurers in the world. You can find more information online at https://group.atradius.com

Connect with Atradius on Social Media

SOURCE Atradius N.V.
PRAGUE, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AVG, a leader in consumer cybersecurity, today announced that AVG AntiVirus FREE has been recognized as an Outstanding Product. The recognition comes from AV-Comparatives, an independent testing organization that conducts systematic testing of security software. At the end of every year, AV-Comparatives releases a Summary Report, awarding products that scored highest in their Consumer Main Series Tests throughout the year.

AVG AntiVirus FREE received AV-Comparatives 2021 Outstanding Product award as it received Advanced+ Awards in six tests carried out by AV-Comparatives in its Public Consumer Main Test Series in 2021, and an Advanced Award in the Real-World Protection test. Additionally, AVG AntiVirus FREE received a joint Gold Award for Advanced Threat Protections.

"In all of our 2021 tests, AVG AntiVirus FREE received top scores making it an outstanding product," commented Andreas Clementi, Founder and CEO of AV-Comparatives. "The program's interface is modern and straightforward to use and we like the informative malware detection alerts, which allow users to manage multiple detections from a simple alert box."

"We are proud of how well AVG AntiVirus FREE performed, especially considering that it outscored paid-for competitive products," said Vita Santrucek, Chief Product Officer at Avast, the company behind AVG. "We believe that everyone should be able to live a connected life with peace of mind and our free solution allows people to do just that."

In 2021, AV-Comparatives performed rigorous tests of 17 consumer security products. All the programs were tested for their ability to protect against real-world internet threats, identify thousands of recent malicious programs , defend against advanced targeted attacks, and provide protection without slowing down the PC.

The full report for 2021 can be found here: https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/summary-report-2021/

About AVG Technologies

AVG Technologies is a leading provider of software security products for families and individuals who want carefree connected living. AVG's award-winning consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, location services, data controls and insights, and privacy and identity protection, for PCs and mobile devices. For more information, visit www.avg.com.

About AV-Comparatives:

AV-Comparatives is an independent organization offering systematic testing that checks whether security software, such as PC/Mac-based antivirus products and mobile security solutions, lives up to its promises. Using one of the largest sample collections worldwide, it creates a real-world environment for truly accurate testing. AV-Comparatives offers freely accessible results to individuals, news organizations and scientific institutions. Certification by AV-Comparatives provides an official seal of approval for software performance which is globally recognized. Visit: https://www.av-comparatives.org/consumer/

SOURCE AVG
HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Avelo Airlines today announced it is bolstering pilot compensation to attract and retain world class aviators  elevating first-year pay by nearly 50% for Captains and by nearly 30% for First Officers. The enhanced pay scale offers the highest first-year Captain and First Officer pay rates in the Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier (ULCC) and regional carrier sectors of the U.S. airline industry.

Avelo expects to add an additional 120 pilots in 2022. In addition to hiring First Officers, for a limited time qualified pilots may be immediately hired as Captains.

"We're committed to attracting and retaining the industry's best pilots," said Avelo Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy. "In addition to our enhanced pay scale, Avelo supports quality of life initiatives such as an additional $1,800 per month to help offset the cost of commuting. And, if a pilot chooses to live in base, they'll keep the $1,800 per month."

The first-year Captain hourly pay rate increases from $135 to $200. Under the new scale, at five years of service Avelo Captains will earn $220 per hour. The first-year hourly pay rate for First Officers increases from $70 to $90 with an hourly rate of $140 at five years of service.

Year Captain First Officer 1 $200 $90 2 $205 $110 3 $210 $120 4 $215 $130 5 $220 $140

The new pay scale is effective February 1, 2022, for current and future Avelo pilots.

In addition to increasing the pilot pay scale, the airline is offering a $20,000 sign-on bonus to new pilots hired before June 1, 2022. An initial $5,000 is paid after the pilot completes their orientation trips and the remaining $15,000 is paid at the completion of their first year with the company. The bonus is available to Captains and First Officers.

Additional benefits include:

$1,800 virtual base stipend (paid monthly upon completion of orientation trips) to offset commuting costs  paid to all pilots whether they commute or live in base

virtual base stipend (paid monthly upon completion of orientation trips) to offset commuting costs  paid to all pilots whether they commute or live in base For pilots who prefer to sleep at home every night  all scheduled Avelo flights start and return to their base each day

Training pay of $6,300 per month (min guarantee at year-one First Officer rate)

per month (min guarantee at year-one First Officer rate) Training hotel is provided by Avelo

Initial uniform and ongoing uniform allowance

Full Cockpit Access Security System ( CASS ), Known Crewmember (KCM) program and jump seat agreements

), Known Crewmember (KCM) program and jump seat agreements Premium pay of 125% of base hourly rate paid to pilots working over 75 block hours per month

Day off flying is paid at 125% of base hourly rate on top of guarantee

Guarantee 70 hours per month

$2.25 per diem

per diem High seniority from day one

Quick upgrade to Captain for pilots meeting the qualification of 14 CFR 121.436

401K retirement program

retirement program Company-subsidized health, vision and dental coverage

Meaningful profit-sharing when Avelo meets initial profitability threshold

At basic guarantee, new pilots in their first year will earn $209,600 for a Captain and $117,200 for a First Officer (includes sign-on bonus and virtual base stipend). Avelo is accepting applications for Captains and First Officers at aveloair.com/careers.

"At Avelo Airlines, pilots hire pilots," said Avelo Chief Operating Officer Captain Greg Baden. "We encourage pilots at any stage in their professional career to apply."

Avelo Aircraft and Bases

Avelo currently operates six Boeing Next-Generation (NG) 737 mainline jetliners. Three 147-seat 737-700s operate between Avelo's East Coast base at Southern Connecticut's Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN) and six Florida destinations. Additionally, three 189-seat 737-800s operate between Avelo's West Coast base at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and 10 destinations in the Western U.S.

Avelo has commitments for nine additional 737 NGs that the airline expects will be delivered by the end of this year  expanding Avelo's fleet to 15 aircraft. With the arrival of these additional aircraft, Avelo anticipates serving at least 40 destinations across the U.S. by the end of 2022 and establishing more bases in the future.

Strong Financial Backing and Experienced Leadership

Earlier this month, Avelo announced it raised $42 million in Series B funding  including a $30 million investment by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value. This second-round offering increased the company's invested capital base to over $160 million.

Levy added, "This investment strengthened our already healthy balance sheet and is a huge vote of confidence in the opportunity ahead of us. Our exceptional pilots play a critical role in Avelo's future and we look forward to welcoming many more to the company in the months and years ahead. This is an incredible opportunity to join one of the most exciting airline stories in more than a decade."

Avelo's leadership team embodies more than 200 years of collective aviation experience. As co-founder and president of Allegiant Air  one of the nation's most successful airlines  and former CFO of United Airlines, Levy brings a proven track record of profitably leading airlines from startup to scale. Levy has also served on Copa Airlines' board of directors since 2016. In addition to Allegiant and United, Avelo's leadership team includes former senior executives from Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and US Airways, including:

Captain Greg Baden , Chief Operating Officer: Capt. Baden previously served as VP of Flight Operations at Allegiant, Managing Director of Flying at Delta, and Managing Director of Flight Operations and Chief Pilot at Northwest Orient / Northwest.

Capt. Baden previously served as VP of Flight Operations at Allegiant, Managing Director of Flying at Delta, and Managing Director of Flight Operations and Chief Pilot at Northwest Orient / Northwest. Captain Andrew Lotter , Head of Flight Operations: Capt. Lotter previously served as Chief Operating Officer at XTRA Airways, Chief Pilot at Republic Holdings and President of Ameriflight.

Capt. Lotter previously served as Chief Operating Officer at XTRA Airways, Chief Pilot at Republic Holdings and President of Ameriflight. Captain Michael Quiello , Head of Safety, Security and Operational Excellence: Capt. Quiello previously served as VP of Corporate Safety at United Airlines and VP of Corporate Safety, Security and Environment at Delta Air Lines.

About Avelo Airlines

Avelo Airlines was founded with a simple purpose  to Inspire Travel. The airline offers Customers time and money-saving convenience, very low fares, and a refreshingly smooth and caring experience through its Avelo Soul of Service culture. Operating a fleet of Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft, Avelo serves 18 popular destinations across the U.S., including its West Coast base at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and its East Coast base at Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN). For more information visit AveloAir.com .

Media Contact

Courtney Goff

[email protected]

SOURCE Avelo Airlines
TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In his Jan 19 press conference, President Joe Biden pushed for vaccinating everyone against COVID-19, including babies as soon as the science shows it to be safe, as it presumably will. But he also mentioned treatment for patients who nonetheless become infected, observes Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) president Jane Orient, M.D.

"Additionally, we're increasing the availability of new medicines recommended by real doctors, not conspirconspiracy theorists." At the press conference, he specifically named monoclonal antibodies and alluded to new pills.

Previously, Biden stated that he had doubled the government's order of Pfizer's Paxlovid, from 10 million to 20 million doses, while noting that it takes months to make a pill.

The federal government has been rationing monoclonal antibodies, which in any event are probably ineffective against the omicron variant, notes DDP.

The State of New York has received Paxlovid doses for treating only about 20,000 people. Its Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett observed that that is insufficient.

Paxlovid is authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization (EUA). It contains a protease inhibitor, nirmatrelvir, to prevent viral replication plus the HIV drug ritonavir to prevent the protease inhibitor from being broken down. According to Pfizer press releases, Paxlovid has been effective in early treatment of mild to moderate COVID.

The Merck drug molnupiravir, which also has an EUA, could be available sooner. But because it results in genetic mutations, it is feared that it could lead to new viral variants or result in cancer or birth defects in humans.

Meanwhile, the government is hoarding in the Strategic National Stockpile some 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine, which were donated by generous pharmaceutical companies to treat COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine was FDA approved in 1955 and has been safely used by hundreds of millions of people for a variety of indications.

"Why is President Biden touting a medication that is mostly unavailable?" asks Dr. Orient. "And why is the government authorizing and recommending a medication that may be unsafe for many, while affordable, long-established drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are discouraged or suppressed?"

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness is a group of scientists (including physicians) founded in 1984, which provides information to help save lives in the event of natural or man-made disasters.

Contact: Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, [email protected]

SOURCE Doctors for Disaster Preparedness
DENVER, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Britehorn Partners is pleased to welcome Steve Gaynor to the firm as a Partner. Gaynor has decades of experience as an investment banker and attorney with a focus on representing clients in the technology, telecom, media and financial services industries. He holds both a JD and MBA from Harvard University.

"We have known Steve for years and are elated to have him join our team. He's obviously someone with tremendous experience and a track record of skillfully leading successful transactions" said Britehorn Co-Founder and Partner, Brett Story. "Just as important though, Steve shares our values and commitment to doing things in our clients' best interests."

Gaynor began his career on Wall Street where he was an M&A lawyer with Skadden, Arps, and subsequently an M&A and corporate finance banker with L.F. Rothschild. Gaynor was recruited by Pacific Telesis (now AT&T) to be a leader of its aggressive global expansion in wireless (AirTouch spinoff), which resulted in AirTouch's $62 billion acquisition by Vodafone and Verizon. Following AirTouch, Steve became a Partner at Arthur D. Little, where he advised large funds on technology and telecom investments. That eventually led him to found MSG Securities where he worked with clients on M&A and capital formation prior to joining Britehorn.

"When Bobbi (Babitz) Armstrong and Brett approached me about joining the Britehorn Partners deal team, we I had been working with their broker dealer together for years and had followed the success of the investment banking side of their business in closing middle-market deals" added Gaynor. "I am excited to bring my unique skillset to the table and contribute meaningfully to great outcomes for our clients and, by extension, the continued growth and success of Britehorn Partners."

About Britehorn

Britehorn Partners is a leading full-service investment bank that offers comprehensive, tailored transaction and advisory services to clients in a variety of industries, including title/insurance, financial services, TMT, business services, consumer products, healthcare, and manufacturing/industrials. With a dedicated team of senior investment banking professionals, and expertise across a variety of disciplines, Britehorn Partners approaches deals with creativity, determination and the skill critical to close complex transactions in the best interests of its clients. Britehorn Partners is consistently recognized by Axial (axial.net) among the top 20 lower middle market investment banking firms in the U.S. Britehorn Partners owns and operates Britehorn Securities, a FINRA broker-dealer serving investment bankers, funds and institutional placement agents across the country. The firm has offices in Denver, Colorado and Delray Beach, Florida.

Media Contact:

Natalia Story

650-773-6748

[email protected]

http://www.britehorn.com/

SOURCE Britehorn Partners LLC
LA JOLLA, Calif., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CalciMedica Inc. (CalciMedica or the Company), the CRAC (calcium release-activated calcium) channel company, today announced the initiation of CARDEA-Plus, a Phase 2b clinical trial being conducted in the United States and Canada, that may serve as a lead-in to its Phase 3 development program of Auxora in patients with critical COVID-19 pneumonia. The trial is designed to accumulate additional patient safety data with Auxora, assess the safety and efficacy of Auxora in combination with both tocilizumab and corticosteroids, and assess the safety and efficacy of three versus six days of dosing. The Company recently reported topline data from its CARDEA Phase 2 trial that support further studies in this patient population.

CARDEA-Plus will enroll COVID-19 pneumonia patients with a PaO 2 /FiO 2 (P/F) ratio of 200 who require high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) or noninvasive ventilation (NIV). Patients will receive a 2.0 mg/kg initial dose of Auxora followed by 1.6 mg/kg at 24 hours, and 1.6 mg/kg at 48 hours. Those patients with either a P/F ratio of 100 or on mechanical ventilation at 48 hours will be eligible to be randomized to receive either three doses of Auxora or three doses of placebo. All patients will receive standard of care which may include the use of corticosteroids and/or tocilizumab.

"Despite increasing vaccination rates for COVID-19, the high number of hospitalizations and deaths still pose a significant problem," said Sudarshan Hebbar, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of CalciMedica. "While tocilizumab has become widely used in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, there continues to be a need to improve patient outcomes. We believe Auxora has a unique mechanism of action and pharmacokinetic properties that may provide clinical benefit to patients with critical COVID-19 pneumonia."

"The initiation of this study, which also allows for administration of Auxora with tocilizumab and corticosteroids in patients with critical COVID-19 pneumonia, is a significant milestone for our Company," said Rachel Leheny, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of CalciMedica. "Importantly, the results of this study, to be followed by discussions with the FDA, will inform the design of a potential Phase 3 clinical trial later this year. We have received broad enthusiasm and support from investigator sites for this study and anticipate rapid enrollment."

About Auxora

CalciMedica's lead product candidate is Auxora, a potent and selective intravenous (IV) formulated small molecule CRAC channel inhibitor that in animal models and in clinical trials has prevented acute epithelial and/or endothelial cell injury and inflammation in organs, such as the pancreas, lungs and kidneys. Auxora is currently being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical trials: a blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial in patients with acute pancreatitis with accompanying systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), a Phase 2 dose-escalation trial in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, and an investigator-initiated Phase 1/2 trial in pediatric acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patients who develop acute pancreatitis as a result of a specific chemotherapy. Auxora has been evaluated in CARDEA, a 284-patient randomized, placebo-controlled trial in hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patients that was Part Two of a Phase 2 study. Results of Part One of the Phase 2 study, a randomized open label trial in 30 critical and severe COVID-19 pneumonia patients, were published in the peer reviewed journal, Critical Care, in August 2020. Results of a randomized open label Phase 2a trial in 21 acute pancreatitis patients with SIRS were published in the peer reviewed journal, Pancreas, in June 2021.

About CalciMedica, Inc.

CalciMedica is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a new class of medicines designed to act upon calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channels, a group of ion channel targets not addressed by any approved drugs. CalciMedica is developing CRAC channel inhibitors for unmet needs in acute critical illness and looks to expand the potential uses of CRAC channel inhibitors to certain chronic diseases that have the common thread of inflammation in their pathogenesis. The Company has a portfolio of potent and selective small molecule CRAC channel inhibitors including Auxora, its lead product candidate, which is formulated as a proprietary IV nanoemulsion specifically designed for acute critical illnesses.

CalciMedica is headquartered in La Jolla, CA. For more information, please visit the company website at www.calcimedica.com.

SOURCE CalciMedica
TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Canntab Therapeutics Limited (CSE: PILL) (OTCQB: CTABF) (FRA: TBF1) (the "Company" or "Canntab"), a leading innovator in cannabinoid and terpene blends in hard pill form for therapeutic applications, is pleased to announce the official launch of its online e-commerce platform and web site at www.Canntab.ca.

The E-Commerce platform and web site provides Canadians with an opportunity to source true medical THC and CBD in a pharmaceutical grade hard tablet. The Canntab tablet provides patients with many added benefits including ease of use, efficacy, exact dosage, and bioavailability. Canntab is now able to script patients directly online, take in existing or new prescriptions from Doctors or even share a prescription with another LP ("Licensed Producer"). Canntab and its patented formulations is the only provider THC and CBD in hard tablet in Canada.

"Today marks another significant milestone in the history of Canntab. We are excited to launch our E-Commerce platform and web site making medical grade THC and CBD accessible to all Canadians. So many medical patients have been anticipating the launch of our web site to purchase our THC and CBD solid exact dosage pharmaceutical grade product to help with alleviating widespread medical conditions including pain, inflammation, stress, anxiety and sleep to name only a few", states Larry Latowsky, CEO of Canntab Therapeutics Inc.

Latowsky added "Our entire team has contributed to the development of our website which in conjunction with our recent amendment to our medical license now allows Canntab to sell and distribute its products to every medically prescribed patient across the country. The site is easy to navigate and features a virtual online clinic complete with medical professionals to council, guide and prescribe. From registration to the selection of product and checkout, delivery is possible the same day or next day in a secure and safe environment. "

Since receiving a Medical Sales License from Health Canada on November 11, 2021, Canntab has been focused on the full commercialization of its brand and products. The recently announced OCS ("Ontario Cannabis Store") initial shipment and Australian 2nd shipment are just 2 examples of what is expected to be numerous developments in the very near future. In addition, affiliates across Canada like pharmacy groups, health and wellness practitioners, sleep and pain clinics and other medical professionals will now be able to recommend or prescribe our product and be compensated for doing so.

About Canntab Therapeutics Limited

Canntab is a Canadian phytopharmaceutical company focused on the manufacturing and distribution of a suite of hard pill cannabinoid formulations in multiple doses and timed-release combinations. Long referred to as Cannabis 3.0 by the Company, Canntab's proprietary hard pill cannabinoid formulations provide doctors, patients and consumers with medical grade solutions which incorporate all the features one would expect from any prescription or over the counter medication sold in pharmacies around the world. These include once a day and extended release formulations, both providing an accurate dose and improved shelf stability.

Canntab holds a Cannabis Standard Processing & Sales for Medical Purposes License and a Cannabis Research License.

Canntab trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol PILL, on the OTCQB under the symbol CTABF, and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol TBF1.

Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. The forward-looking information and forward- looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the adoption of the Company's products; the future plans of the Company, including the marketing and utilization of the OCS as a distribution channel for the Company and the growth of the Australian market; affiliates recommending and prescribing the Company's products; and the future product offerings and distribution channels of the Company, including the Company's website, OCS and Australia and the anticipated timelines.

Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the continued commercial viability and growth in popularity of the Company's products; continued approval of the Company's activities by the relevant governmental and/or regulatory authorities; the Company continuing to develop products; growth of the Company through the OCS and Australia; affiliates will recommend and prescribe the Company's products; and the Company's website launching on its anticipated timeline.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the potential inability of the Company to continue as a going concern; risks associated with potential governmental and/or regulatory action with respect to the Company's operations; competition within the industry; risks that the Company will be unable to execute its plans; risk that the Company will not grow as anticipated; risks that consumers will not purchase its products through the OCS or in Australian; risks that affiliates will not recommend and prescribe the Company's products; and risks that the Company will not meet its anticipated timelines.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Canntab Therapeutics Limited
Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse (R) speaks during a handover ceremony of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jan. 20, 2022.

The Chinese government on Thursday donated an additional 2.2 million doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Ethiopia, giving a boost to the East African nation's vaccination efforts.

China has so far donated around 7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Ethiopia, which the Ethiopian Ministry of Health said is playing a crucial role in combating the virus. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Thursday donated an additional 2.2 million doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Ethiopia, giving a boost to the East African nation's vaccination efforts.

The handover ceremony for the latest donated vaccines was attended by senior Ethiopian government officials and members of the Chinese diplomatic community in the Ethiopian capital.

China has so far donated around 7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Ethiopia, which the Ethiopian Ministry of Health said is playing a crucial role in combating the virus.

Lia Tadesse, Ethiopian Minister of Health, said during the handover ceremony that the latest Chinese donated vaccines are saving lives as part of the Ethiopian government's efforts to vaccinate its people against COVID-19.

"Today's donation of 2.2 million Sinopharm vaccines is helping to access the vaccines to our communities and protect from the COVID-19 pandemic," Tadesse said.

The Ethiopian health minister stressed that the support that has been provided by China is not only limited to the COVID-19 vaccines.

"Within the pandemic, there has been several supports with regards to prevention, treatment, detection and testing," Tadesse said.

"We express our appreciation to this continued solidarity and support to avert this pandemic and also the continued support of the government of China in other areas of the health sector beyond COVID-19," she added.

Zhao Zhiyuan, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, on his part said that the Chinese government-donated vaccines are playing a crucial role in Ethiopia's efforts in combating COVID-19.

"Everyone knows China and Ethiopia are good brothers and sisters, and we are always supporting each other. China cherishes and pay good attention to the friendship with Ethiopia and we will continue to support Ethiopia to fight against COVID-19," said Zhao.

The Chinese ambassador stressed that China will further strengthen its vaccine support to Ethiopia in 2022.

Ethiopia has so far administered a total of 10,965,479 doses to 9,369,036 people, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health.

According to the ministry, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country reached 459,959 as the death toll from the pandemic reached 7,190 as of Wednesday evening.

According to the ministry, Chinese-donated vaccines are among the most administered COVID-19 vaccines in the East African country.

As part of its commitment to make its vaccines a global public good, China is presently playing a crucial role in terms of vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries, including Ethiopia. 
EMnify equips thousands of customers with secure, reliable, and borderless cellular IoT connectivity for millions of connected devices. The company reported a 2016-21 CAGR of 190% for SIM growth and 77% for revenue growth.

The EMnify API and SIM technologies connect and secure any kind of IoT deployment to its application back-end. Its cloud-native integrations and no-code workflows ensure seamless lifecycle scalability for deployments of all sizes  from local start-up to global enterprise.

Far out-performing industry standards, the EMnify IoT Supernetwork is the single biggest independent IoT network of its kind. It supports local access (2G  5G, LTE-M, NB-IoT) to over 600 radio network operators  397 in direct partnerships  in almost 200 countries from more than 25 cloud regions, with plans to add an additional 10 cloud regions in 2022.

"In One Peak, we are not only gaining an investor, but a well-matched strategic partner with expertise in European founded SaaS scale-ups set for global growth. EMnify has come a long way in a short period of time and is perfectly positioned to use this capital and accelerate our market expansion and product development globally, with particular focus on the US market, where we already have 20 percent of our global customer base, representing over 30 percent of our revenues," emphasized Frank Stoecker, CEO and co-founder of EMnify. "We are excited to help many more companies of all sizes connect, secure and scale their IoT solutions worldwide."

"The global cellular IoT market is approaching an inflection point as the need for location independent real-time data is greater than ever, while diminishing module sizes and deployment costs enable an abundance of use cases. EMnify is paving the way to meet the demand for global borderless connectivity to be available as a cloud native resource analogue to other existing components of a modern technology stack," commented David Klein, Managing Partner at One Peak. "We have been hugely impressed with EMnify's strong and capital efficient growth trajectory, its disruptive best-in-class technology stack, and its world class founding team. We believe the company has all the ingredients in place to become the global standard in cellular IoT connectivity and look forward to supporting EMnify during its next phase of explosive growth."

To date, EMnify has raised $80 million (70 million) in equity capital. Its disruptive software platform and customer-centric approach are made possible by over 110 full-time international IoT experts that are helping fast-growing IoT companies from 70 countries to scale their solutions in more than 140 markets.

About One Peak

One Peak is a growth equity firm investing in technology companies in the scale-up phase. One Peak provides growth capital, operating expertise and access to its extensive network to exceptional entrepreneurs, with a view to help transform innovative and rapidly growing businesses into lasting, category-defining leaders. In addition to EMnify, One Peak's investments include Neo4j, DocPlanner, Spryker Systems, PandaDoc, Keepit, Cymulate, Paysend, HighQ, Quentic, Coople, DataGuard, Brightflag and many more. To learn more, visit www.onepeakpartners.com .

About EMnify



EMnify is the leading cloud building block for cellular communications in the IoT stack, connecting millions of IoT devices globally  from electric vehicles to energy meters, alarm systems to GPS trackers, thermometers to health wearables.

The EMnify API and SIM technology connect and secure any kind of IoT deployment to its application back-end. EMnify's cloud-native integrations and no-code workflows ensure seamless lifecycle scalability for deployments of all sizes  from local start-up to global enterprise.

The EMnify IoT Supernetwork is the largest globally distributed mobile cloud core network of its kind, supporting local network access (2G  5G, LTE-M, NB-IoT) in over 195 countries from more than 25 cloud regions  and counting. EMnify's solution is built on partnerships with the leading hyperscaler cloud service providers, system integrators and hundreds of radio network operators worldwide.

Founded in 2014, EMnify was the first to transform cellular IoT connectivity into an easy-to-consume cloud resource  trusted today by thousands of the world's most innovative companies. To learn more about EMnify, please visit www.emnify.com

SOURCE EMnify
HARLEYSVILLE, Pa., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Colorcon Ventures, the corporate venture fund of Colorcon Inc., has invested in Apprentice.io, a leading provider of Intelligent Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) designed specifically for the life sciences industry.

Apprentice offers a dynamic, end-to-end platform with a suite of software applications designed to streamline batch-based manufacturing and remote collaboration. Solutions include intelligent batch execution, augmented procedures and workflows, predictive resource management, and immersive training. The platform grows more intuitive over time, using artificial intelligence, machine learning and augmented reality to help organizations improve yield, quality, and speed to market.

Ali Rajabi-Siahboomi, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Colorcon, said, "Our customers are striving for faster times to market, improved manufacturing consistency, as well as business continuity through times of crisis. During COVID, demand for Apprentice has accelerated with several leading pharmaceutical manufacturers, as design weaknesses in legacy manufacturing systems were exposed. Based on the positive outcomes seen by industry participants, we anticipate a broader global adoption of Apprentice's solutions."

Angelo Stracquatanio, Apprentice's Founder and CEO, said, "We are excited to have Colorcon Ventures join us as a strategic investor on our mission to modernize pharmaceutical manufacturing and realize Pharma 4.0, with the objective of getting medicine to patients faster and safer. Colorcon's global footprint and pharma relationships will be invaluable as we begin to expand our geographic reach."

Colorcon Ventures joins a prominent list of investors who also participated in Apprentice's recently announced Series C, including Alkeon Capital Management, Insight Partners, Pacific West Bank, Silverton Partners, GFR Fund, and The Venture Reality Fund.

Colorcon Ventures

Colorcon Ventures targets investments in transformational solutions for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries across R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and the delivery of pharmaceutical products and services. Colorcon Ventures is the corporate venture fund of Colorcon Inc., a trusted design and development partner to over 4,000 pharmaceutical companies, around the world, providing expertise to fast-track pharmaceutical formulation and manufacturing. For more information, please visit Colorcon Ventures or follow @ColorconVC

Apprentice.io

Apprentice.io's disruptive technology helps pharma manufacturers get medicine to patients faster by providing one platform to turn molecules into medicine. The company's intelligent cloud platform integrates augmented reality, voice recognition, and artificial intelligence into wearable, mobile, and desktop devices to offer a virtual collaboration application and a robust manufacturing and lab execution system that reduce human error and inefficiency in the drug production process. Learn how 15 of the top 20 US Pharma companies use Apprentice to accelerate high-quality production of drugs for diseases of all types, from COVID to cancer, at www.apprentice.io.

SOURCE Colorcon Ventures
Jeff Harvey, Chief Executive Officer at CLSMF says, "I am thrilled that two of the outstanding Pro Bono lawyers we work with are being acknowledged by the Florida Bar Association. The work that the talented and dedicated lawyers do every day has life-changing impact on thousands of Central Florida residents each year. CLSMF relies on the generosity of pro bono attorneys throughout our service area to help us serve and meet the legal needs of the community."

Claud Nelson, Director of Pro Bono Services at CLSMF says, "It is great to see our dedicated volunteers recognized for the important and necessary services they provide to our clients. I am proud and humbled by all of the members of our legal community that donate their time to serve the most vulnerable residents of Central Florida."

CLSMF Pro Bono Attorneys honored by the awards are David C. Sasser, 5th Judicial Circuit and Victoria C. Zinn, 7th Judicial Circuit.

Established in 1981, The Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Service Awards recognize pro bono service in each of Florida's 20 judicial circuits. This year's awards ceremony takes place at the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, Jan. 20, at 3:30 p.m.

ABOUT CLSMF:

At Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, we believe in Legal Aid for All. Everyone has the right to an attorney, not just those who can afford it. As a PILLAR in the community, our mission is to provide no-cost legal services to the most vulnerable Central Florida residents.

CONTACT: Jeff Harvey

COMPANY Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida Inc.

PHONE 407-480-4512

EMAIL [email protected]

WEB www.CLSMF.org

SOURCE Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida Inc.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- From Pine Bluff to Little Rock, online and in-person, parents, students, educators, and community leaders are getting creative to bring school choice information, and school spirit, to Arkansans.

Family events will include a virtual escape room, a military family virtual town hall and a community night in both Little Rock and Pine Bluff. In addition, school choice supporters and schools around the state will participate in a "Wear Yellow Day" on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

These events are planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week Jan. 23-29, 2022, which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states.

In January 2020, the Arkansas School Choice Week rally drew nearly 2,000 community members. Although an in-person rally has not been possible since then due to COVID, The Reform Alliance will continue to celebrate with students all across the state by delivering free School Choice Week celebration supplies and inviting them to take part in the virtual escape room and art night events.

"School Choice Week is the perfect time to celebrate the innovative solutions that schools and communities have developed to help students continue learning during the pandemic," said Emmy Henley, managing director of The Reform Alliance. "It's also the perfect time to share resources for students and families who need additional education options."

These celebrations are planned by The Reform Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting educational opportunities and providing a quality education for all students.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
New locations in Greensburg and Wayne expand the Company's retail presence to 14 locations in one of the country's largest medical markets

WAKEFIELD, Mass., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA /OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf" or the "Company"), a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis, today announced plans to open two new dispensaries in Pennsylvania. Curaleaf's latest locations in Greensburg and Wayne will increase the Company's retail footprint to 14 dispensaries statewide and 125 across the country. Two additional locations, Curaleaf Erie (7891 Peach St.) and Curaleaf State College (1248 S Atherton St.), are expected to open by the end of February, pending regulatory approval.

Curaleaf Greensburg, located at 5133 US-30, is the first of the dispensaries to hold a Grand Opening today, January 20. Curaleaf Wayne, located at 707 Lancaster Ave., has already undergone a soft opening and will celebrate its Grand Opening on Thursday, January 27. The Company's newest retail locations are dedicated to being a leading resource in research-based patient education and advocacy. Patients will have access to a selection of Curaleaf's top-selling vaporizer and whole flower products, including Select Elite, Select Elite Live, Grassroots Full-Spectrum RSOs, RSO capsules, prepackaged flower, distillate cartridges, strain-specific vape cartridges, as well as cured and live concentrates.

Since becoming a Clinical Registrant recognized by the Commonwealth's Department of Health in 2020, Curaleaf's Pennsylvania subsidiaries have supported research initiatives examining the potential benefits of cannabis by providing medical marijuana and guidance to patients. Curaleaf's first-in-the-nation research program builds upon the Company's ongoing efforts to provide clinically supported resources to Pennsylvania's over 681,000 registered patients.

"Curaleaf is proud to broaden its scope of patient care and provide premium medical marijuana products to our Greensburg and Wayne medical communities," said Chief Executive Officer Joe Bayern. "Our latest retail expansion allows us to further support patients in the state of Pennsylvania and work with esteemed scientists on essential medical marijuana studies that will empower both physicians and patients to make confident and informed decisions."

In addition to Curaleaf's latest two locations, the Company also serves patients through its Curaleaf dispensaries in Altoona, Bradford, Brookville, City Avenue, DuBois, Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Horsham, King of Prussia, Lebanon, Morton and Philadelphia. In the coming weeks, Curaleaf will offer grand opening discounts to veterans, seniors and first-time patients at all Pennsylvania locations. For more information on store openings, along with product offerings and hours of operation, please visit https://curaleaf.com/locations#pennsylvania.

About Curaleaf Holdings

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf") is a leading international provider of consumer products in cannabis with a mission to improve lives by providing clarity around cannabis and confidence around consumption. As a high-growth cannabis company known for quality, expertise and reliability, the Company and its brands, including Curaleaf and Select, provide industry-leading service, product selection and accessibility across the medical and adult-use markets. In the United States, Curaleaf currently operates in 23 states with 125 dispensaries, 25 cultivation sites, and employs over 5,200 team members. Curaleaf International is the largest vertically integrated cannabis company in Europe with a unique supply and distribution network throughout the European market, bringing together pioneering science and research with cutting-edge cultivation, extraction and production. Curaleaf is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol CURA and trades on the OTCQX market under the symbol CURLF. For more information, please visit https://ir.curaleaf.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This media advisory contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. Generally, forward-looking statements and information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or, "proposed", "is expected", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forwardlooking statements and information concerning the opening of four new dispensaries in the state of Pennsylvania. Such forward-looking statements and information reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the company with respect to the matter described in this new release. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are based on current expectations as of the date of this release and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained under "Risk Factors and Uncertainties" in the Company's latest annual information form filed April 28, 2021, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at http://www.sedar.com, and in other filings that the Company has made and may make with applicable securities authorities in the future. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as to the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward looking statements contained in this press release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

INVESTOR CONTACT

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

Carlos Madrazo, SVP Head of IR & Capital Market

[email protected]



MEDIA CONTACT

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

Tracy Brady, VP Corporate Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DCS Corporation has been awarded a 5-year, $77M contract to support the Air Force Operational Test & Evaluation Center Fighter Test Services (AFOTEC FTS) program. DCS will provide Advisory and Assistance Services with additional support and advocacy for the Fighter Operational Test and Evaluation services.

DCS Corporation Awarded $77M Contract to support Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center

Under AFOTEC FTS, DCS will assist with operational test capabilities necessary to accomplish test planning. The work will include drafting and modifying test plans, data management, and analysis plans. Full contract performance is expected to begin this month at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, Edwards AFB, California, and Yuma Marine Corps Air Station, Arizona.

"DCS is excited for the opportunity to provide support to the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center," Executive Vice President Larry Egbert stated. "We are thrilled to deliver our support to a new customer and assist in Operational Test and Evaluation as it is crucial part of staying at the cutting edge of technology and maintaining air, space and cyberspace superiority."

About DCS

An employee-owned company, DCS offers advanced technology, engineering, and management solutions to government agencies in the national security sector. The transformative ideas, commitment to quality, and entrepreneurial spirit that characterize our employee-owners allow us to ensure the success of each customer's mission and actively contribute to the well-being of the Nation.

For more information, please visit: https://www.dcscorp.com.

Source: DCS Corporation, [email protected], 571-227-6000

SOURCE DCS Corporation
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Defense Metals Corp. ("Defense Metals" or the "Company") (TSXV: DEFN) (OTCQB: DFMTF) (FSE: 35D) is pleased to highlight the accomplishments of 2021, and outlines the Company's key goals for 2022.

At the start of 2022, the Company filed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and finalized the 100% acquisition of the Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) Project. Defense Metals has also strengthened the Company's leadership with new executive and board appointments (see Defense Metals news release dated January 17, 2022). Additional goals for this year, include:

2022 Goals

Upgrade and expand mineral resource, initiate engineering geotechnical  Results from the 5,349-metre resource expansion and definition drilling program completed late 2021 are expected Q1 2022. The drilling results will support an updated geological model for the Wicheeda REE Deposit to inform continued 2022 infill drilling to improve the confidence of the mineral resources to higher categories (i.e., measured and indicated), in addition to pit geotechnical, and hydrogeological drilling and testing.





 Results from the 5,349-metre resource expansion and definition drilling program completed late 2021 are expected Q1 2022. The drilling results will support an updated geological model for the Wicheeda REE Deposit to inform continued 2022 infill drilling to improve the confidence of the mineral resources to higher categories (i.e., measured and indicated), in addition to pit geotechnical, and hydrogeological drilling and testing. Optimize flowsheet  The floatation process to produce high-grade concentrate will continue to be optimized. Bench scale tests have demonstrated that the Company has more than one route for hydrometallurgy and the Company will determine the most economic and least complex route, and then conduct pilot scale tests to firm up the flowsheet.





 The floatation process to produce high-grade concentrate will continue to be optimized. Bench scale tests have demonstrated that the Company has more than one route for hydrometallurgy and the Company will determine the most economic and least complex route, and then conduct pilot scale tests to firm up the flowsheet. Start Pre-Feasibility Study  Using the results from the planned 2022 drilling program and pilot plant, the Company intends to commence the pre-feasibility study in 2H 2022 that may extend into next year.





 Using the results from the planned 2022 drilling program and pilot plant, the Company intends to commence the pre-feasibility study in 2H 2022 that may extend into next year. Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy  The Company plans to implement an Environmental, Social, and Governance strategy to follow high environmental standards, to foster stronger collaborations between the Company and the local and First Nations communities, and further strengthen the Company's corporate governance, like the appointment of Dr. William Bird , as independent Director.





 The Company plans to implement an Environmental, Social, and Governance strategy to follow high environmental standards, to foster stronger collaborations between the Company and the local and First Nations communities, and further strengthen the Company's corporate governance, like the appointment of Dr. , as independent Director. Continue to engage end users  The Company will use product from the pilot plants to continue to engage end users and pursue off-take agreements ahead of the pre-feasibility studies.





 The Company will use product from the pilot plants to continue to engage end users and pursue off-take agreements ahead of the pre-feasibility studies. Strengthen balance sheet  Defense Metals will need to secure the required funding to fast track the development of the Wicheeda REE Project including the development and operation of the pilot plant with SGS and the pre-feasibility study.

Highlights of 2021 Accomplishments

Increased resource size  Resources increased by 36% on a contained metal basis in comparison to the prior 2020 mineral resource; these results were achieved during the preparation of the PEA by the independent consultants (SRK Canada Inc.), by accounting for the medium and heavy REE's and using lower cut-off, adjusted based on technical and economic data 1 . In addition, the Company completed a 29-hole, 5,349 metre resource expansion and delineation diamond drill program at Wicheeda in 2021 that may lead to further increase in resources, with initial drilling results expected during Q1 2022.





size  Resources increased by 36% on a contained metal basis in comparison to the prior 2020 mineral resource; these results were achieved during the preparation of the PEA by the independent consultants (SRK Canada Inc.), by accounting for the medium and heavy REE's and using lower cut-off, adjusted based on technical and economic data . In addition, the Company completed a 29-hole, 5,349 metre resource expansion and delineation diamond drill program at Wicheeda in 2021 that may lead to further increase in resources, with initial drilling results expected during Q1 2022. Improved flowsheet  Preliminary acid bake testwork conducted during late 2021 by SGS Canada Inc. yielded improved metallurgical extraction and impurity removal performance (>95% neodymium-praseodymium) compared to the PEA base case flowsheet. Successful acid bake test results provide a solid second processing option for Wicheeda material and open the potential of future optimization work to reduce circuit complexity. Acid bake circuit optimization will continue during 2022, however the high extractions and early ability to reject impurities are very promising.





 Preliminary acid bake testwork conducted during late 2021 by SGS Canada Inc. yielded improved metallurgical extraction and impurity removal performance (>95% neodymium-praseodymium) compared to the PEA base case flowsheet. Successful acid bake test results provide a solid second processing option for Wicheeda material and open the potential of future optimization work to reduce circuit complexity. Acid bake circuit optimization will continue during 2022, however the high extractions and early ability to reject impurities are very promising. Completed preliminary economic assessment  PEA results included an after-tax net present value ([email protected]%) of $517 million , and 18% IRR 1 . A unique advantage of the Wicheeda REE Project is the production of a saleable high-grade flotation-concentrate. The PEA models the production of a mineral concentrate with average 43% total rare earth oxide (TREO). Base case economics were calculated using rare earth oxide prices of US$ 5.76 /kg TREO in flotation concentrate and US$ 14.04 /kg TREO in mixed REE carbonate precipitates, using an average long-term NdPr (neodymium/praseodymium) prices.





 PEA results included an after-tax net present value ([email protected]%) of , and 18% IRR . A unique advantage of the Wicheeda REE Project is the production of a saleable high-grade flotation-concentrate. The PEA models the production of a mineral concentrate with average 43% total rare earth oxide (TREO). Base case economics were calculated using rare earth oxide prices of /kg TREO in flotation concentrate and /kg TREO in mixed REE carbonate precipitates, using an average long-term NdPr (neodymium/praseodymium) prices. Fulfilled Wicheeda Project acquisition option terms and requirements  Last year the Company fulfilled all the terms related to project expenditures and payments to vendors, required for the 100% acquisition of the Wicheeda REE Project.





 Last year the Company fulfilled all the terms related to project expenditures and payments to vendors, required for the 100% acquisition of the Wicheeda REE Project. Engaged Collaborators and End users  The Company signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co., Ltd, consisting of information sharing, beneficiation testwork and potential concentrator design research, financing, and cooperation. It also engaged Welsbach Holdings Pte Ltd to assist in building awareness for the Wicheeda REE Project, product market research, introductions to supply chain partners, and assistance in commercial negotiations. The Company also engaged with end-users in Europe and Asia to provide products via the Company advisor Golden Dragon Capital Limited.

Luisa Moreno, President and Director of Defense Metals commented: "We are pleased with the progress of the project to date which culminated with a positive PEA, we thank our shareholders and stakeholders for their continuous support, and we look forward to 2022 as we solidify Defense Metals as a key rare earth company for the global supply chain."

______________________ 1 Independent Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Project, British Columbia, Canada, dated January 6, 2022, with an effective date of November 7, 2021, and prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. is filed under Defense Metals Corp.'s Issuer Profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release as it relates to the Wicheeda REE Project has been reviewed and approved by Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo. (BC) Principal and Consultant of APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, AB, a director of Defense Metals and a "Qualified Person" as defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Raffle verified the data disclosed which includes a review of the analytical and test data underlying the information and opinions contained therein.

Methodology and QA/QC

Hydrometallurgical product assays for neodymium was determined via lithium-borate fusion of a 0.5-gram sample analyzed via wavelength dispersion X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF). The remaining rare earth elements for the head sample were determined via 0.5-gram sodium-peroxide fusion multi-element ICP-MS.

The SGS analyses included a quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) program including the insertion of rare earth element standard and blank samples. Defense Metals detected no significant QA/QC issues during review of the data. Defense Metals is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the data referred to herein. SGS is an ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO9001:2015 accredited laboratory. SGS is independent of Defense Metals Corp

About Defense Metals Corp.

Defense Metals Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition of mineral deposits containing metals and elements commonly used in the electric power market, defense industry, national security sector and in the production of green energy technologies, such as, rare earths magnets used in wind turbines and in permanent magnet motors for electric vehicles. Defense Metals owns 100% of the Wicheeda Rare Earth Element Property located near Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Defense Metals Corp. trades in Canada under the symbol "DEFN" on the TSX Venture Exchange, in the United States, under "DFMTF" on the OTCQB and in Germany on the Frankfurt Exchange under "35D".

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

This news release contains "forwardlooking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements relating to advancing the Wicheeda REE Project, drill results, the Company's plans for its Wicheeda REE Project, including pre-feasibility studies, engagement with existing and potential partners, drilling, completion of the pilot plant with SGS, environmental, social and governance strategy, and potential financings, expanded resource and scale of expanded resource, expected results and outcomes, the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its project and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of rare earth elements, the anticipated costs and expenditures, the ability to achieve its goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration results, risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration and cost estimates, the potential for unexpected costs and expenses and those other risks filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, adverse weather and climate conditions, failure to maintain or obtain all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations, failure to maintain community acceptance (including First Nations), risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions, decrease in the price of rare earth elements, the impact of Covid-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, an inability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to, the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains, loss of key employees, consultants, or directors, increase in costs, delayed drilling results, litigation, and failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law.

SOURCE Defense Metals Corp.
GI Alliance's focus closely aligns with our mission of providing high-quality, patient-centered, low-cost care. Tweet this

"Denver Digestive Health Specialists are a true complement to our outstanding group of Denver-based physicians," said Jim Weber, M.D., CEO of GI Alliance. "Their patients will benefit from a collaborative approach to operations, allowing physicians to focus their energy on best-in-class care."

"GI Alliance's focus closely aligns with our mission of providing high-quality, patient-centered, low-cost care," said Jonathan Fishman, M.D., Denver Digestive Health Specialists. "Joining forces with GI Alliance's Colorado Gastroenterology practice will create a strong Colorado GI network."

About GI Alliance

GI Alliance is a physician-led and majority physician-owned GI services organization supporting the needs of more than 660 independent gastroenterologists operating in Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and Washington. GI Alliance practices focus on providing the highest-quality care to their patients. In addition to providing operational support for practices, GI Alliance is working to unite gastroenterologists nationwide by aligning interests and improving patient care.

Contact: Dee Dee Brooks

GI Alliance

214.998.3434

[email protected]

SOURCE GI Alliance
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the non-partisan national movement to limit terms for elected officials, announces that Dr. Mehmet Oz, 2022 United States Senate candidate in Pennsylvania has signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge. With his pledge, Dr. Oz promises if elected to support the U.S. Term Limits amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit. Pennsylvanians regardless of political affiliation overwhelming support term limits for Congress.

The U.S. Term Limits amendment pledge is provided to every announced candidate for federal office. The U.S. Term Limits constitutional amendment has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate by Senator Ted Cruz and his colleagues (SJR 3) and the U.S. House by Representative Ralph Norman (HJR 12).

"Our Founding Fathers did not want people to make careers out of government," said Dr. Mehmet Oz. "When a treatment just isn't working in medicine, we make changes and try a different solution. That's why I support term limits."

"Dr. Oz is a name known throughout not just Pennsylvania but the nation for his television show and I am thrilled that he has signed the pledge supporting term limits on Congress is on the U.S. Term Limits team," said Joh Eichelberger, Pennsylvania State Co-Chair for U.S. Term Limits.

"We are gaining momentum throughout Pennsylvania for congressional term limits as seen by Dr. Oz's pledge so that we can join the growing number of states supporting congressional term limits," said Andrew Dinniman, Pennsylvania State Co-Chair for U.S. Term Limits.

Phillip Blumel, President of U.S. Term Limits noted, "We have seen a dramatic increase in supporters wanting term limits on Congress. More than 82% of Americans have rejected the career politician model and want to replace it with citizen leadership. The way to achieve that goal is through congressional term limits."

According to the latest nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Scott Rasmussen term limits enjoy wide bipartisan support. Rasmussen's analysis states, "Support for term limits is broad and strong across all political, geographic and demographic groups. An overwhelming 82% of voters approve of a constitutional amendment that will place term limits on members of Congress."

Media Contact: David Johnson, Strategic Vision PR Group

Ph: (404) 380-1079

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Term Limits
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Florida has launched an innovative "Bring Your Own Battery" (BYOB) study to test potential enhancements to the energy grid and support the growth of renewable energy in the Sunshine State.

The purpose of the study is to learn more about customer use of battery technology and explore opportunities to leverage existing battery energy storage systems to improve grid resiliency.

Participants are Duke Energy Florida customers who currently have batteries installed in their homes to provide backup power in case of an outage.

The 12-month study will enable Duke Energy to call on these devices to support the grid during times of peak demand with the expectation of reducing energy costs for participants and ultimately giving customers the opportunity to participate directly in the company's transition to a cleaner energy future.

"Batteries are an exciting technology that will play a significant and evolving role in how energy is delivered to customers now and in the future," said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. "With the introduction of studies like BYOB, we are developing ways to provide even greater value to our customers while improving energy resiliency and advancing solar technologies in Florida."

Duke Energy is working with vendors including Sunrun Inc., Generac, SolarEdge and Virtual Peaker to offer existing battery customers in Florida the opportunity to participate in the BYOB battery study.

"We want to provide innovative solutions that increase grid resilience and expand home backup power options," said Mary Powell, Sunrun chief executive officer. "Sunrun's partnership with Duke Energy will provide affordable, clean, backup power solutions for households in Florida, while also supporting grid reliability at the community level. This study is an example of how collaboration can accelerate the transition to a clean energy future."

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns a diverse generation mix of natural gas, coal and renewables, providing about 10,200 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.9 million customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 7.9 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 51,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,500 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy strategy to create a smarter energy future for its customers and communities  with goals of at least a 50% carbon reduction by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The company is a top U.S. renewable energy provider, on track to own or purchase 16,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2025. The company also is investing in major electric grid upgrades and expanded battery storage, and exploring zero-emitting power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2021 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Ana Gibbs

Cell: 813.928.7263

Media line: 800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy
SYDNEY, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers said they have proven that "near error-free quantum computing is possible," paving the way to build silicon-based devices compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Andrea Morello, Scientia Professor of Quantum Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said the research showed it was "possible to build quantum computers that have enough scale, and enough power, to handle meaningful computation."

"Our operations were 99 percent error-free," Morello said. "When errors are so rare, it becomes possible to detect them and correct them when they occur."

"Before this breakthrough, the error rates of silicon quantum computers were so problematic that any attempt to fix them would actually make the matter worse, like playing whack-a-mole," he told Xinhua on Thursday.

The research findings, published in the scientific journal Nature on Thursday, noted the team had achieved "1-qubit operation fidelities up to 99.95 percent, and 2-qubit fidelity of 99.37 percent with a three-qubit system comprising an electron and two phosphorous atoms, introduced in silicon via ion implantation."

"This means we are now at the level of performance where making a bigger and more powerful quantum computer actually makes sense, because the extra qubits can be used to help correct the rare errors," he said.

Morello, an electrical engineer and a quantum physicist, has previously demonstrated that he could preserve quantum information in silicon for 35 seconds.

"In the quantum world, 35 seconds is an eternity," he said. "To give a comparison, in the Google and IBM superconducting quantum computers the lifetime is about a hundred microseconds -- nearly a million times shorter."

But the trade-off was that isolating the qubits made it seemingly impossible for them to interact with each other, as necessary to perform actual computations.

The Nature report reveals how the UNSW team overcame that problem by using an electron encompassing two nuclei of phosphorus atoms.

"If you have two nuclei that are connected to the same electron, you can make them do a quantum operation," said Mateusz Madzik, one of the lead research authors.

"While you don't operate the electron, those nuclei safely store their quantum information. But now you have the option of making them talk to each other via the electron, to realize universal quantum operations that can be adapted to any computational problem."

Morello said that having established an error rate of below one percent, the next project would be to "start designing silicon quantum processors that scale up and operate reliably for useful calculations."

"A great aspect of this story is that the low error rates in silicon have been achieved, at the same time, by three different research groups around the world," he said, referring to comparable studies coming out of the Netherlands and Japan.

"The whole community is maturing together, thanks to the free and open circulation of ideas, people and materials." 
AMSTERDAM, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DutchFounders has reached the final close for its second fund, making more than 62m ($70m) available for early-stage marketplaces and so-called marketplace enablers. The fund joins the broader trend of VCs narrowing their focus to specific niches.

Founded by experienced entrepreneurs (WeTransfer, Treatwell, Just Eat, Hiber, fonQ) in 2019, the DutchFounders has backed the likes of digital freight forwarder Shypple and employee benefit platform YourCampus. Now, just 1.5 years after announcing their first fund, the Dutch VC has opened their new 62m pre-seed / seed fund. This fund will invest in emerging marketplaces, leveraging the expertise of the team's experience with building the like's of Just-Eat, WeTransfer and Treatwell.

The Amsterdam-based VC noticed that many supply chains and B2B business operations remained offline. Especially in the B2B domain, many people still relied on legacy-like systems and analogue processes to take care of their logistics or procurement. Now, the Dutch Founders Fund has set out to back founders building marketplaces that truly disrupt these processes or companies that completely rethink supply chains. "Rerouting supply and demand whilst displacing the middleman, that's what we are looking for," says Laurens Groenendijk, founding partner at the fund.

The fund has fully embraced marketplaces, as its business model helps to create better and more equal economies. "Besides efficiency gains, a marketplace creates transparency and allows for a more equitable distribution of resources. Not so long ago, the rules were set by the dominant player. Now, people can track their orders, compare reviews, bargain for a better price, and speed up their operations. Marketplaces have truly created a level playing field for both supply and demand," Groenendijk explains.

The VC aims to invest the majority of their fund - over 70% - in European companies. More specifically, the fund is on the lookout for marketplaces that facilitate and embed larger parts of the value chain, such as payments and logistics. That includes technologies that enable frictionless transactions such as fintech solutions or web3 applications. "Marketplace enablers" as the fund dubs it.

The entrepreneurial background of the DutchFounders team remains one of their greatest assets, having seen the ups and downs of running your own business. The fund offers finance, PR, sustainability, HR and product support, becoming the 1-stop-shop for founders in the pre-seed and seed stage. There is no room for institutional money: their new fund is entirely backed by more than 100 well-known (tech) entrepreneurs from all across Europe.

"We know from experience what it's like to deal with many different stakeholders and how to overcome early-stage growth pains. Starting a company is easy; building a company is something else. We believe in intense mentoring, from ideation to your series A, that's why we invest early on and go all-in. We might be unorthodox, but that's because we truly understand the playing field."

About Dutch Founders Fund

The Dutch Founders Fund is an early-stage venture capital fund from Amsterdam, started by a group of successful Dutch entrepreneurs like Laurens Groenendijk (Just Eat, Treatwell, Miinto, Hiber), Patrick Kerssemakers (fonQ), Bas Beerens (WeTransfer), Hidde Hoogcarspel (Spacebuzz) and Remco van Zanten ( Booking, Zalando, Vinted and BCG).

The fund specialises in marketplaces and companies with strong network effects. Since its launch in 2018, the fund has successfully invested in 16 companies. This includes: YourCampus, Shypple, Vintage Cash Cow, Lumaly, Blanco, Nostics, Reveall, Veylinx, Wonderkind, Voicebooking, Fleks, Minimum, Caya, Winc Academy, Buildstream and Tracedock (exited to CM.com). The total fund has almost 100 million assets under management. DutchFounders is a committed partner of Techleap's Fundright initiative.

Note to Press:

Please contact [email protected] for additional information about our fund, (exclusive) interviews with our founders, extra quotes or insights into the state of European tech/marketplaces. We are more than happy to provide this information.

SOURCE Dutch Founders Fund
Vendor Landscape

The e-book market is fragmented and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as mergers and acquisitions and collaborating with schools and educational institutions to compete in the market.

Hachette Livre - In September 2020, the company announced the acquisition of Laurence King Publishing (LKP), the UK's leading gift publisher and one of the country's top three art publishers

John Wiley and Sons Inc. - In February 2021, the company and CRUI signed a four-year transitional agreement to accelerate open-access publishing in Italy.

McGraw Hill - In February 2021, the company had been named as one of America's best midsize employers by Forbes.

View more about the market's vendor landscape highlights with a comprehensive list of vendors and their offerings.

Key Market Segmentation

Segmentation by Product:

Consumer E-book:



The e-book market share growth by the consumer eBook segment will be significant during the forecast period. Consumer eBooks include adult fiction and other fiction genres, and consumer eBooks are mainly bought by individual end-users. The demand for fiction books is growing due to the evolving reading habits of individuals. In addition, the compelling fictional stories being published have been helping this genre gain popularity among readers.



Professional E-book



Educational E-book

Segmentation by Platform Usage:

Smartphones



Tablets



Others

Request a FREE Sample of this report for more highlights into the market segments.

The E-book Market Covers the Following Areas:

E-Book Market Sizing

E-Book Market Forecast

E-Book Market Analysis

Regional Market Outlook

45% of the market's growth will originate from North America during the forecast period. The US and Canada are the key markets for e-books in North America. Market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in MEA.

Government initiatives encouraging the adoption of advanced technologies in schools and libraries to enrich the learning experience of students will facilitate the e-book market growth in North America over the forecast period.

Download our FREE sample report for more key highlights on the regional market share of most of the above-mentioned countries.

Latest Drivers & Trends of the Global E-Book Market

Market Driver:

Benefits and reader engagement of eBooks:

The benefits and reader engagement of eBooks is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market during the forecast period. Books in the digital format have been quite prevalent, with eBooks and e-readers becoming a common phenomenon across the world. However, this has been changing rapidly. eBooks for end-users are gaining popularity, as the latest interactive technologies are being integrated into them. The array of interactive components being integrated into eBooks includes verbal interaction, AR, and gaming. These features, along with the traditional aspects of story plots and illustrations, are making eBooks popular among professionals, children, and others. Thus, the demand for interactive eBooks will continue to rise, which will drive the growth of the global eBook market during the forecast period.

Market Trend:

Rising adoption of online local language translation modules in eBooks:

The rising adoption of online local language translation modules in eBooks is one of the key trends driving the growth of the market during the forecast period. The localization of content and online local language translations in the global eBook market is gaining prominence, as countries across the globe have many native languages. Publishers are considering the online translation of eBooks in various local languages as an added advantage to their businesses. This will not only improve the accessibility and distribution of books to wider target end-user but also help them in cutting costs and improving content mobility. Thus, the localization of eBooks will foster the growth of the market in focus in the long run.

Find additional information about various other market drivers & trends mentioned in our FREE sample report .

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E-Book Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7% Market growth 2021-2025 $ 6.93 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.04 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution North America at 45% Key consumer countries US, Canada, UK, Germany, China, and Italy Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Bertelsmann SE and Co. KGaA, Cengage Learning Inc., Hachette Livre, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley and Sons Inc., Kensington publishing corp., Macmillan publishers, and McGraw Hill 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.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 01: Parent market

Exhibit 02: Market Characteristics

2.2 Value chain analysis

Exhibit 03: Value chain analysis: Education Services

2.2.1 Inputs

2.2.2 Operations

2.2.3 Marketing and sales

2.2.4 Support activities

2.2.5 Innovation

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SOURCE Technavio
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Elevation Gold Mining Corporation (TSXV: ELVT) (OTCQX: EVGDF) (the "Company" or "Elevation") a U.S. focused gold producer with district scale exploration projects in the Walker Lane Trend of Nevada and Arizona, is pleased to provide the following corporate update.

Exploration Update

Drill crews have returned to the Moss Mine site and the 2022 exploration drilling program is now underway. Two reverse circulation drill rigs are currently turning on the property.

Michael G. Allen, President of Elevation Gold stated, "We have many new targets to test, in addition to continued resource expansion drilling, and are planning to systematically explore the district scale land package surrounding the Moss Mine, Arizona's largest pure precious metals mine."

DTC Eligibility

The Company is pleased to announce that it has received approval from the Depository Trust Company ("DTC") that its common shares are now eligible for electronic clearing and settlement through DTC in the United States.

With DTC eligibility, existing Elevation investors based in the United States can now benefit from potentially greater liquidity and faster execution speeds. In addition, DTC eligibility also allows for new investors to efficiently trade the Company's common shares, whereas they may have been restricted in the past, potentially simplifying the process of trading common shares of the Company in the United States and allowing the Company to access a larger pool of investors. The Company's trading symbols will not change as part of this process.

About the Depository Trust Company

DTC was founded in 1973 and is a New York corporation that performs the function of a Central Securities Depository as part of the US National Market System. DTC manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through DTC are considered "DTC eligible".

Gold Agreement

The Company has entered into a short-term agreement with Maverix Metals Inc. pursuant to which the Company has received an upfront payment of US$6,000,000. In consideration for the upfront payment the Company has agreed to sell and deliver a specified amount of refined gold, with deliveries of such amounts and an additional US$1 million of refined gold to Maverix quarterly beginning March 28 and until expiry of the agreement on June 28, 2023.

Michael G. Allen, President of Elevation stated, "This short-term gold loan provides us financial flexibility as we continue to unlock value at the Moss Mine."

Qualified Person

Dr. Warwick Board, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of Elevation Gold, is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 responsible for the Moss Regional Exploration Project and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release related thereto.

About Elevation Gold Mining

Elevation Gold Mining offers investors a rare combination of cash flow, production, top-tier management, and exceptional exploration potential within two projects on the Walker Lane Gold Trend of western Nevada and Arizona. Management is executing a clear strategy that expands production and resources at the Moss Mine in Arizona while aggressively exploring the Hercules Gold Project in Nevada.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF ELEVATION GOLD MINING CORPORATION

"Michael G. Allen"

President

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.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this document constitute forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company's plans, prospects and business strategies; the Company's guidance on the timing and amount of future production and its expectations regarding the results of operations; expected costs; permitting requirements and timelines; timing and possible outcome of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimations, life of mine estimates, and mine plans; anticipated exploration and development activities at the Company's projects; net present value; design parameters; economic potential; processing mineralized material; the potential of robust economic potential at the Moss Mine Project. Words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "plan", "goal", "aim", "intend", "continue", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", "can", "could", "should", "schedule" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon various estimates and assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, including that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour; assumed and future price of gold, silver and other metals; anticipated costs; ability to achieve goals; and assumptions related to the factors set forth below. While these factors and assumptions are considered reasonable by the Company as at the date of this document in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, these statements are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: risks inherent in mining, including, but not limited to risks to the environment, industrial accidents, catastrophic equipment failures, unusual or unexpected geological formations or unstable ground conditions, and natural phenomena such as earthquakes, flooding or unusually severe weather; uninsurable risks; global financial conditions and inflation; changes in the Company's share price, and volatility in the equity markets in general; volatility and fluctuations in metal and commodity prices; the threat associated with outbreaks of viruses and infectious diseases, including the COVID-19 virus; delays or the inability to obtain, retain or comply with permits; risks related to negative publicity with respect to the Company or the mining industry in general; health and safety risks; exploration, development or mining results not being consistent with the Company's expectations; unavailable or inaccessible infrastructure and risks related to ageing infrastructure; actual ore mined and/or metal recoveries varying from Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution, mine plans and metallurgical and other characteristics; risks associated with the estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, including, but not limited to, models relating thereto; ore processing efficiency; information technology and cybersecurity risks; potential for the allegation of fraud and corruption involving the Company, its customers, suppliers or employees, or the allegation of improper or discriminatory employment practices; regulatory investigations, enforcement, sanctions and/or related or other litigation; estimates of future production andoperations; estimates of operating cost estimates; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; risks related to the environmental regulation and environmental impact of the Company's operations and products and management thereof; exchange rate fluctuations; climate change; risks relating to attracting and retaining of highly skilled employees; compliance with environmental, health and safety laws; counterparty and credit risks and customer concentration; litigation; changes in laws, regulations or policies including, but not limited to, those related to mining regimes, permitting and approvals, environmental and tailings management, and labour; internal controls; challenges or defects in title; funding requirements and availability of financing; dilution; risks relating to dividends; risks associated with acquisitions and related integration efforts, including the ability to achieve anticipated benefits, unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to integration and diversion of management time on integration; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, production estimates and estimated economic return; uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; and other risks and uncertainties including but not limited to those described the Company's public disclosure documents which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile. All of the forward-looking statements made in this document are qualified by these cautionary statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, forecast or intended and readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking information. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this document. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forwardlooking information or to explain any material difference between such and subsequent actual events, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Elevation Gold Mining Corp.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health Corporation ("Encompass Health" or the "Company") (NYSE: EHC), a national leader in integrated healthcare, offering facility-based and home-based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and home health and hospice agencies, today announced that it is amending its previously announced solicitation of consents (the "Consent Solicitation") from the holders of its 4.500% Senior Notes due 2028 (the "2028 Notes"), 4.750% Senior Notes due 2030 (the "2030 Notes") and 4.625% Senior Notes due 2031 (the "2031 Notes" and together with the 2028 Notes and the 2030 Notes, the "Notes") to certain proposed amendments (the "Proposed Amendments") described in the Consent Solicitation Statement, dated December 9, 2021 (as previously amended on December 16, 2021, January 12, 2022 and January 18, 2022, as amended hereby and as may be further amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Statement") to the indenture governing the Notes (the "Indenture").

The Company is modifying the terms of the Statement to provide for an aggregate consent payment of $16 million in respect of the 2028 Notes, an aggregate consent payment of $16 million in respect of the 2030 Notes and an aggregate consent payment of $8 million in respect of the 2031 Notes (each, an "Aggregate Consent Payment").

In the event that the Consent Effective Time (as defined in the Statement) for a series of Notes occurs, the Company will pay 50% of the applicable Aggregate Consent Payment for such series of Notes on the first business day after the expiration date for such series of Notes and 50% of the applicable Aggregate Consent Payment for such series of Notes on the Settlement Date (as defined in the Statement) (if any), in each case, for the benefit, on a pro rata basis, of each Holder of record of such series of Notes on the Record Date (as defined in the Statement) that has validly delivered a consent to the Proposed Amendments on or prior to the expiration date for such series of Notes and not validly revoked its consent.

All holders of Notes should review the Statement in its entirety, including the section entitled "Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations," with their tax advisors, noting that, as a result of the increased Aggregate Consent Payments announced today (as compared with the amounts of the consent payments described in the amendment to the Statement dated January 18, 2022) the Company anticipates that the receipt of a Consent Payment by a consenting U.S. Holder (as such terms are defined in the Statement) with respect to a Note (as defined herein) of any series will result in a deemed exchange of such Note. All holders should consult their tax advisors as to the specific tax consequences to them of the adoption of the Proposed Amendments and receipt of the Consent Payment (or the First Consent Payment (as defined in the Statement) in the event the Settlement Date does not occur), including the applicability and effect of any U.S. federal, state and local or non-U.S. tax laws and any applicable tax treaties.

The expiration time for the Consent Solicitation with respect to the Notes is 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 24, 2022, unless further extended or earlier terminated by the Company.

Except as described above, all other terms and conditions of the Consent Solicitation as set forth in the Statement remain unchanged and in effect. Holders of the Notes who have validly delivered their consents with respect to the Proposed Amendments do not need to deliver new consents or take any other action in response to this announcement in order to consent to the Proposed Amendments. Consents (whether previously or hereafter delivered) with respect to the Notes may only be revoked in the manner described in the Statement.

Encompass Health reserves the right to modify the Statement and the terms and conditions of the Consent Solicitation or to terminate the Consent Solicitation at any time.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are the solicitation agents in the Consent Solicitation and Global Bondholder Services Corporation has been retained to serve as the information and tabulation agent. Persons with questions regarding the Consent Solicitation should contact Citigroup Global Markets Inc. at (toll free) +1 (800) 558-3745 or (collect) +1 (212) 723-6106 or by e-mail at [email protected] and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC at (toll free) +1 (800) 828-3182 or (collect) +1 (212) 902-5962 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Requests for the Statement should be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation, at (toll free) +1 (855) 654-2015, (banks and brokers) +1 (212) 430-3774, by facsimile (for Eligible Institutions only) at +1 (212) 430-3775/3779 or by e-mail to [email protected].

None of the Company, the solicitation agents, the information and tabulation agent and the indenture trustee or any of their respective affiliates is making any recommendation as to whether holders of the Notes should deliver consents in response to the Consent Solicitation. Holders must make their own decisions as to whether to deliver consents.

This press release is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. This announcement is also not a solicitation of consents with respect to the Proposed Amendments or otherwise. The Consent Solicitation is being made solely through the Statement referred to above and related materials. The Consent Solicitation is not being made to holders of the Notes in any jurisdiction in which the Company is aware that the making of the Consent Solicitation would not be in compliance with the laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the securities laws or blue sky laws require the Consent Solicitation to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Consent Solicitation will be deemed to be made on the Company's behalf by the solicitation agents or one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. Neither the Statement nor any documents related to the Consent Solicitation have been filed with, or approved or reviewed by, any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority of any country. No authority has passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the Statement or any documents related to the Consent Solicitation, and it is unlawful and may be a criminal offense to make any representation to the contrary.

About Encompass Health

As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facility-based and home-based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 145 hospitals, 251 home health locations, and 96 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides high quality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, Encompass Health, through its senior management, may from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning the matters described herein. All such estimates, projections, and forward-looking information speak only as of the date hereof, and Encompass Health undertakes no duty to publicly update or revise such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates based upon current information, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties about Encompass Health's business plans and strategies, and actual events or results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those factors which may be identified from time to time in Encompass Health's SEC filings and other public announcements, including Encompass Health's current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its latest annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. No assurance can be given that the transactions described herein will be consummated or as to the ultimate terms of any such transactions.

Media contact: Casey Winger | 205-970-5912

[email protected]

Investor Relations contact: Mark Miller | 205-970-5860

[email protected]

SOURCE Encompass Health Corp.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PNC Bank, National Association, is pleased to announce its membership to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership.

By choosing green power, PNC Bank is helping advance the voluntary market for green power and development of those sources; and is using more than 81 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 25% of the organization's electricity use. According to the U.S. EPA, PNC's green power use is equivalent to the electricity use of nearly 8,000 average American homes annually.

"EPA applauds PNC Bank for its leadership position in the green power marketplace," said James Critchfield, program manager of EPA's Green Power Partnership. "PNC is an excellent example for other organizations in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through green power investment and use."

PNC Bank committed to RE100 in 2019 to source 100% renewable purchased electricity by 2025 and will reach this goal through a multi-faceted approach inclusive of power purchase agreements, renewable energy credits and on-site generation.

"At PNC, we strive to be good stewards of the environment, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it is essential to supporting a high quality of life for our employees, customers and communities," said Lora Phillips, VP and director of PNC's Environmental, Social and Governance practice. "Our commitments to operational sustainability are a critical component of our overall climate action strategy."

"We are proud to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for our green power usage and to contribute to a reduction in air pollution while lowering our emissions footprint," said Kate Zettl, VP and Energy manager at PNC Bank. "We are making great progress to achieve our 100% renewable purchased electricity target by 2025 and encourage other companies to consider green power as an affordable and accessible choice."

By moving the needle in the voluntary green power market, PNC Bank and other Green Power Partners are helping to reduce the negative health impacts of air emissions including those related to ozone, fine particles, acid rain and regional haze.

PNC holds longstanding commitments to reduce its environmental impact, finance the transition to a low carbon economy and leverage its resources to move all forward financially. In August the company pledged $20 billion in support of environmental finance and earlier this year joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. The company also released its first Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report in Aug. 2021, which focuses on PNC's climate risk management strategy. For full detail of PNC's ESG commitments, refer to the 2020 PNC Corporate Responsibility Report.

About EPA's Green Power Partnership

The Green Power Partnership is a partnership program that helps increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the American market for green power and development of those sources as a way to reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with electricity use. In 2020, the Partnership had more than 700 Partners voluntarily using nearly 70 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500 companies; small and medium sized businesses; local, state, and federal governments; and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit www.epa.gov/greenpower.

About PNC Bank

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.

For More Information

PNC Media Relations

(412) 762-4550

[email protected]

SOURCE PNC Bank
FARNBOROUGH, England, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Exclaimer Group today announces the acquisition of Periodic  a major player in the calendaring and appointment scheduling market, based in Bloomington, Indiana.

This new business acquisition enables Exclaimer to enhance its offerings through additional integrated functionality to the email signature real estate.

Exclaimer acquires custom booking management software, Periodic, to further enhance its email signature management offering (PRNewsfoto/Exclaimer)

Using Periodic's SaaS platform, Exclaimer strengthens its world-class product offering once more by providing a streamlined booking option for customers to use within their email signatures.

This cutting-edge solution facilitates daily tasks more easily  from taking appointments and creating tailored availability display  so consumers can swiftly and seamlessly schedule appointments, allowing them to focus on more important jobs at hand.

Periodic's fully rounded feature-set provides the following benefits:

Easily book, reschedule, cancel, and adjust appointments at the click of a button from within corporate email signatures

Tailor appointment links to suit the needs of all industries and cater for a wide range of customer requirements, all while maintaining consistent company branding

Universally apply links across all corporate email through the server-side deployment of signature templates

Exclaimer's enhanced platform further allows companies to optimize the use of corporate email signatures to streamline sales, marketing, and intercompany relations efforts. It also builds on the acquisition of Customer Thermometer at the beginning of 2021, enabling users to integrate feedback and surveys within their email signatures.

Commenting on the deal, Marco Costa, CEO Exclaimer said: "This acquisition will allow our customers to further optimize the revenue opportunities available in their email signatures by driving booked meetings from every email they send. Exclaimer is driving a fundamental shift in what's possible to embed in personalized emails today. The acquisition is also exciting as it will further drive Exclaimer's strong expansion in the U.S. market."

Brad Wisler, Founder and CEO at Periodic commented about the deal: "We couldn't be more excited about joining forces with Exclaimer. For years, we've both been in the business of building real-world connections through online communications. By integrating our unique booking platform with Exclaimer's email and survey management tools, we will create a one-of-a-kind platform for strengthening relationships between companies and their customers and employees."

Enquiries:

Maria Dahlqvist Canton

VP Marketing, Exclaimer

Phone: +44 (0) 7552 174905

Email: [email protected]

About Exclaimer

For over 20 years, Exclaimer has been providing world-class email signature solutions for Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Google Workplace (formerly G Suite), and Microsoft Exchange. Exclaimer solutions enable companies to manage their employees' email signatures efficiently and deliver consistent branding, promotions, disclaimers and compliance statements, while substantially cutting admin overheads.

Headquartered just outside of London and with regional offices worldwide, its products are used by over 45,000 customers in 150+ countries with some companies holding licenses for over 300,000 users.

Its diverse customer base includes renowned international organizations such as Sony, Mattel, Bank of America, NBC, the Government of Canada, the BBC, the Academy Awards, and many more organizations of all sectors and sizes. The company has been the recipient of multiple industry awards over the years and was the first company of its type to successfully achieve the ISO/IEC 27001 Certification for its cloud-based signature management service.

For more information on Exclaimer, please visit www.exclaimer.com

SOURCE Exclaimer
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hispanic families across the country will tune in for National School Choice Week's first Virtual School and Resource Fair, featuring Mexican actor and comedian Fernando Arau, Ballet Folklorico, Mariachi, and much more.

The virtual celebration will premiere Friday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and it will share information about all types of schools from California to New Jersey , seeking to address the information gap that can be a barrier to educational opportunity for Hispanic families.

The Virtual School and Resource fair will feature musical and artistic performances from students, as well as guest speakers Mari Barke, President of the Orange County Board of Education; Cecilia Iglesias, founder of the Parent Union, and Lance Izumi, author and senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute.

Families are encouraged to register for the free event at schoolchoiceweek.com/feria-escolar-nacional . An event trailer featuring Fernando Arau is available at youtube.com/watch?v=1oRUlErYKn8 .

This event is planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week Jan. 23-29, 2022, which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states.

"This Virtual National School and Resource Fair will focus on supporting Spanish-speaking parents to learn more about school choice in their own language," said Magda Gomez, director of Broadway Productions. "Together we are Hispanics learning about school choice in the U.S."

This event is planned by Broadway Productions, which supports Hispanic parents combining Art and Education in Spanish in partnership with local organizations, government officials and community leaders.

# # #

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) from across Florida were at the State Capitol today to meet with legislators to advocate for passage of SB 986 and HB 437, bills related to the collaborative practice of CRNAs during the administration of anesthesia. FANA, Florida's 86-year-old professional association, representing the State's more than 5,400 nurse anesthesiology professionals, makes an annual trip to Tallahassee to advocate on behalf of the profession while also celebrating National CRNA Week, January 23-29, 2022.

The two bills, which were filed by Senate Health Policy Committee Chairman Manny Diaz (Hialeah-R) and House Regulatory Reform Subcommittee Chair Bob Rommel (Naples-R), would allow registered CRNAs, one of the U.S. healthcare system's highly sought-after anesthesia care providers, to administer anesthesia in hospital, surgical and clinical settings in collaboration with specified licensed health care practitioners.

"During the global COVID-19 pandemic we saw first-hand the demand and need for highly trained health care professionals, especially CRNAs who valiantly served on the frontlines," said Senator Diaz. "Now is the time for Florida to come in line with 43 other states that have already eliminated obstacles and unnecessary supervision requirements related to highly trained CRNAs-- allowing them to practice to the full scope of their education and training."

According to a 2021 report by the Florida Hospital Association, Florida could have a shortage of more than 59,000 nurses in less than 15 years putting a great strain on a field that has suffered losses throughout the pandemic.

Additionally, the September 2021 Nurse Workforce Projection Report estimates there were 234,821 registered nurses (RN) in Florida in 2019, which was already 11,000 RNs short of the state's actual demand. The study also states the state's demand could increase up to 322,928 RNs by 2035, although current workforce growth will not meet that goal. The loss of health care providers at all levels creates the greatest concerns in rural areas where, in many instances, CRNAs are the only available anesthesia providers. That is why FANA and CRNAs across Florida are advocating for the removal of barriers to practice-- ensuring a robust health care system.

"We need to modernize our health care system and we need to look at all the resources available to us now," said Rep. Rommel. "CRNAs can help rural facilities prepare for and meet the challenges of COVID-19 with a range of skills that make them invaluable to our state's response by transforming the health care landscape in Florida."

CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered. They are also primary providers of anesthesia care in rural and medically underserved areas and on the battlefield in forward surgical teams, military ships, and forward operating bases. As expert clinicians with specialized skills in advanced airway and ventilator management, advanced hemodynamic monitoring, and advanced patient assessment, CRNAs have expanded the nation's critical care workforce, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FANA is especially grateful to Governor Ron DeSantis for recognizing CRNA week by issuing a proclamation. Additionally, multiple Florida counties and cities also issued proclamations expressing their support during CRNA week. To view those proclamations please click here.

"On behalf of Florida's 5,400 nurse anesthesiology professionals we thank Senator Diaz and Representative Rommel for championing these very important bills. It is time for Florida to modernize its laws as it relates to high-skilled CRNAs," said FANA President William L. Self, DNP, CRNA, APRN. "Historically, our laws did not contemplate the advancement of the sophisticated education and training CRNAs receive today. We are committed to the safety and well-being of our patients and there are several studies that support our efforts."

One such report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury urges states to "consider changes to their scope-of-practice statutes to allow all healthcare providers to practice to the top of their license, utilizing their full skill set."

For more information about the integral role and value of CRNAs in Florida visit www.fana.org or for national information, including Florida CRNA stories please click here or visit www.anesthesiafacts.com.

About the Florida Association of Nurse Anesthesiology

Founded in 1936, The Florida Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (FANA) represents more than 5,400 nurse anesthesiology professionals. FANA advocates for its patients and members in legislative and governmental affairs and serves as a resource for CRNAs, the nursing and medical professions, hospitals, health care facilities, and others interested in anesthesia care. For more information visit www.fana.org.

SOURCE Florida Association of Nurse Anesthesiology
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In the face of continued learning disruptions nationwide, Gov. Mike Parson has issued a proclamation drawing attention to the importance of school choice for Missouri children. The Governor declared Jan. 23-Jan. 29 to be "Missouri School Choice Week," underscoring the importance of every Missouri student, family, and teacher having access to effective education options.

Gov. Parson's proclamation comes on the heels of historic school choice expansions nationwide, including the creation of a new Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Program for students.

Missourians will celebrate School Choice Week with more than 450 events and activities across the state. The activities have been independently planned by parents, teachers, and other community members and include capitol rallies, school fairs, online meet-ups, and more. These events seek to inspire conversation about the educational choices parents want for their children, and encourage families to play an active role in their children's education.

Nationwide, more than 26,000 events have been independently planned for the Week, raising awareness about opportunity in education. More than 300 state, city, and local leaders have issued proclamations and schools of every type  traditional public, public magnet, public charter, private, online, and homeschool  will join in the celebration.

"As parents and educators know well, each child is unique," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Having an array of learning opportunities helps serve students' distinct needs. We are grateful to Gov. Parson for recognizing the role of options in education and we look forward to seeing the celebrations taking place across the state."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/missouri .

SOURCE National School Choice Week
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Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

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SOURCE SpendEdge
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- At least one person was killed and 20 others were injured on Thursday in a bomb blast in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore, a local police official told media.

The death toll might rise as several of the injured are in critical condition, local media reported. 
DUBLIN, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market to Reach US$265.3 Billion by the Year 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) estimated at US$177.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$265.3 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% over the analysis period.

Innovative, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 6.4% CAGR to reach US$190.9 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Generic segment is readjusted to a revised 7.4% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

This segment currently accounts for a 30.2% share of the global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) market. As patents for branded APIs expire, opportunities for generic APIs increase, resulting in an augmented API market demand.

APIs represent biologically-active substances and primary components for drug manufacturing. The production of APIs globally is mainly concentrated to developing nations due to their capability to scale production as per customization and low-cost manufacturing.

The API market is slated to gain from increasing focus on generic and branded drugs as a result of rising prevalence of non-communicable and chronic medical conditions due to lifestyle changes and rapid urbanization. The market growth is anticipated to be augmented further from the transition away from conventional manufacturing techniques, rising investment in drug discovery, and strong adherence to product quality.

The market is also benefitting from increasing influx of generic drugs that are produced following permission of a pharmaceutical company for creating the own version of the medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruptions in supply chain are driving various governments to boycott sourcing of APIs from China.

Despite these challenges, the API market is bound to progress ahead swiftly due to positive factors like pending approval of various generic and blockbuster drugs that rely on APIs.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at $71.5 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $35.4 Billion by 2026

The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) market in the U.S. is estimated at US$71.5 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 36.3% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$35.4 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.6% through the analysis period.

Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 6.1% and 6.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 6.1% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$37.5 Billion by the end of the analysis period.

China is a leading producer and exporter of APIs, accounting for about 20% of global API production. The country's strong presence in API production could be attributed to factors such as low cost of utilities and strong government support. COVID-19 has highlighted various vulnerabilities associated with sourcing of APIs from other regions or countries, such as fractured supply chain and limited scope for immediate response to changes.

These challenges are now prompting a number of European nations and the US to focus on relocation of pharmaceutical and API production back to home country.



Key Topics Covered:



I. METHODOLOGY



II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



1. MARKET OVERVIEW

COVID-19 Alters Pharmaceutical Industry and API Production Dynamics

COVID-19 Exposes US Pharmaceutical Makers to Risk of Supply Shortages, Driving the Need to Revamp Domestic Industry Structure

Pandemic Leads US to Focus on Stockpiling & Localized Manufacturing to Rectify Supply Chain Flaws

Revamping Local Production Capacity

Knock-on Effect of COVID-19 on API Availability Incites Players to Reconfigure Supply Chain

COVID-19 Pandemic: A Wake-Up Call for API Seekers to Mitigate Supply Risks

Short-Term Strategies

Long-Term Strategies

Unprecedented Global Push to Expedite COVID-19 Vaccine Development to Spur Demand for APIs

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients: A Prelude

Outlook

Regional Landscape

US CDMOs to Gain from Mounting Concerns Over Excess Reliance On Chinese APIs

China Continues to Remain a Major Hub

COVID-19 Brings Europe's High Reliance on APIs Sourced from Outside under Spotlight

India Strives to Increase API Production to Attain Self Reliance in Pharmaceutical Production

Global PE Firms to Invest Heavily in Indian Intermediate Pharma Companies

Recent Market Activity

world Brands

2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS (Total 266 Featured)

AbbVie Inc.

Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.

BASF SE

Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH

Cipla Ltd.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.

Lupin Ltd.

Merck KGaA

Novartis International AG

Pfizer Inc.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Viatris Inc.

3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS

Sustained Increase in Drug R&D Spending to Drive API Market

Increased API Sourcing Creates the need for More Scrutiny of Suppliers for Best Quality Products

Preference for Specialized CDMO Contractors on the Rise

Strong Rise in Pharmaceutical Sales to Drive Demand

The AIC Approach for Faster Assessment of Viable Drug Candidates

Drug Makers Embrace Digital Technology Amidst COVID-19 Crisis

AI Finds Growing Application in Drug Discovery and Development

Microdosing Beneficial for the Formulation of High Potency Ingredients

Growing Penetration of Generic Drugs Augments Market Prospects

Increasing Interest in Biopharmaceuticals Supports Market Demand

Rising Number of Biologics Approvals Augurs Well

Growing Biosimilars Market Create Opportunities for APIs

Growing Attention Towards Personalized Medicine Spurs Demand for Complex API

Increasing Sales of OTC Drugs Presents an Opportunity for APIs

Growing Prevalence of Infectious Diseases to Spur Growth

Rising Incidence of Cancer & Need to Reduce Cancer-Related Mortality Spell Increased Demand

Increasing Prevalence of Chronic Disorders Fuels Market Growth

Rising Incidence of Cardiovascular Diseases Revs Up Opportunities

Upsurge in ANDA Approvals Bodes Well

Aging Population & Increasing Burden of Chronic Diseases Spurs Pharma Product Sales, Driving Market Growth

4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE



III. REGIONAL MARKET ANALYSIS



IV. COMPETITION

Total Companies Profiled: 266

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pqzbnv

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NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InsightAce Analytic Pvt. Ltd. announces the release of a market assessment report on the " Global Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market Trends, Industry Competition Analysis, Revenue, and Forecast to 2030."

According to the latest market research study, the global allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market is valued at US$ 869.6 million, and it is expected to reach US$ 3424.1 million by 2030 with a CAGR of 17% during a forecast period.

Request for Sample Pages: https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/request-sample/1194

Allogeneic cell therapy products are producing stimulating pre-clinical and clinical results. Allogeneic cell therapies are created using healthy cells from unrelated donors, and these therapies rely on a single source of cells to treat large group patients. It is a procedure in which patient receives healthy cells (stem cells) from a donor to replace their own damaged or destroyed cells.

Multiple factors such as the rising burden of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, increasing government funding for stem cell therapies, growing elderly population, developing healthcare infrastructure, advancements in technologies, rising public, and awareness about the benefits of allogeneic cell therapies are anticipated to fuel the demand for allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market during the forecast period. Many pharma companies are launching allogeneic cell therapies to treat patients with chronic diseases. For instance, in March 2021, Adicet Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company developing allogeneic gamma delta T cell therapies for cancer and other diseases, began its First-in-Human Phase I clinical trial evaluating ADI-001 for the treatment of B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). ADI-001 is an investigational first-in-class allogeneic gamma delta T cell therapy that expresses a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD20, produced to potentially increase selective tumor targeting and aid adaptive and innate anti-tumor immune response, and improve persistence for strong activity in patients. Owing to the increasing demand for cost-effective and efficient cell & gene therapies, outsourcing contract research organizations (CROs) have expanded the bioassay services, thereby boosting market growth opportunities in the near future.

Request for ToC/Proposal: https://www.insightaceanalytic.com/report/global-allogeneic-cell-therapy-manufacturing-market-/1194

However, the high developmental investments and the immune rejection issues may inhibit the growth of the global allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market in the upcoming years.

North America is projected to dominate this market over the forecast period (2019-2030), followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific, due to the growing R&D investments in cell therapy research, high prevalence of chronic diseases, and quick adoption of advanced technologies.

Major market players operating in the allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market include Lonza Group, KBI Biopharma, Inc., Waisman Biomanufacturing, Cell, and Gene Therapy Catapult, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Merck KGaA, Catalent Inc., Oxford Biomedica Plc, Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics, Inc., Wuxi Apptec, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., The Discovery Labs LLC, ABL, Inc., BioCentriq, Commercializing Living Therapies, and Other Prominent Player among others.

Some significant developments in the market:

In January 2022 , Mesoblast Limited (Australi), a global leader in allogeneic cellular medicines for inflammatory diseases, presented 36-month follow-up results from thecPhase 3 trial of its allogeneic cell therapy rexlemestrocel-L (MPC-06-ID) in patients with CLBP (chronic low back pain) associated with DDD (degenerative disc disease). This trial showed a durable reduction in back pain lasting at least three years from a single intra-discal injection of rexlemestrocel-L+hyaluronic acid (HA) carrier.

Mesoblast Limited (Australi), a global leader in allogeneic cellular medicines for inflammatory diseases, presented 36-month follow-up results from thecPhase 3 trial of its allogeneic cell therapy rexlemestrocel-L (MPC-06-ID) in patients with CLBP (chronic low back pain) associated with DDD (degenerative disc disease). This trial showed a durable reduction in back pain lasting at least three years from a single intra-discal injection of rexlemestrocel-L+hyaluronic acid (HA) carrier. In November 2021 , BONE THERAPEUTICS ( Belgium ), the cell therapy company, and Link Health Pharma Co., Ltd signed a non-binding term sheet for the global rights for ALLOB, allogeneic bone cell therapy of Bone Therapeutics'.

BONE THERAPEUTICS ( ), the cell therapy company, and Link Health Pharma Co., Ltd signed a non-binding term sheet for the global rights for ALLOB, allogeneic bone cell therapy of Bone Therapeutics'. In September 2021 , Adaptimmune Therapeutics (UK) partnered with Roche Group (Genentech), to develop and commercialize allogeneic cell therapy for the treatment of multiple cancer indications.

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Market Segments

Global Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Product, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)

T-cells and Natural killer (NK) cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs)

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC)

-cells

Neurons

Immortalized and engineered cell lines

Tissue engineered product

Global Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by By Scale of Operation, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

Preclinical Scale Operations

Clinical Scale Operations

Commercial Scale Operations

Global Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Region, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

North America Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Country, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

U.S.

Canada

Europe Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Country, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

Germany

France

Italy

Spain

Russia

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Country, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

India

China

Japan

South Korea

Australia & New Zealand

Latin America Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Country, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

Brazil

Mexico

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa Allogeneic Cell Therapy Manufacturing Market, by Country, 2019-2030 (Value US$ Mn)

GCC Countries

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa

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Why should buy this market research report:

To receive a detailed analysis of the prospects for the global allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market

To receive an industry overview and future trends and pipeline of the allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market

To analyze the allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market drivers and challenges

To get information on the allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market size value (US$ Mn) forecast to 2030

Significant investments, mergers & acquisitions in the allogeneic cell therapy manufacturing market industry

Other Related Reports Published by InsightAce Analytic:

Global Immuno-Oncology Cell Therapy Market

Global Allogeneic Cell Therapies Market

Global CAR T-Cell Therapy For Multiple Myeloma Market

Global CD Targeted Cell Therapy Market

About Us:

InsightAce Analytic is a market research and consulting firm that enables clients to make strategic decisions. Our qualitative and quantitative market intelligence solutions inform the need for market and competitive intelligence to expand businesses. We help clients gain a competitive advantage by identifying untapped markets, exploring new and competing technologies, segmenting potential markets, and repositioning products. Our expertise is in providing syndicated and custom market intelligence reports with an in-depth analysis with key market insights in a timely and cost-effective manner.

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SANTA FE, N.M., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jan. 23-Jan. 29, 2022 has been formally recognized as New Mexico School Choice Week, thanks to a recent proclamation from Gov. Michelle Grisham. This is the first time since 2018 that the Week has been officially declared in the state.

In the face of continued learning disruptions, Gov. Grisham joins more than 20 other governors and several hundred local leaders around the country who have issued proclamations for National School Choice Week, which celebrates opportunity in K-12 education.

More than 150 events have been planned around New Mexico for the week, including festivals, school open houses, rallies, and more. These events aim to celebrate the school choices available to families and spark conversations about how parents can find the best educational fit for their children.

Nationwide, more than 26,000 independently planned events will raise awareness about opportunity in education. Schools of every type  traditional public, public magnet, public charter, private, online, and homeschool  will join in the celebration.

"We are very grateful that Gov. Grisham has issued this proclamation," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We encourage parents to use this week to celebrate their school choices, as well as to start evaluating options for the next academic year. New Mexico parents, and parents everywhere, deserve access to effective education options for their kids."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/new-mexico .

SOURCE National School Choice Week
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gov. Asa Hutchinson has officially signed and sealed a proclamation declaring Jan. 23-Jan. 29 "Arkansas School Choice Week." His proclamation follows a historic year of school choice expansions across the country, including the creation of a new tax-credit scholarship program for low-income Arkansas families.

The governor's announcement marks the seventh consecutive year that School Choice Week has been proclaimed in the state.

"Arkansas recognizes the essential role that an effective and accountable system of education plays in preparing all children to be successful adults," the proclamation states.

Arkansans will celebrate School Choice Week with more than 300 events and activities across the state, including a large indoor rally and student showcase in Little Rock. These celebrations have been independently planned by parents, teachers, and other community members. They aim to inspire conversations about the educational choices parents want for their children, and to encourage families to play an active part in their children's schooling.

Nationwide, more than 26,000 events have been planned for Jan. 23-Jan. 29, which marks the twelfth annual National School Choice Week.

"Arkansas families have planned many wonderful celebrations, both big and small," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We look forward to seeing their enthusiasm for school choice on display during the Week, and we are grateful for Gov. Hutchinson's proclamation."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information and a video message from Gov. Hutchinson about the Week, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/arkansas .

SOURCE National School Choice Week
COLUMBUS, Ind., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Grammer Logistics (www.grammerlogistics.com) ("Grammer" or the "Company"), a leading chemicals, industrial gases and hazardous materials transportation and logistics firm, announced today that professional driver James Ellis has been selected as a 2022-2023 America's Road Team Captain, through the American Trucking Association (www.ata.com). In the position he will serve as a trucking industry ambassador, traveling the country to expand the message of safe driving while teaching about attractive employment opportunities in the trucking industry.

James Ellis was selected as one of only 22 professional truck drivers in the nation. The drivers were chosen for this honor based on their knowledge of the industry, ability to serve as ambassadors to future generations of drivers and exceptional safe driving records. The appointment continues a long-standing legacy of leadership in the American Trucking Industry of Grammer Logistics, its founder and past chairman Shorty Whittington and his son, Grammer Vice President of Legislative Affairs, John Whittington.

"James Ellis is a shining example of a professional driver, and we are extremely proud of him for being selected to this position of leadership. It is critical that we continue to educate and engage with the public on opportunities in transportation. We thank James and all of the captains for their service and passion for our industry," said George Gerth, Grammer's Senior Vice President of Risk, Talent & Safety.

With more than 20 terminal locations across the United States, Grammer Logistics specializes in safe and reliable logistics solutions across various chemical market segments. The Company's safety culture meticulously maintained equipment, and expansive network of terminals, transload locations, and maintenance facilities have created a best-in-class foundation of operational excellence. Grammer is now focused on expanding its commercial strategy to meet the expanding needs of its customers.

About Grammer Logistics

Grammer Logistics (www.grammerlogistics.com) is recognized as the premier provider of safe, dependable bulk hazardous chemicals transportation services in the United States. Grammer's excellent record of safety and solutions focused approach to business has allowed the company to cultivate longstanding relationships with its client partners. The company has more than 20 facilities strategically located near major chemical production hubs across the United States, including 350 tractors, 850 specialty trailers and over 500 drivers and owner-operators serving over 500 diverse shippers across the Ammonia, LP Gas, Nitric Acid, NGLs, and General Chemical markets.

Contact:

Caroline Luz

Lambert & Co.

203-656-2829

[email protected]

SOURCE Grammer Logistics
TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Three extremely rare amethyst clusters, the largest that have been unearthed by the acclaimed Anahi Mine in Bolivia in more than 20 years, will be presented to the public for the first time at the Tucson Gem Show, according to Jeffrey Berk, founder of Grounded Life and Home (www.groundedlifeandhome.com). The three clusters weigh in at 1,682 lbs., 1,600 lbs., and 1,500 lbs. The specimens are considered rare due to their immense size which measure 5' x 3' and larger with individual points between 3" - 8 " in diameter.

Three extremely rare amethyst clusters, the largest that have been unearthed by the acclaimed Anahi Mine in Bolivia in more than 20 years, will be presented to the public for the first time at the Tucson Gem Show - Pueblo Gem and Mineral Show at Porte Cochere (directly at the entrance to the Pueblo Gem Show) The three clusters weigh in at 1,682 lbs., 1,600 lbs., and 1,500 lbs. The specimens are considered rare due to their immense size which measure 5' x 3' and larger with individual points between 3" - 8 " in diameter.

The clusters' journey included more than 8,000 miles from deep within the mine, through a dense jungle, a 150-mile escort with the Bolivian Navy down the Pantanal (the world's largest tropical wetland) to its final destination at the Pueblo Gem and Mineral Show at Porte Cochere (directly at the entrance to the Pueblo Gem Show) in Tucson, Arizona.

"What sets these pieces apart from other amethysts is that it is extremely rare to find points of this immense size. These formations are found only in Bolivia and are considered to be museum-grade pieces by the highly reputable Anahi Mine," says Berk. "These specimens are attractive to anyone that wants to display it in their home as an exceptional architectural element or a museum that wants to add to its collection."

According to Don Ramiro Rivero, Owner of the Anahi Mine, "In the last 20 years, these are the most important pieces over 500 lbs. and the biggest unearthed that weigh over 1,500 lbs. The pieces are 'super big', gorgeous in shape, color, and brightness." The Anahi mine is world-renowned for its large amounts of amethyst, citrine, and amethyst-citrine.

WORK OF ART: EXPLODED EARTH

In addition to the seven monumental amethyst clusters, Berk will be showing rare high-quality water clear quartz specimens from Colombia. Berk's partner, Steve Tobin, is a world-renowned artist best known for having made the TRINITY ROOT, the 911 memorial in NYC. Tobin will be debuting in Tucson his Exploded Earth series of large-scale manmade geodes shaped with explosives. Exploded Earth (some weighing over two tons) have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide, including Smithsonian Magazine and published internationally. This is a first showing of Exploded Earth outside of art museums and galleries.

ABOUT JEFFREY BERK, FOUNDER, GROUNDED LIFE AND HOME

Jeffrey Berk has been in the gems and mineral industry since the 1970's. What distinguishes Berk from the mainstream is that he has been invited to travel deep into the mines of various countries, always questing and getting directly to the mine source. He has curated international collections in London and around the world. Connected with gem and mineral industry insiders, he has bought minerals on three continents and has exhibited in dozens of trade shows across the country.

Media Contact:

Nataly Blumberg

516-859-6665

[email protected]

SOURCE Grounded Life & Home
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GS Labs, a leading provider of COVID-19 rapid tests in Missouri and the U.S., has filed its latest pleading in the company's ongoing legal battle against insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City.

The amended counterclaims, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, allege that Blue KC violated federal antitrust laws to prevent entry and expansion of GS Labs in Missouri, conspired with other Blue insurance companies to illegally deny payment to GS Labs, defamed GS Labs to state and federal enforcement authorities and tortiously interfered with GS Labs' business relationships.

"Across Kansas City, Missouri and America, communities and families have struggled to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, including limited access to testing. This national shortcoming has been exacerbated by numerous insurance company's attempts to strangle providers in an effort to continue setting record profits," said Kirk Thompson, a partner with GS Labs. "The conduct of Blue KC in trying to destroy a business that provides critical COVID-19 testing is disturbing, especially at a time when the Omicron variant has made testing more difficult to find and more important than ever. Given Blue KC's refusal to negotiate in good faith, we forge ahead with the counterclaims to protect patients and our business."

The CARES Act makes clear that insurance carriers must pay for COVID-19 testing for insured members. Section 3202(a) states: "If the health plan or issuer does not have a negotiated rate with such provider, such plan or issuer shall reimburse the provider in an amount that equals the cash price for such service as listed by the provider on a public internet website, or such plan or issuer may negotiate a rate with such provider for less than such cash price."

"Blue KC's entire Complaint rests on one fundamental flaw," the filing details. "With no legal authority, the insurer suggests it can refuse to pay GS Labs for COVID-19 testing at the required rates simply because Blue KC deems the published prices too high. Never mind that thousands of Blue KC's insureds benefitted from those services, or that Congress intended to incentivize providers to pivot their businesses to supply this crucial testing in an attempt to curb the virus' spread."

The filing alleges that Blue KC has unlawfully harmed competition in the provision of COVID tests by leveraging its monopoly power in the health insurance market in certain areas in Missouri including in and around Kansas City. Blue KC has 46% of all commercially insured lives in the Kansas City area, and well over 50% of all lives enrolled in PPO or HMO plans. This dominant market share provides Blue KC the power and influence to foreclose entry and expansion of innovative new COVID-testing providers like GS Labs, through refusing to pay GS Labs for tests provided to KC Blue's members, and steering insureds using false and misleading information away from GS Labs to other providers, including the Blue KC-owned and operated Spira. Blue KC went so far as to send "deceptive and misleading Explanation of Benefits notices," according to the filing, in an effort to deter patients using from GS Labs.

The amended counterclaims also allege that Blue KC has conspired with other Blues to withhold payments due to GS Labs, for the purposes of price fixing and/or depressing the supply of high-quality testing services (for the reasons described above). This alleged collusion includes the use of listservs to coordinate with other Blue insurers and conference calls between Blue executives to collude against the testing company.

Specifically, the suit illustrates how Blue KC and certain affiliates exchanged competitively sensitive pricing and other information with one another and aligned their strategies and approach in negotiating rates with GS Labs. Blue KC (and other BCBS affiliates) are alleged to have improperly shared competitively sensitive information, their future pricing approach to GS Labs, and their plan to either deny or pay less for GS Labs' claims. The motion details email and other communication that explicitly demonstrates collusion and collaboration among Blue KC and other Blues. Per the filing, "Many of these communications between Blue insurers were filtered through the companies' respective legal departments in an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to hide the conspiracy under the cloak of privilege."

The pleading also alleges that investigators working on behalf of Blue KC provided false information to state and federal regulators in an effort to deceive government officials and the public. Per the filing, this communication contained "a host of outright falsehoods and misleading statements, many of them reminiscent of Blue KC's pleadings in this litigation."

In addition to its role as a direct insurance provider, Blue KC provides third-party administration services to insurance plans sponsored by self-insuring employers and labor unions ("ASO plans"). The filing alleges that Blue KC had a legal obligation to the ASO plans to properly pay reimbursement claims; instead, Blue KC breached this obligation to its customers by unlawfully causing the ASO plans not to pay GS Labs, as required by the CARES Act. By causing the ASO plans not to pay reimbursements as required by federal law, Blue KC tortiously interfered with GS Labs' business relationship with the ASO plans, indicating that GS Labs would need to pursue the companies whose plans Blue KC was supposed to represent, rather than working with Blue KC, their plan administrator.

GS Labs is seeking full payment for charges that will likely exceed $13.5 million by the end of the week, a total which grows daily as it continues testing without reimbursement. The company also seeks compensatory damages, interest and legal fees.

GS Labs began offering COVID-19 rapid tests in October 2020. Many communities directly requested assistance from GS Labs, due to a lack of testing resources. By keeping testing centers open 12 hours a day during the height of the pandemic  and paying above-market salaries to hire experienced registered nurses and other medical professionals  GS Labs to date has safely and effectively tested approximately one million Americans, including more than 12,000 Blue KC customers.

SOURCE GS Labs
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global healthcare cloud infrastructure market size is expected to reach USD 142.0 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 16.7% from 2021 to 2028. The growing trend of healthcare digitalization, rising expenditures, overburdened health systems, rising traffic on the network, growing data siloes, and the emergence of remote working is contributing to the demand for healthcare cloud infrastructure systems and solutions. Organizations are rapidly adopting hybrid cloud models to integrate several operations and functions in a multi-cloud environment to improve facility management. These advanced computing solutions allow organizations to safely and securely manage data and deliver optimum care with enhanced operational & clinical outcomes.

Key Insights & Findings from the report:

The market size is expected to be valued at USD 142.0 billion by 2028 due to the emergence of advanced technological solutions and widespread adoption of cloud computing

In the component segment, the services segment dominated the market in 2020 owing to the growing trend of outsourcing these services since healthcare organizations lack the desired skillset and personnel

The healthcare providers segment dominated the market in 2020 owing to the growth in hospital connections over cloud infrastructure and enhanced off-site data management

North America dominated in 2020 due to the presence of key market players, advanced infrastructure, increasing health IT spending, and rising adoption levels

Read 100 page market research report, "Healthcare Cloud Infrastructure Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component (Hardware, Services), By End Use, By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, MEA), And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028", by Grand View Research

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of the overburdened health systems, reaffirmed the need to adopt advanced computing systems and several other advanced IT technological solutions to pave their path towards digitalization. These solutions allow organizations to optimize workflows, improve resource management, enhance cost optimization, efficient handling of growing network traffic, and risk mitigation. Key players are constantly devising their merger & acquisition and collaboration strategies to align their research & development goals to further innovate and expand their product portfolios.

The services segment dominated the market due to the easy accessibility of outsourcing these services from vendors since healthcare organizations lack the required technology skillset and expertise. Advanced computing systems provide these organizations with enhanced scalability, flexibility, and secure data management, which positively impacts the market growth. The available services in the cloud infrastructure market are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). However, the hardware segment is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period owing to the rising demand for hardware platforms with high computing power.

However, care providers dominated the end-use segment in 2020 owing to benefits offered by advanced computing systems such as secure off-site data collection & management, availability of outsourcing of IT solutions. However, the payer's segment is anticipated to record the fastest growth rate owing to the rising adoption of advanced computing systems in risk assessment, fraud detection, secure data collection & storage, and claims settlement. North America dominated due to the presence of advanced IT infrastructure, increased IT spending, and the large presence of key market players. The emergence of specialized start-ups in the Asia Pacific region is expected to further drive market growth.

Market Segmentation:

Grand View Research, has segmented the global healthcare cloud infrastructure market on the basis of component, end use, and region:

Healthcare Cloud Infrastructure component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Hardware



Server





Storage





Network



Services



Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)





Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)





Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

Healthcare Cloud Infrastructure End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Healthcare Payers



Public Payers





Private Payers



Healthcare Providers



Hospitals





Diagnostic & Imaging Centers





Ambulatory Centers

Healthcare Cloud Infrastructure Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



Germany





U.K.





France





Spain





Italy





Russia



Asia Pacific



Japan





China





India





South Korea





Singapore





Australia



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Argentina



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa





UAE





Saudi Arabia

List of Key Players in Healthcare Cloud Infrastructure Market

Dell, Inc.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

Microsoft

Oracle

IBM

Salesforce

Amazon

Check out more studies form Grand View Research's portfolio on the Global Healthcare IT Industry:

Artificial Intelligence In Diagnostics Market  The artificial intelligence in diagnostics market size was valued at USD 576.3 million in 2021 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.3% from 2022 to 2030. The healthcare industry is rapidly integrating artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions in various verticals to achieve higher operational & clinical outcomes, which is a key contributing factor to the growth.

 The artificial intelligence in diagnostics market size was valued at in 2021 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.3% from 2022 to 2030. The healthcare industry is rapidly integrating artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions in various verticals to achieve higher operational & clinical outcomes, which is a key contributing factor to the growth. Digital Pathology Market  The global digital pathology market size was valued at USD 926.9 million in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% from 2022 to 2030.Increased focus on improving workflow efficiency and demand for faster diagnostic tools for chronic diseases, such as cancer, have been key factors driving the market.

 The global digital pathology market size was valued at in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% from 2022 to 2030.Increased focus on improving workflow efficiency and demand for faster diagnostic tools for chronic diseases, such as cancer, have been key factors driving the market. Laboratory Informatics Market  The global laboratory informatics market size was valued at USD 3.21 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9% from 2022 to 2030. An increase in demand for laboratory automation is expected to fuel the adoption in the coming years.

Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter

SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
BATESVILLE, Ind., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE: HI) will hold a conference call and simultaneous webcast Thursday, February 3, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. ET. They will discuss the results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, which ended December 31, 2021. The live webcast, including a slide presentation, will be available at http://ir.hillenbrand.com under the "News & Events" tab and will be archived on the company's investor relations website through Friday, March 4, 2022.

To access the conference call, listeners in the United States and Canada may dial +1 (877) 407-8012, and international callers may dial +1 (412) 902-1013. Please use conference call ID number 13726426. A replay of the call will be available until midnight ET, Thursday, February 17, 2022, by dialing +1 (877) 660-6853 toll free in the United States and Canada or +1 (201) 612-7415 internationally and using the conference ID number 13726426.

Hillenbrand will issue a press release reporting its results after the market closes on Wednesday, February 2, 2022. The full text of the release and financials will be available at http://ir.hillenbrand.com.

About Hillenbrand

Hillenbrand (www.Hillenbrand.com) is a global diversified industrial company with businesses that serve a wide variety of industries around the world. We pursue profitable growth and robust cash generation to drive increased value for our shareholders. Hillenbrand's portfolio includes industrial businesses such as Coperion, Milacron Injection Molding & Extrusion, and Mold-Masters, in addition to Batesville, a recognized leader in the death care industry in North America. Hillenbrand is publicly traded on the NYSE under "HI."

SOURCE Hillenbrand, Inc.
DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HSA Group, Yemen ('HSA'), Yemen's largest and leading private company and part of HSA, has today announced its certification as a Top Employer 2022 by the Top Employers Institute, in recognition of its commitment to people development, employee engagement, wellbeing and sustainability.

The Top Employers Institute is the global authority and benchmark for excellence in people development and workplace environment, certifying more than 1,857 businesses from over 120 countries and regions around the world that contribute towards enriching the world of work.

In awarding its certification, the Top Employers Institute's globally-renowned certification programme followed its rigorous HR Best Practices Survey process that assessed HSA's approach to core areas of HR management  covering 20 topics, including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being and Diversity & Inclusion, against international benchmarks. In addition to meeting stringent requirements for the certification, HSA has exceeded the global benchmark in the key areas of Digital HR, Ethics & Integrity, and Rewards & Recognition.

The company's certification as a Top Employer is a reflection of the success of the investment that HSA has advanced in its people development programmes and processes, prioritising the wellbeing and development of its talent, creating an institution where all employees can achieve their full potential, and supporting the next generation of private sector leaders in both Yemen and the wider MENA region.

HSA has invested significantly in its talent development programmes and HR infrastructure as part of a wider multi-year business transformation programme. Notable initiatives include:

Integrating cutting edge technology: HSA has partnered with global tech leaders such as SAP and Microsoft, to implement best-in-class HR technology platforms and training programmes that enable employees to grow their personal and professional skillsets.

HSA has partnered with global tech leaders such as SAP and Microsoft, to implement best-in-class HR technology platforms and training programmes that enable employees to grow their personal and professional skillsets. Designing robust professional development programmes: HSA has instigated a new mentoring structure, alongside innovative leadership development and management training programmes that were accredited by international organisations to further nurture high potential employees across the region.

HSA has instigated a new mentoring structure, alongside innovative leadership development and management training programmes that were accredited by international organisations to further nurture high potential employees across the region. Launching a pioneering graduate programme: in 2021, HSA unveiled its Entilaqa graduate programme, a two-year programme designed to help Yemeni graduates jump-start their careers. Entilaqa aims to provide on-the-job training opportunities and supportive developmental programmes that equip graduates with skills and practical experience across a range of corporate disciplines and functions, including Finance, Marketing, HR, Procurement, Sales, IT and Legal.

As a result of these investments, HSA has seen record levels of employee engagement across its workforce of 20,000 employees based in Yemen, Dubai and Cairo.

"We are extremely proud to be recognised by the Top Employers Institute for our commitment to support and develop the heart of our organisation  our people," said Nabil Hayel Saeed Anam, Managing Director, HSA Yemen. "At HSA, we are driven by a commitment to empower our employees to achieve their full potential and to enable our talent to thrive personally and professionally.

"This award is recognition that a career at HSA is an opportunity to be part of an organisation whose legacy is founded on values of compassion, respect and care  for our people, our communities and the world around us. We look forward to continuing our landmark programme of investment in the future of our organisation and nurturing the next generation of Yemen's private sector leaders, and those of the wider MENA region, in the years ahead."

Top Employers Institute CEO David Plink said: "Reflecting on the demanding year that has, like the year before it, impacted organisations across the world, HSA Yemen has continued to show that it prioritises maintaining excellent people practices in the workplace. They continue to meet the challenges of the changing world of work while working tirelessly to make a positive impact on the lives of their workforce. We are pleased to celebrate and applaud the organisations that have been certified as Top Employers in their respective countries this year."

HSA is committed to build on its success to date, with the company's 2022-2025 Strategy focusing on investment in its technology and talent to further equip its people with the skills and tools to thrive and grow, and to help develop and nurture the next generation of private sector leaders in Yemen and across the MENA region.

About HSA Group, Yemen

HSA Group, Yemen (HSA) is Yemen's largest and leading private company, employing 20,000 people across the country. HSA Yemen is the founding entity of HSA Group, a family-owned conglomerate established in Yemen in 1938 and today one of the largest multinational businesses based in the Middle East.

Through its 50+ operating companies, HSA manufactures and supplies essential goods and services to multinational organisations, communities and families, both in Yemen and across the MENA region. The company serves the needs of millions of Yemenis, local and international businesses every day. Its wide-ranging activities include: producing market-leading food and beverage brands, household goods and healthcare essentials; manufacturing a diverse range of industrial and construction materials; supplying automotive vehicles; and providing insurance and financial services to Yemen.

Throughout its nearly 85-year history, HSA has adopted a values-led approach to sustainable growth. The company is driven by the philosophy set by its founders: a belief in doing well by doing good. The company's values prize and reward compassion, care for others and a community spirit, guiding how it works with its employees, partners and the communities it serves across the world.

About Top Employers Institute.

Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognising excellence in People Practices. We help accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work. Through the Top Employers Institute Certification Programme, participating companies can be validated, certified and recognised as an employer of choice. Established over 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified over 1857 organisations in 123 countries/regions. These certified Top Employers positively impact the lives of over 8 million employees globally.

SOURCE HSA Group
TOKYO, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Japan reported 46,199 daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, setting a new record for the third day amid the country's "sixth wave" of infections with the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, according to an NHK tally based on data from local governments.

As of Thursday, Japan's cumulative number of COVID-19 infections has topped 2 million since the government confirmed the nation's first COVID-19 case in January 2020.

Nine people died from COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the accumulative total to 18,470.

In the capital city of Tokyo, the seven-day rolling average of new infections stood at 5,386.1 per day.

The capital set a new record of 8,638 daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, eclipsing the previous record high of 7,377 on Wednesday.

In order to curb the surging infections, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government on Wednesday declared a quasi-state of emergency for Tokyo and 12 other prefectures.

Infections have dwindled since September last year with the progress in vaccination against the virus. However, the situation flared up again in Japan after cases of community transmission of the Omicron variant were confirmed in late December 2021. 
TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IDX Digital Assets, an affiliate of IDX Advisors which subadvises the IDX Risk-Managed Bitcoin mutual fund (BTIDX), announced today it has launched a node for Pocket Network Inc. as part of a growing investment into the blockchain infrastructure space. Pocket Network is a Tampa-based Web3 developer that builds applications that uses cost-efficient economics to coordinate and distribute data at scale, enabling seamless interactions between blockchains and applications.

IDX Digital Assets IDX Digital Assets Launches Pocket Network Nodes as Part of Strategic Blockchain Infrastructure Initiative

Chief Investment Officer of IDX, Ben McMillan, said "While our core focus remains providing risk-managed asset management services for digital assets, such as BTIDX, we have continued to expand our capabilities in blockchain development, 'DeFi as a Service' and blockchain infrastructure plays. Pocket Network is an extremely promising project that's at the forefront of the Web3 revolution and we're thrilled to be managing nodes for this critical piece of the multi-chain future. We're very excited to be working with Michael and his team especially since they are right across the bay from our St. Petersburg office."

Cofounder and CEO of Pocket Network, Michael P O'Rourke, said "We're thrilled to be expanding our network of node partners particularly with groups like IDX that have expertise and capabilities across the blockchain ecosystem."

About IDX

IDX is an SEC regulated Asset manager with $600M AUM/AUA and subadvises the IDX Risk-Managed Bitcoin Fund (BTDIX) as well as the IDX Risk-Managed Bitcoin Trust, the IDX Risk-Managed Ethereum Trust and the IDX Risk-Weighted DeFi Trust.

About Pocket Network

Pocket Network, a blockchain data ecosystem for Web3 applications, is a platform built for applications that uses cost-efficient economics to coordinate and distribute data at scale. It enables seamless and secure interactions between blockchains and across applications. With Pocket, the use of blockchains can be simply integrated into websites, mobile apps, IoT and more, giving developers the freedom to put blockchain enabled applications into the "pocket" of every mainstream consumer.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. Please call (800) 403-4349 for product and fund prospectuses that contain this and other information. Please read the prospectuses carefully before investing.

This material is not intended to be a recommendation or investment advice, does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell securities, and is not provided in a fiduciary capacity. The information provided does not take into account the specific objectives or circumstances of any particular investor, or suggest any specific course of action. Investment decisions should be made based on an investor's objectives and circumstances and in consultation with his or her advisors.

Contact:

Drew Acocella

(800) 403-4349

[email protected]

SOURCE IDX Digital Assets
The SXSW Pitch is the flagship event of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference & Festivals (March 1120, 2022) Startups Track , in which leading startups from around the world present some of the most impressive technological innovations to a panel of hand-picked judges and a live audience. I'mbesideyou, Inc. was selected among the 5 finalists in the Future of Work category.

The two-day event will be held the first weekend of SXSW Conference & Festivals, Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13, on the fourth floor of the Downtown Hilton Austin, Salon D/E. The event will then culminate with the 2022 SXSW Pitch Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening, March 13, where winning startups from each category and a Best in Show winner will be announced and honored.

I'mbesideyou Inc. will be presenting alongside four other companies in the Future of Work category on March 13th.

"Everyone all over the world communicates via the Internet, but online communication creates a black box. It's really hard to feel people's reactions online. So we created a system analyzing people's reactions by multimodal AI. Our service visualizes the psychological safety and engagement, as well as the mental health status of people in remote working environments." said Foundr&CEO, Shozo Kamiya.

I'mbesideyou Inc. products can predict 84% of customer churn and 96% of mental health disorders only from movie analytics.

MRR has already reached over $100,000, making it profitable on a monthly basis.

I'mbesideyou Inc. is one and only multimodal AI analytics companies specialising in online communication and has applied over 100 patents globally.

CXO's have over 60 years of working experience, and 9 IITians have already joined.

They already raised $3 million funds in Japan and got the best talent and data in India. Now they plan to go to the US market next.

"Since its beginning, SXSW Pitch has significantly helped shape the early-stage venture ecosystem and connected promising companies with the resources they need to thrive, giving promising companies the resources they need to succeed when it matters most," said SXSW Pitch Event Producer Chris Valentine. "Of the 572 companies who have participated since the competition's inception, over 82 percent have gone on to secure funding and 17 percent have been acquired by the likes Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, Live Nation, OpenTable. We're excited to see this year's impressive group of startups take to the stage and show us how their innovations will change the world."

About I'mbesideyou Inc.

I'mbesideyou Inc. has the vision of "the whole society becomes a school." Creating a society of every person all over the world respects each other and learns from each other is the purpose of the company. I'mbesideyou Inc. has the highest level of technology and patents in the world, which explains its rapid growth since its inception in June 2020.

Through joint research with IIT, Tokyo University, and Hamamatsu Medical University, and over 250,000 hours of video analytics in commercials, the product of I'mbesideyou Inc became a practical one.

About SXSW

SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture. An essential destination for global professionals, the annual March event features sessions, music and comedy showcases, film screenings, exhibitions, professional development and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2022 will take place March 11 - 20, 2022. For more information, please visit sxsw.com. To register for the event, please visit sxsw.com/attend.

SXSW 2022 is sponsored by White Claw, Audible, Blockchain Creative Labs and The Austin Chronicle.

SOURCE I'mbesideyou Inc.
In addition, ImmPACT Bio provided an update to the Phase 1 clinical study evaluating its CD19-CD20 bi-specific CAR T in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (R/R B-cell NHL) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In a total of eight patients treated to date with 12 months median followup, seven patients achieved and remain in complete remission (CR). A favorable tolerability profile was noted with no treatment-related neurotoxicity and no cytokine release syndrome above grade 1. Data will be presented in a future scientific forum.

The company's logic-gate based CAR T platforms address key biological challenges in treating cancer. ImmPACT Bio's technologies are specifically designed to address antigen escape, 'on-target  off-tumor' toxicities, and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The company's technologies are based on the work of pioneering scientists Yvonne Chen, Ph.D., and Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., both from UCLA, and Gideon Gross, Ph.D., from the MIGAL-Galilee Research Institute. Proceeds from the financing will be used to further the company's development of logic-gate-based CAR T-cell platforms.

"ImmPACT Bio is thrilled to receive such strong support from this outstanding group of investors," said newly appointed ImmPACT Bio CEO Dr. Ramachandra. "We are encouraged by these initial results of our Phase 1 clinical study and look forward to advancing our pipeline of transformative next-generation CAR T-cell therapies that harness the immune system and address key challenges for current cell therapies in cancer."

"We believe ImmPACT Bio's technology platforms will help to expand the curative potential of cell therapies in certain cancers and to address challenges that have limited the efficacy of cell therapies in hard-to-treat tumor types," said Richard Gaster, M.D., Ph.D., managing partner at venBio Partners. "We are excited to work with the scientists and clinicians at ImmPACT Bio to translate their engineering innovations into novel cell therapy products for multiple malignancies."

"We're honored to work with ImmPACT Bio as they develop novel strategies to address unmet oncology needs," said Jim Tananbaum, founder and CEO of Foresite Capital. "With Drs. Gujrathi and Ramachandra at the helm, this is an incredibly exciting time for ImmPACT Bio and the patients who are waiting for next-generation cancer therapies."

"ImmPACT Bio's logic-gate-based CAR T platform holds tremendous potential to usher in a step-change in the treatment of solid tumors and blood cancers. We are pleased to join this distinguished group of healthcare investors supporting this world-class team to advance what we believe could become a new paradigm in cancer treatment," said Min Cui, Ph.D., founder and managing director of Decheng Capital.

As part of the financing, Yvonne Yamanaka, Ph.D., of venBio Partners, Cindy Xiong, Ph.D., of Foresite Capital, and Min Cui, Ph.D., of Decheng Capital will join the company's board.

Sheila Gujrathi Named New Chair of Board of Directors

ImmPACT Bio also announced the appointment of Dr. Gujrathi as board chair. Erez Chimovits, partner at OrbiMed and ImmPACT Bio's chairman, will remain on the company's board.

"It is my pleasure to welcome Sheila to the board of ImmPACT Bio," said Mr. Chimovits. "This is a transformational period in ImmPACT Bio's evolution, and Sheila is an exceptional fit for the company's next stage of growth, given her deep experience leading biotech companies."

"ImmPACT Bio possesses an innovative and proprietary CAR T-cell platform, compelling clinical and early-stage assets, and a dynamic leadership team. Today's announcement of the company's Series B financing bolsters the potential to transform the oncology therapeutic landscape," said Dr. Gujrathi. "I'm thrilled to join as board chair and help ImmPACT Bio achieve its vision of developing transformative oncology medicines for cancer patients who have exhausted their treatment options."

Dr. Gujrathi is currently a venture advisor at OrbiMed and serves as executive chair of Ventyx Biosciences, chair of ADARx Pharmaceuticals, and director of Janux Therapeutics. She previously served as chair of Turning Point Therapeutics and is the co-founder and former CEO of Gossamer Bio. Prior to Gossamer, Dr. Gujrathi served as chief medical officer of Receptos, which was acquired by Celgene. Previously, she held development leadership positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech where she led development and numerous global regulatory filings and approvals for immunology and oncology programs. Earlier in her career, she was a management consultant in McKinsey & Company's healthcare practice. Dr. Gujrathi received both her M.D. in the accelerated Honors Program in Medical Education and her B.S. in biomedical engineering with highest distinction from Northwestern University. She completed her internal medicine internship and residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and additional fellowship training in allergy/immunology at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Stanford University Medical Center.

Industry Veteran Sumant Ramachandra Named President and CEO

Dr. Ramachandra brings more than 30 years' experience in healthcare, including more than two decades in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry across multiple roles. CEO Rick Kendall, Ph.D., will continue as chief scientific officer (CSO) of ImmPACT Bio.

"I am confident ImmPACT has selected in Sumant the right leader to build on our success to date and to drive value for the company as he has done for several companies in the healthcare industry," said Dr. Gujrathi. "I want to thank Rick for his leadership in bringing ImmPACT Bio forward to a clinical-stage company and I look forward to working closely with this 'dream team' and contributing to our continued growth."

"I am excited to join ImmPACT Bio at such a crucial time in our development. I am impressed with the strong scientific foundation that the co-founders, management team, and board have built across its programs and platforms that aim to bring curative therapies to patients living with cancer," said Dr. Ramachandra.

Prior to joining ImmPACT Bio, Dr. Ramachandra was chief science, technology, and medical officer at Baxter International, which he joined in June 2017. In addition to these responsibilities, he was appointed president of Baxter Global Pharmaceuticals in mid-2019 and was appointed as chair of Baxter's Global Inclusion Council focused on inclusion and diversity. Previously, he was at Pfizer, most recently as senior vice president, head of research and development, Pfizer Essential Health. He served as CSO at Hospira from 2008 to 2015 prior to Pfizer's acquisition of Hospira in 2015. Earlier in his career, Dr. Ramachandra worked with Pfizer and Merck & Co. in various senior-level oncology global product development, medical affairs, and business development and licensing roles, and as a clinical pharmacologist. Before entering the industry in 2000, he was an intern and resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Ramachandra earned a Ph.D. in experimental pathology in the study of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), an M.D., and a B.A. in biochemistry at Rutgers University. In addition, he holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Leading the Next Generation of CAR T

For hematological malignancies, the company's lead program is a CD19-CD20 bispecific 'OR-gate' CAR T designed to address antigen escape, which is a key challenge for current approved CD19 therapies. Early results indicate the potentially best-in-class bispecific CAR T-cell candidate is safe and effective in patients with R/R B-cell NHL.

Treating solid tumors is even more challenging, partially due to off-target safety considerations and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. ImmPACT Bio is developing novel strategies for addressing this unmet need, designing next-generation CAR T to assure tumor specificity and efficacy in the hostile tumor environment, while protecting the normal tissue.

ImmPACT Bio's second platform features engineered T cells with an activator/inhibitor 'NOT-gate' CAR combination that uniquely differentiates between tumor and normal cells. The activator CAR kills the tumor cells while the inhibitory CAR protects normal cells. The activator/inhibitor platform technology has the potential to deliver multiple products across solid tumors by pairing different activator/inhibitor combinations, providing diverse opportunities in an emerging and promising area of cancer therapy.

The company's third platform, a TGF- CAR that can be modularly equipped with tumor-targeting binding domains to generate bispecific 'OR-gate' CARs, rewires the T-cell response to TGF- to convert this potent immunosuppressive cytokine into a T-cell stimulant. Single-chain bispecific CARs that simultaneously convert TGF- signaling while directly targeting surface-bound tumor antigens enable T cells to robustly eliminate tumor cells in otherwise highly immunosuppressive microenvironments.

About ImmPACT Bio

ImmPACT Bio USA, Inc., is a clinical-stage company dedicated to the discovery of transformative chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for cancer patients who have exhausted their treatment options. The company's logic-gate-based CAR T platforms address key biological challenges in treating cancer. ImmPACT Bio's technologies are specifically designed to prevent antigen escape, prevent 'on-target  off-tumor' toxicities, and overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The company's technology is based on the work of pioneering scientists Yvonne Chen, Ph.D., and Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., both from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Gideon Gross, Ph.D., from the MIGAL-Galilee Research Institute. For more information, visit www.immpact-bio.com.

SOURCE ImmPACT Bio
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Full-service advertising agency Bader Rutter has announced changes to both its leadership and advisory structures with the promotion of internal talent and the addition of independent external advisers. These moves align with the agency's emphasis on modern, shared leadership and succession planning to cement future success.

Naming Co-presidents

Tom Posta, formerly chief client officer, and David Jordan, formerly chief growth officer, have been promoted to president. With a 26-year legacy at Bader Rutter, Posta will focus on ensuring the agency has the strongest infrastructure for future growth. This includes infrastructure responsibilities like talent, technology, internal processes and more. With over 25 years in the industry and 15 years at Bader Rutter, Jordan will focus on business expansion. This includes strategy, new business growth, expanding the agency footprint in Chicago and increasing the scope of the agency's business consulting arm. Posta and Jordan will make an impressive and effective team.

"Bader Rutter is excited to cultivate this vision of shared leadership in the advertising space," Posta said. "It allows us to focus on mission-critical functions that will help drive us forward."

Jordan added: "Shared leadership prepares us for a future of expansion and the ability for key executives to provide much needed focus to meet the diverse needs of our clients today and tomorrow."

Additions to Board of Directors

Bader Rutter also welcomes three new independent board members to its current board of directors, composed of nine individuals. The board, created in 2009, is responsible for fiscal governance and strategic counsel.

Greg Nickerson, chairman, Bader Rutter, explained: "It was a tall task to replace retiring directors of the board who had contributed greatly for more than a decade. After an exhaustive search, we landed on three individuals who we think each bring a fresh and spirited perspective to our work. We are excited to see how they build on our current momentum and help us grow our business."

The three new independent board members are:

Racquel Harris. A global business leader, adviser and executive, Harris has experience leading three $1 billion-plus businesses at Fortune 100 companies. Harris spent 15 years of her career at Kraft Foods in both the United States and abroad, building brands before continuing her career at Sam's Club.

Jack Rooney. A broadly experienced leader in marketing, agency management, creative development and brand strategy, Rooney has a wealth of agency experience, including for DDB, Ogilvy, GMR Marketing and more. During his career, Rooney was the CEO of two holding company agencies and has spent some time corporate-side with Miller Brewing Company and Fiserv.

Mara Swan . A strategic and driven business leader, Swan is known for her ability to creatively solve business challenges. Swan spent a large portion of her career at ManpowerGroup, overseeing global strategy, HR, marketing, thought leadership, PR, ESG, D&I and more. She also held leadership roles at Molson Coors.

With these organizational changes, Nickerson remains the agency's chairman and Jeff Young remains CEO.

"We've always believed that modern business requires contemporary leadership models, and succession planning is one of the most important things a company can do to help cement its future success," Young said. "As a large agency with even larger aspirations, we need to ensure we always have a deep leadership runway. With this adjustment to our leadership structure, we can create dedicated responsibilities and provide the best work and service to each of our clients and employees."

Media: Click HERE for downloadable images.

About Bader Rutter

Bader Rutter is a full-service advertising and marketing agency with offices in Milwaukee and Chicago. It is both the largest agricultural marketing agency and the leading B2B marcom agency in the country. With close to 275 full-time employees in 13 states, Bader Rutter offers a full array of advertising, digital and social media, public relations, business consulting, and branding and design capabilities. The employee-owned agency's expertise includes core work in agriculture, the food production system, pet care and animal health, manufacturing, insurance and financial services.

SOURCE Bader Rutter & Associates
BENGALURU, India, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, has been recognized by Top Employers Institute among the Global Top Employers for the second consecutive year. Infosys was ranked #1 Top Employer in India, in recognition of its best-in-class people practices and consistency in delivering employee experience globally. Infosys is one of 11 companies worldwide to receive this recognition.

Infosys has been named Top Employer across the following regions and top-ranked in 16 of the 22 countries:

Asia Pacific  India , Australia , New Zealand , Singapore , Japan , and China

 , , , , , and North America  USA , Canada and Mexico

 , and Middle East  UAE, Oman and Bahrain

 UAE, and Europe  U.K, Ireland , France , Belgium , Netherlands , Germany , Switzerland , Sweden , Romania , and Poland

Krish Shankar, Executive Vice President and Group Head of Human Resource Development, Infosys, said, "We are delighted to be awarded Global Top Employer again this year. This comes at a time when we have strengthened our approach to employee engagement, making it more purposeful and morale-boosting. We continue to significantly invest in digital learning for our workforce creating new avenues for their growth. Infosys' internal talent marketplace also helps them move continuously upward in the value chain, delivering on our promise of 'careers that never stand still'. This recognition by the Top Employers Institute is a testimony to our concerted efforts to make it possible for every Infosys employee to navigate further, sustained by our culture and values."

The Top Employers Institute program certifies organizations based on their HR Best Practices across 6 HR domains consisting of 20 areas such as People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Well-being, Diversity & Inclusion, and more. For the evaluation, Top Employers Institute conducted a detailed assessment of Infosys' people practices through the HR Best Practices assessment in 22 countries. The Top Employer Certification highlighted Infosys' focus on supporting their employee's well-being and experience, especially during the pandemic. It also reflects the Company's Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) vision and commitment to its workforce.

David Plink, CEO, Top Employers Institute said, "Reflecting on the demanding year that has, like the year before it, impacted organizations across the world, our Global Top Employers have continued to prioritize going above and beyond the norm to maintain their excellent people practices in the workplace. As a global Top Employer, Infosys has proven its unwavering commitment to employees on a global scale, joining a niche group of companies that have achieved a certification through the Top Employers Program. We are excited to celebrate and applaud them for their achievement in 2022."

About Top Employers Institute

Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognizing excellence in People Practices. We help accelerate these practices to enrich the world of work. Through the Top Employers Institute Certification Program, participating companies can be validated, certified, and recognized as an employer of choice. Established over 30 years ago, Top Employers Institute has certified over 1857 organizations in 123 countries/regions. These certified Top Employers positively impact the lives of over 8 million employees globally. Top Employers Institute. For a better world of work.

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE,NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations, and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients, and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

SOURCE Infosys
DUBLIN, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Market - Analysis By Drug Type (Generic, Innovative), Synthesis (Synthetic, Biotech), By Application, By Region, By Country (2021 Edition): Market Insights and Forecast with Impact of COVID-19 (2021-2026)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this report, the Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market is projected to display robust growth represented by a CAGR of 6.96% during 2021-2026.

The global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market was valued at USD 179.6 Billion in the year 2020. Growth opportunities for the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market is attributed to the growth of geriatric population, rising technical advancements, increasing API manufacturing facilities in the world and increasing number of research and development activities by some of the key market players in the global platform.

Growing awareness as well as investments in development of new drugs in the market is pushing the number of clinical trials in the world which is driving up the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient market. With rising prevalence of respiratory diseases due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it is expected that there will be more demand for new drugs which is likely to push the demand for API and consequently affect the Global Active Pharmaceutical Market in the world.

The biopharma companies are opting for mergers and acquisitions to gain access to new technologies, expand their market area and increase their capital for clinical trials and investments. The API market has been witnessing impressive growth since the past few years. This growth trend is projected to continue due to the increase in demand from Asia Pacific region in the future. This is mainly driven by China, India and Japan which consist of huge population and thereby huge incidence of infectious diseases which require medicines for treatment.

The rising death toll and spread of the virus prompted many pharmaceutical companies, biopharmaceutical companies and small startups to collaborate and bring out effective medicine to fight the same. Scientist all over the world found molecules which can effectively target COVID-19. Currently 155 molecules are under the clinical investigation, and 45 molecules are under preclinical development to be targeted against COVID-19. Companies monitored locally to protect the safety of study participants, staff and employees during such times.

Scope of the Report

The report presents the analysis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients market for the historical period of 2016-2020 and the forecast period of 2021-2026.

The report analyses the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market by value (USD Billion)

The report analyses the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market by Application (Oncology, Cardiology, Diabetes, Neurology and Others)

The report analyses the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market by Drug Type(Generic API and Innovative API)

The report analyses the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market by Synthesis (Synthetic and Biotech)

The Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market has been analysed By Region ( North America , Europe , Asia Pacific and LAMEA)

, , and LAMEA) The Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market has been analysed By Country ( United States , Canada , Germany , France , United Kingdom , Italy , Spain , China , Japan and India )

, , , , , , , , and ) The attractiveness of the market has been presented by region, by Application, By Drug Type and by Synthesis.

Also, the major opportunities, trends, drivers and challenges of the industry has been analysed in the report.

The report tracks competitive developments, strategies, mergers and acquisitions and new product development. The companies analysed in the report include Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, AbbVie Inc., Novartis AG, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck KGaA, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Sanofi, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Report Scope and Methodology



2. Strategic Recommendations



3. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market: Product Outlook



4. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market: Size and Forecast

4.1 Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Size, By Value, Year 2016-2026



5. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Segmentation - By Application, By Drug Type, By Synthesis

5.1 Competitive Scenario of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: By Application

5.1.1 Oncology - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.1.2 Cardiology- Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.1.3 Diabetes - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.1.4 Neurology - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.1.5 Others - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.2 Competitive Scenario of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: By Drug Type

5.2.1 Generic API- Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.2.2 Innovative API - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.3 Competitive Scenario of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: By Synthesis

5.3.1 Synthetic - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)

5.3.2 Biotech - Market Size and Forecast (2016-2026)



6. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market: Regional Analysis

6.1 Competitive Scenario of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market: By Region



7. North America Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: An Analysis (2016-2026)



8. Europe Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: Segmentation: An Analysis (2016-2026)



9. Asia Pacific Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market: : An Analysis (2016-2026)



10. Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Dynamics

10.1 Drivers

10.2 Restraints

10.3 Trends



11. Market Attractiveness

11.1 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market - By Application, 2026

11.2 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market - By Drug Type, 2026

11.3 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market - By Synthesis, 2026

11.4 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market - By Region, 2026



12. Competitive Landscape

12.1 Major Technological Innovations, Mergers & Acquisitions and Role of Manufacturers

12.2 Market Share Analysis



13. Company Profiles

13.1 Pfizer Inc.,

13.2 GlaxoSmithKline

13.3 AbbVie Inc.

13.4 Novartis AG

13.5 Eli Lilly and Company

13.6 Merck KGaA

13.7 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

13.8 Sanofi

13.9 Bristol-Myers Squibb

13.10 Boehringer Ingelheim

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/z0fvo8

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
SINGAPORE, Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- International express logistics company J&T Express celebrated its second anniversary in Singapore on 9th January 2022, recording two years of exponential growth and progress, including a year-on-year double digit growth for parcel volumes, and an approximately three-fold increase in the total size of all its warehouses.

Tapping into Singapore's potential as a regional logistics hub, J&T Express established its operations in the country in January 2020, and has since accelerated its growth plans and invested significantly into its infrastructure. Starting off with just one sorting hub, the company now operates two sorting hubs across Singapore, a fulfilment centre at Penjuru and a warehouse at the Changi Airfreight Centre, and has also expanded its fleet four-fold.

In addition to its infrastructure development, J&T Express has been actively growing its talent pool across the various departments in Singapore to continue driving success, including building new roles and upskilling employees through regular training programmes. Since 2020, J&T Express' Singapore team has grown six-fold across a diverse range of roles such as software development, data analytics and automation.

Andrew Sim, CEO of J&T Express Singapore, said, "J&T Express is in a unique position of not only playing the role of a logistics provider, but also serving as a one-stop e-commerce specialist across each and every touchpoint in the supply chain. Our tremendous growth and fast-paced expansion in Singapore reflects the shift we have seen in the market with an increasing number of Singaporeans embracing e-commerce."

With technology and innovation as its strategic priorities, J&T Express continues to strengthen its capabilities to improve operational efficiency and service quality. This includes upgrading its system of operations management, enhancing the technology support for seamless e-commerce experiences, and further optimising its fulfilment and warehousing solutions. In May 2021, the J&T Express mobile app was also launched to enable consumers and small business owners to arrange for door-to-door delivery in just a few clicks.

J&T Express is also committed to supporting the growth of its e-commerce partners and Singapore's e-commerce industry as a whole. As part of its efforts, the company launched its inaugural virtual J&T Fashion Week in August 2021 to provide a public platform for local e-commerce businesses to reach a wider audience, successfully helping them reach 3 million Singaporean consumers through online platforms.

Looking ahead, as e-commerce becomes more cross-border, J&T Express aims to invest further in growing its network to help its customers reach wider markets, building on its current suite of offerings which includes international shipping to over 220 countries and regions worldwide.

Mr Sim noted that as customers increasingly expect businesses to adapt to their needs and challenges, it is crucial that J&T Express continues to introduce new services and solutions that can meet the latest market demands.

He added, "We are proud to be one of the key partners of Pick Network and the Locker Alliance, which will help us further enhance our last mile delivery services. We are also excited to have launched J&T Points, an island-wide network of service points that provides sellers greater flexibility by enabling them to drop off parcels at their own convenience and receive real-time tracking. Moving ahead, we look forward to expanding this network to provide even greater access to all Singaporeans."

Reflecting on J&T's achievements over the last two years in Singapore, Mr Sim said, "J&T Express prides itself in being at the forefront of the industry, enabled by our focus on leveraging technology to advance our offerings, as well as our customer-first approach to be the partner of choice. We look forward to further driving our efforts in the market, strengthening our position as a one-stop e-commerce solutions specialist and constantly evolving and improving our services with a focus on agility and innovation."

About J&T Express

Founded in August 2015, J&T Express is a rapidly-growing international delivery company, with its core business in express services and cross-border logistics. J&T Express is committed to continuously creating integrated quality experiences for its customers globally. J&T Express' network spans ten countries including China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and serves over two billion people. For more information, please visit www.jtexpress.group.

In Singapore, J&T Express offers four core e-commerce solutions catered to online businesses in the market, namely - last mile delivery, fulfilment, sales channel management and cross-border shipping. For more information, please visit www.jtexpress.sg.

SOURCE J&T Express
OLD GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kidd & Company, LLC ("KCO"), a leading family office investment firm focused on the middle market, announced it has acquired BRH Garver Construction, LP ("BRH Garver").

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Houston, TX, BRH Garver is a specialty construction services firm focused on micro-tunneling with extensive public work experience as well as experience with private contracts and aligned competencies in other areas of site/civil construction. The company's primary focus is the construction of pipelines for water, sewage, and drainage systems for public municipalities. BRH Garver's deep experience and culture of service excellence have been critical to the company's track record of growth and outstanding reputation with leading municipalities and private sector clients.

"We are delighted to be partnering with Alan Pate, David Ellett, and Todd Hendricks to build on the terrific foundation they have created, and together we plan to continue to grow BRH Garver by expanding its capabilities to serve the increasing demands of the market," said James Benedict, a Principal at KCO and Board Director. "BRH Garver's capabilities in micro-tunneling are without equal, and the level of management depth extends deep into the organization. This investment fits perfectly with KCO's investment strategy of partnering with the owners of great companies to leverage their strengths and experience and fundamentally enhance the value of their businesses."

In conjunction with the acquisition, BRH Garver expanded its management team with the appointment of industry veterans Gene Kemp as CEO and Leslie Hess as CFO. Gene and Leslie have more than 65 years of combined experience having worked in virtually every segment of the construction industry across multiple end markets in the United States and abroad.

Alan Pate, President of BRH Garver, said, "I am looking forward to working with Gene, Leslie and KCO. There are many growth opportunities for BRH Garver and we are confident in our ability to capitalize on them with the help of our expanded management team and the additional resources that come from the KCO team."

Gene Kemp stated, "I am excited to be joining an organization that is recognized for its excellent reputation and track record. BRH Garver is extremely well-positioned with its current customers and is poised to continue growing by expanding its capabilities and adding new customers."

Leslie Hess commented "I am thrilled to join BRH Garver which has a wonderful company foundation and significant opportunities for the future growth supported by the strong market tailwinds, great customer relationships, solid reputation and depth of talent."

Matthew Cook, a KCO Principal and Board Director, added, "We are extremely impressed with the franchise that BRH Garver has built with its strong customer relationships and outstanding reputation. We are thrilled by the opportunity to take the company to the next level."

Alan Pate, David Ellett and Todd Hendricks made significant co-investments alongside KCO in the transaction. Community Bank of Texas provided additional financing.

About BRH Garver

Founded in 1971 in the Houston-area, BRH Garver provides specialized micro-tunneling services to public and private projects as well as related service competencies to other areas of site/civil construction. The Company owns and operates a large fleet of equipment and has an in-house fabrication facility that manufactures tools and equipment for specialty projects. The company's highly trained project managers, superintendents, equipment operators, qualified welders, and skilled craftsmen allow projects to be performed safely and on-time. For more information, visit www.brhgarver.com.

About KCO

KCO is a family office investor focused on control equity investments. KCO traces its roots to 1976 when the firm's founding partner, Bill Kidd, made his first private equity investment. Since KCO is not a fund, the firm is more creative and flexible with the types of transactions that are evaluated and manner in which investments are structured than a typical private equity fund. For more information, visit www.kiddcompany.com.

Contact: Chris Tofalli

Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC

914-834-4334

SOURCE Kidd & Company, LLC
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - KORE Mining Ltd. (TSXV: KORE) (OTCQX: KOREF) ("KORE" or the "Company") is pleased to announce 2022 plans and objectives for drilling, regional exploration and permitting at the Company's district-scale gold projects - Long Valley ("Long Valley") and Imperial ("Imperial"), two high return preliminary economic assessment stage ("PEA") projects with exceptional exploration opportunities for resource expansion and new discoveries. KORE also welcomes a new director to the Board for 2022.

2022 PLANS AND OBJECTIVES

Complete 12,000 meters of permitted exploration drilling at Long Valley targeting:

Oxide resource growth; and



Sulphides potential underneath the current shallow mineralization.

Complete permitting for Mesquite East and Ogilby exploration target areas at Imperial

Targeting new oxide gold discoveries on the 14 km Mesquite  Imperial trend

trend

Mobilise phase 1 drill program as soon as permit received

Complete target definition on additional high priority areas to generate new drill targets in the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho District

Work to include mapping, sampling and person-portable drilling of high priority target areas identified in 2021 field seasons

Submit drill permit application and complete environmental assessment for additional exploration targets areas at the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho district

Exact areas to be determined from above target definition work results

Complete mineral validity examination for Imperial main deposit lode claims

main deposit lode claims Clears the way for permit application for project development drilling

Continue to build local support for mine development through ACES ("A Clean Environment for the Salton Sea) which sets a "net zero" impact target for the Imperial project by:

project by: Complete backfilling and habitat restoration of Federal lands eliminates long-term view-scape, land-use and habitat impacts; and



Improving air quality and saving lives by supplying excess material to Salton Sea remediations.

Scott Trebilcock, KORE's CEO commented, "After a year of groundwork on both Imperial and Long Valley, we are very excited to get the drills turning to test the high priority targets we've identified. We believe our growth in 2022 will come from the drill bit as both deposits sit on large, underexplored land packages with excellent opportunities for resource expansion and new discoveries."

Board Adjustments

KORE's Board of Directors ("Board") is pleased to announce the appointment of new Director Jay Sujir pursuant to the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM"). Mr. Sujir is a securities and natural resources lawyer with over 30 years of experience advising and assisting public companies.

The Board would also like to thank outgoing Directors', Brendan Cahill and Adrian Rothwell, for their years of service and wish them both the best in their future endeavors.

KORE's Board is now focused on delivery of the Company's 2022 plans and objectives in the most cost effective manner.

Grant of Annual Incentives

As part of the Company's long-term incentive plan, KORE has granted an aggregate of 600,000 stock options ("Stock Options") and 859,460 restricted share units ("RSUs") to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company in accordance with the Company's Stock Option Plan and Omnibus Plan re-approved by the shareholders at the AGM. The Stock Options are exercisable at $0.37 per share for a five year term, with a third vesting every six months from the date of grant. The RSUs are payable in common shares of the Company and vest in tranches over various dates through January 2024. All Stock Option and RSU grants remain subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Imperial Gold Project

KORE owns 100% of the Mesquite-Imperial-Picacho District (the "District") which consists of over 31,000 acres of claims capturing the entire 28-kilometer trend from the operating Mesquite mine (Equinox Gold - TSX:EQX) to the closed Picacho mine and including KORE's Imperial project.

In the District, gold is hosted in local fault structures related to a series of regional faults connecting the known District deposits. Those three District deposits (Mesquite, Imperial and Picacho) were discovered in exposed outcrops and from placer workings. The rest of the District is covered by alluvium and has never been systematically explored using modern techniques.

Imperial has a mineral resource estimate in the technical report titled "Preliminary Economic Assessment  Technical Report, Imperial Gold Project, California, USA" with an effective date of April 6, 2020, revised and amended as of June 10, 2021 and filed on June 11, 2021, having the following highlights:

Robust economics: C$ 642 million NPV5%* post-tax with 52% IRR at US$1,600 per ounce gold;

NPV5%* post-tax with 52% IRR at per ounce gold; Low capital intensity project with only US$ 143 million pre-production capital cost;

pre-production capital cost; 146,000 ounces gold per year over 8 years for 1.2 million ounces total production; and

Technically simple project: shallow open pit, run-of-mine heap leach with existing infrastructure.

About Long Valley Gold Project

Long Valley is 100% owned epithermal gold and silver project located in Mono County, California. The 15,965 acre land package around the project is district in scale and covers all deep-rooted fault structures of similar genesis to the Hilton Creek fault, the primary 'conduit' for the current Long Valley deposit.

A total of 896 holes have been drilled on the Project, the majority being completed by reverse circulation with lesser core, rotary and air track. The current mineral resource estimate is 1,217,000 ounces of Indicated gold and 456,000 ounces of Inferred gold from 63.7 million tonnes of 0.58 grams per tonne and 22.0 million tonnes of 0.65 grams per tonne, respectively. The mineral resource consists of oxide, transition and sulphides. The estimate was prepared by Neil Prenn, P.E. of Mine Development Associates with an effective date of September 2, 2020. See the "Preliminary Economic Assessment NI 43-101 Technical Report, Long Valley Project", revised and amended dated June 7, 2021, filed on SEDAR on June 11, 2021 (the "PEA").

The PEA for a shallow, low-strip heap leach project contains the following highlights:

US $273 million NPV5% post-tax with IRR of 48% at US$ 1,600 per ounce gold ;

NPV5% post-tax with IRR of 48% at per ounce gold ; Significant leverage to gold: US$ 352 million NPV5% at spot US$ 1,800 per ounce gold;

NPV5% at spot per ounce gold; 102,000 ounces gold per year average over 7 years mine life;

Shallow open pit, heap leach with nearby infrastructure;

Unmodelled silver potential from metallurgical test-work; and

Shallow oxide and sulphide feeder exploration potential to further enhance project.

More information is available in both PEAs filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on KORE's website at www.koremining.com.

About KORE Mining

KORE Mining is focused on responsibly creating value from its portfolio of gold assets in California, USA. The Company is advancing the Imperial project towards development while continuing to explore across both district-scale gold assets. Management and Board (27% ownership), along with strategic investor, Eric Sprott (26% owner), are aligned with all KORE shareholders with the goal of creating per share value.

Further information on KORE can be found on the Company's website at www.koremining.com or by contacting us at [email protected] or by telephone at (888) 407-5450.

On behalf of KORE Mining Ltd.

"Scott Trebilcock"

Chief Executive Officer

(888) 407-5450

Technical information with respect to the Imperial Gold Project and Long Valley Project contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Marc Leduc, P.Eng, who is KORE's COO and is the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical matters of this news release.

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.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "anticipate", "believe", "budget", "could", "estimate", "expect", "feel", "indicate", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "predict", "project", "should", "will", "would", and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: the anticipated and expected strategy and timing regarding the plans and objectives for drilling, regional exploration and permitting at Long Valley and Imperial in 2022, benefits of Project Aces to the local stakeholders and the environment; the remediation results and outcome on the local air pollution problem; the long-term impacts to Federal lands; the estimated amount of clean surplus material to be produced by the Imperial Gold Project; the anticipated economic benefits to Imperial County as a result of the development of the Imperial Gold Project; the strategy, timing and implementation of the environmental compliance plan; the ability to work cooperatively with stakeholders, including all levels of government; and expectations regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made numerous assumptions, including, among others: there being no significant change to current geotechnical, metallurgical, hydrological and other physical conditions at the Long Valley and Imperial Gold Project; exploration, permitting, and development of the Long Valley and Imperial Projects being consistent with current expectations and planning; that the actual environmental and economic impacts and benefits will result; that current applicable environmental laws do not change substantially; the geological, permitting and economic advice that the Company has received is reliable and is based upon practices and methodologies which are consistent with industry standards; and other planning assumptions. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.

Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Known risk factors include, among others: the outcome of BLM's review processes for permitting, including the final outcome(s) of BLM's mineral claim validity examination(s) and administrative review process(es) with respect to the Imperial Zone, including a change to the findings from the mineral claim validity examination conducted in 2002 for the mill sites at the Imperial Zone, resulting in the Company having to move its future Imperial Zone project support facilities to areas that are not within the Indian Pass mineral withdrawal area; the possibility that BLM may require and/or conduct further mineral claim validity examinations with respect to the Imperial project, and the outcome and final determination of such examination could, among other things, invalidate one or more mining claims; the possibility that BLM or other governmental authority review of the Regional Exploration Drilling program, delays or changes the Company's plan for Regional Exploration permitting, which could result, among other things, in delays, additional project requirements, additional costs and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; the exploration drill program may not be completed as planned; the need to obtain additional financing; changes in applicable laws and regulations; uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; the possibility of delay in exploration or development programs and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other government approvals; and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional risks and uncertainties are described under the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2020 prepared as of April 29, 2021 available under the Company's issuer profile on www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forwardlooking information or statements or implied by forwardlooking information or statements, there may be other risk factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

The preliminary economic assessments are preliminary in nature, that include inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessments will be realized. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve. It is uncertain if further exploration will allow improving the classification of the Indicated or Inferred mineral resource. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

SOURCE Kore Mining
INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) will announce its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 financial results on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Lilly will also conduct a conference call on that day with the investment community and media to further detail the company's financial performance.

The conference call will begin at 9 a.m. Eastern time. Investors, media and the general public can access a live webcast of the conference call through a link that will be posted on Lilly's website at https://investor.lilly.com/webcasts-and-presentations. A replay will also be available on the website following the conference call.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more about Lilly, please visit us at www.lilly.com and www.lilly.com/news . F-LLY

Refer to: Jordan Bishop; [email protected]; 317-473-5712 (Media)

Kevin Hern; [email protected]; 317-277-1838 (Investors)

SOURCE Eli Lilly and Company
SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's venture funds created in 2021 hit a fresh record high as eased regulations boosted investment in the private sector, a government report showed Thursday.

Venture funds formed in 2021 amounted to 9.21 trillion won (7.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 34 percent from the prior year, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It surpassed the 9 trillion-won mark for the first time.

The number of new venture funds was 404 in 2021, doubling the previous high of 206 tallied in 2020.

During the October-December quarter, the newly created venture funds reached a quarterly high of 3.9 trillion won (3.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The venture investment promotion act was implemented in August 2020 to allow startup planners to form a venture fund and alleviate requirements for limited liability companies (LLC) to establish a venture fund.

The capital requirement for venture capital companies was lowered in October 2017 from 5 billion won (4.2 million U.S. dollars) to 2 billion won (1.7 million U.S. dollars).

The eased regulations led to a double-digit growth in investment from the private sector.

Investment in new venture funds by the private sector, including individuals, corporations, financial institutions, and venture capitals, came to 6.47 trillion won (5.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, up 41.5 percent from the previous year.

It accounted for 70.2 percent of the total, up from 66.5 percent recorded in 2020.

Investment from the policy finance sector came in at 2.74 trillion won (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, up 19 percent from a year earlier. 
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Even Financial ("Even"), the category-leading embedded finance marketplace, and LoansCanada.ca ("Loans Canada"), the leading loan comparison site in Canada, have announced a strategic partnership to help Canadian borrowers find optimal loans and credit solutions.

"As the online financial services ecosystem continues to grow rapidly in both the US and Canada, the infrastructure for financial services providers to distribute their products digitally remains fractured and a bottleneck to growth," said Phill Rosen, Founder and CEO of Even Financial. "With this in mind, we're thrilled to partner with Loans Canada, which plays a critical role in connecting Canadian consumers to the financial products they need."

Founded in 2014, Even digitally connects and matches consumers with real-time, personalized financial product recommendations from banks, insurance carriers, and fintech companies, on mobile apps, websites, and other digital touchpoints through its marketplace technology. Even's infrastructure leverages machine learning and advanced data science to solve a significant pain point in financial services customer acquisition, seamlessly bridging financial services providers (such as SoFi) and channel partners (such as TransUnion) via its industry-leading API and embedded finance marketplaces. Even enables any company to add financial products to its business, with full compliance and security at scale.

As Canada's leading loan comparison platform, Loans Canada connects Canadian consumers, regardless of their financial past or credit history, with a lender or service provider that meets their needs. Loans Canada's platform offers a variety of consumer credit products including personal loans, automobile loans, mortgages, debt management and credit improvement services. In addition to providing consumers with greater access to alternative financing options, Loans Canada aims to educate consumers through its rich financial literacy content, including an extensive library of resources on debt, credit, budgeting, and financial wellness.

As strategic partners, Even and Loans Canada will leverage the reach of their two industry-leading platforms to make it easier for Canadian consumers to search for and be matched with personalized loan offers that are best suited to their unique needs.

"We are excited to partner with Even, a leading financial services recommendation engine. Together we can better serve consumers on their journey to find better and more affordable financing" said Scott Satov, Loans Canada CEO.

Even continued its rapid growth trajectory in 2021, surpassing $4 billion in credit matched through its API. It was named one of "America's Best Startup Employers" by Forbes for 2021 and was named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list for a second consecutive year. Even's growing network includes over 400 financial services providers and 500 channel partners, covering a breadth of financial services including loans, credit cards, mortgages, savings, and insurance products.

On December 16, 2021, Even announced it will be acquired by MoneyLion, an award-winning mobile banking and financial membership platform that empowers people to take control of their finances. The acquisition accelerates MoneyLion's mission of providing comprehensive financial access and advice to hard-working Americans.

With the goal of improving its customer experience, Loans Canada launched its first call center this year. Loans Canada's affiliate program continues to be the monetization platform of choice for personal finance platforms and publishers across Canada. Loans Canada's month-over-month application volume has nearly doubled over the past 18 months, and the company reported record revenue with 450% growth over the same period. Since the launch of its Financial Literacy Scholarship last year, Loans Canada is proud to announce four formidable students have been presented with the award so far.

About Even Financial

Founded in 2014, Even digitally connects and matches consumers with real-time, personalized financial product recommendations from banks, insurance carriers, and fintech companies on mobile apps, websites, and other digital touchpoints through its marketplace technology. Even's infrastructure leverages machine learning and advanced data science to solve a significant pain point in financial services customer acquisition, seamlessly bridging financial services providers (such as SoFi) and channel partners (such as TransUnion) via its industry-leading API and embedded finance marketplaces. Even enables any company to add financial products to its business, with full compliance and security at scale. Even was named one of "America's Best Startup Employers'' by Forbes for 2021 and was named to the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500, which recognizes the fastest growing tech companies in the world. Learn more at www.evenfinancial.com.

About Loans Canada

Launched in 2012 as Canada's first loan comparison platform, LoansCanada.ca is the leading Canada-wide financial service destination for credit constrained Canadians. Loans Canada has connected over a million Canadian users to personal loan, car loan, vehicle repair, mortgage, debt management and credit improvement solution providers. With its growing online presence, Loans Canada is able to assist tens of thousands of Canadians every month with a variety of different financial services. Loans Canada is also a top destination for financial literacy content, with an extensive library of resources on debt, credit, budgeting, and financial wellness.

Media Contacts

[email protected]

[email protected]

SOURCE Even Financial, Inc.
With increasing demand for fresh tasting, moderate options and the recent rise in sober-curious consumers, MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo is born out of a heightened desire for mindful cocktails that are brimming with vibrant flavor. Designed for those who sip mindfully, without sacrificing quality and taste, the MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo range offers an ABV of less than 0.5% alcohol and contains no artificial ingredients or flavorings. Both variants are gluten free and made without compromise, with the alcohol being gently removed and naturally infused with a masterful blend of botanicals from around the world.

Marking the heritage brand's 100th year anniversary of becoming the first Italian company to export a non-alcoholic vermouth to the U.S., with its non-alcoholic Sparkling vermouth and Dry vermouth, MARTINI & ROSSI is no stranger to the no/low alcohol trend that has boomed over the past few years. According to data from the MARTINI & ROSSI parent company, Bacardi Limited, and its 2022 Cocktail Trends Report, 58% of individuals globally are drinking more non-alcoholic and low-ABV cocktails in comparison to the previous year.

"We are so excited to debut our MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo," said Fabio Raffaelli, MARTINI & ROSSI North American Brand Ambassador. "Awareness is growing that you no longer have to compromise on taste to enjoy no-to-low proof cocktails. More people are introducing moderation into their lifestyle and finding new ways to host and celebrate with friends, while also adopting a more mindful approach to spirits. These options are the perfect addition to any cocktail-lovers' drinks cabinet and something that everyone can enjoy."

In support of the art of mindful drinking, MARTINI & ROSSI introduces its Mindful Hosting" cocktail kit in collaboration with Cocktail Courier, featuring MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo Floreale and Vibrante. The kit includes everything you will need to enjoy 16 non-alcoholic cocktails, including glassware and "The Good Spirited Mindful Hosting & Cocktails Guide" created by family-owned Bacardi.

MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo is currently available in select markets and in Europe with a SRP of $19.99 USD for 750mL, and will be expanding nationwide in 2023.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo

MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo is a premium non-alcoholic aperitivo, made for those times when you are choosing not to drink alcohol but still want to enjoy a sophisticated and refreshing tasting drink. Taking the same quality wines that are used in classic vermouths, the alcohol is gently removed and infused with a selection of botanicals, made with natural flavour. MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Vibrante is a masterful blend of natural botanicals containing less than 0.5% alcohol, with Italian Bergamot to create a fruity aperitivo. MARTINI & ROSSI Non-Alcoholic Floreale presents a refreshingly light and floral taste, pairing with subtle notes of Chamomile.

About MARTINI & ROSSI

One of the most iconic brands in the world, MARTINI & ROSSI is the leading name in Italian winemaking and a purveyor of the highest quality aromatized and sparkling wines. The award- winning, vibrant and bittersweet taste of the MARTINI & ROSSI range is the result of secret blends of more than 40 botanicals sourced from the finest locations across the globe. The MARTINI & ROSSI portfolio includes: MARTINI & ROSSI Fiero, MARTINI & ROSSI Riserva Speciale Rubino, MARTINI & ROSSI Riserva Speciale Ambrato, MARTINI & ROSSI Bianco, MARTINI & ROSSI Rosato, MARTINI & ROSSI Rosso and MARTINI & ROSSI Extra Dry Vermouths, MARTINI & ROSSI Riserva Speciale Bitter liqueur, MARTINI & ROSSI Asti, MARTINI & ROSSI Prosecco and MARTINI & ROSSI Rose Extra Dry Italian Sparkling wines. CASA MARTINI, the MARTINI & ROSSI brand home, is located Pessione di Chieri, in Turin, at the MARTINI & ROSSI historic premises and is now open for private events, conference meetings and social occasions.

Created in 1863 in Turin, Italy, the MARTINI & ROSSI brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, and continues to be the market leader of the category. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

ENJOY MARTINI & ROSSI RESPONSIBLY*NON-ALCOHOLIC* DEALCOHOLIZED WINE APERITIF. <0.5%

MARTINI & ROSSI AND THE BALL AND BAR LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT www.martini.com

CONTACT

Carolyn Oseep

[email protected]

SOURCE MARTINI & ROSSI
CHICAGO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, McDonald's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.38 per share of common stock payable on March 15, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 2022.

Upcoming Communications

For important news and information regarding McDonald's, including the timing of future investor conferences and earnings calls, visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's Internet home page at www.investor.mcdonalds.com. McDonald's uses this website as a primary channel for disclosing key information to its investors, some of which may contain material and previously non-public information.

About McDonald's

McDonald's is the world's leading global foodservice retailer with over 39,000 locations in over 100 countries. Approximately 93% of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as its annual and quarterly reports and current reports on Form 8-K. The Company undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements, except as may otherwise be required by law.

SOURCE McDonald's Corporation
To understand more about Market Dynamics. Download our FREE sample report

According to the recent market study by Technavio, the Medical Information Market is expected to increase by USD 7.83 billion from 2020 to 2025, at an accelerated CAGR of 25.02%. The report provides a detailed analysis of drivers & opportunities, top winning strategies, competitive scenario, future market trends, market size & estimations, and major investment pockets.

North America will register the highest growth rate of 36% among the other regions. The US is the key market for medical information.

Download FREE Sample: for more additional information about the key countries in North America.

Vendor Insights-

The medical information market is fragmented, and the vendors are using various organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market. The key news of some of the vendors is mentioned below:

Accenture Plc - In May 2021, the company acquired Homburg and Partner, a strategic management consulting company with deep specialization in commercial strategy, sales, and pricing.

Change Healthcare Inc. - In March 2021, the company unveiled a new collaboration with Amazon Web Services Inc. to better assess and enhance the effectiveness of interventions and therapies, mainly for underserved and vulnerable populations.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. - In June 2021, the company completed the acquisition of Munich, Germany-based ESG Mobility, a digital automotive engineering, R&D provider for connected, autonomous, and electric vehicles.

Find additional highlights on the vendors and their product offerings. Download Free Sample Report

Regional Market Outlook

The medical information market share growth in North America will be significant during the forecast period. The US is the key market for medical information in North America.

North America has been recording a significant growth rate. It is expected to offer several growth opportunities to market vendors during the forecast period. The presence of favorable government initiatives will drive the medical information market growth in North America during the forecast period.

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 Driving the Market-

The increasing adoption of EHRs is driving the growth of the medical information market. However, factors such as concerns related to data safety and security may challenge the market growth.

Find additional information about various other market Drivers & Challenges mentioned in our FREE sample report .

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The growth of the medical information market across North America , APAC, Europe , South America , and MEA

, APAC, , , and MEA Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of medical information market vendors

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Medical Information Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 25.02% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 7.83 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 22.12 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution North America at 36% Key consumer countries US, UK, Germany, India, and China Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Accenture Plc, Change Healthcare Inc., Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., Ergomed Plc, HCL Technologies Ltd., Infosys Ltd., IQVIA Holdings Inc., MakroCare, Parexel International Corp., and ProPharma Group Holdings LLC 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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SOURCE Technavio
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucy Maria De La Cruz, MD, has joined MedStar Georgetown University Hospital as chief of its Breast Surgery Program and director of the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center. Dr. De La Cruz is a fellowship-trained breast surgeon who specializes in advanced breast surgery procedures, including wireless lumpectomies, hidden scar technique, oncoplastic breast conservation, and nipple-sparing mastectomy. She has been published in more than two dozen peer-reviewed scientific journals, and her pivotal papers on nipple-sparing mastectomy and oncologic outcomes have been cited worldwide. She will also direct the hospital's breast surgery fellowship program.

Lucy Maria De La Cruz, MD has joined MedStar Georgetown University Hospital as Chief of the Breast Surgery Program and Director of the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center.

"I am honored and excited to lead the breast surgery program and the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital," said De La Cruz. "It has been my life-long dream to bring my passion for medicine, helping others and building a state-of-the-art breast surgery program to advance breast health. I look forward to working with our multidisciplinary team of breast health experts to compassionately care for, educate and empower my patients in their health journey."

Dr. De La Cruz is an academic breast surgeon who conducts outcomes-focused research, and among her special interests are the impact of genomic mapping to guide breast cancer treatment and male breast cancer treatment. Her work is guided by a long-standing commitment to promoting equity and efficacy in breast cancer care delivery, using the principles of value-based health care.

"The Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital are thrilled to have Dr. De La Cruz lead the breast surgery program. Her commitment to patients, their journey, and their outcomes are unmatched; and her expertise in novel surgical techniques brings new and beneficial options to patients," said David H. Song, MD, MBA, FACS, Physician Executive Director, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Professor and Chair Department of Plastic Surgery, and Interim Chair, Department of Surgery, Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Dr. De La Cruz's story

Dr. De La Cruz, 39, started her journey towards becoming the youngest Latina woman to lead a breast cancer surgery program at a major academic medical center at young age. As the daughter of international physician researchers, she spent a lot of time in labs where her parents worked, sparking her passion for medicine and "making a difference in people's lives." She grew up in Cuba, Mozambique, Spain, and Miami.

In college, she studied abroad in the Dominican Republic at the Universidad Central Del Este School of Medicine, where students were involved in patient care very early in their education and training. There, she completed her medical degree, founded an American Medical Student Association chapter and raised scholarship funds to help those who couldn't afford tuition.

After graduation, she was told becoming a surgeon would be nearly impossible as a foreign medical graduate and a female. Despite this, De La Cruz obtained research fellowships from the University of Miami and George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She continued her journey by obtaining a one-year residency internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital at the University of Miami, where she earned the Intern of the Year award and an AOA medical honor society membership for her dedication to medical student teaching. During her residency, she worked on an award-winning oncologic outcomes research project for nipple-sparing mastectomy that continues to be cited worldwide.

That same year, Dr. De La Cruz started her breast surgery fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Following graduation, she worked in private practice for a year before returning to the University of Pennsylvania as a faculty member in the associate program director of the breast cancer surgery fellowship program.

After relocating to Washington, D.C., to be close to her family, she founded the breast cancer fellowship program curriculum at the Inova Health System. Now at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and The Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center, she continues to teach residents and fellows, pursue research, and care for patients  the fulfillment of her lifelong dream.

About MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

About the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center

SOURCE Georgetown University Hospital
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Godard, the artist best known as the "Rockstar of the Art World" and a global top selling artist, today announced the launch of Godard NFT (non-fungible token), a private members only collective of 1,110 dedicated NFT collectors, curators and artists.

Each member will receive exclusive access to Godard NFT drops, physical art through "Mint-to-Print" services and access to Godard's upcoming events and artist collaborations. Members will also have access to a private Discord server, where they can connect with other artists and collectors.

Through this collective, Godard plans to merge physical art with digital NFTs, creating in real life (IRL) experiences that provide members with exclusive access to limited edition physical and digital works.

"Over the years my art has evolved from painting with a brush to using a tablet. Now I have an opportunity to bridge two worlds: combining fine art that's made by hand with blockchain technology. We're really excited to be engaging with the community in this way, and we can't wait to see what incredible work we discover and bring to a global audience!", said Godard.

The January 28th launch is just the first phase with more to be revealed in the coming weeks, including a genesis drop inspired by some of his most popular paintings, a profile picture (PFP) drop of his iconic olive characters and partnership announcements with globally recognized artists, creators, who will be crafting or contributing to the community.

Artists, collectors or curators who want to get involved in this exclusive membership should visit https://nft.michaelgodard.com or follow along on Twitter at https://twitter.com/OfficialGodard.

About Michael Godard

Michael Godard is known as the explosive "Rockstar of the Art World" and global top selling artist who created the iconic and whimsical Olive characters that adorn the walls of celebrities, private collectors, from young to old, government buildings and many galleries across the world. Godard's imaginative world of art is seen by millions of people each month worldwide.

Godard attended the University of Nevada in Las Vegas for Fine Arts and later attended The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and has been featured on Television in HBO's Cat House, A&E's Criss Angel's Mind Freak, American Casino, INKed, and a myriad of other media.

PRESS CONTACT

Nick Landis

[email protected]

SOURCE Max Art Productions
CANTON, Mass., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a letter sent on Thursday morning to Gov. Charlie Baker, the Massachusetts Nurses Association asked the governor to take immediate action to safeguard frontline caregivers, patients and communities during the current COVID-19 surge by instituting a State of Emergency through the end of March 2022 and addressing issues ranging from hospital visitor policies and N95 masking to quarantine procedures and school nurse resources.

Two years into the pandemic, the omicron variant is spiking COVID-19 infections, driving increases in hospitalizations, and worsening pre-existing, profit-centered healthcare industry staffing practices, Katie Murphy, practicing ICU nurse and President of the MNA, wrote in the letter on behalf of 23,000 MNA nurses and healthcare professionals across the Commonwealth.

"Two years into this pandemic, we are now at a place we all feared. Healthcare workers are overwhelmed and burned out," Murphy wrote in the letter. "Healthcare facilities are overrun with both COVID-19 patients and those individuals who delayed care throughout the pandemic, and the system is buckling under the pressure. We are closer than we have ever been to the collapse of the healthcare system.

"It must be recognized that this current staffing crisis has been years in the making, as hospital administrators have implemented policies that drove tens of thousands of qualified staff away from hospital nursing as a result of strategic efforts to understaff hospitals to generate greater operating margins," Murphy wrote. "The pandemic has only exacerbated this situation and demonstrated the systemic lack of understanding and appreciation of the role and value of those providing direct patient care."

The New York Times, in an opinion video published on January 19, exposes the hospital industry's longstanding practice of understaffing nurses to drive profits at the expense of patient safety. The video features MNA local leaders Marlena Pellegrino, RN at St. Vincent Hospital, and Kerry Noonan, RN at Brigham and Women's Hospital. It clearly outlines the case for safe patient limits and describes how the hospital industry has spent tens of millions of dollars on misinformation campaigns to thwart attempts to ensure safe staffing levels.

"The pandemic arrived with many people having great hope for reform on many fronts, including the nursing industry, but much of that optimism seems to have faded. In the Opinion Video above, nurses set the record straight about the root cause of the nursing crisis: chronic understaffing by profit-driven hospitals that predates the pandemic," the New York Times opinion staff write in an accompanying essay.

The MNA's January 20 letter to Gov. Baker is a successor to the series of letters the MNA sent the governor in 2020 calling for statewide standards to ensure the safety of patients, nurses, healthcare professionals and communities during the initial phase of the pandemic. The common theme connecting all the MNA's messages is that those providing direct patient care must be heard and included as part of any COVID-19 decision-making process.

"Our healthcare system and the workers that sustain it are being tested as never before," Murphy wrote in the letter Thursday to Gov. Baker. "As the pandemic evolves, more action is needed. We must ensure that best interests of patients and frontline healthcare personnel are guiding our decisions. We look forward to continuing to work with you and your administration to address these challenges."

List of MNA COVID-19 Recommendations

For full details, review a copy of the January 20, 2022, letter by emailing [email protected] or by clicking here.

Declare a State of Emergency like that declared in March 2020, effective through the end of March 2022.

1. Reinstate temporary expedited licensure for out-of-state nurses.

2. Reinstate liability protection for healthcare workers working outside their area of practice.

3. Impose stricter visitor policies at hospitals across the state- including restrictions and PPE enforcement.

4. Require that all staff interacting with patients be provided with new N95 masks upon request.

5. Provide onsite testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic employees. Healthcare staff should not have to seek testing offsite. Hospitals have access to tests and the capacity to test.

6. Provide onsite booster shots for healthcare staff.

7. Return to previous quarantine procedures for COVID positive healthcare workers.

8. Provide additional support for school nurses.

9. Repeal the regulations regarding travel nurses which have further destabilized the nursing workforce.

10. Support a local manufacturing base for domestic production of PPE.

11. Include the voices of those on the frontlines.

12. Re-establish procedures (tents outside EDs) to reduce COVID exposure.

13. Increase the use of the National Guard.

14. Utilize all healthcare staff for the delivery of direct patient care (including managers and administrators).

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses  Instagram.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists and engineers operating NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will answer questions about the mission's latest milestones in a NASA Science Live broadcast at 3 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 24, followed by a media teleconference at 4 p.m.

The broadcast will air live online on the NASA Science Live website, as well as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency's website.

Ground teams plan to fire Webb's thrusters at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24 to insert the space telescope into orbit around the Sun at the second Lagrange point, or L2, its intended destination, nearly 1 million miles from Earth. This mid-course correction burn has long been planned for approximately 29 days after launch. This week, the mission operations team selected the target date and time for the burn. Engineers also finished remotely moving Webb's mirror segments out of their launch positions to begin the months-long process of aligning the telescope's optics.

Viewers of this episode, "What's Next for the James Webb Space Telescope?" can submit questions on social media using the hashtag #UnfoldtheUniverse or by leaving a comment in the chat section of the Facebook or YouTube stream. Questions from the public will be answered by:

Amber Straughn , deputy project scientist for Webb communications, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

, deputy project scientist for Webb communications, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Scarlin Hernandez, flight systems engineer, Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore

Following the episode, NASA will host a media teleconference focused on the L2 insertion burn and mirror movements, as well as the next steps in preparing Webb to conduct science. The call will feature:

Lee Feinberg , Webb optical telescope element manager, Goddard

, Webb optical telescope element manager, Goddard Amy Lo , Webb vehicle engineering lead, Northrop Grumman

, Webb vehicle engineering lead, Northrop Grumman Keith Parrish , Webb observatory commissioning manager, Goddard

, Webb observatory commissioning manager, Goddard Jane Rigby , Webb operations project scientist, Goddard

To participate in the teleconference, media must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the event to Laura Betz at: [email protected]. NASA's media accreditation policy for virtual activities is available online.

Webb, an international partnership with the ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency, launched Dec. 25 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. On Jan. 8, Webb finished unfolding in space after having been stowed inside the nose cone of an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket for launch.

The observatory is now preparing for science operations, a human-controlled process called commissioning that provides the team with the flexibility to pause and adjust as needed. NASA provides regular updates about commissioning milestones on the Webb telescope blog. The public also can follow Webb's progress online via a "Where is Webb?" interactive tracker.

Webb will explore every phase of cosmic history  from within the solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, and everything in between. Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it.

Additional Webb Resources:

For more information about the Webb mission, visit:

https://webb.nasa.gov

SOURCE NASA
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoDynamics AB (Spotlight Stock Market: NEOD), a medtech company dedicated to advancing diagnosis and care of breast cancer, will present results from the PULSE study illustrating the benefits of the novel biopsy device NeoNavia in challenging axillary lymph nodes, at the SBI/ACR Breast Imaging Symposium in Savannah, Georgia, taking place on May 16-19. The symposium is held to be the most important annual meeting for US breast imaging professionals.

A subgroup analysis from the ethically approved German prospective multi-center study PULSE (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03975855), shows that the biopsy device NeoNavia was safe and effective for percutaneous tissue sampling also in axillary lymph nodes presenting parameters indicating high anatomic complexity and procedural difficulty. The system's pulses were perceived to stabilize the target lesion and provide needle control during insertion. It was also possible to obtain multiple samples with a single insertion.

The scientific abstract has been accepted for oral presentation at the symposium. The presentation will be carried out by the Principial Investigator, Prof. Marc Thill, AGAPLESION MARKUS KRANKENHAUS Frankfurt, under the title "New pulse biopsy device safe and effective in challenging cases of axillary biopsies: Subgroup analysis of initial PULSE data for lymph nodes of small size and difficult anatomic location".

"The NeoNavia device has demonstrated great performance in the most challenging subgroup of cases in the PULSE study. Management of the axilla in breast cancer patients continues to be a hot topic. Needle biopsies enable an early assessment of whether the cancer has spread to the axillary lymph nodes at the time of breast cancer diagnosis. This information facilitates optimal treatment planning which is crucial for patient outcomes. A biopsy device that increases sampling yield and improves insertion control is very well suited to set a new standard in this area. With performance documented for challenging biopsies in the axillary lymph nodes, we are now looking forward to using the further improved next generation NeoNavia biopsy system in our patients to improve the diagnosis of breast cancer," says Prof. Marc Thill.

The SBI/ACR Breast Imaging Symposium is the most important annual meeting for breast imaging professionals in the US, usually attracting over 1 000 participants. NeoDynamics plans to file for registration of NeoNavia in the US during the first quarter 2022.

NeoNavia is an innovative biopsy system built on a patented pulse technology for controlled and precise needle insertion and is based on research at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. A pneumatic hand-held driver is driven by a base unit and pulses are activated by pressing a button. With the help of these pulses, the biopsy needle is advanced in steps of 1-2 mm, allowing a distinct, stepwise needle insertion into the tissue and a precise placement of the needle in the suspected lesion.

For further information, please contact:

Anna Eriksrud, CEO NeoDynamics AB, phone +46708 444 966 or e-mail [email protected]

Kai-Uwe Schassburger, Ph.D. Director Clinical Development & Medical Affairs, phone +46 762 386 153 or + 49 151 688 092 41

About NeoDynamics

NeoDynamics AB (publ) is a Swedish Medical Technology Company dedicated to advancing diagnosis and care of breast cancer. The company's first product NeoNavia, a new innovative pulse biopsy system for ultrasound guided tissue sampling, is currently being introduced to the market. The biopsy system is built on a patented pulse technology, based on research at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. NeoNavia is evaluated for breast cancer diagnosis at leading clinics in UK, Germany, and Sweden. The pulse biopsy system has been used for tissue sampling in breast and axilla in over 500 patients.

About NeoNavia

NeoNavia is a modern biopsy system with a completely new patented pulse technology intended for ultrasound-guided tissue sampling. It consists of a base unit, a handheld driver and three different types of biopsy needles. Each needle type is driven by the pulse technology providing a more controlled needle insertion and precise placement of the needle in the tumour whilst enabling high-quality tissue samples from both breasts and lymph nodes. The pulse biopsy system NeoNavia is designed to offer clinicians and patients accurate lesion targeting and high tissue yield for correct diagnosis and individualized treatment.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/neodynamics/r/new-data-from-neodynamics-pulse-study-accepted-for-presentation-at-major-us-breast-imaging-conferenc,c3488407

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE NeoDynamics
CONCORD, N.H., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gov. Sununu has joined dozens of other governors and city and county leaders nationwide in recognizing Jan. 23-Jan. 29 as School Choice Week. His official declaration of "New Hampshire School Choice Week" recognizes that every child should have access to effective education options, and marks the sixth consecutive year the week has been proclaimed in New Hampshire.

Gov. Sununu's proclamation comes on the heels of a year of historic school choice expansions nationwide, including the creation of New Hampshire's Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program, which allows eligible students to receive education savings accounts for use toward tutoring, educational therapy, textbooks, private school tuition, and more.

New Hampshire families, schools, and community organizers will celebrate School Choice Week with more than 100 events and activities, such as pep rallies, school fairs, contests, and online meet-ups. These events seek to inspire conversation about the educational choices parents want for their children, and encourage families to play an active role in their children's education.

Nationwide, more than 26,000 events have been independently planned for the Week, raising awareness about opportunity in education. Schools of every type  traditional public, public magnet, public charter, private, online, and homeschool  will join in the celebration.

"We are excited that New Hampshire families will be using the Week to speak up for their children's needs and learn more about their school options," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We are grateful for Gov. Sununu's recognition that educational opportunity and choice are crucial for children to thrive and be prepared for the future."

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week focuses equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of events and activities  such as school fairs, open houses, and student showcases  to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. Year-round, National School Choice Week develops resources and guides to assist families searching for schools or learning environments for their children. The effort is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/new-hampshire .

SOURCE National School Choice Week
WELLINGTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules has departed Base Auckland Whenuapai for Tonga on Thursday carrying aid supplies, as the New Zealand aid efforts ramp up.

"The aircraft is carrying humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment," New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement.

The delivery of supplies will be contactless and the aircraft is expected to be on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand, said Defense Minister Peeni Henare, adding Tonga is currently free of COVID-19 and operates strict border controls to keep the virus out.

The aircraft is due to arrive in Tonga at approximately 4:00 p.m. New Zealand time. No aircraft could land before now because the runway had to be cleared of volcanic ash, Henare said.

The New Zealand response to the developing situation in Tonga is well underway and the offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington is expected to arrive in Tonga later on Thursday. It is carrying hydrographic and dive personnel, and also has a Seasprite helicopter to assist with supply delivery, he said.

Vessel Wellington's first task will be to check shipping channels and wharf approaches to Tonga's port to ensure vessels can go alongside, and check the structural integrity of the wharf, the defense minister said.

Meanwhile, the maritime sustainment vessel HMNZS Aotearoa has bulk water supplies on board, as well as other supplies, and is expected to arrive in Tonga on Friday.

"Water is among the highest priorities for Tonga, and the Aotearoa can carry 250,000 liters, and produce 70,000 liters per day through a desalination plant," Mahuta said.

Henare said New Zealand is also preparing to deploy HMNZS Canterbury, with two NH90 helicopters on board, which is planning to leave on Saturday.

Communications with Tonga remain limited. Some 2G connectivity has been restored for telecommunications provider Digicel customers. However, demand is exceeding capacity and connection is inconsistent. With just a portion of calls being connected, people are asked to be patient. Work is underway to add more capacity, according to Mahuta.

Tsunami waves hit Tonga on Saturday. The tsunami followed a series of violent eruptions from underwater Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, 65 km north of the country's main island Tongatapu. Three deaths have been confirmed so far.

The tsunami had a significant impact on part of the foreshore of Tonga, with boats and large boulders washed ashore and shops along the coast damaged. 
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A new Knights of Columbus/Marist Poll released today shows that 71% of Americans support legal limits on abortion. This survey, conducted by the Marist Poll and commissioned annually by the Knights of Columbus for more than a decade, found that a majority of Americans  54%  oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, and 81% of Americans believe laws can protect both the mother and her unborn child.

"When it comes to the direction of government policy, there has been consistency and consensus in American public opinion on the issue of abortion over the decades," explained Dr. Barbara Carvalho, director of the Marist Poll.

"As we await a decision in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, our polling continues to show that over 60% of Americans reject the central holding of Roe v. Wade, and want to return the decision to the states or make abortion illegal," said Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus. "Roe v. Wade was wrong when it was decided, and its legacy is the tragic destruction of more than 60 million unborn lives and countless wounded women. The time has come for America to turn the page on Roe."

"Our polling also shows that Americans oppose policies that divert tax dollars to pay for abortion here and abroad. This is especially relevant as the bipartisan Hyde Amendment prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion is in danger," added Mr. Kelly. "As a supermajority of Americans believe laws can protect both women and the unborn, the Knights of Columbus will continue to stand with them in supporting the dignity and worth of every human life."

Other Key Findings:



63% of Americans oppose new federal rules that allow sending prescription drugs for medication abortions through the mail instead of having women get them in-person from a specially certified health provider.

Three-quarters say doctors, nurses, or other health care professionals who have religious objections to abortion should not be forced to perform them.

A majority (54%) believe organizations who have religious objections to abortion should not be legally required to provide insurance coverage for abortion.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans either "oppose" or "strongly oppose" using tax dollars to support abortion abroad, including 59% who self-identify as pro-choice.

Methodology

This survey of 1,004 adults was conducted Jan. 4-9, 2022, by the Marist Poll and sponsored in partnership with the Knights of Columbus. Adults ages 18 and older residing in the contiguous United States were contacted on landline or mobile numbers and interviewed by telephone using live interviewers. Survey questions were available in English or Spanish with data collection provided by SSRS. The samples were then combined and balanced to reflect the 2019 American Community Survey 1-year estimates for age, gender, income, race and region. Results are statistically significant within 3.3 percentage points. There are 849 registered voters. The results for this subset are statistically significant within 3.6 percentage points.

For more information, please visit kofc.org/polls.

About the Knights of Columbus

In 1882, Blessed Michael McGivney, a young parish priest in New Haven, Conn., founded the Knights of Columbus to serve the needs of a largely immigrant Catholic community. What began as a small fraternal benefit society has since grown into one of the world's leading international charitable organizations, with 2 million members in more than 16,000 local councils. During the past year, Knights around the world donated more than 47 million service hours and $150 million for worthy causes in their communities. The Knights of Columbus also offers extensive life insurance products to members and their families. Knights of Columbus Insurance currently has more than $116 billion of life insurance policies in force and was named by Forbes as one of America's Best Insurance Companies 2022. In addition, the Knights provides investment services in accord with Catholic social teaching through Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors, which holds nearly $30 billion in assets under management. Based on the founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity, the Order remains committed to strengthening Catholic families and parishes and to practicing faith in action through service to all in need. To learn more or to join the Knights of Columbus, please visit kofc.org/join.

SOURCE Knights of Columbus
TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Newtopia Inc. ("Newtopia" or the "Company") (TSXV: NEWU) (OTCQB: NEWUF), a tech-enabled habit change provider focused on preventing, slowing and reversing chronic disease, today announced that it has engaged Stonegate Capital Partners, Inc. ("Stonegate"), in conjunction with its current investor relations firm, to raise awareness of the Company's business and long-term growth story with a broader U.S. audience.

"Newtopia looks forward to partnering with Stonegate to continue to expand our investor communication efforts in the U.S." said Jeff Ruby, Founder and CEO of Newtopia. "The vast majority of Newtopia's revenues are derived from innovative U.S. based health insurers. Following our quotation on the OTCQB Venture Market this past August, we believe now is the right time to share our growth story more broadly in the U.S. by leveraging Stonegate's expertise, in addition to continuing to actively communicate with our longstanding Canadian shareholders."

Pursuant to the terms of an advisory services agreement (the "Agreement"), Stonegate will receive a month fee of US$5,000 commencing on January 4, 2022. The Agreement has no fixed term and may be terminated upon five days' written notice. The Agreement is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Newtopia

Newtopia is a tech-enabled habit change provider focused on disease prevention and reducing the cost of care for risk-bearing entities like large, self-insured employers. As a provider of whole person care, we prevent, slow and reverse the progression of chronic disease while enriching mental health, resilience and overall human performance. Newtopia's programs leverage genetic, social and behavioral insights to create individualized prevention programs with a focus on type-2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and weight. With a person-centered approach that combines virtual care, digital tools, connected devices and actionable data science, Newtopia delivers sustainable clinical and financial outcomes. Newtopia serves some of the largest nationwide employers and health plans and is currently listed in Canada on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSXV: NEWU) and is quoted in the U.S. on the OTCQB Venture Market (OTCQB: NEWUF). To learn more, visit newtopia.com, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

About Stonegate Capital Partners

Stonegate Capital Partners will provide investor relations services to the Company with a specific focus on the U.S. small-cap institutional investment community. Stonegate Inc. is a 40-year-old investor relations and research firm based in Dallas, Texas. Its research covers companies in a variety of industries and is distributed to its wide network of institutional high net worth investors. Stonegate's primary focus is assisting small cap companies to achieve their capital markets objectives and to both increase and strengthen their institutional shareholder base across the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, and forward looking statements, within the meaning of applicable United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), which reflects management's expectations regarding Newtopia's future growth, results from operations (including, without limitation, future production and capital expenditures), performance (both operational and financial) and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "predicts", "projects", "targets", "plans", "expects", "does not expect", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "anticipate" or "does not anticipate", "believe", "intend" and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative or grammatical variation thereof or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology have been used to identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward- looking information. Such statements reflect Newtopia's current views and intentions with respect to future events, based on information available to Newtopia, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. While forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and analyses that Newtopia believes are reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet Newtopia's expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of Newtopia to differ materially from its expectations. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee and are based on a number of estimates and assumptions management believes to be relevant and reasonable, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet Newtopia's expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of Newtopia to differ materially from its expectations. Certain of the "risk factors" that could cause actual results to differ materially from Newtopia's forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation: the termination of contracts by clients, risks related to COVID-19 including various recommendations, orders and measures of governmental authorities to try to limit the pandemic, including travel restrictions, border closures, non-essential business closures, quarantines, self-isolations, shelters-in-place and social distancing, disruptions to markets, economic activity, financing, supply chains and sales channels, and a deterioration of general economic conditions including a possible national or global recession; and other general economic, market and business conditions and factors, including the risk factors discussed or referred to in Newtopia's disclosure documents filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com, including Newtopia's final long form prospectus dated March 30, 2020.



Should any factor affect Newtopia in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, Newtopia does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and Newtopia undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Newtopia Inc.
MONTGOMERY, Ala., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently and families need flexibility, so give them education choices. That is the message Alabama community members are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Alabama schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 416 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among Alabama's notable events will be a student breakfast with community leaders in Montgomery on Wednesday, Jan. 26, and a homeschool open house in Tuscaloosa on Monday, Jan. 31.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Alabama, the Mobile RSA Tower will light up from dusk until 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 26.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

In Alabama, education options include traditional public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, homeschooling, and online schools. Alabama does not yet offer open enrollment in traditional public schools. Regarding private school access, students below a certain income level or transferring from underperforming schools are eligible for state-run scholarship programs.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Geneva, Rainbow City, Moody, Georgiana, Athens, Owens Cross Roads, and Huntsville.

"School choice recognizes the simple truth that every child learns differently," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "School Choice Week is an effort to share information and support with parents, so that finding a great education option becomes a reality for every Alabama child."

To download a guide to Alabama school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/alabama.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Alabama events at schoolchoiceweek.com/alabama.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
JUNEAU, Alaska, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message Alaska families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

Alaska schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 54 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the biggest events in Alaska will be a school choice rally on Saturday, Jan. 29 at the Anchorage Baptist Temple.

Nationwide, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, including the Anchorage JL Tower in Alaska.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Alaska, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with limited open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschooling.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 as Alaska School Choice Week. Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including Kenai Peninsula Borough.

"Alaska families care deeply about their children's education and future," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Alaska parents are eager to understand their K-12 school choice options and find a good fit for their children, and we hope this Week spreads encouragement and clear resources to meet that need."

To download a guide to Alaska school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/alaska.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Alaska events at schoolchoiceweek.com/alaska.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
FRANKFORT, Ky., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message Kentucky families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

Kentucky schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 302 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the biggest events in Kentucky will be a student rally at the Old State Capitol building on Monday, Jan. 24.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, this includes the Big Four Bridge in Louisville on January 23-24.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Over the past several years, Kentucky has taken important steps towards enhancing school choice options for families," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Last year's expansion of public school open enrollment for families, and the creation of a new education savings account for private education, indicates that additional school choices are on the horizon for Bluegrass State families."

Here in Kentucky, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public school with some open enrollment, public magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling. While a 2017 law permitted public charter schools are permitted in Kentucky, no charter schools have opened as of yet.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Beattyville, Catlettsburg, Eminence, and Southgate, and the county of Greenup.

To download a guide to Kentucky school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/kentucky.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Kentucky events at schoolchoiceweek.com/kentucky.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Oklahomans support school choice: True or false? At the more than 300 celebrations planned for Oklahoma School Choice Week, families would tick the "True" box.

Oklahoma schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 302 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the biggest events in Oklahoma will be a parent power summits and education expo in Tulsa on Tuesday, Jan. 25 and Oklahoma City on Thursday, Jan. 27.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Oklahoma, the Skydance Bridge will light up on Jan. 27.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"For anyone doubting that a largely-rural state can offer parents a variety of diverse educational options for their children's education, I encourage them to look toward Oklahoma," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "The Sooner State recently expanded open enrollment for traditional public schools, expanded access to private school scholarship programs, expanded access to full-time and tuition-free online learning, and increased funding for charter school students. Oklahoma is well on its way toward becoming a national leader in providing school choice options for families."

Here in Oklahoma, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Oklahoma students in certain underperforming schools or who meet certain income guidelines can qualify for state-run scholarship programs.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Kevin Stitt has officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Oklahoma School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Calera.

To download a guide to Oklahoma school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/oklahoma.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Oklahoma events at schoolchoiceweek.com/oklahoma.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
CHARLESTON, W.Va., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebounding on 2021's school choice expansions, West Virginia families and educators have high hopes for the future of K-12 learning at more than 100 events during National School Choice Week 2022.

West Virginia schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 153 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable celebrations in West Virginia will be a school choice fair in Wheeling on Saturday, Jan. 22 and a capitol rally for students and educators on Thursday, Jan. 27.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Just four short years ago, West Virginia offered fewer school choice options for families than almost any other state," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Fast-forward to 2022, and the Mountain State is now poised to offer public charter schools and education savings accounts for private education to families. If West Virginia continues this trajectory of rapidly expanding school choice, it could be on its way to becoming a national leader."

Here in West Virginia, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Operational charter schools are on the horizon for the state, and starting in 2022, West Virginia students currently enrolled in public school or about to enter kindergarten may be eligible for the Hope Scholarship, which allows families to use their education tax dollars for private school tuition, tutoring, or other educational expenses.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Hamlin and Star City and the counties of Raleigh and Hancock.

To download a guide to West Virginia school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/west-virginia.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of West Virginia events at schoolchoiceweek.com/west-virginia.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give them choices. That's the message California families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

California schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 2,193 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Two of the biggest events in California will be large school choice fairs for families in Palm Desert on Saturday, Jan. 22 and in Santa Ana on Saturday, Jan. 29. Californians will also participate in the 1ra Feria Virtual Nacional Escolar y de Recursos en Espanol (First National Virtual School and Resource Fair in Spanish) on Friday, Jan. 28.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in California, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with limited open enrollment, charter schools, online schools, magnet schools, homeschooling, and private schools.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Perris, Lemon Grove, Fontana, Walnut Creek, Mendota, and Tracy, and the county of Fresno.

"It's difficult to underestimate the varied learning needs of students in our nation's most populous state," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "It's vital that every type of California school is celebrated and explored by parents this week, so every student can access an education that prepares them for a successful, happy future."

To download a guide to California school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/california.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of California events at schoolchoiceweek.com/california.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents, if someone is making choices for your child's education, shouldn't it be you? That's the message North Carolina families and educators are bringing to their celebrations this National School Choice Week.

North Carolina schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 838 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in North Carolina will be a charter school fair on Saturday, Jan. 22 and a homeschool day at Star City Skate & Play in Raleigh leading up to the Week.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In North Carolina, the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem will light up from sunset to sunrise throughout School Choice Week. The Wells Fargo Duke Energy Center will also be lit on January 23.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"North Carolina families should be proud of the progress the state has made, over the past decade, towards expanding school choice options," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Just this past year, the Tar Heel state once again enhanced education options by providing more funding for private school scholarships, in addition to the state's public, charter, magnet, online, and home education options."

Here in North Carolina, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. North Carolina's students with disabilities, or whose families meet certain income guidelines, can qualify for state-run scholarships.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Roy Cooper officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be North Carolina School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Asheville, Kernersville, Plymouth, Fuquay-Varina, Wake Forest, West Jefferson, Unionville, Fairview, Sunset Beach, China Grove, Rocky Mount, Matthews, Mint Hill, Troutman, and Kinston, the towns of Pineville and Franklin, and the counties of Dare and Lee.

To download a guide to North Carolina school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/north-carolina.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of North Carolina events at schoolchoiceweek.com/north-carolina.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give them school choices. That's the message Illinois families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Illinois schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 995 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Illinois, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling. Illinois offers tax deductions for most students in private or home schools, and state-run scholarships for students under a certain income level.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Ana, Broadview, Batavia, Pana, Oak Lawn, Anna, Freeport, Petersburg, Elmwood Park, West Peoria, Pekin, Oglesby, South Barrington, and Blue Island; the villages of Rockdale, Palatine, Sheridan, Chicago Ridge, Godfrey, and Posen; and the county of Warren.

"Supporting school choice and encouraging parental involvement in education should be common sense," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "This Week we celebrate how school choice allows families to find a great educational fit where their children are inspired, successful, and happy."

To download a guide to Illinois school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/illinois.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Illinois events at schoolchoiceweek.com/illinois.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
MUMBAI, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- India plans to raise the share of its state-owned companies on electronic invoice discounting platform, from a mere 4-5 percent of the total invoices discounted on these platforms in the country.

Speaking at a webinar on Thursday, Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, India's junior federal minister for finance, said, "It is a cause of concern that the share of invoices issued by public sector undertakings is hardly 4-5 percent in the total invoices discounted at all the three TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System) platforms in the country."

The minister was speaking at the webinar after releasing a study on enhancing the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises through digital modes of financing. The research was conducted by MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai, a trade facilitating body.

The study highlighted the need for a digital push in terms of lending to bridge the unmet credit needs of Indian small and medium-sized enterprises, which contribute 30 percent to India's gross domestic product, 45 percent to manufacturing, and 48 percent to the country's merchandise exports.

The study in particular pointed out factoring as a less popular tool or instrument of working capital finance in India. The annual domestic factoring turnover in India is 3.6 billion U.S. dollars, which is less than other developing countries, the report said.

Today, 90 percent of the formal credit to the small and medium-sized enterprises is disbursed by scheduled commercial banks, which incur huge costs and time on new customer acquisition and disbursement of loans because of low ticket size and difficulty in assessing the books of accounts of those firms.

Digital lending tools such as mobile apps and online marketplace are reducing the cost of identifying new small business borrowers and improving ease of credit risk assessment, with the help of artificial intelligence technology and machine learning, the study said. 
INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Buoyed by 2021's school choice expansions, Hoosier families and educators have high hopes for the future of K-12 learning. Hoosiers will celebrate educational opportunity at hundreds of events during National School Choice Week.

Indiana schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 634 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the state's notable events will be the premiere of a school choice documentary highlighting the voices of Black community leaders. There will also be a student breakfast at the Capitol, and a pop-up series of "My School Options" information tables at popular grocery store and apartment complex locations in northern Indiana.

Nationwide, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, including the Monument Circle in Indianapolis.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Over the past decade, Indiana has established itself as a national leader in providing families with a diversity of quality education options, and school choices for Hoosier parents continue to expand," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In addition to its already-robust menu of choices, over the past year the state expanded its 'course access' programs, created a new education savings account program, and expanded several existing scholarship programs. The result is that Indiana moms and dads have more school choice options for their children than families in most other states."

Here in Indiana, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling. Parents in Indiana can take tax deductions for private school or homeschool expenses, and families under a certain income level can qualify for state-run scholarships for private schools. Starting in 2022, students with special needs may be eligible for the state's new education savings account program. Additional funding may be available from other sources.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Eric Holcomb officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Indiana School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Veedersburg, Montpelier, Beech Grove, Portland, Gary, Washington, Pike, and Kouts.

To download a guide to Indiana school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/indiana.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Indiana events at schoolchoiceweek.com/indiana.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
HARTFORD, Conn., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Connecticut families are bringing to their more than 200 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Connecticut schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 223 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the notable events in Connecticut will be a virtual school expo hosted by the New Haven Public School District on Saturday, Jan. 29 to share public magnet options with families.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Connecticut, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with limited open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of North Haven and West Haven.

"The lives of Connecticut children are impacted every single day by the learning opportunities they can or cannot access," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Raising awareness about school choice accelerates the march toward ensuring all Connecticut kidsregardless of background or incomereceive a quality education."

To download a guide to Connecticut school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/connecticut.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Connecticut events at schoolchoiceweek.com/connecticut.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Iowa families are bringing to more than 200 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Iowa schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 233 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in Iowa will be a private and homeschool student breakfast at the State Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 27.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Iowa provides a roadmap to rural states looking to expand school choice options for parents," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "With a variety of public and nonpublic options, and with family-friendly policies designed to enhance access to different types of schools, Iowa's families have more options for their children's education than in many other states. And Hawkeye State school choice options continue to expand. In the past year, the state took important steps towards increasing the number of charter schools for families, as well as expanding private school scholarship opportunities."

Here in Iowa, there are a variety of educational options including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling. Iowa families can take tax deductions for nonpublic school expenses, and families under a certain income level can qualify for state-run scholarship opportunities.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Kim Reynolds officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Iowa School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Marshalltown, Council Bluffs, New Sharon, Fort Dodge, and Blue Grass, and the counties of Dallas and Jackson.

To download a guide to Iowa school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/iowa.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of Iowa events at schoolchoiceweek.com/iowa.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
TOPEKA, Kan, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Families have different learning needs, that's why they need school choice. That's the message Kansas families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Kansas schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 253 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in Kansas are a press conference with parents, private educators, and community leaders on Thursday, Jan. 27 and a "Women's Encouragement Day" to uplift homeschool mothers on Saturday, Jan. 22.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Kansas, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online academies, private schools, and homeschooling. Kansas students receiving free or reduced price lunches at any K-8 school are eligible for the state-run scholarship program.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Clay Center and Shawnee and the county of McPherson.

"This week, Kansas families join the nation in celebrating their schools and the positive ways that education shapes kids' lives," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Education starts with families; let's support all parents in finding learning environments where their child is challenged, inspired, and successful."

To download a guide to Kansas school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/kansas.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Kansas events at schoolchoiceweek.com/kansas.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, and families need a variety of education options. That's the message Virginia families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Virginia schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 490 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable celebrations in Virginia will be a school choice fair in Culpepper on Saturday, Jan. 22.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Virginia, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Virginia students who meet certain income requirements may qualify for a state-run scholarship program.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Wytheville, Purcellville, and Blackstone.

"Virginia is rumbling with conversations about school choice, but we firmly believe this is a practical, not political, issue," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "It is vital that families have educational options to suit a variety of student needs and interests, so all Virginia students can access education opportunities that prepare them for a happy and successful future."

To download a guide to Virginia school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/virginia.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of Virginia events at schoolchoiceweek.com/virginia.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, and families need school choice. That's the message Maryland families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Maryland schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 371 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Maryland, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling. Maryland families under a certain income level may qualify for a state-run scholarship program.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Larry Hogan officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Maryland School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Morningside and Salisbury and the counties of Anne Arundel, Hartford, and Charles.

"School choice is fundamentally student-focused, but it also benefits teachers, parents, and communities as a whole," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "As those who have benefited from school choice celebrate the Week, we hope their stories are a beacon of hope to all families navigating the school choice process."

To download a guide to Maryland school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/maryland.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Maryland events at schoolchoiceweek.com/maryland.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
LANSING, Mich., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Michiganders support school choice: True or false? At the more than 700 celebrations planned for Michigan School Choice Week, families and educators would tick the "True" box.

Michigan schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 772 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the biggest events in Michigan will be a capitol event for students on Thursday, Jan. 27.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Michigan, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with open enrollment on a case-by-case basis, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Ferrysburg, Livonia, Wyoming, Raisinville, Northville, Melvindale, Auburn Hills, and Williamston, and the townships of Royal Oak, Mount Morris, Ishpeming, Columbus, Port Sheldon, Ira, and Vienna Charter.

"After disrupted learning, school choice offers families the best route toward resilience," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "As those who have benefited from school choice celebrate the Week, we hope their stories are a beacon of hope to all families navigating the K-12 education process."

To download a guide to Michigan school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/michigan.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of Michigan events at schoolchoiceweek.com/michigan.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
ATLANTA, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgians support school choice: True or false? At the more than 1,000 celebrations planned for Georgia School Choice Week, families would tick the "True" box.

Georgia schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 1,057 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in Georgia will be a virtual expo sharing Savannah charter school choices on Tuesday, Jan. 25 and a parent panel discussing school choice tips for families statewide on Thursday, Jan. 27.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Georgia, the King and Queen Building will light up from sunset till sunrise throughout School Choice Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Parents in the Peach State have more public and nonpublic K-12 school choice options for their children than parents in many other states  and options for Georgia families continue to grow," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In addition to its already-strong school choice offerings, over the past year the state expanded scholarship programs for students with special needs and increased per-pupil funding for charter schools."

Here in Georgia, there are a variety of educational options available to attend including; traditional public schools with some open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschooling. All public school students in Georgia are eligible for an education expense tax credit. Students with special needs or a 504 plan may be eligible for a state-run scholarship program.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Brian Kemp has proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Georgia School Choice Week. Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Acworth, Reynolds, Austell, Springfield, and Dalton, and the counties of Walton, Calhoun, and Putnam.

To download a guide to Georgia school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/georgia.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Georgia events at schoolchoiceweek.com/georgia.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
AUGUSTA, Maine, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Maine families are bringing to nearly 100 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Maine schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 98 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Maine, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschooling. Students in certain Maine towns may be eligible for the state's tuitioning program, allowing them to attend schools in other communities.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Woodstock.

"On the heels of the pandemic, Maine families are more eager than ever for accessible, high-quality school choices," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "It's time for families, educators, and community leaders to work together to extend educational opportunities to all."

To download a guide to Maine school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/maine.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, preview a sampling of Maine events at schoolchoiceweek.com/maine.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
JACKSON, Miss., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give them choices. That's the message Mississippi families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Mississippi schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 294 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the most exciting events in Mississippi will be a celebratory roadshow highlighting schools across the state.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Mississippi, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with open enrollment in some districts, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling. Mississippi offers several state-run scholarship programs for students with special needs.

To raise awareness about these options, Gov. Tate Reeves has officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Mississippi School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Vicksburg and Purvis and the county of Benton.

"Mississippi families should be proud of their state's school options in all types of schools, including scholarship opportunities for children with special needs," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We hope this Week features positive celebrations and fruitful conversations that change the lives of Mississippi kids for the better."

To download a guide to Mississippi school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/mississippi.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Mississippi events at schoolchoiceweek.com/mississippi.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
MOSCOW, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday commended Iran-Russia relations and expressed readiness to boost their ties as the West continues with its policy of expansion.

"Strengthening Iranian-Russian relations in bilateral and multilateral formats will lead to economic development of the two countries, as well as peace and security in the region," Raisi said in an address to a plenary session of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.

He said that Western countries will continue to pursue a policy of expansion and weaken "independent countries" via economic sanctions and destabilization of their internal situation.

"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is engaged in penetration into the geographical spaces of different countries under various pretexts and covers," Raisi told the Russian lawmakers.

Iran is ready to develop relations with Russia on a solid basis to jointly safeguard their interests and prevent the interference of a third force in the affairs of the two countries, Raisi said.

The two countries, according to Raisi, have reached fundamental agreements, which will bring about a leap in bilateral trade. 
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Make school-searching easier for families. That's the message Rhode Island community members are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Rhode Island schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 85 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"With the opening of a new, tuition-free online public school last year, school choice options have expanded for Rhode Island families," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "This school is a welcome addition to the Ocean State's existing public, charter, magnet, private, and home education options."

Here in Rhode Island, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Rhode Island families below a certain income level qualify for a state-run scholarship program.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of North Providence, Woonsocket, and Central Falls.

To download a guide to Rhode Island school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/rhode-island.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Rhode Island events at schoolchoiceweek.com/rhode-island.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
TRENTON, N.J., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, give them choices. That's the message New Jersey families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

New Jersey schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 689 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among notable events in New Jersey will be Jersey City's inaugural school choice fair on Saturday, Jan. 22.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in New Jersey, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, limited online school courses, private schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the boroughs of Hamburg and Ocean Gate, the township of Clark, and the cities of Newfield, Stanhope, Montague, Brick, Bordentown, and Wildwood Crest.

"The real solution to improving New Jersey K-12 education is community buy-in: families, students, and teachers who are excited about learning and engaged at their school of choice," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We hope this School Choice Week spreads school spirit among all K-12 communities and renews the education conversation, making it one of greater collaboration and positivity."

To download a guide to New Jersey school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/new-jersey.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of New Jersey events at schoolchoiceweek.com/new-jersey.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Families need flexible learning opportunities. That's the message Arkansas families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Arkansas schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 336 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Events for families in Arkansas will include a virtual escape room, a military family virtual town hall, a community art night, and a "Wear Yellow Day" on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Arkansas, the Little Rock Union Plaza will light up in red from dusk until dawn throughout School Choice Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Moms and dads in Arkansas will find more school choice options for their children than families in many other states, and parents are poised to see even greater options in the years to come," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In just the past twelve months, the state took important steps toward expanding open enrollment in public schools, improved access to school choice for military families, and created a new private school choice program."

Here in Arkansas, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with some open enrollment options, charter schools, magnet schools, homeschooling, private schools, and online schools. Arkansas offers state-run scholarship programs for students in foster care, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has proclaimed Jan. 23-29 Arkansas School Choice Week. Across the state, the cities of Fayetteville, Rogers, Maumelle, Altheimer, Mountain View, Osceola, Heber Springs, Marshall, and Hamburg, and the counties of White, Crawford, and Logan have also proclaimed the Week.

To download a guide to Arkansas school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/arkansas.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Arkansas events at schoolchoiceweek.com/arkansas.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
BATON ROUGE, La., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Louisiana families are bringing to more than 450 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Louisiana schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 467 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in the state is a virtual student showcase on Saturday, Jan. 29.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Louisiana parents have more school choice options for their children than families in most other states," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "With flexible and family-friendly policies focused on both public-sector and nonpublic education, and an accommodating homeschooling law, Louisiana is a national leader in school choice. And just last year, the Pelican State took steps towards enhancing its public school open enrollment programs."

Here in Louisiana, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online schools, private schools, and homeschooling. Louisiana families can deduct nonpublic educational expenses from their taxes, and families with incomes below a certain level can qualify for state-run scholarships.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Delhi, Port Allen, Carencro, Bogalusa, and Plaquemine, and the parishes of West Baton Rouge and Rapides.

To download a guide to Louisiana school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/louisiana.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Louisiana events at schoolchoiceweek.com/louisiana.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Buckeyes support school choice: True or false? At the more than 1,000 celebrations planned for Ohio School Choice Week, families would tick the "True" box.

Ohio schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 1,100 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. Among the notable events in Ohio will be a K-8 school fair in the metro Toledo area on Saturday, Jan. 29 and a bowling and pizza party for online school families in Cuyahoga County on Friday, Jan. 28.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Ohio, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will light up on Jan. 23 from dusk until dawn.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"For decades, Ohio has been recognized as a national leader in providing a diverse array of education options for families, and the past year only solidified the Buckeye State's positive reputation for school choice," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "In addition to taking steps towards expanding existing school choice programs, the state created a new scholarship program to improve access to private education, and allowed for the creation of even more high-quality public charter schools. The result is that Ohio moms and dads have more school choice options for their children than families in most other states."

Here in Ohio, there are a variety of educational options available to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Ohio offers state-run scholarship programs for students with autism spectrum disorders, students assigned to underperforming schools, and students from low or middle-income families.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Circleville, Blanchester, Westlake, Washington Township, Groveport, Medina, Kent, Mansfield, Sidney, Napoleon, Hebron, Middlefield, Brook Park, and Mount Vernon, and the counties of Warren and Vinton.

To download a guide to Ohio school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/ohio.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Ohio events at schoolchoiceweek.com/ohio.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating 2021's school choice expansions, Tennessee families and educators have high hopes for the future of K-12 learning. Tennesseans will raise awareness of educational opportunities during National School Choice Week 2022.

Tennessee schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 447 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the biggest events in Tennessee will be a "School Choice Week Day at the Hill" for students in Nashville on Tuesday, Jan. 25.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Tennessee, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with some open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Tennessee students with special needs may be eligible for a publicly funded Individualized Education Account.

To raise awareness of these options, Gov. Bill Lee has officially proclaimed Jan. 23-29 to be Tennessee School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Martin, Three Way, Lenoir City, Sneedville, Livingston, and Kingston, and the counties of Meigs, Montgomery, and Henderson.

"The real solution to improving Tennessee K-12 education is community buy-in: families, students, and teachers who are excited about learning and engaged at their school of choice," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "We hope this School Choice Week spreads school spirit among all K-12 communities and renews the education conversation, making it one of greater collaboration and positivity."

To download a guide to Tennessee school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/tennessee.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Tennessee events at schoolchoiceweek.com/tennessee.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
DOVER, Del., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Families need customizable learning options, give them choices. That's the message Delaware families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

Delaware schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 76 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the notable events taking place in the state is a virtual school choice panel planned by DelawareCAN on Wednesday, Jan. 26 sharing the many educational options families can choose from.

More than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in Delaware, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with flexible open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the city of Georgetown.

"School choice recognizes the simple truth that not every student learns the same way," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "With a growing population and increasingly diverse students to serve, Delaware is poised to benefit many families by supporting educational opportunity."

To download a guide to Delaware school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/delaware.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Delaware events at schoolchoiceweek.com/delaware.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids learn differently, so families need options when it comes to education. That's the message South Carolina families and educators are bringing to their celebrations of National School Choice Week 2022.

South Carolina schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 457 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide. One of the biggest events in South Carolina will be a school choice fair in Charleston, where families can pick up free school supplies, on Saturday, Jan. 22.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week, including the SkyWheel in Myrtle Beach on Jan. 23.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

Here in South Carolina, there are a variety of educational options to attend including: traditional public schools with open enrollment at the discretion of each district, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. In South Carolina, students with disabilities may qualify for a state-run scholarship program.

To raise awareness about these options, Gov. Henry McMaster has officially proclaimed South Carolina School Choice Week. Across the state, additional communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of McCormick, Mount Pleasant, Mullins, Chapin, Hanahan, and Hardeeville, as well as the county of Calhoun.

"For families in South Carolina and across the U.S., the process of choosing a school is too often a stressful one," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "With clear resources and support, navigating your child's education can be a hope-filled, positive experience, and School Choice Week is a time to encourage that."

To download a guide to South Carolina school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/south-carolina.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of South Carolina events at schoolchoiceweek.com/south-carolina.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Great students and great schools deserve a celebration. That's the message Minnesota families are bringing to nearly 400 events for National School Choice Week 2022.

Minnesota schools, organizations, and individuals are planning 390 celebrations for the Week, which will feature more than 26,000 activities nationwide.

Across the country, more than two dozen U.S. landmarks and notable buildings will light up in special colors to mark the Week. In Minnesota, the Anthony Bridge at I35W St. and Sperry Tower in Eagan will light up.

The Week's celebrations focus on community building, sharing student and teacher successes, and raising awareness about how to put kids first when it comes to education. The goal? Supporting families and highlighting schools so more kids can find learning fits where they thrive.

"Minnesota was a pioneer in developing innovative public-sector education options for families, and the state remains a national school choice leader," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "From a diverse array of public, charter, magnet, and online schooling options; to state programs that help make private schools more affordable; to homeschooling; Minnesota parents have more choices for their children's education than families in many other states."

Here in Minnesota, there are a variety of educational options available including: traditional public schools with some open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. Minnesota parents are eligible for tax deductions on educational expenses, including tuition payments and homeschooling expenses.

Across the state, communities are celebrating School Choice Week by formally proclaiming it, including the cities of Bird Island, Burnsville, and Rice Lake.

To download a guide to Minnesota school choice, use the school finder tool to search schools in your area, or see celebration photos and proclamation updates, visit schoolchoiceweek.com/minnesota.

Local celebrants are available to discuss their plans with reporters upon request. For more information, send us the specifics of your coverage area at [email protected] , or preview a sampling of Minnesota events at schoolchoiceweek.com/minnesota.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
TOKYO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nippon Express (Belgium) N.V./S.A. (hereinafter "NX Belgium"), a company of the Nippon Express Holdings, Inc. Group, has obtained Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification, effective December 21, 2021, for air and ground forwarding operations, inclusive of inventory control, at a facility in the cargo area of Brussels Airport, evidencing its compliance with GDP standards for the proper distribution of pharmaceuticals.

Logo: https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/img/202201176158-O3-bvsjuUa0

Photo1: Warehouse interior

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M103866/202201176158/_prw_PI2fl_P21bPD7U.jpg

Belgium has become a hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing and development, hosting numerous global pharmaceutical companies as well as contract manufacturing organizations, vaccine manufacturers and biotechnology research laboratories.

NX Belgium has signed a business partnership agreement with Medexi, which specializes in pharmaceutical transport, and obtained GDP certification for operations at a Medexi-owned temperature-controlled 2,000 m2 facility dedicated to pharmaceutical products and capable of both refrigerated (2C - 8C) and constant-temperature (15C - 25C) storage. Medexi's pharmaceutical knowledge and advanced operational quality will be combined with the NX Group's international temperature-controlled transport services and warehouse storage functions to provide customers with a pharmaceutical logistics platform.

The NX Group will continue stepping up its initiatives in the pharmaceutical industry, identified as a priority industry in the Group's Business Plan, and globally enhancing and expanding its services to meet the increasingly sophisticated and diversified pharmaceutical transport needs of its customers.

Name and address of company

Name: Nippon Express (Belgium) N.V./S.A.

Address: Bedrijvenzone Machelen Cargo 738/1, Machelen Belgium

Nippon Express website: https://www.nipponexpress.com/

Official LinkedIn account: NX GROUP

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nippon-express-group/

SOURCE Nippon Express Holdings, Inc.
BERLIN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Germany's seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate exceeded 600 for the first time as 638.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Thursday.

Due to the more contagious Omicron variant that is spreading across Europe, daily infections in Germany also climbed to a new record as 133,536 cases were registered within 24 hours, around 52,000 more than a week ago, according to the RKI.

Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach warned that the peak of the Omicron wave in Germany was not reached yet. "The wave will roughly peak in mid-February," Lauterbach told broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday, expecting "several 100,000 cases per day."

As laboratory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were in short supply, Lauterbach wants to prioritize employees in the healthcare sector and is planning to present a corresponding proposal this weekend. "We will get such high case numbers that we will have to distribute PCR tests, prioritize."

The number of PCR tests in Germany conducted within a week just reached an all-time high of almost 2 million, of which one in four had a positive result, according to latest figures by the Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine (ALM). 
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tapioca starch sales are expected to reach US$ 4.7 billion in 2022. The growing popularity of gluten-free foods, as well as the health benefits of tapioca, are driving the tapioca starch market.

Furthermore, rising demand from the food and beverage industries, as well as tapioca pearls, is boosting tapioca starch sales. By the end of 2032, about 18,400,000 tonnes of tapioca starch are expected to be sold worldwide. Thus, sales of tapioca starch are predicted to approach US$ 9 billion in the projection period 2021-2031, with a CAGR of 6.1 percent.

To compete with the well-established corn and potato starch-based snacks, food manufacturers are experimenting with new ways to provide diverse snacks, including tapioca starch.

Want A Detailed Understanding of Market Functioning? Request for a Sample Here

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Consumer preference for clean-label products, as well as quality and flavor, will continue to be important growth variables for the tapioca starch market, as will this cassava extract's potential to serve as an effective alternative to modified starches used in processed food products.

Countries such as the United States and Canada have showed an increasing preference for gluten-free products in recent years. In addition, celiac disease affects about 3 million people of the region in North America. As a result, residents in the area are investing in food that will meet their demands. Furthermore, the existence of significant tapioca starch manufacturers in the region is boosting sales.

The trade association for the starch industry in Europe and international level has teamed up with Vietnam FTA to take advantage of latent opportunities in Vietnam's developing market to boost EU services, industrial, and agricultural exports. This, together with the presence of a well-established market for gluten-free foods and beverages, will support tapioca starch market expansion in Europe.

Attributes Details Market Size Value in 2022 US$ 4.7 Bn Project Market Forecast Value in 2032 US$ 9 Bn Global Growth Rate (2021-2031) 6.7%

"Growing inclination towards a healthy lifestyle has made tapioca starch a popular ingredient for various dishes. Thus, the use of tapioca starch has increased in everyday life. This, in turn, is expected to drive the sales for tapioca starch." states a Fact.MR analyst.

Key Takeaways:

By form, tapioca pearls are predicted to have a market share of more than 30% in the tapioca starch market.

By application, the food and beverage industry is estimated to have a market share of more than 45% of the tapioca starch market.

North America's tapioca starch market is estimated to generate US$ 60 million in revenue.

tapioca starch market is estimated to generate in revenue. The tapioca starch sector is predicted to have a market share of almost 35% in Europe .

Growth Drivers:

Ability to lower cholesterol level, preventing constipation, and maintaining blood sugar levels to drive the growth of tapioca starch market

The primary trends driving tapioca starch sales are an increasing preference for gluten-free foods and the nutritional quality of tapioca starches.

To gain in-depth insights on Tapioca Starch Market, request methodology at

https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RM&rep_id=844

Competitive Landscape

In April 2021 , Cargill, Inc. teamed with Starpro, Thailand's biggest maker and supplier of tapioca starch. The company plans to expand its business in the Asia Pacific region as a result of this relationship.

, Cargill, Inc. teamed with Starpro, biggest maker and supplier of tapioca starch. The company plans to expand its business in the region as a result of this relationship. In February 2021 , Tate & Lyle PLC announced that it had acquired 85% shareholding in Chaodee Modified Starch Co Ltd located in Thailand .

Some of the prominent players operating in the tapioca starch market profiled by Fact.MR are:

Cargill Inc.

Tate & Lyle Plc.

Emsland-Starke GmbH

Navin Chemicals

Pruthvi's Foods Pvt. Ltd.

Vaighai Agro Products Ltd.

Sonish Starch Technology Co. Ltd.

American Key Food Products

Varalakshmi Starch Industries Pvt. Ltd.

More Valuable Insights on Tapioca Starch Market

Fact.MR provides an unbiased analysis of the tapioca starch market, presenting forecast statistics for the period from (2022-2032). The study divulges compelling insights on the global tapioca starch market with a detailed segmentation on the basis of:

By Source :

Bitter Cassava Tapioca Starch



Sweet Cassava Tapioca Starch

By Form :

Tapioca Pearls



Tapioca Flour



Tapioca Granules



Tapioca Flakes



Tapioca Pellets



Tapioca Syrup

By Application :

Tapioca Starch for Food & Beverages



Tapioca Starch for Industrial Processing



Tapioca Starch for Animal Feed



Tapioca Starch for Other Applications

Key Questions Covered in Tapioca Starch Market Report

The report offers insight into the Tapioca Starch market demand outlook for 2022-2032.

The market study also highlights projected sales growth for Tapioca Starch market between 2022 and 2032.

Tapioca starch market survey identifies key growth drivers, restraints, and other forces impacting prevailing trends and evaluation of current market size and forecast and technological advancements within the industry.

Tapioca starch market share analysis of the key companies within the industry and coverage of strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, collaborations or partnerships, and others.

Explore Fact.MR's Coverage on the Food & Beverage Domain 

Tapioca Market Forecast - The global demand for intolerance food products and gluten-free products has sparked this market's growth. It can be used as an artificial sweetener by health-conscious and diabetic people. This market is predicted to develop significantly as demand for this sweetener grows.

Gluten-free baking mixes Market Scope - The field of baking, as well as the baking mixtures that are added to it, has seen promising growth in the last decade. Various factors such as level of living, product type, recent trends, and other market dynamics are linked to the consumption of baked goods and pastries in different parts of the world.

Tea Extract Market Analysis - Due to the high consumption of beverages around the world, the tea extract industry continues to rise. The use of tea extracts in animal nutrition, functional meals, cosmetics, and personal care products has boosted the market for tea extracts.

Tea Infusion Market Trends - The global tea infusion market is primarily driven by the health benefits of drinking tea and increased consumer awareness of carbonated beverages. Furthermore, an increase in disposable income, changes in people's preferences, and a surge in coffee culture have all contributed to this trend.

About Fact.MR

Market research and consulting agency with a difference! That's why 80% of Fortune 1,000 companies trust us for making their most critical decisions. We have offices in US and Dublin, whereas our global headquarter is in Dubai. While our experienced consultants employ the latest technologies to extract hard-to-find insights, we believe our USP is the trust clients have on our expertise. Spanning a wide range  from automotive & industry 4.0 to healthcare & retail, our coverage is expansive, but we ensure even the most niche categories are analyzed. Reach out to us with your goals, and we'll be an able research partner.

Contact:

Mahendra Singh

US Sales Office

11140 Rockville Pike

Suite 400

Rockville, MD 20852

United States

Tel: +1 (628) 251-1583

E: [email protected]

SOURCE Fact.MR
"We are thrilled to welcome Robby to the OPSWAT team," said OPSWAT CRO, Mike Barker. "The company exceeded its 2021 growth goals, and we are positioned to do the same in 2022. Robby will play a vital role in helping us do just that while working closely with our direct sales, channel sales, and OEM sales teams to help protect the world's most critical environments with our industry-leading OT solutions."

Operating out of the company's Tampa, FL headquarters, Cantrell brings over 20 years of sales expertise in both the technology and cybersecurity industries. Prior to joining OPSWAT, he served as VP of Sales, North America and EMEA at Votiro, a file sanitization cybersecurity company, and worked in Strategic Accounts at JFrog, a DevOps solution provider. He served in roles supporting global enterprises with workforce production applications, identity management technology, and cybersecurity services at Lookout, MobileIron, CenturyLink Business, and AT&T, as well as served on the University of South Florida's Cybersecurity Executives Advisory Committee. Cantrell will be working closely with OPSWAT's CRO, Mike Barker, and will be responsible for driving the company's OT product revenue and implementing comprehensive account plans and strategies to win new business.

"I am excited to join OPSWAT during a time when protecting organizations' critical assets is more important than ever," said Robby Cantrell, VP of OT Sales. "OPSWAT has an impressive track record of annual customer and revenue growth, and I look forward to setting an even steeper trajectory for its OT solutions in 2022."

The addition of Robby Cantrell to the leadership team follows one of the strongest-performing years in OPSWAT company history. In 2021, OPSWAT grew worldwide business revenue every quarter, with annual record-breaking YOY revenue growth, expanded its OT solution portfolio with the acquisition of Bayshore Networks, and heavily invested in product R&D with a $125 million investment from Brighton Park Capital.

About OPSWAT

OPSWAT is a global leader in IT, OT and ICS critical infrastructure cybersecurity solutions and Deep Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR), protecting the world's mission-critical organizations from malware and zero-day attacks. To minimize the risk of compromise, OPSWAT Critical Infrastructure Protection solutions safeguard both public and private sector organizations with the latest technology, processes, and hardware scanning to secure the transfer of data, files, and device access across critical networks. More than 1,500 organizations worldwide spanning Financial Services, Defense, Manufacturing, Energy, Aerospace, and Transportation Systems trust OPSWAT to secure their files and devices; ensure compliance with industry and government-driven policies and regulations, and protect their reputation, finances, employees, and customers from cyber-driven disruption. For more information on OPSWAT, visit www.opswat.com.

Media Contact

Kat Lewis

Director of Corporate Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE OPSWAT
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Parchment, the industry leader in academic credentials management, was named to the 2022 GSV EdTech 150, a list of the world's most transformative growth companies in digital learning curated by female-led, multi-stage venture capital firm GSV Ventures.

Parchment was chosen from over 3,000 venture capital and private equity-backed private 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.

Learn more about the GSV EdTech 150 and the selection process here .

"We are thrilled to join this selective group of transformative growth companies in bringing comprehensive, innovative technology platforms to market, specifically for the academic credentials management community," said Matthew Pittinsky, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Parchment. "This honor validates our commitment to bringing to our issuers and receivers a unified experience that integrates transcripts, diplomas, certificates, comprehensive learner records (CLRs), and badges, and most of all, a customer service mentality, that puts the learner at front and center."

"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."

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.

Geographically, 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. Europe, Africa, and the Middle East represent 17% of the listing. 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.

See the full GSV EdTech 150 at www.asugsvsummit.com/edtech-150.

About Parchment

Parchment believes credentials matter in the lifelong journey of a learner. Offering the most comprehensive academic credential management system, Parchment helps learners, academic institutions and employers request, verify and share transcripts, diplomas, and other credentials in simple and secure ways. Our platform has helped millions of learners, over 13K districts, university registrar offices, state education agencies, and receivers (including university admissions offices, background check companies, employers, college application services, OPMs, and certification and licensing boards) exchange more than 140 million transcripts, diplomas, certificates, comprehensive learner records (CLRs) and other credentials globally. Parchment is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, with global offices in Dublin (Ireland) and Melbourne (Australia). We help turn credentials into opportunities. Follow Parchment on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About GSV Ventures

GSV 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.

SOURCE Parchment LLC
ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- accesso Technology Group plc (AIM: ACSO), the premier technology solutions provider for attractions and venues worldwide, has signed a three-year agreement with Parks! America Inc. (OTC PINK: PRKA) to implement its award-winning accesso Passport ticketing solution across the organization's portfolio of Drive-Thru and Walkabout Adventure Zoo Animal Safari parks, supporting both online sales and on-site operations. Implementation is set to begin in February 2022 at Parks! America Inc.'s locations in Pine Mountain, Georgia; Strafford, Missouri; and, Bryan-College Station, Texas.

Using the accesso Passport eCommerce ticketing suite, guests to each Wild Animal Safari location will be able to select from among the parks' multiple admission, pass and group reservation options with ease, and enjoy an easy-to-navigate shopping experience on any device. The accesso Passport eCommerce suite is fully hosted, with secure payment processing available through CyberSource integration, reducing operational burdens while allowing for seamless delivery of intuitive up-sell and cross-sell opportunities to park guests.

Onsite, the accesso Passport ticketing suite provides a streamlined front gate point of sale, focused on driving improved sales results. Training is quick and easy, and the interface helps to reinforce sales training through automated prompts to encourage up-selling  all while enabling quick and simple transactions to keep lines moving quickly. In addition, the solution provides robust group sales features, season pass processing and access control options, as well as the ability to launch self-service kiosks or mobile points of sale.

"With Accesso's ticketing system in place, we know that our guests will enjoy a top-quality online experience, no matter how or where they make their digital purchase," remarked Parks! America Inc. Executive Vice President Mark Whitfield. "By partnering with Accesso, our team can place even more focus on what we do best  providing exceptional animal safari experiences to our guests during a time of growth for our company."

Parks! America Inc. is the parent company of Wild Animal Safari, one of the fastest-growing animal park brands in the U.S., with Aggieland Safari  the operator's newest Wild Animal Safari Park & Walkabout Adventure Zoo  recently acquired in 2020. Its parks offer family-friendly adventures into the wild, where guests can see animals up close and experience the thrill of safari. Located in three states across North America, Wild Animal Safari's parks offer a mix of individual vehicle drive-thru, tour bus, van rental and walkabout experiences, as well as educational, private encounters with the parks' most popular animals. Since opening its first location in 2005, Parks! America Inc. has grown to become a beloved family destination and is recognized as the nation's best Drive-Thru Wild Animal Safari parks. Parks! America boasts decades of successful operations, with its venues in Pine Mountain, Georgia, and Strafford, Missouri, having celebrated 30th and 50th anniversaries in 2021, respectively.

"Our ticketing technology is uniquely suited for multi-site venues, such as Parks! America, delivering the scalable support operators need while maintaining the great, personalized experience guests crave," said Steve Brown, accesso CEO. "We are pleased to partner with Parks! America Inc., known for its outstanding wild animal safari experiences, and look forward to helping their guests book and enjoy unforgettable adventures."

About accesso Technology Group, plc

At accesso, we believe technology has the power to redefine the guest experience. Our patented and award-winning solutions drive increased revenue for attractions operators while improving the guest experience. Currently serving over 1,000 venues in 30 countries around the globe, accesso's solutions help our clients streamline operations, generate increased revenues, improve guest satisfaction, and harness the power of data to educate business and marketing decisions.

accesso invests heavily in research and development because our industries demand it, our clients benefit from it and it makes a positive impact on the guest experience.

Our commitment to improving the guest experience and helping our clients increase revenue is the core of our business. Our technology solutions allow venues to increase the volume and range of on- and off-site spending, and to drive increased transaction-based revenue through cutting-edge ticketing, point-of-sale, virtual queuing, distribution and experience management software.

Many of our team members come from backgrounds working within the attractions and cultural industry. In this way, we are experienced operators who run a technology company serving attractions operators, versus a technology company that happens to serve the market. Our staff understands the day-to-day operations of managing complex venues and the challenges this creates, and together we strive to provide our clients and their guests with technology that empowers them to do more and enjoy more. From our agile development team to our dedicated client service specialists, every team member knows that their passion, integrity, commitment, teamwork and innovation are what drive our success.

accesso is a public company, listed on AIM: a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.accesso.com. Follow accesso on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About Parks! America Inc.

Parks! America Inc. (OTC Pink: PRKA), through its wholly owned subsidiaries, owns and operates three regional theme parks  the Wild Animal Safari theme park in Pine Mountain, Georgia, the Wild Animal Safari theme park located in Strafford, Missouri, as well as the Aggieland Wild Animal Safari theme park, located near Bryan-College Station, Texas, which was acquired April 27, 2020.

Additional information, including our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Sept. 27, 2020, is available on the company's website, http://www.animalsafari.com.

SOURCE accesso Technology Group plc
ISELIN, N.J., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Retirement & Benefits Partners (USRBP) announced today that Patrick Simonds has joined the company as its Chief Revenue Officer, based in their National Office in Iselin, NJ. He will report to USRBP President, Megan Schneider.

Patrick comes to USRBP with an impressive 12-year career at Aon, holding senior roles both in San Francisco and New York. He began in 2010 and ascended to leader of Aon's National Property brokerage business in CA. After remarkable results growing Aon's business on the West Coast, Patrick relocated to serve as Managing Director  Resident Sales Leader for Aon in NYC. He oversaw its production team across all product lines (Health & Benefits, Property & Casualty and Human Capital Solutions), driving significant new sales annually for the firm.

In his role as Chief Revenue Officer, Patrick will lead sales and distribution, driving the company's sales growth strategies. He will also have oversight for the Benefits segment, including the company's U.S. Employee Benefits Broker & Consultant Services business.

Megan Schneider, President said, "We are pleased to welcome Patrick to the USRBP family. His experience leading growth strategies across multiple lines of business has Patrick well-positioned to be tremendously successful in bringing the collective value of USRBP to our clients, driving our continued growth. We are delighted to have Patrick as a part of our leadership team."

"I am excited to join the dynamic team at USRBP and help accelerate the ways we address the ever-changing needs of clients throughout the US," stated Patrick.

About U.S. Retirement & Benefits Partners

U.S. Retirement & Benefits Partners, with headquarters in Iselin, NJ, is one of the nation's largest independent, national financial services firms specializing in employee benefit and employer-sponsored retirement plans in the K-12 public school, governmental, corporate, and non-profit markets. USRBP serves over 12,500 employer groups with 3 million participants through 50 regional Partner Firms. For more information, visit www.usrbpartners.com.

SOURCE U.S. Retirement & Benefits Partners
Landowners who want to hold onto their land for future generations must find innovative ways to maintain productivity despite the persistent drought. An increasingly popular option for landowners looking to adapt is leasing unused or underutilized acreage for solar.

Brent Peterson is one such landowner. Peterson's 100-acre property in Garfield County has been in his family since the 1960s. Over the past few decades, he has watched the ranch transform. When parcels that were once practically swampy dried up, Peterson used them for pastureland, but eventually, they became completely unusable.

"When your land becomes unproductive, it is basically an anchor around your neck," Peterson states. "It is tough being a landowner with no cash flow."

Determined to find a solution and keep the property in the family, Peterson began looking into solar in 2015. Shortly after, Peterson signed a 20-year lease with Pivot Energy who installed 1.8 megawatts (MW) of solar on an otherwise unusable 10-acre parcel of his property. Today, Peterson enjoys a reliable stream of income higher than his other options such as cash crops or cattle grazing, plus the satisfaction of putting his land to good use.

"I'm tickled to death to be part of what I think is the tip of the spear of small-scale renewable energy and to be able to use my property as I see fit," said Peterson, who added that his only complaint is that he can't currently lease even more of his land for solar.

Adams County wheat farmer known by friends and neighbors as "Mo" echoes Peterson's enthusiasm for solar leasing, especially given the extreme drought conditions. "With land this dry you never know if you're going to get a crop," Mo stated. "That kind of uncertainty combined with the fact that I'm now 75 means farming my land has become quite demanding. On the other hand, the solar just sits there and pays me."

With help from Pivot Energy, Mo installed 2 MW of solar on his property in 2019. Similar to Peterson, Mo wishes he could install even more solar on his property. "Right now I've got 10 acres leased for solar, which means 10 acres less for me to farm on dry land."

Peterson and Mo laud the many benefits of solar land leases. They enjoy guaranteed payments today while their land value continues to appreciate. Plus, the land stays in their families. And when their leases expire, Pivot Energy will remove the solar equipment and rehabilitate their property.

Peterson, whose three children support his decision to lease the family land for solar, states, "I'm glad to have secured reliable cash flow before I toss the reins to someone else."

"The Pivot Energy team has seen firsthand the devastating impact the lasting drought has had on Colorado landowners," says Jonathon Fitzpatrick, Pivot Energy's Vice President of Project Development. "We are humbled to help Colorado landowners keep their properties in their families for generations to come by offering a new way for them to create revenue from their land when traditional farming and ranching is no longer their best option."

Landowners interested in exploring solar leasing can learn more by contacting Pivot Energy .

About Pivot Energy

Pivot Energy is a national solar provider that develops, finances, builds, owns, and manages solar and energy storage projects. Pivot offers a distributed energy platform that includes a range of services and software aimed at serving the full solar ecosystem. Pivot is a Certified B-Corporation that proudly follows a corporate strategy aimed at providing a positive impact on society as measured by Environmental stewardship, Social leadership, and responsible Governance (ESG) factors. Learn more at pivotenergy.net.

Contact Information

Julia Stevens

DG+ for Pivot Energy

[email protected]

(424) 209-2394

SOURCE Pivot Energy
These limited-edition labels will be featured on three of Pressed's most popular juices: Greens 3, Citrus 2, and the Strawberry Orange Mango Smoothie. A portion of sales* of each bottle sold will be donated to fund up to 60 fridges across the nation through an organization called Freedge , an international mutual-aid organization with a mission to reduce food insecurity and food waste.

More on the local artists:

Jourdan Ash (New York City Creative)  Ash is a Harlem native and multifaceted creative that celebrates her passions and community through art. She has been able to help her community through volunteering and curating events that help support her local community fridges.

 Ash is a Harlem native and multifaceted creative that celebrates her passions and community through art. She has been able to help her community through volunteering and curating events that help support her local community fridges. Roma Osowo (Dallas-Fort Worth Artist)  Osowo is a color-loving abstract artist who creates vibrant and joy-filled art. Throughout her career, Osowo has taken pride in giving back to causes near and dear to her, which includes supporting food accessibility locally by donating items to local food banks on a monthly basis.

 Osowo is a color-loving abstract artist who creates vibrant and joy-filled art. Throughout her career, Osowo has taken pride in giving back to causes near and dear to her, which includes supporting food accessibility locally by donating items to local food banks on a monthly basis. Uma Leoni (Los Angeles Artist)  Leoni is a self-taught artist that enjoys painting abstract faces that encourage a sense of familiarity. Since graduating college, Leoni has donated to local organizations started by her peers that support food accessibility in their communities.

"At Pressed, we believe everyone deserves to have access to the best of what nature has to offer, which is why we're dedicated to raising awareness around food accessibility by partnering with other community leaders who share the same mission," said Michelle Peterson, Chief Marketing Officer. "Each of these inspiring artists have brought our food accessibility mission to life by supporting community fridge programs, like Freedge, through their artwork and dedication to the local communities they live in."

All three artists will also be appearing at select Pressed locations in NYC, LA and Dallas-Fort Worth throughout February to celebrate their work and continue to raise awareness around food accessibility. Fans can get their limited-edition tote signed by the artist and stock up on the one-of-a-kind labeled juices. Keep an eye on the Pressed social pages to learn more about these upcoming events.

The limited-edition labels and totes will be available for purchase in-store and online through the Pressed app beginning on February 1. To find a location near you, please visit https://pressed.com/pages/juice-bar-locations .

*Up to $30,000

About Pressed

Pressed is the leading cold-pressed juice and plant-based treats brand dedicated to making plant-forward living as convenient and delicious as possible. The company's mission is to pave the way for plant-forward living by making real healthy food accessible to everyone. To that end, Pressed operates over 100+ retail stores in eight states, is available in nearly 3,000 locations through its wholesale partners and can be purchased directly from their website to any location within the U.S. For a complete list of locations where Pressed is available, please visit pressed.com and follow Pressed on Facebook & @pressedjuicery on Instagram & Twitter .

Pressed juices are crafted just minutes from the farms and orchards from which their ingredients are harvested and use the most advanced cold-pressed technology available. Their commitment to a three-day farm-to-bottle process means virtually no downtime between harvest and press, which allows for maximum nutrients, maximum health benefits and maximum flavor! Pressed offers over 40 delicious varieties of cold-pressed juice, plant-based milks, power-packed smoothies and health-boosting shots. They also offer a revolutionary plant-based soft serve made from only fruits, nuts and vegetables, proving that healthy and great taste don't have to be mutually exclusive. For more information, visit pressed.com .

Media Contact: Kelly Jones, [email protected]

SOURCE Pressed
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This Friday, Family Research Council will release its annual ProLifeCon Digital Action Summit, the premier annual conference for digital pro-life activists. This year's summit convenes as the Supreme Court considers the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a case with the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade and send the issue of abortion back to the states.

Confirmed guests include:

Ryan & Bethany Bomberger, Co-Founders, Radiance Foundation;

Alison Centofante, Pro-Life advocate;

Lyndsey Fifield, Social Media Manager, The Heritage Foundation;

Rep. Michelle Fischbach, (R-Minn.);

Marjorie Jackson, Digital Media Specialist, Family Research Council;

Katherine Beck Johnson, Research Fellow for Legal and Policy Studies, Family Research Council;

Kyle Mann, Editor-in-Chief, The Babylon Bee;

Rep. Mary Miller, (R-Ill.);

Michael New, Associate Scholar, Charlotte Lozier Institute;

Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council;

Devin Sena, Director of Social Media, Live Action;

State Sen. Julie Slama, Nebraska's 1st Legislative District;

Mary Szoch, Director of the Center for Human Dignity, Family Research Council.

Mary Szoch, FRC's Director of the Center for Human Dignity, offered the following remarks:

"After 49 years under the tyranny of Roe, there is hope. Across the country this past year, state legislators introduced over 300 pieces of pro-life legislation offering more opportunities to defend the unborn than in almost half a century. The Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization and in the upcoming months is poised to deliver a decision that could allow states to once again protect life in the womb. This year could be a year of LIFE for the unborn! Pro-Life Con offers everyone concrete ways that they can support moms and dads in need, promote protection for children in the womb, and renew the culture of life in America."

WHEN: This digital summit will go live online on January 21, 2022.

WHERE: To view the event, visit www.prolifecon.org.

To schedule an interview with Mary Szoch, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE Family Research Council
NEW DELHI, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The study undertaken by Astute Analytica foresees a tremendous growth in revenue of the radiation detection market from US$ 1,703.0 Mn in 2021 to US$ 2,649.2 Mn by 2030, registering a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period 2022-2030. The increasing use of radioactive materials in various sectors like medical research, medical imaging, power production, industrial processes and the defense has led to an increase in demand for medical radiation detectors which detects the presence of radiation. Accidents like the Three Mile Island accident (1979) and the Chernobyl Disaster (1986) have shown that radiation can result in harmful health effects. The severity of the effects of radiation on human body is determined by the amount of exposure, ability of the radiation to harm the organ tissue, organ that is affected, etc.

Increasing security threats and growing government spending are driving the market for radiation detection. Moreover, increasing safety concerns post nuclear disaster and rising prevalence of cancer necessitates the use of radiation detectors. However, growing use of nuclear energy alternatives such as renewable resources is a restraint to the growth of the radiation detection market.

Request a Sample Report of Radiation Detection Market: https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/radiation-detection-market

Significance of the market for radiation detection

Since the early days of radiation testing by Roentgen and Becquerel, scientists have sought ways to measure and observe the radiation given off by the materials they worked with. Henri Becquerel used a method to demonstrate the existence of radiation in 1896. Since then, the use of radiation detectors is significant to measure radiation exposure to an individual's body. According to the World Energy Outlook (WEO) report, in 2021, the IEA's 'Stated Policies Scenario' sees installed nuclear capacity growth of over 26% from 2020 to 2050 (reaching about 525 GWe).

Use of radioactive materials by terrorists has raised serious concerns. The Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident in 2011 has affected many aspects of the nuclear society globally. In the defense sector, the common sources of radiation exposure to personnel include nuclear ships and submarines; depleted uranium-made weapons and military equipment; handling, detonation, and maintenance of nuclear weapons; and during nuclear waste transport and storage. Such events may cause a significant number of personnel to be exposed to harmful levels of radiation, the radiation detectors devices and services are majorly used in the defense sector to monitor the radiation exposure and limit the impact of radiation on personnel health.

Radiation detection devices must have to be highly reliable. There are ongoing technological developments in these devices which have mostly targeted the lighter weight, smaller size, longer useful life, high reliability, and cost-effectiveness.

Challenges Ahead

Alternative energy sources such as hydrogen, solar power, natural gas, and thorium are a big concern for the radiation detection market. Turkey, India, Australia, and United States holds 59% of the world's thorium reserves. Thorium that is mined can be used as a fuel, whereas, only 1% of the mined uranium (primary element used in nuclear energy) is used as a fuel. Thorium produces less waste and is safer than uranium.

Request Customized Copy of Report @ https://www.astuteanalytica.com/ask-for-customization/radiation-detection-market

Impact of COVID-19

Radiation detection can be used for prevention of excessive radiation exposure due to imaging equipment when suffering from COVID-19. Healthcare entities are increasingly leveraging medical imaging and imaging analytics to improve COVID-19 detection and prevention. However, the restrictions imposed due the coronavirus pandemic somewhat impacted the medical supply chain of the global radiation detection market. Travel restriction and shortages of raw materials, including plastics, metals, glass, and electronics, hampered production. The nuclear power industry is currently witnessing a truly challenging environment, still, a high demand for nuclear energy is projected in the coming years due to rising energy demands across the globe.

Scintillators segment is estimated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 5.6% by 2030

Gas-filled Detectors segment holds highest market share of 55.3% in 2021, where the market was valued at US$ 941.6 Mn. Scintillators are reliable, efficient and competitive technology for contamination monitoring as compared to gas-filled detectors, creating lucrative growth opportunities in the global marketplace.

Healthcare segment estimated to have the highest market share in 2021

By end user, healthcare segment is estimated to have the highest market share of 44.9% in 2021. The importance of medical imaging is resulting in high market share of the healthcare segment. Homeland Security and Defense segment is estimated to exhibit highest CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period. The high growth opportunity in the segment is due to increasing concerns regarding national security and rise in territorial tension between nations.

Asia Pacific has the highest CAGR for the forecast period

North America holds the highest market share of 35.2% in 2021. The region's market is valued at US$ 598.9 Mn in 2021. Despite the huge market share held by North America, Asia Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period. The growth opportunity in the regional market is estimated at US$ 270.6 Mn during the forecast period. The high growth opportunity in the region is due to countries like China and Japan. For instance, in China, several independent government departments related to nuclear medicine are emerging like the China Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Key Market Players

The main competitors are Fuji Electric, HORIBA, Ltd., Hamamatsu Photonics, Mitsubishi Electric group, Fortive Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, IBA Worldwide and others. Companies are adopting various competitive strategies to withhold significant market share in the global marketplace.

Segmentation Overview

Global Radiation Detection Market is segmented on the basis of product type, end user, detection type and region. These segments are sub-divided to get a holistic picture of the market.

Following are the different segments of the Global Radiation Detection Market:

By Product

Radiation monitoring post



RI monitors



Radiation detector and analyzers



Portable radiation survey meters



Others

By End User

Healthcare



Homeland Security and Defense



Nuclear Power Plants



Others

By Detection Type

Gas-filled Detectors



Geiger-Muller Counters





Ionization Chambers





Proportional Counters



Scintillators



Inorganic Scintillators





Organic Scintillators



Solid-state Detectors



Semiconductor Detectors





Diamond Detectors

By Region

North America



The U.S.





Canada





Mexico



Europe



Western Europe





The UK







Germany







France







Italy







Spain







Rest of Western Europe





Eastern Europe





Poland







Russia







Eastern Europe



Asia Pacific



China





India





Japan





South Korea





Australia & New Zealand

&



ASEAN





Rest of Asia Pacific



Middle East and Africa



UAE





Saudi Arabia





South Africa





Rest of MEA



South America



Argentina





Brazil





Rest of South America

Directly Purchase a copy of report with TOC @ https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/radiation-detection-market

For Additional Information OR Media Enquiry, Please Mail Us At: [email protected]

About Astute Analytica

Astute Analytica is a global analytics and advisory company which has built a solid reputation in a short period, thanks to the tangible outcomes we have delivered to our clients. We pride ourselves in generating unparalleled, in depth and uncannily accurate estimates and projections for our very demanding clients spread across different verticals. We have a long list of satisfied and repeat clients from a wide spectrum including technology, healthcare, chemicals, semiconductors, FMCG, and many more. These happy customers come to us from all across the Globe. They are able to make well calibrated decisions and leverage highly lucrative opportunities while surmounting the fierce challenges all because we analyze for them the complex business environment, segment wise existing and emerging possibilities, technology formations, growth estimates, and even the strategic choices available. In short, a complete package. All this is possible because we have a highly qualified, competent, and experienced team of professionals comprising of business analysts, economists, consultants, and technology experts. In our list of priorities, you-our patron-come at the top. You can be sure of best cost-effective, value-added package from us, should you decide to engage with us.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1582155/Astute_Analytica_Logo.jpg

Contact us:

Aamir Beg

BSI Business Park, H-15,Sector-63, Noida- 201301- India

Phone: +1-888 429 6757 (US Toll Free); +91-0120- 4251598 (Rest of the World)

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.astuteanalytica.com

Follow US: LinkedIn | Twitter

SOURCE Astute Analytica
BOSTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Kite , the leader in third-party cyber risk intelligence, today released its annual Third-Party Breach Report , which examines the impact of third-party cyber breaches in 2021. Ransomware was the most common attack method behind third-party breaches in 2021, initiating more than one out of four incidents analyzed.

Despite immense cybersecurity improvements following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry was the most common victim of attacks caused by third parties, accounting for 33% of incidents last year. With its rich and diverse personally-identifiable information (PII) data, the government sector accounted for 14% of third party attacks in 2021.

Attackers were able to infiltrate networks and steal data through a variety of methods including exploiting weak passwords and access controls to gain unauthorized network access. Insecure external facing servers and databases also provided easy access to valuable data. Overall, 1.5 billion users' personally-identifiable information (PII) was leaked as a result of third-party breaches in 2021.

Software publishers ranked as the most at-risk vendor for a third consecutive year. Exploitations of software vulnerabilities have led to some of the most notable attacks over the last few years, including the 2020 Solar Winds attack.

"Threat actors have become more agile over the years, particularly with increased ransomware attacks revealing a sense of heightened agility and skill," said Bob Maley, Chief Security Officer at Black Kite. "This is not just a change from 2021, but an overall message. Attack methods are becoming more clever, more detailed, with flexibility and dexterity. If agile attack methods are improving, our response must match, if not counter their growth."

In addition to the annual detailed report, Black Kite continuously monitors publicly-disclosed third-party breaches throughout the year, identifying dates of occurrence, companies affected, and the types of data leaked.

About the Black Kite Third-Party Breach Report

Black Kite Research analyzed 81 individual third-party incidents, which ultimately lead to more than 200 publicly disclosed headline breaches throughout the year (with thousands of other breaches in the full ripple effect). Analysts studied why certain industry sectors faced higher susceptibility to an attack, as well as the most vulnerable vendors to the initial breach themselves.

To download the 2022 Third-Party Breach Report, visit https://blackkite.com/whitepaper/2022-third-party-breach-report/

About Black Kite



One in four organizations suffered from a cyber attack in the last year, resulting in production, reputation and financial losses. The real problem is adversaries attack companies via third parties, island-hopping their way into target organizations. At Black Kite, we're redefining vendor risk management with the world's first global third-party cyber risk monitoring platform, built from a hacker's perspective.

With 300+ customers across the globe and counting, we're committed to improving the health and safety of the entire planet's cyber ecosystem with the industry's most accurate and comprehensive cyber intelligence. While other security ratings service (SRS) providers try to narrow the scope, Black Kite provides the only standards-based cyber risk assessments that analyze your supply chain's cybersecurity posture from three critical dimensions: technical, financial and compliance.

Contact:

Danielle Lewan, VP of Marketing

[email protected]

706-474-5703

SOURCE Black Kite
BELGRADE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Answering to demands of environmental protests, Serbia terminated the project of UK-Australian mining company Rio Tinto concerning future exploitation and processing of mineral jadarite in Western Serbia, according to a government press release after a session on Thursday.

The move put an end to what was to become one of the biggest investments in lithium exploitation in Europe.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the spatial plan of the special purpose area for the Jadar lithium project, which was adopted on Feb. 13, 2020, has been canceled together with "all administrative acts related to Rio Tinto" including "all permits, decrees, and decisions".

"We have fulfilled all the demands of the environmental protests and put an end to Rio Tinto in Serbia. This is the end of everything, it is over and all the demands have been met," Brnabic briefed.

Rio Tinto has been present in Serbia since the year of 2002. In 2004, the company discovered rich deposits of the lithium sodium borosilicate mineral jadarite. In 2006, Serbia adopted a law to grant the company exclusive exploitation rights.

In recent months, while the company accelerated efforts to engage in the exploitation of lithium, borates, and sodium sulfates, repetitive mass protests were staged by environmental activists across the country, over the concerns of possible devastating effects on surrounding agricultural subsistence and health.

Earlier on Thursday, Rio Tinto voiced concerns over the announcement of the withdrawal of the spatial plan, saying that the company is "committed to developing the project in accordance with all Serbian and international regulations. "And we take into account the environmental concerns expressed by the public, " said the company in a press release.

According to the company's website, it has so far committed 2.5 billion U.S. dollars into the implementation of the project, expecting to start production in 2027 and over the course of 40 years produce 2.3 million tons of lithium carbonate for batteries and electric vehicles along with borates used for "renewable energy equipment such as solar panels and wind turbines". 
LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO and SINGAPORE, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TEAM LEWIS, the global marketing agency, launched its latest trends guide in partnership with market research firm GWI today. The report dives into how today's multi-moment audience is evolving and the changes the pandemic has brought about in today's marketing multiverse. Markets covered in the report include Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, UK and US.

"It's no longer as simple as getting in front of your audience with a single message as many times as possible," says Simon Billington, Executive Creative Director at TEAM LEWIS. "Consumer expectations of a brand's interaction with them is clear. They want unique, attention-grabbing creativity delivered in a personalized way. The complexity of message and the vehicle the message is delivered in is paramount to success."

With a rise in screen time and device ownership, unrestrained social media usage and growing concerns surrounding privacy, today's audiences have an increased desire to impact the world around them. These shifts point to three key themes covered in the report  ending monotony to avoid marketing immunity, understanding how mood can impact an audience, and tapping into key motivators to foster more meaningful connections.

Key findings include:

Screen time

Screen time continues to grow in most countries, with the exception of Australia , Malaysia , Singapore and the US

, , and the US

Hong Kongers & Malaysians prefer to spend more time on their mobile devices compared to PCs, laptops and tablets

Device ownership

Globally, audiences own at least three devices



Malaysians on average own fewer than three devices but spend the most time on the internet globally. The US, UK, Germany and Italy are above the global average when it comes to device ownership.

and are above the global average when it comes to device ownership. Social Media usage

APAC countries use an average of four platforms daily



Western Europe has the lowest usage, with fewer than three platforms daily

has the lowest usage, with fewer than three platforms daily Attitudes towards privacy

Globally, the top concern amongst consumers is how companies use their personal data online (39%) followed by a preference to maintain anonymity online (34%)

Today's marketing landscape

Leading channels



The website is still king  56% visited a brand's website in the last month





Newsletters are still effective  26% read an email or newsletter from a brand



Expectations of consumers



Global consumers unanimously want brands to be reliable, authentic and innovative



The rise of Audio



In the last three years, there has been an increase in consumption of music streaming services and podcasts





Australia & Singapore are seeing the most growth in music streaming and podcast listenership YOY

& are seeing the most growth in music streaming and podcast listenership YOY

Scepticism with social media



Only 23% of consumers globally think social media is good for society





Malaysians are the most positive about social media, with 40% seeing it as a force for good

Download the Marketing in 2022: Multi-Moment Audience report here.

About TEAM LEWIS

TEAM LEWIS is a global marketing agency built to help and inspire brands to grow. It provides a full spectrum of marketing, communications and digital services to deliver tangible business impact for clients. The company has over 650 staff across 24 offices throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

About GWI

GWI is the leading audience insights company. The company's flagship survey represents 2.7 billion people globally, by continually collecting data across 48 countries. It provides global data at an unrivaled scale to help businesses gain a deep understanding of their audiences at speed. Its SaaS platform and custom data products are trusted by the world's biggest brands, media organizations, and agencies. Customers include Google, Spotify, Twitter, EA, Red Bull, WPP, and Omnicom.

For further information please contact:

Lauren Bushell, Global Head of Marketing, TEAM LEWIS at [email protected]

Vic Miller, VP PR & Communications, GWI at [email protected]

SOURCE TEAM LEWIS
Sandvine will provide TELUS with cybersecurity, application, and subscriber analytics for their cloud-based 5G services Tweet this

The extended relationship will allow TELUS to continue to meet growing demands for speed, latency, and reliability for millions of devices and applications. By using Sandvine's ActiveLogic Hyperscale Data Plane, TELUS will have the flexibility, performance, and patent-pending, machine learning-powered traffic classification needed to keep up with growing application complexity.

Lyn Cantor, CEO, Sandvine said: "We are thrilled to have TELUS as a 5G customer as they focus on application quality of experience to extend their Canadian market leadership. With growing application complexity driven by network slicing, encryption, mashups, and new latency requirements, Sandvine is proud to provide TELUS with cybersecurity, application, and subscriber analytics cloud based services to support the delivery of high quality experiences on TELUS' emerging 5G services."

Ibrahim Gedeon, Chief Technology Officer, TELUS said: "Driven by our commitment to support the Canadian digital economy and transformation, TELUS' investment in our networks and systems will directly transform experiences for Canadians in the industries that matter most to them like healthcare, transportation and agriculture. Our relationship with Sandvine in their application and network intelligence solutions will play an important role in helping us ensure we deliver high-quality experiences and greater security for our customers as 5G, Cloud and Digital business adoption grows in Canada."

To learn more about how Application and Network Intelligence and Sandvine's new cloud native 5G Service Intelligence Engine are fueling the immersive experiences consumers and enterprises expect with 5G, schedule a demo and check out recent use cases, whitepapers and case studies .

Resources

Sandvine's Active Network Intelligence Portal

Sandvine's 5G Portfolio

5G Service Intelligence Engine (NWDAF)

5G Service Intelligence Engine (NWDAF) Whitepaper

Cloud Ready Options

5G Service Innovation and Intelligence Whitepaper

ABOUT SANDVINE

Sandvine's cloud-based Application and Network Intelligence portfolio helps customers deliver high quality, optimized experiences to consumers and enterprises. Customers use our solutions to analyze, optimize, and monetize application experiences using contextual machine learning-based insights and real-time actions. Market-leading classification of more than 95% of traffic across mobile and fixed networks by user, application, device, and location creates uniquely rich, real-time data that significantly enhances interactions between users and applications and drives revenues. For more visit: http://www.sandvine.com or follow Sandvine on Twitter @Sandvine .

Media Contact:

Susana Schwartz

Sandvine

+1 816 680 1447

[email protected]

SOURCE Sandvine
SALINAS, Calif., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Scheid Vineyards Inc. (dba Scheid Family Wines) (OTC Markets: SVIN) announced today its financial results for the nine months ended November 30, 2021 (3rd quarter of Fiscal 2022).

Financial Results - Third Quarter Results Fiscal 2022 (March 1, 2021  November 30, 2021)







Nine Months Ended November 30,







2021

2020

REVENUES:











Cased goods sales



$ 27,877

$ 22,278

Bulk wine sales



2,768

12,178

Winery processing and storage revenues



5,876

4,765

Grape sales



3,970

717

Direct sales revenues



2,292

2,041

Vineyard management revenues



581

296

Other revenues



18

10

Total revenues



43,382

42,285

COST OF SALES



(31,447)

(31,629)

GROSS PROFIT



11,935

10,656

Sales and marketing expenses



(7,492)

(6,337)

General and administrative expenses



(6,096)

(5,967)

Interest expense, net



(2,564)

(3,460)

Other income (loss)



3

(8)

Gain on sale of vineyards and equipment



24,219

7

INCOME (LOSS) BEFORE (PROVISION FOR) BENEFIT FROM INCOME TAXES



20,005

(5,109)

(PROVISION FOR) BENEFIT FROM INCOME TAXES



(5,601)

1,430

NET INCOME (LOSS)



$ 14,404

$ (3,679)

































NET INCOME (LOSS) PER SHARE



$ 16.08

$ (4.17)















WEIGHTED AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING



896

884



(amounts in thousands, except for per share data)

Mr. Mike Thomsen, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, commented on the third quarter results stating, "Cased goods sales increased 26% in the current period, primarily as the result of increased distribution of the Company's Sunny with a Chance of Flowers brand, which was launched in the fall of 2020, and sales to airlines which were limited in the previous year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Bulk wine sales decreased 77% from the previous year as the Company continues to increase the use of its bulk wine inventories in cased goods production. In addition, bulk wine sales in the previous year were aided by increased demand from the potential threats to the 2020 crop from California wildfires, as well as lower than average industry-wide bulk wine supplies. Winery processing revenues increased by 23% and grape sales increased by 453% in the fiscal 2022 period, generally reflecting higher yields from the 2021 harvest. Overall, total revenues increased 3% and gross margins increased to 28% from 25% in the previous fiscal year.

Sales and marketing expenses increased 19%, from $6.3 to $7.5 million, as the Company invested in the marketing of new brands and territories. The Company recognized a gain of $24.2 million from the sale of vineyard properties in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and, due to the reduction in debt from proceeds from the sale, interest expense decreased 35% from $3.5 million to $2.6 million. The Company had net income of $14.4 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2022 as compared to a net loss of $3.7 million in fiscal 2021."

Mr Thomsen also reported that, "The Company's 2021 grape harvest was completed on November 16, 2021, with yields per acre approximately 6% above the Company's five-year average"

About Scheid Family Wines

Scheid Family Wines is a family-owned and operated wine company founded in 1972. Based in Monterey County, California, Scheid is uniquely integrated to bring high quality estate grown wines to the marketplace from its sustainably certified vineyards and innovative luxury level winery. Scheid's winery and bottling operations are powered by 100% renewable wind energy generated by a 400-foot tall wind turbine, which also supplies energy to many homes in the local community. The Scheid Family Wines globally distributed portfolio includes Scheid Vineyards, Sunny with a Chance of Flowers, District 7, Ryder Estate, Metz Road, VDR and Stokes' Ghost. Scheid Family Wines also produces many regionally distributed brands and distributes a portfolio of imported wines through its partnership with PH Imports.

Please visit www.scheidfamilywines.com and www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SVIN/quote for more information.

CONTACT: Scott Scheid, President and CEO

Mike Thomsen, Chief Financial Officer

(831) 455-9990

SOURCE Scheid Family Wines
TAIPEI and SAN DIEGO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Senhwa Biosciences, Inc. (TPEx: 6492), a drug development company focusing on first-in-class therapeutics for oncology, rare diseases, and novel coronaviruses, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for Silmitasertib, a highly selective inhibitor of casein kinase 2 (CK2) to treat patients with Biliary Tract Cancer.

"We are pleased to receive ODD for Silmitasertib for the treatment of Biliary Tract Cancer, a rare, malignant disease for which there are no effective therapies. ODD represents an important regulatory milestone that has the potential to expedite the clinical development of Silmitasertib, which is a potent and selective CK2 inhibitor," said Mei-Hui Kuo, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Senhwa Biosciences.

The US FDA grants ODD status to drugs and biologics that are intended to treat, prevent or diagnose a life-threatening or chronically debilitating rare disease with a prevalence of fewer than 200,000 people in the US. ODD affords certain financial incentives to support clinical development, including the potential for up to seven years of market exclusivity, in the US upon regulatory approval.

Biliary tract cancer (BTC) refers to a group of rare, diverse and aggressive cancers that arise from the bile duct system. BTCs are classified into four distinct subtypes based on the tissue where the cancer originates including intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC), gallbladder cancer (GBC) and ampullary cancer.

In its early-stages, patients with BTC often present with nonspecific symptoms which can complicate and delay diagnosis. Patients with BTC are usually diagnosed when the disease has already advanced and/or spread. First-line standard of care is a chemotherapy regimen of gemcitabine + cisplatin. There are no globally accepted standards of care for locally advanced or metastatic BTC after first line chemotherapy has failed. Pre-clinical studies demonstrate that inhibition of CK2 by Silmitasertib prevents DNA repair, induces apoptosis, and improves the antitumor activity of gemcitabine and cisplatin. There is a significant need for new BTC treatment options.

About Silmitasertib

Silmitasertib is a first-in-class small molecule drug that targets the CK2 pathway and acts as a CK2-inhibitor. Clinical studies thus far have shown Silmitasertib to be safe and well-tolerated in humans and is easily administered due to its oral formulation. Silmitasertib is currently under development in several oncology programs in adults and children with recurrent/advanced or metastatic cancer. To date, three Phase I trials and one Phase II trial of Silmitasertib in cancer patients have been completed; currently, there are two ongoing Phase II studies of Silmitasertib.

The US FDA has granted Silmitasertib key drug designations: Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma in December 2016, Rare Pediatric Disease Designation and Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of Medulloblastoma in July 2020 and December 2021, respectively. Fast Track Designation was granted in August 2021 for the treatment of recurrent Sonic Hedgehog driven Medulloblastoma.

About Senhwa Biosciences

Senhwa Biosciences, Inc. is a leading clinical-stage company focused on developing first-in-class, next-generation DNA Damage Response therapeutics, addressing unmet medical needs in oncology. Headquartered in Taiwan, with an operational base in San Diego, California, Senhwa is well-positioned to oversee the development of its compounds.

Silmitasertib (CX-4945) and Pidnarulex (CX-5461), both with novel mechanisms of action as anti-cancer drugs for the treatment of multiple indications, are the core products in Senhwa Bioscience's pipeline. Clinical trials are currently ongoing in Australia, Canada, United States, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Visit Senhwa Biosciences' website for more details: www.senhwabio.com

SOURCE Senhwa Biosciences, Inc.
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Senior Helpers, one of the nation's premier providers of personalized in-home senior care, today announced its location in Peachtree City has been named a 2021 Best of Georgia winner in Georgia Business Journal's annual readers' poll. Weighing in on the best of everything throughout the state, Georgia Business Journal readers and editors honored Senior Helpers' team in Peachtree City among thousands of businesses and organizations in more than 25 broad business and community sectors. The franchise has been in operation since 2006 and is operated by Amber Hamani and Anum Virani. Senior Helpers of Peachtree City serves senior citizens and anyone over the age of 18 and their families needing help with daily activities of living throughout the region including, Fayette, Coweta, South Fulton, Douglas and surrounding counties in South Metro Atlanta. Based on the work of its professionally trained caregivers, local seniors continue to enjoy the comfort of their own home, despite age-related illnesses and mobility challenges.

"We're delighted to be recognized for this prestigious honor by residents throughout the state of Georgia," comments Hamani and Virani. "It's a true testament to the hard work of all our staff, our dedication to our company mission and to the national reputation and support of Senior Helpers as an organization. We love serving this community, so it is extremely rewarding to have connected with so many local fans."

Senior Helpers operates with a vision to be the leading home care company in each community it serves. Its caregivers in Peachtree City are trained to offer the highest level of care possible based on the company's Senior Gems Alzheimer's and Dementia care program. As the gold standard for excellence in personalized in-home senior care, the program was developed in conjunction with nationally recognized dementia care expert Teepa Snow, Positive Approach, LLC. Local residents will also benefit from the company's Parkinson's Care Program, a specialized training program for their caregivers created in conjunction with leading experts from the Parkinson's Foundation's Centers of Excellence network.

Senior Helpers was nominated on the Best of Georgia website and voting remained open throughout the year, with tens of thousands of votes ultimately received. Best of Georgia winners and nominees were chosen by a combination of readers' votes and editors' input, and are vetted through several ranking sites, Better Business Bureau complaint reports and voting pattern analysis reports. Winners were named in hundreds of individual categories, providing Georgia Business Journal readers with a go-to-guide for the best of everything in Georgia. Georgia Business Journal recognizes three levels of winners: The Best of Georgia, Best of Georgia Regional Winners and Honorable Mentions. Within each category, there are multiple honorees named in each tier, depending on the size of the market sector.

You can view the full list of Best of Georgia winners at BESTofGEORGIA.com/winners.

Senior Helpers of Peachtree City is located at 301 Kelly Dr Suite #8, in Peachtree City, GA 30269. For more information, please visit https://www.seniorhelpers.com/ga/south-metro-atlanta/. For inquiries, please call (770)487-1297 or email [email protected].

About Senior Helpers 

Senior Helpers is the nation's premier provider of in-home senior services ranging from specialized care for those with diseases, such as dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, to personal and companion care to help individuals looking for a little assistance with daily activities. Founded in 2002 with a vision to help seniors age with dignity despite age-related illnesses and mobility challenges, Senior Helpers has hundreds of franchised and owned businesses that have cared for tens of thousands of seniors.

Senior Helpers was the first and remains the only national in-home care provider to be certified as a Great Place to Work. The company has been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the best places to work in the aging services category and one of the best places to work in the state of New York. Senior Helpers is named to the Entrepreneur 2020 Top Low-Cost Franchises list as well as one of Entrepreneur's Top 500 Franchise Companies. Moreover, the company is an approved partner in the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. Senior Helpers is also an active member of the Healthcare Leadership Council  an exclusive alliance of leading healthcare companies from all health sectors committed to advancing the American healthcare system. Learn more by visiting http://www.seniorhelpers.com.

SOURCE Senior Helpers
ShapeShift V2 is the gateway into decentralized finance, where users can interact with their digital assets on a single platform with no added fees. The new platform allows users to manage their digital assets privately, without KYC, simply by connecting their crypto wallets. In addition to a developer-friendly open-source code base, ShapeShift V2 becomes one of the safest and most privacy-centric ways to track, trade, and earn yield on digital assets across various chains. The commitment to privacy drives every major decision for ShapeShift and its community; the DAO celebrates this venture and the future of offering steady, healthy growth of yield through bull and bear markets.

ShapeShift V2 is a vibrant platform and will have the agility to keep pace with the very fast-moving crypto world.

ShapeShift V2 is a vibrant platform and will have the agility to keep pace with this very fast-moving crypto world. By creating affiliate partnerships with DeFi protocols, ShapeShift DAO can reward users with FOX tokens from their half of the revenue share model, allowing users to enjoy the best yield, with no added costs or diminishing returns!

In July, ShapeShift announced that it would decentralize the company and open-source all of its code to build a dynamic and robust community around a fully open-source system, allowing developers to propose and instigate vital changes to the V2 platform. By initiating changes and collaborating with the ShapeShift DAO, we can create the fastest, safest, and most convenient way to manage a portfolio of digital currencies. With the new V2 codebase, the code can run on decentralized infrastructure, providing a path to resilience and aligning with the doctrine of decentralization.

ShapeShift has long believed in these principles; transitioning into DAO allows us to return the freedom and power of cryptocurrencies and their core tenets to the people. It is this power that ShapeShift strives to give to the world.

About ShapeShift

Since 2014, ShapeShift has been pioneering self-custody for digital asset trading. The company's web and mobile platforms allow users worldwide to safely; buy, hold, trade, and interact with digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Learn more at ShapeShift.com

Contact: Pete Coin, [email protected]

SOURCE ShapeShift DAO
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SKF will present its FY 2021 Results and updated strategic framework on 3 February 2022.

The year-end results for 2021 will be published at approximately 8:00 (CET). Investors, analysts and media are invited to join a webcast, which will be broadcast live in English at 9:0010:30 (CET).

To join the webcast, please login at least 10 minutes before the start using the below link or phone numbers.

Link to web event: https://www.investis-live.com/skf/61e0528c0ba3f01200044369/eadd

Sweden +46 10 884 80 16

UK / International +44 20 3936 2999

Passcode: 142403

All information regarding the FY results and updated strategic framework will be made available on the Group's IR website: https://investors.skf.com/

Members of the media wishing to schedule an interview with Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO, or Niclas Rosenlew, CFO, please contact Carl Bjernstam: [email protected]

Aktiebolaget SKF

(publ)

For further information, please contact:

PRESS: Carl Bjernstam, Group Communication

tel: 46 31-337 2517; mobile: 46 722-201 893; e-mail: [email protected]

INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg, Head of Investor Relations

tel: 46 31-337 2104; mobile: 46 705-472 104; [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/skf/r/skf-to-present-fy-results-and-updated-strategic-framework-on-3-february,c3489192

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/637/3489192/1522644.pdf 20220120 SKF to present FY Results and updated strategic framework on 3 February https://news.cision.com/skf/i/gotahom-4jpg-png-highpreview-1278,c3001698 Gotahom 4jpg png highpreview 1278

SOURCE SKF
SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SkillsetGroup staffing and consulting company announced this month its top employees from 2021, professionals whose talent and dedication are helping solidify the firm's growing national footprint.

These folks braved waves of COVID and pandemic-related labor shortages to help keep production lines running and essential workers employed.

"Every single person here showed up to the office every day and risked their lives," SkillsetGroup CEO Clint Armstrong told employees at the award ceremony in December. "And I want to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, how much I appreciate it."

Top sales executives, recruiters, managers, payroll and the claims teams all received recognition from management and colleagues at the annual SkillsetGroup Holiday Party. The 2020 party and related festivities were cancelled due to the pandemic, but winners of the 2019 recognition won a trip to Paris, France.

The 2021 top team members are headed to Tulum, Mexico as a hard-earned retreat.

The winter wonderland-themed holiday party at the Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry was a gala affair with dinner, drinks, dancing, photo booths and raffle prizes in addition to the employee recognitions.

SkillsetGroup

Employee of the Year

2021

Belin Martinez

SkillsetGroup

Most Valuable Contributor

2021

Kristina Blevins

SkillsetGroup

Most Valuable Contributor

2021

Evelyn Javian



SkillsetGroup

Top Producer

2021

Lupita Baca

SkillsetGroup

Manager of the Year

2021

Noemi Saenz

SkillsetGroup

Top Recruiter

Engineering and Skilled Trades Divisions

2021

Axel Figueroa

SkillsetGroup

Top Recruiter

Engineering and Skilled Trades Divisions

2021

Steven Reza

SkillsetGroup

Top Recruiter

Industrial Division

2021

Reyna Cortes

SkillsetGroup

Top Recruiter

Industrial Division

2021

Maribel Ochoa

SOURCE SkillsetGroup
PIQUA, Kansas, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Spring Harvest Corporation ("Spring Harvest" or the "Company") announced today the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire My Anns Corporation ("My Anns"), the parent company of Piqua State Bank, a Kansas state-chartered bank with its principal office in Piqua, Kansas (the "Bank").

"We are pleased to announce the acquisition of My Anns," said Vivi Lu, President of the Company. "Piqua State Bank has a long history with its customers and business partners. We look forward to working with the Bank's team and local community after obtaining necessary regulatory approvals."

"We are proud of our history and service in the community as the only locally-owned, locally-operated bank in Woodson and Allen counties, and we are thrilled for what we see as the next natural step in our evolution and development for our customers and business partners," said Donna Curry, Chairman and President of My Anns.

The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by the respective Boards of Directors of Spring Harvest and My Anns. Completion of the merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals and the approval by shareholders of My Anns. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Troutman Pepper is serving as legal counsel to Spring Harvest in connection with the transaction. The Capital Corporation is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is serving as legal counsel to My Anns in connection with the transaction.

About My Anns and the Bank

My Anns is a Missouri corporation and registered bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended. The Bank is a Kansas state-chartered banking institution with its principal office in Piqua, Kansas. As of September 30, 2021, My Anns had total assets of approximately $36.8 million. My Anns has one office in Allen County, Kansas and two offices in Woodson County, Kansas.

SOURCE Spring Harvest Corporation
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Cosmetics Corporation (SCC), a global cosmetic ingredient developer and distributor, announced today that it has executed a Global Distribution Agreement with NXTLEVVEL, a commercial scale manufacturer of next generation biomass derived chemicals, for the distribution of its NXT SOLV product line to the Beauty and Personal Care industry. The agreement is for a five-year term and grants sales rights to SCC and its sister cosmetic companies, all of which are Sumitomo Corporation Group Companies.

The products included in the agreement are as follows:

NXT SOLV 120

NXT SOLV 220

NXT SOLV 320

NXT SOLV 420

"This partnership with NXTLEVVEL will allow us to diversify our existing portfolio to better-meet the demands of consumers and our customers as the industry  and world  seek more sustainable solutions and technologies," said Shohei Shibukawa, Global President & Officer of Summit Cosmetic Corporation.

NXTLEVVEL has developed world-leading technology in bio-solvents based on levulinic acid. These affordable bio-based chemicals are essential to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and will play a critical role in the reduction of carbon emissions. As an alternative to traditional solvents, NXTLEVVEL's products offer outstanding benefits for personal care formulations, whilst addressing the needs of environmentally conscious consumers and adding value for brand owners. Benefits of NXTLEVVEL bio-solvents include:

Ability to dissolve a wide range of active ingredients

Allow increased concentration of actives

Enables high water loading for moisturizing formulations by incorporating water into anhydrous systems

Expands solubility of ethanol, while retaining clarity

Enhances natural formulations by reducing greasiness, providing a dry, silky after-feel

"I'm very excited that NXTLEVVEL and SCC are embarking on a relationship to promote our range of biobased solvents in the Beauty and Personal Care industry by leveraging the strength of our technology along with SCC's global reach and relationships," commented Aris de Rijke, CEO of NXTLEVVEL Biochem. "This agreement will grant our product line access to new markets and customers that can take advantage of our innovative, biobased solutions."



SCC and its sister companies are part of an integrated network in which each company brings their own regional and technical expertise to the group. Together, they offer a diversified portfolio of ingredients and innovation-based support to the Beauty and Personal Care industry. This network enables each company to deliver locally while leveraging the group's global reach and resources. SCC's partnership with NXTLEVVEL is a direct result of the advantages of this network.

About SCC

SCC, a Sumitomo Corporation Group Company established in October 2019, specializes in the cosmetic ingredient business by leveraging the foundation of its personal care ingredients distribution network in the United States (Presperse), Brazil (Cosmotec), France (SACI-CFPA), Germany (SPE), China (SC China) and Mexico (SC Mexico) and is engaged in product development and sales. It also provides comprehensive services to the global personal care industry by bringing its customers innovation and operational excellence with the highest ethical standards. For more information, visit: www.summitcosme.com.



About NXTLEVVEL

A privately held company headquartered in The Netherlands, NXTLEVVEL is a commercial scale manufacturer of next generation biomass-derived chemicals. As a joint venture formed in 2018, NXTLEVVEL brings together the industrial expertise of the Towell Engineering Group (Sultanate of Oman) with advanced technology developed by GFBiochemicals. GFBiochemicals was founded in 2008 and holds 200 patents for its world leading proprietary technology in bio-solvents, polyols, and plasticizers based on levulinic acid. Levulinic acid is considered a key biobased building block that enables the production of an extensive portfolio of derivatives. For more information, visit www.nxtlevvel.com.

SOURCE Sumitomo Corporation of Americas
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sweden will relax quarantine rules to prevent the collapse of critical services as the Omicron variant spreads across the country, causing staff shortages.

"We now see a massive impact on society due to COVID-19," said Sara Byfors from the Swedish Public Health Agency at a press conference on Thursday.

Several sectors have struggled with staff shortages recently, since many employees have been off infected with COVID-19, or in seven-day quarantine due to someone else in their household catching the virus.

The Swedish Police said that ten percent of their staff were off on Wednesday, and contingency plans were being prepared. Schools and transportation companies have also experienced severe staff shortages -- and this is before the Omicron wave has even reached its peak, according to the Public Health Agency.

Under the newly relaxed rules, quarantine has been shortened from seven to five days -- without symptoms the last two days, the agency said in a joint press conference together with the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and the National Board of Health and Welfare.

In addition, those who have had three vaccine doses -- which on Thursday accounted for 39.6 percent of the population aged 18 and over -- or have recovered from COVID-19 during the past three months, are exempt from quarantine if a member of the household is infected.

Individuals with key job functions specified by the Civil Contingencies Agency are also exempt, even if they have not yet had a booster dose. However, their workplace must implement measures to minimize the risk for transmission.

Authorities are also urging those who are exempt to refrain from all forms of physical contact outside the home and workplace.

Testing capacity has reached its limit due to a massive increase in the number of individuals reporting symptoms: during the second week of the year, 520,000 tests were carried out. Therefore, authorities have decided to tweak the priorities for COVID-19 testing. Individuals who can work from home have the lowest priority, while children in primary and secondary school are first in line.

According to the latest statistics released by the Public Health Agency, Sweden reported about 41,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the national tally to over 1.74 million. 
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters , has published its guide of highly acclaimed attorneys for 2022. Each year, no more than 5% of all private attorneys in the United States pass the exhaustive selection process. Yet, for another consecutive year, 11 attorneys at the Los Angeles plaintiff's trial law firm, Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP, earned more than one listing in the 2022 Super Lawyers guide.

To find qualified candidates, Super Lawyers creates the candidate pool based on third-party nominations. Attorneys are not allowed to nominate themselves for consideration; they cannot solicit votes, either. This ensures that all candidates are respected within their local legal communities.

Next, in an independent review, the Super Lawyers research team delves into the extent of each candidate's " peer recognition and professional achievement ." Community involvement and pro bono work, career history and education, case results, and representative clients are among the areas considered.

Finally, candidates are put to a blue ribbon review. This is where final selection is determined. Since Super Lawyers lists attorneys from over 70 practice areas, blue ribbon panelists are tasked with reviewing candidates within their own practice areas. It is, therefore, a rigorous peer review.

In the 2022 Super Lawyers guide, the following Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP attorneys were selected as listed lawyers for El Segundo, CA:

As noted above, these attorneys have been the recipients of Super Lawyers acclaim for years. Some even earned Rising Stars recognition earlier in their careers, which Super Lawyers reserves for up-and-coming legal professionals.

It is very rare for 11 attorneys at the same firm to be chosen for the Super Lawyers guide, giving the Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP team reason to celebrate. The attorneys' top-tier representation has resulted not just in acclaim from Super Lawyers and other organizations, such as U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers; it has also resulted in billions of dollars for those injured. No case is too complex for the firm's award-winning attorney team.

Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP is a premier plaintiff's trial law firm. With decades of experience, its attorneys are known for their integrity and genuine passion for the law. If you have been wronged or injured in Los Angeles, visit the firm online at https://www.gbw.law/ . More information about Super Lawyers may be found at https://www.superlawyers.com/ .

SOURCE Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP
Key Augmented Reality Market Report Highlights:

Market growth 2020-2025: USD 108.57 billion Growth momentum & CAGR: Accelerate at a CAGR of 31.60% YoY growth (%): 29.15% Performing market contribution: APAC at 35% Key consumer countries: US, China , Japan , Germany , UK, and Canada

Want more data and information that is not included in this report? Reach out to our analysts and get this report can be personalized according to your needs. Speak to an Analyst.

Regional Market Analysis

With 35% of the growth originating from APAC, this region will record a fast growth rate during 2021-2025.

The strong presence of the number of automobile giants in the region is rising the demand for Head-up Displays (HUDs) in the APAC market region. Additionally, these players are integrating AR technology to provide an excellent driving experience.

Apart from Head-up Displays, the two key reasons for the increasing augmented reality market's growth in APAC are:

Additionally, the military and defense sector is expected to exhibit a high demand for AR technology in the coming years. AR technology is used to develop applications for training soldiers. These applications are used to create a real-life war situation to provide training to soldiers. For instance, Volkswagen introduced a HUD in Volkswagen Passat. It is a transparent display, which provides information regarding navigation, speed, and guidance. Similarly, BMW introduced color HUDs in the BMW-3 series.

India , China , and Japan are among the countries with a strong military foothold and are constantly adopting advanced technologies. Simulation-based training provided to soldiers assists them in tough, critical environments. As a result, the demand for augmented reality (AR) in APAC is expected to increase.

For Additional Information about the regional market: Request for a free sample report.

Key Vendors and Vendor Strategies

Alphabet Inc., Dynabook Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., PTC Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Upskill, Vuzix Corp. and Zugara Inc. are a few of the key vendors in the augmented reality market.

The vendors in the market are constantly focusing on deploying various organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market. Additionally, established industry participants are expected to acquire or enter into partnerships with small vendors to expand their product portfolios, enter emerging markets, and increase their market share.

For instance:

In September 2021 , WPP partnered with Snap Inc. to launch The AR Lab. The partnership is aimed to enhance customer experience using the social media platform Snapchat through AR.

, WPP partnered with Snap Inc. to launch The AR Lab. The partnership is aimed to enhance customer experience using the social media platform Snapchat through AR. Also, it is imperative for vendors to distinguish their service offerings through a clear and unique value proposition. Furthermore, the market is moving towards fragmentation due to pure-play vendors entering the market for competing with large vendors.

These pure-play vendors are estimated to be approached for acquisition by the other industry players considering their technological capabilities.

Download our free sample report to get a brief understanding about various other vendors and the vendors strategies.

Key Market Drivers

Our analysts have extensively outlined the information on the key market drivers and their impact on the augmented reality AR market.

Rise in the investment of AR technology:

AR has been notified as an emerging technology and a number of major players are significantly investing in technological innovations. Such technology is expected to be implemented in various social media platforms (for virtual communication), smartphones, various automotive devices and also in retail and healthcare industries. Moreover, AR platforms are operated by millions of users it possesses vast processing power as it has to deliver a large amount of data in real-time. Therefore, huge investments are to be done for storing a large amount of data as well as delivering significant results compelling various vendors to invest in AR technology and also engage in a number of partnerships and acquisitions. Thus, these huge investments are estimated to drive the augmented reality (AR) market growth during the forecast period.

To know about a few other market drivers, trends, and challenges.

Download our free sample report

Related Reports:

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Healthcare Market by Component and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market by Technology and Geography  Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025

Augmented Reality (AR) Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 31.60% Market growth 2021-2025 $ 108.57 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 29.15 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution APAC at 35% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, Germany, UK, and Canada Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Alphabet Inc., Dynabook Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., PTC Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Upskill, Vuzix Corp., and Zugara Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Vendor Landscape

The market structure is expected to remain fragmented during the forecast period. Vendors are deploying different organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market.

Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., Delphi Technologies Plc, Schaeffler AG, Sonnax Transmission Co. Inc., SUBARU Corp., Transtar Industries Inc., Valeo SA, Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA, Yutaka Giken Co. Ltd. and ZF Friedrichshafen AG among others are some of the few key vendors competing to maintain their market position in the market.

Various players in the market are engaging in strategies such as launching differentiated products to up their game in the automotive market. Moreover, the well-established players in the regional markets are following the low-price strategy to maintain the competition. Furthermore, the competition based on cost, technology, and design is likely to intensify among the existing players.

View more about the market's vendor landscape highlights with a comprehensive list of vendors and their offerings.

Key Market Segmentation

Segmentation by Type:

Passenger vehicles:



The automotive torque converter market share growth through the passenger vehicles segment will be significant during the forecast period.





The increase in the demand for automatic hydraulic transmission vehicles and CVT passenger vehicles is fueling the global automotive torque converter market growth. The rapid increase in the passenger vehicle segment is expected to boost the demand for torque converters considerably. However, the increase in the demand is mainly because of the rise in sales of passenger cars in APAC. Furthermore, the increased disposable income is prominently driving the passenger vehicle sector in emerging economies in APAC such as India , China and Indonesia .

, and .

Commercial vehicles

Request a FREE Sample of this report for more highlights into the market segments.

Regional Market Outlook

APAC will contribute 58% of the market growth during the forecast period. With the increase in demand for electric vehicles in countries such as China and India, there are also strict regulatory norms being imposed to lower the emission levels. Moreover, these countries are developing rapidly and are also major producers and consumers of automobiles and are home to many automotive component manufacturing units. However, the sales of electric vehicles are expected to go up during the forecast period, boosting the revenue of the region's automotive torque converter market.

Apart from regions, if we look at the country-wise market growth, the US, China, Germany, UK, and Japan will contribute to the highest market growth.

Download our FREE sample report for more key highlights on the regional market share of most of the above-mentioned countries.

Latest Trends, Driving the Global Automotive Torque Converter Market

Market Driver:

Growth in the demand for automatic transmission systems:

The increasing demand for automatic transmission systems is one of the key factors driving the automotive torque converter market growth during the forecast period. Since these automatic transmission systems are more productive than the other transmission systems, the demand for these systems is increasing. Also, these automatic transmission systems are economical and resource-friendly as compared to manual transmission systems. Moreover, with the rising preference of consumers for comfort and safety in vehicles, the demand for installing advanced technologies is also increasing which is impacting the automatic transmission systems positively.

Market Trend:

Advancements of technologies in torque converters:

Technological advancements are improving the efficiency of vehicle operation which is encouraging the manufacturers to focus on optimizing torque converters. In addition, modern torque converters are small in size, less in weight, have a high lockup range, and advanced production processes, and also help in reducing the overall operating costs. Therefore, demand for these torque converters will rise during the forecast period as the manufacturers are focused on enhancing fuel efficiency and also achieving high torque by raising the lock up range in the vehicles.

Find additional information about various other market drivers & trends mentioned in our FREE sample report .

Need More? Are You Looking for Information Not Covered in This Report?

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Related Reports:

Automotive Engine Market by Fuel Type, Arrangement of Cylinder and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025

Automotive Clutch Actuator Market by Application and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025

Automotive Torque Converter Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.52% Market growth 2021-2025 $ 2.14 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 5.76 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution APAC at 58% Key consumer countries US, China, Germany, UK, and Japan Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Inc., Continental AG, Delphi Technologies Plc, Dynamic Manufacturing Inc., EXEDY Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, Schaeffler AG, Sonnax Transmission Co. Inc., SUBARU Corp., Transtar Industries Inc., Valeo SA, Voith GmbH & Co. KGaA, Yutaka Giken Co. Ltd., and ZF Friedrichshafen AG Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Vendor Landscape

The market structure is expected to remain fragmented during the forecast period. Vendors are deploying different organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market.

Cronos Group Inc., Elixinol Global Ltd., Endoca BV, Green Light Acquisitions LLC, Isodiol International Inc., Khiron Life Sciences Corp., LOreal SA, The CBD Skincare Co., The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. and Unilever Group among others are some of the few key vendors competing to maintain their market position in the market.

Various players in the market are engaging in launching differentiated products to up their game in the cosmetic industry. Some vendors are redirecting their marketing efforts toward digital marketing mediums. Many vendors are offering shopping vouchers and discounts to attract customers. Moreover, many vendors in the market focus on the minimal use of packaging materials and prefer to use recycled raw materials for packaging.

View more about the market's vendor landscape highlights with a comprehensive list of vendors and their offerings.

Key Market Segmentation

Segmentation by Product:

Skincare:



This segment includes oils, creams, moisturizers, cleansers, masks, serums, and lotions. A wide variety of CBD-infused skincare cosmetics are available in the market from multiple brands.





The growth of this segment is mainly driven by the increased awareness of the importance of skincare among people globally. Moreover, consumers are willing to spend more on premium skincare products than before. Also, CBD-infused skincare cosmetics manufacturers are consistently focusing on product innovations and new product launches to expand their customer base. For example, in recent years, the market has witnessed an introduction of vegan CBD-infused skincare cosmetics.



Makeup and haircare



Fragrances



Others

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Regional Market Outlook

North America will contribute to 45% of the market growth during the forecast period. The US is the key market in the North America region. The main factors that contribute to the growth of the market in the US are the launch of innovative products, the growing use of online platforms to shop for CBD-infused cosmetics, and the rising awareness and growing adoption of organic cosmetic products. Moreover, organic CBD-infused cosmetics are free from chemicals and are considered good for the skin. Thus, the rise in the use of such products will drive value sales in the CBD-infused cosmetics market in North America.

Apart from the US in the region, if we look at the country-wise market growth, UK, China, Canada and Germany will contribute to the highest market growth.

Download our FREE sample report for more key highlights on the regional market share of most of the above-mentioned countries.

Latest Trends, Driving the Global CBD Infused Cosmetics Market

Market Driver:

Innovation and portfolio expansion leading to product premiumization:

The growing competition and customer demand for innovative products have compelled vendors to start focusing actively on bettering their R&D operations. In addition, vendors are focusing on differentiating themselves from their competitors. Consumers usually look for CBD-infused cosmetics that can address multiple skin-related issues in minimal time. Moreover, consumers also look for products that are effective and easy to use. Hence, customers have started using several cosmetic products, including CBD-infused cosmetic products. This is expected to augment the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Market Trend:

Increase in the introduction of organic CBD cosmetic products:

The rising awareness about hair, skin, and health problems caused by the use of synthetic cosmetic products has increased the demand for organic CBD-infused cosmetic products. The regular application of synthetic cosmetic products can lead to various hair, skin, and health-related issues, such as skin irritation, skin allergies, chemical burns, and various hormonal disorders. Therefore, in the last few years, manufacturers of CBD-infused cosmetics are focused more on organic cosmetic products to attract the attention of more consumers. These organic CBD-infused cosmetics are free from harmful ingredients, such as sulfate and formaldehyde. Thus, the initiative to extend product lines by vendors will further enhance the growth prospect of the market.

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CBD-infused Cosmetics Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 21.42% Market growth 2021-2025 $ 3.07 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 20.74 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution North America at 45% Key consumer countries US, UK, China, Canada, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Cronos Group Inc., Elixinol Global Ltd., Endoca BV, Green Light Acquisitions LLC, Isodiol International Inc., Khiron Life Sciences Corp., LOreal SA, The CBD Skincare Co., The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., and Unilever Group Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis 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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TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTC PINK: PKKFF) ("Tenet" or the "Company"), an innovative Fintech and AI service provider and manager of the Business Hub, today announced that the Company has appointed Ms. Natalie Morrissette as its Vice President of Marketing and Communications for its Tenoris3 division. As part of the Company's executive leadership team, she will lead the direction of Tenoris3, which is the data science company that powers the Business Hub.

Natalie Morrissette has more than 20 years of experience as a pivotal strategist for market growth and leadership for world-class brands. Being a motivational leader, Natalie is capable of creating market leaders through hybrid channels and has successfully catapulted multiple brands to multi-million-dollar revenues in extremely competitive markets. Most recently, she was a strategic consultant contributing to the successful expansion of various national and global brands including Cogeco, National Bank, Government of Australia, Via Rail, Textron, and Pink Lady worldwide. Ms. Morrissette has been a start-up companion, mentoring and accompanying multiple start-ups to success from the ground-up. Prior to her work as a consultant, she held senior positions at Pelmorex Corp (The Weather Network) and Nurun, a world-wide web agency. Natalie also has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.

"I am delighted to join Tenet at this stage where the Company is ready for a rapid expansion to become a global company," said Ms. Morrissette. "I look forward to bringing my experience and expertise to Tenet and developing the Business Hub to become a champion of choices for small- to medium-sized enterprises."

About Tenet Fintech Group Inc.:

Tenet Fintech Group Inc. is the parent company of a group of innovative financial technology (Fintech) and artificial intelligence (AI) companies. Tenet's subsidiaries provide various analytics and AI-based services to financial institutions and businesses through the Business Hub, an ecosystem where data analysis and artificial intelligence are used to facilitate transactions among its members. For more information: http://www.tenetfintech.com

For more information, please contact:

CHF Capital Markets

Cathy Hume, CEO

416-868-1079 ext.: 251

[email protected]

MZ Group - MZ North America

Mark Schwalenberg, CFA

312-261-6430

[email protected]

Tenet Fintech Group

Barry Ellison, Director of Marketing and Communications

514-340-7775 ext.: 521

[email protected]

Follow Tenet Fintech Group Inc. on social media:

Twitter: @Tenetfintech

Facebook: @Tenetfintech

LinkedIn: Tenet Fintech

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Forward-Looking Statements / Information:

This news release may include certain forward-looking information, including statements relating to business and operating strategies, plans and prospects for revenue growth and listing plans, using words including "anticipate", "believe", "could", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "project", "seek", "should", "will", "would" and similar expressions, which are intended to identify a number of these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information reflects current views with respect to current events and is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as may be required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking information.

SOURCE Tenet Fintech Group.
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Students and advocates will encounter American government in action and imagine the future of education policy at a Tennessee Day on the Hill celebration marking National School Choice Week 2022.

Taking place at the Cordell Hull State Building on Tuesday, Jan. 25, the event will be the state's flagship celebration for the Week. Students and advocates from around the state will gather at the Capitol to celebrate the choices families have in ensuring their child receives the best education possible to meet their unique needs. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from engaging speakers and tour the historic Capitol building.

The Tennessee Day on the Hill runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with lunch provided. Community members can register for the free event at https://bit.ly/3zKENAD .

This event is planned to coincide with the history-making celebration of National School Choice Week 2022, which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states.

"Every parent knows that a one-size-fits all approach to educating the one million K-12 students of Tennessee does not work, and yet that is what we have attempted to do for many years," said John Patton, Tennessee State Director of American Federation for Children. "Poll after poll shows that parents support school choice. We should empower parents and prioritize funding students over systems. National School Choice Week is a call to advocate tirelessly for children and families to be able to attend a school where each child will flourish and succeed."

"I am looking forward to National School Choice Week because I am excited to celebrate how schools of all types have come together to help families and students meet the challenges of the last two years," said Victor Evans, Executive Director of TennesseeCAN. "I believe the education system of the future is a diverse one, with diverse options, where families have the power to choose what works best for them. And I believe in a better education system for everyone, and that system has to be one with parent choice at the center."

Event planners for the Tennessee Day at the Capitol include TennesseeCAN and American Federation for Children - Tennessee.

National School Choice Week shines a spotlight on effective K-12 education options for children, focusing equally on traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home education options. Every January, participants plan tens of thousands of celebrations  such as school fairs and open houses to raise awareness about school choice across all 50 states. School Choice Week also develops resources and guides to K-12 education for families. As a not-for-profit effort, the Week is nonpolitical and nonpartisan and does not advocate for legislation. For more information visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
RADNOR, Pa., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

As reported in the Lancet Neurology, daridorexant is the first insomnia medication to demonstrate an effect of a drug therapy to improve both nighttime symptoms and daytime functioning 1

Daridorexant 50 mg, showed significant improvement versus placebo on sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and total sleep time

Daridorexant 50 mg, which was evaluated in one of the two pivotal Phase 3 trials, in addition significantly reduced patient-reported daytime sleepiness, assessed through a new tool validated per FDA guidelines

The overall incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups

Idorsia to host an investor webcast about the Lancet Neurology publication today at 14:00hrs CET

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, US Inc. today announced the publication of "Safety and efficacy of daridorexant in patients with insomnia disorder: results from two multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trials" in The Lancet Neurology. Daridorexant 25 mg and 50 mg improved sleep outcomes, and daridorexant 50 mg also improved daytime functioning, in people with insomnia disorder, with a favorable safety profile.1 The overall incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups in adults and older adults (aged 65 and over) with insomnia.1 As reported, daridorexant 50 mg demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the primary endpoints of sleep onset and maintenance as well as the secondary endpoints of total sleep time and daytime sleepiness.1

Importantly, the trials were the first to investigate the effect of an insomnia treatment on daytime functioning, using a validated patient-reported outcomes tool, which includes three different domains (alert/cognition, mood, and sleepiness).1 Daridorexant 50 mg, which was evaluated in one of the two trials, demonstrated improvements compared to baseline across all daytime functioning domains with a high level of consistency.1

Emmanuel Mignot, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and lead author, commented:

"People with insomnia often complain of impaired daytime functioning. This is a major issue often ignored in treating insomnia and in fact many sleep promoting drugs can impair daytime functioning when they have residual effects. In this program, not only did we see efficacy of daridorexant on sleep induction, maintenance and patient-reported sleep quantity and quality, but importantly, at the dose of 50 mg, on daytime functioning, notably in the sleepiness domain as measured with a new scale, the IDSIQ. Participants in the daridorexant 50 mg group reported improvements in multiple aspects of daytime functioning, as assessed by this newly developed and validated instrument that assessed mood, alert/cognition, and sleepiness. It is exciting to see that insomnia is finally not solely viewed as a nighttime problem but as a cause of daytime suffering."

Efficacy and Safety Outcomes

Daridorexant 50 mg significantly improved sleep onset, sleep maintenance and self-reported total sleep time at months one and three compared to placebo.1 The largest effect was observed with the highest dose (50 mg), followed by 25 mg, while the 10 mg dose did not have a significant effect.1 In all treatment groups the proportions of sleep stages were preserved, in contrast to findings reported with benzodiazepine receptor agonists.1

A major focus of the trials was to evaluate the impact of daridorexant on daytime functioning in patients with insomnia, as assessed by the Insomnia Daytime Symptoms and Impacts Questionnaire (IDSIQ). IDSIQ is a validated patient-reported outcomes instrument specifically developed according to FDA guidelines, including patient input, to measure daytime functioning in patients with insomnia.1,2 The sleepiness domain score of the IDSIQ was evaluated as a key secondary endpoint in both pivotal studies and comparisons to placebo included control for multiplicity. Daridorexant 50 mg demonstrated highly statistically significant improvement in daytime sleepiness at month one and month 3.1 The sleepiness domain score was not significantly improved on 25 mg in either study at either timepoint.1 Daridorexant 50 mg also improved the additional IDSIQ domain scores (alert/cognition domain, mood domain) and total score (p-values < 0.0005 versus placebo not adjusted for multiplicity).1 Improvements in daytime functioning by daridorexant 50 mg progressively increased over the three months of the study.1

The overall incidence of adverse events was comparable between treatment groups.1 Adverse events occurring in more than 5% of participants were nasopharyngitis and headache.1 There were no dose-dependent increases in adverse events across the dosing range, including somnolence and falls.1 Further, no dependence, rebound insomnia or withdrawal effects were observed upon abrupt discontinuation of treatment.1 Across treatment groups, adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation were numerically more frequent with placebo than daridorexant.1

Martine Clozel, MD, and Chief Scientific Officer of Idorsia, commented:

"These data published in The Lancet Neurology highlight the depth of evidence generated in the daridorexant development program and the properties of the drug that I believe explain the results. The drug was designed to have efficacy for sleep onset and maintenance at optimally efficacious doses while avoiding residual morning sleepiness. This profile, together with the equal blockade of both orexin receptors  which may lead to an inhibition of the chronic sympathetic hyperactivity characteristic of insomnia  may explain the improvement we see in daytime functioning with 50 mg of daridorexant."

Daridorexant in insomnia

Insomnia disorder is characterized by difficulties initiating or maintaining sleep and is associated with distress or impairment in daytime functioning.1 A wide range of daytime complaints, from fatigue and reduced energy to mood alteration and cognitive difficulties, are reported by people with insomnia.1

Insomnia is associated with an overactive wake system.3

Daridorexant, a novel dual orexin receptor antagonist, was designed and developed by Idorsia for the treatment of insomnia. Daridorexant targets the excessive wakefulness characteristic of insomnia by blocking the activity of orexin.1,4 Daridorexant specifically targets the orexin system by competitively binding with both receptors, thereby reversibly blocking the activity of orexin.5

Daridorexant is FDA approved in the US under the tradename QUVIVIQ and will become available following scheduling by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in May 2022.

Important Safety Information

QUVIVIQ is a prescription medicine for adults who have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep (insomnia).

Do not take QUVIVIQ if you fall asleep often at unexpected times (narcolepsy).

QUVIVIQ may cause serious side effects, including:

Decreased awareness and alertness. The morning after you take QUVIVIQ, your ability to drive safely and think clearly may be decreased. You may also have sleepiness during the day.

The morning after you take QUVIVIQ, your ability to drive safely and think clearly may be decreased. You may also have sleepiness during the day. Do not take more QUVIVIQ than prescribed.

Do not take QUVIVIQ unless you are able to stay in bed for at least 7 hours before you must be active again.

Take QUVIVIQ at night within 30 minutes before going to bed.

QUVIVIQ is a federally controlled substance because it can be abused or lead to dependence.

Before taking QUVIVIQ, tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:

have a history of depression, mental illness, or suicidal thoughts or actions; drug or alcohol abuse or addiction; a sudden onset of muscle weakness (cataplexy); daytime sleepiness

have lung or breathing problems, including sleep apnea

have liver problems

are pregnant or plan to become pregnant

are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed

Tell your healthcare provider about all of the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements

Taking QUVIVIQ with certain medicines can cause serious side effects. QUVIVIQ may affect the way other medicines work and other medicines may affect the way QUVIVIQ works.

Do not take QUVIVIQ with other medicines that can make you sleepy unless instructed by your healthcare provider.

What should I avoid while taking QUVIVIQ?

Do not drink alcohol while taking QUVIVIQ. It can increase the effects of alcohol, which can be dangerous.

Do not drive, operate heavy machinery, do anything dangerous, or do other activities that require clear thinking if you do not feel fully awake, or you have taken QUVIVIQ and have less than a full night of sleep (at least 7 hours), or if you have taken more QUVIVIQ than prescribed.

QUVIVIQ may cause other serious side effects, including:

Worsening depression and suicidal thoughts. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any worsening depression or thoughts of suicide or dying .

Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any worsening depression or thoughts of suicide or dying Temporary inability to move or talk (sleep paralysis) for up to several minutes, or hallucinations while you are going to sleep or waking up.

Complex sleep behaviors such as sleep-walking, sleep-driving, preparing and eating food, making phone calls, having sex or doing other activities while not fully awake that you may not remember the next morning. Stop taking QUVIVIQ and call your healthcare provider right away if you experience a complex sleep behavior.

The most common side effects of QUVIVIQ are headache and sleepiness.

These are not the only side effects of QUVIVIQ. Call your doctor for advice about side effects.

For more information see the Full Prescribing Information (PI and Medication Guide).

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Notes to the editor

About insomnia

Insomnia is defined as a combination of dissatisfaction with sleep and a significant negative impact on daytime functioning.6 Dissatisfaction with sleep refers to the difficulty to initiate and/or maintain sleep on at least three nights per week for at least three months, despite adequate opportunity to sleep.6

Insomnia is a condition of overactive wake signaling and studies have shown that areas of the brain associated with wakefulness remain more active during sleep in patients with insomnia.7,8

Insomnia is a common problem with a prevalence of approximately 10% of the adult population.9 On this basis, and assuming a US adult population of around 250 million, there are approximately 25 million adults in the US who suffer from insomnia. In Europe, the estimated prevalence of insomnia is 6-12%10 and in Canada, insomnia affects an estimated 10%.11

Insomnia as a disorder is quite different from a brief period of poor sleep, and it can take its toll on both physical and mental health.12 It is a persistent condition with a negative impact on daytime functioning.6 Idorsia's research has shown that poor quality sleep can affect many aspects of daily life, including the ability to concentrate, mood, and energy levels.

The goal of treatments for insomnia is to improve sleep quality and quantity, as well as daytime functioning, while avoiding adverse events and next-morning residual effects. Current recommended treatment of insomnia includes sleep hygiene recommendations, cognitive behavioral therapy, and pharmacotherapy.13

About the orexin system

Wake and sleep signaling is regulated by intricate neural circuitry in the brain. One key component of this process is the orexin system, which helps promote wakefulness.13,14,15 There are two forms of orexin neuropeptides  small protein-like molecules used by nerve cells (neurons) to communicate with each other in the brain  orexin A and orexin B.14 Orexin promotes wakefulness through its receptors OX1R and OX2R. Together, these neuropeptides and receptors make up the orexin system. The orexin system stimulates targeted neurons in the wake system  leading to the release of several chemicals (serotonin, histamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine)  to promote wakefulness.16 Under normal circumstances, orexin levels rise throughout the day as wakefulness is promoted and then fall at night.13 Overactivity of the wake system is an important driver of insomnia.7,8

About Emmanuel Mignot, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University

He is a former student of the Ecole Normale Superieure (Ulm, Paris, France) and received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Paris V and VI University in France. He practiced medicine in France for several years before joining Stanford as a faculty member in 1991 and was named Director of the Stanford Center for Narcolepsy in 1993. Dr. Mignot was named the Craig Reynolds Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 2001. He served as the Director of the Stanford Center of Sleep Sciences and Medicine from 2009 to 2019.

Dr. Mignot is internationally recognized for discovering the cause of narcolepsy. His findings led to the development of new hypnotics that block the hypocretin (orexin) receptor and is likely to have other therapeutic applications as well. His research also demonstrated that narcolepsy is a selective autoimmune disease of the hypocretin system showing the involvement of molecular mimicry in humans with influenza A.

He has received numerous research grants and honors including National Sleep Foundation and National Institute of Health Research Awards, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and McKnight Neuroscience awards, the Narcolepsy Network professional service award, the Drs. C. and F. Demuth 11th Award for Young Investigators in the Neurosciences, the WC Dement Academic Achievement Award in sleep disorders medicine, the CINP and ACNP awards in neuropharmacology and the Jacobaeus prize.

Dr. Mignot is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, the Institute of Medicine, and of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He is the co-author of more than 200 original scientific publications, and he serves on the editorial board of scientific journals in the field of sleep and biology research. Dr. Mignot is an active member of several professional and governmental organizations. He has served as President of the Sleep Research Society, Chair of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research Advisory board of the National institutes of Health, and Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Most of Dr. Mignot's current research focuses on the neurobiology, genetics and immunology of narcolepsy, a disorder caused by hypocretin (orexin) cell loss, with indirect interest in the neuroimmunology of other brain disorders. His laboratory uses state of the art human genetics techniques, such as genome wide association, exome or whole genome sequencing in the study of human sleep and sleep disorders, with parallel studies in animal models. His laboratory is also interested in web-based assessments of sleep disorders, computer-based processing of polysomnography (PSG), and outcomes research. Dr. Mignot serves as a consultant to Idorsia.

Investor webcast

An investor conference call and webcast will be held to discuss the data published in The Lancet Neurology. The call will start with presentations by senior management, followed by a Q&A session (live access to the speakers).

Date: Thursday January 20, 2022

Time: 14:00 CET | 13:00 GMT | 08:00 EST

Webcast participants should visit Idorsia's website www.idorsia.com 10-15 minutes before the webcast is due to start.

Conference call participants should start calling the number below 10-15 minutes before the conference is due to start.

Dial-in: CH: +41 445807145 | UK: +44 (0) 2071 928338 | US: +1 646 7413167

PIN: 3373233

References

Mignot E, et al. Lancet Neurol. 2022; 21: 12539 Hudgens S, et al. Patient. 2020. doi:10.1007/s40271-020-00474-z. Nofzinger EA, et al. Am J Psychiatry. 2004;161(11):2126-2128 Wang C, et al. Front Mol Neurosci. 2018;11:220. Muehlan, C., et al. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2018;104(5): 1022-1029. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Levenson JC, et al. Chest. 2015;147(4):1179-1192. Buysse DJ, et al. Drug Discov Today Dis Models. 2011;8(4):129-137. Schlack R, et al. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2013;56(5-6):740-748. Riemann D, et al. Sleep. 2017;26(6):675-700. Chaput, Statistics Canada; 2018 Dec 19;29(12):16-20. Wardle-Pinkston S, et al. Sleep Med Rev.2019;48:101205. Muehlan C, et al. Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology. 2020 16(11), pp.10631078. Muehlan, C., et al. J Psychopharmacol. 2020;34(3): 326-335. Boof, M. L., et al. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2019;75(2): 195-205. The sleep switch: hypothalamic control of sleep and wakefulness. Clifford B. Saper , Thomas C. Chou and Thomas E. Scammell . TRENDS in Neurosciences Vol.24 No. 12 December 2001

About Idorsia

Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more  We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core.

Headquartered near Basel, Switzerland  a European biotech-hub  Idorsia is specialized in the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecules to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team of professionals covering all disciplines from bench to bedside, state-of-the-art facilities, and a strong balance sheet  the ideal constellation to translate R&D efforts into business success.

Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 900 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets.

For further information, please contact

Andrew C. Weiss

Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil

+41 58 844 10 10

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.idorsia.com

US Media

Christopher Clark

Senior Director, US Head of Communications

Idorsia Pharmaceuticals US, 100 Matsonford Road, Radnor, PA 19087

+1 (215) 421 4887

[email protected]

www.idorsia.us

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

SOURCE Idorsia Pharmaceuticals U.S.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers, The Washington, D.C. Auto Show, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Children's National Hospital come together annually to fight pediatric cancer through the Hyundai Hands On Hope Contest at The Washington, D.C. Auto Show. In 2019, the longstanding "Hands On" contest at The Washington, D.C. Auto Show took a turn decidedly for the better  the contest would still award a winner a brand new Hyundai, but more importantly, as part of the contest, The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers would provide pediatric cancer research grants to Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National. Drawing inspiration from Hyundai Hope on Wheels, the new contest was named "Hands On Hope."

To ensure the safety of contestants, and keep much needed hospital personnel available to fight the pandemic, the vehicle challenge portion of the contest will not occur this year. However, The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers recognize the financial strain the pandemic has put on hospitals, and instead of canceling the contest entirely, they will continue the $100,000 in financial support to Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National.

On Saturday, January 22nd, at 2 p.m., in the Hyundai display at The Washington, D.C. Auto Show (Lower Level, Hall A), The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers will present each hospital with a $50,000 check to support their most critical needs during the pandemic.

For Georgetown Lombardi, the $50,000 will be put towards funding pediatric cancer research. The pandemic has put a financial strain on research, with funds diverted to address the pandemic. However, pediatric cancer, unfortunately, still presses on. "Every 36 minutes a child is diagnosed with pediatric cancer" shared Kevin Reilly, President of The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers. "As such, we need to do all we can to put funds in the hands of researchers finding cures, and saving children's lives," Reilly added.

Jeffery Toretsky, MD, a pediatric oncologist and researcher at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and previous recipient of grant funding from Hyundai Hope on Wheels says such awards allow him and his lab to be more imaginative, even if approaches fail.

"If we, pediatric oncologists, don't aggressively go after novel approaches to creating drugs that are most important for targeting childhood cancer, nobody will. Our work at Georgetown has led to a current clinical trial in Ewing sarcoma. Hyundai Hope on Wheels has provided resources for my team to search outside the box in order to achieve new ways to treat cancer in both children and young adults." Toretsky said.

Children's National is also a leader in the fight against pediatric cancer. "Hyundai Hope On Wheels has fueled some of the most promising cancer research projects underway at Children's National," said Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's National. "We are grateful to Hyundai Hope on Wheels  and all of the dealerships here and around the country  for their partnership and generous support for research in pediatric oncology."

In addition to partnering with Children's National to fight pediatric cancer, Hyundai has partnered (through its charity Hyundai Hope on Wheels) to help fund COVID-19 testing for children. In that same spirit, Children's National will use the financial support of $50,000 to help fund COVID-19 testing.

"This support for urgent COVID-19 relief comes at critical time," says Meghan Delaney, DO, MPH, Division Chief of Pathology and Lab Medicine at Children's National. "With Omicron, it was spreading in the communities and impacting our staff. Washington area Hyundai's dealers' generous gift helps us during this time so we can continue to serve our patients and families who rely on us."

The announcement of the $100,000 in financial support was made today by The Washington, D.C. Auto Show President and CEO John O'Donnell and Kevin Reilly, owner of Alexandria Hyundai, and representative of The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers.

"The Hyundai Hands On Contest has long been a hallmark event at our show," O'Donnell said. "We are thankful for the continued generosity of The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers in supporting our local medical centers to help the most vulnerable among us in their greatest time of need."

"Hyundai has a long history of supporting the fight against pediatric cancer and the Hyundai Hands On Hope Contest contributes to that fight, benefiting two innovators in this field, Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National," Reilly said. "The Washington Area Hyundai dealers are proud to support their great work with $100,000 total in grants, especially during such challenging times."

Hyundai dealers in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as throughout the United States, support Hyundai Hope on Wheels, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is committed to finding cures for pediatric cancer. Hyundai Hope on Wheels is one of the largest non-profit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope on Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 835 U.S. dealers, including the 19 Hyundai dealers that comprise The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers.

In 2021, Hyundai Hope on Wheels awarded researchers at Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National collectively $1 million in pediatric cancer research grants ($500,000 in grants to each institution). "Hyundai Hope on Wheels has long supported the incredible pediatric cancer research undertaken at Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National, and was proud to support their ground breaking research in 2021 with another $1 million in grants" said Reilly, member of the Board of Directors of Hyundai Hope on Wheels.

To date, Hyundai Hope on Wheels has provided over $5 million in pediatric cancer research grants collectively to Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National (approximately $3 million in grants to Georgetown Lombardi and over $2.2 million in grants to Children's National). Since its inception in 1998, Hyundai Hope on Wheels has contributed over $185 million to the fight against pediatric cancer.

The Washington, D.C. Auto Show takes place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, D.C.

The Washington, D.C. Auto Show

The 2022 Washington, D.C. Auto Show opens to the public on Friday, January 21 and runs through Sunday, January 30. It is one of the five top auto shows in the United States and is the largest indoor consumer event in the District of Columbia. The show is being held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where automakers will display over 400 vehicles.

Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a comprehensive cancer center. A part of Georgetown University Medical Center, Georgetown Lombardi is the only comprehensive cancer center in the Washington, D.C., area. It serves as the research engine for MedStar Health, Georgetown University's clinical partner. Georgetown Lombardi is also an NCI recognized consortium with John Theurer Cancer Center/Hackensack Meridian Health in Bergen County, N.J. The consortium reflects an integrated cancer research enterprise with scientists and clinicians from both locations. Georgetown Lombardi seeks to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer through innovative basic, translational and clinical research, patient care, community education and outreach to service communities throughout the Washington region, while its consortium member John Theurer Cancer Center/Hackensack Meridian Health serves communities in northern New Jersey. Georgetown Lombardi is a member of the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (UG1CA239758). Georgetown Lombardi is supported in part by a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA051008).

Children's National Hospital

Children's National Hospital, based in Washington, D.C., was established in 1870 to help every child grow up stronger. Today, it is among the nation's top-10 children's hospitals. It is ranked No. 1 for newborn care for the fifth straight year and ranked in all specialties evaluated by U.S. News & World Report. Children's National is transforming pediatric medicine for all children. The Children's National Research & Innovation Campus opened in 2021, a first-of-its-kind pediatric hub dedicated to developing new and better ways to care for kids. Children's National has been designated three times in a row as a Magnet hospital, demonstrating the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty care locations in the D.C. metropolitan area, including Maryland and Virginia. Children's National is home to the Children's National Research Institute and Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. It is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels. For more information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn .

For more information on The Washington Auto Show please visit: www.washingtonautoshow.com.

Also:

Twitter: @WashAutoShow Facebook: @WashAutoShow Twitter: @MobilityTalks Facebook: @MobilityTalks Twitter: @LombardiCancer Facebook:@GeorgetownLombadi

Twitter: @ChildrensNatl Facebook: @Childrens.national

Twitter: @hopeonwheels

Facebook: @hyundaihopeonwheels

#HANDSONHOPE

#EndChildhoodCancer

SOURCE Washington Auto Show
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- We are pleased to announce that the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, a four-day music festival, now in its 25th year, is just three months away, returning April 14th-17th to The Orleans Hotel and Casino. VLV was voted "Best Music Festival in Vegas" (2019) and is also the Longest Running Music Festival in Las Vegas and the Largest Rockabilly Event in the World. VLV attracts some of the most eye-catching, stylish, head-turning people you will ever see in one place.

This year's VLV will feature 80 bands, 30 DJs, a Classic Car Show, a Burlesque Showcase and Competition, a Vintage Fashion Show, Dance Lessons and Competition, Tiki Pool Parties, Swimsuit Contests, Burlesque Bingo, a Pin-Up Contest, over 120 Vendors, Record Hops till 7am, and more.

Some of the biggest attractions this year include: The Blasters, The Rhythm Shakers, and Big Sandy & the Flyrite Boys performing at the Car Show on Saturday, April 18th. Filmmaker and comedian John Waters will host three VLV Burlesque Showcases on Friday Apr. 15th in the afternoon and evening in the Orleans Showroom.

The Viva Las Vegas Car Show is one of the largest classic car shows in North America, featuring 8001,000 vintage cars, all pre-1964, as well as famous movie cars, the annual VLV Pin-up Contest, and 5 bands. One day tickets are available for the car show and children of all ages are welcome. Kids under age 15 get in free with an adult.

VLV is held at The Orleans Hotel and Casino, 4500 West Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89103. Tickets are available for the event until they sell out. VLV works with several hotels to provide discounts to accommodate the fans, listed on the website. VLV is compliant with all state and county health and safety requirements, and Covid updates are included on the website.

SOURCE Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend
DUBLIN, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Lung Cancer Screening Market, Size, Global Forecast 2022-2027, Industry Trends, Share, Growth, Impact of COVID-19, Opportunity Company Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to the report estimates, Lung Cancer Screening Market is projected to reach US$ 16.7 Billion by 2027, from US$ 15.4 Billion in 2021.



In recent years, lung cancer screening has enabled the detection of lung cancer before symptoms begin. Besides, the main aim of lung cancer screening is to detect lung cancer at its earliest and most treatable stage. Collectively, screening tests involve lab tests that monitor blood and other fluids, genetic tests that study for inherited genetic markers associated with illness, and imaging exams that produce pictures of the inside of the body. In addition, in lung cancer screening, individuals who have a high risk of developing lung cancer but no signs or symptoms of the disease undergo low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scanning of the chest.

Globally, these screening is typically available to the general population. However, an individual's needs for a specific screening test are based on age, gender, and family history. Consequently, the lung cancer screening industry is thriving owing to the surge in the incidence of lung cancer due to the rising smoking population, technological progressions in screening, and expanding government support for the early detection of incidents. Moreover, strategic collaborations and renewed recommendations and guidelines on screening are also likely to surge the market growth in the coming years.

The evolution of the pandemic initially influenced the screening programs globally, particularly in the developed countries, owing to travel constraints and lockdowns imposed by governments. This commenced a decline in the number of people screened for this type of cancer. However, the resumption of services during the latter stages of Q2 and H2 2020 led to an expansion in the number of patients screened. This boost compensated for the decline in patients during H1 2020.



Nonetheless, the market is projected to display actual growth post-COVID-19 due to the escalation in demand for imaging solutions as non-essential operations and consultations were forced to be rescheduled when the general mortality ratio settled down. Further, these increase the need for screening and analytical equipment such as MRI, X-ray machinery, and automated tomography systems. The Global Lung Cancer Screening Industry will grow with a nominal CAGR of 1.4% during 2021-2027.



Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Segment Holds Dominant Market Share:

Based on cancer type, the global lung cancer screening industry is segmented into non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer. As per the analysis, the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) segment constitutes the highest market share worldwide throughout the period studied. The dominant market share is driven by the deepening awareness about screening in developed and developing countries coupled with the growing cases of NSCLC across the globe.



For instance, as per the American Cancer Society, overall, about 84% of all lung cancers are non-small cell, and 13% are SCLC, as published in January 2021. Contrarily, the small cell lung cancer segment is also expected to capture a growing market share during the forecast period. Further, the surge in the expanding prevalence consolidated with the mounting initiatives by government and non-profit organizations towards initial screening and diagnosis are anticipated to support the small cell lung cancer segment.



Hospitals & Clinics are the Number One Ranking End-User Alternative:

Based on end-user, the market is classified into Hospitals & Clinics, Diagnostic Centers and Research institutes. The increasing inclination of patients towards hospitals for cancer screening, the rising number of hospitals in emerging countries, and the strong network of hospitals in the developed countries create a scenario making the hospitals & clinics ranking number one during the forecast period.



Additionally, the growing awareness among the general society, and the growing number of screening applications in healthcare facilities, are also prone to promote the lung cancer screening market growth in the forecasted years. Moreover, the diagnostic centres' segment is expected to capture a comparatively higher market share associated with the expanding collaborations between healthcare providers & payers with diagnostic facilities to offer screening programs and the rising number of diagnostic centres in developed countries worldwide.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research & Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Growth Drivers

4.2 Challenges



5. Global Lung Cancer Screening Market and Volume Analysis

5.1 Market

5.2 Volume



6. Global Lung Cancer Screening Share Analysis

6.1 By Cancer Type

6.2 By End User

6.3 By Regions



7. Cancer Type - Global Lung Cancer Screening Market

7.1 Non-Small-cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

7.2 Small-cell Lung Cancer



8. End User - Global Lung Cancer Screening Market

8.1 Hospitals & Clinics

8.2 Diagnostic Centers

8.3 Research Institute

8.4 Others



9. Country - Lung Cancer Screening Statistics



10. Porters Five Forces



11. Company Analysis

11.1 llumina, Inc.

11.1.1 Overviews

11.1.2 Recent Developments

11.1.3 Revenues

11.2 Abbott Laboratories

11.2.1 Overviews

11.2.2 Recent Developments

11.2.3 Revenues

11.3 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc

11.3.1 Overviews

11.3.2 Recent Developments

11.3.3 Revenues

11.4 QIAGEN N.V.

11.4.1 Overviews

11.4.2 Recent Developments

11.4.3 Revenues

11.5 Roche Holding AG.

11.5.1 Overviews

11.5.2 Recent Developments

11.5.3 Revenues

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ffbpmn

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 vaccination does not affect the chances of conceiving a child, according to a new study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In the study involving more than 2,000 couples, researchers found no differences in the chances of conception if either male or female partner had been vaccinated, compared to unvaccinated couples, according to the results published Thursday.

However, couples had a slightly lower chance of conception if the male partner had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 within 60 days before a menstrual cycle, suggesting that COVID-19 could temporarily reduce male fertility, according to the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The study enrolled 2,126 females residing in the United States or Canada during December 2020 to September 2021 and followed them through November 2021.

The participants completed questionnaires every eight weeks on sociodemographics, lifestyle, medical factors, and partner information.

The researchers found no major differences in conception rates per menstrual cycle between unvaccinated and vaccinated couples in which at least one partner had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

"The findings provide reassurance that vaccination for couples seeking pregnancy does not appear to impair fertility," said Diana Bianchi, director of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded the study.

"They also provide information for physicians who counsel patients hoping to conceive," Bianchi said. 
MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DALBAR is excited to congratulate the winners of the 2021 Annuity Service Award which recognizes those firms providing the highest quality customer service in the industry. As the nation's leading independent evaluator of the customer experience within financial services, DALBAR knows a thing or two about customer service. This year's winners stand out from their peers in the overall quality of their telephone support to annuity contact owners. The 2021 winners (listed alphabetically) are:

AIG Life & Retirement

Guardian Life Retirement Contact Center

Putting this achievement into context, DALBAR Director Brendan Yeager explains, "The ongoing pandemic has presented real challenges for customer service. Nearly two years in, the overwhelming majority of contact centers are still operating remotely, putting added pressure on phone representatives and making it a lot more difficult to really focus on delivering outstanding service experiences. Fortunately, nothing can slow down this year's award winners; in fact, these firms both improved on their already stellar service from before the pandemic began. AIG Life & Retirement and Guardian clearly put their customers first and are not going to let anything prevent them from delivering a superior standard of care."

DALBAR invites all firms to check on their performance, as measured by DALBAR, by visiting their award winner page.

The DALBAR Service Award is based on a thorough and independent year-long audit of the quality of contact center interactions. In order to earn recognition, companies must perform at a high level in criteria looking at all aspects of the service experience, including relationship building, transactional elements, and expertise, among others. These criteria are based on industry best practices and superior service standards.

DALBAR, Inc. has a 45-year history and is recognized by industry and government as an independent third-party expert in the business of providing audits, evaluations, ratings, and due diligence. DALBAR certifications are recognized as a mark of excellence in the financial services community.

SOURCE DALBAR, Inc.
ALTAMONT, N.Y., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Schweiger Dermatology Group, the leading dermatology practice in the Northeast, has announced the acquisition of Theta Dermatology in Altamont, New York. Founded by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Theta Pattison, Theta Dermatology has served patients in New York's Capital District since 1995.

"Schweiger Dermatology aligns with our practice by focusing on excellent patient care first," says Dr. Pattison. "By partnering with Schweiger Dermatology, I will be able to spend less time running a practice and more time taking care of my patients. I look forward to working for many more years with Schweiger Dermatology." Dr. Pattison, a longtime resident of the Albany area, attended Albert Einstein School of Medicine and performed her dermatology residency at New York University.

"We are proud to welcome Dr. Pattison and her medical team to Schweiger Dermatology Group," says Kevin Schirf, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Schweiger Dermatology Group. "With Dr. Pattison's stellar reputation for exceptional patient care, it made sense to partner with her in expanding our footprint in New York's capital region. As always, we are committed to serving patients in the Northeast with the highest quality dermatology care."

Schweiger Dermatology Group, founded in 2010 by Eric Schweiger, MD, offers excellent health care from the country's leading dermatology providers throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They are known for same day and extended hour appointment availability as well as modern offices in convenient locations.

Along with Dr. Pattison, Erin Winter, MD, Mary Spratt, RPA-C, Karyn Pauze, RPA-C, Samantha Lagace, RPA-C, Kelley E. Powers, MPA PA-C, and Allison Potolski, RPA-C join Schweiger Dermatology Group.

The new office is located at:

Schweiger Dermatology Group, Altamont

2508 Western Avenue

Altamont, NY 12009

(518) 690-0177

About Schweiger Dermatology Group

Schweiger Dermatology Group is the largest group dermatology practice in the Northeast with over 90 offices and over 250 healthcare providers. SDG provides both medical and cosmetic dermatology services to over 1,000,000 patients annually. Schweiger Dermatology Group has been named to Crain's New York Fast 50, honoring the fastest growing companies in New York and to Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America, each over five times. To learn more, visit schweigerderm.com .

Media Contact:

Melissa Schweiger Kleinman

[email protected]

SOURCE Schweiger Dermatology Group
At a base case 0.50% copper cut-off grade and constrained within a limiting pit shell, the Bornite Project is estimated to contain in-pit indicated mineral resources of 41.7 million tonnes grading 1.04% copper for 955 million pounds of contained copper and in-pit inferred mineral resources of 93.9 million tonnes grading 0.98% copper for 2.0 billion pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details).

for 955 million pounds of contained copper and in-pit inferred mineral resources of for 2.0 billion pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details). Below the resource limiting pit shell, and at a base case cut-off grade of 1.5% copper, the combined South Reef and Ruby Zone is estimated to contain additional inferred mineral resources of 50.3 million tonnes grading 2.97% copper for 3.3 billion pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details).

for 3.3 billion pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details). The South Reef area, which represents the bulk of the resources located below the pit shell, has inferred mineral resources estimated at 35.3 million tonnes grading 3.39% copper for 2.6 billion pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details).

for 2.6 billion pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details). Below the resource pit shell, the Ruby Zone has inferred mineral resources estimated to be 15 million tonnes grading 1.98% copper for 653 million pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details).

for 653 million pounds of contained copper (see Table 1 for details). The total cobalt inferred mineral resource (in-pit and below pit), based on a cut-off grade of 0.5% copper, is 185.8 million tonnes grading 0.021% cobalt for 88 million pounds of contained cobalt (see Table 2 for details).

The sensitivity of mineral resources located below the pit shell to the cut-off grade is shown in Table 3 for the South Reef area and in Table 4 for the Ruby Zone.

This mineral resource estimate was prepared for Trilogy Metals Inc. by Robert Sim, P.Geo., SIM Geological Inc. ("SGI") and Bruce M. Davis, FAusIMM, ("BMD"), who are both independent Qualified Persons as set forth by National Instrument 43-101. A National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) technical report detailing the mineral resource estimate for the Bornite Project will be completed and filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within 45 days of this news release.

Table 1. Estimate of Copper Mineral Resources for the Bornite Project

Class Type Cut-off (Cu%) Tonnes Average Grade Contained Metal (million) Cu (%) Cu (Mlbs) Indicated In-Pit 0.5 41.7 1.04 955

Total Indicated

41.7 1.04 955 Inferred In-Pit 0.5 93.9 0.98 2,034 Inferred Below-Pit South Reef 1.5 35.3 3.39 2,639 Inferred Below-Pit Ruby Zone 1.5 15.0 1.98 653

Total Inferred

144.1 1.68 5,326

Notes:

(1) Resources stated as contained within a pit shell developed using a metal price of US$3.50/lb copper, mining costs of US$3.00/tonne, milling costs of US$11.00/tonne, underground mining cost of US$65.00/tonne, G&A cost of US$5.00/tonne, 87% metallurgical recoveries and an average pit slope of 43 degrees. (2) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. (3) It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to Indicated mineral resources with additional exploration.

Table 2. Estimate of Cobalt Mineral Resources for the Bornite Project

Class Type Cut-off (Cu%) Tonnes Average Grade Contained Metal (million) Co (%) Co (Mlbs) Inferred In-Pit 0.5 135.6 0.017 51 Inferred Below-Pit South Reef 1.5 35.3 0.039 30 Inferred Below-Pit Ruby Zone 1.5 15.0 0.021 7

Total Inferred

185.8 0.021 88

Notes:

(1) Mineral Resources stated as contained within a pit shell developed using a metal price of US$3.50/lb copper, mining costs of US$3.00/tonne, milling costs of US$11.00/tonne, underground mining cost of US$65.00/tonne, G&A cost of US$5.00/tonne, 87% metallurgical recoveries and an average pit slope of 43 degrees. (2) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. (3) It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to Indicated mineral resources with additional exploration. (4) Due to limited sample data, none of the cobalt mineral resource meets the confidence level for Indicated-class mineral resources. All cobalt mineral resources are considered to be in the Inferred category.

Table 3. Sensitivity to Cut-Off Grade of Inferred Mineral Resources Below the Base Case Pit Shell in the South Reef Area

Inferred Cut-off (Cu %) Tonnes (million) Average Grade Contained Metal Cu (%) Co (%) Cu (Mlbs) Co (Mlbs) 1.00 60.3 2.51 0.028 3,339 37 1.25 42.2 3.07 0.035 2,861 32 1.50 Base Case 35.3 3.39 0.039 2,639 30 1.75 31.8 3.57 0.041 2,499 29 2.00 29.8 3.67 0.043 2,413 28

Notes:

(1) Base case cut-off grade of 1.50% copper is shown in bold in the table. (2) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. (3) It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to Indicated mineral resources with additional exploration.

Table 4. Sensitivity to Cut-Off Grade of Inferred Mineral Resources Below the Base Case Pit Shell in the Ruby Zone

Inferred Cut-off (Cu %) Tonnes (million) Average Grade Contained Metal Cu (%) Co (%) Cu (Mlbs) Co (Mlbs) 1.00 48.7 1.5 0.019 1,604 21 1.25 26.8 1.75 0.02 1,033 12 1.50 Base Case 15.0 1.98 0.021 653 7 1.75 7.8 2.2 0.022 378 4 2.00 3.1 2.41 0.022 165 2

Notes:

(1) Base case cut-off grade of 1.50% copper is shown in bold in the table. (2) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. (3) It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to Indicated mineral resources with additional exploration.

Tony Giardini, President and CEO of Trilogy, commented, "As seen in Figure 1, the Bornite and Arctic projects not only have a significant amount of copper but both assets also have some of the highest grades in the world and easily stand apart from our copper peers. I want to also note that the rationale of this updated resource estimate is to highlight the South Reef area which, based on drilling, appears to be amenable to underground bulk mining methods due to its exceptional mineralized widths and continuity. While our Ambler Metals Joint Venture team has been focused on the Arctic Project, which is located 24 kilometers from Bornite, we want to remind investors that Bornite is also a very compelling copper-cobalt project and is one of the highest-grade undeveloped copper assets in the world. We will now pass along this resource estimate to the Ambler Metals Joint Venture team which will look at ways at integrating this asset with our other assets within the UKMP."

Richard Gosse, Vice-President Exploration for Trilogy, commented, "The current resource update confirms the significant size and copper grades at the Bornite project and puts the spotlight on the high-grade resource in the South Reef area, which is being separately reported in the below-pit inferred resource category in this update. Besides its exceptional grade, South Reef is characterized by good thickness and continuity, and its discovery in 2011, more than 60 years after copper was first discovered at Bornite, points to the excellent exploration potential for other Bornite-type deposits nearby in the Cosmos Hills and the Ambler Lowlands."

Notes:

(1) Peer group data as per latest company documents and public filings. (2) Assumes all assets on a 100% basis. Trilogy has a 50% interest in the UKMP which includes the Arctic and Bornite Projects.

Comparison of 2018 and 2021 Resource Estimates

Table 5 shows a comparison between the 2018 resource estimate and the current estimate of mineral resources. As can be seen below, the Indicated and Inferred in-pit resource tonnage estimates increased by 3% and 12%, respectively. While the below-pit resource tonnage decreased by 13%, the average copper grade increased from 2.89% to 2.97%. Total inferred resource tonnage (in-pit and below-pit) decreased by about 2%.

Table 5. Comparison of Current and Previous Resource Estimates for the Bornite Deposit

Class Type Cut-off

(Cu %) December 2021 June 2018 Tonnes (million) Average

Grade Cu (%) Contained

Metal Cu

(Mlbs) Tonnes

(million) Average

Grade Cu (%) Contained

Metal Cu

(Mlbs) Indicated In-Pit 0.5 41.7 1.04 955 40.5 1.02 913 Inferred In-Pit 0.5 93.9 0.98 2,034 84.1 0.95 1,768 Inferred Below-Pit 1.5 50.3 2.97 3,292 57.8 2.89 3,683 Inferred Total Inferred 144.1 1.68 5,326 141.9 1.74 5,450

Factors that contribute to the changes in mineral resources are summarized as follows:

The current mineral resource estimate includes the results of drilling that was conducted in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but the 2017 drill holes were too widely spaced to support updated mineral resources on the northern (down-dip) part of the deposit at that time. The additional drilling had no impact on the distribution of mineral resources in the Indicated category located inside the resource pit shell. Most of the new drilling was located along the northern, down-dip side of the deposit, or in the vicinity of the South Reef area. These additional drill holes generally resulted in a slight reduction in the volume (tonnage) of mineral resources, but with a corresponding increase in both copper and cobalt grades.

The interpretations of geologic domains and trend planes were updated based on all available drilling information. The differences in these interpretations compared to the previous resource estimate are relatively minor.

The projected operating costs and metal prices used to generate the resource constraining pit shell were updated to reflect the current mining environment. The mining cost was increased, by 50% from US$2.00 /tonne to US$3.00 /tonne and the copper price was increased from US$3.00 /lb to US$3.50 /lb. These changes have resulted in a slightly larger resource constraining pit shell, which generally increased the volume of open-pit mineral resources and decreased the amount of underground mineral resources.

/tonne to /tonne and the copper price was increased from /lb to /lb. These changes have resulted in a slightly larger resource constraining pit shell, which generally increased the volume of open-pit mineral resources and decreased the amount of underground mineral resources. The new mineral resource estimate was subjected to a critical review of the continuity of grade and thickness of mineralization below the pit shell; this was completed to ensure that the mineral resource exhibits reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction using underground mining methods. This process has eliminated some of the more isolated mineralized areas that were present in the previous mineral resource estimate.

2017-2019 Drilling Campaigns

During the summer of 2017, seven drill holes were completed, totaling 8,437 meters, that tested the down-dip continuity of the northern part of the Bornite deposit. As stated previously, the spacing of these holes was considered too far apart to support the generation of additional mineral resource estimates at that time, and as a result, the estimate of copper mineral resources remained unchanged in the June 2018 report from those reported in the previous technical report dated April 2016. However, the June 2018 technical report did include, for the first time, an estimate of cobalt mineral resources for the Bornite Project.

In the summer of 2018, Trilogy Metals conducted a drilling program on the Bornite property that included the completion of 12 holes totaling 10,123 meters that, in part, filled the gaps in previous drilling in the northern, down-dip part of the deposit.

In the summer of 2019, another drilling program, totaling 7,610 metres, was conducted on the property comprising eight holes that tested the continuity of the mineralization within the Bornite deposit and two holes that tested exploration targets located about 1 km south and southeast of the deposit.

Database and Methodology

The project database comprises a total of 273 diamond drill (core) holes totaling 106,406 meters, including 203 holes that targeted the Ruby Zone to the west and 58 holes that targeted the South Reef area to the east. The remaining 12 holes in the database were exploratory in nature and tested for satellite mineralization proximal to the Bornite deposit or represent holes that encountered problems and were therefore abandoned. The database contains a total of 39,740 samples that were analyzed for copper content and 34,177 samples that were analyzed for cobalt content. Most holes were drilled by Trilogy Metals, plus a few select historical holes drilled by Kennecott Mines Company, containing additional analyses for elements such as zinc, lead, gold, silver, and cobalt. At this time, only copper and cobalt show any significant economic potential, and the others were excluded from the estimation of mineral resources.

Grade estimates are made into model blocks measuring 5m x 5m x 5m, using ordinary kriging with sample data composited to 2-meter intervals. The copper and cobalt resource models were validated using a combination of a visual review and statistical comparisons with models generated using other estimation methods. The effects of potentially anomalous high grade sample data were controlled using a combination of traditional top cutting as well as restricting the distance of influence during block grade interpolation. Copper and cobalt resources in the Inferred category occur within a maximum distance of 100 meters from a drill hole and exhibit reasonable confidence in the grade and continuity of mineralization. Copper resources included in the Indicated category are considered amenable to open-pit extraction methods and are delineated with holes spaced at a maximum distance of 75 meters. Note that there is less available cobalt sample data and, as a result, none of the cobalt mineral resource is included in the Indicated category. A portion of the mineral resource has been constrained within a pit shell generated based on the copper content in the model using a copper price of US$3.50/lb, mining operating costs of US$3.00/tonne, processing costs of US$11.00/tonne and G&A costs of US$5.00/tonne, copper process recovery of 87% and a pit slope of 45 degrees. Mineral resources located below the pit shell are based on an assumed mining cost of US$65.00/tonne and exhibit the continuity and thickness to be considered amenable to underground extraction methods such as longhole stoping and cut-and-fill mining. It is assumed that extraction from the Bornite deposit is based on the copper content in the rocks and that cobalt would be a secondary contributor to the potential economic viability of the deposit. As a result, both copper and cobalt mineral resource estimates are defined based on a copper cut-off grade threshold.

Location and Distribution of Mineral Resources

The location of the Bornite Project is shown in Figure 2. The distribution of open pit and underground mineral resources at the South Reef and Ruby Zone are shown in Figures 3 and 4.

Geology and Mineralization

The Bornite deposit is located approximately 24 km southwest of the Arctic deposit, subject of Trilogy's Feasibility Study completed in 2020, that will be served by the Ambler Access Road. Bornite is a carbonate-hosted copper deposit with associated cobalt and is made up of three stratabound copper bodies or 'reefs' that plunge northeast at about -25 degrees. These include the Lower and Upper Reefs, referred to as the Ruby Zone, with both in-pit and below-pit resources. Approximately 250 meters southeast of the Ruby Zone is the South Reef Zone, discovered in 2011. South Reef's 2% copper shell starts at about 400 meters below surface and plunges to the northeast at about -25 degrees to approximately 1,000 meters below surface. The true thickness of the resource at South Reef is variable, ranging from 5 meters to over 40 meters and averages about 15-20 meters.

The geology of the Bornite resource area is composed of alternating intervals of carbonate rocks (limestone and dolostone) and calcareous phyllite. Limestone transitions laterally into dolostone near zones of mineralization and is hydrothermally altered. Copper mineralization at Bornite is comprised of chalcopyrite, bornite, and chalcocite as stringers, veinlets, and breccia fillings distributed in stacked, roughly stratabound zones exploiting favorable stratigraphy.

Cobalt mineralization at Bornite is comprised of cobaltiferous pyrite within and enveloping the copper mineralized zones and carrollite and cobaltite directly associated with copper bearing minerals.

2021 Exploration Activities

During the 2021 field season, field mapping and relogging of drill core advanced the understanding of the Bornite deposit, and the potential for additional deposits was advanced with a new interpretation of the carbonate sequence at Bornite and an improved structural understanding of the Cosmos Hills. The Bornite sequence is now interpreted as a tectonized "normal" carbonate slope deposit that consists of calcitic material (lime mud) derived from a nearby shallow-marine source area, interlayered with variable amounts of terrigenous mud. Importantly, superimposed on the active limestone slope system is the local presence of dolostone-clast conglomerate that are likely derived from subaqueous horst blocks of pre-existing older dolostone that shed into the slope limestone system. The fault scarp(s) that shed dolostone clasts were probably part of a seafloor paleo-topographic system that developed during regional extension and associated fault-mediated syn-depositional subsidence. Proximal-distal relationships may help locate structures that delivered mineralizing fluids because dolostone conglomerates dominate the stratigraphy in the mineralized areas of the Bornite deposit. Massive sulphide distribution and characteristics suggest that syn-sedimentary faults associated with dolostone-clast conglomerates may have later served as conduits for mineralizing fluids. A better understanding of the configuration of the sedimentary system is recommended as its characteristics could assist in future exploration looking for other Bornite-style deposits.

Qualified Persons

Robert Sim, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, is responsible for the estimate of mineral resources presented in this news release and has reviewed, verified, and approved the contents of this news release as they relate to the mineral resource estimate, including the sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the mineral resource estimate. Mr. Sim is independent from Trilogy Metals and confirms there were no limitations from the company in verifying the drilling and sample data with site visit observations and monitoring of the QA/QC program.

Richard Gosse, Vice President of Exploration for Trilogy, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Gosse has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this news release and approves the disclosure contained herein.

About Trilogy Metals

Trilogy Metals Inc. is a metal exploration and development company which holds a 50 percent interest in Ambler Metals LLC which has a 100 percent interest in the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects ("UKMP") in Northwestern Alaska. On December 19, 2019, South32, a globally diversified mining and metals company, exercised its option to form a 50/50 joint venture with Trilogy. The UKMP is located within the Ambler Mining District which is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts located in one of the safest geopolitical jurisdictions in the world. It hosts world-class polymetallic VMS deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high-grade copper and cobalt mineralization. Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler Mining District  the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within a land package that spans approximately 181,387 hectares. Ambler Metals has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., an Alaska Native Corporation that provides a framework for the exploration and potential development of the Ambler Mining District in cooperation with local communities. Trilogy's vision is to develop the Ambler Mining District into a premier North American copper producer.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to the future demand for and price of cobalt, the future price of copper, the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the realization of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, the South Reef Zone appearing to be amenable to underground bulk mining methods, the possible integration of the Bornite Project within the UKMP, the filing and timing of an updated Technical Report on the Bornite Project, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects, the potential future development of Bornite, the future operating or financial performance of the Company, planned expenditures and the anticipated activity at the UKMP, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties; exploration plans and budgets; mineral reserves and resource estimates; work programs; capital expenditures; timelines; strategic plans; market prices for precious and base metals; or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the uncertainties involving success of exploration, development and mining activities, permitting timelines, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses; mineral reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions upon which they are based; capital estimates; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services the interpretation of drill results, the need for additional financing to explore and develop properties and availability of financing in the debt and capital markets; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests and the estimation of reserves and resources; the need for cooperation of government agencies and native groups in the development and operation of properties as well as the construction of the access road; the need to obtain permits and governmental approvals; risks of construction and mining projects such as accidents, equipment breakdowns, bad weather, non-compliance with environmental and permit requirements, unanticipated variation in geological structures, metal grades or recovery rates; unexpected cost increases, which could include significant increases in estimated capital and operating costs; fluctuations in metal prices and currency exchange rates; and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended November 30, 2020 filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and in other Company reports and documents filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time. The Company's forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

This press release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all resource and reserve estimates included in this press release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended ("CIM Definition Standards"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and resource and reserve information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term "resource" does not equate to the term "reserves". Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. The SEC's Industry Guide 7 did not permit the inclusion of information concerning "mineral resources". The SEC's new mining disclosure rules under Regulation S-K 1300 are closer, but not identical to NI 43-101 and CIM Definition Standards. As the Company is not yet subject to Regulation S-K 1300, it remains subject to SEC industry Guide 7. Bornite does not have known reserves, as defined under SEC Industry Guide 7. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth herein may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards under either SEC's Industry Guide 7 or Regulation S-K 1300.

SOURCE Trilogy Metals Inc.
CINCINNATI, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Institute & University's (UI&U) The Institute for Social Justice (TISJ), founded to provide innovative and practical solutions for the challenges to social justice around the world, announced today its One Just World Resource Center is seeking community input and action partners. Everyone is invited to share their voice on monthly topics which will help guide TISJ as it continues to plan and build content, resources and programs. It is also seeking influencers, changemakers, and organizations that have made a positive impact in bringing about social justice. This outreach and inclusion of community voices is considered an essential step in TISJ's focus on expanding social justice, from the ground-up.

Submissions can be made via One Just World Resource Center https://www.tisj.myunion.edu/resource-center. The many voices will help TISJ understand and identify what the community needs most as well as inform development of helpful resources.

"TISJ is strongly committed to engaging, collaborating, and creating with those who have already found a way to make a difference," said Betsy Martin, Executive Director, TISJ. As an example, the Bob Moses Educational Series is one of the first initiatives under development at TISJ. This changemaker's model of group-centered leadership, which empowered Black people with voting rights and youth with math skills, has inspired many of the community-building initiatives TISJ is putting in place.

"We want to provide guidance, resources, and tools to help individuals and organizations take action in a way that provides meaningful impact," said Martin. "We understand that this may look different depending on your point of view and your community. This is why we are asking everyone to lend their voice to the conversation  Log in and speak up, we're listening!"

The One Just World Resource Center will provide individual and organizational support services, including helpful content, interactive events, opportunity to connect in action projects. The input received via the Resource Center, will inspire experiences offered across the entire One Just World platform, including the Digital Library of videos, podcasts, webinars, articles, papers, and research; Virtual Coffee, which hosts conversations and networking; Virtual Community, which provides both physical and digital work and meeting spaces; Book Circle, which organizes social justice book-sharing, discussions, and author events; and Online Events, that will include webinars, podcasts, and discussions.

About TISJ

The Institute for Social Justice exists to impact society through participatory and democratic work with individuals and organizations. Beginning with reflective abilities and systemic awareness, it creates organizational and social structures that no longer perpetuate injustice in society. TISJ applies theory to practice through a coalition of thought leaders who are scholar-practitioners, philanthropists, policymakers, community advocates, and others committed to promoting social justice and equity in the U.S. and globally through research, education, and policy. Since its founding in 1964, UI&U has focused on academic excellence, creativity, diversity, and integrity. TISJ aims to reach significant and clear progress toward social justice by advocating for equality, valuing diversity, and committing to an innovative teaching and learning environment that shrinks economic disparities and eliminates racism. TISJ connects programs and individuals that are committed to providing "innovative and pragmatic solutions" globally. To learn more about The Institute for Social Justice, visit tisj.myunion.edu.

About Union Institute & University

Founded in 1964, Union Institute & University has been a nonprofit pioneer in educating adults through distance learning. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, Union Institute & University offers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degree programs, as well as certificates designed for those seeking to make a difference in their own lives and within their communities. The university offers specialized online and low residency degree programs with high-touch faculty attention, designed for students regardless of where they live and work. Union's flexible delivery models emphasize relevant and transformative coursework taught by a national faculty of scholar-practitioners. Union graduates  including two dozen college presidents, leaders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, members of the United States Congress, and the first female prime minister of Jamaica  promote Union's legacy of utilizing education to transform lives and communities. Based in Cincinnati, UI&U has additional Academic Centers in California (Los Angeles and Sacramento) and Florida (hollywood). To learn more about Union Institute & University, visit www.myunion.edu or call 1-800-861-6400.

SOURCE Union Institute & University
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released the report, The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail which examines current approaches to reforming the pre-trial and bail systems in the U.S. criminal justice system. The report reveals that between 1970 and 2015, there was a 433% increase in the number of individuals who have been detained pre-trial, and pre-trial detainees represent a larger proportion of the total incarcerated population.

Among the report's observations:

There were stark racial and gender disparities, with higher pre-trial detention rates and financial conditions of release imposed on Black and Latinx individuals, when compared with other demographic groups) and gender. Men are less likely than women to be granted non-financial release, for example, and face higher bail amounts.

with higher pre-trial detention rates and financial conditions of release imposed on Black and Latinx individuals, when compared with other demographic groups) and gender. Men are less likely than women to be granted non-financial release, for example, and face higher bail amounts. More than 60% of defendants are detained pre-trial because they can't afford to post bail.

because they can't afford to post bail. The collateral consequences of pre-trial detention result in several negative consequences for detainees, including an increased likelihood of being convicted, an increased likelihood of housing insecurity, detrimental effects on employment, and an increased likelihood to engage in criminal conduct in the future.

"More than half-a-million unconvicted people sit in jails across the nation awaiting trial," said Norma V. Cantu, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. "Presumption of innocence is the bedrock of our criminal justice system, with liberty the rule and pre-trial detention intended to be a 'carefully limited exception,'" 1 she observed. "Under the current bail system, it has become the norm."

The Commission held a public virtual briefing on this subject in February 2021 to collect information from subject matter experts such as government officials, academics, legal experts, law enforcement officials, criminal justice advocates, and impacted persons. The Maryland , Oregon and Kentucky State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also collected and provided testimony on related civil rights issues in their respective jurisdictions.

1 United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 755 (1987).

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is the only independent, bipartisan agency charged with advising the President and Congress on civil rights and reporting annually on federal civil rights enforcement. Our 56 state and territory Advisory Committees offer a broad perspective on civil rights concerns at state and local levels. The Commission: In our 7th decade, a continuing legacy of influence in civil rights. For more information about the Commission, please visit www.usccr.gov and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Contact: Angelia Rorison

[email protected]

202-499-0263

SOURCE U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently awarded Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) a task order worth more than $1.2 billion to deliver a fully integrated wide area data transport service with secure remote access, contact center and cloud connectivity solutions to more than 9,500 USDA locations across the country and abroad.

These solutions will enable nearly 100,000 USDA employees to effectively manage vital farming, food and nutrition, forestry and rural economic development services upon which America relies.

Lumen wins $1.2 billion contract to modernize USDA's IT services

The Lumen platform's edge computing architecture and vast fiber connectivity will help the USDA securely acquire, analyze and act on data closer to where it is collected at the edge of the network, which reduces latency and saves bandwidth.

"One of America's largest cabinet agencies chose Lumen to securely modernize its network and IT services. We're excited to help the USDA benefit from today's digital technologies that are transforming farming into precision agriculture," said Zain Ahmed, senior vice president, Lumen public sector. "Lumen is bringing modern technology solutions that will make it easier for the USDA to accomplish its mission of promoting the production of nutritious food that nourishes our people, providing economic opportunity to rural Americans, and preserving our nation's natural resources through smart forest and watershed conservation."

The 11-year task order, which has an initial term through September 30, 2022, with 10 one-year options, was awarded to Lumen under the General Services Administration's 15-year, $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program.

Lumen will provide the USDA with managed network, managed security and voice solutions that support speeds up to 100 gigabits per second, including

software-defined wide area network services (SD-WAN);

managed trusted internet protocol services (MTIPS);

zero-trust networking solutions;

edge computing and remote access solutions;

virtual private network services;

cloud connectivity;

unified communications and collaboration solutions;

contact center solutions;

voice over internet protocol (VoIP), wireless and satellite services;

ethernet transport;

optical wavelength solutions;

related equipment and engineering services.

Lumen is honored to support government agencies with innovative adaptive networking, edge cloud, connected security and collaboration solutions over its carrier-class fiber network. The company provides the platform for IT modernization that delivers the security and reliability agencies need to carry out their important missions.

Additional Resources

Learn more about our U.S. Department of the Interior $1.6 billion network services award: https://news.lumen.com/2020-01-16-U-S-Dept-of-the-Interior-Awards-CenturyLink-1-6-Billion-EIS-Network-Services-Win

network services award: https://news.lumen.com/2020-01-16-U-S-Dept-of-the-Interior-Awards-CenturyLink-1-6-Billion-EIS-Network-Services-Win Learn more about our U.S. Social Security Administration high-speed network services win: https://news.lumen.com/2020-01-30-CenturyLink-Wins-Social-Security-Administration-Wide-Area-Network-Recompete

Learn more about how Lumen is supporting the public sector here:

https://www.lumen.com/public-sector.html

https://www.lumen.com/public-sector.html Learn more about CenturyLink's transformation to Lumen here: https://news.lumen.com/2020-09-14-CenturyLink-Transforms-Rebrands-as-Lumen-R

About Lumen

Lumen is guided by our belief that humanity is at its best when technology advances the way we live and work. With approximately 450,000 route fiber miles and serving customers in more than 60 countries, we deliver the fastest, most secure platform for applications and data to help businesses, government and communities deliver amazing experiences. Learn more about the Lumen network, edge cloud, security, communication and collaboration solutions and our purpose to further human progress through technology at news.lumen.com, LinkedIn: /lumentechnologies, Twitter: @lumentechco, Facebook: /lumentechnologies, Instagram: @lumentechnologies and YouTube: /lumentechnologies. Learn more about Lumen's public sector capabilities on Twitter at @lumengov and on LinkedIn at @lumenpublicsector. Lumen and Lumen Technologies are registered trademarks in the United States.

SOURCE Lumen Technologies
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, today unveiled the 2022 Best Cars for the Money awards . Covering 11 automotive categories, the awards put a spotlight on cars, SUVs and minivans that represent the best combination of long-term value and excellent ownership experience. For the second time, U.S. News will present the Best Cars for the Money awards at the Washington, D.C. Auto Show.

"Buying a new car is a big decision, and finding a car that is a good value requires more than just a low price tag," said Jim Sharifi, managing editor of U.S. News Best Cars. "The least expensive car on the lot could carry high ownership costs, or be poorly suited to the buyer's needs. A Best Cars for the Money award represents a strong value at the dealership and over the course of ownership. These vehicles also provide a rewarding ownership experience, with comfort, features and performance that buyers will appreciate."

Hyundai won five Best Car for the Money awards this year, which is more than any other brand. Honda earned three, while Kia, Nissan and Toyota each earned one. The Honda Odyssey won this award for the sixth time, while the Toyota Avalon now has four Best Large Car for the Money wins under its belt. The Honda Civic earned the award for the third time, while two-time winners include the Hyundai Kona, Hyundai Santa Fe, Hyundai Tucson and Nissan Versa. The Honda Accord, Hyundai Elantra Hybrid and Hyundai Tucson Hybrid each won the award for the first time

Methodology

Within each class, the award winner has the best combination of quality and value. We measured quality using a car's overall score in the U.S. News Best Car Rankings. The overall score is based on safety and reliability data, as well as the collective opinion of the automotive press on a given model's performance and interior and how strongly each reviewer recommends the car. We measured value by looking at each model's real-time transaction prices, provided by TrueCar, and five-year total cost of ownership data, calculated by Vincentric.

About the Best Cars for the Money Award Ceremony:

Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

When: Today, January 20, 5:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Learn more about the auto show here .

"The Washington, D.C. Auto Show is honored to once again host the 2022 Best Cars for the Money awards during our Public Policy Day on January 20," said Washington Auto Show President and CEO John O'Donnell. "These awards have become an essential component to our annual show, just as U.S. News is an integral part of the consumers' decision-making process when purchasing a new vehicle. We look forward to providing our show goers with cars that fit their lifestyle, on their budget."

About U.S. News Best Cars

Since 2007, U.S. News Best Cars, the automotive channel of U.S. News & World Report, has published rankings of the majority of new vehicles sold in America. Each year, U.S. News also publishes the Best Cars awards, including Best Vehicle Brands, Best Cars for the Money and Best Cars for Families. U.S. News Best Cars supports car shoppers throughout the entire car buying journey, offering advice for researching cars, finding cars for sale near you and getting the best rate on car insurance. U.S. News Best Cars had more than 81 million visitors over the past year, with the majority actively shopping for a car. More than 70% of active shoppers reported that U.S. News influenced their car-purchasing decision, saying that they trust our advice to be unbiased and that they would recommend our site to others.

About U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower citizens, consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. A multifaceted digital media company with Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News and 360 Reviews platforms, U.S. News provides rankings, independent reporting, data journalism, consumer advice and U.S. News Live events. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE U.S. News & World Report
DALLAS, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vaycaychella, Inc. (USOTC: VAYK) today announced the company has a team deploying to Cuba next week on a three-week trip centered around securing the next ten beach properties it will refurbish and launch as short-term vacation rental properties. These next ten properties will be listed on VAYK's peer-to-peer (P2P) alternative finance application version 2.0 and participation in the short-term vacation rental business operating the ten properties will be offered through the introduction of a cryptocurrency.

VAYK is an early-stage business building a portfolio technology solutions to further democratize participation in the tourism market extending more opportunity to individuals and small and medium (SMB) business operators.

VAYK is developing and scaling its portfolio of technology solutions to further democratize participation in the tourism industry based on its hands-on experience with an initial and ongoing pilot project consisting of ten beach house properties and a small boutique hotel where VAYK provided the financing for small businesses to acquire and renovate the real estate.

The subject ten properties in today's announcement are an expansion of the pilot project.

The primary objective of the ten property expansion is to demonstrate VAYK's P2P Alt Finance APP V 2.0 and Cryptocurrency technology.

VAYK has recently published a comprehensive 2022 Strategic Overview Presentation with more details on how the ten property expansion announced today fits into the company's overall strategy. View the strategic presentation at the link above to learn more about the company's expansion plans to include its developing partnership with Alternet Systems, Inc. (USOTC: ALYI).

To learn more and keep up with the latest updates at Vaycaychella, and to access the Vaycaychella App, visit https://www.vaycaychella.com/.

Disclaimer/Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Among others, these risks include the expectation that any of the companies mentioned herein will achieve significant sales, the failure to meet schedule or performance requirements of the companies' contracts, the companies' liquidity position, the companies' ability to obtain new contracts, the emergence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive pricing. In the light of these uncertainties, the forward-looking events referred to in this release might not occur.

WSGF Contact:

William "Bill" Justice

[email protected]

(800) 871-0376

SOURCE Vaycaychella, Inc.
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --VolitionRx Limited (NYSE AMERICAN: VNRX) ("Volition"), a multi-national epigenetics company, has announced the results of two large scale clinical studies, which show that the company's Nu.Q assays, when used in conjunction with the Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), can detect colorectal cancer and all high-risk advanced adenomas in symptomatic patients, and thereby reduce unnecessary colonoscopies. The studies also demonstrated that the company's Nu.Q assays can improve the detection of high-risk adenomas in asymptomatic patients.

Principal Investigator, Professor Han-Mo Chiu, National Taiwan University, said "We are enormously encouraged by the findings of these two studies. Not only do they show that using Nu.Q assays in combination with FIT can potentially reduce unnecessary colonoscopies by up to 28% in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, the studies also show that this dual approach could be used more widely to improve the effectiveness of FIT-based screening programs targeting asymptomatic patients. We look forward to presenting our findings to colleagues at ASCO GI 2022."

Dr. Marielle Herzog, Research and Development Director at Volition, said "Early diagnosis is key to improving outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer, and cancer screening programs are critical to every public health system. The results of our studies, using Volition's Nu.Q assays in conjunction with FIT, are incredibly encouraging, not only in reducing unnecessary colonoscopies but also in detecting high-risk adenomas, both proximal and distal, which FIT, when used alone can miss. We are excited about the next stage, facilitating an independent, prospective validation study later this year."

The studies were undertaken by Volition and the Department of Internal Medicine at the National Taiwan University Hospital and findings will be presented at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, later this week.

Volition is developing simple, easy to use, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases including cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with 1.9 million new cases in 2020, and accounts for over 9% of all cancer-related deaths each year. Population-based colorectal cancer screening programs are in place in many healthcare systems globally, and the most commonly recommended screening method is the FIT, followed up with colonoscopy, an invasive visual examination. However, approximately 60% of FITs provide false-positive results, leading to unnecessary and costly colonoscopies.

Posters to be presented at ASCO GI 2022 can be downloaded here:

1) Circulating nucleosomes levels improve FIT performance for detecting high-risk colorectal neoplasms in a symptomatic population.

2) Circulating nucleosomes for detection of colorectal cancer and high-risk advanced adenomas.

For more information about Volition's Nu.Q technology go to: www.volition.com

Notes to editors:

References:

 World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). GLOBOCAN 2020: estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2020.

 Schliemann, D., Ramanathan, K., Matovu, N. et al. The implementation of colorectal cancer screening interventions in low-and middle-income countries: a scoping review. BMC Cancer 21, 1125 (2021).

 Chiu HM, Chen SL, Yen AM, et al. Effectiveness of fecal immunochemical testing in reducing colorectal cancer mortality from the One Million Taiwanese Screening Program. Cancer. 2015;121(18):3221-3229.

About the studies

476 patients referred for surveillance colonoscopy or secondary to bowel symptom were enrolled: (i) CRC (n= 67), (ii) advanced adenoma (AA) (n=60), non-AA (n=123); (iv) non-neoplastic polyps (n=29); (vi) colonoscopy negative (controls) (n=197).

520 average-risk asymptomatic patients: (i) CRC (n= 33), (ii) advanced adenoma (AA) (n=123, including 18 with AA>2cm); (iii) non-AA (n=168); (iv) non-neoplastic polyps (n=30); (vi) colonoscopy negative control (n=166).

Plasma and stool samples were obtained prior to colonoscopy.

Circulating Nucleosome levels measured using Volition's Nu.Q quantitative immuno-assays.

FIT: OC-SENSOR (Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan ) using a positive cut-off of 20ug/g feces.

About Volition

Volition is a multi-national epigenetics company that applies its Nucleosomics platform through its subsidiaries to develop simple, easy to use, cost effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases including some cancers and diseases associated with NETosis such as sepsis and COVID-19. Early diagnosis and monitoring have the potential to not only prolong the life of patients, but also to improve their quality of life. The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present. Volition is primarily focused on human diagnostics and monitoring but also has a subsidiary focused on animal diagnostics and monitoring.

Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with a small laboratory in California and additional offices in Texas, London, and Singapore, as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic and disease monitoring products to market.

For more information about Volition, visit Volition's website volition.com or connect with us via:

The contents found at Volition's website address, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. The addresses for Volition's website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube are included in this document as inactive textual references only.

Media / Investor Contacts

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "can," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the effectiveness of Volition's blood-based diagnostic, prognostic and disease monitoring tests, Volition's ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer and other diseases as well as serving as a diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring tools for such diseases, and the timing of product launches and publications. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, results of studies testing the efficacy of its tests. For instance, if Volition fails to develop and commercialize diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products, it may be unable to execute its plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include Volition's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in Volition's development pipeline or any other diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products Volition might develop; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition will face fierce competition and Volition's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics and disease monitoring market and its rapid technological change; downturns in domestic and foreign economies; and other risks identified in Volition's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that Volition files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Volition's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, Volition does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics and Nu.Q and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE VolitionRx Limited
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VTEX (NYSE: VTEX), the enterprise digital commerce platform for premier brands and retailers, today announced strong momentum with the success of its VTEX Live Shopping app , in use by more than 100 brands - including Victoria's Secret, Caterpillar, Oster, and Xiaomi - across 10 countries. The company has also expanded global deals with Whirlpool in six European countries and Unilever in Spain, along with signing new enterprise customers in the U.S., such as Briggs & Stratton, the world's largest producer of engines for outdoor power equipment. In an ongoing commitment to support continued product innovation and North American customer demand, VTEX also appointed Fernanda Weiden as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

"It's becoming increasingly challenging for brands and retailers to attract consumers and hold their attention given the virtually unlimited choices they have for where - and how - to shop. We are on the cusp of a new era where trends like conversational commerce will become the norm and browsers will be archaic. Now, more than ever, it's critical that businesses in the U.S. and around the world are ready to meet consumers wherever they are with modern experiences that surpass the "in-store" experience," said Mariano Gomide de Faria, founder and co-CEO of VTEX. "We are proud to future proof our enterprise clients by allowing them to jump to this new era immediately. The runaway success of the innovative VTEX Live Shopping app proves that consumers are hungry for in-store like experiences online, and retailers are uncovering the potential with higher engagement and conversion."

Rapid Adoption of VTEX Live Shopping App, Increasing 5x the Average Online Session Time

Since its launch, the VTEX Live Shopping app has experienced rapid adoption among VTEX customers. Brands and retailers using the solution have seen average consumer online session time increase fivefold. Teams can use the Live Shopping app to plan, execute and manage live one-to-one and one-to-many events. With the VTEX Live Shopping app, consumers interact with product experts and influencers and can promote events within their own communities, bringing the interactive experiences of in-person shopping to the digital world.

The application also includes the ability to track performance of live events, including the number of participants, how many products were added to carts, average order value, likes, shares, and more. This kind of insight on consumer behavior and preferences lets brands and retailers optimize product assortment and continually improve the end-user experience, creating a virtuous cycle of higher engagement and increasing conversion by more than 30% during live events.

New Global Enterprise Customers, Including Whirlpool, Unilever and More

VTEX has seen massive growth from enterprise customers, including Whirlpool using VTEX to expand its ecommerce platform to six new countries in Europe, and Unilever working with VTEX to run a marketplace project in Spain. VTEX also continues to help companies like H&M and BMW in Chile and others all over the world expand their global footprint with unprecedented time to revenue.

In the U.S., Briggs & Stratton, the world's largest producer of engines for outdoor power equipment, selected VTEX to handle its B2B ecommerce orders, now being placed via the updated Power Portal. VTEX was selected for its ability to scale and integrate with back-end ERP systems while still providing the value of multi-tenant SaaS with built-in upgrades.

Expanded Executive Bench with New CTO

To support its continued global expansion and product innovation, VTEX appointed leading technologist Fernanda Weiden as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to oversee the organization's global engineering, product and design teams. Prior to VTEX, Weiden has held executive positions at other big techs, with stints at Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and Google in the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) area, where she was responsible for scalability, reliability, performance, and app monetization.

"I first started to follow VTEX closely in 2020 and was immediately drawn to the approach the founders, Geraldo and Mariano, have taken since the beginning -- building a strong and passionate team and an amazing product. This philosophy is why I first became an advisor," said Weiden. "VTEX's global momentum over the last year underscores the team's drive and expertise in a market dominated by legacy players and I'm grateful for the opportunity to support their continued growth."





About VTEX

VTEX (NYSE: VTEX) provides a software-as-a-service digital commerce platform for enterprise brands and retailers. Our platform enables our customers to execute their commerce strategy, including building online stores, integrating and managing orders across channels, and creating marketplaces to sell products from third-party vendors. Founded in Brazil, we have been a leader in accelerating the digital commerce transformation in Latin America and are expanding globally. Our platform is engineered to enterprise-level standards and features. We are trusted by more than 2,000 customers with over 2,500 active online stores across 32 countries, relying on VTEX to connect with their consumers in a meaningful way*.

*Figures as of FY ended on Dec. 31st, 2020

Press Contacts For VTEX

Method

[email protected]

SOURCE VTEX
WATERTOWN, Mass., Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Windgap Medical, Inc., a leading specialty pharmaceutical and drug delivery platform company, announced today that it has successfully completed its final close with over $39 million of Series B-1 equity financing, led by Taiwania Capital. This equity round of investment expanded beyond an initial target of approximately $32 million due to strong investor interest. This equity financing is also supported by existing investors, including Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk (SKK) and Molex Ventures (a Koch Industries company), along with new investors including Cobro Ventures, and others.

Samples of Windgap Medical's Compact Autoinjector ( www.windgapmedical.com ) Windgap Medical's Compact Autoinjector in a Pocket ( www.windgapmedical.com )

Windgap is working to commercialize its ANDI wet/dry autoinjector platform, which would introduce a more compact, stable, temperature-resilient option for many medications currently in the marketplace. The first product to use this platform will be epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis. Other pipeline products include a novel emergency treatment for cyanide poisoning that is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health through a multi-year CounterACT grant, led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

"Windgap was gratified to see the strong investor interest, validating its technology and future prospects. We welcome the Cobro Ventures as a strategic investor and the ongoing support by SKK in our work to bring our epinephrine product to market, along with our partner ALK-Abello," said Christopher Stepanian, Windgap's CEO and Co-Founder. "This oversubscribed round allows us to energize our ongoing epinephrine commercialization process and grow our pipeline of additional products utilizing our autoinjector technology."

Brent Buchine PhD, Windgap's Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, stated, "Windgap's second drug delivery platform is in development for the administration of large-volume, high viscosity, therapies. This effort is supported by an ongoing NIH grant and is well suited for emergencies such as the treatment of cyanide poisoning. This unique device will also be valuable for other acute and chronic treatments where challenging-to-mix drugs frequently lack simple dosing options, such as biologics and extended-release therapies."

Windgap's products have not been reviewed by the FDA, but the Company intends to seek approval, first, for its epinephrine product for anaphylaxis.

ABOUT WINDGAP MEDICAL

Windgap Medical, Inc. is an emerging, privately-held pharmaceutical company in the Greater Boston area focused on developing patient solutions with its patented wet/dry drug delivery platforms. Its first product is for the administration of epinephrine for anaphylaxis with additional products under development in a variety of markets. Find more information on www.windgapmedical.com and follow the company on LinkedIn .

For Media Inquiries:

Windgap Medical, Inc.

Chris Stepanian, +1 617-440-3311

Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

SOURCE Windgap Medical, Inc.
Prior to joining Zendure, Jim Haflinger was a Senior Principal Engineer at Nortek, where for 11 years he designed many products for home automation, security, personal safety, and solar backup power. He served Kodak for over six years as a Lead Electrical Engineer for the company's printer division, designing printheads and multi-protocol interfaces. The role had him coordinating product design and manufacturing in Europe, Asia, and the United States. He was also the engineering representative for the Customer Experience team to make the products more user friendly and easier to install and use.

In total, Jim Haflinger has over 30 years of experience designing a wide variety of products, including SCSI interfaces and diagnostic equipment, data management tools, and switching power supplies for medical applications.

Haflinger holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Santa Clara University and owns over a dozen patents on a variety of technologies. He is a member of IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Electric Auto Association and is the author of the 2nd edition of "Making SCSI Work".

Recently, the company raised over $1.3 million in crowdfunding for their new SuperBase Pro power station. This year at CES, Zendure set up a high-tech camping experience for visitors and debuted even more energy storage solutions and solar power generators and has plans to further expand into sustainable energy and home power management.

With Jim Haflinger's product development and engineering expertise, the company hopes to come up with innovative solutions to bolster and accelerate the green energy revolution, including next-gen solar power and energy storage products.

"We are elated to have Jim advising our team, and the timing couldn't be better," said Zendure CEO and founder Bryan Liu. "With his immense experience in all things electric, Jim will help us lead the global charge toward a sustainable future."

Zendure is a sustainable energy company located in Silicon Valley in the United States and the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area in China. Since its establishment, Zendure has continuously launched innovative products, made rapid breakthroughs in the core technologies of energy storage and power supplies, and continues to bring pleasant surprises to the user experience. The company recently received a multi-million dollar series-A round of funding from a joint investment from Shanghai GP Capital and YOTRIO group.

Contacts:

Company name: Zendure

Media: Tom Haflinger

pr@zendure.com

Phone: +1 800 219 0960

SOURCE Zendure
Shares in Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) rose and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LSE:GSK) fell after the Anglo-Dutch group said late yesterday it was abandoning its pursuit of the GSK Consumer Healthcare joint venture after criticism from investors.

Consumer goods giant Unilever said as the markets closed it will not increase its offer above 50bn after the joint venture's owners GSK and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) argued the business was worth more.

"Unilever is committed to maintaining strict financial discipline to ensure that acquisitions create value for our shareholders," it added.

But, having made a big deal on Monday about how the GSK Consumer Healthcare offer heralded a big change of direction, the FTSE 100 group reiterated its commitment to "continuing to improve the performance of its existing portfolio through its ongoing focus on operational excellence, its upcoming reorganisation and by rotating the portfolio to higher growth categories".

Analysts said the move further fueled investor ill feeling towards Unilever boss Alan Jope, already under pressure with the shares down by around a third from just all-time high in September 2019 just after he took over.

Bernstein's Bruno Monteyne said: "No investor backs this bid. Our investor call last night was a torrent of criticism along the lines of: 'what on earth are they thinking', 'how can the board even think ', 'desperation'."
Another business doing better than previously expected is EMIS Group plc (AIM:EMIS).

The healthcare software and systems group said it had performed strongly during the year, with both revenue and adjusted operating profit ahead of 2020 and slightly above the top end of consensus forecasts.

Since the year end it has completed the acquisition of analytics group Edenbridge Healthcare for up to 10mln in cash, and it has secured a new 60mln credit facility.

Chief executive Andy Thorburn said: "Our business continues to build good momentum for the future, with our technology investment programme, bolt on acquisitions such as that announced today, and continued high quality customer-focussed execution from our team."

EMIS is up 5.06% at 1328p.

Steve Clayton, fund manager at HL Select, said: EMIS is starting to show signs that the investment into technology of recent years is paying off in stronger revenue growth.

"The group is talking about potentially upping the pace of investment and making additional bolt-on deals like Edenbridge to further accelerate growth. The core GP and Pharmacy software platforms have strong market shares and reliably throw off free cash flow, so with 64mln of cash in the bank and no debt, EMIS are in a strong position to grow from.

"News of a new 60mln bank facility suggests that the group may be eyeing up bigger deals than we have seen so far.

2.18pm: Spirent Communications (LSE:SPT) set to beat market forecasts after strong end to the year

Spirent Communications (LSE:SPT) had a strong finish to the year, leading the testing firm to forecast it will beat market expectations.

It won several important orders, despite having to deal with the current supply chain problems, and it said full year revenues grew by 10% to US$576mln.

Adjusted operating profit is now forecast to be slightly ahead of the consensus of US$116mln, with a range of expectations from US$113mln to US$121mln.

Chief executive Eric Updyke said: "We again delivered strong financial performance, despite global supply chain challenges throughout the year, which we managed extremely effectively.

"Spirent's customers continue to invest in 5G-related infrastructure, devices and services, a trend we expect to continue...

"[We] begin the new financial year with a growing orderbook with improved visibility."

Spirent shares are up 7.9% at 248.4p.

12.09pm: Aptitude Software boosted by new business and MPP acquisition

Aptitude Software Group PLC - formerly formerly Microgen plc (LSE:MCGN) - is in demand after an upbeat trading statement.

The finance and automation software firm said it had benefitted from new agreements in the insurance sector, as well as the acquisition of technology business MPP Global in October.

Annual recurring revenue excluding MPP Global rose by 10% to 34.4mln. Including MPP, the figure was 41.8 million.

The company said: "Aptitude Software enters the current financial year with increased revenue visibility due to the sales successes achieved in 2021 and the acquisition of MPP Global, a business with a high proportion of recurring revenue."

Its shares are up 8.78% or 46p to 570p.

11.04am: Wincanton set to beat forecasts after successful festive period

Wincanton PLC (AIM:WIN), a distribution and supply chain specialist, has seen its shares accelerate after it forecast full year profits would be market expectations.

It said third quarter revenue grew by 15%, including a successful Christmas trading periof for its customer fulfilment centre for Waitrose.

For its grocery customers, it delivered 25 million cases of food and drink in the week before Christmas.

Supply chain and staff issues have been a problem for businesses. But Wincanton said it had successfully managed the challenges of driver and labour shortages to make sure it could cope with the peak festive period.

New contracts included one with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to operate an inland border control post in Kent, to manage biosecurity checks on goods coming into the UK from the EU.

Wincanton has added 12.32% to 392p.

9.30am: Zenova climbs as it receives NHS trusted partner approval

Zenova Group PLC (AIM:ZED) has been lifted by news it has been approved as an NHS trusted partner.

The fire safety and heat management firm has signed a contract with the Epsom & St. Hellier University Hospitals NHS Trust in Surrey.

The move paves the way for Zenova's products to be used to improve fire safety and insulation throughout the Trust's estate.

Chief executive Tony Crawley said: "Achieving NHS trusted partner status with Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust is a considerable development for Zenova.

"Zenova IR (insulating render) and IP (insulating paint) can now be used by the Trust to improve building insulation and reduce carbon emissions, whilst Zenova FP (fire-resistant paint) can be used to improve fire safety in the Trust's hospitals and other healthcare settings for the benefit of NHS staff, patients, and their families.

"In addition, NHS trusted partner status now enables us to engage more easily with other parts of the NHS that are looking to address similar challenges."

Zenova's shares are 7.25% better at 18.5p.

8.45am: Brave Bison (AIM:BBSN) boosted by positive update

Brave Bison (AIM:BBSN) has seen its shares charge ahead after the social and digital media company said full year results would be ahead of market forecasts.

The company - which publishes content on social media channels to generate advertising revenue and also runs campaigns for the likes of Panasonic and Vodafone - said trading in the second half of the year had been strong.

Revenues and viewing numbers across its advertising network were positive and its agency won several new customers during the final quarter of the year.

Meanwhile it said the integration of digital agency Greenlight, bought in August, was well advanced.

So it now expects profit before tax to be at least 0.4mln after 0.7mln of acquisition costs, the first statutory profit in its eight-year history as a public company.

Oliver Green, Executive Chairman, said: "In the last 12 months Brave Bison (AIM:BBSN) has been able to grow revenues, make a highly accretive and strategic acquisition, deliver a maiden statutory profit and generate a significant amount of cash. We expect trading to remain strong as our customers respond positively to Brave Bison (AIM:BBSN)'s new proposition that combines an owned digital media network with a suite of social and digital marketing services. Supported by our strong balance sheet we expect to grow our footprint across the digital ecosystem throughout 2022 and beyond."

Its shares are up 21.88% at 1.95p.

Also heading higher is recruitment and professional services business Parity Group PLC (AIM:PTY).

After a change of management last June and a decision to refocus the business around its core recruitment capability, Parity said it has met or marginally exceeded market expectations for its full year results.

Revenue is expected to be slighly ahead of the 47.6mln target, with a modest adjusted profit instead of the anticipated small loss.

Its shares have climbed 14.82% to 7.75p.
Investors in British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE:IAG) appear to be shrugging off the reported disruption created by the roll-out of 5G near airports in the United States.

In London, IAG shares were trading in positive territory - up 0.4% at 160.6p - but remain around 2.4% lower over the past week.

BA was among a number of airlines to ground flights this week on concerns that 5G signals may interfere with airplane systems, particularly those that assist landing in poor weather by telling pilots how far away the aircraft is from the ground.

Flights to US airports were cancelled as a precaution meanwhile telcos AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay switching on new 5G communications towers.

The 5G roll-out has had only minor impacts on air travel, according to a report in Reuters, as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued to approvals allowing more low-visibility landings under the new conditions.

The FAA now allows around 62% of commercial planes to perform bad-weather landings at some airports with 5G, marking an increase from 45% previously.

American Airlines, a British Airways partner, said the signals had only a minor operational impact with some flights delayed and only four cancellations.

Previously, on Wednesday, BA cancelled flights from London to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

The 5G problem reportedly affected Boeings 777 and 747-8 jets in particular, and, some airlines shuffled their fleets to use alternative aircraft to fly potentially impacted routes.

Last week, airline bosses called for a 2 mile exclusion of 5G from runways at key airports.

Telcos like AT&T and Verizon, however, said that the equipment was safe and would not interfere with aircraft electronics.

The worries are related to the use of radar altimeters which help measure distance between from the plane to the ground and operate on the same frequencies as 5G.
After a long hiatus, are the days of the big mining deal back with us?

Chatter on that score suddenly burst across the airwaves after sources inside BHP Group PLC (LSE:BHP) apparently let it be known that the company was on the lookout for a big acquisition.

How far people familiar with the matter are to be relied upon is an open question.

But after a painful period of restructuring after the reckoning that followed the last mining boom, the big miners are throwing off a lot of cash.

BHP is reckoned to be running the rule over Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN), VALE and Freeport McMoRan, among others.

But memories of the disastrous deals that were made at the height of the last mining boom have not altogether faded - among the deals that went wrong last time were BHPs acquisition of the Jansen potash project in Canada, and Rio Tintos purchase of Alcan.

Paying cash in the name of avoiding dilution is all very well, but if your shares are on the cusp of collapsing anyway because Lehman Brothers is on the brink, then big ticket deals dont in the end seem so appealing.

And, after all, how stable is the financial system currently?

Certainly, no sensible investor would be putting all his eggs in one basket, or asset class, right at the minute.

All the same, given that BHP is known to have expanded its dealmaking team in London and elsewhere, what sort of opportunities might be on the table, allowing that the biggest deals might still be a bit too hard for investors to swallow?

One answer is that having off-loaded a portfolio of coal assets recently, BHP might well continue that pivot away from the more polluting end of the mining business and move towards battery metals, and others that are central to a greener economy.

In that regard, its easy to see why initially Freeport McMoRan was mooted, since it has a huge amount of copper. VALE has a lot of nickel, so that too would make sense, although its primary business is iron ore, and BHP has plenty of that already.

Perhaps, instead, BHP will look to gobble up single asset companies like Horizonte Minerals, which now isnt that far away from production at its Araguaia project in Brazil. Araguaia has long been supported by Teck Resources, so it may be that BHP will have a hard time muscling in there. And it may be, too, that its learned caution from its recent experiences of conflict on the share register of SolGold, which owns Cascabel, one of the few large-scale projects its bought into in recent years.

But then again, why not Teck itself, which, with a market capitalisation of just under US$19bn would be a somewhat easier bite than Glencores 54bn. True, theres a bit too much coal in the Teck portfolio for the ESG brigade to feel easy with, but if those could be flipped on to a Middle Eastern or Chinese investor then all parties could be satisfied.

On the Aussie side, the locals can get a bit touchy about big companies gobbling up national champions, but do nickel companies Independence Group, Mincor, Panoramic or Western Areas really fall into that category? And would it matter, now that BHP has finally shaken off the old Billiton dust, and returned to its Aussie roots? A bid from BHP would certainly bring all those questions to the fore.

Meanwhile, opportunities in lithium also abound. Will BHP take a swing at SQM, the original global lithium champion? It might be that there are just too many South American national interests tied up in that one to make it viable.

Which in turn means that it could look further down the value chain.

Atlantic Lithium has a great-looking project in Ghana, but unless anyone intervenes to stop a process thats already well underway, the future of Ewoyaa is likely to be decided by Piedmont, the major funding partner.

Might BHP instead bid for Piedmont? Given the vagueness, mischievous and anonymous nature of BHPs briefing to market, who can rule anything out?

Other assets that could come up for grabs could be European Metals Cinovec project, but there too, existing investment partners look to be in control.

The lithium assets of Bacanora are shortly to come under Chinese control, but could it be that Western companies might at last start buying assets off the Chinese, instead of the other way round? Dont bet on it, not quite yet.

So something more out of left field then?

How about a mineral sands asset, like the huge one Sovereign Metals is developing in Malawi?

Or perhaps something more early stage, with real growth potential.

Watch this space for Bradda Head, shares of which have risen by over 60% over the past few months, and which may have several separate lithium development projects ready to market by the end of the year. And not just of one kind, either. This is a company with lithium in clay, lithium in hard rock and lithium in brines, all in the USA, close to potential customers.

Maybe its too small now, but comparable companies with assets in the South Western USA have seen valuations soar.

If BHP still has one eye looking backwards at the value destruction caused by buying at the top of the last mining boom, maybe it would prefer to get in on the ground floor by buying into a new district just as its taking off.

Bradda Head would fit that bill nicely, although, it hasnt as yet been mentioned by people familiar with the matter.
WTI $86.96 +$1.53, Brent $88.44 +93c, Diff -$1.48 -60c, NG $4.03 -25c, UKNG 170.0p -14.5p

Oil price

More of the same so my comments remain as before, the UK has started to relax Covid regulations and are back to Plan A, so its back to work for those who prefer to eat sleep Zoom.

The US Secretary of State is visiting Europe this week and indeed meets the Russian Foreign Minister in Geneva tomorrow. Worries of Russian activity in the Ukraine were not talked down by Sleepy Joe in his words yesterday and activity by Russia is clearly very much in the oil price.

Serica Energy

Serica today releases a Corporate Update presentation for the year ended 31 December 2021 which can be found on the Companys website at www.serica-energy.com

Production

 With the introduction of R3 and Columbus, Sericas production is now 85% gas, a vital part of the UKs energy mix as we move towards Net Zero. As operator of Bruce, Keith and Rhum, Serica is responsible for over 5% of the UKs gas production. This production has a significantly lower carbon footprint than imported LNG and helps maintain the UKs security of supply

 The Rhum R3 well was put into production in late August 2021 and has boosted total Rhum production significantly, adding up to 6,000 boe/d net to Serica

 First production from the Columbus field was achieved in late November 2021. Early production was initially constrained due to temporary unavailability of full capacity in the export system but average rates of 3,270 boe/d net to Serica were achieved in the period up to year-end

Financial

 Gas prices closed 2021 very strongly, contributing to a market average for the year of over 113p/therm (2020: 25p/therm) with oil also higher, averaging over $70/bbl (2020: $45/bbl)

 This allied to growing production volumes drove Sericas total cash resources to 218.4 million at 31 December 2021 of which 103.0 million was held as cash and deposits (2020: 89.3 million) and a further 115.4 million was lodged as temporary security with gas price hedge counterparties (2020: 1.8 million)

o Security is lodged based on future period gas price hedge valuations and the high year-end level reflected the exceptional gas price spike in December. Surplus security is returned to Serica as forward prices fall and when monthly contracts expire

o Such valuations reflect the impact of high forecast forward prices on hedged production but do not reflect the far greater revenues that would be realised should actual prices match those forward prices

 The BKR net cash flow sharing arrangements came to an end on 31 December 2021. From 1 January 2022, we enter a new phase for the Company where we will be retaining 100% (2021: 60%) of the net cash flow from the BKR fields, benefitting fully from the recent increase in production levels

Outlook

 Serica intends to continue with its programme of through-cycle investment in its diversified portfolio of assets. A rig has now been contracted for the drilling of the high-impact North Eigg exploration well in the summer of 2022. North Eigg is a gas prospect located close to Sericas BKR fields and it is expected that a successful discovery could be tied back to existing infrastructure in a carbon neutral manner

 Plans are also in place for a well intervention campaign to take place in 2022 to improve the production potential of several Bruce and Keith wells during subsequent years

 Growing cash balances offer increasing options for further investment, acquisition, and distributions. Sericas Board continues to evaluate the optimum balance between these elements to deliver further shareholder returns

Mitch Flegg, Chief Executive of Serica Energy, commented:

2021 was a very busy year for Serica, which reinforced the value of our through-cycle investment strategy as our expenditure during the low gas price environment of 2020 on the R3 and Columbus projects bore fruit this year. The importance of our contribution to the provision of vital lower carbon gas to the UKs energy market was also demonstrated. We will continue to pursue our investment-led strategy this year with a planned well intervention programme on Bruce and Keith in addition to our exploration well at North Eigg. As always, we continue to look for acquisition opportunities that fit our criteria and will add value for our stakeholders.

I have just listened to the conference call which thank goodness was pretty much more of the same from Serica which remains the poster boy for UK E&P companies. 2021 saw 1H production of 18,900 boe/d, 2H of 25,500 with December at 30,000. The average gas price was 113p/Therm which is equivalent to $88 oil against the 2020 price of 25p/Therm, this puts a lot into perspective.

As I said much is the same, hedging whilst possibly tempting is still 25% of gas sales or 20% of combined oil & gas, this means that capex is covered and leaves 80% exposure to combined oil & gas prices. For the future the company will continue to invest within its own portfolio and an intervention campaign on Bruce and Keith wells is planned which should add profitable production. The company continue to look at acquisitions but to me they seem, correctly, to be very picky about what they are offered.

I have to repeat previous comments, Serica is one of the very best management teams in the sector and that goes from top to bottom, they continue to deliver at a time when national production is as important as ever. It delivers through the Bruce platform over 5% of the UKs gas production which they rightly remind us is a vital contribution to the countrys security of supply.

Last year Serica was up 253% putting it in 4th position in my Bucket List, I see no reason why that cannot be equalled or even beaten this year

Pharos Energy (LSE:PHAR)

Pharos has announced that the Third Amendment to the El Fayum Concession Agreement has been signed by His Excellency Eng. Tarek El Molla (Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources of the Arab Republic of Egypt), EGPC and the Company on 19 January 2022. The agreement has become effective upon signature, with retroactive application of the improved fiscal terms as from November 2020.

More specifically, under the new terms, the Cost Recovery Petroleum percentage (i.e. the share of gross revenues that is available for the Contractor to recover its costs) will be increased from 30% to 40%, allowing Pharos a significantly faster recovery of all its past and future investments. In return, Pharos has agreed to waive its rights to recover a portion of the past costs pool ($115 million) and reduce its share of Excess Cost Recovery Petroleum from 15% to 7.5%.

While in full cost recovery mode, Contractors* share of revenue increases from c.42% to c.50% as from November 2020 (corresponding to additional net revenues to Contractor of c.$7 million to date) significantly lowering the development project break-even. The new arrangements will strongly encourage new exploration and development investments, aimed at maintaining and increasing production rates and optimising resources, to the mutual benefit of Egypt and the Company.

The Third Amendment also grants Contractor a three-and-a-half-year extension to the exploration licence term, with an additional obligation on Contractor to drill two exploration wells and acquire a 3D seismic survey in the northern area of the license.

Signature of the Third Amendment was a key Condition Precedent for the transfer of a 55% participating interest (and operatorship) in the El Fayum and North Beni Suef Concessions to IPR Lake Qarun, a transaction which the Company expects to complete in Q1 2022.

An important piece of paperwork completed for Pharos which now must be almost ready to complete which will make the jigsaw complete, Egypt funds the excitement of Vietnam.

Far Ltd

The Gambia Blocks A2/A5 (FAR 50% WI and Operator)

During the quarter, FAR concluded the drilling and formation evaluation operations for the Bambo-well and Bambo-1ST1 side-track well in Block A2,m offshore The Gambia. Bambo-1 was initially drilled to a depth of 3216m MDBRT (measured depth below rotary table) and wireline logging data was obtained. The Bambo-1 well was then plugged and the Bambo-1ST1 (side-track) well drilled to a depth of 3317m MDBRT after which wireline logging was conducted (refer to FAR ASX announcement dated 23 December 2021).

Although no moveable oil was interpreted, the drilling and logging data obtained on the main well and the side-track well indicate that several target intervals in the well had oil shows, confirming a prolific oil source is present in the

area. Samples were recovered from several levels. The presence or otherwise of any oil will be confirmed by laboratory analysis.

The side-track well was planned to be drilled to the final total depth through all target reservoirs and also to intersect zones of interest from the main well in a different location which will provide additional data and to sample potential oil. Interpretation of the cuttings and wireline logging information indicates that these zones have been charged with oil in rather poor-quality reservoirs and in traps that might have been breached, leaving behind some residual oils in the reservoirs.

The side-track well also intersected oil shows in the Soloo Deep units not previously encountered by the original

well or other wells in the area. The oil shows encountered were persistent over several hundred metres,

confirming access to the prolific oil-generative kitchen is present which may open additional material exploration

opportunities and running room in both the A2 and A5 Blocks. Interpretation and integration of these data are

ongoing.

FAR is Operator and a 50% interest holder in the A2 Licence, offshore The Gambia in which the Bambo well has

been drilled. The well fulfils the minimum work obligation of drilling one exploration well for the Initial

Exploration Periods for both the A2 and A5 Licences.

FAR remains highly encouraged by the data collected in the Bambo drilling program and its implications for

potentially large oil accumulations in Blocks A2 and A5 offshore The Gambia, which FAR currently has under

licence with partner, Petronas. FAR is accelerating the evaluation of the well results and looks forward to

announcing a revised plan for exploration in the area in the coming months.

FAR had US$55.6M cash at the end of the period (including US$1.1M in restricted cash held in The Gambia Joint

Venture account). During the period, FAR completed drilling operations on the Bambo drilling program (inclusive

of the Bambo-1 and Bambo-1ST1 side-track wells). FARs share of the Bambo program is expected to be

US$28.8M, with US$15.3M expected to be paid in Q1.

Further to the previous quarterly report, the Company has taken further steps to reduce costs and expects

employment, administration and corporate costs for the forthcoming quarter to be US$0.82M.

FARs strong cash position allows FAR to consider its options for the future, not limited to its current portfolio of

oil assets.

I have to say that the process looked more like a success than was actually announced, we shall wait and see.

Gran Tierra

Gran Tierra yesterday announced a corporate update. All dollar amounts are in United States dollars and all production volumes are on a working interest before royalties basis and are expressed in barrels of oil per day, unless otherwise stated.

Highlights

2022 Production Year to Date: Gran Tierras current average production1 is approximately 30,000 BOPD.

2021 Production In-Line with Guidance: Total Company 2021 average production was approximately 26,500 BOPD, in-line with prior guidance.

Significant Debt Reduction: Gran Tierras credit facility has been reduced to a remaining balance of $67.5 million as of December 31, 2021, down $122.5 million or 64% from a balance of $190 million as of December 31, 2020. With forecast 2022 free cash flow2 and recovery of tax receivables, Gran Tierra expects to fully pay off the remaining balance of its credit facility in the first half of 2022.

Key Upcoming 2022 Catalysts: At a $70/bbl Brent price, Gran Tierras 2022 capital program of $220-240 million is expected to generate 2022 cash flow2 of $270-290 million and EBITDA2 of $360-380 million. At an $80/bbl Brent price, the Company forecasts 2022 cash flow2 of $330-350 million and EBITDA2 of $440-460 million. The Companys development program continues to focus on asset optimization, maintaining a low operating cost structure and increasing oil recovery factors across its extensive portfolio. Gran Tierras 2022 exploration campaign of up to 6-7 wells is expected to be fully-funded from forecast internally generated cash flow2 and is designed to focus on near-field prospects in proven basins with access to infrastructure, providing short cycle times from discovery to bringing production on-stream. Key upcoming catalysts include:

Acordionero: Gran Tierra has allocated capital of $70 million towards 2022 development activities for the Acordionero field (14-16 development wells) in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin. Drilling is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2022 with one rig on the Southwest Pad. Gran Tierra plans to continue to focus on quick-cycle times, thereby driving down drilling and operating costs and increasing oil recovery factors through its waterflood program. Since Gran Tierra acquired Acordionero in 2016, this field has produced approximately 27 million bbl of oil and generated about $1.3 billion in oil and gas sales and $353 million of free funds flow from operations3 (both figures are estimates as of December 31, 2021).

Costayaco and Moqueta: Gran Tierra has allocated capital of $40 million and $30 million respectively to the Costayaco (4-5 development wells) and Moqueta (3 development wells) fields in the Putumayo Basin in 2022. The first Costayaco well is scheduled to spud in the first quarter of 2022. The Moqueta work program is expected to commence in the second half of 2022 and is planned to continue into 2023.

Ecuador: Gran Tierra expects to drill 2-3 exploration wells in 2022, targeting multi-zone prospects near existing fields with access to infrastructure. Gran Tierras first exploration well in Ecuador is scheduled to spud in the second quarter of 2022 on the Chanangue Block.

Additional 2022 Hedges In-Place Designed To Protect Cash Flows2: The Company recently added to its 2022 hedging program and currently has the following Brent oil price hedges in place:

Strike Prices ($/bbl, Weighted Average)

Time PeriodVolume

(BOPD)SwapsSold PutPurchased

PutSold CallPremium

January 1-June 30, 20223,00060.0070.0087.71

January 1-June 30, 20222,00077.80

January 1-June 30, 20221,00070.004.00

The Company expects to hedge approximately 25-40% of forecast production on a rolling basis.

SASB Report Published: Gran Tierra has released its first Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Report. The Company continues to enhance its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure to drive a stronger understanding of the ESG risks and opportunities that its business faces and seeks to show how the Company is positioning itself to mitigate key risks and capture opportunities. Gran Tierras SASB report can be accessed here: https://www.grantierra.com/investor-relations/sasb-report.

Message to Shareholders

Gary Guidry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gran Tierra, commented:

Gran Tierra is in a strong position for the continued development and enhanced oil recovery activities in 2022 to optimize value from each of our assets. In addition, we plan to allocate modest capital to prioritized, high-impact exploration drilling opportunities. Gran Tierra is well-positioned to navigate the current volatile environment with our low base decline, conventional oil asset base and our operational control for capital allocation and timing. Our waterflood programs across all of our assets continue to perform well and we expect another strong year of free cash flow2 from these high quality, low decline assets. 

Im watching Gran Tierra as it looks like a decent management running an interesting portfolio of assets at which it has decided to up the beta somewhat. It can do this as at present it has what could be described as providing a somewhat uninspiring return in a world where that is a positive attribute. Im looking forward to meeting the team as soon as the pandemic is over, and btw its over here now.

And finally

Last night in the Prem Spurs who were 1-2 down after 95 minutes scored twice in 2 minutes and ended up beating the Foxes 2-3The Bees lost 1-3 to the Red Devils.

Tonight in the Haribo Cup Liverpool go to the Gooners in the second leg of the semi-final, its 0-0 from the first leg so all to play for.
1. Scottish Mortgage unfazed by tech sell-off

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust has raised additional funds and history suggests it will invest them efficiently.

Read more

2. Shell rues enforced carbon emission targets

In an interview, Shell boss Ben van Beurden described last years decision by the court in the Hague as a body blow to the company.

Read more

3. Pubs welcome back workers

Banks have told their British staff to return to the office after the government lifted its work-from-home guidance, giving hope of a boost to retail and hospitality companies hit hard by remote working.

Read more

4. FTSE 100 closes lower - just

FTSE 100 closed just in the red on Thursday as US markets gained ground, with the UK benchmark shedding four points, or 0.06%, to close at 7,585.01.

Read more

5. IAG still feeling COVID impact

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group shares fell on Thursday morning but other travel companies, such as TUI AG, were higher on hopes of a rise in holidays this summer.

Read more

Let's take a look at some of tomorrows news

UK retail sales numbers are due on Friday, with a fall predicted for last month

Read more
Superdry PLC (LSE:SDRY) chief executive Julian Dunkerton said improved products and influencer marketing are key to the companys long-term strategy, after it returned to profits in the first half.

Having stepped down from his role in 2015, before battling his way back onto the board four years later, Dunkerton believes the company remained static during his time away, which in the clothing sector means you are moving backwards.

When I left this business, it stopped looking forward in terms of product, said Dunkerton.

To rectify this and keep the brand moving with the times, the man who built the company up from the market stall said the FTSE 250-listed company is now regularly trialling test products in a small number of owned stores, finding out what works and what doesnt.

READ: Superdry optimistic profit targets are achievable despite inflation concerns

That allowed the company to turn an initial product into multiple, slightly different products that it aims to appeal across multiple demographics, with Dunkerton citing the success of jacket sales as evidence the method works.

You will notice that jackets are up 40% up year-on-year in this 11-week period between October 24 and January 8. That is because we put in a test period of some new styles and trends before putting them into the mainline range, he said.

Similar methods have been trialled with other product types, such as knitwear, shirts and skirts.

Extending this approach is expected to lead to huge improvements over the next 12 months from a product perspective, the CEO predicted.

A shift in marketing strategy is also key for Dunkerton and Superdry, with social media influencers becoming a vital part in ensuring the brand reaches all its target markets.

Use of influencers is becoming an increasingly effective marketing tool, especially in clothing and fashion, with a lot of JD Sports recent success attributed to its canny use of these masters of Instagram.

Dunkerton says Superdry has increased the number of influencers on its payroll from 200 to 2000 in the last 12 months.

The push, however, does not stop there, with plans to increase that number by five times over the next couple of years as it targets the French and German markets, before moving across the pond and into America.

Evidence is emerging that the strategy is starting to gain traction.

According to broker Peel Hunt, the average customer age in Superdrys email database is five years younger than in 2019, which also coincided with the return of Dunkerton.

And, as the analysts also note, Superdrys new Oxford Street flagship is outperforming Regent Street despite the collapse in West End footfall, with the womenswear mix rising, and latest sales on an upward trend.

Peel Hunt reckons the shares are cheap at just over five times underlying earnings (EBITDA)
Rumble Resources Ltd (ASX:RTR) is moving to expand on discoveries at the Chinook, Tonka and Navajoh prospects of the Earaheedy Zinc-Lead-Silver-Copper Project in Western Australia with two new tenement acquisitions, increasing the companys adjoining land fourfold.

Rumble believes the Earaheedy Project is emerging as a world-class base metal system, speculating that the known mineralisation discovered at Chinook, Tonka and Navajoh may be an outer metal halo zone of a deeper, massive base metal system.

The newly granted tenements have doubled the strike length of the highly prospective Navajoh Unconformity Unit (which all three prospective deposits are situated on) to more than 42 kilometres.

Navajoh Unconformity Unit

Rumble now holds in excess of 15 kilometres of mineralised strike potential to the west and northwest, with only two historical drill holes completed in this area, which importantly intersected zinc-lead mineralisation at the Sweetwater Prospect 12 kilometres to the west.

Additionally, there is more than 8 kilometres of strike potential to the southeast of the Tonka-Magazine-Navajoh zinc-lead-silver prospect zone, which combined represents a mineralised footprint of 6 kilometres by 1.2 kilometres, open in all directions.

Next steps

Rumbles immediate priority will be extensional drilling to the west and northwest of the Chinook Prospect, the primary focus being on defining the limits of this potentially very large base metal discovery.

Recently acquired airborne magnetics data has undergone initial processing and interpretation, identifying similarities in the Sweetwater trend and Chinook prospect, specifically inferred magnetic features and contrasts identical to the features seen at Chinook.

The data has also identified several first order litho-structural targets, which will be followed up with a large surface geochemical survey, designed to assess the entire Sweetwater trend.

Rumble expects that the airborne magnetics coupled with surface geochemical surveying will aid in identifying new drill targets across the Sweetwater trend.

About Rumble Resources

Rumble Resources is an exploration company with a strategy to generate and drill test a pipeline of Western Australian projects, with the capability to make multiple discoveries.

The company critically reviews each project against stringent criteria and has assembled a portfolio of eight highly prospective base and precious metal projects located in Tier 1 regions in Western Australia.

Rumbles focus is on rapidly advancing the major zinc-lead-silver sulphide Tier 1 potential discovery at the Earaheedy Project.
Sunstone Metals Ltd (ASX:STM) has discovered gold-copper porphyry mineralisation in follow-up drilling below the recent Alba gold discovery at Bramaderos Project in southern Ecuador, with broad zones revealed in drill samples.

The company says its drilling has shown Alba comprises a gold zone sitting above a well mineralised gold-copper porphyry that remains open and largely untested, while Alba itself remains open along strike.

Highlight assays from drilling at the Alba discovery included:

264.7 metres at 0.49 g/t gold and 0.13% copper from 95 metres to end of hole, including 20 metres at 0.91 g/t gold from 119 metres in the gold zone that in turn included 7.0 metres at 1.77 g/t gold from 126 metres; and,

193.7 metres at 0.5 g/t gold and 0.16% copper from 164 metres in the porphyry zone), including 9.1 metres at 0.91 g/t gold and 0.16% copper from 173 metres, 7.8 metres at 0.81 g/t gold and 0.15% copper from 185 metres and 21.0 metres at 0.91 g/t gold and 0.17% copper from 203 metres.

Target area is wide open.

Sunstone Metals managing director Malcolm Norris said the latest results provided more firm evidence that Alba was emerging as a major discovery.

The results so far demonstrate the presence of an Upper Gold Zone above a well-mineralised porphyry, he said.

These are some of the best porphyry gold-copper results we have seen in the broader Bramaderos Project.

We are also seeing local visible gold within the porphyry system, which is extremely encouraging.

The Upper Gold Zone at Alba will be further defined as we undertake additional drilling. It is likely to be structurally controlled and we are testing NE and N-S oriented structures from interpretation of magnetics.

We are also undertaking detailed electrical geophysics to help map the distribution of the Upper Gold Zone and the porphyry mineralisation.

We are getting indications that there is lateral continuity and the target area is wide open.

Assays are still pending for three drill holes, with further follow-up drilling underway.

Additionally, deep drilling at the El Palmar Project in northern Ecuador has returned visible copper and significant alteration from the margin of a large magnetic target zone.

About Sunstone Metals

Sunstone Metals holds a portfolio of gold and copper assets in Ecuador.

The Bramaderos Gold-Copper Project is prospective for the discovery of porphyry and epithermal gold-copper deposits.

The El Palmar Copper-Gold Project is in northern Ecuador and is the subject of a Staged Acquisition Agreement with Ecuadorian company Golden Exploration Ecuador.
Saxony State Minister for Development Thomas Schmidt and AIG managing director Uwe Ahrens in front of Dock3.

Altech Chemicals Ltd (ASX:ATC)s 75%-owned German subsidiary, Altech Industries Germany GmbH (AIG), has taken up the option to buy a ~14-hectare industrial site in Saxony, Germany.

ATC intends to build a 10,000 tonnes per annum high purity alumina (HPA) battery materials coating plant on site.

The proposed plant is subject of a preliminary feasibility study that is being finalised by AIG.

This plant would produce alumina coated silicon/graphite anode materials to supply the lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle (EV) markets, using Altechs proprietary coating technology.

The German location gives it excellent access to European markets.

An official land handover ceremony was recently concluded at the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park, with the Saxony State Minister for Development Thomas Schmidt, the Mayor of Spreetal, Saxony Manfred Peine and Lady Major of Spremberg, Brandenburg Christine Herntier all in attendance.

Dignitaries looking over the proposed site for a battery materials coating pilot plant, in Dock 3.

Members of the board of Altech Advanced Materials AG (AAM) and several other political and industrial dignitaries were also present.

About the Industrial Park

The Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park is in north-eastern Saxony and is well serviced by existing infrastructure including reticulated electricity and natural gas, rail and roads.

It is just 120 kilometres from Berlin and 78 kilometres from Dresden and sits in an area considered to be the new automotive nucleus in Europe.

The area hosts production sites for Volkswagen, BMW, Porsche, Daimler (ETR:DAI) and Tesla, as well as a number of key resource and technology players within the value chain of lithium-ion batteries.

The region is a leading engineering training ground and has excellent research facilities including the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano-systems, which is very focused on ceramic (HPA) nanotechnology in energy storage.

About ATC

ATC is a specialty alumina technology and production company that has finalised Stage 1 and Stage 2 construction of its high purity alumina (HPA) plant in Johor, Malaysia, and continues with innovative research and development of its downstream alumina coating technology used to improve the battery life and performance in lithium-ion batteries.

ATCs alumina coating technology is successful on both silicon and graphite particles, typical of those used in the anode of lithium-ion batteries, particularly within the burgeoning electric vehicle industry.

Along with its plant in Germany, the company is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (Al 2O3) through the construction and operation of a 4,500 tonnes per annum high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant at Johor, Malaysia.

Feedstock for this plant will be sourced from its 100%-owned near surface kaolin deposit at Meckering, Western Australia, and shipped to Malaysia.
Krakatoa Resources Ltd (ASX:KTA) has recorded a big end to 2021 with the completion of exploration programs on its priority New South Wales projects.

At Rand project in the Riverina, the company has completed a significant infill and extensional geochemical soil survey over the Bulgandry Goldfield, which resulted in more than 1,630 soil samples being gathered in the last 12 months.

Clay-hosted rare-earth elements (REE)-bearing aircore samples from magnetic bullseye anomalies have been submitted for metallurgical testing.

The company has also put forward additional land applications surrounding the Rand project.

At Belgravia in the Central West, a dipole-dipole IP survey has defined a new, significant buried porphyry-style chargeable anomaly at the Bella-Larras Lee Target.

Further, KTA has been awarded $100,000 for diamond drilling from the NSW State Government Drilling Co-operative funding initiative.

Big end to 2021

Krakatoa CEO Mark Major said: It was a big end to 2021 for the company with a strong exploration push in both NSW and WA well into December.

Im proud of our NSW crew who toiled through floods, fires and hailstorms to complete the infill soil program at Rand.

Likewise, kudos goes to our in-house team and consultants who managed to persevere with the Molong COVID outbreak and floods to complete the IP surveys and drilling on EL8153.

It was a challenging year with COVID, weather and access to consultants and exploration resources, however, we were able to complete the exploration programs on budget and with only minor delays.

We are looking forward to the results of the Rand soil survey which will assist us with refining drill targets for 2022; and the IP survey at Bella-Larras Lee which has revealed a potentially significant anomaly at depth which the company will pursue aggressively in 2022.

Bulgandry Goldfield Phase 2

In December 2021, KTA completed a significant infill and extensional auger soil geochemical survey over the Bulgandry Goldfield at Rand, following up on the earlier Phase 1 work completed in February 2021.

Raw bulk samples taken have been freighted to Labwest in Perth where they will undergo ultrafine analysis (UFF-PE) for gold and a full multi-element suite.

Assay results are expected in February-March 2022.

Expert geological project review

An independent expert geologist from CTEX Consulting has been engaged to review the project in late 2022.

A detailed data review and analysis were completed following a site visit in December 2021.

The review addressed the IRG (gold), tin-tungsten and REE potential of the project.

KTA is evaluating the reports findings and recommendations and is incorporating these in the 2022 field surveys.

ELA6464 application

Given the NSW REE discovery, the company successfully lodged an application for 2,008 square kilometres land package surrounding the current Rand ELs.

The new ground will be explored for clay-hosted ionic REE mineralisation within the regolith profile developed over numerous intrusives, like that known over the mineralised area of Rand.

The application is expected to be granted by mid-2022.

Sugarloaf assays

Assay results were received for the diamond drill holes drilled at Sugarloaf at Belgravia from late September to early November 2021.

A total of 236 core samples were submitted to ALS Global for gold and multi-element analysis. Assay results were subdued with no significant intersections returned.

Maximum individual grades were 0.022 g/t gold and 720 ppm copper over 1 metre.

The company is still waiting for the report from 23 petrography samples and completion of the interpretation of hyperspectral and whole rock analysis results.

On completion of the outstanding work, full interpretation of the system and further targeting will be undertaken.

Next steps

At Rand, for the IRGS targets, the auger soil survey results received will be incorporated with the Phase 1 results.

Gradient array IP (GAIP) is being considered for early 2022. Soil results and GAIP will be integrated with the geology to define shallow drill targets.

Additionally, RC and or DD drilling is planned for the Bullseye magnetic anomalies and the Goodwood Reef utilising $50,000 of financial government grant for a diamond hole at each target.

Once granted, regional reconnaissance aircore drilling will be done across the weathering profiles developed above the numerous intrusives on ELA6406.

It is awaiting metallurgical test-work on the anomalous REE zones around the bullseye magnetic anomalies.

On EL8153, at Sugarloaf, the company is awaiting the petrography analysis for Sugarloaf diamond drilling and interpretation of hyperspectral and whole rock results.

On final receipt of all results an interpretation, a review will be conducted.

At Bella-Larras Lee, final IP data is outstanding including 3D models and a final geophysicists report.

Potential work includes completing a second infill IP line 200 metres south of 6345350N to further define the current anomaly of interest, after which drilling may eventuate.
Solis Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:SLMN, ASX:SLM) has its eye trained on a US over-the-counter (OTC) listing as it reports on application updates across its copper project portfolio in Peru and Chile.

The base metals explorer has retained New York-based Amvest Capital Inc. to help it cross-list on the US OTCQB exchange  a step up from its previous US OTC Grey listing.

Solis hopes the upgraded listing will bolster liquidity and provide a more seamless experience for its US traders.

It comes just under a month since Solis made its ASX debut, listing on the share market following a A$5.5 initial public offering.

Upgraded US listing

By targeting a OTCQB listing, Solis could gain access to certain exemptions from US state securities laws or 'blue sky' exemptions.

In turn, this could further increase liquidity and expand investment advisors ability to research and recommend investment in Solis Minerals.

Solis advisor, Amvest Capital, is a specialist investment management and corporate finance firm focused solely on the Natural Resources sector and has assisted numerous TSXV and ASX companies with OTCQB cross-listing applications.

Solis will continue to update the market as more information on its cross-listing endeavours become available.

Quebrada Applications at Mostazal

In addition to the moves on the US markets, Solis has been granted exploration concessions adjacent to its Mostazal Copper Project in Chile.

All up, 18 concessions  labelled Quebrada 1-18  were applied for, totalling 4,764 hectares.

Solis will update its GIS mapping with the new concessions once they are filed with the mining register.

New Peru application

Solis has also made an application for seven concessions in the Tacna Region of southern Peru, 5 kilometres along trend from Southern Copper Corps Toquepala Mine.

The area was subject to a number of competitive applications, which are being assessed by INGEMMET  a department of Perus Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The applications lie along the Incapuquio Fault in southern Peru, which is associated with three large copper-molybdenum deposits that are currently in production; the Cuajone, Quellaveco and Toquepala properties.

Solis has also been granted its application for the Caruca concession in the Tacna Region of southern Peru, as announced mid-last year.

Located in the same region as the companys Ilo Norte and Ilo Este copper projects, Caruca covers copper and molybdenum anomalies, including the Pampa M copper-molybdenum porphyry showing.

The company plans to conduct an initial sampling and mapping program at Caruca, in conjunction with exploration slated for the Ilo Norte and Ilo Este assets.

About Solis

Solis Minerals is targeting three large-scale copper exploration assets in Chile and Peru.

The recently-acquired Mostazal Project in Chile has a drill-ready, multi-kilometre porphyry target to be drill-tested this year, underneath a high-grade mantos-style copper-silver historical resource.

Solis also owns the Ilo Este and Ilo Norte projects in Perus southern coastal copper belt, which is prospective for porphyry and iron oxide copper-gold discoveries.
Firefinch Ltd (ASX:FFX) has officially appointed Simon Hay to the position of Leo Lithiums managing director, effective immediately.

Hay has extensive management and technical experience built up over a 30-year career in Australia and internationally.

Read: Firefinch and partner Ganfeng make final investment decision for Goulamina Lithium Project

High return and low technical risk project

I am delighted to join Leo Lithium for the development of the world-class Goulamina Lithium Project, Hays said.

Michael Anderson and the Firefinch team have Leo Lithium poised for listing with a world-leading, high return and low technical risk project.

The recent completion of the definitive feasibility study update delivered very robust economics, and we have a high-quality partner in Ganfeng, who are providing a funding solution and offtake support.

The opportunity ahead of us is immense and Im humbled to assume stewardship of an outstanding project.

Before joining Leo Lithium, Hay was CEO of ASX-listed lithium company, Galaxy Resources Limited. The culmination of his role as CEO was the A$5 billion merger of equals with Orocobre Limited (ASX:ORE), to create the worlds fifth-largest lithium producer Allkem in mid-2021.

Hay is well regarded within the capital markets for his lithium market knowledge and the value he added to Galaxy.

Leo Lithium status

Im pleased to report the Goulamina Project is advancing apace on all fronts, with detailed engineering about to commence and selection of an EPCM contractor underway, Hay continued.

In Mali, site works are ramping up with a sterilisation drilling program in progress ahead of commencement of drilling to target conversion of inferred mineral resource to ore reserves. Early civil works will start in February.

The preliminary project schedule has first production in H1 2024, ideally timed to supply spodumene concentrate into the booming global lithium-ion battery and EV value chain.

I look forward to providing further detail on our plans for the Goulamina Project to investors and the market later this quarter as part of the demerger process.

About Firefinch

Firefinch is a Mali focused gold miner and lithium developer with an 80% interest in the operating Morila Gold Mine which has produced 7.5 million ounces of gold since 2000.

The company plans to ramp up production from an annual production profile of 40,000 ounces to 200,000 ounces by re-starting mining from the main Morila pit to exploit the 2.35-million-ounce gold resource while also boosting the capacity of the 4.5 million tonnes per annum mill.
Critical Resources Ltd (ASX:CRR) has had an impressive start to 2022 with shares setting new records on a daily basis on the back of strong newsflow, and today is no exception with high-grade lithium confirmed from verification sampling at the Mavis Lake Project in Ontario, Canada.

Verification assays from drill core and pegmatite outcrop rock chip samples have returned grades up to 3.06% lithium oxide and confirm the highly prospective nature of the project.

This has seen shares as much as 23.3% higher intraday to A$0.140, another new record. Since the market close on December 31, CRR shares have risen from A$0.038.

Looking ahead, permitting is underway for an initial first-stage 5,000-metre drill program across the Mavis Lake tenements.

Inaugural drilling imminent

Critical Resources managing director Alex Biggs said: Receipt of these assays is another confirmation of the potential we see in the Mavis Lake asset.

We are excited to begin our permitting and our inaugural drill program at Mavis Lake.

We feel a high level of confidence in the potential this asset provides for the company and our shareholders and we look forward to keeping the market informed as we move closer to drilling.

READ: Critical Resources shares surge after acquiring lithium project in Ontario, Canada

Mavis Lake results

CRRs verification assays from Mavis Lake confirm the presence of high-grade lithium mineralisation both in historic drill core and new rock chip samples at the Pegmatite 6 (Fairservice) and Pegmatite 18 prospects.

10 verification samples were taken as part of the due diligence work programs  six from existing drill core and four from pegmatite outcrops

At Fairservice prospect, the assays have returned up to 3.06% lithium oxide from the drill core sample.

In addition, rock chip samples with grades up to 2.39% lithium oxide have been identified from the Fairservice prospect and 1.61% lithium oxide from the Pegmatite 18 prospect.

Moving forward, a secondary drill program will be designed based on drilling results and data interpretation from the various exploration strategies employed.

Locations of sample checks.

About Mavis Lake

The Mavis Lake Lithium Project is about 20 kilometres east of the town of Dryden, Ontario.

The project is in close vicinity to the Trans-Canada highway and railway, with major transportation arteries linking the project areas with large cities such as Thunder Bay, Ontario to the southeast and Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the west.

Importantly, the region is a well-established lithium exploration and development province, with multiple projects located within the vicinity.

Furthermore, it boasts excellent infrastructure with hydro-power located a few kilometres to the southwest of the project.

READ: Critical Resources shares rise after intersecting visible chalcopyrite at Halls Peak
Revolut, the London-based digital banking app, unveiled share trading without commission in the US today.

Britains second most valuable fintech company intends to become a superapp, which allows customers to manage their financial facets in one place, it said.

"This to us was just the next logical step," said Gabe Vallejo, Revolut US head of wealth and trading.

The unicorn company, which already offered payment services, crypto trading, and savings accounts in the US, introduced zero-commission in the UK and Europe in 2019.

This launch comes amid a broader surge in retail trading, which escalated last year as investors caught onto meme stocks including GameStop and AMC, Reuters said, which will allow Revolut to compete with the likes of Robinhood.

US customers can trade fractional or full shares of over 1,100 securities, as well as more than 200 exchange-traded funds.

Revolut, which was valued at US$33bn in an investment round in July, launched as a US banking app in March 2020 and secured a US broker-dealer license in September.

Like Robinhood, Revolut relies on payment for order flow to generate revenue on commission-free trades, which is when brokers route trades to market makers in return for a fee.

US financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission is worried this form of trading entices investors to trade more, even when its not in their best interest.

Shares in Robinhood have tumbled since their listing at US$38 in July on a drop-off in crypto trades, regulatory probes, and a string of lawsuits and now trade at US$14.40.

Revolut finance chief Mikko Salavaara said last year the company planned to eventually become a public company, but there are no immediate plans to list.
RespireRx Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:RSPI) Inc is a tiny company with huge ambitions as it advances a portfolio of innovative drugs to combat neurological and psychiatric conditions, which affect millions around the world.

With a market cap of US$1.7 million, it is focused on conditions where there is a poorly or unmet need and aims to develop treatments, based on modifying neurotransmission (brain signalling), which have advantages to currently available drugs, if there are any.

For example, RespireRx has its sights on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, chronic pain and spinal cord injury (SCI).

"We are trying to do what everybody in the industry tries to do and that is we're trying to take a different approach, be unique, have attributes about our drugs that are better than drugs that are currently available, or in the case of OSA, no drugs available, so we are trying to improve the patient experience," explained Jeff Margolis, RespireRx chief financial officer (CFO) in an interview with Proactive.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a seriously debilitating condition, which sees airflow decrease or stop completely during sleep. It is thought to affect up to a billion people around the world and 30 million in the US, though millions of people remain undiagnosed. Surprising then, that there is, as yet, no approved drug to treat it anywhere in the world.

Important co-morbidities

As well as leaving people tired and less able to function, the condition is linked to several important co-morbidities, including type II diabetes, heart failure, obesity, stroke, and even early death.

Margolis said it is estimated by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, that the overall economic cost of OSA to the US, including treatment, lost work time, accidents and more is a staggering US$160 billion, with approximately US$12 billion attributed to the direct costs of diagnosis and treatment of the disease alone.

Currently, the most common treatment is a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device - an uncomfortable and cumbersome device, which involves users wearing a mask and tube at night through which air is mechanically pumped.

In its most advanced program so far, RespireRx is repurposing a known drug called dronabinol, originally US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved for anorexia associated with AIDS and chemo-induced nausea and vomiting, to treat OSA. If successful, it would mean people could take a single pill - undoubtedly a preferable option.

Margolis noted that, although one possible competitor is developing a potential oral treatment, he believes RespireRx's product is superior and that the market is so big there is more than enough room for two players.

Another potential advantage for RespireRx is the recent advent of home testing kits for OSA, which actually make diagnosing the problem a whole lot easier, and means many more people could turn to the company's pill in the future.

"It used to be a terrible diagnostic process and then it would be mean a treatment option you weren't thrilled with. Now there's an easier diagnostic process but there's still no treatment," said Margolis.

Right direction

Things seem to be heading in the right direction for the company. The results of two Phase 2 mid-stage clinical trials showed statistically significant favorable results. The company has gone on to bench tests to reformulate the drug and its dosage to optimize it for all-night use. The next stage would be to test this on animals ahead of a potential investigational new drug (IND) filing with the FDA and then onto additional human studies.

Significantly, the fact that dronabinol has been approved for over 35 years also means RespireRx believes it can rely on previous data already seen by the FDA, such as for safety, and potentially carry out just one single Phase 3 study rather than two.

But RespireRx is no one-trick pony, relying on dronabinol alone. In its AMPAkines program, part of its neuromodulator activities, it is ready for a Phase 2A study on candidate CX1739 for spinal cord injury (SCI) and is Phase 2B ready for CX717 or CX1739 for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These are multi-million and multi-billion markets respectively.

And in its GABAkines program, its KRM-II-81 candidate has been shown to be efficacious in multiple animal models for treatment-resistant epilepsy and chronic neuropathic pain - both also multi-million and multi-billion markets.

The company originally started life as AMPAkines-focused Cortex Pharmaceuticals in the late 1980s and Margolis has been involved for around nine years, in which time, he says, he has never known it not to be "financially strapped".

To pursue its programs, RespireRx filed last October a circular for a strategic 'Regulation A' offering to raise up to US$7.5 million over two years, which Margolis explained would be closed in chunks, when and if the market normalizes and the stock price of the company rises. It is also on the hunt for strategic partners, particularly to help finance larger clinical studies, such as for ADHD.

Similarly, the small-cap company is embarking on an internal restructuring - also in stages - and has divided its platforms into two named units - ResolutionRx, which hosts its pharmaceutical cannabinoids (dronabinol), and EndeavourRx - home to the AMPAkines and GABAkines programs.

Triggering event

"We are waiting for a triggering event that will enable us to create these entities as properly financed entities," explained Margolis, adding that this could be a party coming forward wanting to invest in a program but not the company as a whole, or a strategic partner, which wants to participate in a program, but not take on the risk of the other programs too.

"That triggering event will likely either be a private financing in one of those to-be-formed subsidiaries or a strategic transaction in one of those to-be-formed subsidiaries. In anticipation of that we are actually running them as named divisions," he added.

It is also worth noting that RespireRx is also transitioning its management after president and CEO Timothy Jones announced his intention to step down. Chief scientific officer Arnold S. Lippa will become interim president and interim CEO at the end of January. RespireRx reported that it has had "non-contentious preliminary discussions with Jones regarding this process.

So with plans in place, an internal restructuring underway, potentially highly undervalued assets targeting what look like huge patient markets, RespireRx could well be a growth story to keep an eye on.

"We have a core group of what we believe are excellent assets that can be well managed by the existing management team and that can be advanced, in our case, assuming finance is available," summed up Margolis.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
BioHarvest is the first company to produce a significant amount of full-spectrum, non-GMO cannabis biomass without growing the cannabis plant itself

BioHarvest Sciences Inc has announced plans to build a production facility in Ontario as part of the next phase in the global expansion of its cannabis vertical.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it is exploring opportunities to acquire an existing licensed facility or a licensed producer (LP), which would enable it to use its BioFarming technology to produce and then sell unique cannabis products into the Canadian market.

Our BioFarming technology not only enables the production of full-spectrum cannabis without growing the plant but also creates unique new patentable and consistent compositions that will have corresponding human utility value, BioHarvest CEO Ilan Sobel said in a statement.

I am excited about the opportunity to bring such unique cannabis solutions to the Canadian market by building a local production facility in Canada, he added.

The company also announced that it has also moved its production of full-spectrum cannabis biomass to industrial-scale bioreactors, which is a critical final step in ensuring adequate production levels for commercialization. It noted that the full-spectrum, pesticide-free, non-genetically modified biomass is based on its proprietary BioFarming technology that produces cannabis without growing the plant itself.

Following its December 8, 2021, announcement in which it reported that it was the first company to produce a significant amount of full-spectrum, non-GMO cannabis biomass without growing the cannabis plant itself, BioHarvest said it has moved swiftly towards the final stage of the development program by now growing the trichome cells in industrial-scale bioreactors.

The trichome cells contain cannabinoids such as CBD, THC, as well as other compounds that grow naturally in the cannabis plant, the company explained.

This stage successfully tested the resilience of BioHarvest's proprietary "amalgamated trichome cells" against the shear forces generated by the large bioreactor's liquid media motion. These amalgamated Trichomes have a coral-shaped structure and have a density of up to 200 times greater than the conventional agriculture case," it added.

The company asked those LPs interested in a collaborative agreement to send requests to partnership@bioharvest.com.

Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com
Banks have told their British staff to return to the office after the government lifted its work-from-home guidance, giving hope of a boost to retail and hospitality companies hit hard by remote working.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) staff are "expected to be in the office at least three days per week", the bank said in an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:STAN)'s London headquarters will be open for all staff from Monday 24 January, a spokesperson told Reuters.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday announced the immediate end to the government's work-from-home rule, adding that other restrictions such as the mandatory wearing of face masks in public venues would be dropped next week.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) plans to resume office working following the the changed guidelines, a spokesperson told Reuters, while HSBC PLC (LSE:HSBA) said staff would be welcome back in its offices from Thursday for hybrid working.

Business and industry leaders cheered the end of the restrictions.

"Before Christmas the Omicron variant cast a dark shadow over the Square Mile's recovery. The signs are now much more promising," said Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation.

"We look forward to welcoming City workers back to their offices as soon as possible."

Clive Watson, chairman of City Pub Group PLC (AIM:CPC), told the Evening Standard: To get Britain back to work, so to speak, is absolutely vital for hospitality. A lot of businesses, including our own, do rely on people being back at their desks and coming into London. Thats a really key driver going forward.

Hospitality industry data from CGA on Thursday showed there was modest growth in the last quarter of 2021, with a 1.6% increase in site numbers between September and December  the first quarter-on-quarter growth for more than five years.

The report pointed to a 1.9% increase in venues in both city centres and on high streets, where footfall has suffered since the start of the pandemic.
The "Own the Day" campaign was created in partnership with well-known marketing and creative agency Known

The Valens Company (TSX:VLNS, OTCQX:VLNCF) Inc said its Green Roads subsidiary has announced the launch of its first-ever brand campaign "Own the Day".

Valens, which is Canada's largest provider of cannabis services specializing in extraction, formulation, and product development, said the campaign celebrates Green Roads' products and their ability to help consumers with stress, sleep, muscle and joint pain, relaxation, and focus.

Green Roads also relaunched its direct-to-consumer eCommerce experience to prominently carry the Own the Day campaign with Green Roads wellness products messaging.

"We believe that health and wellness is a personal journey and that great days are built by small moments, whether it's relaxing after a frantic day, staying focused on things that matter or liberating yourself with restful sleep," Valens CEO Tyler Robson said in a statement. "With this campaign, we want to position Green Roads as a trusted partner with a portfolio of products aimed at helping consumers achieve their personal health and wellness objectives."

"Own the Day" was created in partnership with marketing and creative agency Known. The new campaign leverages Known's Skeptic Operating System, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to deploy and optimize thousands of creative permutations in real time.

Some of the biggest companies in the world are Known clients including Amazon, Google, Netflix, Beyond Meat, BeautyCounter, and Just Egg.

Deerfield Beach, Florida-based Green Roads is an award-winning company that produces high-quality products using hemp-derived CBD and other beneficial cannabinoids. The firms premium CBD oils, edibles, soft gels, capsules, topicals, coffee, and more are sold in over 7,000 retail locations and online.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive
With the new additions, the company noted that a total of 30 operators are now utilizing its technology

Playgon Games (TSX-V:DEAL, OTCQB:PLGNF) Inc., a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company delivering mobile live dealer technology to online gaming operators, announced that it has gone live with four new operators now offering its Live Dealer games to their global clients.

With the new additions, the company noted that a total of 30 operators are now utilizing its technology, with an additional five operators in the queue at various stages of onboard testing.

"We are very pleased to welcome four new operators into the Playgon family. They are impressed with our technology and are already contributing to player activity on our platform," CEO Darcy Krogh said in a statement.

"We continue to hear positive reviews from operators seeking new and innovative content and our mobile Live Dealer solution is a prime example of that as we continue to garner interest in the online gaming community. Momentum continues to grow in player activity on a month over month basis, and we are on track for a record 2022."

Playgon also announced that total player wagering activity for December 2021 increased approximately 11% from November 2021. Furthermore, it said monthly active player numbers rose 132% and betspots increased over 100%, compared to the previous month.

"With our recently closed $10 million financing at the end of 2021, we are well-positioned to execute on our strategy for 2022, which includes revenue growth, increased sales and marketing activity with tangible operator additions, new market entry including US, Canada and Latin America, Krogh continued.

We are focused on quickly becoming one of the leading Live Dealer solution providers in the marketplace today.

Playgon Games (TSX-V:DEAL, OTCQB:PLGNF) is focused on developing and licensing digital content for the growing iGaming market. It provides a multi-tenant gateway that allows online operators the ability to offer their customers innovative iGaming software solutions. Its current software platform includes Live Dealer Casino, E-Table games, and Daily Fantasy Sports, which, through a seamless integration at the operator level, allows customer access without having to share sensitive customer data.

Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com
'We are enormously encouraged by the findings of these two studies,' said Professor Han-Mo Chiu from National Taiwan University, who is the principal investigator of the studies

VolitionRx (NYSE-A:VNRX) Limited has announced the results of two large clinical studies, which show that the company's flagship Nu.Q assays, when used in conjunction with the Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), can detect colorectal cancer and all high-risk advanced adenomas in symptomatic patients, and thereby reduce unnecessary colonoscopies.

The Austin, Texas-based epigenetics company said the studies also demonstrated that the company's Nu.Q assays can improve the detection of high-risk adenomas in asymptomatic patients.

In a statement, principal investigator Professor Han-Mo Chiu from the National Taiwan University, said: "We are enormously encouraged by the findings of these two studies. Not only do they show that using Nu.Q assays in combination with FIT can potentially reduce unnecessary colonoscopies by up to 28% in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, the studies also show that this dual approach could be used more widely to improve the effectiveness of FIT-based screening programs targeting asymptomatic patients.

READ: VolitionRx well positioned with $22.9M as it shifts gears to become a commercial company with products

We look forward to presenting our findings to colleagues at ASCO GI 2022," he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Marielle Herzog, who is the Research and Development Director at Volition, pointed out that early diagnosis is key to improving outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer, and cancer screening programs are critical.

The results of our studies, using Volition's Nu.Q assays in conjunction with FIT, are incredibly encouraging, not only in reducing unnecessary colonoscopies but also in detecting high-risk adenomas, both proximal and distal, which FIT, when used alone can miss, added Dr Marielle Herzog. We are excited about the next stage, facilitating an independent, prospective validation study later this year."

The findings from the studies carried out by Volition and the National Taiwan University Hospital will be presented later this week at the 2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, with 1.9 million new cases in 2020, and it accounts for over 9% of all cancer-related deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The most recommended colorectal cancer screening method is the FIT, followed up with colonoscopy, which is an invasive visual examination. However, approximately 60% of FITs provide false-positive results, leading to unnecessary and costly colonoscopies, according to studies.

Here are the two posters to be presented at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium:

Circulating nucleosomes levels improve FIT performance for detecting high-risk colorectal neoplasms in a symptomatic population.

Circulating nucleosomes for detection of colorectal cancer and high-risk advanced adenomas.

Volition applies its Nucleosomics platform to develop simple, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases including some cancers and diseases associated with NETosis such as sepsis and coronavirus (COVID-19).

The tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive
Rufus Round, CEO of GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited joins Proactive London again to talk about 'significant increase' in business activity.

He says this is in the absence of their marketing push to acquire new customers, which is scheduled to ramp up this quarter once the new trading app has been launched.

GlobalBlock is a UK based cryptocurrency broker who provide individuals, corporates and partners access to over 100 digital assets via phone, app or online.
Arizona Silver Exploration CEO Mike Stark joined Steve Darling to provide some insight on his letter to shareholders he has released. Stark talks about some of the work the company has done including results emerging from the Philadelphia project.

Stark also shared with Proactive more about the plan for 2022 including what is ahead for the Philadelphia Project and their other projects as well.
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New Delhi, Jan 20 : US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke to India's Foreign Secretary Harsh V. Shringla and discussed Russia's military build-up on Ukraine's borders along with regional issues and Covid pandemic.

Within a week, it's the second time that the US talked with India about the Russia's presence at Ukraine borders.

"The US Deputy Secretary and the India's Foreign Secretary agreed to remain closely coordinated on shared goals and priorities and reiterated the importance of a strong US-India partnership to mitigate the Covid-19 Omicron variant's rapid advance," Ned Price, spokesperson of the US's State Department, said on Wednesday.

Earlier, on January 14, the US Charge' d' Affaires Patricia Lacina also called on Shringla and discussed India-US relationship with the regional issues of mutual interest.

Interestingly at the time when India and US were holding talks, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to reaffirm the "unwavering" US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of ongoing Russian military buildup.

After the meeting, Blinken met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as part of ongoing efforts to encourage Russia to choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue.

According to the State Department Blinken met Zelenskyy in Kiev as part of US' "close and continued coordination" with Ukraine following the US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue in Geneva, the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels, and the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna.

Blinken during the meeting has emphasised that if Russia chooses the path of "further aggression" against Ukraine, the US, together with its allies and partners, will impose crippling costs on Russia's economy, reinforce NATO's presence in frontline allied states, and increase defensive assistance to Ukraine.
Moscow, Jan 20 : Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the development of bilateral economic relations and international cooperation with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow.

Putin has noted that trade between the two countries increased by over six percent in 2020 despite the pandemic, and by more than 38 per cent last year.

Turning to international cooperation, Putin said that Russia and Iran are able to assist the Syrian government in "overcoming threats posed by international terrorism".

"Relations between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are developing, and we are actively working to create a free-trade zone between Iran and our association," the Kremlin said in a statement, citing the Russian leader.

Raisi in turn spoke in favour of further developing bilateral economic, trade, cultural, political, and military relations with Russia.

"In the current, very exceptional conditions, where there is opposition to the unilateral actions of the West, including the United States, we can create synergy in our interaction," Raisi said.

Raisi said that Iran would continue to develop despite Western sanctions and threats, and would work on establishing mechanisms for the gradual lifting of all sanctions and restrictions.

The Iranian leader said it is necessary to enhance trade and economic ties, praising the current cooperation between Iran and Russia within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the EAEU.

Raisi has arrived in Moscow on Wednesday. He will address the State Duma or the lower house of parliament, and will hold a range of meetings.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : In the era of internet, 'WWW' may stands for 'World Wide Web', but to empower young women and girls, the High Commission of Canada in partnership with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, coined it in a different way by launching an initiative titled 'World Wide Women - A Campaign on Women's Digital Leadership'.

In the lead up to the 'National Day of the Girl and International Day of Education', the campaign is to train young women and girls from rural and marginalised communities in five Indian states, and areas of Nepal and Bhutan, to build their capacity in digital entrepreneurship, internet use and digital marketing, through a series of training workshops.

"I am delighted to launch the 'World Wide Women' campaign today. Canada is committed to taking concrete action towards achieving digital equality and ensuring that women and girls have access and the necessary skills to use digital tools to participate in decision-making. This commitment is reflected in Canada's role as the Chair of the Freedom Online Coalition in 2022," said Canada's Deputy High Commissioner, Amanda Strohan.

The collaborative programme will reach out to 1,50,000 women through three country cohorts, 150 digital entrepreneurs and 15 super digital women.

On the launch of the initiative, a panel discussion on 'Women's digital leadership: Possibilities and challenges' provided insights on the key barriers women face in using digital technologies, and the various approaches to utilise existing skill development programmes to enhance women's digital skills.

Trainees from rural India, Nepal and Bhutan also participated and shared their excitement for the programme and their ambition to become future entrepreneurs.
Paris, Jan 20 : Addressing the European Parliament's (EP) plenary session in Strasbourg, France, French President Emmanuel Macron outlined the priorities of his country's Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).

The EU, Macron said, has the capability and resources to be a powerful actor in the international community, Xinhua news agency reported.

At the helm of the EU Council, France intends to "create together a European power of the future ... an independent Europe that has given itself the means to decide its own future and not rely on the decisions of other major powers," he said.

The French EU Council Presidency will promote and protect the values "that are being weakened," he said, naming democracy, solidarity and respect for the rule of law.

Macron also said that the EU should add to its Charter of Fundamental Rights the protection of the environment and women's right to abortion.

Macron said he wished to see the rule of law reinforced "in dialogue" in order to "convince people again who have drifted away from it." He said that the French Presidency would deliver on solidarity, with new texts being presented or adopted in the coming weeks on topics such as employment, gender gap in pay or the fight against discrimination.

To make sure that progress benefits all EU citizens, the bloc must face the challenges posed by climate change and the digital transition, he said.

France will push for a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and mirror measures in commercial agreements, he said. A "One Ocean" summit will be held in February to strengthen the protection of marine biodiversity, Macron recalled.

France also wants to preserve peace through a better migration policy and better neighborly relations. Relationships with Africa, the Western Balkan countries, and Russia will be at the heart of the French presidency.

"We will continue to seek a political solution to the conflict in Ukraine," he said, and "will ensure that Europe makes its united and strong voice heard on the question of strategic armaments." He called for a "European proposal building a new order of security and stability." He also said that the EU must find a "path of trust" with the United Kingdom in a post-Brexit era.
Kabul, Jan 20 : Deborah Lyons, the UN's top envoy in Afghanistan, announced that the world body will ask $8 billion from donors as aid to help the war-torn nation amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the media reported.

Addressing an international gathering at the Presidential Palace, Arg, here on Wednesday, Lyons said that transfer of cash to Afghanistan would continue until the banking system is revived in the country, TOLO News repored.

"We secured the permission to import cash to address the crippling lack of liquidity, assisted by your administration in doing so. We imported in December, last month of last year, over 120 million dollars and this month another 32 million," she said.

The international gathering at the Arg was the first since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August 2021.

Representatives of 20 countries attended the event, some via videoconference.

The UN special envoy further said that some achievements of the past two decades have been violated and that over half of the country's population is living under the poverty line.

She said that the UN is attempting to remove existing sanctions on Afghanistan.

Also addressing the summit, Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund said that short term aid is not enough to tackle the crisis, and he called for the removal of obstacles in the way of economic recovery, reports TOLO News.

"A mutual path should be formed to meet the problems of people on time, and forever. The short term aid is not sufficiently beneficial for the nation," he said.

Taliban cabinet members praised the UN support for Afghanistan.

The Second Deputy of the Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, said that they would monitor the distribution of aid to vulnerable people.

"The political conditions of the donors are not acceptable. We never want economical reliance, which brings crisis, we never want to be in the circle of political conditions of donors. We will never sacrifice economic independence." Acting Finance Minister Hedayatullah Badri said the Taliban government has made a plan to tackle the economic crisis, adding that the "humanitarian aid is not sufficient and there is a need for development aid".
Meerut : , Jan 20 (IANS) Massive protests over candidate selection have forced the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to replace its candidate Veerpal Rathi with Ajay Kumar from Chaprauli seat in Baghpat.

Chaprauli, a RLD stronghold, was the only seat won by the party in 2017.

The move comes after the party is facing a revolt-like situation on eight seats that have been given to the Samajwadi leaders who are contesting on the RLD symbol.

Veerpal Rathi, however is not an SP leader and belongs to the RLD.

The new candidate, Ajay Kumar, had won the 2002 elections by a margin of 64,000 votes.

According to sources in Baghpat, there was a strong opposition to Rathi's candidature by a majority of Jat community.

"Change of the candidate is a positive signal and raises hopes of party leaders who feel side-lined due to denial of tickets," said a RLD leader.

The RLD is in a pre-poll alliance with SP in Uttar Pradesh.

Hours after the announcement of alliance candidates for the two constituencies of Meerut, an agitation had erupted against the party and angry workers even burnt the RLD flag in Siwalkhas constituency.

The two candidates -- Ghulam Mohammad and Manisha Ahlawat -- were actually SP leaders who had been given tickets on RLD symbol.

According to the RLD leaders, at least 8 seats across west UP have SP candidates on RLD symbol.

"In Muzaffarnagar alone, out of five seats given to RLD in alliance, four have SP candidates fighting on RLD symbol which infuriated the RLD cadre," said an RLD leader.
Agra, Jan 20 : A Dalit boy was allegedly shot at by his friends for not greeting them while he was on his way to attend tuition classes.

The boy, a student of class 10, has been shot in the leg.

He is a student of a local public school and the two accused study in an inter college and are students of class 12.

The police said the accused boys are adults and one of them has been arrested while the other is on the run.

The victim is out of danger.

Police said an FIR has been lodged under sections 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC and under relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

It is also being investigated as to how the accused managed to procure the gun and bullets.

According to reports, the accused first abused and thrashed the Dalit boy and then one of them took out a country-made pistol and fired at the victim and fled.

The locals rushed the victim to hospital immediately.

SHO at the New Agra police station Arvind Nerval said the condition of the victim is stable, and that search is on for the other accused.

The arrested accused was booked last year on charges of attempt to murder and was remanded in judicial custody but was later released on bail.
Lucknow, Jan 20 : Priyanka Maurya, the face of Congress 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' poster in Uttar Pradesh, may join the BJP soon.

BJP sources said that she visited the party headquarters in Lucknow on Wednesday, triggering speculation of her joining the saffron party.

Maurya said, 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' has been rendered as a mere slogan because "as a 'ladki', I was not allowed to contest elections because I could not pay bribe'.

She claimed that instead of giving the ticket to her, it was given to a person who joined the party just a month back.

"I completed all formalities but the ticket was pre-planned and was given to a person who came just a month back. I want to send this message to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi that such things are happening on the ground," said Maurya.

Maurya said she has been relentlessly working in the Sarojini Nagar Vidhan Sabha constituency for over a year, but was denied a ticket.

"We were used as a pawn to woo women and people from the backward community. Very soon you will see me and members of my community with the BJP," she said.

Maurya's social media profile, categorically describes her as Mahila Congress vice-president, doctor and social worker. It also refers to 170, Sarojini Nagar Vidhan Sabha, an Assembly seat in Lucknow.

In a 'pinned' tweet posted on January 14, Maurya alleged Congress' 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' campaign was nothing, but a hoax. "People will say if you do not get the ticket, then you are bound to say this. Investigate and find out yourself. We were told to prepare for 2024. Congress has not been able to beat the 'jumlas' of BJP," she said in the tweet.
Washington, Jan 20 : US President Joe Biden's administration will start shipping 400 million free non-surgical N95 face masks to distribution sites nationwide this week as part of efforts to fight the Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 resurgence, a media report said.

Americans will be able to pick up their masks at one of "tens of thousands" of pharmacies, thousands of community centres and other locations across the country, beginning late next week, Xinhua news agency quoted the USA Today report as saying on Wednesday.

As Omicron cases have been overwhelming across the country, Biden is facing criticism over his ability to contain the pandemic, noted the newspaper, adding that the White House expects the program to be fully up and running by early February.

The Biden administration's new website allowing people to order up to four free at-home coronavirus tests quietly went live on Tuesday, a day in advance of its formal launch, and demand already appeared to be significant.

A combined total of more than 1 million visitors were on the home page and the ordering page of covidtests.gov at one point Tuesday evening, more than 40 times as many as were on the government site with the next highest traffic, the US Postal Service's package-tracking page, according to official data.

The test-and-mask moves show that the Biden administration "is trying to step up its coronavirus response as the highly infectious Omicron variant drives a spike in cases across the nation", The New York Times said in a report on Wednesday, noting that the administration at first resisted the idea of sending tests to Americans' homes.

As of Thursday morning, the US' overall caseload and death toll stood at 68,508,181 and 857,672, according to the Johns Hopkins University's latest update.

The two tallies are the highest in the world.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Melbourne, Jan 20 : Grace Harris was on Thursday added to Australia's Ashes squad hours before the opening T20I in Adelaide Oval as cover for the injured batter Beth Mooney.

Harris pipped Elyse Villani and Georgia Redmayne for the T20 matches after the world No. 1 T20 batter Mooney picked up a jaw injury earlier in the week for which she required immediate surgery.

The 28-year old Harris now has a chance to play her first match for Australia since late 2016.

"Whilst the injury to Beth is unfortunate it does provide an opportunity for someone else to step into the squad. Grace has a great skill set for the T20 format and has the ability to play multiple roles if required," said chief selector Shawn Flegler on Thursday.

Harris last played for Australia in an ODI against South Africa in Coffs Harbour in 2016, but has since performed consistently for the Brisbane Heat in WBBL. With scores of 55 off 37 and 15 in a recent warm-up match for Australia A against Australia, she put her hand up for the spot.

Meanwhile, Rachael Haynes, who didn't play the India series is also likely to make her way into the XI and play in the middle order at No. 4 or No. 5.

The multi-format Ashes which starts with T20Is, will be followed by a one-off Test and a three match ODI series.
Seoul : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C, rear) presides over a politburo meeting of the Workers' Party at the headquarters of the party's Central Committee in Pyongyang on Jan. 19, 2022, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Centra Image Source: IANS News

Seoul : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over a politburo meeting of the Workers' Party at the headquarters of the party's Central Committee in Pyongyang on Jan. 19, 2022, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Age Image Source: IANS News

Seoul, Jan 20 : North Korea held a policymaking politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party presided over by leader Kim Jong-un and decided to consider restarting "all temporally-suspended" activities, apparently referring to its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, Pyongyang's state media reported on Thursday.

The meeting took place after the North conducted four missile tests this month, including two of what it claims to be a hypersonic missile, prompting the US to slap new sanctions on the regime, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The US is leading a campaign within the .N Security Council to extend its own sanctions, with a closed-door council meeting on the issue scheduled to be held Thursday.

During the session held on Wednesday, the participants vowed preparations for a "long-term confrontation" with Washington, saying the "hostile policy and military threat by the US have reached a danger line that can not be overlooked any more", according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"It gave an instruction to a sector concerned to reconsider in an overall scale the trust-building measures that we took on our own initiative on a preferential ground and to promptly examine the issue of restarting all temporally-suspended activities," the KCNA said.

North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing since late 2017.

"The meeting of the Political Bureau reassigned the policy tasks for the national defence of immediately bolstering more powerful physical means which can efficiently control the hostile moves of the US against the DPRK getting ever more serious day by day," it said.

DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Last week, the Joe Biden administration announced fresh sanctions on six North Koreans involved in the regime's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Hackers have hit the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), compromising the personal data of more than 515,000 "highly vulnerable people" globally.

According to the Red Cross, a sophisticated cyber security attack against computer servers hosting information was detected this week.

"The attack compromised personal data and confidential information on more than 515,000 highly vulnerable people, including those separated from their families due to conflict, migration and disaster, missing persons and their families, and people in detention," Red Cross said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The data originated from at least 60 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the world.

The organisation said that the most pressing concern following this attack is the potential risks that come with this breach -- including confidential information being shared publicly -- for people that the Red Cross and Red Crescent network seeks to protect and assist, as well as their families.

"An attack on the data of people who are missing makes the anguish and suffering for families even more difficult to endure. We are all appalled and perplexed that this humanitarian information would be targeted and compromised," said Robert Mardini, ICRC's director-general.

"This cyber-attack puts vulnerable people, those already in need of humanitarian services, at further risk." The ICRC had no immediate indications as to who carried out this cyber attack.

There is not yet any indication that the compromised information has been leaked or shared publicly.

While we don't know who is responsible for this attack, or why they carried it out, we do have this appeal to make to them," said Mardini.

"Your actions could potentially cause yet more harm and pain to those who have already endured untold suffering," he added.

Because of the attack, Red Cross has shut down the systems underpinning its Restoring Family Links work, affecting the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's ability to reunite separated family members.

Every day, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement helps reunite on average 12 missing people with their families.
Seoul, Jan 20 : South Korea has detected signs of North Korea preparing for a military parade ahead of the regime's key political events, an official said here on Thursday.

The North is set to celebrate the birth anniversaries of leader Kim Jong-un's late father and grandfather, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, on February 16 and April 15, respectively, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"As there are signs of preparations for a military parade, we are paying close attention to related developments," the military official told reporters.

The official added the preparations are "in their early stage" and that it remains to be seen exactly when the North would stage the parade.

At the Mirim airfield in Pyongyang, North Korean troops and trucks were seen moving around, an informed source said, in apparent preparations for the parade.

Earlier in the day, the North's state media reported Pyongyang decided to consider "restarting all temporally-suspended activities" -- an apparent allusion to its years-long self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The report raised speculation the North could showcase an intercontinental ballistic missile or other strategic weapons should a parade take place.

The North has avoided nuclear and ICBM testing since late 2017.
Seoul, Jan 20 : North Korea has decided to grant convicted people amnesty, effective later this month, on the occasion of major birth anniversary celebrations of its late leaders, Pyongyang's state media said on Thursday.

The pardons will be granted to those who were convicted of "crimes against the country and people" to commemorate the 110th and 80th birth anniversaries of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, respectively, in a decision made by the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The amnesty will take effect January 30, adding the cabinet and relevant organs will take" practical measures" to help them settle into normal working lives, Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA as further saying.

The birth anniversary of Kim Jong-il, late father of current leader Kim Jong-un, falls on February 16 and that of his late grandfather Kim Il-sung on April 15, both of which are major celebrations.

The amnesty appears to be part of efforts to promote social unity amid economic hardships, with prolonged border controls in place to stave off the Covid-19 pandemic and to boost loyalty for the leader, who's been in power for a decade.

The North announced its previous amnesty in August 2020 ahead of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.
Kiev, Jan 20 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the security situation in and around Kiev during their meeting here.

According to Zelensky's press service, the two on Wednesday exchanged their views on the ways of settlement of the situation within the existing negotiation formats and within other modalities of the political and diplomatic settlement, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We want to intensify the work of all negotiation formats and pave the way for the Normandy Summit," the President said.

He informed Blinken that the ceasefire in the country's conflict-hit region of Donbas is in force and no Ukrainian servicemen were killed this week.

The Ukrainian leader also said that his country needs US assistance to modernize its army and voiced his hope that the Washington would support Kiev's Euro-Atlantic aspirations during the upcoming summit of the NATO in Madrid.

After his talks with Zelensky, Blinken tweeted that he updated the Ukrainian President "on our engagements with Russia last week and stressed there will be nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine".

"I applaud Ukraine's commitment to a peaceful resolution and urge Russia to pursue diplomacy as the only way forward," he added.

On January 10, the US and Russia held security talks in Geneva to discuss Ukraine, among other issues.

Recently, Ukraine, the USand some other Western countries have voiced concerns over the Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian borders, fearing that Russia is preparing for an attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia has no plans to attack Ukraine, and there was no reason to fear an escalation of tensions with Ukraine.

The Normandy format is a diplomatic group of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France designed to end the conflict in Donbas that has been underway since 2014.

Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier on Wednesday. He is scheduled to meet his German and Russian counterparts Annalena Baerbock and Sergei Lavrov, respectively, later this week.
Moscow, Jan 20 : Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi discussed bilateral economic cooperation and other international issues during their first meeting here.

This is Putin and Raisi's first in-person meeting since the latter took office in August last year, and also the first visit by an Iranian leader to Russia since 2017.

During Wednesday's meeting, Putin noted that trade between the two countries increased by over 6 per cent in 2020 despite the pandemic, and by more than 38 per cent last year.

In regards to international cooperation, Putin said that Russia and Iran are able to assist the Syrian government in "overcoming threats posed by international terrorism".

"Relations between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are developing, and we are actively working to create a free-trade zone between Iran and our association," the Kremlin said in a statement, citing the Russian leader.

Raisi in turn spoke in favour of further developing bilateral economic, trade, cultural, political, and military relations with Russia.

"In the current, very exceptional conditions, where there is opposition to the unilateral actions of the West, including the United States, we can create synergy in our interaction," he said.

Raisi said that Iran would continue to develop despite Western sanctions and threats, and would work on establishing mechanisms for the gradual lifting of all sanctions and restrictions.

The Iranian leader said it is necessary to enhance trade and economic ties, praising the current cooperation between Iran and Russia within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the EAEU.

At the end of the meeting, the Iranian side handed over to Moscow a draft agreement on strategic cooperation for a 20-year period.

Raisi arrived in Moscow on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Iranian President is expected to address the State Duma and visit the Moscow Cathedral Mosque.
Washington, Jan 20 : The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is likely to approve Pfizer's Covid vaccine for children under 5 years of age in February, White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci has said.

According to Fauci, younger children will likely need three doses, because two shots did not induce an adequate immune response among kids between 2-4 yeas of age in Pfizer's clinical trials, CNBC reported.

"My hope is that it's going to be within the next month or so and not much later than that, but I can't guarantee that," Fauci was quoted as saying.

Pfizer had in December 2021 announced plans to submit data to the FDA in the first half of 2022 if the three-dose study proves successful.

The US drug major said it did not identify any safety concerns with the 3-microgram vaccine doses in children six months to 4 years old. Adults receive two doses of 30 micrograms apiece as part of their primary series of shots.

Children under 5 are particularly vulnerable right now because they are the only age group that is not currently eligible for vaccination.

Hospitalisations of children with Covid are rising as the highly contagious Omicron variant has rapidly spread through communities across the US over the past month.

"Sadly, we are seeing the rates of hospitalisation increasing for children zero to four, children who are not yet currently eligible for Covid-19 vaccination," Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters during a conference call earlier this month.

Nearly 8 out of every 100,000 children under 5 years of age were hospitalised with Covid as of January 8, more than double the rate in early December before the Omicron became the dominant variant in the US, according to CDC data collected from 250 hospitals across 14 states.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has maintained that it is not necessary for healthy children to receive Covid boosters.

"The aim is to protect the most vulnerable, to protect those at highest risk of severe disease and dying, those are our elderly population, immunocompromised with underlying conditions and also health care workers," WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said during a recent briefing.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Melbourne, Jan 20 : World No. 6 Andrey Rublev of Russia breezed into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 win over No.93 Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania at the Melbourne Park on Thursday.

After spending one hour, 24 minutes on court against Italy's Gianluca Mager in the opening round, the last year's Australian Open quarterfinalist needed just one hour, 47 minutes to ease past his Lithuanian opponent in Kia Arena.

Breaks in the opening game of each set gave the fifth seed an easy afternoon, and a dominant serving performance powered home those advantages.

The 24-year-old had spoken of feeling "double pressure" following a COVID-induced layoff to start the year, but has settled in nicely with six dominant sets to kick-start his new year.

On Thursday, Rublev's power on serve and return wore down the world No. 93 and ultimately paved the way for a third-set knockout.

Rublev will now turn his attention to his third-round opponent, 27th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, who defeated Slovakian qualifier Norbert Gombos 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6).

A four-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, including a year ago in Melbourne, Rublev is chasing his first career Slam semifinal this fortnight.
Chennai, Jan 20 : Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Thursday said that after the Pongal festival and movement of people from cities to villages, the possibilities of Covid-19 spread is high.

He also called upon the people to wear masks, ensure physical distancing and sanitise and wash hands regularly to keep the virus at bay.

The Minister told IANS that the state already has 3,787 containment zones, and Chennai alone has 9,237 streets with active cases.

Even though the Test positivity rate (TPR) of the state is only 20 per cent, people must be cautious of the spread as the neighbouring states like Kerala and Karnataka are recording higher number of cases and TPR.

He said that the only solution is to adhere to Covid appropriate behaviour.

If there are any attempts of private hospitals fleecing money by admitting patients with minor symptoms to hospitals for hefty charges, complaints can be lodged on the state medical helpline 104, the Minister added.

Subramanian said that after such a complaint is lodged, a team from the Directorate of Medical Services would reach the hospital, conduct an inquiry and take action if necessary.

During the second wave of the pandemic, action was taken against 40 private hospitals for fleecing the patients in the name of Covid. He, however, said that during the present Covid wave, no such complaints have been lodged to date.

Subramanian said that the number of Covid cases would increase further as more than 8 lakh people had traveled from Chennai to various villages and this could definitely trigger the spread.

The minister said that more than 1.25 lakh oxygen beds are ready in the state and informed the people that the state government and the health department were prepared to tackle the infection and its spread.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Dhaka, Jan 20 : The husband of Bangladeshi actress Raima Islam Shimu, whose dismembered body was found on the outskirts of Dhaka, has confessed to murdering her, a top police official said here.

Dhaka district's Superintendent of Police (SP) Maruf Hossain Sardar told IANS that the victim's husband Khandaker Sakhawat Alim Nobel confessed to the police, adding that his friend SM Wai Farhad helped him in killing her.

The police said that while Nobel killed Shimu, Farhad helped him in hiding the body.

Parts of her dismembered body was found in two sacks by the side of the road near the Hazratpur Bridge in the Aliapur area of Keraniganj on Monday afternoon.

The body was identified by Shimu's elder brother Shahidul Islam Khokon at the Mitford Hospital in Dhaka.

Nobel and Farhad were detained and brought to the Keraniganj Model Police Station of the Capital after Shimu's body was found.

The SP said that the two are currently in police custody and a case is being prepared against them.

Shimu lived with her husband and two children in Green Road Dhaka.

She left home on Sunday and never returned. Nobel filed a complaint after she went missing at the Kalabagan Police Station on Monday.

Shimu made her debut with the film 'Bartaman' in 1998. She has since worked in as many as 25 films.

She was an associate member of the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association.

In addition to films, she also worked in TV dramas and produced as well.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : A special Delhi court hearing the Delhi riot cases, on Thursday, delivered the first judgement while awarding a five-year jail term to one Deepak Yadav for burning down the house of a 73-year-old woman.

Before this, a man was acquitted by the court in July. This is the first jail term awarded to anyone in the Delhi riots case, said a police official.

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat awarded the jail term to the accused.

Last month the court had held Dinesh Yadav guilty under sections 143 (member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 457 (house trespass), 392 (robbery), 436 (arson) of IPC read with section 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of a common offence) of IPC.

He was convicted for being a member of an unlawful assembly and rioting, and taking part in robbing. He was also convicted for burning down the house of an elderly woman Manori.

A senior police official said that Yadav was arrested by them on June 8, 2020. The police said they had enough evidence against him to prove the case of the prosecution.

On August 3 last year the court framed charges against Yadav. nDuring the trial Yadav had pleaded not guilty and claimed innocence.

Delhi riots took place in February 2020 in which 53 people were killed and over 700 suffered injuries.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Lucknow, Jan 20 : If there is one vote bank that the Samajwadi Party can be completely sure of in the upcoming Assembly elections, it is the Yadavs.

The Yadav community that had partially shifted to the BJP in 2017 Assembly polls and then again in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is now back with the Samajwadi Party.

The Yadavs are now placing their bets on Akhilesh Yadav because they feel that with the support of other non-Yadav backward castes, the Samajwadi Party is much better placed for elections.

"We were upset with the family split in the Samajwadi Party in 2017. The style of Akhilesh's leadership was not like that of Mulayam Singh and so a number of us felt that we should go with BJP," says Utkarsh Yadav, a software engineer from Firozabad.

However, Utkarsh admits that they were disillusioned with the BJP and since the family ties have also been repaired, they are back with SP.

The main reason for Yadav's disillusionment with the BJP is that the party and the government did not promote any Yadav leader.

"Tell me one Yadav leader who has been promoted by the BJP? They have promoted Maurya, Kurmi, Nishad, Saini, Gurjar but not Yadav. Why? If the BJP does not treat us well, we might as well return to our parent party," says Sushil Yadav, a businessman from Kanpur.

Sushil further says that SP can no longer be termed as a 'Yadav only' party.

"Akhilesh has broad-based the party's base. The state president, Naresh Uttam Patel, is a non-Yadav OBC. The 72-member committee has over 40 per cent OBCs, 10 Brahmins, 11 Muslims, more than six Dalits (including three former Bahujan Samaj Party leaders), five women and within this there is a balanced representation of all the regions of the state. The committee has only seven Yadavs," he says to prove his point.

"Moreover, with the recent influx of OBC leaders from the BJP, further proves that SP is now the rallying point for OBCs," he adds.

Responding to the allegation that the Samajwadi Party belongs to just one family, Dadda Yadav, a septuagenarian farmer in Etawah, defends the Yadav clan.

"What is wrong if Mulayam promoted his family? I have a small business and agricultural land and I have adjusted my four sons and three nephews in the business. Should I be blamed for this? Which family does not take care of its children?" he asks.

Yadavs are also apparently upset at the manner in which Mulayam and Akhilesh were targeted by the Yogi Adityanath government.

"Only the Yadav leaders were targeted and were made to vacate their government bungalows. Why was former MP Kusum Rai allowed to retain her bungalow which was allotted to a trust? Why was Fateh Bahadur Singh allowed to retain his bungalow that was allotted to his father's trust? Was it because they belong to the BJP?" asks a retired government officer who belongs to the Yadav community.

He adds, "If people are victimised because of their caste, there is bound to be a reaction from the community and that is what is happening now." He further says that with Yadavs firmly supporting Akhilesh, the community will also help in bringing other small OBC caste groups into the SP fold.

Yadavs form the largest group, estimated to be about 14-15 per cent of the 42 per cent OBCs in Uttar Pradesh.

After the Mandal agitation, the Yadav community rallied behind Mulayam Singh Yadav and then the Samajwadi Party.

In 2017 and 2019, about 26- 27 per cent of the Yadavs backed the BJP, according to Lokniti , a centre for the study of developing societies findings.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : A married couple, who used to commit snatchings together, has been arrested from West Delhi, police said on Thursday.

DCP of West Delhi Urvija Goel said that the accused were identified as Amit Chatra and his wife Rakhi.

The police said that on January 16, they got a call regarding a snatching incident in Moti Nagar area. The accused had snatched a cell phone from a girl.

The victim told the police that her mobile was snatched by two persons on a scooty. The pillion rider was a woman and had snatched her mobile near Ramesh Nagar Metro Station. The police filed an FIR in this connection and started investigation. A team of police officials was formed to look into the matter.

With the help of technical surveillance, the team identified the two criminals and nabbed them from Daya Basti along with the snatched mobile phone.

The police found that the husband used to ride the scooty while his wife would commit snatchings.

The couple was remanded to judicial custody by the court. Further probe in the matter is underway.
Mumbai, Jan 20 : In a latest update in the Bulli Bai app controversy, the Mumbai Police has arrested the fourth accused in the case from Odisha.

The accused has been identified as Neeraj Singh.

"Neeraj was involved in the planning and execution of the plot through Bulli Bai app. We will produce him before the concern court and will seek his custodial remand," a Mumbai Police official said.

Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawal were earlier arrested by the Mumbai Police from different states.

The Delhi Police has also arrested a few persons in connection with the Bulli Bai matter.

Both the Mumbai and the Delhi Police are probing the matter.

On January 4, the police arrested Shweta Singh, a resident of Uttrakhand. She was the second and Mayank Rawal was the third person arrested in connection with the controversy.

Apart from the Mumbai Police, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police which was conducting a parallel probe, has also made two arrests.

The special cell arrested Neeraj Bishnoi, the main accused in the case and Aumkareshwar Thakur the main accused behind Sulli Deal.

On January 1, the Bulli Bai app posted photos of several women of a particular religion including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities. It happened six months after the controversy of Sulli Deals.

Jha was one of the followers of Bulli Bai which led the police to team.

Github which provided space to Sulli Deals, hosted the Bulli Bai app too. However, Github had later removed the user from its hosting platform.

But by then Bulli Bai had sparked a controversy nationwide.

The Bulli Bai app was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture of a Khalistani supporter.

This Twitter handle claimed that women can be booked from the app and was also promoting Khalistani content.
Gurugram, Jan 20 : Two labourers died after a heap of soil fell on them at a construction site at plot no D-323 in Sector-56 of Gurugram, police said.

Malkhaan (28) and Guddo (29), both natives of Madhya Pradesh, were buried alive in the incident while three other labourers had a narrow escape, an official of Sector-56 police station said.

Rajkumar, the complainant, told the police that his brother Malkhaan, Guddo and three others were working at the site for five-seven days, and on Wednesday evening, suddenly, a heap of soil fell on them and the victims were trapped.

"Malkhaan and Guddo were immediately rushed to a private hospital where they were declared dead on arrival, he said.

"Police have registered a case of accidental death against the contractor Kapil and the owner of the plot at Sector-56 police station," Subhash Boken, spokesperson of the Gurugram police said.
Baghdad, Jan 20 : Unidentified gunmen attacked the office of Shakhwan Abdullah, the second Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, in the northern city of Kirkuk, a local police source said.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening when gunmen threw a hand grenade at Abdullah's office in the Rahim Awa neighbourhood in central Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua news agency.

Abdullah was not in the office during the attack, which caused some damage to the building, he said.

Iraqi security forces cordoned off the office and launched an investigation into the incident.

The incident came after a series of attacks targeting politicians and headquarters of Sunni and Kurdish parties after the Iraqi parliament held its first session on January 9, which witnessed a heated debate between the parliamentary blocs.

During the session, the lawmakers re-elected Mohammed al-Halbousi as parliament speaker, while Hakim al-Zamili and Shakhwan Abdullah won the majority of votes for positions of the first and second deputies, respectively.
United Nations, Jan 20 : Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, stressed the urgent need for a coordinated approach to address political, economic and institutional obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The deterioration of the economic, security and political situation across the occupied Palestinian territory continues and urgent steps are required to prevent the situation from worsening, he told the Security Council in a briefing.

The Palestinian Authority's fiscal situation continues to be dire, threatening its institutional stability and its ability to provide services to its people, he said.

Violence continues unabated across the occupied Palestinian territory, including settler violence, leading to numerous Palestinian and Israeli casualties and increasing the risk of a broader escalation. Settlement activity, demolitions, and evictions also continued, feeding hopelessness and further diminishing prospects for a negotiated solution, Wennesland claimed.

"We must be frank about what is needed to reverse these trends and provide momentum toward a reinvigorated peace process. Piecemeal approaches and half measures will only ensure that the underlying issues perpetuating the conflict continue to fester and worsen over time," said the envoy.

Unilateral steps and conflict drivers must stop, he said, adding that political and economic reforms must be implemented to ensure the Palestinian Authority's continued ability to function effectively, while boosting donor confidence and support.

Above all, he said, efforts by the parties and the international community to stabilise and improve conditions on the ground should be linked to a political framework.

"Without a realistic prospect of an end to the occupation and the realization of a two-state solution based on UN resolutions, international law and previous agreements, it is only a matter of time before we face an irreversible, dangerous collapse and widespread instability." The UN will continue to actively engage with regional and international partners and with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to reach a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said Wennesland.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that today we are creating a system in which there is no place for discrimination and building a society that stands firmly on the foundation of equality and social justice.

Prime Minister Modi was delivering the keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore'. He also flagged off seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that the program by Brahma Kumari Sanstha, in the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebration, exemplifies the feeling, spirit and inspiration for a golden India. "There is no difference between personal aspirations and successes on the one hand and national aspirations and successes on the other," he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that our progress lies in the progress of the nation. "The nation exists from us, and we exist through the nation. This realisation is becoming the biggest strength of us Indians in the making of a new India. Everything the country is doing today includes 'Sabka Prayas'. 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas' is becoming the guiding motto of the country," Modi said.

He noted the contribution of remarkable women in different epochs of Indian history and listed developments like entry of women in the armed forces, more maternity leaves, better political participation in the form of more voting and representation in the Council of Ministers as a mark of new confidence among women. He expressed satisfaction that this movement is society-led and the gender ratio has improved in the country.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the time of 'Amrit Kaal' is not for dreaming while sleeping, but for fulfilling your resolutions awake. The coming 25 years are the period of utmost hard work, sacrifice, and 'Tapasya'. This is a period of 25 years to get back what our society has lost in hundreds of years of slavery, he said.

"It needs to be admitted that in the 75 years after Independence the evil of ignoring duties and not keeping them paramount has entered the national life. During this period, we only spent time talking and fighting about rights," he said.

The Prime Minister regretted the tendency to tarnish the image of India, even at the international level. "We cannot get away from this by saying that this is just politics. This is not politics, this is the question of our country. Today, when we are celebrating the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, it is also our responsibility that the world should know India properly", he added.
Panaji, Jan 20 : Winnability at all cost appears to have been the thumb rule the BJP appears to have used in its declaration of first list of 34 candidates for the February 14 Assembly polls in Goa.

The list which was formally announced at the party's national headquarters in Delhi on Thursday includes tickets to two couples -- Vishwajit and Divya Rane from Valpoi and Poriem Assembly constituencies and Atanasio and Jennifer Monserrate from Panaji and Taleigao Assembly constituencies. The BJP has however denied a ticket to the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, Savitri, who was claiming a BJP ticket to contest from the Sanguem Assembly constituency.

Atanasio, who has been accused of raping a minor girl, fills in former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar's boots in the Panaji Assembly seat, at the cost of Parrikar's son Utpal, who had sought to represent the Bharatiya Janata Party in the constituency, which had been held by Parrikar since 1994, before his demise in 2019.

"I cannot compare myself with Parrikar... but we will ensure that the BJP will win the seat with the highest margin yet," Monserrate told reporters after his ticket was cleared by the BJP high command.

BJP's Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said that the party was still in talks with the disgruntled Utpal to contest the elections from the Bicholim Assembly constituency. Utpal on Thursday confirmed that the BJP had offered him the Bicholim seat as a compromise, but added that he was not going to take up on the offer. Utpal has already warned the BJP, that he would contest as an independent candidate, if he is denied a ticket from Panaji.

Defending the BJP's decision to grant Monserrate the ticket, Fadnavis said: "A sitting MLA has been given a ticket in Panaji. Parrikar's family is our family. They are close to us".

"I had given Utpal Parrikar two options about where he could contest. He had refused one option. We are still discussing the second option with him. We all feel he should accept it. BJP has respected the Parrikar family," Fadnavis also told the press conference in Delhi.

The BJP has also fielded sitting Vasco MLA and former Urban Development Minister Milind Naik, who last month was at the centre of a sex scandal, after the Congress released videos, audio and WhatsApp messages featuring the now former Minister alleging that Naik was sexually exploiting a widow from Bihar.

While the police have claimed that they have found no substance in the complaint filed by Congress vice president Sankalp Amonkar against Naik, the former Minister has denied all allegations.

Former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has been denied a ticket to contest from the Mandrem Assembly constituency, which has been allotted to sitting MLA Dayanand Sopte. Sopte was elected to the state Assembly in 2017 on a Congress ticket, but joined the BJP subsequently.

According to BJP national general secretary Arun Singh, in the ticket allocation exercise, the BJP has reached out to all sections of society including minorities, OBC, ST and SC candidates.

"The world's biggest party, BJP, has worked for the rights of the dalits and backward classes. In three general seats, ST candidates have been fielded, in one general seat BJP has fielded SC candidate, there are 11 OBC candidates and nine minority candidates who are Christians," Singh said.
Kochi, Jan 20 : The Kerala High Court on Thursday gave another round of dressing down to the Pinarayi Vijayan led government over his proposed K-Rail project.

If completed the project will see a 529.45 km corridor connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod and a high speed train will run this distance in around four hours and it will cost a staggering Rs 63,940 crore.

Hearing a bunch of petitions over land acquisition for the project, Justice Devan Ramachandran directed the State government to explain its actions taken in furtherance of its K-Rail project and to justify the manner in which the survey is conducted.

The court wanted the state to explain its actions on how come a DPR can be conducted without doing a survey, but the court was informed that an aerial survey was undertaken.

During the last hearing, the Court had asked the Central government to clarify its stand regarding the project and to clear the ambiguity.

And on Thursday the counsel of the Centre stated that a decision on the matter was yet to be taken.

It also informed the court that they have told the project implementing agency -- KRDCL to provide detailed technical documents such as an alignment plan, particulars of railway land and private land, crossing over the existing railway network depicting affected railway assets through Zonal Railway for a detailed examination of the project to arrive at a conclusion.

It further stated that the consideration of the project was only possible after examination of DPR and the results thereon are firmed up including the financial viability of the project and its appraisal by NITI Aayog and Ministry of Finance.

The court then inquired into the manner in which the survey was being conducted and to discern the basis of the survey being conducted and under which provision it was being done.

To this the Kerala government's counsel said that it was being carried out under the Kerala Survey and Boundaries Act.

The court will now take up final hearing on February 7 until then steps for survey not in accordance with the Survey and Boundaries on the land involved was asked to be stopped.

In a related development, the cabinet ministers of Vijayan are reaching the district headquarters and are meeting with an invited audience explaining the project and on Thursday, angry Congress workers protested in front of the meeting place at Kannur when State Local Self Government Minister M.V. Govindan was explaining the project.
Muzaffarnagar, Jan 20 : A BJP MLA from Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar district, was chased away by villagers of his own constituency Muzzaffarnagar while he was campaigning for the Assembly election.

A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.

The MLA, Vikram Singh Saini, had arrived for a meeting at a village here on Wednesday when he found himself facing angry residents.

In the video, a group of villagers is seen following Saini to his car and shouting after him as he gets in. The villagers can be heard shouting slogans against the MLA.

Saini is also heard lashing out and later seen folding his hands in resignation as he is driven away in his vehicle.

Vikram Saini has been known to make inflammatory statements.

In 2019, he threatened to 'bomb' those who felt unsafe in India.

A year before that, he had said, "Our country is called Hindustan, which means a nation for Hindus".

He has also threatened to 'break the limbs of those who kill cows'.
Beirut, Jan 20 : The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has launched a special appeal to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon suffering rising hardship and vulnerability.

The Special Appeal 2022 asks donors to support increased and regular cash assistance for food and other basic needs to the vulnerable Palestine refugees, as well as emergency funding for hospitalization, education, and camp services, including fuel for water supply and solid waste disposal, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement released by the UNRWA.

The appeal also calls for support to the agency's protection activities amid mounting abuse and violence in families and communities.

The current crisis affects everyone in Lebanon, and Palestine refugees are "enduring particular hardship given their already marginalised status in the country", said Claudio Cordone, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon.

"They are struggling to survive and their needs have increased dramatically, with poverty rates reaching 87 percent among the Palestinian refugees from Syria in Lebanon," he said.

Cordone noted that the appeal today "outlines the need for an enhanced and sustained program of assistance to ensure a dignified life for all Palestine refugees".

According to the statement, the appeal is part of the overall budget of $1.6 billion for 2022 that the agency needs to fulfil its mandate to provide millions of Palestine refugees' vital services, including education, health, and food assistance.

The humanitarian needs are expected to cover Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

UN estimates say that the number of Palestine refugees in Lebanon currently is approximately 192,000.
San Francisco, Jan 20 : In 2021, 650 people died of drug overdose in San Francisco, a 9 per cent drop from the previous year, according to data released by the City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

It was the first time the number of lives lost to drugs in the city dipped year over year in a decade following an unprecedented spike in deaths the year before from 441 in 2019 to 711 in 2020, reports Xinhua news agency.

In contrast, 430 people in the city died of Covid-19 in 2021.

The unfolding drug crisis pushed the city mayor London Breed to declare an emergency last month in the Tenderloin, the hardest-hit neighbourhood, according to a report by San Francisco Chronicle.

In 2020 and 2021, about 23 per cent of the overdose deaths and 60 percent of the drug incidents occurred in the Tenderloin, the report said.

As of Wednesday, 88 out of 400 additional beds planned under behavioural health reform legislation have opened in the city.

The city also plans to open a drug rehabilitation centre and a site where people can use drugs under medical supervision later this year.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The government on Thursday released a total of Rs 95,082 crore to states with an advance instalment of tax devolution amounting to Rs 47,541 crore. This is almost double their respective entitlement during the month of January.

Poll bound states of Uttar Pradesh will receive Rs 17,056.66 crore, Uttarakhand Rs 1,063.02 crore, Punjab will receive Rs 1,718.16 crore and Goa is going to get Rs 367.02 crore along with all other states.

The Government of India had released the first advance instalment of tax devolution amounting to Rs 47,541 crore to states on November 22, 2021. With the release of the second advance instalment, the states would receive an additional amount of Rs 90,082 crore under tax devolution over and above what has been budgeted to be released till January, 2022.

The government has already released back-to-back loan amounting to Rs 1.59 lakh crore to state governments in lieu of GST Compensation shortfall in FY 2021-22.
Melbourne, Jan 20 : Premier of Australia's Victoria Daniel Andrews on Thursday urged residents of the state to get a Covid-19 booster vaccine, saying it was no longer an "optional extra".

Andrews said he was hopeful the national framework would embrace "practical scientific reality" to mandate booster shots, as a third dose was necessary to "protect against severe illness", reports Xinhua news agency "To be properly protected, you need three doses. That is what the experts tell us and what I expect the National Cabinet (meeting) to reflect today," Andrews said.

"I want to be really clear with everybody, this is not two plus an optional extra. It is three doses in order to be protected against severe illness as well as to minimize the likelihood of you getting the virus or giving the virus to someone else." The Victoria health department reported 21,966 new Covid-19 cases and 15 deaths on Thursday.

The total number of active cases in the state is currently 246,894, with 1,206 patients in hospitals.

Victoria announced on Wednesday to cut the booster dose interval to three months.

Currently, about 27 per cent of eligible adults have received booster in the state.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, Jan 20 : Welcoming the Telangana government's decision to implement the revolutionary 'Mana Ooru--Mani Badi' programme in all government schools, actress Lakshmi Manchu has urged the state government to focus on "institutionalising digital education".

In a statement, the actress said, "As an individual who has been actively working in the government schools of our country for the last seven years through our organisation, Teach for Change Trust, I wholeheartedly welcome and applaud the announcement by the Government of Telangana which will rapidly change the face of public schools and mitigate the dropout rates by providing quality education to all the children of Telangana.

"I truly believe that this visionary move by the Government of Telangana is going to transform the education system in the state over the next three years and pave the path for creating educational equity in our country," she said.

Requesting the Telangana government to focus on institutionalising digital education, the actress said, "We, at 'Teach for Change', have seen positive impact in government schools by providing ICT infrastructure and dedicated ICT trainers. We would be more than happy to share our processes and curriculum to strengthen the foundational learning for primary school children with the Education Ministry if it would help the community at large."
Chennai, Jan 20 : Malayalam actress Anna Ben has announced that she has tested positive for Covid.

The actress took to social media to make the announcement. She said, "Tested positive for Covid with all the symptoms except the loss of smell. Whoever came in contact with me, please get tested and I hope you are safe. In home quarantine at the moment." The actress further went on to point out that the virus, which she had managed to dodge for two years, had finally got her.

Anna Ben's upcoming film, 'Naradan', directed by Aashiq Abu and featuring Tovino Thomas along with her, has also been postponed because of the onset of the third wave of Covid.

Numbers of those testing positive have been going up ever since the new year began, during the third wave of Covid.

On Wednesday, Malayalam actor and MP from Kerala, Suresh Gopi, also said he had tested positive for Covid.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, Jan 20 : Actress Pavni Reddy, who became extremely popular after her participation in this season of 'Bigg Boss Tamil', has announced that she has tested positive for Covid.

Taking to social media, Pavni Reddy said, "To all my well wishers, I have tested positive for Covid-19 with mild symptoms. I have isolated myself at home and have been following medical guidance. Can't wait to be back." Pavni, who enjoyed immense support from a section of the audience, finished third, only next to title winner Raju Jeyamohan and first runner up Priyanka Deshpande.

Pavni is the latest celebrity to announce that she has tested positive for Covid.

The numbers of those being infected by the virus has steadily been on the rise ever since the new year began.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, Jan 20 : A quantum leap in the market borrowing by the West Bengal government in the current financial year gives a strong impression that the state government is currently trying to meet the additional expenses needed for social schemes like Swastha Sathi or Lakshmir Bhandar announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before the election.

Simple arithmetic will make this easier. In the period between April 2020 to December 2020 when the state revenue plummeted to all time low because of the lockdown the state raised around Rs 35,000 crore from the market but interestingly enough during the current financial year between April 2021 to December 2021 the state went for a market borrowing of Rs 52,500 crore. During the same period in 2019 the state borrowed Rs 28,000 cr via State Development Loan.

However, a little deeper analysis will make things more clear. According to a notification issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a total of 12 Indian states have gone for a total market borrowing of Rs 20,659 crore on January 18, 2022. West Bengal's borrowing in that tranche will be Rs 1,000 crore.

However, the silver lining is that unlike the earlier three tranches, West Bengal is not the highest borrowing state, but it is the Uttar Pradesh with the borrowing figure of Rs 3,000 crore is the highest.

This is the second tranche of market borrowing by the West Bengal government during the current month of January 2022. Earlier on January 6, 2022, the West Bengal government borrowed Rs 2,500 crore being the highest borrowing state in that tranche. On that date nine Indian states borrowed a total of Rs 19,340 crore from the open market.

In the last month of December 2021 too, West Bengal borrowed twice from the open market. On December 14, 2021 seven Indian states borrowed a total of Rs 7,053 crore. The state borrowed Rs 2,500 crore - the highest among the borrowing states in that tranche.

Again, on December 24, 2021, 16 Indian states borrowed a total Rs 22,984 crore, with the borrowing figure for West Bengal standing at Rs 4,000 crore. West Bengal was the highest borrowing state in that tranche as well. This means that within a span of just 35 days from December 14, 2021 to January 18, 2022 West Bengal borrowed Rs 10,000 crore from the open market.

According to experts, with the decline of the revenue generation, multiple market borrowings have now become the essential compulsion of the West Bengal government to meet its recurring expenses. The experts are of the opinion that the state is struggling with the non-plan expenditure mostly to meet the promises made by chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her election campaign.

After coming to power for the third time, Banerjee announced two major schemes - 'Lakshmir Bhandar' and 'Swastha Sathi' for all - the schemes that demand a huge financial involvement. 'Lakhmir Bhandar is a project where the state is supposed to give Rs 1,000 to women belonging to SC/ST/OBC and Rs 500 to women belonging to the General caste. The government has allocated a budget of approximately Rs 12,900 crore for around 1.8 crore women who have so far registered themselves for the scheme.

Initially the government had an estimate that nearly 2 crore beneficiaries will register for 'Lakshmir Bhandar' but so far, the government has received an application of 1.63 crore of which 1.52 crore has been approved. Nearly 7 lakh applications have been cancelled. The government has spent more than Rs 800 crore on the project and going by the figure the finance department estimates that the state government will have to cough up another Rs 5,600 crore which might in turn lead to a staggering figure in a full financial year.

Countering the centre's Ayushman Bharat, the state launched its own scheme - 'Sasthya Sathi Prokolpo' where some citizens of the state were given an annual health coverage of five lakh rupees. After coming to power in 2021, the chief minister opened 'Swastha Sathi' for all the citizens of the state leading to a quantum leap in the expenditure. Even a year back when the estimated budget for this project was around Rs 925 crore, this year the allocation touched an astronomical figure of Rs 2,000 crore annually.

As a result, the state has to go to the open market to meet the additional financial requirement. According to economists, the state's overdependence on market borrowing is an alarming trend and if not regulated properly it might lead to the collapse of the economy.

The first is that during the last ten 10 years the non-plan expenditure of the state has inflated at such an alarming level, the government has become compelled to go for market borrowing to meet those expenses. Secondly, since the state government does not have a steady and alternative source of revenue generation, it has to depend on market borrowing.

Finally, economists apprehend that the state government is on the verge of falling into the debt trap, where it has resorted to fresh borrowings to service the earlier debts. Economists also feel that currently the debt to gross state domestic product (GSDP) ratio in West Bengal has reached 30 per cent and things will go out of control if it reaches 50 per cent.

Economic and financial experts also feel that this trend of borrowing makes two things clear. According to them, in absence of a suitable revenue generation model where state excise is not the only source, there will be no other option for the state government but to go for regular market borrowings. The second factor is that following the skyrocketing non-plan expenditure during the last years, there has been an increased requirement for aggravated market borrowing to meet those expenses.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Times are tough for Samson Ryder, a Melbourne-based, Anglo-Indian private investigator who likes his facts cold and his curries hot.

A secret guilt over the death of his sister has left him guarded and closed, costing him his relationship with his girlfriend, his parents and his faith. When a wealthy Indian industrialist engages him to investigate how his daughter, a rising Bollywood starlet, died on a location shooting in Australia, Ryder treats it as easy money. After all, the police had ruled out foul play.

He soon comes to realise that this is also his opportunity for redemption, to help a family find the answers to their grief, the answers he couldn't give to his own parents. To uncover the truth, Ryder goes back to the city of his birth, Mumbai and teams up with Mabel, his interpreter, Godmother and second-best cook in the world. Together, they prise off the glittering mask of Bollywood and unveil an industry where friendships are fickle, affairs are currency, black magic and curses are rampant and hidden dangers lurk all around.

Will Sam uncover the truth or will he be the next victim in Patrick Lyons' "Masala And Murder" (Niyogi Books), as bone-chilling story with Bollywood playing the backdrop.

"Ever since I was young," says Lyons, "I have always been drawn to crime fiction, to stories that expose the brutal underbelly of civilised society. The inspiration for 'Masala and Murder' came from conversations with people who work in Bollywood, about the glitz and glam, about what takes place behind the camera, and about the dark influence of superstition." Commenting on the book, Trisha Niyogi, COO & Director, Niyogi Books, says: "What we get many times from a crime/detective fiction is an exaggerated glorification of the character in the centre of the action. This is not the case for Samson Ryder in 'Masala and Murder'. The author has gone to the extent of nurturing the insecurities, fears and limitations of a man of flesh and blood. He is no glory hero. There's in fact a parallel personal narrative of Samson that goes hand in hand with the unfolding of the mystery. And these two parallels often cross their paths." Patrick Lyons grew up in a house full of crime, literally. Almost every room had a crime novel lying around, spread-eagled, face down, his mother's ways of bookmarking from Agatha Christie in the bedroom, to Ruth Rendell in the kitchen and Chandler in the lounge. It was only a matter of time before he picked these books up himself.

Lyons wrote his first crime story aged 12 for a school competition. He got an 'A'. He also talked about the amount of violence in the story. It did not matter that he didn't win; he was just thrilled with how the writing process seemed to flow. He's been arrested by crime writing ever since.

Writing about his experience as an Anglo-Indian growing up in Australia during the 1970s and 1980s is a good way for Lyons to explore broader concepts of exclusiveness, racism, identity and duality. These notions subtly pepper his work, bringing grit to his characters. The often-hilarious cultural clashes he witnessed provide plenty of scope for humour, and an opportunity to reflect on the universal desire to belong. Patrick lives in Melbourne with his family and a pet, bearded dragon, called Rex. He is never far from a good coffee.
Itanagar, Jan 20 : The Indian Army through hotline has contacted the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and sought return of abducted Arunachal Pradesh teenager Miram Taron, defence sources said on Thursday.

A defence PRO tweeted: "17-yr-old youth Miram Tarom of Zido, Arunachal Pradesh, was reportedly captured by the PLA across the LAC. On receipt of info, Indian Army imdtly contacted PLA through a hotline. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate and return him as per protocol." An Arunachal Pradesh government official said here that the state government had also sought the Defence Ministry' intervention to ensure the safe return of the youth.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that the Defence Ministry through diplomatic channels took up the matter with the Chinese authority.

"I am hopeful that the youth would be released and return to his village soon," the Chief Minister told the media on Thursday.

Arunachal Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Alo Libang, also a local BJP MLA, said that he is optimistic that the youth would be returned very soon.

The Chinese Army reportedly abducted Tarom from the Indian territory where China had constructed 3-4 km road in 2018. The incident was reported from Upper Siang district on January 18.

His friend, who managed to escape, reported the matter to the authorities and brought it to the notice of Tapir Gao, an MP from the Arunachal East parliamentary constituency.

"Chinese #PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido village on Tuesday from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China built 3-4 kms road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bishing village) of Upper Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh. His friend escaped from the PLA and reported to the authorities. All the agencies of the Central government are requested to step up for his early release," Tapir Gao had tweeted on Wednesday.

In September 2020, the Chines PLA had kidnapped five boys from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri district before releasing them after about a week.

The villagers in the region are always forced to trek through the remote mountainous areas of Arunachal Pradesh due to the lack of proper roads. Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,080-km border with China.

Recently, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs had altered names of 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which was rejected by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs that said that such a move by Beijing cannot alter the fact that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.
Srinagar, Jan 20 : The Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested an active terrorist of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tabia (LeT) and recovered arms ammunition and other incriminating materials from his possession, officials said on Thursday.

Police said acting on specific information regarding the presence of a terrorist in Chadoora area of Central Kashmir's Budgam district, police along with the Army's 53 RR and 181 Battalion and CRPF launched a search operation.

"During search operation, an active terrorist affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT was arrested," police said.

He has been identified as Jehangir Ahmad Naikoo, a resident of Memandar Shopian, and had joined the outfit in the first week of this month Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one pistol, two pistol magazines, and 16 pistol rounds have been recovered from his possession.

Police have registered an FIR and further investigation has been initiated.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Three transgenders were arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly waylaying a man and looting Rs 4,500 from him, police said on Thursday.

The accused transgenders were identified as Rubi, Rani and Ravina.

When the police were patrolling in Yamuna Khadar area, a person named Roshan came to them and told them that he was robbed of his cash by three transgenders.

He said that he was going to Shapporji labour camp when he was stopped by three transgenders. They took him inside the jungle and robbed him of Rs 4,500, he said, adding that the accused could be apprehended if the police raided the jungle.

"The team readily swung in to action and raided the jungle under the directions of senior officials. The complainant also accompanied it. Soon after the team reached inside the jungle, it noticed three persons who started running on seeing the police party. The complainant pointed towards them. The team followed and overpowered them after a brief chase," said the police.

All the three were then taken into custody. On cursory search, they were found carrying cash Rs 4,500 which they robbed from the victim.

A case of robbery was registered at PS Sunlight Colony against them.

On sustained interrogation, the transgenders told the cops that they had no means to earn their livelihood. They used to rob pedestrians by taking them to an isolated places.

All the accused transgenders are residents of West Bengal. They were remanded into judicial custody by the court.

Further probe in the matter is underway.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : US-based Ranjit Nagara Foundation, which was overseeing the 'karsewa (renovation/construction) of Gurdwara Chowa Sahib in Jhelum, Pakistan and other local gurdwaras, has notified that they has stopped the construction activities due to non-compliance of ETPB/PSGPC in providing them bills and expenditure details of the works carried out till date.

Satpreet Singh, Director of Ranjit Nagara Foundation, revealed that as per US rules, their foundation has to provide documentation of their expenditure to Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, annually which is further updated on the department's site for public or on before May 15, but the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) office has not provided the requisite documents till date. Thus, the NGO has to put its activities on hold.

Misappropriation of gurdwara funds by ETPB/PSGPC (Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) officials had been reported in the past as well.

The Nagara Foundation is largely funded by the Sikh diaspora with resources being further transferred to Pakistan.
Kuala Lumpur, Jan 20 : Sri Lanka's spinners restricted Kenya to 87/6 before captain Chamari Athapaththu struck 57 off just 29 balls to lead Sri Lanka to a nine-wicket win on day three of the ICC Commonwealth Games Qualifier 2022 at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl in a match they dominated virtually throughout even though their bowlers got off to a shaky start, conceding seven wides in the first three overs.

Their infielders were just as sharp as in the first game against Scotland that they won by 109 runs. Kavisha Dilhari's direct hit sent opener Mary Mwangi back to the dugout before Kenya captain Margaret Ngoche was trapped in front by Inoka Ranaweera.

Kavisha Dilhari was introduced into the attack in the eighth over, bowling a maiden, which included the run out of Sharon Juma. This brought Sarah Bhakita to the crease. The powerful right-hander wasted no time, pulling a delivery into deep mid-wicket for four before she launched Ranaweera over her head for six.

Not to be left behind, opener Queentor Abel drove Dilhari against the spin and through the covers for two boundaries in the 14th over. Athapaththu, with her right-arm medium pace, broke the 45-run partnership between Abel and Bhakita, trapping the former in front with the score on 71 after 16 overs.

Bhakita departed soon after, miscuing a Dilhari delivery into the hands of Ama Kanchana at mid-wicket. Sri Lanka only conceded nine runs in the final three overs to restrict the East Africans to 87/6.

In reply, Sri Lanka were in an aggressive mood right from the first over. Vishmi Gunaratne lofted Lavendah Idambo over mid-on for her first boundary of a run-a-ball knock of 26. Mercyline Ochieng came in for some treatment in the second over as Athapaththu cleared the off side circle twice for a pair of boundaries to get her innings going.

Things would go from bad to worse for Kenya who were helpless in the face of the assault from Athapaththu, who had struck 86 off 45 in Sri Lanka's earlier win over Scotland. The left-hander flicked Mwangi off her pads for her first of three maximums, taking 16 off the final over of a Powerplay, which yielded 57 runs.

Two overs later, Sarah Bhakita was carted over her head for six by the Sri Lankan skipper before she was swept over the deep mid-wicket boundary off the very next delivery. With five runs required for victory, Athapaththu was stumped off the bowling of a jubilant Esther Wachira. But Sri Lanka had no issues hunting down what remained of the target, winning with 63 balls to spare.

Brief Scores: Kenya 87/6 in 20 overs (Queentor Abel 33, Sarah Wetoto 29; Kavisha Dilhari 1/11, Chamari Athapaththu 1/10) lost to Sri Lanka 89/1 in 9.3 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 57, Vishmi Gunaratne 26; Esther Wachira 1/4) by nine wickets Player of the Match: Chamari Athapaththu.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Though the Congress in Punjab has been maintaining that it will not go to polls with a CM face, but a Twitter poll by a Rahul Gandhi's aide may stir a new controversy in the state.

The Twitter poll was conducted by Rahul Gandhi's aide Nikhil Alva who in the poll asked who should be CM's face in Punjab. About 69 per cent respondents voted in favour of Charanjit Singh Channi, the incumbent Chief Minister, followed by Navjot Singh Sidhu getting 12 per cent and then Sunil Jakhar with 9 per cent votes. But they are way behind Channi.

The total votes polled were 1,283.

Alva, who is with Rahul Gandhi and looks after his social media outreach, is son of Margret Alva. Reacting to it Alva said, "this is a good platform to take political feedback from people having political conscience, there is no harm in it." He Said there is nothing serious about it. It's about a feedback session and there should be no controversy on it.

The party has, however, categorically stated that it is unlikely to project anyone as the CM face and will go with collective leadership in the state. The issue will be settled after the results are out.

In Punjab, state president Navjot Singh Sidhu asserting himself for the top post ahead of the polls, is trying to garner support among party colleagues. Chief Minister Channi too is trying to impress the party high command. The party is trying to balance the warring factions and pacify the leaders.

In Punjab, the AAP has made Bhagwant Mann a CM candidate after his name was cleared by Arvind Kejriwal after receiving over 21 lakh responses from the people, with 93 per cent of them favouring his name.
Jaipur, Jan 20 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday instructed bank officials to stop the auction of lands of debt-ridden farmers in the state.

Farmers' lands are being seized by bank officials on the grounds of non-payment of loan instalments in different parts of the state and hence, the opposition parties have been attacking the state government for making fake promises of loan waivers.

Gehlot tweeted: "Due to non-payment of loans of commercial banks under the control of Reserve Bank in the state by farmers, the process of land attachment and auction is being done under the Removal of Difficulties Act. The state government has instructed the officials to stop it." He said that the state government has waived the loans of cooperative banks.

"The Government of India has been urged to waive the loans of farmers by making one time settlement from commercial banks. The state government is also ready to bear its share. Our government passed a bill in the assembly to ban the auction of land of farmers having agricultural land up to 5 acres. But till now, this law has not been made as the Governor has not yet cleared it," he said.

"I am sad that such a situation has arisen due to law not being approved. I hope that this bill will be approved soon so that such an auction will not happen in future," he added.

Farm lands across Rajasthan are being auctioned due to non payment of loan instalments.

Against the auction of farmers' lands in Rajasthan state, the Congress has decided to gherao the Governor's house on January 24 at 2 p.m. with all the farmers' organisations of the state where he will be requested to pass the bill.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Satish Poonia on Thursday attacked the Congress party for making fake promises to farmers on loan waiver.

In his tweet, he hash-tagged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said: "Rajasthan farmers' land is being auctioned and farmers are committing suicides due to this promise of Rahul Gandhi," he said and tagged, Ashok Gehlot too saying he is misleading people by simply exchanging letters. If there is little honesty left, waive off loans for farmers completely." Poonia also posted a video from an election rally where Rahul Gandhi counted till 10 and said that farmers loans will be waived off in 10 days.
Bengaluru, Jan 20 : The controversy surrounding the denial of permission to six girl students to classrooms for wearing hijab in the Government Girls Pre University College in Udupi of Karnataka has taken a political turn with the state Education Minister B.C. Nagesh dubbing it a "political" move and questioning whether learning institutions have turned into religious centres.

Meanwhile, the girl students have decided to continue their protest until they are allowed to attend classes wearing hijab.

Eight students of the college have been protesting for months in the college campus for being denied entry into the classrooms for wearing hijab along with the uniform. Five of them are studying in II PUC and three students are studying I PUC.

The students are turning down the demands of shunning hijab and are firm on their stand that until the government gives them permission to wear hijab and attend classes, they will sit outside the classrooms and continue to protest. They maintain that it is their religious freedom and constitutional right to wear hijab.

Interacting with IANS on Thursday, the educaion minister stated that the decision had been taken by the School Development and Management Committee in 1985 with regards to uniforms in the campus. "So far, all children are following the rule. Whichever institution it is, if they make a rule, the students who want to study must be obliging. All these days the uniform rule was followed and why did they suddenly change?" he asked.

"Where has religious freedom all these days gone? It is political. What if others start wearing dresses according to their wishes? Do we have to allow them, the students will come in half dresses, do we have to allow them?" Nagesh questioned.

"If good things are implemented with a good thought we will support, if they are doing the opposite how can it be supported? They weren't aware of their religious freedom as well as constitutional rights all these days? All of this has been started just one year before the elections, We will take a decision at the level of government regarding the issue," he said.

"Do you want schools to be religious centres? There are more than 100 children belonging to Islam religion studying without any problem. Only a few of them have problems with wearing uniforms. School is not a place to preach the religion," he maintained.

Masood Manna, State Committee Member of Campus Front of India maintained that they are waiting for the government order. "It is a violation of the right of education and the right to practice religion. The students are not just fighting for themselves, but they are also fighting for coming generations to wear hijab while attending classes," he said.

"If there is no solution given we will stage a protest. The students are facing mental torture. They are asked to go out by themselves or else they will be pushed out of classes if they attend classes wearing hijabs," he said.

"Assistant Commissioner, Minority department officials and the Principal of the college have held a meeting on Wednesday in this regard. They have asked the students to come without hijabs. The protest will be staged under the banner of All Students Union in Udupi," he explained.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Covid-19 pandemic has made several healthcare and pharma players billionaires and the makers of Dolo 650 -- the most prescribed medicine during the pandemic having sold more than 350 crore pills since the Covid outbreak in March 2020 -- are raking in the moolah too.

As per the data from healthcare research firm IQVIA, India sold nearly 7.5 crore strips of Dolo -- a paracetamol tablet manufactured by Bengaluru-based Micro Labs Ltd -- before the Covid outbreak in 2019.

Dolo, which is currently the most prescribed fever medicine for Covid-19 patients, registered a turnover of Rs 307 crore in 2021, according to the data.

In comparison, GSK Pharmaceuticals' Calpol had a turnover of Rs 310 crore while Crocin logged double-digit sales at Rs 23.6 crore last year.

Somehow, the Dolo 650 brand has become synonymous with fever amid the pandemic.

According to Charu Goel Sachdeva, HOD and Consultant-Internal Medicine, Manipal Dwarka Hospital in New Delhi, Dolo 650 is basically a paracetamol drug.

"Because of its safety profile and its efficacy, Dolo 650 is preferable. From experience, we have seen that people respond well to this and fever starts subsiding fast. It is not only an antipyretic medicine but also has an anti-inflammatory effect as well, and you don't have to worry about nephrotoxicity or having any kind of major interaction like with many other drugs," Sachdeva told IANS.

Founded by G.C. Surana in 1973 in Chennai, Micro Labs Ltd manufactures Dolo with 650 milligram (mg) of paracetamol while most other brands sell their paracetamol brand with 500 mg salt -- giving a general perception that Dolo 650 is more effective.

Micro Labs with 9,200 employees has an annual turnover of Rs 2,700 crore, including exports that contribute Rs 920 crore.

Data from IQVIA, a human data science and advanced analytics firm in healthcare, also shows that Dolo and Calpol are the key brands driving the paracetamol segment.

Since last week, #Dolo650 has been trending on social media in a meme-fest.

There are nearly 37 brands of paracetamol being sold in various regions in the country.

According to Ravi Shekhar Jha, Additional Director and Head, Pulmonology, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad, the safety profile of Dolo is good and it is not very costly either.

"The symptom that is most bothersome for Covid patients is fever. Fever leads to an increase in heart rate and body pain. The safety profile of Dolo is good and it is a cheap medicine too. Most of the patients do not even need more than 1 Dolo tablet," Jha told IANS.

Aviral Bhatnagar, an investor at Venture Highway which is an early-stage seed fund, said in a tweet on Thursday: "Dolo 650 is a sleeper hit: 3.5B pills sold in pandemic, ~600 Cr of sales with one drug, used for treating virtually everything, brand name equal to paracetamol, manufacturer Micro Labs doing 2,700 Cr of revenue, Founding Surana family worth $2Bn+."

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New Delhi: German Navy Chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach inspects Guard of Honour at South Block Lawns in New Delhi on Thursday, January 20, 2022. (Photo: Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: German Navy Chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach inspects Guard of Honour at South Block Lawns in New Delhi on Thursday, January 20, 2022. (Photo: Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: German Navy Chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach inspects Guard of Honour at South Block Lawns in New Delhi on Thursday, January 20, 2022. (Photo: Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Jan 20 : Navy chief of Germany, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach met Indian Navy Chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar discussed avenues to strengthen naval cooperation and enhance inter-operability.

On arrival Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach was welcomed with an impressive Guard of Honour at South Block lawns.

Schonbach also met several other security and external affairs officers in New Delhi. He also met Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan and discussed ways to enhance bilateral defence relationship.

Last year in August, Navies of India and Germany carried out a joint exercise, which included helicopter landings and search and seizure operations, in Gulf of Aden near Yemen. The Indian Navy's frigate Trikand exercised with German frigate Bayern in the Gulf of Aden.

The exercise enhanced inter-operability and facilitated exchange of best practices between partner navies in maritime domain.
Sydney, Jan 20 : An Australian government committee on Thursday grilled Meta (formerly Facebook) and Google about the spread of misinformation and cyberbullying across their platforms.

Google's director of government affairs and public policy, Lucinda Longcroft, was asked by the committee about misleading Covid-19 information on YouTube, and was specifically shown at least nine United Australia Party (UAP) ads containing Covid misinformation.

Conceding the existence of these ads on YouTube, Longcroft told the panel that the platform's Covid misinformation policies are "robust, rapid, and effectively enforced", reports ZDNet.

The committee was established late last year to inquire into the practises of major technology companies.

Twitter was set to appear before the committee on Friday.

Meta representatives also appeared before the committee and were grilled about the death and rape threats directed towards Australian presenter Erin Molan and her young daughter on Facebook.

Molan had testified earlier that she submitted a request on Facebook for those threats to be removed from the platform.

"In response to the request, Facebook sent an automated response that the content would remain online".

Meta ANZ policy director Mia Garlick told the committee that they could not locate Molan's original request.

"Unfortunately, in the real world, we haven't been able to locate that original complaint and so I think a police report was made and we worked through that process to make sure that we were taking appropriate action," Garlick was quoted as saying.

In the latest crackdown on big tech, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in December that Big tech created these platforms and they have a responsibility to ensure their users are safe.

"Big tech has big questions to answer. But we also want to hear from Australians; parents, teachers, athletes, small businesses and more, about their experience, and what needs to change," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : In a major relief to the community of 'non-medical' teachers with medical MSc/PhD qualifications, the central government has directed the National Medical Commission (NMC) to adhere to the previous Medical Council of India (MCI) norms regarding the percentage of the 'non-medical' teachers.

"The NMC may continue to adopt the old pattern of permissible percentage of non medical teachers for the time being, subject to the outcome of the pending court cases", said Union Health Minister in its order. However, the subject of reducing the percentage of non medical teachers in non-clinical departments of medical colleges is pending before the court.

As per the MCI's Teachers Eligibility and Qualifications guidelines, 'non-medical' teachers possessing medical M.Sc/Ph.D qualifications could be appointed to the extent of 30 per cent (50 per cent in Biochemistry) of the faculty positions in the five non-clinical departments of medical colleges. Meanwhile, when the MCI was replaced by the NMC, the same guidelines were incorporated in the draft document "Amendment to Minimum Requirements for Annual MBBS admissions Regulations, 2020" released for public feedback on October 13, 2020.

However, when the final document emerged on October 28, 2020, the permissible percentage of 'non-medical' teachers were reduced from 50 per cent to 15 per cent in Biochemistry, from 30 per cent to 15 per cent in Anatomy and Physiology and completely abolished in Pharmacology and Microbiology. Availability of sufficient medical teachers and the introduction of the new competency based curriculum were the reasons attributed to this reduction.

However, the decision sparked a nationwide agitation by National MSc Medical Teachers' Association (NMMTA). "This U-turn was a bolt from the blue for all of us," said Dr Sridhar Rao, President NMMTA.

"When the draft notification was published, the NMC was fully aware of the faculty shortages in medical colleges. In fact, in January 2020, the Board of Governors in supersession of the MCI had categorically stated that owing to continued shortage of medically qualified teachers, appointment of 'non-medical' teachers should not be stopped. Despite the fact that there has been an increase in the MD seats in the non-clinical subjects, 40-50 per cent of them remained vacant. Therefore, such faculty shortages would naturally continue in the future.

The new competency based curriculum was introduced in 2019 by the MCI. When the NMC released the draft guidelines retaining the MCI's percentages, it was already aware of the faculty shortages and the new curriculum, therefore, it is obvious to us that these were never the actual reasons behind the reduction in permissible percentages of 'non-medical' teachers but were mere afterthoughts put forth simply to justify its actions, he added.

The NMMTA had filed an appeal on February 28, 2021 with the NMC under the provisions of the NMC Act, which was dismissed. Consequently, the association filed a second appeal on September 7, 2021 with the central government requesting to restore the previous MCI norms as far as 'non-medical' teachers are concerned.

"This appeal was vital for our survival. Although it was stated that the new guidelines would not affect the existing 'non-medical' teachers, the contrary was happening on the ground", said Dr Rao.

"Not only did the new guidelines rendered several existing faculties jobless, scores of students who had passed out from their medical M.Sc courses found themselves ineligible to apply for tutor posts", said Dr Arjun Maitra, General Secretary of NMMTA.
Kolkata, Jan 20 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the second time in a week expressing her 'strong reservations to the Centre's proposal to amend the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954.

The Trinamool Congress chief urged the Prime Minister to roll back the decision, claiming that the change in rules for central deputation of IAS officers will affect the states' administration.

"I had written to you on this, conveying my strong reservations and objections to the Centre's draft amendment of the IAS (Cadre) Rules on January 13, 2022, but I have to write again, further reiterating my points, because the Central government has meanwhile further accentuated its stand, proposing yet another revised draft, taking the matter to further non-federal extremes," the Chief Minister said in her letter to the Prime Minister, the second in seven days.

"I find the revised amendment proposal more draconian than the former, and indeed its very grain is against the foundations of our great federal polity and the basic structure of India's Constitutional scheme. The moot point of the further revised draft amendment proposal is that an officer, whom the Central government may choose to take out of a state to any part of the country without taking his/her consent and without the agreement of the state government under whom he or she is serving, may now stand released from his/her current assignment forthwith," Banerjee said.

"The power proposed to be usurped by the Central government by resorting to over-centralisation of powers is going to destroy the morale and freedom of the All-India Service officers. It is going to completely render them and all the state governments at the mercy of the Central government since the All-India Services serve as the backbone of a state's administrative machinery. It will hang on the head of each officer of the All-India Services like a Damocles' sword.

"It will create fear psychosis which is bound to impact their performance, effectiveness and accountability to the state government. This will destroy the fundamental principle of the Services, which postulates that an officer serving in connection with the affairs of the state is accountable to the state government alone," the Chief Minister added.

Requesting the Prime Minister not to take any step that will irreparably damage the spirit of mutual accommodation between the Centre and the states, Banerjee said, "This is going to destroy the federal fabric and basic structure of our Constitution too. It is our Constitution which gives the states their powers and functions, and it is our Constitution which provides the framework and structure of the All-India Services as they exist. The swift unitary turn that the Central government has now proposed will strike at the root of the frame which has existed and worked well since the inception of our democracy." Expressing her concern that the all-pervasiveness of the Central government over the All-India Service officers will leave the states 'at the mercy of the Centre', the Chief Minister warned the Prime Minister that this kind of a move will surely be misused by the party in power at the Centre.

Banerjee also said that this would 'nullify India's Constitutional scheme in letter and spirit'.

Asking the Centre to reconsider its decision, else threatening to go for a greater movement, the Chief Minister said, "I would like to think that no government would like to be seen as implementing this change which reduces the so called 'steel frame' of India to an entity functioning in perpetual fear, pressure or intimidation, causing instability and uncertainty in administration and development process. Governments and political parties come and go, but to weaken this 'steel frame' so immeasurably not bode well for us in the 75th year of our Republic." "Every government, state or Central, depends on the proper, efficient, objective and fearless functioning of the bureaucracy and the proposed change would irreparably deliver a body blow in the solar plexus of this steel frame. Its adverse consequences would be endemic, permanent and irreversible. I beseech you to kindly withdraw the proposed amendments which will not only harm the country but will also lead to demolition of our democracy," Banerjee concluded.
Hyderabad, Jan 20 : A 216-foot tall statue of 11th century social reformer and saint, Ramanujacharya, is all set to be dedicated to the world on February 5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the statue, billed as the world's second largest statue in a sitting position, at the 45-acre complex on the outskirts of the city, as per a statement issued by Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji's ashram.

The Rs 1,000-crore project was funded by donations from devotees globally. The inner sanctorum deity of Sri Ramanujacharya is made of 120 kilos of gold to commemorate the 120 years the saint spent on earth.

President Ram Nath Kovind will unveil the inner chamber's golden statue of Ramanuja, weighing 120 kg, on February 13.

In his comments, the Chinna Jeeyar Swami, said: "We heartily welcome everyone including chief guests, dignitaries, devotees, and people from all walks of life for the grand opening of Statue of Equality. Bhagavad Ramanujacharya has remained a true icon of equality for 1,000 years and this project will ensure his teachings are practiced for at least another 1,000 years." To celebrate the 1,000th birth anniversary of the saint, several events including a 1035 yajna (fire ritual), and spiritual activities such as mass mantra chanting are to be conducted as part of Sri Ramanuja Sahasrabdi 'Samaroham'.

Events will begin from February 2, and Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao will be co-hosting the event with Chinna Jeeyar Swami. Several other chief ministers, politicians, celebrities, and actors are also expected to attend the function.

The outdoor 216-ft Statue of Equality will be the world's second tallest statue featuring a sitting posture. It is composed of 'panchaloha', a combination of five metals comprising gold, silver, copper, brass, and zinc.

The complex has identical recreations of 108 Divya Desams, the 108 ornately carved Vishnu temples mentioned in the works of the Alvars, mystic Tamil saints. The Buddha statue in Thailand is said to be world's tallest statue in a sitting pose.

Born in 1017 in Sri Perumbudur, Tamil Nadu, Sri Ramanujacharya liberated millions from social, cultural, gender, educational and economic discrimination with the foundational conviction that every human is equal regardless of nationality, gender, race, caste, or creed. He opened the doors of temples to all people, including those subjected to extreme discrimination. For many sections of society, he is a timeless icon of equality for social reformists around the world.

"Our mission is to make Statue of Equality a culturally paramount destination for people across the globe and inspire everyone to make the world a more equal place to live. Today, as the world is fraught with divisiveness and populism, the need of the hour is Sri Ramanujacharya's ideology. A torch bearer of Vaishnavism, Bhagavad Ramanuja distilled the essence of Vedas and ancient wisdom to promote the timeless message of equality. Inherently, non-discrimination and equality are the cornerstones of life," the Chinna Jeeyar Swami explained.

The foundation stone for the project was laid in 2014. The 54-ft high base building, named 'Bhadra Vedi', has dedicated floors for a Vedic digital library and research centre, ancient Indian texts, a theatre, an educational gallery and a robust multi-language audio tour detailing many works of Sri Ramanuja Acharya.
Lahore, Jan 20 : A powerful blast in Pakistan's Punjab province's provincial capital Lahore has claimed at least two lives and injured dozens, in what is being seen as a targeted terror attack.

The banned Baloch National Army has claimed responsibility for the attack.

As per locals, Lahore's hub of wholesale markets, located around the Lohari Gate area, which is a congested and densely-populated vicinity, was rocked by a powerful blast, claiming lives of at least two, including one teenager, and injuring at least 25 others. Among the injured, 22 are men while three are women.

"The blast was so powerful that we could see things flying in the air," said a local shopkeeper of the area.

Officials are suspecting that the blast was of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) as a deep crater was formed at the site of the blast.

"Investigation is in the initial stage and the nature of the blast can not be ascertained without a probe," said DIG Operations Lahore Dr. Muhammad Abid Khan.

Meo Hospital, the closest to the blast site, has received at least 27 people till now, out of which, at least two people were received dead, while 25 others are under treatment. Hospital authorities say that at least 5 more are in critical condition.

The blast was so powerful that at least nine shops and establishments got damaged, including a private bank, while dozens of motorbikes, stalls and other roadside selling points caught fire.

Security forces cordoned off the area to carry out investigation into the tragic incident.

Lohari gate area is part of Lahore's old city, with narrow streets and congested localities. The market is known to be frequented by lower class and poor people, who opt to buy cheaper things for themselves.

At the time of the blast, a big number of locals were present in the market.
Lucknow, Jan 20 : Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls from Karhal in Manipuri district.

According to party sources, a decision was taken at a meeting here on Thursday.

Karhal is a Samajwadi bastion and Mulayam Singh Yadav represents the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha.

Karhal has over 1.44 lakh Yadav voters and is considered 'safe' for the Samajwadi leadership.

This is the first time that Akhilesh will be contesting the Assembly elections.

SP spokesman Anurag Bhadauria said that with Akhilesh contesting the elections, the entire party cadres is excited and the people know that they will be electing not a legislator but a chief minister.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday said that its Indore Zonal Unit has arrested a person in Raipur, Chhattisgarh for smuggling gold. The DRI said 3.33 kg foreign origin gold worth Rs 1.65 crore was recovered from him.

The DRI team had got a tip off about smuggling of foreign-origin gold. They formed a team of elite officials to look into the matter.

The DRI team got the specific input that the accused was travelling in train from Kolkata to Nagpur. The team also learnt that the man was carrying foreign-origin gold.

The team laid a trap at Raipur Railway Station. They also informed Railway Protection Force about the same and both the agencies jointly apprehended the accused. The team frisked him and his belongings were checked.

The officials found that the man had worn a cloth belt around his waist in which he was carrying gold bars. The belt was removed and the gold bars were recovered from him.

The man was asked about the gold bars he was carrying to which he couldn't give any satisfactory answer. He was then interrogated by the team.

During the interrogation, the accused told the DRI officials that he had been running smuggling racket along with his five aides. They had been smuggling gold bars for quite a long time.

Most of the payments they would receive through Hawala channel before and after delivering the gold.

Further probe in the matter is underway.
Mumbai, Jan 20 : For the fourth time in two years of the Covid pandemic, all schools in Maharashtra are set to reopen for physical classes from January 24, just two days ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, officials said here on Thursday.

The classes were suspended in December 2021 - barring the crucial Class X and Class XII for board exams students - after the third wave of Covid-19 complicated by Omicron gripped the state.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today gave the green signal for the proposal to reopen the schools from next Monday with full Covid protocols and SOPs, said School Education Minister Prof. Varsha Gaikwad.

"Schools located in areas where Coronavirus cases are fewer can restart physical classes for pre-primary and Std 1-12. We are committed to the safe resumption of schools in the state," said Prof. Gaikwad.

She emphasised that in this fourth phase of school reopening plans, all must compulsorily adhere to the Covid protocols, and consent of parents would be essential.

"I reiterate, improving learning outcomes in children through continued education in a safe environment is our goal. I wish to thank our schools and teachers for continuously ensuring a safe environment for our students," the minister added.

She urged parents not to send their children to school if they are unwell and school management must ensure isolation facilities in case any student displays symptoms.

Besides wearing face-masks at all times, only one student would be allowed per bench and vaccination for the older students would be further ramped up, said Prof. Gaikwad.

The move comes after many children issued direct appeals on social media to the CM Thackeray and other officials on their desire to return to school besides a continuous dialogue between the government, the paediatric task force and education experts.

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New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a 20-year-old man who allegedly committed theft at the house of his neighbour in order to marry his girlfriend on Valentines Day.

The accused used to watch crime serials and got the idea of committing the theft from one of them.

A senior police officer said that the accused has been identified as Mohammad Jaid.

As per the police, a person named Mohammed Fahimudeen had lodged a complaint of theft with them, stating that on January 18, his wife, who was alone at home, had stepped out for some work. When she returned, she found that Rs 3 lakh in cash, which was kept at the house, was missing.

The police lodged an FIR and started investigation. After scanning a number of CCTV footages, the police identified the accused who was soon apprehended.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that he was in dire need of money in order to marry his girlfriend and that is why he committed the theft.

"The accused said that he was having an affair with a girl whom he wanted to marry, but didn't have enough money to do so as he earned just Rs 8,000 per month from his job. He used to watch crime serials and got the idea of committing the theft from one of them," the officer said, adding that the stoen money has been recovered from his possession.
Dharamsala, Jan 20 : Believing that women can be better placed to lead the world to a more peaceful level, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has written to Roberta Metsola congratulating her on being elected the President of the European Parliament.

His Holiness recollected his past visits to the Parliament and expressed his gratitude for the hospitality and the support it has given to him and the Tibetan people.

Acknowledging her appointment as the youngest ever president of the European Parliament and its third female president, he said: "If I may say so, I believe that women are more empathetic than men in providing genuine concern for the well-being of others. Therefore, women can be better placed to lead the world to a more peaceful level." In his praise of the European Union, the spiritual leader said it is "an inspiring example for a cooperative and peaceful co-existence among different nations and peoples, and deeply inspiring for people like myself who strongly believe in the need for better understanding, closer cooperation, and greater respect among various nations of the world." "At this time the world is facing many challenges and is in need of leaders who have long-term vision. I remain convinced that most human conflicts can be resolved through genuine dialogue conducted with a spirit of openness and reconciliation." Commenting on Tibet, His Holiness said: "In fact, it was with this spirit in 1988 that I formally proposed resolving the issue of Tibet through a mutually beneficial solution with the Chinese leadership. I had consciously chosen the European Parliament as a venue to present my thoughts then to underline the point that a genuine union can only come about voluntarily when there are satisfactory benefits to all the parties concerned." In conclusion, the elderly Buddhist monk once again offered his greetings and wished her a successful tenure.
Chennai, Jan 20 : AIADMK leaders and former Chief Ministers, O. Panneerselvam and K. Palaniswami have said that the raids conducted by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) on the residence and premises of former higher education minister and AIADMK leader, K.P. Anbalagan is part of political vendetta by the DMK government.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the two senior leaders said that the raids in the name of unearthing unaccounted money and documents related to investments of the former minister were nothing but a farce. The leaders said that the DMK must understand that a political party like AIADMK cannot be cowed down by such frivolous acts using government agencies.

OPS and EPS said that the raids at Anbalagan's residential premises and the premises of his friends and relatives were only because the former minister had gone to the office of the Dharmapuri district collector expressing solidarity with a dharna staged by Pappierdipatti MLA, A. Govindasamy who the collector had refused to meet.

The senior AIADMK leaders said that the opposition party was like a big banyan tree and that cowing down such a political party by using government agencies would backfire on the government and the DMK as a political party.

The AIADMK also said that K.P. Anbalagan was the sixth minister of the previous government who was subjected to DVAC raids. The leaders said that M.R. Vijayabhaskar, C. Vijayabaskar, S.P. Velumani, K.C. Veeramani, P. Thangamani were the other leaders and former ministers whose residences and office premises were raided by the DVAC.
Chennai, Jan 20 : The employees of one of the world's largest life insurance companies, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), deserved a good wage revision based on their performance and they got it, said a top leader of All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA).

"Anybody can tell the bankers that LIC is on a sound financial footing as compared to public sector banks. In spite of the competition, LIC's management expense ratio is by far the lowest in the industry. So, the LIC employees deserves a good pay package," Shreekant Mishra, General Secretary, All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), told IANS.

The AIIEA is a major union in LIC and also has a decent presence in the government-owned general insurance companies.

Mishra was responding to comments made by the General Secretary of All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA), S. Nagarajan, that LIC employees got favourable treatment so that the Central government can dilute a small portion of its stake in LIC through an initial public offer (IPO).

The bankers seem to suffer from heartburn or indigestion with the wage revision agreement signed by the unions in the LIC and the management, Mishra.

These include a hike in Dearness Allowance and a five-day working week for LIC's 1,35,000 employees, compared to the rest of the industry that is saddled with lower DA and alternate Saturdays offs.

In the last wage revision (April 2021), the LIC staffers were given a 0.08 per cent hike for every 4-point rise in DA calculation, although the banking industry is getting 0.07 per cent for every 4-point rise.

"This move by the Centre has created an imbalance in the entire banking and insurance sector with the LIC staffers being given a favourable treatment, ostensibly to rush through the LIC IPO without much objections from its employees," Nagarajan had said.

Continuing further Mishra said: "It is true there is heartburn in the banking industry as regards the wage settlement signed in the LIC. But this is not the way to express that." The AIIEA has always maintained that wage revision of LIC employees should be based on the growth and prosperity of the institution. The growth of LIC has been phenomenal, Mishra said.

"LIC's claims settlement records is by far the best in the industry. Per capita policy servicing by LIC employees is one of the highest in the world. Naturally, LIC employees deserved a good wage revision and they got it," he added.

According to Mishra, it is because of the uncompromising struggle of the AIIEA, backed by the policyholders and the people at large, that the privatisation of LIC has been stalled for three long decades. There is no parallel in the world where a trade union stalled a government policy for almost 27/28 years.

"The fact that changes to the LIC Act were made a part of the Finance Bill and no Bill was moved to amend the LIC Act speaks volumes about our campaign," Mishra said.

The AIIEA has called upon the employees to draw inspiration from their three-decade long struggle and intensify the agitation.

"Our units are in the midst of a campaign. We are in touch with other unions to expand unity against the IPO. We are planning to go for an industrial action on the day LIC IPO opens for subscription, to register our protest and forcefully display our determination to resist the government's policy on LIC," Mishra concluded.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a plea by former editor of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal against the Bombay High Court, which declined to entertain his application for in-camera hearing of the appeal filed by Goa government against his acquittal in sexual assault case.

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai is scheduled to hear the matter on Friday. Tejpal moved the top court on December 4, last year, challenging the dismissal of his application by the high court. He contended that every party has a right to place forth their case in the best possible manner. The plea argued that it would not be fair, if lawyers have to curtail their submissions in the backdrop that some publication may publish something, without exercising due care.

Citing a recent order by Bombay High Court which passed directions for in-camera hearings in cases under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, Tejpal sought an in-camera proceeding in his matter too.

In May, last year, the trial court acquitted Tejpal of all charges levelled against him, including wrongful confinement, assault with intent to outrage modesty, sexual harassment, and rape against his female colleague. The Goa government filed an appeal challenging his acquittal by the trial court. Tejpal moved the high court with an application seeking in-camera hearing of the matter.

The appeal contended that trial court order was influenced by extraneous and inadmissible material and by testimonies and graphic details of the past sexual history of the victim, which is prohibited by law.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Malik Faisal Akram said his decision to kidnap a rabbi and three others at the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday was his own declaration of war on America, claiming: "I've come to die", the Daily Mail reported.

The Blackburn terrorist who held up a synagogue ranted about "f***ing Jews" and urged more British Muslims to launch jihad in the United States in a disturbing final phone call to his family, minutes before he was shot dead following the hostage standoff in Texas, the report said.

His ranting about "f***ing Jews" further undermines the FBI's initial bizarre and insulting claims that the British terrorist's attack wasn't 'specifically' anti-Semitic, despite his decision to target a synagogue 4,500 miles from home and threat to blow it up after two years of planning, the report said.

Father-of-six Akram, who had been in the US for a fortnight and bought his gun 'off the street' in Texas, had said: "I've told my kids to man up. Don't cry at my funeral. I've been praying to Allah for two years for this. I'm coming home in a body bag." In a recording of his last phone call to his brother Gulbar, 43, Akram said he had promised their younger sibling Gulzameer, who died of Covid last year, 'that I'd go down a martyr', the report added.

It came as two men were arrested in Manchester and Birmingham by British counter-terrorism police, who are working with the FBI.

Gulbar Akram told him what he was doing was a 'sin' and urged him to give himself up, claiming he could 'do a little time' in prison and come back to Blackburn.

But Faisal exploded with rage, screaming: "I'd rather live one day as a lion than 100 years as a jackal. I'm going to go toe-to-toe with [police] and they can shoot me dead. I'm coming home in a body bag," as per the report.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : People below 60 years of age with no comorbidities, infected by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, can begin their treatment with paracetamol, Dr Shashank Joshi, member of Maharashtra's Covid task force, said.

In the latest episode of online show Health4All by Heal Foundation, Joshi, an endocrinologist at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, said that doctors are likely to prescribe antivirals like Molnupiravir, if someone above the age of 50 has a consistent fever for two days alongside two or three comorbidities.

But "Omicron patients below 60 years with no comorbidities can start symptomatic treatment with paracetamol", he said.

However, paracetamol should not be prescribed to children below the age of 18 years, to pregnant women, or to patients who require hospitalisation, he added.

Earlier, there were reports claiming that paracetamol 500 mg tablets were being given to children along with Covaxin -- the only approved Covid vaccine for teenagers in India.

Vaccine maker Bharat Biotech clarified that Paracetamol or painkillers are not recommended for teenagers after being vaccinated with Covaxin.

Further, Joshi recommended using paracetamol within 72 hours of the onset of symptoms "for patients in the high-risk population group, namely, hypertensives, diabetics, people on immunosuppressed medication, senior citizens, people with other ailments and likewise".

"Whenever we have a new disease which is constantly evolving, new treatment methods are also bound to come up. However, it is up to the doctors to identify the most vulnerable people and prescribe medication accordingly," he added.
Imphal, Jan 20 : Lone Trinamool Congress MLA T. Robindro Singh and a former Congress legislator Y. Surchandra on Thursday joined the ruling BJP in Manipur.

Singh was elected to the Manipur assembly in 2017 elections from Thanga assembly seat in Bishnupur district. Surchandra, a former IAS officer, was elected from Kakching constituency in 2017 on Congress ticket but Manipur High Court subsequently declared his election as null and void over non-disclosure of information in the election affidavit.

Central Minister Pratima Bhowmik and Assam Minister Ashok Singhal, both are BJP's in-charges for the Manipur elections, welcomed both Singh and Surchandra at a simple function in Imphal.

Bhowmik later tweeted: "I welcome Shri T. Robindro Singh, MLA of Thanga to the BJP Parivar. The BJP Manipur is going from strength to strength due to people's belief in the leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi ji and the great work being done by CM Shri N. Biren Singh ji in the state." "Inspired by the leadership of Adarniya PM Shri Narendra Modi ji, T. Robindro Singh, MLA Thanga LAC, TMC & Y Surchandra, Ex MLA, Kakching joined BJP at a programme today," Singhal tweeted.

The two leaders joined BJP on Thursday, 11 days after a senior tribal leader and a sitting Congress MLA Chaltonlien Amo of Tipaimukh Assembly constituency joined the saffron party.

Earlier also, several Congress leaders, including state Congress president Govindas Konthoujam and a few MLAs, joined the BJP.

After 15 years, the Congress, despite emerging as the single-largest party with 28 seats, was ousted by the BJP-led alliance in the 2017 Assembly polls.

The saffron party, which had bagged 21 seats, stitched together a coalition government with the support of four National People's Party (NPP) MLAs, as many Naga People's Front (NPF) members, the lone Trinamool Congress MLA and an Independent member.

The elections to the 60-member Manipur assembly would be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Mokhada : , Jan 20 (IANS/ 101Reporters) Home births weren't always a choice. The implementation of lockdown affected emergency obstetric care because most pregnant women in the country still depend on public transport to reach healthcare facilities, especially those in rural areas. Mothers who gave birth during the ongoing pandemic said that the ambulances refused to come or did not pick up their calls.

TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains first-person accounts of childbirth, stillbirth and traumatic maternal healthcare experiences, which some readers may find triggering. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Twenty-one-year-old Yashoda Chandrakanthmisa from Ase village birthed her second child at her home on May 18 this year with the help of her mother-in-law and a woman from their neighbourhood, in the presence of an ASHA worker.

Recalling the experience to 101Reporters, Chandrakanthmisa shared, "It was raining heavily. My husband tried calling the ambulance, but due to poor network, we could not connect. My water had broken, and with no options left, I laid down on the floor to deliver my child. However, after the birth, the umbilical cord was wedged inside. My husband managed to rent a private vehicle and took me to Mokhada government hospital. I must tell you how uncomfortable and painful it was for the baby and me to travel in a van with the cord still unclamped. The baby was wrapped in a piece of cloth without even being cleaned." She added that she had gone to the same hospital a day before as she had experienced slight labour contractions, but the doctor there sent her back saying there was still time. "If only the hospital had admitted me that day, maybe I would not have had to go through these complications," she said. She was discharged a few hours before sunset as the hospital did not have electricity.

"The hospital also did not conduct any COVID-19 test, even though I had visited twice after the delivery," complained Chandrakanthmisa. Due to the lockdown, the newborn had not received timely immunisation. She also said that the monthly health camps did not take place from the time the pandemic began.

Jyotsna Madhav Jadhav, a 21-year-old mother, delivered her second child in the middle of the lockdown. The birth of her child was not smooth; she had frequent seizures but no sign of labour pain.

"We dialled 108 emergency ambulance services, but they said they could not make it on time. My health was deteriorating, but there was no labour pain. My in-laws arranged a private vehicle and took me to Mokhada government hospital, 15 km from our village Nilmati. The doctor there told us that it would be a caesarean birth and referred us to Nashik government hospital as Mokhada hospital is ill-equipped to perform c-sections," said Jadhav, recounting her ordeal to 101Reporters.

Her son received pulse polio immunisation there, but he has not received the BCG vaccine yet.

"The ANM sister visited our home to vaccinate my baby, but we told her that the baby was too weak and asked her to come later. The truth is, the sister visits multiple villages and comes in contact with so many people; so we did not want her to touch our baby and risk his life," said Jadhav, who works with her husband as contract labour in agricultural lands.

In India, the BCG vaccine is recommended for all newborns within two weeks of birth as part of the National Immunisation Programme.

Twenty-six-year-old Renuka Sunil Bhoir from Swaminagar village said she had to walk 3 kms to reach a PHC for routine check-ups. She gave birth to her second child in February this year.

"Till the fourth month of pregnancy, I had to travel on a motorcycle to reach the PHC for sonography and routine check-ups. However, after some time, I just couldn't sit on the motorbike and chose to walk," lamented Bhoir.

When she visited Jawhar hospital for a routine check-up, the doctor asked her to do a sonography test. She went to Mokhada government hospital next, where they asked her to consider inducing labour followed by a caesarean operation and to get it all done in Nashik hospital.

"All this terrified me, and I decided to come home. Three days later, I went into labour. With the help of my mother-in-law and brother-in-law, I gave birth at home." Her brother-in-law has no medical degree. He only knows a little about medical tools by assisting doctors in a hospital.

Maternal health regresses as rural health infrastructure comes under pressure In Wakadpada village, ASHA worker Yamuna Ashok Kamri said that they were understaffed. Just two women look after three hamlets, and in the absence of one, the other person has to carry the weight.

"I handle 350 women, and the other ASHA worker handles 750. The ambulance person does not pick up calls. We are seldom lucky to arrange a private vehicle for a mother to reach the hospital; this is why most mothers give birth at home," said Kamri, who has been working as an ASHA worker since 2007.

Kamri also complained that they have no work-life balance. There are also no holidays or weeks off for them.

"Most of the deliveries happen at midnight. Even when we manage to take a mother for delivery, we do not know how to get back to the village as there is no transport due to Covid restrictions. There is no arrangement for us to commute from one place to another. How do we walk such long distances," Kamri asked.

Last year, they received masks and sanitisers from the government, but they did not receive anything this year.

"We didn't even receive non-contact temperature assessment devices, then how are we expected to report the number of people with COVID-19 symptoms," she questioned.

According to Rural Health Statistics 2019-2020, 14.1 per cent of the sanctioned posts of Health Workers (Female)/ ANM and 37 per cent of the sanctioned posts of Health Workers (Male) are currently vacant in the Sub-Centres. Further, there is a shortage of doctors (1,704 positions) in PHCs across the rural areas, as well as nursing staff (5,772), female health workers (5,066), pharmacists (6,240), and laboratory technicians (12,098).

"An SOP needs to be implemented to manage COVID-19 in rural areas. There is a need to revamp healthcare and invest in skilled human resources such as medical, specialist and paramedical staff," said Dr Shoba Suri, Senior Fellow, Health Initiative, Observer Research Foundation.

Even before Covid-19, data from 2015-16 have shown the worsening incidence of anaemia in India's women; the prevalence among rural women (15-49 years old) is more than 50 per cent. In the rural districts, maternal mortality remains high at 143 per 100,000 live births.

The WHO recommends at least eight prenatal check-ups, one ultrasound before 24 weeks of pregnancy and a daily intake of iron and folic acid supplements to prevent maternal anaemia, neural tube defects and preterm birth, but from the time the pandemic hit India, many women in the rural areas have avoided the above recommendation.

Parvati Dattushid, an Anganwadi worker for the past 15 years, said the ration supply had been disrupted since the pandemic hit.

"I have to rent a motorcycle and source the ration from town in two parts because the nutrition of many women in the village depends on the Anganwadi's supply," said Dattushid, who provides weekly ration to the mothers.

Sunita Ashok Warghade, Project Community Mobiliser from NGO Aroehan, said that very few women visited health centres for basic health check-ups during the pandemic.

"Recently, I convinced two expectant mothers to go for sonography. Their families did not agree to it. We visit door-to-door to educate people about the virus, the importance of testing and consulting doctors for health concerns, but only a few get our message. We had set up multiple vaccination camps, but not a single villager turned up," said Warghade, who looks after 15 villages.

"Rural healthcare has always been neglected. It was slowly getting better with the National Rural Health Mission, but with COVID-19, everything is back at square one," said Kaustubh Gharat from Aroehan.

(The author is a freelance journalist and a member of 101reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Congress on Thursday lodged a strong protest with the Election commission days after the ED raided Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi's kin and termed it politically motivated.

The party alleged that family members of Charanjit Singh Channi, a leader of the Congress, are being targeted in order to create a perception and influence electors into believing that Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi through his family members and the Indian National Congress is involved in the allegations of money laundering.

"Malice and Malafide news stories planted by the ED against the Chief Minister and fake perception being created - Deliberate and malicious news is being selectively leaked and planted in the news media imputing motives at Chief Minister, Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi," it said.

The Congress said, ED Raids are a revenge against failure of PM's rally in Ferozepur on January 5. A sustained attack has been launched by the Central Government and the BJP against Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi, Chief Minister of Punjab.

An AICC Delegation comprising Randeep S. Surjewala, Abhishek M. Singhvi, Harish Chaudhary, Devender Yadav, Ganesh Godiyal, Pranav Jha, Aman Panwar and others met the CEC virtually to protest against the raids by ED.

The delegation also reminded the CEC about the violations of Model Code of Conduct by the Uttarakhand Government for back- dating and tampering of Government records as also Representation of People Act, 1951.

The party alleged, "blatant misuse of Central Investigative Agencies for conducting politically motivated raids with the sole objective to publicly defame and malign the leaders of Indian National Congress, particularly, the Congress Chief Minister in the State of Punjab, continues regardless of the Model Code of Conduct and with a view to illegally influence public opinion in the ongoing elections scheduled to be held on 20.02.2022." The Congress alleged that similar raids were carried prior to 2019 elections when, "the Commission, while taking cognizance of our memorandums and in exercise of all appropriate and residue powers under Article 324 of the Constitution of India had issued an advisory to the Central Government on the illegal, motivated and vendetta driven enforcement actions being undertaken by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, a month before the general elections." The party said that it's unfortunate that despite a specific direction issued by this Commission, the Central Government continues to flout it with impunity as if they are baiting this commission to profess that a premeditated Central Government is neither under the jurisdiction of this Commission nor does it need to adhere to any constitutional authority.
Kolkata, Jan 20 : The three-day 13th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF2022), which will held in a virtual mode on January 21-23, will celebrate the written word with a splendid line-up of authors, journalists, influencers, thinkers, poets, international best-selling writers and Bollywood actors.

The lineup of speakers extends from film personalities Kabir Bedi, Aparna Sen and Tusshar Kapoor to best-selling authors William Dalrymple, Shobhaa De and Devdutt Patnaik, as well as French novelist, journalist and historian Irene Frain, film director Rahul Rawail, theatre actress Dolly Thakor, celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and holistic health guru Mickey Mehta.

The AKLF2022, which will also mark the beginning of the centenary celebrations of Oxford Bookstores, will focus on both fiction and non-fiction, gastronomy, mental and physical health, poetry, politics, current affairs, parenthood, translations, history, and children's literature in 24 interactive sessions, which will be live-streamed on the festival's official Facebook and YouTube handles.

The Festival would host more than 50 national and international delegates from around the globe.

Along with marquee sessions, the Festival will also be marked by the announcement of the seventh-edition shortlist of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize by jurors Shashi Tharoor, Shobhaa De, Alka Pande, Kunal Basu, Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens and Priti Paul.

Festival Director Maina Bhagat said: "The 13th edition sets its sights on our fast-evolving world and the changes that lie in store in the years ahead. Curated meticulously to meet the challenges of the Virtual format, with a view to continuity and innovation, and with delegate participation from across three time zones, this acceleration to digital connectivity has not stopped us from moving forward with this key initiative." Some of the other eminent speakers will be poet, novelist and journalist JeetThayil; filmmaker and writer Vandana Kohli; French diplomats Emmanuel Lebrun-Damiens and Christine Cornet; author, journalist and film critic Anupama Chopra; poet, journalist and dancer Tishani Doshi; eminent journalists and authors Sagarika Ghose, Nandini Sengupta, Nilanjana S. Roy, Samrat Choudhury and Sandip Roy; celebrity performer and radio jockey Mir Afsar Ali; and translator Arunava Sinha.

Visit www.aklf.in to know more.
Amaravati, Jan 20 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that the 'one district-one airport' concept is good, and instructed officials to expedite the works on Bhogapuram and Dagadarthi airports in Vizianagaram and Nellore districts.

At the review meeting on ports and airports held on Thursday, the chief minister instructed the officials to plan such that that all airports in the state are identical.

"Efforts should be made for developing the basic infrastructure for the airports, and the runways should be developed to allow even Boeing airplanes to land," he said while telling the officials to put special focus on the development and expansion works on the existing six airports in the state along with the two new airports.

The chief minister said that special focus should be laid on the expansion works of Gannavaram airport catering to Vijayawada and Amaravati, keeping in view the growing traffic.

The officials appraised the chief minister of the work in progress at Tirupati, Kadapa, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Kurnool airports.

The chief minister also told the officials to take up on a priority basis the construction works of nine fishing harbours and three ports. Work on Bhavanapadu and Ramayapatnam ports will begin soon, the chief minister was informed by officials.

Works taken up on four fishing harbours in the first phase will be completed by October, the officials said. Of the nine fishing harbours, Uppada (East Godavari), Nizampatnam (Guntur), Machilipatnam (Krishna), and Juvvalpalem (Nellore) will be completed in the first phase, officials said.

Remaining five harbours will be taken in the second phase and will be completed in the specified timeline and tenders are to be finalized soon, officials said.

In the second phase, harbours will be coming up at Budagatlapalem (Srikakulam district), Pudimadaka (Visakhapatnam), Biyyaputhippa (West Godavari), Odarevu (Prakasam) and Kothapatnam (Prakasam).

Industries minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy, chief secretary Sameer Sharma, and other officials were present at the review meeting.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that it has arrested one Anas Ahmed in connection with a prevention of money laundering case of Rs 84 crore.

The accused has alleged links with Chinese people and he allegedly committed fraud through Powerbank and other such fraud mobile applications.

The ED official said that presently, Anas Ahmed is in judicial custody and lodged in Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, in the predicate offence booked by CB, CID, Chennai.

"On Thursday we got six days custody of Anas from the Hon'ble Principal City Civil & Sessions and Special Judge for PMLA Cases, Bengaluru. We have to record his statement, we will also confront him with documentary evidences," said an ED official.

The ED official said that they initiated money laundering investigation into the operations of entities of the accused. They allegedly induced people to invest certain amount of money through Powerbank and other such fraudulent apps by assuring to remit interest on daily or weekly basis on the investment made.

The accused entities closed their purported business after collecting huge sum of money from innocent people and went incommunicado.

"The accused entities neither paid interest nor returned the principal amount to anyone and withheld the investment made by public which has resulted in commission of cheating," said the ED official.

Anas Ahmed is a partner in two accused firms namely H&S Ventures Inc and Clifford Ventures.

The ED official said these two partnership firms are responsible for cheating people to the tune of Rs 84 crore.

"Anas Ahmed has Chinese links and is suspected of being the mastermind of the whole racket. He indulged into corrupt and illegal activities through his partnership firms by deviating from the declared line of business/activity of gaming and has collected money from public under the guise of investment schemes through fraudulent apps," said the official.

The ED learnt that the proceeds generated through criminal activities have been layered through a number of shell entities to remit out of India and also invest in crypto currencies.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on Thursday. The two dignitaries also launched the Civil Service College and 8 MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support.

An Agreement on extending a $190 mn Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects; and MoU on the implementation of Small Development Projects was also signed.

"I wish to recall the stellar contribution of late Anerood Jugnauth (former Mauritius President) to strengthen the India-Mauritius ties. We look forward to supporting the further extension of the metro, under the $190 million Line of Credit (LoC) extension today," said the prime minister after the launch of these projects.

In the coming days, we will work on several important projects, such as the regional transplant unit, the forensic science laboratory, the national library & archives, the Mauritius police academy, & many others. India will always continue to stand by Mauritius, he added further.

"It was in Mauritius, during my 2015 visit, that I had outlined India's maritime cooperation vision of SAGAR -- 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'. I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action," said Prime Minister Modi, referring to more than a half century diplomatic India-Mauritius bilateral relationships.

"To pay gratitude for India's support to the metro express project, my government has decided to name one of the major metro stations as 'Mahatma Gandhi' station," said Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has carried out search operations at the various premises of a Cuttck and Odisha based businessman Pawan Kumar Jajodia in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case.

The official said that during the searches, various incriminating documents were seized by them indicating the proceeds of crime.

"Documents related to plots, properties and buildings worth Rs 23 crore have been seized by us," said an ED official.

Earlier an FIR was registered by the State Vigilance Cell and EOW of Odisha under section 420 and 120B of te IPC against Pawan Kumar Jajodia.

In the FIR, it was alleged that Jajodia has caused loss to Government exchequers to an extent of Rs 21.86 crore by using false billings, non-existing addresses for companies under different names and style and also using fake and untraceable IDs.

The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of this FIR. The ED formed a team of elite officials and started probing the matter. They said that they have got some crucial evidences against Jajodia.

The ED official said that first they filed the arrest memo and then approached the court seeking custodial remand of Jajodia. The court after hearing their contention agreed to allow their move and granted them six days time to interrogate Jajodia.

Further Investigation is under progress.
Hyderabad, Jan 20 : Telangana's daily Covid count crossed the 4,000 mark on Thursday while the state authorities are gearing up to launch another round of fever survey from Friday.

The state reported 4,207 new cases, an increase of 18.27 per cent over the previous day. Two deaths were also reported due to Covid during the 24 hour period ending 5.30 p.m. Thursday.

The authorities conducted 1,20,215 tests during the period. For a third consecutive day, over one lakh samples were tested across the state.

According to health officials, the positivity rate remained low at around 3.5 per cent.

The Covid surge continued in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) as it reported 1,645 new infections against 1,474 the previous day. The daily count also spiked to 380 in Medchal Malkajgiri and to 336 in Rangareddy.

Hanamkonda reported 154 and Sangareddy 107 new cases. The tally remained in double digits in the remaining 28 districts.

The number of active cases in the state rose to 26,633. Officials said 1,825 people recovered in the 24-hour period. The recovery rate has now dropped to 95.75 per cent.

Meanwhile, Health Minister T. Harish Rao announced that in view of the increase in Covid cases, fever survey will be conducted across the state from Friday.

He told reporters that during the survey, people with Covid symptoms will be identified and they will be handed over home isolation kits.

Harish Rao recalled that the state had conducted fever survey during the second wave of the pandemic and this effort was praised by NITI Aayog.

The minister said in the ongoing third wave some of those infected by Covid are not showing symptoms while some others are not coming forward to undergo the tests. "Hence, we are going to the doorsteps of such people," he said.

Those found to be having Covid symptoms during fever survey will be provided home isolation kits. The health workers will explain to them how to use the medicines provided in the kits.

The government has already kept two crore testing kits and one crore home isolation kits ready. The kits have been sent to government hospitals in all the districts.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Panaji, Jan 20 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday slammed his Delhi counterpart and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of being a hypocrite and of fishing in troubled waters.

Sawant's criticism of Kejriwal came soon after the Delhi CM once again reached out to late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal to join the AAP, after the BJP rejected his claim to contest from the Panaji assembly constituency, a seat represented by his father since 1994.

"Hypocrisy! Person whose entire party & politics is based on shallow opportunism should brush up his memory & remind himself of his own filthy comments used against one of the greatest leaders Shri Manohar Bhai Parrikar. Mr. Opportunist..." Sawant said.

Earlier on Thursday, Kejriwal had tweeted: "Goans feel v sad that BJP has adopted use and throw policy even with Parrikar family. I have always respected Manohar Parrikar ji. Utpal ji is welcome to join and fight elections on AAP ticket".

Kejriwal, during his recent visit to Goa, had also said that Utpal Parrikar was free to contest on an AAP ticket, if he wishes to.

Utpal Parrikar had put in a request with the BJP high command to contest from the Panaji seat. The BJP, which released its first list of 34 candidates for the February 14 Goa polls, has instead picked sitting BJP MLA Atanasio Monserrate as its candidate from Panaji. Monserrate, who faces charges of raping a minor and several other criminal cases including one involving leading a mob which attacked a city police station in 2008, had won the 2017 state assembly bypolls -- which were facilitated after the death of Manohar Parrikar -- on a Congress ticket. He had however joined the BJP along with nine other Congress MLAs in a midnight coup in 2019.
Jaipur, Jan 20 : In the national launch ceremony of "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore" programme, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that there is an atmosphere of tension and violence in the country while the state BJP termed his language condemnable.

"Today, there is an atmosphere of tension and violence in the country. In such a situation, there is a need to strengthen the spirit of peace, harmony and brotherhood. Today, the society and the country should move forward by following the path of truth and non-violence as shown by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi," he said.

Meanwhile, state BJP president Satish Poonia said, "The intention and language used by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in front of the Prime Minister is condemnable. It is probably in the nature of the Congress leaders to condemn this method of their own country on the international platform. I think Congress has lost allegiance to the country," he said.

"From Rahul Gandhi to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Congress leaders always speak against the nation and their conduct looks more like "anti-national".

"When Congress leaders criticize the country at world forums, it seems that everyone from Rahul Gandhi to Ashok Gehlot speaks the same language. Several times, their conduct seems to be anti-national," he said adding, "The Prime Minister wished for the progress of the country and spoke of democracy, harmony and unity. On the other hand, Gehlot spoke against the country's system in the garb of condemning the successful prime minister." "Speaking on non-violence and democracy, Gehlot forgets that Congress worked to divide people on caste and religious basis during its 50-year rule, Poonia added.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The eternal flame at the India Gate will be extinguished after 50 years on Friday and will be merged with the flame at the adjoining National War Memorial (NWM) in the run-up to the Republic Day.

The eternal flame known as Amar Jawan Jyoti was built in 1972 underneath the India Gate arch to commemorate the soldiers martyred in the Indo-Pak War of 1971. It is a memorial symbolised by an inverted bayonet and soldier's helmet over it with an eternal flame burning beside it.

The existence of Amar Jawan Jyoti was questioned two years ago after the National War Memorial came into being and the nation got a new eternal flame there.

Back then, the Indian Army had stated that Amar Jawan Jyoti will continue as it is an "inseparable" part of the country's history.

Earlier, tri-services chiefs and visiting delegates used to pay respect at the Amar Jawan Jyoti. Even on all important days like Republic Day and Independence Day, tri services chiefs used to pay respect at Amar Jawan Jyoti.

But with the new eternal flame at the National War Memorial and wreath-laying ceremony on all designated days being carried out at the memorial, the force will now merge the Amar Jawan Jyoti with the other.

The National War Memorial was built in memory of all soldiers and unsung heroes who laid down their lives defending the nation since Independence.

It is spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy, and is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil Conflict of 1999, besides those killed in the UN peacekeeping missions.
Mumbai, Jan 20 : For the fourth time in two years of the Covid pandemic, all schools in Maharashtra are set to reopen for physical classes from January 24, just two days ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, officials said here on Thursday.

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal said that simultaneously all schools, even in the country's commercial capital, shall resume physical classes from next Monday.

It may be recalled that the offline classes in the state were suspended in December 2021 - barring the crucial Class X and Class XII for board exams students - after the third wave of Covid-19 complicated by Omicron gripped most districts, particularly Mumbai and Pune.

Following a review of the Covid status, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray gave the green signal for the proposal to reopen the schools from next Monday with full Covid protocols and SOPs, said School Education Minister Prof Varsha Gaikwad.

"Schools located in areas where Coronavirus cases are fewer can restart physical classes for pre-primary and Std 1 to Std 12. We are committed to the safe resumption of schools in the state," said Pro. Gaikwad.

She emphasised that in this fourth phase of school reopening plans, all must compulsorily adhere to the Covid protocols, and consent of parents would be essential.

"I reiterate, improving learning outcomes in children through continued education in a safe environment is our goal. I wish to thank our schools and teachers for continuously ensuring a safe environment for our students," the minister added.

She urged parents not to send their children to school if they are unwell and school management must ensure isolation facilities in case any student displays symptoms.

Besides wearing face-masks at all times, only one student would be allowed per bench and vaccination for the older students would be further ramped up, said Prof Gaikwad.

The move comes after many children issued direct appeals on social media to CM Thackeray and other officials on their desire to return to school besides a continuous dialogue between the government, the paediatric task force and education experts.

The government decision has been welcomed by the students, the parents and the teaching community as classes have been virtually out of bounds for nearly 18 months in the past almost two years of the pandemic.

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Chandigarh, Jan 20 : In a judgement to protect rights of individuals, the Haryana Right to Service Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 on Deputy Civil Surgeon K.L. Malik, who is posted in a government hospital in Rohtak town, for delay in release of a death certificate relating to 1994 on flimsy grounds.

Commission Secretary Meenaxee Raj on Thursday said a long-pending issue of a harassed widow was finally resolved through the intervention of the commission.

She said though the record pertaining to the death was lost and destroyed in 1995 and this fact was also agreed upon by the Chief Commissioner of the Haryana Right to Service Commission himself who incidentally was Deputy Commissioner Bhiwani at that time.

An inquiry had been made into the factum of death of the deceased by Medical Officer Anand Prakash, who was posted at the government hospital in Meham, recommended the case for registration to the Deputy Civil Surgeon, Rohtak.

She said the inquiry was based on statements of Anganwadi workers who had made further enquiries with the villagers regarding the death and they also affirmed it.

Despite the inquiry, a clear recommendation by Anand Prakash to register the death but the designated officer wrongfully rejected the case, claiming lack of supporting documents to process the case.

Meenaxee Raj said even during the hearing before the Chief Commissioner of the commission, pursuant to the suo-motu notice served upon him based on the complaint made by the widow, the respondent doctor kept harping upon absence of proof of death. He had no realisation that once a person is dead, his or her death certificate could be the only proof of death.

Chief Commissioner T.C. Gupta said this was the most painful case where the system has turned so apathetic that a hapless poor widow, who has already lost her husband, is made to run from pillar to post to be able to get a death certificate.

Extreme and abject case of absolute non application of mind by the doctor concerned has led to imposition of maximum penalty as well as compensation in the case.

Gupta that the commission has also directed the Deputy Civil Surgeon Rohtak to directly pay Rs 5,000 as compensation to the complainant.

He said the Commission would not spare any officer who does not respect the applicant's valuable time and is not committed to perform task on time.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : National carrier Air India will commence normal operations to US from Friday, the airline said.

On Tuesday, the national carrier said that it will not be able to operate a number of US-bound flights due to the deployment of 5G communications in the US.

As per industry insiders, the 5G network technology might cause certain crucial flight instruments to malfunction.

The airline informed passengers via its official Twitter handle: "#FlyAI : Flight operations to/from destinations in USA were affected during last two days.

"We would like to inform our passengers traveling to/from destinations in the USA that effective 0001hrs of 21st January 2022 normal flights operations will recommence to/from USA." Earlier in the day, Boeing had cleared AI to operate to the US on Boeing 777 aircraft.

Accordingly, the first Air India flight left from New Delhi to JFK airport on Thursday morning.

Besides, Air India is expected to operate other flights to Chicago and San Francisco.

"Arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out," the airline said.

The US air transport regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been concerned that a version of 5G could interfere with some airplane instruments.

Earlier, aviation industry groups had shared those fears. This is despite reassurances from federal telecom regulators and well as wireless carriers.

Specifically, the FAA has been worried that 5G cellular antennas near some airports - not air mobile devices - could throw off readings from some aircraft equipment designed to tell pilots how far they are from the ground.

The systems, radar altimeters, are used throughout a flight and are considered critical.

At present, Air India operates to 5 destinations in the US.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Sputnik V vaccine has demonstrated strong protection against Omicron variant, with over 2 times higher virus neutralising activity compared to the Pfizer vaccinea, ccording to a study conducted by the Spallanzani Institute in Italy in collaboration with Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Gamaleya Center) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund on Thursday said that 2 doses of Sputnik V provide more than 2 times higher geometric mean titers (GMT) of virus neutralising antibodies to the Omicron variant of Covid than 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine (2.1 times higher in total and 2.6 times higher 3 months after vaccination).A The study was conducted at the leading Italian research institute for infectious diseases, by a joint Italian-Russian team of researchers representing the Institute and the Gamaleya Center in the equal laboratory conditions on comparable sera samples from individuals vaccinated with Sputnik V and Pfizer with a similar level of IgG antibodies and virus neutralising activity (VNA) against Wuhan variant, said a report.

Among the top quartile of individuals with high RBD-specific IgG antibodies, 100 per cent of those vaccinated with Sputnik V were able to neutralise Omicron variant in comparison to 83.3 per cent of individuals vaccinated with Pfizer. Among all samples, 74.2 per cent of Sputnik V-vaccinated sera were able to neutralise Omicron vs 56.9 per cent for Pfizer-vaccinated, it said.

Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, said: "The joint study by the Gamaleya Center and Spallanzani Institute confirmed the results obtained in our separate study published in December 2021. The hard scientific data proves Sputnik V has higher virus neutralising activity against Omicron as compared to other vaccines and will play a major role in the global fight against this new contagious variant." "Results of the study in Italy confirm Sputnik V offers the strongest protection against Omicron. The adenoviral platform has shown high efficacy in fighting mutations of Covid previously. Partnership of different platforms is the key and heterologous ('mix & match') boosting with Sputnik Light will help strengthen efficacy of other vaccines in light of combined Delta and Omicron challenge," said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Supreme Court on Thursday held that inherited property of a female Hindu dying issueless and intestate, will either go to the heirs of her parents or husband.

Explaining the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, a bench of Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said: "The main scheme of this Act is to establish complete equality between male and female with regard to property rights and the rights of the female were declared absolute, completely abolishing all notions of a limited estate." It further added that the Act brought about changes in the law of succession among Hindus and gave rights which were till then unknown in relation to women's property. "The legislative intent of enacting Section 14 (I) of the Act was to remedy the limitation of a Hindu woman who could not claim absolute interest in the properties inherited by her but only had a life interest in the estate so inherited," said the bench.

The judgment came on an appeal filed by the legal heirs of Arunachala Gounder, as it set aside the verdicts passed by Madras High Court and the trial court. "Unfortunately, neither the trial court nor the High Court adverted itself to the settled legal propositions which are squarely applicable in the facts and circumstances of the case," said the top court.

"Since the succession of the suit properties opened in 1967 upon death of Kupayee Ammal, the 1956 Act shall apply and thereby Ramasamy Gounder's daughter's being Class-I heirs of their father too shall also be heirs and entitled to 1/5th share in each of the suit properties," it said.

The bench noted that the right of a widow or daughter to inherit the self-acquired property or share received in partition of a coparcenary property of a Hindu male dying intestate is well recognised not only under the old customary Hindu law but also by various judicial pronouncements.

It said if a female Hindu dies intestate without leaving any issue, then the property inherited by her from her father or mother would go to the heirs of her father whereas the property inherited from her husband or father-in-law would go to the heirs of the husband. "The basic aim of the legislature in enacting Section 15(2) is to ensure that inherited property of a female Hindu dying issueless and intestate, goes back to the source," said the bench.

It added that the Act lays down a uniform and comprehensive system of inheritance and applies, inter-alia, to persons governed by the Mitakshara and Dayabhaga Schools and also to those governed previously by the Murumakkattayam, Aliyasantana, and Nambudri Laws.

"The Act applies to every person, who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or a follower of the Brahmo Pararthana or Arya Samaj and even to any person who is Buddhist, Jain, or Sikh by religion excepting one who is Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion," it added.
Mumbai, Jan 20 : Maharashtras daily Covid-19 numbers again shot above the 46,000-mark on Thursday though Omicron cases declined to remain in the 100-plus range, while deaths continued to be in double-digits, health officials said here on Thursday.

After a record high of 46,723 cases reported on January 12, the number of daily Covid infections again mounted to 46,197 on Thursday after dropping to 43,697 on Wednesday.

However, the fatalities decreased from 49 a day earlier to 37 on Thursday, with the mortality rate falling from 1.93 per cent to 1.92 per cent.

After notching a peak of 238 Omicron cases on January 14, the state number of cases of the new variant dropped 214 a day earlier to 125 on Thursday.

The government is continuing the intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports -- Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur -- since December 1 last year.

A total of 299,952 travellers have landed here, including 46,788 from the "high risk" countries of which 570 have tested positive apart from another 663 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.

Another 5,530 positive samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 have been sent for genomic sequencing with the results of 96 still awaited, the officials said.

Omicron has spread extensively across several districts in the state, and out of the 2,199 cases reported till date, 1,144 have recovered.

Mumbai is back at the top spot with 865 Omicron cases, followed by 861 in Pune district, 134 in Thane, 116 in Nagpur, 59 in Sangli, 25 in Amravati, and 20 in Aurangabad, among others.

Of the 46,197 new Covid-19 cases reported on Thursday, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region recorded 12,054 infections, while Mumbai city's fell from 6,032 a day earlier to 5,708 on Thursday.

The next is Pune Circle's 16,382 infectees, Nagpur Circle's 6,076, Nashik Circle's 4,955, Kolhapur Circle's 1,812, Latur Circle's 1,795, Aurangabad Circle's 1,590 and Akola Circle's 1,533 cases.

The number of people under home quarantine shot up to 24,21,501 on Thursday, while another 3,391 were shunted to institutional quarantine.

Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Raigad and Palghar remain at the top with the highest number of active cases currently in the state, with the afflictions dropping first time in a month, down from 2,64,708 a day before to 2,58,569 on Thursday, with a recovery rate of 94.52 per cent.

The state's cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 now stands at 73,71,757 cases and 141,971 deaths, while a total of 69,67,432 patients have fully recovered till Thursday.

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Chennai, Jan 20 : The Principal of the Ekalavya Model Residential School in Tamil Nadu's Chengalpattu, and the hostel warden have been arrested for concealing the rape and pregnancy of a 16-year-old tribal student, police said on Thursday.

The girl consumed rat poison and died on Tuesday night at the Tiruvannamalai General hospital after battling for life for 12 days.

The girl, who was at her home during the lockdown, had returned to school and on December 22, 2021, she fainted in school. She was taken to the nearby hospital by hostel warden Shembagavalli who was informed by the doctors that she was pregnant.

Police said that Principal, Kumaragurubaran, summoned the girl's parents and without informing them of her pregnancy, sent her back home with them. On January 7, the girl consumed poison and was admitted to the hospital at Tiruvannamalai. Doctors, after examining her informed the parents, that she was six months pregnant.

The girl, when conscious, told doctors that she was repeatedly raped by Hariprasad who was a neighbour. Police took him into custody and he admitted to his crime.

Hariprasad, Kumaragurubaran, 51, and Shembagavalli, 37, were arrested on Tuesday and charged under various sections of the Pocsco Act, the Indian Penal Code, and the SC/ST act. They were produced before a court on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : More than 450 scientists from across the world but mostly from the US, have together called on the executives of major advertising and public relations firms to drop their fossil fuel clients to help stop spread of disinformation around climate change.

Stating that climate actions are hugely and negatively impacted by such publicity, the scientists, possibly coming together in such large numbers for the first time, said: "As scientists who study and communicate the realities of climate change, we are consistently faced with a major and needless challenge: overcoming advertising and PR efforts by fossil fuel companies that seek to obfuscate or downplay our data and the risks posed by the climate crisis." "In fact, these misinformation campaigns represent one of the biggest barriers to the government action that science shows is necessary to mitigate the ongoing climate emergency," they said.

Asserting that the science is very clear that "we must eliminate carbon pollution as soon as possible - nearly 50 per cent this decade, and fully by 2050", the open letter by the scientists, said: "That requires an immediate and rapid transition away from all fossil fuels. Coal, oil, gas, and electricity companies must immediately, unreservedly, begin a transition to a zero-carbon future." The open letter was shared by 'Clean Creatives,' which is a project for PR and ad professionals, who want a safe climate future. They are strategists, creatives, and industry leaders who believe that fossil fuel clients represent a threat to our shared future.

"If PR and advertising agencies want to be part of climate solutions instead of continuing to exacerbate the climate emergency, they should drop all fossil fuel clients that plan to expand their production of oil and gas, end work with all fossil fuel companies and trade groups that perpetuate climate deception, cease all work that hinders climate legislation, and instead focus on uplifting the true climate solutions that are already available and must be rapidly implemented at scale," the letter said.

"To put it simply, advertising and public relations campaigns for fossil fuels must stop."
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest to S.K. Supiyan, who was the election agent of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, in connection with a murder case under the CBI's investigation.

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai said: "Learned counsel for the state is directed to file statement(s) recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C. Learned counsel for the petitioner and the complainant are permitted to file additional documents, if any, before the next date of hearing. List on January 31. There shall be stay of arrest of the petitioner in the meanwhile." Solicitor General Tushar Mehta contended before the bench that on November 29 last year, the high court passed the order rejecting his anticipatory bail, and for two months, he managed not to be arrested.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioner, contended that supplementary charge sheet has been filed, where his client has not been named.

The top court order came on an appeal filed by Supiyan against the Calcutta High Court order, which rejected his anticipatory bail plea. "No adjournment shall be granted and the special leave petition shall be heard finally on that date," added the top court.

As Mehta emphasised that the petitioner is quite powerful and the offence is very serious, the top court asked hims to not get politics into the matter.

Following a high court order, the CBI is probing the death of BJP worker Debabrata Maity, who was allegedly attacked in Nandigram. The high court had directed the investigating agency to investigate cases connected with violence, which occurred in the state after the elections.
Guwahati/Shillong, Jan 20 : Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K. Sangma on Thursday met Union Home minister Amit Shah in Delhi and apprised him about the efforts being made to resolve six of the 12 inter-state border disputes between the two northeastern states.

After the meeting, Sangma said that Shah expressed his happiness on the initiatives being taken to resolve the border disputes and the Union Home Ministry would examine the reports submitted by the two Chief Ministers.

The two CMs would again meet the Home Minister on the issue after January 26.

After the meeting, Assam Chief Minister Sarma: "I along with HCM Meghalaya Sri Conrad K. Sangma met Adarniya Griha Mantri Sri Amit Shah ji in New Delhi. We apprised Hon HM on the outcomes of discussions held between Assam & Meghalaya governments to resolve the border disputes amicably. We're grateful for his guidance." Taking to twitter, Meghalaya CM Sangma said, "Called on HM Amit Shah with Assam CM Himanta Sharma & appraised him of Regional Committee reports. He expressed happiness on the initiative taken by the both states. MHA to examine the reports and we'll meet HM again after Jan26." Sarma and Sangma submitted the recommendations of the ministerial committees constituted in August last year to resolve the six of the 12 inter-state border disputes.

The Cabinets of the two states in their meetings separately on Wednesday approved the recommendations of the ministerial committees.

The ministerial committees before finalising the recommendations of the two states had visited 36 villages in six of the 12 disputed areas during the past four months.

Sangma said that the boundary demarcation would be conducted after the due procedure in the Parliament.

"The officials of the Survey of India along with the officials of the two states have to undertake joint inspections before a possible Bill can be moved in the Parliament," he said.

Meanwhile, the Assam Chief Minister said that a roadmap for amicable settlement has been prepared based on the recommendations of three regional (ministerial) committees with representatives from both the states.

On January 12, Assam and Meghalaya had in principle reached an agreement on at least six of the 12 border disputes.

The Opposition Congress in Assam has threatened to move the court if Assam's land is parted away with.

Assam has border disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Assam's border dispute cases with Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are before the Supreme Court but there are no cases on the inter-state disputes with Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Recently, Assam and Nagaland had signed an agreement to remove state forces from the disputed locations.

Sarma recently discussed an out-of-court settlement of the boundary disputes with his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu.

The worst-ever violence along the Assam-Mizoram border on July 26 last year left six Assam Police personnel dead and nearly 100 civilians and security personnel of the two neighbouring states injured.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : The India Meteorological Department (IMD), as part of its extended range forecast issued for the period January 20 to February 2, on Thursday predicted rainfall in the run up to January 26 but not on that Republic Day itself.

A Western Disturbance as a cyclonic circulation lies over north Pakistan and neighbourhood, an induced cyclonic circulation lies over central parts of Rajasthan, a fresh active Western Disturbance is likely to affect northwest India from January 21 onwards while an induced cyclonic circulation is very likely to form over southwest Rajasthan on January 22, it said.

Under the influence of above systems, the IMD said: "Isolated to scattered rainfall/ snowfall is very likely over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand during next two days and it will increase thereafter with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall/snowfall on January 22 and 23 and reduce thereafter." Isolated to scattered rainfall is very likely over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh and east Rajasthan on January 20 and 21 and increasing thereafter with fairly widespread to widespread rainfall on January 22 and 23. Isolated to scattered rainfall is predicted over east Rajasthan during January 20 to 23, east Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during January 22 to 24 and Madhya Pradesh on January 22 and 23.

Isolated heavy rainfall likely over Punjab on January 22, the IMD said.

Scattered to fairly widespread rainfall is very likely over Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Sikkim during January 22-24 while isolated thunderstorm with lightning and hail is very likely over west Madhya Pradesh on January 21 and 22, over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, north Rajasthan, east Madhya Pradesh, and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on January 22, over Bihar on January 22 and 23, and over Jharkhand and Gangetic West Bengal on January 23.

The IMD has also predicted strong surface winds (20-30 kmph) over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan, and west Uttar Pradesh on January 21 and 22.

It also said fairly widespread to widespread rainfall very likely over northeast India during January 23-25.

Isolated thunderstorms with lightning and hail is very likely over Assam and Meghalaya on January 20 while isolated heavy rainfall is likely over there on January 24.

Under the influence of a cyclonic circulation over Southwest Bay of Bengal and another over south Tamil Nadu in lower tropospheric levels, isolated light rainfall/ thundershower over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Kerala, and Mahe is expected during next 4-5 days.

Minimum temperatures are likely to rise by 2-4 degrees Celsius over northwest India during next 2-3 days and fall by 3-5 degree Celsius thereafter.

Very dense fog is very likely in isolated pockets over Uttar Pradesh and dense fog in isolated pockets over Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, west Rajasthan, north Madhya Pradesh, and sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim on January 21 morning. It is likely to persist over east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during subsequent 24 hours i.e. till January 22 morning.

Cold Day to Severe Cold Day conditions is very likely to prevail in isolated pockets of Madhya Pradesh and Cold Day conditions in isolated pockets over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh likely during next 24 hours and over Bihar during next two days.

After the passage of the Western Disturbances on January 24 from north-western parts of India, conditions are likely to be favourable for another fresh spell of dense fog/ low clouds conditions and Cold Day conditions over plains of northwest and adjoining central India during January 25-27. The new spell is likely to be shorter in view of the stronger lower-level westerly winds likely thereafter over these areas, the IMD said.
Hyderabad, Jan 20 : The Telangana government has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to allocate funds in the union budget 2022-23 for various works taken up under the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department in the state.

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao wrote a letter to Sitharaman on Thursday, seeking assistance of nearly Rs 8,000 crore for various projects in Hyderabad.

KTR, as the state minister is popularly known, requested for allocation of funds for Mass Rapid Transit systems (MRTS) along the KPHB-Kokapet-Narsingi corridor.

While the preliminary estimates of the MRTS is Rs 3,050 crore, he requested the Centre to sanction 15 per cent of the project cost (Rs 450 crore).

This will be about 30 Kms long with an expected ridership of 5 lakh by 2030 and will have connectivity with the proposed Airport express at Narsingi and with the existing Metro network at the Financial District.

KTR also requested for sanction of funds for Warangal Metro-Neo project, amounting to Rs 184 crore, as the project would be a major milestone in public transport in a Tier II city, and requested that the Centre sanction of 20 per cent of the project cost.

KTR also brought to the notice of the Union Finance Minister that the state government has embarked on several initiatives like Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP), Model Corridors Development and Hyderabad Road Development to improve the transport network not only in Hyderabad, but in Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA).

He mentioned that a total of 22 missing link roads were taken up and completed, while another 17 such link roads are at various stages of completion.

Further, to extend the missing link connectivity/improvement and comprehensive development up to Outer Ring Road including the surrounding urban local bodies, a total of 104 additional corridors are identified to take up with an estimated amount of Rs 2,400 crore. These connecting roads are proving to be the lifeline of urban mobility, he said in the letter.

He requested the Union government to support the Telangana government by extending a contribution of Rs 800 crore, that is one-third of the project cost.

As per the DPRs for Phase II of SRDP, the estimated cost of various works is Rs 14,000 crore. These include improvement of important roads, construction of flyovers and underpasses for smooth connectivity and widening of important roads and he requested her to provide 10 per cent of the project cost.

Highlighting the need for a stronger sewerage network in Hyderabad, KTR cited about the ambitious Comprehensive Sewerage Master Plan (CSMP) taken up by the state government.

The plan includes construction of 62 Sewage Treatment Plants at a total estimated cost of Rs 8,684.54 crore and urged the Central government to sanction one-third of the project cost.
Chennai, Jan 20 : Even as the Congress has put its protest march in Karnataka on hold, Tamil Nadu farmer groups and organisations have lodged strong protests against the party conducting a padayatra against the state and Central governments for the construction of a dam across Cauvery river at Mekedatu.

Tamizhaga Cauvery Vivasaigal Sangam General Secretary P.R. Pandian came out strongly against the Tamil Nadu Congress leadership on its silence regarding the matter. He urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to issue strong statement against the Congress' Karnataka unit.

"We had conducted protest marches on the issue but were stopped by the police at Zuzuvadi town close to the border of Karnataka. The DMK should question the Congress of Tamil Nadu as to why that party is silent on a burning issue of Tamil farmers and people of the state. Chief Minister Stalin must act and not remain a mute spectator given the DMK's alliance with the Congress. We will conduct strong protests across the state against this," Pandian told IANS.

Desiya Thennindhiya Nadhigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam President P. Ayyakkannu told IANS that his organisation would conduct a protest in New Delhi against the moves to construct a new dam at Mekedatu.

"We will conduct a protest march at New Delhi with 500 farmers participating. We will not allow a dam at Mekedatu across the Cauvery to affect the lives of Tamil people. The date of our march will be known only after the state executive meeting scheduled on January 21." Rumblings are brewing in Tamil Nadu over the Mekedatu dam and the silence of the state Congress against the move of its counterpart in Karnataka.
New Delhi, Jan 20 : Amid the heavy snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir, the intelligence agencies have warned that terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Al Badr are planning to sneak into the Union Territory through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), sources in the security set up said.

The sources, quoting intelligence inputs, said that at least seven militants of LeT and five of Al Badra are trying to cross over to Jammu and Kashmir from two different areas located in PoK.

The intelligence alert has specifically said that from one place in PoK, the LeT ultras will be trying to infiltrate with the help of a launch pad commander, while the five Al Badr terrorists are located near a launch pad in Balakot, who are being escorted by a local guide to infiltrate from the Bhimber Gali side in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The intel alerts have been shared with the J&K Police, Central security forces and the Army who have been asked to intensify patrolling along the international border adjoining the Bhimber Gali.

"The alert is a matter of major concern for the security forces ahead of the Republic Day, and if they (militants) are trying to cross the international border amid the heavy snowfall, it indicates that they must be equipped with winter clothing and navigational devices," an official in the security forces deployed in J&K said.

He also said that in recent operations launched by the Central security forces and the state police, the terrorists who were neutralised had army grade winter clothing and other staff like dry-fruits and dry meals. This also indicates that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is providing logistic supports to these terrorists.

Recent intelligence inputs have also revealed that ISI has been searching for new routes to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir besides establishing new control rooms in PoK.

The security forces, after intercepting messages, revealed that eight new routes have been identified which are covered with snow and have less patrolling by Indian forces during peak winters.

The intelligence intercepts have further revealed that Pakistan has activated new terror launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC) with increased efforts to aid infiltration bids into Jammu and Kashmir before the Republic Day on January 26.
Patna, Jan 21 : After LJP's Chirag Paswan who was ousted from the NDA after contesting independently in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, Vikassheel Insan party chief Mukesh Sahani could face the same consequences after he opened a front against the the BJP in Uttar Pradesh polls.

Targeted by Sahani, BJP leaders like Ajay Nishad, Samrat Chaudhary, and Neeraj Kumar Bablu have said that he is free to leave the NDA in Bihar.

Indicating action against Sahani, BJP MP Nishad, a popular face among the Nishad community in Uttar Pradesh, said: "If Mukesh Sahani is leaving, it would not affect NDA government in Bihar as three MLAs of VIP are with the BJP." The BJP had given 11 seats to the VIP in the 2020 polls and it won four seats. After the demise of MLA Musafir Paswan, VIP has only 3 MLAs.

Bihar minister Samrat Chaudhary expressed the same sentiments.

"Sahani is independent to go anywhere. If he separates, it would not hurt the NDA. We have given support to Nitish Kumar and we are committed to it. The NDA government will complete its tenure of 5 years. No one can derail it," he said.

Fellow minister Neeraj Kumar Bablu, another cabinet minister of Nitish Kumar government and BJP leader, said: "No one has stopped him from going anywhere. We have not invited him to the NDA. He came to the NDA." Sahani is testing his luck in Uttar Pradesh polls, having alleged that Nishad abused him a few days ago on the direction of the top BJP leadership. Sahani and Nishad are from the same Mallah community and the BJP does not want him to enter UP and split their votes.

The BJP also threatened Sahani to contest Bochaha by-election, which fell vacant after sitting VIP lawmaker Paswan passed away on November 25 last year.

Sahani, who had himself lost in the 2020 Bihar polls, still became an MLC and then minister, and the BJP knew that the three MLAs of his party are approachable, having lost out on a ministerial berth.

The situation of Sahani is similar to Chirag Paswan who was also vocal against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the 2020 and the JD-U believes that due to the LJP chief, the vote percentage of JD-U declined, Chirag Paswan paid the penalty with his party splitting into two parts as his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras formed Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) with the support of 5 MPs.
New Delhi, Jan 21 : The mortal remains of the two Indians killed in the UAE in an oil tanker blast on January 17 will reach to India on Friday.

All formalities for repatriation of mortal remains were completed by the Indian embassy in the UAE on Thursday.

The mortal remains will reach Punjab's Amritsar and will be handed over to the families of the deceased.

Three people, including the two Indians, were killed in the blast in three oil tankers in a suspected Houthi drone strike on Monday, January 17.

The oil tankers belong to ADNOC company, the leading energy producer of UAE. Six others also got injured, including two Indians, who were admitted in hospital and later discharged the same day.
New Delhi, Jan 21 : Ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, where Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is hoping to win big, a former member of the party has brought out an "insider account", in the form of a web series, which claims the party has deviated from its principles.

The web-series in the political genre, 'Transparency: Pardarshita' has been produced and directed by Dr Munish Raizada, a medical practitioner from Chandigarh working in Chicago.

The web series available on YouTube is an "insider account" showing how things went from being transparent and for bringing in a systemic change to being non-transparent and becoming part of the same political rut.

The web series was completed in October 2020 and released on OTT platform MXPlayer and as per Raizada, received positive response.

"However, as the platform was not promoting it saying it is a political series, I thought about how I can take it to a larger audience and then thought of YouTube," Raizada told IANS on phone from Chicago.

The web series was released on YouTube on January 17.

Raizada had taken a sabbatical from his practice in Chicago and had joined the AAP as a volunteer in 2013.

According to Raizada, he remained with the party till its victory in Delhi Assembly polls in 2015 and even worked in the government for some time. Then, when the issue of "lack of transparency" in donations came forth ahead of 2020 elections, he raised his voice against the party.

The AAP has emerged as a main contender in the political space in Punjab and recently declared Bhagwant Singh Maan as its CM face. Raizada had even toured Punjab recently and held a press conference in Chandigarh in January first week, and again, declared how the party had "systematically deviated from the principles." "Remember they came promising vyavastha Parivartan (systemic change). But now they have totally changed," Raizada said and recalled the happenings in the party that led him to raise voice against the "non-transparent" manner in which donation collection was happening then.

Former AAP members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan too had raised their voices about these things and were later thrown out of the party.

The thought of web series came to Raizada's mind to bring out what he claims are the "wrongdoings" that went on in the party. The series could not be completed before the February 2020 Assembly polls in Delhi, so he released only the theme song and a trailer in January.

"If you look at it, Kejriwal is still doing the same thing. After gathering large donations in a non-transparent manner, he is still saying, 'I will break piggy banks of children to collect funds for getting work done'. Therefore, I thought, people need to know the truth," he said as the reason for bringing out the web series on YouTube now.

The web series has interviews with a whole lot of people who were disappointed with Kejriwal's "deviation" from what he had promised when the party was formed in 2012. The long list includes Kumar Vishwas, Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Shazia Ilmi, Shivendra Chauhan and a number of volunteers. In the end, when Raizada tries to meet Kejriwal, it is shown that he is unable to meet.

The six parts web series' song 'Kitna Chanda Jeb Mein Aaya' - sung by Udit Narayan, composed by Pravesh Malik, lyrics for which have been written by Annu Rizvi - had become an instant hit and caught the imagination of people, especially on social media.

Much later after the February 2020 polls, when he completed the series, Raizada went back to Chicago and re-started his practice.
Purple Sprout Fucus Bio-Jelly Seaweed This is a simple and effective way to boost overall health, immunity, and energy levels. Just a few spoonfuls in the morning do the job.

Purple Sprout, a leading American manufacturer of organic vegan foods and ready-to-eat organic gourmet meals, has announced release of superior functional nutrition vegan product, Bladderwrack Fucus Bio-Jelly, to overhaul physical health and well-being in light of a global mineral deficiency crisis.

A nutrient product packed with the essential minerals, vitamins, and amino acids the body requires, Purple Sprouts new Bladderwrack Fucus Bio-Jelly is a uniquely vegan product made of raw Bladderwrack seaweed, or Fucus. Long identified culturally as a real-life elixir, Purple Sprout has successfully integrated Fucus into its product line so consumers can access its historically high levels of natural nutrients. These ultra-high functioning nutrients have been shown to remove heavy metals and radionuclides from the body, preserve health, energy, and youth, protect the gastrointestinal tract, improve immune system functions, lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and deliver anti-cancer effects.

We are excited to announce Purple Sprouts Bladderwrack Fucus Bio-Jelly, which is quickly taking Northern America by storm, remarked Irina Ra, CEO of Purple Sprout. Fucus, or Bladderwrack seaweed, was traditionally difficult to digest in raw form as cooking broke down its powerful nutritional contents. We have pioneered scientific breakthroughs, however, that overcome this challenge, preserve Fucus in its raw, molecular form, and deliver ultra-high functioning to consumers, she added.

Purple Sprouts breakthrough, which places raw Fucus material inside water, disintegrates its fibers, and releases molecules of the components to make them bioavailable, does so at absorption rates of 100 percent, which brings Bladderwrack benefits to a whole new level. This achievement is a drastic improvement over other Fucus products on the market, which only boast a 5 percent absorption rate on average.

Purple Sprouts Bladderwrack Fucus Bio-Jelly is additionally sustainable, wild-harvested, and made with organically grown ingredients. Nutrient-rich with no chemical additives or dyes, the ready-to-eat product has a signature rich taste and drastically enhances well-being over time as a core functional nutrient.

Our mission is to make this innovative, nutrient-rich, and health-promoting Fucus Bio-Jelly available to millions of people willing to rethink their health, added Ra. This is a simple and effective way to boost overall health, immunity, and energy levels. Just a few spoonfuls in the morning do the job. Ultimately, we want to help end the global mineral deficiency crisis so people can have a clear mind and healthy life, full of energy, she added.

Bladderwrack Fucus Bio-Jelly is now available across the United States in jelly form, packaged into 0.5L jars in four different taste variations to meet different health goals. To learn more, please visit PurpleSprout.com

About Purple Sprout

Purple Sprout is a leading American manufacturer of organic vegan foods and ready-to-eat gourmet meals based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Purple Sprout offers Bladderwrack Fucus Bio-Jelly, a revolutionary functional nutrition product packed with natural and essential minerals, vitamins, and amino acids to improve physical health and well-being. To learn more, please visit PurpleSprout.com.
We are honored to add Greg to our team. He is a problem solver and extremely qualified to meet the daily challenges of identifying elevated estate planning solutions for our clients, said Brad Galbraith, Managing Partner for Galbraith, PLLC.

The team at Galbraith Law is pleased to announce that Attorney Greg Herman-Giddens has joined the firm serving their Naples, FL and Chapel Hill, NC offices in the areas of estate planning and trust administration.

We are honored to add Greg to our team. He is a problem solver and extremely qualified to meet the daily challenges of identifying elevated estate planning solutions for our clients, said Brad Galbraith, Managing Partner for Galbraith, PLLC."

Before joining the firm, Greg was an attorney at Henderson Franklin. Prior to that, Greg ran his own law firm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Miami, Florida and New York, New York.

Greg earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina and his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University Law School. He earned his Master of Laws (LL.M.) Degree in Estate Planning from the University of Miami School of Law.

He is a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law in North Carolina.

Over his 30+ year career, Greg has received much recognition, including being honored as a Florida Super Lawyer in Estate Planning and Probate Law (2021), a North Carolina Super Lawyer in Estate Planning and Probate Law (2007, 2011, and 2017-2020) and named a Top Lawyer by Naples Illustrated magazine (2020-2021).

He was also named one of North Carolinas Legal Elite in Tax and Estate Planning (2007, 2011) and a Triangle Impact Financial Leader (Triangle Business Leader Magazine, 2008).

Greg is admitted to practice in all Florida, New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee state courts, as well as in the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina.

Greg is a member of the Florida Bar and its Senior Lawyers Committee, Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law Section, Tax Section and leads its newly-formed Mental Health Project, as part of the Sections Mental Health and Wellness Initiative. He is also a member of the Lee County and Collier County Bar Associations, and is a member of the Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. Additionally, Greg is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is a past president of both the Orange County (NC) Bar Association and the 18th Judicial District Bar.

Greg is a member of WealthCounsel, LLC. He serves on the Carolina Meadows Board of Directors in Chapel Hill, NC, serves on the Membership Committee of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and is a pro bono panel member for North Carolina Center for Nonprofits. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Chatham County Chamber of Commerce and Habitat for Humanity for Orange County. Greg is also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.

About Galbraith Law

Galbraith Law is a leading estate planning law firm with offices in Naples, Florida, Indianapolis, Indiana and Chapel Hill, NC. They help clients define their legacy through elevated estate planning solutions.

With such a large percentage of generational wealth being lost through fill-in-the blank, document-based estate planning strategies, Galbraith Law explores opportunities with clients through a more personal lens. Their attorneys have developed customized planning solutions for over $50 billion of client assets. They empower families by showing them what is possible and helping them successfully plan for today and protect for tomorrow. Learn more at http://www.Galbraith.Law.
Live Stream Pan-Tilt-Zoom (10x Zoom) The PTZ600 builds on our field experience and our new hardware platform to move ahead our objectives of making jobsites safer, and more productive.

Sensera Systems, Inc., the market leader in all-in-one compact-solar site cameras, today announced the release of its new PTZ600 Solar and AC-Powered camera models. Sensera PTZ600 site cameras offer Senseras essential and advanced features while enabling customers additional flexibility to round out their jobsite solution.

Senseras PTZ600 camera is designed for advanced user remote site monitoring including progress documentation, safety applications, and productivity and logistics management on jobsites. Ideal for large-scale sites requiring a wide coverage area and fine detail, this powerful camera provides three important new capabilities:



Multi-location Time-lapse  capture as-built at unprecedented detail of the locations that matter as the project progresses

Automated Panoramas  allows up to 360-degree coverage for large sites, and panorama resolutions to 100MP

Live Video Streaming with Real-time PTZ  pan/tilt/zoom (10x optical zoom) to monitor activity and progress in real-time at very fine detail

Features & Benefits



Multi-location automated time-lapse videos

Automatic capture of ultra-high-resolution, wide-angle panoramas (up to 100MP)

Real-time pan-tilt-zoom to view fine detail on the largest jobsites

Built-in LTE or WiFi connectivity with world-wide coverage

Compact solar, lightweight, easy to ship, install, and move/reposition

Smart Technology Elevates Ease of Use

Senseras PTZ600 solar powered cameras are the first of their kind to offer universal 4G/LTE connectivity using eSIM technology. As part of Senseras SiteCloud service, wireless carriers for specific devices are updated automatically over the air ensuring optimal camera connectivity for any given location and assures seamless, uninterrupted wireless coverage when moving systems from one site to another. Senseras PTZ600 cameras support 100s of wireless carriers worldwide, providing multi-national customers significant logistical advantages.

"We are excited to bring the PTZ600 to the project teams we serve. It will help them capture more of the project in greater detail than ever and at a price-point that is affordable for all project types. The PTZ600 builds on our field experience and our new hardware platform to move ahead our objectives of making jobsites safer, and more productive, said David Gaw, Founder and CEO, Sensera Systems. For our Municipal and Government customers, the PTZ600 provides a more flexible solution for surveillance to help deter and stop illegal dumping, vandalism, and other crimes.

The new PTZ600 camera is available in Solar+AC and AC only models with Solar+AC MSRP at $9,999. Project pricing, enterprise level pricing and multi-camera discounts available.

Sensera site cameras are powered by Senseras SiteCloud platform which provides easy-to-use software for viewing, monitoring, and sharing real-time site data, detecting actionable insights, and simplifying workflow. SiteCloud is tightly integrated with Senseras complete line of fixed position and security cameras, mobile apps, and SiteCloud-AERIAL drone photography services to support improved productivity, quality, safety, and automated documentation from one simple web interface. With the PTZ600, SiteCloud now offers multi-location time-lapse with fully automated and custom movie generation, and automated panorama capture and processing. SiteCloud service includes WiFi and 4G LTE connectivity making it a true end-to-end solution. Integrations with Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud, and PlanGrid simplify and automate workflow across the enterprise. SiteCloud also offers APIs for customers to integrate value-added applications and work-flows.

About Sensera Systems

Sensera Systems is the market leader in affordable, easy to deploy solar cameras. Our professional solutions are purpose built for the rigors of construction job sites, both large and small. With thousands of projects deployed across North America, our solar/wireless solutions help project stakeholders stay informed and remotely manage their LEM, logistics, risk, and safety from any location, in real-time. Securely managed from a single platform, our solutions provide the most reliable and cost-effective visual documentation in the industrys, all in a hassle-free package that is easy to setup and use within minutes. For more information about Sensera Systems, please visit our website http://www.senserasystems.com
The passion behind LA Coffee & Tea is to support the fight against Childrens Hunger. Every time you have your cup of LA Coffee & Tea, you are sharing a cup of milk and/or a meal with children in need.

LA COFFEE & TEA, A PREMIUM SPECIALTY COFFEE brand has introduced 14 new Single Origin and House Blend Coffees to the market through http://www.lacoffeeandtea.com.

Whats exciting about LA Coffee & Tea is that each of their coffee blends celebrates and highlights various iconic neighborhoods of Los Angeles. LA Coffee & Tea has connected coffee origin and LAs neighborhood stories into their own to celebrate the people, lifestyles, and cultures.

See if your neighborhood is celebrated in their coffee.



Avenue of the Stars

Beverly & La Cienega

Brentwood

DTLA

La Brea

Malibu

Melrose

Miracle Mile

Olvera Street

Pacific Palisades

Pacific Sunrise on Venice

Rodeo

Sunset Blvd

Whittier Blvd

LA Coffee & Teas simple promise is to select and deliver the best quality products to their customers. Coffees are freshly roasted to order from Southern California. Enjoy the top-quality ingredients derived from equitably sourced and sustainably grown coffee beans, made with passion, love, and dedication. Every cup is crafted to be bold, smooth & tasty!

We started LA Coffee & Tea to celebrate life, the great city of LA, and to support our Childrens Hunger cause, says LA Coffee & Tea founder, Sam Kim. Children are our future and want to touch their lives so children can have a little better chance in life.

For additional information, please visit http://www.lacoffeeandtea.com.

About LA Coffee & Tea:

LA Coffee & Tea is a quality-oriented company created to support Childrens Hunger programs. 50% of all proceeds support Share a Milk, a program to fight Childrens Hunger by providing children in need with a cup of milk and/or a meal. Founded by the coffee and beverage industry professional with over two decades of expertise in creating new innovative products and licensing with Touch Coffee & Beverages, Keurig, and The Coca Cola Companies.
Alpine Academys academic focus is to Prepare students for their next academic step in life after residential treatment. The goal is to build academic self-esteem with each student.

Alpine Academy in Utah has received Cognias highest honor, the 2021 School of Distinction. Considered the Gold Standard in academic accreditation, this award recognizes Alpine Academy as a top-flight system, an honor extended to only 80 of 36,000 schools accredited by Cognia. Alpine Academy is the only private Residential Treatment Center in the world to receive this distinction.

Accreditation from Cognia is a valuable mark of distinction recognized around the world. Each year, Cognia identifies schools and systems that best exemplify excellence in education and stand out in their service to learners, based on the results of their rigorous accreditation process.

To learn more about the 2021 Schools of Distinction, please visit Cognias website: https://www.cognia.org/services/accreditation-certification/schools-of-distinction/.

About this award, Alpine Academy Director, Christian Egan, said, We are honored, humbled, and proud to receive this remarkable recognition! Over the past 15 years, our Academic Director, Angie Alvey, has created an academic environment and program that truly meets students where they are and prepares them to return or transition to other rigorous academic settings, including universities. She has recruited and retained a team of exceptional, dedicated teachers who love the work and the students, and they feel it. As incredible as it is to be only one of 80 schools worldwide to receive this award (0.2%), it is also not surprising to us, given the amazing team we have!

Alpine Academys academic focus is to Prepare students for their next academic step in life after residential treatment. The goal is to build academic self-esteem with each student. This is accomplished through:



Direct instruction in a traditional classroom setting.

Accommodations and modifications, as appropriate, for students with IEPs.

Campus-wide use of a planner to track assignment completion and in-class behaviors.

A variety of electives such as food, art, financial literacy, music, criminal justice, ACT prep, dance, study skills, health occupations, drama, debate, careers, and reading.

Additional time is built into the schedule for students who need it, including time for credit recovery.

Foreign languages offered (Spanish and ASL).

Access to online learning for any courses not otherwise offered on campus.

Alpines greatest academic assets are caring teachers who are committed to helping students succeed. Students discover abilities they didnt know they had. Small class sizes, individualized academic plans, and robust curriculum options contribute to our graduates educational success.
Annex Cloud - Commercetools- Press Release Were excited to go live on the commercetools marketplace, said Al Lalani, Co-Founder, and CEO, Annex Cloud. Now every enterprise has the ability to effectively acquire, convert, and retain more customers by delivering a data-led, personalized experience no matter how customers engage.

Annex Cloud, a global enterprise technology solutions provider of advanced loyalty management solutions and experiential customer retention software, is pleased to announce full integration with commercetools, one of the worlds leading ecommerce experience platforms built on modern MACH (Microservices: API-first, Cloud-native and Headless) principles. The integrated solution is now live on the commercetools marketplace.

Deep and ongoing understanding of customer behaviors and preferences is essential to creating unique customer experiences that build lasting relationships. This requires brands to collect and be able to use first-party customer data in real time to personalize every touchpoint.

Annex Clouds Loyalty Experience Platform, combined with the commercetools Digital Commerce Platform, makes it easy for enterprises to deliver personalized, omnichannel customer experiences at scale while rewarding their best customersincreasing customer lifetime value, improving retention, and establishing emotional customer bonds that last. Thanks to this partnership, customer shopping experiences are seamless, personalized, relevant and engaging.

Loyalty is a game-changer that elevates a brands entire digital strategy, said Ivo Bronsveld, Head of Integrations at commercetools. Converting every customer into a loyal brand advocate is the holy grail in customer experience management. The integration of Annex Clouds loyalty solution with the commercetools Digital Commerce Platform helps brands realize this vision.

Were excited to go live on the commercetools marketplace, said Al Lalani, Co-Founder and CEO, Annex Cloud. Now every enterprise has the ability to effectively acquire, convert, and retain more customers by delivering a data-led, personalized experience no matter how customers engage. Loyalty data makes every interaction across the customer journey more relevant and meaningful, which drives growth.

About Annex Cloud

For more than 10 years, Annex Cloud has been the worldwide leader in technology and service solutions that transform customer loyalty experiences for organizations, extending valued customer engagements, ultimately making beloved brands. Powered by the comprehensive and scalable Loyalty Experience Platform solution suite, Annex Cloud customers capture and use zero- and first-party data to seamlessly deliver value-based individualized experiences across the entire customer journeyfrom awareness to purchase to retention, loyalty, and advocacy. Supporting its global enterprise clients, Annex Cloud has offices in the US, Germany, and India. The company is recognized by industry respected organizations and integrates with more than 100 market-leading technologies. Discover more at http://www.annexcloud.com.

About commercetools

commercetools is a next-generation software company that offers a true cloud-native, headless commerce platform that provides the building blocks for the new digital commerce age. The companys leading-edge API approach helps retailers create brand value by empowering commerce teams to design unique and engaging digital commerce experiences everywheretoday and in the future. Visit commercetools.com to learn more.
Asset Living President & CEO Ryan McGrath I look forward to working with Echelon's talent as we forge more long-term success for clients and residents alike in 2022 and beyond. - Asset Living CEO & President Ryan McGrath

Asset Living, a Houston-based leader in the property management sector, has acquired Echelon Property Group, a Denver-based firm that specializes in conventional market rate and affordable housing property management with an expertise in lease-up, build to rent, and value add renovation communities. With the addition of Echelon, Asset Living expands its geographical footprint with a new corporate office in Denver and over 13,000 new multi-family units in Colorado.

At Echelon, we built a culture that always put our people and clients first. We believe this creates stronger results for everyone and has led to our decades of success in the multi-family industry, said Echelon Property Group Principal Bryan Stern. I'm thrilled Echelon will be joining a company that is consistent with our corporate values and is one of the fastest-growing brands in the industry.

Founded with an entrepreneurial spirit that fosters a culture of personal growth, innovation, and accountability, Echelons focused, hands-on philosophy is the optimal approach for maximizing asset values. By combining an owners perspective, 25 years of local market knowledge, and the efficiency of a broad-based professional management platform, the team is uniquely qualified to deliver consistent performance and enhance clients asset values over the long term. The office in Denver serves as the Echelon Property Group headquarters and today the company has approximately 350 employees that will be joining Asset Living as full-time employees.

Echelon [Property Group] is a rapidly growing team comprised of individuals with an innate sense of leadership and drive, much like Asset Living's current employee base, said President and Chief Executive Officer Ryan McGrath. Weve accelerated our growth strategy through a series of acquisitions over the last several monthsdemonstrating the confidence we have in our visionand we're just getting started. I look forward to working with Echelon's talent as we forge more long-term success for clients and residents alike in 2022 and beyond.

This partnership will enhance Asset Livings multi-family portfolio, and the Echelon team now has access to an entirely new range of resources such as a wholly owned top-tier marketing agency, a dedicated new lease-up division, and capital to serve clients in new adjacent markets.

Were thrilled to start this new chapter with Asset Living  a company with a national footprint that enables us to reach a broader base of clients, said Echelon Property Group Principal Drake Powell. We are looking forward to providing more opportunities for our team members by operating under the highly-regarded Asset Living brand while continuing to provide best-in-class service to our existing and future clients.

For more information about Asset Living, please visit http://www.assetliving.com.

###

About Asset Living

Founded in 1986, Asset Living (Asset) is a Houston-based real estate management firm. With a growing portfolio that includes a multitude of properties across the nation, Asset provides services to a variety of clients that include property management, asset management, receivership, and investment services. Asset is a member of The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and is recognized as an Accredited Management Organization (AMO). To learn more, please visit http://www.assetliving.com.

About Echelon Property Group

Founded in 2010, Echelon Property Group specializes in providing multi-family property management services to residents and clients. Based in Denver, Echelon offers a variety of services to clients including management expertise, marketing, branding, advisory services, technology, value-add renovation, lease-up, and financial services. To learn more, please visit https://www.echelonrents.com.
The Gospel of Yahshua and the Acts of the Apostles: a devotional work examining the New Testaments teachings for a true biblical etymology and guidance for the journey toward salvation. The Gospel of Yahshua and the Acts of the Apostles is the creation of published author Stephen Marlowe, a San Diego, California native who has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion from San Francisco State University as well as a Master of Divinity from the American Baptist Seminary of the West. He is an ordained Baptist minister who has served as missionary evangelist in Costa Rica and the Philippines, chaplain for St. Lukes Hospital, San Francisco, President of Men for Christ Fellowship, executive minister (moderator) for Westlake Community Baptist Church, and Counselor for Larkin Street Outreach for Homeless Youth.

The author writes, The gospel of Yahshua (The only name given under heaven by which we must be saved) and the Acts of the Apostles (The Nazarean Version)   is Hebrew for God our Saviors Name, Yah. For Yah is the name above every name (Isaiah 12:2 NKJV). The name above every name was given to the Son of God, Yahshua (Philippians 2:9). The Gospel of Yahshua and the Acts of the Apostles is the story of the four Gospels of the Saviors life, as witnessed by the Gospel writers and from their other witnesses. Their witness is combined in this book to enhance all that the Savior did and said as one continuous story. He taught twelve disciples to carry on the work of bringing the Good News (the Gospel) to a wretched world full of sin and woe, and contrary to what some may say, the world is a better place due to the teachings of the Savior, as our only hope is in Him. The Acts of the Apostles is the story of their efforts, and it is here combined with the four Gospel writers testimony to create an ongoing storyline, and what a story it is! You will be amazed at the life the Savior given in greater detail by the four Gospels weaved together, which truly enhances the life and events of the Savior of the world, our Messiah. It can honestly be said that this book contains the fullness of the Gospel and may answer questions one has been pondering for a long time. Everything within this book is pure Gospel, as they say, with no additives from other sources, only the Bible. Here presented is the revealed name of the Savior, as there is only one name revealed, Yahshua: Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) Halleluyah. Praise Yah, praise Yahshua!

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Stephen Marlowes new book is an excellent choice for avid students of the Bible.

View a synopsis of The Gospel of Yahshua and the Acts of the Apostles on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase The Gospel of Yahshua and the Acts of the Apostles at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about The Gospel of Yahshua and the Acts of the Apostles, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Auto Sales and Service has extensive used inventory

Individuals interested in purchasing a pre-owned vehicle in Indianapolis, Indiana area, can visit Auto Sales and Service. The dealership has a variety of excellent used models available to choose from according to their lifestyle. The inventory is packed with makes ranging from Honda, Hyundai, Kia to Ford, Jeep, and other popular car manufacturers. Buyers can get a car affordably despite having bad credit or no credit as it is a buy here pay here financing. To apply for the online pre-approval for financing, customers have to fill a form available on the website. Potential buyers can choose the vehicle they like and schedule a test drive from the website to get a better idea.

The dealership also provides maintenance and repair services like tire rotation, brake replacement, oil change, and more. The qualified technicians inspect the vehicle and give transparent services to customers. The team works hard to provide speedy assistance to customers. The technicians are knowledgeable and will answer any questions from the driver. Along with serving in Indianapolis, Auto Sales and Service also serves customers residing in Avon, Danville, Greenwood, Plainfield, and more.

Individuals looking for more information can look at the model research page on the website. To learn more, customers can schedule an appointment from the website or call (833) 959-3988. For a more personal experience, individuals can visit the dealership's showroom at 1860 N Arlington Ave.
By joining Avanti, Steinbeck Peninsula will become part of a bigger team of like-minded practices that value not only horse and client care but the growth, development and wellbeing of the veterinarians and support staff within the practices." ~Dr. Alexandra Wyle Eastman, Steinbeck Peninsula COO

Advancing practice, care, and service standards across the U.S., Avanti Equine Veterinary Partners vaulted into 2022 with two new partnerships. The veterinary network strives to contribute to the greater good, building on its vision of a national hub and spoke network of practices. One of two exciting alliances formed, capping off the year with great momentum, Avanti acquired California-based Steinbeck Peninsula Equine Clinic on December 22, 2021. Additionally, the rapidly growing network joined forces with Texas-based Animal Imaging.

Avanti seeks to assist practices that share a passion for collaboration, financial success, forward-thinking innovation, along with a pulsing entrepreneurial spirit. Drawing on Avantis essential managerial support and resources, lead veterinarians can hone in on their best fortes. Avanti creates a nationwide magnet of expertise and skill sets accessible, enabling teams to deliver the highest level of veterinary medicine.

Before Avanti, generations of practice owners historically faced one disheartening exit strategy option: selling their practices at a stark discount, usually to self-finance the sale. Now, Avantis vision serves to create a new financial full value cash exit strategy, in addition to prospects for selling veterinarians to diversify some of their wealth with an investment in Avanti Equine Veterinary Partners. Transparently serving patients and clients with the utmost integrity, the organization carefully chooses each new acquisition and partnership, effectively supporting the equine industry as a whole. Avanti supports its hub and spoke network of practices, providing practice management efforts on an individual basis; to whatever extent partner practice lead veterinarians envision achieving.

Andrew Clark, DVM, MBA, and CEO of Avanti, recognized immense potential in Steinbeck Peninsula, whose five locations align perfectly with Avantis Hub and Spoke model. Avantis first locations in California (with Steinbeck Peninsula's central locations excelling in Salinas and Menlo Park), the network feels extremely proud to team up with this veterinary clinic. Steinbeck Peninsula checked all the boxes, asserts Clark, noting that the Avanti team and the Avanti Network are excited to work together with this iconic practice.

Steinbeck Peninsula is a full-service equine practice, with two full-service hospitals, three ambulatory locations, as well as a companion animal hospital. Under the umbrella of this promising collaboration, Steinbeck Peninsula can turn to the Avanti management team as a consulting group, pinpointing meaningful solutions and resources to tackle business management challenges. This will allow Steinbeck Peninsula to focus on the values they most care about: commitment, collaboration, and above all, compassion. After all, they too are horse owners, who relate to clients on an emotional level. This partnership primes Steinbeck Peninsula to better support the very logistical and financial anxieties that can impact their clients.

Dr. Alexandra Wyle Eastman, Chief Operating Officer of Steinbeck Peninsula, appreciates that change is in dire need for the industry. Equine veterinary medicine as a profession is at a crossroad. There are fewer equine veterinary graduates each year, and many quality equine practitioners do not stay in the field for their entire careers. This partnership with Avanti emerges at a great precipice, where Dr. Eastman sees, In order to continue to serve the horses and horse community we care deeply about, we need to reframe what being an equine veterinarian looks like.

A team approach to practice is a way to promote the physical and emotional health of the equine practitioner, explains Dr. Eastman, who recognizes that both Steinbeck Equine and Avanti Equine practices have been hand-selecting teams of exceptional practitioners and recreating what it looks like to be an equine practitioner. Visions blazing in sync, Dr. Eastman adds, Our philosophies and goals are so similar, it was a natural decision to join forces.

The benefits to leverage in this alliance are enormous. Dr. Eastman says, With the administrative work out of the way, veterinarians can focus on practice and developing their medical interests. Having a team of hospitals with varied expertise expands the availability for in-house continuing education and the larger base will make it easier to add technology and services.

By joining Avanti, Steinbeck Peninsula Equine will become part of a bigger team of like-minded practices that value not only horse and client care but the growth, development and wellbeing of the veterinarians and support staff within the practices, affirms Dr. Eastman, who eagerly anticipates Steinbeck Peninsula Equines impact on a changing industry, thanks to the support of Avanti. We are excited for the veterinarians and staff at Steinbeck Peninsula to enjoy the expanded resources and support available as an Avanti practice.

Avanti begins the new year fostering two acquisitions robust with potential. Notably, the national network is always looking for visionary partners to join their mission, shaping a better future for equine veterinarians. For entrepreneurial and collaborative practices looking to find their place amidst a shifting equine veterinary landscape, follow Steinbeck Peninsula Equines lead; and take progressive strides together, leveraging Avantis flourishing resources.

About Avanti Equine

Avanti Equine Veterinary Partners, LLC is an equine veterinary practice network that provides management and operational strategy by investing resources in equine practices to help with forward-thinking growth. Unlike other companies, Avanti's sole focus is on the equine industry and working with equine veterinarians to tailor a plan to meet their goals while supporting their staff and clients. To learn more about Avanti, visit https://avantiequine.com/
The Avanti team and the Avanti network is proud of this partnership and how well Animal Imaging fits in the Avanti network vision." ~Andrew Clark, DVM, MBA, and CEO of Avanti

An equine veterinary practice network promoting better practice, care, and service standards all over the country, Avanti Equine Veterinary Partners closed the year enthusiastically. In a second of two visionary, dynamic partnerships, the national network acquired Irving, Texas-based Animal Imaging on December 22, 2021. Additionally, Avanti acquired California-based Steinbeck Peninsula Equine Clinic.

Avanti equips professionals with pivotal tools that facilitate their objectives, connecting equine veterinarians throughout the U.S. with the management and operational support, positioning them for continued growth and excellent patient care. The veterinary network grants partner practice administrative teams, clients, and patients access to a pillar of valuable resources, invigorating the entire equine industry. Each acquisition and partnership empowers Avantis mission, extending opportunities for top equine veterinary practices to leverage a national nexus of advantages. Avanti seeks to build a thriving team of well-versed experts, expanding skills to serve patients and clients with transparency; a vision anchored in integrity and excellence.

This conviction fuels Avanti to champion innovative practices fostering a collaborative culture; businesses with entrepreneurial spirits, set to spur success. Starting 2022 with two new alliances, The Avanti team and the Avanti network is proud of this partnership and how well Animal Imaging fits in the Avanti network vision, says Andrew Clark, DVM, MBA, and CEO of Avanti.

Animal Imaging practices a high level of veterinary medical imaging, notes Clark, who appreciates that both of Avantis newly acquired practices have invested heavily in creating and maintaining the culture of collaboration, both internal and external in their relationships. Now, Avanti can utilize its shared management service model to provide managerial and financial support while positioning each practice solidly on the path envisioned by the founder. Animal Imaging marks Avantis first location in Texas; a strategic addition to Avantis network.

These practices have strong traditions of not only gold standard veterinary medicine but also education and training, continues Clark, highlighting, Avantis vision is to continue our focus on education and training in partnership with these practices. Not only will clients continue to receive excellent veterinary care, Avanti will foster continued implementation of state-of-the-art imaging and treatment technology.

Dr. Jake Hersman, Equine Director and founder of Animal Imaging, built the practice around compassionate experiences for clients, patients, and referral veterinarians. Harnessing prime veterinary diagnostic imaging, their team works to deliver empathetic, above-and-beyond care. A strong match with Avanti allows Animal Imaging space to focus on elevating the practice while breaking new ground in the industry in all facets of imaging. The veterinary doctors are setting their objectives in motion, noting, We want to be the leader on new technology and procedures to help our patients.

Throughout the past two years, through the assistance of Bob Magnus, DVM, MBA, General Manager, Animal Imaging has interviewed and investigated several potential partnerships; none of which aligned with their values quite like Avanti Equine Veterinary Partners. What impressed us was how aligned Avanti and Animal Imaging are regarding core values and a shared passion for positive patient outcomes. Avanti wants to take what we do best and make it better, helping with resources and advice from a team fully invested in our success; a team of experienced professionals in the veterinary industry, says Magnus.

For Animal Imaging, this business is all about people; and now, our team has expanded, a unified force to be reckoned with that has become far more valuable together than alone. For Dr. Hersman and Dr. Magnus, this means a bright opportunity to expand their meaningful network of customers, creating an environment where collaboration leads to fulfilling, implemented changes.

Leaning into this new partnership, Animal imaging can begin to share imaging best practices with other Avanti practices, where Dr. Hersman and Dr. Magnus look forward to training on many fronts, from leadership to communication. The equine segment is underserved and we see great potential for expansion.

Two acquisitions in tow and bustling with fresh possibilities, Avanti continues to seek aspiring partnering prospects that share their entrepreneurial ambition and an eagerness to collaborate. As Avanti lays the tracks for Animal Imaging to leap into the future, the national network encourages the public to stay tuned for all thats yet to come.

About Avanti Equine

Avanti Equine Veterinary Partners, LLC is an equine veterinary practice network that provides management and operational strategy by investing resources in equine practices to help with forward-thinking growth. Unlike other companies, Avanti's sole focus is on the equine industry and working with equine veterinarians to tailor a plan to meet their goals while supporting their staff and clients. To learn more about Avanti, visit https://avantiequine.com/
Weve taken hundreds of data points about what makes a college a unique fit - financially, academically, and socially - and carefully built our college matching algorithm to deliver improved options for college-bound students.

Bridge To College, a Chicago, IL educational startup, has unveiled a new free college matching tool for all high school students involved in the college search process.

Bridge To Colleges college match tool uses dynamic data sources, research, and machine learning to identify a college uniquely suited to an individual students needs and interests. Bridge To Colleges recommendation algorithm factors in students financial, academic, and social needs to determine the college recommendations.

Bridge To College evolved from my extensive work in education over the years. Ive helped thousands of high-achieving BIPOC and financially disadvantaged students find the absolute best college to suit their individual interests and needs, said Vielka Cecilia Hoy, Bridge To College CEO and Founder. For years, my work was a very manual process - compiling data and information about the unique offerings of hundreds of colleges, staying updated on each college annually, and carefully finding the right match for each student. With the rapid advancement of technology, it became obvious that this was a process ideally suited for digitization and machine learning.

Hoy assembled a team of twelve (and growing) and built Bridge To College to extend and scale her work nationwide. The unique Bridge To College college matching tool is available for free to any high school student. The student completes an online survey about their high school academic rankings, their financial needs, what type of college experience theyre interested in, etc., and Bridge To Colleges automated matching algorithm presents a list of colleges most aligned with the students unique interests. Bridge To College often highlights smaller colleges that the student may not have considered previously.

The college search process is a very manual process, and often influenced by anecdotal discussions with family and friends, Ive heard this college or that college is good. Or, you might consider that college as a good fit, Hoy said. Weve taken hundreds of data points about what makes a college a unique fit - financially, academically, and socially - and carefully built our college matching algorithm to deliver improved options for college-bound students.

As more and more students use Bridge To College, the algorithm will become even more skilled at suggesting the ideal college for each high school student.

About Bridge To College

Bridge To College is an educational startup headquartered in Chicago, IL that has developed an advanced college matching tool to aid high school students in finding the ideal college. Free to students, Bridge To College search algorithm suggests the ideal college for each students financial, academic, and social interests.


Centric Software Receives Hong Kong Apparel Business Strategy Award Centrics customer-driven innovations have achieved Centric its place as the leading PLM in the industry and in the past two years, Centric has increased its number of Hong Kong ODM/OEM business partners by over 200%.

Based on its reputation, innovation, strategy and vision to boost sustainable growth in the apparel society,

Centric Software has been presented the 2021 Business Strategies Award by the Hong Kong Apparel Society. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home decor, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Leading apparel society, Hong Kong Apparel Society (HKAS), is responsible for uniting and fostering growth and development in the apparel industry. HKAS has selected Centric Software as the winner of its 2021 Business Strategies Award after a panel of judges assessed companies based on four key criteria including reputation, innovation, strategy and vision. Centric stood out for its significant role in boosting growth within the apparel market.

Centrics customer-driven innovations have achieved Centric its place as the leading PLM in the industry and in the past two years, Centric has increased its number of Hong Kong ODM/OEM business partners by over 200%.

Centric PLM is widely recognized and preferred by world leading enterprises including Crystal Group, EPIC Group, Lever Style, MAS Holdings, Brandix, Hirdaramani, Delta and Bogart. Centric PLM is also proud to boast a customer referencability rate of over 97%.

HKAS identified Centrics robust and growing technology ecosystem as a crucial component for providing unbeatable efficiency for manufacturers in collaboration, product innovation, design, management and creation of tech packs and BOMs, and delivery. Centric Manufacturing PLM also empowers manufacturers to support brand and retail partners with corporate sustainability goals and meet higher expectations of standards in sustainability, traceability, labor practices, fair trade and compliance.

We would like to thank HKAS for awarding Centric Software the Business Strategy Award, says Nick Wei, Regional Sales Director at Centric Software. This award is a recognition of our entire teams vision and dedication to innovation. Over the past 2 years, the number of ODM/OEM customers has grown over 200% in Hong Kong. We are proud to be a market-led company that works in tandem with our customers to solve their most pressing challenges.

What is Centric PLM?

Request a Demo

Hong Kong Apparel Society (http://www.hkapparel.com.hk)

The Hong Kong Apparel Society was established in 2001. During the past years, the Society has aimed at uniting the industry as a strong force, gathering ideas for common interest, upkeeping the industry professionalism, enhancing value, encouraging consultation and joint efforts to foster growth and development.

The Society hosts many different activities to meet these goals, including holding the monthly Apparel Networking Group meeting, which is the first networking apparel group in Hong Kong, and hosting the Corporate Fashion and Business Strategy Award.


Community-based vaccination events like these are critical in helping us close the gap for our Medi-Cal members, said Christine M. Tomcala, Chief Executive Officer at SCFHP.

Childrens Discovery Museum has teamed up with Santa Clara County Public Health Department to administer COVID-19 vaccinations during their next vaccination clinics for young local children and their families at the beloved institution in downtown San Jose. Every family whose child or adult is vaccinated will receive a family pass (FREE MUSEUM VAXPASS) for a free museum visit. Families can use the pass the day of their vaccination or return by May 31, 2022. Building upon the success of the inaugural January 2nd clinic, the clinics scheduled for Sunday, January 23 and Sunday, February 13 will target Medi-Cal recipients, in partnership with Santa Clara Family Health Plan (SCFHP).

Parents have a lot on their plate and we want to help. These clinics offer a two-stop shop for busy parents  they can get their child vaccinated and also enjoy a visit to the museum, said Marilee Jennings, executive director of Childrens Discovery Museum. Were proud to play a role in vaccination equity with outreach to underserved and non-English speaking communities.

Special efforts are underway to reach Medi-Cal recipients who have a lower vaccination rate than the rest of the population. Presently, only 75% of Santa Clara Family Health Plan Medi-Cal members age 12 and older are fully vaccinated compared to the Countys 93% rate for the overall population.

Community-based vaccination events like these are critical in helping us close the gap for our Medi-Cal members, said Christine M. Tomcala, Chief Executive Officer at SCFHP. We are thrilled to provide funding to Childrens Discovery Museum to make this opportunity for our members possible, and are grateful for their partnership in improving the health of our community.

Recent data from the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that nearly a third of surveyed parents nationwide (32%) say they want to wait and see how the vaccine works for other children first.

Another 29% say they will definitely not get their child vaccinated. The state of California will mandate that all schoolchildren be vaccinated once final FDA approval for the vaccine has been secured, creating urgency to get as many children vaccinated as possible in order to avoid learning loss from potential distance learning and to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The clinics are open to all eligible people age five and up for first and second doses and booster shots for eligible people age 12 and up (five months after a second Pfizer, 6 months after Moderna vaccination, and two months after a J&J shot).

The cost of outreach and lost revenue from closing the museum on January 23rd and February 13th for the clinics is being covered by funding from Santa Clara Family Health Plan. Viva Calle of the San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services will provide outdoor activities to entertain children before and after their vaccination. At least two more clinics will be scheduled at the museum this spring.

Vaccination Clinic

Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose

180 Woz Way

Downtown San Jose

9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, January 23

Sunday, February 13

More details

Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose

About Santa Clara Family Health Plan Santa Clara Family Health Plan (SCFHP) is a local, community-based health plan dedicated to creating opportunities for better health and wellness for all. In partnership with providers and community organizations since 1997, we work to ensure everyone in Santa Clara County has access to equitable, high-quality health care. With a strong commitment to integrity, outstanding service, and support for our community, we serve more than 280,000 people through our Medi-Cal and Cal MediConnect health care plans.
We are now able to better showcase how training farmers has a real impact on reducing poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, and providing livelihoods for millions of people in developing countries. - EWS-KT Executive Director Stuart Morris

East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer (EWS-KT) has launched a new website that showcases its unique strategy and allows partners and donors to see the impact their contribution has on the lives of farmers and the communities they support.

EWS-KT is a non-profit corporate foundation that leverages a business-minded approach to sustainable development for farmers and markets in less developed areas, through offering practical field demonstrations on home and market-driven production, guiding farmers to establish demonstration plots to showcase innovative techniques for growing vegetables, providing field-level training and exposure on best practices for profitable and sustainable farming, developing locally adapted extension materials and sharing information through digital media platforms.

Moreover, EWS-KT equips smallholder vegetable farmers with the verified information they need to get bigger, healthier harvests. It has unique ties to East-West Seed, a world-leading vegetable seed company that focuses on serving smallholder farmers.

We are extremely excited about our five-year strategy and new website, said EWS-KT Executive Director Stuart Morris. We are now able to better showcase how training farmers has a real impact on reducing poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, and providing livelihoods for millions of people in developing countries.

EWS-KT aims to directly reach one million farmers through training projects globally by 2025, with millions more supported through social media, mobile applications, radio programs and printed learning materials.

Since 2015, EWS-KT has trained more than 475,000 farmers across nine countries in Asia and Africa, and it continues the drive to impact the livelihoods of 1 million smallholder farmers, which will eventually improve the nutrition of 50 million lower-income consumers in less developed areas.

The foundation also focuses on gender equality and youth empowerment in agriculture in order to make our global food systems more inclusive and sustainable.

Inclusive food systems are again in the spotlight as the world is not on track to meet the UNs Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for hunger and nutrition by 2030, according to the UN.

A lack of nutritional security is a looming humanitarian crisis, said Morris.

We know that we all need greater access to food and, more importantly, nutritious food but it isnt happening at the scale required globally yet, Morris said. The solution is simple but often overlooked. We need to empower smallholder farmers around the world to grow more, and safer-to-eat, vegetables to end malnutrition.

According to Morris, the relaunch of the EWS-KT website will help partners, donors, governments and academic institutions see the impact that farmer training can have on nutrition and poverty targets in the SDGs.

Proving that vegetable farming is a viable and profitable business is an incredible opportunity to contribute towards fighting hidden hunger, malnutrition and provide livelihoods for millions, Morris added. But we need to collaborate with like-minded organizations to make it a reality.

About East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer:

East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer (EWS-KT) is a non-profit foundation committed to ensuring nutritional security where it is most needed, especially in lower-income communities.

The foundation promotes private-public sector partnerships and equips smallholder vegetable farmers with the verified information they need to get bigger, healthier harvests.
Institutions that support international research now have the opportunity to grow their collection of non-English scholarly materials for their global researchers. DACH Information enables researchers looking for specific high-quality German language content to find it easily in one resource.

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is introducing a new German-language resource to support researchers across the globe. DACH Information is a unique collection of scholarly, full-text journals, magazines and trade publications created to benefit researchers and students looking for an authoritative German-language resource.

DACH Information offers a robust German studies academic resource through which researchers can find more than 550 active, non-open access, full-text titles. Multidisciplinary in scope, the new database provides a wealth of high-quality, scholarly, full text resources to support research across a wide range of topics including: Art, Business, Communication, Education, German Law, History, Humanities, Linguistics, Management, Marketing, Mathematics, Nursing, Psychology, Social Sciences and Social Work and STEM.

EBSCO Senior Vice President of Product Management Sara Earley says DACH Information provides a unique solution for libraries with specialized research needs. Institutions that support international research now have the opportunity to grow their collection of non-English scholarly materials for their global researchers. DACH Information enables researchers looking for specific high-quality German language content to find it easily in one resource.

The release of DACH Information is an example of EBSCOs continued commitment to the expansion of international scholarly research. For more information on DACH Information and other research databases, including Arab World Research Source: Al-Masdar, Bibliography of Asian Studies, Caribbean Search, Central & Eastern European Academic Source, Ethnic Diversity Source and The Belt and Road Initiative Reference Source visit: https://www.ebsco.com/products/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-resources.

About EBSCO Information Services

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the preeminent provider of online research content and search technologies serving academic, school and public libraries; healthcare and medical institutions; corporations; and government agencies around the world. From research, acquisition management, subscription services and discovery to clinical decision support and patient care, learning, and research and development, EBSCO provides institutions with access to content and resources to serve the information and workflow needs of their users and organizations. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: http://www.ebsco.com.

For more information, please contact:

Karena Donnelly

Senior Communications Specialist

kdonnelly@ebsco.com
Ecole Ducasse training course

Ecole Ducasse, the reference in culinary and pastry arts education, is committed to providing quality training, taught by recognized professionals including Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MOF), World Champions, Artisans... Each year, the schools in the Ecole Ducasse network welcome a wide variety of profiles, from young students to experienced experts, and lovers of fine food, united around a common passion for taste. In 2022, the school lives up to its reputation and unveils the new names and prestigious programs awaiting future students and trainees.

Outstanding sponsorship

Exceptional new patrons will chaperone the classes beginning their three-year Bachelors degree programs in 2022, providing young graduates with technical, managerial and entrepreneurial skills.

The role of patron for the Bachelor in Culinary Arts is assigned to Michel Roth. Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 1991 and winner of a Bocuse dOr, Michel Roth is recognized as being one of the most successful chefs in France. Above and beyond this undeniable success, this passionate Chef aims to remain accessible while striving to share his expertise with the young generation.

Pastry Chef Christophe Felder will champion the Bachelor in French Pastry Arts. After earning one's spurs at Fauchon and Guy Savoy, he entered the Hotel de Crillon at the age of 23 and worked there for 15 years.

Holder of the French distinction of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and passionate about knowledge transmission, Christophe Felder is regarded by many as one of the principal creators of plated desserts.

ENSP: New programs in tune with the times

Once again this year, the ENSP is enriching its professional training offer with an introductory course on 3D modeling and printing, allowing students to learn to design cookie cutters, stencils, decorative subjects, and dies for the creation of molds in food grade silicone or thermoforming.

The institution is also offering a new introduction to chocolate through the "Bean to Bar" course with Regis Bouet, chocolatier-confectioner, teaching the entire process of chocolate making, from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, including bean selection, roasting, shelling, grinding, mixing, conching, tempering, molding and coating.

The ENSP is also further developing its offer in introductory courses with the creation of the CAP Ice Cream Making which trains future ice-cream makers by stimulating their creativity and advancing their technical skills. Developed by Luc Debove, Managing Director of the ENSP and Executive Pastry Chef, Ecole Ducasse, MOF and Ice Cream World Champion, this intensive six-month course, combining practice and theory, includes a two month internship, and is designed for people seeking professional retraining.

Paris Campus: focus on the arts of Hospitality and Culinary Identity

At the Paris Campus, two new themes complete the professional retraining curriculum:



The "Hospitality and Sommelier Arts Essentials" program, designed by Chantal Wittmann, Meilleur Ouvrier de France in the Arts of Service & Table, will be sponsored by Guillaume Gomez, Ambassador of French Gastronomy to the French President, and taught by numerous experts (world champion sommeliers, MOF cheesemakers, MOF coffee, etc.). This intensive two-month course offers profiles in transition a unique opportunity to be trained in hospitality by renowned experts.

Designed and delivered by Anne Garabedian, Editor-in-Chief of the French magazine "Le Cur des Chefs", the new "Building and communicating your culinary identity" course will allow professional chefs to successfully forge their own identity and promote it through both social media and media interactions.

New guest chefs in 2022

This year, Ecole Ducasse once again welcomes prestigious guest chefs who will instruct students throughout the year.

Big names in the pastry arts will visit the ENSP to share their knowledge with students: Michael Bartocetti, Pastry Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Eric Verbauwhede, Pastry Chef at Maison Pic and Matthieu Carlin, Pastry Chef at the Hotel de Crillon.

The Meudon Campus will not be left out, with the arrival of Arnaud Faye, Executive Chef at the Chevre d'Or (two Michelin stars and four Gault & Millau toques), Paul Pairet, head of restaurants Ultraviolet, Mr & Mrs Bund, and Polux in Shanghai; and Alexandre Gauthier, chef and owner of the two-starred institution, La Grenouille.

About Ecole Ducasse

Ecole Ducasse is a network of schools founded in 1999 by multi-starred chef Alain Ducasse, dedicated to the transmission of outstanding French expertise and excellence in culinary and pastry arts.

Ecole Ducasse runs three schools in France  Paris Studio, Paris Campus and the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie  as well as international schools in the Philippines, Brazil, Thailand and India. All are united by a desire to share a passion for gastronomy with seasoned professionals as well as food enthusiasts, career changers and students. This broad portfolio of programs aims to meet all training needs: from short programs for experts or food enthusiasts to intensive two-, four-or six-month programs, to three-year undergraduate programs and bachelors degree in culinary and pastry arts.

Ecole Ducasse is part of Sommet Education, worldwide leader in hospitality education.

For more information: https://www.ecoleducasse.com/en

For more information about these courses, please contact:

ensp@ecoleducasse.com

pariscampus@ecoleducasse.com

To apply, download the application form here: https://www.ecoleducasse.com/en/apply

Media Contact

Anouck Weiss, VP Communication Sommet Education  E: media@sommet-education.com
Evoke is honored to continue supporting Marine Veterans as they receive benefits earned for service to our Nation. -Jim Loreto

Evoke Consulting, a leading management consultant to the federal government, was awarded a contract by United States Marine Corps (USMC) Manpower and Reserve Affairs (M&RA) to deliver digital Service Treatment Records (STRs) which expedites the processing of Veterans health claims. Upon M&RA exercising all option periods, the contract would extend nearly five years.

Jim Loreto, Evokes Managing Partner, stated, The STR Program ensures service members receive timely and accurate health services following their transition from active duty. Evoke is honored to continue supporting Marine Veterans as they receive benefits earned for service to our Nation.

The STR Program originated from the National Defense Authorization Act for 2014 (NDAA FY 2014) to enable seamless electronic sharing of medical heath care data between the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. Following NDAA FY 2014, M&RA selected Evoke to stand up USMCs initial STR operations. Evokes consultants and processes have enabled M&RA to exceed the Acts stringent quality requirements since inception of M&RAs STR Program.

Evoke has consistently produced high quality digital STRs at mission speed with effective process re-engineering and disciplined quality control. The new contract will build upon Evokes existing baseline and further enhance operations through Lean Six Sigma principles.

Evoke Managing Partner, Greg Blaisdell, added, Evoke is proud of our STR teams demonstrated commitment to the Marine Corps. This new award reaffirms M&RA values Evokes consultative approach to our service offerings, from process-reengineering to record digitization services.

About Evoke

Evoke Research and Consulting, LLC provides professional services and technology support in management, organizational improvement, and technology and engineering services. Evoke is a PMI Authorized Training Partner and an ISO 9001, ISO 20000-1, ISO 27001, CMMI SVC/3 and CMMI DEV/3 certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. evokeconsulting.com.
Garrett County Farm Bureau won a County Award of Excellence for its work in hosting a livestock expo for which area youth had been preparing. Not only are we proud of the presence Maryland had at the AFBF convention, and our states contestants being among the best of all 50 states and Puerto Rico, we hope we have contributed to addressing a growing national problem in agriculture.

Farmer and rancher delegates to the American Farm Bureau Federations 103rd Convention last week adopted policies to guide the organizations work in 2022. Key topics ranged from milk pricing and beef market transparency to urban agriculture. Meanwhile Maryland Young Farmer contestants, one county, and a re-elected officer took home their respective honors.

Delegates from all 50 state Farm Bureaus and Puerto Rico came together to demonstrate the power of grassroots leadership, said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. The policies set forth will guide Farm Bureau in its mission to advocate for farmers and ranchers and build a sustainable future of safe and abundant food, fiber and renewable fuel for our entire nation and world.

Delegates also re-elected AFBF President Zippy Duvall and Vice President Scott VanderWal for their fourth terms.

Not only are we proud of the presence Maryland had at the AFBF convention, and our states contestants being among the best of all 50 states and Puerto Rico, we hope we have contributed to addressing a growing national problem in agriculture, said Maryland Farm Bureau President Wayne Stafford. The AFBF delegation voted Marylands wildlife on federal lands management resolution into national policy - a problem worth at least millions of dollars. Besides this conventions accomplishments, it was just great to be together in person, and see that Farm Bureau is going strong.

Marylands resolution requires the federal government to manage wildlife populations on federal land in a way that minimizes damage to crops and livestock on nearby private farmland.

Long-standing frustration over imbalances in the meat industry led to calls for greater transparency in livestock markets.

As farmers labor struggles continue, delegates approved additional policies that build on existing AFBF policies regarding the need for employee stabilization and reforms to the guestworker program.

Delegates voted to bring more transparency to the federal milk pricing system. Several changes to policy include support for a more consistent format for milk checks and a review and audit of the producer price differential on milk. Delegates also called for USDA to publish resources that show how each Federal Milk Marketing Order operates and differs by region.

Delegates updated policy on biofuels to include renewable diesel. The addition recognizes the innovation and potential that sustainable biofuels play in providing environmental benefits while creating opportunities for Americas farmers.

As farmers and ranchers continue to increase their reliance on digital technologies, delegates voted to support raising the standard for federal broadband projects to be at least 100 Mbps for both uploads and downloads.

Recognizing the growth of urban agriculture and importance of ensuring the success of all forms of agriculture, delegates voted to create new policy to support its continuation and acknowledge its economic contributions.

Beyond policy changes, delegates also elected members to serve on the AFBF board of directors and national program committees.

Jennifer Cross of Maryland (Northeast Region) was re-elected to a two-year term on the Womens Leadership Committee, a National Program Committee.

Marylanders received the following competitive awards:



Kayla Griffith, Lothian, won third place in Excellence in Agriculture, receiving a $2,500 cash prize from American Ag, numerous Case IH gifts, and $1,850 worth of Stanley Black & Decker merchandise.

Katie Stevens, Frederick, advanced to the semi-finals round of the Discussion Meet. To advance to the Sweet 16, Katie first had to compete in two opening rounds where she discussed how Farm Bureau can help farmers advance green energy and solve some of the supply chain issues that the COVID-19 pandemic caused in meat processing.

Garrett County Farm Bureau won a County Award of Excellence for its work in hosting a livestock expo for which area youth had been preparing. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the original hosts ability to hold one for the 2019-2020 season.

Twelve other state Farm Bureau presidents were re-elected to two-year terms to represent their regions on the board. Maryland is in the Northeast Region, which will be represented by Rick Ebert, Pennsylvania, and Ryck Suydam, New Jersey.

The 2023 convention will be January 6-11 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Excellence in Agriculture Award recognizes young farmers and ranchers who do not derive the majority of their income from an agricultural operation, but who actively contribute and grow through their involvement in agriculture, leadership ability and participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations.

The Discussion Meet simulates a committee meeting in which active discussion and participation are expected. Participants are evaluated on their ability to exchange ideas and information on a predetermined topic.

MARYLAND FARM BUREAU, INC. is a 501(c)(5) federation that serves as the united voice of Maryland farm families. Our organizational strength comes from the active participation of over 10,000 individual and family members who belong to the states 23 local county Farm Bureau organizations. Since 1915, Maryland Farm Bureau has been committed to protecting and growing agriculture and preserving rural life. Maryland Farm Bureau is a proud member of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Learn more at MDFarmBureau.com.
"State lawmakers should eliminate youth work permits to end the influence given to school administrators and restore the decision-making rights to students and their parents," said Lauren McCarthy a Research Analyst at FGA.

Yesterday, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) identified a barrier to work that many states have created by using youth work permits to determine a teenager's eligibility to participate in the workforce.

FGA researchers explain that the health and safety of children are already protected under the Fair Labor Standards Acts to ensure that those under the age of 18 can participate in the workforce without jeopardizing their well-being. In comparison, state-created youth work permits are certifications issued by school administrators that grant teenagers permission to work. Over the years these certifications have become an unnecessary attempt to extend bureaucratic oversight and may have disincentivized or delayed teenagers from seeking employment opportunities. In the process, school administrators have been given priority in decision-making rights compared to parents and guardians.

Findings further show that the teenage workforce participation rate increased dramatically in the early summer of 2021 with nearly one-third of teenagers employed. At this time, nearly 11 million jobs remained available as a result of the labor crisis. This labor shortage shed light on teenagers' eagerness to join the workforce and likely led to the unemployment rate reaching less than 10 percent for teenagers aged 16 to 19, the lowest since 1953. States that delay the hiring process for teenage workers with youth work permits may be unintentionally cutting off a critical source of their workforce.

"States are creating unnecessary hurdles for teen job seekers by requiring them to receive the approval of school administrators before accepting a part-time job or volunteer opportunity. If the school refuses to issue a work permit, then a young person cannot workeven if parents believe a job is in the best interest of their child," said Lauren McCarthy a Research Analyst at FGA. "State lawmakers should eliminate youth work permits to end the influence given to school administrators and restore the decision-making rights to students and their parents."

State lawmakers can make a significant and immediate impact on their local communities and economies by removing unnecessary red tape with the removal of your work permits.

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The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) is a non-profit, multi-state think tank that promotes public policy solutions to create opportunities for every American to experience the American Dream. To learn more, visit TheFGA.org.
Attorneys from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP advised Restore Hyper Wellness (Restore), a health and wellness company, in connection with an equity offering of more than $100 million.

Greenberg Traurigs team served as exclusive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) counsel and was led by Corporate Practice Shareholder Thomas Woolsey in the firms Dallas office. In 2021, Woolsey represented health care clients in connection with their M&A needs in transactions valued at nearly $2 billion.

Im proud of all the work put in by Greenberg Traurigs team members to help Restore achieve its objectives, Woolsey said. Jim Donnelly and Steve Welch have been key factors in the success of this transaction, and I look forward to Restores future in the health and wellness industry.

Founded in 2015, Restore is designing an integrated wellness experience and creating proprietary protocols to address consumers near- and long-term health goals. According to its website, Restore notes it offers an array of wellness modalities integrated under one roof.

In a press release announcing the transaction, Restore said that it plans to leverage the investment to help accelerate its rapid growth and deliver innovative technology to further propel the promise of Hyper Wellness, a category pioneered by Restore. The round was led by General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm. Piper Sandler & Co. served as the exclusive investment banker to Restore.

We believe everyone should have access to proactive health modalities that help them feel their best, so they can do more of what they love, said Jim Donnelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Restore.

Long-term, we hope to prove we can help extend our clients health spans, allowing them to continue to live life to the fullest while simultaneously reducing the health care costs of the system, said Steve Welch, Co-Founder of Restore.

Restore reports that it has 115 predominantly franchised locations in 34 states. Restore plans to open one new store about every four days during 2022.

The Greenberg Traurig team included: from the Corporate Practice, Associate Richard D. Dusenbury; from the Tax Practice, Shareholder Labry Welty and Associate Josh Prywes; and from the Health Care & FDA Practice, Shareholder Charles C. Dunham IV and Associate Ben Nipper.

About Greenberg Traurigs Health Care & FDA Practice: Greenberg Traurigs multidisciplinary Health Care & FDA Practice provides strategic counsel to a diverse group of companies and other organizations, helping them to respond proactively to the rapidly changing health care marketplace. The group combines dedicated experience in health care regulatory compliance and operational matters with the firms capabilities in corporate & securities, finance, tax, antitrust, ERISA, commercial and governmental litigation, restructuring, intellectual property, and biotechnology, in order to provide a wide range of legal services.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP  Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig, LLP and part of its history. With approximately 130 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP 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
2022 Toyota Tacoma is in stock at Hesser Toyota

Individuals looking for a powerful pickup truck will be delighted to know that the 2022 Toyota Tacoma has arrived at Hesser Toyota in Janesville, Wisconsin. Interested buyers can schedule a test drive of the vehicle at their convenience. The 2022 Toyota Tacoma comes in six trim levels- SR, SR5, TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited, and TRD Pro. The base trims of this vehicle come equipped with a 2.7-liter, four-cylinder engine that generates 159 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque. A 3.5-liter V6 engine is under the hood of other trims, giving 278 horsepower and 265 pound-feet of torque. The 2022 Trail Edition has added modifications to impress the buyers.

The 2022 Toyota Tacoma interior features a rugged yet chic interior with soft-touch materials. Tacoma Limited and TRD Pro have leather-trimmed seating surfaces to give passengers a feel of sophistication. The passengers in the vehicle will have access to advanced technology. An 8-inch touchscreen display is available to get all the information.

Interested area residents who want to know more about the 2022 Toyota Tacoma can visit the dealerships website. Potential buyers can also view the model research and comparison pages to get more information about the latest Toyota vehicles. The dealership also offers repair and maintenance services.

To learn more, customers can call the Hesser Toyota dealership at (608) 754-7754. The showroom is located at 1811 Humes Rd., Janesville, Wisconsin, 53545.
When Euan Macpherson was 10 years old, he was given a book about Scottish history to read. He had grown up with stories where the good guys always won in the end. When he read the story of Catherine Douglas for the first time, he was expecting her to emerge on the winning side, but the good guys did not win. The story upsets him, stopped reading the history book and never went back to it.

Based on a true story of the Lady-in-Waiting who found herself at the center of a plot to assassinate James I, King of Scotland, Macpherson now releases A Dagger for Catherine Douglas (published by AuthorHouse UK). The year is 1437, everything is going well for Catherine. She has been granted a prestigious position in the Scottish court and a prosperous marriage to a wealthy merchant has been arranged for her.

Sean Campbell, a mercenary with reputation as an uncouth cut-throat, attends court. Catherine is immediately attracted to him. In the intrigues of courtly life, no one has any friends  there are only ambitious courtiers seeking advancement. But who has been promised advancement on the death of the king? Is Sean Campbell part of the kings bodyguard or is he one of the assassins? It is not only the kings life that is in danger. Catherine will learn that even the Ladies-in-Waiting may be sacrificed in this brutal attempt by an ambitious earl to seize the Scottish throne.

Women feel they must emulate men to be successful. This is a story of female courage - of a woman who could not fight like a man and did not try to. She sacrificed herself in the way a mother would to protect a child. This is an example of female courage that deserves admiration, Macpherson says. When asked what he wants readers to take away from the book, he answers, I want them to enjoy the book so much that they are disappointed when it comes to its end. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.authorhouse.com/en-gb/bookstore/bookdetails/832217-a-dagger-for-catherine-douglas

A Dagger for Catherine Douglas

By Euan Macpherson

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 346 pages | ISBN 9781665594585

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 346 pages | ISBN 9781665594578

E-Book | 346 pages | ISBN 9781665594561

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Euan Macpherson was born in Arbroath on the east coast of Scotland. He studied for an honours degree in English and Scottish Literature at the University of Stirling. He has made several appearances on television and radio, including BBC Birmingham, BBC Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Television. He has written for newspapers and magazines, in both the UK and USA. His first book, The Trial of Jack the Ripper, was published in 2004.

AuthorHouse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is a leading provider of book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe and offers the industrys only suite of Hollywood book-to-film services. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse assigns each author personal publishing and marketing consultants who provide guidance throughout the process. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, AuthorHouse celebrates over 23 years of service to authors. For more information or to publish a book visit authorhouse.co.uk or call 0-800-014-8641.
As Infectious Disease Consultants, PC joins our team, our commitment to connecting patients and communities to the highest level of advanced infectious disease services grows even stronger. Dr. Ronald Nahass, President, ID Care.

ID Care, New Jerseys leading network of infectious disease specialists, announced today that the physicians from Infectious Disease Consultants, PC of Mercerville, NJ in Hamilton Township joined their team of renowned specialists to offer care to patients across 10 outpatient locations and over 130 healthcare facilities throughout the state.

The Mercerville New Jersey practice will continue providing high quality, personalized infectious disease care to patients throughout Mercer County and beyond while strengthening access to additional healthcare resources  including a comprehensive team of over 50 top-rated infectious disease doctors with expertise in accurately diagnosing and effectively treating patients across a range of complex infectious diseases and related health conditions. They share a common vision of improving the health and well-being of those they serve.

The expanded ID Care team offers patients convenient, local access to evidence-based infectious disease care and the most innovative treatment options, including advanced wound care, state-of-the-art infusion therapy, and personalized travel care and vaccinations. We are proud to join ID Care, leaders in infectious disease care, expanding our ability to collaborate with this network of infectious disease specialists as we continue to offer comprehensive, state-of-the-art care and support services for our patients locally in our practice as well as many healthcare settings. All patients will be able to receive the exact care they need, when they need it, guided by our team of experts, Dr. Tahir Farooq, Infectious Disease Consultants, PC, explains.

Dr. Ronald Nahass, President, ID Care, added, Throughout our 25+ years of continuous service to New Jersey residents, we have remained dedicated to ensuring patient-centered care that is driven by ongoing education, innovation, and research. Our team is at the forefront of the latest in infectious disease care so we can offer both preventative solutions as well as the latest treatments, safest outcomes, and cost-effective results that improve the quality of life for our patients. Now, as Infectious Disease Consultants, PC joins our team, our commitment to connecting patients and local communities to the highest quality infectious disease services grows even stronger. Were looking forward to continuing to provide patients with the right care, from the right specialists, at the right time and place they need it most.

Infectious Disease Consultants, as part of the growing network of ID Care specialists, offer access to the nations foremost HIV and hepatitis A, B, C clinicians, healthcare-associated infection experts, advanced wound care leaders, and renowned providers for a range of infectious diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. This includes caring for thousands of COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic and leading infection control efforts at many front-line hospitals and nursing homes, saving lives and improving outcomes for many New Jersey residents. Collectively, the ID Care team is positioned to offer an unmatched patient experience with the broadest range of infectious disease diagnostic and treatment options to ensure optimal results that improve the health of our communities.

About ID Care

ID Care is New Jerseys largest network of board-certified, fellowship trained infectious disease specialists  seeing over 250,000 patients a year and practicing in ten convenient locations, over 25 acute care hospitals, and 130 care facilities throughout the state (including hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and sub-acute settings). As clinical leaders, innovators, and researchers, ID Care provides patients with personalized solutions for a comprehensive range of infectious diseases and related illnesses  including COVID-19, HIV, hepatitis, pneumonia, MRSA, C. diff, tick-borne diseases, wound infections, travel-related illnesses, and others  ID Care physicians offer the most effective prevention methods, accurate diagnoses, and state-of-the-art treatments available today. For more information on ID Care, visit http://www.IDCare.com or contact James Padley, Chief Operating Officer, ID Care, at 908-281-0221 ext. 107, or via email at JPadley@idcare.com.


Jack Koziol, CEO and founder of Infosec Institute named 2022 Executive of the Year. Our work is just beginning to make cybersecurity education more accessible, and we look forward to growing and giving back to the community we work and live in.

Infosec Institute, a leading cybersecurity education company, announced its CEO and founder, Jack Koziol, was recognized by In Business Magazine as a 2022 Executive of the Year. Since 2014, the Executive of the Year Awards have celebrated exemplary Wisconsin business executives based on leadership, innovation and company success.

The judging panel recognized Jack for leading the fight against cybercrime and collaborating with other industry leaders to do so. Cybercrime is one of those, keeps me up at night business issues, noted one judge. Every business is concerned about IT security and how to empower employees to make good decisions. Jacks leadership and business insight is evidenced by the great success of Infosec this year and over the past two.

Madison has been my home for many years and where Infosec went from a small cybersecurity startup to the company we are today. Its an honor to be recognized among these business leaders in the Madison community for the teams work at Infosec. Our work is just beginning to make cybersecurity education more accessible, and we look forward to growing and giving back to the community we work and live in, said Jack Koziol, CEO and founder of Infosec.

The recognition comes after a record year for Infosec, achieving 62% revenue growth from their software solutions and the 17th consecutive year of profitability since its founding. Infosec also earned over 70 industry awards, including being recognized as a Leader for IT Training in the IDC Marketscape, and formed partnerships with industry leaders like Microsoft, Coursera and Check Point Software Technologies. As an employer, Infosec was recognized as a Top Workplace in Madison, and its team donated more than 850 volunteer hours to 42 local non-profits, $15,000 to charities and $200,000 in cybersecurity scholarships for those trying to break into the industry.

Read the full award and company profile in In Businesses January 2022 Edition.

About Infosec

Infosec is a leading cybersecurity education company helping IT and security professionals advance their careers and empowering employees to be cyber safe at work and home. Its mission is to equip individuals and organizations with the knowledge and skills to confidently outsmart cybercrime. More than 70% of the Fortune 500 have relied on Infosec Skills to develop their security talent and teams, and more than 5 million learners worldwide are more cyber-resilient from Infosec IQs security awareness and phishing training. Follow Infosec on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Infosecs Resources Blog for the latest news, or visit infosecinstitute.com for more information.
"our early bird program on INDIEGOGO provides five kinds of module combinations along with a special perk plan. These plans allow users to make full use of KRAIT's excellent design and tailor the PowerStrip according to users' needs. KRAIT can be assembled into more than what is provided..."

The puzzle-like modular PowerStrip manufacturer, INNFACT, is thrilled to announce the crowdfunding campaign kickoff for their innovative product, KRAIT, on INDIEGOGO. KRAIT's crowdfunding campaign has officially launched on January 15th and is ready to bring a new benchmark to the industry. INNFACT offers five early-bird plans and packages for early backers to experience the groundbreaking evolution of a PowerStrip with safety, reliability, and creativity. One of the VIP early-bird plans is a jaw-dropping markdown up to 49% off. The mass production is planned for this May, bakers can expect to receive Krait this Summer.

After five days the KRAIT campaign has reached over 55% of its $15,000 funding goal as of this press release. Consumers will need to act quickly to get their chance at one of the five early bird plans and packages.

"In order to show the flexibility that the KRAIT can offer, our early bird program on INDIEGOGO provides five kinds of module combinations along with a special perk plan. These plans allow users to make full use of KRAIT's excellent design and tailor the PowerStrip according to users' needs. KRAIT can be assembled into more than what is provided in the five available packages. Backers who truly want an all-in-one PowerStrip for their gadgets and home appliances now have an option to pre-order more than one set of the KRAIT PowerStrip with a better deal." said Daniel Chou, the CEO of INNFACT.

The INNFACT KRAIT INDIEGOGO campaign includes five perk deal combinations and product packs with the choice of different colors, which are:



49% off "VIP Exclusive Early-Bird Standard pack" for US$35 (Black and Limb White colors)

40% off "Max Pack" for US$99. (Black, Limb White, Yellow, and Red)

33% off "Standard Pack" for US$46. (Blue, Black, Limb White, Yellow, and Red,)

30% off "Innsafe Pack" for US$55. (Black, Limb White, Yellow, and Red)

29% off the "Build Your Own KRAIT" plan for US$119. (Choose different colors for 3 puzzles)

The estimated shipping date is August 2022, and it will be able to ship to the U.S., Canada, Japan, Taiwan, and China.

INNFACT put countless hours into crafting the world's first modular fast-charging PowerStrip to deliver the intelligent design on safety, durability, and flexibility for laptops, hand-held electronic devices, and most home appliances. The KRAIT can be configured for a variety of different options. When used at home or office it is an all-in-one power strip designed to be clutter-free allowing you to get rid of bulky adaptors. However, when the KRAIT is to be used outside of the office or home it can be built into a lightweight portable version by directly attaching the DC puzzles with the charger.

"Safety and rock-solid reliability are important design concepts for INNFACT when building the KRAIT PowerStrip with safety topping them all! With almost 40% of all household fire accidents being caused by electrical failure from outlet extenders and power strips. Thats why we have strived to create a better solution. Our engineering team has created an exclusive AutoShut design that delivers an auto-shutdown feature to protect the PowerStrip and your devices from overloaded, inappropriate plugging, and for when no load is detected. Added by the CEO, Daniel Chou.

KRAIT is comprised of four main modules: the source power puzzle, the AC puzzle, the DC puzzle, and the Plug puzzle. It supports three AC outlets, two USB-C, and two USB-A ports. Each module can be detached and re-attached separately, depending on the user's demand. The total AC power support of KRAIT is up to 1650W, and it comes with an intelligent overloaded/ unplugged and away sensor called AutoShut and is designed to protect the KRAIT and your devices from hazardous from electrical failures. The DC puzzle supports up to 100W PD with an optional QC fast charging option. The handy Bluetooth smartphone app allows users to control the KRAIT and set timers for when outlets on the PowerStrip will be active or disabled.

Appendix

The concept of KRAIT:

The Source Puzzle

The source puzzle part is the central part of the power strip; it supports total power output up to 1650W and comes with an intelligent overloaded shutdown feature along with surge protection for all downstream devices. In addition, it features 4 LED indicators for monitoring current loading from the AC puzzle and is available with a variety of power cord lengths for different occasions.

The AC Puzzle

The AC puzzle includes three independent AC outlets supporting the US, Japan, and Taiwan plugs. It features intelligent AutoShut protection to ensure electrical safety for when devices are unplugged from the outlet or plugged in incorrectly. KRAIT will also be available with a Bluetooth remote control, allowing complete power control to each AC outlet, including a built-in programmable timer.

The DC Puzzle

The DC puzzle includes two USB Type-C ports and two USB Type-A ports that support between 65 to 100W and comes with a 100W GaN high-efficiency charger technology to support extra-fast USB charging for laptops, tablets, and smartphones. A one-touch power switch also offers instant power shutdown when your plugged devices are fully charged.

Plug Puzzle

The Plug Puzzle turns the DC Puzzle into a charger and allows a quick charge on the go. This puzzle is available for the United States, Japan, and Taiwan with ongoing product development for Australia and the EU.

For more information on KRAIT, please visit:

the INDIEGOGO campaign page,

the official product page.

Fore marketing assets download, please click here.

About INNFACT

Launched in 2014, INNFACT is a Taiwanese brand that is pioneering the world of charging technologies and power supplies. With over 40 years in the industry, the company has manufactured devices from the most basic of power supplies to entire power strips with integrated GaN chargers. Over the decades, the company has focused on power delivery systems, charging technology, and designing from the ground up. They have produced tens of millions of power strips and components for international brands worldwide.

Two words are at the foundation of INNFACT  'innovation' and 'factory. INNFACT can accurately be described as an innovation factory. The brand has mastered current technologies and is constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation. Their focus is on bringing every solid idea to life.

INNFACT will continue to stay ahead of its competition because it is a brand of "new methods." They are constantly creating products that meet and exceed the latest needs of the market. To achieve this level of excellence, the company has a culture of always being open to the questions and comments of customers. When it comes to their customers' they take everything seriously from usage, aesthetics, and service needs.

The company founders are confident about their products and operation. This confidence comes from their many years of experience and the positive feedback from the users of their products.

You can connect with INNFACT using the contact details below:

Website: https://usa.INNFACT.com.tw

KRAIT product page: https://KRAIT.INNFACT.com.tw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/INNFACT/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/INNFACT

Twitter: https://twitter.com/INNFACTDesign
I am honored to work alongside a group of trusted, well-known thought leaders in securities, M&A, and corporate compliance. Alicia M. Bond, Jacko Law Group, PC

Jacko Law Group, PC ("JLG"), a San Diego-based law firm that provides securities and corporate counsel to the financial industry, announced that it has added Director of Operations, counsel Alicia M. Bond, with practice areas that include firm strategy, business operations, corporate law and governance matters, and strategic growth and planning.

Alicias relationship-first mindset is second nature to everything she does, and it has proven results for the firms and clients she services, said Michelle L. Jacko, Founder and Managing Partner of Jacko Law Group, PC. Alicia offers JLG clients, external partners and our internal team a multi-faceted strategic approach that consistently delivers an optimal experience, Jacko added.

Prior to joining JLG, Ms. Bond served on the corporate legal team for Welk Resorts as Compliance Manager and Legal Executive Assistant to SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Among her skills, Board management, compliance, and corporate governance, Ms. Bond has practiced law for more than 15 years and has been an experienced litigator and trial attorney for law firms in Florida, Illinois, and Mississippi.

Ms. Bond has handled both criminal and civil matters with practice areas including breach of contract, construction law, corporate law, employment law, family law, insurance claims, lemon law, non-profit management, personal injury, trusts and estate, as well as other general business matters.

It is an exciting time to join the amazing JLG Team, said Ms. Bond. I am honored to work alongside a group of trusted, well-known thought leaders in securities, M&A, and corporate compliance. As we continue to build a strong foundation for our clients, we are committed to growth and consistently looking for opportunities for improvement as we work diligently together and to create new innovative solutions.

Ms. Bond earned her Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law and her Master of Business Administration from Stetson University. She also received her undergraduate degree in Legal Studies from the University of Central Florida.

In this role, I am focused on exceptional service  how we can improve our client servicing and make a difference that directly and positively impacts the results that we achieve for our clients, Bond added. The JLG Team is ready to help create the future for our clients as we continue to provide personalized services and winning legal strategy. Whether you are an investment advisor or looking to expand your business offerings.

Ms. Bond is high-energy and possesses a strong work ethic. She is passionate about advocacy, leadership, and making a difference by helping others. She aims to make an impact and serve others through mentorship, non-profit work, and philanthropy. She currently serves as Board Member and Development Co-Chair for the Chicano Federation of San Diego County. When she is not at work, she loves spending time with family, traveling, and practicing yoga.

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About Jacko Law Group

Jacko Law Group, PC is a full-service dedicated team of professionals with extensive expertise in the securities, corporate and financial industries. Jacko Law Group, PC serves registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, private equity firms, hedge funds, investment companies, financial advisors and corporate organizations of all sizes across America with headquarters in San Diego and additional offices in other major markets, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Jacko Law Group, PC offers tailored, comprehensive legal services to registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, private equity and hedge funds, financial professionals and organizations of all sizes. From SEC regulatory exams and investment adviser counsel to private equity concerns and general corporate counsel, our team is well-equipped to provide the sophisticated legal insight and advocacy our clients require. Jacko Law Group, PC, its Managing Partner & Founder, Michelle Jacko is a proud member of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL). Jacko Law Group, PC is a team of like-minded legal professionals, trusted partners and thought leaders who bring deep industry knowledge and experience to the table. For more information, please visit http://www.jackolg.com.

Contact:

Aimee Lastrella

Marketing Specialist

Jacko Law Group PC

aimee.lastrella@jackolg.com

T: 619.298.2880 | F: 619.298.2882
Acquiring Johanson Group enhances the depth and breadth of our compensation and HR solutions to clients. DBSquared products will be integrated with our Trainery brand of Human Capital Management SaaS solutions. - Mahesh Kumar, Managing Director JER HR Group

JER HR Group and Johanson Group jointly announce JER HR Groups acquisition of Johanson Consulting, Inc. dba Johanson Group and DBSquared LLC in a private transaction. Johanson Group is a leading compensation consulting firm servicing clients in compensation planning and DBSquared is an entity through which DBCompensation and DBDescriptions software is developed and supported.

JER HR Group is already a leading player in the compensation consulting arena with more than 30 years of experience servicing clients nationwide. Acquiring Johanson Group enhances the depth and breadth of JER HR Groups capacity to deliver compensation and human resources solutions to clients. The DBSquared Compensation products expand our Human Capital Management (HCM) SaaS solutions said Mahesh Kumar, Managing Director of JER HR Group.

Johanson Group provides compensation solutions to clients in both private and government organizations. JER HR Group will integrate the compensation consulting business of Johanson Group within its compensation division. This integration will expand JER HR Groups clients and geographic footprint nationwide.

DBSquared products, DBCompensation and DBDescriptions, are part of the transaction and will be integrated with our Trainery brand of HCM solutions. DBCompensation and DBDescriptions will be merged into a single product and rebranded in a rollout to clients later this year, Kumar said.

Bruce Johanson, Principal Partner of Johanson Group said, JER HR Group is a logical choice for us to merge our company, as it is already a leading compensation consulting firm. JER HR Group works with hundreds of clients each year and we are confident that our clients will benefit from the combined offerings. We are excited that our DBCompensation and DBDescriptions products will be part of the Trainery suite of solutions. This will allow both products to go through a major upgrade and transformation as a SaaS solution.

ABOUT

JER HR Group is a leading human resources consulting firm helping for-profit companies, nonprofit organizations and government entities throughout the United States to recruit, develop, engage and retain their greatest resource  People. JER HR Group is headquartered in New York City, New York with additional offices in Raleigh and Greensboro, North Carolina. JER HR Group is a certified minority owned business. For more information, visit JER HR Group http://www.jerhrgroup.com and Trainery http://www.trainery.com.

Johanson Consulting, Inc. was founded as Johanson & Associates, Inc. in 1973. The company name became Johanson Consulting, Inc. dba Johanson Group in 2012.
We are proud to be a partner of NJHSA, an organization whose mission closely matches our own. We look forward to supporting NJHSA members in achieving their missions for the long-term.

JMT Consulting Group is pleased to announce its partnership with the Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies (NJHSA). This partnership enhances JMT Consulting Groups mission of helping nonprofit organizations through their dedicated team of financial and nonprofit professionals.

We are proud to be a partner of NJHSA, an organization whose mission closely matches our own. We look forward to supporting NJHSA members in achieving their missions for the long-term, says JMT Consulting Group Founder and CEO Jaqueline Tiso. JMT Consulting is excited to be a resource for NJHSA to better serve its members.

To kick off the new partnership, Tiso will be leading a digital transformation webinar hosted by NJHSA in late January.

I am thrilled to welcome JMT Consulting as a new Network partner. We look forward to introducing JMT Consulting to our members and to continuing to find ways to work together to find opportunities for JMT to share their expertise and help our member agencies to continue to grow and improve their operations, says NJHSA Director of Membership Services Karen Rosen.

NJHSA is an international membership association of more than 150 nonprofit human service agencies in the United States, Canada, and Israel. NJHSA advances the Jewish human service sector through advocacy, best practices, innovation, and partnerships.

JMT Consulting Group is the largest independent financial consulting and technology firm working solely with nonprofit organizations. Founded in 1991, JMT provides exceptional cloud-based financial services to help its clients reach their mission to their fullest potential. Headquartered in Patterson, NY, JMT has over 2,000 clients.


Meeting the increasing demand in Europe has driven regional, double-digit growth for our business, and we are thrilled to commit more resources in support of our growing customer base.

Molecular Devices, LLC., a leading provider of high-performance life science solutions, is expanding its R&D facility in Austria, and increasing service and applications personnel to expand best-in-class customer support in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. As the European life science market continues to grow, these investments will provide direct access to state-of-the-art 3D biology innovations from in-country sales account managers, field application scientists, and field service engineers.

Meeting the increasing demand in Europe has driven regional, double-digit growth for our business, and we are thrilled to commit more resources in support of our growing customer base, said Susan Murphy, President of Molecular Devices. Our Salzburg location is one of our global R&D hubs. This facility expansion will allow for even more innovation and more space to partner with collaborators and customers who want to advance their discovery in cell and gene therapy as they evolve in their drug discovery journey.

Molecular Devices opened its Austrian Research & Development Center in 2019 and expects to expand its total footprint there by about 30 percent in early 2022. Similar to the Organoid Innovation Center located in San Jose, Calif., the new area will offer a space for in-house scientists, customers, and innovative 3D biology companies to collaborate on organoid development and screening to achieve both scalability and reproducibility. The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), awarded Molecular Devices an 800,000 grant to support the companys 3D biology product roadmap.

Across Europe, Molecular Devices provides direct customer support in Austria, Benelux, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. To further serve scientists in the region with direct consultation to best meet their needs, Molecular Devices is expanding its local, native-speaking support staff in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

Our scientific and technical solutions empower customers to excel long term by addressing immediate application requirements, yet they can easily adapt as research goals evolve over time, Murphy continued. Having our technical experts in close proximity to a rapidly-expanding European customer base is a priority. Molecular Devices will be better equipped to offer custom 3D biology solutions with integrated automation capabilities that can only be delivered with a more consultative application approach.

For more information about Molecular Devices, visit http://www.moleculardevices.com.

About Molecular Devices, LLC.

Molecular Devices is one of the world's leading providers of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems, software and consumables for life science research, pharmaceutical and biotherapeutic development. Included within a broad product portfolio are platforms for high-throughput screening, genomic and cellular analysis, colony selection and microplate detection. These leading-edge products enable scientists to improve productivity and effectiveness, ultimately accelerating research and the discovery of new therapeutics. Molecular Devices is committed to the continual development of innovative solutions for life science applications. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California with offices around the globe.
Derek Briggs and Scott Marion

In this months episode of NEPC Talks Education, NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldana interviews Scott Marion and Derek Briggs about the reporting and use of state and national test results. Marion is the Executive Director of the Center for Assessment and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board. Briggs is a professor in the Research and Evaluation methodology program in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also the current president of the National Council on Measurement in Education. His new book is Historical and Conceptual Foundations of Measurement in the Human Sciences: Credos and Controversies.

Briggs and Marion explain that some testing experts were worried that states would vary in their capacity to administer tests during the pandemic, that changes to the testing population caused by the pandemic would make interpreting results difficult, and that instructional time might be better spent learning instead of testing. Now that tests have been administered and state results are in, they argue that in spite of challenges, we learned a lot about the effects of the pandemic on student achievement thanks to many researchers and technical advisors putting forth methods to accountto the extent possiblefor the challenges outlined above.

They explain that best practices included contextualizing 2020-21 test results by describing how enrollment changed during the pandemic and identifying which students were the most likely/unlikely to participate in testing (e.g., economically disadvantaged, special education, or bilingual students). Doing this allowed policymakers and the public to better understand how the pandemic influenced the reported results. Briggs adds that if state policymakers failed to provide adequate context, users might have underestimated the impact of the pandemic on learning. He explains that average test scores could be biased upwards by the disproportionate absence of students with the greatest needs.

Briggs and Marion also comment on the recent release of results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Unlike state results, they explain that NAEP is a national indicator of both national and state trends in public education. Briggs explains that the most recent release of NAEP results shows that the gap in academic performance between the lowest and highest achieving students in the United States is widening. Marion adds that while the larger gaps should be addressed, the causes of these gaps in performance are a matter of dispute. Some analysts, for example, view the performance gaps as primarily attributable to social and economic factors that have resulted in fewer resources for schools and growing wealth inequality, while critics of the education reforms of the past two decades such as common core curricula could argue these educational changes are to blame for the observed gaps in test results. Marion and Briggs note this is the perfect example of why NAEP is so useful, but also why its use is limited. While it provides a stable and high-quality measure of educational trends in the achievement among American students, it cannot explain the causes of those trends.

Briggs and Marion believe several practices that emerged during the pandemic should be continued. Marion describes how early in the pandemic, district leaders collected data on student needs. He encourages policymakers to continue that collection and supplement it by collecting data, such as whether students were instructed on certain concepts and whether they received regular feedback, that indicate students opportunities to learn (OTL). He argues test score data is made more useful when it can be paired with high-quality OTL data. Briggs adds that the federal government and states should learn from the flexibility that was required during the pandemic. He noted that disruptions are likely to continue, and federal, state, and local policymakers will need to be ready. Both Briggs and Marion recommend that policymakers respond aggressively to provide support for schools in the years to come. They explain that there is overwhelming evidence to show that students educational opportunities were severely diminished during the pandemic. They argue that helping students overcome these setbacks will require a historic investment and effort in K-12 public schools.

A new NEPC Talks Education podcast episode, hosted by Christopher Saldana, will be released each month from September through May.

Dont worry if you miss a month. All episodes are archived on the NEPC website and can be found here.

NEPC podcast episodes are also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, under the title NEPC Talks Education. Subscribe and follow!

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: https://nepc.colorado.edu
Sweet Galilee at the Wigwam is expected to open in January 2022 and will have a VIP Preview Party on February 2, 2022. We are thrilled to offer affordable assisted living options to seniors who never thought assisted living was financially achievable, and to do it right here in our own hometown.

A VIP Preview Party and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony will be held for Sweet Galilee at the Wigwam, a new affordable assisted lifestyle community for older adults that is opening in January.

The invitation-only event will be held on February 1, at the community, which is located at 1315 John Street in Anderson, Indiana. The community is conveniently located in the Wigwam Complex and features a full spectrum of services to help older adults embrace their independence.

This multimillion-dollar development is designed for seniors of all incomes who need some help to maintain their independence. Residents are expected to move in in January 2022.

"We will be providing older adults with a wonderful alternative to a nursing home or to struggling alone at home," said Sweet Galilee Administrator Gary Griffin.

As an affordable assisted living facility, Sweet Galilee will make assisted living a realistic option for seniors who have been unable to afford this type of community in the past. The community will combine residential apartment-home living with the availability of personal assistance, medication administration and a variety of convenience and support services, such as meals, housekeeping, laundry and transportation.

Residents will live in private apartments that they will furnish and decorate to their tastes. Each of the apartments will feature a kitchenette, spacious bathroom with shower and grab bars, individually controlled heating and air conditioning and emergency alert system.

In addition, Sweet Galilee offers several areas for residents to enjoy, including a recreation room/theater, private dining room, lounges, fitness center, activity room, library/computer room and other amenities.

Certified nursing assistants, working under the direction of a licensed nurse, will be on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Residents also will benefit from all of the opportunities that will be available to socialize with friends and neighbors and to participate in activities and special programs," says Griffin.

When fully occupied, the community will provide 50 full and part-time jobs. Annual payroll with benefits is projected to be approximately $2.0 million.

BWI, LLC is excited to bring one of its high-quality, residential-style affordable assisted living communities to Anderson and the surrounding areas.

American Structure Point. designed the community, and construction was completed by T&W Corporation.

"Our focus," says Rod Burkett, CEO of Gardant Management Solutions, the company that manages the community "is to provide Sweet Galilee residents with the love, compassion and dignity they deserve and the help and assistance they need. Our emphasis is on helping each resident achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible."

For more information about Sweet Galilee at the Wigwam, call 765-442-3752 or visit the community website.
Thats because you dont have to be a Republican or a Democrat to want kids to be able to play outside without mom and dad living in fear of neglect charges, said Lenore Skenazy, President of Let Grow.

Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence, declares 2022 The Year of Childhood Independence. This year, parents in three states could get the biggest gift of all: the right to let their kids walk, play outside, or stay home alone for a bit, without worrying that this is against the law.

Colorado, Nebraska, and South Carolina legislators will all consider bills modeled on the Reasonable Childhood Independence laws passed in Texas and Oklahoma last spring (and in Utah in 2018the so-called Free-Range Parenting law). At this point, fully 10% of American parents enjoy legal protection for letting their children play unsupervised.

The bills passed to date had overwhelming support from both partiesa rarity these days.

Thats because you dont have to be a Republican or a Democrat to want kids to be able to play outside without mom and dad living in fear of neglect charges, said Lenore Skenazy, President of Let Grow, a national nonprofit promoting childhood independence.

An earlier version of the bill had passed Colorados House of Representatives unanimously in 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the Senate. Similarly, South Carolinas Senate had passed the bill before the pandemic.

Let Grow believes that children are safer and smarter than our culture gives them credit for. Plummeting numbers of kids outside and a rising epidemic of obesity and mental health issues are partly due to children not being allowed to play or be almost anywhere without mom or dad hovering. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to have child protective services or the police called when children age 8, 10, or even 12 are outside without an adult.

Let Grows study of all 50 states neglect laws found that in 2021, 45 were insufficiently clear as to whether, for example, a child could be labeled neglected simply because they walked from the store by themselves.

The organizations legislative docket has been adopted by advocates across the political spectrum. Conservatives appreciate the right of families to make parenting decisions without excessive governmental interference. Liberals and Progressives, recognizing that child protection laws are applied disproportionately to persons of color and poor families struggling to make childcare arrangements, appreciate the less punitive law, too.

In Nebraska this month, Republican Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair will be joining forces not just with Libertarian, Conservative, and home-school advocates, but also with Nebraska Appleseeda Progressive public interest organizationin support of LB1000. In addition, Sen. Terrell McKinney and Sen. Justin Wayne, two Progressive senators who represent northern Omaha, are sponsoring the bill.

In Colorado, Democrats and Republicans have lined up again to promote the bill that nearly passed in 2020. This time, Republican Rep. Kim Ransom (Douglas County) will again co-sponsor the bill, now with Democrat Rep. Mary Young (Greeley), a school psychologist. In the Senate, Democrat Janet Buckner (Aurora) will co-sponsor it anew, joined by Republican Jim Smallwood, also from Douglas County.

In South Carolina, Republican Sen. Wes Climer (York County), is joined by Republican Sen. Greg Hembree (Horry County). The state has seen a number of high-profile cases where parents have been reported and even thrown in jail for letting their kids play in the park or walk home from schooleven when the children were eager to manage for themselves.

Whenever I ask people to remember something they loved doing as kids, I say, Now raise your hand if your mom was with you. The hands all come down, said Skenazy.

To learn more about Let Grow, please visit https://www.letgrow.org.

About Let Grow

Let Grow is a nonprofit promoting childhood independence as the key to resourcefulness and resilience, founded by Free-Range Kids pioneer Lenore Skenazy, research psychologist Dr. Peter Gray, former chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Daniel Shuchman, and NYU Prof. Jonathan Haidt, co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind. Let Grows thought leadership, school programs, research, writing, speaking and legislative advocacy give parents, educators, and communities the tools and confidence to step back, so kids can step up. Let Grow has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, PBS and more. To learn more about Let Grow, visit http://www.letgrow.org.
Noodoe CEO Jennifer Chang Houston has the port and airport capacity we need to efficiently meet the unprecedented demand for EV charging stations.

Noodoe EV, a global leader in EV charging technology, is expanding its US operations by relocating their headquarters from Irvine, California to Houston, Texas. The Irvine office will continue operations, focusing on support and installation of EV charging stations on the West Coast. Both announcements were made by Noodoe CEO Jennifer Chang. Noodoes new headquarters is located at 9896 Bissonnet, Houston, Texas 77036.

Current and anticipated demand for our EV charging stations necessitates Noodoe scaling up and expanding right now, says Chang. Logistically, we need our U.S. headquarters to be centrally located. Houston has the port and airport capacity we need to efficiently meet the unprecedented demand for EV charging stations. Houston has long been the Energy Capital of the World, mostly because of oil and gas extraction. Noodoe will help the city continue its energy legacy, only this time without fossil fuels.

Regarding the Irvine office, Chang said the role of the workforce there will change. The office will continue to support Noodoe operations for the entire West Coast, says Chang. The Irvine office is a vital part of our operations. California and the West Coast represent a big share of our current EV installations.

According to Fortune magazine, Houston has become a major corporate center, home to 23 Fortune 500 companies, second only to New York City. In addition to a key suite of industries - including energy, life science, manufacturing, logistics and aerospace - Houston has one of the largest shipping ports in the country and two international airports. As one business group noted, Houston connects companies to the world.

Chang relates that many businesses are choosing Noodoe EV for the advantages of its Noodoe EV charging stations and Noodoe EV OS network operating system, one of the most advanced cloud-based operating platforms available. Noodoe EV OS acts as a charging network's "central brain," able to oversee operation of all charging stations across multiple locations while automating the entire operation of an EV charging network. "What makes Noodoe EV OS different is the core technology that empowers "extreme automation," which enables the operators to achieve the lowest possible operating cost," says Chang. "Controlling and running all EV charging stations, Noodoe EV OS fully automates everything  24/7 charging service delivery, automatic peak-hour price adjustment, automatic transaction billing, automatic payment processing, automatic bank transfer, automatic infrastructure diagnostics, and intelligent energy management. It's so automated that network operators can practically generate revenue automatically and continuously."

About Noodoe Inc.

To accelerate the worlds transition to electric vehicles, Noodoe provides the mission-critical network operating system, Noodoe EV OS, that runs the EV charging networks for their operators.

Noodoe EV OS is one of the most advanced cloud-based operating platforms today; it is a charging networks central brain that runs all the charging stations across multiple locations and automates the entire operation of the EV charging network.

What makes Noodoe EV OS different is the core technology that empowers extreme automation, which enables the operators to achieve the lowest possible operating cost. Controlling and running all EV charging stations, Noodoe EV OS fully automates everything  24/7 charging service delivery, automatic peak-hour price adjustment, automatic transaction billing, automatic payment processing, automatic bank transfer, automatic infrastructure diagnostics, and intelligent energy management. Its so automated that the network operators practically can generate revenue automatically and continuously.

Noodoe provides products and services that are used in 110 countries worldwide.
Odyssey Wine Academy today announced the upcoming launch of Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) courses at Healdsburgs wine tasting room collective, Bacchus Landing. The Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) is globally recognized as the international standard in wine & spirits knowledge. Odyssey Wine Academy will offer Level 1 Introduction to Wine through Level 3 Advanced courses, flexible course times throughout the year during the day, evenings and weekends to accommodate wine and hospitality professionals, as well as consumers.

Julie Rothberg, President of Medlock Ames Winery, founded Odyssey Wine Academy out of a desire for those presenting wines to have a global perspective. At Medlock Ames, I wanted our hospitality team to be certified through the WSET to broaden their understanding about wines from around the world, says Rothberg. An international perspective aids our team in educating guests about what makes wines from Sonoma County so unique.

In 2021, after discovering a lack of in-person public courses available in Sonoma County for her team at Medlock Ames, she decided to develop a solution in the creation of Odyssey Wine Academy, Sonoma Countys first and only publicly available offering of WSET courses. Her vision is to make wine education accessible, fun, and interactive for the deeply curious, whether they have a career in wine, want to explore the industry, or love wine and want to learn more. As courses are open to everyone, no matter consumers level of wine knowledge, Rothberg anticipates the WSET courses appealing to locals who enjoy wine and those who visit wine country seeking wine-centric experiences. The Academy's inaugural year will also aim to establish the WSET Level 1 introductory course in Spanish, available through a scholarship program for non-native English speakers who work in the vineyards or cellars.

Ive been shocked by the overwhelming and positive responses when I started talking about this idea, says Julie Rothberg. Not only did this excite wine professionals but also locals who live in the heart of wine country with careers in technology, law, and the arts and have a strong interest to learn more about wine. After working in wine for over 20-years, the goal of Odyssey Wine Academy is to offer a wine education to everyone, not just those looking to advance their careers in wine.

With accessibility and convenience in mind, Odyssey Wine Academy's home at Bacchus Landing, just moments from Healdsburg Square, was deemed the perfect location. Partnering with the Lopez family, founders of Bacchus Landing, the Academy will hold courses in the property's Wine Lab.

"Our vision for Bacchus Landing from the beginning has been to create a space where people can spend the day and get an all-encompassing experience in wine country," says Monica Lopez, General Manager of Bacchus Landing. "Adding wine education builds on that vision, allowing guests to come and taste from our seven wineries while also getting a world-class wine certification. I'm thrilled to partner with Julie and Odyssey Wine Academy to offer wine certifications this year."

Lopez was immediately drawn to Odyssey Wine Academy's vision upon first learning of the concept. "There is a real need and want from our community and those who come to visit one of the three major growing regions that surround Healdsburg, and there is no other option nearby," says Lopez. "The seven wineries at Bacchus Landing represent a wide range of varietals and California regions so we're excited for people to connect their learnings in the Wine Lab to tastings from these wineries."

For more information or to register for a course, please visit odysseywineacademy.com.

About Odyssey Wine Academy

Odyssey Wine Academy was founded in 2021 by passionate wine leader, Julie Rothberg. Odyssey Wine Academy is singularly focused on making wine fun, approachable and accessible to all. Rooted in Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) certifications, we seek to educate our community about global styles of wines with a systematic approach to tasting, evaluating and enjoying. Currently, Odyssey Wine Academy offers courses from Introduction (Level 1) through Advanced (Level 3). We believe deeply that learning about wine is an odyssey and all are welcome on the voyage.

About Bacchus Landing

Founded by siblings Monica and Francisco Lopez, along with their parents Al and Dina, Bacchus Landing is a curated collective of wineries representing a diverse spectrum of grape varieties and winemaking styles. It is located in the heart of Healdsburg at the crossroads of three of Sonoma Countys premier wine regions. Designed to reflect the Lopez familys deep-seated passion for hosting family and friends, Bacchus Landing welcomes guests to come and stay the day, offering a relaxing escape from everyday life. The three-acre property boasts five spacious, open-air tasting rooms, an artisanal food market serving local wine-friendly bites, a more casual green space with picnic tables and bocce courts, a central piazza with cafe tables, a full commercial kitchen, and a variety of spaces for corporate meetings and events.
New Zealand diagnostic biotech company Pictor Ltd. announced today that it has successfully completed validation trials at two separate sites in the United States, one of which was Florida-based Boca Biolistics, for its COVID-19 antibody test.

The Pictor test simultaneously detects the presence of both anti-Spike (SP) antibody and anti-Nucleocapsid (NP) antibody in a single test. The company now aims to fast-track adoption of its low-cost, high-performance, high-throughput tests by obtaining FDA Emergency Use Authorization.

Alpha trials at the companys New Zealand laboratories last fall demonstrated high performance for Spike (100% sensitivity, 97.8% specificity) and Nucleocapsid (98.9% sensitivity and 96.6% specificity) and paved the way for initiation of the current trials in the USA.

We were delighted with the performance observed in the Alpha studies which gave us confidence to rapidly proceed with trials in the USA," said Pictor Chief Technology Officer Dr. Richard Janeczko. "We feel the duplex nature of our test is a unique feature which provides much better data interpretation from serology testing for use the ongoing management of the global pandemic.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently provided guidance on interpretation of the results (Interim Guidelines for COVID-19 Antibody Testing | CDC) of serology testing with respect to infection and vaccination status in patients. Interpretations require results for both anti-spike and anti-nucleocapsid antibodies for which the Pictor test is uniquely well suited.

China has announced it will soon require all international arrivals to be tested before departure to China for the two antibodies of the Pictor assay.

Studies have shown immunity to COVID-19 through vaccination can reduce reinfection by as much as 95%, said Dr Janeczko. The CDC has emphasized the importance of documenting antibody levels in communities to help in the fight against COVID-19.

An Auckland testing laboratory will be making the Pictor test available to interested companies and employers of frontline workers.

Pictor has launched an equity fundraising round to enable it to continue to expand its manufacturing capability in New Zealand and in market resources in key international markets including the US, India and Europe. Pictor CEO

Howard Moore believes the positive clinical trial results and the novelty of Pictors COVID-19 test will contribute to a successful funding round.

ABOUT PICTOR

Pictor was founded in 2005 by scientists Dr. Anand Kumble and Dr. Sarita Kumble, who retired in 2017. Pictor has since expanded and now has 33 employees in the United States, New Zealand, Europe and India. In August 2020 Pictor established Pictor Inc. in the United States. New Zealand-based Howard Moore is Pictors CEO.

http://www.pictordx.com

For more information and to request an interview with Dr Janeczko and/or Howard Moore, please contact Jane Thompson, of Thompson + Conard at 415-710-1675.
South Africa: Flood warning as Vaal and Bloemhof dams overflow

The Vaal and Bloemhof dams sluice gates are to remain open as the outflow of water remains high, the Department of Water and Sanitation said on Thursday.

This comes after the department opened two sluice gates on Monday due to the continued rain in the catchments feeding the Vaal Orange River System and the Integrated Vaal River System.

According to the department, the Vaal Dam storage capacity currently stands at 111.1%  an increase of 0.6% from the day before, while Bloemhof is sitting at 111%  a drop of 1% overnight.

The decrease in river flow levels upstream of the dams and predictions of a low likelihood of heavy rains next week have at this stage nullified the need to increase the outflow from Bloemhof Dam.

The outflows from both catchments feeding the Vaal Orange River System and the Integrated Vaal River System have been kept the same, the department explained.

However, department spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau, has cautioned the public that the outflows from Bloemhof, although unchanged, are still relatively high.

We ask the downstream communities to remain vigilant.

Communities living near the Lower Orange should also keep a watchful eye as flows are forecast to increase significantly starting over the weekend, Ratau said.

Meanwhile, according to reports, the North West provincial government has started evacuating people living along the Bloemhof Dam and Vaal River banks.

"We are following a national and provincial directive because Bloemhof Dam is full beyond its capacity. The Vaal River in Bloemhof is also full, leaving some yards covered in water," Lekwa Teemane Municipal Mayor, Sebang Motlhabi, told News24.

"We are avoiding a situation where we are caught napping and faced with an emergency we could have prevented. We want this process to be smooth and quick, he added.

The online publication said about 83 households between Bloemhof Dam and the Vaal River had been advised to leave their homes.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Very high-quality water-soluble nutrient with incredibly responsive service - Anthony Helms, New York Hemp Service

Plant Life Company announced a significant product line expansion via our recently developed marketplace, http://www.plantlifeco.com. Since 2011 Plant Life has offered a high-end nutrient for professional cultivators. With its new marketplace, Plant Life delivers an expanded suite of superior products for the sophisticated cultivator, featuring other elite brands from across the industry.

At Plant Life, our mantra has always been a superior product for a fair value with unrivaled responsive customer service. We expect that same level of excellence from the brands with which we support in our new marketplace. The offerings featured at plantlifeco.com are hand-selected, naturally correlating products, curated to complement our core nutrient line and provide cultivators with a one-stop shopping experience for all their material needs.

"After many years of growing cannabis, it truly is a pleasure working with the guys from Plant Life. Very high-quality water-soluble nutrient with incredibly responsive service," said Anthony Helms, Head of Cultivation, New York Hemp Service.

Our preventative, not curative philosophy reflects in our partnerships with best-in-class companies like Fohse, Anden, Red Rock Blocks, Vectorfog, and EPM, alongside the recent expansion of our Exotic Ag, Professional Cannabis, and AgriHusta nutrient lines, an expanded organic fertilizer offering. We believe that incorporating these partner products and services into the innovative cultivator's grow regimen helps create a healthier, more robust plant from planting to harvest.

We are thrilled to expand the distribution of our industry changing RedRock Rockwool line of grow plugs, slabs, and blocks through a quality partner like Plant Life, commented Aaron Morris, Founder/CEO of RedRock, an RF Agriculture, Inc. company.

"We are incredibly excited to launch our new marketplace. To do so alongside such great partners like Fohse, RedRock, and Cody Nikkel, co-Developer of Exotic Ag Professional Nutrients, is a testament to our core values and refusal to accept mediocrity as an easier solution," added David Ellerstein, co-founder and Managing Partner of Plant Life Company. "Having a trusted industry expert like Cody put his seal of approval to what we have created is evidence to what we've been striving to accomplish for professional growers across the industry," continued Ellerstein.

Additionally, Plant Life aims to expand our educational resources throughout 2022. Formerly known as our Growology 101 series, this year, cultivators can expect weekly blog posts and tutorial videos addressing common issues, innovations, and opportunities facing professional cultivators. These snackable content segments include a more consistent and expanded digital presence across all of our social media channels like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebookall to provide cultivators with additional resources in their ever-evolving desire for cultivation self-improvement.

About Plant Life Company

With over 160 years of combined fertilizer industry experience, Plant Life Company offers the professional grower an unparalleled level of nutrient expertise. The Doggett family name has been synonymous as the leader in fertilizers since the 1920s. These collaborative resources and breadth of practical knowledge allow Plant Life Company to develop an unparalleled line of nutrients targeted to the burgeoning greenhouse market and other B2B enterprises. Plant Life Company is undeniably creating a new benchmark. Learn more at http://www.plantlifeco.com.

About Anden

Anden is designed and built for professional cultivation with components proven to perform in the extreme conditions of a grow room environment. With a complete lineup of grow-optimized dehumidifiers at capacities up to 710 pints per day, humidifiers, and precision controls, Anden has the environmental control solution for any size facility to achieve desired humidity balance and maximum growth potential. From design and delivery to installation, setup, and service, the Anden team is committed to the cultivator and here to help every step of the way.

About EPM

EPM manufactures ecosystem-friendly products for horticulture and agriculture. Today's world dictates that it is important for products to be as safe as possible for humans, animals, and plants, but they must also be cost-effective and truly capable of getting the job done. Using EPM products helps to reduce the risk of injury to humans, animals, plants, and the environment while lowering the costs associated with negative health issues and environmental contamination.

About Fohse

Fohse, the Future of Horticultural Science & Engineering, a leading manufacturer of high-performance LED grow lights, creates lighting fixtures that enable previously unobtainable and unthinkable results. Fohse's sustainable and innovative first-of-their-kind products create a loyal customer base around the world.

About RedRock Blocks

Commercial Grade Stonewool Grow Blocks, Grow Cubes, Grow Slabs, and Grow Plugs! The commercial cultivator's choice for high quality, locally sourced, and manufactured stone wool grow media and propagation substrate fit for any grow operation. RedRock Blocks stone wool blocks, slabs, and plugs offer cultivators, propagators, and commercial growers the opportunity to grow more while using less: less water, less plant nutrients, and less growing space! Give RedRock Block a call today for wholesale pricing on premium-grade stonewool grow media for large-scale cannabis growers!

About Vectorfog

Vectorfog serves global industries including, but not limited to, pest control, agriculture, healthcare, and restoration. They heavily invest in research and development, which allows them to stay at the forefront of the latest technologies. Offering a wide range of rugged Ultra-Low Volume (ULV) foggers, as well as Thermal foggers, they have a fogger that will meet your every need.
Ravinia Capital LLC, a Chicago-based boutique investment bank specializing in sell-side M&A advisory for middle-market companies, is pleased to announce the sale of Cycle Force Group LLC through a Chapter 11 Section 363 sale process overseen by Hon. Judge Anita L. Shodeen of the Iowa Southern Bankruptcy Court. The transaction closed in December of 2021.

Cycle Force Group, an Ames, Iowa-based importer and distributor of bicycles, parts and accessories founded in 1998, filed for bankruptcy protection in April of 2021 when it found itself with insufficient liquidity to support its purchasing requirements and an inability to source the necessary funds to cover this shortfall.

Once the Bankruptcy Court approved its retention, Ravinia worked quickly to launch a full-scale sales process, and marketed Cycle Force to both private equity firms and strategic buyers. Working closely with the companys other professional advisors, Ravinia was able to secure a Stalking Horse Bid from Messingschlager GmbH & Co. KG in under 75 days, as well as negotiate with them a purchase agreement which ensured that the company would be preserved as a going concern, helping save jobs and position Cycle Force for future growth.

In its role as exclusive investment banking advisor to the debtor, Ravinia Capital ensured continuity of business for this innovative player within the growing micromobility market, and in doing so, avoided a costly liquidation process which would have dramatically reduced the sale proceeds received by Cycle Force's creditors.

The sell-side professional advisors on the transaction were:



Investment Bankers

Ravinia Capital LLC  Tom Goldblatt, Managing Partner; Michael Shanahan, Analyst

Turnaround Consultants

CR3 Partners LLC  Jeff Hyland, Partner; Carmen Barrett, Director

Global Turnarounds Inc.  Kobus van der Zel, Founder & CEO

Debtors Counsel

Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave, P.C.  Jeffrey D. Goetz, Shareholder; Krystal R. Mikkilineni, Shareholder; Tirzah R. Roussell, Associate

About Ravinia Capital:

Ravinia Capital LLC is a middle market investment bank headquartered in Chicago, IL. The firm is a trusted advocate for companies who are looking for capital to invest for future growth, buy more time in tough situations, or facilitate succession, ownership transition or exit strategies. Ravinia specializes in merger and acquisition advisory services, capital raises (including debt refinancing), and helping clients develop and execute strategic alternatives. The firm has distinguished itself by building a track record of successful engagements that optimize outcomes by working with clients to uncover the range of options available to them.
Superintendent/President Willy Duncan, Board of Trustees President Carol Garcia, Board of Trustees members Bob Romness, Scott Leslie, and Vice Presidents Erik Skinner and Rebecca Bocchicchio.

On Tuesday, January 18th, Sierra College held a ceremonial beam signing for its New Instructional Building which broke ground last fall on the Rocklin campus. This new three-story classroom building, scheduled to open in Fall 2023, will replace and consolidate classrooms from several smaller inefficient buildings into one larger efficient building with modern and comfortable classrooms and gathering places.

Sierra College President/Superintendent Willy Duncan, together with Sierra College Board of Trustees President Carol Garcia and Board of Trustees members Bob Romness and Scott Leslie, welcomed the campus community to join them in signing the beam. The beam will be placed in the building's framework later this year.

When complete, the New Instructional Building will provide approximately 75,000 gross square feet of classrooms, teaching laboratories, and office space.

The new building will be located directly north of Weaver Hall and west of the new parking garage on the northern edge of the Rocklin campus.

This project is funded by Measure E, which was approved by voters in 2018. Measure E is a demonstration in the vote of confidence in the future of the community, and the future of Sierra College. Sierra College is using the funds provided with Measure E as a base and, along with state facilities bond funds, and other funds from our strong fiscal management updating our campus with new facilities to keep pace with the workforce training and education needs of our community.

Sierra College improvement projects made possible by Measure E include the recently completed Parking Garage with 1,501 parking spaces, and the Student Union Kitchen Renovation.

Other current projects include Campus Wide Infrastructure Improvement, upsizing or replacement of utility and technology services to all existing and new buildings, and the Applied Technology Center Modernization which will update and connect the current Automotive Technology and Woods/Metals Technology instructional buildings, which were built in the 1960's, creating a vocational technology hub on the Rocklin campus.

Information on this and other construction projects at Sierra College is available at http://www.sierracollege.edu/improvements

About Sierra College

Sierra College District is rising to the needs of our community. Sierra College serves 3200 square miles of Northern CA with campuses in Roseville, Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four-year universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region. More information at http://www.sierracollege.edu
On January 5th, So Others Might Eat (SOME), an interfaith, community-based service organization that serves individuals and families experiencing poverty and homelessness in the District, announced the retirement of its distinguished Board Chair, along with the addition of four new board members, a new Chair of SOMES Board of Directors, as well as a new Chair of its Nominating, Governance and Human Resources Committee.

Long-time distinguished Board member Sister Mary Bader, CEO of the St. Anns Center for Children, Youth, and Families, recently announced her retirement as Chair of SOMEs Board of Directors, responding to the call of her religious order (Daughters of Charity) to take on more duties and responsibilities, involving more frequent travel. The SOME community extends its deepest and heartfelt thanks to Sister Mary for her decade of service. She served as SOMEs Chair during a pivotal time, a time of significant growth in SOMEs housing portfolio, along with its supportive services and clinical programs, all of which continued uninterrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. For many years, Sister Mary has been a steadying, inspiring, and affirming leader for SOME, our North Star in many important respects, said SOME President and CEO Ralph Boyd. We are pleased that she will become an honorary Member Emeritus of SOMEs Board of Directors.

Concurrently, SOME also announced the ascension of new officers on its Board of Directors. In their new leadership roles as Board Chair and Nominating, Governance, and Human Resources Chair respectively, Jason Geno and Mary Miller will add significantly to the quality of the SOMEs Boards engagement, oversight, and deliberations, said President and CEO Ralph Boyd. Jason has a unique background and wealth of experience that we will draw from as we continue to innovate and build on SOMEs vision and strategy moving forward. Similarly, Mary has displayed exemplary leadership as a member of the SOME Board, as well as in her leadership role at the Edison Electric Institute. We are honored that she has seen fit to be so deeply engaged in SOMEs mission to end poverty and homelessness.

Board Members recently elected as officers of the SOME Board of Directors, include:



Jason Geno, Founder and Managing Principal of Human Capital Initiatives, LLC (HCi) is the new Chairperson of the SOME Board of Directors. Jason Geno has more than 25 years of human resources, technology, and strategic management experience, specializing in human capital development, business process improvement, legal and regulatory compliance, and technology integration. HCi has been recognized as one of the first management consulting firms in the country to successfully advise clients on workforce strategies relating to the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD). Geno has provided advisory services to a wide range of governmental agencies, corporations, professional service firms, and nonprofits. He has successfully helped clients maximize their return on employee investment, increase the effectiveness of their operational procedures, and minimize their exposure to liability and operational risk. He has recently worked with some of the countrys leading housing authorities to improve operational efficiencies and implement cost-saving procedures through process improvements, effective utilization of technology and staffing resources, and performance-based compensation plans. He focuses on creating successful operational and administrative process structures, which complement the strategic goals and objectives of the organization. Geno has served as a member of the SOME Board of Directors since 2006, and most recently as the Chair of SOMEs Nominating, Governance and Human Resources Committee.

Mary Miller, (retired) Chief Administrative Officer, Edison Electric Institute (EEI), serves as the new Chair of SOMEs Nominating, Governance and Human Resources Committee. As the former Chief Administrative Officer, Mary Miller played a key leadership role in the work of EEI, an association of investor-owned electric companies whose members generate and distribute approximately three-quarters of the nation's electricity. EEI membership includes a growing list of affiliate members representing utilities worldwide. She also served as the President of the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD), a nonprofit consortium of electric, natural gas, and nuclear utilities and their associations. Prior to joining EEI, Miller was Vice President of Human Resources for the American Gas Association (AGA). She also was the special assistant to the CEO. Miller previously served as a member of SOMEs Corporate Advisory Board and has been a member of SOMEs governing Board since 2019.

Board members are selected based on their experience, expertise, sound judgment, and commitment to helping people and families experiencing poverty and homelessness, Boyd said, We are fortunate to have Armando O. Bonilla, Louis Buell, Evelyn Tollinche Miller, and Michelle Russo bringing their individual and collective experience and insights to our Board. Their expertise in risk management, technology, finance, governance, communications, and service delivery is critical to the best execution of our mission.

Newly elected board members include:

Armando O. Bonilla, Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims. In 2021, Judge Bonilla was nominated by President Biden, and subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. At the time of his nomination, Bonilla was the Vice President, Ethics and Investigations, for Capital Ones Office of Ethics, Corporate Investigations, and Governance. During his tenure at Capital One, he formed the Ethics Office while also co-authoring Capital Ones Code of Conduct. From 1994 through 2018, Bonilla also served with distinction in several senior executive roles at the U.S. Department of Justice, including as Associate General Counsel for the U.S. Marshals Service, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Bonilla is a recipient of the 2011 U.S. Attorney Generals Award for Distinguished Service.

Louis Buell, Director, Software Engineering, Capital One Financial Corp. Louis Buell is a dynamic and innovative leader in software engineering, leading his team to ensure the stability of technology systems across the company. He advises executives on long-term strategy and vision with a particular focus on enhancing the customer experience. Before coming to Capital One, Buell served as Vice President, Application Infrastructure, at Goldman Sachs; and before that he was the Application Development Manager for Capital Markets at Fannie Mae.

Evelyn Tollinche Miller, Deputy Chief Counsel, National Geographic Partners, The Walt Disney Company. Evelyn Tollinche Miller oversees all legal functions for NGP Television and Magazine, while also serving as primary legal counsel for National Geographic senior management. In this capacity, she partners closely with Disneys legal teams supporting NGPs other businesses. Miller also is the principal liaison for legal affairs for the National Geographic Society. During her impressive legal career, Miller has served as Senior Counsel at Viacom Media Networks, and as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children in Chicago, receiving the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award three years in a row while an attorney at the firm of Arnold Porter Kaye Scholer. Millers volunteer activities also include serving on SOMEs Corporate Advisory Board and as Pro bono Counsel for Kids in Need of Defense.

Michelle Russo, Chief Communications Officer, US Chamber of Commerce. Michelle Russo joined the US Chamber of Commerce in 2019 as its first Chief Communications Officer. During her tenure at the Chamber, Russo has helped transform and modernize its communications function, working diligently to develop strategies that constructively frame public debate on key issues, elevating issues important to the business community, and enhancing the Chambers value for its members. Prior to joining the Chamber, Russo served as Executive Vice President of Global Communications for Discovery, Inc. She also has served on SOMEs Corporate Advisory Board, playing a meaningful role in supporting SOMEs Gala and special events, helping raise critical unrestricted capital for the organization, and providing advice and counsel to SOMEs senior leadership team.

About SOME

SOME provides material aid and comfort to our neighbors in the District, helping them break the cycle of poverty and homelessness through programs and services that save lives, improve lives and help transform lives of individuals and families, their communities and the systems and structures that affect them. Learn more about SOMEs leadership and Board of Directors at https://some.org/about/mission/leadership.
While we're still focused on serving our clients in the Chicago area and other parts of the country, we're excited to grow our business in Florida.

Stratosphere Networks has announced plans to dedicate additional resources to the Florida market to accelerate growth in the region. The company remains headquartered in the Chicago area but is looking to make more connections and expand its existing client base in Florida.

Stratospheres IT consulting and trusted advisor services allow companies to avoid the often time-intensive and costly shopping-around process of looking for new IT solutions and efficiently identify best-in-class Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), customer experience (CX), digital transformation, business process outsourcing (BPO), managed IT and cybersecurity products and services.

"While we're still focused on serving our clients in the Chicago area and other parts of the country, we're excited to grow our business in Florida," said Steve Melchiorre, CEO of Stratosphere Networks. "The state has become a popular destination for corporations and tech workers alike, and we're looking to seize the opportunities available there to take on new clients."

The companys Florida office can serve businesses in Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Sarasota, Tallahassee, and Cape Coral, among other cities.

For more information, please visit https://www.stratospherenetworks.com.

About Stratosphere Networks

Stratosphere Networks helps businesses bypass the traditional sales process and quickly find leading Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), customer experience (CX), digital transformation, business process outsourcing (BPO), managed IT and cybersecurity solutions. Leveraging advanced tools and in-depth knowledge of the technology landscape, our team identifies products and services that position our clients for lasting success. Visit https://www.stratospherenetworks.com for more information.

For more information contact:

Lori Leonardo

847-440-8608

LoriL@stratospherenetworks.com
Engineers at Draper have developed a new predictive design tool to reduce product failures and improve productivity for printed circuit board manufacturers. Credit: Draper PCB designers and manufacturers are no longer limited to manufacturing by trial and error. Instead, they can spend their time evaluating design changes that might be useful. Wade Goldman at Draper.

Printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers are boosting their investment in inspection, test and analytics to meet the increasingly stringent demands for reliability. The result is a growing demand for predictive design techniques that enable engineers to hone manufacturing performance and reconfigure operations to be more efficient and reduce waste.

Predictive design is about analyzing current and historical data and generating a model to help predict future outcomes.

Now, a new predictive design tool, developed by Draper, has been tested and validated to show it can predict material failure rates and help determine design requirements for printed circuit boards and similar products. In tests, engineers found that the tool accurately predicted methods to reduce and eliminate laminate crack initiation and propagation on a printed circuit board.

The study, prepared for IPC APEX EXPO 2022, was conducted by designing printed circuit boards, using different configurations and materials, and subjecting the boards to environmental stresses and other tests. Using principles of predictive design, engineers developed data sets to guide them. One data set included tests of the PCB materials for such attributes as fracture toughness and thermal conductivity. Another set included detailed design characteristics of the PCB itself.

With the data, the engineers developed a virtual test bed, called a finite element analysis (FEA) computer-aided model, and used it to run scenarios of various PCBs. The FEA model successfully predicted a 50 percent decrease in internal stress that would reduce or completely eliminate PCB laminate cracks.

Just by tweaking the kind of materials and design layouts of a printed circuit board, the team was able to reduce the number, kinds and severity of defects in the board when very minor design changes are made. In their quest to develop a new model, the team, led by Wade Goldman of Draper, capitalized on material characterization testing data and detailed design characteristics of the PCB itself to build a robust model.

The FEA model allows us to move attributes around to reduce the number and likelihood of cracks in the PCB, Goldman says. If each design works as expected, PCB designers and manufacturers are no longer limited to manufacturing by trial and error. Instead, they can spend their time evaluating design changes that might be useful in order to reduce defects and not change their processes.

The model arrives at an opportune time for the technology industry, Goldman adds. These days its all about designing higher density PCBs. As a result, interconnects are becoming smaller, which introduces fragility, and the industry is making more material choices to make higher density interconnects work. You need a predictive design tool to support that effort.

The engineers stated the predictive design tool they developed and implemented in this study has been validated and is expected to provide PCB designers with a model for determining design rules for future products. Goldman says, With this new capability, we have taken a big step in being able to manufacture higher quality printed circuit boards.

Goldman and his Draper colleagues Hailey Jordan and Curtis Leonard received an honorable mention at the IPC APEX EXPO 2021 for a paper on a similar topic, Analyzing Printed Circuit Board Voiding and other Anomalies when Requirements Covering the Anomalies are Vague.

At Draper, we believe exciting things happen when new capabilities are imagined and created. Whether formulating a concept and developing each component to achieve a field-ready prototype or combining existing technologies in new ways, Draper engineers apply multidisciplinary approaches that deliver new capabilities to customers. As a nonprofit engineering innovation company, Draper focuses on the design, development and deployment of advanced technological solutions for the worlds most challenging and important problems. We provide engineering solutions directly to government, industry and academia; work on teams as prime contractor or subcontractor; and participate as a collaborator in consortia. We provide unbiased assessments of technology or systems designed or recommended by other organizationscustom designed, as well as commercial-off-the-shelf.
"This program was designed by HR attorneys for HR professionals to help organizations lower their risk, maximize legal spend, and get answers to day-to-day HR problems."

Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, LLP, a premier civil litigation firm, offers an HR-focused legal subscription program for organizations who need legal advice on HR problems. Responding to the needs of its members, Thompson Coe recently updated the subscription options to maximize the value of the myHRgenius program for members and better serve the ongoing needs of employers during a time of rapidly changing employment law and regulation.

The subscription options for myHRgenius are Savant, Brainiac, and Genius. Each subscription option includes unlimited HR counsel, monthly webinars, primers, weekly summaries, and timely podcasts on all the things to support a business HR needs.

Thompson Coe attorneys counsel clients through a broad range of issues in their day-to-day operations. They work as an extension of the organization to develop the necessary strategies to manage HR issues in real time. As you navigate the employment law maze, you can rely on Thompson Coe attorneys to help reduce potential litigation and minimize threats to your organizations bottom line.

Every myHRgenius member has access to a dedicated, HR-focused legal team from Thompson Coe, a multi-service award-winning national law firm. The Firm has offices in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and St. Paul, Minnesota. In addition to office locations, the Firm represents employers throughout the U.S. and has represented clients in matters pending in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin.

Our myHRgenius members have the peace-of-mind knowing that they have access to real HR lawyers who help them understand complex HR laws, said Kevin Mosher, Thompson Coe Labor & Employment partner and myHRgenius managing partner. This program was designed by HR attorneys for HR professionals to help organizations lower their risk, maximize legal spend, and get answers to day-to-day HR problems.

Thompson Coe attorneys counsel clients on everything from the pre-employment process to post-termination compliance with non-competition and other agreements. Additional counseling includes giving advice on the timing of background checks, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, negotiation of employment contracts, effective handling of performance and attendance issues, evaluating accommodation requests, determining eligibility for and designating FMLA leave, internal complaints and investigations, terminations, reductions in force, and potential litigation against an employee who is violating an employment agreement or who has retained confidential employer information.

Additionally, Thompson Coe offers myHRgenius members employment training courses and HR webinars on a wide range of critical topics, which answer tough legal and compliance questions, offer practical guidance, and explore proactive approaches to maintaining a positive work environment while minimizing the risk or threat of a lawsuit.

About Thompson Coe

Founded in 1951, Thompson Coe has been providing legal services to clients both regionally and nationally for 70 years. Thompson Coe is 200+ attorney firm with offices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and St. Paul, Minnesota. The firm is highly recognized for its civil litigation capabilities and our diverse group of attorneys has the experience, resources, and capacity to respond to the multi-service demands of our clients across multiple states and industries. Thompson Coe offers comprehensive legal services in areas of Insurance Litigation and Coverage, Products Liability, Mass Torts, Property and Casualty Litigation, Labor and Employment, Business & Commercial Litigation, Professional Liability, Appellate Law, Insurance Regulation, State Legislation, and Business Transactions, among others.

About myHRgenius

myHRgenius is a subscription-based legal service program offered by Thompson Coe, a multi-service award-winning national law firm. Members of myHRgenius receive unlimited HR counsel, monthly webinars, primers, weekly summaries, and timely podcasts on all the things to support a business HR needs.


Town of Marlborough Joins Community of Local Buyers with the Empire State Purchasing Group Registered vendors can access bids, related documents, addendum and award information.

Today, the Town of Marlborough announces it has joined the Empire State Purchasing Group, a regional purchasing community by bidnet direct. Local government agencies throughout New York state utilize the purchasing group for bid and vendor management. The Town of Marlborough invites all potential vendors to register online with the Empire State Purchasing Group to access its upcoming solicitations by visiting http://www.bidnetdirect.com/new-york/townofmarlboroughny.

The Town of Marlborough joins the Empire State Purchasing Group and the community of over 275 participating local government agencies located throughout New York. Along with a variety of bid and vendor management solutions, the Town of Marlborough gains access to a bid library to help with bid creation, a shared pool of vendors, and association with like-minded purchasing professionals in the area.

Collaboration is important to us, says Supervisor, Scott Corcoran for the Town of Marlborough. "We look forward to being able to improve our efficiency by using the Empire State Purchasing Group. In addition to our time savings, our valued vendors can now access not only our open bids, but those from other municipalities, counties and school districts throughout the state. We invite all of our current vendors to register.

Vendors interested in doing business with the Town of Marlborough and other nearby government agencies are encouraged to register at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/new-york/townofmarlboroughny. Benefits of joining the Empire State Purchasing Group include:



Centralized location for bids from over 275 participating agencies

Bid alerts customized to the vendors products or services

Reliable and timely delivery of notifications, addenda and documents

Advanced notice of Term Contract expiration

E-Bid and E-Quote Submission

The Empire State Purchasing Group is one of bidnet directs regional purchasing groups throughout the country. It provides the Town of Marlborough a bid and vendor management solution, document and addendum distribution, and tracking of all activity throughout the procurement process.

About the Town of Marlborough:

Marlborough was named for John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough and officially became a Town in 1788. Marlborough is a historic farming community located in the beautiful Hudson Valley, about 70 miles North of New York City. The fertile land and close proximity to the Hudson River helped Marlborough become a successful farming community and is abundant with fruit and vegetable farms along with first class vineyards. The Route 9W commercial corridor runs North and South of the Town connecting the hamlets of Marlboro and Milton. Marlboroughs unique proximity to the Hudson River brings with it recreational, historic and cultural opportunities like our Milton Landing Park, the restored 1886 Milton Train Station, marinas, spas, restaurants, music venues, pick your own farms and Wineries. Our community is a mix of historic farming and business families, combined with people looking for a better place to live and raise their families. Marlborough has a unique balance of old and new traditional values which attracts a diverse mix of individuals and businesses to our quant little Town on the Hudson.

About bidnet direct:

bidnet direct, powered by mdf commerce, is a sourcing solution of regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. bidnet direct runs regional purchasing groups, including the Empire State Purchasing Group, across all 50 states that are used by over 1,600 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit http://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers
"Contactors and construction companies across Idaho are scrambling to keep up, and our new Idaho office is already busy helping them"

Vector Structural Engineers, which is headquartered near Salt Lake City and has facilities in Arizona and California as well as elsewhere in Utah, has recently opened an office in Idaho. The new branch location, currently in Boise, will relocate to nearby Meridian in May of this year. Idaho, says Vector Principal Engineer Jacob Proctor, is booming. According to the 2020 Census, its population grew 17.3% over ten yearssecond only to Utahs first-place growth of 18.5%.(1) Contactors and construction companies across the state are scrambling to keep up, and our new Idaho office is already busy helping them.

Boise is now the hottest housing market in the country, ahead of Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham North Carolina, and Tampa, Florida.(2) With rising population and new housing, notes Proctor, comes a parallel surge in commercial building design and constructionand in both areas, a need for combined precision and speed. Construction is a very time-intensive industry, he says, and we specialize in keeping projects on schedule.

The Vector office in Idaho operates under the management of Kyle Atwood, PE. A ten-year veteran in structural engineering, Atwood has helped create and develop multiple structure design tools, and has a thorough knowledge of the governing design standards at the national and local levels. Working closely with him in the Boise office are fellow engineers Brendan Sines and Rob Martin. Sines, who brings six years of experience to the Vector team, has worked on everything from residential remodels to large multi-discipline industrial projects. Martin is also a structural engineer with multiple years of experience. Prior to becoming an engineer, he worked as a carpenter for nearly a decade.

We take great pleasure in being here, says Atwood, and we look forward to bringing our own expertiseand that of the entire Vector organizationto our booming neighbor state.

Currently, Vectors Idaho office is at 1550 S. Cloverdale Road, Suite 315, Boise, ID 83709; (208) 695-5242. When the new space is completed in May, the office will be in Meridian, at the corner of Ustick and Linder. You can reach the Vector Idaho team either through kyle.atwood@vectorse.com or http://www.vectorse.com.

About Vector Structural Engineers:

Founded in 2002, Vector Structural Engineers is a full-service structural engineering firm with over 2,500 clients throughout the United States. The companys areas of expertise include multi-family, residential, commercial, telecom, bridges, industrial, and solar. Services include the design of new structures, the analysis and redesign of retrofit and repairs of existing structures, as well as residential and commercial solar structural certifications. Expert witness experience includes structural defects, foundation settlement, building code analysis, and soil and structure stabilization. Vectors team includes 45 engineers, a full drafting division, and support staff. The company is headquartered in Draper, Utah, with satellite offices in Mesa, Arizona; Layton, Utah; St. George, Utah; Tustin, California; and Boise, Idaho.

1. Labor, Idaho Department of, et al. Census 2020 Confirms Idaho Ranks Second Nationally in Population Growth. Idaho@Work, 13 Sept. 2021, idahoatwork.com/2021/09/03/census-2020-confirms-idaho-ranks-second-nationally-in-population-growth/.

2. McKellar, Katie. The Wild West's Housing Market: These Utah, Idaho Cities Top New List for Biggest Price Increases . Deseret News, Deseret News, 18 Oct. 2021, deseret.com/utah/2021/10/18/22732959/the-wild-west-housing-prices-utah-idaho-boise-salt-lake-city-top-new-us-list-biggest-price-increases.

Media Inquiries:

James (Jamey) Johnston

Vector Structural Engineers

(801) 990-1775

james@vectorse.com
Owl, a digital behavioral health technology company, today announced that WellStone Inc., North Alabamas largest and most comprehensive behavioral healthcare provider, has selected Owl as its behavioral health platform to measure and improve clinical outcomes and increase transparency with its payers in preparation for value-based care.

Partnering with Owl was an obvious choice for us, said Jeremy Blair, CEO of WellStone. Not only will the data from Owl help us demonstrate to payers that we deliver effective client care, but the Owl platform will engage clients in their treatment and give clinicians easy-to-use tools, leading to improved clinical outcomes, he continued. As a behavioral health organization that is so deeply committed to bettering the lives of our clients within the community, Owl is the clear answer that will ultimately help the adults, adolescents and children who rely on our services in times of need.

WellStone chose to partner with Owl to:

Become a more data-driven company: As an innovative and forward-thinking behavioral healthcare provider, WellStone understands the importance of being a data-driven company to track and improve patient care supported by outcomes data with measurement-based care.

Prepare for value-based care: WellStone will use the population health data insights generated by Owl to support value-based reimbursement models with their payers.

Provide management with actionable insights: Leveraging Owls recently launched Owl Analytics product, WellStone will have actionable insights to assess and improve clinical effectiveness and efficiency and overall quality of care.

As the industry moves towards being more data-driven to enable value-based care, its essential for behavioral health organizations to have the insights generated from quality and outcomes data at their fingertips, said Eric Meier, CEO and President of Owl. Owl arms WellStone with the actionable insights needed to improve their clinical outcomes and enable value-based care.

Learn more about Owl at http://www.owl.health.

About Owl

Owl gives behavioral health organizations better data, better insights, and better outcomes with its data-driven, evidence-based solutions. Leading organizations, including Main Line Health, Amita Health, Inova Health, Polara Health, and Aurora Mental Health Center, rely on Owl to expand access to care, improve clinical outcomes, and prepare for value-based care. Owl makes measurement-based care easy to engage patients, optimize treatment, improve care, reduce clinician burden, and capture data to optimize business performance. For more information on our transformational behavioral health solutions, visit owl.health.

About WellStone

WellStone, Inc. is a non-profit community organization that provides mental health and substance abuse services supporting the integrated health of the whole person. The organization offers programs for children, adolescents, adults, substance abuse, school-based outreach, community services and more. WellStone operates 12 facilities throughout Huntsville and Cullman and is certified through the Alabama Department of Mental Health. For more information, visit http://www.wellstone.com. Additional media inquiries can be directed to the Communications Office by emailing pr@wellstone.com or by calling (256) 705-6301.
Xulon Press is thrilled to once again extend the opportunity to have Christian writers work recognized and rewarded. Besides the esteemed honor of being named the 2022 January Christian Writers Awards writing contest winner, the Grand Prize writer will also receive an Elite Publishing Package (valued at $8,780) to publish a book with Xulon Press. Out of the several hundred outstanding entries received from around the world, three winners were chosen after careful deliberation.

The 2022 January Christian Writers Awards writing contest winners are:

Grand Prize Winner

15 Years by Michele Sparkman

2nd Place

Whisper by Michelle Gott

3rd Place

No Matter the Cost by Mikiah Sanderson

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Xulon Press would also like to extend a big thank you and congratulations to every talented author that participated in the 2022 January Christian Writers Awards writing contest. Xulon Press invites all faith-based writers to enter the next round of the Christian Writers Award writing contest which will take place in April 2022. Here you will have the opportunity to win a Publishing Package from Xulon Press and become a published author--just like these names above!

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Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 20,000 titles published to date.

Media Contact: Xulon Press

Email: contest@xulonpress.com
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.
Dutch author Marieke Nijkamp is known for writing gripping, incisive, bestselling fiction about weighty topics. Their debut, This Is Where It Ends, unfolds during a high school shooting, and the follow-up, Before I Let Go, deals with teenage grief, depression, and isolation. In Nijkamps new YA novel, At the End of Everything, the teen residents of Hope Juvenile Treatment Center in rural Arkansas must fend for themselves after a pandemic breaks out and the adults in charge abandon the facility. Nijkamp spoke with PW from their home in the Netherlands via Zoom regarding inclusivity, criminal justice reform, and Covid-19s influence on this book, their life, and contemporary YA fiction to come.

Did Covid-19 inspire the circumstances of this book, or had you already conceived of the story when the pandemic hit?

I think a bit of both. My editor, my agent, and I started talking about the book in February 2020, so Covid had already hit, but the world hadnt actually shut down yet.

Did the ensuing crisis influence the books plot?

It didnt change the plot, as such, but it definitely gave me a far more immediate understanding of the main characters fears. There were elements of the story that were taken from headlines or stories I heardmostly additional bits and pieces, like phone conversations [between inmates and their families] and news articles. Moments like one of the parents commenting on how their neighbor was visiting despite people in their house being ill were my way of dealing with the frustration of seeing that happen in real life. Moments, too, reflecting discussions about what will we do if ICUs get overrun completely, who will we shut out? Seeing how the world was talking about disabled people, specificallyI needed to at least acknowledge that in the book. And then, as the pandemic continued, I saw far too many situations where prisons were forgotten or under such strict quarantine and isolation rules that it was bordering on inhumane. That felt uncomfortably close to the book I was writing. I set out to write a book that was maybe slightly beyond realistic so it wouldnt be too overwhelming, and I think as the last two years continued, it got closer to reality by virtue of many places in the world just not being able to handle Covid well.

What was it like to write about a pandemic while living through one?

The hardest part is that I was writing the book while I had Covid and was recovering from it. It was not easy escapism, but sometimes it helps to have a fictional world or context that allows you to deal with the emotions of hardship and trauma in a safer manner. I had deadlines for the book, but I could choose to step away from it when it got to be too much, so in that sense, it still felt like escapism.

The story is set at a juvenile detention center, and advocates for juvenile justice reform. What made you decide to tackle that particular topic?

Its something Ive been interested in for a while. I didnt necessarily set out to write a book that went very in depth about it, but the more research I did and the closer I got to these characters, the more I realized that was actually at the heart of the bookthe injustice and the unfairness. When we started talking about the book, I was just thinking of situations that are antithetical to [surviving] a pandemic. I wanted to explore a situation where the characters were physically incapable of social distancing, of keeping themselves safe, because they had nowhere else to go. So that was kind of the starting point. Like, this is an interesting tension; what can I do with it? And then when I properly dove into doing the research and reading up on the state of criminal justice, specifically juvenile criminal justice in times of Covid... God, its horrifying.

Turning this into a book demands that you take a position as a writer, and its something that Ive been following ever since. Its something that isnt necessarily U.S.-specific, though I think elements of it are, but even today in the Netherlands there was discussion about an entire detention center being put in quarantine because of a Covid outbreak, and prisoners going on strike earlier this week because they were under such strict visitation rules. Its something I think we should be more aware of, because its easy to feel like, oh, this group of people arent part of us. Its so easy to other people. Hopefully, books like this can help humanize and remind us of our shared responsibility.

You founded DiversifYA and were a founding senior vice president of We Need Diverse Books. How do you define diversity, and why is this cause so important to you?

Im trying to move away from talking about diversity and instead talk about inclusion. For me, it means creating a space where its possible for people of all kinds of backgrounds, specifically marginalized backgrounds, to be heard equally and be represented equally. And I think thats important because the very basic answer is, that is what the world looks like, and our fiction, in so many cases, does not represent that. It may be seen by some people as neutral, but its actually as fictional as anything else. I think the fact that so many people arent represented well in media is incredibly harmful, both for ones sense of self and for a broader sense of empathy. Its important that we all do the work in trying to make the playing field a bit more equal.

And for me personally, it matters because I am a nonbinary disabled writer who, up until a few years ago, didnt even have the word nonbinary to describe myself. I did not know that was a possibility, and it would have at least been helpful in terms of figuring out myself. There are quite a few books being published now with nonbinary main characters, as opposed to just a single one every year, and the same is true for queer characters, in general. Its so important to show teens that this is a very normal way to be, to maybe give them the language to understand themselves better or to understand the people around them. The same holds true for disability, not so much in terms of language, but in terms of just being seen as fully human.

What are you working on now?

I am working on my next YA. I actually just had a conversation with my agent and editor earlier today about figuring out what the new normal will be like. I still sort of want to revert back to what normal was like two years ago, so Im trying to wrap my mind around what the world will look like in two years. Two years ago, I definitely didnt expect to be launching this book in the midst of a new Omicron spike; I naively thought the world would look slightly different. Building a contemporary YA from the ground up, it makes it feel so definitive to be like, Oh yes, masking and quarantining and schools out again because Covid or restrictions or all the teachers are ill. Its so weird to consider that, and make that part of the baseline. It will be very interesting to see what the media landscape will look like in about a year, year and a half, when everything has had time to settle down and be internalized. I honestly dont know what to expect. Ive been talking to my writer friends, and everyone is struggling with that. I feel like at this point its too all-encompassing to ignore completely, so its about finding the right balance, and thats certainly a fun challenge.

Ive also been working on my middle grade graphic novel, which should be out next year. Its a fantasy inspired by Renaissance Italy, and thats somehow easier. There are still a lot of things going wrong in that world, because its a book and stuff needs to happen, but thats definitely my escapism right now.

At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp. Sourcebooks Fire, $18.99 Jan. 25 ISBN 978-1-4926-7315-6
Potential art connoisseurs browse Artists Own gallery on Main Street in downtown Lafayette as part of a 2019 Gallery Walk. On Monday, the gallery will be filled the works of local high school students for the 13th Annual Artists Own High School Art Show.
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ZDF Enterprises has concluded deals for a range of dramas with Asian clients with titles includiung new series Agatha Christies Hjerson (8x45) and Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles (8x50) as well as Top Dog (8x45).

Japans AXN Mystery secured the exclusive pay-TV rights of Agatha Christies Hjerson. Recently, the channel had already acquired the crime series Dead Still and Queens of Mystery. Agatha Christies Hjerson is the first ever adaptation based on the fictional detective of Agatha Christies fictional writer Ariadne Oliver. The playful, meta contemporary spinoff about Sven Hjerson, a once renowned criminal profiler who suddenly chooses to retire from the spotlight, and Klara Sandberg, a trash TV producer who wants to reset her career with a true crime show that stars him. Together, they start to solve a string of murder mysteries.

Agatha Christies Hjerson is produced by BRF, TV4/C MORE, ZDF, Agatha Christie Ltd. and Nadcon Film.

Long-standing Japanese client WOWOW has bought the exclusive pay-TV rights for Top Dog, which was produced by Filmlance for Swedish TV4 and German ZDF. From the producers of BRON (aka The Bridge), Top Dog focuses primarily on the clash between Stockholm business attorney Emily Jansson and Sodertalje ex-con Teddy Maksumic. Emily is an aspiring Top Dog who wants to make her way up in the firm. Teddy has recently become an Underdog and wants to get out of the mafia. She has the knowledge, resources and a behind-the-scenes perspective on the finest of venues - he has the experience, muscles and access to serious criminal players. Together, they become an unstoppable duo.

Reeva Films India signed an acquisition agreement for the exclusive VOD rights of Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles (pictured). The action drama from Russian indie studios START, co-produced with Sreda (Trigger, Gogol), is set in 19th century St Petersburg. It follows Sherlock Holmes as he attempts to track down the serial killer Jack the Ripper, who has fled to Russia. The series gives a Russian spin to the stories of the world's most famous investigator.

Yuliya Fischer, director ZDFE.drama at ZDF Enterprises, said: It is our goal to further strengthen our presence in the Asian market in the new year. I am confident that other recent highlights from our drama catalogue, such as Stories to Stay Awake, Between Two Worlds and White Night, will also find a home in this highly interesting market.
The partnership deal will encompass development, production and distribution, and includes an option for BBC Studios to take an equity stake. Brock Media will develop and produce television and films for global audiences, working with leading talent from the UK, as well as world-renowned international filmmakers and artists.Boasting over a decade of experience across film, television and theatre, Brocklehurst (pictured) is the BAFTA-nominated and BIFA-winning producer of Animals and Black Pond. Nominated for a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Producer, Black Pond won the London Comedy Film Festival Discovery Award and the Evening Standard award for Best Newcomers. Animals premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and received 2 BIFA nominations: Holliday Grainger for Best Actress, and Emma Jane Unsworth for Debut Screenwriter, with Emma Jane Unsworth winning the award.Commenting on the partnership, Brocklehurst said: I couldnt be happier partnering with BBC Studios to launch Brock Media , an ambitious new production company that brings together exceptional talent across all forms of media to produce television and films for a global audience. We are passionate about storytelling and championing creative excellence. Our story starts here. BBC Studios chief creative officer Mark Linsey added: Sarah is a bold and fearless creative with a strong track record of creating distinctive stories with honesty, humour and heart. She is part of an up-and-coming generation of new talent which we are delighted to support, and were hugely excited about what this partnership could achieve.BBC Studios has a growing portfolio of equity investments in 12 UK independent production company labels across scripted and unscripted genres, including full ownership of Clerkenwell Films, House Productions and Lookout Point and a majority stake in Sid Gentle Films and Baby Cow Productions.
Joe Biden began his train wreck of a presidency a year ago by putting America last and never looked back.

On his first day in office, he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have supported thousands of well-paying jobs while lowering energy prices. If constructed, the 1,200 mile pipeline would have carried 830,000 barrels per day of oil from Alberta, Canada and North Dakota to Nebraska and from there converge with a completed portion of the pipeline that carries oil to the Gulf of Mexico.

Biden incessantly points to climate change as a rationale for canceling domestic energy initiatives that benefit average Americans. But his arguments dont hold up under scrutiny. The Institute for Energy Research, a nonprofit group that supports free market polices, cites figures that show the greenhouse gas emissions that would have resulted from transporting 830,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil would amount to 150 million metric tons per year, which is the equivalent of about 0.3% of the world total. Thats what you call tiny.

Canadian oil is still being produced in the absence of the Keystone Pipeline, but with a heavier environmental footprint that Team Biden leaves out of its equation.

Without the pipeline, railroad capacity will grow, overall safety will decline, emissions will be higher and economic costs will be higher since rail and truck shipments are more expensive than pipeline shipments, IER warned at the time Biden canceled the project. Pipelines are simply safer for humans and the environment than alternative forms of transport.

The statistics bear this out.

Pipelines carry roughly 70% of the ton-miles of crude oil and petroleum products in the U.S. while water transport accounts for about 23%, trucking 4%, and railroads 3%. Yet accident data shows that pipeline incidents per ton-mile are only about a quarter of those for rail transport and about 3% of those for truck transport.

So far, Bidens decision to cancel Keystone made just one year ago has been a loser for the American people both economically and environmentally.

But what about those green jobs that were supposed to replace the jobs lost when Keystone was canceled? Now would be a good time to revisit some of the forecasts made by political figures and environmental activists who support wind, solar and other forms of green energy. The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing on Opportunities in the Clean Energy Economy in April 2021 that is worth reviewing now that Keystone workers have lost their jobs.

David Kreutzer, a senior economist with IER, offered testimony during the hearing where he highlighted government reports that described how green job creation fell pathetically short of its goal during the Obama years. A Department of Labor inspector generals report found that job placement was only 10% of the target level while a subsequent report from the departments Bureau of Labor Statistics found more than 20% of the certificates and degrees went to recipients who had only one day of training.

Keep in mind that Biden has pledged to create 10 million well-paying jobs in the green energy sector. In his testimony, Kreutzer explained why there is good reason to be skeptical about the potential for the green jobs to boost the most economically disadvantaged members of society. He points out that the green expenditures that were part of the 2009 Stimulus Package failed to deliver any meaningful relief to unemployed workers.

With history as a guide, there is reason to think that these programs will be encouraged and then usurped by the politically well-connected and the economically powerful, Kreutzer observed in his testimony. We saw this in 2009 and we have seen it more generally for decades. Big government expenditure too often helps the well-connected and powerful instead of the supposed beneficiaries.

But theres more at stake than just raw questions of economics and the feasibility of green jobs. Bidens antipathy toward the oil and gas industry has real world consequences that were on display when a severe snowstorm hit the Washington D.C. area in early January. Recall that more than 50 miles of Interstate 95 was closed to traffic leaving thousands of people stranded for hours while households and businesses lost electricity. Severe weather speaks to need for diverse, reliable, affordable supplies of energy. But with Biden and blue state governors attempting to coerce the public into accepting intermittent forms of energy to power their homes and cars, blackouts could become the norm in emergency situations.

Bidens repeated missteps on energy policy are not just a problem domestically as they also have geopolitical ramifications

The Keystone XL pipeline would have enabled the American consumers to draw oil and gas supplies from a stable, friendly neighbor to the north. By restricting domestic energy production, Biden is putting the U.S. in a position where it must rely more on imports at the expense of American consumers. Thats tragic since the U.S. became energy independent in 2019 for the first time in 50 years  meaning U.S. energy exports exceeded U.S. energy imports.

That hard earned independence is now in jeopardy as a result of deliberate public policy decisions flowing from the Biden White House that disadvantage American workers and consumers while strengthening Americas strategic adversaries.

Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter with both the Commonwealth Foundation and the Heritage Foundation.
Eric Andre described how Johnny Knoxville broke into his house on Christmas Eve while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

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Andre stars with Knoxville in Jackass Forever, which is coming to theaters on Feb. 4. Andre told Kimmel on Wednesday that he had COVID-19 over the holidays and that Knoxville broke into his house as a way to cheer him up.

"He had toilet paper and an Andy Warhol wig and he started toilet papering my house. My alarm goes off. I'm stoned by myself, paranoid and I opened the window. I don't know it's him so I'm just yelling out the window like, 'I'm calling the police! I have a gun!'" Andre recalled, before stating that he was terrified.

Andre said Knoxville was videotaping the incident, which drove him crazy. The comedian didn't realize it was Knoxville until the stuntman pressed his face up against Andre's window.

"I open the door I'm like, "I'm going to kill you man. I have a gun and the cops are on their way.' And he goes, 'Dude, how good publicity would it have been if you had gotten me arrested and shot me right before Jackass comes out," Andre said.

Andre also discussed his experience making Jackass Forever.

"It was like the quickest I've ever said yes to a project and then immediately terrified because being on a Jackass set, it's like the Vietnam War of comedy. Like every step you take, a real landmine or an explosive could be underneath," Andre said.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/20/2022



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Which couples are still together and which MAFS couples have broken up and divorced? And where are they now?

's first thirteen seasons featured a total of 49 couples who got married at first sight -- so which couples are still together, who broke up and divorced, and where are they all now?Each season of -- which premiered in the United States seven years ago and is based on a Danish series -- features couples (previously three couples, but four couples on Seasons 8 and 9, and five couples beginning with Season 10) being matched together by relationship experts and agree to marry when they first meet.Complete strangers become husband and wife in a matter of minutes, and the couples' lives are then documented by TV cameras over the course of the next four to eight weeks (eight weeks, in the case of 's most recent seasons).The couples typically enjoy their first night together in a hotel after exchanging vows -- with some couples deciding to consummate their marriage immediately -- and then embark on a honeymoon, move in together, and simply attempt to deal with the struggles of daily life as man and wife.At the end of the extreme marriage experiment, each couple must decide whether they'd like to stay married or get a divorce on "Decision Day."has experienced very mixed results over the years. While a significant number of couples decide to stay together and continue their new marriage at the end of their season, the real world seems to hit them hard after the cameras leave, resulting in the couple splitting up only months later.Do cast members see a different side of their spouses once cameras are gone, or do the romances naturally fizzle over time?Some couples are still together to this day and are extremely happy. Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner from Season 1, for example, have had two children.Several other couples have also had children -- including Ashley Petta and Anthony D'Amico Shawniece Jackson and Jephte Pierre Danielle Bergman and Bobby Dodd Deonna McNeill and Greg Okotie , and Jessica Studer and Austin Hurd However, there are also relationships that ended badly. Jessica Castro from Season 2, for instance, accused Ryan De Nino of alleged death threats, and she went on to file a restraining order and lawsuit against him.Some couples have also never even made it to "Decision Day" and ended their marriage prematurely, including Season 4 couple Heather Seidel and Derek Schwartz as well as Season 6 couple Molly Duff and Jonathan Francetic Are the remaining couples now lovers, friends or enemies?! What about early season couples like Cortney Hendrix and Jason Carrion, Jaclyn Methuen and Ryan Ranellone, Vanessa Nelson and Tres Russell, Sonia Granados and Nick Pendergrast, and Lillian Vilchez and Tom Wilson?And how about more recent season couples like Danielle DeGroot and Cody Knapek Sheila Downs and Nate Duhon Jaclyn Schwartzberg and Ryan Buckley Dave Flaherty and Amber Martorana , and Tristan Thompson and Mia Bally Keith Dewar and Kristine Killingsworth , and AJ Vollmoeller and Stephanie Sersen Click thelink below to see photos of each couple and find out!

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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.
With 27 years experience teaching all subjects to fourth and sixth graders, Greg Frey is a jack of all trades and a master of none. With 52 years experience wandering around in the outdoors, his hunting and fishing skills follow a similar path. When he masters the skills of the outdoors, hell take up paddle ball. He hopes that day never comes. Based on the fact hes genuinely surprised when he catches a fish or spots a deer, it probably never will. Hes good with that.
The state Department of Great Lakes, Environment and Energy denied a permit to dredge in Long Lake as shown in this drawing. Plans originally were to dredge a channel in the lake bed and dig a channel and basin for a boathouse planned for a property on the lakes south end.
When the pandemic storm seemed to calm down, Athenians believed they had seen the last of COVID-19. Many people stopped wearing masks, vaccination numbers plateaued and cases remained low. However, weeks later a highly transmissible variant began making its way across the globe, creating a dangerous blanket over our nation, state, county and university. Its name? Omicron.
Little Light Co. candles and stickers sit on a work bench at the Little Light Co. Candle Cabin in Athens, Georgia on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Owner and CEO Beth Hughes makes all candles out of a converted studio in her own backyard. (Photo/Katie Tucker ktucker@randb.com) in Athens, Georgia on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Owner and CEO Beth Hughes makes all candles out of a converted studio in her own backyard. (Photo/Katie Tucker ktucker@randb.com)
As we enter year two of the COVID-19 pandemic, omicron has become the dominant variant of the virus present throughout the world and in Athens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the omicron variant is highly transmissible, even to people who are vaccinated. As a result, the CDC currently recommends wearing a mask in public indoor settings and areas where risk of transmission is high, regardless of vaccination status.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Rain. High near 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy early with partial clearing expected late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
Beckley, WV (25801)

Today

Showers in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High near 70F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 52F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
WASHINGTON  The Gunn Memorial Library will host a virtual tasting with Litchfield Distillery at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10.

The Litchfield Distillery has a wide range of exceptionally distilled spirits, handcrafted from the highest quality, regionally harvested grains and fruit, according to a statement.

Register at gunnlibrary.org/programs to reserve a tasting kit complete with five small sample bottles of Litchfield Distillerys spectrum of spirits. Each kit also contains a small glass, tasting notes and information about the distillery.

Staff members from the distillery will give a virtual tour of the premises and a guided tasting experience on Zoom. Registration is limited while supplies last.

Once registered, come to the front desk of the library with a valid form of identification to pick up your tasting kit. This program is limited to 20 people, and all must be 21 or older. .For information go to www.gunnlibrary.org.
On Monday Jan. 3, four hours before South Windsor was to begin distributing its limited supply of at-home COVID test kits, police notified Town Manager Michael Maniscalco that cars were already lining up outside Rye Park.

Maniscalco wondered how the state ended up in such a precarious position.

Hours-long waits for COVID tests had become common as people flooded the states scattered testing sites - many waiting in vain, anger building. At a testing site in Bristol, someone threatened to pull a gun.

We are almost two years into this pandemic, and you would have thought wed have figured it out by now, Maniscalco said. They should have known, with winter coming, that cases would rise again and be better prepared. Omicron has just made it much worse.

While Maniscalco has publicly criticized the states recent response to the omicron surge, other town officials in Connecticut have chosen to voice their anger and displeasure on private calls between Gov. Ned Lamonts team and local officials, sources said.

Many are asking how state officials  who trumpeted how quickly they were able to set up COVID testing back in 2020  seemed so unprepared and surprised at the surge of testing demand that was needed between Thanksgiving and the early weeks of 2022.

On Wednesday, Lamont said he hoped the omicron variant would be the last big surge of the virus in Connecticut, but he agreed that the state should maintain significant testing capacity in case another wave comes.

It behooves us to keep these tests available, Lamont said. We want to be able to respond quickly if there is another flare-up.

Lamont also acknowledged that having testing available at hospitals or through primary care providers is not the same as free, community-based testing opportunities, especially when the spread of the virus is so rapid and widespread.

So can we do better? Absolutely, Lamont said. But thats been the effort from the very beginning, to make sure that nobody is left behind. If somebody is left behind when it comes to vaccination or tests, that is bad for you, and thats bad for the community.

Health providers acknowledged that the speed at which omicron spread through Connecticut and the rest of the country was overwhelming, but they said the state should not have been caught flat-footed by the sudden demand for testing.

Ken Lalime, the CEO of the Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, recognized that planning for a once-in-a-century pandemic is difficult to do. Running complicated logistics networks in any industry is hard, he said. But there is even more pressure to get it right when it comes to health care, he said.

Its tough to manage for a spike, to such a large testing need, said Lalime, whose group represents the 16 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in the state.

But thats the job of the Department of Health  to make sure that their patients in the state, that their citizens, are cared for, Lalime said.

Not enough providers

The long lines for testing in December can be traced back to last summer, when many of the states contracts with testing providers expired.

At one point, the state had testing contracts with 11 different groups, ranging from the states two largest hospital chains, Yale New Haven and Hartford HealthCare, to several laboratories across the state. But those contracts  signed in the spring of 2020 when testing was ramped up  expired at the end of June 2021, according to state records.

By that time, the state had decided to cut back on testing and focus resources on mass vaccination clinics. Hospitals transformed mass testing sites into mass vaccination clinics or just closed them completely. Jabs replaced swabs as the key metric state officials followed and publicized.

In July 2021, the state signed only four new testing contracts, with Sema4 being the largest contractor, in charge of 15 of the 23 state-sponsored testing sites that would remain open.

The other contractors were Wren Laboratories, a small Meriden-based company that had developed a saliva test; Genesys Diagnostics, another smaller lab based in Montville; and Quest Diagnostics, whose experience was more tailored to processing tests than collecting them.

None of the new contractors, except Sema4, had much experience operating testing sites. Absent were many of the hospitals and the community health centers that had done the bulk of the COVID testing during earlier phases of the pandemic.

When the state went out for its procurement of a network of providers, I dont know that they got enough providers, said Lalime, who has advocated for the state to increase its testing capacity.

It may have been enough for the middle of the summer. Obviously, it was not enough to handle the surge that is out there right now, Lalime said.

The surge

The numbers for just the state testing sites show that when they came on-line in August, they were doing only about 1,200-1,700 tests weekly from all 23 sites combined.

Those numbers started to increase as the state and many private employers set parameters for people to return to work. Many who were not vaccinated needed to provide a weekly negative PCR test result to their employer.

The mandate created a whole new category of people who needed to be tested, regardless of whether they felt they had COVID or had been exposed to someone who had the virus.

From the middle of September through the week before Thanksgiving, the state-run sites averaged about 7,800 tests a week, according to DPH data.

But from there, the numbers started to climb, jumping up to more than 13,000 during the Thanksgiving holiday week and climbing to nearly 30,000 just before Christmas, as omicron arrived.

During the late fall, some health directors noticed residents in their towns and districts were seeking more testing.

There are many other places where people can get tested in addition the state-run sites, including urgent cares, pharmacies or FQHCs. Most tests are done by appointment only, or health insurance was required, unlike at the state-run drive-through sites.

In the Ledge Light Health District, which covers the southeast corner of the state, Health Director Stephen Mansfield made separate deals with Sema4 to run two testing sites in Groton and New London.

Mansfield said the most recent surge in COVID-19 cases was one of the most difficult times in the pandemic for people to find testing.

During earlier spikes, Mansfield said, the community-based testing sites in his area were limited by the number of hours the testing staff could work and the number of samples they could take in a given day.

But this time around, he said, the testing sites were limited by the number of samples the laboratories could process.

Some days, the testing sites in the New London area were told they could test 300 people. Other days, it was capped at 250, Mansfield said. It was dependent on what Sema4 could handle in its lab.

At the height of the omicron wave, that meant Mansfield and his team were often turning people away.

"Generally, we reached capacity before we even opened up the line," he said. "And the last thing we wanted was residents sitting in line for a couple of hours and being told a test is not available to them."

The state hasnt picked up Ledge Lights testing sites, and with Sema4 shutting down testing soon, he isnt sure the two sites will remain open much longer.

Expanding testing options in some places

Vernon officials also restarted their own testing program in the fall, two days a week, on Sundays and Tuesday afternoons. They made a separate deal with Sema4 because Town Administrator Michael Purcaro said, "They realized there was a high demand for testing, and people were having a hard time finding it."

The site has been so successful that the state has taken over running the site and is increasing the number of days it will be open.

On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Department of Public Health Deputy Commissioner Heather Aaron and Jackson Laboratories President Charles Lee held a press conference to announce the Vernon site would be expanded to five days a week and would be operated by Griffin Hospital and Jackson Laboratories.

Bysiewicz said with COVID positivity rates coming down but still high, "We need to keep ourselves and our community safe."

"We can do that by getting tested, and the town of Vernon and the state of Connecticut have made it easy for people in this area to just come on in and get tested," Bysiewicz said.

The Vernon site is one of at least six new testing sites that the state is setting up by the end of the month, even as the post-holiday demand starts to taper off.

Besides Vernon, there will be new state-run test sites in Darien, New Haven, Old Saybrook, Putnam and Waterbury. The state also will be expanding the sites' operations to 40 hours a week.

The state hasn't said which company will be replacing Sema4, which has told state officials it will no longer do testing as of Jan. 31. Sema4 is operating 15 of the state's 23 sites. Aaron said that DPH has a contract with Jackson Labs to take over at least some of Sema4's testing duties. The state is searching for partners for Jackson Laboratories that would collect the samples at the sites, as Griffin will be doing in Vernon.

North Central Health District Director Patricia Sulik said the expansion of the testing at the Vernon site is needed for the entire area.

"We have the public's attention. People want to be tested, and then we found there weren't enough testing resources," Sulik said, adding that "everyone working together has brought together this new site today."

DPH officials also have reached out to several hospitals and to FQHCs that did testing in 2020 to see if they could add more testing now. Hartford HealthCare is opening up to five new sites where they have hospitals, including Torrington, Meriden and Norwich, that will offer an additional 150 tests or so a day by appointment only.

'Not something you do overnight'

Last week, the demands for testing at one of the four testing sites in the Ledge Light Health District finally started to show some signs of slowing.

The testing site was allotted 400 tests on Friday, Jan. 14, but only 100 or so people were lined up in cars at the start of the event. Even so, Mansfield expected that the demand for testing was likely still outpacing the supply, especially at free community-based sites.

"There is still a dearth of testing in Connecticut," Mansfield said.

If Connecticut is going to continue to have standby testing available to handle future surges, Mansfield said, the state will likely need to set up more permanent sites to deal with those demands.

Lalime said it will be important to either maintain the testing sites or have an expansion plan ready to go more quickly than this time to avoid the testing hysteria when the next variant surfaces. Community health centers, emergency rooms and primary care practices can't serve as a backup for testing when cases surge, Lalime said.

"I don't think they're backing away from the fact that it's their responsibility," Lalime said. "I think right now they are trying a lot of different mechanisms to try and build up capacity. It's just not something you do overnight."

Aaron said it takes the state "seven to eight days working with the different testing sites to get everything set up and running."

"Our plan is to continue to expand and to hold the sites even if this thing starts slowing down," Aaron said. "If it slows down, then we will slow down a bit too, cut hours if necessary, but we will continue to build and keep open sites as long as possible wherever they are needed."
GLASTONBURY  A local business owner was sentenced to federal prison this week for filing false income tax returns, prosecutors said.

Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford sentenced 51-year-old George Lee on Wednesday to six months in prison, followed by a year of supervised release. Bryant also ordered him to pay a $5,500 fine.

Lee, who is free on bond, was told to report to prison on March 30 to begin his sentence.

Prosecutors said Lee, who owns and operates American U.S.A. Paving, gave his tax preparer information that understated the gross receipts for the paving business for the 2015 through 2018 tax years.

The forms underreported Lees income by more than $588,000, resulting in a tax loss of $154,238 to the IRS, prosecutors said.

Lee pleaded guilty on July 20, 2021, to filing a false tax return. Prosecutors said he has since paid full restitution to the IRS.
WINSTED >> The Nov. 6 election will feature many familiar candidates, both Republican and Democrat, who can all agree on one topic: this year, the votes are about job growth and Connecticut's stymied economy.

Northwest Connecticut's Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum Thursday morning, and despite the sparsely attended event inside Northwest Connecticut Community College's Founders Hall, the candidates had little to disagree about. Candidates for all the representative districts in northwest Connecticut were invited to the hour-long discussion, with questions stemming from the state's financial burdens to commercial and industrial property taxes, and prevailing wage to education and jobs bills.

Each candidate was provided with two minutes to answer the Chamber-posed questions, and rarely did answers significantly vary. It wasn't until the candidates loosened up and divulge how they would go about their ideas, did the answers stray from one another.

"We spent your money -- $1.1 billion -- in eight hours," said State Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, running for another term in Hartford. "That's something we can't afford.

"We need to live within our means," Witkos said later. "We have a great state of Connecticut and we need to make it better."

Witkos' opponent, Democrat Dan Seger, said the state has both a spending and revenue problem. His thought was to lower taxes to bring in additional business, which would add revenue to the state, while reducing spending.

State Rep. Clark Chapin, running for State Sen. Andrew Roraback's 30th district seat, said the unfunded mandates from Hartford to municipalities need to stop, adding that, "There's no doubt that municipalities are over-reliant on property taxes, and I don't blame them for that."

Democrat Bill Riiska, facing Chapin in the race, said discussing property taxes can't go without tackling other tax streams. Riiska pointed to educational cost sharing for school districts, regionalization of services, and to "address" the prevailing wage discussion hindering the wallets of smaller municipalities.

In the 65th representative race, current State Rep. Michelle Cook, a Democrat from Torrington, said she's dedicated to "do this full-time. I believe those residents and constituents deserve a person in a full-time position." Cook, who voted for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's highest tax increase in state history, added, "Taxes went up, but that's not our intention. We (state and municipalities) need to work together."

Cook will again go head-to-head with Torrington Republican Wendy Traub, who was a graduate of the community college hosting the program, and who told the crowd that her background in business and accounting will make her the best choice. A lifelong resident of Torrington and former Board of Education and Board of Finance member, Traub said she "understands what it takes to run a budget on the municipal level.

"I'm not going to promise to create jobs," Traub said. "Because the job of a legislator isn't to create jobs. It's to get out of the way to make room for job creation."

Reach Ricky Campbell at 860-489-3121 x343 and subscribe to posts at Facebook.com/RickyCampbell25
WINSTED  In February, residents will be asked to weigh in on the states marijuana regulations for retail businesses and public use.

The Board of Selectmen scheduled a public forum for Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., during its regular meeting. The forum was suggested during a discussion on the changing cannabis laws and regulations for marijuana sales in Connecticut, which were first introduced last summer and allow adults to be in possession of small quantities of marijuana.

Since Connecticut took steps to legalize the sale and use of various types of cannabis, including marijuana, towns have examined the impact of welcoming businesses focused on providing those products to their customers, whether they sell it, or grow it themselves.

Connecticut announced in early January that on Feb. 3 it will open its first 90-day application period for retailers and disproportionately impacted area cultivators. Application periods for other license types will open on a rolling basis.

The state will also have multiple lotteries on an ongoing basis and will announce the number of licenses available ahead of each round. Dispensaries and producers that are already a part of the medical program will be exempt from the lottery and can apply for hybrid licenses that allow them to participate in both the medical and the recreational markets, under the new state law.

Members of the Planning & Zoning Commission discussed a draft ordinance change during a recent meeting and questioned how growers or manufacturers would be regulated if such a business were to move into town.

Chairman George Closson also pointed to three areas of town where he thought retail establishments would be appropriate: the Main Street/downtown area, the gateway areas of Route 44 and Route 183; and the industrial park for growers/manufacturers.

Selectwoman Candy Perez on Tuesday said the board should also get involved in the ordinance discussions.

We have a medical marijuana facility 500 feet from our southern border (in Torrington on Winsted Road), and one near our northern border, she said. Its important that this board have a conversation about what we want to have in our town.

She suggested a meeting in February for the public to discuss this.

P&Z is working on a regulation; this isnt just about retailers, but also growers, manufacturing .... or, we may not want to have this at all, she said.

Residents who arent comfortable attending the meeting can write letters to the selectmen if they have anything they want to say, said Selectwoman Candace Bouchard.

Set a deadline for it, so they can submit something in writing, she said.

Selectwoman Linda Groppo asked if they should invite a representative from the police department or the social worker, or state Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted.

Mayor Todd Arcelaschi thought it was better to start by talking with residents.

Everyones going to have a stake in this, he said. We should have citizens for the Feb. 7 meeting, then meet with businesses and other departments on issues that may come up.

The board plans to invite a member of the zoning commission to the forum, which may or may not be held on Zoom, according to Town Manager Josh Kelly.

Information on the hearing will be posted at townofwinchester.org.
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The former opposition party chief calls for national unity before his court appearance.

Kem Sokha speaks to reporters before going to court for his trial on treason charges, Jan. 19, 2022.

The trial on treason charges of Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha went ahead as scheduled on Wednesday, with the court allowing opening statements before postponing the proceedings for another week.

Speaking to reporters before the trial began, the former opposition party chief said he still hopes that a political solution can be reached in his case, and that the charges against him will be dismissed.

I hope today that the court will drop the charges against me so that Cambodia can move forward toward national reconciliation. We must have national unity so that we can develop the country together, he said.

Kem Sokha, then president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was arrested in September 2017 over an alleged plot backed by the United States to overthrow the government of Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years.

Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP two months later in a move that allowed Hun Sens Cambodian Peoples Party to win all 125 seats in Parliament in a July 2018 election and drew U.S. sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union.

Kem Sokha declined on Wednesday to say if he will stand for election in local polls this year or in a national election in 2023.

Though not questioning Kem Sokha directly, the court heard opening statements from his lawyers and from government lawyers prosecuting the case. The court also allowed the playing of an edited 30-minute excerpt from the video of a speech given by Kem Sokha in Australia in 2013.

Defense lawyer Chan Chen told reporters after the court adjourned that he had asked that the entire unedited video be played in order to prove Kem Sokhas innocence. As you know, there was no collusion with foreigners to commit violent acts or to topple the government, he said.

Diplomats and other outside observers were not allowed to attend Wednesdays session. NGOs urged the court to televise proceedings so that more people could monitor the trial.

Chan Chen criticized the courts decision to wait until Jan. 25 to resume, asking that trial sessions be held at least five days a week.

Government lawyer Ky Tech said that the case against Kem Sokha would end quickly if he confessed to the charges made against him. If the person charged in this case acknowledges that crimes were committed and then confesses to those crimes and takes responsibility for them, the case can be quickly ended, he said.

A political solution to the case against Kem Sokha can still be achieved, though, said Ny Sokha, director of the Cambodia-based rights group Adhoc, calling the charges filed against him a result of the dispute between the CNRP and the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party.

The ruling party can still find ways to compromise to resolve political conflicts, Ny Sokha said.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.
The Education University is the latest school to do so, amid a widening crackdown on dissent.

The Education University of Hong Kong is shown in a file photo.

Another Hong Kong university has withdrawn recognition for its student union amid an ongoing clampdown on public speech, under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In an open email to staff and students, the Education University of Hong Kong said the university hadn't "authorized" the union, and cited "governance issues" linked to recent elections to its committee.

The university's official website on Thursday continued to display a page titled "Support for Student Organizations," listing the Education University of Hong Kong Student Union as a body it supports.

"The Student Union was formally established in May 1995. In addition to providing various types of activities and benefits for students, it also participates in the formulation of policies and administrative matters of the school by recommending student representatives to attend school committee meetings," the page said.

But the email said the university would no longer allow the union to use its usual venues on campus, and would stop collecting membership fees on its behalf.

The student union's H.K.$9 million in funds will be handed over to the finance office "on a temporary basis," it said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which derecognized its student union in 2021, called for all students to stand as potential representatives to university committees -- positions that were once elected via the union.

Media reports said that the University of Hong Kong (HKU), CUHK, City University, Polytechnic University, Lingnan University and Baptist University have all stopped collecting student union dues since the start of the current academic year.

A HKU student surnamed Lam said the lack of a student union was "stressful" for students.

"If the universities suppress student organizations in various ways, it will actually destroy any channels of communication between students [and management]," Lam said. "Lots of small, daily activities will be affected, or dwindle out entirely."

"I also think it's a great shame, because [Hong Kong's] universities each have their own history, and if the student unions are lost, a lot of newly enrolled students won't get any sense of that history," he said.

Applicants for student representative seats will be screened based on staff recommendation (40 percent), relevant extra-curricular experience (25 percent), personal statement (25 percent) and grades (10 percent), the CUHK notice said.

Representatives must be recommended by full-time faculty, with the university council having the final word on whether a nomination is valid, it said.

The CUHK Student Daily newspaper said the new process was being managed by the university's Student Affairs Office, with the selection of candidates entirely determined by non-elected bureaucrats.

It cited concerns that those appointed to the representative seats would be effectively used as clients of the university management when voting, as they were no longer accountable to the union.

'Promoting terrorism'

The move came as four former members of the HKU Student Union council were charged with "promoting terrorism" under the national security law, in connection with its motion in support of a man who stabbed a police officer.

Four former HKU students, including former student union president Kwok Wing-ho and council chief Cheung King-sang, have been charged with "advocating terrorism" under the national security law and were released on bail pending a further hearing on March 24.

On July 1, 2021, 50-year-old Leung Kin-fai stabbed himself to death after knifing a policeman outside the Sogo department store. The union passed a motion on July 7, 2021 saying it "appreciated [Leung's] sacrifice."

Union council members made public apologies and resigned from their posts after the incident, but Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam insisted publicly that police investigate them under the national security law.

Officials have warned that anyone visibly mourning or sympathizing with Leung's death could be breaking the national security law, and are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.

An HKU student surnamed Lam who attended the hearing told RFA that he felt "powerless" in the face of the current crackdown on dissent.

"I can see what is happening, but there's nothing I can do about it," Lam said.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.


This is the second time in six months China has accused the USS Benfold of illegally entering its territorial seas.

USS Benfold conducting freedom of navigation operation and participating in a drill in the South China Sea, Jan. 20 2022.

China and the United States have engaged in a renewed spat over the activity of a U.S. naval ship in the South China Sea, with Washington asserting its right to navigate territorial waters and Beijing warning of serious consequences.

The USS Benfold guided-missile destroyer conducted a freedom of navigation operation" (FONOP) in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, the US Navy's 7th Fleet said.

The Chinese military immediately responded by accusing the U.S. ship of illegally intruded into China's territorial waters of Xisha (Paracel islands).

Senior Col.Tian Junli, spokesperson of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, said in a statement released on the microsite Weibo that the actions of the U.S. side have seriously violated Chinas sovereignty and security.

The latest event is another cast-iron proof that it (the United States) is pursuing navigational hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea, the statement read.

The PLA Southern Theater organized naval and air forces to track and monitor and warned them to leave, it added.

This is the second time in six months the USS Benfold was accused by China of illegally entering its territorial waters, or within 12 nautical miles from the baseline self-claimed by Beijing around the whole group of Paracel islands. In a recent report, the U.S. described that claim as unlawful.

Last time in July 2021, the PLA said it successfully expelled the American destroyer.

We solemnly demand that the U.S. side immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events, the new statement warned.

USS Benfold conducting freedom of navigation operation and participating in a drill in the South China Sea, Jan. 20, 2022. Credit: U.S. Navy U.S. response

The U.S. Navy 7th Fleet quickly responded to Chinas accusation.

A revised statement said that the Chinese statement about the U.S. destroyers mission was false.

USS Benfold conducted this FONOP in accordance with international law, it said, adding: The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle.

Nothing PRC (Peoples Republic of China) says otherwise will deter us.

The lengthy statement went on to explain that under international law as reflected in the Convention of the Law on the Sea (UNCLOS), ships of all states - including their warships - enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.

The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for innocent passage is unlawful, it said, pointing out that not only China but Taiwan and Vietnam also demand permission or advance notification before a foreign military vessel passes through their territorial sea.

The United States challenged the unlawful restrictions imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam, the 7th Fleets statement said.

Australian Rear Adm. (retd) James Goldrick, a prominent maritime affairs analyst, explained to RFA: Many U.S. FONOPs, including those in the South China Sea, are not in relation to whether a particular nation claims a feature but to what rights that nation thinks derives from the feature.

Thats why U.S. FONOPs have deliberately gone through the zones of not only Chinese claimed features, but Vietnamese ones, as well as those of the Philippines, Goldrick said.

USS Benfold conducting freedom of navigation operation and participating in a drill in the South China Sea, Jan. 20, 2022. Credit: U.S. Navy Flexing naval muscles

In another development, one of the U.S. Navys most powerful nuclear submarines  the USS Nevada  made a rare appearance in the Western Pacific over the weekend.

The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine carrying 20 Trident ballistic missiles and dozens of nuclear warheads made a port visit in the U.S. territory of Guam last Saturday. Since the 1980s the U.S. Navy has announced visits by its submarines to the Pacific island only twice and their movements are generally kept secret.

The U.S. has 14 nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs), called boomers, which are capable of launching precision nuclear warheads.

This port visit to Guam reflects the United States commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, Adm. Jeffrey Jablom, commander of the Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a brief statement.

Alexandre Neill, a Singapore-based defense analyst, said the port call represented a statement of U.S. resilience following a recent collision in the South China Sea involving the submarine USS Connecticut which struck an underwater mountain.

Stationing a SSBN close to China is also a clear deterrent message and a message about the needs for nuclear strategic stability, said Neill.

The US does not want a regional arms race in the nuclear domain.

Another analyst, Shen Ming-Shih from Taiwans Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the port visit, and announcement, is aimed at China.

The U.S. is flexing its muscles as a push back on Chinese recent activities in the region, he said.
An armed ethnic group in Myanmars western state of Rakhine has wrested administrative and judicial control from the countrys military junta, which has been in power for almost one year, residents of the state told RFA.

The Arakan Army (AA) began as a humble resistance group in 2009 but has grown to be one of Myanmars most powerful ethnic military forces. It launched an insurgency in Rakhine before agreeing to an uneasy ceasefire with the military in 2020.

When the country was taken over by the military in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, Rakhine was largely spared the violence that sprung up everywhere else in Myanmar. During that time, the AA and its political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), established a parallel administration that is now in de-facto control of the state, especially in the northern parts of it.

It is now common to hear the Rakhine national anthem before major events and in schools before class starts, even in areas that once were the sight of intense fighting between Myanmars military and the AA.

Zaw Tun, a resident of Rakhines Mrauk-U township, told RFAs Myanmar Service that his state typically followed the priorities as set by Myanmars national government, without our own identity, our own beliefs, or our dreams.

After two or three years of ULA and AA military operations, we are now surprised to find that Rakhine state has gone down its own path. Now we sing our own national anthem. We understand that this new state of affairs is based largely on the growing power of the ULA and AA, Zaw Tun said.

Tun Win, a former member of Myanmars lower house from Rakhines Kyauktaw township, told RFA that it has become clear to Rakhines residents that they have to create our destiny by shaping it with our own hands.

We find that more and more people here have accepted this concept of strengthening our own political beliefs. These sentiments are found in most people. We see a lot of confidence that we can achieve our desired political goals based on a strong national organization," he said.

During the ceasefire, the AA has controlled the states administrative machinery. The judiciary in most areas is governed by the AA and the AA has urged residents to report all criminal incidents in Rakhine state to them since Aug 1 last year.

Another former member of Myanmars lower house, Aung Thaung Shwe, told RFA that more people rely on the courts run by the ULA than those of the Myanmar junta.

Now we can see that the governments judiciary and the administrative machinery of the junta is getting weaker. On the other hand, people are relying on the ULA to seek justice. It can be said that this is a big change, Aung Thaung Shwe said.

He also said that crime had dropped significantly in rural areas since the AA took over the judiciary.

A third former lower house member, Pe Than, estimated that the AA was in control of two-thirds of the state.

In the past, Myanmars military occupied the whole of Rakhine state. It controlled the region with about 80 regiments, he said. Today, they have lost much of the territory and some of the regiments have even found it difficult to get out of their bases. The military can no longer operate effectively in the region.

Several residents of the state told RFA that the junta has warned some of the townships not to support the AA or file lawsuits in its courts and to report all AA activities in their areas.

But junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said the military has a strong relationship with the AA.

We have seen many instigations by our enemies to try to get the AA to become involved in fighting. This has created various misunderstandings between the military and the AA at the ground level. I would like to say that we have a strong relationship at both the top and bottom levels, he said.

Meanwhile, the AAs commander-in-chief, Gen. Tun Myat Naing, said in recent speeches that he was working on a step-by-step approach to reclaiming the lost sovereignty of the Rakhine people so that they can sculpt their own identity.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Sit Ko Naing Htun was working as a freelance journalist based in Hpakant in Myanmars northern Kachin state when the military last February seized control of the country, ousting the democratically elected government.

He dutifully reported on the aftermath for local and international media until one day in he witnessed armed police and soldiers kill unarmed students and other innocent civilians for participating in peaceful protests.

At that point the 27-year-old writer and journalist, who grew up in the nearby Sagaing regions Yinmabin district, told RFA he decided he couldnt be impartial in such circumstances, so he traded his pen for a gun and joined the local Peoples Defense Force (PDF), a militia made of like-minded people fighting to restore democracy in Myanmar.

Everyone would be scared to die, right? But I am more afraid of the death of the future of our country, the unity of the ethnic nationalities and the state and the people, Sit Ko Naing Htun told RFAs Myanmar Service.

PDF units have sprung up in every part of the country, including areas where armed ethnic militants have been fighting with the military for years. In some cases, the ethnic groups have been working alongside the PDFs as they focus on their common enemy: the military junta trying desperately to retain its power.

The PDF Sit Ko Naing Htun joined operates in an area controlled by an armed ethnic group. There, he said, he is struggling to overcome the hardships of life with his fellow revolutionaries.

Itd make a difference for the country if you could be a grain of sand or a piece of brick in the armed struggle. We have prepared ourselves to fight to the end so that the state and the people do not die. Because its going to be the last battle to root out the evil army that should no longer exist, Sit Ko Naing Htun said.

Before he became a journalist, Sit Ko Naing Htun wrote short stories and poems. He organized community library associations to provide books to towns and villages in Kani township, part of his home district. He also organized seminars to educate young people on literature and served as the chairman of the Yinmabin township Writers' Association.

In 2017, under the pen name of Ketharaza, he wrote a collection of short

He had planned to publish a collection of poems and a book about archeology, but the coup put those plans on hold. He hopes to revisit these after the fighting ends.

Sit Ko Naing Htun said he has had no contact with his family who are now refugees in Yinmabin.

The military has blocked telephone lines and shut down the internet in our townships. Sometimes we can listen to news on the radio, he said.

I worry about my family when I hear sad news about our townships. But in our situation, we can just worry. There is nothing you can do about it except worry. We cannot even have any contact with them to ask how they are doing, said Sit Ko Naing Htun.

But the writer-turned-soldier believes that a united people can overcome the well-trained military and regain control of Myanmar.

As long as there is no day of justice in our country, every day is a Revolution Day. This is the last battle. This is the final battle for peace. This is the final battle for the establishment of a federal democratic union. This is the last battle for our true freedom. he said.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Former Uyghur 're-education camp detainee Mihrigul Tursun is seen next to the cover of the book she co-wrote with investigative journalist Andrea Hoffman, on promotional material for the German publication, Jan. 17, 2022.

Mihrigul Tursun, 31, has spoken publicly about the violence and torture she and other Uyghurs suffered while interned in Chinas vast network of re-education camps in the countrys far-western Xinjiang region. She has been denounced by the Chinese government, which produced a short documentary in which Mihriguls parents, police officers and doctors all speak against her, and tries to portray her testimonies as false. Mihrigul has co-written a book titled Ort ohne Wiederkehr (Place without Return) with German investigative journalist Andrea Hoffmann about Chinas atrocities against the Muslim minority group. The nearly 300-page book released in January describes how Mihrigul was imprisoned several times in detention camps, during which time one of her three young children died. She has lived in exile in Washington, D.C. since 2018.

Co-author Hoffmann, who worked for several years as a foreign correspondent for Germanys Focus Magazine, was shocked when she learned about what is happening to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and teamed up with Mihrigul to tell her story. The professor of investigative journalism at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany, has reported from the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, and has written other books about women who fight for their freedom. Hoffmann spoke to reporter Gulchehra Hoja of RFAs Uyghur Service about why she and Mihrigul wrote the book  the first publication by a Uyghur internment camp survivor  and what she hopes it will accomplish. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RFA: Why did you write this book?

Hoffmann: I had a big focus on the Middle East, and I wrote a lot of stories about the Middle East and recently about the Islamic State and what it did to people. And then, I heard about the Uyghurs, but I didnt know too much about them. I was working as a journalist in the foreign department of a big magazine and saw it. Occasionally, I just heard more and more, and I became curious about what was actually happening, because I heard about those [re-]education camps and imagined them being like schools. And then, some information was gripping, so thats why I became interested. I made the contact with the Uyghurs in Germany and interviewed them. When I learned more, I thought it would really be interesting to talk to someone who could talk about what was happening in the camps. We had one woman here, but it was the same story. They all have to be careful. And then, they established contact with Mihrigul because she at that time was the only one that was really willing to tell it all. I had just a superficial knowledge about the camps, but when I was talking with her, I was so shocked.

RFA: Mihrigul experienced physical and psychological violence in the camps. What shocked you most after hearing her story?

Hoffmann: I have a sweet spot for people who are suppressed. I hate it when people get into situations where force is applied, when they are treated unfairly, and there seems to be no escape. There are millions who have no escape. Its a miracle that she could escape. Its a complete miracle. And all the others, they are in this situation without any fault [of their own], and it makes me so angry. Theres no justification for putting anybody in a situation like that. Then, I heard that all those women were in one room day and night. They didnt even have a place to sleep, and not enough food; this propaganda all the time, then the fights. People were dying because it was so hard on their bodies and minds. I had this vision of her being in that room all the time. I dont know how you cannot go crazy in a situation like that. She just had newborn babies that were just six weeks old. I cannot imagine how terrible that must have felt for her body because she was still breastfeeding them, and then also for them. One of them has died. The situation is so terrible. I think you doubt being a human being, and your life is so fragile that you cannot do anything about it against this force from outside. You feel so weak.

RFA: What was the most horrible thing Mihrigul told you about her life outside the camps and the situation that other Uyghurs faced?

Hoffmann: When she told me about those people [Chinese] living in the family homes, it was so terrible. Its a nightmare. Its a complete nightmare.

RFA: You are an investigative journalist who has written books about courageous women who fight for their freedom. How is this book different from those?

Hoffmann: The difference is that it is a state committing the crime. Even with the Islamic State, it wasnt really a state, but a terrorist organization. But this time its a state, and thats the big difference. Its really shocking. In Xinjiang, its any random person who might seem suspect. She [Mihrigul] didnt do anything. When I talked to her, I thought that maybe she had [participated in] some kind of political activity, but the fact is that everybody there is subject to this harassment and brainwashing. Its really a dimension that I could not grasp before. It reminded me of German history. Many, many Uyghurs are afraid to speak right now because what they are all afraid of what will happen to their family members there. She [Mihrigul] took this step. I think its because of her son, because she feels an obligation.

RFA: What your vision for the book?

Hoffmann: I really hope it will make an impact. My aim was really to give her a stronger voice, so I hope she will be heard. We had a very good start now in the German parliament the day before yesterday with one politician who has a strong focus on human rights watch, and there were 60 journalists present, so its becoming a topic in Germany. Also, Germany is an important player in this [issue] right now because it is the most important economy in Europe. Germany plays an important role now because were still very mild with China on account of having a lot of economic interest there. So now, this discussion in Germany is very important. I think because it is about the position of Europe in this conflict. I really have to think about German history all the time. With what happened to the Jews in Germany, it was the same story. There were some survivors, very few survivors, and they talked, but nobody believed them. Foreign countries were [considering whether] they should act or not act, and they were very slow. The same thing is happening now. In Germany, we have our own issues. We have this doctrine that one should never compare anything to the Holocaust, but I do because I think its very comparable because it is also a systematic killing of people.

RFA: Whats the significance of releasing the book just before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?

Hoffmann: I wasnt really conscious of that. I just knew we had to get it out very soon, but its the perfect timing right now, just three weeks before [they begin].

RFA: Why is German release of this book significant?

Hoffmann: Germany is quite important right now because Europe has to make a decision about whether or not to work with China. It really depends on public opinion where Germany will be going in this regard. Germany has a big influence on Europe because we have the biggest country in Europe, so thats the important thing about the German release. Of course, I hope it will be available in English because that way it can be distributed everywhere in the world, and everybody will be able to read it.

RFA: How important is this book for Mihrigul Tursun?

Hoffmann: I have a little bit of a background with working with traumatized people because I also studied psychology and did a bit of research. She will never get rid of this. Its part of her story, and those memories will always be with her. But she might be able to integrate them more, so that it would help her to accept what happened. She might be willing to move on, and that will also give her some more self-esteem. Shes incredibly strong.

RFA: Are you concerned about facing challenges or threats from China for documenting Mihriguls story?

Hoffmann: When I imagine what happened to her, I think that I should not be afraid of anything. Its really important to write everything down  everything thats happening there right now.

Reported by Gulchehra Hoja for RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Journalist Pham Doan Trang displays the books she wrote that were banned by the Vietnamese government, in a file photo.

Jailed Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang was named this week as a recipient of the 2022 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the first rights activist from Vietnam to be given the award.

Trang, now serving a nine-year sentence in Vietnam for spreading propaganda against the state, was one of three activists selected this year by a jury of leading human rights NGOs and received the recognition in absentia, a personal representative told RFA after the announcement ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland.

This award is a recognition not only from human rights organizations, but also from authorities in the city of Geneva for Pham Doan Trangs efforts, and it confirms that everything she did was correct, said Trinh Huu Long, editor-in-chief of Luat Khoa [Law] magazine.

We need to protect people like Pham Doan Trang and continue what she started, Long said. We also need many more like Pham Doan Trang in order to bring about positive change in the human rights landscape in Vietnam.

Vietnamese activist Pham Thanh Nghien welcomed the news of Trangs award, saying many rights advocates in Vietnam deserve similar recognition.

Pham Doan Trang has been a prominent activist over the past few years, and her award is well-deserved, Nghiem said. I along with her family, friends and supporters who have loved and supported her all feel honored and see a part of ourselves in this recognition.

The international respect shown to Trang and other activists in Vietnam contrasts sharply with the harsh punishments typically handed out to them by government authorities, Nghiem said.

People often say that each award given for human rights and democracy promotion efforts in Vietnam can be seen as a slap in the face of the Vietnamese authorities, she said. I think that awards like this are an embarrassment for them.

Trang, who has already won multiple foreign awards for her writing, was sentenced Dec. 14, 2021, at the Hanoi Peoples Court, with trial judges handing down a sentence longer than the prison term requested by authorities, according to defense attorney Dang Dinh Manh.

'Propaganda against the state'

Trang was arrested on Oct. 6, 2020, and charged with disseminating anti-state propaganda, according to an indictment made public more than a year after her arrest.

The indictment also accused Trang of speaking with two foreign media outlets  Radio Free Asia and the British Broadcasting Corporation  to allegedly defame the government of Vietnam and fabricate news, according to a letter sent in October by 25 human rights groups calling for her release ahead of her trial.

Trang wrote a book on political engagement that had angered authorities in Hanoi and was a cofounder of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, a California-based NGO that says its mission is to build a democratic society in Vietnam through independent journalism, research and education.

She also received the 2017 Homo Homini Award presented by the Czech human rights organization People in Need, and the Press Freedom Prize in 2019 from Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Vietnams already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply in 2020 with a spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers and Facebook personalities as authorities continued to stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress in January 2021.

Arrests continued through the year.

Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Release comes as victims of Vietnams worst environmental disaster fight for compensation from Formosa Plastics.

A Vietnamese man on Wednesday returned home after serving a five-year prison term for protesting a 2016 toxic waste spill, as lawyers for the victims of what is the countrys worst-ever environmental disaster continue to press for compensation.

Police arrested Nguyen Van Oai and dozens of others in January 2017 during a crackdown on people who demonstrated against the Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group. The company owned a steel mill that discharged toxic chemicals into the ocean, devastating more than a hundred miles of coastline in four central provinces of Vietnam.

In September 2017, Oai got a five-year sentence for resisting officers on duty and disobeying a court verdict. After serving his time, he arrived at his home in the central province of Nghe An.

I have mixed feelings, both happy and sad, he told RFAs Vietnamese Service Wednesday.

I am happy because I am free from that small prison, but I return to the large prison, he said, referring to daily life in Vietnam.

Oai said his five-year sentence was in injustice.

Look at the two charges. Disobedience of court verdict, and resisting officers on official duty. I realize they did a lot on my case, from creating false files, forging signatures, to try to prove I did all the things they accused me of, he said.

Oai said that at the time of his arrest, police thought he had played a pivotal role in organizing the protests against Formosa.

Oais mother, Tran Thi Lieu, told RFA that she was happy he was finally home.

I was sad and worried when he was in prison, but I knew that he had sacrificed himself for a cause shared by everyone, she said.

The five-year sentence was Oais second jail term. His first was from 2011 to 2015 after he was arrested for participating in protests for causes such as Chinas rising influence in Vietnam, the need for stronger environmental protections, and support for a free press.

Taiwan lawsuit

In June 2019, three years after the Formosa disaster, nearly 8,000 people filed a lawsuit in Taiwan against Formosa with the help of environmental organizations in that country, as well as in Vietnam, the U.S., France and Canada.

Now the plaintiffs are asking Taiwans Supreme Court to reconsider a requirement that they get formal authorization to participate in the case.

The Formosa Monitoring Coalition, which has been assisting the affected Vietnamese, said during a news briefing in Taipei, Taiwan, on Monday the plaintiffs would face harassment by their single-party government if they were made to file paperwork at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi.

We made this call because this can really put the plaintiffs in danger. Its very likely, with around 90-95% certainty, that they could be harassed, arrested or even investigated. They could even be detained and imprisoned, and similar incidents have occurred in the past, Peter Nguyen Van Hung, director of Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Immigrants Office in Taipei, and a member of the coalition, told RFA.

So, we are calling on the Taiwan Supreme Court to have a lenient view on the authorization in order to give the plaintiffs, who are also the victims, the opportunity to keep their lawsuit valid and to have their case tried in Taiwan, he said.

Taiwan courts have rejected the Vietnamese victims claims twice, but in December 2020, the Taiwan Supreme Court requested a review of the case.

But the court required that they notarize their authorizations for legal representation, as they are foreign persons in a case filed in Taiwan.

That requirement is unfeasible, and I think politics has interfered with this requirement from the Taiwan Supreme Court, Hung said.

Formosa in 2016 admitted that toxic chemicals discharged from their massive industrial plant caused one of largest environmental disasters in Vietnams history and offered $500 million in compensation after a Vietnamese government investigation into the spill determined that the release of toxic chemicals including cyanide from the plant caused considerable environmental damage.

Though the $500 million was for clean up and to support people along the coasts whose livelihoods were destroyed by the spill, critics say the money did not do enough for the victims and are seeking additional compensation through Taiwanese courts.

Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
A bomb threat Belarus used to justify the diversion of a Ryanair flight last year was "deliberately false," according to the UN civil aviation agency's report on the incident.

Dissident Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend were detained on May 23 when Belarus scrambled a military jet to escort their Athens-to-Vilnius flight to land in Minsk just before it was to leave Belarus's airspace.

Belarusian authorities claimed they acted because of a bomb threat from the Palestinian militant group Hamas that turned out to be false.

Countries around the world condemned Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka for the "state hijacking" of a passenger aircraft to arrest Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega. The two face charges related to civil disturbances that followed a disputed presidential election in August 2020. They are currently under house arrest.

The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) set up a fact-finding team to probe the incident and released its long-awaited report on January 17 to all 193 members.

The report says Belarus's version of events -- including contact between Minsk airport, air-traffic control, and the pilots -- did not hold up to scrutiny and the bomb threat was false.

"As neither a bomb nor evidence of its existence was found during predeparture screening in Athens, Greece, and after various searches of the aircraft in Belarus and Lithuania, it is considered that the bomb threat was deliberately false," it says.

However, no person or state has been identified as the source of the illegal hoax, it adds.

Belarusian authorities also failed to cooperate with the probe, withheld crucial information from the fact-finding team, and did not preserve information.

The report does mention that several states conducted or are conducting their own investigations, which could assist in "establishing any missing facts."

A Polish investigation published last month concluded the "the whole situation was only an excuse to force the pilot to land" in the Belarusian capital to arrest Pratasevich and Sapega.

In response to the ICAO report, Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said its findings show that "the regime tried to hide facts about the Ryanair incident."

She called for the ICAO to take a "hard line" against the Belarusian government and for the issue to be raised at the UN Security Council.

The ICAO's council is scheduled to meet on January 31 to consider possible actions in response the report's findings.

Britain and the European Union have already told airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and banned the country's flagship carrier, Belavia. Several countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, and the European Union, announced fresh sanctions against Belarus in response to the incident.

Lukashenka's regime is already internationally isolated over its brutal crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement in the wake of the presidential election that the opposition and West say was rigged.

The European Union, United States, and other countries have slapped several rounds of coordinated sanctions on Belarus.

With reporting by AFP and Politico.eu
Belarus has set February 27 for a referendum on constitutional amendments initiated by Alyaksandr Lukashenka that will allow him to further strengthen his authoritarian rule and remain in office until 2035.

The presidential office announced the date in a statement on January 20, with the referendum to ask voters: "Do you accept the amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus?"

The Crisis In Belarus Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election, widely seen as fraudulent.

Lukashenka, 67, proposed amending the constitution following domestic and international backlash over the violent crackdown following the disputed August 2020 presidential election that he claims gave him a sixth consecutive term, but which the opposition and the West say was rigged.

His opponents have called the attempt to rewrite the constitution a sham exercise to help him cling to power amid Western sanctions and international isolation for Minsk's crackdown.

The proposed changes would give Lukashenka immunity from prosecution and put in place a limit of two terms in office, each for five years. However, the restrictions would only apply going forward, meaning Lukashenka could rule until he is 81 years old.

The amendments would also weaken the current rubber-stamp parliament and strengthen the role of the All-Belarus People's Assembly, a periodic gathering of loyalists that currently has no governing status under the law.

The assembly would act as a parallel structure next to parliament, holding wide-ranging powers to approve foreign, security, and economic policy. It would also be able to propose changes to the constitution, draft laws, and select members of the country's Central Election Commission and judges of the top courts.

According to the proposed amendments, a sitting president automatically becomes a delegate of the 1,200-seat assembly and may chair it, if elected by other delegates.

The amendments would also prohibit anyone who temporarily left the country in the last 20 years from becoming president, a change that appears to be aimed directly at opposition members, many of whom were forced into exile to avoid political persecution.

The February plebiscite will be the fourth held under Lukashenka. In two of the previous referendums, he also consolidated power, while the third vote was on changing the national flag.

With reporting by BelTa
The United States has made clear to President Vladimir Putin that any Russian movement into Ukraine would be considered an invasion, President Joe Biden said on January 20.

"I have been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding. If any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Alarms have been sounding throughout Western capitals about the danger of a new major conflict after Russia massed an estimated 127,000 troops along Ukraines borders and deployed a sizable force in Belarus for what Moscow and Minsk say will be snap military exercises.

Any such invasion would be met with a "severe and coordinated" economic response that has been discussed in detail with U.S. allies, Biden said, "as well as laid out very clearly for President Putin."

"But there is no doubt, let there be no doubt at all, that if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price," he added.

Biden's warning came shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Washingtons major allies in Europe met in Berlin to discuss the Ukraine crisis as concerns continue to rise that the buildup of Russian troops on its border with Ukraine is a prelude to an attack at "very short notice."

Blinken met with his counterparts from Germany, France, and the United Kingdom and said that if any Russian forces move across the Ukrainian border there will be a swift, severe response from the United States and our allies and partners.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Blinken, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the ministers urge Russia to take steps towards a de-escalation of the situation.

"Any further aggressive stance, any further aggression, would have grave consequences," Baerbock said.

The meeting of allies comes a day before Blinken heads to Geneva for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Blinken said Russia could use a wide array of actions to destabilize the situation, including hybrid and paramilitary attacks on Ukraine.

Blinken visited Kyiv on January 19 to reassure Ukraine that it had the support of Washington, saying that if Russia carries through with any aggressive moves against Ukraine, the United States is prepared to provide additional materials to Kyiv to help it defend itself.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg underlined the unity of the alliance in an interview with CNN.

"All NATO allies have made it clear several times that we will react if Russia once again conducts aggressive actions against Ukraine," Stoltenberg said on January 20.

On January 19, Biden had said Putin likely hasn't decided and that Russia would face severe economic consequences should a military offensive occur.

Stoltenberg also said that Biden, who referred to a possible "minor incursion" by Russia the previous day, was not a green light for a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Not at all," Stoltenberg told CNN. "Russia will be held accountable if it invades -- and it depends on what it does,"

Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, said Kyiv welcomed that Biden had signaled a coordinated Western response in case Russia made a move on Ukraine.

"What was important for Ukrainian society to hear? The fact that Western states have a common understanding that any negative scenario in relation to Ukraine or in general in Europe will receive a coordinated, sufficient and sensitive response," Podolyak wrote in a message to Reuters.

"At the same time, it is important to understand that diplomatic efforts at various levels continue, and de-escalation steps are now the main goal of these efforts."

The Kremlin, which denies planning an attack, said on January 20 that the U.S. warning of possible disastrous consequences for Russia could destabilize the situation further.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters in London on January 20 that any move by Russia to invade Ukraine would be a disaster for the world.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated on January 20 that the EU will respond with "massive" economic and financial sanctions "if the situation deteriorates, if there are any further attacks on the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

The transatlantic community "stands firm in this," von der Leyen said in an online address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We do not accept Russia's attempt to divide Europe into spheres of influence," she said. "If attacks happen, we are prepared."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on January 20 alleged that Ukrainian and Western claims of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine were "cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of a military character."

Zakharova cited the delivery of weapons to Ukraine by British military transport planes in recent days.

The United States has reportedly approved requests by Baltic countries to ship U.S.-made weapons to Ukraine.

A State Department official in Berlin said the United States was "expediting authorized transfers of U.S.-origin equipment from other allies," according to AFP and Reuters.

"European allies have what they need to move forward on additional security assistance [to] Ukraine in the coming days and weeks," the official said.

A source familiar with the authorizations was quoted as saying the approval was for urgent requests by NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to assist Ukraine. The exact amounts and types of weapons were not specified.

Last week, Russian diplomats met with top officials from the United States, NATO, and European countries to discuss the sweeping demands Moscow has made, which amount to a major restructuring of Europe's security architecture.

The talks yielded no breakthroughs, and that, plus belligerent rhetoric from Moscow, has alarmed Western officials.

In a related development, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on January 20 that he will travel to Ukraine early next month and voiced hope of bringing together the Russian and Ukrainian leaders as soon as possible.

"In the early days of next month, I have a visit to Ukraine," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara. "Our hope is for peace to reign in the region."

NATO member Turkey has good ties with both Ukraine and Russia but opposed the latter's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Kyiv has welcomed Turkey's involvement in negotiations with Russia. Zelenskiy said in November that he had asked Erdogan to hand Putin a list of prisoners for a potential prisoner swap, though the swap never materialized.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
The original 2012 legislation, which targeted NGOs and rights groups, has since been expanded to target media organizations, individual journalists, YouTube vloggers, and, well, pretty much anyone who receives money from outside of Russia and, in the eyes of the Kremlin, voices a political opinion. Here's a look at where the law came from, how it has been expanded, and who's paying the price.
TBILISI -- Neighbors and family gathered, as best they could, around the coffin of Zurab Chichoshvili in the cramped, 18-square-meter room where he lived for nearly three decades.

Tormented and alone, the 52-year-old survivor of Georgia's first separatist conflict in the early 1990s had jumped, or fallen, from the seventh-floor rooftop of a crumbling Soviet-era sanatorium, known as Kartli, on January 16.

"What 'fell'?!" one of the mourners asked incredulously.

It was a response to Georgian Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili's suggestion that Chichoshvili's death was an accident and shouldn't be linked to the plight of hundreds of thousands of other internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Georgia.

"'Guys, I'm with you,' he yelled, then jumped," the mourner added. "There were people downstairs -- his sister, his wife's aunt, [and] the rest."

Chichoshvili was one of more than 200,000 Georgians displaced by the fighting in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia in 1992-93. It's a nagging problem that was compounded by a second wave of homelessness from a lightning war in 2008 that pitted Russia and its separatist allies against Georgian government forces in Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia.

Known to neighbors as Kiria, Chichoshvili is survived by a wife who went abroad 10 years ago in search of work, taking their infant daughter but never earning enough to allow him to resettle alongside them. He was unemployed and had struggled to recover from an apartment fire two years ago started by a short circuit.

Chichoshvili was originally from Gudauta, a Black Sea town where a former Soviet military base has facilitated Russian military support to breakaway elements and has been a constant irritant to Tbilisi.

Dangerous Living

The inability to return home and the suffering of Chichoshvili and his fellow IDPs are problems that the United Nations has repeatedly "deplored" and the displaced families themselves have warned about for years. The COVID-19 health crisis has seemingly made things worse, meaning even greater isolation and less access to basic services for those people.

Twice in the two weeks leading up to Chichoshvili's death, Kartli's IDPs held protests and tried to block the road in front of the former sanatorium in an effort to force the government to address their problems and the danger of life inside its dilapidated walls.

"Let them come out here humanely and reevaluate what's happening in this blasted building -- to get to know the IDPs and see what the conditions are like," Murtaz, a 24-year-old Kartli resident who did not give his last name, told Health Ministry representatives earlier this month.

Aboard The 'Titanic'

Some of Kartli's residents have coined a nickname based on the building's location alongside the Tbilisi Reservoir and its occupants' sense of impending ruin.

"We call it the Titanic," one of the protesters told RFE/RL. "God forbid that this building should share the fate of the Titanic."

The sprawling facility houses more than 120 of the 200 or so families originally relocated here after they were displaced from in and around Sukhumi, Abkhazia's capital city, by the war nearly three decades ago that killed up to 30,000 people.

Its rooms are small, never intended for long-term residency but rather for short, curative visits for patients with heart ailments.

Multiple inspections have concluded that the cracks in its walls and floors are widening and damage appears to be threatening support columns. Gaps have opened between slabs in the construction and holes have opened between floors. Heaps of rubble from the surrounding structure litter hallways.

"Fracturing processes are still occurring in the basement, which could lead to the massive collapse of the load-bearing structures...in the future," read a forensic bureau conclusion after the last inspection, in 2015.

There has been no work to fortify the building in the subsequent seven years, and a huge crack now runs up its western wall, broadening as it approaches the roof.

Georgian officials have acknowledged there's a problem.

The day of Chichoshvili's death, the Ministry for IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs, a cabinet-level agency, vowed that "the IDPs living in the former sanatorium Kartli will receive new housing unconditionally in 2022."

The government had already pledged to find them new apartments but mostly failed to deliver as Kartli's walls literally crumbled around the residents.

It has offered to contribute the local equivalent of about $96 per month toward alternative housing, nearly half the $205 rent for a one-bedroom apartment outside Tbilisi's city center, according to one crowdsourced global database. Or it will provide a onetime payment of about $550 per square meter toward the purchase of a new apartment.

But distrust of officials runs deep among Kartli's IDPs, and take-up has been low.

They complain that they are unlikely to find homes for sale in the capital at that price, and fear that the government could toss them out on the street after a few months in new rental apartments. (Some claimed to know IDPs to whom the latter had happened.)

Public Defender Nino Lomjaria, an ombudswoman, said IDPs "have been trying for a long time to find adequate housing within this amount" but acknowledged that demand has contributed to making it "physically impossible to meet the criteria that the ministry requires of IDPs."

Moreover, many displaced persons, some of whose families have been in state-provided accommodation for a generation, aren't on the official list of those eligible for such assistance.

Case Closed?

Chichoshvili was one of those who'd slipped between the cracks, according to neighbor Ia Salia.

"He asked them [officials] to be put on the list," Salia said, "but he wasn't."

The authorities are now investigating the circumstances of Chichoshvili's death.

One day after the incident, Azarashvili, who assumed the leadership of the Health Ministry in December 2021, expressed condolences to the dead man's family in front of reporters.

But he rejected the notion that Chichoshvili's or other IDPs' problems played any role in the tragedy.

"I can't agree that it has anything to do with the events of the previous days," Azarashvili said. "It's an accident."

Ombudswoman Lomjaria said it was wrong for senior officials to draw conclusions one day into the investigation.

The IDPs themselves, in a joint statement, called officials' reaction "an attempt to violate the dignity of a hopeless, vulnerable person."

"My uncle jumped, [but] maybe you can help me anyways," Chichoshvili's nephew, Zaza Esiava, said in a public address aimed at Azarashvili.

"If you say on TV today that this is an accident, you are very mistaken," he said, adding that he and "all those who know us" will take their protest to the doors of the ministry itself.

'Fighting For A Home'

Eyewitnesses told RFE/RL's Georgian Service that they saw Chichoshvili leap to his death at around 5 p.m. amid preparations for another protest.

"He was fighting for a home," one neighbor said. "His daughter was going to come [visit], and you saw the room. What [kind of home] is that?"

Back at the makeshift funeral in Chichoshvili's tiny room, four chairs were all that was left next to the coffin.

Neighbors stood frozen in the hallway, trying not to talk out of grief and respect for the deceased.

They said they wouldn't resume their protests until Chichoshvili was buried, and vowed to demand justice on his behalf. Some tried to speak, only to fall silent again as tears welled up.

"What's the point of these apartments?" asked Gennady Akhalaia, an IDP originally from Sukhumi, the Abkhaz capital now controlled by breakaway authorities supported by Russian troops. "The more doors I open, the more I have to remember."

Written by Andy Heil based on reporting in Tbilisi by RFE/RL Georgian Service correspondents Tea Topuria and Sandro Gvindadze
The ex-wife of an Iranian-Swedish dissident on trial in Iran says she's worried he will not get a fair trial on terrorism charges that she believes are trumped up.

Iranian authorities have accused Habib Chaab, a founder and former leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA) separatist group, of "managing and leading a terrorist group," as well as of "planning and carrying out numerous bombings and terrorist operations" in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

Chaab lived in Sweden for 14 years until he was apparently "lured" to Turkey by Iranian intelligence agents. He went missing during a visit to Turkey in October 2020 and a month later appeared in a video on Iranian state television in which he claimed responsibility for launching an attack and working with Saudi intelligence services.

In the indictment, Chaab, also known as Habib Asyud, is accused of being behind a deadly 2018 terror attack on a military parade in Khuzestan's capital, Ahvaz, that left at least 25 dead, including civilians.

The first hearing in his trial was held on January 18 at Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court.

"We know that when [Chaab] said on TV, 'We offer our congratulations on the operation,' that it doesn't mean he did it. But [Iranian authorities] are using it as an excuse and claiming that he knew about it," his former wife, Hoda Havashemi, told RFE/RL, adding that she didn't believe he was involved in the incident.

Havashemi said that the Swedish authorities had not been granted access to Chaab. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship.

Havashemi also said it's still not clear why Chaab decided to travel to Turkey.

ASMLA, which has an armed branch and seeks a separate state for ethnic Arabs in oil-producing Khuzestan, is considered a terrorist group by Tehran. The group has been blamed by Iran for a series attacks on government institutions, oil facilities, and other infrastructure over the years.

ASMLA is primarily based in the Netherlands and Denmark.

In April 2021, three of its leaders went on trial in Denmark on charges of financing and promoting terrorism in Iran with Saudi Arabia's backing.

In late October 2018, the Danish intelligence service accused the Iranian intelligence service of plotting to assassinate at least one of the three leaders of the group's Danish branch, which Tehran denied.

A Danish court in 2020 sentenced a Norwegian-Iranian to seven years in prison for his role in the assassination plot.

In November 2017, a leader of ASMLA was shot dead in The Hague in an attack the Dutch government said was linked to Iran.
A court in Tehran has sentenced financial reporter Amir-Abbas Azarmvand to three years and seven months in prison after convicting him of "spreading propaganda against the system."

Azarmvand, who works for the state-run financial newspaper SMT, was also banned from leaving the country for two years.

Azarmvand, was arrested in September over his reporting and held in Tehran's Evin prison, a primary site for political detainees. He was later released on bail before his trial began on January 8. His sentence was handed down on January 19.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned his arrest, saying that the jailing of journalists for doing their jobs was "an outrageous form of censorship that must end."

Iran ranks 174th out of 180 countries in the world in Reporters Without Borders' 2021 press-freedom index.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on January 20 that talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal have reached an "urgent" point following "modest progress" in negotiations in Vienna.

However, Blinken told reporters after meeting with European allies in Berlin that reviving the landmark agreement was still possible.

"My own assessment, talking to all of our colleagues, is that returning to mutual compliance, it remains possible," Blinken said, but warned that time was short.

"There is real urgency and it's really now a matter of weeks, where we determine whether or not we can return to mutual compliance with the agreement," Blinken said.

The 2015 deal, which lifted crippling Western economic sanctions in exchange for curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions, began to unravel in 2018 after U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew and reimposed the sanctions.

That led Iran to later start rolling back its commitments, and restarting some uranium-enrichment activity, pushing the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to the verge of complete collapse.

Negotiations to restore the agreement began early last year but were put on hold in June as the Islamic republic held its presidential election, which brought an ultraconservative government led by President Ebrahim Raisi to power.

Talks resumed in late November, and the latest round got under way on December 27.

Along with Iran and the United States, other parties to the deal include Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also said "urgent" progress was necessary, adding that time was running out because "Iran, parallel to the talks, unfortunately continues to turn the spiral of nuclear escalation."

Iran, Baerbock said, had achieved 60-percent uranium enrichment, unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.

"There is no plausible explanation for this and Iran is not providing a plausible explanation for this," Baerbock said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also warned after the talks in Berlin that quicker progress was needed.

Le Drian told reporters that "the negotiations cannot go on so slowly" on returning to the JCPOA.

On January 19, U.S. President Joe Biden said it was "not time to give up" on the talks with Iran, insisting "there is some progress being made" in the Vienna discussions.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa
More than 100 people who were evacuated from a steel plant in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol have arrived in Zaporizhzhya, the Mariupol city council said, as Russian forces resumed their assault on the complex.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

The council said in a statement that the people who arrived in Zaporizhzhya -- a city about 230 kilometers northwest of Mariupol -- were receiving assistance after emerging from weeks in the bunkers of the sprawling Azovstal plant.



Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 156 people were evacuated. She said several hundred more people remained inside the plant and tens of thousands of women, children, and elderly remain in Mariupol.



"There is no medicine, water, or communication services," she said at a briefing on May 3, adding that the authorities needed to rescue everyone who wants to escape.



The United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross coordinated the evacuation of women, children, and the elderly from the steel works.

"We would have hoped that many more people would have been able to join the convoy and get out of hell. That is why we have mixed feelings," Pascal Hundt of the ICRC told journalists on a video conference call.



Osnat Lubrani, UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said that 101 women, men, children, and older people could finally leave the plant, and several dozen more joined the convoy in a town on the outskirts of Mariupol. Some evacuees decided not to stay with the convoy and headed to destinations other than Zaporizhzhya, Lubrani said.



A few women who arrived in Zaporizhzhya held up handmade signs calling on the Ukrainian authorities to evacuate soldiers still holed up in the plant and their relatives and loved ones who are trapped.



UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he hoped the continued coordination with Kyiv and Moscow will lead to more humanitarian pauses that will allow civilians safe passage from the fighting.

WATCH: Current Time reporter Borys Sachalko comes under fire as he accompanies a Red Cross team attempting to evacuate a village that lies between Russian-occupied Kherson and Ukrainian-held Mikolayiv in southern Ukraine.

Despite the calls for additional evacuations, Russian troops began to storm the plant soon after the latest group of people got out, Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications under the National Security and Defense Council said in a statement on May 3.



According to the Vereshchuk, Russia purposely resumed the assault after some civilians got out.



"This was their plan: to allow some civilians to leave and then continue bombing. However, civilians remain there, there are people who did not have time to get out from under the rubble because the blockages were so heavy that in two days they simply could not lift them physically. We need to continue the humanitarian operation, including Azovstal," Vereshchuk said.

French President Emmanuel Macron also urged that evacuations from the steel plant be allowed to continue.



Macron spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on May 3, calling on Russia to rise to the level of its responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council by ending its devastating aggression, an Elysee statement said.



The storming of the plant comes days after Putin said he had called off plans for such an operation. Putin instead said he wanted Russian forces to blockade the sprawling plant "so a fly can't get through."

Later on May 3, Russian strikes began targeting the western city of Lviv. The strikes happened just before 8:30 p.m. local time. It wasnt immediately clear what was targeted.



Mayor Andriy Sadoviy wrote on social media that people in the city should take shelter. Train service out of Lviv was suspended.



Sadoviy acknowledged in another message that the attacks had damaged power stations, cutting off electricity in some districts.



The governor of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine said Russian troops shelled a coke plant in the city of Avdiyivka, killing at least 10 people and wounding 15 more.



"The Russians knew exactly where to aim -- the workers just finished their shift and were waiting for a bus at a bus stop to take them home," Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote in a Telegram post. "Another cynical crime by Russians on our land."

Kyrylenko said 11 more people were killed in the shelling of four towns in the region. The number includes five killed in the town of Lyman and four in Vuhledar.



Kyrylenko said the death toll on May 3 was the highest on a single day since a Russian strike on a train station in the city of Kramatorsk killed 57 people on April 8 and injured 109 others.

WATCH: Ukrainian troops southeast of Kharkiv survey heavy damage to a community cultural center, reflecting on the impact on locals, now all but gone.

Ukrainian officials say the Russian military also struck railroad infrastructure across the country on May 3.



Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of the state-run Ukrainian railways, said the Russian strikes hit six railway stations in the countrys central and western regions, inflicting heavy damage.



The governor of the Dnipro region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Russian missiles struck railway infrastructure in the area, leaving one person wounded and disrupting train service.

Earlier on May 3, in a video address to the parliament in Kyiv, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced 300 million pounds ($376 million) worth of extra military aid for Ukraine.

Britain has already sent military equipment, including missiles and missile launchers, to Ukraine. The new aid will consist of electronic warfare equipment, a battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment, and thousands of night vision devices.



In his speech, Johnson referred to a 1940 address by World War II leader Winston Churchill as Britain faced Nazi Germany's aggression.

"The British people showed such unity and resolve that we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour," Johnson told the Verkhovna Rada. "This is Ukraine's finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come."

"We will carry on supplying Ukraine...with weapons, funding, and humanitarian aid, until we have achieved our long-term goal, which must be so to fortify Ukraine that no one will ever dare to attack you again," Johnson said.

In Brussels, the EU's executive indicated it was prepared to propose another sanctions package to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine. But Slovakia and Hungary will not support sanctions against Russian energy, including on oil imports.



The two countries say they are too reliant on Russian oil and there are no immediate alternatives.

The sanctions will also target the Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, which will be excluded from the global banking communications system SWIFT, unnamed diplomats said.

Fighting also raged in the strategic port city of Odesa and across Ukraine's east. A 15-year-old boy was killed in a fresh Russian strike on Odesa, the city council said.

Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, was under shelling, the military said on May 3, while the General Staff said Ukrainian forces were defending the approach to Kharkiv from Izyum, some 120 kilometers to the southeast.



Since Russia launched its unprovoked war on February 24, its troops have failed to completely take over any major Ukrainian city.

On the diplomatic front, Germany's conservative opposition leader traveled to Kyiv on May 3 for meetings with Ukrainian officials, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz made clear that he wouldn't be visiting Ukraine any time soon.

Friedrich Merz, who heads former Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Union bloc, visited the town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, which has been heavily bombarded by Russian forces.

Scholz refused to go to Ukraine because of Kyiv's refusal to invite Germany's head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whom Ukrainians accuse of cozying up to Russia during his time as foreign minister.

"It can't work that a country that provides so much military aid, so much financial aid...you then say that the president can't come," Scholz told public broadcaster ZDF late on May 2.

The United States warned that Moscow was planning to formally take over regions in Ukraine's east.



Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, said Russia is planning to imminently annex the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, using referendums after failing to overthrow the government in Kyiv.



Russia encountered surprisingly staunch resistance in the north around the regions of Kyiv and Chernihiv, which forced it to redeploy its troops in the south and east, where fighting has intensified in recent days.



Ukraine's east and south are seen as key strategic goals for Russia, allowing it a land link to Crimea.

Separately, Russia's state news agency TASS quoted the Defense Ministry on May 3 as saying that more than 1 million people, including nearly 200,000 children, had been taken from Ukraine to Russia in the past two months.



Defense Ministry official Mikhail Mizintsev said those civilians "were evacuated to the territory of the Russian Federation from the dangerous regions" of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, and from other parts that came under Russian control.

No details were provided on the location or circumstances of the moves.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, and dpa
Mohammad Taghi Fallahi, the secretary-general of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association in Tehran, has been taken to Evin Prison to serve a six-month prison sentence.

Taghi Fallahi was arrested in February 2020 and held in Tehrans Evin Prison for his participation in a peaceful teachers protest. He was later released on bail.

Last year, a court in Tehran sentenced him to two years in prison after convicting him of "conspiracy and collusion through membership in an illegal organization.

The sentence, which Fallahi began serving on January 19, was reduced to six months by an appeals court.

Teachers in Iran have held a number of protests in recent years, demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and the release of their jailed colleagues.

Authorities have used force against some of the rallies, detaining protesting teachers.

Last week, teachers protested in more than 50 cities demanding higher wages and calling on the government to move quicker on a planned grading system for teachers based on experience and performance.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran said last month that authorities have sent to jail dozens of teachers' rights activists on manufactured charges that reflect the criminalization in Iran of dissent, peaceful protests and assembly, and independent labor activism.
A family in a small Kazakh village are demanding that authorities hand over the body of their son after he was killed by security forces amid recent protests in the northwestern city of Aqtobe. They have been told by police that their son was a terrorist and his body will not be handed over. The family insist that 30-year-old Ruslanbek Zhumanazarov was not a terrorist and had made the 270-kilometer journey to Aqtobe to seek work.
Kazakh officials say "secret graves" have been found in the Central Asian nation's largest city, Almaty, following deadly unrest in early January amid mass anti-government protests.

Saltanat Azirbek, a spokeswoman for the Almaty city police department, confirmed the existence of the graves on January 20 saying they were made by an unspecified group "to make it difficult to identify participants from the unrest."

Almaty city police chief Qanat Taimerdenov said there were several "attacks by possible terrorists" on Almaty morgues, with 41 bodies being taken away.

Kazakh officials, including President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, have blamed the violence that occurred during the protests, which were initially sparked by anger over a fuel price hike, on "terrorists" who aimed to overthrow the government. No evidence, however, has been put forward to back those claims.

Kazakh officials have said that 227 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed during the protests.

Human rights activists, however, say the number of dead may be much higher as scores of people have gone missing since the unrest.

Based on reporting by KazTAG and Kazinform
Moldova's lawmakers have approved a 60-day state of emergency in the energy sector amid the country's difficulties with gas payments to Russia's state-controlled Gazprom.

Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita told parliament on January 20 that the new regime was needed after Gazprom, the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe, rejected a request to reschedule the January gas payment.

Later on January 20, the Moldovagaz energy firm said it had paid its January gas advance to Gazprom.

The state of emergency gives the cabinet more control to manage the energy sector, such as switching gas supplies from industry to households and using state budget funds to pay for gas, Gavrilita has said.

Late last year, traditional supplier Russia threatened to cut off gas supplies to the impoverished country sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine if the sides failed to agree on the extension of their gas contract, which expired in September.

Moldova declared a state of emergency in October and started buying gas from other countries before Gazprom and Chisinau agreed to extend their contract for Russian natural gas supplies for a period of five years.

Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spinu said on January 11, however, that the purchase price had increased from $550 per 1,000 cubic meters in December to $647 in January, a hike that was problematic for one of Europe's poorest countries.

Some observers say Russia is using energy as a way to punish Moldova for electing pro-Western President Maia Sandu in 2020 in a vote that rejected Russian-backed incumbent Igor Dodon.

Russia has been criticized in the past for setting prices according to a country's political allegiance.

With reporting by Reuters
A Russian court in Siberia has handed lengthy prison terms to two Jehovah's Witnesses, in the latest persecution of members of the banned Christian group.

The Investigative Committee said on January 20 that a court in the city of Seversk sentenced a Jehovah's Witness to seven years in prison after finding him guilty of organizing the activities of a "banned extremist group" in the city in the Tomsk region.

The court also ruled that after serving the term, the Jehovah's Witness, whose identity was not disclosed, will be on parole-like police control and barred from working at educational institutions or from posting any materials on the Internet for five years.

On January 19, another Jehovah's Witness in Seversk, 69-year-old Aleksei Yershov, was handed a two-year prison term for allegedly taking part in the activities of an "extremist group."



According to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Yershov was charged in March 2021 based on video recordings made by a person who feigned interest in studying the Bible.



In an interview, Yershov said he had dealt with the trial through Bible study and prayer.



Russia labeled the Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist group and banned it in 2017, leading to a wave of court cases and prison sentences against its members.



For decades, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been viewed with suspicion in Russia, where the dominant Orthodox Church is championed by President Vladimir Putin.



The Christian group is known for door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, rejection of military service, and not celebrating national and religious holidays or birthdays.



According to the group, dozens of Jehovah's Witnesses have been either convicted of extremism or are in pretrial detention.
Russian-language social media posts are helping expose the scale and nature of Moscows military mobilization amid rising tensions with NATO, and shedding light on concerns voiced by relatives of troops headed westward for apparent deployment near Ukraine, a joint investigation by RFE/RLs Russian Service and the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) shows.

The investigation, based in part on reactions to numerous posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok by people who appear to be Russian soldiers as well as exchanges with friends and relatives who authored some of the comments, adds to growing evidence of a Russian military buildup near Ukraine as negotiations between Russia and the West continue to yield no breakthrough.

While the posts give no specific indication of whether President Vladimir Putin has decided to launch a new military offensive targeting Ukraine, they serve as evidence that troops and equipment are being moved en masse from Russias Far East and offer a rare glimpse into the fears voiced by relatives of the soldiers.

In about half of the posts, the investigation notes, the friends and relatives of Russian contract soldiers write about the soldiers dispatch for assignment or for training.

Most make clear that the destination of those trips is Belarus, Ukraines northern neighbor and a staunch Russian military ally, while others say less specifically that they are going to areas near Ukraine.

The abrupt announcement of joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises in Belarus next month has added to concerns that an invasion of Ukraine could be imminent.

My husband also left for Belarus on January 7, one woman wrote on social media. In an exchange with RFE/RLs Russian Service on January 18, the woman, who declined to give her name, said that her husband had left the Zabaikalye region in Russias Far East and was now in Brest, near Belaruss border with Poland.

'Not For Training'

Another woman, from Vladivostok in the Far East, commented on a video posted to social media saying that her partner -- a member of Russias 155th naval infantry brigade -- had left not for training, implying that he was on a mission that could involve combat. Contacted by an RFE/RL journalist, she said that her partner was being sent to Ukraine, without clarifying how she knew this.

Since autumn, U.S. and other officials have been warning that intelligence shows Russia is preparing for a possible new invasion of Ukraine, where it seized the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has supported separatist forces in the eastern region known as the Donbas since April of that year. Kyivs latest estimate is that Russia has amassed some 127,000 troops near Ukraines borders.

Russian officials have repeatedly said Moscow is not planning any new invasion of Ukraine. Most of those comments do not rule out an operation that would ostensibly be a response to a provocation by Ukraine.

The White House last week accused Russia of sending saboteurs into eastern Ukraine in order to stage an incident that could provide a pretext for an invasion if Moscow's sweeping demands for changes in European security architecture, including an end to NATO enlargement, are not met.

'No Clarity'

Russia says that the joint Russian-Belarusian exercises are scheduled to start on February 9 and last 10 days. But the social media comments, and exchanges with their authors, suggest that those who are dispatched to Belarus are often given a much longer time frame, and often no indication of how long theyll be away.

"There's no clarity as to how many months [they're going for]," one woman wrote.

The analysis of social media profiles sent by the relatives of Russian soldiers suggests that a large proportion of the soldiers heading west from Russias Far East belong to groups capable of shoring up a full-scale ground invasion, including military police, special forces, and tactical teams.

The Western intelligence community and independent analysts are divided in their predictions of the most likely form a Russian military campaign against Ukraine may take if one is launched, but most experts agree that a ground invasion leading to the attempted seizure of Ukrainian cities is a small, if distinct, possibility that may leave Russia mired in a protracted conflict.

Posts analyzed separately by CIT further indicate that a large part of the Russian military contingent that arrived in Belarus may have halted its journey far short of the area of joint exercises and based itself instead around the city of Homel, just 40 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

Claims by relatives of some soldiers that their sons, brothers, or husbands had been ordered to travel for training or unspecified assignments contain echoes of 2014, when Russian soldiers sent to the border with Ukraine were not warned in advance that they would be involved in a military conflict, according to accounts shared at the time and subsequently by those who took part.

In its own report on the investigation with RFE/RLs Russian Service, CIT said that comments referencing hundreds of troops heading west from the Far East suggest that the formations may remain in Belarus and in western Russia for many months to come.

Written by RFE/RLs Central Newsroom based on reporting by Mark Krutov of RFE/RLs Russian Service
MOSCOW -- A court in Moscow has sentenced to lengthy prison terms four defendants convicted in an anti-drug operation that found almost 400 kilograms of cocaine on the premises of the Russian Embassy in Argentina.

The Dorogomilov district court, on January 20, sentenced Andrei Kovalchuk, whom investigators called the mastermind of the operation, to 18 years in prison.

Three other men who were convicted of attempted smuggling and trafficking illegal drugs in December -- businessmen Ishtimir Khudzhamov and Vladimir Kalmykov; and a former employee of the Russian Embassy in Argentina, Ali Abyanov -- were sentenced to 13, 16, and 17 years in prison respectively.

None of the defendants is or was a diplomat.

In February 2018, Argentinian Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said 389 kilograms of cocaine were found in bags seized in December 2016, following a tip from the Russian ambassador and three officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

The cocaine was replaced with flour and the luggage was flown in 2017 to Russia, where two men were arrested when they came to pick it up, Bullrich said.

Officials said the alleged mastermind -- later identified as Kovalchuk, a former technical worker at the Russian Embassy in Argentina who then resided in Germany -- was wanted under an international arrest warrant.

Germany extradited Kovalchuk to Russia in July 2018.
The Serbian government has dropped its plans to build a massive lithium mine following weeks of public protest over the $2 billion project's environmental impact.

The Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto had been tapped to develop the mine in western Serbia in an effort to attract foreign investment and boost economic growth. The lithium mine, which was slated to be one of the world's largest, was seen as a way to capitalize on rising global demand for the element, which is widely used in the batteries that power electronics and electric vehicles.

"Serbia has fulfilled all demands from the environmental protests and has put an end to Rio Tinto in the Republic of Serbia," Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic announced during a televised address on January 20.

The controversial project led to a series of angry protests in recent weeks, including the blockage of a major highway in the capital, Belgrade, on January 15. Environmental groups had argued that the mine would be devastating to agricultural land and water supplies.

Following protests, a local municipality earlier this month scrapped plans to allocate land for the mine near Loznica in the western Jadar Valley. The Serbian government also withdrew two laws that activists had said were designed to speed up mining projects.

In her televised remarks, Brnabic said all "permits and decisions" related to the Rio Tinto project had been canceled. Protesters had called for not only Rio Tinto, but any mining company, to be barred from extracting lithium in the country.

Rio Tinto had conducted preliminary engineering work for the mine and set up a Serbian entity, Rio Sava Exploration, but this month pushed back the timeline for the project due to difficulties in obtaining licenses required to complete a key environmental assessment.

We fully understand the concerns among some Serbian stakeholders about environmental impacts, and we will continue to engage to demonstrate the project has developed mitigation solutions in the project plan, the company said on January 20.

The controversy had prompted Rio Tinto to move the initial target date for lithium production from 2026 to 2027.

Serbian authorities have announced that the company's total investments in the project amounted to more than $209 million since 2004.

The decision to cancel the project comes ahead of likely national elections, with President Aleksander Vucic coming under criticism for putting development ahead of environmental concerns.

Environmental issues have become a public concern for Serbs amid bad air pollution, poor waste management, and other environmental problems that have accumulated after decades of neglect.

With reporting by AFP and the Financial Times
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Understanding whats next for Kazakhstan after a week that changed the country forever was the focus of a live Twitter Spaces discussion hosted by RFE/RL on January 13.
Former Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says Russian President Vladimir Putin is "making a great mistake," as Russia masses tens of thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine in what Kyiv and its allies fear could be preparations for a new military offensive.

"You know, the British have a saying that after eight years, every prime minister goes mad. President Putin has been in power for 22 years. And perhaps he believes in his own propaganda," Sikorski, now a member of the European Parliament, told RFE/RL's Georgian Service in an interview.

His comments come with up to 127,000 Russian troops deployed along Ukraine's borders and a sizable force in Belarus for what Moscow and Minsk say will be snap military exercises to be held in February.

Moscow denies plans to launch an attack but has pressed Washington for security guarantees, including a block on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.

Russia's actions are galvanizing the West, not dividing it, said Sikorski, a member of the conservative European People's Party, accusing Putin of potentially grave geopolitical missteps.

"There is arming of Ukraine already, there will be more if Russia invades further. If Russia invades the eastern flank of NATO, it will not be weakened, which is what President Putin wants, but quite the opposite, it will be strengthened. And there'll be tough economic sanctions," Sikorski said.

U.S. President Joe Biden told a news conference late on January 19 that a Russian attack on Ukraine would be a "disaster for Russia," exerting a tremendous human, economic, and political toll on Moscow.

Hours after Biden spoke, Western news agencies reported the U.S. State Department had given the go-ahead to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to send U.S.-made missiles and other weapons to Ukraine. On January 17, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that Britain was providing Ukraine with new "defensive weapons systems."

"Well, the best way to deter Russia is to demonstrate that the invasion of Ukraine will be costly, and there are absolutely no restrictions on selling weapons to Ukraine. Ukraine is a democratic member of the United Nations in good standing, has the right to defend itself, and short-term defensive anti-ship, antiaircraft, and anti-tank weapons are the best argument to persuade Mr. Putin to desist," Sikorski said, adding that Putin and his inner circle should be targeted with more sanctions.

"I personally think we should go after President Putin and his oligarchs' money -- that's the language that they would understand because they like to steal the money in Russia, but then enjoy it in France and Switzerland. And so we should be much tougher than in the past about controlling the flows of illegal money," Sikorski said.

Russia has been subject to sanctions since its 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. Further punitive measures were added after a former Russian spy was poisoned in Britain in 2018 and following an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election won by Donald Trump.

Russia has denied any role in the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, and denies trying to interfere in foreign elections.

Those denials from the Kremlin and others mean "nobody believes President Putin or Russian statements anymore," Sikorski said, adding that any pretext for a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine would also be met with disbelief in the West.

"And so this time, there has to be first some kind of chemical attack against Russian residents in the Donbas, then some kind of other attack in which Russian citizens would die," Sikorski said, referring to the area of eastern Ukraine, parts of which have been under the control of Moscow-backed separatists. "But the fact is that the United States is warning the world and Ukraine that something like that is coming, which means that Russia doesn't have the information-space control over the situation."

On January 14, the White House said that U.S. intelligence indicates that Russia "has prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in Ukraine. The operatives are trained in urban warfare and using explosives to conduct acts of sabotage."

Sikorski recently whipped up a storm on social media after responding with unusually undiplomatic and blunt words to comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that NATO had "become a purely geopolitical project aimed at taking over territories orphaned by the collapse of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and the Soviet Union."

"We were not orphaned by you because you were not our daddy. More of a serial rapist. Which is why you are not missed. And if you try it again, you'll get a kick in the balls," Sikorski wrote on Twitter on January 10.

In his interview with RFE/RL, Sikorski said Russia has long portrayed itself as an "eternal victim of aggression, whether by Napoleon, or Hitler, or the democratic West."

However, it is Russia that is viewed as the aggressor, especially by its neighbors, Sikorski said.

"Russia started as a small principality back in the 15th century, and has grown to be the largest state in the world, and not by defensive action, but by occupying more and more land of its neighbors," Sikorski said. "So, its neighbors see Russia as an aggressor rather than a victim."

Vazha Tavberidze is a Vaclav Havel Journalism Fellow working with RFE/RL's Georgian Service.
WASHINGTON -- The United States has sanctioned four Ukrainian nationals, including two members of parliament, after accusing them of supporting Russian efforts to destabilize the country.

Taras Kozak, Oleh Voloshyn, Volodymyr Oliynyk, and Vladimir Sivkovich acted at the direction of Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) to undermine Ukraine, the State Department said in a January 20 statement announcing the sanctions.

In 2020, Kremlin officials launched a comprehensive information operation plan designed in part to degrade the ability of the Ukrainian state to independently function; the individuals designated today played key roles in that campaign, the State Department said.

Kozak and Voloshyn are deputies from the Kremlin-leaning party led by Victor Medvedchuk, a powerful tycoon who maintains close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kozak and Voloshyn worked to undermine Ukrainian government officials and act on behalf of Russia, the Treasury Department said in a separate statement. Kozak also used his news platforms to spread false information about the 2020 U.S. election, it said.

Medvedchuk, who is already on the U.S. sanctions list, allegedly took part in directing these activities, the Treasury Department said in a separate statement.

Ukraine last year sanctioned Kozak and his television stations, alleging they were financed by activities in the two territories controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

Oliynyk, a former Ukrainian official who fled to Russia, helped the FSB gather information about Ukraines critical infrastructure, the Treasury Department said.

Sivkovich, a former deputy secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, worked on behalf of the Kremlin to build support for recognizing Russia's annexation of Crimea, it said.

The sanctions essentially cut the individuals off from the U.S. banking system, including freezing any dollar accounts they own.

The United States and its allies have been warning Russia for weeks that it faces severe economic penalties if it attacks Ukraine.

Russia has massed more than 125,000 troops near its border with Ukraine since late autumn in what the United States said could be a prelude to an invasion.

The State Department said the sanctions against the four individuals are separate from the penalties being considered by the West in the event Russia invades Ukraine.
Clint Robbins poses with Rear Adm. Scott Dillon in front of the headquarters building in China Lake after receiving a 40-year length-of-service award on Jan. 6.
Written By

Joe Schulz served as the reporter of the Green Laker in 2019 and 2020, before being hired as a reporter for the Commonwealth in October 2020. He is from Oshkosh and graduated from UW-Oshkosh in December 2020 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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The Oct. 1, 2021 Now & Then in Ripon column featured two postcards from the early 1900s of Ripon with trick photography.

One was of Watson Street with a street car that never existed and the other was the same photograph showing a skyscraper, where Patina Vie is now located at 205 Watson St., that was never located in Ripon.

Diane Egbert of Green Lake and author of Dartford Days, A Postcard History of Early Green Lake, Wisconsin contacted the Ripon Historical Society with more information on these altered photographs.

Both cards were made by the postcard photographer Harris Montgomery (1880-1944), Egbert noted. They would date between about 1909 and 1917. During those years he was living in Hartford, Wis., and traveling extensively throughout Wisconsin to take photographs for his postcard business.

Egbert also noted that Montgomery used the same tall buildings, trolley car, steam boat and biplane in scenes of many Wisconsin downtowns.

She went on to state that I have seen the tall building superimposed on Berlins Huron Street shown in a photograph at least three or four times.

Today, this type of photographic changes would be easy to create using software platform programs like Photoshop on a computer. However, years ago photo manipulation and trick photography were more complicated and required a lot of time and money.

Montgomery attended the Illinois College of Photography in Effingham.

An ambitious, creative and energetic man, he put 164,000 miles in seven years on his 1908 KisselKar while photographing Wisconsin communities, Egberts book noted. In 1909, he hired an assistant, Joe Seidl, whom he trained in the photography business. They did their darkroom work in the low-ceilinged basement of Montgomerys house.

Why were the photographs placed onto postcards?

Postcards were very popular between the late 1800s and into the 1920s. The years between 1907 to 1915 was known as the Golden Age of Postcards.

Postcards were used like the modern day phone text; they were a quick and easy way to keep in touch or deliver a short message.

The U.S. Post Office estimated that a billion postcards were mailed each year during the peak years of the postcard craze. In 1898, Congress changed the rate of postage on postcards to $0.01. Soon, postcards became known as penny postcards.

The rate changed to $0.02 between 1917 and 1919 and 1925 to 1928, but remained at $0.01 until 1952.

The Ripon Historical Society has a large collection of penny postcards which were mailed for everything from saying hello and expressing brief information to extending birthday, anniversary, and holiday wishes.

The Ripon Historical Society is the oldest continually operating historical society in Wisconsin.

It is temporarily closed due to COVID-19. For more information follow it at Facebook/riponhistory or www.riponhistory.org or leave a message at 920- 748-5354 to request an appointment in person.
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Libelula Books & Co. Creates a Safe Space for Literacy and Arts Education

Co-owners Jesi Gutierrez and Celi Hernandez share how they brought their vision to life
It took DNA, genealogy and a lot of work, but after 11 years, the case of the brutal killing of a woman in her Carlsbad apartment  an attack that still lacks apparent motive  has been solved, authorities said Tuesday.

Jodine Serrin, known to family as Jodi, was found dead in her bed on Valentines Day 2007. The 39-year-old was developmentally disabled but highly functioning.

Her killer, Carlsbad police say, was a man named David Mabrito. The one-time Oceanside resident is dead now, from suicide six years ago.

Mabrito was 38 at the time of Serrins slaying in 2007. His death, at age 42, came shortly before the fourth anniversary of her death.

Lt. Greg Koran said the department is sure Mabrito is their suspect. Investigators were told his DNA was a probable match to evidence found at the crime scene, and that the likelihood that someone other than Mabrito was the suspect is one in 64 quintillion  a number with 18 zeros in it.

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You have to be sure, Koran said. We are telling a family we have solved this. Thats a big deal.

Serrins family issued a statement through the Police Department, saying: Jodine taught us all with her special challenges, perseverance and love of nature. There was joy in her laughter, love in her heart and faith in her soul.

No one from Mabritos family could be reached immediately for comment on his designation as a murder suspect.

The mystery of who killed Serrin frustrated police and her family for years.

After getting no database hits on the killers DNA, investigators turned to two new and complementary technologies: phenotyping and forensic genealogy.

Phenotyping uses artificial intelligence to predict what a persons likely eye, hair and skin color are, as well as their face shape and ancestry and such  and that helps create a computer image of the person.

Last year, on the tenth anniversary of Serrins slaying, Carlsbad police released a computer image of the suspect. It was based on DNA the agency had given to Parabon NanoLabs, which can reverse engineer the genetic material.

Ellen Greytak, director of bioinformatics at Parabon, said Tuesday that the work can provide police with a suspect description  helpful to prioritize their suspect list, as well as to potentially exclude people.

It takes an investigation that seems infeasible and gives you a place to start, Greytak said.

The second new method is forensic genealogy, in which genealogists use open source DNA database to jump into family trees and poke around for a potential match. Forensic genealogy was most famously used to identify the suspected Golden State Killer earlier this year.

Until the new science came along, detectives in Serrins case did not have somebody to look at as a potential suspect, Koran said.

He said that once investigators had Mabritos name, they were were able to obtain his DNA from a different law enforcement agency. It was DNA, Koran said, that had not been entered into any databases because Mabrito had died.

Investigators dont know if Serrin and Mabrito knew each other, but they dont believe so.

Theres nothing to indicate it, Koran said. The nature of their relationship and how they crossed paths is unfortunately gone with the people that are involved.

There are other unanswered questions, too, most notably a motive for murder.

About 10 p.m. on Valentines Day 2007, Serrins parents went to her La Costa condo. They found the front door chained, the lights on and no response from their daughter.

Her father busted through the front door and headed into his daughters room  but walked in on a man atop his daughter in what appeared to be an intimate moment.

Serrins father stepped out. He and his wife waited briefly for an embarrassed couple to emerge. They did not.

The father went back inside the bedroom, and found his daughters unclothed body on her canopy bed, cold to the touch. The man was gone.

Authorities said Jodi Serrin died from blunt-force head wounds.

Through the Police Department, Serrins family  which found support National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children  also said it is forever grateful to the Carlsbad Police Department for their outstanding efforts in attaining justice through resolution of this tragic case.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
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A legal settlement seeking to upgrade mental health care at Alameda Countys Santa Rita Jail, while increasing the presence of officers, drew a wave of objections Wednesday from inmates advocates, who said it would make conditions worse. A federal magistrate postponed a decision on approving the settlement until he could hear from inmates.

The settlement would resolve a lawsuit filed in 2018 over conditions for the mentally ill inmates at the jail in Dublin, which has 2,200 incarcerated people. It would require mental health screenings for new inmates, create therapeutic housing units for the mentally ill, set new standards for solitary confinement and use of force, and increase the staff of sheriffs officers at the jail, with six years of court supervision.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins of San Jose had given preliminary approval to the settlement and was scheduled to act on final approval Wednesday, but stepped back after two hours of opposing testimony at a remotely conducted hearing.

I do not believe that people get well in a cell, said one witness, Amy Colter, mother of a mentally ill Santa Rita inmate. To give the sheriff additional unaccountable power and funds makes no sense.

Madeline Cline, a law student from Oakland, said she refrains from calling police when a friend or family member is experiencing a mental health crisis because they would probably be sent to Santa Rita.

Every person I know has left jail worse than when they entered it, she said.

Representatives of the National Lawyers Guild, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and the American Friends Service Committee urged Cousins to reject the settlement and allow them to seek evidence on the jails conditions and operations. Another witness, former state Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, who headed legislative committees on crime issues and prison and jail funding, said Santa Rita has become the largest mental health facility in Alameda County, with little to show for hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds.

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Lawyers for the county and for the inmates who filed the 2018 suit asked Cousins to approve the settlement, a product of extensive negotiations and public input. But the magistrate said he wanted to hear from an important voice, current Santa Rita inmates, and scheduled another hearing for next Thursday.

National Lawyers Guild attorney Yolanda Huang said she was encouraged by Cousins decision. The organization also provided a statement from Santa Rita inmate Timothy Phillips, who described incidents of jail deputies throwing medicine into the cell of one mentally ill inmate and ignoring another who walked out of his cell naked, spitting and yelling.

I object to this proposed settlement, said Phillips, who has spent 36 of his 39 months at the jail in mental health cells or solitary confinement. Santa Rita is not a place for treatment and can never be.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
The federal judge who has scrutinized Pacific Gas and Electric Co. operations through a crisis of wildfires sparked by power lines said he believes the utility should be split into two companies, one serving fire-prone areas of its California service area and another serving the rest.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup offered this sharp conclusion in a scathing eight-page rebuke of the company filed in court Wednesday, his final comments on the courts efforts to rehabilitate PG&E after its criminal conviction in the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion.

Alsup said while probation oversight ends next week, he does not believe PG&E has done enough to improve its safety, lamenting, as he has previously from the bench, his failure to ensure that the utility wouldnt start more disastrous wildfires. While on probation for its gas line failure, PG&E has ignited 31 wildfires that burned nearly 1.5 million acres, destroyed nearly 24,000 structures and killed 113 Californians.

PG&E has gone on a crime spree and will emerge from probation as a continuing menace to California, Alsup wrote.

Alsup brought intense scrutiny of the companys actions since 2017, when he took over probation oversight from a retiring judge. He demanded the utility provide detailed explanations for its actions, equipment and records leading up to major fires, providing some of the most forceful examinations of the companys role igniting dangerous fires.

In response to Alsups blistering summation of the utilitys failures, PG&E officials said the company welcomed feedback from the Court, and others involved in its oversight, recognizing that we all share the goal of keeping customers, communities, and our coworkers safe.

We acknowledge that we have more work to do, the company said in a statement provided to The Chronicle late Wednesday. In our past filings, we emphasized that PG&Es new leadership team is intensely focused on creating a climate at PG&E where everyone and everything is always safe, and have outlined various steps this team has taken to deliver on this goal.

Ben Margot/Associated Press 2019

Alsup briefly delved into his theories for why PG&E has fallen short. He blamed the company for outsourcing essential work like removing hazardous trees and inspecting power lines to contract workers, a cost savings for the utility he said also seemed meant to manufacture a strategic defense in wildfire litigation.

Time and again, we have heard PG&E blame its outside contractors, Alsup wrote. When one of them failed to mark a hazard tree for removal and the tree fell on a line to start a fire, PG&E has shrugged that it had contracted with professional arborists and relied on them, all as part of an argument that PG&E itself acted prudently.

He also blamed PG&E for its deep-rooted obsession for keeping power flowing, which he said could be blamed for allowing its equipment to ignite wildfires despite forecasts for hazardous weather and, starting in 2019, a power shutoff strategy.

The utility, Alsup claimed, had ample time to turn off power lines that ignited the 2021 Dixie Fire before a tree, left for hours to rub against broken, energized power lines, ignited in flames. He noted the companys failure to alert its workers to the high risk for fire in that forested mountainous area  close to where the Camp Fire started.

The judge pondered a safer future with PG&E split  separating electric operations for communities vulnerable to wildfires where a smaller outfit could be easier to train and to instill practices and procedures that truly put safety first. Outsourcing would be restricted or banned, he said.

The judge predicted Californians would continue to be trapped in a tragic era of PG&E wildfires because the company was so far behind on its duties to clear hazardous trees and other risky vegetation from its power lines, as required by state law. The backlog of work would take PG&E seven years to complete, he said.

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Alsup contradicted PG&E claims that the states wildfire crisis was driven by global warning, drought and bark beetle blights, arguing instead that those factors were reasons to step up compliance rather than slack off.

Some questioned whether Alsup would extend PG&Es probation given that the company continued to commit violations to its probation terms by starting new fires. But the judge opted to allow probation to end as scheduled Jan. 25, both because the legal basis to do so was in question and because the U.S. Attorneys Office didnt request an extension.

PG&E could face future convictions and oversight. District attorneys in Sonoma and Shasta counties have charged the utility with crimes for its role in the 2019 Kincade and 2020 Zogg fires. And the California Public Utilities Commission is establishing an independent safety monitor program to help regulators to oversee PG&E operations.

Ultimately, Alsup provided a skeptical view of PG&Es track record going forward and lamented that more hadnt been done for victims. Alsup contrasted the corporations rosy fate compared to fire survivors, many of whom, he noted, are still waiting for the utility to compensate them for their losses. Many left homeless still live in temporary trailers.

Meanwhile, PG&E management pays itself handsome salaries and bonuses, all paid from revenues collected from customers, Alsup said. This unfairness should tug at our conscience.

Julie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: julie.johnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @juliejohnson
The death of a Mill Valley teenager in a traffic crash last weekend in Sonoma sent a grief-stricken shock through the Bay Area community.

There are no words to describe the loss and the pain in our hearts, said Solange Silveira Washington, mother of Liam Washington, 16, who was killed after the car he was riding in slammed into multiple vehicles on Highway 116 Sunday morning west of Watmaugh Road.

Liam Washington was riding in the back seat of a vehicle driven by 24-year-old Manessis Alexander of Novato, who was driving recklessly and is suspected of driving under the influence of an intoxicant, according to the California Highway Patrol. Liams twin brother, Lucas, was in the front passenger seat.

The trio was westbound on Highway 116 when the car hit three other vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. Liam Washington was pronounced dead at the scene. Lucas Washington and Alexander sustained serious injuries and remained hospitalized. The drivers of the other vehicles sustained minor injuries.

Alexander was arrested the day of the crash and released so he could receive hospital care. Authorities recommended that the district attorney charge Alexander with felony vehicular manslaughter and felony DUI pending his toxicology reports, according to CHP Officer Jaret Paulson.

My boys were inseparable since birth, and we miss our Liam so much, Silveira Washington said in a statement sent through a family friend.

We are grateful to the community of supporters who have sent love and prayers and who have donated to the GoFundMe campaign to help me and Lucas get through this.

Lucas and Liams former choir director at Glide Church, Classy-Della Martin, recalled pleasant memories with Liam and his family. Martin told The Chronicle Liam loved to joke around and play games with her.

He loved when I would blow a big bubble with bubblegum. He would try and pop it and it became the funniest thing when it popped on my face, Martin said.

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Martin continued, recalling how Liam would sing his heart out onstage in the Glide Childrens Choir.

He was a sweet and caring soul, as with his entire family, she said. He loved life. He loved his family. He was so eager to learn and live in his truth. His former choir members are heartbroken over this loss.

Principal J.C. Farr of Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, where the twins attended school, sent a statement to families saying, Liam was a valued member of our student community and will surely be missed. ... We are feeling his loss very deeply.

Ryce Stoughtenborough is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ryce.stoughtenborough@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rstoughts
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The San Francisco Democratic Partys top brass has filed a state complaint against the campaign working to oust District Attorney Chesa Boudin, alleging that the recall committee violated campaign laws by misrepresenting its paid spokesperson as an independent critic of the prosecutor.

State law requires that any paid spokesperson who appears in campaign ads be identified as such, in highly visible font. However, the recall committee featured its own spokesperson, Andrea Shorter, in its campaign mailings without disclosing that she was on its payroll, the complaint alleges.

The FPPC should immediately investigate, fine the Committee, and force it to comply with the paid spokesperson law, the complaint states.

Shorter, spokesperson for the recall committee San Franciscans for Public Safety Supporting the Recall of Chesa Boudin, earns a salary of $16,000 a month in her role, according to Ethics Commission records. The complaint notes that Shorter is the only person featured in a recent campaign mailer, which identifies her as a victims rights advocate and lists her credentials as working on behalf of women and criminal justice reform.

I have fought for criminal justice reform and victims rights in San Francisco for over 20 years, the mailer says in a quote attributed to Shorter, with a full-page photo of her in the backdrop. Chesa Boudins refusal to do his job is devastating our city.

The mailers final page states that Leading San Francisco Democrats Want Criminal Justice Reform, giving a clear implication is that Shorter is the leading Democrat referenced, the complaint says.

In a statement, Shorter said the move was an attempt by Boudin and his supporters to distract voters from his incompetence and dismal record that has continuously jeopardized the public safety of our residents and communities.

Voters are joining our movement to recall him in droves because they want a district attorney that makes public safety their number one priority and isnt beholden to radical approaches and ideologies, she said.

Keith Baraka, second vice chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, said the complaint was filed to the California Fair Political Practices Commission on Wednesday, in hopes that it will open an investigation into the matter.

Here in California, we have really strong rules for transparency and campaign advertising rules that are supported by our local Democratic Party, Baraka said in an interview with The Chronicle. By breaking these rules, the recall committee is showing they have little respect for fair elections or for the voters.

The DCCC passed a resolution opposing the recall. Boudin, a progressive prosecutor who was elected on vows to reduce the jail population and hold police accountable for wrongdoing, faces a June recall election led by critics who say his policies have worsened public safety in San Francisco.

Jay Wierenga, communications director for the Fair Political Practices Commission, said he could not comment on any investigations or complaints that may have been filed.

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.

After receiving the complaint, the FPPC will conduct a review to determine whether there is enough evidence to determine a potential violation. If there is, they will begin an investigation.

Any violation of the Political Reform Act can carry a penalty of up to $5,000 per violation.

Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for Boudins anti-recall campaign, called the alleged violation part of a pattern of the recall proponents efforts to hide their Republican party endorsement.

Voters deserve to know who is truly behind this effort, she said.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
Provided by Joshua Christopher Paredes

Authorities searching for a 27-year-old Stanford nurse who friends said went missing Tuesday found his body in Fremont on Thursday.

The body of Michael Odell was found at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, Alameda County Coroner Bureau Sgt. Jeremy Lucha said. No cause or manner of death was given.
The omicron variant has driven COVID-19 cases to new heights in California, but in the workplace it is more difficult than ever to be paid to stay home if infected.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cutting the recommended quarantine time from 10 days to five in many circumstances and the California Department of Public Health in agreement, workers are less likely to be paid to stay home from work for longer even if they might be infectious.

Earlier this month state workplace safety regulator Cal/OSHA tweaked its rules to reflect the change. During the monthly meeting of Cal/OSHAs Standards Board Thursday, labor advocates and business groups disagreed over whether cutting paid time away from work during a surge in virus cases was the correct approach.

It was disappointing, said Stephen Knight, executive director of the worker safety nonprofit Worksafe, during the meeting. The current rules for protecting California workers from the virus at work require so-called exclusion pay from employers for workers to stay home if they get sick, but the change Cuts exclusion pay in half, Knight said.

The board adjusted the emergency temporary standards it readopted last month, and which took effect last week, because of an earlier executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The order doesnt allow workplace rules to be stricter than California Department of Public Health guidelines.

Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the change, but said there was still confusion for employers about how to follow the frequently shifting rules from different authorities.

The change strikes a good balance, said Rob Moutrie of the CalChamber during the meeting. He said it still wasnt clear if an employee could test themselves at home without being observed after five days to be able to exit quarantine, and exactly how long employers needed to pay people to stay home.

The board doesnt take questions during the meeting and didnt provide a response.

The rules it adopted to align with the state health department include a minimum of five days of exclusion from the workplace for people who test positive. They can come back after that if their symptoms are resolving and they test negative. If they cant or wont get a test and still have symptoms the period is 10 days.

Complicating the issue is the expiration of paid emergency sick leave for all workers in California, which expired late last year and which labor groups have been demanding be revived during the current surge.

The state released guidance on the cut back quarantine rules earlier this month.

The purpose of Thursdays meeting had originally been to decide whether to adopt a federal vaccine or test mandate for large employers written by the Biden administration, but the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to stop it from taking effect rendered that moot.

Knight said he was disappointed The state was not prepared for that by drafting a similar approach for California and having that ready, for adoption during the meeting.

What is also not clear is what happens in about three months when the current emergency temporary standard is set to expire.

Those rules, that took effect last week, included mask requirements and social distancing for fully vaccinated workers who may have been exposed to the virus at work, a step back from earlier rules which allowed more freedom for vaccinated people.

There has been significant debate about whether to adopt a more permanent standard for preventing the virus spread at work that could be in place for two years and borrows from protections already in place in health care settings, or to take a less specific and potentially more flexible approach.

Another option is also to extend the current emergency temporary standard until the end of the year, a step made possible because of an executive order signed by Gov. Newsom in December.

Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice
Acknowledging that the U.S. Forest Service has fallen short when it comes to preventing wildfires, the Biden administration this week said it would spend nearly $3 billion to reduce risk across the most fire-prone areas of the United States, largely in the American West.

The impact could be significant in California, where the federal government is the largest landowner, responsible for nearly half of all land area in the state, including 20 million acres of federal forests vexed by an enduring wildfire crisis.

Wildfires burned just over 6.8 million acres across California in 2020 and 2021, more than half of that on Forest Service land. Those fires have saddled the government with an enormous territory of damaged landscapes that, if left alone, could create more dry tinder and other fire-prone hazards for the next blaze.

The Forest Service says the goal is to address fire danger across 20 million acres of federal forests in 10 years and provide funding to support projects on another 30 million acres of state, private, tribal and other federal properties. With these funds, it will double the acres each year  from 2 million to 4 million  it treats with thinning projects, prescribed burns and other methods for clearing overgrowth to lessen wildfire dangers thanks to new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Jennifer Eberlien, top forester for the Forest Services Pacific Southwest region that includes California, said they are looking closely at areas of the Sierra Nevada region where large federal forests abut communities  places where a major wildfire would threaten homes, businesses, infrastructure, tourism, commercial timber and critical watersheds.

The goal is to go much bigger  thats the paradigm shift, Eberlien said.

To focus on the most high-impact projects, the Forest Service is asking agency scientists to work with state agencies and community groups to identify high-risk firesheds  defined as forest tracts of about 25,000 acres in size that, if aflame, could pose imminent threat to people and property.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle 2018

Infused in the planning documents are admissions for how the Forest Service has fallen short. The agency meets only 6% of its post-fire replanting needs each year, according to documents released outlining the strategy. The plan calls for reforestation on 1.3 million acres of national forest system land, just a portion of the roughly 4 million acres that need rehabilitation.

The money also is meant to infuse the Forest Service workforce with more firefighters, foresters, ecologists and others, plus foster jobs in adjacent industries like forestry, conservation and timber. Officials estimated the funding could help create between 300,000 and 575,000 jobs.

Forest Service spending would increase from an average of $230 million each year to $650 million on managing forests, according to the agency.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, vowed Tuesday in a news conference in Phoenix that residents in the fire-prone West would start to see results this year with shovel-ready projects getting a funding push. He acknowledged the agency had previously put nickels and dimes together to get fire prevention work done and had a responsibility to be a better party.

The news comes after a two-year run with massive wildfires churning through federal forests in California and an increasing call for a dramatic shift in urgency for forest health projects.

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 2020 August Complex Fire burned more than 1 million acres, mostly in the Mendocino National Forest. Last year the Dixie Fire grew to 963,309 acres, burning through Plumas and Lassen national forests.

U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County), whose district covers 11 counties and includes much of the northern Sierra Nevada areas devastated in recent fires, said hes grateful the Biden administration is acknowledging the need to put real money into forest health but said it also needs to reduce environmental hurdles slowing down projects. The Forest Services strategic plan includes focus on the timber industry and on biomass energy production, which makes use of excess vegetation like branches and small trees, as key methods for thinning forests  and those private industries will be essential to the success of any forest plan, LaMalfa said.

Theyre going to need a lot of help, LaMalfa said. The Forest Service doesnt move at a speedy pace.

John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, said he too hopes the plan will speed the pace of projects, like a proposal to treat about 95,000 acres of federal forests in the Stanislaus River watershed with a combination of prescribed fire, vegetation thinning and some logging. Buckley said the area hasnt had significant fire in more than 100 years.

Buckley, a former firefighter, said the federal government is finally acting on what science has shown for years: that Californias forests are dangerously overgrown.

The national forests across the West are in a crisis mode, Buckley said.

Julie Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: julie.johnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @juliejohnson
An El Dorado County man was arrested early Thursday morning in Santa Rosa after a tense standoff in which the man, who had taken hostages, threatened to burn the apartment down, kill everyone inside then kill the responding police officers, authorities said.

Jarrett Cole, 25, was taken into custody after police shot him with a non-lethal round. He was booked on multiple felony counts including false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and animal cruelty after an ordeal that began with a 911 call to police at 1:20 a.m.

Officers responded to the 500 block of Apple Creek Lane to find the suspect holding four adults and a 5-year-old boy hostage.

Cole had apparently been invited to the home by one of the residents. Cole started referring to himself as God while threatening to burn the apartment building down, police said.

He would not allow anyone to move or access their phones. The incident went on for two hours during which a third party in Sacramento was somehow able to establish an open telephone line inside the apartment that officers were able to monitor.

Shortly after officers surrounded the apartment, Cole began fighting with one of the male hostages. This allowed a female hostage to grab Coles knife and throw it out on the front lawn. Cole then emerged unarmed from the apartment and stood on the stairway threatening kill every police officer on the scene, officials said.

After 15 minutes of negotiations, Cole was convinced to surrender. But he again lunged at officers and was shot once in the torso with a less-lethal foam round. Officers were then able to subdue and handcuff him, police said.

Narcotics were suspected of being in play and medical personnel were on hand to administer immediate treatment, police said. A small quantity of methamphetamine was allegedly found in Coles possession.

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Interviews with hostages revealed that Cole had stabbed the television with his knife, threatened to harm the child, punched a dog in the head and at one point attempted to move one of the attendants out the door at knife point in order to make a getaway.

He was booked in Sonoma County Jail.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com.Twitter:@samwhitingsf
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A new cocktail bar is celebrating its grand opening in Oaklands Fruitvale district this week with tropical drinks like passion fruit margaritas and a boozy riff on the Filipino dessert halo-halo.

But theres more to this bar than just drinks: Its connected to a commissary kitchen that aims to be an affordable place for up-and-coming chefs, and its already drawing some of the East Bays most exciting new pop-ups.

The effort, called Korner Kitchen & Bar, is a little confusing, manager Jessica Seggman acknowledges. Theres no signage outside the building at 1014 Fruitvale Ave., right by the Fruitvale BART Station. And the commercial kitchen operates like a ghost kitchen, with chefs representing about 10 different brands busily preparing online orders for takeout and delivery.

The owners include Kevyn Miyata and Eugene Lee, who co-own garlic noodle eatery Noodle Belly; Alex Tejada, best known for her popular pandemic-born food hub Magnolia Mini Mart in West Oakland; Ronnie Taylor, Christian Perez, Justin Isip and Jason Angeles, co-owners of various businesses including fried chicken outfits Love Burn Chicken and Respectable Bird; and local investor Ian Iwane.

The idea stems from Tejada and Magnolia Mini Marts goal of giving small food businesses a platform. Korner tackles a different aspect: the lack of affordable commercial kitchen spaces in Oakland.

So far, Korner has drawn Sfizio, the affordable pasta pop-up; One Trick Pony, a pizza pop-up from a former Junes Pizza chef; Bad Walters, a nostalgic ice cream maker that often sells out in minutes; Chris Conchas, a sourdough concha pop-up; Full Belly Bakery, which sells elegant cakes at farmers markets; and several more. Noodle Belly, which recently made headlines for donating 10,000 KN95 masks to Oakland schools, is also based at the kitchen.

Courtesy Chad Thomas

Were not profiting at all off the kitchen, Seggman said. Thats where the bar and events space comes in  its success should keep the kitchen operation affordable, she said.

Drinks come from bar director Fred Acebo, formerly of Monarch and Nightingale in San Francisco. Theres a Neighborhood Horchata that uses cold brew from Red Bay Coffee and horchata from Obelisco, both spots in Fruitvale, plus Hennessy, amaro and condensed milk. A halo-halo-inspired beverage features ube-infused vodka, coconut cream, banana liqueur and bitter melon syrup, while a classic Campari-based Americano gets an Asian American twist with salted plum, makrut lime and yuzu. All cocktails cost $12, and theres also beer and wine.

Courtesy Chad Thomas

The bar occupies a colorful outdoor-only space that fits 94 people standing. It serves its own menu of bar snacks, like egg rolls stuffed with a Vietnamese beef stew, though Noodle Belly and LaMore, a Latin American pop-up, also serve food at the bar.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Chefs that work out of the commercial kitchen will also rotate through the space for weekend brunch and potentially hold other pop-ups in the space.

We want to make this like a grand-scale Magnolia (Mini Mart), Seggman said, an incubator for small businesses where they can start here, hopefully grow and eventually have their own thing.

Korner Kitchen & Bar. Grand opening festivities with live DJs 3-10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.1014 Fruitvale Ave., Oakland. instagram.com/korneroakland

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
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The start of the new year brought a familiar wave of distress for many Bay Area parents: Omicron infections were accelerating; preschools and child care centers were shutting their doors; adults saw their work regimens upended, their children cloistered and irritable.

But this time, something was different. The children were getting sick.

Weve been so careful, Walnut Creek mother Audrey Escudero said wearily, describing how she has her groceries delivered and waits until late afternoon to take her 3-year-old son to the playground, when most other children have gone home.

A few days after her son returned from winter break, Escudero got a call from the school nurse. Her son was in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. Within two days, he had a cough and runny nose and was lying on the couch swaddled in blankets, telling everybody it was time to sleep, Escudero said. She had just given birth to her second son a week earlier and suddenly felt herself coming down with a headache.

By the end of the week, every adult in the house  Escudero, her husband and mother  had tested positive, and Escudero was frantically trying to protect the newborn, who ultimately never fell ill.

In previous virus surges, parents endured work disruptions, abrupt closures and shifting health guidelines. Now, the pervasive threat of omicron to children too young to be vaccinated has added a layer of anguish.

Parents have a difficult decision in terms of whether they want to put their kids back in preschool or not, Stanford University microbiology Professor Robert Siegel said, noting that while the percentage of young kids suffering serious infections or needing hospital treatment remains low, the number is definitely rising.

But then theres also lots of other complications involved, Siegel said, with putting the family at risk, going into quarantine, or having to switch between being in school and not being in school.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

Even if coronavirus cases appear to be common among the very young, and the symptoms mild, parents who spoke with The Chronicle still expressed feelings of stigma and shame associated with the virus. Several parents whose children had tested positive declined to share their stories publicly.

Those struggling to manage intermittent quarantines and jockeying to buy at-home tests said the anxiety is palpable among their peers. Alex Wong, father of a 4-year-old and 2-year-old in San Francisco, said he hears it in the WhatsApp chat group that families at his childrens preschool use to communicate.

The parents  were all chattering, Wong said. Theres so much anxiety among everyone. Were all pretty confident we know the guidelines, but as soon as it affects your child, you go into panic mode. You forget everything.

Michelle Caruso said her daughters preschool in Livermore seemingly took every imaginable precaution to gird against the virus, from requiring children to wear masks outside to mandating drive-by pickups and drop-offs. Parents formed a long line of cars every morning, and no one could walk their child to the preschool door.

Carusos family got infected anyway. Her 19-month-old son was the first to get sick, two days after returning to day care from the holiday break. He began throwing up on a Friday night and tested positive the following morning. That weekend, Carusos 4-year-old daughter, Murphy, also developed symptoms. Caruso and her husband scrambled to dole out ibuprofen as the children wailed in pain. By the following day, both parents tested positive for the coronavirus.

This is my sixth week of working from home with one or both of the kids, Caruso said Tuesday morning. She kept her children home because they had colds before the holidays, then stayed indoors for much of the break, then powered through a week of work despite feeling sick. To cope, she and her husband had made a color-coded Google calendar breaking the workday into two-hour increments, to split child care duties.

We had to make a calendar so we would all survive, Caruso said. We did two-hour blocks, which is about enough time to get meetings done.

Heather Morado, executive director of Holy Family Day Home  a nonprofit school in the Mission District that serves many children from economically disadvantaged families  understands parents frustrations as the pandemic lurches into its third year. She and her colleagues tried to remain optimistic when they had to close the school last week, amid a spike in coronavirus infections.

On Tuesday afternoon, Morado sat in her office and drew a breath. Class was back in session. Kids were once again roaming the playground. A parent donated 20 COVID tests that morning, a gesture that nearly moved Morado to tears.

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If theres one word to explain what everyone is feeling, its fatigue, she said.

While the recent string of preschool and child care shutdowns has affected parents in all walks of life, its been more vicious on people who dont have help from extended family or the flexibility to work from home  illuminating a disparity thats popped up again and again since 2020.

Its been rough, Oakland father DeMario Lewis said. He and his 11-year-old son both had COVID-19 at the beginning of the year. When Lewis 2-year-old son was exposed at day care and had to stay home last week, Lewis was unable to work. He interacts directly with clients at a social services organization, a job that requires him to be on site.

Tara Townsend, a Potrero Hill mother starting her own gaming business, is grateful for the autonomy that comes with being her own boss. Nonetheless, she said her life is still periodically unsettled by omicron and ever-evolving rules for her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter.

In early January, Townsend sent her son back to preschool, and that Monday I was doing a happy dance, she said.

And then literally day two  Tuesday  we get an email saying the preschooler has been exposed.

Although Townsends 4-year-old son tested negative, she didnt bother sending him back; by the following week, shed received another email from school administrators, notifying parents of another positive case. The school had shut its doors again.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
WASHINGTON  Last June, the San Francisco Immigration Court quietly tested a new idea: Fast-track the cases of immigrants whose mail wasnt reaching them. In the trial run, 80% of the immigrants scheduled were ordered deported for not showing up.

Top officials were effusive with praise over the results, emails obtained by The Chronicle show, and rushed to set up more hearings: Very positive! emailed one of the top supervising immigration judges overseeing the nations hundreds of courts.

The newly uncovered emails reveal that the fast-track docket for immigrants with returned mail, which was first reported by The San Francisco Chronicle last fall, was cheered at the highest levels of the courts and pursued with full awareness that scores of immigrants would likely be ordered deported as a result.

Advocates and attorneys for immigrants raised concerns about the practice as a sort of deportation conveyor belt last year, as many of the lawyer-less immigrants may have no idea they missed a court hearing, much less that they were ordered deported during it, because they didnt know how to update their address with the court or thought that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would do so on their behalf. The immigration courts are run by the Justice Department, with judges hired and ultimately overseen by the attorney general.

The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by a nonprofit watchdog group, American Oversight, prompted by The Chronicles reporting. The group shared the records with The Chronicle.

The Department of Justice declined to comment specifically on the emails, noting that removal orders for failing to appear in court are legally valid and that issuing notices with new hearing dates gives unreachable immigrants an opportunity to appear in court and avoid a deportation order.

Chronicle analysis of available data last year found that the practice significantly increased the number of immigrants who were ordered deported for not being present in court, called an in absentia removal order. As many as 173 people were given deportation orders because of such proceedings in August and September  a nearly ninefold increase from the 20 similar orders given the previous seven months combined.

The results do not make clear how those numbers grew by the end of the year, but show a strong appetite for scheduling such hearings.

The pilot for the returned notice docket for immigrants whose mail was being returned as undeliverable was conceived by a deputy court administrator in San Francisco, who in May proposed the idea to one of the judges. The two set up a June 15 test run. Though much of the emails are redacted, its clear the idea was green-lighted by the supervising immigration judge for the San Francisco court.

That day, the deputy administrator emailed his superiors with the results of the 21 cases scheduled: Only two immigrants showed up, two cases had to be continued because of procedural issues and the remaining 17 cases got removal orders.

Thats great, wrote his boss, the court administrator. Great, good job, wrote the supervising immigration judge at the time, Daren Margolin. He closed his email repeating the praise: Thanks again ... good job on this.

The court administrator then emailed all the judges at the San Francisco court informing them of the results and inviting them to volunteer to hold similar hearings in August and September. A handful of judges quickly responded with eagerness.

Margolin forwarded that email to his boss, Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge Sheila McNulty, who oversees courts from the Justice Departments courts headquarters in Northern Virgnia, with a remark: On a positive note.

McNulty responded quickly: Very positive!

The emails also revealed a larger picture of a Justice Department closely tracking how it can quickly close immigration cases as the backlog of the courts continues to skyrocket. A new analysis this week by the Syracuse University project TRAC, which monitors immigration court data, found the backlog is almost 1.6 million cases and grew at its fastest rate ever the last quarter of 2021. San Franciscos backlog is nearly 80,000 cases, with consistent year-to-year growth unlike the recent precipitous increase nationwide.

In emails, court managers were asked to send in reports frequently about how effective special dockets were at closing cases, and to keep close track of the numbers.

But the tactics werent all about deportations. The San Francisco court, for example, also set up a docket to fast-track deportation cases that could be dismissed through prosecutorial discretion by ICE, freeing the immigrants involved of the threat of deportation.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Deepa Fernandes contributed to this report.

Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
Bilal Mahmood is tired of the status quo in San Francisco  and the political newcomer is banking in his bid for state Assembly that hes not the only one.

During the pandemic, he saw businesses close and street conditions worsen in SoMa, where he lives. He watched as wildfire smoke turned the sky orange in a symbol of climate crisis. But he also witnessed business leaders, scientists and public officials come together to get a vaccine to the public, giving him a vision for how different groups could unite for good.

Mahmood spent months researching to find the best solutions to San Franciscos problems before seizing an opportunity that arose to make a difference  running for the Assembly District 17 seat representing the citys east side, vacated by City Attorney David Chiu.

By every outcome in our city, a lot of elected leadership has failed, Mahmood said. Were running out of time to address things like climate and inequality.

A scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist who worked briefly in the Obama administration, Mahmood brings diverse expertise and fresh policies to the race, although consultants say he faces an uphill battle against three known political players.

If no candidate wins a majority in the Feb. 15 primary, a runoff election will be held April 19. Whoever wins will have to run again in the June 7 regular statewide primary election, followed by the Nov. 8 general election.

Candidate profiles The Chronicle is running profiles this week of the candidates for state Assembly District 17, representing the eastern side of San Francisco. Voters will get vote-by-mail ballots this week or can vote in person for the Feb. 15 election. See More Collapse

Why hes running: Mahmood wanted to run because he believes the California Legislature is the perfect place to have the most impact. He argues that his experience in science, tech and business allows him to think creatively and bridge the public and private sectors to solve problems.

In his campaign hes stressing the existential threat of climate change along with housing, schools and safety. He wants to ensure San Francisco remains a beacon for the middle class as it was for his parents when they emigrated from Pakistan.

The political novice is backed by someone who does have experience beating the odds  Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and now head of an environmental advocacy organization who lives in San Francisco. Chakrabarti said he likes Mahmoods clear motivations to run and his solutions as big as Californias problems.

Political newcomers are the ones who dare to think big enough and think bold enough because theyre unencumbered by past political baggage, Chakrabarti said.

Don Feria/Special to The Chronicle

Background: The 34-year-old was born in Stanford Universitys campus housing but finished high school in Lahore, where his family moved to escape Islamophobia after 9/11.

Mahmood is a Stanford grad who researched at his alma maters medical school, founded a microlending nonprofit, worked for half a year in the Obama administration, and created an analytics startup that was acquired in 2020. Hes lived in the city since 2014 and is currently unemployed.

In 2020, Mahmood and a friend started a philanthropic fund for local nonprofits. They contributed their own money and got more support to donate more than $75,000 so far to the Oakland Workers Fund, a mutual aid organization for laid-off restaurant workers. The groups organizers said in a joint statement that Mahmood is a compassionate, generous and charismatic person with a strong point of view and bold leadership qualities.

Jason Shen, who founded the fund with Mahmood, met him at Stanford in 2007. Shen described his friend as thoughtful and dedicated, not the typical politician who is the life of the party.

There are a lot of people who can talk the good talk and smile and make you feel good, but arent practically implementing solutions that are making a difference in peoples lives. That frustrates Bilal, Shen said.

He said for Mahmood, the why about what hes doing is really important.

When he is caught on the right why, he is capable of doing so much, he said.

Policy proposals: One of Mahmoods splashiest ideas is guaranteed income statewide of $500 a month for every family earning less than $75,000 a year, funded through carbon and wealth taxes.

His climate plan for a Green New Deal includes taxing Big Oil and gas to fund zero-interest loans, distributed by a state climate bank, that would help residents and businesses turn their buildings and vehicles carbon neutral. He also wants to create a bureau that could cut red tape, such as reducing the time it takes to get permits for technology that keeps carbon from entering the atmosphere, and train workers in clean energy jobs.

Mahmood has also focused on housing, calling for a ban on exclusionary zoning that would allow construction of buildings of any height anywhere. He wants to impose stricter timelines and penalties for counties to meet state housing mandates (San Francisco needs to build 80,000 units by 2031). He believes this would push counties to cut the number of permits down to only those that are necessary for building and look to new technology such as factory-built modular housing to save time and money.

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When it comes to homelessness, Mahmood said San Francisco doesnt have a money problem, but we keep trying the same thing over and over and over again.

He wants to implement a methodology thats worked to reduce homelessness in some smaller cities called Built For Zero. It focuses on fixing the system, including creating guaranteed shelter and a list of people who are homeless shared between a centralized command of agencies, with regular coordination and personalized counseling to overcome barriers to get in housing.

San Francisco currently uses a housing placement algorithm from the federal government to fulfill a requirement for an equity model in order to get local funding. Mahmood wants to replace that system and create a new state-funded department.

He also wants to boost funding in shelter, transitional housing and addiction treatment.

Mahmood backs Mayor London Breeds emergency declaration in the Tenderloin and wants police and the district attorney to arrest and prosecute more drug dealers, although he doesnt support criminalizing people for possession. He also wants more patrols in high-crime areas and greater compensation for victims such as burglarized small businesses.

What critics say: Political consultants commend Mahmood for running a professional and credible campaign, but said smart policies alone or even money  of which Mahmood has put in $300,000 of his own  is unlikely to be enough to overcome lack of name recognition and past experience, although it could set him up for future office.

Mahmood said he would do whatevers necessary.

Im in this to win it, he added.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
A 35-year-old California man was found dead Monday morning at the base of a popular rock-climbing spot in Joshua Tree National Park, officials said Wednesday.

The body was discovered at the base of Sentinel Wall, a short distance from the Hidden Valley Nature Trail, at 9:50 a.m. Monday, the National Park Service said. The Riverside County coroner's office identified the man as Michael Spitz.

Michael Spitz was from San Diego and taught Spanish at Santa Fe Christian Schools in Solana Beach, a Facebook post from the school said. The school mourned the loss of a beloved member of the community and wrote that Spitz was "a multi-sport adventure athlete, life-long surfer, avid rock climber, licensed skydiver, backpacker, and lover of books and coffee."

The school said that Spitz co-founded Vida Outreach in Baja California, Mexico, "to share the hope of Christ and help families fight the cycle of poverty."

The Park Service statement did not release any information on the circumstances of the death but said details will be released when the investigation is complete.

A friend of Spitz told the Desert Sun that Spitz was free-solo climbing without ropes or a harness and died because of a fall on Sunday.

Brian Gillette told the Sun that Spitz was on the Illusion Dweller climbing route that he had climbed many times with and without a rope.

"It was not something that he was pushing himself on or climbing out of his limit, by any means," Gillette said. "... He was really familiar with it and I'm sure felt supremely confident and was just out having fun and doing what he did all the time. There was nothing that's unusual about it other than that this time he slipped."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Police officers fired multiple shots "to neutralize the threat" of a man brandishing two firearms at the San Francisco International Airport's International Terminal on Thursday morning, airport officials said. CPR was administered to the suspect, but he died from his injuries, officials said.

The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m. in front of the airport's BART station entrance, airport spokesperson Doug Yakel said in an email statement. An airport employee alerted police to the man allegedly displaying suspicious behavior.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots subpoenaed Kimberly Guilfoyles phone records, but it is unclear whether or not the committee now has those records in hand.

According to CNN  the first outlet to report on the committees most recent move  the phone records for Guilfoyle and Eric Trump were subpoenaed and obtained. ABC News later reported that the subpoenas went to their phone providers and those records are now in the committee's possession, while both individuals were informed by their respective cellphone providers.
A statue of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was removed overnight Wednesday from its spot outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The towering bronze statue depicts Roosevelt riding a horse, as two nameless African and Native American men flank him on foot.

It has provoked strong debate in the city, as many criticized the apparent subservience of the pair to the White man in the center - calling the scene a symbol of racism and colonialism.

"The statue was meant to celebrate Theodore Roosevelt . . . as a devoted naturalist and author of works on natural history," the museum website has said about the removal. "At the same time, the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy that the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing."

Roosevelt's father was one of the founders of the museum. The "Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt" was commissioned in 1925 and designed by James Earle Fraser. It has stood on the steps outside the museum since 1940.

In June 2020, the museum announced it had the permission of New York City - along with the blessing of Roosevelt's great-grandson - to remove the monument.

Statues have become lightning rods for passionate public debate over whom the United States chooses to honor in its public spaces and how it seeks to record its history.

The push to remove statues gained momentum in the United States and elsewhere following the racial reckoning and Black Lives Matter protests that came after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Former New York mayor Bill de Blasio, D, said in June 2020 it was "the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue" because it "explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior." President Donald Trump called the decision "ridiculous" on Twitter at the time and urged authorities not to remove it.

The museum's decision was also approved a year later by the New York City Public Design Commission. New York City owns the statue and the property on which it was built. The museum also created its own exhibit to address the questions and criticism surrounding the monument.

The Roosevelt statue will be on long-term loan to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library due to open in 2026, in North Dakota, where Roosevelt spent time in the Badlands. The presidential library was termed "a fitting new home" by New York City officials when the decision was made last year, noting it could be "appropriately contextualized" there.

Library trustees agreed the statue was "problematic in its composition" and said in a statement they would be establishing an advisory council comprising representatives from Indigenous and Black communities, historians, scholars, and artists to determine next steps.

The president's great-grandson Theodore Roosevelt IV has previously welcomed the decision to remove the monument and called it "problematic" but said there were lessons to be learned from "difficult, complex, and inclusive discussions" about its future.

Statues of Confederate leaders, Christopher Columbus, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have been set ablaze, vandalized or torn down by protesters in some places. In 2017, the Roosevelt statue itself was doused in red paint by a group called the "Monument Removal Brigade," which said the statue represented "patriarchy, white supremacy and settler-colonialism."

A monument of Jefferson was removed from New York City Hall last year after officials voted unanimously to banish it from the council chambers over the former president's history as a enslaver. In Washington, a debate continues to grow over calls for the removal of the Emancipation Memorial featuring Abraham Lincoln, which sits in Lincoln Park, steps away from the U.S. Capitol.

Roosevelt was president from 1901 to 1909. He was the first president to invite an African American, Booker T. Washington, to dine at the White House, and he pushed for a "square deal" for people of all races and classes, supporting unions while cracking down on monopolies. Yet he also believed in the superiority of White, Western culture and supported the eugenics movement.

Before becoming president, Roosevelt wrote enthusiastically of conquering the "squalid savages" on the Western frontier in his 1889 book, "The Winning of the West." Even some of his supporters concede that not unlike the country he led, Roosevelt had a complicated and at times troubling history.
San Francisco children make up just 13% of its population, the smallest share of kids among the 100 most populous cities in the United States. Yet for the past 22 months and counting, an outsized burden of COVID-19 mitigation has been placed on them. As a parent, I have become increasingly concerned by the lack of cost-benefit analysis and rigor over which policies are the most effective or even necessary, and which policies may be causing long-term damage. Early and consistent evidence that children are at very little risk of serious COVID-19 complications has been largely ignored, while paranoia and projection have been embraced as the only way.

San Francisco public schools were the first to close and among the last to open. Playgrounds were shut for months after other states reopened theirs, complete with caution tape and zip-tied baby swings. Basketball courts were locked. Libraries and swimming pools stayed closed for more than a year. Youth sports and activities were canceled, and still see many restrictions. Masks have been required for children ages 2 and up in all public settings, even when the mask mandate was briefly lifted for vaccinated adults in summer 2021. Now 2-year-olds are required to provide proof of a negative test if they want to attend large indoor events. Please recognize how ridiculous that sounds.

Whether adults choose to acknowledge it or not, the impact of these rules are not benign. Real and lasting harms to development, learning and physical and mental health from these childhood interruptions continue to surface. One preprinted study (meaning that it has not yet been peer-reviewed) found that COVID-19-related environmental changes, including wearing masks, "significant reductions in attained cognitive function and performance in children born over the past 18 months during the pandemic." Another report found that fewer younger students started the school year at grade level for reading, while recent California statewide assessment scores show less than half of students at or above grade level in English and only a third in math. In all of these cited examples, the already disadvantaged students have been the most negatively impacted.

Rebecca Fedorko is a resource specialist program teacher at the San Francisco Unified School Districts Sutro Elementary, where, as of the 2019-2020 school year, about 60% of the kindergarten through fifth grade students are English language learners (ELL), according to the school's accountability report card. Students must qualify for Fedorko's special education services through a number of tests, none of which teachers were allowed to administer virtually. Closed schools meant the kids that needed this service had it delayed for a year.

We committed educational malpractice,' said Fedorko. Now back in the classroom, every student is struggling with pronunciation or recognizing letter sounds. I am often the only adult they interact with that can articulate the sounds, but they cant see my mouth. Fedorko adds that it is especially hard on autistic students who already have trouble reading faces and emotions.

Fedorko has also witnessed an ELL student with such severe eczema that mask wearing has caused open cuts behind her ears. And yet the mask wasnt immediately removed because the child didnt have an exemption. Shes 5 years old. Just take it off. Its like all humanity is lost. Fedorko used to live in South Korea and has many expat friends living abroad. Why are we one of the few places in the world that puts a mask on a kid with autism, eczema or speech issues? We claim to follow the science here. What about the science of education? said Fedorko.

Dr. Amy Beck is a pediatrician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and an associate professor of pediatrics at UCSF. She conducted a study in 2020 and 2021 examining the rise in child obesity among her San Francisco General patients, ages 4 through 12. Average yearly weight gain was around 19 pounds, compared with healthy weight gain for this age range, which is typically 4 to 7 pounds per year, she said. Some of her patients gained 40, 50 and even 60 pounds.

No one has done this to kids before. Keeping kids at home for 18 months was a massive natural experiment with very unfortunate outcomes for childrens health, said Beck. We do know that children with obesity are very unlikely to achieve normal weight status later in life, and have a significantly increased risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.



During public school closures, Beck also witnessed more children start to exhibit symptoms of ADHD, depression, sleep problems and bed-wetting almost out of the blue. In many cases, these conditions went away just as quickly if the child was able to get back to full time in-person school, typically in a parochial setting. Its a huge equity issue. Wealthy kids were in outdoor school, pods, and summer camps. If you had a lot of money, you could buffer the impact on your kids. But low-income children live in very small apartments and don't have access to a car. Without playgrounds, schools and recreational activities, they had no opportunity for physical activity."

Mental health impacts for children and adolescents have been so severe that in December, the U.S. surgeon general issued a warning. This is a critical issue that we have to do something about now," he said. Suicide attempts for 12- to 17-year-old girls were up 51% from February to March 2021 when compared with that same period in 2019, the CDC said. Eva Wexler, a licensed clinical social worker in San Francisco, has never seen such unprecedented demand for mental health services. I have heard from parents who have contacted 10 or more child therapists with no success, said Wexler. I am deeply concerned about how the mental health needs of children and adolescents have been overlooked in the policy decisions that have been made during the pandemic.

It should have always been celebrated that data has consistently shown that kids are not at significant risk from COVID-19. This was true during alpha, delta and now omicron. In San Francisco, children have been the smallest share of COVID-19 cases in the city. There has not been a single death under the age of 20 from COVID-19 and a just handful of pediatric hospitalizations. Yet the California Department of Public Health still refuses to provide any offramps or metrics that will return things to normal, even with the emergency approval of vaccines for 5 to 11 year olds and even with the reality that unvaccinated kids are still at lower risk than vaccinated adults.

We now know that schools are safe. That COVID-19 does not spread on surfaces. That plexiglass barriers make things worse. That the cloth masks that most school children have been wearing are nothing more than facial decorations. That some of the most cited evidence given for mask effectiveness in schools is flawed. That San Francisco is an international outlier on its child mask mandates. That children are at a significantly greater risk of drowning than from COVID-19, not to mention homicides, suicides, cancer, car accidents, common flu and heart disease. That the risk of long COVID in kids appears to be unsubstantiated  especially post-vaccination. We know, or used to know, that childrens unique needs should be considered above those of adults. Yet the strictest rules for kids still persist.

March 2022 will mark the 2-year anniversary of COVID-19s arrival in San Francisco. Two years of so much of what makes childhood special and necessary altered or destroyed in the name of a single pursuit. The answer now is not to make children mask even harder, or test more often, or quarantine longer. The answer is to finally prioritize childrens well-being over adult anxieties and to give them their normal lives back. Adults are vaccinated and boosted and can wear N95s if they so choose. San Francisco parents, teachers and policymakers must finally show some intellectual curiosity about why it is that so many places in the United States and beyond have kept or returned childrens lives to normal, while we remain stubbornly on the other side of the spectrum.

Dr. Jeanne Noble is the head of the COVID response for UCSF's emergency department. She says it is well past time for the needs of children to come first. If we have even a hint that any of these restrictions are harmful for kids, were really not following the principle of first, do no harm. We have been viewing our kids primarily as vectors of disease. We have not been doing what is best for them. Most societies in the world really prioritize their children. They are our future. We should cherish them," said Noble.

She adds, "After the end of our omicron surge, which is just a few weeks away, the greatest obstacle blocking a return to pre-pandemic living will be persistent fear. With access to highly effective vaccines and treatments, coupled with a variant that causes much less serious disease even among the unvaccinated, we must consciously choose to abandon zero-risk strategies, and embrace life as it was prior to COVID. So much of the country has decided to do just that. I hope we, in the Bay Area, will follow suit."

Laura Fagan is the parent of three San Francisco children.
As a former chair of the Stamford Planning Board for more than 10 years, I am writing to applaud the Land Use Boards for their recent decision to approve Application 220-20, which will provide opportunities to convert some under used office parks in Stamford to residential multifamily housing.

This change in the regulations is a win-win for the city of Stamford. It provides both an opportunity to increase the supply of sorely needed multifamily housing and an increase in the tax base that can provide much-needed revenue to support improvements in the citys infrastructure. As concluded in a recent Regional Planning Association (RPA) study, Stamford faces a serious housing shortage; 5,484 Stamford households are housing cost burdened. This includes households with a wide range of incomes from 0-100 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). This change to zoning regulations is a move in the right direction to increase the housing stock in Stamford.

These changes are also consistent with the citys Master Plan. These office parks are in the C-D Zone which is Master Plan Category 8 (Urban Mixed Use). The Master Plan cites the following:

This category is intended to provide for and protect low-density office parks ... by allowing ... compatible office, research and development, residential, government, educational and medical uses ... Mixed-use development ... carefully planned and designed and ... no net increase in traffic impac t ... permitted ... on sites suburban in nature, subject to approval of the Zoning Board, based on (1) compatibility with adjacent uses and residential areas; (2) superior design including landscape design to buffer this use from adjacent residential uses; (3) superior traffic management ...

Some who oppose the Zoning Board changes cite the concerns of uncontrolled growth, cost burdens on our school system, increased traffic congestion and imposition on adjacent residential neighborhoods. These conclusions are not supported by facts. C-D regulations provide for Land Use Board control and public input on height, setback, and other site plan requirements. In addition, residential use is required to blend well into the existing neighborhoods.

The highly successful Havemeyer Lane project that was completed more than a decade ago, when I served as chair of the Stamford Planning Board, is an example of the potential for multifamily housing. The then Dorr-Oliver office complex was converted to 195 units of multifamily housing. The concerns cited by the then opponents to Havemeyer were very similar to concern raised by current opponents. By even very conservative estimates the Havemeyer units provide more than $3 million annually in tax revenue to the city. Recent Board of Education data indicates there are only 10 public school students from that development. According to the RPA study cited above, Stamford spends on average of about $19,000 per student in its school system. The increase in tax revenue from Havemeyer more than offsets the cost of additional students and provides significant net revenue for other uses. In fact, if half of the net tax benefit were captured for capital spending, it could generate tens of millions in bonding that could be used to improve our aging school facilities. This is certainly my recollection from having led the Planning Board capital spending process for 10 years.

Unused office parks if converted to residential housing will surely increase in value and in turn provide increased revenue to the city. Further, there is an abundance of traffic studies that support the conclusion that traffic generated by residential use is less than that generated by office use.

I certainly appreciate that concerned citizens have the right to weigh in on important land use issue that affect their neighborhoods, but I think that in this instance where development is limited to Long Ridge Road, a four-lane road with limited traffic congestion, the Land Use Boards have gotten it right. There are ample controls in the new regulations that address the concerns that have been raised.

The Board of Representatives is scheduled to discuss these Zoning Board changes at an upcoming meeting. I strongly urged that board to support these very positive and important changes.

Duane Hill is former chair of the Stamford Planning Board.
Shippensburg, PA (17257)

Today

Showers in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High near 75F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 52F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
West Shore Bank will bring both new and familiar faces to Waterfront Park for its Rhythm & Dunes concerts on July 30 and Aug. 6.

This years concerts will feature two Michigan bands, starting with country-rock group Union Guns on Saturday, July 30. The following Saturday, Detroit-based Your Generation in Concert  returning for its second Rhythm & Dunes performance after pleasing crowds in 2019  will take the Waterfront Park stage on Aug. 6.

The lineup was announced in a press release on Wednesday.

The concerts are free. Headliners will start at 7 p.m. after pre-show performances by local high school bands at 6 p.m.

Margaret Carney, executive assistant of shareholder relations at the bank and one of the event planners, told the Daily News the headlining bands were picked with the goal of bringing local audiences more of what they want.

Your Generation in Concert was selected mostly because of their large variety of songs that  appeal to a vast population, she said.

The release stated that the band transports audiences on a musical tour through five decades of pop, rock and dance hits.

Locals seemed to enjoy the group in 2019 and people were asking to have them back, Carney said.

The community also wanted more country music, which led to the selection of first-time Rhythm & Dunes act Union Guns.

Union Guns is a country steam roller, leaving the crowd wondering what just ran them over.  This band of gifted musicians are true-blue country folk with a pop edge, Carney stated, describing the band as in-your-face country with a pop sensibility.

The members are mostly from Michigan; about half of them come from country backgrounds, while the others are influenced by rock.

We havent done country in a while, Carney said. The fans were asking for it.

The band selection process is handled by a committee of bank employees. Members listen to and review bands, and keep an ear out for what the community wants to hear, according to Carney.

We look at what we have done in the past, what has been a success and what we havent done yet, she said. We like the family-oriented groups and bands with broad appeal.

Carney said the plan is to also have the jazz bands from Mason County Central and the Ludington high schools perform at this summers concerts, though details have not yet been finalized regarding which band will perform at which concert.

Rhythm & Dunes doubles as a benefit for local high school music programs, and this year will be no different.

Last year  after a hiatus in 2020 due to COVID-19  the concert series raised a record amount of $15,000. The goal this summer will be to raise even more, Carney said.

Were always looking to surpass last years (amount), she said, adding that shes very hopeful that fundraising amounts will go up yet again this year.

Rhythm & Dunes has raised about $85,000 for local music programs since its inception, Carney estimates.

It is great to know that the community continues to support West Shore Banks efforts to make a difference in our communities. Last year, we were able to have other nonprofits and school organizations benefit in addition to the music programs, Carney said. Donations are accepted in-person during the concert, online, from food vendors, school organization volunteers and merchandise sales.

Online donations can be made at https://smartpay.profitstars.com/express/westshorebankdonations.

Concerts are planned, organized and funded by West Shore Bank and its employees. This summer marks the first Rhythm & Dunes concert without former organizer Donna Yager, who retired in 2021.

I am lucky to have trained with Donna Yager, who has done such a great job creating and coordinating Rhythm & Dunes, said Carney, who is now at the helm alongside Aubry Healy. I look forward to following in her footsteps and continuing her success.

With COVID-19 still a concern, West Shore Bank is advising anyone with health concerns and those who are not fully vaccinated to follow current Michigan health guidelines regarding large gatherings. There will be no cap on attendance or mask mandate, but hand sanitizing stations will be at the park during the concerts.

More information can be found at www.westshorebank.com/rhythm-and-dunes.html.
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Colorado's legal landscape continues to shift. Through one sentence in a 304-page bill enacted in 2021, SB 21-271 criminalized violations of Colorado's restrictive-covenant statute, section 8-2-113, C.R.S. Effective March 1, violations of section 8-2-113 are a Class 2 Misdemeanor. As a result, a violation of section 8-2-113 could lead to 120 days' imprisonment, a $750.00 fine per violation, or both.

What Does this Mean for Employers?

As many Colorado employers know, noncompete agreements in Colorado, including customer nonsolicitation clauses, are considered void unless subject to one of four exceptions. Those exceptions relate to contracts: (1) for the purchase and sale of a business or the assets of a business; (2) for the protection of trade secrets; (3) for the recovery of the expense of educating and training an employee under certain conditions; and (4) for executive and management personnel.

Any restrictive covenants outside those exceptions are unlawful. And now, come March 1, the knowing implementation of a void restrictive covenant is also a crime. So, for example, asking a janitor with no access to trade secrets and zero management responsibility to sign a noncompete could subject an employer and the managers involved in the noncompete program to criminal liability.

But perhaps more troublingand often overlookedis section 8-2-113(1). This section of the statute broadly provides that it is "unlawful to use force, threats, or other means of intimidation to prevent any person from engaging in any lawful occupation at any place he sees fit." This broad language is largely untested and, as recently as November 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, in dismissing a claim under section 8-2-113(1), made clear that "there are apparently no Colorado decisions with direct guidance on whether a party may seek damages for an improper threat under  8-2-113(1)."

Even so, such broad language could arguably apply to any manner of threat, including threatening termination if an employee refuses to sign a noncompete that is void or unenforceable. So employers would be wise to remain cognizant of this broad language, especially if there are doubts about the application or scope of a noncompete to a particular employee or group of employees.

In short, SB 21-271 raises the stakes for Colorado restrictive covenants by creating Class 2 Misdemeanor criminal liability for violations. As a result, Colorado employers should take care to determine that the restrictive covenants presented to employees comply with the permitted exceptions under the statute. While the scope of the application of criminal liability for violation of section 8-2-113 remains uncertain, employers should consider reviewing their agreements and implementation procedures for compliance with the permitted purposes for restrictive covenants and the employee population being asked to sign.



Steve Baumann and Tom Carroll are attorneys with Littler Mendelson in Denver.  2022 Littler Mendelson. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
During the 15th meeting of the BRICS Science Technology Innovation (STI) Steering Committee on 17 January, India successfully handed over the BRICS Chairmanship to China from January 2022. India will host five international events throughout the year. The five high-level events are BRICS Startups Forum's Working Groups meeting on Energy; Biotechnology & Biomedicine; ICT & High-Performance Computing and the STIEP (Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Partnership) Working Group Meeting, which will also witness the launch of BRICS innovation launchpad as a microsite (Knowledge Hub).

The theme for BRICS 2022 is "Foster High-Quality BRICS Partnership Usher in a New Era for Global Development". A series of sectoral events and meetings, consisting of Minister level and BRICS Summit, will be organized during the year. The Calendar of BRICS STI activities and expected deliverables are discussed at the virtually organized meeting.

India as host of BRICS Summit 2021

Although the 13th BRICS Summit was held under India's Chairship on 09 September 2021. It was the third time India hosted the BRICS Summit after 2012 and 2016. Its theme was BRICS @ 15: Intra-BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus.

As the world is resolving some disputes because of the pandemic and its variants induced crisis and opportunities, BRICS S&T 2022 also would happen virtually. Hence, we look back at the journey spanned thus far since the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York in 2006 to inspect the achievements and contributions of BRICS to the global agenda and also to national growth stories of India.

Certainly, it is a matter of great pride that BRICS has been an ideal of multilateralism based on equality, mutual respect and trust. The journey of the BRICs began with a meeting of the Political heads (leaders) of Brazil, Russia, India and China in St Petersburg, Russia, in July 2006. It was a G8 Outreach Summit then. In September 2006, the group was made official, and the first official meeting of the foreign ministers was held. It led to the first-ever BRIC Summit held in Russia on 16 June 2009. South Africa became part of the organization in 2011. It is the only African country that is included in the list. South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya, China, on 14 April 2011.

Achievements of BRICS

BRICS assembles the major emerging economies of the world that comprise 41% of the world's total population. The countries embrace 24% of the world's GDP and more than 16% of the trade in the world. These have formed a Contingent Reserve Arrangement. And the major achievements comprise the establishment of the New Development Bank. It is a substitute for the World Bank. The BRICS nations have a global plan known as the Brasilia Declaration. BRICS nations deliberate on important issues under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial and cultural and people to people exchanges.

The themes of every summit reflect the approach to strengthen the founding principles of BRICS cooperation based on continuity, consolidation and consensus. As Chair, India had worked on specific deliverables across all three pillars of intra-BRICS cooperation in 2021.

Political and Security: To enrich cooperation and dialogue on global and regional security issues developments in the global political space for peace, security, and prosperity. The priorities for this pillar were: Reform of the Multilateral System and Counter Terrorism Cooperation.

Economic and Financial: To boost economic growth and development for mutual prosperity through expanding intra-BRICS cooperation in segments like trade, agriculture, infrastructure, small and medium enterprises, energy and finance & banking. Recognizing the miracles of using technological and digital solutions for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in BRICS countries with a special emphasis on Implementation of the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy 2020-25, Operationalization of the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform, Cooperation on Disaster Resilience, Innovation Cooperation, and Digital Health and Traditional Medicine.

Cultural and People to People: To qualitatively enrich and enhance intra-BRICS people to people contacts in cultural, sports, academic, youth, business through common exchanges. Exchanges among Parliamentarians, young scientists etc., were also carried out.

The anticipation from BRICS 2022

The BRICS STI Steering Committee meeting was attended by representatives from BRICS scientific ministries foreign Missions. From the Indian side, the meeting was led by Shri Sanjeev Kumar Varshney, Advisor & Head International Cooperation, Department of Science and Technology.

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is the main executing agency for BRICS startups Forum and innovation knowledge hub creation. During the meeting organized virtually, the Chinese side presented a broad outline of activities to be enacted during the whole year. It mainly embraces thematic meetings, BRICS Young Scientist Conclave, Senior official, and Ministerial level meetings. A total of 25 events have been intended, of which India will host a total of five. The BRICS Young Scientist Conclave will be organized in September 2022 in a virtual format, and the thematic focus may be Carbon peak neutralization; Biomedicine, Artificial Intelligence, Material Science, Modern Agriculture.

China will host the 10th BRICS S&T Ministerial meeting and Senior Official Meeting in September 2022. The meeting theme would endorse Open, Inclusive, and Shared Science, Technology, and Innovation. At the sideline of the Ministerial meeting, an exhibition will be organized showcasing outcomes of successful projects reinforced under the BRICS Framework Programme (2015-2022).

For the finalization of the BRICS Calendar of scientific events and programs, all countries will notify the meeting's specific dates, venue, and format. India tentatively showed a willingness to host the STIEP working group meeting on 23rd  24th March 2022 and BRICS Startups Forum Meeting in May/June 2022.
Payment service provider PayU has initiated a product suite to provide simplified access to credit for its 3.5 lakh merchants, the company said on Wednesday.

PayU has launched three products -- marketplace early settlement, priority settlement and merchant lending, it said in a press statement. It said these products assist provide access to working capital, enhance cash flow management and increase liquidity to boost the growth of small and medium businesses (SMB).

The new suite gives customised offerings, with credit amounts ranging from Rs 25,000 for SMBs to several crores, and repayment cycles ranging from a week to a year.

Hemang Dattani, head of growth businesses at PayU, said SMBs were growth drivers for the country, accounting for a third of India's GDP. However, access to credit continues to be a major hurdle for them.

The World Bank estimates that Indian SMBs face a $380 billion credit gap, which makes it difficult for them to reach short-term expenses and manage everyday operations.

We offer diverse credit products for merchants of differing sizes, categories and business life cycles, supporting digital financial inclusion. This segment will be an important focus area for us in 2022, Dattani said.

PayU's priority settlement feature allows merchants to choose between receiving funds in scheduled settlement cycles every 15 minutes, hourly or in three daily batches. It permits merchants to access funds in less than 30 minutes from the time a transaction is made.

It assists businesses such as travel and cab aggregators, financial services, and inventory-led merchants to provide funds and payments to vendors and customers on the same day, without delay, the company said..

As per a report that PayU had launched a credit and prepaid payment instrument called LazyCard, for which its buy now pay later (BNPL) solution LazyPay partnered with SBM Bank India. The company is looking to up the ante against card-based BNPL providers such as Uni and Slice.
This is the story of Andy Trouards triathlon bike. You may wonder who Andy Trouard is. Hes 27 years old, and Ill write more about him later, perhaps in a story that includes U.S. Olympic Silver Medalist (in triathlon) Morgan Pearson. Andy is the newest U.S. male of interest in Olympic Tri, joining Kevin McDowell, Matt McElroy, the aforementioned Morgan Pearson, Seth Rider, and some others.



I will only say this about Andy, to give you a sense. As a sophomore in high school he was on the state meet podium in Arizona. In swimming. He also won the NCAA Division I indoor 3000 meters in 2018. Thats in running. Hes a 3:58 miler and has a track PR of 13:21. So, theres some promise. Back to the bike, which is a triathlon bike because Andy is turning directly and, for now, only to draft-legal Olympic-style racing.

I got a call from USA Triathlons Joe Maloy in late November. Joe is a former Olympian who USAT tasked to mine the diamonds in the collegian rough. He hunts for uniquely talented men and women just like Andy: Champion runner, former swimmer. Joes been after Andy for some time as you might imagine and triathlon finally landed him. Back to that call from Joe. We want to set him up with a good bike fit, and then see if we can get a bike, that fits, with parts that work, and so on. Likewise the wetsuit, helmet, shoes. Andys current ride is a 2010 something-or-other that has, basically, no handlebar tape. Barely roadworthy.



Andy came up to The Compound from his hometown Tucson for a fit session in early December. (And please don't scrutinize this photo; it was not the finished position, though the pics of the bike you see are matched to the fit coordinates achieved during the fit session.)

The result of that session created a conundrum, because road bike makers have largely vacated a geometry that I find useful. Its what you could call Cervelo geometry. Not long and low; not endurance. In my own riding, I can barely get a Cervelo R series bike low enough, but I just can. Thats the geometry Im talking about. Specialized has lowered the front end of its Tarmac and Venge, in line with a lot of other bike makers. Theres a kind of conformity around, in my size (58cm) a stack and reach of 580mm x 400mm respectively. That works okay for me and QR, Cannondale, Canyon and a lot of others are making that geometry in their road bikes. Or they jack the front end way up and pull it back toward the bottom bracket. Few bikes these days are in between.



Andy has a saddle height  saddle top to BB center  of 77.5cm, on a 511 frame. Im riding a saddle height of 75.5cm on a 62 frame. That means, all things equal, I need a bike thats a bit longer in reach, and lower in stack. Long and low. If thats whats right for me it cant be right for Andy. He ended up with a pretty conventional fit, but he just needs a taller, narrower frame because of his morphology.

While I can ride a Cervelo just barely, Andy rides a Cervelo perfectly. So, I got Cervelo on the line and while they wanted to help those bikes are long sold. Its been hard getting hold of any bikes, or the parts that go on them and, look, I wasnt on the hunt for freebies. I had my credit card out. Its just hard getting bikes.



It was not easy to meet all my imperatives. Beyond geometry, I wanted a top quality frame, without internal hydraulic cable routing, that used easily changeable stem and bars, because the fit session notwithstanding where the hoods sit in space for a new rider like Andy is likely to change in any direction by 10mm or 15mm; and I needed this bike to be easy to pack for air travel. Its hard to find a top quality frame that doesnt have an integrated front end. Again, theres Cervelo, and I bought an R5 last year for all the reasons I list above.

There was a bike that checked all the boxes if I could only get it. The Time Alpe dHuez 01 has a stack of 581mm in a size L, and a reach of 392mm. In other words, its a size I could ride, height-wise  which Andy needs  but its shorter in reach, a bit short for me, but good for Andy. It was also a top quality frameset. It turns out Time Bicycles is owned by a friend of mine, Tony Karklins, and I tracked him down. He was vacationing on a boat, in the middle of the Caribbean. Yes, I have that frame, he told me between pina coladas or tequila sunrises or rum punches, but youll need to source the parts.



I had the beginnings of a Shimano 9200 groupset and I needed only to fill in the blanks. Calling in every favor I had, making an ornery pest of myself, waterboarding every friend I had in the business, buying the odd part here and there, with some big time help from Shimano, it took me a couple of weeks but I got almost everything in. I really wanted Andy to be on that groupset, Dura Ace 9200, or Ultegra 8100, because I wanted absolutely bombproof electronic shifting on a bike that was easy to assemble and travel-friendly.

Andys mentor, as he embarks on his draft-legal journey, is former pro bike racer and national class duathlete Paul Thomas. Paul also understands Andy as a runner, as Paul was a California State Meet champion in the mile, with high school PRs of 4:08 and 8:53. Eventually Andys old bike gave out, so hes on one of Pauls gravel bikes right now with road wheels and tires, learning not just how to be a triathlete, but how to race bikes.



I did the build on the Time Alpe DHuez myself, wrenchwork is not a core competency of mine, but I didnt do the built on my own 9200 Dura Ace bike, Shimano did. I wanted to understand the parts on my own bike, how it went together, and I needed some more experience with the eTube app and the adjustment and config of the parts using that app.

The tires were a bear to find; I wanted tubeless and I wanted fast and durable tires. I was, again, making life hard for myself and I could not find the Schwalbe Pro Ones, my choice for all-around speed and durability. I needed them either in 28mm or 30mm, as Andy was going to spend a lot of time on the bike and I wanted a comfortable, safe tire. Not finding them I just took a set of 28mm tires out of my own stock, and theyre a nice match with the Dura Ace wheels  and what you see here are the new Dura Ace wheels, just launched in August of last year. How hard was I scraping the barrel for parts? I had to unwrap the tape off a set of handlebars I used in my bike fit studio to wrap the bars on this bike.

There are 172.5mm cranks on this bike, 52x36, and 11-30 in the back, 12 speed. The saddle and the handlebars are PRO, which is a Shimano brand. For the stem I chose Zipp Service Course SL, specifically because I like the Zipp QuickView. Its my favorite mount for head units, and another good reason for choosing a frame that takes a standard stem. The QuickView is a faceplate that mates with certain Zipp stems. On that mount is a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt, which I had, and it was hard giving that up. I have a ROAM that I use most of the time, so Ill survive.

If you look at those water bottle cages, yes, they look a lot like XLAB Gorilla cages. They are, basically. It turns out theres a lot of cross-compatibility between tri and gravel tech. For example, gravel figured out pretty quickly that the idea that triathletes had for where to stick food  on the top tube  was a big improvement on the jersey pocket. Road racers are a little too precious for top tube storage, so this tech jumped from tri right over road and into gravel. Gravel and bikepack enthusiasts also like the idea of bottles not jumping out of cages while riding, as do triathletes. So, much of what XLAB made for tri had utility for gravel, but gravel needs its own brand. Hence Dawn to Dusk, a brand that has a lot of curiously XLABby-like products. It may take an extra few newton-meters or watt-fractions to pull a bottle out of this cage, but for Andys use I just want the bottle to stay put so a Kaptive 14 bottle is on both down and seat tubes.

Its Speedplay pedals on this bike, because both Paul and I are Speedplay devotees (for road), and Andy wouldnt dare ride anything else.



The bike weighs 16.6 pounds, and thats with pedals, Zipps system for mounts, and with the Bolt, and the cages. If Andy doesnt make our next Olympic team Im determined it not be the bikes fault.



Rounding out Andy Trouards new equipment is a Lazer road helmet, Shimano TR9 tri shoes, ROKA Maverick wetsuit (which I'll write about next week) and a selection of goggles. I swim in the F1, but, to each his or her own.



I may have the opportunity to write a little more about this process as it unfolds. Andy has not actually seen the bike yet, in person. It gets delivered to him this week. If the whole thing is a bust Ill let you know. If it works out, Ill let you know. Im as excited as anyone to see if he likes the bike and where his triathlon journey will take him.
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BHP, the worlds largest mining company, has won overwhelming support from investors to end a two-decade corporate split between Australia and the United Kingdom and is now set to transform into a single ASX-listed entity.

In a series of shareholder meetings on Thursday night, more than 96 per cent of proxy votes were cast in favour of BHPs proposal to ditch the dual-listed structure under which the mining giant has had separate parent companies in both countries since the 2001 merger of BHP and Billiton.

BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie ahead of the BHP unification votes on Thursday. Credit:Thomas Graham

With shareholders of both Australia-based BHP Group Ltd and the UKs BHP Plc overwhelmingly supporting unification, BHP is now set to transfer its primary listing to the ASX, overtaking the Commonwealth Bank as the Australian stock markets biggest company by value.

The streamlining of BHPs market listings will also strip Londons FTSE index of one of its largest companies.
Uber has acquired Australian car sharing platform Car Next Door as part of an expansion of its services away from its original ride sharing service and offering its users a viable alternative to car ownership.

Car Next Door will operate as an independent unit within Ubers Australian operation with the ride share giant highlighting the fact that it gives customers transport options that are not suited to its traditional service such as a day trip.

Car Next Door founder Will Davies says the acquisition by Uber will help the company scale up its ambitions. Credit:James Brickwood

Dom Taylor, the general manager of Uber Australia and New Zealand, said the option of mid-range and longer distance trips had been a missing option for Uber users.

This deal will change that, and mean that the Uber platform can be a reliable and convenient alternative to the choice to own a car, he said.
China, land of perpetual growth and boundless opportunity, forging its way to a glorious future of global hegemony and unchallenged economic prowess under the inspired and benevolent leadership of the all-powerful President Xi Jinping.

The Wests political leaders may all be at a befuddled loss over how to deal with an ever more assertive China, but our major corporations and financial institutions cannot get enough of it. However grovelling the kowtow required, if it secures a foothold in Chinese markets, its judged worth the humiliation.

Chinas economic growth slowed markedly in the fourth quarter of last year, prompting the government growth slowed markedly in the fourth quarter of last year, prompting the Peoples Bank of China to cut interest rates and easing credit restrictions anew. Credit:Getty

Time for a reality check. This may come as a surprise, but China was the worlds second-worst performing stock market last year, ranking 58th out of 59, only marginally ahead of Pakistan - this despite seeming to have had a far better pandemic than virtually all Western counterparts.

The long-term picture scarcely looks any better. Over the past 30 years, Chinese stock markets as measured by the MSCI China Index have delivered a paltry 1.76 per cent annualised rate of return, compared to 7.47 per cent for emerging markets as a whole and 10.72 per cent for the US S&P 500.
Unless youve been watching the Ashes theres not a lot to be cheerful about at the beginning of this year. To go  literally  anywhere is to be sure of receiving a COVID-19 notification, but if youre willing to take your chances with at least one exhibition in Sydney, it would have to be Matisse: Life & Spirit at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is an artist of world stature, beyond the reach of the critics who jeered at him throughout the early part of his career, and those who idolised him at the end. For the most part, those critics were French, with one result being that the bulk of Matisses most radical, groundbreaking work was purchased by Russian, American and German collectors. This is worth bearing in mind if youve seen previous Matisse exhibitions, as this selection is drawn almost exclusively from the holdings of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, supplemented with items from a handful of other collections.

Henri Matisse, Still life with magnolia (Nature morte au magnolia) (1941) was the fruit of multiple reworkings and no fewer than 68 preparatory drawings. Credit:Centre Pompidou

The Pompidous holdings may be awesome by Australian standards, but they dont add up to a comprehensive portrait of the artist. The collection is strong on sculptures and works on paper, and on the late paper cuts, but the crucial Fauve years (c.1905-08) are poorly represented, while the large, colourful masterpieces that followed were hoovered up by Sergei Shchukin of Moscow, or Dr Albert Barnes of Philadelphia.

Rather than dwell on the deficiencies of the Pompidou collection Im going to focus on some of the key works the museum has acquired by donation or purchase in later years. It may be a partial view of Matisse, but there are pieces that show him pushing painting in directions it had never gone before.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It wouldnt be summer in Sydney without the Sydney Festival, featuring a diversity of cultural events throughout January. Here our critics review the final week and a half of gigs, dance and theatre. Dance GREY RHINO  YUNG LUNG 

Carriageworks, January 20

Reviewed by JILL SYKES Grey Rhino and Yung Lung not only have the venue of Carriageworks and a cast of seven dancers in common. Each appears to be forecasting a terrible future for our planet unless we do something about it  but in completely different ways. Its title signals the concerns of Grey Rhino  an expression meaning an obvious danger often ignored. This thoughtful dance work explores what could be seen as the effects of climate change among a frightening number of other things. A program note talks about generating debate, the tension between urgency and complacency. Grey Rhino explores what could be seen as the effects of climate change among a frightening number of other things.

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The dancers begin with searching gazes above them portents from the sky? They clump together like a herd of animals seeking safety as a group  from which one or two will break out, then return. Until, an hour later, they are all motionless on the floor. Too late. Choreography by Charmene Yap and Cass Mortimer Eipper for Performing Lines is consistently absorbing and easily the most interesting I have seen in this Sydney Festival. The delicacy and character of individual movement, sensitively performed, is a pleasure to watch despite its fearful content. Later in the evening, Yung Lung takes over Carriageworks largest venue, stripped of its seating. A giant mound designed by Callum Morton, representing chunks of human heads  nose, forehead, eyes, skull  now dominates the space. The audience walks around this in darkness, lit at first by a circle of flickering screens above and with sound (by Chiara Kickdrum) so huge it vibrates through your feet. For the first 15 minutes, thats all there is. No performers. Is this apocalyptic performance some kind of clever conceit by Melbournes Chunky Move? Humans extinguished before we get to see them?

But no. Performers eventually swarm over the mound, which proves a perilous stage for any kind of dancing. They mostly pose, wave their arms, jump up and down on the spot or hang off what look like safety bars. In an interview, choreographer Antony Hamilton talks about trance dancing for survival. By now, the video screens have been filled by dizzyingly fast clips of death and disaster, seemingly sourced from the USA. They dominate the human action, under its flickering lighting, as is appropriate for its theme of media and communications overload. And the sound . . . Just short of an hour, it defeated me. But I was still in the foyer when the audience wandered out, quite a few having gone long before. They had probably, like me, come to see dance. But Yung Lung is not so much dance as a sound and light show, presented by a dance company.

Both until January 23

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Music THE ACOUSTIC LIFE OF BOATSHEDS  January 20, Sydney Harbour Reviewed by HARRIET CUNNINGHAM It begins with a map and a safety announcement. Its not the usual start to a Sydney Festival show, but its all part of the experience for Big hARTs award-winning event The Acoustic Life of Boatsheds. The audience, carrying raincoats and picnics, has filed onto the Regal, a sturdy wooden ferry that spent its working life carrying passengers to and from Circular Quay. Percussionist Claire Edwardes bounces sound off sandstone in a structured improvisation that sets off watery notes of marine industry.

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Today it visits three lesser-known corners of the harbour: Me-Mel (Goat Island), Lavender Bay boatsheds and the heritage fleet at Rozelle Bay. At the Scow Shed at Me-Mel percussionist Claire Edwardes bounces sound off sandstone in a structured improvisation that sets off watery notes of marine industry  random drips, metal on metal, wood on wood. Next door, in the Queens Magazine, Paul Cutlan and Gary Daley fill the cavernous stone warehouse with hypnotic loops and refrains, while on the ceiling Jordan East projects an evolving skyscape. At Lavender Bay boat sheds, boot camps and bike riders look on with polite curiosity as Sabine Bester smooths out the rhythmic hammering of shipwright Locky Rankin with haunting strands of voice and trumpet. Back on the boat, Mikelangelo (aka Michael Simic) and Trent Arkley-Smith entertain us with salty favourites such as Its hard to make love to a mermaid. And at Rozelle Bay, we wander around a working boatshed, reading safety notices and cabinet labels  Ozy nozzles, Stanley Blades, Mysteries  while Jess Green and Bree Van Reyk bring found objects and accidental auditoriums to life. Back where we started, were sung off the boat by a nautical chorus. Its a real trip, full of delights. With so many moving parts - not least the whims of the audience and the weather - an element of luck imbues the whole experience. This includes some of the practical details  where to sit, where to stand, when to eat, what happens now . . . and the impact of the improvisations, some of which are more compelling than others.

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But The Acoustic Life of Boatsheds is not so much about the artists performances as about how their performances bring you into spaces you would never know existed. And then, once youre there, immersed in Sydneys gritty and gorgeous working harbour, how the performances make you stop, listen and look around. Turns out it was a treasure map. Until January 23 Italian Baroque with Circa 

City Recital Hall, January 19

Reviewed by Jill Sykes This years Sydney Festival has given audiences the fascinating opportunity to compare two events that share basic components  onstage music-making and thrilling acrobatic feats  yet are utterly different in character. Circa Contemporary Circus and the Australian Brandenburg have an international reputation for their sophisticated aural and visual collaboration. Circa Contemporary Circus and the Australian Brandenburg have united for another sophisticated aural and visual collaboration.

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When Rebel Wilson was awarded almost $5 million in her defamation case against Bauer Media in 2017 she intended to gift the proceeds to charity with a good chunk to go to her alma mater, the Australian Theatre for Young People.

Damages were reduced on appeal in 2018 but Wilson, who has been involved with the company since her first drama workshop at age 19, honoured her commitment.

The red neon sign goes up next week on The Rebel Theatre at Walsh Bay. Credit:Louise Kennerley

I thought, you know, Ill do another Hollywood movie instead if I cant get the money from Bauer Media and then earmark that to ATYP, Wilson said.

In 2019 I did four movies, and so I just saved money from that.
Casting directors  some of whom asked her if she could lose weight  didnt know quite what to do with her.

Work remained occasional. Her body had new curves. When her husband appeared in a 2013 episode of Girls as Lena Dunhams sex interest, some online trolls suggested that a conventionally attractive man such as Wilson would never have a tryst with someone such as Dunham. Dominczyk snapped back on Twitter, saying: Funny, his wife is a size 10, muffin top & all, & he does her just fine.

I want to play, says Dominczyk of her character. I want to have sex with one of the brothers. Or Shiv? I dont know. Credit:HBO/Foxtel

Instead, she spent the next few years staying out, sleeping in, eating Polish food and working only sporadically  a movie here, a television episode there. She dated actor Patrick Wilson (they briefly overlapped at college), married him the next year, and had their first son the year after and a second son three years later. They live in Montclair, New Jersey.

That changed in 2018, when she was cast as Karolina Novotney, an unflappable public relations executive on the HBO drama Succession. She was quickly upgraded from a recurring role to a series regular.

She has asked the producers if Karolina could act out in ways that the Roy siblings do, but they have so far declined. I want to play, Dominczyk said. I want to have sex with one of the brothers. Or Shiv? I dont know. But the role is such that Karolina stays in her lane. Shes there to do the job.

Dominczyk can also be seen as a waspish mother-to-be in the much-lauded Netflix film The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. And she has recently wrapped the lead role in the HBO limited series We Own This City, in which she plays an FBI agent investigating police corruption. The more settled I became and the less apologetic for it, the less thinking I had to look a certain way or act a certain way  that was exciting for people, she said.

If she prefers complicated characters, her taste in fragrance skews simpler. Im much more of a sweet, cozy, pumpkin pie, fall candle person, she said.

A bottle labeled Dulce de Leche made the cut. And Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin Rum Cake. Also Smoked Chestnut. (Chestnut is a very Polish thing, she said.) And Holiday Basket, although she joked that Pierre-Louis should have named it Holiday Basket Case. She sniffed the mixture with approval. I want to down this like a shot, she said.
Firstly, air dry your mask in the sun after use in order to disinfect it, says Bennett, who advises buying multiple masks so they can be rotated while each is being cleaned, and then throwing each out after it has been worn a few times. She recommends leaving a couple of days between wearing the same mask again. Theres no magic [amount of] time the mask needs to stay in the sun. Just give it a good dose of sunlight when you take it off They work better when theyre absolutely dry. Dont spray it with anything, dont moisten it, dont use disinfectant. Dispose of your mask if it gets wet Dont reuse a mask, adds Sim, if it is exposed to the rain, and dont put it in your pocket between wears. Ideally, you would put the mask in a plastic, zip lock bag or a box with a lid (to ensure it wont be crushed), and do so only once the mask is completely dry. Its going to damage the integrity of the seal, he says, of a mask that is placed in a pocket or handbag. Because it will be crumpled. It will open up gaps, and the protection drops off pretty quickly in those circumstances. Fit the mask to your face  almost vacuum tight

People need to manage their face carefully, too, before they wear the mask each time: the presence of any facial hair or oils on the skin can damage the masks seal, as can skin irritations that cause inflammation, he adds. But perhaps most importantly, say experts, the mask needs to continue to fit tightly over your face, without any gaps along the edges or around the nose. If youre not particularly checking its fit, youre probably wasting your time, says Bennett, adding that when hospital staff wear N95s, their masks are fit-tested by a specialty machine to make sure theyre almost vacuum tight. If youre drawing in air around the edges of the mask or expelling air around the edges, theyre not working to that [designed] specification. (When used properly, respirator masks filter at least 94 per cent of airborne particles at a size of 0.1 microns.) That specification is [based] on all air going through the mask [rather than out the sides]. Ive seen people wearing them out in the community, they pull them on and off, have stretched the ear loops, theyre hanging loose on the face, she says. Theyve probably got a false sense of security. Theyre probably not a lot different from a surgical mask. Avoid handling your mask

Its crucial to handle the mask as little as possible, wash your hands after touching it and ideally take it on and off using the ear loops. Bennett says an N95 is not a good choice for a mask you plan on putting on to go into a cafe or shop, and then taking it off once you nibble on something, and then put it back on afterwards, and so forth. Loading You might get infected [with the virus], she says, as COVID particles may be present on the outside of the mask. If youre handling it from the outside, thats why they say to put it in a [plastic] bag [when you carry it with you], because if you have the virus on your hands, there is a small risk that you could have your hand to your face, rub your eye, and that might be all it takes to get an infecting dose. Ideally, these are the masks that people pull out on special occasions, she adds of respirators, like those who are visiting people who are vulnerable to infection, going to a neighbourhood with a high-infection rate, or travelling on public transport when its packed with people. (Theyre also good, she says, for those who have a very people-facing job.) This is why Bennett, who is rarely in these situations, usually opts for a disposal surgical mask  used once  under a close-fitting three-ply cloth mask. Thats probably the next best thing to do after an N95. Professor Bruce Thompson, dean of health sciences at Swinburne University, agrees, and is firmly against reusing an N95. Ultimately, youve got to assume that the things got infected once youve used it, he says. Thats the whole reason youre using it, to not contract the bug. You [should] treat them like your [already worn] underwear. Dont touch them or share them or reuse them.
More than 2000 foreign backpackers have arrived in Australia in the first five weeks since border restrictions were lifted in mid-December with hospitality venues eagerly trying to secure their services amid staff shortages.

The federal government announced on Wednesday it would refund the $495 visa fee for working holidaymakers who arrive in the next three months to try and stimulate demand. New data from the Department of Home Affairs shows how few backpackers are arriving, compared to pre-pandemic.

Goja Rabe and Milena Roytenberg arrived in Australia this week after waiting nine months to enter. Credit:Nick Moir

There were 19,109 working holidaymakers in Australia on January 8, compared to 49,542 a year ago and 141,142 two years ago.

Since the borders opened on December 15 to backpackers, 2032 working holiday visa holders have arrived. There are another 23,494 people with valid visas outside Australia, and the government hopes the refund scheme will hasten their plans. The department said demand for the visas has been strong.
Swimming Australia president and former Olympic superstar Kieren Perkins has called for the sport to abandon a damaging, debunked obsession with body weight and shape and said that coaches who could not adapt should look for another career.

Speaking upon the partial release of a confronting SA-commissioned report that recommends the abolition of skinfold tests, a ban on the word physique and a quota for women coaches for a sport in which girls and women are a majority, Perkins said what struck him was how little had changed since his heyday late last century.

Swimming Australia president, Kieren Perkins. Credit:Getty

It felt like a retelling of my childhood and experiences in our sport, but its not historic, Perkins said. Its a today report. These things are occurring in our sport today. Its very much about mental abuse and coercive control on the transition from being a child to a young adult. There is obviously a lot of focus still on body composition.

Perkins said it surprised him that aspiring swimmers still were weighed and did skinfold tests publicly, on the pool-deck.

At an elite level, we need to have a dialogue about whether its relevant or not, Perkins said.

But when youre talking about development and the broader system in Australia, you have to seriously question whether they have any impact on an athletes performance and career? Is it reasonable or relevant to focus on these things as someone transitions from being a child to a young adult?

The catalyst for the report was a series of social media posts last June from Olympian Madeline Groves, who withdrew from the Tokyo Olympic trials as a lesson to misogynistic perverts and their bootlickers.

Read the full story here.
Hundreds of mourners have gathered at Charlise Muttens primary school to pay tribute to the nine-year-old who was allegedly murdered by her mothers fiance in the NSW Blue Mountains last week.

Students, teachers and strangers touched by the tragedy attended the candlelight vigil held at Tweed Heads Public School, on the NSW North Coast near the Queensland border, on Wednesday night.

People attend a candlelight vigil for nine-year-old Charlise Mutten. Credit:AAP

The mourners left flowers, candles and handwritten tributes to the young student who was described as a beautiful and much-loved little girl who loved butterflies.

Her bright smiling face and her beautiful nature shone as bright as her spirit is now, a friend told the vigil.
One thousand final-year university students and retired principals have volunteered to be part of the back-up workforce helping to keep classrooms open when students return to school this month.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that states and territories could choose to adopt surveillance testing  in which families are supplied with rapid antigen kits (RATs) to test students twice a week before school  if they can secure enough tests.

School resumes this month and parents and principals are still waiting for a plan. Credit:iStock

Tasmania on Thursday announced its plan to supply two rapid antigen tests to each student, to be used if they become symptomatic.

NSW public schools are already receiving deliveries of tests. They don't know how they will be used, but have been instructed to keep them secure. RATs are in high demand in the community; a man was arrested on Wednesday over a theft of kits from a storage facility in Botany.
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 45F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Overcast. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 45F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Paul Stevens of North Epping was most distressed when his cat went missing one night over the weekend. However, in the morning there was a dead rat waiting on the verandah. If only I could teach him to distinguish between a capitalised RAT and a lowercase rat.

According to lexicographer Susie Dent, there is a 14th century English word that can also quite aptly be applied to Australias leadership in the 21st century, writes John Bailey of Canterbury. Sparple means to deflect unwanted attention from one thing by making a big deal of another.

Some reassurance for Bill Wilkinson (C8) from Stewart Martin of Mangerton. Sadly, all those creatures, including the leeches, are here holidaying in Mangerton. I blame George Manojlovic for putting us on the map!

Lyn Langtry of East Ryde divulges that this granny moved quicker than usual last night when she got into bed to discover a curled up red-bellied black snake. The pranks of grandchildren are certainly not a-changin (C8).

Bob Patton of Bass Hill was driving past Taronga Park Zoo the other day and my GPS (C8) said Bear left. I mean, how do they know these things? Perhaps the answer is below?
There could be millions of rapid antigen tests flowing into Queensland by the middle of the year, if a local company can clear the regulatory hurdles that has left it sending its stock overseas.

AnteoTech is a Brisbane-based biotech company that has the capacity to make 12 million RATs a year.

Brisbane-based biotech company AnteoTech says it could be providing millions of RATs to Queensland if it gets TGA approval. Credit:Stuart Layt

The companys chief executive Derek Thomson said they had approached the Therapeutic Goods Administration for approval for their tests in September last year but were yet to hear back.

It comes after the company approached the federal government early in 2020 as the pandemic began to ramp up, but Mr Thompson said they did not get much traction.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowans decision to indefinitely delay the states reopening  effectively marooning the population and locking out the rest of world  should not come as a shock to those who have been watching our leaders closely in the last few weeks.

As the February 5 reopening date loomed, it was clear the wheels were starting to fall off. The Premier and his ministers continually declined to provide the states preliminary Omicron modelling.

Questions around furloughing and how the virus would be managed in the community went unanswered. Medical union concerns that hospitals were already full and had no surge capacity were constantly dismissed.

And rapid antigen tests? We went from expecting 8 million by February 5, which was nowhere near enough, to the Health Minister conceding on Wednesday we only had one million currently in stock after making our first order just one month ago.
The developer behind a new $280 million seaside resort and community hub for Smiths Beach hopes to start construction next year.

Adrian Fini, the man behind the Bunker Bay Resort built south of Smiths Beach in 2004, as well as the redevelopment of the Treasury buildings in Perth, has revealed new concept images of his proposal for Smiths Beach, south-west of Busselton, ahead of it entering the official community feedback stage.

The developer behind a project at Smiths Beach has revealed new renders of the project. Credit:Smiths 2014

Mr Fini and several other families bought the 40-hectare site in 2014 for $10 million after the previous owners proposal attracted a community protest campaign and was embroiled in a Corruption and Crime Commission investigation.

That development, at one stage approved for the old owners over about half the site, featured up to 500 tourism and residential dwellings with the western side of the lot to be handed to the state government as national park.
On January 6, 2022, a woman who worked at a massage parlour in the inner Perth suburb of Applecross visited a shop at the same time as a mother who was unknowingly infectious with COVID-19 after having collected her daughter from the airport days earlier.

The fleeting encounter was enough for the highly infectious Omicron variant to pass between the two strangers, with the masseuse then later spreading the virus to her colleagues and clients.

The inside of one of the massage parlours connected to the cluster.

The disease quickly spread across three massage parlours in Perth, yet when contact tracers pulled the check-in details of customers, they found only 11 people had checked in to one of the venues over the course of a week.

After two days attempting to quietly manage the outbreak, the cases were announced during a press conference on January 16 and an appeal was made for those who had visited the venues to isolate and come forward for testing.
Children of essential workers will be able to go to school on the first day of term one in every state and territory, while the federal governments health experts predict coronavirus transmissions will rise once classrooms reopen.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also said if states and territories choose to do surveillance testing in line with the advice from their own experts, the federal government will fund half the costs of the tests for students and staff.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says schools will open for the children of essential workers. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

He said national cabinet, which met on Thursday afternoon, discussed schools with the overarching view of getting children into classes and keeping them there.

There is a lot of discussion today about where the various states are up to and the pandemic and where the crest of the pandemic is, he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
One of the states most senior police officers has announced his resignation from the force, less than two months after an unsuccessful bid to become NSW Police commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner Mick Willing has resigned after more than 31 years in uniform, a career including stints leading the homicide squad and in charge of counter-terrorism.

Deputy Commissioner Mick Willing has resigned from the NSW Police Force. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Mr Willings shock resignation follows NSW Premier Dominic Perrottets decision to appoint fellow deputy Karen Webb as the states top police officer in late November, overlooking Mr Willing who was also a contender.

Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon was also in the running to replace Commissioner Mick Fuller at the helm of the 17,500 strong police force. Ms Webb will be formally sworn in to the role next week.
Not ready to go on an overseas holiday? The best spots to holiday at home have been ranked, and buyers can snap up a bolthole for as little as $240,000.

The Gold Coast took out fourth place on TripAdvisors 2022 Travellers Choice Awards for the South Pacific, a ranking based on reviews by travellers.

The Gold Coast was the highest-ranked Australian city on a new list of top holiday destinations.

It was followed by Hobart (5), Sydney (6), Port Douglas (7), Cairns (8) and Melbourne (9).

Queenstown in New Zealand took the top spot, and other international destinations included Bora Bora (2), Auckland (3) and Rotorua (10).
Rents have reached record highs in our biggest cities and many regional areas, leaving lower income earners and essential workers  many of whom are keeping the country going amid surging coronavirus case numbers  struggling to find affordable rental properties.

A comparison of Domain rental data and the latest employee earnings data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released on Wednesday, shows not one suburb in NSW or Victoria would be considered affordable for essential workers such as checkout operators, pharmacy sales assistants or kitchen hands.

Nurses are among the essential workers who may be struggling to find affordable places to live. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Child carers, commercial cleaners and packers would also face slim pickings, with the cost of renting a typical home across any Sydney or Melbourne suburb likely to push them into rental stress - defined as when lower-income households put more than 30 per cent of their gross income towards housing costs.

Similarly, in Perth and Brisbane, not one suburb recorded a median rent that would be deemed affordable for such workers. Domain recorded median rental asking prices for suburbs with a minimum of 30 rentals over the year to December.
Kabul: The Taliban has stormed an apartment in Kabul, smashing the door in and arresting a womens rights activist and her three sisters, an eyewitness said on FRiday (AEDT).

The activist, Tamana Zaryabi Paryani, was among about 25 women who took part in an anti-Taliban protest on Sunday against the compulsory Islamic headscarf, or hijab, for women.

Afghan women during a protest in Kabul late last year. Credit:AP

A person from the neighbourhood who witnessed the arrest said about 10 armed men, claiming to be from the Taliban Intelligence Department, carried out the raid on Wednesday night.

Shortly before the woman and her sisters were taken away, footage of Paryani was posted on social media, showing her frightened and breathless and screaming for help.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have kept the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight for the third year in a row.

The clock, which metaphorically counts the time until the end of the world, remains at the closest point it has ever been to midnight  and one of the groups leaders warned that steady is not good news.

Is humanity safer or at greater risk this year compared to last year? The Doomsday Clock says nothing has changed. Credit:The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The unchanged time reflects the judgment of the board that we are stuck in a perilous moment that brings neither stability nor security, said Sharon Squassoni, a professor at George Washington University and co-chair of the bulletins science and security board.

The announcement, made Thursday (local time) at a virtual news conference, marked the 75th anniversary of the symbolic timepiece. Since it was created, the clock has wavered between 100 seconds and 17 minutes to midnight.
SABA:---Two pallets with self-test kits for the schools on Saba arrived on Wednesday, January 19.

The COVID-19 self-tests, 10,800 in total, were financed by the Ministry of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sport (VWS) and transported on Royal Dutch Airlines KLM from Amsterdam to St. Maarten on Tuesday, January 18, and taken to Saba with a charter flight of SXM Airways the following day.

The self-tests are for the Saba Comprehensive School (SCS) and the Sacred Heart School (SHS) so students can regularly do a self-test to help safeguard the schools against the spreading of COVID-19. The self-tests are for students age 6 and up. Island Governor Jonathan Johnson dropped off the packages with the self-test kits at the schools on Wednesday.

Schools on Saba re-opened on Monday, January 17, one week later than originally scheduled after the Christmas holidays due to a surge of COVID-19 cases on the island.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the United St. Maarten Party (USP) Pamela Gordon-Carty on Wednesday decried the amount of civil servants that are leaving government service and placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the National Alliance/UP coalition government. She said the government has created an atmosphere of hopelessness and victimization which is directly contributing to the exodus of public servants.

While I want to wish the entire population of country St. Maarten a prosperous and health-filled new year beginnings, I would also want to express my dissatisfaction with what has been going on in plain sight right here. Lately, there's a trend of putting down our own people publicly to the point of humiliating them, ruining their career whether it be political or not, Gordon-Carty said, adding that public servants are being made a mockery of to suit whatever narrative or hidden agendas.

We are also aware of more planning to follow suit. Who will be the new ones? What's the selection procedure? Are our locals going to have a fair chance? Government is portrayed to be for the people but their actions speak to the contrary. The constant selective dismissals, the resignations, and victimization of our local people have to stop, she said.

Gordon-Carty said even in those instances where the court was involved with terminating of civil servants, there could easily have been other individuals that could and maybe should have been held accountable because of improper behavior and undermining of senior civil servants.

I do not know of any other country that treats its own people with such mockery. It is a disgrace. Individuals that have been in contact with the law and were also convicted are also quick to condemn others as if they never made a mistake in their lifetime. People, we as a nation need to unite. I am not saying we need to condone wrongdoings, but we can't enjoy stepping on our own and let others that have done worse to walk away scotch free, she said.

She continued: What is the message we are giving out to our younger generation. No one on this earth is perfect so let's stop the facade. Give the nation a chance to prove to the outer world that we stand together as a nation by our actions. This selective choice of making our own people into public spectacles is not acceptable. For me it doesn't matter what political color the individual represents.

Stop undermining our own. Why are we constantly stepping over our own? To prove a point to who is my question? Who do we want to please? So what are we saying that educated young individuals can't come back home and occupy a decent post in their country? Are we saying that if this individual doesn't role with what a selective group wants, then we will slander him/her, beat the individual to a pulp, ridicule him publicly stand on the side and be part of how theyre bringing down our own? St. Maarten remember together we are stronger divided it's not going to work out, she concluded.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten Hon. Silveria Jacobs in the House of Parliament on Wednesday addressed the concerns of Members of Parliament (MPs) about the fact that the House is handling the draft 2022 national budget without having the deviation from article 25 granted by the Kingdom Council of Minister (RMR).



Government has a legal obligation to submit the budget. Governmentt has a legal obligation to request deviation based on the deficit as a result of the disasters we have been facing from 2017 up to the present. The Committee of Financial Supervision (CFT) has advised positively and the RMR should have already approved such as per law, however, they are in default. No conditions other than the provision in the Kingdom Act Financial Supervision under the CFT can be added to be able to deviate.



We are in discussions with new Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations to get this handled on February 4. Parliament should do its due diligence, debate and approve the draft 2022 national budget, and Government then has to incorporate all amendments etc. before it can be sent to the governor for ratification. Seeing the current timeline, there should be no challenge to have a ratified budget in place by mid-February to be able to live up to our obligations to the people of Sint Maarten. I have explained this part in my letter of December 23, 2021, to the Honorable MPs via the chair, Prime Minister Jacobs said on Wednesday in the House of Parliament.



Jacobs adds: These are the political and legal realities that we are facing. Despite this we have continued to engage with the Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations to encourage our discussion partners and colleagues to handle the matter a.s.a.p. To that effect an official request was sent to have a meeting with the new Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations to address specifically this item along with other pertinent matters.



Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we could not get the meeting before our debate, today. But I do have a meeting scheduled with the new Secretary of State Van Huffelen on Thursday. In the meantime technical staff have met twice to prepare for this meeting. I will be able to update on this matter once I have spoken to the Van Huffelen.



The Council of Ministers have presented a draft budget to the House of Parliament for deliberation as part of its legal obligation and thereafter the council will take the necessary steps to ensure that its ratified, Prime Minister Jacobs concluded.
Somerset, KY (42501)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 68F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low around 50F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Neil Armstrong was a NASA astronaut and aeronautical engineer. He is photographed here during the final check of his communications system before the boarding of the Apollo 11 mission.

Neil Armstrong was a NASA astronaut and aeronautical engineer. He famously became the first person to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969 during Apollo 11. Armstrong also flew on NASA's Gemini 8 mission in 1966.

He retired from NASA in 1971 and remained active in the aerospace community, although he chose to keep mostly out of the public spotlight. Armstrong died Aug. 25, 2012, at age 82.

Armstrong was famously reticent about his accomplishments, preferring to focus on the team that helped him get to the moon rather than his own first steps. "I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work," Armstrong said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" program in 2005.

In another interview, when asked what it feels like to have his footprints remain on the moon's surface for thousands of years, Armstrong said, "I kind of hope that somebody goes up there one of these days and cleans them up," The Independent reported.

Related: Apollo landers, Neil Armstrongs bootprint and other human artifacts on moon officially protected by new US law

Early career and NASA work

Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1930, to Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel.

Neil was a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952 and served in the Korean War. He earned his bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in 1955. (Many years later, after he became world-famous, he also received a master of science in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970.)

Armstrong became a test pilot for NASA (then known as NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and flew the X-15, a rocket-powered, missile-shaped aircraft that tested the limits of high-altitude flight. During his long career as a pilot, Armstrong flew more than 200 different aircraft, from jets to gliders and even helicopters.

NASA test pilot Neil Armstrong is seen here next to the X-15 ship #1 after a research flight. (Image credit: NASA)

In 1962, Armstrong was selected to be part of NASA's second group of astronauts, who flew on the two-seat Gemini missions to test out space technology, and the three-seat Apollo missions that ultimately took 12 people to the surface of the moon. Armstrong's first flight was as command pilot of the Gemini 8 mission in March 1966  the sixth crewed mission of that series.

Armstrong and pilot David Scott completed the first orbital docking of two spacecraft, joining their Gemini 8 spacecraft to an uncrewed Agena target vehicle. However, the two-man crew experienced a serious problem when a thruster on the Gemini 8 spacecraft became stuck open. With the astronauts whipping around faster than one revolution per second, Armstrong managed to gain control again by using the re-entry system thrusters. The event was the first serious emergency in space and although the mission ultimately ended safely, the spacecraft was forced to splash down early because the re-entry system was already expended.

Armstrong also narrowly avoided a nasty accident in May 1968, this time within Earth's atmosphere, while flying the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle  a machine that could fly somewhat like a lunar module and simulate landings on the moon. Fuel for the attitude thrusters ran out and Armstrong was forced to eject just seconds before the vehicle crashed, NASA reported. Armstrong escaped unharmed.

Commander Neil Armstrong (right) and pilot David R. Scott prepare to board the Gemini-Titan 8. Gemini VIII successfully launched at 11:41 a.m. EST, March 16, 1966. The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit and landed safely back on Earth after an emergency abort. (Image credit: NASA)

Apollo 11 and the first moonwalk

The Apollo 11 crew members were announced to the public in January 1969. NASA's chief of the Astronaut Office, Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton, chose an all-veteran team of Neil Armstrong (Gemini 8), Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (Gemini 12) and Michael Collins (Gemini 10), with Armstrong selected to command the mission. His responsibilities included landing on the moon alongside Aldrin, the pilot of the lunar module Eagle. Collins would remain in lunar orbit aboard the command module Columbia. (Collins was originally supposed to be backup pilot for Apollo 11, but his spot in the flight sequence was moved after required surgery on his back forced him off the prime crew for Apollo 8.)

As the lander approached the moon, Armstrong took over the controls when he saw that the computer was guiding them to a boulder-filled landing zone. At 4:14 p.m. EDT (2014 GMT), Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon, with only 25 seconds of fuel left. Armstrong radioed, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Capsule communicator and astronaut Charles Duke responded from Earth: "Roger  Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."

The schedule called for the astronauts to sleep before the first moonwalk, but they elected to go outside early because they felt they would not be able to sleep. In view of a black-and-white television camera transmitting his movements live to Earth, Armstrong descended Eagle's lander and touched his left foot upon the surface at 10:56 p.m. EDT July 20 (0256 GMT July 21). His first words were "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." (The "a" was lost to radio static, but later analysis of the sound wave showed that Armstrong did say it.)

Armstrong and Aldrin together explored the surface during a moonwalk that lasted 2 hours and 36 minutes. They collected 48.5 pounds (22 kilograms) of material from the surface  including 50 moon rocks  as well as deploying experiments, planting the U.S. flag and taking a moment to speak with the U.S. president at the time, Richard Nixon.

The Eagle's crew lifted off safely from the moon on July 21, docked with Columbia, and voyaged back to Earth for a successful ocean landing on July 24. The astronauts went into quarantine to mitigate the (unlikely) risk that they were carrying some sort of moon germs back with them, and then embarked on a world tour to celebrate the mission.

After Apollo 11, and Armstrong's death

After his time as an astronaut, Armstrong was deputy associate administrator for aeronautics at NASA headquarters. He resigned from NASA in 1971. From 1971 to 1979, he was a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Then from 1982 to 1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc. in Charlottesville, Virginia. Armstrong also participated in the Rogers Commission, which was a presidential commission tasked to look at the causes and events of the fatal Challenger shuttle explosion of Jan. 28, 1986, that killed seven astronauts.

Armstrong chose to mostly stay out of the spotlight after leaving NASA, although he did reappear periodically for interviews or for anniversary events concerning Apollo 11. Although his public statements were few, he followed spaceflight news and occasionally made public comments on what was happening. He remained a vocal supporter of suborbital spaceflight. On the other hand, the former Apollo astronaut was publicly critical of plans to shift crewed spaceflight from NASA to private spacecraft.

On Aug. 7, 2012  two days after Armstrong turned 82 years old  the famed moonwalker underwent coronary bypass surgery. Complications from the surgery resulted in his death on Aug. 25.

"Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend," his family wrote on the website neilarmstronginfo.com. "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request," they added. "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Tributes poured in from many public figures, including President Barack Obama, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, then-NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Apollo 11 crewmates Aldrin and Collins, and various space representatives in the public, private and nonprofit spheres.

"Neil was among the greatest of American heroes  not just of his time, but of all time," Obama's statement read. "When he and his fellow crew members lifted off aboard Apollo 11 in 1969, they carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation. They set out to show the world that the American spirit can see beyond what seems unimaginable  that with enough drive and ingenuity, anything is possible."

A private memorial service for Armstrong was held Aug. 31, 2012, at the Camargo Club in Cincinnati. Two weeks later, a publicly televised memorial service was held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Armstrong was buried at sea Sept. 14, 2012, in a ceremony aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea. Armstrong's family was on board when the ship left port in Mayport, Florida, and they released his ashes somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Obama ordered flags around the United States to fly at half-staff on the day of the funeral.

Armstrong's legacy

In 2015, the Smithsonian Institution revealed that Armstrong had kept aside a cloth bag full of small parts from the lunar module Eagle, which lay undiscovered for decades until his widow, Carol, found it. While Armstrong made no mention of this bag in decades of interviews, the bag was discussed a few times during the mission.

It is unknown how Armstrong ultimately gained possession of the bag, but it was common during the Apollo years for astronauts to retain souvenirs of their flights. (A month after Armstrong's death, Obama made legal a bill to allow Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts to retain legal title to these mementos.) Former "Mythbusters" host Adam Savage subsequently created a carry bag based on the design of Armstrong's "purse"; the design was actually used in several Apollo missions before and after Apollo 11.

On Jul. 21, 2009, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin attended the U.S House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology tribute to the Apollo 11 Astronauts at the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill. During the ceremony, the committee presented the astronauts with a copy of House Resolution 607 honoring their achievements and announced the passage of legislation awarding them and John Glenn the Congressional Gold Medal.

Apollo 11 Astronauts, from left, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden attend the U.S House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology tribute to the Apollo 11 Astronauts. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

In a 2013 BBC documentary, Armstrong's brother, Dean, said that he knew of the famous first words on the moon several months before Apollo 11 touched down. Dean reported that Armstrong passed him a handwritten note as the brothers played a late-night game of Risk, according to British newspaper the Telegraph. However, Dean's remarks contradicted many statements by Armstrong himself, who said that the words didn't come to him until he arrived on the moon. The other Apollo 11 astronauts have also backed up Armstrong's assertions.

In 2017, a rare gold lunar model was stolen from the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta. "Entry to the museum was discovered and taken was a solid gold replica of the 1969 Lunar Excursion Module that landed on the moon," Russel Hunlock, Wapakoneta police chief, said in a release. "The piece is very rare as it was presented to Neil Armstrong in Paris, France, shortly after the moon landing."

On Oct. 12, 2018, Universal Pictures released a Neil Armstrong biography based on James R. Hansen's book "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong." The movie starred Ryan Gosling as Armstrong. The movie was embroiled in political controversy because the filmmakers decided not to include a scene where Armstrong plants an American flag on the moon's surface, despite the fact that Armstrong did so in reality. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, tweeted, "This is total lunacy. And a disservice at a time when our people need reminders of what we can achieve when we work together."

At the Venice Film Festival Gosling defended the filmmaker's choice, reported The Telegraph, saying, "I think [the moon landing] was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that's how we chose to view it."

On Aug. 11, 2021, NASA dedicated the Ohio test facility to Neil Armstrong. Armstrong had graciously declined the honor when he was originally asked, but on Wednesday (Aug. 11), nine years after Armstrong died and a week after what would have been his 91st birthday, a group of NASA officials and members of Congress gathered at a small dedication ceremony in Sandusky, Ohio. NASAs Plum Brook Station is now known as The Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility.

Additional resources

You can explore 50 Neil Armstrong facts with this article from Facts.net or read about Armstrong's life and dreams of space travel in this book by James R. Hansen. Discover more about Armstrong in this informative article published by the Air and Space Museum.
Throughout human history, astronomers have helped people understand what they see in the night sky. These famous astronomers  many of them great scientists who mastered many fields  explained space phenomena with varying degrees of accuracy.

Over the centuries, a geocentric view of the universe  with Earth at the center of everything  gave way to the proper understanding we have today of an expanding universe in which our galaxy is but one of billions. On this list are some of the most famous scientists from the early days of astronomy through the modern era, and a summary of some of their achievements.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene

When most people believed the world was flat, the notable Greek mathematician, astronomer and geographer Eratosthenes (276195 B.C.) used the sun to measure the size of the round Earth, according to NASA.

His measurement of 24,660 miles (39,690 kilometers) was only 211 miles (340 km) off the true measurement.

Claudius Ptolemy

In ancient Greece, astronomer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy (A.D. 90168) set up a model of the solar system in which the sun, stars, and other planets revolved around Earth. Known as the Ptolemaic system, it remained in place for hundreds of years, though it turned out to be flat wrong.

According to NASA, "Ptolemy represents the epitome of knowledge of Grecian astronomy." As a mathematician, geographer and astronomer, he authored several scientific texts which had considerable impact on Western intellectual thought.



In the 2nd century, Ptolemy published the Almagest, a comprehensive treatise on the movements of the stars and planets. It expanded Hipparchus geometric model of celestial motions, utilizing epicycles and eccentric circles in a geocentric theory which placed the Earth at the center of the solar system. This Ptolemaic system presented tables of information allowing convenient predictions of planetary locations. Ptolemy also catalogued 48 constellations, the names of which are still in use at present.



Ptolemy's writings stood as authoritative for more than 1,200 years. However, his model, which was incorrect, later fell out of use as the heliocentric view of the solar system came into being.



Few details about Ptolemy's life survived to the present day.

The Ptolemaic geocentric model of the universe, devised by the Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy, had everything revolving around Earth. (Image credit: Bartolomeu Velho)

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (903986), known as Azophi to Westerners, made the first known observation of a group of stars outside of the Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy.

Nicolaus Copernicus

In 16th century Poland, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (14731543) proposed a model of the solar system that involved the Earth revolving around the sun, according to NASA. The model wasn't completely correct, as astronomers of the time struggled with the backwards path Mars sometimes took, but it eventually changed the way many scientists viewed the solar system.

Copernicus, of Poland, felt the Ptolemaic view of the planets traveling in circular orbits around the Earth was over-complicated with many smaller circles, epicycles, needed to explain the intermittent retrograde motion of the planets (in which they appear to move in the opposite direction of the the stars). Copernicus published his book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium ("On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres") when he was 70 and lay dying.



His ideas took almost a hundred years to gain credence, but Galileo's 1632 assertions that the Earth orbited the sun built upon the Polish astronomer's work, cementing the Copernican revolution.

Johannes Kepler

Using detailed measurements of the path of planets kept by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler (15711630) determined that planets traveled around the sun not in circles, as Copernicus had thought, but in ellipses. In so doing, he calculated three laws involving the motions of planets that astronomers still use in calculations today. However, closed minds put Kepler's work at risk.

Kepler defended and modified the Copernican view of the solar system with a radical reformation that established him as one of the great lights of the Scientific Revolution of the 16th-17th centuries.



Kepler's deduction that the planets travel elliptical orbits, with the sun at one of the foci formed his first planetary law, which he published in 1609 with the second law which stated that planets do not travel at the same rate throughout their orbits.



Kepler's third law, published a decade later, posited that the relationship between the length of two planets' orbits is related to their distances from the sun. Though he made other contributions to mathematics and optics, Kepler's three laws made him a giant of astronomy.

"The era in which Kepler lived was one of tremendous upheaval and change," said Dan Lewis, curator of the history of science and technology at the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif. "Religious leaders were reluctant to relinquish their ideas about the heavens.

Talk by astronomers of a sky filled with objects moving in non-circular orbits and other phenomena that went against an Earth-centric model threatened their beliefs. As a result, Kepler and his first wife, Barbara, created a code with which to write letters to each other so that their correspondence would not put them at risk of persecution."

Galileo Galilei

Engraving of Galileo Galilei from 1842. (Image credit: Getty images)

Born in Italy, Galileo Galilei (15641642) is often credited with the creation of the optical telescope, though in truth he improved on existing models.

According to the Rice University's Galileo Project, "Galileo made his first telescope in 1609, modeled after telescopes produced in other parts of Europe that could magnify objects three times. He created a telescope later that same year that could magnify objects twenty times."

The astronomer (also mathematician, physicist and philosopher) turned the new observational tool toward the heavens, where he discovered the four primary moons of Jupiter (now known as the Galilean moons), as well as the rings of Saturn.

Though a model of the Earth circling the sun was first proposed by Copernicus, it took some time before it became widely accepted. Galileo is most widely known for defending the idea several years after Kepler had already calculated the path of planets, and Galileo wound up under house arrest at the end of his lifetime because of it.

Galileo, born in Pisa, Italy, also made numerous scientific discoveries. He famously proved that all falling bodies fall at the same rate, regardless of mass. Further he developed the first pendulum clock.

Giovanni Cassini

Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini (16251712) measured how long it took the planets Jupiter and Mars to rotate. He also discovered four moons of Saturn and the gap in the planet's rings. When NASA launched a satellite to orbit Saturn and its moons in 1997, it was fittingly dubbed Cassini.

Christiaan Huygens

Christiaan Huygens first observed Saturn's rings. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (16291695) proposed the earliest theory about the nature of light, a phenomenon that puzzled scientists for hundreds of years. His improvements on the telescope allowed him to make the first observations of Saturn's rings and to discover its largest moon, Titan.

Developing improved telescopes, Huygens was able to make several important astronomical discoveries. It was in 1655 that he proposed that a thin, flat ring circled Saturn. His discovery of Titan marked the first moon spotted around the planet. He made the first known drawing of the Orion Nebula.

Elsewhere in his research, Huygens proposed a wave theory of light, which was disputed by Newton, who preferred the particle theory. The modern theory of light combines the two into a wave-particle duality model.



Recently, Huygens' legacy was commemorated in the probe named after him, which parachuted on Titan in 2005.

Isaac Newton

English astronomer Sir Isaac Newton (16431727) is most famous for his work on forces, specifically gravity. Building on the work of those who had gone before him  he is quoted as saying, "If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants"  he calculated three laws describing the motion of forces between objects, known today as Newton's laws.

The well-known Newtonian laws of motion are: 1) an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in uniform motion tends to stay in uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external force. 2) The net force on an object is equal to the rate of change of its linear momentum in an inertial reference frame, or if a body is accelerating, there a force is acting on it. 3) For every action there is an equal and opposite action.



In a story that has long since gone into the public consciousness, Newton supposedly found inspiration for his theory of gravitation upon seeing an apple fall from a tree. From this he conjectured that gravity's pull could extend outwards from the earth, even as far as the moon and further.

Newton often commands respect as the most influential figure in all of science. He invented calculus, as well as investigating optics, mechanics, experimental chemistry, alchemy, and theology. His creation of the three universal laws of motion plus the invention of the theory of universal gravity permanently altered the field of science.

Newton's achievements have been celebrated in many ways, with statues and poems. Notably the unit for force was named for him, the newton (N).

Edmond Halley

Edmond Halley (16561742) was the British scientist who reviewed historical comet sightings and proposed that the comet that had appeared in 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 were all the same, and would return in 1758. Although he died before its return, he was proven correct, and the comet was named in his honor.

Charles Messier

Charles Messier, aged 40. (Image credit: Ansiaux)

French astronomer Charles Messier (17301817) composed a database of objects known at the time as "nebulae," which included 103 objects at its final publication, though additional objects were added based on his personal notes. Many of these objects are often listed with their catalog name, such as the Andromeda Galaxy, known as M31. Messier also discovered 13 comets over the course of his lifetime.

Born in France, Messier developed an interest in astronomy at an early age, having witnessed a 6-tailed comet at age 14 in 1744. Further he viewed an annular solar eclipse in 1748.

As a young comet hunter, he began to discover and note nebulas, as these frequently were confused for comets. Thus began his famous catalog of deep-sky objects, such as star clusters and galaxies. The first version in 1771 covered 45 objects, eventually expanded by Messier to 103 objects (though there is a debate about M102). Later astronomers filled out the catalog to a total of 110 objects. Today Messier's catalog is still used widely, though because of his location in France, he only included Northern Hemisphere sky objects.

William and Caroline Herschel

Astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822), who discovered the planet Uranus, observes the sky with his sister, Caroline Lucretia (1750-1848). (Image credit: Bettmann / Contributor)

British astronomer William Herschel (17381822) cataloged over 2,500 deep sky objects. He also discovered Uranus and its two brightest moons, two of Saturn's moons, and the Martian ice caps.

William trained his sister, Caroline Herschel (17501848), in astronomy, and she became the first woman to discover a comet, identifying several over the course of her lifetime.

Henrietta Swann Leavitt

Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered a relationship between the period of a star's brightness cycle to its absolute magnitude. The discovery made it possible to calculate their distance from Earth. (Image credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics )

Henrietta Swann Leavitt (18681921) was one of several women working as a human "computer" at Harvard College, identifying images of variable stars on photographic plates.

She discovered that the brightness of a special flashing star known as a Cepheid variable was related to how often it pulsed. This relationship allowed astronomers to calculate the distances of stars and galaxies, the size of the Milky Way, and the expansion of the universe.

Annie Jump Cannon

Annie Jump Cannon worked at the Harvard Observatory. (Image credit: Library of Congress)

Annie Jump Cannon (18631941), who became known as the "census taker of the sky", was an American astronomer who classified around 350,000 stars manually. She developed the Harvard spectral system, which is used to classify stars today.

Before Cannon, stars were classified alphabetically, from A to Q, based on their temperatures. Cannon realized that a star's elements create different wavelength and determine its color. In 1901, she had improved the classification system with ten categories that also reflected a star's color and brightness.

Cannon inspired many women to work in astronomy, at a time when gender biases greatly favored men in the space industry.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein sticks out his tongue to give the "Razz" in this photo from May 5, 1958 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Image credit: Bettmann/Contributor/ Getty Images)

In the early 20th century, German physicist Albert Einstein (18791955) became one of the most famous scientists ever after proposing a new way of looking at the universe that went beyond current understanding. Einstein suggested that the laws of physics are the same throughout the universe, that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, and that space and time are linked in an entity known as space-time, which is distorted by gravity.

In a lecture given in 1966, fellow scientist Robert Oppenheimer said, "Einstein was a physicist, a natural philosopher, the greatest of our time."

Edwin Hubble

Edwin Hubble invented the Hubble sequence classification scheme. (Image credit: Johan Hagemeyer)

At the same time Einstein was expanding man's view of the universe, American astronomer Edwin Hubble (18991953) calculated that a small blob in the sky existed outside of the Milky Way.

Prior to his observations, the discussion over the size of the universe was divided as to whether or not only a single galaxy existed. Hubble went on to determine that the universe itself was expanding, a calculation which later came to be known as Hubble's law. Hubble's observations of the various galaxies allowed him to create a standard system of classification still used today.

Harlow Shapley

American astronomer Harlow Shapley (18851972) calculated the size of the Milky Way galaxy and general location of its center. He argued that the objects known as "nebulae" lay within the galaxy, rather than outside of it, and incorrectly disagreed with Hubble's observations that the universe boasted galaxies other than the Milky Way.

Frank Drake

Frank Drake with cosmic equation to gauge the presence of intelligent life in the cosmos. The Drake Equation identifies specific factors believed to play a role in the development of civilizations in our galaxy. (Image credit: SETI Institute)

Frank Drake (born 1930) is one of the pioneers in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He was one of the founders of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and devised the Drake equation, a mathematical equation used to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy able to be detected.

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and science writer. (Image credit: Getty Images)

American astronomer Carl Sagan (19341996) may not have been a great scientist in comparison to some on this list, but he is one of the most famous astronomers. Sagan not only made important scientific studies in the fields of planetary science, he also managed to popularize astronomy, according to NASA Science.

His charismatic teaching and boundless energy influenced people around the world as he broke down complicated subjects in a way that interested television viewers even as he educated them. Sagan founded the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing space science and exploration.

Sagan was born in Brooklyn, New York. He served as professor of astronomy and space sciences, and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University. He made many scientific discoveries, including explaining the high temperatures of Venus and the seasonal changes on Mars.

However, Sagan's most known contribution to astronomy was as a educator and popularizer of science. He published numerous articles and books, including "Cosmos," which became a television show viewed by a billion people in sixty countries. As host of the show, he even spawned his own catchphrase  the oft-parodied billions and billions  based on his distinctive inflection, though he never uttered that phrase during the show. Sagan also penned the science-fiction novel Contact, later adapted into a motion picture starring Jodie Foster. Many tributes and memorials were dedicated to Sagan following his death, illustrating how deeply his persona pervaded the cultural landscape.

William K. Hartmann

Astronomer William K. Hartmann, a senior scientist and co-founder of the Planetary Science Institute. (Image credit: NASA)

American astronomer William K. Hartmann (born 1939) put forth the most widely accepted theory on the formation of the moon in 1975.

He proposed that, after a collision with a large body scooped, debris from the Earth coalesced into the moon.

Stephen Hawking

Professor Stephen Hawking experiences the freedom of weightlessness during a zero gravity flight. (Image credit: NASA/J. Campbell, Aero-News Network)

Stephen Hawking (1942 2018) made many significant insights into the field of cosmology. He proposed that, as the universe has a beginning, it will likely also end. He also suggested that it has no boundary or border.

Despite being viewed as one of the most brilliant minds since Einstein, many of Hawking's books and lectures are steered toward the general public as he seeks to educate people about the universe they live in.

A theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Hawking was considered one of the greatest scientific minds since Einstein. Although motor neurone disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrigs disease) hobbled him since the age of 20, Hawking completed his doctorate in cosmology at Cambridge.

Hawking's primary discovery stated that since the universe began (at the Big Bang), it must come to an end. Hawking demonstrated (with Roger Penrose) that since Einsteins general theory of relativity suggested that space and time began at the birth of the universe, and ends within black holes. This results unites general relativity and quantum theory. Further, Hawking predicted that black holes do emit radiation, called Hawking radiation.



Hawking wrote about these and other discoveries in several books, including the best-seller A Brief History of Time. His wheelchair-bound appearance and his speech-synthesized voice (he is now completely paralyzed) are familiar to the public from appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Simpsons, Futurama, and The Big Bang Theory.

Additional resources

You can learn more about the history of modern astronomy in this TED Talk by astrophysicist Emily Levesque. To find out about scientists who made groundbreaking discoveries in other areas, read the Live Science article 7 scientists who helped change the world.

Bibliography

"Derivation of Newtons law of motion from Keplers laws of planetary motion". Archive of Applied Mechanics volume (2018). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00419-017-1245-x

"Galileo Galilei: Research and development of the telescope". Trends in Optics (1996). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780121860301500254

"Women astronomers through history". Publications de l'Observatoire Astronomique de Beograd (2008). https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2008POBeo..85..207D

"A Measure of the Heavens". The Dawn of Science (2019). https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-17509-2_19
String theory turns the page on the standard description of the universe by replacing all matter and force particles with just one element: Tiny vibrating strings that twist and turn in complicated ways that, from our perspective, look like particles.

String theory is the idea in theoretical physics that reality is made up of infinitesimal vibrating strings, smaller than atoms, electrons or quarks. According to this theory, as the strings vibrate, twist and fold, they produce effects in many, tiny dimensions that humans interpret as everything from particle physics to large-scale phenomena like gravity.

String theory has been held up as a possible "theory of everything," a single framework that could unite general relativity and quantum mechanics , two theories that underlie almost all of modern physics. While quantum mechanics does very well in describing the behavior of very small things and general relativity works well to explain how very large things happen in the universe, they don't play nicely together. Some scientists think (or thought) that string theory could resolve the conundrums between the two, conquering one of the major remaining unsolved problems of physics.

But after string theory gained prominence in the late 1960s and '70s, its popularity among theoretical physicists fluctuated, according to a lecture by California Institute of Technology physicist John Schwarz , widely considered one of the founders of string theory. After countless papers, conferences and dry-erase markers, the breathtaking breakthrough many once hoped for seems further away than ever.

Nevertheless, the flurry of thought around the very idea of string theory has left a deep imprint on both physics and math. Like it or not (and some physicists certainly don't), string theory is here to stay.

What is string theory?

String theory is a framework that physicists use to describe how forces usually conceptualized on a gigantic level, like gravity, could affect tiny objects like electrons and protons.

In Albert Einstein 's theory of general relativity, gravity is a force that warps space-time around massive objects. Its one of the four forces that physicists use to describe nature. But unlike the other forces (electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force), gravity is so weak that it can't be detected or observed on the scale of a particle. Instead, its effects are only noticeable and important on the scale of moons, planets, stars and galaxies.

Gravity seems not to exist as a particle of its own, either. Theorists can predict what a gravity particle should look like, but when they try to calculate what happens when two such "gravitons" smash together, they get an infinite amount of energy packed into a small space  a sure sign, according to astrophysicist Paul Sutter in a previous article for Space.com , that the math is missing something.

One possible solution, which theorists borrowed from nuclear physicists in the 1970s, is to get rid of the idea of problematic, point-like graviton particles. Strings, and only strings, can collide and rebound cleanly without implying physically impossible infinities.

String theory math required six additional dimensions (for a total of 10) visible only to the little strings , much as a powerline looks like a 1D line to birds flying far overhead but a 3D cylinder to an ant crawling on the wire. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

"A one-dimensional object  that's the thing that really tames the infinities that come up in the calculations," string theory expert Marika Taylor, a theoretical physicist at the University of Southampton in England, told Space.com.

String theory turns the page on the standard description of the universe by replacing all matter and force particles with just one element: tiny vibrating strings that twist and turn in complicated ways that, from our perspective, look like particles. A string of a particular length striking a particular note might gain the properties of a photon, another string folded and vibrating with a different frequency could play the role of a quark, and so on.

In addition to taming gravity, string theory was attractive for its potential to explain so-called fundamental constants like the mass of an electron. The next step, theorists hoped, would be to find the right way to describe the folding and movement of strings, and everything else should have followed.

But that initial simplicity turned out to come at the cost of unexpected complexity  string math didn't work in our familiar four dimensions (three of space and one of time). It needed a total of 10 dimensions , with six visible only to the perspective of the little strings, much as a powerline looks like a 1D line to birds flying far overhead but becomes a 3D cylinder to an ant crawling on the wire.

How did string theory evolve?

String theory today doesn't exactly match string theory of the 1960s and '70s. Researchers disagree over whether, with modifications, it's still the best candidate for a "theory of everything" or whether theorists should abandon it in favor of other topics.

"By 1973'74 there were many good reasons to stop working on string theory," Schwarz wrote. Physicists' attention had turned from what felt like an unfruitful exploration of tiny undetectable "soft" strings and instead taken up more compelling evidence of hadrons, subatomic particles made up of quarks whose actions couldn't be explained by strings.

"What had been a booming enterprise involving several hundred theorists rapidly came to a grinding halt," Schwarz wrote. "Only a few diehards continued to pursue it."

Over the next decade, a few scientists continued to pursue five different versions of string theory. Over time, the researchers began to find unexpected connections between the five ideas, which Edward Witten, a theorist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, gathered up and presented at a 1995 string theory conference at the University of Southern California. Witten argued that the five string theories each represented an approximation of a more fundamental, 11-dimensional theory as it behaved in a particular situation, much as how Einstein's space- and time-bending theories of relativity match Newton's description of objects moving at normal speeds. That was the beginning of one string theory spin-off: M-theory.

The "M" is likely inspired by higher-dimensional objects called membranes, Taylor said, but since the theory has no concrete mathematical equations, the "M" remains a placeholder with no official meaning. "It was really a parametrization of our ignorance," she said.

Attempts to find those general equations that would work in every possible situation made little progress, but the alleged existence of the fundamental theory gave theorists the understanding and confidence needed to develop mathematical techniques for the five versions of string theory and apply them in the context where each theory worked.

An artist's interpretation of string theory. (Image credit: Science Photo Library via Getty Images)

Strings are far too small to detect with any conceivable technology, but one early theoretical success was physicists' ability to describe black hole entropy in a 1996 paper published in the journal Physics Letters .

Entropy refers to the number of ways that you can arrange the parts of a system, but without being able to see into the impenetrable depths of a black hole, no one knows what type of particles might lie inside or what arrangements they can take. And yet, in the early 1970s, Stephen Hawking and others used the laws of thermodynamics and, according to an article published in 2020 in the journal Physics , quantum mechanics to calculate entropy inside a black hole, suggesting that black holes must have some sort of internal structure. What that structure might be remained a mystery.

Most attempts to describe the black hole's makeup fall short, but the configurations of hypothetical strings does the trick. "String theory has been able to give a spot-on counting," Taylor said  an actual possible explanation of black hole interiors, not just a rough idea.

The string theory framework still faces many challenges, however: It produces an impossible number of ways to fold up the extra six dimensions. Every option seems to fit the broad features of the Standard Model that governs particle physics, with little hope of distinguishing which is the right one. Moreover, wrote astrophysicist Ethan Siegel in his blog Starts With a Bang , all of those models for managing the extra dimensions rely on an equivalence between force particles and matter particles called supersymmetry. But, just like the extra dimensions that string theory requires, we don't observe supersymmetry in our world.

On top of those objections, it's not clear that string theory  M-theory or not  can ever be compatible with our modern understanding of an expanding universe, replete with dark energy, reported Quanta Magazine in 2018.

A number of physicists, such as Peter Woit of Columbia University, view these divergences from reality as fatal flaws. "The basic problem with string theory unification research is not that progress has been slow over the past 30 years," he wrote on his blog , "but that it has been negative, with everything learned showing more clearly why the idea doesn't work."

Taylor, however, maintains that today's models are overly simplistic, and that features like cosmological expansion and a lack of supersymmetry may someday be built into future versions. Taylor expects that, while the new era of gravitational-wave astronomy may bring new tidbits of information about quantum gravity, more progress will be made by continuing to follow the math deeper into string theory.

"I have a theoretical bias," she said, "but I think the kind of breakthrough I'm describing would come from a chalkboard; from thought."

Why is string theory still important?

Regardless of whether string theory can ever be massaged into a "theory of everything," its legacy as a productive research program may be assured on mathematical merit alone.

"It can't be a dead end in the sense of what we've learned just from mathematics itself," Taylor said. "If you told me tomorrow that the universe absolutely isn't supersymmetric and doesn't have 10 [spatial] dimensions, we've still connected whole branches of mathematics" using the string theory framework.

In particular, when Witten and other researchers showed that the five string theories were shadows of a single parent theory, they highlighted connections called dualities, which have proven to be a major contribution to mathematics and physics.

Dualities let mathematicians translate from one branch of math to another, attacking problems untenable in one framework by using calculations done in the other, for example in geometry and number theory. Other dualities have helped overcome challenges in quantum computing, according to Taylor. "It's not going to make your next-generation iPhone," she said, "But it may make your iPhone for the 22nd century."

Whether string theory's ability to illuminate the dark web connecting different areas of math turns out to be a sign of its potential or just a lucky coincidence remains a subject of debate. Witten, speaking at the Institute for Advanced Study in 2019, acknowledged that while he no longer feels as confident as he once did that did that string theory will evolve into a complete physical theory, his gut tells him that the theory remains a productive field of research.

"To me, it's implausible that humans stumbled by accident on[to] such an incredible structure that sheds so much light on established physical theories, and also on so many different branches of mathematics," he told the audience. "I have confidence that the general enterprise is on the right track, but I don't claim that the argument I've given is scientifically convincing."

Additional resources

Find more in-depth history and explanations of current string theory science at WhyStringTheory.com , a website created by graduate students at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge for the "interested layperson." Or, if you'd rather go right to the source, check out this CERN Courier interview with string theory originator Gabriele Veneziano. If you're looking for a video explainer, watch these two videos entitled " Why string theory is right " and " Why string theory is wrong ," both from PBS Digital Studios.

Bibliography
How long does it take to get to Mars? Travel time to the Red Planet depends on several factors including the position of the planets and available technology.

If you wanted to travel to Mars, how long would it take? The answer depends on several factors, ranging from the position of the planets to the technology that would propel you there.

According to NASA, a one-way trip to Mars would take about nine months. If you wanted to make it a round-trip, all in all, it would take about 21 months as you will need to wait about three months on Mars to make sure Earth and Mars are in a suitable location to make the trip back home.

We take a look at how long a trip to the Red Planet would take using available technology and explore some of the factors that would affect your travel time.

How far away is Mars?

To determine how long it will take to reach Mars, we must first know the distance between the two planets.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, and the second closest to Earth (Venus is the closest). But the distance between Earth and Mars is constantly changing as they travel around the sun.

In theory, the closest that Earth and Mars would approach each other would be when Mars is at its closest point to the sun (perihelion) and Earth is at its farthest (aphelion). This would put the planets only 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers) apart. However, this has never happened in recorded history. The closest recorded approach of the two planets occurred in 2003 when they were only 34.8 million miles (56 million km) apart.

The two planets are farthest apart when they are both at their farthest from the sun, on opposite sides of the star. At this point, they can be 250 million miles (401 million km) apart.

The average distance between Earth and Mars is 140 million miles (225 million km).

Related: What is the temperature on Mars?

How long would it take to travel to Mars at the speed of light?

The average distance between Earth and Mars the two planets is 140 million miles (225 million km). The distance between the two planets affects how long it would take to travel between the two. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Light travels at approximately 186,282 miles per second (299,792 km per second). Therefore, a light shining from the surface of Mars would take the following amount of time to reach Earth (or vice versa):

Closest possible approach: 182 seconds, or 3.03 minutes

Closest recorded approach: 187 seconds, or 3.11 minutes

Farthest approach: 1,342 seconds, or 22.4 minutes

On average: 751 seconds, or just over 12.5 minutes

Fastest spacecraft so far

The fastest spacecraft is NASA's Parker Solar Probe, as it keeps breaking its own speed records as it moves closer to the sun. On Nov 21, 2021 the Parker Solar Probe reached a top speed of 101 miles (163 kilometers) per second during its 10th close flyby of our star, which translates to an eye-watering 364,621 mph (586,000 kph). According to a NASA statement, when the Parker Solar Probe comes within 4 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) of the solar surface in December 2024, the spacecraft's speed will top 430,000 miles per hour!

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is currently the fastest spacecraft ever launched. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

If the Parker Solar Probe managed to achieve the speeds reached during its 10th close flyby of the Sun and took a detour from its sun-focused mission to travel in a straight line from Earth to the Red Planet, the time it would take to get to Mars would be:

Closest possible approach: 93 hours

Closest recorded approach: 95 hours

Farthest approach: 686 hours (28.5 days)

On average: 384 hours (16 days)

The problems with calculating travel times to Mars

Of course, the problem with the previous calculations is that they measure the distance between the two planets as a straight line. Traveling through the farthest passing of Earth and Mars would involve a trip directly through the sun, while spacecraft must of necessity move in orbit around the solar system's star.

Although this isn't a problem for the closest approach, when the planets are on the same side of the sun, another problem exists. The numbers also assume that the two planets remain at a constant distance; that is, when a probe is launched from Earth while the two planets are at the closest approach, Mars would remain the same distance away over the 39 days it took the probe to travel.

Related: A brief history of Mars missions

In reality, however, the planets are continuously moving in their orbits around the sun. Engineers must calculate the ideal orbits for sending a spacecraft from Earth to Mars. Their numbers factor in not only distance but also fuel efficiency. Like throwing a dart at a moving target, they must calculate where the planet will be when the spacecraft arrives, not where it is when it leaves Earth. Spaceships must also decelerate to enter orbit around a new planet to avoid overshooting it.

How long it takes to reach Mars depends on where in their orbits the two planets lie when a mission is launched. It also depends on the technological developments of propulsion systems.

According to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's website, the ideal lineup for a launch to Mars would get you to the planet in roughly nine months. The website quotes physics professor Craig C. Patten, of the University of California, San Diego:

"It takes the Earth one year to orbit the sun and it takes Mars about 1.9 years (say 2 years for easy calculation) to orbit the sun. The elliptical orbit which carries you from Earth to Mars is longer than Earth's orbit but shorter than Mars' orbit. Accordingly, we can estimate the time it would take to complete this orbit by averaging the lengths of Earth's orbit and Mars' orbit. Therefore, it would take about one and a half years to complete the elliptical orbit.

"In the nine months it takes to get to Mars, Mars moves a considerable distance around in its orbit, about three-eighths of the way around the sun. You have to plan to make sure that by the time you reach the distance of Mar's orbit, Mars is where you need it to be! Practically, this means that you can only begin your trip when Earth and Mars are properly lined up. This only happens every 26 months. That is, there is only one launch window every 26 months."

The trip could be shortened by burning more fuel  a process not ideal with today's technology, Patten said.

Evolving technology can help to shorten the flight. NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) will be the new workhorse for carrying upcoming missions, and potentially humans, to the red planet. SLS is currently being constructed and tested, with NASA now targeting a launch in March or April 2022 for its Artemis 1 flight, the first flight of its SLS rocket.

Robotic spacecraft could one day make the trip in only three days. Photon propulsion would rely on a powerful laser to accelerate spacecraft to velocities approaching the speed of light. Philip Lubin, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his team are working on the Directed Energy Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration (DEEP-IN). The method could propel a 220-lb. (100 kilograms) robotic spacecraft to Mars in only three days, he said.

"There are recent advances which take this from science fiction to science reality," Lubin said at the 2015 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) fall symposium. "There's no known reason why we cannot do this."

How long did past missions take to reach Mars?

Here is an infographic detailing how long it took several historical missions to reach the Red Planet (either orbiting or landing on the surface). Their launch dates are included for perspective.

(Image credit: Future)

Additional resources

Explore NASA's lunar exploration plans with their Moon to Mars overview. You can read about how to get people from Earth to Mars and safely back again with this informative article on The Conversation. Curious about the human health risks of a mission to the Red Planet? You may find this research paper of particular interest.
Scientists have found over 4,000 exoplanets since the first such world was confirmed orbiting a sunlike star in 1995, according to NASA's Exoplanet Exploration page. More than half of these discoveries were made by NASA's Kepler space telescope, which launched in 2009 on a mission to determine how common Earth-like planets are throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

Discovering the first true "alien Earth" is a long-held dream of astronomers  and recent exoplanet discoveries have shown that small, rocky worlds like our own are abundant in the galaxy.

To qualify as potentially life-friendly, a planet must be relatively small (and therefore rocky) and orbit in the "habitable zone" of its star, which is loosely defined as a location where water can exist in liquid form on a world's surface. When telescope technology improves, other factors will be considered as well, such as the planet's atmospheric composition and how active its parent star is.

While Earth 2.0 remains elusive, here are the closest known analogues to our home planet.

1. Gliese 667Cc

This is an artist's impression of Gliese 667Cc. (Image credit: ESO/L. Calcada)

This exoplanet, which lies just 22 light-years from Earth, is at least 4.5 times as massive as Earth, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Gliese 667Cc completes one orbit around its host star in a mere 28 days, but that star is a red dwarf considerably cooler than the sun, so the exoplanet is thought to lie in the habitable zone.

However, Gliese 667Cc  which was discovered with the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile  may orbit close enough in to be baked by flares from the red dwarf.

2. Kepler-22b

Kepler-22b lies 600 light-years away. It was the first Kepler planet found in the habitable zone of its parent star, but the world is considerably larger than Earth  about 2.4 times our planet's size. It's unclear if this "super-Earth" planet is rocky, liquid or gaseous.

Kepler-22b's orbit of 290 days is pretty similar to Earth's 365, Space.com previously reported. The exoplanet orbits a G-class star like our sun, but this star is smaller and colder than Earth's.

3. Kepler-69c

Kepler-69c is located in the constellation Cygnus. (Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

Kepler-69c, which is about 2,700 light-years away, is about 70 percent larger than Earth. So, once again, researchers are unsure about its composition.

The planet completes one orbit every 242 days, making its position within its solar system comparable to that of Venus within ours. However, Kepler-69c's host star is about 80 percent as luminous as the sun, so the planet appears to be in the habitable zone.

4. Kepler-62f

This planet is about 40 percent larger than Earth and orbits a star much cooler than our sun, according to NASA. Its 267-day orbit, however, puts Kepler-62f squarely within the habitable zone. While Kepler-62 orbits closer to its red dwarf star than Earth does to the sun, the star produces much less light.

Kepler-62f lies about 1,200 light-years away and, due to its large size, is within the range of potentially rocky planets that may hold oceans.

5. Kepler-186f

A planet the size of Kepler-186f is likely to be rocky. (Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

This planet is at most 10 percent larger than Earth, and it also appears to reside in the habitable zone of its star, though on the zone's outer edge; Kepler-186f receives just one-third of the energy from its star that Earth gets from the sun.

Kepler-186f's parent star is a red dwarf, so the alien world is not a true Earth twin. The planet lies about 500 light-years from Earth.

6. Kepler-442b

This exoplanet is 33 percent larger than Earth and completes an orbit of its star every 112 days, according to NASA. The discovery of Kepler-442, situated 1,194 light-years away from Earth, was announced in 2015.

One study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2021, found that this exoplanet may receive enough light to sustain a large biosphere. The researchers analysed the likelihood of different planets to be able to carry out photosynthesis. They found that Kepler-442b receives sufficient radiation from its star.

7. Kepler-452b

An artist's impression compares Kepler 452b with Earth. (Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

This world, whose discovery was announced in 2015, is the first near-Earth-size planet that orbits around a star the size of the sun, according to NASA. Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger than Earth and its parent star (Kepler-452) is 10 percent larger than the sun. Kepler-452 is very similar to our sun, and the exoplanet orbits in the habitable zone.

At 1.6 times the size of Earth, Kepler-452b has a "better than even chance" of being rocky, its discoverers have said. Kepler-452b resides 1,400 light-years from Earth. It takes Kepler-452b just 20 days longer to orbit its star than Earth does.

8. Kepler-1649c

When the data from NASA's Kepler space telescope was reanalyzed, scientists discovered Kepler 1649c. The exoplanet was found to be similar in size to Earth and orbiting in its stars habitable zone.

During the initial data collection from the telescope, a computer algorithm misidentified the astronomical body, according to NASA, but in 2020 it was discovered to be a planet.

Kepler-1649c is located 300 light-years from Earth and is only 1.06 times larger than it. When comparing the light that the two planets receive from their stars, scientists found that this exoplanet receives 75 percent of the light Earth does from the sun.

9. Proxima Centauri b

Proxima Centauri b is located just four light-years away from Earth, making it Earth's closest known exoplanet, according to NASA Exoplanet Exploration. The exoplanet, which was discovered in 2016, has a mass that is 1.27 times that of Earth's.

Although the exoplanet can be found in the habitable zone of its star, Proxima Centauri, it is exposed to extreme ultraviolet radiation. This is because it lies very close to its parent star and has an orbital period of just 11.2 days.

10. TRAPPIST-1e

This illustration shows the TRAPPIST exoplanets nearest their star. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1 are the most Earth-sized planets ever discovered in the habitable zone of a single star. This planetary system is made up of seven worlds.

Water on most of these planets are likely to have evaporated early in the system's formation, Space.com previously reported. However, a 2018 study found that some of these planets could hold more water than Earth's oceans. One of the worlds, called TRAPPIST-1e, is thought to be the most likely to support life as we know it.

Additional resources

For the latest research and exoplanet discoveries, head to NASA's Exoplanet Exploration page. If you want a closer look at Proxima Centauri b and other exoplanets, 3D models are available on NASA's website.

Bibliography

"Efficiency of the oxygenic photosynthesis on Earth-like planets in the habitable zone". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 505, Issue 3 (2021). https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/505/3/3329/6278213?searchresult=1

"The nature of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets". Astronomy and Astrophysics (2018). https://www.aanda.org/component/article

"Kepler Planet-Detection Mission: Introduction and First Results". Science (2010). https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1185402
In September 1993, Waterbury resident Donna Palomba was attacked after a masked intruder broke into her home. Eleven years later, police tracked down the suspected culprit. Now, Palomba is sharing her story on Dateline NBC this Friday.

In the Jan. 21 episode, Palomba will share her story with Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning and detail how investigators accused her of lying and threatened her with arrest following her attack. According to Palombas website, Jane Doe No More, the intruder broke into her home on Sept. 11, 1993 while her husband was in Colorado for a friends wedding. Her then 5 and 7-year-old children were asleep when the intruder broke in and jumped on her in her bedroom, covered her head in a pillowcase and bound her hands. The intruder proceeded to sexually assault her and threatened to kill her if she called the police, she said.
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BRIDGEPORT  City Council members in the past have called for hiring a couple of staffers with financial and legal expertise to help that 20-member legislative body carry out its duties.

And those efforts have mostly gone nowhere. In fact, $90,000 the council set aside last spring in the 2021-22 municipal budget to hire unspecified personnel remains unspent.

Now City Council President Aidee Nieves is co-sponsoring the most ambitious proposal yet. It would establish seven positions, including a budget adviser, legal council and up to five aides, and will be considered Jan. 25 by the ordinance subcommittee.

It seems reasonable to me, Nieves said Wednesday.

She said the volunteer councils work  members are paid stipends to reimburse expenses  has increased and also grown more complicated over the years.

We need the support systems in place to execute and lead efficiently and effectively, Nieves said.

But the plans scale is being met with a bit of skepticism from some other key decision-makers.

Do we need five (aides)? Councilman Marcus Brown, an ordinance committee co-chairman, said Wednesday. I would agree we probably need an attorney dedicated to the council and a budget person.

Councilman Scott Burns, who helps run the budget subcommittee that would fund any new hires, wants the council to have some help. But he also wondered whether a staff of seven is necessary.

I think we really need to look at what work needs to be done to make sense for budgeting those positions, Burns said Wednesday. Theres a lot we need to look at in terms of the roles, functions, purposes.

The proposal was submitted last week by Nieves and freshman Councilman Tyler Mack, with support from the Bridgeport Generation Now and Bridgeport Strong civic groups and the Greater Bridgeport branch of the NAACP. Nieves and Mack were among the handful of council incumbents and new faces Generation Nows political wing, Generation Now Votes, backed in last years elections.

Gemeem Davis, who runs Generation Now Votes, urged the council to support the staffing effort at its regular Monday teleconference, where the draft language establishing the seven jobs was forwarded to the ordinance group for review.

Davis said not only the council but citizens deserve a strong local government ... that has the support and staff it needs.

She and Callie Heilmann, who heads Generation Now, also testified that having a professionalized legislative office will help the council better realize its duty to be an independent governing body. Heilmann called the proposal a bold and couragous approach.

NAACP President Rev. Stanley Lord agred, saying Monday Any time you give the proper tools to any council organization they perform better. With the tools of your staff, an attorney, a budget (adviser), the City Council can do great things.

Nieves on Wednesday cited one example. She noted how the council last spring budgeted $760,000 to create a new social services unit of counselors to assist the police department with certain calls. But, as reported in November, that public safety reform effort has stalled in part because of the length of time it is taking City Hall to craft the job descriptions.

Nieves said council members do not have the time or expertise to do it, but a legislative office would.

The City Clerk currently provides some limited support for Bridgeports legislative body. But the pending proposal is modeled after far more robust operations, like the Connecticut General Assembly and New Havens Board of Alders, whose members rely on various personnel for help with research, drafting bills, legal advice, constituent and media relations, and other duties.

A few years ago Bridgeports City Council hired a temporary consultant during the spring budget season to help review the mayors proposal. But prior efforts to get the council its own lawyer, rather than rely on the mayoral-appointed City Attorney and their municipal law department, have wound up mired in debate over whether the municipal charter requires the City Attorney hire all legal counsel.

Weve been down this road before, Brown acknowledged Wednesday.

Without a charter change, Brown said, the best that can be done is to convince the City Attorney to hire a lawyer just for the councils use. But even then, he acknowledged, that individual would not be fully independent because he or she would still answer to the City Attorney and their boss, the mayor.

Burns said providing the council with some personnel might encourage more individuals to enter local politics and seek office.

If you get a full time staff, we might get people more interested in running than if they werent just hung out to dry. Here. Youre on the council. Good luck, Burns said.

But, as currently envisioned, the councils hires would be at-will, non-union positions. And those types of jobs within local government have often been targeted by critics as occupied by relatives/friends/associates of the powers-that-be rather than well-qualified candidates.

In fact the draft language before the ordinance committee would forbid council members relatives or members of political town committees from getting the work.

Heilmann on Wednesday said if those openings are established, citizens would expect they be filled with professionals.

Burns budget committee co-chairman, Councilman Ernest Newton, who has also served in the state General Assembly, said the seven-person plan needs fine tuning but he backs the intent.

The mayor has a staff that works for him, Newton said. Its time for us, as a legislative body, (to) take the council to another level.
STAMFORD  A 37-year-old city man is accused of impersonating up to a dozen individuals online and using those fake social media accounts to make sexual advances toward the victims acquaintances and coworkers, according to police.

Pasha Torkamani, 37, was arrested Thursday morning on charges of criminal impersonation and second-degree harassment in connection to what police say is an ongoing investigation.

Capt. Richard Conklin said investigators first learned of the criminal impersonation in the fall of 2021, when a female victim alerted police that someone had assumed her identity and was making sexual advances toward the victims acquaintances and co-workers.

After a lengthy investigation, police pinpointed Torkamani as a suspect in the case, Conklin said. With a search warrant, police seized evidence that they say links Torkamani to the impersonation.

Conklin said the impersonator used a combination of publicly accessible and private information to pose as the victim on various social media and other internet-based platforms.

Based on evidence seized during a search, investigators also linked Torkamani to another dozen victims who were impersonated in a similar fashion, Conklin said.

Conklin said police believe Torkamani may have had personal knowledge of some of the victims.

Torkamani was released Thursday after posting a $5,000 court-set bond. He is expected to be arraigned Feb. 2.

Conklin said the investigation into the alleged criminal impersonation is still very much ongoing.

Investigators are encouraging any other persons who feel they may have also been impersonated to contact the Stamford Police Department Major Crimes Unit at 203-977-4421 and ask to speak with Sgt. Sean Boeger.
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DANBURY  When Jean Natale became the city clerk almost 20 years ago, she said she knew next to nothing about computer work.

Since then, shes digitized city documents, putting meeting minutes dating back to 1980 online. And after more than a year handling Zoom meetings, shes become much more adept with technology.

I think Im a whiz now, she said.

After about 28 years working at City Hall, Natale is semi-retiring at the beginning of February as the citys legislative assistant. Elisa Etcheto, whos worked in the mayors office for more than 16 years, will take over.

Etcheto, whose most recent role was as executive assistant to the mayor, said Mayor Dean Esposito suggested her for the position.

The opportunity to do something new, it interested me, got me excited again, said Etcheto, a Danbury native whose experience in City Hall started when she interned for Mayor Mark Boughton for two summers in college.

City Council unanimously approved Etchetos appointment earlier this month, with praise from Esposito and Joe Cavo, former mayor and now council member.

Shes an outstanding person, Esposito said at the meeting. I think shes got some big shoes to fill. Jean Natale has done an outstanding job for us on the council, year after year, putting her efforts out there for each and every one of you.

Both Natale and Etcheto said their main goals as legislative assistant are to support the City Council members.

I've enjoyed taking care of what I call my 21 children, the council members, doing as much as I possibly can for them because I realized early on that their all volunteers, Natale said.

Modernizing the office

Prior to working in City Hall, Natale worked at a bank and for a travel agency. She stayed home to raise her four children for 12 years before getting a part-time job at a movie theater. She has three grandchildren.

After retiring from the legislative assistant job, she hopes to still do part-time work in City Hall.

Natale worked as the registrar of voters from 1995 to 2003, when Boughton asked her to run for city clerk. She won four straight two-year terms. Effective in 2011, however, the city charter was changed to turn the city clerk into an appointed position called legislative assistant, she said.

That was the best thing that ever happened, she said. I even suggested the title because everybody thought I was the town clerk or I was the clerk of the court. People would call and leave messages like, Please tell the judge I won't make my Monday morning, and I just snickered.

Instead, the legislative assistants job is to keep accurate documentation and records for the public. The role includes preparing the sometimes over 100-page agenda for council meetings and sending electronic or paper copies to the council members and city staff. The job entails a lot of legal work, related to ordinances and ensuring meetings are properly posted, among other tasks, Natale said.

Natale has been training Etcheto for the last couple weeks and created a booklet for her to follow. A new executive assistant has already taken over Etchetos job.

Etcheto graduated from Danbury High School in 2000 and had Boughton as a sociology teacher. It was her political science course at University Connecticut that sparked her interest in local government. She interned with Boughton the summers after her sophomore and junior years, graduating from UConn in 2004.

She became Boughtons city communications coordinator in June 2005 and was promoted to administrative assistant in 2009. Her role was reclassified as executive assistant in 2014.

I like the idea of something almost different every day, she said. You pick up the phone and you can have any array of people on the other end, either they need help with something or just asking for information.

Esposito said shes been vital in the mayoral transitions from Boughton, to Cavo, to himself.

Her trilingual skills, extensive knowledge of city government, and close work with countless community leaders, city employees, residents and City Council members, make her the ideal appointment to the role of legislative assistant, he said in a letter to City Council.

Natale said she has worked to make her office run more efficiently. She condensed the agenda book and spent about a month scanning old meeting minutes and notices dating back to 1980 on the city website.

We do so much now online that everything is at everybodys finger, she said. No longer do they have to come in here and rummage through my minute book.

Etcheto said she wants to build on this work. Due to COVID-19, more people are working from home and want the ease to access information online, she said.

They can't necessarily stop in for meeting minutes, she said. To be able to facilitate that for the public and the council members, thats probably one of the main goals for me.
STAMFORD  Increases in wages and healthcare costs, combined with a need for more positions, are driving Stamfords superintendent of schools proposal to increase next school years operating budget by 4.56 percent.

Superintendent Tamu Lucero requested an operating budget of $306.9 million for the 2022-23 school year, an increase of $13.3 million compared with the current operating budget of $293.6 million.

Among the budget priorities are bringing back 33 kindergarten para-educators, eliminated over the past two years because of the budgetary crisis brought on by COVID-19. The positions will be funded with money from the operating and grants budgets, to the tune of $1.5 million.

This is an item that has received substantial support from principals and the community, said Ryan Fealey, finance director for the district, during a meeting of the Board of Educations Fiscal Committee Tuesday night.

Board of Education member Jackie Heftman thanked Lucero and her staff for returning the kindergarten para-educators to the budget.

I am going to do everything I can to make sure they stay in the budget through the allocation process, she said.

The budget also sets aside $2.3 million in special education services, including about 10 new teachers, two behavior analysts and additional services such as occupational and physical therapy, music and art therapy and student evaluations.

Another $1.5 million has been allocated for social/emotional programs to address the impact of COVID-19, but Lucero said those programs have yet to be fleshed out.

With all the social/emotional issues going on, we would be remiss if we did not try to pinpoint some money so that staff can help us make some decisions about how they would like to move forward and suggestions that they might have, Lucero said.

When school board member Josh Esses asked her to provide a example, Lucero said adding social workers at certain schools for specific needs.

Another big change incorporated into the budget is to outsource hiring substitute teachers. Finding subs has been a challenge the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic created a shortage of them, administrators said.

The fill rate, which is the percentage of openings filled by substitutes, has been 36 percent this school year in Stamford, according to data from the district. Thats a precipitous drop from roughly 80 percent in 2019.

Still, Fealey said using an outside company to bring in substitute teacher is still only a possibility, and would cost the district roughly $384,660.

He said outsourcing is something that has been discussed over the past several months as weve struggled to fill absences.

Overall, the district is looking to add 83 positions between the operating and grants budgets.

Thirty-four of those would be teachers, including the special education teachers, as well as six high school educators, three English learner teachers and four Strawberry Hill teachers for that schools new seventh grade, among others.

Four new proposed positions would be administrators, while another five would go to teacher support positions such as school psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers.

Many positions would be funded through federal COVID-19 relief funds, either from the three installments of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund or the American Rescue Plan, administrators said.

Additionally, the district is planning on using about $11.8 million of those relief funds for capital projects during the next two school years.

Fealeys presentation did not focus on the grant budget, which is slated to be $58.3 million for the upcoming school year.

The committee voted to table a resolution to approve the budget until the committees February meeting.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com
Two Connecticut businesses were among those to receive a notice in the recent round of cease-and-desist letters, ordering companies to stop making claims regarding treatment, prevention, or financial benefits related to COVID-19, a federal commission announced Wednesday.

The Federal Trade Commission sent its 11th set of warning letters to more than 20 companies across the United States, warning them to stop making these claims within 48 hours of receiving the letters. The commission also sent its third round of letters to multi-level marketing companies telling them to remove and address claims about the treatment, prevention, or about the earnings people who recently lost income can make.

Violators could face fines of up to $43,792 per infraction, according to a news release sent Wednesday.

The two Connecticut businesses are Sava Holistic Health in East Hampton and Family First Life in Uncasville.

Overall, the federal commission has sent warnings to more than 400 companies. Last year, Congress passed the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act that makes it illegal for any businesses to engage in deceptive practices regarding products related to the treatment, cure, prevention, mitigation, or diagnosis of COVID-19.

Some companies have claimed that imprinted filtered water, nasal irrigation, and seaweed extract can help fight the coronavirus, the release says.

However, currently there is no scientific evidence that any of these products can prevent or treat COVID-19 generally or any specific variant, the commissions press release says.

Family Firsts letter went out Dec. 27. The federal commission says the company made misleading claims on social media regarding potential earnings.

We have determined that Family First Life is unlawfully misrepresenting that consumers who become Family First Life business opportunity participants are likely to earn substantial income, the letter reads.

The posts include claims that people who were financially impacted by the pandemic began earning upwards of $40,000 per month through Family First, the letter alleges.

Sava Holistic Healths website and social media posts were unlawfully advertising, that certain supplements and tinctures could help treat or prevent COVID-19, according to the letter. A set of four tinctures labeled Coronavirus: Complete Set of 4 Tinctures was listed for $500, and the website advertised they should only be used if you have this virus, the Sept. 22 letter says.

The link to the tinctures included in the letter was not functional Wednesday.

Sava Holistic also posted on social media, with references to the coronavirus, about supplements to take to prepare for Viral season, the letter alleges.

Neither Connecticut company responded to requests for comment.

Americans are still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and scammers are still taking advantage of them by making false claims about cures and treatments, said Samuel Levine, director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection. Our efforts to stamp out those claims will continue in 2022, and any marketers not heeding our cease-and-desist demands can expect to face consequences, including civil penalties
As Thursday mornings rain turned to light snow, school districts across Connecticut weighed the decision whether to cancel classes or start late.

Some opted for a two-hour delay, while others  including Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, Greenwich, Stamford and four districts in the Naugatuck River Valley  decided to cancel.

School superintendents said the decision was prompted by concerns around the timing of the weather event and dropping temperatures that could cause freezing rain and slick roads. It comes on the heels of an ice storm this month that led to numerous accidents across the state and prompted widespread criticism on how officials prepared and responded.

It was just too risky with the ice, Seymour Superintendent of Schools Susan Compton said about Thursdays storm, explaining the district didnt want to send buses out and have them stuck in a situation like the ice storm.

Ahead of the Thursdays storm, the National Weather Services New York office issued a winter weather advisory for southern Connecticut throughout the morning and early afternoon. The advisory said up to 2 inches of snowfall is expected for southern parts of Connecticuts shoreline counties, but drivers should plan on slippery road conditions during the morning commute.

Seymour schools, along with the Ansonia, Derby and Oxford districts, originally agreed they would have a two-hour delayed opening, she said. The superintendents had been up since 5 a.m. discussing the weather and talking with public works personnel. She said the Valley superintendents then made a joint decision to cancel school.

Part of Seymours decision was because a two-hour delay would have seen students at the high school arriving around 9:20 a.m., when district officials were unsure of what the weather conditions would be, Compton said.

Norwalk schools also cited the potential for freezing rain and ice in their decision to close.

While the storm is not expected to bring a lot of snow, this weather system is complicated, the district spokesperson said in a statement. Along with other school districts in our area, we consulted early this morning with our weather service. The meteorologist reported on the expected morning timing of snow and freezing rain, as well as the potential for flash freezing conditions during travel times.

The ice storm earlier this month led to widespread crashes throughout the state and hundreds of police calls  including one fatality. In the wake of that weather event, Norwalks superintendent issued an apology to parents for not delaying schools that day.

Mike Cummings, Fairfield schools superintendent, said his district shared similar concerns as Norwalk on Thursday. He said the district had predictions of freezing road conditions during both normal and delayed arrival times, so they decided to cancel school for the day.

Compton said she understood there would be parents upset by the decision, but said it was a really tough call made in the interest of student and staff safety.

Our students and staff are our most precious assets and we never want to endanger lives, with not being able to totally predict the weather, she said.


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As many as 15,537 vaccine doses from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson were administered in the last 24 hours, including 4,071 which represent the first dose, 2,704 - the second dose and 8,762 the third dose, Romania's National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) informed on Thursday.

According to CNCAV, since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, on December 27, 2020, there have been 16,265,433 vaccine doses administered to 8,041,038 persons, 7,938,624 receiving the full scheme and 2,264,899 being immunized with the third dose.

Eight adverse reactions were registered in the last 24 hours, one local type and 7 general type.

In total, since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, there have been 19,838 adverse reactions registered in anti-COVID vaccines, 2,166 local type and 17,672 general type.
On Thursday, prosecutors with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) conducted searches at the Bucharest City Hall and two local institutions operating under its authority in a case regarding corruption, judicial sources have told AGERPRES.

According to the sources, searches were also being carried out at the Landscape Architecture and Public Monuments General Directorate as well as at the Municipal Administration for the Consolidation of Buildings at Seismic Risk."Prosecutors with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate - Corruption-related Crime are investigating a criminal case involving suspicions of corruption-related crimes committed between 2020 and 2021. On January 20, 2022, as a result of obtaining the legal authorisations from the relevant court, home searches are carried out at three public institutions based in Bucharest. In this case, the prosecutors are aided by the Romanian Gendarmerie General Inspectorate," according to a DNA statement.
Social Democratic Party (PSD) Chairman Marcel Ciolacu reacted on Wednesday evening to the accusations of National Liberal Party (PNL) First Vice Chairman Rares Bogdan, announcing that he is requesting the organization of a coalition meeting urgently.

"I understand that Rares Bogdan put his handkerchief on the crystal ball and saw that the coalition would break in a year. Let's end his suffering! I am urgently calling for a coalition meeting tomorrow, because the PSD is not responsible for the past and has come to power to build for the people. The PNL remained trapped in the Save Romania Union (USR) coalition paradigm when they were fighting with the toy tanks on the carpet. Romanians have other expectations! PSD will remain the main party focused on the real problems of the Romanians in this government!,'' Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.Rares Bogdan criticized his governing partners on Wednesday."If after a year we see that this effort, which has brought us image disservice, is not be appreciated, leads to nothing and the government falters, the great reforms stagnate, the European money is still delayed, then it is absolutely legitimate to try to find a formula because it means that this formula, after a year, was done completely in vain. I hope that we will not have this situation and after a year the people who blamed us will understand that we have done this for this country to have a stable government," Rares Bogdan said on Digi 24.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu had today a round of phone calls with Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to the US President, and with Foreign Ministers and other senior officials of the Bucharest Nine (B9) format.

"Today's discussion focused on the complex developments in NATO's eastern neighborhood and the Black Sea, following recent diplomatic efforts to ease security tensions on the Ukrainian border, as well as further preparations of the dialogue with the Russian Federation with a view to de-escalating this situation through diplomatic means, without affecting the values and fundamental principles of the Alliance," the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a release.

Bogdan Aurescu conveyed thanks on Romania's behalf for President Joseph Biden's announcement about the increase of the US military presence on the eastern flank, including in Romania, in the event of a deterioration of the security situation. Aurescu said that this commitment of the US "is particularly important" to Euro-Atlantic security as a whole, the Black Sea region also included.

"The Romanian Foreign Minister emphasized the need to continue in a consistent and unitary manner efforts to strengthen the Allied deterrence and defense posture on the eastern flank, with a view to ensuring a credible deterrence. In this context, he stressed the importance of de-escalating the security situation, as well as the fact that unjustified threats of force and attempts to undermine the current parameters of the European security architecture remain unacceptable. At the same time, Minister Aurescu reiterated the importance of transatlantic unity, support for partners, as well as the importance of NATO's open door policy," the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

Bogdan Aurescu welcomed the frequency and substance of in-depth consultations between the US, Romania and the European allies as part of the Bucharest Nine (B9) format "which send a clear and firm signal" on the US and NATO's strong commitment to the security and stability of the eastern flank allies.

"The in-depth exchange of views and assessments reaffirmed the usefulness of the Bucharest Nine format for consultations and allied coordination, as talks took place in the wake of President Klaus Iohannis's December 9, 2021 discussion with President Joe Biden, of Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu's talks with Jake Sullivan and senior officials of the Bucharest Nine format of December 16, 2021, and of the discussion US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had with officials of the Bucharest Nine (B9) countries on January 3, 2022," the release states.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Thursday that NATO's consolidated presence on the Eastern Flank should take place as soon as possible, pointing out that announcements made by US and French presidents also play an important deterrence role in the current security context.

"As far as the consolidated presence on the Eastern Flank is concerned, in my view, it should happen as soon as possible. It depends on a planning process that takes place at the military level, both within the North Atlantic Alliance, and in the relation with the United States, for example, if we are talking about the US presence, or in the relation with France, if we are talking about the French presence. These are decisions that must be materialized at the level of the North Atlantic Alliance. On the other hand, it must be said that this consolidation and these announcements that the US and French presidents made also have an important deterrence role in the current very complicated security context," minister Aurescu told private TV broadcaster Antena 3.

He showed that the announcements of the presidents of the USA, Joe Biden, and of France, Emmanuel Macron, are extremely important and represent "proof of the solidarity and the strong commitment" of the two countries for Romania.

He said he had a telephone conversation with President Biden's national security adviser, Jack Sullivan, and other colleagues on the Eastern Flank, under the B9 format, in which they discussed the preparation for the Friday meeting in Geneva between the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"In this discussion we have reiterated the importance of consolidating the Eastern Flank, which is necessary not only in the current context, which is truly very complicated and for a long time, because this security situation on the Eastern Flank, in our neighborhood, has deteriorated over time," declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
National leader of the Save Romania Union (USR) MEP Dacian Ciolos has welcomed a recent statement by France's President Emmanuel Macron that France is ready to contribute NATO troops to Romania.

"I am hailing the decision of President Emmanuel Macron, who has announced that France is ready to contribute NATO troops to Romania. The announcement was made in front of military leaders at a command headquarters near Strasbourg, according to our colleague in the Renew Europe group Nathalie Loiseau, who attended the event," Ciolos wrote on Facebook on Wednesday evening.He says the decision is welcome and "a new guarantee" for Romania."Since 2016, we have been discussing the presence of French troops in Romania under the NATO flag and, because the context is extremely tense at the border with Ukraine, today's decision is a welcome one and a new guarantee for our country,' Ciolos wrote.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca discussed, on Thursday, with the Moldovan PM, Natalia Gavrilita, over the phone, the possibility of ensuring the quantities of crude oil necessary to the Republic of Moldova, with Romania to receive a request in this sense, which will be analyzed shortly.

According to a release of the Government, the call took place in the context in which Parliament in Chisinau has decided on Thursday to institute a state of energy emergency in the Republic of Moldova, due to the risk of Russian enterprise Gazprom ceasing gas deliveries.

Furthermore, the two officials also spoke about the preparations of the next joint government meeting, due to take place in the near future.

Prime Minister Ciuca reiterated the openness and availability of Romania to support the Republic of Moldova.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had, on Thursday, at the Victoria Palace of Government, a working meeting with the representatives of the Alliance for Tourism, the discussions being focused on the governmental measures to support the hospitality (HoReCa) industry, to solving the difficulties related to providing the labour force in this sector, the predictability of the public health norms, the promotion of Romania as a tourist destination and the support of the spa tourism.

According to a government release, the prime minister stressed, as a program to support the economic sectors affected by the protection measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, the reintroduction of the furlough, a decision made in the Wednesday meeting of the government, in order to support employees and employers, equally.

The Minister of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Constantin-Daniel Cadariu, informed that on Thursday, payments to the Agencies for Small and Medium Enterprises, Investment Attraction and Export Promotion (AIMMAIPE) began to be paid for the pro-quota, in the amount of over 1.1 billion RON, in the enforcement of the HoReCa state aid scheme, which will benefit 8,294 companies in the sector.

Another topic of interest addressed during the meeting was the one regarding the opportunities represented by the financing from European funds, but also the difficulties related to the provision of the necessary labour force for this sector, the provision of support for seasonal employees, the compensation of the taxes owed with those recovered from the state.
The US commitment to strengthening the American presence in Romania is real proof of a strong strategic partnership, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Thursday after the announcement by US President Joe Biden that the US will actually increase troop presence in Romania.

"The US commitment to strengthening the American presence in Romania is real proof of a strong strategic partnership! The explicit announcement by President Joe Biden is really welcome to Romanians," Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said in a message on the Romanian government's Twitter page.US President Joe Biden announced at a news conference on Wednesday that the US military presence in Poland and Romania will be increased."(...) we're going to actually increase troop presence in Poland, in Romania, et cetera, if in fact he moves because we have a sacred obligation in Article 5 to defend those countries. They are part of NATO. We don't have that obligation relative to Ukraine, although we have great concern about what happens in Ukraine," said Biden.
President Klaus Iohannis welcomes the announcement made by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, regarding the fact that France is ready to contribute with NATO troops on the Romanian territory.

"I warmly welcome President Emmanuel Macron's announcement of France's readiness to participate in NATO's strengthened military presence in Romania. The Romania-France strategic partnership will be strengthened on the eastern flank of the Black Sea region," Iohannis wrote on Twitter, on Thursday.French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that France is ready to contribute with NATO troops in Romania.
Deputy chair of Save Romania Union (USR), former Minister of Justice Stelian Ion, believes that President Klaus Iohannis should urgently convene the Supreme Council of National Defense to discuss the security situation on NATO's eastern flank.

"The two message tweeted today by Klaus Iohannis, hailing the announcements made by presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron regarding the military presence in Romania, are not a substitute for either a strategic decision or a security analysis. It would be a proof of political irresponsibility and recklessness fpr the president to wait for the situation in Eastern Europe to deteriorate and only then to convene the CSAT meeting," the USR deputy wrote on Facebook.

On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis welcomed on Twitter both the announcement of the US counterpart, Joe Biden, regarding the increase of the US military presence in Romania, on the eastern flank of NATO, "if the security situation deteriorates", and the announcement of his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, regarding France's willingness to participate with NATO troops on the Romanian territory
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday that Romania needs the current governing coalition and that the coalition parties must communicate and keep going along so that "the Romanians can start trusting the government again."

"I believe that Romania needs this coalition, the Romanians' expectations from us are completely different, they don't want squabbles and disagreements, and we need to enter a communication and functioning pattern so that the Romanians can start trusting the government again. Replacing a government is easy, but regaining the Romanians' confidence is very hard. (...) It seems to me that we are not yet out of the logic the coalition with USR has functioned by and that they should calibrate their rhetoric to a normal coalition," Ciolacu said at the Palace of Parliament when asked how he sees the future of the coalition after the Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party taking swipes at each other recently.

He added that there is no dissatisfaction over the ruling coalition within the PSD. "Tomorrow we will attempt passing an ordinance, we'll see the draft proposed by the Ministry of Energy for the measures aimed at easing the Romanians' bills to be implemented as soon as possible and set some predictability starting with April 1. I stand by my opinion that the energy price must be regulated," Ciolacu said.
If youre among the millions of Americans who rely on TurboTax to file their annual income taxes, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise this spring.

For the first time in years, Intuit-owned TurboTax is not part of the IRS Free File program. Free File is a partnership between the government and several tax prep services that allows people to draw up and, in some cases, submit their federal tax returns online for free. Though Free File is notoriously underutilized, its typically stacked with name-brand offers from recognizable companies  TurboTax included.

Until now.

Have you started filing your 2021 Taxes? Select your state to begin the process of filing your taxes with TurboTax.

Why isnt TurboTax part of IRS Free File anymore?

TurboTax announced in a blog post last July that it was not renewing its role with IRS Free File due to its limitations and conflicting demands from those outside the program that leave it unable to continue participating while still delivering all of the benefits that can help consumers make more money, save more, and invest for the future.

However, the company vowed not to give up on free tax filing options. TurboTax said it processed 17 million free tax filings last season; of that, only 3 million came through the Free File program.

Moving forward, Intuit is committed to continuing to offer free tax preparation while accelerating innovation to address all of consumers financial problems, it added.

Its worth noting that TurboTax came under fire a few years ago for using code that hid its Free File page from Google results, as reported by ProPublica. It later changed the code.

How to file taxes with TurboTax for free

Even though TurboTax has left the IRS Free File project, it does still have no-cost options. It is possible to file for free through TurboTax  but there are a slew of requirements you must meet.

For example, TurboTax Free Edition, TurboTax Live Basic, and TurboTax Live Full Service Basic are all free right now  if your return is simple. (TurboTax defines simple is defined as Form 1040 only.) These cover W-2 income, limited interest and dividend income, the standard deduction, the earned income and child tax credits, and student loan deduction.

If your taxes are more complex, including items like unemployment income, stock sales or rental properties, youll likely have to upgrade.

Assuming your situation is simple enough, you can file one federal and one state tax return without charge, but you have to move fast. TurboTax Live Full Service Basic  in which a tax expert does your taxes for you  is only free until Feb. 15. The free TurboTax Live Basic offer  which comes with live, on-demand expert help  lasts through March 31.

If youre fine to file DIY, the TurboTax Free Edition will be available the entire season, according to a news release.

The deadline for most Americans to file their taxes this year is April 18.

Improve your potential refund amount - Prepare and file your federal income tax return using tax preparation software

Tax preparation software companies like TurboTax will help improve your earning potential.

Filing taxes for free with other services

TurboTax isnt the only service to drop out of IRS Free File recently. H&R Block left the project in 2020.

Even so, IRS Free File is still plugging along. If your adjusted gross income is $73,000 or less, youre eligible for free guided tax prep from options like Tax Slayer, FileYourTaxes.com and TaxAct. If your income exceeds that, you qualify for free fillable forms (but youll have to actually file them on your own).

Experts generally recommend starting your taxes early so as to avoid software snafus, refund delays and identity thieves. If youre not opting for IRS Free File, theres also a financial reason to avoid procrastinating: Tax prep fees tend to rise the closer Tax Day gets.

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According to the new White House coronavirus testing program, health insurance companies are now required to cover the cost of eight at-home COVID-19 tests per month for their members. But the program leaves the exact reimbursement and coverage processes up to the insurance companies  and perhaps unsurprisingly, thus far the systems for getting test costs covered are sometimes difficult and often confusing.

The White House issued a mandate that insurance companies begin covering testing costs as of Jan. 15. Insurers are required to reimburse members for FDA-authorized tests purchased on or after that date, up to $12 per test. Companies may also choose to set up partnerships with retailers and pharmacies to make the tests available at no cost at checkout, and with no need for reimbursement. If the insurer doesnt have a partnership program where you can get upfront coverage at certain retailers, they must reimburse the full price, even if it exceeds $12 per test.

This week, several of the nations largest health insurance companies  including Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and others  have begun releasing details on exactly how you can get your at-home tests reimbursed and/or where to purchase the tests if you want them covered upfront, at the point of sale.

Staying healthy has never been more important. Protect yourself and your loved ones with a comprehensive and affordable health insurance plan. Click your state to learn more.

Many insurers have not yet publicly released details on their coverage plans. Of the ones that have, Money found that the process is often vague and may require physically mailing (or faxing!) in reimbursement forms and COVID-19 test receipts. In some cases, even the barcodes on the testing-kit package may need to be included.

The core requirement for insurers is that they arent allowed to design their reimbursement process in a way that unduly delays your reimbursement, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). But that doesnt necessarily mean the process is easy.

This program is only for privately insured Americans and is separate from the home-delivery program through COVIDtests.gov  which provides a one-time shipment of four free at-home COVID-19 tests to anyone, regardless of health insurance status.

How to get insurance to cover COVID-19 test costs

Heres a look at what some of the largest insurers in the country are requiring.

Aetna

Details on at-home COVID-19 test coverage from Aetna have been trickling out this week. The company has released an FAQ page on the program, which it has been updating frequently.

In most cases, OTC [over-the-counter] tests will be covered under your pharmacy benefits, its website states. Just check your benefits card to find your prescription benefits manager.

You can find a list of nearby Aetna partner pharmacies using this pharmacy locator tool. Tests purchased through partner pharmacies should be free at checkout (assuming you can find them available). Tests you purchase outside of those partners are eligible for reimbursement. In those cases, Aetna says you will have to submit a reimbursement claim but did not provide details beyond that.

Anthem

Anthem has recently updated its website with new details on the at-home testing program, but details are still sparse.

You may have to pay out of pocket at the time of purchase, but keep your receipt to submit a claim online, its website states.

To do so:

Log in to your account on anthem.com.

Go to the Claims & Payment section.

Select Submit a Claim.

Anthem has not publicly released a list of partner pharmacies or retailers that offer upfront coverage, and the company did not respond to Moneys request for comment.

A quality Health Insurance Plan can cover most unexpected incidents. With a Health Insurance Plan that meets your needs while remaining affordable, you'll be good to go. Click below to find out more.

Cigna

If you have health coverage through Cigna, you will need to print and fill out this at-home COVID-19 test reimbursement form.

For now, the only submission instructions are to fax the completed form to 859-410-2422 or physically mail it  along with any receipts  to the address on the back of your health insurance card.

Cigna has not released a list of partner pharmacies or retailers for upfront coverage and didnt respond to Moneys request for comment.

Humana

To receive reimbursement with Humana, the company is requiring you to print and fill out a reimbursement form, save your receipts and UPC numbers (aka barcodes) for the tests and mail them all to the address on the back of your insurance card. If you live in Puerto Rico, you must use a separate reimbursement form (which is in English and Spanish).

To avoid that reimbursement process, you may get upfront coverage at certain partner pharmacies. Humana has a pharmacy finder tool on its website that you can use to find nearby in-network drugstores.

The company did not respond to Moneys request for more information on its partner pharmacies and retailers.

UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare has released detailed information on the new federal program and how it will cover at-home COVID-19 tests for you.

The company is partnering with Walmart Pharmacies, Sams Club, Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs to provide free at-home COVID-19 tests to members. You can go to those locations and receive tests at no cost so long as you show them your UnitedHealthcare card with an OptumRx logo on it.

If you purchase at-home tests outside of those four pharmacy retailers, you can get reimbursed by submitting a claim online at myuhc.com or by filling out this reimbursement form and mailing it to the address on the back of your insurance card.

Have you had trouble getting your health insurance company to cover your at-home COVID-19 tests? We want to hear about it. Send an email to Adam.Hardy@money.com about your experience.

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Updated Jan. 24 with new starting date due to COVID cases among the show's cast and crew.

Kaden Kearneys high school days are in the past, but that doesnt prevent the actor from going to The Prom.

Kearney, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, has a starring role in the touring production of the hit musical, which begins performances Jan. 28 at the Fox Theatre. The show had been part of the theaters 2020-21 lineup, which was upended by the pandemic.

In The Prom, Kearney portrays Emma Nolan, an Indiana teenager who makes national news when a homophobic PTA cancels the school prom rather than allow her to attend with her girlfriend.

Emmas situation attracts the attention of New York actors who, in pursuit of an image makeover, descend on her town and come to her defense.

The shows themes of self-acceptance, empowerment and tolerance struck a chord with Kearney, who saw the 2018 Broadway production that ran for more than 300 performances. Jack Lane and Andrew Kuhlman, both of Stages St. Louis, were among the shows producers.

I sat in the mezzanine, and I just remember clapping and crying  and feeling seen for the first time in many ways, Kearney says. We dont have a lot of queer-women representation, and it was wonderful to see that.

Kearney auditioned for director Ryan Murphys 2020 Netflix film adaptation, in which Emma was played by Jo Ellen Pellman.

Emma is such a special character, Kearney says. Shes very brave and charismatic, despite the fact that she struggles with a lot of anxiety and being bullied and ostracized at her school. I think that everyone can relate to the underdog, no matter who you are.

Performing has been a longtime passion for Kearney, a California native who earned an MFA in acting from the University of California, Irvine in 2018.

Since I was a kid, it was always something that I loved, they say. Im very interested in many things, but it just became very clear that this craft, and this work, is what I want to do. I care about telling stories, and I care about giving people the opportunity to have a cathartic experience.

Kearney cites Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder) and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) as actors whom they particularly admire.

I just really appreciate the way they both talk about their work, Kearney says. The weight and the gravity of what (actors) do and the impact that it has on the world. Not only do they perform excellently, but they also understand that they have the responsibility to keep that door open behind them for whomever is coming next.

As much as Kearney empathizes with Emma, their own prom experience at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, California, was relatively conventional.

In my school, we had a junior prom and a senior prom, Kearney says. I went to my junior prom. I had not fully explored myself yet. I was not even out as gay at that time.

So I went to prom with a boy, Kearney says with a laugh.

What The Prom  When Jan. 28-Feb. 6; performance times vary  Where Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard  How much $29-$99; proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test required  More info 314-534-1111; metrotix.com

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Ian Froeb Ian Froeb is the restaurant critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Ian Froeb 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

Havanas Cuisine calls itself the home of the Cuban sandwich in St. Louis. The claim isnt bold so much as self-evident. Our region is no hotbed of Cuban cuisine in general, let alone of restaurants that focus on a specific dish. Still, I think chef and owner Tamara Landeiro might actually be underselling the appeal of her downtown storefront.

For one, if you walk into Havanas with a fixed idea of the Cuban sandwich  mustard, roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese and pickles pressed between the halves of crusty Cuban bread  the menu will promptly correct you. It lists both a Cuban sandwich and a Tampa Cuban, a nod to the claims different Cuban American communities have made on the sandwichs development. The Tampa version adds salami.

The sandwich has evolved both through time and across national borders. At Havanas, you can also order a Cuban with croquettes added to the standard array of ingredients (minus the salami). The croquettes filling of ham-enriched bechamel stamps an exclamation point on the roasted porks succulence. If you want to underline and bold that succulence, a small cup of garlic mayonnaise is served on the side.

The Media Noche layers the Cubans fillings (again, sans salami) between the softer, sweeter bread that gives the sandwich its name. In an interview, Landeiro compared the texture of medianoche bread to that of a hot-dog bun, an apt description. It makes for a (relatively) lighter sandwich.

So, yes, Havanas is a Cuban sandwich shop  the Cuban sandwich shop in St. Louis, if you like  but it is also the latest example of an independent chef using the popularity and convenience of the fast-casual format to introduce her cooking to what deserves to be a broad audience.

You might lack the time (or, in these still COVID-wracked days, the willingness) to sit in Havanas dining room for a plate of Landeiros ropa vieja with black beans and rice. So she serves the pleasantly chewy shredded beef with its accents of garlic, bell pepper, onion and tomato in the Cuban bread she sources from the Tampa, Florida, institution La Segunda Central Bakery. I wont claim this ropa vieja sandwich is better than a traditional serving, but its a very good sandwich, as is the sandwich made with ropa viejas close, crisp cousin, vaca frita.

Landeiro was born in Havana and raised in Cojimar, the nearby fishing village and Ernest Hemingway haunt. In 2014, she and her family left Cuba. They flew to Mexico and then traveled over land to the United States, where they requested and were granted political asylum.

St. Louis internationally ascendant chess scene brought the family to America. Landeiros daughter, Thalia Cervantes Landeiro, is a chess prodigy. Now 18, she holds the title of Woman Grandmaster from the International Chess Federation.

After working in St. Louis as a planning manager for five years, she first sold her food in 2019 through catering and then a stand in Soulard Farmers Market. The following year, she launched the Havanas Cuisine food truck. This is where I first encountered her Cuban sandwiches, ropa vieja and other dishes, and if not for the pandemic, I might have already written a version of this review back then.

A restaurant was Landeiros ultimate goal, and she opened the Havanas Cuisine storefront in September by the intersection of Washington Avenue and North Tucker Boulevard. (She has sold the truck.) The space is small and its layout conventionally fast-casual, but Landeiro has imbued it with character. The dining room includes a stand stocked with Goya-brand sazon and other pantry staples, a little bookcase with childrens books and a wall decorated with large dominos.

Behind the long counter with the register and the hot bar you will see Havanas most important equipment, the sandwich presses. The second most important piece of equipment is the pan in which Landeiro roasts the restaurants pork. With a falling-apart tenderness that puts most barbecue joints pulled pork to shame and the note from its marinade of garlic and bitter Seville orange, this pork is the obvious anchor of the Cuban sandwiches (with or without salami) and is the star of the pan con lechon.

You might also find it, as I did one afternoon, served as a plate with Moros y Cristianos (black beans and rice that are, crucially, cooked together) and sweet plantains. Among the other reasons to visit Havanas, you want to learn which specials Landeiro has pulled out of her repertoire that day, or if her empanadas are available. (I loved these when I ate them from the truck but didnt see them on my restaurant visits.) Maybe, for a small dessert, there will be a light, flaky pastry filled with guava and cream cheese.

Guava and cream cheese also turn up inside the Elena Ruz sandwich, named for the young woman in Cuba who in 1927 or 1928 (according to a 2019 Miami Herald article) first requested turkey with cream cheese and strawberry preserves on medianoche bread. The guava and cream cheese are sweet and tangy accents without being too much of either. They vaguely call to mind how turkey and cranberry go well together.

I wish I could compare Landeiros version with guava as a substitute to the historical version of the Elena Ruz, but Havanas is the first place Ive encountered this sandwich. Calling this restaurant the home of the Cuban sandwich is definitive and deserved  and, depending on your personal experience with Cuban cuisine, merely a prologue.

We are currently not assigning star ratings to restaurants. This review is based on takeout.

Where Havanas Cuisine, 1131 Washington Avenue  More info 314-449-6771; havanascuisine.com  Menu Cuban sandwiches and other Cuban fare  Hours 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday (closed Sunday)

How much Pan con lechon  $10 Cuban sandwich  $12 Mojo-roasted pork plate  $13 Cuban sandwich with croquettes  $14

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Looking for a laugh? With venues including Helium Comedy Club, two Funny Bone locations and the Improv Shop, plus arenas, theaters and more intimate spaces booking stand-up comics, the St. Louis area delivers.

But even when your favorite comedians aren't onstage near you  or if you're not ready to gather in a crowded room just yet  many offer recent comedy specials available for streaming. Here are a few we enjoy, including some by acts who are scheduled to visit soon.

James Acaster

British comedian James Acaster is probably best known in the United States for his beleaguered, meme-generating appearance on The Great British Bake Off in which he presented the judges with his flapjacks thusly: Started making it. Had a breakdown. Bon appetit. Acaster is a brilliant stand-up equally adept at ironic, absurdist and physical humor in his intricately constructed routines. Acasters 2021 special Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 deals with his Bake Off experience, Brexit, therapy, self-proclaimed challenging stand-ups and a lengthy, too-good-to-fact-check bit about fellow British comic Rowan Atkinson (aka Mr. Bean). Cold Lasagne is available for purchase on Vimeo, but if youre not ready to commit, his four-part, three-plus-hour special Repertoire is streaming on Netflix. Dont worry: Youll know by the end of Part I whether Acaster is for you. By Ian Froeb

Maria Bamford

When 8 p.m. Feb. 3, 7:30 and 10 p.m. Feb. 4-5  Where Helium Comedy Club, St. Louis Galleria, 1151 St. Louis Galleria Street, Richmond Heights  How much $30-$40  More info heliumcomedy.com

How does she make certain things funny? In "Maria Bamford: Weakness is the Brand," a 2020 show taped in Los Angeles, the comic uses her trademark voices and expressive face. But she admits she doesn't have much new to say about one of her signature topics: mental illness, including her own. And then she does a bit about attending a funeral for a comic who died by suicide. And it's funny. The audience laughs. She soon segues into bedroom role-playing with her husband. But the roles, she says, have to include something she knows about, and all she knows about are "intractable social issues." That leads to bits about gentrification, low pay and human trafficking, all ending with seduction. Again, how does that end up being funny? Everyone laughs. So much goes on in a Bamford show that paying attention is a prerequisite. No lazy jokes here, yet goofy voices and faces somehow make the more angsty and intellectual jokes even funnier. Bamford has at least four comedy shows streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime. And don't miss her two-season Netflix scripted series, "Lady Dynamite." By Jane Henderson

Nicole Byer

If you know Nicole Byer only from Nailed It!, where she slings pastry puns and cake critiques as the bubbly host of the Netflix baking competition series, her stand-up reveals a completely different side. Her 2021 Netflix comedy special Nicole Byer: BBW (Big Beautiful Weirdo) is a delightfully dirty departure. Sprinkled among tales of her attempts to find love during the pandemic  she calls it the pandemmy, to keep things light  are interludes about a drive-by cat funeral, a trip to the hospital after a fall down the stairs, the three distinct levels of Karens, her theory that the Harry Potter series is based on the KKK and a hilarious adventure that ends with Byer eating a Shake Shack burger on an airport toilet. Byer is also the host of the Why Wont You Date Me? and Best Friends podcasts. By Gabe Hartwig

Cedric the Entertainer

Berkeleys own Cedric the Entertainer (Cedric Antonio Kyles) has been comedy royalty for a long time. He along with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and the late Bernie Mac successfully dubbed themselves The Original Kings of Comedy, the title of their 2000 stand-up comedy film. And Cedric the Entertainer has been among those ruling comedy ever since as one of the busiest in the business. He has been a TV and movie staple with Barbershop, Johnson Family Vacation, The Honeymooners, The Soul Man, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and ComicView, and he served as host of the Emmy Awards in 2021. His CBS sitcom The Neighborhood is in its fourth season, and he can be seen Feb. 4 in the Amazon Prime Video documentary Phat Tuesdays, directed by East St. Louis native Reginald Hudlin and conceived by St. Louis native Guy Torry. By Kevin C. Johnson

Fortune Feimster

When 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28  Where The Factory, 17105 North Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield  How much $29-$59; proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test required  More info ticketmaster.com

TV audiences first became acquainted with the funny, curly-haired Fortune Feimster about a decade ago with Chelsea Lately, where she was part of a rotating panel of comedians with host Chelsea Handler, and on After Lately, a mockumentary series. Since then, Feimster has popped up everywhere on TV, including on Glee, The Mindy Project, Life in Pieces and, currently, Kenan, where she appears alongside St. Louis native Chris Redd and honorary St. Louis native Taylor Louderman. In her 2020 Netflix comedy special, Fortune Feimster: Sweet & Salty, she recalls her Methodist upbringing in Charleston, North Carolina; the role Hooters and Lifetime movies played in her coming-out; and the best gift (aside from cash) a parent can give their gay child. Growing up, she says, there was no YouTube, no Will & Grace, no Frozen  nothing that I could relate to. Turns out, representation matters. By Gabe Hartwig

Jim Gaffigan

Jim Gaffigan is an observational comedian in the mode of Jerry Seinfeld, although nowhere near as famous. Thats unfortunate, because Gaffigan is something of a genius in the way that he spins ordinary insights into extraordinary humor. And his latest Netflix special, Comedy Monster, upholds his high standards. His usual subjects  his weight, his kids, his tendency to sunburn and his general surprise at the absurdities of life  are very much in evidence, along with his self-deprecating stand-up style. But the new special also finds Gaffigan venturing into more topical territory, including his take on that problem of epic proportions, the pandemic. Hes a frequent visitor to St. Louis; a trio of Gaffigan shows welcomed patrons back to Stifel Theatre for its reopening in October. By Calvin Wilson

Nikki Glaser

Nikki Glaser made her debut last year as a big-time reality TV host now  on FBoy Island, which will return for a second season on HBO Max  but the potty-mouthed comedian is never far from her St. Louis roots. The Kirkwood High School grad moved back to St. Louis from LA during the pandemic and hosts The Nikki Glaser Podcast with her friend and fellow comedian Andrew Collin. Shes always keeping her stand-up comedy fresh for hometown crowds. A tour stop in September at the Factory in Chesterfield drew a sold-out crowd, and she recently performed at the Funny Bone at Westport Plaza, a real return to her roots. Glaser has two hourlong comedy specials under her belt  Bangin in 2019 for Netflix and Perfect in 2016 for Comedy Central  with a third coming to HBO. By Kevin C. Johnson

Trixie Mattel

When 8 p.m. Aug 28  Where Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard  How much $38.50-$133.50; proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test required  More info metrotix.com

Trixie Mattel: One Night Only isnt your typical stand-up comedy special. And though it was released on YouTube in January 2020, before the pandemic, it perfectly encapsulates (predicts?) life during the pandemic: It was filmed in a living room with no audience  unless you count the two-man band and blank stares from a sea of Barbies  and the only guest appearance is by the Doordash guy delivering a side salad. As Trixie Mattel (winner of RuPauls Drag Race All-Stars, Season 3), the talented Brian Firkus presents a 22-minute set that includes three musical performances, a little taste of her live shows. The project was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for best comedy special. She and fellow Drag Race alum Katya Zamolodchikova star in UNHhhh and I Like to Watch, both on YouTube; their live show visits the Fox Theatre in August. By Gabe Hartwig

John Mulaney

A troubled year (rehab, new girlfriend, divorce because of the new girlfriend, baby with new girlfriend) has tarnished his straight-arrow, former-altar-boy-next-door image, but John Mulaneys humor is still wickedly sharp. His stories are unusually smart but easily accessible and filled with memorable images and turns of phrase. It was Mulaney who conceived the oft-repeated notion that, when he was a child, he expected quicksand to be a bigger problem than it is. And you cant help but share his mischievous glee when he tells of the best teenage prank ever: In what sounds like a true story, he relates the time he and a friend played Tom Jones Whats New, Pussycat? 11 times in a row on a diner jukebox before the owner unplugged it. Mulaney currently has three specials and a childrens show available on Netflix. By Daniel Neman

Tom Papa

When 8 p.m. Jan. 28  Where Sheldon Concert Hall & Art Galleries, 3648 Washington Boulevard  How much $35-$50; proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test required  More info thesheldon.org/events/tom-papa

We can count on Tom Papa for dishing reality, reassurance and laughs. Youre doing great, he tells the audience in a Netflix special titled, aptly enough, Youre Doing Great! So what if youre fat? he says. Who cares? Were all fat. Youre either really fat, kind of fat, or trying not to be fat. Either way, fats coming. You can see Papa on Netflix in Live From New York City, listen to him and Fortune Feimster on SiriusXM radio, and learn about baking with his podcast, Breaking Bread With Tom Papa, and his YouTube series, Getting Baked. And if you get a little fat while eating his recipes, rest assured: Youre doing great. By Valerie Schremp Hahn

Justin Willman

When 7 p.m. Jan. 22  Where The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard  How much $33; proof of COVID-19 vaccination or negative test required  More info ticketmaster.com

Justin Willman is a frequent guest onstage in his hometown of St. Louis, and he brings his Magic for Humans in Person tour to the Pageant on Jan. 22. One of the best things about his entertaining blend of comedy and magic is that its suitable for audience members of all ages, and he emphasizes human connections over glitzy spectacle. In a favorite episode from the first season of Magic for Humans, Willmans Netflix series, he tests the self-control of children tempted by marshmallows. In a memorable Season 2 episode, he shares a tender moment with his mother, whose memories were slipping away as a result of Alzheimers. (She died in 2020; in June, Willman presented a livestreamed comedy-magic benefit to keep her legacy alive and to help fight the disease.) Three seasons of Magic for Humans are available, with the latest released in 2020. By Gabe Hartwig
THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Who hasn't started to watch a new drama series on TV, and suddenly realize that hours have slipped by as they binged on one episode after the next?

Now, a new study suggests that too much binge-watching may raise the risk of life-threatening blood clots in the legs or lungs by 35%.

"Prolonged TV viewing, which involves immobilization, may increase the risk of venous thromboembolism," said lead researcher Dr. Setor Kunutsor, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol's Medical School, in the United Kingdom.

The findings apply to more than couch potatoes: Being physically active does not eliminate the increased risk of clots associated with prolonged TV watching, he said, so "individuals need to take breaks during prolonged TV watching."

Kunutsor cautioned that the study can't prove that binge-watching TV causes clots, only that the two may be connected.

For the study, Kunutsor's team pooled data from three previously published studies that included more than 130,000 participants. In this process, called a meta-analysis, the researchers looked for connections between TV watching and venous thromboembolism (VTE). VTE includes pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lungs) and deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in a deep vein, usually in the legs, which can travel to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism).

In a follow-up that ranged from five to 20 years, more than 900 participants developed VTE. Those who binge-watched the longest (four hours per day or more) were one-third more likely to develop blood clots than those who watched the least amount of TV or never binged. The association was independent of age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity, the researchers noted.

"We should limit the time we spend in front of the television," Kunutsor said. "Even if you want to binge-watch TV, you should intersperse it with regular movements to keep the circulation going."

And the link likely exists for any kind of prolonged sitting. For example, if your work involves working long hours in front of a computer, be sure to get up and move around from time to time, he advised.

"Also, increase your physical activity levels when you binge-watch TV, as high volumes of physical activity can reduce or may eliminate the risk of diseases such as venous thromboembolism, which are associated with sedentary behaviors," Kunutsor said.

The report was published Jan. 20 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Dr. Mary Cushman, vice chair of medicine and co-director of the Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health at the University of Vermont in Burlington, said it's not clear yet if this relationship is causal.

"But, for example, people who watch TV more might be more likely to be obese or overweight, and obese and overweight is an established risk factor for VTE," she said. But the studies adjusted for body weight and still found an association of prolonged TV viewing with VTE, which suggests that the findings hold regardless of body weight, Cushman noted.

"We know that people who tend to watch TV for prolonged periods of time are less physically fit, and this could explain the association," she said. "It is also possible that the prolonged sitting reduces blood flow up the veins from the legs, which can contribute to the VTE  slow-flowing blood likes to clot abnormally."

More research is needed, Cushman said, "but the bottom-line message is that if you like to watch TV for prolonged periods, interrupt this with frequent walks and stretching, watch from a treadmill, not a chair, and don't snack while you are watching."

More information

For more on VTE, head to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Setor Kunutsor, MBChB, PhD, senior lecturer, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, England; Mary Cushman, MD, professor, vice chair, medicine, co-director, Vermont Center for Cardiovascular and Brain Health, University of Vermont, Burlington; European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, Jan. 20, 2022

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
ST. LOUIS  Area hospitals, desperate for workers, have requested emergency staff from the federal government to help manage a record surge of COVID-19 patients.

Four area Mercy hospitals, five SSM Health hospitals, one BJC HealthCare hospital and one St. Lukes Hospital facility asked for assistance, according to state records.

We have attempted to weather this storm alone; however, we are now at the point where we must request assistance from the Federal Government, the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said in one of the requests for aid. With every passing hour our community is at greater risk, not only from the spread of Omicron, but from the delayed or inaccessible care which it creates.

COVID cases remain at record levels in area hospitals, and workforce shortages are worse than ever, as many health care workers stay home because of sickness, exposure, or to care for ill family members.

Mercy Hospital Jefferson requested 72 positions in total, including 67 nurses. SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis requested 21 nurses and one physician, according to the records, which were provided by the Missouri Department of Public Safety. Other hospitals did not include numbers in their requests.

The health systems on Wednesday referred questions to Dr. Alex Garza, chief community health officer for SSM Health and co-leader of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force.

Garza said the requests were submitted on Friday, an effort coordinated by the areas East-West Gateway Council of Governments. The regional office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is handling the requests, and has asked for more information about the hospitals needs.

We think its moving pretty quickly, Garza said.

Garza said he does not believe local hospitals are so stressed that patient safety is being compromised. But, he added, As a community, we know were not delivering the best care that we should be delivering, because our attention is so diverted to taking care of this influx of COVID patients. We know that there are people out in the community that are sick or having untreated conditions.

In some parts of the country, health officials are beginning to report declines in COVID-19 cases, leading some to hope that the surge has passed its worst heights in those places.

The task force did not report new hospitalization data on Wednesday, because of a computer upgrade at one of the health systems. On Tuesday the group reported a total of 1,392 COVID-19 patients in area hospitals  down from 1,444 the day before, but still the second-highest day on record. The seven-day average of newly admitted patients fell to 210 a day, from 219 on Saturday.

Garza said Wednesday that the region will need a few days to a week of additional data to determine if hospital admissions truly are slowing . Even if that proves true, he said, they still are at such high levels that hospitals will continue to be strained.

The state reported 14,242 new cases on Wednesday. The state has reported, on average, 23 virus deaths each day over the past week.

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THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that mosquitoes infected with the dengue virus bite more often, which triples the risk of transmitting the disease to people.

Dengue is one of the most common mosquito-borne diseases. It affects more than 400 million people each year worldwide, killing around 40,000.

Most infected people have no symptoms or mild ones such as nausea, vomiting, rash, fever and aches and pains. However, 1 in 20 infected people develops severe dengue, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding and death.

In this lab study, researchers used high-resolution video to observe the blood-feeding behavior of dengue-infected and non-infected mosquitoes using mice. The videos were then analyzed using computer software.

"We found that the dengue virus increases mosquito attraction to the mammalian host and the number of mosquito bites," said study senior co-author Ashley St. John, an associate professor in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Program at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore.

"The higher attraction to the mammalian host increases the chances of the mosquito to bite, while more bites increase the number of transmission events because each bite results in the transmission of the virus," St. John explained in a Duke news release.

"This sheds new light on the many ways the virus hijacks its vector to be transmitted," said study senior author Julien Pompon, a scientist and group leader at French Research Institute for Sustainable Development.

The results were published Jan. 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Animal research does not always pan out in humans.

Currently, there is no way to control dengue.

The study will help advance our understanding of the epidemiology of dengue and better tailor disease control strategies," Pompon said in the release.

The researchers want to learn more about what causes the changes in feeding behavior in dengue-infected mosquitoes. If they can pinpoint a gene or protein responsible for the changes, they said it might be possible to create chemicals that target them.

More information

For more on dengue, see the World Health Organization.

SOURCE: Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore, news release, Jan. 13, 2022

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- In another breakthrough for animal-to-human organ transplantation, U.S. researchers say they've transplanted two genetically modified pig kidneys into a living human.

The recipient was Jim Parsons, 57, a brain-dead man on life support whose family agreed to allow the surgical team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to use his body for this research.

The kidneys functioned well and were not rejected by Parson's body during the 77-hour period of the study.

The successful transplant comes of the heels of two similar groundbreaking transplant operations that made headlines recently: Last fall, surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City twice attached a pig kidney (leaving it outside the body) to a human recipient on life support; and earlier this month a team at the University of Maryland successfully transplanted a heart from a genetically modified pig into a 57-year-old man with terminal heart disease.

The new procedure is an advance on the New York City transplant in that two kidneys were used and were fully implanted into the recipient's body in what the surgeons call a "clinical-grade" fashion, similar to what happens in human-to-human transplants.

The Birmingham team said their double-kidney transplant is yet another step forward in xenotransplantation  using organs from another species for transplant into humans. Broader success might save the lives of thousands of people who languish on donor organ waitlists every year.

"This game-changing moment in the history of medicine represents a paradigm shift and a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, which is arguably the best solution to the organ shortage crisis," Dr. Jayme Locke, who directs the Comprehensive Transplant Institute at UAB's department of surgery, said in a university news release.

'Barriers surmounted'

The fact that the human immune system quickly recognizes and rejects foreign tissue  especially that of other species  has long been an enormous hurdle in transplant medicine.

According to the UAB team, the porcine kidneys were removed from pigs genetically modified with 10 genetic edits to reduce the risk of rejection.

The edits seemed to work: Over the course of more than three days, the transplanted kidney filtered blood and produced urine in Parson's body, while showing no signs of rejection, the surgical team said.

The researchers said that pigs are a close fit for humans as a source for donor organs because they are easily bred and have organs of similar size.

Using a brain-dead human is what's known as a "preclinical model" that helps doctors gain valuable insight into how xenotransplantation might work in more widespread use, the team explained.

"Our study demonstrates that major barriers to human xenotransplantation have been surmounted, identifies where new knowledge is needed to optimize xenotransplantation outcomes in humans, and lays the foundation for the establishment of a novel preclinical human model for further study," Locke said.

According to the UAB team, over 800,000 Americans are currently living with kidney failure. Many are surviving via dialysis and may never be among the lucky ones who receive a donor organ. According to organdonor.gov, almost 107,000 Americans are on waitlists for new organs, only 39,000 transplants were performed in 2020, and 17 people die each day waiting for a transplant.

The widespread use of organs sourced from pigs could help end these tragedies.

Jim Parsons and daughter Ally. Family photo

One man's legacy

In the study, the donor pig was first housed in a "surgically clean" facility that was rendered as free of any germs as possible, the researchers said. That was done to help minimize the threat of infection to the recipient.

When the pig kidneys were removed they were stored and transported just as human donor kidneys are.

Prior to transplant, the UAB team conducted "compatibility tests" between the patient and the gene-modified pig to see if they were a good tissue match, just as is done in human-to-human transplants. This was the first time such tests had been done between the two species, however, the researchers noted.

The anatomical placement of the pig kidneys within Parson's body mimicked that of a real human kidney, "with the same attachments to the renal artery, renal vein and the ureter that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder," the university said in a statement.

Standard immune-suppression drugs were used during and after the xenotransplantation, much as they would be in a human-to-human transplant.

Parsons was a registered organ donor in Alabama and had wanted his organs to help others after his death. Unfortunately, his organs weren't suitable for transplant, the UAB team said, but Parson's family gave permission for the xenotransplant team to use his body for the breakthrough procedure.

The surgeons removed Parson's kidneys and then replaced them with those from the gene-modified pig.

"Mr. Parsons and his family allowed us to replicate precisely how we would perform this transplant in a living human. Their powerful contribution will save thousands of lives, and that could begin in the very near future," Locke said. "Mr. Parsons' gift honors his legacy and firmly establishes the viability, safety and feasibility of this preclinical model. Because of his gift, we have proposed this to be known as 'The Parsons Model.'"

Julie O'Hara, Parson's ex-wife and the mother of their children  Ally, David and Cole  said, "Jim would have wanted to save as many people as he could with his death, and if he knew he could potentially save thousands and thousands of people by doing this, he would have had no hesitation. Our dream is that no other person dies waiting for a kidney, and we know that Jim is very proud that his death could potentially bring so much hope to others."

A study outlining the breakthrough procedure was published in the American Journal of Transplantation.

More information

Find out more about organ donation at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

SOURCE: University of Alabama at Birmingham, news release, Jan. 20, 2022

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
CAUGHT OFF GUARD - Select Board Chair Karen Herrick and several of her colleagues this week complained about being left out of the loop about a FinCom effort to establish an ARPA funds subcommittee. The Select Board members, believing the subcommittee should fall under their charge, pointed out they have the final say over how the towns $7.6 million in COVID-19 bailout funds will be spent.
THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Brain fog. It has become an inexplicable side effect of COVID-19 infection, but researchers now report they have discovered a possible reason why it happens.

In a small study, investigators found abnormalities in the cerebrospinal fluid of some COVID-19 patients who developed thinking problems.

The symptoms "manifest as problems remembering recent events, coming up with names or words, staying focused, and issues with holding onto and manipulating information, as well as slowed processing speed, explained study senior author Dr. Joanna Hellmuth, from the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

Brain fog is a common aftereffect of COVID infection, striking about 67% of 156 patients at a post-COVID clinic in New York, a recent study found.

In this latest study, the researchers analyzed the cerebrospinal fluid of 13 people who had thinking and memory problems after COVID-19 and of four recovered COVID-19 patients with no cognitive symptoms.

The average age of those with cognitive symptoms was 48, compared with 39 for those with no cognitive symptoms. The cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected an average of 10 months after the patients' first COVID-19 symptoms. None of the patients were hospitalized for COVID-19.

Cerebrospinal fluid anomalies were found in 10 of the 13 patients with cognitive symptoms, but not in any of the four with no cognitive symptoms, according to the study published Jan. 19 in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.

The cerebrospinal fluid of patients with cognitive symptoms had elevated levels of protein, suggesting inflammation, as well as unexpected antibodies found in an activated immune system.

Some of those antibodies were found in both cerebrospinal fluid and blood, indicating a systemic inflammatory response, or were found only in cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting brain inflammation.

While the targets of these antibodies are unknown, they could be turncoat antibodies that attack the body itself, according to the researchers.

"It's possible that the immune system, stimulated by the virus, may be functioning in an unintended pathological way," said Hellmuth, who is principal investigator of the UCSF Coronavirus Neurocognitive Study and is also affiliated with the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.

"This would be the case even though the individuals did not have the virus in their bodies," she said in a university news release.

The study also found that participants with thinking problems had an average of 2.5 risk factors for impaired thinking, compared with an average of less than one risk factor for participants without the symptoms.

Those risk factors included: diabetes and high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of stroke, mild cognitive impairment and vascular dementia; a history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which may make the brain more vulnerable to executive functioning issues; anxiety; depression; a history of heavy alcohol or repeated stimulant use; and learning disabilities.

More information

For more on COVID-19 brain fog, go to Harvard Medical School.

SOURCE: University of California, San Francisco, news release, Jan. 18, 2022

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
THURSDAY, Jan. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Skin side effects caused by cancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors may be a telltale sign that the drugs are working, according to a new study.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, boost the body's immune response against tumor cells and have become standard care for many patients with advanced cancer. However, many experience skin side effects from the drugs.

To learn more, researchers assessed data from more than 14,000 patients in the United States and Europe who were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. About half of them developed skin side effects.

"Skin toxicities tend to occur early in the course of immunotherapy and present an opportunity to evaluate efficacy soon after initiating treatment," said senior author Dr. Yevgeniy Semenov, an investigator in the Department of Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"As such, our findings may help identify patients who are more likely to benefit from their current immunotherapy regimen versus those who may need to be considered for a stronger or alternative treatment regimen," Semenov said in a hospital news release.

Over a median follow-up of 3.2 years, 26% of the patients died, the study found. (Half of the patients were followed longer, half for less time.) Those with at least one skin side effect had an overall 22% lower risk of death, the data showed.

But the reduced risk of death varied with different skin side effects. It was strongest (a 30% to 50% lower risk) among patients who developed vitiligo (loss of skin color in blotches), lichen planus (an inflammatory skin condition), itchiness, dryness and non-specific rashes.

The findings were recently published in the journal JAMA Dermatology.

Semenov said the study provides cancer and skin specialists with important information when counseling immunotherapy recipients on the clinical implications of the skin effects.

More research is needed, the researchers said, to learn about the connection between immune checkpoint inhibitors, skin side effects and patient outcomes, and whether therapies used to treat or prevent the skin side effects may affect patient survival.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on immune checkpoint inhibitors.

SOURCE: Massachusetts General Hospital, news release, Jan. 12, 2022

Originally published on consumer.healthday.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
ST. LOUIS  A century ago, an association of railroad barons owned both bridges over the Mississippi River and charged high rates for anything that crossed by train or wagon.

The toll was known as the "bridge arbitrary," and it raised the cost of food, merchandise and the sooty Illinois coal that St. Louisans burned for heat.

Ordinary citizens deeply resented the arbitrary. In saloons, ward clubs and church halls, the call arose for the city to build a "free bridge" to get around the monopoly.

In June 1906, voters approved a $3.5 million bond issue for a new bridge despite resistance from their patrician mayor, Rolla Wells, a major holder of railroad stocks. On Nov. 23, 1907, Wells vetoed a bill to build the bridge near Chouteau Avenue. Within hours, both chambers of the city's former Municipal Assembly overrode him.

"I take pleasure in voting to pass this bill over the little rat's head," shouted Assemblyman Francis X. Hussey.

Building the people's bridge, called the Municipal Bridge, never got easier. Work on the stone piers began in December 1909, but the project ran out of money without finishing the land approaches. More debate and public votes finally led to a $6.2 million bridge that was opened in grand ceremony on Jan. 20, 1917. As Mayor Henry W. Kiel opened an oversize padlock, 14-year-old Victor Koch jumped over the chain and scampered toward East St. Louis.

But the big railroads, through their Terminal Rail Road Association, kept to their Eads and Merchants bridges. Voters approved another $4 million to add more rail approaches to the Municipal Bridge. Beginning in 1929, a few switching locomotives shuttled loads across. But the standoff with the TRRA continued until Jan. 15, 1940, when the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Spirit of St. Louis" passenger train chuffed over the bridge to begin regular use. Victor Koch was a guest passenger.

By then, the bridge was no longer free. The city imposed a 10-cent toll for cars in 1932 to raise money for unemployment relief. In March 1942, three months after America entered World War II, aldermen renamed the bridge in honor of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

After the Poplar Street Bridge opened on Nov. 7, 1967, few drivers bothered with the MacArthur. The city eliminated the toll in 1973 because it didn't cover the salaries of toll-gate workers. In August 1981, with roadway and sidewalks crumbling, the city closed it to vehicles for good.

In a fine irony, the TRRA and the city swapped the Eads and MacArthur in 1989 so that MetroLink could use the Eads. Nowadays, the big railroads rumble at all hours across the sturdy monument to populism. It remains one of the busiest railroad bridges in the United States.

Read more stories from Tim O'Neil's Look Back series.
Howard Mechanic and Nina Gilden Seavey  STL's most famous Vietnam-era fugitive and the filmmaker who documented his flight  will be in St. Louis next month.

On May 21, Mechanic and Seavey will take part in one of the three seminars being presented under the banner of "Our Movements of 1970.
Joe Holleman Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Joe Holleman 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

Describing the incident as "a gift," KSDK reporter Michelle Li appeared Wednesday on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" to talk about anti-Asian sentiments aimed at her.

On New Year's Day, Li reported on traditional foods eaten on the holiday to bring good luck. At the end of the segment, Li noted that "I ate dumpling soup; that's what a lot of Koreans do."

Shortly after the segment aired, Li got a call from a female viewer who left a voicemail message criticizing Li for being "very Asian" and told Li to "keep her Korean to herself."

On Wednesday, Li said that when she went on air to report the incident, "my phone just blew up" with viewers supporting Li.

"The world saw it, and the world stood up to it," Li said, adding that it became a gift because "who gets to say that the world stood up for you in a moment?"

Li added that the response from the STL market and elsewhere has been overwhelmingly positive.

And Li picked up another gift, from DeGeneres.

The host told Li, "I admire (Li) so much for the way you handled it,"  and then gave Li a check for $15,000 for the #VeryAsian drive that Li and a friend started after the incident.

The drive offers a line of merchandise with the logo "Very Asian," and the proceeds will go to the Asian American Journalists Association.

Near the end of the 10-minute segment, Li also revealed that she has talked with the woman who left the anti-Asian message.

Said Li, "She apologized; I accepted."

Li grew up in western Missouri and graduated from the University of Kansas. She came to KSDK in April after having been a morning anchor at KING (Channel 5) in Seattle.

Your weekly capsule of local news, life advice, trivia and humor from Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Holleman. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger 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

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.  Things were quiet at Kickapoo High School on Wednesday morning. The parking lot was nearly empty. There were no teachers, no students at school. Thats because the omicron variant of COVID-19 has swept through southwest Missouri like much of the state. Springfield Public Schools, the largest district in Missouri, canceled classes for the rest of the week, with about 20% of its teachers, students and administrators home sick or on quarantine.

Thats where Steve Edwards was, too  home, on quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. Its not where the CEO of CoxHealth wanted to be. His youngest daughter, a student in the Springfield Public Schools, was home, too.

It was predictable  too predictable  that school districts would end up having to close their doors as the highly contagious variant swept through a state with low vaccination rates, few mask mandates in place and an attorney general waging war on any governmental body that tries to protect its constituents from the deaths that are happening far too often two years into the pandemic.

The most important thing we can do is keep our kids in school, and there are ways to do that, Edwards told me, via Zoom on Wednesday, even though I was just a few miles away. What are those ways? High vaccination rates, mask wearing, social distancing, contact tracing and quarantining, all things that Eric Schmitt, the Republican attorney general who is using the pandemic as fuel for a U.S. Senate race, is battling. He threatens to file lawsuits against any school district that issues the sort of mandated mitigation efforts that the scientists are recommending to keep schools open.

It is completely predictable, that schools would shut down, Edwards said. Nearby, schools in Ozark, Missouri, shut down for a day to prepare to switch to remote learning for a bit; public schools in Willard also transitioned to remote learning. It was so predictable that we had our day care set up to take our employees kids, anticipating that the schools would have to shut down.

More than 100 employees at CoxHealth  where, just like in hospitals in St. Louis, staffing has become more difficult as the omicron variant spreads  took advantage of the makeshift day care center the hospital had set up overnight.

For Edwards  who is vaccinated and boosted, and thus, had merely cold symptoms when he tested positive  this slog has put him in an uncomfortable place. He has become one of the voices of reason, using his perch on social media and elsewhere to plead with Gov. Mike Parson and Schmitt and other Republican state leaders to work with health care workers to battle the pandemic.

Instead, it feels like he is often doing battle with those leaders. Its a difficult spot for Edwards.

Im introverted, he says. I dont like attention. It seemed to be the only way we could protect our community and to protect our staff. If its a crisis, a leader has to step forward.

This month, there have been 50 deaths at CoxHealth hospitals. All of the deaths were among unvaccinated people, many of whom were just plain belligerent toward the health care workers who were trying to save their lives.

Every person dying in our ICU is unvaccinated, and they were given wrong information, Edwards says. This is my hometown. I grew up here. The people getting sick and dying because of misinformation, I know.

Edwards hopes that the omicron variant will dissipate as quickly as it rose. But case numbers in Springfield were still hitting record highs this week. In his hospital system, there were 896 positive cases on Tuesday. The highest daily positive count during the delta wave was 183.

Weve been setting a record nearly every day for the past two weeks, Edwards said. Its still growing.

On the day we spoke, Schmitt lost his latest frivolous lawsuit, with a judge backing the mask mandate in St. Louis County. And Parson, in his State of the State address, again lashed out at his critics and touted as a success the states efforts to make sure that senior citizens are vaccinated. What Parson didnt say was that Missouri has the fourth-lowest vaccination rate in the country for senior citizens, with only Alabama, Arkansas and West Virginia fully vaccinating a lower percentage of their residents age 65 and older.

Meanwhile, because Parson ended the state of emergency, health care leaders in St. Louis are asking the federal government for help in easing a shortage of workers amid the omicron spike.

Ive really tried not to get political through this. This isnt about the politics. Its about the science, Edwards told me. He hopes to be back at the office next week, when he expects a surge of hospitalizations from this weeks record number of positive cases in southwest Missouri. Im deeply disheartened by our political leaders. It feels like hubris and political ambition are more important than protecting our community. Its bewildering to me because its the party that I was a member of.

From City Hall to the Capitol, metro columnist Tony Messenger shines light on what public officials are doing, tells stories of the disaffected, and brings voice to the issues that matter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
ST. LOUIS  A lawyer for St. Louis police union is alleging that the citys main jail released a domestic assault suspect because the man tested positive for COVID-19 even though prosecutors wanted him held without the chance of bail.

Jane Dueker, who represents the St. Louis Police Officers Association, said the release of the man Jan. 4 is part of a recent policy by the administration of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones to limit the spread of COVID in the downtown jail by not admitting additional prisoners with the virus.

Dueker said after the man, 36, was released, the circuit attorneys office filed its criminal complaint against him. It is demoralizing to police, Dueker said of the failure to hold him.

Jones administration officials didnt comment Wednesday on whether there has been a change in policy.

Instead, they released a statement from Corrections Commissioner Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah that said the corrections department works with local hospitals, police and the city sheriffs department to deal with detainees on a case-by-case basis to determine our best course of action while limiting exposure to the virus.

Clemons-Abdullah also said the department does accept COVID-positive detainees but that it doesnt have the ultimate authority to determine which of them are fit for incarceration.

Police issued a statement saying various factors determine whether people arrested remain in custody at the jail. Health status is one factor, and the seriousness of the crime is another, the statement said. In all cases, police said, the department works to keep violent offenders off the streets.

Court records say a judge on Jan. 5 ordered the assault suspect held without bail. The order said he was a potential danger to the victim, the community or another person. Dueker said as of late Wednesday afternoon, he had not been arrested again.

According to a probable cause statement submitted by police, the female victim said she and the suspect were arguing when he pushed her down and started to strike her in the face. The suspect then grabbed a pot of soup from a stove and threw it on her, police said, resulting in burns and missing skin.

Dueker said while the suspect was in the jail on Jan. 4, Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardners office informed jail officials that it was working to charge the man and asked that they keep holding him until that happened.

However, Dueker said, he was released after three hours because of the COVID test. A source familiar with the case confirmed Duekers account.

Jones spokesman, Nick Dunne, and Gardners spokeswoman, Allison Hawk, both declined to comment.

In media interviews and on social media, Dueker said such releases of detainees with COVID also could result in spreading the virus in the community.

She also speculated that Jones is trying to limit the number of inmates at the downtown jail because she doesnt want any additional overflow sent to the citys old medium-security jail, also known as the workhouse, which Jones attempted to close last year.

This is a jail population control measure, Dueker said Wednesday on radio station KFTK (97.1 FM).

Dueker also said a man arrested Monday by city police was released because a nurse wasn't available for four hours at the city jail to administer a COVID test.

She said the man, 31, was arrested on a warrant issued by St. Louis County related to a felony charge of nonsupport. City officials did not comment on the case.

Dueker said based on talking with police officers, she believes there are additional cases in which people arrested were released after testing positive but that she has yet to see documentation.

Editors note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Duekers account of why the man arrested on the St. Louis County warrant was released. This story has been updated.

Originally posted at 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19.

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GLEN CARBON  A man from Glen Carbon and his brother and cousin have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Jeremiah Carollo, 45, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington with entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, an arrest warrant filed Wednesday says.

His brother, Anthony Carollo, 23, and their cousin, Cody Vollan, 31, face the same charges. Anthony Carollo and Vollan live in Lockport, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, a criminal complaint says.

The three were linked to the attack through their Gmail accounts and geolocation data obtained from Google by a search warrant, a criminal complaint says. Authorities also traced phone and driver's license records and their social media accounts.

All three told FBI agents that they were in the Capitol and identified themselves in photos from that day, the complaint says. The complaint does not detail their actions either inside nor outside the building.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis Wednesday, Jeremiah Carollo was appointed a public defender and then released on his own recognizance.

The Justice Department says more than 725 people have been arrested across the country related to the Capitol riot, including more than 225 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers.

UPDATED Jan. 20 with outcome of first appearance hearing for Jeremiah Carollo.

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UPDATED at 11:45 a.m. Thursday with witness account, more on victim

ST. LOUIS COUNTY  A man who saw his roommate and a dog shot to death last weekend near Fenton said Thursday that the attack began when they tried to kick couch-surfing meth addicts out of their house.

Austin Vines was in a fistfight with men outside the home in the 600 block of Greenhurst Court on Sunday afternoon when one of the men shot his dog in the right eye, said roommate Brenden Martorelli.

Seeing his dog hurt enraged Vines, Martorelli said.

Once he saw Nova get shot, Austin continued to fight and then they shot him twice, Martorelli told the Post-Dispatch.

Vines, 25, was gunned down Sunday afternoon on Greenhurst Court, in an unincorporated area of St. Louis County. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the next day.

Tony D. Hager, a man from Imperial, was captured in the Ozarks and charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Hager, 22, was being held Thursday morning in the Ozark County Jail in lieu of $250,000 cash bail. The charges were filed by St. Louis County prosecutors.

Court documents allege that Hager and others showed up at the home on Greenhurst to confront people in an ongoing dispute. Police didnt elaborate on what the fight was over. But Martorelli and another roommate of Vines, Brittany Boschert, provided separate accounts to a reporter Thursday.

Boschert was the fiancee of Vines. The couple lived together at the home on Greenhurst, along with five other people. Boschert said all seven of the roommates wanted two newcomers who had overstayed their welcome on the couch to leave.

They were weird, and they were meth addicts, she said.

The two people were allowed to stay one night, but by the third night it was too excessive, Martorelli said.

That led to a fistfight with another roommate, and the newcomers threatened to come back with guns, Martorelli said. They returned with relatives, including Hager, in three cars, Martorelli said.

On the front lawn, the two sides got into a fight, and Vines spotted Hager with a gun, Martorelli said.

Tony (Hager) pulled a gun on him, and Austin tried to swipe it out of his hands, Martorelli said.

Then Nova, the dog, joined in.

Nova hops out, and he (Hager) shoots the dog, Martorelli added. The dog wasnt even near him yet. And then after the first shot, everyone starts scurrying to their cars and Austin is still chasing them and gets shot.

Vines died at Mercy Hospital St. Louis after about 13 hours of no brain activity, Boschert said.

The dog, a 2-year-old mastiff pit bull mix, died later at a vets office.

Boschert said Vines was protective and caring. He stood up for what was right, she said. He grew up in the Valles Mines area of Jefferson County and moved in with Boschert several years ago. He recently started working a night shift at a Circle K convenience store.

Funeral plans for Vines are pending. An aunt of Vines, Lindsay Stilman, said she set up a GoFundMe account to help his parents pay for his funeral.

Hager, the accused killer, lives in the 900 block of Scott Lane in Imperial. Court records do not list an attorney representing him yet.

Hager pleaded guilty in November of drug possession, resisting arrest and leaving the scene of an accident, according to online court files. The charges stemmed from 2018 in Jefferson County. He was due to be sentenced in those cases next month.

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EAST ST. LOUIS  A nurse who stole pain pills from at least 23 residents of eight nursing homes in Madison and St. Clair counties was sentenced Wednesday to probation, her lawyer said.

Between August, 2018, and March, 2021, Angela M. Mohler, of Shiloh, stole hydrocodone, morphine or oxycodone from various nursing home residents. At times, she altered records to indicate the pills were given to patients, replaced the pills with regular acetaminophen, or diluted liquid morphine to cover up what she took.

Mohler victimized patients at Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation, the Lebanon Care Center, Rosewood Care Center in Edwardsville, Elmwood Nursing and Rehab in Maryville, Integrity Healthcare of Alton, Collinsville Rehabilitation and Health Care Center and Colonnade Senior Living in OFallon.

Mohler pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis in October to five counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud or deception.

She received her nursing license in 2009.

Mohler's lawyer John Stobbs said in a message after the hearing that, "Both the government and I recommended a sentence at the low end of the guideline range. The fact that Angela can never work in the medical profession again is a huge punishment. Angela became addicted to OxyContin after having surgery on her knee."

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SORENTO, Ill.  The Bond County School Board on Wednesday voted to close Sorento Elementary School, but families vowed to fight the plan by possibly linking with a neighboring school district.

Bond County School District has three grade schools, Greenville with 494 students, Pocahontas with 143 and Sorento with 107. Pocahontas and Sorento already combine their third and fourth grade classes with 20 students in each grade.

Enrollment is projected to continue a downward trend across the 1,585-student district, which has lost nearly 300 students in the last decade. Just seven students attend preschool at Sorento this year.

Sorento students will be reassigned to Pocahontas or Greenville for the 2022-2023 school year.

Closing a school is divisive, its not pleasant, its not anything that anybody wants to do, Superintendent Wes Olson told the board at its meeting Wednesday.

About a dozen residents spoke in opposition to closing Sorento at a public hearing held before the board meeting.

The board had six options to choose from for redistricting, including drawing new boundary lines or separating kindergarten through third grades and fourth through eighth grades at two schools.

Board members cited class size inequity across the grade schools as a main reason to close Sorento, along with potential cost saving. Class sizes this year at Sorento range from nine to 17 students, compared to Greenville with 18 to 23 students per classroom.

Sorento supporters said the school is the heart of the village about 50 miles northeast of St. Louis. In 2011, the school won a National Blue Ribbon award, the U.S. Department of Educations highest honor.

A switch in elementary schools would mean a 70-minute bus ride for some Sorento students, including Melissa Goymeracs three children.

Goymerac, an attorney who commutes to St. Louis, said she felt betrayed by the boards decision to close Sorento.

The solution to unequal class sizes shouldnt be making classes bigger at the other two elementary schools, she said.

Goymerac and other Sorento parents have discussed forming a homeschool cooperative or petitioning a regional board of education to transfer Sorento to the Mt. Olive School District.

Theres a really good possibility that (Bond County School District) is going to lose a big chunk of those 107 students from Sorento, Goymerac said. Theres no more sacred trust in them to make good and well-informed decisions for the best interests of the kids involved.

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ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Missouri Rep. Shamed Dogan, a Republican hoping to unseat County Executive Sam Page this fall, raised more campaign money than the incumbent in the last quarter of 2021.

But Page, a Democrat who won election in 2020 to finish two years left in a term vacated by Steve Stenger in 2019, still has twice as much campaign cash on hand as Dogan.

Dogan, who formally entered the race in September, raised $70,497.22 between Oct.1 and Dec. 31, according to a January quarterly report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Pages campaign committee raised $62,326 in the same time period. But his campaign holds more than $125,000 in total.

And Page PAC, a political action committee supporting Pages campaign, raised $120,500 in the last quarter. The committee holds $362,274 in cash. Dogan has a total of $66,695 in cash on hand raised since launching his campaign.

The primary is in August, and the general election in November.

Dogans recent fundraising haul suggests strong support for a Republican ticket in a majority Democratic county.

In 2020, Page defeated two challengers in a competitive Democratic primary and won election in November with 58.2% of the vote in a year of record turnout. His nearest challenger, Republican Paul Berry III, had 36.5%.

But opponents of Page have said they see more opportunity to win the countys top job because of pushback to COVID-19 public health orders issued by his administration and Pages fractured relationship with some Black Democratic lawmakers, including Council Chair Rita Days and Shalonda Webb. Page also had a strained relationship with the late Hazel Erby, who represented District 1 on the council before Days.

Dogan, who is the only Black Republican in the state Legislature, has said he hopes to build a coalition of Republicans and voters in the heavily Democratic, majority-Black north St. Louis County.

His committee received 91 donations in the last fundraising quarter, ranging from $20 to the $2,650 maximum allowed for individual contributions. Among Dogans top individual donors was Doug Albrecht, chairman of Bodley Group and president of the St. Louis Police Foundation.

Dogan also received large contributions from business owners or executives Robert OBrien, with OBrien Capital; Richard Grote, chairman and CEO of American Medicare Counselors; and Menlo Smith, the retired founder of Sunmark Corp., the company that produced Pixy Stix, SweeTarts, Sprees and Nerds.

Among Dogans other top donors were Stephen Brauer Jr., chairman of Hunter Engineering and the son of Stephen F. Brauer, a longtime Republican donor who served as ambassador to Belgium under president George W. Bush.

And Dogan received contributions from PACs supporting other Republican candidates, including the Next Gen GOP PAC and A Better Missouri PAC, as well as $2,000 from AC and Mechanical Contractors PAC, a committee representing mechanical contractors.

Eureka Mayor Sean Flower and Wildwood Mayor Jim Bowlin, who have vocally opposed county mask mandates issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, also contributed to Dogan.

Pages campaign has raked in large donations from executives with some of the St. Louis areas largest businesses, including First Bank, Centene, McBride and Son Homes, Enterprise Holdings, Schnucks, Thompson Coburn LLP, Edward Jones Investments, and Clayco.

Pages campaign and Page PAC also have received large donations from PACs representing labor and firefighters unions and the health care construction industries.

Other Page donors include Jeff Rainford, former chief of staff to former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, Democratic consultants Joyce Aboussie and Michael Kelly, and former congressman Lacy Clay, who donated $1,000.

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JEFFERSON CITY  Backers of a congressional map that would likely send six Republicans and two Democrats from Missouri to the U.S. House muscled the plan through the state House on Wednesday over opposition from Democrats and some Republicans.

The plan, which advanced to the Senate on an 86-67 vote, leaves intact the safe Democratic district of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, which some Republicans opposed. It also shores up Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagners GOP-leaning 2nd Congressional District in the St. Louis suburbs, which Democrats want to make more competitive for the next decade.

Even with the 6-2 plan advancing, supporters werent able to muster the 109 votes needed for the map to take immediate effect, with most Democrats withholding support and many Republicans breaking ranks to vote down an emergency clause. A vote on the emergency clause provision failed 95-55.

The map now moves to the Senate, where that chamber may make changes and place an emergency clause on the bill. Doing so would send the plan back to the House, where votes on the revised map and emergency clause would take place.

Conservative hard-liners in the Senate on Wednesday said they planned to block the plan; they want an aggressive gerrymander that would eliminate Cleavers safe Democratic district.

Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, said the GOP couldve approved a 7-1 map and that Wagners district could flip to the Democrats this decade, resulting in a 5-3 split between Democrats and Republicans.

Given the trends that we see in St. Louis County, thats going to be filled by a Democratic representative in the years to come, Eigel said. Weve got a real fight on our hands to fight for the Republican message here in the Senate.

Like Eigel, Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, said the possibility that Missouri could send three Democrats to Congress within a few elections would give President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi more votes to support a Democratic agenda.

Its bizarre in the extreme, Onder said.

The 6-2 map emerged from the House with few changes from an original draft unveiled in December. At the time, Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, the Republican chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, praised the House version.

This is a fair and constitutional map with common-sense boundaries that everyday Missourians can recognize, Bernskoetter said in December.

In the House, Democrats spoke against the 6-2 plan, even though the majority of Republicans have opted not to pursue a more aggressive 7-1 plan.

That fact appeared to draw complaints from Rep. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, who is running for Congress in the 4th Congressional District.

We bend over backwards, Walsh said. We work with them all the time and they still vote against what we put forward.

Rep. Jerome Barnes, D-Raytown, said Missourians deserved a better map.

This map continues to ... not (be) reflective of Missouri, he said.

The map splits St. Louis County between the 1st and 2nd congressional districts like the system currently in place.

The 1st, represented by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, would take in more Webster Groves-area precincts than it currently does. Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed a plan that would move these majority white, Democratic-leaning areas to the 2nd.

Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, D-St. Louis, said her proposal to shift the boundaries of the 1st would strengthen its minority-majority status. Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, said areas she represents would be better off in the 2nd.

CD 1 is a voting rights district and my district is working to reconcile with a history of racism, Unsicker said. I dont agree with that being part of a voting rights district.

St. Charles County would be divided between the 2nd and 3rd districts under the plan. The St. Charles County delegation has advocated for placing the entire county within one congressional district, so far to no avail.

Jefferson County, south of St. Louis, would be placed entirely within the 3rd Congressional District, represented by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, near Jefferson City, in mid-Missouri.

The county is currently split between the 2nd, 3rd and 8th congressional districts.

Lincoln County, north of St. Louis, would move from the 3rd District to the 6th District, covering northern Missouri.

Kurt Erickson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday unveiled a record $47 billion budget blueprint for the next fiscal year, touting what he said was Missouris booming economy and a historic budget surplus.

Missouris economy is strong, Parson said during his annual State of the State address. With a historic budget surplus and federal dollars coming into our state, we want to build on our past momentum to capture even greater opportunities for the future of Missourians.

His budget plan includes $24 billion in federal funds, a $9 billion increase over the current fiscal year. Of that, about $3 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds are included; the federal spending plan was approved with only Democratic support in Congress last March.

Parson said Missouri would be using the federal support on long-term investments.

The Republican governors staff outlined American Rescue Plan spending  including $400 million for broadband, $411 million for water project grants and lead service line identification and $126 million for modernizing online government services  during a briefing before Parsons speech.

Budget documents outline $469 million in American Rescue Plan funding on capital improvements at Missouri public colleges and universities.

Money for education

The budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning July 1 includes $10.5 billion for elementary and secondary education, a $3 billion increase over the current fiscal year. Parson said he once again was fully funding the states education formula. And his plan increases core funding for higher education by nearly $52 million, according to budget materials.

The future of Missouri  and Missouri families  relies upon children being healthy, safe and ready to learn, Parson said. We must continue to invest in our children and their education.

He said Missouri ranked last in the country for starting teacher pay and that half of teachers leave within five years.

We are proposing to raise teacher pay in every corner of this state, Parson said. By partnering with local school districts, we can increase the baseline salary of new teachers to $38,000.

Parson also proposed funneling a $500 million one-time payment to the state pension system on top of annual contributions, shoring up the system for the future, Budget Director Dan Haug said.

Haug said the governor is not planning to spend every dollar the state has in its accounts in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Were going to try and be responsible and keep some of this money for the future, Haug told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday.

Repeats call for pay raises

Parson, during his speech, also repeated his call for lawmakers to approve a mid-year budget adjustment by Feb. 1 that includes 5.5% raises and a plan to bump the minimum wage for state employees to $15 an hour.

This is long overdue, Parson said to bipartisan applause.

The state is struggling to hire and retain workers, with a turnover rate of about 26%.

At the Fulton State Hospital, which treats mentally ill Missourians, officials want to open a new ward, but are unable to because of a lack of staff, Haug said.

That has left 170 people needing treatment waiting in jail cells, rather than receiving treatment.

At the Missouri Veterans Commission, a lack of staffing has forced the agency to cap the number of veterans it cares for at seven nursing homes.

The governors supplemental budget request also includes a $100 million fund to pay for unknown future costs of the pandemic, raising questions from lawmakers that it could be treated as a slush fund.

He is also proposing to place $280 million in a rainy day fund.

This is the conservative thing to do, Parson said. This is the right thing to do.

Parson also said the income tax rate would fall to 5.3% this year, thanks to our record economic performance.

Lauds his response to COVID

Parson said the events of the last year, including bicentennial celebrations, wouldnt have been possible were it not for state action to combat COVID-19.

While there will always be endless critics to tell us how we could have done it better, the facts are we were the ones in the arena, Parson said. We made the tough decisions and never cowered down to the challenges we faced.

Parson also touted his balanced approach to the pandemic.

When it comes to COVID-19 mandates, I firmly believe that the people should have a say through their local elected representatives and not be dictated by needless executive action or any one person, Parson said.

He also accused the media of purposely overshadowing the states accomplishments, because positive news dont sell headlines, reflecting Parsons increasing hostility toward the news media.

Our unemployment rate sits at 3.5%; thats below where we were before the pandemic and below the national average, Parson said. Missouri is open for business and business is good.

Parson touted his Fast Track scholarship program, saying more than half of recipients are enrolled in health care programs  a blessing considering the last 22 months.

He also said the state must never allow anti-law enforcement measures to take hold. In Missouri, we defend law enforcement, not defund them.

Democratic response

Democrats expressed excitement about this years budget and criticism of Parson after his speech.

He talked about law enforcement in a confusing way, said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield. It was nice to hear the conversation that he had, but we all know that he also signed SAPA into law, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which actually does defund the police.

She was referring to a provision in the 2021 law that subjects local police to $50,000 fines if they are in violation of the law.

The governor is in a strong position to do many great things. But too often in the past, he has let Missouri down, Quade said. Were excited to look at the budget hes put forward. And I know that there are many things that the Democrats have been fighting for and asking for for a very, very long time that were hoping well be able to get funded this year.

Kurt Erickson and Grace Zokovitch of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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JEFFERSON CITY  Hospitals and nursing homes in Missouri would lose some of their ability to restrict visitors during a pandemic under legislation being considered in the Legislature.

Republican lawmakers have introduced at least four proposals designed to address concerns that patients and elderly residents lost valuable contact with their loved ones when the spread of COVID-19 triggered prohibitions on visitors.

Isolation kills. Human beings were created by God to interact with each other, said Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson. Only God can determine life or death.

Hospitals and nursing homes are against the changes, saying they need to have the ability to control what goes on inside their doors.

The push mirrors ongoing Republican attempts to end mask mandates, vaccination requirements and business closures and comes as hospitals across the state are again limiting visitors in response to the ongoing surge of cases.

At St. Lukes Hospital in Chesterfield, for example, patients are allowed one visitor per day in most circumstances. Exceptions are made in end-of-life situations. Two visitors per stay are allowed in obstetrics, labor and delivery, nursery, special care nursery and pediatrics.

BJC HealthCare, SSM Health and Mercy announced similar restrictions in December.

Democrats argued that now is not the time to increase risks at health care facilities.

We have to take in the strong reality right now that we have nursing shortages, said Rep. Michael Burton, D-Lakeshire.

I worry we are encouraging the spread of communicable disease, said Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City.

Seitz is sponsoring House Bill 2097, the No Patient Left Behind Act, which would require hospitals to allow patients to have visitors at any time. The proposed law also prohibits long-term care facilities from adopting policies during a health emergency that prevent family members, caregivers or public administrators from visiting residents.

Rep. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, wants to create the No Patient Left Alone Act. House Bill 2116 would require health care facilities to allow at least one person to be with the patient at all times during the patients stay in the hospital. It also would prohibit a hospital from requiring patients to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as a prerequisite to receive treatment or to have visitors.

Rep. Mitch Boggs, R-LaRussell, has introduced House Bill 1690, which would prohibit hospitals and certain health care facilities from instituting policies that limit patients abilities to be visited by designated family members or friends during any hospitalization or treatment that lasts for a period exceeding 24 hours, including during a public health emergency as outlined in the bill.

And, Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, is sponsoring House Bill 2221, which would require health care facilities allow essential caregivers, as designated by patient family members, to conduct in-person visits with patients, and prevents long-term care facilities from adopting policies in response to an outbreak of a contagious illness.

Were not putting people in prison because they are sick, Lewis said.

The bills, which were discussed in a House committee Wednesday, come as visitation policies at hospitals and long-term care facilities again are being adjusted to deal with a surge of patients.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force said Tuesday that the seven-day average of new hospital admissions fell to 210 a day, from 219 on Saturday. It did not issue an update on Wednesday.

But doctors said its too soon to celebrate. Patients still at times are staying overnight, or even for multiple days in emergency rooms, waiting for care, said BJC Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Clay Dunagan, who co-leads the Task Force. Hospitals are unable to take as many patient transfers from outside the region.

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JEFFERSON CITY  A Branson Republican refused to apologize for calling COVID-19 the Chinese virus after a fellow GOP lawmaker called on him to retract the remarks.

Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, on Wednesday urged Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, to apologize for his use of the term during floor debate last March. The comments prompted a complaint to House human resources from Rep. Emily Weber, D-Kansas City, one of the only Asian American members of the Legislature.

In the spirit of your bill, Im wondering if you would be willing to apologize for your past remarks concerning the quote-unquote China virus, Dogan asked Seitz during a House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee hearing.

Seitz was presenting his House Bill 1669, which deals with public school lessons on gender, sexuality and race.

Among its provisions, the legislation states educators may not teach that an individual, by virtue of the individuals race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.

I dont think that has anything to do with the scope of this bill, Seitz told Dogan regarding his past comments.

But Dogan disagreed.

What youre saying in this bill is that we shouldnt be holding individuals responsible for actions committed by other people, but when you use that rhetoric, whether intentionally or not, thats how people perceive it  is that Chinese people are responsible for the spread of that virus, Dogan said.

Dogan referred to a spike in anti-Asian hate after former President Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as the China virus.

OK, I appreciate that, and Ill take your comments under consideration, Seitz said.

But that wasnt good enough for Dogan, who is running against County Executive Sam Page, a Democrat, for St. Louis Countys top job. He is also the only Black Republican in the Legislature.

Can you apologize for that, though? Dogan asked, mentioning a recent racist voicemail a viewer left KSDK (Channel 5) reporter Michelle Li, calling her very Asian and telling her to keep her Korean to herself.

Thats in line with all this kind of anti-Asian sentiment thats been going around in this country, Dogan said. I think a lot of it is because of the way unfortunately the president (Trump) and some other folks talked about the China virus.

Li, in the piece, mentioned New Years Day dishes such as cornbread and black-eyed peas and how they symbolize good luck. She said a lot of Koreans ate dumpling soup.

For the record, I love dumplings, I love black-eyed peas and I love cornbread, Seitz said.

When speaking of the point of origin for a pandemic, China is a country, he said. And I appreciate that. The Spanish flu is such. The Spanish flu  we are not denigrating Spanish people.

Thats the way people talked 100 years ago, Dogan said. Why would you not just refer to it as the coronavirus? This is what everyone else refers to it as.

Whats so bad about just referring to it as the coronavirus and not the China virus when those words are perceived as insulting, when people act on those words and theres an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans in our country? he asked.

Just take it back, man, Dogan said. How hard is that?

I think its very important to point out the point of origin, Seitz said.

When you dont apologize for that you have no credibility talking about racial issues and saying you want everybody to unanimously support this bill, Dogan said, raising his voice. Youre not going to get that if you dont stop what you did before.

A clip of the exchange posted by Heartland Signal, the newsroom for Chicago-based WCPT (820 AM), was shared hundreds of times on Twitter as of Thursday.

Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters, sat next to Dogan as he grilled Seitz.

I think that its best that legislators confine their inquiries to the substance of the bills before them, at least in the formal hearing setting, he said.

Christofanelli agreed with Dogan that people should refer to the virus in the scientific way.

The appropriate way to refer to the coronavirus is the scientific way that its referred to, which is COVID-19 or coronavirus, which is not to say that we shouldnt be critical of how the Chinese government handled the response to the virus, he said.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, praised Dogan for pushing the issue.

As elected officials, we need to be serving and communicating with the highest level of respect, and thats something that isnt always done here, Quade said. And so I am thankful for Rep. Dogan calling that out and asking for that apology.

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ST. LOUIS  If you asked Ben Polson what he did for a living, he likely would have said, Im just a firefighter. Im a St. Louis city firefighter, just like my dad, St. Louis fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told hundreds gathered Thursday at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

Jenkerson spoke to a sea of St. Louis Fire Department dress blues that filled the center pews, while family, friends and mourners packed the church to near its 1,500-seat capacity for Polsons funeral.

Being just a firefighter meant Polson worked long shifts on holidays, weekends, birthdays and anniversaries, Jenkerson told the crowd. He responded to each call and put the health and safety of others above himself.

And on Jan. 13, being a firefighter meant Polson lost his life while searching for survivors in a derelict building at 5971 Cote Brilliante Avenue. He was on the second floor when the top story collapsed, burying him. Polson was the first St. Louis firefighter to die of injuries suffered while actively battling a fire since 2002.

Ben was willing to take a chance, willing to take a risk, often only a brick, bent nail or burned stairwell separating him from eternity, Jenkerson said. Remember, Benjamin Polson was just a firefighter.

In eulogies, St. Louis Fire Department leaders outlined Polsons unconventional life path, earning an economics degree, an MBA and a law degree before he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, retired St. Louis fire Capt. James Polson, when he joined the fire academy in 2019.

Raised in south St. Louis, Polson attended St. Raphael the Archangel elementary school where his mother, Sue Polson, is a teacher. He graduated from St. John Vianney High School.

Before Jenkerson was Polsons chief, he coached Polsons childhood hockey team. Jenkerson is a longtime friend of Polsons father, and he grew emotional as he remembered Polson making his pledge of service to the fire department.

The chief said Polsons resume and personality showed he could have thrived in whichever career path he wanted, but he chose to help others.

Deputy Chief Ken Smith, who oversaw Polsons shift and also is a longtime family friend, said after Polson graduated from the academy, he asked specifically to work in one of the citys busiest engine houses and was placed on truck 13c, based in Hamilton Heights.

Smith said firefighters respond on the worst day of many other peoples lives, but last week, the tragedy struck home.

Bens company did nothing wrong, he said. In fact, I saw more true acts of bravery at that fire than any other fire Ive been to in more than 43 years of service. In one of my most saddest moments, it was also one of my proudest moments watching firefighters under my command work to save another brother.

Polsons sister, Rebecca Slay, said her brother was her closest friend, the man of honor in her wedding and had lived with her as he went through the fire academy.

When he finally moved out, I cried even though he was only moving five minutes away, she said, adding: Im a better person because Ben was part of my life, and Ill miss him forever.

Polsons remains were buried Thursday at Resurrection Cemetery at 6901 Mackenzie Road.

Katie Kull of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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ST. LOUIS  The FBI in 2018 opened an investigation into NorthSide Regeneration and its real estate deals involving a now-lapsed Missouri tax credit program that funneled more than $40 million in credits to the developer and companies associated with it, documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch confirm.

FBI agents focused on allegations that NorthSide and other companies were involved in fraud in the form of paper-only real estate transactions designed to manipulate Missouris tax credit system for profit, according to a March 2018 synopsis of the investigation.

The Post-Dispatch previously said that federal investigators appeared to be scrutinizing NorthSides use of the tax credit program, reporting an FBI agent attended a 2018 trial involving the developers real estate transactions and quoting a property owner who said agents asked him about a failed deal with NorthSide.

But the documents, released under a federal Freedom of Information Act request and then obtained by the Post-Dispatch late last year, provide a clearer understanding of the investigation and confirm one of the targets was NorthSide Regeneration, led by developer Paul McKee and represented by attorneys at Stone, Leyton and Gershman.

The report includes details on multiple interviews conducted by FBI agents, including one with a representative from the real estate arm of the Archdiocese of St. Louis that inked one of the final tax credit deals with NorthSide Regeneration.

Details on some of NorthSides paper-only transactions came out in a 2018 eminent domain trial for one of those properties, which was transferred to NorthSide to net the developer tax credits but was later deeded back to the original owner once the city needed to buy it to assemble a site for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

After those details emerged, St. Louis officials terminated their 2009 development agreement with NorthSide Regeneration. But members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen have continued to work with the developer. In 2019, they approved up to $6.4 million in city incentives for a 19-bed health center set to open this spring on the site of the former Pruitt-Igoe housing complex.

The Post-Dispatch has documented other instances of transactions in which NorthSide put no money down and used seller-financing to acquire real estate  essentially writing an IOU and transferring the ownership on paper  in order to collect millions of dollars worth of state tax credits under the former Distressed Area Land Assemblage program.

One of those deals involved a company partially owned by Steve Stone, NorthSides longtime attorney, who helped write the Distressed Area state tax credit legislation. Another involved fellow developers McKee had worked with in the past  Larry Chapman and Bob Clark, who owned the downtown Bottle District before transferring it to NorthSide and triggering $9 million in state tax credits. Another involved a north St. Louis factory that was later deeded back to the original owner after NorthSide collected $2.5 million in tax credits for the purported sale.

In all, at least a quarter of the $43 million in state tax credits provided to NorthSide under the program  nearly all of the $47 million the state ultimately awarded before the program ended in 2013  were disbursed through seller-financed transactions.

Statute of limitations

The release of the documents indicates the investigation is closed, said attorney Neil Bruntrager, who has handled dozens of criminal cases in federal court. The Justice Department can refuse to admit the existence of an ongoing investigation, he said, so if they are acknowledging the existence and providing reports, the reasonable conclusion is that the investigation is ended.

The documents do not include any FBI interviews after August 2018. An FBI spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

An assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri was briefed in 2018 on the case and agreed to bring wire fraud charges if the evidence warranted, according to the documents.

The statute of limitations for wire fraud is five years unless it involves a financial institution. Most of the transactions in the FBI report occurred in 2012 or earlier  more than five years before the investigation was opened.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitts office already settled a state tax credit lawsuit brought by his predecessor against NorthSide, dropping all future claims in exchange for a $324,000 payment from NorthSide.

In response to questions about the federal investigation sent to McKee and Stone, attorney Paul Puricelli with Stone, Leyton and Gershman said they didnt know whether the federal investigation was still open and that they were surprised by the newspapers interest in these stale issues.

Puricelli said the FBI did not subpoena or interview McKee, NorthSide or other affiliated companies.

The FBI report, however, does indicate at least one grand jury subpoena was issued in March 2018, though the identity of the person or company is redacted. It says a lawyer for the entity requested a meeting after the subpoena was issued, which an FBI agent and an assistant U.S. attorney attended.

Among the deals included in the report was NorthSides acquisition of the Elkay manufacturing building on North 15th Street. NorthSide obtained nearly $2.5 million in tax credits from the state on a transaction valued at some $4.9 million  well above the $75,000 the prior owners paid for the building in the 80s. After obtaining the tax credits, NorthSide deeded the property back, prior owner Rick Pierce previously told the Post-Dispatch.

Another deal in the report appears to be the former Buster Brown building at Jefferson and Cass avenues, which the city had to acquire through eminent domain when its owner, Jim Osher, could not come to an agreement to sell. The city demolished the structure for the NGA project.

It was that 2018 eminent domain litigation that ultimately led to the discovery of the NorthSide real estate transactions under scrutiny. The city wanted to pay $810,000 for the building. Osher pointed to his 2011 transaction with NorthSide to argue for more. But that seller-financed transaction, for a paper value of $3.75 million without real money changing hands, was later unwound when the city wanted to buy the building for the NGA. The state later flagged the transaction and sought to claw back the tax credits.

Companies connected to Osher were also listed as targets in the investigation. One of the FBI interviews appears to be with Osher.

Reached by phone this week, Osher  who in 2017 ran for St. Louis mayor as a Republican  confirmed he met with the FBI.

I told them everything they wanted to know, he said.

Osher had split the proceeds of the tax credits with NorthSide on the transaction.

All the money I got from Paul McKee, all of it plus way, way, way more, was reinvested into the city, Osher said. All the moneys been reinvested into the city and thats exactly what the money was supposed to do, is to reinvest.

Asked if he thought the investigation was ongoing, Osher said no.

I think its done because of the statute of limitations, he said.

He said he heard that from an attorney but couldnt recall who the lawyer was working for.

There is no indication in the report that the FBI looked at the deal for the Bottle District  land that has recently been back in the news.

Though its owned by NorthSide Regeneration, Bob Clark of Clayco in September indicated he could donate the land to the city for a redesigned convention center. He made the comments during a last-minute lobbying campaign against the long-planned expansion of Americas Center.

The companies registered to Larry Chapman that transferred the Bottle District to NorthSide for no money down in a seller-financed deal  triggering hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax credits for brokerage fees and interest  still appear to hold liens on the property.

Chapman said this week that it wouldnt be a problem to transfer some Bottle District land if it was going to be part of a redesigned convention center.

We always did all that in partnership with Paul, Chapman said. Hes our partner in NorthPark, and we were going to help make that develop no matter what, so we could always do that.

Chapman said he was never contacted by federal investigators about the tax credit transactions.

Puricelli, the NorthSide lawyer, said NorthSide is under contract to sell the Bottle District and intends to do so.

Archdiocesan loan

Most of the FBI documents relate to NorthSide real estate deals the Post-Dispatch has already reported on. But there are some new details on one of the last transactions to trigger Distressed Area tax credits  a deal Northside made with the Archdiocese.

The transaction for the former St. Patrick Catholic Church on Cole Street was completed just weeks before the August 2013 sunset of the Distressed Area program. The sale of the church building, reported to the state as worth $995,000, triggered $497,500 in state tax credits for NorthSide.

The representative from the Archdiocese real estate company told the FBI that NorthSide put $200,000 as a down payment on the land and the church was not offered any portion of tax rebates.

The July 30, 2013, note NorthSide made out to the Archdiocese, though, says that once NorthSide received the state tax credits, it would pay $200,000 to the Archdiocese property company, St. Louis City Catholic Church Real Estate Corporation.

Much of the initial payment for the church was financed by one of Chapmans Bottle Works companies, which lent NorthSide $110,000 for the down payment.

In the 2018 interview with the FBI, the church real estate representative said the company agreed to the terms of the deal because it had been difficult to sell the building. NorthSide was supposed to pay off the building in 2016. It asked for a two-year extension, to August 2018.

Puricelli, NorthSides lawyer, said the Archdiocese has extended the note a few times and NorthSide is current on the loan. The developer owes just $311,000 from the original $885,000 note.

The church building is now leased to Grace Missionary Baptist Church, led by pastor Jonathan Davis.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese said it defers to buyers on whether to divulge details on transactions.

To our knowledge, she said, no Church representatives have been subpoenaed in relation to this investigation.

Originally posted at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 13.

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The question President Joe Biden asked this week regarding Republicans  What do they stand for?  is a valid and pressing one. The GOP once stood for smaller government that lets local political officials lead. Americans deserve to know how Republicans reconcile that position with, for example, state officials telling local officials they cant set their own pandemic safety policies, and whether Republicans still stand for fiscal responsibility.

Americans will be paying the debt for years from GOP tax cuts that did little but to make the rich richer. The GOPs one-time stand for law and order contrasts with continuing efforts to downplay a violent attack on the seat of government and continuing to support the lawless ex-president who fomented it.

America needs two parties with clearly articulated goals. Right now, it has just one.

If Bidens frequently defensive press conference on Wednesday wasnt his finest moment, one statement he made regarding his stalled agenda did get to the heart of a key problem with Americas political system today. I did not anticipate that thered be such a stalwart effort to  make sure that President Biden didnt get anything done, Biden said, then asked: What are Republicans for?

During the Reagan era, the GOP was considered the party of ideas. Its more fitting nickname today is the party of No. Lockstep Republican opposition to, for example, Bidens infrastructure package is sadly ironic from the party of Dwight Eisenhower, who gave America the interstate highway system. GOP opposition to voting rights legislation betrays a legacy that included working with northern Democrats in the 1960s to pass landmark civil rights and voting rights acts.

Not so long ago, conservatives fancied themselves clear-eyed realists who hewed to facts and expertise. Nonsense like the anti-vaccination movement was for starry-eyed, back-to-nature leftists who saw the world as they wanted it to be rather than as it was.

Today, Republican leaders around America, including Missouri, pander to those who reject science with such fervor that its filling hospitals past capacity. In Florida and Texas, putatively conservative Republicans prohibit businesses from setting their own pandemic safety rules for employees  committing what was once the cardinal conservative sin of government meddling in free enterprise  while in Missouri, state Attorney General Eric Schmitt attempts to replace the judgment of local school boards with his own centralized-government edict against mask requirements.

You dont have to agree with Democrats goals to clearly understand what they are: social equity, government support for the vulnerable, a science-based approach to the pandemic, easy access to the ballot. Other than cutting taxes and overturning Roe v. Wade, theres no such clarity on the GOPs agenda today.

A vibrant democracy needs its liberal and conservative elements debating policy and seeking consensus where they can. To have one party defined almost entirely by political nihilism is bad for both parties  and for the country.
Regarding New program hopes to draw more Afghan refugees to St. Louis (Jan. 13): I applaud the efforts of local community groups and businesses such as the International Institute and Schnucks Markets for initiating a program to ease the transition of the hundreds of Afghan refugees who will be making St. Louis their home. Government action, however, is also required.

In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rapid influx of refugees resulted in Afghans being admitted under a program known as humanitarian parole, which is a temporary fix allowing only the possibility of work permits for two years. While Afghans can apply for asylum, that process is backlogged and can take years to pursue. A solution, which lies in the hands of Congress, is passage of an Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide permanent legal status for Afghan refugees. This type of legislation has been enacted in the past on behalf of Cubans fleeing Fidel Castros regime and those departing South Vietnam upon its fall.

Legal status made it possible for these refugees to find work, establish roots, and become part of their new American communities. Sens. Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley and Reps. Ann Wagner and Cori Bush should support an Afghan Adjustment Act to make it easier for these refugees, many of whom assisted our military in Afghanistan, to establish a life in this country.

Greg Campbell  Creve Coeur
Just three days after he finished documenting Epik Highs concert at Coachella, photographer-musician Isne Bobo Nuyent was back home in Los Angeles doing a Zoom interview to promote his latest pop-punk single No More Talking (https://streamlink.to/nomoretalking). The Vietnamese American artist spent two months on the road with the hip-hop trio, photographing them nightly and creating short videos of their daily events to share with the groups fans. And after weeks of getting an average of four hours of sleep per night, he said hes looking forward to resting a bit and hanging out with his parents and sister.
FILE PHOTO: The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File Photo

By Laura Sanicola

(Reuters) -Oil prices settled higher on Wednesday after a fire on a pipeline from Iraq to Turkey briefly stopped flows, increasing concerns about an already tight short-term supply outlook.

Flows have resumed through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline that carries crude from northern Iraq, the second-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export.

The explosion that set off the fire on the pipeline in the southeastern Turkish province was caused by a falling power pylon, not an attack, a senior security source said.

Supply concerns mounted this week after Yemen's Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates, OPEC's third-largest producer, while Russia, the world's second-largest oil producer, has built up a large troop presence near Ukraine's border, stoking fears of invasion.

Brent crude futures settled up 93 cents, or 1.1%, at $88.44 a barrel. The global benchmark earlier touched $89.13, its highest level since Oct. 13, 2014.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up $1.53 at $86.96 a barrel, its highest level since Oct. 9, 2014.

"While $90 could have triggered some profit-taking and a minor cooling of prices, this suggests they'll see no reprieve and we could realistically see $100 oil soon," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

OPEC officials and analysts say that an oil rally may continue in the next few months and prices could top $100 a barrel due to recovering demand despite the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

"Any way that the numbers are crunched, it appears that

global inventory will continue to draw for a few more months with this implied tightening in the balances keeping this bull alive through the rest of this month and most of next," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois.

OPEC+, which groups the cartel with Russia and other producers, is struggling to hit their monthly output increase target of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).

"Unplanned outages in Libya, Ecuador, and Kazakhstan, coupled with downgrades to U.S., Russia, and Brazil forecasts, together result in 1 million bpd lower supply this month than previously forecasted," Rystad Energy's senior oil markets analyst, Louise Dickson, said.

The International Energy Agency, however, said the oil market was due to flip into surplus in the first quarter as some producers are set to pump at or above all-time highs. [IEA/M]

An oil surplus should also lead to a build-up in inventories, as the IEA reported that commercial stocks in OECD countries were well below pre-pandemic levels at around seven-year lows.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden told a news conference https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-address-skeptics-presidency-nears-one-year-mark-wednesday-2022-01-19 he will work to try to increase oil supplies.

The administration authorized the release of 50 million barrels of crude oil https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-release-50-mln-barrels-oil-emergency-reserve-white-house-2021-11-23 - in a mix of loans and sales - from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve last year when prices spiked.

U.S. crude and gasoline stocks rose while distillate inventories fell last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday.

Crude stocks rose by 1.4 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 14. Gasoline inventories rose by 3.5 million barrels while distillate stocks fell by 1.2 million barrels, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(Reporting by Laura Sanicola in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Rowena Edwards, Noah Browning and Sonali PaulEditing by David Gregorio and Matthew Lewis)
International Alliance renames to reflect its commitment to the energy evolution as it continues to serve its members need of discovering, developing and delivering global mainstay, low-carbon and alternative energy needs

HOUSTON, Jan. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Association of Geophysical Contractors (IAGC) proudly revealed its new name, EnerGeo Alliance (EnerGeo) today. Uniting the energy and geoscience industries, the name change conveys a recharged and ongoing commitment to providing solutions for the energy evolution as its members continue to discover, develop, and deliver the mainstay, low-carbon and alternative energy the world demands. EnerGeo and its members help countries meet their energy needs and progress to the next step of their energy evolution.

EnerGeo Alliance will continue representing its members across 50 countries, bringing unmatched global expertise and knowledge to the industry by guiding informed policy decisions on the process of energy exploration, operations, and production. As a trusted leader in science-based regulatory information and advocacy for energy companies and energy explorers, as well as the governments that regulate them, EnerGeo is positioned as the voice of the energy geoscience industry through its regional and global structures.

This pivotal time period in the global energy evolution marks a need for change and an opportunity for us to become the EnerGeo Alliance, Nikki Martin, President of the EnerGeo Alliance said. This new name reflects our commitment to delivering solutions at a critical time in history with higher energy demands from growing economies and evolving energy standards from developed nations pushing this transformation forward.

Alongside the EnerGeo Alliance name, the organization now boasts a new member category of Regional Industry Partners, in addition to Professional Services; Entrepreneur; and Individual Consultant that were announced late last year to further promote the broader energy geoscience industry. The expansion of EnerGeos offering sets goals for accelerating value within the industry by generating new investment opportunities  including low-carbon solutions  and additional scientific, technical, and legal analysis to support member operations.

We are excited to expand upon our organizations deep history of providing reliable global advocacy and resources for our dedicated members, Martin added. As the world continues to evolve, the EnerGeo Alliance will maintain its mission of raising the energy geoscience industrys visibility as an irreplaceable partner in the energy evolution and leading the way for the safe exploration and development of a wide range of environmentally responsible energies ranging from low-carbon to hydrocarbons.

About the EnerGeo Alliance

Founded in 1971, the EnerGeo Alliance is a global trade association for the energy geoscience industry, the intersection where earth science and energy meet. Providing solutions to revolutionize the energy evolution, the EnerGeo Alliance and its member companies span more than 50 countries, representing onshore and offshore survey operators and acquisition companies, energy data and processing providers, energy companies, equipment and software manufacturers, industry suppliers, service providers, and consultancies. Together, our member companies unify to open the gateway to the safe discovery, development and delivery of mainstay sources of energy, alternative energy and low-carbon energy solutions that meet our growing worlds needs.

Media Contact

Gail Adams

EnerGeo Alliance, VP of Communications & External Affairs

[email protected]

O: 713-957-8080

M: 281-702-4201
OXFORD, United Kingdom, Jan. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Terrestrial Energy has appointed a senior nuclear industry executive as Managing Director of UK operations as the company advances its new nuclear technology.



Michael Drury joins the company from the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), where he led the business development function for New Build and Advanced Nuclear Technologies, including Small Modular Reactors and Advanced Modular Reactors.

The appointment comes as Terrestrial Energy moves forward with the development and commercialization of its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) Generation IV nuclear technology in the UK.

Mr Drury has extensive experience of strategy and execution at the intersection of industry and government in the nuclear industry at both NNL and previously at Nuvia.

Simon Irish, CEO of Terrestrial Energy said: Terrestrial Energys North American developments are moving its Generation IV nuclear power plant towards near term deployment, and we recognize that IMSR technology is an ideal nuclear technology innovation for the UK, especially at a time of escalating energy and power prices. We are delighted that Michael has joined Terrestrial Energy to lead the companys UK business development as interest in new nuclear innovation gathers pace. He brings a unique and deep understanding of the UKs energy policy framework and its vibrant nuclear sector.

Michael Drury, UK Managing Director of Terrestrial Energy said: Through its Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, the UK is committed to new nuclear technology and innovation to deliver Net Zero goals. This creates an exciting market opportunity for Terrestrial Energys Generation IV power plant. IMSR technology is an ideal fit as it produces clean electricity 50 percent more efficiently than conventional nuclear technology. Its high-quality heat gives a multi-use industrial case that includes cost-effective green-hydrogen production. I look forward to accelerating the companys UK plans and commencing programmes for site identification, regulatory engagement, and supply chain development including national laboratory and university testing of major components.

About Terrestrial Energy

Terrestrial Energy is a developer of small and modular nuclear power plants that use its proprietary Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology. The IMSR is a non-Light Water Reactor that uses Generation IV technology to generate electricity 50 percent more efficiently than conventional nuclear reactor technology. The IMSR represents a step-change improvement in economics, versatility and functionality of nuclear power plants that is possible only through Generation IV technology. IMSR power plants will provide resilient, reliable, dispatchable, zero-carbon and cost-competitive electric power, as well as high-grade industrial heat for use in many industrial applications, such as chemical synthesis, hydrogen production and desalination, and in so doing extend the application of nuclear energy far beyond electric power markets. IMSR power plants have the potential to make important contributions to industrial competitiveness, energy security, and economic growth. Their deployment will support rapid global decarbonization of the primary energy system by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad spectrum and can scale to meet net-zero policy goals of major industrial economies. Using an innovative design, and proven and demonstrated molten salt reactor technology, Terrestrial Energy is engaged with regulators and industrial partners to complete IMSR engineering and to commission the first IMSR power plants within a decade.

Website: www.terrestrialenergy.com

E-mail: [email protected]
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 18, 2022) - Deveron Corp. (TSXV: FARM) ("Deveron" or the "Company"), a leading agriculture digital services and insights provider in North America, is pleased to announce the Company has signed a $750,000 enterprise contract with a carbon credit-focused investment company, Generic Carbon Credit Corp. ("Generic"). The contract provides the client access to Deveron's new scalable and streamlined platform for collecting, analyzing, and sharing in-field soil carbon data. Additionally, Deveron will work with Generic to create, certify and invest in Canadian carbon credits.

"Deveron has invested significantly in our digital ecosystem and boots on the ground network to create a vertically integrated soil carbon data solution. This network uniquely positions Deveron to act as an intermediary between buyers of carbon credits and the aggregated growers, allowing for buyers to acquire any volume of credits to match their ESG needs," said David MacMillan, Deveron's President and CEO.

This is the fifth enterprise contract signed to use Deveron's carbon services platform since its launch in Q3/2021. It is the first to include the purchase of credits directly from the Company. The platform eliminates significant impediments to the accurate measurement of carbon sequestration in agricultural land and is a key enabler for creating reliable and credible carbon credits. The platform is built on three key principles highlighted below:

Leverage Deveron's growing network of trained and dedicated soil technicians across North America, thus ensuring consistency of sampling

Provide single chain of custody from the farm to the lab to the client in a digital platform

Ensure soil data integrity via best-in-class data security

To find out more about our carbon platform, visit: https://deveron.com/carbon/ .

The Company also announces that it has granted 1,600,000 options to purchase common shares in the Company exercisable at a price of $0.75 per common share and expiring on January 18, 2028 to officers and employees of the Company. The options vest equally over a three year period. The common shares issuable upon exercise of the options are subject to a four month hold period from the original date of grant.

About Deveron: Deveron is an agriculture technology company that uses data and insights to help farmers and large agriculture enterprises increase yields, reduce costs and improve farm outcomes. The company employs a digital process that leverages data collected on farms across North America to drive unbiased interpretation of production decisions, ultimately recommending how to optimize input use. Our team of agronomists and data scientists build products that recommend ways to better manage fertilizer, seed, fungicide, and other farm inputs. Additionally, we have a national network of data technicians that are deployed to collect various types of farm data, from soil to drone. Our geographic focus is the US and Canada where 1 billion acres are actively farmed annually.

For more information, please visit www.deveron.com .

David MacMillan

President & CEO Deveron Corp.

416-367-4571 ext. 221

[email protected]

"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXVenture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under Canadian securities laws. Without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking statements that involve various degrees of risk. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current views with respect to possible future events and conditions and, by their nature, are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to the Company. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements. The following are important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: changes in the worldwide price of agricultural commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in agriculture, the uncertainty of future profitability and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. Additional information regarding the material factors and assumptions that were applied in making these forward-looking statements as well as the various risks and uncertainties we face are described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of our annual and interim Management's Discussion and Analysis of our financial results and other continuous disclosure documents and financial statements we file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. The Company relies on litigation protection for forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/110555
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CLEVELAND, Ohio (Tribune News Service)  A team of 20 U.S. Air Force medical personnel arrived at the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday morning to assist with the health systems coronavirus response.

The group includes nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists, according to a statement from the Clinic. They will help support the Clinic amid an increase in coronavirus hospitalizations in Ohio and across the U.S.

While COVID-19 cases have begun to decline in Cleveland, we still have a high volume of COVID-19 patients and this will also allow us to accept more transfers and better serve our community and region, a clinic spokeswoman said in the statement.

The Air Force medical personnel will go through an orientation process and begin working in the next few days, the statement says.

President Joe Biden last week announced that the federal government would dispatch the military medical personnel to the Clinic, as well as other hospitals across the U.S.

2022 Advance Local Media LLC.

Visit cleveland.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The military has reiterated an appeal for information on the whereabouts of a Fort Bliss soldier who went missing 18 months ago.

Despite numerous searches and intensive investigative efforts since then, investigators have yet to uncover any credible information regarding the disappearance of Pvt. Richard Halliday, a statement said Wednesday.

The 22-year-old was last seen at the Texas base on July 23, 2020, shortly after being disciplined by his unit  the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command  for violating orders, according to military officials and Hallidays family.

Search efforts to date have included 240 interviews, 70 subpoenas and examinations of financial institutions, email accounts, phone numbers and social media accounts associated with the soldier, the military said.

Since assuming control of this investigation, U.S. Army (Criminal Investigation Division) has pursued all credible information, Wednesdays statement said, adding that 15 federal, state and local agencies are continuing the search.

We remind our community and anyone who receives this message that they can help us find Pvt. Halliday, it said.

A reward of $25,000 is being offered for credible information about Hallidays disappearance. A forensic examination of the soldiers barracks room showed no signs of foul play or suspicious activity.

Its still unclear how Halliday went missing in 2020. In November of that year, the Army declared him in a missing duty status.

Halliday, who is 5 feet, 9 inches and weighed 162 pounds when he went missing, enlisted in the Army in April 2019. After initial entry training at Fort Sill, Okla., he reported to Fort Bliss, where he was assigned to D Battery, 1-43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air Missile Defense Command.

Any information on Hallidays whereabouts can be reported anonymously by phone at 1-915-586-1700 or online at www.cid.army.mil.

A previous version of this story incorrectly said Fort Bliss officials had contended Halliday left the base on his own and considered him a deserter.
AIKEN, S.C. (Tribune News Service)  A cutting-edge complex the South Carolina National Guard hopes to erect in Aiken County could prove to be the state's cybersecurity locus, with military officials and lawmakers recently underlining just how important the pursuit is.

The guard's multimillion-dollar Readiness Center, DreamPort and associated facilities, to be built on the USC Aiken campus, "will be a portal into the entire cyber enterprise of South Carolina," Maj. Gen. Brad Owens said in Statehouse testimony Wednesday.

A relationship with Battelle Savannah River Alliance, the Savannah River National Laboratory management team, will be leveraged, Owens suggested, as will connections with technical colleges and other players.

BSRA is led by Battelle and includes, on this side of the river, South Carolina, S.C. State and Clemson universities. The lab, itself, has a burgeoning cyber portfolio.

The guard's compound would sit on 18 acres at USCA, documents published by a state panel show. The land would be leased for 50 years, with automatic 20-year renewals after that.

The Readiness Center, some 43,000 square-feet, would support training and logistics for two S.C. National Guard units. The DreamPort  similar to the Georgia Cyber Center in Augusta  would be home to classrooms, testing and training spaces, and a secure area, where more clandestine operations could take place. The DreamPort would cover 25,000 square feet.

Construction of the DreamPort has been teased for 2024. Before that, the target was 2022. A memorandum of understanding was signed around this time last year.

Owens in a previous interview described Aiken County as a soon-to-be cyber hotbed: "You're bringing world-class talent together in a collaborative way that nobody else can compete with," the general said in October 2021. "It's all going to converge right here."

USCA has established itself as a cyber force, most recently partnering with a premier cybersecurity institute to expand educational offerings. And the university is about 40 minutes away from Fort Gordon, the Army's cyber center of excellence, providing it what local officials call "the power of proximity."

USCA Chancellor Dr. Daniel Heimmermann in a Wednesday statement said the university "continues to value our partnership with the South Carolina National Guard and looks forward to having the Cybersecurity DreamPort and Readiness Center on campus." The project complements a range of university efforts, he added, including "the Department of Energy's $50 million Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, also to be built on USC Aiken's campus."

In response to remarks made by Owens, state Rep. Murrell Smith said cybersecurity "is a big issue. It is what we're seeing a lot of universities and technical colleges, and even some high schools, are trying to start training people, which we need." The Sumter Republican urged Owens to think holistically and include the entire Palmetto State, "because whatever corner of the state I go to, I hear people talking about that."

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster in February 2021 kicked off in-depth review of the state's cyber capabilities and climate. Later, the governor spoke at a virtual U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference and told attendees the Palmetto State was primed for cybersecurity investments.

"I think," he said at the time, "South Carolina is positioned to be enormously competitive."

McMaster last month recommended $9.8 million of the state's Savannah River Site plutonium money be applied to the DreamPort project. He further suggested $15 million be spent to bolster cyber infrastructure in North Augusta, a suburb of Fort Gordon, according to its mayor.

(c)2022 the Aiken Standard (Aiken, S.C.)

Visit the Aiken Standard (Aiken, S.C.) at www.aikenstandard.com

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FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii  The Marine Corps will deactivate the Hawaii-based Island Warriors on Friday, casing the colors of a battalion that fought in World War II, the Vietnam War and the Global War on Terrorism.

The storied 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment is slated to deactivate during a ceremony at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

The lineage of 2/3 includes many years of watchful peace, and some of the toughest and bloodiest battles in our history, Lt. Gen. James Bierman, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, wrote in a memo to the battalion on Jan. 14.

This deactivation brings up understandable feelings of fierce pride and loss in all who have served in the battalion, Bierman wrote.

The deactivation is part of a Corps-wide restructuring under Force Design 2030, which is revamping the service into the lean, island-hopping force it was in the Pacific theater during World War II.

The battalion was originally activated in May 1942, just five months after the Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii that led to Americas declaration of war on Japan and Germany.

Its troops were on the front lines of some of the most ferocious battles of the Pacific, including the Solomon Islands, Guam and Iwo Jima.

Pfc. Leonard Mason was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Guam on July 22, 1944.

An automatic rifleman, the 24-year-old Marine was credited with saving the lives of his platoon mates by single-handedly clearing out two enemy machine-gun nests while mortally wounded.

With valiant disregard for his own peril, he persevered, clearing out the hostile position, killing 5 Japanese, wounding another and then rejoining his platoon to report the results of his action before consenting to be evacuated, the award citation reads.

The battalion was deactivated in 1945 for six years, followed by more than a decade of noncombat deployments.

The Island Warriors fought in Vietnam from 1965 to 1969, operating out of Danang, Quang Tri and Khe Sanh, among other bases. Three of the battalions Marines were awarded Medals of Honor in separate incidents during that war  all posthumously.

The battalion was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1991, following Iraqs invasion of Kuwait.

It deployed to Afghanistan in 2005-2006, 2009 and 2010-2011 and to Iraq in 2006-2007 and 2008.

Bierman said in the memo that he would forever feel a strong bond with the men and women of the battalion, despite never serving within its ranks, because of its role in Iraq.

In 2007, I deployed with the 1/3 into the Haditha Triad shortly after the Marines and Sailors of the 2/3 broke the back of the enemy insurgency and lifted up the Iraqi people in months of sustained fighting, he wrote.

Bierman described the Island Warriors as one of the finest and most storied battalions currently in the Marine Corps.

There is every likelihood that we have not seen the last of 2/3; it may be the page is only being turned on the latest chapter, he wrote.
HONOLULU (Tribune News Service)  Former Hawaii Attorney General Margery Bronster has paired up with a mainland firm to seek compensation for Navy water users, marking the latest legal action taken in response to the Navy's Red Hill water contamination saga.

Other firms have taken aim at private housing companies, which are easier to sue. Bronster's firm, Bronster Fujichaku Robbins Attorneys at Law, and a mainland personal injury firm, McCune Wright Arevalo, LLP, are taking aim at the Navy itself.

"We are looking forward to fighting the fight," said Bronster during a press conference Wednesday morning.

The Federal Tort Claims Act, which governs legal claims against the federal government, makes it more difficult to sue the federal government. An administrative claim must first be filed with the Navy seeking monetary compensation. Following a decision by the Navy's Judge Advocate General, the claimant then has the option of taking the case to court.

The law firms already have indicated that they do not expect the claims to be treated to their satisfaction and are gearing up for a class-action lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for the Navy said that it was too late on Wednesday afternoon to reach the Washington, D.C., office that handles legal matters for a response. Top Navy officials in recent weeks have indicated that they are already preparing for monetary claims resulting from the water contamination. They have provided to military families and civilians information about the process of filing claims for any personal property loss and began a health registry for military families on the Navy's water system to help track any long-term health effects that may be attributed to the water contamination.

In late November, residents on the Navy's water system in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam began reporting a fuel or chemical odor coming from their taps, as well as health symptoms, such as headaches, rashes, vomiting and diarrhea. The Navy later confirmed that one of its drinking water wells was contaminated with jet fuel, which is believed to have come from its Red Hill fuel facility.

Since then, several thousand military families and an unknown number of nonmilitary residents have been displaced from their homes as the Navy works to clean its pipes and ensure that the water is safe to drink. State health officials have said that the health effects from the water contamination should subside quickly after discontinuing use, but have also cautioned that long-term effects are not fully understood. Long-term, chronic exposure is believed to pose a much greater health risk. The current contamination emergency is believed to have been acute.

Bronster told reporters that the firms have about 14 claimants. However, the firms only provided the Honolulu Star-Advertiser with one of the claims, which was filed on Wednesday. Elisapeta Alaimaleata, a civilian resident, is seeking $1 million for personal injury claims and $39,160 for property damage. She says that her family began detecting a petroleum smell in their water and that she experienced skin rashes, lesions and itching.

Additional claims are being filed on behalf of four other family members, according to a spokesman for the law firms, who said the family is seeking $5 million total.

Alaimaleata's claim says that as civilians, they were not provided with alternative housing until the second week of December.

Just Well Law, a firm based in Texas, is also soliciting clients and held a meeting on Saturday in Waikiki to discuss legal actions against the Navy.

(c)2022 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com

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The term prehistory is generally used to refer to the time in human history when the ancestors of modern man were using stone tools, but writing systems had yet to be invented. With some research suggesting that the earliest humans in Europe could have arrived more than 50,000 years ago, scientists have plenty of ground to cover when exploring this time span. And our knowledge is constantly changing. Breakthroughs in genomics and archaeology have prompted scientists to revisit many commonly held assumptions.

Recent findings suggest, for example, that Neanderthals and modern-day humans coexisted much longer than previously thought, with a time overlap of some 8,000 years, during which they interbred and produced viable offspring. And stone tools recently discovered in Portugal attest to the arrival of modern humans in Europes most western reaches about 5,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Exploring museums, caves and other archaeological sites is a wonderful way to discover more about the way of life and artistic accomplishments of our ancient forebears.

Flemalle, Belgium: In the valley of the Meuse, on the archaeological site of the Ramioul Cave, the expansive Prehistomuseum weaves adventure and culture into one. The museums heart is a Neolithic ossuary and cave that has yielded tools from the Paleolithic period and the remains of ice age species including bears, lions, cave hyenas, wolves, mammoths and others. A second archaeological layer dating as far back as 70,000 BC contains tools characteristic to the Neanderthal. Outside of the buildings preserving these remarkable collections, visitors can set off through a reconstructed ice-steppe with realistic 3-D sculptured images of prehistoric animals and simulate hunting them with a bow, observe some of the earliest plants and animals domesticated by mankind or get lost in a labyrinth exploring 7 million years of evolution. Workshops guided by archaeologists transform visitors into flint knappers, prehistoric painters, engravers, sculptors and fire makers, and the onsite restaurant serves a menu mapping the history of food. Entry to the museum costs 15 euros adults, 14 euros for students age 13-17, and 9 euros for ages 3-12. Online: prehisto.museum

Montignac, France: Since their discovery in 1940, the Lascaux Caves in the Vezere Valley of the Dordogne region of southwest France have fascinated researchers and captured the publics imagination. Narrow passages lead to larger rooms upon which charcoal and ochre were used to paint around 6,000 figures, including some 900 images of horses, stags, aurochs, ibexes, bison and other animals, creating a record of the abundant large wildlife species that once roamed the area and the esteem in which the artists held them. The images are thought to date back some 17,000 years. From 1940 to 1963, the caves were open to the public, causing irreparable damage to the fragile environment. A replica cave called Lascaux IV re-creates the site; this can be visited throughout the year by means of a 90-minute guided tour. Visitors can purchase tickets for this site only or various combination passes offering access to the Centre of Prehistoric Art in Le Parc du Thot and other archaeological sites of the region. Online: lascaux.fr/en

Blaubeuren, Germany: Several caves within the Swabian Jura mountain range in Baden-Wurttemberg are considered among the most important Paleolithic sites in the world. Both Neanderthals and early modern man dwelled in these caves during the last Ice Age. The Museum of Prehistory Blaubeuren displays many of the original items their ancient occupants left behind. Sculptures carved from ivory, bone and stone depict mammoth, rhinoceroses, lions and horses. Around 50 hybrid creatures known as lion men are estimated to be somewhere between 33,000 and 40,000 years old. The use of a phallus carved of a finely grained stone up to 30,000 years ago is open to different interpretations. The Venus from Hohle Fels, a statuette carved from mammoth ivory up to 40,000 years ago, is considered the worlds oldest figurine of a female figure. Flutes made of bird bone and mammoth ivory date back to a similar time period. The museum is open daily except for Mondays year round; winter hours are greatly reduced. Adult entry costs 7 euros; ages 7-17 pay 3 euros. Online: urmu.de

Mettmann, Germany: The Neanderthal Museum traces the history of mankind from his beginnings in the African savannah more than 4 million years ago until the present day. This modern museum near Dusseldorf is close to the site where in 1856, quarry workers in the Neander Valley discovered the bones of an Ice Age human. A permanent exhibition offers lifelike Neanderthal and hominin models, while the ArchaeoWonderland illustrates how archaeologists work to reconstruct our past. A visit to the museum can be combined with a visit to the site of the original find, the Human Traces art trail, and an animal park in which tarpan, aurochs and European bison are kept and bred. A workshop allows young visitors to engage in crafts of the Stone Age. The museum is open daily except for Mondays. Adult admission costs 11.50 euros; ages 6-16 pay 6.50 euros. Entry to the temporary exhibition Mummies, running through May 1, costs 7 euros adults and 3.50 euros for children. Online: neanderthal.de/en

Fumane, Italy: The Grotta di Fumane is a karst cave set on the outskirts of the Veneto Pre-Alps in northern Italy. Excavations there have resulted in a dated sequence of the climatic events of the last ice age and their effect on human settlement. Well-preserved remains in finely stratified archaeological layers make it possible to investigate evidence of the last Neanderthals and the first anatomically modern humans. Flints, hammers, teeth and other items prove that Neanderthals lit fire, made stone tools, butchered birds and animals and worked hides and pelts. The arrival of the first anatomically modern humans into the region is illustrated by a completely new array of tools, painted stones and dwellings. Visitors are allowed to the entrance of the cave to observe the ongoing archaeological fieldwork and to view the sections showing the finely layered Paleolithic sequence. While workshops and guided tours of the cave itself have been suspended temporarily, many of the most relevant findings are on permanent exhibition at the Palaeontological and Archaeological Museum in the nearby village of SantAnna dAlfaedo. The museum is open from June through September. Online: grottadifumane.eu/en
A few years ago, I inflicted a gloomy presentation on audiences who cared about the future of journalism. Digital economics and social media were dismantling traditional news sources. Clickbait was shredding credibility. As Gutenberg was to literacy, I said, Zuckerberg was to media illiteracy.

Since then, the information environment has only gotten more polluted. Displacing reliable information, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the explosion of online news sources increasingly amplify hot takes, paranoid babble and outright lies, unrestrained by the disciplines of journalism. Malignant bots and malicious trolls multiply.

Fighting this flood of junk information are efforts to help judicious readers select valid news sources, including the News Literacy Project ( www.newslit.org ) and the International Fact-Checking Network ( www.poynter.org/ifcn/ ). Similarly, independent scorekeepers rank news sources by credibility. According to two such rankings, Stars and Stripes readers can have confidence that what they see reported here is trustworthy.

On Ad Fontes Medias annual Interactive Media Bias Chart, Stars and Stripes lands almost at the top in its Most reliable for news category and nearly dead-center free of left or right bias  the sweet spot for credibility. Check Stripes and your other favorite sources by exploring the interactive graphic at https://adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart/ .

Media Bias/Fact Check summarizes its assessment this way: Overall, we rate Stars and Stripes Least Biased based on balanced, low-biased story selection. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. They also credit the Stripes opinion page with balancing liberal and conservative views.

Media Bias/Fact Check places media sources along a spectrum of most liberal to most conservative, but also identifies some as Conspiracy-Pseudoscience, Pro-Science, Questionable (the least reliable) and even Satire. See the explanation of ratings about Stripes, other organizations, and some individual journalists, cable personalities and podcasters in the searchable database at www.mediabiasfactcheck.com .

I should note that, for all the precision these rankings and categories imply, their criteria vary, their samples arent comprehensive and the humans making the judgments are fallible. Nor is Stars and Stripes perfect. But these two assessments are strong independent testimony as to the Stripes newsrooms reliability and impartiality.

As a daily reader, I wasnt surprised. Stripes earns its credibility by living up to standards of good journalism.

In firsthand reporting from bases and deployments around the world, at the Pentagon, in the defense committees of Congress, and around the country on issues of concern to troops and families, Stars and Stripes reporters and editors are committed to the news disciplines of accuracy, fairness and impartiality. Enterprising coverage in Stripes doesnt shy from controversy, but it also doesnt take the tendentious tone common in the silos of left-leaning and right-leaning media.

Anonymous sources are seldom used in Stripes, with the notable exception of Japan and South Korea, where many police and other official sources customarily expect anonymity. Where anonymous sources are used, they are generally limited to information about which they can be expected to be knowledgeable. Opinion or criticism requires attribution by name. On Stars and Stripes opinion page, columns are chosen to ensure balance over time.

Stories from wire services also demonstrate the newsrooms attention to credibility. On the Interactive Media Bias Chart, in fact, Stripes outscores its wire services  an indication that the editors are discerning in their selections. For example, many political stories come from The Associated Press, respected for informed, down-the-middle coverage. The APs global reach also makes it a staple of foreign news, along with selected reports from The Washington Post and other large organizations. Bloomberg News tends to be off limits for politics because its owner is overtly political, but it remains a prime source about arms sales, military contracting and selected international issues.

For national news, in addition to the AP, Stars and Stripes taps Tribune News Service, an extensive network of local news organizations. Stripes editors sensibly look to Tribune for stories from news organizations whose reporters have proven depth and expertise about local bases, shipbuilders, aircraft manufacturers or other major contractors.

In a world increasingly flooded with questionable content, these and other journalistic practices make Stars and Stripes a gatekeeper against misinformation and propaganda.

Stepping back, the outlook for journalism may still be pretty gloomy. The economics remain upside down. Vulture acquisitions continue to eliminate newsroom jobs. And expecting people to put down junk news is like expecting people to put down junk food. But maybe they can stop sharing it so much. Individual readers could use the tools of media literacy to screen their news sources more critically. And social media giants could block misinformation  beyond their small steps to flag dubious content  or be made subject to the same liability as publishers for the consequences of spreading it.

For now, though, Im glad to endorse the judgment of those media bias scorekeepers: Readers can trust Stars and Stripes.
North Korea is once again rattling the cage. Over several weeks, the regime has carried out four ballistic missile tests, the most recent on Jan. 17. Pyongyang describes them as essential for self-defense.

Meanwhile, South Korea continues on a positive course of exceptional economic growth and profitability, combined with now firmly established representative democracy. Scare stories about actions of the North overshadow the good news regarding the South. This is most unfortunate.

North Korea has possessed at least rudimentary nuclear weapons since 2006. From time to time, Pyongyang threatens to use them against South Korea, Japan and even the United States, though long distance makes that last target still impractical.

Last September, Pyongyang announced the successful launch of a cruise missile, an insidious weapon, flying low and difficult to detect with radar. An early version, the V-1 rocket of Nazi Germany, killed many in Britain in World War II.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration reevaluates Korea policies. A natural assumption is that North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is returning to rigid hostility, after some flexibility during the Trump administration. Despite highly publicized meetings between Trump and Kim, there were no diplomatic or other breakthroughs.

In reality, North Korea is literally a disaster area in economic and human terms. The population has endured decades of desperate hardship, including famine. United Nations sanctions effectively isolate the extreme and dangerous government.

By contrast, South Korea moves from strength to strength. The close alliance with the United States dates from the Korean War of 1950 to 1953. President Harry Trumans courageous decision to lead the U.N. effort to defend South Korea after invasion from North Korea stands as a decisive moment in the history of both countries, and of the world.

Considerable credit goes to President Moon Jae-in, completing his five-year term and ineligible for a second.

Behind the scenes, Moon has worked diligently to try to improve long-hostile relations with North Korea, and assert effective leadership more widely in Asia. Moon and Kim met in May 2018, following earlier summits in 2000 and 2007.

At the end of 2018, the influential Asia News Network named Moon Person of the Year. South Koreas chief executive rightly received praise for mediation between the U.S. and North Korea, important in bringing the two national leaders together. This accomplishment is too easily oversimplified and minimized.

Moon insisted on meeting with the North Korea delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The group included Kims sister, an influential figure in the bizarre regime.

Moon personifies in important ways the positive effective qualities of his nation. He assumed office as national chief executive on May 10, 2017, following a special election. From the very start, he emphasized relations with North Korea.

Moon became president in a time of tension and uncertainty on both sides of the 38th parallel, the border that divides Korea into north and south. South Korea had just experienced the ordeal of impeachment and removal from office of a sitting president, Park Geun-hye. North Korea greeted the inauguration of a new president in South Korea by launching a new long-range missile, the Hwasong-12, four days later.

Earlier, South Koreas dictatorship imprisoned Moon for his youthful reform activism. Later, he became a human rights lawyer. He also served in the Republic of Korea Army Special Forces, and saw action in the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) along the 38th parallel.

After a period of low popularity measured by public opinion polls, Moons standing has risen dramatically over the past year. In March, the voters elect a new president. Moon will leave office enjoying the great respect he deserves.

South Korea should lead initiatives toward North Korea, supported by the United States. Together, our position is strong.

Arthur I. Cyr is author of After the Cold War.
A new U.S. envoy arrived in Sudan for crisis talks as expectations grow for a more robust response from Washington to the military's crackdown on opponents of October's coup that's left dozens of people dead.

The visit by Horn of Africa special envoy David Satterfield and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee comes as activity in much of the capital, Khartoum, has ground to a halt. Many businesses have closed and streets been barricaded as part of a civil disobedience campaign after security forces shot dead seven protesters on Monday, the latest in a series of confrontations with the pro-democracy movement.

At least 71 people have been killed and 2,200 injured since the Oct. 25 putsch that removed the civilian wing of Sudan's government. It shattered hopes of a smooth transition to democracy after three decades of dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted amid mass demonstrations in 2019.

The weeks of violence have been an embarrassment for Western countries that insisted the army had a constructive role to play after the coup. The U.S. delegation is expected to deliver a much sterner message to the military than during past visits, according to Western officials with knowledge of the matter. They requested anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

The people didn't disclose what steps might be taken or threatened by the U.S., which imposed sweeping sanctions on the North African nation for two decades until 2017 and only lifted its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism little more than a year ago. Washington had been cultivating Sudan, a onetime pariah state that sits on a strategic spot on the Red Sea, as a new ally as civil war engulfed neighboring Ethiopia.

The U.S. and development agencies suspended hundreds of millions of dollars of aid and budgetary support after the coup, which has also hampered impoverished Sudan's eligibility for $50 billion of debt relief under an International Monetary Fund initiative. Authorities have said spending will be slashed in the 2022 budget, with cuts to food and fuel subsidies potentially sparking more unrest.

Satterfield, who was appointed this month, and Phee will press the army "to end violence and respect freedom of expression," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday on Twitter. They visited Saudi Arabia earlier this week and will later travel to Ethiopia.

The army general who led the coup and heads Sudan's quasi-presidential sovereign council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said Tuesday the government would form a committee to probe the most recent violence and publish the results by the end of the week.

"Through disproportionate use of force and continued detention of activists and journalists, the military authorities are demonstrating that they are not ready to find a negotiated and peaceful solution to the crisis," European Union Vice President Josep Borrell said Tuesday in a statement.
MIAMI (Tribune News Service)  A key suspect in the murder investigation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise was arrested Wednesday by federal agents in Miami after being extradited to the United States.

Rodolphe Jaar, a Haitian businessman who had been convicted of U.S. cocaine-trafficking charges a decade ago, was detained by Dominican authorities earlier this month after crossing into the country following months of hiding in neighboring Haiti.

The arrest of Jaar, known as Dodof, in the Dominican Republic came six months to the day after a hit squad allegedly made up of Colombian commandos, Haitian police officers and others piled into vehicles from Jaars home in Petionville and drove to the presidents nearby residence to carry out his assassination.

Jaar is expected to have his first appearance in Miami federal court on Thursday. A criminal complaint and affidavit charging him in the conspiracy case targeting Haitis president has not been unsealed.

In early January, U.S. authorities had arrested a former Colombian sergeant, Mario Antonio Palacios Palacios, who had fled to Jamaica after months of hiding in Haiti and was deported back to Colombia by a Jamaican judge. During a layover in Panama, he was detained and told there was an arrest warrant for him in the U.S.

During his initial appearance in federal court, Palacios became the first person to be formally charged in Moises assassination. A criminal complaint drafted by the FBI accuses Palacios, 43, of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping outside the United States, and providing material support resulting in death, knowing that such support would be used to carry out a plot to kill the Haitian president.

U.S. investigators have their sights on a third suspect who is currently in custody in Jamaica.

A week after Jaars arrest in the Dominican Republic, Jamaican authorities arrested a former Haitian senator, John Joel Joseph, who was with his wife and two children in St. Elizabeth parish.

Both Jaar and Joseph are accused of being part of meetings and planning leading up to the July 7, 2021, attack on Moise while he was at home in a hillside house above the hills of Port-au-Prince, according to a Haiti National Police investigative report. The report, obtained by the Miami Herald, described the attack as being launched from Jaars house, which housed the Colombian soldiers implicated in the killing, as well as weapons and vehicles.

The report also described Joseph as the person who rented four vehicles used by the Colombians on the night they stormed the presidents residence and killed him. Jaar has been identified as one of the persons who helped finance the assassination plot, according to a Haiti human-rights group.

Meanwhile, Haitian authorities have arrested 44 individuals in the assassination of the president, including 18 former members of the Colombian military who were recruited to come to Haiti. Of those, 39 are still in custody.

Haitis investigative judge overseeing the inquiry into Moises assassination is being removed from the case after failing to meet a legal deadline on bringing formal charges, signaling a significant delay in the prosecution of dozens of suspects being held but not formally charged.

2022 Miami Herald.

Visit miamiherald.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The United States is sending $100,000 worth of assistance, including water and hygiene kits, to help Tongans affected by a volcanic eruption and tsunami that struck the South Pacific nation Saturday.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, through its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, is working to address emergency shelter needs and is providing safe drinking water, the U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji, announced in a statement Tuesday.

Widespread damage and ash cover a number of islands in the Polynesian archipelago, 500 miles southeast of Fiji, following the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano eruptions, which began Jan. 14, according to aerial photographs published by the New Zealand Herald on Thursday.

NASA researchers estimate the eruption had an explosive force more than 500 times as powerful as the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II.

"We come up with a number that's around 10 megatons of TNT equivalent," James Garvin, the chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told NPR Tuesday.

A tsunami rose 49 feet during the eruptions and killed three people when it arrived in Tonga, Japans public broadcaster NHK reported Wednesday.

The eruptions and subsequent flooding have affected approximately 100,000 people  nearly the entire population of Tonga  and likely damaged or destroyed houses and other public infrastructure, the embassys statement said.

USAID has disaster experts in the region who are coordinating response efforts with the government of Tonga and humanitarian partners, the statement said.

Once needs assessments are completed and telecommunications are restored, we will know the full extent of the damage, the embassy said.

The New Zealand and Australian defense forces have sent surveillance flights over the islands to assess damage and dispatched warships and personnel on a relief mission.

The New Zealand ships are expected to arrive Friday and a New Zealand C-130H Hercules aircraft was headed to Tongas main airport with relief supplies Thursday, the New Zealand Defence Force said in a statement that day.
TOKYO  Japans capital city reported its highest one-day new case number of the pandemic, 8,638, on Thursday as it reimposed coronavirus restrictions approved by the central government, according to Japanese media reports.

The new record in Tokyo supplants one set Wednesday at 7,377. The seven-day rolling average of new coronavirus cases that day was nearly 4,600, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Government data.

Nearly 40% of available hospital beds in the city were filled, far above the 20% threshold Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike set for the imposition of measures aimed at curbing the virus spread.

U.S. Forces Japan on Thursday reported that 434 people had tested positive for COVID-19 at 17 bases across Japan. Another 12 individuals were pending confirmation. One person is hospitalized; no cases are considered severe. The command reported 331 infections Wednesday.

Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni near Hiroshima topped the list with 82 new cases. Kadena Air Base on Okinawa and Yokosuka Naval Base south of Tokyo came next with 74 new cases each, according to USFJs Thursday update.

Kadena reported 806 active cases on its website Thursday.

U.S. Army Japan, headquartered at Camp Zama southwest of Tokyo, on Thursday said another 159 people had contracted COVID-19 between Jan. 12 and Wednesday, according to an Army news release. Seventy had fallen ill before testing positive and 64 were close contacts.

Another 15 were recent arrivals to Japan and still in restricted movement, according to the Army. The remaining three turned up in screening tests.

MCAS Iwakuni, 25 miles south of Hiroshima and a COVID-19 hotspot early in January, reported 77 people tested positive Wednesday and five Thursday, according to a base news release. The air station has reported 851 infections this month.

U.S. servicemembers, civilian employees, family members and Japanese health care workers on base lined up Wednesday at the Iron Works gym for a booster shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

I recently had COVID, and my symptoms were not that severe, Marine Lance Cpl. Franklin Padilla told Stars and Stripes at the line. It gives me peace of mind knowing that getting the shots, if I get COVID again the symptoms will be much milder than if I didnt get vaccinated.

At a COVID-19 task force meeting Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared a quasi-emergency for Tokyo and 12 other prefectures, including three surrounding the city. The emergency takes effect Friday until Feb. 13, he said. Prefectural governors may set measures to fit local circumstances, according to the order.

Shigeru Omi, chairman of the government advisory panel that recommended the emergency declaration, told reporters that rather than restraining the movement of people outside their homes, the measures should focus on limiting the size of groups at bars and restaurants, according to the Asahi newspaper on Wednesday.

The Tokyo government on Wednesday said it encourages bars and restaurants that take certified anti-viral measures to operate between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. but limit alcohol sales to between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Uncertified businesses should operate between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. but not serve alcohol.

The metro government also asked residents to stay home as much as possible and avoid crowded areas.
North Korea may be signaling its intent to restart tests of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons following a recent statement that took aim at the United States, policy experts told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday called for immediately bolstering more powerful physical means to curb hostile moves by the U.S. that are getting ever more serious day by day.

The statement follows a policy meeting Wednesday of the ruling Workers Party of Korea that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is said to have attended, according to KCNA.

It reads like a stern warning from Kim that unless the U.S. addresses the issue of its hostile policy, North Korea has no choice but to resume its weapons testing, Soo Kim, a policy analyst for Rand Corp. and an adjunct instructor at American University, told Stars and Stripes in a text message on Thursday.

In 2018, North Korea announced a pause of its long-range missile and nuclear tests a week before Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom and about two months before he met with then-President Donald Trump in Singapore.

The Trump-Kim summit ended with a broad joint statement on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula that lacked specifics. Thursdays statement mentioned the Singapore summit as part of "sincere efforts for maintaining the general tide for relaxation of tension.

That tide appears to be turning, however. The top communist leadership of North Korea, the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee, unanimously recognized that we should make more thorough preparation for a long-term confrontation with the U.S. imperialists, according to KCNA.

The statement also refers to possibly restarting all temporarily suspended activities, an apparent reference to the regimes nearly five-year pause on nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

Yang Uk, an associate research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, theorized that North Korea may already have a roadmap for its weapons program and is using its latest statement to justify upcoming testing.

They may already have a schedule for the further testing of ICBMs, he told Stars and Stripes by phone on Thursday. They could be making some grounds for the condition of those tests.

Yang said North Korea likely needs time to prepare further tests and may not want to stoke tensions with China, its closest ally, ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing next month.

North Korea so far in January has already tested five short-range missiles, including one it claimed was a hypersonic weapon capable of superior maneuverability.

Following the tests, the U.S. imposed sanctions against six North Koreans, a Russian, and a Russian company suspected of procuring material aid for the regimes weapons program.

The U.S., Japan, Albania, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom also issued a joint statement condemning the launches, calling them "a threat to international peace and security."

The U.S., which already scaled down its large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea that the North views as a provocation, maintains it is willing to meet with Pyongyangs leaders without preconditions.

[North Korea] has not responded to these overtures, but we continue to believe that dialogue, we continue to believe that diplomacy is the best path forward, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Jan. 11.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  U.S. Forces Korea is offering booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 and 5 to 11 if theyre immunocompromised.

USFK, which is responsible for roughly 28,500 U.S. troops and their families in the country, announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that eligible children can now receive a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at base health clinics throughout the peninsula.

[USFKs] No. 1 priority remains the protection of the force so we can protect and accomplish our mission, Army Col. Lee Peters, the commands spokesman, told Stars and Stripes in an email Thursday. The best way to protect yourself, family and our community is to become fully vaccinated."

To schedule an appointment, parents or guardians can visit https://informatics-stage.health.mil/COVAX/.

Between Jan. 11 and Monday, USFK counted 566 COVID-19 cases in its community, a sharp drop from an all-time high of 1,599 infections in the previous week. The surge prompted South Korean health officials and lawmakers to issue statements urging the command to curb the virus' spread.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Thursday reported 6,603 COVID-19 cases throughout South Korea from the previous day  an increase from the previous week's 4,167 infections but lower than its one-day record of 7,849 cases on Dec. 15.

USFK began offering the initial dose of Pfizers pediatric vaccine on Nov. 15, roughly three weeks after the Food and Drug Administration approved it for emergency use.

Peters said 98% of USFKs troops and 90% of its entire community, including contractors and Korean base workers, are fully vaccinated. He also noted that 30% of the command's troops and employees have received a booster shot.

The COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots are voluntary for family members of service members. Service members have been ordered by the Defense Department to be fully vaccinated but are not yet required to receive a booster shot.

The FDA on Jan. 3 expanded the booster shot to the 12-15 age group and approved its use for immunocompromised children ages 5 to 11. The agency also shortened the waiting period between the primary doses and a booster from six months to five.

The FDA studied data from over 6,300 people within the 12-15 age group and found that the associated serious consequences that can occur including hospitalization and death, outweigh the potential risks, according to a statement from the agency on Jan. 3.

The FDA added that there were no new safety concerns for that age bracket after a booster shot and that there were no additional cases of myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, or pericarditis, inflammation of the hearts outer lining, among the test subjects.

Throughout the pandemic, as the virus that causes COVID-19 has continuously evolved, the need for the FDA to quickly adapt has meant using the best available science to make informed decisions with the health and safety of the American public in mind, acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement at the time.

With the current wave of the omicron variant, its critical that we continue to take effective, life-saving preventative measures such as primary vaccination and boosters, mask wearing and social distancing in order to effectively fight COVID-19, she said.
A guided-missile destroyer steamed past two disputed island chains in the South China Sea this week, provoking demands from Chinas military that the U.S. cease its freedom-of-navigation patrols in the region.

The USS Benfold cruised through the Spratly Island chain Tuesday, then turned north for a similar demonstration near the Paracel Islands on Thursday, according to an email from Lt. Mark Langford, spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet. The two chains are about 500 miles apart.

Chinas Southern Theatre Command said Thursday that its naval forces tracked and later warned the Benfold away from the Paracels.

"We solemnly demand that the U.S. side immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events," the command said in a statement.

The Benfolds operations defied three countries  China, Vietnam and Taiwan  that claim both island chains as their territory and require advanced notification or permission from warships before they navigate the area, Langford said.

Citing international law, the U.S. Navy asserts that ships from any nation, including warships, have the right of innocent passage through territorial waters and that any requirement of permission or notification is unlawful.

Langford said Chinas claim that the Benfold was warned away from the Paracels is false and that the destroyer operated in accordance with international law.

The Benfolds passage Thursday challenged all three countries claims to the Paracels, according to a Navy news release Thursday. But the statement drew specific attention to baselines China drew around nearly the entire chain in 1996, effectively declaring the region as its sovereign territory.

China occupied the Paracel Islands in 1974 and maintains approximately 20 outposts throughout the chain, according to the CIA World Factbook website. More than 1,000 Chinese personnel reside on the largest feature, Woody Island, the agency estimates.

The Benfold made a previous visit to the Paracels on July 12, according to Langfords email.

The Navy regularly conducts freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, as well as regular transits through the Taiwan Strait, in an effort to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Chinese government regularly condemns those demonstrations.
WEILERBACH, Germany  The construction timeline for a nearly billion-dollar Defense Department hospital next to Ramstein Air Base in Germany has been pushed back again, putting the current estimate five years later than the original.

News of the delay accompanied an announcement Wednesday that the $969 million contract for most of the work on the facility had been signed.

The contract includes construction on a replacement for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the U.S. militarys largest overseas hospital. The Cold War-era facility played a prominent role in treating service members who were wounded during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other conflicts.

The Landstuhl hospital replacement will be known as the Rhine Ordnance Barracks Medical Center. It will serve more than 200,000 Americans in Europe and continue the mission of supporting deploying forces in Africa and the Middle East.

The 86th Medical Group clinic at Ramstein also will move to the new complex, which is about 7 miles from the Landstuhl facility.

When work began in 2014, military construction planners said the new hospital was expected to be completed by 2022. The timeline has since been repeatedly revised and now is pegged for late 2027.

In 2018, Army Corps of Engineers officials said the medical center was on track to be completed by December 2023 and operational in summer of 2024.

We recognize that this project has taken longer than expected, but we are extremely excited to take the next step forward in providing our servicemembers and their families the modern, world-class medical facility that they deserve  one that will serve this community for decades to come, said Catherine Bingham, a project official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District, in a statement.

Numerous technical issues had to be resolved before the construction contract was awarded, Bingham said, due to the complexity of adhering to both German and U.S. design and building codes. Those include incorporating substantial changes in anti-terrorism and German energy and sustainability regulations, she said.

Work here has continued since day one, she said.

The contract calls for a 985,000-square-foot hospital with nine operating rooms, 120 exam rooms, and up to 93 beds, the Defense Health Agency said in a statement Wednesday. The new hospital is expected to employ about 2,500 people.

In 2020, Congress cut more than $100 million from the Pentagons $200 million request for the project, money that represented the final funding increment for the hospital. Its unclear whether that money has since been funneled back into the project.

The German Construction Administration, in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers and DHA, awarded the contract to a joint venture called Zueblin Gilbane, according to the health agency.

Zueblin is based in Stuttgart and has worked on facilities for the American military in Germany. U.S.-based Gilbane built the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia.

The contract covers the most significant phase of the hospital campus construction. About $200 million has already gone into recently completed infrastructure.

The German government is contributing about $180 million for design and construction management, DHA said.
WASHINGTON  Democrats and veterans advocates pushed back Wednesday against concerns from Republicans about the high cost of a bill that aims to fast-track Department of Veterans Affairs health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

The House Committee on Veterans Affairs held a roundtable Wednesday to discuss the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, a plan that would reform the VAs process of handling claims of toxic exposure and significantly increase payouts to veterans who served near burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Democrats and a dozen veterans organizations applauded the effort Wednesday, describing it as a comprehensive solution for veterans suffering the effects of burn pits. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the chairman of the House committee, said the bill would soon be taken to the House floor for a vote.

Republicans, however, warned the legislation had no chance of passing through Congress in its current form. The main point of contention is its cost.

The bill would increase spending by more than $281 billion during the next decade because of the expanded eligibility for disability compensation, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The office estimated the bill would cost an additional $146 billion in the following 10 years for the expansion of health care.

We dont have hundreds of billions of dollars of offsets sitting around, said Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, the ranking Republican on the committee. I remain committed to finding a way to support toxic-exposed veterans in a way that is fiscally responsible for future generations. Veterans are taxpayers, too. We should be mindful how we spend their money on their behalf.

Under the bill, about 1.5 million additional veterans would become eligible for VA health care, and 2 million veterans would qualify for disability compensation.

Throughout the 1990s and the post-9/11 wars, the military used open-air pits to burn garbage, jet fuel, paint, medical waste, plastics and other materials. Veterans diagnosed with cancer, respiratory issues and lung disease at young ages have blamed exposure to the toxic fumes. They have sought VA benefits and health care, but the department contended for years that there wasnt sufficient evidence to support their claims.

The PACT Act would add 23 of those cancers and respiratory illnesses to the list of conditions that would qualify veterans for VA benefits and health care.

The bill also addresses other types of toxic exposure. The bill calls for presumptive benefits for Vietnam War veterans who have developed hypertension because of exposure to chemical herbicides, as well as veterans who served in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and were potentially exposed to herbicides. It also includes veterans who participated in toxic cleanup activities in Enewetak Atoll or Palomares, Spain.

The process now for receiving VA health care and benefits is cumbersome and places the burden on veterans, Takano said.

The [Congressional Budget Office] estimate is in. Now we know the true cost of our promise, he said. But we cannot renege on our responsibility to toxic-exposed veterans because of any preconceived sticker shock.

Bost argued the committee was beating a dead horse by discussing a bill that had no chance of approval. He asked the bill include more rigid criteria to designate which veterans would be eligible for benefits and health care. He also suggested the bill be split, and that Congress first focus on getting veterans health care before expanding the eligibility for disability benefits.

Bost faced pushback on those ideas. Comedian Jon Stewart, who was part of the roundtable Wednesday, argued against adding specific criteria to eligibility or splitting the bill to first address health care. Stewart became a fierce advocate for 9/11 responders who developed illnesses from toxic fumes at the destroyed World Trade Center. He recently turned his attention to veterans suffering from diseases caused by burn pits and other toxic environments.

If youre sick with pancreatic cancer and dont have the benefits, what are you living on? Stewart asked. The idea of splitting everything up and doing it piecemeal and creating more bureaucratic processes on this is unacceptable.

While Congress debates the bill, the VA has moved forward with granting a pathway to benefits and health care for some veterans exposed to burn pits.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough implemented a new approach to consider conditions for inclusion on the departments presumptive list. While previous efforts relied heavily on studies from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the new approach looks more broadly at research and data from other sources, as well as claims being filed by veterans, McDonough has said.

Using this approach, the VA decided in August to add three conditions to the presumptive list: asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis. The department said there was enough evidence to link the conditions to airborne toxins from burn pits during overseas deployments.

The department, at the direction of President Joe Biden, is now reviewing research into several rare cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx and salivary gland tumors, as well as lung cancers and constrictive bronchiolitis.

McDonough said Tuesday that the VA would soon have an update about the review into those cancers.

The president was very clear, and I've told you guys about the urgency he feels on this, McDonough said. I feel that urgency quite profoundly.
Biden insists U.S. wont accept a minor incursion by Russia into Ukraine after remarks drew criticism Retops with Biden (c) 2022, The Washington Post  Amy B Wang  NATIONAL, WORLD, NATIONAL-SECURITY, EUROPE  Jan 20, 2022 - 12:53 PM WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden insisted Thursday that the United States would not accept even a minor incursion of Ukraine by Russia, as the White House continued efforts to clarify Bidens remarks Wednesday suggesting that it might.

Ive been absolutely clear with President [Vladimir] Putin. He has no misunderstanding: Any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion, Biden told reporters Thursday at the start of a White House event on infrastructure.

Such an invasion would be met with a severe and coordinated economic response, Biden added, noting that those consequences have been laid out very clearly for President Putin.

Let there be no doubt at all: If Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price, Biden said.

In the second news conference of his presidency Wednesday, Biden said he expected Russia to take some sort of action to move in and invade Ukraine and that the U.S. response depends on what it does.

Its one thing if its a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, Biden said. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing with the force theyve massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.

Biden was swiftly criticized for appearing to give a green light to Russia to attack Ukraine as long as it didnt amount to a full-scale invasion. Soon after, the White House issued a statement seeking to clarify Bidens comments, saying that if Russia sends its forces across the border, it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back against Bidens remarks Thursday morning without naming him.

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power, Zelensky said in a tweet.

GOP lawmakers slammed Biden on Thursday for what they called a message of weakness regarding the escalating situation in Russia and Ukraine.

Words matter when youre in this type of crisis, and words matter when youre standing at the presidential podium, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., said. Now, [Biden] may have used his team to try to spin and backtrack afterwards, but Putin got the message, the Kremlin got the message, the Ukrainian people got the message.

A bipartisan delegation of senators traveled to Ukraine over the weekend to reassure leaders in Kyiv that the United States stood with them, amid a Russian troop buildup on the border with Ukraine. Those senators spoke with Biden on Wednesday morning to brief him on their trip.

In a phone call with Biden in December - their second in a month - Putin warned that any new sanctions on Moscow could result in a complete rupture of relations between their countries. Putin has demanded that the United States and NATO agree to sweeping security guarantees that would bar Ukraine from joining NATO and rule out any eastward expansion by the U.S.-led military alliance.

Earlier this month, U.S. and Russian delegations met for talks in Europe but hit an impasse, as Russia continued to deny plans to invade Ukraine. White House officials have repeatedly emphasized that there will be massive consequences for Russia if it renews its aggression against Ukraine.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who made three television appearances Thursday morning and who also sought to clarify Bidens remarks, said on Good Morning America that she is briefed every morning with Biden on threats to national security and other matters, and is often in the Situation Room with the president for discussions about Russia and Ukraine.

What I can tell you is that the president has been very clear that if Russia takes aggressive action, it will be met with serious, severe and a unified response and consequences, Harris said. And that position that we have taken is grounded in a number of values that we hold dear, including the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity in this case of Ukraine. We have not wavered from that perspective.

- - - -

The Washington Posts Mariana Alfaro and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.Retops with Biden (c) 2022, The Washington Post  Amy B Wang  NATIONAL, WORLD, NATIONAL-SECURITY, EUROPE  Jan 20, 2022 - 12:53 PM WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden insisted Thursday that the United States would not accept even a minor incursion of Ukraine by Russia, as the White House continued efforts to clarify Bidens remarks Wednesday suggesting that it might.

Ive been absolutely clear with President [Vladimir] Putin. He has no misunderstanding: Any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion, Biden told reporters Thursday at the start of a White House event on infrastructure.

Such an invasion would be met with a severe and coordinated economic response, Biden added, noting that those consequences have been laid out very clearly for President Putin.

Let there be no doubt at all: If Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price, Biden said.

In the second news conference of his presidency Wednesday, Biden said he expected Russia to take some sort of action to move in and invade Ukraine and that the U.S. response depends on what it does.

Its one thing if its a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, Biden said. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing with the force theyve massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.

Biden was swiftly criticized for appearing to give a green light to Russia to attack Ukraine as long as it didnt amount to a full-scale invasion. Soon after, the White House issued a statement seeking to clarify Bidens comments, saying that if Russia sends its forces across the border, it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back against Bidens remarks Thursday morning without naming him.

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power, Zelensky said in a tweet.

GOP lawmakers slammed Biden on Thursday for what they called a message of weakness regarding the escalating situation in Russia and Ukraine.

Words matter when youre in this type of crisis, and words matter when youre standing at the presidential podium, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., said. Now, [Biden] may have used his team to try to spin and backtrack afterwards, but Putin got the message, the Kremlin got the message, the Ukrainian people got the message.

A bipartisan delegation of senators traveled to Ukraine over the weekend to reassure leaders in Kyiv that the United States stood with them, amid a Russian troop buildup on the border with Ukraine. Those senators spoke with Biden on Wednesday morning to brief him on their trip.

In a phone call with Biden in December - their second in a month - Putin warned that any new sanctions on Moscow could result in a complete rupture of relations between their countries. Putin has demanded that the United States and NATO agree to sweeping security guarantees that would bar Ukraine from joining NATO and rule out any eastward expansion by the U.S.-led military alliance.

Earlier this month, U.S. and Russian delegations met for talks in Europe but hit an impasse, as Russia continued to deny plans to invade Ukraine. White House officials have repeatedly emphasized that there will be massive consequences for Russia if it renews its aggression against Ukraine.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who made three television appearances Thursday morning and who also sought to clarify Bidens remarks, said on Good Morning America that she is briefed every morning with Biden on threats to national security and other matters, and is often in the Situation Room with the president for discussions about Russia and Ukraine.

What I can tell you is that the president has been very clear that if Russia takes aggressive action, it will be met with serious, severe and a unified response and consequences, Harris said. And that position that we have taken is grounded in a number of values that we hold dear, including the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity in this case of Ukraine. We have not wavered from that perspective.

- - - -

The Washington Posts Mariana Alfaro and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.
MIT-PROFESSOR 1004 words Federal prosecutors seek dismissal of grant fraud charges against MIT professor (c) 2022, The Washington Post  Ellen Nakashima  NATIONAL, COURTSLAW, EDUCATION  Jan 20, 2022 - 10:02 AM Federal prosecutors asked a court to dismiss charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of failing to disclose research ties to China, a request that represents a major public relations blow to a Justice Department program aimed at curbing economic espionage.

Prosecutors said recent developments prompted them to seek the dropping of the case against Gang Chen, a Chinese American nanoscientist. The filing was made in U.S. District Court in Boston.

The Washington Post and other news outlets reported that the case was in jeopardy last week. While the judge still must rule on the request, and is expected to do so in coming days, legal experts said the filing on Thursday morning effectively ends the case.

Today is a great day, said Rob Fisher, Chens attorney, in a statement. The government finally acknowledged what we have said all along: Professor Gang Chen is an innocent man.... He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything he was supposed to disclose, and he never lied to the government or anyone else.

Chen is among about 20 academics and researchers prosecuted in the past three years as part of the China Initiative, a wide-ranging and sometimes controversial effort launched in 2018 that is under Justice Department review.

The initiative has notched a number of significant convictions, including of a Taiwan chip foundry that stole U.S. trade secrets of an American chip firm for the benefit of a Chinese state-owned company; a Chinese national in Missouri who conspired to steal Monsanto crop-boosting technology to benefit the Chinese government; and three separate cases of former American intelligence officers accused of spying or conspiring or attempting to spy for China.

And in December, a Harvard University chemistry professor was found guilty of lying to the government about receiving payments from a Chinese university, falsifying his tax returns and failing to report foreign finances.

But the program in the past year has also suffered several embarrassing setbacks in cases involving academics accused of grant fraud, rather than spying or intellectual property theft. The request to dismiss charges against Chen is the most high profile among these. MIT has expressed public support for the professor, paying his legal expenses and placing him on paid leave.

Chen, who became a U.S. citizen in 2000, was indicted a year ago on charges of wire fraud, making a false statement on a tax return and failing to disclose a foreign bank account. The charges related to his 2017 application for a U.S. Energy Department grant to support his program as then-head of MITs mechanical engineering department.

He was accused of failing to disclose ties to the Chinese government and a technology university in Shenzhen, as well as seeking to hide his membership in various government-funded talent recruitment programs.

The prosecutions case began to falter in December. Government lawyers, under pressure from Chens attorneys, turned over evidence that the defense considered exculpatory, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matters sensitivity.

But what tipped the scale was an interview by prosecutors this month of a senior Energy Department official, who is considered an authority on what disclosures are material on grant forms, the people said. The official confirmed that the 2017 form did not require disclosures of Chens ties to the technology university or other Chinese government organizations and programs, one person said.

Most of the academics and researchers prosecuted under the initiative have - like Chen - been charged with making false statements or failing to disclose ties to Chinese institutions on federal grant forms or visa applications, rather than intent to spy. All but a few are of Chinese descent.

The Justice Department rejects criticism from civil rights advocates and some Democratic lawmakers that the prosecutions amount to ethnic profiling. But the outcry has been so loud that Attorney General Merrick Garland commissioned a program review.

On Tuesday, Democratic leaders of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus met with Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen. Caucus chair Judy Chu, D-Calif., said the lawmakers told Olsen they feel the China Initiative has fallen far short of its stated goal of addressing economic espionage and has instead resulted in numerous false accusations against Chinese researchers and scientists based on their ethnicity.

The caucus has called for an end to the initiative, which former Justice Department officials say would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. They point out that most of the problematic cases have been those that involve allegations of academic grant fraud; the vast majority of cases - targeting economic espionage, trade secret theft and illegal export of military-use items - have not been controversial. The department was bringing such cases long before there was a China Initiative, without a backlash, they note.

Still, the departments National Security Division is expected to make some changes, perhaps including a new name for the initiative, though civil liberties advocates say rebranding it would not be sufficient.

John Demers, a former NSD head, has said the government should consider granting immunity from prosecution to academics who voluntarily disclose Chinese government research ties and limiting administrative penalties like debarment. That approach would provide visibility into Chinese government talent programs, while avoiding accusations of overcriminalization and maintaining the trust of academic institutions, he said.

David Laufman, a former chief of the divisions counterintelligence and export control section, said the cases brought by prosecutors in the field require closer oversight by Justice Department headquarters.

While many prosecutions result in convictions, he said, it only takes one or two or three cases that go south to undermine public confidence.

In some instances of grant fraud, Laufman said, administrative enforcement may be a more appropriate means of accountability than criminal prosecution. But, he said, that doesnt mean there shouldnt be the same careful individualized case-by-case analysis of each case.

Said Laufman: We need to be careful about an overcorrection.

The Washington Posts David Nakamura contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday insisted the United States would not accept a minor incursion of Ukraine by Russia, as the White House continued to clarify remarks President Joe Biden had made suggesting that it might.

We will interpret any violation of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia and Vladimir Putin as an aggressive action and it will be met with costs, severe and certain, Harris said on Good Morning America.

In the second news conference of his presidency Wednesday, Biden said he expected Russian President Vladimir Putin to take some sort of action to move in and invade Ukraine and that the U.S. response depends on what he does.

Its one thing if its a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, Biden said. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing with the force theyve massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further degrade and invade Ukraine.

Biden was swiftly criticized for appearing to give a green light to Russia to attack Ukraine as long as it didnt amount to a full-scale invasion. Soon after, the White House issued a statement seeking to clarify Bidens comments, saying that if Russian military moves across the border, it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies.

Bidens remarks came days after a bipartisan delegation of senators traveled to Ukraine over the weekend to reassure leaders in Kyiv that the U.S. stood with them, amid a Russian troop buildup on the border with Ukraine. Those senators spoke with Biden Wednesday morning to brief him on their trip.

In a phone call with Biden in December  their second in a month  Putin warned that any new sanctions on Moscow could result in a complete rupture of relations between their countries. Putin has demanded that the United States and NATO agree to sweeping security guarantees that would bar Ukraine from joining NATO and rule out any eastward expansion by the U.S.-led military alliance.

Earlier this month, U.S. and Russian delegations met for talks in Europe but hit an impasse, as Russia continued to deny plans to invade Ukraine. White House officials have repeatedly emphasized that there will be massive consequences for Russia if it renews its aggression against Ukraine.

Before the presidents news conference Wednesday, Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees held their own to urge Biden to take stronger action to prevent Russian aggression.

Diplomacy has gone on for a long time, Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said, noting that Putin has continued to demand assurances that Ukraine and other countries not be admitted to NATO. To Putin, I would say: You have no control over this whatsoever. This is in the hands of the Ukrainian people. Its in the hands of NATO as to who gets in and who does not.

Harris, who made three television appearances Thursday morning, said on Good Morning America she is briefed every morning with Biden on threats to national security and other matters, and is often in the Situation Room with the president for discussions about Russia and Ukraine.

What I can tell you is that the president has been very clear that if Russia takes aggressive action, it will be met with serious, severe and a unified response and consequences, Harris said. And that position that we have taken is grounded in a number of values that we hold dear, including the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity in this case of Ukraine. We have not wavered from that perspective.

The Washington Posts Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.
(Tribune News Service)  When they enlisted in the military, they swore an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and to obey the orders all the way up to those from the president of the United States.

But then, while still in the service, they went on to swear a different allegiance  one to the now extremist, anti-government Oath Keepers. Dozens of military members vowed they would never obey potential government orders that group leaders considered acts of war or cause for a revolution.

At least 20 are still serving.

USA TODAY confirmed with all five branches of the U.S. military that 81 people signed up for the Oath Keepers while in uniform. The names are from a hacked list that a watchdog group shared with journalists last fall. The military members are in addition to the 40 current and former law enforcement officers USA TODAY confirmed in October 2021.

The Defense Department has known for decades that its members were joining extremist groups but often did not punish them, instead keeping in place a vague policy that banned their active participation, such as through fundraising or recruiting.

In December, the Defense Department clarified more than a dozen examples of active participation, but it's unclear whether joining the Oath Keepers and remaining a member of the militia would run afoul of the new rules.

Fourteen of the 20 service members who are still in uniform signed up for the Oath Keepers using their military email addresses. The Department of Defense generally bans service members from using military email for personal affairs and expressly bans them from using their emails in ways that would "reflect adversely" on the military or "other uses that are incompatible with public service."

Defense Department officials should have known about the issue as early 2018, when a person with the Southern Poverty Law Center sent her contact a copy of another leaked membership list, which had information through 2015. Of the 20 active members USA TODAY found in the list released in the fall, 16 also appeared on the 2015 list. And of the 130 military emails on the list this fall, 124 of them also appeared on the 2015 list.

Several of those who identified themselves as current military on their sign-up forms described the tactical skills they could bring to the Oath Keepers. Jeremiah Pulaski, who said he was an Army veteran living in Arizona, said: "I'm not sure I'm an Infantry man so I'm limited. But if needed I'll get the job done."

Lt. Col. Uriah Orland, a Department of Defense spokesman, said in a statement: "We do not tolerate extremists in our ranks or any extremism activity. Any individual or individuals we identify who have extremist behaviors or extremist tendencies are addressed immediately. When we become aware of these individuals or their activities, we refer them to appropriate authorities."

The Pentagon has had multiple opportunities over the past several years to limit attempts by extremist groups like the Oath Keepers from gaining traction in branches of the military. But it has taken little to no action until current Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed to make progress on extremism in the ranks following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

At least 106 of the individuals charged with crimes related to the insurrection were linked to a far-right or extremist organization, according to federal charging documents. At least 26 were members of the Oath Keepers.That number includes the 11, such as founder Stewart Rhodes, who were charged with seditious conspiracy or allegedly trying to overthrow the government, the harshest charges yet filed in the Jan. 6 attack.

"This is a really, really serious problem," said Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and former head of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "And time is of the essence."

"Too many active-duty troops have been caught up in domestic terrorism investigations in recent years," Beirich said, "and you just say the words 'Timothy McVeigh,' or 'Eric Rudolph,' and you realize what the dangers are of a white supremacist or other kind of extremist who's learned a lot in the military and then uses it against the American people."

'I thought it was patriotic'

Four of the 20 currently serving military members told USA TODAY they signed up for the group about a decade ago and are no longer involved. USA TODAY reached out via phone and email to the others but did not receive responses.

Some said they saw Oath Keepers ads in magazines or gun shops. Others said they heard about a National Rifle Association-type group that cared about the Constitution.

The membership list in question likely includes all people who signed up for the Oath Keepers since 2009, even ones who allowed their memberships to lapse.

Sgt. Anthony Guadagnino works as a recruiter for the New York Army National Guard in Troy, New York. He said signing up for the group was a mistake.

"I thought it was patriotic," he said. "It's not."

William Potting, a Marine, said he heard about the group around 2013. He saw it in a Facebook group for supporters of former Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign.

"It looked like a veterans' group that was pro-Constitution," he said. "After awhile, the emails were just junk mail. They were constantly sending me emails, so I unsubscribed."

Charles Martin, who serves in the Navy, said about a decade ago he and his wife saw a framed copy of the U.S. Constitution on the wall of an Army surplus store. He said the store owner gave him a flyer to fill out for the Oath Keepers that included an offer to win a framed Constitution.

"They kept emailing me and I just moved their crap to my spam folder and never dealt with them," Martin said.

Fire control specialist Joshua Hockman with the Army National Guard serving in Florida, said he hasn't been involved in about a decade, and never finished paying his dues.

Matthew Vanderboegh, who has served in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2000, signed up for the Oath Keepers in 2010 and wrote on the sign-up form he could help with "recruitment" and "pass out flyers." He is the son of the co-founder of Three Percenters, a far-right militia named for a debunked theory involving the American Revolution that at times has allied with the Oath Keepers.

In 2016, Vanderboegh took over a Three Percenters blog, where he wrote about the future of the movement, recommended a book on militia training to his followers, and coordinated a T-shirt order. He did not respond to several emails from USA TODAY.

Some members' comments on the sign-up form indicated they knew what the Oath Keepers were preparing for and were ready to use their military training to help the group.

"If the time comes I will execute my duty as a III Percenter and Oath Keeper," wrote Scott Wassmer, who identified himself as a Coast Guardsman from Wisconsin. He left the service in 2015, according to the Coast Guard.

Vincent DiCello, a former Navy pilot who declined to comment, wrote on the Oath Keepers sign-up form that he has "electronic warfare background" and "recruiting training" and said he was an "expert shot" with a pistol and rifle.

'A true national security risk'

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, who has been using her seat to help end extremism in the military since at least 2019, called USA TODAY's findings alarming.

"This is a true national security risk, and we have an obligation to take steps to protect other service members and to make sure that we are recruiting people who have the appropriate profiles," she said.

Orland, from the Department of Defense, said individual supervisors and leaders are responsible for individual discipline, and that commanders can use "the full range of administrative and disciplinary actions, including administrative separation or appropriate criminal action."

However, the longtime Pentagon policy only prohibited service members from actively advocating for extremism such as supremacy and gang doctrines, not from being affiliated with such groups in the first place. A working group Austin put together following the Jan. 6 insurrection clarified the policy on active participation in December but fell short of banning all types of involvement in extremist groups.

"As a result of the January 6 attack and the number of military service members and veterans and law enforcement officers (who were involved in the attack), I think there's a growing recognition that there needs to be the due diligence done on individuals who are going to have positions of trust within the government," Speier said.

Of the five branches USA TODAY contacted for this story, the Navy took the strictest stance, saying it would not tolerate such behavior. Four of the 20 currently serving members of the military were in the Navy.

"Sailor participation in supremacist or extremist activities is directly contrary to professionalism standards which all Sailors are expected to follow," said Navy spokeswoman Priscilla Rodriguez. "We will investigate reports of misconduct and those found in violation of the Navy's policies will be held accountable."

'My heart wasn't really in it'

Another 61 veterans from the Oath Keepers membership list, almost all men, are now retired but signed up while in uniform. The majority joined between 2009 and 2013. Most were in the Army, the largest branch of the military and where Rhodes, the group's founder, served.

Daniel Medoff, 38, was serving in the Army when he signed up in 2009. He was fresh off a tour in Iraq and serving at a hospital in Germany when an ad for the Oath Keepers "popped up" online one day. "My heart wasn't really in it, it was just more the thrill of it  that addiction of feeling like I could belong somewhere," Medoff said.

Coast Guard veterans Matthew Rupp and Michael Marion signed up with their Coast Guard email addresses. Cody Meridith joined with his Navy email while he was serving. The three men told USA TODAY that they did not realize what the Oath Keepers were about when they sent in money or joined, describing an organization that has changed drastically over the past decade.

Rupp, who retired from the Coast Guard in 2019, said he sent in $15 around 2013 in response to a magazine ad about helping out with disaster relief. Then the Oath Keepers sent him a pamphlet in the mail. "Once I got the pamphlet, I realized it was a load of horsesh," he said. "It was not as described."

The Oath Keepers have used apocalyptic and revolutionary language to lure military veterans and law enforcement since their founding in 2009. The Oath Keepers say their interpretation of the Constitution trumps the federal government's power, and the group lists 10 specific orders that military service members or law enforcement officers must never obey. The list includes a hypothetical situation where the government orders citizens to disarm.

In 2014, members of the Oath Keepers stood in solidarity with a rancher in Nevada who had for years refused to pay the federal government to let his cattle roam on federal land. The rancher echoed long-debunked beliefs held by the militia movement that the federal government cannot own land, and that true power rests with county sheriffs. Two of the 61 veterans joined that year, and another two joined in 2015.

The group plunged itself into racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, even after the local police department told them to stand down, and later into rallies for former President Donald Trump. Rhodes simultaneously started appearing on conspiracy theory sites such as Infowars.

'Preparing for a civil war'

Even though the Oath Keepers have become more extreme over time, it has always been an anti-government group preparing for a civil war under the guise of advocacy for the Constitution.

Kathleen Belew, a history professor at the University of Chicago, said that while some extremist groups target people of color but still support the government, the Oath Keepers' primary target is the federal government, which includes the military.

"Our active-duty troops take an oath to protect our nation, our Constitution  from enemies, foreign and domestic," she said. She called the Oath Keepers part of a militant white power groundswell that has "attempted to overthrow the United States or to target its elected officials, its agents, its infrastructure, and its people."

Belew invoked language from the military oath of enlistment, when members say they will defend the Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

"They've been enemies domestic," she added.

Susan Corke, the intelligence project director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the Oath Keepers target military and law enforcement specifically to take advantage of their tactical training.

"Their ultimate goal is a hard-right ethnostate, and they're prepared to take up arms to do so, and they're actively preparing," Corke said. "The tactical expertise of military and law enforcement is very, very attractive to the Oath Keepers."

'Willing to do anything that is legal'

Dozens of people on the Oath Keepers membership list used an email address ending in .mil, the Department of Defense's domain ending, and at least 14 of those are still serving.

This is an apparent violation of Pentagon regulations about the use of military email accounts for uses that would "reflect adversely" on the Defense Department or "other uses that are incompatible with public service." But it's not clear if members who used their emails simply to join the group have violated the vague policy banning active participation in extremist groups.

"It's disturbing that people are in touch with Oath Keepers, but you gotta wonder who would be silly enough to use their work email for this," said Jim Lewis, a senior vice president for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Jason Kobylarz, a U.S. Army veteran who signed up for the Oath Keepers in 2010, said people likely used their military email addresses because they weren't tech savvy and it was the only email they had at the time. He said it probably went against a policy, but no one seemed to be enforcing it.

Todd Pegg, an Army colonel and commandant at the Virginia Military Institute, appeared on both lists USA TODAY used for this investigation. The records say he signed up for an annual membership on March 30, 2010. He denied ever being involved with the Oath Keepers. He is currently on military leave.

Col. Bill Wyatt, spokesperson for the Virginia Military Institute, said Pegg "is not now nor has he ever been affiliated with the Oath Keepers. He suspects they got his name from a gun show he attended in the past." Wyatt said he did not know the name of the gun show.

Bradley Baker, who is currently serving with the U.S. Coast Guard, signed up with his military email. He wrote on the form: "I feel very strongly in the Oath Keepers message and I would be willing to do anything that is legal to help the cause."

Lt. Cmdr. Brittany Panetta, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard, said that branch conducted a "preliminary inquiry" into Baker that included a scan of government systems and Coast Guard networks and "uncovered no affiliation" between the guardsman and the Oath Keepers. She did not elaborate on details about the scan.

Jonathan Fox, of Virginia, signed up using a military email representing the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a Department of Defense Agency "focused exclusively on countering and deterring weapons of mass destruction and emerging threats."

Reached at home, Fox said he was no longer with the Oath Keepers and declined to comment further. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency said in an email that the agency does not confirm or deny people's employment.

'People with a split allegiance'

This isn't the first time the Pentagon has learned that service members had joined the Oath Keepers.

Beirich, from the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said when she was running the SPLC's intelligence project in 2018, she sent the military a membership list from 2015. Orland, the Department of Defense spokesman, said he did not have information on that list.

Of the 20 active members USA TODAY found in the list released last fall, 16 also appeared on the 2015 list.

Lorax B. Horne, a member of the Distributed Denial of Secrets collective, which released the second Oath Keepers membership list, said the organization has not received a data request from the military.

The U.S. military, which includes about 1.3 million active-duty members across the five branches, plus some 800,000 reservists, has had other warnings about extremists in its ranks.

In 2006, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that military personnel were under such intense pressure to recruit for the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan that the Pentagon "relaxed standards to prohibit racist extremists from serving in the armed forces." The group sent those findings to then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

In 2009, federal intelligence agents at the Department of Homeland Security published a report warning extremists were attempting to recruit current and former members of the military. The report evoked outrage from Republican politicians and their allies in conservative media, and it was quickly buried. The unit that wrote the report was disbanded.

"This has been a problem that the Pentagon has been aware of, at least since the late 1970s," said Belew, the Chicago professor. "We have, over and over again, dealt with the disappearance of weapons for military posts and bases; with targeted recruitment on posts; with people with a split allegiance to groups that would like to overthrow the United States while they're serving."

Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY

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NEWBURYPORT, Mass. (Tribune News Service)  A virtual town hall hosted by the International Institute of New England on Wednesday evening provided insight on how communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire have been working to resettle more than 400 Afghans over the past several months.

Newburyport has already welcomed three families. A family of nine, who arrived Dec. 13, and a family of 10, who arrived a few weeks ago, are staying in temporary living quarters at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

A family of 11, who arrived last week, are staying at the Parish Hall at the First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist Church.

These families were among the thousands evacuated when the U.S. military pulled out of Afghanistan in August.

St. Paul's rector, the Rev. Jarred Mercer, shared some of his experiences with the more than 300 participants in the virtual town hall meeting, explaining how it all began when he saw that the institute advertised a need for temporary housing late last summer.

He offered space at the church, did not hear anything for about six weeks and then, all at once, the church was preparing to welcome a family.

Church officials and volunteers quickly prepared a living space and solicited donations for bedding and other supplies from the community. Within a day and a half, they had to turn away donated items.

"People really stepped up in our community, which was great to see," Mercer said, noting how financial donations will continue to help the families.

"I don't think it takes much imagination to realize that it's beneficial both for the new arrivals, but also for the wider community that they're coming to, to get as many people involved as possible, and work together as a community to create a space of welcome, an embrace and a place where they can flourish," he said.

Mercer immediately saw that the family would need assistance in a lot of different areas beyond just housing.

"You feel this sort of weight, this responsibility," he said.

Mercer put together a working group of people to help with various needs. The group includes several English teachers, a Newburyport resident who works for the state Office for Refugees and Immigrants, and another resident who works for the state Department of Transitional Assistance.

Language is the biggest challenge since all of the families speak Dari and have not yet learned English. They now have English lessons scheduled for every day of the week, Mercer explained.

The children have already started attending local schools and seem to look forward to it each day, he said.

Other organizations such as the New American Association of Massachusetts in Lynn have stepped up to assist the families during this transition.

Beyond just housing, these families need to find employment to allow them to receive a stable income, medical care, legal assistance, etc.

"We've shifted from, 'Oh, we're providing temporary housing' to very much doing whatever we can to help in the long run," Mercer said.

"Throughout our 100-year history, we have learned that resettlement depends on the relationship that the international institute and our clients have with the community," said Jeff Thielman, president and CEO of the International Institute of New England.

The town hall meeting covered a variety of topics related to housing and poverty, resettlement by the numbers, advocacy for Afghans locally and federally, and the roles of volunteers, among others.

To learn more, visit https://iine.org.

halterisio@newburyportnews.com

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(Tribune News Service)  After telling a federal judge he wished he could take back what he'd done, a Kansas City military veteran was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to home detention and probation for his role in the Capitol insurrection.

U.S District Judge Dabney Friedrich sentenced Carey Jon Walden to 30 days of home detention, three years' probation and 60 hours of community service. He also is required to pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building, which prosecutors say totaled about $1.5 million.

"If I could take it all back, I would," Walden told the judge just before his sentencing. "I didn't see a lot (of) what I saw on TV when I was there. It was a terrible day, and I'm really ashamed of myself that I was a part of that.

"I wish I hadn't been there, and I'm sorry that I did that."

Friedrich said that although Walden's offense was a misdemeanor, "his criminal conduct was very serious."

"He was a willing participant in a riot, or an insurrection, that undermined our democratic electoral process and values," she said.

Walden didn't injure any officers or others, damage any property, carry weapons or engage in pre-planning with others, Friedrich said, "but his presence and his active participation in the attack on the Capitol subjected law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day to protect the Capitol and those who work there to greater risk."

Friedrich noted, however, that Walden accepted responsibility and acknowledged what he did was wrong. He also willingly submitted to a voluntary interview with law enforcement, she said, and provided photos and videos from that day.

The sentence was handed down at a hearing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via video conference. Walden faced a maximum of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine in addition to the $500 restitution for the misdemeanor charge.

The government had recommended a sentence of at least two weeks' incarceration, 60 hours of community service and $500 in restitution.

Walden, 48, is the second of the 18 Missouri residents charged in connection with the riot to be sentenced. Ten others have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Walden, whose participation in the riot was reported to the FBI by a fellow Marine he once supervised, was arrested May 28 in Kansas City. He was initially charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the grounds or in any of the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings. All counts were misdemeanors.

He pleaded guilty to the "parading" count, and the government dropped the other counts as part of his plea agreement.

Walden traveled by bus from Kansas City to Washington to attend the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors said in a court document explaining the sentence recommendation. Walden was unemployed and did not pay for the bus ticket, but got it from a friend who couldn't go.

He was prepared for violence when he traveled to Washington, D.C., the government said in the document.

"He brought a gas mask apparatus and wore it inside the U.S. Capitol Building," it said. "He entered the Capitol Building through a window that had been smashed out."

As a U.S. Navy and Marine Corps veteran, the government said, Walden was  or should have been  aware of the jeopardy posed by violent entry into the Capitol and of the violent force required to overcome the police who were guarding it.

"Walden incited and celebrated the violence that was required to break through the police line by repeatedly chanting in the Capitol Building, 'traitor  traitors,'" the document said. He also "showed a lack of remorse for his conduct by posting to Facebook a photo of the chaos outside the Capitol Building with the caption 'I had just climbed the west wall lol.'"

Prosecutors said Walden did not commit any violence against anyone or destroy any property, never left the area of the foyer immediately inside the Senate wing doors and was in the building only nine minutes.

Even so, they said, he "celebrated the violence of that day."

And while Walden's military service is laudable  he served in the Navy for 6 1/2 years and in the Marine Corps for nearly six years  prosecutors said that as a veteran, he knew that disagreeing with government officials does not give someone the right to storm a guarded government building.

"Walden's former military service makes his conduct on January 6 all the more troubling and demonstrates a very real need for specific deterrence in the form of incarceration," the document said.

In a Jan. 7 letter to the judge, Walden described himself as a disabled combat veteran with "a decent blue-collar job for a great company in Kansas City, Kansas."

He said the group he went to Washington with "was made up of like-minded conservative Americans," most of them older than him.

"None (not even one) of the members of this group were proud boys, III percenters, or any other extremist group," he wrote. "Until the 'breach' of the Capitol building, the protest was very peaceful and even festive. I did not see or hear President Trump. At the time he was speaking, I was escorting some elderly 'protestors' to Union Station so they could eat."

Walden said there had been reports that Black Lives Matter and Antifa "were attacking the elderly Trump protestors" so he took a respirator with him "in case we inadvertently ended up in some Trump supports vs. Antifa skirmish."

When he arrived at the Capitol, Walden said, there were people scaling a wall to enter the building.

"I got caught up in the moment," he wrote. "I could, and did, climb the wall, to see what was going on with my own eyes. I also took video and pictures of what was happening, for my friends and family to see what I was seeing. I climbed through a broken-out window, where there were rioters and Capitol Police were facing off. Nobody I saw, including me, was attacking the Capitol Police."

Walden said in the letter that he was remorseful for what happened that day.

"The smart thing to have done would have been to just stay away from all of it, and I didn't do that," he said. "I had no desire to destroy property, attack police officers or try and overthrow the government, and I did NOT do those things.

"I have no idea who exactly started that riot. I know that there were a lot of angry Americans who fell into a mob mentality, and took the 'right to peacefully protest' to an extreme and that shouldn't have happened."

(c)2022 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)

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KOKOMO, Ind. (Tribune News Service)  Milt Brown smiled and softly waved his hand Monday afternoon at the caravan of police cars, firetrucks and numerous other vehicles that carried small American flags and passed by his southside home.

The small parade was part of a 95th birthday tribute to Brown  a World War II U.S. Navy veteran and member of the Greatest Generation.

And because tomorrow isn't guaranteed, Brown made sure he soaked in every moment of the day's festivities, too.

Along with the drive-by, members of the Indiana University Kokomo choir also went by Brown's house Monday to sing "Happy Birthday," and members of the VFW Post 1152 and other military organizations stopped by to pay tribute.

"The main thing is we just need some goodness right now," VFW Post 1152 Commander John Meeks told the Tribune on Monday before the caravan began its route to Brown's house. "... This is going to put a smile on a WWII veteran's face. I flat guarantee you that, and it's just so neat to be able to do that. I hope it's one of the best birthdays he's ever had."

U.S. Navy Culinary Spec. 2nd Class Zhane Smith agreed with Meeks, adding that he was honored to be able to present an American flag to Brown as a birthday gift from the military.

"I like being able to help out these guys that served in the past," Smith said. "It's something that'll probably make him happy. ... My grandpa served. His dad served. So it's just one of those things that you kind of honor the people because I feel like they had it a lot harder than I do now. They went through a lot more and saw a lot more.

"So it's a big honor to help and support him (Brown) out on his birthday," Smith added. "I hope he feels the joy and just the love that this community has for him and that his service actually meant something to these people. It's definitely something to celebrate."

Sam Schrock and Emma Kahn are Brown's caretakers, and the pair admitted that seeing the parade of vehicles and the accolades that followed was humbling and emotional.

"I just hope he can see (though the celebration) how much people care about him," Kahn said, acknowledging that Monday would probably be one of the biggest highlights of Brown's year. "I think it's kind of hard on him sometimes because his kids don't live in town, and the only people he really hangs out with is us. But I hope he just understands that it's not just us. I hope he understands that there are a lot of people that still care about him and are happy that he's here."

And as for the man of the hour, Brown said Monday's celebration was a really nice tribute that won't soon be forgotten.

"It's wonderful," Brown said with a chuckle. "I didn't expect it to be such a big celebration. ... It's a wonderful surprise, and I really appreciate all of it."

kim.dunlap@kokomotribune.com

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(Tribune News Service)  A man imprisoned for over 40 years for killing two teenagers when he was 17, shortly before he joined the U.S. Army, has won a new court hearing to argue for his freedom.

A state appeals court ruled Wednesday that William Thomas deserves to argue his numerous parole denials in Superior Court, where he can have a lawyer, present evidence and cross examine witnesses, unlike a state parole hearing, a process that has repeatedly denied his parole since 1995, when he was first eligible.

The decision is important, as it comes after, and references, the New Jersey Supreme Court decision last week to allow juveniles charged with murder to such a similar court hearing after 20 years in prison  lowering for them the typical 30 years without parole standard.

In that decision, called the Comer decision, a split 4-3 court recognized the science that childrens brains are not fully developed as teens, and that people can change from adolescence to adulthood in impulse control and impetuousness. And they deserve a right to argue for re-sentencing after 20 years, and present evidence they have indeed changed in prison, the decision found.

Similar arguments were made in Thomas case, and while the appeals court found he should be afforded a Comer-style court hearing, his case differs a bit.

What type of person Thomas was in 1980 and who the 59-year-old prisoner is now is key, said Deputy Public Defender Joseph J. Russo, the appeals chief who argued the case. Simply put, Thomas is a changed man, and a model prisoner, he said.

He has taken full responsibility for his crimes ... and is no longer the person he was over 40 years ago, when he was a reckless teenager, Russo said.

Thomas was 17 when he beat Lee Miller and June Johnson to death with a tire iron in a wooded area near a water-filled sand pit in the Bargaintown neighborhood of Egg Harbor Township in May 1980. Teens used to gather there, and one newspaper said it was a bit of a Lovers Lane at the time.

Miller was also 17, Johnson was 15, and they were from nearby Northfield. They were hitchhiking when Thomas and his 19-year-old cousin, William Mancuso, picked up the pair and drove to the secluded area.

Thomas and Mancuso had been drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and using methamphetamines, the appeals decision says. Thomas beat Johnson on the head, she fled, Mancuso joined the attack, and Thomas beat Miller when he came to the girls aid. Both were later found dead at the scene.

The next morning, Mancuso told Thomas what happened, hut Thomas said he could not remember. He left the state, joined the U.S. Army and was sent to Germany. Mancuso confessed the next year and implicated Thomas.

Thomas was tried as an adult and pleaded no contest to two counts of murder. He was sentenced to concurrent life terms  with no mandatory minimum time served before parole eligibility.

Mancuso took a cooperating plea deal for 10 years in prison, for Johnsons murder only.

Thomas was eligible for parole in 1995, and was denied.

This started a pattern of Thomas being consistently denied parole for over 20 years, despite his increasing improvement and progress in rehabilitation, substance abuse and addiction programs, Russo said and the decision describes.

Over the years, Thomas has had no prison infractions, got his high school diploma, studied the electric trade and now serves basically as the electrician for East Jersey State Prison in Rahway. More importantly, hes passed 18 psychological examinations  17 by the state Department of Corrections psychologist, Russo said.

The Parole Board, which as recently as 2019 and 2020 denied Thomas parole, relied on the facts and circumstances of his offense, and their conclusion that he had insufficient conflict resolution and lack of insight into his criminal behavior.

In addition to denying parole each time, the Parole Board seven times tacked on lengthy FETs, or future eligibility terms, which pushes back an inmates parole eligibility. In Thomas parole denials, the FETs alone comprise an aggregate 48 years, the decision says.

Also, Thomas appealed his parole denials many times, but trial court judges and appeals judges upheld them due to examinations of how he was sentenced in 1980.

Without judicial intervention, Russo argued in the appeal, Thomas would never be free from prison.

He cited several landmark U.S. and New Jersey supreme court cases, like Miller and Comer respectively, which consider juvenile sentencings.

The current appeals judges found those arguments persuasive, saying there is seemingly no end to defendants imprisonment and his constitutional rights are not satisfied by periodic parole hearings which do not apply relevant case law decisions.

Thomas, the court said, deserves a better arbiter, that a parole hearing is a poor substitute for a procedure that would give Thomas an adversarial setting his case needs. His case will now go in front of a judge in Superior Court of Atlantic County.

There, he can have a lawyer, present evidence that hes tried to argue in prior court appeals, and cross examine any witness the state might produce, the decision says. That judge can then rule if Thomas should be freed in any way. The court took no position on that, and recognized the horrific crime he committed.

The appeals court, while critical of the parole process, said it was for this case only, due to its heightened review of the constitutionality of a juvenile offender who is now a model prisoner, and not be seen as a general finding that the parole process is deficient or unfair.

The Atlantic County Prosecutors Office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about Thomas.

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PHILADELPHIA (Tribune News Service)  Khan Jamal, 75, an Army veteran and Philadelphia jazz vibraphonist, composer and marimba player known for his spiritual, experimental and avant-garde music, died Monday, Jan 10, of kidney failure at Chestnut Hill Hospital.

Jamal, who played with Sun Ra Arkestra and helped found the Sounds of Liberation collective, "was one of the greatest minds this country has produced," said Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Odean Pope. "He was also very good friend of mine."

Pope, 83, played in Jamal's Change of the Century Orchestra that included drummer Philly Joe Jones, saxophonist Archie Shepp, and two members of one of Jamal's earlier groups: guitarist Monnette Sudler and saxophonist Byard Lancaster.

"There will probably never be another vibe player that has his sound," Pope said. "He had an original touch. His music is going to be current for a long time."

Mostly inspired by the vibraphonist, pianist and bandleader Lionel Hampton, Jamal played early in his career with the Sun Ra Arkestra, whose music is considered a pioneer in what later became known as Afrofuturism. He also played with Cosmic Forces and Sunny Murray.

In 1971, Sudler, Jamal, and percussionist Omar Hill were the founding members of the Sounds of Liberation collective, which featured young musicians responding to the political mood in the country.

"He loved creating experimental, avant-garde music. But at the same time," Sudler said, "the melodies Khan created were also very beautiful and spiritual."

Sudler was only 19 and Jamal was about 25 when the group began and they often played at Black liberation community festivals, Mills told The Inquirer in 2019. Its first album, New Horizon, also known as Sounds of Liberation, was released in 1972, and was reissued in 2010.,

"You always heard music coming out of someone's house, James said. "On my block, I mostly heard jazz."

In a 2009 interview, Jamal talked to filmmaker and musician Jason Fifield about living near John Coltrane's house in Philadelphia, where musicians continued to play music long after the saxophonist had left for New York in 1958.

They were invited by Coltrane's "Cousin Mary" Alexander to practice or have jam sessions in the back yard.

"Lots of musicians used to come there," Jamal said in the film. "I used to sit on the steps and listen to them all the time. From that, music was in my blood. I was born a musician."

Lovett Hines, artistic director for the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, said Jamal was invited by Alexander to become part of the John W. Coltrane Cultural Society, where musicians would give master classes and go out as jazz ambassadors into the community.

He left Florida as a child and was raised in Philadelphia, said his brother, Johnnie P. McGee III. After his parents separated, he lived with his grandmother in a house on 28th Street, across the street from where his mother lived with her new husband and three younger children, McGee said.

After graduating from Edison High School in 1965, Jamal served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he studied music at the Granoff School of Music, the Combs College of Music, and privately with educator Bill Lewis.

In 1970, Jamal and Janice Browning, his high school sweetheart, had their first son. They married in 1976, and had a second son. The marriage ended in divorce and his ex-wife died in 2014.

As recently as 2019, DownBeat magazine ranked Jamal among the top vibraphonists in the world.

"He got more appreciation in Europe than in the states," said his son Khan Jamal II. "Because Europe was big on jazz. They loved him over in Copenhagen and London."

In addition to his son and brother, Jamal is survived by a second son, Tahir Jamal, three grandchildren and many relatives and friends.

A memorial service is being planned by the Clef Club at a future date, his son said.

(c)2022 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Stillwater, OK (74074)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms developing late. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms developing late. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Jan Tinetti

Labour MP

I would like to firstly take this opportunity to wish everyone a very a Happy New Year.

I hope you all had the opportunity to spend time with your families and friends and some time to relax over the summer period. The weather has been amazing and Im just so grateful to live in this beautiful city.

We stayed at home over Christmas and New Year because, as I say to people, I wouldnt want to be anywhere else.

I also hope that our local businesses, cafes and restaurants have had a profitable summer period with the increase in visitors to our region.

My thoughts this week have been with our Tongan neighbours and their family and friends here in Tauranga and across New Zealand, after the devastating volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami which hit the small island nation.

To everyone in our Pasifika community, our thoughts and support are with you. As our government moved swiftly to support Tonga, it was a reminder of the special relationship New Zealand has with our Pacific neighbours.

Did you know that in our moment of need in 2010, in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes, that Tonga, one of the Pacifics poorest nations, raised a massive NZ$705,000 for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal in a single Saturday radio-thon! Just incredible.

While we are enjoying our brilliant summer and enjoying our freedom with low numbers of Covid cases in the community at present, the news from overseas about the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant is very concerning, and a stark reminder that we must remain vigilant.

It has been reassuring to see people following the rules, wearing masks, scanning in and presenting their vaccine passes when required. Everyones hard work is so appreciated. Our vaccination programme continues at pace with booster shots available and, from last Monday, children aged five-to-11 are able to be immunised against Covid.

The Covid-19 vaccine used for children has a lower dose and smaller volume than the adult vaccine and is administered using a smaller needle. To be fully immunised against Covid-19 a child needs to get two doses of the vaccine, usually given at least eight weeks apart.

Getting vaccinated now is a great way to help protect tamariki before they go back to school. While children may have milder symptoms, some will still get very sick and end up in hospital if they do get Covid-19.

Getting vaccinated also helps to prevent them from passing it on to more vulnerable members of the whanau, like babies and elderly family members. This is a parents choice, and its important to get the information you need to make that choice.

Parents who have questions about the paediatric vaccine should seek further information from their health professional, or from Unite Against Covid-19. They can also talk to a trained advisor on the Covid Vaccination Healthline: 0800 28 29 26.

It is not a question of if, but when Omicron makes its way into our communities and we must be as well prepared and protected as we possibly can be.
December turned out to be a busy month for the Tauranga-based TECT Rescue Helicopter.

The helicopter crew carried out 35 missions over the month, including 13 inter-hospital transfers, 15 medical events, six rural/farm rescues and a motor vehicle accident.

Opotiki, Waihau Bay, Te Kaha and Motiti Island were just some of the locations the rescue helicopter was seen in.

With warm weather and sunny days, kiwis are getting out to do the things they love, which, unfortunately means a higher demand for a rescue helicopter, says a spokesperson for the rescue helicopter.

Over December, this included a mission to Waihau Bay for a man who sustained an injury whilst boating, a spinal injury sustained whilst swimming at a beach, a horse-riding incident and a patient who sustained chest injuries whilst diving off a bridge into a river.

On Friday, December 3, the TECT Rescue Helicopter was tasked to a rural property just outside of Taupo for a woman in her 60s who had fallen from her horse.

She had sustained multiple injuries, including suspected fractures.

The patient was airlifted to Waikato Hospital for further treatment.

In the evening of Sunday, December 5, the onboard crew responded to a callout to Te Kaha for a child who had suffered a severe reaction to a bee sting. The young patient was flown to Whakatane Hospital for further treatment.

TECT Rescue Helicopter assisted two patients in Waihau Bay in one day.

On Thursday, December 16, the onboard crew assisted a patient in their 50s suffering from a medical event. The patient was transported to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment.

The helicopter later returned to Waihau Bay for a patient in their 20s suffering from a medical event.

The onboard crew flew the patient to Whakatane Hospital for further care, says a rescue helicopter spokesperson.

On December 27, the TECT Rescue Helicopter was called out to Te Kaha for a woman in her 40s suffering from a stroke.

She was urgently airlifted to Whakatane Hospital for further treatment.

Later that evening, the helicopter was dispatched to a popular swimming hole on the Lower Kaimai area for a man in his 60s who had fallen 6-8ft and sustained chest injuries.

Due to the location of the accident, the onboard Intensive Care Paramedic was winched down to the patients location where he was assessed and treated before being winched into the helicopter and transported to Tauranga Hospital for further treatment.

The next day, the TECT Rescue Helicopter assisted a man in Mangakino who was found unconscious, suffering from multiple medical issues.

The onboard crew treated and transported the patient to Waikato Hospital for further treatment.

The month of December ended with a mission to Waiotahe, in the coastal Bay of Plenty, for a man in his 30s who was suffering a serous asthma attack.

The patient was treated by the onboard Intensive Care Paramedic before being flown to Tauranga Hospital in a serious condition.

Missions like these are made possible thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and donors. The greatest gift you could give is time, time for patients to spend with their loved ones this summer.

Help keep these life-saving missions available to your family and friends all summer. Donate today at rescue.org.nz.
Opposition is mounting from the Te Puna community to a proposed container depot on Te Puna Station Road.

A group of locals, who have named their cause Wrong Business, Wrong Place, have formed a petition against the proposed terminal at 297 Te Puna Station Road.

They are presenting a courtesy copy of the petition, with more than 1500 signatures, to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council today.

Last week, Wrong Business, Wrong Place spokesperson Alison Cowley, other neighbours of the site and DMS Progrowers chief executive Derek Masters presented the petition to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

The petition was received by mayor Garry Webber, council chief executive John Holyoak and councillor Don Thwaites.

Alison says the petition is asking district council to provide public notification of the application so the community can have their say.

The petition is a way of saying to council, this will affect us, and making sure that council knows it is a really big deal to the community, she says.

Alison, whose property overlooks the Te Puna Station Road site, says the community are concerned about potential increased traffic and the safety of cyclists and walkers that use the road.

The road is already congested. A lot of people are really stressed and really worried about it.

Resource consent for the establishment of yard-based industrial activities at 297 Te Puna Station Road, has been lodged by Te Puna Industrial Ltd and formally received by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council on January 18.

Te Puna Industrial Ltd was incorporated in May 2021 and ContainerCo has a 50 per cent allocation of the shares.

ContainerCo is an independent container depot with 12 branches around the country including one in Mount Maunganui.

The company provides container refurbishment, modification and storage of empty containers as well as sales and leasing.

Alison says there are concerns from nearby orchard owners about the biosecurity impact on their export crops of storing containers nearby.

The crux of the issue is it's the wrong business in the wrong place. For environmental reasons, for horticultural, agricultural, export and cropping reasons, for traffic reasons, for amenity reasons and for noise reasons.

Fellow neighbour Paul Winwood says theyre concerned about the potential pollution, noise, dust and environmental impact.

Were passionate about the area because we live here.

Council planning and regulatory services group manager Rachael Davie says under the Resource Management Act 1991, there is no presumption that resource consent applications must be notified.

Instead, in order to determine whether an application should be publicly notified, a consent authority must carefully follow statutory steps in the RMA, she says.

Given the prescriptive nature of the statutory tests, the consent authority does not have a general discretion as to who should be notified of a resource consent application.

It is not entitled to take into account a persons desire to be notified, or their stated opposition to a particular proposal, she says.

It must instead work its way carefully through the statutory tests to determine the outcome. Failure to follow those steps carefully could result in judicial review of the consent authoritys decision by the High Court.

The 11.97 ha property at 297 Te Puna Station Road sold for $4.7million in February 2021, according to property website OneRoof.

It is one of three properties that make up Te Puna Business Park, all zoned industrial under the Western Bay of Plenty District Plan.

Te Puna Industrial Ltd has been approached for comment
Today the Ministry of Health is reporting one new possible Omicron case in Palmerston North.

The MidCentral District Health Board announced the case this morning.

This case was in a MIQ facility in Christchurch and tested negative on day 9, before being released on 16 January (Sunday), after returning a negative test result on five occasions throughout their stay.

The case became symptomatic yesterday and got tested. They returned a positive Covid-19 test result yesterday evening.

"Urgent whole genome sequencing is underway though, as this case was staying at a MIQ facility at the same time as known Omicron cases, as a prudent measure it is being treated as a Omicron case," says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

"Investigations are underway to determine the source of infection, including possible in-facility transmission.

"The case is considered to have been infectious from 17 January (Monday) and there are exposure events associated with their movements, including an early childhood centre. Initial locations of interest associated with the individual have been published this morning and more will be added as they are identified."

The case, who has had two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is now isolating at home with their family, says the MOH.

Information on testing sites in Palmerston North can be found on HealthPoint.

"Our objective is to stamp out the infection and prevent any onward transmission related to this case.

"New Zealands vaccine rollout remains our key defence against all variants of Covid-19, including Omicron. With 93 per cent of the eligible population now double-dosed and the booster programme underway, New Zealanders are well protected."

Auckland Omicron case update

There are now three confirmed Omicron cases in the Auckland region.

These include a MIQ border worker and their household contact, and a worker at Auckland Airport.

At this stage, one additional contact associated with these cases has tested positive for Covid-19, says the Ministry of Health.

"This case is a household contact of the MIQ worker and was already isolating when they tested positive. Whole genome sequencing is underway, but the assumption is this case has the Omicron variant.

"The highest priority for local Public Health staff relates to contacts who were at the Ara-Tai Cafe Half Moon Bay at the same time as the worker at Auckland Airport.

"This location of interest is high risk and people that may have visited this location are asked to follow the advice below."

Venue Date/Time Advice Ara-Tai Cafe Half Moon Bay *inside seated customers* 18 January 12.30pm-2.00pm *You are a CLOSE contact if you were a seated INSIDE customer* 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. Ara-Tai Cafe Half Moon Bay *outside seated customers* 18 January 12.30pm-2.00pm *You are a CASUAL contact if you were a seated OUTSIDE customer* Self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 10 days after you were exposed. If symptoms develop, get a test and stay at home until you get a negative test result

As of this morning, a total of 88 contacts have been identified in relation to the MIQ border worker. At this stage, 84 have returned negative test results and two have returned a positive result.

This includes a positive household contact that was reported earlier this week, and an additional household contact reported today, says the MOH.

"As of this morning, a total of 39 contacts have been identified in relation to the worker at Auckland Airport. At this stage, 13 have returned negative test results.

"Investigations into the source of infection are ongoing."

Omicron update

To date, there have been 440 Omicron Covid-19 cases detected at the border since 1 December, and 32 cases of the Delta variant.
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Weather Alert

...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON... * WHAT...Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is possible. * WHERE...Portions of Arkansas and Oklahoma, including the following counties, in Arkansas, Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Madison, Sebastian and Washington AR. In Oklahoma, Adair, Cherokee, Choctaw, Craig, Creek, Delaware, Haskell, Latimer, Le Flore, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Nowata, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pittsburg, Pushmataha, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner and Washington OK. * WHEN...From Wednesday morning through Thursday afternoon. * IMPACTS...Excessive runoff will likely result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations, especially in areas that have already received heavy rainfall over the past few days. Several main-stem rivers could go into flood. A few locations could see significant flash flooding. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - A slowly moving upper low will move across the area Wednesday into early Thursday. Multiple rounds of thunderstorms are likely with the potential for very heavy rainfall. Widespread 2 to 3 inches of rain is expected with locally higher amounts of 5 to 6 inches. The heavier rain will begin to shift east of far southeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas early Thursday afternoon. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible Flood Warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop. &&
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Switzerland Publishes Review Of 2021 Tax Progress

20 January 2022

As part of its commitment to fighting cross-border tax evasion and profit shifting, Switzerland sent information on over 3m financial accounts in 2021, according to a new review of the Swiss financial center by the State Secretariat for International Financial Matters.

The review, which is published annually, provides information on the most important developments for Switzerland on international financial matters, including taxation, while also providing an overview on the status of ongoing regulatory projects.

This year's review notes that in the area of exchange of information for tax purposes, Switzerland sent information on around 3.3m financial accounts to 96 countries, and received information on around 2.1m accounts. In addition, on December 3, 2021, the Federal Council initiated a consultation on introducing automatic exchange of information with 12 further states and territories.

The review further noted, with regard to double taxation agreements, that Switzerland has DTAs with over 100 jurisdictions, and in 2021, a new DTA was signed with Ethiopia, and new DTAs with Bahrain, Brazil and Saudi Arabia entered into force. In addition, Switzerland signed protocols of amendment with Armenia, Japan and North Macedonia, while protocols amending the DTAs with Cyprus, Liechtenstein and Malta entered into force.

With regard to Mutual Agreement Procedures, meanwhile, according to the review, Switzerland had completed 181 international mutual agreement procedures in 2020, with the OECD praising "the efficiency of these procedures," particularly with regards to transfer pricing.

On the topic of taxing the digital economy, with particular reference to the OECD's international tax reform plans, the review emphasized the Government's call for "the interests of small, robust economies to be taken into account" as part of the broader conversation.

Switzerland, it stated, "is committed to rules that foster innovation and prosperity, that are applied uniformly worldwide and that are subject to a dispute resolution mechanism."
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Publication in Focus: How Irelands First Cities Emerged

20 January 2022 - A new book from David Dickson, Professor Emeritus in Trinitys Department of History, tells the story of how the first Irish cities emerged before the age of industrialisation and details the significant population growth of urban Ireland during that time.

Professor Dicksons publication with Yale University Press, The First Irish Cities: An Eighteenth-Century Transformation,takes him beyond Irelands capital, the source of much of his scholarly attention, to include nine other urban centres around the country that developed substantially during the eighteenth century.

I always had an ambition to do a collective study of the cities that paralleled the development of what we normally call Georgian Dublin, Professor Dickson explains.

As a Derry native with strong family connections to Cork, Professor Dickson is ideally suited to carrying out such a study, which encompasses cities throughout the country, from Cork to Limerick, Waterford, Belfast and Dublin.

While much has been written about the architectural profile and high culture of these cities during this period of unusual growth, Professor Dickson says he wanted to focus on the world of work and on life on the street in the eighteenth century, and to illuminate some of the themes that draw out the darker side of these urban centres.

Ireland as Exporter

The dramatic growth of Irish cities and urban centres in the eighteenth centuryparticularly the southern and eastern cities of Irelandcan best be seen by observing their high tide mark, which coincided with the first national census of 1821. Professor Dickson chose the top ten cities and urban centres in 1821 and traced their trajectories of growth from the time they were very modest towns in the mid-1600s, shattered by war, to become in most cases significant urban centres by European standards, and in several cases showpieces of Enlightenment development.

One of the main factors driving this transformation was sustained growth of Irish foreign trade, which saw many of the port towns adding substantial value to exports. There was a large amount of processing and warehousing of exports, and therefore employment in port towns, with exports both to Britain and to far distant markets across the Atlantic, to France, Spain and Portugal, Professor Dickson explains.

I wish the real past of a lot of our cities was better understood, because I think that would inform the planning process in ways that perhaps it doesnt at present. Professor David Dickson

I think what's striking for that period compared to later periods is how much workshop activity was going on, how diverse the crafts were, both those sectors working for the export market and those preparing and finishing shop goods for middling and higher-class households.

In Dublin, he notes the Liberties as a key district. It housed many of the workshops processing raw materials coming from outside the country and producing much of fashionable dressware and consumer goods that those with money craved. Immigrant crafts people were important early on, but their role has been overstated.

Artisans and merchants were in fact highly mobile. There was indeed something of an Irish diaspora from these cities in the eighteenth century. Professor Dickson highlights the commercial spread of Irish trading families into places such as London, Bordeaux, Lisbon and Philadelphia, where they maintained strong familial links with Ireland.

This diaspora was religiously mixed, but the development of Catholic trading networks during the period was particularly important. Catholic trading families of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway were for the most partputting it mildlydisadvantaged from Cromwellian times, but in many cases they adapted and survived, not necessarily as big trading houses but by literally setting up shop in France, in Spain and in the Caribbean.

Image: Thomas Sautelle Roberts, 'East view of Waterford city, 1795' [National Library of Ireland]

Professor Dickson notes how some of the continental port cities in the eighteenth century had particularly strong connections with Irish cities dating back to the Catholic exodus in the previous century, and one of the cases he highlights is the strong link between Waterford and Cadiz, in southern Spain. There is a two-way movement of people, a movement of trade and of wealth that had begun in the seventeenth century and had originally been political and religious but, after that, it becomes really just a kind of career path for families who are placing younger siblings into business.

Integrating recent research on Irelands diaspora into his new publication, Professor Dickson says the existence of these transnational networks goes some way to explaining the urban renaissance at home, notably in Munster. The success of these families who are able to use backdoor methods and family connections to carry on trade with France and the French slave islands in the Caribbean during the times of Anglo-French warfare is very striking.

Politics and the City

Dublin remained very much the centre of eighteenth-century politics, its highly visible parliament having a practical as well as a symbolic importance in shaping Irish development. But Professor Dickson emphasizes the importance of regional parliamentarians who, although domiciled in Dublin, were very successful in using their political leverage to bring resources back to their political base, notably those who represented the cities of Limerick and Cork in the Irish parliament.

Examining the evolution of political culture within Irelands cities before the final years of the century, Professor Dickson shows how there was a transformation from the almost closed corporate governance monopolized by a business elite to a vibrant pattern of public contestation, usually turning on parliamentary election battles. He emphasizes how there was a noticeable widening of political life due to the strengthening of print culture and the growth in artisanal literacy. Trade guilds and the more shadowy journeyman clubs were incubators for political debate where men became used to speechifying, and at a more elevated social level the emergence of new voluntary associations, notably the Chambers of Commerce, complemented this process.

While there are many similarities between these cities in terms of their economies, their politics diverge greatly, due mainly to their diverse religious make-up. Belfast in the 18th century is an overwhelmingly Presbyterian town with very strong links to its own hinterland, but also obviously to Scotland, and that decisively shapes the culture, the politics, as well as the religious structures of the town.

At the other end of the spectrum, Professor Dickson highlights Kilkenny and Galway as overwhelmingly Catholic cities, where the trading wealth remains Catholic.

...the Munster capital does not merit the label Rebel Cork in the 1770s, 1780s and 1790s. Dublin and Belfast do. Professor David Dickson

How does this affect politics?, he asks. It means to some extent that local politics around a narrow Protestant base is very, very thin. However, what's interesting to observe is the growth of informal voluntary associations and the ways in which Catholic towns marshal their own unofficial resources to shape the future. It's one aspect which isn't particularly well documented, but it's certainly fascinating.

The slow-burning influence of the Enlightenment and shock of the American Revolution invigorated opposition politics in Dublin and Belfast. New calls for political reform, for widening the franchse and for making parliament more accountable were very evident in both places. And youve got a very strong new Catholic politics coming through in Dublin in the 1780s and particularly the early1790s. And yet, despite strong Catholic wealth in Cork, the Cork Catholic merchants are politically much quieter. In the next century, that's most certainly not true of Cork, but the Munster capital does not merit the label Rebel Cork in the 1770s, 1780s and 1790s. Dublin and Belfast do.

Decline in the Nineteenth Century

According to Professor Dickson, as we move into the 1800s, Irelands trade becomes much more focused on Britain in the era of the Industrial Revolution. The great diversity of value-added processing thats been such a feature of the eighteenth century withers away in the nineteenth, and agricultural exports  most obviously live cattle  pass through the ports much more quickly. And Irish consumers come to depend on the cheap and the not so cheap goods coming from the industrial centres of Britain.

Taking these early Irish cities and comparing them with patterns in Europe, Professor Dickson argues that their relative decline from the 1820s is unusual: there are very few other areas, where there has been strong 18th century growth and nineteenth-century stagnation. He also notes some stark changes in the make-up of cities, as we move into the nineteenth century, in terms of a greater income and welfare inequality, despite improvements in street lighting, water, sanitation, and social provision.

Photo by Gregory DALLEAU on Unsplash

A decline in the diversity of the workshop sector and of skilled and semi-skilled employment creates a bigger wage differential between men and women, between organized labour and the unskilled, and greater impoverishment as a result of new technical processes, Professor Dickson suggests.

He argues that the most dramatic changes occur because the wealthy classes are now choosing to live outside the core areas of cities, partly because of the magnetic pull of suburbanization and the fall in the cost of movement (horse trams and railways), partly because of the fear of disease associated with the inner cities and the resentment at high municipal taxes. What follows according to Professor Dickson was the growth of a wealthier suburban ring and of increasing poverty within the cities and towns, particularly visible in greater Dublin, Cork and Limerick, a process which, he adds, endures far into the twentieth century.

In terms of the current trajectory of Irelands cities, and particularly the planning crisis associated with the countrys capital, Professor Dickson describes himself as an interested observer but he cautions against a mythical view of the past, adding that his attitude towards rehabilitating Georgian dwellings or other historical structures of the period is informed more by environmental than by cultural considerations. But I wish the real past of a lot of our cities was better understood, because I think that would inform the planning process in ways that perhaps it doesnt at present.

Professor Dickson, who helped to establish the first Masters course on Public History in Ireland in advance of the Decade of Centenaries, identifies the absence of a major municipal museum in Dublin as symptomatic of this deficit, there being no equivalent to the likes of the Museum of London. I think there are really good centres of interpretation of Dublins past, but a full-scale municipal museum would have enormous educational impact, and hopefully a planning impact too.

Professor Dickson was recently appointed as a Trinity Long Room Hub Emeritus Fellow. View his profile here

The First Irish Cities: An Eighteenth-Century Transformation is published by Yale University Press.
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My BMW 320Ld Ownership Review

I didnt have any specific car in mind to begin with, kept my options open including used cars. Wanted next car to be an upgrade over Endeavour in terms of brand, drive, power. Since my cars clock decent miles, want to be practical and donot want this to end up as my weekend toy or a garage queen. Below are some of the cars considered/test driven.



Mercedes A/GLA/C: A class-except for the badge nothing much to write home about. Did not like the GLA either, compact and still looks more like hatchback than crossover. C was clearly showing its age, lack of space, bland interiors, dated looks did not impress at all. All new C was expected, and review did not seem impressive either. Again, personally I am not a fan of brand Mercedes as my better half always taunts as a brand that I can buy after retirement.



Mercedes GLC(Used/New): Not a big fan of the design and dated interiors but overall 220D did look like a good package. Limited units of new one was available and at nearly 85L OTR did not seem worthy at all. Used ones were available but had high mileage or very old. Getting a used premium car in Karnataka is a nightmare.



BMW X3/X4: New ones were out of stock and used X3 were like GLC. Either too old or had high mileage. Came across a decent X4 20D and managed to negotiate an exchange with Endeavour. There were few red flags though like scratches on door and bumper. Service history and warranty was a bit shady. Put this on hold.



MG Gloster/ZS EV: Standing inside the showroom, Gloster looked nice. Good interiors-better than Fortuner /Endeavour, spacious, good kit and VFM pricing. Road presence was lacking especially from front which is important to me in these body on frame large SUV. MG brand did not pull the right strings either. That said test drove the car and did not take much time to strike off. Felt super soft, lot of sideways movement, light steering, lack of initial grunt from engine, the drive was anything but impressive. I have no issues with Chinese pedigree but I don't have the courage to invest 45L on a new brand. Next up was ZS EV, good as a city and secondary car but did not seem to fit my requirements. The quality was ordinary too for a 26L car. Demo car rattled and squeaked, had malfunction lights on dash and interiors do not seem to age well.



Audi A4/A6: A6 was bit too large and petrol only. Not a fan of boring design language of Audi too. Dealer was willing to negotiate however did not find overall package impressive. A4 on the other hand had perfect size apart from boring exterior. Interiors design gave me VW vibes especially at the back. That may be good thing, but I have bad memories with VW and still not able to get over it. That said I believe If I pay more, I should get better engine, A4 had same engine that comes with cheaper VW/Skoda, I will happily get latter and save some money. Audi Indias current state did not give me positive vibes either. Audi though seem to have a strong action plan when market switches to EV.



Toyota Camry: This was a surprise package. Its big, has good amount of space inside and the engine is anything but boring. I always thought Camry as a boring car but the car is quite fun. In pure EV as expected is super silent and even with ICE turned on, its quite silent. Has all the basic feature apart from Android Auto and Apple carplay. The major drawback was though, if I am to get this, it will be third Toyota at home and my garage will look like a Toyota showroom. Another aspect is the new car s about 52L OTR and while the car is good, will miss the badge value of Germans which is not too far away. Fina nail in coffin was unavailability of car, dealer had no idea when he can deliver the car and did not seem keen on Endeavour exchange.



BMW 3 GL/5 series: X1 felt a bit dated and did not impress last time around, 3 Series however left me grinning, only downside family was not ready for a sedan especially a cramped one. Regular 3 was out of stock, albeit for 330i MSport. Folks at family are not comfortable in a sedan, the GL comes a savior. Keeps the enthusiast in me happy and at same time, offer plenty of room for folks at back. For my kind of usage and driving style prefer torquey diesels. That said one who loves to push hard(pedal to metal kind of driving), 330i is a hoot. Engine note alone will make you grin, and a drive will just elevate the feeling. Thats said 320D is an allrounder, is quite fun, has good grunt and will keep your wallet happy too. Shortlisted 320D GL. Since 5 series was available at some premium gave it a look. Biggest downer was ride height and ground clearance, everyone felt too low and uncomfortable. On test drive did not find it as nimble/fun as the 320Ld and driving position was too low for my liking. The 5 though certainly had extra kit like Adaptive suspension, better lights, comfort access and few others. For additional 10L I get additional kit but goes against my thumb rule, for the premium I pay, I get 520D with same engine/gearbox as 320D. 530D would have been a different animal altogether but that means 20L over 320Ld.



I had two options left a new 320Ld or used X4 20D.



X420D Advantages

Higher Ground clearance

Car from higher segment

Cheaper price to pay

AWD



320Ld Advantages

Brand new car with full warranty

More space/well-appointed interiors

More features

Better to drive on good roads





As I said X4 had few red flags, and my family is not very keen on used cars. X4 even though a crossover, I may not be able to drive it like a true-blue SUV and already have couple of them at home for SUV duty. My personal pick would have been a 330i/320D Sport however to convince family for a sedan, added space and kit became important- Hence 320Ld.



Car details

Manufacturer- BMW

Model- 320Ld

Variant-Luxury Line

Color- Mineral white with Cognac Interiors



320Ld in flesh, taken during a drive to Mattu beach





Car buying experience

I tried negotiating with all dealers available in Karnataka. Mangalore got its new dealership- Varsha Autohaus who offered me with best deal. Being new entrant, they were aggressive and kept following up on regular basis. I was given each and every details of the car and so far, have offered me what was promised. Car was booked toward end of November and reached showroom within couple of days. Did a thorough check of the check before signing off. Delivery was smooth and folks at Varsha (Rajith and Sreejith) ensured we had a top-notch experience. Liked their proactiveness and were patient enough to drive down 100KM multiple times to ensure we picked up right car.



What I like about 320Ld

1. Engine Gearbox and driving dynamics

2. Space on offer especially at the rear.

3. Decent amount of kit

4. Well-tuned suspension that will keep passengers happy.

5. Exemplary Fuel Efficiency

6. Good Build quality and top-notch safety kit



What I dont like about 320Ld

1. Missing essentials-comfort access, ventilated seats, half LED lights.

2. Limited color options

3. Speed warnings at 80 and 120KM/Hr

4. Small boot for such a large car

5. As an enthusiast when driving solo, would have preferred slightly stiffer suspension.

6. Rear AC cooling is below average





Exterior



320Ld is quite a large car. Measures over 4.8M in length and right in middle of regular 3 and 5 in terms of length. What I like is how well BMW has extended the wheelbase without making car look awkward like previous gen Superb or LWB E class. Someone who has not seen regular 3 series in person will easily pass this off as 3 series. I had an option of carbon black and mineral white, felt the alloy, tail lamps, headlights and few other bits get highlighted more in white than black. Also owning a garnet red Innova, I know the pain in maintaining a dark car in India. 3 series to me looks best from rear, and the taillights looks sexy in night. Alloy wheels are dual tone simple V spoke which compliments the white color car. 50 section tires are perfect for Indian road conditions, but a wider lower profile will improve driving dynamics. Car comes with DRLs, but I prefer the looks of corona rings of older BMW. Headlamp is quad lamp projector unit, only exterior ones are functional though. They move along with steering inputs, have decent throw and intensity but given low slung nature of sedan, bit inadequate in state highways. Foglamps are missing for reason well known to BMW. Paint quality is top notch and has good finish as well. Strangely GL misses the signature BMW blue as an option. Not much chrome bits except for large front grille. Its again mix of chrome and black, does not look too awkward in a white car.



The pic was taken when the car was stationery, hate it when someone peaks through sunroof while car is in motion.





Another closeup shot







Headlamps up close. Inner projectors are dummy, gets DRL lights below though.





I like the alloys, goes well with white car. Simple and neat, not a fan of busy designs





A look at ORVMs. They close automatically on locking.





The grille is supposed to open when needed, sadly I won't be able to see. May be a hot pursuit and acrobatic skills will reveal?







Few candid pics taken during a drive to Madikeri







Height comparison, 3 series is typical low slung sedan(Sorry for poor quality pic)





Interior



I like the Cognac interiors and leather are of good quality. Compared to X4 that I checked, 320Ld has soft touch plastics for entire door pad, has better ambient lights and larger screen makes the interior a better place to be. Front seats are accommodative and gets under thigh support extenders. Cushion has right firmness to aid both city and long highway drives. Rear seat is wonderful place to be. Oodles of leg space and with legs stretched there is decent under thigh support too. I am 510 and find headroom adequate too. Special mention for the rear headrests, they are very well designed. I am not much into features and dont buy car for feature it offers. In current times, features get outdated in 6 months- 1 year. I am happy if car offer basic features which 320Ld does. Digital displays, electric seats, reversing assistant, sunroof etc. However also misses some basic stuff like comfort access, ventilated seats.

Overall good place to be for enthusiastic driver as well as the family members.



Front seats are a nice place to be. Dashboard is neat, has soft touch plastic allover and some nice leather at all touch points.





320Ld gets digital display which is not configurable but easy to read





Mix of black and brown for that contrasting look. Compared to all Black or All beige, this should be easier to maintain.





Close up shot of the large head unit and AC controls.





Rear is nice , especially that extra legroom makes for a comfortable ride.





Nice touch, back of front seats get ambient lights, which looks cool at night





Ambient lights are configurable and quite bright.





Engine + Gearbox



This is the best thing I love in the car. Engine has good grunt, and the 8 speed TC is match made in heaven. 99% of the time the gear is right, and you are never short of power at given point in time. Even in Eco pro mode there is good amount of performance on offer. That said Sport mode is where all the action is. Push the Sport button and move the gearbox to sport mode, car simply plunges ahead. While you get the typical torque rush of diesel, the car also gains speed quite rapidly. The 330i in comparison is notch above in terms of performance. Where the 320Ld shines is w.r.to its all-round nature. After my recent 175KM drive to hills and back, car returned a decent 16KM/L as indicated by MID. Comfort mode as it states offers best mix of comfort and performance. The steering in default Eco pro and comfort mode is light to my liking, in Power mode gains good weight. The steering is sharp, and drivers delight. The car shoots in the direction you point and holds on track like a leech on corners. Again regular 3 does even better based on my previous drive experience. Insulation is good, there is not much engine noise that seeps into cabin. Wind noise is also well controlled but there is some tire noise at higher speeds.



Ride and Handling



If you are looking at a pure drivers delight, regular 3 series is the one to go for. However, 3 GL without losing much of the fun quotient adds a bit of practicality too by offering extra space at back and reworked cushioning. Ride is supple and at times for an enthusiast can get tad soft but will keep the family happy while moving across those bad patches. There is a bit of bounciness at rear, thanks to softer suspension and 50 section 17-inch tires, but it in no way robs the fun to drive nature of the car. The car overall is still a bit stiffer than competition, its only when you compare against regular 3, one can notice the difference.

Steering has good amount of weight especially in Sport mode and is direct. Hydraulic unit would have been lovely, but the EPS offers good balance between fun and practicality. Ground clearance came as a surprise. Given the extended wheelbase, I was expecting car to scrap belly quite easily. So far have driven for about 2000KM and hasnt scrapped even with 4.5 folks on board. Obviously, its not meant to go offroad or run through road humps like my Fortuner but be a little cautious and crosses road humps without much drama. The driving position is just perfect for me. Even though this is a low-slung sedan, you dont sit as low as say 5 series and I get a clear view of bonnet and everything thats happening upfront. The seats offer good support for that aggressive driving.



Stuff that does (and not) matter



Harman Kardon Audio- Initial few days was a bit apprehensive about the sound quality. Over time the speaker has settled down and sound crisp and nice. Good audio quality is important and Harman Kardon unit has good bass and clarity. If I am to compare, bass is slightly lesser than Endeavours unit and somehow find JBL in fortuner a bit richer. The Harman Kardon has the perfect balance and offer good quality sound for all passengers. Head unit has equalizer which helps one tune as per preference.



Space at rear- There is serious amount of space at back that can put even larger cars to shame. The extra legroom guarantees good under thigh support which most the time is lacking in low slung sedans. That said rear seat is best suited for 2 adults plus a child. 3rd person will be a bit of squeeze, thanks to large floor hump. There is decent mount of headroom too. May be passengers up to 6ft will not have an issue.



Sunroof- This is my first car with sunroof and first few weeks did excite me. However, as days passed, the excitement has started to die down. While it brings in more sunlight, makes the cabin hotter when you open the shade. I hardly open windows while driving and same applies to sunroof too. Given the average performance of rear AC, I dont think will be able to use Sunroof much especially in hot and humid place I stay. Good to have but will not influence my purchase decision for future cars for sure.



Air-conditioner- 320Ld gets 3 zone climate control . Occupants at front wont complain but the ones at rear find cooling a bit underwhelming especially when you open the sun blinds. Sorely miss ventilated seats, for a car costing about 70L OTR with leather seats, not offering ventilated seats is a crime.



Head unit and digital instrument console- Not a big fan of digital instrument console but the unit in BMW is simple, neat and easy to read. Both displays are crisp and does not suffer much from glare. There are few stats that display shows up, but in this car the ride/handling and engine gearbox makes you forget everything else. The only feature I ensure to check when I sit is to see if car is at least in comfort mode. That said I like the implementation of idrive physical controls, always nice to use those physical buttons. Rear camera quality is good, though only small part of of display is used by rear camera. Wireless Android Auto and Apple carplay works flawlessly.



Head (and other) lights- BMW has offered plenty of lights in and out. There are welcome carpet lights, ambient light at front and back doors and even on back of front seats, puddle lights etc. However, they have forgotten to add lights to two of the inner projectors of headlight and Luxury line also misses the useful fog lights. The headlights as such are decent but extra light would have made it better.



Low beam





High beam. Lights are bright and has decent throw.





Ground clearance- For the kind of driving I do, this was very important. Though I liked the 320Ld quite a bit, Ground clearance was always a concern. Took the demo car for multiple test drives around places where I frequent. Tried with varying number of passengers too but havent been able to scrape it yet. Yes, I cannot run riot through road hump like Fortuner or Innova but then a bit of patience, car clears without any drama. Clearly did not expect this and took me by surprise.



The car has covered close to 2K KMs in 1.5 months and so far, has been rewarding experience. I dont intend to take it for touring or grocery shopping but would like to use it pre-dominantly for highway drives of 300KM/6Hr. Down the line plan to take extended warranty, the car came with 3-year basic service which was included in the price. Now for the big question, how did someone with only body on frame old school SUV shift to a sedan and in this age of dying sedans is it worth buying one? Well to be frank if its your sole car and if you intend to travel a lot/explore places, Crossover or SUV may fit the bill better. Not that you cannot go in a sedan, but crossover/SUV offers a bit more peace of mind. Where the sedans claw back is w.r.to value they offer and fast performance which brings smile every time you hit a corner or that confidence while doing higher speeds.



Thanks to itwasntme for the detailed review of 330i, answering my queries patiently and Dr.AD for beautiful travelogues and insights into ownership of 3 series.



Cars from opposite poles and different capabilities. Both are super fun when you know what car to use where.

Back in Jan 2021, almost bought 3 series which i had mentioned in my Fortuner ownership review, but preference and purpose ensured that I ended up with a Fortuner. 15000KM of blissful travelling and no regrets. Did not intend to buy anything in 2021 and was hoping for a EV replacement couple of years down the line. However, Ford had other plans, decided to shut shop. While the service continued, Endeavour was 6 years old, though hardly showing signs of age. Would have easily lasted another couple of years but life is too short not to experience and experiment. Decided to sell Endeavour provided we get fair price for our car and good deal for new car.I didnt have any specific car in mind to begin with, kept my options open including used cars. Wanted next car to be an upgrade over Endeavour in terms of brand, drive, power. Since my cars clock decent miles, want to be practical and donot want this to end up as my weekend toy or a garage queen. Below are some of the cars considered/test driven.: A class-except for the badge nothing much to write home about. Did not like the GLA either, compact and still looks more like hatchback than crossover. C was clearly showing its age, lack of space, bland interiors, dated looks did not impress at all. All new C was expected, and review did not seem impressive either. Again, personally I am not a fan of brand Mercedes as my better half always taunts as a brand that I can buy after retirement.Mercedes GLC(Used/New): Not a big fan of the design and dated interiors but overall 220D did look like a good package. Limited units of new one was available and at nearly 85L OTR did not seem worthy at all. Used ones were available but had high mileage or very old. Getting a used premium car in Karnataka is a nightmare.: New ones were out of stock and used X3 were like GLC. Either too old or had high mileage. Came across a decent X4 20D and managed to negotiate an exchange with Endeavour. There were few red flags though like scratches on door and bumper. Service history and warranty was a bit shady. Put this on hold.: Standing inside the showroom, Gloster looked nice. Good interiors-better than Fortuner /Endeavour, spacious, good kit and VFM pricing. Road presence was lacking especially from front which is important to me in these body on frame large SUV. MG brand did not pull the right strings either. That said test drove the car and did not take much time to strike off. Felt super soft, lot of sideways movement, light steering, lack of initial grunt from engine, the drive was anything but impressive. I have no issues with Chinese pedigree but I don't have the courage to invest 45L on a new brand. Next up was ZS EV, good as a city and secondary car but did not seem to fit my requirements. The quality was ordinary too for a 26L car. Demo car rattled and squeaked, had malfunction lights on dash and interiors do not seem to age well.: A6 was bit too large and petrol only. Not a fan of boring design language of Audi too. Dealer was willing to negotiate however did not find overall package impressive. A4 on the other hand had perfect size apart from boring exterior. Interiors design gave me VW vibes especially at the back. That may be good thing, but I have bad memories with VW and still not able to get over it. That said I believe If I pay more, I should get better engine, A4 had same engine that comes with cheaper VW/Skoda, I will happily get latter and save some money. Audi Indias current state did not give me positive vibes either. Audi though seem to have a strong action plan when market switches to EV.: This was a surprise package. Its big, has good amount of space inside and the engine is anything but boring. I always thought Camry as a boring car but the car is quite fun. In pure EV as expected is super silent and even with ICE turned on, its quite silent. Has all the basic feature apart from Android Auto and Apple carplay. The major drawback was though, if I am to get this, it will be third Toyota at home and my garage will look like a Toyota showroom. Another aspect is the new car s about 52L OTR and while the car is good, will miss the badge value of Germans which is not too far away. Fina nail in coffin was unavailability of car, dealer had no idea when he can deliver the car and did not seem keen on Endeavour exchange.: X1 felt a bit dated and did not impress last time around, 3 Series however left me grinning, only downside family was not ready for a sedan especially a cramped one. Regular 3 was out of stock, albeit for 330i MSport. Folks at family are not comfortable in a sedan, the GL comes a savior. Keeps the enthusiast in me happy and at same time, offer plenty of room for folks at back. For my kind of usage and driving style prefer torquey diesels. That said one who loves to push hard(pedal to metal kind of driving), 330i is a hoot. Engine note alone will make you grin, and a drive will just elevate the feeling. Thats said 320D is an allrounder, is quite fun, has good grunt and will keep your wallet happy too. Shortlisted 320D GL. Since 5 series was available at some premium gave it a look. Biggest downer was ride height and ground clearance, everyone felt too low and uncomfortable. On test drive did not find it as nimble/fun as the 320Ld and driving position was too low for my liking. The 5 though certainly had extra kit like Adaptive suspension, better lights, comfort access and few others. For additional 10L I get additional kit but goes against my thumb rule, for the premium I pay, I get 520D with same engine/gearbox as 320D. 530D would have been a different animal altogether but that means 20L over 320Ld.I had two options left a new 320Ld or used X4 20D.Higher Ground clearanceCar from higher segmentCheaper price to payAWDBrand new car with full warrantyMore space/well-appointed interiorsMore featuresBetter to drive on good roadsAs I said X4 had few red flags, and my family is not very keen on used cars. X4 even though a crossover, I may not be able to drive it like a true-blue SUV and already have couple of them at home for SUV duty. My personal pick would have been a 330i/320D Sport however to convince family for a sedan, added space and kit became important- Hence 320Ld.Manufacturer- BMWModel- 320LdVariant-Luxury LineColor- Mineral white with Cognac InteriorsI tried negotiating with all dealers available in Karnataka. Mangalore got its new dealership- Varsha Autohaus who offered me with best deal. Being new entrant, they were aggressive and kept following up on regular basis. I was given each and every details of the car and so far, have offered me what was promised. Car was booked toward end of November and reached showroom within couple of days. Did a thorough check of the check before signing off. Delivery was smooth and folks at Varsha (Rajith and Sreejith) ensured we had a top-notch experience. Liked their proactiveness and were patient enough to drive down 100KM multiple times to ensure we picked up right car.1. Engine Gearbox and driving dynamics2. Space on offer especially at the rear.3. Decent amount of kit4. Well-tuned suspension that will keep passengers happy.5. Exemplary Fuel Efficiency6. Good Build quality and top-notch safety kit1. Missing essentials-comfort access, ventilated seats, half LED lights.2. Limited color options3. Speed warnings at 80 and 120KM/Hr4. Small boot for such a large car5. As an enthusiast when driving solo, would have preferred slightly stiffer suspension.6. Rear AC cooling is below average320Ld is quite a large car. Measures over 4.8M in length and right in middle of regular 3 and 5 in terms of length. What I like is how well BMW has extended the wheelbase without making car look awkward like previous gen Superb or LWB E class. Someone who has not seen regular 3 series in person will easily pass this off as 3 series. I had an option of carbon black and mineral white, felt the alloy, tail lamps, headlights and few other bits get highlighted more in white than black. Also owning a garnet red Innova, I know the pain in maintaining a dark car in India. 3 series to me looks best from rear, and the taillights looks sexy in night. Alloy wheels are dual tone simple V spoke which compliments the white color car. 50 section tires are perfect for Indian road conditions, but a wider lower profile will improve driving dynamics. Car comes with DRLs, but I prefer the looks of corona rings of older BMW. Headlamp is quad lamp projector unit, only exterior ones are functional though. They move along with steering inputs, have decent throw and intensity but given low slung nature of sedan, bit inadequate in state highways. Foglamps are missing for reason well known to BMW. Paint quality is top notch and has good finish as well. Strangely GL misses the signature BMW blue as an option. Not much chrome bits except for large front grille. Its again mix of chrome and black, does not look too awkward in a white car.I like the Cognac interiors and leather are of good quality. Compared to X4 that I checked, 320Ld has soft touch plastics for entire door pad, has better ambient lights and larger screen makes the interior a better place to be. Front seats are accommodative and gets under thigh support extenders. Cushion has right firmness to aid both city and long highway drives. Rear seat is wonderful place to be. Oodles of leg space and with legs stretched there is decent under thigh support too. I am 510 and find headroom adequate too. Special mention for the rear headrests, they are very well designed. I am not much into features and dont buy car for feature it offers. In current times, features get outdated in 6 months- 1 year. I am happy if car offer basic features which 320Ld does. Digital displays, electric seats, reversing assistant, sunroof etc. However also misses some basic stuff like comfort access, ventilated seats.Overall good place to be for enthusiastic driver as well as the family members.This is the best thing I love in the car. Engine has good grunt, and the 8 speed TC is match made in heaven. 99% of the time the gear is right, and you are never short of power at given point in time. Even in Eco pro mode there is good amount of performance on offer. That said Sport mode is where all the action is. Push the Sport button and move the gearbox to sport mode, car simply plunges ahead. While you get the typical torque rush of diesel, the car also gains speed quite rapidly. The 330i in comparison is notch above in terms of performance. Where the 320Ld shines is w.r.to its all-round nature. After my recent 175KM drive to hills and back, car returned a decent 16KM/L as indicated by MID. Comfort mode as it states offers best mix of comfort and performance. The steering in default Eco pro and comfort mode is light to my liking, in Power mode gains good weight. The steering is sharp, and drivers delight. The car shoots in the direction you point and holds on track like a leech on corners. Again regular 3 does even better based on my previous drive experience. Insulation is good, there is not much engine noise that seeps into cabin. Wind noise is also well controlled but there is some tire noise at higher speeds.If you are looking at a pure drivers delight, regular 3 series is the one to go for. However, 3 GL without losing much of the fun quotient adds a bit of practicality too by offering extra space at back and reworked cushioning. Ride is supple and at times for an enthusiast can get tad soft but will keep the family happy while moving across those bad patches. There is a bit of bounciness at rear, thanks to softer suspension and 50 section 17-inch tires, but it in no way robs the fun to drive nature of the car. The car overall is still a bit stiffer than competition, its only when you compare against regular 3, one can notice the difference.Steering has good amount of weight especially in Sport mode and is direct. Hydraulic unit would have been lovely, but the EPS offers good balance between fun and practicality. Ground clearance came as a surprise. Given the extended wheelbase, I was expecting car to scrap belly quite easily. So far have driven for about 2000KM and hasnt scrapped even with 4.5 folks on board. Obviously, its not meant to go offroad or run through road humps like my Fortuner but be a little cautious and crosses road humps without much drama. The driving position is just perfect for me. Even though this is a low-slung sedan, you dont sit as low as say 5 series and I get a clear view of bonnet and everything thats happening upfront. The seats offer good support for that aggressive driving.- Initial few days was a bit apprehensive about the sound quality. Over time the speaker has settled down and sound crisp and nice. Good audio quality is important and Harman Kardon unit has good bass and clarity. If I am to compare, bass is slightly lesser than Endeavours unit and somehow find JBL in fortuner a bit richer. The Harman Kardon has the perfect balance and offer good quality sound for all passengers. Head unit has equalizer which helps one tune as per preference.- There is serious amount of space at back that can put even larger cars to shame. The extra legroom guarantees good under thigh support which most the time is lacking in low slung sedans. That said rear seat is best suited for 2 adults plus a child. 3rd person will be a bit of squeeze, thanks to large floor hump. There is decent mount of headroom too. May be passengers up to 6ft will not have an issue.- This is my first car with sunroof and first few weeks did excite me. However, as days passed, the excitement has started to die down. While it brings in more sunlight, makes the cabin hotter when you open the shade. I hardly open windows while driving and same applies to sunroof too. Given the average performance of rear AC, I dont think will be able to use Sunroof much especially in hot and humid place I stay. Good to have but will not influence my purchase decision for future cars for sure.- 320Ld gets 3 zone climate control . Occupants at front wont complain but the ones at rear find cooling a bit underwhelming especially when you open the sun blinds. Sorely miss ventilated seats, for a car costing about 70L OTR with leather seats, not offering ventilated seats is a crime.- Not a big fan of digital instrument console but the unit in BMW is simple, neat and easy to read. Both displays are crisp and does not suffer much from glare. There are few stats that display shows up, but in this car the ride/handling and engine gearbox makes you forget everything else. The only feature I ensure to check when I sit is to see if car is at least in comfort mode. That said I like the implementation of idrive physical controls, always nice to use those physical buttons. Rear camera quality is good, though only small part of of display is used by rear camera. Wireless Android Auto and Apple carplay works flawlessly.- BMW has offered plenty of lights in and out. There are welcome carpet lights, ambient light at front and back doors and even on back of front seats, puddle lights etc. However, they have forgotten to add lights to two of the inner projectors of headlight and Luxury line also misses the useful fog lights. The headlights as such are decent but extra light would have made it better.For the kind of driving I do, this was very important. Though I liked the 320Ld quite a bit, Ground clearance was always a concern. Took the demo car for multiple test drives around places where I frequent. Tried with varying number of passengers too but havent been able to scrape it yet. Yes, I cannot run riot through road hump like Fortuner or Innova but then a bit of patience, car clears without any drama. Clearly did not expect this and took me by surprise.The car has covered close to 2K KMs in 1.5 months and so far, has been rewarding experience. I dont intend to take it for touring or grocery shopping but would like to use it pre-dominantly for highway drives of 300KM/6Hr. Down the line plan to take extended warranty, the car came with 3-year basic service which was included in the price. Now for the big question, how did someone with only body on frame old school SUV shift to a sedan and in this age of dying sedans is it worth buying one? Well to be frank if its your sole car and if you intend to travel a lot/explore places, Crossover or SUV may fit the bill better. Not that you cannot go in a sedan, but crossover/SUV offers a bit more peace of mind. Where the sedans claw back is w.r.to value they offer and fast performance which brings smile every time you hit a corner or that confidence while doing higher speeds.Thanks tofor the detailed review of 330i, answering my queries patiently andfor beautiful travelogues and insights into ownership of 3 series. Last edited by PrideRed : 18th January 2022 at 12:57 .
It's also integral to the intranet applications and other e-business solutions that are the foundation of corporate computing. Installing this update will ensure that your Java applications continue to run as safely and efficiently as always.

The JRE is the Java Runtime Environment, it covers most end-users needs. Contains everything required to run Java applications on your system. It is a package of everything necessary to run a compiled Java program, including the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the Java Class Library, the java command, and other infrastructure. However, it cannot be used to create new programs.

The JDK is the Java Development Kit, the full-featured SDK for Java. It has everything the JRE has, but also the compiler (javac) and tools (like javadoc and jdb). It is capable of creating and compiling programs.

Usually, if you only care about running Java programs on computer you will only install the JRE. It's all you need. On the other hand, if you are planning to do some Java programming, you need to install the JDK instead.

Sometimes, even if you are not planning to do any Java development on a computer, you still need the JDK installed. For example, if you are deploying a web application with JSP, you are technically just running Java programs inside the application server. Why would you need the JDK then? Because the application server will convert JSP into Java servlets and needs to use the JDK to compile the servlets.

What's New:

client-libs/2d

 Marlin Renderer in JDK 8u

Starting from version 8u311, the Marlin graphics rasterizer and its artifacts will be built and distributed as a part of the JDK/JRE bundles. It is not the default rendering engine, however there is an option to enable it by setting the following system property:

sun.java2d.renderer=sun.java2d.marlin.MarlinRenderingEngine

core-libs/java.io:serialization

 Context-specific Deserialization Filter Subset

Allow applications to configure context-specific and dynamically-selected deserialization filters via a JVM-wide filter factory that is invoked to select a filter for each deserialization stream. The behavior is a strict subset of JEP 415: Context-Specific Deserialization Filters to allow a filter factory to be configured using a property configured on the command line or in the security properties file.

The behavior is opt-in based on the presence of the jdk.serialFilterFactory system property on the command line or the jdk.serialFilterFactory security property. If set, the JVM-wide filter factory selects the filter for each stream when the stream is constructed and when a stream-specific filter is set.

The JVM-wide filter factory is a java.util.function.BinaryOperator function invoked when each ObjectInputStream is constructed and when the stream-specific filter is set using sun.misc.ObjectInputFilter.Config.setObjectInputFilter(sun.misc.ObjectInputFilter). The parameters are the current filter and a requested filter and the function returns the filter to be used for the stream. When invoked from the ObjectInputStream constructors, the first parameter is null and the second parameter is the static JVM-wide filter. When invoked from sun.misc.ObjectInputFilter.Config.setObjectInputFilter(sun.misc.ObjectInputFilter), the first parameter is the filter currently set on the stream (which was set in the constructor), and the second parameter is the filter requested.

A typical filter factory should use or merge the static JVM-wide filter with other application and context specific filters and the stream-specific filter, if one is set on the stream. The filter factory implementation can also use any contextual information at its disposal, for example, extracted from the application thread context, or its call stack, to compose and combine a new filter. It is not restricted to only use its two parameters.

Previous release notes

Allow SASL Mechanisms to Be Restricted

A security property named jdk.sasl.disabledMechanisms has been added that can be used to disable SASL mechanisms. Any disabled mechanism will be ignored if it is specified in the mechanisms argument of Sasl.createSaslClient or the mechanism argument of Sasl.createSaslServer. The default value for this security property is empty, which means that no mechanisms are disabled out-of-the-box.

SunPKCS11 Provider Upgraded with Support for PKCS#11 v2.40

The SunPKCS11 provider has been updated with support for PKCS#11 v2.40. This version adds support for more algorithms such as the AES/GCM/NoPadding cipher, DSA signatures using SHA-2 family of message digests, and RSASSA-PSS signatures when the corresponding PKCS11 mechanisms are supported by the underlying PKCS11 library.

New Checks on Trust Anchor Certificates

New checks have been added to ensure that trust anchors are CA certificates and contain proper extensions. Trust anchors are used to validate certificate chains used in TLS and signed code. Trust anchor certificates must include a Basic Constraints extension with the cA field set to true. Also, if they include a Key Usage extension, the keyCertSign bit must be set.

A new system property named jdk.security.allowNonCaAnchor has been introduced to restore the previous behavior, if necessary. If the property is set to the empty String or "true" (case-insensitive), trust anchor certificates can be used if they do not have proper CA extensions.

The default value of this property, if not set, is "false".

Note that the property does not apply to X.509 v1 certificates (since they don't support extensions).

This property is currently used by the JDK implementation. It is not guaranteed to be supported by other Java SE implementations.

Exact Match Required for Trusted TLS Server Certificate

A TLS server certificate must be an exact match of a trusted certificate on the client in order for it to be trusted when establishing a TLS connection.

Added LuxTrust Global Root 2 Certificate

The following root certificate has been added to the cacerts truststore:

+ LuxTrust

+ luxtrustglobalroot2ca

DN: CN=LuxTrust Global Root 2, O=LuxTrust S.A., C=LU

Bug Fixes:

Support for OpenType CFF Fonts

Previously, Oracle JDK 8 did not include OpenType CFF fonts (.otf fonts) into the standard logical fonts (such as "Dialog" and "SansSerif"). This resulted in missing glyphs when rendering text. In the most extreme cases where only CFF fonts were installed on the system, a Java exception could be thrown.

Several Linux distributions were affected by this issue because they rely on CFF fonts to support some languages, which is common for CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) languages.

Oracle JDK 8 now uses these CFF fonts, and this issue has been resolved.

Better Serial Filter Handling

The jdk.serialFilter system property can only be set on the command line. If the filter has not been set on the command line, it can be set can be set with java.io.ObjectInputFilter.Config.setSerialFilter. Setting the jdk.serialFilter with java.lang.System.setProperty has no effect.

Legacy:

If you are looking for previous Java versions here are the links to download:
In a nutshell: Google's plan to create the "world's largest gaming platform" seems to be slowly taking shape with the launch of a first-party Windows app for playing Google Play games on PCs. Launched as a limited beta in three markets, eligible users/testers can play over 25 games, earn Play Points, and have their progress synced across other devices.

Google announced last month that it would be bringing Android games to Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs via a Play Games desktop app. It has now launched a limited beta of this program for users in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

Google also shared the minimum PC requirements for eligible users who will join a waitlist before being given access to the beta. Notably, participants will need to have at least Windows 10 v2004 installed, a CPU with 8 logical cores, a gaming-class GPU, 8GB RAM, and an SSD with 20GB of free storage. They also need to enable hardware virtualization during app installation.

For now, beta testers will have access to over 25 titles, including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Summoners War, State of Survival: The Joker Collaboration, and Three Kingdoms Tactics. Since these mobile games will now be running locally (not streaming) on more powerful Windows PCs, Google says users can expect better graphics and controls with mouse and keyboard support.

Beta participants will continue to earn Play Points, which can be used towards in-store purchases or discounts on the Play Store, and will also have their game progress synced across Android, ChromeOS and Windows devices. For now, Google didn't say anything about the general availability of its Play Store app on Windows, though it did mention that the beta will soon be expanded across more regions.
A hot potato: Elon Musk has responded to an ad taken out in Sunday's New York Times that blasts Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, claiming it malfunctions and commits critical driving errors every 8 minutes. The CEO says the full-page advertisement is a "tragic case of ego [over] ability."

The advert was taken out by The Dawn Project, an organization calling for software in critical computer-controlled systems to be replaced with unhackable alternatives that never fail. The ad demands Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) be removed from public roads until it has "1,000 times fewer critical malfunctions."

"Don't be a Tesla crash test dummy," the ad states. "We did not sign up our families to be crash test dummies for thousands of Tesla cars being driven on the public roads by the worst software ever sold by a Fortune 500 company."

The ad also offered $10,000, the same price as the software itself, to the first person who could name "another commercial product from a Fortune 500 company that has a critical malfunction every 8 minutes."

Musk responded to the ad with the following tweet:

Tragic case of ego/ability>>1 --- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2022

The founder of The Dawn Project is Dan O'Dowd, who is also the CEO of Green Hills Software, which builds operating systems and programming tools for embedded systems. TechCrunch notes that its real-time OS is used in BMW's iX vehicle.

A Twitter user replied to an O'Dowd tweet announcing the ad, noting that the CEO should reveal which Tesla competitors his company has taken money from. Musk joined in the conversation, adding that "Green Hills software is a pile of trash. Linux ftw."

Green Hills software is a pile of trash. Linux ftw. --- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2022

The ad arrived just days after the California Department of Motor Vehicles told Tesla it would be "revisiting" its opinion that the company's test program doesn't fall under the department's autonomous vehicle regulations because it requires a human driver. The decision came after the DMV reviewed dozens of viral videos showing Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta technology driving cars into dangerous situations. The agency also received a letter of concern from a key state legislator, reports the Los Angeles Times.
In context: Apple isn't the first company to develop a tracking fob. However, the extensive Find My network has made AirTags a very effective tool for criminals. It is a problem the company will have to solve for both iOS users and the three billion Android users who don't have a phone that can automatically detect rogue AirTags.

Back in April 2021, Apple launched AirTags --- its first foray into the tracking fob market that takes advantage of its expansive Find My network. It can be a useful gadget for people who need to keep track of valuable possessions or keychains, but it comes with a set of safety concerns that could affect both people who use AirTags and people who don't.

Apple's new device #AirTag seems like a stalker's delight, doesn't it?

I mean, any creep can pop one of those into a car, a bag, etc. Cheap too, for the determined... pic.twitter.com/PTNjOQKD0I --- Louisa Jones (@FilmLecturer) January 7, 2022

Last month, we learned that carjackers have begun to use AirTags to track high-end vehicles, which is not an unexpected development given how easy it is to hide one into an out-of-sight area. Apple did implement some countermeasures to hinder stalking attempts, but they're not nearly as effective as they should be.

According to a BBC report, several women in the US told the police unknown individuals had stalked them over the past few months. They were lucky enough to be alerted to the stalking by their iPhones, which send an alert if an unregistered AirTag is detected nearby. There is no such feature integrated into the Android operating system, which is a problem that Apple can't easily fix.

The Cupertino giant did release a Tracker Detect app on the Google Play Store that can look for nearby rogue AirTags. However, it's unclear how much it can alleviate fears about stalking and theft when its adoption --- around 100,000 downloads --- is extremely low. Many people are likely unaware of the risk, and by the time they install the app, it may already be too late. Additionally, the app does not have automatic detection, so users must scan for AirTags manually.

One could argue that AirTags will make a 60-decibel beep between 8 to 24 hours after they are no longer around their registered device. Still, malicious actors can mitigate that by simply disabling the tracker before the warning sounds.

In any case, Apple isn't alone in dealing with the stalking potential of tracking devices. Companies like Tile, Samsung, and Chipolo also sell tracking fobs and face similar problems. The most impactful solution would be a collaborative effort with Google to bring proper support for AirTags to Android users. It is unclear whether the two companies would even be willing to work together on such a feature. However, continuing instances of misuse may force them into a collaboration.
Why it matters: Sony's first official response to Microsoft's historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard indicates that current multiplatform games will remain on PlayStation in the near term. Comments from Activision support this claim. However, short-term obligations and long-term plans do not necessarily mesh as we saw with the Zenimax merger.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Sony said it expects Microsoft to ensure Activision games are multiplatform, as per contractual agreements. The record-breaking acquisition by Sony's chief rival in the console space already lopped $20 billion off Sony's valuation due to fears of PlayStation losing the Call of Duty franchise.

In an employee FAQ that Activision submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Activision said it would honor existing commitments after the acquisition closes in 2023 and wouldn't remove anything from platforms where they're already available. The company specifically mentioned Minecraft as an example.

Since Microsoft bought Minecraft in 2014 for $2.5 billion, it has maintained the versions for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Apple platforms that had already been released. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has also already said the company doesn't intend to "pull communities away" from Sony's platform.

The future of Activision and Blizzard's games will likely play out similarly to that of Bethesda's games. After Microsoft bought Zenimax, it maintained timed exclusivity for Deahtloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo. Quake remaster launched on PlayStation last year as planned, and Bethesda still supports the PlayStation version of Elder Scrolls Online with new content and DLC. However, future games like Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI will be exclusive to Xbox and Windows.

Activision Blizzard's current ongoing projects for PlayStation include this year's and next year's Call of Duty games, Overwatch 2, and Diablo IV. Those games will probably still launch with PlayStation versions, and it's reasonable to assume Call of Duty Warzone on PlayStation won't disappear.

Image credit: News Oresund (CC BY 2.0)
For today's episode, Tech Times came across Unrest founder Orr Vinegold to discuss how this company helps entrepreneurs run their businesses in the most modern way.

Vinegold on Business Sustainability

According to Vinegold, one of Unrest's main missions is to inspire other accelerators, incubators, and investors to think in a unique way.

Aside from prioritizing the product's quality and sustainability, Vinegold said that businesses should also consider "baking in" ethical morals into their undertakings.

Vinegold also saw the potential of the millennials to change the world through their ideals. The so-called zoomers appear to be more aware of what is happening to other establishments regarding ethical sustainability.

For the past eight years, Vinegold has been working closely with different founders. He had sat on boards to discuss marketing and other important matters that would impact a company.

Despite being launched last year, this new startup is now ready to take what it can do to new heights. Vinegold expects Unrest to help more companies succeed in their mission in helping people and the planet.

Read Also: Tech Times Exclusives: Cloudinary Co-Founder Tal Lev-Ami Reveals Mission of Helping Companies Unleash Full Potential of Their Visual Media

What is Unrest

According to the official website of the company, Unrest is all about elevating the capability of startups for a global change. The firm wants to "re-imagine" how profitable companies embrace sustainability that is game-changing in the field of consumer service.

Unrest believes in:

Impact - Whether it's small or big changes, Unrest is committed to bring more improvements that will shape the world.

Consumer Focus- The company aims to achieve a "fairer inclusive economy."

Diversity - Unrest champions in making future role models.

Resilience - Help business owners to grow "future-proof" companies

Unrest Application Roadmap

December 2021 - Applications open

February 2022 - Applications close

Spring 2022 - Program kick off

Summer 2022 - Program end

The biggest challenge for companies is to surpass the status quo among them. With Unrest, upturning this will be possible through its 16-week program with more than 100 hours of workshops about business education, brand development, and more.

To know the company better, here's our recent interview with Unrest founder Orr Vinegold last Jan. 17.

Related Article: Tech Times Exclusives #22: King's College London's Dr. Oya Celiktutan Talks About Robotics

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Ambient recently announced its so-called computer vision, an AI-powered technology that relies on algorithms to evaluate objects, people, and other things it sees.

Thanks to its advanced capabilities, it can detect dangerous behaviors or activities of a human.

Because of this, Allied Market Research (AMR), a market research firm, concluded that Ambient and other computer vision product vendors will be worth more than $144.46 billion by 2028.

But, some critics are concerned that Ambient's computer vision can affect the privacy of consumers it scans. Since this is the case, its CEO clarified some things about its artificial intelligence product.

Ambient's Computer Vision is Safe?

Shikhar Shrestha, the co-founder and CEO of Ambient, provided some details about their advanced computer vision tech. She also explained why consumers' sensitive details are not put at risk.

Also Read: Tesla Bot Will Develop A Unique Personality Like That Of C3PO, According To Elon Musk

"We are committed to working with our customers to ensure that their use of the product is consistent with the requirements of applicable privacy and data protection laws," she explained via Venture Beat's latest report.

She added that they could easily control the computer vision tech, limiting what it can do and access once the AI is integrated into security cameras.

However, privacy advocates are still concerned that the appearance of computer vision and other similar technologies can normalize greater levels of surveillance.

How Ambient's Computer Vision Works?

According to TechCrunch's latest report, Ambient's advanced computer vision works by using artificial intelligence to simultaneously monitor hundreds of videos streams.

This technology also processes raw footage metadata but excludes gender attributes, facial attributes, and identifiers of race.

In other news, UN delegates recently tried to end the use of autonomous weapons or "Slaughterbots." Meanwhile, Meta's new anti-fake news AI has been rolled out to prevent misinformation spread.

For more news updates about Ambient's computer vision and other AI-powered technologies, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: CES 2022: The Artificial Intelligence Today! Here's What You Need to Know About AIs

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Meta's patents, which were sent to the U.S. Patent Trademark Office, revealed that the social media giant is planning to track the metaverse users' emotions so that they can create more realistic digital avatars.

However, the leaked documents show that the tech firm will also use the gathered biometric data to create targeted advertisements.

Because of this, some critics claimed that the biometric data tracking activity of Mark Zuckerberg's company is its way to generate revenue from the virtual reality platform.

Meta To Track Metaverse Users' Facial Expressions?

According to New York Post's latest report, Meta will track metaverse users' body movements, facial expressions, and eye movements. The tech firm will rely on the acquired data to create virtual stores.

Also Read: Mozilla Announces New Programs Aimed to Reveal the Depth of Data Tracking by Companies Like Facebook Parent Meta

Once this happens, the social media giant will start selling ad-sponsored digital goods, which some experts claimed is an effort of Meta to monetize the metaverse.

Based on the leaked Meta patents, the company is working on a wearable magnetic sensor system, which the users around their torso will wear.

With this technology, Meta can track the body poses made by the individual immersed in the metaverse.

Aside from this, another patent also revealed a new headset system, which has the capability to monitor the facial expressions and eye movements made by consumers.

The headset is integrated with cameras and sensors, offering better graphics displays once people enter Meta's metaverse world.

Why Biometric Data Tracking is a Bad Thing

Coin Desk reported that the plan of Meta to use biometric data to create targeted ads would be another issue for the company.

Various experts in tech industries also shared their thoughts. A technology lawyer, who wanted to remain anonymous, shared that the targeted ads based on people's involuntary biological reactions will be a "nightmare" scenario.

"These patent applications indicate that Meta has not learned its lesson, having been accused previously of storing users' biometric data without permission," added Emma Taylor, the GlobaData technology analyst.

In other news, Meta's FB PR Head John Pinette decided to step down from his position. Meanwhile, Meta recently confirmed that COVID-19 boosters shots are now required.

For more news updates about Meta's metaverse and other similar technologies, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Facebook Allegedly Knows About Deceptive Advertising Practices Responsible for Operating 'Troll Farms'

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Google has constantly been updating its UI for a number of different features over the past few years. From the large operating systems such as UI/UX to certain apps, Google is no stranger to changing certain interfaces like with its more recent Calculator.

Google Moves Away from Legacy Chrome Apps

According to the story by XDA-developers, Google has slowly been moving away from legacy Chrome apps. This is because the platform-agnostic Progressive Web Apps (PWA) are expected to be a capable and appealing replacement for them.

The Calculator app on the Chrome OS is an example of a legacy application. However, starting with the more recent Chrome OS 97 update, the app has been turned to a PWA that can be used on the users' browser any time.

Calculator Progressive Web App

The new Progressive Web app is reportedly hosted at calculator.apps.chrome, according to an article by 9to5Google. It has a web manifest file, along with an icon and offline caching. This allows users with Chromium-based browsers to easily install it to their devices.

It should be noted that the app also works just fine with any particular web browser and functions quite identical to the old Calculator. The Calculator has basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division available.

The app also features other more complicated functions, which include logarithms, square roots, and exponents.

Calculator Styled to Match Older Material Design

Even though the Calculator app can now be used in any device with a web browser, it is still clearly intended to be used on the computer. In fact, resizing the window to smaller sizes or even changing to portrait orientation would result in certain controls being hidden.

The calculator remains styled in order to match the older Material Design. This comes with a corner wipe effect that appears when users click on the Clear button. Google has yet to update it in order to match the more recent Material You design language.

Read Also: Google Self Share Makes File Transferring Easy for Chromebook or Android Users

Chrome OS Calculator Tools

Since the app is just a calculator, however, there might not really be a need to perfectly match the Material You design language. In addition to this, there are also a number of other math and calculator tools already available on the Chrome OS should the Calculator not be able to do what users need it to accomplish.

This reportedly comes after a number of other changes and improvements that came to the Chrome OS over the course of the past few months.

These changes and improvements include the Shelf Share feature, which is currently in development, and the enhanced integration with Android phones. Camera improvements and more voices for Select-to-speak are also included as part of the changes and improvements made to the Chrome OS.

The platform is reportedly also dealing with a little more competition since its long time competitor, Microsoft, has also pushed its Windows 11 SE in K-12 classrooms, which is where Chromebooks have been dominating for a good part of the last 10 years.

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Mercedes-Benz closed a new massive deal with Luminar. The giant automaker is now expected to produce safer and more efficient autonomous vehicles thanks to their collaboration.

The car manufacturer is expected to do this using Luminar's Iris liDAR technology. However, the company's light detection and the ranging product is still prepared for a series of productions.

"This partnership is a landmark moment in the industry, demonstrating how substantially increased safety and autonomous driving functions on consumer vehicles are going from sci-fi to mainstream," said Austin Russell, Luminar's founder and CEO, via the company's official press release.

Mercedes-Benz, Luminar Collaboration

According to Tech Crunch's latest report, the latest deal of the two giant companies will allow Mercedes-Benz to acquire around 1.5 million Luminar shares.

Also Read: Volkswagen, Bosch Agrees to Setup 6 Battery Production Centers in EU by 2030; Is this for Electric Vehicles?

Thanks to this, Luminar's shares are now trading more than 17.7% higher. Once Mercedes-Benz uses the Iris LiDAR tech for its next-gen passenger cars, the vehicle developer is expected to share certain data from the cars' productions and developments.

This will allow Luminar to use the acquired information to enhance its LIDAR technology further. Aside from Mercedes-Benz, the global automotive tech firm also have other partnerships.

These include a deal with Volvo cars, allowing Volvo to use its LiDAR tech for its upcoming flagship electric SUV models.

How LiDAR Can Help Make Safer Autonomous Cars

LiDAR technology is now being used in various innovations. One of these is the advanced iPhone 12, allowing the smartphone to offer better VR or AR output.

For those who don't have any idea about LiDAR, it is a remote sensing method that can allow experts to examine the surface of the Earth efficiently.

If it is integrated into an autonomous system of a car, the vehicle has a more efficient detecting capability, allowing it to avoid obstacles.

Ford and ADT also collaborated to create the new car accessory called Canopy in other news. Meanwhile, BMW M760i is expected to be the last V12 production vehicle.

For more news updates about the collaboration of Mercedes-Benz and Luminar, as well as other related stories, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Tesla FSD Beta Rumors: Crash Every 36 Mins. Says O'Dowd? User Demonstrates Safe Driving, Elon Musk Reacts

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A group performs the Bohemian Rhapsody skit from Wayne's World during the 2020 KOTO Lip Sync. (Photo courtesy of Gus Gusciora)
A feud between a strip club owner and authorities that simmered for years in a rural pocket of Louisiana's capital region has once again reached a boiling point.

St. Helena Parish sheriffs deputies shut down a concert last weekend at Candys, a large nightclub that sits just east of the village of Pine Grove on La. 16. Owner Bobby Vaughn leased the venue to an unidentified man for a concert  but the event wasnt properly permitted, according to a report filed by the deputies.

Businesses in Louisiana need permits from the state office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control as well as from local governments to serve booze at special events, like a concert.

St. Helena Sheriff Nat Williams said Candys obtained permits for the gatherings from the St. Helena Parish Police Jury. The site didnt get the permits it needs from the state to serve alcohol at special events, though, prompting the sheriffs office to intervene, he explained.

But Vaughn disputes that any alcohol was served at the concert deputies shut down on Jan. 8.

And he says the deputies didnt explain why they ended the event when they arrived and cleared the place out, after several similar third-party events had already happened at the venue in the week prior.

If we'd known we had to go to the state to get a permit, we would've done it, Vaughn said. "How can we fix the problem when we don't know what it is?"

Nude dancing was not a part of the festivities at the recent parties, Vaughn said.

Its just the latest difficulty to befall the club, which used to be called the Oak Ridge Lounge and lies in a rural stretch between Baton Rouge and the Louisiana-Mississippi line dotted with dairy farms, timber tracts and small churches.

Vaughn and his father at one point sued the police jury in federal court, saying an anti-nudity ordinance passed after the club opened was unconstitutional and overly vague.

St. Helena strip club inspected, minor violations found, inspectors claim Within months of reopening, a St. Helena Parish strip club has landed in hot water with the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, which

The police jury responded in 2004 by passing a new anti-nudity ordinance. Vaughn agreed the following year to drop the lawsuit and forgo seeking reimbursement for $300,000 in attorney's fees from the police jury in exchange for the panel grandfathering his club into the new ordinance.

That deal essentially vested Oak Ridge Lounge with the distinction of being the only legal strip club in St. Helena Parish.

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So when a new strip club  The Mansion  opened down the highway several years later, the two establishments became embroiled in a dispute that drew in local clergy, law enforcement, the police jury and residents.

Vaughn maintained that the grandfather deal meant he alone was allowed to legally run the only strip club in the parish as groups of residents sought to shut both of them down.

Since then, the going has been rough for both clubs.

Undercover agents investigated The Mansion in 2018, pursuing tips about prostitution and drug dealing, but the district attorney ultimately declined to bring charges against its operators after cops working on the probe were found to have violated protocol.

And after rebranding in 2015, Oak Ridge was quickly raided by agents from the state office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.

Renamed Candys, the latter club has been shuttered for most of the COVID-19 pandemic. The events hosted there after the New Year marked the first time the place has opened in the nearly two years since the virus entered Louisiana.

Vaughn said leasing out the space for those parties was part of an attempt at using the establishment as a more general event space, rather than just a strip club  something that might be in the venues long-term future if impresarios can get permits from the state, he said.

Vaughn said he remains open still to the idea of turning the venue back into a strip club. With very few such clubs in the region, it has the potential to be a lucrative endeavor, he said.

But scrutiny from law enforcement and the public in recent years has made the place increasingly hard to maintain. If presented a chance to sell it, Vaughn said he would take it in a heartbeat.

Vaughn said he's trying to do everything legally and would look into getting the right permits for future events.

"I've got a party planned on Saturday night," he said. "I just hope I don't get thrown any curve balls."

Staff writer Faimon Roberts contributed to this report.
The man accused of killing a state trooper and a relative in Prairieville while on an October rampage across three parishes pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony charges in East Baton Rouge Parish.

East Baton Rouge prosecutors last month charged Matthew Mire, 31, with single counts of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated flight from an officer, illegal possession of a stolen firearm and obstruction of justice.

The victim of the attempted murder count is another state trooper at whom Mire allegedly shot.

With defense attorney Russell Barksdale standing next to him, Mire pleaded not guilty to the charges before 19th Judicial District Judge Eboni Johnson-Rose.

In neighboring Ascension Parish, prosecutors notified 23rd Judicial District Judge Tess Stromberg last month that they intend to seek the death penalty for Mire in the shooting deaths of Master Trooper Adam Gaubert, 47, and Pamela Adair, 37.

State seeks execution of man accused of killing trooper and relative in October rampage The state plans to seek the execution of a man accused of killing a state trooper and a family member while on a rampage across parts of three

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Stromberg has set a trial for Sept. 12.

Mire, of Livingston, also is accused of wounding three other people early on Oct. 9 in Ascension and Livingston parishes.

The incidents prompted a daylong search along Hoo Shoo Too Road in southeastern East Baton Rouge. Because of radio silence maintained by state police during the search, no one was aware that Gaubert had been shot until several hours after his killing.

Mire has pleaded not guilty in Ascension to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, home invasion, attempted armed robbery and other charges.

+3 Should man accused of killing trooper and woman have right to medical privacy? Judge says no Louisiana State Police can inspect the medical records of a man who was hospitalized after allegedly killing a state trooper and a Prairievill

The first shootings occurred at French Settlement in Livingston, then Mire ambushed Gaubert while he did paperwork while parked in his patrol car not far from where Adair lived off Airline Highway in Ascension, police have said. After Adair was shot, Mire shot at law officers chasing him in East Baton Rouge, authorities said.
A woman was arrested this week after police say she shot her boyfriend during an argument over the mother of his children at the OYO Hotel off Airline Highway.

The shooting occurred Monday morning  the first of several that day, including three homicides.

Mykala Haynes, 25, was booked into jail Monday evening on attempted second-degree murder and illegal use of weapons.

The victim told Baton Rouge police that he and Haynes were arguing about the mother of his children, according to her arrest report. He said she threatened to shoot him.

Haynes left their hotel room after the argument, then returned and began threatening the victim with a handgun, according to the report. The man told police that he turned his back to Haynes, and in that moment, she opened fire, the report says. One of the bullets grazed his shoulder, causing relatively minor injuries, officials said.

Haynes fled the room immediately after the shooting, police said.

Detectives watched surveillance video showing Haynes with a gun outside the room, according to the report. They also watched cell phone video of her threatening her boyfriend with the gun before shooting him.
A company that sought but failed to win voter approval to build a casino in Slidell is expected to win a bit more time Thursday to decide on what to do with its license for the casino it operated but shut down in Bossier City.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board is meeting in Baton Rouge to decide the next step for P2E, an investment company based in Richmond, Va., that wanted to move its license for the DiamondJacks Casino from Bossier City to Slidell.

Under a resolution approved by the gaming control board in September4, P2E needs to reopen DiamondJacks by Feb. 9  or forfeit its license  since St. Tammany Parish voters did not approve a referendum in December to allow gambling in the form of a casino in Slidell. The board has the authority to force P2E to surrender the license back to the state.

+3 After St. Tammany voters reject casino proposal, what happens next? Here are the options Drew Brees may have been all-in for locating a casino near Slidell, but the St. Tammany Parish voters were not  at least the ones who partici

I dont want them to lose the license. We want to keep that license in commerce, Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chair Ronnie Johns said in an interview Wednesday. The board is meeting Thursday at the State Capitol.

His resolution, if approved, would push back the reopening date to Feb. 25 and require P2E executives to describe, in detail, their plans for the Bossier property at a Feb. 17 hearing.

On another gambling-related issue, Johns said hes still unsure when bettors can use a phone or computer to make wagers on sporting events. Louisiana State Police is still vetting the companies contracted by the casinos to manage the software and processes of online betting. State law requires compliance and suitability investigations as well as tests to ensure the technology is working as promised.

My goal is to have online available prior to the Super Bowl (Feb. 13). As of right now we do not have a definitive date, Johns said. Were very close.

But the bigger issue confronting the Gaming Control Board at its Thursday meeting is what to do about P2Es license for DiamondJacks Casino in Bossier City.

The casino closed at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 and then permanently in May 2020 just after Gov. John Bel Edwards authorized casinos to reopen as the initial worst ravages of the coronavirus began to recede. The company raised the hackles of regulators by closing down without giving state officials advance notice. Nearly 400 employees lost their jobs. P2E sold off the furniture, linens, silverware, and other hotel items.

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+2 Gambling regulators approve moving casino to Slidell Gambling regulators authorized moving a casino license from Bossier City to Slidell.

Company officials blamed the closure on the coronavirus, but DiamondJacks had been among the states worst performing casinos for years under P2E. The company had owned DiamondJacks since 2015, buying it out of bankruptcy.

The 400-room DiamondJacks hotel and casino remains abandoned with the recent installation of a fence to keep out the homeless, to the dismay of local officials.

The longer it sits there empty, the more it will deteriorate. No community wants to have a blighted property of that size right off the interstate. Its an eyesore, said Lisa Johnson, president and CEO of the Bossier Chamber of Commerce.

It is our hope there will be some investment coming into the property to improve the conditions and marketability, added Rocky Rockett, president of the Greater Bossier Economic Development Foundation.

If the state does take back the DiamondJacks license, several casino companies are likely to bid to take it over, including his, said Dan Lee, president and CEO of Full House Resorts, which owns casinos in Mississippi and three other states.

Lee said the gaming control board would then have the opportunity to award the license to the company that makes the best offer in terms of how much it will invest and how many jobs it will create.

You want to be close to the Texas border, Lee said. Houston has 7 million people. The state of Louisiana has 4.5 million.

Johns said: The ideal situation is for Diamond Jacks, P2E, to reopen the property in Bossier and if they decide to make some significant capital improvements, we will work with them.
A ship gets ready to enter the mouth of the Mississippi River. The commission that regulates costs of shipping on Louisiana's waterways asked Tuesday for a retired judge to intervene and decide how much to ultimately pay river pilots put in charge of oceangoing vessels bringing goods up the Mississippi River.
Father Damian Zablocki holds the communion wine up during a traditional Latin Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Covington on Friday, July16, 2021. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
A health care worker fills a syringe with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, Thursday, July 22, 2021, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in this file photo. The number of Americans getting a COVID-19 vaccine has been rising in recent days as virus cases once again surge and officials raise dire warnings about the consequences of remaining unvaccinated.
When COVID-19 hit Australia and an extended lockdown loomed large, Harry Woods decided it was time for a career change.

Mr Woods had worked for eight years as a retail seller and product marketing manager for a telco while completing his law degree before the pandemic helped him put his career into perspective.

The pandemic encouraged Harry Woods to reassess his career.

The whole world was struggling with this enormous challenge that Id never seen in my lifetime, and Id spent eight years selling phones, he said. Its not what I wanted to do for work. Its not what gets me out of bed in the morning.

Mr Woods decided he wanted to use his skills in a more meaningful way, which led him to a career change.
As the HSC class of 2021 receive their HSC results this week, is anyone remembering how close they came to not having to sit exams at all?

In July last year, senior education representatives including the Head of Catholic Schools were calling on the government to abandon the HSC due to the lockdown, and utilise students in-school assessments instead. After months of heated debate, the government finally announced in September that the HSC would go ahead, starting a month later than originally intended and therefore also delaying results until this week.

The ATAR remains an unsatisfactory measure of a students abilities and aptitudes. Credit:Quentin Jones

Students, parents and school administrators struggled through COVID-19 restrictions and school lockdowns, but in the end all 400,000 individual exam sessions were delivered and very few students missed their tests due to the virus. This success defied international experience  in 2020 British schooling authorities cancelled all end of high school examinations. So did France, Norway, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain. The cancellation of the French Baccalaureat made 2020 the first time since 1808 that the exam did not take place.

The delivery of the HSC in 2021 therefore marks a monumental achievement for NSW education authorities. But the question they should now be asking themselves is  was it worth it?
General practitioners are again being flooded with patients as thousands of Victorians race to book their booster shots and medical clinics struggle to find appointments for the rising wave of coronavirus patients.

Days after a statewide code brown emergency was brought in to relieve a health system that has been stretched to breaking point by the Omicron wave, doctors say their phones are ringing off the hook

Mental health patients are waiting for hours or days in emergency departments. Credit:Damian Shaw

It is chaotic at the moment. Hospitals are overwhelmed and the hotlines are too  we are truly struggling to accommodate everyone, said Preethi Thennarasu the general manager of the Lalor Medical Clinic in Melbournes northern suburbs. She estimated that her practice, which is staffed with eight doctors, was fielding about 800 calls a day.

Most of the patients have tested positive and theyre helpless. The hospital is unable to cover all the patients coming in, so they come to the GP, Ms Thennarasu said.
We thank Victorians for their patience ... well keep working to have other services rostered as soon as we can. State orders 166 million more rapid antigen tests The Victorian government has placed an order for 166 million more rapid antigen tests and revealed it is investigating the possibility of manufacturing the sought-after kits in Victoria. What weve already received and had at the beginning is enough to get us through for a number of months, Mr Andrews said.

Were also working on whether we can manufacture and boost some of the local manufacturing thats already occurring. The order follows the arrival of 3 million kits last Sunday and 4.5 million additional tests earlier this week as part of an order of 44 million testing units. To date, 2.2 million of those have been distributed to health services and community groups working with at-risk Victorians. Mr Andrews said the order would be complemented by Victorias 2.5 million share of the national medical stockpile. There are two critical ways we can drive our COVID-19 numbers down  get your vaccine dose to better protect yourself and the community and isolate if you test positive on a rapid test or a PCR test, Mr Andrews said.

Loading It has never been easier to get your third dose. If you had your second vaccine dose in October you can now go and get your third dose at a state-run centre. Since the states RAT reporting system opened on January 7, almost 180,000 Victorians have lodged positive results. Classrooms will look different, but they will open: Andrews State and territory leaders met on Thursday to discuss a pandemic safety plan for schools ahead of the start of the 2022 school year.

The Omicron surge has forced politicians and health authorities to consider introducing new measures into schools to keep students and staff safe. Mr Andrews said on Thursday morning that he did not want to make an announcement ahead of national cabinet, citing ongoing discussions. However, he said Victoria was working with NSW to develop a shared back-to-school plan, which would focus on face-to-face teaching from term 1. We are doing our best to operate as close to normal as possible, but I foreshadow really clearly it may look different, he said.

Loading He said furloughed staff would strain many schools. We might see some people teaching classes that they wouldnt normally teach, but again, all of that is, I think, is secondary to the main aim, and that is to have our kids back in the classroom as safe as we can on day one. Speaking after the national cabinet meeting on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the issue of schools had been discussed and that the overarching view was to get children into classes and keep them there. Vaccination program a three-dose project

Mr Andrews also indicated a third coronavirus jab could be upgraded from an optional booster to an essential requirement of being fully immunised. However, at his afternoon press conference, Mr Morrison said the issue of boosters was still under consideration. Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation was meeting weekly and third doses had been discussed on Wednesday. Professor Kelly reiterated the importance of getting a booster shot, but said there were a number of implementation issues that need to be considered ...  Provisional approval given to COVID-19s first oral treatments

Loading Australias drug regulator has granted provisional approval to two oral treatments for COVID-19. The Therapeutic Goods Administration says it has given the tick of approval to: Paxlovid, tablets produced by Pfizer; and

Lagevrio, capsules produced by American pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. This means both brands will provide the first oral treatments for coronavirus approved for use in Australia. However, the TGA says the pills and tablets are not substitutes for vaccines.

The treatments are designed for people who have coronavirus and are at risk of hospitalisation or death (but dont require oxygen). The TGA says either medicine should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis and within five days of the start of symptoms. In both cases, the treatment is taken twice a day for five days. Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday morning. Credit:Luis Ascui The TGA also approved the use of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine as a primary, two-dose course for adults. Almost 1 million Australians  5 per cent of people aged over 16 years  are yet to receive a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Neither medicine is recommended for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding. It is recommended that people with childbearing potential use contraception during the course of their treatment. Paxlovid must also not be used with a number of other commonly used medicines, according to the TGA. The drug regulator says the federal government has secured 500,000 courses of Paxlovid and 300,000 courses of Lagevrio so far this year. The first shipments of both medicines are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Thousands of health workers furloughed

Almost 4000 Victorian healthcare workers are still unable to work due to testing positive for COVID-19 or caring for others infected with the virus. However, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the relaxation of quarantine exemption arrangements for people in critical industries had seen 500 workers return to work in the past 24 hours. Mr Weimar said the states testing numbers were also beginning to stabilise after a peak over the festive period that saw thousands of people line up for hours outside testing sites and long waits for test results. Were now seeing [coronavirus testing] waiting times well under half-an-hour, on average, across our entire network, Mr Weimar said. Thats getting into the zone that weve always been in, the zone we want to stay in.

There are approximately 200,000 COVID-19 vaccination appointments available across state-run clinics over the coming weeks, including 54,000 slots of children aged five to eleven. States active cases hit 246,894 There are now 246,894 active COVID-19 infections across Victoria. There are 1206 patients in hospital, with 122 in intensive care and 40 on a ventilator. The 15 people who died with the virus were aged in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Their deaths bring the total number in the state since the pandemic began to 1751.

Loading Of the new cases announced by health authorities on Thursday, 11,693 were diagnosed through PCR testing and another 10,273 were self-reported results from rapid antigen tests. Of the people who self-reported positive rapid antigen test results, about 63 per cent took the tests on Wednesday. About 19 per cent took the tests on Tuesday and the remainder of people took the tests over the previous five days. More than 22,266 Victorians received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at state-run sites on Wednesday, increasing the states vaccine coverage to more than 93 per cent for people aged 12 and over. To date, 27 per cent of eligible Victorians have received a booster shot. Victorians made 115,000 bookings to get a dose of the coronavirus vaccine over the past week. About 77,000 of those were for booster shots and 36,000 for children getting their first dose.
Victoria Polices integrity unit will interview police who conducted a welfare check at a Mill Park home last week hours before a mother and her daughter died in a stabbing at the same property.

Officers from polices Professional Standards Command will examine the circumstances of the call-out about 1pm last Thursday (January 13) at the home of dental nurse Poonam Sharma and taxi driver Prabhal (Raj) Sharma. The measure is standard practice and not separate from the homicide investigation of the tragedy.

Poonam Sharma.

Ms Sharma and her six-year-old daughter Vanessa died after they were stabbed in their home on Kellaway Crescent about 7.20pm the same day.

Police allege Ms Sharma was chased by her husband as she fled to her neighbours house for refuge, leaving blood on their door in her hunt for safety.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has delayed the states reopening over fears lagging booster vaccination rates will cause the Omicron variant to run rampant in the community.

The shock announcement was made during a late night press conference on Thursday, less than three weeks out from the expected reunion date of February 5.

Mr McGowan said the delay was due to the new threat of Omicron, which has changed everything.

He flagged a third dose target of 80 to 90 per cent and a whole range of things would be required before WA would reconsider reopening to the rest of the world.
Australias peak body for the alcohol industry has written to the World Health Organisation urging it to abandon a problematic 2030 target of reducing per capita alcohol consumption by 20 per cent, as a new report warns alcohol lobbies are trying to water down public health measures.

Alcohol Beverages Australia said individual member countries should instead focus on reducing harmful consumption by problem drinkers, defined as those who engaged in heavy episodic drinking with associated harms and made up a minority of drinkers.

Australian alcohol companies say there is no need to reduce over consumption.

Public health advocates warn that alcohol companies, including the Australian industry, are hampering international efforts to tackle the harm caused by drinking and seeking to undermine scientific evidence as the WHO consults on new measures.

The ABA, which lobbied to water down pregnancy warning labels in Australia and is fighting to overhaul the regulator, argued dangerous drinking was on the decline in this country, which should be used as a case study to highlight the exceptional strides that have been made.
While Australian politics can often seem absurd, the partygate scandal threatening to drag down British Prime Minister Boris Johnson raises the bar a notch for hypocrisy and arrogance by senior members of a government.

Since he took power in 2019 and led the country on its historic path out of the European Union, many British people have loved Mr Johnson for his bold, clear policies and the persona he projects of a jolly, Eton-educated eccentric. He won a thumping majority in the 2019 election and, after some stumbles at the start of the pandemic, earned plaudits for Britains fast COVID-19 vaccination program.

Then, six weeks ago, it came to light that Mr Johnson and his staff had held a series of boozy parties, involving scores of employees, as the rest of the country was in hard lockdown, children could not gather for their parents funerals and grandparents were trapped in retirement homes. One of the parties was held while the Queen was mourning the death of her husband Prince Philip.

The British have a different view of social hierarchies to most Australians. We have the tall poppy syndrome and they have a hereditary aristocracy. Yet, Mr Johnsons blatant refusal to abide by the same laws as everyone else has provoked disgust, even among many of his Conservative Party colleagues. It made a mockery of his solemn promise during the pandemic that everyone would pull together and the burden of lockdown would be shared fairly by all. He even invoked the spirit of the Blitz from World War II.
Washington: Joe Bidens ambitious attempt to overhaul voting rights in America is all but dead.

After pleading with his colleagues to ease the passage of two key bills by tweaking the filibuster rules of the Senate, the US President simply couldnt get the numbers  thwarted as expected, by two rebel Democrats joining Republicans to torpedo the plan.

Joe Biden says he is profoundly disappointed that the Senate didnt adopt his voting rights agenda. Credit:AP

For Biden, the result of the vote is not so much a surprise as a profound disappointment; the latest in a list of setbacks that have underpinned his first year of office: from his Build Back Better social policy agenda being stalled before Christmas, to his push for vaccine mandates being struck down by the Supreme Court last week.

With the midterm elections in November, the stakes are obvious. If, as expected, Republicans take back control of Congress, it wont just make it harder for Biden to deliver on the rest of his first term agenda; it would also make it easier for the return of Donald Trump, who is teasing at another run for office in 2024.
The York Theatre Company will present the world premiere of the new musical comedy, Penelope, or How the Odyssey Was Really Written. Performances are set to run from March 22-April 24 at the Theater at St. Jean's, with an official March 31 opening.

Penelope, or How the Odyssey Was Really Written is described as follows: "Penelope is married to Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. She is currently waiting for him to return from the Trojan War. She's been waiting a long time: twenty years; ten years since the war ended. A bevy of suitors have gathered, each wanting to marry her and take over the kingdom. To stall them, Penelope writes letters to herself and pretends they're from Odysseus saying he's on his way. Little does she know that her letters gathered together are creating the story of The Odyssey. (Since no one knows who really wrote The Odyssey, this theory is as good as any other.) Meanwhile the suitors, having little else to do but eat and drink, form an a cappella groupthe acoustics in The Great Hall are terrific."

The production features a book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg (Desperate Measures), and music by Stephen Weiner (The Rivals). Emily Maltby (Lolita, My Love) directs and choreographs, with music direction and orchestrations by David Hancock Turner (Cheek to Cheek) and vocal arrangements by Turner, Steve Delehanty, and Stephen Weiner.

"We're delighted to bring this new musical comedy to life on our stage," said the York's Producing Artistic Director Jim Morgan in a statement. "We look forward to working with the whole company of artists, but it's particularly wonderful to reconnect with Peter Kellogg, who co-wrote Desperate Measures for us five years ago."

Casting and additional creative team members will be announced shortly.
LEARN MORE: Cummins News Archive 1995-Present

COLUMBUS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cummins Inc. and Isuzu Motors Limited announced an agreement to create a prototype medium-duty, battery electric truck to demonstrate in North America. This truck represents the first zero-emissions solution facilitated by the Isuzu Cummins Powertrain Partnership (ICPP) formed in May 2019. Through this arrangement, Cummins will integrate the Cummins PowerDrive6000 into Isuzus F-Series truck and will pilot the truck with prominent North American fleets beginning in 2022. Following a successful demonstration and pilot phase, Isuzu will explore opportunities to commercialize medium-duty, battery-electric trucks with Cummins-powered systems across North America.

We are excited to be working with Isuzu to accelerate decarbonization within the partnership, said Amy Davis, Vice President and President of New Power at Cummins. Its through our joint commitment in innovation that we provide our customers with safe, reliable zero-emissions solutions.

As addressed in Isuzu Environmental Vision 2050, we will advance global environmental actions including reducing greenhouse emissions and securing a prosperous and sustainable society. As part of the path to carbon neutrality, it is significant for us to start this joint BEV prototype project in North America. Through our partnership, we commit to continuing to explore further opportunities in the next generation power source, including electric powertrain technologies in addition to the existing powertrain collaboration, said Koichi Seto, Director of the Board, and Senior Executive Officer at Isuzu.

Cummins and Isuzu continue to innovate and advance the future of power to support customers in achieving zero-emissions. Benefiting from each others unique strengths, the companies will seek opportunities to further expand collaborations to drive global growth.

About Cummins Inc.

Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. The companys products range from diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains and powertrain-related components including filtration, aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, electric power generation systems, batteries, electrified power systems, hydrogen generation and fuel cell products. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (U.S.), since its founding in 1919, Cummins employs approximately 57,800 people committed to powering a more prosperous world through three global corporate responsibility priorities critical to healthy communities: education, environment and equality of opportunity. Cummins serves its customers online, through a network of company-owned and independent distributor locations, and through thousands of dealer locations worldwide and earned about $1.8 billion on sales of $19.8 billion in 2020. Learn more at cummins.com.

About Isuzu

Isuzu, is a leading global automobile company, based in Tokyo, Japan and is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, sale and service of commercial vehicles, pick-up trucks, diesel and natural gas engines, parts and components. Isuzu products are sold in over 150 countries and regions worldwide. Its Japans No.1 light-duty truck brand ELF holds top shares in many countries and acclaimed as the global standard in light-duty trucks. D-MAX pick-up truck has been manufactured and exported to approximately 100 countries from its production base in Thailand. More information can be found at www.isuzu.co.jp.
Ouster and Serve Robotics Sign Multi-Year Strategic Agreement to Support Expansion of Autonomous Delivery Fleets - WTF?

But First Snide's Remarks; Are you F'n kidding me, these things will need a squad of US Marines to protect them from the bad guys...if the crooks can break into ATM's and trains why wouldn't they just take these and what's in them?...investors must be blind or stupid.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ouster, Inc. (Ouster or the Company), a leading provider of high-resolution digital lidar sensors, announced today that it has signed a strategic customer agreement with autonomous sidewalk delivery company, Serve Robotics. The agreement includes a binding commitment for OS digital lidar sensors through 2023, along with a non-binding forecast for additional sensors through 2025 as Serve Robotics scales its delivery fleets across U.S. cities and beyond.

Serve Robotics plans to outfit each of its next-generation delivery robots with an Ouster OS1 sensor. The digital lidar is fused into the robots autonomy stack to locate its precise position and simultaneously generate a real-time 3D map of its surrounding environment so that it can navigate more safely and efficiently on city sidewalks alongside pedestrians and other road users.

Ousters lidar has been instrumental in helping us achieve major technical and commercial milestones. We have been working with Ouster for well over a year and continue to be impressed by the ongoing performance improvements, quality, and reliability of its digital technology, said Serve Robotics' VP of Hardware Engineering, Euan Abraham. We feel confident that Ouster is the right company to scale with us as we move into this next phase of market expansion with Level 41 autonomy delivering for several new commercial partners.

Serve Robotics recently achieved a major milestone with the commercial launch of Level 4 self-driving robots. Its fleet of next-generation robots will power the company's expansion into additional geographies as it rolls out delivery service for Uber Eats and other partners in 2022. Last mile delivery is the most expensive part of the delivery chain, often representing more than 50% of the overall cost. The proliferation of autonomous delivery represents a significant opportunity to capture an estimated $1.8 billion total addressable market (TAM) for lidar in the robotics industry by 20252.

Serve Robotics is one of our longest standing customers and one of the first to commercially deploy AV technology in a real-world environment alongside pedestrians and vehicles, said Ousters President of Field Operations, Nate Dickerman. We are thrilled to further solidify our relationship with a multi-year strategic customer agreement as Serve scales the production and deployment of its sidewalk delivery robots.

About Serve Robotics

Serve Robotics is shaping the future of sustainable, self-driving delivery. The company designs, develops and operates zero-emission robots that serve people in public spaces, starting with food delivery. Founded in 2017 as the robotics division of Postmates, Serve set out to build a robotic delivery experience that delights customers, improves reliability for merchants and reduces vehicle emissions to zero. Five years later, the company's self-driving robots have successfully completed tens of thousands of contactless deliveries in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Spun off as an independent company in February 2021, Serve is backed by Uber, 7-Eleven and Delivery Hero's corporate venture units and other world-class investors. Serve has several established commercial partnerships and continues to expand its partners platform. Find out more at www.serverobotics.com, follow us on social media via Twitter and Instagram, or apply to join our team on LinkedIn.

About Ouster

Ouster is building a safer and more sustainable future through its high-resolution digital lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, smart infrastructure, and robotics industries. Ousters sensors offer an excellent combination of price and performance with the flexibility to span hundreds of use-cases and enable revolutionary autonomy across industries. With a global team and high-volume manufacturing, Ouster supports approximately 600 customers in over 50 countries. Ouster is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.ouster.com, or connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 20, 2022  Hyundai today won five U.S. News and World Report 2022 Best Cars for the Money Awards, more than any other automotive brand. Covering 11 automotive categories, the awards put a spotlight on cars and SUVs that represent the best combination of long-term value and excellent ownership experience. Scores are based on safety and reliability data, as well as the collective opinion of the automotive press. The process includes real-time transaction prices and five-year total cost of ownership data: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-money.

The five Hyundai models won in the following categories:

1. 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe Best 2-Row SUV for the Money

2. 2022 Hyundai Tucson Best Compact SUV for the Money

3. 2022 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Best Hybrid and Electric Car for the Money

4. 2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid Best Hybrid and Electric SUV for the Money

5. 2022 Hyundai Kona Best Subcompact SUV for the Money

We are greatly honored to win more 2022 U.S. News Best Cars for the Money awards than any other automotive brand, said Olabisi Boyle, vice president of Product Planning and Mobility Strategy, Hyundai Motor North America. The Hyundai Santa Fe, Tucson, Elantra Hybrid, Tucson Hybrid and Kona are just a few of the superior products that we offer, and we are pleased that U.S. News recognizes their collective excellence.



The 2022 Tucson is photographed in Cariso, Calif., on Dec. 2, 2021.



The Hyundai Santa Fe is photographed in Silverado, Calif., on July 13, 2021

Buying a new car is a big decision and finding a car that is a good value requires more than just a low price, said Jim Sharifi, managing editor of U.S. News Best Cars. A Best Cars for the Money award represents strong value at the dealership and over the course of ownership. These vehicles also provide a rewarding ownership experience, with comfort, features and performance that buyers will appreciate.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on ?Progress for Humanity and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 820 dealers sold more than 738,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2021, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.
Students in masks queue up to enter the building for the first day of in-class learning since the start of the pandemic at Garden Place Elementary School Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, in north Denver.
City seal next to the State House in Concord, New Hampshire
Staff Reporter

Nyamekye Daniel has been a journalist for five years. She was the managing editor for the South Florida Media Network and a staff writer for The Miami Times. Daniel's work has also appeared in the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and The New York Times.
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.
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
In response to press questions after his remarks on the hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas this past weekend, President Joe Biden stated a truth about 'gun control' the left rarely admits. When asked if this event would affect the push to ensure guns arent available, Biden said that you cant stop something like this if someone is on the street buying something from somebody else on the street. The president is correct, of course  but that knowledge never dissuaded Democrats bent on disarming the people before, and theres no reason to assume it will now.

Hostage Situation

On Dec. 29, 2021, a British national landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. By Jan. 15, he had made his way to Colleyville, TX, where he held four people at gunpoint in a synagogue and demanded the release of a woman serving a federal prison sentence for trying to kill American service members in Afghanistan. After a nearly 11-hour standoff, the FBI hostage rescue team did as its name suggests: rescued the hostages. The suspect was shot dead in the process.

It appears in fact that the Rabbi threw a chair at the perpetrator and the remaining three hostages escaped. How or when in that scenario the terrorist was shot is not clear, but it seems important to note that the FBI did not directly free the hostages. Rather, by their own initiative, they escaped.

All that occurred between the New York arrival and the attack in Texas remains unclear, but authorities were confident he spent some time in homeless shelters to better portray himself as destitute and gain access to the synagogue during Shabbat services. It worked; he knocked and was invited in for tea. Police believe he purchased his firearm on the street from someone he met at one of the shelters. As no Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) was involved in the transaction, there was no background check to reveal that the buyer was a foreign national with a criminal record.

Hints Of a Plan?

After a fairly brief statement on the ordeal Sunday, Jan. 16, President Biden took a few questions from reporters... .....
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Searcy, AR (72143)

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Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 55F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

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Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 55F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
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Oneonta, NY (13820)

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Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High around 60F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

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Rain showers early with mostly cloudy conditions late. Low 44F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.
Police stand in front of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 16, 2022. (Brandon Wade/AP Photo)

2 Men Arrested in England Over Texas Synagogue Hostage Incident

UK police have arrested two men in Birmingham and Manchester as part of the investigation into the hostage-taking incident at a Texas synagogue involving British national Malik Faisal Akram.

Akram, 44, originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, was shot dead when FBI officers rushed into Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15, following a 10-hour stand-off.

Announcing the latest development on Jan. 20, Greater Manchester Police said: Officers from Counter-Terror Policing (CTP) North West continue to support U.S. authorities with their investigation into the events in Texas.

As a result of this ongoing investigation, two men have been arrested this morning in Birmingham and Manchester. They remain in custody for questioning.

Malik Faisal Akram at a homeless shelter in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 2, 2022. (OurCalling, LLC via AP)

Police urged the public to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to police via the anti-terror hotline or website.

Earlier in the week, two teenagers were arrested in south Manchester following the incident, reportedly relatives of Akram, and were released on Jan. 18 without charge, counter-terrorism officials said.

Akram was on the watchlist of MI5, the UKs security service, according to reports from UK media outlets. He was reportedly probed by MI5 as a possible terrorist threat in 2020, but the investigation was closed after officials determined he wasnt a threat.

Its not yet clear how Akram, who had a criminal record in the UK, was able to travel to the United States two weeks ago. U.S. officials believe Akram had a visa, arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and bought the handgun used in the incident.

Gulbar Akram, Malik Akrams younger brother, told media outlets that he believes his sibling never should have been allowed to get a visa, citing the mans mental health issues that he said were widely known.

An audio recording obtained by the London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper appears to show a tense final conversation between Akram and his brother.

Akram made the call to his family in Blackburn as the siege was going on, and he can be heard giving an anti-Semitic rant and telling his brother he had come to die.

Gulbar tried repeatedly to persuade his brother to surrender, but Akram insisted he wanted to go down as a martyr.

FBI officials said on Jan. 16 that it was investigating the incident as a terrorism-related matter and that Akram had demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a neuroscientist whos serving an 86-year prison sentence after being convicted for attempting to murder and assault Americans in Afghanistan.

Zachary Stieber and PA Media contributed to this report.
Refugees from Afghanistan board a bus after being processed at Pearson Airport in Toronto, Aug 17, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Afghans Who Worked Closely With Canada in Afghanistan Reach BC With Families

VANCOUVEROver 200 Afghan refugees have arrived in Vancouver, the most to reach the province since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last August.

Sean Fraser, Canadas minister responsible for refugees, says the latest arrivals are among a total of 7,000 refugees that have now been airlifted to various parts of Canada.

He says 161 of the new arrivals will stay in Vancouver while the other 48 will settle elsewhere in the country, where they have family ties.

A statement from the minister says a charter plane from Pakistan on Tuesday mainly carried people whose work in Afghanistan involved a significant or enduring relationship with the government of Canada, as well as their families.

The British Columbia government announced a $2-million fund in November to boost local services and supports for families resettling in the province due to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Municipal Affairs Minister Josie Osborne says in a statement issued Wednesday that the fund will ensure communities across B.C. are ready to welcome and respond to the needs of Afghan refugees.

Our governments priority is ensuring every newcomer who arrives in B.C. has access to the services and supports they need to give them the best chance for success and prosperity, Osborne says in the statement.
Vials with a sticker reading, "COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Novavax logo in this illustration taken Oct. 31, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Australia Approves Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine and New COVID Oral Drug Treatments

The national drug regulator has given the green light to the Novavax vaccine, along with two oral treatments for patients currently suffering from COVID-19.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) on Thursday approved the Novavax vaccine, also called Nuvaxovid, for adults aged 18 years and over, making it the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine in the countrys arsenal.

It is advised to be used as a primary vaccine only as studies into using Novavax as a booster shot are still in progress.

Health Minister Greg Hunt on Thursday said he hoped the new jab would increase the nations vaccination rates.

We know that some people have waited for this vaccine, and  hopefully, this will encourage those people in the last five percent to come forward, Hunt said.

He said the government had secured 51 million doses of the vaccine, with the first batch to arrive in the coming month.

The jabwhich is administered in two doses delivered three weeks apartwill be made available through state clinics, GPs and pharmacies.

TGA boss Professor John Skerritt said his agency was the worlds second major regulator to approve the protein-based vaccine, noting that the vaccine was made using an older technology.

I would have had several hundred emails from individuals and groups who have said for whatever reason we would like to have [this] particular vaccine  this just gives them further choice, Skerritt told reporters.

Our dream is to turn 95 percent (vaccination rate) into 97 or 98 percent.

He added that trials had demonstrated the vaccine had over 90 percent efficacy with no strong signals of adverse events.

Novavax still has to get final approval from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), which will decide who will be eligible for the vaccine.

The protein vaccine works by using a non-infectious component found on the surface of novel coronavirus.

After vaccination, immune cells recognise the vaccine protein as foreign and launch an immune response against it.

Novavax is the fifth vaccine to be approved for use in Australia, along with AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Janssen.

Meanwhile, the TGA has also approved the first anti-viral pills, Pfizers Paxlovid and Merck Sharp & Dohmes Lagevrio but stressed that they are not a substitute for vaccinations.

The pills are designed to prevent a patients condition from progressing to a more severe stage and work by interfering with the viruss ability to multiply within the patients body.

Each medication should be taken twice a day within the first five days of contracting the virus for those with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.

Around 500,000 doses of Paxlovid and 300,000 of Lagevrio are due to arrive in the country in the coming weeks.

Hunt said patients could get the medication either through a prescription from their GP or in the hospital.

A course of them will help the most vulnerable, particularly some of our older Australians who have always been at more risk from COVID, he said.

Pregnant women or breastfeeding women are not recommended to get the pills.
Chef packs a take-away meal in the kitchen of French restaurant France-Soir in Melbourne on May 8, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia Offers Visa Fee Refund to Entice Students, Backpackers Back Down Under

The Australian federal government has announced a series of measures to lure over 170,000 student and working holiday visa holders back into the country to fill labour shortages.

Offshore student and working holiday visa holders, as well as new applicants, will have their visa application fees refunded upon arrival.

All student visa holders who arrive within the next eight weeks will have their estimated $630 (US$453) application fee refunded.

The eligibility period for working holiday visas will be longer, at 12 weeks, with an approximate rebate of $495 (US$355) for the application charge.

That is a thank you to them for coming back and continuing to choose Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Jan. 19. We also want them to come here and be able to be filling some of these critical workforce shortages, particularly those who are working and being trained in health care, aged care, those types of sectors. That will be incredibly helpful.

There are currently around 150,000 student and 23,500 working holiday visa holders offshore, with the rebate scheme expected to cost $55 million (US$49.5 million).

And my message to [backpackers] iscome on down, Morrison said. Come on down now, because youre wanted to come to Australia, youve got your visa. We want you to come to Australia and enjoy a holiday here in Australia.

In addition, the federal government previously allowed student visa holders to work additional hours in critical industries, but that will now be extended to all sectors of the economy.

There will also be no limit to the length of time working holiday makers can work for the same employer, effective immediately until the end of 2022.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) said the measures taken were critical steps to keeping shelves stocked and supply chains functioning.

We welcome the governments sensible changes to boost the workforce, keep businesses functioning and ensure Australians can access the products and services they need.

These changes combined with the sensible adjustments to isolation and close contact rules will help address critical workforce shortages in the short term, BCA Executive Director Jess Wilson said.

The Independent Tertiary Education Council of Australia (ITECA) cautiously welcomed the announcement and said they were committed to working with the government and independent education providers to ensure the protection of students interests.

ITECA CEO Troy Williams said the visa rebate was great news and encouraged international students to get on a plane now. However, he was more cautious about the changes to work hours.

While we support the ability for overseas students to work longer hours during the pandemic, our priority and the focus of our members remains on ensuring students meet the obligations associated with their study, Williams said.
Nationals Member for Dawson George Christensen makes a 90 second statement before Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 23, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Australian MP Says Opposition Want Him Silenced for Challenging Pandemic Orthodoxy

Australian MP George Christensen has hit out at the Labor Party after its deputy opposition leader called for him to be punished for his views on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.

Labor are now calling for my removal from parliament for daring to challenge the pandemic orthodoxy, Christensen wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

Think about it: they want an elected Member of Parliament to be removed from office because they disagree with what he says.

This comes after Deputy Opposition Labor Leader Richard Marles said the Queensland MP was undermining the governments COVID-19 vaccination program and that he should not be given a vote in Parliament.

I can tell you one thing, in a few weeks time, the Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) will be accepting George Christensens vote as a member of his government, Marles said, according to The Australian. And if the Prime Minister was really a leader he wouldnt do that.

Marles said it was an absolute disgrace that Morrison would keep Christensen as a member of his government.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Jan. 6, 2022. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

However, Morrison on Wednesday pointed out to the media that the Member for Dawson was free to express his views as a democratically elected representative, but he urged people not to listen to them.

Dont listen to George Christensen. Hes not a doctor. He cant tell you what to do with vaccines. I listen to [Chief Medical Officer] Prof. Paul Kelly, and their advice is children should be vaccinated, Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

When asked why he wasnt doing more to silence Christensen, Morrison said that Australia was a free country.

We cant go around locking people up for what they say as Australians. Im sure the media wouldnt be suggesting were doing that. He is allowed to speak his mind. But Australians shouldnt be listening to him, he said.

Overnight Christensen announced that he would stand down from his position as chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth.

Christensen said it was a decision of my own making and not a demand or request from any third party.

This comes after reporters on Wednesday questioned the prime minister about whether Christensen should retain the role. Morrison said he was discussing the matter with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the Nationals Party.

A Nationals MP in the ruling Liberal-Nationals (LNP) coalition government, Christensen will not be seeking re-election as a candidate for the LNP at the next election, expected around May.

Christensens Conservative One Podcast

Christensen, a former journalist, hosts a podcast called Conservative One: Defending Traditions and Freedom, in which he shares his views and interviews guests.

Most recently, he interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, an American virologist and immunologist known as a pioneer of mRNA technology, who spoke about the risks of vaccinating children.

Australia currently has two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in both children and adults by the Therapeutic Goods Authoritythe Spikevax (Moderna) and Comirnaty (Pfizer) vaccines.

Dr. Robert Malone in Washington on June 29, 2021. (Zhen Wang/The Epoch Times)

Malone told Christensen that children can effectively clear out the vaccine from their bodies and that the risk of children dying from COVID-19 was very low with the majority of deaths being kids who were already suffering from underlying or chronic diseases.

Malone also spoke about how he believed the currently available vaccines were what he termed leaky, and provided little resistance against the novel coronavirus which could lead to a situation that allowed the virus to evade the vaccines.

He noted that in Cyprus a professor had discovered a strain of the Delta variant that was found to also carry Omicron variations as an example. However, he admitted that a lot more research would be needed to validate or invalidate his hypothesis.

Malone, whose work has been cited 12,832 times according to Google Scholars, is regarded as a controversial figure, after publicly criticising the safety and efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines.

Marina Zhang Follow Marina Zhang is based in Melbourne and focuses on Australian news. Contact her at marina.zhang@epochtimes.com.au.
People are seen in the central business district of Sydney, Australia, on May 20, 2021. (AAP Image/Bianca De March)

Australian Unemployment Rate Falls to 14-year Low

The Australian unemployment rate for December 2021 fell to 4.2 percent, the lowest level since August 2008, just prior to the start of the Global Financial Crisis.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that around 65,000 jobs were created during the month, of which approximately two-thirds were filled by men and one-third by women.

ABS Head of labour statistics, Bjorn Jarvis, said the economic recovery in New South Wales and Victoria, the two most populous Australian states, had a large influence on the national figures.

Employment in these two states [increased] by 32,000 and 25,000 people between November and December, Jarvis said. Their employment was around where it had been in May having fallen 250,000 and 145,000 during the lockdowns.

The underemployment rate also fell to 6.6 percent. However, the participation rate remained the same at 66.1 percent, which is 0.2 percent higher than before the start of the pandemic and 0.2 percent lower than the historic high in May and June 2021.

The change in employment and participation was particularly large for 15 to 24-year-olds and accounted for more than half of the total movements.

Around 38,000 more Australian of this age group were employed, bringing the youth unemployment rate down 1.5 percent to 9.4 percent, the lowest since November 2008. Youth participation rate also increase to 70.5 percent, the highest since September 2008.

The large changes in employment and unemployment in December saw youth labour market measures return to levels we havent seen since the Global Financial Crisis, Jarvis said.

Shoppers move through the QVB shopping area in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 8, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Westpac Bank Senior Economist Justin Smirk said the fall in the underemployment rate was significant because he finds it to be a better explanator for wages growth than unemployment.

What was surprising is we did not jump in workers returning to the labour force, he said.

It is worth noting that for the last three months, the ABS estimate of the working age population contracted slightly again. The closure of the international borders are still biting and it will be interesting see where this goes in 2022 as the borders reopen, he added.

Commonwealth Bank Senior Economist Kristina Clifton said the key issues going forward are how disruptive and how long the Omicron outbreak will be.

Unlike during other outbreaks, the government has not announced any additional support measures for households and businesses as no lockdowns have been put into place, Clifton said (pdf). This could prove problematic if significant disruption is not short lived.

That said, household and business balance sheets are generally in good shape after previous rounds of government support.
A crane stands at the construction site of Evergrande Cultural Tourism City, a China Evergrande Group project whose construction has halted, in Suzhou's Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China, on Oct. 22, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Beijing Expands Real Estate Investment Trusts to Reduce Local Government Debt Risk

News Analysis

Beijing has recently ordered local governments to accelerate the listing and issuance of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the infrastructure sector, pledging to grant policy support.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is currently seeking to strengthen infrastructure funding channels and alleviate local debt risk, while easing pressure on the central governments finance.

In June 2021, when Chinas first nine infrastructure REITs went public, former Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the time had come to remove the debt risk of local government financing vehicles (LGFVs). The LGFV is the primary source of hidden debts for local governments.

By the end of 2020, the total debt of LGFVs soared to more than $8 trillion from $2.4 trillion in 2013, according to a report released by Goldman Sachs in September 2021. That exceeded half the size of Chinas gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, larger than the amount of official outstanding government debt.

An official document released on Dec. 29, 2021, required local governments to push the issuance of REITs in the infrastructure sector as soon as possible. The main objectives of the move is to revitalize asset stock, optimize debt structure, and relieve debt pressure, according to the report.

Evidently, reducing local government debt risk is the main reason for quickening the issuance of REITs, Hong Kong-based financial analyst Katherine Jiang told The Epoch Times.

Infrastructure investment is one of the leading instruments that the CCP local governments use to drive economic growth. However, such investment is largely supported by credit expansion, which has allowed the communist regime to stockpile huge debts over the past two decades.

Beijing is in the process of shifting the role of local governments from borrowers to asset managers through REITs, thereby transferring their risk.

In June 2021, the first nine publicly-offered REITs by Chinese standard raised a total of $4.9 billion when listed domestically.

The chairman of the China REITs forum 2020, Xu Xianping, said in September 2020 that the potential size of China-standard public REITs products was about $1 to $2 trillion, which could leverage about $2.5 to $6.5 trillion in investment. He is also a counsellor of the CCPs State Council and a distinguished professor at Peking Universitys Guanghua School of Management.

The local governments have formed tens of thousands of financing platforms to help them conduct debt raising since the start of this century, most of which are in the form of urban investment and development companies. Consequently, they have accumulated a huge amount of debt.

A peeling logo of the Evergrande Oasis, a housing complex developed by Evergrande Group, is seen outside the construction site where the residential buildings stand unfinished, in Luoyang, China on Sept. 16, 2021. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Today, with a slowing economy, fiscal shortfalls, and heavy debts, the CCP faces a shortage of funding sources if it expects to continue investment in the infrastructure sector, said Jiang. In this context, encouraging REITs becomes a way out.'

That would help the CCP create the illusion of a booming economy, which in turn will appeal to international capital, whose arrival will keep invigorating the ruling CCP in China, said Jiang.

The year 2021 was disastrous for Chinese property developers. The domestic real estate industry was trapped in a liquidity crisis, with top players like Evergrande, Fantasia, and Kaisa defaulting on their bonds one after another.

In response to tight liquidity, numerous developers reined in land purchases, making it extremely difficult for local governments to maintain their fiscal spending via land sales. This marked the end of Chinas era of land-dependent finance. The risk of local government default or even bankruptcy has sharply increased. The financial community has described the colossal liability of local governments as a ticking time bomb that could explode at any time.

A survey of 86 first- and second-tier cities conducted by Chinas Data Hub and Tencent Finance shows that in 2021, 85 had a debt-GDP ratio of more than 100 percent; and 75 doubled their debt ratio, compared to the previous year.

Among Chinas four first-tier cities, both Beijing and Guangzhou had a debt ratio of over 200 percent, Shanghai at 122 percent, with only Shenzhen within a safe range, less than 20 percent, according to the survey. Chinas top 10 indebted cities have an average ratio over 500 percent, with Guiyang being the most indebted at 929 percent.

When land revenue is not enough to keep local governments operating, the debt crisis could get worse. By the end of 2021, the third-tier city of Hegang had technically gone bankrupt, whose government announced a financial restructuring plan on Dec. 23, 2021, and suspension of hiring civil servants. The notice hinted that local authorities would seek financial support from higher-level governments.

Currently, the Chinese communist regime is speeding up REITs listing and expanding the size of issuing in the infrastructure sector, in a bid to slash hidden local debt stock and minimize the risk of default or bankruptcy.

While the central government is eager to reduce local debt load and deleverage and has promised policy support, local governmentsat least so farare reluctant to package their good quality real estate and infrastructure into REITs for listing. They are not concerned about future repayment because they will most likely obtain cheap loans from state-owned banks by mortgaging excellent resources.

The CCP wants to deleverage and secure growth, said Jiang. This has invariably been a paradox in the past. Despite its attempts to cut government debt, the CCP usually returns to its old path of relying on credit expansion to boost investment and spur the economy, thus falling into an even more dangerous, vicious cycle.

So far, the CCP has included infrastructure REITs in its future five-year planning, which it expects to function as a powerful instrument to relieve local governments from their deepening debt crisis.

Although issuing REITs is conducive to the central governments risk management, its prospects are unpredictable for investors, whose returns depend on the quality and operation of REITs targets. The risk of policy changes may in turn directly affect target operational stability. A case in point is the array of real estate policies that Beijing rolled out last year, which discouraged developers.

The degree of an economys prosperity affects the sources of returns from infrastructure REITs, Jiang said. An apparent slowdown in the Chinese economy could add uncertainty to their prospects, too.

Frank Yue Follow Frank Yue is a Canada-based journalist for The Epoch Times who covers China-related news. He also holds an M.A. in English language and literature from Tianjin Foreign Studies University, China.
U.S. President Joe Biden talks to reporters during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on Jan. 19, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Biden Says Tariffs on Chinese Goods Are Still in Place for Now

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that it was not time to lift U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods because Beijing has failed to keep its promises under the Phase One trade deal.

Id like to be able to be in a position where I can say theyre meeting the commitments, more than the commitments, to be able to lift something, but were not there yet, Biden said during a news conference at White House.

In 2018, a Section 301 investigation found that China was engaging in illegal trade practices, including excessive government subsidies and intellectual property theft, which subsequently prompted the Sino-U.S. trade war. The two sides signed the trade deal in January 2020, with China promising to buy at least $200 billion worth of additional U.S. goods and services during 2020 and 2021.

China met just 60 percent of its buying target under the trade deal as of November 2021, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. The U.S. Census Bureau has not released trade data for December 2021.

Biden acknowledged that some business groups were calling for him to lift the tariffs.

Well, I know thatthats why my trade rep is working on that right now. The answer is, its uncertain, Biden said, referring to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

On Dec. 23 last year, Chinas Ministry of Commerce said it hopes that the two sides can expand trade cooperation, when asked about the trade deal at a briefing, according to Chinas state-run media.

Some U.S. lawmakers have been calling for the Biden administration to take concrete actions to address Beijings failed commitment.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), in a letter to Tai dated Dec. 20, doubted Beijing would ever fulfill its purchasing promises given its track record of lying and cheating.

The American people, whove been harmed by the Chinese Communist Partys economic wrongdoing, deserve to know how this administration is holding the Communist Chinese government accountable, Scott wrote.

Scott asked Tsai for written responses to several questions, including plans for future trade discussions.

Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), in a column published by his office on Jan. 14, stated that Biden needs to stop watching and act.

We have had some clear wins under the Phase One agreement, but President Bidens inaction could undo this progress even as we work to build on it, Smith wrote.

Two years later, China is nowhere near fulfilling its obligations under Phase One, Smith wrote. Aside from failing to buy enough U.S. goods, China also failed to fulfill other commitments like instituting intellectual property reforms, he added.

The Presidents foreign policy team has done little to take on China, and his administration is producing only outlines for action with no detail. That is not good enough, he wrote. Americans and the friends of freedom around the world cannot afford to wait.
President Joe Biden talks to reporters during a news conference at the White House on Jan. 19, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Biden, White House Seek to Clarify Minor Incursion Comments on Russia

President Joe Biden and White House officials are seeking to clarify statements the president made on Jan. 19 suggesting that a minor incursion from Russia against Ukraine would elicit a lesser response from the United States and its allies than a full-scale invasion of Ukraine would.

Russia has amassed roughly 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and in Russian-annexed Crimea in recent weeks. While Western states say that theyre prepared for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia denies that its planning an attack. But Moscow has demanded a promise from NATO to never admit Ukraine as a member.

A series of high-level talks between the United States and Russia have yet to ease tensions.

Biden and his administration have been clear both publicly and in talks with the Kremlin that any further invasion of Ukraine by Russia would result in severe sanctions by the United States and its allies.

But at a Jan. 19 press conference, Biden appeared to suggest that a minor incursion by Russia could lead to some disagreement regarding what actions to take in response.

I think what youre going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, he said. And it depends on what it does. Its one thing if its a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera.

Biden was asked later in the conference to clarify that statement.

If its asomething significantly short of a significant invasionor not even significant, just major military forces coming acrossfor example, its one thing to determine that if they continue to use cyber efforts, well, we can respond the same way, with cyber, he said.

Biden then went on to say that there are differences between what some NATO countries are willing to do depending on what happens, noting that its important that NATO is on the same page.

Following the conference, White House press secretary Jen Psaki put out a statement reiterating the White Houses stance on the situation between Russia and Ukraine and offering some clarity on Bidens comments.

President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, thats a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies, the statement reads.

President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.

Biden also began an infrastructure meeting on Jan. 20 by saying, If any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.

Let there be no doubt that if Putin makes this choice, Russia will pay a heavy price.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also made a clear reference to Bidens press conference statement.

We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones, Zelensky wrote on Twitter in both Ukrainian and English.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also addressed Bidens comments.

Be in no doubt that if Russia were to make any kind of incursion into Ukraine on any scale, whatever, I think that that would be a disaster, not just for Ukraine but Russia. It would be a disaster for the world, Johnson told reporters on Jan. 20.

And the UK stands squarely behind the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine.

At Bidens Jan. 19 press conference, he went further than he ever has before in predicting that Russia will move forward with its invasion when he reiterated that the decision lies solely with President Vladimir Putin.

Im not so sure he is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in, Biden said. He has to do something.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met ministers from the UK, France, and Germany in Berlin on Jan. 20 and is set to meet his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Jan. 21.
People comfort each other as they stand near the scene of a shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 8, 2018. (Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)

Body Cam Footage Released in 2018 California Bar Massacre

LOS ANGELESVideo from cameras worn by deputies who responded to a mass shooting at a Southern California bar in 2018 and recordings of calls for help released Tuesday captured the chaos, horror and confusion of the massacre that left a dozen people dead.

Terrified patrons hiding from a gunman still stalking victims reported the shooting in whispers to dispatchers, while others sobbed over the trauma of an event still unfolding. Officers encountered patrons running for their lives and a man bleeding in the parking lot while friends tried to save him.

The footage and audio from the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting was released Tuesday by the Ventura County sheriffs after a court fight by The Associated Press and other news outlets who sought the evidence under public records laws.

While the evidence was documented in a more than 400-page report on the shooting released in July, it was the first time the video and call recordings were released.

Investigators concluded that Ian David Long, 28, who served as a Marine in Afghanistan, felt college students disdained veterans and targeted the Thousand Oaks country bar because it was student night. Long took his own life as police surrounded the building on Nov. 7, 2018.

As lines rang off the hook at a sheriffs call dispatch center, a woman reporting the shooting whispered: Were hiding. The guys probably still here.

When a dispatcher asked another woman if she saw the shooting, she responded: Its still happening!

Patrons were still running for cover when the first officers arrived.

A passerby stops to look over a street side memorial to the shooting victims of the Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 27, 2018. (Amanda Lee Myers/AP Photo)

Videos from the perspective of a dozen officers show how they were largely in the dark about what happened after one of their own, Sgt. Ronald Helus, went into the building after radioing: We got multiple people down. We need a lot of ambulances.

Surveillance footage showed Helus and CHP Officer Todd Barrett slowly entering the bar with guns raised and Helus with a flashlight on the barrel of his rifle scanning the darkness. Long, who had been hiding in the office by the entrance, ambushed the men from and began firing from his .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Barrett ran outside and began returning fire. Helus stumbled as he retreated. When he stood up, he was struck by a bullet fired Barrett fired at Long.

Helus managed to roll onto his back and fire several rounds as Long shot him five times while he was down. The medical examiner, however, concluded it was Barretts inadvertent shot that killed the veteran officer.

Some of the body cameras captured the sporadic bursts of gunfire that erupted at the entrance of the bar.

Other cameras were either not turned on at the time of the shooting or were on officers who arrived later.

In the silence that followed the shootout, Sgt. Laura Natoli, standing behind bushes near the bar, noted the smoke she could see inside the bar and said to a deputy: I wonder if he took himself out.

Shortly after, a man in a plaid shirt and ball cap who had been the bar emerged from the darkness behind a dumpster and startled Natoli.

Jesus, what are you doing dude? she said.

The man said he was in the Army and wanted to help. He said at least one, possibly two, officers were down.

I watched him, he said. By the front door.

Deputy Charles Gallagher, who was with Natoli, cursed.

We have no other communication from people inside thats what Im worried about, Natoli said.

Meanwhile, behind a patrol vehicle where Deputy Matthew Kahn had taken cover with another officer, a shooting victim was on the ground and sounded as if he was drifting into unconsciousness as his fellow bargoers applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

Take me to the hospital, the man said.

A woman reassured him: Theyre on their way.

Another officer who arrived told them they needed to carry him to a staging area where ambulances were arriving.

Hes not going to make it sitting here, the officer said.

The man was carried to safety. He was the only gunshot victim who survived, Cmdr. Jeff Miller said.

At some point, Kahn, who had spoken to Barrett, could be heard saying Helus had been shot. But his call was not retransmitted, according to the report.

Miller said word of Helus shooting wasnt widely relayed.

There was a lack of knowledge of Sgt. Helus being shot and down for a pretty substantial time, Miller said when asked about the footage and radio calls.

Most of the newly released footage ends after Natoli sends Deputy Steve Manley and another officer with assault rifles to the front of the bar to see if they can see any sign of Helus.

Manleys camera captures the barrel of his rifle as he moves along in the shadows and ducks behind a low wall and bushes in front of the bar.

With his gun trained toward the entrance area, he reported that there was no movement. Then a pop could be heard inside the building.

I just had one shot, he said on his radioa transmission heard on the other videos.

The shot was Long taking his own life, Miller said.

The videos ended there.

By Brian Melley and Christopher Weber
Burned homes sit in a neighborhood decimated by the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colo., on Jan. 4, 2022. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

Bone Fragments Found in Search for 91-Year-Old Woman Missing Since Colorado Wildfire

By Hannah Metzger

From The Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.Investigators have found small bone fragments at the property of Edna Nadine Turnbull, a 91-year-old woman who has been missing since the Marshall fire destroyed her Superior neighborhood nearly three weeks ago.

The Boulder County Sheriffs Office announced the discovery Wednesday. Investigators are now testing the bone fragments to determine whether they are human or nonhuman. It may be weeks or months before results are available, deputies said.

We remain committed to seeking answers and closure for the Turnbull family, the sheriffs office said in a statement.

Turnbull was last seen Dec. 30, going into her home in the 1500 block of South 76th Street in Old Town Superior. Authorities ordered residents to evacuate because of the Marshall fire, but Turnbull went back inside to try to rescue her dogs.

Turnbull is the last remaining missing person connected to the fire, which burned over 6,000 acres and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes in Boulder County, making it the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.

The day after the fire, three people were reported missing. The first person was found alive on Jan. 2 and the second person, 69-year-old Robert Sharpe, was found dead on Jan. 5 in the 5900 block of Marshall Road in Boulder County.

Turnbulls family described her as a warm, bubbly, and welcoming grandmother.

Turnbull lived with her adult granddaughter, Layla Cornell, and their two dogs, two goats, and two horses. A fundraiser set up to help Cornell said all of their possessions were destroyed, their horses were killed, and their other four animals were still missing.

When Layla was rescued from her home it was engulfed in flames with Grandma still inside, said Amy Smith, a family friend who organized the fundraiser. She has always had her grandma, who has been her mom, to take care of her throughout her life.

#YR Colorado Springs Gazette. Visit at gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The logo of Cadence Design Systems outside the company's offices in San Jose, Calif., on Jan. 31, 2020. (/Stephen Nellis/Reuters)

Cadence Design Systems Aims to Cash in on New Custom-Chip Era

Microchip design software maker Cadence Design Systems Inc is betting on growth from automakers and other chip users strapped by global supply shortages who face mounting competition from rivals such as Tesla Inc and Apple Inc that design their own chips.

Cadence and rivals Synopsys Inc and Siemens EDA are at the center of a microchip industry shift as cloud computing providers, software makers and others who traditionally have bought semiconductors from a few big companies now want to draw up their chips own in-house.

Tesla, Apple, and Alphabet Incs Google are among the leaders of in-house design. Executives across industries have taken note of how custom chips help set products apart, said Anirudh Devgan, who became Cadences chief executive last month. The company counts Tesla as a client and analysts say Apple is as well.

Cadence shares fell 5 percent on Tuesday in a down market.

Developing a chip costs around $100 million, but artificial intelligence is reducing costs, even as traditional semiconductor firms keep raising prices, with many chips selling for more than $100 each.

How many car companies have more than 1 million units? A lot of them, Devgan said in his first interview as CEO. At some volume, its a no-brainer to do it because of cost, because of schedules, and more importantly, for customization.

Bottlenecks in the global semiconductor supply chain that have hobbled production at most major automakers for over a year also are forcing companies like Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co to rethink their approach to chip procurement.

The industry is consolidating hundreds of small micro-controller chips that crept into cars piecemeal over decades into a smaller number of more powerful and costlier chips.

Tesla has always used a consolidated approach, and the results contrast sharply with those of other automakers. Despite a global chip shortage, Tesla reported record fourth-quarter production, in part because close control of its chip and system designs allowed the companys engineers to quickly rewrite code to use chips that were available.

Cadence makes electronic design automation (EDA) software that translates ideas on how a chip should work into the physical layout of tens of billions of transistors crammed onto a few millimeters of silicon. The resulting chips are often manufactured by third parties like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

In decades past, most of Cadences customers were traditional semiconductor firms. But the newer breed of systems customers, which dream up full products in which chips play a central role, now account for about 40 percent of Cadences revenue, said Jay Vleeschhouwer, head of software research for Griffin Securities.

Cadence has branched out to offer those customers software that goes beyond chip design to helping fit their custom chip into a full product. Cadence has acquired apps for tasks like packaging finished chips to put onto circuit boards and making sure the chips will not overheat and melt in daily use.

The allure of such functions extends to automotive, aerospace, industrial equipment, all of the makers of products in which chips eventually reside, said Joe Vruwink, analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co.

With the transformation of cars into rolling computers all but assured, automakers and other chip-design newcomers will face stiff competition when hiring chip architects, who are some of the most fought-over talent in the tech industry.

As little as four years ago, Vleeschhouwer said, EDA companies were not excited about the automotive market because it used less complex chips.

Now, multiple EDA firms have made pilgrimages to Detroit and other centers of automotive development, and theyre making investments in those areas, he said. Its a consequence of the fact that the complexity of automotive systems, at the system level and the chip level, has become highly motivating.

By Stephen Nellis
Calls for Australian Defence Personnel to Drive Ambulances Amid Health Staff Shortage

Tasmanian Senator Jacquie Lambi has called for Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to plug staff shortages in the countrys health workforce caused by surging COVID-19 cases, increased hospitalisations, and vaccine mandates.

Whether it is in a warconventional or against Omicron or anything elseI dont understand why you have a defence force sitting there while you arent doing what you need to do, and get them on the ground right now, she told Nines Today program.

This comes as around 20 ADF personnel have been deployed to drive ambulances and assist paramedics at the request of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews after his state declared a code brown for Melbournes metropolitan hospitals and some regional centres, as the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus creates a critical staff shortage in multiple industries.

The ADF is sending additional staff and planners to support those efforts, and the federal government will provide public service staff to assist triple zero emergency call centres.

The code brown will mean that staff will have their leave cancelled, and elective surgeries will be postponed in preparation for surging cases and increased demand on the health system.

The Victorian department of health did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its website informs the press that it wont respond to COVID-19-related enquiries about the number of cases and deaths, Australia vs international response, medical treatment/vaccine for coronavirus, or impact on health services.

However, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the ADF was not a shadow workforce, noting that public service staff may also sometimes assist in plugging holes left by staff shortages.

There arent magic workforces that can just turn up and provide the sort of care that you need in healthcare, Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

You need to have people who are trained. And that is true also in aged care.

There is not some shadow workforce that sits in the defence forces or somewhere else that can automatically just replace furloughed staff because they have COVID, he said.

Morrison defended the federal governments preparedness when questioned about the pressures on the health systems in various states due to the Omicron wave.

The private hospital agreement that we put in place at the start of the pandemic, that is now delivering 100,000 extra health care staff, including 57,000 nurses to support our public hospital system and aged care, he said. Thats what preparation is, we put that in place in 2020, and we have drawn on it consistently to be able to draw more workforce in.
Chinas Aircraft Carrier Sails Into Blue WatersA Sign of Growing Naval Power?

News Analysis

The Chinese Navys Liaoning carrier group followed international rules and performed what seemed like routine training in the Western Pacific last month. But it raises concerns regarding the regimes ambitions and capabilities.

The Liaoning, Chinas first commissioned carrier, returned to its homeport of Qingdao on Dec. 30 from deployment, after about 20 days of training maneuvers across the East China Sea. Its mission and training are important indicators that help analysts learn more about the regimes capabilities and potential aggression.

The first major importance was the location of the training. The carrier force moved through the Miyako Strait, and is an important point between Japanese islands and Taiwan through which the regimes forces would have to pass if they were to attack Japan and access the Pacific past the first island chain.

During the maneuvers of the Chinese carrier group, it conducted formation search and rescue, and tactical flight and air handling of its embarked J-15 fighters and Z-9 and Z-18 helicopters. Take-off and landing training was carried out in both the day and the night. And the group practiced air and anti-submarine warfare training, command and control operations, replenishment exercises, and force coordination.

None of those maneuvers sound particularly concerning on their own. And the Chinese forces followed all international rules during these procedures. But the location of their exercise, in a critical strait near Japan, and maneuvers have important implications. Overall, it suggests that the regime is more capable of achieving its aggressive ambition.

The Japanese are rightfully worried about any Chinese movements and consider this strait a key to their defenses. Even though they spend far less than China on military defense, they are considering additional anti-ship missiles and additional defenses in the region.

The second major importance comes from the ship itself. Launching carrier operations represents the newest efforts of Beijing to modernize its navy and arsenal. This means that as time goes on, the regimes naval forces will have a greater amount of modern equipment and form a larger part of their armed forces with this carrier as one of the central pieces.

Warships and fighter jets of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navy take part in a military display in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. (Reuters)

China is considered by many analysts as a traditional land power. At periods throughout its history, such as the Ming Dynasty, China had vast treasure fleets and extensive overseas trades. Many of the dynasties had large river fleets that fought massive engagements. But overall, the perception is a correct one. Instead of the previous goals of a brown-water navy such as protecting littorals, traditional search and rescue missions, or smuggling interdiction, the regime wants to expand its global role with these new and larger ships. The Liaoning is a clear part of this goal and every training exercise brings the Chinese communists (Chicoms) closer to their goal.

This blue-water navy is clearly aimed not at protecting Chinas shores, but projecting power abroad. For example, the regime aggressively pursues its interests in the South China Sea by building up the islands, claiming sovereignty over them, and then treating freedom of the sea operations as provocations. The Chicoms also increase the range and sophistication of weapons systems such as new cruise missiles (dubbed carrier killing) and the hypersonic missiles, and continue to increase the amount of anti-air batteriesall to make operating in areas like the South China Sea too difficult for the blue-water navies of foreign powers, especially the United States.

Think of this as a more aggressive version of America at the turn of the 20th century. Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt acted with vigor to expand the military and naval power, especially in the early 20th century to protect and promote Americas interests abroad. The mission of the Great White Fleet. The fleet exemplified Americas new power and its intended missions.

The comparison isnt perfect for several reasons because America had a long tradition of allying with European naval powers, particularly Great Britain, which China does not. The regime also has a habit of preemptively seizing territory to solve disputes. Thus, the training missions of Chinese carriers suggest a more menacing version of the Great White Fleet.

Finally, the Chicoms use of carriers is also rather ironic in the face of their carrier killing missiles and the fear it provokes in the West. Many analysts warn that weapons fielded by the regime will make it so dangerous to operate near China that American naval forces wont be able to enter. And they suggest that these missile swarms, as part of the regimes defense, make the carrier obsolete.

Chinas buildup of multiple carriers implies that officials in Beijing might advertise their missiles and anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy as a game changer. But they still believe the carrier is an important logistical and symbolic platform to display their national strength. It reinforces the idea that the Chinese need more than a narrowly-focused new technology and must contest Americas dominance of blue waters with a fleet of its own. It might even suggest that the regime doesnt believe in the capability of its weapons system to penetrate U.S. defenses. Or maybe its simply covering all of its bases.

Whatever the exact reason, the reforms and carrier exercises suggest China is serious about its new mission and increasingly able to achieve its goals.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A Mexico City government health worker shows a positive test of a resident during a COVID-19 Rapid Antigen testing in Santa Ursula neighborhood, Mexico City, on Nov. 26, 2020. (Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images)

Claims That Govt Redirected RAT Tests Are Categorically Untrue: PM

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described allegations that the Commonwealth was requisitioning rapid antigen tests (RATs) as categorically untrue, saying the government would never do that and that the tests are being prioritised for vulnerable Australians.

The prime ministers comments come after suppliers Werko, Star Hygiene, and HiCraft accused the federal government of diverting RAT supplies upon their arrival in Australia, intercepting orders meant for retailers.

So far no supplier has been able to provide evidence to backup their claims, with one supplier even retracting an earlier allegation after being investigated.

Speaking at the National Cabinet press conference on Thursday, Morrison said the federal government, through the Department of Health, is reporting the false claims to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). He stressed that at no time has the Department sought to place itself ahead of other commercial and retail entities.

We deal with the suppliers directly as do the state and territory governments and they enter into commercial arrangements with them as do the wholesalers and others who were sourcing supplies in the private market, he said.

So while we are aware there are supply constraints within the market, it is expected supply will normalise over coming weeks.

The prime minister added that the RAT tests ordered by the government will be given to the healthcare and aged care workforce, those who are symptomatic or close contacts, as well as vulnerable individuals particularly those in Indigenous communities.

His opinion was echoed by Health Minister Greg Hunt, who said some companies had over-promised RAT supplies to the federal and state governments, as well as to community or private purchasers.

Meanwhile, RAT supplies are expected to remain volatile until February, with the ACCC noting it has received over 1,800 reports of price gouging by retailers.

Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler called for transparency around RAT supplies.

Theres enormous confusion around at the moment about what is happening with supplies of rapid tests, he said.

As a result, we end up in a situation in Australia that resembles the Hunger Gamesthis sort of clash between state governments, between the private sector and the Commonwealth governmentand Australians end up paying the price for that.

South Australia Premier Steven Marshall on Wednesday announced he had also asked the national consumer watchdog, the ACCC, to investigate whether RATs had been directed to the NSW and Victorian governments.

If these allegations prove correct, its quite possible that they are illegal, anti-competitive and, of course, theyre a massive kick in the guts for South Australia, Marshall said. If they (the tests) have been taken by another state, thats outrageous.
Leader of center-right Spolu (Together) coalition Petr Fiala attends the last debates at the public radio before the poll stations open for the parliamentary election in Prague, Czech Republic, on Oct. 8, 2021. (Petr David Josek/AP Photo File)

Czech Republic Abolishes Plan to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines

The new Czech government on Wednesday threw out the previous administrations plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for over-60s and people in key professions.

Under the former government, older adults, health care workers, firefighters, police officers and medical students would have been required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, effective March.

But Prime Minister Petr Fiala scrapped his predecessor Andrej Babiss decree, which was issued in early December. He told reporters Wednesday that his new center-right government did not see the need for mandatory vaccination.

Weve agreed that vaccination against COVID-19 wont be mandatory, Fiala said. This does not change our stance on vaccination. It is still undoubtedly the best way to fight COVID-19  however, we do not want to deepen fissures in society.

Opponents of a vaccine mandate had staged several protests in Prague and elsewhere in the country.

So far, 62.9 percent of Czechs are considered fully vaccinated, below the European Union average, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Almost 3.4 million people in the nation of 10.5 million also have received a booster shot.

Fiala said about 90 percent of people who would have been covered by the mandate have already received vaccines.

The new governments decision came as the Czech Republic is facing a surge in COVID-19 infections largely fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

The seven-day infection rate was 950 new cases per 100,000 residents on Tuesday compared to 799 a day earlier.

Despite the record numbers, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals dropped to 1,635 on Tuesday with 252 needing intensive care.

Researchers and health experts are hopeful that the Omicron variant, while highly transmissible, is less severe, and poses milder symptoms in infected people, compared with other strains such as the Delta variant.

Elsewhere, in Austria residents are set to be fined if they flout a COVID-19 vaccine mandate the country is aiming to introduce in February for all residents aged 14 and over.

Last month, Austrias health minister announced that those who flout the vaccine mandate will face fines of up to 3,600 euros (around $4,000).

And in Greece, a vaccination mandate has been imposed on all over-60s. Those who refuse to be vaccinated will be fined by the government, health minister Thanos Plevris said. Fines start this month at 50 euros ($57), followed by a monthly fine of 100 euros ($114).

Plevris said the penalties would be collected through the tax office and used to fund state hospitals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A place where you can be who you want to be, go where you want to gothat, and more, is what the Metaverse is promising.

Crypto and FinTech attorney Felix Shipkevich calls it a brave new world.

Paris Hilton welcomed 2022 by throwing a new years party in the Metaverse.

On top of the celebrity hype, many are touting the ability to connect, buy virtual goods, and explore virtual worlds. But under it lies a darker side.

Bob Gourley, Chief Technology Officer at OODA, said privacy is one of the biggest issues were tracking

John Mac Ghlionn, researcher at the Brownstone Institute, said, If there are no regulators, there are no rules.

And concerns have arisen, as foreign powers like China buy up large swaths of virtual land.

In this special report, we look at what that means going forward, from people looking for a place to escape reality, to future wars that could break out.

Watch the full report online.

Have other topics you want us to cover? Drop us a line: chinainfocus@ntdtv.org

And if youd like to buy us a coffee: https://donorbox.org/china-in-focus

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For more news and videos, please visit our website and Twitter.

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Deputy-Involved Shooting Breaks Out at Orange County Walmart

LAKE FOREST, Calif.A deputy involved in a shooting inside a Walmart on Jan. 19 left an armed male suspect wounded, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Department.

This is an anomaly for Lake Forest, Carrie Braun, a spokesperson for the sheriffs department, told The Epoch Times.

The Orange County Sheriffs Department begin the use of body cameras in Yorba Linda, Calif., Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Employees of the department store suspected the man and at least another male and female of attempting to return items they had not purchased, authorities said.

Employees called dispatch at 9:40 p.m. When deputies arrived and confronted the suspects, one refused to comply and pulled a weapon, which provoked at least one deputy to open fire, authorities say. The man was armed with a knife and a handgun.

The suspect was transferred to a local hospital and underwent surgery with no updates on his condition.

Another deputy followed the two additional suspects, who fled the scene by car.

Deputies located the vehicle and detained the two suspects in Midway City, approximately 20 miles away from the Foothill Ranch Walmart where the incident occurred, authorities said.

Weve all seen an increase across the public safety spectrum of things like petty theft burglary or individuals attempting fraudulent activity, Braun said. But not to this particular store or area.

(Courtesy of the Orange County Sheriffs Department)

(Courtesy of the Orange County Sheriffs Department)

Investigators from the Orange County District Attorneys Office will handle the incident and obtain the deputys body-worn camera footage for further review.

No additional suspects were identified or any immediate threat to the community, authorities said.

The deputy, thankfully, is just fine, Braun said. There were no injuries to our deputies, staff, or most importantly, the Walmart employees or civilians who were in the store at the time of the incident.
A view of the historic Old Florida State Capitol building, which sits in front of the current New Capitol, in Tallahassee, Fla., on Nov. 10, 2018. (Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)

DeSantis Signals He Would Sign Bill Stopping Abortions After 15 Weeks

This legislative session could prove to be the one that transformed the abortion laws in Florida with Gov. Ron DeSantis signaling he would sign a law prohibiting terminations after 15 weeks as it passed through committee in a 12-6 party line vote on Jan. 19.

I am supportive of 15 weeks, DeSantis said.

I think thats very reasonable and very consistent with being supportive of protecting life. Well work with them as they kind of get through that process.

I think thatll be something well be able to sign and I think a lot of people would be happy with that.

Abortion bans have failed over the years in Florida with some never making it out of committee. However one lawHB 146, the Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Acthas the promise of making it to the governors desk and he has indicated he would sign it.

It does not provide exceptions for rape and incest, but does allow for a fetus that is found to have a fatal fetal abnormality. The condition would have to be certified by two doctors.

The bills sponsor Rep. Erin Grall said that abortion should be limited because of the medical changes that have taken place since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

This is not an abortion ban, Grall told reporters on Jan. 19. This is about 15 weeks. This is about having all of your available options at the ready for you for 15 weeks.

Legislators will hear an abortion ban bill that would stop most abortions in Florida after 15 weeks of pregnancy with no exception for rape or incest; currently the law allows abortions are legal through the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

With the majority of conservative justices sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, the landmark Roe v. Wade is on the verge of being overturned and Florida pro-lifers see 2022 as the year to act.

Roe v. Wade was a 1973 case that established a womans right to terminate her pregnancy before the fetus is viable at around 24 weeks.

Florida State Sen. Kelli Stargel (Courtesy of the Florida Senate)

State Sen. Kelli Stargel has long been an advocate for the unborn and has sponsored a 15 week abortion ban on the senate side.

Abortion takes of the life of an innocent, unborn child. Throughout my time in the Legislature, I have prioritized pro-life legislation that ensures our state government does all we can to protect the lives of innocent children and support parents who choose life, Stargel said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Stargel went on to say that abortion hits close to home for her as she was a teenage mother.

Having once been a scared teenage mother myself, I understand the turmoil of a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, she continued. Women and children deserve better than abortionwhile laws cannot change hearts, they are a clear indication of what we value as a state. Florida is a state that values life and I look forward to working with my colleagues on legislation to further protect the innocent lives ended by abortion.

HB 146 closely mirrors that of a Mississippi law that the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on in December.

Mississippis bid to revive its 15-week ban on abortions, that the lower courts had blocked, is being considered and expected to have a ruling in the spring of 2022. If they rule in favor it will pave the way for states such as Florida to successfully defend abortion bans in court.

Florida House speaker Chris Sprowls, a Republican said that the bill has benefits for young mothers as well as babies taking maternal health care into consideration.

Last year this Florida House led a multi-100-million-dollar effort to expand the health care of maternal mothers from two months, which was set in 1976, to 12 months making sure they have that health care, making sure were looking after them and their baby, Sprowls told reporters after the state of the state address on Jan. 11.

And that includes our commitment to life issues and making sure that we are protecting the sanctity of human lifethats what this bill is about.

Sprowls said that the 15-week cap on abortions was by design.

The reason we picked 15 weeks as opposed to something else was because that is the case that is currently in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, he continued. If the court were to allow the Mississippi case to stand at 15 weeks, then our law would be able to stand.

Abortion in the United States has been a politically volatile issue with opponents concerned about preserving life from conception and advocates standing up for a womans bodily autonomy.

Politicians check the pulse of their constituents to see how the majority falls on the side of the issue and vote accordingly.

With 2022 being an election year Republican politicians who have the majority in Tallahassee, Fla., will face their constituents at the polls in November with abortion being at the forefront of issues important to their conservative base and how they vote could decide their fate.

Florida House of Representative Anna Eskamani (Courtesy of the Florida House)

Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, and a former Planned Parenthood employee, called the bill extreme anti-abortion legislation and tweeted, Floridas 15 week abortion ban has been filedand of course theyre trying to brand it as not being an abortion ban.

Thats because Republican members know that abortion bans are extreme and not supported by the majority of our state or country.

However Floridas Constitution provides privacy protections that have been interpreted by courts in the past as protecting a right to an abortion.

The Florida Supreme Court is most conservative with three judges appointed by DeSantis.

Agency for Health Care Administration reports that during 2021 in Florida, 68,449 abortions were performed with a little more than 51,000 that were coded as elective, while 97 were for rape, eight for incest and almost 15,000 were for social or economic reasons.

A vast majority being performed in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Other abortion bills under consideration:

HB 167Abortion: Requires physician to conduct test for, and inform woman seeking abortion of, presence of detectable fetal heartbeat; prohibits physician from performing or inducing abortion if fetal heartbeat is detected or if physician fails to conduct test to detect fetal heartbeat; provides exceptions; authorizes private civil cause of action for certain violations; provides for civil remedies and damages.

SB 628Abortion Clinic Regulations: Deleting a specified timeframe in which certain information must be provided to a pregnant woman before a termination of pregnancy may be performed; deleting provisions prohibiting state agencies, local governmental entities, and Medicaid managed care plans from expending funds for the benefit of, paying funds to, or initiating or renewing contracts with certain organizations that perform abortions; deleting a requirement that the Agency for Health Care Administration inspect a specified percentage of abortion clinic patient records as a component of license inspections, etc.

SB 1642Informed Consent for Termination Of Pregnancy: Deleting the requirement that a physician be physically present in the same room when informing a pregnant woman of specified information for purposes of obtaining informed consent for termination of a pregnancy; deleting the requirement that such information be provided within a specified timeframe; deleting the requirement that a physician perform an ultrasound on a pregnant woman and inform her of the probable gestational age of the fetus for purposes of obtaining informed consent for a termination of pregnancy, etc.
A logo of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is seen at its headquarter in Beijing on July 2, 2021. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

DiDi Reported $4.7 Billion Loss in Q3 Raising Concerns as It Plans Hong Kong IPO

DiDiChinas ride-hailing giant which announced on Dec. 3, 2021, that it would begin delisting from the New York Stock Exchangesuffered a loss of 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) in the Q3, leading to concerns about its plan to list in Hong Kong this year.

The company announced its Q3 revenue on Dec. 29, 2021, bringing its total losses for the first nine months of the year to $6.6 billion. DiDis revenue plummeted as it was banned from registering new users.

DiDi went public on the NYSE on June 29, 2021, despite warnings from the Chinese regime. On July 2, the State Internet Information Office announced that in order to prevent national data security risks, safeguard national security, and protect public interests, the Office of Cyber Security Review (OCSR) implemented a cyber security review of DiDi in accordance with the Cyber Security Review Regulations and stopped new user registration during the period. On July 4, the State Internet Information Office announced that Didis App would be taken down.

Li Chengdong, from Chinas internet think tank Haitun, told The Financial Times, new users cant use Didi and old users who get new phones also cant download it.

On that same day as Didi announced its Q3 results, the company also announced the resignation of Daniel Zhang, the chief executive officer of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, who had served as a director on DiDis board since 2018.

Jun Wang, former director of the international department of Beijing Unirule Economic Research Institute, a private think tank in China founded in 1993 by five economists, told The Epoch Times that there have been no new users in DiDis domestic market since the official announcement. The authorities have simply made it impossible for Didi to attract new customers.

Now people cant even register to the app, itll be lucky if they can keep their old customers, and they may lose them, that is to say, they may be attracted to Didis competitors. There are now several online taxi companies in mainland China, one is called T3, which is particularly popular in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Cao Cao Mobility.

Wang said that stopping new user registration and taking down the app would be a fatal blow to DiDi.

According to DiDis earnings report, in the Q3 of 2021, the total number of orders on DiDis core platform was 2.86 billion, and 2.36 billion orders were for traveling in the mainland. Comparing those numbers to Q2, the total number of orders on DiDis core platform dropped by 150 million in Q3. The total number of orders in mainland China in Q3 fell by 210 million.

Wang said that any IPO would require a financial report that shows several years of profitability. If the company is not profitable during these years, and the situation continues to the present day, the pace of listing in Hong Kong may be delayed. DiDi may not be able to meet the listing requirements in Hong Kong, the consequences of this would be very serious.

On May 20, 2021, the Hong Kong stock exchange published a rule that new listings must show a three-year track record of profitability. The rule came into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

Listing companies must show a profit of not less than HK$20 million ($2.5 million) in the most recent year, and an aggregate profit of HK$30 million ($3.8 million) for each of the previous two years.

DiDi has not yet disclosed its annual financial report. If it is a full-year loss, the listing will be put on hold. This will be a big deal, said Wang.

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced sanctions against DiDi, its share price plummeted. The companys IPO was priced at $14 per share, and its market capitalization once briefly approached close to $80 billion. But according to FactSet, DiDis share price fell to $5.3 on Dec. 24, 2021, and its market cap dropped to $25.6 billion.

DiDi became a target of the Chinese authorities because of its massive traffic data. In 2017, DiDi launched the Orange View Vehicle Recorder, which has turned more than 10 million DiDi vehicles into street-view real-time capturing every day. In 2015, the DiDi Media Research Institute, in conjunction with Xinhuas New Media Center, released an article entitled The Competition of Officials from Ministries Working Overtime on High-Temperature Days. The article reveals that DiDi had obtained the travel trends of officials, namely those from the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Finance.

On July 16, 2021, seven departments of the CCP jointly launched a cyber security review of DiDi.

On Jan. 4, thirteen CCP departments, including the State Cyberspace, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Security Bureau, jointly issued the Cyber Security Review Measures, which includes new rules to increase oversight on how Chinese tech companies operate their platforms.

Set to be enforced on Feb. 15, these measures are focused on cybersecurity reviews and will require domestic companies with personal information on over 1 million users to undergo a security review to be able to get authorities approval to be listed on overseas stock exchanges.

The new Cyber Security Review Measures will replace and void the previous measures issued on April 13, 2020.

Meanwhile, in December 2021, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges must disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a government entity and provide evidence of audit checks. This requirement could result in a large number of Chinese stocks being removed from U.S. exchanges.
A Honda logo is seen at the 2016 Washington Auto Show in Washington, on Jan. 27, 2015. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

EV Battery Research Startup SES Enters JV With Honda Ahead of Going Public in SPAC Merger

Japans Honda Motor Co. said on Tuesday it has signed a joint venture agreement with the U.S. based battery research startup SES Holdings to launch higher density and low-cost lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles.

What Happened

Honda said the joint venture will focus on making safe, durable, and higher capacity batteries with lithium-metal anode that are expected to deliver higher energy density than the lithium-ion batteries, which usually use carbon-based materials for the anode.

Honda last year said it aims to increase the ratio of electric vehicles to 40 percent of overall sales by 2030, to 80 precent by 2035, and to 100 percent by 2040.

The battery is an essential component of EVs, and Honda has been concurrently looking into several options toward the realization of high-capacity, safe and low-cost next-generation batteries, Shinji Aoyama, managing executive officer in charge of electrification at Honda, said in a statement.

Honda plans to pick about 2 percent of the shares in the Boston-based electric vehicle battery startup, which is set to go public by merging with Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition in a deal that could value the combined company at about $3.6 billion.

The company will list on the New York Stock Exchange.

Why It Matters

Battery development is key towards mass adoption and legacy automakers such as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Tesla Inc. are rushing to for their own partnerships for either development or securing the raw materials.

Auto OEMs and battery companies are exploring various options including the silicon anodes, solid state, stationary storage, lithium phosphates, and other techs to develop and launch batteries with higher energy densities and lower costs.

Partnerships worth billions of dollars have already been announced including GMs partnership with Ultium, Ford with South Koreas SK Innovation. Elon Musk-led Tesla has multi-company partnership just like others, including a long-term agreement with Chinas CATL, also the worlds largest battery maker.

By Rachit Vats

 2021 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Anne and Scott Quiner at Gooseberry Falls State Park in 2018. (Courtesy of Anne Quiner)

Wife Stands Off With Hospital to Keep Her Husband Alive, and Wins

Sentiments expressed in random phone calls for Anne Quiner as her husband Scott lay in a hospital bed breathing through a ventilator ranged from I hope your husband dies a vegetable followed by a litter of profanity, to he should have taken the vaccine; I hope he dies, before hanging up.

While not the traditional Hallmark expressions for one to get well soon, Quiner said it was a feeling shared among some of the doctors at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, where Scott had been hospitalized for COVID-19 complications in November.

In one recorded phone call with Dr. Linda Soucie in which Quiner was fighting to keep Scott on the ventilator, Soucie told Quiner, Unfortunately, if we could turn back time and he had gotten the vaccine, then he wouldnt be here, just after Soucie had told Quiner, After three years, I think weve gotten pretty good at determining whos going to make it and whos not, and unfortunately Scotts in that range of the group that is not going to make it.

In a recorded conference call, doctors told Quiner that they would be taking Scott off the ventilator on Jan. 13 because he would not recover due to what they said were his destroyed lungs from COVID pneumonia, and that their attempts at decreasing sedation only caused him pain.

Quiner told The Epoch Times that her petitions for alternative treatments, as well as to keep Scott on the ventilator, had been met with contempt.

With doctors determined to take Scott off the ventilator, Quiner sought legal counsel.

Making It Out Alive

Marjorie Holsten, Quiners attorney, told The Epoch Times that she filed a motion for a temporary restraining order that prevented the hospital from taking Scott off the ventilator.

Mercy Hospital then hired its own law firm that objected to the temporary restraining order on the basis that Holsten and Quiners position isnt supported by medical science.

Because of this, the hospital requested that the court issue an order authorizing the hospital to take Scott off the ventilator.

The judge sided with Holsten, issuing the order based on the standard that irreparable harm would result if not issued, which Holsten said was easy to establish because if Scott had been taken off, he would have died.

On Jan. 15, Scott was transferred out of Mercy Hospital and taken to an undisclosed hospital in Texas, where Holsten said the doctors have reported Scott to be malnourished, having lost 30 pounds underweight, and dehydrated.

Both Holsten and Quiner said doctors in Texas were horrified by Scotts condition when he arrived.

One doctor said he didnt know how Scott made it out of that hospital alive, Quiner said. He looked at his chart and said, I cant believe the heavy, sedating drugs they put him on.

The hospital was following a rigid late-treatment COVID protocol that has very likely killed many people, Holsten said.

Mercy Hospital is a part of the Allina Health hospital system.

When reached for comment on Scotts treatment, a spokesperson for Allina Health told The Epoch Times that Allina Health has great confidence in the exceptional care provided to our patients, which is administered according to evidence-based practices by our talented and compassionate medical teams. Due to patient privacy, we cannot comment on care provided to specific patients, and that the hospital system wished the patient and his family well.

Currently, Holsten said Scott is making tremendous progress.

Yesterday, Scott started following the doctors hands with his eyes, and now hes blinking in response to questions, Holsten said. He was able to nod his head and move his legs for the nurse.

The ordeal became a manifestation of Quiners biggest fear in taking Scott to the hospital after his symptoms worsened, Quiner said.

Since the beginning of COVID-19, rumors of neglectful treatment of COVID patients in hospitals fueled by financial incentives have circulated.

Its a Bounty on Peoples Lives

Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist and immunologist who has contributed to mRNA vaccine technology, said in a December 2021 interview on The Joe Rogan Experience said that the financial incentives arent rumors.

The numbers are quite large, Malone told Rogan. Theres something like a $3,000 basically death benefit to a hospital if it can be claimed to be COVID. Theres a financial incentive to call somebody COVID positive.

The hospitals receive a bonus, Malone added, from the government if someone is hospitalized and able to be declared COVID positive.

They also receive a bonusI think the total is something like $30,000 in incentiveif somebody gets put on the vent, Malone said. Then they get a bonus, if somebody is declared dead with COVID.

It was Stew Peters, a podcaster on The Stew Peters Show, that broke Quiners story and garnered audience support that facilitated Scotts release.

After sending the two recordings Quiner made of her conversations with her doctors to her patient advocate and Minnesota State Rep. Shane Mekeland, they both then contacted Peters who Quiner said called her right away.

He told me, If you dont get social media involved and get this viral, they will kill your husband and you wont have any say in it at all,

Quiner said. Thats when Stew got me on his show and within moments the hospital got like 300,000 phone calls. They had to shut their phone lines down.

Quiner said it was Peters and his audience that were responsible for helping me save my husbands life.

Without their taking action, Scott would have died, Quiner said.

At one point, there were so many phone calls that Quiner said the hospital began denying that Scott was a patient there.

Our audience flooded the hospital and Frederickson & Byron Law Firm (the firm that represents Mercy Hospital) with calls, making them all

aware that the world was watching, Peters told The Epoch Times.

The Stew Peters Show put a team together that included Attorney Thomas Renz and coordinated with a doctor to take Scotts case and the hospital

where Scott was transferred.

On the Stew Peters Show, Dr. Lee Vliet, president and chief executive officer for the physician-founded Truth for Health, a nonprofit that has promoted early COVID treatment to keep people out of hospitals, said the CARES Act has documented hospital incentive payments.

Hospital administrators know that they will be extra for doing the PCR tests and positive test results, Vliet said. A COVID diagnosis means admission to the hospital. On admission, there is an incentive payment. Use of remdesivir provides a 20 percent bonus payment from our government to the hospital on the entire hospital bill for that COVID patient.

The use of remdesivir gives the hospital a 20 percent bonus payment from Medicare instead of other medicines, such as ivermectin, Vliet said.

Its a bounty on peoples lives, basically, to use remdesivir and prevent access to other medications such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, Vliet said.

She echoed Malones statement on hospital incentives for putting a patient on a ventilator and declaring a patient deceased from COVID.

In addition, she said the coroner gets a financial incentive for a COVID diagnosis.

She added that medical practices are paid more under Medicare and Medicaid services based on a higher percentage of their patients being vaccinated.

On average, she said, it has been calculated that hospitals receive a bonus of $100,000 minimum for every COVID patient who has the elements of COVID diagnosis with remdesivir and ventilator treatment before a COVID cause of death.

Vliet cites her research in an editorial in the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons titled, Bidens Bounty on Your Life: Hospitals Incentive Payments for COVID-19.

She Just Wants to Keep Her Husband Alive

Married 35 years with three children, Quiner and Scott have been through much together, she said, and in these last few months, Quiner has faced some of the hardest parts without him.

After 14 years, amid fighting to keep her husband alive, Quiner had to put their dog Toby down earlier in January because he could no longer walk.

One morning I got up and he could not get up at all, Quiner said.

Quiner has been verbally attacked not just through phone calls but through news and social media, platforms her children warned she avoid.

My family told me not to even go on to Twitter because I didnt want to read what they were writing about me, Quiner said.

Still, Holsten said Quiner continues to fight.

Shes a trooper, and she hasnt sought any of this, Holsten said. She just wants to keep her husband alive.

On his transfer to Texas, Quiner said shes relieved.

Thats the first thing I felt, Quiner said, relief that hes out of that hospital and in safe care.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) speaks to reporters in Washington in a file photograph. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

FBI Raids Home, Campaign Office of Rep. Henry Cuellar

FBI agents were seen at the home and campaign office of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a frequent critic of President Joe Biden, on Jan. 19.

Photographs shared by local reporters showed agents at Cuellars residence in Laredo removing bags, bins, and at least one computer.

Federal agents also went to Cuellars campaign office.

In a statement to media outlets, the FBI said the bureau was present in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity.

The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation, it said.

A Cuellar spokesperson told media outlets: Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld.

Cuellar, 66, has represented Texass 28th Congressional District since 2005. The district includes land that touches the U.S.Mexico border.

Considered to be a moderate, he has been a frequent critic of Bidens lax immigration enforcement policies, which experts say have contributed to the explosion in illegal immigration recorded since Biden took office one year ago.

Under the Democratic president, the most illegal immigrant apprehensions at the southwest border were recorded for both a fiscal year and a calendar year.

Shortly after being sworn into office, Biden halted construction of the border wall, curbed the use of pandemic-era expulsion powers, and directed officials to end the Remain in Mexico program, which forced many asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for their claims to be heard.

Some of the administrations moves have been blocked or reversed by courts, but December 2021 arrests were higher than the month before, according to preliminary figures provided in court documents by the Customs and Border Protection agency.

Attorney Jessica Cisneros and educator Tannya Benavides are challenging Cuellar in the Democratic primary for his seat.

Cueller beat Cisneros in the previous primary by about 2,700 votes.

Cisneros has targeted Cuellars reputation and voting record, calling him Trumps favorite Democrat and criticizing his willingness to work with Republicans on legislation.

Benavides has offered a similar critique, saying the district should be represented by a more progressive Democrat.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May talks in the House of Commons in London on Nov. 4, 2020. (Parliament TV)

Former Prime Minister Theresa May Urges Johnson to Drop COVID-19 Tests for Travellers

Former British Prime Minister Theresa May has urged the UK government to abandon mandatory COVID-19 testing for travellers arriving in England, as the administration is set to lift most other coronavirus restrictions next week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Jan. 19 that the British government will be removing its Plan B restrictions in England, which were developed as a contingency plan in September but did not come into force until early December.

The introduction of Plan B measures followed the emergence of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus and its subsequent rapid spread.

The restrictions included a return to mandatory mask-wearing in shops, public buildings, and on public transport, as well as recommendations to work from home where possible and undergo vaccination.

While the government continues to urge the public to receive a booster vaccine, the restrictions will still be lifted and the need to self-isolate for people who test positive for COVID-19 will end at the latest on March 24.

However, May, who was succeeded by Johnson in 2019, told the House of Commons on Jan. 19 that the prime minister had not made any mention of ending the tests that are still required for people entering the country.

Quoting back to the prime minister his earlier statement of needing to learn to live with COVID, May stated that we need to facilitate travel. She cited concerns from professionals in the aviation industry, which has suffered badly since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020; these were echoed by Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, a backbench group that has consistently opposed government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions.

When May asked the prime minister to clarify that when the Plan B restrictions are lifted, the government will also end testing for people coming to England, Johnson replied that the testing arrangements for travel remain under review.

He added that Health Secretary Sajid Javid will release a statement in the coming days.

The prime ministers announcement on dropping Plan B was well-received by his own party, but produced a negative reaction from the National Education Union and warnings against complacency from the National Health Service Confederation.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer stated that he would support the move as long as the prime minister could show it is backed by evidence.

During his reply to May, the prime minister drew attention to his view that the public must understand that getting a booster shot is going to be a crucial thing to do.

The Plan B restrictions will be lifted on Jan. 26.
Boundary Road in Emerson, Man. is shown in a March 4, 2017 file photo. (The Canadian Press/John Woods)

Four People Including Baby Found Dead in Manitoba Near US Border

WINNIPEGMounties in Manitoba say they have found the bodies of four peopleincluding an infant and a teennear the United States border.

They say the four died from exposure during a blizzard and freezing temperatures.

RCMP say American authorities first notified them about a group that had crossed into the U.S. from near Emerson, Man., and they had items with them for an infant but no baby.

Mounties went searching yesterday and located the body of a man, woman and infant.

They also found a teens body nearby.

RCMP are telling people not to attempt to cross the border in either direction because it can be deadly.
George Washington and Self-Government

Commentary

As George Washingtons first presidential administration, the first term of government under the United States Constitution, neared its end in 1793, the president found himself confronting a form of populism antithetical to stable politics in a republic. The situation emerged from the turbulent development of highly polarized partisan politics, along with efforts by Frances revolutionary government to interfere in American elections and in the expression of public opinion. In this context, there was an explosion in the formation of democratic societiesso-called democratic societies, Washington termed themthat sought to capitalize on the idea of popular sovereignty as an instrument to influence and shape government policy.

This charged political atmosphere presented a challenge to the meaning of self-government as a practice compatible with stable politics. Washington took up that challenge in a manner that continues to define our understanding of the concept. To understand his response, however, it is important to understand the nature of the terms involved, for self-government has both a moral meaning and a formal meaning. The moral meaning defends the right (and duty) of individual self-government as the source (through consent) of all political authority. That meaning, in turn, produces the formal concession that representative government frames the only practical initiative that can make good or operationalize political authority consistent with individual libertythat is, freedom of conscience and self-government. As a result, the term self-government comes to apply by analogy to the institutional arrangements or mechanisms designed to implement these moral conditions.

However, there remains to be explored the question of how far the institutions of self-government operate on the basis of the opinions of the citizensand thus remain consistent with their self-governing intentions. Two options are immediately apparent (at least in the conditions of the late 18th century): either the expression of the opinions of citizens by means of the regular election of representatives or the ephemeral and irregular expression of public opinion by means of ad hoc, informal, and spontaneous associations.

When Washington confronted the so-called democratic societies, he was articulating the view that the only legitimate expression of the public voice consistent with the rights and duties of self-government is through the formal activity of the peoples chosen representatives. In other words, public opinion is what the peoples representatives say it is. He asked, in a different context: For Heavens sake who are Congress? Are they not the Creatures of the People, amenable to them for their Conduct, and dependent from day to day on their breath? Where then can be the danger of giving them such Powers as are adequate  to [what] concerns the Union at large? The most authoritative response to this view was James Madisons argument in his essay on Public Opinion, which held that the literal authority of public opinion was always entitled to prevail, however collected and expressed, and thus specifically as a means of intervenient or ad hoc direction between elections. These were two very different understandings about the meaning of the public expression of the popular will.

The significance of Madisons position has often been elided by interpretation of the initiatives of the Republican Party formed to challenge Washingtons presumptive political party, the Federalists, as essentially aimed at contesting elections rather than at directing the formation of public policy. In fact, however, the principal defense of the activity of the Republican Party lay not in the organizational imperative of winning a pending election but in the programmatic imperative of shaping public policy under the trope, vox populi; vox deithe voice of the people is the voice of God. Madisons far more famous argument against majority faction does not contradict his position in Public Opinion, because Madison was persuaded that a properly constructed society could both give voice to majority rule and rule out the formation of unjust majorities. He was no crude majoritarian.

A portrait of the 4th U.S. President James Madison (18091817). (Courtesy of the National Archives/Newsmakers via Getty Images)

Washington was less sanguine than Madison about the possibility of erecting stable political authority on the foundation of fluctuating public sentiment. Accordingly, his conduct of the government was based upon constant reaffirmation of the authority conveyed to representativesas in his forceful response to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and an express argument on behalf of the rule of law, rather than fluctuating opinionbrought together with complete confidence in the ability of the people retrospectively to evaluate the performances of their representatives. Representatives must deliberate and act, and the public can evaluate their judgments and choices and hold them accountable at the appropriate time.

Washingtons view required that two things be accomplished: first, he needed to adopt and defend clearly stated policies (while deferring to the deliberation of the legislature), and, second, he needed to anticipate the faithful fulfillment of the publics wishes, even in cases that seemed to run counter to sentiment (such as the Jay Treatys abandonment of the claims of slaveholders).

The first objective Washington accomplished in a masterful manner by means of his approach to managing his Cabinetrequiring of diverse officers carefully deliberated and explicit enunciation of grounds for decisions, and then making the decisions based upon his judgment of what was fitting. This was manifested over a series of contested policy crises throughout his administration (public debt, national bank, excise taxes, Proclamation of Neutrality, the Jay Treaty, etc.). The second objective was pursued through deliberate addresses to the Congress and the public, in which Washington explicitly justified his conduct, not by claims of superior wisdom but by means of a willingness to submit the test of his judgment to the subsequent evaluation of the people, upon the presumption of good intent on his part.

Washingtons Farewell Address of 1796 takes up this task magnificently. However, it is important to remember that throughout his career he emphasized this posture as essential to the establishment of self-government. He frequently emphasized the establishment of a national character, through which the people habituate themselves to acting in a certain manner. He declined ever to claim authority for himself by right, deferring to civil authority when in military command (even when that authority was feckless); he retired from authority in a timely and deferential manner, disavowing reliance upon influence in responding to critical urgencies (such as Shays Rebellion), and arguing strenuously against the practice of instructing representatives how to vote, a practice that abolishes true political deliberation. All these precepts of just statesmanship coalesce in a powerful exposition in the Farewell Address, which rehearses the highlights of Washingtons career and forms his parting admonitions on the evidence of his consistent pursuit of these goals.

Thus, the Farewell Address might well be subtitled, A Principled Defense of Self-Government in Practice. In that address, Washington highlighted the peoples love of being one people, their love of union, as the basis of their readiness to act consistently to secure the blessings of liberty. He expressed this wish in several forms, beginning in 1783, when he declared forthrightly that the promise of self-government was a prospect held out to citizens who had only to claim it for themselves in order to enjoy repose under their own vine and fig tree. Indeed, he went on to say that if they should fail to enjoy happiness, they would have none but themselves to blame. Self-government, and political happiness, demanded civic responsibility.

What Washington meant in this and related formulations was that the eventual Constitution, than which none could better could be devised, was not the magic. It was rather the magic wand that would summon from the people the restraintthe self-controlrequired to secure the fruit of self-government, understood as a moral work. In the Farewell Address, Washington described this moral work particularly as founded in the attainment of a moralitya morality that, without religion, was only a chimerasufficient to realize the peoples happiness. Only a rare few individuals could fulfill their moral obligations independently of religious conviction. The Constitution would enable that work by providing the foundation for commitment to the Union, within which the people themselves would do the work of living in liberty. When Washington averred in 1783 that the motive that induced him to the field was civil and religious liberty, he offered not a bromide but a deliberate and clear understanding of the political project that he had undertaken.

George Washington praying at Valley Forge. Engraving by John C. McRae, 1866, based on a painting by Henry Brueckner. (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Washington was not a rhetorician. He was rather a deliberative statesmana founder, indeedwho, like Lycurgus, knew that he had to remove himself in deference to the people if the Founding were to succeed. Thus, in the Farewell Address, he expressed in the most forceful language the admonition that the people must avoid every temptation or inducement to anything that would dissever the Union. His counsels against partisanship were not a screed against any political party but rather an appeal to the people to acknowledge that they must entrust those governing to do all necessary to sustain the Union, while accepting that it would then fall to themselves to do all necessary for it to prosper. The idea of limited government was not a mechanical or instrumental concept but rather a framework for provisioning of goods and resources for happiness by the people themselves. For, as Washington said, Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue?

The virtue Washington invoked was the persistent understanding of self-government that he never ceased articulating. It was, then, rather the moral than the formal or institutional understanding that formed the heart of American constitutionalism. Washington gave this understanding its most complete articulation at the time of the founding. In doing so, he summoned from the people not a passive submission to the decisions of office holders but an active acceptance of representatives as necessary vehicles to enable the completest exercise of liberty. His statesmanship envisioned exercising restraintself-controlwith respect to political projects or aspirations, privileging the exertions of citizens themselves above the exertions of government. In this sense, republicanism means conducting governance in such a manner as not to intrude upon the peoples own self-governing conduct. This profound insight has been all but forgotten.

In assessing Washingtons ideas, it would be only fair to inquire how effectively such restrained governance could resolve grave conflicts in a diverse society. Often, it seems that the need to surmount political divisions requires the exercise of governmental power on behalf of victims of injustice. When the notion of discrete and insular minorities was introduced in the jurisprudence of the United States in the 1938 Supreme Court case United States v. Carolene Products Co., the argument was premised on the assumption that the operation of republican institutions provided no protections for such exposed communities. What the Court failed to acknowledge in that case, however, was that the argument was itself a refutation of the central premise of republicanism. In short, the case meant that self-government was inadequate to the task of resolving social contradictions justlythe very expectation that Washington had.

This new understanding only creates a new problem: what political regime can resolve such difficulties? Washingtons position returns to us with double force when we acknowledge that no better solution to the problem has been devised. For it has resulted in practice that the idea of providing formal protection for discrete minorities only produces a regime that fosters the multiplication of discrete minorities, all competing to command, through political power, the instrumentalities of social advantage and necessarily always leaving some unprotected. The idea of protected classes, in other words, necessarily bears the reciprocal of unprotected classes, which denies the utility and perhaps even the possibility of political union. It dissolves the unity of a free people and creates new and dangerous sources of strife.

The political problem, therefore, remains what Washington originally described: to forget their local prejudices and policies, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity, and in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the Community. In other words, the political problem was to foster a people who would display the virtue of justice in the manner elaborated by Aristotle in his Ethics. The doing so, however, would require an entire conformity to the Spirit of the Union. It is fair to observe, therefore, that the idea of self-government carries with it an expectation of capacity in citizens to conduct themselves in liberty so as to resolve social contradictions. The solution is valid for as long a time as the people can preserve a commitment to political union that secures them from interference foreign or domestic in carrying on that work.

George Washingtons vision of self-government depends on the tutorial influence of government, not the nursing influence of government. It is ultimately a testament of confidence in human nature: an affirmation of the value of human liberty and the enduring possibilities of self-control and republican self-government.

From RealClearWire

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The new GM logo is seen on the facade of the General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michi., on March 16, 2021. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

GM Targets Hydrogen-Powered Generators in Expansion of Fuel Cell Business

General Motors on Wednesday said it plans to expand its hydrogen fuel cell business beyond vehicles by supplying hydrogen-powered generators for uses including at construction sites, music festivals, data centers and the military.

The wider application of hydrogen fuel cells will allow GM to leverage and scale existing hydrogen investments and refine the technology, GM executives said.

Think of places where you dont have a permanent installation for power generation, but you need clean power sources, Charlie Freese, executive director of GMs Hydrotec business, said on a call with journalists.

The company declined to say what revenue it expects from the new business, and said an availability date and price for the generators would be announced at a later time.

The hydrogen fuel-cell systems will be assembled by GMs joint venture with Honda in Brownstown, Michigan. Utah-based Renewable Innovations will build the generators, with production slated to start next year, GM executives said.

As part of its Hydrotec business, the automaker previously announced hydrogen fuel cell collaborations with truck maker Navistar International Corp, locomotive developer Wabtec Corp and aerospace equipment manufacturer Liebherr Aerospace.

Hydrogen  a fuel obtained by passing electricity through water to split the element from oxygen  has been touted by companies and governments as a way to cut carbon emissions. But most hydrogen is currently produced by electrolyzers powered by natural gas or other fossil fuels, known as gray hydrogen. It is four times costlier to produce green hydrogen, which is derived from renewable energy sources.

Freese said GMs goal was to increase the use of green hydrogen and was hopeful that costs would come down. He said the company was also looking to work with infrastructure providers to install more local hydrogen production systems and reduce the need for costly hydrogen transportation.

By Tina Bellon
The US multinational technology and Internet-related services company Google's logo on a smartphone screen in Moscow shows on Nov. 8, 2021. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

Google Ropes in Former PayPal Executive for Payments Division: Report

Alphabet Incs Google hired former PayPal Holdings Inc executive Arnold Goldberg to run its payments division, Bloomberg reports.

The hiring is a part of Googles broader strategy to team up with a broader range of financial services, including cryptocurrencies, the report quoted Bill Ready, Googles President of commerce.

Ready, PayPals former COO, joined Google in 2019 and recruited Goldberg, who ran PayPals merchant business, to become the VP for the payments and emerging market efforts.

Google wants to become the connective tissue for the entire consumer finance industry, not just certain partners, according to Ready.

Google looks to add more payment features within search and its shopping service. That will help show users the entire array of financial services out there, Ready said.

Tiptoeing into crypto also could help Google entice users, the report noted.

Goldberg, Readys new deputy, is stepping into a role vacated by Caesar Sengupta, a longtime Google manager. Sengupta has formed a new fintech company, Arbo Works, and hired several others from Googles payments team.

By Anusuya Lahiri

 2021 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Gov. David Ige speaks to reporters at the state Department of Health's laboratory in Pearl City, Hawaii, onMarch 3, 2020. (Audrey McAvoy/AP Photo)

Hawaii Mulling Mandating Booster Shots for Visitors to Be Considered Fully Vaccinated

Hawaii has not at this time required visitors get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot to be considered fully vaccinated but is considering such a requirement, a state official said on Wednesday.

Hawaii is not requiring booster shots as part of the states Safe Travels program. However, that requirement is under consideration. Stay tuned, Brooks Baehr, administrative assistant for COVID-19 and pandemic response for the Hawaii Department of Health, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Some news outlets had reported that the state was requiring boosters for visitors who want to avoid quarantining for five days and dont want to submit a negative COVID-19 test.

Such visitors must be fully vaccinated, which currently means having received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab.

The outlets cited comments by Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, who last week said Hawaii was looking at the boosters and what the CDC is now saying about up to date vaccinations.

We want to see a booster shot for those who are fully vaccinated within a five or six months of completing their vaccination regimen, and we are looking to see what actions are necessary to implement that in Safe Travels, Ige said during an online discussion.

If the definition of fully vaccinated is changed, people would be warned at least two weeks ahead of time, Ige said.

Hawaii has imposed some of the strictest requirements of any U.S. state during the pandemic in a bid to curb the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

State rules force travelers to fill out a travel and health form that includes information like their name, telephone number, and date of birth.

Travelers who have tried bypassing the screening using fake vaccination cards have been arrested and sentenced to jail time if convicted.

Hawaii is a set of islands about 2,500 miles from the coast of California that had a population of approximately 1.4 million in 2020.
Health Care Worker Vaccine Mandate in Effect Nationwide After Court Dismisses Texas Lawsuit

The federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers is now enforceable in all 50 U.S. states after a federal court on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit from Texas.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in mid-December entered a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the mandate, pending a trial on the merits of the case.

The preliminary injunction meant that the vaccine mandate from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was put on hold in 25 states, including Texas, while it was still in effect in another 25 states.

The Biden administration then moved to appeal the injunction on Jan. 14.

But Texas on Tuesday moved to dismiss the case after the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 lifted injunctions that blocked the CMS vaccine mandate. The Texas district courts dismissal of the case on Wednesday marks the first time the CMS can enforce its mandate across the United States. The case is Texas v. Becerra, N.D. Tex., No. 2:21-cv-00229.

When the CMS mandate first went into effect on Nov. 5, 2021, many Republican-led states challenged the policy and several federal judges temporarily blocked the mandate later that month.

The Supreme Courts decision on Jan. 13 was made after it heard arguments from two separate lawsuits brought by 24 states against the CMS mandate. Texas had filed its own lawsuit against the mandate, so the Supreme Courts decision did not affect Texas providers.

The CMS mandate requires full vaccination against COVID-19 for 10.4 million workers at Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities across the country, according to the federal governmentdown from the over 17 million workers it originally said. There are medical and religious exemptions, but no exemptions for people who have developed natural immunity from having had past COVID-19. There is also no option of weekly testing.

The CMS announced Jan. 15 that medical facilities in 24 states that were newly affected by the Supreme Court decision had until March 15 to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, health care workers in federal facilities in 25 other states not involved in the lawsuits that reached the Supreme Court have until Jan. 27 to receive the first dose, and Feb. 28 to receive the second dose.

The CMS at the time said Texas was not affected due to ongoing litigation. The agency has yet to announce any new deadlines for Texas health care workers.
Heavy Rains in Madagascar Cause Flooding in Capital, 10 Dead

ANTANANARIVO, MadagascarHeavy rains in Madagascar have flooded parts of the capital city, Antananarivo, killing 10 people and making more than 12,000 homeless, officials said Wednesday.

With the rains continuing and a possible cyclone approaching the Indian Ocean island, officials warned of potential landslides in the capital city, which is built on steep hills.

President Andry Rajoelina has called an emergency meeting over the flooding crisis, his office announced.

At least 2,400 residences in the capital are flooded and low-lying areas of the city are in deep water, officials said. Six houses in higher parts of the city have collapsed because of the rains.

Three gymnasiums in the city are being used to house displaced families and others are sheltering in schools and local government offices.

Residents wade through flood water around their homes after heavy rain in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on Jan. 19, 2022. (Alexander Joe/AP Photo)

We are appealing to the inhabitants of Antananarivo and the surrounding municipalities to leave areas at high risk of landslides, places where trees are at risk of falling and houses are at risk of collapsing, Gen. Elack Andriankaja, director-general of the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management, said Wednesday.

According to meteorology forecasts, there is a high risk of a cyclone in the Indian Ocean by the end of this week, he said, urging inhabitants of eastern parts of the island to be vigilant.

The rains have reached the extreme south of Madagascar, which had been parched by a severe drought, say residents of Ambovombe, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of the capital.

This rain relieves a lot of farmers. Everyone is in the fields right now to work the land, Mosa Tovontsoa, 46, a farmer on the outskirts of Ambovombe.

It gives us hope because everything has turned green all of a sudden and the zebus (cattle) can go to feed in the meadows, he said. But we dont have enough seeds because many people ate them during the dry period.

By Laetitia Bezain
The Apple stock market ticker symbol AAPL is displayed on an iPhone screen and reflected in the logo of an iMac computer in Los Angeles, in this illustration photo taken on May 24, 2021. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)

Heres How JP Morgan Views Meta, Amazon, Apple

JPMorgan just shared its view on some significant tech stocks.

JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth lowered the price target on Meta Platforms Inc. to $385 from $390 (16 percent upside to January 14 closing price) and reiterated an Overweight rating on the shares.

The companys revenue growth will decelerate in 2022 against tough compares, but Meta is making solid progress against Apples iOS changes, Anmuth notes.

Further, the analyst sees Reels becoming a significant advertising surface.

He also believes the company has likely passed 10 million active virtual reality units. The stock remains a top pick for Anmuth.

JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth trimmed his Q1 and 2022 estimates for Amazon.com Inc. to reflect slower consumer spending against the backdrop of tough comps through most of the first half of 2022.

While the Q4 holiday season has generated mixed reviews, Amazon.com executed well in a challenging operating environment, Anmuth notes.

Though his estimates come down, the analyst believes lower expectations should help de-risk shares.

He says Amazon will become a cleaner story to own through 2022 and maintained an Overweight rating on the name with a $4,350 price target (34.1 percent upside to January 14 closing price).

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology disclosed that international, meaning, Apple Inc. shipments tracked at 4.9 million for December, trailing the historical average of 6.0 million shipments for the month of December, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee notes.

The shipments in December equated to down 33 percent month-over-month decline versus a seasonal downtick of 3 percent going from November to December, says the analyst.

Chatterjee says the international shipments demonstrate modestly weaker than seasonal trends in December.

He reiterated an Overweight rating on Apple.

By Anusuya Lahiri

 2021 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
House Committee to Study Chinese Purchase of Mining Company Neo Lithium

The House of Commons industry committee elected Thursday to review the Chinese purchase of the Canadian mining company Neo Lithium, although pushback from Bloc and Liberal MPs reduced by two-thirds the time the Conservatives wanted to study the deal.

Conservatives wanted to allot six days to review the purchase of Neo Lithium by the Chinese Zijing Mining announced in October, which they say was allowed by the government by disregarding national security and strategic interests. But eventually a consensus was reached to start with a two-day review, leaving the door open for additional follow-up if needed.

Given the shorter time for the review, the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology decided to not call the public safety minister as the initial motion proposed, leaving only one minister to appear, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

It goes without saying that acquisitions by hostile foreign regimes, and those countries that dont follow international trade and investment rules, should be subject to careful scrutiny before being approved by our government, said Conservative MP Ed Fast during the meeting on Jan. 20.

Fast is seeking clarification on why no national security review was conducted. He said it doesnt matter that Neo Lithium only operates in Argentina, as critical minerals are a strategic global assetglobal, I emphasizeand that it doesnt matter where the mines are located. What matters is who controls the asset.

He added that when a company is sold to a foreign entity, it is not just the assets that are sold, but also Canadian expertise, intellectual property, and technology.

Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, who serves as parliamentary secretary to Champagne, pushed back on Fasts assertions, saying a proper review by Industry Canada has been conducted, that Neo Lithium is hardly Canadian, and that the lithium they hold (lithium carbonate) is not the type used in products like electric vehicle batteries and semiconductors (lithium hydroxide).

Its not a relevant lithium to Canadas national security interests, and its not really a Canadian company, Fillmore said.

Its an Argentinian company. Its got its directors in the UK, it [might have] three Canadian employees on paper. But really, the only  reason it had any Canadian toehold whatsoever was to have a presence on the TSX in hopes of raising money.

The Epoch Times reached out to Neo Lithium for comment but didnt get a response before publication.

Neo Lithiums website lists corporate addresses in Toronto and Argentina.

Conservative MP Tracy Gray responded to Fillmores comments on the type of lithium being extracted by the company, pointing out lithium carbonate can be converted into lithium hydroxide through a chemical process.

Opposition MPs had called for an emergency meeting of the committee on Jan. 18.

In a letter to the chair of the committee calling for the meeting, four Conservative MPs and one NDP MP said they are concerned the foreign takeover was not immediately subject to a review and proper due diligence.

Canada is falling behind in developing its critical mineral resources, and allowing the foreign takeover of companies like Neo-Lithium without due diligence could further weaken our strategic interest in developing a domestic supply of these critical minerals, the letter said.

Conservative Party Leader Erin OToole raised the issue in a press conference on Jan. 17, saying the lack of review of the deal is part of a troubling pattern with the Trudeau government as it comes to authorizing the sale of Canadian companies to Chinese state-owned entities.

OToole pointed to Trudeau having approved the purchase of laser technology company ITF Technologies in 2015 by Hong Kong-based O-Net Communications, after the previous government had blocked it.

The security establishment had warned that such a transfer would be detrimental to national security.

If the technology is transferred, China would be able to domestically produce advanced military laser technology to Western standards sooner than would otherwise be the case, which diminishes Canadian and allied military advantages, said a national security assessment prepared by the Department of National Defence and CSIS in 2015, according to Globe and Mail reporting in 2017.

Trudeau also approved the sale of satellite company Norsat to Chinese company Hytera in 2017, which had irked the United States since Norsat supplied its military.

Neo Lithium doesnt have mines in Canada and its sole project is the 3Q mine in Argentina, which the company says is one of the largest lithium brine deposits in the world.
The Huawei stand promotes 5G products at the IFA 2020 Special Edition consumer electronics and appliances trade fair on the fair's opening day in Berlin, on Sept. 3, 2020. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Huaweis Frequent Investments in Chip Companies Fails Amid Chinas Chip Making Campaign

News Analysis

Huawei has been ramping up investments in chip companies in the past three years as a part of Chinas chip manufacturing movement, yet the state-backed tactic is likely headed toward failure.

Just one month before the United States imposed sanctions on Huawei, the Chinese high-tech giant established on April 23, 2019, its wholly-owned subsidiary Hubble Technology Investment Co., Ltd. (Hubble) in Futian District, in Shenzhen. With registered capital adding to 3 billion yuan ($472 million), Hubble changed its business to a private equity fund manager on Jan. 14.

Chinese semiconductor media said on Dec. 6, 2021, that Hubble is known for its wolf nature in chip investment circles, and has been moving quickly since its inception in 2019, investing in companies at a rate of nearly one per month.

In May 2019, Hubble invested in Radrock Tech which produces Radio Frequency front-end chips; In July 2019, Hubble invested in 3Peak incorporated that produces high-speed, high-precision analog chips; In August 2019, Hubble invested in SICC Co., Ltd that produces silicon carbide materials for semiconductors; In October 2019, Hubble invested in Tanke Blue that produces third-generation silicon carbide wafers for semiconductors.

In 2020 alone, Hubble invested in 25 semiconductor-related companies and continues to move up the industry chain.

According to data by PitchBook, a capital markets research firm, Hubble has invested in 62 companies in the past three years as of Jan. 12.

Hubbles investment aggressiveness is likely linked to successive U.S. sanctions over Huawei.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announces new criminal charges against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei with (L-R) acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray at the Department of Justice in Washington, on Jan. 28, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In May 2019, the U.S. banned Huawei from importing U.S. products with more than 25 percent technology content. However, Taiwan chipmaker TSMC continues to produce chips for Huawei. To close this loophole, on May 15, 2020, the U.S. escalated sanctions, requiring that any chips produced using U.S. technology and equipment cannot be sold to Huawei without U.S. approval, as a result, TSMC completely stopped supplying Huawei.

It was a precise blow to Huawei.

Hubble can be considered a special arm of Huaweis response to the U.S. crackdown.

Hubbles investments cover a wide range of fields such as third-generation semiconductors, wafer-level optical chips, power management chips, clock chips, and Radio Frequency filters, areas where Huawei relies more on the U.S. industrial chain.

Under the ongoing U.S. sanctions, Hubbles registered capital was increased from 700 million yuan ($110 million) to 1.7 billion yuan ($268 million) in January 2020 to 3 billion yuan ($472 million) in 2022, which is considered a signal to further increase its investment in the industry chain.

However, Huaweis chip manufacturing capabilities have not improved. In 2021, the chip inventory was gradually depleted, and HiSilicon, Huaweis chip maker was unable to supply high-end 5G phones for Huawei.

In August 2021, Huawei officially launched its P50 series of phones, using Qualcomm Snapdragons 888 processor and Kirin 9000 chip due to scarcity of chips such as Kirin 9000. Still, the P50 series phone cannot support 5G because it lacks 5G Radio Frequency devices, said Sohu, a Chinese portal site, on Aug. 13, 2021.

Mainland Chinas supply chain is unable to supply the equipment needed to manufacture more sophisticated chips needed by Huawei and SMIC, so both companies still need to apply to the U.S. to import some key products, materials, and equipment for their operations, according to Ijiwei, a Chinese media focus on integrated circuit and cell phone industry, on Jan. 4.

State-Backed Chip Making Campaign

An employee makes chips at a factory of Jiejie Semiconductor Company in Nantong, in eastern Chinas Jiangsu province on March 17, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Ji Lin, a Japan-based current affairs commentator, told The Epoch Times, some Chinese companies operating well in the home electronics industry has given many people the illusion that as long as they have money to buy equipment and to recruit talent, there is no field where they cannot succeed, but that reasoning doesnt seem to apply to a high-tech area like the chip-making industry.

Under the pressure of the United States cutting off the equipment to produce high-end chips, not only Huawei has invested heavily in chip companies, but the whole of China has started a movement in a bid to manufacture chips.

According to data cited by The Wall Street Journal, in 2020, Chinese semiconductor companies raised the equivalent of nearly $38 billion in public offerings, private placements, and asset sales, more than twice the total amount raised in 2019.

In the same year, more than 50,000 Chinese companies registered semiconductor-related businesses, four times the total five years earlier. Among which is also included companies unrelated to chips, such as real estate developers, cement makers, and caterers, all of which were branded as chip companies because Chinese authorities promised to provide tax incentives and subsidies for the chip industry.

At least six major chipmaking industry projects, including Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (HSMC) and Quanxin Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co. (QXIC), have failed in this chip-making campaign, some even did not produce a single chip, while about $2.3 billion was invested in these projects, most of which came from state funds, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Many Chinese tech workers are putting aside chip research and following the trend to invest in companies. According to a recent article by ICwise, a market research institution focused on China semiconductor industry, job-hopping of Chinese engineers is more frequent than that of overseas engineers, allowing the latter to focus on research and product development with a spirit of craftsmanship and accumulated experience.

Ellen Wan contributed to this report.
An aerial view of Sierra Vista Middle School in Irvine, Calif., on July 13, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Irvine Unified School District Ranked Best in Orange County

Irvine Unified School District was ranked the best school district in Orange County and a top district in the state for the second year in a row, according to a report.

The 2022 Best Schools in America report, released by ranking site Niche, listed Irvine as the No. 1 school district in Orange County out of 15 districts and No. 15 in California out of 438 districts.

[Irvine Unified School District] is a blend of talented teachers and support staff, active parents, engaged students, dedicated leadership and passionate community members, Irvine Unified spokeswoman Annie Brown told The Epoch Times via email. Especially during these past two years, this partnership has been vital and we thank the [Irvine Unified School District] community for standing with us to continue the important work of educating and serving our students.

Math and Reading Proficiency

Schools and their accompanying districts are ranked by the site through a number of factors including state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, diversity, and more.

Irvine Unified, which has 36,000 students in 41 in-person schools, had 73 percent of students proficient in math and 77 percent proficient in reading.

In a neighboring city, Santa Ana Unified School District didnt fare as well in the report.

Santa Ana Unified, which has 45,500 students in 55 schools, has 25 percent of students proficient in math and 32 percent proficient in reading.

Los Angeles Unified School District, in an adjacent county, is a much larger district with 483,000 students. It has 33 percent of its students proficient in math and 44 percent reading proficient.

Graduation Rate

Irvine Unifieds graduation rate is 96 percent, and it had an average SAT score of 1,360 and ACT score of 31. It also has a student-to-teacher ratio of 27:1.

Santa Ana Unifieds graduation rate is 88 percent, with average SAT and ACT scores of 1,040 and 21, respectively. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 25:1.

Los Angeles Unifieds graduation rate is 78 percent, though the districts average SAT and ACT scores are slightly higher, at 1,070 and 23. The districts student-to-teacher ratio is 23:1.

School Safety and Teacher Quality

Irvine Unified also performed well in other areas, ranking as the safest district in Orange County, 7 out of 704 for safest schools in California, and 33 out of 698 for having the best teachers in California.

For school safety, Santa Ana Unified ranked 314 out of 704 in California. In terms of teacher quality in the state, Santa Ana Unified ranked 324 out of 698.

Los Angeles Unified ranked 456 out of 704 safest schools in the state. It also ranked 292 out of 698 in best teachers in the state.

Los Angeles Unifieds school safety rating out of schools in Los Angeles County was 58 out of 78 districts ranked.

Niches data are collected from the U.S. Department of Education and test scores, as well as from analyzing millions of reviews.

Both Santa Ana Unified School District and Los Angeles Unified School District werent ranked by Niche as among the 438 best school districts in the state.
Is the Covid Casedemic Over?

Commentary

A lot of people have noticed the rapid decline in reported COVD-19 cases starting on Jan. 8, 2021 (see below chart from CDC). According to an OP-Ed in the Wall Street Journal by Professor Marty Makary at Johns Hopkins, this rapid decline means Herd Immunity will be attained by April and Covid will be over. That is only a few short weeks away. Like every one else with Covid Fatigue, I am hoping the chart continues to decline and Professor Marty Makary is right about that.

The professor says this rapid decline is not due to vaccination nor to masking or social distancing type precautions, rather to developing herd immunity, heralding the end of a viral pandemic when enough people acquire immunity after recovering from natural infection.

Another explanation of this rapid decline in PCR positive cases is the new WHO guidance in amplification cycles for the PCR testing. Above 40 cycles false positives are excessive. Under 30 cycles gives fewer false positives. Simply reducing the amplification cycle rate will cause the number of new cases to drop precipitously. Perhaps this is part of the explanation.

Disappearing Influenza?

Another anomaly in the CDC data is the disappearance of reported influenza cases by American laboratories. (See above chart from CDC.) Some epidemiologists such as Knut Witkowski say this is because influenza cases are being relabeled as Covid cases. It seems that there are unlimited ways to manipulate and play with the data without any awareness of the general public.

Dont Worry, the Vaccine Is Safe and Effective

Many of my friends, neighbors and family members have hastened to get their Covid vaccine, and then boast in pride they have been vaccinated, contributing to the public good.

The vaccine is not without its problems. One of which is vaccine induced immune enhancement for people who have already been exposed to the virus, had the viral illness and recovered with natural immunity. These people now have natural immunity and dont need a vaccine. If they do get the vaccine, they are at increased risk for adverse immune enhancement. Increased risk to recently convalescent or asymptomatic carriers was pointed out by a cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Hooman Noorchashm in a letter to the FDA warning of:

almost certain immunological prognostication that if viral antigens are present in the tissues of subjects who undergo vaccination, the antigen specific immune response triggered by the vaccine will target those tissues and cause tissue inflammation and damage.

Perhaps this is the explanation for a number of deaths within a day or two of the vaccination reported in the media and to VAERS. Although most have done well, we have had at least one death shortly after the vaccine in our community that I know of personally. Perhaps it would be wise to avoid vaccinating people in this high risk group who are now immune, have previously recovered from the virus. At present in the United States no such precautions are being taken, and probably should be.

Reversing Position on Hydroxychloroquine

Apparently even Facebook has now reversed its position on censoring information about Hydroxychloroquine, an old drug which is now recognized as one of many repurposed antivirals effective for coronavirus. A number of repurposed antivirals such as Azithromycin, Ivermectin, melatonin, Zinc, Vitamin D3, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, etc. are available as highly effective treatment for viral illness. Another good reason to question the need for an experimental vaccine for a disease with a 99.9 percent survival rate for the under 60. If we have effective treatment, then why do we need a vaccine? None of the vaccines have been officially FDA approved. They are all being given to people based on Emergency Use Authorization as part of an ongoing clinical trial.

Conclusion

Will the Casedemic be over in April? Only time will tell if the prediction by Dr. Marty Makary is correct. I hope he is correct about that, so things can return to normal.

Republished from GreenMedInfo

Links and References

1) Well Have Herd Immunity by April

Covid cases have dropped 77% in six weeks. Experts should level with the public about the good news. By Marty Makary, Feb. 18, 2021, Wall Street Journal. Dr. Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, chief medical adviser to Sesame Care, and author of The Price We Pay.

2) Johns Hopkins doc: U.S. may hit COVID herd immunity by April

But the consistent and rapid decline in daily cases since Jan. 8 can be explained only by natural immunity. Behavior didnt suddenly improve over the holidays; Americans traveled more over Christmas than they had since March. Vaccines also dont explain the steep decline in January. Vaccination rates were low and they take weeks to kick in.

My prediction that Covid-19 will be mostly gone by April is based on laboratory data, mathematical data, published literature and conversations with experts.

3) Your Coronavirus Test is Positive. Maybe It Shouldnt Be. Published in New York Times, Aug. 29, 2020 Discussion from a hospital laboratory perspective by Marie L. Landry, M.D., director, Clinical Virology Laboratory, Yale New Haven Hospital

4) WHO Finally Admits COVID19 PCR Test Has a Problem

Published on Dec. 17, 2020. Written by John OSullivan.

5) CDC Influenza Data

6) UK COVID Conundrum: The Mysterious Case of Disappearing Flu

Published on Jan. 27, 2021. Written by Banson Wilcot, Ph.D.

7) Epidemiologist Says Influenza Cases Are Being Counted as COVID-19

Influenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part.

Top epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski says that the massive drop in influenza cases can be attributed to the fact that many are being falsely counted as COVID-19 cases.

Wittkowski, former Head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design at Rockefeller University, cautioned that, Influenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part.

8) Facebook Oversight Reverses Hydroxychloroquine Censorship Decision by Tyler Durden

9)

01/28/21 Cardiothoracic Surgeon Warns FDA, Pfizer on Immunological Danger of COVID Vaccines in Recently Convalescent and Asymptomatic Carriers

Dr. Hooman Noorchashm says FDA, Pfizer and Moderna must consider the danger COVID vaccines pose to the recently convalescent or asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2especially the elderly, frail or anyone with significant cardiovascular risk factors.

In a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer and the press, Dr. Hooman Noorchashm warns of an almost certain immunological prognotication that if viral antigens are present in the tissues of subjects who undergo vaccination, the antigen specific immune response triggered by the vaccine will target those tissues and cause tissue inflammation and damage.

10) Cardozo T., Veazey R. Informed consent disclosure to vaccine trial subjects of risk of COVID-19 vaccines worsening clinical disease [published online ahead of print, 2020 Oct 28]. Int J Clin Pract. 2020;e13795.

Results of the study: COVID-19 vaccines designed to elicit neutralising antibodies may sensitise vaccine recipients to more severe disease than if they were not vaccinated. Vaccines for SARS, MERS and RSV have never been approved, and the data generated in the development and testing of these vaccines suggest a serious mechanistic concern: that vaccines designed empirically using the traditional approach (consisting of the unmodified or minimally modified coronavirus viral spike to elicit neutralising antibodies), be they composed of protein, viral vector, DNA or RNA and irrespective of delivery method, may worsen COVID-19 disease via antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). This risk is sufficiently obscured in clinical trial protocols and consent forms for ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials that adequate patient comprehension of this risk is unlikely to occur, obviating truly informed consent by subjects in these trials.

Conclusions drawn from the study and clinical implications: The specific and significant COVID-19 risk of ADE should have been and should be prominently and independently disclosed to research subjects currently in vaccine trials, as well as those being recruited for the trials and future patients after vaccine approval, in order to meet the medical ethics standard of patient comprehension for informed consent.

11) COVID: Herd immunity by April, says a Johns Hopkins professor

Dated: Feb. 24, 2021, by Sharyl Attkisson.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Japan Airlines (JAL) planes sit on the tarmac at New Chitose Airport, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, on May 4, 2021. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

Japanese Airlines Restore Flights to US Airports After Flawed 5G Deployment

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways (ANA) said on Jan. 19 that they would restore flights to the United States after the deployment of 5G transmitters in several American airports prompted them and other foreign carriers to cancel numerous U.S. bound flights.

The two Japanese airlines said they had been assured by the Federal Aviation Admin (FAA) there would be no safety issues after the announcement of reduced wireless deployment.

Both airlines will resume Boeing 777 service to the United States on Jan. 20 after previously announcing cancellations based on guidance from Boeing.

As the launch of the 5G service in the U.S. has now been partially postponed, operation of ANA flights from January 20 will follow the normal schedule based on FAA notification that there is no safety issue with the operation of Boeing 777 aircraft to the US airports that we serve, said Yuji Hirako, President of ANA.

AT&T and Verizon Communications decided to delay the Jan. 19 activation of their 5G telecom masts near key U.S. airports the day before, following protests from airlines about possible electronic interference.

The White House, which had negotiated with both the aviation and telecommunications industries, praised the move, but it came too late to avoid a cascade of cancellations on the 19th.

Airlines across the world had said they were cancelling some flights or switching models, with much of the initial disruption hitting the Boeing 777, a major workhorse whose flight electronics are sensitive to 5G.

Emirates, based in Dubai and the largest user of the Boeing model, declared on Jan. 18 that it was suspending flights to nine U.S. airports, with its president calling the proposed rollout one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible episodes he has seen.

However, Emirates said that it would continue flying the Boeing 777 to Washington D.C., which has yet to deploy 5G towers.

Air India said that its four U.S. flights would be curtailed or would switch aircraft types from the Boeing 777 until the issue was resolved.

In Europe, British Airways and Lufthansa switched their daily U.S. flights to Airbus A380s from the Boeing 777 and cancelled or modified some U.S. flights.

In East Asia, Singapore Airlines and Korean Air Lines said they had switched their aircraft used on U.S. bound passenger and cargo flights.

Taiwans China Airlines and Hong Kongs Cathay Pacific also said they would change aircraft models if required and that they would reschedule certain flights to the United States.

However, not all 777 flights have been affected, as Qatar Airways and Air France said their U.S. routes were operating as scheduled.

Israels El Al and Abu Dhabis Etihad Airways said their services had not been affected, while Kenya Airways said it was taking precautions as outlined by Boeing and the FAA.

Meanwhile, United Airlines said that it forecast only minor disruptions at some airports due to the remaining 5G restrictions, and praised the compromise between the telecoms and airlines that had prevented mass cancellations across the aviation industry.

The flight disruptions are the pinnacle of a weeks-long dispute between the airline industry and telecom giants Verizon and AT&T over the deployment of 5G mobile services in U.S. airports.

Several major airlines and the FAA had warned that the frequencies and transmission strength from 5G could interfere with the precise altitude readings on radio altimeters used for bad-weather landings on certain jetliners.

Radio altimeters give precise readings of the height above the ground on approach and help with automated landings, as well as verifying that the aircraft has landed before allowing reverse thrust.

Although European regulators have said that no risks have been found elsewhere, dozens of flights were cancelled or modified, pushing shares in European long-haul carriers down about 2 percent.

Japan, which was better prepared for the 5G launch, announced last year, To avoid the blocking of radio altimeters, the location of the high-power 5G base station should be avoided within 200m from the approaching route of aircraft.

Boeing said it was working with all parties for a data-driven solution for the long-term that ensures all commercial airplane models can operate safely as 5G is deployed.

The FAA is updating guidance on which airports and aircraft models are affected to dramatically lessen the impact of the nearly 1,500 notices of 5G restrictions that it previously issued.

The agency said that it has approved 62 percent of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports with 5G, but that even with these approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected.

The FAA also continues to work with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems. Passengers should check with their airlines for latest flight schedules.
A report details Chinas secret operation around the world targeting overseas Chinese nationals. The goal is to force those who speak up against the regime back to China.

Since 2014, the Chinese regime has systematically organized this overseas operation, legalizing the use of kidnapping overseas. Join me and Laura Harth, campaign director at Safeguard Defender, to learn about this secret operation.
'It wasn't an act of kindness in my eyes, it was just being a human showing compassion and love for others.'

Upon meeting an elderly woman standing alone on a busy Idaho street asking strangers for a ride to her favorite eatery, two men decided to help her out. When they learned it was her 80th birthday, they went one step further, treating her to breakfast themselves.

Benjamin Whiteleather, 38, of Boise, Idaho, told The Epoch Times that he and his longtime friend Matthew Peppersack were on their way back to work when they saw Zoe.

She was standing on the busy street, waving cars down. Not one stopped, Whiteleather said. I looked at Matt. I told him she may need help. Thats when we met Zoe.

Zoe told the men that she had been walking before her body froze up, and she couldnt move anymore. She wanted to go to a Sharis restaurant for her birthday breakfast. Without hesitation, Whiteleather and Peppersack helped her into their truck.

But they did more than drop her off.

Benjamin Whiteleather with Zoe. (Courtesy of Benjamin Whiteleather)

We joined her for breakfast and coffee, asking if we could sit with her, Whiteleather said. We listened to her story. She is alone, no family here, no car, and no support.

The friends kept the lonely birthday girl company for about an hour before paying for her breakfast, each leaving an extra $20 bill for Zoe.

Before the trio parted ways, Zoe told her new friends that she was having a party at a local venue that night. Sadly, neither Whiteleather nor Peppersack could make it, but they shared Zoes story and her invitation to anyone and everyone on a local social media page, in hopes of rallying some support for the friendly octogenarian.

Hundreds of comments poured in.

Whiteleather and Zoe. (Courtesy of Benjamin Whiteleather)

Reflecting back, Im just happy she didnt spend [her birthday] alone, Whiteleather told The Epoch Times. Zoe was amazed at our actions. She was so grateful and full of so many stories, she really was an amazing woman.

He said he hasnt seen Zoe or heard about her since then.

I can only hope my message reached out. Life is about servitude, and helping others when we can.

Whiteleather, who was adopted from Colombia in 1985, is a handyman business owner by day and bartender by night. He said he and Peppersack have been friends for years, are both proud fathers, and share a common interest in serving the community that raised them.

We try to help our community as much as possible, [from] helping people on fixed incomes to moving battered women and children for free, Whiteleather said. Looking out for our community, our children, and our elderly, we just try to offer positivity.

Zoe, 80. (Courtesy of Benjamin Whiteleather)

We both struggled to get where we are, and I know personally I could not have done it without the help of others. Therefore, I just pay it forward.

Whiteleather was personally hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, losing his house, business, and close friends in 2021 alone. Yet watching his 14-year-old son grow into an amazing young man, hes reminded of what matters most.

That day outside the Department of Motor Vehicles, Zoe mattered.

I know how lonely this year was for so many, he said. I just wanted [Zoe] to feel loved and wanted. It wasnt an act of kindness in my eyes, it was just being a human showing compassion and love for others.

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.
Major US Airlines Say 5G Wireless Technology Rollout Causing Only Minor Disruptions to Air Travel

A number of major U.S. airlines said on Wednesday that the 5G wireless technology rollout was causing only minor disruptions to air travel a day after dozens of carriers scrambled to reschedule or cancel flights to the country over safety concerns.

On Wednesday, Verizon and AT&T rolled out their 5G service across the United States but agreed to temporarily delay its deployment near certain airports amid concerns from airline industry experts that the technology could affect flights.

President Biden commended the decision, saying, This agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.

On Wednesday, Southwest Airlines also welcomed the decision from the cellular telephone companies, saying in a statement that, due to this change in course by the telecommunications industry, the FAA and Boeing must issue new guidance allowing operations within some of the previously restricted 5G airport environments.

The company said it was working diligently to implement the revised 5G guidance for airports and aircraft as its issued. In the meantime, it is operating flights scheduled for Wednesday and possibly Thursday in accordance with the previously established restrictions.

The good news is that, due to favorable weather conditions, we anticipate very minimal impact on our operation, the airline said.

American Airlines also said it had seen a minor operational impact including some delays and four cancellations as a result of the new 5G service and some additional impact to its regional fleets.

The Fort Worth, Texas headquartered company said it expected the FAA to issue additional approvals for our Airbus and regional fleets soon.

In a statement, United Airlines said it anticipated minor disruptions at some airports due to the remaining 5G restrictions but was pleased the Biden Administration reached a compromise with AT&T and Verizon to avoid mass cancellations across the aviation industry.

We look forward to a higher level of coordination between the regulators, telecom companies, and the aviation industry to ensure that customers are not faced with disruptions going forward, the airline said.

Airlines for America CEO Nicholas Calio said the agreement reached with AT&T and Verizon to temporarily limit their 5G service rollout near key airports had meant a very catastrophic disruption to the traveling and shipping public, the global supply chain, and the U.S. economy, had been avoided.

It comes after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued new approvals on Wednesday that will allow an estimated 62 percent of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band, including a number of Boeing 777 aircraft, which are commonly used for international flights.

Among the aircraft models that have been cleared by the FAA include certain Airbus A300, A310, A319, A320, A330, A340, A350, and A380 models and Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, and MD-10/-11 models.

However, the FAA noted that even with these approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected, although it did not state which airports.

The FAA also continues to work with manufacturers to understand how radar altimeter data is used in other flight control systems, the agency said, adding that passengers should continue to check airline flight schedules for potential delays or cancelations.

On Wednesday, multiple airlines, including Air India, Dubai-based Emirates, Delta, and others had rescheduled or canceled flights to the country ahead of the planned 5G wireless rollout due to concerns that the technology could interfere with airplane systems.

According to tracking data from FlightAware, there were 363 cancellations within, into, or out of the United States on Wednesday.
Two armed US-made F-16V fighters fly over at an air force base in Chiayi, southern Taiwan on Jan. 5, 2022. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP) (Photo by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Majority of Republicans, Democrats Support US Military Defense of Taiwan: Poll

A majority of Americans from both political parties believes the United States should militarily assist Taiwan in the event that its invaded by mainland China, according to a new poll.

The Trafalgar Group/Convention of States poll demonstrates a growing resolve among voters to see that the self-governed island maintains its de facto independence in the face of increasing aggression from the communist regime in Beijing.

Bipartisan Support for Defense of Taiwan

Roughly 58 percent of the 1,081 likely voters surveyed in mid-January believed the Biden administration ought to commit U.S. military assets to defend Taiwan from invasion.

This belief was held regardless of party; 56.2 percent of Democrats, 57.4 percent of independents, and 60.8 percent of Republicans supported U.S. military support of Taiwan.

The poll was conducted by the Trafalgar Group, a polling and survey service that previously gained notoriety for correctly predicting the results of the 2016 presidential election.

The data presents a significant development in the evolution of public perception concerning Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) among American voters.

As recently as August 2021, for example, nearly half of all Americans were even opposed to selling military equipment to Taiwan, much less defending it in a war, according to a poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Our leaders often forget that the American people have great wisdom in understanding the nature of threats abroad, said Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action, a conservative nonprofit that partnered with Trafalgar on the poll.

Voters in all parties stand squarely behind a U.S. military defense of a free and democratic Taiwan, even though that comes with great riskand potentially a high cost to our nationagainst the growing threat from China.

The Precarious Balance

Anxiety over a potential war for Taiwan has grown in recent years, as the CCP has reiterated its ambition to unite the island territory with the mainland, by force if necessary, and has engaged in an unprecedented military buildup.

Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949 when it split from the mainland following the victory of the CCP in the Chinese Civil War. Though the island is effectively independent, the CCP still considers it as part of its own territory.

The United States maintains unofficial diplomatic relations with Taiwan under a framework set out under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979. The legislation obliges the U.S. administration to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

Beyond merely enabling self-defense, however, the U.S.Taiwan relationship is trickier. The U.S. government has, to date, maintained a policy of so-called strategic ambiguity regarding its commitments to the defense of Taiwan. This means it will neither confirm nor deny that it would directly intervene in a military conflict.

President Joe Biden said in October 2021 that the United States had a commitment to defend Taiwan from CCP invasion, but the administration later walked back the comments.

China Preparing for War



This state of affairs has become increasingly important in recent years, as CCP leader Xi Jinping has vowed that the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland would definitely be realized.

To that end, the CCP is engaged in a massive campaign to enlarge and modernize its military, and much of that development appears directed at either capturing Taiwan or ejecting the United States from the Indo-Pacific.

In January, Xi ordered Chinas military, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), to become an elite force capable of winning any war.

The PLA, meanwhile, has been busy preparing a massive naval fleet. The nation boasts the largest navy in the world, and launched a new aircraft carrier and frigate in recent months to bolster its warfighting capabilities against great power adversaries.

The expanding military capability also includes proposed purchases of Russian assault helicopters and the accelerated modernization of its nuclear arsenal, which experts believe will encourage more regional conflicts in Asia as China becomes less fearful of U.S. intervention.

Notably, the CCP has taken to using giant mock-ups of U.S. vessels as missile targets in training exercises and has conducted amphibious assault drills across the Taiwan Strait, provoking fear that it might seize an outlying island of Taiwan.

Chinese generals have debated attacking Taiwan, according to a Taiwanese official, while the regime has developed a force capable of forming a blockade on Taiwans ports, thereby preventing the United States from providing material assistance to the island.

The PLA has also consistently escalated military pressure on Taiwan over the past two years through a campaign of intimidation.

It has frequently sent military aircraft into the islands air defense identification zone, including one incident in October 2021 in which a record 149 military aircraft entered the space in just four days.

Each such incursion requires the Taiwan military to scramble fighters and respond in kind. The strain on material and psychological resources has led to so-called crisis fatigue among Taiwans pilots and military commanders.

The United States, meanwhile, has responded by expanding its footprint in the Indo-Pacific, seeking new bases and defense agreements such as AUKUS, which will furnish the Australian defense forces with several nuclear-powered submarines.

Taiwanese leadership, for its part, has maintained a stalwart sense of defiance in the face of rising Chinese aggression.

In October 2021, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen swore that the self-governed island would defend itself and its free and democratic way of life from CCP aggression at all costs.
Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell sits as the guilty verdict in her sex abuse trial is read in a courtroom sketch in New York City, on Dec. 29, 2021. (Jane Rosenberg TPX Images of the day/Reuters)

Maxwell Defense Files Motion for New Trial Over Sex Trafficking Charges

NEW YORKGhislaine Maxwells defense team filed a motion in federal court on Jan. 19 requesting a new trial for the British socialite.

On Dec. 29 Maxwell was found guilty of five out of six sex-trafficking charges on behalf of the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Accompanying exhibits for the new trial request are under seal.

At the center of the motion is Juror No. 50, who had recently stated publicly he was a victim of childhood sexual abuse and made this known to his fellow jurors during deliberations.

The prosecution had previously requested there be an inquiry into the juror and the defense had previously requested a new trial.

On Jan. 5, Judge Alison Nathan set a briefing schedule with Jan. 19 as the date the defense could officially file a motion for a new trial. The prosecution could respond on Feb. 2 and the defense could reply to that on Feb. 9.

The prosecution informed Nathan on Jan. 10 that if theres no new trial it will drop its two outstanding perjury charges against Maxwell.

Juror No. 50 is represented by Todd Spodek, of Spodek Law Group in Manhattan.

Spodek submitted a motion to intervene, making Juror No. 50 an active party in the case, and requested to be provided with Juror No. 50s questionnaire.

Its believed that there was a question for potential jurors regarding any past history of sexual abuse, and if a potential juror had experienced any, would it have an influence on his or her verdict.

Juror No. 50 has publicly stated he went through the questionnaire very quickly and doesnt recall what he wrote.

Regarding the two perjury charges, the prosecution requested that Nathan exclude time under the Speedy Trial Act, from Jan. 19 through April 1, essentially providing more time for both parties to research and brief post-trial motions.

The Speedy Trial Act has a maximum number of days designated for specific elements of a case to be completed. Excluding time is stopping the clock for a predetermined period.

On Jan. 14 Nathan scheduled Maxwells sentencing for June 28.
MPs Told There Is No Intelligence on Women Being Spiked With Needles

MPs were told by the head of the UKs private security industry regulator on Wednesday that there is no intelligence on women being spiked with needles.

Security Industry Authority Director and former police boss Paul Fullwood spoke to Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson and Conservative MP Tim Loughton as part of a wider inquiry into spiking. The committee also took evidence from spiking victims about their experiences.

We have no intelligence of spiking by needle as such that we found, certainly in the last few months into our intelligence systems, said Fullwood.

Last year, there were renewed safety fears following multiple news reports that women were being spiked by needles in nightclubs across the UK.

The phenomenon first appeared last autumn after reports from women who started to detail their experiences with photographic evidence of the worrying new trend.

The BBC reported in December that Nottinghamshire Police said it had received 146 reports of spiking from victims during the previous two months. Nine arrests have been made as part of their inquiries, but so far no-one has been charged, they said at the time.

Multiple MPs called for action, including Birmingham Yardleys Jess Phillips, who claimed that spiking was by no means a new thing but wanted perpetrators to fear the consequences of carrying a needle.

During a Westminster Hall debate, Warwick MP Matt Western said: The escalation of scale seems to be quite extraordinary. They have to treat it with as much urgency as terrorism. It is really alarming.

Fullwood added that it was his own personal view that spikingor when alcohol or drugs are added to someones drink without their knowledgeis quite significantly under-reported.

When we have looked at some of our data, we have only had around 7,500 items of intelligence around nighttime incidents and only a fraction of those, 25, is around spiking and date rape, which just cannot be accurate, he said.

He added that offenders are mostly males, but the victims were predominantly, but not exclusively, young women.

Fullwood told the committee that intelligence is submitted from tip-offs from members of the public, the police, charity Crimestoppers, and private security companies. He said that this is anecdotal evidence, not from convictions or prosecutions.

This is not taking away all the hard work and diligence from people trying to look for these sort of things going on, but its under-reported. Theres a lack of awareness. Theres a lack of understanding, he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Jan. 6, 2022. (Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

National Cabinet Fails to Agree on Consistent Plan for Reopening Schools

Each of Australias states and territories will follow their own back-to-plans rather than a nationally-consistent approach that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had sought prior to the National Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Operational plans for the return to schools will be being announced individually by each jurisdiction over the course of the next few days and some will make their announcements, indeed, today, Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Those school operational plans will be consistent with the principles that we agreed last week.

Morrison said there had been a lot of discussion by the leaders of Australias states and territories at the National Cabinet about tailoring their back-to-school arrangements amidst the wave of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus sweeping the country.

So states are tailoring that regarding their opening arrangements. But they will be consistent with the principles of getting schools open and keeping schools open, he said.

That is especially true from day one, term one for those children of essential workers.

So even in Queensland and South Australia, where they will have different opening arrangements for essential workers, their kids will be able to go to those schools which is very important for the impacts that that can have on labour force.

The outcome is not what Morrison had hoped for, when on Jan. 10 he said wanted to harmonise a consistent set of principles across all states as schools reopening plans.

Not Waiting for Double Vaccination of Children

Morrison confirmed that schools would reopen even without the double-dose vaccination rate among children being low.

The government, both Commonwealth state and territory levels, have no advice that says that schools should not reopen if they havent had double vaccination, he said.

So it has not been set out as a condition for schools to return, for double vaccinations to be in place.

He said it was not practical in the time remaining before school is due to recommence to double vaccinate children aged five to 11.

And nor was that considered an impediment to schools reopening from a health perspective, he said.

Meanwhile, he encouraged parents to double-vaccinate their children who are aged 12 and over.

The states and territories have also indicated they will follow the advice of their experts in regards to implementing surveillance testing regimes of staff or students.

The national Chief Medical Officer, Prof. Paul Kelly, said that Omicron cases are expected to increase as the movements of children increases around cities and regions when they go to back to school.

However, he noted that it was important to get schools back open.

That is really important from all sorts of reasons for health, physical, mental, social, developmental for children, and so we certainly have to take that on its merits and balance, like weve been doing with the essential workers that issue, he said.

Australia began administering vaccines to children aged five to 11 from Jan. 10 and as of Jan. 20, 21.6 percent (pdf) of children aged under 12 have received at least one dose.

Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed on ABC Radio on Thursday that despite the vaccination rate for children was just over 20 percent, it was safe for schools to reopen for children.
Belgium-British teenage pilot Zara Rutherford smiles after she landed with her Shark ultralight plane at the Egelsbach airport in Frankfurt, Germany, on Jan.19, 2022. (Michael ProbstAP Photo)

Nearly Home: Teen Pilot Lands in Germany on Global Flight

EGELSBACH, GermanyTeenage pilot Zara Rutherford landed in Germany on Wednesday on the penultimate stop of her bid to become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

Hopefully one day away from sealing the record, the Belgian-British 19-year-old said that shes looking forward to getting home after a long five months.

Rutherford is due to land Thursday in Kortrijk, Belgium, where she embarked on her trip on Aug. 18. American aviator Shaesta Waiz was 30 when she set the existing record for the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world solo in 2017.

Growing up, I didnt see many other female pilots. I always thought that was really discouraging, Rutherford told reporters after landing her single-seater Shark sport aircraft at Egelsbach, an airfield a few kilometers from Frankfurt Airport, Germanys busiest. So Im hoping to encourage more girls to go into aviation and kind of show a friendly face, so that if a girl likes aviation and she sees me, she knows shes not the only one.

Teenage pilot Zara Rutherford steps out of her Shark Aero aircraft at Frankfurt-Egelsbach airfield, in Germany, on Jan. 19, 2022. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP)

She was initially supposed to finish her trip on Monday, but bad weather has caused several delays during the journey.

Rutherfords flight saw her steer clear of wildfires in California, deal with biting cold over Russia and narrowly avoid North Korean airspace. She said shes really excited to get home.

Now to think that Im home tomorrow, I dont think Ive processed itit still feels strange, I still feel like I should be months away, she said. Im happy that Ive done it, but its been really difficult.

Theres been amazing moments, but then theres been moments when I have feared for my life and I would not want to do that again, Rutherford added.

Once Im home, I think Im going to sleep for about a week and then talk about her experiences, she said. She hopes to go to university to study engineering in September, in the United Kingdom or the United States.

The mens record for the youngest solo round the world flight is held by Travis Ludlow of Britain, who set that benchmark last year at 18.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin delivers a speech after being sworn into office, in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 15, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

New Virginia Governor Discourages Mass and Asymptomatic Testing for COVID-19

Youngkin's action plan on COVID-19 also includes encouraging vaccination

Virginias new governor unveiled a COVID-19 action plan on Jan. 20 that includes discouraging mass and asymptomatic testing for the virus and encouraging vaccination against it.

Gov. Glenn Youngkins plan (pdf) is aimed at relieving pressure on health care systems, keeping state residents healthy, and avoiding shutdowns.

On testing for COVID-19, the plan states that Youngkin will discourage mass testing for the purposes of pre-screening, discourage asymptomatic individuals from testing, and urge healthy individuals with mild symptoms to stay home and use discretion on testing. Hes also directing state health officials to update prioritization for rapid tests, placing students that have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 at the front of the line, followed by health care workers and senior citizens.

The plan also outlines how Youngkin plans to step up efforts to convince more Virginians to get COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots while reiterating his opposition to mandating such vaccinations.

The third prong is to loosen regulations on health care providers in order to enable them to serve patients even as they struggle with staffing shortages.

Todays announcements are designed to give Virginians the tools and resources needed to make the best decisions for their families, strengthen our hospital systems, and ensure a strong recovery as we encounter new challenges associated with the pandemic that has become part of our everyday life, Youngkin said in a statement.

The Republican governor signed 11 executive orders shortly after being sworn in on Jan. 15, including one banning school mask mandates, one ending the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state workers, and one aimed at helping health care providers by temporarily easing some regulations.

The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association expressed support for Youngkins order on health care, stating that it was a welcome and necessary step to grant important flexibilities to frontline providers and Virginia hospitals as they continue to battle this pandemic surge.

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Virginia reached 3,871 on Jan. 20, the highest level of the pandemic, though data from other states indicates a significant percentage of COVID-19 patients have actually been admitted for other reasons.

Cases in the state have plunged in recent weeks, mirroring a nationwide trend.

In a speech to the General Assembly last week, Youngkin said the fight against COVID-19 would be based on the simple principle of [protecting] lives and livelihoods.

That means no more mandates and no more shutdowns. As I said on Saturday, it means Virginia is open for business. It also means the science since the beginning of the pandemic has not been static. We now have therapeutics, better testing protocols, and fortunately, a less severe variant. And of course, we have vaccines. It means educating our friends and neighbors and encouraging them to get the vaccine and the booster, he said, noting that state data show the vaccinated are about four times less likely to require hospital care.

Former Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat who was prevented from running for another term due to term limits, had implemented rules including the vaccine mandate, saying that they would keep people safe.

Republicans in the United States have largely favored individual choice and keeping schools and businesses open, while Democrats have favored more restrictive rules that they say have helped with preserving hospital capacity and getting more people vaccinated.

Youngkins move to end school mask requirements is being challenged in court, and the Democratic Party of Virginia stated on Jan. 20 that he was putting politics over the health and safety of Virginias children and their families.
New York Attorney General Letitia James calls on a journalist during a briefing in New York City on May 21, 2021. (Richard Drew/AP Photo)

New York AG Accuses Trump Organization of Fraud, Wants Court to Enforce Subpoenas

New Yorks attorney general on Jan. 19 accused the Trump Organization of committing fraud and asked a court to compel former President Donald Trump and several family members to answer questions under oath.

An investigation has uncovered facts and evidence indicating that the annual financial statements, tax submissions, and other documents under investigation contain material misstatements and omissions and Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump should be forced to testify to help determine whos responsible, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in court documents.

The Trump Organization has provided more than 930,000 documents at the former presidents direction and about 12 current and former employees have already testified to Jamess office, although Trump himself has so far declined to comply with subpoenas for documents and testimony, prompting the filings.

Trump is the beneficial owner of the Trump Organization; Trump Jr. manages the business with his brother, and Ivanka Trump was an executive vice president for the organization through at least 2016.

Among the problems identified, according to investigators: misleading asset valuations that misstated facts such as the size of Trumps penthouse in the Trump Tower, and misleading valuations of properties that include a set of lots in Westchester County, New York.

For more than two years, the Trump Organization has used delay tactics and litigation in an attempt to thwart a legitimate investigation into its financial dealings, James, who was elected in 2018 after repeatedly promising to investigate Trump during her campaign, said in a statement.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Florence, Ariz., on Jan. 15, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Thus far in our investigation, we have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit. The Trumps must comply with our lawful subpoenas for documents and testimony because no one in this country can pick and choose if and how the law applies to them. We will not be deterred in our efforts to continue this investigation and ensure that no one is above the law.

The documents were filed in James v. Trump Organization in New York Supreme Court.

Lawyers for the Trumps earlier this month urged the court to block the subpoenas, describing them as unprecedented and unconstitutional.

A Trump Organization spokesperson said in response to the new filings that James is the one who is misleading the public.

She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Trump at all costs without having seen a shred of evidence and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule. Three years later, she is now faced with the stark reality that she has no case. So, in response to Trump suing her and filing multiple ethical complaints, and on the heels of her failed governors race, she has no choice but to mislead the public yet again by misrepresenting the facts and ignoring her own inflammatory comments, the spokesperson said.

Her allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended.
Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at the Heritage Foundation, at an immigration event in Washington in this file photo. (The Epoch Times)

Noncitizen Voting Push Is Part of Agenda to Rid America of Citizenship: Election Expert

The recent New York City law to allow at least 800,000 noncitizens to vote in municipal elections is unconstitutional and likely to be overturned in court, said Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Heritage Foundations Election Law Reform Initiative and former member of the Federal Election Commission.

Its actually pretty clear that it violates the New York state Constitutionit has a provision that specifically says that you have to be a citizen to vote in all elections in the state of New York, and that includes local elections, Spakovsky told The Epoch Times on Jan. 19.

I also think it is bad from a policy point of view, because it basically cheapens and diminishes the concept of citizenship.

It ought to be something that makes American citizens mad, particularly because of the potential number of aliens thats involved.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams allowed the measure to become law on Jan. 9, which includes the provision that voting noncitizens must be in the city for 30 days or more and have authorization to work.

I believe that New Yorkers should have a say in their government, which is why I have and will continue to support this important legislation, Adams said in a statement. I believe allowing the legislation to be enacted is by far the best choice, and look forward to bringing millions more into the democratic process.

The following day, the Republican National Committee filed a suit in the New York Supreme Court along with City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borrelli, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), and other Republicans.

The law applies to legal aliens, but Spakovsky said New York Citys sanctuary policies that shield illegal aliens would open the floodgates.

Does anybody really believe that the election department is going to investigate the lawful status of any alien who registers to vote? he said.

And so that means, of course, that lots and lots of illegal aliens will also get registered to vote.

Although he doesnt think any states will try to change their election laws to include voting rights for noncitizens, Spakovsky said theres a push from the progressive left to change the concept or definition of citizen.

The whole point of the open borders crowd is to do two things: one, extinguish the line between legal and illegal aliens in this country. And second, to frankly get rid of the whole concept of citizenship, he said.

New York City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, a Democrat, told colleagues before the recent vote that many noncitizens struggle to become citizens but should still be able to vote in the meantime because they pay taxes and live and work in the city.

They want to be citizens, they want to be able to vote for the president, but at least we have the opportunity to allow them to vote for the elected officials that are representing them in the city, Chin said.

However, Spakovsky said paying taxes doesnt make someone a citizen.

My response to that is that first of all, the vast majority of illegal aliens do not pay taxes. In fact, they get free rides from many jurisdictions, he said.

This is being pushed by the progressive left today because they believe that aliens will vote for them  and keep them in power.

Spakovsky said the inability of the Trump administration to get a question placed on the 2020 Census about citizenship status was a major win for the progressive left to blur the lines between citizen and noncitizen.

One of the main reasons they wanted that done is for apportionment purposes, they did not want congressional seats apportioned based on citizen populationif they did, places like California would lose congressional seats, he said.

Thats why California probably has four or five more congressional seats than they should have, because of the huge population of illegal aliens in the state.

The Biden administration supports the creation of a citizenship pathway for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States. A decade-old estimate puts the number of illegal aliens at 11 million, and since then, millions more have crossed the southern border.
Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are seein in Cape Town, South Africa on Dec. 8, 2021. (Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images)

Omicron Evades mRNA Booster Protection, South African Study Shows

The Omicron coronavirus variant is able to evade the protection gained from mRNA COVID-19 vaccines such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna, a South African study has found.

A study published on Jan. 18 in The Lancet examined some of the first documented breakthrough cases of the highly transmissible Omicron strain, which emerged in South Africa in late October 2021.

Between late November 2021 and early December 2021, a group of seven Germans who had received three vaccine doses, including at least two doses of an mRNA vaccine, visited Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently developed symptomatic COVID-19. None of the individuals had reported a history of COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

The cases among the group were the first documented breakthrough infections with the Omicron variant in fully vaccinated individuals after receipt of booster vaccine doses, according to the study.

The presence of this group from Germany presented a unique opportunity to study Omicron breakthrough infections in individuals with mRNA vaccine boosters, the study reads.

The authors noted that their findings are limited to a low number of individuals in relatively young and otherwise healthy individuals.

This case series adds further evidence that, as predicted, omicron is able to evade immunity induced by mRNA vaccines in vivo, the study reads.

The researchers also said their findings underscore the importance of adopting measures to curb the spread of the virus, such as social distancing and mask-wearing.

COVID-19 vaccines initially were trumpeted as a way to prevent people from contracting the CCP virus, and officials had hoped that getting enough people vaccinated would lead to herd immunity, a situation in which the virus would be greatly diminished or even eliminated.

Those hopes havent panned out, largely because the vaccines proved increasingly ineffective at preventing infection, even before the emergence of the Omicron variant.

World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Jan. 18 that new variants of the novel coronavirus are likely to emerge, given the current high levels of transmission.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHOs technical lead officer on COVID-19, said at a briefing in Geneva, that the Omicron variant is unlikely to be the last strain, as the virus is still circulating at a very intense level worldwide.

Were hearing a lot of people suggest that Omicron is the last variant, that its over after this. And that is not the case, she said.

Van Kerkhove said countries must keep up measures to curb transmission of the virus in order to reduce severe disease and deaths, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowded areas.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, said on Jan. 17 that research efforts should now focus on COVID-19 vaccines that can provide broad protection against new strains of the virus.

We dont want to get into a whack-a-mole for every variant, where you have to make a booster against a particular variant, Fauci said. Youll be chasing it forever.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Opposition Parties Call for Audit Into McKinsey Government Contracts

Conservative MPs have written to Canadas auditor-general to ask her to investigate the governments issuance of contracts to consulting firm McKinsey & Company which the Tories say has close ties to the Liberal Party.

The MPs were reacting to a Jan. 18 Globe and Mail report which said the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper did very little business with McKinsey, but after the Liberals took power in 2015 the firm increasingly received multi-million dollar contracts.

The NDP and the Bloc Quebecois voiced their support of the Conservative initiative, according to the Globe report.

In their Jan. 18 letter to Auditor-General Karen Hogan, Conservative MPs John Brassard and Pierre Paul-Hus cited figures in the Globe analysis that said since the Trudeau government took power, contracts with McKinsey went from 0 in the last two years of the previous government to $33.6 million in the last six years.

The letter points to several close ties between McKinsey and the Trudeau government, including former McKinsey chair Dominic Barton who simultaneously served as the company chair and an advisor to the Trudeau government during the period when the government started contracting with McKinsey again.

Trudeau also named Barton ambassador to China in 2019, a post he left last month to return to the private sector, joining mining giant Rio Tinto as chairman of the board.

Brassard and Paul-Hus note that some of the contracts awarded to McKinsey were sole source procurements, meaning other contractors were not able to bid on them.

The two MPs want the auditor-general to determine if there are mechanisms in place to prevent the funnelling of public funds to firms friendly to the government and to determine if taxpayers are getting their moneys worth with the sky-rocketing spending on contractor work.

The letter also notes that spending on contractors increased 41.8 percent under the current government, running counter to a 2015 campaign promise Trudeau made to reduce the use of external consultants.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the issue in a Jan. 19 press conference when asked if he supports the oppositions request for an audit.

The Auditor-General does extraordinarily important work in Canada in reviewing and advising governments on how to do even better by serving Canadians. I welcome all the work that she will do in many, many areas to help us continue to serve Canadians as best we possibly can, he said.

In February 2020, McKinsey was awarded a $4.9 million contract to fix the public services Phoenix pay system, which has since been amended three times to bring the value to an estimated $27.7 million, according to the Globe report.

McKinsey has been involved in several controversies in its global contracts, most recently including coming under the fire of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio who accused the firm of a conflict of interest in their advising of Chinese governmental entities while also advising sensitive U.S. departments.

The firm, which advises governments worldwide, also settled for nearly $600 million last year for its role in the opioid crisis in the U.S., after being accused of playing a role in the issue through its advice to pharmaceutical companies profiting from the crisis.
Pentagon Releases First Footage of Botched Kabul Airstrike

Department of Defense officials have made public for the first time footage of an Aug. 29, 2021, airstrike that left 10 civilians dead in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Military officials initially defended the strike as having targeted a member of the ISIS terrorist group after the group was accused of having attacked the U.S.-held Kabul airport with suicide bombers, killing 13 American troops and more than 100 Afghan nationals.

However, they later said a review found the target, aid worker Ezmarai Ahmadi, wasnt involved with the group.

The footage was captured by drones hovering over Ahmadis home before launching the strike.

The footage includes the aftermath of the explosion, which destroyed a vehicle in the homes driveway.

U.S. Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, apologized for the botched strike last year, saying it was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport.

Boys inspect wreckage from a drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 18, 2021. (Hoshang Hashimi/AFP via Getty Images)

A relative of Ezmarai Ahmadi stands next to a vehicle that was damaged on Aug. 29 in a U.S. drone strike that killed Ahmadi, seven children, and two other adults in the Kwaja Burga neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 18, 2021. (Hoshang Hashimi /AFP via Getty Images)

Officials told Congress that they learned within hours that innocent people had been killed, contradicting earlier statements that said there were no indications of civilian casualties.

U.S. officials later offered to pay and relocate relatives of those killed, all of whom were identified as being related to Ahmadi. Officials also declined to discipline anyone over the strike, a review of which found no war crimes.

Under the direction of President Joe Biden, the U.S. military exited Afghanistan following a 20-year war, completing the withdrawal in August of 2021.

The tumultuous operation concluded with hundreds of U.S. citizens and green card holders still in the country and the Taliban terrorist group in control after they routed U.S.-backed Afghan forces.
A Brahmos missile on display at the inaugural ceremony of the international DefExpo 2008 defence fair, in New Delhi on Feb. 16, 2008. (RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Philippines Purchase of Indias Supersonic Missile Breaks Psychological Barriers, Expert Says

NEW DELHIIn its first-ever major military export, India is set to supply supersonic cruise missiles valued at over $350 million to the Philippines.

The move is likely to help the two countries overcome Cold War-era psychological barriers due to their respective affinities to the United States and the Soviet Union, according to Richard Heydarian, associate professor at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

In a lot of ways, this is about breaking psychological barriers. I think for a long time, the Philippines and India, two of the oldest democracies in the world, very similar countries on so many levels, for some reason were mutually estranged  with India closer to Russia and the Philippines closer to the United States, Heydarian told The Epoch Times.

Philippines decision to import the Indian Brahmos missile, a shore-based anti-ship missile, was announced on January 14. Delfin Lorenzana, Secretary of National Defence of the Philippines, said that the Philippine Marines will be the primary user of the new weapons system. India will train the operators and maintainers and provide logistics support, Lorenzana said.

Heydarian said that in the past decade the two countries have moved closer to each otherboth have strong and populist national leaders who shared a lot of rapport during their meeting in New Delhi in 2018. He was referring to the meeting between Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit.

A year earlier, Modi had visited Manila and a year later, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind visited the Philippines to commemorate 70 years of bilateral relations between the two countries.

That may have also facilitated this bourgeoning defense cooperation between the U.S. treaty ally, one of the key claimants in the South China Sea on one hand and, of course, India, the other major rising power of Asia, on the other, said Heydarian.

Pathikrit Payne, a New Delhi-based research consultant on geopolitical affairs, with a specialization in the management of defense technology, told The Epoch Times that the strategic imperatives may further help in strengthening relations between India and the Philippines.

Defence sales itself help in building a different level of trust. It may, later on, grow in other spheres of business, said Payne.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) shakes hands with President of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte ahead of a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-INDIA Commemorative Summit in New Delhi on January 24, 2018.(Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images)

New Equations in South East Asia

Dr. Satoru Nagao, a non-resident fellow at the Washington D.C.-based Hudson Institute, told The Epoch Times that, until today, Indias military imports to southeast Asian countries have been in the form of training, maintenance, and logistics support for the Russian imports, or training for the militaries at large.

For example, in Malaysia, India has trained pilots and ground crews of Russian-made MIG-29 and SU-30 fighter jets. In Indonesia, maintenance of SU-30 fighter jets is implemented by India. In the case of Vietnam, India trained pilots and ground crew of SU-30 and MIG-21 fighter jets and crews of Russian-made Kilo-class submarines, said Nagao, adding that India has leased its training fields to Singaporeans that use American weaponry.

When Thailand bought an aircraft carrier, India trained their crew in the 1990s. These software supports are the main contribution of India in South East Asia, said Nagao.

The Philippines and Singapore traditionally depend upon the United States for weapons, while Vietnam depends upon Russia. Indonesia and Malaysia are importing weapons from both the United States and Russia, while Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia rely on China. Laos is dependent on Vietnam, but the Chinese influence is developing, he said.

That is why Southeast Asia could be an arena for U.S.-China competition. ASEAN is a group of 10 independent countries. China is exerting pressure from the land side of the ASEAN while the U.S. is keeping the sea side of the ASEAN. Vietnam is located between the land side and the sea side. India is not in southeast Asia but India is on the U.S. side. India is also quite independent. India is a great power, said Nagao. By great power Nagao meant an influencer in the region.

As the Cold War equations change, Indias strategic role is evolving in the region because, though the U.S. weapons are high quality, they are expensive for the Southeast Asia nations.

(The) Russian weapon is not expensive but it demands a high cost of maintenance. Thats why Southeast Asian countries ask India for maintenance and training of Russian weapons with cheap cost, said Nagao.

For a long time, the Philippines military power was limited and its defense imports were limited to the United States. But because of increasing threats from China, the current Philippine government has started to diversify its weapons acquisition and is now importing weapons from India, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.

Its just not only that the Philippines has territorial disputes with China, similar to India. Theres also the element of the Philippines actually being a very NATO American weaponry-equipped country. And we know that Brahmos was a joint venture with Russia. So I think this definitely paves the way for the Philippines to have a much more diversified pool of suppliers, including Russian great weaponry and Indian weaponry, which use a lot of Russian inputs and technology, said Heydarian.

Filipinos march as they mark Independence Day with a protest against continued Chinese intrusions in Philippine waters, outside the Chinese Embassy in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines, on June 12, 2021. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Indian Defense Exports

Heydarian described it as a big win for India, one of the worlds largest arms importers. With a share of 9.5 percent of the total global arms imports, India emerged as the second-largest importer of arms between 2016-2020 and the country has been increasingly trying to change this by promoting indigenous defense manufacturing and exports.

Payne said India is trying to create a niche for itself in the global defense industry. The Indian Ministry of Defense came out with a notification on December 27 declaring a ban on the import of 2,851 items because they have been indigenized and said that the country will save over $402 million annually.

Payne said that India would target those countries for defense exports that traditionally dont buy strategic weapon systems from China.

Of course, the larger objective is to wean many of these countries away from China, and thus a certain level of competition cant be ruled out, he said.

Heydarian said that India can now credibly claim to become an emerging exporter, especially to other frontline states in Asia and the Indo-Pacific, which is also growing fast economically.

We are looking also at Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Singapore and other countries are also acquiring advanced weaponry from India in the future. So I think this is definitely a kind of turning point for Indias defense industry, said Heydarian.

A Brahmos supersonic cruise missile is on display at the International Maritime Defense Show in Saint Petersburg on June 28, 2017. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

Anti-Access and Area Denial

Nagao said the importance of the Brahmos acquisition by the Philippines lies in the anti-access, area denial (A2AD) capabilities with which the missile system equips the Philippines.

China is trying to use the South China Sea as a route; Philippines effort to stop Chinas access to the South China Sea is anti-access. China is also trying to deny the Philippines access to the South China Sea and the Philippines effort to maintain their access is area-denial, he said. To fight the strong Chinese naval power, the weaker Philippines need A2AD capabilities by possessing missiles, he added.

This is asymmetric defense. Symmetrical defense is naval ship versus naval ship. Asymmetrical defense is naval ship versus missile. Now to deal with China, the Philippines are seeking A2AD by using asymmetric defense by Brahmos missile, said Nagao.

Heydarian said that the Brahmos will help the Philippines to develop minimum deterrence capability. No country in the region is in a position to match the Chinese head-to-head and they need to use A2AD against China, the way China is using A2AD to overcome its quantitative and qualitative disadvantage with the United States.

Smaller countries, from South Korea to Vietnam, and the Philippines are also trying to mix and match different sorts of cutting-edge technology in order to develop their own asymmetric A2AD defense deterrence capability against China. So, definitely thats where the Brahmos comes into the picture, said Heydarian.

Nagao said affordable Indian missiles could build the long-range strike capabilities of countries surrounding China and help to strengthen the quadrilateral alliance between India, the United States, Japan, and Australia in the region.
Read Why MoffettNathanson Slashed Walt Disney Price Target by 6 Percent

MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson lowered the price target on Walt Disney Co. to $165 from $175 and reiterated a Neutral rating on the shares. The price target implies an upside of 8 percent.

Nathansons FY22 free cash flow estimate of $1.9 billion after the Shanghai adjustment is a significant decrease of over 60 percent from his prior estimate of $5.1 billion following his annual Disney 10-K review and taking into account management commentary.

He has also lowered his out-year free cash flow projections to account for higher working capital drags from elevated programming spending.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek has an opportunity to set the company on a new path. Still, the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt the new CEO a very difficult hand, and Disneys significant strategic alternatives are rather limited at this point, Nathanson added.

By Anusuya Lahiri

 2021 The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
People gather for a special service of prayer and reflection at St. James Church in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 19, 2014. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Australian Religious Bill Sparks More Debate

The Australian Christian Lobby has stated that they will withdraw their support for the Religious Discrimination Bill if a clause allowing religious schools to discriminate against same-sex attracted and gender-diverse students is withdrawn.

The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee is hearing from religious groups, legal experts, and education representatives on Thursday as part of an inquiry into the proposed religious discrimination bill.

When questioned by the Greens Senator Janet Rice, the lobbys deputy director Dan Flynn said that removing section 38.3 of the Sex Discrimination Act was not something that should be sorted out in a five-minute corridor meeting.

Flynns comments refer to allegations that several moderate Liberal MPs would support the religious discrimination bill should the Sex Discrimination Act be amended to withdraw that clause.

Section 38.3 of the Sex Discrimination Act currently does not deem discrimination of a persons sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship or pregnancy to be unlawful if it is made in good faith and done so at an education institution in accordance with the teachings of the religion.

Flynn stated that no gay students would be disadvantaged if it was passed, but Greens senator Janet Rice disputed the comment saying that this was because the schools already had the ability to discriminate.

You would prefer to retain section 38(3) which allows schools to discriminate against to fire teachers to expel students on the basis of their sexuality and gender identity. You would prefer to keep that, and so if you had to choose, youd prefer to keep that rather than see this bill, she argued.

However, Flynn said that was not the case.

They are quite different matters. This bill actually gives people additional rights. It doesnt take away any rights that currently exist, Flynn said.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Law Alliances John Steenhof tabled several case studies of discrimination against faith-based including a Christian teacher who was fired immediately in New South Wales due to a conscientious objection to using names and pronouns for a transgendered student.

The teacher offered to teach another class or to seek other employment but was dismissed right away.

Rice denounced Steenhofs argument stating that the right to misgender a child could put transgender and non-binary childrens life at risk.

Are you aware of the level of mental distress, suicidal ideation, actual suicide of transgender and gender-diverse students who are not affirmed in their gender in their schools? she asked.

Steenhof argued that the case was not around the misgender of students but rather a balance between the deep, conscientious views of teachers and the rights of students.

In this situation, that balance was not struck well, because of an initial and immediate animosity towards the conscience of the teacher.

He claimed that Rice was attempting to make the debate highly emotive and added that he was happy to trade stories of the deeply emotional stories of people of faith whove been treated horribly and faced deep hostility.

I want to talk about real cases and focus on the aspects of religious discrimination, that this bill addresses, not issues about gender and other protected attributes that other laws have protected for a long, long time, Steenhof said.

The religious discrimination bill is designed to protect those expressing religious beliefs provided that it is made in good faith and is not done maliciously or in ways that vilify, threaten or intimidate others.

Religious schools and organisations could also preference hiring people of the same faith but this would not be extended to hospitals, aged care, as well as places that provide or primarily provide accommodation.
People attend an open meeting called by civic committees to protest against the election results in La Paz, Bolivia, on Oct. 27, 2019. (JORGE BERNAL/AFP via Getty Images)

How Bolivians Defeated Socialist Governments Vaccine Mandates

SANTA CRUZ, BoliviaOn Jan. 19, the administration of socialist President Luis Arce canceled the requirement of proof of vaccination against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus to enter any public establishment or place of commerce.

The announcement was made by Minister of Health Jeyson Auza.

Movement for Socialism (MAS) party officials announced the original supreme decrees 4640 and 4641 on Dec. 28, 2021, which triggered nationwide protests and legal backlash in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba, El Alto, and Sucre.

Indigenous people [in Bolivia] have always been distrustful of Western medical initiatives, attorney Alejandro Gutierrez told The Epoch Times.

Gutierrez said people who opposed the vaccine mandates were citing article 44 of the nations constitution, which protects against scientific or medical experimentation without consent, as grounds for the dismissal of the decrees.

On Jan. 17, protesters established road blockades leading from the city of El Alto into the capital La Paz. Rudy Callisaya, head of the rural magisterium in La Paz, said the roadblocks would stay in place in 20 provinces in La Paz Department until the government agreed to dismiss the vaccine decrees. The roads that Callisaya pledged to impede with other protesters are a vital part of the supply chain allowing food and essential goods to arrive in La Paz.

The city draws the majority of its goods from the vast Bolivian countryside.

Solidarity protests held against the decrees in Cochabamba on Jan. 18 were met with an aggressive police response. Opposition to the vaccine mandates led to the establishment of road blockades at key points along Petrolera Avenue and other areas in the southern part of the city. Police arrived in the afternoon and removed the blocks while firing tear gas at the unarmed dissenters.

Later that evening, the demonstrators returned in larger numbers and rebuilt the road barriers.

On Jan. 19, after 48 hours of an intense stand-off with civilians opposed to the mandates, the government agreed to cancel the orders requiring proof of vaccination. Auza said the government made the decision in order to preserve the safety of the population against certain groups who dont accept vaccination.

He also said the purpose of the mandates had already fulfilled its objective, with more than 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines being distributed since the beginning of a significant case spike that began in December 2021 and peaked on Jan. 10.

The virus has killed 20,291 people in Bolivia since January 2020, and the nation has administered more than 11 million doses of preventive vaccines.

More than 43 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, which is low compared to neighboring countries such as Chile and Peru. They boast immunization rates of 88 percent and 69 percent respectively.

National Director of Epidemiology at the Bolivian Ministry of Health Freddy Armijo announced the detection of the new Omicron coronavirus variant in La Paz on Jan. 7.
In this photo provided by Ukrainian National Guard Press Office Canadas Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, right, greets Ukrainian soldiers during her visit to the National Guard base close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. (The Canadian Press/AP-Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP)

Russia Faces Severe Sanctions If It Moves Further Into Ukraine, Says Canadas Joly

OTTAWAForeign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada will join allies in imposing severe sanctions on Russian officials if the country takes further military action to compromise Ukrainian sovereignty.

Russia has positioned about 100,000 troops across Ukraines borders along with tanks and other heavy artillery, stoking fears across Europe of an invasion, but Russia has denied it intends to do that.

The recently launched diplomatic process offers Russia two options: they can choose meaningful dialogue, or severe consequences, Joly said in Brussels on Thursday where she was meeting with her European Union counterpart Josep Borrell.

We of course, appreciate the EUs collaboration on many deterrence measures, including economic ones. Canada will be ready to take additional measures, particularly with respect to the financial sector.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine but that he will pay a dear price for that.

Joly and Borrell were pressed about whether they agreed Bidens remark that a minor incursion by Russia would lead to a lesser response. Biden attempted to clarify the comment, saying he was referring to non-military action such as a cyberattack and that if Russia launched a military attack that changes everything.

Borrell dismissed Bidens phrasing as nothing new and said allies would respond in a way that would be very costly for Russia.

If there is any kind of aggression against Ukraine  the warning of President Biden goes exactly the same direction in which we have been working, said Borrell. A threat is a threat.

Joly referenced Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and its fomenting of Russian separatist forces in Ukraines eastern region, when she replied: Let me be clear, first, Russia is already in Ukraine. Were talking about a real threat of a further invasion of Ukraine. So, in that sense, like my colleague just mentioned, a threat is a threat.

Joly is to meet later Thursday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, as she is wrapping her three-country tour that has included stops in Ukraine and France.

Joly had nothing new to say about whether Canada would answer the requests of Ukraine to supply weapons and military hardware. She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is looking at a range of options that are based on the information she is gathering this week.

Jolys trip is unfolding against a backdrop of other high-level meetings across Europe this week.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Berlin on Thursday for meetings with German, France and British officials, a group known as the Trans-Atlantic Quad that is playing a leading role in defusing the crisis.

Blinken has been invited to a meeting of the EUs foreign affairs council early next week, said a EU spokesman.

By Mike Blanchfield
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov gestures during a press conference following talks with US counterpart on soaring tensions over Ukraine, in Geneva, on Jan. 10, 2022. (Eloi Rouyer/AFP via Getty Images)

Ryabkov: Russia Will Not Attack, Invade Ukraine

Russias deputy foreign minister on Monday reaffirmed that Moscow has no intention of invading Ukraine, but said receiving Western security guarantees is the categoric imperative for Moscow.

Sergei Ryabkov, who led the Russian delegation at the security talks with the U.S. in Geneva last week, claimed there was no risk of a large-scale war in Europe, rebuffing accusations of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ryabkov spoke during a panel meeting at the Valdai discussion club in Moscow.

The talks in Geneva and a related NATO-Russia meeting in Brussels last week were held as Russia has amassed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine in what the West fears might herald an invasion.

In a move that further beefs up forces near Ukraine, Russia has moved an unspecified number of troops from the countrys far east to its ally Belarus for major war games this month. Belarus shares a border with Ukraine.

Amid the soaring tensions, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine on Wednesday to reassure it of Western support in the face of what he called relentless Russian aggression.

Russia has denied that it intends to attack its neighbor but demanded guarantees from the West that NATO will not expand to Ukraine or other former Soviet nations or place its troops and weapons there.

It also has urged NATO to roll back the deployments of its troops and weapons to Central and Eastern European nations that have joined the alliance after the end of the Cold War.

Washington and its allies firmly rejected Moscows demands but kept the door open to possible further talks on arms control and confidence-building measures intended to reduce the potential for hostilities.

Ryabkov emphasized that Russia wants legally binding guarantees from the West that NATO will not expand to Ukraine or other former Soviet nations or place its troops and weapons there.

The Russian diplomat underlined that Ukraines increasingly close ties with NATO allies pose a major security challenge to Russia.

We see the threat of Ukraine becoming ever more integrated in NATO without even acquiring a formal status of a NATO member state, Ryabkov said, pointing at Western powers supplying Ukraine with weapons, training its troops, and conducting joint drills.

This is something that goes right to the center of Russias national security interests and we will do our utmost to reverse this situation, to rebalance this situation through diplomatic means, he said.

Ryabkov suggested that the US could also take a unilateral obligation to never vote for NATO membership for Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations.

Russia has urged the US and NATO to provide a quick written response, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday it expects to receive it within days.
A miniature horse and a Great Dane, who share more than just their home on a small farm in Texas, have become the firmest of friends. The unlikely pair, who are almost the same size and have matching marks, are so similar that people cant tell them apart.

Great Dane puppy Skye, 1, and 12-year-old American miniature horse Hot Fudge Sundae are owned by Ilonka Margis and her husband, who stay on a couple of acres of land in the central Texas countryside with many animal residents.

Others would probably consider it a small backyard farm; to us, theyre family members, Ilonka, 40, told The Epoch Times.

Ilonka chronicles her daily life on the farm on Instagram, where Skye and Fudge are often the stars of the show.

However, when Skye first arriveda perfectly timed replacement for the familys beloved first Great Dane, Taz, who died at almost age 11 in May 2020her nerves got the better of her.

Skye was the tiniest little runt of the litter, Ilonka recalled. She was only a fraction of the size of her siblings and didnt have the greatest chance at survival. But she thrived and moved in with us in December of 2020 when she was 9 weeks young.

Initially, when Skye was first introduced to the horses and cats, she was quite scared.

If I held her while walking towards one of the horses, she would just turn her head and try to hide her face in my jacket, Ilonka said.

Yet, Skye warmed up to the horses quickly, and with Fudge in particular, probably because a young, silly puppy and a goofy gelding are a great mix, said Ilonka.

Over the course of time, Skye and Fudges friendship has evolved. According to Ilonka, the pair love to hang out and hug each other. As geldings love to play, Fudge, too, enjoys playing with Skye just like he would play with any other horse.

Skye is also Fudges shadow, walking alongside the horse in his riding arena or trotting beside him when he is in the miniature cart. They both also keep up with each other better than with Ilonka.

Witnessing their unique friendship, Ilonka said: People think theyre adorable, and so do I.

Ive seen firsthand in our home how different speciesdespite being scared or even terrified at firstcan become friends, from chickens to cats, dogs, and horses, she added.

Ilonka grew up on a family farm in a small town in southwestern Germany. She learned to ride as she learned to walk, and cant imagine a life without animals.

Once a business owner making cakes and cupcake bouquets, Ilonkas time was soon consumed by the demands of the farm in Texas. Unable to dedicate her time to the creative cakes, the artist now, instead, sells her designs, from decals to T-shirts, mugs, and sewing patterns that she works on in the mornings before feeding time.

The inhabitants of the farm are many.

Ilonka keeps two riding horses, as both she and her daughter like to ride. Her American miniatures Fudge and Hexewho was rescued as a starving 10-month-old and nursed back to healthare driving horses that perform in-hand jumping and dressage.

Spot a Rocket is Ilonkas American paint horse, now a happy retiree due to a genetic disease. Meanwhile, Gallagher, a Friesian, whom Ilonka describes as her heart horse, is always jealous when she spends time with other horses.

Fudge on the other hand was a surprise addition in 2017. With her husband and son out of town, Ilonka drove five hours north to bring him home, where Hexe became his mentor. My husband was surprised upon returning from his trip that the hot fudge sundae I told him I had gotten for myself was, in fact, not the dessert kind! she joked.

Fudge, according to Ilonka, has grown to be a little troublemaker and barn clown who enjoys doing all things funny, such as breaking through barriers, getting himself stuck in thorny bushes, and even getting mad and flipping his mane when he gets his breakfast late.

Chickens, a barn cat named Karlsson, an indoor cat named Ishani, and two dogsHershey, an almost-13-year-old cocker spaniel, and Skyemake the farm complete.

Owning these animals is a lifestyle, and not always as fun as it looks on social media, Ilonka reflected. Im up at the crack of dawn, theres no sleeping in or spontaneous vacations, feeding and taking care of them daily is a must, regardless of freezing temperatures  or 110-degree Fahrenheit heat.

Describing her daily challenges at the farm, Ilonka further added: Theres always something that needs to be fixed or one who requires special attention or has a medical need or emergency. The work seems to never end. Luckily, my husband and I have learned to build and make just about anything ourselves  were a great team.

Despite dealing with all the difficulties of caring for the animals, Ilonka claims she wouldnt trade her life for anything in this world.

These animals give back so much; the rewards are priceless, she said.

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
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore speaks at a news conference held outside of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in Poway, Calif., on April 27, 2019. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore Announces Early Retirement

SAN DIEGOBill Gore, who has served as San Diego County sheriff for more than a dozen years, announced on Jan. 19 that he plans to retire next month, nearly a year before the end of his fourth term in the post.

Gore, 74, who announced last summer that he would not seek re-election this year, said he will step down on Feb. 3.

The career lawman did not provide a reason for his early departure, though he did say in a prepared statement that his retirement would allow him to give his full attention and support to his wife as she has done for me during our 43 years of marriage.

A 52-year law enforcement veteran, Gore was appointed sheriff in 2009 by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and subsequently elected to the position three times. His current term ends next January.

In his statement, Gore described his time as sheriff as one of the most rewarding experiences of my law enforcement career.

I will always be grateful to the residents of this county for their continued confidence and support during my tenure, he wrote. It has also been my honor to have had the daily support from the extraordinary men and women of this department who sacrifice every day for the citizens of San Diego County.

Gore joined the agency in 2004, serving as assistant sheriff of its Law Enforcement Services Bureau before being appointed undersheriff by then-Sheriff Bill Kolender in December 2005.

Upon the midterm retirement of Kolender 13 years ago, county supervisors unanimously appointed Gore to serve out the remainder of the four-year post. Gore was elected sheriff in 2010, and re-elected in 2014 and 2018.

Prior to joining the sheriffs department, Gore spent 32 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he rose to the level of assistant director and served as special agent in charge of its San Diego and Seattle field divisions.

Following his retirement from the federal agency, he worked for a year as chief investigator and special advisor to newly elected San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

It was not immediately clear who will take over the regional law enforcement agency following Gores early departure. On Wednesday afternoon, Nathan Fletcher, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, announced that he will call a special meeting of the panel in March to consider an interim-sheriff appointment.

In a prepared statement, Fletcher said he would not support the nomination of anyone running for sheriff as a candidate to be the interim holder of the post.

The voters are poised to make a very consequential decision on who they want to be our next sheriff, and it would be inappropriate for us to put our thumb on the scale this close to the election by appointing a person who is a candidate for sheriff, Fletcher said.

Officially seeking the post so far in the run-up to the election are Undersheriff Kelly Martinez, former sheriffs Cmdr. David Myers, Assistant City Attorney John Hemerling, and sheriffs Deputy Kenneth Newsom.
SEALs Had Medical Rights Stripped for Requesting Vaccine Religious Exemptions, Says Lawyer

U.S. Navy service members had their medical rights stripped for requesting religious exemptions from taking the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a lawyer at First Liberty Institute.

In a recent interview with EpochTVs Crossroads program, Mike Berry, general counsel for the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit law firm, said that several of his clients were refused medical care because of their vaccination status.

Berry represents a number of U.S. military service members, a lot of them being Navy SEALs. First Liberty Institute challenged the Navys handling of religious exemptions and religious accommodation requests.

His legal work at the nonprofit helped secure a preliminary injunction in early January that stopped the Defense Department from taking any action against a group of Navy SEALs who have religious objections to the vaccine mandate.

We presented lots of evidence to the court of various things that the Navy is doing to, not just our clients, but really to sailors and other members  far beyond just those that First Liberty represents. But we presented evidence such as denying, or at least attempting to deny  the ability and opportunity for some of our clients, who I mean, these are combat veterans, explained Berry.

These are men who have served our country nobly and honorably, and theyve suffered physical injuries, and in some cases, traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress. There are clinics that are available for service members to help get them treatment for traumatic brain injury.

Berry claimed that in some cases, the Navy sought to prevent his clients from traveling to such clinics, even at his clients own expense, simply because they were not vaccinated, or more specifically, because they have a religious objection to the vaccine. The Navy has told them, You are not allowed to seek treatment for your traumatic brain injury.

And [in] other instances, theyve told them that neither they nor their family members who are private citizens (the Navy has no control or authority over private citizens, as we all know, but nevertheless), the Navy said neither you nor your family members and your dependents are allowed to travel for official or unofficial reasons, because youre not vaccinated.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Pentagon and the Navy for comment.

Berrys remarks came as the Marine Corps on Jan. 13 became the first U.S. military branch to grant religious exemptions to the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate, nearly two months after the vaccination deadline for active-duty Marines.

The Marines approved two requests for religious accommodation from the mandate, the branch said in a statement last Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the mandate in August 2021, but every branch had resisted granting religious accommodations, sparking lawsuits and allegations that the military was violating federal law by discriminating against religious troop members.

The lack of approvals prompted a federal judge earlier this month to block the mandate for a group of Navy personnel, with the judge finding the record overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Navys religious accommodation process is an exercise in futility.

Berry, however, says the two religious accommodations seem very suspicious to him.

For there now to be, just completely randomly out of the blue, two approved, just seems very suspicious to me, he said. So Im very curious, and I want to know more about these two approved religious accommodations.

What were the circumstances of them, what was the nature of the religious accommodation request, and what were their religious beliefs? Why were these two approved when the thousands and thousands of others were denied? he asked. I think that those are important questions that the American public deserves to know.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

Isabel van Brugen Reporter Follow Isabel van Brugen is an award-winning journalist and currently a news reporter at The Epoch Times. She holds a master's in newspaper journalism from City, University of London.
William Wragg, chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, speaks during a committee meeting in the House of Commons, London, on Jan. 20, 2022. (Parliament TV/PA)

Senior Conservative Critic of Boris Johnson Accuses Prime Minister of Blackmailing Dissenters

Conservative MPs who want Boris Johnson to resign as prime minister are facing intimidation and blackmail from ministers, a senior Tory MP has alleged.

William Wragg, a Conservative MP who has called on Johnson to quit, said a number of his colleagues have faced pressures and intimidation from members of the government because of their declared or assumed desire for a vote of confidence in the party leadership of the prime minister.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the Rutherford Diagnostic Centre in Taunton, Somerset, England, on Jan. 20, 2022. (Andrew Matthews-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Some MPs have been threatened that investment could be withdrawn from their constituencies, Wragg told the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, which he chairs.

He said he had also received reports that Downing Street staff and ministers have encouraged the publication of stories in the press seeking to embarrass those who they suspect of lacking confidence in the prime minister.

Wragg said: The intimidation of a member of Parliament is a serious matter. Moreover, the reports of which Im aware would seem to constitute blackmail.

He advised MPs to report these matters to himself, the speaker of the House of Commons, and the Metropolitan Police.

But Boris Johnson insisted he had seen no evidence to support the claim.

Talking to broadcasters on a visit to a medical facility in Taunton, the prime minister said, Ive seen no evidence to support any of those allegations.

What I am focused on is what were doing to deal with the number one priority of the British people, which is coming through COVID, he said.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of Commons, said it would be a contempt of Parliament to obstruct MPs in doing their duties.

While the whipping system is long-established, it is of course a contempt to obstruct members in the discharge of their duty or to attempt to intimidate a member in their parliamentary conduct by threats, he told MPs.

The main opposition Labour Party said the grave and shocking accusations of bullying, blackmail, and misuse of public money must be investigated thoroughly.

The idea that areas of our country will be starved of funding because their MPs dont fall into line to prop up this failing prime minister is disgusting, said deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused Boris Johnson of acting like a mafia boss and said the police must investigate.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Sinaloa Cartel Operatives Sentenced to Prison in Southern District of California

A major drug trafficker and money launderer for the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel was sentenced to 188 months in prison for supervising the smuggling of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin from Mexico into the United States. through Southern California and smuggling drug proceeds back to Mexico.

His prison term follows the sentencing of at least 27 others involved in a transnational drug trafficking and money laundering scheme and after a local law enforcement effort last year resulted in the biggest drug bust in southern California history.

The Department of Justice reports that Roberto Gallegos-Lechuga, 39, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit international money laundering in July 2021. With the help of Mexican authorities, he was arrested and extradited from Mexico to the United States in March 2020.

Gallegos-Lechuga coordinated the smuggling of large quantities of illegal narcotics through ports of entry in Southern California, according to court documents.

He also supervised and managed couriers who smuggled hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash at a time, from the illegal sale of drugs, from the United States to Mexico as part of the cartels ongoing efforts to promote drug trafficking, the DOJ states in a news release.

Those who manage drug trafficking and money laundering efforts for the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world, will continue to face justice in this district, U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California said in a statement. Stopping the flow of funds to drug cartels and of deadly drugs into the United States continues to be a priority for us and our law enforcement partners.

Gallegos-Lechugas sentencing is the culmination of years of work conducted by Homeland Security investigators and their partners targeting the Sinaloa Cartel. The investigation highlights HSIs dedication to going after both cartel drug trafficking and money laundering activity, Homeland Security Investigations-San Diego Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz said. The sentencing sends a resounding message to Transnational Criminal Organizations that HSI and our partners are unyielding in our pursuit of justice.

Seven other defendants had previously pleaded guilty in the case. They include Omar Ayon-Diaz, Osvaldo Contreras-Arriaga, Cesar Hernandez-Martinez, Gibran Rodriguez-Mejia, Oscar Rodriguez-Guevara, Bianca Acedo Ojeda, and Joel Acedo Ojeda. Another 20 people acting as drug and money couriers and drug stash house operators also entered guilty pleas and were sentenced in related cases, the DOJ reports.

The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the oldest and more established drug trafficking organizations in Mexico, according to the DEA. Though its birthplace and stronghold is the Mexican State of Sinaloa, the Sinaloa Cartel controls drug trafficking activity in various regions in Mexico, particularly along the Pacific Coast. Illicit drugs distributed by the Sinaloa Cartel are primarily smuggled into the United States through crossing points located along Mexicos border with California, Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas.

The cartel has taken operational control of the border from California to El Paso, Texas. Several factions are warring for control of the cartel in some Mexican states and near El Paso after its former leader, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States in July 2019.

The cartels network has reached far into Californias high desert and throughout other areas of the country, capitalizing on a network made possible through illegal immigration.

Last June, officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Office, DEA, and others, landed the largest illegal drug bust in the countys historyin Antelope Valley, roughly 300 miles north of the southern border. Officials found and destroyed 70 to 80 houses filled with illegal marijuana in the open desert allegedly being run by cartels and operated by illegal immigrants. Law enforcement officers leveled the operation with bulldozers, estimating in one location alone they found $50 million worth of product.

They ultimately confiscated $1.2 billion in illegally grown marijuana, arrested 131 people, rescued 180 animals, and seized numerous firearms.

LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who spearheaded the operation, told Fox News at the time that illegal pot grows have gunmen who threaten neighboring residents, they divert water away from local farmers, and are hubs for criminal activity.

By Bethany Blankley
South Carolina, North Carolina Declare State of Emergencies Ahead of Second Expected Storm

South Carolina and North Carolina on Wednesday evening each declared a State of Emergency, as a second severe winter storm is expected to hit the states, potentially bringing high winds, ice, and snow.

In an executive order issued at around 6 p.m., South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said a state of emergency for South Carolina is effective immediately, and will remain in effect for 15 days.

Its the second state of emergency issued by the governor in recent days. McMaster on Jan. 14 issued a state of emergency as Storm Izzy approached. That declaration allowed state agencies to better coordinate resources, and also waived or suspended certain transportation regulations to allow for emergency preparations and response operations.

South Carolina is expected to experience winter storm weather again this week, the governor said on Twitter.

State forecasters expect South Carolina will be hit with a mixture of snow and ice beginning late Friday, with a potential period of icing from freezing rain in the eastern and central Midlands, News 19 reported.

The National Weather Service (NWS) on Wednesday morning issued a Winter Storm Watch for the South Carolina Midlands, which remains in effect from late Thursday night through to Saturday morning.

It states that heavy mixed precipitation is possible, with total snowfall of up to one inch and ice accumulations of one tenth to two tenths of an inch. The wintry weather conditions are likely to lead to slippery and hazardous road conditions, NWS said.

Some power outages and tree damage will likely occur with these potential ice amounts, NWS said.

This is the typical southern winter weather event, National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Gropp told The State on Wednesday. Its hard to predict, but there will be a mixed bag of (precipitation) that includes rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Coopers state of emergency declaration warned of risk to residents lives and property from the predicted storm.

The NWS said Wednesday that a winter storm is expected to hit central parts of state from Thursday evening through Saturday morning. Light snow and/or sleet may result in localized slick roads on Thursday night, while black ice is possible area-wide Thursday night and early Friday morning as cold air pours into central North Carolina, it said.

It comes after the states were severely impacted by winter storm Izzy last weekend. The storm swept through parts of the southeast, bringing chilling temperatures, inches of snow and ice and gusty winds.

Vehicles navigate hazardous driving conditions along Interstate 85/40 as a winter storm moves through the area in Mebane, N.C., on Jan. 16, 2022. (Gerry Broome/AP Photo)

Storm Izzy left more than 130,000 people without power in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky, by Sunday night, according to poweroutage.us.

Several parts of North Carolina saw up to 10 inches of snowfall, Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, told The Associated Press. Two people were killed in a car crash in the state amid the severe winter conditions.

McMasters executive order states that, according to preliminary weather forecasts, the expected storm threatens to cause significant damage to public and private property and disrupt essential utility and other critical systems throughout the state.

The governor on Twitter urged those in potentially impacted areas to immediately begin safety preparations.

Please check your local forecasts and stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary once the storm begins, he said.
Southwest Airlines Sued for Ejecting Woman Who Removed Mask to Drink Water

A 68-year-old woman has sued Southwest Airlines Co., claiming that the airline ejected her from a flight for removing her mask to drink water.

The lawsuit concerns an incident which occurred in January 2021 on a Southwest flight due to depart from Reagan National Airport in Virginia to Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. Plaintiff Medora Claiborne Reading claims that her civil rights as a medically disabled person were infringed by the airline, which removed her from the flight prior to takeoff.

The complaint describes how the plaintiff informed the Southwest employee from whom she purchased the ticket that she was in need of special accommodation due to a heart condition, hypoglycemia, claustrophobia, and a tendency for fainting; all of which can impede her breathing. Reading was told that the airline could accommodate her disability.

When Reading approached a Southwest employee at the gate of her flight to explain her medical conditions, she was allegedly told by a gate supervisor that Southwest does not care about her disability and that no special accommodation would be made on her behalf.

After Reading was seated, she requested water from a Southwest flight attendant and offered to show her medical exemption card, when she was again allegedly told we dont care. The attendant did provide a bottle of water, but the suit claims that Reading was persistently harassed whenever she removed her mask to drink water, even as she experienced difficulty breathing and emotional distress.

The complaint goes on to describe how, after several attempts to hydrate herself, Reading was told by the gate supervisor that she was being removed from the flight. In her account of the incident, Reading was laughed at by an unmasked pilot as she was leaving the plane. Once she had reached the inside of the airport, Reading was allegedly asked to sign a document attesting that she was removed from the flight for being noncompliant, which she refused.

Within the airport, Reading was assisted by Metro Police, who she claims remarked that such incidents were happening far too often, adding it is usually Southwest. After nearly collapsing, Reading was offered water and escorted to a chair where she could remove her mask, at which point she said blood gushed out from her nose. Reading was ultimately able to make arrangements to return home to Florida through Jet Blue.

The suit includes five causes of action, with two against Southwest Airlines, one against the flight attendants and gate attendant involved in the incident, and two against all of the above mentioned defendants. Altogether, the plaintiff is seeking $10 million in restitution for the alleged violations.

Southwest said that while it wouldnt comment specifically on Readings case, its travel policy aligns with the February 2021 federal mask mandate for air travel. The airline had also implemented its own mask mandate for its flights in May 2020.

A spokesperson added, We communicate the requirement directly with traveling passengers multiple times ahead of their departure, and we share in onboard announcements that these coverings may be briefly lowered for a sip of a beverage or to take a bite of a snack.

Airlines have maintained some of the most severe mask enforcement policies of any industry, despite HEPA filtration systems on commercial jets making for extraordinarily high air quality in flight cabins. Last December, during a Congressional hearing featuring leaders of the airline industry, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly expressed skepticism about the necessity of wearing masks on flights.

99.97 percent of airborne pathogens are captured by these [sic] HEPA filtering system, which is turned over every three minutes, Kelly said during the hearing. I think the case is very strong that masks dont add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. Its very safe, very high quality compared to any other indoor setting.

Nevertheless, the mask mandates have persisted stubbornly in flight cabins, now backed by a federal mandate, with no clear indication from major airlines if or when the rules will be repealed. Much ink has been spilled over the subject of unruly passengers on flights who refuse to cooperate with mask rules, but less attention has been given to the onerousness of such rules, especially for individuals with medical disabilities.
Substitute Teachers in Critical Short Supply Across America

Significant impact expected on education

Substitute teachers are in critically short supply, and Americas schoolchildren may be short-changed because of it.

Burbio, a service that tracks school websites, reported numerous school closings across Texas last week due to staff absences and substitute shortages. Many other states are experiencing similar problems.

A 2021 national survey of 1,200 school district administrators and principals conducted by Frontline Education found that 67 percent experienced a shortage of substitute teachers.

A nationwide survey taken in November 2020 by the Education Week Research Center found that of the 913 public school administrators, principals, and teachers questioned, one-third said they couldnt find a substitute to cover half of teacher absences.

Twenty-one percent said they could fill less than 25 percent of teacher absences.

Eighty percent of the surveys respondents reported leaving some classes uncovered.

Since the start of the current academic year, many Michigan schools have been forced to close for the day due to staff shortages. (Wokandapix/Pixabay)

So that no classroom is ever unattended, the general practice has been to ask other teachers to give up their planning and preparation hour to cover for absent colleagues. Principals and vice principals are often also called upon to fill in.

The Frontline Education survey found Michigan among the hardest-hit states.

Since the start of the current academic year, many Michigan schools have been forced to close for the day due to staff shortages.

As a temporary fix, the Republican-controlled state legislature recently passed a bill that allows any school employee with a high school diplomaincluding school secretaries, paraprofessionals, library aides, janitors, bus drivers, and cafeteria workersto fill in for absent teachers.

The law, which applies only to previously vetted school employees, was approved on a near party-line vote. It will sunset at the end of the current school year.

Normally to substitute teach in Michigan, a person must pass a criminal background check, be fingerprinted, and have at least 60 hours of college credits, which is the equivalent of an associates degree.

In a Dec. 23, 2021, letter notifying the legislature that she had signed the bill into law, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, wrote: Everything we have learned from the last year and a half demonstrates that our kids need to be in school, in person, every day. As a temporary stopgap, HB 4294 will help meet that goal during these incredibly challenging times.

Some opponents of the new law worry that allowing less qualified support staff to substitute teach will further undermine the quality of education in a system already challenged by too few in-person school days during the pandemic.

Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky wrote on Twitter: I had a number of constituents reach out to me opposing this bill.  Educators are highly trained professionals and Im deeply disappointed this bill is now law.

Paula Herbart, president of the Michigan Education Association, the states largest teachers union, said in a Jan. 12 statement, Stopgap measureslike allowing support staff to be substitute teachersare not the answer.

Herbart said her union opposed the recent legislation because it doesnt put students or school employees in a position to succeed.

According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, Missouri and Iowa have also passed laws lowering education requirements for substitute teachers.
Then-President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing the White House to Joint Base Andrews en route to San Diego, Calif., on March 13, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Supreme Court Reject Trumps Request to Withhold Documents From Jan. 6 Committee

The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday rejected former President Donald Trumps request to block documents and records from his administration to the Jan. 6 House Committee.

The ruling comes after Trump last month asked the Supreme Court to block the documents release, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected his argument of executive privilege, but granted his request to temporarily halt the National Archives from releasing the documents, pending judicial review.

Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trumps claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the courts decision, the court wrote in the 81 ruling (pdf).

Justice Clarence Thomas would have granted Trumps request. He did not expand on the reasons for his dissent.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that while he sided with the majority, he disagreed with a portion of the lower appeals courts decision.

The Court of Appeals suggested that a former President may not successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, at least if the current President does not support the privilege claim. As this Courts order today makes clear, those portions of the Court of Appeals opinion were dicta and should not be considered binding precedent going forward, he wrote.

Moreover, I respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeals on that point. A former President must be able to successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, even if the current President does not support the privilege claim. Concluding otherwise would eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications. otherwise would eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications.

The House panel, which had been criticized for its partisanship, will now begin receiving the records they requested, such as call logs and emails, among other documents, that they say may uncover key details surrounding the events in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

The two Republicans who voted in support of the committee, Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), were the only Republicans appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to the committee.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at CPAC at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on July 11, 2021. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Texas AG Ken Paxton Tests Positive for COVID-19: Office

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tested positive for COVID-19, according to his office on Wednesday.

He remains working diligently for the people of Texas from home, Paxtons communications office told the Texas Tribune.

Paxtons vaccination status is unclear, and his office did not address questions over the matter, reported the Tribune.

It is unclear where or when Paxton may have contracted the virus. Paxton has not made any announcements about his positive COVID-19 test on his official website or Twitter accounts.

Paxton, who is seeking reelection, has been opposed to vaccine mandates and other COVID-9 related restrictions. He previously filed lawsuits against the Biden administrations vaccine mandates for private businesses, health care workers, and federal contractors, and also against the San Antonio Independent School District over its vaccine mandate for staff.

Other Texas officials who previously tested positive for COVID-19 include Gov. Greg Abbott, who tested positive in August 2021, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who tested positive between Christmas and New Years Day 2021.
A copy of the U.S. Constitution is seen in Washington on Dec. 17, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images)

The Attack on Our Constitutional Republic Cannot Go on Forever

Commentary

I keep a few books close at hand as much for their titles as for their contents.

Ralph Buchsbaums zoological classic Animals Without Backbones is one such volume.

I always put it on my desk when writing about academic administrators, in order to remind myself what species of creature Im confronting.

An even more useful volume is Walter Pitkins 1932 classic A Short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity. At 574 pages, its short only in relation to its gargantuan subject, for which its the barest precis.

By the early 1960s, Detroit was the most prosperous city in the United States, which, at that moment, also meant that it was the most prosperous city in the world.

Then came the Democrats.

Within a generation, they destroyed the city.

It was the scene of violent race riots.

The whites moved out, leaving the city a shell of its former self.

For many years, it was essentially in receivership, sustained only by massive federal subsidies.

What the Democrats did in Detroit they now want to do to the rest of the country.

About the first thing that Eric Adams did upon assuming the mayoralty of New Yorkafter hiring his brother Bernard to be deputy commissioner of the New York Police Departmentwas to sign a bill that would allow the states 800,000 legal non-citizens to vote in New York municipal elections.

Thats probably about 20 percent of the total eligible voters, now locked in for the Democrats.

How is that likely to work out?

The Democrats seem keen to find out, because thats exactly what their so-called voting rights legislation was supposed to achieve (though they wouldnt have been sticklers about distinguishing between legal and illegal).

I say so-called because, of course, it had nothing to do with voting rights and everything to do with the abrogation of voting rights for the sake of partisan manipulation of the vote.

Fortunately, that truly stupid idea has been pushed off the table, for now.

Indeed, President Joe Bidens entire legislative agenda is in tatters.

You might think that would be grounds for celebration, but, in fact, its grounds for concern and anxiety.

Of course, it would have been horrible had Biden gotten his way.

But Biden stymied is like a rat cornered.

Thats why he has taken to shouting during his talks and press conferences.

Hes been thwarted, and he cant understand why. So he gets angry and lashes out.

Its a bad sign, as even people in his party are acknowledging.

The observation that madness consists in repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result has been attributed to authors as various as Albert Einstein and G.K. Chesterton.

Maybe they both said it.

In any event, here we go again. Just the other day, a respected Democratic pollster took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to tout Hillary Clinton as a possible presidential candidate in 2024.

That wasnt so much an effort to reclaim retreads as a bout of necrophilia.

Yet, what else can the Democrats do?

Biden just declared war on half the country, castigating anyone who disagree with him as a bigot and a racist.

The New York Times did the same thing a couple of weeks ago when the papers editorial board issued an extraordinary manifesto vilifying the millions of regular citizens who happen not to agree with their left-wing agenda.

Theres only one acceptable position to entertain on the character and competence of Donald Trump: Hes horrible and must be ritually shamed and rejected.

Theres only one acceptable position on the hordes of immigrants pouring across our southern border: They must be embraced and signed up as Democratic voters and future welfare recipients.

Theres only one acceptable position on the election of 2020: It was the fairest in our history.

Similarly, the protest at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was the worst incident since 9/11, since Pearl Harbor, since the Civil War.

If you disagree, youre a conspiracy theorist and domestic terrorist whos out to subvert our democracy.

All this is what Democrats call diversity, i.e., strict conformity on any contentious subject.

They dont want democracy, which requires debate, compromise, and genuine bipartisanship.

Rather, they want obedience and conformity.

That is what they mean by our democracythe shoring up of their oligarchy.

It would be comic were it not promulgated in earnest and with earnest, real-world consequences.

The United States is now governed by a shadowy administrative state apparat whose figurehead is about as stable as the character portrayed by Tommy Smothers.

The economist Herb Stein famously observed that what cannot go on forever, wont.

The attack on our constitutional republic assuredly cannot go on forever.

Eventually, if unchecked, those striving to transform the United States into a third-world hellhole will succeed.

I used to think that those fomenting this disaster would discern where their policies were headed and recoil. I underestimated their willingness to barter national security and widespread prosperity for personal aggrandizement and the exercise of their own power.

That was naive, I now see.

But that doesnt mean that Stein was wrong.

Theres a marvelous line in Giuseppe di Lampedusas The Leopard, in which one character suddenly becomes serious and says, If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.

I sense that many people are waking up to that truth.

The question is, are we too late?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Joker: A Premonition

Commentary

It was two years and a few months agoonly a few months before lockdownsthat I dragged myself to see Joker, a movie I dreaded but ended up respecting.

Its a movie about one mans descent into madness, said the ticket taker. Nothing else.

Why was the ticket seller pre-reviewing this movie for me? The line seemed overly rehearsed, a cautionary note to viewers as a way to prevent what has concerned people, namely that the movies fictional mayhem would generate real-world copycats. This was the great worry at the time.

Still, his mini-review did give me some reassurance. The previews alone were too creepy. Life is tough enough without movies introducing more sadness, which is precisely why I like to stick with uplifting fare. Still, I marshaled my way through this one.

There is a superficial way in which the man was correct. This was just about one guy. Even after leaving, I kept telling myself that. And yet after it was over, I experienced precisely what so many others reported at the time. The movie imparts an aura that you cant shake. You take it home with you. You sleep with it. You wake up in the morning and see that damned face again. You think through scenes. Then, you remember things. Then more starts to make sensenot moral sense but narrative sense.

It was also tremendously unpleasant viewing, the most difficult two-plus hours of movie watching I can remember. It was also brilliant and gripping in every frame. The score is perfect. And the acting didnt seem like acting.

As for the just one man interpretation, thats hard to sustain. The street scenes. The subways packed with people wearing clown masks, headed to the protest. The rich, established businessman running for mayor and the protests that engenders. The strange way in which this unsettling and violent figure becomes a folk hero on the streets. There was surely a larger point here.

Yes, I had seen the usual tug-of-war on Twitter about what it meant. Its pro-Antifa! Its a conservative warning against extremist politics! Its a right-wing smear against the leftward drift of the Democrats! Its a left-wing apologia for the rise of the workers against the elites, so of course, eggs need to be broken!

The trouble is that none of those narratives explained the various twists and turns, and the unease and ambiguity that the film created within the viewer.

It took me a full day to come up with an alternative theory. The thesis probably pertains to all renderings of the Joker in print or film but this one is particularly prescient because its sole focus is on the one character, with the most elaborate backstory yet given.

The trouble begins with personal life failures. While this man is troubled, you sometimes think that perhaps he isnt so far gone as to be irredeemable. He might function well. He can get through this, just like everyone else deals with their own demons. Joaquin Phoenix does a great job of slipping in and out of crazy. He seems to behave fine around his mother, and his brief girlfriend. He has interactions that arent totally wrecked by his eccentricity.

Yet there are life circumstances that keep driving him more and more to the point that he loses love for life as it is. He gives up hope and fully embraces despair as a way of thinking and living. And then he does evil and discovers something that empowers him: His conscience doesnt provide a corrective. On the contrary, the evil he does makes him feel empowered and valued.

To review: His life wasnt working; he found something that worked for him finally. Then he embraced it.

What is that thing he embraced? It has a particular name in the history of ideas: Destructionism. Its not just a penchant; its an ideology, an ideology that purports to give shape to history and meaning to life. That ideology says that the sole purpose of action in ones life should be to tear down what others have created, including the liberties and lives of others.

This ideology becomes necessary because doing good seems practically impossible, because one still needs to make some difference in the world to feel that your life has some direction, and because doing evil is easy. The ideology of destructionism enables a person to rationalize that evil is at least somehow preparing the ground for some better state of society in the future.

What is that better state? It could be anything. Maybe its a world in which everyone owns everything equally. Maybe it is a world without happiness or a world with universal happiness. Maybe its a world without faith. Maybe its national production with no international trade. Its a dictatorshipsociety conforming to One Will. Its the absence of patriarchy, a world without fossil fuels, an economy without private property and technology, production without the division of labor. A society of perfect morality. The ascendance of one religion. A germ-free world!

Whatever it is, its illiberal and therefore unworkable and unachievable, so the advocate must eventually find solace not in creating but in destroying the existing order.

The first time I read of the concept was in Ludwig von Misess 1922 book Socialism. He brings it up toward the end after having proven that classical socialism itself is conceptually impossible. If there is nothing positive to do, no real plan to achieve anything socially beneficial; because the whole idea is cockamamie to begin with, the proponents must either abandon the theory or find satisfaction in the demolition of society as it currently exists.

Destructionism becomes a psychology of wreckage imparted by an ideology that is a failure by the necessity of theory and practice. The Joker failed at life and so sets out to destroy it for others. So, too, are those consumed by an ideological vision to which the world stubbornly refuses to conform.

This is why any left/right interpretation of Joker is too limited.

The movie came out only a few months before virus lockdowns. Was it a premonition? Probably in some way. In those days, we were gorged by media and politics with insane visions of how society should work. It shouldnt surprise us when these visionaries ultimately turn to anger, then dehumanization of opponents, and then plot plans for tearing down what exists just for the heck of it.

That what is could be world trade, energy consumption, diversity, human choice generally, the freedom of association, the chaos of enterprise, the existence of the rich, a degenerate race, the frustration of one man with his absence of effective power. Hardly anyone imagined what would become the ideological basis of destructionism: pathogenic control.

Destructionism is stage two of any unachievable vision of what society should be like against a reality that refuses to conform. Destructionism also proves to be strangely compelling to populist movements that are anxious to externalize their enemies (the infected, the unvaccinated) and smite the forces that stand in the way of their reassertion of power.

Finally, such people discover satisfaction in destructionas an end in itselfbecause it makes them feel alive and gives their life meaning.

The Joker, then, isnt just one man, not just a crazy person, but the instantiation of the insane and morbid dangers associated with persistent personal failure backed by a conviction that when there is a fundamental conflict between a vision and reality, it can only be solved by the creation of chaos and suffering. As unpleasant as it is, Joker is the movie we needed to see to understand and prepare for the horrors that this unchecked mentality can and did unleash on the world.

The idea of lockdowns was literally unthinkable until it was suddenly mainstreamed in late February 2020. Only a few weeks later, it became a reality. We were told that it was all to stop a virus. It completely failed on the front but it achieved something else. Lockdowns and now mandates have empowered a ruling elite to try out a new theory of how life can work. The failure of their efforts is everywhere in evidence.

Do they now stop? Or find new ways to destroy that create more chaos, more distractions, more instability, more randomness, more experiments with the unthinkable?

The Joker did create copycats.

From the Brownstone Institute

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
NEW YORKOffering what should hopefully become a holiday staple, the Irish Repertory Theatre presents a revival of its 2011 musical The Streets of New York.  The piece harkens back to the days of the melodrama with its absorbing take on social status and how far the human spirit can be tested. Adapted and directed by Charlotte Moore, the musical is based on an 1853 play by Dion Boucicault.

The story begins in 1837 when sea captain Patrick Fairweather (Daniel J. Maldonado) entrusts his fortune to Gideon Bloodgood (David Hess) the manager of a prominent New York bank. Unbeknownst to all, the institution is on the verge of ruin, thanks to Bloodgoods mismanagement. Bloodgood was actually preparing to flee the country when Fairweathers sudden death prompts him to seize the captains fortune and restore himself and the bank to solvency.

The story then jumps 20 years to the financial panic of 1857. This event has left the remainder of the Fairweather family in desperate financial straits. Patricks wife Susan (Amy Bodnar) and children Paul (Ryan Vona) and Lucy (DeLaney Westfall) are forced to take shelter with the lower-class Puffy family (Richard Henry, Polly McKie, Kerry Conte) so they can have a roof over their heads.

(LR) Ryan Vona, Polly McKie, Jordan Tyson, Ben Jacoby, and Richard Henry in The Streets of New York. (Carol Rosegg)

The Fairweathers one remaining hope is Lucys well-to-do-fiancee Mark Livingston (Ben Jacoby). However, Livingston himself has lost everything thanks to some bad business investments. Livingston is so ashamed of his ruination that he has been desperately trying to keep the news from everyone.

The Fairweathers, Puffys, and Livingstons financial future depend on the mercy of Bloodgood, as it his bank to which they all owe money. Bloodgoods rather unsavory reputation has caused him to be blackballed from polite society. This matter that does not sit well with his social-climbing, free-spending daughter Alida (Amanda Jane Cooper), the one person in this world that Bloodgood truly loves.

Alida is determined to gain upper-crust acceptance by marrying Livingstononce she persuades her father to forgive all his debts. Its an arrangement Livingston feels he must agree to, as it would allow him to help those he truly he cares about. Matters are further complicated by the sudden arrival of Brendan Badger (Justin Keyes), Bloodgoods former clerk and the only other person who knows what happened to the Fairweather fortune.

Justin Keyes (L) and David Hess in The Streets of New York. (Carol Rosegg)

The Importance of Social Position

Seamlessly combing elements of comedy and drama, The Streets of New York is a case study of the importance people place on social position. This is not only true for someone like Alida, who performs a wonderfully satirical number about being rich, but also for the Fairweathers and the Puffys. Each group is ashamed of their own circumstances, with neither feeling worthy enough to be in the same room with the other. A scene when the two families are sitting down to eat together is particularly telling, as are moments when Susan and her children are reduced to begging on the street.

(LR) Polly McKie, Richard Henry, and Jordan Tyson in The Streets of New York. (Carol Rosegg)

At the same time, this is also a story about redemption. There is the chance to regain what has been lost, to do right by those previously wronged, but also the importance of forgiving others. Tied into this is the belief that everyone has some good inside.

The overall story is quite appealing, with multiple characters to root for or hiss at. At the same time, the power of Ms. Moores score cannot be underestimated. The musical numbers range from the very mournful and gripping title tune, to ballads sung by Lucy and Mark as they demonstrate their love for each other. Theres the very rollicking duet by Bloodgood and Badger as they sing about the joys of being a villain (one of several times the show breaks the fourth wall). Whatever the style, each number has a distinct purpose, with none feeling simply dropped into the story just for the sake of adding an additional number.

Credit must also go to choreographer Barry McNabb who does a great job throughout, and in particular with the different ensemble numbers when the entire cast moves about the relatively small stage.

Standouts among the cast include Bodnar, Vona, and Westfall, all of whom bring a great emotional weight to their characters, especially when pushed to the brink of total despair with seemingly no way out. Westfall and Vona demonstrate a strong romantic chemistry in their scenes together. Conte does quite well in the comic role of Dixie. Hess is fine as the Bloodgood, striking the perfect note with a final admission of how salvation may not be possible for everyone.

The cast of The Streets of New York. (Carol Rosegg)

A powerful look at how people see themselves through the prism of social class, The Streets of New York is a heartfelt look at family, friendship, and the sacrifices one is prepared to make in the name of love.

The Streets of New York

The Irish Repertory Theatre

132 W. 22nd St.

Tickets: 212-727-2737 or IrishRep.org

Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes (1 intermission)

Closes: Jan. 30

Judd Hollander is a reviewer for stagebuzz.com and a member of the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle.
Construction workers erect scaffolding around the statue of President Theodore Roosevelt in New York in a file photograph. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Theodore Roosevelt Statue Removed From New York Museum

A statue of President Theodore Roosevelt was removed from outside of a major New York museum on Jan. 19 after officials decided that the way it was structured is racist.

The statue, created by James Earle Fraser, was placed just outside the American Museum of Natural History, located in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan, in 1940. It depicts Roosevelt astride a horse with a Native American man and an African American man on each side of him.

Officials said the composition of the statue was racist and voted in 2021 to remove it.

The Statue has long been controversial because of the hierarchical composition that places one figure on horseback and the others walking alongside, and many of us find its depictions of the Native American and African figures and their placement in the monument racist, staffers at the museum said in a memorandum requesting the statues removal, which prompted a unanimous vote by the citys Public Design Commission.

Theodore Roosevelt IV, the great-grandson of the former president and a museum trustee, supported the removal, saying that the statue doesnt reflect his relatives legacy.

Crews dismantled the statue on Jan. 20, packaging it for transportation to North Dakota.

The New York museum has agreed to a long-term loan of the statue to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is set to open in Medora, North Dakota, in 2026. Officials at that museum said they find the statue to be problematic, but will work on creating a display that would accompany it.

Museums are supposed to do hard things, Edward F. OKeefe, chief executive of the librarys foundation, said in a previous statement. It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and our job is to forthrightly examine history to understand the present and make a better future.

Statues of historical figures were targeted by protesters and rioters in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, with a number of such statues being toppled. Staffers at the New York museum said they were profoundly moved by the movement for racial justice that emerged following Floyds death.

Since then, a number of statues have been removed, including ones depicting President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

A statue of Roosevelt, the nations president from 1901 to 1909 and the governor of New York from 1899 to 1900, is still up at the center of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, which includes exhibits examining the mans life.

Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately described the location of Medora. Its in North Dakota. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Thousands of Canadian Truckers to Strike Over Vaccine Mandates, US Truckers to Join

Following the Public Health Agency of Canadas announcement that foreign truck drivers can only enter Canada if fully vaccinated starting Jan. 15, and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announcing similar requirements starting Jan. 22 for non-U.S. national truckers crossing into the United States, thousands of truckers decided to protest and will meet in Ottawa in an attempt to stop the mandates.

Canadian truckers, along with concerned citizens all over the country, decided to take action and plan to drive toward the Canadian Parliament with the intention of having thousands of vehicles pulling into Parliament and parking there, according to the organizers Canada Unity & Truckers United.

A similar action took place on Jan. 17 when a convoy of truckers protested against the mandates in Emerson, Manitoba, near the U.S.-Canada border.

U.S. truckers began to organize their own resistance on Tuesday. The Epoch Times is following the story and will be reporting on the developments.

Patty Every is a business owner in Nova Scotia and the founder of Atlantic Freedom Fighters.

Through this pandemic, Ive watched our government slowly destroy our economy, mental health, and the future stability of this country, Every told The Epoch Times.

Mandates that they continue to illegally impose on the people have done far greater damage than the pandemic itself. The Canadian government continues to use phrases and words to the Canadian people through the media that incite hate toward people who have decided to utilize their right to say no to a vaccine. And as a result, hate crimes against the unvaccinated are beginning to take place. What do we do to stop this when its our leaders that are doing it? The Canadian people have had enough. At first, we were complacent. But look where complacency got us. Its time for us to stand up and protect what our country stands for: freedom. We are the true north, strong and free and the people of Canada are ready to protect that.

[A U.S. organizer] is going to create a movement called Nations Unite For Freedom where Canada and The United States join each other to help each other, Every said, unable to hold in her emotion. We hope by doing this that other nations are going to follow the lead and join each other.

Thousands and thousands of vehicles, truckers and regular vehicles will be convoying from every corner of the nation to the capital beginning on Jan. 23.

Multiple freedom organizations across Canada have come together to make a stand, she said.

Each state or provinces protestors will leave at a specific time to reach the capital on Jan. 28. According to Every, there are already at least 2,000 trucks involved that started the drive to Ottawa before the designated commencement date.

Truckers using the Pacific Highway Crossing in Surrey, B.C. south of Vancouver face a wait up to five hours because of heightened security checks at all border crossings on Sept. 12, 2001. (Canadian Press/Richard Lam)

The Epoch Times reached out to other leaders of the Canadian protestors.

Today we have one of the most important fights and responsibilities on our hands in recent history, namely, to protect our human rights, freedom of choice, freedom of voice, expression, opinion, and uncensored debate, said Martin Brodmann, vice president of Canada Unity and president of Truckers United Inc.

Conflicts are not fought in discussion or dividing actions. They are fought in unity, [and] time is running out fast. Lets not waste the few seconds we have left to make a difference, not only on behalf of our veterans but more so for the generations to come. We have to trust and let us [be] guided not only by our doings, more so, we have to trust and unite in faith regardless of what kind of beliefs anyone has.

Faith is also a freedom of choice, Brodmann added, Its not upon us to judge beliefs, and its neither in our rights to discriminate against anyone. Combined and united regardless of race, religion, culture, and gender, we need to believeand only then we will succeed. History over and over has also proven that minorities eventually fought for the right reasons. We need to stay strong, and in unity we shall confront our enemies with respect. Our memorandum of understanding (MOU) represents and demands to stop all unlawful mandates on behalf of all industries and the people of Canada, and further to bring the law back to Ottawa for the people, with the people.

Canada Unity & Truckers United organized Nationwide Freedom Convoy 2022, The Ottawa Bear-Hug event, to stop unlawful COVID mandates.

Operation Bear-Hug was initiated last year and was part of our initial convoy of December 5th 2021 to December 10th, Brodmann explained, In the meantime, Operation Bear-Hug became not only a national but also an international movement of importance to spread love, unity, and dignity throughout the world. A bear hug reflects times of uncertainty, but more so to unite and stand in unity. Canada Unity & Truckers United do not endorse or encourage any National or International border blockades at this time to ensure movement of goods in an already disrupted supply chain driven by trade wars.

The Freedom Convoy 2022 West commences in Vancouver on Jan. 23, heading east to Ottawa, Ontario. The Newfoundland Freedom Convoy 2022 joins Nova Scotia Freedom Convoy 2022 on Jan. 27, heading west to join in Ottawa to initiate not only Operation Bear-Hug on a national level, but more so to stand in solidarity with our neighboring freedom lovers from the USA, [who] also will join us in Ottawa, Brodmann added.

Pat King from Alberta is currently an occupational health and safety professional. He was a dispatch supervisor for five years and drove trucks for 15 years.

We cant go on living like this any longer. And as a father, I need to do my part to protect my childrens future and the future generations to come, King said.

Ryan Mihilewicz, a trucker of 25 years from Saskatchewan, said: Our veterans fought hard for our freedoms and all those freedoms are being taken. Its time for Canadians to return the favor. The government needs to realize they work for the people, not the other way around.

Tamara Lich, another top organizer, has worked in the oil and gas industry for 23 years.

Our rights and freedoms have been taken from us once again, after so many years of people constantly being divided by our government its time for us to take a stand and demand our laws be followed properly. The government continues to find loopholes to justify their abusive behavior and its not going to be tolerated any further, Lich said.

According to Every, there are also tons of trucks coming from Quebec.

On Jan. 11, Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced his intention to impose a new health contribution tax on the unvaccinated in the coming weeks. He didnt specify the amount to be levied but said it would be significant.

Joanie Pelchat is the top organizer for Quebec, a veteran medical software professional.

Its time to wake up. Its time to act. Its time to make a change. We are going downhill and it needs to change. This government overreach needs to end. Im doing this for my daughters future and for Canadas future, Pelchat said.

Lee Harding contributed to this report.
UK Foreign Secretary Visits Australia to Forge Stronger Ties Amid Chinese, Russian Aggression

British Foreign Secretary Lizz Truss has said that the UK and Australia would continue to show robust vigilance in defending freedom and democracy in the face of rising threats from malign aggressors.

Truss is in Australia along with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for ministerial-level talks with their counterparts, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton.

It will be the first two-on-two AUKMIN talks hosted in Australia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

The two nations are aiming to forge stronger economic, security, and technological ties in a bid to correct the reliance on China and Russia for trade and resources, which Truss described as a strategic vulnerability.

Britains Secretary of State of International Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss is seen outside Downing Street in London on March 17, 2020. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

The AUKUS partnership between the UK, Australia, and the United States is a clear demonstration of how we will defend our values, protect trade routes, and increase stability across the Indo-Pacific, Truss said in a statement. In Australia, I will be strengthening our economic, diplomatic and security tiesmaking our country safer and more competitivein order to win the battle for ideas as part of our network of liberty.

Truss told NewsCorps The Australian ahead of the meetings that Australia was an absolutely crucial part of the AUKUS alliance and that the country has led the way in promoting freedom and democracy.

The AUKMIN talks will focus on strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and explore how the allies can work together to maintain the current rules-based world order amid the Chinese regimes increasing belligerence.

Australia and the UK share an interest in maintaining the international rules-based order underpinning stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and globally, Payne said in a statement.

Australias Foreign Minister Marise Payne speaks during the 2+2 meeting with Australias Defence Minister Peter Dutton, South Koreas Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and South Koreas Defence Minister Suh Wook at the Foreign Ministry in Seol, South Korea, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Jung Yeon-Je  Pool/Getty Images)

The international environment is becoming more complex and challenging. AUKMIN 2022 will consider ways to strengthen our partnership in order to meet new and emerging threats and seize the many opportunities that this era presents.

Truss noted that the increased activity of economic coercion by China has been seen in Lithuania and Australia.

We are seeing a world in which countries are using economic pressure, they are using security pressure, and they are using technology to try to undermine freedom and democracy, she said.

Truss also warned against economic dependence on China and noted that developing countries have been lured into debt-trap investment programs like the Belt and Road Initiative.

The UK delegation also highlighted Russias growing aggression toward Ukraine, with Truss noting the increasing number of Russian tanks along the border while accusing the government of conducting destabilising cyber attacks.

In this type of job, you can become reactive to events, she said. But youve got to ask, why are we in this situation with Russia? It is because there hasnt been enough done for 20 years so [Russian President] Vladimir Putin feels emboldened. You have to do the proactive stuff as well. You have to make time for itthats my view.

Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace leaves 10 Downing Street in London, on Feb. 13, 2020. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Australia and Britain shared one of the oldest and strongest defence and security alliances, according to Wallace.

Operating and exercising side by side, we continue to work together to promote stability, and tackle our shared threats with our like-minded ally head on, he said.

Dutton said he looked forward to discussing these issues with his counterparts.
Undated file photo showing a group of people adrift in a dinghy before being rescued off the coast of Folkestone, Kent, England. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

UK High Court Rules Against Home Offices Age-Assessment Process of Young Illegal Immigrants

Two young people have won a High Court challenge on Wednesday against the UKs Home Secretary Priti Patel over the way their ages were assessed upon their illegal entry in England.

The pair, whose names were not disclosed, said they were minors at the times of their arrivals, but they were quickly judged by social workers to be adults at a holding facility in Dover, Kent.

The two youth males said the assessments were short and the way their ages were gauged was unfair.

Ruling on the case, Mr. Justice Henshaw said the assessments were not lawful in particular respects.

A charity boss welcomed the court decision, while the Home Office is disappointed by the judgment.

One of the claimants, from Kuwait, said he was born in June 2004 when he arrived in Kent on a lorry in December 2020. Its unclear which European countries he passed through before arriving in England.

His age was judged to be 20 after a 42-minute assessment.

According to The Guardian, the youth belongs to the Bidoon groupa stateless Arab minority in Kuwait.

A profile published by Minority Rights Group International and quoted in the Home Offices policy on the group (pdf) said the Kuwaiti government categorizes Bidoons as illegal residents, despite the fact that many have no real connections to any country other than Kuwait.

The other claimant, an Iranian national, who tried to travel to the UK in a rubber dinghy this month, said he was born in May 2003 after he was rescued at sea.

He was judged to be 21 after an assessment lasting an hour.

Responding to the judgment, Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Councila charity involved in the casesaid the charity is relieved that the practice of hasty decisions is no longer allowed to continue.

Distinguishing between adults and children is not something that can be done quickly; it takes time and expertise to make the right decision, he added.

Solomon hit out at the age-assessing process, saying its with neither safeguards nor oversight, and relying on little more than luck to ensure that someone identifies them as being wrongly deemed adult and helps them access the care they are entitled to.

The Home Office said the department is disappointed by the courts decision.

The government is committed to protecting children and the vulnerable but we cannot allow asylum-seeking adults claim to be children, a spokesperson said, adding it presents a serious safeguarding risk.

Our Nationality and Borders Bill seeks to improve the challenging age assessment process and will widen the evidence base for social workers to consider when making assessments and lead to better-informed decisions, the statement reads.

The disputed age-assessing process and the use of social workers in the process has ended before Wednesdays ruling, when the Home Office updated its guidance (pdf) on Jan. 14 in response to another court ruling in July 2021.

In 2021, around 28,400 people have entered the UK by the clandestine crossing of the English Channel, triple the number for 2020.

By Nov. 18, a total of five small boat arrivals had been sent back to Europe during 2021.

PA contributed to this report.
British Conservative Party MPs Nusrat Ghani (C), Sir Iain Duncan Smith (R), and UK director of the World Uyghur Congress UK Director Rahima Mahmut at a demonstration call on the British Parliament to vote to recognise alleged persecution of China's Muslim minority Uyghur people as genocide and crimes against humanity in London on April 22, 2021. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

UK Lawmakers Unanimously Urge Government to Assess Genocide Risk in Xinjiang, Sanction Officials

UK ministers have been urged to stop abdicating their legal and moral duties and act after a tribunal found evidence beyond reasonable doubt of torture, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Chinas Xinjiang region.

In a renewed effort to pressure the government to recognise the genocide, the UK Parliament unanimously passed a motion on Jan. 20 calling for an urgent assessment and sanctions against the perpetrators.

In April 2021, Parliament declared that Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang were subjected to crimes against humanity and genocide.

But the government declined to make an official recognition, citing the long-standing position of successive British governments that only a competent court can make determinations on genocide.

The new motion, introduced by Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani, comes after an independent peoples tribunal in London found beyond reasonable doubt that the Peoples Republic of China had committed torture, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Xinjiang.

The Uyghur Tribunal, which delivered the judgment on Dec. 9, 2021, is chaired by Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, one of the most distinguished international human rights lawyers who led the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic, former President of Serbia, at the United Nations (U.N.) International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

In its summary judgment (pdf), the Tribunal said it would have been more appropriate for governments or international organisations to make findings of genocide, but the responsibility fell to the Tribunal because governments have no courage to do such things; neither does the U.N. where a powerful state is involved.

Members of the panel take their seats for the first day of hearings at the Uyghur Tribunal, a panel of UK-based lawyers and rights experts investigating alleged abuses against Uyghurs in China, in London on June 4, 2021. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Leading the debate in Parliament, Ghani said the debate was about those abdicating their legal and moral duties.

This government has a legal and moral duty to respond to the Uyghur Tribunals verdict and the evidence put before it, it must stop shirking this duty by using expensive government lawyers to weasel out of acting. To do so is truly reprehensible, the MP argued.

Ghani said the duty to act had long been triggered, adding: There is no plausible reason why the government can ignore the conclusions of the Tribunal. To do so is to quibble on a point of dubious legality, to ignore evidence, and to ignore the moral and legal duty to act.

MPs from across the political spectrum joined the debate, urging the government to take action. The MPs also mentioned the Chinese regimes suppression against Christians and Falun Gong and aggression against India, Taiwan, and in the South China Sea.

By backing Ghanis motion, the House of Commons notes Uyghur Tribunals judgment and calls on the government to urgently assess whether it considers there to be a serious risk of genocide in the Uyghur region and present its findings to Parliament within two months.

The government was also urged to use all means reasonably available to ensure the cessation of ongoing genocide, including conducting due diligence to ensure it is not assisting, aiding, abetting, or otherwise allowing the continuation of genocide.

The motion further pressures the government to fulfill its other obligations under the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of genocide, black-list UK firms selling slave-made products in the UK, put in place import controls to prevent products of forced labour from entering UK value chains, and sanction the perpetrators of this genocide, including Xinjiangs former Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo.

Chen was sanctioned by the United States as the Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang. According to a report from Xinhua News Agency, the mouthpiece of the Chinese authority, the Politburo member was replaced from his post in Xinjiang.

Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang region, China, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Amanda Milling, Foreign Offices Asia minister, welcomed the contribution of the Uighur Tribunal in building an international awareness and understanding of the human rights violations in Xinjiang.

She said the findings of the Tribunal are harrowing, and that research funded by the UK government had uncovered more and deeply disturbing details.

The minister insisted the UK longstanding policy of successive British governments is that any determination of genocide is a matter for a competent court, which she said is consistent with the UKs legal obligations under the Genocide Convention and does not undermine our commitment to prevent and punish genocide.

But she said the policy has not and will not prevent the government [from] taking robust action on human rights violations in Xinjiang through a broad spectrum of channels and international partnerships.

We will continue to work with our partners, including the Uighur people, to hold China to account for its appalling actions in Xinjiang, Milling said.

The minister said that she had, along with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, all raised the very, very serious situation in Xinjiang with our counterparts.

In March, the UK imposed asset freezes and travel bans on senior Chinese actors responsible for enforcing Chinas repressive policies.

Regarding further sanctions, Milling said the government does not speculate about future sanctions but does keep all evidence under close review.

She added that measures the government had taken will help to ensure that no British organisation profits from or contributes to human rights violations against Uighur people, and currently doesnt have plans to introduce a blacklist of companies, but its committed to tackling the issue of Uyghur forced labor in UK supply chains and is looking to take robust action.

Several Western governments, including the United States and the Netherlands, have said that the Chinese regime is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. More than 1 million Uyghurs are currently being detained in internment camps, where theyre known to be subject to abuses such as forced sterilization, forced abortion, rape, torture, forced labor, and the removal of children from their families.

The Chinese regime has denied abuses in Xinjiang and has claimed that the camps are vocational training centers.

Frank Fang and PA contributed to this report.
Ships are shown offshore at the port of Long Beach as supply chain problem continue from Long Beach, Calif., on Nov. 22, 2021. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

US Allocates $14 Billion to Expand Ports, Shore Up Waterways

WASHINGTONThe Biden administration on Wednesday said it will fund $14 billion in projects to improve the countrys ports and waterways in an effort to increase climate resilience, improve drinking water sources, and bolster the U.S. supply chain.

The funds, for fiscal year 2022, target more than 500 projects in 52 states and territories, including Floridas Everglades and the Port of Long Beach in California, the White House said in a statement.

These key projects will strengthen the nations supply chain, provide significant new economic opportunities nationwide, and bolster our defenses against climate change, it said.

The allocation stems from President Joe Bidens infrastructure plan, passed into law last year with bipartisan support from Congress and one of the Democrats key domestic agenda items.

Among the projects spearheaded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is $1.1 billion to preserve the Everglades in South Florida, which provides drinking water for more than 8 million people in the state, the administration said.

The Corps will also direct $1.7 billion to reduce inland flood risk via 15 projects and $645 million to reduce coastal flood risk through another 15 projects across the country including in coastal Louisiana; Norfolk, Virginia; and Stockton, California.

Forty percent of the funding will be directed to climate and clean energy projects for disadvantaged communities, the administration added.

By Susan Heavey
Cartons of eggs are displayed on a shelf at the Marina Supermarket in San Francisco, on July 17, 2015. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

US Finds More Avian Flu Cases in Wild Birds, Identifies Strain

CHICAGOThe U.S. Department of Agriculture reported two more cases of highly pathogenic avian flu in wild birds on Tuesday, raising risks for potential infections in poultry.

The USDA on Friday reported the nations first case of a Eurasian H5 type of the virus since 2016 and on Tuesday said all three cases are the H5N1 strain. That strain has caused a wave of outbreaks of bird flu in poultry across Europe and Asia.

H5N1 is one of the few bird flu strains that has passed to humans, though U.S. officials said there was a low risk to people from the case confirmed on Friday.

The infections are disappointing because it is rare for a Eurasian strain to make its way to North America, said Carol Cardona, a professor of avian health at the University of Minnesota.

Avian influenza viruses tend to stay in their hemisphere, she said.

The latest U.S. cases were in Colleton County in South Carolina, where Fridays infection was found in a wild duck, and in Hyde County in North Carolina, the USDA said.

Wild birds can transmit avian flu to each other or to poultry through direct contact and through their feathers or feces.

These findings are not unexpected, as wild birds can be infected with HPAI and show no signs of illness, the USDA said. They can carry the disease to new areas when migrating.

The USDA advised poultry producers to review safety measures to assure the health of their flocks and said people should wear gloves when dealing with wild birds.

Cardona said poultry producers need to make sure the virus cannot enter their barns.

Poultry producers are going to be busy this spring, she said. They have to check the doors and windows every day, twice a day, 10 times a day.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday that Spain reported an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu on a farm north of Madrid.

By Tom Polansek
The globe and anchor at the entrance to Camp Lejeune, N.C., on March 19, 2013.(Allen Breed/AP Photo)

US Marine, 19, Charged in North Carolina Crash That Killed 2 Servicemen

A 19-year-old U.S. Marine has been charged over a fatal crash that killed two service members and wounded 17 others when a vehicle overturned near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, officials said.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol identified the driver as Louis Barrera of Springfield, Tennessee. He has been charged with one count of exceeding a safe speed and two counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety told Fox News.

The fatal crash occurred at the intersection of U.S. 17 and Highway 210 in Jacksonville around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the state highway patrol said in a statement.

Seventeen passengers were ejected from the seven-ton military vehicle after the driver attempted to make a right turn at the intersection, it said.

A second military vehicle being operated behind the initial vehicle was unable to come to a stop and struck one of the ejected passengers, the statement added.

According to a statement from the 2nd Marine Logistics Group, all servicemen involved in the crash were in active duty and were based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. They were with its II Marine Expeditionary Force, the statement said.

Two U.S. Marines were killed at the scene, the highway patrol said, noting that 17 were hospitalized, including two who were airlifted in critical condition to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

The other 15 servicemen are in stable condition at the Navy hospital at Camp Lejeune.

The victims of the crash havent been identified.

I send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the U.S. Marines who lost their lives in a tragic accident today in Onslow County, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday.

He added: We are so proud of our military heroes at Camp Lejeune and across North Carolina. Our prayers go out to them.

An investigation into the crash is underway, the highway patrol said. It said the driver appeared to be driving too fast to make the turn at the intersection.

The vehicle was a medium tactical vehicle replacement, often referred to as a seven ton. The military vehicle is used primarily for troop and equipment transportation purposes.

The 2nd Marine Logistics Group said it will continue to support local authorities in the aftermath of this accident.

Our unit is grateful to all first responders that provided aid to our service members, its statement said. The cause of the rollover is under investigation.
Demonstrators use candles to spell out SOS in solidarity with protests in Cuba outside the White House in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)

US Organizations Ship Nearly 7 Tons of Powdered Milk to Cuba

SANTA CRUZ, BoliviaAs part of a humanitarian relief effort for Cubas long struggling population the organizations Code Pink, Peoples Forum, and Puentes de Amor (Bridges of Love), coordinated a shipment of almost seven tons of powdered milk on Jan. 15 amid ongoing critical food and medical supply shortages.

The grassroots mobilization is the second delivery of goods organized by the NGO groups since November 2021, when eight tons of canned tuna and pasta were sent to Havana via charter flight from Miami.

Cuba is heavily reliant on imports with between 70 and 80 percent of its daily food requirements brought into the country, according to the World Food Programme.

Scarcity of essential items was the impetus behind the anti-government protests that erupted across the beleaguered island nation last July, resulting in more than 1,000 arrests of peaceful demonstrators by the communist regimes security forces.

Powdered milk is near the top of the critical shortages list in Cuba as it is an important source of nutrients for pregnant women and children.

In the midst of a pandemic, political considerations must give way to human considerations, Carlos Lazo said.

Lazo is the founder of the United States based, Cuban run activist group Puentes de Amor.

The group not only coordinates critical supply shipments to Cuba, it also petitions the U.S. government to intervene on behalf of the Cuban people.

[President Joe] Biden has done nothing to improve the conditions [of the Cuban people]. Thats why Im sad to come here with milk because it shouldnt be like that, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said.

On Dec. 16, 2021, House Rules Committee Chair James P. McGovern (D-Ma), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks (D-NY), House Appropriations subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations Chair Barbara Lee (D-Ca), and House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy Chair Bobby Rush (D-Ill), led 114 members of the US Congress in composing a letter to Biden requesting he prioritize the well-being of Cuban people as their nation endures its worst economic and humanitarian crisis since the 1990s.

While humanitarian aid to Cuba is technically permitted within the guidelines of the U.S. embargo, government officials highlighted that licensing requirements, end-use verifications, banking sector restrictions, and an overall fear of accidentally breaching U.S. regulations severely complicates the process.

In the letter to Biden officials added that protecting human rights in Cuba is better served by principled engagement rather than unilateral isolation, which they claimed is a failed policy.

Last October Cubas internal trade minister Betsy Diaz Velazquez blamed the supply shortages squarely on the U.S. trade embargo.

However, Velazquezs proclamation that the U.S . blockade prevents us from buying in the U.S. market runs contrary to the fact that the United States doesnt prevent the sale or transport of food and medicine to Cuba.

Additionally, the governments of Russia, Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, all spearheaded efforts to send essential items to the struggling island population ranging from food and medicine, to gasoline.

Venezuelas recent shipment of 197,000 barrels of gasoline and hundreds of bags of essential food items arrived in December at the Cuban ports of Mariel and Santiago.

On Jan. 19, the Cuban government announced the production and sale of limited powdered milk supplies, which will be sold in the Moneda Libremente Convertible or MLC currency, which is one of two types used in transactions within the country.

This was met with immediate criticism by the Cuban residents, few of whom have access to the MLC currency needed to buy the coveted government milk supplies.
Western Australia Explores Underground Storage Solutions For Massive Hydrogen Yield

The Western Australia (WA) government has spent $1 million on exploring the feasibility of using depleted oil and gas wells, salt caverns, and underground mines to store the vast quantities of hydrogen it plans to produce in the near future.

The state which has its eyes on becoming a hydrogen-making giant and is set to host the worlds biggest facility, the Western Green Energy Huba 50 GW (gigawatt) renewable energy hub set to cost $95 billion and be capable of producing 3.5 million tonnes of hydrogen per year.

In all, WA has around 100 GW of hydrogen-making renewable energy hubs in the pipeline over the next decadedouble the roughly 50 GW in Australias entire stable of coal, gas, and renewable power stations.

But there are few places that can store such large quantities of hydrogen in the state, an issue that has prompted the WA government to explore forms of subterranean solutions that have previously been proven useful in the storage of natural gas.

As we start producing more and more hydrogen, we need to know how we are going to safely move and store it around the state, MacTiernan said.

Western Australias hydrogen landscape. Green represents planned hydrogen hubs, red represents available land-based gas storage, white represents the Perth Basin, and purple represents salt caverns. (State of Western Australia)

Comparatively smaller projects planned, such as the 8 GW HyEnergy and 5 GW Murchison Renewable hydrogen projects, are situated on top of the Perth Basinan oil and gas-rich strip stretching alongside WAs coastline with available depleted wells.

However, the feasibility report (pdf) noted that the technology was in its infancy and that there were currently no depleted oil or gas fields used to store hydrogen.

Storing hydrogen in porous media (depleted gas and oil fields or aquifers) presents several challenges and remains largely unproven  Hydrogen is more chemically reactive which may affect the reservoir lithology, flow behaviour, and seal capacity, the report stated.

The report highlighted that salt caverns had been proven to work previously and were the most robust form of underground storage due to the sealing properties provided by the salt-laden cavern walls.

Far from the Perth Basin, the states second-largest planned facilitythe $36 billion, 26 GW Asian Renewable Energy Hubcould utilise the Canning Salt Basin approximately 200 kilometres away.

However, the giant 50 GW Western Green Energy Hub has limited nearby options, with the authors of the report suggesting surface options may be more feasible and effective.

A second report was commissioned into the potential use of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas PipelineAustralias longest gas pipeline at a length of more than 1,500 kmto support the transmission of hydrogen along the states coast.

Dampier Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline. (State of Western Australia)

The report (pdf) outlined a potential pathway of transporting hydrogen in certain sections of the pipeline by blending natural gas with hydrogen at concentrations of, at most, nine percent.

WAs hydrogen push and its Renewable Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap have been driven by the states extensive land availability coupled with ideal conditions for harnessing solar and wind.

The WA Government has committed $160 million to making sure Western Australia reaches its potential and becomes a global supplier of renewable hydrogen, MacTiernan said.

A state government spokesperson said that early works of many of the projects would begin within the next few years, with Asia becoming the target destination for most of the exports.

These projects are led by the private sector, the spokesperson told The Epoch Times. We expect large-scale renewable hydrogen exports from WA to get underway over the next three to four years.

The WA Governments Renewable Hydrogen Strategy points to Japan and South Korea as key target export markets.

The WA government has also expressed interest in using the hydrogen domestically for transport, allocating an initial $10 million allocated for its Hydrogen Fuelled Transport Program the outcome of which will be announced in mid-2022.

The federal government has placed hydrogen as a top priority in its goal to invest in low-emissions technologies, recently signing a hydrogen trade pact with Japan in a bid to ramp up production and export.

Hydrogen hubs have also been announced in most other states, including New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and the Northern Territory.
Western Australia Keeps Borders Closed Due To Vaccine Inefficacy Against Omicron Transmission

Western Australia (WA) Premier Mark McGowan has unveiled the state will remain shut off from the rest of Australia due to the inefficacy of double-dose vaccination against the Omicron variant of the CCP virus and rising cases in the eastern states.

An estimated 80,000 individuals had planned to travel to WA in the first two weeks of the reopening.

It would be irresponsible and reckless for the state government to ignore the facts and ignore the reality of the situation playing out on the east coast.

While Omicron is less severe than the Delta variant, it is significantly more transmissible, and has resulted in New South Wales and Victoria recording thousands of hospitalisations a day since the start of the year.

It will cripple our community like its doing on the east coast currently. The eastern states experience has not been our experience. West Australians are resilient  Weve had very few infections and few hospitalisations, McGowan said.

WA Premier Mark McGowan speaks to media at Dumas House in Perth, Australia on Dec. 24, 2021. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

WA had initially planned to ease interstate travel restrictions from Feb. 5 for the vaccinated after 90 percent of the states 12 and over population received two doses of a vaccine. But the reopening has now been suspended indefinitely pending further review in February.

Feb. 5 will instead see travel exemptions into WA broadened to allow returning West Australians and those seeking to attend funerals, palliative care, or on other compassionate grounds.

McGowan indicated that the review would reassess the levels of third dose vaccination amongst 16-and-overs, which currently sits at around 26 percent, and that while a specific target had not been set, the aim was to get third dose rates up above 80 percent, perhaps 90 percent.

The science shows that people with only two doses of a COVID vaccine have only a 4 percent protection against being infected by the Omicron variant, with a third dose it can provide a 64 percent protection against infection, McGowan said.

In addition, protection against severe disease is maintained at 80 to 90 percent for people with two doses, but increases to 98% for people with three doses  Third doses are our answer in the fight against the Omicron variant.

However, McGowan did not rule out the possibility of delaying the reopening once again if a similar scenario played out in the future.

What Ive learned is nothing is certain with COVID.

Criticism has also been directed at the WA government over the readiness of the public health care system which, despite two years of preparatory time, are still unprepared to handle a rise in cases.

Reports have outlined instances of a severe staff shortage crisis, exacerbated by vaccination mandates that have seen hundreds of health staff unable to work.

However, this point was disputed by WA Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson.

Our hospital system is ready  weve been preparing our system to open for the 5th of February, Robertson said.

The WA government has estimated 1,200 graduate nurses will be employed in its public health sector in 2022 and has recently spent $2 million on state, national, and international advertising campaigns to help draw in additional staff.
White House Meets Small and Mid-Sized Firms to Discuss Competition in Tech Sector

White House officials met on Wednesday with small and mid-sized companies to discuss competition issues in the tech sector, as momentum grows in the U.S. Congress to rein in large technology companies.

The meeting was attended by Bruce Reed, president Joe Bidens top tech advisor and deputy chief of staff; Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council and executives of smaller tech firms such as Sonos and Yelp Inc., the White House said.

The meeting focused on the challenges entrepreneurs, brick-and-mortar retailers, and other businesses face competing in sectors dominated by a few large platforms, the White House said in a statement.

Concerns discussed at the meeting included fees charged by large technology companies, how large tech firms operate an online marketplace for third-party sellers and also sell their own products on such platforms, and how businesses are ranked on those platforms.

Last year President Joe Biden signed an executive order to promote more competition in the U.S. economy, urging agencies to crack down on anti-competitive practices in sectors from agriculture to drugs and labor. He has since taken several steps to promote competition in the U.S. meat industry.

The meeting to discuss competition issues in the tech sector occurred ahead of a vote in the U.S. Senate on Thursday where the Senate Judiciary Committee will mark up a bipartisan bill from Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and Republican Chuck Grassley that would bar companies such as Amazon and Alphabets Google from favoring their products and services.

By Nandita Bose
A young friend of mine is in his last year of high school and asking the age-old what do I do with my life question. Most average high school seniors would be settling on their final liberal arts college choice right nowmore concerned about the climbing wall in the student center and the cafeteria entrees than the degree in sociology that theyre about to fork out tens of thousands of dollars for. But not this young man. He is almost certain that he will be going to trade school next year at the Minnesota-based Dunwoody College of Technology.

Oh, I can almost hear you say in a dejected tone. Whats his problem? Isnt he smart enough to get into real college?

Au contraire! This young man is very intelligent, polite, and capablehe could have easily chosen to attend a prestigious college. But I would contend that his trade school choice shows that hes smarter than most kids his age, for he knows which way the wind is blowing, and has decided that trade school is the best way to get his feet solidly under him while hes still in his young twenties.

So why is trade school looking like an increasingly smart idea for young men like my friend to choose over college? Several possibilities come to mind.

For starters, trade school offers various securities, the most obvious being financial. If my young friend were to graduate from Dunwoody today, he would likely start a job with an average salary of almost $54,000. That average has risen by $5,000 in the last year alone. Contrast this with the average starting salary for a Minnesota college graduate. That number stands at just over $37,000 according to ZipRecruiter.

Perhaps the reason for such a higher average salary is the increasing demand for those who labor with their hands. The Baby Boomer generation has long filled the electrician, plumber, welder, and other traditional trade jobs, but with their accelerating retirement comes a dearth of blue-collar workers. For every one person that enters the trades, five retire, Industrial Safety & Hygiene News reported in 2019. That statistic promises a lot of job security to young people just starting out.

Those who enter trade school also have a good shot at an independent life. Depending on the trade they learn, graduates may easily be able to start their own company. Being your own boss these days means avoiding such things as vaccine mandates threatened for big businesses. It also means youre less likely to be canceled in our crazed, politically correct world of white-collar jobs where diversity and inclusion seminars are standard fare and where holding a door for a woman could get you labeled a sexist.

Trade school also gives students a good foundation for life. Because it often takes less time to complete than traditional college, and because hard skills are in such demand, students who choose trade school can jump into the workforce at a young age, accumulate reasonable savings, and even choose to attend college a while down the road, when their few extra years of maturity and financial stability will help them succeed.

Lastly, theres another advantage to trade school that many prefer not to mention: its a form of higher education monopolized by males. This is unpopular because todays culture is all about gender balance. Females are disadvantaged and we must give women extra help to break through the glass ceiling, the thinking goes.

But this quest seems to have hurt males immensely. In the fall of 2021, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature-length article on the rapid decline in male college enrollment. I just feel lost, the headline ran, a listless looking young white male with lavender fingernail polish gracing the feature image. Reading between the lines, one can guess that in the politically correct quest to fixate on women and policies such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, colleges have lost men, and are only realizing it too late.

Men who see through this charade of learning recognize that at least for now, trade school is less likely to handicap them right out of the gate. And for those who might sound the sexist siren, I would suggest that such a scenario is also beneficial for women, for when men are able to succeed, then they are able to lead and provide in a family setting.

People often wonder what they can do to fight against an eroding culture. Im starting to think that sending our nations sons to trade school might be one positive thing that parents can do. Financially secure, independent, mature, and capable men like those who graduate from trade schools are the ones ready to lead their communities and settle down with families and strong families and communities will go a long way toward restoring our decaying society.

This article was originally published on Intellectual Takeout.
In this surveillance image, a suspect described as a man in his 20s appears to stuff a Les Paul guitar down his pants.(Youtube/York Regional Police)

York Police Seek Man Accused of Stealing Guitar by Putting It in His Pants

RICHMOND HILL, Ont.Police north of Toronto are searching for a man accused of stealing an $8,000 guitar by hiding it in his pantsa feat captured on surveillance video.

York Regional Police say the alleged theft happened on Dec. 20, and was reported 10 days later.

They allege a man entered a music store in Richmond Hill, Ont., put the Gibson Custom Shop 60th Anniversary 59 Les Paul standard electric guitar in his pants and left the store.

Video shared by police shows a man sitting on a stool in the store and sliding the guitar, headstock and neck first, into his pants.

In the video, he then picks up another guitar and appears to strum it.

Police say that after the man left the store, he hopped into a vehicle being driven by another suspect.

They describe the first suspect as a man in his 20s wearing extremely large, baggy pants.
Bailey, CO (80421)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early followed by periods of snow showers late. Low 32F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by periods of snow showers late. Low 32F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%.
EDWARDSVILLE  The Edwardsville Rotary Club recently presented a check for $2,620 to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Speech-Hearing-Language Center.

SLHC is a clinical learning environment for graduate students enrolled in the accredited Speech-language Pathology master's degree program at SIUE. SLHC serves individuals with speech, language, and hearing difficulties.

SLHC evaluates and treats communication disorders in children from toddlers to adolescents and non-Medicare eligible adults.

Some of the treatment services include those for aphasia, motor speech and speech sound disorders, traumatic brain injury, stuttering, language disorders, and alternative & augmentative communication (AAC). Elective services include transgender voice therapy and accent modification services.

SLHC provides twice-weekly sessions in the morning or afternoon for each semester (fall, spring, summer) with a graduate student clinician. Each session is supervised by a licensed and ASHA certified speech-language pathologist.

The semester clinic fee is tuition-based, with a payment plan option. The SLHC is a private pay clinic and does not bill insurance companies.

On behalf of the student clinicians, clinical faculty, staff, and clients of the SIUE Speech Language-Hearing Center, I want to express sincere gratitude for the Edwardsville Rotary Club's contribution to the SLHC's Development Fund for client scholarships, Clinic Coordinator Jaime Henderson said.

The generous gift of $2,620 will support two clients across two semesters. This means the organization is providing free access to 26 weeks (100 minutes/week) of speech-language therapy for two individuals with communication needs who are unable to afford services.

This gift will impact more than just clients and their families; SIUE graduate student clinicians will benefit from the clinical experience in preparation for their degree. We are grateful for this partnership with the Edwardsville Rotary Club to provide a much-needed service to our shared community.
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EDWARDSVILLE - The Clifford Law Offices of Chicago announced they e-filed a lawsuit against Amazon at the Madison County State Court during a Zoom press conference on Monday.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of Austin McEwen, a 26-year-old Edwardsville man and an independent contractor driving for an Amazon Delivery Service Partner.

Others killed in the Edwardsville tornado were Clayton Cope, 29, of Alton; Larry Virden, 46 of Collinsville; Deandre Morrow, 28, of St. Louis; Kevin Dickey, 62, of Carlyle; and Etheria Hebb, 24, of St. Louis.

McEwen died after a tornado struck an Amazon distribution center in Edwardsville on Dec. 10, collapsing the roof of the 1 million square foot building.

The complaint alleges that Amazon failed to adhere to Occupational Safety and Health Administration preparedness plans for inclement weather, could have evacuated workers but chose to have workers continue working during a peak holiday season, and failed to have a facility that contained a basement shelter.

After much deliberation, McEwen's mother, Alice McEwen, decided to file a lawsuit against the company.

"It appears that Amazon placed profits first during this holiday season instead of the safety of our son and the other five families who lost loved ones," said McEwen in a statement during the press conference.

She also spoke personally about her son.

Our son was a very loved individual. He spent a lot of time hunting and loved sports. He traveled a lot with his girlfriend of five years, McEwen said, and they intended on continuing to have fun, travel and become a family.

"It has been well-known as early as 4 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2021, that southwest Illinois was at risk of severe inclement weather. Amazon did nothing to warn these employees," said Jack Casciato, partner at Clifford Law Offices who represents the McEwen family, during the press conference.

Casciato said that Amazon should have cleared the work floor and provided an appropriate storm shelter. He used an analogy of people working in the Chicago Loop district, an area of significant skyscrapers.

"If there was a belief that the Loop could be hit by a tornado and those warnings intensified during the day, most management and employers would immediately tell people to take shelter and evacuate the area," he said. "It's very clear that there could be a profits-over-safety argument in this case. This facility could have easily shut down for the day and workers like Austin could have been directed home."

Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, provided the following statement to the Intelligencer:

This lawsuit misunderstands key facts, such as the difference between various types of severe weather and tornado alerts, as well as the condition and safety of the building. The truth is that this was a new building less than four years old, built in compliance with all applicable building codes, and the local teams were following the weather conditions closely.

"Severe weather watches are common in this part of the country and, while precautions are taken, are not cause for most businesses to close down. We believe our team did the right thing as soon as a warning was issued, and they worked to move people to safety as quickly as possible. We will defend against this lawsuit, but our focus continues to be on supporting our employees and partners, the families who lost loved ones, the surrounding community, and all those affected by the tornadoes.

The complaint is also against Edwardsville-based Contegra Construction Company and Missouri-based Tristar Properties, LLC for construction negligence, due to the possibility of the building not having the proper shelters in an area known for tornadoes.

"Records indicate that there have been 11 tornadoes in this area since the year 2000," said Casciato. "Why wouldn't this warehouse, therefore, have an appropriate storm shelter?"

The lawsuit is believed to be the first filed against Amazon related to the incident.

The McEwens made the brave decision to be pioneers here. When one lawsuit is filed, oftentimes other people will follow to seek that same level of justice, said Casciato, And unfortunately we see that only comes when filing a lawsuit as corporations very rarely will provide the answers that victims families need.
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.

Virtual Evening Flow Yoga

5:30 - 6:15 p.m. on Zoom through the Glen Carbon Library. Registration required. This Slow Flow practice will lead you through a series of yoga poses that focus on strengthening, lengthening, and stretching.

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.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

EPL Book Club

6:30 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Good books. Good company. Good talk. Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Teen Magnet Letters Take-Home Kits



Available at the Edwardsville Public Library during open hours. Registration required. Leave notes for your friends on the fridge or your locker with your own set of letter magnets. Teens who register can pick up their kids at the library from Jan. 18 - Jan. 22.

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6 - 7 p.m. through the Glen Carbon Library. This program has been changed to a virtual program for January due to Covid-19 positivity rates in the area. Log in to Zoom for a fun night of Zumba from the comfort of your own home with a Zumba Fitness instructor. Registration required.

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

Medicare Q&A with Jon Bergmann

6 - 7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library in the Youth Room. Bring your questions on how to register and what is covered when you sign up for Medicare. Please wear a mask. Requires Registration.

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.

Coloring for Grown-Ups

1 - 3 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Join them for a relaxing and fun afternoon session of coloring. The library will provide colored pencils and adult coloring books along with refreshments.

Teen Magnet Letters Take-Home Kits



Available at the Edwardsville Public Library during open hours. Registration required. Leave notes for your friends on the fridge or your locker with your own set of letter magnets. Teens who register can pick up their kids at the library from Jan. 18 - Jan. 22.

STEM Activity Kits

2 p.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Registration required. Do you enjoy exploring science, technology, engineering and math in fun and crafty ways? Then register for a to-go STEM kit. Once a month, the library will dive deep into a project for the whole family.

Tuesday, Jan. 25

True Crime Book Club

6:30 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Join other armchair detectives to discuss the shocking details and events found in this popular non-fiction subgenre. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara.

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday



4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Wednesday, Jan. 26

Percy Jackson Book Club

4 - 5 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Grades 6-12. This month theyre reading Book 4, The Battle of the Labyrinth." Once you register, stop by the Youth Desk to get your free copy of the book. Registration Required.

Roxana HCE Meeting

12 p.m. at Rox-Arena in Roxana Park. HCE (formally Home Bureau) meeting. Light lunch is served. Open to the public. For more info contact Vi at 618-803-2795.

Virtual Evening Flow Yoga with Anne

5:30  6:15 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library via Zoom. A Slow Flow mixed levels practice that will lead you through a series of yoga poses that focus on strengthening, lengthening, and stretching. Requires Registration

Tai Chi Class

7 p.m. at Main Street Community Center, 1003 North Main St. The Southern Illinois Tai Chi Association of Edwardsville will begin a new class session of Tai Chi. $100 for a fourth month session. Contact Terry Staebel at 618-939-4731 to register or for further information.

Thursday, Jan. 27

Movie Matinees



12 p.m. at The Edwardsville Public Library. The library hosts Movie Matinees for adults in their meeting room. Bring a brown bag lunch and theyll provide drinks and popcorn. The library is not able to publicize movie titles. Call (618) 692-7556 for details.

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.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

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

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6 - 7 p.m. through the Glen Carbon Library. This program has been changed to a virtual program for January due to Covid-19 positivity rates in the area. Log in to Zoom for a fun night of Zumba from the comfort of your own home with a Zumba Fitness instructor. Registration required.

Friday, Jan. 28

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. 29

74th Annual Sausage Supper

1 - 7 p.m. at Salem United Church of Christ, 1117 West North St., Alhambra. Drive thru only. Fresh homemade pork sausage, sauerkraut, potatoes, green beans and applesauce. $12 donation. Meat sales preorders can be picked up on Thursday, Jan. 27 from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 29 from 9 a.m. - noon. For order forms go to salemuccalh.org or call 618-488-3216.

Beginner Knitting Group with Greta

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. via Zoom through the Glen Carbon Library. Experience how easy it can be learning to knit through a structured, interactive social knitting group. Perfect for true beginners or those looking for an easy refresh project. Different intermediate skills will be introduced on a project-by-project basis. Set up as a 2-day class with homework in between. Registration Required.

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.

Take Home Crafts

Pick up a take-home craft bag at the Edwardsville Public Library with all the materials to make the project. A new craft will be available each month at the Youth Desk.
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.

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.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

EPL Book Club

6:30 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Good books. Good company. Good talk. Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Teen Magnet Letters Take-Home Kits



Available at the Edwardsville Public Library during open hours. Registration required. Leave notes for your friends on the fridge or your locker with your own set of letter magnets. Teens who register can pick up their kids at the library from Jan. 18 - Jan. 22.

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6 - 7 p.m. through the Glen Carbon Library. This program has been changed to a virtual program for January due to Covid-19 positivity rates in the area. Log in to Zoom for a fun night of Zumba from the comfort of your own home with a Zumba Fitness instructor. Registration required.

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

Medicare Q&A with Jon Bergmann

6 - 7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library in the Youth Room. Bring your questions on how to register and what is covered when you sign up for Medicare. Please wear a mask. Requires Registration.

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.

Coloring for Grown-Ups

1 - 3 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Join them for a relaxing and fun afternoon session of coloring. The library will provide colored pencils and adult coloring books along with refreshments.

Teen Magnet Letters Take-Home Kits



Available at the Edwardsville Public Library during open hours. Registration required. Leave notes for your friends on the fridge or your locker with your own set of letter magnets. Teens who register can pick up their kids at the library from Jan. 18 - Jan. 22.

STEM Activity Kits

2 p.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Registration required. Do you enjoy exploring science, technology, engineering and math in fun and crafty ways? Then register for a to-go STEM kit. Once a month, the library will dive deep into a project for the whole family.

Tuesday, Jan. 25

True Crime Book Club

6:30 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Join other armchair detectives to discuss the shocking details and events found in this popular non-fiction subgenre. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara.

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday



4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Wednesday, Jan. 26

Percy Jackson Book Club

4 - 5 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Grades 6-12. This month theyre reading Book 4, The Battle of the Labyrinth." Once you register, stop by the Youth Desk to get your free copy of the book. Registration Required.

Roxana HCE Meeting

12 p.m. at Rox-Arena in Roxana Park. HCE (formally Home Bureau) meeting. Light lunch is served. Open to the public. For more info contact Vi at 618-803-2795.

Virtual Evening Flow Yoga with Anne

5:30  6:15 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library via Zoom. A Slow Flow mixed levels practice that will lead you through a series of yoga poses that focus on strengthening, lengthening, and stretching. Requires Registration

Tai Chi Class

7 p.m. at Main Street Community Center, 1003 North Main St. The Southern Illinois Tai Chi Association of Edwardsville will begin a new class session of Tai Chi. $100 for a fourth month session. Contact Terry Staebel at 618-939-4731 to register or for further information.

Thursday, Jan. 27

Movie Matinees



12 p.m. at The Edwardsville Public Library. The library hosts Movie Matinees for adults in their meeting room. Bring a brown bag lunch and theyll provide drinks and popcorn. The library is not able to publicize movie titles. Call (618) 692-7556 for details.

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.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

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

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6 - 7 p.m. through the Glen Carbon Library. This program has been changed to a virtual program for January due to Covid-19 positivity rates in the area. Log in to Zoom for a fun night of Zumba from the comfort of your own home with a Zumba Fitness instructor. Registration required.

Friday, Jan. 28

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. 29

74th Annual Sausage Supper

1-7 p.m. at Salem United Church of Christ, 1117 West North St., Alhambra. Drive thru only. Fresh homemade pork sausage, sauerkraut, potatoes, green beans and applesauce. $12 donation. Meat sales preorders can be picked up on Thursday, Jan. 27 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 29 from 9 a.m. - noon. For order forms go to salemuccalh.org or call 618-488-3216.

Beginner Knitting Group with Greta

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. via Zoom through the Glen Carbon Library. Experience how easy it can be learning to knit through a structured, interactive social knitting group. Perfect for true beginners or those looking for an easy refresh project. Different intermediate skills will be introduced on a project-by-project basis. Set up as a 2-day class with homework in between. Registration Required.

Tuesday, Feb. 1

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.

Toddler Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Ages 0-2. Theyve got the books, bops and bubbles. Bring your babies and toddlers to share stories and songs with Miss Kristen and all the Story Time friends. Registration Required. (Jan 18-Apr 26)

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday

3-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Wednesday, Feb. 2

Blood Drive at St. Johns

1-6 p.m. at St. Johns United Methodist Church, 7372 Marine Road, Edwardsville. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in donor turnout, the cancellation of blood drives and staffing challenges, leading to the worst blood shortage in more than a decade. To schedule, go to redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED-CROS (1-800-733-2767)

Thursday, Feb. 3

PFLAG Edwardsville Meeting

7-8:30 p.m. online. Contact Amy for a link, 618-977-5078 or pflagedwardsville@outlook.com. PFLAG Edwardsville offers support, education, and advocacy for LGBTQ people and their allies. There will be a speaker from Alton Pride to discuss their new youth group.

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

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.

Friday, Feb. 4

Book Sale

9 a.m.-noon at the Tri Township Library, 209 South Main, Troy. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Book donations are accepted during the book sale and on Tues. from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. If the Triad Unit 2 School District is closed on the day of the book sake then the book sale will be canceled.

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

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.

Take Home Crafts

Pick up a take-home craft bag at the Edwardsville Public Library with all the materials to make the project. A new craft will be available each month at the Youth Desk.
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As we know, words have power. A powerful person like President Muhammadu Buhari can, through words, subvert or undermine the power and authority of an established institution like the court.

Psychologically, presidential words can shape our beliefs, drive our behavior, and alter our perceptions.

As a sitting president, Buhari knows that every word that comes out of the president's mouth publicly about an ongoing trial can be consequential.

The president spoke on Wednesday, January 5th, 2022, in an interview aired on Channels Television.

While publicly commenting on the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader during the interview, Buhari said: "Theres one institution I would not dare interfere withthat is the judiciary." As a sign of presidential respect for the Constitution and the rule of law, Buhari should have stopped there, but he did not. Instead, he suddenly became the Director of Public Prosecution and the judge.

He went on to say, "Kanus case is with the judiciary. But what I wonder is when Kanu was in Europe abusing this administration, I never thought he would voluntarily come and defend himself against the accusations". Mr. president, there goes your grave mistake.

No matter how basic our Constitution is, you cant say that in a constitutional democracy. But Buhari did.

Then he went further, "So, we are giving Kanu an opportunity to defend himself in our system, not to abuse us from Europe as if he were not a Nigerian." Let him come here and criticize us here. His case is with the judiciary. Let him be listened to. But people who are saying he should be released, no, we cannot release him. " "But you cant go to a foreign country and keep sending incorrect security and economic problems against your country  and think he will never account for what he has been doing let him account for what he has been doing".

These words from Buhari threaten our young system of government, the judiciary especially. Lets remember that among the charges against Kanu included calling Buhari a "pedophile, terrorist, idiot, and embodiment of evil." Of course, the president is human like all of us. He felt bad hearing those annoying words but commenting on them publicly makes him look like a tyrannical despot, and not a democratic leader in the eyes of the people and the world. I would want to say he misspoke, and I hope his aids counseled him on such illegitimate utterances next time.

If the law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and presiding judges on Kanus case could whisper into Buharis ears, they would tell him, "Sir, just stop it. You are making things difficult for us and helping the defense. "

The courts are the ultimate guardians of our Constitution and laws, and they depend on the people to respect their practices and rulings and on executives to obey and enforce their decisions.

With such assuming words from Buhari, internally, the judges' fear of personal criticism from "above" could color judicial decision-making, directly or indirectly.

Buhari must be reminded by the people and international donors that the separation of powers is not a threat to the presidency; it is the essence of democracy.

This case will test Nigeria as never before in the coming months. As President, Buhari should not make comments about active criminal cases because his words could be misconstrued.

Words are a president's strongest weapon. Kanu is a Nigerian pro-Biafra political activist who is also a British citizen. Those toxic words from the president can move nations and shift disputes, but they could also inspire mistrust and hostility in society.

President Buhari, you began this war of words. Now he must finish it with the now leading team member on Kanus matter, the globally known foremost constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Dr. Mike Ozekhome, SAN.

By the way, since when did name-calling, verbal insults, and other insulting languages become criminal offenses? If Nigeria is truly a constitutional democracy, insulting anyone, including the president or the government, is completely legal.

While I agree that leaders should be respected, those leaders who are abusive of people's rights or undermine court orders deserve to be called useful idiots.

In our current social media world, you made a grave mistake when on channel TV you said the words above, thereby stretching this case beyond the judiciary and into the dirty game of politics.

Mr. President, just read this from Dr. Ozekhome to the presiding Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, whom you have apparently made things difficult for. "The right to self-determination is inalienable. It is guaranteed under both the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the African Charter on Peoples Rights. I am here today because I believe that the charge against the defendant is baseless. "

This writer is not a lawyer as such, I cannot explain the multiple charges against Kanu, but from the lens of human rights psychology, since when did it become a no-no to broadcasts from overseas criticizing a government known for violating Kanus fundamental human rights?

Some hours ago, Justice Benson Anya of the Abia State High Court found Buharis government guilty of violating the fundamental human rights of Kanu, asking the government to issue a public apology and pay the sum of N1 billion to Kanu. Along the same line, Kanus American lawyer, Bruce Fein, has asked the United States of America to join the ongoing case between the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Kanu, and the Nigerian government.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs, Elizabeth Truss, he complained about the Nigerian government's arbitrary detention of Kanu, who is partly British.

He reminded the American and British governments that Kanu was kidnapped and tortured in Kenya last June and subjected to an unusual rendition to Abuja, Nigeria, by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He noted that abuses against Kanu include being detained illegally for alleged "crimes" that consist largely of free speech broadcasts from London on Radio Biafra, protected by UK and international law.

He said Kanus legally protected broadcasts from London on Radio Biafra were recognized by five human rights experts of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

I will say this: Buhari has made a political issue a judicial matter with no democratic evidence to back his regime.

With his January 5th words, President Buhari erroneously introduced the element of implicit bias, which is a likely influence on an active court case, and the consequences could possibly result in biased judgments.

In a true democracy, the presiding judge will publicly or privately rebuke the president for making it impossible for her to do her job and that she will not be "bullied or influenced" by his power-based angry utterances.

Psychologically, because of bruised feelings and abuse of authority, Buhari could be undermining the integrity of the prosecutors and the judge, politicizing the legal handling of Kanus case, and ultimately threatening democracy itself.

Buhari, who only has a few months left in office, should understand that dehumanizing Kanu, partly because of verbal insults and free speech broadcasts, will further divide an already divided population. He should understand that harmony and the law are the best tools for keeping Nigeria together. Lets be careful.

Prof. John Egbeazien Oshodi

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 Open University (TEU) of Values and Ethics, a digital project of Truth, Ethics, Openness. Author of over forty 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.

Prof Oshodi wrote in via [email protected]
Bangladesh needs both the USA and China. Now, Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal get attention from world powers. US, UK, China, India and Japan have focused their attention on South Asia, Bangladesh and 'Bay of Bengal'. US has shifted its policy from 'Asia Pacific' towards 'Indo Pacific' to counter China's 'BRI'. Both parties want Bangladesh into their respective blocks.

Bangladeshs polices are not towards bipartisan international politics. Bangladesh was an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Bangladesh has no intention and interest to join any bloc. But Bangladesh has the intention to be benefitted from the blocs. Bangladesh wants and believes in peaceful coexistence in the region. It always avoids any kind of clash with any actor. Despite having provocation from Myanmar during the Rohingya refugee crisis in 2017, it abstained from using any kind of force. Bangladesh knows the Strategy. Bangladesh is balancing successfully with BRI and IPS. Whether Bangladesh is involved in the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) or the Chinese-led Belt and Road (BRI), it must maintain peace and the rule of law in the region to reap the maximum economic benefits from these.

Bangladesh still believes in the relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said at the summit in Venezuela in 2016. NAM was set up during the Cold War era as an association of countries that did not wish to take sides with either the US or the Soviet Union. Basically, Bangladesh wasnt to take sides either the US or the Soviet Union. But after the demise of the USSR, the present USA-China rivalry remembers the past. The participation of Bangladesh in the 18th summit of the multilateral forum Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in Baku of Azerbaijan in 2019 further strengthened the countrys position in the international arena. Bangladeshs position in the international arena is neutral.

In this regard, Bangladesh is handling this issue tactically. It avoids its involvement with the blocs directly. Having request from the US for years, Bangladesh didn't show any interest to sign the ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) and GSOMIA (General Security of Military Information Agreement) agreement with the US. On the other hand, When the Chinese Envoy to Bangladesh commented that Bangladesh shouldn't join IPS last year, Bangladesh strongly protested against the remarks uttered by the Chinese envoy saying Bangladesh is capable to form its own national policy.

Bangladesh wants and believes in peaceful coexistence in the region. Whether Bangladeshis are involved in the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) or the Chinese-led Belt and Road (BRI), it must maintain peace and the rule of law in the maritime region to reap the maximum economic benefits.

But US may target Bangladesh because Bangladesh is an active partner of the Chinese BRI project. Recent sanctions on Bangladesh RAB are the clear-cut example to understand it. But the US should understand that Bangladesh is also with the USA.

The USA is the main export destination of Bangladeshi garments. Bangladesh also believes in the USs Free and open Indo pacific strategy. Bangladesh needs both the USA and China simultaneously for its development process. It is pertinent to mention that Bangladesh wants to be a welfare state in South

Asia. Its economic success is now praiseworthy. Thus, it needs both the USA, China, EU for ensuring the pace of the rapid economic growth. The US shouldnt be worried about Bangladesh. Bangladesh strongly believes in friendship with all.

According to the various open sources, Bangladesh is America's main ally in South Asia. The two countries have extensive cooperation in regional and global security, counter-terrorism and climate change. Bangladesh is an important participant in the Obama administration's major international development initiatives, including food security, healthcare and the environment. In 2012, a strategic dialogue agreement was signed between the two countries. In 2015, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernikat described the relationship as "vibrant, multifaceted and essential". As of 2016, Bangladesh is the largest recipient of US assistance in Asia outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US-Bangladesh relationship is strengthened by the Bangladeshi American community. Fazlur Rahman Khan designed the United States's tallest tower in Chicago.

According to the data of the US State Department and US Embassy to Bangladesh, the United States is the largest export market in Bangladesh. The United States is one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Bangladesh. The largest American investment in the country is Chevron, which produces 50% of Bangladesh's natural gas. Bilateral trade in 2014 was the US $ 6 billion. The major US exports to Bangladesh are agricultural products (soybean, cotton, wheat, dairy products), aircraft, machinery, engines and iron and steel products. American imports from Bangladesh include clothing, footwear and textile products; Toys, games and sporting goods; Shrimp and shrimp; And agricultural products. There are many Bangladeshi students in U.S. universities. The United States has assisted Bangladesh during cyclone relief operations in 1991 and 2007 In 2017, U.S. direct investment in Bangladesh was $460 million, an increase of 0.4 per cent from 2016. Bangladesh's exports to the US were valued at $9.4 billion between January and October last year. Bangladesh and the United States belong to a number of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, ASEAN Regional Forum, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. According to the media reports, the American government also donated $218 million as Covid-19 donations alongside 28 million vaccines. In addition, a US company has signed an agreement with Bangladesh to install the undersea submarine cable at a cost of $700 million to $1 billion by 2023 that will connect France via Singapore.

On the other hands, though China and Bangladesh shared an adversarial relationship during the latters independence movement and immediately after that, the relationship has undergone a tremendous transformation to the extent that China is now considered by many in Bangladesh as an all-weather friend. They established diplomatic ties in 1976; it was defence ties that was an important area of their relationship, which led to further expansion of ties.

China, the largest economy in Asia, has decided recently to grant duty-free access to 98% of Bangladeshi products through the inclusion of 383 new products, especially leather and leather goods, in the zero-treatment list.

According to the media reports, Over the past 46 years, the relationship between China and Bangladesh has been developing, with mutual cooperation and friendship on both sides. In the international arena, Bangladesh has, to the best of its capacity, maintained unwavering support for the "One China Policy" and China's peaceful rise.

According to data of various media outlets, from January to July 2021, the overall import and export volume of China and Bangladesh was $13 billion, a rise of 58.9 percent year on year. China has become Bangladesh's largest trading partner, and Bangladesh is China's third largest trading partner and third largest engineering contracting market in South Asia. Although there is trade deficit between the two trade ties, China should consider this. Bangladesh is an important participant in China's Belt and Road Initiative and one of the first countries to respond to China's Belt and Road Initiative. Although bilateral trade favors China heavily, Bangladesh has enormous potential in the Chinese markets.. Affected by the favorable policy of the official entry into force of the zero-tariff treatment of 98% of Bangladeshs tariff items exported to China, Bangladeshs exports to China may show a growth in 2022.

On October 14, 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Bangladesh on a historic visit. During that visit, China announced huge investments in various sectors of Bangladesh. The implementation of those investment projects is now in full swing. Among the ongoing projects are the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project, Karnafuli Tunnel, Dhaka-Chittagong Highway Four Lane Upgradation, Payra Port Development, Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Railway Project, Power Grid Network Strengthening Project, Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway, Dhaka-Sylhet Four Lane Highway etc.

During the Corona period, China showed that the friend of danger is the real friend. During the covid-19 pandemic, China has shown that the friend in need is a friend indeed, and at this time, China has bound Bangladesh with the belief that the boats of love sails mountain. The country once again extended a helping hand to Bangladesh when vaccination diplomacy was in dire straits to get the coronavirus vaccine. China has given 1.2 million vaccines to Bangladesh in two phases as a gift and has assured that the country will supply tens of millions of vaccines to Bangladesh step by step commercially. It is expected that China will soon start vaccination production in a joint venture with Bangladesh in addition to supplying vaccines. The two countries are also discussing this. Lee Jimming, the countrys ambassador to Dhaka, said that the friend of danger is the real friend. Bangladesh will remember this friendship with China. The Bangladesh Army has been equipped with Chinese tanks, its navy has Chinese frigates and missile boats and the Bangladesh Air Force flies Chinese fighter jets. In 2002, China and Bangladesh signed a "Defence Cooperation Agreement" which covers military training and defence production.

In the line with the above-mentioned discussions, we can say that Bangladesh needs both China and USA. Despite having various challenges, Bangladesh is going to be a South Asian economic miracle and a welfare state in South Asia. Thus, it is the moral responsibility of both China and the USA to cooperate with Bangladesh. Bangladesh wants to coexist with all actors in the regions. The rise of Bangladesh in South Asia is very peaceful. It believes in perpetual peace. Of course, to achieve the ultimate goal, Bangladesh needs both USA and China.
The Bayelsa West Youth Congress has said that zoning during election is only a mere propaganda against Senator Dickson.

According to a release on Thursday, 20th January 2022 signed by the Chairman of Bayelsa West Youth Congress, Ebide Brown, he said and enjoined leaders from the Zone to consider first, the collective interest of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Bayelsa State, the Niger Delta region and Nigeria in general.

Excerpt is the full text of the statement:

THE FALSE ZONING PROPAGANDA IN BAYELSA WEST: THE TRUE POSITION.

We have always put out our views on the issue of the debate about zoning propagated by some persons who are scared of contesting in a free and fair election. Our position has always been that there is no binding and valid agreement on zoning implemented at any election period in the history of Bayelsa West. Our views are out there in the public domain and we know that have majority of the people in alignment with us. Only a tiny minority who are either afraid of contesting elections are supporting these mischief makers screaming zoning for their selfish political interests.

Our attention was drawn on to a publication yesterday by the All Progressive Congress stating their well-known position, that as far as they are concerned, there is no zoning in Bayelsa West.

This is not surprising because prior to the bye-election in 2020, this was clearly stated by all their leaders and members as they went ahead to confirm their rejection in zoning by fielding Chief Peremobowei Ebebi, their senatorial candidate from Ekeremor LGA. Ebebi contested against Senator Dickson when Hon. Fred Agbedi an Ekeremor mab as a sitting member of the House of Representatives.

This confirms clearly that APC as a party has never believed in zoning and we agree with the position of the APC, that there is no binding and enforceable zoning agreement in Bayelsa West. It is only mischiefmakers and those who are opposed to persons with intimidating credentials who they think may contest elections that they bring up the issue of zoning periodically to go against such persons.

There are two issues involved. People confuse BALANCING with ZONING. Balancing is when the two offices are shared to both LGAs in the senatorial district. Happily, we have two large LGAs in one Senatorial District unlike the others that have three LGAs each. Therefore it has always been the practice for one LGA to take the Senate while the balance is introduced by giving the other LGA the House of Representatives. This is balancing and not zoning.

Zoning is when the various political parties and every stakeholder agrees in a binding way that a particular office should remain in a particular area for a given length of time. This is not the case in Bayelsa West and it has never been the case in Bayelsa West.

What was proposed severally was for this zoning formula to be adopted by parties and stakeholders but it has not been successful. It has always been opposed or violated. It has never been respected neither has it been implemented. It cannot even be implemented without the support of all the political parties and stakeholders who must own it and who must abide by it. This has not been the case.

For example, in the last bye-election, Hon. Fred Agbedi from Ekeremor LGA was in the House of Representatives yet people supported Chief Peremobowei Ebebi from the same Ekeremor LGA. In other words, if Ebebi had won the election, it would have meant that Ekeremor LGA would have retained both the House of Representative and the Senate seats at the same time. This was what those who proposed the Sagbama meeting wanted to avoid.

The meeting some elders and leaders organized in Sagbama where they proposed that the senatorial bye-election seat should only be kept for Sagbama was to ensure balance but the APC and their stakeholders boycotted it and instead encouraged the APC led by Chief Timipre Sylva to field a candidate from Ekeremor LGA in the person of Chief Peremobowei Ebebi believing that federal might and the treachery by some PDP leaders, would guarantee Ebebi to a win thereby leaving Sagbama LGA with nothing. This was their evil plan.

Chief Peremobowei Ebebi and the APC contested the election, went to all the courts even up to the Supreme Court to challenge the outcome of the election until they lost. It is therefore wrong, mischievous and incorrect for anyone to say the result of the election was because of zoning when the same purported zoning arrangement was violated in the first instance. It is a fact that PDP and its candidate, HE Senator Henry Seriake Dickson won the election and defended the outcome of the election up to the Supreme Court and won.

With the APC fielding Ebebi from Ekeremor and Ebebi contesting, even in the circumstances of a bye-election that had Hon. Fred Agbedi from Ekeremor LGA in the House of Representatives, that automatically meant the end of the notion of zoning in Bayelsa West. The only thing people can talk about is the notion of balancing. Meaning that, any political party can sponsor candidates from any Local Government Area provided that one Local Government does not have both. The APC and their supporters and some mischievous PDP leaders even violated the notion of the balancing.

The meeting in Sagbama that was held was a beautiful proposal and every stakeholder pleaded with the APC, Ebebi, his supporters and other political parties but it was not accepted. The proposal collapsed immediately as both the APC and PDP rejected it and went ahead and contested the election.

So the proposal from Sagbama, contrary to it being portrayed as an agreement was simply a beautiful proposal that was rejected and never implemented. The proposal collapsed immediately Chief Peremobowei Ebebi became the APC candidate. The proposal was even openly rejected by the APC, its leaders and Ebebis supporters.

The communique from the Sagbama meeting was officially boycotted by the APC which openly rejected its outcome also. The communique and the comments in support of the issue of zoning made by Senator Dickson and other leaders before and after the Sagbama meeting were premised on the acceptance by the APC, their candidate and other stakeholders who rejected and condemned the communique and went ahead to contest. As it is now, stakeholders and parties can only talk about balancing and not zoning.

A look at the political leaders and stakeholders who rejected and condemned the Sagbama communique on zoning even in the circumstances of a sitting member of the House of Representatives from Ekeremor, Hon. Fred Agbedi, will show that the notion of zoning is a mischievous tool employed to hoodwink our people and in particular to galvanise opposition against capable persons whose credentials they cannot match.

It is surprising that when it suits such people they discard the supposed zoning arrangement even in a bye-election with a sitting House of Representatives member from Ekeremor in place. When it suits them now in the build up to the 2023 general election, where they fear that the massive support and acceptance for His Excellency, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson will give him easy victory, in the event that he indicates interest to re-contest, these same stakeholders now turn around to say zoning, zoning, zoning.

Can those talking of zoning answer the following questions?

Why did Ekeremor leaders and those who are in support of zoning not prevail on the APC and Ebiebi not to contest in the last senatorial bye-election in 2020?

What is the effect of the so-called zoning and the communique at the Sagbama meeting when the APC and Ebiebi openly rejected it and protested its outcome?

Why did the APC have aspirants for the senatorial bye election from Ekeremor in the person of Ebiebi, Hon. Omonibeke and others from Ekeremor if there is a zoning policy agreed by us all?

Why did the APC not give its senatorial flag to Hon. Capt. Matthew Karimo from Sagbama or Hon. Ebitimi Angbari, Major Andrew Oputa or other leaders who were interested from Sagbama to clearly underscore zoning?

Do they know that EbIebi scored almost 20,000 votes in the last election showing that the majority of the voting public do not believe in zoning but rather voted for candidates of their choice based on capacity and party affiliation?

Do they know that even after losing the general election, Ebiebi relied on the Federal might and the treachery of some PDP leaders, to challenge the election result up to the Supreme Court where he lost?

Have they forgotten so soon that the calculation and plan of the APC and its leadership was that Ebiebi with the support of some disloyal PDP members backed by federal might would defeat Senator Dickson and create a political upset which failed woefully?

Have they forgotten so soon that both Senator Dickson and several stakeholders pleaded with Ebebi severally not to accept the APC offer in order to consolidate the proposal on zoning but they refused which made the election to be the most expensive and seriously contested Senatorial election in Bayelsa State. They did not stop there but took the litigation up to the Supreme Court.

If Ebiebi and the APC had won the bye-election or at the tribunal, would these people still be talking of zoning and what would have been the fate of Sagbama Local Government?

Do these people honestly think that blackmailing Senator Dickson and his supporters with zoning will deter him if majority of our people feel that he should re-contest?

What is so difficult for persons wanting to go to the National Assembly in Bayelsa West to campaign on the basis of their capacity and achievements rather than hiding behind a non-existent zoning policy that has never been implemented?

We ask people to look at the names of the stakeholders from Sagbama and Ekeremor in the last bye-election who at campaigns and interviews openly stated that there was no zoning and fought the election of Senator Dickson on that basis and lost. Are these not leaders and stakeholders of Bayelsa West? Are these not mischief makers who are using zoning as the only argument to fight Senator Dickson at every election in Bayelsa West when it suits them?

We are of the opinion that the zoning debate is only a propaganda weapon used against Senator Dickson and used also to destabilise the PDP in the Senatorial District and in the state in the build up to the 2023 general election.

See the list of those who said there is no zoning in the Bayelsa West Senatorial District.

1. Chief Peremobowei Ebebi: The former Speaker and Deputy Governor was the APC candidate in the last Bayelsa West Senatorial bye-election.

2. Chief Alex Ekiotene: An elder statesman who repeatedly said there was no zoning.

3. Barrister F.B. Olorogun from Ekeremor town.

4. Honourable Chief Christopher Enai: A notable political leader who argued that there was no zoning and supported the APC candidate.

5. Chief Fedude Zimughan.

6. Honourable Dimaro Denyanbofa from Peretorugbene.

7. Hon Member of Ekeremor Constituency 1, Hon. Wilson Dauyegha was campaign coordinator.

8. Chief Tobido Amanana

9. Chief Andrew Egbagba

10. Hinks Dumbo

11. Ken Kayama.

12. Elder Zee Debekeme

13. Robinson Etolor

14. Emar Sakor

15. Awini Sarikeme

16: OJ Martins

17. Hon. Berry Enegeresin

18: Alfred Akamu

14. The Local Government and State officials of APC from Ekeremor and several other leaders.

Elders from Sagbama who in the last bye-election said there was no zoning and therefore supported Ebiebi even against the background of Hon. Fred Agbedi being already in the House of Representatives are as follows:

1. Chief Nestor Binabo, former Speaker and former Acting Governor from Sagbama.

2. Major Andrew Oputa (rtd).

3. Captain Matthew Karimu.

4. Hon. Ebitimi Amgbare

5. Hon. Williams Ofoni: He was campaign manager of the APC and Ebebi from Sagbama.

6. Richard Perekeme Kpodoh

7. Brass Ogola

8. Francis Kolokolo.

9. Senator JK Braimbaifa.

10. Dr. Stella Dorgu.

It is clear from the above that zoning during election is only a mere propaganda against Senator Dickson. They should stop the propaganda against Senator Dickson and the people of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta in general.

If they want to contest, they should step out and contest and tell the people their achievements and what they are capable of doing instead of this propaganda and blackmail. They are free to contest on the basis of their capabilities not by political demagoguery.

Be that as it may, we enjoined these leaders to consider first, the collective interest of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Bayelsa State, the Niger Delta region and Nigeria in general.

The Bayelsa West Youth Congress however wishes to inform that there will be a meeting on Saturday, 22nd January, 2022 to discuss critical and pressing issues concerning our Senatorial District and urges its members to attend.
The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Emmanuelle Bultmann said her country plans to partner with Borno State on development of agriculture, education, and the resettlement of IDPs.

Amb. Bultmann announced this on Wednesday when she paid a courtesy visit to Governor Babagana Umara Zulum at the Borno State Liaison office in Abuja.

The Ambassador noted that her country will collaborate with the Government of Borno on Agriculture to boost the means of the livelihoods, particularly for the returning IDPs.

She assured the Governor that the French Government will support Bornos resettlement plan, stressing living in IDP camps does not give a good life to the displaced persons.

On the closure of IDP camps, Zulum said it was in response to the peoples yearning to return to their ancestral homes and pick up the pieces of their lives.

Zulum however pointed out that while the State recognizes and appreciates the works of NGOs and other partners in Borno, the State should take a leading role in determining affairs.
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is campaigning for the release from prison of the Nigerian journalist and human rights activist Luka Binniyat, who has been held without trial for the past two and a half months. Nigeria Report is pleased to present this biography of Luka Binniyat that outlines the background to the case.

Luka Binniyat, a journalist and human rights activist from southern Kaduna State in Nigeria, has been jailed since 4 November for his reporting on Fulani violence against Christians in the state. His detention has caused an outcry from defenders of freedom of the press across Nigeria, as well as outside groups like Christian Solidarity International and the Committee to Protect Journalists. But his story does not begin there.

Luka Binniyat is from a village called Zaman Dab, in Zangon Kataf local government area of Kaduna State. He was born on 15 October 1965. A Christian, he is married with five children.

Binniyat worked initially for the National Electric Power Authority as assistant technical officer before cutting his teeth in journalism. After starting out as a reporter for the Post Express publishing company in 1997, he switched to the Vanguard daily newspaper in 2003. There he rose through the ranks from energy correspondent to Kaduna State bureau chief, an office he held from 2011 to 2017.

During these years, the situation in Binniyats home region deteriorated rapidly. Well-armed Fulani jihadists began increasing their attacks on the indigenous Christian communities of southern Kaduna. Killings and full-scale massacres became alarmingly common, and thousands of Christians fled their lands to escape the violence.

Read the full story at Nigeria Report.

Nigeria Report is a project of Christian Solidarity International. Its goal is to spread awareness of, and promote solutions for, the widespread sectarian violence afflicting Nigeria.
Indonesian militant jailed for 15 years over 2002 Bali bombings

JAKARTA: An Indonesian court sentenced an Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant to 15 years in prison yesterday (Jan 19) for his role in the 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on the resort island of Bali.

crimedeathviolence

By AFP

Thursday 20 January 2022, 09:49AM

This file photo taken on Dec 16, 2020 shows police escorting Zulkarnaen, a senior leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), who had been on the run for his alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings, upon arrival at Jakartas Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang. Photo: AFP

The blasts, which came just over a year after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, ripped through two bars packed with foreign tourists, and remain the deadliest militant assault in Indonesias history.

Zulkarnaen, a high-ranking member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group, was on trial for the Bali bombings as well as several other attacks carried out by a special unit under his command.

He is guilty of committing terrorism and is sentenced to 15 years behind bars, said the presiding judge at East Jakarta District Court.

The 58-year-old Zulkarnaen, whose real name was listed with the court as Arif Sunarso, was on Indonesias most-wanted list since the bombings, and evaded the authorities for nearly two decades until his arrest in Dec 2020.

Indonesian prosecutors had said Zulkarnaen set up the special JI cell and described him as a key asset for the group because of his experience as a trainer at militant camps in Afghanistan and the Philippines.

During the trial, Zulkarnaen denied involvement in the Bali bombings, but admitted they were carried out by his team.

He told the court that JI operatives did not tell him about the attack in advance and that he was not involved in specific planning.

But the judges were not convinced.

The fact that he was the head of the team and agreed on a plan in Bali... it could be considered agreeing to the plan, the presiding judge said.

The court also flagged other attacks by Zulkarnaens cell during the sentencing, including a 2000 attack on the Philippines embassy, as well as a series of church bombings.

His unit was also tasked with inciting ethnic and religious violence in Sulawesi and Molucca islands, where thousands died between 1998 and 2002, according to the police.

Zulkarnaen appeared in court via video link because of coronavirus rules.

Al-Qaeda links

Zulkarnaen was among the top leaders of JI, which was founded by Indonesian militants exiled in Malaysia in the 1980s.

The group grew to include cells across Southeast Asia, and developed links with international Islamist groups too.

It has been designated a foreign terrorist group by several nations, including the United States and Australia - which lost 88 nationals in the Bali bombings.

JI has a common ideology with Al-Qaida and many members of the two organizations have a shared experience of training or fighting in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to a UN Security Council sanctions entry on the group.

Zulkarnaen was one of Al-Qaedas point men in Southeast Asia and one of the few people in Indonesia who have direct contact with the group, according to the US State Departments Rewards for Justice programme, which offered a bounty of up to US$5 million (B16.5mn) for him.

JI was nearly dismantled by Indonesian authorities after the Bali bombings, but the organisation has been rebuilding.

Its spiritual leader, the firebrand preacher Abu Bakar Bashir, was released from prison last year after serving a jail term for helping fund militant training.

Indonesia has suffered numerous terror attacks since the Bali bombings, and is home to dozens of extremist organisations - including some loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group.
Patong Police to crack down on face masks

PHUKET: Patong Police tonight will marshall at the beach end of Bangla Rd before patrolling the busy nightlife street to enforce the order for all people to wear face masks in public.

COVID-19Coronavirushealthpolicetourism

By The Phuket News

Thursday 20 January 2022, 03:24PM

Patong Police from tonight (Jan 20) will crack down on ensuring tourists on Bangla Rd, Patong, are wearing face masks. Photo: PPHO / file

Patong Police Chief Col Sujin Nonbordee told The Phuket News today (Jan 20) that his officers tonight will only give warnings to those caught not wearing a face mask, or caught not wearing a face mask appropriately, while in public areas along Bangla Rd.

At 6pm today police will gather in front of the Bangla police box and the order will be handed down officially for officers to take action regarding the issue of tourists not wearing masks, he said.

Today the order will be for public relations and admonishment, Col Sujin confirmed.

At this time, Patong Police have not received specific details about the extent of fines or post-arrest procedures, Col Sujin added.

The details will probably be clearer this evening at 6pm, he said.

The move follows weeks of rising sentiment against tourists flouting the face mask rule in Phuket, with Governor Narong Woonciew already two weeks ago calling in consuls and honorary consuls in Phuket representing 22 countries to ask the envoys to inform their nationals of the COVID requirements in Phuket.

Matthew Barclay, the Australian Consul-General for Phuket and the neighbouring provinces, told The Phuket News, As guests in Thailand, we expect Australians to follow the local rules and regulations. Particularly during the time of a global pandemic we would strongly encourage those who are travelling at this time to follow public health measures.

We are always happy to amplify and disseminate information on new or changing regulations from local authorities when it is provided to us.

However, so far since the meeting on Jan 7, no public notices from Phuket officials have been issued in any language other than Thai calling for people to specifically follow the face mask rule.

The push this week to ramp up efforts to get tourists to wear face masks gained momentum yesterday when Phuket Immigration Chief Col Thanet Sukchai announced on a Thai radio interview by Radio Thailand Phuket that sterner measures were forthcoming.

The agency [Phuket Immigration] has received a lot of complaints about tourists not wearing masks over the phone. Drug stores are uncomfortable selling their products to tourists who dont wear masks, he said.

Col Thanet pointed out that the strategy to have tourists follow the COVID rules comprised two steps. The first was Governor Narong asking envoys in Phuket to ask their nationals to follow the COVID rules.

However, he added, If there continues to be a violation of provincial measures, the next step will be an arrest and prosecution.

Through a meeting with Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong on Tuesday (Jan 18), it was confirmed that any charges of breaking the COVID health measures will be enacted by the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, Col Thanet said.

We must set an example, he warned.

During the meeting with the envoys on Jan 7, Governor Narong 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 decison 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, he added.

However, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) in late November confirmed that first time offences for not wearing a face mask in public areas is to be no more than B1,000.

The announcement followed concerns aired online after it was announced that the maximum fine for not wearing a mask in public areas was B20,000.

The announcement came during the CCSA press briefing on Nov 22.

Many foreign visitors were not wearing face masks and gathering in groups, said CCSA spokeswoman Dr Apisamai Srirangson.

Not wearing face masks while in public areas or when joining group activities was a violation of COVID-19 disease control regulations, she said.

Foreigners will be prosecuted if they fail to comply, she added.

Exactly what penalties will be levied in the current Phuket crackdown on wearing face masks in public has yet to be confirmed.

As for tourists leaving their hotel during the mandatory 10-day quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, Col Thanet yesterday confirmed that a hotel in one case had been fined for allowing the tourist to leave his room.

The hotel, not named, was fined B8,000 for allowing their guest Mr Evans to leave the hotel premises when he was required to remain in his hotel room during the 10-day period.

I have proposed to Vice Governor Pichet that there may be activities organised for tourists who have to be detained or places that can take tourists to hang out to solve the problem of tourists sneaking out of the hotel, Col Thanet said.

It would be a better solution to have a backup plan for tourists who are stuck in quarantine after being diagnosed with infection, he said.
Phuket vows tough action on unmasked tourists

PHUKET: Local authorities have vowed to take decisive legal action against tourists who fail to wear face masks in public, saying failure to comply with the disease control requirement is rampant in the island province.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthcrimepatongpolicetourismSafety

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 20 January 2022, 09:08AM

Tourists on Bangla Rd in Patong on Jan 6. Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran

Pol Col Thanet Sukchai, the immigration chief in Phuket, said yesterday (Jan 19) tourists were failing to wear face masks in public places, and local authorities had resolved to more stringently enforce the requirement from the local communicable disease committee, reports the Bangkok Post.

Phuket governor Narong Woonciew had already asked the Phuket consuls of 22 countries to communicate the face mask mandate to their citizens, Pol Col Thanet said.

Violators will be arrested and prosecuted... The Phuket health office has been assigned to file relevant complaints. Examples must be set, he said.

The Phuket governor would soon form an operational team to enforce the rule, he said. Local police would take the lead and inspect people at key locations, including Soi Bangla and Patong areas.

On Jan 7, the governor issued an order for people to wear face masks when they go out unless they are eating, drinking or exercising.

Violation of the order carries a penalty of up to B20,000 under the Communicable Diseases Act, plus a fine of up to B40,000 and/or a jail term of up to two years under the Executive Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations imposed to control COVID-19.

The local immigration chief did not elaborate on the extent to which actual punishments will be imposed on those who fail to wear face masks in public.
Test & Go for overseas arrivals to be restored, fine-tuned

BANGKOK: The Test & Go programme will be reintroduced soon while entry rules under the scheme will be tweaked to allow close monitoring of overseas arrivals health, said Gen Supoj Malaniyom, head of operations at the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthtourism

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 20 January 2022, 11:43AM

International passengers arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport on Dec 20, 2021, shortly before the suspension of the Test & Go entry scheme. Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb

Gen Supoj, also secretary-general of the National Security Council, added that Test & Go rules need to be tightened. The CCSA is looking into ways to monitor the health of overseas arrivals during the first seven days of entry, reports the Bangkok Post.

It appears that under the tightening of the programme, arrivals will undergo two RT-PCR tests during their initial seven days, the first upon arrival and the second on the fifth or sixth day.

Before the programme was suspended earlier this month due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, overseas visitors only had to spend one night at a hotel. If their COVID-19 test was negative, they were free to leave their accommodation and enjoy their holidays. Gen Supoj said the CCSA yesterday (Jan 19) assessed the pandemic situation in the kingdom and found that daily caseloads, which had shot up previously, were now stabilising.

The centre is considering adjusting areas with varying degrees of COVID-19 prevalence and easing some restrictions to allow greater mobility. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has insisted measures should be modified where necessary to help revive the economy.

Also yesterday, the Public Health Ministry suggested that overseas visitors take out comprehensive health insurance that covers all COVID-19 treatment cases. Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, the public health permanent secretary, said visitors must ensure they are fully covered for all types of COVID-19 treatments.

Partial insurance coverage leaves the government to pick up the rest of the bill. So far, B100 million of state funds have been disbursed.

We will no longer subsidise. The visitors must buy insurance that covers all treatments or purchase additional health insurance when they arrive here, Dr Kiattiphum said. The measure will take effect when Test & Go is reintroduced.
Woman, 21, found drowned in Chalong

PHUKET: The body of a 21-year-old woman was recovered from a pond at Land & Houses Park housing estate in Chalong yesterday evening (Jan 19).

deathpolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 20 January 2022, 09:24AM

A search of the pond by dinghy had failed to find the womans body. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

The rescue team took about an hour to locate the womans body. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Lt Col Somkiat Sarasit of the Chalong Police was notified of the incident at 5:30pm.

A woman had fallen into the water and drowned, police were told.

Police and rescue workers from Chalong Municipality and an EMS Advance Unit of Chalong Hospital all rushed to the scene, but were unable to locate the woman, Lt Col Somkiat said.

Local residents had already used a rubber dinghy to search the waters, to no avail, he said.

Divers from the Kusoldharm Foundation were called in to search the waters, which were several metres deep, Lt Col Somkiat added.

After about an hour of searching the divers had located the womans body and brought it to shore.

The woman was described as luk kreung (half-Thai, half-foreign) and staying at the Land & Houses Park housing estate.

The womans body was sent for medical examination while police continue their investigation into the womans death, Lt Col Somkiat added.
Medicaid is a state-administered program that currently supports the medical needs of Wyoming citizens who are both low income AND blind, disabled, pregnant, or elderly. Low income is defined as under 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) which is currently $12,880 for an individual and $21,96...
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From an office in the Press Corps of the Indiana Statehouse, 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 daily content for this website and 35 professional media partners around the state.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Occasional rain. High 14C. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 5C. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
SPRINGFIELD  Republicans are calling for their Democratic counterparts in the Illinois House to join them in efforts to repeal criminal justice reforms, known as the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act.

State Reps. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis; Ryan Spain, R-Peoria; and Deanne Mazzochi, R-Elmhurst, joined House GOP Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, at a news conference Thursday to announce their support for House Bill 4499 introduced a week ago, to repeal the SAFE-T Act.

Spain called the SAFE-T Act damaging and dangerous with real consequences for the people of the state of Illinois.

Democratic proponents of the SAFE-T Act, who called the effort by super minority Republicans all for show, pointed out that many of the substantive changes created by the bill had not yet taken effect.

That includes a measure that would eliminate cash bail in favor of a pre-trial detention method that prioritizes aspects such as the level of danger a suspect poses rather than their ability to post bail. The exact parameters for pre-trial detention will be determined by the courts. That measure takes effect in January 2023.

The original SAFE-T Act also changed use-of-force guidelines for law enforcement, created a new police certification system and expanded detainee rights.

Spain said crime has skyrocketed in Illinois with increases in retail theft, carjacking and murders, citing 800 murders last year in Chicago.

Illinois has become the wild, wild Midwest, Durkin said.

Tweaks to the bill, including a measure passed last year diluting some of the use-of-force language in the original bill, arent good enough, the Republicans said on Thursday, and the SAFE-T Act should be repealed entirely. Mazzochi said it would only take a few Democrats to cross over to get it done.

Repeal is a realistic solution. The original, underlying legislation passed with a bare minimum of 60 votes, Mazzochi said.   It almost didnt pass the first time.

The bill, supported by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, passed on Jan. 13, 2021, one year to the day the bill to repeal it was filed.

The Black Caucus countered the SAFE-T Act made the justice system fairer for minorities, according to statement released after the press conference on Thursday. The statement went on to say they continue to work with law enforcement groups, including by passing two follow-up measures.

Many provisions of the SAFE-T Act have not even gone into effect yet, proving the Republican gambit is all for show, the statement said. In fact, when fully implemented, experts say the SAFE-T Act will help improve public safety by supporting a more holistic approach for first-responders. Instead of coming up with solutions to address crime, Republicans are just trying the same racial scare tactics we see across the country.

Durkin and Windhorst, both former prosecutors, said the bill made the state more dangerous. Durkin said Democrats would have to answer to their constituents for the bills passage and Republicans would use public safety as an issue in upcoming elections.

Earlier this month, an amendment passed to clarify issues related to detainee phone calls, pretrial services and moving back effective dates for body cameras and police decertification. The House voted 67-42 to approve the Senate amendment.

Spain said the Safe-T Act will leave half of the county sheriffs in Illinois leaving their posts and has left city and county police departments scrambling to recruit and retain officers after a wave of resignations in the wake of the bills passage.
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ELSAH  Principia College has been ranked No. 7 in University HQ's Best Bachelors Degree Colleges in Illinois.

The rankings are based on government data sources, private job search sites, and key factors such as cost of tuition, admission rate, retention rate, graduation rate, and salary upon graduation, among other factors. The University HQ listing for Principia College notes the school's 75 percent graduation rate, a net price of $15,630 per year and an average salary for graduates of $65,600 annually.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Chicago in the Nos. 1, 2 and e spots, respectively.

"A college ranking like this one is the external validation we need to demonstrate that Principia College offers an excellent education and is a great college choice, said Dean of Academics Dr. Meggan Madden.

College rankings are one data point among several data points that students and families use when making a choice about where they apply and where they ultimately attend college, said Madden. If a student visits our campus and/or talks with our faculty, they will quickly see we have a high-quality educational program."

This kind of external validation has introduced Principia College to more students, particularly in the region, Madden said. The increase in rankings will certainly support greater awareness of Principia College as an outstanding liberal arts college in the Southern Illinois region.
London, KY (40741)

Today

Cloudy early with partial sunshine expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 70F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies. Low around 50F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Job Title: Consular Assistant (American Citizens Services)

Organisation: United States US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Grade: FSN 8/FP-6

Salary: UGX 70,307,688

About US:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic relations with Uganda for over 30 years. Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently heads the U.S Mission to Uganda. The Mission is composed of several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Job Summary: Under the supervision of the Consular Chief, performs full range of passport, citizenship, and Special Citizen Services (including welfare/whereabouts, death, repatriation, and arrests) in the American Citizen Services Unit. The incumbent interviews passport and citizenship applicants, provides notarial services, reviews passport applications for completeness and accuracy, and performs relevant data entry and other electronic processing of passport applications. Responds to public inquiries related to passports and citizenship. S/he works with the Consular Chief on crisis preparedness and response.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal applicant should have at least two years of general College or University Studies

At least three years of progressively responsible experience in work involving the application of relatively complex regulatory material along with extensive public contact.

Must have good knowledge of the local, regional and national political, economic, social, cultural, and security environment.

Fluent spoken and written English ability and good working knowledge of at least one local language is required. Local languages include either Luganda, Swahili, Acholi, or Dinka.

Possession of excellent judgment, decisiveness, honesty, flexibility, and persistence is required.

The ability to act independently and exercise sound judgment at all times is required. Initiative, common sense, and tact are required to meet unexpected and unique situations. Discretion is required to uphold privacy rights of U.S. citizen customers. The ability to maintain working relationships with local officials; this includes representing the U.S. Embassy with high-level contacts is required. Strong interpersonal and communication skills is required. The incumbent is required to be resourceful and know how to solve, independently, many complex problems involving several different entities simultaneously.

The ability to work professionally and productively with contacts and customers from all backgrounds, upholding the Departments Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles is required. The job holder is required to be efficient, organized and pay close attention to detail with all aspects to assigned work. Strong computer and key board skills is required. Must be proficient in Microsoft Suite Applications (Work, Excel, Outlook, Internet) and must be able to use ACS applications.

How to Apply:

All those interested in working with the United States Embassy, US Mission in Kampala should send their applications online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 25th January 2022

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Westerly, RI (02891)

Today

Rain likely. High 57F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later at night. Low 48F. Winds light and variable.
Financial services group AJ Bell has continued to benefit from the boom in retail investing as it revealed its customer numbers surged to within touching distance of 400,000.

About 15,300 new clients joined the online investment platform between October and December, taking its total customer base to 398,066, with the majority joining its direct-to-consumer platform.

This was despite the period seeing the UK Government impose much less strict coronavirus restrictions, which had helped drive up demand for retail trading apps - especially amongst younger and first-time investors - over the last two years.

Customer support: About 15,300 new clients joined online investment platform AJ Bell between October and December, taking its total customer base to 398,066

It also reported total assets under administration jumping by over a fifth to 75.6billion in the last three months of 2021 compared to the equivalent time in 2020, while gross inflows soared by 23 per cent to 2.7billion.

However, net inflows declined by 1.4billion as a result of a bulk annuity purchase that led to a one-off outflow of 241million from its investment management and advised platforms.

The Greater Manchester-based company said the continued expansion in new trade 'evidences the resilience' of its business model across disparate market circumstances.

It hopes to attract more customers this year when it launches its new adviser platform Touch and trading app Dodl, which will offer several commission-free investments and is aimed at younger investors.

This latter platform will provide stocks, shares and ISAs as well as 'themed investments' focused on particular sectors, such as technology, robotics and healthcare.

Patrons will only have to pay an annual charge of 0.15 per cent on each of their investment accounts and not incur any fees when they buy or sell investments.

New money: Younger and first-time investors have joined retail trading apps such as AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and Freetrade in huge numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic started

To begin with, though, investors will be limited to putting their money behind 50 UK shares and 30 funds, including AJ Bell's low-cost multi-asset funds and its Responsible Growth fund, with some US shares joining the platform soon afterwards.

AJ Bell has said Dodl intends to 'make investing more straightforward and accessible for retail investors' and hopes to have it up and running sometime during the first half of 2022.

But the move comes amidst increasing competition between rival DIY investment firms like Freetrade, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor, who have all seen a pandemic-induced boom in demand for their services.

Founder and chief executive Andy Bell said: We have had a solid start to our new financial year with customer numbers, gross inflows and assets under administration all growing steadily.

'We continue to see strong demand for our easy to use, low-cost platform across both the advised and direct-to-consumer markets.'

He added: 'Our trusted brand and easy to use platform propositions, supported by our increasingly popular investment solutions, ensure that we are well-positioned to deliver further growth in both the advised and D2C markets, and we approach the traditionally busy tax year-end period with optimism.'

Shares in FTSE 250-listed AJ Bell ended trading 0.5 per cent higher at 348.4p on Thursday; however, their value has fallen by 14.6 per cent in the past six months.
Terry Smith has taken a second pop at Unilever in as many weeks, accusing its bosses of playing 'gin rummy management'.

The stockpicker, who looks after more than 33billion of savers' money through his firm Fundsmith, said he was 'thankful' that the company's 50billion bid for the consumer arm of GSK was now 'dead'.

The fund manager said the whole sorry saga, which entailed the consumer goods giant being repeatedly rebuffed by GSK, was a 'near-death' experience, raising serious questions over the quality of the Marmite-maker's management, including chief executive Alan Jope.

In the ring: Fund manager Terry Smith (pictured) said he was 'thankful' that Unilever's 50bn bid for the consumer arm of GSK was now 'dead'

In a devastating analysis, which Smith titled a 'post-mortem' into the flopped deal, he said bosses should consider whether they  rather than the business  were the problem.

Borrowing a phrase from the legendary US investor, he said: 'The management seems to be playing what Warren Buffett lampoons as 'gin rummy' management.' He added that they should consider whether the problem was not with the hand of cards but with the player, in a dig at Unilever's bosses.

His criticism came after the business made three separate bids to acquire GSK's consumer arm, which makes Aquafresh toothpaste and Panadol painkillers.

Unilever said the move was part of its plan to move into selling more beauty products, while potentially selling its food and refreshment business which includes brands such as Marmite and Hellmann's mayonnaise.

GSK had been pushing for more money, but on Wednesday Unilever said it was drawing the line at 50billion, effectively abandoning the bid.

Smith, however, suggested the deal should never have got that far. The 68-year-old, who is one of the best-known names in Britain's investment industry, criticised Unilever for failing to show any analysis of how it intended to make a strong return on its 50billion investment.

On Smith's estimates, the company would have needed to significantly improve the performance of GSK Consumer to avoid destroying the value of the cash it pumped in.

And getting Unilever to disclose its calculations 'was like a dentist pulling a back tooth', he added, claiming the firm had a 'penchant for corporate gobbledegook'.

Smith, who is based in Mauritius, also raised concerns that Unilever's decision to switch its focus to beauty was misplaced.

Under fire: Unilever chief executive Alan Jope (pictured). The firm has made three separate bids to acquire GSK's consumer arm

Few conglomerates had achieved success in the sector, he said, pointing to Proctor & Gamble's move to assemble a bunch of beauty brands before selling them to US giant, Coty.

His comments come as Bruno Monteyne, a Bernstein analyst, questioned whether there would have to be management changes at company after the failed bid.

Monteyne said investors had expressed disbelief over the bid adding that it wreaked of desperation and he believes there will be changes at board level over the next few months.

He added: 'Given the performance of the business over recent years; given this sudden change in strategy and the shareholder refusal to back one of the key pieces of the plan, we think management has lost credibility.

We would expect management and board change to be the key topics for the next three to months.'

But Smith's issues with Unilever go back much further than its recent failed attempt to buy GSK, as he pointed out it had performed much more poorly than its rivals over the past decade.

Lashing out at the company's communications, he said: 'Against the background of this miserable performance the company did not even attempt to contact us for the first eight years we were shareholders.'

It was the second outburst from Smith in as many weeks.

Last week he blasted the company for being 'obsessed' with its sustainability credentials  to the detriment of its financial performance. The stock-picker said Unilever had 'lost the plot' over trying to define some of its brands like Hellmann's mayonnaise.

In his annual letter to investors in his Fundsmith Equity fund, Smith said: 'A company which feels it has to define the purpose of Hellmann's mayonnaise has clearly lost the plot.

'The brand has existed since 1913 so we would guess that by now consumers have figured out its purpose (spoiler alert  salads and sandwiches).'

He also blasted its refusal to supply Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the West Bank, as sales 'in the Occupied Palestinian Territory' were 'inconsistent with our values'.

Smith said: 'Unilever seems to be labouring under the weight of a management obsessed with publicly displaying sustainability credentials at the expense of focusing on the fundamentals of the business.'

But rival fund managers disagreed with Smith's criticism.

John William Olsen, a portfolio manager at M&G Investments, said the firm was 'focused on running the business sustainability and explaining its strategy  something that should be demanded from any company'.

And one City investor suggested that Smith may have been using Unilever's focus on sustainability to excuse its poor performance, when actually there were other reasons why the company was not a very canny investment.

These included features such as its lack of investment in ecommerce and direct-to-consumer businesses, the investor said.
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Thomasville, GA (31792)

Today

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 89F. Winds light and variable..

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A mostly clear sky. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Rain showers early with some sunshine later in the day. High 77F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Clear skies with a few passing clouds. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
U.S. President Joe Biden predicted on Wednesday that Russia will make a move on Ukraine, saying Russia would pay dearly for a full-scale invasion but suggesting there could be a lower cost for a minor incursion.

Bidens comments at a White House news conference injected uncertainty into how the West would respond should Russian President Vladimir Putin order an invasion of Ukraine, prompting the White House later to seek to clarify what Biden meant.

My guess is he will move in, Biden said of Putin at a news conference. He has to do something.

Russia will be held accountable if it invades  and it depends on what it does. Its one thing if its a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, et cetera, Biden said. But if they actually do what theyre capable of doing  it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.

Russian officials have repeatedly denied planning to invade, but the Kremlin has massed some 100,000 troops near Ukraines borders, a buildup the West says is preparation for a war to prevent Ukraine from ever joining the NATO Western security alliance.

Shortly after the nearly two-hour news conference ended, the White House stressed any Russian military move into Ukraine would elicit a tough response.

If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, thats a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our allies, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

But cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics by Russia will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response, she said.

The U.S. State Department has cleared Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send U.S.-made missiles and other weapons to Ukraine, three sources familiar with the decision said.

The third-party transfer agreements will allow Estonia to transfer Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, while Lithuania will be permitted to send Stinger missiles, said one of the sources.

Republicans expressed concern about Bidens remarks.

Any incursion by the Russian military into Ukraine should be viewed as a major incursion because it will destabilize Ukraine and freedom-loving countries in Eastern Europe, said Republican Senator Rob Portman.

SUMMIT A POSSIBILITY

Biden said a third summit with Putin is still a possibility after the two leaders met twice last year. He said he was concerned that a Ukraine conflict could have broader implications and could get out of hand.

Speaking to reporters at length about the crisis threatening to engulf his presidency, Biden said he believed Putin would test Western leaders. The response to any Russian invasion, he said, would depend on the scale of Moscows actions and whether U.S. allies squabbled over how to react.

Biden and his team have prepared a broad set of sanctions and other economic penalties to impose on Russia in the event of an invasion and the U.S. president said Russian companies could lose the ability to use the U.S. dollar.

Pressed on what he meant by a minor incursion, Biden said NATO allies are not united on how to respond depending on what exactly Putin does, saying there are differences among them and that he was trying to make sure that everybodys on the same page.

Big nations cant bluff, number one. Number two, the idea that we would do anything to split NATO  would be a big mistake. So the question is, if its something significantly short of a significant invasion or  just major military forces coming across. For example, its one thing to determine if they continue to use cyber efforts; well, we can respond the same way, Biden said.

Biden said Putin had asked him for guarantees on two issues: that Ukraine would never join NATO and that strategic or nuclear weapons never be stationed on Ukrainian soil.

U.S. officials see limiting NATO expansion as a non-starter, but Biden noted there was little chance of Ukraine joining the alliance soon and he suggested there could be a deal under which the West might not station nuclear forces in Ukraine.

We can work out something on the second piece, depending on Russias own posture, Biden said.

Visiting Kyiv in a show of support, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia could launch a new attack on Ukraine at very short notice but Washington would pursue diplomacy as long as it could, even though it was unsure what Moscow really wanted.

The Kremlin said tension around Ukraine was increasing and it still awaited a written U.S. response to its sweeping demands for security guarantees from the West, including a halt to further NATO expansion and a withdrawal of alliance forces from central and eastern European nations that joined it after 1997.

The pessimistic statements highlighted the U.S.-Russian gulf ahead of talks between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday that one Russian foreign policy analyst called probably the last stop before the train wreck.

Russia has also moved troops to Belarus for what it calls joint military exercises, giving it the option of attacking neighboring Ukraine from the north, east and south.

Eight years ago it seized Crimea and backed separatist forces who took control of large parts of eastern Ukraine, but it has consistently denied any intention of invading now.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine, military maneuvers and NATO aircraft flights were to blame for rising tensions around Ukraine.

SOURCE: REUTERS
Avosb | Getty Images

In a bid to bridge the widening wealth gap, some of the world's richest citizens are requesting that governments across the globe raise taxes on ultra-wealthy individuals. The call to action was published this week as an open letter signed by 102 millionaires who share a belief that the current international tax system has fostered inequality and mistrust.

The group calls itself the "Patriotic Millionaires," and it includes Disney heiress Abigail Disney, who has long called for higher taxes on the ultrawealthy; her brother Tim Disney; and venture capitalist and early Amazon investor Nick Hanauer. The signatories come from eight different countries, including the U.S., Canada, the UK and Germany.
ALBANY - Suddenly Ohio is a big-time competitor in the race to land computer chip factories.

Whatever happened to upstate New York?

Despite the fact that for most of 2021, New York state was looking like the most likely place that Intel, Samsung and maybe others would be building new computer chip factories in the coming years, those dreams have yet to materialize.

In fact, Samsung decided to build its next chip factory in Texas, where it has two existing chip fabs, and Intel recently stunned the world when it announced it would build a massive, $20-billion computer chip factory outside of Columbus, Ohio, which is home to Ohio State University, where former SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson is now president of the school.

Of course, GlobalFoundries announced over the summer that it would be building a second computer chip factory, or

"fab," at the Luther Forest Technology Campus, where it already employs 3,000 people.

The new GlobalFoundries factory, which would be known as Fab 8.2, is expected to employ 1,000 people and cost as much as $15 billion.

But GlobalFoundries has delayed presenting its construction plans for Fab 8.2 to local planning officials in the towns of Malta and Stillwater where Luther Forest is located.

GlobalFoundries says it is merely taking its time with the required studies and engineering plans that are needed for the project, which would significantly increase GlobalFoundries' chip output.

But also weighing on the project is the passage of the $52 billion CHIPS Act, that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pushed through the Senate and now is trying to get passed by the House of Representatives. President Joe Biden has already put his support behind the CHIPS Act and will sign it if the House passes it.

The bill is supposed to encourage the few chip manufacturers left in the world to build new factories in the United States to combat the growing influence of China's chip-making industry.

We need the House to pass its version of the package so we can get this bill to President Biden's desk as quickly as possible, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat told Medill News Service in a story published by the Times Union.

Still, despite the losses to Texas and Ohio, Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration is keeping its head up and is especially encouraged by plans by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to visit Albany Nanotech in the near future to tour the facility, which is in the running for a $2 billion federal chip manufacturing lab that would be funded by the CHIPS Act.

Although New York is considered to be the front-runner for the lab, known as the National Semiconductor Technology Center, other states have launched campaigns to try and wrest the center from the Empire State.

Hochul said she has made attracting new chip fabs to New York state a priority for her administration, and has pledged an undisclosed amount of money toward improving infrastructure at tech parks across upstate, like Luther Forest, to better attract chip companies that are looking at sites across the globe. The money will be allocated to Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm, which also oversees Albany Nanotech.

In addition to Luther Forest, the sites include the Marcy Nanocenter outside of Utica and sites near Syracuse and between Rochester and Buffalo. Marcy is now home to Wolfspeed which makes power electronics chips.

New York is a pioneer in national chip fab production, and ESD is fully committed to partnering with the semiconductor industry on its expansion, exemplified by our long history of attracting global leaders such as IBM, Global Foundries, onsemi (formerly On Semiconductors), Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron and Wolfspeed," ESD spokeswoman Kristin Devoe told the Times Union. "We will continue our focus on growing the advanced manufacturing sector in New York and market the many attributes that have continuously placed the Empire State in top contention. Our readiness and opportunities render us very optimistic to secure significant new semiconductor chip manufacturing in the future.


If they knock everything down, its not going to be the same anymore, said Brewster resident Rudy Pinto, who was born in Guatemala and has been a dishwasher at Bobs Diner for 17 years. We dont have a choice anyway, but I love my job.

Community members and businessowners in Brewster are coming to grips with a large redevelopment project that could forever change the way its Main Street looks. On Tuesday, the planning board approved the initial findings of an environmental review, clearing another hurdle in a years-long discussion about rebuilding and renewing a portion of Main Street. Now, the developers can move forward with a site plan.

The project is really starting to rev up, said Village of Brewster Mayor James Schoening. Im excited to get the project going. Its been eight years that weve been working on this.

But for many Brewster residents, including the villages large Hispanic community that comprises 65 percent of Brewsters population, the movement to demolish local businesses is seen as a major disruption that could lead to their displacement.

Its a vibrant community

Several existing buildings on Main Street, including everything from Bobs Diner, located closest to the train station, to the former Cameo Theater at 63 Main Street, would be torn down to make way for the new 5.4-acre project in Brewster. Developed by iPark Brewster, LLC, the project sites boundaries include Railroad Avenue to the west, Marvin Avenue to the south and Brewster Public Library to the east.

This means many residents, employees, and business owners face an uncertain future.

Cloey Callahan

Many Brewster families hail from Central American countries like Guatemala and Mexico, and many local businesses along Main Street are Latino-owned and operated, including La Guadalupana Restaurant, Alis Bakery and Deli, Julias Gift Store, Cantina Brewster, Amigos Gift Shop and more.

Other businesses along Main Street employ Spanish-speaking residents, or at least one bilingual employee to ensure they serve the community. The churches in and near the village also hold Spanish-speaking masses for Hispanic residents.

If these folks werent in the community, it would be a shell of [what] it is right now, said Frank Kortright, Regional Director of Catholic Charities of Putnam and Northern Westchester, located on Main Street in Brewster, which largely assists the immigrant population with job and housing applications, school enrollment, housing and more.

Among Brewsters 2,228 residents, over a quarter live below the poverty line, almost double the states poverty rate.

Its a vibrant community, and they share their own cultural experiences. Its all about learning and sharing, and Ive seen a lot of that, Kortright said.

A vision for change

Located in the southeastern corner of Putnam County, about 60 miles from Manhattan, developers think Brewster has the potential to become the next Hudson Valley hotspot, particularly for urban dwellers seeking greener pastures. Brewsters Metro-North train station is walkable from Main Street, connecting residents to the city in 80 to 90 minutes on a Harlem Line train.

Called Brewster Crossings, the project shared on the village website reflects an ambitious mixed-use development designed to attract residents as well as businesses to the Main Street corridor. Plans include 408 rental units and artist lofts fanned across three new 5- to 6-story buildings, as well as a brewery, retail and dining businesses, among other new additions.

While many in the community support the general notion of a downtown revitalization, some local businessowners and residents oppose plans to demolish old buildings in favor of new development. Others are also concerned about what will happen to the community that will be most affected.

This is the closest job I have to my house, said Pinto, who lives within walking distance to Bobs Diner.

Facing a future in which some businesses will have to close for the redevelopment, followed by a lengthy construction process that would delay the opening of new businesses looking to hire staff, many in Brewsters community would likely need to disperse to find work. Moving elsewhere isnt straightforward, as a healthy portion of residents  21.5 percent  do not own a car and either walk to jobs or rely on public transportation.

Cloey Callahan

These people are going to disappear, said Pinto. Where are they going to go? Its not going to be a town anymore. Right now, its a town with a lot of businesses because a lot of Spanish people live right there. Its like Guatemala.

Pinto continued: Spanish, American, Italian, whatever, everyone is truly the same. But after they break down these businesses, its going to look like a ghost town with nobody.

Mikey Herrera, who was born in Mexico and has worked at Pizza Place and Trattoria II for 12 years, said he worries about his future, too, if this project goes forward. The Pizza Place will be torn down as part of the redevelopment.

I have a lot to lose, said Herrera. Ive been here for 12 years, and now I dont know whats next. I have no sense of security, and this job pays for my family.

Downtime is the best time Make the most of your Hudson Valley weekend, every week with our newsletter.

Vanessa Hernandez, manager of Boost Mobile, another business that will be torn down, said between 80 and 85 percent of her business comes from foot traffic, and her primary customer base is the local Hispanic community  of which she is a part.

I think what theyre wanting to do is great, to have more things for us to do is wonderful, said Hernandez. But, as a businessowner it is a tremulous feeling.

Relocating would be a lose-lose for her business and her customers, many of whom do not have access to vehicles.

There are a lot of things we can provide basic help with, said Hernandez of the immigrant community. It would impact them. Would they find a solution? Im sure, but it will be an inconvenience to them.

Boost Mobile mandates that every employee is bilingual to better serve their customer base. Hernandez said they also provide pre-paid internet services in-store, which families use for their kids to do remote schooling during the pandemic.

Cloey Callahan

Development plans not disseminated in Spanish

An apartment building at 31 Main Street that houses 11 tenants would also be demolished. When it comes to housing, Schoenig said the village will work with community members to ensure they arent displaced, with plans to partner with a Westchester-based group to find new homes for each person, he said. Three quarters of Brewsters residents are renters.

Its not going to be someone kicked out on the side of the road, Schoenig said to the Times Union: Hudson Valley in November. Were going to help out as much as possible.

Thomas Sprague, owner of Bobs Diner and the building at 31 Main Street, said that to his knowledge none of his tenants have been notified by the village or developers yet of potentially being displaced.

The news of looming change may not be widely understood by Brewsters Hispanic community, Kortright said. Public information to date hasnt been widely disseminated in Spanish; the Village of Brewster does not release fliers or documentation in Spanish for meetings or for this project specifically, although the village website can be translated into Spanish. Presentations for the project are only shared in English online.

Theyre navigating the change in culture for them, coming mostly from Guatemala, with limited or no English proficiency, said Kortright. I raised the project up to my staff, and they said, We dont have people come and ask us about that. It left us wondering: are they not aware of it? Or are they aware and feel like, well, what are we going to do  a lack of empowerment in the decision making and does their voice even count.

We have infrastructure we need to take advantage of, and thats what were doing, said Schoenig. This isnt about getting rid of people or kicking people out. This is about revitalizing a community to bring it what it should be, instead of just what it is now.
ALBANY  Grants of up to $10,000 will soon be provided for certain Black homebuyers in the Capital Region.

The Carl E. Touhey Foundation awarded $1 million to Building Blocks Together, a company that seeks to bring equity and wealth into marginalized communities through homeownership and investment education and opportunities. The award is part of the Restorative Housing Justice Fund, which supports homebuyers with costs such as down payments and closing costs.

Those who apply and are awarded a grant can receive up to $10,000 in Albany or up to $5,000 in other Capital Region cities.

"Our general mission is to create equity and wealth for disenfranchised communities, minorities, through homeownership education, ownership and development," said Virginia Rawlins, president of Building Blocks Together. "In many instances, buyers are bringing zero to the closing table. And then instances where I've seen buyers had $50,000, $40,000, depending on the price of the house and how the mortgage was set up. But... we were able to get them $5,000 or $10,000, just to assist with... the astronomical number of closing costs."

Rawlins said the Restorative Housing Justice Fund, which is funded by the Carl E. Touhey Foundation and administered by Building Blocks Together, has so far created 86 new Black homebuyers throughout the Capital Region  individuals who may never have been able to become homeowners in the "pandemic market."

Such an investment in Black homebuyers is particularly important in the aftermath of redlining, when federal officials drew red lines around certain neighborhoods they deemed too "hazardous" for investment in 1938. Almost a century after redlining, those neighborhoods have experienced neglect and disinvestment, and their residents  who are now predominantly Black  have been subject to lower quality of life, as well as fewer homeownership opportunities.

In Albany alone, 69 percent of white residents own homes but only 20 percent of Black residents do; the difference in median household income between those who live in predominantly Black and white neighborhoods can be as high as $60,000, and the city's overall poverty rate is 22 percent compared to 10.5 percent nationally.

"It is no secret redlining denied African Americans entry into the housing market and thus has exacerbated the wealth gap that we see today," Charles Touhey, president of the Carl E. Touhey Foundation, said in a press release. "The effects of redlining are still present today, which is why it was especially important that the Carl E. Touhey Foundation created a fund dedicated to African American homebuyers that addresses and, for many, eliminates the financial barriers to homeownership.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

About 30 percent of the RHJF recipients are individuals who either lived in previously redlined neighborhoods and/or were looking to buy homes in previously redlined neighborhoods, Rawlins said.

"They're not technically redlining, but in Arbor Hill, West Hill, South End, these neighborhoods still don't have access to capital," Rawlins said. "If they want to buy any property, they're not lending on those properties. When people go to sell, the properties don't appraise for as much."

Individuals must identify as African American or Black, be first-time homebuyers and purchase a property in the cities of Albany, Amsterdam, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Troy or Watervliet to qualify for the grant.

To learn more information go to https://www.buildingblockstogether.com/resources, or email info@buildingblockstogether.com.
AMSTERDAM  Montgomery County sheriff's investigators said they arrested a 15-year-old girl Wednesday for making a terroristic threat against the Greater Amsterdam School District.

Police said a parent notified authorities Wednesday at about 1:30 a.m. of a threat their child viewed on social media suggesting there would be a shooting at schools across the district in the upcoming day. The sheriff's department told the Times Union the threat was on Snapchat and targeted a high school and multiple elementary schools.

The investigation led them to uncover the person behind the threat's identity, the teen who lives in the city, deputies said. Police said the 15-year-old girl admitted to creating the social media account and sending the threatening message when interviewed by officers.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

The teen was charged with a single count of making a terroristic threat.
ALBANY  The day before New Yorks statewide eviction moratorium was set to expire on Saturday, residents of state Sen. Cordell Cleares upper Manhattan district got a prerecorded call from her office in Harlem.

Tenants whove lost income due to COVID-19 and were unable to pay rent during the pandemic may once again apply to the states Emergency Rental Assistance Program, Cleares message said. Applying for the program will help protect eligible tenants from eviction, and get them in line for funding if more arrives.

That funding may never come. But lawmakers and advocates across the state, like Cleare, are scrambling to let tenants know that the built-in eviction stay for ERAP applicants with pending cases is one of several reasons last weekends moratorium-end may not mean inevitable or immediate eviction for nonpaying tenants.

According to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which is overseeing the program, more than 255,000 New York households were already protected from eviction under ERAP prior to last week. More than 6,600 people applied since the portal reopened  it started accepting petitions again on Jan. 11  after a judge ruled it had closed prematurely, even though funding has dried up.

But even for those tenants who never put in ERAP applications, the eviction process cannot happen overnight.

For nonpayment of rent eviction, the law changed in New York in 2019 to make these timeframes stretch out longer, said Robert Romaker, managing attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York. His office represents tenants across five counties in the region: Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene.

"Landlords have to serve a notice after the rent is more than five days late, and say, 'hey, your rents late,'" Romaker said. Then you also have to serve a 14-day notice; thats the rent demand. Legally, both notices are necessary before a case can go to court.

While Romaker and his staff have been preparing to defend a potential onslaught of eviction cases post-moratorium, he hasnt seen that avalanche yet. On Tuesday, the first business day after the moratorium ended, they received only four new cases: three from Albany County, and one from Rensselaer. By comparison, in the full week prior, they took on 19 cases.

You remember Y2K, when our computers were going to blow up, and then it never happened? Romaker said, evoking the feeling of relative quiet after the moratorium expired using the analogy of the fear over a calendar glitch that was supposed to have wreaked digital havoc in 2000. But he thinks this time the glitch will come, only slower.

Millenium comparisons aside, Romaker is one of many Capital Region stakeholders concerned about the impacts of the massive rent debt on both tenants and landlords. He doesnt think the fissures will show all at once: some eviction proceedings met exceptions to the moratorium and were already in process this past fall, while others will take more time.

According to data compiled by the National Equity Atlas, a group of organizations that is calculating ongoing estimates of overdue rent during the pandemic, New York had about 610,000 rental households behind on payments at beginning of December  approximately 20 percent of the states total. They owed a combined $2.6 billion dollars.

People are going in and out of rent debt over the course of a year, said Sarah Treuhaft, vice president of research at PolicyLink, one of the partners on the project. She said they estimate that there is about twice as much rent debt nationally now than there was prior to the pandemic, but COVID-19 exacerbated a pattern that already existed.

In Albany County, where the group estimates 7,879 households were behind on rent in early December and owed a $18.7 million dollars, only 2,064 people have applied for ERAP through one of the official providers, which include Albany County Department of Social Services, the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York and United Tenants of Albany.

Landlords with properties in the area, like Deborah Pusatere  who is also the president of the New York Capital Region Apartment Association  view the extra barriers to eviction of nonpaying tenants as yet another hurdle that small-time landlords have to face before they can pay their own bills. She said some of her peers have had to sell off their properties to stay afloat.

Its a good thing that the eviction moratorium is done so that we can actually go into court, and have our case heard, and get some of our rights back, Pusatere said. But in reality, were still screwed, its still a mess. And every day that goes by, were losing rent.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Some of her tenants that applied for ERAP funding over the summer have yet to hear back about whether their applications were accepted. Others received support that covered their rent for several months, but havent paid since the aid ran out.

I'm back in the same hole I was in before. Even though I got bailed out six months, Im six months behind again, Pusatere said.

She added that though tenants with pending ERAP cases are protected from eviction if they are able to show that their income was negatively affected by the pandemic, landlords do have the possibility to contest that claim in court.

ERAP is currently the strongest pandemic-era tenant eviction protection standing, though lawmakers last week amended a law that would provide another court-level defense by renewing the Tenant Safe Harbor Act through April.

As legislators, we have to figure out ways to protect our constituents, said state Sen. Brad Hoylman, one of the bills sponsors. And this has been in place. So we'll see if it's possible to extend it until April 15, to give our constituents more breathing room during this period of omicron.

But a revised version of the bill, which had provided tenants with a financial hardship defense in court through its expiration on Jan. 15, is still in committee; Hoylman is not sure if or when its extension could become law.

In the meantime, tenant advocates like Canyon Ryan  who coordinates the ERAP program at United Tenants of Albany  are preparing to call back all of the tenants who they already informed that the program had closed, to tell them that it might be smart if they reapply to stave off eviction  even though it seems likely they would see no payout.

Ryan expects to be making those calls for the rest of the week. But hes not looking forward to explaining to people who he recently turned away from the program why they should now get back on board.

In Albany County, where he works, a salary minimum that was added to tenant requirements for ERAP in the fall ruled out most of his poorer constituents, whether they had an income or not. Now the salary minimum in Albany has been dropped, but that does not change the fact that there is little prospect that new ERAP applicants will receive financial assistance unless the federal government gives Gov. Kathy Hochul a lot more funding flagged for rent arrears.

Even though that's not good news, it at least offers some kind of protection and stability, Ryan said. I'm just really frustrated by the entire process. It just seems like a lot of conflicting ideas have all been thrown into one program, and it has resulted in massive disenfranchisement for anybody who's poor.
ALBANY  A former University at Albany student who was raped by a parolee in her dorm room in 2016 can proceed with her lawsuit against the state and SUNY, appellate justices ruled Thursday.

The victim, a 19-year-old sophomore at the time, was asleep in her room at Stuyvesant Tower when she was attacked Oct. 23, 2016 by Franklin Casatelli, a nonstudent who was paroled just 10 days earlier after serving prison time for attempted drug possession.

In 2017, an Albany County jury convicted Casatelli of first-degree rape and second-degree burglary. State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Breslin sentenced Casatelli to 37 years in prison.

Casatelli, 31, formerly of Guilderland, is serving his sentence in maximum-security Five Points Correctional Facility in Seneca County.

In July 2017, the victim sued the state and SUNY alleging that, among other things, they created an unsafe environment in the dorm and failed to install proper security devices such as a lock. Attorneys for the state asked the Court of Claims judge to dismiss the suit, arguing it was barred by government immunity. The judge disagreed.

The state, represented by attorney John D. Aspland Jr., appealed to the Appellate Division of state Supreme Courts Third Department in Albany. The state argued that the crime was not foreseeable and noted that Aran Mull, the campus assistant chief of police, had testified that in 20 years of working at UAlbany he was unaware of another stranger rape. Mull also testified that in 2016, there were 26 rapes reported on campus and in residence halls.

Aspland argued that even if the rape had been foreseeable, the state fulfilled its duty to provide reasonable security measures with locks.

"There's nothing about those locks that was negligent," Aspland told appellate justices during Nov. 19 arguments. He conceded that there are better types of locks.

Michael Y. Hawrylchak, the attorney representing the victim, said an executive from a lock company testified that the lock in the victim's dorm room was "wholly inappropriate" for a dorm setting and not in accordance with industry standards.

The door to the victim's suite could not be locked from inside. A person inside the suite would not know if it was locked or unlocked. At the time of the attack, other dorms on campus had updated their locks to lock automatically, Hawrylchak told the court.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

He also said the crime was foreseeable. Hawrylchak said in the year preceding the victim's rape, UAlbany had two incidents of intruders entering a female student's bedroom while they were sleeping and sexually assaulting them. He said another female student awoke to find a man in her dorm masturbating.

On Thursday, in a ruling authored by Justice John Colangelo, the Third Department rejected the state's attempt to kill the lawsuit. Justices John Egan, Christine Clark, Michael Lynch and Stanley Pritzker concurred.
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SCHENECTADY  People, especially those in his family, loved Wayne Best Jr.

When he was killed on Dec. 9, 2014, outside his Parkwood Avenue home, his parents were devastated and mystified about why someone would want to murder him. For a while, police were perplexed too.

"I can only imagine what it's doing to this person  because when your soul is just dying, it's gotta be just as bad as being in the ground," his mother Karen Kirsch told the Times Union at a memorial service a year after her son was killed. She wore a black winter hat with the words #bebest emblazoned on it in her son's honor. "I mean, I've aged because of what has happened."

Best, 25, was a well-liked and charismatic man who loved music, racing BMX bikes, skateboarding and lacrosse.

Police were initially hopeful they would solve the case quickly, but it turned into a classic whodunit. Investigators would spend two years before apprehending the man who set up the robbery that led to Best's slaying and the two men who carried out the killing.

The investigation is recalled in a new episode of the true crime podcast, "Anatomy of Murder." It details the impact of Best's death and the work police did to finally apprehend the men  including a longtime friend  involved.

"It was a painstaking, complicated and intense investigation that took a long time. (Police) really did a great job," Schenectady County District Attorney Robert M. Carney told reporters on the day the triggerman was convicted in February 2017.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

"It's the kind of case that can grow cold on you and (be) hard to solve, but they were diligent  really diligent  and that made all the difference," he said.

Troy Saunders, known as "Mac" and "Jack," acted as his own attorney during the 3-week trial before Judge Matthew Sypniewski, but failed to move the jury. The panel convicted him of charges that included first-degree murder, robbery, weapons charges and conspiracy.

The robbery was set up by Todd Macon, Best's friend, who waited in a car  sure to be recognized if Best saw him  when Saunders and another man attacked Best.

Saunders, 37, is serving life without the possibility of parole. Macon, who is now 35 and testified against Saunders, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The third man, Christopher Johnson, who was 26 at the time, received a 12-year sentence for his role in the robbery. He also testified against Saunders.
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ALBANY  The state university system has finalized its exit agreement with former SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras.

Malatras has been granted a yearlong study-leave with SUNY, drawing a salary of $450,000 with benefits, including eligibility with the state retirement system.

Afterward, hell take on a tenured faculty position at Empire State College with a starting salary of $186,660 annually, according to the separation agreement signed by both parties on Jan. 16, two days after Malatras resigned the top leadership post.

After a thorough review by outside counsel, the SUNY Board of Trustees have resolved and fulfilled its contractual obligations to former Chancellor Dr. Jim Malatras, SUNY spokesman Leo Rosales said in a statement on Wednesday. We believe this resolution is fair and equitable.

Under the agreement, Malatras will be required to perform specific projects and submit written progress reports to his supervisor. He will be able to select an off-campus site of his choosing to fulfill that work. And during study leave, he also will require permission to take on outside employment.

During his "study leave," Malatras will work on federal, state, law, education and fiscal policy issues, according to the agreement, as well as research and other policy issues on timely topics as needed. Malatras will also mentor students at Empire State College or other campuses.

SUNY Board of Trustees engaged outside counsel to review the state-run systems contractual and legal obligations with the ex-chancellor, who announced his resignation last month citing the "distraction" following allegations that he behaved abusively toward colleagues and employees while working in government and at SUNY.

Malatras' workplace behavior was scrutinized due to his association with former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and alleged involvement in some of the scandals that preceded the ex-governor's resignation in August 2021.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Officials previously said the severance package would vary based on whether Malatras was terminated or resigned, and whether there was a good reason for his stepping down. The circumstances of Malatras' departure don't fit neatly into any of the scenarios laid out in the contract.

SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley took over as interim chancellor on Jan. 15.

The board faced criticism when they appointed him without a nationwide search in August 2020 at the apparent behest of Cuomo allies. Malatras had just three years of experience in academic leadership when he was installed as chancellor by the SUNY Board of Trustees in August 2020.

The board has pledged to conduct a global search for SUNY's next chancellor.
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BALLSTON SPA  Members of Saratoga and Warren counties' Boards of Supervisors are chiding their chairs over committee assignments they say are misogynistic and preferential to their friends.

Saratoga Springs Supervisor Tara Gaston said the annual committee assignments for Saratoga County leaders, handed out on Tuesday, were unfortunate and appalling as they favor Chairman Todd Kusnierz's allies, including Clifton Park Supervisor Phil Barrett.

Barrett will sit on four of 12 committees and chair two, including Health and Human Services, just a week after a member of his own town board and party accused him of not following COVID-19 protocols when he was spotted in public with a mask on his chin after he tested positive for the virus.

Its insane, Gaston said. Someone who may or may not have followed public health guidance is in charge of the health committee and making decision for those who might feel very differently about public health.

More concerning, she said, her city is not represented on that committee, even though the city is home to Saratoga Hospital.

Its a sign that this particular government is not working for the residents of Saratoga Springs or the county as a whole, she said. "It's unfortunate."

County business is contentious in Warren County, too, where female supervisors say they are disrespected and disregarded by leadership. Of the 14 standing committees, Chair Kevin Geraghty chose only one to be chaired by a woman. Edna Frasier will lead the Health Services Committee. She is one of five woman on the 20-member board.

Glens Falls Supervisor Claudia Braymer says some of the men on the Warren County Board of Supervisors dont like to let go of their powers and they definitely dont want to let go to a woman.

Last year, we had our first female chair, Braymer said. There were a few men who gave her a horrendous time. At one of the board meetings, I lost my cool and said I dont know how to explain this behavior of some of our members of the board other than it seems to be misogynistic. A couple of weeks later, one of the board members brought forth a motion to censure me for my comments. That was the epitome of misogyny. I call it out and I get punished for it.

The relationship between Geraghty and Johnsburg Supervisor Andrea Hogan has grown so toxic that on Tuesday she quit as chair of the county's special American Rescue Plan Act committee.

In light of the lack of communication, I can only conclude that the current chairman plans to continue this treatment of me, Hogan wrote in an email on Tuesday. I have not been told what precipitated the behavior, but I dont think I have to label it, we all know what it is. I do not say these things to embarrass or threaten anyone, only to illustrate my decision-making process.

She went on to say that Geraghty, the Warrensburg supervisor, has consistently been disrespectful to her.

He has been so discourteous and demeaning, most particularly in committee meetings he chaired in 2021, that, unsolicited, my family and members of the public who witnessed this, remarked on it, she wrote. Their concern led me to go so far as to seek counsel and review the countys policies on discrimination and harassment and to put the county administrator on notice.

Both Kusnierz and Geraghty dismiss the accusations from female supervisors and emphasized that the appointments are their prerogative.

Kusnierz also said that Barrett has been falsely accused and it is his "firm belief that it would be a disservice not to name him chair" of the Health and Human Services Committee.

Supervisor Barrett brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience after 24 years of service to the residents of Clifton Park and Saratoga County, said Kusnierz who hails from Moreau. There is no better fit than to have him as chair of the health committee.

Barrett also denied he disregarded COVID-19 safety guidance when he tested positive on Monday, Jan. 10, and was out in public on Thursday, Jan. 13, when the town was handing out test kits.

Thankfully, the county does not make decisions based on false narratives and misinformation," he wrote in an email. "It's all hands on deck. Help the team or get the hell out of the way."

Gaston was relegated to one committee assignment, Real Property Tax. She said the appointment was meant to marginalize her as the city of Saratoga Springs does not participate in the program.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

"They are being very transparent with what they are doing," Gaston said. "They don't care."

Kusnierz shot back that Gaston is engaged in "political theater."

Someone should remind the supervisor that she is a county supervisor and she should be concerned with the business of county residents not just focused on the city of Saratoga Springs, Kusnierz said.

As for Geraghty, he said he had no comment on Hogans resignation from the special committee. He also said he created the standing committee assignments to the best of my abilities.

I chose the right people for the job, Geraghty said. I dont know what to say about that.

Geraghty said that if supervisors dont like the committee assignments that makes me a bad person."

Thats a shame," he added.

He also said if Hogan called him, he would call her back, and he doesnt hate women.

I'm married," he said. "Im not misogynistic. I dont know what to tell you. Its an awful charge.

Hogan is not so sure. At the end of her resignation email, she urged all of the supervisors to take Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training.

"We have a problem, folks, and it is getting worse," she said.
Retired Sgt. Stephen Weber in his letter "Ferris example of law enforcement's finest," Jan. 9, rightly commends Lakewood, Colo., police officer Ashley Ferris, but he omits the most important detail of the story.

According to the Associated Press, Ferris "saw [Lyndon James McLeod] and ordered him to drop his weapon. She was shot in the abdomen but fired back and killed the gunman.
The following editorial appeared in the New York Daily News:

Here in New York, when a remorseless cop killer or other notorious murderer has been sprung from prison by a clueless parole board, weve wished that there was some check on its powers. But our state doesnt have such a review. Thankfully, California does, and thankfully Gov. Gavin Newsom has reversed the dunderheaded decision by his parole board to free Sirhan Sirhan, who murdered Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, as the New York senator was running for president.

The parole board approving Sirhan in August was based in part on the L.A. district attorney no longer making recommendations on parole cases (a dumb policy); one of RFKs children, Douglas, supporting release on compassionate grounds (which is a fair argument); and most troublingly, some weight given the conspiracy theory of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who says that Sirhan didnt assassinate his father, someone else did. Maybe it was the same unknown mystery man who killed his uncle in Dallas five years earlier.

We must here note that RFK Jr. is also one of the worlds biggest public health threats, as a prime COVID-19 conspiracy theorist who mongers fear about vaccines and pushes a sadly bestselling book called The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. The dangerous screed is preying on the gullible, while spreading infection and death.

Sign up for the Observation Deck newsletter Read the latest Times Union opinion, perspective and letters to the editor on Mondays by signing up for our Observation Deck newsletter.

After the parole board bought the bilge, Ethel Kennedy and six of her and Bobbys kids were aghast at the decision and pleaded with Newsom to override it. The governors nine-page veto, released Thursday, rejects the innocent man theory as nutso and correctly states that Sirhans long imprisonment is not a legitimate reason for release: Despite his 53 years of incarceration, Mr. Sirhan has failed to develop the insight necessary to mitigate his current dangerousness and is unsuitable for parole. Amen.

A Palestinian angered by RFKs support of Israel, Sirhan killed RFK on the first anniversary of the Six-Day War, when Kennedy had just won the California primary. Prison is where he must remain.
The first owners of this week's house chose it from a Sears catalogue. The home at 25 Miller Ave., Brunswick (Troy mailing address) is one of the company's famous mail-order houses and it was called the Crescent, promoted as a design for "folks who like a touch of individuality."

The Crescent was available in a couple floor plans, but the defining flair is a "neat" front porch supported by two sets of twin columns. See what the house looked like in the catalogue here. Assembled in 1931, the house has 1,624 square feet of living space, four bedrooms (two on the first floor, two on the second floor) and one bathroom. There's an in-ground pool, a finished room in the basement, a one-car garage and a fenced yard.

Averill Park schools. Taxes: $4,097. List price: $259,999. Contact listing agent Tamara DeMartino with Venture Realty Partners at 518-649-5910. Read more about the criteria for House of the Week.
ALBANY  The $216 billion executive budget unveiled this week by Gov. Kathy Hochul includes a $10 million allocation to provide pretrial services to help "divert people from unnecessary detention and at the same time keep communities safe."

The proposal is the lone direct  or indirect  nod to the current maelstrom surrounding crimes alleged to have been committed by individuals who are awaiting trial.

The tense conversation around crimes committed during a defendant's "pretrial" period has become an increasingly political topic following the Democrats' sweeping changes to the state's bail laws, which prompted law enforcement officials and Republican leadership to contend violent crime has increased as a result of what's known as "bail reform."

State data show about 2 percent of cases, or 2,000 instances, over a recent 12-month period resulted in a person who was rearrested on a violent felony prior to their case's disposition. The number of times a rearrest occurred during the pretrial phase prior to the changes in the law is not part of the state's public data, leaving a gap in the ability to draw a comparative analysis.

Democratic leadership has been steadfast in its support for the 2019 changes to the state's bail laws. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie have been resolute in pushing back against any suggestion of walk backs to the laws.

"We want criminals certainly brought to justice, but we certainly don't want to criminalize poverty," Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday during a Times Union's Upstate Business interview. "That's why we did the bail reform."

Hochul's proposal to add $10 million for pretrial services offers a modest nod toward both the criminal justice concerns advocates have raised and the alarm bells Republicans have sounded over public safety concerns.

U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a moderate Democrat from Long Island, is challenging Hochul in the Democratic primary and has called for walk backs to the state's bail laws as crime rates have soared, though the debate is heated over whether that surge has any connection to the bail statutes.

Hochul is also challenged by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive. Neither candidate raised more than a fraction of the $21 million Hochul did in this most recent filing period.

The $10 million pretrial services proposal in her budget is part of a $322 million "crime prevention and reduction strategies" program under the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, according to budget documents. Hochul's administration pitched in its budget book that it was spending $224 million on gun violence prevention and violence interruption; some of the money between the two programs overlaps.

The specific pretrial services program is intended to go toward not-for-profits and government-operated programs that provide services that could include screening, assessments and supervision.

Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt has said he generally welcomes additional services that can help prevent crime and provide justice for victims, but on the governor's specific budget proposals, he said it felt like "she's moving around the edges without addressing the real meat of what's going on."

"The funny part is, that doesn't even cost any money," Ortt said at a news conference Wednesday outside the state Capitol. "You just have to change the law so that police officers, (district attorneys) and judges can keep people, who are committing crimes, in jail."

Stewart-Cousins, in her interview with the Times Union, noted that at times, people are accused of crimes that they ultimately are not found to have committed. The changes to the bail laws primarily targeted removing costly bail as the barrier to being released on misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges.

"And I want to say, behind those numbers are people who are now still able to go to work, now still able to maintain housing, now still able to support their families and you don't have the crumbling that happens around people who are held indiscriminantly just because they don't have a few bucks for a minor accusation," she said.
Farmington, WV (26555)

Today

Showers in the morning, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 51F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Westfield, PA (16950)

Today

Showers in the morning, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 63F. SW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Cloudy early with partial clearing expected late. Low 44F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.
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Argument over the pandemic persists in Topeka and includes public health concern from quite a few metro officials.



Meanwhile, the public basically OPTED OUT of a key component of plague prevention . . .

Kansas ending 'futile' COVID-19 contact tracing



Here are the basics of the latest Democratic Party outcry according to a prog blog . . .



The Kansas Department for Health and Environment on Wednesday reported 128 more deaths from COVID-19, along with 151 hospitalizations and 39,326 cases since Friday.



Leadership doesnt seem to care, said Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita. They have thrown in the towel on preventing the spread of this disease in the Kansas Legislature, and I fear that within days well have a hard time finding a quorum around this place.



Alexis Simmons, a spokeswoman for House Democrats, confirmed that three members of the caucus have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the session. They declined to be identified. Two more, Rep. Heather Meyer, D-Overland Park, and Rep. Brandon Woodard, D-Lenexa, said they tested positive shortly before the start of the session.



Woodard and Meyer both said they are fully vaccinated and boosted. Meyer stayed away from the Statehouse during the first week of the session.



I hear my constituents say they are tired, and my former colleagues in health care talk about how concerned they are about this surge, Meyer said. At this point, we are all exhausted and overwhelmed by the pandemic, which is why its important for everyone to step up their game, and continue to do all that we can to help stop the spread because we wont beat this virus if we dont work together.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
Just as so many of our readers predicted . . . This thing is going to court amid a great deal of debate that hasn't helped to create any compromise.



Here's the big picture . . .



"State Senate Republicans endorsed the map splitting Davidss district. Senate President Ty Masterson (R) said the population growth in the Kansas City area meant it would be impossible to keep all of Wyandotte and Johnson counties together.



"To win approval, the map must pass the heavily Republican legislature. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, has the power to veto the proposal, but Republicans control a supermajority that could overrule her if the GOP stays united.



"But Democrats would almost certainly sue, because Wyandotte County is the only one in Kansas where non-Hispanic whites do not make up a majority of the population. Federal judges ordered Wyandotte County condensed into one congressional district in 1982."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
Once again . . . We're back to square one and even more bickering over the COVID dress code.



The basics . . .

The AG suffered a court block to fighting masks in STL today whilst Mayor Q doubles down on the policy and flexes on his opposition.



Here's the money line . . .



"We've primarily prevailed upon parents to be reasonable and sensible and to not put your kids in just stupid political fights for no reason at all. And I think most schools have been able to handle that fairly well," Lucas said, talking about the city's current mask mandate affecting people at K-12 schools.



That measure will likely be extended another 30 days, according to Lucas and at some point masking rules could also be expanded to more public spaces.



"We continue to evaluate that. We certainly are engaging with our lawyers regularly because we get more saber rattling from our state attorney general," Mayor Lucas said.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

Court blocks AG Schmitt's efforts to oust St. Louis County mask mandate ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOV.com) -- A St. Louis County court rejected the Missouri attorney general's efforts to block a mask mandate in the county. The decision comes after multiple efforts from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt to block mask mandates across the state.

Kansas City looking at return of mask mandate, consulting with CORE4 by: Jacob Kittilstad Posted: / Updated: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas plans to call a meeting of the CORE4 to evaluate the possibility of a universal mask mandate. The CORE4 includes Kansas City, Jackson County, Johnson County, Kansas and Wyandotte County.

Important and KICK-ASS TKC READER perspective from across the pond . . .

All plan B Covid restrictions, including mask wearing, to end in England Boris Johnson has announced the end of all Covid measures introduced to combat the Omicron variant - compulsory mask-wearing on public transport and in shops, guidance to work from home and vaccine certificates - from next week.

Because this is TKC . . . We share the only mask on which we can all agree . . .



Want to cover yourself in bologna? Oscar Mayer has a face mask just for you New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you buy through our links. If you're a cold-cut lover, one of the most dividing debates is whether to call your sandwich a "hero" or a "sub" - we'll leave that unanswered.

Sadly, just like everything else during COVID, it's out of stock.

Developing . . .
The Missouri Guv has earned a great deal of rebuke from his political opposition on both sides of the aisle . . . But mostly from our progressive friends following DNC talking points about COVID.



Meanwhile, there's not a lot to argue about in his latest budget, but it's important to note nonetheless:



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

Missouri governor calls for higher teacher pay, child care access Governor Parson: THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THANK YOU, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, MR. SPEAKER, STATEWIDE OFFICIALS, JUDGES OF THE MISSOURI SUPREME COURT, AND STATE LEGISLATS.OR ITS I AN HONOR TO STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY AS THE 57th GOVERNOR OF THE GREAT STATE OMIF SSRIOU ONCE AGAIN, WE ARE AT AN EXCITING TIME FOR MISSOURI AND OUR FUTURE.

Gov. Mike Parson lays out vision for 2022 Missouri budget KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Missouri Gov. Mike Parson outlined his plans for a spending spree amid an "historic budget surplus and federal dollars coming to our state" Wednesday during his annual State of the State address in Jefferson City. Parson announced billions in spending for a variety of programs primarily focused on workforce and economic development along with infrastructure.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson touts spending plans, COVID-19 response in State of the State address JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri Gov. Mike Parson delivered his annual State of the State address Wednesday, outlining a wide range of desired investments funded by both state and federal stimulus dollars that would raise teacher and state worker salaries, repair and renovate infrastructure projects and expand grant programs for education and the workforce.

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Dr. Randy Stevens, who died Saturday at age 69, is being remembered for his kindness and generosity to others, his compassion for the poor and his efforts to treat those suffering from addictions.

He had a major impact on the Terre Haute community through public service, education and leadership. He was instrumental in establishment of St. Anns Clinic, now the Wabash Valley Health Center.

Stevens worked in the medical field for 52 years, beginning as a combat medic in Vietnam, then 35 years as a physician at Union Health System, Hamilton Center, and Indiana University School of Medicine.

He loved being a physician and teacher to his patients, young resident physicians and medical students. He cherished working with nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians, and all staff in the clinics, according to his obituary.

Dr. James Turner, close friends with Stevens, described the three pillars of Stevens life as public service, education and leadership.

Stevens public service began when he served as a combat medic in Vietnam. While there, he also cared for soldiers who had become addicted to heroin, which started his interest in addiction medicine.

He carried that knowledge for the remainder of his career and developed addictions programs that served so many in the Wabash Valley over the last 30 years. He served as director of detox centers and also worked with the addiction services program at Hamilton Center, Turner said.

That experience in Vietnam helped many in the Wabash Valley receive appropriate treatment for their addictions, to be treated as a disease and not as a flaw in their character, Turner said.

Stevens also was a natural educator who taught by example, Turner said. For many years, he served on the faculty at the IU School of Medicine in Terre Haute and taught hundreds of medical students and residents. He also was the director of the Union Hospital Family Medicine residency program for eight years.

In terms of leadership, He served on so many committees and boards throughout his career ... If you had a project that was going to help those people in great need, and you went to Dr. Stevens to serve on your board or committee, he could not say no. If it would help someone, he would sign on, Turner said.

And once Stevens was on a committee, others wanted to join. Your project would come to fruition because Randy would lead you through that, he said. Stevens had many contacts and was able to involve different people who could get a project done.

Stevens recently received the Chapman Root Award from Hospice of the Wabash Valley and was also awarded the governors Sagamore of the Wabash.

Turner said he and Stevens trained together as residents and became friends quickly. We bonded right from the very start.

Stevens office was right next to his in the Landsbaum Center. Every day they would stop by each others offices and say hi. I jokingly called Randy the Oracle of Delphi. Anytime you needed to know what was going on in the community ... Id go to the oracle and he always knew what the answer was.

Stevens served on so many boards, He always had the inside scoop on everything, said Turner, who is medical director of the Lugar Center for Rural Health.

Sister Connie Kramer, a Sister of Providence, described Stevens as the bright light and sort of godfather of the poor in terms of health needs in the Wabash Valley. He simply had a deep, compassionate heart for the poor.

She asked for his help in establishing St. Anns Clinic, which later became the Wabash Valley Health Center.

Without Randy, there would be no St. Anns Clinic and therefore there would be no Wabash Valley Health Center, she said. Its that simple.

He was instrumental in getting people involved to support the effort and served as the clinics first and long-time medical director.

Stevens also was gifted in his diagnosis and treatment of persons of addiction ... and so respectful, Kramer said.

He inspired other physicians to put a face on the poor and to care for them, she said.

He had a heart that was extremely kind and he was very aware and very respectful of every person, Kramer said. I will miss him. He was a man that could affirm you, encourage you and empower you and find the gifts you could share and help you make it happen.

Dr. Peter Duong, associate dean and director of the IU School of Medicine in Terre Haute, said Stevens was an associate professor of family medicine with the program. He taught an introduction to medicine class for first-year medical students.

Students respected and loved him, Duong said. Those who have had him in class are just crushed that he passed away.

He had a huge impact on students. He was always very kind, very mindful of them and very student-oriented, he said.

That impact extended to School of Medicine faculty, Duong said. One of those faculty members stated, If you did not like Randy Stevens, there was something wrong with you.

Stevens had a major impact on the medical school in Terre Haute. He was one of the main architects for the rural track that began in 2008.

Thanks to him and a lot of his negotiating with different partners  ISU, the IU School of Medicine and Union Hospital  that brought together the rural track we have now and turned our program into a four-year medical school program, Duong said.

According to brother Rick Stevens, Randy died in California surrounded by family after fighting a courageous battle with cancer.

He will be missed by many and will never be forgotten for all the good he gave to others, Stevens stated on social media. He was a man of his word and made a difference for thousands of people and organizations in our community.

In an interview, Rick Stevens said theres been an unbelievable outpouring of support from people across the country, and even some from out of the country, who knew Randy.

He was a really giving person who cared about everyone, and especially the ones less fortunate. He really reached out and helped them in so many different ways, many we dont even know about, he said.

People who knew Randy just thought the world of him. He had that special knack of being able to connect with people and making them feel like they were the only person he cared about in the world, Rick Steven said. To me thats something special.

Even in death, his brother continued to help others by donating his body to the UCLA School of Medicine. That exemplifies the type of person he was all his life, Rick Stevens said.

A celebration of Dr. Randy Stevens life and legacy will take place from noon to 4 p.m. June 12 at the VFW in Terre Haute

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue.
Well the full results are in for the Trinity Masters Open Waters Swim Meet and there's a new
Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko believes that Europe should counteract energy threats jointly.

As the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine informs, Galushchenko took part in an online discussion of the Bruegel think tank, attended by officials from the European Commission, the European Parliament, and experts in the European energy market.

During his speech, Galushchenko stressed that the current situation on the gas market was not so much a matter of energy as the security of the European continent as a whole.

"We should react in a coordinated manner to Russia's energy aggression because Nord Stream 2 is not an economic but a political project," the minister said.

As noted, Ukraine has taken a number of measures this heating season to ensure the safe and stable operation of its energy system, in particular, by diversifying the energy supply sources.

At the same time, Galushchenko noted that Ukraine had put forward an initiative that would contribute to Europe's energy security as a whole. This is the Regional Energy Security Partnership (RESP), which provides, in particular, the creation of a strategic gas reserve for the countries concerned, including in the Ukrainian underground storage facilities.

The Minister noted that Ukraine continued to take measures to synchronize its energy system with the European ENTSO-E, scheduled for 2023, and relies on the EUs support to promote the fastest and most efficient integration of the energy markets.

Galushchenko pointed out that synchronization would lead to the decarbonization of the Ukrainian and European energy systems, reminding that the Government of Ukraine set an ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030.

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President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis hopes to achieve tangible practical results for Ukraine's stability and prosperity at the 5th Ukraine Reform Conference in Lugano.

"Together with our Ukrainian partners involved in the reform process, we have decided to limit the number of priorities and hope to achieve tangible practical results," Cassis said in his video address at the online discussion "Reforms for Investment in Ukraine", an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Cassis noted that, together with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, they agreed to focus the Conference on two key areas: stability and prosperity.

"The first area  stability  covers such topics as combating corruption, strengthening local self-government, and promoting reforms for reintegration. The second area  prosperity  includes economic reforms," the President of the Swiss Confederation said.

"I am glad that we, as long-time partners of Ukraine, have the opportunity to support the country on its path of reform," Cassis emphasized.

As reported, the 5th Ukraine Reform Conference will be held in Lugano, Switzerland, on July 4-5, 2022.

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Ukrainian-Moldovan political consultations took place at the level of Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Dumitru Socolan.

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The interlocutors discussed in detail the state of implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of Moldovan President Maia Sandu to Kyiv in January 2021.

The parties exchanged views on the upcoming political contacts at the highest and high levels. In this regard, Bodnar informed his colleague on the preparations for the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform, as well as the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine's independence on August 23-24, 2021.

Priority attention was paid to the implementation of cross-border infrastructure projects, primarily the construction of the bridge across Dniester River near Yampil-Koseuts settlements. The parties positively noted the progress in this matter.

Vasyl Bodnar and Dumitru Sokolan stressed the importance of resuming talks between respective authorities on the range of issues related to the functioning of the Dniester hydro power plant, as well as accomplishing of Ukrainian-Moldovan border demarcation.

The parties synchronized their positions on expanding the legal framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas.

Discussion of the regional security issues, including threats represented by the presence of the Russian military units in the Transnistrian region of Moldova, was in the focus of the consultations.

The deputy minister stressed that Ukraine is determined to continue supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders, as well as to be an active participant in the Transnistrian settlement negotiation process. "We consider the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Transnistrian region of Moldova as a matter of national and regional security," Bodnar said.

The sides discussed the steps to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation, outlined a series of joint projects in the energy sector.

Within the context of the humanitarian cooperation, Bodnar asked the Moldovan side to speed up the ratification of the bilateral agreement on cooperation in ensuring the rights of persons belonging to national minorities (signed on December 17, 2009, ratified by Ukraine on October 5, 2010).

The parties also discussed the ways to deepen cooperation with the EU in the context of the two countries' European integration course.

The diplomats exchanged their views on the efforts of both governments to counter the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has assured citizens that the authorities are aware of all possible threats stemming from Russian aggression, realizing all possible actions in response and remaining prepared for anything, while hoping to settle the crisis through diplomacy.

The president made the relevant statement in a video address to the nation, published on Wednesday, January 19, Ukrinform reports.

"Ukraine does not want a war, but Ukraine must always be ready for it. We are not afraid because we protect our land. We will not give up because there is nowhere to run. And this isnt news. Ukraine is constantly strengthening its defense capabilities. We have a strong, courageous, and combat-ready Army. And this isnt news either. Every morning starts for me with a debriefing about the actual situation in Donbas and near our borders. We are aware of all possible threats and we realize all our possible actions in response, the president said.

Zelensky stressed that Ukrainians traditionally rely primarily on themselves. According to the head of state, this is not because Ukraine has no support  in fact, it does  but because we have dignity and pride.

He stressed that now the level of support of international partners and the international coalition is higher than ever.

"We are aware of everything, we are ready for everything, but we are doing everything so that we dont need any of this at the end of the day, we are doing everything to settle things through diplomacy, we are doing everything for the sake of peace," the president stressed.

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The U.S. has cleared Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to supply U.S.-made missiles and other weaponry to Ukraine.

Thats according to a Reuters report, referring to sources in the Department of State, seen by Ukrinform.

Under export control regulations, countries must obtain approval from the State Department before transferring any weapons they received from the United States to third parties, the report reads.

Such approvals will allow Estonia to transfer Javelin anti-tank missiles, while Lithuania will be cleared to send Stinger missiles, one of the sources says.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Russia continues to build up its military presence units in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and around the countrys borders, using such military preparations to blackmail the United States and NATO. If the West refuses to accept Russia's "proposals," the Kremlin government publicly threatens measures of a "military and military-technical nature."

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Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov believes Russia will not limit itself to the demands to NATO not to accept Ukraine as a new member and will demand NATOs non-enlargement in general.

Thats according to his interview with the BBCs Hard Talk, Ukrinform reports.

The next argument from their side will be Baltic countries, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, they will remind you of the Warsaw agreement, and probably the next target will be the Berlin Wall, Reznikov told the BBC host.

The defense chief has noted that the Kremlin will be further raising stakes.

The philosophy of not provoking Russia doesnt work, Reznikov underscored.

The civilized world is still playing chess  according to Zbigniew Brzezinski  with the Russians, while Russians are playing poker with you, the defense chief noted.

The minister of defense has expressed confidence that Western nations could do more to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression. For example, this could be economic sanctions that should be imposed before Russia actually invades the Ukrainian territory.

As reported earlier, the U.S. administration said Washington had prepared 18 various scenarios of sanctions in case Russia chooses a path of a military incursion into Ukraine.

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Defense Minister of the Czech Republic Jana Cernochova reaffirmed the government's readiness to supply Ukraine with military material amid the Russian military build-up near the border.

The Czech Republic is historically, politically and in terms of alliances on Ukraines side. If Ukraine needs help, we will do our best to help, Cernochova said in an interview with daily Hospodarske noviny, Euractiv informs.

At the same time, the minister noted that the supply of arms or ammunition to Ukraine should be coordinated with other countries, including Visegrad countries, Germany, Austria or the Baltic states.

As Hospodarske noviny reported, Cernochova is currently negotiating with the Czech Army Chief Ales Opata about the possible needs of Ukraine. Moreover, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Valerii Zaluzhnyi is expected to come to Prague soon.

In late February or early March, six members of the Czech army will arrive in Ukraine to take part in a joint exercise Silver Sabre 2022. The exercise takes place under NATOs plan to develop the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Photo credit: Ondrej Deml, CTK

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Poland on a two-day visit to meet with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda.

The Office of the President of Ukraine said this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda will receive his Ukrainian counterpart at the Wisla state residence. The heads of state will hold a series of face-to-face and broad meetings and discuss a full range of issues and common challenges that are important to both countries. The security issue remains the main topic," the statement said.

Zelensky's plane landed at the airport in Katowice and the head of state left for the residence of the Polish president in the resort town of Wisla.

The head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, and his deputy, Andriy Sybiha, accompany Zelensky on the visit.

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UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today expressed its continued encouragement and support for the adoption of measures to improve the wellbeing and safety of Myanmar refugees who have been arriving in Thailand since mid-December.

According to official sources, over 9,500 civilians had been forced to flee their homes in Kayin and Kayah states in southeast Myanmar, seeking shelter and protection in Tak and Mae Hong Son Provinces in Thailand. While the majority have returned to Myanmar, UNHCR understands from the Thai authorities that approximately 1,000 refugees remain in Mae Sot, the vast majority of whom are staying in a site in Mae Kone Kane.

While recognizing the assistance provided thus far by the Government with the support of local communities, this may not be sustainable nor sufficient for individuals with vulnerabilities and specific healthcare needs.

The situation remains extremely uncertain and volatile in Myanmar. Given the pressing humanitarian needs of the refugees and the continued fighting on the Myanmar side of the border, UNHCR calls on the Royal Thai Government to transfer the group of refugees being sheltered in the temporary safety area in Mae Sot, Tak Province, to another location where they can access safer and more dignified temporary accommodation, and receive improved humanitarian assistance.

UNHCR reiterates its readiness to assist the Thai authorities in responding to the humanitarian needs of the new arrivals. To that effect, UNHCR and humanitarian partners continue to request access to the refugee population.

UNHCR also reiterates its call that, in accordance with international law, all those seeking international protection and fleeing conflict, generalized violence or persecution be allowed to cross borders in search of safety, and that they are not forcibly sent back to a place where their lives and freedom could be in danger.

Media contact

UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok:

Kasita Rochanakorn, [email protected], +66 64 932 0803
Our decisions can have a strong impact on others lives. Recently, the story of a 25-year-old UNHCR intern Sun YiFei, was shared by local media Sing Tao Daily, demonstrating his frontline work at Bidibidi refugee camp in Uganda. By helping refugees gain new skills and receive education, he empowers them for a better future.

As a master student from the Columbia University School of Education, YiFei understands how important education is, and he has high ambitions to support refugees on the frontline. Yet, when asked about the challenges encountered by young female refugees in terms of access to education, the cheerful YiFei began to look grave,

This situation breaks my heart Everyone has the right to education, but this fundamental human right is not accessible to all.

Learning has been disrupted for millions of students across the globe, and the school attendance problem is distinctly grim in Africa. Whilst schools are shut due to COVID-19, UNHCR has been working to provide remote learning programmes via radio broadcasts and self-learning materials to support refugee students. However, not all refugee students, particularly refugee girls who are forced to stay in their home, have access to education.

Being affected by conflicts, poverty and societal conventions the girls are in lack of equal rights with fewer educational and vocational opportunities, the girls are in lack of equal rights with less educational and vocational opportunities. The emergence of the pandemic also caused formerly declining child marriage and teenage pregnancy rates to rebound, further disrupting their path to a bright future.

YiFei believes that higher education is the key to changing lives. Although the road to promoting education might be full of obstacles, he overcomes adversity and assists talented refugee youth from South Sudan to apply for the DAFI scholarship. Despite some refugee students failing to receive scholarships under stiff competition, YiFeis confidence and faith provide encouragement to inspire refugees to pursue their study dreams.

Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime,  he said.

A touch of sweetness amidst difficulties

Whilst working abroad along, the presence of malaria and intensifying terrorist attacks in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, has triggered continuous feelings of homesickness in YiFei. Thankfully, with the help of local co-workers at UNHCR, he has quickly integrated into the Yumbe Sub Office.

Of all the frontline interviews, there is one that he particularly remembers. A refugee looked back at her encounters fleeing persecution, watching loved ones dying. This woman is actually of similar age as my mother. Interviewing these people feels like talking to my parents, so it can be quite emotionally distressing sometimes, YiFei shared.

YiFei also pays close attention to how refugees spend their time at the camp. Through observing different aspects of life, he sees that simple activities like Bidibidi Got Talent, a talent show with a mobile music truck, can cheer refugees up in uncertain times.

YiFei takes up cooking for fun in Uganda, preparing and sharing dishes such as sweet and sour pork, salt and pepper spare ribs and red bean soup for colleagues.

Protecting the next generation of refugees

Despite being halfway across the world, YiFei upholds his initial resolution. He hopes to stay on the frontline and safeguard the rights of refugees.

By flying across the globe and coming to East Africa, I hope to leverage my professional abilities, contribute to refugees education and build a peaceful environment for their future. I hope to combine my expertise in education with refugee protection, and remain on the frontline at their disposal.

He often introduces himself to refugees as Sun (the pronunciations of his surname). He shares, My cooking is pretty good, maybe I should start a side business and make Chinese food for everyone.
Movies allow us to look through the window and get a glimpse of a better understanding of others. A girl next door who wears a hijab and buys fresh bread every morning, a baker who goes to church every Sunday, children in the street chattering in an unfamiliar language, and maybe a bus driver who seems to be always gloomy and angry, but only because he is very concerned about his mothers health. Some were born in the same country as you. Others were forced to flee from war leaving behind their families and home. Some take everything from life, while others give everything they have to their children. Movies allow us to embrace the feeling of being a person with a different past, of another origin or faith. Movies make us closer to other cultures. We are getting surprised, shocked, outraged, and sympathetic to the heroes. And that, of course, makes us more humane and closer to each other.

To watch a movie is the simplest routine task we can do to know more about the displaced. For that, we have prepared a selection of the finest films covering these issues. However, these are not the movies that will make you relax and escape from reality. But they will make you feel and be grateful for your life.

Capernaum, 2018

Are you happy to be alive? Indeed, such a question is rhetorical. Of course, it is not that you are going to sue your own parents for giving you life, right? But that is the story of 12-year old Zain from Syria in the movie Capernaum. It was nominated for Oscar in 2019. The film featured amateur actors. People were found after a street-casting in Beirut. No one of the children who took part in casting knew how old they were and where were they born. The movie had a significant effect on Zains family life. With UNHCRs help, Zain and his relatives were granted asylum in Norway.

Human flow, 2017

If one has time only for one movie to watch about refugees, Human Flow is your go-to choice

Filmed across 23 countries by international artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei, this movie captures the reality of the refugee crisis in todays world and brings it to the audience in a very captivating format and in simple words and visuals to explain the phenomenon of displacement to all people. The artist brought it to the audience in a very captivating format and in simple words and visuals. The documentary focuses on different regions and countries, especially those which have been notably affected by the biggest numbers of refugee arrivals such as Greece, Turkey, France, Germany, Jordan, Kenya, Iraq.

The Distant Barking of Dogs, 2017

Documentary about Donbas The Distant Barking of Dogs nominated for Emmy-2020 award in the category Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary. The events in eastern Ukraine during the war were described in a film directed by Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont.

The documentary follows the life of 10-year-old Ukrainian boy Oleg for over a year. Oleg lives with his grandmother, Alexandra, in the small village of Hnutove. Having no other place to go, Oleg and Alexandra stay and watch as others leave the village. The film shows just how fragile, but crucial, close relationships are for survival. From Olegs perspective, the film examines what it means to grow up in a warzone.

Lost and Found, 2019

Lost and Found  which spotlights double Nobel Prize-awarded organization, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency  has earned the News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Short Documentary and Outstanding Promotional Announcement.

The film follows Kamal Hussein, a Rohingya refugee who has dedicated his life to reuniting children with their parents, with the support of the UNHCR. In the chaos of the worlds largest refugee camp, Hussein is a beacon of hope.

TV Series Stateless, 2020

The series is partly inspired by the real-life story of Cornelia Rau, an Australian permanent resident who was unlawfully detained under the Australian Governments mandatory detention program. A woman escaping a cult, a refugee fleeing with his family, a father trapped in a dead-end job, and a bureaucrat on the verge of a national scandal find their lives intertwined in an immigration detention center.

Born in Syria, 2016

Following the stories of 7 Syrian refugee children in Europe, Born in Syria is one of the rare movies that focus on the whole journey of refugees from their home country to local integration in the host country. It follows children by depicting their life in Syria before, during, and after the conflict, thus highlighting the traumatizing experiences they have been through in detail. It follows their journey in reception centers and refugee camps in Turkey, Hungary, and Greece and what that resulted in later on in their life. And finally, it follows up on their integration in their final destination in Europe during their first 6 months in the country.

First They Killed My Father, 2017

The movie tackles the issue of forced displacement, child encampment, and IDPs. Realized and directed by Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Special Envoy, the movie is a biographical historical thriller of Cambodian activist Loung Ung who was forced to be a child soldier since the early age of 5 during the Communist Khmer Regime.

Beasts of No Nation, 2015

The movie follows the story of Agu, a Nigerian child living in the buffer zones which are areas protected by the United Nations from the internal conflict in the country. But this temporary security soon comes to an end when his area gets invaded by the local government, killing families, bombing huts and kidnapping children to be forcibly taken to military training camps. The movie would serve not only as an eye-opener to what is happening in civil wars in Africa but also as a very accurate Country of Origin Information resource for people involved in Refugee Status Determination procedures.

The Breadwinner, 2017

In 2001, Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban. When her father is captured, a determined young girl disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family. The animated drama film was executive produced by Angelina Jolie who worked with director Nora Twomey to bring the novel to the screen.

Midnight Traveler, 2019

In 2015, after Hassan Fazilis documentary Peace aired on Afghan national television, the Taliban assassinated the films main subject and put a price on Hassans head. He had to flee his home with his wife and his daughters.

During their multi-year saga in search of safety, the family was filming their life with camera phones. Thats how the documentary movie Midnight Traveler was created. Their unique access and artistic vision provide an intimate portrait of a loving family and the myriad fellow travelers they meet on their odyssey.

Persepolis, 2007

Animated biographical film about a resilient, young Iranian girl and her life in exile in Europe. The film is based upon Marjane Satrapis autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. It was written and directed by Satrapi in collaboration with Vincent Paronnaud. The film is presented in the black-and-white style of the original graphic novels.

The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. It premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it co-won the Jury Prize, alongside Silent Light. Persepolis was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Film and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. He also received four nominations for Annie  for directing, screenwriting, and music; nominations for BAFTA as Best Animated Film and Best Non-English Film. The film has also won awards at film festivals in London, Sao Paulo, and other international film forums.

This Rain will Never Stop (2020)

The family of Andriy Suleyman, 20, moved to Ukraine when it became impossible to live in Syria. But as they tried to escape one war, they found themselves amid another: the Russian aggression in the East. Andriy becomes a Red Cross volunteer in the war zone. But after his father dies, he goes to Syria to bury him in his homeland.

Desert Flower, 2009

The extraordinary true story of the woman who crossed a desert and changed the world

The story of Varis Deere  a simple nomadic girl from Somalia. At age 13, she ran away from her family, moved to Mogadishu, and to London. A few years later, she managed to become one of the most popular models in the world. Varis was not just the first top model of African origin, but she became the first woman to publicly condemn the practice of female circumcision and became a UN spokesperson at female genital mutilation.

Nowhere in Africa, 2001

The film depicts the life of a German-Jewish family in Kenya who immigrated there in 1938 to avoid persecution in fascist Germany. The film won the Oscar for the best foreign film, as well as five German film awards (Deutscher Filmpreis), including the best feature film of 2001.

Monsieur Lazhar, 2012

Drama film about Algerian refugee in Montreal who steps in to teach at an elementary school after the former full-time teacher commits suicide. Nobody at the school is aware of his painful past.

Limbo, 2020

A gently emotional story about a group of asylum seekers awaiting their results on a fictional remote Scottish island. Among them is Omar, a young Syrian musician burdened by the weight of his grandfathers oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland. By Director Ben Shamrock, it received many accolades, including a nomination for Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs.

Saint Judy, 2018

The fight for one, is a fight for all

The movie tells the story of Los Angeles immigration attorney Judy Wood, who single-handedly changed United States asylum law to include women to be a part of the protected class. Woods victory is believed by immigration advocates to have saved the lives of tens of thousands of female immigrants around the world.

We were not born refugees, 2020

The film focuses on the stories of eight refugees whose lives overlap in Barcelona: musicians, lawyers, interpreters, security guards, call center employees, who were all, one day, forced to take the road of exile to escape persecution, war, and oppression. You will be surprised to discover that their strength and dreams affect the people they work with, those they teach, and those in need of their help on a daily basis.

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Ani Chaglasian is an ambassador with "Teens for Vaccines," a group that helps teens whose parents are anti-vaxx. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Milledgeville, GA (31061)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds light and variable..

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A few clouds from time to time. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
The Winter 2021 issue of the award-winning UNO Magazine has been released and is currently arriving at the homes of UNO graduates across the country - and the world.

With the theme "Big," and a focus on the big impacts UNO and its alumni are making across the state, be sure to read these larger-than-life stories.
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At least two people, including a child, were killed while 26 others sustained injuries in an explosion at Pan Mandi in New Anarkali, here on Thursday

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2022 ) :At least two people, including a child, were killed while 26 others sustained injuries in an explosion at Pan Mandi in New Anarkali, here on Thursday.

According to police, people were busy in the bazaar when the blast occurred which also damaged glasses of the buildings and some motorcycles.

On information, Rescue 1122 teams reached the spot and started rescue operation besides shifting the injured to Mayo Hospital where two people died while the condition of four injured was stated to be critical.

The police officials claimed that the explosive material was planted in a motorcycle parked near a shop in Pan Mandi bazaar, adding that blast had left behind a crater which caused by a bomb.

Mayo Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Iftikhar Ahmad said the best medical facilities were being provided to the injured as most of them received injuries related to ortho, adding that the hospital was fully equipped with modern facilities. The senior police officers also reached the spot to collect evidences to examine the nature of the blast.

The police said the victims had been identified as Muhammad Ramzan (31), and nine-year-old Absar while the injured had been identified as Arslan, Anwar, Shair Zaman, Muhammad Jamil, Abdullah, Salman Ahmad, Muhammad Sami, Ijaz, Salman, Haider, Zaheer Iqbal, Muhammad Adeem, Ahmad, Bilal, Faisal Saeed, Tahir Hafeez, Haider Tahir, Azhar, Zawar Khan, Wahid, Faisal Butt, Nabeela Bibi, Nisha Salman, Rida and two unidentified.

Punjab Minister for Health Dr Yasmin Rashid and Commissioner Lahore Muhammad Usman also visited Mayo Hospital to inquire about the health of the injured. Dr Yasmin Rashid directed the authorities to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.

Talking to media on the occasion, she said that currently 22 patients out of 26 under treatment were out of danger "We will continue to provide latest situation to people", she said and added that no patient was reported with burn injury as most cases were of ortho or head injuries.

She said that only police or Interior department could give final report about nature of material used in blast.

Meanwhile, Punjab Inspector General of Police Rao Sardar Ali Khan said that the terrorists who tried to spoil law and order in the province would not be allowed to succeed in their nefarious intentions. Rao Sardar Ali Khan said that Punjab Police shared the grief of the citizens who were martyred in this tragic incident and no effort would be spared to ensure speedy delivery of justice.

He directed CCPO Lahore to complete an investigation into every aspect of the Anarkali incident as soon as possible and bring the accused to justice. The IG Punjab directed the officers to reach out to the culprits at the earliest using all available resources including safe city camera footage and evidences from the scene.

He issued these instructions while presiding over a high level meeting at Safe City Authority Qurban Lines to review all the footage of the Anarkali blast.

On this occasion, Chief Operating Officer Safe Cities Authority, Additional IG CTD and DIG Operations Lahore briefed the IG Punjab about the preliminary investigation.

In addition, Rao Sardar Ali Khan issued an order to put security on high alert in the province in view of the Anarkali blast. Rao Sardar Ali Khan said that the patrolling hours of Dolphin and other patrolling forces in public places should be further extended. The IG Punjab directed that the checking process at inter-provincial and inter-district check posts should be made more efficient.

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar strongly condemned Anarkali blast and expressed a deep sense of sorrow over the loss of human lives.

In a statement issued here, the CM extended sympathies to the bereaved families and directed to provide the best treatment facilities to the injured.

The chief minister also sought a report from Inspector General of Police (IGP), directing that perpetrators of the crime should be arrested without delay.

The CM termed it a nefarious act to sabotage the law and order, and made it clear that the criminals would not escape from the law. A handful of terrorists could not shake the unwavering commitment of the nation, concluded the CM.

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Punjab on Information, Tourism and Spokesperson, government of the Punjab Hasaan Khawar said that it was yet too early to comment on the motives behind tragic planted blast at Anarkali Market. Expressing deep sympathies with the families of those killed and praying for speedy recovery of the injured, the SACM said that all the investigating agencies including Punjab Forensic Science Agency, Rescue 1122, Punjab Safe Cities Authority and Police were examining every aspect of this tragic incident.

He said that all the institutions and people of Pakistan were on one page on the issue of national security. After each such tragedy, the Pakistani nation emerged stronger and more united than ever, he maintained.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley will remain in power after a landslide victory of the ruling Barbados Labour Party which won all 30 seats in the House of Assembly, the parliament's lower chamber, according to general election results

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2022) Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley will remain in power after a landslide victory of the ruling Barbados Labour Party which won all 30 seats in the House of Assembly, the parliament's lower chamber, according to general election results.

The elections were held on Wednesday, with a total of 109 candidates from seven political parties and 10 independents running. In the 2018 elections, Mottley's party received an equivalent majority of the vote, occupying 29 out of 30 parliamentary seats.

"On January 20 we are confident that the people of this nation have spoken with one voice, decisively unanimously and clearly," Mottley said in her victory speech, assuring Barbadians that the victory will enable her government "to lead this country first to safety and then to prosperity."

She stressed that the country is facing a two-year crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, and despite the government's efforts to tackle the pandemic, "there is still much to be done.

"

Mottley also reaffirmed a commitment to democratic institutions and the independence of Barbados, saying that she will pursue the principle under which Barbadians "shall be friends of all and satellite of none."

Mottley drew international attention last year when she criticized world leaders at the Glasgow climate summit, accusing them of sluggishness and idleness in face of a global climate crisis, calling the Glasgow summit a failure.

Furthermore, in November 2021, the 55th anniversary of Barbados' independence from the United Kingdom, Mottley's government rejected Queen Elizabeth as the head of state, proclaiming a republic with the hereditary monarch of Barbados being replaced by an elected president.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, scheduled to be held in Geneva on Friday, will be of great significance for the dialogue between the parties, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2022) The upcoming meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, scheduled to be held in Geneva on Friday, will be of great significance for the dialogue between the parties, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

On Tuesday, a senior US State Department official said Blinken would meet with Lavrov in Geneva on Friday after his visits to Kiev and Berlin. Later, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that the meeting was being prepared.

"We are still ready for the dialogue and therefore we want Russia to be ready for it too. The talks to be held between my US colleague and Mr. Lavrov in Geneva on Friday will be useful and important from this point of view," Le Drian said during a meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.

The French foreign minister favored a "frank dialogue" with Russia and outlined four topics that "must be on the table" of security talks. These include reaffirming the principles of the Helsinki Accords and the 1990 Paris Charter, arms control, the "predictability and transparency of hostilities" and the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Blinken's trips take place amid allegations of Russia preparing a military invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has on many occasions dismissed the accusations and pointed to NATO's military activity near its borders, and asserted that the alliance's actions are a threat to its national security.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that Kiev does not comply with the Minsk agreements and is dragging out negotiations to resolve the conflict in Donbas.

The head of Le Drian stressed that the escalation in Ukraine would impose a "great price" a Russia and would result in "enormous consequences."

In the past few months, the West and Ukraine have accused Russia of amassing troops near the Ukrainian border in alleged preparation for invasion. Russia has dismissed these claims, maintaining that it has no intention of invading Ukraine, stressing that it has the right to move forces within its own territory.

Russia has also expressed concern over NATO's military activity near its borders and ongoing military support of Ukraine, including an increase in the number of Western instructors in Donbas.

In December, the Russian government proposed a set of mutual security guarantees in Europe to NATO and the United States, with their response still pending.
(@FahadShabbir)

Astronauts can develop space anemia because their bodies destroy more red blood cells than normal when in space, reveals a research study

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2022 ) :Astronauts can develop space anemia because their bodies destroy more red blood cells than normal when in space, reveals a research study.

Dr. Guy Trudel, a rehabilitation physician and researcher at The Ottawa Hospital and professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, and his team published the results of a five-year study that reveals how space travel causes lower red blood cell counts, known as space anemia.

At the International Space Station, study of 14 astronauts (11 men and 3 women) funded by the Canadian Space Agency(CSA) found that 54% more blood cells were destroyed while they were in space than when they were on earth, according to the findings published in Nature Medicine.

"Space anemia has consistently been reported when astronauts returned to earth since the first space missions, but we didn't know why," said Dr. Guy Trudel. "Our study shows that upon arriving in space, more red blood cells are destroyed, and this continues for the entire duration of the astronauts' mission." he informed.

Until now it was thought to be temporary as oneNASA studycalled it "a 15-day ailment." Doctors attributed it to destruction of red blood cells, or hemolysis, resulting from fluid shifts as astronauts' bodies accommodated to weightlessness and again as they re-accommodated to gravity.

In fact, anemia is "a Primary effect of going to space," said Dr. Guy adding that "as long as you are in space, you are destroying more blood cells than you are making." Normally, the body destroys and replaces nearly 2 million red blood cells per second. Trudel's team found astronauts' bodies destroyed 3 million red blood cells per second during their six-month missions.

The astronauts generated extra red cells to compensate for the destroyed ones. But, Trudel asked, how long can the body constantly produce 50% more red cells? A round trip mission to Mars would take about two years,NASA estimated.

"If you are on your way to Mars and you can't keep up with the need to produce all those extra red blood cells, you could be in serious trouble," Trudel said.

"Thankfully, having fewer red blood cells in space isn't a problem when your body is weightless but when landing on Earth and potentially on other planets or moons, anemia affecting your energy, endurance, and strength can threaten mission objectives. The effects of anemia are only felt once you land, and must deal with gravity again." A year after returning to Earth, the astronauts' red blood cells had not completely returned to pre-flight levels, his team reported in Nature Medicine. In this study, five out of 13 astronauts were clinically anemic when they landed one of the 14 astronauts did not have blood drawn on landing.

Sulekha Anand, who researches human physiology at San Jose State University and was not involved in the study, agreed that "the findings have implications for understanding the physiological consequences of space flight and anemia in patients on the ground".

"These findings are spectacular, considering these measurements had never been made before and we had no idea if we were going to find anything. We were surprised and rewarded for our curiosity. If we can find out exactly what's causing this red blood cell destruction, then there is a potential to treat it or prevent it, both for astronauts and for patients here on Earth," Dr. Guy concluded.
Turkey and Qatar have agreed with the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) on the issue of maintaining security at the Kabul airport, a source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2022) Turkey and Qatar have agreed with the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) on the issue of maintaining security at the Kabul airport, a source from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"Negotiations in Kabul are ongoing. Our delegation is there. An agreement has been reached on the issue of security, but discussions continue regarding the calculation of the cost of this process. The negotiation process is taking place in a constructive manner," the source told reporters.
(@FahadShabbir)

Several UN agencies called Thursday for Israel to immediately release 17-year-old Amal Nakhleh who is seriously ill but in administrative detention

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2022) Several UN agencies called Thursday for Israel to immediately release 17-year-old Amal Nakhleh who is seriously ill but in administrative detention.

"Neither Amal nor his lawyers or family have been informed of the reasons for his arrest and detention," the joint statement said. "Amal suffers from a severe autoimmune disease that requires continuous medical treatment and monitoring. We call for Amal's immediate and unconditional release from detention in line with international human rights law."

Israeli authorities recently extended Amal's detention without charge or trial until May 18, 2022. He has been in administrative detention for more than one year.

Agency officials from the UN Children's Fund, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and the UN Human Rights Office said Amal's case is one of several where a Palestinian child has been detained without charge or trial. There are at least three other Palestinian youths who are being held in administrative detention and were under age 18 when they were first detained.

The officials echoed the UN chief who since 2015 has been calling on Israel, in his annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, to halt the administrative detention of children "which deprives children of their liberty and must immediately end."
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke over the telephone with her Indian counterpart Harsh Shringla and discussed the alleged Russian troops buildup on the border with Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout of the conversation on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2022) US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke over the telephone with her Indian counterpart Harsh Shringla and discussed the alleged Russian troops buildup on the border with Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Ned price said in a readout of the conversation on Wednesday.

"They discussed a broad range of issues, including Russia's concerning military build-up on Ukraine's borders and regional issues," Price said. "Deputy Secretary Sherman and Foreign Secretary Shringla agreed to remain closely coordinated on shared goals and priorities and reiterated the importance of a strong US-India partnership to mitigate the COVID-19 Omicron variant's rapid advance.

"

The United States has accused Russia of a troop build-up near the country's border with Ukraine and for allegedly planning an invasion. Russia has dismissed the accusations and pointed to NATO's military activity near its borders while warning the alliance's actions are a threat to its national security.

The United States and NATO held consultations with Russia earlier in January to address the Russian-proposed mutual security guarantees in Europe.
(@FahadShabbir)

The Vatican on Thursday repeated its "shame and remorse" for child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, after a new report accused former pope Benedict XVI of inaction in four cases in Munich

Vatican City, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2022 ) :The Vatican on Thursday repeated its "shame and remorse" for child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, after a new report accused former pope Benedict XVI of inaction in four cases in Munich.

Spokesman Matteo Bruni emphasised that it must still examine the report, "the contents of which are not currently known", but reiterated the Vatican's "sense of shame and remorse for the abuse of minors committed by clerics."
Lincoln, RI (02865)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. High 58F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later at night. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 48F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Luke Stocking of Caritas Canada has told Vatican News about projects supported by his organisation in Africa.

Paul Samasumo  Vatican City.

Members of Development and PeaceCaritas Canada recently visited Vatican News offices in Rome. They discussed some of their work with staff at Vatican News. Luke Stocking, a member of the management team at Development and PeaceCaritas Canada, among other issues, spoke about the work of Caritas Canada in Africa, over the years.

Caritas Canada: Inspired by Gospel values



Development and PeaceCaritas Canada is the official international development organisation of the Canadian Catholic Church and is a member of Caritas Internationalis.

Caritas Canada describes itself as a democratic movement for international solidarity that supports partners in the Global South in the pursuit of alternatives to unjust social, political and economic structures. Apart from that, the organisation educates Canadians about the causes of the impoverishment of people and mobilises them to act for change. Caritas Canada associates with social change groups in the struggle for human dignity. It is also a strong supporter of women, especially in the Global South, in their quest for social and economic justice. Caritas Canadas projects and programmes are inspired by the values of the Gospel.



Caritas Zambia: Advocacy based on sound research



Reflecting on some of the key projects they have been involved with in the past and present, Mr Stocking explained why his organisation partnered with Caritas Zambia to study the impact of Zambias extractive industry.

Caritas Canada worked with Caritas Zambia to study the effects of the extractive sector in order to do some good research, provide information and advocate for communities affected by the extractive sector, Mr Stocking told Vatican News.



Zambias extractive industry: The challenges



Zambia is Africas second-largest copper producer. For years the mines were run by the Government. Pressured by international lending institutions, the Zambian Government in 1997 privatised its mining conglomerate -the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM). The expected economic boom from efficiently run copper companies has proved elusive. In spite of increased copper production, as a result of investments from international mining giants, the countrys economy is still in dire straits.

With a combination of volatile copper prices, a poor tax regime, and meagre royalties paid by mining companies to the national treasury, the country has not really benefitted from all the copper investments. Paradoxically, international mining corporations are smiling all the way to the bank. In particular, Zambias Copperbelt Province has experienced an unprecedented crisis in terms of job losses and loss of social services that were once available to poor communities. Zambia wholly depends on copper, so the whole country has suffered.



The actual price paid by local communities



Communities in mining areas have paid a heavy price in environmental degradation. For this reason, Caritas Zambia has been carrying out advocacy and working with local communities who are marginalised or sometimes even evicted from their ancestral homes by new mine owners.

Poisoned water sources and pollution



In some of Zambias mining areas, the air and water have been polluted by smelter emissions, dust from mines, waste rock and chemicals. Children especially have been badly affected. Crop yields in surrounding areas have reduced as farmlands are contaminated and water sources polluted by chemicals.



Edmond Kangamungazi, Caritas Zambias Economic and Social Accountability Specialist, has long lamented the widespread lack of enforcement of environmental regulations in Zambia.



The advocacy work of Caritas Zambia and other NGOs in the extractive industry is of extreme importance. Partnerships from sister Caritas organisations such as Caritas Canada go a long way in sustaining local programmes and the much-needed advocacy of the Church.


Pope Francis sends aid to the victims of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines, as well as to migrants who are stranded on the border between Poland and Belarus.

By Vatican News staff writer

A statement released by the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on Wednesday says Pope Francis is sending aid to victims of a typhoon in the Philippines, as well as to migrants who are stranded on the border between Poland and Belarus.

Philippines

The statement notes that following typhoon Rai, which hit the Philippines "with extraordinary vehemence", Pope Francis "has decided to send an initial contribution of 100,000 Euro for the relief of the Population."

Read also 19/12/2021 Pope appeals for help for victims of Typhoon Rai in the Philippines Pope Francis asks for prayers and assistance for victims of a powerful typhoon that has caused many deaths and devastated southern and central island provinces in the Philippines.



In the Philippines, according to UN sources, around 8 million people have been affected throughout 11 regions, and the typhoon has caused "extensive material damage".

The statement goes on to explain that, in collaboration with the Apostolic Nunciature in the Philippines, the Pope's contribution "will be sent to the local Church and destined for the dioceses most affected by the disaster to be used in works of assistance.

The Dicastery notes that this is intended to be an immediate expression of the Holy Fathers feeling of spiritual closeness and paternal encouragement towards the people and territories affected".

This donation, which accompanies prayers in support of the beloved Filipino population, is part of the aid that is being activated throughout the Catholic Church and which involves, in addition to various Episcopal Conferences, numerous charitable organisations.

Read also 10/11/2021 Caritas Europa appeals for lifesaving support for migrants on Belarus borders Caritas Europa is warning that thousands of vulnerable people trapped on the border between Belarus, Poland and Lithuania, are being denied the basic rights of shelter, medical aid ... 19/11/2021 Caritas Poland promises to assist migrants as Belarus clears camps on border



Migrants on the border

The statement then notes that the Holy Father has also decided to send a contribution of 100,000 Euro in favor of the groups of migrants stranded between Poland and Belarus, and in aid of Caritas Polska to deal with the migration emergency on the border between the two countries.

Thousands of people, mostly from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, are trapped at Belarus' border with Poland, enduring freezing conditions in the hope of crossing into the EU.
ELIZABETH URBAN is News Editor for The Vidette. Urban can be contacted at emurba1@ilstu.edu. Follow Urban on Twitter at @eliizabethurban.

IF YOU SUPPORT THE VIDETTE MISSION of providing a training laboratory for Illinois State University student journalists to learn and sharpen viable, valuable and marketable skills in all phases of digital media, please contribute to this most important cause. Thank you.
Provincial data shows that the majority of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalizations in Canada are now occurring in those who have accepted at least one dose of the novel gene therapy vaccines available for distribution, according to a recent sampling.

Published on Jan. 18 by True North News, an article titled Majority Of Canadians Currently Hospitalized Are Fully Vaccinated, Government Data Shows harvested COVID hospitalization statistics from each Province, revealing that the majority of patients are now vaccinated individuals.

Most notable was Canadas most populous Province, Ontario, which registers a staggering 2,050 fully vaccinated individuals hospitalized amid the pandemic. This figure stands in contrast against 195 partially vaccinated and 739 unvaccinated hospitalizations.

True North reported that for those held in the provinces Intensive Care Units, the split is almost 50-50 with 195 unvaccinated, 196 fully vaccinated, and 17 partially vaccinated individuals.

These figures changed to 224 fully vaccinated, 18 partially vaccinated, and 185 unvaccinated cases as of the morning of Jan. 19.

Ontario boasts that 89 percent of all residents aged 12+ are fully vaccinated, with 3 percent partially vaccinated. The Province is home to more than 38 percent of the countrys population with 14.56 million people.

A recent study funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health examined all of the Provinces positive PCR tests between Nov. 22 and Dec. 19, 2021. It found that 94.9 percent of all Omicron positives and 66.9 percent of all Delta positives occurred in the fully vaccinated and boosted.

In neighboring Quebec, home to almost 8.5 million people, True North registered 90 unvaccinated hospitalizations compared to 10 partially vaccinated and 192 fully vaccinated individuals.

Among those held in ICU, 16 are unvaccinated compared to only 2 partially vaccinated and 11 fully vaccinated individuals.

The Government of Quebec was the first in Canada to implement vaccine passports in August. Since, it has installed a 10:00 p.m. martial law-esque curfew on citizens that came into effect on New Years Eve, banned the unvaccinated from all cannabis and liquor retailers and all retailers with buildings over 1,500 square feet, and recently announced it would begin a fundamental tax-based fine against the Provinces remaining unvaccinated.

85 percent of Quebecs eligible are fully vaccinated.

In British Columbia, home to close to 5.1 million people, True North reported Provincial data registered 235 unvaccinated hospitalizations compared to 38 partially vaccinated and 536 fully vaccinated individuals.

99 individuals of an undefined vaccination status are in ICU. Slightly less than 80 percent of all eligible recipients are fully vaccinated.

Manitoba, a small prairie province home to only 1.37 million people, has 195 unvaccinated hospitalized compared to 22 partially vaccinated and 356 fully vaccinated individuals, according to True North.

For ICU stayers, 70 are registered as unvaccinated compared to 4 partially vaccinated and 27 fully vaccinated individuals.

Manitoba COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, ICU patients, and deaths by vaccination status. (Image: Government of Manitoba)

Data from the Government of Manitobas website, however, breaks down cases, hospitalizations, ICU stays, and deaths via vaccination status. In all four categories, the majority are those who have accepted between 1 and 3 doses.

75.7 of all eligible members of Manitoba are fully vaccinated.

Alberta, home to almost 4.4 million people, aggregates its hospitalizations over a period spanning the previous 120 days. True North reports 4,167 unvaccinated cases and 1,892 fully vaccinated cases compared to 942 unvaccinated ICU cases and 180 fully vaccinated ICU cases.

78 percent of Albertans overall have accepted at least one dose of vaccination.

Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson recently pointed out on his Substack that the Government of Alberta had removed a data plot published on its COVID-19 statistics website that curiously counted the number of days between vaccination acceptance against hospitalization and death.

You're missing out on the fact that the hospitalized "unvaccinated" could actually be "< 14 days post vaccination". So subtract them from your calculation as well. Pic is Alberta data. pic.twitter.com/pZujIyNORK  RB (@imdyingslowly) January 19, 2022

The plot appeared to show that the great majority of hospitalizations and deaths were occurring between 0 and 20 days post vaccination.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently vowed to not follow in Quebecs footsteps of implementing a financial penalty to coerce the unvaccinated to accept injection.

Nova Scotia registered 15 unvaccinated hospitalizations against 3 partially vaccinated and 53 fully vaccinated individuals. Prince Edward Island has only 4 unvaccinated, 1 partially vaccinated, and 12 fully vaccinated individuals in hospitals associated to COVID.

Nova Scotia is home to slightly more than 970,000 people. For PEI the number is almost 157,000.

Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut do not reveal their hospitalization data in light of vaccination status.
The Chinese military said on Thursday that its radars picked up a U.S. warship sailing through the South China Sea, accusing the Navy of provocative actions and warned of serious consequences.



China claims almost all 1.3 million square miles of these waters as its sovereign territory and reacted angrily at the passing of the American ship.

The Pentagon denied wrongdoing and said the mission did not violate international maritime laws and was conducted in line with its commitment to defend every nations right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, adding that Nothing PRC [Peoples Republic of China] says otherwise will deter us.

During a press briefing, a spokesperson for the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) south command center said the spotted ship was identified as the USS Benfold  a guided-missile destroyer that had illegally entered Chinas Xisha territorial waters without the approval of the Chinese government.

The spokesperson, identified as Coronel Tian Junli, said Chinas navy and air forces were engaged to track and monitor the ships path in order to give an eviction warning to the U.S. Navy.



We solemnly demand that the US side immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events, a statement released by the PLA read.



What the US has done seriously infringes on Chinas sovereignty and security, and is yet another piece of hard evidence that it is pursuing maritime hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea. Facts fully prove that the US is a risk-maker in the South China Sea and the biggest destroyer of peace and stability in the South China Sea, the statement added.

Disputed waters

The South China Sea, which is crossed by vital shipping lanes everyday and is also home to gas fields and rich fishing grounds, is a significant source of tension between China and its regional neighbors, as well as the U.S.



In addition, the Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracels, are a chain of 130 coral islands and reefs heavily disputed within the South China Sea. Although China, Vietnam and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over these islands, the Chinese government has held practical control for the past 46 years.



READ MORE:

Asserting Dominance: China Setting Up Antennas Over the South China Sea

China has also established military infrastructure on the islands, which plays a key role in Chinas goal of establishing surveillance and power projection capabilities throughout the South China Sea, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

Japan conducts free navigation in South China Sea

On Jan. 10, Radio Free Asia reported that the Japanese navy was conducting its own freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in order to to warn China, but doing so in a cautious manner.



The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japans largest newsletter, reported that unnamed government sources said Japanese ships had sailed through waters near the artificial islands and reefs claimed by China in the South China Sea on at least two occasions in March and August of last year.

The Maritime Self-Defense Force (Japanese Navy) operations started in March 2021 under the administration of then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, it said.

A Japanese senior Defense Ministry official also told the paper that the operations were meant to warn China, which is distorting international law, to protect freedom of navigation, and the law and order of the sea.
What started out as an ambitious plan to globalize itself is now slipping further out of reach for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).



Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was inaugurated in 2013 and aimed to facilitate trade and promote connectivity and cooperation among countries in Eurasia and some African countries. The initiative also planned to develop two new trade routes connecting China to the rest of the world.



While the project began as an effort to develop an expanded, interdependent market for China by growing its economic and political prowess through infrastructure and technological innovation, it has faced considerable financial challenges in recent years.



In the past, joining the BRI came with high prospects of funding  often for large infrastructure projects. Now, however, banks are demanding feasibility studies amid rising debt and corruption in Africa and certain countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

RELATED:



In 2022, Expect Chinas Economy to Worsen Further

4 Factors to Watch in Chinas Latest Economic Stagnation

Funding no longer guaranteed

Recently, Morocco led the way in North Africa when it became the first country in the region to sign on to an implementation plan for Chinas massive infrastructure program. Last month, four other North African countries  Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria  also signed up for the BRI.



Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita said the initiative would open up new prospects for trade and investment, and bring additional opportunities consistent with the kingdoms New Development Model.



But experts are now saying the near-guaranteed funding that the agreement would have once brought to participating countries may not necessarily translate into effect today.



While the Chinese government said the focus of the BRI was less about expanding the scope in funding new projects and more about enlarging membership to increase the initiatives legitimacy, the incoming cash flow was one of the biggest incentives for countries to join.

Experts weigh in on Chinas economic challenges

Benjamin Barton, an assistant professor at the University of Nottinghams Malaysia campus, said that with Chinas recent economic stagnation and a generally more inward-looking and conservative approach from Beijing, the heady days of ill-considered projects and wild spending have been  temporarily  put to rest.



Barton added that future funding would become more austere and driven by financial, environmental, social and political factors rather than just agreeing to projects for the sake of racking up project numbers.



China will continue to strive to get countries in the Global South to sign up for the [BRI] in a bid to eventually have all countries in the Global South as part of it, Barton hypothesized.



Lauren Johnston, a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide and founder of New South Economics in Australia, agreed with Bartons views on the countrys shifting economic priorities.

Johnston highlighted that in the past, large Chinese investments were mainly being funneled into infrastructure projects, especially in the energy sector.



[But] now the focus is on realizing some of that value such as getting the exports moving, and getting employment going up, and moving some of the value chains, Johnston said, adding that new investment flows, including financing, have moved in waves and lumps and did not have to rise continuously to express continuous commitment from China.
On Jan 19, Jordan Peterson, bestselling author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, penned a letter published by Canadas National Post announcing his resignation from a tenured position at the University of Toronto.

Peterson is a polarizing Canadian clinical psychologist, YouTube personality, author and now a retired professor. He gained international prominence in 2016 after he released a series of YouTube videos critical of the Canadian governments Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (Bill C-16) which introduced gender identity and expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

He argues that the bill resulted in an environment where compelled speech was made law while relating the issue to a general critique of political correctness and identity politics. Peterson attracted significant attention by people both supporting and criticizing his views.

In his letter, Peterson said that he had envisioned teaching and researching at the U of T, full time, until they had to haul my skeleton out of my office, but admitted that that career path was not meant to be.

His resignation is partly due to what he refers to as DIE or Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity mandates.

He stated that his qualified and supremely trained heterosexual white male graduate students  face a negligible chance of being offered university research positions, despite stellar scientific dossiers.

He argued that white, heterosexual males, stand little chance of being awarded research positions in academia due to academias preoccupation with race and identity politics. He said, there simply is not enough qualified BIPOC people in the pipeline to meet diversity targets quickly enough.This has been common knowledge among any remotely truthful academic who has served on a hiring committee for the last three decades.

Peterson believes that this culture means were out to produce a generation of researchers utterly unqualified for the job.

Another reason he cites for his resignation is the appalling ideology currently demolishing the universities and, downstream, the general culture.

He cites experiences where his colleagues must craft DIE statements to obtain research grants, implying that these statements amount to nothing more than virtue signalling and have no value. He mentions that some of his colleagues have allowed themselves to undergo anti-bias training conducted by what he says are supremely unqualified Human Resources personnel.

Peterson, referring to what he describes as woke madness asserts that Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity  that radical leftist Trinity  is destroying us.

He ends his over 2,200 word letter imploring people to stop going along with DIE activists stating that those who choose to comply are responsible for what he refers to as an untenable situation.

He calls out CEOs and artists alike asking that they stop bending your sacred and meritorious art to the demands of the propagandists before you fatally betray the spirit of your own intuition.

He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind. And the wind is rising, Peterson wrote.
Experts say North Koreas hypersonic missile is hard to track and intercept because of its ability to maneuver, leaving South Korea vulnerable to North Koreas missile attacks.

According to Jeffrey Lewis, a missile expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, the missiles capabilities may leave South Korea with little choice but to launch preemptive strikes on North Koreas leadership before the regime orders the firing of missiles.

Despite the focus of attention on the missiles speed, the real danger comes from the missiles ability to maneuver, Lewis said.

He added that what North Korea tested earlier this month were maneuvering reentry vehicles (MaRV). A MaRV is a detachable gliding warhead that can change its course of flight.

Its just not right to say that this represents a shorter time of flight, Lewis said. What it represents is the ability to maneuver. So, the value of the maneuvering reentry vehicle is not that it would get to its target faster because it will get there slower.

Hard to intercept

Lewis said the maneuverability of the missiles make them difficult to detect and intercept once they are in flight using missile defense systems.

He also said using preemptive strikes to destroy the missiles or launchers as they are being prepared to take off is equally difficult because locating where North Korea would fire them is hard to assess and target.

Its almost impossible to go out and find and destroy the launchers and so the only viable strategy South Korea has ever had has been to target the North Korean leadership before it can give the order. Lewis said, adding, That is extremely escalatory and dangerous in a crisis.

North Korea said it successfully test-fired hypersonic missiles on Jan. 5 and Jan. 11.

The test launch clearly demonstrated the control and stability of the hypersonic gliding warhead, said North Koreas state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Jan. 6, referring to the test conducted Jan. 5.

On Jan. 12, KCNA said, The test-fire was aimed at the final verification of overall technical specifications of the developed hypersonic weapons system, regarding the test conducted Jan. 11.

Bruce Bechtol, a former intelligence officer at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and now a professor at Angelo University in Texas, said the hypersonic missiles that North Korea tested appear to have evade abilities better than anything [the regime] tested thus far, being able to dodge ballistic missile defense and anti-aircraft fire.

Bechtol also said the missiles seem to have more pinpointed accuracy than most of other North Korean missiles.

Raising stakes

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow for the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, cautioned against South Korea using preemptive strikes.

Theres a big risk brewing on the Korean Peninsula in that both Koreas are building large missile arsenals that they anticipate using first in a crisis, said Panda. The pressures to preempt are strong on both sides, and this can lead to a war that neither side intends through miscalculation.

Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation research center, said South Korea should consider destroying North Koreas missiles before they are launched because of the risk associated with relying only on missile defense systems designed to intercept missiles during flight.

Your missile defenses cant do the whole job because missile defense systems arent everywhere in South Korea leaving too many targets unprotected and because of the brief flight time from North Korea, Bennett said. Youve got to have capabilities to destroy these missiles as part of the Kill Chain, essentially.

The Kill Chain is a part of South Korean strategy to identify and preemptively strike key North Korean missiles and nuclear sites if threats appear imminent.

Return to brinkmanship

According to David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, North Koreas recent missile tests show regime leader Kim Jong Un is executing a political warfare strategy and developing the capabilities to fight and win a war that relies heavily on its blackmail diplomacy  the use of increased tension, threats and provocations to gain political and economic concessions.

Bennett said Pyongyangs reference to the missiles it conducted as hypersonic should not be taken at face value.

Theyre not what the U.S. or the Russians or the Chinese call a hypersonic missile, Bennett said. North Korea tends to exaggerate what its got.

In response to North Koreas supersonic missile tests, the U.S. imposed unilateral sanctions on the regimes weapons program on Jan. 12.

On the same day, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield called for more international sanctions on North Korea.

Following the U.S. sanctions, North Korea conducted two more tests of what it called tactical guided missiles on Jan. 14 and 17.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Tuesday condemned North Koreas missile tests during her phone conversation with Choi Jong-kun, South Koreas first vice foreign minister, as the two discussed their efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
Chinese health officials are warning the public to minimize orders from overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic and wear protective gear when handling inbound packages, measures that followed a suspected transmission of the virus from North American parcels to two domestic patients.

When asked whether the virus could be transmitted via surfaces, however, two U.S. experts told VOA that it was unlikely.

People in Beijing and Shenzhen became infected with the omicron variant of COVID-19 after touching the parcels, the Chinese government's National Health Commission said on its website this week.

According to the website, the Shenzhen patient, a worker in a low-temperature-controlled supply chain, also known as a cold chain, came into contact with packages from North America on January 12. The Beijing patient touched the outer surface of a package and the top page of an enclosed document. The package was sent from Canada January 7 via Hong Kong.

According to the commission, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on Monday "reminded the public not to buy things too frequently from overseas during the pandemic and wear masks and disposable gloves when receiving mail from abroad."

Surface-to-human coronavirus transmission is improbable, researchers say.

"I feel that the emphasis on cold chains and international mail means that the investigators are not looking at [the] correct place," said Alina Chan, a molecular biologist and postdoctoral associate at the Broad Institute, which is backed by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scientific literature written over the past two years points entirely to airborne transmission, Chan said.

"I think it is a mistake to tell people all these things and make them worry about the wrong things," Chan said. "You have people cleaning and scrubbing all the international mail instead of thinking properly for themselves, like, 'Should I be going to places where there might be a lot of travelers, a lot of tourists or people just come back from a business trip?' "

Emanuel Goldman, professor of microbiology, biochemistry and molecular genetics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, agreed. Some "artificial" lab experiments have implicated surfaces as a transmission source because "they used huge amounts of virus not related to the real-world levels that you would see," Goldman said.

He described the coronavirus as "fragile," meaning that "it dies quickly in the environment." People spread it by breathing, he added.

The National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China said close contacts of the two patients exposed to packages had tested negative for the coronavirus.

Inspectors in China, however, will intensify the disinfection of inbound packages, domestic news website Caixin Global reported Tuesday. That process will become the "latest in a long line of supply chain disruptions" for China, Caixin Global said.

Outside threat mentality

Leaders in China often blame outside factors for domestic issues, the Harvard Business Review said in a May 2021 report. The "threat from foreign powers" has been a theme over much of the nation's modern history, it said, and China's leaders "still blame foreign interference for many of their misfortunes."

Chinese officials are aiming for a country free of COVID-19, especially before the Beijing Winter Olympics February 4-20. Since December, they have locked down three cities to contain the spread.

According to China, it throttled the world's first COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 and remained largely free of the disease until December 25 last year. The country's health commission reported 87 cases on Tuesday, following daily counts as high as 231 over the past three weeks.

Wang Yinan contributed to this report.
Police in Pakistans second-largest city, Lahore, said Thursday a bomb explosion in a busy central marketplace had killed at least two people and injured at least 29 others.

A spokesman for the so-called Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA), one of several outlawed ethnic separatist militant groups active in mineral-rich southwestern Baluchistan province, took responsibility for the attack.

The blast, caused by a planted device, happened in the eastern citys famous Anarkali bazaar, which is known for selling Indian goods, according to an official statement quoting Abid Khan, a deputy police inspector general in Lahore.

Investigations are ongoing, but it is premature to speculate on where the explosive device was planted, Khan said.

Earlier media reports quoted authorities as saying the bomb was attached to a motorcycle.

In video taken at the scene, clothing and wreckage from a motorcycle can be seen on the ground as well as damaged store fronts. People can also be seen attempting to help the wounded.

The injured were transported to a nearby hospital where some of them were reportedly listed in critical condition. Officials said a 9-year-old child was one of those killed.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed regret over the "loss of precious human lives," his office said.

"This attack targeted bank employees. A detailed statement will be issued soon, wrote a BNA spokesman wrote on Twitter. The veracity of BNA's claim of responsibility could not be independently verified.

Pakistan has experienced a surge in deadly militant attacks across the country in recent weeks, mostly claimed by the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

A month-long cease-fire between the government and the TTP expired in early December, leading to rise in attacks by the militant group, which officials say operates out of sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan.

On Monday, two armed TTP militants on a motorcycle carried out a rare attack on a police checkpoint near a busy market in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The attack killed a police officer and wounded two others. An ensuing shootout killed both assailants.

The militant group claimed responsibility for the Islamabad attack, prompting authorities to step up security across the city and elsewhere in Pakistan.

Analysts say the Pakistani Taliban have been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power across the border in Afghanistan and anticipate a further rise in militant violence in Pakistan in the near future.

The AP reports that TTP since August has warned of more attacks.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris would be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election if he stood for office again.

"She's going to be my running mate," Biden said of Harris during a press conference held to mark the first year of his presidency.

In mid-December, Harris said she and Biden had not yet discussed the 2024 election, amid speculation she might not be in the running for the White House if Biden chose not to stand again.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, when asked about the possibility of Biden, 79, running again, Harris said: "I don't think about it, nor have we talked about it."

Harris, the first woman and first Black and Asian American person ever sworn in as vice president, initially seemed to be the heir apparent.

But her halo has slipped amid negative press alleging dysfunction among her staff, doubt on her standing within the administration and her frustrations over thorny assignments, such as minority voting access and the migration crisis at the southern border.

Biden defended Harris' record on tackling voting rights, saying, "I did put her in charge. I think she's doing a good job."

Biden is pressing Congress to pass two major bills broadening access to the ballot box, placing more onerous conditions on states attempting to change voting laws and protecting election officials from undue influence.

Democrats and voting rights activists have championed the measures as a necessary response to Republican efforts to restrict voting, especially among Black and Latino Americans.
On a visit to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reassured the people of Ukraine that the United States stands with them in the face of a potentially imminent Russian invasion. After meeting with Ukraines foreign minister Wednesday, Blinken spoke with VOA in Kyiv about the U.S. diplomatic effort to calm the situation. VOAs Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Thursday that the United States and its allies would inflict swift and massive costs on Russia if it invades Ukraine but said Russian President Vladimir Putin can still opt for a diplomatic solution to rising tensions in eastern Europe.

Were at a decisive juncture, Blinken said in Berlin of the standoff between Western countries and Moscow over Putins massing of 100,000 troops along Ukraines eastern flank.

Blinken said the U.S. has been "very clear throughout" that if any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border that they will be met with a swift, severe united response from the U.S, and our allies and partners."

After meeting with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Blinken said Putin has a choice between dialogue and diplomacy on the one hand and conflict and consequences on the other hand. He has to decide which course to take.

Blinken has arrived in Geneva where he is meeting Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the fourth time in the last week that U.S. and Russian officials have engaged in direct talks.

The West is demanding that Russia pull its troops and weapons away from the Ukraine border while Moscow is pushing for NATO, the Western military alliance, to curtail its operations in eastern and central Europe and insisting that NATO reject Ukraines bid for membership.

While the U.S. has been resolute in saying that a Russian military invasion of Ukraine would draw swift and significant economic sanctions, but no U.S. or NATO military response, it has been less clear what the West might do in the event of Russian cyberattacks or other actions against the Kyiv government.

At his news conference Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden made confusing remarks about the Wests response to what he called a minor incursion.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki later said Biden knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.

Bidens comment about a minor incursion drew a sharp retort from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said on Twitter, We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the president of a great power.

Biden hedged on whether Putin will invade Ukraine, saying, Im not so sure he [is] certain what hes going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something.

The U.S. leader said he does not believe Putin wants a full-blown war but does want to test the resolve of the United States and NATO.

WATCH: Biden Says Any Russian Troop Movement into Ukraine Would Trigger Severe Action



Russia has denied it has intentions of invading Ukraine, while it seeks security guarantees, such as Ukraine not joining the NATO, the seven-decade-old military alliance formed after World War II.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that Ukrainian and Western claims of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine were a "cover for staging large-scale provocations of their own, including those of military character."

"They may have extremely tragic consequences for the regional and global security," Zakharova said.

She pointed to Britain delivering weapons to Ukraine in recent days, claiming that Ukraine perceives Western military assistance as a "carte blanche for a military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Some material in this report came from the Associated Press.
British police on Thursday arrested two men as part of an investigation into a hostage taking at a synagogue in Texas.

Two men have been arrested this morning in Birmingham and Manchester, counter terrorism police said.

The daylong siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, about 16 miles northeast of Fort Worth, Texas, ended in gunfire on Saturday night with all four hostages released unharmed and the death of the suspect.
Chinese forces followed and warned away a U.S. warship that entered waters near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, the countrys military said Thursday, in the latest uptick in tensions in the disputed waterway.

The Southern Theatre Command of the Peoples Liberation Army said the USS Benfold illegally sailed into Chinese territorial waters without permission, violating the countrys sovereignty, and that Chinese naval and air forces tracked the ship.

We solemnly demand that the U.S. side immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events, it added.

The U.S. Navy rejected the idea that the Benfold was warned away but appeared to confirm the ship was operating in the area, saying the mission reflected the U.S. Navys commitment to defend freedom of navigation.

The PRCs statement about this mission is false, 7th Fleet spokesperson Mark Langford said in a statement. The 7th Fleet is part of the U.S. Navys Pacific force.

The Benfold was conducting what the navy called a freedom of navigation operation in accordance with international law, the statement said. The ship then continued on to conduct normal operations in international waters.

The U.S. Navy frequently carries out such missions in the South China Sea to challenge Chinese territorial claims.

The United States is defending every nations right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did this week. Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us, the statement further added.

China has established military outposts on artificial islands in the waters, which are crossed by vital shipping lanes and also contain gas fields and rich fishing grounds.

The South China Sea has become one of many flashpoints in the testy relationship between China and the United States, with Washington rejecting what it calls unlawful territorial claims by Beijing.

China claims vast swaths of the South China Sea. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have overlapping claims.
Uganda reopened schools this month after a nearly two-year shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of students have returned, but many others have not, due to poverty and the need to earn income for their families.

Fifteen-year-old Rania Kyomuhangi is one of six children in her family who will not be returning to school.

When schools closed in March 2020 for more than 15 million students, Rania had just reached high school, with a dream to be a medical doctor.

I feel bad because I see my friends, my neighbors, them calling us, telling us that they are going back to school. Asking us that when are you going back to school, and I dont know what to say, said Rania.

Uganda reopened schools January 10. The government launched a one month back-to-school campaign to ensure all children return.

The Ministry of Education has issued guidelines for schools not to raise tuition for returning students. Some families, however, are still unable to pay the fees.

The state minister for primary education, Joyce Moriku Kaducu, said people who are not able to afford tuition should devise other means to ensure the children resume their studies.

Some parents may not have money, but they may have food. In rural schools they may have cassava, they may have maize, they may have beans," she said. "That is also something the school can say okay, you dont have the money, but are you able to bring some food stuff, which we can translate into money?

Oliva Naiga, a former teacher and Ranias mother, comforts her six children with a bible session. She was laid off and with no school to hire her, could not afford to take the children back to school. The ministers suggestion did not resonate with her.

We tried Rania to take her back where she was, pleading that we shall pay slowly. They were not ready to accept. And I see my girl is growing. It is not easy to stay with a girl who is growing at home for two years, she said.

UNICEF Uganda says that during the school closure, the countrys 15 million students collectively lost 2.9 billion hours of learning time per month.

Many of those children began working during the closure, and Munir Safieldin, the UNICEF country representative, said their families will not easily give up that income.

And to facilitate the return to school, we definitely need to look into a number of support systems, support programs. Which I also understand, theres a trade-off. These support systems like social protection systems, where families which are experiencing poverty, should be supported, said Munir.

Munir notes that these programs require a lot of public financing, which is a challenge for a country like Uganda.
President Joe Biden is not planning to answer a further Russian invasion of Ukraine by sending combat troops. But he could pursue a range of less dramatic yet still risky military options, including supporting a post-invasion Ukrainian resistance.

The rationale for not directly joining a Russia-Ukraine war is simple. The United States has no treaty obligation to Ukraine, and war with Russia would be an enormous gamble, given its potential for expanding in Europe, destabilizing the region, and escalating to the frightening point of risking a nuclear exchange.

Doing too little has its risks, too. It might suggest an acquiescence to future Russian moves against other countries in eastern Europe, such as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, although as NATO members those three have security assurances from the United States and the rest of the alliance.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Europe this week to speak with officials in Ukraine, consult NATO allies and then meet Friday with his Russian counterpart, has asserted "an unshakable U.S. commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity." But he has not publicly defined the limits of that commitment.

How far, then, might the United States and its allies go to help Ukraine defend itself if the buildup of Russian forces along Ukraine's borders leads to an invasion?

WHY NOT CONTEST A RUSSIAN INVASION?

Going to war against Russia in Ukraine could tie up U.S. forces and resources for years and take a heavy toll in lives with an uncertain outcome at a time when the Biden administration is trying to focus on China as the chief security threat.

On Wednesday, Biden said it was his "guess" that Russian President Vladimir Putin will end up sending forces into Ukraine, although he also said he doesn't think Putin wants all-out war. Biden did not address the possibility of putting U.S. ground troops in Ukraine to stop an invasion, but he previously had ruled that out.

Biden said he is uncertain how Putin will use the forces he has assembled near Ukraine's border, but the United States and NATO have rejected what Moscow calls its main demand  a guarantee that the Western alliance will not expand further eastward. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 after the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-friendly leader and also intervened in eastern Ukraine that year to support a separatist insurgency. More than 14,000 people have been killed in nearly eight years of fighting there.

The stakes in Ukraine are high  militarily and politically. Lawmakers have intensified their criticism of Biden's approach to Putin. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused Biden of "handwringing and appeasement," but he has not urged sending combat troops. Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, called for an urgent "nonstop airlift" of military equipment and trainers into Ukraine.

Philip Breedlove, a retired Air Force general who served as the top NATO commander in Europe from 2013 to 2016, said in an interview he does not expect or recommend that the United States send combat troops into Ukraine. Instead, Washington and its allies should be looking for ways to help Ukraine defend its own airspace and territorial waters, where it faces overwhelming Russian superiority, he said.

"Those are things we should be considering as an alliance and as a nation," he said. "If Mr. Putin is allowed to invade Ukraine and there were to be little or no consequence, we will see more of the same."

WHAT ARE BIDEN'S OTHER OPTIONS?

Given its clear military inferiority, Ukraine could not prevent Russian forces from invading. But with help from the United States and others, Ukraine might deter Putin from acting if he were convinced that the costs would be too high.

"The key to thwarting Russian ambitions is to prevent Moscow from having a quick victory and to raise the economic, political, and military costs by imposing economic sanctions, ensuring political isolation from the West, and raising the prospect of a prolonged insurgency that grinds away the Russian military," Seth Jones, a political scientist, and Philip Wasielewski, a former CIA paramilitary officer, wrote in a Jan. 13 analysis for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Biden administration has suggested it is thinking along similar lines.

HOW IS THE U.S. SUPPORTING UKRAINE'S MILITARY NOW?

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby says there are about 200 National Guard soldiers in Ukraine to train and advise local forces, and on Tuesday he said there are no plans to augment their number. There also are an undisclosed number of U.S. special operations troops providing training in Ukraine. Kirby wouldn't say whether the U.S. soldiers would pull out in the event of a Russian invasion, but he said the Pentagon would "make all the appropriate and proper decisions to make sure our people are safe in any event."

The administration said Wednesday it is providing a further $200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine. Since 2014 the United States has provided Ukraine with about $2.5 billion in defense assistance, including anti-tank missiles and radars.

HOW MIGHT THE U.S. HELP UKRAINE AFTER AN INVASION?

It's not clear. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the U.S. would "dramatically ramp up" support for Ukraine's "territorial integrity and sovereignty." But he did not spell out how that might be done.

The administration says it also is open to sending military reinforcements to NATO allies on the eastern front who want American reassurance.

Jones and Wasielewski say that in addition to implementing severe sanctions against Russia in the event of an invasion, the United States should provide Ukraine with a broad range of military assistance at no cost. This would include air defense, anti-tank and anti-ship systems; electronic warfare and cyber defense systems; small arms and artillery ammunition, and other items.

"The United States and NATO should be prepared to offer long-term support to Ukraine's resistance no matter what form it ends up taking," they wrote. This aid could be delivered overtly with the help of U.S. troops, including special operations forces, or it could be a CIA-led covert action authorized by President Biden, they added.

That would carry the risk of putting U.S. personnel in the line of fire  and drawing the United States into the very combat it's determined to avoid.
A Haitian wanted in the assassination of the country's president was arrested in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday after being extradited from the Dominican Republic, a U.S. Justice Department official said.

Rodolphe Jaar will be the second person to stand trial in the United States in the death of Jovenel Moise in July last year. A retired Colombian soldier, Mario Palacios, was charged on Jan. 4 for his alleged role in the killing.

Jaar fled from Haiti after the attack at the presidential palace and was arrested in the neighboring Dominican Republic on Jan. 7, exactly six months after the assassination.

Jaar is to make an initial court appearance Thursday to hear the charges against him, the Justice Department official said.

The department has not explained why Jaar or Palacios is being charged in the United States rather than in Haiti.

The Miami Herald said Jaar is a businessman who served jail time in the United States for cocaine trafficking a decade ago.

Last Friday, police in Jamaica arrested a former Haitian senator, Jean Joel Joseph, also wanted in his country in connection to Moise's killing.

More than 40 people have been arrested in connection with the attack, but much remains unknown, especially who ordered it.

The assassination deepened a dramatic crisis in Haiti, which is suffering from a lack of security, soaring gang violence and a spate of kidnappings.
It remains 100 seconds to midnight on the Doomsday Clock, the famous annual announcement for how close humanity is to extinction.

The Chicago-based non-profit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists kept the analog hands at the same time for a second year in a row  the closest it has been to midnight during its 75 years.

The Doomsday Clock is holding steady at 100 seconds to midnight. But steady is not good news. In fact, it reflects the judgment of the board, that we are stuck in a perilous moment, one that brings neither stability nor security, said Sharon Squassoni, co-chair of the Bulletins Science and Security Board and George Washington University research professor.

Among key concerns, according to Squassoni and others who help set the clocks time, are a lack of stability in the nuclear arms race, tension over Ukraine and nascent efforts to craft strategic stability with China.

The Doomsday Clock is not set by good intentions, but rather by evidence of action, or in this case inaction, noted Scott Sagan, a Stanford University political science professor.

In addition to concerns about China, Sagan specifically mentioned Irans nuclear proliferation and North Korea.

I am very worried about the situation in North Korea, not just because of concerns about North Korean decision making, but because of the risk of an accidental or unauthorized use there, said Sagan in response to a question from VOAs Korean Service.

First unveiled in 1947  at seven minutes to midnight  amid the increasing chill of the Cold War, the clock was originally intended to warn of the possibility of civilization being destroyed in a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Two years later, the hands moved on what had been a static clock  to three minutes to midnight  after the first Soviet nuclear weapons test. In 1953, the hands moved forward again to two minutes to midnight, after the Americans and Russians detonated the first thermonuclear weapons.

Over the decades, the clock has become an indicator of the risk to the planet from multiple potential catastrophes, including climate change and disruptive technologies.

Comments from scientists during Thursdays event on the justification for the setting of the hands ranged from the coronavirus pandemic to the plight of the Uyghurs in Chinas Xinjiang province.

While the Doomsday Clock serves as a metaphor, the challenges it represents are very, very real, said Rachel Bronson, president and chief executive officer of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, at the start of the annual event held online this year with speakers in different locations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The farthest the hands have moved from midnight was in 1991 when the clock read 11:43 p.m. following the Threshold Test Ban Treaty entering into force.

The clock has faced some criticism over the decades as an expression of exaggerated angst of politically left-leaning academics and that in recent years its message has drifted far from the dangers of the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Most of us have been experiencing feelings of gloom and doom in the last few years, but the Bulletin has been well ahead of the curve, noted Joshua Pollack, editor of The Nonproliferation Review and a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

The Doomsday Clock has been set very low for some time now, mainly on account of climate change. It sends an important message. But it also tends to make the clock less useful as a warning device concerning the state of the nuclear arms race, Pollack told VOA.
An aid flight landed in Tonga on Thursday, the first since an undersea volcano triggered devastating tsunami waves. A New Zealand military Hercules brought water containers, temporary shelters and generators. Australian planes will also deliver essential supplies.

So far, just three fatalities have been reported after Saturdays disaster in Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago that lies about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand.

The damage to property and infrastructure is reported to be immense, though.

Aerial pictures taken by the New Zealand air force show several villages have been wiped out on some islands.

Hundreds of volunteers and members of the Tongan defense force have been clearing ash and other debris from the runway at the main airport, allowing international aid to arrive.

Satellite communications have been restored, but other telephone and internet networks could take up to a month to repair because of damage to an undersea communications cable.

Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., Rachael Moore, Australias high commissioner to Tonga, assessed the impact of the disaster.

These places are devastated, she said. They are described as a moonscape, and you might have seen some photos of that. So, the fact that the Tongan government was able to support the people and the Tongan people knew what to do in the case of a tsunami has meant that the loss of life and the number of serious injuries is small. But the loss to property is catastrophic.

Two New Zealand navy ships are due to arrive Friday carrying water and other essential supplies, as well as engineers and helicopters.

Distributing supplies is further complicated by the need to maintain COVID-19 protocols. Tonga has recorded just a single case of coronavirus. Tongan and New Zealand officials have been working out how foreign assistance can be delivered in a contactless way.

Tonga has an estimated population of 100,000. There are large expatriate communities in Australia and New Zealand.




French President Emmanuel Macrons call for the European Union to pursue its own talks with the Kremlin is raising fears of a split developing in the Western response to the threat of a Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Macron has struggled in the past to convince his EU partners of the need for Europe to take regional security into its own hands and depend less on the United States. His speech to European lawmakers Wednesday, though, in which he called for the bloc to negotiate its own security and stability pact with the Kremlin, was welcomed by Russian state-owned media.

But some Central European and Baltic leaders said Macrons comments were ill-timed and risk encouraging the Kremlin to try to play the U.S. and EU against each other, and cause a divide as the U.S. calls for Western unity.

Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, said he was at a loss to understand what Macron means about coming up with a new order of security and stability.

These next few months, rather, seem to call for firm defense of the existing post-1989 order, he tweeted.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Russia could attack at very short notice. Also, there have been reports that Russia has moved Iskander short-range ballistic missiles to the border, placing them within striking range of Kyiv. Russia has deployed an estimated 127,000 troops along Ukraines borders, according to Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

Some Russian detachments currently in Belarus, a Russian ally, have been moved closer to the Ukrainian border, according to the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of independent Russian researchers, who say Russian military hardware has been spotted in Belaruss Gomel region, a short distance from Ukraine. Russian officials deny they have any intention to attack Ukraine and that Russian forces are in Belarus for joint military exercises.

In his speech before the European Parliament, Macron said: Its good for Europe and the U.S. to coordinate, but it is vital that Europe has its own dialogue with Russia. He said Europeans should build a new framework between us, Europeans, share it with our allies in NATO, and propose it for negotiation to Russia," he told EU lawmakers.

Additionally, Macron emphasized that borders should be inviolable, and that the EU must not allow Russia to veto Ukraine or any other state from joining NATO, a key Russian demand.

Macrons floating of an EU security pact with Russia is exactly the wrong thing to do, tweeted Edward Lucas, of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a U.S.-based think tank, and author of the book The New Cold War.

EU officials say they were blindsided by Macrons call for Europeans to conduct their own dialogue with the Kremlin thats distinct from the United States. Western diplomats said the French leader had not consulted other national leaders before the speech. On Thursday, senior EU officials sought to reassure Washington.

Macron aides also scrambled to walk back some of the French leaders comments, with one saying Paris is very much in favor of close coordination with the U.S. And he said Macrons call for a new security framework would help reinforce the unity of the NATO alliance.

The EU has not been directly involved in the most substantive talks with the Kremlin over Ukraine and a series of other Russian demands, including an end to NATO enlargement and a rollback of any NATO military presence in the former Communist states of central Europe that have joined the Western alliance.

Russian officials held meetings last week with the U.S. and with NATO, though EU representatives participated in a meeting of the 57 states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Twenty-one of the EUs 27 members also are NATO members.

Asked whether the European Commission backed Macrons proposal for separate talks with Russia, a spokesperson said the EU was formulating is strategy within the framework of the ongoing contacts and coordination, both within the EU and between the EU and the transatlantic partners such as the U.S., Canada, NATO and the OSCE.

EU and NATO allies have been unanimous in rejecting Russian demands for Ukraine never to join the Western alliance, but there have been signs of divisions among them about how the West should seek to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine and what steps to take if Russia does so.

Current and former Western diplomats have told VOA that while theres broad agreement among Western powers about sanctioning Russia in the event of a military incursion, there is not yet a final deal on the details.

And there have been disagreements between NATO allies on re-arming Ukraine, with Baltic NATO allies Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia pushing for weeks to be allowed to transfer American-made lethal weapons, including anti-armor and ground-to-air missiles, to Ukraine. Midweek they received a go-ahead from the U.S. State Department. But Germany is opposed to large arms transfers to Ukraine, fearing it risks escalating the East-West confrontation.

U.S. President Joe Biden hinted Wednesday at the challenge of keeping all the NATO allies united. Biden reiterated warnings that Russia would face devastating Western sanctions, if an attack went ahead. But at a press conference in Washington, he also said: It's one thing if it's a minor incursion, and we [in NATO] end up fighting about what we should do, not do.

Ukrainian officials reacted angrily to Bidens comments, saying they fear the U.S. leader was inadvertently giving Russian leader Vladimir Putin the green light to mount an incursion short of a full-scale invasion. Ukrainian officials said they were surprised Biden distinguished between incursion and invasion.

Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told the Wall Street Journal: Speaking of minor and full incursions or full invasion, you cannot be half-aggressive. Youre either aggressive or youre not aggressive. He added: We should not give Putin the slightest chance to play with quasi-aggression or small incursion operations. This aggression was there since 2014. This is the fact.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki issued a clarification amid the Ukrainian backlash, saying, President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that's a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies.

At a joint press conference in Berlin on Thursday, neither Secretary Blinken nor his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock directly addressed Macrons comments. Both foreign ministers emphasized the intensity of consultations between all Western allies

The coordination and consultation amongst us allies couldnt be more intensive than it is, said Baerbock.

Blinken added: All of these engagements are part of wide-ranging, ongoing consultations with our European allies and partners  more than a hundred in recent weeks alone, including with Ukraine, NATO, the European Union, the OSCE, the Bucharest Nine, as well as many bilateral conversations with individual countries  to ensure that we are speaking and acting together with one voice when it comes to Russia.
With Myanmars ruling military preoccupied elsewhere, leaders of a Buddhist ethnic minority in western Rakhine state are establishing themselves as the effective government and security force in the state and persuading at least some Muslims that they are a better alternative than the junta.

But the development is worrying other Muslims in the state, the scene of a murderous 2017 rampage by government troops that left thousands dead and drove more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to safety in neighboring Bangladesh.

For them, a recent series of ethnically charged incidents  including the murder of a local official  is bringing back memories of conflict between the two communities in 2012, when people were killed, houses and religious buildings were set on fire, and more than 30,000 people were forced from their homes.

In recent months, Rakhine has remained relatively peaceful despite rising violence elsewhere in Myanmar, where the military  known as the Tatmadaw  is facing popular resistance to its seizure of power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup.

That has left an opening for a bid for power by a mainly Buddhist ethnic group known as Rakhines or Arakans, led by an armed militia known as the Arakan Army which has been fighting the central government since 2009, demanding self-determination for the Rakhine people.

Since the middle of last year, the Arakan Army has been establishing itself as an alternative government in Rakhine, inviting the public to come to it with complaints and to settle legal issues including theft, robbery and land disputes.

We are running a sort of administration in Rakhine. Our judicial system has also been built up there. We have established a tax system, said Arakan Army chief General Twan Mrat Naing during a Dec. 19 interview published in the Bangladeshi news outlet Prothomalo Alo.

This is nothing new in Burma, he added using an alternative name for Myanmar. Almost all the ethnic groups involved in armed struggle run their own administration in their respective areas.

Khaing Kaung San, executive director of the Wan Lark Foundation, which works to improve relations among groups in Rakhine, said the Arakan Army has been able to take advantage of a lack of effective rule in the province by the junta, made up mainly of the nations ethnic majority Burmese.

No one trusts them. So most people rely on AA when something goes wrong. AA is also capable of controlling different communities to prevent getting worse when having an issue among them, he said.

The Arakan Army is increasing efforts to gain credibility with locals. In the Prothomalo Alo interview, Twan Mrat Naing, discussing the Rohingyas and the Buddhist Rakhines, said the Arakan Armys position is as we are all on one side against the Burmese, we want all in Arakan to remain together.

Most Rakhines are optimistic about the Arakan Armys performance in Rakhine state, but some Muslims say they do not fully trust it and are concerned about a power struggle between the Arakan Army and the junta.

Village administrators and village elders from Muslim villages have been warned by the junta not to deal with the Arakan Army. Locals say the military council often arrests locals for suspected links to the insurgent force and prosecutes them under anti-terrorism laws.

Many Muslims are also worried by a wave of recent incidents, including the murder of a local government official for which a 14-year-old Muslim boy is being held. Other incidents include allegations of a plot by two Muslims to rape a Rakhine woman, and destruction of property of both Rakhines and Muslims in November and December.

In November, an Islamic school and a dormitory inside a school were burned down.

According to official figures, 13 fires broke out in Maungdaw district, which borders Bangladesh and has a large Rohingya population, between January and Nov. 25 last year. Eleven of those were in Muslim villages.

Rakhine state seems stable. In reality, it is like a bomb that can explode at any time. There are a lot of invisible problems, said Phone Pyae Phyo, who chairs the Arakan Students' Union. He spoke to VOA from Sittwe township.

The violence has sparked memories of clashes between the two communities in 2012 after three Muslim men raped a Burmese woman, Thida Htwe, in the town of Kyaukphyu. Violence and vandalism spread throughout the state, including the capital, Sittwe.

Leaders of the Arakan Army and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, have denounced the recent violence as an attempt to create fears and anxieties among people. In a formal statement, the group did not assign blame for the incidents, but promised to investigate and provide security for locals.

A similar note was sounded by U Tun Aung Kyaw, a member of central executive committee of another Rakhine-based group, the Arakan National Party.

People from both sides are on high alert not to have sectarian violence like that in 2012. No one wants to get into trouble again, he told VOA. Now, unscrupulous people are using incidents to try to cause trouble again. Fortunately, leaders of both communities have tried to maintain stability.

Despite the recent friction, for many Muslims the greater threat is from the Tatmadaw, which perpetrated the 2017 massacres and still strictly limits their movements.

They say the military has set up checkpoints at township entrances and exits and requires government permission slips, with multiple approvals, to travel beyond their townships. Muslims also say they are barred from traveling to other states and regions.

"So far, we have spent at least 250,000 kyats [$141] to get permission to go to another township in Rakhine state. We are being blocked from visiting other places, said Maw Lawi Tun, a Muslim resident of the state capital, Sittwe.

Adul Malein, a Muslim living in Buthidaung township, said Muslims living conditions were deteriorating year by year. Many cannot find work and have relied heavily on International Committee of the Red Cross food assistance.

"AA came to our village and persuaded us to cooperate with them. They told us that if they succeed and completely control the state, we would have a chance and would enjoy equal rights, Adul Malein said.

Many are still watching the situation, even if we do not fully trust the Arakan Army, he said, adding that they will go with the side that can create a better situation for them.

We are afraid of both sides [AA and junta] and follow their orders because we have nowhere to go, Adul Malien said.
The World Health Organization reports a significant drop in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in Africa for the first time since the omicron variant began widely circulating on the continent two months ago.

The coronavirus pandemic has infected nearly 10.5 million people in Africa and killed more than 234,000. World Health Organization officials say the latest figures reflect a 20 percent drop in coronavirus cases in the week up to January 16, and an 8 percent dip in deaths.

While the fourth omicron-fueled wave appears to have peaked, WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti says the continent is not yet out of the pandemic woods. She says further monitoring is needed to determine whether the trend will be sustained.

However, while four sub-regions reported a fall in new cases, we are closely monitoring the situation in North Africa, where cases spiked by 55 percent, and Tunisia and Morocco have both seen an exponential increase, overtaking South Africa as the countries with the most cases on the continent," said Moeti.

The highly transmissible omicron variant triggered a sharp surge in the number of cases. But the severity of disease appears to be milder than that of previous strains. Nevertheless, Moeti says the continent has not yet turned the tide on the pandemic. She says there is no room for complacency.

She warns further pandemic waves are inevitable as long as the virus continues to circulate. She notes Africa remains particularly vulnerable because of its unequal access to life-saving vaccines. She says Africa faces similar impediments in gaining access to a full range of COVID-19 treatments.

The WHO has approved 11 therapeutics that can be used to treat COVID-19. It currently is reviewing the data on two oral antivirals, which have shown promising results in reducing the risk of hospitalization in some patients.

WHO regional director Moeti says she fears Africa once again may lose out in gaining access to those treatments because of their limited availability and high cost. For example, she notes two effective antibody treatments cost between $550 and $1,220 for a single dose.

The deep inequity that left Africa at the back of the queue for vaccines must not be repeated with life-saving treatment," said Moeti. "Universal access to diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics will pave the shortest path to the end of this pandemic.

Moeti warns nations to prepare for the appearance of other transmissible, possibly more virulent strains of the coronavirus. She says the coronavirus will continue to mutate and pose an ongoing threat to nations if the inequitable distribution of life-saving vaccines and therapeutics between rich and poor countries is maintained.
North Korea is hinting it will resume long-range missile and nuclear tests in response to what it calls the "intensifying hostile moves" of the United States.

Any such test would significantly escalate U.S.-North Korea tensions, which have already been heightened because of Pyongyang's six ballistic missile tests to start the new year.

At a Politburo meeting Wednesday attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, officials said they would "reconsider all the confidence-building measures previously and voluntarily taken by our state and rapidly examine the issue on resuming all actions which had been temporarily suspended," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

That is an apparent reference to Kim's 2018 announcement that he would voluntarily suspend nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

North Korea has not conducted a nuclear or ICBM test since 2017, during the height of tensions between Kim and former U.S. President Donald Trump. After subsequent Kim-Trump negotiations broke down in 2019, North Korea resumed launching short-range ballistic missiles.

Already this year, North Korea has conducted two tests of what it described as a hypersonic missile, launched a pair of ballistic missiles from a train, and fired a pair of tactical guided missiles from an airport in Pyongyang.

North Korea was especially angered when the U.S. this month imposed unilateral sanctions against five North Koreans linked to Pyongyang's weapons program.

In the official Politburo readout released Thursday, North Korean officials blasted the "recent indiscreet moves" by the United States, which it accused of trying to "emasculate our rights to self-defense." It also complained about recent U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises.

"The meeting reconfirmed the tasks of defense policy to strengthen and develop without delay more powerful physical means to definitely overpower the daily intensifying hostile moves of the United States," KCNA added.

It's not clear whether an ICBM or nuclear test is imminent. At the end of 2019, Kim also said he "no longer felt bound" by his moratorium. He has since failed to follow through on that threat.

Many analysts say the latest threat may be more urgent, in part because North Korea appears to be working through a checklist of weapons developments that Kim laid out in a speech about a year ago. That list includes not only weapons that were recently tested, including the North's self-proclaimed hypersonic missiles, but also technology that could be tested in the future, including ICBMs that are propelled with solid fuel or that could carry multiple warheads.

North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity, including launches of any range, by a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

North Korea's political calendar may also be a factor. In the coming months, the country plans to hold major celebrations for the birthdays of deceased leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

"It's a milestone year for the Kim family, and Kim Jong Un is on a mission to unveil new weapons during the big celebrations we can expect in 2022," said Jean Lee, a senior fellow at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based research organization.

According to the readout issued by KCNA, the Politburo meeting discussed the need to "grandly" celebrate the two leaders' birthdays, which are major holidays in North Korea.

"Reading between the lines, I think we can assume Kim Jong Un has told the Politburo that he may rescind his promise to then-President Donald Trump to refrain from testing nuclear bombs and long-range ballistic missiles," Lee said.

"He has a short time frame to perfect these new weapons and is looking to raise tensions with North Korea's archenemy, the United States, in order to create the impression that the Korean Peninsula is on the verge of war," she added. "Tensions help justify carrying out further testing."
"China's long arm is everywhere in its own society, and it's now coming abroad," said Li Gang, a former real estate developer in China's central city of Wuhan.

Involved in planning disputes with local authorities, Li told VOA Mandarin that the Wuhan officials accused him of corruption and threatened him with prison.

The disputes, starting in 2002, lasted five years, and in 2009, Li moved to an undisclosed location in the United States with his family. In 2017, Chinese authorities formally charged him with corruption and inciting subversion of state power, a move that required him to return to China to stand trial.

Li refused. And once the charges had been filed, men claiming to be from the FBI showed up at his home. Li told VOA Mandarin in a 2020 interview that FBI officials had told him they had done no such thing.

Li is one target of Sky Net, Beijing's global crackdown on Chinese officials suspected of corruption, financiers suspected of wrong dealings and citizens suspected of money laundering. Beijing launched Sky Net in 2015, and according to China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the number of "voluntarily returned" people has increased annually, from 1,023 in 2015 to 1,229 in 2020.

A new report says Sky Net uses methods outside the international legal framework to identify and repatriate individuals targeted by Chinese authorities.

The report, titled Involuntary Returns: China's Covert Operation to Force 'Fugitives' Overseas Back Home, was published Tuesday by Safeguard Defenders, a Madrid-based group focused on promoting human rights in Asia. Last year, the nongovernmental organization spoke out against China's airing of forced confessions on TV.

'Involuntary returns'

China claims that from 2014-21, more than 10,000 "fugitives" have "voluntarily returned" to China from 120 countries, according to the Safeguard Defenders report. In its Sky Net campaign, Beijing almost never uses formal legal procedures, such as requesting extradition.

"Instead, these involuntary returns (IR) account for the vast majority of Sky Net's track record: in 2018, IR stood for some 64% of the claimed successful returns, while extradition  the appropriate judicial channel for such returns  represented but 1%," the report said. As used in the report, the term "involuntary returns" refers to people who have been forced through nontraditional means to come back to China.

And although Sky Net's official targets are businesspeople and officials suspected of economic crimes, the report said it found many cases of Beijing using extrajudicial tactics to repatriate dissidents and human rights defenders.

China's tactics are like those used by the U.S. During the 1980s, U.S. officials "developed an alternative approach to circumvent the proper diplomatic channels" to accomplish renditions, according to the Human Rights Policy Lab at the University of North Carolina School of Law. After the 9/11 attacks, the practice transformed "into what is now referred to as the extraordinary rendition program," which has drawn international condemnation.

Russia also operates a rendition program.

Preferred strategies

China favors three tactics: threatening family in China, targeting victims outside China by using threatening agents in the target's country, and kidnapping the people it wants repatriated, according to Safeguard Defenders, whose report examined 62 cases of attempts, successful and unsuccessful, to engineer involuntary returns.

Chen Yen-Ting, an author of the report, told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview on Monday that these tactics might be carried out separately or together to pressure the targeted individual. "In some cases, the Chinese government sends agents to the host country and at the same time puts pressure on the targeted individual's family in China," he said.

The report cited the case of Xie Weidong, a onetime Supreme Court judge who resigned in 2000 and ended up in Canada in 2014, the year the Huanggang Municipal Public Security Bureau charged him with accepting a bribe of 1.4 million yuan ($221,000) to settle a 1999 civil case in favor of a particular company, according to a 2019 article by Canada's National Post.

Xie claimed Beijing targeted him "when he failed to abide by government interventions in cases he heard. Then after leaving China he spoke out about problems in its legal system," according to an Interpol ruling dismissing China's request. The Post reported that Interpol found China's request for Xie's arrest was politically motivated.

To persuade Xie to return to China voluntarily, Chinese police detained his sister and then his son, according to the Safeguard Defenders report. Chinese authorities also contacted his ex-wife and his former business partner, hoping to use them as leverage.

Li Jinjin, a New York-based lawyer who represents some targets of the Sky Net operation, told VOA Mandarin on Monday that the Chinese government often freezes the property in China of the target's family members.

In other cases, Li said, Beijing will send its police or hire agents to visit an overseas target. Using promises or threats, their goal is to force the target to return to China.

In 2020, this tactic backfired when the U.S. Justice Department charged eight people with conspiring to act as illegal agents for the Chinese government and force U.S. residents to return to Beijing. These people were "allegedly acting at the direction and under the control of PRC (People's Republic of China) government officials, conducted surveillance of and engaged in a campaign to harass, stalk, and coerce certain residents of the United States to return to the PRC," the Justice Department said.

Safeguard Defenders expect China will intensify its Sky Net efforts in 2022 if the Western governments fail to act against Beijing, Chen told VOA Mandarin. "It will be a significant obstacle to legitimate judicial cooperation to counter cross-border crime," he said.

The Chinese government has hailed Sky Net's success. The Xinhua News Agency, a state-controlled news outlet, published on Saturday a piece saying that the operation was recovering people and stolen goods, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The legal net is vast, you can escape the country, but you can't escape the law," Xinhua said.

Li Gang decided to talk to the media to counter reports on Beijing-controlled outlets. "I used to be very fearful of the Chinese government's retaliation, so I refused all media interviews before," Li said told VOA Mandarin in 2020.

"But now I realize the more fearful I am, the more power they have on me," he said. "So that's why I decide to stand out and tell my story."
Now-retired Pope Benedict XVI neglected to act against clerics who allegedly committed four acts of sexual abuse in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising while he was serving as archbishop between 1977 and 1982, according to a report released Thursday.

The Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl produced the report after the archdiocese asked it to investigate allegations of abuses that occurred between 1945 and 2019 in the archdiocese, a religious territory of the Roman Catholic Church in Bavaria, Germany.

The report concluded at least 497 victims, mainly young males, were sexually abused during that period, and the firms lawyers said many other cases were probably never reported.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Vatican would not comment on the report until it had read it in its entirety and could give the comments careful and detailed examination. But he again expressed the Vaticans remorse for the abuse of minors committed by clerics.

The law firm investigated who knew about the four sexual abuse allegations in question and any actions taken in response. When presenting the report, Attorney Martin Pusch said that Pope Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, did nothing about the allegations when he was archbishop.

"In a total of four cases, we came to the conclusion that the then-archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger, can be accused of misconduct," said Pusch. He also said the former pope had "strictly" denied responsibility in response to the accusations.

Two cases where Benedict allegedly failed to act involved clergymen who committed several indisputable acts of sex abuse but were still allowed to perform pastoral duties, Pusch said. Benedicts concern for the victims was not recognizable, Pusch said.

Benedict retired in 2013, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to do so.



Priest Peter Hullermann, now an infamous pedophile, was transferred to Munich from Essen in western Germany, where he had been accused of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy but was still reassigned.

Hullermann, an example of many sexual abuse perpetrators in the Church, was convicted of molesting even more children and sentenced only to a suspended prison term in 1986, by which time Benedict had been transferred to the Vatican.

Hullermann continued to work with children for many years, even after the convictions for sex abuse.

The report also accused current Munich and Freising Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a prominent ally of Pope Francis, in two cases.

Germanys Catholic Church has been the subject in a series of reports in recent years that have revealed widespread sexual abuse of children by clergymen.

A separate study commissioned in 2018 by the German Bishops Conference concluded that 1,670 clergymen in Germany had sexually attacked 3,677 children between 1946 and 2014, although many believe the number of victims is much higher.

Information from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse was used in this report.
Tuesday started like any other day for Jindar Barakat. The reporter, who works part time at a currency exchange, was opening up the store in the northeastern Syrian city of Al-Hasakah.

But instead of customers, masked men in military uniform filled the store.

"They were probably five men, all masked up," Barakat said. "Two of them captured me, while the rest started to search the store, seizing my cellphone and other personal belongings."

The 33-year-old was confused, but as he was blindfolded and bundled into a nearby vehicle, he suspected he was being targeted for his reporting for Yekiti Media.

The news website is affiliated with the Kurdish Yekiti Party in Syria, one of several political parties that oppose the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the de facto ruling party in northeast Syria.

The PYD and its affiliated military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), control large parts of north and eastern Syria. The SDF has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.

Barakat's reporting focuses on abuses carried out by the local authorities, including the arrests of activists, recruitment of children by local military forces, and corruption.

As he was driven away, Barakat tried to make sense of what was happening.

"I asked them to identify themselves, but they were very harsh with me. I knew they were affiliated with the PYD because of their uniforms and also because they didn't stop on checkpoints," Barakat told VOA.

"I was blindfolded and handcuffed, and they kept beating me and insulting me," he said.

About an hour later, the vehicle stopped, and Barakat said he was taken to what felt like an empty room.

"They kept me blindfolded and tied my already cuffed hands to a rope and pulled it upward," he said. "They beat me on my back, neck and the back of my hands."

As he was being beaten, Barakat said his captors told him they didn't like his media work and Facebook posts. But "they didn't point to a particular article or post," he said.

Neither the press office at the PYD-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) nor the local security service known as Asayish responded to VOA's requests for comment.

After several hours, Barakat was dropped without his phone at the side of the road, about 15 kilometers from his home. The journalist walked to a nearby house to borrow a phone to call a cab.

Images he shared with VOA showed bruising to his hands, the back of his neck, and his stomach.

"Their objective was to intimidate me and deter me in my work as a journalist," he said. But "I won't be afraid of them."

Risky beat

Since the beginning of Syria's conflict in 2011, the PYD-run semiautonomous region has largely been seen as friendly to international journalists.

But it's a different story for local reporters, who can be detained, harassed or attacked for coverage deemed too critical of local authorities.

Red lines for media often include major corruption cases, oil deals made by the local administration and military matters, particularly those related to terrorism.

Security forces in the northeastern city of Qamishli last month briefly detained eight reporters and personnel from international and regional news organizations who were covering a demonstration against the recruitment of children by local military forces.

History of harassment

Barakat was first harassed over his reporting in 2015. It was the first of at least three occasions where he has been detained or taken for questioning by different security agencies, local news reported.

Last month, a stun grenade was thrown at the balcony of his apartment. He believes those responsible are part of the local security apparatus.

The incident was widely reported in Kurdish and regional media. The regional AANES security forces did not comment publicly on the incident.

Tuesday's beating was condemned by the General Union of Kurdish Writers and Journalists in Syria.

In a statement, the union demanded that "the perpetrators be brought to a fair trial by independents, and in the presence of independent human rights organizations."

Radwan Badini, a professor of politics and journalism at Iraq's Salahaddin University-Erbil, said the violence against journalists in northeast Syria is alarming.

"This is increasingly becoming a regular occurrence, which will necessarily threaten the margin of press freedom that journalists in northeast Syria enjoy," he told VOA.

While the northeast generally has a better climate for media than the rest of Syria, the country as a whole has a poor media freedom record. It ranks 173 out of 180 countries, where one is freest, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"The risk of arrest, abduction or death makes journalism extremely dangerous and difficult," according to RSF's World Press Freedom Index.
Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights groups argued is vital for protecting democracy was blocked Wednesday by a Republican filibuster, a setback for President Joe Biden and his party after a raw, emotional debate.

Democrats were poised to immediately pivot to voting on a Senate rules change as a way to overcome the filibuster and approve the bill with a simple majority. But the rules change was also headed toward defeat, as Biden has been unable to persuade two holdout senators in his own party, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to change the Senate procedures for this one bill.

"This is not just another routine day in the Senate, this is a moral moment," said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

The initial vote was 49-51, short of the 60 votes needed to advance over the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no for procedural reasons so Democrats can revisit the legislation.

The nighttime voting capped a day of piercing debate that carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed in lengthy speeches by opponents of civil rights legislation.

Voting rights advocates are warning that Republican-led states nationwide are passing laws to make it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes.

Vice President Kamala Harris presided, able to cast a potentially tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 Senate.

Democrats decided to press ahead despite the potential for defeat at a tumultuous time for Biden and his party. Biden is marking his first year in office with his priorities stalling in the face of solid Republican opposition and the Democrats' inability to unite around their own goals. But the Democrats wanted to force senators on the record  even their own party's holdouts  to show voters where they stand.

"I haven't given up," Biden said earlier at a White House news conference.

Sinema and Manchin have withstood an onslaught of criticism from Black leaders and civil rights organizations, and they risk further political fallout as other groups and even their own colleagues threaten to withdraw campaign support.

Schumer contended the fight is not over and he ridiculed Republican claims that the new election laws in the states will not end up hurting voter access and turnout, comparing it to Donald Trump's "big lie" about the 2020 presidential election.

The Democrats' bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots  which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic  and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. It has passed the House.

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the legislation but are unwilling to change Senate rules. With a 50-50 split, Democrats have a narrow Senate majority  Harris can break a tie  but they lack the 60 votes needed to overcome the GOP filibuster.

Instead, Schumer put forward a more specific rules change for a "talking filibuster" on this one bill. It would require senators to stand at their desks and exhaust the debate before holding a simple majority vote, rather than the current practice that simply allows senators to privately signal their objections.

But even that is expected to fail because Manchin and Sinema have said they are unwilling to change the rules on a party-line vote by Democrats alone.
At some of the worlds most sensitive spots, authorities have installed security screening devices made by a single Chinese company with deep ties to Chinas military and the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party.

The World Economic Forum in Davos. Europes largest ports. Airports from Amsterdam to Athens. NATOs borders with Russia. All depend on equipment manufactured by Nuctech, which has quickly become the worlds leading company, by revenue, for cargo and vehicle scanners.

Nuctech has been frozen out of the U.S. for years due to national security concerns, but it has made deep inroads across Europe, installing its devices in 26 of 27 EU member states, according to public procurement, government and corporate records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The complexity of Nuctechs ownership structure and its expanding global footprint have raised alarms on both sides of the Atlantic.

A growing number of Western security officials and policymakers fear that China could exploit Nuctech equipment to sabotage key transit points or get illicit access to government, industrial or personal data from the items that pass through its devices.

Nuctechs critics allege the Chinese government has effectively subsidized the company so it can undercut competitors and give Beijing potential sway over critical infrastructure in the West as China seeks to establish itself as a global technology superpower.

The data being processed by these devices is very sensitive. Its personal data, military data, cargo data. It might be trade secrets at stake. You want to make sure its in right hands, said Bart Groothuis, director of cybersecurity at the Dutch Ministry of Defense before becoming a member of the European Parliament. Youre dependent on a foreign actor which is a geopolitical adversary and strategic rival.

He and others say Europe doesnt have tools in place to monitor and resist such potential encroachment. Different member states have taken opposing views on Nuctechs security risks. No one has even been able to make a comprehensive public tally of where and how many Nuctech devices have been installed across the continent.

Nuctech dismisses those concerns, countering that Nuctechs European operations comply with local laws, including strict security checks and data privacy rules.

Its our equipment, but its your data. Our customer decides what happens with the data, said Robert Bos, deputy general manager of Nuctech in the Netherlands, where the company has a research and development center.

He said Nuctech is a victim of unfounded allegations that have cut its market share in Europe nearly in half since 2019.

Its quite frustrating to be honest, Bos told AP. In the 20 years we delivered this equipment we never had issues of breaches or data leaks. Till today we never had any proof of it.

Its not really a company

As security screening becomes increasingly interconnected and data-driven, Nuctech has found itself on the front lines of the U.S.-China battle for technology dominance now playing out across Europe.

In addition to scanning systems for people, baggage and cargo, the company makes explosives detectors and interconnected devices capable of facial recognition, body temperature measurement and ID card or ticket identification.

On its website, Nuctechs parent company explains that Nuctech does more than just provide hardware, integrating cloud computing, big data and Internet of Things with safety inspection technologies and products to supply the clients with hi-tech safety inspection solution.

Critics fear that under Chinas national intelligence laws, which require Chinese companies to surrender data requested by state security agencies, Nuctech would be unable to resist calls from Beijing to hand over sensitive data about the cargo, people and devices that pass through its scanners. They say there is a risk Beijing could use Nuctechs presence across Europe to gather big data about cross-border trade flows, pull information from local networks, like shipping manifests or passenger information, or sabotage trade flows in a conflict.

A July 2020 Canadian government security review of Nuctech found that X-ray security scanners could potentially be used to covertly collect and transmit information, compromise portable electronic devices as they pass through the scanner or alter results to allow transit of nefarious devices.

The European Union put measures in place in late 2020 that can be used to vet Chinese foreign direct investment. But policymakers in Brussels say there are currently no EU-wide systems in place to evaluate Chinese procurement, despite growing concerns about unfair state subsidies, lack of reciprocity, national security and human rights.

This is becoming more and more dangerous. I wouldnt mind if one or two airports had Nuctech systems, but with dumping prices a lot of regions are taking it, said Axel Voss, a German member of the European Parliament who works on data protection. This is becoming more and more a security question. You might think its a strategic investment of the Chinese government.

The U.S.  home to OSI Systems, one of Nuctechs most important commercial rivals  has come down hard against Nuctech. The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the U.S. National Security Council, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, and the U.S. Commerce Departments Bureau of Industry and Security all have raised concerns about Nuctech.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration told AP in an email that Nuctech was found ineligible to receive sensitive security information. Nuctech products, TSA said, are not authorized to be used for the screening of passengers, baggage, accessible property or air cargo in the United States.

In December 2020, the U.S. added Nuctech to the Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List, restricting exports to them on national security grounds.

Its not just commercial, said a U.S. government official who was not authorized to speak on the record. Its using state-backed companies, with state subsidies, low-ball bids to get into European critical infrastructure, which is civil airports, passenger screening, seaport and cargo screening.

In Europe, Nuctechs bids can be 30-50% below their rivals, according to the companys competitors, U.S. and European officials and researchers who study China. Sometimes they include other sweeteners like extended maintenance contracts and favorable loans.

In 2009, Nuctechs main European competitor, Smiths Detection, complained that it was being squeezed out of the market by such practices, and the EU imposed an anti-dumping duty of 36.6% on Nuctech cargo scanners.

Nuctech comes in with below market bids no one can match. Its not a normal price, its an economic statecraft price, said Didi Kirsten Tatlow, and co-editor of the book, Chinas Quest for Foreign Technology. Its not really a company. They are more like a wing of a state development drive.

Nuctechs Bos said the company keeps prices low by manufacturing in Europe. We dont have to import goods from the U.S. or other countries, he said. Our supply chain is very efficient with local suppliers, thats the main reason we can be very competitive.

Nuctechs successes abound. The company, which is opening offices in Brussels, Madrid and Rome, says it has supplied customers in more than 170 countries and regions. Nuctech said in 2019 that it had installed more than 1,000 security check devices in Europe for customs, civil aviation, ports and government organizations.

In November 2020, Norwegian Customs put out a call to buy a new cargo scanner for the Svinesund checkpoint, a complex of squat, grey buildings at the Swedish border. An American rival and two other companies complained that the terms as written gave Nuctech a leg up.

The specifications were rewritten, but Nuctech won the deal anyway. The Chinese company beat its rivals on both price and quality, said Jostein Engen, the customs agencys director of procurement, and none of Norways government ministries raised red flags that would have disqualified Nuctech.

We in Norwegian Customs must treat Nuctech like everybody else in our competition, Engen said. We cant do anything else following EU rules on public tenders.

Four of five NATO member states that border Russia  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland  have purchased Nuctech equipment for their border crossings with Russia. So has Finland.

Europes two largest ports  Rotterdam and Antwerp, which together handled more than a third of goods, by weight, entering and leaving the EUs main ports in 2020  use Nuctech devices, according to parliamentary testimony.

Other key states at the edges of the EU, including the U.K., Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Belarus and Serbia have also purchased Nuctech scanners, some of which were donated or financed with low-interest loans from Chinese state banks, according to public procurement documents and government announcements.

Airports in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Athens, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Zurich, Geneva and more than a dozen across Spain have all signed deals for Nuctech equipment, procurement and government documents, and corporate announcements show.

Nuctech says it provided security equipment for the Olympics in Brazil in 2016, then President Donald Trumps visit to China in 2017 and the World Economic Forum in 2020. It has also provided equipment to some U.N. organizations, procurement records show.

Rising concerns

As Nuctechs market share has grown, so too has skepticism about the company.

Canadian authorities dropped a standing offer from Nuctech to provide X-ray scanning equipment at more than 170 Canadian diplomatic missions around the world after a government assessment found an elevated threat of espionage.

Lithuania, which is involved in a diplomatic feud with China over Taiwan, blocked Nuctech from providing airport scanners earlier this year after a national security review found that it wasnt possible for the equipment to operate in isolation and there was a risk information could leak back to China, according to Margiris Abukevicius, vice minister for international cooperation and cybersecurity at Lithuanias Ministry of National Defense.

Then, in August, Lithuania approved a deal for a Nuctech scanner on its border with Belarus. There were only two bidders, Nuctech and a Russian company  both of which presented national security concerns  and there wasnt time to reissue the tender, two Lithuanian officials told AP.

Its just an ad hoc decision choosing between bad and worse options, Abukevicius said. He added that the government is developing a road map to replace all Nuctech scanners currently in use in Lithuania as well as a legal framework to ban purchases of untrusted equipment by government institutions and in critical sectors.

Human rights concerns are also generating headwinds for Nuctech. The company does business with police and other authorities in Western Chinas Xinjiang region, where Beijing stands accused of genocide for mass incarceration and abuse of minority Uyghur Muslims.

Despite pressure from U.S. and European policymakers on companies to stop doing business in Xinjiang, European governments have continued to award tens of millions of dollars in contracts  sometimes backed by European Union funds  to Nuctech.

Nuctech says on its Chinese website that Chinas western regions, including Xinjiang, are are important business areas for the company. It has signed multiple contracts to provide X-ray equipment to Xinjiangs Department of Transportation and Public Security Department.

It has provided license plate recognition devices for a police checkpoint in Xinjiang, Chinese government records show, and an integrated security system for the subway in Urumqi, the regions capital city. It regularly showcases its security equipment at trade fairs in Xinjiang.

Companies like Nuctech directly enable Xinjiangs high-tech police state and its intrusive ways of suppressing ethnic minorities. This should be taken into account when Western governments and corporations interface with Nuctech, said Adrian Zenz, a researcher who has documented abuses in Xinjiang and compiled evidence of the companys activities in the region.

Nuctechs Bos said he can understand those views, but that the company tries to steer clear of politics. Our daily goal is to have equipment to secure the world more and better, he said. We dont interfere with politics.

Complex web of ownership

Nuctech opened a factory in Poland in 2018 with the tagline Designed in China and manufactured in Europe. But ultimate responsibility for the company lies far from Warsaw, with the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council in Beijing, Chinas top governing body.

Nuctechs ownership structure is so complex that it can be difficult for outsiders to understand the true lines of influence and accountability.

Scott Kennedy, a Chinese economic policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the ambiguous boundaries between the Communist Party, state companies and financial institutions in China  which have only grown murkier under Chinas leader, Xi Jinping  can make it difficult to grasp how companies like Nuctech are structured and operate.

Consider if the roles were reversed. If the Chinese were acquiring this equipment for their airports theyd want a whole variety of assurances, Kennedy said. China has launched a high-tech self-sufficiency drive because they dont feel safe with foreign technology in their supply chain.

What is clear is that Nuctech, from its very origins, has been tied to Chinese government, academic and military interests.

Nuctech was founded as an offshoot of Tsinghua University, an elite public research university in Beijing. It grew with backing from the Chinese government and for years was run by the son of Chinas former leader, Hu Jintao.

Datenna, a Dutch economic intelligence company focused on China, mapped the ownership structure of Nuctech and found a dozen major entities across four layers of shareholding, including four state-owned enterprises and three government entities.

Today the majority shareholder in Nuctech is Tongfang Co., which has a 71% stake. The largest shareholder in Tongfang, in turn, is the investment arm of the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), a state-run energy and defense conglomerate controlled by Chinas State Council. The U.S. Defense Department classifies CNNC as a Chinese military company because it shares advanced technologies and expertise with the Peoples Liberation Army.

Xi has further blurred the lines between Chinas civilian and military activities and deepened the power of the ruling Communist Party within private enterprises. One way: the creation of dozens of government-backed financing vehicles designed to speed the development of technologies that have both military and commercial applications.

In fact, one of those vehicles, the National Military-Civil Fusion Industry Investment Fund, announced in June 2020 that it wanted to take a 4.4% stake in Nuctechs majority shareholder, along with the right to appoint a director to the Tongfang board. It never happened  changes in the market environment, Tongfeng explained in a Chinese stock exchange filing.

But there are other links between Nuctechs ownership structure and the fusion fund.

CNNC, which has a 21% interest in Nuctech, holds a stake of more than 7% in the fund, according to Qichacha, a Chinese corporate information platform. They also share personnel: Chen Shutang, a member of CNNCs Party Leadership Group and the companys chief accountant serves as a director of the fund, records show.

The question here is whether or not we want to allow Nuctech, which is controlled by the Chinese state and linked to the Chinese military, to be involved in crucial parts of our border security and infrastructure, said Jaap van Etten, a former Dutch diplomat and CEO of Datenna.

Nuctech maintains that its operations are shaped by market forces, not politics, and says CNNC doesnt control its corporate management or decision-making.

We are a normal commercial operator here in Europe which has to obey the laws, said Nuctechs Bos. We work here with local staff members, we pay tax, contribute to the social community and have local suppliers.

But experts say these touchpoints are further evidence of the government and military interests encircling the company and show its strategic interest to Beijing.

Under Xi Jinping, the national security elements of the state are being fused with the technological and innovation dimensions of the state, said Tai Ming Cheung, a professor at UC San Diegos School of Global Policy and Strategy.

Military-civil fusion is one of the key battlegrounds between the U.S. and China. The Europeans will have to figure out where they stand.
A stampede at a church gathering in Liberia's capital Monrovia killed 29 people overnight, the deputy information minister told state radio on Thursday.

The incident occurred during an all-night Christian worship event at New Kru Town, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital, Jalawah Tonpo said.

"The doctors said 29 persons died and some are on the critical list," Tonpo said, calling into state radio from a nearby hospital. "This is a sad day for the country."

Exodus Morias, a resident who attended the event, told Reuters the stampede began after a group of armed men rushed the crowd in an attempt to stage a robbery.

"We saw a group of men with cutlasses and other weapons coming toward the crowd," Morias said. "While running, some people dropped and others fell on the ground and walked over them."

Bands of Liberian street gangs known as Zogos commonly commit robberies with machetes and other small weapons.

Police spokesman Moses Carter declined to comment on what caused the incident. He said an investigation is under way.

President George Weah, who is expected to visit the site on Thursday afternoon, declared a three-day period of national mourning and said the Liberian Red Cross and Disaster Management Agency had been called in to assist victims, his office said.
Teenage pilot Zara Rutherford landed in Kortrijk, Belgium, Thursday to officially become the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.

The Belgian British 19-year-old landed her single-seat Shark ultralight aircraft to cheers and honking horns from a crowd that had gathered to welcome her home. Rutherford originally embarked from Kortrijk on August 18, 2021 -- 155 days ago.

As she stepped from the cockpit, she shared a hug with her parents and brother and was presented with framed copies of a certificate from the Guiness Book of World Records certifying her accomplishment.

The 51,000-kilometer, east-to-west journey took her across 52 countries and five continents. To meet the criteria for a round-the-world flight, Rutherford touched two points opposite each other on the globe: Jambi, Indonesia, and Tumaco, Colombia.

The trip was all the more challenging as she flew without the aid of flight instruments or a pressurized cabin.

Rutherford told reporters the last leg of her journey -- from a small airstrip near Frankfurt, Germany, where she landed Wednesday, to the Kortrijk airstrip  had been a bit tricky because of rain and snow. Rutherford said she had to wiggle in some valleys and wait for a while for the snow to clear.

But Rutherford said she was glad to be home and was looking forward to her favorite sandwich from a local shop.

Rutherford had said her big goal is to use this experience to encourage other young women to go into flying or study science, technology and mathematics and other fields they might not have thought about."

In September, she plans to go to college to study engineering in either Britain or the United States.

Rutherford broke the record set by American aviator Shaesta Waiz, who was 30 when she set the previous record for the youngest woman to circumnavigate the world solo in 2017.

Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Joe Biden's first year as President of the United States has been marked with challenges ranging from the COVID pandemic to Russia's threat to Ukraine. The Inside Story examines the president's first year in office and how it might shape year two. The Inside Story-Biden's First Year. Air date: January 20, 2022.


An unresolved disagreement between U.S. wireless communications carriers and commercial airlines over the rollout of new 5G networks continues to generate confusion about whether air travel is safe in the United States.

On Wednesday, AT&T and Verizon, the two largest providers of mobile voice and internet service in the U.S., began turning on new wireless towers across the United States, making the ultra-fast 5G spectrum available to consumers, primarily in the more densely populated parts of the country.

Up until the last moment, there was a dispute between the carriers and major U.S. airlines over whether or not the new service would be deployed near airports. This caused a handful of international carriers, including British Airways, Lufthansa, All Nippon, Japan Airlines and Emirates, to announce that they would suspend some service to the United States until the issue was resolved.

Emirates President Tim Clark described the situation as utterly irresponsible, speaking earlier this week on CNN.

By Thursday morning, most of the concern about international flights had been resolved, but lingering questions remain for the United States vast system or regional air travel.

Interference with landing instruments possible

The 5G C-band spectrum signal used for mobile communications - for which mobile carriers paid more than $80 billion in an auction last year - is similar to the signal that commercial airlines use to measure the altitude of planes landing during inclement weather. Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration have expressed concern that some aircraft devices, called radar altimeters, could experience interference from the new 5G signals, creating dangerous conditions.

On Wednesday, in a deal brokered by the Biden administration, mobile carriers said they would delay activating 5G towers near airport runways, leaving about 10% of the planned rollout inactive. In addition, the FAA specifically cleared several kinds of radar altimeters, including those commonly used in the Boeing 777, saying the data shows that 5G signals do not interfere with their systems.

In a press release Wednesday, the FAA said its new approvals allow an estimated 62 percent of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band.

Regional airports waiting for answers

While the FAAs steps to clear large passenger planes for continued use following the 5G rollout have helped prevent problems at large airports, the new technology is causing concern about safety at regional airports across the country, which are served by a wide variety of passenger planes, typically smaller than those that fly into major hub airports.

As of Wednesday, the FAA had not updated guidance for many smaller planes. Because there were relatively few severe weather systems in the U.S. on Wednesday, that did not translate into major delays. However, industry representatives said that it was only a matter of time before challenging weather conditions would begin causing problems.

Faye Malarkey Black, the president and CEO of the regional Airline Association, used Twitter to air her concerns about the situation, saying, Situational update: 0% of the regional airline fleet has been cleared to perform low visibility landings at #5G impacted airports if/when weather drops below minimums. Todays fair weather is saving rural America from severe air service disruption.

Not a new problem

The battle between the airlines and mobile carriers is particularly frustrating to many in the U.S., because it is a problem that has been successfully resolved in other countries around the world. China, the U.K., and France, for example, have managed to roll out 5G service without any significant impact on air travel. That was achieved by agreements between the parties that limited the number of cell towers near airports and the power levels at which they operate.

In a warning to its members, the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations noted that, in the U.S., The power levels and proximities of the 5G signals are at higher power levels than any other deployment currently in use elsewhere in the world.

The situation in the U.S. was complicated by the fact that the slice of spectrum being used for 5G services is slightly different here than it is in Europe. In the U.S., mobile carriers bought the rights to the band between 3.7 and 3.98 gigahertz, putting their signals somewhat closer to the 4.2 to 4.4 GHz being used by airlines than the European mobile carriers, which are limited to a range of 3.4 to 3.8 GHz.

The issue was raised during a press conference that U.S.President Joe Biden held at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. After being asked whether his administration bore part of the blame for confusion about flight safety, Biden characterized it as a fight between two private entities, over which the federal government exerts limited control.

The fact is that you had two enterprises  two private enterprises  that had one promoting 5G and the other one are airlines, Biden said. Theyre private enterprises. They have government regulation, admittedly.

And so, what Ive done is pushed as hard as I can to have 5G folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines until they could more modernize over the years so that 5G would not interfere with the potential of the landing, he said. So, any tower  any 5G tower within a certain number of miles from the airport should not be operative.

Bureaucratic dysfunction

The confusion resulting from the 5G rollout this week is at least partly attributable to dysfunction within the federal bureaucracy. Analysts say lines of authority between agencies responsible for auctioning off the rights to the wireless spectrum and those charged with managing conflicts are unclear.

The Federal Communications Commission is responsible for spectrum auctions, but it is the Federal Aviation Administration, a part of the Department of Transportation, which makes decisions about airline safety. Further complicating matters is that the agency in charge of mediating spectrum disputes, which is located within the Commerce Department, was without a director for two-and-a-half-years, until President Bidens nominee was confirmed last week.

That situation has led to multiple problems in the rollout of new communications technology over the years, including a recent battle during the Trump administration over whether new spectrum auctions would interfere with the satellite-based Global Positioning System
The congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday asked former President Donald Trumps daughter to voluntarily cooperate with its probe.

In a letter to Ivanka Trump, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said the panel wants her to tell them what she knows about her fathers efforts to thwart congressional certification that he lost the November 2020 election. They also want to know what he was doing as his supporters rampaged through the Capitol while lawmakers were in the initial stages of certifying Democrat Joe Biden as the new president.

It was not immediately known whether the former first daughter would cooperate with the investigation.

Thompson said the committee wants to meet with Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser to her father, because she was in direct contact with him at key moments on January 6, 2021, two weeks before Biden was inaugurated and Donald Trump left Washington.

Thompson said the committee wants to know about the former presidents efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to block congressional certification of election results in key states where Biden outpolled Trump.

One of the presidents discussions with the vice president occurred by phone on the morning of January 6th, Thompson wrote in the letter to Ivanka Trump. You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation.

The committee also said it wanted to learn about Ivanka Trumps efforts to get her father to call off rioters after they had stormed into the Capitol. At an earlier rally near the White House that day, then-President Trump urged supporters to go the Capitol and fight like hell to stop Biden from being declared the winner of the 2020 election.

Testimony obtained by the committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill, Thompson wrote.

Then-President Trump remained publicly silent for more than three hours about the rampage of hundreds of his supporters at the Capitol but late in the afternoon he released a short video urging them to leave.

As he does to this day, Donald Trump mentioned in the video the false conspiracy theory that he won the election, saying, "I know your pain; I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace."

After the Capitol was cleared of protesters, Congress certified Bidens election victory in the early hours of January 7. More than 700 rioters have been charged with an array of criminal offenses, some as minor as trespassing and others with felonies, such as attacking police and vandalizing the Capitol.

At a political rally last Saturday, Donald Trump called the arrests an appalling persecution of political prisoners."

The investigative committee has interviewed more than 300 witnesses and issued subpoenas to dozens more. This week, they included Rudy Giuliani and other members of Trumps legal team who filed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election supporting the former presidents false claim that he had been cheated out of a second term.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the former presidents bid to keep the National Archives from sending hundreds of his White House documents related to the election and day of the riot to the investigative panel.
The United States will continue withholding aid from Sudan until the country's military rulers stop the killing of anti-coup protesters and a civilian led-government takes power, two senior American diplomats said Thursday.

The joint statement came after a two-day visit to Sudan this week by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and the newly appointed U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield. The visit was meant to help pull the African nation out of a worsening crisis in the wake of the Oct. 25 coup.

The military takeover has upended Sudan's transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, ousted during a popular uprising in April 2019.

While in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Phee and Satterfield met with Sudanese civilian and military leaders, as well as with families of some of the killed pro-democracy protesters.

At least 72 demonstrators have been killed since the October coup. Seven were killed on Monday alone, according to a doctors' activist group. Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands who gathered in Khartoum. Among the seven killed, some were as young as 19 years old. Around 100 people were wounded, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee.

On Wednesday, the committee, which is part of the pro-democracy alliance, documented the fatal shooting of another protester earlier in the day as security forces removed makeshift barricades in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman. The barricades were part of a two-day civil disobedience campaign the pro-democracy movement called for following Monday's crackdown.

Police officials have repeatedly accused protesters of attacking security forces and police buildings, but have failed to provide evidence of such attacks. Main protest leaders have repeatedly called on demonstrators to use only non-violent tactics.

Sudan's turmoil escalated after the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok earlier this month. Hamdok, who was ousted in the October coup only to be reinstated a month later under heavy international pressure, stepped down on Jan. 2 after his efforts to reach a compromise failed.

On Thursday, thousands again took to the streets, naming the day's march after one of the recently killed young protesters. They beat drums and chanted anti-military slogans. Many reiterated calls for the military to leave power completely.

Phee and Satterfield said military leaders they met with during their visit had expressed their commitment to the country's political transition. The two diplomats said they made clear to the generals that the U.S. "will consider measures to hold accountable those responsible for failure to move forward," according to the statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Berlin for consultations with key allies Thursday about the situation along the Russia-Ukraine border as he prepares for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Blinken is meeting with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Minister for Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly, before delivering an address about the crisis in Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden said at a news conference Wednesday that he thinks Russia will invade Ukraine, reiterating warnings to Russian leader Vladimir Putin that such actions would be met with consequences such as economic sanctions.

Russia has denied it has intentions of invading Ukraine, and is seeking security guarantees such as Ukraine not joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Blinken is due to discuss the situation with Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, the third stop in a quickly arranged trip during which he has expressed a strong U.S. preference for finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

WATCH: VOA interviews Sec. Blinken

The transcript of the interview can be found here

Blinken delivered that message Wednesday in Kyiv, telling VOA that the United States and its allies will respond forcefully and resolutely to further Russian military aggression against Ukraine but hopes Moscow will pursue a diplomatic path.

Weve offered Russia a clear choice, a choice between pursuing dialogue and diplomacy on the one hand, or confrontation and consequences on the other hand, Blinken said during an interview with VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze.

Earlier at a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken said Russia has ratcheted up its threats and amassed nearly 100,000 forces on Ukraines border, which it could double on relatively short order. Blinken added that U.S. material assistance deliveries to Ukraine were ongoing, with more scheduled in the coming weeks.

Should Russia carry through with any aggressive intent and renew its aggression and invade Ukraine, we will provide additional material beyond whats already in the pipeline, said Blinken.

Kuleba said a strong Ukraine is the best tool to deter Russia, adding it is critical to tell Russia every single day that it will face very strong sanctions should Moscow choose further aggression against its neighbor.

A senior State Department official told reporters Wednesday the White House last month approved $200 million in additional defensive security aid to Ukraine.

Grateful for USs political & security support. Count on enhancing economic & financial cooperation. Im sure there will be no decision about Ukraine without Ukraine, wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a tweet.

Earlier on Wednesday, Blinken reiterated U.S. support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity in a meeting with Zelenskiy, adding, It is up to Ukrainians and no one else to decide their own future and the future of this country.

The buildup of Russian troops along Ukraines eastern border has raised concern Moscow is planning military action against its neighbor, which was once part of the Russia-led Soviet Union. Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Blinkens trip follows talks in Geneva last week between Russian and U.S. officials aimed at settling differences over Ukraine and other security issues. No progress was reported.

VOAs Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. VOAs State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching reported from Washington. VOAs Chris Hannas and the Ukrainian service contributed to the report. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
Thokozani Khupe says Douglas Mwonzora expelled himself from the Movement for Democratic Change when he declared himself leader of the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa.

Her attorney, Nqobani Sithole, told VOA Zimbabwe Service that Khupe, who was suspended today by Mwonzora for allegedly flouting some provisions of the MDC-Ts constitution, is no longer the leader of the party.

Reacting to Khupes explusion, Sithole said, Khupe received a letter from Douglas Togarepi Mwonwora indicating that Khupe has been suspended due to some issues. As Khupes lawyers when we went through the suspension letter we noted that its just a piece of paper with no meaningful content.

Mwonzora is the one who is no longer in the party. There are many people who were expelled from the party after they declared that they were members of other parties. Mwonzora wrote a letter to ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) on January 3, 2022, saying he is the leader or president of the MDC Alliance. As a result, a person who is the leader of the MDC Alliance cannot say he is expelling a member of the MDC-T. So, this issue of suspending a person who is not a member of his party is null and void. It does not work that way.

Mwonzora beat Khupe in the 2020 party elections to become MDC-T president.
The United States says President Emmerson Mnangagwas government should conduct major electoral reforms by ensuring that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is capable of conducting free, fair and credible elections.

In a series of tweets, the U.S. Embassy Harare, said, Many continue to question #ZECIndependence. #ZimElectoralReform means allowing the ZEC to fulfill its constitutional mandate without political interference.

To ensure ZECIndependence, #ZimElectoralReform would allow the ZEC Chair to freely meet and consult political parties contesting elections and prohibit interference from outside entities such as the Ministries of Justice, Home Affairs, and the Cabinet.

The United States further noted that there is need for security forces to stay away from the electoral process.

Zims constitution enshrines the principle of a #NonPartisanZDF subordinate to civilian authority. #ZimElectoralReform means defense forces must not intimidate voters or interfere in election administration. Instead, they must protect the constitutional rights of all citizens.

The American government also said, #ZimElectoralReform means the government stops directing traditional and local party leaders to use humanitarian aid to pressure citizens to vote for a specific party.

The Zimbabwean constitution guarantees the government will treat all persons equally and fairly. And yet partisan distribution of humanitarian assistance, agricultural inputs, and other public services in exchange for votes continues. #ZimLivesMatter.

The U.S. cited a case of a Zimbabwean who was killed for allegedly trying to find out how food distribution is conducted.

 Mazwi Joseph Ndlovu asked about the politics behind food aid in his community. For this, he was beaten and died three days later. No one should die for exercising their rights. When will his murderers face justice?

Reacting to the tweet, Zimbabwes Information Secretary, Nick Mangwana, said, Am just wondering how the US State Department would respond or feel if the Zimbabwean Embassy in Washington were to tweet about US Army. Even if they were to tweet on actual condemnable behavior in Iraqi and Afghanistan. Whats good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Some respondents also took a swipe at the U.S claiming that its own electoral process is flawed but Zimbabwe has not condemned the manner in which they vote in state and national elections.
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Photo: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Los Angeles became a little less swingin last week. Marty Roberts, of the legendary Marty & Elayne lounge act, died January 13. He was 89. Marty and Elayne played the Dresden in the L.A. neighborhood of Los Feliz more nights than not for 40-plus years. Marty and Elayne both sang as well as played multiple instruments. Marty was often found behind the drums or an upright bass. Elayne played keys and flute, surrounded by patrons who competed to get one of the coveted seats attached to her piano. News of Robertss death was announced by his daughter in a post on the Marty & Elayne official Facebook page. We are heartbroken, the greatest man alive has gone on to Heaven, she wrote. My mom and I are devastated by his loss and there is nobody that could ever take his place  We will miss him more than words can express.

Marty and his wife, Elayne, worked the Dresden six night a week for more than 40 years. On a national stage, the pair cameo in the movie Swingers, which filmed at the Dresden. They were featured in Tom Pettys Yer So Bad music video and in a sketch on Mr. Show. The audiences reaction to the pair in the sketch shows how much love Angelenos had for the multi-instrumentalist pair. According to the Facebook post, a celebration of life will take place at Martys beloved Dresden with remote tickets available for those unable to attend in person.

Marty and Elayne performing Stayin Alive at the Dresden in SWINGERS. There is such heart in this classic sequence. In their own way, they made that song "their own." pic.twitter.com/aQeMU5G8ZZ  Vintage Los Angeles (@alisonmartino) January 19, 2022

RIP Marty, whose Marty & Elayne was an essential LA go-to. Campy & eccentric, but always cool. As David Lynch told them "thank you for bringing jazz standards to a new generation." He wanted to make people smile & never failed. Marty could swing. Pour out a little blood and sand. pic.twitter.com/I6MYv7eimn  Otto Von Biz Markie (@Passionweiss) January 19, 2022

We had the pleasure, at Ironworks, of recording one of Marty & Elaynes albums and consider them dear friends. Elayne, I am so sorry for your loss. Marty, may you Rest In Peace. All my love Kiefer.  Kiefer Sutherland (@RealKiefer) January 19, 2022
Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) inspiring Philadelphia youth in Abbott Elementary. Photo: Gilles Mingasson/ABC

Even in ordinary times, whatever those are at this point, being a teacher is challenging, especially in a public school. Teachers must command the attention of a roomful of squirmy kids for multiple hours a day, sometimes without access to the supplies they need. They face endless amounts of lesson planning, a task that frequently winds up dominating their evenings. The parents of their students are often either oblivious or so overly invested in their childrens education that it seems reasonable to tell them to get a hobby, even though thats probably not the best thing to say during a parent-teacher conference. Its tough, and that much tougher at a time when COVID has left many schools so short-staffed that every day feels like an emergency. Teachers need to feel understood and need a release, now more than ever.

Abbott Elementary, the ABC comedy currently in the midst of its debut season, seems designed to offer both. Created by and starring Quinta Brunson, formerly of A Black Lady Sketch Show, the series focuses on the faculty at an underfunded West Philadelphia public school where the teachers are resigned to always doing more with less and the principal (a hilarious Janelle James) is more interested in self-promotion than the nitty-gritty details of leading. In a recent episode, a woman from the community shows up in the front office at Abbott, eager to donate a printer to the school. Janine Teagues, the teacher played by Brunson, tries to explain that they dont need a printer but that there is a list of items online the staff actually could use. I dont know what that is, says the woman, leaving the printer while noting that she couldnt find the cord and it also smokes. This is what being a teacher is like: telling people you need a life jacket only for them to respond by handing you a kazoo.

While Abbott Elementary is set in the present day, its a version of 2022 where theres no pandemic to confront (at least so far). Which is fine, because there are enough frustrations for these curriculum-followers to manage without adding a pandemic. Bringing back the faux-documentary style popularized by comedies like The Office and Modern Family, Abbott Elementary frequently has its characters talk directly to the camera, addressing a group of filmmakers we never see (again, at least so far) who are attempting to capture the realities of working in a city public school. Janine, a young and extremely eager second-grade teacher, often serves as the guide to whats going on at Abbott, where she is so hyped to change things for the better that sometimes she goes too far. In one episode, when she realizes that a flashing lightbulb in a hallway is scaring a young student, Janine takes it upon herself to change it. Naturally, she knocks out power to the whole building.

The more experienced teachers, including South Philly native Melissa Schemmenti (a wonderfully salty Lisa Ann Walter) and the well-respected, old-school Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph, simultaneously dignified and funny) are seasoned enough to have learned that you cant fix everything. In some scenes, they can barely hide their eyerolls at Janines can-do spirit and the ecoconscious, overly chatty Jacob (Chris Perfetti), another younger faculty member. Then theres Greg (Tyler James Williams), a substitute teacher who is not sure how invested he wants to get in teaching at Abbott and has a few things to learn about relating to children. (When his students draw pictures of him, for instance, he doesnt recognize who or what is in their artwork, assuming in one case that a child has colored a portrait of Don Cheadle.) All of them report to Jamess Ava Coleman, a principal who cares about her staff, but cares just as much about building her TikTok following and hitting on any attractive man she sees. (She keeps her student files organized using the system sexiest dads.)

With a network sitcom like this one, bound to the time limits and structures of the genre, it can sometimes take a while to establish an identity and find a comfort zone with its characters. Parks and Recreation, a show whose sensibility overlaps somewhat with Abbott Elementarys, didnt settle into either until its second season. (Some might even say third.) But Abbott Elementary knows what its doing and who its personalities are almost right out of the gate. As of this weeks fourth episode, the characters are already starting to feel as recognizable as family, and the laughs are coming harder and faster.

The latest installment, New Tech, is a classic, well-executed example of contemporary workplace comedy. The primary story line involves a new type of software the teachers are being forced to use to track student performance and, if the results are strong enough, Ava reminds them, hopefully gain more funding. During a tutorial in which all the staff are given tablets to use, Barbara is immediately flummoxed but doesnt want to let on that she cant grasp new technology, so she pretends shes mastered it and also totally gets how computers and the internet work. If you wouldnt mind excusing yourself, she says, cutting short a conversation with Janine, who is absolutely desperate to help her, Im a little behind on my Hotmail correspondences.

You dont have to work in a school to relate to the generational digital divide, which is an issue in practically every workplace. In that way, Abbott Elementary is accessible to everyone, whether youve taught or not. But specificity is the shows strong suit. Brunson and her fellow writers have a sharp eye and ear for the dynamics between teachers, students, and administrators. It surely helps that Brunsons mother worked as a Philadelphia teacher for 40 years and that, as Brunson explained in a letter to critics, her stories inspired the series. This is a sitcom, sure. But the world it builds rings with authenticity.

There are occasionally some extremely local Philadelphia jokes, and those too hit with the pinpointed accuracy of a laser beam. In the second episode, several faculty members gather in the teachers lounge to watch the local Action News broadcast largely because of anchorman Jim Gardner, the actual longtime newsman on the citys ABC affiliate. When Melissa overhears Jacob refer to her as a Southern Philly type  South Philly, she corrects him with detectable disdain  Jacob tries to turn his comment into a compliment: Honestly, its the best part of our beautiful city. I love how you guys will just, like, park anywhere.

But what Abbott Elementary does best of all, and at a time when its especially vital, is show how passionate many teachers are despite all the struggles and grief that go along with their chosen profession. Given the heated debate in countless school districts about keeping classes virtual or returning to in-person learning, its easy to forget that many, if not most, teachers are decent people trying to do their best to teach our kids and fill in a lot of societal gaps, a task that shouldnt fall entirely on schools in the first place. If youre a teacher whos been working hard for years, and who is under even more stress during this pandemic, you probably just want to feel truly seen. Abbott Elementary definitely sees you.
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Law enforcement process the scene in front of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, in Colleyville, Texas. A man held hostages for more than 10 hours Saturday inside the temple. The hostages were able to escape and the hostage taker was killed. FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno said a team would investigate "the shooting incident." (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)
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Protagonists of Siena 'Photo of the Year' to start a new life in Italy.

Italy has provided refuge to the Syrian amputee father and his limbless five-year-old son who featured in an award-winning photo that became famous around the world last year.

Munzir al-Nazzal, who lost his leg in the Syrian conflict, and his son Mustafa, born without limbs, starred in the celebrated Hardship of Life picture by Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan.

The poignant image of the smiling father and son won the 'Photo of the Year' prize at the Siena International Photo Awards festival (SIPA) in 2021.

The pair will arrive in Rome's Ciampino airport on Friday evening, from Turkey, before travelling to Siena where they will begin a new life in Italy.

The news was announced on Thursday by the SIPA festival which launched an online funding campaign to help father and son and other innocent victims of the conflict in Syria, raising more than 100,000.

"Munzir and Mustafa will go to live in a Caritas house in Siena made available by the archdiocese", said the festival's founder and artistic director Luca Venturi, adding that they will also be offered treatment at a prosthesis centre near Bologna.
Warrenton, NC (27589)

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What should be an ordinary commercial dispute between Amazon.com Inc. and the founders of a near-bankrupt retailer is shining a harsh light on the quality of legal and regulatory protection investors actually receive in India. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The long drawn-out saga has thrown up two questions for prospective investors, or those who already have business interests in India. First, what does a go-ahead from the countrys antitrust authority even mean if an entire chain of investment based on that approval has to be unwound or reversed after two years? Second, can one rely on international arbitration to enforce Indian contracts, or will local courts get involved and throw a spanner into alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms?

Last month, Amazon was fined 2.02 billion rupees ($26.7 million) by the Indian competition watchdog. Worse, its $192 million capital infusion in Future Coupons Pvt.  a 2019 transaction  was put in abeyance for being economical with disclosures. The commission said it was denied an opportunity to assess the effects of the actual combination, which gave Amazon strategic rights over publicly traded Future Retail Ltd. Never mind that those effects, even if the trustbuster did get a chance to study them, are unlikely to have included concentration of power in the retail industry, for the simple reason that Amazon is not a retailer in India. Its an electronic marketplace for buyers and sellers.

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Globally, the definition of what constitutes abuse of dominance is expanding beyond price fixing. As part of a broader crackdown on its tech titans, Beijing imposed a record $2.8 billion antitrust fine on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for using data and algorithms to obtain an unfair advantage over merchants. Tencent Holdings Ltd. was hauled up for not properly reporting past acquisitions and investments, and food-delivery app Meituan was punished for forcing restaurants into exclusive arrangements. Even outside China, large consumer tech platforms are facing increasingly hostile scrutiny. The Italian regulator recently handed a 1.1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) penalty to Amazon for discriminating against third-party sellers who do not use its logistics service.

Amazons travails in India, however, have little to do with dominance. The foreign firm is legally barred by Indias overseas investment rules from acting as a retailer that owns or discounts inventory. That explains why Amazon sought to control Future Retail indirectly, via its investment in Future Coupons, a related firm. To keep on the right side of Indian law, the global e-commerce giant has similarly kept its voting rights in another of its acquisitions  the local grocery chain More  below 26%. In doing those deals, however, the U.S firm hasnt started wielding outsize influence on Indias $800 billion-a-year consumer commerce. Mom-and-pop stores control 80% of the grocery market.

Future Retail founder Kishore Biyani did his deal with Amazon in 2019 because he was desperate: He wanted to channel funds to his debt-laden retail network, and Jeff Bezos was willing to be his white knight. The competition regulator gave the deal its approval. While providing the money, though, Amazon insisted on a list of restricted parties to which Futures assets couldnt be divested without its permission. On that list was Mukesh Ambani, Asias richest man who also controls Indias largest retail chain.

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However, when the retail industry fell into an abyss after Indias Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, Biyani turned around and sold his 1,500-plus stores to Ambanis Reliance Industries Ltd. Amazon began arbitration proceedings in Singapore for breach of contract, jeopardizing the $3.4 billion acquisition. Without that obstacle, Reliances own 37 million square feet of retail space would by now have received a nice boost from Futures 16 million square feet. (Reliance is not a party to the legal squabbles between Future and Amazon.)

The freezing of the antitrust approval has put a question mark around the very contract that Amazon is trying to enforce. When Future tried to use that loophole to get further hearings in Singapore quashed, a Delhi High Court judge remarked that for arbitration to speedily settle disputes, interference by courts must be kept to a minimum. If the parties are encouraged to approach the court at every stage of the arbitration proceedings, the whole purpose of the arbitration would stand frustrated, the judge said. And yet, just a day later, a two-judge bench of the same court set aside the order, and imposed a stay on proceedings by the Singapore tribunal.

The clock is ticking. Future Retail recently missed a payment to banks, and Reliances offer to buy the stores from the cash-strapped firm expires in March. Yet the dispute about the fate of its assets is far from over. Amazon is challenging the latest Delhi High Court order in Indias Supreme Court and has appealed against the antitrust agencys volte face before a company-law tribunal. And thats the final point investors need to bear in mind: They must be ready for expensive and time-consuming litigation to protect the value of their transactions. Prime Minister Narendra Modis government claims  with some justification  to have made Indias bureaucratic labyrinth easier for global firms to navigate. Once they do enter, however, contract enforcement can be a whole different story.

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More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Indias Inward Turn Could Stymie Its Rise: Andy Mukherjee

 Indias Leaders Shouldnt Keep Playing With Fire: Mihir Sharma

 Indias Political Parties Rally On Despite Omicron: Ruth Pollard

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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You dont see them, but theyre there: hundreds of thousands of people sitting at keyboards for hours on end to keep online services humming along seamlessly. It can seem like the Internet operates entirely automatically, but it doesnt. Humans are often hidden behind the scenes, working in real time to verify your identity, flag hate speech or caption videos.

The market for on-demand, digital tasks is estimated by the World Bank to be worth $25 billion, with Facebooks Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s YouTube some of the biggest buyers. Over the years they have collected an array of global on-demand digital workers whom they have kept at arms length. Therein lies the problem.

Rather than hire these workers directly, online companies coordinate them via outsourcing agencies like Accenture Plc or Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., who in turn hire from yet other agencies like some vast, intricate puppet show. The work is often secretive, the hours unstable and the pay low.

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When contrasted with the high-salaried engineers and policy wonks for Big Tech firms who enjoy catered meals and free karate lessons, contractors are cheap labor at the bottom of the ladder. Theres a term for what they do  Ghost Work, coined by Microsoft Corp. researchers Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri, who made it the title of a 2019 book.

Some contractors have begun to agitate for change, but its a long road piled high with obstacles. Earlier this month, several content moderators for Facebook in the U.S. threatened a work stoppage  the first known action of its kind by such workers  via an open letter to Accenture and Mark Zuckerberg. Hundreds of their colleagues had not received a paycheck for January and if the money wasnt paid, they would step away from their keyboards. Within minutes of the email being sent, many workers received $1,500 in their accounts, according to Foxglove, a non-profit tech advocacy group in the U.K. that has advised dozens of moderators on potential legal action against Facebook. Other moderators also recently complained that Accenture had ordered them back into the office; Facebooks salaried staff was allowed to work from home amid the spread of Omicron.

Accenture eventually reversed its order. This all comes on top of a $52 million settlement that moderators reached with Facebook in May 2020 over working conditions, after the toxic nature of their work  reviewing images of violence and abuse  was exposed in wide-ranging press reports.

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Even so, their working conditions largely havent changed. Each workday is tracked by the second, according to one content moderator in the U.S., contacted via Foxglove and who commented only on the condition of anonymity. In addition to assenting to production quotas, most sign strict non-disclosure agreements that prevent them from discussing their work with family and friends. The work is miserable, the content moderator added. But people are too afraid to lose their jobs.

The same fear exists among contractors with Amazons Mechanical Turk platform, a marketplace for doing micro-tasks that earn a few cents at a time. Anyone can be a turker by signing up to the platform and carrying out human-intelligence tasks or HITs, like identifying objects in a series of images or answering survey questions. Hundreds of thousands of people have done this work from their homes, earning an average hourly wage of just over $3, or more if they have the right software tools. Sherry Stanley, a North Carolina-based mother of three, has been a turker for seven years and for much of that time the platform was her sole source of income; she has worked roughly 15 hours a day to make between $60 and $100. Amazon can use training data produced by turkers to help develop its own AI services.(2)

For Stanley and others, the problem with Amazon MTurk wasnt so much the low pay but the instability  specifically, the random mass rejections of their work by anonymous requesters, which could lead to no pay at all for hours of work. Leaders of a handful of the biggest online forums for MTurk workers last year spent months cautiously discussing what to do. With input from Stanley and others, they finally agreed to put their weight behind a petition. It was posted online earlier this month and calls on several named Amazon executives to better regulate rejected work and communicate more with the forum leaders.

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Turkers have rarely agitated against Amazon, lest they upset a careful equilibrium they have with its platform, so the petition is a rare step into the unknown. In the past two weeks, it has amassed 374 signatures; at 500, they aim to submit it to Amazon.

Still, with contract labor on the rise across the world, the vast majority of digital workers find themselves lacking due attention from their Big Tech employers, respectable schedules and decent pay.

The petitions from Facebooks and Amazons digital workers are impressive but arguably too small, like drops in the ocean, to look like promising steps towards better conditions. A more impactful (and more stressful) avenue may be the courts, as demonstrated by drivers for Uber Technologies Inc., who last year won the right to minimum wage and sick pay after suing the company in the U.K.s High Court.

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While Alphabet contractors were allowed to join its full-time employees union last year, theres scant evidence that union activity has improved their conditions in the same way court action has.

Mary L. Gray, the Microsoft researcher who wrote Ghost Work, estimates the number of people who do such work will grow as more of our communications and creative work goes online, and AI continues to need constant hand-holding by humans. She says her own research has shown that better treatment for contractors, including better pay and stability, leads to higher quality work, which is in everyones best interests.

We know that those working conditions have a profound effect on what kind of information we consume, she says. You cant extract value out of cognitive work if somebodys hungry.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

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 Facebook Goes Full Meta. Is That What Consumers Want?: Tae Kim

 Can Social Media Fix Its Misinformation Problem?: Parmy Olson

 U.S.s Most Secret Utility Is Amazon Web Services: Tim OBrien

(Changes location of turker in eighth paragraph to West Virginia.)

(1) Amazon says in itsparticipation agreementfor MTurk thattheTask content that you upload and work product that you receive via the Site may be retained and used to improve the Site and other machine learning related products and services offered by us or our affiliates.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Parmy Olson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. She previously reported for the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and is the author of We Are Anonymous.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Crypto enthusiasts dont only dream of revolutionizing the world of money. They want to reinvent the World Wide Web. That vision, which goes by the name of Web3, is of a decentralized environment built on crypto technology in which swarms of collaborators take back control of the web from giant tech companies. Its a threat that those tech firms -- including Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. and Twitter Inc. -- are starting to take seriously.

1. Why Web3?

The idea is this: The early web was composed of static pages of text and simple images. In what became known as Web 2.0, users began to interact with one another, sharing pictures and videos that they could upload quickly now that bandwidth was plentiful. But users needed to coalesce around big platforms for anyone else to see their stuff. So a development that seemed to put us in charge instead created todays landscape of giant corporations sucking up data from the activity on their sites and using it to make billions by selling ads. Web3 advocates -- many of them anti-establishment libertarians -- argue that governments cant force the tech giants to serve our interests through regulation, so its time for a new model where we create and own the web experience we want.

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2. How would it work?

Proponents of Web3 say blockchains and related technologies reduce the power of intermediaries like Amazon.com Inc. or Instagram, and facilitate direct relationships between people who want to collaborate with colleagues, communicate with friends, or buy and sell goods and services online. Indeed, it was the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, Gavin Wood, who coined the term Web3 in 2014. Blockchains record information in a way that is very difficult to hack or alter. Their most obvious use right now is in cryptocurrency transactions. But blockchains can be used for all manner of peer-to-peer interactions. Users can come together to develop anything from apps to knowledge bases or search tools. The functionality would be supported by a multitude of users so no single entity gets to control them.

3. Whats in it for me?

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If you create or help to develop an app in Web3 (known as a dapp, or decentralised app), you can receive tokens that give you a say in the fees it charges, how it evolves or the working groups formed to oversee it. Tokens can also be sold or given to a dapps users, for example to reward them for winning a battle in a blockchain game, or sharing their computing bandwidth. Token owners can form communities known as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and get to vote on how the dapps funds are distributed. The rules are set via a smart contract, effectively a line of code that triggers an exchange of value once a set of mutually agreed conditions are met. The transaction is irreversible and in theory dispenses with the need for a centralised authority to oversee and enforce it. There are already places where you can see Web3 apps in practice, such as Heliums decentralized wireless network. The network has grown to cover 240,000 hotspots across 21,000 cities by paying people to deploy their wireless hotspots in exchange for Heliums token.

4. What else can I do in Web3?

More than 9,100 active dapps are listed on tracker DappRadar. They include lots of crypto trading platforms and video games. Game developers have been early adopters of Web3s open technologies because they make it easy for players to earn tokens and in-game items that can be traded via decentralized exchanges. Many dapps allow you to buy and sell non-fungible tokens -- things like digital monsters and dragons.

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5. Whats not to like?

With many Web3 apps, it can be difficult for users to get help when they have a problem: theres no customer-service number. Regulators also face a challenge when it comes to identifying ownership and responsibility in a Web3 world. Governments already struggle to suppress harmful or illegal online content and identify cybercriminals. Yet Congress can at least summon Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to answer for his companys actions. Imagine never knowing who to blame when something goes wrong. Web3s supporters argue it cant be any worse than the status quo, in which the tech giants track our every move online. They say handing responsibility to communities of users and developers will drive up standards. Not everyone is convinced. In a January blog, ex-Signal CEO Matthew Rosenfeld questioned whether the current dapps are better or different enough from Web 2.0, though he didnt dismiss Web3 entirely. It is, at the very least, something new on the nerd level -- and that creates a space for creativity/exploration that is somewhat reminiscent of early internet days, he wrote.

6. Whos investing in Web3?

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It depends on who you ask. To Web3s earliest proponents, one becomes a financial backer by building something and buying or earning ownership of it as it grows. The reality today is that the big money is coming from investment firms such as Andreessen Horowitz. VCs invested $30 billion in crypto-related projects including Web3 in 2021, according to research company PitchBook. The growing involvement of venture capitalists has led some important industry figures to dismiss the idea of Web3 as a democratic online utopia that benefits only users. Jack Dorsey, Twitters former chief executive, has mocked it as the creature of Silicon Valley VC firms and limited partnerships. You dont own web3, he tweeted in December. The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives.

7. How are the big tech firms responding?

They are trying to create services that offer Web3 features but arent really decentralized. Twitter has been looking at ways to let you tweet from a crypto account. In December, Metas newly-designated technology chief Andrew Bosworth laid out a vision for its social networks to achieve deep compatibility with blockchain or cryptocurrency technologies ahead of rivals, according to an internal post cited by the New York Times. Norwegian web developer Opera said in January it was releasing a Web3 browser compatible with major operating systems with features like built-in crypto wallets and support for dapps. Web3 is also driving mergers and acquisitions: In January, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. announced an $11 billion deal to acquire Zynga Inc., a mobile game maker thats been exploring blockchain-backed games. The deal, said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, is an opportunity to address new Web3 opportunities.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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Two years into the pandemic, weary governments are hoping the fast-spreading but less severe omicron variant marks a turning point, a shift toward a more predictable and manageable phase. Determined to escape the crisis and avoid more restrictions, officials in some countries suggest its approaching time to treat Covid as an endemic disease, like seasonal flu. World Health Organization experts say thats premature. With omicron ripping through populations and vast parts of the planet still unvaccinated, the pandemic isnt over. The bottom line: the path to reaching that endemic stage is full of uncertainties, posing tough questions for policymakers everywhere.

1. What does endemic mean?

In an epidemic, a disease spreads rapidly and unexpectedly in a given location; it becomes a pandemic when it spreads globally, or over a very wide area. A disease thats endemic is continuously present in a given population at a lower and more stable level, even if cases spike under certain conditions. Scientists expect that when enough people gain at least some protection from the coronavirus through vaccines or prior infections, it will blunt the spread of the virus and reduce hospitalizations and deaths, so that over time Covid will pose less of a threat. The virus wont go away entirely, however, and endemic diseases can still take a serious toll. Tuberculosis and malaria, which are endemic in some parts of the world, claimed an estimated 1.5 million and 627,000 lives, respectively, in 2020. Endemic in itself does not mean good. Endemic just means its here forever, said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHOs health emergencies program.

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2. When might Covid become endemic?

In mid-January, Covid was taking about 50,000 lives a week globally. Learning to live with the virus shouldnt mean enduring that much death, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Countries are likely to start considering Covid endemic at different points in time, based on their levels of immunity. While two-thirds of people in wealthy countries had received at least one dose of vaccine as of Jan. 12, just 11% had in low-income nations. In Portugal, where 89% of the population is fully vaccinated, Covid already looks like an endemic illness. In Africa, about 85% of people have yet to receive a single dose. China, the worlds most populous country, is in a category of its own: It has stuck to a zero-Covid strategy, using strict lockdowns and extensive quarantines to quell outbreaks. So infections are few, but natural immunity is also scant. While 87% of the population is fully vaccinated, its unclear how effective Chinas shots are.

3. Whats the role of the omicron variant?

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Data show the latest iteration of the coronavirus is less virulent than previous variants, which means its less likely to cause hospitalizations and deaths. Because omicron is also more transmissible, its creating surges in infections. But that feature could also mean it could speed a transition to an endemic stage by outcompeting the more harmful delta variant, which became dominant worldwide in mid-2021. Theres an important caveat, however. Its not yet clear whether omicron is spreading so quickly because its inherently more fit than delta or whether its just better at evading the immunity some have from vaccination and previous infections. If its the latter, as some populations build up immunity to omicron, it may lose its advantage, allowing delta to resurge.

4. What else could complicate the path?

Its impossible to know what the next variants will look like, and how infectious and virulent they may be. The slow rollout of vaccines among poor countries raises the risk that shot-evading variants could emerge. Another unknown is how durable immunity will be. The coronavirus may prove to be similar to the flu virus, which produces a relatively steady number of cases annually but also has the potential to cause epidemics and even pandemics when it mutates sufficiently to evade the immunity large numbers of people have from vaccination and prior infections.

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5. Which countries are re-evaluating their view of Covid?

Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said its time to think about new ways of living with Covid given that the rise in omicron cases hasnt led to an equivalent surge in hospitalizations and deaths. U.K. cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi hopes his country will become one of the first major economies to show the world how you transition from pandemic to endemic, adding that testing, vaccines including boosters, and antiviral drugs will be key parts of the strategy. U.S. President Joe Biden said he believes the virus can be managed with new tools. Its important to remember, however, that leaders have underestimated Covid throughout the pandemic. Last July, Biden declared that the U.S. was close to achieving independence from the coronavirus. Researchers warn that rapidly lifting Covid countermeasures could contribute to a rise in cases.

6. What might living with the virus look like?

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Waning immunity, pockets of unvaccinated people and variants could drive future outbreaks. Countries might respond with regular boosters, careful tracking of mutations, ongoing surveillance and better ventilation in buildings. Most infections could be relatively mild, like the flu, but a small fraction resulting in severe illness would add up. Endemic Covid could mean 40,000 to 100,000 deaths per year in the U.S., Trevor Bedford, a specialist on viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, estimated in October. By comparison, the flu kills from 12,000 to 52,000.

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Sourdough? Sure. Feta pasta? Fine. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Overnight oats? Only with a gun to my head. The list of Covid-era food fads is long and sometimes strange. Even so, the pandemic passion for instant coffee seems especially bizarre. After all, thanks to WFH, time is a surplus commodity, and you would think caffeine addicts would use some of it to dawdle over their favorite fix. Instead, some coffee fanatics, including a sizable contingent from Silicon Valley, have become obsessed with instant brew.

Even odder is that they are willing to pay premium prices for what has traditionally been joe for the poor. For most of my coffee-drinking life, instant has been a euphemism for inexpensive. Thats why, as I was given to understand, it is so popular in developing countries, especially those that dont grow their own beans, where Nescafe is an eponym for coffee.

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The most significant additions to the Ghosh home kitchen over the past 18 months have been two coffee-making gadgets, a Japanese mizudashi pot and a South Indian decoction filter. One uses cold water, the other hot, but both operate on the principle of unhurried percolation.

I rarely drink instant now. But if, like me, you grew up in India in the`70s and`80s, you might have been forgiven for thinking that granules were coffees natural form. Only in some parts of Indias south, home to the countrys few plantations, was filter coffee an option. Pour-overs and French presses were unheard of, and siphon was a term associated only with embezzlers and gasoline thieves.

The ubiquity of instant owed as much to cost considerations as convenience: Nescafe was cheap. It was also something of a cross between a sleeper agent and a gateway drug, helping to create a coffee habit in poor countries before economic development spurred demand for the likes of Starbucks. You can see, then, why it is hard for me to conceive how anyone would pay the price of a venti for a cup of instant.

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It is less surprising that the epicenter of the trend should be in Silicon Valley, where the notion of a $6 cup of instant was floated as far back as 2016, and where the Finnish creator of said cup, Kalle Freese, is inevitably described as the Elon Musk of coffee.

I had to find out for myself if these expensive instants lived up to their premium pricing. Alas, there has been a run on Freeses Sudden brand, so I never got the chance to pour a serving of granules out of a vacuum-sealed tube. Instead, I ordered three others: Swift Cup, Juno and Joe.

From the tone of this column thus far, you can probably tell I took a healthy dose of dubiousness into the trials. My skepticism wasnt softened by the extravagant claims on the packaging. Each box from Swift Cup, for instance, bears the legend We taste followed by flavor notes such as citrus, florals, milk chocolate, toasted nuts and red fruit. Such pretension would abash even the most oenophile of my friends.

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But I did my best to put my disbelief to a side and tried them all. And I can attest to the following:

 Each of the brands had a distinct taste, but the subcategories arent easy to distinguish. If there are differences between Swift Cups Brazilian, Mexican and Ethiopian variants, these are lost to me. For comparison, I also tried four Nescafe variants, and the differences among them were just as fuzzy.

 Taken as the manufacturers intended  just add water, the labels say  the premium instants were somewhat superior to the Nescafe versions. But this is a very low bar.

 None of the specialty instants is an acceptable substitute for a halfway decent pour-over or filtered coffee.

Now for the twist. Those of us who grew up on Nescafe learned how to extract more taste from the granules than the manufacturer might have thought possible. Indians developed a technique known as beating, in which a combination (the proportions vary by taste) of granules and sugar is whipped, by hand, with a small quantity of water until thickened to the consistency of porridge. Into this sludge is poured frothy hot milk, and voila you have Indian-style cappuccino.

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Heres my video of how to do this. Dalgona, the Korean version of this, is something of a TikTok craze.

When I deployed this technique to the various instant coffees in my kitchen, they all improved in taste. But none of them came close to the original and undisputed champion: Nescafe Classic.

That may not be sexy enough for Silicon Valley, but there are plenty of Indians in the Bay Area  and the wider world  who will agree with me that when you know, you know.

More From Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:



Your Cold Brew Wont Survive a Hot World: Amanda Little



Hungry? Heres Why You Should Be Eating Goat Meat: Bobby Ghosh



Starbucks Turns 50 and Still Fuels Its Rivals: Virginia Postrel

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and Africa.

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In a victory for the rule of law and the separation of federal powers, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that a bipartisan congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection can review some of former President Donald Trumps White House records. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The documents may fill in some blanks about Trumps involvement in any planning for the Jan. 6 siege. A number of Trumps senior aides who had been involved with efforts to stage a coup by overturning the 2020 presidential election have also drawn the Jan. 6 committees attention. On Tuesday, it subpoenaed documents and testimony from Trump advisers Rudolph Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Boris Epshteyn; it has previously subpoenaed Steve Bannon and Trumps former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

Trump had waged a legal battle to retain his email, phone records, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes, arguing that they were protected by executive privilege. Citing the gravity of the Jan. 6 siege and its threat to democracy, President Joe Biden waived the privilege. A federal appeals court, also noting the severity of the attacks and the need to prevent a recurrence, ruled last month that Congress was entitled to the documents. Trump then took his argument to the Supreme Court and lost.

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The courts ruling was terse. Its unsigned order simply states that it will not grant a stay and that the question of whether a former president can assert privilege over the current presidents objections was irrelevant, because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trumps claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a kind of concurrence, saying he respected the courts decision but that the appellate court was wrong to say that a former president shouldnt be able to assert executive privilege to protect confidential communications. Justice Clarence Thomas lodged a lone dissent, saying he would have heard the case.

Despite its brevity, the order is hugely significant. Its not every president who helps engineer a coup and foment an insurrection, and the Supreme Court has taken an important step forward in ensuring that the Oval Offices legal privileges dont prevent any of its occupants from being held to account.

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The 800 or so pages of White House documents that have been in dispute are not under Trumps control. The National Archives has them, and now must release them to Congress.

What the Jan. 6 committee then chooses to do with the documents should it find any incriminating evidence is unclear. If it makes a criminal referral to the Justice Department, then Attorney General Merrick Garland has more prosecutorial decisions to weigh. If the documents are damning, it also may be some time before the public sees them.

On the other hand, its still not entirely clear that the Justice Department has focused directly on Trump thus far in its own Jan. 6 probe. And the Jan. 6 committee is working against the clock as some of Trumps advisers continue to ignore its requests for records and testimony. If the midterm elections shift control of the House of Representatives to Republicans, the committee may get disbanded shortly thereafter.

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But take heart, for the moment at least. The Supreme Courts ruling is consistent with its previous stance on another important set of Trump records: his tax returns.

Last year, it ruled that Trump had to provide his tax returns and other financial records to New York prosecutors investigating him and his company for fraud. Trump argued then that as an ex-president, he should be immune from such requests. In our judicial system, the public has a right to every mans evidence, wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. Since the earliest days of the Republic, every man has included the President of the United States.

In short: Nobody is above the law. Now the court has also ruled that presidents, even once out of office, are not immune from congressional oversight. That reality carries even greater weight when it involves a president who not only incited sedition but may have helped orchestrate it.

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More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Tell the Jan. 6 Story to Boost Democracy, Not Democrats: Jonathan Bernstein

 The Jan. 6 Committee Should Finish Its Job  Quickly: The Editors

 Now Its the Supreme Courts Turn on Trumps Jan. 6 Records: Timothy OBrien

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Timothy L. OBrien is a senior columnist for Bloomberg Opinion.

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President Joe Biden held a nearly two-hour press conference on Wednesday to mark the end of his first year of the presidency. He botched his discussion of Russia and Ukraine, requiring a clarification from the White House later, but I tend to agree with Slates Fred Kaplan that it was a blunder thats unlikely to have consequences. He did the spinning that presidents do, pointing out his administrations accomplishments and other good things that happened, implying, sometimes by stretching facts but never stooping to the routine falsehoods his predecessor used, that the president was responsible for those good things.

He blamed inadequate communications, not policy, for any public opinion problems he or his programs have. Probably the most memorable thing about the session was how long it ran, easily topping the longest from Presidents Barack Obama or Donald Trump.

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Thats not really a criticism! Most presidential news conferences arent memorable, and most that are feature problems much more serious than Bidens blurry comments about the potential U.S. response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Perhaps the most interesting answers were to questions about the 2022 elections and the efforts by some states to narrow voting eligibility and give partisans more power to affect vote counting.

Q: Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isnt passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?

Biden: Well, it all depends on whether or not were able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election 

And then a follow-up:

Q: I just wanted to clarify: A moment ago, you were asked whether or not you believed that we would have free and fair elections in 2022 if some of these state legislatures reformed their voting protocols. You said that it depends. Do you  do you think that they would in any way be illegitimate?

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Biden: Oh, yeah, I think it easily could be  be illegitimate.

Imagine  imagine if, in fact, Trump has succeeded in convincing Pence to not count the votes.

Q: Well, I 

Biden: Imagine if 

Go on.

Q: In regard to 2022, sir  the midterm elections.

Biden: Oh, 2022. I mean, imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit. You have to recount it and were not going to count  were going to discard the following votes.

I mean, sure, but  Im not going to say its going to be legit. Its  the increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these  these reforms passed.

Biden immediately took criticism from several Republicans and from journalists, with Senator Mitt Romney of Utah accusing him of following the same path that Donald Trump went down, which is attempting to delegitimize an election.

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The first thing to say is that, no, this is nothing like Trump, who has repeatedly lied about election fraud in virtually every election hes ever talked about, including those he won. The second thing is that the standard had better be higher than just being less irresponsible than Trump.

Biden chose his words poorly. What he got most wrong is that he assumed a context he didnt bother to explain, which meant he missed an opportunity to educate anyone interested in learning.

Biden should have responded by proclaiming that he will never raise questions of fraud or illegitimacy without hard evidence. He could have reminded everyone that he had attended the inauguration of quite a few Republican presidents, including two who won very close elections, and accepted the results every time. He could have said that he hoped that every election is free and fair, and that hell do everything possible to see that they are.

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Biden also could remind people that hes old enough to remember the days before the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when elections in many states were not free or fair or legitimate; that it was one of the great achievements of both parties to correct that injustice; that hes especially proud of his Democratic Party, which was once the main source of undermining electoral democracy but had done the hard work of reforming people or removing them if they would not reform.

He could explain that Supreme Court decisions had subsequently gutted the enforcement provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and that without enforcement, theres no way to prevent new laws that chip away at fully legitimate elections, a little here and a little there  and that new laws in several states, passed after the Supreme Court acted, have started that dangerous process in motion.

He could further explain that one group of Republicans has declared war on the patriotic Republicans who administered elections properly in 2020, and that if that war succeeds theres a serious danger of manipulated results in the future instead of the excellent record the U.S. has finally achieved in holding elections. And that on top of all of that, election procedures need to be updated for the modern world  in states governed by Republicans and in states governed by Democrats  so that the government doesnt erect unnecessary barriers between citizens and the ballot box.

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Biden could have pointed out that weve seen democracies erode around the world, and declared that he wont stand for it here. He could have described how the bills hes supporting in Congress  which were defeated in the Senate by filibuster later on Wednesday  were designed to ensure that no one in this nation will ever have reason to doubt that elections are free and fair. And he could have challenged Republicans who disagree with the ideas that Democrats have proposed to present alternative ways to restore the full power of the Voting Rights Act, a law their party has proudly supported in the past and that congressional Republicans voted for overwhelmingly as recently as 2006.

Instead, Biden just jumped to the potential problems with future elections, delivered in an accusatory way. I dont think he undermined trust in those elections  certainly not as much as those who are passing restrictive laws or harassing and purging honest election administrators. But that doesnt make it a good answer.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

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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American consumers are officially over the pandemic. What other conclusion is there to draw from the news that Peloton Interactive Inc. is temporarily halting production of its bikes and treadmills, sending its shares tumbling as much as 27%? Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Few benefited from the lockdown era as much as the New York-based home fitness company, with its shares soaring 434% in 2020. After all, there wasnt much else to do but stay home and get some exercise. But the development of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics gave Americans hope that they could leave their homes again, even if it was just back to the office. Sure, it may have been just a few days a week, but that left less time to ride a $1,495 stationary bike along with others in a virtual class. So Pelotons shares gave back some of those 2020 gains, dropping 76% in 2021.

Now Americans are going to have even less time to ride those connected bikes and run on those treadmills that Peloton hoped would kick-start growth. Thats because consumers are busy making vacation plans, and you cant take your Peloton on vacation. United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby told CNBC on Thursday that he expects the carrier to return to profit in the second quarter and benefit from a very strong summer for air travel demand. American Airlines Group Inc. also said Thursday that bookings are improving on the hope that omicron is waning. People have gotten to the point they believe this is going to be behind us before too long, and theyre confident and making travel plans, certainly in the future, CEO Doug Parker told CNBC.

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Its not just the airlines that are sounding confident. Global tourism is on its way to a long-term, sustainable recovery as more travelers and countries recognize the endemic nature of Covid-19, Ho Kwon Ping, the executive chairman of hotel operator Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Monday. While the pickup in new bookings is slower because people want to be cautious, theres a recognition that it is going to become endemic, and that recognition is changing peoples attitude, Ho said. Thats why were so optimistic.

Indeed, the latest consumer sentiment survey from the Conference Board showed that the number of Americans planning to travel on vacation is back to pre-pandemic levels.

Pelotons woes underscore the broad shift underway in consumer spending, from goods back to services, which is how it was before the pandemic hit in early 2020. Just look at that disappointing retail sales report for December that the Commerce Department released Friday. It showed a 1.9% drop, the biggest in 10 months and far exceeding the forecast for a 0.1% decline. But dig below the headline and youll find that drop was mostly due to fewer purchases of the same goods that had wildly overshot a pre-Covid baseline, like furniture, online, and electronic/appliances, Tom Porcelli, the chief U.S. economist for RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a research note.

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So, in a way, Pelotons struggles should be a sign that life may finally be getting back to normal. How much longer before those with a Peloton use the bike more as a place to hang dirty clothes waiting to go to the dry cleaner than for a workout?

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Pelotons Stock Surge Makes Sense in Deal Land: Tara Lachapelle

 The Five Biggest PR Blunders of 2021, Zoom Edition: Kara Alaimo

 Airlines Will Need Big Data to Revive Post-Covid: David Fickling

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Robert Burgess is the executive editor for Bloomberg Opinion. He is the former global executive editor in charge of financial markets for Bloomberg News. As managing editor, he led the companys news coverage of credit markets during the global financial crisis.

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On Dec. 14, 2020, the day of the electoral college vote, Republican electors convened in the capitals of five states that Joe Biden had won. They declared themselves duly elected and qualified and sent signed certificates to Washington purporting to affirm Donald Trump as the actual victor. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight At the time, the gatherings in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin  all states that had officially approved Biden electors  were widely derided as political stunts intended to bolster Trumps baseless allegations of fraud.

Understanding the origins of the rival slates has now become a focus of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to people familiar with the panels activities. Two Democratic attorneys general have asked federal prosecutors in recent days to investigate whether crimes were committed in assembling or submitting the Trump slates.

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The Trump electors gathered in plain sight, assisted by campaign officials and Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said publicly that the rival slates were necessary and appropriate. Internally, Giuliani oversaw the effort, according to former campaign officials and party leaders who, like some others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. One of the people familiar with the plan said Giuliani was assisted at times by an anchor from the right-wing network One America News.

The House select committee investigating the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 faces an uphill battle with former Trump administration officials. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)

The extent and particulars of the behind-the-scenes coordination  and the refusal by some Trump electors to go along with the plan  have not been previously reported. The campaign scrambled to help electors gain access to Capitol buildings, as is required in some states, and to distribute draft language for the certificates that would later be submitted to Congress, according to the former campaign officials and party leaders.

The campaign also worked to find replacements for the electors who were unable to participate, or unwilling. Among the unwilling were a state GOP chairman, a lawmaker who was one of the first in Congress to endorse Trump and a son of legendary Republican senator Johnny Isakson, The Washington Post found.

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When the electoral college votes were cast, Trumps allies claimed that sending rival slates to Washington echoed a move by Democrats in a close race in Hawaii six decades earlier. They said they were merely locking in electors to ensure they would be available if courts determined that Trump had won any of those states. Republican electors in two additional states, Pennsylvania and New Mexico, sent certificates, but those documents explicitly stated that they were to be considered only if the election results were upended.

In ways that were not publicly known until months later, however, the rival slates were leveraged as evidence in last-ditch efforts to give Vice President Mike Pence the ability to reject Bidens victory when he presided over the electoral vote count in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Before Election Day, presidential candidates or their parties nominate a slate of potential electors in each state where they appear on the ballot. After the popular vote is certified, the governor in each state is required under federal law to certify the winning candidates electors. The electors then meet in mid-December and send signed certificates recording their votes to, among other places, the national archivist and the president of the U.S. Senate. The votes are tallied on Jan. 6.

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In a subpoena Tuesday to lawyer Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with Giuliani, the House committee wrote that she prepared and circulated two memos purporting to analyze the constitutional authority for the Vice President to reject or delay counting electoral votes from states that had submitted alternate slates of electors.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), who referred the matter to federal prosecutors, last week said that submitting the electoral certificates to historical archives and government officials turned what might have been a political event into a an open-and-shut case of forgery of a public record.

This is not political theater. Its not protected speech, Nessel said in an interview. Its an attack on the very fabric of our system of government. And so it deserves to have federal prosecutorial and investigative scrutiny.

A spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, Gustavo Portela, accused Nessel of playing political games.

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New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said this week that he, too, had referred the matter to federal prosecutors, while his counterpart in Wisconsin  fellow Democrat Josh Kaul  said he believed the federal government should investigate any unlawful act that furthered seditious conspiracy.

Giuliani did not respond to messages from The Post seeking comment. A spokesman for Trump also did not respond.

Ellis declined to comment on her role in the Trump elector plan. She did not respond to a request for comment about the subpoena.

Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn told The Post he took part in conference calls with the campaigns legal team, including Giuliani, to discuss elector participation.

This was in total congruence with the overall effort to send it back to the states, Epshteyn said last week. With the rampant fraud across the country, the interplay of the 12th Amendment and the Electoral Count Act made it important to have alternate slates of electors be available when a challenge to states slate of electors would be successful.

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Multiple courts, recounts and audits have found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Epshteyn was subpoenaed Tuesday by the House committee, as was Giuliani.

Talk of rival electors dated to the days immediately after the election, according to communications released last month by the House committee. Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, received text messages proposing a strategy in which Republican legislatures would appoint alternate slates of Trump electors. One text called the plan highly controversial.

I love it, Meadows responded, according to the committee, which did not release the names of the people who sent the messages. The committee said Meadows responded to a subsequent message about potentially appointing alternate electors by saying, We have a team on it.

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In late December, Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official sympathetic to Trump, drafted a letter urging Georgia officials to call a special session of the legislature to reconsider Bidens win. Though Gov. Brian Kemp (R) had certified Bidens electors, Clark falsely implied that the Justice Department believed the Trump electors were valid rivals to those put forward by Georgia and other states for Biden. Clarks bosses rejected the proposal to send such a letter, which surfaced publicly after Trump left office. Clark has said his communications were lawful.

Around the same time, Trump attorney John Eastman claimed in memos laying out options for Pence that the rival electoral slates allowed him to declare on Jan. 6 that no winner could be determined in those seven states.

Pences chief of staff, Marc Short, told The Post that Giuliani and his associates forwarded letters from individual state legislators objecting to Bidens electors and arguing the Trump electors should be recognized instead. Short and Pences legal team reviewed the unsolicited letters but were not persuaded there was any legal basis to accept Trump electors who had not been certified by their states, Short said.

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Robert F. Spindell Jr., a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, said he and fellow Trump electors did what was right to preserve the presidents legal avenues should courts rule in his favor. Spindell said he viewed signing the certificate as a ministerial act and not as a stealth tactic.

It was pretty straightforward. Show up, sign the stuff, he said. There was no attempt to be secretive about it.

'Joe Biden won'

The Post attempted to interview the 15 Trump electors in those key states who were replaced ahead of the electoral vote. Several of them said they were recovering from covid-19 at the time or had other obligations. All the names are listed in documents the watchdog group American Oversight obtained through a public records request to the National Archives and Records Administration.

Among the electors who declined to participate was Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas, an election-law expert who had defended Trump in 2016 against a recount push by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

While Lawrence was originally selected to be an elector by the Trump campaign, he did not serve as an elector because Joe Biden won the election and it was Bidens electors that were certified, Vonne Andring, a senior adviser to the state party, said in a statement to The Post.

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Andring also said that it was the presidential campaign that drove the process. The party, she said, did not select electors, nor did it coordinate elector events and communications.

In Georgia, John Isakson, an original Trump elector, told The Post that he bowed out because he did not want to attend what he had perceived as a political rally. Isakson has spent his career in real estate and has never served in public office or as a party official. His father, who was elected to the Senate three times, was hailed after his death in December as a bipartisan statesman, known for his friendship with the late John Lewis, the Democratic congressman and voting rights icon.

It seemed like political gamesmanship, and thats not something I would have participated in, Isakson said in an interview last week. We have a process for certifying the election. We have a process for challenging the election. The challenges failed, so I wouldnt have participated in something that was going against all of that.

By the time of the electoral college vote, efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the results had been rejected by at least 86 judges, including nine Supreme Court justices.

Former congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, another original Trump elector, had been among the first members of Congress to back Trumps presidential bid in 2016. But he, too, balked at casting an electoral vote for Trump in a state where Biden was the certified winner. Earlier in December, then-Attorney General William P. Barr said he had not seen widespread fraud that could have upended the election.

I was disappointed in the election, Marino said in an interview, but as a former prosecutor, when the attorney general says hes not finding anything here, thats good enough for me.

Marino, who retired in 2019, added: Im a constitutionalist and have always been a constitutionalist.  I believe in the rule of law and whatever the courts determined. Im not going to jump on a bandwagon to say that I know better than the courts.

Alternate slates

When the electoral college voted, it was no secret that GOP electors were gathering in some states won by Biden. In most of the seven key states, Republican leaders issued news releases trumpeting the fact that their electors had cast votes. Arizona party officials posted a video of their electors signing ceremony on Twitter. The Pennsylvania GOP issued a news release explaining that it took part at the request of the Trump campaign.

As we speak, today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and were going to send those results up to Congress, Trump aide Stephen Miller said on Fox & Friends that morning.

He claimed that doing so would keep open legal avenues to certify Trump as the victor. If we win these cases in the courts, then we can direct that the alternate slate of electors can be certified, Miller said.

Former chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon quizzed Giuliani that same day on his podcast, referring to the effort as something Rudy and the team have worked on. Bannon asked: Why are you sending electors?  Why is the Trump campaign sending its own slate of electors to these state capitals?

Giuliani said that based on his teams legal research and advice weve gotten from a number of professors, they decided to act out of an excess of caution to preserve the chance for the votes to be counted for Trump if any of the campaigns remaining challenges succeeded.

Epshteyn, speaking on Bannons podcast that day, claimed that President Trump is going to end up prevailing either through the legal front or the legislative front, an apparent reference to the campaigns efforts to press Republican legislatures in states such as Georgia and Arizona to claw back their states electoral votes for Biden and hand them instead to Trump.

Behind the scenes, in the days leading up to the electoral college vote, Giuliani participated in at least one conference call with campaign staffers and Republican activists that included detailed discussions about preparing the rival electoral slates, according to former campaign officials. Christina Bobb, an anchor on One America News, the far-right network that promoted Trumps debunked allegations of a rigged election, was also on at least one call about preparing the rival slates, according to one of the former campaign officials.

Bobb, a lawyer, had started volunteering to help Trumps personal attorneys in November, shortly after the president put Giuliani in charge of challenging the election results in court, Giuliani said over the summer in a deposition in a lawsuit brought by a former employee of a voting-machine company. Bobb has acknowledged that she assisted the campaigns legal team at this time. She declined to comment on the elector strategy.

At one point, the leadership of the Republican National Committee was asked whether the party would help locate additional electors to replace Republicans who had declined to participate, according to a person familiar with the discussion. The RNC did not help in the effort to find new electors, the person said.

Hawaii 1960

Republican officials in several of the seven states said at the time that they were adopting a strategy used by Democrats after the 1960 presidential election in Hawaii. That race, however, was much closer than any state was in 2020, and it was ultimately decided by a margin of fewer than 200 votes.

On Dec. 19, the day the electoral college voted that year, Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon had been declared the winner in Hawaii, pending a recount. GOP and Democratic electors met and voted, each declaring themselves the states duly and legally appointed electors.

Days later, after the recount concluded, a state court found that Nixon had lost to Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy. On Jan. 4, 1961, Hawaiis governor sent a new certificate to Washington replacing the Republican electors with Democrats.

When Congress convened on Jan. 6, Nixon  then the vice president and thus the presiding officer  suggested that the Democratic electors votes from Hawaii be counted, putting an end to the controversy. At the time, Nixon said he did so without the intent of establishing a precedent.

Kennedy won the presidency easily, and Hawaiis three electoral votes would not have changed the outcome in any case.

Edward Foley, an Ohio State University law professor who has studied disputed elections, said that Trumps 2020 effort stands apart because, unlike the Democrats in Hawaii in 1960, he had no plausible basis for challenging Bidens clear and legitimate win.

You shouldnt be going down this road in 2020 at all, because the predicate of it is the big lie,  Foley told The Post, making reference to Trumps repeated claim that the election was stolen. There was no responsible basis for any of these people in any of these states to claim that they were the duly elected electors, he said.

Foley is among legal scholars who have advocated for changing the 1887 law that governs the counting of electoral college votes so there is no ambiguity about what Congress should do if confronted with dueling slates. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signaled that he is open to the debate.

Tom Hamburger and Alice Crites contributed to this report.

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President Biden may have discovered one of the drawbacks to holding long news conferences: You might get a few questions you didnt see coming. Biden held a record-long, nearly two-hour exchange with reporters Wednesday, on the eve of his first anniversary in office. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight He seemed to stick to the usual White House game plan for the first part of the presser, consulting a seating chart and calling select reporters names off a list.

But as time wore on, Biden freelanced, calling on whoever had a hand raised.

That opened the floor to questions from conservative outlets and reporters who dont often get to interrogate the president  and some jarring exchanges.

Steven Nelson, a reporter from the New York Post, asked Biden why he didnt press for transparency about the origins of the coronavirus during a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November. Nelson added a second part to the question: Was Bidens alleged failure to press Xi related to his sons involvement in an investment firm controlled by Chinese-state entities?

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The question combined two conservative talking points: That the Chinese government is hiding information about where the virus came from, and that Biden has allegedly benefited from business dealings with China. Theres no evidence for the latter claim; the New York Post, however, asserted as much just before the 2020 election in a controversial story that alleged Biden and his son Hunter had ties to Chinese business interests.

In response to Nelson, Biden replied that he did, in fact, press Xi on the virus origins during their call in November. But he ducked Nelsons insinuation that his actions were related to his son. I made it clear that China has an obligation to be more forthcoming on exactly what the source of the virus was, the president said, before moving on to another reporter.

Biden soon called on Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who has become famous for his give-and-take with White House press secretary Jen Psaki during daily media briefings. Doocy got right to the point with Biden, asking, Why are you trying so hard in your first year to pull the country so far to the left?

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Biden chuckled.

He went on to dispute the questions premise, saying his successful efforts to secure pandemic relief and infrastructure funding were widely supported by Democrats and some Republicans. You guys have been trying to convince me Im Bernie Sanders, he said, referring to the liberal senator from Vermont. I like him, but Im not. Im a mainstream Democrat.

Biden was not amused when Philip Wegmann, a reporter from RealClearPolitics, pressed him about a speech last week in which the president compared lawmakers who oppose Democratic-backed voting rights legislation to the infamous segregationists George Wallace and Bull Connor. His voice rising, Biden told Wegmann: Go back and read what I said. Tell me if you think I called anyone who voted on the side of the position taken by Bull Connor that they were Bull Connor.

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He added, That is an interesting reading of English. I assume you got into journalism because you like to write.

In fact, Biden did invoke such a comparison while speaking in Atlanta last week. Do you want to be on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? he said then. Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor?

Biden acknowledged that his news conference had grown disorderly at one point. I want to thank my communications staff for the great help here, he said jokingly, drawing laughs from the assembled reporters.

Finally, there was reporter James Rosen, from the conservative Newsmax network, which has avidly promoted former president Donald Trumps baseless claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.

Rosen said he wanted to raise a delicate subject. Referring to a poll released that morning, he asked Biden why a large segment of the American electorate had come to harbor such profound concerns about your cognitive fitness.

Biden answered quickly: I have no idea, he said. And then he moved on.

Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison contributed to this report.

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D.C. Circuit Judge Justin Walker struggled to pin down the Biden administrations approach to the border Wednesday. In one lawsuit, he said, government officials argue that a Trump-era program that sends asylum seekers into Mexico to await a hearing is too dangerous. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Yet government lawyers are defending a separate policy that is expelling far more migrants to nations such as Haiti, despite the dangers they might face there. He called their position, a self-contradiction.

So what are we supposed to do with this? Walker asked the Department of Justice lawyer at a hearing Wednesday, after she asked a panel of judges to let the expulsions continue for now.

The appeals hearing over a lawsuit seeking to end the expulsion of migrant families unfolded as the Biden administration is hitting the one-year mark, with mixed results on President Bidens pledge to create a far more humane immigration system than did President Donald Trump, who sought to deport as many immigrants as possible. Supporters say Biden has made great strides: He has shielded millions of immigrants from deportation, ended family detention, halted the border wall, scrapped Trumps travel bans, welcomed tens of thousands of Afghans and raised the annual refugee cap to 125,000, which the White House said is the highest since 1993.

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His administration has also granted temporary protected status to approximately 430,000 additional undocumented immigrants from countries such as Venezuela, Yemen and Haiti, allowing them to apply for work permits as long as they were already living in the United States.

White House immigration policy adviser Esther Olavarria said at a panel discussion Wednesday hosted by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute (MPI) that more countries are under active consideration for temporary protected status.

But the administration has also expelled hundreds of thousands of migrants who attempted to cross the border illegally, federal records show, as they grapple with a record influx at the southwest border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection made 1.7 million apprehensions last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, up from nearly 460,000 the year before.

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About 27 percent tried to cross more than once, MPI found, a much higher share than in previous years.

Apprehensions rose again last month  though they usually drop in December  to more than 170,000, the highest December since the agency was created, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Democrats have been unable to leverage their slim majority in Congress to secure permanent residency and a path to U.S. citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who have lived here for years, even decades, as Biden hoped.

It has been a challenge, Olavarria said. It has been frustrating to all of us on the inside and personally to me.

She paused and added, Theres much more that we need to be doing and could be doing, and the building blocks for that are also underway.

Doris Meissner, a senior fellow with MPI and a Clinton administration immigration commissioner, said the institute counted 296 executive actions on immigration as of this week, compared with 86 executive actions during Trumps first year.

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That outpaces the Trump record, she said. However, the news reporting and the public perception have been almost entirely on issues at the border and on Congress, for paralysis in Congress on immigration legislation.

MPI also found that the drop in interior enforcement has had perceptible effects, according to a new report. The Biden administration has ended worksite raids and declared that merely being in the United States illegally is not a reason to deport someone, as it was under Trump. Immigration arrests in the interior of the country dropped to 3,000 a month, half the number during the last administration. Deportations from the interior have plunged.

Republicans have assailed the Biden administration for unwinding Trump-era policies and blamed that effort for the mass migration to the border, adding to the already bloated immigration-court backlog of nearly 1.6 million cases.

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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) called the administrations policies disastrous this month, and Republicans have been eager to highlight them as they head into the November midterm elections that could shift the balance of power in Congress.

Lorella Praeli, co-president of Community Change, an advocacy organization, said at the MPI panel that the administration has indeed made progress on immigration, ending worksite raids, rescinding a public charge rule that sought to bar low-income immigrants and promoting citizenship or legal residency  something she is still hopeful would materialize.

But she said it is shameful that officials are still expelling migrants to nations such as Haiti, and urged them to stop.

Biden ended Trumps Migrant Protection Protocols program, which required migrants to await their asylum hearings in often-dangerous border cities in Mexico, where they have been targets for kidnappings and assaults. But the federal courts ordered the government to restart the program while they fight to end it in court.

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The Biden administration has not ended Trumps policy of expelling migrants under Title 42 of the public health code, saying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has maintained its order.

While covid is rampant in the United States, a Department of Justice lawyer said the staggeringly high influx of migrants at the border cannot be safely detained and processed in the United States during covid.

Obviously, the governments goal is to get back to a state of orderly immigration processing for everyone, DOJ lawyer Sharon Swingle told the judges Wednesday. But currently, in CDCs view, the public health realities dont permit that.

It remained unclear at the hearing when that might change. Olavarria and other Biden immigration officials are soon to leave the White House, and she said Wednesday that there was a lot of work that I am very, very proud of, and more that needs to be done.

Ive worked in this area for now over 30 years, in and out of government. And when I have been out of government, I have always wondered, Why is it taking so long? Why dont they change policies faster? she said. When I have been in government, and that has been now more than 18 years, I realize every day how difficult it is to enact change.

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President Biden on Wednesday predicted Russia will once again invade Ukraine, speaking at a news conference in which he also made confusing remarks about how the United States and its allies would respond to Russian action short of a full-scale, multipronged offensive. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Biden told reporters he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want a full-blown war but does want to test the United States and NATO  and probably will proceed with actions the Kremlin will come to regret because of their high cost.

Im not so sure he [is] certain what hes going to do, Biden said. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something.

Biden also suggested that a minor incursion by Russian forces, as opposed to a full-scale invasion, may not prompt the severe response Washington and its allies have threatened, creating confusion about how the United States would react to a Russian attack short of a devastating offensive and large-scale occupation.

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I think what youre going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades, and it depends on what it does, Biden said. Its one thing if its a minor incursion, and then we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera, but if they actually do what they are capable of doing with the force theyve massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia.

Biden noted, our allies and partners are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy.

The remark about a minor incursion drew an incensed tweet Thursday from the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations, he wrote. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the President of a great power.

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Biden spoke as his top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visited Kyiv to offer U.S. support to the Ukrainian government in the event of a renewed war. More than 100,000 Russian forces have been massed near the Ukrainian border for weeks, according to U.S. officials, prompting fears that Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014, will invade the country again this winter. Since that annexation, Russia has fueled a separatist conflict in the countrys east that has claimed about 14,000 lives, according to Ukrainian officials.

Later in the news conference, Biden was asked to clarify whether he meant a minor incursion into Ukraine would not lead to the severe sanctions he has threatened. He said the question is what would happen if its something significantly short of a significant invasion, or not even significant. He noted that if Russia were to continue cyberattacks against Ukraine, for example, the United States could respond in kind.

Biden said differences remain within NATO about how far countries are willing to go in responding to Russia, depending on what specific actions Moscow takes.

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If theres something where theres Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters, et cetera, I think that changes everything, Biden said. But it depends on what he does, actually, what extent were going to be able to get total unity on the NATO front.

The president appeared to be referring to a scenario that U.S. officials have been considering for weeks  how the United States should respond if Russia mounts a hybrid attack on Ukraine short of a full-on invasion. But his use of the term minor incursion generated confusion at a time when Washington and its allies are trying to send a clear and unified message to Moscow.

President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, thats a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response.

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On ABCs Good Morning America Thursday, Vice President Harris said, We will interpret any violation of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia and Vladimir Putin as an aggressive action and it will be met with costs, severe and certain.

In a call with reporters after the news conference, a senior administration official said whether Russia acquires a small or large portion of Ukrainian territory, it is still an invasion, and that will merit the severe economic response. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

In Kyiv, Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and promised continued American support, including the prospect of increased military hardware in the event of a new Russian invasion. Blinken is also due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday after holding talks with other European leaders about how to defuse the crisis over Ukraine.

While massing forces on Ukraines border, Russia has demanded that NATO cease its eastward expansion and roll back its forces and infrastructure to 1997 boundaries. Russia has also demanded that the United States rule out placing offensive weapons in Ukraine. Putin has also complained about exercises near Russias borders that have crossed the Kremlins red lines.

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In crisis talks last week, U.S. negotiators proposed discussing reciprocal limits on exercises and missile placements, but Russian officials balked at Washingtons refusal to negotiate on NATOs expansion and activities, which comprise the Kremlins core demands. Biden said those crisis talks had not resulted in anything in part because it is unclear if Russian negotiators know what Putin really wants  or if Putin himself has made a decision.

Biden said the Russian leader has expressed two primary concerns to him during phone calls on the matter  the possible future placement of U.S. strategic weapons in Ukraine and possible future membership in NATO for Ukraine. The United States and Russia can come to an agreement on the first issue, Biden said, while also noting that Ukraine is unlikely to join NATO anytime soon.

The likelihood that Ukraine is going to join NATO in the near term is not very likely based on much more work they have to do in terms of democracy and a few other things going on there, and whether or not the major allies in the West would vote to bring Ukraine in right now, Biden said.

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Biden also made it clear that he didnt know what Putin ultimately would do.

The only thing I am confident of is that decision is totally, solely, completely a Putin decision. Nobody else is going to make that decision, Biden said. No one else is going to impact that decision. Hes making that decision. And I suspect it matters which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what he is going to do.

He warned that the cost of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine for Russia would be tremendously high, not only because the United States and its allies would impose devastating economic costs, but also because it would drag Russian forces into a quagmire.

The cost of going into Ukraine in terms of physical loss of life  they will be able to prevail over time  but its going to be heavy, its going to be real, its going to be consequential, Biden said.

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He also suggested concerns about Russia cutting off Europes energy supply were overstated, noting that the money Russia earns from such sales contributes significantly to its economy.

I dont see that as a one-way street, Biden said. If they go ahead and cut it off . . . its like my mother used to say, youre biting your nose off to spite your face.

Missy Ryan in Kyiv and Ashley Parker and Ellen Nakashima in Washington contributed to this report.

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A federal court in Boston on Thursday dismissed charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of failing to disclose research ties to China, after the government acknowledged it could no longer meet its burden of proof at trial. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight The dropping of the case against Gang Chen, a Chinese American nanoscientist, is a major public relations blow to a Justice Department program aimed at curbing economic espionage. The program, dubbed the China Initiative, has drawn complaints that it amounts to ethnic profiling, and is under department review.

U.S. District Judge Patti B. Sariss order dismissing Chens case came shortly after federal prosecutors requested that action on Thursday morning.

While I am relieved that my ordeal is over, I am mindful that this terribly misguided China Initiative continues to bring unwarranted fear to the academic community and other scientists still face charges, Chen said in a statement.

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The Washington Post and other news outlets reported that the case was in jeopardy last week.

Chen is among about 20 academics and researchers prosecuted in the past three years as part of the China Initiative, a wide-ranging and sometimes controversial effort launched in 2018.

The initiative has notched a number of significant convictions, including of a Taiwan chip foundry that stole U.S. trade secrets of an American chip firm for the benefit of a Chinese state-owned company; a Chinese national in Missouri who conspired to steal Monsanto crop-boosting technology to benefit the Chinese government; and three separate cases of former American intelligence officers accused of spying or conspiring or attempting to spy for China.

And in December, a Harvard University chemistry professor was found guilty of lying to the U.S. government about receiving payments from a Chinese university, falsifying his tax returns and failing to report foreign finances.

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But the program in the past year has also suffered embarrassing setbacks in cases involving academics accused of grant fraud, rather than spying or intellectual property theft. The dismissal of charges against Chen is the most high-profile among these.

MIT consistently expressed public support for the professor, paying his legal expenses and placing him on paid leave.

Today is a great day, Rob Fisher, Chens attorney, said in a statement Thursday. The government finally acknowledged what we have said all along: Professor Gang Chen is an innocent man. . . . He was never an overseas scientist for Beijing. He disclosed everything he was supposed to disclose, and he never lied to the government or anyone else.

Chen, who became a U.S. citizen in 2000, was indicted a year ago on charges of wire fraud, making a false statement on a tax return and failing to disclose a foreign bank account. The charges related to his 2017 application for a U.S. Energy Department grant to support his program as then-head of MITs mechanical engineering department.

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He was accused of failing to disclose ties to the Chinese government and a technology university in Shenzhen, as well as seeking to hide his membership in various government-funded talent recruitment programs.

The prosecutions case began to falter in December. Government lawyers, under pressure from Chens attorneys, turned over evidence that the defense considered exculpatory, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matters sensitivity.

What tipped the scale, the people said, was an interview by prosecutors this month of a senior Energy Department official who is considered an authority on what disclosures are material on grant forms. The official confirmed that the 2017 form did not require disclosures of Chens ties to the technology university or other Chinese government organizations and programs, one person said.

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Having assessed the evidence as a whole in light of that information, the government can no longer meet its burden of proof at trial, newly installed U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said in Thursdays motion.

We understand that our charging decisions deeply impact peoples lives, she said in a statement. As United States Attorney, I will always encourage the prosecutors in our office to engage in this type of rigorous and continued review at every stage of a proceeding. Todays dismissal is a result of that process and is in the interests of justice.

Most of the academics and researchers prosecuted under the initiative have  like Chen  been charged with making false statements or failing to disclose ties to Chinese institutions on federal grant forms or visa applications, rather than intent to spy. All but a few are of Chinese descent.

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The Justice Department rejects criticism from civil rights advocates and some Democratic lawmakers that the prosecutions amount to ethnic profiling. But the outcry has been so loud that Attorney General Merrick Garland commissioned a program review.

In a meeting this week with Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen, Democratic leaders of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus said the initiative has fallen far short of its stated goal of addressing economic espionage and has instead resulted in numerous false accusations against Chinese researchers and scientists based on their ethnicity, caucus chair Judy Chu (D-Calif.) said.

The caucus has called for an end to the initiative, which former Justice Department officials say would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. They point out that most of the problematic cases have been those that involve allegations of academic grant fraud; the vast majority of cases  targeting economic espionage, trade secret theft and illegal export of military-use items  have not been controversial.

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The department was bringing such cases long before there was a China Initiative, without a backlash, these former officials note.

Still, the departments National Security Division is expected to make some changes, perhaps including a new name for the initiative, though civil liberties advocates say rebranding it would not be sufficient.

John Demers, a former NSD head, has said the government should consider granting immunity from prosecution to academics who voluntarily disclose Chinese government research ties and limiting administrative penalties like debarment. That approach would provide visibility into Chinese government talent programs, while avoiding accusations of overcriminalization and maintaining the trust of academic institutions, he said.

David Laufman, a former chief of the divisions counterintelligence and export control section, said the cases brought by prosecutors in the field require closer oversight by Justice Department headquarters.

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While many prosecutions result in convictions, he said, it only takes one or two or three cases that go south to undermine public confidence.

In some instances of grant fraud, Laufman said, administrative enforcement may be a more appropriate means of accountability than criminal prosecution. But, he said, that doesnt mean there shouldnt be the same careful individualized case-by-case analysis of each case. . . . We need to be careful about an overcorrection.

David Nakamura contributed to this report.

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A British man conducted Internet searches for influential rabbis, an imprisoned terrorist and gun and pawnshops in the days before he took congregants hostage inside a Texas synagogue, according to law enforcement officials. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight FBI agents examining the digital trail left by 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram have found plenty of evidence hinting at his plan and state of mind in the days before the attack, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Searches on Akrams cellphone, they said, led him to focus on Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of New York Citys Central Synagogue, who has been named on various online lists over the past decade as one of the most influential Jewish people in the country.

Akram, who was shot dead by FBI agents after an 11-hour standoff, parroted antisemitic tropes during the hostage-taking, saying he believed Jewish people had the power in the United States to free convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui.

Investigators suspect Akram saw Buchdahl mentioned on such lists and came to believe she had the political connections to get his demands to senior U.S. policymakers, officials said. Searches for influential rabbis also led him to focus on his ultimate target: Congregation Beth Israel in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville.

Over a roughly two-week period in Texas, Akram also searched on his phone for gun shops and pawnshops in the Dallas area, the officials said. But authorities have traced the handgun he used in the attack and think he bought it on the street rather than at a business. The guns last official sale was recorded in early 2020; it was reported stolen from a hotel room later that year, the officials said.

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Akram also looked up online information about Siddiqui, an American-educated Pakistani woman who was convicted in 2010 of trying to kill U.S. soldiers and is serving an 86-year-prison sentence in a federal prison in Texas. Freeing her has become a focus in some Islamist militant circles.

Investigators are still piecing together Akrams movements in the United States. He arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Dec. 29 and a few days later flew to Dallas, where he stayed at facilities that serve the homeless and got into at least one confrontation at a local mosque, according to law enforcement officials and others familiar with his movements.

On Jan. 1, Akram joined in the days last prayer at the Islamic Center of Irving, then asked if he could stay the night, according to Khalid Hamideh, a lawyer and spokesman for the mosque who has watched security footage of the episode and talked to those involved.

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Hamideh said a staff member told Akram that city and mosque regulations prevented him from sleeping there, and Akram grew upset, telling staff, You will be judged by God for not helping a fellow Muslim and insisting Im from a good family.

Akram  who was carrying a bag or backpack big enough to hold a weapon  left after the staff member threatened to call police, Hamideh said.

God knows if he already had acquired the gun and already had the gun in there, Hamideh said.

We dont search anybody, Hamideh added. Maybe well start.

Akram returned about 6 a.m. the next day, Hamideh said. By then, his demeanor had changed.

This time he was calm, cool, collected, Hamideh said. He apologized for his behavior on the previous night and asked for permission just to use the sanctuary to conduct his prayer.

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Hamideh said Akram prayed alone, and left between 7 and 8 a.m.  walking into an empty parking lot. That night, he was dropped off at OurCalling, a Dallas center for homeless people, by a man who escorted him inside and embraced him before saying goodbye, the centers chief executive has said.

Officials think he also spent time at another area facility for homeless people before knocking on the door of Congregation Beth Israel during Sabbath services the morning of Jan. 15.

After being invited inside and sitting through some of the service, Akram pulled out a gun and took four hostages: Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, congregant Jeffrey Cohen and two others whose names have not been released.

He soon demanded that Cytron-Walker call Buchdahl  who is known for her creative use of music in religious services and was photographed at a White House Hanukkah party during the Obama administration.

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He mentioned her by name, because he knew that she played guitar. . . . He thought that she was the most influential rabbi, Cytron-Walker said Thursday in an online forum about the hostage-taking that was hosted by the Anti-Defamation League.

Akram wanted Buchdahl specifically to act on his demand that U.S. authorities free Siddiqui. Cytron-Walker reached Buchdahl by phone and relayed Akrams desires, though both rabbis thought the demand was as far-fetched as it was frightening.

A spokesman for Buchdahls synagogue declined to comment.

Speaking at the same online forum, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said agents are still analyzing and reviewing phones and other electronic devices and media, and theres a lot more work to be done.

This was not some random occurrence  it was intentional, it was symbolic, he said. And were not going to tolerate antisemitism in this country.

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The hostage-taking has amplified public concern about security at houses of worship in general and synagogues in particular. On Thursday, Wray said the Texas attack was further evidence that terrorism threats increasingly come from lone actors plotting fairly simple and unsophisticated  but just as deadly  attacks.

The challenge for investigators trying to connect the dots to prevent an attack, he added, is there are a lot fewer dots that connect and a lot less time to connect them.

Law enforcement officials, who are investigating the hostage-taking as a terrorist act, say their portrait of Akram so far suggests Akram was a disturbed individual whose behavior occasionally raised concerns  but not urgent alarms. Officials caution that their understanding could change as they gather more information.

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Akrams relatives have said he had mental health problems. Law enforcement officials said he was known to British security officials, and the BBC reported earlier this week that MI5, Britains counterintelligence and security agency, investigated him in 2020 as a subject of interest but concluded that he no longer posed a threat.

On Thursday, two men in Manchester, England, were detained for questioning about Akram. Previously, law enforcement officials said, Akrams teenage children were detained for questioning and released.

Douglas reported from Dallas.

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The Supreme Court denied a request from abortion providers Thursday to send Texass restrictive abortion law back to a district judge who had once stopped it, and dissenting liberal justices said the court was complicit in allowing an unconstitutional chill on abortion care. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The courts one-sentence order denying the request was the latest legal maneuver on the law called S.B. 8, which bans abortions in the state at about six weeks of pregnancy and sets up an enforcement for private individuals, rather than state officials. It has bitterly divided the Supreme Court.

This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women in Texas, who have a right to control their own bodies, wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor. I will not stand by silently as a state continues to nullify this constitutional guarantee.

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Her dissent was joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan.

The Supreme Court has been split over the Texas law since September, when the court on a 5-to-4 vote allowed it to go into effect while legal challenges continued. Patients seeking abortions after that have had to travel to other states.

After a hearing in November, the court in December again left the law in place, but provided a narrow path for providers to challenge in federal court what is the nations most restrictive law on the procedure. It identified a handful of state officials who could presumably play a role in enforcing S.B. 8, and said a suit could properly proceed against them.

As is common, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas. But instead of returning it to a federal judge in Austin who had previously stopped the law, the appeals court agreed with a request from Texas to ask the state supreme court to clarify a matter of state law: whether those identified officials really had such an enforcement power.

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That could mean months of delay, with the law remaining in place.

Abortion providers said such a move would be a direct rebuttal of what the Supreme Court had said in December.

Eight of the nine justices said litigation could proceed against the officials, and four said they expected the case to go back to the district judge and be dealt with quickly.

Given the ongoing chilling effect of the state law, the district court should resolve this litigation and enter appropriate relief without delay, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for himself and Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan.

Roberts, who has voted with the liberals previously to stop the law while it is being challenged, did not join Sotomayors dissent or one written by Breyer,

The Court of Appeals ignored our judgment, Breyer wrote, adding, As a result, an unconstitutional 6-week abortion ban remains in effect in Texas  as it has for over four months.

Sotomayors dissent was unsparing. She noted that one judge on the appeals court panel raised the notion that because this Court is considering a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the panel could just sit on this until the end of June rather than fulfill its obligation to apply existing precedent. She was referring to Judge Edith H. Jones, appointed to the 5th Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

The court has heard arguments in a Mississippi case that explicitly asks the court to overturn Roes guarantee of a constitutional right to abortion, but Sotomayor noted the 1973 decision remains the law.

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Because our precedents are clear that Texas cannot directly ban abortion before viability, the state legislature enacted a convoluted law that instills terror in those who assist women exercising their rights between 6 and 24 weeks, she wrote. State officials knew that the fear and confusion caused by this legal-procedural labyrinth would restrict citizens from accessing constitutionally protected medical care, providers from offering it, and federal courts from restoring it. The dilatory tactics to which this Court accedes today are consistent with, and part of, this scheme.

The abortion providers request to the court was a long shot; Sotomayor acknowledged they were asking for extraordinary relief. As often happens in emergency requests, the majority did not provide a reason for denying the petition.

Sotomayor contended the relief was warranted, and the court should have been clear Texas and the appeals court had not obeyed the Supreme Courts decision.

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Texas wagered that this Court did not mean what little it said in [the December ruling] or, at least, that this Court would not stand behind those words, meager as they were, Sotomayor wrote. That bet has paid off. Despite this Courts protestations over the extraordinary solicitude it gave this case and the narrowness of any dispute, it accepts yet another dilatory tactic by Texas.

The order came in In Re Whole Womans Health.

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected former president Donald Trumps request to block the release of some of his White House records to a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The order turned aside Trumps request to block the records release while the case regarding his assertion of executive privilege continues through the courts. It means there is no legal obstacle to release of the materials from the National Archives  which President Biden has approved  and Trumps lawyers have argued that would make the case moot.

White House spokesman Michael Gwin said the courts ruling was an important step forward in the probe.

The former President subverted the constitution in an attempt to overturn a lawful and fair election, Gwin said in a statement Wednesday night. His actions represented a unique and existential threat to our democracy, and President Biden has been clear that these events require a full investigation to ensure that what we saw on January 6th can never happen again.

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It was a major victory for the House select committee, which has been aggressive in going after Trumps records, issuing subpoenas to his allies and focusing on the presidents actions during the insurrection.

The Supreme Courts action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and American democracy, committee chairman Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a joint statement. The Select Committee has already begun to receive records that the former President had hoped to keep hidden.  Our work goes forward to uncover all the facts about the violence of January 6th and its causes.

The records will be released to the committee, and not the public.

The Supreme Courts order, with only Justice Clarence Thomas noting dissent, did not provide detailed reasoning for rejecting the former presidents application. Nor did Thomas explain why he would have granted the request. Neither is uncommon when the court is addressing an emergency motion.

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But it was another defeat for Trump at the Supreme Court, where he chose a third of the sitting justices. The former president said in the past he is disappointed in the high court and that some of the justices lack guts.

The court turned aside requests from Trump and his supporters to get involved in challenges to the 2020 election results. It ruled against his claims that the presidency protected him from investigation and rejected his efforts to block release of his financial records.

The legal battle over roughly 800 pages of documents presented a unique conflict between a sitting president and his defeated rival predecessor. But the unsigned Supreme Court order said that issue did not need to be decided now.

Many have argued that President Donald Trump's efforts amounted to an attempted coup on Jan. 6. Was it? And why does that matter? (Video: Monica Rodman, Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)

Those are unprecedented questions that raise serious and substantial concerns, the court said in its one-paragraph order. But it said the ruling against Trump by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit would have been the same if he were the sitting president.

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Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trumps claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the courts decision, according to the courts order.

It concluded the appeals courts findings on those questions should not be considered precedent.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh went further, and wrote separately to say that, despite the ruling against Trumps request, a former president does not lose the ability to invoke executive privilege.

A former President must be able to successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, even if the current President does not support the privilege claim, Kavanaugh wrote. Concluding otherwise would eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications.

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Both the courts order and Kavanaugh noted the appeals court evaluated Trumps request under the test that came from a 1974 ruling in which the court rejected President Richard M. Nixons claims of executive privilege and ruled he had to turn over Oval Office tapes.

Lawyers for Trump had asked the justices to put on hold the D.C. Circuit decision, which rejected the former presidents assertions of executive privilege. Biden determined the subpoenaed material could be released to the select committee.

Trumps lawyers argued the high court should take the case to determine whether that is proper.

The disagreement between an incumbent president and his predecessor from a rival political party is both novel and highlights the importance of executive privilege and the ability of presidents and their advisers to reliably make and receive full and frank advice, without concern that communications will be publicly released to meet a political objective, wrote Jesse R. Binnall, a lawyer for Trump.

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Every lower-court judge that has heard the issue agreed that the committee has a right to the records, and that Biden, as the sitting president, was the proper person to judge whether they are protected by executive privilege.

Thompson had asked the court to expedite its consideration of Trumps request.

The Select Committee is investigating a deadly assault on the United States Capitol, the Speaker of the House, the Vice President, and both Chambers of Congress, and a dangerous interruption of Congresss constitutional duty and the peaceful transfer of power, House General Counsel Douglas N. Letter wrote.

Biden Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar told the court that it should not get involved when both the president and Congress have determined the need for the information to be released.

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Trumps request turns primarily on his claim that providing the records to the committee would harm the executive branch and, by extension, the public, Prelogar wrote. But the Constitution vests the Executive power in the incumbent President, who is best positioned to make those assessments. And President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege over the specific records at issue here is not in the interests of the Nation.

Siding with the former president would be an unprecedented intrusion on the incumbent Presidents constitutional authority, she wrote.

The House investigative committee in August requested Trumps official communications and details of his activities leading up to the insurrection by Trump supporters, an incident that forced the evacuation of the Capitol and led to the deaths of five people.

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A U.S. district judge in Washington disagreed with Trumps claim of executive privilege in a November ruling, and the D.C. Circuit quickly affirmed the decision last month.

The events of January 6th exposed the fragility of those democratic institutions and traditions that we had perhaps come to take for granted, wrote Judge Patricia A. Millett, joined by Judges Robert L. Wilkins and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In response, the President of the United States and Congress have each made the judgment that access to this subset of presidential communication records is necessary to address a matter of great constitutional moment for the Republic.

The panel delayed implementation of its order so Trump could go to the Supreme Court.

Trump told the court that Democrats are simply looking for information to discredit a political foe, not for legitimate legislative interests.

Ann E. Marimow, Tom Hamburger and Jacqueline Alemany contributed to this report.

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The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has requested voluntary testimony from Ivanka Trump, saying in a letter sent Thursday that witnesses have told investigators that she may have direct knowledge of President Donald Trumps actions before, during and after his supporters attempted to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as president that day.

The request from committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said the former White House adviser was present when her father pressured Vice President Mike Pence to reject Bidens victory when he presided over the electoral vote count in the Capitol last year.

The Committee would like to discuss any other conversations you may have witnessed or participated in regarding the Presidents plan to obstruct or impede the counting of electoral votes, Thompson wrote.

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The committee also said it has information that Ivanka Trump was enlisted by White House aides to get her father to call off his supporters while they were ransacking the Capitol.

In addition, Thompson said the panel wants to speak with her about what she knows about whether her father sought to deploy or block the deployment of the National Guard in response to the attack.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and former president Donald Trump have expanded in recent months on what they said during their Jan. 6 call. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Finally, Thompson said the panel seeks Ivanka Trumps account of what the president was doing in the days after the attack, including whether the President took appropriate action regarding the continuing threats of violence.

The Committee has information suggesting that White House staff and others were attempting to persuade President Trump to halt his statements regarding a stolen election and were working directly with other supporters outside the White House in an effort to persuade President Trump to do so, he wrote.

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In a statement, a spokesman for Ivanka Trump said she had just learned of the letter and noted that she did not speak at the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol  a question that was not part of the committees inquiry.

As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally. As she publicly stated that day at 3:15pm, any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful,  the statement read.

The committees letter to Ivanka Trump is further evidence of how intently the panel is focusing on the former presidents role in the attack and shows that several former White House aides are voluntarily cooperating with its inquiry even as others have refused to testify.

It comes the day after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump in his effort to block transmission of hundreds of White House documents the committee had sought. The letter also marks the second time this week that Trumps children have been targeted in a government investigation. New York Attorney General Letitia James earlier filed a motion in her inquiry into Trump business activities. In a news release, she specified that she was seeking testimony from Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. in the case.

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The congressional committee has previously sought information from advisers to Donald Trump Jr. But the questions to Ivanka Trump in the eight-page letter contained among the most detailed, revealing information the committee has obtained from other witnesses.

For example, the letter seeks Ivanka Trumps testimony regarding one of Trumps phone conversations with Pence on the morning of Jan. 6.

You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation, according to the letter, which then cites testimony from Keith Kellogg, Pences former national security adviser.

The committee asked Kellogg: Its been reported that the President said to the Vice President . . . you dont have the courage to make a hard decision. And maybe not those exact words but something like that. Do you remember anything like that?

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Words  and I dont remember exactly either, but something like that, yeah, Kellogg responded, according to the letter. Being like youre not tough enough to make the call.

According to Kellogg, Ivanka Trump turned to him at the close of the call and said, Mike Pence is a good man.

Similar specific references occurred at other points in the letter, such as when Ivanka Trump is asked to discuss any other conversations she witnessed or participated in regarding Trumps plan to obstruct or impede the electoral certification.

For example, the Committee has information suggesting that President Trumps White House Counsel may have concluded that the actions President Trump directed Vice President Pence to take would violate the Constitution or would be otherwise illegal, according to Thompsons letter.

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In his letter, Thompson also outlines the committees interest in discussions that happened inside the White House and with the President before and after his 2:24 p.m. tweet that slammed Pence for not having the courage to block the electoral vote. Testimony from Kellogg indicates that Ivanka Trump agreed to speak to the president about taking action to try to quell the violence but that she had to make multiple efforts to persuade Trump to act.

He didnt say yes to Mark Meadows or Kayleigh McEnany or Keith Kellogg, but he might say yes to his daughter?, the committee asked Kellogg, according to Thompsons letter.

Exactly right, Kellogg replied.

And so presumably, the first time she [Ivanka Trump] went in, it wasnt sufficient or she wouldnt have had to go back at least one more time, I assume. Is that correct, the committee asked Kellogg in a follow-up question.

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Well, yes, Maam. I think she went back there because Ivanka can be pretty tenacious, Kellogg replied.

The House select committee investigating the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 faces an uphill battle with former Trump administration officials. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)

Thompson writes that the committee is particularly interested in answering the question of why White House staff didnt simply ask the President to walk to the briefing room and appear on live television  to ask the crowd to leave the Capitol?

In his testimony, Kellogg answered that he very strongly recommended against asking Trump to do so because press conferences tend to get out of control, and you want to control the message.

Apparently, certain White House staff believed that a live unscripted press appearance by the President in the midst of the Capitol Hill violence could have made the situation worse, the committee concluded from Kelloggs testimony.

Ivanka Trump has long been known as an influential adviser to her father. She was at the White House all day on Jan. 6, while her husband, Jared Kushner, came in later.

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In an interview last year, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said that during the siege he did not call Trump but instead called Ivanka Trump, thinking she could be the one to help. She told Graham, according to his recollection, that she was trying to get Trump to make a statement.

In addition to Graham, The Washington Post has reported that Ivanka Trump was called several times on Jan. 6 by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who told her as she shuttled to the second floor of the White House, I need you to come back down here. Weve got to get this under control.

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Prospective buyers at an open house in Star, Idaho, in June 2021. (Kyle Green for The Post)

As the Fed raises interest rates, experts say there are some signs the market is responding. But theres a long way to go.
For the second year in a row, the World Economic Forum scrapped its annual meeting in the Alpine resort town of Davos, Switzerland, because of the pandemic.

The gathering is an essential stop on the annual circuit for the global elite, a week-long schmoozefest where billionaires and autocrats mingle over canapes while activists protest in the frigid mountain air. Companies make climate pledges. Economists discuss inequality. Everyone walks on the same slippery, slushy roads.

Davos has a year-round population of about 11,000 people. That number essentially doubles when the forum comes to town. Credit:AP

It was at the January 2020 annual meeting that many executives and world leaders first heard about the coronavirus, as news reports about a mysterious illness began to trickle out of Wuhan, China. Last year, the forum abandoned Davos and planned to hold the meeting in Singapore during the summer, but the Singapore event was cancelled, too.

This years event was scheduled to begin Monday and proceed more or less as usual. Multinational corporations were renting out suites in luxury hotels. Dinner party invites were being sent. Then in December, with the omicron variant spreading rapidly, the organisers said they had decided to postpone the gathering once more, with hopes of staging it this European summer instead.
Michelle Grey is on a mission to solve one of the biggest problems in the burgeoning, hyperkinetic new world of NFTs: most of the actual art is rubbish.

As she puts it: NFTs get a bad rap because there is so much garbage.

Michelle Grey is co-founder of Culture Vault, a new NFT site.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens  basically the cryptocurrency of art, where digital images or animations are linked to a unique, tradeable token  have had an explosion of interest and investment in the past year, pitched as revolution and democratisation in the hidebound, gatekeeper-replete visual art industry.

But works such as the Bored Apes, Cryptopunks and CryptoKitties that mostly seized the imagination of speculators and NFT pioneers are, to put it kindly, not exactly high art.
Similar arguments that businesses would close were made on Wednesday night by several speakers from the public during the council meeting. Moore & Moore cafe owner Simon Naber at the anti-mandate rally in Fremantle. Credit:Peter de Kruijff Moore & Moore cafe owner Simon Naber, who previously sat on the council, has been the most prominent Fremantle businessperson to rally against the mandate We are talking about something being introduced in a legal fashion that is invasive to a human space, he said. I am paying sick leave, I am liable for anyone who is not able to work for a short period of time or a long period of time.

Mr Naber said he wanted to see more data and the state government needed to provide more information. Stacey Motyer from Everything Naturopathic said people were coming to her business crying with fear of having to get the vaccine or lose their job; Stephanie Vass said her Fremantle business would have to close at the end of the month and acting school provider Oliver Wenn also decried the mandates. There were hospitality workers who spoke in favour of the mandates at the meeting including Max Vickery, who is part of a pro-vaccine group, who said the danger of unvaccinated people made him feel unsafe in his workplace. I thought about going on the dole to avoid these anti-science, anti-health advocates, he said. Mr Vickery said he had been shouted at in the workplace for asking someone to lift a mask above their nose.

This is the kind of behaviour this kind of pro-choice petition emboldens, he said. I do not want to catch COVID-19 at my workplace and give it to my immunocompromised family and friends. Several speakers called COVID-19 vaccination a medical experiment or claimed mandating vaccines was industrialised manslaughter because people had died or had negative reactions to the jabs. Controversial anti-vaccination figure Judy Wilyman, former Liberal candidate Andrea Tokaji and former police officer Jordan McDonald, who left the force after the vaccine mandate came into effect, also spoke against compulsory jabs. Fremantle resident Dominique Mimnagh told the council as an unvaccinated person she was being ostracised from society.

I have become unclean in a society that claims to welcome all people and all cultures, she said. My city, your city, is not daring to be different. It is choosing to follow unlawful and Draconian measures. Pro-choice does not disadvantage the people who choose to be vaccinated. When Curtin University education and human rights researcher Nick Everett told the council vaccine mandates had the simple purpose of driving up vaccination rates in the middle of a deadly pandemic he was booed by protesters outside the building listening to the meeting. In the last week, more than 350 people have died from COVID in Australia, he said.

Worldwide the figures are far worse. What we do know from already what is happening in NSW, where 94 per cent of people are double-dose vaccinated ... half of the ICU are unvaccinated. The crowd at the anti-mandate rally. Credit:Peter de Kruijff About 43.8 per cent of people in NSW ICUs were unvaccinated on January 16, with more than 92 per cent of people aged over 12 in the state having had two doses of vaccine. In NSW, only workers in healthcare, aged care, at the airport, the transport industry and the education sector have been mandated to get vaccinated.

About 94.9 per cent of the people who live in the Fremantle local government area, which has a population of more than 27,000 people, have had two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, while the second-dose rate for all of WA is currently 88.9 per cent. Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said on Wednesday vaccination was the best protection against COVID-19. And third doses in particularly will help with variants like Omicron, she said. Our third dose take-up is high and there is high demand, so I urge people to book their appointments. Bookings are essential and I urge people to get their third doses as soon as they can. Vaccination is critical in minimising illness, hospitalisations and death.

The recommendation put by Fremantle officers in front of the council was to reject the request by the petition but Councillor Maria Vujcic moved an alternative motion, which included incorrect information about Japans history on mandates, seeking to reconsider its compulsory vaccination policy. She said vaccination was necessary for previous strains of COVID-19 but claimed it would not matter if you were vaccinated or not when it came to the Omicron variant. Ms Vujcic was both cheered and booed through a lengthy speech by the mostly anti-mandate crowd before she finished by quoting Star Wars and Nelson Mandela as she called for a reversal on mandates. Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering, the brave person is not the one who does not feel afraid but the one who conquers that fear, she said. The alternative motion was voted down before the officers recommendation was eventually passed 9-3.

A brief adjournment was taken between the votes as protesters banged on windows, directed rude hand gestures at people inside the chambers while one man cried out f--- you all. Loading Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge told the council she wanted people who came to the port city to feel they could do so without catching COVID-19. I believe vaccination is the way well get through the pandemic with the least loss of human life, she said. As community transmission becomes a reality around us, we need to do everything we can to help ourselves and the people around our state and that includes vaccination.
Only one month before Dr Robertsons comments, Omicron had just been transmitted in Australia on December 3 in NSW. On December 22, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee said Omicron would soon become the dominant variant in the country as it started to take over in Europe. Two days later the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation released a statement saying a third vaccine dose was the best protection against infection with the variant. Although some early data suggest that the risk of hospitalisation due to disease caused by the Omicron variant is lower than that with the Delta variant, this difference would not be enough to offset the impact of high case numbers on the health system, it said. ATAGI expects that booster vaccination alone will not be sufficient to avert a surge due to Omicron. However, maximising booster coverage by expanding eligibility and encouraging high uptake, in combination with enhanced public health and social measures, may prevent a large surge in case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths. Skipping forward to January 7 and in South Australia, which had its first Omicron spread on December 10, the number of active hospitalisations had gone from none to 144 in a month.

This figure was nearly three times the speculated peak of 54 general ward beds that WA anticipated it would have to use on its peak day with a 90 per cent two-dose vaccination rate under its old Delta-variant scenario modelling from November. WA anticipated a peak of 117 deaths over the first 360 days of the modelling, although this was based on a peak not happening until after 120 days, but in South Australia the death toll since the start of the New Year has already reached 54. New cases and hospitalisations had started to take off just before New Years Eve in Australia, particularly Victoria and New South Wales which were slow off the mark to bring back restrictions to spread out the curve. Hospitalisations across the nation on January 7 were about 2900 and nearly double the previous peak in October.

The number of people in hospital had increased by 600 patients three days later on January 10 when WA Premier Mark McGowan said the plan was still to open his state on February 5. I just urge people to get vaccinated as soon as they can they first second or third dose and the lead up to that point in time, he said. The next day, when WAs over-16 third-dose vaccination rate was about 14 per cent, Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson dodged a question about what discussions or health advice there had been to still open up the border if the best protection against Omicron was a booster shot. These decisions are made on the best available health advice, she said.

And thats what we will continue to do so weve made these decisions based on the advice of the Chief Health Officer to make decisions based on advice to keep people safe in WA. Three days later on January 13, Mr McGowan said he did not know what the projected third dose vaccination rate would be come February 5. The Premiers office told WAtoday on January 3 about 950,000 people would be eligible for the shot by the border opening but said a week later this figure would have gone up with the shortening of the gap between second and third shots from four months to three  despite the reduction in time being announced in December. Mr McGowan just as evasive as Ms Sanderson on whether there had been any recent advice from the Chief Health Officer about opening up regardless of what this figure was. These are matters of discussion within government and we will continue to discuss them, he said.

Active hospitalisations around Australia on January 13 were more than 4000 and deaths were on the rise, with 283 since the New Year. States like NSW and Victoria were expected to hit their peak caseload late this month or in February. One week on from January 13 and deaths for the year have gone above 650. Mr McGowan held meetings all week which culminated in a state disaster council gathering on Thursday morning where the Premier says the Chief Health Officer gave advice, with some preliminary Omicron modelling, the border opening should be held off. When later asked by the press when he first started thinking the state would not open, Mr McGowan answered that he only got the health advice that morning.

The same night at 7.30pm the Premier told the public the border would stay shut. He then tried to sell the message that WA needed to wait until more people had their third shot so hospitals were not overwhelmed and people could leave the state again without fear of getting trapped outside. So far, the science shows that people with only two doses of a COVID vaccine have only a 4 per cent protection against being infected by the Omicron variant, he said. With a third dose it can provide a 64 per cent protection against infection. In addition, protection against severe disease is maintained at 80 per cent to 90 per cent for people with two doses, but increases to 98 per cent for people with three doses. Allowing hundreds or thousands of Omicron infected people to fly straight into Perth with no testing, no quarantine, would cause a flood of COVID across our state. It would cause a surge in cases, a surge in hospitalisations and result in thousands of people not being able to go to work or go to school.

Mr McGowan described eastern states as almost being in a virtual lockdown considering how many people were working at home or isolating. He talked about a 900 per cent increase in hospitalisations in the east and the rise in deaths over the past 19 days when justifying the delay on opening. When WA can open its border now is not really known. Future decisions on border controls will be considered over the next month following a review of the Omicron situation in the east.

Mr McGowan said a range of factors and not just third-dose rates would play a part but did not elaborate much further. The state says it wants to give more 5 to 11-year-olds the chance to get vaccinated after they only become eligible this month. Waning efficacy for the vaccinated will start to become an issue but the Chief Health Officer said it was difficult to calculate what kind of protection West Australians would have down the track. ...the government just isnt comfortable in figuring out what balance of restrictions and vaccination it wants to open up, despite assurances the health system is ready. WA had a third-dose rate of 25.8 per cent for everyone aged 16 and over as of Thursday. Deputy Premier Roger Cook has previously said the rate of third-dose vaccination had been going up by about one percentage point per day.

Mr McGowan said on Thursday his expectation was by February 5 the rate would be about 35 to 38 per cent. About 80 per cent of the over-16s population would have been eligible for a third dose come March 13, given it is three months after WA reached the percentage as a two-dose target. Dr Robertson said winter, vaccine efficacy and vaccination rates would all factor in. But making it to March may be a moot point with concerns in the government Omicron will take over much sooner. Mr McGowan said next week the state disaster council would have a meeting to finalise the kind of public health settings and restrictions that would be put in place as high caseloads of Omicron started.

Ms Sanderson has already said elective surgery at private and public hospitals would be reduced to category one and two for an anticipated eight weeks. A similar measure was taken earlier in the pandemic. Loading In any case, the government just isnt comfortable in figuring out what balance of restrictions and vaccination it wants to open up, despite assurances the health system is ready. Dr Robertson said WA had been looking at what worked well in other states like South Australia and Tasmania as it came up with a plan. Some of the public health and social measures in South Australia seem to be dampening the curve, he said.

South Australia, which opened its borders in November with 80 per cent two-dose vaccination but tougher restrictions still than WA, was starting to get thousands of cases a day in December and a steady increase in hospitalisations when it decided to hold off a relaxation of rules and bring in stricter ones. On December 27, the state brought in density requirements at cafes and restaurants of one person per 4 square metres indoors and one person per 2 square metres outdoors, and gyms went to one person per 7 square metres. Home gatherings were reduced from 30 people to 10 and currently dancing and singing is banned. Dr Robertson said WA was looking at how to minimise the impact of a large outbreak in WA and this would include testing, contact tracing, isolation, quarantine regimes and public health and social measures.
Hong Kong: Vaccine bubble to cover schools

The Education Bureau announced that the vaccine bubble will be implemented in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, as well as tutorial schools from February 24. The arrangement does not apply to students.

From February 24, all teaching and non-teaching staff, people providing on-campus services and school visitors will be required to present vaccination records of at least the first COVID-19 vaccine dose prior to their entry into school premises.

The bureau stressed that apart from those who are exempted, under no circumstances should any unvaccinated staff employed by the schools be allowed to perform teaching or other duties online or off-campus during the periods when face-to-face classes are not suspended.

The school management has the responsibility to take action in respect of staff disciplinary matters in accordance with the Employment Ordinance and the Codes of Aid.

In addition, teachers and school staff directly employed by schools who have received only one dose should receive the second dose before April 21. Schools should clearly record and keep a register of related vaccination records properly.

For those exempted personnel, such as those who are unfit for vaccination due to health reasons, they are still required to conduct COVID-19 tests once every three days.

The specimens must be obtained from combined nasal and throat swabs, and not collected through self-testing kits. Schools should also keep a record of their test results.

The bureau today issued a letter to all schools, including special schools and their boarding sections, and schools offering a non-local curriculum, to inform them of the arrangement details.

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Press Release

January 20, 2022 De Lima seeks probe on Espinosa's alleged attempted escape, laments always being dragged into any reports about him Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima called for a thorough probe on the recent alleged foiled escape of confessed drug lord Rolan "Kerwin" Espinosa and two other Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) facility. De Lima said authorities must seek enough evidence to find out if there was indeed an attempt to escape and learn the motive behind it. "On Espinosa's reported foiled escape and his reported denial thereof, I call for a thorough probe on this. Did he or did he not attempt or plan to escape? If such attempt is confirmed by evidence, investigators must dig deeper. What could be his motivation, particularly in light of the recent junking by the court of one of his cases?" she asked. "There might be more to this than meets the eye," she added. NBI officer-in-charge Eric Distor said Espinosa and two other detainees, whom he did not identify, tried to escape on Jan. 13 by passing through the air vent of the bureau's detention facility on Taft Avenue. On the same night, they inspected the jail, where they saw a deformed exhaust fan, which when removed exposed a hole fit for a detainee to escape. Notably, a Makati court in December junked one of the government's cases against Espinosa for supposedly failing to prove with sufficient evidence his alleged conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. De Lima, the most prominent political prisoner of the Duterte regime, lamented how her name has always been dragged whenever Espinosa makes the news, for no other reason than that he once lied about bribing her in the past. "By now, I should be used to being unjustly used as a distraction from the government's multitude of failures and controversies. But no one should ever get used to being a victim. So let two things be remembered," she said. First off, De Lima said that "at the time Espinosa falsely testified against me, his father had just been killed while under detention - in one of the rare incidents that everyone, including many of my colleagues in the Senate, agrees is a classic case of EJK." Second, and lastly, De Lima stressed that the case against her arising from Espinosa's false statements has long been dismissed for utter lack of evidence by the DOJ. "For an agency that has supported the other drug cases it did file against me with the flimsiest of evidence, such as the testimonies of criminal convicts, that is saying something about the incredibility of Espinosa's story. End of story as far as I am concerned," she noted. "For, indeed, the story about me having received 8M from Espinosa was pure concoction. How could I have received anything from him or dealt with him in any manner when I don't even know him from Adam?", De Lima asked. Espinosa falsely testified in congressional hearings that De Lima was part of the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) when she was Justice Secretary during the Aquino administration - an accusation she has vehemently denied. De Lima remains detained over trumped-up illegal drug charges filed against her by the Duterte government. Muntinlupa RTC, Branch 205 earlier granted her demurrer to evidence in Case Number 17-166, marking her acquittal in one of the three bogus cases which she called a "moral victory."
Blinken did not elaborate, but Russia has sent an unspecified number of troops from the countrys far east to its ally Belarus, which also shares a border with Ukraine, for major war games next month. Blinken also reiterated Washingtons demands for Russia to de-escalate the situation by removing its forces from the border area, something that Moscow has flatly refused to do. And, Blinken said he wouldnt give Russia the written response it expects to its demands when he and Lavrov meet in Geneva. Meanwhile, a top Russian diplomat said Moscow would not back down from its insistence that the US formally ban Ukraine from ever joining NATO and reduce its and the alliances military presence in Eastern Europe. A convoy of Russian armoured vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea on January 18. Credit:AP Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow had no intention of invading Ukraine but that its demands for security guarantees were non-negotiable.

The US and its allies have said the Russian demands are non-starters that Russia knows they are and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using them in part to create a pretext for invading Ukraine, which has strong ethnic and historical ties to Russia. The former Soviet republic aspires to join the alliance, though has little hope of doing so in the foreseeable future. The stalemate left little hope that Blinken and Lavrovs meeting, which follows a series of inconclusive talks last week, will ease tensions that have been rising since last year but have soared in the past weeks with increased Russian military activity. The US has not concluded whether Putin plans to invade or whether the show of force is intended to squeeze the security concessions without an actual conflict. In Kyiv, Blinken urged Western nations to remain united in the face of Russian aggression. He also reassured Ukraines leader of NATO support while calling for Ukrainians to stand strong.

Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the US and its allies were steadfast in backing his country and its democratic aspirations against Russian attempts to incite division and discord through relentless aggression. Our strength depends on preserving our unity and that includes unity within Ukraine, he told Zelensky. I think one of Moscows long-standing goals has been to try to sow divisions between and within our countries, and quite simply we cannot and will not let them do that. The Biden administration had said earlier it was providing an additional $US200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine. Blinken said more assistance is coming and that it would only increase should Russia invade. French President Emmanuel Macron called on fellow members of the European Union on Wednesday to work together to draw up proposals for a new security deal with Russia in the coming weeks involving a frank dialogue with Moscow.

Macron did not spell out what the new stability and security order he is seeking could entail, but said it must ensure Europe defends its interests. We will make sure that Europe makes its unique and strong voice heard, he told the European Parliament as he laid out Frances priorities for its sixth-month EU presidency. French President Emmanuel Macron wants European-led peace talks. Credit:AP Some European states fear they are being bypassed and their security concerns ignored as Russia deals directly with Washington in security talks over the continent - with some coordination with the EU. It is good that Europeans and the United States coordinate, but it is necessary that Europeans conduct their own dialogue, Macron said. We must put together a joint proposal, a joint vision, a new security and stability order for Europe.

Europeans would share the proposal with NATO allies before discussing it with Russia, he said. A proponent of the EU having its own strategic autonomy in the field of defence, Macron added that the bloc must bring itself to a position to make sure it can be respected, including by making sure it is not too dependent on Russia for its energy supplies. Loading Macron, who faces an election in three months time, said that France and Germany want to continue seeking a solution to the tensions over Ukraine in talks with both Russia and Ukraine. A bid by Macron for better ties between the European Union and Russia in July 2019 failed as former Soviet Baltic countries feared a Russian trap to win concessions from the bloc.
Salisbury, MD (21801)

Today

Cloudy in the morning, then thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 82F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Correction This article previously referenced the act of medically assisted aid-in-dying as "medically assisted suicide," which is a term no longer preferred by proponents of the process. The former is how the act is described in the bill. The latter, per Compassion and Choices Action Network President and CEO Kim Callinan: "The American Association of Suicidology emphatically states that aid-in-dying is distinct from the behavior that has been traditionally and ordinarily described as suicide. If you look at the option of medical aid and dying, the person is terminally ill; imminent death is their reality. And people request medically dying so that they can maintain some control and comfort over their final days. It's a very rational and logical and thought through decision. They don't have other options. In contrast, suicide is preventable if an individual is able to access appropriate suicide prevention resources. So equating medical aid-in-dying with suicide is both irresponsible and it does a disservice to both the people who are impacted by suicide as well as to those who already are terminally ill and want to use the option of medical aid-in-dying."

"The reason I got involved in this effort for the passage of this choice for dying patients is my own personal experience of sitting by the bedsides of two close family members who literally screamed themselves to death," said Dr. Anna Marie D'Amico during Wednesday's House Health & Human Development Committee meeting.

An obstetrician gynecologist who has practiced in Delaware for 45 years, D'Amico spoke during public comment on a controversial bill, HB140, which details the protocols for medically assisted aid-in-dying--pejoratively referred to as "medically assisted suicide" to denote negative stereotypes--in Delaware for individuals with disabilities or facing terminal illness diagnoses and was ultimately released from committee, squeaking by on a vote of 8 in favor, 7 against.

The hearing lasted a full three hours, and in addition to the several individuals who provided expert testimony to the panel, more than 61 other individuals signed up to provide their own take on the issue, though not all of them had the opportunity to speak in-person as the committee bumped up against it's end time.

Both sides of the issue were thoroughly represented during the hearing, but while several individuals who stand in opposition to the bill spoke out Tuesday at a pre-hearing press conference, Wednesday gave supporters significant opportunity to defend their position before lawmakers. HB140's primary sponsor Rep. Paul Baumbach (D-Newark) called upon Christopher Riddle, Director of Ethics at Utica College, who said one of the most problematic stances by those who oppose the legislation is the suggestion that said individuals aren't capable of making such a decision on their own.

"I'm deeply concerned about perpetuating stigmatization. I'm deeply concerned about the effects that we might have on promoting the value of people with disabilities' lives. But I want to suggest to you that if we allow people to say that people with disabilities are more likely to hasten their death experience because they're easily coerced, because they're not capable of making decisions pertaining to their own care. I think that's perpetuating stereotypes pertaining to people with disabilities. That causes harm," he said. "If we suggest that people with disabilities are people who need to be protected against themselves, I find that to be remarkably stigmatizing and undermining of the autonomy that everyone should have, including people with disabilities. So no, I don't think [the bill] stigmatizes people with disabilities. And I think if we take this overly paternalistic attitude, that causes significant harm."

Compassion and Choices Action Network President and CEO Kim Callinan said, if anything, Delaware's lack of options for those seeking aid-in-dying is what makes the state more inequitable than those that offer such options, and that opponents who argue against such treatment based on a fear of a "suicide contagion" are making strawman arguments.

"[Not having the option] certainly wouldn't feel equitable to me if I was a Delaware resident, and we do hear that from our supporters quite a bit, that it doesn't feel right that a zipcode should determine and dictate the number of end-of-life options that you have available," she said. "There is absolutely no evidence that medical aid in dying impacts suicide rates in any way, and I actually think it's really irresponsible for us to continue to link the two issues together."

There were also people on the call like Vickie George, who spoke during the hearing and with WDEL beforehand. George is co-founder, president, and CEO of Yes You Can USA. She's also a 66-year-old woman with progressive MS, a diagnosis she received 27 years ago .

She took issue with Tuesday's press conference where individuals with disabilities presumed to be speaking for the community as a whole, and said the case for passing the legislation is "simple."

"People just want the choice. They want to be able to choose what they do. It's simple," George said. "My god, you should be able to choose how you want to live out those last six months of your life, not have it taken away from you. That's exactly what this message is from those who want to choose. And I'm not just talking about the disability community, I'm talking people in general."

She said there's no way that any person could know the circumstances of any other person or what drove them to make the decision to seek out aid-in-dying, and therefore, no one should stand in the way of them making such a choice if that's what's best for them.

"You can't live the life of the person that's going through whatever they're going through. There's no way anybody could ever--ever--be in my shoes and figure out how the heck I got through my life as a quadriplegic. I mean, my life is extremely challenging, let me tell you, but I drive forward because that's the way I am," she said. "[But ] they can't decide for somebody else what the challenges have been for that person, and then decide whether it's okay for them to...accept medical aid in dying."

For now, the committee agreed in majority with George's opinion, which she spelled out for legislators, a message she said was one she heard regularly from those supportive of these kinds of legislation, and one she described as:

"Legislators, please listen to your constituents. Don't take the options away for those who want to choose medical aid in dying," George said. "We are not telling the people who oppose it that they must choose it...but don't take it away from those that want to; They just don't speak for us."

The bill, which passed committee 8 to 7--Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha the only Democrat voting against the measure--has been to the House floor before. Since at least 2014, Baumbach has been talking about the issue.
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WSU Presenter Discusses Workplace Inequality Issues

January 20, 2022

OGDEN, Utah  Following your passion to pursue a career may lead to unintended negative consequences, and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) may foster unintended inequality, according to author and professor Erin Cech, who will discuss her research at Weber State University, Jan. 24 and 25. The public is invited to attend her two presentations, either in person or virtually.

A University of Michigan associate professor of sociology, Cech authored The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality, which was published in 2021.

For many students choosing a career is a challenging and high-stakes task, said Luke Fernandez, WSU assistant professor in the school of computing. Cech's investigations on inequalities in workplace cultures, as well as her research on the orthodoxy that students should follow their passion, can help students in all majors make better and more informed career choices.

On Jan. 24 at 11:30 a.m., Cech will discuss her research on the racial and gender biases built into professional STEM environments. She will examine the seemingly innocuous cultural beliefs and practices that lead to inequality in the recruitment and retention of women, LGBTQ persons, and racial/ethnic minority students and employees. The presentation will be held at WSU Davis campus (2750 N. University Park Blvd., Layton) Building D2 Room 110. To attend virtually, visit this link. Password is 1234.

On Jan. 25 at 1:30 p.m., Cech will discuss the ominous side of the career advice to follow your passion, and explain how that principle perpetuates class, racial and gender inequalities. The presentation will take place on the Ogden campus in Lindquist Hall Room 101. To attend virtually, visit this link. Password is 1234.

Cech hopes audiences will leave her presentations with a better understanding of passion-seeking, or choosing a career based on passion, and are better equipped to envision alternatives to it  for organizations, institutions and for listeners.

Educators, parents and employers need to expand the options young adults and career aspirants see for the role of work in their lives, Cech said. Passion-seeking should not be a moralized expectation, and we should be reflexive about the privilege of passion-seeking.

The presentations are sponsored by College of Engineering Applied Science & Technology Peterson Speaker Series.

Cechs research is funded by multiple grants from the National Science Foundation and has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Time and Harvard Business Review.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
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LobsterCraft, a Connecticut lobster roll concept with multiple trucks and storefronts, is Connecticut's top food truck, according to the Eat This, Not That! website.

The site compiled a list of the best food truck in every state, choosing LobsterCraft as its pick for the Nutmeg State.

"Those who say a cold Maine lobster roll isn't really their jam will likely fall in love with the warm, buttered Connecticut-style version served up by Lobstercraft in Fairfield," author Emilia Benton wrote. "If you're not craving a sandwich, this food truck also serves up lobster mac and cheese and lobster bisque."

That version, the Coastal, is the best-seller at LobsterCraft by six to one, owner Mike Harden told Hearst Connecticut in September.

Harden, a former Coast Guard captain and licensed lobster fisherman, founded LobsterCraft in 2012, serving hot buttered lobster rolls from a truck at special events and parties. He now has two trucks, brick-and-mortar shops in Greenwich and West Hartford, and a new Fairfield location under construction. Another is in the works in Sarasota, Florida, and Harden is also planning for an international expansion.

Beyond the flagship Coastal roll, LobsterCraft's menu is fairly daring for the state that popularized the no-frills version. Theres the Heat Wave, with lobster tossed in spicy serrano and habanero pepper-infused butter. A lobster BLT roll has crispy bacon and garlic aioli, and a California gets wasabi soy sauce, cucumber and avocado.

The Dirty Maynard is LobsterCraft's take on cold Maine-style lobster salad, with mayonnaise, onions, celery and carrots. Theres even a surf and turf roll with lobster and marinated flank steak.

Other items include a slider sampler with three lobster roll flavors, soups and bisque, lobster tacos and lobster mac and cheese, with seasonal specials like crab cakes. Winter specials have included jambalaya, black bean soup and non-lobster items like hot dogs and a pulled pork sandwich.

In neighboring states, Boston-based Bon Me earned top honors in Massachusetts for its Asian-inspired menu, including banh mi sandwiches, rice bowls and noodle soups. In New York City, Wafels & Dinges earned the nod for its Belgian Liege waffles, and Rhode Island's The Shuckin Truck, based in Point Judith, was named the Ocean State's best for its lobster rolls, fish tacos and raw bar offerings.
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Communications Analyst, Dakar, Senegal

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

Country: World

City: Dakar

Office: UNDP Senegal

Grade: NO-B

Closing date: Sunday, 30 January 2022

Agency: UN Volunteers

Title: Communications Analyst

Job ID: 40836

Practice Area - Job Family: Management

Vacancy End Date: (Midnight New York, USA) 30/01/2022

Duty Station: Dakar, Senegal

Education & Work Experience: G-Bachelors Level Degree - 4 year(s) experience, I-Masters Level Degree - 2 year(s) experience

Languages: Required: Desired: English, French

Grade: NOB

Vacancy Type: FTA Local

Posting Type: External

Bureau: United Nations Volunteers

Contract Duration: 2 Year with possibility for extension

This vacancy is open to nationals of Senegal Only.

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The UNV Regional Offices (RO) provide oversight and strategic guidance to the UNV Field Units in their respective geographical assignments and are mainly accountable for the placement of UN Volunteers mobilized for UN Agencies, Funds, and Programmes focused on peace, development and humanitarian needs. Furthermore, the Regional Offices represent, and strategically position, UNV and bring UNVs services and solutions closer to its partners from governments, UN entities, civil society and private sector. The Regional Offices also lead in scoping and delivering UNVs advisory service offer on volunteer infrastructure.

Reporting to the Manager, Regional Office, and with the technical guidance and supervision of the Communications Specialist, the Communications Analyst is responsible for content research and production in the regional context, development and maintenance of online presence, and contributes to outreach efforts and campaigns in the Field Units assigned to the Regional Office. He/she closely coordinates his/her work with the Communications team at UNV headquarters.

Duties and Responsibilities

Content research and production

Research volunteer initiatives and experiences in the region for all communications purposes, in coordination with the Field Units;

Coordinate and write content production and development of communications tools with the Communications team at UNV headquarters;

Prepare up-to-date information, articles, and publishing content based on corporate, regional and field units priorities;

Develop consistent brand awareness, maintaining style and editorial standards in online and print materials, multimedia, social platforms and other communications tools;

Manage content for social media platforms in the region, monitor conversations and comments, and keep track of social media analytics;

Edit and publish online content and covey key messages to target audiences on the web;

Collect and coordinate up-to-date visual assets (photography, infographics), along with production of video for regional initiatives, along with supporting for corporate use;

Measure results on a regular basis and conduct media content audits to understand audience preference and the impact of different approaches;

Identify and measure key performance indicators such as audience growth, audience profile, audience engagement, ser acquisition, content reach, engagement by content type, response rate and quality.

Plan, design and implement regional external strategies for communications and outreach, based on the corporate strategic direction

Prepare and conduct communications needs assessments for all Field Units in the region;

Draft/edit regional communications and outreach tools for partnerships, based on the corporate communications strategy;

Prepare analytics and reporting on communications;

Analyze requirements and synthesis of proposals on ways to integrate advocacy and communication strategies into all aspects of UNVs efforts of mobilization and promoting of volunteerism

Content quality and coordination for all communication tools

Expand the online and offline visibility of UNV Regional Office initiatives and increase knowledge sharing across Field Units;

Scale up existing social media presence and strategies for increased coverage and reach;

Provide leadership in the implementation of tools and processes for Field Units to submit content for corporate communications purposes; c44DGL5 Dh7qKS

Work with partner UN agencies and other partners at the regional level for the publishing of information on UNV to ensure consistency of content and editorial products;

Identify opportunities for strategic partnerships, innovation and coverage of the Regional Office activities;

Arrange for the translation of materials when required, ensuring brand and quality of such materials;

Guide personnel in the Regional Office and Field Units on communications formats, design, photography, video and promotional items.

Online and print marketing, outreach and campaigns

Lead Field Units in the region in the preparation of media tools and messaging in preparation of the International Volunteers Day (IVD);

Coordinate with Field Units and external partners to ensure continued support during the International Volunteers Day (IVD) and other corporate events;

Manage IVD event for the Regional Office;

Collect and analyze data and feedback for final reporting on events;

Develop online and print materials for the promotion of outreach events and campaigns in Field Units;

Reply to public inquiries and refer queries, comments and contributions for appropriate action; channel queries/comments/contributions to relevant staff members for processing;

Contribute to outreach initiatives to raise visibility and media interest in the work of UNV and the contributions made by UN Volunteers.

Competencies

Core competencies

Achieve Results: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline.

Think Innovatively: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements .

Learn Continuously: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

Adapt with Agility: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible

Act with Determination: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

Engage and Partner: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Knowledge generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need

Digital Awareness and Literacy: Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skilfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed

Public Relations: Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organisation, its mandate and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public

Advocacy strategy and implementation: Ability to create and implement advocacy strategies which lead to impactful change

Social media management: Ability to represent and promote the UNDP brand in virtual communities and networks

Marketing: Ability to communicate the value of a product or service

Campaign management : Ability to produce and implement communications and advocacy campaigns which lead to impactful change

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Masters degree in journalism or communication.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

2 years of relevant experience, including at least one year in web content editing/publishing;

Alternatively, bachelor degree in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted

Proficiency in the use of content management systems, HTML coding, photo editing tools and other web publishing tools;

Good knowledge of internet communications, marketing and outreach activities

Fluency in English and French;

Proficiency in another official UN language is desirable.

Disclaimer

Note

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted;

The successful candidate will hold a UNDP letter of appointment;

This post is open to nationals of Senegal only.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

UNDP/UNV reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP/UNV at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

Link to the organizations job posting: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1642538248547
Planning and Coordination Analyst, Mogadishu, Somalia

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

Country: World

City: Mogadishu

Office: UNDP Mogadishu

Closing date: Monday, 31 January 2022

Planning and Coordination Analyst

Location : Mogadishu, SOMALIA

Application Deadline : 31-Jan-22

(Midnight New York, USA)

Type of Contract : Service Contract

Post Level : SB-4

Languages Required : English

Duration of Initial Contract : 1 year

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Womens thematic engagement in Somalia is based on the global flagship on Womens Engagement in Peace, Security and Recovery, political participation and leadership. Insecurity and fragility are further the main obstacles for women to seek equality and to prosper. UN Womens programming and technical guidance aims to support women to become actors in the provision of security and resources for peace. Programme interventions are conducted through programmes on Women, Peace and Security, Rule of Law and Womens Political Leadership and Empowerment. The United Nations Strategic Cooperation Framework 2021-2025 is the UNs strategic programme framework that defines the UNs support to national development results. UN Women in Somalia co-chairs the Gender Theme Group (GTG), the Gender, Human Rights and Inclusion Results Group, which are the UNCT coordination mechanisms responsible for the coordination of and policy advice on gender equality issues in the UNSCF. UN Women is also a principal partner in several outcome results groups in the UNSCF and as well as a partner to several UN joint programmes.

The United Nations in Somalia adopted a UN Somalia Gender Strategy, which ended in December 2020 thereby embarked on the process for assessment of the 2018-2020 strategy and development of a new strategy aligned to the UNSCF. UN Somalia is also committed to undertaking Gender Scorecard Exercise that assesses the capacities of the United Nations Country Team to respond to its gender mainstreaming responsibilities and the coordination function of the gender theme group. UN Women also leads the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) Somalia. With the enhanced role of UN Women as the leading agency on coordination and gender mainstreaming, and the ensuing increased role of UN Women to lead the UN Gender and Disability portfolio, a strong, flexible and versatile coordination function within UN Women Country Office is required.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Country Programme Manager, and in close collaboration with the programme team, the Coordination Analyst will be responsible for strengthened accountability of results for gender equality and womens empowerment, enhanced efficiencies, improved coherence, and joint action through better coordination between UN agencies, the government, CSOs and development partners.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide technical support to Somalias priorities and commitments for gender equality and womens empowerment (GEWE):

Provide technical inputs to UN, government and donor gender coordination structures, including institutional capacity development and strategic planning;

Provide technical inputs to the planning, implementation and monitoring of the UN Somalia Gender Equality Strategy, UNCT Gender Scorecard;

Provide technical support to the development and roll-out of a strategy for the UNCT Gender Theme Group and the implementation of the UNCTs commitments to GEWE in the countrys UNSCF;

Provide technical and secretariat support to the UNCT Gender, Human Rights and Inclusion Results Group and in mapping, analysis and reporting of UNSCF commitments and results on gender;

Provide technical inputs to strengthening of strategic partnerships and coordination for GEWE within the UN System and with external partners, including government and development partners;

Organize and provide technical inputs to a series of trainings for relevant UNSCF management structures, including sensitizing UN Women, the Gender Theme Group and others on mainstreaming GEWE in SDGs;

Provide technical inputs to joint UN and donor advocacy efforts for GEWE, including serving as the secretariat of the Women, Peace and Security working group under the guidance of the Country Programme Manager.

Provide coordination support to Somalias priorities and commitments for gender equality and womens empowerment (GEWE):

Work closely with the Gender Theme Group (GTG) members in the development of a work plan, in line with the UNSCF and the UN Somalia Gender Strategy;

Liaise with UN Women regional and HQ offices on developments related to UN Womens coordination mandate in general and peace and security, women leadership, EVAW and humanitarian action specifically;

Coordinate, convene, take notes and follow-up on the action points of the UN Gender Theme Group meeting;

Technical support in preparation of brief concept notes for IWD, 16 days campaign and other joint program initiatives and contribute to mobilization of pooled resources;

Provide technical support to the inter-agency coordination and UN joint programming:

Participate and represent the Country Office in the UN Women Community of Practice of Interagency Coordination, as delegated and under the guidance of the Country Programme Manager;

Identify and provide technical inputs to UN joint programming opportunities to deliver on the UNSCFs GEWE, in particular provide coordination support tothe development of the One UN Gender Programme;

Provide technical inputs to UN Women in interagency humanitarian coordination work, including capacity building support to partners in government and humanitarian actors;

Provide technical inputs to policy notes, briefs, and undertake gender analysis of joint UN programming on women peace and security, Women Political Participation and Leadership, EVAW and humanitarian action;

Participate in UNSCF Outcome Results Group meetings and ensure gender equality and womens rights are mainstreamed in processes and documents, as delegated and under the guidance of the Country Programme Manager.

Provide coordination and technical support to advocacy and knowledge building:

Provide coordination support to advocacy efforts including the UN Open Day forum to commemoration anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, 16 days of activism, international womens day, CSW events in close partnership with UN agencies, government partners, and CSOs;

Document and advocate best practices and lessons learnt for UN System-wide coordination;

Provide support to the development and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned; ensure incorporation into programme planning;

Contribute to capacity building exercises, as necessary.

Key Performance Indicators:

Timely and quality contributions to the COs coordination efforts;

Quality inputs and technical support provided to UN agencies on reporting gender commitments on UNSCF;

Quality inputs to planning processes and reports, and quality support to the Country Program Manager;

Increased awareness of UN Womens work; c44FRhY Dh7qKS

Increased resources mobilized and interest in GEWE among partners and donors.

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity

Integrity

Professionalism

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues

Accountability

Creative Problem Solving

Effective Communication

Inclusive Collaboration

Stakeholder Engagement

Leading by Example

Functional Competencies:

Good knowledge of gender equity and womens empowerment issues;

Good knowledge of UN system and understanding of inter-agency coordination processes;

Good knowledge of results based programme planning and management;

Ability to promote and monitor inclusion of gender-specific objectives, indicators, targets and activities in the UN agencies programmes;

Good analytical skills;

Ability to provide advice and support.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

Masters degree (or equivalent) in international development, public administration, public policy, or other relevant social science field is required;

A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience

may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;

A project/programme management certification (such as PMP, PRINCE2, or MSP) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

At least 2 years of progressively responsible experience working with inter-agency coordination and strategic programme planning processes;

Experience in the development, planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of programmes;

Experience working in gender equality and womens rights at the international level is an asset;

Experience working in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programmes is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Somali is required;

Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset;

Knowledge of local context is an asset.

Women candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Womens policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Link to the organizations job posting: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1642538768818
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 73F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

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'Book of Boba Fett' co-star Rory Ross on living out his lifelong dream of being in that galaxy far, far away
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This 1900 granite monument called Appomattox stands outside the Clarke County Courthouse in Berryville. Both the Turner Ashby Camp No. 1567 Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Clarke County Board of Supervisors are seeking to take possession of it.
Brian Darragh did not know what he wanted to do for a career, but he knew perhaps the only thing better: exactly what he could never stand doing.

Brian Darragh did not know what he wanted to do for a career, but he knew perhaps the only thing better: exactly what he could never stand doing.

He did not want to sit down for a living. To be some body crouched behind a desk all day was not for him. On the farm, he spent most of his time outdoors, with teams of horses in the open air, his hands covered in a hard days dirt in Keyes, Man., just west of Gladstone. To be behind a desk meant to be inside, and to be inside was out of the question. He was stuck for ideas, he told his future wife, Carol, and needed a job in Winnipeg, where they would soon begin their adult lives.

"Why dont you see if you could operate a streetcar?" she suggested in the spring of 1954.

SARAH TAYLOR / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Brian Darragh sits in a trolley at The Forks for a 2014 photo. He was one of the last surviving streetcar operators until he died in December.

He listened to her, and before he died in December, at the age of 93, Darragh was believed to be the last living operator of a Winnipeg streetcar, one of the only people left on earth who could say what it felt like to open the doors to passengers waiting at Portage and Main. If he wasnt the last, he was one of the final few.

Darragh remembered being a four-year-old boy, in 1932, an only child accompanying his mother on the Portage Avenue streetcar to Eatons, where  if he was on his best behaviour  he would be rewarded with a 10-cent toy from Woolworths. He remembered the clang and the whoosh and the rattle of the cars, and the feeling that he could go anywhere. He didnt ride the streetcar for long: in 1933, his father, a northern Irish immigrant, couldnt find steady work, and the family of "city slickers" moved to Keyes, where they tried their hand at farming. The Darraghs had no radio for three years, no car for seven, no telephone for 10, and no electricity for 16.

Their roof leaked like a sieve every time it rained. With a few neighbours, the Darraghs tore their house down to build a new one from the old ones lumber. For six months, they lived in a 14 by 14 tent as the new home was built. There were no streetcars in Keyes, but in a way only children can, Darragh never forgot his childhood rides downtown, and the streetcar sweetened in his memory as he grew up in its absence.

Carols suggestion was perfect: streetcar operators stood for a living, and they not only did it outside, but they did it in constant motion, standing still while moving forward. He got himself an interview, and it so happened the Winnipeg electric streetcar company was looking to hire 80 operators that month. Only 20 were trained to operate the soon-to-be-retired streetcars, and the 25-year-old Darragh was one of them. He went through three days of training, tagging along with experienced motormen and operators to learn the ropes, including to not touch the 600-volt wire running above the car, a lesson instructor Charlie Hays threw in almost as an afterthought at the station at the North Car House on Luxton Avenue at Main Street.

On April 19, 1954, at about 5:20 p.m., Darragh got behind the wheel of the streetcar for a seven-hour shift, wearing Badge #825 (The higher the number, the more junior a driver was). The previous operator stepped out of the car, gave the young man a few words of advice, and then was gone, leaving Darragh alone to punch a fresh book of transfers and adjust his mirrors before doing what he signed up to do.

On April 19, 1954, at about 5:20 p.m., Darragh got behind the wheel of the streetcar for a sevenhour shift, wearing Badge #825.

Turning around and facing the rear of the car I had about 30 passengers," Darragh wrote in The Streetcars of Winnipeg: Our Forgotten Heritage, an informative, entertaining memoir of Darraghs life and the streetcars era, published in 2015. "Some of them were reading the paper, a few were talking to their seatmates, and others were just looking out the window thinking about their day.

"Then I looked at myself in the mirror. Here I was a farm boy, only three weeks in the city and the only thing I had ever driven before besides a team of horses was a 1928 Model A Ford, a 1947 Ford, and a John Deere tractor," he wrote. "I was in charge of a streetcar worth several thousand dollars, and more than that, I had all these peoples lives in my hands and they dont even seem concerned! I looked down and thought to myself  How did I end up here?"

SUPPLIED Brian Darragh driving a streetcar in the film Backtracks  The Story of Winnipegs Streetcars.

For 17 months, Darragh climbed aboard the citys streetcars, driving every route available, clutching his 21-jewel Balco pocketwatch to keep on time, earning $1.30 per hour to not just drive the car but to feed the stove that heated it during the winter.

He drove women carrying live chickens, men in natty suits, lawyers, doctors, florists, children, and the elderly. All types of people rode the streetcar. It had been that way since 1892, when the first one started running along what is now River Road. The streetcars existence was key to that of the city: the Eatons department store was built in 1905 at Portage Avenue and Donald Street because the streetcar ran there. "These buildings would have never been built there if the streetcars hadnt been there to give them service," Darragh would say. The city expanded by, for and around the streetcars tracks, a vehicle for urban development.

"He was so enthralled," says his daughter, Charlene Shatsky. "He was seeing history, and he was living it."

He was so enthralled. He was seeing history, and he was living it.  Charlene Shatsky, Darragh's daughter

But Darragh started driving at an inopportune time for a man whod found his calling. In 1946, the Winnipeg Electric Streetcar Company carried 106 million passengers, but by the mid-1950s, the city was changing. After a wartime stoppage on automobile production, manufacturing was in full swing, and loyal transit passengers abandoned the streetcars for cars of their own. Meanwhile, the city was looking toward diesel busses. The same thing was happening all across North America, Darragh wrote. The end of the line was nearing, and it came in September 1955, when Leonard Kolley pulled the last revenue streetcar into the North Car House at 2:45 a.m.

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Thousands of people jammed the street at Portage and Main and crowded round the old streetcars to witness the final brief ceremony marking the official end of streetcars in September 1955.

The next day, a procession of streetcars chugged down Portage Avenue, eastward from the old racegrounds at Polo Park. When they reached the Bay, Darragh wrote, police blocked off all traffic as the cars proceeded to Portage and Main. There was Car #374, driven by Francis Daly, one of three remaining female operators. The next was the double-truck sweeper, used to clear the tracks of snow, driven by McGuire Cummings. Then there was #798, driven by superintendent Bill Jones. Each vehicle was built in Winnipeg and carried city and transit dignitaries, Darragh remembered. The streets were flooded with people waving goodbye. The chair of the transit commission, mayor George Sharpe, and each of the 12 reeves lifted a section of the track to signify the beginning of one era, and the end of another.

"Then #374, with its painted-on tears on the front windows, lurched forward. A quiet hush fell over the assembled gathering as they watched the four cars go around the corner of Portage and Main and head north out of view," Darragh recalled in writing 60 years later. "Some of the several thousand people who witnessed these proceedings shed a few real tears for the great service the streetcars had given over their 73 years."

The pain of losing the streetcar was still palpable, even after nearly six decades. "The buses are all the same," Darragh says in Jeff McKay and Beth Azores 2010 documentary Backtracks: The Story of Winnipegs Streetcars. "I mean sure, theyre different shapes, but theyre all the same. The streetcars were individuals. I know youre going to laugh, but they had a soul."

"The streetcars were individuals. I know youre going to laugh, but they had a soul.  Brian Darragh

For 38 years after last boarding a streetcar, Darragh drove the very vehicle that replaced his favourite mode of transport. In 38 years, he only had one "blame" incident, and never hit another vehicle. For every five years with no chargeable or preventable accidents, drivers were entitled to claim one of six bonus prizes: a travel clock, a pen and pencil set, a flashlight, a Transit belt, a tote bag, or a sleeveless sweater. Darragh collected all six, and was named the Transit driver of the year in 1988, four years before his last shift in 1992, putting a close to a career in which his badge number fell from #825 to #1. He drove an estimated 900,000 miles.

But those 17 months driving a streetcar defined him. He became one of the citys most knowledgeable sources of streetcar history, providing insight academics or younger transit historians could never have conveyed in presentations for schools and community groups. "He was a living history book," says Azore. He saw the removal of the streetcar as a moment that split the city into two eras.

SUPPLIED "I was in charge of a streetcar worth several thousand dollars, and more than that, I had all these peoples lives in my hands and they dont even seem concerned! I looked down and thought to myself  How did I end up here? Brian Darragh in The Streetcars of Winnipeg: Our Forgotten Heritage.

From the day the streetcars stopped, and especially in his last 30 years of life, Darragh made it his mission  along with other enthusiasts, historians, and a dwindling number of operators  to ensure the streetcar not be forgotten. Most were destroyed or scrapped. One car, Streetcar #356, built in 1909 in Winnipeg, sits in storage at the soon-to-close Winnipeg Railway Museum.

A committee to restore the streetcar has tried to raise the funds necessary to refurbish it for the better part of two decades, says Heritage Winnipeg executive director Cindy Tugwell. Throughout his memoir, Darragh, who sat on the committee, worries about what that means for the city. He begs readers to consider supporting the project before the streetcar rots away. The book opens with a call to action. "Its Winnipegs 150th anniversary in 2023. How about getting Streetcar #356 on track then?"

"In the year 2014, it will be almost 60 years since the last streetcar operated," he wrote. "By another seven years, you wont be able to talk to a former Transit employee who operated one." His sense of time was as precise as his Balco pocket watch: both he and his beloved wife died in 2021.

For 17 months, Darragh climbed aboard the citys streetcars, driving every route available, clutching his 21-jewel Balco pocketwatch to keep on time.

Before ending the book, he took himself on one more streetcar ride, vividly describing something most can only imagine.

"Personally, Id be perfectly happy to be back on the old streetcar again, watching down the track on a frosty winter morning, hearing the groan and whine of the motors as the car picks up speed from its last stop," he wrote. "You can hear it first, and then you see it in the distance sporting that bright orange front that can be mistaken for a furniture truck.

"As it comes closer you see the trolley sparks as it hits the overhead contacts and occasional switches. Pulling into the stop, the operator fans the brakes a couple of times and you hear the hiss of the air and can see it mixing with the early morning frost."

He went on, recalling each hiss and clatter and gong as though he heard them the day before.

"Whoops, we are not living in that world anymore  its back to reality," he wrote to finish. "Maybe someday, if I live long enough, they will restore #356 and we could have a similar ride in it. Like our youngest grandson used to say, Bring it on! Hey, Id settle for that any day. As I, too, am reaching the end of the line, I couldnt have said it any better myself."

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

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BERLIN (AP)  A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany's Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI's handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said Benedict strongly denies any wrongdoing.

FILE - Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, leaves at the end of a media briefing during a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis in Rome, Italy, Feb. 23, 2019. Munich archdiocese, whose current archbishop is a prominent ally of Pope Francis and which was once led by retired Pope Benedict XVI, is being released on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)

BERLIN (AP)  A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany's Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI's handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said Benedict strongly denies any wrongdoing.

The findings were sure to reignite criticism of Benedicts record more than a decade after the first, and until Thursday only, known case involving him was made public.

The archdiocese commissioned the report from law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl nearly two years ago, with a mandate to look into abuse between 1945 and 2019 and whether church officials handled allegations correctly. The law firm examined church files and spoke to witnesses.

Church officials weren't informed of the results ahead of publication. The current archbishop  Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a prominent reformist ally of Pope Francis  was faulted in two cases.

Marx's predecessors include the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who served in Munich from 1977 to 1982 before becoming head of the Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later being elected pope. Benedict gave extensive written testimony for the report.

FILE - Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sits in St. Peter's Basilica as he attends the ceremony marking the start of the Holy Year, at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. A long-awaited report on the church's handling of cases of sexual abuse by clergy and others in Germany's Munich archdiocese and which was once led by retired Pope Benedict XVI from 1977 until 1982, is being released on Thursday Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

"In a total of four cases, we came to the conclusion that the then-archbishop, Cardinal Ratzinger, can be accused of misconduct," said one of the report's authors, Martin Pusch.

Two of those cases, he said, involved perpetrators who offended while he was in office and were punished by the judicial system but were kept in pastoral work without express limits on what they were allowed to do. No action was ordered under canon law.

In a third case, a cleric who had been convicted by a court outside Germany was put into service in the Munich archdiocese and the circumstances speak for Ratzinger having known of the priest's previous history, Pusch said.

When the church abuse scandal first flared in Germany in 2010, attention swirled around another case: that of a pedophile priest whose transfer to Munich to undergo therapy was approved under Ratzinger in 1980.

The priest was allowed to resume pastoral work, a decision that the church has said was made by a lower-ranking official without consulting the archbishop. In 1986, the priest received a suspended sentence for molesting a boy.

Another of the report's authors, Ulrich Wastl, said Benedict's claim not to have attended a meeting in 1980 in which the priest's transfer to Munich was discussed lacks credibility.

FILE---Pope Benedict XVI is seen after his arrival at the airport of Munich, southern Germany, Sept. 9, 2006. Pope Benedict XVI. arrived for a six-day visit to his southern German home state of Bavaria. A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germanys Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVIs handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s.(AP Photo/Michael Probst,file)

"In all cases, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI strictly denies any wrongdoing on his part," Pusch said, and the retired pontiff cites largely "lack of knowledge of the facts and a lack of relevance under canon and criminal law." But he added that the assertions of lack of knowledge were sometimes "hard to reconcile" with the contents of church files.

Matthias Katsch of Eckiger Tisch, a group representing German clergy abuse survivors, spoke of a "historic" moment. "This building of lies that was constructed here in Munich to protect Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict, collapsed today," he told German news agency dpa.

"To us, this is not shocking news," SNAP, a network representing survivors of sex abuse by clergy, said in a statement. "Sadly, we see these unsavory actions and inactions surface years later after lengthy silence by church officials and painful memories harbored by victims."

Benedicts longtime secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, said the retired pope hadnt yet read the report but would in the coming days.

"The emeritus pope, as he repeated many times during the years of his pontificate, expresses his upset and shame at the abuse of minors committed by clerics, and expresses his personal closeness and his prayers to all the victims, some of whom he met during his apostolic journeys," Gaenswein said in a statement. Benedict retired in 2013.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Holy See wouldn't comment until it had read the report in full and could give the contents "careful and detailed examination."

Cardinal Reinhard Marx gives a press statement after the presentation of an expert report on cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, in Munich, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. The report faults retired Pope Benedict XVI's handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s, while Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a prominent reformist ally of Pope Francis  was faulted in two cases. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Benedicts legacy as pope had already been colored by the global eruption in 2010 of the sex abuse scandal, although as a cardinal he was responsible for turning around the Vaticans approach to the issue.

Benedict gained firsthand knowledge of the global scope of the problem when he took over at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1982, after his time in Munich. Ratzinger took the then-revolutionary decision in 2001 to assume responsibility for processing those cases after he realized bishops around the world werent punishing abusers but were just moving them from parish to parish where they could rape again.

The report runs to nearly 1,900 pages, including annexes among which are Benedicts written responses, redacted to black out names.

It points to at least 497 abuse victims over the decades and at least 235 suspected perpetrators, though the authors said that in reality there were probably many more.

Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, Munichs archbishop from 1982 until Marx took over in 2008, was faulted over his handling of 21 cases. Pusch said he also denies wrongdoing.

In an extraordinary gesture last year, Marx offered to resign over the Catholic Churchs "catastrophic" mishandling of clergy sexual abuse cases, declaring that the scandals had brought the church to "a dead end."

Francis swiftly rejected the offer but said a process of reform was necessary and that every bishop must take responsibility for the "catastrophe" of the abuse crisis.

Marx didnt mention either Benedicts role or his own in a brief appearance hours after the report was released, but offered an apology.

"As archbishop of Munich and Freising, I feel that I share responsibility for the church as an institution over recent decades," he said. "So as the serving archbishop, I apologize for the suffering that was caused to people" in church institutions, he added.

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Marx added that church officials will consider "results and further consequences" as they study the report, and he hopes for initial conclusions next Thursday. He said that dealing with abuse is inseparable from reform of the church.

In 2018, a separate church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys.

In recent months, turbulence in the Cologne archdiocese over officials' handling of abuse allegations has convulsed the German church. A report last year found that the archbishop of Hamburg, a former Cologne church official, neglected his duty in several cases in handling such allegations, but Francis rejected his resignation offer.

That report cleared Cologne's archbishop of wrongdoing, but Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki's handling of the issue infuriated many Catholics. In September, the pope gave Woelki a several-month "spiritual timeout" after what the Vatican called "major errors" of communication.

___

Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.
CALGARY - The association that represents Alberta police chiefs says it's too soon to decriminalize illicit drugs.

Calgary Police Service's headquarters building on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY - The association that represents Alberta police chiefs says it's too soon to decriminalize illicit drugs.

Calgary Chief Const. Mark Neufeld, president of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police, says a number of things need to be in place before decriminalization can be seriously considered.

"We're not ready," Neufeld said at a news conference Thursday.

"We do not believe the necessary health supports, including immediately accessible treatment services, are presently available."

British Columbia applied to the federal government in November to remove criminal penalties for people who possess small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use. The province argued that substance abuse and addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal one.

Since B.C. declared a public health emergency in 2016, 7,700 British Columbians have died because of a toxic drug supply.

Torontos board of health said it would also seek permission from the federal government to allow drug users to carry small amounts for personal use.

"We're aware that other provinces have submitted requests to Health Canada seeking an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that would decriminalize personal possession of illicit drugs. These are conversations that are ongoing in our province as well," said Neufeld.

"I'm not concerned that this is moving forward in any way that's imminent. It is a discussion that has been ongoing for the last number of years, which has been intensified obviously by the drug poisonings and opioid overdoses."

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Almost 1,400 people died from substance-related overdoses in Alberta between January and October 2021  a 26 per cent increase over the same time period the previous year.

Neufeld said decriminalization alone wouldn't reduce addiction or overdose rates. There needs to be a connection between law enforcement and public health so that people who need help can get it, he said.

"Police in our province are already operating in what is effectively a decriminalized environment. Alberta police officers generally do not charge individuals found with small quantities of illicit drugs unless there are aggravating factors present," he said.

"Any effort toward decriminalization must also include the establishment of an array of diversionary options that front line police officers could access to connect people who use drugs with health and recovery-oriented supports."

The Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police represents 7,500 officers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
OTTAWA - Canada Post is seeking "clarification" from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.

The Canada Post logo is seen on the outside the company's Pacific Processing Centre, in Richmond, B.C., on Thursday June 1, 2017. Canada Post says it is seeking "clarification" from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

OTTAWA - Canada Post is seeking "clarification" from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.

The Crown corporation earlier this week said employees had to use a Canada Post-issued non-medical cloth or disposable medical mask, or they would be sent home.

The news prompted criticism from some health professionals and the union representing postal workers.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers President Jan Simpson said research has shown N95 masks offer better protection against the more transmissible Omicron variant.

"The union has asked Canada Post to provide N95 masks or suitable alternatives to all postal workers, and at the very least, allow those whove purchased their own N95 or KN95 masks to wear them," Simpson said.

"As COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly, Canada Post Corporation should be doing everything in its power to protect postal workers, who continue to help people stay home and stay safe.

Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said Thursday "without exception" the Crown corporation has followed the guidance of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"Given the complex and evolving nature of the pandemic, we have strictly adhered to the guidance and direction from the health experts responsible for protecting Canadians from COVID-19," he said. "We understood from the start that they were the experts, not us, and therefore following their lead was crucial to keeping our people safe."

But after media reports surfaced about the mask issue the policy is under review.

"We are now working with federal authorities to seek clarification and understand their recent guidance so that we can continue to ensure we are doing everything possible to keep our employees safe," Hamilton said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada guidance says non-medical, cloth masks can be used but don't have to meet any standards.

PHAC says medical masks and N95-type respirators offer better protection and have to meet certain standards in Canada.

The Centers for Disease Control in the United States last week updated mask guidance to suggest N95s were really the preferred option for all because of how infectious Omicron has turned out to be.

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Getting N95s is, however, not an easy feat right now because Omicron pushed demand for them through the roof in the last two months. However the federal government has contracts supplying about four million of them every month.

Michelle Johnston, spokeswoman for federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan, told The Canadian Press Thursday that "nothing in the Canada Labour Code or Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations precludes workers from wearing a higher-quality face covering if they would like to utilize a higher grade of mask or respirator."

Canada Post is not the first employer criticized for refusing to let employees wear better personal protective equipment than they were issued. Several Ontario school boards last fall threatened to discipline teachers who wore their own N95s in their classrooms.

The Ottawa-Carleton Public School Board eventually voted to allow teachers to wear an N95 if they chose.

Ontario began supplying N95s to teachers earlier this month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the first shipment of an oral COVID-19 pill is making its way across Canada but is no substitute for vaccination against the rapidly spreading virus.

People wait in line at a COVID-19 vaccination site in Montreal, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada. The Omicron-fuelled fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be peaking in some provinces, while others say the worst is likely still to come. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the first shipment of an oral COVID-19 pill is making its way across Canada but is no substitute for vaccination against the rapidly spreading virus.

The entire northern Quebec region of Nunavik is on "red alert" with more than half of its 14 Inuit communities struggling with high viral transmission.

Other provinces and territories are bracing for a peak in the pandemic's fifth wave with hospitalizations beginning to level out.

The antiviral drug Paxlovid is meant to protect against hospitalization and death. Canada has purchased one million courses for delivery this year.

"It's important to remember that this will be a powerful tool to continue to keep people from people getting extremely sick but it needs to be used right," Trudeau said Wednesday.

"It's not a replacement for getting vaccinated, for wearing masks, for staying safe, for keeping your distance."

The Omicron variant-fuelled fifth wave appears to be peaking in some provinces, while others warn the worst is yet to come.

Quebec reported its lowest daily increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations with a rise of eight, bringing the total to 3,425 people in hospital. It also saw a slight decline in intensive care patients.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

In Nunavik, a curfew is in effect and all non-essential public places are closed with private indoor gatherings banned.

Meanwhile, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said there are "glimmers of hope" that COVID-19 cases will peak this month with hospitalization and intensive care admissions to follow.

The province recorded a small dip in the number of people with COVID-19 in hospital to 4,132 patients from 4,183, as intensive care patients rose by eight to 589. Fifty-nine new deaths were also reported.

Many types of Ontario businesses continue to be closed under public health restrictions, but Premier Doug Ford said to expect a "positive" announcement on measures later this week.

In British Columbia, some businesses are eligible for a financial boost from the province as they are forced to stay closed for at least another month to curb COVID-19 spread.

Places such as event venues, bars and nightclubs that don't serve meals can now apply for grants of up to $20,000. Businesses that have been able to reopen can claim up to half that amount.

Manitoba's top doctor said Wednesday the Omicron wave could peak soon, as the province logged a slight increase in hospitalizations and intensive care cases.

"Looking at other jurisdictions ... it would be reasonable to expect that peak in the near future if we maintain the same trajectory," said Dr. Brent Roussin, adding "it's a little early to consider."

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan is bracing for a tide ofCOVID-19 hospitalizations and absences among workers until mid-February,while more than 1,600 volunteers have answered a call from New Brunswick for pandemic assistance.

A surge of hospitalizations and a shortage of health-care staff led the province to ask people to help with clinical or non-clinical work, such as vaccine administration.

Almost 350 workers were isolating Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19. New Brunswick has a record 123 people in hospital with COVID-19.

Hospitalizations continue to climb in Saskatchewan, increasing by 95 per cent over the last month. The province's top doctor said hospitalizations will continue to increase over the next six weeks before peaking.

Prince Edward Island announced new restrictions this week to protect its health system. Nova Scotia, meanwhile, was the only Atlantic province to return to in-person learning at public schools this week.

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Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said attendance had dropped by about eight per cent compared to normal ranges since schools reopened Monday.

"There are about eight per cent of families who kept their children home for one reason or another," Houston said. "The emotions of the situation are not lost on any of us  but I want to stress that our schools are safe."

Alberta is seeing hospitalization rates rising to levels not seen since September. As case rates continue to climb, one of its largest school boards is asking the government to open vaccine clinics in schools.

Edmonton Public Schools said more than 5,000 of its students were absent Tuesday due to COVID-19  about five per cent of its total student population.

Twenty-two more people are in hospital for the virus, bringing Alberta's total to more than 1,100. The number of intensive care patients has grown by four.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2022.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden said he believes Vladimir Putin doesnt want full blown war in Ukraine and would pay a dear price if he moves forward with a military incursion.

FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken pauses while speaking in the briefing room of the State Department in Washington, Jan. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool, File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden said he believes Vladimir Putin doesnt want full blown war in Ukraine and would pay a dear price if he moves forward with a military incursion.

Biden, speaking at a news conference to mark his one-year anniversary in office, also said he believes that Russia is preparing to take action on Ukraine, though he doesn't think the Russian president has made a final decision. He suggested that he would limit Russia's access to the international banking system if it did further invade Ukraine.

Im not so sure that he is certain what is he going to do, Biden said. He added, My guess is he will move in."

Biden's comments came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to Kyiv accused Russia of planning to reinforce the more than 100,000 troops it has deployed along the Ukrainian border and suggested that number could double on relatively short order. Blinken did not elaborate, but Russia has sent an unspecified number of troops from the countrys far east to its ally Belarus, which also shares a border with Ukraine, for major war games next month.

The U.S. president said he believes the decision will solely be Putin's and suggested he was not fully confident that Russian officials with whom top White House advisers have been negotiating are fully informed about Putin's thinking.

In this photo provided by Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock pose for a photo during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Theres a question of whether the people theyre talking to know what hes going to do, Biden said.

Biden also suggested a minor incursion would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying "it's very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page." Biden later in the news conference sought to clarify that he was referring to a non-military action, such as a cyberattack, that would be met with a similar reciprocal response.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it was prepared for the worst and would survive whatever difficulties come its way. The president urged the country not to panic.

Blinkens visit to the Ukrainian capital came two days before he is to meet in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. That follows a series of inconclusive talks last week that failed to ease rising tensions.

Russian military activity has been increasing in recent weeks, but the U.S. has not concluded whether Putin plans to invade or whether the show of force is intended to squeeze the security concessions without an actual conflict.

Biden, who spoke with Putin twice last month, said he's made it clear to him that Russia would face severe sanctions. Still, he said the decision for Putin could come down to what side of the bed" he wakes up on.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second from right, is greeted by Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik, left, as he arrives at the Boryspil International Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Hes never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves, No. 1, Biden warned. This is not all just a cake walk for Russia, Biden said. Theyll pay a stiff price immediately" and in the medium and long term "if they do it.

In Kyiv, Blinken reiterated Washington's demands for Russia to de-escalate the situation by removing its forces from the border area, something that Moscow has flatly refused to do. And, Blinken said he wouldn't give Russia the written response it expects to its demands when he and Lavrov meet in Geneva.

Meanwhile, a top Russian diplomat said Moscow would not back down from its insistence that the U.S. formally ban Ukraine from ever joining NATO and reduce its and the alliance's military presence in Eastern Europe. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow had no intention of invading Ukraine but that its demands for security guarantees were non-negotiable.

The U.S. and its allies have said the Russian demands are non-starters, that Russia knows they are and that Putin is using them in part to create a pretext for invading Ukraine, which has strong ethnic and historical ties to Russia. The former Soviet republic aspires to join the alliance, though has little hope of doing so in the foreseeable future.

Blinken urged Western nations to remain united in the face of Russian aggression. He also reassured Ukraine's leader of NATO support while calling for Ukrainians to stand strong.

Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the U.S. and its allies were steadfast in backing his country and its democratic aspirations against Russian attempts to incite division and discord through relentless aggression."

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks as he greets embassy staff at the U.S. embassy, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Our strength depends on preserving our unity and that includes unity within Ukraine, he told Zelenskyy. I think one of Moscows long-standing goals has been to try to sow divisions between and within our countries, and quite simply we cannot and will not let them do that.

The Biden administration had said earlier it was providing an additional $200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine. Blinken said more assistance is coming and that it would only increase should Russia invade.

Zelenskyy thanked Blinken for the aid, which was approved in late December but not confirmed until Wednesday.

This (military) support not only speaks to our strategic plans of Ukraine joining the alliance, but more importantly to the level of our military, our military supplies, he said, referring to Kyivs desire to join NATO.

Your visit is very important, Zelenskyy said. "It underlines once again your powerful support of our independence and sovereignty.

Zelenskyy released a video address to the nation on Wednesday evening, urging Ukrainians not to panic over fears of a possible invasion. But he said the country has been living with the Russian threat for many years and should always be prepared for war. He called on all Ukrainians, especially the elderly, to breathe and calm down.

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Ukraines president also gave assurances that the country was strengthening its defense capabilities and doing everything possible to resolve the crisis through diplomacy.

Ukraine doesnt want a war, but must always be prepared for it, Zelenskyy said.

From Kyiv, Blinken plans a short trip to Berlin for talks with German and other European allies on Thursday before meeting with Lavrov.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called on the European Union to draw up a plan to ease tensions with Russia, We should build it among Europeans, then share it with our allies in the framework of NATO, and then propose it for negotiation to Russia, he said.

Washington and its allies have kept the door open to possible further talks on arms control and confidence-building measures to reduce the potential for hostilities.

Ryabkov insisted, however, that there cant be any meaningful talks on those issues if the West doesnt heed the main Russian requests for the non-expansion of NATO with a formal response. He said the Russian demands are "a package, and were not prepared to divide it into different parts, to start processing some of those at the expense of standing idle on others.

Blinken, though, said no such formal response was coming. I wont be presenting a paper at that time to Foreign Minister Lavrov, he said. "We need to see where we are and see if there remain opportunities to pursue the diplomacy and pursue the dialogue.

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The Biden administration and its allies have accused Putin of creating the crisis and say it is up to him and the Russians to decide whether to invade and suffer severe economic consequences.

Russia has brushed off calls to withdraw its troops by saying it has a right to deploy its forces wherever it likes on its own territory. It also has rejected U.S. allegations that its preparing a false flag operation" to use as a pretext for intervention. Russia has angrily denied the charge.

Before Blinken's visit to Kyiv, a delegation of U.S. senators traveled to Ukraine to emphasize congressional support for the country.

Russia in 2014 seized the Crimean Peninsula after the ouster of Ukraines Moscow-friendly leader and also threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. More than 14,000 people have been killed in nearly eight years of fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces in the countrys industrial heartland, called Donbas.

___

Lee reported from Kyiv. Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv contributed to this report.
Ontario will start lifting public health restrictions at the end of this month.

Paul Roberston works out at Crossfit Bytown as patrons return to the gym as Ontario enters phase 3 of reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa on Friday, July 16, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Ontario will start lifting public health restrictions at the end of this month.

Restrictions will be scaled back every 21 days starting Jan. 31 to allow for health indicators to be assessed. Proof of vaccination will be required in indoor settings like restaurants and gyms at all stages of the reopening plan. Heres a look at what will change and when:

Jan. 31:

- Social gatherings can increase to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.

- Indoor public settings including restaurants, bars, retail stores, malls, gyms, cinemas, meeting and event spaces, museums, galleries and similar attractions, casinos and gaming establishments and religious services can open to 50 per cent capacity.

- Spectator areas of sporting events, concert venues and theatres can operate with no more than 500 people, with smaller venues limited to half capacity.

- Proof-of-vaccination will be required in settings that have asked for it before.

Feb. 21:

- Social gatherings will be limited to 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.

- Spectator capacity at sporting events, concert venues and theatres will be capped at 50 per cent.

- Capacity limits will lift in indoor public settings that require proof of vaccination like restaurants, gyms and cinemas. Settings that choose to require proof of vaccination can open without capacity limits, too.

- Most indoor public settings where proof of vaccination is not required must limit capacity to whether people can maintain two metres of distance from each other.

- Indoor religious services and ceremonies are limited to the number of people who can stay two metres apart from each other, but there is no capacity limit if the setting requires proof of vaccination.

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- Nightclubs, wedding receptions in spaces with dancing, bathhouses and sex clubs must limit capacity to 25 per cent and maintain proof of vaccination rules.

March 14:

- Capacity limits will lift for all indoor public settings and religious services.

- Proof of vaccination will still be required in places that currently require it.

- Social gatherings will be limited to 50 people indoors with no limits on outdoors gatherings.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesias leader said Thursday that his country, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 biggest economies this year, wants to strengthen global partnership and inclusiveness to aid the economic recovery amid a resurging COVID-19 pandemic.

FILE - Indonesia's President Joko Widodo arrives at Rome's Fiumicino Airport, on Oct. 29, 2021. The Indonesias leader said Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, that his country, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 biggest economies this year, sought to strengthen global partnership and inclusiveness to aid the economic recovery amid a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesias leader said Thursday that his country, which holds the presidency of the Group of 20 biggest economies this year, wants to strengthen global partnership and inclusiveness to aid the economic recovery amid a resurging COVID-19 pandemic.

In an online address to the World Economic Forum, Indonesian President Joko Widodo committed to making the G-20 presidency an important part of the response, with a focus on inclusive health care, the digital transformation and the sustainable energy transition.

He called for world economic leaders to cooperate on trade and technology to aid the pandemic recovery.

I will intensify interactions with world economic actors during the Indonesian presidency, Widodo said. I really hope the economic actors  all of you  have thoughts, concrete offers, which can be submitted to be part of the concrete achievements of the G20 summit.

Unlike that summit later this year, the World Economic Forum's annual meeting is more for world and business leaders to discuss big ideas, not make deals on how to act. COVID-19 concerns delayed the forum's in-person gathering in Davos, Switzerland, but some panels and addresses are being held online.

In a discussion on world trade, participants said the pandemic has likely changed global commerce for good.

As surging demand overwhelms factories and ports, supply chain bottlenecks have driven up prices and delayed shipments, forcing businesses to rethink their dependence on distant suppliers and on keeping inventories to a bare minimum to save money.

There is no going back," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said.

When missing a $5 electronic component can delay production of a $100,000 car, he said, companies need to consider stress-testing their supply chains the way regulators tested the resiliency of banks during the financial crisis of 2008-2009.

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Many companies are looking at whether to reduce their reliance on suppliers in one country, often China, and whether to move production closer to home to avoid disruptions.

But Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization, worries that the understandable" incentive to bring production closer to home will go too far" and cause countries to turn inward and cut out foreign suppliers.

Without mentioning deteriorating relations between the United States and China  the worlds two biggest economies  Okonjo-Iweala warned, Dont allow geopolitical tensions to really morph into protectionist measures and policies that use trade as a weapon. ... I lose a little bit of sleep at night about that.

Likewise, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai cautioned that we need to be very, very alert" to prevent this present moment evolving from an opportunity to build a better version of globalization into one where we are fighting each other."

___

AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed.
Tickets have now officially gone on sale for Lynx Air, the newest participant in the growing ultra-low cost carrier market.

Tickets have now officially gone on sale for Lynx Air, the newest participant in the growing ultra-low cost carrier market.

The first flight of the Calgary-based operation (formerly called Enerjet) will take off April 7 from Calgary-to-Vancouver. Initial destinations will be limited to Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto.

It launches in Winnipeg on April 19 starting with twice weekly flights to Calgary (increasing to four times per week in May) and twice weekly to Vancouver.

Merren McArthur, the CEO of Lynx, said the goal is to provide really competitive fares  $49 one-way from Winnipeg to Calgary and $59 to Vancouver  and grow the pie.

"Were not really wanting to take market share from the competition," she said in an interview with the Free Press. "We want to entice people to travel who wouldnt otherwise be travelling."

Lynx is expected to take delivery of its first brand-new Boeing 737 at the end of this month, two more shortly after that and three more by the summer when McArthur said the airline expects to announce additional destinations.

Barry Rempel, president and CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority, said, "We are excited to welcome Lynx Air to the gate at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport to help provide more affordable travel options to meet the needs of our community. Its great news to see Canadas newest low-cost airline gearing up to launch direct service out of Winnipeg to Calgary and Vancouver, adding capacity to these two in-demand destinations and growing the number of airline partners operating out of Winnipeg to further keep our region connected."

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While the aviation industry in general has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, McArthur said Lynx has an advantage in that it has not started operating yet.

"We are monitoring the situation and we have carefully chosen our timing to try to get as much certainty as we can," she said. "Our tickets went on sale on Wednesday, which is very exciting, but our first flight does not take off until April 7. We recognize the great challenges (caused by the pandemic) but so long as we are responsive and nimble and communicate well to our passengers as changes come about, we are very confident we will do well."

Flair Air and WestJets Swoop have been doing well but Canada has lagged other international markets in the adoption of low cost carriers.

McArthur said while there has not been much capacity in that sector until only recently, she said they refer to Lynx as ultra-affordable rather than ultra-low cost because she doesnt want people to think that the service wont be great or that it will be unreliable because it is "low-cost."

"We want to redefine Canadians expectation," she said. "To do that you have to have a great customer-focused culture which we have."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
A product development and testing site in Portage la Prairie is gaining global attention after a system revamp.

A product development and testing site in Portage la Prairie is gaining global attention after a system revamp.

The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute used a $602,510 grant from the federal government to upgrade its mechanical test system.

If you want to see how a product will perform over a lifetime of, lets say, 20 years, we can do that with this system in the matter of a couple of days, said Leah Olson, the companys CEO.

PAMI, which is also based in Humboldt, Sask., works with agriculture, mining and transportation groups to test products before they hit the market.

The device it uses, called the FlexTest Digital Controller, runs through several processes including fatigue and vibration testing. Clients can change products designs in their early phases based on test results, potentially cutting costs.

Were seeing our workload continue to increase, Olson said.

The technology is hard to find, she said. PAMI is already well-known in western Canada, but new businesses from around the world are now reaching out, she added.

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Had we not upgraded, we couldve continued, but then the system would become obsolete, Olson said.

She couldnt say how long PAMI has owned the technology, but the crew has been investing into it for quite some time.

The device underwent physical and technical upgrades last fall and is now in use.

Manitoba is leading the way by implementing innovative testing services for manufacturers in Western Canada, a quote attributed to federal cabinet minister Dan Vandal reads in a news release.

With the latest upgrades, the FlexTest Digital Controller can test several products at once.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month.

A sign bearing the corporate logo hangs in the window of a Starbucks open only to take-away customers in this photograph taken Monday, April 26, 2021, in southeast Denver. Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a policy it announced earlier this month. The Seattle coffee giant says, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, it's responding to last weeks ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month.

In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last weeks ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the Biden administrations plan to require vaccines or regular COVID testing at companies with more than 100 workers.

We respect the courts ruling and will comply, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver wrote in the memo.

Starbucks' reversal is among the most high-profile corporate actions in response to the Supreme Court ruling. The company employs 228,000 people in the U.S.

Boston-based General Electric Co. also suspended its vaccine mandate last week, according to IUE-CWA Local 201, a union that represents machinists, electricians and other GE employees. GE, which employs 56,000 people in the U.S., had initially called for employees to get fully vaccinated no later than Feb. 11.

But other companies have kept their mandates in place. Citigroup Inc., one of the largest U.S. banks, announced in October that employees needed to be vaccinated or receive an accommodation by Jan. 14. New York-based Citi said Wednesday that 99% of its employees have complied so far.

Work clothing maker Carhartt also stuck to its vaccine mandate. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company, which has 3,000 U.S. workers, told employees in an email last Friday that the Supreme Court decision wouldn't impact its own mandate, which went into effect this month.

Carhartt fully understands and respects the varying opinions on this topic, and we are aware some of our associates do not support this policy. However, we stand behind our decision because we believe vaccines are necessary to protect our workforce, the company said.

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Carhartt said the vast majority of its employees have gotten vaccines. The company has also granted some medical or religious waivers.

Some big companies like Target and McDonald's stayed mum on their vaccination plans for frontline workers as the issue moved through the courts. Many companies, facing labor shortages, have been loathe to force requirements on workers, who might choose to go elsewhere.

A November survey of more than 500 U.S. companies by the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson showed that very few employers with vaccination requirements  3%  had seen a spike in resignations. But nearly one-third of those planning mandates said they were very concerned that the mandates could cause employees to leave. On the other hand, nearly half of employers surveyed believe that vaccine mandates could help recruit and retain employees.

On Jan. 3, Starbucks said it would require all employees to be vaccinated by Feb. 9 or face a weekly COVID test requirement, citing the Biden administration's rules. At the time, Culver said it was the responsibility of Starbucks' leadership to do whatever we can to help keep you safe and create the safest work environment possible.

In Tuesday's memo, Culver said the company continues to strongly encourage vaccinations and booster shots. The company also told workers on Tuesday that they shouldn't wear cloth masks to work, and should instead use medical-grade surgical masks provided by the company.

Starbucks required workers to reveal their vaccination status by Jan. 10. The company said Wednesday that 90% have reported and the vast majority are fully vaccinated. Starbucks wouldnt say what percent of workers are not fully vaccinated.
MONTREAL - After 10 days of preventive COVID-19 isolation in her room at a Montreal care facility, Joanne Beland's 84-year-old mother has more difficulty moving and expressing herself.

A health-care worker looks out of a window at Maison Herron, a long-term care home in the Montreal suburb of Dorval, on Saturday, April 11, 2020. The physical and mental health impacts of isolation periods are high for seniors living in care facilities.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - After 10 days of preventive COVID-19 isolation in her room at a Montreal care facility, Joanne Beland's 84-year-old mother has more difficulty moving and expressing herself.

My mother, she told me, I dont know if Ill still be able to walk when Ive finished my 10 days,'" Beland said in a recent interview, adding that her mother now struggles to get out of a chair.

Its very difficult for them to maintain their mobility when theyre confined in a room for 10 days.

Beland's mother, Lorraine, lives at the Ressource de la Montagne, an "intermediate" care facility in Montreal, which offers a higher level of care than a seniors residence but less than a traditional long-term care home.

Like in other residential care facilities in the province, residents are required to isolate for 10 days if a worker or another resident on their floor tests positive for COVID-19.

Beland, who chairs a committee representing residents at her mother's facility, said she agrees COVID-19-positive residents should isolate. But she says she worries a 10-day isolation period for others on their floor causes more harm than good.

Earlier this week, the users committee at the health authority in west-central Montreal, which runs the facility where Beland's mother lives, sent a letter to Quebec's health minister and the seniors minister, calling for the isolation period to be shortened. With high vaccination rates in residential care facilities, and evidence that the Omicron variant causes less serious illness, the physical and mental health impacts of the isolation period are too high, the letter said.

"The majority of seniors, theyve already had their third dose of vaccine, theyre well-vaccinated," Beland said. "It doesnt make sense to keep them in this condition, to confine them in their rooms for 10 days."

Beland said she doesn't think residents who may have been exposed to COVID-19 should be free to move anywhere, but she said residents should at least be able to move around their floors  especially if they test negative.

Her mother tested negative twice for COVID-19 during her 10-day preventive isolation, Beland said. After two negative tests, it seems to me we could give them the chance to leave their rooms."

For doctors who work with elderly patients, whether to reduce the preventive isolation period is a difficult question.

Dr. Sophie Zhang, co-president of an organization that represents doctors who work in long-term care facilities, said that while Omicron may be less serious than other mutations like Delta, it can lead to severe illness and death, especially among elderly people who are already sick.

"The question is, yes, whether preventive measures are worse than the actual infection," she said in a recent interview. "It's kind of tough to answer and I think it becomes kind of an ethical question, rather than a scientific question."

Zhang, who oversees 15 long-term care centres in south-central Montreal, said measures like the isolation period may have to be rethought because of the widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the community.

At one facility where she works, an outbreak was declared on Dec. 19 and has not yet ended, as new cases continue to be reported among staff members.

"Once there's an outbreak, we put in place a lot of measures  restrictive measures  on visits, on activities, on mobility within the facility," she said. "So all that is taking a heavy toll on our patients' quality of life."

For people who are older and sicker, not moving or moving less can cause loss of muscle mass even after a few days, she said. Reducing the isolation period, implementing more aggressive testing and changing the way outbreaks are defined all need to be considered, Zhang added.

Dr. Quoc Dinh Nguyen, a geriatrician and epidemiologist at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal, said that especially in larger facilities, residents can have their 10-day isolation periods reset when new cases are reported on their floors.

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Nguyen said in a recent interview that testing could be used to lift isolation periods sooner. Facilities, he added, could also take into account their specific risk levels and the ability of residents to follow measures. A regional approach may make more sense than a provincewide isolation policy, he added.

"We need to worry about the adverse effects of isolation measures," Nguyen said, adding that he also worries about the impact of relaxing measures too much.

"Although I agree that it's not as severe as it used to be, it's still severe," he said about the Omicron variant. "We still need to be careful and we still need to put measures to reduce transmission."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.



This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Press Release

January 20, 2022 De Lima to gov't: Get your act together Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima slammed the government's conflicting statements on the "no vaccination, no ride" policy in Metro Manila's public transportation following public uproar and criticism over the policy. De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, lamented the Duterte administration's recent flip-flop on its "no vax-no ride policy" not once, but twice, in a matter of 24 hours. "This is how the Duterte government plays with the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Filipinos. The flip-flopping nature of its policies depend largely on who is speaking on the government podium at a particular point," she said. Last January 17, the Department of Transportation (DoTr) started the implementation of its "no vaccination, no ride" policy in Metro Manila's public transportation to further restrict the movement of unvaccinated individuals. However, after receiving flak for the number of workers unable to go to work because of the said policy, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that all workers are exempt from the policy after all because all work is essential. "Of course, this was not the original intent of the policy before it exploded in their faces. Even the IATF defines what essential industries that provide goods and services are. But Sec. Bello thinks that all industries are essential, therefore, all work is essential. With this DOLE pronouncement, and a most benevolent one, practically everyone is exempted, making the policy in relation to its objective basically useless," De Lima said. The DoTr, for its part, came up with another pronouncement only several hours later after the issuance of DOLE's statement, clarifying that only employees working for establishments allowed to operate under alert level 3 will be exempted. The lady Senator from Bicol said the government's conflicting pronouncements before the media only confuse the Filipino public as it also highlights the lack of coordination between officials. "For some reason, high officials of this government belonging to the IATF apparently still have not managed to create their own chat group," she said. "Two years into the pandemic, the Duterte administration still cannot get its act together, even on the simple matter of what workers are exempted from the "no vax, no ride" policy. Clearly, up to now, leadership seems to evade this administration. Ang hilig kase ng gobyernong ito mag "ouido" sa polisiya gamit ang kabuhayan at buhay ng mga tao," she added.
OTTAWA - Canada Post is seeking "clarification" from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.

The Canada Post logo is seen on the outside the company's Pacific Processing Centre, in Richmond, B.C., on Thursday June 1, 2017. Canada Post says it is seeking "clarification" from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

OTTAWA - Canada Post is seeking "clarification" from the federal government about face masks after drawing criticism for refusing to let employees bring their own N95 masks to work.

The Crown corporation earlier this week said employees had to use a Canada Post-issued non-medical cloth or disposable medical mask, or they would be sent home.

The news prompted criticism from some health professionals and the union representing postal workers.

Canadian Union of Postal Workers President Jan Simpson said research has shown N95 masks offer better protection against the more transmissible Omicron variant.

"The union has asked Canada Post to provide N95 masks or suitable alternatives to all postal workers, and at the very least, allow those whove purchased their own N95 or KN95 masks to wear them," Simpson said.

"As COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly, Canada Post Corporation should be doing everything in its power to protect postal workers, who continue to help people stay home and stay safe.

Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said Thursday "without exception" the Crown corporation has followed the guidance of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"Given the complex and evolving nature of the pandemic, we have strictly adhered to the guidance and direction from the health experts responsible for protecting Canadians from COVID-19," he said. "We understood from the start that they were the experts, not us, and therefore following their lead was crucial to keeping our people safe."

But after media reports surfaced about the mask issue the policy is under review.

"We are now working with federal authorities to seek clarification and understand their recent guidance so that we can continue to ensure we are doing everything possible to keep our employees safe," Hamilton said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada guidance says non-medical, cloth masks can be used but don't have to meet any standards.

PHAC says medical masks and N95-type respirators offer better protection and have to meet certain standards in Canada.

The Centers for Disease Control in the United States last week updated mask guidance to suggest N95s were really the preferred option for all because of how infectious Omicron has turned out to be.

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Getting N95s is, however, not an easy feat right now because Omicron pushed demand for them through the roof in the last two months. However the federal government has contracts supplying about four million of them every month.

Michelle Johnston, spokeswoman for federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan, told The Canadian Press Thursday that "nothing in the Canada Labour Code or Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations precludes workers from wearing a higher-quality face covering if they would like to utilize a higher grade of mask or respirator."

Canada Post is not the first employer criticized for refusing to let employees wear better personal protective equipment than they were issued. Several Ontario school boards last fall threatened to discipline teachers who wore their own N95s in their classrooms.

The Ottawa-Carleton Public School Board eventually voted to allow teachers to wear an N95 if they chose.

Ontario began supplying N95s to teachers earlier this month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
OTTAWA - Canada's Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller announced Thursday Ottawa has entered into an agreement with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to hand over thousands more records on residential schools that the federal government has been holding back.

Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller takes part in a blessing given virtually by elder Manitok Thompson, pictured on monitor, at the beginning of a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Canada's Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller announced Thursday Ottawa has entered into an agreement with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to hand over thousands more records on residential schools that the federal government has been holding back.

The government says the agreement outlines how and when it will send the historical documents to the Winnipeg-based centre, which will, in turn,make them available to residential school survivors and work to preserve them.

The agreement comes after Miller announced last month the government was reviewing the records in its possession to see what more it could release to help survivors  a process he said would be ongoing.

He said at the time that it would begin by sending what are known as previously undisclosed "school narratives," which are reports written by the government outlining key events that happened at individual institutions. Those narratives relate to schools that operated across Western Canada.

Stephanie Scott, the centre's executive director, said Ottawa's transfer of these records will help piece together how the church-run federally funded residential school system was administered and provide a more complete picture of what survivors experienced.

"Whether it's finding unmarked graves or gathering records of what took place  it helps us honour and remember all the children who never made it home," Scott said.

Survivors and Indigenous leaders have long called on the federal government to release remaining records that it had refused to fully disclose, citing legal obligations it had to third parties, including Catholic entities that operated the institutions. Some of those entities are now defunct.

The demands grew louder last year after several First Nations, including the Tkemlups te Secwepemc in Kamloops, B.C., announced ground-penetrating radar had located what are believed to be the remains of hundreds of children in unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools.

"There's a lot of truth to still be uncovered, so when we receive this additional record set, communities like Kamloops will be able to have information and access to information," said Scott.

The Liberal government's decision to review its cache of records followed the centre saying last fall that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was incorrect when he told a gathering of Indigenous leaders on Tkemlups te Secwepemc territory that it had turned over everything it had.

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Garnet Angeconeb, a survivor of the Pelican Lake Indian Residential School and a member of the centre's survivor circle, said the transfer of documents is important for the country to be able to acknowledge its history, which is necessary to move forward.

"The records that will be handed over will be a way to get at the truth to be able to tell our stories," he told Thursday's news conference.

"To be able to validate and acknowledge where we have come from as survivors, as a country."

Scott also said she hoped the federal government's spring budget would include funding for the centre to get a new building and more resources to properly archive and share documents.

Miller said his government inked those promises into the Liberals' 2021 election platform and it intends to honour them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
OTTAWA - Canada's electronic spy service warned Thursday that Russian-based hackers are targeting critical infrastructure, while Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Moscow would face severe sanctions if it makes further moves against Ukraine.

In this photo provided by Ukrainian National Guard Press Office Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, right, greets Ukrainian soldiers during her visit to the National Guard base close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Ukrainian National Guard Press Office via AP

OTTAWA - Canada's electronic spy service warned Thursday that Russian-based hackers are targeting critical infrastructure, while Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Moscow would face severe sanctions if it makes further moves against Ukraine.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, a branch of the Communications Security Establishment, said it was "aware of foreign cyber threat activities, including by Russian-backed actors, to target Canadian critical infrastructure network operators, their operational and information technology."

The centre urged increased vigilance and stronger cybersecurity measures overall. It also told the operators of critical infrastructure networks to be ready "to isolate critical infrastructure components."

The warning came as Joly was wrapping her three-country tour with her European Union counterpart in Brussels after previous stops in Ukraine and France. Russia has positioned about 100,000 troops across Ukraine's borders along with tanks and other heavy artillery, stoking fears across Europe of an invasion. Russia has denied this intent.

Joly and her European Union counterpart Josep Borrell projected a warm image of transatlantic solidarity at a news conference Thursday.

Joly said Canada would join allies in imposing severe sanctions on Russian officials if the country takes further military action to compromise Ukrainian sovereignty.

"The recently launched diplomatic process offers Russia two options: they can choose meaningful dialogue, or  severe consequences," Joly said.

"We of course appreciate the EU's collaboration on many deterrence measures, including economic ones. Canada will be ready to take additional measures, particularly with respect to the financial sector."

But there was no announcement of additional Canadians sanctions.

The United States slapped four pro-Russian Ukrainians with additional sanctions on Thursday, including two sitting Ukraine members of parliament said to be part of the Russian security service's ongoing disinformation campaigns.

Joly said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is looking at "a range of options" that are based on the information she is gathering this week.

Canadians of Ukrainian descent expressed frustration that Joly travelled to Europe with nothing concrete to deliver to a series of asks from Ukraine. Those include more sanctions, a commitment to help arm the Ukraine military with weapons and extend Canada's military training mission of Ukraine forces past its March 31 expiry date.

In a Wednesday email to member of Parliament Yvan Baker, the Liberal chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, the head of the League of Ukrainian Canadians said Joly was "ill-prepared to deal with the situation in Ukraine, and this reflects very negatively on the Canadian government."

The email was copied to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is of Ukrainian descent and is a former foreign minister and journalist. The Russians have banned her from entering the country because of her critical stance towards President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rule.

"At the same time, the Russian media makes jokes about Canada's deployment of Canadian special forces to Ukraine, stating that the only reason they are there is to prepare and secure the evacuation of Canadians from the Canadian embassy," wrote Orest Steciw, executive director of the group.

Ihor Michalchyshyn, the executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said the time has come for Canada to provide tangible assistance to match its rhetoric, citing Britain's decision to provide anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, and other contributions by some NATO members.

"We don't understand why it is taking Canada so long to make a decision to match our shoulder-to-shoulder sentiments with material assistance," Michalchyshyn said in an interview.

Conservative MP James Bezan, who has also been banned by Russia, called Joly's European tour a "virtue-signaling exercise to the diaspora in Canada rather than providing concrete proposals and consequences that will hurt Russia."

Canada's Ukrainian diaspora of 1.4 million people is an influential constituency in domestic political affairs, a fact that has been widely recognized by both the current Trudeau Liberal government and the previous Stephen Harper Conservatives.

On Thursday, Joly and her host Borrell were pressed about whether they agreed with U.S. President Joe Biden's remark a day earlier that a "minor incursion" by Russia would lead to a lesser response, which left many scratching their heads.

Biden offered an apparent clarification Thursday, saying: "I've been absolutely clear with President Putin. He has no misunderstanding: Any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion" and would be met with a "severe and co-ordinated economic response" for which "Russia will pay a heavy price."

Borrell described Biden's original phrasing as "nothing new" and said allies would respond in a way that would be "very costly for Russia."

"The warning of President Biden goes exactly the same direction in which we have been working," said Borrell. "A threat is a threat."

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Joly referenced Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its fomenting of Russian separatist forces in Ukraine's eastern region, when she replied: "Let me be clear. First, Russia is already in Ukraine. We're talking about a real threat of a further invasion of Ukraine. So, in that sense, like my colleague just mentioned, a threat is a threat."

Joly's trip was unfolding against a backdrop of other high-level meetings across Europe this week.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Berlin on Thursday for meetings with German, France and British officials, a group known as the Trans-Atlantic Quad that is playing a leading role in defusing the crisis.

"Right now, Secretary of State Blinken is sitting in Berlin talking to his counterparts from Britain, Germany, and France, and Canada has been sidelined," said Bezan.

"Minister Joly's tour right now through Ukraine, Brussels and Paris is showing that they are going out with platitudes, and essentially have been empty handed in offering any assistance to Ukraine."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
A longtime Winnipeg construction company has filed a lawsuit against National Bank of Canada after fraudsters claiming to be a subcontractor allegedly bilked the company of nearly $410,000.

A longtime Winnipeg construction company has filed a lawsuit against National Bank of Canada after fraudsters claiming to be a subcontractor allegedly bilked the company of nearly $410,000.

The money was funneled through an account with the bank by scammers who remain unidentified, according to a statement of claim filed last week in Manitoba Court of Queens Bench by Maple Leaf Construction Ltd.

According to the statement of claim, Maple Leaf was the general contractor on a project installing concrete culverts underneath a highway when, in January 2021, it retained another company, Tri-Core Project Ltd., as a subcontractor for the project.

In an email to Maple Leaf three months later, fraudsters posing as representatives of Tri-Core claimed the companys banking information had changed and asked when Maple Leaf intended to make its next bill payment so it could arrange for an electronic fund transfer, says the statement of claim.

Maple Leaf Construction filed a lawsuit after they were scammed out of $400,000. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

Three days later, Maple Leaf received another email from the fraudsters including what was purported to be Tri-Cores new direct deposit information. At Maple Leafs request, the fraudsters provided the company a void cheque which corresponded to the bank account.

On April 30, Maple Leaf authorized an electronic fund transfer through its bank. A week later the fraudsters sent an email to Maple Leaf claiming one of the invoices had been paid, but there had been "a problem with transmission to the account, and accordingly, new account information was provided," says the statement of claim.

A day later, Maple Leafs bank advised the company that National Bank, the bank that had received the funds, was questioning the validity of the transfer, given that the recipients name did not match the name listed, says the statement of claim.

The next day, Tri-Core confirmed in an email to Maple Leaf it had made no changes to its bank account and had not sent Maple Leaf any emails indicating it had done so.

National bank froze the suspect account, but some of the misdirected funds had already been diverted to the fraudsters, says the statement of claim.

National bank froze the suspect account, but some of the "misdirected funds" had already been "diverted" to the fraudsters, says the statement of claim.

Maple Leaf is seeking an order that National Bank pay restitution or damages equal to the money it lost, plus interest.

Lawyers for Maple Leaf could not be reached for comment.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Maple Leaf Construction was founded in 1943 and now employs more than 900 people, according to its website.

Maple Leaf isnt the only business bamboozled by scammers posing as trusted industry associates. The fraud is one of the dozen types of frequently-practiced swindles that target businesses large and small each year, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Maple Leaf is seeking an order that National Bank pay restitution or damages equal to the money it lost, plus interest. (Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Other common business scams include threats to bring down a companys website or internet services if they dont pay a ransom, threats to turn off utilities for supposed unpaid bills, and payroll frauds directing employers to deposit an employees paycheque into a fraudulent account.

In Winnipegs most recent high-profile business fraud, Peter Ramdath, former chief financial officer of R. Litz and Sons Company Ltd., was sentenced in 2020 to six and a half years in prison after admitting to siphoning more than $4 million from the 104-year-old crane company, sending it spiralling into financial ruin and ultimate dissolution.

Businesses can take several steps to reduce their vulnerability to fraud, including closely inspecting invoices for authenticity, keeping a list of verified business contacts, and limiting the number of staff who have bill-paying authority, says the anti-fraud centre.

As of Nov. 30, over 46,000 Canadians reported being the victims of fraud in 2021, with losses totaling $231 million.

According to the centres most recent figures, as of Nov. 30, over 46,000 Canadians reported being the victims of fraud in 2021, with losses totaling $231 million, more than double the previous year.

Fraud victims are urged to contact their financial institutions immediately, when appropriate, and report the incidents to local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or by phone at 1-888-495-8501.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

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The City of Winnipeg doesnt appear set to help fund the legal battle against a Quebec law that bans some public servants from wearing religious garments at work, after challenges in finding the cash.

The City of Winnipeg doesnt appear set to help fund the legal battle against a Quebec law that bans some public servants from wearing religious garments at work, after challenges in finding the cash.

However, individual council members could still provide their own financial support.

In December, Mayor Brian Bowman raised a motion that council provide up to $100,000 to help fund legal challenges against Bill 21, which are being led by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, World Sikh Organization of Canada, and Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

The hope was that we would be able to find a funding source that makes sense and our budget is so tight right now that it is difficult to find. I think well likely be looking at the discretionary funds available to all members of council, including myself, to see where those that want to financially support the legal challenge can find ways to do so, Bowman told media Wednesday.

A few hours later, the mayor revised the motion to acknowledge members of council may contribute their own support and/or funds to help fight the Quebec law, which the executive policy committee passed unanimously.

While the matter is slated for a council vote, its now unlikely the original intent would succeed.

Bowman said he remains convinced financial support from Winnipeg is warranted.

To hear that a teacher wearing hijab (was transferred out of her classroom) in Quebec, to be removed from the classroom in a such a way, should offend all Canadians. I dont see this as a Quebec issue, I see this as a Canadian issue, he said.

In December, an elementary school teacher in Chelsea, Que., was transferred out of her classroom position because she wears a hijab.

Winnipeg city council officially condemned Bill 21 two years ago, which has been widely deemed discriminatory across Canada. The ban affects a wide variety of religious symbols, including turbans, hijabs and crosses, preventing teachers, police officers, judges and other provincial employees from wearing them at work.

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Bowman said he has no doubt all members of council oppose the law.

In December, a Winnipeg member of the World Sikh Organization told the Free Press the funding would address the growing cost of multiple challenges against the bill, which could take years to conclude and may wind up at the Supreme Court.

(The investment) really shows how to be an ally to people of colour. In 2019, the city condemned (Bill 21) and now it (is) time to put those words into action and thats what the leaders have done, Simarpreet Singh said at the time.

Singh could not be reached for further comment Wednesday.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
City council is one vote away from ending the municipal licensing of escort agencies and body rub parlours.

City council is one vote away from ending the municipal licensing of escort agencies and body rub parlours.

On Wednesday, the executive policy committee cast a unanimous vote to remove the adult-oriented businesses, as well as their practitioners, from the Doing Business in Winnipeg bylaw, repealing their licensing requirements. The change still requires full council approval.

Prior to the vote, several members of the Sex Workers of Winnipeg Action Coalition told EPC they want the licensing rules to come to an end, primarily so they can be treated like other types of workers. However, some fear the current proposal is destined to undermine their work.

"(This would) further enforce conditions or stigma and (it) seeks to end demand (for our business) and our means of livelihood. We dont want licensing and a bylaw that separates us from other businesses on a basis of stigma, control and surveillance," said Austin, who uses they/them pronouns and did not provide their last name.

A City of Winnipeg report states the changes align with a goal to reduce demand for the sex trade.

The report notes municipal officials could also attempt to educate key groups to help prevent human trafficking. Austin said such efforts are often too broadly applied and threaten to result in a crackdown against sex workers.

Another member of the coalition said that could force sex workers into hiding, making them more vulnerable.

"These tools instill fear for sex workers and force us underground. They cause an environment of indifference, stigma and violence towards sex workers," said Amy, who did not want her last name published.

Repealing the bylaw would not force the 31 businesses who have such licences within Winnipeg to shut down, a city spokesperson confirmed.

"The recommendation to remove the licensing requirement does not affect whether or not these businesses operate," Adam Campbell said in an emailed statement.

The EPC decision followed pleas from two prominent community organizations who assist victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. They told committee members these types of businesses are clearly linked to that exploitation  which the city was profiting off by licensing.

"Lets not make pimps and traffickers entrepreneurs in Winnipeg," said Diane Redsky, executive director of the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Diane Redsky, executive director of Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, told the committee repealing the bylaw sends a clear message women and girls are not for sale.

Redsky told the committee repealing the bylaw sends a clear message "women and girls are not for sale." That decision is especially important for some Indigenous women and girls, who are over-represented in Winnipegs sex industry, she said.

"It is really important to understand the power dynamic in the sex industry it is not Indigenous women and girls who benefit."

Joy Smith, who runs the Joy Smith Foundation to combat human trafficking, said the citys initial decision to license the industry gave it an unwarranted legitimacy. Keeping the licences in place would leave the city at legal risk, since buying sex is against federal law, she added.

"Its time to take a stand and to say, Here in the city of Winnipeg, we will not allow our children to be victimized and bought and sold," said Smith.

Mayor Brian Bowman told media he supports the call to stop licensing the businesses based on the feedback from those key community leaders.

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"Theyve spent years looking at and considering these matters I think that (the fact) we have (Diane Redskys) and Joy Smiths (support) speaks volumes to the strength of the report (calling for the change)," said Bowman.

The mayor said it would be difficult to find unanimous support on any matter related to adult businesses. However, he stressed he is still open to considering feedback from sex workers and others.

"This would be obviously a very big change and a historic change there is additional work to do," he said.

The Winnipeg Police Service declined comment Wednesday on whether or not it supports the changes. In an email, police said the licensing decision "wont affect the efforts or investigations of our counter exploitation unit."

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
A man doused in flammable liquid attempted to set himself on fire Wednesday inside the Winnipeg Police Services downtown headquarters.

A man doused in flammable liquid attempted to set himself on fire Wednesday inside the Winnipeg Police Services downtown headquarters.

At about 11:35 a.m. Wednesday, a man carrying a container and lighter entered the WPSs duty office and doused himself with a "substantial amount" of an unidentified flammable liquid, police said.

The area was evacuated, while officers working at the front desk managed to take control of the man.

"We had a front counter full of officers and civilians and our officers were able to eventually gain control of the individual before he was able to ignite the fluid," said Const. Rob Carver, adding he couldnt provide further details about the incident because officers hadnt written their reports.

Police have not said if the man will be charged.

Police closed the station for the day. "Due to unforeseen circumstances the Winnipeg police HQ is closed to the public," read a sign at the entrance.

Asked of the intensity of the incident, Carver said most officers are on the job because they can react well to high-stress situations.

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"They simply react, their training kicks in. They were able to bring the situation to a safe conclusion," he said. "Im sure, afterward, everybody is full of adrenaline and shock, but I dont think an officer that has training reacts the same way that a civilian would."

Carver noted the only other incident "remotely close" to Wednesdays occurred in May last year.

"We had a male attend the station duty and he had a gun, a handgun  it turned out to be a replica handgun  but he was wearing body armour and presented it. Our officers had to engage him and de-escalate that situation, which wouldve involved the presentation of firearms by our officers," he said.

"No shots were fired, they were able to get him under control without firing anything," Carver added.

The suspect in that case, a 43-year-old man, was arrested after officers confronted him and he threw the weapon to the ground. Police also found a tactical knife. He was charged with two counts of possessing a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and possessing body armour without a valid permit or in a manner inconsistent with the valid permit.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Manitoba hasnt yet reached the peak of Omicron infections, the provinces top doctor has indicated.

Manitoba hasnt yet reached the peak of Omicron infections, the provinces top doctor has indicated.

Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Wednesday its likely the province is still approaching its highest transmission and hospitalization rates, but its still too early to know for certain.

"It would be reasonable to expect that peak in the near future if we maintain the same trajectory as other regions, but right now I cant point to any specifics in our data that suggest that we have reached that," he said.

At this time, no new public health restrictions are coming into effect, and no changes are being planned to the five-day isolation period for vaccinated Manitobans who test positive, Roussin said.

When asked how he can be confident Manitobas current COVID-19 restrictions are enough, the doctor said health officials are considering the strain on hospitals and looking at whats happening in other provinces.

"Its not about a stationary level of confidence. We follow the data and continually re-evaluate our response."

Supply of the newly approved Pfizer COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid is on its way to Manitoba.

An initial shipment of 1,100 doses is expected and additional doses have been requested, Roussin said. An online process is being set up to determine who will be administered the medication, with first priority going to those who are at highest risk of becoming seriously ill, he said.

The pill has to be taken within five days of symptom onset, so potential consumers will need to get tested early and go online to provide positive PCR or rapid test results, which will be reviewed by a medical professional before the prescription drug is given. As of Wednesday, the initial supply of Paxlovid had not yet arrived.

"There will be a clear process online, and we really need to ensure people are being tested at their first signs of illness, especially if theyre high-risk, so that we can get that medication in their hands in that very short window," Roussin said.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the Vaccine Implementation Task Force, urged Manitobans over the age of 50 to receive their booster dose as soon as possible. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the Vaccine Implementation Task Force, speaks at a press conference at the RBC Convention Centre supersite on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. For Katie/Danielle story. Winnipeg Free Press 2021.

The number of Manitoba deaths from COVID-19 infections rose by 12 Wednesday, as hospitalizations continued to increase.

Public health officials reported the deaths of 10 Winnipeg residents, including: three men and three women in their 80s, a man in his 70s, two women in their 60s, and a man in his 40s.

A man in his 70s from Prairie Mountain and a man in his 70s from Southern Health also died from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead for the provinces COVID-19 vaccine task force, urged Manitobans to get their booster dose as soon as possible, saying officials are currently most concerned about people in their 50s and 60s.

"We really cant ignore what were seeing in the hospitals," Reimer told a media briefing Wednesday afternoon.

The risk of experiencing a severe case of COVID-19 goes up over the age of 50, she said, adding less than 61 per cent of Manitobans over 50 are currently protected by a booster shot.

The immunization clinic at Winnipegs downtown RBC Convention Centre will begin accepting walk-in clients Thursday, and in-school immunization clinics are also resuming.

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The second round of vaccines for children ages five to 11 also begins this week. National recommendations on third doses for youth 12 and up are expected later this month.

As of Wednesday morning, there were 631 people in hospital with COVID-19, an increase of 11 from Tuesday. There were 50 patients with the virus in intensive care, two more than Tuesday.

There were 919 new cases confirmed through PCR testing. The test-positivity rate in the province was 33.1 per cent. Just 3,047 tests were processed Tuesday.

The province is no longer tracking the majority of positive COVID-19 cases because PCR testing is limited and Manitobans using rapid tests cant report their results.

COVID-19 outbreaks were declared at St. Boniface Hospital (M2), River East Personal Care Home, Concordia Hospital (N3 East), Health Sciences Centre (PX2 East) and Gillam Hospital.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca
As tensions escalate between Ukraine and Russia, so do the fears of Manitobas large Ukrainian community for the safety of loved ones in the eastern European nation.

As tensions escalate between Ukraine and Russia, so do the fears of Manitobas large Ukrainian community for the safety of loved ones in the eastern European nation.

An estimated 100,000 troops have been stationed by Russia at its border with Ukraine, with some believing an invasion is imminent.

On Jan. 16, the federal government asked Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to the area, citing "ongoing Russian aggression."

Statistics Canada information from 2016 lists Manitoba as the province with the highest percentage of Ukrainians in its total population.

That group is largely composed of people who have family and friends living in Ukraine, many of whom are worried the situation will quickly escalate, Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre executive director Yulia Zmerzla said Wednesday.

"Is it Ukraine who wants this war? No. Russia is doing that This is terrible whats going on."

Is it Ukraine who wants this war? No. Russia is doing that This is terrible whats going on.  Yulia Zmerzla

Zmerzla immigrated to Winnipeg in 2014, just before the Russo-Ukrainian crisis began. She calls family and friends in her homeland regularly, but said its harder to provide support, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to visit in recent years.

"Ukrainians are all united here to support our families and friends who are still in Ukraine," she said. "Unfortunately, with whats going on right now, no one can travel to Ukraine to help Were trying to raise awareness so that people know whats happening."

Zmerzla said she believes there are some community members in Winnipeg who dont yet know how serious the situation has become, feeling its nothing new after seven years of conflict with Russia.

Regardless, she said, people in Ukraine are ready for whatever comes next.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Zmerzla said people in Ukraine are ready for whatever comes next.

"I can tell you that people are ready to fight. Nobody is surrendering, everyone is ready to defend the country, if needed. Even my parents, theyre in their 60s they are ready to volunteer, to help, to do anything they can," she said. "If worse things happen tomorrow, everyone will stand for the country."

Meanwhile, the time has come for Canada step in, said the second vice-president of the Manitoba chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

"Diplomatic involvement is kind of key to deterring Russia, to deter a further invasion into Ukrainian territory, the community here in Canada strongly believes that now is the time to act," Dmytro Malyk said Wednesday.

Canada is facing scrutiny from both sides for its involvement in the mounting tensions. A tweet posted Tuesday by Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Canada "must continue to support Ukraine, (its) people, and (its) sovereignty," alongside a photo of her visiting the Wall of Remembrance in Kyiv while on a two-day trip to Ukraine.

A response from the Russian embassy criticized the message as "misleading."

The federal Liberal government is also facing pressure to follow suit with the United Kingdom and United States and ship defensive weapons to Ukraine  something Malyk said would be a good first step.

"I do believe that if Canada kind of follows that example to let Ukrainians defend themselves  Ukrainians, theyre not asking anyone to fight for them but if there is a way to help them to have that capability to defend themselves, that would be great," he said.

"Ukrainians, theyre not asking anyone to fight for them but if there is a way to help them to have that capability to defend themselves, that would be great,  Dmytro Malyk

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A good second step, Malyk said, would be imposing economic sanctions on Russia.

"We havent heard firm talks or conversations about economic sanctions, but if those economic sanctions could be visible and they could be loud, they could be strong enough to let Russia know that it will suffer economically," he said.

"That might be the case that would help Ukraine and Europe to be to stay in peace. But its very relative when it comes to Ukraine, because theres has been a war with Russia for eight years now."

Malyk immigrated to Winnipeg in 2014. He said many Ukrainian Winnipeggers are like him  nervously checking in on family and friends and hoping the situation stabilizes.

"Having lived through a phase of the Russian invasion in 2014, and seeing lots of wounded soldiers and civilians, my family is terrified of this new military, escalation by Russia," he said. "They do have some kind of backup plan to move their children to the western part of the country, where we also have family."

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
A newly-minted Manitoba cabinet minister spent a month in Florida as COVID-19 ravaged the province and Ottawa advised against non-essential travel.

A newly-minted Manitoba cabinet minister spent a month in Florida as COVID-19 ravaged the province and Ottawa advised against non-essential travel.

A source close to Doyle Piwniuk, who was sworn in as transportation and infrastructure minister in Tuesdays cabinet shuffle, said the Turtle Mountain MLA spent close to four weeks in the Sunshine State with his family before returning Jan. 7.

Piwniuk, who was first elected in a 2014 byelection, was not made available for an interview Wednesday.

A statement from his press secretary said the MLA would have stayed home  had the federal advisory against international travel been issued before he left.

"Minister Piwniuk drove to the United States on Dec. 11, 2021, to tend to maintenance of his property. The federal advisory on non-essential travel went out on Dec. 15, and the (Manitoba) premiers orders against international travel on Dec. 17. The minister had departed [before] both directives were issued, otherwise he would not have travelled."

When asked if she had any concerns about her new cabinet appointee choosing to leave the country last month, Premier Heather Stefansons office replied by email.

"Minister Piwniuk had already left the province before the federal and provincial travel recommendations were issued," press secretary Olivia Billson wrote. "I am confident Piwniuk followed all public health measures and protocols in place prior to, during and after his travel period."

NDP public affairs critic Malaya Marcelino said the "decision does show poor judgment."

"Doctors here in Manitoba were issuing warnings and asking us to have more restrictions than what public health was even calling for to get ready for Omicron (variant of the novel coronavirus) as best as we could," said Notre Dame MLA.

In early December, the World Health Organization was signalling the fast-spreading variant was on the move. On Dec. 10, federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos issued a warning: "It should be a serious alarm bell. There is uncertainty and risks with travelling in other countries over the next few weeks."

Duclos said that day an advisory against non-essential travel could soon come: "My advice to Canadians is, be extremely prudent when thinking about travelling."

On Dec. 15, when Ottawa warned Canadians against all non-essential international travel, Piwniuk was already in the United States.

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"Hes a very sweet person and is very respectful all the time, but I do think that he made a mistake in travelling at that time," Marcelino said. "As political leaders, we need to do better and be role models."

In an interview Dec. 21, Stefanson said she instructed the Tory cabinet and caucus not to travel abroad. She didnt mention a caucus member was already out of the country.

"She tried to make it seem like everyone was home and doing their part," Marcelino said Wednesday.

For someone who was soon to become a minister of the Crown, taking off to a sun destination amid warnings a new COVID-19 variant was spreading globally isnt setting a good example, said Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont.

"We have the Omicron blowing up with all sorts of warnings," he said. "Its really unfortunate that you would make that decision. I think its bad judgment."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
After pushing back on their governments public health orders and COVID-19 vaccine requirements, two Manitoba Tory MLAs have been rewarded with promotions and raises.

After pushing back on their governments public health orders and COVID-19 vaccine requirements, two Manitoba Tory MLAs have been rewarded with promotions and raises.

On Tuesday, the Progressive Conservative caucus announced Janice Morley-Lecomte (Seine River) is now the government caucus whip, which comes with a $7,887 pay bump on top of the basic annual MLA salary of $97,753.

On the same day, an order in council said Josh Guenter (Borderland) is now the legislative assistant to the minister of health, a role that comes with a $4,735 salary increase.

In a news release Tuesday, PC caucus chairman Greg Nesbitt said Morley-Lecomtes appointment was one of the changes being made "to help strengthen our government as we look to bolster health care and advance Manitobas economic growth."

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES Janice Morley-Lecomte was one of two MLAs who refused to publicly divulge their vaccination status when the Free Press surveyed the legislative assembly last year.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Guenters appointment as her assistant.

The promotions send the wrong message to Manitobans, critics say.

"Its a slap in the face for all the people whove been trying to do the right thing for all this time, and whove been desperately trying to keep their families safe and do all the right things," Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said Wednesday.

He called the moves a reward for supporting Premier Heather Stefansons leadership bid.

We see a premier that is willing to position and lift up a member of her caucus who has actively worked against public health measures.  NDP house leader Nahanni Fontaine

"We see a premier that is willing to position and lift up a member of her caucus who has actively worked against public health measures," NDP house leader Nahanni Fontaine said of Morley-Lecomtes appointment as whip.

The member for Seine River was one of two MLAs who refused to publicly divulge their vaccination status when the Free Press surveyed the legislative assembly last year. The other was Springfield MLA Ron Schuler, who was removed from cabinet in December for refusing to promote public health messaging and encourage Manitobans to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Morley-Lecomte didnt reveal her vaccination status until she was turned away from a restaurant in November and the incident was posted on social media.

SUPPLIED / FREE PRESS FILES Josh Guenter complained on social media in August that vaccine mandates were a "sledgehammer" creating two classes of people in his southeastern constituency.

"It feels like anything goes within the PC caucus," said Fontaine, referring to Guenter who complained on social media in August that vaccine mandates were a "sledgehammer" creating two classes of people in his southeastern constituency.

"Even in a public health emergency crisis, you can go against what your government policies are," the NDP MLA said of the PC caucus members.

An expert on Manitoba politics said such appointments serve different purposes, and Morley-Lecomtes move to whip may signal forgiveness.

"Party loyalty means that a caucus can have sympathy for and be forgiving toward an MLA who makes a mistake or is offside on a single issue," said Paul Thomas, University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus.

The role is also a resume-builder to help Morley-Lecomtes re-election prospects after she was passed over for cabinet, Thomas said.

Despite the name, the role of party whip is less about meting out discipline and more about making sure members show up and are on the same page when it comes time to vote in the legislature. The whip works with the house leader and makes sure everyone is onside with the teams norms of behaviour and codes of conduct, he said.

Party loyalty means that a caucus can have sympathy for and be forgiving toward an MLA who makes a mistake or is offside on a single issue.  Paul Thomas, U of M political studies professor emeritus

Theres no formal job description for legislative assistants to ministers. They help ministers with their duties in the legislature and the departments theyre meant to lead, Thomas said.

Individual ministers have discretion on how they will use assistants, in terms of what duties they will be given.

Assistants have been referred to as "future ministers in training," said Thomas. However, some ministers see them as potential rivals for scarce cabinet positions and thus refuse to give them meaningful roles with any degree of public profile, he added.

"We will see what use minister Gordon makes of Mr. Guenter," said Thomas. "It is not like there is too little to be done, even with parts of the sweeping health portfolio hived off to two other ministers."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
A family of four, including a teen and an infant, were discovered frozen to death just steps from the Canada-U.S. border near Emerson Wednesday, victims of what U.S. justice officials believe is part of a large human smuggling operation.

A family of four, including a teen and an infant, were discovered frozen to death just steps from the Canada-U.S. border near Emerson Wednesday, victims of what U.S. justice officials believe is part of a large human smuggling operation.

The victims, found in a snow-covered field about 10 kilometres east of Emerson, appeared to be among a group of 11 people from India attempting to cross the border into the United States, as temperatures dipped to -35 C in wind-whipped whiteout conditions. Seven made it across and were apprehended by American law enforcement officers.

Officers in the RCMPs integrated border enforcement team received information from their counterparts on the American side that they had detained a group that had crossed into the U.S. (RCMP handout)

The family had been separated from the rest of the group during the harrowing overnight odyssey.

"It is an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy," assistant commissioner Jane MacLatchy, commander of the RCMP in Manitoba, told reporters Thursday.

According to court documents, U.S. Border Patrol officers assisted by Homeland Security agents stopped a van a few hundred metres south of the border Wednesday morning. The van was driven by a 47-year-old American citizen who had two undocumented Indian passengers. Officers discovered cases of plastic cups, bottled water, bottled juice and snacks in the back of the van, as well as receipts for the vehicle rental in the suspects name, the District of Minnesota U.S. Attorneys Office said.

While the driver and passengers were being transported to the border station in Pembina, N.D., law enforcement apprehended five more undocumented Indian nationals about 400 metres south of the border, walking in the direction of where the van had been stopped.

They explained that they crossed the border expecting to be picked up by someone and that they had been walking for more than 11 hours.

One had a backpack containing childrens clothes, medication, a diaper and toys; he said he was carrying it for the family of four that had fallen away from the others during the night.

The vans driver, Steve Shand of Deltona, Fla., is charged with one count of knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law, having transported, and moved or having attempted to transport and move such aliens.

It is an absolute and heartbreaking tragedy, said assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy, commander of the RCMP in Manitoba. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

He first appeared in U.S. district court Thursday in St. Paul, Minn., and was ordered to remain in custody pending a preliminary and detention hearing, scheduled for Jan. 24.

Court documents filed Wednesday in support of Shands arrest allege one of the people spent a significant amount of money to come to Canada with a fraudulent student visa, with plans to go to an uncles home in Chicago.

"The investigation into the death of the four individuals in Canada is ongoing along with an investigation into a larger human smuggling operation of which Shand is suspected of being a part," John Stanley, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said in court documents.

By Wednesday morning, Shand was in Kittson County, Minn., where the van got stuck in a snow-filled ditch, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. A snow-plow driver pulled him out and spoke to Shand, according to the complaint, and Shand said he was on his way to visit relatives in Winnipeg.

U.S. authorities suspect Shand of being part of three other recent smuggling incidents in the area.

Steve Shand (Handout / Grand Forks County Correctional Center)

An American border patrol agent reported there had been three other recent human smuggling incidents  on Dec. 12 and 22, 2021, and Jan. 12, 2022  at the same place Shand was arrested, a U.S. Homeland Security Investigations special agent wrote in an affidavit.

That border patrol agent saw three people's boot prints suspected of walking across the border at that location on Jan. 12. All the print's were made by the same boot brand.

Canadian officers at the border were alerted at about 9:30 Wednesday morning, MacLatchy said. RCMP major crimes investigators, officers from the Morris detachment and the integrated border enforcement team began to search the area using snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles to traverse deep snowdrifts east of Emerson.

After roughly four hours, the bodies of a man, woman and baby were found about 10 metres north of the border east of Emerson at about 1:30 p.m. The teenage boys body was discovered nearby a few minutes later.

Autopsies will confirm the cause of the deaths, presumed to have been exposure.

The victims appeared to be among a group of 11 people from India attempting to cross the border into the United States, as temperatures dipped to -35 C. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

U.S. authorities told the Star Tribune the migrants were from Gujarat, a region in western India, and spoke little or no English. All were wearing new cold-weather gear, including coats, boots, gloves and balaclavas.

"At 40 below, the temperatures are just so extreme that it would be hard to be wearing anything thats appropriate for that, lets be honest," MacLatchy said, adding she could not speak to the specifics of the ongoing investigation, but noted organized crime has been involved in previous border-crossing incidents.

"Were very concerned that these individuals, including an infant, were left on their own in the middle of a blizzard, when the weather hovered around -35 C, factoring the wind," she said.

"These victims faced not only the cold weather but also endless fields, large snowdrifts and complete darkness.

"Its just tragic; its really, really sad."

Manitoba RCMP say a man, woman and baby were found about 10 metres north of the Canadian border east of Emerson. (RCMP handout)

She did not say whether RCMP found luggage or other personal items when they discovered the bodies or if any abandoned vehicles had been located.

Officers were still combing the area Thursday morning; a thorough grid search turned up no other victims.

"Our folks are looking, theyre hoping, dealing with some really tough situations. This hurts everybody," MacLatchy said, imploring anyone considering a border-crossing attempt to think twice.

"Just dont do it. Do not listen to anyone who tells you they can get you to your destination safely. They cannot. Even with proper clothing, it is not a journey that is possible," she said.

"I do understand that for some there may be a great need to get to another country, but this is not the way. You will be risking your life and the lives of the people you care about if you try it."

Two members of the group apprehended in the U.S. sustained serious injuries and were taken to hospital. One migrant, an adult female, was airlifted to a hospital in St. Paul, Minn., for advanced care while the other, an adult male, was treated and released to U.S. Border Patrol custody.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
One positive outcome of the coronavirus pandemic is a newfound interest in local government and public policy  even among those unable to vote. On Monday, hundreds of high school students left their classes in a co-ordinated protest against the virus safety protocols  or lack thereof  in place at local schools.

One positive outcome of the coronavirus pandemic is a newfound interest in local government and public policy  even among those unable to vote. On Monday, hundreds of high school students left their classes in a co-ordinated protest against the virus safety protocols  or lack thereof  in place at local schools.

Some students walk out as Manitoba schools resume Some high school students at College Louis Riel walk out of class in Winnipeg on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. Some students protested the return to school as COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Manitoba. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Posted: 8:11 PM Jan. 17, 2022 WINNIPEG - Some Manitoba students walked out of classes Monday, the first day back after an extended holiday break, to protest what they said was an unsafe environment as COVID-19 numbers continue to rise. "Many of them want to be in schools. They want to be in schools, but they want to feel safe, Piper Lockhart, 16, said about her fellow students. Read Full Story

The teenage organizers of the MB Student Walkout for COVID Safety expressed concerns for their own well-being during the return to in-person classes this week and anxiety about contracting the virus and passing it on to loved ones. The group called on the province to allow students to enroll in remote learning indefinitely, prioritize access to vaccine boosters for teens, make N95 masks and rapid tests readily available and continue notifying school communities of positive cases.

While parents and caregivers are often asked how they feel about school pandemic policies, its rare to hear from the people most affected by in-class mask mandates, desk spacing and learning in congregate settings. Young people have to live the reality that adults create  that government officials create, more specifically  and they are justified in wanting a say in that experience.

Premier Heather Stefanson may be content to tell Manitobans its up to them to protect themselves during this wave of the pandemic, but it is an unfair burden to place on children who have to spend their weekdays surrounded by hundreds of other people in buildings with outdated ventilation systems and inadequate public-health oversight. Its up to adults to create safe learning environments and, thus far, Mrs. Stefanson and her party have not met that responsibility.

Mondays peaceful protest  which saw an estimated 300 students participate from the Winnipeg School Division alone  drew mixed reaction from the public.

On social media, some people responded by changing their profile pictures in support of the movement, while other keyboard warriors minimized the organizers safety concerns and dismissed the event as simply a way for students to skip school.

The latter is steeped in ageism. Why cant young people have something valuable to say about their own working conditions? This weeks walkout proves that hundreds of teens are indeed paying attention to the public policy decisions that directly affect them.

This weeks walkout proves that hundreds of teens are indeed paying attention to the public policy decisions that directly affect them.

Responses from administrators and government officials were similarly mixed. While representatives from the Winnipeg, Pembina Trails, Louis Riel and River East Transcona school divisions supported the walkout as a way for students to express their opinion, Education Minister Cliff Cullen urged would-be participants to rethink the protest. "Weve got to get back to some form of normalcy, whatever that may look like," Mr. Cullen told the media.

The fact the provincial government is striving for normalcy during a pandemic surge unlike any weve seen before is a learning opportunity for everyone: despite their title, elected public servants dont always have the publics best interests in mind.

Not every student wants to return to remote learning, and there are proven mental-health benefits to in-person classes. And yet, the concerns brought up this week are valid and could benefit the entire student population if addressed. It remains to be seen whether the province will respond, but the protesters should be lauded for using their collective voice in a productive way.

The Manitoba school walkout was inspired by similar protests by school-aged kids in New York, California, Colorado and elsewhere. Without voting power, these students are using the tools at their disposal to make their concerns heard. Theyre keenly engaged with the democratic process, and lawmakers would do well to afford these future constituents the same attention. This generation, after all, will be casting ballots soon enough.
OTTAWA  Canada Post has reversed its decision to dock pay from a Winnipeg mail carrier who attempted to wear a higher-quality mask due to a federal policy the Crown corporation says it still doesnt comprehend.

OTTAWA  Canada Post has reversed its decision to dock pay from a Winnipeg mail carrier who attempted to wear a higher-quality mask due to a federal policy the Crown corporation says it still doesnt comprehend.

"We are now working with federal authorities to seek clarification and understand this recent guidance," Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton wrote Thursday morning.

On Tuesday, Canada Post supervisors sent home Winnipeg mail carrier Corey Gallagher, whose pregnant wife is immunocompromised and his child too young to be vaccinated, because he insisted on wearing a high-quality respirator.

The Crown corporation insisted that a directive from Employment and Social Development Canada gave it no choice but to follow government guidance, which narrowly prescribed either a reusable cloth face-covering or a disposable surgical-type mask.

Gallagher said he wanted to do whatever he could to avoid the risk of taking COVID-19 home, so he purchased some better-quality respirators, similar to the N95 masks worn by front-line health workers.

Respirators, when fitted properly, prevent the wearer from inhaling airborne coronavirus particles, instead of the blue surgical masks that block people from excreting droplets.

Federal officials pointed fingers as the story gained national media attention, while Conservative and NDP critics argued the Trudeau Liberals had failed to address concerns raised weeks ago by union leadership.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Letter-carrier Corey Gallagher was sent home earlier in the day from his work at Canada Post because his boss said he couldnt wear a medical grade mask to work.

Late Wednesday, the Liberals blamed Canada Post, saying the agency misinterpreted government rules.

"Employers can go above and beyond what they are required to do," the office of federal Labour Minister Seamus ORegan wrote.

His staff said a higher-quality mask or respirator is fine under the Canada Labour Code and federal safety regulations.

That came as news to Canada Post, which laid blame at the feet of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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"Given the complex and evolving nature of the pandemic, we have strictly adhered to the guidance and direction from the health experts responsible for protecting Canadians from COVID-19. We understood from the start that they were the experts, not us, and therefore following their lead was crucial to keeping our people safe," Hamilton wrote.

"Without exception, we have followed the guidance of the PHAC, worked closely with public-health officials at the local and regional level, and respected workplace directives from ESDC."

Gallagher had been put on a personal-leave day Tuesday, which a supervisor changed to a one-day unpaid suspension. That was reversed Thursday to a day of personal leave with no pay docked.

The local branch of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers handed out respirators to staff Thursday at the 400 McDermot Ave. mail depot, after a brief objection from supervisors.

Like many workplaces, Canada Post has reported numerous absences as the highly contagious Omicron variant takes hold.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  The Trudeau Liberals are blaming Canada Posts interpretation of government rules for sending a Winnipeg mail carrier home for attempting to wear a higher-quality mask.

OTTAWA  The Trudeau Liberals are blaming Canada Posts interpretation of government rules for sending a Winnipeg mail carrier home for attempting to wear a higher-quality mask.

Winnipeg postal worker Corey Gallagher, whose pregnant wife is immunocompromised and his child too young to be vaccinated, has since been docked pay even though the Crown corporation is, apparently, incorrect.

"Employers can go above and beyond what they are required to do," reads a statement sent late Wednesday afternoon from the office of federal Labour Minister Seamus ORegan.

The Free Press featured Gallaghers story on Wednesdays front page. Supervisors sent him home Tuesday because of a federal government policy forcing Canada Post staff to wear lower-quality masks at work.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Letter-carrier Corey Gallagher was sent home because of a federal government policy forcing Canada Post staff to wear lower-quality masks at work.

Gallagher said he wanted to do whatever he could to avoid the risk of taking COVID-19 home with him, so he purchased some better-quality respirator-type masks similar to the N95 type worn by front-line health workers. The masks, when fitted properly, prevent the wearer from inhaling coronavirus particles.

But his bosses refused to let him wear them while he was on the job.

The Crown corporation said that a directive from Employment and Social Development Canada gave it no choice but to follow government guidance, which narrowly prescribed either a reusable cloth face-covering or a disposable surgical-type mask.

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan's office suggested Wednesday the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

After media requests bounced between federal officials involved in health and Crown services, ORegans office suggested Wednesday the whole thing was a misunderstanding.

"Nothing in the Canada Labour Code or Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations precludes workers from wearing a higher-quality face covering if they would like to utilize a higher grade of mask or respirator," wrote spokeswoman Michelle Johnston.

The confusion should have never taken place, opposition parties argued.

Conservative MP Kelly McCauley said any private corporation would do the logical thing and allow an employee the choice to better protect themselves.

I dont blame Canada Post; I blame ESDC and Treasury Board for not having an ounce of common sense between the two of them."  Kelly McCauley

"I dont blame Canada Post; I blame ESDC and Treasury Board for not having an ounce of common sense between the two of them," said McCauley, an Edmonton MP who is the Tory critic for the Treasury Board.

"If bureaucrats could fly a plane into a mountain and kill everyone on board, theyd claim it was a success as long as they ticked all the boxes and followed the procedures," he said.

The NDP said Liberal cabinet ministers havent intervened early enough to clarify or modify the policy, even though the Canadian Union of Postal Workers flagged the problem weeks ago.

"Its rare that you can see such a poor decision from an organizational, labour/employment and health point of view," said NDP health critic Don Davies, a Vancouver MP.

"This one is like a triple-loser."

This one is like a tripleloser.  Don Davies

Davies said the policy will only add to suffering and labour shortages that multiple sectors are grappling with, and he finds it ironic Gallagher was sent home instead of applauded for trying to protect his family and colleagues.

"I think its perverse that any employer  never mind a federal government department  would have any kind of policy to discourage that."

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES NDP health critic Don Davies said he finds it ironic Gallagher was sent home instead of applauded for trying to protect his family and colleagues.

Ever since the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus was detected in Canada, the nations top doctor has urged people to wear decent masks.

"If its a more transmissible variant, you do have to be more careful," Dr. Theresa Tam said. "Get the best-quality mask you can get your hands on."

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANDIAN PRESS FILES Get the best-quality mask you can get your hands on," said Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam.

Davies said that can happen only if Canada invests in manufacturing companies to produce more respirators and other equipment domestically.

"Many of these are working-class jobs and they deserve every measure of respect and every possible consideration within health and safety that we would give all front-line health-care workers," he said.

McCauley compared the situation with rapid tests, saying a scarcity of federally procured tests hit front-line workers hardest.

McCauley compared the situation with rapid tests, saying a scarcity of federally procured tests hit frontline workers hardest.

"Theres a worldwide shortage of them, so whos suffering? The lower-income, the Safeway workers who dont have the luxury of being able to sit at home in their basement and Zoom it in, like Liberal MPs have."

Gallagher said the story created a stir at work, where he was ordered to leave Tuesday using a personal leave day; supervisors have since changed it to a one-day suspension without pay.

"It seems like they missed the mark," said Gallagher, who was stunned by what ORegans office shared.

"I dont know why theyre enforcing it so hard; its kind of crazy (the government) said that."

He also took Wednesday off. His union is preparing to distribute N95 respirators, and hes heard from teachers upset that Manitoba school boards are also pressuring them to not use the better masks.

"Im trying to wrap my head around it," he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

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Manitoba is sending some patients out of province and shifting thousands of cases to private clinics in an effort to reduce a massive surgical backlog amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manitoba is sending some patients out of province and shifting thousands of cases to private clinics in an effort to reduce a massive surgical backlog amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The province is finalizing an agreement with South Dakota-based organization Sanford Health to perform operations on patients who have spinal stenosis, chronic degenerative disc or who require other spinal surgery at its centre in Fargo, N.D.

A few hundred Manitoba patients could be eligible. However, referrals will only be made as capacity at Sanford Health allows as COVID-19 disrupts operations and staffing. No such surgeries were scheduled, as of Wednesday.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon.

"This is an interim measure while Manitoba builds its own capacity and a new option for patients who are willing to travel and have the cost of their care still covered by this province," Health Minister Audrey Gordon said during a news conference at the legislative building, alongside members of the newly minted diagnostic and surgical recovery task force.

Complex, outpatient or life-threatening cases will not be eligible and potential Fargo candidates will be asked if they want to undergo surgery south of the border. The cost to the province will be comparable to providing the operations in Manitoba.

This is an interim measure while Manitoba builds its own capacity and a new option for patients who are willing to travel and have the cost of their care still covered by this province.  Health Minister Audrey Gordon

"This is in no way a forced approach," the health minister said. "This is having discussions and reaching solutions that ensure the person doesnt continue to suffer or their case or their injury doesnt worsen."

There are no plans to send patients awaiting other procedures to Fargo, but that option hasnt been ruled out, officials said.

The task force also outlined three other initiatives developed since the committee was formally announced Dec. 8.

New initiatives Manitobas diagnostic and surgical recovery task force announced four new initiatives Wednesday to expedite care to thousands of people waiting for treatment. The new programs include:  Sending some patients requiring spinal surgery to a health centre in Fargo, N.D., for treatment; click to read more Manitobas diagnostic and surgical recovery task force announced four new initiatives Wednesday to expedite care to thousands of people waiting for treatment. The new programs include:  Sending some patients requiring spinal surgery to a health centre in Fargo, N.D., for treatment;  Referring an estimated 2,000 patients in need of gynecological surgery to the private Maples Surgical Centre in Winnipeg;  Using fecal immunochemical tests to screen for colon cancer (instead of endoscopy);  Hiring and training up to 13 anesthesia clinical assistants over the next three years to extend the number of patients that can be monitored by anesthesiologists. To date, 13.7 million has been spent or allocated to reduce the provinces surgical and diagnostic backlog. The province has budgeted $50 million to tackle the issue. Health Minister Audrey Gordon said the new initiatives will be covered by the previously announced budget. Close

Over the coming months, approximately 2,000 patients requiring gynaecological surgery will be referred to the Maples Surgical Centre in Winnipeg for treatment under a new agreement with the private facility.

An estimated 3,000 people are in need of gynaecological surgeries, with some waiting since 2019. About two-thirds can be performed as out patients.

Meanwhile, the province will change how it screens for colorectal cancer to reduce demand on endoscopy services.

Some 10,000 Manitobans were estimated to be waiting for an endoscopy, as of Wednesday; pre-pandemic, the wait list was about 1,500.

Fecal immunochemical tests will now be the primary screening tool. The change is expected to reduce the backlog by 10 to 15 per cent per year, the province said.

Up to 13 new anesthesia clinical assistants will also be trained and hired over the next three years to support operating rooms across Manitoba.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Peter MacDonald, chair, Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force Steering Committee.

Dr. Peter MacDonald, chairman of the task force steering committee, said the group has been focused on implementing short-term solutions to help patients needing care, while high-level planning continues to deal with systemic issues.

However, HR issues underscore many of the current challenges.

"Were sensitive to that, in having to train or come up with alternatives in terms of a human resources plan," MacDonald said. "Were looking at it actively. Its our biggest problem, it has many common threads, it overrides a lot of our wait-list issues, so we really want to concentrate on human resources."

No timeline has been established to clear the surgical and diagnostic backlog because the impacts of the pandemic on planning cant be predicted, MacDonald said.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dr. Ed Buchel, provincial specialty lead, surgery.

Dr. Ed Buchel, head of surgery with Shared Health, said the task force has started recruiting new surgeons to the province, alongside the training and hiring of licensed practical nurses and anesthesia clinical assistants.

Buchel said the recruitment plan is focused on areas where services can be ramped up quickly and based on current case volumes and capacity. Hiring targets have been set in each surgical specialty.

"If youre looking at what were going to need, the wait list kind of tells you," Buchel said. "Theres an active recruitment because it takes months to recruit surgeons."

Buchel said he hopes to have an accurate surgical wait list as early as spring, following the implementation of a new information management system.

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Kristjan Thompson said Wednesday he was encouraged.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Health Minister Audrey Gordon (centre), with members of the Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force at the Manitoba Legislative building Wednesday afternoon.

The physicians advocacy association has been calling for the province to take action since June, and estimates nearly 60,000 surgical cases and more than 95,400 diagnostic cases have been delayed.

"Physicians top concern is seeing their patients get the tests and treatment they need as quickly as possible. Though we would like to see more capacity built here in Manitoba for local physicians to be able to meet the care needs of their patients close to home," Thompson said in a statement.

Uzoma Asagwara, health critic for the Opposition NDP, described the plan to send patients out of the country for surgery as unacceptable and called the task forces update a disappointment for many Manitobans.

"Yet again, another government announcement that was short on details, had no timeline, and no target date attached," Asagwara said. "What we were left with was many unanswered questions and again many Manitobans simply waiting."

 with files from Chris Kitching

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca

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Some provinces were pointing to glimmers of improvement Thursday in the Omicron-stoked fifth wave of the pandemic, but the outlook was not as positive in others.

A bottle containing the drug remdesivir is held by a health worker at the Institute of Infectology of Kenezy Gyula Teaching Hospital of the University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests the antiviral medication remdesivir could have a "modest but significant effect'' on COVID-19 patient outcomes, including decreasing the need for mechanical ventilation by approximately 50 per cent. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Zsolt Czegledi/MTI via AP)

Some provinces were pointing to glimmers of improvement Thursday in the Omicron-stoked fifth wave of the pandemic, but the outlook was not as positive in others.

Ontario announced a plan to start loosening COVID-19 restrictions by the end of the month, but Quebec said it was too early to ease any public health measures.

Modelling in Saskatchewan predicted a possibility of a record-high of people in hospital, while Alberta said hospitalizations will continue to increase.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday that his province is to begin easing restrictions on Jan. 31 after they were brought in earlier this month. That includes boosting the size of social gatherings and reopening businesses, such as restaurants, gyms, cinemas and museums, but with capacity limits.

Spectator areas at sporting events, concerts and theatres will be able to operate with no more than 500 people, or half capacity for smaller venues.

A directive announced by Ford on Jan. 3 for hospitals to pause all non-urgent surgeries and procedures is to remain in place. Health Minister Christine Elliott said it is too soon to lift that order, because the peak of admissions to intensive care units isn't likely to happen until mid-February.

If trends don't become a concern, restrictions are to be further eased Feb. 21 and again March 14.

Ford said he's confident the worst of the fifth wave has passed.

"While we can be confident in how far we've come, I want to be crystal clear: we're not out of the woods yet," Ford cautioned.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford holds a press conference at Queen's Park regarding the easing of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. Ford says public health indicators are starting to show signs of improvement, allowing for the province to begin easing COVID-19 restrictions at the end of the month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

"The coming weeks will continue to pose real challenges, especially to our hospitals."

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney also said there were early signs the province has "reached and surpassed" peak COVID-19 cases in the fifth wave.

"If the (Omicron) variant performs in Alberta like it has in jurisdictions all around the world, we can reasonably expect that we may now be beginning on the down-slope of transmission," Kenney said.

But the swell of expected hospitalizations could continue to put more pressure on an already overwhelmed health system.

Kenney said the government is building additional bed capacity, maximizing the workforce with nursing students, and opening COVID-19 community clinics.

In Quebec, the number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 dropped for the first time since Dec. 16. The Health Department said there were 14 fewer people than the day before, although hospitalizations still stood at 3,411. Some 285 people remained in intensive care.

Projections from a Quebec government health-care research institute suggest the drop will continue. The institute said it expects about 200 new daily admissions by the end of January. Quebec has been recording between 296 and 470 new hospitalizations every day for the past week.

But Quebec Premier Francois Legault said COVID-19 restrictions cannot be eased because the situation in hospitals remains too fragile.

"The situation will continue to be difficult for the next few weeks," Legault said. "I understand that we are all tired, but lives are at stake. We are currently at the limit in our hospitals."

Prince Edward Island said COVID-19 recoveries were outpacing new cases. The province reported 249 new infections along with 292 more recoveries. There were 2,471 active cases reported, down by 43 from Wednesday.

Newfoundland and Labrador health officials said kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms are to reopen Tuesday. Students will have to take two rapid tests before returning to school.

Tony Stack, chief executive officer of the province's English school board, said there is plenty of help available from retired teachers, teaching assistants and about 1,100 substitute teachers if large numbers of instructors have to stay home.

In B.C., the Education Ministry said schools will soon get rapid antigen tests as a way to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 among staff, including teachers and administrators. The Education Ministry says 200,000 test kits are being shipped to elementary and high schools in an effort to keep them open.

The news in Saskatchewan was more grim. Leaked government modelling showed a best-case scenario of more than 500 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital by mid-February  nearly double what the province experienced during the Delta wave last fall.

Six of Saskatchewan's largest unions representing 113,000 front-line workers demanded more safety measures to slow the increase.

The unions asked Premier Scott Moe to immediately bring in recommendations made by the chief medical health officer, which include a 10-person cap on gatherings and suggesting people limit interprovincial travel.

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Moe said modelling is only one source of information the Saskatchewan Party government considers. It places a "greater emphasis on closely tracking actual real-time data from across Canada to inform our COVID-19 response," he said in a statement.

Moe pointed to the province's hospitalization rate, which he said is 34 per cent below the national rate.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased 114 per cent in the last month to 215, including 23 patients receiving intensive care. During the province's Delta peak, there were 356 in hospital, the most during the pandemic.

"The government recognizes that hospitalizations are rising and will continue to rise for some period of time," Moe said. "However, we see no clear evidence that lockdown measures have reduced hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths in other provinces and, as a result, there is no reason to impose harmful new restrictions in Saskatchewan."

 With files from Allison Jones in Toronto, Jacob Serebrin in Montreal and Mickey Djuric in Regina

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2022.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protecting democracy collapsed late Wednesday when two senators refused to join their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster after a raw, emotional debate.

From left, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, alongside other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, speak in front of the Senate chamber about their support of voting rights legislation at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protecting democracy collapsed late Wednesday when two senators refused to join their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster after a raw, emotional debate.

The outcome was a stinging defeat for President Joe Biden and his party, coming at the tumultuous close to his first year in office.

Despite a day of piercing debate and speeches that often carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed by opponents of civil rights legislation, Democrats could not persuade holdout senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia to change the Senate procedures on this one bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.

"I am profoundly disappointed," Biden said in a statement after the vote.

However, the president said he is "not deterred and vowed to explore every measure and use every tool at our disposal to stand up for democracy.

Voting rights advocates are warning that Republican-led states nationwide are passing laws making it more difficult for Black Americans and others to vote by consolidating polling locations, requiring certain types of identification and ordering other changes.

Vice President Kamala Harris briefly presided over the Senate, able to break a tie in the 50-50 Senate if needed, but she left before the final vote. The rules change was rejected 52-48, with Manchin and Sinema joining the Republicans in opposition.

The nighttime voting brought an end, for now, to legislation that has been a top Democratic priority since the party took control of Congress and the White House.

This is a moral moment, said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.

The Democrats bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would make Election Day a national holiday, ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots  which have become especially popular during the COVID-19 pandemic  and enable the Justice Department to intervene in states with a history of voter interference, among other changes. It has passed the House.

Both Manchin and Sinema say they support the legislation, but Democrats fell far short of the 60 votes needed to push the bill over the Republican filibuster. It failed to advance 51-49 on a largely party-line vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., cast a procedural vote against so the bill could be considered later.

Next, Schumer put forward a rules change for a talking filibuster on this one bill. It would require senators to stand at their desks and exhaust the debate before holding a simple majority vote, rather than the current practice that simply allows senators to privately signal their objections.

But that, too, failed because Manchin and Sinema were unwilling to change the Senate rules a party-line vote by Democrats alone.

Emotions were on display during the floor debate.

When Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky whether he would pause for a question, McConnell left the chamber, refusing to respond.

Durbin said he would have asked McConnell, Does he really believe that there's no evidence of voter suppression?"

The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said at one point, I am not a racist.

McConnell, who led his party in doing away with the filibusters 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees during Donald Trumps presidency, warned against changing the rules again.

McConnell derided the fake hysteria from Democrats over the states' new voting laws and called the pending bill a federal takeover of election systems. He admonished Democrats in a fiery speech and said doing away with filibuster rules would break the Senate.

Manchin drew a roomful of senators for his own speech, upstaging the presidents news conference and defending the filibuster. He said changing to a majority-rule Senate would only add to the "dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart.

Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus walked across the Capitol for the proceedings. We want this Senate to act today in a favorable way. But if it dont, we aint giving up, said Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest-ranking Black member of Congress.

Manchin did open the door to a more tailored package of voting law changes, including to the Electoral Count Act, which was tested during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. He said senators from both parties are working on that and it could draw Republican support.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said a bipartisan coalition should work on legislation to ensure voter access, particularly in far-flung areas like her state, and to shore up Americans faith in democracy.

We dont need, we do not need a repeat of 2020 when by all accounts our last president, having lost the election, sought to change the results, said Murkowski.

She said the Senate debate had declined to a troubling state: Youre either a racist or a hypocrite. Really, really? Is that where we are?

At one point, senators broke out in applause after a spirited debate between Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, among the more experienced lawmakers, and new Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., over the history of the Voting Rights Act.

Sinema sat in her chair throughout much of the day's the debate, largely glued to her phone, but rose to her feet to deliver her vote against the rules change.

In a statement, Sinema said the outcome must not be the end of our work to protect our democracy. But she warned, "these challenges cannot be solved by one party or Washington alone."

Schumer contended the fight is not over and he ridiculed Republican claims that the new election laws in the states will not end up hurting voter access and turnout, comparing it to Trumps big lie about the 2020 presidential election.

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Democrats decided to press ahead despite the potential for high-stakes defeat as Biden is marking his first year in office with his priorities stalling out in the face of solid Republican opposition and the Democrats inability to unite around their own goals. They wanted to force senators on the record  even their own partys holdouts  to show voters where they stand.

Once reluctant himself to change Senate rules, Biden has stepped up his pressure on senators to do just that. But the push from the White House, including Biden's blistering speech last week in Atlanta comparing opponents to segregationists, is seen as too late.

___

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show the name of the act tested by Jan. 6 events is the Electoral Count Act, not the Electoral College Act.
The Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools has announced that Dr. Bruce and Katherine Rhoades have donated $250,000 to start the Rhoades Family Scholarship Fund.

The scholarship was created to support academically successful students who demonstrate intellectual promise, motivation and determination to succeed in higher education, and who will benefit from financial assistance to help fund the best possible college experience.

Dr. Bruce Rhoades graduated from WSHS in the Class of 1957. He was enrolled in an academically enriched program with other highly motivated, successful students. Rhoades credits this program with setting a successful course for his subsequent academic success, which included graduating from Winona State College with a BA degree in Chemistry and Physics at the age of 17 and earning his M.D. degree at the University of Nebraska at the age of 21.

He subsequently completed a Psychiatric Residency at the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute and enjoyed a 57-year career working as a board-certified psychiatrist, primarily with underserved populations in a number of different settings. This scholarship is intended to honor Rhoades legacy by assisting academically promising, highly motivated scholarship recipients to reach their higher education goals.

A $5000 scholarship will be awarded annually to the chosen applicant for up to four consecutive years, pending documentation of academic success.

For more information on the Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools and its programs, contact Shelley Milek at 507-494-1004 or email at shelley.milek@winona.k12.mn.us.

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The moment a child is born, it is impossible to imagine your life in any other way. A parent will never forget that first moment, cradling a newborn gently in your arms, awestruck at the tiny eyes gazing back at you in wonderment. At that instant in time, you and your child have a perfect relationship. Their journey through life will be filled with moments of both joy and sorrow, and they will experience successes and failures, and no doubt influence others around them in ways yet unknown.

Sadly, just since the Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973, more than 60 million babies in the United States alone lost their opportunity to experience life among us, having lost their lives to the practice of abortion. Millions more lives have been lost across the world, and throughout much of history.

This Saturday, marks the 49th anniversary of the controversial decision that represented a new chapter in the continuing debate over the contentious subject. Many churches celebrated a Sanctity of Life Jan. 16, and rallies in support of the sanctity of life will be taking place across the country Saturday. The National March for Life will take place Friday in Washington, D.C. A large regional gathering took place Jan. 8 in Chicago. A large gathering of pro-abortion advocates was present as well, as is often the case at these rallies.

A Nov. 30, 2021, wiscnews.com story outlined a bit of the prospective future of abortion rights in the United States. It refers to the Supreme Court justices commentary in the 1973 Roe decision stating, the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires. In 1992, the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision largely affirmed the earlier Roe ruling. The story also referred to the protection for the womans abortion decision before viability estimated at about 28 weeks in 1973. The Casey decision in 1992 brought down the standard of fetus viability to about 23 weeks.

Regardless of whether youre on one side of the abortion debate or the other, the fight continues. On Dec. 1, 2021, the Supreme Court, which now includes three additional conservative justices, heard arguments on the controversial Mississippi abortion law, whose case is known as Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. According to a New York post story the same day, the justices are considering the Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks, and after nearly two hours of arguments on Wednesday, all six conservative justices signaled they would uphold the Mississippi law and there was support among them for getting rid of Roe and Casey altogether. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that many states would still freely allow abortions even if Roe was overturned because it would let states regulate the procedure themselves.

As for the fate of abortion rights in Wisconsin should Roe be overturned, current Attorney General Democrat Josh Kaul, who will be up for re-election this November, said in a Dec. 14, 2021, Associated Press story, he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion, essentially stating he would not enforce a Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 [which] has been unenforceable. Overturning Roe v. Wade would simply shift the debate to the individual state level.

Supporting a position in favor of the sanctity of life does not mean there is no understanding of the other side. We all know the decision to potentially terminate a pregnancy can be an extraordinarily difficult undertaking, and it is fundamental to the debate to understand the deep emotional connections and challenges accompanying such a decision, and those opposed to abortion largely do not, and should not cast judgment on those who have made that decision, yet we would hope to change hearts and minds. A child is a human being from the moment of conception, whether in or out of the mothers womb. A conceived child has no control over the circumstances under which it was conceived, whether as a planned pregnancy or at a tumultuous or challenging time. Those who would draw parallels to other medical freedoms often fail to account for the fact the unborn baby is a separate human being.

There are alternatives, such as adoption, and stories abound of those who take an equally difficult path of choosing life, and have found a way to adapt and overcome obstacles.

We know this controversy will continue to be divisive, with largely entrenched positions on both sides, but we ask those who approve of abortion to consider the impact of the lost individuals who have never had the chance to experience life.

Scott Frostman lives in Baraboo, and has roots throughout Wisconsin. Opinions herein are exclusively his own. He believes anyone can make a difference and can be reached at scfrostman@gmail.com.
COLUMBUS  The Columbus City Council moved meeting dates in February and April in order to give the city clerk staff the time to attend to the needs of the spring primary and spring election.

City Council President Ian Gray proposed moving the Feb. 15 meeting dated to Feb. 16 and the April 5 date to April 4. The city council approved the dates.

Columbus will have a primary. Columbus school board has two seats up for election, which are three year terms, and are currently held by Keith Loppnow and Mike OBrien. Loppnow filed non-candidacy papers. Those filing papers for positions on the board are: Michelle Stark, Adam Pulver, Martha Rule, Mike OBrien, Chris Roelke, Corey Ohlson-Rappe and Joseph Hammer.

City officials will ask voters in an April referendum: Shall the City of Columbus Stormwater Utility be permitted to charge its customers for maintenance and operation of storm water management facilities and infrastructure without reducing the levy limit for fees collected?

A yes vote authorizes the city to collect fees without reducing the tax levy by a corresponding amount in order to meet state levy limits.

Columbus will be hosting the second listening session on Jan. 25 to gather input from residents regarding the storm water utility. Residents are invited to participate in-person (masks required) at the Firemans Pavilion, located at 1049 Park Ave,, Columbus, WI 53925 or via Zoom (contact City Hall at 920-623-5900 to request access info.

After a brief presentation of information about the storm water utility, the public will have a chance to share concerns, give comments and ask questions. There will be a third and final listening session on March 1.

Follow Terri Pederson on Twitter @tlp53916 or contact her at 920-356-6760.

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Ptaschinski Construction was awarded a $2.3 million contract for the reconstruction of a section of South Spring Street at Tuesday nights Beaver Dam Common Council meeting.

The company submitted the lower of two bids on the project, which runs north from Mill Street to Park Avenue/Front Street.

In 2020, reconstruction of South Spring Street from Mill Street south to the city limits was completed at a cost of $3.7 million. The downtown section of South Spring was planned for 2021, but was delayed to this year when bids came in approximately $1 million higher than initial projections of $1.2 million.

In addition to money budgeted by the city for the road work, funds are available in the streets, storm water, wastewater and water utility capital improvements program accounts and from a Wisconsin Department of Transportation $500,000 grant.

The city received the grant last spring to be used as part of the broader South Spring Street reconstruction project. The grant itself focused on projects with different forms of transportation. Funding will be used toward the road work and the construction of a new pedestrian bridge near The Watermark, 209 S. Center St.

In other business, the council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing a collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Labor Association of Wisconsin and the Beaver Dam Police Association, with a term of Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2024.

The council also amended an ordinance involving the intersection of Norris and West Streets. Yield signs have been removed and the controlled intersection is now a two-way stop.

And changes were made to another ordinance to due to a switch in garbage collection days. Parking is now restricted Tuesdays between 6 to 9 a.m. on the east side of North Center Street from a point 60 feet south of West Third Street.

Follow Kelly Simon on Twitter @KSchmidSimon or contact her at 920-356-6757.

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Volk Field announced a new commanding officer, two months after the previous commanding officer was relieved of her duties following investigations into alleged misconduct.

Col. Matthew Eakins, a University of Wisconsin graduate and 21 year military veteran, took command of Volk Field Jan. 10.

Im excited to be in command of such a world-class organization, Eakins said in a release from the Wisconsin Air National Guard. There are only four (Combat Readiness Training Centers) in the country, and Volk Field is known to be the best.

Eakins replaces Lt. Col. Tom Bauer, who served as interim commander of Volk Field following Col. Leslie Zyzda-Martin being relieved of her duties Nov. 8. Eakins will serve as the 13th commander of Volk Field, and most recently commanded the 115th Mission Support Group at Truax Field in Madison.

Today, Volk Field, I want to be part of your team, and part of your family, Eakins said. I will be your advocate. I will fight for the resources you need to provide the best training possible to ensure you are equipped for the execution of your mission  our mission.

Brigadier General David May, Wisconsin Air National Guards top officer, relieved Col. Leslie Zyzda-Martin of her in November, stating he lost confidence in her ability to command in a release about the decision.

This is a very difficult decision, but it is the right thing to do in the best interest of Volk Field, May said at the time. The men and women that make up Volk Field are extraordinary at what they do. It is my obligation to ensure they have the type of leadership that will meet the unique needs and challenges of our state and federal missions.

Mays decision came after investigations involving command climate and alleged misconduct. Additional investigations are underway but no updates have been provided on the investigations since the November release.

Camp Douglass Volk Field is the site of the Combat Readiness Training Center, the 128th Air Control Squadron and the 126th Weather Flight.

Reach Christopher Jardine on Twitter @ChrisJJardine or contact him at 608-432-6591.

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A cold case team that combed through evidence for five years in a bid to unravel one of World War II's enduring mysteries has reached what it calls the "most likely scenario" of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family.

Their answer, outlined in a new book called "The Betrayal of Anne Frank A Cold Case Investigation," by Canadian academic and author Rosemary Sullivan, is that it could have been a prominent Jewish notary called Arnold van den Bergh, who disclosed the secret annex hiding place of the Frank family to German occupiers to save his own family from deportation and murder in Nazi concentration camps.

"We have investigated over 30 suspects in 20 different scenarios, leaving one scenario we like to refer to as the most likely scenario," said film maker Thijs Bayens, who had the idea to put together the cold case team, that was led by retired FBI agent Vincent Pankoke, to forensically examine the evidence.

Bayens was quick to add that, "we don't have 100% certainty."

"There is no smoking gun because betrayal is circumstantial," Bayens told The Associated Press on Monday.

The Franks and four other Jews hid in the annex, reached by a secret staircase hidden behind a bookcase, from July 1942 until they were discovered in August 1944 and deported to concentration camps.

Only Anne's father, Otto Frank, survived the war. Anne and her sister died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Anne was 15.

The diary Anne wrote while in hiding was published after the war and became a symbol of hope and resilience that has been translated into dozens of languages and read by millions.

But the identity of the person who gave away the location of their hiding place has always remained a mystery, despite previous investigations.

The team's findings suggest that Otto Frank was one of the first to hear about the possible involvement of Van den Bergh, a prominent member of the Jewish community in Amsterdam.

A brief note, a typed copy of an anonymous tip delivered to Otto Frank after the war, names Van den Bergh, who died in 1950, as the person who informed German authorities in Amsterdam where to find the Frank family, the researchers say.

The note was an overlooked part of a decades-old Amsterdam police investigation that was reviewed by the team, which used artificial intelligence to analyze and draw links between archives around the world.

The Anne Frank House museum in the canal-side Amsterdam building that includes the secret annex welcomed the new research, but said it also leaves questions unanswered. The museum gave the researchers access to its archives for the cold case project.

"No, I don't think we can say that a mystery has been solved now. I think it's an interesting theory that the team came up with," said museum director Ronald Leopold. "I think they come up with a lot of interesting information, but I also think there are still many missing pieces of the puzzle. And those pieces need to be further investigated in order to see how we can value this new theory."

Bayens said the hunt for the betrayer was also a way of looking for an explanation of how the horror of the Nazi occupation forced some members of a once close-knit Amsterdam community to turn on one another.

How did facism bring people "to the desperate point of betraying each other, which is an awful, really awful situation?" he said.

"We went looking for a perpetrator and we found a victim," Bayens said.
On Wednesday morning the Columbia County Board of Supervisors recognized two people who have served the community, one in health and human services and the other as a county board supervisor.

Supervisor Bob Koch of Lodi was appointed to the District 26 seat in 2018. He recently resigned the seat and is now Columbia County Emergency Management Coordinator.

Koch was named Emergency Management Coordinator following the retirement of Kathleen Johnson. Koch thanked his fellow supervisors at the board meeting

Its an honor to acknowledge Bob Koch today, Supervisor Chris Polzer said. There is not a finer representative of the county. Bob will be missed and these are big shoes to fill.

Koch served on the Highway Committee and said he enjoyed making the drive to the highway department building in Wyocena. He thanked his family for supporting him while on the board.

Koch decided to put his name forward for the vacant seat in 2018 after former Supervisor James Brooks. Brooks did not seek re-election and no candidates were on the spring 2018 ballot and no write-in winner emerged.

The Columbia County Executive committee interviewed Koch and another candidate.

I would like to thank those members of the executive committee also, Koch said.

Tess Carr and Kyle Kurt have both filed candidacy paperwork and will be on the April 12 ballot to become the next District 26 Supervisor.

County Chair Vern Gove was absent from the meeting so first vice chair Supervisor James Foley ran the meeting on Wednesday morning at the County Administration building in Portage.

Laura Simonds was honored for working over 30 years in the Health and Human Services Department.

She brought passion and dedication to the workplace every day, Foley said. Foley said Simonds was instrumental in reaching out to the Amish community in the area.

Simonds is an expert in communicable diseases and often coordinated free clinics in the county. The supervisors gave Simonds a standing ovation following Foleys remarks.

Koch served as second vice chair to the county board, so at the beginning of Wednesdays meeting the board voted to elect a new second vice chair. Supervisors Polzer and Adam Field were both nominated.

County Clerk Sue Moll said due to two nominations Supervisors needed to vote using paper ballots on Wednesday morning. Moll handed out paper ballots to all Supervisors in attendance and were asked to vote for Field or Polzer as the next second vice chair of the county board.

Moll tallied the votes and handed the results to Supervisor Foley to read. Foley said Polzer received 20 votes and Field received four votes with one supervisor abstaining.

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This just seems like a real unforced error, said Nick Fleisher, a UW-Milwaukee professor who leads the Wisconsin conference of the American Association of University Professors. Talking to the public is a major part of the presidents job. The fact that (the UW Board of Regents) arent giving finalists that opportunity is strange and, I think, a mistake.

AFT-Wisconsin, which represents unionized faculty and staff at UW campuses, and PROFS, a UW-Madison faculty advocacy group, also called this week for public interviews.

The Regents expect to vote on a new president by the end of the month.

PROFS president Michael Bernard-Donals said he could not recall another time in his 24 years at the university when a significant leadership search did not include a public session with finalists.

Its hugely disappointing, especially after the Regents have gone a good distance to involve more input from campuses, he said. If (the finalists) are not up to the task, it would be important to know.

The Systems second search had, up to this point, ticked many of the boxes that were absent from its first hiring attempt, which ended with the sole finalist withdrawing because of process issues.

At least one representative from each of the 13 universities was included on the search committee. The group held 32 listening sessions across the state to gather input on what people want in the next president. And the System on Friday announced two finalists, Foley & Lardner CEO Jay Rothman and UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt.

Rothman and Schmidt privately interviewed Tuesday with a committee of six Regents. They also took questions behind closed doors from some other groups, such as chancellors, System executive leaders, and campus representatives. Shared governance leaders picked the representatives, which included two faculty, four staff and two students.

Karen Walsh, who is chairing the search committee, said no public interviews would be held because the committee already received an extraordinary amount of public input during listening sessions in September and October.

That reason, frankly, doesnt make any sense, Fleisher said. Were at a different point in the search where we have finalists.

Expanded access?

Walsh in a statement Wednesday highlighted the listening sessions, large search committee and shared governance interview involvement as ways in which access was expanded. She also noted that four media outlets, including the Wisconsin State Journal, interviewed the finalists to ensure that the public would have a full understanding of each of the candidates.

The media interviews entailed two questions from each news outlet for a total of eight questions, all of which were submitted before reporters knew who the finalists were. Each finalist was asked the same set of questions.

Our intent was to build a process that was constructive for candidates, leadership, shared governance, the university community, and the public, Walsh said. The fact of the matter is that we added three new, meaningful ways to expand access and introduce candidates, which also afforded the university community more seats at the table to help shape the decision.

System spokesperson Mark Pitsch declined to say how many candidates the larger search and screen committee forwarded to the smaller Regent committee for consideration and if there were any finalists who withdrew from the process before being named, as was the case in the last search.

Finalists were not presented the option of a public forum, Pitsch said.

Rothman did not respond to an email Wednesday asking if he would agree to a public interview. Schmidt said Regents are responsible for designing the search process and he has participated in each phase as requested.

Previous search

The public forum held in the previous presidential search generated substantial opinions about the candidate.

UW faculty were largely unimpressed by sole finalist Jim Johnsens performance during a Zoom interview in June 2020. In response to one question about diversity, the University of Alaska System president characterized himself as a minority when he worked at a Native Alaskan-owned company where the majority of employees were Native Alaskan. His remark on the states economy  where Alaskans pay no income tax and receive an annual handout from the oil savings account in comparison to Wisconsinites who chip in  angered faculty back in his home state.

Hours after Johnsens interview, Tom Fitch, a Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates consultant assisting the System in its search, pushed board leaders to consider keeping the video on a more private server instead of making it widely accessible to the public.

We have been operating under the assumption that it would not be and have told Jim (Johnsen) that, Fitch said, according to emails first reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. Have you let him know? We fear it may cause real issues for him back in Alaska if/when the media jumps on it.

Drew Petersen, who was board president at the time, declined the idea, saying its important to maintain transparency.

Johnsen withdrew from the Wisconsin search two days after his interview. Ten days after that, he resigned from his Alaska job.

Looking back on the failed search, Fleisher said the sole public session offered important insight into the candidate. A Tuesday statement from his group concludes: Whatever else may be said about that search, it is inarguable that the public gained valuable information, and that the end result was better for it.
MILWAUKEE  The father of an 8-year-old Milwaukee girl has been charged with fatally shooting her.

Michael Huddleston, 47, is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the Jan. 15 death of Tiana Huddleston. A criminal complaint says Huddleston told detectives his daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time when his gun accidentally discharged.

The girls 18-year-old brother called 911 to report the shooting and that Huddleston was on the way to the hospital with Tiana. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, doctors approached Huddleston and told him that Tiana had died. The complaint says Huddleston repeatedly told officers and detectives to take him to jail.

The complaint said Huddleston later told detectives he drank two pints of tequila and he wanted to teach the kids a lesson in gun safety and grabbed his gun, checked that the safety was on and that there was nothing in the clip. When Huddleston put the clip back in the gun and squeezed the trigger, the girl was struck in the chest by a bullet, according to the complaint.

The Milwaukee County District Attorneys Office has also charged Huddleston with use of dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.

If convicted, Huddleston faces up to 70 years in prison. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Family and friends of Tiana Huddleston gathered Tuesday evening outside the home where she was killed. The childs aunt, LaToya Singleton, shared that Tiana was nonverbal autistic but that didnt stop the 8-year-old from communicating her love, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Tiana would walk up to you and its all hands, she would rub your face, shed want to kiss your face, Singleton said.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is the least involved governor in the history of the state, and also backed former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch as the GOP's best option to win in November.

Vos, who has led the Assembly as its members drafted bills to expand police recruitment, reduce COVID-19 regulations and expand gun rights, said at a WisPolitics luncheon he realized Evers would likely veto the bills that will be on the Assembly floor beginning Thursday but said he didn't consider what the governor would do.

"We now have a dysfunctional governor," Vos, R-Rochester, said Wednesday. "I haven't spoken to Governor Evers in probably a year. We passed our budget with zero input from the governor."

Ahead of the 2022 primaries, Vos also said Kleefisch is the best Republican candidate for governor and that former U.S. Marine Kevin Nicholson, who was runner-up in the 2018 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, should not run in 2022. Vos said the best thing Nicholson could do for the Republican Party is step away from the governor's race. Nicholson is expected to announce his plans for the election as soon as this week.

In response, Nicholson said on Twitter, "Thanks, @repvos, for the political advice. Our elections are a mess, law & order is eroding, schools are failing. How about you focus on doing your job?"

Vos also took aim at Democrats running in the 2022 elections, saying there was little for them to run on.

"This list of things they can actually take credit for is super short," he said, referring to COVID-19 still being rampant, inflation being up and what Vos said was a lack of spending control and attention to the deficit.

The federal deficit in December was 85%, or $123 billion, smaller than what it was in December 2020, when Republican former President Donald Trump was still in office, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Vos continued to say the only thing Democrats can put forth in their campaigns is "to instill fear that somehow we are hurting democracy."

"The only thing they can talk about is this voting rights stuff," he said, adding that what Democrats call voting rights are just strategies for Democratic candidates to win elections.

Studies show stricter voting laws affect voters who lean more Democratic than Republican. A University of Chicago study found that the implementation of strict voter identification laws disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities.
The spread of COVID-19 continues to be high in the area and caused a Baraboo School District to switch to virtual learning for a short time.

According to the latest data from the Sauk County Health Department, there were 740 new cases in the county from Jan. 12 through Jan. 19. Of those cases, 202, or 27.3 percent, are between the ages of 0-19. Because of a high number of new cases in children, the Baraboo School District indicated on its website that it decided to keep students home and utilize virtual learning this week.

In an email, SSM Health St. Clare Hospital spokesperson Heather Sloan said that while SSM Health has seen an increase in positive cases among all age groups, only a small number (no specified figure) has required hospitalization.

We have seen a rise in younger adults more so than we did in previous COVID waves and a significant number are unvaccinated, said Sloan in the email.

She continued by saying the hospital continues to stress quarantine for people who test positive, along with encouraging the usual COVID-19 safety precautions and vaccinations for both it and influenza.

The Wisconsin Dells School District, according to its website, had 28 more positive cases between Jan. 17 and 18. No current plans for virtual learning have been specified. District Administrator Terry Slack in a memo to parents of district students that symptomatic cases must quarantine for ten days, be symptom-free and have not had a fever for 24 hours before returning to school.

Columbia County, according to its website, has 1,111 new cases since Jan. 12 as of Jan. 19. The sites new data also indicated 16 of those cases are new hospitalizations and the death count of positive cases increased by seven. The highest percentage of cases in the county since data collection are in children/teenagers, as 2,428 people under 18 have tested positive. Activity level of the virus remains critically high, according to the Jan. 19 data report.

The Columbia County Health Department did not respond to an email requesting information.

Aspirus Health spokesperson Andrew Krauss said in a statement that the latest demand for COVID-19 testing and increased levels of other seasonal illnesses is creating logjams in clinics and emergency departments.

The latest chapter in the COVID-19 pandemic is being written by the omicron variant and it extends beyond the walls of our hospitals, said Krauss in the statement.

COVID testing is available at local Walgreens stores. The store in Wisconsin Dells has at-home COVID tests available, but the tests, which arrive on Saturdays, are usually sold out within a couple hours of shipment, according to the pharmacy manager. People can also order at-home COVID tests from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Area testing site information is available on the Sauk County Health Department website.
Both subjects showed firearms during the robbery and were seen leaving the scene in a silver Jeep Cherokee with Illinois license plates that was reported stolen seven days ago in Beloit. The Wisconsin Dells Police Department is asking for any information the public may have or if they have seen these individuals or their vehicle in the Dells area.
This week we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I remember first learning about Dr. King back in kindergarten at Alfred Nobel Elementary School in Chicago, years before Kings birthday was a national holiday. Our teacher taught us about King and what he stood for. We listened to his historic, I have a dream speech. Her lesson was simple, no matter our differences, we should all be treated equally.

As I got older, the lessons of Kings life and ideals became more complex. In school, and in life, the differences among us and the challenges of equality are not so simple. For we all know racism and inequality are alive and well in many aspects of our life. For some reason the color of ones skin, the church we attend, the people we love, or the language we speak seems to divide us. Sometimes that divide is intentional, sometimes it is hidden in order to selfishly protect what we perceive to be our own institutions.

We are often drawn to the hate and prejudice that is on display in our country. Racism is not only a talking point, it is a news headline that draws clicks, reads, and posts. Inflammatory remarks and actions by our elected and appointed leaders geared towards race only strengthens the divides. America is growing further apart and more Americans seek comfort by aligning with people and ideals that prey upon their fears instead of listening and learning from one another. It is a sad time in America.

As Abraham Lincoln famously said, A house divided against oneself cannot stand, and once again Americas foundation is trembling due to racial tensions. The question is whether we, as Americans, are willing to brace up our foundations with intelligent and meaningful discussions of our differences instead of fighting over them? In my 51 years of life on this Earth, I cannot recall a more difficult time to have these discussions or see any resolve by our leaders who should be promoting racial healing. It seems like every race is now a target.

We have serious issues in America that have yet to be resolved. Slavery still casts a dark shadow over the symbolism of freedom our nation is supposed to represent. Gabby Petito goes missing this past summer and the whole nation is glued to their TVs, while more than 5,000 Native American and Indigenous women are currently missing and nobody seems to care. Asian Americans are being brutally attacked because of the misinformation being spread about the origins of COVID. And we have millions of Hispanic Americans chasing the American dream while being denied a path to citizenship.

And yes, even whites are being subjected to new forms of racism. Some see the solution for racism is through more racism or creating policies and practices that will instill divide. If a person of color is denied an opportunity it is labelled racism by some, and if a person of non-color is denied one it is often protected under the umbrella of diversity by others. There is nothing equitable when you require the beneficiary of a job, health care, worship, education, or housing to be of a specific demographic. These are not the solutions King offered, nor the world he imagined.

For every example of our leaders failures to bring us together, there are hundreds of examples that are keeping the delicate fabric of our melting pot together. Somewhere on a court or field right now, there are kids from various races and religions playing on a team as one. Somewhere in America, church doors are open for anyone to worship in and feel welcome in doing so no matter their culture, gender, or sexual orientation. And in some neighborhood, a kid is having a lemonade stand or bake sale to raise money for the poor, not caring what color, gender, or religion those in need align with.

Racism requires bravery to overcome. It also requires forgiveness. We must learn to forgive those who have trespassed against us, our genders, our religions, our cultures, our forefathers and mothers. If we search long enough, we will find that at one point in time, we all have been victims in history. Yet we mustnt dwell in our victimizations as that only looks to find blame and stir the fires of hate. Instead, we should celebrate our mutual resiliency, as we are all survivors of the past evils.

King had hopes that, little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. Those little boys and girls are all grown up, they are us. If we allow our differences to be our guide, we are only keeping Kings dream alive, not fulfilling it. My teacher would be disappointed.

Brian Landers, a former Wisconsin Dells mayor, writes a weekly column for Capital Newspapers. Reach him at brianlanders@charter.net.
I knew Id enjoy interviewing this long-time Wisconsin Dells resident because Id already heard some of his stories. What I didnt know is that hed use his sophisticated webcam to watch me pull into his driveway. Our mystery man, or MM, is 82-years-old, but he is up-to-date with the latest technology. Can you guess who he is? Here are some clues.

MMs interest in gadgets dates back to his childhood. He recalls climbing up on a step stool, joyously cranking the wall phone in his Dells home and saying, Hi, Gert, get me Dad at the drugstore. And Gert would.

In 1908, MMs grandfather, Mondus, opened a drug store in the Dells on the right-hand side of what is now Nigs Bar. MMs father, Gordon, continued the business. After moving across the street, the pharmacy was next to Kleimenhagen & Magoon, a clothing and shoe store. It had a soda fountain where customers could order drinks such as orange creams or chocolate malts.

MM was an only child, as was his father. His mother, whose family worked in a factory that made pearl buttons out of Mississippi clamshells, also came from a small family. MM likes to joke that they could have held a reunion in a telephone booth.

In the 1940s, his family lived on River Roadthen Highway 13near what is now The Vu. Back then, the Clipper Winnebago was steam-powered. MM would hear the schlop, schlop, schlop of the tour boats paddlewheel as it returned from the Stand Rock Indian Ceremonial and hurry outside to watch it navigate its way through the jaws of the Wisconsin River.

MM attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. A highlight occurred after a classmate asked him to return a book to a museum curator. While doing so, the curator received a request for a VIP tour and asked MM to help. The VIP was Harry Belafonte.

As an adult, MM owned a photo studio above Nigs Bar, which was above where his grandfather started the drugstore. He worked for the Chamber of Commerce and was on the academic staff for the University of Wisconsin-Extension specializing in audio-visual services.

At age 61, he married the love of his life. The romance began when he invited Baraboo resident Karen to a wine tasting which included taking home the stemware. He told her he wanted a second wine glass, but his twinkling eyes told me the real story. He followed up by inviting Karen out for his birthday and she followed up by asking if she could give him a birthday hug. MMs eyes sparkle again as he says, It went on from there.

Serving our community and making this world a better place has always been important for MM. Hes been a lifelong member of Bethany Church, which, ironically, was chartered the same month of MMs birth.

I first met MM when I joined Kiwanis. He was a founding member of the Dells High School Key Club, a Kiwanis sponsored organization. He has continued his Kiwanis membership and has been an active participant for 57 years.

So, have you guessed our mystery man? If you havent, lets crank the phone together.

Brrring! Brrring! This is Gert.

Hi, Gert. Would you please connect us to the mystery man?

Yes, I will.

A deep voice answers. Stuelkes Drug Store. Steve speaking.

Hi, Steve. Its the Dells community thanking you for your many contributions. Lets meet at the soda fountain. Wed love to join you in a chocolate malt and swap more stories.

Author Amy Laundrie, a Wisconsin Dells resident, writes a weekly column for Capital Newspapers. Reach her at laundrie@live.com.
Andre Leon Talley, the former longtime creative director for Vogue and a fashion icon, pictured here, in New York on February 12, has died at age 73, according to a statement on his official Instagram account.
BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to King of Tonga Tupou VI over the grave disaster caused by the recent volcanic eruption in the South Pacific island country.

In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn about the volcanic eruption and the resulting tsunami and other grave disasters, which have caused heavy losses.

Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in his own name, extended sincere sympathies to the Tongan government and people.

China and Tonga are comprehensive strategic partners who support and help each other, Xi said, adding that China stands ready to provide as much support as its capacity allows for Tonga to help the Tongan people prevail over the disasters and rebuild their homes.

Also on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message of sympathy to Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni.

(Source: Xinhua)
Plaza Center, 68 Cumberland St., Woonsocket, home to Seven Hills Rhode Island and a host of other clinicians, has been shuttered by the Department of Building Inspection and deemed unsafe for occupancy.
2 men arrested in the UK as part of the investigation into the Texas synagogue standoff, police say
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US President Joe Biden answers questions during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, on January 19, 2022, in Washington, DC.
Waiting lists for non-urgent treatment in Wales hit record levels

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jan 20th, 2022

New NHS data released today shows the extreme levels of demand on the health service in Wales.

The numbers on waiting lists for non-urgent hospital treatment in Wales once again hit record levels last month.

But the Welsh NHS Confederation, which speaks for the whole healthcare system in Wales has said, we must be realistic about how quickly services will be able to bounce back from the impact of Covid.

Latest Welsh NHS data for November showed the highest ever number of patients waiting for treatment with 682,279 on patient pathways  over 14,000 more than September  leaving 1-in-5 Welsh people on the waiting list.

Median waiting times for that same month in Wales are nearly double that of England (22.3 weeks compared to 11.5), while 1-in-4 Welsh patients are waiting over a year for treatment, compared to only 1-in-19 in England.

Figures show that a third (33.5%) of patients had to wait over the four hour target to be seen in A&E last month

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, which covers North Wales, was the worst performing in the nation against the four-hour A&E target, seeing only 61% in four hours.

Wrexham Maelor Hospital saw fewer than half its patients (43.4%) in four hours, making it the worst performing in Wales.

62.1% of patients were seen within eight hours at the local emergency department and 75.6% in 12 hours.

Ambulance performance in December, only 51.1% of responses to immediately life-threatening calls arrived within eight minutes.

The target of 65% of red-calls reaching their patient within eight minutes has not been reached in 17 months.

Ambulance performance data for December shows that 51.1% of responses to immediately life-threatening calls arrived within eight minutes.

The target of 65% of red-calls reaching their patient within eight minutes has not been reached in 17 months.

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said: The statistics show the extreme levels of demand on the NHS and the impact Covid is having on our ability to treat those in need.

December saw the seventh consecutive month where over 100 immediately life-threatening calls were made to the ambulance service each day.

Although these figures paint a very serious picture, including the considerable number of patients waiting to start scheduled care, there are small positives to be seen  for example, the number of patients completing their treatment was the highest since the start of the pandemic.

However, its important to remember this data reflects the situation before the Omicron variant took hold and staff sickness absences rocketed across the NHS and social care.

We must therefore be realistic about what subsequent reports will show and how quickly services will be able to bounce back now Covid-related admissions are showing tentative signs of declining.

While NHS leaders are doing everything they can, the elective care waiting list continues to grow and we need to be honest with the public that this cant be cleared overnight.

We also need to be mindful of what these figures dont show. Primary, community and social care services play a vital role in keeping people well and out of hospital and they are feeling the pressure caused by Omicron.

They too are experiencing high levels of staff absences and more patients needing care, as well as helping drive the booster programme.

Behind these statistics are both patients and staff.

More is being done to care for those on waiting lists and exhausted staff are doing everything they can to treat as many people as quickly and safely as possible. We cant thank them enough.

Dr David Bailey, Chair BMA Welsh Council, said todays statistics show that Omicron continues to have a huge impact on the Welsh NHS, with extreme pressure felt across the system.

The average time spent in emergency departments in December was the second longest on record and saw the seventh consecutive month, where over 100 immediately life-threatening calls were made to the ambulance service each day. Continuing demand and decreased staffing levels have put considerable pressure on our healthcare workers and the NHSs ability to deliver care.

BMA Cymrus most recent survey showed that 84% of respondents said they were extremely or very concerned about the NHSs ability to deliver urgent and acute care to non-covid patients, whilst 66% said clinical colleagues had recently taken sick leave or isolated due to Omicron with significant or moderate impact on patient care.

Healthcare workers are exhausted, and the task ahead in tackling the backlog in the system is monumental.

The figures show there is some light in the Omicron tunnel. Covid-related admissions are falling and the number of patients completing their treatment was the highest since the start of the pandemic. We must do all we can to ensure covid rates continue to fall  wearing masks, distancing and importantly, getting vaccinated.

Welsh Government must do all it can to keep the service running  and must reconsider its position on PPE for those on the frontline. We must ensure healthcare workers are fully protected and issued with FFP2 grade masks as a minimum standard and FFP3 for those treating Covid. Staff must be given appropriate protection so they can deliver the care our patients need.

The Welsh Conservatives said todays figures show that there is no letting up on the pressure bearing down on the NHS.

Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said: We have seen for months now overwhelmed A&E departments without the resources to deal with the influx of patient, with further consequences for ambulances reaching new patients as they cannot handover old ones to hospitals, leading to the worst A&E waits in Britain.

While more can be done to encourage the use of community pharmacies and minor injury units, it cannot be denied that problem in accessing to GPs and previous lockdowns are still taking a toll.

Of course, decades of NHS bed cuts and mismanagement by a Labour Government in Cardiff Bay have only exacerbated things but a reversal in this trend could be in sight if they recognise the need to live with coronavirus.

The Welsh Government has issued a statement on the latest NHS Wales performance data.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: Our NHS is currently dealing with a hugely difficult winter, whilst facing the gruelling challenges of the omicron variant, severe winter pressures and staff absences caused by the pandemic.

The data shows how progress was beginning to be made in planned care in November, before the impacts of the omicron wave were truly felt and exerted considerable winter pressures on the health service. We anticipate next months data, which will include December, will reflect this.

Healthcare workers should be commended for their determination to maintain high quality care to hundreds of thousands of patients each month, as well as supporting record breaking levels of boosters during the latest phase of our Covid-19 programme over the last two months.

Despite ongoing pressures to deliver planned care and some health boards having to review this, activity levels and diagnoses of cancer both increased in the latest data. The number of patients newly diagnosed with cancer who started their first definitive treatment increased to the highest level since comparable data was first collected in June 2019. Furthermore, the number of patients informed they did not have cancer increased on the previous month.

Although the number of people waiting to start treatment has risen to more than 682,000 and continues to rise, the 0.4% increase in November is the smallest increase in the total numbers waiting since the start of the pandemic.

November saw more than 78,000 patient pathways closed, the highest number in nearly two years.

Progress is also being made in diagnostics. Although the number of people waiting for diagnostic tests remains higher than before the pandemic started and increased slightly in November 2021, the number waiting longer than the target time has decreased. It comes after significant investment in diagnostic equipment was announce last year, including more than 51m to replace ageing diagnostic equipment, 25m to replace imaging equipment and 25m in four new PET CT scanners

We are doing all we can to support our urgent and emergency care services and we would urge everyone to Help Us, Help You this winter by considering how and when they access care.

The My Winter Health Plan scheme will celebrate its fifth anniversary later this year, and offers an easy way for people with long-term physical or mental health conditions to share information with visiting health professionals so they get the right care for their personal circumstances. This can often prevent an avoidable trip to hospital.

We will distribute an additional 20,000 plans this winter, which will be available from community pharmacies across Wales and downloadable from the NHS 111 Wales website.

Your local pharmacy and the 111 online service can provide advice for minor illnesses and ailments.
Wrexham councillor to step down at elections after 18 years serving community

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jan 20th, 2022

A Wrexham councillor has announced his intention to step down at the next local authority election after serving his community for 18 years.

Alan Edwards has represented New Broughton on Wrexham Council as an independent since 2004.

During his time on the local authority, he was appointed as mayor of Wrexham in 2014-15, with his wife Glenys alongside him as mayoress.

In his most recent term, he fought against plans by Glyndwr University to build 112 new houses on horse grazing land on Gatewen Road in New Broughton.

The proposals were initially refused by councillors but controversially approved by a planning inspector last year following an appeal.

Cllr Edwards has now said he will not stand at the local elections being held in May due to his personal circumstances.

In a statement issued to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said he had enjoyed representing his community.

He said: I have had the privilege and honour to represent the people of the New Broughton, Caego and Brynteg ward for the last 18 years.

But over the last term, due to personal circumstances and especially the last 18 months, I have found it extremely difficult to carry out my work as a councillor.

I would like to thank those who have given me support and been very considerate through a very difficult time.

I feel a special thank you must go to Nigel Williams (Gwenfro councillor) who has been covering a lot of my ward work, as well as his own.

Cllr Edwards, who is part of the independent group led by current council leader Mark Pritchard, is calling for potential candidates to come forward to stand in New Broughton.

He said he hoped his successor would put local residents before party politics.

He said: I am coming out now with this statement hoping that someone local will step forward and put themselves up for election.

You don t need to be a member of a party to stand, indeed I have always thought party politics should not be high on any local councillors agenda.

The most important thing should be what affects Wrexham county borough and your local community.

When I was first asked to stand in 2004, I said I would do it for four years and then someone else could do it.

But an old friend said to me when I was elected: I know you and it will get into your blood. He was right.

Cllr Edwards said he had witnessed a number of changes in politics during his time on the local authority.

However, he expressed concerns over the impact of social media on democracy.

He said: Times have changed vastly over the last 18 years and now social media is a massive part of politics, and in my opinion not for the better.

Perhaps it is time for someone younger to step up to the challenge of being a councillor.

I would like to thank all my family and friends for their support over the years and once more thank the people for the honour of letting me represent them over the past 18 years.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in Parliament on Wednesday that the wearing of masks in secondary schools in England would be ended with immediate effect within 24 hours.

He did so to cheers from Conservative MPs, as he announced that all remaining mitigations against COVID under the current Plan B are to be terminated on January 26.

Johnson declared, From tomorrow, we will no longer require face masks in classrooms and the Department for Education will shortly remove national guidance on their use in communal areas.

The removal of the sole remaining mitigation measure in schools guarantees the further spread of COVID among pupils, educators and the wider community. It is proof positive that the Conservative government is pursuing a herd immunity programme.

A socially distanced assembly, with schoolchildren wearing masks, takes place at a school in Manchester, England, Monday March 8, 2021. (Jon Super/PA via AP)

With the massive spread of Omicron, when schools returned in January the government was forced to advise that masks be worn in classrooms and teaching spaces for pupils and students in Year 7 (aged 11 or above). While limited, this did hinder the spread of COVID in secondary schools. One only has to compare the terrible spread of COVID, illness and hospitalisations among primary school children, who were not mandated to wear masks, during the same period.

The announcement came the day after Britain recorded 438 COVID deaths, the highest since February. Tragically, another boy was announced dead from COVID on January 14, taking to 135 the total number of children who have died from COVID in Britain since the beginning of the pandemic.

The return to school from January 4 has produced an avalanche of infections among educators and children alike. A poll by Teacher Tapp for the Sutton Trust charity, reported by Schools Week, found that in the week to January 14 one in five state schools had COVID related absences in staff of 10 percent. Three in 10 of the most deprived schools reported the same. Private schools with smaller class sizes had one in eight.

Department for Education (DfE) data showed staff absences rose to 60,000, most having tested positive. High absenteeism was compounded by delays in delivering testing kit to schools. A Teacher Tapp survey found that only a third of schools received tests on time, and 17 percent still had not received any by January 14. Government guidance advises twice weekly testing at home, or daily for seven days if living with someone who is positive in order to attend school.

DfE figures show that pupil absences had already reached an estimated 315,000 or 3.9 percent on January 6.

Rising hospitalisations and deaths grew fastest among the 0-9 age group. COVID cases in England for January 18 in the 0-4 age group rose from the previous day to a total 306,476, and there was a rise to 771,367 total cases among the 5-9s. On the same day, cases among all children aged 0-19 increased by 34,439 (40.5 percent of the 84,987 total new cases in England).

For the same day, as 118 children were admitted overnight, total child COVID hospitalisations rose to 15,805.

Figures released by Long Covid Kids revealed a total 1,574 child hospital admissions just in the period January 1-13. With over 3 million children infected with COVID, the incidence of Long COVID among them is staggering. One in 380 of all UK children have been symptomatic for a year, 20,000 in total, while one in 470 in the 2-11 age range have symptoms for three months.

This horrific picture of death, disease and misery begs the question: how are the ruling elite getting away with it? The government is despised and wracked by crisis. But what are the trade unions doing?

The National Education Union (NEU) has 460,000 members, the NASUWT has 313,000. Together with the National Association of Headteachers, the ASCL, GMB and Unison, these organisations have a million and a half members. Around 80 percent of UK education workers are unionised. Teachers are 97 percent unionised, with education the highest unionised sector in the UK and the European continent, if not the world!

The unions have prevented the mobilisation of this potential army of opposition. Alongside parents, educators could have enforced the necessary well-resourced remote learning, helping to halt the spread of the virus and prevent the collapse of the National Health Service. But the unions have instead insisted that schools are the safest place for children to be and that schools must stay open no matter the consequences.

In June 2020, when the government first tried to reopen schools as part of ending the UKs first lockdown, the unions merely called for a two-week delay. By the start of the new term in September, the NEU had ditched its own five criteria for the safe reopening of schoolsthe R rate being below 1, test, track and trace being in operation, social distancing in place and the protection of vulnerable staff, allowing schools to reopen.

On January 3, 2021, a record 400,000 NEU members attended an online Zoom meeting demanding the closure of schools as the pandemic was out of control. The NEU and other unions lent support to individual members who boycotted schools under Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, but this was only to cover their refusal to organise the walkouts teachers were calling for. When the government tried to reopen primary schools on January 4, teachers stayed away in their thousands. Faced with a movement that would galvanise wider opposition in the working class, the government introduced what Johnson said would be the last lockdown.

On January 28, 2021, the NEU launched its Education Recovery Plan, predicated on the notion that schools could open safely before the virus was suppressed with a few mitigation measures like CO2 monitors and HEPA filters. By March, the union was instructing its members to desist from using Section 44 without its permission, when rank and file members were demanding a strike ballot.

Last November, after the NEU had collaborated with the government to ensure schools were back open for the autumn term, the unions joint general secretary Kevin Courtney was actively crusading against education disruption and for keeping schools open.

As the spring term began in 2022, the education unions issued a joint statement endorsing the reopening of schools, despite Omicron running rife. The NEU marked the first anniversary of the January 3 mass meeting with a union reps only meeting and a statement that did not even mention child hospitalisations or deaths.

The complicity of the unions was applauded by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn responded to an NEU post on social media with the statement, I fully support the NEU union call for urgent action to reduce Covid disruption, including through funding for improving ventilation.

Nothing that the cabal of murderers in Downing Street do will elicit any fight from the union bureaucracy. In response to Johnsons announcement on masks, the NEU only complained that this could result in further education disruption. Mary Bousted, NEU joint general secretary, said meekly, 'Schools and colleges are still feeling the impact of Covid-19, before advising, The danger is we lift restrictions too quickly before the effects of returning to school are clear. This will result in more education disruption which is extremely worrying

There was no call to close schools. Instead, there was an appeal that the Government should be exercising a duty of care to the nations pupils and the staff who educate them. All that was required was that the Tories get the necessary ventilation and filtration solutions in place now to ensure interruption of education remains at the minimum.

The Labour Party is once again fully behind the government. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced in last weeks Mail on Sunday, For the sake of our children we can never shut our country again Learning to live well with Covid will prepare us to get through the next wave of infections without more restrictions on our lives, livelihoods and liberties.

On January 11, the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK) held an emergency meeting to discuss the strategy to Close All Schools To Stop the Spread of Omicron! We urge all educators, parents and students to join the Committee as part of the global fight to eliminate the virus. Follow the Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK) Twitter account here.
The Conservative Party government has announced the end of all public health measures combatting the COVID-19 pandemic in England.

Pledging to restore the ancient liberties of this country, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament yesterday that compulsory mask-wearing in shops and on public transport and test-to-enter schemes for nightclubs and large events would end on January 27, next week.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Boris Johnson announces the end of all COVID restrictions in England (screenshot/parliamentlive.tv)

With over 16,000 people in hospital with COVID-19 in England alone and 438 recorded killed by the virus the day before, Johnson added that the requirement to self-isolate after a positive test was due to end forever on March 24 and that hed like to seek a vote in this House to bring that date forward.

As a down payment on his criminality, the prime minister ended work-from-home guidance immediately and promised, From tomorrow we will no longer require face masks in classrooms and the Department for Education will shortly remove national guidance on their use in communal areas. The news was greeted by wild cheers from his backbenchers, some of whom took off their own masks and waved them in the air in celebration.

There was a frenzied atmosphere in the Commons throughout, with the old Tory warhorse David Davis responding to the smell of blood in the water from Johnsons ailing premiership with the borrowed injunction, In the name of God, go!

Davis was quoting Conservative MP Leo Amery denouncing Neville Chamberlain in 1940 after a failed military campaign against Nazi Germany in Norway (though the phrase goes back to Oliver Cromwells dismissal of the Rump Parliament).

The scandal over parties held in Whitehall on Johnsons watch during lockdown, at least one of which he attended, will have no automatically progressive outcome. Rather the crisis is being used to engineer a major shift to the right by what is already the most right-wing government in post-war British history.

With Johnson having set out a domestic policy for mass death yesterday, his Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is travelling to Berlin today to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and her French and German counterparts to discuss a programme of war with Russia.

Meanwhile Home Secretary Priti Patel is continuing to push through parliament sweeping attacks on the rights of citizenship and to protest and vote.

The knife fight underway in the Tory Party is fundamentally over who can be best trusted to enforce class war measures on the working class. Johnson is proving he will do whatever is required of him, but there are substantial numbers in his party who want to see the back of him.

Seven Tory MPs have publicly called for Johnson to resign. On Wednesday morning, another 12 were reported to have submitted letters of no confidence to the backbench 1922 Committee. If 54 letters are submitted, a vote of confidence in Johnsons leadership among Tory MPs is automatically triggered. Over half, 180, would have to vote against Johnson to automatically begin a leadership contest, although totals short of that can force a resignation. The current assumption is that enough letters will be submitted after the report of an ongoing inquiry into the Downing Street parties is released next week.

Whether Johnson survives or not, the already crowded field of possible replacements makes clear the vicious character of the government he or his successor will lead.

The current leader of the pack is Chancellor Rishi Sunak, himself a multi-millionaire and husband to multi-hundred-millionaire Akshata Murthy, the daughter of a multi-billionaire Indian businessman. Sunak has made clear his ideological commitment to low taxes and lower public spending, and determination to recoup from the working class the debts incurred by the government through his repeated handouts to the corporations and the super-rich.

Close behind is Liz Truss, the self-styled reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher. A leading opponent of public health restrictions, she has made herself the darling of the most ardent Brexiteers, promising to use the opportunities it creates to slash taxes and labour and social protections. In 2012, she co-authored the neo-Thatcherite screed Britannia Unchained labelling British workers among the worst idlers in the world.

Other leading candidates include the thuggish Priti Patel, a favourite of far-right anti-migrant gangs and the architect of some of the most repressive legislation in British history; and former health secretary under David Cameron, Jeremy Hunt. Considered the moderate choice in this field of frothing-at-the-mouth reactionaries, Hunt played a critical role in the privatisation and decimation of the National Health Service prior to the pandemic.

Those unlikely to win but who might stand to shift the terms of the debate in their direction include Steve Baker, Mark Harper, Tobias Ellwood and Tom Tugendhat. Baker and Harper are leading members of the Coronavirus Recovery Group of backbench Tory MPs which has been relentless in its criticism of all COVID-19 public health measures.

Ellwood and Tugendhat, both former soldiers, and chairmen of the Commons defence committee and foreign affairs committee respectively, are tireless advocates for stepped up military spending and aggression against Russia and China.

Labours response is to officiate this grisly succession. The party refuses to call a vote of no confidence in the government, with leading cabinet members claiming that to do so would only unite the Tories. This risible excuse is exposed by the fact that Labour MPs makes no criticisms whatsoever of the governments right-wing agenda, limiting themselves to the demand that Johnson resign or that his party remove him.

Responding to Johnsons announcement yesterday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer promised to support the relaxation of Plan B, so long as the science says that it is safe. He rendered his face-saving caveat pointless with the insistence a few seconds later, We must have a robust plan to live well with COVID.

Starmers unanimity with the government was summed up by the defection of Tory MP Christian Wakeford to the Labour benches during yesterdays debate, with a Union Flag face mask plastered across his face. Wakeford is the fourth Tory in history to defect to Labour. The other three were all in the 1990s, in recognition of Tony Blairs successful transformation of Labour into a Tory Party mark two.

Starmer could barely contain himself. He warmly welcomed Wakeford, whose Commons record includes votes for the 20-a-week cut to social welfare, the Police Bill and the Nationality and Borders Bill; in favour of a stricter asylum system; and against measures to combat climate change and tax avoidance. His defection was proof, said Starmer, that Labour stands ready to provide an alternative government that the country can be proud of.

An alternative government, pursuing the same policies as the Tory Party but with fewer recent scandals and an MI5-vetted former head of the Department of Public Prosecutions at its head, is precisely what Labour are offering the ruling class.

The Labour left toe the same line. None of its representatives have gone beyond former shadow chancellor John McDonnells appeal to his Conservative colleagues last week to remove Johnson, lest he damage not just the Tory Party but politics in general and trust in the whole political process. Former leader Jeremy Corbyn has been virtually silent.

Whoever is left standing at the end, the palace coup being prepared against Johnson with Labours assistance can have only one outcomea deepened assault on the health, lives and living standards of the working class. Bringing down the government and ending its policies of mass infection, war and austerity requires a programme of class struggle waged equally against the Labour and the trade union bureaucracy, by millions of workers across the country and internationally.
As infections and deaths continue to mount, increasing numbers of health workers are coming forward to describe the dire conditions inside Australias hospitals.

Today, 60 deaths were announced in Australia, with 25 in New South Wales (NSW), 15 in Victoria, 11 in South Australia and 9 in Queensland, including one person who was just 18 years old.

Following yesterdays declaration of a code brown emergency in Victorias hospital system, doctors are warning that urgent cancer and heart surgery is already being deferred.

According to a report in the Age, breast cancer, abdominal aneurysm and coronary bypass operations are among the category one procedures postponed at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where up to 70 percent of operating theatre staff are furloughed.

ICU nurses protesting outside Westmead Hospital on January 19, 2022 (Photo: Facebook / NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association)

The Australian Medical Associations Victorian president Roderick McRae said under the code brown: Were actually only looking after absolute emergency presentations ... this is an absolute signal of distress.

The Age cited a leaked internal document revealing paramedics have been instructed to avoid overcrowded emergency departments and take patients to more distant hospitals with the capacity to admit them.

Currently 1,206 people are hospitalised for COVID-19 in Victoria, with 122 in intensive care and 40 on ventilators. Under the code brown, when COVID-19 admissions reach 1,500, ambulance transfers between hospitals will be limited to emergency or critically ill patients.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on the ABCs News Breakfast program this morning he was not considering declaring a code brown at this stage.

In fact, many of the provisions are already in place in the state. Elective surgery has been postponed, and health workers have been called back to work, not only from leave, but from COVID-19 isolation.

Reports from health workers stand in stark contrast to Perrottets repeated claims the states health system remains strong.

A senior doctor at a Sydney hospital told the Guardian, Staff are literally falling apart. They are becoming walking zombies.

The doctor reported his hospital did not have the staff or facilities to keep the growing number of COVID-19 patients isolated in separate wards. Nurses are being assigned to ICU wards although they have not received the appropriate training.

Patients are not being fed, patients are not being showered, and people who are falling are not being attended to, the doctor said. Its very dire.

In a video leaked to the Sydney Morning Herald, executive clinical director at Sydneys Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Professor Paul Torzillo, last week told junior doctors, the pronouncements coming from government are completely politically driven and  not health-based.

Torzillo told the newspaper that the NSW governments decision to relax COVID-19 restrictions as Omicron surged in December was inappropriate.

Torzillo also criticised the shortening of isolation periods and the practice of sending health workers who are close contacts back to work, saying this was not appropriate in hospitals, where we need to be more cautious.

In an indication of mounting anger among health workers, around 60 intensive care nurses rallied yesterday outside Westmead Hospital, one of Sydneys largest hospitals.

While Shaye Candish, acting general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) admitted there was broad discussion of strikes among health workers, she made clear that the union is working to keep its members on the job.

Candish said: If and when our members make that decision then, yes, they would be supported by the union. But right now our members are mostly concerned about getting through this pandemic.

In other words, the workers are on their own. At the first sign of independent organisation, the union will step in to suppress unrest and direct workers anger behind appeals to the very governments responsible for the crisis.

Throughout the pandemic, NSWNMA has repeatedly shut down strikes over pay and staffing, and limited industrial action to brief stoppages at individual facilities. The purpose of this is to let off steam and prevent a broader mobilisation against the increasingly impossible conditions confronting health workers.

In Tasmania, hospital workers have hit out at the state health departments announcement of additional hydration breaks and that meal breaks will be extended to allow time for donning and doffing personal protective equipment.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, one worker said this demonstrated the disconnect between staff on the floor and management.

In reality, the problem for staff is not that their rostered breaks are too short, but that there is no-one to relieve them. Who is magically going to appear to enable us to have a break? the worker asked.

Another worker wrote that the only way to allow breaks without additional staff would be to decrease the patient capacity of the ward so you have a reasonable level of staffing.

One nurse wrote: I've never known stress like this. Something needs to change or I fear those staff shortages will be more as nurses leave the profession they once loved.

While only 31 people are currently hospitalised for COVID-19 in the state, around 150 health care workers are currently furloughed due to COVID-19 infection or exposure.

The National Cabinet is meeting today to discuss plans to railroad teachers and students back into face-to-face learning when term one begins at the end of January and beginning of February.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison bluntly stated the motivation behind the drive to reopen schools last Thursday. He said: It is absolutely essential for schools to go back safely and to remain safely open if we are not to see any further exacerbation of the workforce challenges were currently facing.

The National Cabinet is also expected to discuss various plans to address the supply chain crisis at the expense of worker safety. These include lowering the isolation period for workers from seven days to five, scrapping daily rapid antigen tests, and lowering the minimum age of forklift drivers.

There is no indication that a single measure will be discussed to boost the public healthcare system, amid its greatest ever crisis. All that governments propose is to move staff between the public and private sectors, something that is now happening and equivalent to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, and to declare emergencies limiting care, weeks after such drastic measures are already being taken on the ground.

And every policy that is being discussed at the National Cabinet will result in further transmission of the virus, further exacerbating the crisis in the hospitals.

As is the case internationally, the Omicron surge and the response to it is of immense historical and political significance. Governments and the ruling elite are dispensing with even a pretense of seeking to protect the health and the lives of ordinary people. The most basic and essential certainties of life in an advanced capitalist country, including to medical care in an emergency, are being done away with.

This urgently poses the need for workers to begin organising independently, including through the establishment of workplace rank-and-file committees. These must take political and industrial action, including strikes, to force a halt to non-essential production, with compensation for workers, as well as online learning in the schools and universities. Above all, the criminal official response to the crisis demonstrates the need for a socialist perspective, that rejects the subordination of every aspect of society to the interests of the capitalist oligarchy.
In more than 100 schools across the country, pupils went on strike Tuesday against the homicidal herd immunity policies of the conservative Austrian Peoples Party (OVP) and Green Party coalition government. In view of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and daily new record infection figures, the government has openly acknowledged its policy of deliberate mass infection. With the return to face-to-face teaching and compulsory oral final examinations in high schools, this inhumane course is being pushed even further.

In the capital, Vienna, many students gathered in protests at several schools. In the Ottakring district, about 150 pupils protested on Schuhmeierplatz. With posters and chants, they demanded a safe pandemic policy and the suspension of the oral exam. Under the hashtags #WirStreiken (#WeAreStriking), #NichtMitUns (#NotWithUs) and #DurchseuchungOhneUns (#MassInfectionNotWithUs), the students documented their activities and spread their demands.

Around 100 students also demonstrated against the oral examination in front of the Bundesrealgymnasium in Linz. Participants from the graduating classes were supported by pupils from the 6th and 7th grades, as well as pupils from other schools. In Bregenz, about 100 students from the upper school protested.

During protests in Salzburg, student representatives announced that they would go on strike again next week if the government did not respond to the students demands. In Klagenfurt, pupils also took part in the strike, although both the Federal Pupils Representation and the Carinthia Regional Pupils Representation had spoken out against the strike.

In addition to the Aktion kritischer SchulerInnen (AKS, Critical Pupils Action), which is close to the Austrian Social Democratic Party, SPO), numerous school representatives supported and called for protests. Some limited their protest to demanding that the oral exam not be compulsory for graduation, which is absolutely justified in view of the pandemic, as well as because of inadequate preparation.

Striking students at the ORG Vocklabruck (Photo: Twitter)

In the last two years, the oral exam has been voluntary. However, OVP Education Minister Martin Polaschek, one of the most aggressive advocates of a radical pandemic policy in the cabinet of Chancellor Karl Nehammer (also OVP), now wants to make it compulsory again.

An open letter from about 300 student representatives had appealed to the federal government for sufficient protective measures for Austrias schools. It says: The pandemic is now spreading over a considerable period of our lives and is placing an increasing burden on us. Your task would be to counteract this development. Instead, you are exacerbating it through your policies. You are breaking the camels back. This cant go on any longer. #NotWithUs!

The letter demands not only fair conditions for the final exams and an increase in staff at schools, but first and foremost a clear no to the deliberate infection of children and young people, as well as implementation of safety measures and awareness campaigns. Already, 30,000 pupils have signed the petition gerechte Matura (fair school-leaving exams) condemning the plans of the education minister.

But the OVP and the Greens are willing to impose face-to-face teaching under any conditions. Education Minister Polascheck recently cold-bloodedly declared that the current coronavirus figures do not really matter for the start of school.

Katharina Reich, the head of the COVID Crisis Coordination (Gecko), freely admitted that there would be widespread infection of the population. She complained that Durchseuchung (endemic contamination) was a negative word that caused fear. Health Minister Wolfgang Muckstein (Greens) spoke of a paradigm shift towards an open strategy of allowing the virus to become endemic.

The indifference of Polascheck, Reich, Muckstein and the other government representatives to the health and lives of teachers, pupils and parents is also shown by their handling of the PCR tests for pupils, which are supposed to make schools safe.

The original plan was for a totally inadequate two tests per week per student. But now, not even that is being implemented. Due to technical difficulties, only one test per week is evaluated.

Nevertheless, even this far too low number of tests is already providing an insight into the dramatic incidence of infections in schools.

In Vienna alone, 229 classes at 224 schools had to be closed due to massive outbreaks. In addition, 146 kindergartens were partially closed and three were completely closed. In Tyrol, 190 school classes are undertaking distance learning because of extremely high infection rates.

Since the end of the partial lockdown in mid-December and the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, infection numbers have been shooting up rapidly. On Tuesday, the nationwide seven-day incidence rate reached a new record high of 1,288 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). In Salzburg, it was as high as 2,187. Tyrol and Vienna also reported new records with 1,967 and 1,737, respectively. Even in Burgenland, the province with the lowest incidence, the figure now stands at over 700.

The school strike in Austria is part of a growing international movement against the policy of deliberate mass infection. Everywhere, governments are keeping schools and factories open to maintain the flow of profits to big business. But resistance to this is growing worldwide.

In protest against the high risks involved in reopening schools after the winter holidays, students in Greece occupied 350 schools. Local protest rallies by teachers also took place there during the first week of school.

In Germany, 13-year-old Yasmin from North Rhine-Westphalia received a wave of sympathy and support. The student refused to attend classes in an unsafe classroom, and instead followed lessons at a desk in the cold schoolyard. Several student representatives in Germany also recently called for a school strike.

In France, thousands of teachers went on strike and demonstrated January 13 against the Macron governments herd immunity policies and unsafe conditions in schools. According to the French teachers unions, 75 percent of primary school teachers and 62 percent of secondary school teachers took part in the strike. About half of schools remained completely closed. Strikes are planned again this Thursday.

A strong strike and protest movement against keeping schools open is also developing in the US. In numerous metropolitan areasChicago, San Francisco and Oakland, Californiaeducators are organising spontaneous walkouts, sickouts and strikes to end face-to-face classes. In doing so, they are opposing the trade unions, which, as in Europe and Austria, vehemently defend opening schools.

Students, teachers and parents must build independent rank-and-file committees in schools and workplaces, working together to stop unsafe face-to-face teaching, and prepare a globally coordinated strike movement. This is the only way to stop the policy of deliberate mass infection in the interests of the banks and corporations and to develop and implement a strategy to eliminate COVID-19.
The Bronx apartment after the fire. (Twitter/NYC Fire Department)

A 77-year-old woman was killed and at least eight other people were injured, several critically, by a massive explosion and fire in the New York City borough of the Bronx on Tuesday morning. The alarm went out shortly before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, and 200 firefighters and EMS personnel responded.

The dead woman was identified as Martha Dagbasta. Two other elderly women, 82 and 68 years old, were seriously injured, and five cops who dealt with the fire were overcome by smoke inhalation. Other residents appear to have narrowly escaped death or serious injury.

Although fire department officials and Mayor Eric Adams said that investigation of the cause of the explosion was just beginning, there were reports that the odor of gas had been noted by neighborhood residents that morning, pointing to a possible gas leak. The explosion led to the partial collapse of an entire building, a three-story row house. As seen on local television, eyewitnesses reported the massive boom of the explosion was heard first, followed by an enormous cloud of ash and flames.

The entire back of the row house collapsed, with some furniture thrown into the street. Even before firefighters got to the scene, neighbors rushed to the aid of fire victims, pulling several to safety. The rapidly spreading fire was quickly contained, before it endangered others, including at a day care center across the street.

The explosion took place on Fox Street, near Intervale Avenue, in the Longwood section of the south Bronx. That is less than three miles from the deadlier fire disaster that took place only a week earlier in a 19-story high rise on East 181st Street. In that calamity, smoke inhalation took the lives of 17, including several children, in the worst fire death toll in New York in more than 30 years.

The Longwood explosion is reminiscent of other recent disasters, some more deadly, caused by gas leaks and other problems, pointing both to aging infrastructure in the citys working class neighborhoods, as well as to shortcuts or inadequate maintenance carried out by Con Edison, the massive utility monopoly that provides electricity and gas to New York City and neighboring Westchester County.

The highly profitable private utility, which is regulated by the city, shut off gas for the entire block after the explosion, and nearby residents were evacuated and temporarily housed in a neighborhood church and other locations. Fire marshals said that questions remained on the structural stability of adjoining buildings in the row of attached houses.

The worst of the recent explosions took place in East Harlem, another one of the citys poorer neighborhoods, back in 2014. In that case, eight people lost their lives and 50 were injured when two buildings were destroyed. In 2009, a gas leak in a Queens building led to the death of one resident, a nurse.

Con Edison of New York is one of a number of subsidiaries of Consolidated Edison, Inc. This holding company has been reporting annual profits of about $13 billion in the last few years. As the latest tragedy suggests, while its shareholders have been making a killing, inadequate building inspections and aging pipes and other infrastructure may have led to other killings. In the case of the 2014 explosion and building collapse, the company reached a settlement with New York state for $153 million in 2017, without admitting guilt or responsibility. Even this sizable settlement amounted to little more than 1 percent of the parent companys annual profits.

Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who has been on the job for barely two weeks, has been responding to housing fires since he took the oath of office. These accidents are an indication of the raging social crisis in New York, one that has been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years. Adams rushed back up to the Bronx for the second disaster in about eight days. He spoke about the lives that had been saved, paid tribute to the cops who had been injured, and expressed sympathy for those impacted by the latest disaster.

The new mayor said nothing about the social conditions in the Bronx, however. It is the citys poorest borough, regularly registering the highest levels of unemployment, poverty and homelessness. New York City overall now has a population of nearly 9 million, with nearly half in poverty or near poverty. Millions live in substandard housing, where inadequate heat and the need for space heaters can lead to devastating fires like the one that killed 17 a week ago. Others struggle to cope with aging infrastructure, which is suspected in this weeks explosion.
Teachers at Westmount High School in Montreal demonstrated against the Quebec government's reckless decision to reopen schools in the midst of the pandemic's second wave (Photo: Robert Green)

Ontario schools resumed in-class learning this week in spite of record levels of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in Canadas most populous province. Premier Doug Ford and his hard-right Progressive Conservative government have pressed for the reopening of schools under regulations that virtually guarantee Omicron will run rampant among school staff and students, as have provincial governments from coast-to-coast.

Opposition among education workers and students to this reckless policy is growing. On Monday, students in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba walked out of school to protest unsafe conditions. On Wednesday, several teachers in Ontarios Peel Region launched work refusals over concerns about dangerous working conditions. In a letter to the World Socialist Web Site, Sterling, a Toronto school caretaker, denounced the precipitous reopening of schools and called for a mass, worker-led movement to fight for the implementation of a Zero COVID policy.

Caretakers, teachers, support staff, and students are being forced back into overcrowded and poorly ventilated buildings with virtually no protections. Ontario has taken the criminal decision to slash the isolation period for infected people from 10 to five days, even though Canadas Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, admitted Wednesday that Omicron remains infectious for 10 days.

The authorities have also instructed schools to combine classes, as needed, to compensate for a wave of staff absences due to the highly infectious virus. This could result in groups of up to 50 or 60 kids being crammed together in classrooms, creating superspreader events.

Sterlings letter gives voice to the mounting anger among working people towards this ruling class agenda of mass infection and death.

***

Lets begin by debunking a major lie emanating from the politicians, unethical public health officials and their lackeys in the corporate press. The lie is that Schools are safe. Fact: COVID is an airborne pathogen transmitted through aerosols, which are small particles that float in the air like cigarette smoke. These aerosol particles can stay in the air for hours and move around easily in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, like school buildings. Thus, the conclusion from this scientific fact is clear: schools are not safe for in-person learning as long as COVID is not eliminated.

As a caretaker for a school board in Toronto, I do not feel safe going to work knowing I am forced to be exposed to COVID everyday. The reason is clear: the criminal capitalist ruling elite and their political representatives want kids in school to allow their parents to be exploited at work to generate profits for the Bay Street sociopaths.

In the evenings when students and teachers have gone home, I know COVID is still in the air because schools are not adequately ventilated, despite the HEPA filters. I wear a KN95 mask during my shiftsfrom a box I bought myself. The KN95 masks are better than no mask but they are still inadequate protection from COVID aerosols. The school board refuses to provide adequate masks such as the N95, which offer the best protection from inhaling COVID aerosol particles.

The school board is ordering caretakers to do more disinfection of surfaces in schools, which is a complete waste of time because COVID is transmitted through the air. Over the winter break, caretakers did the extra cleaning that normally we dont have time to do, such as cleaning walls, windows, and general maintenance.

During the first two weeks after the Christmas break, caretakers were still forced to go to work in a clean, empty school essentially to baby sit the building. Supply caretakers were kept home without pay.

Our feckless unionCUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees)refuses to fight for the health and safety of its 700,000-plus membership, while it continues to steal workers money via union dues. CUPE has left us to fend for ourselves. The school boards, the unions and the governmentthe troika of mass infection and deathhave left us education workers no choice but to organize into rank-and-file committees in every school independently and in opposition to the troika. By organizing and joining the committees, education workers will be in a powerful position to force school closures and a shift to online learning as part of a broader Zero COVID strategy until COVID is eliminated. The independent rank-and-file school committees should also join the Cross Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (CERSC), whose mission is to connect the struggle of education workers across Canada and internationally against the criminal policies of the capitalist elite. By appealing to our colleagues across Canada and around the world, we will be able to impose rational, science-based policies through a Zero COVID strategy to protect the lives of children, school staff and members of our communities from preventable disease and death.

All power to the workers,

Sterling

***

We urge everyone to participate in the CERSCs next public meeting on Sunday, January 23, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. To register to attend, email the CERSC at cersc.csppb@gmail.com or visit our Twitter or Facebook account: https://twitter.com/cersc_csppb and https://www.facebook.com/cersc.csppb .
This week schools throughout Chicago are in disarray as they have opened for in-person instruction amid the continuing surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officially reopened last Wednesday after the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) rammed through an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot that contained no real improvements to safety and ignored teachers main demand for remote learning until cases are brought under control.

COVID-19 deaths in Chicago are reaching their highest point so far in the Omicron surge, with 101 deaths reported for January 18 and a seven-day average of about 40 deaths per day.

CPS students protest outside of CPS headquarters [Credit: WSWS Media]

The World Socialist Web Site recently spoke with two studentsone enrolled at Northwestern University (NU) and the other an 8th grader in CPSas well as a parent with children in the school district on conditions in schools and how the pandemic has impacted them.

Corbin, the Northwestern student, participated in a walkout this week by students at the university who are refusing to attend in-person classes while the school is reporting record numbers of positive cases.

Were walking out from in-person classes until the university provides virtual classes as an option to all students and takes seriously the health and well-being on immunocompromised and vulnerable students, Corbin said.

The last two weeks have seen our highest campus COVID numbers yet, and last week university admin announced that we will be returning to in-person classes this week. Students and other community members started a petition demanding virtual classes and KN95 masksthat the school recommended but did not providebe provided to anyone expected to be on campus, students, staff and faculty. The petition reached 1,500-plus signatures and has been sent by many to NU admin with no acknowledgement or response.

When asked why he thinks Northwestern and other schools are so adamant that classes remain in-person, Corbin replied, Personally, I think Northwesterns commitment to endangering vulnerable community members at a time like this makes complete sense when you position it within the logics of this university as an elite business project and that of the larger exploitative system. He continued, Northwestern needs classes to meet physically within their fancy Northwestern buildings to justify manufacturing such an exclusive and elitist product. Like all capitalist projects, they need scarcity to justify profit. Virtual classes start to collapse the whole foundation of scarcity that they bank on.

I dont think Northwesterns decisions are out of line with whats happening collectively. Millions of working people are being coerced into returning to the money machine at the expense of our physical health.

He concluded by saying of the Northwestern protest that he hopes students can all connect this to the larger struggle.

Ben, an eighth grade CPS student, described the conditions in his school. Between August 29 and January 18, my school reported about 42-50 cases total. But we have had more cases than ever during and after winter break. The week of returning from winter break we had about 400 students absent because they had to quarantine and/or [they] didnt even feel safe coming to school. I had COVID-19 over winter break, and my symptoms were not as bad as others.

When asked if his schools administrators are keeping students informed of the case numbers, Ben replied, No, they are not. The only things that they say about COVID-19 at our school is to keep our masks up. The only way we really get information about COVID cases is from going to the CPS website. There are a few people who get tested every week from testers that come in, including me. The reason I choose to get tested every week was just to make sure if I get COVID, I dont spread it even more than it is now.

Ben said that while students are required to wear masks and it is strictly enforced at his school, that is not the case everywhere. The mayor and CPS CEOs office would never follow the protocol. They are so focused on keeping students in school, no matter how dangerous it is.

Also he shared his personal experiences and loss suffered from the pandemic. I have had COVID about two times now. Most recently I had it over winter break. My symptoms were very mild, compared to other people. Just a runny nose, sore throat, fatigue.

I have actually experienced a death because of COVID, my grandfather. This was before the vaccines were a thing, and really before we knew much about COVID. He had major symptoms, trouble breathing, tired, major fever, chills, fatigue. COVID has a very bad effect on lungs, so he actually had pneumonia along with COVID.

Speaking on the CPS walkout held last Friday, Ben said, I am amazed that they decided that they could actually make a change in the world. A lot of kids my age dont even really think about starting a rally or protest. I believe it was for a good cause; the students from that protest came from schools where their COVID cases at school are at a major climb.

One parent with children in the district shared her experiences as well, saying, Fortunately my kids havent gotten sick, but many students and teachers have gotten COVID. They [CPS] are insisting it happened outside of the school. Quite frankly it is giving me great anxiety. My five-year-old still hasnt attended kindergarten as of yet. I was hoping they would switch to virtual, but CPS said no.

She continued, My childrens school wasnt closed because they are a charter school. I wish they had walked out, but they didnt. They have the children doing spit COVID tests in class amongst each other. Very disgusting, if you ask me. Its all very disturbing. I really hope they figure something out soon. We need a new system of learning.

The Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Committee is organizing the fight against the pandemic and for schools to move online until the virus can be eliminated. We urge all teachers and parents to contact us and join today.

Students looking to fight back can also get involved by joining the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.
Facing chronic teacher and staff shortages due to the spread of COVID-19 infections, Moore Public Schools in Oklahoma has called in police to supervise classes at three elementary schools. The Moore Police Department announced its involvement in a social media post.

Moore PD is a proud community partner of Moore Public Schools. This week, several on-duty officers are serving in the classroom as schools continue to face teacher and staff shortages. Today, officers Stromski and Lewis covered 6th grade classes at Apple Creek Elementary. Additional officers are serving Houchin and Broadmoore. We are thankful to be able to assist our community during these difficult times.

Police in Moore, Oklahoma overseeing students at Apple Creek Elementary to make up staffing shortages. (Credit: Moore Police Department)

In the posts attached photos, unmasked officers in uniform can be seen presiding over students doing virtual schoolwork at their desks. In one of the pictures, an unmasked officer is sitting at a desk with a mug with a large Q, a symbol associated with the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, although some posters said this was the initial of the missing teacher. In any case, parents and teachers overwhelmingly commented on the inappropriate and irresponsible decision to bring police into the schools.

Protect and serve? Outrageous and infuriating. How dare you! Unmasked and armed to teach little children. Not physically or emotionally safe. Not appropriate. And a horrible role model for children during a pandemic. Not only that, but these cops are literally putting human lives at risk, including their own. Absolutely disgusting, said one parent.

What are you going to do when all the police officers get COVID? Because unless the teachers have been attending some very intimate parties in their off hours that no one knows about, I think the whole teaching in close proximity to students might be the reason why theyre all sick in the first place, another parent commented.

As a teacher who caught Covid at school and was out sick last week, Im appalled to see these officers unmasked in the classroom, a teacher said.

With more teachers out of commission due to the highly contagious Omicron variant, school districts across the country have resorted to extraordinary measures to keep in-person classes running.

Earlier this week, Cincinnati Public School administrators attempted to prevent the shutdown of 11 schools by sending more than 60 staffers from the districts central office to classrooms. However, the move was not enough to keep schools open, and the district was forced to move to virtual learning.

Just outside of Austin, Texas, the Hays Consolidated Independent School District sent emails to parents encouraging them to become substitute teachers. A potential applicant would only need to pass a criminal background check, and the principal could waive the 30-hour college credit requirement. In a statement, the district explained having someone in class  is better than the alternative of having to close schools.

In Upstate New York, the West Genesee Central School District posted on Facebook asking youth to take on vacant jobs. Are you home on college break and want to help out at your alma mater? Come be a Substitute Teacher or Teaching Assistant while you are home and earn some spending money before you go back to school, the district said in the post.

In Bullock County, Alabama, parents reported their children were left in the cafeteria for hours because of a lack of cafeteria workers and teachers in the school district. WSFA 12 News said its office was bombarded with calls from Union Springs Elementary School parents saying many teachers and staff did not show up to work.

In a photo sent to the news organization, dozens of students were gathered in the cafeteria with their coats and backpacks. Javan Avery told reporters she immediately picked up her child and nieces from the elementary school after seeing the picture on social media. Avery said she was told there were no cafeteria workers and the students had to sit in the cafeteria because their teacher was absent.

Avery expressed her frustration to WSFA 12 News and said she did not understand why the school refuses to shift to virtual learning due to staffing issues. I cant explain the fire burning inside of me. If we dont send them to school and they miss so many days, we get a yellow slip. But we send them to school for you to take care of them. If you didnt have any staff, you should just call parents to come pick them up or put them back on the bus and send them home instead of keeping them at school, Avery said.

She continued, It is very concerning. They havent kept us in the loop about anything. They need to answer, and they need to stop being stubborn. I want to see the school shut down and go virtual.

Late last month, Michigans Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bipartisan bill allowing school bus drivers, cafeteria workers or any other school district employee in the state to serve as a substitute teacher until the end of this school year in June 2022.

All these measures explode the lies, repeated by politicians from both big business parties, that schools are being kept open to address the academic and emotional needs of children, which remote learning has supposedly failed to do. Cops are now being used to keep children in infected classrooms so their parents can be sent back to equally dangerous workplaces to produce corporate profit.

The absurd, desperate and outright criminal means employed to keep schools open during the pandemic reflect the sociopathy of the capitalist ruling class. The Biden administration, the unions and the media tout lies about safe schools, but the surge of infections and hospitalizations throughout the US has been a social disaster for American families. According to the American Academy of Pediatricians, nearly 1 million US children were infected with COVID-19 last week alone.

At the same time, educators, parents and students have increasingly demanded the closure of unsafe schools. Students in schools from New York City to Chicago to Florida to California have organized walkouts, demanding action be taken to save the lives of those in their communities. This followed the four-day job action by 25,000 Chicago teachers to stop in-person learning. While this struggle was halted by a miserable deal the Chicago Teachers Union signed with Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the struggle in the nations third largest district continues.

The fight to close the schools and save lives is inseparable from the growing class struggle in the US and internationally. Stopping the spread of infections and death requires a globally coordinated movement to shut down schools and nonessential production and employ all available public health measures to eliminate the deadly pandemic once and for all. This requires the expansion of rank-and-file safety committees into every school and workplace to link up the growing global opposition to the pandemic.

We urge educators, parents and youth to contact the WSWS for more information on building rank-and-file safety committees and to send information about conditions in your school district.
As teachers and students mobilize in the United States, France, Italy, Greece and beyond against official pandemic protocols, the Revolution permanente group linked to the Pabloite New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) is working to block a fight to halt mass infections in schools.

A class gulf separates it from the call by the Parti de legalite socialiste (PES) to build independent, rank-and-file committees to wage a united, international struggle against the pandemic. While calling on teachers to join mobilizations like todays French school strike, it works to tie them to the bankrupt national framework of trade union talks with President Emmanuel Macron.

While calling for further one-day strikes after the January 13 French teachers strike, Revolution permanente abstains above all from the necessarily international fight to end the pandemic. Tacitly accepting Macrons arguments that one must accept mass infections and live with the virus, it advances demands for a few mitigation policies to marginally slow the spread of the virus, combined with calls for wage increases. In its article Historical strike in education: continue and deepen the struggle, it calls for more one-day strikes in a purely national framework:

It is, indeed, a matter of striking while the iron is hot.  This is the only way we can win what teachers have demanded for months or even years: a health protocol up to the task, hiring enough full-time staff for public education, reducing class sizes during the pandemic, wage increases after a ten-year wage freeze, the ending of [Education Minister Jean-Michel] Blanquers baccalaureate reform, the Parcoursup university reform, and the canceling of testing in a context of a two-year pandemic, which condemns students to a class-based selection on their futures.

A health protocol up to the task, however, can only mean one that ends the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 18 million people have died worldwide from the virus, 1.5 million in Europe and 127,000 in France; every week it claims over 1,000 lives in France and 20,000 in Europe. Striking teachers have described children going to school terrified of infecting their parents and grandparents or traumatized by the experience of transmitting a virus that killed their loved ones. The long-term impact of the virus, which remains present in childrens brains and other vital organs, is unknown.

Given the highly contagious, airborne nature of the Omicron variant, reducing class sizes during the pandemic, as Revolution permanente demands, will not stop the pandemic. After France posted nearly 500,000 cases for two straight days, around 5.5 million people, or 8 percent of the French population, is now ill with COVID-19. With isolation protocols relaxed so that employers can force the sick back to work, the virus will keep circulating massively across society, including in schools, even if students sit a bit farther from each other in classrooms.

The only way to stop mass circulation of the virus is an international lockdown, shutting down non-essential production and moving to online learning. Unlike the strict lockdown in France in the early months of the pandemic, this requires extensive financial support for workers and small businesses affected by the lockdown; massive investment in online learning; and contact tracing after the lockdown ends, to prevent a resurgence of the contagion and pursue a Zero Covid policy.

Revolution permanente maintains a deafening silence on the fact that several Asian-Pacific countries including China, Taiwan, anduntil it capitulated to demands from the banksNew Zealand pursued a Zero Covid policy. This succeeded in halting the pandemic in a few months and stopping resurgences of the virus imported from abroad. Chinas 1.4 billion population suffered fewer than 5,000 deaths, far less economic dislocation, and far fewer limitations on personal movement than Europeans.

Revolution permanente is silent on the necessity of ending the pandemic, not because it is impossible, but because it cuts across the political orientation and material interests it defends. Aiming to carve out a niche for itself in Frances petty-bourgeois trade union bureaucracy, and work within the framework of its negotiations with the capitalist state, it advances the political fiction that these bureaucracies are mobilizing the working class in struggle against Macron.

Calling to amplify the movement, by organizing and broadening assemblies of strikers at the local level, it writes:

More broadly, we must seek to build and demand from the trade union leaderships a battle plan for the entire world of labor, among others with the perspective of building a one-day strike that is as massive as possible on January 27. We have everything to gain from such a junction.  While strikes are taking place over wages, and corporate profits are exploding, we must insist on the need for wage increases for all. Finally, an alternative health strategy to that proposed by the government must urgently be imposed, controlled by workers and the population, not at the orders of the Medef business federation.

It is pointless to demand from the trade union bureaucracy a battle plan against the Macron government. After massive participation in the January 13 nationwide strike, union officials said only that they would try to ensure that Blanquer kept his promises to provide a few more N95 masks to the most vulnerable staff and hire a few more substitute teachers. They laid out no plan even to slow the tidal wave of COVID-19 infections ripping through schools, let alone end the havoc caused by the pandemic.

The unions simply worked to sell to the public the policies of the Macron government, which has already rejected online learning out of hand. Assemblies of strikers, that is, rank-and-file committees answerable to the workers, must be built to fight Macrons policies of austerity and mass infection. However, they can only be built on an international basis, independent of the national union bureaucracies, and in a conscious and open struggle for socialism against the capitalist system.

The PES, the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), insists that fighting the pandemic ultimately requires a conscious rejection of the petty-bourgeois politics of groups like the NPA, Revolution permanente and its Argentine affiliates, the Morenoite Socialist Workers Party (PTS) and the Izquierda Diario web sites.

Like World War Iwhich could only be stopped after the October 1917 revolution in Russia and the revolutionary uprisings of the German working class in 1918the pandemic is a trigger event in world history. The European ruling elites inability to pursue a scientific policy against COVID-19 is bound up with a deep, insoluble crisis of the capitalist system that can only be halted by its overthrow in a struggle of the international working class for socialism.

The financial aristocracy reacted to the pandemic by demanding massive state bailouts in the United States, Britain and the euro zone, to transfer public wealth directly into its pockets. While European billionaires alone added over 1 trillion dollars to their wealth in the first year of the pandemic, these sums were financed by massive increases in public debt. Sovereign debt has now reached an unsustainable 116 percent in France, 122 percent in Spain, and 155 percent in Italy.

Under such conditions, a struggle for wage gains by teachers and broader layers of workers entails a direct clash with the super-rich financial parasites who dominate society and their defenders in the capitalist state machine.

Critical political lessons must be drawn from the experience of the NPAs Greek allies, SYRIZA (the Coalition of the Radical Left). After the European Union (EU) imposed bitter austerity that ballooned Greek public debt out to the levels now reached by major European economies, SYRIZA, a coalition of Stalinists and allies of Britains pseudo-left Socialist Workers Party (SWP), was elected in 2015. Hailed by the NPA, it pledged to end EU austerity.

SYRIZA, tied to nationalism and the Greek union bureaucracy, was terrified however of demands in the working class that went well beyond what it could accept. In just a few months, it repudiated its election promises, aligned with the EU and the Greek bourgeoisie, and imposed tens of billions of euros in new social cuts. It went on to arm Saudi Arabia for its bloody war in Yemen, set up mass detention camps for refugees on the Greek islands, andfor good measureto declare that it shared common democratic principles with the billionaire then-US president, Donald Trump.

A powerful movement is emerging among workers and youth internationally, against a virus that knows no borders and needs no passports, and that can only be stopped on a world level. Arming this movement with the political consciousness and program it needs to halt the pandemic and subordinate the economy to the crucial needs of society requires a break with the pseudo-left forces that, like SYRIZA before them, cover for the ruling elites capitulation to the virus.

The ICFI is conducting a Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic to arm workers with a scientific understanding of the pandemic, the responsibility of the ruling class, and how it can be stopped. Fighting to halt the pandemic and impose scientific policies, however, depends on the formation of independent, rank-and-file committees that break with the orientation of the union bureaucracies and Revolution permanente to negotiate with Macron, and take up an international struggle for socialism.
An average of two thousand Americans die of COVID-19 every day. Nearly 1 million children were infected with COVID-19 in the United States last week. Over the past two years, millions have died worldwide of a disease that can be eliminated and whose spread could have been halted at any point. The reader of the mainstream press would be excused for not knowing these facts, as they were confronted by a far more pressing story: the death of two thousand hamsters in Hong Kong.

The furor over the death of pet rodents is the latest iteration of a concerted campaign among the major capitalist powers and leading news outlets throughout the world to manufacture outrage over Chinas Zero-COVID policies, depicting the necessary public health measures that China alone implements as draconian and authoritarian.

Chinas policies of mass testing, contact tracing, quarantine and, when necessary, lockdowns, have saved millions of lives. The measures have been strikingly effective. There have been 136,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China since the beginning of the pandemic, and only 5,700 people have died. More than 850,000 Americans have died of COVID in the same period, more than six times the number of total confirmed cases in China, despite the fact that China has four times the population.

The fate of hamsters in Hong Kong is the latest salvo of the media propaganda campaign. Authorities in Hong Kong investigating the citys first untraceable Delta variant infection in more than three months determined that a plausible vector for transmission was in a small population of hamsters recently imported from the Netherlands. The infected man worked in a pet shop, where 11 hamsters were found to test positive for the virus.

A hamster (Wikimedia)

On Tuesday, Hong Kong authorities announced that they would be culling 2,000 hamsters as a necessary public health measure to prevent the spread of the pandemic among humans. The culling of an animal population to prevent the spread of disease is a standard public health measure. Denmark in 2020 killed 17 million minks when some of those minks were determined to be carrying COVID-19. The British government killed 4.4 million cows to prevent the spread of mad cow disease.

Within 24 hours of the announcement in Hong Kong, however, the hue and cry of moral outrage was heard from the press around the globe.

Bloomberg ran an op-ed that used language usually reserved for world-historic crimes. It bore the headline, Where were you when they came for the hamsters? One anticipates that only satire would run under such a banner, but no. The culling of 2,000 hamsters marks a surrealist watershed, a moment that brought home the nature of Hong Kongs dystopian journey more vividly than any other. The paper blamed Chinas Zero-COVID policy: Would Hong Kong officials really have taken such a rapid and draconian step were they not adhering to Chinas own strategy for keeping Covid at bay?

The news anchor on CNN spoke of it as a disturbing story and concluded in the hushed tone that has been trademarked for use with mass casualty events. A commentator on Deutsche Welle pulled a profoundly concerned face when he spoke of the Chinese crackdown on the hamster community.

Hamsters have an average life span of two years. They are rotund little rodents that spend the majority of those two years in cages, sleeping and running on plastic wheelsthat is to say, if they are not lab animals. More than 98,000 hamsters were experimented upon in the United States in 2019, yet there was not a hint of moral outrage at the curtailed lives of these cuddly creatures.

One imagines jackboots when the BBC breathlessly reports, Authorities in Hong Kong have swooped in on a pet shop, seizing a number of hamsters. Did the authorities demand to know if the pet shop was hiding any hamsters, and warn that the consequences for disobedience would be severe?

The Sydney Morning Herald ran the headline, Pets the latest sacrifice in Chinas attempt to hold fortress COVID-zero, and wrote, the hamsters doom, perhaps more than any other recent example, has highlighted a growing divide between China and the rest of the world on strategies for managing COVID-19. The divide between China and the rest of the world is 6 million human beings dead of a preventable disease, not 2,000 hamsters.

AFP opted to run a human interest story, writing of the heartbreak of the family that had to part with Pudding, a hamster with a pink cage, and Marshmallow, a grey twitchy-nosed hamster scurrying through plastic tubes.

Time was running out for Pudding, Agence France-Presse reported sadly. Not a word of the 2,000 dead Americans that day, but let us all mourn for poor Pudding.

The Wall Street Journal ran the headline, Fuzzy Hamsters are Hong Kongs Newest Enemy in Its Covid-Zero Campaign. France 24 claimed that there was Fury over Hong Kongs mass cull of hamsters and small pets, but the only evidence of fury in the article was a single unnamed pet owner who was quoted, No one can take my hamster away unless they kill me.

There is an unmistakable element of racism in the outrage in the Western media over Chinese practices in treating domestic animals. It was a standard claim of British colonialismas it brutally conquered and crushed India, Burma, Malaya, and sought to dominate Chinathat the local treatment of domestic animals in a manner akin to livestock was proof of Oriental barbarism. Now, as millions of human beings die in Europe and the United States, the Western media decries the treatment of pet rodents.

Last week, the New York Times compared Chinas COVID policy to the Holocaust and analogized public health workers to Nazis. This week the international media raises a piteous sob, Wont somebody please think of the hamsters?

The coverage of China in the worlds press over the past six months has seen many of its leading representatives become the subject of unintentional self-satire. They stand exposed by the things for which they can muster outrage. They have treated mass death and human misery on an unprecedented global scale with misanthropy and indifference, but find their conscience roused over the pettiest of things: a dead corgi in an apartment in China and 2,000 hamsters in Hong Kong. One is reminded of the fact that Hitler was a vegetarian.

The thrust of all of this manufactured outrage is that Chinas Zero-COVID policy is irrational, verging on insanity, and is brutal and inhuman. There is a political imperative behind the sudden concern for the well-being of rodents in Hong Kong: to prevent the idea from taking root in the consciousness of the worlds working masses that COVID-19 can be eliminated and their lives saved.
The Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of four Washington County inmates against the Washington County Detention Center, Sheriff Tim Helder, and jail physician Dr. Robert Karas which  charges the defendants for administering ivermectin to incarcerated individuals without prior informed consent as to the nature, contents, or potential side effects of the drug. The drug, according to the lawsuit, was administered under false pretenses to treat COVID-19 infections; the inmates were under the impression they were receiving vitamins, antibiotics, and steroids.

Notwithstanding warnings issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the drug should not be used to treat COVID-19, right-wing doctors and political figures have endorsed its use. The American Medical Association, American Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists released a joint statement last year strongly opposing the ordering, prescribing, or dispensing of ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19 outside of a clinical trial.

A syringe of of ivermectin  a drug used to kill worms and other parasites  intended for use in horses only, rests on the box it was packaged in, in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Gary Sullivan, legal director of ACLU Arkansas said, No oneincluding incarcerated individuals should be deceived and subject to medical experimentation. He continues, Sheriff Helder has a responsibility to provide food, shelter and safe, appropriate care to incarcerated individuals.

Ignoring warnings from medical authorities, and ivermectins lack of efficacy in clinical trials in combating the virus, the Washington County jail has practiced this medical experimentation since last July, according to an e-mail informing Helder of the medications use. Helder, deferring to medical authorities on treatment, told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in August 2021, Whatever a doctor prescribes, thats out of my bailiwick. Helder continued, But I will stake their record against any medical provider in any correctional facility in the United States. Doctors prescribe. Theyve been to medical school. I havent.

The plaintiffs, Dayman Blackburn, Edrick Floreal-Wooten, Jeremiah Little, and Julio Gonzales, say they were given ivermectin in high doses, causing them to develop side effects such as blurred vision, diarrhea, and bloody stool.

On the FDAs website, it is stated that the FDA has not approved Ivermectin for use in treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans. Ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses for some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea. Ivermectin is not an antiviral (a drug for treating viruses), adding that taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm, having the potential to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, delirium, and death.

Dr. Karas began administering ivermectin at the jail in November 2020. Furthermore, in a letter sent by his attorney last September, Karas told a state medical board examiner that 254 inmates at the jail had been treated with the drug.

On the Karas Health Cares Facebook page, Karas states, Ive said it throughout [COVID-19] that thank God I practice in Arkansas and not in some other state. Outside of some legal expenses  Ive been able to practice medicine exactly as I see fit to the benefit of thousands of our patients. (Emphasis in the original.)

Last August, Justice of the Peace for District 9 Eva Madison, said she had been informed by a county employee that Karas Correctional Health had been prescribing ivermectin to detainees and inmates. Madison then referred to issuances by the FDA warning against using the anti-parasitic drug to treat COVID-19, further stating that the county should carefully review and address the transgressions before approving a budget.

I think we need to reevaluate who we are using to provide medical care if they are disregarding FDA guidelines and giving de-wormer to detainees at our county jail, Madison said at a quorum court meeting in August. Its very disturbing to me that, thats the level of care were providing.

The Sheriffs Office proposed a 2022 budget that included funding for Karas, wherein Karas asked for a 10 percent increase in its medical services contract. Helder claimed the company has been an amazing partner for the Sheriff's Office throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Just days after the lawsuit was filed earlier this month, a post on Karas Health Cares Facebook page, signed by Dr. Rob and Team said, Inmates arent dumb and I suspect in the future other inmates around the country will be [suing] their facilities requesting same treatment were using at WCDC [Washington County Detention Center]  including the Ivermectin. Karas continued, Greater than 95 [percent] of our sick patients havent had [COVID-19] before or the vaccine. If youre in that category and with any obesity or other risk factors I believe the vaccine is safer than getting [COVID-19]. And if you get sick, get started on medicine [ivermectin] right away.

Karas has boasted of using ivermectin to treat COVID-19, that he regularly gives it to patients with the coronavirus and that he himself has taken it and also given it to family members, prompting the Arkansas State Medical Board to open an investigation into Karas in August.

The medical board has been investigating myriad complaints against Karas over the jails use of ivermectin. The investigation is expected to discuss its findings next month in its February meeting.
Amid a surge of infection driven by the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Marylands Republican Governor Larry Hogan and the Democratic Party-controlled state government are resorting to ever more manipulative measures to keep businesses and schools operating in-person.

Maryland has seen more than 10,000 new cases each day since the new year started. An astounding 17,253 people tested positive on January 9. This number surpassed the previous record of 3,792 set last winter by over four times. Deaths are also beginning to climb with the seven day rolling average hitting 66 per day on January 17, an all time high, up from a low of 9 in early November.

ICU and acute hospital bed usage has increased seven-fold since before the holidays, and a number of hospitals have begun instituting emergency measures. The current level of testing is grossly inadequate with the positivity rate reaching 30 percent.

A registered nurse in a full suit of PPE assists a COVID-19 patient inside an isolated ICU room at Fort Washington Medical Center on Thursday, June 18, 2020 in Fort Washington, Md. (AP Photo/Nathan Ellgren)

The surge had caused Baltimore City Public Schools to close 60 of its 155 schools at the beginning of the year, but by the end of the week the district had quickly reopened them. Outbreaks in Baltimore City schools have been covered up by the school board, leading to deaths. We are being forced into school environments that are unsafedue to overcrowding, limited access to testing, lack of school nurses, lack of proper maskingand are being gaslighted by leadership with promises of safety, a Baltimore City schoolteacher told the World Socialist Web Site.

Educators are at a breaking point and cannot keep this normal school year pace in an environment that is anything but normal. We are more than capable of delivering high-quality instruction virtually, she insisted.

This situation has been met by an increasing opposition within broad sections of the working class. In the heavily-populated Washington DC suburbs, Montgomery County bus drivers are continuing to remain home from their jobs. The countys Democratic Party-controlled executive requested the National Guard to keep the buses running.

'We don't have a break glass in case of emergency bus driver pool that's sitting somewhere being unused right now,' stated Montgomery County assistant administrative officer Dr. Earl Stoddard to Fox News. The official stated that between 75 and I think 90 routes that have been affected that's a significant number of routes.

A petition started by high school students on Change.org calling for remote learning has garnered 18,200 signatures in a little over a week. A month ago, [Montgomery County Public Schools] announced that if a school reached a student infection rate of 5 percent, the school would be reviewed by MCPS and the Department of Health and Human Services to go virtual for two weeks, it reads.

One day after winter break, 11 schools were above the 5% rate, and two days later, 126 schools were. The petition charges county officials with jeopardizing students safety, saying, Not expecting this extreme upsurge, the county is scrambling now, trying to force us to stay in school, even though they know it is unsafe. A similar petition in neighboring Howard County has gotten 15,000 signatures.

Montgomery County, a deep blue stronghold of the Democratic Party, has been hit with a surge of COVID-19 cases, tallying 10,000 positive cases in its school system within the first week of 2022. On Friday, January 7, the county announced that it would no longer be using a 5 percent positive threshold to determine if its schools should turn to remote learning.

The state of Maryland does not currently recommend any automatic trigger or threshold for the suspension of in-person learning Therefore, MCPS will no longer use a threshold of 5% or more of unrelated students and staff in a school who test positive in a 14-day period to consider a transition to virtual learning,' said Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight of the about-face. The reversal came a day after the threshold had been set in place.

The mass opposition of students and faculty forced the Montgomery County Education Association, the local affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), to pass a no confidence resolution last Wednesday by 94 percent against the school system administrators. Seeking to contain teacher and students anger and opposition to meaningless gestures, the resolution denounced the MCPS leadership for dereliction of duty and a lack of competence but made no specific demands of the officials.

In Carroll County, a shortage of bus drivers has led to increased talks of a sickout, as COVID-19 cases have peaked since the holidays at levels unseen during the previous months. On January 9, the county saw 343 cases, a number which dwarfs the peak of last winter season by many times over.

Dianne Grote, president of the Carroll County School Bus Contractors Association, told the Baltimore Sun that while some drivers are discussing a sickout, her organization is resolutely opposed because a potential strike could jeopardize the association's partnership with the school system and have a negative impact on students, parents, employees and businesses.'

In response to the unprecedented public health catastrophe and militant moods of the working class, the state government has tried to stack the deck in the favor of reopening. On January 4, Hogan declared a state of emergency intended to keep mass sickness and death from interfering with business.

Hogan made this explicit in his announcement, stating, All of the emergency actions we are taking today are to keep our hospitals from overflowing, to keep our kids in school, and to keep Maryland open for business, and we will continue to take whatever actions are necessary in the very difficult days and weeks ahead.

Hogan also signed two executive orders the same day. The first relaxes licensing requirements for doctors and nurses, and the second does the same for emergency medical services. Hogan also deployed 1,000 members of the Maryland National Guard to provide manpower at state-run testing sites and to help with moving patients.

The move to rewrite and undermine public health policy comes after the Maryland Board of Education voted to allow counties to remove masks in schools as the Omicron variant first emerged. These reckless maneuvers have underscored the WSWSs insistence that all sections of the American ruling class, both nationally and at state level, have sought to subordinate health and well-being to the profit system.

Furthermore, the collusion of both Democrats, National Education Association affiliates, and other groups at the municipal level with the Republican governor demonstrates that there is no faction of the capitalist class that will support a genuine fight against COVID-19.

The determination of officials throughout Maryland to keep schools open through a massive surge in cases as Omicron spreads is part of a global trend. In the face of a more infectious variant that is overwhelming health care systems, governments across the world are dropping any measures to contain the spread of the virus at all.

Maryland educators, students, and parents should contact the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee and begin efforts to organize a genuine rank-and-file rebellion under the leadership of their own organizations. This committee works in concert with others like it across the globe to mobilize teachers and workers to put a stop to the capitalist classs homicidal reopening policies and end the pandemic with a zero COVID elimination strategy.
Shaun Hendy and Siouxsie Wiles. (Sources of images: Ministry of Health YouTube, Wikipedia)

Two of New Zealands most prominent COVID-19 experts are taking legal action against their employer, the University of Auckland, for allegedly failing to take steps to protect them against a bombardment of threats and abuse from individuals opposed to vaccination and public health restrictions.

Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles and COVID-19 modeller Shaun Hendy have provided extensive public commentary and advice to the government during the pandemic. On different occasions, both have criticised the Labour Party-led government for ending lockdowns while COVID-19 was still circulating in the community.

Wiles strongly denounced the decision last October to end New Zealands elimination strategy, telling the Guardian that while the wealthy and privileged would be relatively insulated, other communities may well end up being devastated by the pandemic. Hendys modeling provided stark warnings about the mass deaths that could result from allowing COVID-19 to spread without lockdowns and border controls, and relatively low levels of vaccination.

Along with other scientists in New Zealand and internationally, the two have been relentlessly attacked by right-wing conspiracy theorists, and vilified by media commentators and politicians demanding the removal of COVID-19 restrictions.

On September 10 last year, opposition National Party leader Judith Collins attacked Wiles as a big, fat hypocrite, telling NewstalkZB: Im sick and tired of listening to her telling everyone else what to do. In a widely-published op-ed on September 26, former Prime Minister John Key denounced public health experts for making the public fearful.

On December 24, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) referred Hendy and Wiles case to the Employment Court. In its determination, the ERA stated that the pair have endured harassment that has included (but is not limited to) targeting via email, on social media and video sharing platforms, in person confrontations and threats of physical confrontations.

Associate Professor Wiles has been the subject of doxing with an associated threat to physically confront her at her home. Professor Hendy has been physically confronted in his office on the University campus by an individual who threatened to see him soon.

The experts claim that Auckland University breached its obligations under the Academic Staff Collective Agreement and the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to properly address their safety concerns. When the two experts initially lodged grievances with their employer in July, the ERA said the university replied the following month by recommending that they keep their public commentary to a minimum and suggested they take paid leave to minimise the abuse they were receiving.

In other words, the universitys proposed solution was for Hendy and Wiles to keep quiet. This was just before New Zealand was hit with an outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is continuing to spread throughout the country. Hendy and Wiles refused to be intimidated from making public commentary, which they defended to the ERA as an essential function of their role as scientists during the global pandemic.

The ERA concluded that there was an urgent need for the Employment Court to determine the scope (if any) of the [universitys] duty to protect the applicants from their harassers in such circumstances. A hearing date has not yet been announced.

Professor Hendy said the outcome of the Employment Court hearing would be important for himself, Wiles, and other academics who provide public commentary in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also other academics who provide public commentary on unpopular or controversial topics, and therefore may also be the subject of targeted harassment.

In the case of COVID-19, however, the vast majority of the population, as well as scientists internationally, strongly supported New Zealands now-abandoned elimination strategy, including lockdowns and mass vaccination. The anti-vaccination, anti-lockdown campaigners speak for a very small section of society, but one that is promoted by the corporate media, which has always opposed elimination and lockdowns for placing intolerable costs on big business.

The Labour-led government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also emboldened these extreme-right elements by embracing the let it rip approach to COVID-19. It has falsely declared that the population can live with the virus and that vaccinations alone will prevent mass infection and deaths.

In lifting lockdowns and public health restrictions, the government has repeatedly ignored the advice of public health experts. There are currently more than 500 active cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the community, and hundreds more Omicron cases among returned travellers, who are confined to managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) hotels.

Ardern has made clear that the government expects the highly infectious Omicron variant to escape into the community soon, but is insisting that schools must reopen at the end of the summer holidays next month.

Meanwhile anti-vaxxers are making increasingly aggressive threats against scientists, health workers and ordinary people. The Otago Daily Times reported on January 6 that University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker, a prominent architect of the elimination strategy, received a few attacks by email every day, and sometimes abusive phone calls.

Parents and children have faced intimidation outside vaccination centres. A video published by the New Zealand Herald showed anti-vax protesters approaching parents and children while they were waiting in line.

In the Beach Haven and Birkdale Community Facebook group, one parent wrote on Tuesday: I took my children to be vaccinated yesterday at Eventfinda Stadium yesterdayand was incredibly disappointed by the intimidating behaviour of protesters there. Placards and megaphones and people trying to give out anti-vax leaflets. My girls were so scared and upset we had to turn around and go home.

There is a growing danger of violence. Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki, a prominent opponent of vaccine mandates and public health measures, threatened during a sermon on December 26 that if mobile vaccination clinics visited schools, Ill tow your wagon away and Ill get the boys to blow it up and all your syringes, well run you out of town.

Tamaki was arrested on January 17 after speaking at an anti-vax rally in Christchurch attended by more than the 100 people allowed under the current watered-down COVID restrictions. He had previously been arrested for flouting public health restrictions, and is now accused of breaching his bail conditions.

Destiny Church is almost universally reviled by the working class, but its activities are heavily publicised. The New York Times fraudulently presented an anti-lockdown rally in Auckland last October as evidence of growing opposition to the elimination strategy. The pseudo-left Daily Blogs contributor John Minto sought to legitimise one of the churchs rallies in Wellington in November in opposition to vaccine mandates.

This promotion of the extreme right serves definite class interests. The political and media establishment, as well as the trade union bureaucracy, represent the rich and the upper middle classes. They insist that schools and workplaces must remain open, no matter what the cost to peoples health and lives, so that corporations can continue to extract profits.

The working class, however, cannot and will not accept the reckless and homicidal reopening agenda, which is producing a catastrophic surge in deaths in the United States, Europe, Australia and elsewhere. Workers, including teachers and parents, must come to the defence of Hendy, Wiles and all scientists and healthcare workers, as part of the fight for a fully-resourced strategy to eliminate COVID-19 in New Zealand and throughout the world.
As a tsunami of COVID-19 cases spreads throughout India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again promised the financial oligarchy that no national lockdowns will come to interrupt the flow of profits to the financial oligarchy. All industries and businesses are to continue to function, forcing workers to work despite the dangerous pandemic situation.

On January 13, Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the pandemic with state Chief Ministers to review Public Health Preparedness for COVID-19 and Vaccination Progress, the Indian prime ministers official website reported. Modis review, however, did not aim to highlight the danger posed by the highly infectious Omicron variant, which is now driving an exponential rise in coronavirus infections.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking in Houston in 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Actually, Modi, in his remarks at the meeting, has once again made clear that his governments policy, like that of many other capitalist governments around the world, is to allow the coronavirus to infect literally every single Indian. Noting that the Omicron variant is infecting the masses many times faster than the earlier variants, he blandly declared, we have to ensure that there is no panic.

Modis remarks were not aimed to prevent panic but to prevent action to halt mass infections. His ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) was holding massive election rallies in five poll-bound states, including Uttar Pradesh, until the countrys Election Commission finally forced a ban on rallies in the beginning of the year.

Other public events in which thousands of people are gathering are also proceeding. One such superspreader event was the 47-day annual religious fair Magh Mela-2022, where tens of thousands of Hindu devotees swim in three rivers in Prayagraj, in BJP-controlled Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state with over 200 million inhabitants.

When it comes to talk about the profit interests of the financial oligarchy, on the other hand, Modi was very firm. While devising any strategy on COVID-19, he insisted that we must keep in mind there should be minimum damage to the livelihood of the common people and economic activities, and the momentum of the economy should be maintained.

Given that Modis policies have driven hundreds of millions of people into extreme poverty during the pandemic, his reference here to common people is entirely bogus. His message is not to Indian toilers but to the financial aristocrats who have increased their personal wealth during the pandemic by tens of billions of dollars. Amid an exponential surge of Omicron cases, Modis word has only one meaning: whatever disaster is going to emerge, the momentum of the economy, that is, the superexploitation of workers, should be maintained.

To justify this pro-business policy amid massive surge of COVID-19 cases, he proposed to focus more on local containment rather than on a national lockdown, and home isolation rather than strict contact tracing, mass testing and other key public health policies.

Modi and his policy makers are well aware that even these limited measures are not effective in a massive country like India, where most Indians live in small tenements, overcrowded slums and small huts without any hygienic conditions or clean water. While calling for home isolation of COVID-19 patients, he did not say a word on providing financial assistance or food for those who are infected and their families. Nor did he say a word on assistance on medical expenses for those needing care.

His call to focus more on local containment marks not only the abandonment of even a limited nationally coordinated programme to fight the pandemic.

On the very day that Modi made these remarks, India witnessed more than 247,000 daily cases in 24 hours, up 27 percent from the previous days count. On the same day, 380 new deaths were confirmed, bringing the highly undercounted official toll to 485,035. As of January 19, six days after Modis speech, the total number of infections reached 33.2 million cases, and the active cases count was nearing 2 million.

In reality, scientific studies have shown the real death count in India is fully 10 times higher, between 3 and 5 million deaths.

Moreover, experts are raising serious doubts about the official numbers of COVID-19 cases and tests. On January 15, an NDTV report showed how Indias daily tests have not been kept up with the speed at which cases have shot up in December indicating serious under-reporting of COVID-19 cases. Cases are up 265 percent, but tests are up only 4 percent, it noted. Referring to the positivity ratecurrently at 19.65 percent, and continuously increasingNDTV concluded, This shows that more and more tests are turning out to be positive.

Yet, neither Modi nor Indian ruling elite as a whole sees the situation as alarming enough to press the warning button.

Ignoring countless reports showing that a vaccine-alone policy cannot fight COVID-19 and particularly highly infectious and vaccine-resistant variants like Omicron, Modi in his remarks to the Chief Ministers, said that vaccination is the most effective weapon to fight against corona.

During the meetings, Modi boasted of Indias vaccination figures. However, even in this arena, he covers up critical figures. Of 940 million adults over 18 in India eligible for vaccination, 640 million have received at least one dose, leaving 300 million adults at risk of infection.

Even though the Modi government has announced vaccination for the 15-18 age group from January 3, NewsClick wrote: It is progressing at a slow pace as usual. Meanwhile, as schools and colleges reopen, the under-18 population has been increasingly getting infected. Meanwhile, unlike many other countries, India is not providing third booster doses to the population. Though Modi recently promised the booster shots for 30 million health care and other frontline workers, even that is shockingly lagging, reported the news website.

To pretend that his government does care about the pandemic, Modi claimed: We have to continue scaling up our medical infrastructure and manpower with an emphasis on science-based knowledge on the awareness front. The bitter experience of the past two years tells an entirely different story.

Even after disastrous pandemic experiences, Indias budget allocation for health care stood at 1.8 percent of its GDP, among the lowest of any government in the world. Despite empty talk of scaling up medical infrastructure and manpower, thousands of frontline workers including health employees have been repeatedly coming onto the street in protest on several demands, including decent wages.

Modi and the Indian ruling elite have left the people in the dark on this unraveling situation. Already, media reports show rising numbers of hospitalized cases. After the deaths of at least 1,700 doctors in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of health care workers are falling ill in hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai and across Maharashtra state. This is forcing a number of hospitals to stop treating non-COVID patients with critical non-communicable diseases like chronic diabetes.

For all of Modis references to science-based knowledge on [the] awareness front, he has from the beginning of the pandemic promoted superstitions, invoking cosmic energy to drive out the SARS-CoV-2 virus by exhorting the public to beat gongs and blow conches at auspicious hours. Two years later, scientists are worrying about the lack of proper scientific data on literally every aspect of COVID-19, including infections, deaths and vaccine effectiveness.

Modi is notorious for these types of public stunts aimed at gaining petty popularity, like printing his image on vaccine certificates. However, history will record that the Indian ruling elites pandemic policy was a horrific failure, driven entirely by the profit interests of Indian and international capital.
More than 1,200 students in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in Northern California, are engaged in an indefinite strike against unsafe in-person learning amid the present Omicron surge. Striking Oakland students are joining a growing wave of opposition among students and teachers across the US and internationally to a policy of mass infection.

The World Socialist Web Site spoke with teachers and students in the district and throughout the West Coast region who expressed their support for the Oakland students.

Im out here today to stand with students and teachers because right now its not safe, explained Jose, a sixth grade math and science teacher at United for Success Academy (UFSA) in Oakland who was striking in sympathy with students on Tuesday. Of roughly one dozen teachers at UFSA, five were quarantining yesterday due to suspected or confirmed COVID-19 exposure or infection. All non-quarantining teachers participated in the strike and the picket line, alongside several additional staff.

Noting the rampant spread of COVID-19 and the preventive measures taken by parents to keep their children safe, Jose continued, Only about a third of the students in some of my classes have been in this week. That makes it really hard to teach and hard to learn.

Teachers protest for stronger COVID-19 safety protocols outside Oakland Unified School District headquarters on Jan. 7, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Jose continued, Its not sustainable. For the first week, we didnt even do any academic work. It was all like, How are you feeling? How are you doing? What would you like to see things looking like moving forward, to feel good and nourished?

It sometimes feels like were almost subbing. We cant really dive into the lessons that were supposed to be diving into because there arent enough students.

There is a small percentage of students trying to do online, but its been very difficult, and its hard for everyone to access.

Jose highlighted students central need for a safe environment as an essential part of the learning process. Once you feel supported, the rest comes into place. If you dont have that, its almost impossible to get to that level.

He agreed with the World Socialist Web Sites call for an elimination strategy, to end community transmission of COVID-19. Yeah, I think anybody considering a holistic approach would agree with that. We should definitely come together and figure out how to do that.

According to the districts COVID-19 dashboard, there has been an ongoing surge of cases since schools reopened from winter break. Over 1,700 cases among students and 260 cases among staff have been reported since January 3. Due to the lack of testing and contact tracing in OUSD as well as loosened COVID-19 safety guidelines for quarantining and isolation of infected staff and students, these numbers are undoubtedly far higher.

The surge taking place in the Oakland public schools mirrors the mass infection taking place among children across the country as schools have been forced to open in recent weeks. According to the latest report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), nearly 1 million US children were infected with COVID-19 just last week.

Jazmine, a teacher at UFSA who struck Tuesday in support of the Oakland students, spoke of the level of infection at her school site. A lot of my students are not in class now because they are either sick with COVID, their parents are sick with COVID, or they are scared to go in-person.

When asked her thoughts on the mental health impact on children and efforts by the Democrats and unions to keep students in school even if they get COVID-19, Jazmine said, Kids are already experiencing mental health problems right here on the ground, when they see half of their peers out of class. Its like an apocalyptic experience looking around and being like, Where are all my peers? and Am I going to get sick next?

The district has continued to implement policies that will result in further infections in schools and community spread. On Tuesday, OUSD announced that it will enforce recently updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) testing, quarantine and isolation protocols for students and staff in K-12 schools.

According to the district, vaccinated children may remain on campus if exposed to COVID-19, unvaccinated children who have been exposed may return to campus after only five days quarantine and a negative rapid test, and at-home tests will be allowed to clear students early from isolation and quarantine. Additionally, for students below fifth grade, the district will implement a test-to-stay program, which knowingly allows unvaccinated students who have been exposed to stay on campus for a modified quarantine.

These guidelines, fully endorsed by the Biden administration, follow an open policy of mass infection and are designed to keep schools open, regardless of infection or exposure.

Timothy, a high school student from the East Bay, opposed the policies being used to keep open the schools and sent his support to striking Oakland students. Schools across the country are opening amidst the governments disastrous decision to abandon all pandemic protections. Millions have been diagnosed in the past few days. Amidst these atrocious circumstances, it is incredibly inspiring to see grassroots protests of students standing in solidarity with their teachers in defiance of the capitalist agenda.

Doug a retired truck driver in the Seattle area, said, There is no excuse for the germ warfare being waged on the working class by the financial elites. Thank you, Oakland students, for taking a stand and showing us the way out of this horrible pandemic.

Alison, a parent of a Los Angeles Unified student, tweeted a statement of support Wednesday, urging students elsewhere to take up a fight as well. As a parent of young children, I fully support these Oakland students opposition to unsafe schools and unscientific policies of mass infection across the US. Getting Long COVID is not inevitable. I encourage kids locally at Los Angeles Unified School District to do the same.

Chris, a worker in Napa County, said, I wholeheartedly support the actions and intentions of the students of the Oakland Unified Student Strike. These students represent the best and most sensible among us and are giving this crisis the urgency it deserves. I not only support them and their actions but call upon those with authority to enact the necessary measures to ensure the public safety to do so. Our literal lives are at stake!
Jack Rakove, William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and professor of political science, emeritus, at Stanford University, is a leading scholar of the American Revolution and the framing of the Constitution, whose books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, and Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America. He recently spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about his work, the controversy surrounding the 1619 Project and trends in American history writing.

Tom Mackaman: Could you tell us something about your background, intellectual development, and your work?

Jack Rakove: I was born in Chicago. Im one day older than the Marshall Plan, which means everybody knows my birthday is June 4, 1947. My father was Milton Rakove, [1] who was a well-known professor of political science, who taught mostly at what eventually became the University of Illinois Chicago. He went to college at Roosevelt University thanks to the GI Bill. He went on to the University of Chicago but had to drop out for a few years to make a living. He went back in 1954 when we moved from the west side of Chicago down to Hyde Park, near the University of Chicago. He was a student of Hans Morgenthau, [2] and was very close to Morgenthau, who lived about a block and a half away. From kindergarten to eighth grade, I went to five different public schools. When I finished the last year of Chicago public schools, my dad wanted me to go to Evanston High School, which was then one of the elite public high schools in the country.

Jack Rakove (Credit: Stanford University)

I went on to Haverford College, and spent my junior year abroad at the University of Edinburgh, which was actually quite an interesting year, intellectually. There were a bunch of faculty at Edinburgh with ties to the journal History and Theory; they taught a course on the Theory and History of History so they got me thinking about philosophy of history questions, and not historiography in the narrow sense, but history as an analytical discipline. Are there covering laws in history for example? I think this is actually significant these days because I think few historians think deeply about issues of causation. As my mentor Bernard Bailyn argued, many of these philosophical and epistemological questions are not particularly interesting for what he called working historians when they set out to solve particular problems, what Bailyn called anomalies. But when one is thinking about a big problem like the origins of revolutions, including our own, causal explanations do become important. In general, the social scientists work much harder on this than historians do, but there are times when trying to think as they do is helpful.

Anyhow, from my undergraduate years at Haverford and Edinburgh I went on to grad school at Harvard in 1969, delayed by four months of active duty at Fort Knox and another half year working for the ACLU in Chicago. My undergraduate mentor, Wallace MacCaffrey, [3] was actually very close friends with Bernard Bailyn, but I was not an early Americanist when I started out. I had a general interest in the relationships between politics and political ideas. I came from a political household. I mentioned my fathers friendship with Hans Morgenthau, but in the early 60s he got politically active. He became a speechwriter for Chuck Percy, [4] who was a liberal Illinois Republican who chaired the partys platform committee in 1960, ran for governor in 1964, and became a senator. But my father was kind of a classic New Deal Democrat. We were just conventional liberal Democrats, and with the Goldwater boom, he wound up working instead for Otto Kerner, [5] who became governor, and then a federal judge.

So at the start I was interested in 20th century politics. But I was advised to take Bud Bailyns seminar, and that was transformative, just because Bailyn was far and away the most interesting person to work with.

Bernard Bailyn. Credit: Brown University

TM: Tell us about Bailyns seminar.

JR: It wasnt about American history per se. For example, he had us read a book by E. H. Carr [6]you probably know the book, called The Romantic Exiles, which is about Alexander Herzen and his friends who were Russian emigres.

TM: Its interesting that Bailyn would assign that.

JR: Well, thats because the Early American History seminar had nothing to do with early American history. We read all sorts of things. We read Lord Dennings report on the Profumo scandal, which in Bailyns seminar had to do with the use of adjectives. We read David Cecils Melbourne, because of his use of transitional sentences. It all came down to the question of how it is you frame a narrative where you have lots of people doing lots of different things.

I became interested in Sam Adams, [7] whom I like to call Americas Trotsky. At lunch one day, Bailyn said to me that if one could figure out what Samuel Adams is up to, you could explain 30 percent of the revolution. So, I started thinking about his career. Of course, Sam Adams spent a lot of time in the Continental Congress, and I started thinking of the Massachusetts delegation to the Continental Congress, and that it might be interesting to look at that group to try to think about how politics changed over time after the revolution. There really wasnt a good history on this subject. The historian who edited the original version of whats called Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, eight volumes published between 1921-36, Edmund Cody Burnett, had written the narrative history but it had no analytical or interpretive aspect.

Sam Adams

One of the things we learned from Bailyn was to ask the question, how do you define a good analytical problem? There had been this presupposition among the neo-Progressives [8] that, in viewing the Continental Congress you would see radicals and conservativesor radicals, moderates and conservativeskind of battling for power. One historian, James Henderson, came out with a roll call analysis based on party politics in the Continental Congress. But I had a very different understanding of how the Congress worked. You are dealing with a revolutionary body whose members came and went. I mean, they came and went with such frequency that they barely knew one another. The idea that you had some embedded struggle for power just struck me as being wrong-headed.

One of the first things Bailyn did with me in his seminar was to give me as a topic the early uses of the Federalist Papers. I have been working on that text ever since. It is an old-fashioned topic in some ways, but, as I like to say, my epitaph should read, He tried to make the old history respectable again. I am not a great innovator methodologically. I just happen to think I have learned how to ask better questions. I see questions that other people have strangely neglected, for example, the history of the concept of Constitutional original meanings.

TM: If you had to recommend one of your books, that best sums up what you have done in your career

JR: I have three big books and a variety of lesser books. My eighth book, on the free exercise of religion, was just published, [9] and Im working on a ninth. Original Meanings is obviously my best-known book, and my most important book. For Original Meanings it helps to be invested in some of the big debates about Constitutional interpretation, and especially to know something about originalism. The original idea for that book emerged out of a long article I wrote on the Treaty Clause back in the early 1980s, but I had first started thinking about the subject a decade earlier, mostly in conjunction with the Nixon impeachment and the adoption of the War Powers Resolution. Because people were asking, How did the Framers think about the question? I started thinking that is an interesting question. Those were historical questions. So I set out to figure out a serious historical method to address them, which is what Original Meanings does.

Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, Knopf, 1996

For general readers, Revolutionaries, [10] which came out in 2010, may be a better book. The idea there was to write a narrative history of the American Revolution, with biographically themed chapters, which is also an idea that came out of Bailyns seminars. The first chapter is on Adams and the moderates, which actually ties in with the 1619 Project controversy, there is one on Washington, one on George Mason and Constitution making, one on Henry and John Laurens, the South Carolinians, and then there is a chapter on the diplomats, John Jay, Franklin, and Adams overseas. The final third of the book deals with Jefferson, Madisonwho is my main manand Hamilton.

TM: In an email you pointed out that we are coming up on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and that called to mind that some of these anniversaries have come in explosive times. The 100th anniversary came in 1876, a decade after the Civil War and in the middle of a huge depression, and on the cusp of the great strike of 1877; and then at the 200th anniversary, that comes right after Vietnam and Watergate and within the crisis of the 1970s. But now as we approach the 250th, there is the question as to whether democracy will survive, coming after the January 6, 2021 sacking of the Capitol by Trumps fascist supporters, and the mass death caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is difficult to overstate the dimensions of the crisis.

JR: I am trying to write a political history of the Constitution to the present. Recent events have actually made this a problematic exercise. I keep telling friends that as an author, you never know exactly how a book is going to end until you finally end it, but usually you know what the conclusion is going to be. But I no longer know what the conclusion will be since who now knows what the fate of our constitutional system will be?

Trump supporters storm the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

But I have a more general theory on the way we remember the Revolution, which has two aspects. The lesser aspect asks, why are all the great historical movies about the Civil War, and none of them about the Revolution? The problem with the Revolution is that, unless you take the politics, political ideas, seriously, it is hard to dramatize. It is very difficult to do; in fact, probably impossible.

We have this pretentious term for the Revolution, the Founding. But the Revolution has indeed served as a vehicle for national unity in a way that the Civil War, rightly or wrongly, cannot or has not. Even today, over 150 years after its conclusion, the Civil War remains the source of division. We do have the removal of the Confederate memorials and the renaming of army bases. That is probably two steps forward. But then we have a resurgent white nationalism which is rooted in deeply racist attitudes. I think of January 6 and that guy carrying the Confederate flag inside the Capitol as a symbolically horrifying moment.

It is not a profound observation on my part but it does seem to me that the Revolution has long remained a point of unification. The Declaration, the Constitutionwhere would we be without them? We speak sometimes of Reconstruction after the Civil War as a second founding, but nobody thinks it ended well, much less that it set the right course in Southern culture.

TM: I agree with you that it has been hard for Hollywood to imagine the American Revolution as a revolution, or in fact to imagine it at all. But this gets me to another question. I suppose you could say that the difficulty in appreciating the American Revolution has, so to speak, been there from the beginning. I think of the correspondence between Adams and Jefferson, where Jefferson asks Adams what was this revolution to which they staked our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor, and Adams writes back that the war was no part of the Revolution. It was only an effect and consequence of a change in the minds of the people during the imperial crisis. Im sympathetic to that interpretation. But let me ask you: what was the American Revolution, and why is it so hard to fathom it as a revolution?

JR: I have written about this in different places. Keith Baker and Dan Edelstein, two of my colleagues, edited a book called Scripting Revolutions. Revolutions have their own scripts, you know. So, they asked me to participate and I did. Mine is called Constitutionalism: The Happiest Revolutionary Script.

It is an open question. Does the American Revolution fit the revolutionary story or not? You have the problem of declaring independence in 1776, and then forming a truly national polity in 1787. How do you get from the one to the other? Those are two interesting questions in themselves. If you are a political historian, you have to explain why certain political actions were taken at particular moments in time.

Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention Oil on canvas painting (1856) by Junius Brutus Steams

Of course, a lot depends on how you define revolution. In one sense the explanatory problems you are going to solve do not really depend on whether or not you have a general theory of revolution. Having one may help you, it may inspire you, but in the end, as a historian you focus on specific problems, those things Bailyn called anomalies. We had a 50th anniversary conference, actually at Yale of all places, on the Ideological Origins. [11] There is an issue of the New England Quarterly dedicated to it. The first essay is Bailyns, with his reflections on how the book was written, and the next essay is mine, called Ideas, Ideology, and the Anomalous Problem of Revolutionary Causation.

TM: You mentioned it before, and we will need to turn to the 1619 Project, whose central claim was that the American Revolution was launched to defend slavery. That assertion has drawn support from a few historians, most notably Woody Holton, who has placed overriding emphasis on the Dunmore Proclamation.

JR: My response to Woody Holton is that the basic story that gets you to 1776 is British provocation and American reaction. Americans never, even on their more radical daysthey are not out there fomenting incidents trying to force the British to drive the Americans into revolt. There is a letter from Samuel Adams I love quoting, from April 30, 1776, in which he says, We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.

The Americans do mobilize, and as Pauline Maiers first book [12] points out, they do have a whole ideology of resistance. And not just ideology, but this whole kind of strategy about what acts they are justified in doing. I think it has been a weakness in American scholarship, including Woody Holtons, but not only Woodys, to not appreciate the fact that the British provide the engine driving all this. Americans see themselves as reacting. I think when you get to 1770, most American leaders hope, think, may even have expected, that the British, having gone through these two big crises over the Stamp Act and the Townshend Duties, will say, okay this policy is not working. I think Franklin or Cushing [13] says, lets just let all these issues lie asleep or fall asleep.

Pauline Maier (Credit: WashingtonWiki)

That is why Bailyns book on Hutchinson is so important, [14] because events then take place in Massachusetts where things spin out of control. When the Patriots dumped the tea into the harbor, the British government decided it had to make an example of Massachusetts to discourage the others. The government makes that decision in 1774, and it produces a political disaster. Punishing Massachusetts is what creates what Americans called the common cause. But then the British doubled down on this strategy in April 1775. And they immediately wind up with two military defeats. [15] So at that point the British should have recognized that the underlying assumptions of their strategy were mistaken. But they dont, and then we get the Dunmore Proclamation in November, 1775. Even if the Dunmore Proclamation matters, the basic logic of the decision emerged out of the same failed strategy that had already produced the war. I wrote on this in one of my first articles. [16]

My basic argument is that once you get to the summer of 1775, once the Second Continental Congress convenes on May 10, they actually did have a big debate on their objectives: What is our policy now? Do we need to rethink our objectives? And people like Dickinson [17] and the other moderates say, maybe we should do more to encourage conciliation. But in the end, they dont alter anything. They said maybe we should send a delegation to London, but they didnt. They said maybe we should alter our terms, but they didnt. They do send another petition, the Olive Branch Petition. It doesnt change anything. The British are in the same position. So once you get to the mid-to-late summer of 1775, both sides are committed to ultimatums presented to the other side. The American moderates, people like John Jaywho is very active though still a very young manJames Duane, Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson and a couple other names I am probably leaving outthese moderates are desperately hoping that the British will send a peace commission over and it will have actual authority to negotiate.

John Dickinson

That doesnt happen. What does happen is the British pass the Prohibitory Act, which makes all American commerce subject to confiscation. They declare the Americans to be traitors. The king starts negotiating treaties with the various German states, the Hanoverians and others, to start bringing Hessiansthat is, hiring mercenary armies.

The question became, are we going to have negotiations, or are we going to continue to escalate this confrontation? Dunmores Proclamation just fits inside that story. Its not that it is a fresh grievance, in itself, that ratchets up what is at stakemuch less that Americans have to go to war to defend slavery against a non-existent threat. Its one thing to encourage slave uprising as part of war, to encourage runaway slaves. Its another to say you are actually going to have emancipation under the British Empire. I mean its complete and utter nonsense.

TM: Which raises the question of British slavery in the Caribbean

JR: You might read a book by a historian named Michael Taylor called The Interest. [18] It is about abolition in the West Indies. One of the interesting things about this book is that it shows that what makes the passage of British abolition possible when it was ratified in 1832, and enacted in 1833, is really the first Reform Act. I have been discussing with a couple of my English historian colleagues about the attack on the old representational system of Parliamentwith rotten boroughs and pocket boroughs [19] and so onhow this pivots, or depends upon, the American Revolution and the whole debate over representation that it entailed. But what makes the passage of emancipation possible in the West Indies is actually the political reforms that start significantly affecting English politics with the first Reform Act, because they really break up the sugar interest. Thats why Taylor calls the book The Interest. The sugar riches remained a formidable force in British politics until the Reform Act began shifting the whole calculus of parliamentary governance.

In a lot of ways the 1619 ProjectI think their position on the Dunmore Proclamation and independence being over defending slaveryI think its completely nuts. Its easily falsifiable, including owing to the fact that British emancipation in the West Indies takes another 50 years. Dunmore is trying to govern Virginia from a ship cruising up and down the Chesapeake.

Illustration of a British sugar plantation, Antigua, 1823

TM: Perhaps this takes us to some of the work you have done on ideology and interest in history. We could consider that from the vantage point of the Constitutional Convention, as it pertains to the question of slavery. There has been a lot of literature on that that has been coming out. What do you make of it?

JR: Chapter four of Original Meanings addresses this. There are two big, quote-unquote, compromises over representation: the misnamed Connecticut compromise, which I think did not have that much to do with Connecticut to begin with, and then the one over the three-fifths clause. [20] The Connecticut compromise over the Senate was not a compromise in the proper sense of the term. In the crucial vote of July 16, 1787, one side won and the other lost. The final vote was five states to four, with Massachusetts dividedand had the Bay State actually voted, it still would have been a tie. The Federalists started calling this a compromise only later, not because they supported it in principle, but simply because they wanted the Constitution ratified.

The real compromise is the one over slavery, in that it was a compromise and was understood as such in its time. There was some serious discussion of it. The theoretical definition of representation that the framers used is that it is a substitute for whats become physically impossible. The people, collectively, cannot deliberate. So, representation is a substitute for popular deliberation. But slaves would never deliberate under any circumstances. They have no legal, much less civic, identity. So, the idea that that form of property should be represented as property, theoretically, makes no sense. And it is easily attacked. This is a great question to ask students of American history. If you are anti-slavery, which fraction do you prefer: five-fifths, three-fifths, or zero? The genuine anti-slavery position is 0/5, because that will reduce the political influence of the slave states in national governance. So that is the compromise. But the real question is, do you want to have a union with the South or without it?

James Madison

I think the equal state vote was a disaster then and remains one today. The political theory of the Constitution tacitly or effectively presumes that the size of the populace of a statewhether you live in a large state like California or Texas or an itty-bitty one like North Dakota or Wyomingdefines the interests of voters and legislators. But if you are a thoroughgoing Madisonian, as I am, you know that this factor has no effectnone!on the real interests that define our actual political preferences. That is what the framers were arguing about in Philadelphia, and the Madisonians lost.

Slavery, unfortunately, was an interest demanding explicit recognition and protection. And unlike other kinds of interests, which Madison imagined being scattered across the land, it was geographically concentrated in one region of the country, the South. The Missouri Crisis [21] of 1819-21 became the great disproof of Madisons theory. Jefferson understands this as well, and I am sure they talked about it privately when they visited. And the disproof is this: if you have an interest that is concentrated in one particular region, and not just concentrated, but dominant, you have a problem. Madisons notion of multiplicity of factions presupposes, or assumes, some scattering of interest across the landscape. That is why religion is such a good model for him. Turn Protestants loose to read the Bible, prevent the state from interfering with their opinions or enforcing orthodoxy, and denominations and sects would continue to be fruitful and multiply, to the net advantage of all. But the presence or absence of slavery worked politically in very different ways.

TM: Was it predictable in 1789 that slavery would ultimately ruin the union? Did anyone foresee civil war at the time of the framing of the Constitution?

JR: I am working on this question in my new book. I have spent a lot of time with the 1790 debates over slavery, the ones generated by the two sets of petitions, from Quakers and from the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, which Franklin led. The 1790 debate on slavery in the House goes on much longer than anyone might have expected, given that the Senate never took the petitions seriously in the first place. But the House keeps pushing the issue. Southerners try to shut the debate down, but they cannot. They managed to minimize the resolutions, which the Senate was never going to approve anyway. You do see this escalatory rhetoric on the part of the South Carolinians.

You certainly see it by 1819. I have actually just been reading Rufus Kings [22] letters this morning. King was a major player in the second round of the Missouri controversy. He plays a major role in mobilizing public opinion between the original debate over the Tallmadge amendment, which takes place in late February and very early March 1819. Then the 15th Congress adjourned and the 16th Congress met for the first time in early December, 1819. Remember, a whole year would elapse between the election of a new Congress and their actual assembly, because members had to take time to plan their trip to Washington. You could not just pop into a national airport or whatever. King says very explicitly that the Northwest Ordinance was an ancient settlement in 1787; it had been a compromise then, but not one that the Union had to enforce endlessly.

And then there is the issue of free blacks. And the slaves also pick up information, intelligence, as they are bound to do, about what is going on politically, whether it is in Washington or London, through the rumor mill. Some of this is raised in the work of the recently deceased historian Julius Scott. [23] So southerners were always freely imagining possibilities of slave revolt, and any political discussion of slavery would contribute to that fear. Even during the 1790 debates, one South Carolinian says we should not talk about this because there are a couple of free African Americans up in the gallery right now. If they hear we are discussing this, word will spread and that is going to create trouble.

My late colleague, Don Fehrenbacher, who also came as I do from the Land of Lincoln, has this great line in his Dred Scott book, [24] where he says slavery is a kind of concentrated, testy, aggressive interest, while anti-slavery was a sentiment. Slavery is defensive, it is aggressive, it wants recognition, it bridles at any threat or insult. There are ambiguities in the nature and the depth of what anti-slavery sentiment means right through the antebellum. So, to answer your question, they did not see the threat of civil war, but it was there in some vague sense.

Don Fehrenbacher

TM: Could you say something about trends in historical writing on the American Revolution and the Constitution?

JR: You asked about Bailyn and ideas. The neo-progressive historians, and I think Woody Holton is one, or if you read Michael Klarmans book The Framers CoupI have a long review of it in Reviews in American Historythey do not take political ideas very seriously. And sometimes I think they want to conflate ideas with ideals, which are very different. Ideals are to some extent part of civic society. They will call ideas so much philosophical music. They have no capacity to discuss ideas. Bailyn, Gordon Wood, Pauline Maier, and I have taken ideas seriously. To think about how they are generated, and how they are disputed, and which parts matter, and so on. The intellectual and the political sources of modern democratic-republican regimes is itself a significant problem, and you have to take the ideas seriously. People care about them. In my view there are significant developments in the history of constitutional thinking, and constitutional development that emerge from the American Revolution. We do not have to be happy with all the results. The equal state vote is terrible in the Senate, as is its replication in the Electoral College. I think Madison understood this at the time. But their thoughts about everything from equality to constitutional government have significant implications for world history.

Notes:

[1] Milton L. Rakove (19181983), noted political scientist and commentator on Chicago politics.

[2] Hans J. Morgenthau (19041980), German-born legal theorist and founder of the field of international relations, Morgenthau was author of the book Politics Among Nations.

[3] Wallace T. MacCaffrey (19202013), historian of Elizabethan England.

[4] Charles H. Percy (September 27, 1919September 17, 2011), Republican US Senator from Illinois, 19671985.

[5] Otto Kerner Jr. (19081976), Democratic governor of Illinois, 19611968.

[6] E.H. Carr (18921982), British scholar and historian of the Russian Revolution.

[7] Samuel Adams (17221803), leading American Revolutionary War figure from Boston, and a distant cousin of John Adams.

[8] A school of contemporary historical writing, the neo-Progressive historians have carried over from the Progressive historians such as Charles Beard (18741948) an overriding emphasis on immediate material causes in history.

[9] Beyond Belief, Beyond Conscience: The Radical Significance of the Free Exercise of Religion, Oxford, 2020.

[10] Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

[11] Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Belknap Press, 1967.

[12] Pauline S. Maier (19382013), a leading historian of the American Revolution and student of Bailyn. Her first book was From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 17651776. Knopf, 1974.

[13] Thomas Cushing (17251788), statesman and merchant from Boston.

[14] The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson, Belknap Press, 1974.

[15] Rakove is referring to the battles fought in Massachusetts in the spring and early summer of 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19; and Bunker Hill, on June 17.

[16] Jack Rakove, The Decision for American Independence: A Reconstruction, Perspectives in American History, Volume X, 1976, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History.

[17] John Dickinson (17321808), leading moderate figure of the American Revolution, author of the influential pamphlet Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published in 1767.

[18] Michael Taylor, The Interest: How the British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery, Bodley Head, 2020.

[19] Rakove is referring to British constituencies that were depopulated or dominated by large landholders but were still represented in Parliament.

[20] The three-fifths clause, part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, held that slaves be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of taxation and representation.

[21] Popularly known as the Missouri Compromise, the crisis emerged over Missouris entrance into the union as a slave state.

[22] Rufus King (17551827), Federalist from Massachusetts whose political career lasted from the American Revolution to the 1820s.

[23] Julius Scott (19552021), was author of the The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution, published in 2018.

[24] Don Fehrenbacher (19201997), his book, The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics, 1978, won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize in History.
Honiara Hospital, August 2019 [Source: Wikimedia]

The Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, was placed in lockdown from yesterday evening after health authorities detected a COVID-19 cluster.

The outbreak marks the first time there has been community transmission of the coronavirus since the beginning of the global pandemic. Due to a combination of the Pacific countrys geographical isolation, low population (around 700,000) and strict border controls, at the beginning of this month there had only been 24 total confirmed cases. These were all detected in incoming travellers, and quarantine measures prevented any wider spread.

The current outbreak involves six confirmed positive cases, but there are widespread fears of as yet undetected transmission within Honiaras impoverished areas known as informal settlements, effectively slums. It remains unknown what variant of COVID-19 people have contracted.

The index case has been traced to January 9, when a Papua New Guinean medical doctor who had COVID travelled by boat with nine of his family members from the Nukumanu Islands (also known as the Tasman Islands) to Solomon Islands Ontong Java Atoll, reportedly to attend a wedding.

The Nukumanu Islands and Ontong Java Atoll are separated by a small body of water that the Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands border traverses. The peoples of the neighbouring islands have longstanding historical and cultural ties and are of Polynesian origin (as distinct from the Melanesian majority in both PNG and the Solomons).

Last Tuesday, authorities announced that five Solomon Islanders living on the Atoll had tested positive. The government immediately placed the small island community in lockdown and barred all travel in and out of the area.

However, a small passenger vessel, the MV Akwa, had already transported a group of people from Ontong Java Atoll to Honiara, arriving January 10. One of the passengers was directed to get tested, following the Tuesday local lockdown announcement, and found to be positive. Several other people who were on the vessel have reported feeling unwell and are awaiting test results.

Authorities are now desperately contact tracing in Honiara and more widely. According to the Solomon Star, immediately after the MV Akwa transported the COVID infected passenger, the vessel travelled to Malaita province and then returned to the capital fully packed with traveling passengers.

In Honiara, authorities said they had identified four main areas where the passengers who travelled from Ontong Java Atoll disembarked. One of these, the Lord Howe settlement, is of special concern. This is an impoverished slum, where most homes consist of shacks constructed from wood and corrugated iron. Basic infrastructure is lacking, including sewerage and related sanitation. Like other informal settlements, Lord Howe is periodically affected by disease outbreaks caused by poor sanitation, such as E.coli and diarrhoea.

A 2019 public health research project found that within the Mataniko River settlements, of which Lord Howe is a part, 46 percent of parents reported that their young children had suffered at least one episode of diarrhoea during the previous two weeks. Across the Solomon Islands, diarrhoea is the second leading cause of under-five mortality, with a shocking 10 percent of all children dying from the condition before reaching five years.

The threatened COVID outbreak within Solomon Islands most oppressed communities is another reflection of the global pandemics intersection with pre-existing crises created by capitalism.

Climate change is threatening to destroy the Polynesian community on Ontong Java Atoll. In the last two decades, rising sea levels have wiped out low-lying villages on the atoll. Salination has destroyed fresh water sources and made growing crops impossible. As a result, only a couple of thousand people remain on the atoll. Many others have fled, effectively as climate change refugees, including to the Lord Howe settlement in Honiara.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare announced the snap lockdown of the capital yesterday morning at 10 a.m., with restrictions taking effect from 6 p.m. The lockdown is scheduled to last at least 60 hours. No movement in or out of the capital is permitted. Everyone is required to stay in their homes, except for authorised essential services workers. All domestic flights are suspended. International airline passenger services were already suspended, with only humanitarian cargo planes permitted.

The lockdown announcement triggered a rush on shops and banks. According to the Solomon Star, some bank outlets closed their doors early, leaving many customers disappointed and angry... some said many families would go hungry for the next few days.

The COVID-19 vaccination rate in Solomon Islands remains low. According to the Our World in Data website, approximately 9.5 percent of the population have received two doses of vaccine, with another 18 percent having received one dose.

As in other Pacific countries, vaccine hesitancy is a problem. According to one poll conducted last year, 48 percent said they were willing to be vaccinated while the same percentage of respondents said they were not willing. This partly reflects low literacy levels and limited public education infrastructure, but also the reactionary influence of evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity in the country. Missionaries played an important role in subordinating the Solomons population to British colonial rule prior to independence in 1978 and their influence continues. Ludicrous social media posts have been circulated that associate the COVID vaccine with Satanism.

An impoverished health infrastructure is a significant barrier to the delivery of vaccines, especially in the rural provinces. According to a 2016 report, there are only 13 practicing doctors in all the 12 provincial hospitals in Solomon Islands. Some of these hospitals lack reliable electricity supplies. A 2015 World Health Organization review found that just two-thirds of local health facilities had vaccine refrigerators.

The threat now posed by COVID-19 to the countrys population is an indictment of Australian imperialism. In 2003, Canberra launched a neo-colonial takeover of the country on the basis of a bogus humanitarian pretext. Between 2003 and 2017, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) involved nearly $3 billion in Australian government spending. The vast majority of this was funnelled to Australian contractors and the security apparatus. Only a pittance was allocated to social services and basic infrastructure, including health.
The tsunami destroyed buildings and flattened trees in coastal areas. (Image credit: Facebook/Joanna Michael Stanley and Kofeola Marian Kupu)

Tonga is facing an unprecedented disaster, according to the government, from the massive volcanic eruption last Saturday. It covered the Pacific nation in ash, triggered a 15-metre tsunami that destroyed almost all homes on two small islands and damaged undersea communications cables, largely cutting off the country.

The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Haapai volcano65 kilometres from Tongas main islandsis being described by some experts as the most explosive volcanic eruption in 30 years. The volcanic mushroom plume from the eruption reached the stratosphere and extended radially over all Tongas islands.

The full scale of devastation caused by the tsunami is becoming clearer. The first official government statement on Tuesday said three people had died so far, including a British national, a 65-year-old woman from Mango Island, and a 49-year-old man from Nomuka Island.

Every home on Mango Island, where about 50 people live, has been destroyed. Multiple injuries were reported across the country, but the extent of casualties remains unclear.

The Tongan navy has deployed health teams and taken water, food and tents to the Haapai islands, closest to the volcano. One aerial image taken by a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) aircraft showed catastrophic damage to Mango: no houses, just a few temporary tarpaulin shelters could be seen.

Tongas deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tuihalangingie, described the NZDF images as alarming, adding that they showed numerous buildings missing on Atata Island as well. Nomuka Island in the Haapai group was also extensively damaged.

Parts of the western side of the main island of Tongatapu were evacuated after dozens of houses were destroyed. According to Stuff, on the island of Eua two homes were flattened and 45 severely damaged, and eight houses in Kolomotua, in the centre of Tongatapu, were left uninhabitable.

Water supplies have been seriously affected by volcanic ash. Most people rely on rainwater, often gathered from rooftops. They have been frantically cleaning ash from their houses. Scientists have warned that the eruption could cause acid rain for some time to come, which could damage food crops and kill off fish supplies. People are being warned to remain indoors in the event of rain.

Ash covering a car on Tongatapu. (Image credit: Facebook/Joanna Michael Stanley and Kofeola Marian Kupu)

Undersea internet and telecommunications cables were severed by the tsunami, largely cutting Tonga off from the rest of the world. Tongans living in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere have been unable to contact their families on the islands. On Thursday, major communications provider Digicel said it had restored some services via satellite, but it will take a month of repairs before the network is fully operational.

Tongas international airport was reportedly cleared of ash by Thursday morning, meaning supplies can finally be delivered by air.

International efforts to deliver aid, however, threaten to introduce COVID-19 into the country, which has so far remained almost free from the virus. Tongas only recorded case of COVID-19 entered from New Zealand after Wellington began lifting travel restrictions.

A UNICEF spokesman in Fiji said that relief efforts had to be conducted without doing anything to threaten the safety of the population. Jonathan Pryke from the Sydney-based Lowy Institute told the New York Times: Whatever goodwill might be built up by the response would be completely undone if they bring Covid into Tonga.

Aid agencies say shops have begun running out of food. Tonga Red Cross has enough supplies stockpiled to support 1,200 households, but Sophie Ford, international response coordinator for the Australian Red Cross, told the Guardian these will need to be replenished in the coming days and weeks.

It appears that a great deal of necessary emergency support will come, not from the regional powers but from voluntary agencies, particularly the Tongan diaspora in New Zealand, Australia and the US. In New Zealand, a newly-established relief committee is calling for donations of containers and goods to send to families in Tonga.

Australia and New Zealand sent surveillance flights on Monday to assess the damage. New Zealand has dispatched two naval ships with food and water supplies, and air force transport planes will start flights today.

Australia and New Zealand both regard the southwest Pacific as their neo-colonial patch. Their financial and aid contributions are inevitably tied to protecting their own interests. The strings attached are increasingly resented by local Pacific leaders.

As global tensions escalate amid Washingtons build-up to war against China, the US and its allies, Australia and New Zealand, are seeking to strengthen ties with Pacific countries and boost their military presence in the region, to push back against Beijings influence.

There is no doubt concern over the potential for political instability in Tonga. The volcanic eruption follows the installation of a new government last December. Siaosi Sovaleni defeated former Finance Minister Aisake Eke and took office as prime minister with the support of the monarch, King Tupou VI, and the hereditary nobles.

Under Tongas undemocratic parliamentary system, there are 17 so-called Peoples Representative seats, and eight members elected by 33 hereditary nobles. The prime minister is elected by the parliament. Sovaleni took office following behind-the-scenes intrigues in which, according to Radio NZ correspondent Kalafi Moala, the nobles played a critical role.

The election was a major defeat for the incumbent PATOA Party, with five sitting MPs losing their seats, including Siaosi Pohiva and Mateni Tapueluelu, the son and son-in-law of the late pro-democracy Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva.

The turn-around followed repeated interventions last year by the king, who made trenchant criticisms of the previous government in the midst of a deepening social crisis including a widespread methamphetamine epidemic.

Addressing the opening of parliament on January 12, Tupou VI declared the kingdom must support the private sector and face the ongoing challenges of a fledging economy, as well as the threat of Covid and illegal drugs. In order to advance we must have an accounting of where the nation is financially now. Our local market cannot sustain our balance of payments, he said. The speech portends a fresh round of attacks on the working class, many of whom are dependent on the public sector for jobs and services.

In the event of growing popular discontent and a major crisis, military intervention by Australia and New Zealand cannot be ruled out. In 2006, the two countries dispatched more than 150 soldiers and police after riots erupted in Nukualofa, leaving six people dead and destroying 80 percent of the central business district. The unrest came amid deepening hostility towards the countrys absolute monarchy from both ordinary Tongans and dissatisfied sections of the business and political elite.
This week the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, co-led by Professor Katriona Shea of Pennsylvania State University, projected that by March 12, 2022, the United States could see between 409,000 to 2,380,000 cumulative hospitalizations and 54,000 to 304,000 additional COVID-related deaths before the Omicron surge subsides. The Penn State modeling center utilizes multiple datasets to forecast their projections, which are then shared with the White House.

Such a grim prognosis demands the immediate mobilization of all public health measures to stem the tide of infections and prevent such a massive additional loss of life.

Instead, the Biden administration is offering the country hundreds of millions of adult non-surgical N95 respirators sourced from the governments Strategic National Stockpile. According to White House officials, these will be made available at local pharmacies and health centers by early February. These will barely suffice for a day or two and come at a moment when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) forecasts suggest that the peak in infections will have passed.

National Guard members assisting with processing COVID-19 deaths and placing them into temporary storage at LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner Office in Los Angeles, Jan. 12, 2021. (LA County Dept. of Medical Examiner-Coroner via AP)

Additionally, each US household is to be provided four free test kits, shipped in seven to 12 days once ordered through an online portal, covidtests.com, or they can be remimbursed for purchased tests by their insurance company after a three-page form is completed, printed, and mailed or faxed. Worse, some of these rapid antigen tests are temperature-sensitive and, if they are exposed to the cold for too long, the test results are affected.

Simply put, the latest steps taken by the White Housewhich has ruled out any action to stop of the spread of virus, including lockdowns and school closuresare largely performative and an insult to the population, demonstrating the Biden administrations criminal indifference to mass suffering and death.

There are currently more than 156,000 people admitted to hospitals across the United States, a pandemic high, as the variant continues to surge, diving deeper into more rural regions. With staffing shortages and sickened staff, rising admissions are pushing hospitals to overcapacity, which inevitably means that even more may die.

Marc Lipsitch of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who is also scientific director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) forecasting center, explained to the Associated Press (AP), In places with extremely short staffing and overloads of patients, as the medical professionals have been telling us, the quality of care begins to suffer. That may also lead to higher death rates, but thats not in any of the models Im aware of.

As internationally renowned infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist, Dr. Raina MacIntyre, who heads the biosecurity program at Kirby Institute in Sydney, Australia, recently noted, Omicron might be half as severe as Delta. However, Delta was twice as severe as the ancestral variant.

Even if Omicron has a predisposition to the upper airways and predilection for less severe disease, the sheer exponential rise in cases is having untold consequences in the US. New COVID-19 cases continue to be reported at blistering rates of over 730,000 per day. It also puts more children into hospitals and kills more of them than any other previous strain. University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi, speaking with AP, warned that a lot of people are still going to die because of how transmissible Omicron has been.

According to Dr. Shea, for the period encompassing mid-December to mid-March, the central estimates predicted bythe model are that 1.5 million people will be admitted to hospitals and 191,000 will perish. The cumulative death toll for the pandemic has already surpassed 850,000, with the daily average in COVID-19 deaths over 1,800, as it continues its upward trend expected to overtake the Delta peak.

If the current projections hold, the US will record more than one million COVID deaths in the two years of the pandemic. And, as Biden celebrates his first year in office, it is noteworthy that there is hardly a distinction in the handling of this public health crisis by his administration compared to Trumps. When one follows the cumulative trajectory of deaths, a seamless ascent underscores the malignant policy pursued by the ruling elite.

Speaking with AP, Professor Shea warned, Overall, you are going to see more sick people even if you as an individual have a lower chance of being sick. Further, she made the point that this is Omicron driven, refuting the repeated claims that the current variant only causes mild illness.

The attempt to characterize the Omicron surge as benign and just another respiratory virus is part of the attempt to reopen schools and force workers back on the job. On Sunday, during a winter storm briefing, New York Governor Kathy Hochul reported that the COVID clouds are parting. This is in reference to the drop in positivity rates across New York state. Overall, the prognosis, the forecast, for COVID is much brighter than it has been before, she claimed.

Even as case numbers are trending downward, deaths in New York continue climbing, with the daily average matching those from last winters peak of 205 deaths per day. On January 18, 2022, New York state reported 404 deaths. The last time such a figure was seen was in mid-May 2020.

Interestingly, many on social media, including epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, have noted that COVID-19 deaths and excess deaths in South Africa continue to climb even though confirmed daily cases have declined and the countrys leadership has put the pandemic in its rearview mirror. Journalist Chris Turnbull noted on Twitter that COVID-19 deaths are up nearly ten-fold from November, with 130 dying per day. At least 7,700 are still admitted to hospitals, of whom 1,025 remain on oxygen and 1,169 are in intensive care.

The decline in new COVID cases in the country where Omicron was first reported is plateauing, and the seven-day moving average remains over 4,000 infections per day. Placing developments in context, schools in South Africa closed their doors on December 12, and a week later, cases across the country began to decline. On January 12, when schools across the country for primary and secondary grades resumed, the declines started to stall. The following week university students are expected back in class.

The developments in South Africa with schools are analogous to those in the US and every other country facing Omicron. The current revolt and resistance of both students and teachers are a response to the repeated infections that have devastated their communities. It is well established that schools are drivers of the pandemic. Workers in every industry must follow students and teachers and take action to bring an end to the pandemic. The political establishment that serves the financial markets cares not one iota for their well-being or safety.

As to claims that the pandemic will burn itself out after causing mass infection this winter, during Tuesdays World Health Organization COVID press conference, Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the pandemic is far from over.

Omicron may be less severe, on average of course. The narrative that it is mild disease is misleading. It hurts the overall response and costs more lives, Dr. Tedros noted. Make no mistake, Omicron is causing hospitalizations and deaths and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities. The virus is circulating far too intensely with far too many still vulnerable. For many countries, the next few weeks remains critical for health workers and health systems  Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag  This pandemic is nowhere near over and with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge.
Having lifted all remaining safety measures and allowed Omicron to circulate beginning last month, Australian governments, Labor and Liberal-National, have presented the resulting wave of massive infections as an inevitability which could not have been avoided.

Increasingly, the virus and its impact are being discussed as though there is no connection between government policy and the spread. Omicrons infectiousness is invoked to insist that its mass transmission cannot be prevented. Governments speculate that the wave may be peaking, based on no evidence whatsoever, as they press ahead with policies, including the mass resumption of face-to-face schooling, which will lead to even greater infection tolls.

Australian COVID-19 testing station (WSWS)

The lies and obfuscations are aimed at covering up the fact that allowing the uncontrolled spread of the virus is official policy. Governments dispensed with previous suppression measures, which had repeatedly succeeded in reducing transmission and even eliminating it, solely to ensure that full corporate profit-making activities could resume.

This can be demonstrated, not only by comparing the current surge with previous stages of the pandemic. It is also made clear by contrasting what has occurred over the past month in the states and territories that have let the virus rip, and the one state that has delayed its abandonment of the previous suppression program, Western Australia (WA).

Across the country, there have been almost 1.8 million confirmed infections since December 15, roughly when the Omicron surge began, compared with 235,562 in the previous two years of the pandemic.

Even these staggering figures do not capture the extent of the shift, because the testing regime effectively collapsed within weeks of Omicron beginning to spread. Epidemiologists have stated the true infection toll is likely several times higher than the official figure, meaning multiple millions of cases in the past month, in a country of 25 million people.

In that period, there have been just 203 confirmed infections in WA, which has a population of 2.7 million and accounts for a third of the countrys land mass.

It should be recalled that the WA infection tally is probably the most reliable of any jurisdiction in the country. Contact-tracing continues to be carried out, identifying those who have potentially-been infected by a confirmed case. Exposure sites, which have been visited by a confirmed infection are publicly announced, with those in attendance urged to get tested immediately.

Such basic measures are almost inconceivable in the countrys other states and territories, especially New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, which have seen the highest number of cases. The assumption, acknowledged by governments who reject minimal public health measures, is that the virus is more or less everywhere and the entire population has or will be exposed.

WA, moreover, recorded no new cases for six days between December 15 and 20, as daily infections were exploding in the eastern states. The current WA infections are linked to border entries, initially bringing the Delta variant. There are now confirmed Omicron cases, but the public health measures in place mean that there has not been an exponential growth as has occurred everywhere else.

WAs 203 confirmed infections compare with 806,409 in NSW and 560,300 In Victoria, over the same period since December 15.

The contrast is even starker, when WA is juxtaposed with what has happened in South Australia and Queensland. The respective Liberal-National and Labor governments of those jurisdictions opened their state borders last month, having experienced very low transmission throughout the entirety of the pandemic.

In Queensland, there had been just 2,180 cases during the COVID crisis, prior to December 15, in South Australia 1,031. Since then, there have been 280,156 confirmed infections in Queensland and more than 85,000 in South Australia. Similar, though less striking contrasts could be drawn between WA and other states and territories that previously had low transmission.

In WA, there has not been a single death since May 2, 2020, with total fatalities remaining at nine.

Nationally, 773 deaths have been recorded since December 15 out of 2,890 in the entire pandemic. The three weeks of this year have been deadlier than any other period during the pandemic. This week, NSW and Victoria have recorded their highest daily fatalities. In Queensland, 16 deaths were reported on Tuesday alone. Total fatalities in the state have climbed to 72. As of December 15, there had been just seven COVID deaths throughout the pandemic in Queensland, with none in the previous six months.

The mounting number of victims in the states and territories that have reopened have not been able to live with the virus as governments have proclaimed. Nor are the hospitals. In NSW, Victoria, Queensland and increasingly the other jurisdictions where the virus is circulating freely, the healthcare systems are confronting their deepest crisis in a hundred years.

The point of these comparisons is not to present WAs Labor government as a resolute defender of public health. It is not.

WAs experience throughout the pandemic, moreover, has been shaped by its peculiar features. It is the least densely-populated area of Australia, and its only truly mass city Perth is often described as the most isolated capital in the world. The state has been the beneficiary of the unprecedented mining boom, which has at times contributed to longstanding and historically-rooted secessionist tendencies.

The Labor administration, like all of Australias other governments, instituted lockdown and safety measures early in the pandemic only as a result of demands from the working class, especially key sections, such as healthcare staff and teachers. These effectively eliminated transmission in WA. Taking advantage of its isolation, the state government maintained largely stringent border controls, despite providing dangerous exemptions to the mining conglomerates.

A state election was held in March 2021. Labor leader Mark McGowan combined right-wing tax and subsidy policies for the mining companies, with declarations that his government had and would continue to keep the population safe from COVID. The Liberal opposition bemoaned this, declaring that WA would be cut off from the rest of the country, and, according to the Murdoch press, would become a hermit kingdom.

The election effectively became a referendum on pandemic policy. Under conditions in which most recent polls have seen a swing against the incumbents, Labor won its largest victory in the states history. It secured 53 seats in WAs 59-member Legislative Assembly and 22 of the 36 positions on the Legislative Council, the upper house of parliament. The opposition Liberal-Nationals were reduced to a rump with only a handful of MPs.

The result demonstrated the mass popular support for essential public health measures, especially in the working-class. Many, moreover, noted that in addition to protecting health and saving lives, the policies preventing COVID transmission meant that life largely proceeded as normal in WA, notwithstanding the difficulties associated with the border closure.

McGowan has sat on the National Cabinet, the extra-constitutional body composed of the state and territory leaders and the federal government. Together with all of them, he backed a national plan to end lockdowns and restrictions for all time, voting for it in July and August last year.

The Labor government has held off longer than other states and territories, because it is terrified of popular opposition. But against the warnings of doctors, nurses and epidemiologists, it plans to lift border restrictions on February 5, with warnings that the 2,000 cases thus far in the pandemic could rapidly become 60,000 Omicron infections per day. With McGowan having done nothing to boost the crisis-ridden public hospital system, the same catastrophe overcoming the other states would rapidly be replicated in WA.

This only demonstrates that the program of mitigation and suppression, by governments that accept the framework of subordinating public health to corporate interests, is over. The lines of struggle are increasingly between a ruling elite and its political representatives that insist on mass infection for the foreseeable future, and a perspective of eliminating the virus, not just from one state, but throughout the country and internationally.

This requires urgent measures, such as the closure of non-essential workplaces, with full compensation for workers, and online learning in the schools and the universities. But these necessary policies impinge on the profit interests of the corporate elite. The fight against the virus thus requires a political struggle by the working class against capitalism and all of the governments that defend it.
Weather Alert

...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers and locations in Indiana... White River at Edwardsport and Elliston. Wabash River at Montezuma. .Multiple rounds of rain over the last few days, including today, will lead to minor flooding along lower portions of the White River and upper portions on the Wabash River. Additional rainfall later this week should keep portions of the White and Wabash above flood stage through Saturday. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. Additional information is available at www.weather.gov/ind. This statement will be updated within the next 12 to 24 hours. && ...FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT TO SUNDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast. * WHERE...Wabash River at Montezuma. * WHEN...From late tonight to Sunday evening. * IMPACTS...At 18.0 feet, Montezuma agricultural levee is overtopped. Fourteen hundred acres of low bottomlands flood. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - At 10:45 AM EDT Tuesday the stage was 9.1 feet. - Forecast...The river will oscillate around flood stage with a maximum value of 16.4 feet early Saturday morning. - Flood stage is 14.0 feet. - http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood &&
Press Release

January 20, 2022 Dispatch from Crame No. 1210:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the government's flip-flopping "no vax-no ride" policy 1/20/22 In a matter of 24 hours, the Duterte administration managed to flip-flop on its "no vax, no ride" policy not once, but twice. After receiving flak for the number of workers unable to go to work because of the "no vax, no ride" policy, the DOLE Secretary pronounced that all workers are exempt from the policy after all, since according to him, all work is essential. Of course, this was not the original intent of the policy before it exploded in their faces. Even the IATF defines what essential industries that provide goods and services are. But Sec. Bello thinks that all industries are essential, therefore, all work is essential. With this DOLE pronouncement, and a most benevolent one, practically everyone is exempted, making the policy in relation to its objective basically useless. However, only several hours later, the DOTr comes up with another pronouncement. According to the DOTr this time, not all workers are exempted, only those working for establishments allowed to operate under Alert Level 3. For some reason, high officials of this government belonging to the IATF apparently still have not managed to create their own chat group. They confuse the public with conflicting pronouncements before the media. This is how the Duterte government plays with the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Filipinos. The flip-flopping nature of its policies depend largely on who is speaking on the government podium at a particular point. Two years into the pandemic, the Duterte administration still cannot get its act together, even on the simple matter of what workers are exempted from the "no vax, no ride" policy. Clearly, up to now, leadership seems to evade this administration. Ang hilig kase ng gobyernong ito mag "ouido" sa polisiya gamit ang kabuhayan at buhay ng mga tao.### (Access the handwritten version of Dispatch No. 1210, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._1210.pdf)
When thousands of Haitian migrants converged underneath a Texas bridge last September, the images of their plight, broadcast across the world, depicted the dire humanitarian consequences of a historic migration wave at the U.S. southern border.

But the events in Del Rio, Texas, last fall also illustrated the complicated, and often contradictory, trajectory of U.S. immigration and border policy during President Biden's first year in office.

Republicans, who have accused Mr. Biden of encouraging unlawful migration through changes in policy and rhetoric, portrayed the administration as too lenient, criticizing the release of some migrants who were allowed to stay in the U.S. to have court hearings before an immigration judge.

While many were released into the U.S., others met a starkly different fate. Using a pandemic order enacted by former President Donald Trump, the Biden administration launched an unprecedented deportation blitz to Haiti, expelling thousands, including women and children, in just a few weeks.

In its first year, Mr. Biden's administration made dozens of high-profile and little-noticed changes to the U.S. immigration system, many of them reversals of Trump-era restrictions. But the Biden administration also continued some policies instituted by Mr. Trump.

A task force created by Mr. Biden has reunited 118 migrant children with families who were separated near the southern border during the Trump administration. It has also identified an additional 370 children who are set to be reunited with their families. But following Republican criticism, the Biden administration also ended court negotiations over financial compensation for these families.

In an interview, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the administration's priorities in 2022 include reforming immigration detention, reducing massive immigration application backlogs, reshaping the asylum process and expanding naturalization efforts for eligible permanent residents.

Story continues

"We accomplished a lot in this past year. We certainly have plans to do a lot more  and we will do it," Mayorkas, a child of Cuban refugees, told CBS News on Wednesday.

Guatemalan migrants deported from the US arrive to the Air Force Base in Guatemala City, on December 29, 2021. / Credit: JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images

2021 saw both unusual and predictable developments in immigration policy. Last summer, following the Afghan government's sudden collapse, the Biden administration quickly staged the evacuation and resettlement of tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans, a vast operation that continues to this day.

Meanwhile, a long-shot bid by the White House and slim Democratic majorities in Congress to offer legal protections to many of the country's estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants crumbled after three separate plans to bypass the Senate's 60-vote threshold were rejected by the chamber's parliamentarian.

Arrivals of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border last year defied historic patterns, rising to unprecedented levels in the hot summer months. Migrant apprehensions climbed to 1.7 million, a record, in fiscal year 2021, but they also reflected an unusually high rate of adults attempting to cross the border multiple times.

A year in, the Biden administration's border strategy has divided the president's appointees and frustrated critics on the right and left, who hurl accusations of lax immigration enforcement and outrage over the continuation of some Trump-era restrictions.

Pili Tobar, the White House deputy communications director, said Republicans' criticism is rooted in "politics of fear," indicating the administration wants to highlight the "progress" Mr. Biden has made on immigration policy.

"We don't think that this is the third rail of politics, or that this is an area to shy away from," Tobar said. "On the contrary, we think the American people want this to be an issue that gets resolved."

But the political blowback over the border has been so intense it has overshadowed key reforms and campaign promises that Mr. Biden fulfilled in other parts of the sprawling immigration system.

"According to our tracking, in its first year, the Biden administration took about 300 administrative actions on immigration," said Jessica Bolter, an analyst for the Migration Policy Institute. "This probably will be surprising to a lot of people because of how much the border dominated public discourse around Biden's first year."

At the border, despite chaos and some changes, Trump-era expulsions continued

The main U.S. border policy during Mr. Biden's presidency has been an emergency rule put in place in March 2020 by the Trump administration. Known as Title 42, it allows U.S. border agents to quickly expel migrants to Mexico or their home country without screening them for asylum.

Despite criticism from advocates, the Biden administration has defended the expulsions in federal court, arguing they are needed to curb the spread of the coronavirus inside detention sites.

Officials have enforced Title 42 longer under Mr. Biden than under the Trump administration, carrying out over 1 million expulsions, most of them of single adult migrants, in 11 months, government figures show. During just over nine months under Mr. Trump, roughly 400,000 expulsions were carried out.

The Biden administration has, however, refrained from expelling migrant children who enter U.S. custody without their parents. Instead, unaccompanied children from Central America are being transferred to government shelters.

The administration has also applied Title 42 to a smaller percentage of families than the Trump administration, partly because Mexican officials have refused to accept Central American families with young children. However, the number of families encountered in 2021 increased by 1,200% from 2020.

Migrants are processed by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Penitas, Texas, on July 8, 2021. / Credit: PAUL RATJE/AFP via Getty Images

There have been notable border policy changes under Mr. Biden. The State Department voided agreements that would have allowed the U.S. to re-route migrants seeking refuge to Central America, and the Justice Department reversed Trump-era rules that disqualified victims of gang and domestic violence from asylum.

Hours after taking office, Mr. Biden stopped border wall construction, though some barrier gaps are now being closed. The Justice Department also set up a program to expedite the immigration court cases of families who are not expelled under Title 42.

Texas emerged as chief legal adversary

During Mr. Biden's first week in office, Republican officials in Texas sued his administration over the decision to halt most interior deportations for 100 days. The lawsuit, which blocked the deportation moratorium four days after it started, foreshadowed Texas' emergence as Mr. Biden's chief legal adversary.

Since then, Texas has filed multiple lawsuits seeking to hinder Mr. Biden's immigration agenda. The state has already convinced a federal judge to rule against limits on interior immigration arrests and through another case is seeking to force Mr. Biden to expand Title 42 to once again include unaccompanied minors.

In July 2021, granting a request by Texas, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to stop processing first-time applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides work permits and deportation protections to unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors.

A month later, Texas and Missouri convinced another judge to mandate the revival of a Trump administration policy that requires asylum-seekers to await their U.S. court hearings in Mexico, a program that Mr. Biden had suspended after calling it inhumane.

In late October, Mayorkas issued a second memo to terminate the Remain in Mexico rule, but it won't take effect until the court order is lifted. The Trump-era program was restarted in December; though its implementation has been limited so far.

The administration moved to reform ICE

With less fanfare, the Biden administration has reshaped the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency in charge of deportations and immigration arrests, scrapping Trump-era rules that broadened the population subject to deportation and expanded immigration detention.

Current rules direct ICE agents to arrest migrants who recently entered the U.S. illegally, noncitizens convicted of serious crimes and those who threaten national security. They generally exempt undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years from arrest if they have clean records.

"We have fundamentally changed immigration enforcement in the interior. For the first time ever, our policy explicitly states that a non-citizen's unlawful presence in the United States will not, by itself, be a basis for the initiation of an enforcement action," Mayorkas said. "This is a profound shift away from the prior administration's indiscriminate enforcement."

Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, speaks during a new conference in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, August 12, 2021. / Credit: Bloomberg

The Biden administration has barred, in most circumstances, the detention of pregnant or nursing women and victims of serious crimes. It also ended mass ICE arrests at worksites and expanded the number of "sensitive locations" where agents should avoid making arrests to include bus stops and shelters.

The long-term detention of migrant families with children  which the Trump administration sought to expand to deter illegal border crossings  has also been discontinued, for now.

In May, ICE stopped using two detention facilities plagued by allegations of abuse and initiated a review of its detention system. Mayorkas on Wednesday said additional detention centers will be closed. ICE, however, has yet to fulfill Mr. Biden's campaign pledge to end for-profit immigration detention.

"I don't want to get into the substance of a policy memorandum that I've not yet issued," Mayorkas said. "I will only say the following: number one, detention reform is a priority of mine, and two, the president fulfills his promises."

Trump limits on legal immigration were rolled back

Mr. Biden has also rolled back several limits the Trump administration placed on legal immigration, from categorical bans to bureaucratic processing restrictions.

For the current fiscal year, Mr. Biden set an ambitious target of resettling up to 125,000 refugees fleeing war and violence, a dramatic reversal of the historic low refugee cap of 15,000 that Mr. Trump set before leaving office.

The admissions target will likely not be met, however, given the state of the refugee resettlement infrastructure, which is still recovering from the pandemic and cuts under Mr. Trump, and currently focused on helping the Afghan evacuees who were relocated to the U.S. last summer.

Mr. Biden's administration has offered Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian protection from deportation, to more than 400,000 immigrants already in the U.S., including Haitians and Venezuleans who fled political and economic crises in their home countries.

The State Department resurrected and expanded the Obama-era Central American Minors initiative, which allows some parents in the U.S. to bring their children from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to the country legally.

Early in his presidency, Mr. Biden revoked a Trump order that restricted immigration and travel from 13 countries, most of them African or predominantly Muslim. He also refused to extend restrictions on work and immigrant visas that Mr. Trump put in place during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration also stopped enforcing Trump administration regulations that gave U.S. officials broader discretion to reject green card and visa applications from low-income immigrants deemed to be a "public charge," or an economic burden on the country.

Afghan children play soccer with U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Scott Nussel, a cultural awareness specialist, outside a temporary housing in Liberty Village on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, on December 2, 2021. / Credit: BARBARA DAVIDSON / REUTERS

In 2022, immigration challenges may only intensify

In many ways, Mr. Biden will continue to face immigration policy challenges in 2022 that have bedeviled Republican and Democratic presidents for decades.

Massive case backlogs continue to plague U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the immigration court system, crippling the government's ability to adjudicate applications in a timely manner.

There's currently no viable path to fulfill Mr. Biden's pledge to legalize the country's undocumented immigrants. Any such proposal would face insurmountable odds if Republicans regain control of the House in November's elections. Inaction in Congress could prompt Mr. Biden to take executive action, but that would likely invite additional lawsuits from conservative states like Texas.

While migrant arrivals at the southern border have recently plateaued, they could increase sharply later this year, as historical trends suggest, creating a new humanitarian and political challenge for Mr. Biden.

There are, however, some opportunities for Mr. Biden to implement his immigration policy vision in 2022. The Afghan evacuee resettlement effort, which has enjoyed bipartisan support, could serve as a model to reinvigorate the U.S. refugee program, test private refugee sponsorship and increase admissions.

While some Biden appointees fear the rescission of the Title 42 border rule may trigger a migration wave, its eventual end could allow the administration to test initiatives it has proposed, including a plan to let asylum officers review migrants' requests for protection, instead of transferring cases to backlog-ridden courts.

The main objective of the proposal is to dramatically speed up the screening of asylum-seekers. In an ideal scenario, it would allow the U.S. to quickly determine whether migrants should be deported because they don't qualify for asylum or allowed to stay because they are fleeing persecution or torture.

But the administration still needs to finalize the rule and hire hundreds of asylum officers to implement it. Biden officials support setting up campus-like centers to screen migrants, but none have yet been erected. And while Title 42 is supposed to be a temporary emergency order, there's no telling when it will be lifted.

On Wednesday, Mayorkas said he expects to start the asylum overhaul plan "in very short order."

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Conscious Consultancy

Chef Alexander Smalls is nearly seven thousand miles from his home in Harlem, but hes holding court like hes hosting one of his famous dinner parties in his beautifully decorated dining room.

Smalls, who is a James Beard Award winner, cookbook author and former professional opera singer, is happy to show me around his latest project, Alkebulan. Its an impressive dining hall that features seven chefs from all over Africa and is part of Expo 2020 Dubai, which started in October and will run through the end of March. The venue seats 613 people across its ten counters and attracts a mixture of both locals and tourists.

I have handpicked chefs representing all parts of the continent to ensure we showcase the rich diversity the countries have to offer, Smalls told me on a recent visit to Alkebulan.

From the second I entered the vast room I could tell it was more than just a food hall, but truly an immersive experience. The sounds and the smell of Africa came alive as if I had just landed in the motherland. Upbeat music from Africa played in the background and artwork by Nike Davies-Okundaye, Theresah Ankomah and Rufai Zakari decorated the venue.

Sitting on an elevated deck inside Alkebulan, I tried an array of the food available from the different stands, including an African swizzle cocktail from the Bar Cane stand by Chef Coco Reinarhz. The drink is a delicious mix of rum, white cacao, lychee, banana puree, tamarind paste, aloe water and rhubarb bites.

Conscious Consultancy

I then headed over to Penja and I couldnt wait to taste Chef Glory Kabes Afro-vegan food. The Red Red Green was a comforting mix of savory black-eyes peas, palm oil stew and plantains. Chef Glory also offers an array of bites to choose from such as a vegan spin on fried chicken. The food hall also has a bakery called ShoeBox from Chef Mame Sowe that serves delectable treats such as Peanut Opera, which is a lavender cake, and Sombi, a traditional rice pudding from Senegal.

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There was seriously no shortage of creativity and diversity within the dishes offered by the chefs.

Its a celebration of Africa, Smalls told me.

Read on to find out more about this pioneering food hall and what Smalls has planned for the future of Alkebulan.

Where did you get the idea for Alkebulan? It grew out of the need to understand the heritage and history of my African American kitchen where the food of my ancestral trust came from, which lead me on an odyssey of travel throughout African and Asia, culminating in following the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. It became this journey around the world on five continents. I had always dreamed of a place where people from everywhere could come and share the amazing story of the food of the African Diaspora, which could be told with authenticity and celebration.

What can people expect when they enter the food hall? We are taking visitors on a journey. From the moment you enter Alkebulan, you are hit with regional African food. With some of the best culinary practitioners who are really celebrating the food of their heritage and bringing it into a contemporary expression.

How did you get connected to Expo 2020? Dubai had the foresight to make Alkebulan a reality. Alkebulan is also the Arab word for Africa, so everything feels like it came full circle. I got connected to Expo 2020 during the pandemic when all my projects had come to a halt. I jumped with joy at the opportunity to bring this concept to life.

Whats one thing you want people to know about African cuisine? As an opera singer, I traveled all over the world. I went to fine dining restaurants, and I didnt see my heritage and culture being presented. It was more like African food was perceived as unhealthy and toxic. Alkebulan is not only good food, but its also education. I hope it shows people how diverse, creative and healthy African food is.

What chefs are featured in the food hall? Cooking is a language and artistic expression. Through my travels, I found people in the field who were innovative. I grabbed a handful of the people that I thought could help express the vision of Alkebulan. So, there are numerous African chefs spearheading their own concepts at Alkebulan, which includes Chef Kiran Jethwa of Seven Seafood; multi-award-winning Chef Coco Reinarhz the mastermind behind Choma BBQ; Chef Moos Akougbe the French Ivory pastry chef extraordinaire; vegan chef Glory Kabe; famous Cameroonian Chef Pierre Siewe; Chef Mame Sowe of sweet treats Shoebox Bakery; and Chef Davisha Burrowes.

Whats next for Alkebulan? It is our dream to open these all over the world! So, there will be an Alkebulan London and an Alkebulan Harlem.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Children play at Highland Elementary School in Las Cruces on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021.

LAS CRUCES - A new hotline has been finalized, meant for students, family and community members to report instances of racism and racially-based bullying in school settings.

The Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression Hotline  1-505-226-3911  went live on Monday. Reports can also be submitted by text, email at hotline.bea@gmail.com or by completing a form online at https://forms.gle/Tmt5ne1GyfSLpEw56.

The hotline was established as part of House Bill 43, the Black Education Act, which passed in the 2021 legislative session. However, the hotline is intended for racism, injustice or discrimination against anyone  not just Black students.

The Black Education Advisory Council was established and met for the first time Dec. 12. The state already had Indian Education, Hispanic Education and Bilingual Multicultural Education advisory councils.

Support will be available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but outside of these hours, callers can leave a message that will be returned.

Depending on the report, we will either refer the caller to additional resources or initiate an investigation, said Deputy Secretary Vickie Bannerman, who is responsible for implementing the Black Education Act.

The legislation, which took effect July 1, also requires:

Anti-racism policies in every district and state-chartered school;

Anti-racism training annually for all school staff;

An annual report to the governor and legislature on progress.

Others are reading:

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico opens hotline for reporting racism and bullying in schools
After being absorbed with domestic comforts for much of the pandemic, Jonny Johansson was ready to hit the great outdoors with his fall mens collection for Acne Studios.

The lineup was inspired by the mismatched outfits of nomadic people, though Johansson rooted the looks in Scandi tradition with sturdy knits and outerwear inspired by the indigenous communities from the north of Sweden, where he grew up.

More from WWD

The designer has ended up embracing many of the things he found corny as a teen, not least the traditional beak-toed Kero boots his mother made him wear. Shes kind of rooted in the 60s and 70s, so she kept it quite real, he recalled. So I had a double interest in those, you know: both hated them, and now I sort of love them.

He collaborated with the historic Swedish brand on several styles, including a pair attached to leather chaps.

The designer is a major music fan, so he threw in a dose of glam to liven up his lived-in coats and distressed suits, which included a crumpled tuxedo with a denim lapel. A sequined turquoise shirt was topped with a crafty knitted bib, while patterned lurex pants were matched with a fuzzy brown fleece jacket.

The quirky combinations, styled on female models in the look book, summed up Acnes ugly-chic aesthetic, conjuring a motley crew of washed-up performers, hippie travelers and bohemian drifters.

And while street juggler-style patchwork brocade pants may not be up everyones alley, the collection offered up plenty of handsome and unusual winter coverups, subtly embellished with decorative buttons that gave them a faded heirloom feel.

SEE ALSO:

Acne Studios Doubles Its Space on SoHos Greene Street

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Acne Studios Celebrates Relaunch of Acne Paper Magazine in Paris

Launch Gallery: Acne Studios Men's Fall 2022

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Millions of passengers have been left stranded at airports over the past month, as every major U.S. airline has been hit with flight delays and cancellations. By the first week of January, nearly 20,000 flights had been canceled to and from the U.S. since Christmas Eve, largely due to ongoing staffing shortages because of the Omicron variant, but also unpredictable winter weather, per CNBC. Some airlines have preemptively dropped scheduled trips over the next two months, but many airlines are being forced to cancel flights last-minute. And recently, passengers on one flight found out what it's like to have a flight canceled when it's already en route to its destination. Read on to find out what just caused an American Airlines flight to get diverted.

RELATED: American Airlines Is Getting Rid of This on Flights, Effective Immediately.

American Airlines just diverted one of its flight back to its starting point.

An American Airlines flight was about an hour into its journey from Miami to London on Jan. 20 when it was turned around, The New York Times reported. Flight trackers from FlightAware show that the Boeing 777 plane, which was carrying 129 passengers and 14 crew members, was roughly 500 miles into its 4,400-mile flight when it reversed course off the coast of North Carolina. Flight AAL38 returned to Miami International Airport, where police officers were waiting, according to the newspaper.

RELATED: American Is Cutting Flights From These 6 Major Cities, Starting in February.

The airline said the flight was turned around over a mask dispute.

According to American Airlines, a COVID mask dispute is what caused the flight's abrupt cancellation. Under a mandate from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), all passengers traveling with U.S. airlines are still required to wear a face covering aboard flights, through at least March 18 of this year.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," the airline said in a statement, per CNN. "The flight landed safely at MIA where local law enforcement met the aircraft. We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience."

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The Miami-Dade Police Department escorted the non-compliant passenger, who officers described as a woman in her 40s, off the aircraft upon arrival back to the airport, as reported by Insider. Miami-Dade Detective Argemis Colome told the news outlet that the passenger was not detained or charged as a result of the incident.

"She was escorted off the plane, but there was no further incident after that," Colome said. "Her outcome was pretty much dealt with by the American Airlines staff. They dealt with that administratively and that was it."

The passenger has been banned from flying with the airline.

American Airlines said the traveler has been banned from flying with the airline, pending investigation. The woman was placed on the airline's "internal refuse list," which operates as a no-fly list for unruly passengers, particularly those who refuse to follow the mandatory mask policy. This is not the first time American Airlines has banned travelers for not wearing coverings aboard their planes, but the carrier has refused to reveal just how many people are on its list.

Other U.S. airlines have their own records as well, with Delta Air Lines having about 1,200 passengers on its internal no-fly list as of May 2021, Frontier having more than 830, United having 750, and Alaska Airlines having 542, according to the Los Angeles Times.

RELATED: For more travel news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.

Thousands of mask-related incidents were reported by airlines last year.

Mask incidents on planes are hardly uncommon these days. Out of 5,981 unruly passenger reports from airline crews in 2021, 4,290 were related to masks, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). And while numbers appear to already be lower at the start of this year compared to the record highs seen this same time last year, these issues are still occurring. The agency has received 151 unruly passenger reports as of Jan. 18, with 91 of these incidents being related to face masks.

"Let me be clear: I have zero tolerance for dangerous behavior on airplanes," FAA Administrator Steve Dickson tweeted on Dec. 16. "It could cost you a big fine or jail time. Wear a mask, respect the crew and follow their instructions. They are there for your safety."

RELATED: The CDC Just Banned You From Bringing This on Flights.
Photo credit: CBS Photo Archive - Getty Images



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NCIS and NCIS: Hawaii fans, get excited  upcoming future episodes are going to bring together a lot of your favorite crime-solving characters.

Earlier this month, it was announced that actress Katrina Law, who plays Special Agent Knight, and her costar Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Special Agent Torres in the CBS drama, would be heading to The Aloha State for a new NCIS episode. I am headed off to Hawai'i to shoot a crossover event, Wilmer said in an Instagram clip from January 3. Ive also got something to tell you: Im coming to Hawai'i, too, Katrina added. Its going to be good being back on the island solving crimes.

According to her Instagram, it looks like Katrina has landed in Hawai'i and is already making the most of her time there. On Instagram, she posted a collection of photos, including one of herself throwing a shaka sign (a well-known positive greeting). The rest of the snaps show Katrina soaking in the last moments of sun rays in and out of the ocean.

So good for the soul , she captioned the collection.

After seeing Katrina in what we can only presume is Hawaii, fans immediately began flooding the Instagram comments section with heart-eye emojis, heart emojis and shaka signs. Aloha , one person wrote. Shaka Aloha  @katrinalaw to you too , another added. Beautiful! Fantastic photos! a different fan said.

Whats more, fellow NCIS: Hawaii actor Alex Tarrant wrote, She back , referencing Katrina's old Hawaii Five-0 role as former staff sergeant Quinn Liu. She appeared in a total of 27 episodes, including the series finale episode, which aired in April 2020. Katrinas character was later featured in an episode of Magnum P.I. season 3. Both CBS dramas are set in Hawaii.

Katrinas former costar Beulah Koale will also be starring in an upcoming episode of NCIS: Hawaii, airing on January 24. During the last three seasons of Hawaii Five-0, Beulah portrayed a former Navy SEAL named Junior Reigns. Now, the actor will come back to the small screen to play David Sola, a New Zealand intelligence officer. Hell work with Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) to solve a mysterious death. According to TVLine, it will be a multi-episode gig.

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Prosecutors have dismissed a second case against an Iowa animal rights activist who recorded secret video of hogs being euthanized at two Iowa pork facilities.

Cresco native Matt Johnson, an activist affiliated with the organization Direct Action Everywhere, made headlines in early 2020 when he released footage of hundreds of pigs being killed in Grundy County by Iowa Select Farms, a major pork producer, early in the pandemic. Unable to ship pigs to slaughterhouses that were shuttered due to COVID, Select Farms euthanized the animals by shutting down ventilation in their barns and overheating them.

Company officials said afterward that the process was the safest and most humane option available, and condemned activists for using hidden cameras and false pretenses to infiltrate their facilities.

Johnson was charged with trespass and other crimes at two Select Farms facilities in Grundy and Wright counties. Grundy County prosecutors dismissed their charges on the eve of a January 2021 trial, saying the company had asked the case be dismissed after Johnson subpoenaed a number of Select Farms executives and employees to testify.

Previously: Charges dropped against animal rights activist who secretly filmed Iowa pigs being killed

In Wright County, Johnson's trial was to begin Thursday, but again, prosecutors have backed down. Prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss all charges against Johnson "in the interest of justice," which the judge granted after a short hearing Wednesday.

Johnson with a sick pig from a confinement

In an interview, Johnson said agricultural interests want laws to deter activists such as himself but haven't been willing to face scrutiny in court themselves.

"I think it speaks to the moral power of what we're doing," he said. "And when push comes to shove and it's time to publicly account for their actions, they want no part of it."

Undercover investigations draw officials' ire

The dismissal is a new twist in a long-running Iowa policy battle. In addition to burglary and electronic eavesdropping charges, Johnson was also charged with food operation trespass, a law designed to counter the practice by animal rights activists of publicizing photos and videos from inside animal barns and slaughterhouses.

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Iowa legislators have passed four so-called "ag-gag" laws over the past decade, and litigation against several remains ongoing. That complicated legal and legislative history can be seen in the course of Johnson's case. He was charged in May 2020 with agricultural production facility trespass, a crime created under Iowa's second ag-gag law in 2019, which was passed after a court declared the state's first law unconstitutional.

From 2020: Activists arrested after chaining themselves outside Iowa facility where pigs euthanized

In June 2020, Wright County dismissed the charges under the second law, which by then had also been blocked by the courts. The third ag-gag law, criminalizing food operation trespass, was passed later that month, and in March 2021, after Johnson was reportedly spotted trying to get into the Select Farms facility again, he was charged again under the third law.

A fourth law, approved in 2021, has also been challenged in court. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially upheld the 2012 law in August, while the 2019 law remains enjoined and the lawsuit against it is still pending.

The lawsuits challenging the first, second and fourth laws were brought by a coalition led by the Animal Legal Defense Fund. An attorney with the group confirmed the group has not and doesn't currently plan to sue to block the third law, which is the one under which Johnson was charged in Wright County.

Court rules charges constitutional even in dismissal

Judge Derek Johnson dismissed Matt Johnson's Wright County case Wednesday, but not before handing Select Farms a win.

In the leadup to trial, Matt Johnson had filed a motion to dismiss his food operation trespass charges, arguing that the law amounted to criminalizing free speech and journalistic investigations in violation of the First Amendment. On Tuesday, the same day prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, Judge Johnson denied that motion, citing the 8th Circuit decision that found it constitutional to prohibit gaining access to an agricultural facility under false pretenses.

"Even assuming investigative journalism required the ability to trespass in order to record videos of alleged unethical treatment of animals, such a requirement is not sufficient to effectively make any food animal operation in Iowa a public place," Judge Johnson wrote.

Previously: Animal rights group claims animal neglect at farm of Iowa senator who backed ag-gag law

Wright County prosecutors did not respond to a message seeking comment on the decision to drop the case. A spokesperson for Select Farms said the company's understanding was the case was dismissed due to evidentiary issues, but emphasized the court's ruling that the underlying law was constitutionally sound.

"The Defendant claimed he should be able to access private property in the name of investigative journalism, but the court denied that argument and protected the rights of private agricultural facilities," Jen Sorenson, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an emailed statement. "The defendant also argued the law is designed to discriminate against animal rights activists and treat them differently, but the court denied that argument, too. The ruling indicates that the law, on its face, does not treat any type of trespasser differently."

In an ironic procedural twist, Matt Johnson opposed the state's effort to dismiss the case, arguing that he deserved a right to clear his name of some of the more inflammatory allegations against him. The judge refused, saying he would not order a jury to appear just for the prosecutor to refuse to try the case.

As for the judge's ruling on the charges' constitutionality, Matt Johnson and his attorney, Wayne Hsiung, think the war there is far from over.

"(The judge) himself can see that animal rights activists are pretty likely being targeted by the statute, but because facially the law literally does not say it's criminalizing speech, even its intent was to discriminate against people expressing certain views, (he) doesn't have grounds to strike this entire law down," Hsiung said.

"Honestly, the appropriate venue for us to challenge this law on its face as unconstitutional is an appellate court and likely federal court," he added. "And I think that you might see that sort of challenge presented over the course the next few months and years."

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ag gag case dropped against Iowa activist who recorded hog slaughter
Donna Davenport has at least one supporter of her judicial legacy  despite contributing to a culture of failed juvenile justice in Rutherford County.

Within hours of Davenport announcing on Tuesday she would not seek re-election as juvenile court judge, Murfreesboro attorney Brad Hornsby said some of the public accusations against her, dating back nearly six years, went too far. Davenport didnt arrest children in 2016 for being involved in a fight near Hobgood Elementary  or rumored to participate, he said. She didnt file charges either.

"Like all judges, we sometimes disagree with decisions that are made, but I always felt that she did what she thought was best for the children," said Hornsby, a friend of Davenport who's known her for more than three decades.

"I hate to say it, but the children sometimes got more discipline from her than they got at their home."

Then theres Kyle Mothershead, one of the attorneys who represented hundreds of people illegally arrested and jailed as minors in Rutherford County. His class-action lawsuit was settled in December for nearly $6 million.

Good riddance, Mothershead quipped.

Tennessee law strictly prohibits the pretrial incarceration of minors unless they are charged with a violent felony, a weapons offense or a probation violation.

The distant opinions of Hornsby, Mothershead and others explain the conundrum facing the community as Davenport, one of the last elected leaders tied to a decades-long pattern of illegally arresting and jailing children, prepares to leave the bench by Aug. 31.

Tyrant or dedicated public servant.

Local leader or rule bender.

If Davenport's tenure was not a political pinball before Monday, it become one by mid-morning. A group of Democrats from across Tennessee vowed to oust her from the bench. And a group of Republicans cried foul.

Nicole Alexander listens as her son Wild Fire on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021 as he remembers and explains what he went through when he was illegally jailed, according to a lawsuit, in 2016 at the age of 10, and what the consequences of being jail has been on his life.

Ironically, Davenport has ran for office three separate times, and won, as an independent, Democrat and Republican.

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The lawsuit Mothershead helped to file against Rutherford County stated Davenport did not create the juvenile justice system which disenfranchised thousands for decades, transforming minor and made-up charges into what Nashville's Chief U.S. District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. deemed unquestionably irreparable harm.

Davenport simply contributed to it, during a time she had the power to stop it, to change it.

"Some kids never get over it," said Katie Wilson, president of the Murfreesboro NAACP branch.

"Im just praying whoever is elected will look at the policies and follow the law rather than creating their own policies."

Davenport is the only juvenile court judge Rutherford County has ever had, dating back to 2000. She plans to retire after completing her eight-year term. And now, at least two candidates have emerged to replace her in the Aug. 4 election.

Local Democrat: 'I would rather that they remove her now'

One day before Davenport announced her retirement plans at the end of her latest eight-year term, Democratic state lawmakers announced plans to pursue legislation to remove her from office. They suggested her policies, including one in 2003 about arresting minors, led to children being illegally arrested and incarcerated on misdemeanor charges.

What she's doing is illegal," said state Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville.

The 2017 lawsuit questioned Davenport's role in jailing children charges with misdemeanors. But it also questioned the actions of the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center and among others, center director Lynn Duke and her staff, which determined if children were a threat to themselves or the community.

Davenport appointed Duke to the position.

Rutherford County Habitat for Humanity's 2021 Cooking to Build volunteers are, from left, Sherri Harris, Cathy Watts and Darlene Neal.

For these reasons, and others, Rutherford County Democratic Party Chair Cathy Watts would prefer Davenport to leave the bench now, instead of waiting until after the Aug. 4 election.

"She can do a lot of harm in those six months," Watts said. "She can put a lot of children in jail that dont need to be there.

"It just horrified me that she had stayed in office all these years."

Tim Rudd, left talks with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander before Alexander spoke at the Murfreesboro Rotary lunch meeting Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.

GOP state Rep. Tim Rudd: 'This is just more political gamesmanship'

Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said that he doesn't foresee the resolution from Democrats getting approved by the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly.

"I see them doing this more as a political-type resolution," Sexton said.

The speaker recalled that Democrats opposed an unsuccessful bill in 2021, proposed by state Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, to remove Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle from the bench after a ruling to expand absentee voting.

Rudd agreed with the speakers position.

This is just more political gamesmanship from my Democratic colleagues aimed more at getting headlines than any type of meaningful reform," Rudd explained. He still contends Chancellor Lyle's ruling illegally interfered with the election process by implementing her own policies in violation of state law. "If they were serious about judicial reform," Rudd added, "they would focus on cleaning up their own judicial backyard."

Sexton suggested that the Tennessee Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility should review any concerns about the actions of Davenport, which is a position similar to Gov. Bill Lee, according to a Tennessee Bar Association article.

Commissioner: 'I think she would have had an uphill battle'

Rutherford County Commissioner Robert Peay Jr., who serves on the Public Safety Committee that reviews juvenile detention center reports, said Davenport made a wise decision to retire rather than run for reelection and face opposition.

The combination of continued local and national media coverage, a federal court ruling against Rutherford County, December's settlement and social media conversations that shared the controversy across the nation may have been too much for even Davenport to endure another campaign.

Davenport has declined multiple interview requests from the Daily News Journal. Rutherford County Commissioner Pettus Read, chair of the Public Safety Committee, declined to comment about Davenport's retirement plans.

Said Peay: "I think she would have had an uphill battle."

Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips by emailing sbroden@dnj.com or calling 615-278-5158. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford County Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott still has allies
Comedy Central

Last week, The Daily Show aired footage of its intrepid correspondent, Jordan Klepper, returning to the scene of the crime: the U.S. Capitol on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Klepper was in the crowd on that fateful day and confronted several pro-Trump rioters moments before they stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to stop the 2020 presidential election from being certified. One year later, the reunion saw Klepper get in the face of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), calling the Trump bootlicker and spreader of the Big Liewhos also been accused of participating in an underage sex plotchildish.

Jordan Klepper Confronts Matt Gaetz on Anniversary of Jan. 6 Insurrection

Well, on Wednesday, Klepper was backonly this time, he focused on Trump supporters whod gathered for a vigil outside of the jail housing the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

I had never been to a protest event before the 2020 presidential election, one man told Klepper. I had become completely consumed. It took over my life. For three months, I slept in my car. I traveled from rally to rally, from #StopTheSteal event to #StopTheSteal event, for three months, sleeping in my car, going to see the evidence. And then I had to recover. I had PTSD. So, it took me a long time to find myself again. I feel like I just got out of a cult.

But then, things took a rather unexpected turn when Klepper asked the man if he still believes the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

For more, listen to The Daily Shows Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Delaware County residents were limited to two minutes a piece to voice their complaints, feedback and opinions during the public comment portion of ODOT's meeting.

DELAWARE  People in northern Delaware County are worried that changes to Route 23 could cost them farmland and their rural way of life.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is studying options for clearing congestion on Rt. 23 and creating a more direct route between Columbus and Toledo. Right now, they are looking at six options, including turning the highway into a freeway.

On Wednesday, around 400 people showed up at the Delaware County Fairgrounds to weigh in on the project for the second of four scheduled public meetings.

Many residents said they have watched construction projects in central Ohio expand beyond Columbus into outlying rural areas and take over farmland before.

"We've seen this," said Mark Hope, a grain farmer whose family has several hundred acres of land across the county. "Eminent domain is no good."

Some Delaware County residents oppose Rt. 23 upgrade

Residents created a website, No Route 23 Connect at nohwy.com, to implore people to oppose a freeway through rural Delaware County.

Rt. 23, which runs in Ohio from Portsmouth to Sylvania, is especially congested from Interstate 270 to Waldo in Marion County. As Columbus grows, transportation officials worry that will only get worse. There are 38 traffic lights between Waldo and I-270 alone, and anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 vehicles drive through Rt. 23 daily.

ODOT began studying the options for clearing congestion last spring.

Project managers from the Ohio Department of Transportation held a public meeting Wednesday to seek input on potential plans to decrease congestion on Route 23.

Breanna Badanes, ODOT's spokesperson for central Ohio, said the study, Route 23 Connect, is still in preliminary planning stages. So far there are six renovation options the department is considering in collaboration with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments.

"It will take several years before we get close to construction," she said. "But everyone agrees something needs to be done about traffic on 23."

What are options to fix Route 23 congestion?

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Two of those concepts would connect Rt. 23 to U.S. Route 33, Interstate 270 and/or U.S. Route 42 on the western side of Delaware County. Three concepts would connect Rt. 23 to I-71, I-270 and/or U.S. Route 36/State Route 37 on the eastern side of the county.

Delaware County residents poured into the Exposition Center of the Delaware County Fairgrounds to comment on possible changes to Rt. 23.

A sixth option would upgrade the existing Rt. 23 into a freeway by adding through lanes and replacing interchanges.

Thom Slack, an ODOT manager for the Route 23 Connect project, explained that the department will use a variety of factors to determine which concept deserves further study.

Those factors include anything from potential travel time, residential displacement, endangered species and estimated costs.

Fears over rural Delaware County's future

More than two dozen residents spoke up during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Molly Queen read from a prepared statement during her comment, as she furiously raised concerns about the impact any of the proposed concepts would have on Delaware County's environment.

"We cannot destroy what's left of our natural habitat," she said. "This poses a level of environmental disregard that's shameful."

Other farmers defended their way of life.

"This work is sunup to sundown, I'm not sure if you know that," one woman said to the project managers. "We can rebuild our homes, but we can't get our farmland back."

Susan Barr stepped up to the microphone to pose a question to the crowd assembled.

"How many of you feel this would impact your property?" she asked, gesturing to ODOT's presentation up front.

Hundreds of hands shot up.

"We have in no way figured this out yet," Slack said Wednesday. "That's why we're here tonight to get more feedback."

"We do not seek to come in and break up every farm," he added.

Project managers from the Ohio Department of Transportation held a public meeting to get feedback on possible changes to Rt. 23 in Delaware and Marion counties.

The Route 23 project managers reiterated throughout the meeting that their efforts will improve the overall safety of the region, reduce congestion and align with the community's goals.

"This is the moment, if we all decide to grab it," Chris Hermann said, "to make real change."

Hermann, an urban planner and public engagement manager on ODOT's team, explained that by 2040, Delaware County is expected to add more than 85,000 new residents and Columbus is projected to add a million.

"In 20 years, it's going to be much worse," he added.

The department wants to hear from everyone impacted, so they can factor in all feedback before deciding which concept to further study and evaluate.

People have until Feb. 28 to issue a public comment to the ODOT:

By email at d06.pio@dot.ohio.gov

By telephone at 740-833-8268

Online at transportation.ohio.gov/23connect

The next meeting will be a virtual public comment session at 12 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 27, which anyone can register for at publicinput.com/23connect.

Ceili Doyle is a Report for America corps member and covers rural issues in Ohio for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at https://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.

cdoyle@dispatch.com

@cadoyle_18

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Delaware County rural residents fear US 23 upgrade congestion fix
Jan. 19WILLMAR

 An Oklahoma man was sentenced Jan. 10 in

Kandiyohi County District Court

to three years of probation for stealing thousands of dollars from a woman for whom he makes health care and financial decisions.

Kevin Wayne Jelley, 57, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was charged with felony financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult  breach of fiduciary obligation by failing to provide care. He pleaded guilty Monday and was given a stay of adjudication by District Judge David Mennis.

A stay of adjudication means that the charge will eventually be dismissed if the terms of the stay are met.

As part of his unsupervised probation, Jelley will owe a Willmar care facility $33,130.30 for unpaid services and he cannot act as a fiduciary, guardian or serve in a conservatorship role during the probationary period.

According to the criminal complaint, Jelley holds the legal power of attorney for a woman who is a resident of a care facility in Willmar. An administrator there told a Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services employee who works in adult protection that about $29,000 is owed on the woman's account.

She receives Medical Assistance funds, which are supposed to be used to pay the facility for services.

Jelley has a joint bank account with her where the funds are supposed to be deposited.

Jelley allegedly told the administrator, and later law enforcement, that he and his wife lost their jobs during the pandemic and he used the money meant for the woman's care to pay bills and "live on."

Jelley stopped making payments to the care facility in August 2019.

After being confronted by a facility administrator about the lack of payment and being told that further lack of payment would lead to the woman being discharged from the facility, Jelley did make a one-month payment in February 2021.

A law enforcement review of the bank accounts held by Jelley and the woman showed a recurring monthly credit to a joint checking account of between $1,600 and $1,800, which appears to be the Medical Assistance payments.

From August 2019, when Jelley stopped making payments to the care facility, through March 2021, there are multiple purchase transactions from Target, Walmart and Starbucks, money transfers to an account in Jelley's name and ATM cash withdrawals from the joint checking account.
President Joe Biden speaks during his COVID-19 response during a Jan. 13 speech on the White House campus. Andrew Harnik/AP

The White House has a mixed record on its management of the pandemic, a report found.

One top advisor said the White House underestimated the amount of political opposition they would face.

"Everyone had a failure to anticipate delta and omicron, the administration included," another offered.

President Biden's top pandemic advisor says the administration didn't anticipate how much disinformation and sheer political opposition would undermine the federal pandemic response.

"[W]e underestimated in that original strategy  the amount of disinformation and the fact that people would actually stand in the way of the pandemic response for political or other motivation," White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told The Washington Post.

The Post, in a lengthy examination of Biden's track record against the pandemic, found that the White House has both succeeded and struggled to implement much of its original 200-page COVID-19 plan. Officials and healthcare providers credit the White House for a vaccination campaign that has led at least 250 million Americans to receive at least one dose of the shot. But advisors say a novel and ever-changing virus combined at times with a lack of preparation has also undermined their efforts

"This is a good plan overcome by events," Andy Slavitt, who was the head of Biden's vaccine rollout, told The Post. "Everyone had a failure to anticipate delta and omicron, the administration included."

Health officials are especially concerned about the state of the global vaccination effort. According to Oxford's Our World in Data project, less than 5% of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated versus 71% of people in high-income nations. But addressing this vast disparity poses some thorny questions when the virus continues to spread domestically

"It's been difficult to get the White House to focus on improving vaccinations in Malawi, when the president is getting calls about overflowing hospitals in Missouri," one unnamed official told The Post.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request by John Thomas "J.T." Burnette to stay out of federal prison while he appeals his conviction on corruption charges.

The appellate court issued a one-page order Wednesday denying a motion filed earlier this month by Burnette's appellate lawyers. The order was signed by Jill Pryor, U.S. circuit judge in the 11th Circuit.

Burnette was convicted by a jury in August on federal extortion and other charges for his involvement in a bribery scheme involving former Tallahassee Mayor and City Commissioner Scott Maddox and his longtime partner Paige Carter-Smith.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle sentenced Burnette to three years in federal prison and fined him $1.25 million. The judge later denied a request by Burnette's lawyers to remain free pending appeal, saying the wealthy businessman got a "full and fair" trial.

John "J.T." Burnette leaves the U.S. Courthouse after he was sentenced to three years in federal prison for public corruption charges Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.

Burnette, a wealthy businessman and hotelier, hired the powerhouse Washington, D.C., firm Williams & Connolly to handle his appeal. After striking out in U.S. District Court, the firm filed a time-sensitive motion Jan. 3 with the 11th Circuit to keep him out of prison.

Judge Pryor did not elaborate on why the request was denied but said no more motions on the matter would be taken up as time-sensitive.

"The clerk is directed to treat any motion for reconsideration of this order as a non-emergency matter," Pryor wrote.

Back story:

Burnette, 44, has been on court-monitored federal release since shortly after his arrest by the FBI in 2019. After his conviction and sentencing, Hinkle ordered him to report by Sunday to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons by Sunday.

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He is expected to serve his sentence at the minimum-security federal prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama, located on the grounds of Maxwell Air Force Base.

Burnette was convicted on charges involving bribes he arranged from undercover FBI agents posing as developers to Maddox and Carter-Smith, who testified against him under cooperation deals with federal prosecutors.

Both pleaded guilty to charges involving payoffs they took from city vendors in exchange for their official action. Maddox is serving a five-year sentence at the federal prison camp in Talladega, Alabama; Carter-Smith is serving a two-year sentence at the federal prison camp in Marianna.

More: Scott Maddox faces 'primitive existence' as he starts his sentence at a federal prison camp

After his conviction, Burnette's lawyers contended that Hinkle erred by allowing an undercover FBI agent to testify about the defendant's truthfulness during recorded conversations and changing a standard jury instruction. However, federal prosecutors argued that there were no such errors.

Burnette has a Wednesday deadline to file his appellate brief with the 11th Circuit.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Court denies Tallahassee businessman J.T. Burnette's request to stay out of jail
Jason Roy marked his return to England duty with a scintillating 36-ball hundred to usher his side to a thumping win in their only warm-up before a five-match Twenty20 series against the West Indies.

In his first outing since recovering from the torn left calf that curtailed his T20 World Cup two months ago, the opener struck nine fours and 10 sixes against a Barbados Cricket Association Presidents XI at the Kensington Oval.

Roy dominated a 141-run opening stand alongside Tom Banton before he was out for 115 off 47 balls, an innings which formed the backbone of Englands 231 for four, with their hosts finishing on 137 for 11 in a 13-a-side affair that carried on beyond the 10th wicket falling to maximise playing time.

Welcome back, @JasonRoy20!  115 off 47 balls  We make 231 from our 20 overs pic.twitter.com/iuN09pdPQ5  England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 19, 2022

There were cameos from Banton (32), James Vince (40 not out), Eoin Morgan (22) and Phil Salt (15no), with Moeen Alis dismissal for one off three balls the only blob, ahead of a series which starts on Saturday, where England will be without the likes of Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes after their Ashes involvement.

But it was Roy who hogged the headlines. He limped off the field in Englands final group game at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and his absence was keenly felt days later in a semi-final defeat against New Zealand.

He was at his devastating best in Bridgetown and seemed confident from the off, characteristically marching down the track often as he took on a callow seam attack with a series of flicks, pulls and drives.

There were moments of fortune as a couple of leading edges fell into gaps but he reached his ton with three straight heaves for six, the first hitting the roof of the Greenidge and Haynes Stand and the last two clearing it.

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100 up for Roy off just 36 balls. (84, 10 x6). He's just cleared the Greenidge and Haynes Stand twice from successive balls. England 134-0 in the ninth over  David Charlesworth (@charlie_4444) January 19, 2022

He was dropped from the next ball  one of a series of fielding mistakes from their generous hosts  as England reached 141 without loss after 10 overs before off-spinner Ashley Nurse brought some respectability to proceedings.

After Banton slapped to mid-off for 32, Nurse, by far the most experienced campaigner for the BCA Presidents XI, stifled Roy and Vince, with England restricted to 16 runs in the four overs following the halfway stage.

Roy swept Nurse into the deep and then the off-spinner, who has represented the Windies on 67 occasions in the white-ball formats, cleaned up Moeen as England lurched to 159 for three before the innings ended with a flourish.

With the Ashes contingent unavailable and one or two others out  Liam Livingstone is in the squad but missed out here due to illness  this was a chance for several on the fringes to stake their claim in a T20 World Cup year.

James Vince scored 40 in Englands convincing win (Martin Rickett/PA)

Vince held Englands innings together after Roys downfall and Salt was punchy towards the back end, while Reece Topley and Saqib Mahmood made early inroads into the opposition batting line-up, with a chase never seeming likely.

Left-armer Topley conceded just two runs in his two overs after opening the bowling under lights while Adil Rashid trapped former Windies batter Kyle Hope and Tevyn Walcott in front to reduce the hosts to 63 for six.

Tymal Mills radar was a little off, sending down several leg-side wides, but he ended Shamar Springers buccaneering 36 off 23 balls, with Liam Dawson holding on to a steepler at mid-off.

Mills took another couple of scalps with slower balls either side of a short break for rain. While the home side had lost 10 wickets, they fulfilled their 20 overs as England sought to wring every drop from the practice game.
A herd of Christmas cows decorates Melanie Kuolt's front yard in Stevens Point.

Greetings, Wisconsin!

We made it. It's Christmas Eve and, yeah, the holiday mania leading up this day can be a bit much, can't it? But we're here now, and if you didn't get everything you want done, well, just save it for next year.

It's time sit back, relax, eat a cookie, drink some nog if you are so inclined and, if you are in a household with children, puppies or strange relatives, enjoy the chaos, the weirdness and the mess.

Let's acknowledge, too, that although many of us revel in Christmas, some of us may not. I was raised in a deeply religious Christian community that does not celebrate the holiday. (Maybe I knocked on your door on a Saturday morning in the late 1970s.)

It could be lonely space, actually, sitting off to the side and watching everyone else celebrate. My response, even as a kid, was to embrace being an outsider, literally. I would take walks through the deep Wisconsin winter, and learned to find joy in the cold, the snow and even the special brand of blue solstice darkness.

Later, even though I chose another spiritual path and began slowly to participate in holiday traditions, I found myself often working on various holidays, or for whatever reason, not being able to travel to be with family and friends. When that happened, often somebody would invite me into their home and feed me and include me in their celebrations. I'm grateful for those people who noticed me, asked about me and cared.

So if you don't participate in Christmas traditions, take care of yourself and I hope you can take time to spend some time with the people you care about the most. If you have to work, thanks so much for all you do, especially you folks working to keep us safe, with a special nod to health care workers. You are holding us on your shoulders right now, and we know it's heavy. We are so grateful to you and the sacrifices you are making. (And hey, let's all help by being extra vigilant to prevent further spread of COVID-19.)

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Meanwhile, here's a trio of Christmas pieces that put a smile on my face, including the traditional fictional short story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editor Greg Borowski:

 Reindeer Tracks: A story for Christmas

 'Udderly amazing': Herd of decorative Christmas cows in Stevens Point brightens the holiday season

 I went to Wisconsin's Christmas Card Town looking for a Hallmark love story

Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb in the Model T Ford, modified with skis in front and tracks in back, that she used to travel to patients in the winter, photo from the book "Dr. Kate: Angel on Snowshoes."

Never underestimate the power of a Wisconsin woman

 'It just lifts everybody up': Teen pushes her brother's wheelchair in cross-country races, and people are taking notice

 Celebrating a Wisconsin legend: The lessons of Woodruff's Dr. Kate Pelham Newcomb carry on

Yaw Asare started a business making a peanut brittle that doesnt stick to your teeth following a Gahan recipe. It started because he missed the snack from his homeland. He is shown here proudly displaying three flavors of Sharay's Ghana Style Brittle Thursday, December 9, 2021, at his home in Appleton, Wis. Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Finally, cheers to the problem solvers!

I'm feeling the urge to play some bingo while eating some African peanut brittle.

 Meet Oneida 'Bingo Queens' Sandra Brehmer and Alma Webster, who started tribal gaming in Wisconsin 45 years ago

 Peanut brittle that doesn't stick to your teeth. Sharay's Ghana Style Brittle isn't a miracle, just this Appleton man's side hustle

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Christmas stories; tough women; creative problem solvers
Jan. 19A London man is held under $50,000 cash bond and several charges stemming from an attempted flight from police early Sunday afternoon.

Corey Goldsberry, 28, of East Maple Street in London, was arrested after he crashed his vehicle into a snowbank during Sunday's snowfall. Goldsberry was observed traveling at 65 mph on the snow covered roads to avoid stopping for Laurel Sheriff's deputies, then running on foot after the crash. He then struggled with police after being taken into custody, according to a Laurel County Sheriff's Office press release.

He was charged with speeding, 26 mph over limit; second-degree fleeing or evading police in a motor vehicle, second-degree fleeing or evading police, on foot, and driving on DUI suspended license.

To add to the incident, it was learned that Goldsberry had several outstanding warrants, including one for failing to report to his probation officer on a charge for receiving stolen property. Another warrant was served on him for a crash in which he hit a motorcycle and fled the scene, leaving the operator of the motorcycle lying in the roadway with injuries. In another incident, Goldsberry was charged with first-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree terroristic threatening, as well as another separate warrant for failure to appear in court on charges of public intoxication.

Goldsberry's other bonds for the warrants range from $25,000, $5,000, and $750. No bond is listed for the parole absconding charge.



Two people were arrested on Thursday after Sheriff's officials went to locate a person with outstanding warrants. What they found was not only the wanted person, but another person and suspected heroin.

K-9/shift Sgt. Gary Mehler, Maj. Chuck Johnson, Detective Allen Turner, and Deputies Brian France and Travis Napier went to Willow Branch Road in East Bernstadt on Thursday afternoon in hopes of locating Shawn Curt Mulrenin, who was wanted on two Laurel District Court warrants and a Boyle County warrant for bail jumping and a second one for failure to appear on contempt of court charges. The Laurel cases involved failure to appear on numerous traffic violations as well as one for theft by unlawful taking over $1,000.

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On arrival at the home, Mulrenin was outside, but another male and a female fled into the back of the residence, according to a Laurel County Sheriff's Office press release. The female, 32-year-old Robyn Danielle Jones, was found in possession of suspected heroin and hypodermic needles, with two of those loaded. Mulrenin was found in possession of suspected heroin that possibly contained Fentanyl.

Jones was charged with second-degree fleeing or evading police, on foot and a Laurel District Court bench warrant for failure to appear in court on charges of driving on a DUI suspended license.

Mulrenin was charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia, as well as the other warrants.



Two men landed in jail on Friday morning after the vehicle in which they were passengers was spotted weaving along the roadway. The arrests of Derek Mullins, 26, of Holly Grove Road in Corbin and Joseph Glen Isom, 19, of Roy Dugger Road in London, came around 1:32 a.m. along Interstate 75 in London. Mullins was the driver of the vehicle and was determined by Deputies Justin Taylor and Landry Collett to be driving on DUI-suspended license. He was also in possession of a large amount of suspected methamphetamine and a scooping spoon with residue on it, according to a Laurel County Sheriff's Office press release.

Isom, who initially gave deputies a wrong identity, was found in possession of a large amount of suspected methamphetamine and sandwich bags with residue inside them. He was charged with trafficking controlled substance (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Mullins was charged with trafficking methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving on DUI-suspended license.



Two other people were arrested for possession of methamphetamine on Thursday.

A drug investigation at a business three miles east of London landed 35-year-old Sammy Bowling and 35-year-old Brian Winberry, both of London, in jail after they were found in possession of a quantity of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, according to a Laurel County Sheriff's Office press release.

Bowling had suspected methamphetamine, a glass smoking pipe and several used plastic bags. Winberry possessed suspected methamphetamine, a used hypodermic needle, a scale weight and several unused baggies. Winberry also had outstanding warrants for failure to appear in Laurel District Court for driving under the influence and a probation violation for theft by failure to make required disposition of property and a probation violation.



Breaking into his ex-girlfriend's home sent a London man to jail on Saturday night, Jan. 8. Nathan D. Moore, 42, of Indian Camp Road in London, was arrested off Locust Grove Road after he kicked in the door of a residence, gaining entry inside, according to a Laurel County Sheriff's Office press release. The female and another person told Laurel Sheriff's deputies that they defended themselves against Moore, causing injuries to him.

Moore was taken for medical treatment for the injuries, then was taken to jail after his release. He was charged with second-degree burglary, violation of a Kentucky EPO.



Monday morning brought the arrest of Tanner Alan Pomraning, 24, of Corbin, following an argument that turned physical.

When Sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene on Fields Lane, the female subject said that Pomraning had struck her in the face. He was charged with fourth-degree assault.

Further investigation revealed that Pomraning was also wanted on a Whitley County warrant for failing to appear on charges of driving under the influence. He was lodged in the Laurel County Correctional Center.



A non-injury crash landed a Barbourville man in jail on Monday morning as well.

Bryce Imel, 19, was driving a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck along KY 3431 when he collided with a backhoe. The truck was a short distance away from the backhoe, sitting sideways on the roadway and blocking traffic. Deputies Tommy Houston and James Sizemore determined that Imel was under the influence and taken to jail.
Martha Stewart has survived a lot in her four decade long career, including not one, not two, but three lighting strikes!

The global lifestyle icon revealed she had been struck by lightning three times before during a recent visit to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which aired on Thursday.

"I mean, it's like, crazy," Stewart told DeGeneres, joking, "I think it actually is good for you. If it doesn't kill you, I think it's good for you!"

Her revelation came as she played a game of Two Truths and a Lie with DeGeneres.

At least two of the three instances happened while Stewart was at home. "Once, it came out of my water faucet," she recalled. "I was leaning against an iron sink. I saw the lightning go down the pipe out in my garden and then it came back up through the water and hit my right in my stomach  threw me on the floor! My [ex-husband Andrew] found me, I was alive but not very comfortable."

The second time didn't come from Stewart's sink but through her window. "A lightning bolt came through my skylight in my house," she said, teasing, "I just attract electricity. I'm so powerful."

RELATED: Martha Stewart Says She's Dating Someone Special Right Now, But Won't Reveal His Name

Stewart didn't explain what happened the third time, but when asked what it feels like to be struck by lightning, Stewart said it felt "horrible."

Martha Stewart

Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

According to the National Weather Service, there are five different ways one can be struck by lightning.

The deadliest is a direct strike, which are not as common and most often occurs to victims who are in open areas. In those strikes, victims can experience burns on their skin as a portion of the current moves over the skin's surface (called flashover), but the greatest concern is the portion of the current that moves through the body's cardiovascular and nervous systems.

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Ground current strikes  which occur when lightning strikes an object and the current travels through the object and along the ground surface, hitting anyone nearby  causes the most lightning deaths and injuries, the NWS said, as they affect a much larger area than other causes of lightning casualties. Livestock are often most affected.

Other strikes include side flash (when lightning strikes a taller object near the victim, like a tree, and a portion of the current jumps to the victim); streamers (when offshoots of the main lightning strike, developed as the downward-moving leader approaches the ground, strike), and conduction (when, like what happened to Stewart, lightning strikes something and then travels through metal surfaces like wires or plumbing, striking anyone in contact with those).

The U.S. has averaged 43 reported lightning fatalities per year, the NWS reported, analyzing 30 years of day. Typically, only about 10 percent of those are killed, leaving 90 percent with degrees of disability.

RELATED: Martha Stewart Runs Into Pete Davidson at Nobu Having Dinner with Friends: 'No Not Kim Kardashian!'

Martha Stewart

Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

Elsewhere in her Ellen appearance, Stewart also opened up about her dating life.

Though she said back in December that she's got a special someone in her life right now, it's clear that's not Sir Anthony Hopkins. She told DeGeneres that they dated but that she broke up with him because she "couldn't stop thinking of him as Hannibal Lector," his cannibal character from Silence of the Lambs.

"I have a big scary house in Maine that's way by itself on 100 acres in the forest and I couldn't even imagine taking Anthony Hopkins there," she said of the two-time Oscar-winning actor. "All I can think of was him eating... you know..."

She also revealed she had once been asked to host Saturday Night Live and that saying no was "my biggest regret."

New episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show airs weekdays in syndication (check local listings).
FBK / Team Navalny Website

A new investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK)a non-profit organization established by imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalnyhas unearthed photos allegedly showing the obscenely gaudy seaside palace long rumored to belong to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The luxurious getaway, located outside the resort town of Gelendzhik on the Black Sea, reportedly boasts a casino, a private theater, and a bizarre hookah lounge complete with a pole-dancing stage.

FBK

Emblems of the Russian double-headed eagle symbol, the main element of the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, are omnipresent throughout the palatial estate, including in what appears to be the private dancing room. They stick out like a sore thumb, along with a stripper pole that stands in stark contrast with the image of royal opulence the palace projects. Pink and tan pillows are strewn on the floor, to provide additional relaxation in between annexations.

FBK

The FBK report, which was unveiled on Thursday, follows another explosive investigation by the group about the palace released last year. At the time, the massive structure was in process of being remodeled, reportedly due to the spread of mold caused by design flaws. In addition to the actual photographs and blueprints leaked by unnamed persons likely involved in construction or remodeling of the gigantic abode, Navalnys team produced 3-D images of what some of the rooms might look like once the overhaul was completed. Many of the photos revealed in this new batch of leaks appear to be in line with the renderings published in the previous report.

FBK

Kremlin-funded networks dismissed and criticized the wildly popular 2021 video, which boasted over 121 million views. Notorious Kremlin propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov denied that Putin owns a palace and praised the Russian president as a humble, unassuming guy who doesnt own much, except for a few suits and shirts.

Russian propagandists claimed that the palace was actually a hotel and alleged that Navalnys group didnt hit the mark with its recreations of the interiors. Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, a billionaire closely linked to Putin, eventually claimed to be the owner of the mansion. Commenting on the property to the web-based media outlet Mash, Rotenberg succinctly added: Im already under sanctions. In other words, by claiming the property as his own, Putins close friend was not risking any serious consequences.

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The YouTube video of the new expose has already racked up more than 2 million views. A total of 479 photographs reportedly depicting Putins garish palace have been released by FBK so far.

FBK

Worth noting, too, is that casinos, like the one featured in the photo leak, are illegal throughout most of the country. Putins alleged pool is so enormous, one Twitter commentator compared it to a subway station in Moscow. The palatial music room features 18 double-headed eagles and sky-high ceilings.

FBK

Putin has long been advocating for Russias billionaires and millionaires to park their wealth at home. As his war against the West continues to pick up steam, Russias high-flying president seems to be leading by example with his alleged ostentatious abode.

Meanwhile, Russias armed forces are believed to be on the brink of invading more of Ukraine, which would lead to severe sanctions with catastrophic consequences for the countrys weak economy, as well for average Russian citizens, most of whom have neither billions nor castles.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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LOME, Togo, January 20, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An official ceremony to present and launch the 2021-2027 Joint Multiyear Programming Document (DCP) was held in Lome on January12 at the 2022,headquarters of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Cooperation. Adopted on December 16 2021, the Joint Programming Document was developed in an inclusive approach with the European Union, Germany and France. It defines the framework for the interventions of the European partners in support of the efforts of the Government of the Togolese Republic for the next seven years.

Mr. Payadowa Boukpessi, Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Development of Territories co-chaired this presentation ceremony alongside the Ambassador of the European Union to Togo, Mr. Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga. Mrs. Sandra Ablamba Johnson, Minister, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Mr. Gilbert Bawara, Minister of Public Service, Mr. Sani Yaya, Minister of Economy and Finance, for the Government of the Togolese Republic, as well as Mrs. Jocelyne Caballero, Ambassador of France and Mr. Matthias Veltin, Ambassador of Germany, took part in this event.

The DCP is in synergy with the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Government Roadmap Togo 2020-2025. Through this strategic document, the European Union and its Member States are committed to strengthening their support to the Togolese Republic in three priority areas

- Human development, particularly in terms of socio-economic inclusion and access to basic public services;

- Sustainable agribusiness and natural resource management to contribute to job creation and the fight against climate change;

- The consolidation of a peaceful and resilient society in Togo through the promotion of security, good governance and decentralization.

The adoption of this document is an important step in strengthening and concretizing cooperation between Togo and its European partners. The Joint Programming Document specifies the approach of the "Team Europe", composed of the European Union, France and Germany, as well as their respective financial and development institutions, namely the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW). The aim is for the European partners to identify synergies and pool their tools in order to increase efficiency in the framework of this joint programming. An approach welcomed during the visit to Togo, November 24, 2021, high-level officials of "Team Europe".

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The resulting EU actions will be financed by the new instrument entitled "Europe in the World", which replaces the European Development Fund (EDF). The adoption of the Joint Programming Document 2021-2027 and the implementation of this new financial instrument coincide with the entry into force of the Post-Cotonou Agreement, which strengthens the partnership between Togo and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) on the one hand, and the European Union and its Member States on the other. As part of the first year of implementation of this document, "Team Europe" is committing more than millions 243 of euros, or nearly 160 billion CFA francs, for new projects in the three priority areas mentioned above.

Ambassador Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga, Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Togo, welcomed the relevance of the axes contained in this Document, which will further strengthen the partnership between the EU and Togo: "The document we have today, after the high-level visit of the "Team Europe" in Lome only a few weeks ago, is the concrete materialization of this commitment of the European Union especially in the field of cooperation and European solidarity with Togo.

The Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Development of Territories thanked the European partners for their support in the development of this document, which is aligned with the priorities of the government.

I would like to reiterate the government's sincere thanks to the European Commission, Germany and France in particular, for the quality of their cooperation and for their support in implementing development projects and programs for the well-being of the people. The Minister of State stressed on this occasion "the enlightened vision and leadership in the piloting of development actions" of the President of the Republic, H.E. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe. He concluded by inviting all actors involved in the implementation of this document to take the necessary steps for the rapid implementation of the projects.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220117005112/en/

Contacts

Communication Unit - Togolese Presidency

Canelle Raberahina

Communication@presidence.gouv.tg
During his 1980s and 90s heyday as a frightfully prolific star of blood-and-thunder direct-to-video fare, Wings Hauser once aptly described his target audience as the microwave-burrito guys at 2 a.m. with a beer in their hands  and, presumably, a VCR remote switch nearby. Nowadays, that audience can digitally stream their B-movies of choice. But while the favored cuisine of these undiscriminating customers might have changed, the cinematic product they consume remains pretty much the same, albeit enhanced by better production values and, with all due respect to Mr. Hauser, superior star power.

All of which brings us to Warhunt, a modestly diverting mashup of WWII actioner and horror thriller that would not have been out of place on a New Release shelf at Blockbuster not so terribly long ago. Wait, scratch that: It would have been a standout on the shelf, if only when compared to the many lesser titles stocked around it. (Rest assured: This review has been written by someone who watched a lot of those other films, and ate a lot of nuked burritos, back in the day.)

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Working from a serviceable script he co-wrote with Reggie Keyohara III and Scott Svatos, director Mauro Borrelli wrings a largely satisfying amount of suspense from a cliched premise that, like countless other films and movies in this subgenre, is fantastical fiction inspired by historical facts surrounding Adolf Hitlers purported obsession with the supernatural. The main players are game and invested in their roles, with two parallel plotlines that are individually anchored by actors who hold our interest and, better still, earn our respect by maintaining perfectly straight faces. A wink here or a smirk there, and the whole kit-and-caboodle could have collapsed into laughable nonsense way before Warhunt finally does run off the rails. You still might chuckle from time to time, but not as often as any plot synopsis might lead you to expect.

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Were in 1945 Germany, and a U.S. military aircraft has crashed-landed behind enemy lines in the Black Forest after an ominous run-in with crows. The plane happened to be carrying a MacGuffin  er, top-secret info pilfered from the Nazis  so the flamboyantly eye-patched Major Johnson (Mickey Rourke) sends a team of his soldiers off on a mission to retrieve said info and, if possible, secure any survivors. Led by the battle-tested, seen-it-all Sgt. Brewer (Robert Knepper), the team races to find the plane wreckage before a Nazi search party does.

As it turns out, however, they neednt have bothered to rush. While they approach the crash site, Brewer and his men find most of the Nazis  or, as Brewer insists on calling them, Jerries  drained of blood and hanging from treetops. One of the very few surviving Germans, shellshocked and barely coherent, indicates that he and his comrades were waylaid by witches.

Brewer dismisses the claim as superstitious nonsense. This, of course, is a big mistake.

Right from the start, Walsh (Jackson Rathbone), an intelligence operative added to Brewers outfit at Johnsons direct orders, is far less willing to disregard the German soldiers story. And as some of the American soldiers begin to act strangely and/or die messily, he does his best to explain why theyre discovering victims who have had ancient magical symbols carved into their flesh or, worse, been mistaken for edible wild game. And yet, long past the point of reason  but just long enough to keep the narrative moving  Brewer continues to insist theres a logical explanation for all the freewheeling weirdness. His obstinacy actually cues a line that, deliberately or otherwise, triggers the movies one big laugh, when Walsh asks: Youre going to tell me that after everything weve seen, nothing seems strange to you in the slightest?

Exteriors in Riga, Latvia, convincingly double for forest locales in 1940s Germany while Walsh and company pursue, and are pursued by, witches with a unique horticultural interest. Periodically, the scene shifts backs to a military headquarters where Johnson gradually reveals to an underling The Real Reason for the search and rescue mission, giving Rourke ample opportunity to, if not chew on the scenery, nibble it around the edges. As far-fetched (to put it mildly) as the witch hunt in Warhunt may seem, the movie doesnt topple into absurdity until the final act, when Johnson gets up from his desk, supports himself with his cane and, all by himself, sets out to save his imperiled soldiers.

And even then, things remain at least watchable until the extended climax inside an underground Witch Central, where the final battle is so dimly lit and confusingly staged, you may be tempted to shout rude things at the screen. Or toss a burrito in its general direction.

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How weather has impacted US presidential inaugurations, namely the Kennedy storm

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.

--

The January 1961 nor'easter is also known as the Kennedy Inaugural Snowstorm. The winter storm impacted the Mid-Atlantic and New England and ended up dropping eight inches of snow on the eve of John F. Kennedy's presidential inauguration. Kennedy's inauguration took place on Jan. 20, 1961, despite the numerous complications associated with the nor'easter.

It's a debate whether to dive into the complications of the ceremony first or to head right to the pre-inaugural ball, as they are both interesting. Let's start with the logistical inconveniences and then get into the historical gala.

Screen Shot 2021-01-09 at 5.15.27 PM

View of the Capitol where the inauguration was held. President Kennedy is delivering his inaugural address, with Vice-President Johnson. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Inauguration day ended up being a sunny day. However, the temperatures remained low enough to preserve the accumulation of snow. The inaugural parade was almost cancelled due to the conditions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the task of clearing snow from the streets with more than 1,000 District of Columbia employees and 1,700 Boy Scouts. The task force used hundreds of dump trucks, plows, rotaries, and even flamethrowers to clear the snow.

Over 1,400 cars were stranded due to the weather conditions. They were removed from the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue.

kennedy-car-snow

A soldier from U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Inaugural Snow Removal Force preparing to move a car abandoned. Image courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Courtesy of: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Former President Herbert Hoover tried to attend the inauguration, but the storm caused poor visibility at Washington National Airport and prevented Hoover from flying.

Despite the cold temperatures, a large crowd still turned up for the inauguration ceremony and parade. At noon, the temperature was only -5.5C and felt like -13.8C with the windchill. Though this temperature didn't set any records, the average high on Jan. 20 in Washington is 6C.

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So, the show went on. And it was quite the show.

The events actually started while the nor'easter was snowing and blowing. Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford organized the pre-inaugural ball.

The ball is still considered to be one of the biggest parties ever held in Washington, D.C.

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy arriving at Sinatra's inaugural ball. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sinatra recruited Hollywood stars to attend the event. He even convinced Broadway theatres to cancel their performances for the evening so the actors who were starring in the shows could attend the gala.

The stars that performed and spoke at the event included Fredric March, Sidney Poitier, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Kelly, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Bill Dana, Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, and Harry Belafonte.

Kennedy's swearing-in ceremony ended up working out, but weather complications have caused more severe impacts on other presidential inaugurations.

us presidential inauguration weather facts

In 1841, President William Henry Harrison was sworn into office during a cold and blustery day. After a long speech, he ended up catching a cold, which developed into pneumonia. He died a month later.

It was a similar situation in 1853 when President Franklin Pierce was sworn in. This time it was the First Lady, Abigail Fillmore, who caught a cold. The cold also developed into pneumonia and she died shortly after.

In 1937, it poured during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's second inauguration. This is the first time the event was held on Jan. 20. The freezing rain and sleet prevented some crowds from making it to the event. Throughout the day, Roosevelt rode in an open car with half an inch of water on the floor.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan's second swearing-in needed to be moved indoors. The parade was also cancelled. The temperature at noon was only -13.8C, with the windchill making it feel in the -23 to -28.8 range.

The weather has played a factor in U.S. presidential elections since 1817 when the event was first held outdoors.

To hear more about the Kennedy Inaugural Snowstorm, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

Subscribe to 'This Day in Weather History': Apple Podcasts | Amazon Alexa | Google Assistant | Spotify | Google Podcasts | iHeartRadio | Overcast'

Thumbnail courtesy of Wikipedia
A 110-year prison sentence for a Colorado truck drive who said he lost control of his brakes prompted national outcry that draw attention to The Centennial State's sentencing laws.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis reduced Rogel Aguilera-Mederos sentence to 10 years, one week after a Colorado district attorney asked the court to reconsider the original sentence of more than a century. The move quieted widespread criticism that led to protests and over 5 million people signing a petition to reduce the sentence.

Criminal legal reform advocates and law experts told USA TODAY the case could become a turning point in the fight against mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which many of them have criticized for years for fueling mass incarceration and systemic racism, and giving prosecutors too much power over sentencing.

Experts also say mandatory minimums vary widely from state to state. Ian Farrell, associate professor at University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, said Colorados law is surprisingly severe.

If Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty in other states of the 27 charges he faced related to the crash, the mandatory minimum sentence may have been as low as a few years, he said.

Aguilera-Mederos' Case: Colorado district attorney asks court to reconsider 110-year sentence for truck driver

People hold signs in support of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos during a rally on the west steps of the state capitol Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021 in Denver.

The history of Colorados mandatory minimum laws

In October, a jury found Aguilera-Mederos, 26, guilty of four counts of vehicular homicide and 23 other charges. The judge at his sentencing said Colorado's mandatory minimum sentencing laws forced him to give the minimum 110-year sentence.

Colorados mandatory minimums for sentencing were largely established in the 1990s as part of a tough-on-crime push and a perception that judges were giving light sentences, said Stan Garnett, a former Boulder County district attorney. Lawmakers were also concerned that sentences varied too widely depending on the judge.

But Adam Gelb, president of the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan criminal justice policy organization, said research is very clear that mandatory minimums exacerbate variance and widen disparities. He added the laws were popular nationwide in the 1970s and 80s among lawmakers targeting violent offenses and drug offenses for lengthy prison terms.

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When there are terrible cases or increases in certain types of cases, lawmakers feel they need to act, he said. ... And too often the soundbite solution has been to jack up penalties and enact mandatory minimums.

Gelb said there is tremendous variation in mandatory minimum laws between states, not only on the books but also in practice with some prosecutors more likely to stack a litany of charges, triggering long mandatory minimums.

Perhaps the most well-known example of harsh mandatory minimums is Weldon Angelos, who was sentenced in 2004 to 55 years in prison for selling marijuana, the Washington Post reported. After a massive campaign by criminal justice reform advocates, Angelos became a symbol in the fight against mandatory minimum sentencing and was released in 2016 when a federal court reduced his sentence.

But most aren't as lucky as Angelos and Aguilera-Mederos. While few make headlines, Gelb said the examples of the cost of such sentences are many.

'A huge problem'

In Colorado, 416 people convicted of violent crimes faced charges with mandatory minimum sentences from 2014 to 2016, while 155 people convicted of drug crimes were given such sentences, according to a 2017 legislative report.

This is a minority of Colorados total prison population, Garnett said.

But Farrell said stacked charges inflating sentences is "a huge problem throughout the country with prosecutors charging extraordinary amounts of felonies arising from one incident."

Prosecutors may also overcharge defendants to pressure them into pleading guilty for a lesser charge, rather than take their case to trial, Farrell said. He said this practice leads to longer sentences and may coerce defendants to give up their rights to trial by jury.

The prosecutor is not the person who is supposed to be responsible for deciding what are the appropriate sentences, he said. An enormous amount of power ends up being within the hands of the prosecutors. And prosecutors are incentivized to not think about what is the appropriate sentence but rather to try to get the maximum possible sentence.

There is also robust evidence that longer prison sentences dont improve public safety or deter people from committing the same crimes again, said Taylor Pendergrass, incoming director of advocacy and strategic alliances at the ACLU Colorado.

LaQunya Baker, assistant professor at University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, said mandatory minimums slash the efforts of criminal defense lawyers trying to show the full circumstances of an offense and humanize their defendants.

People of color are more likely to receive longer sentences because of mandatory minimums, Baker added.

A 2020 study from Boston College found Black men received sentences 20% longer than their white counterparts from 2012 to 2016. The difference can be partially explained by mandatory minimum sentences, which are brought against Black defendants at higher rates than white defendants, researchers wrote.

Calls to rethink mandatory minimums

In a letter to Aguilera-Mederos announcing his commutation, Polis called on the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to re-examine sentencing laws so we can ensure greater consistency in sentencing to prevent future bizarre outcomes.

Colorado state Sen. Bob Gardner said the states Sentencing Reform Task Force would likely start considering felony sentencing reform in 2023. The group started work on misdemeanor cases in 2021, he said.

Gardner told USA TODAY he sees good arguments on either side of the debate over mandatory minimums and believes the laws as important in ensuring consistency across sentences.

President Joe Biden has voiced support for ending mandatory minimums. For decades, the American Bar Association has urged states to repeal laws requiring minimum sentences. A task force convened by the Council on Criminal Justice has also called for such reforms.

Last year, New Jersey eliminated mandatory minimums for certain nonviolent offenses, and states including Oregon, Virginia and California have recently considered similar efforts.

Gelb said while he is excited about the increased attention Aguilera-Mederos case has brought toward mandatory minimums, its difficult to predict if there will be concrete changes.

But a case like this may be the best hope for pushing the country to reevaluate, he said.

Baker, on the other hand, isnt too hopeful.

People have a very short attention span and (Aguilera-Mederos) sentence was changed really quickly, she said. I'm sure people are moving on and not seeing the larger picture beyond one person."

Pendergrass said he's hopeful the conversation around Aguilera-Mederos' case will push more governors to use their clemency powers to reduce inflated sentences, encourage prosecutors offices to stop stacking charges with mandatory minimum sentences, and lead to legislative change rolling back mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

We should be looking to fix the root causes of this type of outcome in the first place rather than trying to cure it after the fact, he said. I have hope that can happen.

Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colorado truck driver's 110-year sentence spotlights sentencing laws
cat sucking on a blanket with what the fluff logo

Nina Pearman / Getty

When a sweet kitty is 'making biscuits' on a blanketor on us!it prompts all the feels. We perceive this particular cat behavior as a sign of contentment and relaxation, similar to when they used to knead on their mama's belly while nursing. But why do cats suck on blankets?

4 Possible Reasons Why Cats Suck on Blankets

Leslie Sinn, CPDT-KA, DVM, DACVB, is a certified veterinary behaviorist, owner of Behavior Solutions, and a member of the Daily Paws Advisory Board. She says companion animal experts really don't know why cats suck on blankets. It's not a common trait in most cats. But there are some theories.

1. Self-Soothing

"Our assumption is that it's an oral behavior left over from kittenhood and has some sort of a self-soothing function," Sinn tells Daily Paws. "But we don't know for sure."

She adds that there's some information which indicates this behavior may be more common in orphan kittens and/or kittens who have had rough starts. "The thought is that deprivation of some sort has caused this infantile-like behavior to be retained," Sinn says.

2. Anxiety

If your cat is kneading and sucking on a blanket, this might be their way of calming themselves. Cornell Feline Health Center states some cat breeds, such as Siamese, Burmese, and possibly Birman, are more prone to do it than others, "which suggests a genetic predisposition comparable to obsessive-compulsive disorders in humans." This behavior might also be a coping mechanism for cats with separation anxiety.

3. Gastrointestinal Distress

"Sucking, chewing, and/or eating non-food items may be a sign of gastrointestinal distress such as food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, obstruction, or other problems," Sinn says. She recommends asking your kitty's veterinary team for a thorough evaluation to check for any underlying medical issues, along with a general assessment to make sure his nutritional and health needs are being met.

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4. Boredom

It's not that your cat is sucking on a blanket deliberately to get your attention. But sometimes our mysterious cats have different ways of communicating, such as meowing at night or following us around. If your cat sucks on things such as blankets, wool, and even your clothing, he might be asking for something.

RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About a Cat's Body Language

"Many of our cats are kept indoors and have little to occupy their time," Sinn says. "Pet parents should make sure that their emotional needs are being met through exercise and fun interactions." Cornell recommends enrichment cat toys, food forage bowls, and multi-level cat condos that provide mental stimulation.

Also make sure you and kitty have plenty of engaging playtime together. Sinn suggests reviewing tips from Ohio State University's Indoor Pet Initiative for new ideas.

To understand more about why your cat sucks on blankets, it might help to keep a record of when you notice the behavior most often. Is kitty doing it at night or when you leave for work? Does it happen before or after mealtime? Does he snuggle up for a little knead and suckle session when you're watching TV? Monitor him for a couple of weeks so you and your vet can determine if there's anything to worry about or if this behavior is simply part of your cat's personality.

Can Cats Get Sick from Sucking on Blankets Often?

Not really, unless there's a more serious issue. "Where problems arise is if the cat starts to chew on and/or ingest the item, then it can lead to GI upset and/or obstruction," Sinn says.

Ingesting fabric or other non-food items, a condition known as pica, is another health concern. Animal Behavior College states cats who develop pica could be a symptom of an underlying condition such as leukemia or feline immunodeficiency virus. All the more reason to talk with your vet if your cat is sucking on a blanket, tearing it up, and eating it.

What to Do If Your Cat Won't Stop Sucking on Blankets, Clothes, and Other Things

If a professional exam clears your kitty of any medical issues, Sinn says you probably don't have to worry about this behaviorjust consider some of the other possible reasons why and address them accordingly. She also recommends reading the book Decoding Your Cat from the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.
For the foreseeable future, the Yakima Herald-Republic will be publishing a weekly update on the Yakima Valley business community and the coronavirus pandemic in place of The Current column. Send updates and news tips to Mai Hoang at maihoang@yakimaherald.com or Twitter @maiphoang
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Preparations are underway for a Budapest visit by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (pictured) in February, reports Azonnali. But Prime Minister Viktor Orban is also planning to meet with Vladimir Putin, Boris Johnson, and the leaders of the V4 countries before Hungarys parliamentary elections on April 3.

The previously-announced meeting between Viktor Orban and Vladimir Putin will also take place in February, likely in Moscow, although the location hasnt been finalized yet.



Following this, in March British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to host Eduard Heger from Slovakia, Mateusz Morawiecki from Poland, Petr Fiala from the Czech Republic, and Viktor Orban in a joint meeting in London.



Orban mentioned the Johnson-V4 meeting in his government briefing in late December, although he didnt give any details as to its exact time and place. It is also worth mentioning that Johnson is facing a political crisis over indoor parties that were held while his country was on coronavirus lockdown, meaning it is conceivable that the Conservative Prime Minister may not be in power by the time March rolls around.



Viktor Orban was one of the few European state leaders who personally attended the inauguration of Jair Bolsonaro on January 1, 2018.



A Hungarian government source told the news site that protocol dictates reciprocating the visit in some way, which is why its logical to expect Bolsonaro to make a quick trip to Hungary before the elections.



Moreover, relations with Brazil were strengthened in the past few years when Hungary purchased two military transport aircraft from the country, a significant arms deal on its own, but also allowing Brazil to brag that its KC-390 aircraft are being used by a NATO member country.



However, the shared ideology between the two leaders probably is more important than this. Both Jair Bolsonaro and Viktor Orban are among the leading politicians behind right-wing populism on the international scene, and Orbans stated goal is to build an international network of leaders like him.



Of particular interest is the fact that Bolsonaro is planning to travel to Budapest directly from Moscow, although the Putin-Orban meeting will take place as planned.



Jair Bolsonaro and Viktor Orban certainly have a lot in common in several areas: tearing down international trade barriers, putting economic considerations ahead of environmental ones, and even making conservative family values a priority, but the two leaders have completely opposite views in one important area.



The Brazilian president is famously skeptical of the coronavirus epidemic, has not vaccinated himself, and has had several posts and videos removed from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for spreading false information, such as the claim that the vaccine causes AIDS.



Azonnali writes that the Brazilian Presidents extremist views on the coronavirus and friendliness with the Russian administration may cause him not to make a planned trip to Warsaw, in addition to visiting Budapest.





MTI Photo
Automobili Lamborghini reported its best-ever sales performance of 69 units in India in 2021, with a growth of 86 percent over 2020 on January 19. As per officials, Italian super-luxury carmaker had started 2021 with eyes set on beating its best-ever performance in the country recorded in 2019 when it sold a total of 52 units.

Globally also, the company said it ended 2021 with an all-time record of 8,405 cars delivered worldwide. Sales were up by 13 percent over 2020 due to a targeted and monitored growth strategy. The company, which sells a range of super-luxury cars with prices starting from Rs 3.16 crore in India, had sold 37 units in 2020.

Commenting on the performance, Automobili Lamborghini Chairman and CEO Stephan Winkelmann said, "This record has confirmed four factors for us - the solidity of our strategic plan, our brand's outstanding international reputation, the competence and passion of our people, and the exceptional professionalism and dynamism shown by our 173 dealers in 52 markets, who have continued for invest alongside us at a challenging, uncertain lime."

Read also: New BMW X3 launched in India starting at Rs 59.90 Lakh, available in two variants

In the Asia Pacific region, China which has become the company's second-biggest market clocked sales of 935 units with a growth of 55 percent, while South Korea recorded 354 cars (up 17 percent) while Thailand and India reported sales of 75 cars (32 percent) and 69 cars (86 percent), respectively. "The remarkable performance of the four markets comprise 63 percent of the total cars delivered within the Asia Pacific region in 2021," Automobili Lamborghini said.

Automobili Lamborghini Asia-Pacific Regional Director Francesco Scardaoni said 2021 was an incredible year for Lamborghini in the Asia Pacific region despite the challenges posed by the global pandemic. "This year, we will continue to introduce an exciting range of Lamborghini models as well as bringing unparalleled driving experiences to our discerning clients and enthusiasts," he added.

In terms of individual markets, the US held on to the top spot in 2021 with 2,472 units, a growth of 11 percent, while China leaped into second place with 935 units followed by Germany 706 units with a growth of 16 percent and the United Kingdom, 564 units, up 9 percent. "There was also an increase in the figures for Lamborghini's home market of Italy, where 359 cars were delivered in total, a growth of 3 percent," it added.

Read also: Delhi govt, CESL join hands to offer subsidized EV loan, installation of charging stations

In terms of models, the company's super-luxury SUV Urus topped the charts with 5,021 units delivered. It was followed by the V10-powered Huracan, with 2,586 units. In addition, there were 798 Aventadors (V12 model) delivered all over the world, the company said. On the sales outlook, the company said it continues positively into the new year, thanks to a substantial order portfolio that already covers almost the entire production planned in 2022.

Lamborghini plans to unveil four new products over the next 12 months. "We are stronger than ever as we prepare to embark on a period of profound transformation and move towards an even more sustainable future. In 2022 we'll be doing our utmost to consolidate the current results and get ready for the arrival of our future hybrid range from 2023 onwards," Winkelmann added.

With inputs from PTI

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Tata-owned Air India, recently decided to cancel flights to the United States along with multiple other airline companies from across the globe. Accordingly, the airline informed passengers via its official Twitter handle that it will not be able to operate the Delhi-JFK-Delhi and Mumbai-EWR-Mumbai flights, amongst others. The deployment of 5G communications in the US has been cited as the cause for flight cancellations.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued fresh warnings that new 5G wireless service could still disrupt flights. The U.S.-based telecom companies and airlines have been fighting for weeks over the potential impact of 5G wireless services on aircraft. Here is some background on the dispute, in which Verizon Communications and AT&T agreed stop using newly acquired wireless spectrum near airports.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

The U.S. auctioned mid-range 5G bandwidth to mobile phone companies in early 2021 in the 3.7-3.98 GHz range on the spectrum, known as C-Band, for about $80 billion. U.S. aviation industry groups in recent months stepped up concerns and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a formal warning in November of the risk of interference with flight equipment.

In the airline industry, radar altimeters, which measure altitude, operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range and there are concerns that there is not a big enough buffer from the frequencies to be used by the telecoms companies. The companies have faced pressure from the White House, airlines and aviation unions to delay the deployment amid concerns about potential interference of 5G with sensitive aircraft electronics like radio altimeters.

WHY IS THAT POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT FOR AVIATION?

Radio altimeters help to minimize the risk of accidents or collisions by giving an accurate reading of the proximity to the ground. The readouts are also used to facilitate automated landings and to help detect dangerous currents called windshear.

Also read: Air India curtails India-US operations due to 5G roll-out

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THE FREQUENCY MAKE?

In short, the higher the frequency in the spectrum, the faster the service. So in order to get full value from 5G, operators want to operate at higher frequencies.

Some of the C-Band spectrum auctioned in the United States had been used for satellite radio but the transition to 5G means there will be much more traffic.

IS THIS A PROBLEM ELSEWHERE?

Following years of international discussions, the European Union in 2019 set standards for mid-range 5G frequencies in the 3.4-3.8 GHz range. They have been auctioned and taken into use in many of the bloc`s 27 member states so far without issue. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which oversees 31 states, said on Dec. 17 the latest discussion was specific to U.S. airspace. "At this stage, no risk of unsafe interference has been identified in Europe," it said.

AT&T and Verizon have agreed to adopt exclusion zones around many U.S. airports similar to those used in France for six months. FAA officials noted the spectrum used by France (3.6-3.8 GHz) sits further away from the spectrum (4.2-4.4 GHz) used for radio altimeters than in the United States and France`s power level for 5G is also much lower than what is authorized in the United States.

But Verizon said it will not use spectrum that closer than what France is using for several years. In South Korea, the 5G mobile communication frequency is 3.42-3.7GHz band and there has been no report of interference with radio wave since commercialization of 5G in April 2019.

Currently, 5G mobile communication wireless stations are in operation near airports, but there have been no reports of problems. CTIA, a U.S. wireless trade group, said in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission that "wireless carriers in nearly 40 countries throughout Europe and Asia now use the C-Band for 5G, with no reported effects on radio altimeters that operate in the same internationally designated 4.2-4.4 GHz band."

It added "each day U.S. aircraft, carrying thousands of U.S. citizens, land in these countries without incident and with no expression of concern by the FAA or foreign aviation regulators. This is the classic dog that did not bark. The laws of physics are no different in the United States than in Europe or Asia." But airlines had warned that without an agreement the safety precautions could disrupt up to 4% of daily flights. An airline group said the issue had the potential "to divert or cancel thousands of flights every day, thus disrupting millions of passenger reservations, causing substantial disruptions."

United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby said last month that left unresolved the interference issue would mean that at major U.S. airports in the event of bad weather, cloud cover or even heavy smog "you could only do visual approaches essentially."

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After approval from the US authority, Air India has resumed Boeing 777 operations to the US starting today (January 20). Air India, on Wednesday, curtailed the operations to the United States due to the 5G rollout. Air India had so far cancelled more than 8 flights to the USA as informed by the Airline officials. Boeing has now cleared Air India to operate in the USA on the Boeing 777.

Accordingly, first flight has left this morning to the JFK Airport, New York. Air India will operate more flights in the coming days to cities like Chicago & SFO. Air India has also informed that arrangements to carry stranded passengers are being worked out and the matter regarding B777 flying into the USA has been sorted.

Not just Air India - on the eve of a 5G wireless rollout that triggered safety concerns, despite two wireless carriers saying they will delay parts of the deployment - major international airlines had rushed to rejig or cancel flights to the United States.

#FlyAI: Due to deployment of the 5G communications in USA,we will not be able to operate the following flights of 19th Jan'22: AI101/102 DEL/JFK/DEL

AI173/174 DEL/SFO/DEL

AI127/126 DEL/ORD/DEL

AI191/144 BOM/EWR/BOM Please standby for further updates.https://t.co/Cue4oHChwx  Air India (@airindiain) January 18, 2022

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned that potential 5G interference could affect height readings that play a key role in bad-weather landings on some jets and airlines say the Boeing 777 is among models initially in the spotlight. Despite an announcement by AT&T and Verizon that they would delay turning on some 5G towers near airports, several airlines still cancelled flights.

Also read: Air India curtails India-US operations due to 5G roll-out

Others said more cancellations were likely unless the FAA issued new formal guidance in the wake of the wireless announcements. The world's largest operator of the Boeing 777, Dubai's Emirates, said it would suspend flights to nine U.S. destinations from January 19, the planned date for the deployment of 5G wireless services.

Emirates flights to New York's JFK, Los Angeles, and Washington DC will continue to operate. Japan's two major airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, said they would curtail Boeing 777 flights.

With inputs from agencies

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Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar on Thursday said his upcoming home production "Gehraiyaan" may appear as an infidelity drama but it is actually a deep dive into the lives of complex characters.

Billed as a drama about "complex modern relationships", "Gehraiyaan" stars Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa.

The film is directed by Shakun Batra, best known for directing the critically-acclaimed 2016 family drama "Kapoor & Sons", which was also produced by Johar through his banner Dharma Productions.

The movie's first trailer, which was launched on Thursday, offers a look at the complicated and chaotic lives of four characters, played by Padukone, Chaturvedi, Panday and Karwa. Johar said that the trailer only scratches the surface of the core story and the film has much more to offer. "We are expressing our syntax, introducing you to complex, twisted and complex characters. The trailer scratches the surface but there is a lot more than meets the eye.

"At the face of it you might think it is a film about infidelity-based relationships but it is not just that. It is talking about so much more, choices and consequences of so much more," Johar said during the virtual trailer launch event.

The filmmaker said "Gehraiyaan" is one of its kind. "It is a film that you have not seen. It is a film about the power of love, lust and longing by the millennials and how they react to love, lust and longing and how it is about the choices that they can make. Sometimes lust takes precedence over love, sometimes love takes the bashing for its innocence," Johar said.

Batra said his film is quite different from past movies such as Shah Rukh Khan-Rani Mukherji's ?Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna? and Yash Chopra's 1976 feature "Kabhie Kabhie", which also dealt with the theme of infidelity.

"In those films what always used to happen is we used to talk about finding a soul mate and then call it infidelity. I don't think love stories or relationships happen like that. It is not infidelity under the garb of finding the one or finding the true love.

"We are trying to understand and explore relationships that are outside the conventional boundaries. In today's time how relationships unravel today, it is people looking at love differently, it is not always finding the one but what you feel in the moment," Batra added.

The 39-year-old director, who has turned producer with this film, expressed gratitude to Johar for supporting his vision.

"He is a great mentor. We have spoken about stories that step out of the conventional romance from the first time we started to talk about films. Love over the years has been oversimplified in Hindi films and we spoke about how it was time to look at more complex relationships that step into the grey. And this is what the attempt is with 'Gehraiyaan'," Batra said.

The director credited the cast for supporting the film wholeheartedly and seeing it for what it is. "We were very sure we wanted to observe a relationship without the lens of judgment and Deepika saw it like that. She was the first person to come on board. Then Ananya, Sid and Dhariya happened. Then COVID-19 shoot. We had a roller coaster ride. We had multiple schedules. It is my COVID baby," he said.

Padukone said she always wanted to work with Batra for a film.

"I remember Shakun messaging me and saying I have this film I was in London shooting for '83' and he came down. Shakun was most certainly on my list. My husband keeps saying Shakun and I would make an amazing film.

"My relationship goes back to 2015 when we were attending an award function and through colleagues we were introduced and we hit it off instantly, irrespective of whether we make a film or not. I knew it would happen and it is not something I had to pursue, these things happen when they are supposed to happen. I remember saying I made a friend for life," she said.

"Gehraiyaan" is a brave film, Padukone added.

"We share a relationship of honesty and trust and we have promised to each other that it is how it is going to be. Also that is the reason why we were able to make such a brave film because he had trust in me and I had faith in him. I don't think I ever doubted his sensibility."

Pandey also expressed her excitement to be directed by Batra, who is one of her dream directors.

"When Shakun and Ayesha told me the story, I went to the washroom and didn't come in 20 minutes and they seemed scared. But I was shocked this project came to me. Shakun was on my bucket list and I was so happy and shocked that he wanted to work with me. It has been my biggest blessing," Pandey said.

Similar was the case with 'Gully Boy' star Siddhant Chaturvedi.

He recalled meeting Batra over the script narration and said he was blown away by the story.

"There were no second thoughts. The only thing was I didn't know how I was going to do it because we had not seen something like this.

There was no reference point to the character. That's when I knew we had to do it," Chaturvedi said.

Karwa, who has acted in blockbusters such as "Uri: The Surgical Strike" and "83", said he couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to play a lead role in a movie.

"It is gratifying. It is more than a film. I couldn't have asked for more. First time in the lead and there is a lot of responsibility on you. But when people like you all, Shakun, Deepika, making you comfortable it takes away all the pressure. I loved every moment of it. I hope I have done justice," the actor said.

Also starring Nasseruddin Shah and Rajat Kapur in pivotal roles, "Gehraiyaan" is scheduled to be released on February 11 on streaming service Prime Video.
New Delhi: A Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Sankashti Chaturthi, is celebrated on the fourth day after a full moon (Krishna Paksha) according to the Hindu lunar calendar. This year it will be celebrated on January 21, Friday.

Sankashti is a Sanskrit word that means to 'save us from tough times' while Chaturthi means the fourth day of the month. As per beliefs, if a Chaturthi falls on a Tuesday, it is called Angaraki Sankashti Chaturthi and considered more auspicious than other Sankashti Chaturti days.

What is the significance of Sakat Chauth or Sankashti Chaturthi?

According to religious beliefs, the celebration of this day began as an obstacle removal ritual and dates back to as far as 700 BC! Hindus pray to the beloved deity to give them the strength to face challenges in life as Ganesha is commonly known as the god of wisdom and good fortune.

What are the auspicious timings (muhurat) for Lambodara Sankashti Chaturthi?

Moonrise on Sankashti Day - 09:00 PM

Chaturthi Tithi Begins - 08:51 AM on Jan 21, 2022

Chaturthi Tithi Ends - 09:14 AM on Jan 22, 2022

(As per DrikPanchang.com)

What is the Puja Vidhi of Sankashti Chaturthi?

Devotees of Lord Ganesha begin the day by waking up early, practising meditation and then praying to the Ganesh idol.

They also light oil lamps in front of the idol and chant shlokas such as: Vakratunda Mahakaya, Surya Koti Samaprabaha Nirvighnam Kurumedeva Sarva Karyeshu Sarvada. Om Ekadantaya Viddhmahe, Vakratundaya Dheemahi Tanno Danti Prachodayat. Om Gan Ganpataye Namah!

Worshippers of the deity observe a strict fast on this day which is broken at night after an auspicious sight of the moon and prayers to the Hindu god.

Apart from waking up early and bathing timely, devotees also need to maintain celibacy during the festival and stay away from tobacco and alcohol.
New Delhi: Delhi on Thursday reported 12,306 fresh COVID-19 cases and 43 more fatalities due to the viral disease, while the positivity rate dipped to 21.48 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

This is the highest number of deaths reported in a day since June 10, 2021, when 44 fatalities were recorded. As many as 396 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in the national capital so far in January.

According to officials, a total of 57,290 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Wednesday, as against 57,776 a day ago, the data showed. Delhi had logged 35 deaths and 13,785 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 23.86 per cent.

The city had recorded 28,867 COVID-19 cases last Thursday, the sharpest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic. The number then declined to 24,383 on Friday, 20,718 on Saturday, 18,286 on Sunday, 12,527 on Monday, and 11,684 on Tuesday.

The positivity rate stood at 30.6 per cent on Saturday, the highest in the ongoing wave of the pandemic so far, 27.9 per cent on Sunday, 28 per cent on Monday and 22.5 per cent on Tuesday.

There are 15,589 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 2,698 (17.31 per cent) of them are occupied. A total of 2,539 Covid patients are in hospitals and 152 of them are on ventilator support, the health department bulletin stated.

Of the 68,730 active Covid cases in Delhi, 53,593 are recovering in home isolation, it said. Earlier in the day, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said it seems that Delhi has passed the peak of the third wave of COVID-19 but cautioned that the city is not out of the danger zone yet.

The minister said Delhi recently saw a record surge of over 28,000 daily cases and the positivity rate too had gone beyond 30 per cent.

"That spike which Delhi saw can be considered the peak of the Covid wave and it seems that we are past the peak now... The number of daily cases has come down in the last few days. Over 13,000 cases were recorded yesterday with a positivity rate close to 24 per cent. And today, the number of cases is lesser than that," he said.

On Wednesday, Jain had said the positivity rate in the national capital is not low enough to lift the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of viral disease and that the government will monitor the situation for three to four days.

Since last week, the minister has been saying that hospital admissions have stabilised in the national capital and the third wave has plateaued. Jain has also said that no one is being denied a Covid test and authorities are following the guidelines issued by the Centre.

"They (Centre) said high-risk contacts of Covid patients and those with symptoms should be tested. On Tuesday, they clarified that tests be conducted in some pockets in the community too, which we are doing," he said.

Delhi had been conducting 50,000 to 60,000 coronavirus tests daily for the last six months, he added. The Delhi government on Thursday capped the rate of conventional RT-PCR tests in private hospitals and laboratories at Rs 300, reducing the price by 40 per cent, according to an order.

Earlier, the test used to cost Rs 500. Rapid antigen tests at private facilities will cost Rs 100, the order stated. Earlier, it used to cost Rs 300.

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New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget for the financial year 2022-23 on February 1, 2022. Several experts of the banking sector have pointed out their requests, which includes increasing the cap on foreign direct investments (FDIs) and considering the step to reduce the governments stake in public sector banks.

According to Dr Arun Singh, Global Chief Economist, Dun & Bradstreet, the government should consider allowing financial institutions to claim 100% tax deduction for bad and doubtful debt provisions. Singh pointed out that the step is necessary as stressed assets are expected to increase significantly.

He also pointed out that the Centre should consider policy measures to reduce its stake in public sector banks. Policy measures to address the governance, management, and operational issues faced by public-sector banks is expected. A roadmap to reduce the governments stake in public sector banks and consolidation is also expected, he said.

Saurabh Tripathi, Managing Director and Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group, said, My expectation from the budget is bolder move forward in transformation of public sector banking industry. The economy is rapidly transforming with deeper penetration and adoption of technology.

Banking sector is set to have a fundamental makeover requiring institutions that have very strong tech, analytics and design capabilities. This transformation is very tough in the operating framework and constraints of public sector. Partial privatization where the government takes down the stake to below 51% is one way forward. It will test the resolve of the government. There is an easy way out to let the public sector banks slide into oblivion with slow decline and eventually sold off in crisis. Much like Air India. That will just deny Indian consumers and businesses better banking and Indian tax payers would be footing the heavy bill for the inefficiencies it sustains over long periods, he added.

Meanwhile, Archana Elapavuluri, Founder of Pickright Technologies, pointed out that with digital payments, where the next focus should be on is on digital banking, many accounts opened under JAN DHAN YOJNA is not at all operational. Also Read: Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Portfolio: Ace investor raises stake in THIS Tata Group stock, have you invested?

On a macro-level, technology should help the government achieve the vision of transforming India into a digital economy. This change is necessary to improve the overall economic efficiency of the country by reducing the role of cash in economic transactions, and ensuring people have access to better financial services and credit, she added. Also Read: Walmart invites Indian sellers to expand overseas via US marketplace

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New Delhi: Healthcare sector is likely to receive the highest priority in the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23 on account of continuing challenges posed by COVID-19 and the imperative need for scaling up public health infrastructure, an Assocham survey said on Thursday.

The industry chamber noted that 47 per cent of the respondents in its survey pointed towards Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman according maximum attention to healthcare in the Budget.

Besides, MSMEs, energy and infrastructure and technology were also on priority list as per the survey done among 400 respondents across 40 cities from different sectors, it stated.

While the government's proactive measures and the frontline workers' tireless efforts have helped tide over the uncertain situation, the pandemic also brought forth certain gaps in the public healthcare system, Assocham said.

Besides, nearly 40 per cent of the Assocham survey respondents said the Finance Minister should reduce the income tax among other measures to boost private demand and consumption.

About 31 per cent said Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the poor households could be a demand driver at the bottom of the pyramid.

Asked what policy-makers can do to scale up the pace of job creation, majority of the respondents wanted the government to focus on infrastructure and the housing sector.

Further incentives to the companies to hire more people would also help, they said. Also Read: HUL Q3 FY22 profit jumps 16.8%, revenue from sale of products jumps 10.4%

Moreover, 28 per cent of the respondents stated that the Budget should include measures to encourage access to the latest technologies at a lower cost for MSMEs. Also Read: Finance Ministry will release Rs 47,541 crore advance installment of tax devolution to states

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New Delhi: The Centre will on Thursday, January 20, release an advance installment of tax devolution to the states amounting to Rs 47,541 crore, the Finance Ministry said.

"Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has authorised the release of an advance installment of tax devolution to state governments amounting to Rs 47,541 crore, here today. This is in addition to the regular devolution for the month of January 2022, also being released today," the ministry said in a statement.

Thus, states would receive a total of Rs 95,082 crore or double their respective entitlement during the month of January 2022, it added.

Last year in November too, the Centre had released the first advance installment of tax devolution amounting to Rs 47,541 crore to states.

"With the release of the second advance installment today, the states would have received an additional amount of Rs 90,082 crore under tax devolution over and above what has been budgeted to be released till January, 2022," the ministry added.

Besides, the release of back-to-back loan amounting to Rs 1.59 lakh crore to state governments in lieu of GST compensation shortfall in current fiscal ending March 31, 2022 was completed by the end of October 2021.

"This is in line with the commitment of Government of India to strengthen the hands of states to accelerate their capital and developmental expenditure to ameliorate the deleterious effects of Covid-19 pandemic," the ministry added.

Currently, 41 per cent of the tax collected is devolved in 14 instalments among states during a fiscal. Also Read: HUL Q3 FY22 profit jumps 16.8%, revenue from sale of products jumps 10.4%

The advance instalment of devolution in November and January will be adjusted for by the end of fiscal. Also Read: Union Budget 2022: New sectors expected to get infra, industry status

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Press Release

January 20, 2022 Drilon sees a classic clash between police power vs personal liberty in LGUs ordinances imposing restrictions on unvaxxed persons As more local government units are adopting local ordinances restricting the movement of unvaccinated individuals despite claims that it curtails personal liberty, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Thursday raised the possibility that it will be brought to the Supreme Court. Drilon said that restricting the movement of unvaccinated individuals could be defended as an exercise of the inherent police power of the State to protect public health but whether such is a reasonable exercise of its constitutional power is a matter for the courts to decide. "This is a classic clash of interests. It's a clash between personal liberty and the police power of the state," according to the veteran senator and former justice secretary. Both are constitutional rights guaranteed by the Constitution, he stressed. In Iloilo City, the city council recently unanimously approved an ordinance restricting the movement and access to services of unvaccinated people. "The right of the national government, under its police power, to protect the general welfare, including the health of the people, is as much applicable to the LGUs," Drilon said. Drilon said the city, the LGUs in the general, may assert that it is part of their duty to protect public health. The former justice secretary also cited the general welfare clause as a sufficient authority to the government to implement measures for the "maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and promotion of the general welfare." However, Drilon pointed out that the issue is not settled worldwide even in the most sophisticated and most established democracies in this world. "This has to be resolved by the courts," he said. "I encourage those who are opposed to this to go to the Supreme Court and have this settled once and for all." Meanwhile, Drilon sees that vaccine hesitancy as a major reason for the country's low vaccination rate. Drilon cited a recent report published by the World Bank's Philippine office that claimed that "vaccination continued to lag regional peers" in the Philippines. Drilon noted the World Bank's findings is bolstered by another study by Goldman Sachs which showed that the Philippines was among Asia-Pacific's laggards in mass vaccination, with only 54 percent of its population fully vaccinated as of January 13, while China has a vaccination rate of 90 percent; Singapore, 89 percent; South Korea, 87 percent; Australia, Japan, and Vietnam, 80 percent; Malaysia and Taiwan, 79 percent; New Zealand, 78 percent; Thailand, 73 percent; Hong Kong, 67 percent; India, 65 percent, and Indonesia, 63 percent. "The vaccine hesitancy is a major factor in a very low vaccination rate, if we have enough supply as the government is claiming," he said in an earlier interview. "While there is no mandatory vaccination, I think it is the duty of the Acostas of this world, especially PAO chief Acosta being in government office, to follow government policy," Drilon said. Drilon had earlier called the Malacanang to bar Public Attorneys Office Chief Persida Acosta from going to work physically as she endangers the life, health and safety of her co-workers at the PAO. He added that Acosta's attitude does not augur well for the government's efforts to increase the vaccination rate in the country. Drilon said he is willing to listen to expert advice from the medical field whether a law is needed to make vaccination mandatory in order to achieve herd immunity. "As a lawyer, I am open to debates on that. This is not settled worldwide. I am open to it and I will rely on expert advice from the medical field," Drilon said. "Let's see where it will end. This is an open question not only in Iloilo, not only in the Philippines, but worldwide," he added.
New Delhi: Disneys film Encanto has been garnering praises for its diverse representation and breaking image of a stereotypical white prince and princess. Now, a video of a two years old girl Manu Araujo Marques, who shares an uncanny resemblance with the film character Mirabel has gone viral. In the video, the little girl can be seen looking at her TV screen and telling her mum its me.

Manus mother, Hannary Araujo, posted a video of her daughter watching Encanto for the first time on Instagram. In the video, she exclaims "It's me mommy!" in Portuguese. She again repeats, "It's me!". Her mum replies to this, "It's you? Look at mommy, let me see if it's you," and Manu turns around to show her the spitting resemblance.

Check it out:

Talking about it to Buzzfeed, Hannary Araujo shared, There's nothing better than seeing your child's joy  especially being represented in a Disney movie!.

She further added, My biggest fear when I learned that Manu would wear glasses would be bullying at school! But over the course of the movie, I completely changed my mind and saw that princesses wear glasses too!"

Hannary concluded, If I could create custom dolls for each child, I would open a factory right away! Because you don't know the importance this generates in a child's life! Just as she is being represented by a princess, I want other children to feel the same joy as hers  the same magic!"
New Delhi: The Indian Army has sought assistance from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) to locate the missing youth from Arunachal Pradesh on their side and return him as per established protocol, informed Defence sources on Thursday (January 20). The sources further said that the Indian Army immediately contacted through an established mechanism informing that an individual, who was collecting herbs and hunting, has lost his way and cannot be found.

"Regarding the incident of the missing youth named Miram Taron from Arunachal Pradesh, it is informed that on receipt of the information, the Indian Army immediately contacted the PLA through an established mechanism of hotline informing that an individual, who was collecting herbs and hunting, has lost his way and cannot be found. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate the individual on their side and return him as per established protocol," said Defence Sources.

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had slammed the Central government for not reacting to the alleged abduction of Indian youth by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and said that the silence is a statement of the Centre as they do not care. His statement came after a 17-year-old Miram Taron has been abducted by China's PLA from Arunachal Pradesh`s Zido area, Upper Siang district, Lungta Jor area.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader wrote in Hindi, "A few days before Republic Day, a fortune-teller of India is kidnapped by China - We are with the family of Miram Taroun and will not give up hope, will not give up. PM's cowardly silence is his statement - he doesn't care!"

                -            ,    PM       -    !  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 20, 2022

Earlier today, Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Pasighat West, Ninong Ering, termed the alleged abduction of Indian youth by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) an "unfortunate" incident. Speaking to ANI, Ering claimed that a 17-year-old Miram Taron has been abducted by China's PLA from Arunachal Pradesh's Zido area, Upper Siang district, Lungta Jor area.

"This is a very serious problem which once again has arisen in Arunachal Pradesh. We have come to know that 17-year-old Miram Taron has been abducted by China's PLA from Arunachal Pradesh's Zido area, Upper Siang district, Lungta Jor area. It is unfortunate that Chinese are intruding into Indian territory," claims the Congress MLA.

"I had also spoken with SP Yingkiong who had confirmed (the incident)," he added."China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) force entered through the Bising area. Earlier, the Chinese had also entered NEFA in 1962 through this Kepangla pass. A few years back they built a road inside our territory but was repelled by our people. The incident took place near Bising," he added.

He also called for the safe return of the Indian youth Miram Taron. As per Ering, the 17-year-old youth from Arunachal Pradesh was abducted by the Chinese army on Tuesday. He urged the Central government to check the Chinese intrusion of Indian lands. His Twitter post said that Taron was abducted at around 6:30 pm near Siungla from the jungle called Lungta Jor under Indian territory by the PLA. Taron went hunting with his friend Johnny Yaying in the last border village of Bising under Tuting, he informed. However, 27-year-old Yaying escaped the Chinese army and he disclosed the abduction episode.

Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament from East Arunachal Pradesh, had also claimed that the youth was 'abducted' on Tuesday from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district. He claimed that China`s People's Liberation Army (PLA) has abducted the youth where the Tsangpo River enters India in Arunachal Pradesh.

(With ANI inputs)

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Mumbai: The cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch on Thursday arrested a 28-year-old man from Odisha in connection with the case of Bulli Bai app, which targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for "auction", an official said.

The accused, identified as Neeraj Singh, is an MBA degree holder. He was involved in the planning of the app with the main accused, he said.

"His role came to light during the interrogation of the accused who were arrested earlier, following which a team of the cyber police station was sent to Odisha and he was placed under arrest," the official said.

Singh is being brought to Mumbai and will be produced in a court here, he said.

With his arrest, the Mumbai police have so far arrested four persons in the case. Earlier, Shweta Singh (18) and Mayank Rawat (21) were arrested from Uttarakhand, while engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha (21) was held from Bengaluru.

Neeraj Bishnoi, one of the alleged main conspirators in the Bulli Bai app case, had been arrested by Delhi police from Assam.

The Mumbai police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified persons following complaints that doctored photographs of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded for auction' on the app called `Bulli Bai', hosted on the open-source software platform GitHub.

While there was no actual `auction' or `sale', the purpose of the app seemed to be to humiliate and intimidate the targeted women, many of whom are active social media users.

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Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Thursday (January 20) rejected bail pleas of three students arrested in connection with a case pertaining to the 'Bulli Bai' app, which targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for "auction".

The three accused are Vishal Kumar Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat. Singh (18) and Rawat (21) were arrested by the Mumbai police's cyber cell from Uttarakhand on January 5, while Jha was nabbed from Bengaluru on January 4.

They were denied bail by a metropolitan magistrate in suburban Bandra. A detailed order was not yet available.

Earlier, the police had opposed their bail claiming the accused used names belonging to the Sikh community for their social media accounts with an intention to breach the peace in the society and create animosity among religious groups.

The police have told the court that all the three accused were operating multiple social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Gmail.

The cyber cell has said many of the accounts were deleted or suspended for posting defamatory content and information regarding the same is yet to be procured.

The Mumbai police registered an FIR in the case following complaints made by several women, who were targeted by the 'Bulli Bai' app. The app made public the details of several Muslim women, allowing users to participate in their 'auction'.

Meanwhile, two more persons - Niraj Bishnoi and Omkareshwar Thakur - who had been arrested by the Delhi police, were on Thursday brought to Mumbai by the city police's cyber cell on transit remand for questioning in the case.

Bishnoi had been arrested in another Bulli Bai app case lodged by the Delhi police, while Thakur had been apprehended in the 'Sulli' deals app matter.

The Delhi police's special cell, which nabbed Bishnoi from Assam, has claimed he was the main creator of the Bulli Bai app. Police have claimed the accused arrested in the Bulli Bai app case were also active in the 'Sulli' deals app which came to light in July 2021.

The 'Sulli' deals app had triggered widespread outrage as it had put out details of more than 100 prominent Muslim women, allowing users to participate in their ''auction''. Bishnoi and Thakur were produced before the Bandra magistrate court, which remanded them in police custody till January 27.

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The Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in late 2019 and since then, the pandemic has led to the death of over 5.5 million people, till date. If this seems grim, a report in Nature will make you even more anxious - as per the report, while 5.5 million is the official data, the actual death toll count could be many times higher.

"Some official data in this regard are flawed, scientists have found. And more than 100 countries do not collect reliable statistics on expected or actual deaths at all, or do not release them in a timely manner," the report in Nature reads.

Several countries, including India, have been accused of trying to hide their actual Covid-19 death toll, so as to save their image and avoid criticism on the global platform.

The report published in Nature has taken into account The Economist magazine's machine learning approach in London. According to it, there are issues with data collection and it goes on to make this big claim - the actual fatalities could be two and four times more than the official Covid-19 data!

The report goes on to give examples. It said that countries such as the Netherlands, in the initial period of the pandemic, only counted those deaths as Covid toll wherein individuals died in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19. On the other hand, another European country, Belgium, included deaths in the community and everyone who died after showing symptoms of the disease, even if they werent diagnosed, reports Nature.

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The report also mentions that the World Mortality Dataset (WMD) lacks excess-death estimates for more than 100 countries, including China, India and many in Africa. "Thats because those countries either do not collect death statistics or do not publish them speedily," it mentioned. Excess mortality means the number of extra people who died compared with pre-crisis figures.

In June 2021, the Centre had refuted a report by The Economist, according to which the countrys toll due to Covid-19 could be five-to-seven times higher than the official numbers that's been provided. But the Union health ministry dismissed such news and said report like this is without any basis and seems to be misinformed.

Meanwhile, as per the data released by the Ministry of Health today (January 20, 2022), India recorded 3,17,532 new Covid-19 cases, 491 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 4,87,693, according to .
New Delhi: Satyendra Jain, Health Minister of Delhi on Thursday (January 20) said that it seems like the reported third wave of COVID-19 has gone past in Delhi, adding that it is still too soon to say if the national capital is out of the danger zone, reported PTI.

Covid wave peak in Delhi may be gone, but still can't say we are out of danger zone, need to watch trend, PTI quoted Jain as saying.

"That spike which Delhi saw can be considered as the peak of the Covid wave and it seems that we are past the peak now... The number of daily cases has come down in the last few days. Over 13,000 cases were recorded yesterday with a positivity rate of close to 24 per cent. And today, the number of cases is lesser than that," he said.

Jain made the statements while interacting with the reporters on Thursday and constantly harped on the fact that Delhites should not drop their guards against the virus and must follow Covid appropriate behaviour.

On January 13, the nation capital reported 28,867 fresh COVID-19 cases, the sharpest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic, with a positivity rate of 29.21%. However, the projections declined ever since.

On being asked if some restrictions will be eased, the minister said proactive measures have led to the fall in the number of cases and for any decision on easing restrictions, "we will have to monitor the situation first in the coming days".

On a reduction in the number of tests to detect the infection, Jain claimed that Delhi is still conducting more daily tests than other states and "no one is being denied any test if needed.

Meanwhile, India on Thursday reported 3,17,532 new COVID-19 cases.

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Srinagar: The Jammu Kashmir police arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist along with arms and ammunition on Thursday (January 20).

A police officer said, Upon specific information about the presence of terrorists of proscribed outfit LeT in Chadoora, Budgam Police along with 53 RR and 181 Bn. CRPF carried out search operation early morning at Gamander Chadoora.

During the search, an active LeT terrorist named Jehangir Ahmad Naikoo, a resident of Memandar in Shopian was arrested. Incriminating material along with one pistol, two pistol magazines, and 16 pistol rounds have been recovered from his possession.

Police said he was wanted in many terror cases and called his arrest a big success.

A case has been registered and further investigation has begun.

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For the fourth time in two years of the Covid pandemic, all schools in Maharashtra are set to reopen for physical classes from January 24, just two days ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, officials said here on Thursday. The classes were suspended in December 2021 - barring the crucial Class X and Class XII for board exams students - after the third wave of Covid-19 complicated by Omicron gripped the state.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray today gave the green signal for the proposal to reopen the schools from next Monday with full Covid protocols and SOPs, said School Education Minister Prof. Varsha Gaikwad. "Schools located in areas where Coronavirus cases are fewer can restart physical classes for pre-primary and Std 1-12. We are committed to the safe resumption of schools in the state," said Prof. Gaikwad.

She emphasised that in this fourth phase of school reopening plans, all must compulsorily adhere to the Covid protocols, and consent of parents would be essential. "I reiterate, improving learning outcomes in children through continued education in a safe environment is our goal. I wish to thank our schools and teachers for continuously ensuring a safe environment for our students," the minister added.

She urged parents not to send their children to school if they are unwell and school management must ensure isolation facilities in case any student displays symptoms.

Besides wearing face-masks at all times, only one student would be allowed per bench and vaccination for the older students would be further ramped up, said Prof. Gaikwad.

The move comes after many children issued direct appeals on social media to the CM Thackeray and other officials on their desire to return to school besides a continuous dialogue between the government, the paediatric task force and education experts.

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New Delhi: The Maharashtra government will reopen schools for students of Classes 1-12 for offline classes from January 24, ANI reported.

Maharashtra School Education minister Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday (January 20) told reporters that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has approved a proposal to this effect sent by the school education department.

She also informed that the state government has decided to open pre-primary schools from January 24.

We have also decided to open pre-primary schools (from January 24): Varsha Gaikwad, Maharashtra School Education Minister pic.twitter.com/pSn98HvEHY  ANI (@ANI) January 20, 2022

"Our SOPs are very strict and clear. We have given four days advance notice to the management of schools to undertake vaccination and sanitisation and for preparation of time-table. The timing and other necessary decisions will be taken by the local authorities, such as district collector or municipal commissioner based on the local situations," Gaikwad was quoted as saying by PTI.

Maharashtra schools were closed in the first week of January amid rise in coronavirus cases and in the wake of the emergence of the Omicron variant.

In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) had announced the closure of schools for Classes 1 to 9 till January 31.

Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 43,697 new Covid-19 cases, including 214 Omicron infections, the health department said. With 49 deaths, the fatality count rose to 1,41,934 and the total Covid-19 caseload reached 73,25,825. The Omicron tally in the state is at 1,860.

(With agency inputs)

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Beijing: China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday said that it was not aware of the incident in which the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) reportedly abducted a 17-year-old youth from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district.

It, however, admitted that the PLA controls the borders and cracks down on "illegal entry and exit activities."

Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao had on Wednesday claimed that a teenager, identified as Miram Taron, was abducted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from Lungta Jor area under Siyungla area on Tuesday.

The youth was abducted from inside Indian territory in the state's Upper Siang district, Gao said.

Taron's friend Johny Yaiying, who managed to escape, informed the authorities about the kidnapping by the PLA, Gao told the media. Asked for his reaction to the allegation of the PLA abducting Taron, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry here said, "I don't know the situation."

"The Chinese People's Liberation Army controls borders in accordance with the law and cracks down on illegal entry and exit activities,'' the spokesperson said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's response came even as the Indian Army sought assistance from the PLA to locate the missing boy on their side and return him as per established protocol, sources in the defence establishment said in New Delhi on Thursday.

Sources said that when the Indian Army received the information about Taron, it immediately contacted the PLA through an established mechanism of hotline informing that an individual, who was collecting herbs and hunting, had lost his way and cannot be found.

"A 17-year-old youth, Miram Tarom, of Zido Arunachal Pradesh was reportedly captured by the PLA across the LAC. On receipt of the information, the Indian Army immediately contacted the PLA through the hotline. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate and return him as per protocol,'' the Defence PRO said in a statement.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth will jointly inaugurate the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on Thursday (January 20, 2022).

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the two dignitaries will also launch the Civil Service College and 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius.

"The two dignitaries will also launch the Civil Service College and 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India`s development support," the MEA statement read.

The two leaders will jointly inaugurate the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on January 20, 2022, the MEA said in a statement.

Additionally, an agreement on extending a USD 190 million Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects and MoU on the implementation of Small Development Projects will also be exchanged, the statement added.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is schedule to deliver the keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore' via video conferencing on Thursday (January 20, 2022).

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the programme will unveil year-long initiatives dedicated to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav by the Brahma Kumaris, which include more than 30 campaigns and over 15,000 programmes and events.

PM Modi will deliver the keynote address at the national launch ceremony of 'Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ke Ore' on January 20 at 10:30 am.

PMO also stated that during the event, PM Modi will flag off seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris. These are 'My India Healthy India'; Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers; Women: Flag Bearers of India; Power of Peace Bus Campaign; Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally; United India Motor Bike Campaign; and green initiatives under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

The statement said multiple events and programmes will be held in medical colleges and hospitals with a focus on spirituality, well-being and nutrition under 'My India Healthy India' initiative.

These include organisation of medical camps, cancer screening, conferences for doctors and other health care workers, among others, the statement said.

Under the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers', 75 farmer empowerment campaigns, 75 farmer conferences, 75 sustainable yogic farming training programmes and several other such initiatives for the welfare of farmers will be held, it added.

Under the 'Women: Flag Bearers of India', the initiatives will focus on social transformation through women empowerment and empowerment of girl child, the statement said.

The 'Power of Peace Bus Campaign' will cover 75 cities and tehsils and will carry an exhibition on the positive transformation of today's youth, it said.

The 'Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally' will be held to different heritage sites, drawing a connection between heritage and environment. The 'United India Motor Bike Campaign' will be held from Mount Abu to Delhi and will cover multiple cities.

The initiatives under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will include monthly cleanliness drives, community cleaning programmes and awareness campaigns, the statement said.

During the event, a song dedicated to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, by Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej, will also be released.

As per the release, Brahma Kumaris is a worldwide spiritual movement dedicated to personal transformation and world renewal.

Founded in India in 1937, Brahma Kumari movement has spread to over 130 countries.

The event is being held on the occasion of the 53rd ascension anniversary of Pitashree Prajapita Brahma, founding father of Brahma Kumaris.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi: A group of scientists from the University of West Scotland (UWS) has found a way to detect the presence of Covid-19 in an individual using X-rays. A study conducted in Scotland revealed that by using artificial intelligence (AI) experts can predict the presence of the virus inside a person much faster.

According to the data presented by the scientists from the University of West Scotland, the diagnosis test proved to be 98 percent effective. The scientists also said that this diagnosis test will be faster than the PCR test, which takes to hours to return a result.

Professor Naeem Ramzan, who led the three-person team at the UWS, said, There has long been a need for a quick and reliable tool that can detect Covid-19, and this has become even more true with the upswing of the Omicron variant.

Here are some of the interesting facts about the new diagnosis test:

The technique utilises X-ray technology, comparing scans to a database of around 3000 images, belonging to patients with Covid-19, healthy individuals and people with viral pneumonia.

An AI process, known as the deep convolutional neural network, then uses an algorithm to analyse visual imagery and make a diagnosis.

As many countries are unable to carry out large numbers of Covid tests because of limited diagnosis tools, this research makes it easy for them to detect the virus.

It could prove to be crucial, and potentially life-saving, when diagnosing severe cases of the virus, helping determine what treatment may be required, the professor was quoted as saying by a peer-reviewed publication, EurekAlert!

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New Delhi: Congress on Thursday announced the second list of candidates on 41 assembly seats for the upcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Of the 41 assembly seats, 16 seats have been given to women candidates, which is 40 per cent of the total seats in the second list. These 16 women candidates include Poonam Pandit, who was an active participant of farmers` agitation and Sangeeta Tyagi, wife of late Rajiv Tyagi, former Congress spokesperson. Sangeeta Tyagi is fielded from the Sahibabad assembly constituency.

A senior functionary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress said that the party has given priority to the grass root workers to contest for the assembly polls. "Priyanka Gandhi is committed towards her promise to give 40 per cent tickets to the women workers," he added.

Till now, the Congress party has announced a total of 166 candidates for the first two phases of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Earlier, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had announced the first list of 125 candidates.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) state in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are emphasizing on women. The party has adopted the "MY" factor comprising of Mahila and youth.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be announcing a youth manifesto on Friday afternoon in Delhi at the party headquarters. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to be accompanying Priyanka in the press conference.

Meanwhile, elections to the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

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Srinagar: In view of the surge in COVID-19 cases and Omicron, Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday imposed complete restrictions on non-essential movement from every Friday (2 pm) to Monday (6 am), said order by the government of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pregnant Women Employees will be exempted from physical attendance. They shall be allowed to work from home, added the order.

"An increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the entire J&K and the presence of a variant of concern (Omicron), the State Executive Committee, in the exercise of the powers conferred upon it under Section 24 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 orders the following," the order said.

"That there shall be a complete restriction on non-essential movement in the entire UT of J&K from every Friday 2.00 pm to Monday 6.00 am, henceforth; Pregnant Women Employees will be exempted from physical attendance. They shall be allowed to work from home," added the order.

The total number of active cases present in Jammu and Kashmir is 26,236. The total number of recoveries recorded so far in the union territory stood at 3,41,854, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The cumulative death toll so far in the union territory stood at 4,579, added the health bulletin.

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New Delhi: Delhi University has issued notification for the recruitment of eligible individuals for Faculty posts. The university is looking to fill p 635 posts of Professor and Associate Professor in the organization through this recruitment drive.

The interested and eligible candidates can apply online through the official site of Delhi University on du.ac.in. The last date to apply for the posts is till February 7, 2022.

DU Faculty Recruitment 2022: Important Dates

Online application starting date- January 18, 2022

Last date to apply online- February 7, 2022

DU Faculty Recruitment 2022: Vacancy Details

Professor: 186 Posts

Associate Professor: 449 Posts

DU Faculty Recruitment 2022: Eligibility Criteria

The interested candidates can check the educational qualification, age limit and other details here:

Detailed notification for Professor posts

Detailed notification for Associate Professor posts

DU Faculty Recruitment 2022: Application Fees

The candidates belonging to UR/EWS/OBC category will need to pay Rs 2000 as application fees. No application fee will be charged from applicants from SC, ST, PwBD category and Women applicants.

The candidates are advised to check the official site of Delhi University for more details.

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Kochi: The Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police on Thursday filed a statement in the Kerala High Court opposing the anticipatory bail plea filed by actor Dileep in a case registered against him and five others for allegedly threatening investigation officers probing the sexual assault of an actress back in 2017.

In its statement, the Crime Branch said it is the first time in the history of Kerala that a person accused of a serious offence hatched a criminal conspiracy to harm the life of investigating officers. "Having regards to the facts and circumstances of the case and considering the involvement of the petitioners in serious offence and that too to harm the life of the law enforcing officers of the State, the petitioners are not entitled to invoke such extraordinary discretionary remedy of pre-arrest bail," the Crime Branch said in the statement.

Besides Dileep, his younger brother - P Sivakumar and brother-in-law TN Suraj have also moved the high court seeking the same relief.

The Crime Branch said the allegations against Dileep and other petitioners are 'very serious' and said custodial interrogation of the accused is required to unearth the criminal conspiracy hatched by them. The Crime Branch had recently registered the case on a complaint filed by an investigating officer based on a purported audio clip of Dileep, which was released by a TV channel in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to attack the official.

The actor and five others were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offense), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (criminal act done by several people). The joint plea moved by all three has claimed that the complaint lodged against them by the officer DySP (Crime Branch) Baiju Paulose was false.

They have contended that the allegations in the FIR, registered on the base of the complaint, are 'wholly false and baseless'.

The actor and his relatives have alleged, in the petition filed through advocate Philip T Varghese, that the intention behind registration of the case was to take them into custody and humiliate them before the public. This apprehension is borne out of the past conduct of the complainant officer who right from the start has been trying to falsely implicate the actor in the sexual assault case, the petition has alleged.

The victim an actress who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by some of the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area.

The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress. There are 10 accused in the case and initially, police arrested seven people. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail later.

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Mumbai: Actor Dulqueer Salmaan on Thursday said that he has tested positive for coronavirus with mild symptoms. The 35-year-old actor's diagnosis comes days after his superstar father Mammooty also tested positive for COVID-19.

Salmaan posted a brief statement on his official social media handles to share the news and said that he has started isolating at his residence.

"I have just tested positive for Covid19. I'm isolating at home and have mild flu symptoms but (I) am otherwise ok. People who were in close contact with me during the shoots over the last few days, please isolate and test if you notice symptoms," the "Kurup" star wrote.

Mammooty shared the news of his COVID-19 diagnosis on January 16, saying that he contracted the virus despite taking precautions. The 70-year-old star was reportedly shooting for his upcoming film "CBI 5" when he tested positive.

On Thursday, India logged 3,17,532 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,82,18,773, which includes 9,287 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
New Delhi: The Union government had launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan DhanYojana (PM-KMY) in 2019 with a view to provide social security to Small and Marginal Farmers in their old age when they have no means of livelihood and minimal or no savings to take care of their expenses.

Under this scheme, a minimum fixed pension of Rs 3,000 is provided to the small and marginal farmers, subject to certain exclusion criteria, on attaining the age of 60 years. Small and Marginal Farmers between the age of 18 to 40 years are eligible to join this scheme.

How to enrol for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan DhanYojana (PM-KMY)

For enrolment into Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan DhanYojana (PM-KMY), the eligible farmer is required to approach the nearest Common Service Center (CSC) or the Nodal Officer (PM-Kisan) nominated by the State / UT Governments.

How to enrol for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan DhanYojana (PM-KMY) online

The farmers may also register themselves through the web-portal of the scheme www.pmkmy.gov.in

Click Apply Online button.

In the application form page, enter details like name, father/ husband name, date of birth, gender, caste and other information

Upload supporting documents

Click on Submit Button

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan DhanYojana is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme. The eligible farmer is required to contribute to a Pension Fund between Rs 55 to Rs 200 per month depending on the entry age. The Central Government also contributes in equal amount to the Pension Fund.

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New Delhi: An Australian government committee on Thursday grilled Meta (formerly Facebook) and Google about the spread of misinformation and cyberbullying across their platforms.

Google's director of government affairs and public policy, Lucinda Longcroft, was asked by the committee about misleading Covid-19 information on YouTube, and was specifically shown at least nine United Australia Party (UAP) ads containing Covid misinformation.

Conceding the existence of these ads on YouTube, Longcroft told the panel that the platform`s Covid misinformation policies are "robust, rapid, and effectively enforced", reports ZDNet.

The committee was established late last year to inquire into the practises of major technology companies.

Twitter was set to appear before the committee on Friday.

Meta representatives also appeared before the committee and were grilled about the death and rape threats directed towards Australian presenter Erin Molan and her young daughter on Facebook.

Molan had testified earlier that she submitted a request on Facebook for those threats to be removed from the platform.

"In response to the request, Facebook sent an automated response that the content would remain online".

Meta ANZ policy director Mia Garlick told the committee that they could not locate Molan`s original request.

"Unfortunately, in the real world, we haven`t been able to locate that original complaint and so I think a police report was made and we worked through that process to make sure that we were taking appropriate action," Garlick was quoted as saying.

In the latest crackdown on big tech, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in December that Big tech created these platforms and they have a responsibility to ensure their users are safe. Also Read: Atal Pension Yojana: Save Rs 7 daily to get Rs 60,000 pension, check how to invest

"Big tech has big questions to answer. But we also want to hear from Australians; parents, teachers, athletes, small businesses and more, about their experience, and what needs to change," he said. Also Read: Budget 2022: Healthcare likely to receive top priority - Assocham survey

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New Delhi: On the latest episode of Bigg Boss 15, Tejasswi Prakash, Rashami Desai, Abhijit Bichukale, Devoleena Bhattacharjee competed in the finale ticket to finale week task in the 'autograph, please' task.

At the beginning of the episode, Rakhi Sawant lashed out at Tejasswi Prakash for playing the victim card and the women card. Tejasswi gets offended by Rakhi's joke and got quite emotional after listening to it and began crying.

Pratik tried to explain to her that Rakhi was just joking but Tejasswi felt that it was not funny especially because she was repeating the statement again and again.

Rajiv Adatia is given the opportunity to head the final Ticket to Finale task titled, 'Autograph, please'.

Before that, in the previous task, Rajiv Adatia had made the decision to make Nishant Bhat directly enter the finale week.

It seems all is not well with Nishant and his old OTT friends Pratik and Shamita as he called them 'self-obsessed' and fake and said that he needed a break from them. Shamita got very offended by Nishant's statements and said that she gets very emotional when she loses a friend.

She said that after this, she will not harbour a soft spot for Nishant.

Coming to the finale ticket to finale task, there were discussions in the house about who will support whom.

Karan Kundrra tried to persuade Rakhi and other house members to support Tejasswi and get her to the finale week.

Tejasswi also went up to Pratik personally and asked him if he can support her but he said he wasn't sure.

Rakhi kept switching her loyalties which confused many housemates. On one hand, she was supporting Devo and Rashami and on the other, she was supporting Tejasswi and Devo.

Abhijit Bichukale didn't get much support from the house and this made him angry. He accused Rajiv of plotting and planning, saying that he had already decided the winner in his mind.

Rakhi Sawant and Pratik ended up in a verbal spat after the latter supported Abhijit during the task.

We now have to wait and watch to see who wins the ticket to finale task.
Television debates can sometimes go off the rails, with panelists shouting at each other even as the anchor tries to make themselves heard. While all panelists are supposed to have a say, often debates get dominated by a couple of panelists, with others not getting a chance to speak.

Recently, on a live TV debate of a Bengali news channel, an angry panelist chose a unique way to vent out her frustration as she could not get her views heard - she broke into a dance to draw attention to her.

Watch the video here:

See what the participant in green kurti does when not given a fair chance to speak! pic.twitter.com/M58kKkbpxB  Elizabeth (@Elizatweetz) January 16, 2022

According to news reports, the woman in question is environmental activist Roshni Ali and the debate was on the firecracker ban on Diwali. Ali had filed a PIL in the Calcutta High Court, seeking a ban on firecrackers during the pandemic, as she felt that bursting crackers would add to pollution levels, which would, in turn, aggravate the Covid-19 pandemic. However, on the TV debate, she did not get much of a chance to speak and therefore she started dancing and making faces to draw attention!

The video clip, which has now gone viral was shared by Twitter user Elizabeth, though the actual incident might have happened a couple of months back. She wrote, "See what the participant in green kurti does when not given a fair chance to speak!", on Twitter, followed by several emojis.

Netizens had a field day and a good laugh over the clip. While one user called her a queen, others congratulated her for her creativity. Yet another user wrote, "Thank you for sharing this. It made me come back to Twitter after 4 years of hiatus. Totally worth it."Another user wrote, "Wow man she is one brave person (sic)."
Seoul: Accusing the United States of hostility and threats, North Korea on Thursday said it will consider restarting "all temporally-suspended activities" it had paused during its diplomacy with the Trump administration, in an apparent threat to resume testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un presided over a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party where officials set policy goals for "immediately bolstering" the North's military capabilities to counter the Americans' "hostile moves".

Officials gave "instructions to reconsider in an overall scale the trust-building measures that we took on our own initiative, and to promptly examine the issue of restarting all temporally-suspended activities," the KCNA said.

The North's Foreign Ministry had already warned of stronger and more explicit action after the Biden administration last week imposed fresh sanctions over the North's continued missile testing activity.

Kim unilaterally suspended his nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2018 as he initiated diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump in an attempt to leverage his nukes for badly needed economic benefits.

But negotiations have stalled since the collapse of their second meeting in 2019 when the Americans rejected North Korea's demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

The North has been ramping of its weapons demonstrations in recent months, including four rounds of missile launches just this month, as Kim revives Pyongyang's old playbook of brinkmanship to extract concessions from Washington and neighbours as he grapples with an economy decaying under pandemic-related difficulties and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions.

Last week, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North's missile programs, in its response to North Korea's earlier tests this month.

The State Department ordered sanctions against another North Korean, a Russian man and a Russian company for their broader support of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction activities. The Biden administration also said it would pursue additional UN sanctions over the North's continued tests.

The announcement of the sanctions just came hours after North Korean state media said Kim oversaw a successful test of a hypersonic missile last Tuesday, the country's second test of the purported system in a week, and claimed that the weapon would greatly increase the country's "war deterrent".

The North tested fired short-range ballistic missiles on Friday and Monday in an apparent reprisal against the US sanctions, which came after its Foreign Ministry warned of "stronger and certain reaction" if Washington maintains its confrontational stance.

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Press Release

January 20, 2022 Gordon vows to fight for murder victims Senator Richard J. Gordon on Monday vowed to stand up and fight to protect those who were victimized by senseless murderers. Gordon, the chairman of the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee, said that the recent assassination of an assistant city prosecutor (ACP) evoked him memories of his own father's murder in 1967. "He was mayor of our city for three years. And every year of his term, an assassination attempt was made on his life, either by lobbing grenades made by people escaping from prison and finally the third attempt was by escaped prisoner from Muntinlupa, allowed to escape, who shot him point-blank as his killer did here for Fiscal Mendoza," said Gordon during his privilege speech. "And now, it is only right and proper for me to honor my father's name by helping those who are similarly situated to seek justice for a Filipino family's death," he added. Trece Martires City, Cavite ACP Edilberto Mendoza was killed last Dec. 31, 2021, by an alleged drug suspect after being shot in the head thrice whilst skipping rope outside his house. According to reports, the suspect, who was captured weeks later, admitted to shooting Mendoza due to the prosecutor's involvement in illegal drugs cases in exchange for a measly sum of Php 25,000. One more astounding revelation according to Gordon was the suspect had two extrajudicial confessions, pointing to two different masterminds. Gordon, a lawyer by profession, hoped that the killing of Mendoza, would not be reduced to mere numbers much like what had happened to his father, and former Tanauan judge Voltaire Rosales, who was gunned down in 2004. "Let us refuse to reduce these killings into mere statistics. Hindi natin puwedeng tanggapin na ito'y istatistika lamang. Hindi naman tayo dapat na walang kalaban-laban. Di pumapayag at the face of this challenge," mentioned Gordon. "Wala na po bang halaga ang buhay ng tao? Andito tayo, ginagawa ang lahat ng makakayanan at nagtutulungan para makaligtas sa pandemya. Iwas ka ng iwas sa Covid, sa riding-in-tandem ka lang pala mamamatay," he continued. It may be recalled that Rosales, a heinous crimes judge, was murdered on June 15, 2004 near the Tanauan Hall of Justice, leaving behind a wife and children. One of his sons, Vic, became a lawyer as well, like a path what Gordon took in the late 1960s. To prevent a grim future for the bereaved families of prosecutors who were slain in the line of duty, Gordon sought to amend the recently-signed Republic Act (RA) 11643, to provide them a lumpsum payment. Seeking to beef up security of judicial workers and reinforce the administration of justice in the country, Gordon filed Senate Bill 1947, a proposed measure seeking to establish the Office of the Judiciary Marshals. It aims to ensure the security, safety, and protection of the members, officials, personnel, and property of the Judiciary, including the integrity of the courts and their proceedings.
Press Release

January 20, 2022 HONTIVEROS TO ERC: ENSURE A BLACKOUT-FREE ELECTION Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure that there will be no power interruptions during the election period so as not to compromise the integrity and credibility of the upcoming elections. "Kailangang matiyak na tuluy-tuloy ang suplay ng kuryente sa bansa ngayong darating na halalan. Failure to ensure an uninterrupted power supply will compromise the integrity of our elections," she said. Hontiveros made the call after the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) forecast that the Luzon grid will go on a red alert status anytime in April to June, possibly affecting the elections. The Senator reminded the Department of Energy (DOE) of its assurance that there will be an adequate and reliable supply of electricity before, during and after May 9, 2022. Hontiveros stated that the energy players must have already identified safety measures so that the red alert status last May and June 2021 due to the deratings of Malampaya and unplanned shutdown of several power plants will not happen again. "Paano tayo makakatiyak na may kuryente at hindi maantala ang schedule ng pagboto ng ating mga kababayan? Unstable power supply can pushed back voting time and can delay the transmission of voting results from the polling precincts to the servers," Hontiveros said. She recalled that industry players and the DOE during the previous Senate hearings had already come up with the supposed solutions such as firm ancillary services contracts on the part of NGCP and prevention of unplanned maintenance shutdown on the part of the generation companies. "Does the red alert warning indicate that those previously identified solutions will no longer work? Kailangang magkaroon ng strict coordination at team work ang DOE, ERC at iba pang sektor sa power para masolusyunan ang taon-taon na lang na problemang ito," Hontiveros said. Hontiveros then reiterated her call to revisit the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) that should have solved the perennial problem of unreliable and high cost of electricity in the country. "Building more renewable and flexible power plants could be the ultimate solution. But that would require a paradigm shift by the next administration." she said. "Dalawang dekada na ang EPIRA pero ganito pa rin tayo taon-taon. Binigo na nga tayo nito, mas pinalala pa ng kawalan ng kontrol ng gobyerno sa ating power industry. Hindi lang buhay at kabuhayan ang naaapektuhan dahil sa pawala-walang kuryente, pati na ang pinakaimportanteng aspeto ng ating demokrasya," she concluded.
?? Ministro @RubenJ_Ramirez_ lidera reunion con ministros del @MinemPeru y @MINPRODUCCION; y con representantes @Repsol, pescadores, actores sociales y congresistas, donde se abordan detalles del plan de contingencia por el derrame de petroleo en Ventanilla y Ancon. pic.twitter.com/L9TgCotXy8
?? #Ahora | Ministro @RubenJ_Ramirez_ brinda entrevista en Ampliacion de Noticias, via @RPPNoticias, para dar a conocer todos los detalles sobre el derrame de petroleo ocurrido en la Refineria La Pampilla. pic.twitter.com/7WuDp1np9C
Presidente @PedroCastilloTe: "Estamos en un momento critico en materia ambiental, siendo este desastre ecologico el mas preocupante de la costa peruana de los ultimos tiempos". pic.twitter.com/saPV1cfZfa
El ECOCIDIO generado por la refineria La Pampilla de propiedad de REPSOL no debe quedar impune. Hay responsabilidad administrativa (multa, etc.), civil (indemnizacion) y penal. Sobre esta ultima, la Fiscalia debe actuar de oficio.
Press Release

January 20, 2022 Don't forget Odette victims, say minority senators seeking assessment of govt response AS hardship lingers in areas devastated by Typhoon Odette one month after it struck, senators from the minority bloc want an assessment of the damages brought by the calamity, as well as the government's rehabilitation and recovery efforts. "Marami pa ring pamilya ang walang bubong na masisilungan, walang kuryente, kapos sa pagkain at maiinom na tubig. Huwag nating kalimutan ang mabigat na mga gawain para makabangon muli ang mga nasalanta ng Odette (Many families remain without a decent roof over their heads, groping in the dark, with scarce food and clean water. We must not forget that heavy task lies ahead to help Odette victims rise)," said Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, one of the authors of Proposed Senate Resolution 976. "Hindi pa tapos ang paghihirap ng ating mga kababayang nasalanta ng bagyong Odette matapos ang isang buwan. 'Wag natin silang isantabi at kalimutan," he added. The measure seeks to "conduct a full inventory of damages, conduct a thorough evaluation of government response including gaps and structural inefficiencies, and identify the needs for rehabilitation, recovery, and reconstruction, including the corresponding budgetary and policy requirements." Aside from Pangilinan, the authors are Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Senators Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima. "This assessment of government response and relief efforts should be done with the end in view of protecting our people and improving our existing National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. Congress, through relevant legislations, must establish mechanisms to improve the overall disaster management, mitigation, and response efforts of government," they said in the resolution. The senators stressed the importance of seeing to it that budget allocated for Odette recovery plan is spent accordingly to improve the country's disaster risk reduction management. The Philippines is visited by at least 20 tropical cyclones annually with varying strength and level of destruction. The past typhoons, including Odette, should serve as a learning experience for the government to improve its disaster response, the authors added. "These [typhoons] have catastrophic economic, environmental, and social impacts. Typhoon Odette and previous natural disasters have revealed the vulnerabilities and problems in the present framework, in government policies, as well as public spending for disaster response. Government must address these to be prepared for future shocks and disasters," they said. After Typhoon Odette ravaged parts of Visayas and Mindanao, the national government immediately allocated P10 billion for rehabilitation purposes of the affected areas, according to the lawmakers. Of the aforementioned budget, P2 billion will come from the 2021 National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (NDRRMF), P2 billion from the President's Contingency Fund, while the remaining P6 billion will be sourced from the recently signed 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA). But for the minority bloc, the funds are not enough to rehabilitate the affected areas as the reported destruction in agriculture and infrastructure alone is at P24.586 billion. Pangilinan also highlighted the need to ensure that donations go to the intended beneficiaries and are properly accounted for.
El jefe de Estado, @PedroCastilloTe, participo en la sesion plenaria virtual del Foro Economico Mundial (@wef) "Perspectivas de America Latina". En el encuentro tambien estuvieron los presidentes de Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador y Guatemala. #DavosAgenda#wef22 pic.twitter.com/od6luVTAy3
" " A local farmers market in Annandale, Virginia, sells natural chicken eggs. Different chickens lay eggs of different colors solely because of their genetic makeup. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Peruse the egg section of a grocery store or farmers market, and you'll notice cartons of eggs separated into white and brown, sometimes even green or blue eggs. But once they arrive scrambled on a plate with cheese and tomatoes, perhaps, or baked into a cake, it's tough to tell the difference. In fact, what is the difference between eggs with shells of different colors?

This isn't a flour or rice situation. Brown eggs are not more "natural," and white eggs have not been decolored with bleach. Both varieties occur completely naturally, as do bluish-green chicken eggs. But really, all chicken eggs are the same on the inside. So what causes different egg colors among the same type of bird?

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Dr. Justin Fowler (which came first, the surname or the profession?), a professor in the University of Georgia's poultry science department, shines a light on things. "The different colors, or the presence of spots or speckling, come down to the genetics of the bird," he says.

"Leghorn chickens (which make up most of the commercial egg industry in the U.S.) lay white eggs, while Orphingtons or Plymouth Rocks will lay brown eggs," explains Fowler. "The Ameraucana breed has a pigment that is able to permeate the whole egg shell and make blue-colored eggs that are colored on both the inside and outside of the shell."

Want to know whether a specific chicken will pop out a white egg or a colored egg? Examine the chicken's earlobe. (Surprise, birds have earlobes!) "Breeds with white earlobes will typically be those that do not put extra pigment on the egg shell before laying," says Fowler. And more often than not, chickens with lighter earlobes tend to have white feathers, and thus white eggs, while those with colored feathers and earlobes tend to produce colored eggs.

Where does this color come from? Here's where understanding how an egg comes to be is important. Chicken yolks, or ova, form in the chicken's ovaries. A fully formed ovum will leave the ovary and be deposited into the oviduct. This part of the chicken's reproductive system has five distinct sequential segments which the yolk passes through on its way to the outside world, but it's the fourth one  the shell gland  that affects the color of the egg. This is where the shell forms around the ovum.

"The shell of all chicken eggs are made of calcium carbonate, a crystal that is white in color," says Fowler via email. "So all eggs are, at least at the start, white. Any that we then see that are other colors have had a pigment deposited on them as they were moving through the oviduct, after the white egg shell had been deposited. You can see this if you open up a brown egg and look at the inside of the shell, it'll be white."

Two pigments are responsible for the spectrum of chicken egg color. Shades of greens and blues are caused by the pigment biliverdin, while protoporphyrin is responsible for reddish-brown hues.

The same egg-coloring process holds true for all birds with colorful eggs. American robin (Turdus migratorius) eggs, for instance, are famously blue. The pear-shaped eggs of a common murre (Uria aalge) can sport a blue hue, be speckled or feature brown streaks.

And while we're on the subject of color and genetics: Curious as to the origins of the iconic yellow legs of the Leghorn chicken? While scientists dating back to Charles Darwin have identified the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) as a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), Swedish researchers in a 2008 study identified early crossbreeding with the grey junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii) as introducing the genes behind the modern chicken's yellow legs.

Oh, but that egg-inside-an-egg story that's going around the internet right now? That's another thing entirely, and involves an egg accidentally reversing its course in the oviduct.

Now That's Interesting Should chicken eggs be kept refrigerated or at room temperature? It depends on whether you live in a country (Australia, Japan and the United States, for instance) that requires eggs produced for commercial sale be washed. This process protects against salmonella, but also removes a waxy shell coating that naturally defends eggs against microorganisms, thereby necessitating refrigeration.

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Originally Published: Mar 12, 2018
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramovs statement that Yerevans preconditions for starting delimitation are unacceptable for Baku.

Asked to comment, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan told ARMENPRESS that Armenia doesnt have any preconditions in the matter of delimitation, and that its about agreements.

ARMENPRESS  Azerbaijans Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov, responding to Armenias proposals relating to the process of delimitation and demarcation, said that Yerevans preconditions for launching delimitation are unacceptable for Baku. How would you comment?

Vahan Hunanyan  I believe there is a misunderstanding regarding this issue. The Armenian side doesnt have preconditions in the issue of delimitation. Its about agreements. The November 26 Sochi statement of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan notes that the sides have agreed to take steps in the direction of increasing the level of security and stability on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and to move towards the formation of a trilateral commission for delimitation and demarcation. This agreement was reaffirmed and an agreement on starting a process of withdrawing troops was reached during the December 14 trilateral meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Brussels in mediation of the President of the European Council. Thus, The Armenian sides proposals arent about preconditions, but rather about realizing the agreements that were reached. The Republic of Armenia believes that the delimitation process must be launched swiftly in accordance to the abovementioned agreements.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan has presented details from his January 19th meeting with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

In an interview to Voice of America, Alen Simonyan said that the meeting lasted very long as many issues were discussed. First of all, I thanked Mrs Pelosi and the current Senators for their contributions to the adoption of the resolution on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We also discussed the current situation in our region, the ongoing processes in the Armenia-Turkey relations, as well as the situation on the border with Azerbaijan and the provocations that are taking place on the border. I am happy to state that the talk with all partners attending the meeting was held within the same logic, the Speaker said.

Simonyan informed that he also met with a group of US Congressmen, as well as a number of meetings are planned with the US Senators, during which all issues concerning the Armenian people, including the border situation, will be discussed.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Boris Johnson on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The message reads as follows,

Your Excellency,

I cordially congratulate on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

30 years ago, on January 20, our countries launched the process of strengthening the Armenian-British interstate partnership and the close contacts between the friendly peoples, based on historical interactions, common values, practical interests, mutual respect.

This jubilee is an important milestone to evaluate the relations between the two countries, to reassess the path passed together, to outline the new perspectives for cooperation.

The United Kingdom has been a strong partner on the path of state-building of the newly independent Republic of Armenia, and today it contributes to the democratic reforms taking place in our country, to the protection of human rights and the strengthening of the rule of law.

I am convinced that the rich experience gained during these years provides ample opportunities to discover and use the full potential of the Armenian-British cooperation, giving a new impetus to the bilateral relations, including the economic partnership, and raising them to a qualitatively new level. In this context, I consider symbolic the summarization of the forthcoming Armenia-UK Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, which will give a new quality to bilateral relations.

I am full of hope that with joint efforts we will be able to enrich the Armenian-British bilateral agenda with new initiatives and programs in the coming years for the benefit of our countries and friendly peoples.

Your Excellency, I once again congratulate all of us on the occasion of the 30-year anniversary, wishing our countries fruitful cooperation full of jubilees."
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian sent a congratulatory letter to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the UK, the Presidential Office reports.

Over the past years Armenia and the United Kingdom have managed to establish a productive political dialogue both in bilateral and multilateral formats. I am proud that I have been able to contribute to the development of relations between our countries, the Armenian President said in his letter.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. As a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia supports the continuation of the work of the Co-Chairs in accordance with their mandate, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a weekly press briefing, when asked to comment on the latest statement of the Azerbaijani president who said that Azerbaijan will not allow the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to deal with the Karabakh conflict and that the Nagorno Karabakh issue is closed.

As a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia supports the continuation of the work of that format, firstly based on its mandate and also taking into account the regional realities which came after the war in 2020. Our partners of the Minsk Group  the United States and France, fully share our position. This position has been reflected in the 2021 December 7 statement of the foreign ministries of the Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries, she said, reminding that that document cited the call of the Co-Chairs addressed to Baku and Yerevan to host the Co-Chairs in the region in the nearest timeframes which will allow them to assess the situation, reach tangible progress in humanitarian initiatives which were discussed during the meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers with the Co-Chairs.

Zakharova added that based on the results of the aforementioned talks which were held in New York and Paris in September and November 2021, the Co-Chairs have conveyed a balanced and realistic proposal on the future cooperation agenda to the two ministers in Stockholm on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council. The agenda proposed by the Co-Chairs relates to both the humanitarian and the socio-political issues.

We are expecting an official reaction from the sides, including also over the issue of resuming the regional visits of the Co-Chairs, the Russian MFA spokesperson said.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan met with the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives Gregory Meeks, Brad Sherman and the Republican Chris Smith, the Armenian Parliaments press service reports.

Welcoming the members of the delegation, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory Meeks has noted that they have paid special attention to the democratic processes in Armenia since 2018. He also expressed readiness to always support those reforms.

Issues related to the 44-day war and its consequences were discussed at the meeting. At the request of American partners, Alen Simonyan touched upon the issues of security of the Armenian border, the settlement of post-war humanitarian problems and the repatriation of hostages held in Azerbaijan. The American side informed that the U.S. House of Representatives, and in particular their Committee, is strictly concerned about the fate of prisoners of war and thinks that they should be immediately repatriated to their homeland. During the meeting, the Chairman of the Committee has emphasized that it is very important to ensure the stability of the South Caucasus and in that context, it is necessary to reach a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and a lasting settlement of the issue. The United States will greatly contribute to that, including in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Alen Simonyan underlined the importance of the recognition of the Genocide by the U.S. House of Representatives of the Congress at the meeting, emphasizing the role of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanking to the Armenian Speaker of Parliament for the high assessment, those present once again stressed that it was really the result of the continuous work.

At the end of the meeting, Alen Simonyan has informed that a number of events and mutual visits are planned within the framework of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Armenia and the U.S. The Speaker of Parliament invited the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and its members to visit Armenia to get acquainted with the existing problems and the democratic achievements on the spot.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan presented details about the package of proposals made by the Armenian side to Baku.

After the Cabinet meeting today Mr Grigoryan told reporters that Armenias proposals made to Azerbaijan relate to the current situation in the border.

The talk is about the withdrawal of troops in mirrored fashion and the deployment of border troops along the border based on the map of the Soviet Union. It is also about the creation of favorable conditions which will help us to be able to start the border delimitation and demarcation process, Armen Grigoryan said.

He informed that they presented their proposals to Baku in a written form and have not received a written response yet. We are not starting the process with the deployment of troops on the border, but we put the map of the Soviet Union as a base and troops are pulling back in a mirrored fashion. In case of delimitation and demarcation, no community, territory of Armenia can appear in the neutral zone, he said.

Commenting on the question that Azerbaijan is not implementing the provisions of the 2020 November 9 statement, Mr Grigoryan said they are raising this issue during the discussions with international partners. The Armenian side expects that Azerbaijan will fulfill all provisions of that statement.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan met with the President of International Republican Institute Daniel Twining and the Regional Program Director for Eurasia Stephen Nix in Washington DC on January 19, the Parliaments press service reported.

At the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues relating to human rights and democracy. A talk was held over the legislative reforms of some spheres in Armenia. The sides highlighted the necessity of the joint continuous agenda aimed at democratic values.
Press Release

January 20, 2022 Pro-poor ang magaling na desisyon ni Cebu Gov. Gwen na ibasura ang 'no vax, no ride' policy: Pangilinan AS THE government's "no vaccination, no ride" policy meets strong backlash, Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan on Thursday said the wise decision by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to junk the controversial policy supports the marginalized in the province. "Pro-poor ang magaling na desisyon ni Cebu Gov. Gwen na ibasura ang no vax, no ride policy. She is receiving wise and great counsel from her advisers," Pangilinan said. "Isang wagi para sa hanay ng mga mahihirap at mga nasa laylayan ang ginawang pagbabasura ni Gov. Gwen," he added. Metro Manila has enforced the policy supposedly as a way to curb the spread of the more transmissible omicron coronavirus variant. Only fully vaccinated individuals will be allowed to use public transportation. But Garcia announced that Cebu will not heed the rule because it is anti-poor. Instead, she ordered the police to set up checkpoints to ensure that passengers wear face masks, that public utility vehicles ply their routes with windows open, and physical distancing and other health protocols are followed. The governor said Republic Act 115251 (Covid19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021) provides "that the vaccine cards shall not be considered as an additional mandatory requirement for educational, employment and other similar government transaction purposes." Calls for a halt in the no vax, no ride implementation has since snowballed after Pangilinan made the plea to the government to end it as it will only punish the poor. "Walang puso at parang hindi pinag-isipan ang polisiya na 'yan na dumagdag pa sa paghihirap ng ating mga kababayan," Pangilinan said. Pangilinan said he hopes other local government units will take a second look at the policy and follow Cebu's firm stance to side with reason and compassion in dealing with the pandemic. Instead of penalizing and punishing Filipinos, notably the poor ones, Pangilinan said the government should do more to roll out and act better to administer more vaccines on a daily basis. "The government is not admitting that the core of the problem is the lack of readily available supply of vaccines. There is an extremely limited number of vials of vaccines transported to vaccine sites daily. People are willing to be vaccinated, but the government supply is weak," Pangilinan said. "Two years into the pandemic, we are still fixing the supply chain system. Yet, the government has no all-out campaign to educate, inform, and communicate to the public why anti-Covid vaccines are important. Parusa at pahirap lang ang alam nilang gawin," Pangilinan said. Chaos characterized the first day of its implementation in Metro Manila as thousands were denied in buses or jeepneys, including workers and those who have yet to complete their doses. "Nakita naman natin sa TV na naiyak na iyong isang ginang dahil ayaw siyang pasakayin sa bus papuntang trabaho dahil isa pa lang ang bakuna nya. Iyon pala, kapapanganak lang nya, at dahil December lang sya nagpabakuna, hindi naman nya pwedeng ipilit na bigyan na sya agad ng second dose," Pangilinan said. "Sa mga ganitong sitwasyon na may lehitimong dahilan naman ang ating mga kababayan kung bakit hindi pa sila fully vaccinated, hindi sagot ang isang marahas na polisiya," he added. On Wednesday, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III clarified that workers are exempted from the no vax, no ride policy. He also apologized for the confusion over the rollout of the policy.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expects that the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit the region because it has been recorded by the international community that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not solved, and the OSCE Minsk Group is an important platform for the resolution, Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan told reporters today.

We expect that the Co-Chairs visit to the region and further steps will create an opportunity for the lasting and comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, he said.

Grigoryan stated that Armenia will continue to take action so that it would be possible to formulate the comprehensive peace treaty. According to him, in order to sign this treaty, it is necessary to find a solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. He emphasized the need of trying to find solutions through negotiations, political tools within the OSCE Minsk Group. He said there are many issues such as unblocking, delimitation, demarcation, and after finding the solutions to these issues, there will be grounds for the peace agreement.

There must not be any restriction on the status of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, it is necessary to find a solution to the issue with negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Armen Grigoryan said.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan has received and continues receiving invitations to participate in different events, including the Antalya Diplomacy Forum this year, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said in response to the question of ARMENPRESS, relating to the statement of the Turkish foreign minister according to which Armenia is invited to the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

The Foreign Ministry of Armenia is discussing the appropriateness of the ministers participation to the aforementioned events in accordance with the respective procedures. The public will be properly informed about the decisions to be made, he said.
YEREVAN, 20 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 20 January, USD exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 481.66 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.40 drams to 546.54 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.01 drams to 6.29 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 0.64 drams to 656.31 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 150.80 drams to 28291.65 drams. Silver price up by 13.32 drams to 368.17 drams. Platinum price up by 495.86 drams to 15702.53 drams.
32 years ago, on January 20, after pogroms of the Armenian population in Baku, clashes between USSR military forces and Azerbaijani armed groups led to losses on both sides. According to some neutral sources, during the events of "Black January," 131 to 170 people were killed and almost 700 were injured. Despite the fact that Armenians had no connection with clashes between Azerbaijanis and the Soviet army, the Azerbaijani side always uses this fact in their armenophobic policy. To see the whole picture of the January events of 1990, we have to find out what happened before.

The "Black January" of 1990 in Azerbaijan was preceded by alarming harbingers of mass violence: the defenseless Armenian population, which neither the military forces nor the law enforcement authorities were not trying to protect; the "Popular Front", in which radicals suppressed others; the local party leadership, losing power and trying to hold it in every possible way; and Moscow authorities, ready to do everything to keep Azerbaijan in the Soviet Union.

On January 12, 1990, a seven-day pogrom of Armenians broke out in Baku. This was not a spontaneous, one-time action, but one of many anti-Armenian actions by Azerbaijan. Although a number of sources stated that the pogrom of Armenians in Baku was a direct response to the resolution about the formal unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, the reality was that Armenians accepted the resolution as a response to Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy, during whole XX century, including Soviet period.

Starting from 1988, large rallies took place in Baku, which were carried out by groups of radicals with full support of Soviet Azerbaijan authorities. On January 12 1990, a mass rally took place in Lenins Square in Baku, during which the leaders of the "Popular Front" and other radicals were calling on people to defend Azerbaijani sovereignty and territorial integrity from Armenians. Shortly after, different groups of young radicals started roaming Baku, terrorizing Armenians and warning them to leave the city.

In the evening of the same day, demonstrators started attacking Armenians. Thomas de Waal states that, as in Sumgayit, the activists were distinguished by extreme cruelty. Armenian homes were burned and looted, and Armenians were killed and injured. Different people talked about the cruelty of Azerbaijanis. Aleksei Vasilyev, a Soviet soldier, later testified that he saw how a naked woman was thrown from the window to a fire, where her furniture was burning. An American journalist Bill Keller, who was in Baku shortly after the pogroms, in his report for New York Times wrote: Here and there, boarded windows or soot-blackened walls mark an apartment where Armenians were driven out by mobs and their belongings set afire on the balcony. The Armenian Orthodox Church, whose congregation has been depleted over the past two years by an emigration based on fear, is now a charred ruin. A neighbor said firefighters and the police watched without intervening as vandals destroyed the building at the beginning of the year.

The violence and murders are evidenced by the Chairman of the Council of the Union of the USSR Armed Forces, Yevgeny Primakov, who was sent to Baku by decree of the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Vadim Bakatin, as well as the commander of the 106th Airborne Division of the armed forces, who was on site, Major General Alexander Lebed, who also witnessed the massacres of Armenians.

One of the leaders of radicals, Etibar Mamedov, testified about cruel actions and said that there was no official intervention. He said that he saw how two Armenians were killed while policemen were next to the scene of the crime.

The pogroms lasted a week, as a result of which, according to different sources, more than 150 people were killed, more than 300 Armenians were injured, and more than 200.000 Armenians had to leave Baku.

All this time, the USSR authorities were just witnessing how defenceless Armenians were being killed and tortured. On January 20, after the Armenian population had already been expelled from the city, the Soviet Union troops intervened in Baku and a state of martial law was declared.

Mikhail Gorbachov claimed that Azerbaijani armed radicals opened fire on Soviet troops, which was the reason for the beginning of clashes. The troops attacked the radical demonstrators and shooting started between the Soviet Union troops and armed Azerbaijani groups of radicals. The Soviet troops managed to break the resistance of radical demonstrators in just one day.

As we see from the chronology of the events, Armenian pogroms in Baku and "Black January" events have a connection, but the connection is not how Azerbaijani authorities try to show it. Armenian pogroms were one of the reasons for the Soviet troop intervention in Baku, but Armenian civilians have no guilt that Azerbaijani radical groups, with the full support of their authorities, decided to arrange pogroms and kill Armenians in their own houses.

As we see, the Azerbaijani authorities try to use every episode in their history for their armenophobic policy. Saying that Armenians are the ones to blame for "Black January" events is not more than another act of populism. Azerbaijan continues demonizing Armenians in the eyes of their society, manipulating even the fact of the death of their own people.

David Sargsyan, Expert at Orbeli Analytical Research Center
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that during the upcoming meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov he will present the general position of Washington and European allies on the need for a diplomatic settlement of the situation in Ukraine, ARMENPRESS reports, TASS informed.

"During the meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov, I will be able to present the general opinion of the United States and its European partners to seek opportunities for diplomatic progress," Blinken said in a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

The Secretary of State said that stable, predictable relations with Russia are in the interests of Germany and the United States.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. On January 19, a delegation led by Brigadier General Edward Vaughan, Deputy Director for Partnering, Security Cooperation, and Space Capabilities at United States European Command, arrived in Armenia on a two-day working visit.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of MoD Armenia, Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsyan received the delegation. The meeting was also attended by US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Lynne Tracey. The interlocutors discussed issues related to regional security, Armenian-American bilateral cooperation in the field of defense. The parties expressed readiness to continue the development of cooperation within the framework of existing programs, to initiate new directions of cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, Major General Arakel Martikyan also received the delegation. During the discussions on the Armenian-American military cooperation, Major General Martikyan highlighted the cooperation in the fields of peacekeeping, military medicine and education, and suggested making new efforts to develop that cooperation. The American side made a number of proposals, including rehabilitation programs for wounded soldiers and the development of emergency response systems.

During the visit, the delegation led by Brigadier General Edward Vaughan visited the peacekeeping brigade of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, took part in the welcoming ceremony of the Armenian peacekeepers who had recently returned from Kosovo. The delegation visited the National Defense Research University of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Central Clinical Military Hospital of the Ministry of Defense, where the ceremony of handing over the technical equipment of the field hospital acquired with the support of the USA took place.
The Turkish foreign minister spoke about the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

January 20, 2022, 16:02 Cavusoglu: Steps to increase mutual trust will be discussed at next meeting with Armenia

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 20, ARTSAKHPRESS: Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that the steps to increase mutual trust between the two sides will be discussed by the representatives of Armenia and Turkey at the next meeting, news.am informs, citing the Turkish TRT.

"The goals and targets of starting the process were discussed at the first meeting. The main goal is the complete normalization [of relations]. Armenians are also very satisfied with this. However, in the process toward complete normalization, in addition to the start of flights and the appointment of special representatives, the next meeting will work on the issue of complete normalization, and will discuss steps to increase mutual trust," said the Turkish FM.
Recently, the President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia Ashot Saghyan, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Artsakh Republic Lusine Gharakhanyan, the directors of 16 institutes of the National Academy of Sciences and a group of representatives of the field have held meeting at the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

January 20, 2022, 16:29 We are starting a new stage of scientific cooperation and development of science. Minister

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 20, ARTSAKHPRESS: In an interview with "Artsakhpress", Lusine Gharakhanyan mentioned that various cooperation programs will be implemented this year with the support of the academy.

"Mr. Saghyan has visited Artsakh twice. With the support of the academy, we have introduced laboratories at the Artsakh Scientific Center. In order to coordinate the process of scientific cooperation, thanks to Mr. Saghyan, a representative staff of RA NAS will operate at the Artsakh Scientific Center. It is planned to open Narine Lactic Acid Product near future, and the opening will take place next week. The equipped workshop was donated by the academy.

Today, Azerbaijan is trying to erase the Armenian-Christian trace of Artsakh by putting forward the thesis of Albanisation at the highest state level, but we must do systematic and targeted work as a counterbalance to those theses, fictionalized stories falsified by Azerbaijan. We are working with the academy's oriental and history institutes, and a large conference is scheduled this year in May.

With the support of the Academy, a study of drinking water quality will begin this year. Our Armenian colleagues will deliver various lectures in Artsakh, and are ready to teach Natural Sciences in rural communities.
Floral tributes laid at the Grand Canal in Tullamore (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

Irish police are continuing to question two men in the investigation into the murder of 23-year-old teacher Ashling Murphy.

It comes after gardai arrested a second man, aged in his 30s, on Wednesday.

The man is being questioned in relation to the potential withholding of information and is being held at a garda station in the east of the country.

Another man remains in custody on suspicion of murdering Ms Murphy in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

The man, who is aged in his 30s, was arrested on Tuesday in Co Offaly.

Ashling Murphy (Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann) (PA Wire)

Irish police said the man is still being questioned at Tullamore Garda station.

The law allows for murders suspects to be questioned for 24 hours, which means the man must be charged or released within the next few hours.

The arrest was made after police renewed an appeal for information, saying significant progress had been made with their investigation.

The body of Ms Murphy, a talented musician and teacher, was found on the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore last Wednesday.

A crowd of around 40 people walked along the canal on Wednesday, close to where her body was found, to mark one week since her murder.

On Tuesday, large crowds gathered in the village of Mountbolus and outside St Brigids Church where her funeral was held.

Mourners included Irish president Michael D Higgins and Irish premier Micheal Martin.

Vigils have been held across Ireland and the world to remember Ms Murphy and to call for a change in tackling gender-based violence.
On Monday, Jan. 17  which marked what would have been recently departed iconic actress and animal rights activist Betty White's 100 birthday  Carol Russell was floored by the number of donations the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York had coming in to honor the famous funnywoman.

Russell, the executive director of the Auburn-based shelter, said in an interview with The Citizen Wednesday that as of around 1:15 p.m. that day, the facility received a little under $3,700 in donations to acknowledge White, who died Dec. 31, 2021 at the age of 99. White, who was well known for her comedic roles in TV and movies over her decades-spanning career and her large following on the internet, was also a staunch animal rights advocate.

"I wish it would be Betty White's birthday every day," Russell said.

The "Betty White Challenge," in which people could donate money to an animal shelter or rescue of their choosing in order to honor White, has gained traction over the internet, with donations pouring in to organizations across the country.

In a post from Saturday, Jan. 15, on the SPCA's Facebook page, the organization talked about the challenge and suggested other ways people can assist local animals in recognition of White.

"You have heard of the BETTY WHITE CHALLENGE - donate $5 - or any amount to an animal welfare agency of your choice. But, how about helping an animal in distress, feeding a hungry feral, opening your garage to strays for the upcoming cold nights, providing a shelter for a stray or feral cat, spaying or neutering a feral cat in honor of BETTY WHITE's birthday?," the SPCA said in the post.

Donations came in over the weekend and there were one or two last week, Russell said, but she added that she couldn't keep up with all the notifications for donations that the Finger Lakes facility received on Monday. Donations have ranged from $5 to $200, with contributions still coming in on Wednesday, with "several very generous donations" in the SPCA's mail that day. She thanked the community, saying it is "awesome," and said she was thrilled by the support to the organization.

"We are just incredibly grateful for people's generosity and for people's donations," Russell said.

The money sent to the Finger Lakes SPCA will be going toward feeding, sheltering and spaying and neutering animals, along with the other services the organization provides. Russell noted she is "beyond-words-thrilled" about donations coming in locally and to groups across the nation.

"It's awesome knowing that animals all over the country are going to be helped by this effort. It's plain and simple, it doesn't get any better than that," she said. "Just knowing that so many animals will be able to be fed, that they're going to have shelter, that they're going to get spayed and neutered, that they're going to get veterinary care, these are the things that animal welfare organizations provide to animals in their shelters and whenever possible to stray cats, stray dogs, all of the above, that's what the donations will be used for."

Russell said White was "an incredible animal advocate," adding that her support was not limited to just cats and dogs.

"She was a friend to all of God's creatures, and that's what the 'Betty White Challenge' was honoring," Russell said.

Russell also asked that people get their animals spayed and neutered, keep their animals inside during cold winter temperatures and not let their cats be left outside to their own devices potentially to be harmed or mate with other cats.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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DeSoto County Economic Council President and CEO Jim Flanagan (right) discusses the benefits of the county hiring a lobbyist to help secure infrastructure money during the legislative session.
ALBANY  Gov. Kathy Hochul has raised nearly $22 million for her election campaign, a huge sum that gives her a dominating advantage over a narrowing field of opponents in the Democratic primary.

Hochul's haul, raised in just five months, dwarfed her closest competitors among both Democrats and Republicans, according to campaign finance filings by several candidates Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat representing Long Island, reported $5.4 million in campaign cash for his run against Hochul. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the most liberal of the major candidates for governor, reporting just $222,000 on hand.

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a conservative representing the eastern tip of Long Island, reported $5.6 million for his campaign for governor. Andrew Giuliani, the son of Republican former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, reported a $188,400 campaign war chest.

Hochul has nabbed both donations and endorsements from many of the state's most influential unions, lawmakers and advocacy groups.

Her strong showing early in the race has already forced out potential competitors for the nomination. Attorney General Letitia James withdrew from the race and former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week that he wouldn't run.

Still, Suozzi has vowed to mount a serious challenge to Hochul.

He has criticized Hochul on law and order issues, saying he wants to undo parts of a sweeping bail reform law that made it easier for nonviolent criminal defendants to remain free while awaiting trial.

He has also called for an attorney general investigation into Hochul's use of state aircraft to attend political fundraisers.

In terms of total cash on hand, Hochul's closest rival is former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who reported $16 million in campaign funds as of mid-January.

Cuomo long planned to run for re-election, but resigned in August amid sexual harassment allegations and a looming impeachment trial.

An investigation released by James' office last year found Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, including former aides who said he inappropriately touched them and made unwelcome sexual remarks.

The former governor has denied that he ever assaulted anyone or intended to offend anyone. He's also said he doesn't remember touching the stomach of a female trooper on his security detail.

And last February, Cuomo said he was truly sorry for behavior that was misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.

It is unclear whether he might someday attempt a comeback. Cuomo hasn't outright said he isn't running for governor in 2022. His attorney, Rita Glavin, has been evasive when asked by reporters about Cuomo's political ambitions.

In the meantime, Cuomo has kept some staff on his campaign payroll to wage a fight for his reputation. Hes used his lawyer Glavin to hold regular Zoom calls attacking the integrity of accusers and investigators.

The Albany district attorney announced this month that he would not prosecute Cuomo over a woman's allegation that he groped her breast. An Albany judge then dismissed that charge.

Cuomos spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said Cuomo could seek reimbursement for his legal fees because of that dismissal. Azzopardi said he didn't know if Cuomo would do so.

Cuomo could still face civil lawsuits from some of the women who have accused him of sexual harassment. Cuomo's spokesperson Rich Azzopardi has said Cuomo won't pay one penny in attempts at civil extortion."

Still, Cuomo faces a tight deadline if he does choose to run this year, and would likely have to do it without help from the Democratic Party establishment.

Polling done last fall indicated that his support among potential voters plummeted after the harassment allegations, although he has retained some support among Democrats.

Cuomo could also use his campaign war chest to boost other candidates. Azzopardi said Wednesday he didn't have details about any potential use of Cuomo's campaign cash.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Toyota Hilux is all set to roar its way into the Indian market after creating a big and rich legacy for itself in several global markets over several decades. Hilux is a pick-up truck that has been around since the late 1960s and periodic updates and consistent popularity has meant that the Hilux has kept itself not just relevant but popular too.

In recent times, the Hilux has received some very big updates that make the vehicle not just a capable machine on roads less traveled but one that also offers a high degree of passenger comfort and some contemporary features. Coupled with its imposing road presence, these continue to auger well for the vehicle.

The Hilux is based on the same platform as the Toyota Fortuner and Innova Crysta, two hot sellers in the Indian market. But Hilux will have to compete in a very limited, very niche space of pick-up vehicles in India which, at present, has only the Isuzu D-Max as a key player. Volumes won't be what the Hilux is chasing but Toyota Kirloskar Motor would be looking at stamping its authority in the large vehicle segment once again.

Here are the highlights from the Hilux India debut event:

What do you make of the Hilux and Hilux for India - ambitious or brave? That's all that we have in this edition. Thanks for joining us. Stay safe, stay healthy.

Hilux will follow a Semi Knocked Down route Toyota says Hilux will have a separate line at the Bidadi facility.

Check out all that Hilux has to offer Click here for all the details of the Toyota Hilux. Toyota Hilux shares several components with the Toyota Fortuner SUV.

Who is the Hilux meant for? Toyota says customers looking for a vehicle that can combine daily drive requirements with adventure-oriented capabilities off the tarmac.

When can drive the Hilux home? Bookings for the Toyota Hilux are now open. Toyota says price launch will be in March and deliveries will start soon after.

Capable outside, connected inside Hilux cabin is highlighted by features such as two-zone climate control, infotainment screen, support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and front parking sensors, among others. A look at the dashboard layout of the Toyota Hilux.

The core power source Hilux sources power from a 2.8-litre turbo diesel engine which is what one finds under the hood of the Fortuner as well. The engine produces 200 Ps and offers 500 Nm of torque.

How does Hilux drive? Toyota says the turbo engine under the hood produces 500 Nm of torque. Hilux also offers two drive modes - Eco and Power, and this has a bearing on the steering dynamic. It has 700 mm water-wading capability, traction control, tyre control monitor, electronic differential lock and a number of other highlights to make it a capable 4x4 machine.

Hilux design highlights Hilux gets a trapezoidal front grille which is outlined by chrome on all sides and is flanked by striking head light units.

The vehicle stands on 18-inch alloy wheels.

Did you know? Hilux was first launched in 1968. This was the same year when man first stepped on Moon. Over the past several decades, the vehicle has been sold in 180 countries. A look at the side profile of Toyota Hilux.

20 million Hilux units sold worldwide Toyota backs its iconic model and says its robust character will help it strike a deep chord with buyers. Toyota underlines QDR - Quality, Durability and Reliability - as factors powering Fortuner and Innova Crysta here, adds Hilux will follow on the same lines.

Isuzu D-Max, a worthy rival? Isuzu only sells a handful of units of the D-Max but the coming in of Hilux could put the focus on the segment as a whole. But it may not exactly be an affordable proposition. Just yesterday, pricing of the Isuzu D-Max received an upward revision. (Full report here)

An eye on price Toyota is widely expected to price Hilux around the same bracket as the Fortuner. At launch - moments from now, Hilux could start at a point of 28 lakh (ex showroom).

What does the Hilux sold abroad have on offer?

Did you know? In certain western markets, pick-up vehicles are almost as popular as family sedans. Check out this report.

Why have pick-up vehicles not picked up in India? Compact vehicles - hatchbacks and sub-four metre SUVs - dominate the Indian car space, and there is good reason for this. Congested roads and tight parking spaces mean that such vehicles are preferred by a large number of vehicle buyers in the country. The concept of going off-roading or into the wilderness isn't widespread among motorists either. As such, large pick-up vehicles with a go anywhere attitude and capability hardly seem to be a practical option. Little wonder then that even manufacturers have not been enthusiastic about bringing such vehicles in the country - where are the volumes to make a good business case, many ask? But Toyota is looking at creating a space for itself with the Hilux. The company would be well aware that it isn't exactly going to match Fortuner in terms of sales numbers but could be a viable option for the adventure lifestyle-oriented buyer. The latest Toyota Hilux offered in global markets gets a number of key performance and comfort feature upgrades.

Why is a pick-up truck called a pick-up truck? Well firstly, it is a large vehicle with a solid road presence. A pick-up vehicle has a cabin for passengers and a large bed for carrying goods. The cabin itself could be only for the driver and a passenger or have two rows like the Toyota Hilux does. The focus however is on that flat bed at the back that usually has miles and miles of space for cargo. It can be open or have a casing on top. The name itself though is mostly common in the US and vehicles in this segment go by different names elsewhere - utility vehicle in Australia, bakkie in South Africa and crew cab in some other parts.
Toyota Hilux will compete with Isuzu V-Cross in the Indian lifestyle pickup truck segment.Toyota Hilux pickup truck is set to launch in March 2022, with bookings for the vehicle open now.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Thursday has unveiled the much-awaited Toyota Hilux pickup truck in India. The Toyota Hilux comes as the Japanese car brand's first-ever lifestyle pickup truck in the country. The new pickup truck will have a direct rival in the segment - Isuzu V-Cross, when it launches in the country in March 2022.

(Also Read: Isuzu V-Cross become costlier in India ahead of Hilux launch)

Toyota Hilux pickup truck is based on the same platform as the Toyota Fortuner SUV. It gets an imposing front fascia with muscular bumpers, hexagonal-shaped grille with thick chrome lining, silver skid plate. The LED projector headlamps with integrated LED daytime running lights come adding visual appeal to the Hilux. The double-cab pickup truck gets multi-spoke alloy wheels, vertically stacked taillights.

Being a lifestyle pickup truck, the Toyota Holux pickup truck gets an impressive cabin, both visually and in terms of features as well. The cabin looks like it has taken inspiration from Toyota Fortuner. It gets an eight-inch tablet-like touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, soft-touch leather upholstery, driver armrest with storage, dual-zone automatic climate control.

The pickup truck is capable of churning 500 Nm of best-in-class torque output. It gets multiple driving modes. The UV gets traction control, a 4x4 drivetrain, an electronic differential lock. Hilux comes with a five-star safety rating by ASEAN NCAP. The pickup will be built in India locally.

Toyota Hilux pickup might not be able to match the sales performance of Toyota Fortuner but it comes as a viable option for adventure lifestyle-oriented buyers, but the automaker is looking at creating a niche for itself with the new model. The Toyota Hilux has already sold more than 20 million units around the world, since its introduction in 1968. The pickup truck is sold in around 180 countries across the world.

Globally, large SUVs and pickup trucks are witnessing a surge in demand from prospective buyers. Such has been the rise in popularity of these utility vehicles that manufacturers are focusing more on them. Pickup trucks have even started getting electric powertrains as well. Toyota aims to generate more interest among domestic buyers with the upcoming Hilux.

First Published Date:
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinas luxury EV brand, HiPhi, released a statement regarding the matter of Renault S.A.s new logo resembling the brands logo.

HiPhi X; photo credit: HiPhi



According to HiPhi, its parent company, Human Horizonss logo (HiPhi icon) was registered as a graphic trademark in all major auto markets (including the EU) since August 2018. The HiPhi icon was used in many automotive product designs and was patent-protected.

HiPhi icon; photo credit: HiPhi

On the other hand, Renault S.A. filed for a graphic trademark for its new icons after January 2021 in many countries, including China, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Brazil, and Russia. In China, Renault S.A. applied for a patent for its new logo in June 2021 and used it in multiple public situations, such as official websites and auto shows.

Renault icons; photo credit: HiPhi



HiPhi believes that the new Renault icon resembles the HiPhi icon, especially in its revolving part design and appearance under different angles. The said matter brought uncertainty to HiPhis brand development and ongoing European business expansion plans.

After failing to resolve the matter by sending a lawyers letter to Renault S.A. , Human Horizons has filed for and received a Temporary Restraining Order from the judiciary of Germany against Renault Deutschland AG in October 2021. The latter was asked to put the icon usage on hold in Germany for now.

Human Horizons disclosed that the two parties are currently in routine court hearings, trademark disputes, and revocation processes. The company will make relavant court results public in due time.

Notably, Human Horizons emphasized that the statement is an explanation to its users and investors who are concerned with the issue. The statement does not insinuate blame and infringement.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese automaker Geely Auto and battery maker Sunwoda on Jan. 19 broke ground on the power battery manufacturing base under the operation of their joint venture, according to a post on Sunwoda's WeChat account, marking a further deployment of Geely's EV battery business.



Ground-breaking ceremony for Geely-Sunwoda battery base; photo credit: Sunwoda



The joint venture, dubbed Shandong Geely Sunwoda Power Battery Co.,Ltd. (Geely Sunwoda), was incorporated in Sept. 2021 in Zaozhuang, Shandong province. Involving a registered capital of 100 million yuan ($15.75 million), Geely Sunwoda is jointly held by Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery Co., Ltd. (30%), Geely Auto Group (28.5%), and Jirun Automobile (41.5%), an indirect 99% owned subsidiary of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited, according to the corporate database Tianyancha.

The registration of Geely Sunwoda came after the three parent companies signed an agreement in last July to build a joint venture engaging in the development, production, and sales of power battery cells, battery modules and battery packs for HEVs.

The products of the joint venture will be used by Geely Auto to develop its proprietary second-generation HEV system, which is compatible with multiple models of Geely.

Covering an area of around 451mu ($300,700 square meters), the Zaozhuang-based power battery base is expected to offer over 2,000 jobs after starting operation.

According to Ye Zhilin, the assistant to president of Sunwoda, the installation and debugging of manufacturing facilities will start at the battery plant in Sept. and products are likely to come off the production line at the end of this year.
NEW YORK  CockyBoys on Thursday announced the return of one of the most popular performers in gay adult film, CockyBoy Sean Ford, who performed in a new scene titled "Under The Neon Sky" featuring CockyBoys rising star Leo Luis.

"Under The Neon Sky" was directed by CockyBoys director Raphael Massicotte and produced by Jake Jaxson.

Join Leo & Sean on a multi-hued date in after-hours Montreal that includes making out in a club, sexy goings-on in the men's room, a fast-food break, getting very flirty on the subway, and driving back to Leo's place where they engage in passionate making out on Leo's bed.

Eventually, Leo gets his hands on Sean, and what takes place is one of the "most authentic studio scenes ever released," the company said. Sean takes Leo in various compromising positions with ease. Watching these two in action will give viewers the sense they are watching two young men hooking up at home after a night out with "no pretense, no set ups, just unbridled chemistry, and lots of cum," the studio said.

CockyBoys owner and director Jake Jaxson says of the new release, "Sean Ford and Leo Luis are stars, and they prove it with this performance. It's great to see Sean back in front of the CockyBoys cameras and he couldn't of been paired with anyone better than Leo!

"They shine bright in this new scene directed by the uber talented Raphael Massicotte, whose work I love. I especially love how he is able to get a playful sexual energy from Sean and Leo, and that kind of authentic interaction between performer and director comes from a unique kind of trust, that in my mind, is when the collaboration leads to a special kind of pornograpic-sweet-spot, and I believe they all three hit that spot. I very much look forward to seeing what Raphael will do next, and I look forward to continuing to support his work."

Check out "Under The Neon Sky" now playing only on CockyBoys.com.
A former U.S. Airman was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the 2020 kidnapping and killing of Sasha Krause.

A jury found Mark Gooch, 22, guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping in October.

Coconino County Superior Court Judge Cathleen Brown Nichols described it as one of the most senseless cases shes ever handled.

Both Krause and Gooch grew up as part of the Mennonite faith before Gooch left to join the U.S. Air Force at 18. Prosecutors argued that Gooch's disdain for the religion drove him to kill Krause.

Theres no indication Krause knew her killer before he kidnapped her while gathering supplies at the Farmington church for the next day's Sunday school. Her body was found in the Sunset Volcano Crater National Monument area outside of Flagstaff a month later. Her hands were bound by duct tape and a bullet fired into the back of her skull.

Investigators ultimately used cell phone and financial records to tie Gooch to the murder. His attorney, Bruce Griffen, called the evidence circumstantial and said Gooch maintains his innocence.

A 'calloused' killing

Griffen and Goochs family urged Brown Nichols to consider a lesser sentence of life where he could be eligible for parole after 25 years. But prosecutor Ammon Barker argued that Goochs actions were calloused and ensuring he would die in prison was the only way to keep the community safe.

Brown Nichols sided with Barker and was perplexed by the lack of motive.

Even if he knew the person, it wouldn't be justified, Brown Nichols said. But the fact that he didn't even know her was so very senseless and mindboggling. To wrap your head around what occurred in this case -- it just makes no sense why one human being would do this to another human being.

Brown Nichols also sentenced Gooch to an additional five years in prison for kidnapping to be served consecutively, as well as six more months in the Coconino County jail for a misdemeanor charge of theft related to Krause's belongings. He will receive credit for the 636 days hes been in custody.

Now, instead of honorably serving his nation, he is going to serve a humiliating life term in prison, Coconino County Attorney William Ring said in a statement. The victim's faith was important to her, so as guided by Proverbs, we all do right by caring that justice gets done for the vulnerable ones.

Gooch spoke briefly during Wednesdays sentencing to offered his condolences to Krauses family. He also thanked his own family for their love and support during this difficult situation.

He showed no emotion as the judge handed him a life sentence and appeared to look toward his parents in the courtroom gallery as sheriffs deputies escorted him out.

Goochs parents, Jim and Anita, declined to comment after the sentencing, saying only that they are praying for the Krause family.

A shared faith

More than a dozen friends and family members of Krause packed into the courtroom with many clad in traditional Mennonite garb and bonnets. Goochs parents sat on the other side of the courtroom behind their son. They too wore traditional Mennonite clothing.

Multiple people remarked on the civility and respect shown by both families during the trial and subsequent proceedings. Gooch and Krauses families spoke during the trial, Griffen said. He ascribed it to their shared beliefs.

Krauses parents did not attend the sentencing in person. A victim-witness representative read a letter from her mother, Laura. She remembered her daughter as conscientious, determined and a good sister who found comfort in God and in writing poetry. At 26, Krause moved to Farmington to work for Lamp & Light Publishers and taught English, Spanish and French. It was the work she was made for, her mother said.

Then, her daughter was kidnapped and murdered. She confessed in her letter that she doesnt understand why and likely never will, but she knew it had to be part of Gods plan.

God will use her death in his glory and Im convinced he has an eternal purpose for Sasha that we can only guess from here on out, she wrote.

James Gooch, the defendants father, said he hopes his son can one day be a contributing member to society again as he advocated for the more lenient sentence during a brief statement. Griffen and numerous letters submitted to the court by family and friends on Goochs behalf pointed to his lack of criminal history, strong family support and his young age. They described the murder as out of character for Gooch and both parents detailed in separate letters how their son has found his way back to religion while in custody.

But Barker questioned what hope Krause had as Gooch drove her hours away to another state in the dark of night. Did she wonder if she would get out of this situation or ever see her family again? Gooch forfeited his right to hope when he killed Krause, Barker said. He questioned if investigators with the Coconino County Sheriffs Office captured a serial killer at the beginning of his career when they apprehended Gooch.

Records presented during the trial show Gooch left his station at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix and drive to Farmington. Gooch admitted to taking the trip but said it was in search of the fellowship of Mennonites. Records show he tried to cover his tracks by having his car detailed, clearing the location history from his phone and asking a friend to hold a .22-caliber gun.

Barker argued that the seemingly random killing was motivated by Goochs disdain for the Mennonite faith, pointing to a text exchange with his two brothers.

Griffen said there was not enough evidence to support that. No one knows how much of a role the Mennonite faith had in the case, he added.

I call it the unanswered question, he said. I just still think it is a disconnect and I dont think anybody understands it at this point.

Reporter Bree Burkitt can be reached at 928-556-2250 or bburkitt@azdailysun.com.

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Nebraska reported nearly 5,000 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest daily count of the pandemic.

Jolted by the Omicron wave, schools across the area have struggled with staffing shortages, but they arent alone. Beatrice Community Hospital is also seeing a notable increase in staff absences, according to Diane Vicars, senior marketing and communications executive.

Right now, BCH COVID hospitalization rates are still lower than its previous peak in late 2020, Vicars said.

Our bigger concern is, like with the schools, the number of staffing that is testing positive for COVID, Vicars said. Currently based on BCH testing, were at a 37.4% positivity rate. Thats not necessarily what the state would have or what Public Health Solutions would have, but based on BCH testing, and were only a fraction of that testing anymore, were at a 37.4% positivity rating It really is day by day.

Though the staffing crunch strains hospital resources, Vicars said she is confident the hospital will keep caring for all its patients.

We will be as creative as we have to be to maintain care, she said.

Lisa Wiegand, Gage County emergency manager, said that strain could be exacerbated in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Theyre maintain their day to day activities with all their COVID response, but you add in that disaster or that unfortunate situation and how does that play into it, Wiegand said.

According to data from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, 54% of Gage County residents have been fully vaccinated. Wiegand said she encourages social distancing and masking alongside getting the vaccine.

Ive never told people that they had to get vaccinated, but I think people need to look at the statistics right now for those individuals who are vaccinated and non-vaccinated, she said. Theres enough statistics there that prove that those individuals who have been vaccinated are not showing the severity if they do contract COVID compared to those individuals who havent been vaccinated.

Mayor Stan Wirth said he and the Beatrice Board of Health are concerned about the COVID surge.

"I don't know if it is at a level, however, that we go any further than continuing education," Wirth said. "And the general public really knows what is expected of them as far as any CDC guidelines of how to protect themselves."

Wirth said he and members of the Board of Health haven't ruled out the possibility of taking additional steps, including a mask mandate, but right now, they're waiting for data and recommendations from Public Health Solutions and BCH.

BCH tightened its visitation and masking policy in the past week. It also took steps to limit COVID testing to only those who show symptoms.

In our efforts to continue to care for and reserve supplies for sick individuals, we are suspending all Covid-19 testing for individuals without symptoms in our family practice clinics and our express care clinic, a statement from the hospital said. This includes testing for travel, return to work and other general Covid-19 testing for individuals without symptoms.

Vicars said this move stemmed from concerns over supply chain issues.

Clabaugh Pharmacy is still offering tests to asymptomatic carriers or those testing for travel and work, according to owner Nate Clabaugh.

Were still testing everyone, Clabaugh said. ...Thats a fluid situation right now. Demand is continuing to rise We are still continuing that testing as long as we have the supplies to do it.

Clabaugh said the pharmacy carries at home tests, though he recommends using the drive-through to limit exposure when picking them up.

Following plans to distribute 1 billion rapid tests in the coming months, the Biden Administration launched the website Covidtests.gov, where you can order free at-home COVID tests.

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HOBBS, N.M. (AP)  An 18-year-old New Mexico woman is facing charges after police say she abandoned her newborn baby in a dumpster.

A group of people was looking through a dumpster for anything of value Friday in Hobbs, near the Texas border, when they heard what they thought was a dog or kitten, Hobbs Police Chief August Fons said during a news conference Monday. They moved a trash bag and found a baby inside, wrapped in a dirty blanket with its umbilical cord still attached.

They immediately called authorities and tried to keep the boy warm until police and paramedics arrived. Authorities estimated the child had been in the dumpster for about six hours before he was discovered.

"Their collective quick response to this emergency, including notification of 911, was absolutely pivotal in saving this baby's life," Fons said.

Officers administered aid before paramedics took the child to the hospital. The baby has since been transferred to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, and is in stable condition.

Investigators used surveillance video to identify a car suspected of being involved. That led them to Alexis Avila, of Hobbs, who admitted to giving birth at another location and then leaving the baby in a dumpster.

Fons said during the interview with detectives, Avila said she was not aware that she was pregnant until Jan. 6 when she sought medical attention for abdominal pain. She told detectives that she was experiencing stomach pain the next day and unexpectedly gave birth.

"She further explained that she panicked and did not know what to do or or who to call," Fons said.

According to court documents, Avila told authorities she started driving around until she decided to place the baby inside a dumpster near a shopping area.

Search warrants for Avila's car and her family's home turned up blood evidence, clothing and a towel.

She was booked on a charge of attempted first-degree murder or in the alternative felony child abuse. Prosecutors said the charge will be determined during an upcoming preliminary hearing.

Ibukun Adepoju, a public defender who is representing Avila, said in a statement that her client is "barely 18 herself."

"Whatever happened is already a tragedy for her family and the community," Adepoju said. "As humans, we should practice compassion as we wait for the justice system to work."

Like other states, New Mexico has a safe haven law, which allows parents to leave a baby younger than 90 days at a safe location without criminal consequences. The laws began to pass in state legislatures around the nation in the early 2000s in response to reports of gruesome baby killings and abandonments, which received copious media attention.

Hobbs authorities reiterated that police and fire stations are among the places that are considered safe havens under the law and encouraged anyone in a similar situation to reach out for help.

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Yellowstone County Commissioners have formally called for companies wishing to take over management at MetraPark to submit their qualifications, the next step in the county's exploration of privatizing management there.

The 2-1 vote followed a 2-hour public hearing in a meeting that drew nearly 100 people on Tuesday morning. County residents who spoke voiced their concerns, posed their questions, stated their opposition and expressed their support for privatizing management at the county's events complex.

Commissioners Don Jones and Denis Pitman voted to move forward with the request for qualifications with Commissioner John Ostlund opposing. The 2-1 split on the commission has largely been a dispute over process.

Jones and Pitman have argued the best information for making the decision will come from the proposals returned in the request for qualifications and from an independent study of current management at MetraPark.

"I have not made up my mind," Jones told those gathered at the meeting. "I'm set to keep this wheel moving."

Ostlund has argued the county needs a third party to come in and study the benefits and drawbacks of both privatization and public management. That third party study would then offer recommendations to the commissioners on which direction would be the best fit for Metra.

"That should come long before the RFP," Ostlund said, referring to the next step in the process that would bring in bids for management services. "We've had the cart before the horse in this entire process."

Both Pitman and Jones shot down the idea, arguing that drawing out the process further would only create more dissension and keep Metra employees in limbo as they waited to learn about their future.

Jones has also said that it's the commissioners' responsibility to make the management decision, that it's not a decision to be laid on a third party.

However, much of the public comment at Tuesday's meeting was a call for commissioners to slow down the process and bring in a third party that wasn't invested in the outcome of the management debate.

"Yes, you're going to make the final decision," Leslie Glen told the commissioners. "But there needs to be a comparison and we want to see."

Glen and her husband Bryce own Rocky Mountain Compost, which has long provided mulch and other materials for ag events at the Metra.

"My worry is the process, the lack of transparency," she said.

Most comments reflected concerns that dealt more with the process of investigating privatization than privatization itself. Still, a handful in the room expressed their desire to see the county go ahead and move toward privatizing.

Shelli Mann, general manager of Boothill Inn & Suites, which sits across the street from Metra, told commissioners if the events complex was going to be competitive in the future it needed to improve its operations.

"It's not how well we've done," she said. "It's how much better can we do."

She urged commissioners to move forward. That sentiment was echoed by George Maragos, who manages the Northern Hotel downtown.

"Privatization works," he said.

Dave Kelsey, who serves on the board for the Northern International Livestock Exposition (NILE) and Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, told commissioners the way the management debate has played out so far has hurt their credibility.

He then told them to bring in a third party, saying that while the commissioners might be qualified in many areas, they aren't experts on event center operations.

"You need to get as much (information) as you can," he told them.

So far, the only group to court Yellowstone County is Oak View Group, a venue management and event programming company based in Los Angeles. OVG was in town last week meeting with organizations that regularly use facilities at MetraPark  like the Chase Hawks rodeo folks and the NILE  and pitching them on the idea of OVG managing the facilities.

Last year, the county signed a five-year contract with OVG to book shows for MetraPark, something which has also become a point of contention. OVG, only months into the contract, Jones noted, has yet to book any shows for Metra.

Through an acquisition, OVG became the management company for the two facilities Jones explored last fall in Casper, Wyoming, and Nampa, Idaho, when he was investigating the merits of privatization. Jones pointed out that the company that managed the two facilities at the time of his visit had not yet been purchased by OVG.

Still, the fact that OVG is essentially the only company that the county has dealt with when it comes to privatization has left many watching the process uncomfortable, Kelsey said.

"That doesn't look right," he told the commissioners.

Jones proposed the exploration of privatizing management at MetraPark at a commissioners meeting in November, a move that caught many in the community off guard.

In the months since, Jones has been the target of a recall effort and both he and Pitman have been accused of working behind closed doors to arrange the deal on privatization, accusations both strenuously deny.

Rick Hamilton, interim general manager and the in-coming president of the NILE told commissioners that the size of the group at Tuesday's meeting and the tenor of many of the comments spoke to the biggest issue.

"That tells me there's a transparency issue and a trust issue," he said.

The NILE is one of Metra's largest users and has held events there for five decades. He expressed frustration that neither the county nor Metra representatives has reached out to the NILE to seek feedback on what the organization might need or want to see in a newly designed MetraPark.

The county is currently two years into a master plan process meant to reimagine Metra for the next half century.

"We've been left out of the whole conversation," Hamilton said.

Jim Reno, a past county commissioner, attended the meeting and stressed the importance of MetraPark serving the community as a public facility.

He expressed concern that a private management group would squeeze out the community-use and public-service nature of MetraPark, noting that he had arrived to Tuesday's meeting after driving through the Metra parking lot to pick up free at-home COVID test being supplied by RiverStone Health, the county's public health administrator.

"I don't think Metra made any money," he quipped.

Jones said many of the details regarding how operations would work under private management would be worked out in contract negotiations with whichever group bid to take on running MetraPark.

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Although it uses the words paradigm shift 13 times, the U.S. Forest Services new wildfire crisis strategy appears stuck on old tactics, according to area fire experts.

I saw no new strategy but rather a potential increase in the same fire control strategy of fuel treatment to enhance fire control, retired Forest Service fire scientist Jack Cohen said after reviewing the documents released on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans to spend upward of $50 billion to fight catastrophic wildfire. The strategy focuses on firesheds  forest landscapes of about 250,000 acres that are likely to burn and have lots of homes and infrastructure at risk.

Those firesheds would get intensive work to return 35-45% of their acreage to fire-adapted conditions through hazardous fuels removal, logging and prescribed fires.

The plan identifies five firesheds in Montana, including four along the Idaho border in the Lolo, Bitterroot and Nez-Perce/Clearwater national forests, and one in the Flathead National Forest surrounding Kalispell.

The strategy calls for treating up to 20 million acres of national forest lands and up to 30 million acres of other federal, tribal, state and private lands over the next 10 years. Nationwide, the strategy will create 300,000 to 575,000 jobs, protect property values, and stimulate local economies.

That represents a tempo of work four times greater than current activity in the West, the report claims.

It should also bring down the Forest Services annual firefighting costs, which averaged $1.9 billion a year between 2016 and 2020.

The report notes that wildfires in 2020, 2017 and 2015 burned a total of more than 10 million acres. The National Interagency Fire Center has stopped labeling fires larger than 100,000 acres as exceptional events, because they have become so common.

Missoula is home to the Forest Services Fire Sciences Lab as well as an extensive community of academic and professional forestry and fire experts. It started developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan in 2005, and updated it in 2018.

The use of tired, old, ill-defined language such as hazardous fuels does little to describe what the fuels (i.e., wildland vegetation) is hazardous to, said Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, who helped revise the latest version of the plan. We seem to have learned nothing from recent fires that have resulted in community destruction, such as Denton, Montana. This was a grass fire, and there were no forests to thin or otherwise eliminate the risk of crown fire from.

The West Wind fire on Nov. 30 destroyed 25 homes and six commercial buildings in Denton, including the towns granary. The Marshall fire on Dec. 30 burned almost 1,100 houses with an estimated $513 million in total damage. It was primarily a grass fire pushed by 110 mph winds.

And despite 11 of the reports 23 photo illustrations depicting burned houses or fire-threatened neighborhoods, Strohmaier couldnt find the words home ignition zone anywhere in the document.

Community destruction is (a home ignition zone), not a fire control problem, Strohmaier said. Throwing more money at treatments that wont get the expected outcomes does no one any good and sets up false expectations as to what will truly reduce the risk of community destruction and improve ecological and community resilience.

Cohen found no evidence that the writers considered best available science, which shows that wildland-urban disasters are mainly a factor of how houses catch fire, not forest management, he said.

He cited extensive research explaining how community wildfire destruction (incidents where more than 100 homes get destroyed) happens when fires overrun the fuel breaks and forest treatments intended to control them. But its not the big flames of high intensity wildfires (that) cause total home destruction, but rather lofted burning embers (firebrands) on the home and low intensity surface fire spreading to contact the home that did the damage, often hours after the main fire had subsided or moved elsewhere.

At the same time, Cohen noted that the fireshed approach appears headed in two contradictory directions. On one hand, it acknowledges the need for large-scale burning to improve forest health and ecology. But it doesnt acknowledge the Forest Services inherent management aversion to fires burning at landscape scales that cannot be under tight control.

The press release and full document are just more of the same management that enables continuation of the wildfire problem, Cohen concluded.

The Wildfire Today blog reviewed the strategy with an eye for its funding. It noted that the Forest Service called for an additional $2 billion a year to get ahead of its hazardous fuels backlog.

The growth of the climate crisis, which has contributed to the 'wildfire crisis,' appears to be exceeding the estimates of scientists, Wildfire Today moderator Bill Gabbert wrote on Tuesday. Changes are occurring even more quickly than previously expected. So low-balling the funding for protecting our homeland will mean we will fall even further behind in treating fuels and attempting to keep fires from wiping out more communities.

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Faced with the possibility of federal judges redrawing Montana political districts, state legislators on Tuesday again passed on bringing the five regions of the Montana Public Service Commission into constitutional compliance before the 2022 election.

Lawmakers on the Energy Telecommunications Interim Committee were cautioned before voting that federal courts dont seem content to wait for the 2023 Legislature to correct PSC districts that have gone unchanged for 19 years and now violate the one-person, one-vote principle of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Also Tuesday, judges denied Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen's motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by voters. The defense team for the state's top election official had argued the case was premature and voters should have waited until the 2023 Legislature met. The order was one more indication that if the Legislature didn't redraw the districts in time for the 2022 election, the court was likely to.

The gist of one-person, one vote, is that every voter has the right to have their vote counted with the same weight as any other voter. Thats not the case in Montanas PSC districts where voters in the least populated of the five districts receive the same amount of representation on matters like electric and gas bills as voters in the most populated district, despite having 53,000 fewer voters.

In a court order Jan 13, a panel of U.S. District Judges concluded that voters were likely already being harmed by the Legislatures inaction on redistricting. And the court concluded that lawmakers had the power to call a special session and bring the districts into constitutional compliance before the 2022 election. That order came just hours after the Legislative Council briefed lawmakers on the matter Jan. 13. And those lawmakers settled on taking up the issue a year from now and never brought up the possibility of a special session to fix the districts this spring.

The Legislature is not precluded from acting in advance of the 2024 elections  or even the 2022 elections of if a special session is called, the court concluded. The Legislature may be convened in special session by the governor or at the written request of a majority of the members."

Sen. Mary McNall, ETIC chairwoman, said the court has promised a decision by March 4. The Billings Democrat preferred to wait.

The filing deadline for candidates is March 14. The primary election is June 7. Currently, no one can file to run for PSC because of a court order.

Only one lawmaker at the ETIC meeting Tuesday was ready to put the districts to a redraw this year. Rep. Derek Skees put the idea forward as the committee debated whether it has the power to redraw the districts without getting the full body of 150 state lawmakers involved. The committee doesnt.

I'm challenging everybody in the Legislature. We need to have a special session. We need to have a meeting and decide this for the legislature. We need to have a special session, Rep. Derek Skees, of Kalispell, told the committee. I wish that it could have been solved by you folks, and then offered as a suggestion for a piece of legislation for the next cycle. But unfortunately, the judges in Montana don't want to have us in that timeframe.

Skees also intends to run in 2022 for Public Service Commission District 5, which includes Helena and Kalispell. PSC District 2, which runs along the Hi-line from Shelby to Sidney, is also on the ballot. Secretary of State Jacobsen is prevented by court order from registering PSC candidates until the redistricting matter is resolved.

I would like to see the courts not handle this and I dont want to see a special session either, said Sen. Terry Gauthier, of Helena. I'd like to see this whole thing go right straight to the legislative body in January 2023. And let the people earn their paychecks and do the job that needs to be done with open committee debate on the floors and have all the public comment.

Its the secretary of state who will get the chance to continue arguing for the districts to remain out of balance for the 2022 elections and redrawn in 2023. As the states top election official, she was sued in December by three voters seeking to have the districts brought into constitutional compliance for the 2022 elections. Jacobsen recognizes the districts are unconstitutional the way they are currently drawn, but her legal argument is that the Legislature deserves a chance in regular session to correct the districts before the courts get involved.

The voters are Bob Brown, a former Montana Republican secretary of state, Hailey Sinoff and Donald Seifert of Gallatin County. If the Legislature wont redraw the districts for the 2022 election, the voters argue that a three-judge panel should. It wouldnt be the first time the federal courts intervened and redrew Montana political maps because the Legislature wouldnt. The court redrew Montanas U.S. House districts after the Legislature failed to do so following the 1960 U.S. Census.

The justices in this case have already indicated theres no reason to assume the Legislature would redraw the districts in 2023, given that the districts werent redrawn after the 2010 Census and that several attempts to do so over the last decade were rejected by lawmakers.

The justices are U.S. District Judge Don Molloy, of Missoula, District Judge Brian Morris, of Great Falls, and Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford, of Pasadena, California.

The districts have only been redrawn once in nearly 50 years, the voters argue.

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. 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.

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.

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RTHK: UK MP accuses government of 'blackmailing' rebels

A senior Conservative lawmaker accused the British government on Thursday of intimidating and attempting to "blackmail" those lawmakers they suspect of wanting to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson out of power.

Johnson is facing growing calls to step down over a series of scandals, including admitting he had attended a party at his Downing Street office at a time when Britain was under a strict Covid-19 lockdown.

Some younger Conservative lawmakers have spearheaded attempts to unseat their leader and opposition leaders have demanded he resign. The heat was turned up in parliament on Wednesday when one of the party's longest-serving representatives told the prime minister in parliament "In the name of God, go."

Johnson, 57, has vowed to fight on, saying he would lead the Conservative Party into the next election. He won a large majority in 2019.

But in another blow to his shaky standing, William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, accused the government of blackmail.

"In recent days, a number of members of parliament have faced pressures and intimidation from members of the government because of their declared or assumed desire for a vote of confidence in the party leadership of the prime minister," Wragg said in a statement before a meeting of the committee.

"Moreover, the reports of which I'm aware, would seem to constitute blackmail."

Colleagues should report these to the speaker of the House of Commons and the police, he said.

In response, Johnson told broadcasters he had "seen no evidence, heard no evidence to support any of those allegations", echoing an earlier statement from his office which said if there was evidence, the allegations would be looked at.

Christian Wakeford, a lawmaker who defected from the Conservatives to Labour this week, said the government had threatened to withhold funding for a new school in part of his constituency if he refused to vote with the government.

"I was threatened that I would not get the school for Radcliffe if I didn't vote in one particular way," Wakeford told the BBC.

This had made him question whether he was in the right party, he said.

"This is a town that has not had a high school for the best part of 10 years and how do you feel when holding back the regeneration of a town for a vote, it didn't sit comfortably."

Another lawmaker criticised the way some colleagues had been treated after the failed rebellion, saying on condition of anonymity some of the briefing had crossed a line.

Anger is running high, but so far the threshold for a confidence vote in Johnson has yet to be breached, with several Conservative lawmakers saying they would wait until an investigation into the parties had been completed.

That probe is being led by Sue Gray, a civil servant. The political editor for ITV said on Twitter that Gray had found an email from a senior official warning Johnson's principal private secretary that a party on May 20, 2020, should not go ahead.

Johnson has said he attended what he thought was a work event on that day, to which staff had been told to "bring their own booze". Johnson said on Tuesday nobody had told him the gathering was against Covid rules.

Wragg referred to the work of government whips, parliamentary enforcers whose job is to ensure Conservative lawmakers back government policy and stay in line.

"It is of course the duty of the government whips office to secure the government's business in the House of Commons (lower house of parliament)," he said.

"However it is not their function to breach the ministerial code in threatening to withdraw investments from members of parliament's constituencies which are funded from the public purse." (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
As union negotiations labor on, Montana Department of Corrections officials on Wednesday gave lawmakers some hard numbers to demonstrate the staffing shortage at Montana State Prison outside Deer Lodge.

The Montana State Prison sees 23% of its staff turnover each year, adding up training costs for new officers to $1.4 million, according to figures provided by the department to the Law and Justice Interim Committee Wednesday. Department director Brian Gootkin told the committee 59 of the 328 correctional officer positions are vacant, and those shortages often mean cutting gym or yard time for inmates when staff can't step away from mandatory posts.

"We are never fully staffed in a shift," Montana State Prison Warden Jim Salmonsen said.

Pay is at the center of the staff shortage in Deer Lodge, corrections officials said Wednesday. Officers who make $16.46 an hour continue to leave the prison for better pay at local jails, where they can bring in $20 an hour or more, Salmonsen said. Lawmakers were stingy in setting up the department's biennial budget during the 2021 session, in part due to the past administration's failure to implement measures previously ordered by the Legislature. Gootkin was appointed by Gov. Greg Gianforte to take over the department a year ago, when staffing was already thin.

In August, the prison's employee unions voted 60-0 to engage in concerted activity, a step toward a potential strike, although no such action has occurred. The staff shortage has put a spotlight on safety risks for both employees and inmates.

At Wednesday's meeting, the department's presentation included a photo of a sergeant who had been assaulted by an inmate just a day earlier.

"Because we did not have adequate staffing she was by herself," Gootkin said. "The offender knew that and took advantage of it."

Aaron Meaders, president of the Federation of Montana State Prison Employees Local 4700 testified Wednesday more could have been done to prevent the attack on the sergeant a day earlier. He said the working conditions at the state prison are well known outside of Deer Lodge, further hampering applications.

As union president, Meaders, too, talks to employees about why they leave the job.

"It was because they didn't feel safe to come to work," he said.

Committee chair John Esp, a Republican from Big Timber, pressed Gootkin about the possibility of augmenting the staff with the National Guard. That remains a backup measure in case the unions go on strike, Gootkin said, but is not an ideal arrangement for the prison.

"We're such a unique operation that it is very basic things they could help us with," Gootkin said. "It can't be the security part of it."

Esp also asked Gootkin if he has the financial flexibility to extend more pay to the employees; the budget is fixed until the Legislature returns in January 2023. Gootkin said the department needs the Legislature's help next year, but said he is hoping to work out some additional pay with the state budget office in the meantime.

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A California man has been sentenced to nine months in jail and fined more than $2,900 following a drunken spree at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel in Yellowstone National Park last fall, ending with an attack on law enforcement officers.

Benjamin J. Bagala, 27, of Santa Rosa, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman on Wednesday and was sentenced for three counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees and one count of depredation against property of the United States, according to a Department of Justice press release. Bagala made his appearance in the Wyoming courtroom via Zoom.

According to the DOJ release, on Sept. 25, 2021 Bagala was drinking heavily and harassed guests at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, ran through the halls causing damage and approached a security guard with threatening behavior.

When a park law enforcement officer arrived the incident escalated and Bagala attacked the ranger who deployed his taser.

Bagala was extremely intoxicated and displayed injuries from earlier activities, so an ambulance was called, according to DOJ. As Bagala was being transported to the hospital in Livingston he broke out of his restraints and fought with an officer who was in the back of the ambulance. The other officer, driving the ambulance, had to pull over and assist. During this time, both officers received injuries from Bagalas actions.

Bagala was given credit for four days he already served and must surrender on or before March 4, 2022, to complete his jail sentence. He also received one year supervised release with special conditions that include a ban from Yellowstone National Park; he cannot possess alcohol or enter any drinking establishment, and will continue with alcohol treatment. Bagala was ordered to pay $2,865 in restitution and a $100 special assessment.

Damages at the hotel included broken plexiglass shields, broken plates, broken doors and frames, damaged light fixtures, and blood splattered throughout the halls and lobby.

The crime was investigated by the National Park Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Hambrick.

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Montanas top state office holders have approved a new route for a natural gas pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River over the protests of Laurel landowners.

Gov. Greg Gianforte, Auditor Troy Downing, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, voted this week to approve the new route beneath the river. Land beneath riverbeds in Montana is state property and easements require approval of the State Land Board, comprised of the top five state government officeholders. The fifth member, Attorney General Austin Knudsen didnt attend. All of Montanas statewide elected officials are Republican.

The pipeline is crucial to the supply of a proposed 175-megawatt gas-fired power plant proposed by NorthWestern Energy, which has run into several permitting problems for the power plant and gas line, and resistance from some Laurel neighbors who traveled to Helena to voice concerns about the pipeline, which is to be located about a half-mile downstream from CHS refinery. Each resident was allowed one minute to speak.

We have information from a pipeline engineer that says that current design that they're proposing is not safe, resident Steve Krum said of NorthWestern Energy.

Look at the data. This is the worst place on the river to put this. This is not were it belongs. Please, please hold off on your vote until at least the county has a chance to look at this as well and youve had a chance to look at the information," he said.

There are several pipelines crossing beneath the Yellowstone River south of Laurel. In 2011, an Exxon pipeline assumed to be safely buried beneath the river burst after being exposed by high-water river scouring. NorthWestern indicates its pipeline will be 50 feet beneath the riverbed.

The governor said the details of the project werent relevant to the pipeline and easement, which was all the Land Board was doing. The board had originally approved the easement months ago when NorthWestern planned to bore beneath Laurels Riverside Park crossing the river about 1,000 feet upstream from the new site.

The only comments that are germane to this discussion today though, are related to the easement in addition to the testimony that was heard today, both for and against, Gianforte said Tuesday. I want the record to show we also have a letter of support from the Billings Chamber of Commerce, Local 82, the local legislator who represents the citizens there, Sue Vinton, and the Montana Petroleum Association, Local 459 plumbers and pipefitters, as well as others.

The Laurel City Council voiced concerns after hearing from neighbors opposed to the locating the pipeline beneath the park, which is why the pipeline route changed. After the pipeline was relocated, neighbors along the new route werent notified by county officials as required, which prompted a district judge to order the permit revoked and construction suspended.

NorthWestern attorney Shannon Heim told the Land Board the concerns raised by Laurel neighbors were best suited for Yellowstone County when it takes up the floodplain permit for the pipeline in coming weeks.

Northwestern does have substantive responses to all of the issues raised today, both in the written comments and before you, Heim said. They are better and more appropriately addressed to the county as they deal with a floodplain permit and we will deal with those there.

The written testimony referred to was a report from a pipeline engineer for Accufacts Inc. The report outlined several concerns about the 8-inch natural gas pipeline planned by NorthWestern. Specifically, the report questioned whether enough details had been provided to show the pipeline was suitable for high-pressure natural gas transmission. There was a possibility of corrosion if the 8-inch line contacted the inside of a 12-inch pipe intended as a sleeve, or carrier, for the line traveling beneath the river.

The carrier pipe intent is the most dangerous of safety approaches because it creates the illusion of a safety that significantly increases the likelihood and consequences of a gas pipeline failure, reported engineer Richard Kuprewicz. He also questioned the safety of 90-degree bends in the existing pipeline.

NorthWestern is repurposing an oil pipeline that runs from Wyoming to Laurel. The plan is to convert the pipe for high-pressure natural gas delivery.

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The MetraPark Advisory Board, appointed by the Yellowstone County Commissioners, is tasked with providing recommendations and citizen guidance on the operations and vision of MetraPark. In our role, we have been working very closely with the MetraPark staff, County Commissioners and supporters of MetraPark to create an updated long range master plan.

Our work started on a high note at a community leaders' event last April, hosting meetings with business leaders and nearly 50 community master plan presentations. But moving forward on the master plan has come to a disappointing standstill due to the controversy that has developed over the most effective way to manage MetraPark.

We owe you an explanation.

MetraPark is unsurpassed in importance to the Yellowstone Valley, both economically and culturally. The MetraPark annual economic impact to the community of $151 million is fundamental to the economic engine our community thrives on year after year. Local supporters of MetraPark backed the master plan and contributed hard-earned dollars to ensure MetraPark would continue to be the premier event center in Montana for the next 50 years.

The MetraPark Advisory Board asked for those contributions in good faith, then worked diligently to make sure those contributions were put to good use in planning the right vision for our community. The Advisory Board has volunteered more than two years of their time to this process and is unwavering in its conviction that it is the right investment for Yellowstone County at the right time.

Much like bricks and mortar, research and analysis of the management of MetraPark is and always has been fundamental to the future development of MetraPark. The management of MetraPark needs to be an integral part of the master plan process; deliberative, exhaustive, and transparent so the outcome will be trusted by MetraPark supporters and citizenry of Yellowstone County.

MetraPark Advisory Boards objective is not to lobby for public or private management, rather, simply for a proper process in which our taxpayers and supporters can have faith. Unanimously, the undersigned members of the MetraPark Advisory Board believe the MetraPark master plan process can reignite with the renewed support of the communitys vision that will be the most impactful community investment we make in our lifetimes and for our future generations.

MetraPark Advisory Board

Charlie Loveridge, president

Dave Williams, vice president

Steve Hurd

Rick Reid

Darell Tunnicliff

Steve Solberg

Lyle Hill

Jessica Flint

Mike Mayotte

Pam Ask

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Finding the words Was it worth it? etched on a desert rock forces an odd perspective on effort.

Doug Peacock, whos spent a life pursuing wild, odd and frequently dangerous goals, came across that phrase twice while rambling around the mountains of Arizona. In his latest book, the advocate for grizzly bears and threatened landscapes uses it to sum up his experience. Subtitled A Wilderness Warriors Long Trail Home, the volume compiles adventures his questing ambition has opened for him, from memorials to mentors to encounters with desert jaguars and island tortoises.

While best known for books and films advocating for grizzly bear preservation, Peacock has also defended protection of wild places and ways of life. With new efforts by the governors of Montana and Wyoming to delist the grizzly and open trophy hunting seasons, he has reason to wonder about his progress.

"I've questioned whether I've been shouting into the wind," Peacock said in an interview. "I've rolled this boulder up this mountain for so long, hammered at this rock for so long, I might ask, 'Was it worth it?'''

But his answer also comes from the grizzlies he's fought for.

"I've chosen to champion grizzlies and wild habitat because it's the same habitat that humans need," Peacock said. "Grizzly bears' and humans' fate have always been mingled. Once a species loses its habitat, it goes extinct. And that habitat, where grizzlies live and where humans live, is exactly the same habitat."

"Was It Worth It?" explores not just the country currently occupied by grizzlies, but that of arctic whales, tropical fish, Siberian tigers and desert sheep. Along the way, readers meet the wide circle of friends whove influenced Peacocks writings, including authors Ed Abby, Terry Tempest Williams, Rick Bass, Jim Crumley and David Quammen. He joins trips into the Siberian tiger lands with journalists Tom Brokaw and Rick Ridgeway and polar bear country with Yvon Chouinard.

Publishers Weekly gave Was It Worth It a starred review, noting, This passionate work is a welcome and worthy addition to the growing canon of environmental literature. It particularly liked Peacocks madcap yet reverential takes on nature, using an encounter with a huge snake as an example.

In the chapter Headwaters, Peacock recounted floating solo 16 days along Missouri River tributaries while waiting out some unpleasantness involving the FBI. While eddied against a 4-foot-high riverbank, he poked his head over the grass and came face-to-face with a huge hissing snake.

I figured to take the prairie rattlesnake bite right on the nose, Peacock writes. It would leave an ugly scar; my nose might have to be amputated. The big snakes tail vibrated rapidly in the leaves. But the sound was not a rattle because this snake didnt have rattles: it was a bull snake. I started to breathe again. I lay on the bank and looked up through the summer-green hawthorn and cottonwood to the blue sky beyond. The sweet babble of river laughed at me.

The close encounter with the nonpoisonous snake brought me a heightened awareness of the beauty all around me. It was good to have dangerous wild neighbors. Living among grizzly bears had made a similar impression on me. Sharing the habitat with animals that sometimes kill or eat humans was the most direct route I knew toward a non-anthropocentric cosmology. How the hell could anyone believe humans were the center of the world when facing poisonous reptiles, grizzlies, tigers, lions, jaguars, or polar bears on equal terms and neutral turf.

It would also be useful to retain ones humility during more or less normal daily situations, I thought, conditions only slightly less banal than run-ins with rent-a-cops in shopping malls or a domestic spat. Something to keep in mind the next time I ran into a snake.

Peacock started his writing career with stories about confronting the trauma of his military service in Vietnam as an Army Green Beret medic by seeking out grizzly bears in Glacier and Yellowstone national parks. Grizzly Years: In Search of The American Wilderness and Walking It Off: A Veterans Chronicle of War and Wilderness established him as a voice for conservation in the 1990s.

Yet for all his time in the jungles, woods and tundra, Peacock repeatedly downplays his experience and qualifications. On a trip north of the Arctic Circle as the designated polar bear guy, he admits to knowing next to nothing about the species. He also knows little about sea kayaking, despite inviting North Face founder and kayaking enthusiast Doug Tompkins on the trip. After displaying less-than-adequate boating technique on a rainy day, he does manage to get a good campfire going: I am trying to show my new friend that I am worth something after hes discovered that I dont know s---- about kayaking.

In other stories, Peacock recounts his equally limited skill at bonefishing off Belize, bird-watching in the Galapagos and following rules. He lets his anti-authoritarian streak push him into novel solutions. On the Arctic trip, he rejects Canadian law requiring travelers in polar bear country to carry large caliber firearms. Instead, he brings a pike with a forged iron spearhead.

The usual advice, which is law in most quarters, is to carry a big-bore firearm for bear, he writes. I disagree. I was recruited for this trip because of my expertise with wild bears and I had experienced dozens of close calls with grizzlies, too many to buy into this fatuity about guns. None of these bears had touched me. Furthermore, I consider it unethical for us to voluntarily invade the last homeland of wild polar bears and then kill them if events do not unfold to our advantage. At the same time, I hate being defenseless.

The argument about guns and bears lies perilously close to the cherished and near-religious beliefs concerning the roots of dominion and masculinity in America. When is it OK to take another life in defense of your own life, your family, or your property? When do you know that others are true threats? Does this include killing a thief stealing your hubcaps? Or just in defense of life? Or when we feel were being threatened?

Today, humans in the so-called civilized world tend to fear all that is unknown, which increasingly encompasses much of the natural world, including animals like bears. There are two basic camps: Either you believe that human life has more intrinsic value than the bears life or you do not. If you think its OK to kill any bear you think might possibly be a threat or danger, the discussion is over.

Such debates sort of pop into otherwise detailed rambling about the sights, smells and sensations of floating down rivers, wandering through forests or otherwise getting enmeshed in nature. The rough-and-tumble gets leavened with regular literary touchstones. For example, a trip to Siberia to explore ancient forests and tiger habitat starts with recollections of a rare book by Russian geographer V.K. Arseniev called Dersu the Trapper, which explored tiger lore at the turn of the 20th century.

On the coarse upper beach of the bay we find the tracks of the young female tiger that had walked south the morning before. (Tom) Brokaw and I find the much larger tracks of a male tiger that passed that way a week or so ago. I feel a tingling up my spine as I remember that Dersu and Arseniev walked this beach. An ancient connection draws me closer to Dersus world; inspiration from literature can propel actual adventure trips halfway around the world.

That trip was the first time Peacock had been back to Asia since his Vietnam service. In the book, he noted that he felt impelled to visit before he lost the ability to get there. But as he expanded his travels, he also saw the need to alert others to impending change.

"Every place I've been, I've noticed the effects of climate change," Peacock said. "Climate change is such a threat, I don't think anybody's left off the endangered species list anymore. And there's so much beauty in the world. That's reason enough to fight to the end of your life."

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Editor's note: This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series "Grizzlies and Us." The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West.

Southwest Montanas Big Hole Valley is an intriguing piece of the grizzly bear puzzle.

Equidistant from the two largest populations of bears in the Lower 48 States, and surrounded by several potential mountain ranges that bears could travel through, the Big Hole Valley could be the place where grizzlies from populations in the Northern Continental Divide (NCDE) and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems (GYE) meet. Or it could be their next new home.

Whether a grizzly population is viable long-term depends on genetic diversity, experts say, and challenges to delisting have been successful in federal court in part because grizzlies from the populations have yet to connect or prove they can.

That's why a hairball from a young male grizzly bear in the Big Hole Valley was sent to Canada to be analyzed last year. The question was: Where did the grizzly that left the hair come from?

The results came back this fall. The bear was from the NCDE.

There have been many Big Hole grizzly sightings in recent years, but only the one sample has been analyzed closely. There were five confirmed sightings in 2020, and this year was mostly quiet in the valley until two grizzlies were confirmed by a range rider in the Miner Lakes area near Jackson in August.

This summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees grizzly recovery, wrapped up a pilot DNA study  setting up hair snares and cameras across remote sites in southwest Montana, including in the Big Hole. The goal was to see if grizzlies from the two recovery areas have started to mingle, thus strengthening that gene pool and their chance for long-term survival.

Preliminary camera results released in mid-October confirmed two grizzly bears are using the headwaters of the East Fork Bitterroot River, just northwest of the Big Hole. Those are the first documented bears to use that area in recent history.

The study found light-colored hair samples in the Big Hole Valley, but no grizzlies were captured on camera there, and the species of bears behind the hair remains unknown until DNA results come back.

Grizzlies are in the Big Hole, however, and Rory Trimbo, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks grizzly bear specialist out of Anaconda, and non-profit People and Carnivores field leader Kim Johnston are targeting the area for conflict prevention work.

Johnston plucked that first sample from a barbed wire fence near Wisdom in April 2020 herself. She also got the young male grizzly on camera.

The long road to connect

The fatal grizzly attack on camper Leah Davis Lokan in Ovando, 90 miles north of the Big Hole Valley, made national headlines.

The fatality also stirs echoes of the Night of the Grizzlies in 1967, when two grizzly bears killed two women in two separate Glacier National Park campgrounds on the same night. Then, as now, grizzly bears stood on the threshold of major change.

Fifty-four years ago, wildlife biologists and land managers dueled over the bears dependence on garbage-dump feeding in Glacier and Yellowstone national parks. The debate ended with the abrupt closure of the dumps, which led to hundreds of grizzlies getting killed in conflicts with tourists and others as they sought new sources of food. By 1975, there were so few grizzlies remaining in the Lower 48 states that they became the eighth animal given protection under the new Endangered Species Act of 1973.

A half-century later, the number of grizzlies in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington have grown four-fold. They have also roamed beyond the recovery areas developed in the 1990s. The six designated areas, or ecosystems, were created as part of the grizzly recovery plan. While those grizzlies are exploring and occasionally denning in habitat they dominated for a millennia, they also share those places with people who havent encountered an apex predator at their grandfathers fishing hole before.

The NCDE lies entirely within Montana, and has about 1,000 grizzlies between Glacier National Park and Missoula. The GYE has an estimated 1,000 grizzlies in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho surrounding Yellowstone National Park. The Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk Ecosystems each have about 50 bears, while the Bitterroot and North Cascades have no confirmed resident bears.

Why some bears are moving out of their isolated mountains inspires both scientific and political debate. Are recovery areas such as the NCDE and and GYE too crowded or depleted, forcing bears to seek new territory? Or are the surrounding lands too attractive, drawing bears to literally greener pastures?

While wildlife managers concentrated their efforts to boost grizzly populations inside the recovery areas, that didnt mean the bears couldn't saunter outside the zones. And in fact, part of the criteria for getting grizzlies off Endangered Species Act protection is proof they can wander between those designated areas.

But although the two biggest populations lie a mere 70 miles apart, that gap contains a minefield of highways, towns, ranches, orchards, chicken coops, garbage dumps, boneyards, and other obstacles that are either dangerous or enticing to grizzlies.

The Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems are home to the vast majority of grizzlies south of Canada. Southwest Montana is the passage between them, and the Big Hole Valley is at the center of southwest Montana.

The area is also at the edge of the Bitterroot Ecosystem, a grizzly recovery area with no confirmed resident grizzlies thats getting increasing attention as bears from the other big populations explore new territory.

Bears attempting the passage face a serious barrier of Interstates 90 and 15. Younger males are often the first to venture into the unknown, and stand a higher chance of getting into conflicts as they seek new food sources on a landscape split 50-50 between public and private land.

More homes and people are arriving with the real estate boom, and even those who are well established may not have dealt with grizzlies in the past.

The Big Hole bears

Before results came back from the 2020 Big Hole hair sample, bear experts werent sure whether the bear came from the NCDE or GYE. Johnston leaned toward the NCDE.

NCDE bears have been trekking farther south. A young male grizzly Trimbo collared in fall 2020 is presumed to be an NCDE bear and made his way to within 25 miles of the Big Hole, after crossing I-90, no less, and was picked up on camera east of Sula during the FWS study this summer.

Grizzlies are also occasionally sighted just north of Butte in the Elk Park and Basin areas, also fairly close to the Big Hole, but on the opposite side of I-90.

On the other hand, a study conducted by FWP and the U.S. Geological Survey using 15 years of data from collared male bears from both the NCDE and GYE did find future travel direct from the GYE to the Big Hole probable.

Now the question is whether the other Big Hole bears are also from the NCDE.

The FWS led a major study with sites in the Big Hole and other reaches of southwest Montana between populations this summer to find out.

The big study

FWS grizzly bear biologist Jennifer Fortin-Noreus led the charge way back up Forest Service roads to find bear scat, huckleberries and rub trees in the Beaverhead, Pioneer, Anaconda-Pintler, Flint Creek, John Long, and Sapphire mountains, as well as to the lower Clark Fork and Ninemile Divide.

It has been fun to get to know these very rugged areas, Fortin-Noreus said.

Collaborating with the U.S. Forest Service, teams from the FWS and conservation group Defenders of Wildlife built barbed wire hair corrals with scent lures and set up cameras at that sites.

The lures were stinky, but didnt provide a food reward, and sites were chosen in part based on past verified or possible sightings and recommendations from area biologists.

From cameras, the scientists can determine whether grizzly bears were on site, and whether there were any sows and cubs. From the hair, the species, sex, actual individual bears, and the origin of population can be determined.

Fieldwork went from mid-May through the end of August, and Fortin-Noreus presented the preliminary results at the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committees Bitterroot Subcommittee meeting in late October.

A total of 140 barbed wire hair corrals with cameras were set up across the region for 3-4 weeks each, and 805 hair samples were collected.

However, only 181 hair samples were sent to the lab, because cameras verified that the other samples were from black bears. The study had camera problems at 52 sites, often from black bear cubs moving the cameras as they climbed trees. The grizzlies captured on camera east of Sula also tore down the camera eventually, Fortin-Noreus said.

The agencies working on the study ran into challenges in the Big Hole. Due to livestock grazing allotments on National Forest lands, the Big Hole sites were only set up a few weeks early in the study season before grazing would pose an issue.

Although the hair corrals would not hurt livestock, livestock tend to investigate our hair snare corrals, and oftentimes just trample them and destroy the barbed wire. So we try to avoid them, Fortin-Noreus explained.

She added that she would ideally like to maintain the Big Hole sites the entire season, and is working with Forest Service officials to plan around grazing practices in the future.

The Trail Creek Fire west of Wisdom also destroyed one of the sites too, along with its camera. Light-colored hair samples were taken at Big Hole sites however, so its possible the origins of more Big Hole grizzlies will be identified.

Fortin-Noreus is hoping the DNA results will be back in time for the spring meeting of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

In-between lands

Fortin-Noreus said establishing where bears are, and which populations they belong to, helps predict connectivity corridors. Understanding these corridors is also important for bear management.

"If you're looking at the landscape, you can see how much of that area they have to travel through is private versus federal lands. We do see as bears are expanding their range an increase in the number of conflicts on private lands. It also tells us, from a management standpoint, where to target information and outreach efforts to people that live and recreate in those areas  how to do it safely in expecting grizzly bears there," she said.

The targeted opportunistic study to establish bears origins was not a grid sample to determine everywhere bears are present in southwest Montana, however, so Fortin-Noreus said the public shouldnt assume a location is grizzly-free just because the study didnt find one there.

As Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials have said, residents should now expect grizzlies anywhere in the western half of the state.

Connectivity is a chief focus of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, the collaborative formed in 1983 to ensure the bears recovery.

Former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock formed the Grizzly Bear Conservation and Management Advisory Council in 2019, appointing 18 Montana citizens from various walks of life  ranchers, farmers, trail runners, hunters and conservationists, among others.

Cole Mannix, a member of the council and part of a 5-generation ranching family in western Montanas Blackfoot valley, told IGBC members at the winter 2020 meeting that establishing its vision statement was one of the most important things the council accomplished.

The statement depicts the challenge faced by people and bears across Montana. It reads:

We envision fully recovered grizzly bear populations in the four identified recovery areas in Montana and the landscapes in-between that accommodate grizzly bear presence and connectivity while maintaining the safety and quality of life of those that live, work and play in Montana.

Debate was fierce over the wording of that sentence during the meetings. While recovery ecosystems are largely uninhabited public lands, the places in between are packed with private ranches, homes, roads, railroads, farms and orchards.

The grizzlies moving through the areas dont change Endangered Species Act status when they step outside a recovery area, but they do become a novel and unpredictable threat to the people unaccustomed to their appearance.

Even as the experts wait for DNA results to illuminate where more Big Hole bears are coming from, they are preparing folks in the area for the next batch of new arrivals.

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North Dakotas bitterly cold winters make for the ideal setting desired by a new industry eyeing the state: cryptocurrency.

Interest has picked up over the past year in locating data centers within North Dakota. Such facilities consist of computer servers that can be used for a variety of purposes, including to mine digital money in the case of some of the companies considering the state.

Data centers generate a lot of heat. They tend to require a significant amount of power and cooling equipment to function well.

Every time I talk to a utility and mention data centers, they say, Oh yeah, weve got all kinds of people talking to us wanting to come, said John Weeda, director of the North Dakota Transmission Authority.

Data centers are needed for cloud storage. Banks use them for financial transactions. The facilities are increasingly in demand to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions, which are recorded in ledgers known as blockchains. Computers lend processing power to validate those transactions, and they are rewarded with more cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin.

That so-called mining process is energy-intensive, as electricity powers the servers and the fans used to cool down the hardware.

One reason data centers like the northern climate is that their energy cost for cooling equipment is a lot less in North Dakota than in Arizona, Weeda said. The atmospheric temperature does a lot for you, especially right now (in winter).

The interest in locating data centers within North Dakota poses challenges for utilities and the communities where the facilities might set up shop.

The topic came up at last weeks Bismarck City Commission meeting. City officials have fielded inquiries from companies looking for spots for data centers in recent months, but Bismarcks ordinances do not allow for the standalone facilities.

We want to give some thought to, if we do allow these types of facilities to occur in our community, where they might most appropriately be located, Community Development Director Ben Ehreth told the commission.

Data centers already exist in the city, but they are attached to businesses such as hospitals and telecom companies. Their computers are not necessarily used for cryptocurrency mining -- often they are for essential information technology functions.

The fans associated with a large standalone data center could generate a lot of noise, and city officials say the facilities inquiring about coming to Bismarck may or may not place employees on-site. Officials have expressed concerns about the potential for data centers to catch fire, as has happened in other North Dakota communities such as at a Grand Forks computer server farm in 2019.

The Bismarck commission directed city workers to continue researching the topic and develop an ordinance to bring back for further consideration.

Representatives from Capital Electric Cooperative have been in touch with city officials to discuss data centers.

"In the last year or so, we've been contacted by close to 10 different groups," Energy Services Manager Josh Schaffner said.

Companies considering putting in data centers have been inquiring about electricity rates and locations, he said. Some proposals involve dropping off trailers that would contain the servers.

"They want to have easy access for trucks to get in and out," Schaffner said.

There are a number of logistics to sort through, both for utilities and the companies looking to run data centers. The facilities' high electric consumption could mean power-related equipment needs to be upgraded. Data center developers also have not been keen on the idea of curtailing the sites' operations during peak power usage times, or the high costs they could incur for running during those periods, Schaffner said.

So far, the talks involving Capital Electric have been preliminary, he said. At least one other electric distribution co-op is already part of such an effort -- Nodak Electric Cooperative is involved in a standalone data center project in Grand Forks.

Another large data center meant for cryptocurrency mining is in development in Jamestown. Smaller operations already exist in the oil fields of western North Dakota, where natural gas fuels generators that power computers.

Weeda said he has heard of data center projects proposed in many parts of the state with electricity needs ranging from 5 to 500 megawatts.

North Dakotas largest coal-fired power plant, Coal Creek Station, has a 1,100-megawatt capacity. The facilitys incoming owner, an affiliate of Bismarck-based Rainbow Energy Marketing Corp., has plans for a data center in its vicinity, according to documents filed with regulators in Minnesota. A spokesperson for the company said Rainbow is not ready to share further details.

Weeda works under the regulators that make up the North Dakota Industrial Commission, and he often communicates with utilities and energy project developers. He said companies interested in putting data centers within the state view its power plants as a benefit, given their electricity needs.

They want steady supply, he said.

He has suggested that data centers consider locating near wind farms, but that idea has not been popular so far given that wind turbines generate power only about half the time, when its breezy, he said.

Data centers, particularly those used to facilitate cryptocurrency mining, have come under fire from environmentalists because of their energy consumption. China recently imposed restrictions on the facilities in part because of their carbon footprint.

In North Dakota, it's not just data centers potentially consuming large amounts of energy in the future. Weeda expects a number of industrial facilities to open in the state in the years ahead, as indicated by the flurry of projects that have sought state funding assistance through the new Clean Sustainable Energy Authority.

Do we have room on the grid for everybody? I think we need to be asking ourselves that question, he said.

Reach Amy R. Sisk at 701-250-8252 or amy.sisk@bismarcktribune.com.

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A South Central District judge has ruled that an attempted murder charge against a woman accused of rear-ending a motorcyclist at more than 100 mph north of Bismarck can move to trial.

Judge Bonnie Storbakken in a Thursday ruling said prosecutors met the burden of probable cause in the allegation that Dazechnae Willis, 28, took a substantial step toward causing the death of another human being.

Willis also is charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in the Aug. 28, 2019, crash on U.S. Highway 83. Her two young children were passengers in the vehicle she was driving. She was southbound about 4 miles north of Baldwin -- between Bismarck and Wilton -- when her SUV struck Kelsey Schaefer, who was riding a 1996 Harley Davidson, from the rear, authorities allege.

Schaefer and the bike were thrown under the tandem axles of a semitrailer. He suffered a serious brain injury and multiple other injuries that required months of hospitalization and physical therapy, the Highway Patrol said in an affidavit. Willis and her children were not injured. She was living in Minot at the time but now is living in Denver.

Data downloaded from Willis vehicle showed she was going 107 mph and accelerating just before the crash, Trooper Robert Moyle testified at Willis preliminary hearing. There we no signs that she applied her brakes, the trooper said.

The evidence showed that this was an intentional act, Burleigh County States Attorney Julie Lawyer said at the hearing. She did not offer a theory on what prompted the alleged incident.

Defense attorney Kyle Weinberger argued that the charge of reckless endangerment fit the states allegations but added we dont have showing of intent for the underlying charge of murder.

Storbakken scheduled a three-day trial starting April 19.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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A former top official in the North Dakota Highway Patrol who once was in charge of security for the governor faces a February trial on a sexual assault charge that led to his firing last November.

The attorney for Steven Lynn Johnson says his client was targeted by someone who had a vendetta against him, and is eager to take the case to trial.

Johnson, 39, was charged with misdemeanor sexual assault last November, court records show. The charge followed accusations by a woman who told police Johnson inappropriately touched her during a December 2020 party at a Bismarck home. He faces a possible $3,000 fine and about a year in jail if convicted.

Johnson was fired from the Patrol last November following an investigation of a complaint of sexual assault, according to Sgt. Wade Kadrmas, a Patrol spokesman.

Johnson vehemently denies the accusations against him, defense attorney Chris Redmann said in a statement to the Tribune. He referred to his client as the Boy Scout of the Highway Patrol, who follows the rules and does the right thing.

Redmann said Johnson passed a polygraph test, adding that he wished the woman who reported the sexual assault would be as willing to take the polygraph as Steve, but Im guessing theres a reason for that.

The Tribune does not identify people who might be victims of sex crimes.

A police affidavit states that a witness told police Johnson left a group of people in a hot tub and when he returned commented that he had touched the woman. Redmann called it a bizarre allegation because Johnsons wife was among those in the hot tub. He further claimed the allegations were made by someone who had a personal grudge against Johnson.

This case reeks of revenge and illustrates how a baseless allegation of sexual assault can destroy someones life, Redmann said. We look forward to getting this case in front of a jury.

Cass County Assistant State's Attorney Ryan Younggren, who is handling the case as a special prosecutor, said he'll stay objective and "take a clear-eyed look at the facts."

"The state doesn't have any revenge motive," Younggren said."There's a process in place and we're going to let the process play out."

Prosecutors from another county routinely are asked to take a case that involves law enforcement personnel to avoid any appearance of a conflict, Younggren said.

Johnson was hired by the Highway Patrol in 2004. He served as the director of security at the Patrols Bismarck headquarters from March 2016 to July 2020. According to a job description from the Patrol, he oversaw security and protection for the governor, the governors family and other officials; made executive protection arrangements with the Patrols regional commanders; coordinated Supreme Court and legislative security measures; and oversaw the secure electronic card system for several state-occupied buildings that housed the Health Department, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Information Technology Department and other agencies.

In August 2020 he became one of a handful of regional Patrol commanders in the state when he was put in charge of the southwest region.

Johnson pleaded not guilty last December, court records show. His jury trial is Feb. 22.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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A South Dakota ethics board has moved to hire an outside attorney as it considers a pair of ethics complaints against Gov. Kristi Noem. The complaints were sparked from allegations the Republican governor interfered in a state agency to aid her daughters application for a real estate appraiser license and misused state airplanes. The retired judges who sit on the Government Accountability Board decided any legal advice shouldnt come from the lawyer who usually advises the board because she works under the states attorney general. Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg initiated the complaints. The boards decision Monday was a procedural move as it approaches a key juncture for the complaints.
On Jan. 13, The Bismarck Tribune carried a story about gender inclusion policy at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. According to the story, A group that represents North Dakotas Catholic bishops is contacting parents of students at the University of North Dakota and asking that they urge administrators to reject the schools proposed gender inclusion policy.

The draft policy would require the use of a transgender persons preferred pronouns and the use of locker rooms, bathrooms and other living facilities that align with a persons gender identity. Bishops John Folda of Fargo and David Kagan of Bismarck, in a letter written by Catholic Conference Executive Director Christopher Dodson, said the schools proposed policy embraces and demands acceptance of a particular ideology about gender and language that is contrary to Catholic teaching and infringes upon free speech and religious rights.

UND President Andrew Armacost said, Some of the Catholic Conferences claims about the policy simply arent true. Armacost wants UNDs policy to implement federal law and Supreme Court rulings. Armacost said the policy is intended to protect transgender members from harassment and discrimination. He also said UND officials are "committed to free religious expression and fully recognize that, as we address the rights of one group, we cannot do it to the detriment of the rights of another group.

Church leaders have long struggled with perceived conflict between the human body as inherently sinful, and the soul, something apart from the body, that seeks to be holy. Peter Brown brilliantly tells this story in the book The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. Brown quotes an observation by Galen, a Roman doctor, about Christians, Their contempt for death is patent to us every day, and likewise their restraint from intercourse. For they include not only men but also women who refrain from intercourse all through their lives. (Page 33)

Jewish people had come to believe in a purity cult type of faith. Highly ritualistic practices came to define what it meant to follow God. The Apostle Paul took Christianity to the gentiles and in some cases mocked those Jewish teachings. Paul, himself a Jew who spoke Greek and claimed Roman citizenship, even suggested that Jewish Christians, who insisted new gentile believers be circumcised, might as well castrate themselves.

Church leaders prescribing gender identity policy is profoundly hypocritical. The duality of an evil body and a righteous soul somehow involving sexual identity is no longer a useful understanding of the nature of God, or a teaching of the church. A much more useful understanding of the nature of God is expressed by Armacost, who sought to protect people from harassment and discrimination. The 23rd Psalm yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou are with me and Jesus talking about the good shepherd seeking the lost sheep. The point of Jesus is not to convert the lost sheep but to give it protection. Those lessons from Scripture are refreshing reminders both for the people seeking a different gender identity, and those who support them in that journey. It is also refreshing to hear a person with military training craft an inclusion policy that protects people others want to exclude. That is courage under the political and religious fire of those who want to stigmatize and exclude people. Those seeking sanctuary in the academy of learning.

My church sings a welcome song that says, No matter where you are on the journey of life, you are welcome, welcomed by Gods grace. May it be so.

Bill Patrie has been recognized for his work as a cooperative developer by the National Farmers Union, the Association of Cooperative Educators and the National Cooperative Business Association.

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The pervasive crisis of meaning contemporary Americans experience is directly related to a loss of moral agency and legitimate authority. That crisis manifests itself in ideological fervor, grasps at power and wealth, and immersion in mob activities that occasion in violence. Is there any hope for moral cohesion short of a Third Great Awakening? []

Political theorists have engaged in much debate concerning the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns, such quarrel evidence of the opposing claims of the two worlds. Leo Strauss, the best known articulator of an absolute rupture, counterposed classical Greece to modern liberalism and its culmination in Nietzsche. His argument conveniently, and controversially, bypassed the whole of medieval Christianity, or what we might call Christendom (as a tightly knit correspondence between beliefs, practices, and institutions).

Recent events and reflections draw our attention back to some of the fundamental issues in this distinction. Are we still in the modern world, have we fully entered the postmodern world, or are we somewhere else? And, in any case, what would it mean to be any of those things or, worse still, trapped between such things? To what degree are we experiencing a civilizational toppling that results from the collapse of Christendom?

Such toppling was predicted by Nietzsche in his 1882 work The Gay Science. While observing that the central event of the agethe death of Godhad already occurred while its effects were still too distant to be comprehended, Nietzsche wondered how much must collapse now that this faith has been undermined. Eventually, the West would be consumed by a long plenitude and sequence of breakdown, destruction, ruin, and cataclysm that would require of us new festivals of atonement and new sacred games to reconcile us to our dark fate.

Nietzsches time was not yet, but for those of us living in the present age, his works read as a gloomy prophecy rather than an endorsement of a new and scarcely describable kind of light, happiness, relief, exhilaration, encouragement, dawn that attended those who heralded the end of Christendom. The price modern man has paid for his liberation has been the central question of the past 150 years, and nowhere have the resonances of that question resounded more clearly than in nations whose Christian impulses have not been completely effaced. Political theory has achieved its most acute expression in those places where the consequences of modernity are keenly seen in relief against a world now lost.

A good example of such insight comes from Hungary in the form of Chantal Delsols essay The End of Christianity. Delsol notes that the death throes of Christian culture have lasted now for nearly two centuries, and those pangs in turn have unleashed an energy that demonstrates the depth of the crisis the modern world faces. That crisis derives from the fact that modernitys inner dynamism resulted only from the capital it could borrow from Christendom, and once Christianitys capital was spent the West became bankrupt and exhausted. As Nietzsche predicted, one consequence would be a proliferation of new gods and religions to take the place of the old God, but none of them would be able on their own to address the central problem of the world we now live in: the collapse of authority.

That collapse is testified to by what Nietzsche called the transvaluation of all values and Delsol identifies as our moral hierarchies hav[ing] literally been reversed. To examine, she continues, what is permissible, laudable, and forbidden at a given time is to glimpse into the mindset of an era, and one would have to be willfully blind not to be somewhat alarmed at the specter haunting the visible landscape of our time. In one particularly acute observation concerning this inverted age, Delsol contemplates that the fate of a current condemned by history is to become more and more extremist, to lose its most competent defenders, and finally, by a sort of disastrous process, to end up resembling its adversaries. A fine description of our contemporary situation, that.

Im reminded here of an oft-neglected section of Tocquevilles Democracy in America wherein he observes that democratic peoples have a natural tendency toward pantheism, which seems a most unusual observation in context. Granted, he was observing the first wave of transcendentalism, but more importantly he understood that the logic of egalitarianism would lead to the destruction of all hierarchies, even the most consequential one of the hierarchy of Being itself and its distinction of Creator and creation. Modern egalitarians may be tolerant, but theyll never tolerate hierarchy, and that is why Christendom with the Catholic Church as its organizing agent will never be tolerable to them. Delsol rightly notes the antithesis between prevailing cultural forces and the church, but the moral differences she identifies are only part of that story. The resistance to hierarchy forms a large part of the tension between the church and the modern world in no small part because it issues in contrasting views of authority.

Robert Nisbet rightly identified the decline of authority as the central feature of our twilight age. Things lose their shape and form in the twilight, and we perceive the world only dimly. We face with increasing evidence the decline and decay of our institutions with nothing replacing them. Detached from these institutions we become rootless and anchorless, and our actions have no meaning or worth other than what we or others can ascribe to them. Individualism, Nisbet continued, reveals itself less as achievement and enterprise than as egoism or mere performance. Retreat from the major to the minor, from the noble to the trivial, the communal to the personal, and from the objective to the subjective is commonplace.

Critics of modern liberalism have observed that the principle of autonomy always renders authority precarious. In contrast, structures of political authority mediate responsible moral action, and those structures, in turn, require justifications superior to assertions of power. Properly constituted authority makes both the grounds and ends of action intelligible, and thus legitimate. When authority devolves to power and becomes self-seeking or self-justifying, it loses its ability to command moral action because moral actors are gradually robbed of their agency. That loss of legitimacy has infected the social institutions within which moral agency receives its purpose and meaning. The pervasive crisis of meaning contemporary Americans experience is directly related to this loss of a sense of agency. That crisis manifests itself in various modes of narcoticization, in ideological fervor, in grasps at power and wealth, and most disastrously in immersion in mob activities that occasion in violence.

Delsol and others have drawn our attention to how the modern experiment in liberation has resulted in built-in identity crises as well as an inability to ground our institutional and moral life in anything other than subjective preferences. Authority as an expression of public will whose purpose is to protect private ends necessarily falls short of its goal. Proper authority only operates where the execution of legitimate moral authority instantiated in law, the mechanisms of power, and the perpetuation of tradition work together to form a coherent world. A fragmented world can only lead to fragmented selves. The effects of our deep crisis are by now played out even if, as Nietzsche said, the thunder has not caught up to the lightning.

What Christendom joined together has been rent asunder. The effort to render things whole once again remains the most significant challenge of our age. The First and Second Great Awakenings were instrumental in shaping public order, but they happened within the context of a largely coherent tradition. Given the disruptions to the legitimacy of our constitutional order as well as the fragmentation of moral claims, it remains very much a question whether authority can be restored without some sort of authentic religious awakening. Such an awakening cannot be indifferent to constitutional forms and the best elements of our political traditions lest they repeat the errors that accompanied Christendoms rejection and, indeed, Christendom itself. The difficult task of preserving liberty in the face of its tendency to erode authority still remains for us an ongoing one.
The darling of Colorado, US Representative Lauren Boebert's first thought upon seeing a group of folks wearing a yarmulke and dressed in traditional Jewish Orthodox style was that they must be doing "reconnaissance."

Buzzfeed:

"When I heard that, I actually turned to the person standing next to me and asked, 'Did you just hear that?'" a rabbi who was with the group told BuzzFeed News.

"You know, I'm not sure to be offended or not," the rabbi said. "I was very confused." The rabbi added that "people are very sensitive" now, especially after what happened in Texas this past weekend, when an armed man held four people hostage at a synagogue.

Boebert told BuzzFeed News that she was referencing the many comments that have been directed at her from Democrats about Capitol tours prior to the Jan. 6 attack, adding that some people present "got it."

"I saw a large group and made a joke. Sadly when Democrats see the same they demonize my family for a year straight," she said in a text.

"I'm too short to see anyone's yarmulkes," she added.
Nearly $10.6 million in grants have been awarded to local community health organizations, nonprofit agencies and other institutions to fund programs addressing the health-related needs of the area's low-income residents and underserved communities.

Of the 35 grants awarded to Buffalo-area organizations by the New York City-based Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, three were for $1 million each.

Those $1 million grants went to the Bison Children's Scholarship Fund for the administration of Rochester and Syracuse scholarship programs, The Children's Hospital of Buffalo Foundation for a project geared toward reducing racial inequalities and social determinants of health among area children, and to the Mount St. Mary's Hospital Foundation for the under-construction Lockport Memorial Hospital.

Catholic Health takes a different approach with new Lockport hospital "The model was built for the community based on need, not based on what textbooks would say about hospitals," Catholic Health President and CEO Mark Sullivan said.

The local grants were a small slice of the more than 450 year-end 2021 grants announced Thursday by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, which was formed after the 2018 sale of Fidelis Care and is focused on providing funding for health-related initiatives in New York. The statewide grants disclosed Thursday, totaling $140 million and geared toward supporting 2022 initiatives, were the foundation's third annual round of grants.

The foundation, which calls itself one of the country's largest foundations and the largest one focused exclusively on New York, had assets of about $4 billion at the end of 2020, according to its latest annual financial statement.

In its first three years, the foundation has awarded grants totaling nearly $470 million.

Foundation awards $8.5M in local grants to help improve life for those in need Mother Cabrini Health Foundation officials said the grants are part of the first round of 2020 awards totaling $150 million

"As we look back at the compounding crises of the last few years, the health-related needs of vulnerable communities have only grown," Alfred F. Kelly Jr., CEO of Visa and chair of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation board, said in a statement. "Our grantees have demonstrated tremendous resilience, creativity and dedication to serving those in need, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have such detrimental impact."

The 35 local grants ranged in amount from $75,000 to $1 million.

Some of the other largest local recipients included:

Mental Health Advocates of WNY received two grants: one for $800,000 for a school social work program and another for $150,000 for a project described as "Youth Peer Advocates  Expanding in Schools."

The University at Buffalo received $550,000 to expand its S-Miles to Go dental program to assist vulnerable populations in Western New York. That program has received support in the past, as well, from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Buffalo received $500,000 for a mental health access program.

Kevin Guest House, an independent health care hospitality house located on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, received a $250,000 grant from the foundation.

Marianne Potratz, development manager of Kevin Guest House, which hosts patients and their families traveling to Buffalo for medical care, said the nonprofit will use some of the funding to support its KGH50 Campaign, which marks the organization's 50th anniversary this year with capital improvements to the three oldest buildings on the Kevin Guest House campus.

Jon Harris can be reached at 716-849-3482 or jharris@buffnews.com.

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Even before the Omicron surge hit the Buffalo Niagara region, the late fall uptick in hiring was losing steam.

New data from the State Labor Department on Thursday showed that hiring plateaued during December as the job market lost most of the momentum it gained from the solid job gains in November.

The region added just 500 jobs during December, after gaining 3,400 jobs during November. What made the sluggish December job growth more discouraging was that it fell back within a pattern of modest hiring that, with the exception of the November bump, had been in place since June.

Its slow and steady, said Timothy Glass, the Labor Departments regional economist in Buffalo.

Workers remain hesitant to start looking for jobs again with Covid-19 cases spiking, child care hard to find and costly and the labor shortage empowering workers to be pickier about the type of jobs they will take and the wages theyre willing to work for.

It just has a lot to do with the fact that theres a lot of uncertainty, Glass said. People are waiting for this to break.

Meanwhile, the regions economy still is stuck in a deep hole caused by the pandemic. After shedding more than 20% of its jobs during April 2020, the Buffalo Niagara job market has recovered many of those early losses.

But the region still is down 28,000 jobs from two years ago  before the pandemic. The agonizingly slow pace of hiring over the past six months, with the region averaging 500 new jobs a month, means that the region once again is on pace for a long recovery from the Covid-19 recession.

Were still in a pretty bad spot, said Fred Floss, a SUNY-Buffalo State economist.

Long recoveries are nothing new for the Buffalo Niagara region. It took more than five years for the region to recover the jobs it lost during the Great Recession 14 years ago. It took 15 years for the region to regain all of the jobs it lost during the 2000-2001 recession.

But the Covid-19 job cuts are even steeper. The 28,000-job shortfall that the region now faces is almost three times as steep as the 10,000 jobs that were lost during the Great Recession and the 18,000 jobs that disappeared in 2000 and 2001.

In fact, the job losses during those two downturns combined are less severe than the shortfall that the Buffalo Niagara region still faces in this recovery.

Were nowhere near where we need to be, Floss said.

The job losses are concentrated on the service-providing part of the local economy, while the goods-producing sectors have held up surprisingly well, Glass said.

The region has almost 2,000 more goods-producing jobs than it did two years ago  a testament to the strength of the construction and manufacturing sectors during the downturn. Unfortunately, those jobs  which tend to be higher paying  arent the dominant force in the regions economy, accounting for roughly 1 of every 7 local jobs.

Service jobs are far more prevalent, and there now are 10% fewer of those positions than there were before the pandemic. This is the sector that has felt the greatest pinch from the labor shortage, as wages tend to be on the lower end of the scale and many workers are wary of in-person positions at a time when health and child care issues are widespread.

In fact, three-quarters of the job shortfall can be traced to just three sectors  leisure and hospitality, education and health services and government, Glass noted. Jobs at bars and restaurants are down by 13% as many diners stay home and workers are hard to find. Education services jobs, which range from teachers to cafeteria workers and child care positions, are down by 12%.

And now theres the Omicron variant, which exacerbated the staffing crunch as cases mounted. There already are signs that Omicron has put a damper on business and consumers.

A survey of manufacturers in New York and the New York City area during the 10 days of January found that business had leveled off abruptly after steadily growing for the past year-and-a-half, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported.

Shipments plateaued, new orders dropped, delivery times got longer and prices kept rising, the survey found. On the plus side, manufacturers kept hiring and the average work week continued to get longer.

It was the same for service firms, which reported that growth had slowed to its weakest since March of last year, the New York Fed said in a separate survey. But those service industry executives, like their manufacturing counterparts, expect the slump to be short-lived. They think business will pick up over the next six months.

Higher prices, especially for gasoline and food, also are causing consumers to cut back on the spending that had held up remarkably well during the pandemic, said Don Levy, the director of the Siena College Research Institute outside Albany.

Those higher prices have caused consumer confidence across Upstate New York to fall sharply since the beginning of fall, according to a Siena survey released earlier this month.

These sticker shocks, felt especially hard by upstaters, women and older residents, have driven New Yorkers current outlook back to just about the low we saw at the pandemics start, Levy said, although he noted that their longer-term outlook is slightly more upbeat.

So the expectation is that things will get better. It just might take a long time.

"That certainly isn't going to speed up the return of jobs," said Julie Anna Golebiewski, a Canisius College economist.

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Three years in as a Buffalo firefighter, Eric Whitehead was the acting lieutenant for Engine 21 when dispatched to the Hamlin Park attic fire that would change his life.

He had worked above his rank about 20 times before under a Fire Department practice called "acting up." But Jan. 10, 2019, would be the first time he led his fire engine's crew into a burning house as acting lieutenant.

It went terribly wrong for him.

The firefighter, then 33, found himself alone in a burning and pitch-black attic, on his belly with a few remaining breaths of air left in his tank, and struggling to activate a mayday radio distress call. So he took off his gloves to press his radio's man-down button, resulting in third- and fourth-degree burns to his hands that charred his skin, damaged tissue and ended his firefighting career.

"I took my glove off to try to hit the man-down button, because I couldn't get it with the gloves that I had," Whitehead said in a court deposition. "I felt like this was my last chance. I felt like if I didn't do that, I would have died.

The factors that Whitehead's lawyer said contributed to the firefighter's distress  the radio, being left alone in the attic and his "acting up" status  were key parts in Whitehead's lawsuit against the city.

The Fire Department contended no other firefighter has ever complained about the man-down button and that Whitehead's radio wasn't turned on. What's more, he should not have crawled up to the attic by himself, Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said in an affidavit.

After nine surgeries and with a trial looming, Whitehead settled his lawsuit earlier this month. Pending Common Council approval, the city will pay $2.3 million for his pain and suffering and pay him his salary and benefits until his retirement age.

"Hes not angry or placing blame on anybody," said attorney Charles S. Desmond II, who represents Whitehead. "He was only in his third year, and this was one of the first major attic fires he was ever in. Thats why working out of class was significant. They had him working as an acting lieutenant when he was just a regular fireman. He had no training whatsoever to be a lieutenant."

'I know I'm in trouble'

Whitehead recalled the fire at 82 Butler Ave. as "the first fire I'd been in where it's so hot you don't see no fire," according to his court deposition.

When Engine 21 arrived, Whitehead and another firefighter approached the house and heard from a resident that her son was still in the attic. It turned out the son had evacuated the house.

The firefighters went straight upstairs because Whitehead said his first task as acting lieutenant was to find the fire.

Buffalo's fire engine companies work in four-person crews: driver, hook-up, officer and attack. The firefighters in the attack and officer assignments hold the primary roles in battling an interior structure fire. The attack position handles the nozzle of the hose line and the officer, in close proximity, provides assistance. The hook-up firefighter makes sure the hose doesn't kink or get stuck anywhere.

Rescue Company 1 firefighters were behind him, Whitehead said, so he counted seven firefighters in or near the attic stairwell.

Whitehead used a thermal imaging camera to find the fire. When the camera senses heat patterns, it lights up red.

"I just remember the stairs leading up to this darkness," Whitehead said, recalling the smoke.

Behind the firefighter spraying water, Whitehead pointed the camera up the stairwell but didn't get any readings. So he told the firefighter to move up a couple of steps.

"He said he couldn't get any higher, like he was fighting to go up the stairs," Whitehead said. "I'm like, you got to go up more. He said, 'I can't, it's too hot.' "

The attack firefighter stepped up but then his oxygen tank ran out of air.

"And I let him down past me, and I take the nozzle, and I got the thermal imaging camera, so both my hands are occupied now," Whitehead said.

Whitehead turned off the hose.

"Now I'm crawling to the top of the landing of the attic," he said, holding the thermal imaging camera and the inch and three-quarter hose. "And I take the TIC, and I point it to the right. It was black, pitch black. As soon as I get to the left, the whole screen turned red.

"I couldn't see anything," Whitehead said. "I attempted to crawl, but it was so hot."

"The last time I knew (anyone) was behind me was my Rescue brothers," he said. "But it's not like I keep checking behind me to see what's going on. I'm trying to get to the fire."

Whitehead began spraying water.

"I see red in the camera," he said. "So when I don't see flames, I know the fire is in the wall, the ceiling or the floor."

Once Whitehead reached the top of the stairs, he moved maybe 5 feet, he said.

"I was rolling back and forth, hitting the ceiling and the wall (with water), looking at the camera. Then something hit me. When that happened, knocked my helmet off, knocked the hose right out my hand, dropped the camera."

He patted around the floor looking for his helmet but still had his breathing apparatus mask on. He found his helmet within 10 to 15 seconds.

"I know I'm in trouble because now I don't have the line," but he thought he had "five guys behind me. I assumed they were close by."

So he looked for the hose line, calling out for help and saying he was low on air.

But he heard no response.

The mayday button

Whitehead had two man-down buttons, one on his harness, one on his radio.

"I just lost my whole sense of where I was at after I got hit," he said. "So I went to key the mic to radio I need help.

"You know, it's not as easy as it sounds, like just hit the button. I've got all this type of gear. I've got buttons and belts, stuff everywhere," he said.

He found the button on his harness, but "when I was trying to activate the button, I couldn't. It wouldn't activate."

So he grabbed for his radio.

"I couldn't get to the button," he said.

He was using the department's older model radio, which he used in training but never before at a working fire.

"That man-down button is very difficult to get to," he said.

"The model I had, the button was like set back behind the antenna. It would be difficult to hit it without a glove on at all."

So Whitehead took off his gloves to push the button, and suffered steam burns to his hands.

"I remember just being exhausted," he said in the deposition. "I said to myself 'I'm gonna die' three times in my head. I'm about to die up here.

As he lay on his stomach in the pitch black, he felt a splash of water on his fire coat. And then somebody tapped his left leg.

A Rescue 1 firefighter called mayday and Whitehead was pulled out.

"Felt like a hand from God snatched me out," he said.

Fire Department view of incident

The state Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau cited the Fire Department, saying firefighter accountability was compromised because firefighters did not remain in visual or voice contact with one another.

But Renaldo, the fire commissioner, disagreed in a court affidavit that the department violated the "two-in, two-out" rule at the fire.

The rule applies to structures, not attics or stairways, and requires that when firefighters respond to a call, they must enter the structures in teams of two, and for each entering pair of firefighters, two additional firefighters remain outside, prepared to enter the building, he said. There were enough firefighters inside and outside the house to comply with the rule, he said.

When the firefighter in the "attack" role left Whitehead, "it was incumbent on firefighter Whitehead, as both a member of Engine 21 and the acting officer, to accompany" him and ensure his safe exit, Renaldo said.

The firefighter in the "attack" position suffered burns to his face, head and torso, along with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Without admitting that any violation occurred ... it relates entirely and exclusively from firefighter Whitehead's decision to stay after (the other) firefighter exited the attic," Renaldo said.

As for the radio Whitehead used, that model has been used since at least 2012, the commissioner said, adding he had never received a complaint about them.

"I am not aware of the Fire Department ever having an incident where a firefighter claimed to not be able to activate their man-down button due to wet gloves, he said in his affidavit.

At a deposition a year ago, James Hynes, a battalion chief for the department, was asked by Whitehead's lawyer if any firefighters had complained about accessing the mayday button because of the size of their gloves.

"Not complain, but they did say it was difficult, yes," Hynes replied.

Over time, the department has replaced the older model radios, but that doesn't mean his radio was unsafe or unfit for use, Renaldo said.

During a gear inspection after the fire, Whitehead's radio was found to be in the off position. When turned on, the radio was tested and it functioned properly, Renaldo said.

Radio dispatch records showed no communications from Whitehead's radio during the fire.

"It is our belief that firefighter Whitehead did not actually have his radio on at the time of this incident and, therefore, the man-down button was not able to be activated regardless of how many times the button was or was not pressed," Renaldo said.

Put in charge

Whitehead's lawsuit asserted state law does not allow city firefighters to work out of title except in emergencies.

There was no emergency on Jan. 10, 2019, said Desmond, Whitehead's lawyer. Whitehead and another Engine 21 firefighter had been alternating as acting lieutenant for months when their actual lieutenant was in training, Desmond said in court papers.

Desmond filed an affidavit from Michael S. Lombardo, the Buffalo fire commissioner from 2006 to 2010, who said Whitehead was not qualified to serve as a lieutenant for Engine 21.

Lombardo said he reviewed photographs, reports, firefighter depositions and other department records.

"Whitehead, an inexperienced firefighter with an inexperienced crew that was unfamiliar with one another, did not have the experience, training, skills or knowledge necessary to safely lead his crew," Lombardo said.

It costs the city a lot of money if they dont have people like Whitehead acting out of title, Desmond said. Theyd have to pull in a lieutenant who was off that day and pay overtime, which we determined would cost anywhere between $1,000 and $2,000 more per day. So its a huge cost savings for the city.

Renaldo defended firefighters "acting up" as lieutenants, a practice in place when he started as a Buffalo firefighter in 1982.

A firefighter must have three years of experience to be acting lieutenant, and the chain of command must feel the firefighter is ready for the responsibilities, Renaldo said at his deposition. Firefighters are not forced to assume the role.

The practice lets firefighters get experience in a rank to which they may eventually seek a promotion. Also, he said, an officer from a different firehouse called in to replace a lieutenant may not be as familiar with firefighting plans for hospitals, hotels, apartments and manufacturing facilities in the district, he said.

"Firefighters permanently assigned and who regularly act up to the rank of lieutenant are in most cases more well versed, more familiar with and more uniquely qualified to serve as acting officers in their permanent assigned district," Renaldo said.

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May 8, 1946  Jan. 18, 2022

Charles "Chuck" Incorvaia, affectionately known to many residents of Buffalo's Allentown neighborhood as the "Bubble Man," died Tuesday, his brother, James Incorvaia, owner of Jim's Steakout, confirmed Wednesday.

Charles Incorvaia was 75.

'Mr. Bubbles' spreads good cheer Charles Bubble Man Incorvaia could be called the eyes of Allentown, he sees so much from his apartment high above Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue. What really catches his eye are the reactions of the people who see the bubbles Incorvaia makes shooting from his window and floating down through the air  day after day, week after week

"He was a private person. He didn't get out much. He was a disabled veteran. He passed away in his sleep last night. He was the Bubble Man," James Incorvaia said in a brief telephone interview with The Buffalo News.

Jim's Steakout posted a message on Twitter on Wednesday announcing Mr. Incorvaia's death.

"For decades, he would make everyone smile by blowing bubbles out of his window above our Jim's Steakout location on Allen & Elmwood," the tweet reads. "Doesn't matter the time of day. If you found yourself on that corner and looked up, you'd see bubbles showered down on Allen St from the early morning to the late night."

Mr. Incorvaia was born in Buffalo and grew up on the city's West Side, where he attended Holy Cross School. He was a graduate of Burgard Senior High School.

He enlisted in the Navy and served on an ammunitions ship off the coast of Cuba, according to his brother.

"Chuck was proud to have served our country in the U.S. Military. He was interviewed many times over the years by different TV stations, newspapers and even the Library Of Congress, who has the story of Chuck's fun 'hobby' listed in their archives. The Buffalo News once called him the 'Eyes Of The Neighborhood' because of how he is always keeping an eye on everything that is happening down below," Jim's Steakout tweeted.

His family is planning a celebration of his life in the spring, James Incorvaia said. In addition, the family will be as setting up a fund to raise money for the Buffalo Veterans Administration Medical Center in his name.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by a son, Christopher, and a sister, Roseann Ross.

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There should never have been a question. Donald Trump, his children and anyone else legitimately connected to an investigation by the New York attorney generals office are subject to the same laws that bind us all. In that regard, he is no one special, regardless of status, wealth or prior public office. The Trumps need to give depositions.

That was clear before Wednesday, when Attorney General Letitia James filed court documents outlining her offices belief that the Trump Organization fraudulently misrepresented the value of at least six properties, along with the Trump brand, itself. But with that court filing, the case for depositions became inarguable, revealing the former presidents refusal as a self-serving attempt to hinder an investigation that could damage his business interests by exposing unsavory, if not illegal, practices.

This is not a criminal investigation, though James is aiding with one underway in the New York City district attorneys office. Its not belated impeachment, either: The misconduct alleged began years ago, as Trumps former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made clear after he provided a cache of Trumps financial records to Congress. His former boss, Cohen said, inflated his total assets when it served his purposes and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes. Now, an official investigation is making the case.

James on Wednesday focused on inflated values that she argued were part of a pattern meant to suggest that Trumps net worth was higher than it otherwise would have appeared. The practices, she said, were fraudulent or misleading.

We have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit, the attorney general said in a statement. Those benefits, she said, included loans, insurance coverage and tax benefits.

James was careful to say that her office had not yet decided whether to file a lawsuit against the Trump Organization, though she said the investigation is reaching into other areas she declined to disclose. To reach a conclusion, she said investigators need to question the former president to clarify who was responsible for misstatements and omissions and whether they were made deliberately. It would be the same for any of us in similar circumstances.

Its important to look at this in another way, as well. White collar misconduct  criminal or otherwise  is too often given short shrift within the American judicial system. But it exacts a cost and, in this case, that could easily include taxpayers.

Trump likes to bully his critics but swagger isnt a defense against the legitimate application of the laws. All James wants to do at this point is to ask him some questions. He needs to comply. And why would he resist, anyway?

  

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A good old-fashioned snowstorm impacted just about everyone in WNY, making fishing a bit more difficult, but not impossible. Hard water may be the way to go for now, but be careful out there.

Ice fishing, Finger Lakes

Conesus Lake: Bobby Joe Frost of Alden reported four to six inches of ice. He saw his 15-year-old son Robert burn through 100 wax worms and ice some 75 bluegills. The ice was nearly perfect black ice about five inches thick. Capt. Jeremy Newman of Docs Tackle in Honeoye reports that the north end is producing good northern pike. Big golden shiners are highly recommended. Scott Brauer, who heads up New Yorks Ice Team, says that after the excessive snow sinks the ice, all bets are off and were back to being super safe, no matter where you are. Spud your way out (and in) and be careful.

Honeoye Lake: Scott Brauer of Gasport was on Honeoye last weekend, and it had a solid seven inches on the south end. When you move towards the middle past 18 feet of water, it was down to about four inches. However, with the snow piled on it, it most likely will sink that ice and make a slushy mess. After the front passed through earlier in the week, the fish became very active. Guide Jeremy Newman from Docs Tackle in Honeoye reported that the bluegill, crappie, perch and walleye anglers were doing well. The usual suspects were working to catch fish, including gold or silver teardrop jigs, tipped with your choice of grub. Waxies, mousies and spikes are what most anglers are using on jigs. Walleye are liking fatheads and bass shiners. Putting a minnow head on a jigging Rapala is another high percentage approach.

Oneida Lake: Brauer says areas of Oneida Lake are fishable, and guys are doing very well on perch. There is not as much snow on Oneida, but finding safe ice should be the focus. Walleye regulations have not changed, and its still a three-fish, 15-inch minimum size per person.

Lake Erie and tributaries

It would be nice to see Lake Erie get some ice cover to let things settle down a bit in the Niagara River, and the last temperature reading we saw on the lake was 34 degrees. Frigid temperatures are on the way this weekend and next week. We could see some ice formation next week if the winds arent too bad. Some ice fishing took place in Buffalo Harbor with four to five inches of ice, according to Keith Pease with Sun Life Marina. Be sure to check the ice and spud your way in and out. As for the tributaries, they were negatively impacted by the recent snowstorm and cold temperatures. Between the snow, shelf ice and slush, not much fishing is going on as far as soft water.

Niagara River

There was only about two feet of water visibility earlier in the week, and boaters have struggled to catch fish. Shore anglers have a better chance at catching trout in the gorge using No. 5 spinners, jigs, egg sacs, and egg imitations like soft and hard beads, to name a few options. On Sunday, before the snowstorm hit, Capt. Ryan Shea of Brookdog Fishing Company got on the water and did well on steelhead and lake trout for customers. His hot bait was a 10mm orange bead, fished off a three-way rig. Its been a while since boaters have been able to get on the water, and there were plenty of fish in the system. When boaters do get out again, fishing should be good. Many skippers are praying for ice cover on Lake Erie, which will really help stabilize water clarity and consistency in the system.

Lake Ontario and tributaries

Matt Vogt of Newfane reports that he found safe ice in the back bay of Wilson over the weekend, and he was rewarded with a dandy 40-inch northern pike that he caught and released. He was using a regular jig tipped with wax worm. Most of the bays along Lake Ontario were reporting safe ice, but with the heavy snows this week, precaution is advised once again. Spud your way out and in, follow all safety protocols and use the buddy system. Chris Kenyon, outdoor promotion person with Wayne County Tourism, says they have ice. At the north end of LeRoy Island in Sodus Bay, they had a solid six inches of ice, using tip-ups for pike. At Third Creek, perch action was hot with anglers using bright teardrop jigs and Swedish Pimples. They only received about five inches of snow and that has blown off most of the bays, according to Kenyon. Ice thickness still varies. Although most of the bays have six inches, the deeper sections freeze slower. If you are unsure of safe ice, spud your way out and in. Perch fishing has been good. As far as the tributaries, everything is on hold according to Scott Feltrinelli with Ontario Fly Outfitters. Shelf ice and slush where you can find open water, with all the small to medium streams iced over. Some larger streams like the Oak Orchard River, with faster waters, could see some action as water levels are moderate and mostly clear, according to Ron Bierstine with Oak Orchard Tackle.

Chautauqua Lake

Rich Davenport of Tonawanda, host of the We Love Outdoors podcast, says the ice is nice on Chautauqua. He encountered plenty of safe ice over the weekend on the lake, just in time for the Chautauqua Lake Ice Fishing Derby sponsored by Chautauqua Reel Outdoors in Lakewood and We Love Outdoors. All fish entries must be submitted via email with substantiation through at least two photos with specific criteria. Davenport said that the cold snap put the ice over four inches, even over the deeper holes. It is the best quality ice he has seen. Too bad the fish weren't very cooperative. Winds helped to keep snow off the ice, but it made for some tough fishing conditions. Capt. Mike Sperry of Chautauqua Reel Outdoors reports that there is lots of snow on top of the ice now. Ice thickness was around four inches before the snow Sunday evening. Caution is always advised. Check shoreline ice before heading out. Stay away from creek mouths and open water. He was hearing reports of walleyes on the north basin and yellow perch on both basins. Best lures have been No. 5 and No. 7 jigging Rapalas. A few of the surrounding lakes have been giving up some pike. Medium and large golden shiners under tip ups is the setup for pike.

Capt. Bobs Outdoors Derby update

Steve Hawk Hawkins of Capt. Bobs Outdoors in Clarence sent a list of new leaders. Bob Joe Frost of Alden took over three different species categories as he moved around to different ice fishing spots. He grabbed the yellow perch lead with a 12 5/8-inch fish from Red Lake in Theresa, using a jig and wax worm. He also caught an 8 1/4-inch sunfish from the same spot, using the same bait. At Braddock Bay, he used a tip-up and a shiner to pull a 31.5-inch pike through the ice. Andy Wengender of Rochester used a power minnow in the Oswego River to take the steelhead division with a 33-inch fish. New crappie leader is Brandon Wagner of Cheektowaga with a 15 1/4-inch fish from Cuba Lake, caught on a jig with plastic.

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Environmental advocates are challenging a pair of decisions by utility regulators they say are bad for consumers and the climate.

In a lawsuit filed in Dane County Circuit Court, the Sierra Club and Vote Solar are asking the court to review the Public Service Commissions recent approval of Madison Gas and Electric rates.

The groups say fixed charges  the minimum monthly fee every customer pays to have an account  included in the two-year rates authorized in November, are illegal and discriminatory.

In an agreement negotiated with consumer and environmental advocates, MGE agreed to shave $2 off its $17 fixed electricity charge, which was among the highest in the state.

But the Sierra Club argues the fee  along with a $21.88 monthly fee for gas service  discourage conservation and customer-owned solar panels, in violation of state law that prioritizes energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The complaint alleges the approved charges are roughly double the basic costs they are intended to cover, such as metering, billing and the cost of the wires and pipes that connect each customer to the system.

It argues the commission expanded the scope of fixed charges through a series of ad hoc orders between 2012 and 2014 rather than following the prescribed rulemaking process for such policy decisions.

The groups say the harm is not theoretical: high fixed charges create a greater burden for those who use the least energy, customers who are lower-income, non-white, and older, on average, already face many social and economic inequities.

By setting a relatively high fixed charge and lower consumption-based rates, the complaint says the commissions decision reduces the ability of customers to control their bills, lowers incentives to undertake conservation and efficiency, lowers incentives to self-generating energy with rooftop solar panels, and imposes higher relative bills for low use customers.

A PSC spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Agreement defended

The commission ordered MGE to submit an analysis of how it allocates basic customer costs, which could result in future reductions, but the Sierra Club argues customers will continue paying higher rates for the next two years.

The settlement will bring MGEs fixed electricity charges in line with the states other largest for-profit utilities, though still higher than the $13 national average, according to an analysis of OpenEIs utility rate database.

In a statement, MGE noted the PSC-approved rates were negotiated with consumer advocates and environmental groups including the Sierra Club, though the club objected to the final agreement.

We are sensitive to any rate impacts on customers, which is why we continue to work hard to contain costs, spokesperson Kaya Freiman said. We appreciate the PSCWs work to carefully review and approve the terms of the agreement consistent with the law.

The Citizens Utility Board, which has long fought for lower fixed charges, called the settlement a big step forward.

We see the reduced fixed charge as a clear win in the settlement, said executive director Tom Content. The settlement is a significant milestone that CUB members have been concerned about for almost a decade.

The Sierra Club and Vote Solar filed a similar lawsuit last year challenging a one-year rate freeze on the grounds that it perpetuated the fixed charge. Judge Jacob Frost put that case on hold in September pending the PSCs decision on the current rate settlement.

David Bender, an attorney representing the Sierra Club, said the groups will seek to have the two cases consolidated.

Gas storage

The Sierra Club has also asked the Commission to reconsider its approval of a $370 million natural gas storage project in southeastern Wisconsin designed to provide fuel when demand peaks.

The group faulted the commissions agreement with WEC Energy Groups load forecast and assessment that it wont be able to meet customer demands without the storage facilities in Jefferson and Walworth counties.

According to the Sierra Club, WECs growth projections are inconsistent with the 17% reduction in gas use that would be required to meet Gov. Tony Evers commitments to emissions targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement and the United States Climate Alliance.

To the extent the Commission concludes that Wisconsin is unlikely to meet the Governors commitments, it should say so explicitly and provide the evidentiary basis for that conclusion, the petition states.

The petition says WECs forecast double counted growth from commercial and industrial customers and inflated projections associated with Foxconns ever-changing plans for a manufacturing campus in southeast Wisconsin.

It also argues the commissions decision contained other legal errors, including putting the burden of proof on opponents to show the feasibility of alternatives.

Intervenors do not have the burden of proof in cases seeking certificates of authority, the petition states. The applicants do.

WEC filed a response Wednesday calling the petition legally and factually deficient and alleging the Sierra Clubs fundamental opposition to gas led it to ignore evidence supporting the project.

Sierra Club may be warmed by its strongly held beliefs, but (WEC) customers need a reliable supply of natural gas to stay warm when the temperature dips, the utility wrote.

A PSC spokesperson declined to comment on the petition.

The project consists of two storage facilities in Ixonia and Bluff Creek that could each hold up to a billion cubic feet of chilled natural gas for times of high demand, when it would be heated and vaporized.

The utilities say the facility will eliminate the need to contract additional pipeline capacity that would only be needed a few days a year or to pay a premium when demand is high, as it was during a cold snap last winter that caused spot prices to soar.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  The Department of Health said Thursday that pharmacies outside the National Capital Region could be tapped to administer more COVID-19 booster shots by February.

The DOH kicked off Thursday the expanded booster program in selected pharmacies and clinics in Metro Manila.

After the first rollout, after one week and evaluation, NCR-wide muna tayo and then after NCR-wide, siguro by second week or third week of February, puwede nating umpisahan sa ibat ibang panig ng ating bansa, based on the readiness assessment of our regional offices. Kung sino ang willing at ready, said DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje in a public press briefing.

[Translation: After the first rollout, after one week and evaluation, we will implement it first for the rest of NCR and then after that, we can possibly start the rollout in other parts of the country by second or third week of February, based on the readiness assessment of our regional offices, whoever is willing and ready.]

A limited number of vaccine doses were allocated to some drug stores for the first day of what is dubbed as "Resbakuna sa Botika" program, which will also be rolled out in two private health clinics on Friday.

The DOH said that the government needs additional assistance in the countrys COVID-19 vaccination program.

In the long run, kung maganda ang kinahinatnan, malaking tulong sa ating mga local government units ang extra vaccination site, mga extra hands, said Cabotaje.

[Translation: In the long run, if it goes well, the extra vaccination site and extra hands would be a big help to our local government units.]

Moreover, the DOH said that only Sinovac and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines will be offered for now.

Initially, ang ibibigay natin ay Sinovac at saka AstraZeneca. Kasi dapat maging gamay ng ating mga pharmacists iyong mga ibang bakuna,said Cabotaje.

[Translation: Initially, we will offer Sinovac and AstraZeneca. We need the pharmacists to familiarize themselves with the other vaccines.]

She noted that the two vaccine brands can be stored in regular refrigerators.

After evaluating the pilot implementation, the Health official said that other vaccine brands may be offered in drugstores and private clinics.

After the Phase 1 or the Phase 2, tignan natin kung puwede nang bigyan ng ibang bakuna. Kasi iyong Pfizer at saka iyong Moderna, kinakailangan ng sensitive handling, Cabotaje added.

[Translation: After the Phase 1 or the Phase 2, lets see if we can give other vaccine brands because Pfizer and Moderna entails sensitive handling.]

As of Jan. 19, government data showed that a total of 121.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered nationwide. Of this number, 59.43 million Filipinos have at least received their first dose, 56.4 million completed their doses, while 5.6 million had their booster shot.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  A Department of Justice (DOJ) panel is set to file murder and frustrated murder charges against nine police personnel for the death of Calbayog City mayor Ronaldo Aquino and three other persons.

In a statement on Thursday, the DOJ said the panel will file the criminal information for four counts of murder and one count of frustrated murder at the Regional Trial Court of Calbayog against the following:

PLTCOL. Harry Villar Sucayre, Team Leader, Philippine National PoliceIntegrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNPIMEG)

PMAJ Shyrile Co Tan

PCAPT Dino Laurente Goles

PLT Julio Salcedo Armeza, Jr.

PSSg Neil Matarum Cebu

PSSg Edsel Tan Omega

Pat Nino Cuadra Salem

PCpl Julius Udtujan Garcia

PSSg Randy Caones Merelos, and several John Does

In its preliminary investigation, the panel found that the officers ambushed the mayor on March 8, 2021 at the Labuyao Bridge in Calbayog City, Samar.

Aquino and two of his aides  security escort PSSg Rodeo B. Sario and driver Dennis Abayon  as well as a civilian identified as Clint John Paul Yauder, were killed in the incident.

The DOJ said another security aide was able to survive after receiving timely medical attention.

The panel also determined that the group's defense of denial, alibi and self-defense held no weight due to the statements of witnesses and pieces of evidence collated by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The policemen earlier maintained that it was Aquinos men who fired first.

The DOJ also mentioned the dismissal of murder and grave threats cases against Ronald Mark Aquino, the late mayors son.

The NBI earlier filed murder charges against the nine police personnel before the DOJ turned the case over to a panel of prosecutors.
Tacloban City (CNN Philippines, January 21)  Eastern Visayas logs 879 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest since the virus was first detected in 2020.

The region also recorded its highest positivity rate at 69%.

With these new infections, Eastern Visayas currently has 3, 710 active cases.

Of the 879 new cases, 299 are from Leyte, 180 from Tacloban, 156 from Samar, 121 from Eastern Samar, 47 from Southern Leyte, 42 from Ormoc City, 24 from Biliran province, and 10 from Northern Samar.

Due to increasing cases of COVID-19, the regional office of the Department of Health in Eastern Visayas (DOH-8) is not setting aside the possibility that the Omicron variant has already reached the region.

This will be confirmed once the samples sent by the regional agency to the Philippine Genome Center arrive next week or in the first week of February.

DOH-8 sent 90 samples to the PGC that were taken from areas with clustering of cases.

The regional Health department continues to strongly encourage the remaining unvaccinated yet eligible individuals, especially our senior citizens, those with comorbidities, and children to get vaccinated and boosted immediately.

Vaccines are still our best defense against COVID-19 and its variants and have proven to be safe, effective, and free," it said in a statement.

The public is reminded to do self-isolation at the earliest signs of symptoms and to follow all the health protocols set by authorities to prevent further transmission of the coronavirus in Eastern Visayas.

"Let us guard against COVID-19 and its variants and be responsible not only for your welfare and health but also for your family and community," it added.

Since it was first recorded, the region now has a total of 56,539 confirmed COVID-19 cases with total recoveries at 52,196 and total deaths at 633.
(CNN)  Several early works by one of the world's most renowned Impressionist painters, Claude Monet, are to be put up for sale by the British auction house Sotheby's, with a combined estimate of $50 million.

The five paintings, which together chart the French master's shift to Abstract Expressionism over a fifteen-year period, will be offered for auction in London in March, Sotheby's said.

The works all predate 1900 -- which means they offer an insight into the artist's development and style before he painted the most celebrated pieces from his "Water Lilies" series in the early 20th century.

"In charting the progression towards his great waterlily paintings, these five stunning works brilliantly articulate the story of Monet as the father of modern art," said Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby's Europe and worldwide head of Impressionist and Modern art.

"Les Demoiselles de Giverny", estimated to be worth between 15-20 million ($25-27 million), features one of the Parisian painter's most recognizable and most commonly recurring motifs -- grainstacks or 'meulettes', which appear more loosely formed than the finished haystacks found in his other works, according to Sotheby's.

It is the highest valued of the five works in the collection.

Another of the paintings, a canvas populated entirely by flowers titled "Massif de chrysanthemes" from 1897, can be viewed as a precursor for Monet's most famous works from the "Water Lilies" series, Sotheby's said in a press release. In fact, his first water lily paintings date from the exact same year that he produced these close-ups of flowers.

Sotheby's said that "Massif de chrysanthemes" was highly likely to have been inspired by the legendary Japanese printmaker Hokusai -- who created the famous "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" -- as Monet owned his "Large Flowers" pieces and was fascinated by the country, to the point that Japanese prints decorated his walls.

"Glacons, environs de Bennecourt," included in the collection, also demonstrates Monet's journey towards the later water lily paintings, the auction house said. This painting conveys the effect of heavy snow and frost on the Seine, and the artist's depiction of the ice on the river's surface is not dissimilar to the portrayal of flowers on the water in the works he began a few years later, Sotheby's noted.

The paintings will go in display in Sotheby's galleries in New York, Hong Kong, Taipei and London before the sale on March 2.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Early works by French master Monet could sell for $50 million in auction."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the release of 1.185 billion for the health workers special risk allowances (SRAs), according to his former aide Senator Bong Go.

Go on Wednesday said the 1.185 billion would be sourced from the 2021 Contingent Fund to cover the SRAs of eligible private healthcare workers and non-Department of Health plantilla personnel, who are directly catering to or in contact with COVID-19 patients.

During a hearing at the House of Representatives earlier this week, the DOH said around 8 billion was released for the SRAs of 496,314 health workers.

Health Assistant Secretary Maylene Beltran said the DOH requested for additional 3.3 billion to fund the SRAs risk of around 185,000 health workers.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila are decreasing as the capital region records a negative weekly growth rate for the first time since Dec. 24 last year, according to OCTA Research.

OCTA Research fellow Guido David on Wednesday tweeted that the region has a -10% weekly growth rate, while the reproduction rateor the average number of people infected per COVID-19 casedeclined to 1.79 from 4.24 last week.

The NCR has 8,376 new COVID-19 cases on Jan. 19, 2022 per Department of Health case bulletin. The last time the NCR had less than 10,000 cases in one day was exactly two weeks ago on Jan. 5, when the surge was still accelerating, he added.

David noted that the pattern is similar to what occurred in South Africa, where a rapid surge [was] followed by a dramatic decrease in infections.

He also pointed out that despite the decrease in infections, Metro Manila is still at critical risk as its average daily attack rate and positivity rate remain above critical levels.

READ: Duque: Spread of COVID-19 slowing down, but PH still at critical risk

Residents are advised not to be complacent and still comply strictly with minimum public health standards so as not to prolong the surge of infections, he added.

On Wednesday, the country recorded 22,958 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 3,293,635.

While the COVID-19 growth rates of NCR and nearby provinces have slowed down, OCTA warned that the growth rates of other areas are accelerating.
Meto Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20)  Children as young as three may soon be allowed to take the same Sinovac shots being administered to the country's adult population to fight COVID-19.

Presidential Adviser for COVID-19 Response Vince Dizon told CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration and the Vaccine Expert Panel are still reviewing Sinovac's application for an amendment of its existing emergency use authorization so its vaccine can be use to inoculate children 3-11 years old. The Chinese manufacturer's EUA application also covers those aged 12-17 years old.

This comes ahead of the expected inoculation of children aged 5 to 11 against COVID-19 next month.

READ: PH eyes vaccination of kids aged 5-11 in early February

"[For] 3-11 po ang inapply ng Sinovac. Yun po ang paliwanag ng FDA sa ating mahal na Pangulo noong Lunes," Dizon explained.

Dizon said Sinovac's application covers a similar formulation that is being used for the rest of the eligible vaccinees in the country.

Sinovac is among the three COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers applying for an EUA amendment to inoculate toddlers and minors. The two others are Covaxin (for 2 to 18 years old) and Sinopharm (3 to 17 years old).

RELATED: Three COVID-19 vaccines seek EUA amendment for use on toddlers, minors

The FDA has so far approved the EUA of the US-made Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for minors aged 12 to 17. The rollout of COVID-19 doses for this age group began in November last year.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez earlier said 780,000 Pfizer doses with a formulation intended for kids 5-11 will arrive by end of January. Over 1.6 million more will arrive a week after.

Data from the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard shows that 56.4 million Filipinos have completed their doses, while 5.6 million have received their boosters as of January 19.
(CNN)  Last June, as Covid-19 cases were surging across Brazil, Camila Basto waited at a Sao Paulo hospital to find out what was wrong with her 9-year-old daughter, Manuela.

Manuela had a fever that reached 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), spots all over her skin and a lump growing out of her neck. Her kidneys didn't function for nearly two days. "Her heart almost stopped," Basto said.

After three days, Manuela was diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a rare condition that affects children who have been infected by Covid-19.

Manuela recovered from Covid, but its side effects have left a lasting impression on her heart: She now has arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat.

"It is so horrible. She was a healthy child, with no underlying conditions," Basto said.

Manuela survived Covid. But hundreds of other children in Brazil haven't.

Between March 2020 and November 2021, 308 children aged between 5 and 11 have died from Covid-19, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

Pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Marcelo Otsuka told CNN that Covid has killed more children than meningitis and measles in the same period, only trailing behind deaths from road accidents.

Now, as a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign for children aged 5-11 is underway, it's providing relief to many Brazilian parents like Basto, who says that it will give her a "peace of mind."

The rollout began on Monday, and with schools back in session from February, many parents feel the same way.

A nationwide survey from the Datafolha Institute released on Monday revealed that 79% of respondents support vaccinating children in that age group. (The survey was conducted by phone on January 12 and 13 among 2,023 people aged 16 and older.)

But the vaccine couldn't come fast enough for some parents, who have been waiting nearly a month to take their kids to get the shot.

The reason? Mainly Brazil's own President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, who says he is unvaccinated, has been widely criticized at home and abroad for playing down the severity of the virus, including discouraging others to get vaccinated, despite Brazil battling one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world.

The president's opposition to child vaccination is the latest instalment in this crusade.

On December 16, Brazil's regulatory agency Anvisa green lit the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children. That same day, Bolsonaro called the decision "unbelievable," and threatened to release the names of Anvisa staff involved in the decision.

Congresswoman Bia Kicis, a loyal Bolsonaro supporter who also has discredited child vaccinations on social media, later revealed those names to a WhatsApp group of Bolsonaro supporters. Kicis justified her actions, saying she thought the documents were public in a hearing on the issue earlier this month.

And just days before the rollout got underway, Bolsonaro falsely claimed in an interview to TV Nova Nordeste that no children have died of Covid, before later saying in the same interview that "some children must have died, but they must have some comorbidity."

Perhaps those words come as no surprise: Last June, while speaking at an event, an unmasked Bolsonaro asked a child to remove her mask, and also took off another child's mask.

His actions are a slap in the face for the hundreds of parents still grieving the loss of their children -- and to Manuela's mother, Basto, who was fearing the worst.

Bolsonaro has also said that he will not vaccinate his 11-year-old daughter, saying that "children have not been dying in a way that justifies a vaccine."

However, "these vaccines offer really good protection, with even greater protection to children than to adults, and with excellent safety," pediatrician and infectious disease expert Dr. Marcelo Otsuka told CNN.

"All studies suggest that vaccines are safe and have very good efficiency for the 5-11 age group," he said.

Otsuka cited data from the US, saying: "When you analyze data from the 7 million doses given in the US to this age group there were no adverse effects reported that should make us concerned."

But Bolsonaro and his administration are largely undeterred by scientific evidence, with their rhetoric instead delaying the rollout.

A 'paradox'

Esther Solano, professor of international relations at Sao Paulo University, told CNN that Bolsonaro's messaging around vaccines for children is part of his long-term political strategy.

When the rollout was approved, Solano said that it presented a "paradox" for the Brazilian leader, who has been denying the effectiveness of vaccines.

"He has to follow his strategy, as he cannot change the speech and adopt a favorable one for the children," Solano said.

Bolsonaro's anti-vaccine rhetoric is not necessarily aimed to stop Brazilian kids from getting the shot, Solano added, but rather part of his long standing campaign to recruit and play up to his far-right base ahead of the October 2022 elections.

"Bolsonaro is mobilizing his radical supporters in thinking about the next elections," Solano said.

Bolsonaro and Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga also proposed a period of public consultation before rolling out the shots and that parents present a medical prescription to get their children vaccinated.

While those proposals didn't pass -- it did stall the rollout.

Brazil is now starting the process much later than many other Latin American countries -- including Cuba, Chile and Argentina, whose child vaccine campaigns have been running for months.

And Queiroga hasn't stopped his attempts to undermine their efficacy. This week, he falsely claimed that thousands of people had died from adverse reactions caused by the vaccines, directly contradicting his government's own data. He later said that those comments were taken out of context by the media.

It's hard to know what Bolsonaro and his allies will benefit from railing against child vaccination, given public support largely backs them -- especially in an election year where the cards could be stacking against him.

Political scientist Camila Rocha told CNN that Bolsonaro's "aim is to unify and mobilize his core supporters (around 20% of voters) around a new controversy -- as well as diverting attention from other subjects that can be uncomfortable."

For Bolsonaro's supporters, the child vaccination issue won't affect their support, Rocha said.

"It could have negative consequences among people who voted for Bolsonaro and are disappointed with his governments and his attitudes during the pandemic -- especially women and young people," she added.

For Basto, Bolsonaro lost her trust a long time ago. She has seen what Covid has done to the country and to her child.

"He is a crazy denialist, what can you say? It is unbelievable that a president would have such attitudes," she said.
(CNN)  President Joe Biden on Wednesday predicted Russia "will move in" to Ukraine, citing existential concerns by the country's president, Vladimir Putin, even as he warned of significant economic consequences should such an incursion occur.

But he suggested a "minor incursion" would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.

"I'm not so sure he is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in. He has to do something," Biden said, describing a leader searching for relevance in a post-Soviet world. "He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the west."

Biden's prediction of an invasion is the firmest acknowledgment to date the United States fully expects Putin to move after amassing 100,000 troops along the Ukraine border.

After speaking with Putin twice last month, Biden said he believed his Russian counterpart had a good understanding of the economic sanctions he was preparing to enact.

"He's never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves, number one," he said, adding the level of punishment would depend on what Russia's invasion looks like. "It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do, et cetera."

"But if they actually do what they're capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine. And that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy," he said.

That includes limiting Russian transactions in US financial institutions -- "anything that involves dollar denominations," Biden said.

A Ukrainian official told CNN's Matthew Chance that he is "shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion" and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions but an invasion would.

"This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure," the official added.

The Ukrainian official said he'd never heard any nuance like this from the US administration before.

"Kyiv is stunned," he added, referring to the Ukrainian government.

In explaining the reference to a "minor incursion" prompting a discussion among Western allies over how to respond, Biden suggested disunity with NATO could lead to debate over how to punish Russia for actions in Ukraine that fall short of a full-scale invasion.

"If there is something that is where there's Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters, et cetera, I think that changes everything," the President said. "But it depends on what he does, to what extent we'll get total unity on the NATO front."

"It's very important that we keep everyone in NATO on the same page. That's what I'm spending a lot of time doing, and there are differences. There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens," he added.

Emily Horne, spokeswoman for Biden's National Security Council, said on Twitter that Biden "was referring to the difference between military and non-military/para-military/cyber action by the Russians. Such actions would be met by a reciprocal response, in coordination with Allies and partners."

The President also warned Russian lives would be lost in an invasion, along with potential Ukrainian casualties.

"The cost of going into Ukraine in terms of physical loss of life for the Russians -- they'll be able to prevail over time but it's going to be heavy," he said. "It's going to be real. It's going to be consequential. Putin has a stark choice. Either de-escalation or diplomacy. Confrontation and consequences."

"This is not all just a cake walk for Russia," he went on. "Militarily, they have overwhelming superiority. And as it relates to Ukraine, they'll pay a stiff price immediately, near term, medium term and long term if they do it."

Biden speculated Putin was not seeking "any full-blown war," but said he did believe he was looking for some type of confrontation.

"Do I think he'll test the west? Test the United States and NATO as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will. But I think he'll pay a serious and dear price for it."

"He doesn't think now will cost him what it's going to cost him," he said. "And I think he'll regret having done it."

Biden later acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the situation.

"The only thing I am confident of is that decision is totally, solely, completely Putin's decision. Nobody else is going to make that decision. No one else is going to impact that decision. He's making that decision. And I suspect it matters which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what he's going to do," Biden said.

He said senior US officials who had met recently with their Russian counterparts came away from the talks uncertain whether anyone aside from Putin truly knew what he planned to do.

"I believe he's calculating what the immediate short-term and the near-term and the long-term consequences of Russia will be. And I don't think he's made up his mind yet," he said.

Biden's prediction came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged Ukrainians to not panic and to "calm down" over fears of a possible Russian invasion.

"All our citizens, especially the elderly, need to understand this: Everyone needs to exhale. Calm down. Don't run for emergency supplies like buckwheat and matches. To all the media: Remain as the media, not become a source of mass hysteria. Do not help the enemy in the pursuit of hype by reporting daily that war may happen tomorrow! This will definitely not stop it."

"What is new here? Is this not the reality for the past eight years? Didn't the invasion begin in 2014? Did the threat of the war emerge just now?" he said.

The only reason for "panic is that after eight years we are still influenced by this panic," he added.

Zelensky said Russia's "aim is to weaken Ukraine" in order to force Kyiv to concede to Moscow and "to create such a background that our 'no' sounds weaker."

The Ukrainian leader said Moscow is "actively attacking your nerves, not our state. So that you have a constant feeling of panic."

This story and its headline have been updated with additional reporting.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Biden predicts Russia 'will move in' to Ukraine, but says 'minor incursion' may prompt discussion over consequences"
(CNN)  Multiple people were killed in a "huge explosion" that took place after a motorcycle collided with a vehicle carrying explosives in Ghana Thursday, according to police and one eyewitness.

The blast appeared to have completely leveled Apiate, a small town in western Ghana. Kwadwo Bempah, who works in the area and heard the explosion, told CNN that nearly every building there had collapsed, trapping people and animals trapped under rubble.

The dead, he said, were "all around."

"It is a real tragedy for Ghana," Bempah said.

Police said most of the victims have been rescued and admitted to various hospitals and clinics. No more details were released on their condition.

"The police and other emergency service providers have activated a full emergency recovery exercise," a police statement said. "We urge all to remain calm as we manage this unfortunate situation."

"The police have taken charge of the situation providing security to enable the emergency workers including the Ghana National Fire Service, NADMO and the Ambulance Service to manage the situation," another statement read.

"The public has been advised to move out of the area to nearby towns for their safety while recovery efforts are underway," it added.

The police statement urged nearby towns to open classrooms, churches and other buildings to accommodate surviving victims.

Apiate, Bempah said, is small and residential, with a population of no more than 10,000. "Most of the people are farmers and miners," he said.

In the initial aftermath of the accident, Bempah said the local community stepped in as first responders, pulling people and animals from collapsed debris and rushing the wounded to hospitals before ambulances arrived.

The explosives were being delivered to a nearby mine run by Chirano Gold Mines, according to a press officer for the company, Kwabena Owusu-Ampratwum.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and the rescue efforts," Owusu-Ampratwum said.

Ghana has witnessed a series of gas explosions in recent years, with one of the worst blasts killing more than 150 people in the capital Accra in 2015. The explosion occurred as hundreds of residents sought shelter at a gas station from heavy rains.

Last October, at least one person was killed and another injured in a gas related explosion in Accra, local media reported.

In the same month, three people lost their lives in another blaze in the country's Ashanti region.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "'Huge explosion' in Ghana after vehicle carrying mining explosives hits motorcycle."
(CNN)  The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot is asking former US President Donald Trump's daughter and then-senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump to voluntary cooperate with its investigation, a major step for the panel closing in on the former President's inner circle.

The committee publicly released a letter dated Thursday addressed to Ivanka Trump seeking "voluntary cooperation with our investigation." In the letter, the committee revealed explosive new details about the former President's actions on the days leading up to and on January 6.

A key investigative thread the panel wishes to discuss further with Ivanka Trump is her knowledge of her father's efforts to try and stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election and the specific pressure campaign that he enacted on former Vice President Mike Pence to bend to his will.

The panel said Ivanka was privy to a telephone conversation between her father and Pence on the morning of January 6 where her father tried to convince Pence to impede the certification of the 2020 presidential election, where she could only hear her father's side of the conversation.

A spokesperson for the former President's daughter told CNN Thursday afternoon that "Ivanka Trump just learned that the January 6 Committee issued a public letter asking her to appear."

"As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally," the spokesperson said. "As she publicly stated that day at 3:15pm, 'any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.' "

Pressed whether the statement means Trump will not comply with the invitation, the spokesperson did not respond.

Through testimony provided by Keith Kellogg -- Pence's national security adviser who was with Trump in the White House when the riot was happening -- the panel discloses how the former President attempted to coerce Pence.

In sworn testimony to the committee, Kellogg confirmed that the former President told Pence, "You're not tough enough to make the call."

Kellogg also corroborated an account of the phone call where Trump claimed that if Pence did not do what he was asking, he had selected the wrong running mate.

"Mike, it's not right. You can do this. I'm counting on you to do it. If you don't do it, I picked the wrong man four years ago. You're going to wimp out," the transcript of the interview read that Kellogg confirmed.

Kellogg also revealed in his testimony to the committee that after the phone call ended, Ivanka Trump turned to him and said, "Mike Pence is a good man" to which Kellogg affirmed, "Yes, he is."

In its letter to Ivanka Trump, the panel reveals that it has testimony proving she was not the only person in the Trump White House who believed Pence did the right thing by not listening to Trump.

The panel shares that a former senior White House official with daily contact with Trump said of Pence's actions on January 6, "I believe, yes, it was the right thing to do." The committee also disclosed that this individual also believed that the election results were determined once election-related litigation concluded.

The panel is asking Ivanka Trump for her account of this conversation and any other ones she may have witnessed where her father discussed plans to obstruct or impede the election certification process.

Another example of a conversation the committee wants to ask Ivanka more about refers to documents it has on file that suggest the former President's White House counsel "may have concluded that the actions President Trump directed Vice President Pence to take would violate the Constitution or would be otherwise illegal."

The panel also reveals a new text exchange between a lawmaker from the House Freedom Caucus and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, where the lawmaker warns about the former President's plans and asks Ivanka if she had similar conversations with Meadows, Pence or his staff.

"If POTOS [meaning President Trump] allows this to occur...we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic" the text message reads.

The committee announced its plans to seek Ivanka Trump's cooperation in a statement following remarks from its chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who cited the former President's daughter in comments to reporters.

"You will anticipate the committee inviting some people to come talk to us," Thompson said on Capitol Hill on Thursday. "Not lawmakers right now. Ivanka Trump."

The panel had previously revealed that it is learning more about Ivanka Trump's interactions with her father on the day of the attack on the US Capitol.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the committee and one of its two Republican members, told ABC News last month that the panel has "firsthand testimony" that during the attack, Ivanka Trump asked her father to intervene.

"We know his daughter -- we have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to 'please stop this violence,'" Cheney told ABC News.

CNN previously reported on some of these interactions, described in the books "I Alone Can Fix It," by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, and "Peril," by Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. Ivanka Trump repeatedly tried to intervene, talking to her father three times. "Let this thing go," she told him. "Let it go," she said, according to "Peril."

The panel's expected reach out to Ivanka Trump comes after CNN previously reported that the committee had subpoenaed and obtained records of phone numbers associated with one of Trump's other children, Eric Trump, as well as Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., sources tell CNN.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "January 6 committee asks Ivanka Trump to talk with them."
Students who want to serve their country as officers in the military can apply to the U.S. Military Academy, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, or the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Applicants need excellent grades, solid test scores, and with the exception of the Coast Guard Academy, a nomination from their senator or representative.

As Nebraskas senior senator, I have had the privilege of nominating hundreds of qualified young men and women over the years. My staff and I carefully review Nebraska students applications to see if they are a good fit, and I then nominate many of them.

At the service academies of the U.S. military, young men and women are transformed into Americas future leaders. Graduates have a guaranteed job for at least five years, and after that time, they can choose to remain in the military or pursue other opportunities. Many go on to successful careers in business, medicine, law, and other fields.

In fact, if you look at which schools prepare their students to earn the highest starting salaries, service academies are at the top of the list. Graduates of the Naval Academy, for example, earn a median starting salary of nearly $80,000.

There are other benefits, too. At many private universities, expenses like tuition and room and board can cost more than $70,000 a year. But at service academies, your education is completely free, and the military pays for students to pursue summer internships, learn new languages, and travel around the world. Those who attend even receive a monthly stipend.

This year, I was proud to nominate 27 exceptional Nebraskans to the service academy of their choice. These young men and women are from all over the state of Nebraska and expressed an interest in many different fields of study, from engineering to the sciences.

Students can ask for a nomination to a single school if they are certain about where they would like to attend, but many applicants arent sure which academy would be their preference. Students can receive a nomination to more than one if they choose  this year, I nominated several students to four different academies.

This nomination is important, but it is just one step in a rigorous process. These students will go through the same application process as students who want to attend traditional colleges, and only the most qualified applicants will gain admission.

If you or someone you know are interested in attending a service academy, please reach out to my office. Applications open as early as February of your junior year of high school, and aspiring military academy students are encouraged to get a head start by applying early.

The U.S. militarys service academies arent for everyone, but they offer opportunities that students cant find anywhere else. The skills future officers learn there will be invaluable no matter what they choose to do with their lives.

It was an honor to nominate 27 outstanding young Nebraskans for the class of 2026. I look forward to nominating even more students next year.

Deb Fischer is a U.S. senator for Nebraska.

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Major Stephen Long described the Plains as the Great American Desert when his expedition studied our region in 1820. It is almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course, uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence, wrote his groups geographer. Fast forward 200 years, and Nebraska has developed into a global powerhouse of agricultural production. We rank #1 in the nation in agricultural cash receipts per capita.

How have Nebraskans transformed the Great American Desert" into some of the most productive ag land in the world? Through our inventive and responsible use of water resources. While weve used these resources wisely, the actions of our neighbors in Colorado threaten to deplete them.

The water we depend on for agriculture, drinking water, and other uses isnt confined within our states borders. The Ogallala Aquifer underlies eight states, and rivers like the Republican River and Platte River flow across state lines in and out of Nebraska. Over the years, weve negotiated agreements with surrounding states regarding our shared water resources.

One such agreement is the South Platte River Compact that Nebraska signed with Colorado nearly 100 years ago, in 1923. It regulates the use of the waters of the South Platte River, which originates in the Rockies and flows through Colorado into Nebraska.

Colorado is currently planning nearly 300 projects and over $10 billion of expenditures to ensure no excess water leaves its state. This threatens to choke off the flow of water into Nebraska.

The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NeDNR)working with the Attorney Generals Office, natural resources districts (NRDs), and public power districts in our statehas been vigilantly watching developments in Colorado. NeDNR estimates that Colorados plans, when fully implemented, will cause a nearly 90% reduction in flows coming into Nebraska from Colorado.

This would dramatically impact Nebraskans. Colorados plans to siphon off water from the South Platte River would decrease agricultural water supplies and raise pumping costs for our residents. It would jeopardize municipal water supplies for Lincoln, Omaha, and other Platte River communities. The loss of water would threaten the cooling water supplies for Gerald Gentlemen Station, Nebraskas largest electric generation facility. The decreased flow would also undercut our capacity to generate hydroelectric power in Nebraska. The reduction in water would almost surely increase costs and regulatory burdens for the State, our NRDs, and water users.

The good news is that the South Platte River Compact entitles Nebraska to construct a canal to ensure access to our fair share of the South Platte Rivers water. The agreement specifically provides Nebraska authority over water and land in Colorado for the project.

On January 10th, I announced Nebraskas intention to construct this canalpending the Unicamerals approvalto protect our water users from reduced South Platte River flows. My mid-biennium budget recommendation for the Legislature will include $500 million for the canal project. Upon approval, well engage stakeholders on project location and design.

Constructing the canal is the primary means for Nebraska to exercise our legal rights to water flows from the South Platte River. If we fail to act now, Nebraska could see sharply reduced inflows from the South Platte River. As I already mentioned, this would have a devastating impact on our state. By taking initiative to build the canal, were protecting Nebraskas water rights for our kids, grandkids, and generations beyond. Given the States strong financial position, budget resources are available to undertake this historic project without incurring a penny of debt.

Nebraskas way of life depends on access to our states abundant water resources. Weve been great stewards of our water through the years. For example, weve maintained the Ogallala Aquifer, on average, within one foot of where it was in the 1950s. Weve done all of this while developing into a global leader in agricultural irrigation.

Inventions like the center pivot, the development of drought-resistant hybrid crops, and the use of precision irrigation techniques have optimized our use of water resources. The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute estimates that crop water productivity for corn and soybeans in Nebraska increased 75% from 1990 to 2014. In other words, our farmers are continuously growing more crops with less water.

All of Nebraska stands to gain when we preserve, protect, manage, and engage in good stewardship of our water supplyand all stand to lose if we fail to do so. Our ag producers are reliant on water supplies as they work to feed the world. Communities from Ogallala to Omaha depend on the Platte River for drinking water. We use water from the Platte River to generate power, and the river is crucial to the quality of our natural environment as well.

I urge the Legislature to act now and protect our water supplies from being irreversibly diminished. You can help by reaching out to your State Senator to make your voice heard. Their contact information is available at NebraskaLegislature.gov.

If you have questions about the proposed canal, write me at pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov or call 402-471-2244. Lets seize the moment to make sure future generations of Nebraskans can enjoy the water resources theyre entitled to.

Pete Ricketts is the governor of Nebraska.

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Things are picking up at the Capitol in the second week of session as we began floor debate and continued introduction of new legislation. So far over 350 new bills have been introduced, and more will be expected until the deadline for new bill introduction on Jan. 20.

The Legislature debated a few carryover priority bills from last session. LB310, introduced by Senator Robert Clements, would reduce inheritance tax rates and increase exemptions. This bill passed the first round of debate and was advanced to Select File.

I co-sponsored LB364 introduced by Senator Lou Ann Linehan, which would have created a state income tax credit for donations to organizations that create private school scholarships for low-income students. LB364 was filibustered once again by opposing senators and failed to advance.

Governor Pete Ricketts delivered his State of the State address to the Legislature last Thursday, detailing his priorities for the 2022 session. One priority continues to be tax relief. For the next two fiscal years, $548 million in annual property tax relief will be delivered through LB1107 passed in 2020.

Another priority is securing Nebraskas water supply and investing in Nebraskas water resources. $500 million is being requested to construct a canal system in Western Nebraska and reservoir system along the Platte River between Lincoln and Omaha, $60 million to restore drinking water systems in rural areas of the state, and $200 million is being requested for other water projects presented by the STAR WARS (Statewide Tourism and Recreational Water Access and Resource Sustainability) Special committee, which I am a member of.

One of the proposals specifically affects District 23 and involves flood control measures along the lower Platte River near Schuyler and in the Wahoo Creek watershed. These proposed projects will be discussed further during the legislative session and require approval.

If you are interested in following the legislative process or want an in-depth look on what is happening in the Legislature, the Unicameral Update Newsletter provides sections and information for every bill heard on the floor of the legislature each day as well as information on each bill heard in committee. This newsletter is a useful tool to gain additional knowledge about the introducer, sponsors, intent and language of the bills proposed and debated. Should you wish to receive a print edition of the newsletter call 402-471-2788 or email uio@leg.ne.gov. The Unicameral Update is also published online at update.legislature.ne.gov.

I appreciate hearing from constituents on issues affecting District 23 and encourage you to contact my office on legislation at 402-471-2719 or bbostelman@leg.ne.gov
Platte County Board of Supervisors Chairman and District 2 Supervisor Jerry Micek is asking interested parties to share information on local projects that may be eligible for the county's American Rescue Plan Act funds before the board's Feb. 1 meeting.

"What I want them to do is, between now and then...contact the county clerk's office, and the county clerk will inform them of exactly what they have to bring in (prior to the Feb. 1 meeting)," Micek said.

Micek said he hopes that the board will discuss possible uses for the county's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds at a regular, public meeting on Feb. 1. He indicated that the goal will be to have the county board look over the proposals before the meeting.

"All we're going to do is discuss this, we're not going to make any decision," Micek said.

Platte County Clerk Jennifer Brown said proposals are due before Jan. 31. Brown said proposals may be sent by mail to the Platte County Clerk's Office, 2610 14th St. in Columbus, or by email to jbrown@plattecounty.ne.gov. They can also be submitted in person at the clerk's office.

"Proposals should include the applicant for the funding, an in-depth explanation of the project including costs and where they feel the project falls under (ARPA) requirements," Brown said in a Jan. 19 statement provided to the Telegram. "For more information please call the clerk's office at 402-563-4904, or view the U.S. Treasury website, home.treasury.gov."

A couple of entities have already shown interest in the county's ARPA funds, which the county has until the end of 2024 to obligate and until the end of 2026 to expend accordingly.

At the board's most recent public meeting on Tuesday morning, Habitat for Humanity of Columbus Executive Director Lori Peters requested $500,000 ARPA funds for water and sewer infrastructure costs associated with Habitat's New Hope 2 housing subdivision in Columbus.

The board accepted Habitat's proposal on Tuesday, but did not make any promises about awarding funds.

"I think it's a worthy project. If we have permission to do it, I'm all for it," District 6 Supervisor Jerry Engdahl said at Tuesday's meeting. "(But) if we spend money and it's not authorized, then we have to pay it back."

Peters indicated that she believes Habitat's request is eligible for the county's ARPA funds.

"(Previously,) Habitat International...sent information out about these funds and how they could apply to Habitat's mission," Peters said on Tuesday. "...And there was clarification that came out on Jan. 6. I made a valiant effort to read those clarifications and, as far as I can understand, the infrastructure part is exactly as Habitat International thought about a year ago. Because we are serving a community that is disproportionately affected by COVID -- low-income, minority -- we qualify."

The clarification to which Peters referred is the final rule, released by the United States Treasury on Jan. 6. The final rule expands on the guidance offered in the May 2021 interim rule. The final rule contains additional, final guidance on how ARPA funds may be used.

The National Association of Counties (NACo) has released some information interpreting what the final rule means for counties.

"(It) expands eligible uses for water and sewer projects to include culvert repair, dam and reservoir rehabilitation and stormwater infrastructure, among others," a Jan. 6 NACo blog post by NACo Deputy Director of Government Affairs Eryn Hurley said.

A more detailed analysis on the final rule was posted on the NACo website on Jan. 13, which included a section on how it expands eligibility for water and sewer infrastructure projects.

On the Treasury website, "making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, to support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and to expand affordable access to broadband internet" are listed among the permitted uses for ARPA funds.

Molly Hunter is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at molly.hunter@lee.net.

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Two residents of a short-staffed long-term care center were found dead Sunday night in Thomasville when police, first responders and medical personnel conducted a welfare check.

An investigation into the center continues.

According to a police statement released Tuesday, the families of the unidentified deceased residents of Pine Ridge Health & Rehabilitation Center had been notified of their deaths by staff before the police investigation began.

Their bodies were sent to the autopsy center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Another two patients were found to be in critical condition. One was taken to High Point Medical Center, while the other was transported to Thomasville Medical Center.

Officials with Principle LTC, the Kinston-based operator of Pine Ridge, could not be immediately reached for comment on the deaths and police investigation.

Investigators said the welfare check was requested by residents, who told authorities staff members had not been seen by some residents and could not be reached by phone.

Police arrived at the center at 706 Pineywood Road at 7:56 p.m. Sunday.

According to the report, officers determined there was inadequate staffing to accommodate the 98 patients of the facility. The facility had one licensed practical nurse and two certified nursing assistants available at the time of the investigation.

Officers contacted Thomasville Fire Department and Davidson County Emergency Medical Services for assistance with a door-to-door assessment of every resident. That took until 7:30 a.m. Monday.

Obviously, the weather and road conditions contributed to the inadequate staffing issues with this facility, Capt. Brad Saintsing of the Thomasville Police Department said in the report.

"First and foremost, we want to ensure each and every resident of the facility is getting the quality of care they deserve. With these types of facilities, there is a protocol, and we want to ensure it was followed as it relates to the weather and/or emergency situations."

Among the investigating agencies are the State Bureau of Investigation, Davidson County District Attorneys Office, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and Davidson County Social Services.

DHHS is currently at the center overseeing operations.

According to the Principle website, it operates 56 centers involving about 7,200 beds in North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, offering services ranging from short-term transitional care to Alzheimers and dementia care.

In its latest report, the state said Pine Ridge had a cluster of eight staff members and two residents who had tested positive for COVID-19. There had been no related deaths as of Jan. 11.

A cluster is defined as at least five cases over a 28-day period. The state does not report when the cases were diagnosed.

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Editor's note: This story is part of the Lee Enterprises series "Grizzlies and Us." The project examines the many issues surrounding the uneasy coexistence of grizzly bears and humans in the Lower 48, which have come more into focus in recent years as the federally-protected animal pushes farther into human-occupied areas. The 10-part series, comprised of more than 20 stories, was produced by reporters and photojournalists across the Rocky Mountain West.

Montanans seem of two minds regarding grizzly bears in their midst.

A University of Montana survey completed this year found nine of 10 Montanans believe grizzly bears belong in the state, while just 3 percent thought grizzlies should not be anywhere in Montana.

Yet the same survey also found 83% of Montanans supported some level of grizzly bear hunting season.

We were extremely surprised at the strong, overwhelming public support for grizzly bears, said UM researcher Alex Metcalf, who co-authored the survey paid for by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. To get 90% agreement on anything is rare. But 92% of Montanans say bears have a right to exist in Montana.

The strong support for a hunting season was equally surprising, Metcalf said. Only 16.7% felt grizzlies should never be hunted.

However, responses fragmented when asked more specific hunt-related questions. Just over a third of Montanans agreed that hunting would make grizzlies more wary of humans, while another third disputed that claim and 29% were undecided. About 61% said people should be allowed to hunt grizzlies as long as the bear population can withstand the pressure. But only 46% supported using grizzly hunting to reduce human-bear conflict, while 36% opposed the idea and 18% had no opinion.

This sort of makes sense in the context of other wild animal management we have in Montana, Metcalf said. We like to have wild animal populations and we manage them by hunting them. And the survey sees lots of agreement that hunting is a viable tool. If were going to do something other than that, we need to have that conversation.

For many, the lines are clear: Grizzlies should be available to hunt like any other charismatic western big game animal. In an interview with the Billings Gazette shortly before the 2017 delisting effort failed in court, now-Gov. Greg Gianforte said he was all for allowing a trophy hunt.

"Id be the first one putting in for a tag," Gianforte said in 2016. I did a grizzly hunt once up in Alaska. I didnt connect, but  I look forward to the day when we have a grizzly hunt in Montana.

Asked at the time if he though a grizzly hunting season would eventually arrive in Montana, Gianforte bet it would.

Again, this is part of bringing science back to the process," he said. "We need to conserve and preserve our wildlife. I think one of the best ways to do that is through scientifically set hunting quotas to keep them at sustainable levels. I think, when Montana issues a grizzly tag, theres going to be a lot of people applying, and I will be one of them."

That presents a biological challenge.

Studies in Alaska have shown that places with lots of grizzlies can sustain a lot of hunting for mature male bears, if the females and cubs are protected. But the evidence is inconclusive that hunting is effective at targeting problem bears or reducing conflicts.

At a December gathering of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Bear Specialist Group, bear biologists and game wardens from all over North America compared notes on the effectiveness of grizzly hunting. Chris Servheen, who led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly program for 35 years, supervised the session.

"Hunting bears teaches bears nothing, as death is not a learning experience," Servheen said. While some Montanans claim that grizzlies were more leery of humans before the end of legal grizzly hunting in 1993, that's more likely because there were actually very few grizzlies left to get into conflicts, he said. And the practice of sport hunting has little relationship with conflict-management, as it's extremely difficult for a private hunter to find and kill the specific bear that raided a chicken coop or other depredation. Furthermore, hunting tends to be extremely restricted for safety reasons in residential areas where food-attracted bears get into trouble.

And the total population of grizzlies in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a sliver of the 20,000 or more grizzlies in Alaska. The 1,000 or so grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem could quickly see a population crash after a few over-successful hunting seasons. The Cabinet-Yaak, with perhaps 50 grizzlies, cant stand to lose a bear.

Alaska continues to allow big-game hunting of grizzly bears, although neighboring British Columbia banned trophy grizzly hunts in 2017. Wildlife biologist Sterling Miller, whos worked in both Montana and Alaska, said his experience revealed a complicated relationship between hunter and hunted.

In Alaskan places where grizzlies were hunted, Miller said they showed extra wariness when humans were nearby. But historically, most successful grizzly hunting grounds were near national parks or other refuges, where bears got habituated to human presence and then fell to hunters just over the border.

You can hunt wildlife populations in a sustainable way, Miller said. But its more problematic for small or isolated populations like grizzlies. Theres less resilience in those small systems.

Hunting grizzlies also risks a public backlash that could have unintended consequences. A 2021 study published in Conservation Biology by Chris Darimont at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, warned that opposition to grizzly trophy hunts could hurt big-game hunting overall.

The killing of large carnivores for trophy and not food, conducted by few hunters, has potential to threaten the social license to hunt afforded to the larger group who hunt for food, Darimonts study found. Social license means the general public acceptance of an activity.

Only 2 percent of U.S. hunters pursue black bears. In places with more opportunity, such as the Rocky Mountain West, wolf and bear hunters made up about 18 percent of Montanas hunting community.

In 2018 court filings favoring delisting, Safari Club International argued hunting grizzlies should be allowed to reduce the threat big-game hunters seeking other species faced when in grizzly habitat. The second reason was that grizzlies were considered a high-value trophy for those who enjoyed hunting. If the population was large enough to endure some hunting take, it should be allowed, the SCI lawyers claimed.

Those are just code words playing to a narrow political base, looking for a way to rationalize killing a big predator, countered Kevin Van Tighem, a retired Canadian national parks superintendent and grizzly bear biologist. The number of bears is irrelevant. The question is: Can we achieve something useful for society by hunting?

Van Tighem said his experience managing Banff, Elk Island and other grizzly-frequenting Canadian parks showed that hunting bears tended to address human concerns more than species management.

"Far more people killed every year by mishandling of firearms, and I know how you (Americans) think about firearms," Van Tighem said. "Your problem isnt the bear. It s the fear."

This Julys grizzly mauling death of a bicycle camper in Ovando happened a few months after the Montana Legislature passed a collection of measures directing the state Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks to take a much more aggressive approach to predator control than it had in the past. Public policy in Wyoming and Idaho have also taken a harder stance toward grizzlies. Yet in Washington, D.C. the winds have shifted in the opposite direction.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lost its latest bid to delist the grizzly bears of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) two years ago, and to date hasnt announced how it plans to go forward. A five-year status report on grizzly recovery released last March found that while the NCDE and GYE grizzly populations were biologically recovered, grizzly populations in four other recovery areas remained precarious or non-existent. As when they were first listed, human-caused mortality and habitat loss remain the top threats to grizzly survival. In sum, it recommended keeping grizzlies under the Endangered Species Act.

The GYE delisting effort was initiated under President Barack Obama, but collapsed under President Donald Trump. Trumps Interior Secretary David Bernhardt visited Montana and promised more federal effort to kill problem grizzlies. President Joe Bidens Interior Secretary Deb Haaland co-sponsored legislation to protect grizzlies in perpetuity when she was a Congresswoman from Arizona.

The two biggest recovery areas, the NCDE and GYE, both anchor around popular national parks. Millions of tourists come each year, supporting thousands of local businesses and employees. Many dream of seeing a bear, and they post their success on social media with videos that professional biologists used to spend entire careers hoping to see. In August, amateur videographers caught two grizzlies fighting over a bison carcass in the Yellowstone River and a sow grizzly digging a marmot out of its burrow in Glacier Park while its cubs watched. Grizzly 399 in Grand Teton National Park has her own series of bumper stickers, among other fan memorabilia.

The University of Montana survey also found Montanans supported trying mitigation tactics like carrying bear spray, following food storage guidelines and securing attractants from property. Each of those proposals drew at least 90% agreement.

More livestock-related tactics such as changing ranching practices or using carcass-removal programs drew more opposition, but still had at least two-thirds of Montanans in favor.

Wildlife managers and wildlife biologists have widely differing attitudes about the effectiveness of grizzly hunting to achieve desired goals. While big-game species such as deer and elk number in the tens of thousands across Montana, the state holds about 1,000 grizzlies. Grizzlies are the slowest-reproducing mammal in North America.

Theres overwhelming agreement that grizzly bears are a positive contribution to the economy of Montana, Metcalf said of the survey results. Theres also a great deal of support for encouraging conflict-reduction. Were trying to balance the costs of bears and the value of bears.

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A one-story home on Martin Avenue in Farmington was heavily damaged by a fire early Wednesday afternoon.

According to Farmington Fire Chief Todd Mecey, firefighters responded to a 12:30 p.m. call of a first alarm residential fire at 410 Martin Avenue.

On arrival, we had a working fire under the house, he said. There was some extension up into the main portion of the house, but it was primarily contained under the house.

The fire was extinguished within about 25 minutes of arrival. The house received extensive damage, as well as the structural components under the home.

Mecey said the Missouri State Fire Marshals Office will not be conducting an investigation into the fire.

At this time, our in-house department investigator has determined the cause of the fire to be accidental, he said.

Farmington Fire Department was assisted on the scene by the Wolf Creek, Doe Run and Big River fire departments. No injuries were reported.

Kevin R. Jenkins is the managing editor of the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-783-9667 or kjenkins@farmingtonpressonline.com

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JEFFERSON CITY  Backers of a congressional map that would likely send six Republicans and two Democrats from Missouri to the U.S. House muscled the plan through the state House on Wednesday over opposition from Democrats and some Republicans.

The plan, which advanced to the Senate on an 86-67 vote, leaves intact the safe Democratic district of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, which some Republicans opposed. It also shores up Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagners GOP-leaning 2nd Congressional District in the St. Louis suburbs, which Democrats want to make more competitive for the next decade.

Even with the 6-2 plan advancing, supporters werent able to muster the 109 votes needed for the map to take immediate effect, with most Democrats withholding support and many Republicans breaking ranks to vote down an emergency clause. A vote on the emergency clause provision failed 95-55.

The map now moves to the Senate, where that chamber may make changes and place an emergency clause on the bill. Doing so would send the plan back to the House, where votes on the revised map and emergency clause would take place.

Conservative hard-liners in the Senate on Wednesday said they planned to block the plan; they want an aggressive gerrymander that would eliminate Cleavers safe Democratic district.

Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, said the GOP couldve approved a 7-1 map and that Wagners district could flip to the Democrats this decade, resulting in a 5-3 split between Democrats and Republicans.

Given the trends that we see in St. Louis County, thats going to be filled by a Democratic representative in the years to come, Eigel said. Weve got a real fight on our hands to fight for the Republican message here in the Senate.

Like Eigel, Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, said the possibility that Missouri could send three Democrats to Congress within a few elections would give President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi more votes to support a Democratic agenda.

Its bizarre in the extreme, Onder said.

The 6-2 map emerged from the House with few changes from an original draft unveiled in December. At the time, Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, the Republican chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, praised the House version.

This is a fair and constitutional map with common-sense boundaries that everyday Missourians can recognize, Bernskoetter said in December.

In the House, Democrats spoke against the 6-2 plan, even though the majority of Republicans have opted not to pursue a more aggressive 7-1 plan.

That fact appeared to draw complaints from Rep. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, who is running for Congress in the 4th Congressional District.

We bend over backwards, Walsh said. We work with them all the time and they still vote against what we put forward.

Rep. Jerome Barnes, D-Raytown, said Missourians deserved a better map.

This map continues to ... not (be) reflective of Missouri, he said.

The map splits St. Louis County between the 1st and 2nd congressional districts like the system currently in place.

The 1st, represented by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, would take in more Webster Groves-area precincts than it currently does. Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed a plan that would move these majority white, Democratic-leaning areas to the 2nd.

Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, D-St. Louis, said her proposal to shift the boundaries of the 1st would strengthen its minority-majority status. Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, said areas she represents would be better off in the 2nd.

CD 1 is a voting rights district and my district is working to reconcile with a history of racism, Unsicker said. I dont agree with that being part of a voting rights district.

St. Charles County would be divided between the 2nd and 3rd districts under the plan. The St. Charles County delegation has advocated for placing the entire county within one congressional district, so far to no avail.

Jefferson County, south of St. Louis, would be placed entirely within the 3rd Congressional District, represented by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, near Jefferson City, in mid-Missouri.

The county is currently split between the 2nd, 3rd and 8th congressional districts.

Lincoln County, north of St. Louis, would move from the 3rd District to the 6th District, covering northern Missouri.

Kurt Erickson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Jack Suntrup  573-556-6186 @JackSuntrup on Twitter jsuntrup@post-dispatch.com

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Editors Note: Exhibits shares information about exhibitions presented on display or online in Charlottesville and Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange counties. Items must be received by noon Friday for the next weeks issue. Include the opening and closing dates of your exhibit and a telephone number the public may call with questions. Send your information to jsathe@dailyprogress.com.

The Arts Center in Orange: Sea Summit Sky, new paintings by Ramey Campbell, can be seen in the Morin Gallery through Saturday. artscenterin orange.com. (540) 672-7311.

The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative: Parasitic Plasticity includes works by 2021 Collaborative Residents Margaret Kim, Miriam Tobias and Jum Jirapan. Exhibition can be viewed by appointment throughout January. the bridgepai.org.

Cville Arts Cooperative Gallery: The Studio Sale is presented throughout January. Open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. 118 E. Main St. (434) 972-9500.

Chroma Projects: Gallery will be closed for the month of January. artlab@chromaprojects.com. chromaprojects.com.

The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia: In keeping with UVa guidelines, masks are required indoors, regardless of vaccination status. uvafralinartmuseum.virginia.edu.

The Gallery at Studio IX: The Prolyfyck Exhibition Series continues in January with the art of Marley Nichelle to benefit Prolyfyck Run Creww. studioix.co. Face coverings must be worn when entering the building and at all times in the gallery. (434) 242-0905.

James Monroes Highland: Interior spaces have reopened for the first time since March 2020. Look for newly interpreted interior spaces in Highlands standing house. Exhibit content creates an inclusive story of Monroes life and career that includes enslaved people, Monroes family and additional historical figures as important parts of the sites history. highland.org/plan-your-visit/tours-and-tickets/.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection has opened the first part of the two-part exhibition Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu (Past & Present Together): 50 Years of Papunya Tula Artists, tracing the Papunya Tula Artists movement from 1971 through the mid-1990s. It can be seen through Feb. 27. The second part, celebrating the role of women artists and featuring paintings created during and since the 1990s, will be open from March 17, 2022, to Feb. 26, 2023. Boomalli Prints and Paper: Making Space as an Art Collective can be seen through June 19. Tours have resumed and will be led for free by volunteer guides at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. each day the museum is open. Longer tour experiences for groups will be available for purchase. Masks are required. Make reservations at kluge-ruhe.org. 400 Worrell Drive. (434) 244-0234.

The Looking Glass: Arts from Underground classes will begin with artmaking from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursdays and karaoke from 8 to 10 p.m. for $25 per person. IX Art Park Foundation has opened a major expansion of its immersive art museum, which opened in January 2020, featuring works by 12 new and returning artists. Mixed-media creatures by Joe Vena, video projection art by Aaron Farrington and multicolored bar designed by River Hawkins. See new works by technology artist Jeff Dobrow and gnome house creator Katarzyna Borek. Caterpillar tunnel features mixed-media art by artist-in-residence Samantha Ashkani. Entrance features curio shop by Marc Boston and Adrienne Oliver and assembled by new curio coordinator Ella Caplin. Mad Travelers Treehouse features art by John Snell and lead artist Kathryn Wingate. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, noon to 8 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $15, $12 ages 4 to 13 and free for ages 3 and younger. ixartpark.org.

McGuffey Art Center: Connections: possibilities/impossibilities by Susan Patrick is in the Sarah B. Smith Gallery. 2022 New Members Show on the first floor features works by Andrea Trimble, Miriam Tobias, Rob deBara, Mike Powers, Anna Fox Ryan, Stuart Howe, Jill Averitt, Sam Fisher, Shandoah Goldman, S. Dawn Hanson, Alan Box Levine, Benita Mayo and Karen Pape. Skywatch is in the Associate Gallery. All exhibitions on view through Jan. 30. mcguffeyartcenter.com.

Nichols Gallery: Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, and by appointment or by chance. 5420 Governor Barbour St. in Barboursville. (540) 832-3565.

Northside Library: Acrylic paintings by Jane Matthews will be featured on the Art Wall through Jan. 31. Photography by Bill Shaw can be seen in the Quiet Study Room through Saturday. 705 W. Rio Road. jmrl.org.

Piedmont Place: Photography, oils, pastels and mixed-media works by bozART members Randy Baskerville, Sara Gondwe, Julia Lesnichy, Brita Lineburger, Craig Lineburger and Andy Stafford can be seen in the second-floor hallway at 2025 Library Ave. in Crozet through March 31. All works are for sale.

Piedmont Virginia Community College: These Memories Cant Wait: Beryl Solla will be on display from Feb. 4 to March 26 in the PVCC Gallerys North and South galleries. An opening reception is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 4. pvcc.edu/performingarts. (434) 961-5362.

Random Row Brewery: Photographer Cassidy Girvin is the featured artist for January and February at 608 A Preston Ave. Hours: 4:30 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 4:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays, noon to 11 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 8 p.m. Sundays.

Rockfish Valley Community Center: Student Sketches, Paintings, Projects, Pixels, pieces by art class and Art Club students at Nelson County High School. 190 Rockfish School Lane in Afton. rockfishcc.org. (434) 361-0100.

Second Street Gallery: Inside the Artists Studio in the Main Gallery and The Third Mind in the Dove Gallery will be on view through Friday. secondstreetgallery.org.

Torosiete Museum of Contemporary Art: Hearts Lonely Hunters (1995) by Daniel Kuttner and Beatrix Ost is streaming at the virtual contemporary art gallery. Streaming instructions: http://heartsmovie.torosiete.museum/.

Les Yeux du Monde: Signs of the Day by Dean Dass has been extended through Jan. 31. A previously announced closing reception has been canceled. Masks will be required for entry, and a capacity limit will be placed on the number of attendees allowed in the gallery at one time. Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays and by appointment. To make an appointment, call (434) 882-2622 or email LYDMGallery@gmail.com. Visit LYDM.co for more information. (434) 882-2622.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville: Shirley Paul is the featured artist for January, and her work can be seen from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily except for Saturdays. 717 Rugby Road. (434) 293-8179.
Michael C. Rogers, who has experience leading cities such as Washington, D.C., New York and Petersburg, will lead Charlottesville as interim city manager.

The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to appoint Rogers, who will be working on behalf of the Robert Bobb Group, LLC to perform key city duties until a permanent city manager is hired.

Rogers is the sixth person to serve in the city manager role since 2018. He will start his service on Jan. 31.

The city decided to hire a firm to perform the duties of interim city manager after former City Manager Chip Boyles resigned in October, and the citys candidate for interim city manager, Marc Woolley, pulled out of the position before his start date.

Rogers served as city administrator of Washington, D.C. and as executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the regional planning agency.

He also acted as chief operating and financial officer for Petersburg and served as contracts and chief procurement officer for mayors in New York City and Washington, D.C.; national director of the Minority Business Development Agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce; and director of the Mayors Office of Contracts and City Chief Procurement Officer for Washington. D.C.

Rogers faced some criticism following his time as city administrator under then-mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry, the Washington Post reported in 1997. Some D.C. officials told the Post they felt Barry didnt make enough tangible change and fix financial issues within the city, while others said Rogers did a good job in the face of government chaos.

On Tuesday, Rogers told the city he values open government and wants to bring transparency to the table.

I look forward to engaging with the staff and becoming a part of the team and leading the team so that the citizens of Charlottesville are proud every day at the level of service that their government provides. A government that will listen, is open and transparent, thats my style. Thats what I look for, he said.

Mayor Lloyd Snook said he was particularly impressed by Rogers interest in mentoring other city employees.

One of the things that I remember particularly about [Rogers] interview is that [he] enjoyed mentoring and teaching younger, deputy city managers, people who are middle managers in city government, Snook said. Thats something we really need and it really resonated with me in particular.

The city hired the Robert Bobb Group in December to serve the city until it can hire a permanent city manager, projected for later in spring 2022. In the meantime, the firm is tasked with tackling the citys urgent needs, including developing the fiscal year 2023 budget.

As part of the firms contract with the city, tasks identified as urgent needs by the city must be performed by an individual employed by the firm that has a masters degree in public administration or a related field and at least 10 years of professional experience as a city manager in an urban locality, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Rogers, along with two other candidates, were nominated by the firm. City Council chose Rogers after conducting interviews last week.

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The parents of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died after being taken hostage by North Korea and released by the country in a coma in 2017, should receive $240,300 seized from a North Korean bank account, a federal judge has ruled last week.

The amount would be a partial payment toward the more than $501 million Fred and Cindy Warmbier of Wyoming, Ohio, were awarded in 2018 by a federal judge who ruled that the secretive regime was responsible for the UVa third-year students kidnapping, torture and death.

The payment was ordered last week by a federal judge in New York, who directed the state comptroller to give the Warmbiers money seized from North Korea. Its unclear how much of the $501 million award has been paid to the Warmbiers.

The couple have claimed that their son, a third-year UVa Echols Scholar, was tortured by North Korea after being convicted in 2016 of trying to steal a propaganda poster and imprisoned for months. The 22-year-old suffered severe brain damage and died shortly after being returned to the United States in a vegetative state in June 2017.

After his death, Warmbiers lead neurologist concluded his brain damage most likely resulted from loss of blood flow to the brain for a period of five to 20 minutes. Experts told the court that his injuries were consistent with torture.

Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 as he prepared to leave the country after a five-day trip to North Korea with a tour group.

North Korea officials at the time of his arrest said Warmbier was under investigation for perpetrating a hostile act against the [country] after entering it under the guise of tourist for the purpose of bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity at the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.

North Korea denied that it tortured or cruelly treated Warmbier and said it was the biggest victim in his death, accusing Washington politicians and South Korea of orchestrating a smear campaign.

During a 2019 Hanoi, Vietnam summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, then-President Donald Trump said he didnt think Kim was involved in the mistreatment of Warmbier.

He tells me that he didnt know about it, and I will take him at his word. Trump said at the time.

Warmbier told the North Korean court he wanted the banner with a political slogan on it as a trophy for the church member, who was the mother of a friend and was offered a used car in exchange.

He also said one of UVas secret societies encouraged him to take a banner.

North Koreas highest court sentenced Warmbier to 15 years of hard labor in prison.
Entering the new year, Americans are increasingly divided. They clash not only over differing opinions on COVID-19 risk or abortion, but basic facts like election counts and whether vaccines work. Surveying rising political antagonism, journalist George Packer recently wondered in The Atlantic, Are we doomed?

It is common to blame people who are intentionally distributing false information for these divisions. Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa says Facebooks [bias] against facts threatens democracy. Others lament losing the shared sense of reality and common baseline of fact thought to be a prerequisite for democracy.

Fact-checking, the rigorous independent verification of claims, is often presented as vital for fighting falsehoods. Elena Hernandez, a spokesperson for YouTube, states that Fact checking is a crucial tool to help viewers make their own informed decisions and to address the spread of misinformation. Ariel Riera, head of Argentina-based fact-checking organization Chequeado, argues that fact checking and quality information are key in the fight against the COVID-19 infodemic.

Many people, including TV commentator John Oliver, are demanding that social media platforms better flag and combat the flood of lies. And worried Twitter engineers sought to pre-bunk viral falsehoods before they arose during the United Nations Glasgow climate summit in 2021.

As a social scientist who researches the role of truth in a democracy, I believe this response to Americans deepening political divisions is missing something.

Fact-checking may be vital for media literacy, discouraging politicians from lying and correcting the journalistic record. But I worry about citizens hoping for too much from fact-checking, and that fact checks oversimplify and distort Americans political conflicts.

Whether democracy requires a shared sense of reality or not, the more fundamental prerequisite is that citizens are capable of civilly working through their disagreements.

Curing misinformation?

Misinformation is no doubt troubling. COVID-19 fatalities and vaccine refusal are much higher among Republicans, who are more likely to believe unproven claims that COVID-19 deaths are intentionally exaggerated or that the vaccine harms reproductive health. And studies find that exposure to misinformation is correlated with a reduced willingness to get vaccinated.

Brookings Institution researchers found fact-checking mostly influences the politically uncommitted  those who do not have much information about an issue, rather than those who have inaccurate information. And debunking can backfire: Informing people that the flu shot cannot cause the flu or that the MMR injection is safe for children may make vaccine skeptics even more hesitant. Some participants in a study appeared to reject the information because it threatened their worldview. But some scientists say that fact-checking only very rarely backfires.

A 2019 experiment found that carefully crafted rebuttals to misinformation could dull the effects of false claims about vaccines or climate change, even for conservatives.

Still, a 2020 meta-analysis, a study that systematically combines dozens of research findings, concluded that fact-checkings impact on peoples beliefs is quite weak. The more that a study looked like the real world, the less fact-checking changed participants minds.

Not that simple

The task of fact-checking also comes with its own set of problems. In my view, when the science is complex and uncertain, fact-checkings biggest risk is exaggerating scientific consensus.

For example, the idea that COVID-19 might have emerged, or escaped, from a Wuhan, China, laboratory was labeled as doubtful in 2020 by The Washington Posts fact-checkers. Facebook flagged it as false information in early 2021. But many scientists think the hypothesis merits investigation.

Or consider how USA Today has labeled as false the idea that natural immunity protects as well as vaccination. The newspapers fact-checkers only cited a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study and did not address earlier Israeli research suggesting the exact opposite. When fact-checkers show limited views of the facts in a scientific debate, they can leave citizens with the impression that the science is settled when it really may not be.

Exaggerating the certainty of science can undermine public trust in science and journalism. When fact checks about masking flip-flopped in 2020, some people wondered whether the experts behind the fact checks were being genuine.

Also lost in worries about the dangers of misinformation is the reality that factually dubious speech can be politically important. A screed against the MMR vaccine might repeat a discredited claim about immunization causing autism, but it also contains vital political facts: Some people distrust the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the pharmaceutical industry and resent the amount of control they feel that state health officials wield over them.

Citizens dont just need to be alerted to potential misinformation. They need to know why other people are skeptical of officials and their facts.

No winners, no losers

The problems that Americans face are often too complex for fact-checking. And peoples conflicts run far deeper than a belief in falsehoods.

Maybe it is better to let go, at least a little, of the idea that Americans must occupy a shared reality. The point of political systems is to peaceably resolve conflicts. It may be less important to our democracy that the media focus on factual clarity, and more vital that it helps people to disagree more civilly.

Psychologist Peter Coleman studies how people discuss contentious issues. He has found that those conversations arent constructive when participants think of them in terms of truth and falsehood or pro and con positions, which tend to spur feelings of contempt.

Rather, productive discussions about difficult topics happen by encouraging participants to see reality as complex. Simply reading an essay highlighting the contradictions and ambiguities in an issue leads people to argue less and converse more. The focus becomes mutual learning rather than being right.

But it isnt clear how best to bring Colemans findings out of the laboratory and into the world.

I propose that news outlets offer not only fact checks but also disagreement checks.

Rather than label the lab leak hypothesis or natural immunity idea as true or false, disagreement checkers would highlight the complicated sub-issues involved. They would show how the uncertain science looks very different depending on peoples values and level of trust.

Disagreement checks would be less concerned, for instance, with the correctness of calling ivermectin a horse dewormer. Instead they would focus on exploring why some citizens might favor untested treatments over the vaccine, focusing on reasons other than misinformation.

Maybe some combination of fact-checking and other tools can curb the publics susceptibility to being misled. But by focusing a little less on the facts and more on the complexities of the problems that divide them, Americans can take one big step back from the abyss, and toward each other.

T his article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/fact-checking-may-be-important-but-it-wont-help-americans-learn-to-disagree-better-174034.
Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.
 Open studio hours suspended, through Jan. 31, Maxtivity Art and Craft Creative Space, 1604 Main St., Philomath. The staff will be reorganizing the space. All memberships will be extended two weeks. The drive-through window will be open 12:30 to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for checkout of take-and-make kits and books.

 "Vessel," through Feb. 9, Main Gallery, The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison Ave., Corvallis. Artists John Holdway, M. V. Moran, Alanna Risse, Rhonda Vanover and Brenda Whitehill-Schlenker have collaborated on a show about the human body and the human condition. Hours: noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The "Art For Lunch" talk on "Vessel" can be viewed at https://theartscenter.net/vessel.

 "Broken Glass: Re-Imagined," through Feb. 19, The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison Ave., Corvallis. Glass paintings by Mel Archer, created by fusing glass in multiple layers. Hours: noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. "Art for Lunch" talk, noon Jan. 20.

 "Celebrate Oregon's Diversity Exhibition," through March 18, Giustina Gallery, LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th St., Corvallis. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and during events. Information: https://lasells.oregonstate.edu/exhibit/call-artists-celebrate-oregons-diversity-exhibition.

 "Frances Stilwell: Oregon's Botanical Landscape," through May 1, Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave., Portland. Stilwell, a Corvallis resident, has donated 81 of her botanical illustrations to the historical society's museum collection.

 Corvallis Arts Walk, 4 to 8 p.m. Jan. 20. A map is available at www.corvallisartswalk.com.

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Linn County District Attorney Doug Marteeny has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Kate Brown challenging her use of clemency orders to grant nearly 1,000 commutations of prison sentences in Oregon.

In an interview, Marteeny called Browns use of clemency orders an overreach of her executive authority.

In effect, shes re-writing sentencing laws, he said.

Commutations have become more controversial amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a factor the governor's office has cited in granting hundreds of new sentence commutations in the past two years.

A sentence commutation effectively releases an inmate from prison early, before the remainder of the sentence is up. The Oregon Department of Corrections establishes guidelines on convicts who are eligible, which say, among other conditions, they must be within six months of their planned release.

In the wake of outbreaks and deaths in Oregon prisons related to COVID-19, the governors office has focused especially on people who have a higher danger from the disease.

But Marteeny, who is joined in the lawsuit by Lane County District Attorney Patty Perlow, says that the governors clemency authority was never meant to be used in this sweeping way.

Going forward, if the governor wants to do any more, we want her to follow certain steps, Marteeny said. What Im really wanting is to increase the voice of the victims in the process of commutations.

Marteeny said that, while the Oregon Constitution does grant the governor clemency authority, that power is subject to such regulations as might be provided by law. He asserts that the current process is flouting those regulations.

The larger philosophical issue, he said, is whether Oregons criminal justice system is governed by a legislative process or governed by the executive branch.

What this lawsuit does cover is that I do believe that the governor does have limits on her power, and Im trying to enforce those limits, Marteeny said. When this power is granted, it needs to be wielded humbly. Otherwise, what youre doing is setting a system of not legislative governing and instead a system of one person governing.

So far, only the D.A.s from Linn and Lane counties have signed onto the lawsuit. Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson has no plans to join the lawsuit.

I think that the lawsuit brings up some interesting legal issues," Haroldson said. Each countys perspective is made different, and I certainly cant speak to Linn Countys, but I can just say that Benton Countys perspective is that we will not be joining this lawsuit at this time.

Others may join in later, but Marteeny said that part of the job of a D.A. is to pick ones battles.

The bottom line is that every D.A. has to make decisions on what battles to fight, and this was one that I was willing to fight, as well as the Lane County D.A., he said. Its not personal, its just simply that I believe the law sets this limit, and someone needs to step forward and enforce those limits.

The lawsuit was filed in Marion County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Jan. 18. In addition to the county D.A.s, four crime victims who were directly affected by the governors clemency actions are also part of the lawsuit, according to a Linn County press release.

Troy Shinn covers healthcare, natural resources and Linn County government. He can be reached at 541-812-6114 or troy.shinn@lee.net. He can be found on Twitter at @troydshinn.

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A Sweet Home teenager was killed in a car crash on Highway 20 just east of Foster on Wednesday, Jan. 19, according to a news release from Oregon State Police.

At around 4:18 p.m., OSP Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a report of a single motor vehicle crash on Highway 20 near milepost 34.

According to the news release, preliminary investigation revealed that 18-year-old Jasper June Keeney of Sweet Home was operating a white 2004 Chevrolet Silverado eastbound when she lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve and rolled into the eastbound ditch.

Keeney was pronounced dead on scene.

Highway 20 was closed for 4 1/2 hours after the crash. Sweet Home Fire and Rescue and Oregon Department of Transportation assisted OSP.
[January 20, 2022] Enterprise Connect 2022 Expands Conference Program, Adding Keynotes from Google Cloud, Microsoft and RingCentral Enterprise Connect, the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise communications and collaboration, has expanded its conference program with new keynote presentations from Google Cloud, Microsoft and RingCentral. Enterprise Connect 2022 will take place March 21-24 at the Gaylord Palms hotel in Orlando, Florida and virtually. Register here. For more than 30 years, Enterprise Connect has brought corporate IT decision makers together with industry vendors, analysts, consultants, and channel partners. Over four days, Enterprise Connect offers a conference program that meets enterprise professionals' need for in-depth information and insights crucial to supporting hybrid work through unified communications and collaboration technology-at a time when these topics are more critical than ever. Eric Krapf, General Manager, Enterprise Connect said, "Enterprise Connect is committed to focusing on the issues central to enterprise communications and collaboration. We're excited to gather the brightest minds in the industry to discuss growth and innovation and also showcase the latest systems, software, services and applications." The three newly-announced keynoters are: Andrew Moore, Vice President and General Manager, AI and industry solutions at Google Cloud will present a keynote address on March 23. Moore oversees the teams who are creating the products and solutions that empower every enterprise to transform their business with AI. Previously, Moore worked as a dean and computer science and robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and as VP of engineering for Google Commerce. Nicole Herskowitz, General Manager, Microsoft Teams, will present a keynote address on March 22. Herskowitz is responsible for Microsoft Teams product marketing. Prior to the Teams business, Herskowitz spent over five years leading product and developer audience marketing for Microsoft Azure. She also held leadership roles on the Visual Studio, SharePoint and Project businesses. During her nearly 20 years at Microsoft, Herskowitz's responsibilities have included product management, product marketing and sales strategy and execution functions in both worldwide and European offices. Prior to Microsoft, Herskowitz worked for a startup focused on a customer relationship management SaaS solution for small businesses. Herskowitz also worked as a strategy and technology consultant at Arthur Andersen. Kira Makagon, Chief Innovation Officer, RingCentral will present a keynote address on March 23. An 11-year veteran of RingCentral, Makagon leads global product, user experience, engineering, cloud operations, security and IT. She has been a critical driver in defining RingCentral's product strategy and global reach that has led to rapid year-over-year growth from pre-IPO to over $1.5B in annual recurring revenue. Throughout her career, Makagon has pioneered multiple transformational technologies and companies, and served as an advisor to entrepreneurs and early stage companies. These executives join previously-announced keynoters Jeetu Patel, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Security and Collaboration, Cisco and Gary Sorrentino, Global Deputy CIO, Zoom Video Communications. The Enterprise Connect Conference Program offers more than 40 sessions spanning nine tracks that encompass critical industry topics including: Contact Center & Customer Experience

Video Collaboration & A/V

Collaboration Platforms

Practical AI

CPaaS & Communications APIs

Unified Communications & UCaaS

Workplace Strategies

Management & Networks

New: Security & Compliance Enterprise Connect will also present a one-day conference-within-a-conference, "Communications & Collaboration 2025," with sessions focused on helping enterprise IT decision-makers craft their strategic technology plan for the next three years. View the complete conference program here.

Women in Enterprise Communications Spotlight, IT Hero and Best of Enterprise Connect Awards

Enterprise Connect also announced winners for two of its awards programs, and the approaching deadline for a third program: The Women in Enterprise Communications Spotlight Awards recognize and celebrate women who demonstrate outstanding qualities of leadership and expertise in technology. The Spotlight Award is presented to women who work within enterprise IT or other organizations involving communications and collaboration technology at non-vendor companies. The award is specifically intended to encourage and recognize women who have chosen to make a career as technologists or technology leaders in the enterprise. Women in Enterprise Communications Spotlight award winners: Danielle Joiner McPherson, Director Global Reservations Tech & Innovation, Delta Air Lines

Sinead Aylward, Vice President, Contact Center Technology, Endurance Warrant Services

Dawn Pielstick, Vice President of Information Systems Applications, Mutual of Omaha

Lisa DeLapo, Director of Information & Instructional Technology, Union School District The IT Hero Awards honor enterprise IT professionals and teams who go above and beyond their day-to-day communications/collaboration responsibilities to provide exceptional service, vision and expertise to their organizations. IT Hero Award winners: Josh Lamont, Senior Telecommunications Engineer, Brown University

Senior Telecommunications Engineer, Allison Stalvey, Manager of Reservations Data Strategy, Delta Air Lines

Alan Noble, Director, Telecommunications, SelectQuote

Director, Telecommunications, Roselia (Rose) Funes, Senior Manager for Collaboration and Communication, Yum! Brands The Best of Enterprise Connect award program recognizes excellence and innovation by the exhibitors and sponsors of Enterprise Connect. The nomination deadline is January 28. Click here to make a submission. "Congratulations to this year's award winners of both the Women in Enterprise Communications Spotlight and IT Hero Awards - they represent the best of the best in our industry. We look forward to celebrating them and the Best of the Enterprise Connect award winners at our event in March," added Lisa Schmeiser, Enterprise Connect co-chair and Editor-in-Chief of No Jitter. Click here for more information or to register to attend Enterprise Connect. Enterprise Connect will also offer a digital component for enterprise communications and collaboration professionals to participate virtually. For media registration click here. Enterprise Connect will take place March 21-24, 2022 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL. For information on exhibition or sponsorship opportunities, contact Natalie Bustamante at Natalie.bustamante@informa.com. Stay connected with Enterprise Connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. About Enterprise Connect

For more than 30 years, Enterprise Connect has been the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise communications and collaboration in North America. Enterprise Connect brings corporate IT decision makers together with the industry's vendors, analysts and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise communications. Enterprise Connect owns and produces No Jitter, (nojitter.com), providing daily blogging and analysis of enterprise communications, and it also serves the community with a weekly email newsletter, research surveys and a Webinar Series. For more information, visit enterpriseconnect.com/orlando. Enterprise Connect is brought to you by Informa Tech. About Informa Tech

Informa Tech is a market leading provider of integrated research, media, training and events to the global Technology community. We're an international business of more than 600 colleagues, operating in more than 20 markets. Our aim is to inspire the Technology community to design, build and run a better digital world through research, media, training and event brands that inform, educate and connect. Over 7,000 professionals subscribe to our research, with 225,000 delegates attending our events and over 18,000 students participating in our training programs each year, and nearly 4 million people visiting our digital communities each month. Learn more about Informa Tech. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005270/en/

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Across Colorado, student enrollment remains lower than would normally be expected, a trend that began with a dramatic public school enrollment drop in 2020, when the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic disrupted normal life  especially education.
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Digicel has confirmed that limited international calling capabilities have been restored in Tonga, and that it is working on improving capacity.

The operator groups regional CEO Shally Jannif stated that international calls were now possible on the islands of Tongapatu and Eua via a satellite link which uses 2G networks. Currently only 400 calls can be made at any one time, but Jannif confirmed that Digicel is receiving additional amplifiers and satellite modems to boost output power and capacity.

TeleGeography reported that the islands of Haapai and Vavau will be connected in the coming days by additional satellite antennas, although Jannif noted that damage to Tongas international submarine cable must be repaired before normal services can resume, saying: We expect to put up all basic services in the next few days and then we hope to install more equipment to bring GPRS and 3G basic data services up so bank ATMs, EFTPOS and other services can be up in Tonga.

On Saturday 15th January, Tonga was hit by devastating tsunamis created by several eruptions of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai volcano, which is situated 65km north of Tongas main island Tongatapu.
Nicaragua is the largest and least densely populated country in Central America. The countrys steady GDP growth since 2010 belies the low economic base, given that it has the lowest GDP per capita in the region, with some 60% of the population living below the poverty line.

As a result, much of the economic drive has been the result of international assistance, particularly from the World Bank and other agencies.

The proposed construction of a canal between the Pacific and Caribbean with Chinese funding incorporates deep-water ports, an oil pipeline, railroad, and international airport is an ambitious attempt to deliver greater economic benefits to the country. The project is indicative of Chinas economic encroachment in the region. However, the project has not started due to the negative environmental impact and questions around its viability.

Nicaraguas telecoms market has mirrored the countrys poor economic achievements, with fixed-line teledensity and mobile penetration also being the lowest in Central America. The fixed line broadband market remains nascent, with population penetration below 4%. Most internet users are concentrated in the largest cities, given that rural and marginal areas lack access to the most basic telecom infrastructure. Internet cafes provide public access to internet and email services, but these also tend to be restricted to the larger population centres. To address poor infrastructure, the World Bank has funded a project aimed at improving connectivity via a national fibre broadband network. There are separate schemes to improve broadband in eastern regions and provide links to Caribbean submarine cables.

America Movils Claro has a clear lead in all of Nicaraguas telecom sectors, including fixed-line, mobile, broadband, and pay TV. The number of mobile subscribers overtook the number of fixed lines in early 2002, and the mobile sector now accounts for most lines in service.

Telefonica sold its operations in Nicaragua to Millicom in 2019. Millicoms Tigo (previously Telefonicas Movistar) is the only company competing with Claro in the fixed-line and mobile market. In the mobile sector, Tigo holds almost a third of the market, but in the fixed-line sector it has only about 10% market share.

Due to a weak regulatory structure and bureaucratic delays, further liberalisation has been a slow process. The market duopoly has dampened the competitive drive between the two main players, and as a result there has been less effort than in neighbouring countries to improve quality and lower prices. Nevertheless, there are other companies operating in the market, including the Russian state corporation Rostejnologuii, Yota Mobile and IWB Holding. In the mobile market Chinas Xinwei Nicaragua (Xinwei Intelcom) launched services in early 2016, operating under the CooTel banner.

BuddeComm notes that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on the telecoms market. On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, has offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect has been a reduced (and sometimes negative) subscriber growth, which will continue into 2021.

Overall progress towards 5G has been postponed or curtailed in some countries.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

America Movil announces plan to spin off towers and other related passive infrastructure in Latin American countries;

Nicaragua on the cards to be joined to the Caribbean Express (CX) submarine cable;

Telcor issues regulation requiring operators to preserve data generated from telecom services;

BT Group sells its Latin American units and assets to CIH Telecommunications Americas;

Tigo develops $50 million plan to modernise its mobile network in Nicaragua;

Tigo launches the Mi Tigo self-management tool for customers;

Millicom selects Harmonic to deploy a cloud-based wireline broadband architecture;

Tigo to provide digital services to 830 Walmart stores in Central America;

World Bank approves $80 million credit for the Nicaragua Hurricanes Eta and Iota Emergency Response Project;

Report update includes the regulator's market data, ITU data for 2019, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, recent market developments.

Get a Full Copy of this Report

Developing Telecoms market report summaries are produced in partnership with BuddeCom, the worlds largest continually updated online telecommunications research service.

The above article is a summary of the following BuddeCom report:

Report title: Nicaragua - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Edition: November 2021

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

Number of pages: 103

Companies mentioned in this report: America Movil, BellSouth, Claro, Datang Mobile, Movistar, Millicom International Cellular (MIC), Nicacel, Telcor, Telefonica, Tigo, Xinwei Telecom, Yota Nicaragua

Single User PDF Licence Price: US$890

For more information or to purchase a copy of the full report please use the following link: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Nicaragua-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?r=83
Indian telecommunications company Tata Communications (previously known as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) posted a 27.8% rise in consolidated net profit at INR 3.95 billion (GBP 40 million) for the third quarter ended December 2021.

The digital ecosystem enabler said in a regulatory filing that its total income declined marginally during the reported quarter to INR 42.03 billion as against INR 42.31 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2020-21.

"Digital Platforms and Solutions continue to improve and gain growth momentum, revenues grew by +5.2% QoQ and +6.7% YoY. Within Digital Platforms, all segments except Collaboration witnessed double-digit YoY growth and strong sequential growth. Core Connectivity witnessed revenue growth of +1.6% QoQ and +1.3% YoY," said the company.

A.S Lakshminarayanan, MD and CEO, Tata Communications, said, We witnessed another quarter of good sequential growth in our data business, with digital platforms and solutions delivering robust results. We continue to focus on providing holistic solutions to our customers and accelerating their digital transformations.

Kabir Ahmed Shakir, Chief Financial Officer, Tata Communications, said, We are pleased with the growth in revenue as well as profitability during Q3 FY22. Our performance demonstrates sustained progress in our journey towards our financial fitness. Healthy improvement in free cash flows and reduction in net debt provides us the headroom to invest for future growth.
Statement at UNSC Briefing on Colombia

Statement

Thank you very much Madam President.

I want to start by warmly welcoming Presidential Counsellor Archila to the Council. It is good that you are joining us here today, you are very welcome. Renewed appreciation of course to Special Representative Ruiz Massieu and your team, thank you. Senora Giraldo, I wanted to say to you that your powerful words to us will not be forgotten, and in response to your last question, neither will you.

Thank you indeed.

I also wish to congratulate the parties to the agreement for standing together in November to commemorate peace and the impressive results of five years of communal effort. Above all, I want to of course congratulate the Colombian people for their continued commitment to peace, justice and reconciliation.

Madam President, today I will focus my intervention on three important and interconnected aspects of Colombias ongoing journey to sustainable peace 

First, the year ahead will see important advances in Transitional Justice. We stand with the institutions as they deepen their work on truth, justice and reconciliation in a manner that centres on victims and survivors. In particular, we acknowledge the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, and look forward to the final report of the Truth Commission. The healing engendered by truth and reconciliation is essential to, and will often offer a foundation for an inclusive, stable and lasting peace for all Colombians.

My Second point is that ahead of the upcoming elections and forthcoming transition, we cannot overstate the importance of the ongoing implementation of the peace accord being recognised as non-negotiable, non-partisan, a common value. We urge the continued prioritisation of the comprehensive implementation of the peace agreement, including through the adoption of urgent legislation in its support. There is no time to lose.

The creation of the transitional electoral districts for peace is an important moment, as well as, we belive, a truly powerful expression of self-determination for victims and survivors. We are pleased to see 202 women stepping up, stepping forward in these districts. This is encouraging.

Recognising just how complex the process can be, we welcome the Governments support to these new districts. We also encourage the Government and all relevant stakeholders to intensify efforts to ensure the smooth functioning of the elections and the safety of all participants. We further recommend that the Government convene the high-level mechanism to this end.

Third point is that we continue to be concerned at the unacceptable levels of insecurity in too many areas of Colombia. Threats and intimidation by those who profit from insecurity and crisis cannot be allowed to undermine democracy and imperil the hard won building of long lasting peace. We condemn, in the strongest terms, the recent attacks on Colombian security forces by illegal armed groups.

Madam President, we categorically condemn the killing of 10 more former combatants, including indigenous woman leader Maria Munoz who had already endured the killing of her husband last June, and the killing of a further 34 Human Rights Defenders. The shocking killing last Friday of teenage indigenous environmental activist, Beiner David Cucuname, a 14-year-old boy, is really a travesty. The continued targeting and killing of HRDs and former combatants simply cannot be countenanced. Such brutality must be addressed and impunity ended.

Madam President. It may sound cliched to say that the comprehensive implementation of the peace agreement will not provide all the solutions required to end insecurity. However, it does have the power to address many of the contributory challenges. The agreement can act as a roadmap to address many outstanding issues of concern and to ensure state presence in historically neglected areas. Above all, it provides much needed space for continued dialogue, fundamental to ensuring a sustainable and peaceful future for all Colombians.

Madam President,

In conclusion, I recall the Secretary Generals words following his recent visit - the international community has a moral obligation to ensure that this inspirational peace process is successful. As Colombia now moves to the next phase of implementation, Ireland reiterates our continued support as partner in peace.

Thank you Madam President.

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[January 20, 2022] Sprinklr Enters Contact Center as a Service Market to Unify Customer Care with New Voice Offering Sprinklr (NYSE: CXM), the unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform for modern enterprises, today announced the launch of Sprinklr Modern Care Voice. Built on Sprinklr's unified CXM platform, Modern Care Voice marks Sprinklr's entry into the Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) market with a voice offering informed by insights from modern channels, a radically different solution to legacy call center technology. "The contact center market is dominated by legacy voice-based vendors that are incentivised to ignore a fundamental truth: your customers do not want to call you," said Sprinklr Chief Technology Officer Pavitar Singh. "Sprinklr Modern Care Voice is built on this understanding. We help eliminate the need to call using AI to solve problems digitally before they impact your contact center. When customers must contact a live agent, Sprinklr Voice helps deliver the best possible experience for faster, less expensive results." Sprinklr Modern Care Voice is a complete CCaaS solution and includes everything needed for a modern contact center, including automatic call distribution (ACD), conversational IVR, speech analytics, automated quality management and workforce management. Sprinklr is the only unified Modern Care solution that is digitally native and built by deign to support more than 30 digital channels. With Sprinklr, customer care teams have access to AI and insights to help find the right balance between digital and voice that serves customers' best interests, reduces cost to serve, and improves customer satisfaction scores (CSAT).

The world's largest enterprises are looking to unify experiences across customer-facing functions and teams - from Care to Marketing - across their businesses and brands, and across markets globally, all on modern channels. Sprinklr's commitment is to help them do just that. "Our goal is to connect authentically with this new generation of car buyers. This means we listen to the voices of people in the world and proactively engage in relevant conversations. Having a single workflow across channels - from social media to live chat, chat bot, and voice - enables a true omnichannel contact center." - Yoshiaki Inoue, Chief of Honda ON During the pandemic, customer expectations evolved. While they prefer modern digital channels, customers do want the ability to reach out for a live interaction when needed and expect a seamless experience from channel to channel. With the launch of voice, Sprinklr Modern Care provides a single unified platform to care for customers across any channel. Integrated AI analyzes digital and voice conversations in real-time to give immediate views of CSAT, quality, and performance. "We have the opportunity to shake up the traditional customer care market and partner with leading brands to develop the right support and care strategies for modern business. Sprinklr helps brands unlock contact center conversation data and use it to deliver meaningful use cases for marketing, sales, and service. This is a huge opportunity for Sprinklr and our customers," continued Singh. Sprinklr Modern Care Voice is available now. For more information visit: https://www.sprinklr.com/features/voice/ About Sprinklr Sprinklr is a leading enterprise software company for all customer-facing functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr's unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform helps companies deliver human experiences to every customer, every time, across any modern channel. Headquartered in New York City with employees around the world, Sprinklr works with more than 1,000 of the world's most valuable enterprises - global brands like Microsoft, P&G, Samsung and more than 50% of the Fortune 100. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005730/en/

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A rabbi, a pastor and an imam on NPR were discussing how their respective faiths were observing Passover, Easter, and Ramadan. This year those sacred periods overlapped. These representatives of world religions spoke of similarities and differences among their traditions.
TROY  After creating a partnership with Italys University of Pisa to participate in archaeological digs, Troy University anthropology and archaeology professor Dr. Stephen Carmody and his students have helped make several key discoveries in Italian history.

The partnership came about in 2019 after Troy first lady Janice Hawkins visited Pietrasanta, a town on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy where Troy students frequently study abroad.

Mrs. Hawkins was heavily involved in the universitys Pietrasanta visits, and as she was over there that summer, the University of Pisa showed her their archaeology museum, Carmody said. She told them we have an archaeology program and that we should work together, and that started the chain of events.

Having studied in Italy, Carmody was eager to make the connection. Because the Italian archaeologists had no one on staff to study plant remains  his specialized field of study  he was invited straight away.

They took me to all of their sites and where the students stay in the summer and it was perfect, Carmody said. I left thinking it wasnt going to work, that it cant be this easy.

Just a few months later, he and six Troy students made the trek over and participated in a three-week dig in Vada Volterra, a harbor town off the coast of Tuscany that was used for shipping agricultural goods. Volterra is also popularly known as home to the fictional Volturi from Stephanie Meyers Twilight saga published in the mid-2000s.

All I remember is standing there, and even while driving up, thinking, This is the top of the world. Where are we going from here? he recalled. Then you walk up these streets and stand on the walls it is one of the most impressive places Ive ever been.

The Italian teams focus was geared more toward the larger expanse of the landscape while Carmody and the students focused on finding and studying plant remains for the University of Pisa researchers to test later.

After COVID hit in 2020 and international travel opportunities took a hit, he returned on a solo trip to Tuscany this past fall to dig at the Luni site near Carrara, one of the worlds major marble quarries. Located adjacent to the Apuan Alps  a mountain range that appears to be covered in snow but is actually marble  the town fell around 700 AD after green-tinted marble from Turkey became popular, rendering the white stone obsolete.

Having already identified a huge amphitheater, gigantic temples and mosaic tile floors, the team began working in an area that had previously been dug up. Initially thought not to reveal anything of significance, they later found a type of floor that was not uncommon for the area but was very early for its time.

Carmody and the team discovered a floor of mosaic tile at the Luni site in central Italy.

You can see some marble and the archeologists were like, Oh theres nothing there, lets stop. A few days later, to keep the students busy, they go dig this area again, Carmody said. As we started to dig, we discovered a giant, mosaic tile floor like the one from before. Its a room right next to the temple, and that colored floor extended across the whole area. Its not painted marble, it was actually colored stone that was cut and fit into that huge space. This blew my mind. I work in caves, so I dont get to see this every day.

In the time between digs, Carmody is working on a publication with the Italian researchers about how anthropology and archaeology practices differ in different parts of the world.

They have historical documents, so they dont have to worry about a lot of the things we do here since Native Americans didnt develop a writing system prior to Europeans coming, he said.

Kelsey Mitchell, a Troy graduate currently studying for her masters degree at the University of Tennessee, attended one of the early digs in 2019 and discovered grape seeds, not an unusual find for a country known for its wine production. The importance of the discovery, Carmody said, is that it was the first piece of physical evidence that correlated with historical documentation of this particular region producing wine. Mitchell is now working on her masters thesis using these samples.

Historical records say this region produced the best wine in all of Italy, but there was never the evidence to back it up since they dont look for plant remains, he said. They were very excited to be able to connect the historical documents to the archaeological records. Maybe it wasnt the best wine, but they have proof now that they did actually make wine.

Participation in the digs is open to all students, not just those studying in fields related to anthropology or archaeology.

To me, the value of these types of projects is that theyre research-oriented and research-based and we can take any type of student  they dont have to be archaeology, they dont have to be anthropology, but they can get involved and help work on international research projects, which I think is pretty neat, Carmody said. Its a really good opportunity for our students, which brings it back to why we do what we do.

Those interested in participating in future opportunities can contact Carmody at scarmody@troy.edu or 334-808-6850.
Eye Center South ophthalmologist Dr. Harsha Sen recently contributed a chapter to the highly-regarded and newly-released textbook, The Duke Manual of Vitreoretinal Surgery, produced for Duke University Eye Center in North Carolina as part of its internationally renowned ophthalmology training programs.

Dr. Sens chapter is on Retinoschisis Retinal Detachment. Retinoschisis is a condition in which an area of the retina (the tissue lining the inside of the back of the eye that transmits visual signals to the optic nerve and brain) has separated into two layers. The part of the retina that is affected by retinoschisis can lead to detachment of the entire retina and loss of vision. While this type of detachment is not the most common, it can be difficult to successfully repair.

In the textbook, Dr. Sen provides insights on preoperative, postoperative, and management considerations with this type of retinal detachment and reviews the surgical approach and procedures that should be utilized. The chapter is featured in the section Challenging Vitreoretinal Surgical Scenarios. Dr. Sen was recruited to write the chapter based on his surgical experience and ties to the Duke University retinal ophthalmology community.

Dr. Sen joined Eye Center South four years ago as a retinal surgeon in Dothan. A year later, he was named Medical Director for all Eye Center South locations in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. He has extensive clinical, surgical, research, and teaching experience as a former faculty member of Duke University and the University of Kentucky and is a past Director of the Retina Service at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Sen received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his internship in internal medicine at his alma mater. He served his residency in ophthalmology at the University of Virginia and his fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at Duke University.

Dr. Sen has been published in numerous medical journals, collaborated in the development of the first intraocular sustained-release drug implant, and continues to be active in the clinical research of new medications to treat diabetic retinal disease. He is a member of the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha, a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and has received professional recognition in Best Doctors.

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Hubei Media Group: The volcanic eruption in Tonga has caused a severe disaster. Could you share some details of Chinas disaster-relief assistance to the country?

Zhao Lijian: China has been closely following the situation in Tonga and has acted swiftly to render disaster-relief assistance to the best of its capability. The Red Cross Society of China has provided USD 100,000 in cash as emergency humanitarian assistance to the Tongan side.

The Chinese government, through the Chinese Embassy in Tonga, has managed to put together in the shortest time possible some emergency supplies including drinking water and food and delivered them to Tonga on January 19. Speaking at a ceremony marking the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga Poasi Tei thanked the Chinese government for the swift assistance, which is the first batch of emergency supplies the Tongan government has received since the disaster stroke and embodies the special friendship between the two countries. Many Tongan people expressed heartfelt thanks to the Chinese embassy, calling China a true friend in need.

Going forward, China will continue to provide assistance in cash and supplies based on the situation and Tongas needs and strive to overcome unfavorable meteorological conditions such as the volcanic ash to deliver the supplies as soon as possible.

MASTV: The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, a report released by the top global public relations consultancy firm Edelman on January 18, indicates that trust among Chinese citizens in their government in 2021 is a record 91 percent, up by nine percentage points from last year, remaining the top globally. The Trust Index for China stands at 83 percent, gaining 11 percentage points and marking the highest in the survey. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: I noted relevant reports. The 2017 and 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer reports, as I recall, showed that the trust among Chinese citizens in their government was the highest in all the countries surveyed. The figure in this years report hits a record high in a decade. We have shared with you a 10-odd-year survey by the Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government on China. It finds out that the Chinese peoples satisfaction with their governments performance has been over 90 percent for years in a row, which is consistent with the findings of the Edelman Trust Barometer.

As a Chinese citizen and civil servant, Im not surprised at all. The reason that the Chinese peoples trust in the government has ranked the top for years in a row is that the CPC and the Chinese government actually deliver for the people. They put people front and center and follow the philosophy of all for the people and by the people, including in governance and development. At the same time, we are soberly aware that various risks and challenges lie ahead. We must be vigilant even in times of tranquility.

I also noticed that the CEO of Edelman said that success in rapidly bringing the pandemic under control created confidence with Chinese citizens. Besides, China has since helped vaccinate the world, which contributed to confidence in the government. I would like to stress that China has not only set an example of epidemic prevention and control with concrete actions on the domestic front, but has also been strengthening global solidarity against the pandemic by enhancing international cooperation. Bearing in mind the wellbeing of all humanity, China will continue to contribute its strength to securing a final victory over the pandemic and forging a global community of health for all.

Fuji TV: The Beijing Municipal Government said that the Omicron variant was detected in an international mail package from Canada, which was denied by a person in charge on the Canadian side. What is Chinas comment?

Zhao Lijian: On the press conference on COVID-19 prevention and control in Beijing held on January 17, the person responsible of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control has elaborated in great detail on the relevant question. Her answer, which was quite long, can be found in the transcript of the press conference. China will continue to respond to the pandemic in a serious, science-based and professional manner.

Bloomberg: US President Biden said that hes not ready to lift tariffs on China as China is not meeting its commitments. He said,Id like to be able to be in a position where I could say theyre meeting their commitments and be able to lift some of it, but were not there yet. Do you agree with this characterization? Is China meeting its commitments under the trade deal?

Zhao Lijian: Id like to refer you to the competent authorities for questions concerning the economic and trade issues between China and the US.

RIA Novosti: Kazakh Foreign Minister said earlier that during the recent unrest in Kazakhstan, China and other partners were ready to provide any assistance to Kazakhstan, including military assistance, but there was no legal basis to accept foreign troops from other countries and organizations, except CSTO. Could you please clarify what kind of assistance China was ready to provide to Kazakhstan?

Zhao Lijian: China and Kazakhstan are friendly neighbors and permanent comprehensive strategic partners. China maintains close communication with Kazakhstan and will provide assistance to the best of its capacity according to the will of Kazakhstan. China will adopt a positive attitude to all measures that can help the country restore stability, develop the economy and improve peoples livelihood.

Phoenix TV: According to reports, Taiwan will send Lai Ching-te to Honduras to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Honduran president. He plans to engage with the US side during his transit in the country, and may find an opportunity to directly interact with US Vice President Kamala Harris, who will also attend the ceremony. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory. The one-China principle is a universally recognized norm governing international relations, and a wide consensus that has been recognized, accepted and practiced by the overwhelming majority of countries in the world. Adherence to the one-China principle is an overriding trend that represents international justice and enjoys popular support. Any attempt to create the false impression of two Chinas or one China, one Taiwan will be rejected by all Chinese people. We hope relevant country will grasp the overriding international trend and make a resolute decision in line with the trend of the times at an early date.

Regarding the so-called transit of leaders of the Taiwan region and engagement between the US and Taiwan, China has made clear its consistent position on various occasions. We firmly oppose the arrangement of such transit by the US or any other country that has diplomatic ties with China as well as any form of official exchange between the US and Taiwan. We urge the US to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US Joint Communiques, take seriously Chinas position and concern, refrain from conducting official engagement with Taiwan in any form and sending any wrong signal to the Taiwan independence forces.

AFP: Is China opposed to the US request for a fresh UN Security Council meeting on North Korea? And if so, why?

Zhao Lijian: Please refer to my answer to a similar question at yesterdays press conference.

Bloomberg: Bloomberg has reported that US Trade Representative Katherine Tai wanted to talk to Vice Premier Liu He late last year, but eventually the two sides agreed to continue talks at lower levels until more progress is made. Could you confirm these events?

Zhao Lijian: Im not aware of what you mentioned and suggest that you ask the competent authorities directly if you are interested.

Prasar Bharati: Pakistani media has reported that China has demanded compensation for the victim Chinese nationals in the terrorist attack at the Dasu Dam project last year. After the attack, the Chinese contractor demobilized from the site and had raised several demands as preconditions to resume the work. As per the report, Pakistan has decided to make the payment despite there being no legal or contractual obligation on the government. Can you confirm this? Also, what are Chinas demands for the resumption of work at Dasu?

Zhao Lijian: Im not aware of what you said. To my knowledge, construction at the Dasu Hydropower Project has already been resumed.

NHK: The DPRK said it will reconsider the moratorium on testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, indicating resumption of tests. What is Chinas comment?

Zhao Lijian: China has noted relevant reports. Facts have proven time and again that blindly resorting to sanction and pressure would only escalate the tension further rather than settle the Peninsula issue. This meets no partys interests. China hopes the US will demonstrate good faith, take real actions and respond to the legitimate security concerns of the DPRK. We call on relevant parties to keep in mind the big picture of peace and stability of the Peninsula, act prudently, stick to the right direction of dialogue and consultation, and jointly contribute to the political resolution of the Peninsula issue.

Anadolu Agency: Malaysian Foreign Minster Saifuddin Abdullah said he observed a shift in Chinas legal basis for claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea. He said, China leans from the Nine-Dash Line theory toward the Four Sha theory, which bases sovereignty claims on four island groups in the regions. Does the foreign ministry have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: I havent seen the remarks yet. Chinas position on the South China Sea issue is consistent, clear and unchanged.

Prasar Bharati: As per another Pakistan media report, Pakistan requested China for a provision of USD 2.43 billion loan more than a year ago for some railway project but commitment of loan is still awaited from the Chinese side. This was mentioned by Pakistans Railways Minister. Do you have any comment? Also the reports said, the work on CPEC has slowed down considerably over the past three and half years, and there is no new project approved by both the sides under the projects framework. Can you confirm this as well?

Zhao Lijian: I have talked about the progress in CPEC projects on many occasions. I would like to stress that CPEC, an important pilot program of the Belt and Road Initiative, follows the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. It has seen new progress against all odds since COVID-19 broke out, giving a strong boost to economic development and livelihood improvement and winning high praise from all sectors in Pakistan. Lately we have seen the Pakistani President, Prime Minister, other officials and media outlets speaking highly of the progress made in CPEC development.

As to the specific project you mentioned, it involves a large amount of investment and relevant departments of the two sides are still in consultation.

The media report you cited saying no new project has been approved over the past three years and a half is pure disinformation. I can tell you that new working groups on agriculture, information technology and science and technology have been established under CPEC. During the past three years and a half, many livelihood projects were approved and implemented under the CPEC framework, delivering good results.
Customers seen at a Uniqlo store in Hanoi, March 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Over 55 percent of Japanese companies want to expand their business in Vietnam in this and next year, according to a survey by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

42.5 percent want to retain the same production scale in the country, the survey released Wednesday stated.

The survey polled 4,600 Japanese companies globally, including 700 in Vietnam, in August and September last year when the country imposed strict social distancing rules to curb the spread of the Delta variant.

This shows that during the most difficult time last year, less than 2 percent of Japanese companies wanted to narrow their business in Vietnam and less than 0.5 percent sought to shift production to other countries.

Takeo Nakajima, chief representative of JETRO Hanoi, told a press briefing Wednesday there was a decline in the ratio of Japanese companies considering expanding Vietnam business compared to pre-pandemic times, but this is a global trend.

This ratio in Vietnam remains higher than the ASEAN average, he added.

Nakajima said although "labor quality" was a matter of concern for Japanese companies in other markets, it is not the case in Vietnam.

"Japanese companies highly value the quality of Vietnamese workers."

Japanese firms have also been reporting increased appreciation for Vietnams improving regulations and administrative procedures, but this figure plunged during the survey period.

"We understand that was because the government had to make short-term changes to curb the spread of the pandemic. In the long run, businesses expect improvement in this matter," Nakajima said.

He also added that at least 39 Japanese companies are considering expanding their business in Vietnam as part of the Japanese governments intention to diversify its supply chain.

Most of these companies have already been present in Vietnam, but want to shift some of their manufacturing from other countries here, he added.

Japan was the third biggest foreign direct investor in Vietnam last year behind Singapore and South Korea. Its registered capital was nearly $3.9 billion, accounting for 12.5 percent of total.
An Italian woman has sued a casino in Kien Giang's Phu Quoc Island for not paying her $2.4 million winnings in full.

According to the lawsuit claim against the Kongkon company filed on Oct. 11, 2021, the anonymous woman visited a resort to play cards between May 30 and June 9 last year. Kongkon runs Corona Resort & Casino Phu Quoc.

She won a number of chips equivalent to VND54.6 billion ($2.4 million). The amount of money has been confirmed by the company, local media reported.

The company then paid the Italian woman through two other people a total VND10 billion, sent on three separate occasions: May 31, June 7 and 10.

Kongkon has yet to hand the Italian woman the rest of the money, VND44.6 billion. The woman has requested the company multiple times to pay her, but to no avail.

The woman is now suing the company to pay her the money, plus interests, which is around VND1.4 billion, as of Oct. 11, 2021.

On Jan. 10, Kien Giang People's Court accepted to proceed with the case.

Vietnam, which treats gambling as a 'social evil', allowed Vietnamese to enter a casino for the first time in 2019.

Casino Corona is the only one open to locals. Vietnam has five other casinos, but they are reserved for only foreign passport holders.
People arrive at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi in January, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/ Giang Huy

A document that simplifies procedures for foreigners entering the country approved by the Vietnamese government on January 18 took effect immediately, says foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang.

"The decision takes effect on the date of signing," Hang confirmed at a Thursday's press conference in response to a question by VnExpress International.

She said that Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has agreed in principle to simplify administrative procedures for foreigners entering Vietnam.

Accordingly, foreign arrivals with valid papers, including visa, visa exemption, residency card and temporary residence card will be allowed to enter Vietnam without having to obtain prior permission from the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local authorities.

Previously, anyone wanting to enter Vietnam had to prepare a list of documents including approvals from the Peoples Committee and the Department of Immigration, proof of vaccination, PCR test results and a health insurance certificate for quarantine.

On January 1, Vietnam partially reopened regular commercial flights on nine international routes covering China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, and the U.S.

Hang said that people who do not have all the above mentioned documents have to obtain approval from provinces and related ministries under the Law on Foreigners' Entry Into, Exit From, Transit Through, and Residence in Vietnam.

The regulation also applies to overseas Vietnamese and their relatives, she added.

Hang said Vietnam currently accepts vaccine passports from 79 countries and territories.

The 10 countries that accept Vietnam vaccine passports are: Australia, Belarus, Cambodia, India, Japan, Maldives, Palestine, the Philippines, the U.K. and the U.S.
Vietnam has helped the U.K. arrest an internationally wanted man in connection with sexual offences against children, the U.K. Embassy in Vietnam announced Wednesday.

The 77-year-old man was arrested in Vietnam under an Interpol Red Notice on Tuesday. The operation was carried out by officers from the Office of Investigation Police Agency, Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, supported by the National Crime Agency at the request of Police Scotland, according to the embassy's official Facebook page.

He would be transported back to Scotland.

"We are grateful to the authorities in Vietnam and our colleagues at the National Crime Agency for their assistance with this matter," said Detective Superintendent Alan Henderson.

The Daily Record, a Glasgow-based news website, reported the man in question as Kenneth Divers, a former youth football coach who was accused of "carrying out a string of sex attacks on young boys in the 60s and 70s."
ELKO  A Carlin man has been charged in last summers high-speed crash that killed a 6-year-old girl and injured three other passengers.

Zachary Rasmussen, 22, was booked Tuesday on more than $500,000 bail for multiple charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm, as well as leaving the scene of the crash.

Rasmussen is accused of driving his Chevy pickup into the back of a Chevy Tahoe SUV on Chestnut Street in Carlin around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 27.

The vehicles at the scene had damage consistent with a crash at highway speeds, stated a police report.

Carlin Police Chief Kevin McKinney provided details of the investigation to the Elko District Attorneys Office, saying Rasmussens blood-alcohol level remained above the legal limit four and a half hours after the crash when blood was drawn.

A criminal complaint was filed on Jan. 10 charging Rasmussen with causing the crash that killed Mayzee Dixon. The Carlin Police Department posted Facebook photos of the girl in September, offering condolences to her family.

Dixons parents were in the vehicle along with other children. One of the passengers who survived suffered a head injury and another had a brain bleed, broken ribs and other injuries.

Carlin girl killed in high-speed crash CARLIN  A 6-year-old girl was killed and four other people injured when their SUV was struck from behind by a fast-moving pickup in the middl

As an officer approached the scene of the crash he reported seeing a man later identified as Rasmussen get out of the drivers side door of the pickup and begin walking, then running away. Police said he refused to follow orders to stop, then fell in a ditch next to the stop sign at 12th and Bush streets.

Meanwhile, officers were busy trying to enter the SUV and render aid to the victims, but the doors were locked.

Carlin Volunteer Ambulance arrived and began extricating the passengers. Due to the severity of the accident, personnel from Elko Fire, Elko Ambulance, the Nevada Highway Patrol, the Elko County Sheriffs Office and the Elko Police Department assisted in the response and the initial investigation.

Less than half an hour after the accident was reported, police were called to residence where Rasmussen was found naked and covered in scrapes and blood. Clothing that matched the apparent driver was lying on the floor, and the man smelled of alcohol, police stated.

Rasmussen was booked Tuesday on three counts of driving under the influence resulting in death or substantial bodily harm; three counts of reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm; and four counts of failure to stop at the scene of an accident. His bail was listed at $560,000.

All 10 of the charges are Category B felonies, which each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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ELKO  A former Nevada sheriff who faces conspiracy charges related to an alleged kidnapping was arrested Wednesday night near Carlin.

Stewart E. Handte, 61, of Reno was ordered last week by a district judge to wear an ankle monitor while he awaits trial on the charges, KRNV-TV reported Friday.

Handte, the former Mineral County sheriff, is accused of helping his friend Roger Hillygus get his 80-year-old mother out of a Reno nursing home in August 2019, the station reported.

Several days later Handte was forcefully arrested by over a half-dozen officers, in tactical gear, reported the Mineral County Independent-News.

Hillygus was arrested the following day in a SWAT standoff in Los Angeles, and his mother has since died.

Handte was originally charged with kidnapping but that charge was dropped in November 2019. His 30-year career in law enforcement included serving on the Nevada Highway Patrol and as a tribal police chief.

Both Handte and Hillygus are scheduled for trial in May.

KRNV reported that Handte was ordered by District Judge Barry Breslow to obtain and wear an ankle monitor by Jan. 18, the day before he was arrested in Elko County.

The pre-trial release was ordered despite a request from the Washoe County District Attorneys Office that Handte receive a mental health evaluation because he has made troubling threats on social media and intimated former and current prosecutors and law enforcement officers, KRNV reported.

Handte was booked into Elko County Jail on $100,000 bail.



This weeks felony arrests:

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The Nevada Hospital Association reported Wednesday that the states medical staffing levels remain in crisis status for the third consecutive week.

Clark County hospitals have formally requested staffing assistance from the Governor's office for the first time since the inception of the pandemic, stated the association. Many positions throughout southern hospitals are unstaffed daily as personnel are sick or forced to isolate themselves. There is no current timeline for governmental assistance to arrive.

The situation is also having an impact on rural parts of the state.

Rural hospitals are reporting increased difficulty transferring patients to facilities for a higher level of care and southern hospitals are experiencing delays in inpatient admits with several hundred patients holding daily in the emergency departments as they await an open, staffed bed.

The states COVID-19 website on Wednesday listed 34 hospitalizations in Clark County, eight in Nye, five in Douglas, and four in Humboldt County.

Elko County had only two patients.

The association said occupancy rates at Clark County hospitals have been moved from watch to warning levels as facilities report the percentage of licensed beds occupied at 98%.

The number of hospitalizations in Clark County has nearly doubled over the past week, from 862 to 1,589, according to the report. Washoe County's increase is similar, going from 71 hospitalizations to 139 over the past week.

Hospitalizations have surged in other parts of the country under the omicron variant but have already begun to recede in places like New York City and Chicago.

Wastewater monitoring in the Las Vegas are indicates the rate of omicron spread is starting to recede, the hospital association reported.

The New York Times reported COVID hospitalizations in the U.S. on Monday were near 150,000, compared with a high of around 97,000 during last falls peak and 127,000 at the height of the pandemic in the winter of 20-21.

Deaths are also on the rise nationwide, at roughly the same level as the autumn peak but only about half the level as the previous winter.

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Most cases of so-called Havana Syndrome can be explained by environmental causes, undiagnosed medical conditions or stress, rather than actions by a foreign power, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials.

Despite this, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the US will continue to try to understand causes of so-called Havana Syndrome and that they are leaving no stone unturned in finding out who may be responsible for it.

Havana Syndrome: unlikely to be Russia

A majority of 1,000 cases reviewed by U.S. investigators are explainable, and show the mysterious ailment is unlikely to have been caused by Russia or another foreign adversary, CIA officials told the newspaper, describing interim findings of a study.

The agency is continuing investigations into two dozen unexplained cases that may offer clues as to whether a foreign power is behind the condition that has affected U.S. diplomats, officials and family members overseas, including in Vienna, Paris, Geneva and Havana, the newspaper said, citing CIA officials.

In addition to those two dozen cases, a significant number of others remain unexplained, the Times cited a CIA official as saying.

The condition first came to public attention in 2016 after dozens of diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, complained of sickness. Symptoms included migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness.

CIA Director William Burns said in a statement to the Times that the agency was pursuing a complex issue with analytic rigor, sound tradecraft and compassion, and emphasized that agency officers had experienced real symptoms.

While we have reached some significant interim findings, we are not done, Burns said in the statement. We will continue the mission to investigate these incidents and provide access to world-class care for those who need it, he added.

Earlier this month, Blinken had said in an interview that the United States still did not know what Havana Syndrome was or who was responsible for it.
President Xi Jinping delivers a special address in Beijing to the 2022 World Economic Forum virtual session, on Jan 17, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

President's address seen as showing value of unity in shaping a better world

Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the 2022 World Economic Forum, or WEF, has injected confidence into hopes for a sustained global economic recovery and demonstrated China's sense of responsibility and the leader's wisdom, international experts said.

In his special address at the WEF virtual session on Monday, Xi called for the international community to come together in solidarity and cooperation amid the COVID-19 crisis.

"We need to embrace cooperation and jointly defeat the pandemic. Confronted by the once-in-a-century pandemic, which will affect the future of humanity, the international community has fought a tenacious battle," Xi said.

He also reaffirmed China's commitment to pursuing high-quality development and reform and opening-up, as well as ecological conservation, to create a better post-COVID-19 world.

Volker Tschapke, honorary president of Germany's Prussian Society, said that Xi's speech gives people confidence in the global economic recovery, stressing that peace and development are the themes that will determine the future of the world.

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has set an example for countries and civilizations to develop together through mutual respect and achieve win-win cooperation through seeking common ground while reserving differences, said Tschapke.

George Koo, a retired international business adviser in Silicon Valley, California, said that Xi's remarks demonstrate the wisdom of a world leader with a vision for a world in which nations can rise together.

Xi's idea is for all nations to cooperate for the good of everyone, and not just for the benefit of a handful at the expense of others, Koo said. In contrast, an approach based on zero-sum competition to beggar thy neighbor is shortsighted, counterproductive and self-destructive.

Khor Yu Leng, an associate fellow of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said that the speech hit the right tone and words, and touched on respect for the rules-based international order, openness, and a lot more.

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said the president's remarks showed the strength of China's efforts to promote multilateralism, international solidarity, and cooperation to address global challenges for common interest and peaceful coexistence.

"President Xi's speech truly reflects China's unwavering commitment to upholding true multilateralism and free trade, which are the key to global peace, economic recovery, and common development in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era," he said. "Cold War mentality, unilateralism, protectionism, hegemonism, and zero-sum games can only harm others," Matthews said. "Countries should coexist peacefully, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind."

Call for cooperation

Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Africa Policy Institute, said that Xi reiterated the need to embrace unity and cooperation in working together to defeat the scourge of COVID-19.

"President Xi equated the international community at a time of a global crisis as one 'giant ship' on which our shared destiny of defeating the pandemic is anchored," he said.

He was very impressed when Xi pledged an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries and another donation of 150 million doses to countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Acknowledging the concerted efforts of the international community in fighting the pandemic, Munene said he also appreciates that Xi further stressed the need to close the global immunization gap by ensuring the equitable distribution of the vaccines to safeguard people's lives, health and livelihoods.

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong, Liu Hongjie in Beijing and Xinhua contributed to this story.
Night Watchman ($14.20) drilled a 1:54.2 mile in Wednesday's (Jan. 19) $13,000 Preferred 2 Handicap Pace at The Raceway at the Western Fair District, establishing a Canadian seasonal speed mark over four turns despite chilly conditions.

Brett MacDonald gunned Night Watchman to a clear lead over 2-1 favourite Ideal Perception (Anthony Haughan) through a taxing :26.4 first quarter, but the five-year-old Hes Watching entire was uncatchable from that point. Following a :29.4 second-quarter breather, Night Watchman kept the first-over Icy Blue Scooter (Nathan Sobey) at bay past three-quarters in 1:25 before pulling away to win by 3-3/4 lengths. Ideal Perception protected second from the pocket; Icy Blue Scooter finished third after levelling off.

Richard Moreau trains nine-time winner Night Watchman for Nurko Sokolovic and Craig Barss.

The sub-featured $10,000 Preferred 3 for male pacers went to former Alberta standout Outlawgrabbingears ($5.80), who vaulted from the pocket to eclipse pacesetter Cheddar Bay by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:56.3. Trainer-driver Paul Davies co-owns the six-year-old Smart Shark gelding with Nicole Davies.

On the distaff side of the ledger, So Frisky ($7.00) took top honours in the $12,000 Fillies and Mares Preferred 2 Handicap, stalking a mid-race duel before sweeping three-wide to a decisive 1:58.1 score, the 23rd of her career.

Scott Young landed the six-year-old Dali mare in midfield before angling second-over behind Buttermilk Hanover in pursuit of even-money pacesetter Saulsbrook Jessie (MacDonald) through a :58.1 half. As Saulsbrook Jessie faced sustained pressure from Buttermilk Hanover, Young switched So Frisky off cover approaching the far turn. She found another gear cornering for home, pulling away to win by 4-3/4 lengths. Custard Lite (Scott Coulter) lifted from astern to just nab a tiring Saulsbrook Jessie for second.

Anita Ouellette trains So Frisky for Luc Ouellette Inc.

Wednesday's card was the curtain call for Western Fair commentator Shannon "Sugar" Doyle, who served as the "eye in the London sky" since 2013. The veteran racecaller returns to Alberta, where he will serve as the Racing and Wagering Development Manager at Century Mile.

The final race, dubbed the "So Long Sugar Pace," saw Rough Trade ($6.00) circle three-wide up the backstretch to just nose out 4-5 pacesetter Shootinforthestars, covering the 1-1/16-mile journey in 2:07.1. Scott Wray drove the 10-year-old Badlands Hanover gelding to victory in the $7,000 claiming event.



Doyle's final London race call and emotional sign-off can be heard below:

"I've enjoyed my time in London," Doyle told Trot Insider. "I was very lucky to get called up to the big leagues (Woodbine and Mohawk) as a fill-in, and those are career highlights that only came to be from working in Ontario."

While Doyle will forever treasure his nine seasons in the Forest City, he looks forward to returning to the province where he cut his teeth.

"I'll begin my drive west tomorrow and start my work at Century Mile on Feb. 1," he continued. "I believe it's a good time to go back to where it all started for me in 2006. I'm really excited about this new opportunity."

To view Wednesday's complete results, click the following link: Wednesday Results  The Raceway at the Western Fair District.
Photo for illustration (Source: CPV)

Australia is a jackfruit growing country, but Vietnamese jackfruit (frozen and processed) has been listed by the Trade Office as a key product for promoting exports and building brands over the past two years. As a result, in 2021, Vietnams jackfruit exports to Australia increased by 20% compared to 2020.

Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia Nguyen Phu Hoa has worked with importers to develop more plans for Vietnamese jackfruit.

This week and until the Lunar New Year, 30 tons of VINRECT-HT branded jackfruit (equivalent to 150 tons of raw jackfruit) is being brought to the market. In addition, about 10 tons of finished products of other enterprises will also enter the market. The remaining jackfruit, according to the promotion plan, will be purchased and processed by businesses in Vietnam.

The Trade Office will continue to implement measures to promote Vietnamese jackfruit, such as: boosting the introduction of jackfruit into the supermarket system, continuously promoting the product on social networks and the Trade Offices channels, and organizing online exhibitions and events./.
The eight partnership projects focus on three main priorities for higher education in both Vietnam and the UK. (Photo for illustration)

The British Council in Vietnam has announced the award of eight partnership projects under the Going Global Partnerships (GGP): UKVietnam Partnerships for Quality and Internationalisation, with a total value of 542,000 GBP.

The eight partnership projects focus on three main priorities for higher education in both countries: University leadership and governance, HE Leadership for Social Inclusion and Gender Equality, preparing Vietnam HE Qualifications for Future Development of TNE and International Recognition; and toward excellence in teaching, research, innovation and knowledge transfer.

Ms Donna McGowan, Country Director of British Council in Vietnam, stated: The UK-Vietnam Partnerships for Quality and Internationalisation, under the Going Global Partnerships Programme (GGP), have been developed based on Vietnams higher education development priorities, the excellence and strength of the UK HE sector and key areas of mutual benefit for both countries.

This initiative is outlined in the Memorandum of Collaboration (MOC) between the British Council and Ministry of Education and Training which was signed in October 2021 and which focuses on strengthening education cooperation and exchange in areas of strategic interest, she added.

Associate Professor Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director General of Higher Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, shared: I believe universities in Vietnam are ready to work in collaboration with partners in the UK. I hope that they will disseminate the knowledge gained from the GGP more widely to universities throughout Vietnam. The HE Department is happy to provide support to make the partnership projects productive and fruitful.

UK-Vietnam Partnerships for Quality and Internationalisation is part of a more comprehensive British Council programme called Going Global Partnerships, which builds stronger, more inclusive, internationally connected higher education and TVET systems./.
By Wang Xinyuan

It has been five years since Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote speech titled "Work Together to Build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind" at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2017, during which he called on the world to build a community of shared future for mankind and achieve shared and win-win development.

"Building a community with a shared future for mankind" has since become China's important concept of global governance, winning wide support from the international community. The concept has been endorsed by the UN General Assembly for five consecutive years since 2017.

Over the years, the concept has constantly been developed and enriched in answer to the call of our time. Here is a general review since its proposal.

Building a community with a shared future for mankind

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Jan. 17, 2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping made a keynote speech titled "Jointly shoulder responsibility of our times, promote global growth" at the opening session of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017 in Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2017.

"Today, mankind has become a close-knit community of shared future. Countries have extensive converging interests and are mutually dependent. All countries enjoy the right to development. At the same time, they should view their own interests in a broader context and refrain from pursuing them at the expense of others."

UN High Level Meeting on "Building the Community of Common Destiny of Mankind", Jan. 18, 2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech titled "Work together to build a community of shared future for mankind" at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, Jan. 18, 2017.

"Pass on the torch of peace from generation to generation, sustain development and make civilization flourish: this is what people of all countries long for; it is also the responsibility statesmen of our generation ought to shoulder. And China's proposition is: build a community of shared future for mankind and achieve shared and win-win development."

Building a China-Africa community with a shared future

The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Sept. 3, 2018

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech titled "Work Together for Common Development and a Shared Future" while attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2018.

"China, the world's largest developing country, and Africa, the continent with the largest number of developing countries, have long formed a community with a shared future. Indeed, we share a common stake. China will work with Africa to achieve our shared goal of building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future and turn it into a pacesetter for building such a community for mankind."

Building a community with a shared future for Asia

The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC), May 15, 2019

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech titled "Deepening exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations for an Asian community with a shared future" at the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2019.

"Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development. We need to promote exchanges and mutual learning among countries, nations and cultures around the world, and strengthen popular support for jointly building a community with a shared future for both Asia and humanity as a whole."

Building a SCO communit with a shared future

The 19th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), June 14, 2019

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech titled "Staying focused and taking solid actions for a brighter future of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization" at the 19th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, June 14, 2019.

"Despite immense changes in the international situation, peace, development and win-win cooperation remain the irreversible trend of our times... We need to keep a profound understanding of the overriding trend toward multi-polarity and economic globalization, draw inspiration from the wisdom of the Shanghai Spirit, and seek strength from solidarity and cooperation so as to jointly build a closer SCO community with a shared future."

Building a global community of health for all

The 73rd World Health Assembly, May 18, 2020

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech titled "Fighting COVID-19 Through Solidarity and Cooperation, Building a Global Community of Health for All" at the opening of the 73rd World Health Assembly via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 18, 2020.

"I call on all of us to come together and work as one. Lets make concerted efforts to protect the life and health of people in all countries. Lets work together to safeguard planet Earth, our common home. Lets work together to build a global community of health for all!"

Building an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future

The 27th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, Nov. 20, 2020

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech titled "Working Together for an Asia-Pacific Community with A Shared Future" at the 27th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting via video link, in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 20, 2020.

"Together, we can build an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future featuring openness and inclusiveness, innovation-driven growth, greater connectivity, and mutually beneficial cooperation."

Building a community of life for man and Nature

The Leaders Summit on Climate, April 22, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech titled "For Man and Nature: Building a Community of Life Together" while attending the Leaders Summit on Climate via video link in Beijing, capital of China, April 22, 2021.

"Faced with unprecedented challenges in global environmental governance, the international community needs to come up with unprecedented ambition and action. We need to act with a sense of responsibility and unity, and work together to foster a community of life for man and Nature."

Building a community of all life on earth

The Leaders' Summit of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), Oct. 12, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech titled "Working Together to Build a Community of All Life on Earth" via video link at the leaders' summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) held in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Oct. 12, 2021.

"If we humanity do not fail Nature, Nature will not fail us. Ecological civilization represents the development trend of human civilization. Let us join hands, follow the philosophy of ecological civilization and shoulder our responsibility for future generations. Let us make joint efforts to build a community of all life on Earth, and a clean and beautiful world for us all."

Editor: WXY
People visit a photo exhibition, which showcases more than 50 photographs depicting important events for China and Ukraine, in the Chinese Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

KIEV, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal sent a congratulatory letter to the Chinese embassy, in which he praised the progress made in the development of China-Ukraine relations, expressing the hope that Beijing and Kiev will use the occasion of the 30th anniversary as an opportunity to achieve even greater and better results.

Shmyhal wished the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games a success.

While addressing the reception, Chinese Ambassador Fan Xianrong said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Ukraine 30 years ago, the relations between the two countries have continuously developed, and their cooperation has expanded and deepened.

China and Ukraine have become important strategic partners, Fan said, adding that China is Ukraine's largest trading partner, while Ukraine is the biggest supplier of corn, sunflower oil and meal to the Chinese market.

Noting that Ukraine is China's friend and partner, Fan stressed that the peoples of the two countries have long been friendly towards each other, and China will always promote friendly relations and cooperation with Ukraine.

The reception also featured a photo exhibition, which showcased more than 50 photographs depicting important events for the two countries. 

Chinese students sing at a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

Chinese Ambassador Fan Xianrong speaks at a reception marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties in Kiev, Ukraine, Jan. 18, 2022. The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine held a reception on Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Ukraine diplomatic ties. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua)

Editor: JYZ
A Long March 2D rocket carrying the Shiyan 13 experimental satellite blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province, Jan 17, 2022. [Photo by Zheng Taotao/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China launched a Long March 2D carrier rocket on Monday morning, kicking off the country's space program for the year.

The rocket blasted off at 10:35 am from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province and then placed the Shiyan 13 experimental satellite in its preset orbit, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp said in a statement.

Developed by the company's Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, the Long March 2D has a liftoff weight of 300 metric tons and is capable of transporting multiple satellites to different orbits. It has a carrying capacity of 1.2 tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers, a space often occupied by weather or remote-sensing satellites.

It was China's first rocket launch of the year and the 406th mission of the Long March rocket family.

CASC said the mission marked the beginning of its schedule of space missions in 2022, which is expected to include more than 40 launches.

Among the scheduled launches this year, the most important ones will be the six needed by the Tiangong space station program. They will be tasked with deploying the Shenzhou XIV and XV mission crews to the Tiangong station, which is now circling the Earth in a 400-km-high orbit, transporting the Tianzhou 4 and 5 robotic cargo spaceships to the station for refueling and resupply operations, and sending two large space labs to dock with Tiangong.

Last year, CASC carried out 48 launch missions with its Long March rockets, which are the pillar of China's space transportation. All the missions were successful, making Long March the world's busiest launch vehicle family in 2021.

China conducted 55 orbital launches last year, more than any other country. The United States ranked second with 51.

Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said that in addition to CASC, another State-owned space contractorChina Aerospace Science and Industry Corpwill also carry out several launches with its Kuaizhou-series rockets this year.

Meanwhile, multiple private enterprises have arranged launch missions for their rockets this year, he said, noting that the most important flight in China's private space sector will be the maiden launch of the ZQ-2 carrier rocket developed by Beijing-based LandSpace.

"If the launch succeeds, the rocket will become the largest and most powerful privately built rocket in China and will revolutionize the nation's private rocket industry," he said.

Editor: JYZ
WUHAN, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- A high-end river-cruise ship set out on its maiden voyage in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Tuesday, providing a new option for tourism along the Yangtze River.

The ship named "Changjiang No.3" will travel from Wuhan to southwest China's Chongqing, a journey that will last nine days.

Designed and funded by China Yangtze Shipping Group, Changjiang No.3 is about 150 meters long, 23 meters wide, and has a design speed of 25 kilometers per hour. The ship has a maximum passenger capacity of 600 people.

It is equipped with an intelligent energy-efficiency management system, a panoramic image and video collision-avoidance system and a hotel management system.

"It represents the highest level of smart technology in cruise ships along the Yangtze River," said Zhang Rui, chairman of the group.

It is also the first cruise ship along the Yangtze River to be built in China following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Editor: WXL
HARBIN, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- An ice sculpture featuring the famed pyramid of Kukulcan in Mexico was inaugurated Wednesday at China's largest ice-themed park in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Expanding 440 square meters, the ice sculpture is 9.5 meters tall and 20.9 meters in length and width. More than 500 sculptors worked a week on the sculpture, which consumed 1,100 cubic meters of ice.

The inauguration at the 23rd Ice and Snow World in Harbin forms part of the series of events that mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Mexico.

Cheng Xiaoming, deputy mayor of Harbin, said via video link at the inauguration ceremony that the city is willing to take this opportunity to carry out cooperation in various aspects with different regions in Mexico.

Jesus Seade, the Mexican ambassador to China, said via video link that the inauguration showcases the friendship and cooperation between people and governments of both countries, which will become even closer with frequent exchanges.

Editor: WXL
Ukraine, as part of preparations for synchronization with ENTSO-E, has invested more than EUR600 million in the modernization of the energy system, Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko said.

"Ukraine itself has invested more than EUR 600 million in the modernization of the energy system for this synchronization (with the European energy system). Now we are at the final stage. This year we are planning an isolated regime - twice, in winter and summer, and after that we will be able to show that the energy system is ready for unification," Haluschenko said at a briefing in Brussels following a meeting with European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson during an official visit.

He noted that for synchronization it remains to solve several technical issues.

"In fact, we have already done everything. There are several technical things that need to be completed," the minister explained.

At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine has the absolute support of Europe in its desire to unite with the European energy system.

"There is absolute support for Ukraine, official support for our synchronization plans," the official said.
Ukraine will be invited to certification of Nord Stream 2 when EC considers this issue  Energy Minister

Ukraine will be involved in the Nord Stream 2 certification process when this issue is considered by the European Commission, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said.

"It was decided that Ukraine will be invited to certify Nord Stream 2 when this issue reaches the European Commission. This is the official position that we've heard today, for which I am grateful to our partners," he told reporters following the results of a meeting with European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson in Brussels.

The minister also said that the parties discussed the maximum drop in recent years in gas transit in January through the Ukrainian GTS and the influence of the Russian Federation on the shortage of natural gas resources in Europe.

"We have a lot in common in understanding the ongoing processes," he said.

As reported, the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) in mid-November 2021 suspended the certification procedure for Nord Stream 2 until the creation of a subsidiary of the Swiss company Nord Stream 2 AG to operate the national section of the highway and transfer its main assets and human resources to it.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considers the Slovak economy minister's statements questioning Ukraine's territorial integrity unacceptable, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said.

"It is a pity that an official of a friendly state with which we have a high level of relations demonstrates a distorted perception of reality in terms of the belonging of Crimea and understanding of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation. Talks about returning to business as usual with Russia, which grossly violated international law by seizing Crimea by force and launching an armed aggression in Donbas, only promote impunity and encourage Russia to further aggression," Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

The Slovak official's comments are inconsistent with Slovakia's official stance and the European Union's consolidated position in the context of countering "Russia's aggression against Ukraine," he said.

"We demand a public refutation by Mr. Minister of his statements that do not contribute to the development of friendly Ukrainian-Slovak relations," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Richard Sulik said he deemed the sanctions imposed on Russia over Crimea unsuccessful.

"Various countries should trade with each other. They [sanctions] also affected some of our exporters. Therefore, the sanctions only cause damage, and the Russians will not return Crimea anyway," he told reporters from the Slovak newspaper Pravda.

"We should look forward and build relationships," he said.

At the same time, "tension on Ukraine's eastern border does not help build relations," Sulik said.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Ukraine have discussed the current state and prospects for the development of cooperation between the two countries in the transport field.

The discussion took place during the videoconference meeting between Azerbaijan's Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev and Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov.

At the meeting, the parties considered the development of international transport corridors through the two countries.

They also briefed on attracting additional freight flows to these corridors and creating favorable conditions for transportation development.

At the same time, they discussed opportunities for multilateral cooperation within the framework of international organizations such as GUAM (Organization for Democracy and Economic Development), TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) and TMTM (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route).

Azerbaijan and Ukraine are cooperating in different spheres of the economy.

On January 14, following the meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, six bilateral documents on cooperation, agriculture, energy, and trade were signed.

Ukraine was Azerbaijan's second-largest trade partner among the CIS countries with a trade turnover amounting to $771.5 million in 2020. In addition, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $866.4 million in January-November 2021, with exports accounting for $446.9 million and imports for $419.4 million.

Additionally, Ukraine was among the countries to voice support to Azerbaijan over its just position and its territorial integrity during the 44-day Second Karabakh War with Armenia in 2020. Ukrainian companies expressed their interest in reconstructing Azerbaijans liberated territories.
U.S. President Joe Biden said that Ukraine is unlikely to be able to join NATO in the near future, since a number of conditions must be met for this.

"The likelihood that Ukraine is going to join NATO in the near term is not very likely," Biden said.

This, according to the U.S. president, is due to how much more work Ukraine has to do in terms of democracy and "a few other things going on there." In addition, he recalled that the country's accession to NATO requires the support of all members of the alliance.
Department of State approves shipments of American-made lethal weapons to Ukraine by Baltic countries  media

The U.S. Department of State approved the request of the Baltic states and allowed them to supply American-made lethal weapons to Ukraine, Politico said.

The Department of State has authorized three NATO allies to supply Ukraine with anti-tank missiles and other American-made weapons.

According to the publication, under U.S. export control regulations, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia had to obtain Department of State clearance before transferring their weapons to Ukraine.

"Another State Department official confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. has approved the $200 million weapons package it had been debating internally whether to ship to Ukraine, which includes more Javelin missiles, ammunition, radar systems and medical equipment," the journalists say.

Earlier it was reported that Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia applied to the U.S. Department of State with a request to approve the transfer of some of their American-made weapons to Ukraine. In particular, they discussed the supply of anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles.

In addition, the Baltic states also simultaneously requested the deployment of additional NATO forces on their territories.
Slovakia not to engage in any activity to justify Russia's violation of intl law, Crimea annexation  PM

Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger assured Ukraine that the country's government will not engage in any activity to justify Russia's violation of international law and occupation of Crimea, the Dennik N has reported.

"During the reign of Robert Fico, the Slovak Republic joined the states that condemned the annexation of Crimea and imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation. This is the official foreign policy line of the Slovak Republic, in which nothing has changed, and which is mandatory for members of the government," the Prime Minister said in a statement quoted by Dennik N on Thursday.

Heger expects Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok to review the situation with Economy Minister Sulik.

As earlier reported, Slovak Economy Minister Richard Sulik said that sanctions against the Russian Federation only harm, and the Russian Federation will not return Crimea to Ukraine anyway.
On Tuesday, January 25, at 11.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host press conference entitled "Spaceport operator in Atlantic to support the launches of Ukrainian rockets", which will present new information on the development of strategic relations between space companies of Ukraine and Portugal. Participants include CEO and co-founder of Promin Aerospace Misha Rudominski; CEO of Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (Portugal) Bruno Carvalho; Head of Law at Promin Aerospace Lisa Bordun; Head of Communications at Promin Aerospace Volodomyr Kravchuk (8/5a Reitarska Street). The broadcast will be available on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Due to quarantine restrictions, the number of places in the press center is limited, the presence of a PCR test or a certificate of vaccination is required. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot. Details at: (050) 545 9969 (Volodomyr Kravchuk).
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has issued pardons for 986 male and female prison inmates on the occasion of Eid El-Fitr, the Ministry of Interior announced on Tuesday.
Al-Azhar condemned Friday terrorist attack on a mosque in Afghanistans capital Kabul that left dozens of worshippers dead and injured.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi attended on Monday a celebration of Eid El-Fitr with the families of Egyptian Armed Forces and police personnel killed or injured in the countrys battle against terrorism.
Germany's top court said Tuesday that it has rejected the appeal of a former member of Syria's secret police who was convicted last year of facilitating the torture of prisoners in his home country.
A draft opinion suggests the US Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalize abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report.
Al-Ahram Weekly examines the executive regulations of a new law governing the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Egypt published this week

Two months after the cabinet approved the executive regulations of Law 149/2019, ratified by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in August, the regulations have been published. The law replaces legislation issued in 2017 which was heavily criticised by civil society locally and internationally for restricting the work of NGOs.

The new law and its executive regulations are a result of a process of consultation between different stakeholders, including the ministries of justice, solidarity and interior, the General Federation of Non-governmental Organisations in Egypt, the National Council of Human Rights, public figures, research centres and representatives from 1,164 local NGOs.

The consultations were based on a study of international best practice, with an eye on broadening the role and activities of NGOs in Egypt. The dialogue concluded that the relationship between state and civil society needed redrawing based on the basis of partnership and greater mutual trust.

While the regulations require NGOs to provide extensive data to register with the authorities, including information on founders and planned activities, the new law removed obstacles to the establishment of NGOs contained in the earlier law 70/2017. Section one of the new law allows NGOs to be established following notification, dispensing with the 60-day delay that previously applied, and exempts the newly established entity from registration fees, customs and real estate taxes.

The law places a 25 per cent cap on the number of non-Egyptian directors on the board of NGOs, up from 10 per cent in its predecessor, allowing for greater foreign involvement in civil society.

Licensing a foreign NGO requires Foreign Ministry approval. Egyptian NGOs, however, are allowed to open offices in other countries and receive donor funds. Such funds are restricted to a single bank account, making it easier to track the funding and its sources, except in the case of NGOs with annual revenues and expenses of more than LE5 million, when multiple accounts can be used.

It is estimated that 700 NGOs in Egypt receive external funding from non-governmental institutions such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In order to receive foreign funds NGOs must notify the Ministry of Social Solidarity and demonstrate compliance with combating terrorism and money laundering legislation. The new law mandates a 60-day period, down from 90, for any approval decision on foreign funding, and considers non-response within 60 days as implicit approval.

Existing NGOs have been granted a year to comply with the new regulations.

Between 2014 and 2016 there were several crackdowns on foreign-funded NGOs working in Egypt due to lack of information about their sources of funding.

A number of NGOs were closed, their assets frozen, and some personnel jailed. The new act includes provisions to dissolve associations and prosecute those found in breach of the relevant laws, though custodial sentences have been replaced by financial penalties.

There are likely to be structural impediments to implementing the new law. The requirement that all donations be in the form of bank transfers is expected to cause problems given the deficiencies in local Fintech infrastructure.

On the whole, though the new executive regulations of civil society act dealt with deficiencies and shortcoming in the previous act of 2017 and highlight the importance of organising NGOs activities in Egypt and paving the way before them to carry out in a healthy partnership with the state their needed efforts for the social and political good of the whole society.

NGOs working in Egypt are banned by the new law from engaging in political activities.

*The writer is a researcher at the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 January, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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South Africa: Free State leads the pack with 85.7% pass rate

The Free State has recorded the highest number of learners who passed their 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, while Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal produced more candidates who are eligible to apply for a Bachelor's degree programme at universities.

Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, revealed this during the much-awaited 2021 matric results announcement on Thursday evening.

The 2021 NSC examination results show that only one province achieved lower than the 70% pass rate, while five performed above 70%, and three attained above 80%.

While COVID-19 may have impacted the academic programme, the Class of 2021 managed to bag an overall pass rate of 76.4%  an increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the 2020 matric pass rate of 76.2%.

The Free State clinched the number one spot for three years in a row after 85.7% of learners passed in the province  an improvement of 0.6% from 2020.

The province is followed by Gauteng with 82.8%, Western Cape 81.2%, North West 78.2%, KwaZulu-Natal 76.8%, Mpumalanga 73.6%, Eastern Cape 73% and Northern Cape 71.4%.

Limpopo is the only province that obtained less than 70%, with the pass rate sitting at 66.7%.

This information is based on the 897 163 candidates  an increase of 23.6% from 2020  who sat for their exams last year. This is the largest cohort in history.

Motshekga announced that Gautengs Tshwane South is the leading district in terms of the number of passes, obtaining 89.3%.

The second spot went to Motheo in the Free State, with an 87.9% pass rate, followed by Fezile Dabi in the Free State with 87.5%, Johannesburg West in Gauteng with 86.5%, while Ekurhuleni South in Gauteng and Metro-North in the Western Cape with 86.2% are tied in fifth place.

It is important to observe that among the 75 education districts in our country, 10 districts are in three provinces, four each in the Free State and Gauteng, and two from the Western Cape, Motshekga said, adding that the top 10 districts performed above 84%.

Meanwhile, the Minister praised the most rural provinces, namely the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, for producing a combined 121 312 or 47.4% Bachelor passes  an improvement of 26.6% from 2020.

These three provinces also managed to accomplish 103 812 or 49% distinctions  up by 43.3% from 2020 and 88 072 or 49.6% Diploma passes from 23.1% in 2020.

This kind of consistent and improved performance by our three most rural provinces clearly illustrates our resolve to provide what Professors Joseph Farrell and Ernesto Schiefelbein term in their longitudinal study of young people in Chile equality and equity of access, as well as the equality and equity of outcomes for all learners, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds (sic), she said.

Meanwhile, the no-fee schools, which had a combined 354 476 Grade 12s, achieved 149 648 Bachelor passes  a rise of 29.5% from 2020.

The significance of this is that the gap between the Bachelor passes produced by no-fee schools versus those produced by fee-paying schools have significantly and progressively increased from 2% in 2015 to 16% in 2020 and 24% in 2021, she said.

This is remarkable; hence, His Excellency President Ramaphosa, calls it a silent revolution.

The top district level performances in all nine provinces:

 Eastern Cape - Buffalo City with 79% and ranked 32nd nationally.

 Free State  Motheo with 87.9% and ranked second nationally.

 Gauteng  Tshwane South with 89.3% and ranked first nationally.

 KwaZulu-Natal  Ugu with 80.4% and ranked 23rd nationally.

 Limpopo  Capricorn South with 73.8% and ranked 51st nationally.

 Mpumalanga  Ehlanzeni with 75.6% and ranked 43rd nationally.

 North West - Bojanala Platinum with 81.6% and ranked 18th nationally.

 Northern Cape  Namaqua with 81.2% and ranked 20th nationally.

 Western Cape  Metro-North with 86.2% and ranked fifth nationally.

 SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-01-20. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Trend

A regular auction for putting mineral deposits into operation has been held in Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy.

The ministry notes that 5, 10.5, 5 and 8 hectares of Bumchay, Damiraparanchay, Tikanlichay and Khirkhatala sand and gravel deposits respectively, located in the Gabala region, have been put up for the auction.

The winner for lot No 1 (Bumchay, Damiraparanchay, Tikanlichay sand and gravel deposits), as well as for lot No 4 (Khirkhatala sand and gravel deposit) was Korpu-Bina-Tikinti LLC; for lot No 2 (Damiraparanchay) and lot No 1 (Khirkhatala)  SAND AZ LLC; and lot No 3 (Damiraparanchay)  Rauf Garibov.

Auctions related to the commissioning of mineral deposits create new opportunities and favorable conditions for entrepreneurs working in this area, said the report.
Egypt awarded eight oil exploration blocks to oil giants Eni, British Petroleum, Apex International, Energy Egypt, United Energy, Enap Sipetrol, and Ina, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Monday.

The ministry said the companies will invest a minimum of $250 million and drill 33 wells in blocks within the Mediterranean, Western Desert, and the Gulf of Suez.

The announcement followed Egypts first global oil and gas exploration auction that was held by the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company for 24 blocks through a new digital portal aiming to lure gas and oil exploration companies.

The portal  dubbed Egypt Upstream Gateway  was established in February 2020 after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and oilfield services firm Schlumberger on the portal during EGYPS 2020.

The new website features a database for information on all stages of drilling, exploration, and production of oil and gas projects with the aim of enhancing project follow-up and achieving effective decision-making.

The deal is part of Egypts oil and gas sector digital transformation.

Egypt has made a series of oil and gas discoveries in recent years, most notably the giant Zohr gas field off the Mediterranean.

The discovery, which holds an estimated reservoir of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has drawn the interest of investors to the countrys energy sector.

It has also helped Egypt reach self-sufficiency in gas and pursue being a regional hub for gas exports.

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South Koreas President Moon Jae-in will visit Egypt on 20 January as part of his Middle East tour that will begin with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said the South Korean president will visit Cairo on 20-21 January upon an invitation extended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

El-Sisi and Moon are set to discuss means to further advance the comprehensive partnership between the two countries, the spokesperson said.

Moon will also attend a business forum in Cairo to promote cooperation in eco-friendly businesses, she said.

Trade exchange between Egypt and South Korea increased by 46.9 percent in the first ten months of 2021 to $1.8 billion, up from $1.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2020, Trade and Industry Minister Neville Gamea said last month.

Trade exchange mainly included oil products, cement, granite, aluminum, ready-made garments, machines and equipment, in addition to autos and medical devices.

During the same period in 2021, Egypts exports to the South Korean market rose by 62.3 percent to reach $531.5 million during January-October 2021, up from $327.5 million during the same period in 2020, the minister said.

The South Korean president will begin his Middle East trip in the UAE, where he will attend a business forum and the official ceremony for Day of Korea and the Dubai Expo.

He will later meet with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for talks on bilateral ties.

Moon will then visit Saudi Arabia on 18-19 January for a meeting with Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a business forum in the Gulf country.

Moon's visit to the three Middle Eastern nations is expected to bolster bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, construction and infrastructure as well as public health, science and hydrogen, the spokesperson said.

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Anyone who is unvaccinated will not be allowed to enter government facilities in Egypt, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said during the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, stressing the importance of enforcing this decision.

The premier stressed that the state has provided all types of internationally-approved coronavirus vaccines, and that the country currently has a stock of 70.7 million doses, according to acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar.

Egypt has obtained a total of 132 million doses of various coronavirus vaccines so far, of which 36.6 million first doses and 24.1 million second doses have been administered, Abdel-Ghaffar said during the meeting.

The minister also revealed that 489,700 booster doses have been used, bringing the number of the total administered doses 61.3 million.

Omicron and rise in infections

Abdel-Ghaffar noted that the infection rate recently recorded a sharp increase nationwide.

Egypt has been seeing a hike in daily coronavirus infections since 5 January, when 803 cases were recorded, reaching 1,303 cases on Tuesday 18 January.

During the meeting, the acting health minister affirmed that the highly infectious coronavirus variant Omicron is responsible for the vast majority of cases in Egypt.

The health ministry has urged people suffering from common cold symptoms to consider that they may have contracted COVID-19, and should therefore self-isolate and avoid sharing personal tools with family members.

Common cold-like symptoms include a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and a sore throat, the ministry said.

The ministry has also warned that Omicron is spreading quickly and can cause unvaccinated people to develop severe symptoms.

According to the ministry, Egypt is already implementing plans to contain the spread of Omicron, including providing almost all the vaccine types, facilitating the registration procedures for taking the vaccine, and accelerating vaccine delivery, which has reached nearly 600,000 doses a day.

The plan also includes tightening pandemic-related safety measures at all land, sea, and air ports. Since December, vaccination has been a requirement for anyone entering government offices, and unvaccinated state employees are barred from entering their workplaces if they cannot provide a negative PCR test.

In addition to making vaccination mandatory for those above 18 years old, the state is now vaccinating 12 to 18-year-olds, and has started offering booster shots to those who are double vaccinated. The third shot provides stronger protection against the virus and its new variant, and may be a different vaccine from the two initial doses.

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Egypt is looking forward to cooperating with various United Nations (UN) bodies in its hosting of the Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) this year, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a top an official of the UNs Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Wednesday.

In an official statement on Thursday, the Cabinet said Mabdouly met with the ESCWAs Executive Secretary, Rola Dashti, in Cairo to discuss the COP27 and several initiatives by the UN body on climate action.

Egypt has been speeding up its transition to a green economy while also preparing to host the COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh next November.

In November 2021, Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on developed countries during a speech delivered to the COP26 in Glasgow to fulfill their pledge to provide $100 billion annually to developing countries to address the effects of climate change, highlighting the need to allocate at least half of all public climate finance to adaptation measures.



Madbouly expressed the importance of the COP27 concluding in a way that bolsters Egypts leadership in the vital issue and backs international efforts to face climate change.

He also praised the cooperation between Egypt and the ESCWA in preparing a report titled Financing for Development, the first of its kind at the national level.

The report aims to assess the state of financing for development in Arab states to determine a sustainable financing mechanism in the future.

During the meeting, Dashti presented several initiatives by the ESCWA that Cairo could cooperate in, including the Social Expenditure Monitor, which aims to create a tool that backs governments in rationalising expenditure components and boosting sustainable development.

On climate, she expressed the ESCWAs keenness on coordinating with other UN bodies to present all possible means of support in hosting the COP27, including substantive and technical support.

She added that several climate initiatives will be presented to the Egyptian government in the upcoming period to discuss potential applications to accomplish the states vision.

Furthermore, she presented the commissions Climate/SDGs Debt Swap Initiative, which aims to support member states in their struggle with climate finance, high debt burdens, and fiscal pressures that have been exacerbated by the adverse impact of the pandemic, according to the commissions website.

Also on Wednesday, Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs and COP27 President-Designate Sameh Shoukry and UN Framework Convention on Climate Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa agreed in a telephone call to continue preparations for the conference and to boost international efforts in facing climate change, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Egyptian top diplomat noted that Egypt intends to build on what was achieved during the COP26 in Glasgow and to use the current rising international momentum to confront climate change, moving from the stage of making pledges to actual action on the ground, whether in reducing emissions or financing climate-oriented projects in developing African countries.

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The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Thursday that it signed two oil exploration deals in the Western and Eastern Deserts worth at least $506 million in total with Canadas TransGlobe Energy Corporation and Pharos Energy.

In an official statement, the ministry said the first agreement with the Canadian oil corporation includes integrating several concessions in the Eastern Desert and pumping new investments for crude oil exploration and production.

Meanwhile, the second deal with Pharos Energy encompasses investments for crude oil exploration and production in the Western Deserts Fayoum.

The deals also include a $67 million grant for drilling 12 wells in both regions.

Both deals aim to increase the production of crude oil under a plan to pump more investments in concession areas and use advanced technologies in oil exploration and production to increase reserves and oil production in the area, Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said.

Thursdays announcement comes a few weeks after Egypt awarded eight oil exploration blocks to oil giants Eni, British Petroleum, Apex International, Energy Egypt, United Energy, Enap Sipetrol, and Ina.

The giant oil corporations will invest a minimum of $250 million and drill 33 wells in blocks within the Mediterranean, Western Desert, and the Gulf of Suez.

The awarding of the concessions followed Egypts first global oil and gas exploration auction that was held by the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company for 24 blocks through a new digital portal aiming to lure gas and oil exploration companies.

In December, the Cabinet said the countrys production of crude oil and natural gas rose by 8.4 percent Y-o-Y in 2021, up from 2020s 82.4 million tonnes.

Egypt has made a series of oil and gas discoveries in recent years, most notably the giant Zohr gas field off the Mediterranean. The gas field, which holds an estimated reservoir of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has drawn the interest of investors to the countrys energy sector.

It has also helped Egypt reach self-sufficiency in natural gas and pursue being a regional hub for gas exports.

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Moon is in Egypt from 19 to 21 January as part of his Middle East tour that started earlier this week in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

His visit to Egypt is the first by a South Korean president in 16 years.

It comes as part of a comprehensive partnership agreement signed between the two countries during El-Sisis visit to Seoul in March 2016.

El-Sisi said Egypt seeks to attract South Korean investments by providing the necessary facilities and creating an investment climate that could incubate South Korean projects.

In the meeting, El-Sisi and Moon agreed on the importance of continuing political consultations.

Moon said that Egypt is a unitary state that has important historical and geographic advantages, adding that the comprehensive partnership between Cairo and Seoul has a historic momentum.

He added that he agreed with El-Sisi on bolstering partnership in sustainable development and clean and renewable energy.

The presidents saw as crucial the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MoU), including the $1 billion deal on financial cooperation from 2022 to 2026 between the two countries.

No more details on the MoU were provided. However, the South Korean Ambassador to Cairo Hong Jin-Wook told journalists earlier this week that South Korea expects to sign a MoU for a $1 billion soft loan to Egypt.

Other MoUs include a joint feasibility study for economic and trade partnership and a $251 million loan to upgrade the Luxor-High Dam railway line.

A grant of $8 million has also been signed.

Trade exchange between Egypt and South Korea increased by 23.6 percent in the first 10 months of 2021 to record $1.9 billion, up from $1.6 billion in the corresponding period of 2020, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.

Trade exchange included oil products, cement, granite, aluminum, among others.

South Korean investments in Egypt reached $19.7 million in fiscal year 2019/2020, up from $12.1 million in the corresponding period of 2018/2019.
Amid the suspension of African Union-sponsored negotiations for the past nine months due to Ethiopian intransigence, Ethiopias Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called Thursday on Egypt and Sudan to nurture the narrative towards building peace, cooperation, and mutual coexistence of the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without harming the interests of one another.

In an official statement published on Twitter, Ahmed said GERD was constructed through the earnest contribution of all citizens of Ethiopia, claiming that it holds multiple benefits for Egypt, Sudan and the East African region at large.

He stressed his countrys intention to construct the dam to allow regular electricity generation throughout the year, adding that the dam does not consume water and allows it to flow to downstream countries uninterrupted.

The benefits for downstream countries are often untold, Ahmed claimed, adding that the dam would provide Sudan with protection from floods and water shortages during drought and dry periods.

He alleged the GERD will help Sudanese water infrastructure to be operated optimally as the water flow would be regulated.

Egypt also benefits from water conservation at the GERD, instead of wastage of billions of cubic metres of water to evaporation and in downstream flood plains. The GERD also helps to prevent future spillage that overtops the Aswan Dam, he claimed.

Ahmed stressed that despite the perceived negative impacts during negotiations on the dam, positive attributes rather outweigh the opposing rhetoric and downplay the potential for cooperation to mitigate negative factors, if such factors exist.

It is unclear if Abiys statement is an invitation to revive African Union- (AU) sponsored talks in Kinshasa with Egypt and Sudan, which reached deadlock in April 2021 owing to Addis Ababas intransigence, according to the two downstream countries.

Egypt and Sudan have been negotiating for almost a decade now with Ethiopia to reach a legally binding and comprehensive deal on the GERDs construction, which Addis Ababa started to build on the Blue Nile in 2011.

Despite warnings from Egypt and Sudan about any unilateral steps regarding GERD before an agreement is reached, Ethiopia unilaterally implemented the first phase filling in 2019, and the second phase of filling in July 2021 without the two countries consent.

Ethiopia disclosed plans earlier this month to remove 17,000 hectares (40,000 acres) of forest around the dam as part of engineering works for the third filling of the dams reservoir, saying it will complete the work within two months.

Satellite pictures, however, show no sign that construction work in preparation for the third filling or for generating electricity has started.

The deadlocked talks last year later led to a diplomacy war between Egypt and Ethiopia, extending to the UN Security Council that adopted in September a draft presidential statement calling on the three countries to resume negotiations under the auspices of the AU.

Egypt and Sudan welcomed the UNSC decision, while Ethiopia said it will not recognise any claim that may be raised on the basis of this statement.

Cairo insists on a legally-binding agreement on the filling and operation of the mega dam.

Earlier this month, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said at the World Youth Forum that Egypt is keen to reach "a comprehensive legally-binding agreement" on the filling and operation of the GERD which would take into consideration Egypts concerns.

He stressed that the crisis should be resolved with dialogue.

Egypt has reiterated that it does not oppose Ethiopia's development goals that depend on its Blue Nile Dam, but without harming the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly commented on the GERD dispute, saying Egypt has called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.

"Egypt has always affirmed that we are not against any development in any of the Nile Basin countries and informed the Ethiopian side that we are keen to partake in establishing this dam," Madbouly told BBC Arabic in an exclusive interview.

Egypt, which is considered one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, receives around 60 bcm annually  mainly from the Nile  while its needs stand at around 114 bcm, placing the over 100-million country well below the international threshold for water scarcity, at 560 cubic metres per person annually.

In previous statements by Egyptian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati, he explained the large gap in water resources in Egypt is overcome by importing 54 percent of its virtual water, which is the embedded water required to produce commodities, and reusing 42 percent of its renewable water.

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Egypt is considering issuing sustainability bonds in 2022 to finance the presidential Decent Life (Hayah Karima) initiative in order to reach the countrys sustainable development goals (SDGs), Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat told UN officials.

The comments were made during a meeting Thursday between Al-Mashat, the UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova and UN-appointed expert and adviser Antonio Vigilante to chart a vision for cooperation between the UN and Egypt over securing funding for Decent Lifes inclusive development projects.

Decent Life is a unique model that should be built on regionally and globally as a pioneer in development experience, Al-Mashat told the UN representatives.

Al-Mashat noted that the meeting came within the countrys Partnership Development Framework with the UN (UNPDF) through the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), which aims to boost sustainable development in Egypt.

During the meeting, Vigilante described the missions he would assume, which include paying field visits to villages targetted under the Decent Life initiative as well as holding talks with the concerned officials and mapping the initiatives current efforts in Egypt.

For her part, Panova said that the UN carries out over 400 activities that affect 1.4 million beneficiaries in the participating villages, adding that Decent Life is a significant opportunity to reach the 2030 SDGs.

The UNPDF, launched in 2006 with the Ministry of International Cooperation as co-chair, represents the UNs cooperation framework with the Government of Egypt.

Last May, Al-Mashat and Panova launched a roadmap for the new UNPDF (2023-2027), which aims to support the governments efforts in implementing economic, social and environmental development, supporting sustainable development.

The ministrys 2021 annual report detailed that total development financing in 2021 amounts to $10.2 billion, including $8.7 billion directed to public sector development and $1.57 billion directed to private sector development.

According to the UN partnership online platform for the SDGs, the initiative has contributed to mitigating the negative impacts of COVID-19 through improving living conditions of the most in-need groups.

It also noted that it has provided job opportunities through support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The goals of this initiative are to be achieved through providing decent housing, water and sanitation for deprived families and medical and educational services as well as establishing micro-projects for those most in-need and providing in-kind support periodically to most in need families.

Egypt has allocated EGP 150 billion (about $9.5 billion) in the current FY2021/2022 budget to finance Decent Life projects.

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Egypt has announced new coronavirus-related restrictions at airports, seaports and land crossings, with the country witnessing a significant surge in daily infections and reporting the highly infectious Omicron as the dominant variant currently.

Starting 22 January, Egyptian and foreign travelers to Egypt, except children below the age of 12, will require certificates of coronavirus vaccination or negative results of coronavirus tests, Acting Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said in a statement on Thursday.

Coronavirus tests have to be taken within 72 hours of arrival to the Egyptian ports.

A vaccination certificate has to show that the traveler had received the single-dose vaccine or the last dose of the two-shot vaccines at least 14 days before arrival, Abdel-Ghaffar noted.

Travelers will also have to show they took vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation or the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA), Abdel-Ghaffar said.

The EDA has granted emergency approval for all the coronavirus vaccines of Sinopharm, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson.

If travelers are not vaccinated, they must present a negative coronavirus test from among those accredited by the Egyptian health ministry, which are PCR test or Antigen Rapid Test or ID Now test.

However, the country will not accept ID NOW COVID-19 tests from travelers coming from South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Eswatini, the minister noted.

Several countries halted travel from these countries in southern Africa, where Omicron was first reported. In December, Egypts flag carrier EgyptAir announced resuming flights to Johannesburg, South Africa, only two weeks after they were suspended. Egypt also announced toughening coronavirus measures in November for travelers from the aforementioned countries.

Travelers whose coronavirus tests or vaccine certificates do not conform to the established standards will have to take antigen rapid tests, Head of the Preventive Medicine Department of the health ministry Amr Qandil said on Thursday.

In case a traveler tests positive for coronavirus, they would have to self-quarantine at their hotel or residence for five days. On the sixth day, they would undergo a PCR test and will be allowed to end the quarantine in case they test negative and show no symptoms of illness.

In the event of testing positive, they will have to quarantine for another five days and leave quarantine on the sixth day without having to take another test.

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Egypt has slammed Israeli authorities demolition of a Palestinian home in East Jerusalems Sheikh Jarrah on Wednesday as Israeli police successfully evicted a Palestinian family from the occupied neighbourhood for the first time in years.

In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry also reiterated Egypts unwavering stance rejecting building new settlements or expanding existing ones on Palestinian land and evicting Palestinians.

Israeli police violently expelled the members of the Salhiya family in the early morning, carried out the demolition order and arrested more than a dozen people, according to media reports.

Attempted Israeli evictions of Palestinian families in the sensitive district last year helped trigger 11 days of violence between the Israeli forces and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip.

More than 250 Palestinian people, including dozens of women and children, were reportedly killed as a result of the Israeli strikes on the Gaza enclave in May before Egypt brokered a tentative ceasefire between the two sides.

US Envoy to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield voiced concerns over Wednesdays eviction, urging both sides to refrain from unilateral steps that boosts tensions and undermines a negotiated two-state solution.

In its Thursday statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry affirmed that eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah also violates international resolutions and aggravates the situation in the occupied Palestinian lands.

Continuing these unilateral measures undermines the chances of reaching a two-state solution and directly contributes to disturbing any desired climate that we all aspire to in order to establish just and comprehensive peace in the region, the ministry said.

In May last year, Egypt allocated $500 million for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the Israeli aggression and has since then highlighted the necessity for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

In December, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, where he highlighted Egypts continued efforts to prevent tensions between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine held trilateral ministerial meeting in Cairo in December to discuss proposals to break the current stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

This followed a summit in Cairo for El-Sisi, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in September, where they emphasised the importance of unifying all partners' efforts to revive the long-frozen peace process between Palestine and Israel.

In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh in September, El-Sisi also underscored the importance of international support for Egyptian reconstruction efforts in the Palestinian territories.

This was the first visit by Bennett to Egypt as prime minister, as well as the first visit by any Israeli prime minister to Egypt since 2011.

El-Sisi also affirmed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the urgent need to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks when the latter visited Egypt late in May.

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By Trend

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov rejected the unfounded allegations of the Armenian representative at the OSCE forum, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, Trend reports.

On January 19, 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov addressed the opening meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) under the Chairmanship of Azerbaijan.

Speaking about the priority issues of the FSC chairmanship of Azerbaijan and the identified Security Dialogues, the minister voiced a number of important points.

"The last chairmanship of Azerbaijan in the FSC was 17 years ago, and since then a number of developments have taken place, complicating the overall security environment in the OSCE region. What remains unchanged is the basis for cooperation both within the OSCE as a whole and the FSC in particular. That is unconditional respect for fundamental norms, principles and commitments enshrined in the core OSCE documents, starting from the Helsinki Final Act, in particular respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of states," he said.

"As a result of blatant violations of the core principles of inter-state conduct, Azerbaijan's sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders were undermined. However, a counter-offensive operation of our armed forces in the autumn of 2020 put an end to this situation," Bayramov said.

He noted that the agenda of the presidency of Azerbaijan includes the implementation of Security Dialogues on issues of high importance for the FSC.

"Thus, the first Security Dialogue will be held next week on compliance with international humanitarian law and protection of civilians. We aim to use this Security Dialogue as an opportunity to promote and strengthen the commitment of states to ensure compliance with obligations under international humanitarian law and related OSCE commitments, as well as to dwell on the importance of accountability for their violations," he said.

"The other two Security Dialogues will focus on various aspects of Small Arms and Light Weapons and Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition. One will focus on the implementation of relevant OSCE commitments and lessons learned. The other Security Dialogue will focus on the issue of mine action," he noted.

Bayramov said that speaking from the perspective of the OSCEs comprehensive and cross-dimensional concept of security, realization of practical assistance projects is also of primary importance for the implementation of our commitments in other dimensions of security, such as facilitating the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes in safety and in dignity.

"Azerbaijan has always regarded the OSCE as a major pillar of the pan-European security architecture. One of our Security Dialogues under our chairmanship will be dedicated to the place and role of countries that do not belong to any politico-military alliance in European security architecture, as well as their approach and experience in contributing to security and stability in the OSCE area," he said.

Bayramov pointed out that the next Security Dialogue under Azerbaijan's chairmanship will be devoted to countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and based on its unique comprehensive concept of security, the OSCE is well-suited to combating and preventing terrorism through a holistic approach.

"Our next Security Dialogue will cover the issue of conventional arms control and confidence and security building measures (CSBMs). Based on its experience, Azerbaijan is well aware of threats and challenges existing in this sphere. In the past nearly three decades, we witnessed deliberate disregard and evasion of all applicable arms control and CSBMs regimes in a wrongful quest to consolidate the status-quo of occupation of our territories. Proceeding from this experience, we are convinced that the implementation of arms control and CSBMs commitments under existing regimes both in letter and spirit could indeed provide a significant contribution to peace, security and stability in the OSCE region," Bayramov said.

"Our final Security Dialogue will be dedicated to post-conflict rehabilitation and will draw on the lessons in the OSCE region. The OSCEs conflict cycle toolbox provides a basis for the Organizations engagement in post-conflict rehabilitation activities in a broad and comprehensive manner," he noted.

Azerbaijani minister said the country, during its chairmanship, is looking forward to work together with other participating states with a view of promoting and enhancing the implementation of our shared politico-military commitments, while ensuring respect for foundational principles that our organization rests on.

At the end of the meeting, Jeyhun Bayramov expressed gratitude to all the participants who congratulated Azerbaijan on the chairmanship of the FSC, supported the priorities of Azerbaijan and expressed readiness to work with Azerbaijan in this direction, commented on a number of suggestions of the participants.

At the same time, the unfounded allegations made by the Armenian representative during the discussions were rejected, and Azerbaijan's position on regional security based on international law was brought to the attention of the participants.
Egypts National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) has welcomed a move by the Cabinet approving the councils call for a one-year extension for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to legalise their status in the country.

In an official statement on Thursday, the NCHR said the decision by the Cabinet reaffirms the authorities positive interaction with the councils calls and the states greater openness on enhancing the role of NGOs and contributions in community service and issues of reforms and development.

In 2021, the Cabinet issued regulations granting NGOs in Egypt a year to comply with the new NGO Law 149/2019. However, the Cabinet decided on Wednesday to extend the grace period for another year starting 12 January; thereby concluding on 12 January 2023.

In a statement, the Cabinet said the extension aims to allow a sufficient period of time to reconcile the conditions of the NGOs that were unable to hold their extraordinary general assembly due to the coronavirus-related precautionary measures, or to familiarise themselves with the electronic system dedicated to legalising and regulating their status, and to accommodate all the organisational procedures that must be met.

The extension comes one week after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi declared during the closing ceremony of the World Youth Forum as the Year of Civil Society in Egypt.

Egypts parliament passed an amended NGOs law in July 2019 after the previous version of the law, which was issued in 2017, was criticised for imposing steep restrictions on the work of tens of thousands of NGOs in the country. The law was then ratified by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in January 2020.

The NCHR said that the Cabinets decision gives a chance to over 20,000 NGOs and civil society organisations to legalise their status, adding that only 31,000 NGOs from 54,000 were able to settle their legalities before the deadline.

Some governorates only saw 35 percent of their operating NGOs able to legalise their status, it added.

The decision is in line with the principles of freedom of organisation and bolstering community-based action in accordance with the rule of law and international accords for human rights, the NCHR concluded.

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At least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to African countries have expired, the Africa Centers for Disease Control said Thursday, citing short shelf lives as the major reason.

Donors of vaccines to the continent should send them with a realistic shelf life of about ``three months to six months'' before their expiration, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong told an online briefing. More African nations are now refusing to accept donations of vaccines that have only one or two months before their expiration, he said.

Although the number of expired doses is only about 0.5% of the total number donated to Africa, Nkengasong said he is unhappy to see any become invalid.

``Any dose of vaccine that expired pains me because that is a life that can potentially be saved,'' Nkengasong said.

Just over 10% of Africa's population of 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated, he said. The continent's 54 countries have confirmed 10.4 million COVID-19 cases and 235,000 deaths. The continent's omicron wave appears to be receding, with new confirmed cases down by 20% from the previous week and deaths dropping by 8%, the World Health Organization's Africa office announced Thursday.

More than 60% of the 572 million vaccine doses African countries have received have already been administered, Nkengasong said. The ``big fight'' for African countries will be ``logistics and getting doses to the population even as more supplies arrive,'' he said.

``We've seen remarkable uptake of vaccines in settings where we engage the community . and religious leaders,'' Nkengasong said, urging countries to use innovative ways to ``bring vaccines to the population and not only require that the populations should go to where the vaccines are.''

In Nigeria, for instance, an increasing number of vaccination centers are being set at public facilities such as markets and motor parks and health authorities are collaborating with opinion leaders to fight hesitancy.

Vaccines are Africa's ``best defense'' against severe illness, death and overwhelmed health systems, Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Africa director said at another online briefing Thursday.

``Africa must not only broaden vaccinations but also gain increased and equitable access to critical COVID-19 therapeutics to save lives and effectively combat this pandemic,'' Moeti said. ``The deep inequity that left Africa at the back of the queue for vaccines must not be repeated with life-saving treatments.''

In 2022, more testing is needed to fight the pandemic, said Harley Feldbaum of the Global Fund.

``We need to bring testing and treatment together in a much more rapid fashion,'' said Feldbaum. ``As long as we allow the pandemic to continue and to have inequitable access to tools, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, new variants are likely to rise, more people are likely to die than are needed to and the health systems overall are more likely to be undermined.``

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When the coronavirus pandemic was first declared, Spaniards were ordered to stay home for more than three months. For weeks, they were not allowed outside even for exercise. Children were banned from playgrounds, and the economy virtually stopped.

But officials credited the draconian measures with preventing a full collapse of the health system. Lives were saved, they argued.

Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different COVID-19 playbook. With one of Europe's highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay. Similar steps are under consideration in neighboring Portugal and in Britain.

The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.

Spain's center-left prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, wants the European Union to consider similar changes now that the surge of the omicron variant has shown that the disease is becoming less lethal.

``What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters,'' he said Monday.

Sanchez said the changes should not happen before the omicron surge is over, but officials need to start shaping the post-pandemic world now: ``We are doing our homework, anticipating scenarios.``

The World Health Organization has said that it's too early to consider any immediate shift. The organization does not have clearly defined criteria for declaring COVID-19 an endemic disease, but its experts have previously said that it will happen when the virus is more predictable and there are no sustained outbreaks.

``It's somewhat a subjective judgment because it's not just about the number of cases. It's about severity, and it's about impact,'' said Dr. Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies chief.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum panel on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases doctor in the U.S., said COVID-19 could not be considered endemic until it drops to ``a level that it doesn't disrupt society.''

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has advised countries to transition to more routine handling of COVID-19 after the acute phase of the pandemic is over. The agency said in a statement that more EU states in addition to Spain will want to adopt ``a more long-term, sustainable surveillance approach.''

Just over 80% of Spain's population has received two vaccine doses, and authorities are focused on boosting the immunity of adults with third doses.

Vaccine-acquired immunity, coupled with widespread infection, offers a chance to concentrate prevention efforts, testing and illness-tracking resources on moderate- to high-risk groups, said Dr. Salvador Trenche, head of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, which has led the call for a new endemic response.

COVID-19 ``must be treated like the rest of illnesses,'' Trenche told The Associated Press, adding that ``normalized attention'' by health professionals would help reduce delays in treatment of problems not related to the coronavirus.

The public also needs to come to terms with the idea that some deaths from COVID-19 ''will be inevitable,`` Tranche said.

``We can't do on the sixth wave what we were doing on the first one: The model needs to change if we want to achieve different results,`` he said.

The Spanish Health Ministry said it was too early to share any blueprints being drafted by its experts and advisers, but the agency confirmed that one proposal is to follow an existing model of ``sentinel surveillance'' currently used in the EU for monitoring flu.

The strategy has been nicknamed ``flu-ization'' of COVID-19 by Spanish media, although officials say that the systems for influenza will need to be adapted significantly to the coronavirus.

For now, the discussion about moving to an endemic approach is limited to wealthy nations that can afford to speak about the worst of the pandemic in the past tense. Their access to vaccines and robust public health systems are the envy of the developing world.

It's also not clear how an endemic strategy would coexist with the ``zero-Covid'' approach adopted by China and other Asian countries, and how would that affect international travel.

Many countries overwhelmed by the record number of omicron cases are already giving up on massive testing and cutting quarantine times, especially for workers who show no more than cold-like symptoms. Since the beginning of the year, classes in Spanish schools stop only if major outbreaks occur, not with the first reported case as they used to.

In Portugal, with one of the world's highest vaccination rates, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared in a New Year's speech that the country had ``moved into an endemic phase.'' But the debate over specific measures petered out as the spread soon accelerated to record levels _ almost 44,000 new cases in 24 hours reported Tuesday.

However, hospital admissions and deaths in the vaccinated world are proportionally much lower than in previous surges.

In the United Kingdom, mask-wearing in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped on Jan. 26, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday saying that the latest wave had ``peaked nationally.''

The requirement for infected people to isolate for five full days remains in place, but Johnson said he will seek to scrap it in coming weeks if the virus data continues to improve. Official statistics put at 95% the share of the British population that has developed antibodies against COVID-19 either from infection or vaccination.

``As COVID becomes endemic, we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance, urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others,'' Johnson said.

For some other European governments, the idea of normalizing COVID-19 is at odds with their efforts to boost vaccination among reluctant groups.

In Germany, where less than 73% of the population has received two doses and infection rates are hitting new records almost daily, comparisons to Spain or any other country are being rejected.

``We still have too many unvaccinated people, particularly among our older citizens,'' Health Ministry spokesman Andreas Deffner said Monday.

Italy is extending its vaccination mandate to all citizens age 50 or older and imposing fines of up to 1,500 euros for unvaccinated people who show up at work. Italians are also required to be fully vaccinated to access public transportation, planes, gyms, hotels and trade fairs.

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KYODO NEWS - Jan 20, 2022 - 19:11 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

A Japanese health ministry panel approved Thursday the administration of Pfizer Inc.'s coronavirus vaccine to children aged 5 to 11, making it the first in Japan to be available for the age group.

Around 7 million children will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from March at the earliest once it is granted special approval by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The U.S. pharmaceutical giant and its German partner BioNTech SE applied last November for Japanese government approval to inoculate children aged 5 to 11 with their jointly developed vaccine.

Their vaccine is currently available only to people aged 12 and older in Japan.

Experts have been divided on the necessity of vaccinating young children as they are unlikely to develop serious symptoms even if infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

A vaccine panel of the health ministry is debating whether to urge children aged 5 to 11 to be inoculated as it urges those aged 12 and above who are not pregnant.

According to the ministry, vaccine doses for children in the age group will use one-third of an adult dose. The vaccine specifically made for children will be used despite the active ingredients being the same.

Data from clinical trials conducted by Pfizer in the United States and other countries show that administration of the vaccine was 90.7 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections in children aged 5 to 11.

The trials also showed that while the subjects experienced sore arms, fatigue and headaches the next day, the side effects disappeared quickly and there were no safety issues.

With daily infections surging in Japan due to the Omicron variant, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier this month that inoculations for those under 12 would be rolled out as soon as possible.

Related coverage:

Japan decides to put Tokyo, 12 more areas under COVID quasi-emergency

Japan to halt vaccine-and-test scheme amid Omicron variant spread

Pfizer seeks approval for oral COVID-19 pill in Japan






KYODO NEWS - Jan 20, 2022 - 21:45 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

The western Japan prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo will ask the government Friday to place them under a coronavirus quasi-state of emergency amid the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said.

The planned joint request comes as Japan's confirmed daily coronavirus cases topped 46,000 on Thursday, setting a new record for the third day in a row and bringing the country's cumulative total to over 2 million.

Many areas have been struggling with what has become the "sixth wave" of infections, with Osaka seeing around 6,000 new daily infections recently.

The ratio of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in Osaka is "likely to reach today or tomorrow" the 35-percent threshold for requesting the central government's emergency step, Yoshimura told reporters.

The prefecture will make a formal decision on Friday following its headquarters meeting on countermeasures against the coronavirus.

The governors of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo affirmed in their meeting the previous day that if one of them decides to seek quasi-emergency curbs, they will ask together.

A quasi-emergency allows governors, based on their decisions, to request and order restaurants and bars to close early and stop or limit the serving of alcohol.

In addition to the three western prefectures, Hokkaido and the three southwestern Japan prefectures of Fukuoka, Saga and Oita are also preparing to ask the central government to place them under a quasi-state of emergency, local officials said Thursday, as the nation scrambles to rein in surging infections.

The potential expansion of quasi-emergency curbs to more prefectures underscores a growing sense of alarm among local authorities about further strain on the medical system and essential workers.

The governors of Fukushima, Shimane and Shizuoka have revealed they will ask the national government to apply quasi-emergency curbs to their areas, raising the likelihood that at least seven more areas will come under the anti-virus measures.

The central government is set to make a decision as early as next Tuesday on any official requests it receives from prefectures besides the 16 that have been, or are set to be, placed under a quasi-emergency, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

Japan decided Wednesday to expand quasi-emergency curbs to Tokyo and 12 other prefectures for three weeks from Friday, on top of Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Okinawa that have been subject to the measure since early January following a spike in infections local officials linked to nearby U.S. military bases.

Tokyo on Thursday confirmed 8,638 daily coronavirus cases, eclipsing the previous record high of 7,377 registered the previous day.

Meanwhile, a total of 6,350 cases had been confirmed among U.S. forces stationed in Japan as of Wednesday, of which 4,141 were in Okinawa, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told parliament.

Omicron has posed a new challenge to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and local authorities in imposing antivirus restrictions and keeping the economy going. "We need to join forces to achieve the goal to stop infections but not society," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told her counterparts in the metropolitan area during a virtual meeting.

Provisional results released by the health ministry Thursday showed that the Omicron variant accounted for 93 percent of all new infections in the week through last Sunday.

Kishida has been calling for public cooperation to reverse the trend in rising COVID-19 cases while seeking to speed up administering vaccine booster shots as the government aims to enhance domestic antivirus measures. In the meantime, Japan has imposed what the prime minister has called "the most stringent" border control measures among the Group of Seven advanced economies to keep the inflow of Omicron to a minimum.

A World Health Organization panel on Wednesday recommended member countries lift or ease international traffic bans, saying they do not provide "added value."

Asked about the recommendation, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said Japan will maintain its entry ban on nonresident foreign nationals into Japan until the end of February as planned. "The infection situations regarding Omicron are clearly different in Japan and abroad," he said.

Related coverage:

Japan's daily COVID cases top 46,000, new record for 3rd straight day

Japan gov't panel OKs Pfizer's COVID vaccine for children aged 5-11

Japan decides to put Tokyo, 12 more areas under COVID quasi-emergency
KYODO NEWS - Jan 20, 2022 - 23:15 | World, All

The delivery of international aid to Tonga began Thursday with the arrival of humanitarian supplies from Australia and New Zealand after an undersea volcanic eruption last weekend triggered a tsunami that caused severe damage to the South Pacific island nation.

Aircraft from New Zealand and Australia carrying much needed aid and supplies were finally able to touch down in the capital Nuku'alofa on Thursday afternoon, following the completion of cleanup efforts to remove volcanic ash from the runway of its main airport.

The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano on Saturday sent tsunami waves across the Pacific, killing at least three people and causing extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure in Tonga.

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the arrival of a Royal Australian Air Force plane carrying supplies Thursday afternoon and said in a Facebook post, "Tonga is a very important member of our Pacific family and we have committed to supporting them however we can," he said.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in a statement the C-130 Hercules aircraft that arrived from her country is carrying "humanitarian aid and disaster relief supplies, including water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene and family kits, and communications equipment."

An offshore naval patrol vessel sent by New Zealand is also expected to arrive in Tonga later Thursday, carrying hydrographic and dive personnel to survey shipping channels and assess wharf infrastructure. A Seasprite helicopter is onboard to assist with supply delivery, the New Zealand government said.

A second New Zealand ship carrying bulk fresh water supplies and a desalination plant is expected to arrive in Tonga on Friday, according to the statement.

Related coverage:

Japan to provide over $1 mil., supplies to tsunami-hit Tonga

3 deaths, significant damage confirmed following Tonga eruption

Tsunami caused by Tonga volcano eruption stumps Japan weather experts

One issue complicating international aid efforts is Tonga's status as a COVID-free country, with fears that aid personnel may bring the virus to the archipelago and worsen the situation. The Pacific nation has so far seen only one infection with no deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

Before the aircraft arrival, New Zealand's Defense Minister Peeni Henare said the delivery of supplies would be "contactless," with the C-130 plane being on the ground for up to 90 minutes before returning to New Zealand.

"We are talking to Tonga about what more they need from us and we can assure them of our ongoing support," Mahuta said.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government decided Thursday to send two C-130 transport planes to Australia as part of efforts to support Tonga. The Self-Defense Forces airplanes carrying potable water left Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture on the night of the day.

Tokyo also plans to dispatch the SDF transport vessel Osumi to deliver high-pressure cleaners and handcarts to Tonga intended for the removal of volcanic ash. The vessel will also carry two CH-47 helicopters.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, a government-linked aid agency, is getting the relief goods ready and the ship will leave for the Pacific island nation as soon as it is ready, the Japanese government said.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, who ordered the dispatch of the SDF aircraft and vessel Thursday, said six SDF and other personnel will be sent to Australia for information gathering and coordination with other aid providers. In total, Japan will dispatch 300 people for the relief effort, the Defense Ministry said.

On Wednesday, Japan pledged more than $1 million in aid for Tonga. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that Tokyo will "closely cooperate with Australia, New Zealand and other countries concerned" in offering assistance to Tonga.

Some 2G connectivity was restored to the archipelago on Thursday but communications remain limited with demand exceeding capacity, the New Zealand government said, after the volcanic eruption severed Tonga's sole undersea communications cable.

The United Nations said Thursday that about 84,000 people in the archipelago have been impacted by the disaster, or more than 80 percent of the population of about 105,000.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 21, 2022 - 02:59 | All, Japan, World

Japan and France on Thursday agreed to bolster their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and shared serious concerns over the state of affairs in the East and South China seas, as China's military clout is increasing in the region.

During the virtual talks involving the foreign and defense ministers from each country, the two also expressed their concerns over North Korea's missile and nuclear development following Pyongyang's ballistic missile launch on Monday, its fourth in just two weeks.

"The four ministers affirmed their commitment to promoting cooperation to contribute to the rules-based, free and open Indo-Pacific," the ministers said in a joint statement released after their "two-plus-two" security ministerial meeting, the first of its kind since a session in France in January 2019.

The meeting was attended by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi along with their respective French counterparts Jean-Yves Le Drian and Florence Parly.

The four ministers shared "serious concerns" over the state of affairs in the East and South China seas, in a veiled reference to China's growing assertiveness in nearby waters including around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing claims as its own territory and calls Diaoyu.

The statement underscored the importance of "peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."

Japan has been promoting the vision of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" as a counter to the rising influence of China and its increasing maritime assertiveness.

France also has strategic interests in the region since it has overseas territories, including the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and French Polynesia in the South Pacific.

On North Korea, the ministers affirmed their commitment toward the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The ministers also said they will continue their efforts to monitor ship-to-ship smuggling involving North Korean vessels.

The ministers welcomed progress in defense cooperation between Japan and France, including their joint exercises last year that also involved the United States, Australia and India.

They also discussed how to cooperate on support missions for Tonga following a devastating undersea volcanic eruption Saturday and the subsequent tsunami waves, given that France has military facilities in its territories near the South Pacific island nation, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry.

The statement added that the two governments should begin discussing a possible framework to ease restrictions on the transportation of weapons and supplies for joint training.

Japan has been reinforcing its defense cooperation with European countries, including Britain and Germany, in addition to its longtime ally the United States, as well as other partners such as Australia that share the same vision for the region.

Japan and France have taken turns hosting such meetings almost every year since their first session in 2014.

They had originally planned to hold an in-person two-plus-two gathering in Japan by the end of 2021, but postponed it amid the rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Related coverage:

Japan, France begin informal talks on access deal for joint drills

Kishida, Macron agree to bolster Japan-France ties in phone talks

France declines to back AUKUS deal, wary of Indo-Pacific tensions
KYODO NEWS - Jan 20, 2022 - 12:43 | All, Japan

The northeastern town of Futaba, which hosts part of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, on Thursday started allowing some residents to stay overnight at their homes for the first time in more than a decade.

People subject to the program are mainly those who have homes in areas that could see their evacuation order lifted as early as June this year.

The start of the program marks a step forward for the town to once again become inhabited after the quake-triggered tsunami on March 11, 2011, engulfed the Fukushima Daiichi plant and caused the world's worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis, forcing all Futaba residents to evacuate.

"I want to build a town that makes people feel good about returning to," Shiro Izawa, mayor of Futaba, told reporters.

The final municipality that was totally off-limits due to radiation, Futaba partially lifted its entry ban in March 2020, paving the way for the resumption of some operations at the town office.

Decontamination and the building of infrastructure has been taking place in some 780 hectares, accounting for 15 percent of its entire area, to prepare for the return of its citizens. The area centering on JR Futaba Station is included in the reconstruction efforts.

"Finally this day has come. I'd like to prepare so I can start getting back the life I had before the accident," said Yoichi Yatsuda, a 70-year-old former keirin cyclist, after returning from nearby Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, where he had been evacuated.

Related coverage:

Ex-TEPCO execs plead not guilty over Fukushima crisis in appeal trial

Tsunami-hit Fukushima school opens as memorial to 2011 tragedy

Fukui nuclear unit halted after missing deadline on antiterror steps

At the end of last year, 3,613 people had certificates of residence in the designated areas, but many have already demolished their houses and only 15 people from 11 households had applied for the program by Wednesday.

As for the no-go zone outside the designated areas, the central government announced a decontamination plan in August last year so applicants can return to their homes in the 2020s but the prospect of removing evacuation orders remains unclear.

The nearby town of Okuma and Katsurao village have already begun allowing residents to stay overnight in designated reconstruction areas.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 21, 2022 - 09:06 | All, World

A group of scientists and scholars on Thursday left the "Doomsday Clock" at a position 100 seconds from midnight, saying the world is "no safer than it was last year" from threats of nuclear war and climate change.

"This decision does not, by any means, suggest that the international security situation has stabilized," said the experts who advised the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists journal in setting the hands of the symbolic clock located at the University of Chicago.

"On the contrary, the Clock remains the closest it has ever been to civilization-ending apocalypse because the world remains stuck in an extremely dangerous moment," they added in a statement.

The Doomsday Clock is a warning about how close humans may be to destroying the world with dangerous technologies, with midnight representing global catastrophe such as nuclear war or irreversible climate crisis.

The experts said some positive developments have been seen in the U.S. approach to dealing with global concerns following the exit of Donald Trump, who was known for his unpredictable, go-it-alone leadership style and provocative rhetoric during his presidency.

After President Joe Biden took office in January last year, the United States and Russia agreed on an extension of the last remaining treaty capping their nuclear arsenals -- the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

The Biden administration is also working to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and rejoined the Paris climate deal, both of which the United States had left under Trump.

"A more moderate and predictable approach to leadership and the control of one of the two largest nuclear arsenals of the world marked a welcome change from the previous four years," the experts said.

But they warned that U.S. relations with Russia and China remain tense, with all three countries "engaged in an array of nuclear modernization and expansion efforts," including the push to develop hypersonic missiles.

"If not restrained, these efforts could mark the start of a dangerous new nuclear arms race," the scholars said, while noting that North Korea's nuclear and missile ambitions and potential unsuccessful attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal contribute to growing dangers.

Ukraine also remains a possible flashpoint, and Russia's massive troop deployments to the Ukrainian border heighten day-to-day tensions, they added.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project. The clock was created in 1947.
JAKARTA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- A convicted terrorist masterminding the deadly Bali bombings in 2002, Arif Sunarso, known as Zulkarnaen, was sentenced to 15-year-imprisonment on Wednesday by Indonesia's East Jakarta Court.

The sentence is lower than a lifetime imprisonment previously demanded by prosecutors.

However, the punishment is not for his alleged key role in the Bali terrorist attack which killed 202 people, as the judges found that the statute of limitations had expired.

The judges found him guilty of aiding and funding terrorist acts by lending money, giving a shelter to terror perpetrators and withholding information on the terrorist acts.

Zulkarnaen is a former military commander for outlawed Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant group linked to Al Qaeda terrorist group. The 58-year-old man was arrested in December 2020 by Indonesia's anti-terror squad Densus 88 after being on the run for 18 years. 
By Trend

Azerbaijan adheres to the start of the delimitation process of border with Armenia without any conditions, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said during a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmidt during his visit to Vienna on Wednesday, Trend reports citing Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Schmidt congratulated Azerbaijan on its chairmanship of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (OSCE). She noted that the priorities of the presidency are detailed and balanced. Noting the great role of the Forum in resolving security issues in the OSCE space, the Secretary General expressed hope that the current chairmanship of Azerbaijan would help solve problems. She stressed that the chairmanship of Azerbaijan was supported by the OSCE. According to Schmidt, the OSCE Secretariat is ready to work closely with Azerbaijan in the implementation of these priorities.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the OSCE. Noting the importance of cooperation with the organization, he referred with satisfaction to existing projects with the OSCE on the development of transport links, the promotion of "green" energy, and environmental issues.

The minister also expressed Azerbaijan's interest in the participation of the OSCE in the building and reintegration processes at the current post-conflict stage.

The Minister informed the OSCE Secretary General on the current situation in the region, issues related to the implementation of tripartite statements, and the steps taken by Azerbaijan to normalize relations between the two countries.

The minister said that the delimitation of the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia is considered an important element in the normalization of relations between the two countries, and Azerbaijan is a supporter of the urgent start of this process. It was noted with regret that the approach of Armenia to this issue, including the position demonstrated by Armenia on this issue and a number of preconditions for starting the delimitation process, are absolutely unacceptable. It was brought to the attention of the Secretary General that Azerbaijan supports the launch of the delimitation process without any conditions.

The parties exchanged views on cooperation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE, as well as other issues of mutual interest.
LAGOS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 220 people, including civilians and security personnel, lost their lives in the first 17 days of this year in armed attacks in central Nigeria's Niger state, the state's governor has said.

Gunmen attacked 300 communities in the state between Jan. 1 and Jan. 17, and at least 50 of those attacks led to casualties, with at least 220 people killed and 200 others abducted, governor Abubakar Sani Bello told a briefing late Tuesday in Abuja, following a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

"We lost some security personnel. Their number is 25. Unfortunately, we also lost about 165 civilians and 30 local vigilantes," the governor said.

"So, it's a very dire situation that we have been battling in the last few weeks since the beginning of this year," Bello said, adding that the gunmen were using forests as hideouts and moving between states to escape the hunt of security forces.

He called for simultaneous operations by security forces in different states and the recruitment of more security personnel to sustain the fight against the gunmen.

Armed banditry has been a primary security threat in Nigeria's northern and central regions, leading to deaths and kidnappings in recent months. 
Cambodia's Tourism Minister Thong Khon speaks during the 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Jan. 19, 2022. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Tourism ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday agreed to announce the reopening of ASEAN tourism to revitalize the sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement.

Chaired by Cambodia's Tourism Minister Thong Khon, the 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers was held in both physical and virtual formats in Cambodia's seaside city of Sihanoukville.

The ministers said the ASEAN tourism sector was not only ready for reopening but would also bounce back quickly with more resilience, according to the statement.

"In this regard, we agreed to announce the reopening of ASEAN tourism, both intra-regional and international," it said, noting that "every possible coordination and cooperation will be provided so that the reopening process will be gradual and steady."

The ministers also agreed to introduce a standardized COVID-19 vaccination recognition system among ASEAN countries, and welcomed the progressive roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination in each ASEAN member state, which is a key indicator for the reopening of ASEAN tourism.

They also highlighted further cooperation in the tourism sector among ASEAN member states to ensure that ASEAN remains competitive in the sector.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Photo taken on Jan. 19, 2022 shows the 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)
Aerial photo taken on Jan. 17, 2022 by a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion aircraft shows the view of main island of Tonga after volcano eruption. (New Zealand Ministry of Defense/Handout via Xinhua)

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Tongan authorities, said that water, food and restoration of communications top the list of needs. However, it will be days before naval ships from Australia and New Zealand can arrive and dock on the main island of Tongatapu.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Needs assessment expands for Tonga volcano disaster relief and aid efforts scale up, but delivery is delayed by distance and ash-laden runways, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing Tongan authorities, said that water, food and restoration of communications top the list of needs. However, it will be days before naval ships from Australia and New Zealand can arrive and dock on the main island of Tongatapu.

Saturday's eruption affects 84,000 people, or 80 percent of the population, OCHA said. The casualty count remains at three dead and an unknown number of people injured.

While 90 percent of electricity on Tongatapu is back up, volcanic ash blocks runways at the international airport at Nuku'alofa, the capital city. They are expected to be cleared by Thursday local time, said OCHA.

Domestic phone service operates only within Tongatapu and 'Eua islands.

When foreign relief can be delivered it is expected to be on a hands-off basis because of the island kingdom's strict anti-COVID protocols. It is one of the few COVID-free countries in the world.

"The United Nations is concerned about the islands of Mango, Fonoifua, and Nomuka which have been severely impacted, though sparsely populated," the office said. "All houses are destroyed on Mango and only two houses remain on Fonoifua, with extensive damage reported on Nomuka. Evacuation of people from Mango and Fonoifua to Nomuka is under way."

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion aircraft prepares to leave for Tonga from Auckland, New Zealand, Jan. 17, 2022. (New Zealand Ministry of Defense/Handout via Xinhua)

Surveillance flight data showed up to 100 houses were severely damaged on the main island and about 50 on 'Eua, OCHA said. Tongan authorities are conducting search-and-rescue operations and have sent two vessels carrying health teams and water, food and tents to the Ha'apai island group, where Mango, Fonoifua and Nomuka are located.

The humanitarian office said the Tongan Red Cross Society and other local partners are distributing emergency water, food rations, shelter and kitchen supplies. The UN Children's Fund is shipping water and other supplies with Australia's HMAS Adelaide, but the ship won't leave for Tonga until Friday.

Japan announced an emergency grant of more than 1 million U.S. dollars along with a pledge to send relief supplies and equipment, OCHA said. The Red Cross Society of China will provide 100,000 dollars in cash and humanitarian assistance.

On one of Tonga's nearest neighbors in the southwestern Pacific, Fiji, 50 engineers from the military forces are on standby to assist in the relief effort should there be a request by the Tongan government, the office said. 
TEHRAN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Thursday that his country seeks "maximum interaction" with all countries, especially its neighbors and allies.

Through the interactions and cooperation, the mutual interests of countries are met and the "civilized global community" is formed, Raisi said when addressing the plenary session of Russia's Duma during his visit to Moscow, according to the presidential website.

The "successful" model of cooperation between Iran and Russia in Syria has guaranteed the independence of the country and strengthened regional security, he noted.

Raisi also mentioned the presence of foreign forces in the region and U.S. sanctions, saying that "the hegemonic strategy has now failed, and the United States is at its weakest point, and the power of independent states is in historic growth."

The United States claims that the sanctions are due to Iran's nuclear activities, but Iran's activities are "under the constant supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency," he added.

The fact is that in different historical periods of Iran, whenever the Iranians have raised the banner of nationalism, independence, or scientific development, it has faced sanctions and pressure from the enemies of the Iranian nation, he said.

The Iranian policy is that "we are not looking for a nuclear weapon, and this weapon has no place in our defense strategy," the president stressed.

Raisi pointed to the process of ongoing talks between Iran and world powers over its nuclear program in the Austrian capital of Vienna, and said that "Iran is serious about reaching an agreement if the other parties are serious about lifting the sanctions effectively."

The Iranian president, who heads a delegation, arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. 
ANKARA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's security forces killed seven members of Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) after they attempted to infiltrate into Turkish military zone in northern Syria, the country's defense ministry said Wednesday.

The seven YPG militants "opened harassment fire against the region and attempted to infiltrate, (and) were neutralized by our fire-support vehicles," the ministry tweeted.

Turkish authorities often use the term "neutralized" to imply enemies killed, wounded, or captured in security operations.

Three Turkish soldiers were killed on Jan. 8 by an improvised explosive device planted on the borderline in Akcakale district of the southeastern Sanliurfa city on Turkey's border with Syria, according to the Turkish defense ministry.

Turkey's security forces killed at least 12 Kurdish fighters soon after the incident.

"Our punitive operations continue," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Jan. 9.

The Turkish army launched Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016, Operation Olive Branch in 2018, Operation Peace Spring in 2019 and Operation Spring Shield in 2020 in northern Syria, in order to eliminate the YPG group along its border with the neighboring country.

Turkey sees the YPG as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkish forces and the YPG members in the region often exchange fire on the Syrian border.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the EU, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives. 
WUHAN, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- A China-Europe freight train loaded with decoration items such as red lanterns and paper cuttings departed from Wujiashan Station in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, for Malaszewicze in Poland on Wednesday.

Hu Yiqiang, director of the station, said that the goods will herald a festive aura of the Chinese Spring Festival for the Chinese students abroad as well as overseas Chinese and allow more countries and regions in Europe to feel the ambiance of the Chinese New Year.

Liu Fangzhi, an official with the China Railway Wuhan Bureau Group Co., Ltd., said Germany and Poland have greatly increased their demands for epidemic prevention materials.

Wuhan has launched 11 China-Europe freight trains this year, transporting a total of 921 tonnes of epidemic prevention goods so far, Liu added. 
MOSCOW, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Russia has recorded 33,899 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase since Nov. 27, taking the nationwide tally to 10,899,411, the official monitoring and response center said Wednesday.

The nationwide death toll increased by 698 to 323,376, while the number of recoveries increased by 22,920 to 9,925,855.

Meanwhile, Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, has reported 8,795 new cases, taking its total to 2,113,370.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova announced Tuesday that the COVID-19 isolation period for those infected with the virus would be shortened from 14 to seven days in the country.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the same day that the possibility of a nationwide lockdown is currently not being discussed. However, local authorities have the right to impose restrictions on a regional level.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin pointed out on Tuesday that the Omicron variant was slowly replacing the previously dominant Delta strain in the capital, and added that cases have dramatically increased.

Sobyanin also urged employers to ensure that at least 30 percent of their staff were working remotely, and for those above 60 to stay at home. Both of these measures would be extended until April 1 this year. 
LJUBLJANA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia reported 12,286 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour span, a new daily record for the second day in a row, the National Institute of Public Health said on Wednesday.

According to the Health Ministry, starting from Tuesday, only patients with chronic diseases, immune deficiency, pregnant women and children would be able to take a free polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test directly. Others would only be able to take a PCR test if they tested positive after an antigen rapid test or if their symptoms persisted in spite of a negative rapid test.

The ministry also expected the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care to rise from 155 on Tuesday to up to 250 by Feb. 7.

The government has been calling on the citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as only 57.3 percent of Slovenia's population has so far been fully vaccinated. 
New Delhi:

A terrorist was killed in an encounter that broke out on Tuesday in Gund area of Jammu and Kashmirs Ganderbal district. Security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in Kulan area of the central Kashmir district in the morning following inputs about the presence of militants. During the search, the hiding militants fired upon the security forces, who retaliated, according to an officer.

A militant was killed during the gunfight. An army soldier was also injured and rushed to a medical facility for treatment, the officer said.

The identity and group affiliation of the slain militant is yet to be ascertained. The operation is on and further details are awaited, the officer added.

The encounter comes just a day after two terrorists were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmirs Bandipora district. The gunfight started when security forces launched a search operation in Lawdara village following specific information about the presence of some terrorists. Officials say, the hiding ultras opened fire on the security personnel who retaliated. Police claim to have recovered arms and ammunitions from the terrorists.

Last month, Abdul Hamid Lelhari, Al-Qaeda Kashmir unit chief and Zakir Musa's successor along with two other terrorists, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district.

In June 2019, around two weeks after Zakir Musa was gunned down by security forces, al-Qaida affiliate Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) had named Hamid Lelhari as its local commander. Lelhari was a native of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

In July 2019, Lelhari had released a nearly six-minute-long video laying down principles for a proposed militant "shura". He had called for cooperation among various militant outfits operating in the state and a new representative militant council to take consensus decisions regarding military actions against India.

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Johannesburg:

The world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal's South Africa unit has said it will retrench nearly 1,000 workers and shut down its Saldanha plant due to severe financial losses, amid a global downturn in the steel industry. Global steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 18 countries. As part of a strategic review of its operations, the steel manufacturer found that its Saldanha operations had lost their competitive cost advantage to compete in the export market, "mainly due to raw material and regulated prices", the company said in a statement.

"This difficult decision was taken in the context of constructive ongoing engagements with key stakeholders, including government and organised labour, to find alternative solutions to the dire situation in the South African steel industry," the company said.

The South African government has expressed "disappointment" at the decision of ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) to retrench nearly 1,000 workers across the company and to shut down its operations in Saldanha town.

"This comes despite significant efforts by Government and public agencies to provide additional support to AMSA over the last few months, and to ensure a solution which would result in the elimination of job losses across the company and the continuation of the Saldanha Works," said Department of Trade and Industry.

"The recent efforts of the government are additional to extensive trade support which has been provided to the steel industry over the last few years to ensure protection from imports, including safeguards on imported hot rolled steel. In addition, the government has designated the steel industry to ensure that steel procured for infrastructure projects is locally produced," it said in a statement.

AMSA's South African operations, acquired from former state-owned steel manufacturer Iscor almost two decades ago after Mittal first helped turn it around, has been under pressure for the past few years amid a global downturn in the steel industry.

Mittal himself met senior government officials last year as AMSA sought to downscale its operations at Vanderbijlpark, threatening the livelihoods of an entire town that depended on employment at the company.

Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel also met with the management of AMSA on several occasions in recent months to explore opportunities to save jobs and keep all of AMSA's plants in operation.

A number of steps were put in place to avert the retrenchments at Saldanha.

These included reduced energy and logistics costs for the company and at Saldanha, in particular, as well as further concessional pricing for AMSA from Kumba, which supplies ore to AMSA.

"The consequence of the expedited facilitation and dialogue initiated by National Government, secured commitments of half a billion in annualised savings, in addition to once-off savings of more than R 200 million and additional commitments from organised labour to fast-track discussions on enhanced productivity arrangements," the statement said.

Patel urged AMSA to reconsider its decision because of the impact it would have on an already ailing South African economy.

"We recognise the challenges presented to the steel industry globally from over-capacity. If no solution is found with Arcelor Mittal, they should consider selling the plant to ensure the country does not lose industrial capacity and workers and communities are not displaced," Patel said.

ArcelorMittal has reported a net loss of USD 539 million for the July-September quarter of 2019 hit by lower steel shipments and prices, and high material costs.

Sales of the company declined to $16,634 million in the July-September quarter from $18,522 million in the year-ago period.

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By Trend

During my visits to Zangilan, Fuzuli and Barda, I saw the scale of mine "pollution", British Ambassador to Azerbaijan James Sharp wrote about this on his Twitter page, Trend reports.

The ambassador said that the UK is sharing knowledge, technology and experience in the field of mine action with Azerbaijan.

"Today I met with four British demining experts working with ANAMA to ensure the safe return of displaced people to their homes", Sharp said.
New Delhi:

Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday protested outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) headquarters in Delhi over the nearly 300 per cent hike in hostel fees of the Varsity. The protests have intesified over the last few days, prompting the university administration to shift a meeting of the Executive Council outside the campus in fear of disruption by agitating students.

Students, who protested outside the UGC office, were mostly from RSS student wing ABVP. The students from Left-backed political outfits have been protesting against the hike in hostel fees for almost a fortnight.

The students have been demanding rollback of the draft hostel manual, in which one-time mess security fee has been hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000. The draft hostel manual has also included additional service charge of Rs 17,00.

The University has also hiked the rent for a single-seater room from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month, while the same for a double seater room has been increased from Rs 10 to Rs 300 per month.

Also Read | JNU Students Protesting Over Fee Hike Clash With Police, HRD Minister Stuck For Over 6 Hours

The students' union claims the draft hostel manual, approved by the Inter-Hall administration, has provisions for hostel fee hike, dress code and curfew timings. On Wednesday, the students shifted their protests to the administration block, which houses the vice chancellor's office and the office of other senior administration officials. Earlier they had gathered outside the convention centre on the campus.

Beating their daflis, they shouted slogans against the JNU administration and the vice chancellor. The JNU Teachers Association, representatives of which attend the EC meeting, alleged they were not informed about the change in the venue to the office of the Association of Indian Universities near ITO.
New Delhi:

Congress party on Monday released the third list of 19 candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly polls 2019. The party has till date announced the names of 25 candidates.

Here are the list of the candidates:

Earlier today, Jharkhands ruling NDA constituent, the AJSU party, announced the first list of 12 candidates. Party president Sudesh Kumar Mahto was re-nominated to contest from Silli assembly constituency. Mahto had lost the seat in 2014 assembly polls.

The party also named Jharkhand Water Resources Minister Ramchandra Sahis to contest from Jugsalai, a party release issued here said. The AJSU party also nominated Kushwaha Shiv Pujan Mehta, who won the Hussainabad seat on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket in 2014 assembly elections and recently joined the AJSU party, from the same constituency.

Former minister Umakant Razzak has been re-nominated to contest from Chandankiyari, which he lost in the last polls. Niru Shanti Bhagat, who has been re-nominated from Lohardaga, is the wife of party leader Kamal Kishore Bhagat, who won the seat in 2014, but was disqualified after his conviction in a case.
Brasilia:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Brazilian capital on Wednesday to take part in the BRICS summit which will focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen Indias ties with the worlds five major economies. On the sidelines of the 11th BRICS summit, Modi will also meet Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to discuss ways to enhance the bilateral strategic partnership.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold separate bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday. BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economiesBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

During the summit, the five major economies of the world will aim to significantly strengthen their cooperation in science, technology and innovation, Modi said in his departure statement. The BRICS countries will also look to enhance cooperation on digital economy and build mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation within the BRICS framework, Modi said.

This will be the sixth time Modi is participating in the BRICS summit, his first being at Fortaleza, also in Brazil in 2014. He would also attend the BRICS business forum closing ceremony and the closed and plenary sessions of the summit.

In the closed session, the discussions are expected to be focused on challenges and opportunities for the exercise of national sovereignty in the contemporary world. This will be followed by the BRICS Plenary Session, where the leaders will discuss the intra-BRICS cooperation for the economic development of BRICS societies.

A BRICS memorandum of understanding between trade and investment promotion agencies is expected to be signed. The participating leaders would also be issued on the conclusion of the summit, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision not to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is a welcome step as India is not yet prepared to join the worlds largest trading block even though it deprives India favourable market access in the region.

RCEP is a free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region between the ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philipines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and their five FTA partners (Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea).

It is clear that the prime concern of the government was that RCEP would have an adverse impact on the Indian economy, which is passing through one of the worst slowdown. Almost all economic indicators are down. In India, manufacturing industry associations, service sector and farmer organisations were opposed to any move to sign the agreement. Indias agriculture is passing through a lot of stress. It needs right kind of policies and infusion of lot of funds to compete globally.

We are still far behind in farming and diary sector than many countries. India cant compete with them in an open market. Similarly, India doesnt stand anywhere close to China in manufacturing sector. The government brought up its ambitious make in India initiative in the last tenure. However, it didnt produce the desired results.

At the most, what Indian companies did was to assemble mobile phones that has Chinese components. Only branding was Indian. No wonder, there is a trade deficit of $70 billion with China. What we buy from China is mainly high tech electronic and engineering goods, while we export is primarily raw material.

In such a situation, there is a real threat of China dumping goods in India. It would be a big challenge to protect domestic companies if India signed the RCEP. If India wants to become a manufacturing hub, the government will have to create an environment that is conducive to big investments. Real manufacturing requires strong R&D.

The government can follow Chinas example that became a manufacturing hub through joint ventures with the global giants. First, China made it mandatory for the foreign technology giants like Alcatel, Nokia, Ericsson to set up their manufacturing units in China if they wanted to supply to Chinese telecom operators. When its manpower gained enough experience, China focused on research and development and as a result there were global giants like Huawei and ZTE.

Provisions related to the services such as movement of skilled and semi-skilled workers doesnt suit India. It is important that all the nations should agree to free movement of workforce within member nations.

In a nutshell, it was a good decision to move out of RCEP. However, the reality is that India should have been prepared to join such an important group and exploit its full potential. Only then it can meet its aspirations of becoming a global economic super power.
New Delhi:

Its official! The Shiv Senas exit from the NDA took a irreversible turn with President ram Nath Kovind accepting Arvind Sawants resignation on Tuesday. According to an official statement, The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution. This means that the BJP leadership in Delhi is playing hawk and is in no mood to relent to its new frenemy. The statement also said that, Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has directed that Shri Prakash Javadekar, Cabinet Minister, be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, in addition to his existing portfolios.

On Monday, amid strong buzz of the NCP and the Shiv Sena coming together to form a government with help from the Congress, Sawant announced his resignation citing trust deficit between the BJP and the Sena.

Addressing media in New Delhi, Sawant accused the BJP of reneging on its promise to the Sena for equal division of seats and power and forcing the Uddhav Thackeray-led party to snap ties. He alleged that the BJP was resorting to "lies" by denying the agreement reached between the leaders of the two allies before the assembly elections.

"They have also hurt my party by lying. Since there is no trust left, I have decided to resign," Sawant told reporters. He also accused the BJP of hurting the sentiments of the Shiv Sena and of the Thackeray family. "I have resigned as Union minister. I have sent my resignation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the Shiv Sena leader said and displayed his letter resigning as Heavy Industries minister.

Asked if the Sena has snapped its ties with the BJP, he said, "When I have resigned, you can understand what it means."

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday spoke to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sought her partys support to form a government in Maharashtra. The phone call from Thackeray to Gandhi came before the Congress held a crucial meeting for a second time in the day to decide on whether or not to support the Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena chief sought the Congress support to form a government in Maharastra, sources said.

The Sena, the second largest party in the 288-member House with 56 MLAs after the BJPs 105 members, stepped up efforts to grab power in the politically crucial state.
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday will pronounce the judgements on the review petitions filed on the issue of entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple, the Rafale fighter jet deal, where the top court will review its December 2018 ruling of not ordering a CBI probe into the deal and the criminal contempt plea filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in Rafale case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

What is Sabarimala case?

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on a batch of petitions seeking re-examination of its decision to allow entry of women of all age group in Kerala's Sabarimala Temple. The apex court will deliver its judgement on as many as 65 petitions -- including 56 review petitions and four fresh writ petitions and five transfer pleas -- which were filed after its verdict sparked violent protests in Kerala.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had reserved its decision on February 6 after hearing various parties including those seeking re-consideration of the September 28, 2018 judgement. Other members of the bench are justices RF Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra. The apex court, by a majority verdict of 4:1, on September 28, 2018, had lifted the ban that prevented women and girls between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the famous Ayyappa shrine in Kerala and had held that this centuries-old Hindu religious practice was illegal and unconstitutional.

What is Rafale deal case?

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on petitions seeking a review of its judgement giving a clean chit to the Modi government in the Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation. On May 10, the apex court had reserved the decision on the pleas, including one filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, seeking a re-examination of its findings that there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph is likely to pronounce verdicts on three review petitions filed by the trio, lawyer Vineet Dhandha and Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Sanjay Singh. On December 14, 2018, the apex court dismissed the petitions seeking an investigation into alleged irregularities in the Rs 58,000 crore deal. However, while reserving the judgement on the review petitions, the apex court had posed searching questions to the Centre on its deal with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets on issues like "waiver of sovereign guarantee" and the absence of technology transfer clause in the IGA pact.

The bench had referred to a judgement in the Lalita Kumari case which said that an FIR is must when information revealed commission of cognizable offence.

What is Rahul Gandhi case?

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on the criminal contempt plea filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi for wrongly attributing to the apex court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in Rafale case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gandhi had made the remarks on April 10, the day the apex court had dismissed the Centre's preliminary objections over admissibility of certain documents for supporting the review petitions against the December 14 last year verdict in the Rafale case.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph had on May 10 reserved the judgement. Gandhi, who was then the President of the Congress Party, had told the bench that he has already tendered unconditional apology for wrongly attributing the remarks relating to the Prime Minister to the apex court. Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, had told the bench, that the Congress leader expressed regret over the wrongful attribution to the apex court.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Lekhi, had submitted that the apology tendered by Gandhi should be rejected and action must be taken against him as per the law. Rohatgi also argued that the court should ask Gandhi to make an apology to the public for his remarks. Gandhi had on May 8 tendered unconditional apology in the apex court for wrongfully attributing to it his "chowkidar chor hai" remark in the Rafale verdict and said that he holds the top court in the "highest esteem and respect" and any attributions to it were "entirely unintentional, non-wilful and inadvertent".

The three-page affidavit was filed by the then Congress president after he had drawn flak from the apex court on April 30 over his earlier affidavit in which he had not directly admitted his mistake for incorrectly attributing the allegedly contemptuous remark to the top court.

Lekhi filed the contempt plea against Gandhi for the "chowkidar chor hai" remarks against Modi, which the top court had said were incorrectly attributed to it. The apex court on April 15 had given a categorical clarification that in its Rafale verdict there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the contemptuous observation that "chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain" as has been attributed to it by Gandhi.

(With PTI inputs)

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Brasilia:

India is the world's most "open and investment friendly" economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday as he wooed the BRICS business leaders, urging them to invest in the country and take advantage of its "limitless" possibilities and "countless" opportunities. Addressing the closing ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum, prime minister Modi said the grouping of five countries had led to economic development despite the global economic slowdown.

"India is the most open and investment friendly economy in the world due to political stability, predictable policy and business friendly reforms. By 2024, we want to make India a five trillion dollar economy. The infrastructure alone requires USD 1.5 trillion investment," he said.

Noting that India has "limitless" possibilities and "countless" opportunities, the prime minister urged the BRICS business leaders to take advantage of them.

"I invite the business of BRICS countries to build and grow their presence in India," he said.

"BRICS countries account for 50 per cent of the world's economic growth. Despite the recession in the world, BRICS countries accelerated economic growth, drove millions out of poverty and achieved new breakthroughs in technology and innovation. Now ten years after the founding of BRICS, this forum is a good platform to consider the direction of our efforts in the future," Modi said.

The prime minister said simplifying intra-BRICS business will increase mutual trade and investment.

"Tax and customs procedures between us five countries are getting easier. The business environment is getting easier with the collaboration between intellectual property rights, and banks. I request the BRICS Business Forum to study the necessary business initiatives to take full advantage of the opportunities thus generated," he said.

"I would also like to request that priority areas in business be identified among us for the next ten years and based on them blue print of Intra-BRICS collaboration should be made," Modi said.

The prime minister said the market size, diversity and complementarities of the members of the BRICS countries were very beneficial to each other and urged the forum to map such complementarities in the five countries.

"If one BRICS country has technology, the other is related to raw materials or markets. Such possibilities are especially in electric vehicles, digital technology, fertilizer, agricultural products, food processing. I would urge the forum to map such complementarities in five countries. I would also like to suggest that at least five such areas should be identified by the next BRICS Summit in which joint ventures can be formed between us on the basis of complementarities," he said.

"Important initiatives like innovation BRICS Network, and BRICS Institution for Future Network will be considered during tomorrow's summit. I request the private sector to join these efforts focused on human resources. Connecting young entrepreneurs with these initiatives will also give more strength to business and innovation," Modi said.

The prime minister said there was a possibility of making travel, business and employment between the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries more easy. He thanked President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro for his government's decision to give Indians visa-free entry in his country.

"I thank the President of Brazil for deciding the visa free entry to Indians. We five countries should also consider mutual social security agreement," Modi said.

Prime minister Modi is in Brazil for the 11th BRICS Summit which will focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen India's ties with the world's five major economies.

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New Delhi:

The Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday issued bailable warrant against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor after he did not appear in a defamation case. The case was filed by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar over Tharoor's alleged 'scorpion on Shivling' remark on PM Modi.

Earlier, a court reserved its order on summoning Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his alleged 'scorpion' remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal said the court would pass the order on April 27 on whether to summon the Congress MP as the accused in the plea.

The court was hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed against Tharoor by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who has said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's statement.

"I am a devotee of Lord Shiva.... However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva devotees, made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country," the complaint says.

"The complainant's religious sentiments were hurt and the accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage the religious feelings of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious belief," it adds.

The complaint also describes Tharoor's statement as an "intolerable abuse" and "absolute vilification" of the faith of millions of people. The complaint was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to defamation.

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New Delhi:

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that the imposition of President's Rule in Maharashtra is unfortunate and the party expects a stable government soon in the state. President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday evening amid a stalemate over government formation after the assembly polls last month.

The Union Cabinet had earlier in the day recommended President's rule in the state after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari submitted a report in this regard, officials said. President Ram Nath Kovind has signed a proclamation imposing President's rule in Maharashtra, they said adding the Assembly will remain in suspended animation.

In his report, the governor said a situation has arisen that a stable government is not possible even after 15 days of election results being declared, according to officials. He said that all efforts have been made to form a government but he saw no probability that a stable government could be formed.

The governor noted that he is satisfied that governance of the state cannot be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and he is left with no alternative and is constrained to send a report on the provision of Article 356, the officials said.
New Delhi:

British telecom giant Vodafone on Tuesday said its future in India could be in doubt if it is forced to pay thousands of crores in statutory dues following the Supreme Court ruling. Having made no provision for dues that have been locked up in legal dispute for more than a decade, Vodafone chief executive Nick Read said the government needs to ease off on payment demands to ensure a future for group's India joint venture, Vodafone-Idea Ltd. "Financially there's been a heavy burden through unsupportive regulation, excessive taxes and on top of that we got the negative Supreme Court decision," he said on a call with reporters after first-half results.

India, he said, had been "a very challenging situation for a long time". "It's a very critical situation," he said when asked if it made sense for Vodafone to remain in India without any relief package. "The government has stated its desire not to end up with a monopoly." Vodafone's operating loss from India business jumped to 692 million euros in April-September from 133 million euros in the same period last year.

Vodafone wrote off the carrying value of its share in the loss-making joint venture. It said the 1.9 billion euros in the loss for the group during six months ended September 30 "primarily reflects losses in relation to Vodafone-Idea post an adverse judgement against the industry by the Supreme Court of India."

In the earnings statement, the group made no further commitment to equity in India business, which it said contributed zero value. It saw free cash flow of around 5.4 billion euros versus previous guidance of at least 5.4 billion. "In October, the Supreme Court in India ruled against the industry in a dispute over the calculation of licence and other regulatory fees, and Vodafone Idea is now liable for very substantial demands made by the Department of Telecommunications in relation to these fees," the company said in its earnings statement. "We are actively engaging with the government to seek financial relief for Vodafone Idea."

The liability in telecom licence fee and spectrum usage charge together with penalty and interest for late payment may run into Rs 1.4 lakh crore for the industry. Vodafone-Idea may have to pay a third of it.

Vodafone said it has "no obligation" to fund Vodafone Idea Ltd losses and so it has "has recognised its share of estimated Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) losses arising from both its operating activities and those in relation to the (Supreme Court) judgement to an amount that is limited to the remaining carrying value of VIL, which is therefore reduced to nil."

The group's carrying value was 1,392 million euros at March 31, 2019, and in May 2019, the group invested 1,410 million euros via a rights issue.

"Significant uncertainties exist in relation to VIL's ability to generate the cash flow that it needs to settle or refinance its liabilities and guarantees as they fall due, including those relating to the (Supreme Court) judgement. VIL is seeking relief from the Indian government, including, but not limited to, granting a waiver of interest and penalties relating to the judgement," the statement said.

It said as part of the agreement to merge Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, the parties agreed a mechanism for payments between Vodafone Group and VIL pursuant to the crystallisation of certain identified contingent liabilities in relation to legal, regulatory, tax and other matters, including the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dispute before the Supreme Court, and refunds relating to Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

"Any future payments by the Group to VIL as a result of this agreement would only be made after satisfaction of contractual conditions. Having considered the possible future developments for VIL, the Group has concluded that there are significant uncertainties in relation to VIL's ability to settle the liabilities relating to the AGR judgement and has not assessed a cash outflow under the agreement to be probable at this time," it said.

The group's potential exposure under this mechanism is capped at Rs 8,400 crore (1.1 billion euro). The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been in dispute with telecom service providers for over a decade concerning the correct interpretation of licence provisions for fees based on AGR, a concept that is used in the calculation of licence and other fees payable by telecom service providers.

On an appeal to the Supreme Court from a decision of the Telecommunications Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) substantially upholding the telecom service providers' interpretation of AGR, the Supreme Court on October 24 held against the telecom service providers, including VIL. The Supreme Court's ruling in favour of the DoT renders the telecom service providers, including VIL, liable for principal, interest, penalties and interest on penalties within three months.

"Application may be made to seek review of the Supreme Court's decision," the statement said.

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Thirty-two years have passed since the bloody 20 January tragedy. On 20 January  National Mourning Day, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the Alley of Martyrs on the 32nd anniversary of the bloodshed which was committed by the Soviet empire in Baku.

President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva paid tribute to those who gave their lives for the countrys freedom.

President Ilham Aliyev laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument.

The national anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan was played.








New Delhi:

The Supreme Court bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi will pronounce its verdict on the review petitions challenging the entry of women into Sabarimala temple at 10:30 am on Thursday. In September last year, the Supreme Court had allowed entry of women of all ages into the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala. The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had said that banning the entry of women into the shrine is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women. While Justices RF Nariman and DY Chandrachud concurred with the CJI and Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Indu Malhotra gave a dissenting verdict.

The Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra. It was Justice Malhotra, the lone woman judge in the bench, that had passed a dissenting judgment in 2018 saying issues which have deep religious connotation should not be tinkered with to maintain a secular atmosphere in the country.

The judgment had sparked a massive protest by devotees of Lord Ayyappa  a celibate - in several parts of Kerala with several women of all ages participating in it. According to them, the judgment was against culture and tradition. They also demanded that the agama (scriptures) traditions be followed in the shrine of Ayyappa. Meanwhile, the Kerala Government  who has been facing widespread criticism over errors in the list of women who prayed at the Sabarimala Temple  has decided to re-prepare the list.

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New Delhi:

Kartik Purnima is one of the auspicious festivals celebrated by the Hindu and Jain community across the country. It is observed on the fifteenth lunar day in the month of Kartik and this year it falls on November 12. As per Hindu legends, Lord Shiva took the form of Tripurari to end the life of demon ogre Tripurasura. Hence, the day has also been celebrated as Dev-Deepawali or Diwali for the Gods. Lord Kartikeya, son of Lord Shiva, was also born on this day and hence, devotees down South observe the day to pray to Kartikeya. On this day, devotees take early morning bath and perform puja at their home or in the temples.

Check out some of the wishes and greetings that you can share with your family on this auspicious day:

1. Let God answer your prayers,

Let your wisdom make you perform well.

Happy Kartik Purnima

2. Let prayers be answered to the fullest

May your smiles remain always. Happy Kartik Purnima

3. We pray to god for your prosperous life

May you find all the delights of life and all your dreams come true.





4. Let these diyas fill your homes with happiness and health. Happy Kartik Purnima

5. May you be bestowed with health and prosperity on the auspicious day of Kartik Purnima.

6. On this special day, may your blessings flourish

And let happiness fill your heart. Happy Kartik Purnima

7. I wish you Happy Kartik Purnima, and I pray to God for your prosperous life.

May you find all the delights of life and all your dreams come true.

Bhubaneshwar: People set afloat miniature boats to mark Boita Bandana (boat festival). The festival is a commemoration of the maritime glory of Odisha and is observed on #KartikPoornima (early morning visuals) pic.twitter.com/Od8ewvtdUd  ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2019

8. Let these diyas fill your homes with happiness and health

Happy Karthik Purnima!

9. Let the festival of happiness and good luck

Let life be smooth and joyful. Happy Kartik Purnima

10. May the brightness of the Moon and the blessings of Lord Shiva

Bring along happiness and positivity in your life.

Wishing you a very Happy Kartik Purnima.

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New Delhi:

Janata Dal (Secular) has announced the names of 10 candidates out of 15 in their first list for assembly bypolls in Karnataka. The list of candidates include KP Bache Gowda from Chikkaballapur, NM Nabi from Vijayanagar and Chaitra Gowda from Yellapur.

The BJP on Thursday nominated 13 Congress and JD(S) MLAs, who were disqualified ahead of a trust vote, as its candidates for the assembly bypolls in Karnataka. The Supreme Court on Wednesday had upheld the disqualification of the 17 MLAs in Karnataka by then Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, but paved the way for them to contest the bypolls. The then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had resigned after losing trust vote, which paved way for BJP-led government in the state under BS Yediyurappa. The BJP is yet to announce its candidates for the remaining two assembly seats where bypolls will be held in December.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Brazil on November 13 and 14 to attend the 11th BRICS summit, the theme of which is "economic growth for an innovative future". This will be the sixth time Modi will be participating in the BRICS summit, his first being at Fortaleza, also in Brazil in 2014, a statement from the Prime Ministers Office said.

Sources said he would leave for Brasilia, Brazil on Tuesday afternoon. A large business delegation from India is also expected to be present during the visit, especially to attend the BRICS Business Forum where the business community of all the five countries are represented.

The prime minister is scheduled to hold separate bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. He would also attend the BRICS business forum closing ceremony and the closed and plenary sessions of the XI BRICS Summit.

In the closed session, the discussions are expected to be focused on challenges and opportunities for the exercise of national sovereignty in the contemporary world.

This will be followed by the BRICS Plenary Session, where the leaders will discuss the intra-BRICS cooperation for the economic development of BRICS societies.

The prime minister will also participate in the meeting of the BRICS leaders with the BRICS Business Council, where chairman of the Brazilian BRICS Business Council and the president of the new Development Bank are expected to submit reports.

A BRICS memorandum of understanding between trade and investment promotion agencies will be signed. The participating leaders would also be issued on the conclusion of the summit.

BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economiesBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The grouping brings together five major emerging economies comprising 42 per cent of the worlds population, having 23 per cent of the global Gross Domestic Product.

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New Delhi:

Maharashtra Govt Formation: The uncertainity over new government in Maharashtra continued on Wednesday no clear path coming into view so far. Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are in consultation to arrive at a formula for the new government while BJP has not closed its doors to a possible reconcilliation with its pre-poll partner Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and senior Congress leaders from Maharashtra on Wednesday to discuss the modalities of a 'common minimum programme' (CMP) for a possible alliance to form government in the state. Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat, former state chief minister Ashok Chavan and senior party leader Manikrao Thakare held talks with Thackeray at a suburban hotel.

The meeting took place a day after President's rule was imposed in the state following a report sent to the Centre by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in which he stated that formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts.

Before their meeting with Thackeray, the three Congress leaders also met Shiv Sena MP and spokesman Sanjay Raut at a hospital in Mumbai, where the latter underwent an angioplasty procedure on Monday. On reports in a section of media that senior Congress leaders K C Venugopal and Ahmed Patel also met Thackeray late Tuesday night, the state Congress leaders said they cannot confirm it since they were not present.

21:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In NCP leader Jitendra Awhad: "Some things are kept confidential. So, Ajit Pawar said that NCP-Congress meeting got cancelled. The meeting is underway and Ajit Pawar is present in the meeting."

19:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Amit Shah to ANI on President's rule in Maharashtra: "Is mudde par vipaksh rajniti kar raha hai aur ek samvidhanik pad ko is tarah se rajniti mein ghaseetna main nahi maanta loktantra ke liye swasth parampara hai."

19:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Amit Shah to ANI: "Even today if anyone has the numbers they can approach the Governor. The Governor has not denied chance to anyone. A learned lawyer like Kapil Sibal is putting forth childish arguments like we were denied a chance to form Govt."

19:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Amit Shah to ANI on collapse of alliance with the Shiv Sena: "Before elections the PM amd I said many times in public that if our alliance wins then Devendra Fadnavis will be the CM, no one objected back then. Now, they have come up with new demands which are not acceptable to us."



#WATCH Amit Shah to ANI on collapse of alliance with Shiv Sena: Before elections PM&I said many times in public that if our alliance wins then Devendra Fadnavis will be the CM, no one objected back then. Now they have come up with new demands which are not acceptable to us. pic.twitter.com/vb8XB4okI4

 ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2019



19:31 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In BJP president Amit Shah to ANI: "Before this, in no state was so much time given, 18 days were given. The Governor invited parties only after assembly tenure ended. Neither Shiv Sena nor the Congress-NCP staked claim and neither we. Even if today any party has numbers it can approach the Governor."

19:28 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In











The meeting between NCP and Congress leaders in Mumbai at 7.30 has been cancelled.



















15:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress state president Balasaheb Thorat said that it is the first time he was meeting Uddhav Thackeray. "Formal discussion started with Shiv Sena for the first time. This is post our discussion with NCP yesterday," said Thorat.

15:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said talks over government formation in Maharashtra were progressing in the "right direction" and a decision will be taken at an appropriate time. Thackeray said this after a meeting with senior Maharashtra Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and Manikrao Thakare at a suburban hotel.

14:58 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maharashtra Congress MLAs leave for Mumbai from Jaipur. After the impasse over the government formation in the state, the Congress MLAs were moved to a resort in Jaipur to protect them from poaching attempts by rival parties.

14:38 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maharashtra Congress MLAs leaves for Mumbai from Jaipur. After the impasse over the government formation in the state, the Congress MLAs were moved to a resort in Jaipur to protect them from poaching by rival parties.

14:10 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In NCP named its five members for a joint committee to be formed with the Congress for deciding a 'common minimum programme' before their possible alliance with the Shiv Sena for government formation in Maharashtra. "The NCP has named the leaders to be part of the joint committee. The Congress will also name its members for the purpose," said a leader of the NCP.



The panel is being formed after NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel met here on Tuesday and expressed the need to have a common minimum programme (CMP) before working out the possibility of tying-up with the Shiv Sena.

13:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has arrived at Trident Hotel in Bandra-Kurla Complex. He is expected to meet Congress leaders.

13:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was discharged from the Lilavati hospital on Wednesday. Raut had complained of chest pain after which he was admitted to the hospital. Raut after being discharged from the hospital said, "The next CM for Maharashtra will be from Shiv Sena".



Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut after being discharged from Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital: The next Chief Minister will be from Shiv Sena. #MaharashtraGovtFormation pic.twitter.com/hIo3Vd9ZVy

 ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2019



13:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Earlier, Maharashtra Congress leaders had meet Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut at Lilavati Hospital.



Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress leaders meet Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut at Lilavati Hospital. Raut was admitted at the hospital on November 11 after he complained of chest pain. pic.twitter.com/J3zOtuLeUD

 ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2019



13:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has set up a committee of Maharashtra leaders for talks on Common Minimum Programme with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The committee includes Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Manikrao Thakre, Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Wadettiwar.
New Delhi:

President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday evening amid a political impasse, after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in a report to the Centre stated that formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts, drawing flak from non-BJP parties. The Shiv Sena on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Maharashtra governor's decision of not granting it three days to submit the letter of support for government formation in the state but failed to get an urgent hearing in the matter. The petition is likely to come up before the apex court on Wednesday morning. The lawyer representing the Shiv Sena said that the apex court registry has informed that it is "not possible to constitute a bench today".

Here are all the LIVE updates:

14:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Narendra Modi Arrives For BRICS Summit In Brazil Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Brazilian capital on Wednesday to take part in the BRICS summit which will focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen Indias ties with the worlds five major economies. On the sidelines of the 11th BRICS summit, Modi will also meet Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to discuss ways to enhance the bilateral strategic partnership.

13:57 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Arvind Kejriwal says may extend Odd-Even scheme, Supreme Court sends notice to Delhi govt.

12:59 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi High Court adjourned hearing in a PIL seeking court's intervention in order to ensure that judicial proceedings in District courts of Delhi are not disrupted after Tis Hazari Court incident (clash between police and lawyers at Tis Hazari Court on November 2).

12:57 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In NCP names 5 members for joint panel with Congress to prepare CMP The NCP on Wednesday named its five members for a joint committee to be formed with the Congress for deciding a 'common minimum programme' before their possible alliance with the Shiv Sena for government formation in Maharashtra.

NCP's legislature party head Ajit Pawar, its Maharashtra chief Jayant Patil, party veteran Chhagan Bhujbal, Mumbai unit president Nawab Malik and Leader of the Opposition in state Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde will be part of the committee.

12:56 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Sanjay Raut discharged from hospital, reiterates next CM will be from Shiv Sena.

12:49 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Delhi: CRPF is reviewing the security arrangement of Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi's house after SPG was removed from the protection of Gandhi family and they were accorded Z Plus security of CRPF. pic.twitter.com/DQpuYhh3vX

 ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2019



12:29 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Congress: I welcome the whole judgement, even that of Supreme Court allowing them ( 17 disqualified MLAs) to contest by-elections. It is a lesson for the MLAs who wanted to join any other political party on whims and fancies or coercion by other parties.

12:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress workers pelt stones at Union Minister Kailash Chaudhary's car in Rajasthan Union minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary faced the ire of Congress workers who allegedly pelted stones at his car while he along with Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLA Hanuman Beniwal were on their way to attend a religious function in Rajasthan's Barmer district on Tuesday night, police said. The Congress workers were targeting Beniwal who had levelled corruption charges on the state revenue minister Harish Chaudhary, they said.

12:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Sabarimala: Supreme Court To Pronounce Verdict On Women's Entry In Kerala Temple Tomorrow The Supreme Court bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi will pronounce its verdict on the review petitions challenging the entry of women into Sabarimala temple at 10:30 am on Thursday.

12:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Supreme Court To Pronounce Judgment In Rafale Review Petitions Tomorrow The Supreme Court will pronounce its judgment in the Rafale review petitions on Thursday. The three-judge bench comprising of CJI Gogoi, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph will be pronouncing the verdict. The mega defence pact was at the centre of political storm during the runup for the Lok Sabha Elections.

12:19 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress leaders meet Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut at Lilavati Hospital.

12:18 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has set up a committee of Maharashtra leaders for talks on Common Minimum Programme with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The committee includes Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Manikrao Thakre, Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Wadettiwar.

11:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In AgustaWestland case: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) today sought more time to file response on the bail application of Christian Michel, alleged middlemen in the case in Delhi High Court.

11:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Supreme Court asks Centre to explore Hydrogen based fuel technology to find solution to reduce air pollution in North India & Delhi-NCR. Centre tells SC that it is exploring technology, including from Japan, to tackle air pollution. Centre to submit a report on it by December 3.

11:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Delhi: Air Quality Index (AQI) at 463 in ITO and 467 around Anand Vihar - both in 'Severe' category.

11:27 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jammu and Kashmir Pakistan violated ceasefire in Keri Village of Rajouri district at about 7 AM today.

11:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In At least seven people were killed and seven others sustained injuries in a car bomb explosion in Kabul on Wednesday morning.

11:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ajit Pawar, NCP: If there is a situation of defection, three parties A,B and C will decide to back one common candidate then no one can defeat us.

11:25 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In West Bengal: Fire breaks out at a toy godown in Siliguri; 5 fire tenders are present at the spot.

11:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Jammu and Kashmir: Local youth participate in a recruitment rally for Constable (General Duty) in Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Samba district.

11:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Supreme Court upholds disqualification of Karnataka MLAs, allows them to contest bypolls.

10:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Andhra Pradesh Govt Terminates Amaravati Project With Singapore Consortium The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government on Tuesday said its upcoming Amaravati capital city will not have an exclusive area for startups as planned. This came after Singapore consortium that had partnered the government for the project pulled out of it. The state Cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy took the decision to terminate the agreement with the consortium. Read more...

10:13 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Vodafone Says 'Future In India Could Be In Doubt' If It Is Forced To Pay Crores In Dues British telecom giant Vodafone on Tuesday said its future in India could be in doubt if it is forced to pay thousands of crores in statutory dues following the Supreme Court ruling. Having made no provision for dues that have been locked up in legal dispute for more than a decade, Vodafone chief executive Nick Read said the government needs to ease off on payment demands to ensure a future for group's India joint venture, Vodafone-Idea Ltd.

10:12 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In JNUSU to hold protest outside university campus during EC meeting Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) will be holding a protest outside the university campus during the Executive Council meeting on Wednesday against the draft hostel manual. The students' union has been on a strike against the draft hostel manual, approved by the Inter-Hall administration, which it claims has provisions for hostel fee hike, dress code and curfew timings.

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New Delhi:

The Janata Dal (United) on Monday released its first list of 11 candidates for the Assembly polls, set to be held in five phases beginning November 30. JD(U) state general secretary Shravan Kumar, after announcing the names here, said the party would depend on greenhorns in the first phase.

Barring former state minister Sudha Choudhary, who has been given a ticket from Chhatarpur(SC) seat, all nominees were first-timers, Kumar said. Other candidates who have been named in the list include Krupalata Devi (Bishunpur-ST), Budheswar Oraon (Manika-ST), Sushil Kumar Mangalam (Panki), Bramhadev Prasad (Bishrampur-ST) and Aditya Chandel (Hussainabad).

In the first phase, 13 of the total 81 Assembly seats will go to polls. The party, which had drawn a blank in the 2014 polls, had announced in August that it would go it alone this time.

The five-phase elections will conclude on December 20 and counting will be held three days later, on December 23.
New Delhi:

Senior BJP leader Narayan Rane said on Tuesday his party will try its best to form the government in Maharashtra, even as state has been placed under the Presidents Rule, refusing to give further details on how the saffron party will reach the magic figure of 145 seats.

Now, the governor has given a lot of time, we will wait, and there will be an affort to form the government, Rane said as the Congress and the NCP said they had yet not taken any decision about supporting the Shiv Sena to form government in Maharashtra but will hold further discussions.

Rane also blamed the Shiv Sena for betraying the BJP. Who has cheated the BJP? The Sena kept its legislators in closed doors in fear that the BJP might talk to them, Rane said.

"The BJP will try to form the government. Devendra Fadnavis is putting in all efforts in this direction. We will try to reach the 145 figure, but I will not reveal the names yet," added Rane.

On Tuesday, Governor BK Koshyari sent a report to the Centre, recommending President's rule in the state which is facing a political impasse since the Assembly poll results of October 24; following which President's rule was imposed in the state.

At a joint press conference with Congress leaders, NCP president Sharad Pawar said the two parties will discuss and evolve a consensus on what should be the policies and programmes if the Shiv Sena was to be supported. The press conference was attended by Congress leadersc Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and K C Veugopal, deputed by the party president Sonia Gandhi to hold further talks with the NCP on the issue.

"We (Congress and NCP leaders) discussed the nitty gritty of a (possible) common minimum programme to ensure the government functions smoothly," he said.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also confirmed that he contacted the Congress and the NCP over the government formation for first time on Monday.
New Delhi:

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has released the Mock Test link for GATE 2020 examination, the candidates who are preparing for the examination can now visit the official website of the institute to appear for the GATE 2020 mock tests. The mock is conducted with a view to help the candidates for better preparing for the main examination. The mock tests will give the candidates an idea of the type of questions to be asked for the examination and solving them will help in analysing their time management skills.

The candidates must note that the mock test links have been released for all the subjects. The link for the GATE 2020 mock tests is available on the official website gate.iitd.ac.in.

For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which the candidates can take the GATE 2020 mock tests:

Step 1: Click on the GATE 2020 official website

Step 2: Click on the GATE 2020 mock test link provided

Step 3: Click on the subject appearing for

Step 4: Enter the Login ID and Password

The admit card for the GATE 2020 examination will be available for download from January 3, 2020. The GATE 2020 admit card will be available in the online mode only.

GATE 2020 will be conducted on February 1, 2, 8 and 9, 2020. The examination will be conducted in two sessions for a duration of 3 hours. While the forenoon session of GATE 2020 will be conducted from 9: 30 AM to 12: 30 AM the afternoon session will be conducted from 2: 30 PM to 5: 30 PM. The GATE 2020 results are to be declared on March 16, 2020.
New Delhi:

Scores of students from various institutions in the city on Tuesday protested against the brutal police attack on their JNU counterparts who demonstrated outside the AICTE office on Monday in the wake of the steep hike in their hostel fees.

The protesters raised slogans against the commercialisation of education and the polices intervention in "democratic" protests of students and the fee hike.

On Monday, thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University students clashed with police as their protest over fee hike on the varsitys convocation day escalated, forcing HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to stay inside the All India Council for Technical Education premises for over six hours.

Police lathi-charged the students and used water cannons to disperse them. On Tuesday, the protesters demanded withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, which they claimed has provisions for fee hike, dress code and curfew timings.

Shreya Singh, the secretary of All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO), said the new hostel manual passed on October 28 will disrupt the financial life of around 50 per cent JNU students who belong to economically weaker sections and depend on a Rs 2,500 grant under the means-cum-merit scheme.

The Delhi Police brutally attacked the protesting JNU students. Their intervention in the democratic protest was uncalled for, she said. Suman from the AIDSO said,The JNU is one of the few affordable institutions.

The provision of fee hike is the most dangerous part...Till now, students would get a bill of Rs 2,500 per month. After the changes, their monthly expenses will increase to Rs 6,000 to 7,000.
By Trend

President Ilham Aliyev reminded the principles of international law to the French delegation who visited the territories of Azerbaijan illegally and secretly, Azerbaijani MP Konul Nurullayeva said, Trend reports.

Valerie Pekres, one of the candidates in the presidential elections of France, prefers to divert the importance of the issue instead of understanding his mistakes and delivering his apologies to the official Baku. He is provoking the former Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by raising it to the religious sphere. The Foreign Minister of this country also justifies this crime. With this approach, France has shown another example of pro-Armenianism.

Interestingly, rational people in France today also state that the candidates are taking this step, knowing that an illegal visit to Karabakh will provoke such a reaction. It means that the crime and provocation committed here are committed consciously. Pekres, who wants to be elected as a president, is not afraid to damage the relations between his country and Azerbaijan. He prefers to form the election slogan on the basis of the interests of Armenians. As if the elections will be held in Armenia, not in France. It seems that this step is aimed at gaining the vote of the Armenian electorate. However, it is not clear how decisive these votes will be in the elections.

We also witnessed French Minister for European and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian's statement in the National Assembly that was against international law, his efforts to cover up the criminal activities of some government representatives and parliamentarians, as well as the Republican member of the National Assembly Eric Siotti's attempt to make insults. This approach to the issue contradicts the traditions of diplomacy.

This approach of the French candidates is directly aimed at damaging the Azerbaijani-French relations. Moreover, France continues to take steps contrary to its status as the Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. This once again confirms that France has already lost its neutrality in one or another way in the peacemaking process in the region. It is no coincidence that the French government demonstrated its support for Armenia during the 44-day war, which is not in line with its co-chairing mission. Unfortunately, the same approach continues today.

The Azerbaijani society and the official Baku call on the members of the French Parliament to put an end to such criminal acts, which seriously violate international law. Because this is a provocative step aimed at explicitly disrupting the stability and development of the Caucasus region. This irresponsible behavior also undermines the bilateral international obligations of France.
Mumbai:

Maharashtra Raj Bhavan on Tuesday trashed all media reports and clarified that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has not recommended Presidents rule in Maharashtra. Raj Bhavans public relation officer denied the development. Speaking exclusively to News Nation, the PRO said that the process of Maharashtra government formation is on. It should be noted that the Governor has already given a time frame to the NCP to form the government. The deadline for Sharad Pawars party ends at 8:30 pm on Tuesday. It is being said that any decision from the raj Bhavan will be taken only after this deadline expires. The PROs clarification came after some media reports said that Governor Koshyari was discussing the legal options and may take a key decision soon.
New Delhi:

BSSC Stenographer 2019 Admit Card has been released for the written exam, and all candidates who applied for the BSSC Steno 2019 exam can download the BSSC 2019 admit card from the official website of Bihar Staff Selection Commission, i.e. bssc.bih.nic.in. Candidates will be able to download the Steno 2019 admit card by visiting the official website and entering the login credentials that include registration number and date of birth.

It is mandatory for every candidate to carry his/her BSSC Steno admit card 2019 along-with one valid photo-ID proof at the time of examination. The BSSC Steno exam 2019 is going to be conducted on November 24, 2019. The Steno exam conducted by BSSC will have 150 objective type questions on general studies, general science and Maths and Reasoning. The time duration of the exam will be of 2 hours and 15 minutes.

In order to download the BSSC Stenographer 2019 Admit Card, candidates need to follow the below mentioned steps:

First, visit the official website of BSSC, i.e. bssc.bih.nic.in

Click on the Notice Board link

A new page will open where candidates need to click on the Download Stenographer Admit card 2019 link

Submit the Registration Number and Date of Birth as login credentials

The BSSC Stenographer 2019 admit card will be displayed on the screen

Download and take a printout of the BSSC Stenographer 2019 admit card

Bihar Staff Selection Commission is going to fill 326 vacant positions of Stenographer through this recruitment drive.
New Delhi:

The rates of petrol and diesel in Delhi saw marginal changes on November 12. The oil Market Companies (OMC) raised the price of petrol today by 20 paise per litre across the four metros. However, the price of diesel was brought down. According to the fuel price data available, petrol prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai were Rs 73.20, Rs 78.87, Rs 75.91 and Rs 76.08 per litre respectively. Diesel prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai remained at Rs 65.85, Rs 69.07, Rs 68.26 and Rs 69.60 per litre respectively. In Noida, petrol is retailing at Rs 74.88 a litre, while diesel price is Rs 66.16 a litre. The price of petrol in Gurugram is Rs 73.08 a litre while diesel was selling at Rs 65.19 a litre.

Get Petrol, Diesel Rates Via SMS

You can check the latest rate of petrol and diesel via SMS. IOC customers can send RSP to 9224992249, BPCL users can message RSP at 9223112222 and HPCL customers can send HPPRICE to 9222201122 for the latest prices.

Why Petrol, Diesel Prices Change Every Day?

The fuel prices are in India are revised daily. Petrol and diesel prices are revised every day at 06:00 am to sync it with the variation in global oil prices. Oil marketing companies (OMC) review the global fuel prices and decide petrol and diesel daily. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum release the new rates at 6 am every morning. Generally, when international crude oil prices gain, prices in India move higher. Other factors also impact the price of fuel like rupee to US dollar exchange rate, cost of crude oil, global cues, demand for fuel, and so on.

Why Fuel Prices Differ In Every City?

Price of fuel includes excise duty, value-added tax (VAT), and dealer commission. As VAT varies from state to state, the price of fuel is different in every city.

(Disclaimer: This information is based on external sources and News Nation is not responsible for any difference in the rates)

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

UPPRPB cut off 2019 list for constable posts has been released by the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board. All candidates who appeared for the exam can check the UPPRPB Cut-Off List 2019 on the official website, i.e. uppbpb.gov.in. The UPPRPB Result 2019 cut-off list for general, OBC, ST and SC candidates are 313.616, 307.233, 247.2333 and 283.4033 respectively. In order to check the UPPRPB Result 2019 cut-off list for various categories, candidates need to follow the below mentioned steps:

First, visit the official website of Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, i.e. uppbpb.gov.in

Click on the Reserve Police Exam Result 2013 link

A new page will open

The list of candidates who have been selected in the exam will be displayed

Candidates should check their name and download the scorecard for future reference

It is to note that out of the total vacancies, 1,895 posts are for constable in civil police, 785 posts are for firemen and 615 for constables in PAC. All selected candidates who are shortlisted will have to appear for the document verification round. For more details, candidates need to visit the official website of the Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, i.e. uppbpb.gov.in.
New Delhi:

Terrorists on Wednesday shot dead a shopkeeper in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. Mehraj-ud-din, a resident of Tral, was shot at by terrorists in his shop in Tral area of South Kashmir, a police official said. The shopkeeper died on the spot, the official added.

The incident comes hours after the police said a terrorist was killed in an encounter with security forces in Bandipora district of north Kashmir on Monday morning.

While one terrorist was killed on Sunday during a gunfight between security forces in Lawdara village, about 55 km from Srinagar, another was killed this morning, they said.

The encounter broke out when security forces launched a search operation following specific information about the presence of some terrorists.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Shouting slogans and raising banners, thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students clashed with police on Monday as their protest over steep fee hike escalated, leaving HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' stranded for over six hours at the venue of the varsity's convocation.

The students of the varsity, which has seen several such agitations in the recent years, were protesting outside the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) premises, the venue for the varsity's third convocation, which was addressed by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

The protests started in the morning and escalated as the day progressed with crowds of angry students, with banners saying 'Roll back fee hike', trying to push through a wall of anti-riot police personnel to reach the venue.

Several barricades put up by the police were broken by the students, who started their march from JNU towards the AICTE premises, about 3 km away from the campus in south Delhi, around 10.30 am.

Water cannons were used to disperse the protestors and police said some of the students were detained. Top brass of the Delhi Police were at the site to handle the situation.

The students shouted slogans like "Police ko aage karta hai, JNU VC darta hai" (JNU VC keeps police in front as he is afraid) as they demanded that vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar meet them and listen to their demands.

During the scuffle with police personnel, the students raised slogans like "Police-walo ki ek bimari, Tis Hazari, Tis Hazari", referring to their clash with lawyers at the city's Tis Hazari court a few days back. Slogans supporting lawyers, who are on a strike following the clash, were also heard.

Barricades were placed outside the north and west gates of the JNU campus, as well as on the route between the AICTE auditorium and the university at Baba Balaknath Marg and nearby areas but the marching students broke one after the other.

The students are demanding withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, in which service charges of Rs 1,700 were introduced and the one-time mess security fee, which is refundable, has been hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000.

The rent for a single-seater room has been increased from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month, while rent for a double-seater room has been increased to Rs 300 per month from Rs 10 per month.

The draft hostel manual also has provisions for dress code and curfew timings, the students' union alleged, even as the administration denied these two claims.

Naidu left the venue, just before the protestors arrived, after attending the convocation. However, the Human Resource Development minister was stuck inside for over six hours forcing him to cancel two scheduled events. The minister was able to leave the premises around 4.15 PM.

JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and vice president Saket Moon met 'Nishank' around 2 pm who assured them that their demands would be looked into. They, however, were not able to meet the VC and raised slogans "we want V-C".

"This is not the end of our movement. We urged the HRD minister to ask the VC to have a dialogue with the students and he assured us that he will direct the VC to talk to the students. It is due to him (the VC) that things have come to be like this," Ghosh said.

She claimed that the HRD minister has promised that the students' union would be called for a meeting to the ministry.

"We will have to ask the executive council members to reject the hostel manual in its meeting on Wednesday," she added.

A protesting student said, "The hostel fee has been increased by 300 per cent. Where will the students stay and study if this happens with us."

Some students attending the convocation also shouted slogans from inside the AICTE gate even as their parents, who came here to attend the ceremony, were stuck due to the protest.

The students' union has been on a strike against the draft hostel manual, which was approved by the inter-hall administration. They have said the strike would not end until the hostel manual is withdrawn.

JNU students' union vice-president Moon said, "The unprecedented situation in the campus is a result of the intransigence of the administration regarding the hostel manual and the fee hike.

"The fee hike will affect an overwhelming number of students. It denies those from the deprived sections to avail education if they cannot pay. It affects those people who are pursing education independently."

Another protester said, "The administration is busy hosting a convocation but they are not ready to listen to the demands of the students. They want to privatise JNU by effecting fee hike in hostels."

The protesters have only one demand and that is having a campus which is inclusive, another protestor said, adding that the democratic space in JNU are under attack.

The protestors also raised several other issues like restrictions on entry to the Parthasarathy Rocks -- a hillock inside the campus, and attempts to lock students' union office.

The JNU Teachers' Association said many students were injured during the protest as they received blows. According to a police officer, many policemen and women also sustained injuries as they tried to quell the protest.

In February of 2016, the JNU was in news after alleged seditious slogans were raised on the campus that snowballed into a major political controversy. Then students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar who was at the epicentre, fought the Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully earlier this year.
Washington:

US President Donald Trump has said countries like China, India and Russia are doing "absolutely nothing" to clean up their smokestacks and industrial plants and the garbage that they drop in sea floats into Los Angeles.

Terming climate change as a "very complex issue", Trump said he considers himself to be, in many ways, an environmentalist, believe it or not".

"So I'm very much into climate. But I want the cleanest air on the planet and I want to have clean air and water, Trump said in remarks at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday.

Trump told the audience that the US withdrew from the one-sided, horrible, horrible, economically unfair, 'close your businesses down within three years,' 'don't frack, don't drill, we don't want any energy' the horrible Paris Climate Accord that killed American jobs and shielded foreign polluters.

He said the Paris Climate Agreement was a "disaster" for the US, adding that the deal would have resulted in trillions and trillions of dollars of destruction to America.

"And it is so unfair. It doesn't kick in for China until 2030. Russia goes back into the 1990s, where the base year was the dirtiest year ever in the world. India, we are supposed to pay them money because they are a developing nation. I said, 'We're a developing nation, too', Trump said amidst laughter from the audience.

Responding to a question about how he thinks about risk as it relates to trade policy and issues like climate change, Trump said, "when people ask the question about climate I always say: You know, I have a little problem.

"We have a relatively small piece of land the United States. And you compare that to some of the other countries like China, like India, like Russia, like many other countries that are doing absolutely nothing to clean up their smokestacks and clean up all of their plants and all of the garbage that they're dropping in sea and that floats into Los Angeles, along with other problems that Los Angeles has, by the way.

"But when you see this happening, it's nobody wants to talk about it. They want to talk about our country. We have to do this. We have can't have planes any longer. We can't have cows any longer. We can't have anything. I said, What about China?, he said.

He said he wants clean air and crystal-clean clear water and the US today has the cleanest air we've ever had in our country, meaning, over the last 40 years. I guess, 200 years ago was cleaner, but there was nothing around.

But I want clean air. I want clean water, environmentally, he said.

The US last week formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Climate accord, a landmark global agreement which brought together 188 nations, including India, to combat global warming.

The Paris Agreement, in which Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi played instrumental roles, was adopted at the UN climate conference "COP 21" held in the French capital in 2015 with an aim to reduce the hazardous greenhouse gas emissions.

Although Trump had announced his decision to withdraw from the historic agreement on June 1, 2017, the process began on November 4 with the formal notification and the US will be out of the pact on November 4, 2020.

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Lahore: Four dangerous blasts took place in Lahore, Pakistan, one after the other on Thursday, killing five people. 20 people were also badly injured in the blast. The incident took place near Lahori Gate in the city. The accident was so dangerous that the windows of shops and buildings around the spot were broken. On the other hand, motorcycles parked nearby have also been damaged. Police have reached the spot and relief and rescue operations are currently underway.

The same Deputy Inspector General of Operations in Lahore, Dr Muhammad Abid Khan, told that the investigation is currently in its initial stages. But soon the exact cause of the accident will be ascertained. The police officer said the blast caused a 1.5 feet deep pit inside the ground. The injured persons have been admitted to Mayo Hospital in the city. Police have confirmed that the bomb was already planted at the spot for the accident. In this area of Lahori Gate, people come daily in connection with shopping and business.

Officials at the same Mayo Hospital said the condition of three persons injured in the accident is critical. Doctors are currently trying to save their lives. Meanwhile, the other injured are also being treated. Police and administration have cordoned off the entire area and evidence are being collected from the spot.

Gunmen attack the Iraqi Deputy Speaker's office.

President Biden announces: Kamala Harris will be his running mate in 2024

North Korea announces amnesty for convicts to mark late leaders' birth anniversaries
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday criticized minority Tamil parties for writing to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting Indian help in implementing the 13th Amendment and finding a long-term solution to the country's long-standing Tamil issues.

Udaya Gammanpila, the Energy Minister and Cabinet spokesman, remarked that if Tamil parties were concerned about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have addressed their concerns to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa rather than the Indian Prime Minister.

"If our Tamil parties have a concern or a worry about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have communicated their concerns to our President instead of the Indian Prime Minister," he said during a briefing on Cabinet decisions in answer to a journalist's inquiry.

"We are a sovereign country, not a part of the Indian Union," Gammanpila, who is also the leader of the Rajapaksa government's Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (Pure Sinhala Heritage Party), said. "If our Tamil brothers had any concerns about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have approached our elected administration instead of outsiders," he SAID. Minister Ramesh Pathirana, another Cabinet spokesman, said that the Sri Lankan government had properly executed the 13th Amendment and that the Rajapaksas had held elections after the conflict.

Leading Tamil political parties representing Northern Tamils presented Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay with a seven-page letter addressed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

Ukraine, Regional Issues: Foreign Secretary Shringla talks with US Dy State Secy

Agricultural Bank of China receives first funds through carbon reduction tool

China opposes Slovenia's remarks on "Taiwan Independence": spokesperson
New Delhi: The country's Energy Minister Uday Gammanpila has reacted sharply to the letter to PM Narendra Modi of 7 Sri Lankan political parties seeking help. Parties representing Sri Lankan Tamils had written in their letter addressed to Prime Minister Modi to appeal to his government to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution. Sri Lanka's 13th Constitutional Amendment deals with providing proper political representation to Tamils.

On the same news, Sri Lanka's energy minister has said that Sri Lanka is a sovereign nation, not a part of India. This was to be raised with the President of Sri Lanka, not to the Indian PM. Sri Lankan Energy Minister Uday Gammanpila made the remarks while talking to the media at a weekly cabinet press conference on Wednesday morning, naming TNA (Tamil National Alliance), who was part of parties seeking assistance, saying that whatever problems he had with the 13th Constitutional Amendment were to be raised with the President-elect of Sri Lanka.

At the same time, he said, "If our Tamil parties have any problem or apprehension about the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should make our President aware of their problems instead of the Indian PM, because we are a sovereign country and not part of India. If our Tamil brothers had any issue with the implementation of the 13th Amendment, they should have spoken to our elected government instead of outsiders.''

UNCTAD predicts a 26 pc reduction in FDI to India in 2021

BJP's list of candidates for Goa Assembly elections, know who got ticket from where

India's crude oil output continues to fall in December
By Trend

Soviet troops invaded Baku under the guise of Strike Operation on January 20, 1990, in an attempt to break the Azerbaijani people's will to fight, but this gave the contrary effect, Hikmat Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration, told journalists, Trend reports.

"This, even more, strengthened the resolve of the Azerbaijani people for independence. Great leader Heydar Aliyev informed the international community about the events of January 20, 1990, Hajiyev reminded.

The January 20 events are a history of the struggle and heroism of the Azerbaijani people, he said.

January 20 is a day that went down in the history of Azerbaijan's fight for independence and territorial integrity.

On the night of January 19-20, 1990, 147 people were killed, 744 were injured and 841 were illegally arrested after Soviet troops entered Baku. The Soviet troops also destroyed 200 apartments and houses, as well as private and public property.

January 20 is immortalized in the memory of the Azerbaijani nation as a Day of the Nationwide Sorrow.
Kathmandu, January 18

The government projects one more month is still critical for Nepal as far as the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is concerned.

During a meeting of the Education and Health Committee in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Edipimeology and Disease Control Division chief Dr Krishna Prasad Paudel informed the number of daily new cases could be as high as 20,000 in the next couple of weeks as per the Health Ministrys projection.

Around half of them would be symptomatic Covid-19 patients whereas around 1,000 would need hospitalisation.

At the peak, there would be around 14,000 Covid-19 patients at hospitals, according to Paudel. Currently, just around 1,100 patients are hospitalised.
When Ishan R Onta, Dipesh Gurung and Raunaq Adhikari first went to Kau Danda near Pokhara to work on their single, Aparichit, two years ago, they knew that they would be back there again. The trio, members of a Nepali indie band called The Elements, had been working on the song for quite some time, but due to some reason, they were not able to. But, a few days at Kau Danda was all it took for them to complete it.

It was a great experience. It made us realise that we needed this space to create what we wanted to create and that took us back there again, says Onta, the bands vocalist.

In January 2021, the trio, with equipment in hand, reached Kau Danda again. This time, they wanted to work on their new album: Urja. The reason to go there was simple: to create music with freedom and in a state of bliss. On the hill some 50 kilometres away from Pokhara, freedom is what they found.

We made this album in a state of bliss, adds Adhikari, who is the bands guitarist. We wanted to push ourselves to our limit and create a type of music that we hadnt in the past. This place helped us do that.

The album was launched on December 11 at a show held in the premises of 5150 Productions, where hundreds of The Elements fans lined up to listen to them sing new songs. They were not disappointed as the album had a bit of everything. From rock ballads to hints of punk rock, the five-track album takes people on a journey.

The quest for newness

The response has been good so far and we hope more people listen to it in the months to come, says Onta.

The idea of the album is based on the post-Covid world. With all three of them stuck in their homes, the lockdown gave them the time for introspection. But, to express things wholeheartedly, they knew they had to get away from Kathmandu.

I dont think we couldve done the album staying in Kathmandu because we needed the freedom that the place gave us. All of us were free to do whatever we wanted, but when it was time to work, we pulled our socks up and did what we had to do, says Adhikari.

The Elements wanted to create an album that was musically different from what they had been doing. They had realised that their gigs went by at the same pace which they felt was not right. So through this album, they wanted to try to give something different.

We feel we did something different with Aparachit and Sawari, but we wanted to carry on doing that, says Gurung, The Elements percussionist. Once your start, you need to keep pushing yourself to reach the next level.

With the aim to evolve both lyrically and musically, they started to compose music together. They had done it in the past too, but this time things were different as they were all in the same place at the same time.

Space and time were just concepts to us. We didnt care. Wed be doing whatever we wanted to do, but when it came to music, we got together. I think this was quite a conscious process, adds Onta, who claims there was a feeling amongst them that every word in every song mattered more to them.

Spontaneous expressions

The Elements on stage during their album launch at 5150 Productions.

That is why when they started writing, the songs came to them automatically. They say each song grew on them. For Urja, the title track, they wrote the chorus first, after which the rest of the song pretty much wrote itself. Maybe that is why the song feels fresh and like its title, it is full of energy. Onta is great as usual, but the drum work on the title track is commendable.

Upahar is similar to The Elements previous songs but has something new to it. Adhikaris guitar work is quite flawless along with his solo that is sure to make people go Woah during live shows. They say this song is about love and add that writing it was quite easy during a time when the three were all alone in the jungle on the hill.

Bhaag is a song for the revolutionaries. But, if you solely look at it through the musical lens, it is great as it is full of energy. They say this one grew on them as they were making it.

Its our revolution song, in which we want to tell people to not let anyone bury the art and the artist in them, says Onta.

Tyaag was something The Elements had prepared for their previous album, but as they wanted to work on it more, they did not release it. That might be a great decision as they have polished the song into something really great.

The song that took the most time, they say, was Indirya. This is the last track of the album and arguably the best too. Onta calls it the most positive song from the album, but it took a lot out of them to write and compose this song.

We reached a threshold, I think. In six days, wed written and composed three songs. But when it came to Indiya, we just couldnt do anything. It was really frustrating, says Gurung.

But, The Elements pulled through. They knew they had it in them to produce an upbeat high tempo song. Despite having insecurities, they finally finished composing it and went to record their album.

The recording was also a fun and learning experience, say The Elements. The album was recorded at 5150 Productions where people like Bikash Bhujel and Steven Tamang did a marvellous job in capturing and presenting the ideas that the band have played around with.

They took us to a next level. Weve worked with Bikas dai previously, but this year we recorded everything with him and have realised what we want to sound like in the future, says Adhikari, adding this was the best audio The Elements ever recorded.

Heading towards the masses

People from the scene also agree. Noodle album review lauds the work done by the band and the 5150.

The multiple inputs and stereo layering has definitely made the mix punchy and the drums sound outstanding. This album is a prime example of what happens when good ideas meet a good mix, the review reads.

Now, The Elements want to take their music out to the masses. Having recorded the album, they want both, to tour Nepal and go abroad.

Weve never done a Nepal tour and we feel that would be nice. Along with that, we have also wanted to travel abroad and take some part of Nepal along with us to Nepalis living abroad, Onta says, But, sadly, due to Covid-19, weve not been able to. But, were hoping things settle down and we can go do shows abroad.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has compared the spectre of a Russian invasion of Ukraine with that of Mexico falling under the military control of China.

The conservative broadcaster's comments come after US intelligence services intimated that Russia - under the direction of President Vladimir Putin - is attempting to fabricate a pretence for a full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine.

In response, Carlson asserted that Russias overt aggression may be justified due to Natos advancement east.

Given that Ukraine formally requested admission into NATO back in 2008, the Fox host made a bizarre comparison closer to home in an attempt to illustrate his point.

Tucker: Imagine if Mexico fell under the direct military control of China. We would see that as a threat. There would be no reason for that. Thats how Russia views NATO control of Ukraine and why wouldnt they? pic.twitter.com/uHMmJ9h3m1  Acyn (@Acyn) January 19, 2022

Imagine if Mexico fell under the direct military control of China. We would see that as a threat. There would be no reason for that. Thats how Russia views Nato control of Ukraine ... and why wouldnt they, Carlson said on Tuesday night.

Nato appears to be China in this analogy, as to him it's a representation of how Russia views the possibility of a Western-allied country along its border.

Russia already shares a border with several Nato member countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway.

Ukraine appears to be in President Putins crosshairs for reasons other than Nato ambitions. The countrys targeting of Ukraine was first exposed last month, when US intelligence officials first reported how extensive Russias cyberwar campaign was.

File photo: An Ukrainian soldier stands at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 10 January 2022 (AP)

A few weeks on, some American military analysts believe Russia has prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week.

President Joe Biden has already ruled out sending US troops to deter further Russian aggression..
Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of AI Convoy (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l.Global Credit Research - 20 Jan 2022London, 20 January 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of AI Convoy (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l. and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 12 January 2022 in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology (ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody's practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.Key rating considerations are summarized below.AI Convoy (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l.'s (Cobham or the company) B2 corporate family rating reflects its (1) entrenched position on multiple defence and commercial aerospace platforms that are strategic for large Original Equipment Manufacturers and their clients, including the US Department of Defense; and (2) strong trading results and prospects including further benefits from the full year effect of transformation and cost saving actions. The rating also reflects (1) the company's relatively small scale compared to its global competitors; and (2) significant pro forma earnings adjustments, leading to high pro forma leverage.This document summarizes Moody's view as of the publication date and will not be updated until the next periodic review announcement, which will incorporate material changes in credit circumstances (if any) during the intervening period.The principal methodology used for this review was Aerospace and Defense published in October 2021. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.This announcement applies only to EU rated, UK rated, EU endorsed and UK endorsed ratings. Non EU rated, non UK rated, non EU endorsed and non UK endorsed ratings may be referenced above to the extent necessary, if they are part of the same analytical unit.This publication does not announce a credit rating action. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history. Martin Robert Hallmark Senior Vice President Corporate Finance Group Moody's Investors Service Ltd. One Canada Square Canary Wharf London E14 5FA United Kingdom JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456 Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454 Richard Etheridge Associate Managing Director Corporate Finance Group JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456 Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service Ltd. One Canada Square Canary Wharf London E14 5FA United Kingdom JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456 Client Service: 44 20 7772 5454  2022 Moodys Corporation, Moodys Investors Service, Inc., Moodys Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, MOODYS). 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MOODYS PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODYS ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. 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Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Banco Hipotecario del UruguayGlobal Credit Research - 20 Jan 2022New York, January 20, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 17 January 2022 in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology (ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody's practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.Key rating considerations are summarized below.Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay's (BHU) Baa2 long-term local and foreign currency deposit ratings are at the same level as Uruguay's sovereign rating and derive from the bank's baseline credit assessment (BCA) of ba2. The ratings also incorporate Moody's assessment that, as a government-backed bank, BHU would benefit from very high support from the government, resulting in three notches of uplift from its BCA. The bank's deposit ratings incorporate the full and unconditional guarantee of the Uruguayan government to BHU's obligations.BHU's ba2 BCA reflects the bank's specialized operation in consumer mortgage financing. The bank's very strong capital position provides meaningful cushion against potential loan losses and is the main support to its ba2 BCA. BHU has a sizable share of its funding base in the form of low-cost local currency demand and savings deposits, another positive influence on its BCA. Deposits, though stable, finance a long-term mortgage loan book, generating assets and liabilities mismatches. Profitability metrics have been steady for the past five years; nonetheless, the very small diversification in the bank's earnings mix and loan book is a challenge to the bank's financial profile.This document summarizes Moody's view as of the publication date and will not be updated until the next periodic review announcement, which will incorporate material changes in credit circumstances (if any) during the intervening period.The principal methodology used for this review was Banks Methodology published in July 2021. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.This announcement applies only to EU rated, UK rated, EU endorsed and UK endorsed ratings. Non EU rated, non UK rated, non EU endorsed and non UK endorsed ratings may be referenced above to the extent necessary, if they are part of the same analytical unit.This publication does not announce a credit rating action. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history. Alexandre Albuquerque Vice President - Senior Analyst Financial Institutions Group Moody's America Latina Ltda. Avenida Nacoes Unidas, 12.551 16th Floor, Room 1601 Sao Paulo, SP 04578-903 Brazil JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Ceres Lisboa Associate Managing Director Financial Institutions Group JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service, Inc. 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653  2022 Moodys Corporation, Moodys Investors Service, Inc., Moodys Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, MOODYS). All rights reserved.CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE THEIR CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODYS (COLLECTIVELY, PUBLICATIONS) MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODYS DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE APPLICABLE MOODYS RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS (ASSESSMENTS), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODYS PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODYS PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODYS ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODYS ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE.MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. 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MCO and Moodys Investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moodys Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moodys Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading Investor Relations  Corporate Governance  Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy.Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODYS affiliate, Moodys Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moodys Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to wholesale clients within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODYS that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a wholesale client and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to retail clients within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODYS credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors.Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. (MJKK) is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moodys Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moodys SF Japan K.K. (MSFJ) is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively.MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY100,000 to approximately JPY550,000,000.MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. 
Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Banco Santander, S.A. (Uruguay)Global Credit Research - 20 Jan 2022New York, January 20, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Banco Santander, S.A. (Uruguay) and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 17 January 2022 in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology (ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody's practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.Key rating considerations are summarized below.Banco Santander, S.A. (Uruguay)'s (Santander Uruguay) Baa3 long-term local- and foreign-currency deposit ratings reflect the bank's baseline credit assessment (BCA) of ba1 and Moody's assessment of moderate probability of affiliate support from the Spanish Banco Santander (A2, baa1), which results in one-notch uplift to the BCA.Santander Uruguay's ba1 BCA incorporates its highly liquid balance sheet, evidenced by a low reliance on market funds and a large volume of liquid asset holdings, supported by the bank's strong deposit franchise as the second largest deposit taking institution in Uruguay. Santander Uruguay predominantly funds its operations with low-cost dollar deposits. Asset risk metrics are adequate, as problem loan ratios have remained below the system's average during the past decade, a positive driver of the bank's financial profile.This document summarizes Moody's view as of the publication date and will not be updated until the next periodic review announcement, which will incorporate material changes in credit circumstances (if any) during the intervening period.The principal methodology used for this review was Banks Methodology published in July 2021. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.This announcement applies only to EU rated, UK rated, EU endorsed and UK endorsed ratings. Non EU rated, non UK rated, non EU endorsed and non UK endorsed ratings may be referenced above to the extent necessary, if they are part of the same analytical unit.This publication does not announce a credit rating action. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history. Alexandre Albuquerque Vice President - Senior Analyst Financial Institutions Group Moody's America Latina Ltda. Avenida Nacoes Unidas, 12.551 16th Floor, Room 1601 Sao Paulo, SP 04578-903 Brazil JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Ceres Lisboa Associate Managing Director Financial Institutions Group JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service, Inc. 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653  2022 Moodys Corporation, Moodys Investors Service, Inc., Moodys Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, MOODYS). All rights reserved.CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE THEIR CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODYS (COLLECTIVELY, PUBLICATIONS) MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODYS DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE APPLICABLE MOODYS RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS (ASSESSMENTS), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODYS PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODYS PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODYS ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODYS ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE.MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. IF IN DOUBT YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVISER.ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROTECTED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND NONE OF SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE COPIED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED, REPACKAGED, FURTHER TRANSMITTED, TRANSFERRED, DISSEMINATED, REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD, OR STORED FOR SUBSEQUENT USE FOR ANY SUCH PURPOSE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, BY ANY PERSON WITHOUT MOODYS PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANY PERSON AS A BENCHMARK AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT COULD RESULT IN THEM BEING CONSIDERED A BENCHMARK.All information contained herein is obtained by MOODYS from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error as well as other factors, however, all information contained herein is provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. MOODY'S adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources MOODY'S considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent third-party sources. However, MOODYS is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information received in the rating process or in preparing its Publications.To the extent permitted by law, MOODYS and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability to any person or entity for any indirect, special, consequential, or incidental losses or damages whatsoever arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information, even if MOODYS or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers is advised in advance of the possibility of such losses or damages, including but not limited to: (a) any loss of present or prospective profits or (b) any loss or damage arising where the relevant financial instrument is not the subject of a particular credit rating assigned by MOODYS.To the extent permitted by law, MOODYS and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability for any direct or compensatory losses or damages caused to any person or entity, including but not limited to by any negligence (but excluding fraud, willful misconduct or any other type of liability that, for the avoidance of doubt, by law cannot be excluded) on the part of, or any contingency within or beyond the control of, MOODYS or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers, arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information.NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF ANY CREDIT RATING, ASSESSMENT, OTHER OPINION OR INFORMATION IS GIVEN OR MADE BY MOODYS IN ANY FORM OR MANNER WHATSOEVER.Moodys Investors Service, Inc., a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moodys Corporation (MCO), hereby discloses that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by Moodys Investors Service, Inc. have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to Moodys Investors Service, Inc. for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from $1,000 to approximately $5,000,000. MCO and Moodys Investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moodys Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moodys Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading Investor Relations  Corporate Governance  Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy.Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODYS affiliate, Moodys Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moodys Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to wholesale clients within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODYS that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a wholesale client and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to retail clients within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODYS credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors.Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. (MJKK) is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moodys Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moodys SF Japan K.K. (MSFJ) is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively.MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY100,000 to approximately JPY550,000,000.MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. 
Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Bank of Hawaii CorporationGlobal Credit Research - 20 Jan 2022New York, January 20, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Bank of Hawaii Corporation and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 11 January 2022 in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody's practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.Key rating considerations are summarized below.Bank of Hawaii Corporation's (BOH) (P)A3 long-term senior debt rating and the ratings of its lead bank subsidiary, including the Aa3 long-term deposit rating of Bank of Hawaii, are derived from the bank's a2 Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and the application of Moody's advanced loss given failure analysis to its assumed liabilities at failure.The a2 BCA reflects BOH's strong financial profile, supported by a leading market position in the state of Hawaii and a conservative credit culture that has resulted in historically strong credit quality and profitability. BOH's long-established Hawaiian banking franchise, while a credit strength, also presents a geographic concentration risk in that operating in one small economy makes the bank's risk profile more vulnerable to localized economic downturns. The bank's liquidity is robust, with a large core deposit base, limited refinancing risk owing to a low reliance on confidence-sensitive market funding, and sizeable holdings of liquid resources, making the bank resilient to market shocks.This document summarizes Moody's view as of the publication date and will not be updated until the next periodic review announcement, which will incorporate material changes in credit circumstances (if any) during the intervening period.The principal methodology used for this review was Banks Methodology published in July 2021. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.This announcement applies only to EU rated, UK rated, EU endorsed and UK endorsed ratings. Non EU rated, non UK rated, non EU endorsed and non UK endorsed ratings may be referenced above to the extent necessary, if they are part of the same analytical unit.This publication does not announce a credit rating action. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history. Rita Sahu, CFA VP - Senior Credit Officer Financial Institutions Group Moody's Investors Service, Inc. 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Andrea Usai Associate Managing Director Financial Institutions Group JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service, Inc. 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 U.S.A. JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653  2022 Moodys Corporation, Moodys Investors Service, Inc., Moodys Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, MOODYS). All rights reserved.CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE THEIR CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODYS (COLLECTIVELY, PUBLICATIONS) MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODYS DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE APPLICABLE MOODYS RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS (ASSESSMENTS), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODYS PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODYS PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODYS ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODYS ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE.MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. IF IN DOUBT YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVISER.ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROTECTED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND NONE OF SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE COPIED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED, REPACKAGED, FURTHER TRANSMITTED, TRANSFERRED, DISSEMINATED, REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD, OR STORED FOR SUBSEQUENT USE FOR ANY SUCH PURPOSE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, BY ANY PERSON WITHOUT MOODYS PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.MOODYS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANY PERSON AS A BENCHMARK AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT COULD RESULT IN THEM BEING CONSIDERED A BENCHMARK.All information contained herein is obtained by MOODYS from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error as well as other factors, however, all information contained herein is provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. MOODY'S adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources MOODY'S considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent third-party sources. However, MOODYS is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information received in the rating process or in preparing its Publications.To the extent permitted by law, MOODYS and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability to any person or entity for any indirect, special, consequential, or incidental losses or damages whatsoever arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information, even if MOODYS or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers is advised in advance of the possibility of such losses or damages, including but not limited to: (a) any loss of present or prospective profits or (b) any loss or damage arising where the relevant financial instrument is not the subject of a particular credit rating assigned by MOODYS.To the extent permitted by law, MOODYS and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability for any direct or compensatory losses or damages caused to any person or entity, including but not limited to by any negligence (but excluding fraud, willful misconduct or any other type of liability that, for the avoidance of doubt, by law cannot be excluded) on the part of, or any contingency within or beyond the control of, MOODYS or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers, arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information.NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF ANY CREDIT RATING, ASSESSMENT, OTHER OPINION OR INFORMATION IS GIVEN OR MADE BY MOODYS IN ANY FORM OR MANNER WHATSOEVER.Moodys Investors Service, Inc., a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moodys Corporation (MCO), hereby discloses that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by Moodys Investors Service, Inc. have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to Moodys Investors Service, Inc. for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from $1,000 to approximately $5,000,000. MCO and Moodys Investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moodys Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moodys Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading Investor Relations  Corporate Governance  Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy.Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODYS affiliate, Moodys Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moodys Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to wholesale clients within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODYS that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a wholesale client and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to retail clients within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODYS credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors.Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. (MJKK) is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moodys Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moodys SF Japan K.K. (MSFJ) is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively.MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY100,000 to approximately JPY550,000,000.MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. 
By Trend

Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan Serzhan Abdikarimov and members of the diplomatic mission visited the Alley of Martyrs in Baku and laid flowers on the graves of Azerbaijani citizens who died for the freedom and independence of the Motherland, Trend reports with reference to the embassy on Jan. 20.

The 32nd anniversary of the January 20 tragedy is marked today.

On January 20, 1990, a bloody massacre was committed against civilians who had taken to the streets and squares in protest at Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan and the biased policy of the former USSR leadership.

On the night of January 19-20, 1990, 147 people were killed, 744 were injured and 841 were illegally arrested after Soviet troops entered Baku. The Soviet troops also destroyed 200 apartments and houses, as well as private and public property.

January 20 is immortalized in the memory of the Azerbaijani nation as a Day of the Nationwide Sorrow.
(Bloomberg) -- The global semiconductor shortage is hitting one of the industrys most important gear makers, potentially creating a vicious cycle that will further strain supply to companies from Nissan Motor Co. to Apple Inc.

Most Read from Bloomberg

ASML Holding NV, whose machines are essential to the production of advanced semiconductors, is waging a daily fight to secure chips for itself, Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink warned. Thats why Europes largest producer of chipmaking equipment has set up a team dedicated to tracking down and procuring supplies around the world -- personally, if necessary.

We are directly impacted, but not that we buy chips. Our suppliers do, Wennink said in an online press conference on Wednesday. We figure out which semiconductor manufacturers make these chips, then we pick up the phone and we call them up and say: Can you help us?

ASML is the worlds only source of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines used by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel Corp. for the most advanced fabrication. It remains on track to ship 55 of the bus-sized systems -- costing 150 million euros ($170 million) apiece -- this year and more in 2023, but demand still outstrips its capacity by 40% to 50% and it could take up to three years to rebalance that, the CEO said.

Its plight has raised the prospect of a never-ending loop where a shortage of chips hits gear makers, which then cant crank out enough of the machines that TSMC and its peers need to actually produce semiconductors. Thats bad particularly for carmakers, the worst-hit of a plethora of industries by the shortages. Nissan Motor Co. CEO Makoto Uchida warned again on Thursday that production stoppages could persist, calling the situation uncertain.

Story continues

ASMLs Attempt to Speed Up its Supply Hits Sales Forecasts

ASML hired close to 6,000 people in 2021 and is expanding headcount by thousands more this year. Those people need to be trained, they need to get up the learning curve, and that will take time, Wennink said.

Nissan is just the latest in a string of carmakers whove sounded the alarm going into 2022. Toyota Motor Corp. slashed its February production by almost 150,000 cars and said it would be very difficult to achieve its full-year target. A week earlier, Renault SA CEO Luca de Meo said he expects the chip crunch to continue haunting automakers through the rest of the year, saying disruptions are likely to peak in the first six months.

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2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Announcement of Periodic Review: Moody's announces completion of a periodic review of ratings of Citibank, N.A. (Uruguay Branch)Global Credit Research - 20 Jan 2022New York, January 20, 2022 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Citibank, N.A. (Uruguay Branch) and other ratings that are associated with the same analytical unit. The review was conducted through a portfolio review discussion held on 17 January 2022 in which Moody's reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology (ies), recent developments, and a comparison of the financial and operating profile to similarly rated peers. The review did not involve a rating committee. Since 1 January 2019, Moody's practice has been to issue a press release following each periodic review to announce its completion.This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future. Credit ratings and outlook/review status cannot be changed in a portfolio review and hence are not impacted by this announcement. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history.Key rating considerations are summarized below.Citibank, N.A. (Uruguay Branch)'s (Citibank Uruguay) A1 long-term local-currency deposit rating and A2 long-term foreign-currency deposit rating reflect the credit risk of the branch's head office, Citibank N.A. (Aa3, baa1). Additionally, the ratings are constrained by the country ceilings for local and foreign currency deposits in Uruguay. Because of Citibank Uruguay's legal status as a full branch, Moody's does not assign standalone assessments. Consequently, the branch's ratings reflect the head office's legal responsibility to ensure Citibank Uruguay's obligations are paid in a timely manner.This document summarizes Moody's view as of the publication date and will not be updated until the next periodic review announcement, which will incorporate material changes in credit circumstances (if any) during the intervening period.The principal methodology used for this review was Banks Methodology published in July 2021. Please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.This announcement applies only to EU rated, UK rated, EU endorsed and UK endorsed ratings. Non EU rated, non UK rated, non EU endorsed and non UK endorsed ratings may be referenced above to the extent necessary, if they are part of the same analytical unit.This publication does not announce a credit rating action. For any credit ratings referenced in this publication, please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com for the most updated credit rating action information and rating history. Alexandre Albuquerque Vice President - Senior Analyst Financial Institutions Group Moody's America Latina Ltda. Avenida Nacoes Unidas, 12.551 16th Floor, Room 1601 Sao Paulo, SP 04578-903 Brazil JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Ceres Lisboa Associate Managing Director Financial Institutions Group JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 Client Service: 1 212 553 1653 Releasing Office: Moody's Investors Service, Inc. 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 U.S.A. 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DexioProtocol made the mainstream this week announcing DexiHunter's Beta Release EOM January in Crypto Marketing Companies (CMC), Crypto Weekly Magazine. The article appeared in Volume 9 of the go-to source of the crypto revolution where Metaverse giants proclaim the progress of their incoming projects.

New Albany, United States, Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Making waves and raising eyeballs, DexioProtocol is making headlines as an ecosystem quietly disrupting the crypto arena worldwide with the incoming announcement in CMCs Crypto Weekly of the beta release of the DexiHunter whitelisted version utilizing top influencers and promoters at the end of January. DexioProtocol is a primary player, and Crypto Weekly is one of the largest subscribed to weekly periodicals of the Internets cryptosphere. The online weekly crypto magazine will soon be printed in the United States and Great Britain and made available at major retailers such as Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and many others. There were progress reports on the other primary projects of the DexioProtocol ecosystem, which are all covered in the following paragraphs.

To learn more, visit:

Website: https://dexioprotocol.com

For Questions:

Go to the Telegram Community Chatroom: https://t.me/dexiochat

More about the DexiHunter Upgrade Reported in Crypto weekly

Greg Gould Chief Operations officer of Dexio Protocol described the Dexi Hunter upgrade to Crypto Weekly. Consider going into the Dexi Hunter app and being directed to a local coffee shop or bakery bounty. Businesses can attract customers by distributing coupons as bounties within the Dexiverse. Imagine a new NFT artist looking for a unique way to advertise among all the options available? Artists can drop NFTs around the Dexiverse for consumers to collect, introducing themselves to an entirely new group of consumers they may never have been exposed to otherwise. The vision of DexioProtocol, a world in which blockchain technology is mainstream and infinitely more people are connected by it. DexioProtocol is committed to this vision, and Dexi Hunter embodies it perfectly. With Dexi Hunter, Blockchain is brought to the masses through an app that drives consumers to search for it, introduces businesses to alternative advertising in a medium outside of their expertise, and encourages greater adoption and education around the technology. DixiHunter is like a greatly upgraded Pokemon Go which was launched in 2016 with a lot of hype and enthusiasm. The community is most enthusiastic about Dexi Hunter, an augmented reality bounty hunting game where players enter the Dexiverse and collect tokens, NFTs, game coins, QR codes there is no end to the possibilities. Think of Dexi Hunter as Pokemon Go for crypto, but on a whole new level of technological sophistication. The Dexio Hunter app, now being released at the end of January in whitelisted beta, will open to select cities for additional testing in Q1 of 2022 and will be fully available in Q2 of 2022.

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In addition to the Dexi Hunter upgrade Greg added a but more about the other upgrades occurring alongside Dexio Hunter in the Dexio Protocol ecosystem. DexiKnights is the first of DexioProtocolss play-to-earn games currently in open beta. Full mechanics and player versus player technology are also being added to DexiKnights very soon. Greg added this about the upcoming transition, Knights was released as a beta, and hence, much of the P2E (play to earn) and PVP (player versus player) mechanics were held back. We wanted to get it out and let people play it. So we are using upgradable NFTs, and now we will be adding loot drops and other ways to earn. Additionally, we added many in-game items for people to pick up and purchase. Some of those things will be non-blockchain-based items, and others will be NFTs. So the current version is about to be upgraded to make it fully P2E.

Greg continued, So the implementation of PVP will perhaps be in early February. Once the other parts are added, this will allow players to combat against one another in arenas and win pots set up as an aspect of entering the tournaments. There is a lot more to that. But thats a general idea. It is DexioProtocols private network. It is a proof of authority network, and currently, tons of tests are being run on it. Once it does what is wanted, there will be a month of testing to attempt to break it, hack it, slow it down, make it do weird stuff. Those things will be addressed on the test net before launch. Once the test net is launched, we will begin migrating Dexi and Dexigas (DXG, the gas token for the project for in-game transactions) over to the network, its hard to explain here, but Dexi will be the native token of the network like ETH on Ethereum. So it wont have a contract address per se, but you get the idea. The NFTs will also be migrated onto an entirely new NFT platform. We will launch new tokens (paired with Dexi) on the Smart Dexio Network (SDN) for new projects, businesses we partner with, and more. There will be shared liquidity pools there as well. Super duper cool stuff added Greg.

Authored By: Robert Stone

@Shake_the_web on Twitter

Website: https://Dexioprotocol.com

CONTACT: Name: Greg Gould Organization: Dexioprotocol, LLC Address: Dexioprotocol, LLC 6044 Phar Lap Dr. , New Albany, Ohio 43054, United States Phone: +1-614-209-0551




Littered throughout the audience at Tuesday night's opening of "CATS: The Musical" at the Kentucky Center, there appeared to be equal numbers of Broadway devotees and newcomers, which isn't surprising when you consider the feline classic is now 40 years old.

The 1982 record-breaking musical spectacular by Andrew Lloyd Webber ("The Phantom of the Opera," "School of Rock," "Sunset Boulevard") has been seen by hundreds of thousands of theatergoers in over 30 countries and 15 languages. Now on tour across North America, the Tony Award-winning show is currently playing now through Jan. 23 as part of the PNC Broadway in Louisville series.

Fanatical fans of the feline phenomenon came out Tuesday knowing every word to every song in the musical. But for those who had entered the "junkyard" for the first time, which might seem impossible for a show that's delighted audiences for 40 years, thoughts of "what's going on here?" weren't uncommon.

Max Craven as Mungojerrie and Kelly Donah as Rumpleteazer in the 2021-2022 national tour of CATS.

Exactly what goes on at a performance of the longest-running musical is mostly what has made it popular for four decades, although a few new twists have freshened the litter of kittens and clowder of cats.

Thanks to costume designer John Napier ("Les Miserables"), back are the full body suits, leg warmers, wigs and massive amounts of cat make-up. A noticeable update in the second act, Magical Mister Mistoffelees' twirls, leaps and sings in a jacket of many colors  thanks to ever-changing LED lights sewn into his costume.

Also back in all its magnificent glory is the enormous junkyard set where the mischievous kitties and inquisitive cats hang out to sing and dance their furry little hearts out to choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler ("Hamilton.")

You may like: 'Cats,' one of the longest-running Broadway shows, is coming to Louisville. What to know

The touring production, which includes Jose Raul Mangual as Munkustrap, Max Craven as Mungojerrie, Tayler Harris as Grizabella and Zach Bravo as Rum Tum Tugger, give memorable and enjoyable performances, standing out from the ensemble of acro-cats.

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Lauren Louis as Demeter, Chelsea Nicole Mitchell as Bombalurina, and the company of the 2021-2022 national tour of CATS

But it is this acrobatic ensemble that transforms the stage from a group of actors into a space filled with felines. With a flick of the head, an arch of the back, a sudden exuberant pounce, before you know it, the mesmerizing choreography and costumes pull you in and you forget these are real humans  you'll swear these nimble characters are actual cats.

The PNC Broadway in Louisville production of "CATS" ushers back a live orchestra into the pit. After two years of COVID-19 concerns, there is a richness to the sound of the live clarinet, keyboard, guitar and percussion emanating from below the stage. The popular songs weave together an energetic and heartfelt story that takes place during one magical night when an extraordinary tribe of cats gathers in the junkyard for its annual ball to rejoice and decide which cat will be reborn.

Indalecio De Jesus Valentin as Old Deuteronomy and the company of the 2021-2022 national tour of CATS

The theater audience is introduced to specific cats throughout the performance, such as the ultra-masculine Rum Tum Tugger, the ailing Grizabella and the sage Old Deuteronomy. If you have a cat in your home, you are sure to recognize characteristics of your pet in at least one of the characters. Highlights from the score include "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats," "Magical Mister Mistoffelees" and one of the most treasured songs in musical theater, "Memory."

Besides Webber's original score, there is all-new lighting design by Natasha Katz ("Aladdin") and all-new sound design by Mick Potter. Blankenbuehler's new choreography is based on the original choreography by Gillian Lynne ("Phantom of the Opera") and direction by Trevor Nunn ("Les Miserables.") Like the cats themselves, the updates add a subtle delight to enhance the iconic production.

You may like: When is Forecastle 2022? Everything you need to know about the Louisville music festival

If you haven't seen "CATS: The Musical," it truly is a feline curiosity and classic worth the price of a ticket. And if you're a longtime fan of the show, it's worth attending for your own "memory."

The 2021-22 PNC Broadway in Louisville series, which includes "Cats," also features "Come From Away," "Mean Girls," "Hamilton" and "Anastasia." Tickets can be purchased at louisville.broadway.com.

Reach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com or Twitter @kirbylouisville.

The company of the 2021-2022 national tour of CATS

PNC Broadway in Louisville 'Cats'

WHAT: The record-breaking musical spectacular by Andrew Lloyd Webber arrives in Louisville with new choreography, lighting and sound to tell the story of one magical night when an extraordinary tribe of cats gathers for its annual ball to rejoice and decide which cat will be reborn.

The original score by Webber ("The Phantom of the Opera," "School of Rock," "Sunset Boulevard"), original scenic and costume design by John Napier ("Les Miserables"), all-new lighting design by Natasha Katz ("Aladdin") and new choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler ("Hamilton") make this a production a new generation.

WHERE: Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall, 501 W. Main St.

WHEN: now through Jan. 23. Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., Saturday matinee at 2 p.m., Sunday matinee at 1 p.m., and Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m.

TICKETS: $47.39-$145.67. Available online at kentuckyperformingarts.org or by calling 502-584-7777.

COVID-19 PROTOCOL: To gain entry to this event, all patrons must wear masks and provide proof of vaccination or proof of negative COVID test, PCR Test no older than 72 hours from arrival at the event or Antigen Test no older than 24 hours from arrival at the event.

ALLEY CAT ADVOCATES DONATION DRIVE: PNC Broadway in Louisville and 'Cats' will partner with Feeder Supply and MIX 106.9 to support feral felines in our community. Now through Jan. 23, donation bins for items like kitten food, clay non-clumping cat litter and cleaning supplies will be set up in most Feeder Supply locations and during the run of 'Cats' in the lobby at Kentucky Center. Donations will be collected by Alley Cats Advocates whose mission is to provide humane treatment of unowned cats in the Louisville area.

Alley Cat's wishlist of items:

Purina Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp Feast Flaked, Flaked Gourmet, or Gravy Lovers Poultry and Beef Feast Collection, canned cat food

Purina canned kitten food, any flavor

Purina One Healthy Kitten Formula, Purina One Adult, Purina One Sensitive Systems Clay non-clumping cat litter, any brand

Purina Yesterdays News or Feline Pine cat litter

Puppy pads

Virbac Epi-Otic Advanced Ear Cleanser For Dogs and Cats (All Sizes)

Scratchers for Long Stay Cats

3-ounce Dixie cups

Snuggle Safe heating pads

Small disposable litter boxes

Dawn dish soap

Kitchen garbage bags

Masking tape

AA and 9V batteries

Paper towels

Paper plates

Paper napkins

Disposable cutlery

HotHands Hand Warmers

Toe warmers to put under the traps (under the bait food) during cold days to keep bait from freezing

Jumbo Space Saver Vacuum Bags for storage

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 'CATS: The Musical' Louisville Broadway review: Great songs, costumes
CAROL STREAM, IL / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2022 / FIELD + FARMER (a Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. (CSE:FRSH)(FRA:Q4Z) ("The Fresh Factory") company), is excited to announce the launch of its produce-forward refrigerated snack bars. The clean-label, low-sugar, plant-based bars mark a move by FIELD + FARMER to expand its offerings beyond its popular dressings, dips, and juices.

"We are excited to launch our delicious refrigerated snack bars in Whole Foods under the FIELD + FARMER brand. This launch allows FIELD + FARMER to add value to the category through a produce-first bar and bring its promise of fresh, delectable flavors into a fast-growing refrigerated snack-bar category. The USD $95M1 refrigerated snack-bar category is expected to grow as consumers continue to express a preference toward natural and fresh food," said Isabella Chia, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the FIELD + FARMER brand.

FIELD + FARMER Refrigerated Snack Bar - produce in a bar

Clean, delicious bars using fresh fruit or vegetables as the first ingredient

5 flavors that taste like your favorite sweet treat: Apple Cinnamon, Cocoa Brownie, Carrot Cake, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Peanut Butter Cookie

6g of plant-based protein

No preservatives, no vegetable powders, no chemicals

Non-GMO Project verified, gluten-free

The refrigerated bars are now available in participating Whole Foods Markets in the United States. The launch of the FIELD + FARMER bars completes the integration of Phyter Bars, which was acquired late last year by The Fresh Factory.

"We entered the refrigerated better for you' snack bar market last year with the acquisition of Phyter Bars and see a significant opportunity for The Fresh Factory to grow in this category," said Bill Besenhofer, CEO and co-founder of The Fresh Factory. "With our flexible manufacturing facility and expertise in clean-label, plant-based food and beverage products, we believe we are well positioned with these expanded capabilities. In addition to FIELD + FARMER's bar launch, we've launched other bar products with a number of our existing customers since the acquisition. We are now routinely doing multiples of the volume each month compared to before the acquisition, which validates the strength of our model."

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The Fresh Factory's capabilities include:

In-house innovation team specializing in fresh clean-label, plant-based formulation, allowing The Fresh Factory to launch products in months, not years.

Direct relationships with farmers across the United States and a robust network of packaging and ingredient vendors providing a high-quality, transparent supply chain.

A manufacturing facility that is SQF Level III certified and a leader in food safety. The facility was built to be flexible and to accommodate variable minimum runs.

Sales and marketing capabilities to guide and scale brands as they go to market with new products.

About The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.

The Fresh Factory has built a vertically integrated platform from the farm to the shelf. Their focus is on the future of food-fresh ingredients, clean-labels, and plant-based products. The Fresh Factory owns or partners with brands of all sizes to develop, manufacture, and sell products made from fresh produce and recognizable ingredients. It operates from its centrally located manufacturing facility near Chicago, serving customers across the United States. As a public-benefits corporation, The Fresh Factory is ESG-focused, driven to make a lighter, greener impact on the environment and a stronger, positive impact on local communities and the food supply system as a whole. Learn more about The Fresh Factory at www.thefreshfactory.co and find The Fresh Factory on social media at: Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. To receive news and updates about The Fresh Factory, sign up for the newsletter at www.thefreshfactory.co.

About FIELD + FARMER

Founded in 2017, FIELD + FARMER (wholly owned by The Fresh Factory) partners with small farms to deliver plant-based dressings, dips, bars, and juices made with fresh, clean ingredients. Their mission is to re-create crave-worthy mainstream flavors with real ingredients and no junk (no chemicals, no preservatives)-what they call big flavor from small farms. Not only do they source from farmers they know and trust, they routinely donate to organizations that support small farmers. Learn more about FIELD + FARMER at www.fieldandfarmer.co or follow them on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter.

Contacts

Bill Besenhofer

CEO and Co-Founder

1-877-495-1638

info@thefreshfactory.co

Alyssa Barry

Media and Investor Relations

1-877-495-1638

healthyinvestors@thefreshfactory.co

1 Source: Nielsen Total USxAOC, L52W ending May 21, 2021

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively referred to hereafter as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements that address activities, events, or developments that Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd. ("Company") expects or anticipates will, or may, occur in the future, including statements about Company's new product offerings, its ability to execute on its goals, the timing pertaining to these goals and receipt of applicable consents and approvals, and Company's business prospects, future trends, plans and strategies. In some cases, forward looking statements are preceded by, followed by, or include words such as "may", "will," "would", "could", "should", "believes", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "expects", "plans", "intends", "proposes", "anticipates", "targeted", "continues", "forecasts", "designed", "goal", "anticipate" or the negative of those words or other similar or comparable words. Although the management of the Company believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company, as well as trends identified by the Company affecting its industry can be found in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated November 10, 2021, and the Company's continuous disclosure record available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements made in this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: The Fresh Factory B.C. Ltd.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/684616/FIELD-FARMER-a-Fresh-Factory-Company-Launches-Refrigerated-Snack-Bars




Google might have ditched its Daydream VR headset years ago, but that doesn't mean it gave up on headsets altogether. The Verge sources claim Google is developing an augmented reality headset, nicknamed Project Iris, that it wants to release in 2024. The standalone wearable would use a custom Google processor, outward-facing tracking cameras and run Android, although a custom OS is a possibility given job listings. It might also rely on cloud-based rendering to overcome the processing power limitations of a headset.

Clay Bavor, the manager for the Project Starline 3D telepresence booth (also said due for 2024), is understood to be overseeing the highly secretive project. The tipsters also said the AR headset team included Google Assistant creator Scott Huffman, ARCore manager Shahram Izadi and Mark Lucovsky, the former leader of Meta's in-house OS development. The Pixel division is also believed to be involved in some hardware work.

We've asked Google for comment, although CEO Sundar Pichai hinted in October that AR was a "major area of investment" for the company. The headset is supposedly very early in development without a clear market strategy, suggesting that the 2024 target isn't firm.

The headset might seem unexpected from a company burned by its initial take on an AR wearable. It's not a shock given the evolving landscape, however. Apple is widely rumored to be creating a mixed reality headset, while Meta hasn't been shy about wanting to both develop AR hardware and jumpstart the metaverse. Google risks ceding the field to competitors if it doesn't offer AR hardware or the platform to match, even if finished technology is still years away.
DUBLIN, January 20, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Malaysia B2B Database: B2B Contacts and Company Data; 607,201 Companies and 3 Million Contacts" database has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This database monitors 607,201 companies in Malaysia, using an artificial-intelligence-powered data crawling system combined with reliable governmental sources.

It upgrades the way researchers and salespeople currently operate by reducing the steps needed to reach to necessary information / prospects.

This database, Malaysia's largest B2B contacts and company data portal, covers more than 3 million key employee contacts across more than 1,000 industries.

It works like a search engine for companies and B2B contacts in Malaysia, allowing the user to search real-time company data - background data, business descriptions, shareholder/manager names, financial data and employee data, along with e-mail addresses, Linkedin profiles, Facebook, company websites and much more.

It is made simple and easy for researchers, salespeople and marketers to search and access company data and direct contact information of key employees across the economically booming Malaysia.

Because the publisher monitors government sources including tax departments, there are no inactive companies in the database.

For more information about this database visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/w04vua

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220120005745/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



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By Trend

The 32nd anniversary of the January 20 tragedy is marked today, Trend reports.

The Azerbaijani people honor the blessed memory of the victims of the January 20 tragedy.

Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov, Chairperson of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova, Head of the Presidential Administration Samir Nuriyev and other officials visited the Alley of Martyrs, laid flowers at the graves of the heroic sons and daughters of the Motherland and revered their memory on a Day of the Nationwide Sorrow.

On January 20, 1990, a bloody massacre was committed against civilians who had taken to the streets and squares in protest at Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan and the biased policy of the former USSR leadership.

On the night of January 19-20, 1990, 147 people were killed, 744 were injured and 841 were illegally arrested after Soviet troops entered Baku. The Soviet troops also destroyed 200 apartments and houses, as well as private and public property.

January 20 is immortalized in the memory of the Azerbaijani nation as a Day of the Nationwide Sorrow.
Your interview is progressing well. Youve concisely communicated why you're here  in your career journey and in this interview  with your tell us about yourself narrative. Youve provided concrete examples of your professional accomplishments that speak to your readiness for this role. Youve conveyed the value you could bring. You think they're convinced.

Then comes that final question: Do you have any questions for us?

Its tempting to skip this one. Its the end of the interview, and by this point, you may be feeling slightly wrung out, overwhelmed, and even short on time.

Be aware, hiring managers often place a lot of weight on what you say here.

Why?

Because asking questions can signal your interest in the company and the position. Your questions can demonstrate that youve done some upfront research; that youve been listening intently throughout the interview; that you are curious and want to learn more. The one thing you dont want to say here is that you dont have any questions for your interviewers.

Neta Moye is an assistant dean and executive director of the Offices of Career Services at the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business.

As a leadership professor and head of the Office of Career Services at the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business, Ive had the opportunity to work with successful, mid-career professionals as they navigate the interview process. We talk a lot about the process  and the importance of this one question.

Heres my advice on answering it well.

Plan ahead. Assemble a list of questions that you truly want answered; sincere curiosity goes a long way. You likely wont ask all your questions, but its good to have several ready so you dont ask a question that the interviewer has already answered. In most settings, asking two to three questions is ideal  asking more may suggest that you dont respect the interviewers time. Be sure to read the room and body language for signs that they want to wrap up the meeting. Remember: Youll have opportunities to learn more in future conversations, so dont overdo it. Do your research. Dont ask questions that can be easily answered with a quick online search. Scan the company website about basic details and history, as well as current news articles about the organizations recent challenges and successes. Reach out to current and former employees to find out more about what its like to work there. Your social network could be a good source for locating these folks, and your university alumni office may help with introductions. Questions that demonstrate youve done your homework are strong signals that you take this opportunity seriously. Tailor your questions to suit the meeting. When youre speaking with someone from human resources, ask questions about the interviewing process or the overall organization. When youre speaking with the hiring manager or your world-be supervisor, ask more specific questions about the role itself or the team. If speaking with prospective colleagues in adjacent departments, ask about collaboration and work culture. Refer back to projects or ideas the hiring team has mentioned. Reference what you were told earlier in the conversation when you ask a question. This conveys active listening, respect and a desire to learn more. Not all questions are good questions. Avoid yes/no questions. You want the two-way conversation to continue, so ask open-ended questions. Also, avoid self-serving questions  those about salary, vacation days and other benefits; save those for after you get the job offer. Finally, try not to ask multi-pronged or overly complicated questions. This is not stump the interviewer time. It is a chance to show your interest in learning more about the work, the team and the organization.

Story continues

As you compile your list of questions for the hiring manager or team, here are a few suggestions to get you started. Again, make them your own.

In your opinion, what does success in this role look like? Are there key performance indicators?

If hired for this position, what should I aim to accomplish in my first three months?

What are the strengths that have led others to succeed in this role?

How did this position come to be open?

How long have you been with the company, and what's something you enjoy about working here?

Can you tell me a little about the company culture?

What do you see as the most pressing challenge this company is facing right now? This team?

Is there anything else I can provide to help you with your decision?

Neta Moye is an assistant dean and executive director of the Offices of Career Services at the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is also a clinical professor of leadership, management and organization. Moye has over 30 years of experience in the field of human resources and leadership development.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In job interviews, learn how to answer: "Do you have any questions for us?"
HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SkillGigs, Inc. announces additions to the leadership team. Additions include President Stephen Saville, President of Digital Brad Hill, and Vice President of Marketing Amanda Betts.

"This is an exciting time as these leaders are among the top in the industry," said CEO of SkillGigs Kashif Aftab.

Saville will serve as the SkillGigs' president, providing strategic and operational oversite for the company in addition to serving as a member of the company's board of directors. For 30 years, Saville has built, led, and sold staffing and workforce management organizations. Previously, Saville served as group president for Cross Country Healthcare assisting its CEO and executive team. Prior to this, Saville served as president of CareerStaff Unlimited. Other previous roles include serving as SVP of Workforce Solutions, leading Genesis Healthcare; the largest provider of post-acute skilled nursing care. Also, Saville has worked with leading private equity firms providing operational consultancy on key projects. Saville earned a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Political Science from Cabrini University. He also earned his Juris Doctor from Widener University.

Division President of Digital Brad Hill will provide strategic and operational oversite for the technology business. Over a 25-year career, Hill has acquired global experience in design and execution in business development, leadership, operations, and strategic consulting within the IT industry. For 19 years, Hill worked for the Allegis Group, primarily with TEKsystems, where he was an instrumental member of the team that helped scale TEKsystems to over $700mm in revenue. Hill also served as senior vice president of Experis, where he was responsible for over $300mm in revenue. Hill earned his B.S. Science in Biology from Southwest Baptist University.

VP of Marketing Amanda Betts will provide leadership for all marketing functions for the company. Most recently, Betts has served in key marketing roles for two of the world's largest staffing companies, Randstad and ManpowerGroup. At Randstad, Betts served as VP of brand providing enterprise marketing campaigns along with all brand content and digital marketing. At ManpowerGroup, Betts served as the director of North America marketing and was responsible for all marketing strategy including increasing digital marketing efficiencies. Betts earned her B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

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"This is an exciting time as these leaders are among the top in the industry," commented Kashif Aftab, Founder and CEO of SkillGigs. "By adding 'Top 100 Leaders' with institutional leadership, extensive knowledge of connecting talent with opportunities, outstanding operational expertise, as well as entrepreneurial spirit, we will deliver continuous innovation," said Aftab.

Contact: Amanda Betts, abetts@skillgigs.com

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/skillgigs-inc-announces-leadership-expansion-301465370.html

SOURCE SkillGigs
By Trend

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar will visit Azerbaijan, Trend reports on Jan. 20 citing Klaar's message on Twitter.

Klaar tweeted that he plans to pay this visit together with his French colleagues.

Good to be back in the region for a joint EU-France visit together with Isabelle Dumont and colleagues to follow up on meetings in Brussels, Klaar tweeted. Look forward to substantial meetings with Azerbaijani and Armenian leaderships over the coming days.
Partisan debate unfolded Tuesday in the state Senate over Attorney General Jason Miyares firing of 30 staffers in the office after a Democratic senator said the short notice was unprofessional and caused confusion.

Republicans werent having it. Cry me a river. Mark Herring lost, OK? Get over it, said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham.

Miyares, a Republican, defeated Democrat Herring in the November election and was sworn in on Saturday.

The day before, Miyares let go of 30 staffers, including 17 lawyers. They included the lawyer investigating dangerous conditions at a South Richmond apartment complex in Richmonds largest Latino neighborhood, where residents faced mold, rat and roach infestations and say management ignored requests to address problems.

Staffers in the attorney generals office serve at the pleasure of the attorney general.

Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, gave a speech saying he was concerned about how Miyares, a former state delegate from Virginia Beach, handled the terminations.

Most people received only about 26 hours notice, he said, and some got less.

Im not sure a lot of the terminations really reflect an understanding of the legal responsibilities of the Attorney Generals Office, said Surovell, a lawyer.

Lawyers terminated from the Office of Civil Rights were working on cases that the state was required to file, including housing discrimination cases, Surovell said. One case has a trial set in February and another in March, he said.

He also said he was concerned that lawyers in the offices conviction integrity unit who were working on wrongful conviction cases were terminated.

Attorneys working on a lawsuit cant just walk away, he said. They have to file a motion to withdraw, notify a judge and give a reason.

Miyares can make lots of policy choices, he can change the way he runs that office, Surovell said. But you cant fire 30 people in 24 hours that are involved in legal matters. That aint how it works.

And it gives me serious concern about how seriously that office takes its constitutional and statutory responsibilities to represent the people of Virginia on the matters that we have tasked them as this legislature as things they have to focus on.

Obenshain, who narrowly lost the race for attorney general to Herring in 2013, said in a speech Tuesday that eight years ago, when Democrat Herring became attorney general, succeeding Republican Ken Cuccinelli, Herring let go of 38 people in the attorney generals office.

(Michael Kelly, who was the chief of staff to Herring, disputed that number and said he had no idea where it came from. Obenshain later said the number is 43 and said Miyares office has information. Miyares spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said the number was compiled from conversations with the administration of Republican Cuccinelli, who preceded Herring in the office.)

That number is simply made up. A total fabrication. That wouldve been like 10% of the office at the time, Kelly said.

Im pretty sure if we had fired 10% of the office I would remember, and reporters and others would have heard about it. On the contrary we kept and even promoted many, many people hired by Cuccinelli, McDonnell, Kilgore and others because they were good lawyers and dedicated public servants.

Republican Jerry Kilgore was attorney general from 2002 to 2005 and Republican Bob McDonnell from 2006 to 2009.

Obenshain said in his speech that the cases the fired lawyers were handling are still being handled by the attorney general. The person occupying the office changes, and that person is still responsible for handling cases, he said.

The attorney general of Virginia has not withdrawn from those cases, he said. Should he choose to do so, he will have to go to those courts and withdraw. This is quite frankly exactly what happens every four years or in this instance, eight years.

Its about darn time that the attorney generals office was refocused on doing the job of the people of the commonwealth of Virginia, he said.

Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City, said that a majority of Virginians have cast their votes and have decided that the previous attorney general who politicized that attorney generals office for the last eight years was rejected by a majority of the citizens of Virginia.
Following a state executive order prohibiting vaccine mandates among state agencies, the University of Virginia is ending its requirement that employees get vaccinated.

Nearly all employees in the Academic Division have received their first two doses and 85% have provided proof of a booster, according to a community message Wednesday from university leadership.

However, all other policies, including the indoor mask requirement and the vaccination and booster requirements for students, remain in place.

UVas spring semester began Wednesday and students and employees were required to provide proof of a COVID-19 booster by Jan. 14, the day before Gov. Glenn Youngkin took office.

Following our booster deadline, [the governor] signed an executive directive prohibiting state agencies, including institutions of higher education, from requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment, the message states.

In light of the governors new directive, the small number of employees and faculty who did not comply with the university vaccination deadlines will not face sanctions, the officials wrote in the message. We will continue to strongly encourage anyone who has not done so already to get vaccinated or boosted as soon as possible.

The message was signed by UVa President Jim Ryan, Provost Liz Magill, COO J.J. Davis and Dr. K. Craig Kent, CEO of UVA Health.

Other universities have taken similar steps following the executive order, including Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University and the College of William & Mary.

Although employees in the academic and business sides of the university will not have to meet vaccination mandates, employees in the medical and health division have faced disciplinary action, including firing, if they did not receive the vaccines.

The mandates are in keeping with federal regulations requiring that by Jan. 4 employees of Medicare and Medicaid-participating health care facilities become fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

UVa Healths deadline for booster shots is Feb. 1, and the vaccination requirement remains in place in order to comply with federal mandates, according to the message.

UVa officials moved up the deadline for booster shots among the academic and business division as an alternative to delaying in-person classes amid a spike in COVID cases.

UVa reported 67 new cases Wednesday and has 409 active cases among students, faculty, staff and contract employees, according to the universitys COVID-19 dashboard.

In response to the rising cases, the university has temporarily prohibited food and beverages at university and student organization-related events on Grounds, including athletics competitions.

That policy will be in effect until Feb. 4 in order to ensure those at the events will be wearing masks when they are around others.

High vaccination and booster rates within our community mean we are in a very strong position to have a safe and successful spring semester and to protect the most vulnerable people in this community and in the region, the officials wrote. We are deeply grateful for the continued vigilance, perseverance and flexibility university faculty and staff have shown throughout this pandemic and are looking forward to continuing to work alongside you this semester.
At the start of this new semester, we face a sobering reality. As law and political science professors, were in new territory: instructing our students about the foundations of constitutional law when neither they nor we have faith that the current Supreme Court will respect precedent and approach the law as the institution once had.

It is now clear that the court, with six conservativesthree appointed by Donald Trumphas a different attitude toward interpreting the Constitution and preserving fundamental rights.

Students see a court about to overrule or gut Roe v. Wade, a half-century-old precedent, for no reason other than that the conservatives have the votes to do so. They see a majority of the justices eager to advance Republican ideology in blocking vaccine or testing requirements for large businesses. They see the conservative majority mandating government aid to religious schools and greatly expanding gun rights, even when it means departing from decades of prior decisions. They see a court where major rulings are issued without briefing and oral arguments on a shadow docket, including 5-4 decisions limiting the power of governors to impose restrictions on religious gatherings to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Todays students arent alone in losing faith in the Supreme Court. A recent Gallup Poll showed the institution at its lowest level of public confidence in decades: Only 40 percent of Americans approve of the job it is doing and 53 percent disapprove. There is every reason to think that this is going to get worse and soon. Although two-thirds of the public believe Roe should not be overturned, the court seems poised to do just that this year, further damaging its credibility with a large segment of the public, though it will please the Republican Partys base.

So what should we tell our students? Many are dispirited and cynical because, as far into the future as they can see, this court appears likely to do more harm than good to democracy.

First, we shouldnt hide the reality that judicial decisions often depend on who is on the bench. That has never been more true because the entrenched partisan Senate confirmation process now guarantees that a Supreme Court nominee will be chosen to carry out political and ideological aims. For the first time in American history, the ideology of the justices precisely corresponds to the political party of the president who appointed them. All six conservatives were appointed by Republican presidents and all three liberals were appointed by Democratic presidents.

Until recently, there were moderate liberals, such as John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter, appointed by Republicans, and there were moderate conservatives, such as Byron White and Felix Frankfurter, who had been appointed by Democrats. Trump picked three of the most ideologically conservative judges on the federal bench.

If students are to one day become effective litigators on constitutional rights, they will need to understand the ideologies of the justices interpreting the law. In the past, we certainly discussed the ideology of the justices with our students, but we must focus on it far more now as the ideological differences between the Republican-appointed justices and those appointed by Democratic presidents are greater than they have ever been.

Second, we must remind students that there have been other bleak times in constitutional law when rights were contracted. From the 1890s until 1936, a conservative Supreme Court struck down over 200 progressive federal, state and local laws protecting workers and consumers. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the court refused to stand up to the hysteria of McCarthyism. The current court will not last forever, though it may feel like that to them.

Third, we should direct focus on other avenues for change. Students need to look more to state courts and legislatures, at least in some parts of the country, as a way to advance liberty and equality. For instance, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a law known as the Roe Act, protecting a womans right to abortion under state law, no matter what the Supreme Court decides. We need to teach our students how to use the power of local governments to protect fair housing, public education and public health.

Fourth, we must encourage them to look at the sweep of history. In the early 1960s, almost half the states had Jim Crow segregation laws, there were few women going to law school, and every state had a law criminally prohibiting same-sex sexual activity. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he said that the arc of the moral universe is long and it bends toward justiceif we work for it.

There really are just two choices: Give up or fight harder, even if there will be a lot of losses along the way. If we can instill in students a desire to defend justice, even if victory is distant, it will be a good semester, no matter what the Supreme Court decides.

Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law and a contributing writer to Opinion. Jeffrey Abramson is professor of law and government at the University of Texas at Austin.
Have you ever wondered what prehistoric Nebraska was like?

You could read about it in a book, but what would you think about experiencing it for yourself? Now you have that opportunity.

A collaboration between Nebraska Public Media Labs and the University of Nebraska State Museum allows visitors to virtually travel back in time to prehistoric Nebraska and get a feel for how it has changed over the millennia.

Visitors to Expedition Nebraska: A Natural History VR Experience can use laptops, mobile devices and soon VR (virtual reality) headsets to meet some of the animals that lived and died during the millions of years before humans migrated to the Great Plains.

To visit Expedition Nebraska: A Natural History VR Experience on the web go to ExpeditionNebraska.org. Versions for mobile devices are available in the Apple App and Google Play stores.

The collaboration is among the first of its kind between a museum and a public media company. It leads the way in creating the next generation of public media, demonstrating the potential for these sorts of emerging media collaborations between cultural institutions.

The prehistoric journey begins in a courtyard set within a landscape resembling Nebraskas Sandhills during a summer sunset. As visitors move virtually through the courtyard, they encounter photogrammetrically rendered models of animals  including Nebraskas iconic Archie the mammoth skeleton  giving a sense of actual size and scale.

A second portion is a recreation of UNSMs Museum Builders exhibit from 2019, and documents the history of the museum. Set in a simulation of the first museum site, a room that was located in the long-since demolished University Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincolns City Campus, University Hall and the 1870s prairie can be seen out the windows. As visitors move around the room they can interact with virtual models of some of the first items added to the museums research collection.

The first full exhibit in Expedition Nebraska is the Cave of Time. Within a simulation of a Dakota Sandstone cave, inspired by Robbers Cave in Lincoln, visitors can access seven ages of North American land mammals. These fully immersive bioramas show how Nebraskas climate changed over the ages and feature photogrammetrically rendered fossils.

The fossils appear either with holographic shapes of animals once made up of those bones, or as specimens floating on tables. As visitors explore each age, they are invited to play audio that explains more about these creatures and the environments in which they lived.

The goal of the interactive experience is to give visitors the world over access to the rich scholarship and collections existing within the University of Nebraska State Museum, and over time, create a repository of educational resources for future generations.

Keeping their eyes on a distant horizon, both labs and the University of Nebraska State Museum plan additional content, accessibility features and exhibits to be developed over the course of the next decade.

If you feel like venturing out this weekend, here are a few options:

Auto show

The 2022 Midland International Auto Show begins Friday and continues through Sunday at CHI Health Center Omaha.

The show features all of the newest cars, trucks and SUVs. Everyone is invited to see, touch and experience the automotive industrys latest offerings.

Guests also will have the opportunity to see a rare collection of privately owned classics and exotics, race NASCAR replica remote control cars on a 30-foot-long banked speedway, experience a rollover simulator and see the seat belt convincer in action, get in the drivers seat at the Toyota Drive Center, see some of the newest electric cars, try to correctly identify a crushed car, and visit with exhibitors.

Activities for kids will include a miniature plasma car racetrack.

Show hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $9 for adults (age 13 and over); $7 for seniors (age 65 and over), kids (ages 7-12), and military (with ID); and free for kids 6 and under.

Weekend at Arendelle

Young fans of Frozen can participate in some indoor fun during the Omaha Childrens Museums Weekend at Arendelle Family Fun Weekend.

Special activities are planned from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Visitors can learn something new at the freezing cold science show, or make take-home crafts at the museums reindeer station, snowflake station, or princess station. All activities are included with museum admission, while supplies last.

Characters will be appearing throughout the weekend. The character appearances (subject to change) are: Elsa and Anna, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday; Elsa and Kristoff, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; Elsa, Anna and Kristoff, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Live music

The Fremont Eagles Club at 649 N. Main St. in downtown Fremont will be hosting Class II Band from 7-10 p.m. Friday on its main floor. There is no cover charge. Everyone is welcome.

The clubs kitchen will be open from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The menu will include catfish, shrimp, hamburgers and cheeseburgers, soup, appetizers, chicken tenders, baked potatoes, fries, onion rings, and salad.

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Mary Loftis can help people who are approaching their 65th birthday.

Like many reaching this milestone, area residents most likely are being flooded with Medicare mail.

Thats where Loftis can provide assistance through the Medicare Basics informational meeting.

The event will start at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 in Oakland Auditorium Rosen Room, 401 N. Oakland Ave., in Oakland. The event is free and open to the public.

If anyone is nearing their 65th birthday, they are overwhelmed with Medicare mail. This informational meeting will help them decide whether they want to start Medicare or wait if they still have work insurance, Loftis, a Nebraska Extension associate, told the Fremont Tribune.

Loftis is a trained Nebraska State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) counselor, who will present the meeting.

The area expert knows that those retiring from a job can find their approaching birthday one that brings one, if not all, of the three Cs  Celebration, Concern and/or Confusion.

Thats where some information can help.

Once you know the basics about Medicare you can handle the rest, or at least will know who to call for help and what mail you need to keep or throw away, Loftis said.

Loftis said nothing will be marketed or sold at the event. SHIP provides confidential and unbiased help.

Anyone from any county or community is welcome to take part in the program. Family members are encouraged to attend.

Please call Nebraska Extension in Burt County at 402-374-2929 to register so enough materials will be available for the meeting.

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Craig Huffman has seen how the Fremont Area Big Give can help a nonprofit.

Huffman is executive director of Camp Calvin Crest, which raised $4,040 through the 24-hour online event in 2021.

Last year, the generosity of the donors supported us as we met the needs of our campers coming out of the isolation and challenges of COVID, Huffman said.

Now, Huffman encourages other nonprofits to register for the 2022 Fremont Area Big Give.

Registration has opened for area nonprofits interested in being part of the sixth annual event.

This year, the FABG will take place on May 10. The event will start at 12 a.m. and end at 11:59 p.m.

Nonprofits have until Feb. 28 to register for this event and may do so by visiting https://www.fremontareabiggive.org/.

The Fremont Area Community Foundation organizes this endeavor to raise funds for area nonprofit organizations. The event also helps increase public awareness of the impact nonprofits make in addressing social challenges.

FACF Executive Director Melissa Diers encourages area nonprofits to participate.

Year after year, we continue to be impressed by the generosity of the Fremont area, Diers said. Considering that the average contribution is $25, its an amazing success for our whole nonprofit community.

Last year, the FABG had a record-breaking number of nonprofits participate in the fifth annual event.

Diers said 68 organizations raised a total of $425,651.

A variety of nonprofits participated including Fremont Area Habitat for Humanity, Trinity Lutheran School, Keene Memorial Library and Fremont Opera House.

Approximately 2,000 donors participated in the 2021 event, which had the Star Wars-themed May the Fourth Be With You.

Since its inception, FABG has raised a total of $1,627,326 for area nonprofits.

There are no restrictions for participating nonprofits based on an organizations size; however, they must:

Be a 5013 in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Nebraska Secretary of State.

Have a visible presence and provide services that directly impact the Fremont/Dodge County area.

Huffman knows nonprofits can benefit by being part of the event.

I would encourage all nonprofits to register and promote their mission, because it opens up the doors to new donors, new volunteers and greater awareness of the important work they do, Huffman said.

As for donors, anyone may contribute to a nonprofit registered to participate in the FABG. The minimum donation is $10. There is no maximum donation.

Donations made through Fremont Area Big Give are 100% tax-deductible. Immediately after an online contribution is processed, a donor will receive an e-mailed receipt acknowledging their gift.

Those with questions are asked to e-mail info@facfoundation.org with any questions or call the foundation at (402) 721-4252.

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McCOOK  A 37-year-old Cambridge man remained in critical condition Wednesday after being shot by a Red Willow County sheriffs deputy whom he struck with his vehicle late Monday, authorities said.

Scott Kutnink was airlifted from Community Hospital in McCook to CHI Good Samaritan in Kearney with life-threatening injuries, according to a news release by Red Willow County Attorney Paul Wood.

The deputy sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was released from Community Hospital.

Law enforcement had been called to the Walmart parking lot in McCook after receiving a call of an individual threatening to harm himself.

Deputies made contact with Kutnink, who was standing outside his vehicle. According to Wood, the man then got into his car and hit the deputy, who fired his weapon once, striking him.

Kutninks vehicle continued east through the parking lot and over an embankment before stopping.

It was determined later that Kutnink was not the individual who had threatened to harm himself.

The Nebraska State Patrol was asked to conduct the investigation.

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Pakistani authorities say a bomb blast has ripped through a crowded market in Pakistan's second-largest city of Lahore, killing at least two people and wounding more than 20 others.

A newly formed separatist group based in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan claimed responsibility for the January 20 explosion in the eastern citys Anarkali district.

Initial investigations showed that the blast was caused by a time-controlled device rigged to a motorcycle, police spokesman Arif Rana said, adding that a 9-year-old boy was among the dead.

Both of the people killed were said to be civilians.

Police official Abid Khan said some of those wounded were in critical condition.

The blast damaged several shops, according to witnesses.

A purported spokesman for the Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA) claimed responsibility in a tweet, saying the attack targeted a bank.

Abdul Basit, an expert on South Asian insurgent groups, said it was the first attack claimed by the group in Pakistan.

The BNA was formed by the merger of two Baluch separatist groups, the Baloch Republican Army and the United Baloch Army, he said.

Usman Buzdar, chief minister of Punjab Province, of which Lahore is the capital, condemned the blast in a tweet, saying those responsible will be arrested soon and brought to justice."

Resource-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has been plagued by sectarian violence, attacks by Islamist militants, and a separatist insurgency that has led to thousands of casualties since 2004.

The Lahore bombing comes days after gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sparking a shoot-out that killed an officer and both assailants.

Two policemen were also wounded in the assault, which was claimed by militants of the outlawed Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Foreigners, overseas Vietnamese to benefit from favourable entry procedures

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has given in-principle approval that favourable entry procedures will be created for foreigners, and overseas Vietnamese and their relatives.













Air passengers handle entry procedures at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

According to a dispatch recently issued by the official, foreigners entering Vietnam are those invited or guaranteed by agencies, organisations, or individuals in line with the law on foreigners entry into, exit from, transit through, and residence in Vietnam. Regarding the foreigners wishing to come to Vietnam for tourism purposes, in the short term, they are still welcomed under the pilot programme on reopening to international tourists.



Foreigners, and overseas Vietnamese and their relatives with valid entry papers can enter the country without undergoing personal examination, visa granting, and visa exemption procedures again. They also dont need to seek entry approval from ministries, sectors, or localities.



In terms of the foreigners who havent got visas, provincial-level Peoples Committees will consider approving their entry so as to create optimal conditions for them to work, attend meetings, study, or engage in humanitarian activities. Meanwhile, ministries, sectors, and central agencies will make decisions on the invitation and reception of foreigners coming to work with them, and be responsible for managing those persons, according to the dispatch./.
By Trend

Work is being carried out in connection with the crimes committed by Armenia against Azerbaijani civilians, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev told Trend.

He noted that all cases related to the crimes of Armenia are centered in a special department of the Military Prosecutor's Office.

According to the Prosecutor General, all the cases are being processed and evidence is being gathered.

"They are used in dealings with international courts. Bilateral work is also underway to find and extradite these people. A number of people of Armenian origin involved in crimes against Azerbaijan have been prosecuted and punished. We keep working in this direction," said Aliyev.
The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway has promoted Ted Johnston to general manager.

As assistant general manager, Johnston was a key member of the team that oversaw the $100 million, three-year renovation of the railway, a signature Colorado Springs-area tourist attraction that takes visitors from a train depot in Manitou Springs on a nearly 9-mile trek up Pikes Peak to the mountain's summit.

The railway's makeover included reconstruction of its tracks, new rail cars and an upgraded depot; the attraction, built in 1891 and owned and operated by The Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs since 1925, reopened in May 2021.

Johnston, who received a degree in supply chain management from the University of Oklahoma, started his railroad career with the Omaha, Neb.,-based Union Pacific Railroad. He completed Union Pacific's operations management training program in 2012 and served in various roles for the railroad in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Johnston joined the railroad consulting firm of R.L. Banks & Associates in Washington, D.C., in 2017, where he supported the firm's operational, regulatory and safety practices.

The Broadmoor hotel is owned by the Denver-based Anschutz Corp., whose Clarity Media owns The Gazette.
Brian Matise, of Aurora, is an attorney with the Burg Simpson law firm and a board member of the Tollgate Crossing Metropolitan District No. 2. He has served as general counsel to several metropolitan districts. The opinions in this article are solely his own.
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By Trend

Measures to strengthen the atmosphere of confidence will be discussed at the second meeting of the special representatives of Turkey and Armenia on the normalization of bilateral relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters, Trend reports referring to his statement.

According to Cavusoglu, during the first meeting, the special representatives of the two countries determined the goals and expectations from the dialogue.

"Our goal in regard of Armenia is the complete normalization of relations. We have stated this before. Armenia is satisfied with our position, he said.

Steps that may follow the start of air traffic [between Turkey and Armenia] and the appointment of special representatives will be also discussed," added the minister.
The Pueblo Christopher Columbus Monument, located in the median in the 100 block of East Abriendo Avenue. The monument, built in 1905, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
By Trend

The number of passengers on bus trips to Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenian occupation [in the 2020 Second Karabakh War] is determined in accordance with the capacity of buses, Azerbaijan Land Transport Agency told Trend.

According to the agency, buses on the Baku-Shusha-Baku route consist of 47 passenger seats, and on the Baku-Aghdam-Baku route  43.

Drivers who will transport passengers on the new routes have been involved in mine safety training and got acquainted with basic safety instructions, the agency said. Videos to inform and instruct passengers about the mine safety will be shown in the buses.

There will also be a leaflet on mine safety instructions on each seat, added the agency.

The Baku-Shusha and Baku-Aghdam regular bus trips will be launched in Azerbaijan from January 24. The cost of tickets for trips from Baku to Shusha will be 10.4 manat ($6.1) and from Baku to Aghdam - 9.4 manat ($5.5).

The tickets will be sold online via the website yolumuzqarabaga.az.
The state is investigating after the Colorado Cattlemen's Association on Monday announced what would be the first kill of livestock by a pack of wolves in more than 70 years.
New signs and fencing at the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in eastern El Paso County near Calhan on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. The county has added new signs and fencing at the 750-acre park to keep visitors off social trails and climbing the delicate rock formations. Fencing is also placed along steep edges to help prevent people from walking down steep drop offs. (Chancey Bush/ The Gazette)
A worldwide semiconductor shortage worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a major turnaround for a Colorado Springs plant that slashed more than 200 jobs two years ago.

Microchip Technology announced plans Wednesday to spend $40 million retooling its Colorado Springs semiconductor plant with new technology that will result in adding 50 to 75 employees during the next six months. The Chandler, Ariz.-based company said it will be installing equipment to move from 6- to 8-inch diameter wafers that will nearly double the number of chips it can produce.

"This will make this site more cost-competitive in the future," said Rod Schroeder, the plant's operations director. "The move to 8-inch wafers will be transformative for this factory. We are moving a couple of generations ahead with our technology. It enables us to be a long-term player in Colorado Springs and creates a lot of opportunity here."

The jobs range from production specialists that require a high-school diploma or GED and pay $16-$26.56 an hour to senior engineering positions that require a bachelor's degree in electrical or computer engineering and 15 years of experience and pay an annual salary of $116,000-$171,442, according to listings of Microchip's website.

Schroeder said the company plans to continue hiring beyond the 50-75 planned during the next six months with another phase of expansion during the next two to five years. Brian Thorsen, a Microchip spokesman in Arizona, said the number of hires and details of the expansion are "difficult to predict, given the state of the industry with the supply shortage."

Cecilia Harry, chief economic development officer of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, said Microchip began working with the chamber late last year about the expansion, which could result in "many additional jobs over the upcoming years," according to a chamber news release.

The company "has lots of choices on how and where to invest and Colorado Springs made the most sense for this investment," she said. "We look forward to supporting the organization as they grow and increase their global competitiveness in the semiconductor industry."

Microchip had cut 200-275 jobs in early 2020 as part of a restructuring that shifted high-volume chips produced in Colorado Springs to plants Microchip operates in Arizona and Oregon and moved production of products and technologies from older plants acquired in a 2018 acquisition. Those moves turned the Colorado Springs plant into "a specialty or boutique fab focusing on manufacturing automotive, military and aerospace products," according to a company statement at the time.

The cuts came resulted from declining sales of the chips produced in Colorado Springs as customers shifted to products based on more advanced technologies. At the same time, a trade war between the U.S. and China had resulted in tariffs that reduced demand for chips and was quickly followed by a steep sales slump during the early stages of the pandemic. By the time Microchip completed the moves, the Colorado Springs plant employed about 500 people.

However, chip demand came roaring back in late 2020 and Microchip began recalling laid-off workers and adding new hires at the local plant in early 2021, boosting employment to about 700. The 50-75 jobs the company plans to add later this year will nearly restore staff at the plant to the levels before the 2020 job cuts, Schroeder said.

The plant makes chips used in everything from garage-door openers and clocks to James Webb space telescope and the Perseverance Rover used on Mars. As demand for chips has accelerated, Microchip also has moved production of radiation-hardened chips used in space applications and silicon carbide diodes used in electric vehicles to the plant, Schroeder said.

Sales are booming for Microchip, jumping 26% in the quarter ended Sept. 30 to a record $1.65 billion and profit more than tripling to $242 million despite what CEO Ganesh Moorthy called "ongoing manufacturing capacity restraints." The company told stockholders in November to expect more of the same, forecasting sales of $1.72 billion to $1.78 billion and profits of $328.2 million to $340.3 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31.
By Trend

Clinical trials for the Turkish vaccine against coronavirus - Turkovac are expected to be conducted in Azerbaijan in the near future, Health Minister Teymur Musayev told journalists on Jan. 20, Trend reports.

According to Musayev, the third phase of clinical trials for the vaccine is underway in Turkey.

Azerbaijan also signed an agreement [for conducting the trials], he added.
By Trend

The omicron strain of coronavirus is widespread in other parts of the world, and it is more contagious than other strains of COVID-19, Minister of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan Teymur Musayev told reporters, Trend reports.

According to the minister, infection rate with this strain is on the rise.

Therefore, everyone should wear masks, keep social distance, and observe personal hygiene. There is no need to tighten the quarantine regime, as the situation is under control," he said.

Musayev said there are enough hospital beds, necessary medical equipment for now.

"Depending on the situation with the infection, we will determine our future steps," he said.
Looking for a safe virtual learning option? The Mason City Virtual Academy delivers quality education for students in grades K-12 across Iowa in a safe online format. Enrollment for the next school year is open now through March 1.

Most school systems have struggled with COVID-19 pandemic challenges and limitations during the past two years, with many turning to virtual formats at one point or another. Launched this school year, the Mason City Virtual Academy was created to provide a continuing option for students and families who prefer to stick with online learning.

In Iowa, schools were mandated to offer a virtual option to families for the 2020-21 school year, says Dave Versteeg, Mason City Community School District superintendent. We decided it would be advantageous economically to offer our own virtual academy for 2021-22 school year to keep families in the MCCSD and attract others whose districts were not going to offer a virtual option.

Whos eligible?

The Mason City Virtual Academy was initially intended to accommodate local families living in Cerro Gordo County, but the academy is now widening its scope and access to include students in grades K-12 all across Iowa.

We wanted to start small and figure out how best to offer virtual school before expanding and reaching a statewide presence, Versteeg says.

Iowa students who are currently homeschooling or attending private and charter schools are eligible to enroll in the Mason City Virtual Academy core curriculum. Local students within the Mason City Community School District can opt for a hybrid plan that offers a mix of virtual and in-person learning.

What else is available?

Electives are available through the virtual academy catalog, or a student may attend school in person for something that is not offered virtually, Versteeg explains. For example, a student can be in the Mason City High School choir or take auto mechanics in person.

The Mason City Virtual Academy offers services and support for special education students and gifted/talented pupils, and North Iowa Area Community College credits. Sports, clubs and extracurricular activities are open to virtual students as well.

The advantages of virtual learning

Versteeg says that many of the families hes spoken with prefer online learning over in-person classes for several reasons.

Older students have schedule flexibility and the ability to personalize their learning, he says. Younger students enjoy the comfort of attending school from their own homes, and everyone has the opportunity to receive a Mason City education  and ultimately a diploma  in a safe virtual setting.

Presently, the Mason City Virtual Academy accommodates 90 students with four full-time and 20 part-time teachers. Because interest levels in the academy are so high, the MCCSD is planning to increase staff in anticipation of increased enrollment in upcoming semesters.

Its really important for families outside of the Mason City School District to enroll before the March 1, 2022, deadline, Versteeg says. The response to the virtual academy has been very positive among the Mason City school community, and the feedback has been wonderful.

If youre interested in learning more, visit virtualacademy.masoncityschools.org.

This content was produced by Brand Ave. Studios. The news and editorial departments had no role in its creation or display. Brand Ave. Studios connects advertisers with a targeted audience through compelling content programs, from concept to production and distribution. For more information contact sales@brandavestudios.com.

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The Mitchell County Democrats will host the Iowa Democratic Party midterm precinct caucuses at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 7.

Midterm precinct caucuses kick off the convention calendar that will entail county, district, and state conventions, determine county central committee representation, discuss platform planks, and send delegates to the county conventions.

Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 11 and 12 meet at Milt Owen Nature Center in Osage. Precincts 5, 6 and 7 meet at the Stacyville Library. Precincts 8, 9 and 10 meet at South Square in St. Ansgar.

Masks are required.

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Re: Interest in a 3,200-acre parcel of barren land in Welsh County has bee [ #permalink

1 Kudos
Richmond plans to remove at least nine pedestals across the city that once held Confederate-related statues, and when disassembly begins, workers may find at least three more time capsules beneath the plinths.

According to news accounts and other historical documents, builders put time capsules beneath the Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Jefferson Davis and Matthew Fontaine Maury statues, said Dale Brumfield, a local author and historian.

The city has awarded a $1.5 million contract to Newport News-based contractor Team Henry to remove the remaining pedestals. Team Henry is the same contractor that oversaw the removal of the Confederate statues and the Robert E. Lee pedestal.

It's unclear when the work will begin, though it's possible dismantling will start in the days to come. Devon Henry, the company's owner, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Lee pedestal became national news again in late December when two time capsules were found, one inside the pedestal and one beneath it. The time capsules represented something of a curveball to historians, who were only aware of one of them.

The Department of Historic Resources on Tuesday released a catalogued list of the contents of the 1887 time capsule. That revealed another surprise - there were more items in the copper box than they expected.

What lies beneath the other three statues is more of the same, Brumfield said -- newspaper clippings, coins, documents related to the city and Freemasonry and mementos from the Civil War. None of the items is believed to be exceptionally rare or valuable.

In June 1915, workers laid the cornerstone for the Jackson statue in a large masonic ceremony. In the June 4 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch that year, a headline stated "interesting relics" had been deposited in the monument's foundation.

A few days earlier, The Times-Dispatch listed the contents of the time capsule, saying they were "articles suggestive of the historic occasion, redolent of the glorious past of the South and reflective of the current life of the former capital of the Confederacy." The list includes a badge of the 25th annual reunion of the United Confederate Veterans, a package of Confederate money, a magazine from April 1915, a book of the grand lodge of Virginia, a masonic textbook, a steel engraving of George Washington, a photograph of Jackson and a scrapbook of clippings related to Jackson and his wife.

The time capsule beneath Jefferson Davis already has been opened once, Brumfield said. Originally, the city planned to build an elaborate monument to Davis in the center of Monroe Park. A cornerstone was laid and a time capsule was placed around 1890.

But the money to build the structure couldn't be found, so the plan was scrapped, and a new statue on Monument Avenue was envisioned, Brumfield said. During construction, the builders opened the time capsule, found the contents in good condition and reburied it under current monument, which was unveiled in 1907.

They placed the time capsule beneath the 65-foot-tall Doric column that once held Vindicatrix, an allegorical figure representing the South. Unlike Lee and Jackson, this statue wasn't built with masonic influence.

Frederick William Sievers, the sculptor who designed the Maury statue, never intended to honor Maury's time in the Confederacy. Instead, it was built to recognize Maury's significant contributions toward sea navigation and oceanography. His nickname, "pathfinder of the seas," is inscribed in the stone column.

But the United Daughters of the Confederacy helped raise the money for the monument, so they placed a time capsule containing Confederate flags beneath it before its dedication in 1929, Brumfield said.

There's no indication builders placed time capsules beneath J.E.B Stuart or A.P. Hill, though Hill himself is buried beneath his statue. But that doesn't mean time capsules don't exist - one of the boxes beneath Lee was previously undocumented.

The Soldiers and Sailors monument in Libby Hill has a cornerstone, but it's unclear if anything is beneath it, Brumfield said. The city also plans to remove three pedestals in Monroe Park that held statues to Fitzhugh Lee, Joseph Bryan and Williams Carter Wickham. It's unclear if they have time capsules.

Should the workers find the time capsules, they'll be sent to the Department of Historic Resources for opening, cataloguing, photographing and preservation. Then the city will give them to the Black History Museum, which also will receive the statues and pedestals, a spokesperson for Mayor Levar Stoney said.

What will happen to the statues under the Black History Museum's control is to be determined. The museum, along with the Valentine Museum and other community groups, will make a final decision.

State officials haven't determined a final destination for the Lee time capsule and its contents. The state cannot simply hand them over to a museum, said Julie Langan, director of the DHR. Procurement law requires the state to advertise the artifacts first. Instead, the state could loan them to a museum on a long-term basis while still maintaining ownership.

While DHR has finished cataloguing the contents of the Lee time capsules, it hasn't come to a conclusion on what the artifacts say about the statue's builders or Richmond in 1887, Langan said.
Arianne Wing is the co-author of Noodles Through Escargots, and co-owner of the L.T. Sue Co. Tea Room and Emporium, benefiting the restoration and preservation of China Alley. She may be reached at ariannewing@gmail.com
Saudi Arabia's The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) has awarded a contract to Red Sea International Company (RSI) to build modular buildings.

The contract covers design, manufacture, supply and installation of modular buildings to support TRSDC's luxury hotel construction activities on Red Sea Project's Sheybarah/Ummahat Al Shaikh islands in the Western Region, an announcement on Saudi Exchange said.

The contract is valued at SR60.549 million ($16.14 million), to be executed in 194 days.

These facilities consist of various types of modular units which can be used as accommodations or offices. These units will be fully furnished to provide all the requirements for the crew working on the construction of these ambitious projects.

Red Sea International Company is a leading Saudi company in the field of providing modular solutions and construction of high quality administrative and residential complexes and field hospitals in very short periods and establishing the necessary infrastructure for various sectors.-TradeArabia News Service
The speech of Sheikh of Albu Khmais clan in Tabqa, Hussein al-Rashed, came after Damascus government continued its calls for "Settlements" it had recently promoted in cities of Raqqa and Tabqa, which was met with strict rejection by all north and east Syria' people.

Al-Rashed began his speech by saying: "Damascus government trying to implement a new policy of what is called "Reconciliation" with the people of eastern region, and recently it has been promoted in cities of Raqqa and Tabqa," stressing" what is happening on the ground "It is completely different from what is being promoted by Damascus, because the Syrian people are now aware of the consequences of those "Reconciliations" and the extent of its danger on Syrian reality and future.

Al-Rashed stressed that Syrian regime want through this policy to restore its influence and dominance over the areas that now reject slavery and subordination. He described, "These reconciliations are the process of misleading the people and concealing the facts from them, it does not seek to resolve Syrian issue at all, but rather want to prolong it and increase its complexity."

Al-Rashed explained that "there are some special cases that Damascus government has exploited such as forcing people who live in Autonomous Administration areas and own real estate in government-controlled areas to come to make "Settlements" in exchange for not selling these properties at public auction, and this is clear evidence that the authoritarianism mentality is still present, and everything that is presented to the media affiliated with Damascus about "Reconciliations" is a false and deception."

Hussein Al-Rashed, pointed out that " Reconciliation is not in this way and individually with some personalities and parties, but rather with the response of Damascus government to Syrian dialogue that we have demanded since 2017, in order to preserve the unity of Syrian geography and unity of the components of the people each other to achieve stability and safety for the rest of Syrian territories."

And he warned against "Syrian regime, which realizes that Syrian dialogue or implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 is the end of Syrian crisis, and it in turn does not seek to solve it, so it resorted to so-called "Settlement" that would destabilize and provoke strife in the stable regions."

At the conclusion of his speech, Hussein Al-Rashed indicated that "Reconciliations" has nothing to do with Syrian people, but rather the people are the ones who decide their fate and future, through a dialogue with all the people with each other to reach a solution that ends the Syrian crisis.

Sh-S

ANHA
Sometimes faith is all you have.

A 10-month-old cat who was brought to the Lewis and Clark Humane Society in Helena in November with a disfigured face went to her new home on Wednesday to live with a veterinary technician who tended to her when the feline underwent reconstructive surgery in Washington state.

The cat was missing a chunk of her jaw and her eye had to be removed, said Cassidy Cook, director of development and communications at the Lewis and Clark Humane Society.

We have no idea what happened to her, she just had a disfigured face, Cook said.

Staff soon named her Faith.

It was a corny journey to get there, Cook said. We decided she was a fighter and trooper and we had faith she would make it.

Eventually, $25,000 was raised through donations and the tortoiseshell cat was sent to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Washington State in Pullman, Washington, where they took care of the infection, cleared out her eye and reconstructed one of her nostrils.

Faith was in medical foster care as she recuperated and was adopted by Nicole Koontz, the veterinarian technician at the veterinary hospital.

She just fell in love with her and put in an application, Cook said. Not only is this a sweet story, but its also a best-case scenario.

Cook said there was a discussion early on about putting the cat down.

It was a conversation that was had and we pivoted and decided that if we can save her we will do everything we can, Cook said, adding she was eating and acting normally. She just had a gross face.

We had to do everything in our power to get her best life, Cook said.

In a Nov. 23 Facebook post, Lewis and Clark Human Society Executive Director Kelsee D. Watts urged people to donate to help Faith.

Shes been my office buddy for the last two weeks. Ive seen firsthand that the only thing holding her back from living her best life is this very big, complex, and expensive surgery. Faith doesnt know she is any different. Shes adapted to her current circumstances and makes the absolute best of it. Playing, purring, cuddling, and eating are her favorite activities. Typical kitten stuff. Her life is just getting started.

The cat was in Washington for five days and returned to Montana. Koontz adopted her and came with her husband to pick up Faith and then returned to Washington.

She is a well-traveled kitty, Cook said.

She said Lewis and Clark Humane Society is happy with how things turned out.

We are thrilled, absolutely thrilled, Cook said. We grew very attached to her. She is the sweetest most playful kitten, she purrs like a freight train, so the best outcome was for her to go to a happy home.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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As union negotiations labor on, Montana Department of Corrections officials on Wednesday gave lawmakers some hard numbers to demonstrate the staffing shortage at Montana State Prison outside Deer Lodge.

The Montana State Prison sees 23% of its staff turnover each year, adding up training costs for new officers to $1.4 million, according to figures provided by the department to the Law and Justice Interim Committee Wednesday. Department director Brian Gootkin told the committee 59 of the 328 correctional officer positions are vacant, and those shortages often mean cutting gym or yard time for inmates when staff can't step away from mandatory posts.

"We are never fully staffed in a shift," Montana State Prison Warden Jim Salmonsen said.

Pay is at the center of the staff shortage in Deer Lodge, corrections officials said Wednesday. Officers who make $16.46 an hour continue to leave the prison for better pay at local jails, where they can bring in $20 an hour or more, Salmonsen said. Lawmakers were stingy in setting up the department's biennial budget during the 2021 session, in part due to the past administration's failure to implement measures previously ordered by the Legislature. Gootkin was appointed by Gov. Greg Gianforte to take over the department a year ago, when staffing was already thin.

In August, the prison's employee unions voted 60-0 to engage in concerted activity, a step toward a potential strike, although no such action has occurred. The staff shortage has put a spotlight on safety risks for both employees and inmates.

At Wednesday's meeting, the department's presentation included a photo of a sergeant who had been assaulted by an inmate just a day earlier.

"Because we did not have adequate staffing she was by herself," Gootkin said. "The offender knew that and took advantage of it."

Aaron Meaders, president of the Federation of Montana State Prison Employees Local 4700 testified Wednesday more could have been done to prevent the attack on the sergeant a day earlier. He said the working conditions at the state prison are well known outside of Deer Lodge, further hampering applications.

As union president, Meaders, too, talks to employees about why they leave the job.

"It was because they didn't feel safe to come to work," he said.

Committee chair John Esp, a Republican from Big Timber, pressed Gootkin about the possibility of augmenting the staff with the National Guard. That remains a backup measure in case the unions go on strike, Gootkin said, but is not an ideal arrangement for the prison.

"We're such a unique operation that it is very basic things they could help us with," Gootkin said. "It can't be the security part of it."

Esp also asked Gootkin if he has the financial flexibility to extend more pay to the employees; the budget is fixed until the Legislature returns in January 2023. Gootkin said the department needs the Legislature's help next year, but said he is hoping to work out some additional pay with the state budget office in the meantime.

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Our rights to not have our property or persons searched or seized without a warrant, to not be harassed by the government without good reason, and to conduct our own peaceful affairs with minimal intrusion are increasingly challenged by new technology. Our smartphones track our every movement, many personal conversations happen through electronic communications, and our health and financial data are increasingly stored on devices and in the cloud.

These digital records have become so involved in every aspect of our lives that we have essentially created an entire digital version of ourselves as individuals. Thats why the Montana Legislature has passed several laws in recent years to safeguard peoples digital information. To get access to someones location via their cellphone, the government needs a warrant. Same thing if the government wants access to your text messages or your computer. The medias electronic communications are off-limits to the government so the press can perform its essential watchdog role for the people without Big Brothers interference. All these protections for our digital information have been passed and signed into law in Montana. Voters will also have an opportunity to weigh in on this topic directly through a proposed constitutional amendment that I was able to get placed on the 2022 ballot.

But now, the line between our digital selves and our physical selves is getting blurry. Voice-activated devices can place orders for us. Smartwatches can read our pulse and feed the data to an algorithm that analyzes our health. Ancestry companies hold records of customers DNA and compare them to others in a vast database. And facial recognition technology is becoming more powerful and more widespread.

We dont have to imagine what unchecked use of facial recognition might look like because China is already showing us. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims its facial recognition system could scan the faces of Chinas 1.4 billion citizens in just one second. The CCP is using facial recognition to track the movements of 11 million citizens who are part of an ethnic minority that it is oppressing, detaining, and abusing. The technology is central to Chinas mass surveillance state.

In the United States, facial recognition technology is increasingly being used by law enforcement and other government agencies for a variety of purposes. Montanas Frontier Institute confirmed through public record requests that several Montana government agencies have used facial recognition, although to what extent is not fully clear. Individuals frequently use the technology to unlock smartphones and tag friends in social media photos. Like any technology, facial recognition is a tool, and it can be used for good and bad.

The Legislature must address facial recognition to ensure Montanans can use the technology without sacrificing our privacy and our rights. As digital privacy has been a bipartisan issue in Montana, biometric privacy should be as well. Currently the Legislatures Economic Affairs Interim Committee, which I chair, is studying the issue.

We plan to bring legislation to the next session in 2023 addressing facial recognition technology. Throughout this year well be taking input from Montanans on what that legislation should look like. If you have ideas on how facial recognition should or should not be used in the Last Best Place, please get in touch with us. Our contact information, schedule, and more information are all available on the Legislatures website under the Economic Affairs Interim Committee.

Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles City, is the chairman of the Montana Legislatures Economic Affairs Interim Committee.

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DECATUR  Bitter cold temperatures and a limited water supply made it difficult for firefighters to work on a fire at 141 E. Marietta St. on Thursday.

Decatur Fire Department Chief Jeff Abbott said the call came in around noon and firefighters were divided between the Marietta Street blaze and another on Prairie Street. County departments were on their way to help.

The rolling black smoke could be seen for blocks and Decatur police and street crews closed the Franklin Street overpass and Water Street itself to allow firefighters to work.

"The water, when it's hitting the ground, is freezing, so it makes it slick," Abbott said. "Right now we don't have anybody available to rotate companies because they're out on another fire, so we're just keeping it defensive. We've got three lines operating on it right now and braving the weather. That's how it's going to go for a while."

Five engines and two ladder trucks were working to keep the fire contained initially, with more on the way, he said.

Building manager Bill England said the building was empty and boarded up, but they have had a lot of trouble with homeless people breaking in and building fires for warmth, which he thought could have caused the fire.

"Homeless guys keep breaking in and starting fires in the fireplace in this apartment up here," England said, gesturing to the upper floor of the building. "I'm assuming that's what happened."

The building and several nearby houses are all owned by the same person, he said, and all need extensive remodeling to make them habitable. The Marietta Street structure was boarded up repeatedly in attempts to keep people from breaking in, but England said they kept finding ways inside anyway.

"I've been trying to keep them out of there and they keep breaking in, and I keep boarding it up," England said. "It was only a matter of time before this happened."

Abbott said firefighters pried the boards off the windows as part of the firefighting efforts because it was a "deep fire," which was worst in the interior. Damage estimates were not yet available, but England said he assumed the building would be a total loss.

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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Three Illinois men were arrested Wednesday on federal charges alleging they illegally entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.

Anthony Carollo, 23, his brother, Jeremiah Carollo, 45, and their cousin, Cody Vollan, 31, were all charged with misdemeanor counts of unlawfully entering a restricted government building and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds.

Anthony Carollo and Vollan were arrested in the Lockport area and are scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon. Jeremiah Carollo, who lives in Glen Carbon, was scheduled to have an initial court appearance in the Southern District of Illinois, records show.

Lawyers for the three were not immediately available.

The arrests brought the number of Illinoisans charged so far in the Capitol breach to 23. The ongoing investigation has been described by prosecutors as the largest criminal investigation in the countrys history.

Last month, James Robert Elliott, 24, of Aurora, was charged with felony counts alleging he used a flagpole to assault officers while illegally on the Capitol grounds.

The three men arrested Wednesday are not accused of any violence.

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Its been six weeks since President Joe Bidens videoconference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the crisis in Ukraine. Since then, Putins saber-rattling has only gotten louder.

The Kremlin has been moving troops and military equipment into Belarus, a faithful Moscow ally that borders Ukraine on the north. Moscow also has been reportedly emptying out its embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv  a move perhaps meant to intimidate, perhaps meant to ready for a full-scale invasion. Ukrainian authorities fear Russian hackers have planted destructive malware in the countrys computer networks, and are waiting for the go-ahead to activate.

And ominously, Russian officials have hinted about shifting nuclear weapons to locations not far from the U.S. coastline  a prospect unnervingly reminiscent of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. I dont want to confirm anything or rule anything out, Sergei Ryabkov, a Russian deputy foreign minister, answered when asked in Geneva whether the Kremlin was thinking about deploying military infrastructure in Cuba or Venezuela.

Putin is a master at signal-sending to accumulate leverage, so at this stage its impossible to discern whether Moscows latest provocations are chess moves or actual foundation stones for an eventual invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, Putins mission hasnt wavered. He wants Biden to acquiesce to the Kremlins demands that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO, and that the alliance end all security cooperation with Kyiv. The Russian leader also wants all American nuclear weapons removed from Europe, and an assurance that Western troops will no longer be deployed in NATO countries that once were Warsaw Pact states.

The Kremlins hand-wringing about NATO is hardly new. For years, Putin has railed against NATOs presence in Eastern Europe. Especially galling to him were the so-called color revolutions in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in 2004 that elevated West-allied leaders who saw eventual NATO membership as key to their countries trajectories.

Since then, those countries have made little headway in bringing their NATO aspirations to fruition. And in the years that followed the popular uprisings in Tbilisi and Kyiv, NATO was far more preoccupied with the all-consuming battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan than it was with Kremlin chicanery.

NATO, however, has come full circle. It came into existence after World War II as a firewall against Soviet aggression. The threat from Americas Cold War superpower rival was real. Its real again, though if Putin is looking for reasons why Russians should view NATO as their principal enemy, he should look in the mirror.

In 2008 he sent Russian troops into West-allied Georgia, effectively commandeering two Georgian provinces that, to this day, are Russian satellite regions. During the civil war in Syria, Putin took advantage of President Barack Obamas waffling over how to deal with Bashar al-Assad and injected Russia into the campaign as the primary enabler of the barbaric Syrian dictator. Then in 2014, Russian troops forcibly annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula and engineered a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has led to more than 13,000 deaths and a war that endures to this day. In 2016 he took direct aim at America with a meticulously crafted campaign to interfere in the presidential election.

Putins actions over the years have forced NATO to once again regard Russia as an existential threat. Its why the U.S. and its Western allies must show far more resolve against Putin than they did when he stole Crimea from Ukraine. What form that resolve takes remains to be seen, though harsh sanctions such as cutting off Russia from the global financial system, along with fully arming the Ukrainian insurgency that would follow any invasion, should be part of the arsenal.

Biden should also reconsider his reluctance to impose sanctions on Russias coveted Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring natural gas to Germany. For the Kremlin, the project isnt just an economic boon  it represents another key energy tool that it can use as political leverage against Europe. Germany sees Nord Stream as vital to its economy, but top German leaders now say shutting down Nord Stream should be on the table if Russia invades Ukraine.

Biden and Democrats in Congress were able to help defeat Republican legislation in the Senate that would have slapped sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Germanys warming to the idea of Nord Stream sanctions, and the Biden administration should follow suit.

Biden, NATO and the rest of the West cannot afford to give Putin any quarter.

Chicago Tribune

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BRISTOL, Va.  The mask will become an ask.

This week, city schools Superintendent Keith Perrigan issued preliminary plans asking parents to continue having their children wear masks in schools in response to the current omicron variant surge and in the face of conflicting state guidance.

Final plans are still being developed in advance of Jan. 24, when Gov. Glenn Youngkins controversial Executive Order 2 goes into effect. Order 2 states, A child whose parent has elected that he or she is not subject to a mask mandate should not be required to wear a mask under any policy implemented by a teacher, school, school district, the Department of Education, or any other state authority.

However, current state law directs school divisions to follow CDC guidance in trying to limit the spread of COVID-19. The CDC currently recommends universal indoor masking by all students (ages 2 years and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

Perrigan said the local divisions priority is to keep students in classroom learning environments.

We had 100 cases last week alone. Even though we are indicating to get back to normal, I think we have to do it in a way that makes sense for our locality and our school division, Perrigan said Wednesday. Regardless of what the outcome of Executive Order 2 is, we are going to strongly encourage and ask all folks in our buildings to remain masked until we can get through this surge. Hopefully, once we get through this surge, well be able to transition in a way that makes sense for Bristol.

The school division had 58 active student cases and 10 active staff cases of COVID-19 as of last Friday, according to its website.

The Virginia Department of Health reported 247 newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in the city during the past seven days, and the citys seven-day testing positivity rate is among the highest in Virginia at 38.4%  meaning nearly four in every 10 people tested are positive for the coronavirus.

The region continues being overrun with omicron cases  with nearly 3,200 new cases in Southwest Virginia in the past week, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Ballad Health is averaging about 350 inpatients per day this week in its hospitals, the highest levels since the delta surge last fall.

Perrigan said staff and parent feedback was used in developing the policy.

We got input from our staff, and 75% of them are ready to either transition immediately out or gradually out (of masks). The other 25% wanted to remain masked for the immediate future, Perrigan said. We also surveyed parents. A third wants to end mask mandates immediately, a third wants to continue wearing masks for the immediate future, and the other third wants us to use common sense as we find ways to get kids out of masks and gradually work our way out.

The Virginia Department of Education and Department of Health are both expected to issue some type of guidance in the days ahead, Perrigan said, adding they also anticipate seeing an attorney generals opinion regarding the debate of governmental order versus state law.

Once we have all of this information, we will finalize our plan for addressing Executive Order 2, Perrigan said in a note to parents. As we develop these plans, we will continue to focus on our top priority which is to provide in-person learning for students. Of course, we will also do our best to honor our secondary priority, which is to do so as normally as possible.

Staff will continue to be masked until the omicron surge slows, and all staff and students who wish to continue wearing masks will be supported.

There will be some circumstances where students and staff will have to remain masked, including on school buses because that is a federal requirement, when seeing a nurse or clinician for medical reasons and returning from quarantine or isolation.

Last year the Virginia Department of Health rejected a Perrigan request for Bristol to be a pilot program to transition out of universal masking in schools, based primarily on vaccination status.

Had our request to be a pilot for transitioning out of masks been approved, we would now have a clearer picture of how to make this change work in a safe and effective way, he said.

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United Way of Southwest Virginia officials sent a letter to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday, asking the governor to authorize immediate relief for the citizens of Hurley from the Virginia Disaster Recovery Fund.

The request comes on the heels of the announcement of final denial of individual assistance for Hurley citizens by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The request for aid is in relation to the devastating flood that swept through the area Aug. 31, 2021, destroying homes, cars and other property.

The United Way is the fiscal agent for the Hurley Long-Term Recovery Group, set up to assist residents of the isolated Buchanan County community.

While todays FEMA announcement is disappointing, please know United Way of Southwest Virginia is undeterred in our advocacy for the citizens of Hurley, United Way of Southwest Virginia President and CEO Travis Staton wrote in the letter to Youngkin. To date, we have worked aggressively to raise more than $500,000 to help citizens of Hurley repair and rebuild. In the same spirit, we ask that you direct your administration to immediately make available the Virginia Disaster Relief Fund, which was created for just this circumstance, to the Hurley Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG), for which we act as fiscal agent.

The LTRG, which is made up primarily of Hurley residents and Buchanan County government officials, has been working with homeowners to assess damage and make funds for repair and rebuilding available.

For weeks, several Hurley families have held off on accepting LTRG assistance because they said they feared it would interfere with their ability to receive FEMA funding.

If there is a silver lining to todays FEMA announcement, it is the fact that Hurley citizens who have held off on accepting our assistance can now move forward with repairs and rebuilding, Staton said. We are eager to partner with the Youngkin administration in assisting this rural Southwest Virginia community, and are hopeful for a quick response.
While least-developed countries (LDCs) have benefited over the past 10 years from greater market access opportunities, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to greater challenges for these countries, hitting their exports hard, said the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a new report.



The publication launched on January 19 highlights that further support will be needed from the international community in the next decade to strengthen LDC participation in world trade.



The report titled "Boosting trade opportunities for least-developed countries" reviews the progress made over the past decade to help LDCs further integrate into the global trading system.



The volatility of commodity prices over the past ten years and the onset of the Covid-19 crisis caused LDCs' share of global exports to shrink to 0.91 per cent in 2020, compared with 0.95 per cent in 2011. The global goal of the United Nations aimed at doubling the LDC export share by 2020 is yet to be met.



"Increasing LDC participation in global trade is a shared objective of the international community. The WTO offers LDCs a unique opportunity to shape global trade rules that respond to their trade interests, said Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.



This report has illustrated the tangible benefits that LDCs working closely with WTO members have achieved over the past ten years. It is important to build on what we have achieved so far and make sure that trade continues to boost economic growth in LDCs and worldwide in the next decade and beyond.



The report notes that LDCs' participation in global trade can be strengthened by furthering preferential market access for LDC exports of goods and services. It also highlights the importance of longer timeframes for LDCs to implement WTO rules, including for trade-related aspects of intellectual property. Support from development partners will also be crucial to sustain the development efforts of economies graduating from LDC status.



"Trade was an important element of the Programme of Action for LDCs adopted in Istanbul and remains one of the priority areas for LDCs in the next decade. We hope to strengthen our partnership with international organizations to ensure a successful implementation of the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs to be adopted at the Fifth UN Conference on LDCs, said Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Director of the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.



This report is the WTO's contribution to the LDC5 Conference originally scheduled for January 23-27 but postponed due to recent Covid-19 developments. One of the main objectives of the rescheduled LDC5 Conference is to adopt a Programme of Action for LDCs for the decade 2022-2031.  TradeArabia News Service
BRISTOL, Tenn.  Simple things like going for a morning run, sleeping with an open window or even playing Frisbee on the lawn have become more difficult for many King University students due to a foul odor often permeating the campus from the nearby Bristol, Virginia landfill.

As soon as I drive to campus, I smell it, and it makes me dread coming into campus, Emily Cash, a senior at the university, said. At first the smell didnt bother me, as I thought it was just a temporary thing. But after a semester, it was still lingering.

Although in a different state, the university is just over a mile from the foul-smelling Bristol, Virginia landfill that has been a source of frustration for many in the community the past year. Due to its close proximity, the universitys students are impacted by the substandard air quality that has persisted in the surrounding city of Bristol.

The smell has caused many students to change their daily routines.

I cant turn on the heater in our bathroom because the smell comes through the vents, Cash said. Also, I like to have my room cold when I sleep, so sometimes Ill leave my window open, but lately I cant because the smell leaks through and causes a headache. I smell it particularly in the mornings walking to class or driving back to the dorms at night. Its pretty bad when I can smell it through my car vents.

Rebekah Thomas, another senior at King, said the smell is usually the worst in the morning or at night and that it has made the inside of her car smell.

Thomas wellness routines have been most impacted by the odor.

It smells pretty bad when I go running around campus, almost to the point where I throw up, Thomas said. Its mostly just an inconvenience when running or walking outside because of the smell.

Emily Sutherland, another King student, said the fetid smell has caused her to change her running route.

I used to run from campus to downtown a lot, Sutherland said. Now I drive a while outside the city to avoid the smell when I want to be outside.

Sutherland said the odor has definitely impacted her experience at King.

This is my fifth year at the Bristol campus, and while I usually enjoy walking around, Ive found myself not wanting to be outside at all, she said. Its even made the insides of the buildings on campus smell terrible, and my car now smells like the landfill.

King student Sam Pace used to do outdoor yoga in the morning and write outside.

Now, Pace said, because of the horrible smell, I cant enjoy those activities that used to be a part of my daily routine. Its really disheartening. Pace said she has tried avoiding the smell by moving indoors, but the stench is often even stronger inside buildings.

A junior at King, Katy Neubert, expressed similar feelings.

Im on the cross country and track teams at King University, and some days we have 6:45 a.m. practice, she said. The smell appears to be worse at night and in the mornings, and it can make running very miserable. I worry about the long-term effects it could have on my health.

These health concerns include the headaches and nausea that many Bristol residents, including King students, report as a result of the smell.

Leeroy Tafadzwa Matarutse, an international student who moved from Zimbabwe to Bristol in August, said he believes the air pollution caused by the landfill is toxic.

Some people actually feel like vomiting, especially after meals and stuff, he said. The school atmosphere changes, and its not pleasant.

While some students expressed health concerns and inconvenience, others have not been particularly bothered by the smell at all.

To be honest, the smell hasnt really affected me much, sophomore Drew Ramsey said. If anything, it has just been something Ive gotten used to. Its just something thats a part of the place we live.

Of course there are some areas where its worse than others, but its not extremely overwhelming.

Students like Cash, who now sleeps with her windows closed and heat vents off, expressed an acceptance of the situation.

Overall I would say it hasnt changed the experience or atmosphere, Cash said. Its just something Ive learned to deal with.

Cash added that learning to deal with the smell shouldnt be the case for students.

Though students are impacted by the smell, King University faculty and staff have not officially addressed the situation.

Cash said some professors have suggested their students talk to higher positioned faculty and said students have done so. However, she added many staff members are not on campus early in the morning and late at night.

Only the professors that are here in the morning or actually live around Bristol know what it is actually like, she said.

A couple of my professors live near campus and walk to school daily, so they have mentioned it during class, but just in passing, Neubert said. No one has addressed it publicly.

King University officials, including King University President Alexander W. Whitaker IV, did not respond to requests for comment about the effects the landfill smell is having on the campus of almost 1,500 students.
Virginians with no symptoms should avoid using up the state's strained supply of COVID-19 tests, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Thursday, as the state works to refocus its supply of tests to hospitals, nursing homes and schools.

The new testing guidelines are part of a plan the Youngkin administration announced Thursday to assuage the impact of the COVID-19 surge facing Virginia and the rest of the nation.

Aside from people without symptoms, the state is asking "healthy individuals with mild symptoms" to stay home and "use discretion on testing." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Virginia Department of Health have been advising anyone with a known exposure to COVID-19 to get tested, and those with mild symptoms to isolate until they get a negative test.

Those directives have been increasingly difficult to follow as the nation and state face a shortage of rapid tests, and backlogs in diagnostic tests, known as PCRs. Former Gov. Ralph Northam said earlier this month that the state had a strong supply of PCRs, but was struggling to open up clinics to administer them.

This week, the federal government began taking orders for free rapid tests it will ship to households across the nation. Every address is entitled to four tests, regardless of household size or risk of developing severe illness.

Under the new guidelines, the state will discourage "mass testing" for the purpose of pre-screening a crowd for infections. Some workplaces and event venues have been using mass testing as a safeguard.

The Youngkin administration said prioritizing testing will help "mitigate supply-chain shortages." It has directed the state health commissioner to draft new guidance for the public around how and when people should get tested.

The new guidance will prioritize tests for students exposed to COVID-19, essential workers, vulnerable citizens and their caregivers, nursing home residents over 65, and anyone directed to get a test by their health care provider.

As part of its new plan, it will also redeploy unused tests at non-essential state agencies and facilities to schools, hospitals and nursing facilities.

This is a developing story.
Catawba County Schools and Hickory Public Schools will have a remote learning day on Thursday for staff members and students.

The Catawba County districts before- and after-school care program QUEST will be closed, a news release from the system said.

On Wednesday afternoon, officials with Catawba County Schools determined that main roads were clear but secondary roads still remained hazardous in some parts of the district, the release said.

Teachers will provide instruction through Google Meet and will communicate details with parents and students. Students will be counted present if they complete assignments, attend class through Google Meet or have two-way communication with teachers. The district asks that parents and students let teachers know if the student will not have access to remote instruction, the release said.

Hickory Public Schools will have a remote learning day on Thursday, due to hazardous road conditions. Large patches of frozen, slushy snow and ice were still present on Wednesday afternoon in some neighborhoods and secondary roads in the district, a news release from Hickory Public Schools said.

A Hickory Public Schools policy allows certified staff to teach and work from home or from campus. Classified staff members can report to work or use appropriate leave if unable to get to school, the release said.

Newton-Conover City Schools had not released a decision regarding Thursday classes as of 5:30 Wednesday afternoon.

Catawba Valley Community College classes for Challenger students will operate on a normal schedule. Students are asked to contact instructors if they cannot travel safely to class.
NEWTON  Nu Chapter, The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, recently held its January business meeting and annual Treasured Roses Ceremony at the N.C. Cooperative Extension-Catawba County Center in Newton.

Attendees enjoyed breakfast and fellowship prior to the ceremony. Regina Propst, Nu Chapter member and second vice president, addressed the group for her Minute at the Mic, sharing what DKG has meant to her. Propst cited fellowship, friendship, and leadership opportunities as the most meaningful experiences for her.

The Treasured Roses Ceremony recognizes long-term members for their years of service to Nu Chapter. Five members were honored during the ceremony led by Michelle Shelly, leadership development chair, and Dee Snyder, Nu Chapter president, and assisted by Amanda Swengros and Lee Ann Perry.

Naomi East was recognized for 25 years of service. Marilyn McRee and Donna Moser were recognized for 35 years of continued service and leadership. Nancy Long achieved 40 years of service, and Barbara Herman was honored for 50 years of continued service and leadership.

Each honoree was introduced, and, as she approached the podium, leaders read a tribute which highlighted some of her achievements and leadership positions. Honorees also received a service pin, a certificate, and a long-stemmed red rose to commemorate the occasion.

After the ceremony, Leslie Black, Nu Chapter first vice president, introduced the guest speaker, N.C. DKG President Beth Winstead, who addressed the group remotely on the topic, Linking the Past, Present, and Future. Winstead cited the seven purposes of Delta Kappa Gamma, which were established in 1929, and voiced her concern that COVID could impact the future survival of DKG. Winstead pointed out that gathering in groups is no longer a priority, and opportunities for fellowship have diminished. She stressed the importance of recruiting new members and participating in conventions to insure the organization's future. Winstead concluded her remarks by reminding attendees that it is vital to celebrate members and their achievements in DKG.

Dee Snyder, Nu Chapter president, called the business meeting to order. The presidents report encouraged members to donate to the Backpack for Kids project, reviewed N.C. DKG convention information, reminded members of upcoming dates, and provided an update on the 2021 Nu Chapter cookbook sales. There are also plans to sell cookbooks at the state convention in Asheville.

Regina Propst reported on the progress of the chapter achievement award goals. The membership committee conducted a vote for three prospective new members, and the nominations committee presented the Nu Chapter 2022-2024 slate of officers, which was approved by vote. The teacher grants committee reported that there were 20 applications for the 2021 Nu Chapter teacher grants, and the committee was able to fund 12 grants. The grants were funded by member donations and proceeds from the cookbook sales. The meeting concluded with the world fellowship brag bucket.

Delta Kappa Gamma is an international honor society that promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education.
" " Prince Andrew, Duke of York (see here at Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor in April 2021), has been stripped of his patronages and titles as a result of the sex assault lawsuit pending against him. Steve Parsons - WPA Pool/Getty Images

A court recently ruled that Prince Andrew, third child of Queen Elizabeth II, can be sued in the U.S. for allegedly sexually assaulting American Virginia Giuffre when she was 17 years old. Giuffre says she was trafficked by financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s to various people, including Andrew. (Epstein committed suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting a sex-trafficking trial.)

Although Prince Andrew (who was a friend of Epstein's) denies all the allegations against him, the Royal Family distanced itself from the 61-year-old prince, whose royal title is the Duke of York.

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With a potentially humiliating civil trial going forward in the States, Buckingham Palace issued the following statement: "With the Queen's approval and agreement, the Duke of York's military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to the Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen."

One of the biggest changes is that Prince Andrew will no longer be called His Royal Highness (or HRH for short), even though he technically retains the title. This was the same "punishment" handed down to Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, when they chose to step down from their royal duties.

As for his military titles, Prince Andrew served in the Royal Navy for 22 years and will keep the title of Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy, but he has been stripped of more than a dozen other titles and honorifics like the Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Regiment and the Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada.

At one time, the Duke of York was a "royal patron" of about 200 different charities and organizations, which meant that he used his public position to help raise money for these causes and campaigns. But after a 2019 BBC interview about the sexual assault allegations, many high-profile organizations chose to cut ties with him, including the English National Ballet, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Metropolitan University.

With Buckingham Palace's recent announcement, all the duke's remaining patronages were "returned to the Queen," and will be distributed to other members of the Royal Family, meaning Prince Andrew is officially out of that job.

Could Prince Andrew Still Become King?

Technically, yes. As the son of the reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, Andrew is a prince by birth. That's not something that the Royal Family can take away from him. According to the official royal line of succession, the duke is ninth in line for the throne behind his older brother Prince Charles and all of Charles' heirs.

" " Prince Andrew stands with his immediate family at the Queen's 60th wedding anniversary in 2007. Standing (L-R): Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Prince Edward. Seated (L-R): Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Tim Graham/Getty Images

What's interesting is that the royal line of succession isn't solely decided by blood. The British Parliament also has a say. According to two centuries-old laws, the Bill of Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701), Parliament can regulate who is fit for the throne.

For starters, royal successors have to be members of the Church of England (i.e., they can't be Catholic). And even after they become king or queen, Parliament can remove them for acts of "misgovernment."

Andrew could be removed from succession through an Act of Parliament. An Act of Parliament, according to the U.K. Parliament website, is a bill that has been approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and given "Royal Assent" by the Queen.

However, it's unlikely that Parliament would take the time to vote to remove Andrew, since he is so far down the line of succession. Stripping Andrew of his title of Duke of York (a gift from the Queen on his wedding day) would also require an Act of Parliament.

Now That's Cool It used to be that female heirs could be outranked by younger brothers, but the British Parliament changed that in 2013 (at least for girls born after 2011). Prince Andrew's older sister, Anne, is 17th in line for the throne, behind all her brothers and their heirs. (She was obviously born well before 2011.) The 2013 Act also allowed those who married Roman Catholics to remain in succession to the throne.
John T. McNay is a Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati--UC Blue Ash. This is an updated version of a piece that appeared in the September 2011 issue of Passport, the newsletter of The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. Dr. McNay is a member of that organization.

In the wake of last years sweeping Republican victories in statehouses across the country, recent months have brought waves of legislation hostile to both academic unions and universities across many states. The most prominent cases are in Ohio and Wisconsin, but nationwide, according to the National Conference of State Legislators, 820 bills have been introduced that would limit or eliminate collective bargaining rights of public workers, including university faculty.

In Ohio, Senate Bill 5 would drastically limit the ability of all public unions (police, firefighters, state workers, school teachers, and university professors among others) to negotiate for salary, benefits, and work conditions. As a Republican senator said, testifying against the bill, it is a collective bargaining bill that does not allow for collective bargaining. Moving rapidly through the state legislature, over one hundred pages of amendments were introduced just hours before the bill was approved. Among the amendments was a clause that specifically targeted university professorsfaculty who participate in service activities, such as search committees, promotion and tenure committees, or the Faculty Senate, would be defined as managers and thus ineligible for union membership. A coalition of unions and progressive groups launched a petition drive to put the bill on referendum in November. Needing nearly 232,000 signatures, the coalition gathered nearly 1.3 million, a record number in Ohios history of referendums. Senate Bill 5 will be on the ballot in November as Issue 2 and the legislation is on hold until the vote.

In Wisconsin, after weeks of protest and the flight of Democratic politicians from the state to prevent a quorum, the state Senate passed in March (in what is now widely seen as an illegal meeting) legislation that would end collective bargaining in the state for most state employees. After reviews and legal appeals, courts ruled the passage of the bill was legitimate and has been imposed across the state. Labor unions and progressive forces launched a series of recall elections in August and were successful in unseating two state senators who had supported the union-busting bill, but they failed to unseat a third state senator that would have given Democrats control of the state senate. It is now likely that a recall campaign against Republican governor Scott Walker will be launched in 2012.

History Professor William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin (and incoming president of the AHA) was briefly thrust into center stage of the political circus when he began to research what he felt was behind the legislation in his state. He posted a blog entry on March 15 entitled Whos Really Behind Recent Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It didnt start here) and wrote a New York Times op-ed. piece, Wisconsins Radical Break. In his writings, he revealed the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in disseminating ultraconservative legislation. ALEC is a right-wing group funded by wealthy conservative activists and corporations whose recent legislative agenda was clearly to undermine labor unions. And the group has expressed particular objections to the way universities operate.

Shortly after Cronons revelations, the Wisconsin Republican Party issued an open records request to search the professors email for evidence of Cronons political activities, especially for emails containing the words union or rally. The UW administration rightly defined the search very narrowly and, not surprisingly, nothing of relevance was found. But since April 1, Cronon has not posted on his blog or written another op-ed.

Republicans in Wisconsin, Cronon wrote in his op-ed. in the New York Times on March 21, are seeking to reverse civic traditions that for more than a century have been among the most celebrated achievements not just of their state, but of their own party as well.

While not all states have the strong traditions that Wisconsin does, the civic traditions in many states are being challenged by the new and radical legislation being introduced. Much of it, as Cronon reports, is not home-grown legislation but part of boilerplate legislation developed by ALEC. The organizations strategy is that by introducing these radical bills across the nation at the state level in a shotgun approach, they will make progress in reaching their goals incrementally. The organization notes that only 12 to 15 percent of the hundreds of bills introduced in state legislatures each year pass into law but over time, these laws promise to have a huge impact.

Further, using a political strategy that writer Naomi Klein has recently dubbed a shock and awe, the proponents of this legislation have often been part of creating conditions in which they use the pressure of a crisis atmosphere to push through their reforms. In Wisconsin, for example, Scott Walker was elected with a surplus but quickly funded several new conservative projects and thereby helped bring about a budget crisis. Similarly, at least half of Ohios $8 billion deficit was generated by sweeping tax cuts, including a 21 percent reduction in the states progressive income tax.

The barring of collective bargaining are not the only changes being proposed. One of the most widespread has to do with creating charter universities, or private or semi-private institutions. The basic principle is that, in exchange for deregulation, states will provide less public money to support universities. This strategy stems back more than thirty years, as some universities have tried to portray themselves as entrepreneurial or enterprise institutions  the terms used to distance the concept from charter schools that are now widely seen as failures.

In Virginia, the often-touted example of charter universities, the University of Virginia has just announced an 8.9 percent tuition hike, after a more than 50 percent increase since 2006. In 2010, tuition shot up 24 percent at Virginia Commonwealth University. In Texas, tuition has increased an astonishing 63 percent since the state universities were partly deregulated in 2003. In Washington State, the University of Washington may be seeking as much as a 16 percent hike in each of the next two years.

Not only are charter universities expensive universities but increasingly they are failing to serve their states own citizens. Out-of-state students and foreign students must pay much more for tuition, and so places that might have been reserved for in-state students are increasingly reserved for those from elsewhere. The University of Virginia, for example, despite setting a cap at 35 percent, has averaged 40 percent out-of-state students in recent years. Abandoned financially and otherwise by state legislatures, entrepreneurial universities must inevitably chase the cash that out-of-state students bring. While the legislators may be happy with cutting its cost of supporting the university, all that has really happened is that the cost has been transferred to the students.

The University of Oregon, in a plan known as the New Partnership, is undertaking a new funding structure that would freeze state funding at $65 million a year for the next 30 years. In exchange for that, the legislature would use a $1 billion bond sale to finance the university. When the bonds mature in thirty years, it is expected that the state would no longer need to provide basic financing for the university as the transition to a semi-private institution would have taken place.

The University of Wisconsin, meanwhile, is considering the New Badger Partnership, under which UW-Madison would become a public authority and thereby receive the flexibility to set tuition and retain revenues. As in the Oregon, UW would detach itself from the rest of the state system and move toward becoming a semi-private institution.

Louisianas appropriations for its system of higher education have been cut by more than 20 percent in that last two years but this has been accompanied by a movement toward institutional flexibility in setting tuition rates. The recently-formed Louisiana Flagship Coalition is advocating that the main campus of Louisiana State University receive the freedom to run its own affairs and set its own tuition.

In California, continual deep budget cuts and sharp tuition hikes are generating widespread speculation that private or semi-private institutions are being created. With $500 million in cuts coming this year, the University of California is planning an 8 percent tuition increase, although if a planned tax extension is not passed by the legislature, that increase could be 32 percent. The UC-Berkeley chancellor has suggested that each campus be free to charge its own tuition rate. The CSU system is facing similar dire financial straits.

In Ohio, a charter university proposal is expected from the chancellors office in mid-August and many of the states university presidents have expressed great interest. Ohio State University President Gordon Gee has embraced the idea. It is an idea whose time has come, Gee told the Columbus Dispatch in March. In a letter to Gov. John Kasich, University of Cincinnati President Gregory Williams has expressed support for the charter university concept, citing such advantages as allowing universities to have the right of eminent domain, the ability to limit responses to public records requests and reports to the board of regents, and to be relieved of such burdens as civil service and collective bargaining.

In Texas, there are several new proposals to measure faculty productivity. They include ideas such as separating research and teaching budgets and determining whether faculty actually earn their salaries. Meanwhile, research would be measured on its value with the assumption that some research is simply not valuable. Proposals would also provide professors large cash rewards based solely on student evaluations. The metrics proposed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a Texas-based clone of ALEC, would gauge productivity by students in seats. The more students, the more productivity.

Other legislation in various states, while not directly affecting higher education are nonetheless attacks on values that those in academia traditionally support. Several states are enacting voter suppression laws and many are slashing funding to K-12 schools, legislation that ensures that even more students will get to college who are poorly prepared and politically disengaged.

Not surprisingly, much of the resistance to these dramatic changes affecting public employees and public universities is coming from faculty unions. Many SHAFR members are also members of faculty unions and most of us are public employees. In Ohio, some of us are in leadership in the AAUP. Im president of the University of Cincinnati chapter; Dr. Walter Hixon is president of the University of Akron chapter. The California Faculty Association has spearheaded the creation in May of the Campaign For The Future of Higher Education, a coalition of faculty unions and groups that aims to create a national opposition to the sweeping changes to higher ed being proposed across the country.

A primary focus of any faculty union is on the twin issues of academic freedom and shared governance, and these are issues particularly under fire by the conservative movement. Faculty unions have been expanding in Ohio and elsewhere, largely in response to university budget decisions that have taken place without faculty input and without regard for the instructional mission of the universities. Just last summer, Bowling Green State University won a hard-fought certification election against determined administration opposition and will become an AAUP collective bargaining chapter (if SB 5 is defeated). And just months ago, faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago won a certification election and they will form a joint AFT-AAUP faculty union. Questionable resource allocation by university administrations were key motivating factors in both the BGSU and UIC certification drives.

Public universities seeking greater autonomy have cited the need for greater flexibility. But the combination of union-busting and the semi-privatization of entrepreneurial public universities creates the probability of creating institutions with little academic integrity.

Furthermore, there is little evidence that this flexibility is designed to benefit students or the citizens of the states who have for many decades invested their tax dollars in public universities with the promise that they will benefit from universities activities in teaching, research, and service.
Mr. Jackson is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. His "From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Struggle for Economic Justice" won the 2007 Liberty Legacy Prize of the Organization of American Historians. He is a writer for the History News Service.

Democratic candidates have recently been cherry-picking lessons from the civil rights and voting rights campaigns of the mid-1960s. President Lyndon Johnson's achievement in building a bipartisan congressional coalition to secure passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was indeed monumental.

But Martin Luther King Jr. was no mere dreamer. As the civil rights revolution's most famous strategist and self-proclaimed "symbol," King stood at the forefront of a mass political movement with many leaders and agendas. Like Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans and their white allies organized, protested, and voted, forcing politicians to make hard choices and progressive commitments.

While debating the relative achievements of King and Johnson, the candidates are ignoring King's unrealized dreams and strategies for expanding democracy. After 1964, King argued that the nation's leadership needed to address challenges more intransigent than legal desegregation: unemployment, income inequality, poverty, voter disaffection, and racial apartheid in housing and education. King's "shattered dreams" remain our own.

Without poor people's empowerment, King asserted, the American tradition of "socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism for the poor" would see no end. Marches, civil disobedience, voter organization at the bottom of American society -- these were the tools of a mass movement King dreamed might "redeem the soul of America."

In the end King concluded that Lyndon Johnson had failed to mobilize and sustain a constituency of poor and working-class Americans that might defend a Great Society dedicated to real equal opportunity. The War on Poverty was too narrow and undemocratic. The war in Vietnam bled America's treasury and disillusioned the poor and black Americans who fought in faraway jungles. Since 1968, conservatives have aggrandized the presidency, exaggerated national security crises and led us into five wars. Millions of poor and working-class Americans have abandoned the political process.

King always dreamed of a nonviolent political revolution that might build powerful constituencies that could back up Franklin Roosevelt's promises of equal rights to jobs, housing, medical care, decent wages, and collective trade union bargaining. King spent much of his life raising money so his organization could mobilize and register disenfranchised voters. Today's candidates must take a cue from King and channel more of their millions into organizing and mobilizing unrepresented voters, especially young people and the poorest Americans. We all must work to guarantee wide popular access and integrity in the voting process itself.

Income inequality has worsened over the last 40 years as the benefits of economic growth and tax policies accrue to the wealthiest Americans. During the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott of 1956, King envisioned "a world in which men will no longer take necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes." We must realize as King did that decent wages and union recognition are essential to redressing American inequality. "The fight for labor rights" was, like civil rights, part of "the fight for human rights." Candidates must loudly advocate workers' rights to organize free of employer intimidation and procedural obstacles.

Candidates must link the interests of the middle class explicitly to the needs of the working poor and the jobless. Nowhere is King's belief that every American has the right to a job clearer than in his first written response to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Civil rights legislation would never redress the extreme poverty affecting Negroes in big cities, King wrote. Only a "massive public works program to employ the unemployed" could do that. Creation of public sector jobs to rebuild America's cities and create a greener nation might again inspire Americans in a time of mounting economic insecurity.

Politicians and citizens must renew King's commitment to dismantling apartheid in housing and schooling. In the 1960s violent conflict between black communities and police forces both dramatized and undermined metropolitan integration. In 1966, in the face of racist mobs, King bravely led marches on all-white suburbs in Chicago. In part he hoped to dramatize the need for strong open housing provisions in Lyndon Johnson's pending civil rights bill. Only in 1968 did Congress pass that legislation, in the wake of the horrible riots that followed King's assassination. Some housing markets and schools have seen desegregation since then. But in many other locales, segregation has persisted, worsened, or reemerged and expanded because of white flight and suburban sprawl. Housing, education, and work opportunity must not be permitted to remain separate and unequal.

As a nation of immigrants and ex-slaves, America can become a "World House," an international showcase for multiracial democracy, King preached in a 1965 sermon, "The American Dream." But he preached also that only in the fertilized soil of economic justice can multiracial democracy take root. Only then would America's moral force outstrip all the military divisions it could possibly muster in foreign adventures. We could all stand to remember that dream.



This piece was distributed for non-exclusive use by the History News Service, an informal syndicate of professional historians who seek to improve the public's understanding of current events by setting these events in their historical contexts. The article may be republished as long as both the author and the History News Service are clearly credited.
David Horowitz, at FrontPageMag.com (Sept. 14, 200):

A study conducted in 2002 by the American Enterprise Magazine at the request of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture showed that of 394 faculty members whose party registrations could be identified at four University of California campuses (Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego and Santa Barbara), 371 were registered Democrats or Greens, as compared to only 23 Republicans or Libertarians. This was true not only for sociology, a traditionally leftwing field, but political science where 94% of party registrations were also on the left.

Such extreme lack of intellectual diversity suggests a problem in the hiring process throughout the U.C. system. There is no possibility that in a nation as evenly divided between liberals and conservatives such a distribution would be statistically possible if there were no bias in the hiring process itself.

Do instructors use the classroom for political indoctrination? There is ample testimony that they do, including a recent book by a recent UCLA graduate (Ben Shapiro, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate Americas Youth, WND 2004). The evidence is available to anyone who takes time to look, from UCs own websites. Here is a course description that appeared in this years UCLA online catalogue. The course in question is the Fiat Lux Seminar: Honors Collegium 98. The seminar incorporates History 19, and Public Policy 1284.

The Fiat Lux Seminar is subtitled Re-Reading Democracy in America: Politics Before and After 9/11. It is taught by Professor Vinay Lal, a member of the UCLA History Department. According to the catalogue, there are two requirements for students to complete the course -- a paper on one of the two class texts and an in-class presentation. Here is how the presentation is described in the UCLA catalogue:

Requirements:  Each student will also do a succinct class presentation of no more than ten minutes accompanied by a handout (1 pg.). In this presentation, the student will draw upon some aspect of American political, cultural, or social life which has a bearing on the subject matter of the course. For example, a presentation might focus on what the election to Californias governorship of a movie star who has been charged by a dozen women with sexual molestation, drives perhaps the most environmentally unfriendly vehicle in the world, and appeared not to have a single idea about governance says about American democracy. Other presentations can focus on corporate ownership of the media, the rise of Fox News, the MTA and grocery chain strikes in Los Angeles, the trade union movements, the presence of African-Americans and Latinos in the US army, the film Bowling in (sic) Columbine, the assault on civil liberties, the indefinite detention of hundreds of Muslims without any accountability to notions of justice, or thousands of such phenomena.

The mere fact that a description like this could appear in a college catalogue  let alone the catalogue of one of Americas premier universities  is evidence of the extensive corruption of the university curriculum by radical ideologues who have debased the academic classroom and turned it into a platform for political agendas. In passing it should be noted that, as governor, Schwarzenegger has the highest approval ratings of any governor in the history of the state. This course description is political argument, which could not be more remote from any pedagogical enterprise or scholarly inquiry. It will not surprise anyone that the text assigned for the Fiat Lux Seminar is Vietnam and Other American Fantasies by H. Bruce Franklin, a notorious radical who in the past has edited (and provided a favorable introduction for) a collection of writings by Joseph Stalin. In the Seventies, Franklin was head of a violent radical group called Veneremos, whose activities led to his being fired by Stanford University, an act of academic wisdom, which could not be repeated today.

Professor Lal explains the importance of Franklins text in this way: Though many commentators have unthinkingly rehearsed the cliche that after 9/11 all is changed, our other principal text comes from one of the most respected scholars of American history [Franklin is in fact a Professor of English Literature}, whose relatively recent inquiry into the meaning of the Vietnam war in American life suggests that nothing has changed, insofar as the US remains on course in exercising its ruthless dominance over the rest of the world. [Emphasis added.]

There is not the slightest indication that this course will present students with alternative viewpoints to this jihadist perspective, or that it will open minds to the complex realities of American democracy. This is a course designed to draw one ideological conclusion, and to indoctrinate students in an extreme leftwing point of view.

Given the pervasive leftwing bias in UCs academic hiring process, which has gone on for more than thirty years, this travesty of an academic seminar is neither surprising nor unique. The present UC administration is not only willing to tolerate such abuses, it has recently capitulated to the faculty ideologues and eliminated the remaining safeguards of academic integrity from its policy guidelines, and formally accepted the politicization of its teaching programs.

Until this moment, political indoctrination by faculty has been traditionally (and formally) regarded by the American Association of University Professors and all academic administrations as a violation of the educational mission of the university. Until this year, in fact, indoctrination was explicitly recognized by the UC administration as academically unacceptable. Thus rule APM 0-10 of UC Berkeleys Academic Personnel Manual, written by UC President Robert Gordon Sproul in 1934 stated quite clearly:

The function of the university is to seek and to transmit knowledge and to train students in the processes whereby truth is to be made known. To convert, or to make converts, is alien and hostile to this dispassionate duty. Where it becomes necessary in performing this function of a university, to consider political, social, or sectarian movements, they are dissected and examined, not taught, and the conclusion left, with no tipping of the scales, to the logic of the facts.Essentially the freedom of a university is the freedom of competent persons in the classroom. In order to protect this freedom, the University assumed the right to prevent exploitation of its prestige by unqualified persons or by those who would use it as a platform for propaganda.

Unfortunately, these noble words have been honored more in the breach than in the observance for a long time in the UC system. But the mere fact of their existence was annoying to faculty ideologues at Berkeley. Consequently, at the behest of former UC president Richard Atkinson, they were summarily removed this year by a tiny minority of the UC community in a 43-3 vote of the faculty Senate, which took place on July 30. 2003. The academic freedom clause was replaced by another, which essentially said that professors can teach anything they want in the classroom. This is a momentous and ominous event in the life of American universities, and therefore the academic context in which it occurred needs to be understood.

Two incidents precipitated the change in UC policy on academic freedom. The first was the complaint of a student at UC Berkeley that her Middle Eastern studies lecturer had told students that the notorious Czarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was true. The Protocols describes a Jewish plot to control the world and was a document used by the Nazis to justify the extermination of Jews. The students complaint was dismissed by university authorities. An official of the UC Academic Senate defended the professors preposterous and bigoted statement as coming under the protection of academic freedom, and explained the view that was eventually codified in the Academic Personnel Manual as APM 0-15:

I too had assumed these Protocols are a fraud but I am hardly an expert on the subject. [B]ut quite frankly there are many theories in social science I think are pure nonsense that have currency; I guess that is part of the messiness of academic freedomand we each have our favorite excesses. (emphasis added)

It hardly needs to be emphasized that traditionally academic freedom had nothing to do with the propagation of proven forgeries like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as though they were true....
The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the European Women Association (EWA), with the aim of strengthening trade relations, developing mutual cooperation, and promoting and encouraging investment opportunities available on both sides.

This came on the sidelines of a visit of a delegation from the EWA to the SCCI headquarters to learn about the advantages of investment in Sharjah and the promising opportunities available in its various economic sectors and vital areas being a leading economic and business center in the region.

The MoU was signed by Abdullah Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of the SCCI, and Yulia Stark, President of the European Women's Association, in the presence of Mohammed Ahmed Amin Al Awadi, Director-General of the SCCI, Abdulaziz Shattaf, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Business Sector, and Fatima Khalifa Al Mokarrab, Director of International Relations Department, SCCI, in addition to EWA delegation of 45 businesswomen from various commercial and industrial sectors, as well as a number of officials from the Chamber.

Under the MoU, the two sides will encourage the exchange of trade delegations and discussions in the fields of export and economy and support follow-up visits for this purpose.

The agreement also provides for the exchange of commercial data and statistics, activation of joint

research activities, participation in economic events, exhibitions and conferences of each side.

They also agreed on the importance of coordination to establish and expand a commercial network that facilitates the exchange of business opportunities available in the two countries and between members of the two chambers.

Abdullah Sultan Al Owais welcomed the signing of the MoU, stressing that it will play a key role in highlighting the importance of the Emirate of Sharjah to emerging European companies looking to enter the Middle East markets and encourage them to establish businesses in the emirate.

He underlined that the Emirate of Sharjah provides incentives, facilities, and an inspiring and regionally pioneering economic environment that is considered one of the fastest developing, growing, and open to various world markets.

"The SCCI has adopted its operational plan, which includes a set of objectives, foremost of which is providing full support to the entrepreneurship sector and providing more facilities for it. In addition, several programs have been launched in support of this category, such as the Small and Medium Enterprises Center (Tijarah 101), which aims to motivate youth to engage in business and economy and create a positive work environment to promote sustainable development in society," noted Al Owais.

Yulia Stark expressed her pleasure with the signing of the MOU, which falls within the EWA's keenness to expand the network of its partners to provide the best facilities and incentives for its members from the entrepreneurs.

She said that the Emirate of Sharjah is a perfect hub for entrepreneurship at the regional level, commending the SCCI's efforts and role in supporting SME enterprises in the emirate, developing the entrepreneurship sector, and creating an incubating environment for entrepreneurs, by training, financing, and qualifying them, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of their institutions in the economic movement and their contribution to the emirate's domestic product. TradeArabia News Service
Ann Street United Methodist Church

335 Ann St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Randy L. Wall. In person and Facebook Live worship at 11 a.m. at Ann Street Church. Sermon: Awe-full Worship. Scripture: Hebrews 12:18-29.

Bethpage United Methodist Church

109 Fellowship Ave. at West C Street, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Gary MacDonald. Christian education at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. Everyone is encouraged to wear a mask and follow social distance protocols during indoor worship.

Bogers Chapel United Methodist Church

1775 Flowes Store Road E., Concord. Pastor: Eric Shaver. Worship at 10 a.m. in the sanctuary and on Facebook at facebook.com/bogers.umc. Masks are mandatory for in-person worship. Sermon: Becoming the Body of Christ. Opening Reading: Psalm 19. Scripture: Nehemiah 8:1-10. Childrens Choir: All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander.

Crossroads Church

220 George W. Liles Parkway, Concord. Pastor: Lowell McNaney. Live worship streamed on Facebook, Crossroads Concord Church app or mycrossroads.co website at 9:30 a.m. and 11:11 a.m.

Eastside Missionary Baptist Church

199 Elgin Drive, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Stephen Burrow. In-person services: Sunday school is at 9:30 a.m. and worship services are at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Recorded worship services and other information is at EastsideMissionaryBaptist.org. You will be welcomed. Practice social distancing.

Epworth United Methodist Church

1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Bill Roberts. Church has reopened its 10 a.m. worship service for attendance. Epworth UMC continues to follow the appropriate COVID-19 social distancing guidelines as outlined by the governor and the CDC. We welcome you to join us in worship. Sermon: Varieties of Gifts, But the Same Spirit. Scripture: I Corinthians 12:1-11.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church

265 Union St. N., Concord. Senior pastor: Rev. Mandy Jones. Associate pastor: Rev. Wes Judy. We are open for in-person worship. Contemporary worship is at 9 a.m. Sunday school/small groups are at 10 a.m. Traditional worship is at 11 a.m. Both the contemporary and the traditional worship services will also be livestreamed at foresthillumc.org or facebook.com/foresthillumc.

Harmony United Methodist Church

101 White St. NW, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Thad Brown. Service is held in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Masks are not required at this time. Sermon: The Shepherd of My People. Scripture: I Samuel 7:11b-16; Micah 5:2-5; Matthew 2:4-6. We welcome you to join us in worship. Service is live on Facebook.com/HarmonyUnitedMethodistChurch. For more information, call the pastor at 704-791-2883 or the church at 704-782-8237.

Jackson Park United Methodist Church

715 Mable Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor: Laurie Knoespel. Adult Sunday school is at 9:15 a.m. In-person worship service is at 10:30 a.m. Nursery will be provided during worship service. Replay the service on Facebook on Monday at 5 p.m. Sermon: Jesus is Revelation. Scripture: Luke 4:14-21.

McGill Baptist Church

5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, in-person services. Pastor: Rev. Steve Ayers. If you have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, wear a mask. McGill will stream a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m. on www.facebook.com/mcgillbaptistchurch/ and on YouTube. The services will be live and also available on recording afterward. Sermon: The Spirit of the Lord. Scripture: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; I Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21.

Midway United Methodist Church

108 Bethpage Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Craig Allen. Come join us on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for Sunday school and 10:30 a.m. for worship. At this time, masks are required and congregants are asked to social distance in the pews as COVID-19 precautions are in place. Our service is also livestreamed on the web at midwayunitedmethodistchurch.org or facebook.com/midwayUMC.

Mount Mitchell United Methodist Church

6001 Old Salisbury-Concord Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Joel Locklear. Sunday school is at 10 a.m. (adult and children classes) Worship is at 11 a.m., weather permitting, with social distance and masks, and on Facebook or You Tube. Sermon: One Body. Scripture: I Corinthians 12:12-31.

Multiply Church Concord

150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Douglas Witherup. An 8:30 a.m. service is held at 280 Concord Parkway S., Suite 15, Concord. Services at 150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N., are worship and sermon at 9:30 a.m. and worship and sermon at 11:15 a.m.

New Gilead Reformed Church

2400 Old Salisbury-Concord Road. At 9:40 a.m. is Bible study. Childrens Bible school is at 10 a.m. and at 11 a.m. is inside worship, Facebook worship and drive-in worship at 1600 AM radio.

Oak Grove Baptist Church

200 Sims Parkway, Harrisburg. Pastor: Rev. Franklin D. Watkins. 10 a.m.: In-person worship service and Facebook Live.

Second Presbyterian Church

1578 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., Kannapolis. Assistant minister: Rev. Aaron Price. Guest minister: Rev. Rob Ruckert. Worship is at 11 a.m. in the sanctuary and on Facebook Live. Sermon: What is Your Personal Calling? Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10.

St. Johns Reformed Church

901 N. Main St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Chris King. Sunday school for all ages is at 9:30 a.m. In-person and online worship service is at 10:30 a.m. (through website or on Facebook at St. Johns Reformed Church-Kannapolis). Sermon: The Names of God (Part 3)  Jehovah-Shalom. Scripture: Judges 6.

Information for Sermon Topics must be submitted by 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Email your topic to jstamey@independenttribune.com.
North Carolinas state capital was again named one of the best to call home.

Raleigh ranks No. 2 on a list of places with jobs, safety, educational opportunities and other factors that make them appealing, according to findings published Monday.

To make the list, the personal finance website WalletHub said it used data from the U.S. government and other resources. It studied all 50 state capitals and scored them in four categories: economic well-being, education and health, affordability and quality of life.

Overall, Raleigh was edged out by Austin, Texas, which received the highest ranking in the nation. But North Carolinas capital still made its mark, earning top 10 scores in three categories.

Raleigh ranked among the highest for economic well-being, a measure of job, population and business trends, results show. It was also one of the top cities for education and health, which considered the the number of college-educated residents, vaccination rates, and the quality of schools and hospitals, among other factors.

Raleigh earned its highest score for affordability, which weighed costs of living and income. But data shows Triangle-area housing prices have been on the rise since before the coronavirus pandemic, making it difficult for some to afford living in the area, The News & Observer reported.

Also in the WalletHub report, Raleigh ranked No. 12 for quality of life. The category measured the amount of time spent at work, entertainment options, weather, traffic and crime.

The results were released after Raleigh in October was named the eighth-safest city in the country based on economic security, the likelihood of natural disasters and community safety. At the time, figures showed last year saw an increase in gun violence, McClatchy News reported.

WalletHub started ranking state capitals in 2016, and Raleigh has always landed in the top 10. WalletHub experts caution comparing year-over-year placements due to changing criteria.

On the most recent list, the cities rounding out the top five were Madison, Wisconsin; Boise, Idaho; and Lincoln, Nebraska. Landing at the bottom of the rankings was Trenton, New Jersey.
RALEIGH  Every two years, exit pollsters attempt to survey voters whove just cast ballots. They post interviewers at hundreds of voting sites across the country. They call and email voters who cast ballots by mail. The resulting exit polls are often roundly criticized and improperly reported (such as when journalists circulate and comment on raw exit-poll totals on Election Night that have not been weighted based on actual election returns).

Flawed as they are, exit polls still offer useful insights about how and why voters choose candidates. For every political pro who swears off exit polls, there is a political pro who swears that an exit-poll result supports a cherished talking point. Often, its the same person making both claims!

In my view, as long as you dont fixate on tiny gaps that could simply be products of faulty sampling, exit polls are a handy tool. Consider, for example, the 2020 gubernatorial race in North Carolina. Incumbent Roy Cooper prevailed with 51.5% of the vote to Dan Forests 47%, even as Donald Trump (49.9%) and Thom Tillis (48.7%) prevailed over their Democratic opponents.

There may be fewer split-ticket voters than there was a generation or two ago, in other words, but in a state like North Carolina they can still be decisive. According to the National Election Pool exit poll, Cooper earned the votes of 8% of those who voted for Trump and Tillis. Forest received only 2% of the votes of Biden and Cal Cunningham supporters.

More broadly, political junkies can learn a lot by reading a new compendium of national exit polls published by the American Enterprise Institute. Some of the questions date back to the 1972 election cycle.

One of the most striking findings has to do with the gender gap, the propensity of male and female voters to choose different candidates for president. There was no such gap in 1972 or 1976. But in 1980, men voted for Ronald Reagan at a markedly higher rate (55%) than women did (47%). Since then, the gender gap has usually been significant. In 2020, Trump won male voters by eight points while Biden won female voters by 15 points.

With regard to race and ethnicity, the biggest change in voting behavior over the past half-century concerns voters identified as Asian (a ridiculously broad category, alas, but you work with what you have). Even as Bill Clinton was winning the presidency in 1992, Asians voted for incumbent President George Bush by a whopping 55% to 31% (with Ross Perot receiving the remainder). Asians also favored Clintons 1996 opponent, Bob Dole, albeit by a smaller margin.

Since then, however, Democratic candidates have always won the Asian vote  by something like a two-to-one margin in 2020, for instance, depending on which exit poll you consult. While some may well have switched their partisan preferences over time, its also likely that recently naturalized citizens and young Asians have different views and priorities than previous generations of Asian voters did.

By contrast, theres been little change in black voting patterns. Among Republicans, Richard Nixon (18%) and Gerald Ford (16%) have fared best among African-Americans. Other GOP candidates have typically drawn between 8% and 12%. As for Hispanics, the Republican high-water mark was George W. Bush in 2004 (44%), while most other GOP candidates drew somewhere between a quarter and a third of the Hispanic vote.

Heres one more noteworthy trend: during the 1980s, college-educated Americans tended to prefer Republicans to Democrats. During the next two decades, however, their votes became less predictable  in part because the universe of college-educated voters was growing. Today, while Americans with graduate degrees vote lean heavily Democratic (62% to 37% in 2020, according to one of the exit polls), the votes of those with undergraduate degrees are truly up for grabs. Mitt Romney won this voting group by four points 2012. Biden won it by four points in 2020.

Exit polls arent perfect. That hardly make them useless, however.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member and author of the new novel Mountain Folk, a historical fantasy set during the American Revolution (FolkloreCycle.com).
Adnkronos

(Adnkronos) - Sei persone sono rimaste ferite in un incendio al piano seminterrato di una palazzina in via Inverigo, nel quartiere romano di Prima Porta. Le fiamme hanno raggiunto anche l'ultimo piano del palazzo che e stato evacuato. Cinquanta gli inquilini fuori casa tra cui due famiglie con bambini e una con un disabile; 19 persone hanno richiesto assistenza alloggiativa. I feriti sono stati trasportati all'ospedale Sant'Eugenio e al S.Carlo di Nancy. Il palazzo e stato dichiarato inagibile d
Australians want more control over how their information is used by businesses to contact them for marketing, according to new research released by the ACMA.

The research found that in the 6 months leading up to the survey, 98% of Australians received some form of unsolicited communication and that more than 7 in 10 Australians would like more control over the communications they receive. Only one in 10 of those surveyed felt they always have control over how their information is used by business to sell or promote something.

Of Australians who asked a business to stop contacting them, 56% had trouble unsubscribing and 59% said they were still contacted after unsubscribing, the ACMA advised.

The research also showed that scam calls were the most prevalent type of unwanted communication received, with 86% of Australians reporting that they had a scam call in the 6 months before the survey and 4 in 10 Australians receiving them at least weekly.

Over the past 18 months, the ACMA says that businesses have paid $1,899,120 in ACMA-issued infringement notices for breaking spam and telemarketing laws.

The ACMA says it has also accepted 12 court-enforceable undertakings and issued 8 formal warnings to businesses.

In response to the research findings, the ACMA has updated and is re-launching a comprehensive online awareness campaign on how Australians can spot  and help stop  phone scams.

The Unsolicited communications in Australia: Consumer experience research 2021 interactive report is now available here on the ACMA website.
GLEN CARBON  A man from Glen Carbon and his brother and cousin have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Jeremiah Carollo, 45, was charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington with entering a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, an arrest warrant filed Wednesday says.

His brother, Anthony Carollo, 23, and their cousin, Cody Vollan, 31, face the same charges. Anthony Carollo and Vollan live in Lockport, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, a criminal complaint says.

The three were linked to the attack through their Gmail accounts and geolocation data obtained from Google by a search warrant, a criminal complaint says. Authorities also traced phone and driver's license records and their social media accounts.

All three told FBI agents that they were in the Capitol and identified themselves in photos from that day, the complaint says. The complaint does not detail their actions either inside nor outside the building.

Jeremiah Carollo was due in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis Wednesday afternoon for a first appearance, but online court documents do not indicate the outcome of the hearing.

No lawyer is listed for the men.

The Justice Department says more than 725 people have been arrested across the country related to the Capitol riot, including more than 225 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers.

Robert Patrick  314-340-8131 @rxpatrick on Twitter RPatrick@post-dispatch.com

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du, for Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), has announced an ambitious plan to prototype and launch an innovative solution for the leading telco providers 5G Standalone (SA) private network.

These innovation-centric efforts will be supported by a strategic collaboration alongside Intel, with the multinational technology company contributing through the provision of key technologies such as Intels FlexRAN software, Intel Smart Edge Open, Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit, and the next gen Intel Xeon D processor.

Saleem AlBlooshi, Chief Technology Officer, du, said: From a du standpoint, we are excited about this innovative collaboration with Intel, which will undoubtedly help us to realise the full potential not only of 5G, but also next-generation intelligent edge services where our 5G SA private network is concerned. For many years, Intel has continuously demonstrated its vast technological capabilities for enabling end-to-end solutions. As such, we look forward to welcoming this level of innovative expertise as we welcome a new cutting-edge solution to our network, with Intel Smart Edge Open among the Intel portfolio solutions certain to contribute as we provide a competitive offering in an increasingly dynamic market.

The new enterprise connectivity solution, which will include a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and cost-efficient open source 5G core network, aims to dramatically reduce the total cost of ownership and accelerate the process of digitalisation for dus enterprise and government customers.

Implemented using Intel Smart Edge Open, an open-source software initiative that helps to accelerate the creation of new applications and services for 5G and edge, it will ultimately provide unprecedented levels of security required in Industry 4.0, smart city, smart transportation, hospitals, and other segments primed to benefit from transformative 5G effects.

Renu Navale, Vice President, Network Platform Group, Intel, added: This collaboration with du represents a strong desire to accelerate the possibilities of 5G and Edge computing through standalone private networks. Moving forward, we look to create prototypes that bring to market reliable, secure, and affordable platforms powered by next gen Intel Xeon D processors and Intel Smart Edge Open for the du 5G SA private network, which is already an established accelerator for enterprise customers digital transformation aspirations nationwide. This partnership will enhance du's efforts to support the digital transformation aspirations of its enterprise customers across the UAE.

In addition, the Intel Smart Edge Open software will make it easier for Cloud and Internet of Things (IOT) developers to develop applications, enabling them to abstract network complexities and take advantage of the underlying networking capabilities offered by Intel platforms and solutions.-- TradeArabia News Service
CLINTON  Children in DeWitt County will have a chance to receive free books through Dolly Partons Imagination Library. The program is starting out with openings for around 100 kids.

Each child, who must be under 5 years old, would receive a free book every month. The program is being sponsored by United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois. United Way and Vespasian Warner Public Library hosted a news conference Thursday afternoon to launch the program, the day after Parton's 76th birthday.

The Imagination Library is a program of the Dollywood Foundation, which was started by Parton for her charitable ventures. It has distributed more than 150 million books to kids across the world.

United Way organizations often end up coordinating and sponsoring the program at the local level, said Ryan Huffer, director of marketing at United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois.

Generally, it is United Ways that kind of take this on because it takes some money for the books, he said.

The program is already available in Macon County, where United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois started participating in the program, Huffer said. Moving into DeWitt County, where the organization provides other services, was the next logical step.

In Central Illinois, Sangamon, Logan and Menard counties also have programs available to at least some residents, according to a map on the Imagination Library website. It is not yet available in McLean County.

Registration will be available on the United Way of Decatur and Mid-Illinois website at uwdecatur.org/DPIL-DeWitt.

In the news release announcing the launch, the United Way said registration will be limited to 100 children to start. However, they are looking for businesses or individuals interested in partnering to help expand the program to more children. Those interested should contact Huffer or Debbie Bogle at United Way.

It costs around $30 to sponsor a year of books for a child, Huffer said.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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A Winston-Salem man arrested in connection with a shooting Sunday has also been charged in an incident earlier this month, authorities said Wednesday.

Romelle Raekwon Watkins, 25, of Lewis Street is charged with possession of a firearm by a felon in the Jan. 12 case, Winston-Salem police said. Officers arrested Watkins Wednesday without incident.

Watkins was being held Thursday in the Forsyth County Jail with his bond set at $150,000, the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office said.

Watkins was initially arrested Sunday after another man was shot and wounded in the citys southern section, police said.

Officers were called to 3260 E. Zuider Zee Drive, near Peters Creek Parkway, in reference to a shooting, police said. Inside one of the apartments there, police found DeAndre Lamonte West with a gunshot wound.

West was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Police later found the suspect, Watkins, in another apartment and arrested him.

Watkins was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and another count of possession of a firearm by a felon, police said.

At the time of his arrest, Watkins was on probation for the offense of felony speeding to elude arrest in Virginia, police said. Because of that charge, Watkins is required to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Watkins also has pending charges of possession of marijuana, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, violation of a domestic protective order, possession of methamphetamine and communicating a threat, police said.

After his Sunday arrest, Watkins posted a $50,000 bond Monday and was released from custody, police said.

In the meantime, investigators were looking into an incident that happened Jan. 12 in the 3100 block of Peters Creek Parkway, police said. A gun was fired in that case.

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A Kernersville man who told FBI agents that his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol might make a good story for his future grandchildren will spend 15 days in prison, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Anthony Joseph Scirica pleaded guilty on Sept. 28 to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Three additional charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, were dismissed Thursday as part of his plea arrangement.

Scirica was the second person this month from the Triad to be sentenced in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Virginia Marie Spencer of Pilot Mountain was sentenced Jan. 7 to three months in prison after being convicted of a similar charge. Federal prosecutors allege that Virginia Spencer and her husband, Christopher Spencer, took their 14-year-old son into the U.S. Capitol and stayed more than 30 minutes inside. Charges against Christopher Spencer are still pending.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper asked Scirica a series of pointed questions  did Scirica know how many people died in the aftermath of the attack? Did Scirica know that Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot by a police officer near where he was standing in the U.S. Capitol? Did Scirica realize how terrified people were inside House Chambers while Scirica and others yelled outside and attempted to get in?

Scirica said he was naive about the intentions of the people around him.

I got caught up in the moment, he told Cooper.

Cooper said he listened to Sciricas interview with FBI agents and was struck by Scirica telling them that he just wanted to bear witness to what was happening that day.

I understand youre not a Proud Boy or an Oath Keeper, Cooper said, referencing two far-right groups prosecutors have accused of helping plan the insurrection. But Cooper said there is video of Scirica directing rioters where to go and in some instances seemingly leading the charge.

Cooper said Scirica could be seen leading chants or at least joining in them. Scirica is seen at the front of certain groups of rioters, Cooper said.

Thats not just bearing witness or being a citizen journalist, Cooper said. Thats being more of a participant. Am I reading that wrong?

Federal prosecutors allege that Scirica spent 31 minutes inside the U.S. Capitol and went inside the building, despite having seen people going up the steps and climbing the scaffolding. He stayed inside, prosecutors allege, despite seeing people yelling and shouting and hearing a window breaking.

Cooper said Scirica saw violence but didnt leave.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Grace Albinson told Cooper Thursday that Scirica entered the U.S. Capitol at 2:25 p.m., making Scirica a part of the first group of rioters to storm the building.

Scirica posted video of rioters banging on the House Chambers door and afterward, he showed no remorse, Albinson said.

Mark A. Jones, attorney for Scirica, said Scirica has never been in trouble with the law and he cooperated with law-enforcement during the investigation. He gave a full statement, knowing that everything he said would be used against him, Jones said.

After the insurrection, Scirica returned to college and now works at a law firm, doing legal work and title searches, Jones said.

Scirica said he regrets what he did and that his statement about this being a good story for his future grandchildren was a failed attempt at gallows humor.

I shouldnt have said that, Scirica said.

Cooper ordered Scirica to pay a $500 fine and $500 in restitution. Scirica will have to report to authorities for his sentence in the next few months. He will serve his sentence over several weekends.

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Family Services has named Traci Ross president and chief executive officer following the retirement of Robert Feikema.

Ross is the 10th CEO of Family Services, which was founded in 1905, making it one of the oldest nonprofits in Forsyth County. Family Services has approximately 175 employees and is the second-largest nonprofit organization based in Forsyth County that serves only Forsyth County. In addition to providing support to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, Family Services is the largest childcare provider in Forsyth County through Head Start.

Ross has valuable expertise as a nonprofit executive director, as well as programmatic leadership skills through her previous work with educational, mental health, and community service organizations serving families and children, Amber Koger, who chairs the groups board of directors, said.

Koger said Ross also has experience in casework roles and direct services, with programs including Head Start, group homes for youth, and child protective services.

Traci has a very interactive style that is welcoming, inclusive, engaging and personable, Koger said.

Before joining Family Services, Ross served as executive director of L.E.A.P. (Learning Employment Assistance Partnership) in Fort Edward, New York. Before becoming executive director, Ross was the director of Head Start and Early Head start for L.E.A.P. Earlier in her career, she served as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks in Glen Falls, New York.

Her volunteer work includes serving on the executive committee of three nonprofit boards: The Council for Prevention of Saratoga County in New York, Warren-Washington Association for Mental Health in Hudson Falls, New York, and the Tri-County United Way in Queensbury, New York. Ross also serves on an ad hoc fundraising committee for Make a Wish of Northeast, New York.

Ross said she looks forward to using her skills and experience here, with such a wonderful organization, doing such important work.

Ross received a bachelors degree in psychology and health services from State University of New York College at Oswego. She is also a Fellow with the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Business Management.

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Forsyth County health officials joined the Triads three primary healthcare systems on Thursday in making a plea for local residents to mask up in public as COVID-19 cases continue to surge.

The request came as the N.C. Department of Health and Human Service reported four COVID-19 related deaths and 937 new cases for the county.

The rate of COVID infection and hospitalization has risen to their highest levels ever, according the county health and human services board.

Your health care providers and hospitals are stretched to the limit, and need your help. Your county boards ask in the strongest way possible that every county resident wear a proper mask to reduce the high rate of COVID infections, even if you have chosen not to wear a mask in the past.

We need everyone in the community to work together to get on top of this COVID tsunami; by working together we will succeed.

The boards appeal comes 10 days after the leaders of the three health-care systems warned Monday their hospitals are at a critical stage in how effectively patients can be treated as the omicron variant spreads.

The chief executives of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Cone Health and Novant Health Inc. asking people to follow vaccination and testing recommendations and urging the public not to seek COVID-19 testing in emergency departments.

Novant Health Inc.s latest public appeal includes running ads, including in the Winston-Salem Journal, that read we are not telling ... we are not asking ... we are begging  get vaccinated. Do your part. So we can do ours.

Forsyth update

DHHS reported Tuesday a record 1,318 cases in Forsyth, as well as an additional 3,196 cases over the previous 72 hours.

The daily count dropped to a near three-week low of 538 cases in Wednesdays report, with public-health officials calling the decrease likely a reflection of fewer tests being conducted during the recent snowstorm.

Forsyths positive test rate over the past 14 days was at 36% as of noon Thursday, while the statewide rate was 33.3%.

The vast majority of new cases during the current COVID-19 wave are the omicron variant, according to local and state public-health officials.

With Thursdays report, Forsyth is averaging 248.5 cases per 100,000 people over the most recent two-week period. Thats up from 67.6 cases per 100,000 as recently as Dec. 31.

Both Forsyth health director Joshua Swift and Dr. David Priest, an infectious diseases expert with Novant, have said the number of COVID-19 cases likely is underreported.

Most at-home test results arent reported to county health officials, and some infected individuals have mild cases and dont seek care, they say.

Priest said that if someone tests positive with an at-home testing kit, they should stay at home for at least five days even if they begin to feel better. If their symptoms worsen during that period, they should seek a test and medical care.

If you have symptoms of COVID that you likely have COVID given the high level of positivity right now, Priest said.

Swift said Thursday that the health department has a very limited supply of free N95 masks provided by DHHS in its lobby at 799 Highland Ave. in Winston-Salem.

The departments of Public Health and Social Services each received 36,600 masks from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Swift said the health department kept 10% of its allotment for the public, with the rest distributed to community partners and city and county personnel.

Business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and Fridays. Thursday hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is a limit with the first round of four per person and eight per household.

Statewide update

The statewide daily case count also was down significantly in Wednesdays report  at 17,374  from previous counts over the past seven days.

The Thursday report had the statewide case count at 29,580.

A record statewide daily count of 35,759 cases was reported Jan.14, followed by counts of 34,391 for Saturday, 30,500 for Sunday, 22,308 for Monday and 31,902 for Tuesday.

North Carolina has recorded 2.18 million cases and 20,108 COVID-19 related deaths since the pandemic began. The statewide death toll is up 71 from Wednesday.

The states number of COVID-19 hospitalizations was at another record high of 4,741  up 52 from Wednesday.

Hospitals in the 17-county region reported a combined 1,087 COVID-19 patients as of noon Thursday, down two from the previous report.

Of the latest totals, 474 patients are on ventilators, including 109 in the 17-county Triad and Northwest N.C. region.

There were 109 children hospitalized with COVID-19 statewide, including 25 in the Triad region.

Priest said Tuesday that Novant was caring for about 760 COVID-19 patients in Charlotte, Triad and Wilmington markets.

According to DHHS, as of Jan. 8, unvaccinated individuals represented 76.6% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 86.7% of COVID-19 ICU patients statewide. Those vaccinated patients tend to be those who are immunocompromised or with chronic health issues.

Additional testing sites

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist began offering Tuesday additional community testing sites in Winston-Salem, High Point and Wilkesboro. The testing sites are in partnership with DHHS.

The Winston-Salem site is a drive-thru site in the west lot of Bowman Gray Stadium at 1250 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

The High Point site is indoors in Providence Plaza, Suite 850 at 1701 Westchester Drive. The Wilkesboro site is at a drive-thru site in Lowes Park at Rivers Edge, 1610 Industrial Drive.

PCR testing is available to anyone age 2 and older, with or without symptoms. Those who wish to be tested do not need to be Wake Forest Baptist patients.

All three test sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. The High Point site will operate from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Saturday hours will be added if needed at the Winston-Salem and Wilkesboro sites.

Appointments are not required, but are recommended and can be made by going to https://lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling (877) 562-4850.

Southeast Plaza Shopping Center will begin Saturday a free drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at 3067 Waughtown St. Mako Medical is the state vendor operating the site.

It will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays thru Mondays until at least mid-February. Pre-register at https://makomedical.com/.

DHHS said Thursday that North Carolinians who have Medicaid are eligible to receive free at-home COVID-19 tests from their local pharmacies.

Beneficiaries are asked to select an at-home test at their preferred pharmacy and present their state Medicaid identification card to the pharmacy for no out-of-pocket cost. The pharmacist will be able to bill Medicaid on the patients behalf.

Public health experts and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend using at-home tests when individuals begin to have symptoms, as well as at least five days after coming in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, or gathering indoors with a group of people who are not in their households.

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The Triad is expected to escape the worst of North Carolinas third winter storm of 2022, forecasters said Wednesday.

That likely is welcome news for Winston-Salem residents still stuck at home because their slick side streets remain impassable after last weekends storm dumped 4 inches of snow and ice on the area.

Road conditions still arent good enough for students to return to school, prompting Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to cancel classes for Thursday  the third straight day.

That means students and staff will have the entire week off. The school system was closed for the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday on Monday, and Friday is an already scheduled teacher workday.

Despite being short-staffed because of employee vacancies and absences due to COVID-19, crews with the city of Winston-Salem finished clearing major roads Tuesday night and continue to work on collector streets, city spokesman Randy Britton said Wednesday.

Equipment began moving into neighborhoods to tackle side streets Wednesday, which could lead to a little initial inconvenience for some residents, he added.

Accumulated snow turned into thick ice as it repeatedly thawed with above-freezing temperatures and sunshine during the day, then refroze overnight. As city crews move through residential areas, plows will break up that ice and push the chunks toward the curb.

Theyre going to be blocking driveways, Britton warned. Its an effect of clearing neighborhood streets, one we cant stop from happening. We apologize, but its necessary to treat those streets.

Fall leaves left at the curb but not yet collected could also end up back in yards and on driveways, he added.

Britton urged residents to park off the street whenever possible so crews spreading salt and plowing have full access.

The city announced it will resume garbage service Thursday starting with residents whose collections were canceled Tuesday and Wednesday. The Tuesday routes will be run first, and any Wednesday routes not collected Thursday will be collected Friday.

Sanitation officials will assess progress Thursday before announcing plans for Thursday and Friday garbage routes, the city added.

Outside the city, state crews have cleared all interstates and primary roads in the area, along with 90% of secondary roads, said N.C. Department of Transportation spokesman Marcus Thompson.

They are still touching up areas where the ice is packed, he added.

Cold snap

While earlier predictions called for an additional 2-5 inches of snow for Friday in the Triad, the National Weather Service adjusted its forecast Wednesday afternoon and said the area likely would get little more than a dusting and some light freezing rain.

Areas southeast of the Triad now are expected to get the worst of the wintry weather.

What hasnt changed is the deep freeze expected to grip the area after an Arctic cold front moves in Thursday.

After reaching the mid-50s Wednesday and an expected high in the low-40s Thursday, temperatures will plunge into the low-20s Thursday night and remain below 30 on Friday, according to the weather service. Wind gusts as high as 18 mph Friday will lead to wind-chill factors as low as 15 degrees.

Nightly lows for Friday through Sunday will be in the teens, with daytime highs in the mid-30s Saturday and in the low-40s Sunday and Monday.

Light rain is possible late Thursday, and there is a 50% chance of light snow and periods of freezing drizzle Friday and Friday night, the weather service said. Total accumulations of an inch or less are expected.

Sunny skies are forecast for the weekend and into the middle of next week.

John Deem covers climate change and the environment in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina. His work is funded by a grant from the 1Earth Fund and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. 336-727-7204 Journal reporter Lisa ODonnell contributed to this story.

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Things change. Thank goodness.

For now, Crystal Towers, the 11-story, monolithic, easily recognizable public housing facility in downtown Winston-Salem, will stand and continue to serve as a safe haven for its residents, the Journals Wesley Young reported Wednesday.

Better yet, much-needed renovations are on track to begin this year. This is a dramatic shift from what many had concluded would be its fate  its sale for a huge profit to a private developer while its residents  poor, elderly and/or disabled  would be scattered to new locations that hadnt yet been identified  or built.

The abrupt about-face is good news for those residents  and good news for their supporters, especially the advocates who worked on their behalf through Crystal Towers United and Housing Justice Now. Their activism brought residents plight to light and likely contributed significantly to this resolution. More power to them.

As recently as a year ago, the sale of the building and relocation of its residents seemed close to being a done deal. There was a prospective buyer  Arden Group LLC  and various officials saw the sale as a solution to problems experienced by residents, the result of living in an aged and slowly crumbling structure  well get to that.

But some aspects of the deal were still up in the air. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was required to sign off on the deal, hadnt. And Mayor Allen Joines joined advocates in opposing the sale, even writing a letter to HUD expressing his opposition.

Also, even though Crystal Towers has its problems  well get to that  many of those living in the tower block didnt want to leave, even for sparkling new facilities. The pros outweighed the cons.

Now they dont have to leave.

Plans to sell the building, first announced in 2019, were based on market conditions and funding limitations that have now changed, Kevin Cheshire, the executive director of the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem, told the Journal. Cheshire said that escalating building costs mean it would have been more expensive to replace the tower block with other housing. Federal housing regulators are now putting more emphasis on renovating older housing complexes, he said.

So the city and HAWS now plan to jointly pay for renovations, possibly to the tune of $10 million.

Not everyone thinks the reasoning for the change of direction is legitimate  but they dont have to. The important thing is that the renovations now have full buy-in from the city and HAWS.

My goal was to preserve affordable housing in the center city, and this new initiative will allow us to do so, Joines told the Journal.

I think we are moving together as partners, Cheshire said on Tuesday. We committed to the residents this morning that they are going to be an integral part of the process. We think we can agree to a concept that will make a meaningful change in the community  and retain that as affordable housing downtown.

We expect support to be solid.

About those problems: Life in Crystal Towers isnt a bowl of cherries. Residents have complained for years about mold and walls and ceilings falling apart, as well as rats, roaches and bedbugs. The buildings two elevators break down regularly, as recently as October. These difficulties need to be dealt with, the sooner the better.

But the location of Crystal Towers  within easy travel distance of the Central Library, restaurants, a drug store and other amenities  makes it rewarding for residents. So does the assurance of shelter and the proximity of neighbors and friends.

Home is home.

HAWS is looking for contractors to replace the elevators, the Journal reported, one at a time, so residents can continue living in the building. The look, feel, functionality, safety and security at Crystal Towers will be maintained, Cheshire said.

The victory is symbolic for activists, city leaders, affordable housing advocates and anyone who likes to see positive community developments. But best of all, residents will get to keep their homes.
Alturki Holding, a leading Saudi family-owned investment and development holding company, believes that value localisation is one of the keys to sustained socio-economic development.

We are proud to be increasing the IKTVA (In-Kingdom Total Value Add Program) scores across our portfolio of businesses, to create value in every aspect of our business, maximising long-term sustainable growth, said Rami Alturki, President & CEO Alturki Holding, which is participating in the next IKTVA Forum and Exhibition at the Dhahran Exhibition Centre from January 24 to 26, 2022 as a Diamond Sponsor.

Alturki Holding is investing further towards localising technology and knowledge, to build competitiveness, drive innovation, and create opportunities in the Saudi manufacturing sector.

Along with acquiring technological capabilities, and driving digital transformation, the company is placing special focus on investing in human capital development in order to achieve its ambitious objectives.

Alturki has committed to the content localisation initiative by Saudi Aramco, designed to drive increased investment, job creation, research and development, and local supply chain development within the kingdom. As a Diamond Sponsor, Alturki Holding demonstrates the highest level of commitment to IKTVAs goals, and alignment with the kingdoms value localisation initiative under the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030.

As a premier investor and partner of choice for building sustainable businesses in Saudi Arabia, it is our responsibility to support value localisation initiatives like IKTVA which is producing long-term tangible benefits such as quality jobs for a growing Saudi population, innovation, and diversification of industry, and increased global competitiveness, said Alturki.

IKTVA is designed to encourage and reward local content use and drive domestic value creation by working with suppliers to achieve mutual benefits.

It prioritises consistency and transparency to create a level playing field for local and international suppliers of Saudi Aramco.-- TradeArabia News Service
Tom Somma was a young aircraft mechanic in the late 1970s when he got his first look at the new F-117 Nighthawk.

But Lockheed wouldnt let him see all of it.

We were only allowed to know what we were working on. We werent allowed to know the rest of it, and nobody was supposed to get together with anybody else.

Hed been living and working in his native New York when the company hired him to move across the country -- to Burbank, California -- to help produce one of the prototypes that would become known as the Stealth Fighter.

It took months of paperwork to get his necessary security clearance, but in 1979, Somma began wrapping its wings in sheet metal.

The U.S. Air Force ultimately bought 64 of the distinctively flat, radar-resistant jets, which saw service in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and, later, above Iraq and Afghanistan. The military denied their existence until 1998 and retired the fleet a decade later, stowing them in hangars at the Tonopah Test Range, nearly 150 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Somma retired, too. Hed stayed with Lockheed for nearly six years, moved back east and found a career on the Long Island Rail Road. He moved to Nebraska -- his wifes home state -- more than two years ago.

And in May, the 65-year-old sat along the highway near his new hometown of Ashland, waiting for the flat-bed trailer that was delivering one of the decommissioned F-117s to the nearby Strategic Aerospace and Air Command Museum.

Chuck Burchess of Lincoln was also waiting. Before he retired from the Air Force, hed served as an F-117 crew chief at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, keeping the Nighthawk maintained and prepared for flight.

When he learned the museum was getting one of the planes, he reached out and offered to help with its restoration. He was at the museum when the truck arrived.

The fighters wings had been clipped and its nose removed, but Burchess knew what he was looking at when the truck pulled into the parking lot.

You never forget that shape. I even think I broke down in tears.

* * *

The museum announced its newest acquisition -- just the fourth F-117 to go to a private museum -- nearly a year ago.

At the time, the marketing manager stopped short of calling it the Holy Grail of aircraft. But it was big. The fighter played an important role in the tail end of the Cold War, and it would serve as a bookend to the conflicts earlier aircraft already on display -- the U2 spy plane and supersonic SR-71.

The single-seater Nighthawks could reach cruising speeds of 620 mph, and they were famous for their geometry and outer coating, which allowed them to elude enemy radar.

But what made the Nebraska-bound Nighthawk special would also slow its trip to the museum. In addition to all of the standard demilitarization steps the Air Force takes when it donates a plane -- disarming the weapons, removing the rockets beneath the ejection seat, recovering radioactive components -- it had to strip the F-117 of all of its secrets.

It removed the nose and all of the leading and trailing edges of the wings and other control surfaces. And it scoured, stripped and sandblasted all of its surfaces to get rid of radar-absorbing compounds.

The museum had planned to retrieve the plane in March, but the trip was delayed to late May.

In the air, the Stealth could have made the trip in under two hours. But on the back of a flatbed trailer, it took four days to make it from Nevada to Ashland.

Burchess was there to help usher it into the restoration bay. The former F-117 crew chief knew his way around the plane.

Im the one that opened the canopy when we put it in the hangar, he said. I was one of the first ones to sit on it.

* * *

Restoration manager Andy Beemer and his team of volunteers werent used to a plane like this.

The first difference: They were familiar with aircraft that were decades old, that had sat outside succumbing to the elements. But the F-117 had flown in the past 15 years, and was then stored inside.

We usually start with an old wreck, and were hunting for corrosion and rot. But this plane is in very good, solid condition. Theres nothing broken; theres nothing corroded.

The second: Because the military was still keeping its secrets to itself, this jet was incomplete. Its missing a lot of stuff -- stuff they wont let us have. Theres a whole lot of stuff we have to fabricate and replicate.

But they didnt let that stop them from putting the wings back on and getting to work.

Other than looking weird, its an airplane. It just happens that its a really square, flat one, Beemer said.

They werent starting from scratch. Beemer had consulted with the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is nearly done with its own Nighthawk restoration. And hed found new volunteers in Burchess and Somma, who knew the aircraft before its retirement.

But even that knowledge was limited.

The parts Im making now, I never got to see, Somma said. They werent installed until they took it to wherever they took it.

The Air Force and Lockheed did provide rough guidelines of what the missing parts should look like, and how to build them. But the instructions were geared toward larger manufacturing plants, with more sophisticated equipment.

For a small shop like us, we had to find some work-arounds, Beemer said. Its been an interesting process of trial and error.

For instance: The knife-like edges of the wings had been stripped, and the instructions suggested bending sheet metal nearly 170 degrees to replicate them.

A big shop would have the equipment and ability to heat-treat the steel before the bend. The museum doesnt.

Wed be cracking metal constantly. So how can we replicate that without breaking a lot of metal?

By getting creative. Aircraft supply houses sell pre-bent wing edges designed for small planes -- like Cessnas and Beechcrafts -- and Beemer ordered more than 200 feet of them.

Other than a manufacturer, Im probably buying more of it than anybody.

The strips are too narrow to fully replicate the F-117s wing edges, but he and the volunteers use them as a guide to add more sheet metal.

Theyve spent seven months rebuilding the rear of the plane -- the trailing edges of the wings, rudders, exhaust and other areas -- and are just now moving around toward the front.

They have at least a years worth of work remaining before it moves from the restoration bay to the museum floor, Beemer said.

And he has measured expectations of what he wants it to look like when theyre done -- especially for a plane thats been shrouded in so much secrecy.

The goal of our restorations is to restore dignity to the airplane and to make it as close as we can, under whatever the circumstances are, to what it looked like in service, he said.

But fooling the guys who flew it is really hard.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7254 or psalter@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSPeterSalter

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Arguments that Nebraska needs to beef up protections for religious rights and freedoms fell short Wednesday in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Legislative Bill 774, a proposal that would have provided broader protections, got only four votes from committee members. It needed five to advance to the full Legislature.

State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon introduced the measure, which he dubbed the First Freedom Act. During a public hearing Wednesday, he said the bill would ensure that people of all faiths can "live their lives and practice their religion" freely in Nebraska.

The senator said he had been looking at the idea but was inspired to introduce the bill by a 2020 case involving two Native American students in the Cody-Kilgore school district. School employees repeatedly cut the girls' hair, even after their parents objected and informed school officials that hair is a sacred symbol in Lakota tradition. The parents have filed a federal lawsuit over the incident.

In addition, Brewer, who is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said he had heard from Native American inmates in the state's prisons who said they were being prevented from exercising their faith.

John Horsechief, who works for Open Door Mission, urged support for the bill. He cited the history of suppression of Native American faiths, as well as concerns that faith-based organizations face funding discrimination.

Mae Anne Balschweid said she backed it because of her experiences working with refugees and immigrants of many different religions.

LB 774 is similar to laws passed at the federal level and in more than 20 other states. But new, COVID-era sections were added to ensure that religious organizations and practices would not be targeted under future health and safety measures.

Tom Venzor, executive director for the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said such measures provide for a balancing test, under which governments can limit or penalize a person's freedom of religion only if those restrictions are essential to a "compelling government interest" and are the least burdensome means of achieving that end.

But opponents said the bill would give special legal exemptions and preferences to religious people and organizations. They said the bill would allow religious groups to ignore laws that apply to others, particularly when it comes to discriminating against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

"It's not a balancing as much as it is an elevating," said Brett Parker, state policy manager for American Atheists. "Your religion should not give you more or less civil rights under the law."

Spike Eickholt, a lobbyist for the ACLU Nebraska, said the state and federal constitutions already provide robust protection for religion, but do not allow religious freedom the right to harm others or to discriminate.

He raised concerns about how the bill would apply during public emergencies, such as the pandemic. He said it was "constitutionally appropriate" to restrict religious gatherings along with non-religious gatherings to protect the health and safety of the public.

During discussion later, Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha said she thought the bill needed an amendment to address opponents' concerns about discrimination and whether religious freedom arguments could be used to ignore state laws.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha said he agreed and questioned whether a problem existed with religious freedom being impaired in Nebraska.

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